Wish Granted

After that day of perfection Ava thought life was finally on the upside. But change is inevitable on the roller coaster of life. And she was about to go downhill.

It all started when the mystery dragon came crashing back into her life, literally. A lesson on tracking turned into a game of hide and seek. And like they did with everything the academy involved dragons. Since Ava didn't have to be with the sheep until sunset, she played too. Everyone agreed Fishlegs didn't need someone slowing him down any more than he already was, Astrid and the twins didn't want a passenger and Ava did not want to ride with Snotlout. Astrid and Ruffnut completely understood her stubbornness about it, so it was decided she would ride with Hiccup.

The game was going great until they had an unexpected visitor. After disappearing to who knows where for weeks, the Ava's haunting was back and playing its own game of hide and seek with the dragon riders. They had regrouped in a clearing to discuss strategy when the dragon made another spilt second appearance. Snotlout had spotted it and alerted the others of its presence. He pointed in its direction and shouted "There!" which his dragon mistook as a command to flame. The misfire earned Snotlout a barrage of insults, he replied by blaming his dragon.

The shot hit its target dead on, causing it to plummet from the sky. The riders quickly lost sight of it with the thick canopy blocking their view. Hiccup ordered everyone to split up and begin their search, before they heard a scream and raced towards it, the original plan forgotten. Breaking out of the foliage the teens found themselves at the edge of a mountain sheep pasture. It held a very distressed Bucket and evidence that a flock was recently there. The dragon however was nowhere in sight other than a smashed fence and a large area of overturned snow it had created when it crash landed. Said dragon was obviously fireproof like other species, on the outside at least and after the rough landing must have scampered off to a safer place.

Bucket was beside himself, rambling on about dragon attacks and missing sheep. Astrid gathered that the dragon and the sheep had all run back into the forest. Hiccup went after the dragon while Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins repaired the fence. Ava traveled through the woods on foot, putting her new shepherding experience to good use. She had found three sheep easily. They had been browsing contentedly not far from the fields, but two had wandered off.

She followed what seemed to be the trail they took, driving the ewes in front of her. She found one of the missing sheep with its thick fleece tangled in a thorn bush. While she worked on freeing the distressed animal, the three others bleated fearfully and scattered in three different directions.

"No! Come back!" She yelled uselessly.

She growled as she tugged the last few strands of wool from the thorny stems and the animal bounded off the instant it was free.

"What is with you?" She asked as the fluffy tail disappeared into the foliage.

A large creature could be heard moving through the evergreens behind her, making Ava's breath catch in her throat. "Hiccup is that you?"

No answer was given in return, only the sound of the animal getting closer. Amber eyes stared at her from the shadows beneath the canopy they seemed to almost glow in the shade of the foliage. A rumbling began to emanate from where they eyes were positioned. It was not a fierce sound, neither threatening or intimidating it was almost... That was the moment Hiccup, mounted on Toothless came crashing through the bushes beside her, causing the eyes to retreat.

"Hiccup! What are you doing here?" Ava asked exasperated.

"You called me didn't you? What do you need? Did you see the dragon?" Questions spilled from his lips one after the other until he paused to allow Ava to speak.

"Well... yes," She began slowly. "But it was right there!" She aimed both of her open hands at the shadowy spot they eyes had previously occupied.

"Well come on! Let's go after it," He replied exhilarated by the lead.

"But the sheep-"

"They've already corralled three; let's get going before we lose it again!" He pleaded as he held out his hand.

Ava hesitated no more and accepted his hand, swinging up behind him. Toothless took off at an incredible pace, sure to overtake their target as long as they went in the right direction. After all the practice flying as a passenger at leisurely paces, Ava was a little more confident at this blazing speed. She still hugged Hiccup's waist tightly, but she didn't flop around like dead weight anymore.

Trusting Toothless' tracking abilities and acute senses they flew through the woods following the creature's invisible trail. Breaking through the final row of trees they found themselves back at the sheep pastures. The Night Fury hovered in confusion. Without the foliage to block it the wind blew unopposed in the open area, quickly carrying away any lingering scents.

Hiccup punched his saddle, frustrated to have lost another round to the dragon again. They glided down to the pasture where the teens and Bucket stood watching five sheep graze lazily.

"Did you find it?" The group asked in unison.

"No, we lost it again," Hiccup answered dishearteningly with a frown.

