Sorry about that long wait. This is a pretty big chapter though.
Chapter 1
Meanwhile, in a large room an entire village of Vikings was dropped into existence, staring about with savage growls, hands reaching for weapons and drawing back in alarm as they discovered none.
"Hey! Where's my axe!" Astrid exclaimed along with numerous Vikings as they looked for their missing tools.
"You won't find them," a voice echoed around the room, startling the occupants who looked around for the person the voice belonged to.
"Over here," the voice was definitely a girl and the Vikings turned in the direction of the voice, and found a small girl, who looked about 15 standing at the front of the room.
She was pretty with golden curls, oceanic eyes and a lithe figure. She wore a pair of black tights above bare feet, and a jumper that dropped off one small shoulder with the words "You don't like Disney you need to bibbity bobbity back the fuck up out of my life," and a hairband that kept the curls from her eyes proudly proclaimed the word 'fangirl'. The Vikings exchanged puzzled looks, who was this girl, what was Disney, what was a fangirl, and how were they able to understand the odd looking symbols which weren't runes?
"Now can I assume you're the Vikings of Berk, as for who I am… why I am Fallen Down A Rabbit Hole, but you can call me Darcy, and I am the one who brought you here," the girl bowed dramatically and popped back up with a beaming grin.
"Why did you bring us here?" Stoick demanded, pushing his way to the front of the crowd of Vikings and glaring down at the small girl who only scowled right back at him.
"You have a lesson to learn and I don't think you properly learn it in the end, still underestimating the poor girl," Darcy clucked her tongue and wagged her finger in the chief's face, ignoring the shocked looks of the surrounding Vikings.
"What poor girl?" Snotlout queried, stepping forward and visibly checking out the strange girl who shivered.
"Hiccup of course, you lot haven't even realized she's missing yet, some kinsmen you claim to be," Darcy sneered, crossing her arms and tapping her foot as the villagers started to panic, looking around for the small girl.
"You won't find her, she was sleeping when I took her so I thought I would let her rest a while until I have you all settled," Darcy interrupted their panic. Smiling slightly at the fact they had shown they still cared for the girls safety she wave a hand at the room, which morphed; half of the it filling with squishy chairs and couches, all facing a large white screen.
"Sit," she commanded, pointing at the chairs and waiting till they had all taken a seat, rolling her eyes at the failed attempts of Snotlout to not sink into his beanbag. Moving to a free couch and she held out her arms bridal style, Hiccup suddenly appearing in her arms with a flash of the white light that brought them here.
Frowning at how light the girl was Darcy set her on the couch, waking her gently as she did so. The Vikings watched curiously as the smallest of their brood was carried in the strange girl's arms. Stoick noted with some shock that his daughter's hair was loose, it was never loose. She always held back in a plait these days, since curls weren't common around Berk she was always afraid of being made fun of for her hair. Stoick realized with shock, that with her hair loose, she actually looked a lot like Valka.
"Come on Hiccup. Time to wake up," Darcy whispered, the redhead Viking yawning cutely and smoothing back fiery red curls with her sleeve covered hand, unconsciously curling closer to Darcy.
"Aedus?" she mumbled so quietly on Darcy heard and the fangirl struggled to control her coos over the adorable action.
"He's not here Hiccup. Now I need you to wake up, something very important is going to happen that will change your life for the better," Darcy muttered back quickly, moving to stand in front of the room, sending a wink at Hiccup as the small girl finally woke up, looking around in confusion.
"Okay, I brought you here because I am sick of the way you act. I have decided to show you something that will change the way you think. Well, hopefully it will. Your weapons are gone and the next guests that I will be bringing in you will not hurt anyone, I have made sure of it." She walked quickly to where the other side of the room was and pressed her hand against seemingly thin air, a faint shimmer stretched from ceiling to floor and she smiled satisfied.
Closing her eyes to concentrate the other half of the room was suddenly populated with every dragon from the nest and a single night fury. Having had someone already explain what was happening before she brought them, they didn't immediately panic. Respectfully, she nodded to them, receiving various looks of encouragement from the dragon population.
A sudden war cry came from behind the fangirl and she spun around just in time to see Astrid hurtling herself at the dragons only to be sent tumbling back mid-air by an invisible wall. The other Vikings tried to attack the dragons as well, before (after some time) realizing that they couldn't attack the beasts, settled for glaring at the dragons with hate in their eyes, all except Hiccup who was smiling secretly at the dragons. Aedus gave her a gummy smile from his dragon form.
The one who had explained everything to them had said that they couldn't become humans until either the Vikings found out from the 'movie,' (whatever that was) or if he was allowed to interact with his mate. Aedus just wished he could be next to Hiccup again. Breaking out of his thoughts, he looked back at the fangirl just as she began speaking.
"You are all here to see what is called a movie where I come from. It's like a bunch of paintings that can move. This one is called 'How To Train Your Dragon' and relates to you directly. I was unable to pull you from your home after the events of the movie, due to an annoying interference," here Darcy paused to glare at the ceiling. The Vikings looked up too, but couldn't see anything. "But anyway, because of that I had to take you during the events, and for that I apologise because when you leave here I shall have to wipe your memories. But don't worry, YOU'LL GET THEM BACK ONCE THE EVENTS HAVE PLAYED OUT!" Darcy's voice rose on the last sentence to be heard over the angry shouts that the Vikings were yelling. Hiccup had paled, drawing herself further into the copious amounts of fabric of Aedus's shirt at the name of the movie, finally realising what Darcy was talking about earlier.
