The gave a small wave and a smile as she approached Hiccup returning both gestures. Heather then took him by surprise, hugging him. He chuckled a bit as he hugged back. "You seem awful happy." He said as they pulled out of the hug.
Heather's eyes seemed to light up and Hiccup couldn't help but to wonder exactly why. Heather's lips widened as she smiled brightly. "You didn't hear? My father's been promoted to First Lieutenant!"
Hiccup's emerald eyes widened as she said this. This was certainly unexpected but an amazing turn of events for Heather and her family. "By Odin's beard, congratulations Heather!" He said beaming with joy for his friend.
Heather giggled gently. "This is so crazy.. I'm the First Lieutenant's daughter that's like being royalty."
"Hey don't let it get to your head." Hiccup's said with a slight nod. He knew the feeling, being the Commander's only child and all.
"Oh trust me I won't. I don't even know why I'm so giddy. It's just a rank but at the same time. I don't know I guess it feels...something."she replies, briefly staring off as he looks at her- going to speak but pausing for a second.
"Feels like since your dad did it, you know you can too… it inspires you to push yourself through everything to reach the top.." is his response, as his eyes cut to the Base across the way.
"Yeah… that's exactly how it feels." She says with a small smile fixated upon her face. It was always Hiccup. He always understood her, better than most others- Hell...better than everyone.
"Come on.. let's go explore the Festival some more." Hiccup said with a thumb pointed towards a lane lined with booths. The two took off down the lane. They spent a good forty five minutes playing the games and trying out some of the foods that many of the booths offered. Hiccup smiled as he bit into a fried batter covered piece of mutton given to them by Gobber.
"I swear , breaded mutton is my favorite part of this Festival." He beams to Heather who merely smiles while eating her own. "Well that and the ferris wheel." The two stopped and looked over at the brightly lit wheel nearby.
"Why do you like the ferris wheel so much, Hic?" She asked, genuinely interested in his response.
"See now that has all to do with my obsession with the ancient dragons, the beings we now know as dragoons. Years and years ago they were so much more different ya know. For one thing, they had crazy big wings and moved on all fours. What they lacked in intelligence, they made up for in ferocity." He began to explain, walking over to a stand nearby with several dragon toys stationed there for sale.
Hiccup picked up two of the toys and began to play with them , making Heather giggle at the display. "I was always interested in dragons. Mostly the night fury. The ferris wheel- when I'm up there. I feel..free.. like I'm in a slow flight. When I'm up there it feels like the world is at my fingertips… so easy to grasp… and when I land I feel...better , I guess." He concludes his explanation by setting the dragons down and turning back to her.
"Makes sense...makes a lot of sense honestly. You feel a connection... unshakable one.. the ferris wheel makes you feel how you've only ever dreamed of feeling." She says as she walks over, taking a hand into both of hers.
Hiccup nodded, a slight blush coming into his face as she takes his hand. He smiled softly, looking up at her. "I knew you'd get it."
"Well I usually do." She replies, turning her attention towards the brightly lit ferris wheel. "Let's go , shall we?"
"We shall." He says as he takes a step forward, the two heading on over. Music played from speakers above the two of them, hovering in the air.
The two were seated rather quickly, much to Hiccup's own surprise. As the ride began, the two stared off into separate directions. Hiccup had felt something, like a tinge of concern pouring through him.
"I don't know why..but something feels...off.." he says, his eyes moving across the bay to the Base then back over to Heather.
"Pfft...relax." she replies as she closes her eyes for a brief moment, taking some time to think about the moment at hand.
"Yeah...alright.." Hiccup returned his attention to the atmosphere that surrounded them. The ride shifted , signalling that everyone was strapped in and it had begun. He watched as the ground grew further and further away, the people below looking like ants now.
Even as the wheel carried them upwards, and the world shifted around them Hiccup still felt a tinge of concern. But it felt strong-stronger than anything he'd felt before. He looked around the festival, his eyes locking onto a booth.
"Heather I have a bad f-". A loud BOOM rang out, the same booth he'd looked towards had blown up. Fireworks ripped through the air and hit other booths, and parts of the street. A loud cackle could be heard throughout it all.
Heather gasped as she heard this, the chaos being caused now shook her with fear. But what made her even more concerned, was something much more grim. "I know that laugh…" she said, a tear escaping her eyes.
Hiccup looked over at her, concern filling his eyes. "That's….Dagur…" she says lowly, causing Hiccup to place a hand into her shoulder in a show of support. "I'm sorry…" he says as the screams of anger below approach the booth.
He turns, seeing many officers going over and taking in Dagur. He does his best to make sure Heather doesn't see her big brother being arrested. The two shared a strained but strong relationship throughout their lives. He understood what she was going through now, as Dagur was all she had left besides her father.
Hiccup pulled her over into a hug, never taking his eyes off of the scene before them. He knew she'd need him now more than ever before.
"That was years ago, but felt like yesterday" Hiccup thought as he laid back against a pillow propped against a wall in the shelter. He stared over at Heather as she organized food rations for everyone alongside several others. Hiccup stood and walked over, lending a hand to them.
"Need some help?" He asked as Heather lifted an eyebrow. "With organizing several thousand rations? Nah, we don't need help." She replied sarcastically, a smile sticking to her face as Hiccup chuckled and began to help them sort out the rations.
Once they're finished doing that, Hoark rallied a group to discuss rescue plans.
"Well first we'll have to pinpoint their location. That ship was fast as Hel, took out the base and took off before we even knew it." Hiccup states as Hoark nods, the others in the circle which included - Thuggory Meathead, Camicazi Bogburgular ,Eret Eretson, and Heather, agreed.
