AN: You guys are really lucking out. This is pretty much the only thing I consistently get ideas for anymore. Which is kind of bad for me because I have several other works in progress that need my attention. :/
In the mean time though, you get to be spoiled with actual updates.
"Toothless! Calm down, bud, she was just a little scared. She wasn't going to hurt me and I promise to not let her hurt you. You listening to me, Toothless?"
Astrid could only stare at the pair in terror. Seconds ago, she was sure she and Erlend were dead meat, and now… She didn't know what to think. This scrawny, random kid was doing his best to talk a dragon down. And he was acting like he and the dragon knew each other.
And, considering the way his actions were working, they probably did.
How did something like this happen?
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The dragon he called Cloudjumper liked taking him on raids. Cloudjumper wanted to make sure that he knew about people, and that he had a chance to learn from them. Over the years, being present in the chaos and visiting towns during the day, he had learned much of the human language.
But on this night, he saw something he had never seen before—a man took down one of the ones they called a 'Night Fury', which he knew was practically impossible. As far as he could tell, though, no one realized that it had been hit—the man hadn't been aiming for it, he just got a lucky shot without realizing it. When the raid was over, he told Cloudjumper what he had seen, and asked Cloudjumper to take him to where he had seen it fall.
He found it and loosed it from its bonds. With Cloudjumper's assistance, he convinced the new dragon that he was a friend, and checked it for wounds. He was relieved to find that the beast was nearly perfect in health.
Cloudjumper told it about the Dragon King's grotto.
He named the Night Fury "Toothless", after the human tradition.
They became closer than any other.
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She shook off her thoughts. Who cared how a boy and dragon became friends? She needed to get out of here!
She got to her feet slowly, despite her desire to clear out as quickly as possible; spooking the dragon was a guarantee of getting charged again. She also wanted to try to get away without 'Erlend' noticing her either, because she wasn't really sure if he would send his dragon after her or not. She took several quiet steps backwards, watching as the boy worked to calm the dragon down. She noticed that he seemed to be listening to the dragon's calls, almost as if he could understand them…
As she thought, she had stopped giving attention to the path behind her, and she stumbled over a rock and fell to her backside. As she fell, she couldn't hold back her small cry of surprise, and both boy and dragon turned to the sound. Perfect…
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Ruffnut and Tuffnut, the twin terrors of Berk, had been assigned guard duty in the most isolated watch tower. While dragons didn't typically attack during the day, the villagers who hadn't gone on the latest "Quest for the Nest" had decided that they needed to be doubly sure that the dragons didn't surprise them today. It was an honor to be the guardians of the town, even for only a few hours.
(Of course, the real reason behind banishing the two to the furthest regions of Berk had more to do with an accident involving a sheep, several smoked fish, spoiled yak's milk, and a small well not far from the center of town. No one was sure exactly what had happened, but the twins had been found by the now-nearly-demolished well with a very wet sheep.)
"Y'know, when they told us that this job was really important and that only the two of us could do it, I wasn't expecting it to be so…"
"Boring?"
"Yeah."
Ruffnut leaned farther back on his perch, tipping his head until it was upside down.
"I'm kinda starting to think they were mad about the sheep falling in the well," his sister said from the other side of the platform.
"Nah, they're just finally starting to recognize our creativity and problem-solving skills. I mean, that sheep wouldn't have ever gotten out of the well if it wasn't for your quick-thinking and my thick skull!"
This, of course, sparked a squabble between the siblings, each wanting to prove to the other that they had the harder head.
(As they argued—and eventually began to bang their heads together as hard as they could, they missed the pitch black dragon and its rider, carrying one of their closest friends off to places unknown.)
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Valka was in her usual place, staring off into nothing when Gothi came into her room. Gothi was very sure that Valka would not last the winter, and she feared that the woman would not even last to see her husband return from his quest. He would be gone many weeks, and Valka was almost visibly growing weaker by the day.
Despite her worries, Gothi would do her best to keep the chief's wife alive as long as possible. She immediately set about her duties: administering the medicine she had made to Valka, doing her best to have the woman eat something, and, when Valka was more lucid, assisting her into fresh clothing. Unfortunately, today was one of the worst Gothi had ever witnessed for Valka, and she was barely able to get the woman to take the medicine, much less eat anything or change.
Gothi left the chief's home with even less hope than before.
As she made her way back to her own home, she realized that today was the day that Valka had lost her son, fifteen years ago. She almost went back, but decided that the woman probably wanted to be alone.
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Stoick the Vast had never had much to fear in life; he was larger than most of the creatures living on the island of Berk, and strong enough to kill anything that was bigger than he was; he had been raised under ideals that taught him how hard life was, and how to face its many challenges head-on; and he had proven himself time and again to the people he took care of, proven that he was a good a leader and that they could trust him. There was little that could even begin to cause him disquiet, much less scare him outright.
Of course, that had been before the gods had seen fit to place a tiny life under his care.
The night Hiccup had been born, Stoick had begun to fear many things he had never worried about before. Anything and everything could hurt his little scrap of a son (Odin, might he grow big and strong one day), and he knew that he wouldn't be able to protect him all the time.
He had begun to fear even more after Hiccup had been taken, worried for his wife who had yet to recover, constantly reliving the moment he had seen the dragon snatch his baby from the cradle, forever pondering what he could have done differently and how to make sure that no one had to go through this ever again.
And now, now that he was once again searching for the island that the dragons called home, his only fear was that he wouldn't find it, that he wouldn't be able to avenge his son.
He had stopped feeling anything other than anger fifteen years ago.
AN: Just want to take a minute and remind everyone that reviews make me really happy, and good moods are better for writing this! :) I also want to say that I prefer reviews that actually tell me something (what did you like about this particular chapter, did you notice any errors, how did a particular part make you feel, etc.). Just saying "OMGGG, THIS IS SOOO GOOOOOOD!" is nice and all, but I'd like to know why you think so. :)