Dancing Scales

Chapter 13

Dancer's P.O.V:

I was flying high in the air, three days later, making sure to keep far away from the side of the island with regular viking activity, when it happened. Minding my own business, I did not expect anyone to try and sneak up on me.

As soon as I saw the slightly-abnormal shifting of the clouds to my left, I was on the defensive, flapping my wings to clear the air. In no time at all, I had a good view of the dragon who was gliding next to me.

It was a stormcutter, with brown and rusty red scales. On it's back stood the slender form of a viking woman, clad in dragonscale armour and leather.

She had a peaceable expression on her face, but I wasn't being fooled. It was much too close to the time of my capture to be getting all buddy-buddy with any humans. The nightmares and random flashbacks which had started up again after leaving the arena didn't need any reason to get worse, I didn't need dream..... dream Lu guilt-tripping me any more.

The stormcutter, who must have noticed that I was planning on bolting, called out to me. "Hello," he said, "I'm Cloudjumper. You must be Dancer, it's good to meet you."

"....," I stayed silent, looking around to make sure that there were no other dragons around who were able to capture me. We were alone. "Likewise."

He smiled at me, "My rider, Valka, was sent to tame you, Dancer. I regret to inform you that Berk's been quite anxious to meet another night fury, and I must assist them if it is asked of me by my rider."

Without another word, I turned tailfin and bolted.

~~}•{~~

It was another two days before I saw anyone who lived on the island. My sea skimming was interrupted by a shadow above me. With only a glance, I recognize the shiny black scales of my brother.

His head was hanging down, his tongue lolled out, and I wondered just how hard it must have been to keep himself flying straight like that. With ease, I barrel rolled up to him, and flew upside down above him. "Yo," I said, straight-faced.

He grinned, "Yo. How have you been?"

"Good," I grinned back, though it was fake. My mind was on him, and.... well, Lu. I missed Lu, I missed--

"You okay, Dancer?" Toothless said, shocking me out of my thoughts. "You seemed a little out of it."

I smiled, though, on the inside, it was kind of bitter; if only he knew. "Ye... yeah, I'm fine."

"If you say so," he conceded, "but I'm not so sure. You seem a lot less.... aware than usual."

"How so?" I queried, shooting him a confused look.

He tilted his head, "Well, for one, you haven't commented on the lack of viking."

My head whipped to his saddle, and I smiled. There reall was no viking on it. Excited, I asked, "What happened? How are you flying?"

"Hiccup built an automatic tail," he grinned, obviously extremely proud of his human, "I can control it and fly by myself now."

"Dude, that's great!" I exclaimed.

He smiled, then frowned. "Yeah. Now, back to you - what's going on?"

I hesitated, forcing myself to keep my gaze away from the scar on the underside of my wing. Should I tell him?

"You don't have to tell me anything," he assured, "just know I'm there for you if you do decide to."

"....you should know," I said, after a moment. "I, uh, a while ago, I was captured by this guy named Grimmel. He's kind of obsessed with killing night furies, I had spent a week or two on his ship before I could escape," I said. "It, uh, they didn't treat dragons the nicest..... I've been having a lot of flashbacks and nightmares lately, what with my recent capture and all...."

"Oh my Thor, I had no idea!" he exclaimed. "I wish I had known, I wouldn't have pried so much."

"It's fine," I shook my head, voice soft. "That's not the worst part, though. I had this.... cell neighbor, I guess. I kind of 'liked' liked him, but, when I escaped, he had to stay behind. I, uh, I'm pretty sure they killed him."

"That's terrible, Dancer, I'm so sorry," he apologized.

I sighed, "It's not your fault, don't be."

Until I went back to the camp Showman and I had set up, we spent the flight in silence.

A/N: Well, the chapter was only, like, around 750 words, but I think it's okay. I'm having writer's block, so.... yeah. Thanks for reading, I hope that you enjoyed it!