There was something different this morning when I woke up. I felt something an incredible pain on my belly. Ugh, I knew I should haven't eaten the whole chicken for dinner. I turned around and thankfully Hiccup wasn't here. So I removed the blankets, and gasped at the sight. Dammit. Definitely it was not the dinner.
I stood up and I grabbed my dark blue cloak as I put it on to cover the blotch, then went downstairs and ran through the houses of the town, looking for a certain blonde's house. When I arrived, I knocked at the door and thankfully she was the one to open the door.
"Annabelle?" Astrid asked as she looked at me. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you and Hiccup be having breakfast or something?"
"Yes, um...Can we talk about it somewhere more privately?"
"Um..." She eyed me from head to toe and she must have assumed it was something serious, because she let me in quickly. "Okay."
I was glad her house was empty, her parents were nowhere to be seen. We went to her room and once she closed the door, I held my stomach again and leaned on a wall for support.
"Whoa, are you alright?"
I shook my head as I looked down and she followed my eyes, she saw my hand and suddenly she seemed to understand. She slightly eye widened and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Is that time of your month, isn't it?" She asked softly and I looked at her with tears on my eyes. It hurt a lot. When it happened I usually took a tablet or something and my mother would be there to help me, but I was at the other side of the world on my own.
I needed help so I had to trust Astrid. I removed my cloak with my hands shaking from the nerves, and let it slip down my shoulders to the ground, revealing my situation. Her eyes widened more as she looked at me.
"A-Astrid I don't know what to do." I said but couldn't look at her at the face. "I'm a bit scared." I admitted.
"It's okay. Just let me look for a change of clothes and everything will be alright."
I nodded as she dug in her closet and gave me new clothes. Once I was wearing the clean ones, she let me have a seat as she washed my other clothes. She came back but I didn't feel any better. She sat on the edge of her bed with me.
"Thank you."
"Don't worry. How many time..." She trailed off and I knew what was she asking me.
"First day." I said with a groan, making it sound like if my voice was raspy.
"Hm. Worst day of all."
"You tell me." She chuckled and I cracked a smile, but it was quickly forgotten as I flinched. "I'm having...the cramps." I said with difficulty and she gestured for me to lie down in her bed.
"Well...you can stay here for the rest of the day until you feel better."
"Can I ask you a favor?" She nodded. "Grab a sock and insert in it a bunch of rice, then tie a knot at the end and warm it up for a minute on the fire."
She frowned at first but in two minutes she had gone and come with what I asked. She handed me the sock and I placed it on my stomach, as I let out sigh of relief feeling the pain go away.
"Thanks."
"You know, while I was downstairs doing what you told me, I wondered what did you want the rice and the sock for." She explained. "I gaged at the thought you were gonna eat the rice from the sock."
"Eew, why would I do that?!" We laughed together.
"Well, you know, it's not that bad." I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe a little. But we can spend all day doing things together, you get to decide. It's your day, okay? We can do whatever you want." I raised both of my eyebrows now. Was she really asking me to decide? It wasn't usual someone asked me for my opinion. Maybe with my friends, but mom never did. Not that I remember, at least.
"Are you sure?" I asked unsure. "Spending time with me may be a bit...boring. I think." I muttered the last. "Specially since I'm accustomed to spend the entire afternoon doing nothing. Well, not nothing nothing, more like, listening to music."
"Music?" She sat crossed of legs, facing me.
"Yeah." I sighed. "It's so sad I don't have a cellphone. I would show you thousands and millions of songs! And..." I gasped as I got an incredible idea. "You know what? I've decided what to do to spend time!" I exclaimed.
"Okay, what do you have in mind?"
Astrid entered her room and closed the door, then placed the bag on the floor. "Okay, let's see if we got everything." I said. "Cups?"
"Check. Bag of beans?"
"Check. Napkings?"
"Check. Rub bands?"
"We have ten of them. Anything missing?"
"Paint. I have some cans, but they're just red, white and black. Maybe there's blue and green too."
"Perfect. Can you please bring them?"
"Sure, be back in a minute."