"This dragon is more trouble than we thought. And now it's back on the loose," Fishlegs sighed distractedly.

"Thank you for summing that up," Hiccup replied sarcastically.

"Well now what?" Astrid asked, growing impatient.

"I guess we all go home and wait for it to pop up again," Hiccup answered in his usual rasping tone.

That night Ava couldn't get that dragon's eyes out of her head. She just couldn't place what emotion that expression seemed to convey. She hadn't been around many hostile dragons but that sure didn't seem like one to her. It looked like it wanted something. Her inability to figure it out frustrated her to no end. When she slept she had nightmares for the first time in a long while. She dreamt that the academy was hunting down the dragon mercilessly, trying to convince her to join them. But the dragon's eyes always came back to her at that moment, almost pleading her to understand. Every time she had to refuse and watch as they chased down the innocent reptile while she tried to figure out what its expression meant.

She would wake up, drenched in sweat and screaming. Often she was too worked up to go back to sleep, so she would pace the floor going over those few seconds she saw the golden eyes gazing at her.

Despite her distressing nights life went on. She had come to the conclusion that she had made caring for a flock of three dozen sheep as easy as possible, with her and the ladies each doing certain tasks and dividing the work. She was almost finished translating the Book of Dragons, but that took a backseat now in favor of a real dragon. She took a walk through the various uninhabited parts of Berk each day, hoping to come across the owner of those mesmerizing amber eyes.

Autumn turned into winter and temperatures dropped even more, plummeting below freezing. The sky broke open and it snowed like it had never snowed before. The white powder covered every surface and frost crept up everything else.

Ava happened to be out on one of her daily walks, tramping through deep snow when Bucket was brought before Stoick, screaming in agony.

. . .

"It's a storm Stoick! It's big and coming in fast," Mulch announced, looking concernedly at his friend.

"Get everyone and everything inside, now. Send out the academy to warn the village," Stoick ordered as he leapt into action.

The dragons crossed the village in minutes, warning every one of the impending storm. Before the Night Fury could take off to carry his rider to the safety of the Great Hall a woman cried out, calling for Hiccup.

"'iccup 'ave you seen Ava? We need 'er ta bring in teh sheep," She exclaimed worriedly.

"No I haven't. I'll check her house," He answered then added as he turned his dragon and began flying away "do what you can without her."

. . .

Ava was blissfully unaware of the panic in the village, walking in her winter wonderland. She was pensive about disturbing the flat, sparkling surface and the freshly fallen snow, but there were no paths dug out. She had come to a quite diverse portion of landscape where the meadow met a forest with a small cliff that followed beside it. She strolled casually under the canopy, watching in wonder as each breath become a puff of steam. Because of the dim light beneath the trees, Ava didn't notice the sky darkening above her.

. . .

Back in the village monstrous slate storm clouds blocked out the sun as the wind starting picking up. Hiccup had checked her house and all around the village with no sign of Ava. His distress grew every minute as the storm closed in around them.

. . .

Ava shivered when an icy breeze blew between the trees, rattling leaves and chilling the air. Peering up through the branches at the sky, she noticed it was lacking the pale blue color and light of earlier. Taking it as a sign the day was coming to an end, she turned back towards the village.

. . .

As the villagers finished piling into the Great Hall Hiccup took one last pass over the village. Toothless barely had to flap his wings since the strong winds blowing over the island filled them.

"Son," Stoick called from the crooked old doorway. "You have to come in. She's probably taken cover somewhere and you'll never find her in the storm."

With a sigh of defeat Hiccup landed his dragon and watched as they closed the massive doors, shutting out the storm.

. . .

Flurries of snow danced on the breeze Ava fought to keep moving. Flakes froze on her eyelashes and bit at her cheeks. She pulled her hood tightly over her head, but it could provide only so much protection from the cruel winds and savage snow. She focused on one thing and one thing only: to put one foot in front of the other, just keep moving. She had wandered to a sparsely wooded area of forest and faced the brunt of the unobstructed wind.

She took one more step and bumped into something hard and cold. Prying open her frozen lashes, she could barely see anything and resorted to feeling whatever she had collided with. Rough, rocky surface met her soft cold hands; she surmised she was at the base of the cliff. Feeling her way along the edge she starting moving again, keeping her eyes screwed shut.

