NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: chapter 9
A few days had passed by since Kala left. It was odd to see the village without a single dragon milling about nowadays, and yet that is exactly how it had been.
I tried my best to keep from worrying over her, but it seemed harder than expected. I would always wait to hear the jumping on the roof before I got up and around for the day, but after thirty minutes of waiting I just gave up each morning. So, when I heard a rhythmic banging on the roof this morning, my hopes were through the roof.
I jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed, then rushed outside as soon as my prosthetic was on properly.
"Kala! You're finally back–whoa!"
In my rush to get outside, I forgot to look where I was going and slipped on the sheet of ice from earlier this week, and I fell to the frozen ground. I groaned in pain as I slowly sat up and looked at the roof of the hut. It wasn't Kala.
Stoick was up on the roof fixing it up and setting up decorations.
'Well, there goes my hopes of going on a morning flight..' I thought dejectedly as I slowly stood and got clear of the ice.
Stoick looked down and smiled at me.
"Morning, Hiccup!"
"Morning chief." I replied as I whipped snow off of my clothes.
"Glad you're up! I was looking for your helmet."
"M-my helmet? What for?" I asked, tilting my head.
'I don't even have my helmet. It fell into the ocean earlier this week. Hopefully Kala can find it..'
"Odin needs a place to put your goodies." Stoick said happily.
"Y-yeah, right..I'll get on that. Great…" I sighed and kicked some snow.
"Hold on!" Stoick said as I turned to leave, and he slid down the ladder and came over to me. "Alright..come on. What's on your mind? Out with it. I know you don't consider me your father right now, but I can tell when something's botherin' ya. So, what is it?"
"I just..I'm worried about Kala..She's been gone for three days now..I didn't think her season would be as long as the others'.." I explained as I looked at the ground holding my arm.
Stoick rested a hand on my shoulder in comfort.
"I understand. I'm sure she's doing fine. Who knows, maybe she's with the other dragons by now. Playing with the wee ones."
I looked up a bit. "You think so?"
"Of course! Listen..I know what it's like to miss someone you love this time of year. But what do we do when they can't be here for the holiday? We celebrate them! And I imagine that is exactly what Kala would want you to do. Right?"
I thought over what he said and nodded with a small smile.
"You're right. She made me promise to not worry about her the entire time."
"Good! Then go get that helmet! We've had enough disappointment around here." Stoick said as he patted my shoulder, then he went back up to the roof to finish up with the decorations and repairs.
I took a deep breath and decided to help with preparations throughout the village. I made my way down the hill and helped with picking up here and there to make sure the plaza was good to go for Snoggletog.
After a couple hours, all that was left for me to do was take a set of oars back to the docks. As I was walking down the path, I bumped into Fishlegs. He had a large basket of fish for some reason.
'That's odd. Everyone's huts were freshly restocked just a couple days ago. Why does he have that basket?' I thought with a raised brow.
"Hey Fishlegs. You hungry? There's enough fish there to feed a dragon!"
He jumped and looked my way.
"Hahaha..Oh, a dragon? That's.." He started nervously, then he bolted mid-sentence into a barn nearby with the basket in tow.
'Something is definitely going on.'
With my mind set I followed after him to figure out what in Thor's name was going on. I cracked open one of the barn doors with a free hand and peeked inside as Fishlegs was leaving.
My eyes widened as I saw Meatlug chained up in the barn, struggling to get free. She broke the chain and bolted for the door. I dropped the oars as I tried to dodge her, but I wasn't fast enough and the chain wrapped around me and Meatlug.
"MEATLUG?! I THOUGHT YOU FLEW OFF WITH THE OTHERS!" I shouted as I struggled to get out of the chain.
I was wrapped up to her side, so I wasn't able to maneuver myself to get onto her back. As I struggled, Meatlug flew through the village to catch up with the other dragons that left for mating season.
Snotlout spotted me as she flew through the plaza.
"Hiccup?! Dude where are you going?!" He shouted as he chased after Meatlug.
"POSSIBLY WHERE ALL THE DRAGONS ARE!" I answered, finally giving up on struggling with my arms crossed.
Fishlegs ran after Meatlug when he noticed her. "Meatlug? What about presents?! Hey!"
~~~HTLANF~~~
I looked up at Meatlug as we flew over the ocean and I scratched the side of her head.
