Many thanks to my beta reader, Sailorstar165!
Chapter 3: Winds of Change
Astrid Hofferson felt terrible. Her head was pounding, and her mouth felt drier than Stormfly's scales. To make matters worse, her head swam whenever she moved. Every few steps she had to pause and lean against the wall of her bedroom, and wait for her head to stop spinning before she could continue. Eventually, leaning heavily against the wall, she managed to stumble to her window and throw open the wooden shutters, wincing as the harsh sunlight stabbed at her sensitive retinas. Immediately, Stormfly's head was up at the window, a concerned rumbling in her throat.
"I'll be fine, girl," she croaked, reaching out to pat the Nadder's cheek reassuringly. "It's nothing that a good meal and some fresh air can't fix."
While that may have been true of her physical ailments, she knew that the pain in her chest would require significantly more effort to cure.
She rested her weight against the windowsill and mentally reviewed the events of the previous night. Her memory of the celebrations were hazy at best: she remembered being on the stage, being welcomed into the tribe by Stoick, and then the next event that stuck in her mind was when Snotlout sidled up to her at the bar.
"You're wasting your time with Hiccup, you know," he said, sliding in close to her, and placing a hand on her thigh.
Astrid felt her breathing quicken at his touch.
"He's completely clueless about how you feel," Snoutlout continued. "You'd be far better off with somebody like me, who understands a girl's needs."
Any other day Astrid would have broken his fingers for daring to touch her like that, but something caused her to stay her hand. She wasn't sure what caused her sudden change in reaction. Maybe it was the rush of excitement that his touch elicited, or his subtle masculine musk—a heady cocktail of sweat and tanned leather—that washed over her when he stepped in close, or maybe it was just the pleasant light-headedness induced by the alcohol in her system.
"What do you mean?" she asked, breathlessly.
If Snotlout felt any surprise at her sudden change of heart towards him, he didn't show it. Smoothly, he hooked a nearby stool with his foot and sat down next to her, close enough that Astrid could feel the heat radiating from his body.
"What I mean is," Snotlout replied, "tonight is meant to be a celebration of our passing into adulthood." He spoke with a slight husky edge to his voice that sent small shivers of excitement down Astrid's spine. "And where's Hiccup now?" Snotlout continued. "Rather than spending time with you, he chooses to dote on his pet dragon."
Astrid briefly considered why he would care so much about Hiccup's whereabouts. Not finding an answer, she dismissed the thought, filing it away to deal with later.
"Hiccup and Toothless have always been close. It's only natural that he would want to spend some time with his best friend tonight."
"It does make you think, though," Snotlout answered. "How many times is he going to use Toothless as an excuse to avoid spending time with you?"
Astrid felt a prickle of anger bubble up within her. She reached down and gripped Snotlout's fingers tightly enough to cause him to wince in pain. "Watch what you say about Hiccup," she growled under her breath. "He's a far better man than you'll ever be."
Snotlout yanked his hand from Astrid's grip. "Woah there girl, No need to break my hand. I meant no disrespect to our future leader."
"You have a funny way of showing it," Astrid muttered.
"I'm sure Hiccup will eventually work up the courage to court you," Snotlout replied, punctuating his statement by gingerly returning his hand to her thigh, "but until then, why deny yourself the chance to have some fun now?"
Astrid tried to ignore Snotlout's earlier words, but the seeds of doubt had already been planted, undermining her defences as her rational mind warred with the churning emotions in her gut.
He gently caressed her thigh, causing her breath to catch in her throat.
Heart pounding in her ears, she placed her hand over Snotlout's.
"Why don't you show me just how well you understand my 'needs'," she whispered, trying to make her voice as seductive as possible.
The shock on Snotlout's face at her sudden response to his advances was obvious. However, he quickly recovered and slipped an arm around her waist. "Let's take this somewhere more private," he replied in a husky whisper.
