Hey hey everyone, time for chapter 8! Yes, this is chapter 8. I made a typo mistake at the end of my previous chapter! Also meant to write the word 'unarmed' not 'unharmed.' Curse those annoying little typo's! I also want to thank everyone! For your kind reviews, for reading my story. I never expected it to be this popular. Thank you so much!
Yet again, this chapter will contain a song. No, I'm not turning my story into a musical. I just read one of the cutest short stories ever written on FF and I used it as an inspiration for this chapter. Credits go to Star's Snowflake for filling my head with ideas. The song is called 'Everything's alright' from Jesus Christ Superstar. I advice you to look for the song on Youtube for a better reading experience ;) (I suggest the 1970 version which is located on the first page on Youtube)
Last but not least, thanks Timore Nocturnus Caelum for giving me some good advice about my story's layout. He has given me tips on how to improve it so that it's easier to read. Feel free to give me advice again if you want. And now finally on with chapter 8!
This couldn't be real. It was a dream, an illusion or perhaps a hallucination. Didn't she try to jump out of a window a half hour ago? Yes, that was it! She probably fell on her head and had a concussion. That would be a relief! Maybe a little brain damage, but anything better than a ferocious Night Fury hugging her.
'I'm dreaming this, I'm dreaming this. When I open my eyes everything will be back to normal,' Astrid said to herself.
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She could see nothing but dark skin and carbon black scales. She could hear nothing but a loud heartbeat and a weird rumbling sound. It was purring! And it was still holding her! Finally realizing this was not a dream, Astrid screamed.
Hiccup purred in delight. He finally got to hug Astrid, he never was able or allowed to as a human. He hoped this moment would never end. But unfortuantly it did when a piercing scream filled his ears. His heart skipped a beat and the sound made him wince. Quickly he wrapped his large wings around them, hoping to decrease the volume. This was not helping at all as Astrid began to punch him on the chest, trying her best to escape his 'clutches.' He began to topple backwards, and with a mighty thud landed on his back.
'Ack,' Hiccup exclaimed. The impact made him unwrap his wings and release his hold on Astrid. She took this as an opportunity to escape. She jumped off the dragon and searched for the nearest exit out of the canyon. Luckely for Hiccup the environment was unfamiliar to her, she did not know how to leave the canyon. She ran around, desperately trying to find a place to hide. Hiccup moaned and shook his head. He rolled over and saw her running. Thanks to his keens sense of sight he could see her in the dark.
'Astrid! Wait!' Hiccup shouted. But all she could hear were roars and so began to run even faster. Hiccup quickly followed, without hardly any effort he almost caught up to her when he suddenly was hit by a rock that hit him on the forehead.
'Ouch' he growled clutching his head with his paw.
'Stay away from me!' Astrid shouted, grabbing rock and pebbles from different sizes, throwing them at the dragon.
'Astrid, will you…Ouch! Please….Aargh! If you just…oof! Stop it!' His angered roar making the ground shake.
Astrid dropped the remaining rocks she was holding, eyes widened, face turned pale. She was trapped and it was going to kill her. She was literally with her back against the wall. Her knees were trembling as she slided into a sitting position on the ground. She hid her face behind her hands and hoped the end would come quickly.
Hiccup was shocked when he saw Astrid sitting there all curled up. He realized how terrifying he must look right now, pupils turned into slits, teeth unsheathed. How could he be so quick to anger? This was not what he wanted! What should he do now? Hiccup took a few steps backward and made a crooning sound. 'Come one Astrid! Look at me! I'm not going to hurt you!' he said, careful not to raise his voice. Astrid looked through her fingers and Hiccup quickly made sure he looked cute. His pupils dilated, he raised his ear frills, he was leaning forward on his front half and his haunches in the air, tail wagging. He looked like an excited dog that wanted to play ball. To add more cuteness to it, he made small hops and jumps.
Sand was flying up in the air when he was jumping around, making him sneeze. Wait a minute? Maybe he could write something down? That would sure convince her! Eagerly he began to draw lines in the sand, trying to spell his name. He did not notice that Astrid slowly stood up and walked towards him, carefully taking her steps, ready to run if needed to. It was very difficult to write in the sand. His dragon muscles would not allow the subtle movements a human hand could make. Also he sometimes stepped in his own writing, dragging his tail along with him, wiping out the letters. Frustrated, he clawed in the sand when he failed yet again to write his name.