She came back with four cans in her hands, and we spend two hours doing our own musical instruments. At the end we had two tambourines and two single cups. We made the tambourines inserting the beans on the cups, then placing the napkings at one side and used the rub bands to fasten them. And to made them better, we painted them. I painted some flowers, and Astrid painted skulls. Oookay.
"Are you done?"
"Yep." She said showing her tambourine to me. "Now what?"
"Leave the tambourines aside and grab a cup, I wanna show you something."
Each one of us grabbed a cup and sat on the ground crossed of legs. I placed the cup upside down and she mirrored me. Then I started clapping, then hit the cup three times, clapped and grabbed the cup moving it to the side, clapped and grabbed the cup upside down, hit it against the palm of my free hand, against the floor, changed the item of hand, hit my free palm against the floor and put the cup down.
I looked up and she just blinked. I laughed at her blank expression wincing a bit and holding my stomach, and once I stopped I offered to show her how to do the 'Cup song'. She was a very fast learner, or I was a very good teacher, because in less than ten minutes we were both doing it and changing cups between ourselves. Then it started the real fun, I showed her the lyrics and she learned the chorus and the second paragraph.
"Hey, you wanna try it at the Great Hall?" I asked a bit cheerful.
"Really?"
"Well, I've been thinking to do it since we started doing our instruments. Maybe we could bring them there and people could try to play them. Ahti is working on a guitar and I promised to work on a flute too. So what do you say?"
She stood up, got the dirt out of her clothes and offered me a hand. "Let's give it a try."
I accepted her hand and we walked towards the Great Hall. The people looked at us and muttered, we guessed they were asking themselves what we were planning to do.
No one at the Hall payed any attention at all when we entered, we leaved the instruments on a corner and we walked to a table with our cups. We sat and did nothing for a couple of minutes, looking around.
The Hall was in a really bad mood. No one seemed happy, or joyful, they were all sad and angry, depressed. We had to do something. So I started to do the Cup Song. My clapping and the cup against the table echoed all around the Hall, and we soon gained the attention of everybody. Almost. Some vikings were asleep in their own food.
I ignored the gazes on the back of my neck and continued like if I haven't noticed. And soon, Astrid joined me. We weren't changing cups yet, but I started to sing.
"I've got my ticket for the long way 'round, two bottle whiskey for the way." People was getting closer to us and we smiled to each other. "And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow. What d'you say?"
"When I'm gone, when I'm gone," Astrid continued. "You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my hair, you're gonna miss me everywhere oh, you're gonna miss me when I'm gone."
Out of nowhere, we heard another cup and we both looked at each other in shock. Someone else knew the song. I looked to the right, and two feet away from me Ahti was doing the Cup Song too. I let out a laugh and little by little, he started to move besides me until the three of us started to change cups. I handed it to Ahti, Ahti to Astrid and Astrid to me. I continued singing.
"When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone." And to our surprise, Ahti sang too!
"You're gonna miss me by my walk, you're gonna miss me by my talk, oh..."
"You're gonna miss me when I'm gone." We sang together the last sentence.
"I've got my ticket for the long way 'round." I began.
"The one with the prettiest of views." Astrid continued.
"It's got mountains, it's got rivers." I sang.
"It's got sights to give you shivers." Astrid sang.
"But it sure would be prettier with you." Ahti finished and at once we stopped.
All the Vikings of the Hall were officially around us, and when we finished they all started clapping and cheering for us. We high-fived as we laughed, not believing we actually did it and it was a success. Suddenly our cheers were interrupted when Fishlegs appeared crying for help.
Ahti stood up first and I could get a good look at his new viking outfit. He wore a red unsleeved shirt, dark blue-almost black pants, brown furred boots, brown short bracers and a short grey with black and white vest. He also wore a black belt with the Berk crest on the front in silver.
"Help!" He said breathless as he bent down, resting his hands on his knees.
We walked to Fishlegs. "What's wrong?"
"I need you to come with me, now."
"Can't you just tell us what's going on?"
"No! You guys need to see this."