"The thing that Blondie here just banged into," Astrid glared at her for the nickname, hand moving to grab her axe before remembering it had been taken. "I call a barrier. If you mean harm to someone on the other side it is impossible to cross; and no you cannot trick it so don't even bother." Cue glares at Snotlout. "You also cannot hurt the people on your side so be warned." Darcy crossed her arms over her chest and gave them all unimpressed looks. Hiccup was still gazing longingly at the other side of the barrier, with a dragon mirroring her expression on the other side.
"Now when this movie begins, I expect you all to watch it and learn from it because I cannot do this a second time. When you talk, it will pause, with a few exceptions… now let's begin!" With that last statement Darcy vanished into thin air with a loud bang and flash of white light, the previously white screen suddenly flaring to life at the same time, startling the Vikings and dragons alike.
Unnoticed by everyone else Darcy appeared on the couch beside Hiccup. "I need you to stay on this side of the barrier until I tell you otherwise. I'm going to stay out of the way for most of this so when you can move I'll make a picture of a night fury appear on the pillow of your couch. Now as you have probably guessed this is about you and Aedus. I'm doing this to help you Hiccup, you deserve recognition for what you've done and what you're still going to do. I am doing this for you… and for your future," Darcy whispered, pressing a quick kiss to the startled redhead's forehead and vanishing once more.
'Are you alright mi luna y estrellas?' Aedus's voice echoed through her head and Hiccup belatedly realised she had tapped into the hive, the link on which all dragon's minds existed.
'Who is this? She smells more of us then she does of the other two legs,' a Deadly Nadder's voice chimed in.
'She is the dragon rider, and my mate, Fortuna. Her human name is Hiccup,' Aedus answered swiftly. The dragons hive grew abuzz with murmurs of wonder, the dragon rider's arrival had been anticipate for centuries, they were prophesied to end the divide between the humans and dragons, bringing the world into a golden age.
'What is her hidden name? If she is the dragon rider it should have been found when you first touched' This time it was a Gronckle that spoke up. A hidden name was the soul's name, dragons were given theirs upon birth whereas most humans went their entire lives and never found theirs.
'Thank you for asking Agnidev. Her name is Fiametta, but it can be shortened to Fia,' Aedus explained and the dragons nodded in acceptance.
'Excuse me but is anyone going to be addressing me anytime soon or can I start watching this movie thing?' Hiccup cut in, the dragons turning nearly in sync to look at the small girl who stared resolutely back, the screen behind her showing a strange human figure resting on the moon.
'You are linked to the hive?' a monstrous nightmare asked shocked. 'I am, it happened after I first touched Aedus,' Hiccup answered. 'Now , any more questions?' Kai, the Deadly Nadder from the training ring trilled at her, bowing his head in greeting and attempting what amounted to a smile.
'Shall we be sparring once more Fia? I quite enjoyed our last match.' Several of the other dragons she had already met, began chiming in their agreements and Hiccup felt a smile tilt her lips upwards without noticing she had done it.
'I'll try and get you out of the cells again when this is finished. I hate that you've been locked up, but unfortunately if I set you free they'll know something's up and just hunt you down again.'
'Now shall we watch the movie or do you have anything else to ask?' The dragons shook their heads and Hiccup nodded, turning to stare at the screen, unaware of the weird looks the group of Viking teens were shooting her.
The screen filled with a large picture of the seas around Berk, the island not yet visible behind the clouds. Hiccups disembodied voice filled the room suddenly.
"What in Thor's name?" A random Viking wondered, looking between the movie, and Hiccup, whose mouth had stayed closed.
"This is Berk. It's a few days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death." The island suddenly becomes visible behind the many rock formations in front of it. "It's located solely on the meridian of misery." A wave splashed across the scene and suddenly the camera panned to show one of the hillside fields with a few sheep.
The Vikings exchanged curious yet uneasy looks. Berk wasn't that bad... was it? Surely Hiccup was just being sarcastic as she usually was. Yet one look at the small teen huddled up on the couch in a shirt that was suspiciously to large confirmed their fears. She wasn't kidding. The dragons glanced at the girl with sympathy, she seemed different to her fellows, especially since she was mated to a night fury.
"My village. In a word; sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new" A shot of the village is shown, most of the houses have some form of light brightening their windows.
"Well the buildings wouldn't be so damn new if those stupid beasts just stopped attacking!" A random Viking yelled out and the others shouted their agreements, missing Hiccup rolling her eyes and muttering about the irony of them calling others stupid.
"We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests," a couple of sheep are shown grazing only for thick black legs to shoot down from above and snatch one of them up, the other moving forward to eat the taken sheep's patch of grass.
Despite being angry the Vikings were laughing at the sheep, they knew how notoriously greedy the sheep were. Hiccup however was not laughing, instead looking over at the dragons sternly.
'I recognise that leg, Aedus. Its funny how you snatching a sheep is shown,' Hiccup attempted to scold him but it was ruined by the slight grin on her face.
'Hmm, funny that, isn't is,' Aedus tried being casual and failed miserably, prompting a chuckle from the redhead.
Hiccup's voice continued over the pictures. "You see most places have mice or mosquitos. We have," the scene changed abruptly to Hiccup pulling open the door of the house she had been shoved into when the raid started, a monstrous nightmare seeing the small girl instantly shot her fire in the direction, Hiccup slamming it shut to lean against as the fire burst through the cracks. "Dragons," she breathed, her voice no longer over the top of the images but instead coming from the figure on screen.
'I am so sorry about that Fia, I was under the queen's control," The monstrous nightmare who had blown the flame apologised quickly.
