Chapter 6: Free as a Flightless Bird

Hiccup enters the basin with a basket of fish on his back and calls out, "Astrid? You here? I got more breakfast for you." He looks around the small area, but he doesn't find any sign of his friend. The boy stops near the pond and drops the basket, asking himself, "Where'd she go?"

Suddenly, a large mass tackles him from behind and pins the auburn on the ground. He gasps in shock and fear, and he was ready for the teeth and claws to tear him to strips when a friendly voice says, "Gotcha Hiccup."

He chuckles and looks up to find her grinning face and sparkling eyes. "Is there a reason for the pouncing?"

"I was bored," is her answer while pushing herself up and helping Hiccup back on his feet. She looks at the ground, noticing something, and finds a brown leather book. "What's this?" she asks as she picks it up.

"Ohh!" Hiccup starts freaking out when he recognizing the book. He tries to get it back while saying, "That is my personal journal so if you could just please give it back…" The auburn swipes at his journal, but Astrid, with a sly smile on her face, twirls to one side,making the boy fall down. She starts flipping through the pages despite her friend's dissents. "Could you please just give it back? I don't really want anyone looking in it."

"Too late." Soon, the blonde finds the pages of her, and she stares at them with an astounded look. As her finger traces along the blowing hair, she thinks she's seeing a mirror instead of paper. "Did you draw these?"

Hiccup stutters, "Uh, well…I-I mean…uhm, yeah, but…Oh man, this isn't coming out right."

"Hiccup, it's alright. I think they're beautiful." She takes a look at another picture, and the weird, bubbly feeling in her chest returns. What is this? Why do I always feel like this? If only dad was here, or better yet, my mom. She would know what this weird feeling is.

To say that the boy is stunned would be an understatement. But he is relieved that she didn't find it creepy. He'll admit; most of the pictures aren't diagrams.

The hybrid hands the book back to its owner when she spots the basket. She asks, "Is that for me?"

"Oh! uh, Yeah. It is," he says, snapping back to reality.

Smiling, the dragon teen gives him a hug and says, "You're too kind, Hiccup."

"W-Well, I couldn't just let you starve here now, can I?"

Astrid chuckles before dining on her breakfast. Holding up a fish, she asks, "You want some?"

"No thanks. I already ate."

"Okay. So, how's the new tail coming along?"

"I'm having trouble trying to find out how to combine the two tailfins. I mean, all the methods I can think of either don't work or will feel very uncomfortable for you." As well as for me.

At the update, her chewing slows, and she looks downcast at the ground. Hiccup continues, "But I have thought of a way for you to get out of this place."

"Come again?" she asks, stopping from her feasting.

"I have found a way for you to get out of the basin and look around the island."

"You did?" she shrieks, suddenly jumping uncomfortably close toward the auburn boy, feeling energized.

After taking some step back, he says, "Yes. Follow me," and leads his new friend over to the wall. "Alright, now wait right here," he commands before walking through the thin fissure leading outside. The hybrid watches him disappear then looks around the stone wall, confused. Why would he tell me to stay here? she wonders. When nothing happens for a while, she starts getting anxious. Random questions start popping in her head, such as what if he lied? What if he's going back to his village to gather his people? She starts thinking that maybe it wasn't the smartest choice to have trusted him so easily. But he looked and acted different from the others. But what if it's all an act?

Suddenly, something thin wraps around the hybrid, spooking her witless.

"Oh! Sorry 'bout that!"

She looks up to find Hiccup on a rocky outcropping, working on some contraption, a length of rope near his feet. The dragon-girl throws the ropes off of her and looks back at her friend. "What is he doing?" she asks. He starts attaching poles around the base and the wall, and then throws some rope over a wheel. He then tosses a bundle down to Astrid. "Alright; just put your foot in that loop and pull on the other rope," he shouts.

She does what Hiccup told her, though she's still confused, and starts pulling on the rope. Suddenly, her entire being lifts up in the air as she pulls. The hybrid is shocked at first, but she then smiles. The hybrid pulls on the rope more as her smile widens, and soon she couldn't help but start laughing. When she reaches the top, Hiccup helps her onto the ledge, smiling as well. Astrid looks back at the contraption and says, "Wow, first the idea of a dragon fin, and now this? It's incredible."

"Well, I'm glad someone appreciates my ideas. All the Vikings at home just think I'm weird and shun me out."

"Hmph, I know how that feels," she mutters. Hearing her talk, Hiccup asks, "What was that?"

"I-I said, they don't know what they're missing."

