Hello to whoever will read this. 10 Chapters!!! Honestly i didn't think that i would continue the story after maybe chapter 5 but now.. Ooohhhh NOW i will finish it!! This will be a big chapter. I want to have many things explored, as well as some more back story or moments from the Time skip. So... Hope you enjoy.
Astrid Hofferson, a blonde haired beauty was eating with her friends in the Great Hall. The other teens, Fishlegs Ingerman, Snotlout Jorgeson and the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston were all gathered to eat together and talk about their day. Ever since the dragons became part of their society, they all became extremely busy. After they became Berk's first Dragon Riders, they started teaching other people too. Everyone was representing a class. The twins with their Hideous Zippleback, named Barf anf Belch, were the Mystery Class teachers, Gods save the poor people. Snotlout had a Monstrous Nightmare, named Hookfang, together they were the teachers for the Stoker Class. Fishlegs was second in command and he along with his Gronckle, Meatlug, were the Boulder Class teachers. Finally Astrid, not only she was Berk's Dragon Academy leader, but also the Tracker Class teacher, with the help of her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly.
Many Vikings had adapted to this new way of living, many of them decided to get their own dragon. Of course they were those who still thought that this was a blasphemy to the Gods, like Mildew, who according to Tuffnut was 'an old-fashioned, die-with-a-sheep, cabbage-eating, elder'. Even Stoick 'The Vast' had gotten himself a dragon. A Rumblehorn named Skullcrusher, who was as stubborn and overprotective as the chief.
Astrid, at the thought of the Chief, turned to look at him. He had aged noticeably the past five years. Wrinkles were evident all over his face. His massive red beard had many white hairs. While overall, he looked tired. Astrid kept looking at her Chief, when realisation hit her. Four days ago was Hiccup's birthday. That was the reason why Stoick was so pale. He must have had little to no sleep those past four night. Hiccup's departure didn't left a mark at the village, at first, but after the Outcast raid five years ago, people thought that maybe Hiccup was right all along. With that thought, guilt came too as more and more Vikings realized how awful they treated Berk's heir.
None of them came close to Stoick's guilt. There weren't any words to describe just how much he regretted his last words to hia son. After the raid, he lead a small team, of him, Spitelout, Gobber and the teens to search for the Nest, with the help of Fishlegs' Gronckle. When they finally reached the shore of the island they were greeted with two mountains. At first they thought that the nest would be between those two mountains, but after some careful observation they found out that one of the mountains was actually a dragon.
They were awestruck, they couldn't comprehend that a dragon could be so enormous. When they drew closer to the beast, with their weapons ready, they saw that the beast was dead. Beside the dragon was something that made Stoick lose his footing. A boot. Not just any boot, Hiccup's boot was drenched in blood. All over the place where the boot was found were those black scales that Astrid found in the cove.
Stoick just stood there, suddenly he remembered the Seer's words. The mountain's mouth where the fire was coming, was this dragon's mouth. If that part was true then what about the second part. Stoick deep in thought picked up the boot and some ripped clothing that were with it. Since the first part came true then that meant that Hiccup had gone to the city of marble with the statues of heroes. Only one place filled those criteria Valhalla.
"Hiccup... Hiccup has been taken from this world. He is Valhalla. Odin wanted him beside him."Stoick said qith a cracked voice. Everyone lowered their heads even Spitelout, out of courtesy of course. They took the boot with them back to Berk and when they arrived the made a proper funeral for the fallen heir. Ever since Stoick ordered that no dragon would be killed in order to honour Hiccup's memory.
Astrid was pulled back to reality after she heard Ruffnut hit her brother.
'He probably said something stupid again' she thought, these five years she had become the village pride. She was the leader of the Berk Riders. She, along with her friends have changed the minds of many Vikings across the Archipelago, even the Outcast have been training dragons. That though, was something they regret. She sighed. She looked at her axe it was time for her training in the woods. She picked her axe and stood up.
"Hey, where are you going?" Ruffnut asked.
"Training" she simply answered.
"Oh, cool maybe we can workout together or maybe spar a little, what do you say Astrid?" Snotlout asked clearly still trying to make the blonde Viking fall for him and his muscles.