"So that's why Fishlegs wasn't down in the dumps like everyone else. He kept you on the island. Wait." My eyes widened as a realization came to me. "That means your eggs are in that barn. Crap. Kala never told me how dragon eggs hatch. That's not good.."
I looked around after realizing my scratches went unnoticed by the focused Gronckle. We were somewhere near Dragon Island from the look of things. There was fog everywhere. I yelped as Meatlug almost hit an old ship figurehead of a dragon.
"Careful girl! I get you're eager to reach wherever everyone else is, but you've gotta watch where you fly."
After a few more minutes of flying, the fog let up to reveal an island with hot springs all over and thousands of nesting dragons. I looked around as Meatlug landed to allow me to get free of the chains. There were hatchlings as far as the eye could see.
Once I was free of the chain, I helped Meatlug out of it and she flew off to find her mate. She must have matted just before the migrating flock took off, but there was no way of knowing for sure until I got back to Berk.
I walked around the island trying to spot any dragons that I recognized. As I was looking, I saw a Gronckle nudging her eggs into one of the springs. I looked closer and saw the eggs hatch under the water. The Gronckle hatchlings crawled out of the spring and went over to their mother.
"Aww.~" I looked around and noticed the mother missed an egg. "Hey, look over here, you missed one." I said, going to grab it, but I jerked my hand back as the egg exploded. "WHOA!"
The hatchling from said egg landed on the ground a couple feet away from the spot the egg exploded.
"Man, it's a good thing those don't hatch on Berk. Wait..Meatlug's eggs are on Berk! Oh Akatosh..the village is going to be in shambles.."
I sighed then chose to look around the island again.
'Maybe Kala's here. Wouldn't hurt to try and find her.'
"Kala! Kala?" I shouted as I looked through all the dragons tending to their hatchlings and eggs.
She was nowhere to be found.
"Ah, Kala where are you? I was so sure she would've been able to find everyone else.."
As I stopped walking and looked around a bit more to see if I just overlooked my girlfriend, I was nudged in the back by a dragon. I turned around and lit up when I saw it was Hookfang and Stormfly.
"Hookfang! Stormfly! Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you guys!" I exclaimed joyously as I scratched both of their snouts.
They purred happily and nudged my hands. I smiled then looked down at their hatchlings.
"Your hatchlings are adorable you guys. I'm sure the village is going to adore them." I said, but then a thought came to mind.
'I can't stay here until mating season ends. I'll miss out on Snoggletog if I do. I don't think Kala would want that..'
"Hey Hookfang? You think you could take me back to Berk? I don't think Kala would like it very much if I missed out on Snoggletog." I laughed out nervously.
Hookfang nodded and nudged me towards his neck. I smiled and scratched him as I hopped on. I looked around the island as I held onto Hookfang's horns.
'Well at least I know what island is used for mating season now. Sucks that Kala isn't here though..I really miss her..'
"I'll see you all back on Berk when you're good and ready, okay guys?" I said as Hookfang took to the air, but something happened that wasn't planned.
All the other dragons took to the air as well.
"Oh..nono nonono..I think I just started the return migration Hookfang.." I said disappointed in myself.
As the matured dragons were taking flight, the hatchlings were trying the best they could to take flight like their parents, but none could fly yet. I shook my head with a smile.
"Well, if you insist! Hookfang, let's get a few others to help us find an old boat to carry the hatchlings in." I instructed.
The Nightmare nodded and roared at some dragons nearby, then he and those dragons flew into the fog to grab an old boat that was still intact. The one we found was in perfect condition, minus some missing sails and a broken mast, but it was good enough to carry a bunch of hatchlings to Berk.
Hookfang and the other dragons grabbed onto ropes that were connected to the boat and lifted it from its resting place, then we slowly made our way back to the island to gather up all the hatchlings.
"Alright guys! Grab your hatchlings and put them on the boat!" I shouted and all the dragons nodded.
After a few minutes, the island was only covered in eggshells. All the hatchlings were bustling and playing on the boat safe and sound. I smiled at them all as we made the trek back to Berk.
Seeing all those hatchlings made me wonder what Kala and I's would look like if we ever had kids.
Would she have to lay eggs like all the others? Or would she have a human pregnancy? Would the babies be born human or Night Furies? Or would they be hybrids?
I shook my head and looked forward.
'Now is not the time to be thinking about that. You and Kala are nowhere near ready for kids. You know that Hiccup. Just focus on getting back home for now.'
~~~HTLANF~~~