He dragged us all the way through the village and to the forest, and when we paused he pointed to an injured dragon. We gasped. It was way bigger than any other dragon I've seen before except for Torch's mother. It did not had either front paws or back ones. It had a large tail and huge wings that had endings like an umbrella. On the head it had horns, and it was color dark red and a yellow belly.
"It's a Timberjack." I whispered, remembering one of the dragons from the Book of Dragons. I read once of it, the wings of a timberjack are strong and sharp enough to chop down entire forests, but they like to be scratched at the back. This dragon had a broken wing.
"A whut?" Ahti asked in confusion. Did he even read the Book of Dragons? Oh right, even if he did he couldn't read it alone because it was written in Norse.
"Looks like it needs help." Astrid said. I nodded and tried to get closer to it but Ahti grabbed my wrist and stopped me.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to get closer to it. It needs medical attention." I whispered back, trying not to alarm the dragon. I knew from experience with Thora that at first the dragon could be afraid and that would lead them from a defensive mood to an aggressive mood.
"Can I try?" He asked. I considered it and a thought passed through my mind. Why not? I nodded at him and gave him a few instructions so the dragon will not see him as a threat.
He walked towards the dragon carefully and slowly, until it caught sight of him. He paused. The timberjack roared at him and tried to move, but he fell to the ground. Ahti outstretched a hand a foot far away of its head.
"I'm here to help." He told the dragon.
"Stay away." The Timberjack growled at him, and we held our breath fearing the worst. Ahti didn't back up, just turned his head away. Fishlegs covered his eyes in fear and I held Astrid's hand. Seconds later, the dragon pressed his snout against his palm and Ahti smiled. He rubbed gently his snout as we sighed in relief.
"Hang in there, boy. I'm calling my friends and we'll take care of you."
Later...
It was already late, so today we had to let the timberjack on the woods. But Ahti insisted to stay with the dragon. No matter how much we told him that he'll be okay, he wanted to make sure the dragon was fine all night. If he was not my best friend, I would had dragged him from the ear to the village. But something was telling me he was caring about that dragon for a reason.
~Hello? I'm right here, you know? You could call me for name!~
Um... Okay.
~Wait...are you serious?~
Nope.
I stood up at the front of Hiccup's house and remembered that tonight I would sleep somewhere else, and since Ahti was with the dragon, there would be nothing left to explain to anybody. So I turned around and walked to Astrid's house.
I found Astrid already on her room and she was preparing herself to sleep.
"Hi." I said opening the door.
"Hi, how are you feeling?"
"I'm still weak, but I'm okay. It's not as bad as I was feeling at morning."
"Good. I'm glad to hear that." She smiled to me as she handed me a blanket and the blue gown with the dark blue ribbon. Wait...
"Is this yours?" I asked lifting the gown. She nodded and got herself another gown, but this one was pink. I raised an eyebrow.
"That one you have doesn't fit me anymore since I was thirteen. I use this one now. It was supposed to be white, but somebody forgot a red clothe when washing it and it turned...pink."
"But, I used this when the armory exploded and woke up at Gothi's house. You were the one to give it to me, didn't you?"
She grinned as she unbraided her hair. "I don't know what you're talking about."
I shook my head and I hugged her. "Thanks." She was stunned for a moment and hugged me quickly before letting go. Guess she didn't have much hugs on her life. But it was okay, if it wasn't for Lucy, I wouldn't even know what was a hug.
Every night since I remembered, Lucy would come five minutes before her bedtime to my room and ask me to go to her room and say to her 'goodnight'. She would hug me, we would go to her room, I would place the blankets over her and give her a kiss, then she would finally sleep. But she would only fell asleep when I kissed her, not Dallas, not mom. I. It made me feel special.
I slept on the floor because of my situation, I knew it was only her but it would embarrass me so much if I happened to soil her bed accidentaly while I was asleep.
The next day I was way better, and while we were reading ourselves there was a knock on the door. Astrid's parents have returned so her father opened the door and we saw Fishlegs outside waiting for us. Finally after another ten minutes of Astrid braiding my hair and her own, we walked our way towards the forest with some provisions for the timberjack. Astrid brought water, Fishlegs brought food, and I brought whatever they had for medicines and antidotes. But as we passed the chief's house, we saw something weird on the sky...
