First off, I want to thank you all so much for all the support I've gotten for this story! It really helps me out to keep writing chapters! And it gives me a little 'push' for those weeks when I just can't write anything. Thank you.
Icestorm: Aww
Night: *chuckles* It's about time you thanked them.
Yea, no kidding.
Sirius: Kate3628 doesn't own HTTYD, and now without further ado, chapter 4 of Journey of a Night Fury!
A horrible pain shot through Midnight's side as she was suddenly smashed into a nearby tree by a force unknown to her. She could hear footsteps, wing beats, and various voices, but all the sound sounded far off as her head began to pound.
"Midnight! Midnight sweetie," She could hear her mother calling out desperately to her, she also felt a small nudge on her shoulder. The female let out a raspy breath and forced her eyes open, glancing to the side, everything was a blur, but she could tell who was who from the blobs of color. Her mother was there, as well as her father, Gold, and Dark; Screech was still on the ground, surrounded by the blood puddle.
"We need to get them to the medical cave!" Gold's echoing voice said urgently. Midnight saw two blobs walk over to the Whispering Death and put his lanky body along their backs, the other two figures doing the same for Midnight. She cringed as the two unknown(More or less) figures picked her up, but said nothing, as she was in no position to argue or fight back. Midnight's head began to pound even more as everything began to swirl around her, the pain beginning to echo through her body once more; that's when she finally lost consciousness.
Midnight woke up to the beautiful sound of silence. Her head was fuzzy, and everything screeched with pain, but she remembered what happened perfectly. The Night Fury let out a long sigh and forced herself up, she was a bit shaky on her paws, but aside from that she just had a splitting head ache and of course, that pain from the fight. She was in a cave, a rather small one at that about the size of a human's room with a rounded entrance leading out into another part of the cave, but this part was a hallway. Midnight hopped down from the rock bed that was three feet high and trotted out of the cave and into the hall way, many openings, similar to hers lined both sides of the hallway, but at to the right at the end of it, was an opening into the outside world. She quietly crept out of her room, swiftly trotting to the end of the hallway while laying her body close to the ground, as if the mucky gray of the cave floor would hide her. Where was everyone? It was so quiet, she thought that after the fight dragons would've at least waited outside her room or Screech's; being the nosy beings they were. Midnight soon found her answer when she walked out of the cave; a Screaming Death was watching the entrance; scarring Midnight half to death. It's eyes flicked to her as she walked out causing her to stop in her tracks and give a sheepish wave with her tail,
"Uh, hi." She said awkwardly, noticing how the creature's white body stood out compared to the darkness of the night that had fallen all around them. The beast smiled before speaking to her,
"You really gave Screech a beating." He said, his voice was clearly aged, meaning he had been around for quite a while; he sure didn't look like it though! Midnight hesitated before nodding, why did he seem okay with it? Heck, his species is even related to Whispering Deaths, and he wasn't angry? He chuckled at her confusion, causing her attention to go back to the elder, "You're wondering why I'm not angry like the others, aren't you?" He asked. The Night Fury sighed, so everyone else was angry with her, great. Just fucking perfect. None the less, she nodded, wanting to see the elder's reasoning behind this. The Screaming Death shifted his body to the right, giving Midnight room to walk out further if she wanted; before explaining. "Out of my many years of life, I have met many young-ins'; Streak and his gang standing out the most," He snarled out the last part, clearly not pleased with the group of dragons, though Midnight couldn't honestly blame him. The female Night Fury carefully padded out from the rest of the cave and onto the soft grass as the elder continued talking, his red eyes focused gently on her; "There are dragons like them who spat nasty words at everyone, even one another. Dragons like them, who manipulate and use others to get what they want. Dragons like them who are willing to tear anything or anyone apart if they get in their way," He paused, still looking at her with gentle eyes before continuing, "Then there are dragons like you. Dragons that fight for the right reasons, who are kind to one another and everyone around them," He paused lifting his head to look at the sky before chuckling, "Well, almost everyone. But you all are also smart in sticky situations, whiletheirsolution would be to fight and kill everything in sight." The elder turned his head to once again look at Midnight, finally giving her an official answer to her unasked question; "I'm not angry because you fought for the right reason, you were defending yourself from that male whore and from his minion."
