A/N: To clear up any confusion (which I know there was) Raefor wouldn't be use to the extra weight; saddle, a person AND that arm on top of it all. Hence it would be hard for him to fly. All dragon struggle as he did (not use to people riding them - its stated in the series somewhere), but not all would fall. The weight is a lot for him :) Anyway, that's to clear up any sort of confusion ^^ Lets start on Chapter 20!
------------
The days roll by quickly, with Toothless and Hiccup constantly beating Raefor and I when we race them around the island. Despite looking comfortable on his own dragon once again, the dragon races would come and go without Hiccup participating. I was still slightly confused, still riding Toothless for him since Raefor and I were in no condition to race ourselves. Mother had yet to discover the stowaways in our stable, with me sneaking out milk and Fish, I would have thought she would have been suspicious by now. But nothing changed.
I walk into the house one afternoon, a week before devastating winter was suppose to begin. My mother and father sit at the table. That is never a good sign, unless its meal time. I was surprised that she hadn't mentioned my break-up with Snotlout yet...She sips her water, gesturing to a chair.
Here we go again, "Yes, mother." I try not to sound too hostile. Now in these situations I become a little ticked off. My mother only scolds me, she never tries to talk to me like a person. She acts like i'm a bargaining chip. When I'm not.
"In a short period of time," And thus she begins, "you've managed drive away a suitor and mess up your chances to marry the same guy twice," I didn't mess it up the first time, just the second. I want to tell her that, but I know my mother. It would only make this worse, "I'm extremely disappointed in you."
"What's new?" I mutter
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
My mother frowns, "I've been talking with my friend Stinky. She knows of a small village several hours away. Their chief needs a wife..." She takes a sip of water, "so we pulled some strings, and the wedding is scheduled for a week tomorrow."
"What wedding?"
"Your wedding."
I gasp, "My wedding..."
"Yes. You're to marry the chief."
"MARRY!?" I exclaim, "Mom!"
"This is my last option. Things didn't work out here, so i'm looking elsewhere. You only have yourself to blame," Mother puts her cup down, "its a lovely island I hear. Flat with surrounding beaches. And best of all," She smiles, "no dragons."
"No dragons?" I glare, "Mom!"
"Those dragons are pesks, lots of people think so. I hear something will be done about it them in the future, though rumors tend to spread foolishly."
"I'm not marrying anyone mother," Because I'd rather die than marry someone I don't love, i'd rather die.
My mother looks at me, "Its not up for discussion. At dawn on that day you will be marrying. And that's the end."
"Dad...I can't marry him!" I look at him.
"Your father and I agree. Its a done deal. Now that is THE END of this discussion."
I clench my fist, "How could you do this to me? I'm a person, not someone to bargain away. Happiness? If this is what you believe happiness to be then you have a sore AND horrible definition." I turn and run out the door, grabbing my coat.
Before can say anything the door closes behind me, and I'm standing there glaring at the ground. My life is ruined.
Raefor is in the stable, and when I open it I see him. The other three Nadders are bigger, it is going to be difficult to hide them for very much longer. Now they can fly, "Raefor..." Without saying another word, the Nadder is already out the front stable door. He turns around, roaring at the others who stand watching us. Their heads sink, and they sit down, "I'm sorry guys. I'll bring you next time." I shut the stable door.
"Penny," I mount Raefor, hearing Hiccup call my name. He's coming towards me from the Great Hall. I'm not in the mood to talk, "Glad I found you. There's something you need to know-"
I glare, "I'm not in the mood Hiccup."
"But its really important."
"Later," I insist, patting Raefors back. He jumps and we begin to soar towards the sky.
"But you need to know about the-" I don't hear the last part, I'm already too far away. But I don't care. I need time away from this place, away from the village. Away from my mother. Just me and Raefor. No one else to disturb us, me ranting and raving to an open sky, and sea, "This is stupid," I start once the island is small behind us, "I mean, I was against dating a stranger, but MARRYING a stranger? And on another island. WITH NO DRAGONS! What kind of madness is this?"
My dragon tilts his head, I guess he doesn't understand.
