A/N Hi! It seems I have managed to keep my promise and update. It'a a bit shorter than the last one, but it felt right that way. Thank you, you awsome people, who reviewed and favorited/followed this story. It really makes me want to update faster.

Disclaimer - I don't own How To Train Your Dragon franchise.

Chapter 11 - Bonds broken by darkness.

If someone had come up to her four days ago and told her that soon she would be practically begging to get off a dragon's back, Astrid would have thrown that person in a Changewing's nest.

However there she was - her every muscle sore and lips tightly sealed so she didn't accidentally say the wrong thing. It wasn't really the flying that took its toll on her - five days of flying were rough, but she had spent last four years on a dragon's back.

It was the man flying on a Rumblehorn a good space ahead of her at the rest of the riders.

Astrid consdered herself a good Berkian - when the Chief spoke, she listened, when he gave an order, she complied. But she was equal parts a Berkian as she was a dragon rider. It was just that sometimes Berkians and dragon riders did things differently and she couldn't help but notice that in the last couple of days.

Stoick was a good leader - Astrid knew where Hiccup had gotten the trait - but Stoick was leading them like Vikings. They were so much more than that, they were one half of something better, greater than that.

Stoick had forgotten what the other half was made of - dragons. It showed in the evenings when they set up camp. If it was a cave, it was too small for the dragons to fit, if they slept under the open sky Stoick would stubbornly lit the fire himself refusing a quick spark from a dragon. Those were tiny details, but Astrid couldn't help but feel annoyed by them. Hiccup had always taken great care of their fire-spitting friends and Astrid wondered whether Stoick was actually aware of what he was doing.

If Astrid was honest, Stoick did a better job at pacing them than she had and he already had a plan. But that was also the problem - it was all him. Astrid felt like a dead weight - something she had never experienced on a dragon's back, several dozen feet above water. She didn't feel like part of the team. Perhaps that was Hiccup's greatest achievement - taking six completely different Vikings and making a team out of them. Second greatest - the first would always be the peace between dragons and Vikings.

Thatswhy, when the land finally came into sight, she couldn't stop the tremors of anticipation running down her back. They had reached Black Pit and Astrid would finally be able to do something other than sit on a dragon's back and think grumpy thoughts.

"Huh? I thought it would be bigger." Snotlout shrugged on her left.

The island really wasn't big. The east side was covered in high cliffs, whereas the west side was a sandy white beach. A patch of deep green was covering most of the island - thick forest expanding through most of it, leaving no place for an open clearing.

"I don't get the name!" Tuffnut grumbled. "What's black or pit-like about this?" He waved his arms at the island while looking at his sister, who gave him an indifferent shrug of a shoulder.

"I think that's what it's named after." Fishlegs pointed down in a trembling voice.

They were almost above the island now and the new angle revealed the forest giving way for a huge hole in the ground. It was wide enough to fit a Red Death with water running down one of its sides, creating a waterfall. Astrid couldn't see the bottom from so up in the sky, but she doubted she would see it from the ground either. It looked like darkness swallowed both light and water leading into the hole.

"Wow. That's one big, black, horrifying pit." Tuffnuf gaped with Ruffnut humming her agreement.

Astrid wanted to comment, but closed her mouth as Stoick appeared out of nowhere. She hadn't even seen the man leaving.

"In the clouds now!" Came a startling hiss from beneath. Stoick ushered them higher up and Astrid gave him a questioning look. "There are people down there. Boats anchored on the south side of the beach."

Astrid tried to not let her disappointment show. Stoick had gone investigating alone and Astrid was starting to get a little offended at being left out of action. She was glad to hear Fishlegs speaking up. Her voice would probably sound too bitter.

"Do you think they are the peop…" Fishlegs asked, but his voice died down seeing the forced look of calmness on Stoick's face and the deadly quiet of the other riders. He seemed to rethink his speach. "How many?" He frowned instead.

"Don't know." Stoick looked down with a murderous look. Astrid shuddered. "Enough for eight boats to carry."

"There could be a hundred of them for all we know!" Snotlout exclamed annoyed. He as well had been holding on to some resentment.

"We need to set up camp. The sun's setting in a few hours." Stoick didn't indulge him and instead changed the subject.

"Where?" Astrid glanced down at where the island was covered by a layer of clouds. She suddenly felt weary of the place. "We can't risk the beach and the forest is too dense."