"You saw that!?" Midnight exclaimed; shocked by what the elder said, the white dragon nodded solemnly,
"You'd be surprised about what I see every day." He said his gentle smile returning. The female Night Fury nodded offering him a small smile of her own. This Screaming Death didn't seem too bad, he was very wise and the things that he said actually made sense; unlike some elders Midnight has encountered. Others would ramble on and on about random things, often switching the topic midsentence whether it be on purpose or not and then yelling at her for something she didn't do. Her attention was snapped back to the elder when he began speaking once more, "I'm glad to see you're all patched up now though, but those spider webs must be uncomfortable."
"Spider webs..?" Midnight questioned turning her head to examine her body for the first time since she woke up. She had spider web silk wrapped around her back right leg and another one wrapped around her torso, red was streaked throughout both webs giving the silver substances a nice design. Though she knew it was just her own blood, but it was still pretty to her. "I hadn't even noticed!" She exclaimed with a laugh, the elder joining in. The female looked up at the Screaming Death, "My apologies sir, but I never got your name." She said with a sheepish grin. The albino creature chuckled,
"No need to apologize! I have a tendency to forget to introduce myself! How rude of me, my name is Kryo, it's a pleasure to meet you young lady." He introduced himself with a small nod of his head, extending his red tipped tail to Midnight. The Night Fury grinned and gently used her right paw to grab his tail, giving it a gentle shake,
"Midnight," She said her name as the two pulled their respective appendages away, "It's nice to meet you as well." She continued as Kryo grinned widely,
"A pretty name for a pretty Night Fury, so tell me, why do your parents want you to be with an ugly jerk like Streak?" Kryo asked her, his long, snake like body coiling around it's self as he spoke to her. Midnight sighed,
"I have no clue." Midnight grumbled, "They just instantly assumed that he would provide the best offspring!" She began going into a rant, "It's as if they think I'm some sort of…of... Corpse. A corpse that can only lie there for anyone to do whatever the hell they want with it! Just some useless piece of flesh with no emotion, will, or independence!" Midnight began to pace back and forth now; projecting her feelings to the elder she had just met. "And then there's Streak! That son of a bitch will only show me off like some sort of trophy! Because he has the honor of having the only female Night Fury all to himself! He's only using me to help his reputation and to make every other male jealous so he can sit there and insult them all! And I'm not even gonna SAY what else he was trying to use me for!" She exasperated, stopping mid-pace to plop her body down onto the lush green grass. "And I can't even object to any of it because I'll only sit there and get lectured about 'how this is too big of a decision for a hatchling to make'." Midnight inhaled deeply and let out a loud sigh, her eyelids only half open now as she simply stared at the grass.
"Feel better now?" Kryo questioned her gently, his long tail gently patting her on her left shoulder. Midnight sighed loudly and rolled onto her back, spreading her wings out at her sides so she wouldn't lay on them. Kryo leaned forward so that he was in her line of sight, staring down at the younger dragon; though for Midnight he was upside-down.
"Yea, sorry about that." She apologized tilting her head so she could look up at the Screaming Death at a little bit of a better view, even though it didn't really help that much. Kryo smiled sympathetically at her, causing her to give a small smile back.
"No worries, I know it must be hard on you," His grin suddenly grew, causing Midnight's curiosity to spike up, "But I think I know something that will cheer you up, could you please come with me?" He asked, lifting his head away so she could get back on to her paws. Midnight looked up the elder with great confusion; which he picked up on, "I assure you I'm not talking you there to kill you or anything like that!" He exclaimed in slight panic, his red eyes widening at the thought of creeping the young dragoness out.
"Of course not!" Midnight exclaimed opening her wings slightly in protest at the thought, "I wasn't assuming you were going to do anything like that! I was just curious as to what it was." She exclaimed with a wide smile, allowing Kryo to relax with a small smile and a nod.
"Thank goodness." He said with relief, uncoiling his body and glancing to the starry night sky, "We should get going then, it's almost midnight (Irony), it's not far from here though." Kryo said stretching out his small wings. Midnight nodded,
"Lead the way." She said, taking to the sky.