'Come on Hiccup, think!' he growled to himself. He spotted a tiny pine tree from the corner of his eye. He walked towards it and yanked it out of the ground with his teeth. Carefully he stood up on his hind legs and tried to write his name, using the pine tree as a big substitute pencil. Unfortuantly he could not see where he was going, so he trusted on his luck and walked around carefully trying to keep himself in balance on his hind legs.
Astrid looked at the peculiar dragon, still scared but also a bit curious. She had no idea what it was trying to do, but she was happy with whatever it was doing as long as it did not eat her. It had a small tree in his mouth and swirled around, making lines and figures in the sand. She took a few steps closer, inspecting the dragon's work. It whirled around her, accidently smacking her with the top of the tree, making her fall on her backside.
A surprised yelp made Hiccup stop with what he was doing. He saw Astrid sitting on the ground, rubbing her head. Hiccup spit out the tree and quickly walked over towards her. Before she knew it, he picked her up by the back of her shirt and gently placed her back on her feet. She turned around to look at him, an even more surprised expression on her face.
'Uhm…T-thanks. I think.' Astrid simply replied.
The dragon purred and gently gave her a nudge. He pointed to the ground with his nose and made a few growling sounds as if he was trying to say something. She looked at the ground, but could not make out what he was trying to say. Some of the lines looked like letters, but they were partly smudged by footprints. Also the wind was gently blowing the sand around, ruining the dragon's hard work. It growled and moaned when he saw that all was done for nothing. It's ear frills drooped yet again and he looked so sad that Astrid almost felt sorry for him. The dragon was standing right next to her and she could not believe what she did next. She raised her hand slowly and patted the creature on the head. The Night Fury looked at her, just as surprised as she was. Looking into it's eyes, Astrid realized there was something different about this dragon. This reptile missed the murderous look that it's kind usually had. People say that you can look into someone's soul when you look into a person's eyes. What she could see was intelligence and kindness. The dragon reminded her of someone….. Stars reflected in the dragon's gentle eyes and she looked up, realizing it was really late. Her parents must be worried sick.
'Look, I really got to go.' She said, pointing at the direction where the village was. 'Go. Do you understand?'
The dragon shook his head, moaning and whining. It was begging her not to leave.
'I'm sorry, but it's really late. My parents don't know where I am.' Having said that she turned around, but something grabbed her by the back of her shirt. The dragon was pulling her closer towards him. 'Let me go, you crazy reptile. I don't have time for this!'
The dragon growled and shook his head again, he would not budge. He let her go, but with a quick jump he stood infront of her, a stern look on his face. Astrid was getting annoyed now.
'What do you want from me?' She growled.
The dragon cocked his head, wagged his tail and made a barking sound. Astrid buried her face in her hands with annoyance. 'Alright, alright. If I promise you that I'll be back tomorrow, will you let me go?'
The dragon nodded and took a step sideways, with his wing he pointed towards an exit he spotted just now. He looked at her again and narrowed his eyes, he did not look entirely convinced. Astrid held up her hand and spoke.
'If I do not keep my promise, you may kidnap me from Berk and set my house on fire, this I swear by Odin. Are you happy now? And don't give me that smart look!'
Hiccup barely managed to hide his grin. He watched her as she ran away. Before she exited the canyon, she took one look back, then left. Hiccup kept looking on for a few minutes, collecting his thoughts. He could not say it was a complete succes, but it was not a complete failure either. He really hoped she would keep her promise. The writing idea unfortuantly did not work, but he would figure out a way to communicate with her. He was sure of it! The young Viking dragon sighed and then took off back to the dragon den.
