When Hiccup woke, he was faintly aware of the fact that he was moving. Opening his eyes, he looked up to see his sister's familiar face. "Good morning sunshine!" She greeted with a smirk, coming to a halt before dropping him flat on his back. Winded, he gasped for breath as she said, "That's for blowing me off last night." She then bent down and pulled him to his feet with a soft smile, "And that's for setting that Night Fury free."
Hiccup panicked, looking around for any possible eavesdroppers, "Shh!" He chided, "Don't say that so loudly!"
As it was, they were at the edge of the forest, just out of earshot of the nearest house. "Relax, nobody heard... And I'm proud of you." She draped an arm over the boy's shoulders and began walking towards their home, more or less dragging Hiccup along.
"Proud?!" Hiccup broke away when the words finally struck him, "Proud? What kind of Viking-" He glanced around nervously and lowered his voice, "What kind of Viking can't even kill a defenseless dragon?"
This time, Audney placed a hand on each of his shoulders, gazing intensely into his eyes, "The kind who's going to change the fate of Berk. The kind who will one day make the greatest chief this village has ever seen." Hiccup scoffed at this and shrugged her off, turning away to go home. Audney followed closely, murmuring, "I'm serious, you know. I really do believe that."
"You're just trying to make me feel better," Hiccup accused without a second thought.
"I'm doing no such thing." The girl protested, and finally a veil of silence fell between them. That is, until they got into their home, where they saw their father poking the coals in the fire pit with his axe. The pair attempted to sneak past him, but naturally, Stoick noticed their arrival.
"Hiccup. Audney." He called to them, and the siblings froze in their tracks, turning almost mechanically to face their father.
"Dad, uh..." Hiccup fumbled, "I, uh..." He glanced to Audney for support, but she simply nodded encouragingly, offering no sage wisdom nor quick escape. "I have to talk to you, dad."
"I need to speak with you, too. Both of you." Stoick replied. Audney's gaze shifted to the fire uncomfortably. She hated confrontations with her father such as this one. All she wanted was for him to recognize them as something more than a burden.
Both Hiccup and Stoick straightened and began at the same time. "I've decided I don't want to-"
"I think it's time you learn to fight dragons."
"-fight dragons." Father and son stared at each other, both asking "What?" Simultaneously.
"You go first," Stoick offered.
"No, you go first." Hiccup insisted, lowering his gaze a bit.
"Alright, you get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning. Audney, you, too." Stoick announced. Audney's jaw nearly hit the floor as she gaped at him.
"I-we-you-dragons..." She stuttered.
Hiccup winced and waved a hand in front of his twin's face, "Oh man, I should've gone first, you broke Audney. And uh, I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread making Vikings, or small home repair Vikings?"
Stoick ignored this and handed Audney an axe. The girl was apparently too shell shocked to respond as he forced her to curl her fingers around the weapon before turning to give a matching one to Hiccup, "You'll need these." Hiccup, who was a bit more alert at the time, shied away from the weapon.
"I don't want to fight dragons." He mumbled.
"Come on. Yes, you do." Stoick encouraged.
"Rephrase, dad, I can't kill dragons." Hiccup reiterated.
"We." Audney murmured in a soft, dry voice, apparently coming out of her state of shock.
"But you will kill dragons." Stoick corrected, looking from one of his children to the other. It struck him as odd that even Audney was disagreeing with him. She was usually so obedient.
Hiccup was a bit panicked now, "No, I'm really very extra sure that we won't."
"Super certain," Audney supplied.
Apparently ignoring them both, Stoick said, "It's time, Hiccup. Audney."
"Can you not hear us?" Hiccup wondered aloud, "I am talking, aren't I Audney?"
"I can hear you," Audney confirmed, still looking a bit dazed.
"This is serious, son!" Stoick shoved the axe into Hiccup's hands, and when Hiccup struggled to hold it up, he straightened the boy out, forcing him to hold the axe upright, "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you... Which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of... This." He gestured in Hiccup's general direction.
