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"Was that a dragon?" Astrid said in an alarmed tone, her eyes narrowing with suspicion as she turned back to the blue-eyed foreigner. "What're you up to?!"
Blizzard clenched a fist and ground her teeth, on the brink of panic.
What was she going to do now?
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Ocean Eyes
Chapter II
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Blizzard growled to herself when she saw that her dramatic little entrance was starting to draw attention of the other villagers. A few children peeked their faces out at her, and with shock she realized that even the youngest gave her fearful looks. She hadn't asked Valka about what had happened here concerning the ice, since it would blow her cover, but she wanted to. What could even make the children afraid of a scrawny teen like herself?
"Hold on," Valka said firmly, setting her hand on Astrid's shoulder. "What's going on? Isn't she one of your friends?"
If the situation had been less serious, it would have been amusing that Astrid and Blizzard both scoffed simultaneously before someone else called out. "She's probably an spy!" one of the more elderly men shouted from among the crowd that was growing quickly, their angry faces illuminated by the torchlight. "A spy for Drago!"
Blizzard's arm, holding the dagger, twitched with annoyance. "I have no idea who in the worlds Drago is," she said dryly, repeating what she had said earlier.
"Y-you're probably lying," piped up a brave young boy near the front of the crowd, looking barely eleven years old. His face was filled with innocent anger, making the redhead's own frustrations dissolve instantly as she looked at him.
"Why would you think that?" she asked, genuine hurt seeping in her tone. She then turned to Astrid and Valka, and with a wide-eyed expression she asked, "What happened here?"
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Run faster. Go faster. Faster, faster.
Don't think about the humans giving you stares. Don't think about anything. She needs help.
Oh, Blizzard, you always get in so much trouble. Why did you have to run off and start talking with Hiccup's own mother! Doesn't that seem suspicious?!
I just have to find him . . . he'll make things better . . .
I'll be able to find him before the others find me . . .
I hope . . .
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"What happened here?!" Astrid echoed, eyes blazing. "We were attacked, for your information! Now get out before we attack you!"
Blizzard's eyes were still wide, but with terror or shock it was undecipherable. "Attacked?" she squeaked out, unconsciously taking a step backwards. Her grip tightened on the dagger she still held in her hand. She did a double-take and had her eyes graze over the crowd again.
I've seen this before. She inhaled sharply when she read the emotions on their faces plain as day.
It's fear.
And a lot of it.
Suddenly feeling far too overwhelmed, Blizzard panicked, her face whipping to desperately look for an opening in the still-growing crowd. Valka's green eyes were narrowed with suspicion yet a strange sense of concern for the redhead, while most others – including Astrid – merely watched as she obviously began cracking.
As she began madly weaving around people – who kept shouting out at her as she shoved past them – in the direction that Dawny went, she could not help but feel miserable inside. Her pathetically simple mission had been a flunk. Now what else could she do but find her dragon and fly away? It certainly wouldn't do any good to stick around here.
"Hey!" she heard Astrid call out behind her, but didn't even bother giving the blonde a glance. Rather, she found her way out of the crowd and quickly began dashing towards a small alley between two of Berk's houses. Heart thumping, she slipped through, letting the shadows engulf her and erase her from the torchlight.
But Blizzard didn't get very far away from her narrow escape before she ran headfirst into a solid block of turquoise ice.
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To be truly frank, Valka had no idea what in the name of Thor was going on.
One moment Hiccup had asked her to retrieve a new rod for Toothless's tail-fin, because he had forgotten it and was busy trying to plan out how to put Berk back together after the attack from Drago. Valka hadn't been particularly occupied with any task – in fact, she had been unsure what to do as the day came to a close – so when her son asked her for a favor she had happily complied.
Then, though, everything spiraled out of control.
Just as Valka had found the metal rod, a strange girl with one of the oddest appearances had jumped out of the shadows. She had very tousled and disarrayed red locks, while her pale skin gave off a rather eerie glow from the torchlight that was around the village. She wore a strange outfit, the shirt hanging off of her skinny body awkwardly while the pants flared out, only reaching a bit below her knees. Her calves had blue fabric wrapped tightly around them, while a thin piece of raggedy rope was tied around her waist to keep her too-big pants up.
In fact, Valka had noted, she looked petite to begin with, but the oversized outfit just made her look all the more scrawny. She was also barefoot, with calloused heels and grimy toes. Then again, her toes weren't that different from her legs or arms – she was pretty dirty, to say the least. If she was to run across an impolite person, they would have plenty of things to say about her.