Astrid wondered briefly what had happened to her that night. She had never been this forward with a man before, especially not with Snotlout. However her mind found it difficult to focus on anything other than the feeling of Snotlout's arm around her, and his scent washing over her, as he gently lead her towards the nearby storage alcove. She felt a small pang of guilt as they passed through the archway, but it was quickly swept away by her mounting anticipation and excitement.
She was abruptly brought back into the moment as Snotlout grabbed her by the hips and shoved her against a set of shelves, drawing a small high-pitched gasp from her lips.
Suddenly, whatever had been clouding her mind since Snotlout approached cleared, and she was struck by a wave of apprehension. "Maybe we sh-" she began, but then Snotlout's lips were on hers. The prickle of guilt from earlier returned with the force of a tidal wave. She floundered for a moment, then shoved Snotlout away, but it was too late, Hiccup was there and the damage had been done.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" Astrid growled, clenching her fists against the windowsill. Why didn't I just tell him to go away!?
She left the party shortly after that. Her exit wasn't quite as dramatic as Hiccup's, instead she slipped out quietly, flew home with Stormfly and locked herself in her bedroom.
Astrid wasn't stupid. While their kiss after the battle with the Green Death had been an impulsive move on her behalf, it had been driven by her relief at seeing Hiccup alive. Since then, she'd spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the direction that their relationship might eventually go. She knew that Hiccup liked her—that was obvious to anyone that saw them together—and she guessed that she liked him back. He wasn't the most physically impressive of Vikings, but his compassionate and selfless heart more than made up for it in Astrid's eyes.
She rested her head in her hands. The worse part of this whole mess—beyond the mere fact that she may have irreparably damaged her relationship with her closest friend—was the sense that she betrayed herself. Back when she first considered the possibility of a romantic relationship with Hiccup, she knew that he wasn't going to be as forward with her as other Vikings would be. It was part of what made Hiccup who he was, and why she liked him in the first place.
What pained her just as much as the thought of losing Hiccup was that all her resolutions about him had been completely broken in such a short time, which left her questioning everything she thought she knew about herself.
Astrid felt Stormfly gently nudge her arm, shaking her from her thoughts. The sun was already high in the sky; Stormfly would have been expecting her morning feed several hours ago.
"Yes, you're right, girl," Astrid replied, talking more to herself than the dragon, "I'm not going to solve any of my problems by sitting up here moping about them."
Closing the shutters, Astrid roughly tugged her unkempt hair back into its usual braid and exchanged her nightclothes for her regular attire. Heading downstairs, she retrieved a couple of chickens from the pantry and tossed them out to Stormfly before heading to the kitchen to fix her own breakfast.
A short time later, Astrid was striding purposely up the path towards Hiccup's house, Stormfly padding along behind her. A chill wind blew across the open grassland and she wrapped her arms around herself. An ominous, dark grey storm cloud was blowing in off the western sea, and the temperature had already dropped significantly from the previous day. Quickening her pace, she hurried up the path and knocked on Hiccup's front door.
To her surprise, Stoick answered the door. He was still wearing his ceremonial clothing from the night before, and judging by the dark rings around his eyes, he hadn't slept since the festival.
"Astrid! Have you seen Hiccup anywhere?"
"No, I came here looking for him."
Stoick sighed, resting his head in his hands for a moment before continuing. "Hiccup didn't come home last night," he explained. "Nobody's seen him since he took off at the festival."
Astrid silently cursed. Thinking quickly, she turned towards Stormfly. "Don't worry chief. He can't have gotten far. I'll get the other riders and we'll fly a search pattern, starting from-"
Stoick stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "No Astrid," he said. "My son—and your business with him—will have to wait. I need you and the riders to help gather the animals into the Great Hall."
She shrugged off his hand. "Get the others to do that. I need to find Hiccup."
"No, Astrid," he repeated firmly. "I don't know what happened between you and Hiccup last night, but you swore to protect the tribe. Which means that sometimes you have to put the needs of the tribe ahead of your own." He paused, then added in a gentler tone, "I don't like it any more than you, but for the moment, Hiccup will have to fend for himself."
