A/N-And we're back! The next installment of the Two Worlds Collide Series, filled with a slightly darker tale and more characters and incidents that will hold much sway for the future. For those of you who are new to this story, I suggest reading the first book, Two Worlds Collide. It's not as good, but it lays out the needed background for where this goes from.
Disclaimer applies-I do not own HTTYD or its characters, only my own story and/or the ideas I work with. There are similarities with other stories on this site, but with how many tales have been told, how can there not be? There is always my own twist of course, and as you'll read some are meant to have similarities...
As always, read and review!
Chapter One
Visitors From Afar
"Hiccup, back up!" "What, it can't be anything that bad, can-" BANG! "WHOA!"
I couldn't help but laugh. Yes, Hiccup had seen fireworks before, but he'd never seen mortar shells, and apparently, experience is his best teacher too. The shell exploded out of the tube with an explosion loud enough to make the Viking fall back on his rear end, but he kept watching as it streaked up into the sky, where it exploded into a huge violet and crimson willow. It was the Fourth of July, and Astrid, Hiccup, and the rest of the gang had joined me and my family at our house for the festivities. Surprisingly, Snotlout and the Twins had recognized the danger of the mortar long before Hiccup had, for once, and were on their sides laughing. My dad walked up to the tube and picked it up, readying the next shell. "I'm surprised," he remarked. "I was told you were as insightful as my son. What happened?" Hiccup shook his head as he stood up. "Everyone has their moments, Sam," he said as he walked back to join the rest of the group. I patted him on the back. "I see that destructive streak you're famous for hasn't gone away completely yet," I teased. His response was to punch me in the shoulder. I'll admit, though, it wasn't exactly a powerful blow.
The rest of the night followed a bit more smoothly, fireworks going off up and down the street, and around the city. At 10:00, we all filed into the back yard, this time with the dragons included since it was dark and everyone's attention was elsewhere, as the fireworks from the Greeley Stampede went off in the distance, holding everyone in a trance. As willows, Saturn Rings, Dragon's Eyes, and other patterns went off, I felt like I needed to sit back and smile for a moment at the peace we were all feeling.
It had been nearly two weeks since my triumphant return from Alaska, and things finally seemed to have quieted down for me and the gang. Life was good: I finally had scored a part-time job at a nearby nursery, thus helping to make much-needed money for college and my personal life. Thank goodness I no longer needed to pay for a car, as flying was much more efficient. My visits to Berk stayed regular, nearly every day, and were quiet, but entertaining. There had been a couple of major pranks pulled by the twins which had the village in an uproar (I won't go into details, but I'll tell you one involved the excessive use of soured eggs and milk), but other than that, nothing. Early July was always a good time for me: warm weather, even in Berk where temperatures never exceeded 90°F, regular rains, plants doing well, and the Hairy Hooligans in their best moods, save for Mildew, but he's never in a good mood.
After the fireworks were over, we went our separate ways for the night, and the next day found a strange calm over both my world and Hiccup's. No one seemed to want to do anything in particular, everyone kind of lazing about. I went off to work, getting back around mid-day, and went about my usual business of dealing with the many, many plants in the house. At this point, I also had baby snakes to deal with, and spent most of the day making sure they were all fine.
At about 6 in the evening, I got a knock on the back door of the house, causing the two dogs to go off barking. Once they saw who it was, though, they went about their business. Hiccup and company had been over enough times so that Panda and Barney thought nothing of the people always in the back yard, something I was thankful about. I went to the door and opened it.
"Hey Hiccup. "Hey. I was wondering if you wanted to take a flight around the village with me. It's been a real slow day, even at Gobber's." I caught an underlying tone to his words. Something else was going on, but he didn't want to talk where anyone could find us. I nodded, calling into the house to let my mom and dad know where I was going, and we stepped out of the house.
We flew over to the maze of sea stacks along the western side of the island, gliding in silence for a while around the rocks. Eventually Hiccup turned to me. "I got a letter from Heather today. Do you remember anything about her?" I nodded. "Yeah, the whole deal with her and Alvin, so on, so forth." Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, well, she lives a ways south of here, and her village doesn't have a lot of dragons living with them, but they have a good population of Terrors, so she managed to get one of them to bring a letter up here. Anyways, she told me they had an attack recently."
