HTTYD: Astrid Style
Chapter: 2 The First Day
"Welcome to dragon training!" cried Gobber as he opened up the doors to the arena. I was standing head of the new trainees, and because most Vikings had joined Stoic in last sea voyage search in trying to find the dragons nest before the ice sets over the sea for winter, the only trainees on the island were Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff, and of course Fishlegs.
My eyes scanned the arena walls in front of me. This was it. Everything that I had trained for. From the early runs before dawn to the late night battle tactics I worked on with my mother; it all came down to this.
"No turning back now," I breathed. I took the first step into the arena and held my chin high with confidence.
The dragon training arena was located in the southern end of the island. It was probably one of the oldest foundations in Berk. Built into the side of a cliff, the arena had slippery granite floors that had been polished over the years due to the excessive heat caused by the dragons constantly blasting flames or fire balls.
Its stone walls circled around in a wide arc and ended with the only opening in which we stood now. The cage surrounding the top of the arena creaked in the wind.
"I hope to get some serious burns here," snorted Tuff as we walked further into the arena. I stood before the group in the middle of the arena, followed closely by Snotlout, 'A little too closely for my liking', I thought. Fishlegs held up the rear.
"I'm hoping for something smaller. Like a shoulder burn, or lower back," said Ruffnut, giving me a slight nudge as she said so. I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah… It's only fun if you get a scar out of it," I said.
"Tell me about it. Pain, love it…"
I turned to see Hiccup standing by the gate entrance, awkwardly holding a much-to-big battle-axe in his arms.
"Oh great! Who invited him?" questioned Tuffnut, with a not-to-pleased look on his face. I could easily reciprocate the look. 'He's going to get himself killed' I thought with a scoff. I could have placed a heavy bet on what everyone in the group was thinking at the moment… the same as me.
"Yer all here to learn how to fight dragons and whoever does the best in dragon training will get the privilege of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village," explained Gobber; as if we hadn't known.
I rolled my eyes when Gobber said 'his' but I let it slide. My eyes fixed on nothing in particular but I suddenly caught Hiccup's soft green ones staring at me. Mine stayed fixed with his until I looked away with a huff.
Why was he constantly staring at me? It wasn't like we were friends or anything. I mean sure, he might have a little crush on me or something, but at least he wasn't dumb enough to pull anything on me like Snotlout. Speaking of which…
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him?" he asked with a smirk. Everyone around me began to laugh and poor Hiccup turned away blushing. I shrugged everyone off and turned to walk into the middle of the arena. 'As long as he doesn't get in my way, I won't kill him'.
We all lined up, including Hiccup, before several heavily locked doors. I made sure that in the line up Ruffnut was between me and Snotlout. I glanced at several of the growling doors as Gobber walked before us.
"Behin' these doors are just a few of the many species of dragons that yull learn ta fight," He walked toward a large door, that was shaking in the irons. "The Deadly Nadder" he said, gesturing toward the growling door.
Suddenly, a small and unfamiliar voice spoke and I flinched at the sound. "Speed: 8; armor: 16," said an enthusiastic Fishlegs. My eyes widened when I realized I had never really heard Fishlegs speak out loud. Gobber shook his head and continued.
"The Hideous Zippleback," he continued, referring to a very large door.
"Eleven stealth; time: 2!" I glanced at Fishlegs. He had a determined look in his eyes. I could only guess that he wanted to prove himself to the rest of us. He didn't have to prove himself as much as Hiccup would but because of his size he probably still needed to prove himself a fighter. I would have guessed, with that uneasy stare he had given Snotlout, that Lout had obviously commented on his weight and not in a good way. 'Poor kid'.
Gobber narrowed his eyes but continued. He indicated with his removable hand to a door blackened with soot and ash. It rocked on its irons too and behind the door the Nightmare bellowed. "The Monstrous Nightmare."
"Fire power:15!" Fishlegs was practically hyperventilating from excitement.
"The Terrible Terror," he gestured to a screeching door.
"Attack: 8; venom: 12!" I nodded in approval. Fishlegs knew a lot.
"Can you stop!" cried Gobber. He adjusted his helmet with his only hand. "And finally… the Gronckle."
