DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HTTYD
HI! KING GODZILLA HERE, PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I'M TRYING TO IMPROVE HOW I WRITE BECAUSE WHEN I READ THE WHOLE STORY MYSELF, I SAW SOME ERRORS THAT WAS REALLY EMBARRASSING SO PLEASE TRY TO UNDERSTAND, ANYWAY THIS IS CHAPTER 11 – PLEASE ENJOY
Chapter 11: Reunited by Disaster
NORMAL POV
"That's it! The Arena, that's where I'm going to get a dragon" Astrid remembered as she stared at her axe. After that she ran straight to the arena. Then as she ran past through trees and boulders, the consequences about her choosing this path is already circling through her mind. "If I chose this, I will leave everything behind…berk, the village, including my friends, my little brothers, my parents, my…my whole family" The thought of leaving her family made her cry as she ran through the forest.
But to reassure herself, Astrid tried to think of the good side, "At least I'm not going to be stuck to that Snotface for the rest of my entire life…but still, I would surely miss my family if I did this". When the arena was on sight she suddenly stopped because another problem came to her mind and that problem is how will she? Train a dragon…by herself.
"I completely forgot about that!" she said to herself. She stood still for a minute and thought of a way of how she will train a dragon. She was looking down on the grassy plain, when she remembered something. She remembered the grass that Heather used to knock her dragon out of conscious. She knew that she was the only who saw it because Astrid thought that the girl that gave the grass to Heather was trying to hide it, but to Astrid she saw the whole thing. "What did she call this again…...I think its dragon nip" she thought
"Okay let's try this" she said and picked up a small pile of grass before she continued to run towards the arena. When she got there, it was a good thing that no one was around because if someone was loitering around the arena, it could delay her plans.
Astrid was now standing in front of the arena; she walked towards the lever and pulled it down to open the gate. As the metal gate of the arena rose up, memories started flashing back into her mind. But those memories wasn't a good one, she remembered the time when she saw Hiccup being pinned down to the floor with his dragon, shackled with bolas and ropes, getting readied to be killed. After that memory, next was the conversation with Scunner and then her realizing all her actions towards Hiccup, next was the dragon raid until he left. But ever since then, she regretted that she did those things to him, she also regretted that she told everyone about his secret and because of that, the thought of Hiccup not forgiving her forever came to her mind.
And because of that thought, a single tear fall down her cheek. But she quickly wiped that single tear of despair away and held herself from breaking into tears again because she believes that if she did this, she could have a single ray of hope that Hiccup will still forgive him and she's going to do it first by showing him that she can change and it's going to start right here, and right now.
Astrid decided first that she'll take the Deadly Nadder as her dragon because she always seemed to have a liking on those dragons and it's because of their variant and exotic colors of their scales, one more thing she liked about them is their reputation, they were told to be one of the most beautiful species of dragons yet dangerous because of their poisonous spines, and what amazed her more about them are their extremely hot fire, they can melt anything easily in seconds.
She was about to pull the lever of the pen of the Nadder when she remembered that she still have her axe. The first thing she knew about training a dragon is never to show the dragon that you are a threat and removing all your weapons is the first step. She went over to the chest and hid her axe in there. "Okay here goes nothing" she said to herself before she pulled the lever.
Once the dragon heard that its own pen is being opened, it bursted out of its cage by ramming the heavy wooden doors with its head. "Maybe I shouldn't have done this" Astrid thought because to the looks of the Nadder, the dragon wasn't in a good mood. But there's no turning back now.
The dragon took a quick look around the arena searching for its target but there was no one around. Then the dragon began to let its guard down but when it turned around it saw Astrid and reverted back to being aggressive.
The Dragon greeted her with a loud squawk before it dashed for her. Astrid wanted to run but she held her ground because something is telling her that if she ran away, the dragon could think that she really is a threat. So she just closed her eyes, bit her lip and averted her head waiting for the dragon to do something to her. "Please stop, please stop, please stop, please stop" were the words she kept repeating in her head.
Instead of a painful blow, a bite, or a spine piercing through her body she only felt the heavy breathing of the dragon. She opened her eyes and saw that the dragon was looking at her, she backed away a little from the sight because this is the first time she's been close to a dragon that didn't tried to kill her. While for the Nadder, it was still studying her, "Well this is new…What is this human doing? Where is her weapon? Isn't she here to kill me? Or is this is just a trick?" the Nadder thought as it study her.
Astrid didn't know what to do, she was really nervous because one wrong move it can agitate the dragon and kill her, "Now what?...Should I move? Should I touch it? Should I talk to it?...Wait, Heather said dragons could understand humans…." she thought.
"Uhhh…Hi?" Astrid started. The Nadder backed up a little and raised its head, confused about the situation. Astrid felt a sudden rush of relief when the dragon backed up away from her. But this wasn't a time for relaxing because the dragon is still confused about the situation. "Humans can be so weird sometimes" it thought as it judged her.
Then Astrid began to approach the dragon, thinking that it already calmed down, but as soon as she stepped forward, the Nadder's tail spikes stood up, warning her that if Astrid continued, it will not hesitate to kill her.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you" Astrid said to reassure the dragon. "A human apologizing to a dragon!…this is totally something new" the dragon said. "I don't mean you any harm okay…look I don't have a weapon" she said with a shaky voice due of her nervousness as she stands before a dragon for the first time defenseless. "So what, it doesn't mean you're not going to kill me or something" the dragon retorted back but Astrid still doesn't understand dragons.
