Alright! I'm on a roll now! A huge thank you to those who have reviewed. You guys make me smile big!
To Alice W. Rabbit: Thank you so much fro reviewing. First one! Go you! Love your 'Eyes of a Lap Dragon' story.
To Catnip-Packet: Cool name, and I love your "Never Know What You've Got' Story. Excellent, and thanks for your review and your vote!
To StrawberryxXxKisses: Thanks for your support and vote, and I agree. Tuff would probably beat up on the poor girl like with his sister! XD
To Vampirebunnygirl: Thanks for the support. Hope you like the speed with which I write.
Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or anything else. Only this crappy laptop.
There was not much else to do after that day, as the snow turned out to be so thick that it was miserable going just leaving the hollow, and would've been suicidal to try to climb out of the valley now. So, for the most part, the girl and cat remained cooped up under the tree, the former busying herself with more domestic jobs, like improving her bed by sewing the tarp into something that, once stuffed, would make a decent cot. She also set to repairing her worn out vest and lining her boots with the fur from several rabbits she'd managed to snare; it was bitterly cold, for there were slight drafts in her home from the ferocious wind outside. Jobs like this, as well as playing with her cat, who was nearly an adult now, kept her, if not busy, at least from being driven crazy with boredom throughout the snowy season.
Storm's thoughts lingered on possible causes of the fiery glow all during that time, but she could not come up with any plausible reasons other than humans, or dragons. If it came down to it, she really hoped it was the former. People she could handle, it might even be possible for her to join them in the business of living on the island, for that was what she was sure it was. Dragon's, however, could not be compromised with. She would either have to leave, or fight them until they left her alone. She shuddered at the thought of facing any of the huge, scaly creatures. Nevertheless, when the weather turned and the snow began to clear, the girl set to making a few weapons for herself, by sharpening several strong branches into spears, and hardening the ends in the fire.
After what seemed a lifetime, spring arrived, revealing itself in bright, sunny skies when Storm emerged from her home that morning. Taking a deep breath of the crisp, still cold air, she grinned as Coal bounded out of the shelter, taking care to avoid the occasional patch of snow. Without another thought, the girl set off towards the ladder, intending to see how her little craft had fared in the months of neglect. She took her fishing rod with her, hoping to snag some food that wasn't dried on the way back.
Storm stood motionless, gaping at the sight that met her eyes: the crown of a tree, at least seven feet in length had come crashing down onto her boat, smashing it to pieces. Looking up angrily, she saw that the destruction had come from the very tree she'd tied the vessel to. She looked sadly to her faithful little craft. It had brought her here; and more importantly, how was she to go anywhere if she had to get away? After a moment, the girl gathered a few pieces of wood that she could carry, and walked home slowly, her intentions to fish quite forgotten as she worked to collect all that was left of her craft.
Unfortunately, because of the shape of the boat, the wood she brought home was of little use except for firewood, but she did manage to, with the help of a stone she'd sharpened, make notches in two roots on her tree that were near each other, and make a bench to sit on. With the very board that had been one on the craft, no less, and it was quite a bit better than sitting on the ground, or on a cold rock. A few weeks passed, with Storm busying herself with replenishing her supplies like food and moss with which to stuff her cot. As the weather grew warmer, Storm began going to the sea when it came to bathing and washing her clothes, finding that the salt was more cleansing than freshwater. Until then, she'd had to do so at the pond in her home, so that she could retreat to the warmth of her fire before the cold set too deeply, and she had to give up the practice completely during the winter. The last part hadn't been too bad, seeing as she never worked up a sweat with the lack of work.
It was on one such day, when Storm washed all her clothes in the sea water except for those she wore, and bathed herself, that it happened. She was bringing her salt-filled clothes to the pond to rinse out, when she heard a great 'whoosh' far above her head, like the down stroke of an immense pair of wings. Looking quickly to the sky, her eyes were met with nothing, and after a pause, she turned back to her work, ears straining for any more sounds. Coal paced quickly over to the girl, pressing herself close to her side, eyes fixed on the air. 'That's odd.' Storm thought to herself. 'She usually wants nothing to do with me when I'm washing. That can't be good.' She picked up the pace on her washing.
Storm had almost finished the clothes when she heard it; the sound like giant wings, this time accompanied by a roar that in a thousand years, she'd never mistake. A dragon was hunting over her home. Coal had dashed back under the cover of the hollow the second the sound had returned, and Storm scrambled back too, basket of laundry in hand. Reaching the shelter, she yanked on the tie-straps holding the tarp up, and it dropped to the ground, hiding her home from direct view. Storm rushed over to the tiny entrance in the corner, hoping against hope that the dragon hadn't seen her when it'd flown over. If it landed here, she was dead. Her smell was all over the place. Silence reigned for it seemed forever, but the girl didn't dare venture out again, and it seemed her patience was rewarded, for the sound of wings came again, and she saw the shadow of the beast as it made for her valley. Caught a glimpse of pitch-black scales as she pulled back from the hole, pinned to the inside of the tree-root.
