The dragon raids were becoming more and more frequent, and Aran hated it with every fibre of his being. He was exhausted. Raids meant more weapons made, more buildings destroyed, more injuries suffered, and more deaths witnessed. He was kept on his feet all night, helping out in the forge, and after the dragons left he immediately had to go help Gothi tend to the wounded. Méaróg still needed to see him after these raids, so by the time Gothi finally dismissed him, he couldn't simply go to his bed and pass out. Each night after the raids, Aran would drag his feet through the forest, to the far end of the island where his brother anxiously awaited him. By the time he reached Méaróg, he passed out near immediately, and could only be thankful that the dragon kept the fire going through the night and protected him from the elements.
In summary, raids were terrible and Aran hated them, and that was before taking into account how much he disliked the dragons being harmed. Aran was typically in a bad mood for a full twenty-four hours after a raid, and people tended to avoid him. During the raids, however, he was pumped full of adrenaline despite not being part of the action. The yells and screeches outside made his heart beat fast, and he prayed several times that the damage would be minimal. It was somewhat frustrating when Hiccup arrived at the forge nearly an hour into a particularly nasty raid.
"Hiccup!" Aran exclaimed, nearly crashing into him as he went to hand a hammer off to a viking outside. "Careful!" At the sound of Aran's voice, Gobber noticed his scrawnier apprentice.
"Oh, nice of you to join the party!" Gobber said, wiping the sweat from his brow as he paused in hammering a bit of red-hot metal. "I thought you'd been carried off!"
"Wh- who, me?" Hiccup asked, quickly tying his apron behind his back. "Nah, come on, I'm way too muscular for their tastes." He joked as he struggled to put a large hammer in its place. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this." Hiccup flexed, and Aran snorted.
"Can't blame 'em, honestly, there's not much there." Aran was handed some damaged weapons from the front, and he handed them off to Hiccup, who quickly started pumping the bellows to take care of them.
"Ah, don't sell 'im short. They need toothpicks, don't they?" Gobber joked as he tossed a sword towards its waiting owner.
The three of them continued working, Aran spending more time running about the forge and pulling things from the back for the two more experienced blacksmiths to work more efficiently. While it was true his presence was helpful, he knew he wasn't quite skilled enough to make and repair weapons under a time crunch like this. He instead tried his best to make operations work as smoothly as possible. Outside, houses were splashed with lava and intense flames. Hiccup sighed as he looked out the window at the fire brigade. Aran lightly smacked the back of his head.
"The fire brigade is near-useless, get back to work." Aran told him.
"But-"
"They don't need you out there, Hiccup." Gobber said.
"We need you in here, doing something actually useful." Aran added, because otherwise that statement may have been received as harsh and mean.
"Please, two minutes, I'll kill a dragon, my-" Hiccup started, but Aran cut him off.
"Nobody our age has killed a dragon yet! You haven't even started dragon training, all you'll do is get yourself killed!" He exclaimed.
"You can't lift an axe, you can't swing a hammer, you can't even throw one of these!" Gobber exclaimed as he held a bola up to the front window. A viking quickly took it from him, throwing it and ensnaring a gronkle. Aran winced.
"Okay, fine, but this will throw it for me." Hiccup said as he walked to the back of the smithy, patting his bola launcher. It did successfully launch its bola, but it also smacked a waiting customer in the face.
"Woah, woah, okay, we really don't need to be talking about this right now, there are people waiting in line." Aran said loudly, before Gobber could say something that would escalate the argument. "Hicc, this sword needs sharpening, Gobber, Spitelout's axe broke again."
And the situation was diffused, for the moment at least. Hiccup's eyebrows were drawn with irritation as he sharpened the sword. Gobber seemed to have put the conversation out of his mind already, however. Aran continued staying on top of the orders. Outside, dragons were setting houses on fire and stealing food. Hooligans tried their best to fend off the reptiles, but it was with panic that they heard a loud whistling sound. A blast of plasma shook the ground as it hit a tower, causing massive damages. The night fury had joined the battle. Things weren't looking good.
"Man the fort, you two." Gobber said, attaching his axe hand. "They need me out there."
"Yes, sir." Aran nodded obediently. Gobber turned to squint at Hiccup.
"And Aran, keep Hiccup out of trouble."