"Your father's uniform has a tracker on it- his Captain's pin has it built in." Hoark says, taking Hiccup by surprise. The boy then smirked and nodded. "That is unexpected...but good to know. So we can track my dad's pin, we find the ship. From there we free all the captives." He says , getting collective agreements from everyone.
"I can build a few traps, set them up around the perimeter of their ship when we get on." Eret says while twirling a Jagged edged dagger in between his fingers.
"Alright too easy." Hiccup says as Cami reads over something on a tablet. " According to the Berk Guard Database, their ship has several weak points, one being the main rotor in the back of the ship. Take that out, they all fall down-to-earth, no back up power to save em." She says as she blows up the projection for all to see.
"So we got our traps, we've got our location and we've got our weak points. We need weapons." Hiccup states, Hoark going to speak but deciding against it as the Captain's son took charge. Hiccup turned to Thuggory then. "Thug you got something for us?"
Thuggory chuckled as he ruffled his own dirty blonde hair. "But of course. You know I never kept my stuff at Base, I've got plenty of stuff back at my house. We'll have to go and load up a crate."
"Alright good...that takes care of weapons, now all we need is a ship. And most of the ships back at the base were blown apart. All of the others were stolen.." Hoark says with a sigh as everyone begins to mumble or groan.
Hiccup goes into thought for a second and speaks up. "Not all of them."
Hiccup walks over to the remains of the garage and stares at the incredibly large black figure before him. The roof of the garage had been blown open, the surroundings were rattled. Everything was tossed wildly around and the foundation was destroyed.
But the Night Fury was undamaged. Heather and Eret's eyes widened at the sight. "Holy mother of Odin. The blasted things untouched." Eret commented as he walked over to the ship , Hiccup smiling as Heather walked over to him. "How?" She asked
"Used a different polymer coating to shield it from heat damage. The usually heat shields were a bit...meh...so I upgraded them with a new material. The material absorbed the shock from the missiles and redirected it into the surrounding area, hence why my lab is trashed." He commented as Eret ran a hand over the side of the ship.
"So slick. This is some damn good work Hiccup." He comments whilst walking over to the hovering crate he'd carried along with them. He inputted a thumb scan and retinal scan to open it, revealing several traps. "This is gonna be an easy rescue."
"Hel yeah it is!" Comes a shouting voice, Camicazi cartwheeling her short form over to them with Thuggory in tow- his weapons crate hovering behind him. "Let's get this show on the road shall we?"
He asks as the others nod along.
Hiccup looks at them before opening the door to the ship, inviting them all in. The collective gasp from behind him made him smirk a bit as he walked towards the bridge, moving to the pilot's seat to start the ship up. The engines roared to life and the Night Fury hovered upwards before shooting off into the night sky.
It had been three hours since the ship and the secondary crew of the Night Fury took their flight. Hiccup noted as they hit the outer stratosphere that the ship had a bit of strain on it from a strange pressure. This would slow their trip down, from a ten hour ride to a twelve hour ride.
"Well according to the map, we're on the right course." Hiccup said as he entered a bedroom in the back area of the ship. There were eight in total, the one he was in now housed Heather. Each one had a bed, bedside table, clock, lamp and a small closet.
He looked over at Heather and offered her a cup of coffee, setting one of his own down on the bedside table and watching as she read over a map. "We're gonna make it but I'm afraid we'll be late." She comments as he sits down next to her on the bed.
"We'll be on time...I don't know how I know it but we will be on time." Hiccup says with a smile. He was the one who seemingly had the most to lose in this- his father, his sorta uncle and his whole team were captive, and yet he remained strong.
Heather looked slightly concerned. "You're so...calm about this." She comments, noting his facial features and his tone of voice. "How?" She asked in confusion as Hiccup straightened up a bit. "It's just a feeling I get sometimes. Feeling that reassures me, keeps me calm in the worst times. It's not always there but...it is now for some reason. I trust it, and with that trust I also trust that everything is gonna be alright."
Heather nods, smiling softly as she looks aside. "That's weird as Hel but if it works to you, then I suppose it makes sense." She says , smiling brightly at him. "Of course, everything seems to make sense when it comes from you. You're smart like that."
Hiccup chuckled "Well, I wouldn't say smart but-"
"But nothing. You're like the smartest guy at the Academy. Look at what we're on right now- you built this! Not to mention you've helped me through some of the worst times in my life...and I couldn't be more grateful." She says, cutting him off mid statement to let it be known.
"Yeah well, I'm always happy to help. Especially when it's you. You've done a great deal for me.." he replies, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Heather stared at him, smile never fading.
She then moved swiftly, pressing her lips up against his and catching him off guard. Hiccup's eyes widen, then falter as he closes them and returns the kiss. The two of them become entangled with one another and fall back onto the bed, slowly stripping of their garments.
A good ten hours had gone by since the last map reading. Hiccup's eyes peeled open slightly, catching sight of the white sheets around him first. The pale, Raven haired figure lying in bed next to him came into view next. He smiled as he saw her , sitting up in the bed and looking over to check the time.
Hiccup slides out of the bed and began getting dressed, putting his flight suit and leather jacket back on. His stirring and movement within the bed must've woken her up, as Heather yawned and sat up looking over at him.
"We're almost there." He says as he draws out a small device similar to a phone, a holiday map projecting from it's screen. "Their ship hasn't even moved from the spot we've been tracking... we're golden." He says as Heather slides out of bed and behind getting dressed herself .
"That's great!" She says as she pulls a silver gauntlet onto her right wrist. Hiccup looks over at her and smiles. "I really need to get you guys one of these." He says tugging on the material of his flight suit.
Now before you go trying to kill me, This is a Hiccstrid story. This right here is just a tiny little twist, give it time and I'll lay it out some more. Until then, thanks for reading and check out my new story : The Immortals.