Hope You Enjoy
It had been three hours since Astrid's joining and she still lay unconscious by the fire, Etana curled around her. Hiccup stood over her, watching her peaceful face as it hid the torment she was experiencing underneath. Hiccup couldn't help but remember his own joining, he never did forget the pain, the constant pressure that he felt above his heart which would only cease when dragons and men lived in peace, or if he was dead. Hiccup knew that this would not happen in his lifetime, but the harder he worked now the less people would suffer in the future.
Hiccup couldn't help but think that this was his fault. If he hadn't shown himself to her then she would never have been in the situation she was in now, on the cusp of life and death. But then if he hadn't of come Etana would be long dead and so would many future dragons. No, he realised, he had to come back to Berk, he couldn't let the dragons be treated this way any longer. But knowing this didn't make him feel any better about the situation Astrid was in. He stared down at her still body and prayed to every single God he'd ever heard off for her to pull through.
"Hey Hiccup," Matt said as he came up behind him. "I know you're worried about her, but there's nothing you can do about it now, it's in the hands of the Ancestors. But something that you can do to help the others is to tell us all you know about the situation with the dragons here so we can help them."
Hiccup just stared at Astrid for a long time, not even acknowledging Matt. Just as Matt was about to leave he heard Hiccups reply.
"Your right, there's a greater good here that I must help just as I swore I would." Hiccup tore his eyes away from Astrid and stood up to follow Matt over to where the others were sitting. They all sat down around the fire as they had done many times before to discuss dragon situations.
"Now," Hiccup began. "As I've said before Berks problem with dragons is unlike anything we've ever encountered. The dragons that attack Berk are being forced to by this… thing. A dragon of enormous size and power, unlike anything I've ever seen. If you concentrate hard on the beast within your blood, you can feel the almost pull that this dragon is sending out." Hiccup concentrated hard as did the others and all at once they felt this synchronised pull within them themselves. Hiccup downcast his eyes, not wanting to tell his friends the conclusion he had come to about this dragon.
"I believe that this dragon, this Red Death cannot be saved, and that the best solution is to destroy it so that it can no longer hold its power over any other dragons." Hiccup sighed.
"You can't be serious Hiccup; you know the Creed forbids us from harming any dragon." Jack said wide eyed.
"But this thing is unlike anything you have ever seen; I have seen this dragon eat other dragons. If we kill this dragon hundreds of future dragons will live free." Hiccup pleaded, he had not made this decision lightly, on the way to Berk he had barely thought of anything else, but the only answer that made sense was this.
"I think that we should see this Red Death before we make any final decisions." Matt said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Hiccups suggestion, although after what Hiccup had said and the power this dragon seemed to posses, he doubted he would come to a different conclusion.
"I thought you would want to, so we will go as soon as possible. I don't want to delay this anymore than we need to." Hiccup said casting a glance to Astrid's still form.
"Hiccup," Matt said, "maybe we should go now so that if something happens then we can continue our work while you…grieve." He tried to make it sound like the situation was unlikely but he didn't quite succeed. Hiccup starred at Astrid's still form before turning away and walking towards Toothless. No matter his fears or feelings, the Creed came first. And the Creed demanded that Hiccup save these dragons and he couldn't do that sitting by Astrid's lifeless form. "Let's go." Hiccup said before Toothless jumped into the sky.
Jack watched as Hiccup and Toothless flew upwards and soon disappeared into the clouds. "We better pray that she makes it, otherwise we won't have a leader to lead us." He said nodding towards Astrid.
"Whether she makes it or not, every things going to change. And I doubt for the better." Lizzy replied starring longingly at where Hiccup disappeared.
xXx
Snotlout could not believe what he was seeing, he watched as seven Vikings wrestled a Monstrous Nightmare into pen, where a Gronkle and Hideous Zippleback where already chained up. It had been a long time since the dragon pens had seen any use, ever since Hiccup left. But Stoick decided that with the impending arrival of the neighboring clan, some dragons should be captured and then on the arrival of the clan, a giant celebration was to take place where the main event was to be a tournament involving the best fighters and the captured dragons.