After walking for several minutes she came to a jagged portion of the wall of rock. Snow covered the gravel underfoot and large stones littered the area. Ava moved slowly, hoping to avoid running into any boulders. Of course her luck was never as good as she needed. As she stumbled along she ended up tripping over a small stone that sat in her path. She tumbled forward face first in the snow. Her hood flew off and the wind lifted her hair, blowing it wildly around her shoulders.

Pushing herself out of the snow, Ava jerked up her hood and tucked each strand back inside. On her hands and knees she crawled towards where she expected the wall to be. She kept one hand out in front of her, waiting to feel the firm rock beneath it. She continued moving until the gales suddenly stopped buffeting her. She felt around and three feet to her right was the wall, or a wall to be exact. She didn't think it was the same one.

Once again she attempted to open her eyes to observe her surroundings. This time she was not immediately blinded by snow. She was immersed in darkness, but there was no wind or sleet. Turning around to view more of the strange environment she was greeted by the icy breeze, howling mournfully as it carried the wicked flakes through the air. She discovered she was sitting in the mouth of a cave, the perfect place to ride out the storm.

A few more seconds and her eyes adjusted, allowing her to see more of the cavern. Several stalactites hung from above and a variety of rocks were scattered around the area. Ava found a relatively flat stone and pushed it out of the darkness and closer to the entrance that bathed the mouth of the cave in a stormy gray light.

Ava wasn't shivering nearly as violently now that she was inside the cave. Without the wind chill it felt several degrees warmer. She pulled her cloak around herself as she sat on the rock, absorbing what she could of her own body heat.

. . .

She finally spotted Hiccup, a toothpick sandwiched between two beefy men. He was picking his way through the crowd, too polite to push and shove like the others, or maybe just too weak. Nevertheless Astrid waved to him and wove through the mob of Vikings.

"Where's Ava?" She asked worriedly.

"I don't know. The sheep handlers were asking for her so I spent most of the time before the storm hit searching the village."

Fishlegs had drifted over to where his friends gathered in the sea of people, listening to the conversation. When Hiccup finished he added "Why didn't you tell us? We could've helped!"

"You guys needed to be here, getting everyone inside. She's probably fine and we'll meet up after the storm."

"You don't sound so sure of that," Astrid challenged.

"I have to be," He replied solemnly.

. . .

Ava sat alone on her rock, watching the storm rage outside the cave. She would prefer some company and a snack, but these were better conditions than she would expect for being stranded in a snowstorm.

She was lost in thought, imaging who she would rather be in this situation with, when she was startled back to reality by the sound of claws clicking on the gravel. She dove to the ground, the rough pebbles dug into her elbows and stomach. She hid behind the rock she had been sitting on, hoping whatever creature it was would be leaving soon. Forcing herself to breath slow shallow breaths, she flattened out on the ground, trying to remain undetected.

Ava peeked over the rock and seeing no sign of the creature, stood up and dusted herself off. Then she heard a snort. Studying the rock formations very closely she made out the shape of a gray scaly animal. It blended in almost perfectly with its surroundings making it practically invisible. Ava took a step back and began to crouch down, the beast hadn't seen her yet and she hoped to keep it that way. She was only halfway down when the creature turned its head, yellow eyes piercing hazel.

"It's you..."

She stood frozen in her half crouch, her thighs starting to burn. The dragon swung its long neck around and stood up, all while its splotched gray color fizzled out and gave way to a striking scarlet. Now at its full height the animal cocked its winged skull, the tips of its antennae twitching back and forth like a cat's tail.

"You! You're the one who's been following me!" She said as loud as she dared. She breathed out a single question, "Why?"

At her query the reptile tipped its head back to its normal position and proceeded towards her.

"Nooo no no no... you... you stay back!" She demanded, her voice quivering with fear as she backed up against the wall.

The dragon sniffed her from head to toe, blowing her hair back with its warm breath. After it had thoroughly inhaled her scent, the animal bobbed its head, almost as if nodding and crawled back to where it had been laying previously. It curled up on the gravel and looked at Ava, still flat against the wall. The dragon stared at her curiously before making a short chirp and laid its head down to sleep.

Ava slid down the wall to sit on the ground. Well here's my company, do I get food too?

I wasn't happy leaving you with just the fluff of Snow Day so here is a "real" chapter. I'm so nice, I'm sure to get reviews for this. (looking expectantly at the half-dozen followers and favorites)