'It's fine Verity, I know how much hold the queen has over your actions," Hiccup accepted, smiling gently at the stunned dragon.
'How do you know my name?'
'I know all of your names,' Hiccup shrugged lightly.
'How?' Aedus demanded, his face masked with worry.
'I can somehow hear your names in your hive voices. I don't know how, I just do.' Hiccup couldn't even explain it herself but she was thankful they left it there.
The voice went back to voiceover as the screen showed a hilltop in Berk full of dragons, running Vikings and fire. "Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues," Hiccup's voice was laden with sarcasm as a Viking was shown jumping onto a sheep that was being flown away by a dragon and another hitting a flying Gronkle in the face while clinging to its neck.
"And what do you mean by that lassie?" Gobber asked indignantly, backed by the Vikings while Hiccup gaped at him.
"That," she exclaimed pointing to the screen where the Viking was thrown from the dragon. "You all are absolutely bonkers," she proclaimed sinking back into her seat.
"Don't talk as if you don't have stubbornness issues too," Hiccup huffed and turned away from Gobber as he and some other Vikings nodded in agreement.
'You have to admit that it's true, Fia,' Aedus told her, amused. 'You are the single most stubborn person I've ever met.' Pouting at him, Hiccup fell down on the couch, splaying across it, unaware of the blush across Aedus's face. She's so adorable when she pouts, the dragon thought longingly, glaring at the barrier that separated them.
Hiccup ran from the burning house, glancing about in awe. "My name's Hiccup," a Viking fell from the sky and nearly landed on her, stopping her in her tracks. "Great name, I know. But it's not the worst."
"Really? If your name's not the worst, what is?" Ruffnut sneered at her.
"Snotlout," Hiccup replied back cooly, her face betraying no emotions.
"Yes?" Snotlout asked.
"Wha-no! I wasn't saying that to-just nevermind," Hiccup sighed, seeing the clueless face of her cousin.
'I for one think Fiametta's human name is adorable!' Fortuna cooed, making Hiccup blush and hide her face in Aedus's shirt.
The previous Viking got back up and grabbed an axe that fell nearby, rushing back into the fight with a shout. "Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls." Several Vikings ran into Hiccup nearly pushing her to the ground and she covered her eyes against incoming fire.
The Vikings who had knocked her looked away guiltily and she sighed. It was a raid, what were they expected to do, wait for her to get out of the way?
"Like out charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that," Hiccup fell to the ground with a quiet oof.
"Now what you mean by that. I'll have you know we're all perfectly respectable," Stoick huffed, the surrounding Vikings nodding in agreement while the dragons huffed their laughter.
Hiccup snorted, blowing a few bangs away from her eyes and crossing her arms, the extra-long sleeves making her look adorable more than the condescending look she was going for. Stoick made a mental note to find out who's shirt that was and why his daughter was wearing it.
"Just watch you'll see in a second," she huffed, turning back to the screen.
A large Viking appeared from nowhere, nearly landing on her as he roared, his axe raised in the air as he bellowed. "Morning," he said simply, before jumping off her and running away.
Everyone turned to stare at the Viking pictured who was red to the roots of his hair. "Um, well, you see- OH COME ON! Like you all haven't done that before!" He accused, blushing, as most of the surrounding Vikings blushed red too.
Hiccup was shown running through the roads of Berk, dodging Vikings as she ran, all of them calling out to her as she passed. "What are you doing here?!" "Get inside!" "What are you doing out!?" "Get back inside!"
The Vikings all exchanged guilty looks at how they were shown to act, surely they weren't that bad. Hiccup frowned, if she had listened to them she wouldn't have hit Aedus.
'Hiccup.' Aedus frowned at his mate, knowing what she was thinking. 'I don't regret anything. Don't feel guilty.' Smiling gratefully at her mate, Hiccup turned back to watch the movie.
Hiccup turned to look back at the warriors moving past, nearly running into the path of a Deadly Nadder that was spewing fire along the cobblestones. A large meaty hand grabbed the back of her vest and hauled her back from the path of fire, holding her aloft in the air.
"Why does everyone manhandle me? I mean sure I'm small, but do I have a sign stuck to my back or something that says 'In need of picking up, please hold here," she complained, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. A few of the dragons chuffed in laughter, completely missing the surprised looks some of the Vikings shot them.
"Well people should stop letting you out of the house lass," Stoick snorted, rolling his eyes.
"Excuse me, let me out? Not only am I able to make my own decisions I would like to see even one of you able to keep me in that house. I known 21 different ways to escape it and if that doesn't work I'm not averse to blowing it up and blaming it on the dragons," Hiccup huffed, ignoring the shocked looks from the Vikings and turning back to the screen muttering about overprotective fathers and useless firebombs that didn't go off when you need them to but found it fit to blow up in a barrel when you're trying to hide from your father.
"Hiccup! What is she doing…? What are you doing out?! Get inside!" Stoick bellowed, letting her down and pushing her towards the nearest shelter, scanning the sky for any nearby threats.
The voiceover continued, showing Stoick observing his surroundings. "That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean on its shoulders." Stoick grabbed a nearby cart, lifting it and throwing it through the air so it smashed into a Deadly Nadder flying overhead.
Several of the dragons cowered back and Hiccup scanned the group till she found the Deadly Nadder on screen, and mimed her apologies the Nadder nodded, bowing her head in thanks.
Meanwhile Stoick chuckled. That old rumor was still going around?