"You just gestured to all of him." Audney pointed out, but was ignored.
"Deal?" Stoick demanded.
Hiccup raised his voice anxiously, "This conversation is feeling very one-sided."
"All conversations with him are," Audney muttered under her breath.
"DEAL?!" Stoick boomed, rage in his eyes as he glared at the two.
Hiccup looked down at the axe in his hands, then at his twin, who met his gaze with a sympathetic one. There was no way they were getting out of this. Stoick would never listen to them. "Deal," The twins muttered in tandem.
Seeming satisfied with this, Stoick grabbed his luggage and headed for the door, glancing back only to say, "Good. Train hard. I'll be back... Probably."
"And we'll be here..."
"Maybe," Audney supplied, and the two watched their father leave. Once he was gone, Audney threw the axe against the wall, where it stuck. "This feels wrong." She said bluntly.
"Ya think?" Hiccup heaved a sigh, setting his own axe down by the door, "What are we gonna do?"
Audney looked to him sadly, "The only thing we can do. Follow father's orders like good little monkeys."
"That's not much of a plan." Hiccup muttered.
"Have you got a better idea?" When the other said nothing, Audney brushed past him to their shared room, adding, "Then get some sleep. We'll need to have our wits about us tomorrow."
"That's not really thinking like them," Hiccup pointed out, but he followed her to their room nonetheless.
Come morning, the two trudged into the training arena like toy soldiers, lining up behind the other teens who seemed far more excited to be here than they were. "Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber boomed as the teens looked around themselves at the arena.
"No turning back." Astrid said firmly.
"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut enthused.
His twin, Ruffnut, seemed just as thrilled about prospective injuries, "I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back."
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Astrid agreed.
"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." The rest of the teens turned to face the pair, and Audney sighed loudly.
"I'm hoping for death, myself." She announced.
"Oh great. Who let them in?" Tuffnut mumbled, gesturing to the two.
"Let's get started! The recruit who does the best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!" Gobber announced, as if this were supposed to stimulate them to do their best. Hiccup and Audney shared a glance.
Snotlout, ever the charmer, snorted, "Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?" The rest of the teens burst into laughter and began talking amongst themselves.
Tuffnut spoke up, "Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?"
Gobber threw his arms over Hiccup and Audney's shoulders, trying to be supportive, "Don't worry. You're small and weak, that'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." With this, he shoved them both forward into line and headed towards the five massive reinforced gates from which earsplitting roars burst forth. Gobber continued, "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight-" Fishlegs began to giggle like a young girl in love, but Gobber kept talking, "The Deadly Nadder," He gestured to one of the gates.
Fishlegs, trying to talk as quietly as he could, whispered, "Speed eight. Armor sixteen."
"The Hideous Zippleback."
"Plus eleven stealth, times two."
"The monstrous Nightmare."
"Firepower fifteen."
"The Terrible Terror."
"Attack eight, venom twelve."
Finally, Gobber had had enough, "CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" He roared angrily before forcing himself to calm down, "And... the Gronckle."
As softly as he could, Fishlegs murmured, "Jaw strength, eight."
Suddenly, Gobber pulled a lever, and the crossbeam over the Gronckle's door flew up. "Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" Snotlout wondered, taking a step back.
"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber stated, stepping back as he allowed the Gronckle to burst out of the cage. Nearly everyone scattered, trying to get away from the beast... Except for Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who raced toward it, clearly having death wishes.
"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber asked, looking to the teens.
"A doctor?" Hiccup wondered weakly.
"A doctor," Audney agreed firmly.
"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs tried.
"A shield." Astrid said, the only one who was certain about her response.
Gobber nodded, "Shields. Go." The teens scrambled to find shields, as Gobber continued, "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword and a shield, take the shield." While Audney had no problem balancing her axe in one hand and shield in another, her brother was struggling to lift his shield. Gobber helped him up and sent him into the fray. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were the only ones still without shields, as they were fighting over one with a skull painted on it.