It was still dark when he finally reached the dragon's home. The sun would not come up for a couple of hours, so Hiccup decided to take a quick nap. He entered the main entrance and searched for a place to sleep when he heard a sound coming deep from within the cavern. It sounded like babies crying. As quickly as his scaly feet allowed it, he rushed towards the noise until he found the source it was coming from. Hiccup had entered what appeared to be the 'sleeping cave' for dragons. The ground and even parts of the walls were covered in thick, soft, lightgreen moss. It was a perfect place to take a nap, had it not been for the numerous young hatchlings that were crying. The adult dragons were stirring in their moss beds and grew agitated. Some were blowing smoke through their nostrils to express their mood. Hiccup spotted Blister lying on the ground a few feet away from him. Hiccup walked over towards the angry Nightmare.
'Hey Blister, what's going on?' Hiccup asked.
'Urgh, it's the younglings. They're hungry, and that's when they become a real pain in the a-'
'Wait a minute! What happened to all the sheep and cows we got from Berk. There was enough for everyone.' Hiccup said surprised. They almost ransacked the whole village.
'The queen was extremely hungry today. She ate almost everything, leaving just enough for everyone plus some scraps for the younglings.' Blister muttered clearly very angry with the situation. 'I guess we have to raid another village tomorrow if we don't want to starve to death. Some of our children need a good meal fast!'
'That's terrible! Somebody should do something against this!' Hiccup answered.
'Oh yeah? And what do you think we should do about it?' The Nightmare snarled back.
'I don't know….yet! So how are we going to calm the hatchlings?'
'Indigo is already working on it. She's over there.' Blister said as he pointed with his snout.
Hiccup looked up and saw the Nadder making soothing noises to try and calm the young dragons. She walked around, giving every youngling some attention. Most of them were crying, begging their parents for more food.
'Mummy, I'm so hungry. Do you have more?' a baby Nightmare whimpered.
'I don't want to starve to death like the others, daddy' a young Nadder cried out. It was followed by shushing and calming sounds from an adult male Nadder, patting his child on the head.
For a moment Indigo stopped and began to think. It looked like she had an idea for she began to sing a calming song. Hiccup never heard a dragon sing before and he never would've imagined that it could sound so beautiful. He walked over towards a family of Gronckles and laid down next to them. Resting his head on his paws he listened, enjoying the peaceful song.
Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to
Problems that upset you, oh.
Don't you know
Everything's alright, yes, everything's fine.
And we want you to sleep well tonight.
Let the world turn without you tonight.
If we try, we'll get by, so forget all about us tonight
Other female dragons joined in, providing a background chorus.
Everything's alright, yes, everything's alright, yes.
Suddenly Blister reared up his head and began to sing as well. He spat out all the anger that had been bothering him and he vented his rage onto poor Indigo.
Woman your fine melodies, cheerful and hopeful
Just save it for another day
Why waste your energy? You could have helped maybe
Carrying food or more.
Younglings who are hungry, younglings who are starving
They matter more than your songs and life!
Hiccup snarled at Blister. How dare he? It was not her fault that she got hurt and could not participate in the raid it was…..his fault. Indigo simply shook her head and continued singing.
Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to
Problems that upset you, oh.
Don't you know
Everything's alright, yes, everything's fine.
And we want you to sleep well tonight.
Let the world turn without you tonight.
If we try, we'll get by, so forget all about us tonight
While singing, she tucked in several younglings who's eyes were getting sleepy. Various hatchlings were yawning and they made themselves comfertable in the moss, their mothers carefully draping their wings on the bodies of there offspring to keep them warm. They also continued singing:
Everything's alright, yes, everything's alright, yes.
Hiccup turned his head towards Blister and growled to get his attention. When the Nightmare looked at him, Hiccup began to sing as well. He had never done this before, but the words were just flowing out of his mouth.
Surely you're not saying we have the resources
To save everyone from their lot?
There will be unfortuant ones always, pathetically struggling.
Look at the good things you've got.
Think while you still have meat!
Move while you still have energy!
You'll be lost, you'll be so sorry when it's gone.
Blister slowly stood up and loomed at Hiccup. Indigo quickly jumped in between them, she managed not to wince when she landed on her still sore leg. She tried to calm down the dragons hoping to keep the peace between the angered Nightmare and Hiccup. She continued singing again.
Sleep and I shall soothe you, calm you and anoint you.
Myrrh for your hot forehead, oh
Then you'll feel
Everything's alright, yes, everything's fine.