"Do I believe it? Yes, I do." Hiccup's voice was frank and the Vikings nodded in agreement, Gobber didn't bother he was there when it happened. "Right what have we got?" Stoick demanded, turning to the nearest Viking who stood a few feet shorter than him. "Gronkles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare," the Viking listed, ducking beneath his shield at the end of his list when a nearby barrel exploded, filling the sky with ash and smoke. Stoick just stood still, wiping a flaming cinder off his shoulder after the blast.
"Any Night Furies?" Stoick asked, his voice gravelly. "None so far," the Viking answered and Stoick nodded, breathing a sigh of relief, "Good."
Hiccup glanced over to the dragons only to see her love in dragon form preening after hearing what was said onscreen. 'Oi, don't you go getting a big head you kitty cat,' Hiccup teased, giggling at his huff of displeasure, his lips forming what could only be accounted to as a dragon's version of a pout.
'I'm not a kitten, I'm a fearsome Night Fury,' Aedus huffed, folding his forelegs and sitting back on his haunches in a sulking pose.
'Yes you're a big, bad dragon, oh help me I'm so scared. Now I'm just going to go back to watching the movie,' Hiccup responded, rolling her eyes, ignoring as the other dragons start laughing and teasing Aedus through the hive.
Hiccup was shown running through an active part of town, huge bowls filled with fire being raised into the sky with cries of "Hoist the torches!" Hiccup ran past several Vikings, skidding to a stop in the forge. "Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!" Gobber greeted cheerfully, pounding a bend sword back into shape as Hiccup hurriedly put on her apron.
"Who, me? No, come on, I'm way too muscular for their taste," Hiccup's voice grew strained as she lifted a huge spiked hammer back onto the wall. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this," she gestured feebly to her body and mimed a heroic pose.
The Vikings laughed and Hiccup pouted, crossing her arms over her chest in a manner scarily similar to what Aedus had been attempting.
"Honestly lass you could barely even lift the hammer onto the peg," Gobber chuckled shaking his head.
"Well maybe I wouldn't have to if you ever learnt how to clean up your forge," Hiccup shot back.
"Oi I keep it clean most of the time!… Okay, some of the time," Gobber amended.
"Ha more like never. Stupid smithies can't keep his bloody tools on the freaking shelves so he makes me do all the work," Hiccup muttered under her breath, unluckily for her Gobber heard.
"It's not that bad lass, don't know why you're complaining," Gobber shot back and Hiccup turned to look at him incuriously, ignoring the looks they were getting from Vikings and dragons alike.
"You don't know why I'm complaining? Well maybe it was that stack of swords you left lying behind the door so when I opened it I nearly impaled myself; or maybe it was the time you made a stack of hammers on your table nearly bigger than you are and when a Terrible Terror got into the forge during a raid they fell and broke my foot; or, I know, maybe it was the time when you 'forgot' you were boiling metal, so that the next time I came into the forge, instead of a new batch off daggers, we had a shiny metal lump blocking off the way to the sharpening tool. Which you then forgot about, so the next raid we had to spend the first half trying to move the damn block of silver, only for you to get distracted and drop the hunk, breaking my other foot only days after the first one had finally healed!" Hiccup exploded and Gobber blushed, looking away embarrassed and whistling an innocent tune. Around them, the Vikings looked at the pair in bewilderment. Hiccup had broken her foot?
'Hey Fia?' Aedus asked her. 'I thought you said your father was a rude man who never listened to you? But he seems to care for you quite a bit.'
'What?' Hiccup jumped, visibly surprised, blinking at her mate. 'No, that's not Dad. That's Gobber. You know, the blacksmith that taught me everything I know?'
'Oh! Yes, I remember you talking about him. He's the meathead with attitude and interchangable hands, yes?'
'That's the one,' smirking, Hiccup turned back to the screen.
"They need toothpicks don't they," Gobber added quickly changing his hand to one that would work better with his current task. The voiceover came back. "The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well, littler."
"OI! Who you calling a meathead!?" Gobber yelped, turning to look at Hiccup with accusing eyes.
"Oh you know, just the purple and pink spotted sheep shagging the Changewing on the forge table in a dress, while holding a teacup and reciting poetry, at the same time contemplating world domination," Hiccup said blandly, turning upside down on her couch so her head hung over the seat, long curls pooling against the ground.
For a few seconds the entire room was silent, looks of complete confusion and worry being thrown at Hiccup from all directions. Save for Aedus, who was for some reason blushing, and trying to hide behind Kai.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Astrid asked cautiously, breaking the silence.
"My head is a very dark and very weird place my dear Hofferson, once you have been there you will never return the same as when you entered. I should know I've been stuck in there for 16 years." Hiccup muttered darkly before suddenly beaming and flipping right way up. Closing her eyes momentarily, she sent a message through the hive.
'I hope you didn't mind me quoting you, Aedus. I just thought that fit the situation perfectly.'
'Wait, AEDUS came up with that?' Verity asked in disbelief, before bursting into laughter with the rest of the dragons. After a few minutes, they calmed down, before bursting into even more laughter at the looks the Vikings were sending them.
"Now let's keep watching the movie," Hiccup chirped, bouncing on her seat as the dragons settled down and the movie continued.
The scene changed to Stoick talking to another Viking. "Move to the lower defences. We'll counterattack with the catapults." He ordered, following his fellow Vikings as they began running, a dragon setting a building on fire above them, the house consumed in seconds. "See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses." Hiccup's voice came over the top, as frank and honest as ever.
"It wouldn't have to be that way if the ruddy beasts would just stop attacking," a random Viking piped up, the masses agreeing. Hiccup smiled sadly at Aedus in understanding, the Night Fury giving her back a gummy smile. A Terrible Terror saw her smiling and tried to copy it, trilling happily when it got it right, prancing back and forth in front of a group of Nadders.