Fishlegs leaned toward Hiccup and whispered loud enough for only us to hear: "Jaw strength: 8." Gobber smiled as he laid his real hand on the lever to the Gronckle's door. We all tensed. My hand tensed on my axe.
"Whoa! Wait!" cried Snotlout. "Aren't you going to teach us first?" I took a deep breath. 'Don't panic. You lose focus when you panic. Just breathe…'
"I believe in learnin' on the job," said the blacksmith as he yanked the lever down. It gave way and out burst a spinning Gronckle. We all dispersed.
'Game time, Astrid! This is it!' I swung my axe into my right hand and rolled myself closer to the wall. 'Get out of the attention zone.'
"Quick! What's the first thing yer going ta need?" cried Gobber.
Hiccup's voice broke the panicked scene first. "A doctor?" he questioned; a mixture of sarcasm and fear soaked his words. I bit back a laugh. 'Focus.'
"Plus 5 speed?" questioned a nervous Fishlegs. My eyes scanned the arena until they met my target.
"A shield!" I shouted and dived in the direction of the nearest one. My arm slipped through the holster perfectly and I finished my dive landing in a crouching position.
"Yes! That's correct." Gobber directed over the roaring of the Gronckle. My ears stung and I winced when the Gronckle bellowed a few feet from me. I did a reverse tumble and landed in a full upright position by Snotlout and Fishlegs. "Yar most important piece of equipment is yar shield. If you must make a choice between a sword and a shield… take the shield." I saw Ruff and Tuff fighting over the same shield while three more of them lay by their feet.
"Take your hands off my shield!" shouted Tuffnut. His sister yanked the shield closer to her body and tried wrenching it out of her brother's grasp with no success.
"There's like a million shields!" countered Ruff.
"Take that shield. That one has flowers on it." Ruffnut's eyes widened at her brothers sexist comment. I even gritted my teeth at the comment. 'No Astrid! Focus.' I chuckled when Ruff ripped the shield out of Tuff's hands with a new-found strength, and smashed it on her twins helmet.
"Oops! Now this one has blood on it," she jeered. Then flew the Gronckle, which I had so stupidly forgotten about, and blasted the shield out of the twins hands.
"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, yer out!" The twins looked in a bit of a daze as they picked themselves up off the ground. Gobber chuckled. "Those shields are good for another thin… noise! Make noise and lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim."
I noticed that the rest of us had made a small circle around the hovering Gronckle. I started tapping my battle-axe to the metal framing of my shield. The others followed my lead and I noticed the Gronckle acquire a dizzy looking face. He shook his head and we all split off in several directions.
The Gronckle followed my path of travel and I headed straight for the granite wall. At the last second I dove out-of-the-way and the Gronckle took a nasty header into it. It stumbled and picked itself back up. Meanwhile, Gobber was saying…
"All dragons have a limited amount of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?"
"Five?" called Snotlout as he ran back and forth, trying to avoid the pissed off dragon.
"No, six!" cried Fishlegs, not missing an opportunity to throw in his knowledge on the subject. He turned to face Gobber as the blacksmith appraised him and his knowledge. Little did Fishlegs know that the Gronckle had spotted him. It took a hefty gulp of air and shot a fireball, knocking Fishlegs' shield out of his hand. It fell to the ground burning and hissing.
"Fishlegs, yer out… Hiccup get out there!" Gobber shouted angrily. I looked across the arena and saw Hiccup nearly blasted by a fireball when he tried creeping from his hiding spot. Needless to say, he stayed right were he was.
I dodged the charging dragon with a side-wards role, but I didn't do it neatly enough. My legs weren't tucked in enough and I felt the dragons claws clip my calf. I winced at the pain as I landed in a crouch with my wounded calf sticking out to the side. I glanced over once and saw that it was already bleeding. 'Cool.'
I tried to do a reverse tumble; but, because of my leg and the awful dismount the backwards dive ended with me on my hands and feet. I growled. 'Come on! Focus!'
When I picked myself up, I realized who I had landed next to…Snotlout. He beamed at me. "So, I'm moving into my parent's basement, you should come by some time to work out. You look like you work out." 'Really? Now? In the middle of a lesson?' I shook it off and ran in the opposite direction of Lout, who ended up getting blasted.
