Ch. 9- Secret

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"Hurry, Em!" I cried as Dad and Toothless started closing in on us. "Go faster!"

"Wait! Hey! You on the Night Fury! Slow down!" dad called from behind us.

We were just flying around when they suddenly showed up behind us. It's a good thing I had my helmet on or he would have recognized me.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you!" dad tried again.

Emerald and I made a tight turn around a tree then disappeared in a dark cave. Quickly, Emerald wrapped me up in her wings to make us look like a rock.

The only problem is that I forgot one thing...

Toothless made a scream then landed next to us. "I know you're there," dad said.

...Toothless is a Night Fury.

"My dragon can see in the dark, sorta."

Emerald opened her wings and I crawled out. "Darn, that works on other dragons," I said in a different voice.

We came out of the cave, and dad got a good look at Emerald. Please, please, please, let this end well for me.

"Look, bud, another night fury."

"Yeah, yeah, can we go now?" I asked, impatiently.

"Not yet. Who are you?"

"Why do you want to know?" I asked, bitterly.

"Because- that doesn't matter. Answer the question."

"I go by Secret. Now who are you?" I asked, even already knowing the answer.

"I am Hiccup, chief of Berk, proud husband and father of three, soon to be four," he said the last part with a grin and slightly far away look. "How old is your Night Fury? How old are you?"

"My night fury is nine years old. As for my age..." Nine, almost ten, but you know I'm ten in two weeks, "I'm ten years old."

"Fascinating. Now-"

"Yup. Okay. I gotta go," I said, about to get on Emerald.

"Wait!" His hand went around my arm. "Do you want to come to Berk with me?"

"Let me think," I said sarcastically, then immediately answered, "No!" I hoped on Emerald, and we flew into the forest, then stopped at a good distance, waiting for him to leave.

He just stared into the forest for a good two minutes, I could of sworn he saw us at one point, but then he got on Toothless and left, heading in the direction of Berk.

After a few minutes me and Emerald slowly followed, making sure we weren't spotted. Today a bunch of people were racing around the island, so it was harder to do so, but we managed.

We went into the forest, and Emerald flew when she could, otherwise she ran back to the cove. I petted her for a good while before we played around, then it was time for me to go.

I looked around, to make sure no one was watching, then went into my hut and changed out of my flight suit and into my regular clothes before I headed home.

I helped mom with dinner, as usual, and set the table. Dad was a bit late but only by a few minutes.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, sitting in his seat.

"It's fine," mom said with her smile, hands on her stomach. Our baby brother or sister was going to be born any day now and we all, especially Blade, couldn't wait. Blade was excited to see Emerald more often, which he couldn't with mom always watching him. But we both knew the majority of her attention would be the new baby once he\ she was born.

"I found someone on another night fury today!" Dad said, excitedly.

"Really?" Bard asked, just as excited, followed by mom. Blade gave me a worried look, and I simply gave him a small smile and the slightest nod. He calmed down a bit after that.

Dad told them about our little run in. Then Blade and mom told us about their day, then Bard told us about his.

"What did you do, Star?" asked Bard.

"Why do you want to know?" Dad's eyes widened then narrowed at me as I said that, I thought I was going to be in trouble before I remembered that's what I said earlier today. Darn it, Star! Think of something, quickly! "I'm sorry, Bard. Emerald and I got into a little fight and I didn't mean to take my anger out on you. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I was just wondering. You don't talk about Emerald that much anymore. I mean, you never really told us much about her but lately it's even less."

"I guess I'm just nervous about picking a dragon."

Dad smiled eagerly at this new topic, so did mom. "Speaking of which, it's only a few months away!"

"Yeah, speaking of which, am I allowed back in the forest?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, but not in a suspicious way. "As if me saying no will stop you," he chuckled, "but sure, why not. You're going to no matter what I say."

At first I made sure to take a little walk through the village once or twice at any time of day, so some of the villagers could tell dad they saw me when he asked them, but other than that I was in the forest or flying above the ocean or to another island. Now, I wasn't as careful and got caught a few times.

"Yay! Thank you, daddy!" I only said mommy or daddy when I wanted something or wanted to please them, for they hate the idea that I'm growing up.

"Now about your day," he said, smirking at me. "What did you and Emerald do?"

"We ran around the forest a bit," I admitted, laughing three times, "played at the cove, went to the beach, started to-" I put a hand over my mouth as I realized what I was about to say. I quickly started eating the rest of my dinner.

"'Started to,' what?" mom asked.

"Nothing major," I said with a shrug.

"Answer the question, Star," dad said. He said that a lot to me, I realized.

"Started to climb up one of the mountains," I muttered, lying, quietly.

"What?" mom shrieked. "What were you thinking, Star? You could've gotten hurt!"

"We barely went up, we got too scared," I lied. We flew all the way to the top.

"Don't you ever climb a mountain without an adult again, understand me?"

"I understand." Just because I understand it doesn't mean I won't do it, when will they understand that?  Hopefully not anytime soon.

"Good."

The rest of dinner went by uneventful. Bard and Blade cleaned the dishes after we were done, and I went to my room.

I pulled pulled out a couple journals from the secret box under my bed.

I drew a picture of Emerald up in the clouds, all by herself. Although in reality she could never go that high without my help. I pushed my secret drawing journal aside, still open, and opened my design journal. I needed a new flight suit soon, for I was starting to grow out of the one I use now.

I did a few upgrades on the design, like making a bigger pocket for my Zippleback gas for my inferno, as well as a spot for my inferno. I measured myself and wrote the measurements in my journal. I drew a smaller, more detailed picture in the right top corner and blocked everything around me out.

"Nice design," someone said. I jumped and turned to face them.

"Dad! Hey dad. Hi. Uh, hi dad. Hi," I said as I closed my journals.

He chuckled, "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you. You didn't answer when I knocked, so I was worried that something happened."

"Nope! Nothing happened! Just fine. I'm fine. I'm just fine. Yup, so," I trailed off.

"Starfire," he said, carefully, "do you have something you want to tell me?"

Yes, actually I do. I've wanted to tell you it since I was five!

"Nope. Nothing. Nothing at all," I spoke calmly.

He narrowed his eyes playfully. "Really? Because it looks like you're excited to get your new dragon!" he said, picking me up and holding me above his head for a few seconds before putting me back down. The fact that he could still pick me up reminded me that I was small for my age. I looked two years younger than I was. When Bard was ten dad rarely picked him up because Bard was too big, but dad still picks me up frequently.

"You caught me," I went along with him, even though I already had a dragon. "I can't wait!" I said, even though I could. I was so used to keeping Emerald a secret, I don't know what I will do when she's not. It was hard to imagine.

"Glad to hear. Now, little missy," he said, stacking my journals on my desk, "it's getting late, and you need your sleep." He picked me up and gently laid me down on my bed then covered me up. "Good night, baby girl," he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. "Now do me a favor, and stop growing."

"Dad, I'm already small for my age! But I wish I could stop growing too. I want to be your baby girl forever!"

"You'll always be my baby girl, no matter how old you get," he chuckled, placing another kiss on my forehead. "Goodnight."

When he shut the door I jumped out of bed and put my secret journals back under the bed then got back in bed.

As I thought about how my father acted with me, Bard, and Blade, I wondered if other fathers were as wonderful as him. Being as secretive and shy as I was  I never made any human friends, so I didn't know how other parents were. Well I'm going to find out, I told myself.

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