"Mom marrying me off to some chief...i don't want to marry some chief. I want to.." I trail off...I want to be with Snotlout. But since I messed that up with my stupid mindset and pressure from his father, that will never happen. I wanted to protect Snotlout but I can barely protect myself. I'm not weak, I know that, but I feel like it. Like this world has made me the weakest human of all!
And whats worse is that I still don't know whether i made the right decision. My mind often reflects on what my father said, reminding me that I was making the same mistake as him. And I believed it. I just don't want Snotlout to have issues with his father. But I don't want to marry someone I don't love.
I sigh, whys this happening to me?
--------
Hours pass, and the sun is beginning to set over the horizon. I still don't want to go home. My throat is beginning to hurt from all the ranting, but I don't care. I just don't care.
The wind begins to pick up and I try to warm my arm by placing it in between me and Raefors back, leaning against it. I was getting really cold despite my coat, but I can't go back yet...I just can't yet.
"I'm cold," I say to Raefor. He turns his head so I can see the side of his face, "I don't want to go back yet. Not back to that horror...maybe soon. Lets just keep flying for a bit longer." I'm shaking, but I can't go back yet.
Then I hear a voice, "Hookfang!" I must be hearing things, I must be...and then I hear it again, "Hookfang, calm down!" I turn my head and behind me is Snolout, oh great. He isn't close behind me...so maybe I can lose, "Alright Raefor. We need to lose Snotlout."
The dragon makes a parrot noise, tilting his head again.
"I know we've never tried it. But, this could be good practice for the dragon races," Why would Snotlout even be out here?"
I look at him, and we make eye contact. He's struggling to get Hookfang to listen to him...but what else is new. Snotlout doesn't look as upset as he did the night I tried to break up with him, instead there's something else in his facial expression. Something I see rarely. So rarely...that I can never remember what the expression represents.
"Alright, lets lose him," Despite the weight of my saddle and arm, Raefor picks up speed and starts to ascend towards the sky. I don't look behind me to see if its working or not. But as we ascend, we take a sudden descend towards the water, picking up even more speed. I hold on tightly, trying to keep myself properly balanced as to not fall off of my dragon.
Flurries begin to fall from the sky and I watch them with a smile on my face, so beautiful. I love it when it snows.
We do some sharps turns and speed up, though Raefor is still not going at his maximum speed. When I believe that we have lost Snotlout, I instruct Raefor to level out.
But I was wrong.
"That was pathetic," I hear Snotlout say, appearing beside Raefor and I on Hookfang.
I glare, "How did you follow me?"
"You don't think I know you well enough?" Snotlout exclaims as the wind picks up, "you always use the same maneuvers."
"Do not," I roll my eyes, "what do you want?"
"You shouldn't be out here," He says, "there's a storm coming."
Oh great, now he's acting like my mother. I don't want to look at him, I don't want him to see the sadness in my eyes, "Just go away."
"And let you kill yourself by staying in the storm?"
"What does it matter?" I laugh, "Leave me alone!"
"Would you stop being stubborn?" Snotlout argues, "Just come in."
Instead of responding I glare, patting Raefor on the back and speeding up so that we are ahead of Snotlout.
But the wind suddenly intensifies, the snow begins to fall at a incredible rate. Its beginning to get hard to see anything around me. Raefor makes an unanticipated turn, and now I'm hanging off of my saddle. For now my arm is still attached to my shoulder stump, and my fake hand to the iron handle. But I don't know how long I'll be able to hang on.
"Oh no..." I say as Raefor attemps to get me back on the saddle, "oh no, oh no, oh no!"
"Hang on!" Snotlout calls.
I look at him, "What do you think I'm doing?" Now i'm beginning to freak out, my heart is accelerating. Raefor continues to struggle, trying to get me on his back, but he's only making it worse. I feel the clasps on my shoulder stump start to move...it was slipping off. I don't know what do.
"Raefor, stop! You're making it worse."
The dragon stops, trying its best to hover. But even that is making it worse.