Astrid sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, Stoick was right.
"Is the storm really as bad as you think?" she asked, looking out to the brooding clouds on the western horizon.
"I don't know," he admitted. "We've never had a storm this bad this late in the season. We're expecting the worst and taking precautions appropriately."
"I'll make sure that we get the animals safely into the great hall," she said, mounting Stormfly.
"Thank you, Astrid," Stoick replied. Resting a hand on Stormfly's flank, he added, "Don't worry too much about Hiccup. As long as he's with Toothless, he's safe."
"Thank you, Chief," Astrid responded quietly.
Stoick stepped back as Stormfly spread her wings. Astrid felt the Nadder's muscles tense beneath her, and she tightened her grip on the saddle. In a single movement Stormfly brought her wings down as her legs launched them skyward. A series of powerful wing beats later, they were rising into the Berk sky, turning towards the Dragon Academy without any prompting from Astrid.
Normally this early the morning after the spring equinox, Berk would appear deserted. Today, however, the village was bustling with activity. A long line of villagers were transporting vital supplies into the Great Hall, while yet more villagers worked on boarding up windows and making last-minute repairs to their homes, doing what they could to help the village weather the oncoming storm.
When they arrived, the Dragon Academy was a hive of activity. The old arena's cage had been winched up to the rock overhang above, allowing the dragons and riders to come and go more easily. From a distance, it looked like every dragon and rider on Berk was out today, running errands across the island to prepare for the storm. Stormfly banked lazily over the arena, and Astrid took the time to pick out her friends, guiding Stormfly down to land on the rim nearby.
Her gaze met Snoutlout's momentarily as they flew overhead, and he quickly looked away. She suppressed a wave of nausea. Now was not the time for petty, personal disagreements. The village needed them.
Snotlout made his way towards her as she dropped down to the floor of the arena. "Hey Astrid," he began, unsure of himself, "about last night..."
Astrid ignored him, marching straight past him to the rest of the group. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself and rattled off a series of instructions.
"Stoick wants us to help herd the animals into the Great Hall. Snotlout and the Twins will take the west side of the island. Fishlegs and I will take the east." Her friends stopped their conversations and looked up at her.
"We need to get moving. That storm's going to hit before nightfall."
She was halfway turned back towards Stormfly before Fishlegs interrupted, "Is that a good idea, Astrid? Normally we..."
"Fishlegs!" she snapped, rounding on him. "How many times have we been over this? Who's in charge of the Dragon Academy when Hiccup's not present?"
"You are," he replied meekly.
"Exactly," she responded tersely, "and since Hiccup's flown off to Odin-knows-where, I'm in charge. And I say that you're flying with me." With that, she turned her back on him and scrambled up the wall of the Arena to where Stormfly was waiting.
She knew that she was unnecessarily harsh on Fishlegs. He hadn't done anything wrong. Normally when they split up, she flew with Snotlout, and Fishlegs with the Twins. Despite her resolution to put aside their differences for the good of the village, though, she really didn't want to spend the day with Snotlout. Plus, she knew that every moment that they wasted arguing was a moment longer that Hiccup was alone, possibly stranded somewhere, or worse, hurt.
Hiccup was woken by the rumble of thunder. For a moment, he didn't remember where he was. He was lying uncomfortably on a rough stone floor. The air was acrid and heavy with a sulphurous stench. He cracked his eyes open and to his confusion was confronted by more blackness. He blinked a few times before realising that he was staring at Toothless' wing membranes. Raising his hand, Hiccup prodded his Night Fury's side. Toothless grunted, and opened his wings, letting in a dim red light.
Hiccup stood, wincing as he stretched his stiff muscles. He and Toothless had spent the night on a small stone ledge within the hollow mountain of Helheim's Gate, more commonly known these days as 'Dragon Island.' While the Berkians were no strangers to the island, the inside of the mountain was still exclusively dragon territory. Hiccup was one of a lucky few who'd ever seen inside the nest, and even he could only count the number of times he'd been there on the fingers of one hand.