"Okay…this will sound crazy and absurd, but can you be my…my dragon?" Astrid asked. "Huh? Now you want me to be your dragon? Seriously, what is wrong with this human today" the Nadder said, weirded out by the human's behavior towards her, but the dragon was now sure of one thing though, that this girl right in front of it is not an enemy but a human who wants to be friends.
Then as the dragon realized that Astrid was not a threat to her anymore, it remembered something, "This human is acting the same as the humorous boy, the beautiful raven-haired girl, and the night-fury rider, from five years ago…maybe this one is also like them" It thought as the Nadder studied Astrid.
Then the Dragon began to move closer and started sniffing her. Astrid felt anxious as the dragon came closer to her. There's a part of her that wants to get away from the dragon but there's also a part of her that wants to stay and she can tell that that part of her is winning, or she's just frozen in fear.
"This human seems nice…maybe I'll give her a chance to prove herself to me…." The Dragon thought. "But how?...". "I heard you Dragons like this" Astrid said all of the sudden, breaking the dragon's thoughts. Astrid was about to grab the dragon nip inside her satchel but the dragon in front of her growled, suspicious about what she was about to do. "It's okay I'm not going to grab a knife or anything that will harm you…I promise" she promised the dragon.
She slowly grabbed the dragon nip inside her bag and showed it to the dragon. "What is that?" the dragon said. Then from the other cage, the Gronckle spoke, "Hey if that's a bunch of smooth grass, I want it because it's so relaxing to my skin I mean scales actually" the gronckle from inside stated. "This grass is relaxing? How is this going to relax me?" The Nadder asked while looking at the cage of the gronckle. "Get close to the human and…is the human a she or a he?" the Gronckle asked. "It's a she" the blue Nadder replied. "Oh…then 'she' will do the rest" the Gronckle said.
The Deadly Nadder started to approach Astrid again, but this time Astrid was confident that it will not attack her because she now has the dragon nip and she also had seen it work on a dragon, and that dragon was much scarier than this Nadder.
When the Nadder was only inches apart from her. Astrid started to move her hand towards the dragon's snout, "Please don't bite my hand, please don't bite my hand, please don't bite my hand" she thought as the dragon sniff out the nip. When her hand touched the scales of the snout, one thing came to her mind, "Amazing". She started to rub the dragon nip to the dragon's snout and when she did, the dragon collapsed, but it was still conscious just extremely relaxed because of the dragon nip.
While Astrid is still amazed at the scene "Wow, never thought a dragon could actually act like this" she said pertaining to the dragon that was lying on the ground with its mouth open with its tongue out. Astrid kneeled down and touched the dragon's head, but as she kneeled down beside the dragon, she started to cry again because this scene she is witnessing is the whole proof that all these years they were the ones who is wrong while Hiccup has always been…right. And what's worse they shove him away instead of listening to him. "Hiccup I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…I should have listened" she said crying while caressing the dragon's head.
Then after a few seconds, the Nadder regained its senses to see the human girl crying in front of her. "Huh? What's wrong? Did something happen?" the Nadder said as it stood up. The Nadder nudged Astrid by the shoulder to get her attention. Astrid looked up at the dragon, still crying. "Oh…you're awake" she said.
Astrid wiped out the trails of tears before she stood up. "Don't worry about me…I just got dust in my eyes, that's all" she reassured. "So…you want to help me, escape?" she asked again if the Nadder would like to be her dragon. "Oh…that was the reason I wanted you to be my dragon…you see I want to escape this place and find a…let's say a certain someone I haven't seen for years so I can apologize to him about…about something" Astrid explained.
"And who is this…." the Nadder would like to ask her who was that certain someone but it remembered that Astrid still can't understand dragons, "I wish you could understand me…but I guess I could let you ride me, but how do I tell you that?" the dragon wondered, and then eventually it got a way to tell her. But before the Nadder did something, Astrid asked the dragon something, "Uh?...are you a boy?". Hearing Astrid's question, the dragon squawked and raised it wings in denial. "I'll take that as a girl" Astrid replied hysterically.
The Nadder then lowered her body and gestured her head to her back. Astrid kept looking at her with a confused face, thinking what the dragon was doing, but because of Astrid being smart, she got what the dragon was trying to say in just seconds, "You want me to…ride you?" Astrid asked. "Well what do you think I'm doing?" the dragon asked, but unfortunately, Astrid still doesn't understand her.
"Uh…sorry to break it to you, but were not flying…yet, maybe…" then Astrid began to think of when they will leave. "Maybe…before the wedding?...No, because by that time mothers will be swarming over me, giving me tips about being a wife or a mother…." She thought, "Maybe…two days before the wedding?" she said to no particular. "Alright then, were leaving two days before my wedding" she decided. Then as she think about the wedding, the scene of her kissing Snotlout on the lips entered her mind. "Ugh….YUCK!" she said in disgust.
"Now the only thing left to know is when will that stupid wedding is going to happen" she said before she looked back at the dragon. "You head back to you cage first, we'll I'll let you know when we will leave" she instructed the dragon. "Who does this human think she is...you're still not my rider…but at least I'm going to leave this place" the Nadder said before it headed back to its own cage.
