A.N.
This is another suspense story, takes place after Gumshoe about a couple of weeks. It'd be very helpful for anyone who hasn't read Nameless Foray to read it to understand the how's and when's because this story continues a problem derived from those events. Gumshoe would help clarify some details as well.
This isn't a sequel, just another 'episode' in my line of stories. And as always...
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Escape
Chapter 1
Humble Beginnings
"It's good to know who has your back and who doesn't. Often times, life will throw you a problem that needs more than one set of hands to solve. And as the viking saying goes, two horns are better than one."
-Hiccup
The sun shone at high noon with little to no clouds joining its presence. Days like these were rare for Berk, what with it snowing nine months out of the year and hailing the other three. But when these days rolled around, the children used them to their full advantage.
"Wooooohohohooooo!" Hiccup yelled in delight as he twisted in the air before landing back down on the waves. He smiled as maneuvered his board closer towards Astrids' before turning off again and catching more air at the top of the wave.
"Show off!" Astrid yelled as she too smiled, not because of the reason Hiccup was—having fun—but because of the fact that she, oddly, couldn't help but blush when she looked at him.
Maybe it's just the swimming suit... she thought.
To pick up her speed, she lowered herself closer to her board. Maneuvering up to the top of the wave, she turned just before the water ended and raced back down its liquid slope. The water started to curve inward as it got closer to land, and the two screamed with joy as they raced each other through the watery tunnel. Hiccup saw an opening and took it, jumping over of the top of the wave and gliding down the other side. Astrid, however, took her chances further, testing how much longer she had until she crashed. She flirted with danger for too long and as the land came up, the water came down, taking her with it.
Her wooden board broke through the surface like a rocket, shooting straight up close to a ninety degree angle before coming back down on its flat face. It floated on the water, moving about with the small waves. Astrid joined it as she took in a deep breath of oxygen once she surfaced. Swimming over, she hung onto it with both hands and allowed her legs to relax a little.
Hiccup paddled over to her, making sure to keep a good distance before stopping and sitting up straight.
He laughed, "Isn't it just like snowboarding?"
Astrid couldn't help but smile, "Sort of, same concept at least." She said as she lifted herself up and onto the board.
She couldn't understand why she was the one that had to crash while he was perfectly fine. It might have had something to do with his prosthetic. He designed his board similar to Toothless' saddle. Took him a while to make it, but the board had an attachment that would hook Hiccup's prosthetic foot into place and help keep him stable when standing. He really couldn't afford to crash as it wasn't as easy as just jumping off. He had to move his foot a certain way to unhook his prosthetic, crashing would only make problems worse.
"You make it look so easy." She continued, paddling over to the shore with him close behind her.
"Sorry," he apologized with a small giggle. She smiled and blushed slightly at it.
Back on the shore, Snotlout was building himself a sand castle, or to be more precise, his very own sand castle.
"There, Snotlout Manor two-point-o. Way better then the first one that got destroyed by a certain someone." Snotlout finished his sentence darkly as he remember Tuffnut stomping all of his first castle. Hookfang landed down beside Snotlout, wiggling playfully at his rider.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Watch the building, I can't afford to construct another!" Hookfang's playful face dropped and he turned around to leave, purposely waving his tail to hit Snotlout which flung him into his own sand castle, completely destroying it.
Fishlegs, who was a good distance across the beach, was piling up rocks for Meatlug. Said dragon sat patiently for her rider to finish her 'order' of food, licking her chaps as the pile kept growing bigger and bigger. With a final huff, the last rock was place on top.
"Phew, there you go Meatlug, the finest rocks I could—" All the rocks were eating in one bite.
"—find. Aw, you must have been hungry." he said as he scratched her chin and kissed her face. She smiled and panted happily from the pampering.
Two screams of joy echoed from the top of the cliff, both boys looking up to see the twins swinging off of the rope they tied to the balcony and dropped into the sea below.
"Ah man!" "That was awesome!" they said after coming up for air.
"We have got to do that again!" Tuffnut said as he began to swim towards shore.
"Best idea ever!" Ruffnut added.
"Hey guys, nice form, I guess. I'd give it an eight." Hiccup commented while he and Astrid paddled to shore, meeting up with the others on the beech. Both jammed their boards into the sand before grouping up.
"Hahaha, yes; I get an eight." Ruffnut announced, coming up to her brother.
"Hey, no fair; what's my score?"
"I don't know, an eight?" Astrid answered.
"Haha, yes, two more than yours!" he said, rubbing it in Ruffnut's face.
"That's the same number as mine." Ruffnut replied.
"Eh, I would have given it a seven." Snotlout butted in as he walked up to them.
"Oh yeah, well then you get a six!" Tuffnut argued.
"But I didn't even do anything!" Snotlout argued back
"Exactly."
"You know what, fine, you get a five now." Snotlout said, crossing his arms.
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"You don't even get a score!" Tuffnut gasped as if it was the harshest thing someone had ever said to him.
Ruffnut chuckled, "Burn,"
Fishlegs stopped beside Hiccup, leaning in to whisper to him and Astrid.
"Do you guys just wanna go back to the tree house?"
"Yeah, I've watched this before." Astrid commented. The three of them grabbing their things and climbing on top of their dragons. Hiccup and Astrid had to call theirs first though as Stormfly and Toothless were hanging out at the house, literally.
Two Berserkers hid behind some bushes as they watched the kids have fun. Both scowling at them as they gathered more information. They kept a close eye on Hiccup, watching his every movement and categorizing their options.
"What would he most likely trigger?" one asked.
"Its not that he wouldn't trigger them, its if he would get caught up in them. He does have a small frame." the other concluded.
"Hmmm, perhaps make the hole bigger?"
"It would better our chances, come on, let's go inform the boss." The two left in tip-toe, silently moving around the leaves and using the soundless rocks to their advantage. If you didn't know any better, it was like they weren't even there.
There's the first chapter of Escape; as always, it starts out as a nice, beautiful day. Then everything goes south and suspense walks on to the stage!
Thanks for reading, more chapters to come; about the same length as my other stories, they always are.