Hiccup heard another rumble and looked up. The clouds visible through the crater high above his head were black, and a dense column of rain fell through into the mountain, flashing instantly to steam as it neared the molten rock below. The wind was chaotic. It whistled across the mountaintop, blowing sheets of rain in one direction, and then stopped for a moment, leaving the mountain eerily quiet, then gusted back in the opposite direction, twisting the falling rain into complex knots. Hiccup sighed and sat back down against Toothless' flank. "It looks like we're gonna be here for a while, Bud," he said. "There's no way you're flying out of here in that storm."
Hiccup closed his eyes and rested his head against Toothless's scales. Part of him didn't want to go back to Berk, instead wanting to do what he'd been planning to do three years ago, when he had won the "honour" of killing his first dragon: to take Toothless, fly off in a random direction, and find some distant land where the two of them could live out their lives in peace. That part of him spoke to his adventurous spirit. Ever since they founded the Dragon Academy, he'd been itching to take Toothless out past the edges of his father's old map and see what they could find out there.
However, another part of his mind reminded him of everything that had changed over the last three years. He was no longer the village nuisance; he'd earned the respect of his tribe, the love of his father, and even Astrid's friendship. As much as it pained him to admit it, even if Astrid didn't return his feelings, she was still a friend that he cared for, and running away would undoubtedly hurt her.
Sighing, Hiccup shifted to a more comfortable position against Toothless' side, pulled out his notepad and began to sketch the inside of the dragons' nest, trying to lose his thoughts amongst the vast whiteness of the page, and his stark black pencil strokes.
Stormfly lurched violently to one side as the wind buffeted against her, nearly throwing Astrid from her back. "Easy there, girl," Astrid said, resting a hand reassuringly on the Nadder's neck. With her other hand, she shielded her eyes from the driving rain as the Twins herded the last group of the Island's sheep into the Great Hall.
"That's the last of them, Astrid!" Stoick called from his position, holding open the great doors, his powerful voice ringing out clearly over the noise of the storm.
Stormfly dropped down to the ground just before the Great Hall's threshold. She paused for a moment, and Astrid looked back at the raging tempest. Hiccup was out there somewhere.
"Astrid!" Stoick intruded on her thoughts. "Hurry up and get inside! I need to get these doors shut now!"
"No!" Astrid replied, straining to make herself heard over the storm. "I need to go find Hiccup!"
"I don't have time for this Astrid. Get inside, now!" Stoick ordered. "It's too dangerous out here to go looking for Hiccup."
"No!" Astrid repeated. "Hiccup would do it for any of us in a heartbeat!"
Stoick hesitated a moment. "Fine," he growled. "Go look for him if you must. But I'm not opening these doors again until the storm passes."
"I understand."
Stoick locked gazes with her. "Good luck out there. Gods be with you."
With that, he was gone. He slipped inside the Great Hall, and the doors closed with a solid thud. Astrid briefly wondered what she was even going to say to Hiccup if she found him, and how he would even respond to her presence, knowing that he ran away to avoid her. She shook her head. She'd cross that bridge when she gets to it. First she needed to find Hiccup.
"Come on Stormfly, Let's go find Toothless," she instructed, leaning down to pat the Nadder's flank.
Stormfly growled an affirmative and leapt back into the air, heading for the mountains. Astrid knew that it was a long shot. The Meadow was too exposed for Hiccup to be sheltering from the storm there, but she'd crisscrossed the rest of the island herding the animals and seen no sign of him. In fact, the whole island had been strangely quiet that day. Most of the usual dragon roosts around Berk were completely abandoned.
Lightning crashed overhead, and Stormfly instinctively flinched, jerking to the left, towards the western coast of the island. Astrid started to correct Stormfly's path, then stopped suddenly.