Kai saw what the Terror was attempting and rolled his eyes at Hiccup in a 'what can you do kind of way,' snorting through his beak and pushing the terror back towards the group with his tail, the small dragons having nested themselves in the space created where several Monstrous Nightmares had curled up.
"Let's go!" The view abruptly changed to the other Viking teens fetching buckets of water to put out the fire. "Oh and that's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins: Ruffnut and Tuffnut and… Astrid," a fireball exploded behind the blonde as she walked forwards, the other teens joining her as the fire blazed behind them.
"Hey, it's us!" Snotlout cried, staring at their figures on screen.
"By the gods I look awesome!" Tuffnut cheered, throwing his hands into the air and doing a little jig in his seat.
"Huh I still look way cooler than you," Ruffnut snorted, letting out a shriek of surprise as Tuffnut dove at her, the twins rolling about on the floor trading punches and kicks.
"Take that back bird brain!" Tuffnut demanded.
"Never troll face," Ruffnut yelled back, punching him in the nose.
"ENOUGH! Just watch the movie!" Stoick bellowed, grabbing the two by the backs of their shirts and pulling them apart.
"Nice to know I'm not the only one manhandled," Hiccup muttered, grinning at the display in front of her before turning back to the movie.
"Their job is so much cooler."
"Excuse me? So now running around with buckets of water is cooler than forging weapons?!" Gobber cried indignantly. Hiccup shook her head, smiling.
"No, I love being a blacksmith. I just wanted to hang out with them, and have people my own age to work with." Gobber fell silent at that, as the teens looked at eachother shocked. Did they really exclude Hiccup that much?
Hiccup attempted to crawl over the counter only for Gobber to grab the back of her shirt and bodily lift her back into the forge. "Come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark." Hiccup complained as Gobber set her back down.
"Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places." Gobber enunciated, poking Hiccup in the shoulder with each word.
The Vikings laughed at the truth in that statement; it was well known Hiccup's ability to get hurt doing the simplest of things. Said Viking snorted, turning away from the group and pouting, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm not that bad," she muttered, huffing indignantly.
"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date."
'Well, I think I can help with those problems,' Aedus declared, causing Hiccup to smile over at him.
Hiccup gestured widely, boy slumping as Gobber regarded her with an amused expression before ticking things off on his good hand. "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe..." Gobber stopped for a second to pick up a spare bola lying around "... you can't even throw one of these." He added, a passing Viking leaning in and grabbing the bola, swinging it above his head before letting it fly, the strands wrapping around a Gronkle and bringing it into a nose dive.
'Sorry about that, they don't know any better,' Hiccup apologised to the Gronckle who nodded.
'I cannot blame them Fia, they see a threat to their home and family and defend against it. I would do the same if it was my kinsmen in danger,' the Gronkle acknowledged, offering her what amounted to a smile.
"Okay fine, but this will throw it for me," Hiccup up to an invention shaped like a cannon, patting it proudly. The mechanism released with a jarring twang, Gobber neatly sidestepped the spinning bola, it flew out of the forge and struck an incoming Viking in the face who then fell to the ground with a grunt of pain.
"Oops," the small teen offered up weakly as the Viking who she struck turned to glare at her.
"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about!" Gobber growled, advancing on the smaller lass who spread her arms in confusion. "Mild calibration issue…" "Hiccup!" Gobber's voice cut off the end of her sentence.
"If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons you need to stop all…. this," Gobber gestured to her in general. "But you just pointed to all of me," Hiccup protested confused. "Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you." Gobber poked her in the chest.
"That was such great advice Gobber," Hiccup commented dryly, leaning back so her head was dangling over the armrest and she was observing the smithy upside down. "I mean why didn't I think of that? To be what others want me to be all I have to do is stop being who I am. Now that I think about it it's so simple," Hiccup mocked praised, clapping her hands together slowly as the blacksmith blushed.
"I dinna mean it like that lass," Gobber protested weakly, before realising he wouldn't win this battle.
'I for one think Fia is absolutely perfect the way she is,' Aedus proclaimed loudly, causing the females to coo, and the single males to nod in agreement.
"Ohhhhh," "Ohh yes," Gobber mimicked Hiccup. "You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Vikingness contained? There will be consequences," Hiccup shouted, standing up on her tiptoes and waving a finger in an unimpressed Gobber's face.
"I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now," Gobber demanded, turning and pulling a sword from the rack before dumping it in Hiccup's arms. The redhead sighed but carried the sword over to the grindstone, resting the blade against the stone as her voice filtered over the top.
"Wait, wait, wait. You can carry a full blown Viking sword?" Snotlout asked suspiciously and Hiccup blinked surprised.
"Yeah sure. I've been working in the forge since I was like six. You do realise I probably made half of those swords," Hiccup's voice was steady even as the Vikings stared at her in disbelief.
"You must be lying. I mean, even Fishlegs has problems lifting one of those, and he's the strongest out of all of us," Astrid butted in, narrowing her eyes as Hiccup stared back unblinkingly.
"Nope, nothing but the truth. I've made swords, daggers, shields, axes, hammers, bolas and clubs. Hell, even that axe you have Astrid, I made it. Simple trick is to just fold the metal inward so that it hardens upon itself," Hiccup said blandly, her attention drawn back to the screen in time to miss the incurious looks thrown about between the villagers as Gobber beamed proudly.
"Okay is it only me or is it freaky how I'm speaking yet my mouth isn't moving," the simple comment drew the attention back to the screen and everyone settled in to watch.