Hiccup didn't have time to be offended, because Gobber was already charging out into the swarm of chaos outside. With Gobber gone, Aran was forced to do more smithwork, and he un-dented several swords. A clattering sound alerted him that Hiccup had knocked something over, and Aran quickly found that Hiccup was trying to sneak out with his bola launcher. Aran groaned. He really didn't want to deal with this.
"Hiccup, where in the world do you think you're going?" Aran asked.
"Two minutes!" Hiccup shouted, bolting out of the door.
"Hiccup!"
Aran barely took the time to put the fires in the forge out before chasing after his younger friend. The Irish teen was still wearing his gloves and apron from the forge, and vikings had to dodge out of Hiccup's way as he ran with his cumbersome contraption. Various irritated shouts were sent his way, and Aran apologized to the villagers on Hiccup's behalf as he chased after the boy. He idly thought Chief Stoick would kill them both when he found out. If he found out. If. If is good.
"Hiccup!" Aran hissed at him, finally catching up to the chief's son as he set up his bola launcher. The two were far away from the commotion in town, and it almost seemed quiet, if one ignored the distant sounds of fighting.
"Shh!" Hiccup shushed him, determination on his face. He muttered to himself as he squinted at the starry night sky.
Aran glanced around nervously, knowing a wild dragon could happen upon them at any moment. He'd only ever really been in close proximity to Méaróg, and had no idea how he would handle any other dragon; especially a dragon with murderous intent. The older boy reflexively covered his ears at the sound of the telltale whistle of the night fury, and when a catapult exploded, Hiccup let his contraption do its job. There was a heart-wrenching cry that Aran couldn't help but wince at, and his brown eyes widened at the sight of a dark shape streaking towards the forest. He couldn't believe it. Hiccup actually shot down a dragon.
"Aran!" Hiccup's eyes were also wide, though with elation rather than disbelief and horror. "I hit it! I actually hit it!"
"Hiccup." Aran grabbed onto his wrist, and Hiccup looked at him in confusion, not seeing the monstrous nightmare creeping up behind him.
"Oh man, just wait until my dad hears about this! And boy did I just prove Gobber wrong, and Snotlout! And- and-" Hiccup continued excitedly. His smile quickly dropped at the deafening roar behind him.
"Run!"
Aran didn't even let him turn around to see the nightmare, which was likely unhappy at Hiccup's act of shooting down one of its allies. Hiccup attempted to run towards the village, but Aran pulled him to the forest, positive that the last thing Hooligan Village needed was another angry monstrous nightmare. Deep in the forest, the trees would be close together, and the larger dragon would be unable to follow them. If they could just get that far…
Hiccup yelped, tripping over a tree root. Aran cursed loudly, barely staying upright as he had still been holding onto the smaller boy's wrist. He bent down to help him up, but this little mishap gave the dragon ample time to catch up with them, its body aflame. It was with great relief that Aran heard the familiar caw of his brother, and a flaming ball of hardened sand slammed into their pursuer. The nightmare shrieked with pain and anger, and Aran couldn't keep the grin off of his face. Méaróg jumped down from the trees, rearing up on his hind legs and letting out a protective shout. The nightmare screamed back at him, snapping jaws full of jagged teeth.
"Come on, while it's distracted!" Aran pulls Hiccup along with him, using the cover of the trees to go around the nightmare and back towards the village.
"W-what kind of dragon was that?" Hiccup asked, not entirely sure what just happened.
"A desert wraith." Aran told him. "They burrow in the sand to hunt their prey."
"But those live in deserts!" Hiccup exclaimed, pointing out the obvious. "Why would one be this far north?" Aran could only shrug. "And- and why would it protect us?"
"I don't know, maybe he knows that nightmare and they don't like each other. They're just animals." Aran tells Hiccup. "It doesn't have to be anything complicated."
"Right." Hiccup nods.
"Now let's hope we can get back to the forge without being yelled at because you needed your two minutes." Aran squinted at him, and Hiccup laughed nervously.
"Well, I really hit a night fury." He protested weakly.
"Yes, and I'm very proud of you." Aran lied. "Just don't run off again. You'll get us both in trouble."