And the night is cool and the songs are sweet
For the fire in your head and feet.
Close your eyes, close your eyes, and relax
Think of nothing tonight.
Blister settled down, his eyes still focusing on Hiccup. He sighed, turned around and went to sleep. Hiccup sighed as well, in relief. For a moment he was scared that Blister wanted to fight with him and Hiccup did not dare to battle. He was certain that he could save himself with his flying skills, his fighthing skills were a whole different matter. He laid down as well and watched Indigo as she and the other mother dragons finished the song.
Close your eyes, close your eyes, and relax
Close your eyes, close your eyes, and relax
Everything's alright, yes, everything's alright, yes.
Everything's alright, yes, everything's alright, yes.
Everything's alright, yes, everything's alright, yes.
All the young dragons were asleep now. Curled up against their parents with a smile on their face. Indigo walked around the cave for one last time. When she was convinced every youngling was asleep she went over to Hiccup and settled down next to him. Hiccup closed his eyes and draped his wing over Indigo while she did the same with her wing. Just before he could doze off to sleep an idea hit him. With his paw he nudged the Nadder who slowly opened her eye.
'Hm?'
'Indigo,' Hiccup whispered, 'do we still have some of the nets we used in the raid?'
'A couple of them. Why?'
'I think I got another idea.'
The next morning all the dragons were gathered on top of the highest peak, including the young hatchlings who were eagerly chirping. They were far away from the queen who was still sleeping, deep below sea level in her lavapit. Both Hiccup and Indigo stood at the edge of the peak, holding one of the human made nets in their mouth and feet.
'Alright Indigo, it's time you flew again. This exercise will do you wings good. Now remember, as we move closer towards the sea, drop the net carefully into the ocean, but hold on to it. When the net gets heavier we both fly up on my signal and if we have any luck there will be enough food for all of us.' Hiccup instructed.
'Yeah, yeah. That's the third time now Hiccup. I'm not some dumb Terror.' Indigo sighed.
'Hey!' A shrill voice exclaimed followed by various dragons chuckling.
'Alright then. Ready? Get set. Go!'
As soon as the Viking dragon shouted this, they plunged themselves off the peak. At terrifying speed they flew towards the ocean. Both dragons stretched out their wings just in time and glided over the surface of the water.
'Drop the net!' Hiccup shouted.
Carefully stretching out both of her feet, Indigo plunged the net in the water. Hiccup did the same as well. After a few minutes the net grew heavier and both dragons had to flap their wings several times to keep from crashing into the sea.
'I think it's full enough now. You think you can pull the net up?' Hiccup asked.
'I hope so.' Indigo growled, concentrating on her sore leg.
'Okay then….Now!
He flapped his wings with all his might as Indigo did the same. She gritted her teeth, but kept pulling on the net. It surfaced from the water and was filled with various types of fish. When the Deadly Nadder and Night Fury saw this they both roared in excitement. They did it! They could provide everyone with food! Hiccup looked at the female and saw that now she had no trouble lifting up the net. The happiness must have given her new energy. He smiled as they both flew back to the other dragons.
A half hour, and a few flights, later a huge pile of fish lay on top op the mountain, ready to be eaten. The younglings immediately dove in, eating till their starving bellies were full. The adults had enough to eat as well. Atleast enough so that they would not go hungry again for two days. Hiccup and Indigo were sitting further away, witnessing the happy event while munching on some fish.
'You know Hiccup. Maybe you have not realised it, but you have given us something more important than food today.' Indigo said.
'What's that then?' Hiccup asked.
'Hope. You have given us hope. We were never this happy before you showed up. It's like the Gods finally saw we needed help and sent you. Therefore I think I speak for all dragons when I say…Thank you. For everything.'
This comment made Hiccup's heart soar. He never got this kind of appreciation in Berk. He felt that he was blushing and turned his head away, hoping Indigo did not notice it. Maybe a life as a dragon was not so bad after all. Still…. He hardly could wait to see Astrid again.
And that's chapter 8 for you! This is probably the longest chapter I have written yet. Hopefully chapter 9 will not take so long to write. Again, thanks everyone for reading and enjoying my story! I really appreciate it!