"One day, I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed." The screen showed a group of Nadders prowling about the rooftops of the huts and setting fire to the straw rooves.
'I am sorry for anything I say. I was ignorant and foolish before I met Aedus. I had this need to fit in with my kin,' Hiccup said through the hive, the dragons noticeably relaxing.
'It is alright little one, we all yearn for a family.' One of the Nadders spoke and Hiccup dipped her head in thanks. 'But what do you mean by noticed? Surely we're worth more than that!'
"Gronkles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a date." A group of Gronkles were picking up and carrying off racks of freshly caught fish that were hung out to dry.
'Ha, see. The humans see us Gronkles as tougher than Nadders!' One of the Gronkles burst out and a couple of the Nadders snarled back.
'Hey, you all have your strengths! It depends on where, when and what you fight. It does not make any of you any less fearsome an opponent.' Hiccup cut in gently, the dragons chattering their agreement through the hive.
"A Zippleback?" One head leant through a door and filled the house with flammable smoke while the second sent its sparks down the chimney, turning the house into an explosion. "Exotic. Two heads, twice the status."
'Oh yeah!'
'Go us!'
'We're awesome!' Two of the Zippleback heads chanted.
'Shut it, Lifa! You're not better than us, Lielo!' Hifon rolled his eyes at the duo.
The Zippleback flew past Stoick and another man on one of the catapults. "They found the sheep!" the first yelled. "Concentrate fire over the lower bank," Stoick ordered, turning the catapults direction. "Fire!"
"You know if you attached a pulley system to the base and added a second hold next to the first then you could get twice the damage with half the time. I wonder if you added a rig there, maybe a triple bolt just to be sure. Nah you need a support system there then… but maybe if we factored in the balance of the cross beams we could wire that over the loading cable and then attach that to the major allotment…" Hiccup's voice trailed off as she noticed the room at large staring at her, dragons included, most in complete awe and confusion. Blushing heavily she ducked back down, burying her head into the warm material of Aedus' shirt and breathing in deeply.
"What was that lass?" Stoick asked amazed, staring at her with a sort of bewildered awe.
"Um, it's just a way to, you know, improve it. I sort of do that with everything," Hiccup admitted sheepishly, twisting the soft fabric of her shirt between her fingers, pointedly turning back to the movie.
The catapult went off with a whoosh, the stone hitting a stray flying Nadder as a hiss slowly echoed from the screen. "And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after them." Stoick peered over the edge of the structure only to see a ring of flames encompassing the way down. "They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire." A Monstrous Nightmare head suddenly appeared through the flames, jaws snapping at Stoick.
'I am sorry little one for attempting to harm your kin, I was mad with blood lust and the queen's need for food. Although, I am happy that you value Monstrous Nightmares so high on your scale of power.'
'You're forgiven Lydie, I know your actions weren't your own and I can't exactly blame you for having to obey that monster. And I sort of was terrified of most Nightmares for years, so of course I think they're powerful.' Hiccup grinned as the Monstrous Nightmare relaxed, obviously relieved that she wasn't holding grudge. Once more Hiccup wondered why the Vikings couldn't see this was how dragons really were.
"Reload, I'll take care of this," Stoick's voice boomed across the screen. His hammer met the jaw of the monstrous nightmare several times, the dragon attempting to catch him in its jaws. "But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one's ever seen." A Night Fury call began to sound and the Monstrous Nightmare fled, Stoick looked to the skies while in the workshop Hiccup abruptly stopped sharpening the sword.
"We call it the…" Hiccup's voice was cut off as the Vikings in the square paused. "Night Fury!" "Get down!" A plasma blast struck one of the catapult towers in a blue and gold blast that sounded through the village, the Vikings all hid beneath their shield in an attempt to protect if a blast was near them.
'Hear that, I am the most dangerous of all dragons' Aedus preened, shuffling his wings proudly as he grinned at the other dragons, showing his teeth in an adorable smile.
'Oh, I don't know there, love. I know you pretty well and I may say I think you might not be fully dragon. Maybe even part kitten,' A teasing smile lit Hiccup's face, directed at Toothless who looked back at her with the most impressive attempt at puppy dog eyes she had ever seen on a dragon.
'You don't think I'm fearsome,' he whined, crossing his arms and sitting back on his haunches, staring up at her with sad eyes.
'You're the most fearsome dragon I know with your sad eyes and pouty dramatics' Hiccup responded dryly, raising an eyebrow as he chuffed moodily. The other dragons made a chortling sound similar to laughter and Hiccup grinned at how human like they were acting. Sometimes she forgot that all the dragons could become human, they were so separate from their tame side at times it was difficult to remember.
Her smile became forced as she remembered what was about to happen, and who it was about to happen to. She cringed, playing back the point at which she realised she was the one to ground Aedus, to bring him from the skies and make him reliant on her.
'It's okay mi luna y estrellas. If it hadn't happened, I never would have met you.' Hiccup smiled softly at her beloved. Aedus always seemed to know what she was thinking, and she felt her shoulders relaxing as he grinned gummily at her.
'I love you two mi sol y ceilo.'
The catapult explodes in a blaze of fire and the form of Stoick becomes apparent through the flames. "Jump!" he shouts, the Vikings fleeing the burning structure. The scene changed to Hiccup in the workshop. "This thing never steals food, never shows itself and…" the view changes to a second plasma blast being directed at the already breaking catapult, "…never misses."
"What's its shot limit? I mean, even the Hideous Zippleback can run out of smoke," Fishlegs queried nervously and Hiccup repressed a grin.