"Again, Ugh" the only answer the short black haired man got.
"Give up dude, she will never be yours. She doesn't want anyone. She will die alone. Just like that old fart Mildew." Tuffnut said before he got punch from Astrid.
"Ouch. I'm hurt. I'm very much hurt." he said holding his nose and rolling in the floor. Astrid left them before she seriously injured someone. She walked through the village taking notice all the changes. Many houses were remodeled, in order for the dragon to fit. The built stables for them using Berk's underground tunnels. They even made top of the line fire prevention. All of Berk was changing, thanks to Stoick and Astrid's 'ideas'. She couldn't bare to say to the Chief, that Hiccup had a notebook with everything that they had built and that she was using that notebook to change Berk.
After a while, she managed to disappear from the village's view. She was deep in the forest, she stopped when she arrived at her favourite training ground. She started throwing her axe at the innocent trees, but after some very deadly and accurate tosses, the axe simply fell to the ground. That never happened before, she went to inspect her favourite weapon. She ran her hand in the blade and was shocked when she found out that the blade was dull. Then it hit her, she hadn't gone to Gobber to sharpen it for five years. She didn't know why, she just didn't. Unconsciously, she raised her hand to touch a necklace. She wasn't one to have jewelry but that necklace and it's content was important to her. With her axe in terrible condition she started walking towards the village, and specifically the forge to leave her axe.
When she arrived, she heard the village's blacksmith singing, not very good of course, a song that was probably for passing the time.
"Hey, Gobber could you please fix my axe?" She asked hastily so that the older man could finally stop singing.
"Sure thing lass. Give ol' Gobber your weapon." He said, with his hook pointing to the counter, where Astrid should leave her axe. He inspected the weapon and after a minute or two he closed his eyes and sighed.
"I'm sorry lass. I can't fix it."
"What? why? Is it beyond repair?" She asked sadly, she didn't want to lose the axe. It was her favourite weapon.
"No, it can be fixed, just not from me"
"What do you mean Gobber. You are the village's blacksmith. You can fix anything."
"Not his work though, no." Astrid was confused whose work did Gobber meant. Then she remembered, it wasn't Gobber the one repairing her axe but Hiccup. Hiccup was the one that was fixing her weapon and she never thanked him for it, not that she knew that he did. She looked down saddened.
"Hiccup's work was so complicated that if i even tried to repair anything he created, i would just destroy it. Probably the only person who can fix your axe is Hiccup." He finished just before his voice cracked. He missed his apprentice. His sarcasm, his crazy inventions, their talks about everything. Hiccup was the son that the old blacksmith never had. He was the one that taught him everything he knew about smithing. From the age of five to fifteen he watched as Hiccup created stuff that he could never imagined. If things were different, maybe he could see his young apprentice building more crazy, innovative things. He returned the axe to her owner and started hammering the sword he was hammering before Astrid interrupted him, this time though he didn't sing, he just swung the hammer onto the hot metal with no sound, no emotion. Astrid, with nothing to do in the forge, she left. Walking with ger head down, thinking what Gobber said about her axe. If what he said was true then her axe was doomed, she would have to get a new one. She sighed, shelooked up in the sky and saw that the sun was setting. She walked to her house and went immediately to sleep, to escape reality.
Meanwhile, several miles south, two black dragons were zooming past islands. Their riders were focused to arrive at their destination. However, one of them needed some more information.
"Ok, we entered the Archipelago hours ago. Where are we going, could you please tell me that?" The white haired rider said behind his mask.
"We are going to Berk. Home of the Hairy Hooligans tribe, my tribe."The auburn haired rider replied raising his own mask.
"Didn't you tell me that Vikings hated dragons? Why did that trader said that they were using them?"
"I don't know. When I left people hated dragons. Maybe after all those years they finally realized just how amazing these creatures are" Hiccup said scratching Toothless' side.
"So... How do you wamt to do this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you seriously telling me that you would simply walk right up to them and say 'Hey it's me your long lost heir. Good to see you all still breathing. Oh by the way, why do you fight each other with dragons?'" George mockingly said.