That got my attention pretty quickly. "An attack? What kind?" "They don't know. But whatever it was managed to take down a couple of larger dragons and a few people. There's not many creatures I can think of that could do that and evade detection that well, but that's not what I'm worried about." I raised an eyebrow. "And what else could possibly be more worrying?" "Heather said she had heard reports from even further south of them, and they've been moving north. Nothing else has been heard since, but it seems something's coming this way." I shrugged. "Well, when it gets here, we'll take care of it. We've dealt with worse. Was Heather asking for help?" "No, just a warning."
I looked down at Toothless, who hadn't said a word the whole time. "You have an opinion?" I asked. He shook his head and resumed flying forward. I raised an eyebrow at this too. "Since when is he so quiet?" I asked Hiccup. He shrugged. "Like I said, everyone's been kind of slow today." I nodded, and we kept going in silence for a while.
Hiccup eventually turned to me again as we started heading back. "I also wanted to give you a heads-up, because I've heard rumors something else may be happening soon. I don't know the details, people seem to forget to tell me," he said. "Must be force of habit," I replied, smirking. "Ha ha," he replied. "But back to what I was saying, there may be another tribe coming to visit sometime soon. I don't know who, but I know it's supposed to be someone important." I nodded. "Well, when you get the details, come find me." Hiccup nodded, and we turned course to head back to the portal.
About a week went by, and no one stopped by, and I found myself caught up in a number of personal projects and so didn't remember to stop by Berk either. Finally I had a day open again, at the beginning of the week on Monday, and decided to make a visit. As I lifted out away from the cove, I noticed the first few dragons taking off from the village, and heading for the mountain range to the north. It only got weirder when I actually reached the village itself. Vikings were hustling and bustling all over the place, fixing little messes and holes that no one normally bothered with, setting up decorations, and putting away excess supplies and items. Most odd, however, was that fact that everyone was working very hard at removing all evidence of dragon habitation. Fish baskets, toys, accidental scorch and scratch marks…they were all disappearing, being cleaned up and hidden away. The big bowls that held fish around the village were being cleaned out and fashioned to look like the braziers they used to be, as well.
A man by the name of Hoark went rushing by, holding a bucket of tar. I grabbed his shoulder. "What in the world is going on?" I queried. Hoark looked around. "Chief's orders. We're goin' tae be havin' visitors, and nae too friendly with dragons," he explained. "Where is Stoick?" I asked. "Up by his house overseeing the brazier in the village square." I nodded and began heading in that direction. The hustle and bustle, though, made it a bit difficult to walk, so I unfurled a pair of wings and lifted myself up over the houses.
Not long after I reached the square, gliding over the clearing toward Stoick's house, I heard a shout down below from Gobber. "Hiccup! Git yer rear end over here an' give me a hand! I've only got one left ya know!" I spotted him quickly enough, and looked around for Hiccup. Below, of course, and behind me came the Viking likeness of a twig, with Toothless gliding right above him. Ever since I had reversed the loss of limbs and fins on those two, they had stayed as inseparable as paper and glue, with Toothless nearly always right behind the boy or gliding not two feet above him, which often led to Hiccup getting smacked in the head by a stray claw or tailfin. I closed my wings and dropped to the ground right next to Hiccup.
"AAAAHHH! Geez, don't do that, please!" Hiccup yelled, stumbling to the side as I habitually appeared out of the blue. Up above I heard Toothless give a snort of laughter, and dropped down next to me. ::Good to see you here,:: he said. ::I really don't like the direction this is all going.:: I nodded mostly out of habit instead of understanding, and looked ahead to Gobber. The one-armed blacksmith was busy trying to round up a group of Gronckles and herd them up the hill, toward where I spotted a huge gathering of dragons.
"Ah, Hawken, good te see ye!" Gobber piped up, noticing me finally. "We'll be needin' yer assistance soon." He turned from me back to the rocklike dragons laying on the ground in front of him. "Gronckles. Always the laziest of the dragons, it seems." Hiccup sighed and walked over to the other side of the group, and Toothless followed, giving a sharp bark to the couch potatoes. ::Come on, get up already! I don't like this any more than you do, but I understand it has to be done,:: he snapped. Grumbling, the heavyset dragons finally got up and started following Gobber up the hill.