Storm held completely still, listening as the dragon paced slowly closer, snuffling and snorting. As carefully as she listened, the girl thought she heard the slight jingling of metal, but couldn't be sure. That is, until she heard a voice, definitely a human one, speak, which shocked her so much that she sank to the ground.
"Take it easy, buddy. We don't know what's going on." Said the person, who Storm guessed was male, judging by the deep tenor tone. For the life of the girl, she couldn't tell who the person was talking to, until she heard the dragon snort, as if in response. She tensed, could this person be some sort of barbarian, having the strength to command such a beast? Storm grabbed what she deemed was her best spear from next to the door, and peeked around the tree-root carefully. From what she could see, the dragon was standing still some twenty feet from the entrance to her home, but she could see the shadow of whoever it was coming closer. The girl pulled back, bracing herself for a moment, before she struck.
Storm charged out of the narrow entrance with a yell, weapon at the ready, until she caught sight of the person. She scrambled to slow her momentum, stopping just in time for her spear to merely poke the young man in the chest, rather than run him through. He stood stock still, the expression of shock on his face easily mirroring that of the girl's. This guy could only be a little older that she was! Standing just a few inches above her 5'5 frame, he was a wiry thing, though she could detect the strength his body actually held. The boy had deeply colored brown hair, with hints of dark red in it, and bright peridot-green eyes. Storm didn't think on the strangers' appearance much longer though, as an instant later, she found herself pinned to the ground, staring up at the face of a spitting angry, midnight black dragon. She froze, terror rendering her silent and motionless, her eyes widening as the beast bared its teeth and an open-mouthed hiss.
"Toothless, NO!" the boy yelled, but the dragon did not move, staring at the girl intensely with yellow-green eyes, though it did close its mouth. Through the corner of her eye, Storm saw the stranger rush over to the dragon's side, noticing for the first time that his left leg, in fact, had been replaced by a prosthetic just past the knee. He pushed on the dragon's head, still yelling. "Toothless, get off! I'm fine, see? Down!" Amazement gradually replaced Storm's fear as, not only did the creature not bite the boy's head off, it actually listened to him, removing it's paw from her middle and backing up, though still staring at her warily. The girl didn't move for fear that it would pounce again, until the boy offered his hand to her.
"Are you alright? Sorry about that, he's more than a little protective." The young man said as Storm slowly took his hand and he helped her up. Her spear lay on the ground near them, but she felt rather disinclined to try to pick it up with the dragon still so near. "I'm Hiccup, by the way, and this is Toothless." He said, gesturing to the dragon, which punctuated the introduction with a menacing hiss. "Hey! Cut that out." Hiccup said, turning and placing a hand against the creature's head. The dragon looked over at him, its ears coming up and forward, and its pupils dilating as it looked at the boy. Finally, the beast grumbled and lay down, relaxing just a bit.
Storm watched all this with wide, disbelieving eyes, backing up and sitting heavily on the pond-side rock just behind her. This scrawny boy was controlling that huge dragon! It acted as tame as a hound around him! Hiccup turned back to her, smiling a little. "Again, sorry about that. You're not the first he's done that to, and it's pretty understandable. He can't fly without me, so of course he's seriously protective and possessive."
"Wait, he… can't fly… without you?" Storm said slowly.
"Yeah, his tail's damaged, and the part I made for him can only be adjusted by me, see?" he explained, holding the end of the tail up. Only then did the girl notice the slightly complex-looking saddle strapped to the dragon's back, ending in a fin that completed half of the creature's tail. "Um, you could tell me your name now, and maybe how you got here? I haven't seen you around the village before."
'So there are other people here.' Storm thought to herself, debating whether she should answer. She really didn't want to talk to someone who could ride a dragon, but what choice did she have? She couldn't leave now, seeing as all that remained of her boat was a bench in her house. Plus, this was their island, so she guessed she did kind of owe them an explanation. "My name's Storm." She said finally. "I came here more than eight months ago in my boat, having gotten off a ship several days south of here."
"Really?" You've been here that long?" Hiccup burst out, wide-eyed. Storm smirked a little as the boy glanced over at her home and the ladder. The shock on his face wore off as he thought. "Well, I guess it's not far-fetched. I mean, I trained Toothless here for several weeks and no one found out, and that's with everyone in the village knowing me." He said dryly.
"So you really did train that dragon?" Storm asked incredulously. It was Hiccup's turn to smirk,
"Yep. And judging from your reaction, I'm guessing you don't have high opinions of them where you come from either?"
"You got that right." The girl answered quietly. "My people are very afraid of them. We used to fight with them constantly, as they raided our food stores day after day." Hiccup nodded knowingly. "We got really good at fighting them, so eventually they weren't able to steal anything from us, and they stopped coming. Then one day, when I was little, it came instead." She paused.