"They could be at the Pit as well." Snotlout added.

Astrid looked at Stoick but he as well didn't seem to have an answer. She didn't want camp out on a nearby island, if something happened, they couldn't react fast enough.

"We could try from bellow." Fishlegs suggested weakily and Astrid's head snapped his way so fast she felt the muscles pull painfully.

"How?"

"The Pit's not filling with water as far as I can see." Fishlegs took on explaining. "The water has to go somewhere. I bet we could find an underwater cave."

"Yeah, and drown!" Snotlout shouted in exasperation. "Who knows how deep the thing goes!"

"Snotlout's right." Stoick shook his head. "We could run out of air before we emerge." Astrid saw Fishlegs' shoulders visibly sag down and felt something finally snap inside of her.

"We could always find out." She suggested and before Stoick could stop her she made a leap to Hookfang. She wasn't listening to her Chief, but who cared, she was doing the right thing.

"Astrid, what the hell?" Snotlout grumbled, holding on tightly until the Monstrous Nightmare regained his balance, but she ignored him and motioned to Stormfly.

"Go, girl!"

The Nadder let out a laugh and dived through the clouds, she could see her plunging into the water not much later through. Astrid slowly turned her attention to Stoick, expecting a scolding, but the man was still looking where Stormfly had vanished into the water. They were quiet as they waited for her return, neither of them bothering to speak.

Finally, after what couldn't be more than a few minutes, Astrid noticed Stormfly emerging from the water and shooting up towards them. She slowed down under Hookfang and Astrid made another leap in the air, landing on the scaly back with practiced ease. The dragon cooed happily and Astrid translated it to others.

"We can manage." She smiled, fondly petting her good girl.

"Yeah, you two." Ruffnut snorted. "The rest of us ain't exactly warrior machines."

"Hey, I can be a warrior machine!" Snotlout exclaimed, finally stopping his grumbling about Astrid trying to kill him, and before anyone could protest took a plunge down.

"That settles it." Astrid smirked and followed her hot-headed friend. She could hear Stoick's abrupt shout of protest before the wind rushing in her ears cut off her hearing.

The dive left her void of any sensation expect the pounding of her heart and tears leaking from the sharp gusts of wind. Astrid saw the red shape of Hookfang dissappear in the deep blue of the sea and taking as big of a gulp of air as possible she dived in. The water was cold and if she wouldn't be pressed so close to Stormfly, it would have knocked out her breath. She didn't open her eyes in the salty water, depending on Stormfly to lead the way. Instead Astrid focused on moving as little as possible, so she wouldn't use up her air.

She had just started to feel the stinging in her chest when the cool of the water around her disappeared and was replaced by cold air. Astrid shivered, opening her eyes to see a dimply lit cave, iluminated by Hookfang's flaming body. Behind her she heard splashes of water and gasps of air being forced into lungs. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the twins and Stoick emerge from the water, trying to shake out their dripping clothes. They were followed by a little blue looking Fishlegs.

"It...w..was a bad...idea." Fishlegs gave her a glare.

"Hey, it was your idea!" Astrid put her arms up in defense.

"Well, don't listen to my ideas!" He grumbled, trying to squeeze water from his clothes, and then added, voice sounding a bit gruff from the strain. "Gods, it's freezing in here."

"There's not much warmth for a cave to recieve so down under." Stoick explained, already assessing the area. "We camp here. Scout out more tomorrow." He decided after a moment of searching around. It didn't slip Astrid's eye, how the Chief was trying to hide his shivers, though he was doing a better job at it than the rest of them combined. "Since getting wood for fire is impossible, we'll sleep without."

Astrid sighed. She knew what was about to followw and wasn't surprised at the protests that came not a moment later. She was the most extreme of the bunch and even she didn't dare to put them through such cruel sleeping conditions.

"Uh-uh!" Snotlout shook his head, already digging something out of his bag. When a bottle of Monstrous Nightmare gel appeared, Stoick frowed in disaprovement, but Snotlout was already speaking before he could voice it out loud. "I know, Chief, you said it's for emergencies, but I think freezing our beautiful asses in an underwater cave is an emergency." He popped open the lid and let out a startling mix of shouting and laughter which echoed in the tunnel following deeper in the cave. "Thank Odin for Hiccup and his obsession with waterproofing out lives."