"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut shouted as he struggled to take the shield from his twin.
"There are like, a million shields!" Ruffnut protested, not giving in.
Audney edged over to Hiccup while the other set of twins argued. She wasn't going to let her brother out of her sight, that much was for certain. "Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut suggested, but rather than get his way, he got bashed in the head by the very shield he was fighting over, as Ruffnut had apparently lost her patience.
"Oops, now this one has blood on it." Ruffnut smirked, feeling clever. What they didn't realize was the fact that their fighting had drawn the attention of the Gronckle who took aim and fired at the twins, blasting the shield right out of their hands. The twins spun around like tops before falling to the ground.
"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber announced.
"What?!" The dazed and confused twins shouted, trying to get their bearings as the Gronckle moved to a pile of rocks and scooped them up in its mouth, forcing them back down its throat. The remaining teens gathered on the far side of the ring, hoping for further instruction from Gobber. Luckily, they got it.
"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." The teens gathered weapons and began banging them against their shields as Gobber had suggested, and it seemed to work pretty well. The Gronckle shook its head, disorientated. "All drgaons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asked the young Vikings.
"Five!" Exclaimed Snotlout.
"No, six." Fishlegs corrected, having memorized this fict.
"Correct, six. That's one for each of you, assuming Ruffnut and Tuffnut continue to make themselves a singular target!" Gobber called out with a small smirk.
In a tiny voice not at all befitting such a large boy, Fishlegs protested, "I don't think my parents-" Before he could finish this thought, the Gronckle blasted the shield out of his hands.
"Fishlegs, out." Gobber commentated, then seemed to notice that Hiccup and Audney were tucked safely out of the Gronckle's sight. "Hiccup, Audney, get in there!" He shouted to them.
Audney shot Gobber a look, "Rather not, thanks!"
She turned back in time to see Snotlout trying to flirt with Astrid, saying, "So anyway, I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out." Just as the Gronckle shot at them, Astrid expertly cartwheeled out of the way, and the flaming magma soared past her and hit Snotlout's shield, the force throwing him onto his back.
"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber called in as Astrid came to a stop beside Hiccup and Audney.
Fidgeting awkwardly, Hiccup tried, "So, I guess it's just the three of us now, huh?"
"No. Just you." Astrid corrected, rolling off in the nick of time once more, the magma shooting past her and knocking Hiccup's shield off his arm. The boy panicked, darting after his shield, which naturally attracted the attention of the Gronckle.
"Hiccup!" Audney and Gobber shrieked nearly in tandem as the Gronckle pinned Hiccup against the wall. Now in point-blank range, the dragon prepared to fire. Gobber moved to tear the Gronckle away from Hiccup, but at the last second, Audney grabbed the beast's thick tail and whirled it around, sending the blast off in the general direction of the cages.
"And that's six!" Gobber, trying to sound like he'd had this all figured out and hadn't nearly gotten the chief's only son killed, wrestled with the Gronckle, forcing it back into its cage. "Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry," He assured the dragon. He slammed the gate shut and turned to the teens warning them, "Remember... a dragon will always," He shot a look to Hiccup, "always go for the kill." With this, he pulled Hiccup to his feet and stalked off.
Hiccup glanced over at the wall where the shot that should have killed him had hit, leaving a steaming crater. Audney approached him shakily, "Are you alright?" She asked, throwing her arms around her brother, "You scared me half to death."
Too rattled to really respond, Hiccup tore away from her and started for the hidden cove where he'd last seen the downed dragon. "...Hiccup?" Naturally concerned, Audney followed the boy, though it didn't take long to figure out where he was going.