"Shut up ok. I will think of something. For now I will just leave my trusted brother do all the talking" He replied smirking.
"What?! You know that my Norse are terrible!" George said with a raised eyebrow.
"I know. But if I speak, they will figure out that I'm one of them. If you speak, they will think that we are from a far away land, which is not entirely wrong." George sighed, he knew that Hiccup was right, the first thing they needed to protect, as Dragon Riders, was their identity.
It was past midnight at Berk. Stoick was sleeping soundly, when he heard his dragon's growl. Skullcrusher growled only when something was off. He got up and with an axe in his hand left his house. Since he was the chief, his house was positioned on top of a cliff, so that he could oversee the village. He watched around and nothing was out of the ordinary, yet his dragon was up and was sniffing towards the sea. Stoick gazed at the vast ocean, the dark of night was not helping, but he could see flickering lights approaching. At this hour, the light meant only one thing.
"Viking Raid!" He shouted. The whole island could hear their chief's voice. In seconds, which was quite impressive considering the time, Vikings were outside their houses with weapons and dragons. Spitelout and Gobber wasted no time, they approached their Chief asking for orders.
"Prepare the defences. We have company. And get me Astrid." He ordered, the men nodded and left to fulfill them.
The ships were now close enough for the scouts, which were Snotlout and Fishlegs, to see the Outcast's insignia. They immediately rushed back to inform Stoick or Astrid about the identity of the invaders. They found the blonde rider ordering some other riders. She had become one of the most important people of the village. When she hearf what Snotlout and Fishlegs had to tell her, she frowned and flew to find her Chief. She could spot the vast figure of the red bearded man on top of the biggest catapult.
"Chief. It's the Outcasts." She said right after she landed.
"How many?Do they have dragons?Is anyone else with them?" He asked quickly.
"Ten ships. They have Gronckles, Deadly Nadders, and if Alvin is with them they would have Whispering Deaths. All the ships have the Outcasts symbol so no one else is with them." Astrid answered.
"Oh, he is with them. I can smell his hideous breath from here." Stoick said gripping his weapon.
Thr Chief's nose wasn't wrong. The first man to set foot on Berk was a big, muscular man with black hair and beard. He rivalled Stoick in size. He was the Chief of the Outcasts, Alvin the treacherous and with him he had a black Whispering Death which he named Jaws. Behind him was Savage, his second in command, who was ordering the men to attack anyone.
This had become a normality for the Vikings. Ever since that raid five years ago, they stopped fighting dragons and they started fighting each other. Astrid was preoccupied with giving orders to her riders that she forgot about the children, who were staying the night at the Academy for a lesson. She cursed whdn she remembered, she rushed there to protect them. She had become quite close with some of them. When she arrived there she found out that some of the Outcasts had come, but the young's riders dragons protected them. She was relieved thet no child was harmed. She said to them to stay hidden in the stables, while she and the older riders take care of the mess.
The fight continued for hours, somehow Astrid was separated from Stormfly and now she was fighting alone four very smelly Vikings. Thankfully history didn't repeat itself. She defeated them and run towards the biggest fire she could see. While running through the village she could see all the disaster this raid had brought. For some reason they had a lot more injured this time. Maybe the Outcasts had become better at training dragons, a thought that Astrid didn't want to be true. Better trained dragons mean better Viking raid for the Outcasts. When she arrived at her destination, ot could clearly be seen that Stoick had everything under control. He and his dragon had defeated more than twenty Vikings and their dragons. Once again she was amazed by her Chief and vowed that she would become just as good as him. Her train of thought was lost when a scream was heard. She turned around and saw one of her students been chased by some perverted looking Vikings. The student was Brenna, one of her top students, she was always with Gustav, but not this time. Angrily, Astrid raised her axe and with a shoot, that would frightened even a God and she run to the little girl's rescue.
Meanwhile, the two Night Fury riders had landed on a sea stack, they had front row seats of the whole battle. George, not knowing who's the good and who the bad, asked who would they help. He was astonished when Hiccup said no one. The auburn haired man wanted to know for himself who was the good and who the bad, before they acted. All his doubts vanished when he saw something that was unforgivable. He flew off the sea stack and headed to the battle.