"Shot limit? Don't know if it has one… I mean, not that we know of. Anyone who's faced a Night Fury hasn't lived to tell of it," Gobber explained, rubbing a large hand through his beard.
Hiccup turned her head slightly, raising an eyebrow at Aedus who chortled knowingly at her from his place in the centre of the dragons.
"Hey, wait a minute," Fishlegs suddenly shouted excitedly, catching the attention of the room. "Do you guys think that a Night Fury was transported here with the rest of the dragons? This could be our only chance seeing a Class 7 Strike Class dragon up close!" The Vikings all started searching through the crowd of dragons for a Night Fury, as Aedus scrunched down and tried to make himself as small as possible.
'What in Thor's hammer is a Class 7 Strike Class dragon?!' Aedus asks Hiccup in worry.
'It's just a statistical way for us to sort the dragons that we know of. Class 7 is pretty high; the average class for dragons is 3 or 4.'
'Ha! So you admit that I'm powerful and dangerous!' Aedus crowed triumphantly puffing up, and in the process bringing every Viking eye to him.
"It's a Night Fury!"
"Get down!" At that call every Viking hit the floor, while Hiccup and the dragons just stared at them incredulously. Sighing, Hiccup gestures dramatically at her kin.
'I present, the fearless Vikings of Berk.' Out loud however, she said, "Alright guys, as hilarious as this is, the Night Fury isn't attacking us. Mainly because there's a barrier protecting us from the dragons, in case you forgot." Sheepishly, the Vikings all resumed their prior positions, and Hiccup rolled her eyes as the movie started up again.
Hiccup leant further out of the forge window the voiceover continuing over the top. "No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first."
'I'm sorry Aedus, I didn't mean it. I was stupid and desperate to fit in,' Hiccup whispered through the link.
'It's fine love. You wanted a family, somewhere to belong. And if you think of it this way. You may not have been the first to kill a night fury, but you were the first to fall in love with one' Aedus reassured her through the hive and she smiled down at her lap, a small blush coating her cheeks.
Hiccup walked away from the window, Gobber pulling off his prosthetic. "Man the fort Hiccup. They need me out there." Gobber attached an axe to his prosthetic and limped quickly towards the forge exit.
Gobber turned back at the door, a worried expression on his face. "Stay. Put. There." He was slowly inching towards the forge door, Hiccup's eyes darting about conspiratorially. "You know what I mean," Gobber reaffirmed before running off into the battle with a fierce battle cry.
"Gobber! How could you leave her on her own?! You know she'll run away at the first opportunity!" Stoick yelled exasperated and Gobber grinned sheepishly.
"Okay to be fair to Gobber, if all the Vikings on the island can't keep me in the house, there is no way in hell that you're going to be able to keep me in the forge," Hiccup stated casually, grinning innocently as the village as a whole turned to look at her indignantly.
"Thank you lass. Besides Stoick I would like to see you try and keep an eye on her without something mysteriously happening," Gobber grunted and though he would deny it vehemently, he was pouting.
Hiccup was shown running through the village, pushing her invention in front of her. "Where are you going?" A random Viking called. "Yeah, I know," she called back, missing the question. "Hiccup!" a lady screamed as she was nearly run over. "Be right back!" she continued her mad dash through the village, ignoring the continued protests.
"At least no one tried to pick me up," Hiccup shrugged, kicking her feet absentmindedly.
"It might be harder if you weren't so small," Snotlout taunted and Hiccup scowled fiercely at him, clenching her fists in anger.
"Are you such an idiot that you haven't realised that Astrid, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut are all just as thin as I am. Plus what you seem to think is muscle, dear cousin, is fat. And the small amount of muscle you have certainly isn't in your head," Hiccup shot back and Snotlout seemed to beam.
"Exactly. It's not in my head it's in my arms where it should be," he grinned, proud of his comeback while the surrounding Vikings gaped at his stupidity.
"'Oh, I give up. I might as well go argue with a chair. Who knows it might be smarter than the idiots that surround me," Hiccup lamented, falling back onto her small couch dramatically, looking at her pillow for a moment, before turning to an empty chair that just happened to be next to her couch. (AN: I don't know how that got there... *whistles innocently while averting gaze*)
"Excuse me chair, but why in the world are you there? Why aren't you over there where people can see the movie better?" Hiccup asked the chair in an extremely snarky and sarcastic tone.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I just don't want any of those people to sit on me," the chair replied back, to the shock of everyone in the room. (AN: HA! DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING!)
"Well why not?"
"They seem rather heavy. I might break under that much weight. Though I don't think I would mind if you sat on me. You're much less fat." Hiccup beamed at the compliment.
"Why thank you! But I'm okay with my couch for now. It's got a great view of the movie."
"Alright then, suit yourself." With that, the chair stopped talking, and Hiccup turned to face the still gaping Vikings and dragons in the room.
"What?" Wisely, the Vikings turned away, questioning the mentality of their smallest member, while the dragons all listened to Hiccup laughing through the link.
'Ha! Man, their faces! They didn't even realize that the chair was just Darcy transformed!' The dragons all let out a synchronised 'Ohhhh' at hearing the explanation.
Looking down at the pillow that writing had appeared on, telling Hiccup what to do, she saw that another sentence had replaced what was on there before.
Actually Hiccup, I'm not Darcy. I'm a friend of hers who had to take over while she went out to observe and record data about a world inside of a book. But don't worry; you'll see me very soon. -SV
Blinking, Hiccup turned back to the movie, with a single thought in her mind. Who in the world is SV?
