For two that I hold in the highest esteem: E-Wills, and Monty Oum. I love and miss you both so much.
Disclaimer: Thank heavens I don't own HTTYD, seriously; the stories would have been so much worse with me at the helm.
Chapter 2: Spark
Astrid awoke to the sounds of bestial roars and battle. A raid. Shaking her head in an effort to chase the fog of sleep from her mind, she automatically reached for her axe. Grabbing hold of her prized weapon something felt wrong. Looking down, she remembered with dismay that her once beautiful axe had been half-melted and mangled by that Night Fury. Three weeks after the funeral, and she hadn't been able to bring herself to go near the forge to ask Gobber to make her a new one. With the sounds of combat growing ever louder, she growled and placed the remains of her axe back on its old hooks and sprinted out the door, weaponless.
The torches were in the process of being raised, giving the Viking warriors below a better view of the dragon horde above. Acrid smoke rose from the couple of already burning houses, and Stoick could be heard bellowing orders, even over the fray.
Astrid hauled out one of the water barrels and its compliment of buckets, being swiftly joined by Fishlegs and the twins.
Ruffnut's face split into a grin upon seeing Astrid. "Well hey there, princess. Nice night for a stroll, ain't it?"
"Call me 'princess' again, and that stroll will end with you in the ocean." Astrid forced a smile in return and emptied her half-full bucket of water over the other girl's head.
Ruffnut cackled and clapped her hand on Astrid's back. "That's the spirit. Now come on. As much as I adore the fires, we really should put 'em out."
Tuffnut groaned as he filled his own bucket. "But the fire is so pretty! Can't we leave it just for a bit longer?" he complained loudly as he ran off to deal with a small blaze threatening a torch's base.
Astrid shook her head and ran off towards the nearest burning building, water bucket in hand. Normally, as a graduate of a dragon training class, she'd be helping the rest of the tribe as a warrior, rather than a child. But she wasn't a warrior. She hated the dragons as much as any other Hooligan, but she'd failed when it really mattered. She didn't have a weapon, anyway. Her axe had been a treasure of hers, perfectly weighted for her, she'd had it for years… and now it was scrap.
Astrid zoned out the sounds of Vikings and dragons, focusing only on her own thoughts, and the task at hand. Fill bucket, run to fire, empty bucket over fire, run back to water barrel. Rinse and repeat.
It wasn't until Astrid was nearly bowled over by a Monstrous Nightmare that she came out of her reverie. With a startled yelp she dove out of the rampaging beast's way as it gave a roar and snapped at her. She rolled to her feet and jumped back, instinctively looking around for any kind of weapon as the Nightmare ignited itself and smashed its way into the nearest house. Astrid's heart jumped as terrified screams suddenly split the air.
"Don't worry, baby, I got this guy!" Called an irritatingly familiar voice. Its owner came running from the same direction as the Nightmare had, sporting a slightly-too-big hammer and a self-assured grin. "Snotlout's here to save the day!"
Astrid almost gagged as Snotlout charged forward with reckless abandon. Her mouth twisted into a disgusted grimace, she resumed her search for a weapon. Her eyes settled on a discarded spear. Not the weapon of choice, but it would do.
Breaking into a run she made for the spear, spurred on by the screams of the house's inhabitants. She grabbed the haft and turned on her heel, preparing to throw it or charge as was needed. Snotlout had actually managed to get the Nightmare out of the house and chasing him. He'd get a hit in and then run for his life from the progressively more ticked off dragon. That was when she heard it.
An unmistakable high-pitched keening pierced the night. Astrid's skin began to crawl as she gripped the spear a toxic mix of fear and rage. Night Fury.
Looking up to the sky she trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive dragon, all thoughts of anything other than a burning desire for revenge fleeing her mind. The sound of a Night Fury blast rang out, seemingly aimed down into the village. For a split-second she saw the beast flying low over burning buildings, and then it was gone.
Running towards the village center, Astrid heard the sound again. The purple ball of fire came out of nowhere and slammed into the ground, narrowly missing a sword-toting warrior who was about to finish off a downed Nadder. The Nadder squawked in alarm and scrambled to its feet before taking off into the darkness.
Astrid gripped her spear in frustration as another Night Fury shot hit a warrior's shield dead center, knocking him off his feet and letting the Zippleback he was forcing into a net make a break for it. I'm never going to get a fight with it like this…
The wall to Astrid's right exploded as a Nightmare wreathed in flame smashed a warrior through it with an enraged growl. Astrid covered her face as flaming debris flew around her, the frozen ground coming up to meet her. She rolled to the side and leapt to her feet. She could feel the heat radiating off the creature as she advanced, holding the spear out in an attempt to get its attention off of the fallen Viking. With a cry she charged, forcing the Nightmare a couple of steps back to avoid the tip of her spear.
The beast's eyes narrowed and focused on the spear, taking a few more steps back as it cast a calculating gaze over her and the other warrior who had gotten to his feet.
"Hey, I've totally got it, just took me by surprise is all." Astrid sighed internally as the warrior spoke, realizing it was Snotlout who she was protecting. The idiotic boy tried to push her out of the way, giving the dragon an opportunity to spray a stream of fire towards them. Astrid dodged and Snotlout braced his shield. Stamping out her flaming boot, she turned to see Snotlout once again hitting the ground. He squirmed as the Nightmare pinned him to the dirt by his flaming shield.