"Darn it, I think its going to..." Then I'm falling, watching as Raefor gets smaller and smaller. I scream. My dragon looks at me, his eyes widening and he dives to try and save me. For a moment I catch a glimpse of Hookfang and Snotlout, but as the I fall, the snow makes it impossible for me to see them anymore. Just when I think I'm a goner, I feel the claws grab my leg and pull me up before I fall into the water. We meet Snotlout and Hookfang back up in the sky.
Snotlout glares, "What was that!?"
"I can't control-"
"Yeah yeah. We need to try and get back home."
"Do you even know which way that is?" I'm surprised we're talking to each other without arguing. I kinda of remember having a conversation like this before...in the forest.
Snotlout frowns, "Of course I do," He looks around, "its this way"
Raefor follows Snotlout, I'm still hanging upside down. It was hard to think with the blood rushing to my head. We fly for several minutes, and still land is nowhere. I spot an island, "Lets try there!" I call over the storm. Before Snotlout can say anything I instruct Raefor to fly towards it. I was hoping we'd get there soon because of how intense the storm was getting...we land on the beach, Hookfang and Snotlout behind us. I lay on the beach for a moment, my eyes closed. I'm slightly dizzy, but hanging upside down can do that to you. Finally, I'm able to get up and brush my pants, "We need to find shelter."
"Duh..."
I grab Raefor so I don't get lost, and the four of us start walking. There are a lot of hills, and it wasn't impossible to see but if we wanted to get out of the blizzard before it got any worse.
For a few minutes we wander in between tree's, until a cave appears. It's tall, but only a little taller than Hookfang.
We push ourselves to get to the cave and we when we get inside, I fall against the rock wall that holds up the roof of the cafe and close my eyes, "What a storm..."
Silence.
Snotlout is already doing something on the other side of the cave, his back to me. Oh yeah, I forgot he was upset. Raefor and Hookfang look at each other, then run off into the storm, "Hey!" I call.
"Hookfang!" Snotlout calls, "get your butt over here." But he's met by nothing but the sound of the wind.
And things get awkward.
I look to the ground, my hands are red from the cold. Despite the wind and snow that doesn't come into the cave, I still feel cold. My gaze falls on to the snow as it falls. The howling wind. It was now near impossible to see very far. I put my arm in between my chest and my legs, trying to get keep it warm.
And then something with lot of leaves is in my face, "What-?" I brush the leaves and see Hookfang. In his mouth is a skinny tree, he plops it down on ground and runs back out.
"A tree? You brought back a tree?" Snotlout exclaims. Minutes later he does it again, "Hookfang, stop bringing in tree's!"
The dragon doesn't listen.
Raefor returns with plunking down some small sticks.
"Hookfang," I say the third time he returns with a tree, "we don't need anymore tree's." Hookfang drops the tree, then sits down.
"Oh so you listen to Penny but not me?" The dragon growls, grabbing a tree and pulling it out of the cave.
I watch as Hookfang pulls all of the tree's out.
Now its getting really cold.
Raefor sits close to me, bumping my arm for warmth. My iron arm is still attached to his saddle, but now didn't seem like the best time to fix it. Hookfang fires at the group of sticks sitting a couple feet away from my feet. Now we have a fire.
"Thanks Hookfang," I murmur, grateful for the large dragon.
There is silence, Snotlout is seated on the other side of the cave, but he says nothing folding his arms over his chest and glaring at the fire. I felt weak and helpless, I wanted to do something to help. We had no food, no water. Nothing to help us stay alive.
We were trapped.
I pat Raefor, and he cuddles up closer to me. Hookfang moves himself so he's near Snotlout. And we sit there in silence.
For a moment I wish we could speak normally, sure we did earlier, but trying to find home in the middle of what could have been the death of us put aside the differences I had with anyone. My father, I hope, was right about us making up eventually but I doubt it.
That reminds me.
"Why were you following me?"
Silence.
He's still ignoring me, "Why were you following me?"
Silence.
"Snotlout, why-"
"Okay, okay I heard you," He snaps, "I didn't follow you. Hiccup sent me to bring you in."
"And you listened to him."
"Everyone else was busy."
"Sure."
"Its the truth! Snotlout doesn't lie."
I laugh, "Think whatever you want."