"Snotlout, yer done." 'That's what you get for not paying attention.' The dragon spun around, noticing only two humans were left in the arena. It's eyes laid on me first and it charged with its head down. I pushed off from the ground and ran right at it. It gulped in a breath of air but before he could let it loose, I slid on the ground; passing directly underneath the thing and landed in another crouch.
Hiccup and I stood side by side. I watched eagerly as the dragon spun itself around searching for the disappearing targets. Hiccup spoke nervously. "So it's just you and me?" he asked. The Gronckle bowed its head again and charged us both. 'Time to pick off the weak link.'
"Nope. Just you," I replied and ran past Hiccup. He didn't react as quickly as I did, because a fireball hit his shield and caused the holster to fall off. He scrambled to chase down his shield and I turned to see the Gronckle follow him like I thought it would.
"One shot left," called Gobber in minor amusement. His eyes widened as he saw Hiccup abandon his chase for the shield and run straight into the wall of the arena. "Hiccup!"
I watched as the Gronckle hovered over the scrawny boy's body. 'Killed on the first day'.
Gobber suddenly kicked it into gear, noticing the danger Hiccup was in. He reached the two just as the dragon was about to spew his last fireball. Gobber reached into the Gronckle's mouth with his hook hand and yanked it away. The shot landed inches from Hiccup's head.
"That's six. Go back to bed you over grown beast. Yull get another chance!" shouted Gobber as he pushed the dragon back into its cage and locked the door. He turned back to the group of trainees.
"Remember… dragons will always," he looked down at Hiccup and emphasized, "always, go for the kill." He picked Hiccup up his fur vest and put him back on his feet. "Well… that's nough for today. I will see all of you at the Great Hall for suppar."
I dropped the shield I was still holding and switched my axe to my left shoulder. Gobber opened the doors to the entrance and lead the way out. I was about to exit after the twins, Lout, and Fishlegs, when I turned around to see Hiccup still looking at the burned circle in the wall from where the fireball had hit.
"Hiccup," I called out. He jumped at his name and turned around to face me. "You coming?" I asked as I cocked my head in the direction of the gate. "Or would you rather have another go with that Gronckle?" I joked.
I saw him smile lightly. "Uh-yeah… or no. Nope, no. I'm coming." He picked up his battle-axe and placed it on his shoulder; but it looked to heavy for him so he grabbed it with both hands and switched shoulders. I spun on my heel and winced when I felt fire lap at my leg. My calf was stinging and no doubt still bleeding, but I walked on with an even stride; masking my pain with set lips and gritted teeth.
Hiccup jogged and caught up to me. We stayed quiet for a few seconds, walking side by side through the brightening village. We must have trained for three and a half hours because the time looked to be about midday.
Hiccup trailed behind me slightly and his features were set in concentration. He was obviously contemplating something in that odd head of his. "What are you thinking about?" The question flew out of my mouth before I even knew my mind had been wondering about it.
He looked up in surprise. "Dah-ah… um… I was… eh-thinking, um, about…" he seemed to fumble for the right words. His eyes widened. "Your leg."
"What? Why were you thinking about my leg?" I asked. He looked up startled.
"What?… Oh no, no, no, no, no! I just noticed your leg. Your bleeding." he pointed to my left calf for clarification. 'That makes more sense.
"Oh yeah. Dragon clipped me when I went to do a dive. No biggy," I shrugged. He looked up and I was taken aback by the amount of concern I saw in his soft orbs.
"You should get it checked out by the Elder. You don't want it getting infected. Gothi will probably heal it for you." I shook my head.
"Nah. I'll be fine." We had reached the east part of the village and I turned up my walkway. "Bye."
Just before I entered my house, I turned and saw Hiccup racing toward the south side of the village. 'But he lives East. Where is he going?' I pondered his actions until he was gone from my sight. I pushed thoughts of Hiccup out of my head and walked inside.
The smell of freshly baked bread and pine wafted my face and greeted my nose with a little tickle that made my lips curl upwards. I could hear my mother pounding on a hammer upstairs, probably finishing up the repairs of the last dragon raid two days ago.
"Hi mom," I called out to her. Their was slight shuffling as my mom came out of her room downstairs holding a hammer in one hand and nails in the other. She even had nails in her teeth.