Astrid managed to get herself between the girl and the Vikings but she wasn't in any condition to fight. She overestimated her stamina and now she was open to any attack. The Vikings were closing fast on her and the girl, with a smirk on their faces. She looked around one last time, she wanted to save every image of her village before she was taken from it. She narrowed her eyes, she wasn't gonna give up so easily.She backed up into the cliff, with Brenna on her embrace, waiting for the right moment to jump, no one will capture her alive. Suddenly a whistle could be heard, a very distinct sound that she hadn't heard in years. She snapped her eyes and saw everyone, Berkians, Outcast, even the dragons had stopped what they were doing and listened. The sound was getting louder by the second, she still couldn't remember where she heard it.
Two words, that's all ot took for everyone to panic. These two words that, hadn't been heard in the Archipelago for years, had been spoken in the Isle of Berk this night. All of the Vikings, invaders and defenders, dropped their weapons. They couldn't believe that they were hearing that sound. The same sound, that was haunting their nightmares.
"Night Fury!"
Stoick's words, were once again heard through the whole village, and then it came.
"Boom!"
"The Outcast's main ship is no more.It's on our side! The Night Fury is on our side!" Spitelout said rallying the men. The Outcasts were dazed, the had to fight the Berkians AND a Night Fury? Then a second whistle came and another ship blew up.
"There are two! Two Night Furies, on our side!" Stoick now said.
Astrid was speechless she was filled with hope again, that this legendary elusive dragon would bring them victory. She was so caught up in the moment that she forgot about the cliff, but when the earth gave in she was quickly reminded of her place. Brenna was screaming, holding Astrid as tight as she could, the older girl was rethinking and revaluing her life. She remembered her parents, her uncle even her friends and they way she treated them. Then an image of a certain auburn haired boy came to her mind, she couldn't helo but feel confused about that image. Why would she think about him now. She hold her necklace tight for some reason it brought her comfort. The fall was stopped by something. She felt been grabbed by someone, she looked up and the only thing she saw black scales, she didn't have enough time to process everything, in a matter of seconds she was dropped off in front of the Great Hall with Brenna in her hands. Then the black figure disappeared within seconds with unimaginable speed. She could barely see with this darkness, and yet she could clearly see a person. She didn't know who it was from his armour, but she could see that that person and his dragon were one. They flew like one, destroying anything that was the Outcast's and saving anyone who was frofrom Berk.
The Outcasts overwhelmed by those two new dragons left in a hurry. Alvin however found the time to yell at Stoick that they would be back and that they would bring others. The Berkian chief sighed, Alvin's word were not to be taken lightly, even if he was called treacherous, he kept his threats. However, now Stoick had more important things to deal with. He had a village to repair and two Night Furies to find. The second was solved much quicker than he thought. A Night Fury landed in the middle of the plaza. A crowd started to form and he could clearly see Spitelout, Gobber and the teens gazing and their visitor.
"Make way." He ordered. When he found his way through the crowd, he came face to face with a dragon and two riders, something was off. He asked where was the other dragon but got no answer just stares. Next he asked to no one in particular if there was only one dragon, but Astrid intervened amd said that she saw only one rider back at the Great Hall. The two riders got of the dragon, who was snarling at the Vikings. When some dragons came to watch, the Night Fury seemed to relax a little.
"Who do you think they are, and who is that dovah?" Skullcrusher asked in dragonese, mot trusting the new dragon.
"I don't know, he isn't the one from the Nest. He smells different, he must be a foreigner." Stormfly replied curious about the new visitor.
"Whoever he is I don't want him here. I say we get rid of him and his humans." Hookfang said with a growl. He actually felt threatened by the new Night Fury.
While the dragons were having their discussion. The humans were looking at each other. The silence broke one of the mysterious riders. He spoke a language that Stoick haven't heard before.