I was starting to tire of being left out of the loop, and turned to the group. "Will someone please explain to me what is going on here?!" I snapped. Hiccup turned, looking a bit sheepish, and scratched the back of his head. "Uh, sorry, I forgot I was supposed to let you know. Got busy, and, stuff," he excused. "But, uh, we're having some 'guests' coming up to the village in a few days, and they don't exactly, uh, play well with dragons." I nodded. "These the people you mentioned a week ago?" Hiccup nodded in reply. "Yeah. We don't want to get off on the wrong hand, especially since the chief of the visiting tribe holds more power than my dad, so we're moving all the dragons to the meadows on the other side of the mountains for safety reasons until Ingavar and his crew take their leave." Hiccup gestured toward the strangely massive ridge of mountains that crossed the island. I nodded in agreement, and turned to start helping out when a memory managed to crawl to the front of my mind. A chill immediately swept through me.
Hiccup had been around me long enough to know when something was wrong, so he immediately noticed my halted movement. "You okay?" he asked. I slowly nodded. "Yeah, uh, sorry. Just a memory of a story I read at home popping up. It began with a rather coincidentally similar set of events as this." I turned to Hiccup again. "Where, exactly, is this tribe from?" Hiccup scratched his head again. "Uh, not really any particular place, though they set up camps here and there. My dad said they're a bit of a nomadic group, from further south." "Oh, God."
"What?" Hiccup started to look concerned again. I shook my head again. "Look, it has to be a coincidence, because this is way too close to the story I read," I explained. "What's Ingavar's 'title'? Fearsome, by any chance?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow, and then nodded. I sat down for a moment, putting my hand to my head. "Oh, I hope this isn't…" I muttered. "Ingavar…. Ivar….. takeover… oh, man." I looked slowly back up to Hiccup. "I really hope this doesn't develop the same way that story does," I said. "We've had too many close calls with the events that have happened already."
::What happens in this story of yours?:: Toothless asked, appearing nearby and sidling up next to Hiccup and I. I waved the question off. "I fear telling anything might just jinx the whole situation," I said. "More likely than not, I'm just being paranoid. That happens a lot too." I looked up at the gathering of the village's dragons nearby. "But, just in case, I'll help to move the dragons. Better safe than sorry, I've been told."
We walked up to the gathered reptiles, and I stood at the top of the hill in front of them. ::Alright, everyone listen up!:: I roared, getting their attention. ::Look, I know this isn't exactly anyone's cup of tea today, but in order to make sure all of you stay safe, you will need to follow our directions exactly for the time being, alright?:: There was a pause, then a slow rumble of reluctant compliance. ::Good. Now, you will nearly all be taken to the large meadow on the other side of the mountains, and you must stay there. If you hear anyone, hide in the forests, unless you see one of us only. We will be visiting occasionally in my company. If you do not see the humans in the company of me or another dragon, stay hidden, got it?:: Another reluctant agreement. ::Okay, now everyone, follow Toothless and I.::
I turned and nodded to Toothless and Hiccup, then went Nightmare and spread my own wings. We launched into the air, followed by the massive flock behind us, and turned toward the massive chain of mountains that cut straight across the island. It's interesting that, while Berk was founded along the southern edge of the island, where there are large patches of meadow and forest, roughly ¾ of the inhabitable land was on the other side of the island, past the mountains. Unlike what the movies show, the island is rather large. When I asked Stoick why the village was constructed where it was, he explained it was for defense. It's hard to invade a village built on the sides of cliffs. Also, for an island, the mountains are truly gargantuan, and I know I'm not exaggerating when I say the tallest of the peaks reaches probably over 8,000 feet in elevation. Up there, due to how northerly the land is, the snow never melts from the sheer sides, and very little green is to be had, let alone any animals. The only time I ever saw any of the Vikings on the high slopes was when the teens went dragon bobsledding the winter before.
To crest the lowest valley in the range, the dragons still had to gain a good 2,000 feet of altitude. Not a problem for Night Furies and Nightmares, with our large wingspans, but we had to slow down in order to let the Gronckles catch up. But, eventually we managed to crest the edges of the valley, and made our way across the range. The mountains may have been tall, but they weren't very wide, and within the hour we had crossed them, reaching the wide meadow expanse at the base of the spires. We glided down and the dragons landed around us. Most of the gang had to stay behind, stuck doing other menial chores, but naturally Hiccup felt compelled to come along. After all, he thought his best friend was going to have to stay here.