After the dragon had entered its cage, Astrid went to close it. After that she looked around the arena to see if anyone saw what happened and to the looks of it no one has been there to see anything. After that, she got out and closed the gates to the arena.
ASTRID'S POV
"I can't believe it! A dragon actually wanted me to ride on her back…at least that's what I think she was doing a while ago" I thought. I can feel relief, excitement, and happiness go through me. I feel relief because now I have a dragon that will help me leave berk, I feel exited because I can't wait to know how it feels to fly, and I feel happiness because…well because now I 'do' have a chance to meet…Hiccup, But I also felt sadness because…like I said I'd still leave my family if I did this.
But that doesn't change the fact that my father sold me for his own needs. I really hate him for doing that…I mean come on, why of all people should it be Snotlout, he knows that I hate him, can it be just someone else I don't know. I'm not saying I want to get married to anyone immediately but can't they just wait for me to choose who I wanted to get betrothed with.
When I got to the village, people swarmed me with their congratulations about me getting married, which I totally hated. There was nothing to do today just errands that I have to do for my parents, but I doubt anything will happen today because of the talk that just happened this morning. I still have to go to the house though because they still might give me some work.
On the way to the house, I met…him, Snotlout. "Can this day might get any worse!" I thought. "Hey babe… have you already heard the news you and I are getting mar…" was all he said as I delivered a jab in his face. "What was that for!" he exclaimed. "I'm going to let you know that I am not happy about this thing and I will never be" I retorted. He was still holding on to his nose because of the punch that I just gave, "Would you stop denying it, I know you like me" he flirted.
"YOU GOT SOME NERVE TO CLAIM THAT I LIKED YOU!" I yelled at him. Then suddenly a man spoke, "Wow I'm surprised that the two of you are already having an argument like a wedded couple, you two are really meant for each other you know" the villager said. I wanted to yell, "Get your face out of here!" but he already left and got on his way. I looked back at Snotlout who was having a smug look on his face, "See even people think we're perfect for each other" he said.
"'They' think were perfect but for me we are not! And were not going to be 'perfect' for each other… forever" I declared with an angry face. After that I walked past him and got on to the way to the house, but Snotlout spoke again "Well you can't escape it … were gonna get married in three days' time you know, my father and yours are talking about it as we speak" he said, I looked back at him with a shocked expression on my face. "And there is nothing you can do about it" he added, teasing me.
"This man is really never going to let me hear the end of it, is he?" I thought irritated, but putting that thought aside, did he just said were going to get married in three days? "What did you say?" I asked to make sure I wasn't hearing things. "There is nothing you ca…." "That's not it, you idiot…before that" I said. "Were going to get married in three days' time, why? You're going to get yourself prepared for me?" He said flirting with me…again. "Since when did I care about showing myself to you?...And one more thing, GET THE HELL OUTT OF HERE!" I yelled and grabbed the axe from my back, warning him that if he doesn't leave, things are going to get ugly.
He had a frightened look on his face before he quickly went on his way. "Good no last comments"I said, but I spoke too soon, "See you in our wedding babe" he said. "Why you little…ugh" I said irritated while he ran away from me. I began to walk again toward the house when I remembered what Snotlout said a while ago, "Shit! What am I going to do now, I still have to train the nadder before I could ride her" I said in frustration. I continued to walk, thinking of a new plan…Actually there will be no changing of plans, I'll still leave berk…but I'll leave early that I expected, I'll leave tonight.
I started to run towards the house again. When I got there no one was at the house. I'm guessing that my mother is buying something at the market for lunch or something. My two brothers are outside hanging out with their friends and as for my father…well talking with Spitelout about that stupid damn wedding.
I went to my room and packed the bag with a couple of things that I'm going to need for the trip. After that another problem came into my mind, "wait...if I disappeared from the village suddenly with a dragon missing from the arena…that would make them think that I left with a dragon and because of that our family name could be shamed and disgraced" I thought.
I don't want that, if I'm going to leave, I have to at least give them with no trouble or any sort. I want to leave them with me just as their problem and nothing more, and I'm going to do that by…well there's only one way to do that…and that is to fake my death.
(Nightfall)
I spent the whole day doing the thing I always hated…nothing. I wanted to train the Nadder but there were already people loitering around the arena when I got there. So I went to the woods to train myself as usual but after a few minutes, Snotlout and his friends showed up. Then when I got home…again, there was still no one around, so I went to my room and spent the whole day doing nothing.
But somewhere along the day of nothingness, I planned my way on how I will get out of here. It's pretty simple actually, first I have to make myself angry about something, but that will only happen if my parents talked to me and trying to make me understand the situation about the marriage. Then if that happened, next is I will storm out of the house and head straight to the arena. And if I got there, I have to make a bloody scene, and I'll make that by splattering a wild boar's blood at the wall of the arena, that will serve as my blood. Then I'll leave my axe there to let them identify that the I was the one who died, and that's probably it I'll leave with the dragon.
Then it's up to the gods to decide whatever happens to me if I did get out of here. And if I do find Hiccup "What will I say to him?" I thought,because of that, I began to ponder over my decision about leaving Berk, I mean if he did see me on a dragon that still doesn't mean that he'll forgive me. I sighed at my thought, but all I want is to fix the gap that has been open between us for five years and be friends with him, because I may like it or not…I will live with him with the dragons for my entire life, but I can't do that until I meet him, and apologize to him. But I think I'll like it because it's better than living with the rest of my life with Snotlout as my husband.