"Is that a flying whale?" I asked pointing to the sky at a figure. It had a tale for sure, but it was way too fat.
~Really? A flying whale?~
What?! Your telling me that whales do not fly?!
Sabrina facepalmed.
In that moment Hiccup opened the door and I frowned. Where was Toothless? "DAD?!" He exclaimed and I dropped my items. Stoick mounting Toothless?! What the heck?
"Was that–?" Fishlegs cut Astrid off.
"Unexpected? Disturbing?"
"Weird? Insanely strange?" I added as I picked the things I dropped.
"Yep."
Astrid and Fishlegs got way ahead of me, and I stayed to stare at Stoick and Hiccup having a talk. Usually in these talks, Stoick didn't listen at all. I did not know what they say to each other, but I did know it end with father ignoring his son. Poor Hiccup, I just hoped that whatever was going between those two turned out well. At least for him.
We returned to the forest and Ahti was already up, so we attended to the dragon. He looked anxious all the time we were checking him, he looked like he was going to make us suffer if we hurt him more. We managed to parch him up and to bandage the wing, while applying some medicines so it would heal faster. We looked at the dragon and it nuzzled Ahti affectionally, and I believed Ahti finally had found a dragon of his own.
Later...
Stoick dismounted Toothless and walked towards his house, but Toothless looked greenly. Like if he had eaten to much, or like if he was dizzy, or like if a very fat viking had rode him all day without resting. Toothless could barely stand up by himself. His earplates were drop and he had his eyes half closed.
"You see that?" Hiccup asked Astrid and me as we looked at Toothless. "That's what it looks like to be ridden all day by a four-hundred-pound man."
"At least you got your dad on a dragon." I pointed out.
"Yeah, now I just need to figure out how to get him off one." Hiccup replied. We stood up from the steps of the Hall and walked downstairs.
"Why don't you just give him the old 'Honey and The Hatchet'?" Astrid offered, and Hiccup and I looked at her with a frown completely puzzled. "You know, you tell him something he wants to hear, that's the 'Honey' part, before you hit him in the head with something he doesn't." She explained, punching Hiccup on the arm. "You know, 'The Hatchet'."
"Why does your advice always involve weapons?" Hiccup asked rubbing his arm and Astrid only smiled.
The next morning we finally went to the Academy and all the gang was there for the first time in two or three days. Hiccup was there too, and he told us something we did not like at all.
"Stoick? Here?" Fishlegs asked.
"In a dragon?" Snotlout continued.
"How long did it took him to find one?" Ruffnut asked.
"Not long." Hiccup replied. "But he's not coming in a dragon. He's coming to find one."
"What?!" We all said. Just as we said that, Stoick came walking in. We all arranged in a line besides our dragons, but I was lost in my thoughts. What if Stoick liked one of our dragons and wanted to stay with it? Would we loose them forever? It took me so long to find myself a dragon, but leaving that aside, he couldn't just grab one and ride it. He had to create a bond.
"The finest dragon species on the island." Hiccup announced, gesturing to all of us. But if I was honest, they were the only dragons we have ever trained so far. "They're all represented at this Academy."
"But the Monstrous Nightmare is the only one with the brawn and prestige for men of our stature." Snotlout said walking forwards and guiding the chief towards Hookfang.
"When he says 'our stature' he means us or Stoick?" I asked Ruffnut and she shrugged.
"Hop on board." Snotlout said as Stoick sat on the saddle. "Feel the Monstrous Nightmare difference. And on those cold winter nights, its whole body heats up. Just enough to keep you cozy. Lemme warm him up for you." He snapped Hookfang's head with his fingers and the nightmare glared at his rider while warming himself up. Stoick's pants accidentally caught on fire and he jumped off screaming, to a nearby water tub.
"Now should I put you down for one?" Snotlout continued while Stoick glared at him. "They come in an assortment of colors." He smiled nervously.