He grins again, feeling warm and fuzzy, something entirely new to him. He wonders what the feeling is, but he'll have to figure it out later. Right now, he has a hybrid to show around.

"Follow me," he says, holding out a hand to the dragon-girl. She looks at the hand, hesitant at first, but she soon finds herself reaching out and grabbing it. The auburn boy leads her through the gap in the wall that's wide enough for Astrid's wings, and they enter the forest surrounding the basin. "Here we are."

A smile starts growing on the hybrid's face as she observes the tall trees, boulders, and the sky above the leaves. She walks ahead of Hiccup in a trance, looking at every trunk, every bush, every rock, and every cloud. Especially the clouds. She climbs up one fallen tree to try and get closer to them, gripping a thick root while leaning forward. Her smile turns to a wide grin again, and Astrid laughs while jumping off the tree and running through the forest. Hiccup smiles as he watches his friend run around like a small child before chasing after her. "Wait up, Astrid!"

The hybrid dashes past trees as she enjoys the open space she has missed so long. No longer stuck between walls, she runs, jumps, flips, and slides all over the place to her heart's content. She rejoices in it so much that she forgets her tail predicament when she spots a cliff side. She redirects her direction and starts heading toward the edge. Hiccup watches her go, wondering why she would be heading to the cliff, when the realization dawned on him. Panicked, he quickly shouts to his friend, "Astrid, wait! Your tail!"

With a powerful thrust, she jumps up and extends her wings out, gliding in the air. She enjoys the long-lost feeling of flying like a bird, for about five seconds. Suddenly, the missing tailfin disrupts her flight, and her body starts wobbling before falling with a shriek.

"Astrid!" The auburn runs to the edge of the cliff and starts climbing down as fast as he can. He jumps off the last few feet and runs through the tall grass, hoping Odin's ghost that she's alright, though he doesn't know why, since she seems like a tough girl. He pushes some grass apart and reaches a disturbed area, only to find the weirdest scene he has ever seen in his life.

There is Astrid, lying on her back, blissfully rolling in the grass like a puppy. Hiccup drops his arms in bewilderment as the half-dragon giggles, seemingly enjoying the yellow plant. Ripping a small chunk, he inspects the grass closer to find its not normal grass found almost everywhere. In fact, it's not a grass he's familiar with. He gets a whiff and finds it has a peculiar scent. Garlic perhaps? Looking back at Astrid, the inventor figures it out. "Well, what do you know? Catnip for dragons. Dragon Nip! Heh heh."

After stuffing some of the dragon nip into his pocket, he turns back to his friend to find she's still playing in the plant and doesn't show any indication that she'll stop. The auburn-haired boy walks to the hybrid, grabs Astrid underneath her arms, and starts dragging the giddy dragon out of the plant.

Now out of the grass, Hiccup sits on a rock while he waits for the dragon youngling to get over her chuckling fits. They soon die down until the girl is left breathing heavily with a big smile on her face.

"You okay, Astrid?" the boy asks.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine," she affirms, pushing up to a sitting position and rubbing her head. "Oh man, my head is buzzing like crazy. What was that stuff?"

"I'm going to go on a limb here and say it was dragon nip."

"Dragon nip? What's that?" she asks.

"A plant that dragons seem to be attracted to. Sort of like catnip."

The dragon girl has no idea what catnip is, but decides not to ask. Mainly because she can't think clearly yet.

"You sure you're okay? You still seem out of there."

"I'm okay. I think the dragon nip hasn't worn off yet."

"Alright then." He looks back at the plant and to the cliff. "That was quite a fall you had. What happened?"

"I guess I just forgot I couldn't fly right. It's not easy for a dragon to stay grounded, you know."

"But, aren't you, you know…only part dragon?" he asks hesitantly, hoping not to offend her.

"I may only be 'part dragon', but flying isn't just for us. When you feel the wind blowing on your face and see the world below you…well, you'll have to experience it firsthand. It's not easy to explain it."

"Hmm." The boy looks up at the sky, watching the clouds float on in their endless journey. "See the world below you. That could be one heck of a sight."

"It is. I just wish I can experience it again."

Hiccup looks back at her and sees her looking longingly again at the sky. The sad sight wrenches at his heart. An unknown and uncomfortable feeling, one he wants nothing more than to get rid of it. So, getting up, he walks over to the girl and bends down, wrapping his arm around the girl's shoulders. "You will. I promise," he says, smiling.

Astrid looks away from the sky, eyes glistening from memory. She has heard those words before. By someone very close. The next day, she never came back to her.