"Ωστε αυτη είναι η φυλή σου. Υποθέτω ότι το βουνό που μιλάει ειναι ο αρχηγός. Αρα ο πατερας σου, σωστα;"(So this is your tribe. I assume that this talking mountain is the chief. So he is your father, correct?) George said behind his mask.
"Ναι. Ονομάζεται Stoick" (Yes. His name is Stoick.) Hiccup replied. The chief hearing his name reached for his weapon, Astrid followed suit.
"Who are you?" Stoick said narrowing his eyes.
"We are Dragon Riders. We came here because he heard about a war. Our job is to stop war and bring peace to the world." George said, with an accent. Stoick momentarily lowered his weapon, he could stop himself from thinking his son. Quickly he composed himself and asked again how did those Riders knew his name.
"Your name Stoick 'The Vast' Haddock, is known to us. However we thought that you, Vikings" George said pointing to everyone "Are dragon killers not dragon riders. Honestly it feels like we are home." He finished.
"And where is your home. You sure aren't from around here." Astrid said stepping forward.
"We came from the city of Atlantis. A paradise for humans and dragons." George said with confidence.
"Why do you hide your faces?"Gobber asked now.
"In order to protect our identity. People don't usually like our ideals " The dragon rider answered truthfully.
"Or you did something bad and you are wanted criminals." Stoick said raising his weapon once again.
George sighed and started clipping his mask off.
"Αδερφέ, τι κάνεις;"(Brother, what are you doing?)
"Τους άκουσες, δεν μας εμπιστεύονται. Πρέπει να μας εμπιστευτούν. (You heard them, they don't trust us. They have to trust us) He finished unclipping and he removed his mask. A few gasps could be heard from the crowd. They all saw the white hair and they couldn't process how could someone have these colour of hair.
"I ask you, Chief Stoick, that you do not request my brother from revealing his face." The white haired boy asked. The Chief simply nodded, too stunned from the hair. Astrid however was not backing out. She walked right in front of the mysterious rider and eyed him carefully.
He wore a mask that covered all his face, leaving only two small holes for the eyes. She could see two vibrant green eyes lokking back at her. She continued to gaze upon him. He was wearing a brown scale looking armour with two black shoulder pads. Both of which had a dragon symbol on them. She finished looking down and was actually surprised too see alny one real foot. The other limp had an extremely complicated mechanism attached to it.
'You really believe that this one legged man is a threat? Come on girl.' The voice, that she hadn't heard in five years, said.
'I guess not' she shrugged, again not surprised to talk to herself. She turned back but quickly turned again and but her axe in his throat, so that she could scare him, and said that she would keep her eyes on him. He, however, was not fazed.
"With that dull axe of yours?" Hiccup mockingly said. Astrid actually blushed a little. She mentally kicked herself not only for showing her enemy that she had a dull blade but also because she blushed. She was Astrid Hofferson, she never blushed.
'Relax, he is messing with us.' there was that voice again.
'Exactly. No one is messing with me' and with that she launched herself at the masked man. He quickly stepped to the right and with a quick move of his arm. He disarmed the blonde Viking and pushed her aside. She was gona fall and be humiliated in front of the entire village, and there was nothing she could do. But the soil never came, instead a hand grabbed her from her waist and hold her in position. She saw again those emerald eyes, and felt that she had seen them before, somewhere. When she realized how she was supported, she pushed the masked man away and grabbed her axe from his hand. This time though she didn't attack. She just watched.
"If you have finished with the welcoming, i would like to speak with you, chief. I want more information about this war. Is there somewhere we can go and speak?" George asked.
"The Great Hall. We can talk there." Stoick said a little confused about the whole situation. Who were those people. How did they found Berk. How did the masked man disarmed Astrid so fast. All those questions must be answered before he could help them. He lead the way. The two Riders were behind him and the rest of the village was behind them. Nightwing flew up in the dark sky disappearing from eyesight.
When they arrived at the massive building, Stoick offered them two seats beside him in the main table. George sat down but Hiccup stayed on his feet. He just leaned on one of the supporting pillars. Astrid sat down with her friends in a different table. She never got her eyes of the masked figure. Little by little the whole village had arrived and they started eating. They knew that they would learn the Riders story eventually so they started eating and drinking.