Then a knock on my door disrupted me from my thoughts, "Astrid dear, dinner's ready" I heard my mom say behind the door. "Okay time to put on the act" I thought. I went to the door and opened, I walked past my mother without saying another word. I heard her sigh behind me as I began to climb down the stairs. I saw my father and my two brothers already sitting at the table, they kept looking at me until I sat down the table with them.
Then when my mother sat at the table, my father spoke, "Halvar, it's your turn to say the blessings" my brother nodded, "Lord Odin and Lady Freya, Thank you for the blessings that you will give us for today and for the future days to come". After that we started to eat in silence. Our dinner was chicken. Its aroma was circling the entire house. I took a chicken leg and began to eat, but when I was just about to take a bite, my father broke the silence, "Astrid, Have you reconsidered about your marriage with Spitelout's son?" he asked.
My grip on the chicken leg tightened as I got irritated when he said that, "That damn topic again" I thought. "I did…and it's still a very big freaking No!" I replied. I saw my father's face turned into an angry one, "You will marry him and you will eventually learn to love him, and stop being so childish about this and just follow your parent's wishes!" He said as he stood up. I slammed my fist at the table, "Follow your wishes so you can have what you want!" I retorted.
"It's not…" "Tell me, what did they offered you" I said, cutting him. He wasn't able to say a single thing after that. "See! See! They offered you a lot of things didn't them…like gold or silver …what else, huh? A whole set of new armor and weapons? Come on tell me! Tell me what they offered you to make you accept that stupid damn marriage without hearing my damn opinion!" I said angrily. "You have to understand Astrid that were doing this for you" my mom suddenly told me, "Mama, you too? Why is this stupid marriage is so important to both of you anyway?" I asked.
"You have to understand dear that were doing this for you. You have to learn that you'll be a wife of a man someday, and a lot have already offered for your hand from other villages…" then I cut in, "Can't you just accept those ones?" I asked. "We wanted to, but visiting you is going to be a hard time, so we accepted Spitelout's offer…" my mom explained, "Just like that! What am I to you? Let me remind you I'm a Human not a thing that you trade for something!"
My father grunted from that reply and stood up, "You will marry him and that is my final decision" He proclaimed. Then I realized something, no matter how much I argue with them they're still going to continue the wedding, "You know what it's pointless arguing with you…I'm done" I said and stood up from the table, "Don't you turn your back on us Astrid!" my father said, but he's too late I already as I turned my back on them and dashed straight at the door. I slammed the door shut, and started to run away.
Then as I ran away from them, I felt that my eyes were brimming with tears. I was crying because I realized that that was my last dinner with my whole family…and it ended up with an argument. "What is wrong with them?! Can't they just wait for me to choose the man who I like to end up with?" I thought as I run, still crying. I guess leaving this place is really the right decision, because I don't think that they care about me anymore…they didn't even bother to talk to me the whole day. They didn't even bother to know my opinion about this damn marriage.
But all of that doesn't matter now because I'm about to leave this place forever, and now's the time to proceed with my plan. I wiped the trail of tears on my face and continued to run towards the arena. The Gods might be smiling down on me right now because as I ran to the arena, I spotted a wild boar just meters away from me and that boar is just what I needed.
I grabbed the axe from my waist and started to sneak behind it. Suddenly, I accidentally stepped on a fallen branch of a tree, causing the boar to notice me. I thought it was going to run away but it charged straight for me. Then with just one blow to the side of the head, it was knocked out. I kept the boar alive because if I killed it on the spot, it would leave a trail of blood while I dragged it to the arena, causing my plan to fall apart.
When I got to the arena, it was silent as the night. I looked around if anyone was around, but luckily no one was. Then the boar squeaked, giving me a start, it continued to squeak with an annoying sound. So I went on to my plan, I continued to drag the boar inside the arena. I decided that I'm not the one who's going to kill the boar but the Nadder; it was perfect actually, because this boar will serve as her meal before we leave…if she wants it. But before she eats it she has one more thing to do and that is to splatter the blood across the arena.
"Time to do this" I said to myself before I opened the Nadder's cage. When it opened, I saw the Nadder sleeping at the corner of her cage. I was about to touch her back, but she woke up. I thought it was going to attack me but it kept staring at me, like it was studying me. Then I realized that it wasn't staring at me, but it was staring at the boar.
"I guess you're hungry, huh?" I said at the Nadder. The dragon nodded at my question, "But before you eat it, uh…can you…Uh, how should I say this?...uhmm can you splatter the boar's blood on that part of the arena before you eat it?" I said. The Nadder didn't budge and kept staring at me. I sighed and decided that I will kill the boar and she'll just eat it. But just as I was about to walk towards the boar, the Nadder pulled me by the shirt by using the tip of her beak and went past me. I was surprised at that, because I'd never thought that it would really understand me.
The animal squeaked again as the Nadder appeared in front of it. I was thinking if I should watch the Nadder kill a boar or not, because this is the first time I will see a dragon kill another creature which is not human. But before I could decide, the boar was already hanging dead on the Nadder's jaws. She went to the wall of the arena and started shaking the boar, splattering its blood.