Yet, all the while, she had seemed pretty normal. She claimed that she worked for Gobber – hence, Valka mused, the scruffy-looking appearance – and she had known about Stoick's death. It was a touchy subject for the grieving wife, but the girl's mystical ocean-blue eyes had seemed so sympathetic and understanding with a strange underlining of wiseness that Valka was able to respond without her voice cracking or her eyes tearing up.
Then, the girl named Twig – the name fit her scrawny self, ironically – and she had run into Astrid. Valka had always been fond of the compassionate yet tough blonde, but when Astrid had snapped at Twig and declared that the redhead was most likely a spy, Valka had felt surprisingly shocked. Especially when Twig lashed out with a glinting dagger.
Then, after Twig had her mini panic attack and dashed out, Valka had been rooted to the spot before Astrid started in pursuit. Telling the rest of the villagers to stay calm, the older woman followed, just able to catch Astrid's blonde braid disappearing behind a small break in-between two houses. Green eyes swimming with confusion, she walked into the shadows as well.
By the time she arrived she was able to take in the whole scene.
Twig was swaying precariously on her bare feet, Astrid standing not too far away, an uncertain expression on her face. A spike of the Bewilderbeast's aquamarine ice stood in their path, and the pale girl had undoubtedly slammed herself right into it.
Valka hurriedly went to stand beside Astrid, hands tensed in front of her as if ready to catch the foreign girl, should she fall. "What happened?" she asked both of them, but not only referring to the injury – to the whole scenario back there as well.
Twig turned her eyes to the two as if she hadn't noticed they were there before. "I . . . I-I c-can't . . . can't s-see . . ." she mumbled, her dagger slipping out of her hand and falling to the ground. It was then that Valka noticed that her eyes had gone out-of-focus, while blood the exact color of her hair was dripping down the side of her nose. "A-Astrid," she then stammered, making the blonde inhale sharply. "I-I – I'm s-so . . . sor – sorry . . . I din' wanna cause an . . . any t-trouble . . ."
She then tipped backwards suddenly, her back and head slamming into the ground so hard that Valka winced. Astrid showed her surprise through another intake of breath.
"A-are you alright?!" Valka finally exclaimed, kneeling down beside the fallen bleeding girl in concern.
Her eyes didn't open. "J-just lemme see . . . see Toothl's an' Hiccup an' I'll be'un m-my w . . . w-way . . ." her voice trailed off to a painful sigh, before her body relaxed and she was knocked into unconsciousness.
Sharing a stunned glance with Astrid, Valka believed that this might be one of the strangest situations she had ever gotten into.
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The blonde woman sighed. "She is no longer awake. Her head injury will allow her to regain consciousness only in a few hours or so."
Her shadowed companion, face hidden, sighed as well. "Must she really get herself into all this trouble?" he asked in an annoyed and formal tone.
Sharp greenish-yellow eyes cut an irritated glance at the companion of the woman. "They are her friends," she insisted. "And her dragon's as well."
He scoffed. "Has she forgotten our warnings?"
"Our warnings?" now it was the woman who gave a scornful look. "They were your warnings. I wanted nothing to do with it."
"Well, you have always been too involved," her friend said a little snidely, before giving a glance at the small crystal orb of water that the woman was peering over, looking intensely at it. The air around them was made of thick though peaceful fog. "It was your fault in the first place that she met them, remember?"
The blonde-haired woman gave the man a nasty glare, making him back off. "Alright, fine, sorry," he said, not sounding too apologetic. "But just think about your actions, Leaf. You might always be interested in other things but remember, those worlds aren't for you. You have a job now, and you can't misuse it."
"I won't," she muttered back, her eyes grazing him once again as he turned to walk away. "And for the record," she called out louder just before he disappeared, "I made her much happier when she met them. It brought her such a happier life, and it helped her defeat Shadow, too. Besides, had I not helped her ribcage heal faster from it's injury, who knows what would have happened."
The man gave a tiny smile. "Well, she could not have fallen to the hands of that creature anyway."
Without another word he walked into the fog, erasing himself from the blonde's sight. Sighing, she looked back at her water orb, forlornly thinking over what he had said.
"She is so much happier," she whispered to herself. "I know it was wrong, but . . ."
She sighed.
"I just could not help myself. Oh, Earth, you have to understand. My journal pushed the boy to go search for the dragon that she knew . . . and it should not worry you, because she never saw that one drawing of you and her . . ."
Trailing off, Leaf went back to intensely gazing at the water orb without another verbal distraction.
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