Next came Astrid and Stormfly.
"Since she's beautiful, people think she's not tough." Astrid said. "But you should never underestimate me. Uh, her-uh, us." She smiled placing her hands behind her back.
"Well, she is a beauty." Stoick recognized, extending an arm and petting the nadder. But he practically slapped her, what startled Stormfly.
"Be careful with the–!" Astrid tried to warn him, but Stormfly shot her spikes at Stoick, barely missing him. Snotlout used this opportunity to approach the chief with a big smirk and placed his hands behind his back.
"Monstrous Nightmare's looking a little better now, huh, Chief?" He asked.
"Next!" Stoick said.
Then it was me and Thora. My heart was racing all the time and I was praying to the Gods that he did not chose my dragon. But then again, I tried my best to impress him.
"The only one of her species so far ever seen. Instead of fire, she is capable of emitting bio-electricity." Stoick seemed interested and he walked towards us. But when he touched her, Thora emitted said lightning electrocuting Stoick. He shook violently on his own place before he collapsed. I gasped. When he sat down, his hair and beard were all standing up. I slapped my mouth to stiffen a laugh and so did the others. Stoick didn't seem amused.
"Next!"
Supposedly, the twins were next. But they didn't mind explaining, instead they fought each other. Barf and Belch were the same. Barf let out some gas and Belch ignited it, making a small explosion at their faces.
"Next!"
Last but not least, were Fishlegs and Meatlug. "Lemme tell you, what you're really looking for is loyalty." Fishlegs began. "A dragon who will be there for you no matter what. The last face you see at night and the first face you see in the morning." Fishlegs got sentimental as we shared looks between us. "Warming your bed when it's cold outside, a shoulder to cry on when the world has turned its back on you. How could you not love a Gronckle?" He ended hugging Meatlug.
Stoick leaned towards him, "Sorry, son. But I'm looking for a dragon. Not a mother." I shuddered at the thought. Definitely not a mother, please. He then turned to Hiccup. "I haven't seen anything that can hold a candle to a Night Fury." He said, then he eyed Thora. "Well, actually I do have kind of."
I hugged Thora protectively.
"But you know Dad, Toothless is the only Night Fury on Berk. And he's mine." Hiccup reminded his father. Fair enough. I thought.
Suddenly, Gobber entered the Academy running.
"Stoick! Another boat is bein' attacked! It's the rogue dragon again." He explained.
"Rogue dragon?" I asked out loud.
"It's been attacking our ships. We takes our catches." Stoick explained as he and his son both tried to mount Toothless, but both placed their own legs on the pedal. Er, leg and prosthetic. They shared looks.
"Oh, right... What was I thinking?" Hiccup asked sarcastically as he mounted on the back. "At least he blocks the wind..." He muttered but I was able to hear him.
I mounted my dragon but before we could fly off, Gobber stopped us.
"Not so fast lassie."
"What is it, Gobber?"
"Yer friend. The black haired boy." My eyes went wide. "A Viking came to me and told me he saw him with a black guy. He could really cause you chills. He says yer friend was crying for help."
I questioned myself what was wrong. What problem should Ahti have, if he was doing well with the timberjack? And what did Gobber meant with a black guy?
We arrived in five minutes. Ahti was in fetal position behind a tree and I frowned when I saw him. It was the first time I saw him like that. Something really went wrong.
"Ahti!" I called and his eyes flickered to me. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked. Sabrina internally kicked me for asking that obvious question, but what was I supposed to do. He was panting. He shook his head and rocketed from the back to the front. I looked around for any sign of the dragon but it was gone. "Hey, I'm here. Tell me what happened."
I lifted his chin until our eyes met and until now he realized I was there. "Annabelle!" He embraced me in a tight hug and almost got the air out of my lungs. "H-h-he was here." He said trembling. "He saw me straight in the eye. Grabbed me from the neck." He lifted his head and I noticed black markings on it. I gasped and reach for him but he shook my hands off.
"Who did this to you?!" I yelled. He didn't answer my question.