The two of them tried their best to sneak back into the forge, but the raid was winding down, and Gobber could only raise his eyebrows at them. Both teens winced and apologized, and Gobber could only say they should feel lucky he hadn't told the chief about their little disappearing act. Aran finally removed his apron, and the two of them left the forge when it was clear there were no more dragons out and about. He walked Hiccup to his house.
"You should get some sleep now." Aran told him. "The night fury will be there later."
"But…" Hiccup looked at him pleadingly.
"It'll be a lot easier to find him if you get some rest though." Aran smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, I can already see the adrenaline leaving you."
"Shut up…" Hiccup grumbled, but conceded. Aran was right. He should sleep.
After making sure Hiccup was asleep in his bed, Aran went to help Gothi in patching up the wounded. This raid wasn't a good one by any means, and he was up for nearly three hours. The sun had already risen by the time Gothi dismissed him, and he didn't have to energy to go check on Méaróg. That dragon had saved his life. He smiled a little as he got under his covers. Méaróg would be getting some lovely scratches when he saw his brother the next day. That was, assuming he was alright. The thought struck Aran right as he'd been about to fall asleep. Méaróg was by no means a small dragon, but that didn't change the fact that the nightmare was nearly two times his size. Aran could only hope Méaróg would be alright in the morning. He would bring a salve with him just in case.
As the midday sun hung high in the sky, Aran woke up, immediately going to rifle about in Gothi's cabinets. He found several different leafy ingredients and mashed them together, making a thick green paste that he scraped into a decently sized bottle. Though he had never tested it on a dragon, he had done so on humans as well as lizards, and it worked just fine. Hopefully it would continue to do its job. Aran darted off into the forest in search of his brother.
Méaróg was not where Aran had last seen him. Aran was thankful for this, but the claw marks on the tree bark around did nothing to soothe his worries. He followed the signs of the fighting until they vanished, and with no further clues, Aran headed to the cave. A large, familiar lump of reptile was laying there, and Aran was relieved to see it breathing. Unfortunately, this relief didn't last long as he saw deep gashes in his brother's hide. Aran rushed over, reassuring him that he was safe before he could react with panic. He carefully rubbed the ointment into Méaróg's wounds, telling him to wait as he went to get fish for him. It took a while to gather, but Aran returned eventually, and Méaróg was grateful for the meal and fresh water.
Aran decided to stay with Méaróg for the rest of the day, unaware that Hiccup was nearby, meeting a certain night fury he'd recently shot down.
Word Count: 2,214
EDIT 6/6/18: I don't think there was any Irish in this chapter, but I did change the bold emphasized text to italics, and added a single word that I'd forgotten the first time.
So I definitely changed things in this chapter. Scenes that were in the original fic were left out entirely (because why did Aran even sneak into Hiccup's house in the first place that was weird? and this chapter really didn't need to end with depressing stuff like it did originally so umm yeah) and there are movie scenes here that weren't in the original (like, everything that happened in the forge basically). I added the fight between Méaróg and the nightmare because I didn't think Aran would let Hiccup run into town like an idiot if he thought he could prevent damages, and I wanted Méaróg to actually do something. Aran and Méaróg being around leads to Hiccup not ruining everything, so he doesn't fuck this raid up super badly and get publicly humiliated, or lectured by both his father and Gobber.
I'm sure you guys have seen the new httyd3 stuff, and I thought I'd just like to mention that the light fury is something that I very much dislike because I have no reason to accept her being white unless it's actually an integral part of the story. If it's something they just gloss over, I won't be satisfied in the slightest because she is distinct enough to have been a dark colour and still be instantly distinguishable from Toothless when they're on screen together. Something that did get me thinking about, however, was the likely survivability of an albino night fury (not just a white one like the light fury, I mean an actual albino with bad eyesight and red eyes and sensitive skin and everything). As such, there's a somewhat new fic I wrote that you can find on my profile. It's called 'Albino' and explores that idea, and while you don't have to read it, it something that did happen in this universe that I am writing for. I'll probably use small elements from it that influence how I write Toothless, but you don't have to read it if you don't want to (though I would obviously like it if you did).
Anyways, thank you if you read all of that! And just, thanks again to everyone who reads my fics! I love all of you, and I hope you can take the time to leave a review of some kind. I love responding to you guys.
Hope to see you next time!