When she was done, the Nadder looked at me. I actually got scared for a moment back there because when she looked at me, her face was full of blood while she still holds the dead animal in her jaws. "Uh…thank you I guess" I said. She dropped the boar on the ground, and tried to lick the blood out of her face, I can see that she was having a hard time removing the blood from her face, so I went over to the side of the arena where the barrels of water are piled up. I took a barrel of water and placed it in front of her, "Here, wash your face with this" I said. She placed her head inside the barrel.
While she was doing that, I went to the blood coated part of the arena. "I'm really about to do this, am I?" I thought as I laid my weapon on the ground. I stood up and faced the Nadder; it was confused at whatever she was doing…No! Wait it's gesturing me to hop on. The Nadder kept repeating the thing that she was doing while I was wondering why. I only realized why the dragon kept doing it is when a voice spoke, "Someone's at the arena… Who's in there?"
I rushed to her and mounted on her back. Then she did something that confused me and amazed me at the same time. She destroyed the gates of her cage by burning the metal chisels, causing it to fall on the ground and then she shot spikes at the part of the wall where she splattered the boar's blood. "A Dragon escaped!" the voice from outside the arena yelled. She started to flap her wings, and in just a few seconds we're up in the air.
She flew straight for the exit. Three spears automatically flew in front of us, just barely missing the Nadder's head. I looked back at the arena and saw three men looking at us. I was hoping that they didn't saw me, because if they did, I could have risked my parents name to be shamed. But I'm a hundred percent sure that they didn't see anything because the moon was covered by the clouds and so are the stars.
Then suddenly all of my blood went down as I saw that I was now fifty feet above the sea. "Oh my Gods!" I exclaimed as I held on to the Nadder. The Nadder was going south, which was the wrong way, "Hey, You're going the wrong way…we need to go north" I said, as I tried to shift the dragon to go north. But in just a few seconds of struggling, the dragon turned around and flew towards north. Then as we flew out of Berk, I heard a loud cry, "No!" It was the voice of my mother. "Stop for a second" I ordered the Nadder, and when she stopped I looked around and saw that my parents were at the arena, my mother was holding the axe in her arms, crying.
My eyes started to get watery, and eventually I also began to cry. "Mama I'm sorry…I'm sorry" I said. Then I patted the Nadders back, telling her to go. We turned away from the scene and left, and that was the last time I saw Berk…and my family. The thought of leaving them, shattered my heart into a thousand pieces, "I chose this, so there will be no turning back now…I have to endure this" I thought to myself, "but for the last time, I-I'll let myself cry for them" I said to no particular and then…I let myself to cry.
I cried myself out for hours and after some time, I eventually got tired and fell asleep. But the last thing that entered my mind was Hiccup, "I'll get to you, one way or another" I muttered and drifted off to sleep.
HEATHER'S POV
(At the forge)
"I swear I'll make this forge larger so Azriel can get inside to strangle those guys" I muttered while I sharpen an axe at the grinding wheel. I mean seriously, those two mutton heads have been bugging me for three days now. Good thing that Gobber is here otherwise I could have already fed the two of them to Azriel. First they were playing with fire and because of that Scunner's door was nearly burned, second was they were arguing about something and started beating up each other, literally messing up everything they came into, and recently they argued with each other but with irritating, loud voices.
My Father can't keep them occupied after all because of the ongoing work at the great hall. Azriel can't come in so she went to great to help and the only one helping me here in the forge is Gobber and Fishlegs, while the twins kept stressing me out, but on the good side there are only ten, maybe twelve weapons left before the job here is finished and I'll be on my way to Hiccup. It made me smile when that came to my head, but that happy thought was changed by an angry as I heard a voice of an irritating boy, "Ugh what's that smell…was that you…Ugh, you farted didn't you?" I heard Tuffnut say to Ruffnut, starting an argument…again. I looked back at them and gave them a deadly glare. They quickly shut their mouths up when I gave them that look, showing that I am really irritated at them.
We've been working in the forge non-stop because Gobber said that he can't also stay that long, he said that he's supposed to help reconstruct the forge and with him staying here is delaying that, so the two of us have been working non-stop. We'd only rest to take lunch and our sleep was only five to six hours, so if we finished this today I think I'll rest first or take a day off and catch a few winks before I got on my way to Hiccup.
I placed the axe on the pile of weapons where the finished ones are placed, then grabbed the next weapon to be sharpened, which is a spear. "Uh…Heather where's the Firewood again? We're running out of fire in the hearth here" Fishlegs asked me seriously. "It's on the second floor, next to my room" I answered, "thanks" he said before he went upstairs. "What's wrong with Fishlegs…I mean what happened to him? From being a smart, dragon geek he became this very serious man" I asked Gobber. "I don't know actually, we came here he was still that man and the next thing I knew he was that already" he said. "I know why" Ruffnut said butting in. "Know what exactly?" I asked. "I know why Fishlegs started to act like that" she said and continued, "He said something about what Hiccup felt all these years…when he was still on berk, when we were teased by some people from your village on the day we arrived here" she stated.
I was surprised a that because who would have thought that someone from our past would still realize that after all these years, "Who cares about that…" was all Tuffnut said as cut in by throwing a newly sharpened spear at the base of the chair he was sitting on. "On second thought I care about Hiccup very much…I wonder where he has been these past years" He said quickly, but unlucky him, he was till punched by Ruffnut in the face. "This is a new decoration, there are stars in your ceiling" Tuffnut said. "Idiot" I heard Ruffnut muttered.