"You know what, i'm not dealing with you," He gets up, "I'm going to go find some food."
In that storm, "I don't know-"
"I didn't ask for your permission," But as Snotlout goes to leave Hookfang blocks his way, roaring, "Hookfang, get out of my way!" The dragon doesn't listen, and refuses to leave his spot. He spreads his wings so the entire cave entrance is blocked. It was impossible to get out.
Snotlout frowns, "Move out of the way!"
No movement.
"I don't think you should go out," I speak up, "you could get lost."
"Snotlout doesn't get lost."
"Seriously," I say gesturing to the entrance, "that snowstorm is bad. You could die."
"Whatever," He plops on to the ground and stares at the fire, "why do you care?"
"Well, dying would suck. Especially if it were because of a stupid snowstorm."
"So what? You and I broke up, remember?" Technically I suggested it, he never agreed with me, "stuff like that doesn't matter anymore."
I look at him for a moment, I knew he heard the argument between me and his father. I didn't want to bring it up, "Rules are meant to be broken," I muttur.
"Like I'm going to fall for that," Snotlout says, "you made it clear we were over, so we are."
"Then why did you bring it up?"
"Because I felt like it."
"That's random."
"It isn't."
I shake my head, "What do you want? An explanation? An apology? I can't give either."
"Just tell me the truth!"
"There's no truth to tell!"
"Sure there is."
"Like what?" I immediately regret that question.
"Why were you talking to my father?"
"Who?"
"My dad! Why were you talking to him? I'm not blind you know! I saw!"
"Saw what?" Gotta play stupid.
"You talking to him the night before Snoggletog."
Great, he wants an explanation, "I can't tell you that."
"Why not?"
"Because..."
"Because why..."
"Just because."
"I don't get it."
"You never do..."
"What's with you?"
"What's with you?"
"Will you just answer the question?"
"No."
"Why not?"
I'm getting really annoyed, why can't he just stop, "Because I just can't, okay? You wouldn't understand!"
"Try me!"
"I can't..."
He glares, "So your playing this game then...keeping secrets from me, who knows...maybe you've even lied. Was our relationship that? A lie! I bet it was."
"Would you stop?" I finally scream, "I broke up with you because of your dad alright!?"
His eyes widen.
Darn it. I was not going to say that.
------------
The days roll by quickly, with Toothless and Hiccup constantly beating Raefor and I when we race them around the island. Despite looking comfortable on his own dragon once again, the dragon races would come and go without Hiccup participating. I was still slightly confused, still riding Toothless for him since Raefor and I were in no condition to race ourselves. Mother had yet to discover the stowaways in our stable, with me sneaking out milk and Fish, I would have thought she would have been suspicious by now. But nothing changed.
I walk into the house one afternoon, a week before devastating winter was suppose to begin. My mother and father sit at the table. That is never a good sign, unless its meal time. I was surprised that she hadn't mentioned my break-up with Snotlout yet...She sips her water, gesturing to a chair.
Here we go again, "Yes, mother." I try not to sound too hostile. Now in these situations I become a little ticked off. My mother only scolds me, she never tries to talk to me like a person. She acts like i'm a bargaining chip. When I'm not.
"In a short period of time," And thus she begins, "you've managed drive away a suitor and mess up your chances to marry the same guy twice," I didn't mess it up the first time, just the second. I want to tell her that, but I know my mother. It would only make this worse, "I'm extremely disappointed in you."
"What's new?" I mutter
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
My mother frowns, "I've been talking with my friend Stinky. She knows of a small village several hours away. Their chief needs a wife..." She takes a sip of water, "so we pulled some strings, and the wedding is scheduled for a week tomorrow."
"What wedding?"
"Your wedding."
I gasp, "My wedding..."
"Yes. You're to marry the chief."
"MARRY!?" I exclaim, "Mom!"
"This is my last option. Things didn't work out here, so i'm looking elsewhere. You only have yourself to blame," Mother puts her cup down, "its a lovely island I hear. Flat with surrounding beaches. And best of all," She smiles, "no dragons."
"No dragons?" I glare, "Mom!"
