eight

"AND YOU SEE, EVERY TIME I CLOSE MY EYES I SEE HER. Her. That same woman who appeared to me when I was falling. The same one that carried me around and told me everything was going to be okay," Alora said. "What is it going to take to learn her name?!"

Frustrated, she planted herself on Toothless's back. The dragon huffed and continued to sleep, despite the extra weight on its back.

I used to do that all the time.

"What now?" Hiccup asked, walking inside his hut.

"I saw another vision of her. The woman."

"Which one? Your mom?"

"No, the one that looks like a babysitter."

"Oh. So why are you all worked up?"

She shook her head.

"Something feels really familiar about her, but I just can't make it out."

Hiccup thought for a moment.

"I think I might have an idea."

Wait!

What Astrid?

Can I help tell the story?

Why?

Because you were under for most of it and you don't have an outside view as to how things went down.

. . . *sigh* Take a seat.

Astrid saw Fishlegs and Hiccup standing in front of Alora, who was sitting down.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked.

"We're helping Val remember her past by hypnotizing her," Fishlegs said.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Relax Astrid, it was my idea," Alora told her.

"It was mine," Hiccup said.

"But I was the one who gave consent."

"Doesn't matter! This idea is insane!"

"Stand down Artemis," Alora told her. "I need this."

The blonde sighed and stepped back.

"Okay Aly, I need you to stare at this necklace and follow it with your eyes," Fishlegs told her.

She did, but nothing was working yet. That's when Astrid came up with an idea.

"Aly, listen to the sound of my voice," she said, calmly. "Imagine you're riding on Toothless's back."

Hiccup gave the girl a baffled look.

"Imagine that sweet whistling sound as you dive down, reaching a hand out to touch the water below. The feeling of the wind blowing in your hair. You're free. One with Toothless, as he is one with you. And-"

Alora passed out.

"Alright Aly, I know you can hear me," Astrid said. "So listen carefully. If we go too far back, we might end up messing with your memories so let's start simple. I need you to go back to the events prior to falling from the sky. What were you doing? Where were you?"

two months earlier

Alora kicked the pebble stone in front of her. She was angry. Angry at. . . At Ti-Tim. Timmothy. She was angry at Timmothy for asking out her best friend. She liked him. A lot (it seemed). And now she was dateless and best friendless at their senior prom.

The entire walk home. . . was filled with mixed emotions. She saw a house. Small house. She walked inside and saw Lily playing with her toy Barbies.

Then there were people hugging her. Her mother and father (she presumed). They ate dinner and for the most part, Alora stayed quiet.

But soon that quietness was filled with an earth-shattering shake.

"W-What was that?" Lily asked, scared.

"Earthquake!" a man's voice said. "Alora, take your sister outside."

She nodded her head and grabbed a leash. A leash?

A dog barked and she attached it to its collar. She grabbed her sister's hand and ran outside. They ran until they were away from the house. Her parents had caught up with them, but then, the unthinkable happened.

The ground cracked open. Alora saw it was coming towards her. So she picked up the dog and gave it to her younger sister, who gave her a look of confusion. Just as she turned Alora felt her whole body go limp. She was falling.

The last thing she heard was the confusion in her sister's voice.

"Alora?"

Then, darkness. She opened her eyes and saw colors she'd only seen in a photo of a horizon. She closed them once again and felt a sharp pain in her head.

In her mind she saw the sky and clouds beneath her. Unknowingly, she decided to take a leap of faith.

She felt light as a feather and free as a bird.

Suddenly she saw someone. A woman smiling down at her. Her mouth opened to speak.

Wake up. Wake up.

Alora's eyes fluttered open and her mind felt fuzzy. She wasn't comprehending what was happening, that she knew. All around her was blue and fluffy white-shaped-

Clouds. They were clouds! Which meant. . .

"I'M FALLING!" she exclaimed, finally coming to her senses.

Never in her entire life has she screamed so loud (at least, that's how she felt).

"I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'M GONNA DIE!!!"

She heard nothing but the loud whips of the wind blowing on her back. Suddenly, she heard a whistle.

"Hello?!"

Then, a force grabbed her by the ankles and-

"ALY!"

Alora woke up, letting out the breath of air she didn't know she was holding. In front of her was Hiccup, looking frightened.

"Are you okay?" Fishlegs asked.

"Did you remember anything?" Astrid asked.

Alora nodded her head.

"I know what happened to me."

She explained the entire story to them. They stared at her in disbelief.

"So you're telling me that you were somehow 'teleported' here from another world?" Hiccup asked.

"I know! It sounds crazy, believe me I'm the one who's confused here the most."

Well, we all were confused. And I'm not going to lie, we didn't believe her for a while. I had a phase where I tried to avoid her during our dinner conversations.

You did what?!

Alora spent most of the night thinking about her other family. As he sat on the second floor of the hut, Hiccup could tell. Toothless even tried getting her to stand up and away from the table. But she looked at every parchment with frustration.

"Bucky."

"W-What?" Hiccup asked.

"My dog's name. . .is Bucky," Alora told him. "I named him that because he has one leg."

Oh my Thor, I'm such a dork.

Now you realize that?!

*laughs* Shut up Astrid!

*laughs* Make me!

Hiccup sighed.

"Come here."

Alora stood up and started walking up the ladder towards him. He walked over to his bed and patted the space next to him.

"Look. Today. . .was a start. You know a lot more now than you did when you first got here, so I'd say that's an accomplishment."

She shook her head.

"I don't even know what my parents look like."

"Doesn't matter. The point is, you remember them. If I asked you about your family three weeks ago, you'd have nothing to say. Now you do. So be satisfied with that until we can get that stubborn mind of yours to remember more information."

She scoffed.

"So did you have that speech planned out or was it off the top of your head?"

"You know what Aly, be glad I even took the time to give you a speech."

She playfully punched his shoulder and started making her way back down to the first floor.

"Night Little Prince," she called out.

"Goodnight Princess."

She rolled her eyes and blew out the candle before going to sleep in her little makeshift bed. That night, she took Hiccup's words personally and she'd be lying if she said it didn't change her perspective on things.