"Did you tell them that they should only go hunting at night?" Hiccup asked. I nodded. "On the way here. Don't worry, they'll be fine. I mean, they lasted plenty of years without us directing them," I replied, then looked at Toothless. Hiccup followed my gaze, and an expression of pain crossed his face. Those two were never separated more than a couple of hours. "Well, I guess it's time for… for me to go," he said, giving Toothless a rub on the head. "Keep the dragons in-" he wasn't able to finish before I started giggling. The two both turned to face me, looks of confusion and irritation on their faces. "I'm sorry, did I miss something?" Hiccup groused. "What is so funny?" Toothless mirrored his attitude. ::Yeah, getting separated for a week or two isn't exactly a walk in the park for us,:: he hissed. I nodded. "I know, I know, but that's why it's all the better that you won't be staying here, Toothless."
Both of them quieted up very quickly, confusion growing. "But…of course he has to stay here," Hiccup said. "No matter how close we are, I am not going to risk him getting killed by a bunch of Vikings who haven't wizened up yet!" "I'm still going to be around," I reminded him. "Besides, if someone even manages to get a glimpse of a Night Fury, they won't be able to do much about it." I gestured to Toothless. "You guys never even managed to see him when the raids were going on, you think that he, under his own mind and power, is going to let himself be spotted by a bunch of people who likely never have even dealt with a Night Fury?" I waved my hands at the other dragons around the meadow. "Dragons like them are noticeable. But Night furies are famous for stealth, yes?" Hiccup nodded reluctantly, and I continued. "For as much as possible, he can stay in the cove, or if need be in my yard, since there may be a chance we'll need him." Toothless gave me a questioning stare, but I ignored it and he didn't push the subject. Hiccup was more reserved.
"If anything, and I mean anything, happens to him, Hawken, I will hold you personally responsible," he said dangerously. I nodded. "Wouldn't really have expected anything else. I'll make sure nothing happens to him, alright?" With that, the case was closed for the moment, and after we bade farewell for the moment to the village dragons, we headed back across the mountains and to the cove.
"WHAT?!"
Stoick was not thrilled about my idea. I sighed. "Yes, I know, against your orders for the village, compromising safety in some ways, and possibly giving the other teens ideas," I summed up, watching as he paced the living room of his house, "but you have to remember, I have proven I know things about your world some of you could only guess at. Plus, it would seem that a number of the stories I read at home that people have made up have this nasty tendency of flying into our faces as real situations when I'm here. If this one I'm worried about goes down the same path, we are going to need the Night Fury near the village."
Stoick stopped pacing for a moment and glared at me. "Ye had better know whit yer doin', Hawken. Yer not technically part of the village, so I can't punish ye, per se, and I trust ye, but I can only let things go so far." I nodded, and after he dismissed me, I stepped outside.
Hiccup was waiting, arms crossed. "Well, what happened?" he asked. I laughed quietly. "Well, remember that I've become one of the biggest influences in the village now," I said. "Everything is alright for now, as long as I know what's going on." Hiccup rolled his eyes. "At this point, it seems like you're the only one that knows. And I sure hope you know what you're doing."
The rest of the day, and the next, were spent in busy preparation. I couldn't really help much, since I didn't know the details of what was going on here, but I could watch. Everyone except Hiccup and Stoick had spare rooms that they had to prepare, and extra food was caught and stored. At the end of the second day, the village looked better than I ever recalled seeing it, except maybe right before the festival the year before. Come early evening, I happened to find myself with Hiccup and Astrid near the forge.
"So, exactly how well known is this Ingavar guy?" I asked. Astrid examined her nails for a second before replying. "Every Viking in the archipelago knows about him," she said, "but unfortunately, he became most famous for the number of different dragons he's managed to kill." I made a face, but then so did Hiccup and Astrid. Hiccup spoke up. "But he's also famous for being one of the most successful seafaring Viking chiefs there is. But as we've already said, he hasn't yet been up here to find out the truth about the-"
Hiccup was cut off as a horn sounded from one of the watchtowers, followed by the lookout yelling out, "Ships on the horizon!"