"Ii Asstrid," she said through a mouthful of nails. She then turned back toward her room and continued hammering. I walked over to our new wooden table and pulled off a piece of bread. It was still warm in my hand.
I glanced around my house. It was the average house of Berk. Two floors, with the second being a loft and the only other room in the house being downstairs. That room belonged to my parents and the loft belonged to me. My dad was with Stoic on the mission. My mom stayed behind for me.
My parents. My mother, Dagna Hofferson, was one of the most well-known female Vikings in Berk. She was one of the few who actually took on a Nightmare and killed it. Alongside my father of course. Cnut Hofferson and Dagna Hofferson. Berk knew them as one of the greatest Viking fighting couples… well besides Stoic and his wife, but she had passed away nearly ten years ago… Hiccup was only seven.
When I finished my bread I walked over to the washing bowl. After scrubbing the dirt and sweat off my face I pulled up a chair and looked at the damage done to my leg. Three perfect scratches lined the side of my calf, surrounded by the blood that had leaked and was soaked up by my pant leg. The scratches looked cool, but weren't very deep. I'd be lucky if it scarred.
Just then I felt a presence near by. I looked up to see my mothers face hovering over me. "By tha looks of thins, dragon training went well, I'd suppose." she said, her Norse accent shining through. I shrugged.
"Well enough. I got this because I was sloppy in a dive and my timing was off." She simply nodded and gestured to the rips in my pants.
"Well git out of those so I can wash 'em and fix 'em for you." I stood up and removed my boots and leggings, leaving my thighs bare except for my armor skirt. I handed them over to my mother and she folded them and placed them with the other dirty laundry. "Anythin else interesting happen today?"
"Not really. The only funny part was Hiccup chasing after his shield." My mother looked at me as if she had seen Odin's ghost.
"Did you say Hiccup? He's in dragon training?" I nodded. My mother stared off at nothing. Probably in shock. "Well… as long as it keeps 'im out of trouble," she said. She turned to busy herself again with hammering the last boards into place but stopped before she grabbed her hammer. Instead she turned to me and took a step closer. Her face was inches from mine and I could tell that whatever she said next would be important.
"You make sure that nothin' bad happens to him, you hear? Stoic is a good friend and if that means looking after Hiccup, then well baby-sit him if we have to." My eyes widened slightly but I nodded in agreement. "Good. Now git yerself dressed and help me finish this house." She smiled and picked up her hammer. I ran upstairs, got dressed, than ran back down to help my mother with the work load.
"Where did Snotlout go wrong?" I rolled my eyes. 'He tried flirting with me while a dragon was attacking!' We were all gathered around the table in the Great Hall, enjoying dinner and talking over what had happened today in training. Gobber was going around the table, first telling us what we did good, then asking us on what we thought was bad.
"Where did Astrid go wrong?" he asked me. I self-consciously scratched at my now wrapped up claw marks. It had started to fester and my mother made me go see Gothi, the Viking Elder and healer, and she had it wrapped to keep out infection.
"My diving was bad. It was sloppy. I messed up on my reverse tumble too," I commented simply.
"Oh yeah. We noticed," scoffed Ruffnut. I could tell that she was jealous at my work today, partly being that she was one of the first ones out. I felt a nudge at my bad leg and looked up to see Snotlout gawking. 'Ugh.'
"No, no! That was so Astrid," he said with a wink. I would have punched him had Gobber not spoken up.
"She's right. You have to be hard on yerself. Where did Hiccup go wrong?" I looked up to see Hiccup walk in sopping wet. He was grabbing a plate with a single chicken leg on it and Snotlout kept sliding over to make sure Hiccup wouldn't have a place to sit at the table. Hiccup didn't even bother to. He picked up a cup of mead and sat at the table next to ours.
"He showed up?" snarked Ruffnut.
"He didn't get eaten?" jeered her brother.
"He's never where he's supposed to be," I answered, sounding the slightest bit annoyed. It wasn't my fault… everyone was just pissing me off.
"Thank-you Astrid. You need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manuel. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." Gobber stopped what he was saying and listened to the roll of thunder. "No attacks tonight. Study up." Then he left.
Tuffnut, who had been playing with a knife and trying to balance it on the very tip, finally registered what it was the blacksmith had said. "Wait… you mean like read?"