He knelt down, picking up the remnants of the bola he'd cut the Night Fury free from the day before, "So... why didn't you?" He murmured, examining the weapon. After a moment, he dropped the bola and headed in the direction he'd seen the dragon run off in just before he fainted. Dropping into a rocky trench, he followed it to a quiet, hidden cove.
Audney, taking in the view, said softly, "Pretty..." As she admired the sparkling spring near the center of said cove. She didn't have much time to look, however, for moments later, the very Night Fury they were looking for blasted past them, causing both teens to Recoil, hugging one another instinctively. When it seemed the danger had passed, they let go and leaned forward to watch the dragon struggle as he tried to climb the walls of the cove, flapping his wings but getting nowhere, and, eventually, pulling away from the wall to come down for a rough landing. Again and again the dragon attempted to climb the wall, and again and again he failed, crashing to the ground. "It's hard to watch," Audney murmured, sitting down beside Hiccup as the boy pulled out his notebook and began sketching the dragon.
Finally, the dragon seemed to give up on the wall and turned to the water, apparently seeing something just beneath the surface. He stuck his snout in the water and snapped his jaws, but the effort was fruitless. Defeated and weakened, he lowered his head. "Why don't you just... fly away?" Hiccup wondered aloud.
Audney glanced at the boy's sketch, noticing something was off. "Maybe he can't," She said softly, "You drew the tail wrong." She leaned over to erase the left half of the dragon's tail fin, in the process accidentally bumping the charcoal stick out of Hiccup's hand. The pair watched in horror as the stick rolled off of the ledge on which they were perched and bounced down into the cove, making a soft clattering noise with each rock it hit. The Night Fury raised his head and stared at them. No, not at them. At Hiccup. The two shared a look for a time before Hiccup finally couldn't take the guilt any longer and tore his eyes away, getting up and marching back in the general direction of the village. Audney cast a glance at the dragon, then at the retreating form of her brother. Cautiously, she slid down the slope, following the same path that the charcoal had.
The Night Fury bristled, glaring at the girl in the most menacing fashion he could muster. Audney knew how to take a hint and sat down, folding her legs. Indian-style. The dragon eyed her warily and took a cautious step closer, watching her every move. "You know, you're the same, you and I," She said softly. The dragon's ears perked at this. She was talking... to him? "I mean, our wings have been clipped. We'll never fly on our own again," She reiterated, "But perhaps, with just a little bit of trust, a tiny bit of hope... Maybe we can find a way to fill our wings with air once more." The dragon tipped his head to the side, much like a curious puppy, the expression practically begging her to go on.
Audney glanced back up at the rock face to ensure that her brother wasn't listening before continuing, "I could have it all, you know. Status. Power... My father's affections..." Her eyes became downcast as she pressed her hand to her forehead, holding back tears, "But all that is meaningless without my brother. So I made a decision, when we were young, when our mother passed, to clip my own wings. To stay by his side, forever. To give up everything I knew I was capable of for his sake... Because I know that he'll make a difference one day, in his own way, if even just one person has faith in him." She raised her head to meet the Night Fury's gaze once more, "So, Night Fury, I have no regrets. I know that my sacrifices will be the strength that guides me to reunite with my mother in Valhalla in the end. Never give up," She got to her feet, "Never stop fighting, and never lose faith... And perhaps you'll go farther than you think is possible right now." With this said, she cautiously edged nearer.
The dragon growled, glaring at her daringly as she withdrew a dagger. Before he could move to attack her, she flicked her wrist, and the weapon splashed into that fresh spring water, sending up a small cloud of blood that tainted the once pure spring. The dragon clearly smelled this, as his eyes darted between the girl and the water suspiciously, wanting to go after the fish. Audney took a few steps back, "Go on," She said softly, "It's for you." The Night fury stepped hesitantly into the water and retrieved the fish, removing the blade with his paws before practically inhaling the meal. By the time he looked up again, Audney was gone, and he was alone.
When Audney arrived at the great Hall, she was just in time to hear Gobber ask, "Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Hiccup was trying to sit with the other teens, but they weren't having any of it.
