/I remembered that people are reading this fic on this website, sorry humans, I hate the fanfiction format because it's tedious but I'll update my fics on here as best as I can :( sorry for the delay
"Astrid!" Hiccup cried from above. The blond in question shot up a welcoming hand, holding a battle axe of course. She tossed her bangs out of her eyes as Toothless landed, Stormfly quickly squawked with delight, stomping over to her friend as Hiccup dismounted. "You're not going to believe what Fishlegs just found," he rasped as she swung the axe to rest on her shoulder naturally, something Hiccup could never do without cutting an arm off or falling from the weight of the sharp weapon.
"Let me guess, another dragon?" She joked, an amused smile dancing around her mouth as she watched her dragon tumble with the nightfury behind her panting friend.
"Yes but something even more spectacular!" His enthusiasm was blinding, and she was almost lost within it, feeling his raw excitement that always set a fire in her blood. But she had to step back a few steps, remind herself that her and Stormfly were passed those days with Hiccup and his adventures, she had responsibilities now, it wasn't like the island would stop being attacked to wait for her return.
"I'm all ears," she breathed, the indifferent coast guard mask slipping on as she turned back to the targets she was practicing on. She almost missed her throw as Hiccups tale unfolded.
"Origins of dragons?" She hissed, and Hiccup was buzzing with excitement.
"I know right!" He grinned, unable to hold still, "I want you to come with us! Please Astrid, this is a once in a life time chance!" Her grasp on her next throwing axe tightened.
"Hiccup, you know I can't-" she began, but the electrified screams of delight drowned her out.
"The twins and gang are back in business!" The two bone heads screamed as they flew over the training arena, Meatlug trailing behind them.
"All I said was new dragon!" Fishleg chuckled, hugging the book tight to his chest. Hiccup grinned up at them, missing the reluctant inner battle showing on his friends face. She had responsibilities. It's wasn't as if she could drop everything and leave like they used to. She was a part of the coast guard, her duty was to the people not new dragons.
"New dragons?" Snotlout asked, pushing in a wheelbarrow of weapons, the Chief close behind him. His eyes too began to glint with the familiar spark that was was lighting Hiccups face.
"What's this all about?" Hiccups father asked, the bush of a beard moving with every word.
"Dad it's amazing, I think we might have found-Dad?" Hiccups enthusiasm faltered when he realised his fathers gaze was was not on him, but on Fishlegs as he descended down into the arena, or more specifically, on the book he was holding.
"Where did you get that?" Stoick asked, his accent layered thick with something grim.
"The library," Hiccup answered, "b-but that's not the point, the thing is-"
"The wretched egg," Hiccups excitement snapped a little at the tone of his fathers voice. It was the one he used when he knew Hiccup was about to do something stupid.
"Y-Yeah, how'd you know?" Hiccup looked back at the book held in Fishlegs chubby hands. Ruffnut and Tuffnut crawled down from their dragon heads, punching and pulling each other, not yet reading the tone in the air.
Stoick sighed heavily, "I hope you ain't goin after it, Hiccup. That book isn't an invitation, it's a warning," he held out his hand for it, and Fishlegs reluctantly handed it over. Toothless nudged Hiccups hand to his head, silently asking what the problem was.
"Dad, it's the origins of the dragon species," he insisted as the man flipped through the pages, eyes darkening.
"Exactly, but the moral of this story is to keep the wretched egg from opening, less dragon breeds the better, even if we have made peace with them son, you don't want to be like the travellers and open up a new nightmare to the world. We have balance now, don't try to tip it," he roughly handed the book to Hiccup who stumbled from the force of it. He caught Astrids eye as Hiccup regained his balance, a silent order to keep his son from chasing after that story. She nodded stiffly to it. The chief exited the arena as his warriors filled in, grabbing weapons from Snotlouts wheelbarrow and setting up in their respective corners.
"So, no adventure?" Snotlout asked, disappointment lacing his voice. The twins whined behind him as they added up the events that had taken place among themselves and Fishlegs stared hard at the ground, fighting off tears he swore were from dust.
Astrid turned back to her target, "sorry Hiccup," she said over her shoulder as she raised another weapon, but she didn't see disappointment in his eyes, only a flash of determination.
She guessed she's on Hiccup duty tonight.
