Marked - An Eret [Son of Eret] Love Story (HTTYD)

12. Training

Astrid led the riders through numerous obstacles to get them back into the swing of things. And even though Eret had never formally trained with Skullcrusher, the two flew together in perfect sync. Aria was proud of the way he kept up with her and the others.

But, just like old times, the training quickly turned competitive. Aria raced past Snotlout, almost knocking him off of Hookfang. "Whoops," she called back teasingly.

"Hey, you meant to do that!" The hotheaded Viking yelled. He then smiled deviously and ordered, "get 'em, Hooky." The monstrous nightmare picked up speed, chasing after Midnight.

"Wait for us!" Ruffnut shouted.

Tuff then added quickly, "yeah we wanna attack Aria, too!"

Aria laughed joyously as a game of catch-the-titan-wing quickly broke out. It was something they used to play before Midnight was taken away. And he seemed to remember it as well, squawking loudly and taking turns to avoid the other dragons.

Knowing that Midnight could easily fly out of sight in a flash, Aria patted his neck and reminded with a laugh, "take it slow for the others; we don't want them to lose interest."

Midnight gurgled as if to laugh, then slowed down to the pace of the smaller dragons. Aria turned back to see Skullcrusher and Stormfly hit on their tail. She shot them a challenging grin and steered Midnight up into the clouds.

Quickly losing them in the thicker air, Aria laughed to herself. That is, until Midnight came to a sudden hault, screeching a surprise as Skullcrusher appeared right infront of them. Aria almost fell off of the titan wing from the abrupt stop. She saw Eret giving her a sly grin from atop his dragon. "Looks like tracking beats speed," he teased.

Aria rolled her eyes and retorted, "maybe this time." She smiled in amusement as Eret flew back down to the original sea stack and landed. Following in suit, Midnight perched beside Skullcrusher.

"No fair, Midnight cheated," Tuff complained as he and his sister landed Barf and Belch.

Eret hopped off of his dragon and approached Midnight, calling back to the twin, "no one likes a sore loser." He then held a hand up to Aria to help her down, to which she gladly accepted.

"Uh.." Tuff groaned, giving them a slightly repulsed look before turning back to talk with his sister.

Astrid landed next, followed closely by Snotlout on Hookfang. "Midnight didn't cheat, Tuff," Astrid rolled her eyes before praising the titan wing, "he used his surrounding to his advantage."

Midnight purred in response before running over to play with Stormfly. "Then it's Aria who cheated," Tuffnut argued dramatically.

"Yeah, it's obvious she just let Eret win," Ruff added, crossing her arms.

Fishlegs was the last to land and recoiled, "really? You think she let him win? Since when does Aria let anyone beat her?"

"Since, now," Tuff scoffed, "duh."

"Alright, enough," Astrid shouted to stop the bickering, "no one cheated, okay?"

Eret shot the twins a winning look as they rolled their eyes, making Aria laugh. "You really did do good," she complimented Eret, "you caught Midnight completely off guard."

In attempts of being humble, Eret shook his head and smiled crookedly as he excused his win, "well, we had the upper hand for recent experience; probably never would've caught you if it wasn't your first time flying together in nearly two years."

Not it was Snotlout's turn to give the two a look of distaste. "I liked it better when she wanted to kill him," he muttered to the twins.

"Couldn't agree more," Ruff responded a look of sadness in her eyes, "he was supposed to be mine."

Snotlout widened his eyes and immediately offered himself, "I could be yours." But Ruffnut simply rolled her eyes and pushed his face away from her. Tuff laughed obnoxiously at this, earning himself a glare before Snotlout left on Hookfang. The twins, too, hopped onto the zippleback and flew off back to Berk.

"Well, I guess training is over," Astrid sighed as she watched the two dragons leave.

Aria laughed lightly. "At least we did everything we needed to," she pointed out.

"And an unplanned game of catch-the-titan-wing," Fishlegs added with a smile, "brought back some good memories."

Aria sighed happily and looked over to where Midnight and Stormfly were rolling around together. "You're right about that," she agreed.

Fishlegs hopped onto Meatlug and began to make his own way back to the village. Astrid, who had picked up on Aria and Eret's relationship recently, called to Stormfly with a sly grin. Mounting her nadder, she called back to her friends jokingly, "be back in time for dinner, you two."

When Astrid flew off, Aria slipped her hand into Eret's and sighed, "yep, she definitely knows."

Eret chuckled a bit as they watched Stormfly disappear. "Well," he began in a loving tone, "maybe it's about time we make it public, then."

Heat rose to Aria's cheeks at the idea of everyone finding out that the two were officially in a relationship. "How about we just tell our friends for now?" She asked nervously.

Eret smiled down at her and responded playfully, "as you wish, Ms. Haddock."