Ruffnut looked just as shocked. "While were still alive?" Snotlout joined in as well.
"Why read when you can just kill the stuff the book tells you about?" Fishlegs slapped down his empty cup and wiped his face.
"Ooo! Ooo! I've read the book, like, seven times! There's this one dragon that shoots boiling hot water onto its victims and then…" He was interrupted by Tuff.
"Yeah, there was a chance that I was going to read that…" His sister finished for him. "But now…" They both smirked and Fishlegs blushed. Snotlout pushed his plate aside.
"You guys read, I'll go kill a few dragons," he commented and got up to leave. Ruff and Tuff followed, shoving each other out-of-the-way and then trying to use the other as a cover from the rain. Fishlegs got up and followed them quietly. I watched on in silent reflect. I heard a slight motion and glanced over my shoulder at Hiccup. He was still sopping wet and his yak hair was clinging to the sides of his head. He looked even smaller than if he wasn't wet.
"Well, I guess we can share…" I pushed the book aside and got up.
"Read it." He nodded and I saw his cheeks grow pink.
"All mine then. That's- it… ah." I spun on my heel and started leaving. I wasn't the only one. A few straggling Vikings, the ones who had stayed behind, were also getting up to leave. I was almost at the door when I heard Hiccup.
"Astrid?" I turned and side-stepped from a male Viking who exited out into the cold, stormy night. We were the only ones left in the Great Hall.
"Yeah?"
He puffed out his cheeks and started looking around the Hall. "How's your, uh, your leg doing?" he asked, barely glancing my way, in fear of meeting my gaze.
"It's fine. Gothi looked at it, put some special cream on it so it wouldn't get infected, then wrapped it up."
He looked at me this time. "That's great…good. Dah, so- um…" He started rubbing his neck and studying something above my head. The light began to fade as candles burnt out and all that was left was two candles on the table where we sat. I waited. 'Should I just go?'
I was about to leave, when: "Astrid do you ever think that, dragons don't really hate us?" 'What!' I was completely thrown off by his question. I would be less surprised if Thor himself came down to Berk and stood in front of me, stark naked. I could barely manage a reply to his question.
"What?"
Hiccup scratched his neck then stared down at his boots. "Like… ugh, I don't know-like, like… they, um, they're not really- er… out to kill us or something?" My mouth dropped slightly.
"Hiccup… a dragon tried to kill you today and you're wondering why?" I walked closer to him and he continued to look at his feet. 'What does he mean not out to kill us! Of course they're out to kill us! They're dragons!' "Hiccup, those over grown lizards are deadly and dangerous. They want to kill us because they're wild animals who don't give Odin's shit about us." I was now standing inches from his face. "We have to kill them before they kill us, Hiccup."
I didn't expect Hiccup looking up just then. Our faces were inches apart and I would have jumped back, or smacked him, or pushed him, if it wasn't for his eyes. It was like staring into a dark sea of confusion filled with waves of sadness. I never thought 'lost' was something you could see, but I could see it clearly in his eyes. To my embarrassment I felt my breathing falter as his hot breath mixed with mine.
"What if I can't kill a dragon?" I stared at him for another second before I took a step back.
"Well, that's why you're in dragon training isn't it?" I told him, then spun on my heel and opened the door. I caught a glance of him with his head held down and his eye brows furrowed.
"Right… so, I'll see you-" I closed the door before he could finish.
I hugged my arms close to my chest and shivered, and not entirely from the wind and rain. I ran home as quickly as I could. I opened the door quietly in case my mother was sleeping. The fire had died to a lower burning level. 'She's asleep'. I quietly walked up the stairs to my loft, stripped down to my under garments, and crawled into the covers.
I shivered again, and this time not from the cold. I could hear his words clear as day in my mind, above the howling wind and pounding rain; as if he were lying in bed next to me, our eyes locked, his hot breath washing over my neck, filling my ear as he whispered to me…
…Do you ever think that dragons don't really hate us… 'Of course they hate us… right? NO! Astrid, snap out of it! Don't let him change you. You are a Viking! Focus…' My last thought before I fell asleep.
I hadn't known what he had meant at the time… but I would soon find out.
Fixed a few things. Hope you liked it. Please review!