"Where do you think you're all going?" Astrid asked only hours after their last encounter. Hiccups grip on Toothless tightened stubbornly, not intimidated by her axe examining act that was making Snotlout cower down on his dragon.
"Not going after the wretched egg," the twins answered unhelpfully, snickering giving away the obvious.
"Just hear us out Astrid, the dragons-" Hiccup began, that stubborn determination that had been passed down from his father coming out.
"Berk is almost constantly being attacked by the armada Hiccup, we are the main defense against them, just because you and Toothless fly off gods knows where everyday doesn't change that fact," she raised her axe threateningly at him, her dragon standing tall and fearless behind her. Snotlout, the twins and even Fishlegs have been all warding off attacks alongside Astrid and her army, she wasn't saying that Hiccup didn't care about his home, but he was never really there to defend it.
Hiccup lifted his chin defensively, "this is bigger then us Astrid, answers to questions about the dragons history and maybe even further lie in that cave on the cliffs edge, Fishlegs and I have charted a dozen or so possible-"
"You are going against a direct order from the Chief and weakening Berks defense!" Astrid snapped, Stormfly agreeing loudly behind her.
"We're not going to open the wretched egg we're only going to-" Hiccup argued, but the team behind him appeared unsure now.
"Hiccup," she sighed, fighting the urge to facepalm because he wasn't getting the point of this lecture.
"Astrid," Hiccup responded, a serious gaze landing on her, as if she was the one doing something wrong, "we need to look for this cave, Berk has survived a hundred years of invasions even before the dragons switched sides, it can hold one more night. Come with us or not, but don't try to stop us," and with that Toothless leaped into the air, catching the wind under his jet black wings and soaring up over the village.
With great reluctance, Fishlegs silently encouraged Meatlug to beat her wings to join him, passing an apologetic look over to Astrid. The twins were less reluctant as they kicked off as well.
"If you wanted me to stay I-Wowh!" Snotlout was lifted into the sky as well, his dragon breaking off any flirting he could get away from, efficiently silencing his rider.
Stormfly nudged her lightly, her head turning inquisitively before gazing longingly up at the fading dragon shapes above them.
"Alright gang, first cliff is on the south side of Blood-headed mountain," Hiccup informed, his eyes turning to the horizon as the clouds parted to reveal the oncoming night sky.
"How many sights do you have?" Someone flying a familiar spiked dragon flew up beside him.
"Astrid!" Hiccup exclaimed as he nearly lost his hold on Toothless, "I thought you were-"
"Well someone's gotta make sure you don't get killed on this mission," she sighed, a lighthearted smile and shrug creeped onto her features before being run over by a promise of violence, "but if we're not back before sun breaks then I'm going to drag you home if I have to," her axe glinted on her back evilly.
"Good enough for me," Hiccup grinned, eyeing the weapon before leaning down on Toothless, "let's go bud," he whispered. The Nightfury roared in response, his muscles speeding up his wings until the screech of a forming plasma blast reached their ears.
"Please don't eat me!" Ruffnut screamed as he raced out of the cave and leaped off the edge of the cliff. The Screaming Death close on his tail screeched out, its mouth full of teeth wide open. It faultered when it's cave filled with green gas, and its confusion was met by a spark that blinded her, leaving her with an explosion of flames as Ruffnut and Tuffnut flew off to the
safety of the reforming group.
"Nothing in my cave," Astrid reported, eyes widening at Snotlouts burnt skin and smoke cloud forming above him as he too reported nothing in a breathless tone.
"Well there was something in my cave," Ruffnut puffed out his chest proudly.
"But it tried to kill us," Tuffnut snickered which earned them a roll from two sets of eyes below them.
"Let's move on to the next set," Hiccup bit his lip pensively, his eyes searching over his map for a new set of points that hadn't been crossed out, but he only found red ugly crosses.
"That was the last ones, Hiccup," Fishlegs whispered quietly, disappointment over his face.
Astrid didn't want to celebrate this win because of the look that crossed Hiccup face, "Let's head back then Hiccup, the suns going to rise in an hour and the dragons are getting tired." She went for being the voice of reason instead. It appeared as if Hiccup was actually going to agree with her finally, but it was never going to be that easy.