Then Fishlegs came down from the stairs, holding a pile of Firewood. The room fell silent after that, but Gobber broke the awkward silence, "So Heather how did the three of you make this forge to look like this?" he asked me. "Hiccup was actually the one who planned it all out and for me and Scunner, we just followed it out" I replied, "with the help of Toothless and Azriel of course" I added. "Hiccup planned this eh…that explains why the forge is so big, to make your dragon and his fit inside too, am I right?" Gobber said looking around. "Well yeah, but as you can see Azriel can't fit in anymore because of her largeness while Toothless and Hiccup are…nowhere to be found…so basically I'm the one who's left here" I stated.
"I can tell that it really must have been hard for you being abandoned like that" Tuffnut said, which is wrong. "I wouldn't say it like that...after all they said they would come back" I retorted, "Actually it's more like, it's going to be me who will come back to him" I thought. "Why didn't you searched for them?" Ruffnut asked me. I got a little depressed when she asked me that, "Well I tried but I have covered almost a hundred mile radius and there's still no signs of them…well there are some point where I almost got near to him…people said that a boy same as me, riding a dragon came there just hours ago. Then I asked where he headed and they always pointed to the uncharted territories of their land…and when I got there we always get lost because of the stupid snow blizzard that time" I explained with a downed voice, "You'll be sorry that you tried to hide from me, Hiccup" I thought.
"Oh that reminds me…" Gobber said getting everyone's attention "is there by any chance you know something about rumors of a dragon that has been desolating entire villages, islands, even a roman base camp is destroyed, I'm saying this because only with the size of your dragon can destroy such places?" He said. "Not that I'm accusing you, but do you anything about this by any chance?" He added. Everyone's gaze was on me now, but the truth is I really don't know anything about this, but knowing that there's a dragon capable of destroying entire islands and not just that but even a roman base, it left me wondering what the dragon would look like if there is such a thing, "From what I know about dragons, only much larger species than Azriel can do that and to know that there's even a dragon bigger than her and to believe that something like that actually exist…Well that's something new to me, but where did you hear this from" I asked Gobber. "I heard it from trader Johann…he said that he was supposed to deliver an important cargo but when he got there he said that all he saw was a devastated village with a few survivors…when he asked them what happened there, they told Johann that a black towering enormous dragon came through their village desolating everything in its path…they also showed him a footprint and Johann said it was bigger than his boat" Gobber stated.
When Gobber said that, it really got me the chills because I imagined that if dragon like that stood in front me or like starred at me with its own eyes…I don't what I will do, "Well that's…that's…well, I don't know anything about that, I didn't know that a Dragon like that even…well exist" I said. "But I'll make sure I'll tell Hi…", then I stopped myself and let the axe fall out of my hands to cause some commotion and make them forget the thing that I was about to say, but unfortunately the were listening to that, "Uh…Hi who?" Ruffnut asked me.
I started fidgeting and my hands also started to fiddle as I reached down for the axe, "Crap, now what am I going to tell them!" I exclaimed in my mind. "Uh…Hi…Hildegarde…she's…she's dragon expert here in the village, yeah she's a dragon expert…yeah" I said, "Uh…is it just me or did that sounded like you just came up with that just now" Tuffnut said. Everyone nodded except Gobber, "Uh…what do you mean, I really meant that you know and I did not made that up…you can go see for yourselves if you like" I said. By the looks of their face they were not buying it, "Anyway enough about that…our ship will arrive any time of the day, so we might finish the job first before you all go wandering around town" Gobber said, returning to his work and same goes for them, "Thank you Gobber" I thought before I returned to my work.
After we finished, they quickly tied the whole cargo of weapons back to the wagon and for me I quickly called Azriel so she can help us pull the wagon because they said the ship was already on the horizon. "Tuffnut! What are you doing?! The ship will be on the docks any minute now so get your ass here and help us" Ruffnut yelled to his brother. "Okay! Okay, sheeesh" he retorted. "I think this two can possibly out roar me…I already know that I'm loud when I roar but these two are really on a different level of annoying" Azriel said complaining. I did a weak laugh and said, "…and now you know what has been stressing me these past three days"
Now Azriel did a small laugh, "Well it's a good thing I was born a dragon…anyway strap that wagon to my so we could start going on our way to Hiccup" she said. "Well I think you're right so let's do this" I said then I secured the ropes to Azriel's saddle and then I just waited for them to finish securing the ropes an when they did, we got on our way to the docks.
When we arrived at the docks, we saw that their ship or berk's ship was already docking. My father was talking with Stoick again and just by looking at their face, I can tell that they were having a serious talk again. "Stoick nice to see of you again…so how's berk?" I heard Gobber ask at him. Then Stoick beckoned to him to come with him, they stopped at a tree, far from us. My curiosity is getting to me again so I eavesdropped…I know It's kind of a childish act but I don't like being left out on something. "Hey Azriel can yo…", "Let me guess you want to know what they're talking about" she said, beating me to it. "You know me too well" I said with a smile.