"He showed up." Ruffnut replied.
"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut supplied.
Giving up on sitting with the others, Hiccup moved to sit alone at an empty table nearby. Audney heaved a sigh and joined him there as Astrid deadpanned, "He's never where he should be."
"Thank you, Astrid," Gobber praised as he got to his feet. He then noticed Audney, "Ah, Audney, how good of you to join now, who can tell me where Audney went wrong?"
"She was born as Hiccup's sister." Snotlout snorted, amused.
"She was paying too much attention to Hiccup." Astrid provided.
Audney glared at the girl, "I don't see what's wrong with that," She growled, "It's better than belittling."
"Alright ladies, break it up," Gobber scolded, giving up on pointing out Audney's flaws for the time being. He set a book down in the center of the table, "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." When there was a rumble of thunder, Gobber decided that the dragons, who relied mostly on fire to fight, would not be attacking that night. "No attacks tonight. Study up." With this, he left the teens to stare at the book.
"Wait, you mean read?" Tuffnut asked incredulously.
"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut agreed.
Snotlout scowled, "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?" He wondered aloud.
"Oh! I've read it like, seven times." Fishlegs announced, "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-" Fishlegs continued to prattle on about the dragons listed in the book until Tuffnut finally said.
"Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read that..."
"But now..." Ruffnut finished.
Getting to his feet, Snotlout said, "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." He turned to leave, and everyone but Astrid, Hiccup, and Audney followed. Fishlegs mostly following them because he wanted to blather on more about the book and dragons within it.
"So I guess we'll share-" Hiccup tried, but Astrid shoved the book toward him and his sister.
"Read it." She said, turning to leave.
"All ours then. Wow, so okay, I'll see you-" He was cut off by the slamming of the door of the great hall as Astrid left, "Tomorrow," He finished sheepishly and heaved a sigh.
Audney rolled her eyes, "I honestly don't know what you see in her, Hiccup. Spiteful little-"
"Hey, hey now, take it easy," Hiccup soothed, "She's just being cool in front of her friends, she'll come around."
"And what kind of friend is that?" Audney wondered dryly, taking the book from Hiccup as she began to flip through it. She already knew what he was looking for, and quite frankly, she was quite interested in finding it herself.
Reading aloud over her shoulder, Hiccup murmured, "Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class." Audney turned the page, "Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled the Thunderdrum can produce a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."
Audney turned another page, murmuring, "I can read too, you know," But Hiccup wasn't really listening, which was probably a good thing. This way, Audney knew when to turn the page.
"Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees... extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous. Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight." Audney began flipping through the now painfully repetitive pages at a quicker pace, giving Hiccup last time to read, though he tried to keep up. "Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous... Kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight..." Finally, they landed on the page they'd been looking for. "Night Fury."
Audney looked down at the mostly blank page, rather unimpressed by the lack of information as her brother recited what little there was. "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you..."
Recalling her moment alone with the dragon, Audney shook her head, "That doesn't sound right..." She watched as her brother withdrew the sketch of the dragon from his notebook and began drawing it in the Book of Dragons. "Mmm... I'm going to bed, Hiccup. Don't stay up too much longer. Deadly Nadder's tomorrow." With this, she leaned in and kissed his forehead affectionately before heading off.
"Yeah, night," Hiccup mumbled, not really listening to her as he focused on the task at hand. He just couldn't get the dragon out of his head. If he was so deadly and so short-tempered, why had he spared Hiccup and Audney? Twice, even! It just wasn't adding up!
So, I realize I forgot to say this before, but... Please review. I love reviews. They let me know that you care about the story and want to hear more. Or that you hate the story and think I should discontinue it... Sometimes reviews even give me ideas that inspire me to alter the course of the story!
Also, I know this is taking a long time, really, I do, but we'll be meeting Drake and Draco soon. Within like, the next two chapters I'd guess. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!