With tears starting to build up, she looks away from the boy and tries to wipe them away secretly, so not to appear weak. "We-we should be heading back," she utters. "Isn't there training you have to go to?"

His smile disappears, and he looks away, suddenly disappointed. "Yeah." He gets up and says, "Well, you know how to get out of the cove whenever you want to. So…See you next time." He then walks back toward his village. When Astrid senses him gone, she gets up and walks to the cove. She has lost the enthusiasm to explore more of the island.

Entering the cove, she floats to the floor and walks to the exposed tree roots that she has made her room, when it's not raining. The hybrid climbs onto the thickest root and lays down, resting her head in her arms. She closes her eyes and tries to get some sleep, but a gnawing sensation in her chest keeps bothering her. No matter what she does, it doesn't go away, and her mind keeps bringing up Hiccup. Why is it that she always feels worse when he's not around?

Today's lesson in dragon training is learning more on survival. This time, the students have to survive until the Gronkle is at its weakest, and then strike. Of course, they're only allowed to attack with their shields. So, everyone is running around, doing their own thing. Fishlegs is just running, trying to stay away from the Gronkle. Snotlout is trying to impress Krystal by smacking the dragon multiple times, only to be thrown around like a ragdoll. The twins are too busy fighting with themselves than the dragon. Krystal is the only one taking the training seriously, keeping an eye out for the openings.

The only one not moving around is Hiccup. He stands close to the wall so not to draw attention. He can't help but think of what happened earlier today. Astrid started out so well. She seemed to have trusted him more, especially with the invention to get her out of the cove. She looked really happy about it. But then, after the Dragon nip incident, she instantly got distant after he tried to cheer her up. Was it something I said? Hiccup thinks. I didn't mean to say anything offensive. I was just trying to comfort her, that's all. He lifts up the dragon nip, the only memento of earlier today. I'll go apologize tomorrow.

"Hiccup!"

"Huh?" he looks up, spotting Tuffnut in the distance. "Get your head out of the clouds and fight this thing!" he shouts before getting rammed by the Gronkle. The dragon turns and sees the auburn, and it charges full speed. Panicking, Hiccup drops his shield and extends his hand that's still holding the nip. Suddenly, the dragon crashes on the ground near the boy, smelling the grass. The inventor looks up and watches, amazed, as the Gronkle's eyes become friendlier and not attacking. To test it out more, he rubs the grass on its nose, and the bulky dragon tips over like a big puppy.

"I don't believe this," Gobber mutters, his eyes wide in astonishment. Everyone else has similar reactions, except for Krystal, who is suspicious of the boy's sudden ability to subdue the beasts.

The deed does not go unnoticed as Vikings walk up to the ring and peer at the boy. Gothi the Elder, who was watches the teens train, takes note of the feat with a slight of her eyebrow.

After training, Hiccup walks to the dining hall with a buzzing head from the close encounter. Suddenly, the teens from Dragon training surround him and talk about the dragon's abnormal behavior. He really doesn't want to deal with this. He needs to get to the workshop to work on the tail. "Uh, I just remembered, I left my axe back at the ring," he excuses while walking back. "You guys go on without me. I'll catch up." He turns around and almost crashes into the redhead. After a short apology, he runs to the ring, unaware of Krystal watching while holding a small snarl. What are you up to, boy? She questions.

"Krystal, you coming?" Fishlegs calls.

Glancing back one more time, she runs after the others.

OH MY GOD! I HAVE DONE THE IMPOSSIBLE! YES! CELEBRATION TIME EVERYONE! BRING IN THE 10-FOOT CAKE! WOO-HOO!

As you can tell, I am seriously psyched about this. After many reviews telling me to update this and just staring at the stupid white page of Microsoft Word for many, many, many, many, many, many hours, I HAVE DONE IT!

Woooo...Alright, so go ahead and review whatever you want to say. I don't care if you ridicule me. Go ahead, I don't care. But, I HAVE DONE IT!

Anyway, I may have posted this and got back in the groove of this story, but I can't stop creating new ones (I have a serious problem right there, ARRRRGH!). So while working on this (along with one or two others, OH MY GOD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!), I want to make a Frozen story.

That's right; a Frozen story.

I pretty much have the characters and plot down, but one question is really bugging me, so I want your opinions on it.

Should I write the story in the Frozen world, or the Modern world? Both have really good qualities.

So, review what you think would be the best, and I'll get working. And don't worry. I'll be working on Hybrid as well. (And maybe a Soul Eater story, OH GOD! I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF!)

P.S. take a look at my story "Me Against the World". I need more reviews.