"That's it!" she exclaimed. "Stormfly, you're a genius!" Toothless, like all dragons, would have been able to sense the storm coming the previous night, and his natural instinct would have been to fly back to his nest to take shelter.
"Change of plans girl," she said, crouching low against Stormfly's neck. "We're heading to Dragon Island."
Astrid knew that on a clear day, it was possible to make out the peak of Helheim's Gate from the shores of Berk. Today, though, visibility was barely more than twenty feet. She and Stormfly flew low over the ocean to avoid getting lost in the clouds. However that meant that they had to contend with the spray being thrown up from the crashing waves, as well as the driving rain. The wind was brutal. Stormfly was constantly being buffeted from side to side. If that wasn't enough, occasionally they'd get caught in a downdraft and suddenly drop twenty or thirty feet before Stormfly recovered.
Astrid felt a surge of pride for her dragon. Despite Thor's best efforts to halt their progress, Stormfly doggedly pushed on through it all, never once trying to turn tail and head back to the shelter of Berk. Nevertheless, Astrid could tell that she was tiring. Every time they got hit by a downdraft it took her a little longer to get back up to altitude, and gradually, her wing-strokes slowed and her breathing became more and more ragged.
By the time the shores of Dragon Island came into view, her wing beats had slowed by half, and they were skimming over the surface of the ocean, barely clearing the crests of the waves. Getting hit by another downdraft at this point would almost certainly send them crashing into the icy waters below.
Astrid was so focused on the island ahead of them that she didn't notice the danger they were flying into before it was too late. The air around them was still for an instant. Then Stormfly lurched to one side as they were suddenly caught in a powerful updraft. Stormfly battled furiously to escape, but her exhausted muscles couldn't muster enough strength to free them from the rising column of air. She let out a roar of frustration at her helplessness.
Hiccup closed his eyes, resting his head against Toothless' flank as he listened to the sounds of the storm raging outside. He imagined what the inhabitants of Berk were doing at this moment, crowding around the fires in the Great Hall as the storm battered against the thick oak doors.
A crack of thunder rang out, reverberating around the inside of the hollow mountain. Hiccup felt Toothless flinch slightly, his tail unconsciously coiling around Hiccup. Thor's hammer sounded again. Toothless whined and swung his head around, nuzzling into his Rider's lap. Hiccup wordlessly stroked his friend's neck, offering what little comfort he could. All dragons had an innate fear of storms, and even 'the unholy offspring of lightning and death' was no exception.
Toothless yanked his head out of Hiccup's hands. Suddenly alert, he tilted his head from side to side, searching for something.
"What is it, bud?" Hiccup whispered, quickly getting to his feet. "What do you hear?"
Seconds later, Hiccup got his answer: the unmistakable cry of a Nadder in distress. No wild dragon would be foolish enough to fly in this storm. That sound meant only one thing, and only one person. Hiccup quickly clambered onto Toothless' back, locking his false leg into place. "Storm or no storm, Bud, we've got to help them."
Toothless responded immediately, leaping into the air, heading up towards the peak of the mountain.
The wind nearly tore Hiccup from the saddle as they rose above the rim of the crater. Almost instantly the rain soaked through his clothes. Toothless had to dig his claws into the crumbling rock at the crater's edge to stay grounded as the wind viciously tugged at his wings. Hiccup squinted through the torrential downpour, desperately trying to find Astrid and Stormfly in the swirling clouds. Stormfly cried out again, and at last Hiccup found them. Stormfly was caught in a nasty wind shear, eyes wide with fear. She frantically beat her wings trying to escape, but it was to no avail. On her back, Astrid clung on for dear life.
"Astrid!" Hiccup shouted, but the storm swept his voice away.
"Come on Bud, we've got to get to them!" He crouched low against Toothless' neck.
Toothless roared their presence to Astrid and Stormfly and pushed off from the rim of the crater. As soon as Toothless' claws left the rock, the wind tried to send them spiralling into the mountainside. It took every iota of skill and experience Hiccup had built up over three years of flying Toothless to hold them on course as they battled towards Stormfly.