"Hey, don't you think that the Riders are kinda hot." Ruffnut asked Astrid with a disturbing smile.
"Odin all mighty! Ruffnut these people might be dangerous. They should not be trusted." Astrid said with a more raised voice than she wanted. She got the attention of the masked Man who after a minute decided it was time to get the information they came for.
"We heard stories about Vikings killing dragons. So we never came here. Could you please tell me how could our reports been so wrong?" George began seen Hiccup's unsettlement.
"Well, your reports were true. We did kill dragons up until five years ago." Stoick sighed. This got Hiccup's attention.
"For some reason one night an extremely large number of dragons came to our island. At first we did nothing, I figured if we left them alone they would leave us be. For the time been." He continued.
"That's correct. If you don't provoke a dragon, then you should be fine." George answered.
"Aye. One night however, the same people that attacked us tonight, raided us. He would lose unless the Gods help us, and they did. They sent the dragons to help us. After that night, and many changes in our lifestyle, the dragons became part of our daily routine. We even changed the minds of the other tribes." Stoick said proudly.
"You still haven't told me, why are at war with them." George said while drinking some ale.
"It's not only the Outcasts. We are at war with the Berserkers too. Fortunately the other tribes haven't taken a side yet." Spitelout now said, getting a glare from Hiccup.
"So it's a three way war." George asked to clarify. "But why?"
"Well.. we are Vikings. It's an occupational hazard to drink, eat and fight." Stoick shrugged.
"Ρωτα τον γιατί ο αρχηγός των Berserkers θέλει πόλεμο. Δεν ήταν ειρηνιστής;"(Ask him why the leader of the Berserkers wants war. Wasn't he a peaceful man?)Hiccup asked and George nodded.
"Why are you at war qith the Berserkers? We thought that Oswald the Agreeable was a peaceful man." The white haired man asked. Stoick raised an eyebrow. How much did those two Riders know about them.
"Oswald the Agreeable is not the Chief of their tribe anymore. He was lost in the sea. His son Dagur the Deranged is Chief now." Gobber said. Hiccup instantly froze. If Dagur was Chief then they were in deep trouble. Stoick didn't miss this reaction.
"Who are you how do you know so much about us." The Chief asked.
"I told you, we are Dragon Riders. We came from Atlantis to stop any war." The young man answered.
"Right, right. So where is your Night Fury?" Spitelout, now asked.
"He is in a safe place." George said.
In truth Nightwing was at the cove telling Toothless what happened.
"So Hiccup haven't revealed his identity yet huh? Why? " The missing tail fin dragon asked.
"I don't know. But you should see their faces. The humans didn't know what to do, some didn't even breathe. Two however, had a weird smile like they wanted a fight to break out." Nightwing said remembering two almost identical blonde Vikings.
"The other dovahs?" Toothless asked with a warble smirk.
"Oohh. They were all the fun. They argued whether or not to discuss with me. From all of them only Nadder seemed to be reasonable." Nightwing finished while getting a fish from the pond.
Meanwhile, back at the Great Hall where discussions were happening Stormfly was thinking about that Night Fury. She had to find him and ask him some questions. She tried to leave but when she so her rider walking towards the newcomers she stayed and waited if her friend needed her.
"Chief they are lying. This man" She said pointing to Hiccup. "was alone when he saved me from falling"
"Where I come from. When somebody saves you say Thank you. You don't go calling them a liar." Hiccup said smirking but couldn't be seen behind his mask. Astrid red from fury, yeah it was anger nothing more, went closer to him and said with the most monotone way she could.
"Thank you"
"Now, how can you stay angry to someone, when they thank you with so much sincerity." Hiccup said sarcastically getting some snickers from the young group of friends. Astrid furious stormed of the Hall with Stormfly behind her.
'This will be fun' Hiccup thought smiling. He was gonna mess with all of them.
Done! Chapter ten. TEN. 10.!!! It's a longer chapter, more than 5k words but it was worth it. Many things happened and many more will happen. Next chapter will be smaller probably 2-3k. Thank you for reading.