A swift shadow darted between the dragons, spooking them. "Hey it's ok, bud!" Hiccup reassured, petting his Nightfury, however another scaly shadow zoomed passed them, and then another, and another. Toothlesses eyes narrowed into thin slits, his head darting around nervously. Fishlegs gasped loudly, he too looking around their group. If it was any less terrifying he would actually be excited, however there was nothing quite so terrifying as being swallowed by a swarm of dragons. And it wasn't just one species of dragon. "Defense formation!" Hiccup cried, however Toothless jerked forward, entering the fray of dragons along with the rest of his crew.
"What's happening?!" Snotlout cried after punching Hookfang and getting no response, not even an annoyed screech or revenge light up.
"A haul," Hiccup gasped, the familiarity of it from the last time they discovered a nest coming back to him. "They're taking us to a nest!" He called out to his friends, already being swallowed up by the vast numbers of dragon and kills. He pushed his body flat against Toothlesses, whispering into his friends ear, urging him to snap out of the flocks trance, but he knew it was futile.
Fishlegs whimpered on top of his Gronckle, silently mouthing the names of all the species that flew passed him, "...Timberjack, Zippleback, Change wing, Screaming Death, Deadly Natter, Terrible Terrors..." he swallowed loudly, mouth going dry as more and more dragons appeared from the darkness but what made him really nearly wet his pants was the giant mist in front of him. The boarder of the lands ever mapped. They didn't stop.
The Hidious Zippleback darted through the mist, its riders for once in their lives deadly quiet. They silently communicated their panic as they dodged broken ships and sharp rocks. The beasts around them didn't try to pick them off their saddles but the slitted eyes that stared into them were threatening enough to make them cower in their seats.
"This is not good," Hiccup whispered as the mist thinned, his eyes caught on the huge mass that was the flock, ten times larger than the one he had flown through before. The sound of crashing waves against rock caught his attention first, his head shot up from examining the dragons down below to a towering black cliff face. "Oh my gods," he breathed, the violent waves beating against the unforgiving stone cliff as black as night, matching the picture described to him inside the origins book. "We found it,"
Tens of thousands of dragons clawed at the cliffs edge, crawling into crowded caves or soaring up above the clouds to the top of the black island. Hiccups mouth hung open as Toothless shot straight for the cliff, the impact nearly throwing the rider off. Gravity teased him but he held on strong, not daring to look behind to see the restless sea. A familiar call willed him to open his eyes and he found himself staring into the concerned gaze of his dragon, puples blown out normally.
"Oh thank, Thor," Hiccup breathed, he was not looking forward to entering the caves with a compelled dragon.
"Hiccup," hissed someone behind him, the wind off the wings of a dragon pushing at his hair.
"Astrid," Hiccup sighed, releaved, "we found it, the wretched eggs cave," he gestured to the rockface around him.
"Couldn't have been a more abandoned cliff could it?" She complained behind him, searching out the rest of the riders. It was not a hard task, both familiar monsterous nightmare and Zippleback hanging onto the cliff a little way above them and Fishlegs whimpering heard somewhere to the left of them.
"You okay, bud?" Hiccup asked, stroking his friend fondly. An afermative low growl was his answer and a happy flick of the tail. This wasn't like last time, he wasn't showing signs of fear or any more nagging instincts, Hiccup concluded it was just the sudden swarm and not the call of an alpha. But he was almost certain there was an alpha living inside of the vast numbers of dragons wasn't any indication. Toothless soared off the cliff face and twirled back to face it, looking for enterences like his rider.
"There," Hiccup whispered, pointing to a cave opening free of dragons. Toothless swooped obediently towards it, and Hiccup made sure his team saw were he went before they landed on the cool charcoal rocks. He looked around himself, the cave was completely empty, stretching out further into darkness ahead of them. His friends slowly filled in behind him, dragons on edge but no longer under the flocks control. "This must be it," Hiccup carefully dismounted, reaching out a hand to brush over the carvings within the cave wall.
"I can't believe we found it," Astrid breathed, she had bet they would take more than just a night to find it, but the unexpected dragon swarm lead them, carving off weeks of search time that she did not have to waste. They possibly would have never found it, the mists being to unpredictable to even tempt to fly dragons across, especially with what they found last time they travelled across mist.