"Astrid!" Hiccup called again.
This time she heard. "Hiccup!" she responded in a panicked shout. "What are you doing!? You'll get yourself killed!"
"Follow us!" Hiccup shouted back, trying to keep his voice calm, despite the raging storm. "We'll lead you out!"
He braced himself against Toothless' neck as they plunged into the wind shear. The storm buffeted them from side to side as the shear took hold, violently yanking them upwards. He looked over his shoulder at Astrid and Stormfly.
"We're going to get out of this," he told them. "Just stay on Toothless' tail and you'll be fine."
"Now—" Hiccup was cut off an almighty gust of wind knocked Toothless to one side and tore a terrified scream from Astrid's throat.
Toothless quickly righted himself, and dragon and rider looked on in horror at the scene before them. The gust had knocked Stormfly clear of the updraft, but in the process, had torn Astrid from the saddle. Reacting quickly, Stormfly folded her wings and dived after her rider.
The next few moments were a blur to Hiccup. Simultaneously he heard a deafening boom of thunder and felt an immense heat at his back. Then, a heartbeat later, his world span as Toothless tumbled out of the sky. A moment's glance behind him confirmed what he already knew. A bolt of lightning had incinerated much of the replacement tail fin. Another gust of wind impacted them, and Hiccup was ripped from the saddle. An instant later he jerked to a stop as his safety line held for a moment, then snapped. Toothless roared in dismay as he spiralled away from his rider. Hiccup spread his arms and legs to slow his descent, and focused on his Night Fury, ignoring the raging seas rapidly rushing towards them.
"Toothless!" he cried. "Focus on me! You can do this!"
Precious seconds ticked by as Toothless struggled to control his fall. Finally he managed to stabilize. He rolled onto his back, just below Hiccup.
The last thing Hiccup remembered was Toothless' wings closing around him before everything went black.
Author's Notes:
Allow me to begin by thanking everyone who's left a review of this story, I tend not to reply to my reviews, but know that I do read every single one of them. On the subject of reviews, there's something that's been bugging me for a while that I need to get off my chest: Reviews that are little more than "plz update".
I appreciate that you're invested in my story, and you're eagerly anticipating the next chapter, but please try and understand things from my perspective. I write fanfiction as a hobby in my spare time, because I'm a fan of the source material and because I enjoy the storytelling process. As much as I'd like to be able to spend all day working on fanfiction for you, I do have real life obligations that will take priority over my writing, and that sometimes, after a long day I'm just too tired to write well, and would rather just spend the evening playing video games. For what it's worth, please know that no matter how long it takes, I haven't given up on this story, if for whatever reason I decide to give up on this story, I will let you guys know about it. As I said earlier, I am grateful that you find my storytelling so engaging that you feel the need to immediately demand the next chapter, but please take a moment to consider the person on the other side of the screen before submitting that review.
*Phew* Rant over. Anyway, shall we move on to happier topics?
Before you ask, yes I've seen How To Train Your Dragon 2, I thought it was great, not perfect (I mean, Astrid and the rest of the gang from the 1st movie really don't do all that much) but still great, and a worthy sequel to the original.
I guess I should talk about this chapter at some point? After two chapters from Hiccup's POV we finally get introduced to Astrid's POV. From this point on we'll be seeing roughly half of the story from each character's perspectives. After the reactions that the 'shock' ending of the previous chapter got, I guess I should talk about the flashback scene near the start. I'd say about 50% of the time that I spent on this chapter was spent on writing and going over that scene. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but they say art is never done, and I hope the scene manages to get across Astrid's motivations for her actions well enough. (I'm sure I'll be hearing about it in the reviews if it doesn't: P)
Anyway, I guess I should draw this long author's notes section to a close. As always, whatever you thought of the story, please leave a review, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
~Superbun
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