"Hair black as the night. Ash color skinned." He swallowed and continued. "He moved his hand and in a blink he held me from the throat, as thousands of monsters surrounded us. And then it protected me." At this point I assumed he was talking about the dragon. "Shot fire at those monsters. He flew to escape, and I was left defenseless. He let me go, and commanded the monsters to attack me but something blocked their attacks. Someone."
"Who? Ahti, at least tell me who saved you."
"He was fast. He fought that guy, but I blacked out. When I was conscious again, they were gone." As I stood up, he pulled my arm. "No no no no! Please don't go." He begged. He seemed scared of his own shadow.
I looked super worried at my friend. He was so strong, always so brave, so fearless. And he was left traumatized. But who was this guy that helped him, and the other who attacked him? Was it somebody we knew? Ahti refused to say something else. I couldn't talk to him. He was too tired and he passed out. I took him to Hiccup's house, and lay him on Hiccup's bed. If Hiccup happened to find him, I would explain him later.
"Let's go Thora." I said as I sat on my saddle. She extended her wings.
"Where are we going?"
"We'll find that Timberjack. And if we have luck, find the guy who hurt my friend."
We flew to the air. For hours we looked for both the dragon and the guy, but it was already late. The sun was going down and to our bad luck found none. For a moment I considered the dragon was already gone, but something passed us and I jumped on my seat, startled. Thora flapped her wings, startled as well. It was a blue...flat dragon. Very, flat dragon. It had spikes all over its back in a line and a very large tail. It was a Thunderdrum, but what shocked me the most was the fact it was wearing a muzzle.
"Let's follow it."
We flew behind, keeping a good distance and saw it flew into a cave. We landed outside and I walked towards the exit. The Thunderdrum didn't notice me yet, because it had its back turned to me. It had its attention on something way deeper. I catched a glimpse of the wing and saw a bandage over the red dark wing. The Timberjack!
I gave a step to get closer.
Crack!
Uh-oh. I lifted my foot and discovered a now-wrecked branch under it. Great.
Grrrr.
The Thunderdrum turned to me and growled, showing its teeth, and yet not capable of opening its mouth because of the muzzle. I raised my hands in surrender and gave a few steps back as it walked towards me in a threatening way.
"I'm here to help." I said.
It just growled to me. Oh, I forgot. Thunderdrums are almost deaf. Okay, what should I do, what should I do? Maybe speak to the Timberjack.
"Hey there!" I called and he looked at me. "I came to help you two. Please."
"She is a friend." The Timberjack told the Thunderdrum and it looked back.
"Ha! Do not make me laugh." The Thunderdrum replied. I was taken aback. How was it possible it could hear another dragon but not me? However, it didn't surprise me his reaction about me trying to make a good. Well, maybe the Timberjack could talk to it and tell him I meant no harm.
"Please, all I wanna do is help. I promise to not do anything dangerous to you."
The Timberjack talked to the Thunderdrum again, and the lattter dragon softened a bit. He let me pass.
"How did you got here? My friend was taking care of you at the woods and you left him on his own." I lowered my voice.
"I am sorry. But I was trying to protect him."
"Protect him how?" I snapped. "He was almost killed!" He raised his head almost instantly at my statement and his eyes turned to slits. I backed off some inches.
"But I drove that things away!" He replied. I raised an eyebrow and gestured him to continue. "A black human appeared out of nowhere and threatened us both with some creatures. I guided them as far as I could from that boy, but I crashed here. I would be dead if it the Thunderdrum did not find me and took care of me."
He moved his head to a corner and ate some fish from a pile besides him. A huge pile. How did a single dragon got all that fish?
The Thunderdrum walked to us and I looked at him. I placed a hand on my chest and gave him a thankful look, which he seemed to understand since he blinked and replied. "You are welcomed."
"What did these creatures look like?" I asked the Timberjack.
"I do not really know. It seemed they were made of smoke or something."
"What?" I gave him a confused look and he placed his head on the ground. He looked tired and sad.
"Pardon me, I am too weak. I just hope the kid is okay."