Snotlout helplessly watched as the dragons were shoved into the pens. As he looked at them he couldn't help but think of everything he had learned about dragons in the last few days, the absolute devotion and loyalty that the dragons he had met ad shown to their riders and the riders in return. Snotlout knew that he had to do something, not just because he saw the injustice of it all but also because if Hiccup and others found out that he knew that three innocent dragons were going to be killed for entertainment, they would never forgive him.
Snotlout stood up from where he was perched on the seating of the arena and set off in search of the twins, Astrid and Fishlegs to tell them what was happening, then head to the cove and formulate a plan to rescue the dragons and hopefully still be alive at the end. He started walking in the direction of the docks hoping to find Tuffnut and Ruffnut fishing. But as he started walking he heard someone call after him.
"Snotlout...Oi stop there I gotta talk to yeh." Snotlout turned round to see Stoick marching towards him, a cold expression on his face. Snotlout quickly started to panic, imagining the worst of what the chief wanted to talk to him about, but then tried to reason with himself that he was future chief and that there were a lot of things that the present chief would want to talk to him about, or so he hoped.
"Yeh ok lad? Yeh look like yeh noggin's spinning?" Stoic stared at Snotlout as many expressions passed across his face; surprise, worry, guilt, anger and many others before reverting back to his normal vacant expression.
"No of course not sir, nothing going on in my noggin." Snotlout replied and then frowned realising that he had just insulted himself.
"Very well." Stoic replied suspiciously, but carried on. "Just wanted your opinion on the events planned for the Ash Warrior clans arrival?"
'Oh my Thor, he knows that I'm planning to rescue the dragons, he's going to kill me!' Snotlout thought to himself. 'OK gotta play this smart and act like I'm not secretly planning on betraying the entire tribe.'
"Well chief I think that the tournament is a brilliant idea, it means we'll be able to show off the superior strength our tribe and make them see how allying with us would benefit them. And that's why you're chief because you come up with all the best ideas, I mean really I have to applaud your choice in entertainment, it is inspired." Snotlout laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Well...err... actually it was the elder's idea, I was originally really against it but she managed to persuade me. But I'm glad to see your...erm...happy with it. But I gotta ask lad, are ye ok your acting a bit...odd?"
"Me? I'm fine, never better." Snotlout replied trying (and failing) to act casual.
"Well, OK then." Stoick looked at Snotlout for a bit longer in which beads of sweat began to form on the future chief's forehead. But after a while Stoick walked off sacking his head.
'Thor that was close, but I think I managed to convince him nothing suspicious was going on.' Snotlout carried on walking towards the docks smiling to himself before he remembered why he was going to the docks, he then picked up the paste. However, luck seemed to be on his side as both the twins and Fishlegs were fishing when he arrived at the docks and thankfully there was no one else around.
"Hey guys," Snotlout called towards them, which caused the three of them to turn to him and wave, Snotlout bent down and whispered to them in case anyone came over.
"Listen, you know that another clan is coming tomorrow-" Snotlout started.
"Oh yeah, isn't it the one that Astrid's future husband belongs to? I still don't know how she's going to get out of that, but I know it's going to be funny to watch." Tuffnut laughed. Snotlout then hit him to get him to shut up.
"That's not important at the moment, what is important is the fact that Stoick has got three dragons caged up in the arena that he's planning of basically sacrificing to show off to the other clan. Now come on, we've got to find Astrid and then head over to the gorge to let Hiccup and the others know and hope they can do something to save them." Snotlout stood up and started walking off. He stopped when he realised that he friends weren't following him, he turned to see that they all had similar expressions of shock on their faces.