The two dragons had flown for about seven minutes with Kryo taking the lead with Midnight following carefully at his side, the two simply flying in silence the whole way. A comfortable silence that left Midnight to her various thoughts. The conversation from before had left Midnight thinking about what on earth she was going to do about the entire situation, she could just hide. But that really wouldn't help; it would just cause chaos to erupt throughout the clans, and that wouldn't be good at all. Her mother would go berserk, and that would just start a chick fight with Gold; and as entertaining as that would be- That couldn't happen.
She could try to rebel against it; tell her mother and father that she won't do it. But, she's already tried that, and all she'll get is the same damn lecture she's gotten for her entire life: 'Oh don't be silly dear, you have no idea what you're taking about! It's such a dig decision in life, just let us handle it okay? You're too young to make a decision like this!' and all this other yakshit! Midnight was honestly getting sick of this! Her parents always treated her like some hatchling! For the love of Thor, she was a teenager now! Or 'young adult'. However you wanted to put it… But that's beside the point! She. Isn't. A. Hatchling. Hell, they didn't even give her 'the talk'; she had to go and ask one of the other mothers about it! It was pathetic in Midnight's eyes, it really was.
"We're here, Midnight." Kryo said quietly, breaking Midnight from her thoughts. The female Night Fury looked down below them; the land was grassy and bumpy with stray pine trees every here and there. Midnight could make out the figure of a small hoard of (rather tall) mountains before the land vanished off of a steep drop where it met the sea. Kryo began to descend into the mountains, Midnight swiftly following as he ducked into a sliver of an opening in the side of one. The female recoiled slightly, shocked by his sudden disappearance; but she quickly recovered as she saw his blood red eyes peer out of the crevice he had slipped into.
"Nice vanishing act." Midnight commented as she glided in, making a gentle landing on the cave's floor. The cave was stunningly chilled, much to Midnight's enjoyment; the part of the 'cave' that the two were in was extremely narrow, surprising Midnight on how Kryo was able to slip in at all.
"Thanks, care to check it out?" He asked her as he began to slither through the passageway. Midnight nodded to herself before cautiously following him, being careful to stay a few feet behind him so that his tail didn't smash into her. The Night Fury glanced around her, while the passage was slim and extremely cramped, it was tall! She couldn't even see the ceiling from her current place! Which was probably a good thing; because she didn't feel as cramped as she normally would it she was able to see it. The cavern's walls were extremely rough and bumpy, unlike the smooth walls of the caves dragon's had hallowed out to live in; but there was also another thing that this cave had that theirs didn't… Midnight could make out small fragments of multicolored crystals embedded into the cave's walls every-so-often. They were absolutely beautiful in her opinion, even though they were so small; they reflected small amounts of light everywhere giving the dragons enough light to see.
The passage became gradually wider as the two continued down it, and the crystals became more frequent, and in slightly bigger sizes. At some points, Midnight could see bodies of crystals jutting out of the wall; beautiful to look at, but if someone was smashed into it, ouch. Everything also became brighter, as if the crystals themselves held some sort of light or power…
Finally, the two came to a large circular room; the multicolored crystals protruded out of the walls in various shapes, sizes, and colors! They crawled all the way up to the ceiling, which was still rather high up; and Midnight still couldn't see it! The crystals just vanished after a while, even if she squinted, it was as if there really was no ceiling at all! The gray floor was smooth and somewhat warmer than at the beginning of the passage, she noticed that no crystals spouted up from the floor; at least not in the middle of it, a few near the wall spouted up, but that was about it for the floor. A small fire was burning in the middle of the room, the light bouncing all around the room in multicolored specks due to the crystals. Midnight gasped; but not because of the sight, but because of the dragon sitting in it.
"Nightshade!" The blue Monstrous Nightmare glanced away from the flames to look at the Night Fury.
"Midnight!" He exclaimed, standing up with a wide grin plastered on his muzzle. Midnight rushed past a smiling Kryo and tackled Nightshade in a hug; the two hit the floor with a loud 'thump'. "Oh my Thor it's been for freakin' EVER since I've seen you!" She said as she friendly nuzzled his cheek, which he returned happily.