"Those dragons are pesks, lots of people think so. I hear something will be done about it them in the future, though rumors tend to spread foolishly."
"I'm not marrying anyone mother," Because I'd rather die than marry someone I don't love, i'd rather die.
My mother looks at me, "Its not up for discussion. At dawn on that day you will be marrying. And that's the end."
"Dad...I can't marry him!" I look at him.
"Your father and I agree. Its a done deal. Now that is THE END of this discussion."
I clench my fist, "How could you do this to me? I'm a person, not someone to bargain away. Happiness? If this is what you believe happiness to be then you have a sore AND horrible definition." I turn and run out the door, grabbing my coat.
Before can say anything the door closes behind me, and I'm standing there glaring at the ground. My life is ruined.
Raefor is in the stable, and when I open it I see him. The other three Nadders are bigger, it is going to be difficult to hide them for very much longer. Now they can fly, "Raefor..." Without saying another word, the Nadder is already out the front stable door. He turns around, roaring at the others who stand watching us. Their heads sink, and they sit down, "I'm sorry guys. I'll bring you next time." I shut the stable door.
"Penny," I mount Raefor, hearing Hiccup call my name. He's coming towards me from the Great Hall. I'm not in the mood to talk, "Glad I found you. There's something you need to know-"
I glare, "I'm not in the mood Hiccup."
"But its really important."
"Later," I insist, patting Raefors back. He jumps and we begin to soar towards the sky.
"But you need to know about the-" I don't hear the last part, I'm already too far away. But I don't care. I need time away from this place, away from the village. Away from my mother. Just me and Raefor. No one else to disturb us, me ranting and raving to an open sky, and sea, "This is stupid," I start once the island is small behind us, "I mean, I was against dating a stranger, but MARRYING a stranger? And on another island. WITH NO DRAGONS! What kind of madness is this?"
My dragon tilts his head, I guess he doesn't understand.
"Mom marrying me off to some chief...i don't want to marry some chief. I want to.." I trail off...I want to be with Snotlout. But since I messed that up with my stupid mindset and pressure from his father, that will never happen. I wanted to protect Snotlout but I can barely protect myself. I'm not weak, I know that, but I feel like it. Like this world has made me the weakest human of all!
And whats worse is that I still don't know whether i made the right decision. My mind often reflects on what my father said, reminding me that I was making the same mistake as him. And I believed it. I just don't want Snotlout to have issues with his father. But I don't want to marry someone I don't love.
I sigh, whys this happening to me?
--------
Hours pass, and the sun is beginning to set over the horizon. I still don't want to go home. My throat is beginning to hurt from all the ranting, but I don't care. I just don't care.
The wind begins to pick up and I try to warm my arm by placing it in between me and Raefors back, leaning against it. I was getting really cold despite my coat, but I can't go back yet...I just can't yet.
"I'm cold," I say to Raefor. He turns his head so I can see the side of his face, "I don't want to go back yet. Not back to that horror...maybe soon. Lets just keep flying for a bit longer." I'm shaking, but I can't go back yet.
Then I hear a voice, "Hookfang!" I must be hearing things, I must be...and then I hear it again, "Hookfang, calm down!" I turn my head and behind me is Snolout, oh great. He isn't close behind me...so maybe I can lose, "Alright Raefor. We need to lose Snotlout."
The dragon makes a parrot noise, tilting his head again.
"I know we've never tried it. But, this could be good practice for the dragon races," Why would Snotlout even be out here?"
I look at him, and we make eye contact. He's struggling to get Hookfang to listen to him...but what else is new. Snotlout doesn't look as upset as he did the night I tried to break up with him, instead there's something else in his facial expression. Something I see rarely. So rarely...that I can never remember what the expression represents.
"Alright, lets lose him," Despite the weight of my saddle and arm, Raefor picks up speed and starts to ascend towards the sky. I don't look behind me to see if its working or not. But as we ascend, we take a sudden descend towards the water, picking up even more speed. I hold on tightly, trying to keep myself properly balanced as to not fall off of my dragon.
Flurries begin to fall from the sky and I watch them with a smile on my face, so beautiful. I love it when it snows.