He meant Ahti. I let him rest as the Thunderdrum went out of the cave looking for intruders and came back. We shared looks but did not say anything to each other. He turned around then walked back outside and I stared at him awkwardly. I walked to the exit and saw Stoick with a hammer, Hiccup and Toothless besides.
"Stay away you!" He walked forwards and Thora ran besides the chief protectively, though the only one who needed protection was the dragon in the cave.
"Speak for yourself!" Toothless shot back but Hiccup gestured him to calm down. He frowned when he saw my dragon and snapped his head back to the cave, desperately to find me. I showed up from behind the dragon and they gasped.
"I know, I know. What am I doing?" I said with sarcasm, knowing that was exactly what they were thinking. "Look, there's an explanation for all the fish stolen. There's an injured Timberjack here, and it needs help." I pointed backwards.
Hiccup and Stoick tilted their heads to the side, and they realized it was true. Stoick considered something.
"Well, he's protecting his friend. Go get the others." Stoick ordered to Hiccup. "And tell Gobber to get ready."
"Dad, I can't just leave you two here!" Hiccup replied, stubborn as ever.
"Go! We got this." Hiccup hesitated and looked unsure to me. I looked back to the chief, then nodded and he sighed, walking back to Toothless. "Looks like it's just you and me, big fella." Stoick said to the Thunderdrum.
Um, hello? I'm right here! I shrugged after a sigh and walked back to the cave, but then I held my stomach in pain and kneeled. Oh, no. Not this again. Not now, please.
I crawled until the wounded dragon and rested my back against a wall. It depended on Stoick and the dragons.
"Here they come." I heard the dragon say. They? I thought as I did an effort to look at the outside, and I noticed a pack of wild pigs with horns walking in a menacing way.
"What are those?! What do they want?" Thora roared and Stoick looked back to the Timberjack, realization slapping him in the face.
"Ah, they smell the blood of your wounded friend."
Stoick had dropped his hammer when he understood the Thunderdrum was just being protective, but grabbed it again to fight the wild animals. He whacked them with his hammer and one by one they were down. One pinned him to the ground but the Thunderdrum knocked it off him.
Some managed to reach us, but Thora blasted them and they jumped back. Just as it seemed to end, more appeared. Stoick looked concerned at the Thunderdrum, and for a moment it seemed they both had the same thought. They had to work together.
Stoick extended a hand and the dragon approached him. Then the most unbelievable thing happened.
~Batman appeared!~
I facepalmed internally, she had to ruin the best moments.
The Thunderdrum and Stoick bonded. I gaped at the sight and smiled, but the moment was short lived when the animals seemed to get closer. Stoick pulled the muzzle off from the dragon and then another unbelievable thing happened, he rode it. If only Hiccup could see this...
As the pigs ran to them, the Thunderdrum did the only thing he was so feared/admired for. He sent the pigs flying away with a sonic blast.
"Aww, look at us! We're bonded!" Stoick praised, and he sounded quite cheerful. But from the look of his face it was still unbelievable that he was actually riding in the back of a dragon.
And then we heard a high-pitched screech I would recognize anywhere I went. The gang soon arrived and Stoick told Hiccup what happened.
"Ah, we battled a few boars, did a little bonding."
"You?" Hiccup asked incredulously.
"Of course! There's something you should know about dragons. It's all about trust." He said and Hiccup realized he actually said that to his father.
"So you actually... heard that?" He smiled.
"Yes. I just said it." Stoick chuckled. "I listen."
As they shared smiles the others came to attend the Timberjack. Astrid and Fishlegs were stunned when they saw it here, and I promised to tell them later.
"Astrid..." I looked down to my hand over my stomach and she quickly understood. She placed my arm around her shoulders and helped me walk to my dragon. But as soon as we were on the air again, my necklace glowed slightly. I touched it and it felt warmer than usual, but it was a familiar warmth. As I wrapped my hand around the shell, I felt a really cold wind blow through my hair and a shiver ran down my back.
My eyes explored the place and I saw a trace of ice on the floor expanding, but just on a corner. I narrowed my eyes at it for a moment and a thought crossed my mind for a second, but when I saw the others flying away I patted Thora on her side and we flew to join them.