"What did?" The young man asked. Before Storm could answer, Coal chose that moment to show up, jumping up onto the rock beside her. Toothless looked up quickly, returning the cat's wide-eyed stare. The girl wrapped her arms around her friend, afraid the creature's boldness might cause her to get eaten. Hiccup also looked at the feline with interest. "Is that a cat? I've heard about those; I thought they were bigger. So you didn't come alone, did you?"
Storm smiled, gently stroking the silky black fur of her friend. "No I didn't. This is Coal. She's just barely an adult, so she's not completely done growing. I've known her since she was born." Then her smile vanished. "In answer to your first question, the thing that came to our home eleven years ago was a dragon of monstrous size. As big as a mountain, it came diving out of the clouds, setting fire to entire sections of our town with each blast of fire. There was nothing we could do against it; nothing worked. It destroyed everything, and killed hundreds," she pause for such a long time, Hiccup thought maybe she was finished, then she opened her mouth again. "My father was one of that number." She said quietly.
"The raids came back right after. We tried to rebuild, but the shortage of food made it increasingly hard to get by. Finally, those of us who were left decided that it would be better to find someplace new, where there were no dragons. I very much doubt there is such a place, but who was I to smash any hope people had left? So we began building ships; many of the first ones finished carried women and children away first. I was one of the last children to leave, being one of the oldest, and there were very few others on the ship I was on. I would not have ended up here, but for some of the men on board. A few had known my father, and were kind to me, but others only saw a potential, young, pretty wife, including the captain." Storm paused again, but Hiccup remained silent, seated quietly next to his dragon.
"I couldn't bear the thought of being tied to any one of them, for women have no say against men's wishes where I come from. So I gradually filled a lifeboat with provisions I would need, acting like a carefree, senseless girl who loved nothing more than to clean up and do what I was told." The girl said bitterly, looking over the pond. "When everything was ready, I slipped the boat away, and rowed north, so that they might not find me if they turned around. For three days and nights I rowed northward, and landed here on the morning of the fourth. I followed that stream," she said, pointing to said waterway. "and ended up here." She finished, looking back at Hiccup with a determined look in her eyes, as if daring him to send her away. Hiccup stared back, taking in the last of the girl's story. After a short time he found his voice again.
"Well, I can safely say that you don't have to worry about being forced to do anything here. Many Viking men here will say, "Women and dragons will do as they please, and you best be wary of both!'" the boy said, taking on a mocking version of a large, gruff voice. Storm laughed. "I'm sorry about your dad. My mom died when I was little, so I know how you feel. And you don't have to worry about the giant dragon anymore."
"Ah, yes. Why don't you tell me how you managed to train this one?" Storm inquired briskly, indicating the black-scaled creature, which had curled up and gone to sleep soon after the cat had done the same. And so Hiccup told the girl about the adventure, starting with the fact that this particular dragon that he referred to as a Night Fury, was far faster and stronger than any other kind, and ending with the huge battle with the very same monster that'd destroyed her home.
"We decided to call the thing the Green Death, though I'll never know why. It wasn't even green. And in a month will be the second anniversary of the monster's destruction and the beginning of Vikings training dragons instead of killing them."
"I see." Storm replied, quite satisfied with the end of the beast, while also in awe of how different dragons really were from popular thinking. "Is that how…?"
"Yeah. That fight cost me my leg." The young man said simply, standing up again. "This thing managed to put a damper on my celebrations last year, but I'm hoping that won't happen this time around."
"I'm sure you'll be fine." The girl said, also standing. Looking up, she noticed how late it'd gotten during their story-swap. "Sheesh, it's gotten late. Would you maybe consider joining me for dinner? It's nothing special."
"That's nice of you, but I can't. People are always stopping by the house to talk, and everyone will wonder where I am." Hiccup replied, nudging his dragon awake. "But maybe I could visit once in a while, and maybe bring a friend?"
"Uh, I don't know if I'm ready to meet a bunch of people right now." Storm answered, suddenly finding her boots rather interesting. Then she looked up suddenly as the boy was getting in the saddle. "But you wouldn't happen to have any books, would you? It's been so long since I've read anything…." She trailed off. Hiccup smiled a little.
"I think I might be able to help you out. See ya." He said before taking off, disappearing over the treetops. Storm grinned, the prospect of a friend and a book cheered her greatly, before she walked back over to her house and re-tied the tarp. But she would certainly have a lot to think about concerning the dragons. With the Green Death gone, they no longer stole from people, and Hiccup had said that he and his friends had been training every dragon on the island. Did that mean that she no longer had reason to fear them?
Tuffnut:Yeah, so what do you crazy people think about this stuff you're reading. You do know that reviews are the only way I'll ever even show up here, right?
Me:Tuff? What are you doing here? You're early.
Tuff: You're taking forever to put me in here, so I came to watch.
Me: Cool! You guys review, kay?
Btw, I saw these awesome videos on youtube concerning this movie. they're by NekoPatronus16; if you search 'HTTYD au I forgive you', the top 2 results will go by that title. Watch those! They're really good!