We do some sharps turns and speed up, though Raefor is still not going at his maximum speed. When I believe that we have lost Snotlout, I instruct Raefor to level out.
But I was wrong.
"That was pathetic," I hear Snotlout say, appearing beside Raefor and I on Hookfang.
I glare, "How did you follow me?"
"You don't think I know you well enough?" Snotlout exclaims as the wind picks up, "you always use the same maneuvers."
"Do not," I roll my eyes, "what do you want?"
"You shouldn't be out here," He says, "there's a storm coming."
Oh great, now he's acting like my mother. I don't want to look at him, I don't want him to see the sadness in my eyes, "Just go away."
"And let you kill yourself by staying in the storm?"
"What does it matter?" I laugh, "Leave me alone!"
"Would you stop being stubborn?" Snotlout argues, "Just come in."
Instead of responding I glare, patting Raefor on the back and speeding up so that we are ahead of Snotlout.
But the wind suddenly intensifies, the snow begins to fall at a incredible rate. Its beginning to get hard to see anything around me. Raefor makes an unanticipated turn, and now I'm hanging off of my saddle. For now my arm is still attached to my shoulder stump, and my fake hand to the iron handle. But I don't know how long I'll be able to hang on.
"Oh no..." I say as Raefor attemps to get me back on the saddle, "oh no, oh no, oh no!"
"Hang on!" Snotlout calls.
I look at him, "What do you think I'm doing?" Now i'm beginning to freak out, my heart is accelerating. Raefor continues to struggle, trying to get me on his back, but he's only making it worse. I feel the clasps on my shoulder stump start to move...it was slipping off. I don't know what do.
"Raefor, stop! You're making it worse."
The dragon stops, trying its best to hover. But even that is making it worse.
"Darn it, I think its going to..." Then I'm falling, watching as Raefor gets smaller and smaller. I scream. My dragon looks at me, his eyes widening and he dives to try and save me. For a moment I catch a glimpse of Hookfang and Snotlout, but as the I fall, the snow makes it impossible for me to see them anymore. Just when I think I'm a goner, I feel the claws grab my leg and pull me up before I fall into the water. We meet Snotlout and Hookfang back up in the sky.
Snotlout glares, "What was that!?"
"I can't control-"
"Yeah yeah. We need to try and get back home."
"Do you even know which way that is?" I'm surprised we're talking to each other without arguing. I kinda of remember having a conversation like this before...in the forest.
Snotlout frowns, "Of course I do," He looks around, "its this way"
Raefor follows Snotlout, I'm still hanging upside down. It was hard to think with the blood rushing to my head. We fly for several minutes, and still land is nowhere. I spot an island, "Lets try there!" I call over the storm. Before Snotlout can say anything I instruct Raefor to fly towards it. I was hoping we'd get there soon because of how intense the storm was getting...we land on the beach, Hookfang and Snotlout behind us. I lay on the beach for a moment, my eyes closed. I'm slightly dizzy, but hanging upside down can do that to you. Finally, I'm able to get up and brush my pants, "We need to find shelter."
"Duh..."
I grab Raefor so I don't get lost, and the four of us start walking. There are a lot of hills, and it wasn't impossible to see but if we wanted to get out of the blizzard before it got any worse.
For a few minutes we wander in between tree's, until a cave appears. It's tall, but only a little taller than Hookfang.
We push ourselves to get to the cave and we when we get inside, I fall against the rock wall that holds up the roof of the cafe and close my eyes, "What a storm..."
Silence.
Snotlout is already doing something on the other side of the cave, his back to me. Oh yeah, I forgot he was upset. Raefor and Hookfang look at each other, then run off into the storm, "Hey!" I call.
"Hookfang!" Snotlout calls, "get your butt over here." But he's met by nothing but the sound of the wind.
And things get awkward.
I look to the ground, my hands are red from the cold. Despite the wind and snow that doesn't come into the cave, I still feel cold. My gaze falls on to the snow as it falls. The howling wind. It was now near impossible to see very far. I put my arm in between my chest and my legs, trying to get keep it warm.
And then something with lot of leaves is in my face, "What-?" I brush the leaves and see Hookfang. In his mouth is a skinny tree, he plops it down on ground and runs back out.