"Yea, no kidding." He muttered from under her. Midnight pulled away and looked him over, it's been over 3 years since the last time she saw him and she wanted to see how he's changed. She noticed that he's gotten larger and slightly bulkier; he was never much of a fighter but Midnight was, but she was able to stay slim because of her genes. He used to be so thin as a hatchling, but last time she had saw him he was beginning to get 'more meat on his bones', but it seemed like he had some mussel now. His wings were spread out of his sides; Midnight assumed he was able to spread them out before they hit the ground, she noticed that his once black claws on the ends were now beginning to turn into a silvery color with black tips- the sleek tips of his wings were also beginning to turn black. Instead of the normal lighter-toned underside of a Monstrous Nightmare, Nightshade's was now a pitch black in color, unlike the last time she saw him it was simply a really dark blue. Everything else about him had stayed the same, even his eyes (In most animals and humans, eve colors tend to get darker as they get older) had stayed the same silvery color (Though if one looked hard enough, they could see a tint of blue to them).
"Aw, you've grown up so much!" She cooed jokingly; the Monstrous Nightmare smirked and rolled his eyes playfully,
"Yea, but so have you sweetheart!" He replied in a motherly tone. Midnight giggled while a small chuckle from Kryo echoed throughout the room.
"So, I assume my little surprise made you happy Midnight?" The Whispering Death asked with a wide grin. The female Night Fury grinned widely before quickly nuzzling Nightshade once more and slipping her body off of his so he could get up.
"Yea! Thank you so much!" She exclaimed as she sat back down next to the fire. "But, I do have one question: where exactly are we?" She asked, looking around once more, "I mean; don't get me wrong, this place is amazing! But…" She trailed off as Nightshade rolled next to her, clearly too lazy to get up in the first place;
"This place doesn't exactly have a name but it's a very special place." Kryo began as he looped his body around its self, getting comfortable by the fire like the two younger dragons had done. "I've known about this place ever since I was just a hatchling, which was a long, long time ago. I had stumbled upon this place while exploring on my own one day, I needed to get away from the world at that time. Ya' see, my grandmother had passed away that day. We were very close and.." The elder paused and looked all around him at all of the crystals, Midnight noticed him grinning widely, which confused her greatly, but she decided to say nothing, hoping she would get answers if she stayed silent. Kryo sighed wistfully and continued "And I remember it hurt me dearly after her departure. So I came here. The crystals have always fascinated me and in a way their existence has always comforted me. Anyway, that may sound like the 'sappy' special part, but there is another reason why this place is special; the crystals hold a variety of power-"
This time, Midnight interrupted.
"Whoa whoa whoa! What!?" She exclaimed, clearly bewildered about the simple words that Kryo has spoken as if it were nothing unusual. The Screaming Death chuckled, his red eyes lighting up with amusement;
"Yes, as insane as it sounds; these crystals, all hold a special type of magic within them; it all depends on the color of the crystal and magic within." The albino dragon averted his eyes from the two teenagers and focused them on a violet colored crystal with a swirling of colors within it, like a rainbow. "For example, this one; one of my favorites. I call it 'Jilinth' which is ancient dragon language for 'memory'."
"Judging by the name, I assume it has something to do with one's memory, correct?" Nightshade cut in this time with a grin; much to Midnight's entertainment when Kryo chuckled in response;
"Where ever did you get that idea, lad?" He questioned sarcastically before nodding; "Yes, it does. This crystal has the power to restore ones memory, so to speak." That explanation honestly didn't help. Or, at least it didn't help Midnight. The female Night Fury crocked her head to the left slightly, her ice blue eyes glittering with confusion, but at the same time in awe at the crystals. "I know that doesn't explain much; but that's why I needed to bring you two here, especially you, Midnight."
"But…Why us? Why not the adults?" Nightshade asked, voicing one of Midnight's many questioned beginning to squirm into her head: Why would Kryo need THEM of all dragons? What other things could the crystals do? Why share this secret with them? Why hasn't he named this cavern yet? Why was the Jilinth so special to him? Why did he need to bring them here? Why was this important? And why was it seeming vitally important to him that SHE was brought here?