Annoying as he was, Astrid wasn't about to let him be roasted for his stupidity. She changed her grip on the spear and threw it at the Nightmare. The weapon sunk into its shoulder, causing it to cry out in pain and slink back, glaring at her. Wasting no time, she ran forward, ducking another stream of fire and grabbing Snotlout's discarded hammer.
Astrid began taking swipes at the injured dragon, scoring a couple solid hits and managing to knock it to its stomach. However, before she could land a finishing blow, the accursed sound of a Night Fury shot rang out close by. Jumping away from the downed Nightmare, the fireball hit to the left of where she had just been. Seeing its exit opportunity, the dragon scrambled up the remains of the wall it had smashed through and pulled the spear out of its shoulder with its teeth before taking off.
Taking a deep breath, Astrid growled in frustration before the pieces fell into place. The other dragons, it's protecting them. That's how I can force it to show itself. She threw the hammer down next to Snotlout and ran off in the direction of the forge. Screw scavenging during the raids. She needed an axe.
Steeling herself as she weaved her way between buildings, Astrid let her anger combat her guilt and shame. If I can avenge him, then I can start atoning for my failure at the cove. She ducked as a Night Fury shot splintered the corner of a house, scaring off the Zippleback that was in the process of pouring gas into the structure. With a growl, she resumed running in the direction of the forge. Blasted Night Fury. I can't save… Hiccup, but I can destroy you. This time will be different. This time, for sure.
Astrid could see Gobber hard at work, repairing weapons as fast as he could manage on his own. There was no playful banter, just work. She still felt uneasy approaching the building, but she had to. She needed a weapon she could wield as an extension of her arm if she was going to take down that Night Fury.
Clearing her throat, Astrid called out as she ran up to the little customer window "Gobber! I need an axe, what do you have on hand?"
Gobber looked up from hammering something that may have once been a sword with the ghost of a smile. "Ah, was wonderin' when you would come 'round, lass." Placing the deep red hunk of metal back into the forge, he shuffled off to the back room of the shop. "I've got jus' tha' thing, you're in luck."
Before Astrid could ask what he meant, he had returned. In his callused hands was an axe that stole her breath away. The double-headed weapon shone in the light of the forge; the metal's surface appearing as if it had a life of its own. The faces of each blade were engraved with intricate patterns that twisted and turned, forming half-glimpsed images that vanished in the blink of an eye. Securing the axe head were strips of metal that seemed to fuse with the wooden handle, along which the engravings flowed like a tapestry. The pattern continued all the way along the ovate handle, burned into the polished wood.
"This is… y'know, Hiccup's work. Had real talent in the forge, he did…" Gobber seemed to lose himself for a second before blinking and reverently handing the weapon to Astrid. "It's yours. Now go on, make 'im proud and put tha' to good use." He turned quickly, resuming his normal repair work.
Astrid took the axe with a sense of disbelief, her eyes poring over the beautiful weapon in wonder. She realized her mouth was hanging open and slammed it shut. Unable to think of anything to say, she stuttered out a thank you and ran back out into the chaos that was engulfing the village.
Hiccup… made me an axe? She shook her head and tried to focus. No, think about that later. Hunt down that Night Fury now. Grabbing a nearby rope, she scanned the area for a grounded dragon that she could use to bait the Night Fury into showing itself.
Astrid lashed the bright blue Nadder to the base of one of the torches, clamping the creature's mouth closed and forcing its head down into the dirt. Tying off the rope, she looked skyward, not having heard the telltale sound of the Night Fury for some time. She knew the raid was drawing to a close; many of the dragons had already flown off with their bounty of livestock.
Holding the razor sharp blade of her axe at the throat of the struggling Nadder she called out into the night sky with barely contained fury and no small amount of apprehension. "Come on out, Night Fury! I know you're still there, you wouldn't leave one of your own down here to die like this, would you?!"
Her challenge was greeted with silence, the sounds of battle between Viking and dragon quieting down as more dragons flew back to whatever hel-spawned pit they came from. The Nadder made a noise that was somewhere between a squawk and a whimper as its yellow eyes darting around in panic. Astrid scowled and flicked the side of the dragon's head with the flat of her axe.
The reaction was immediate. The high-pitched whistle pierced the night once more, and Astrid instinctively ducked. This time however, there was no well-aimed ball of fire. Instead, when she looked up she saw the midnight black dragon pulling out of a dive and circling around the torch, looking down at her. Gripping her axe tighter, and scowled at the creature as it slowly circled the torch. Other Viking warriors began yelling and trying to bring it down with various thrown objects.
The Night Fury evaded every attempt with what could only be described as lazy movements. It was then that Astrid saw something that she wouldn't have believed if it weren't right in front of her.
The dragon had a rider.
A/N: A huge thank you to my good friend Luna1100 on Tumblr for being my beta for this. Probably wouldn't have posted it without you.
Please send any and all constructive criticism, I've no idea what I'm doing, so
Thank you to both reviewers, and everyone who followed, favorited, or read. Thank you very much :)