I was still riding on Azriel, hovering from the ground when she started eavesdropping, "Don't make it so obvious, look the other way then listen" I said to avoid getting caught. "Okay…they're talking about some things about the village…oh and someone getting married..." "Wait who's getting married…" I asked but she didn't answered me and stayed silent, "Azri? Hey Azri? Hey Azriel is everything alright?" I said but she still didn't answer, "hey Az..." Then she cut me off, "The blonde girl is Astrid right?" she asked. "Yeah, what about her?" I said.
"Well they said she's…dead" she said. "What? She's dead?" I said with a blank face. "They said she's dead" she repeated, "How did she die?" I said for her to keep listening to them. But before Azriel could speak again, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut came below us, "Uh…Heather, who are you talking to? And who's dead?" Fishlegs asked. "Crap" I said in my mind, "uh…what are you talking about? Nobody's dead…nobody…" I said. Then Azriel spoke, "Heather there's no point in lying, you're just delaying it, and sooner or later they will know". I sighed "Okay…there are some news waiting for all of you…but it's better to know it from someone on your village" I told them. The three of them looked at each other first before they went to Stoick.
I was on Azriel's back while I watch them walk slowly towards Stoick, but when they saw Gobber broke into tears they rushed up to them. Stoick turned to them and held out his hand, stopping them on their tracks. And when Stoick told them the news, Ruffnut fell down to her knees, crying. Fishlegs also kneeled down and rubbed Ruffnut's back, trying to calm her down while Tuffnut was having a blank face, shocked from the news.
"that was like you when Scunner and Hiccup left you know…you were so broken, we don't know how to calm you down" Azriel said, breaking the silence as we watch the scene happen before us. "What was I supposed to feel? Happy?" I said with a little bit of sarcasm in my voice. "I'm not saying you should have felt happy that time…I mean who feels happy when their best friend or someone important to them left them…anyway the point on what I'm saying here is, even though you can't do anything about the situation anymore, at least try to cheer them up or something you know" she said.
"I gotta say you're right though, even if those guys were one of the reasons why the three of us left berk and the ones that also gave me a heck of three days" I said. "Are you trying to be sarcastic when you said that or serious?" she said, doubting me if I'm really serious or not. "I am serious" I confirmed, "but I don't blame you, because that really sounded like I was really being sarcastic" I added with a chuckle. Then I pated Azriel's head, telling her to lower me down, "I guess I'll try to say some few words to them" I said.
I went to them slowly because I'm still thinking what I'm supposed to say to them, but I went to my father first to know the whole story of how did Astrid died, "Hey dad? How did she die?" I asked my father, still looking at the Berkians who was still sulking because of Astrid's death. "Stoick said that it was maybe because of the wedding contract that her father agreed with Spitelout…" "Astrid's was supposed to marry Snotlout!" I said, surprised from the news because from what I know, Astrid's father knew that Astrid hates Snotlout, so why did he accepted it.
"Yes…she was supposed to marry that man which angered her, Stoick also said that maybe she got frustrated when she knew that her wedding was going to be in three days, which is supposed to be today…then with all of that, she took all of her frustration on dragon training…at night" he sighed before continuing, "the next morning all they saw on the arena was just her axe and splattered blood on a side of the wall…and the dragon that killed her escaped"
I was shocked when I heard that. I was now hesitating to go to them and try to say a few words to calm them down because now that I know how Astrid died, maybe I should just step out from this because I have a dragon myself, the creatures that killed their friend, but before I knew it I was already behind them with Fishlegs already staring at me with his eyes, red from crying. "Guys…I'm really sorry for your loss…I'm really sorry" I said. Ruffnut rose to her feet and turned to me, "No It's okay, it's not your fault…IT'S THOSE BRUTAL, SAVAGE, FUCKING DRAGONS FAULT! LIKE THAT ONE, YOU HAVE YOURSELF!" she yelled pointing at Azriel, which angered me of course.
"Their fault?! Their Fault?! How did that became the dragon's fault?" I retorted, "They weren't the one that killed Astrid! it was her father's fault…he forced her to marry Snotlout which was the reason why Astrid tried to handle a dragon by herself, which she failed, resulting for the dragon to kill her, so blame her father, not the dragons" I said reasoning with her, "and let's try to leave Azriel out of this…she didn't do anything" I added.
"That thing may have done nothing…but those creatures caused her death!" She said, gritting her teeth while looking at Azriel. "I told you blame Astrid's father not Azriel and she is not a thing, she is a living creature…" then Ruffnut cut me off, "with a pitch black color for a soul and they're a heartless killing things!" she said. Now I'm really pissed, "That is it! I am tired reasoning with you! I've been holding myself from trying to kill all of you because of that stupid peace treaty between this village and yours! I am done trying to be nice to all of you! I can't take this anymore!" I said really angry because of their irritating personalities.
I saw Ruffnut was about to say something again but I wasn't finished yet, and I know that this next one that I will say will totally get on her nerves, "And you know what…maybe it's a good thing Astrid died" I said with an angry straight face. I saw that her eyes bolted up from those words, she raised her fist and tried to punch me in the face but due to my reflexes, I caught her hand and held it firmly, "Think about it as a punishment" I said as she tried to free her hand out of my grip, "If you imbeciles haven't drove Hiccup away, he could have fixed this whole dragon problem thing of yours, and those dragons in your freaking arena should have been freed by now…and Astrid would still be alive right now!" I yelled at her before I released my grip on her arms.