So many questions, and so few answers. Something Midnight had grown used to over the many (okay not much, but still) years of her life. That didn't change the fact that it was SO annoying by now though.
"Because, this matter doesn't concern them. It concerns you two." He answered the Monstrous Nightmare's question calmly, still not averting his gaze from the Jilinth,
"Then, what is the matter at paw? And why do you need us of all dragons?" Midnight asked, wanting answers to some of her questions; which Kryo seemed to happily give to her;
"The matter, dear Midnight, is more or less like MATTERS. One of them being your trial tomorrow, the other, your ceremony, my apologies…"
"WHAT!?" Midnight screamed, leaping to her paws in a fit of fury. NO! This couldn't be happening! She felt multiple emotions surge through her all at once: Anger, hate, sadness, disgust, frustration, shame, helpless, confusion… But all of those emotions bubbled into one thing: Overwhelming. She was overwhelmed by this news. True, she was afraid to admit it; it just wasn't like her to get over powered by her emotions, so she didn't let it show. But now, after hearing that she just didn't know what to do anymore. She knew this was coming; the ceremony, where two dragons become officially mates, but tomorrow? Her parents didn't even tell her! And the trial, it was a deciding of punishment for what she and Screech did; for the fight. But, Midnight thought the Ceremony was punishment enough for her.
"That's impossible! I overheard her parents and Streak's parents talking about it! They said they would let the two talk it out and decide!" Nightshade exclaimed, also rising to his paws, a large scowl danced across his muzzle and fury burned within his silvery eyes. Kryo didn't even flinch at the teens' anger, as if he hadn't even heard them. Slowly, the elder turned to face them, his face solemn,
"You'd be surprised how much you hear as you get older." He said slowly his red eyes losing a bit of their 'youth'; as if this deeply hurt him as much as it did her. "Streak said he had talked it over with you. He said that he would defend you in the trial tomorrow and that you had said that you would love to have the ceremony tomorrow…" He was cut off at that point, Midnight didn't mean to cut him off, but she was so pissed off that she was literally seeing red.
"THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A REPTILE! I SWEAR TO THOR WHEN I GET MY PAWS ON HIM-!" She yelled, slamming her right paw down so hard that air it had stirred put the fire completely out; which Midnight had re-lit immediately with a Plasma blast.
"Midnight!" Nightshade exclaimed, stopping her rage for, only Thor knows how long. Her ice colored eyes shifted to his pale ones, who were no longer dancing with flames, but shining with sympathy; "Listen to me Midnight, you're not going to be his mate. That's why Kryo called us here. He must have a plan. Alright?" He said, trying to calm her down, which was working because Midnight felt her mussels relax at his words. She nodded slowly before turning her attention towards Kryo, who was waiting patiently;
"So, DO you have a plan?" she asked, sitting back down and gently leaning her back against Nightshades chest, finding slight comfort in doing so. The elder hesitated before speaking; almost as if his next words would determine his fate.
"No. I don't have an 'official' plan; I have a few in mind, but…" He paused, waiting for a reaction from one of the two. Midnight had officially calmed down by now, and while not having an official plan wasn't exactly good; having a few in mind wasn't bad at all.
"But?" Nightshade prodded, seeming as curious as she was about what it could be. The elder gave a weak smile and continued;
"You'll have to form a crystal bond first."
Dun dun duuuuun Cliff hanger!
Icestorm: Nightshade if finally introduced!
Sirius: As well as an old guy .
Kryo: I heard that!
Night: But what is this mysterious thing called a 'crystal bond'?
You'll find out next chapter! I've been trying to make my chapters longer; this one took up almost 8 pages in word!
Night: Kate3628 doesn't own HTTYD
Icestorm: But she does own the OC's and their 'personalities'!
(Also, you may be wondering why there is a Screaming Death when one is said to be born every 100 (I think) years. Well, the other one from Riders of Berk does exist as well as Kryo, so if you put 2 and 2 together…
Sirius: That thing is over 100!? HOW!?
NO not that one! Kryo is! *face palms*
Bai!