A group of Deadly Nadders is shown sniffing around a bunch of sheep, Stoick threw a large net over them and a sudden gang of Vikings run up to hold it down. A head begins spewing fire and Stoick jumps on it to hold it shut, "Mind yourselves. The devils still have some juice in them," he calls, bringing the head down to the ground and holding it there.
Hiccup winced at the violent action onscreen, turning her head so she didn't have to watch it. Astrid caught the action and frowned slightly in confusion… why was Hiccup cringing away from violence? She was first in dragon training at the moment, though now that Astrid thought about it she hadn't actually seen Hiccup fight a dragon in a bloody confrontation; just mysteriously knock them out or put them back into their cages.
Hiccup was shown running through the village again, the cart pushed in front of her before she drew to a sudden halt at a cliffs edge on the borders of the village. She placed it down with a gasp, small hands quickly pulling various pieces out and prepping them into position. A giant bola launcher was featured on screen, Hiccup holding taunt onto the handles that allowed it to be fired vast distances.
The villagers stared at the screen in shock, mouths wide at the sheer brilliance of the invention.
"Holy hell lass, you made that?" Gobber croaked, eyes examining the intricate piece of machinery with both awe and trepidation.
"Yeah it was easy. I just used various materials laying around the forge then calibrated it for someone of my stature and strength. It was actually really easy in hindsight." She shrugged off the accomplishment as if it were nothing while Gobber knew that he nor anyone else would have or ever will create anything as close in significance to Hiccup's design.
The villagers looked at each other in shock. That's what had fired the bola at the Viking? Just imagine what an expierienced Viking could do with that!
"Come on. Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at" she muttered, eyes scanning the dark sky as she moved the launcher side to side slowly. A soft screech filled the air, slowly getting louder and louder as it seemed to be getting closer, Hiccup's eyes widening then narrowing as she attempted to spot the Night Fury.
It was blacking out stars as it flew, the shape barely visible against the inky darkness. Her eyes widened as the Night Fury went in for the kill, the catapult lighting on fire as the shape flew away. Hiccup squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger, the force of the bola launching sending her tumbling to the ground in a mass of limbs. The bola was shown spinning as Hiccup clambered to her feet. A thud, a screech then the tell-tale shape falling out of the sky were clear indications that Hiccup had hit a Night Fury.
The entire room was silent. The Vikings in awe that the one thought to be the weakest amongst them had felled the most fearsome of all the beasts and the dragons at the fact that a human had downed the Night Fury, known as the lord of the skies.
"You actually did hit a Night Fury?" Fishlegs asked slowly, turning his large bulk to face her. Every other Viking and dragon followed his lead, staring in awe and surprise at the small girl curled up on the couch. There were several expressions of regret and disappointment to as they recalled how they had dismissed her claims out of hand, probably missing out on their one chance to ever meet and kill a Night Fury.
"I told you I did. None of you believed me though." Hiccup's voice was quiet and several of the inhabitants of the room could hear the note of shame and sadness that coated her tone.
Suddenly the Viking half of the room burst into cheers.
"You did it Hiccup!"
"That menace will probably never fly again!"
"Maybe if we head to where it landed we can find it's bones and make you a new helmet out of them!" Hiccup cringed at that, remembering the breast hat.
"I'm proud of you, Hiccup." Stoick told her seriously, a large grin spread across his face. Hiccup mustered a grin, which dropped immediately as the Vikings stopped looking at her, instead planning a search party out to Raven's point.
'I am sooooo sorry Aedus. I can't believe how hard it must be for you to watch this,' Hiccup murmured through the hive, expression downcast as she fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt. Aedus hated then more than ever the fact that he wasn't allowed to cross the line until the weird girl told him he could or Hiccup came over.
'It's fine my love. I would have done the same in your position. You knew not of me or of dragons; just what you had been taught, and you acted on instinct to protect your home.' Aedus reassured and Hiccup smiled thankfully at him, fiery curls slipping down the hide her face from view of the Vikings as she blew him a kiss.
"I hit it. Yes, I hit it!" Hiccup cheered, throwing her arms into the air in celebration and twirling to face the village at large. "Did anybody see that?" her tone was triumphant. A Monstrous Nightmare is seen crawling over the edge of the cliff, already blazing with fire as it creeps up behind her, suddenly storming onto the cliff and crushing the bola launcher with a fierce growl.
The Vikings froze, their celebration forgotten, in the face of this new threat. Across the barrier, Aedus tensed, wishing more than anything that he could protect his mate from this threat.
'Wait a minute... That's me!' Hifon shouted, the male Monstrous Nightmare swiveling his head to face Aedus. 'Sorry about that. But hey, at least I didn't hurt her.' Aedus relaxed slightly, but couldn't completely calm down, his instincts raging at him to protect his mate.
Hiccup turned slowly, shoulders drooping low as she sighed in exasperation. "Except for you." Her tone was frank and she seemed to tense up as it lifted its head. Eyes dangerous as it glared down at her.
The entire room paused for a second to take in the absurdity of that statement, Hiccup facing off against a dangerous dragon and treating it with the same sarcasm that she did them. Then as one they collapsed into laughter, howling at the ridiculousness of the situation. Most of the dragons were chuckling along and Hiccup exchanged a pain filled look with Aedus before sinking into her couch with a pout. It was going to be a long movie.
HEY GUYS! CHECK IT OUT! I GOT A NEW UPDATE DRAGON! HIS NAME IS SPIKE, AND I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU FED HIM WITH REVIEWS AND SNOTLOUT!
And sorry about that long update thing. This was a longer chapter than usual.