"Hurry up guys!" Snotlout urged. That seemed to snap them all out of their dazes and they jumped up and ran after Snotlout who was already halfway up the hill heading for Astrid's house. The four of them arrived panting outside the Hofferson house; they paused to catch their breaths before knocking. Astrid's mother Kenra the Battleborn answered the door.
"Good day kids, what can I do for you?" Kenra asked the out of breath teens on her door step. There was a moment of silence where all you could hear was Tuffnut muttering that they were no longer kids.
"We were just wondering if Astrid was in? And if not do you know where she is?" Ruffnut asked as politely as she could to try and hide her impatience.
"Well she's not here at the moment and come to think of it I haven't seen her all morning. But let me ask her Uncle." As she said that a huge form seemed to materialise behind her and Ingur the Greymane towered over the four of them.
"Ingur, do you know where Astrid is?" Kenra asked him.
"I heard her sneak out late last night, but apart from that no." Ingur said staring blankly down at his niece's friends."
The four friends looked at each other and nodded, all having the same idea as to where Astrid had snuck off to.
"Oh well never mind, I'm sure we'll find her." Ruffnut said taking a step back from the imposing couple.
"When you do tell her to get back here immediately, her future husband will be here tomorrow and she must be ready to receive him." Kenra said a slight sad tone to her voice.
"Ok we'll tell her." Ruffnut said before the four of them rushed off towards the forest. Kenra watched them head off into the forest.
"Don't you think Astrid has strange friends." She asked her brother. Ingur just grunted in response.
xXx
Astrid screamed in pain but she heard no sound come from her lips. Her entire body felt foreign to her, as if someone had placed her consciousness into another person's body. She could literally feel as every unfamiliar drop of blood coursed throughout her body, the pain was unbearable but yet she continued to live. Or maybe she was in Hel and her punishment was to exist until her judgment with the excruciating pain. But yet she could not bring herself to believe that she was dead, she felt a pull somewhere within her...in her blood?...No in her heart, she felt this ever present tug on her heart, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling and it was so faint that she almost didn't feel it due to the pain throughout the rest of the body. It definitely didn't hurt; it just felt empty like she was missing a piece. And that was why she refused to let the pain take over her, she was going to find that missing piece.
xXx
After Hiccup and his riders had scouted out dragon island, Hiccup had rushed back to the cove, leaving his friends to scout the rest of the labyrinth of rocks that made up Helhiem's Gate with the promise that they would return soon. Hiccup had been sitting with Astrid for what felt to him like days but in reality had on been an hour or two. Both Toothless and Etana hadn't left their riders sides.
Everything was still around that four of them, the wind ceased to blow, the clouds stopped moving blocking out the sun's rays and sound around them was mute as if Mother Nature herself was honoring the couple and waiting to see if Astrid would soon wake. Hiccup stared at Astrid and as each minute passed he lost more and more hope, he knew that he shouldn't, that at his own joining he was told that he slept for days before he awoke from joining. When compared to the seven or eight hours that Astrid head been sleeping for it was nothing. Yet Hiccup could not bring himself to care at that moment he just wanted her to wake.
Then suddenly everything seemed to happen at once to Hiccup, a gust of wind blew around him, the clouds began to move and the sun seemed to shine down them and noise erupted in the forest around them. Toothless and Etana jumped up, ears poked back frantically glancing around at the sudden motion. But Hiccup didn't notice any of that, because at that precise moment Hiccup felt this ... feeling, he couldn't think of any other way to describe it. But as he stared at Astrid's emotionless face he felt a tug at his heart, similar to the feeling he got when Toothless was faraway a kind of emptiness, but it felt different this time. He could literally feel Astrid's determination to make it through, make it back to him, to fill that emptiness.
I did intend for this chapter to carry on, but I thought that this was such a good stopping point so I'm splitting this chapter. But hopefully the next part of this chapter will be out soon.
Please review to let me know what you think or give constructive criticism.