Astrid smiled fondly at the memory of Hiccup insisting on waterproofing his entire equipment. Snotlout and Hiccup had fought about the need of it for good ten minutes, but Hiccup had insisted on proving himself right. Seeing as the gel Snotlout was generously spreading on the floor hadn't lost its trademark properties, waterproofing had worked.

Stoick wasn't happy about the turn of the events, but Astrid was glad he kept the words to himself. They needed sleep, not another discussion.

She shurgged out of as much clothing as possible without getting inappropriate in front of her friends and Chief and tucked herself against the warmth of Stormfly's belly. She pressed her freezing hands against the warm skin there and sighed in content. Stormfly draped a wing over her and she allowed herself to get cocooned.

Distantly she heard shiffling and rumbling as the riders prepared for the night, but didn't bother to look. Stoick would probably stay awake half the night, standing guard, but her mind was fuzzy with comfort of being warm to actually worry about it. He'd wake her up, when it was her turn.

In few short moments she stoped trembling and her breathing slowly evened out till she was deep asleep. Her last coherent thought being of Hiccup - wondering whether he would greet them back when they returned.

Next day was...hard, to say the least. They had spent nights and large amount of time in caves, but never an entire day. The dragons were cranky and more and more disagreements rose between them. The longer they stayed deprived of daylight the more they started to get on each others nerves. First it was light snickering and annoying comments from the Twins. Then followed by Snotlout's growing annoyance and barely contained murmurs, soon after came the first shouting matches. It started between Snotlout and Fishlegs - it was about stupid ideas, know-it-all vikings and depressing caves, but it ended with Astrid's ax at Snotlout's throat.

"Why couldn't Hiccup choose a nice, sunny beach to get almost stabbed to death." He had grumbed not really processing what was leaving his lips and then added to himself quietly. "Making us do all the hard work."

But had Astrid heard. Her head had snapped his direction and the next thing she knew she was holding a blade to her friend's neck. And Astrid was joking, she had meant to take a swing. It hadn't just been there for appearances. She was about to murder annoying, but close friend. Luckily for Snotlout, who had gone ghost pale, Fishlegs had talked her off the edge.

To top it all off, their dragons seemed to suddenly have trouble sharing tight spaces. Barf and Belch almost blew Meatlug up for unintentionally bumping into them. They were forced to separate the dragons and riders and ascended deeper into the caves in a tight line - Stock in the front following Skullcrusher, Meatlug and Fishlegs behind them, then Astrid, Twins and finally, dead last and always pouting, was Snotlout. They made sure two dragons didn't walk one behind the other, but the tension in the air was palpable and Astrid was drowning in it.

They had stopped speaking - each immersed in their own thoughts. Astird didn't know which was worse - the continuing whining from Twins and Snotlout or the silance that took its place.

They hadn't found an exit. They had spent an entire day searching and mapping, but there seemed to be an entire system of caves, each tunnel varying in size and shape. Their only accomplishment had been finding the sound of the waterfall, though it didn't do any good. It echoed from the tunnels and there was no way of deducting where it came from.

Next night, or whatever time of the day it was, Astrid couldn't tell, they went to sleep hungry and angry. Whether it was at each other or the entire world, Astrid didn't know. She didn't cuddle with Stormfly. She slept on the hard, humid ground several feet away from her and she didn't think of Hiccup either.

Astrid was woken by footsteps. Not just ordinary footsteps. Marching. There were people marching their way. Her eyes sprang open and she jumped to her feet immediately getting dizzy and almost falling over. Her hand shoot out to balance herself at the wall. The blonde looked around at her still sleeping companions. Only Meatlug was awake and trying to rouse Fishlegs, but he didn't even let out a sound of protest.

"What's going on?" She rasped, voice raw from sleeping. She tried to wake Stormfly. It didn't work either. The footsteps were closing in on them. She hobbled over to Stoick, her limbs leaden and unnaturally weak, she tried to wake him up, but got the same result as with Stormfly. "What's happening?" She asked. Her head was dull and slugish.

Something was wrong.

Astrid tried to get the hold of her ax, but it slipped through her numb fingers. Behind her Meatlug was panicking. Just as she tried to grasp the handle of the weapon once more, the strangers turned around the corner. She could see a dozen of black cladded figures before a dizzying spell took over her and she toppled to the ground.

"We found them!" Was the last she heard as blackness took over her mind and she gave up.

A/N That's it, folks! Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think and if my summer job doesn't kill me, there'll be an update in a week.