"A tree? You brought back a tree?" Snotlout exclaims. Minutes later he does it again, "Hookfang, stop bringing in tree's!"
The dragon doesn't listen.
Raefor returns with plunking down some small sticks.
"Hookfang," I say the third time he returns with a tree, "we don't need anymore tree's." Hookfang drops the tree, then sits down.
"Oh so you listen to Penny but not me?" The dragon growls, grabbing a tree and pulling it out of the cave.
I watch as Hookfang pulls all of the tree's out.
Now its getting really cold.
Raefor sits close to me, bumping my arm for warmth. My iron arm is still attached to his saddle, but now didn't seem like the best time to fix it. Hookfang fires at the group of sticks sitting a couple feet away from my feet. Now we have a fire.
"Thanks Hookfang," I murmur, grateful for the large dragon.
There is silence, Snotlout is seated on the other side of the cave, but he says nothing folding his arms over his chest and glaring at the fire. I felt weak and helpless, I wanted to do something to help. We had no food, no water. Nothing to help us stay alive.
We were trapped.
I pat Raefor, and he cuddles up closer to me. Hookfang moves himself so he's near Snotlout. And we sit there in silence.
For a moment I wish we could speak normally, sure we did earlier, but trying to find home in the middle of what could have been the death of us put aside the differences I had with anyone. My father, I hope, was right about us making up eventually but I doubt it.
That reminds me.
"Why were you following me?"
Silence.
He's still ignoring me, "Why were you following me?"
Silence.
"Snotlout, why-"
"Okay, okay I heard you," He snaps, "I didn't follow you. Hiccup sent me to bring you in."
"And you listened to him."
"Everyone else was busy."
"Sure."
"Its the truth! Snotlout doesn't lie."
I laugh, "Think whatever you want."
"You know what, i'm not dealing with you," He gets up, "I'm going to go find some food."
In that storm, "I don't know-"
"I didn't ask for your permission," But as Snotlout goes to leave Hookfang blocks his way, roaring, "Hookfang, get out of my way!" The dragon doesn't listen, and refuses to leave his spot. He spreads his wings so the entire cave entrance is blocked. It was impossible to get out.
Snotlout frowns, "Move out of the way!"
No movement.
"I don't think you should go out," I speak up, "you could get lost."
"Snotlout doesn't get lost."
"Seriously," I say gesturing to the entrance, "that snowstorm is bad. You could die."
"Whatever," He plops on to the ground and stares at the fire, "why do you care?"
"Well, dying would suck. Especially if it were because of a stupid snowstorm."
"So what? You and I broke up, remember?" Technically I suggested it, he never agreed with me, "stuff like that doesn't matter anymore."
I look at him for a moment, I knew he heard the argument between me and his father. I didn't want to bring it up, "Rules are meant to be broken," I muttur.
"Like I'm going to fall for that," Snotlout says, "you made it clear we were over, so we are."
"Then why did you bring it up?"
"Because I felt like it."
"That's random."
"It isn't."
I shake my head, "What do you want? An explanation? An apology? I can't give either."
"Just tell me the truth!"
"There's no truth to tell!"
"Sure there is."
"Like what?" I immediately regret that question.
"Why were you talking to my father?"
"Who?"
"My dad! Why were you talking to him? I'm not blind you know! I saw!"
"Saw what?" Gotta play stupid.
"You talking to him the night before Snoggletog."
Great, he wants an explanation, "I can't tell you that."
"Why not?"
"Because..."
"Because why..."
"Just because."
"I don't get it."
"You never do..."
"What's with you?"
"What's with you?"
"Will you just answer the question?"
"No."
"Why not?"
I'm getting really annoyed, why can't he just stop, "Because I just can't, okay? You wouldn't understand!"
"Try me!"
"I can't..."
He glares, "So your playing this game then...keeping secrets from me, who knows...maybe you've even lied. Was our relationship that? A lie! I bet it was."
"Would you stop?" I finally scream, "I broke up with you because of your dad alright!?"
His eyes widen.
Darn it. I was not going to say that.