When we finally arrived to Berk, Ahti was in a better condition. He was wearing a wooden collar, but he was up and he was fine. The moment I saw him he was standing up, I ran to him and hugged him struggling the life out of him. He hugged me back and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Until now I realized how worried I was for him.
Stoick and Hiccup left the injured Timberjack in front of the forge where my friend and Gobber were awaiting.
"Take good care of him. He's a friend." Stoick told both as Gobber gave a thumbs up and Ahti made a scout salute, before running to the dragon. He hugged him and the dragon nuzzled him back. Yep, I was sure next time we knew of them, they would be rider and dragon.
But I was still concerned about what happened to him. Who were these guys he told me about? Would we know of them again?
He watched behind a tree until they were completely gone and sighed in relief when they didn't see him. That was a close one, how many times he was so close to be discovered? But this time though, he felt his hand warmer than before. A familiar warmth he hadn't felt since two decades ago. He opened his hand and looked back at his ring, which was glowing slightly. His eyes went wide.
Have they returned? After all this years, they were finally back? He smiled widely at the though and his eyes sparkled with joy, when he looked back at his item and watched as the glow was dying again.
"No, no, come on..." He encouraged the glow to stay. In that moment he heard a familiar buzzing sound.
"I found him!" A familiar feminine voice exclaimed as she got closer to him.
"How many times do we have to tell you, you have to be careful!" A stronger voice with an unusual accent said. He just looked at them with happiness and embarrassment, as he swallowed before replying.
"They're back." Was all he could say. The other four stared at him with wide-eyed glares.
"Wha-what do you mean they're back? You saw them?" Another voice stuttered in shock.
He shook his head and opened his palm, showing them his silver frost ring, he received it two decades ago among a couple, from an old woman living in the woods. They noticed the ring was glowing. The glow was almost dead, but when it died completely they could tell the difference. The air changed of temperature when it stopped glowing and they all felt it.
The littlest of the group pointed to the sky and they gasped when they spotted dark figures. They were used to them, but never saw them so close to this place. It only confirmed they were back. Now, how many of them were back?
"What are they doing here?" The female asked referring to the figures.
"He knows about their arrival." The guy answered. "He tried to attack one of them, but I interfered. So then I assume more came."
"How many do you think, mate?"
"No more than five." He answered simply.
The leader of the group sighed. "Okay. Given the circumstances... You have a new mission. Protect them." The eyes of the other widened.
"Wait what?!" He exclaimed. Was he joking?
The guy smirked, he loved teasing him. "You heard him, fluffy." He ignored the glare he was given.
"This is serious! You make sure they're safe. Try not to get too close to them. Better to keep the distance, for all of us." He remarked. He nodded and they all dispersed through the woods again.
He still glared at his ring for a moment, then looked up and smiled to the round white object above. "Okay, Wind! Let's go and find them!"
Hello there everyone!
It's been a while, huh? And the ending was a bit cliffy too... Just like I wanted. Aaand back to the beginning, has anyone ever done something that kind of... smart, to write about that stuff? It was hard to think of a good way to write it, but if you think about it, it could actually happen. However other people usually skip that because it's weird. I'm not other people.
Okay, I need to tell you guys something. The reason I didn't update any chapter earlier was because I'm half way through the next chapter. I didn't want to publish this one until I had the other one done, so if I got 30 reviews (which I'm sure I was gonna get), I could publish it later on the day. But I've already started school. Yes, here in my country schools work this way, and I've got tons of homework. So that's basically why I didn't want to publish anything, but I really care for all my readers and decided that even if I just updated this chapter, I would do it. So here you have it. Although I wished I had done something better than this, but I'm so stressed out with school work and getting up at 5am. Please understand my situation, you guys mean so much for me and I don't wanna disappoint you. Unfortunately when I reach the 30 reviews, I won't be able to update a second chapter, so sorry.
Hope you like the chapter. Don't forget to follow or favorite this story to not miss anything. As always, reviews, PMs and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Until next time...
Scout017, out.