She fell on the ground because of that, she looked up at me with red eyes because of crying, I can see anger in her eyes, but other than that I can also see hurt, But I wasn't going to go stop just because of that, "think of it…it all make sense, if all of you stubborn people had listened to Hiccup, he could have stopped the dragon raids forever, he could have even made peace with all of the dragons…and by that, those dragons you imprisoned in that damn arena should have already been freed, then Astrid wouldn't have taken out all of her anger on dragons by challenging them whenever she got mad or frustrated on something! Then she would still be living till this moment!" I explained.
"Break it up...Break it up" my father said, cutting in between us to prevent any fights. "That's enough…Everyone aboard the ship, we have to leave the island immediately, I still have some important task to do back at the village" Stoick said, also cutting in. Ruffnut stood up and shot me an angry glare which I also returned with an angry glare before we parted our ways. She went to the ship while I returned to Azriel's side.
"I am so sorry that I requested you to do that" Azriel apologized, "No…don't apologize, that was the right thing to do actually…you know, telling me to say about some things to them to make them feel better…they just didn't took it so well" I reassured her. "But still…I'm sorry" she said, "Well if you insist" I told her with a weak laugh.
We watched the Berkians as they left our island without saying another word. It was a good thing that they didn't because I could have yelled some things about them again that would lead into some nerve wracking arguments. "Well let's pack up and go" Azriel said, behind me. "Oh my gods!...I forgot, let's go!" I blurted out as I remembered that with the entire job done and the berkians have already left, I can go to Hiccup now.
I went to my father, who was still at the docks talking to the dock master. "Dad!" I called out, he looked at me and turned back to Gibbs, "Well talk again later Gibbs" he said, Gibbs responded with a nod before he left. "What's the matter?" he asked me. "Since the people from berk are gone, I would li…" "Oh…that's right you have to travel to Hiccup, am I right?" my father said. I quickly nodded with a huge grin across my face, "let's go and tell your mother first" He said. "Let's go then, time is wasting" I remarked before we went home.
When we arrived at the house, we found my mother preparing the table for lunch; she just placed the smoked Icelandic cod on the table. "Good timing you two…now let's eat while the food is still warm" she said before she sat at the table and then my father and I followed. After we sat at the table we said our prayers and went on to eating.
"So dear, how did it go in the forge today?" my mother asked me. "Can we not talk about those people" I replied with a frown. "What happened?" she said, and judging the tone of her voice, I can tell that she know that the thing happened to me isn't good at all. "I thought you were on good terms with them already?" she told me. "Yeah I was…until they blamed Azriel and the entire dragon race for Astrid's death" I said in an angry tone. I looked at her and she had this shocked look on her face. "Someone died?!" she exclaimed. "Yeah…Astrid, the blonde girl that was here three days ago…the one reason why Hiccup left" I reminded her.
"How did she die?" she asked me, "Ask dad… Stoick told dad the whole story" I stated. "Hey, I already told you the whole thing, you tell it" He said. "I am not going to…" "Stop whining! Just tell me what happened!" my mother exclaimed, annoyed at us. I quickly shut my mouth up and the same goes for my father, "I will never know how mom scares dad like that…I mean anyone could tell that he can be an extremely tough man in just one look, while mom on the other hand, looks like she's just an ordinary beautiful woman from the village….I guess never judge a book by its cover" I thought.
I heard my father sigh, "Stoick said that the lass died out of frustration..." he said, he started stroking his long beard and continued, "But for me, I think the lass died out of depression, not frustration, Stoick said that when they got back from their journey, his brother, Spitelout offered a marriage contract to the…...Uhhh?" "Hofferson, her family name is Hofferson" I stated to help with the conversation, then my father continued, "…right, Spitelout offered a marriage contract to the Hoffersons, then her father accepted it without her daughter's opinion…and to me that sounded like you just sold your daughter, and from what I have seen when they're still here she doesn't like the man she was betrothed to" dad told us.
Then when I looked at my mother, I instantly got scared of her because she was having this scary look on her face, "Uh…m-mom, what are you so mad about?" I asked with a scared tone, "I'm not the one who died right?" I added, then she spoke, "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at them…I mean who the hell does that to their daughter, what kind of people are they!" she said, really angry about this stuff. "Mom, calm down! It already happened there's nothing we can do about it now…anyway enough about that stuff, let's just pray to the gods to take care of Astrid's soul, okay" I told them.
After that my mother started to calm down and then I said, "Oh…and mom I have to leave today remember? Now that the Berkians are gone, I can go to Hiccup". Then what she did surprised me, she started to cry, "What! Why are you crying?" I asked but she didn't replied, "Has anybody told you you're kinda weird sometimes" I remarked, and then that's when she replied, "How rude, that's not a way to talk to your mother" she said but not in an angry way but in a kind of a sad way. "Then tell me why are you crying?" I asked again. "I'm crying because you're about to leave us again, and li…" "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…let me stop you right there, mom I'm just going to visit Hiccup, who told you that I'm going to leave forever?" I said.
"Oh… then sorry my mistake" she apologized. "It's okay…so can I leave later at noon?" I asked, then they replied, "certainly my dear, just be careful on the trip". "Thank you!" I said happily. "Now, let's finish our meal first before you pack your things and head on to your way" my mother said. Then after we finished our meal, I packed up my things, prepared Azriel for the trip. And then when I'm finished, I waited for my parents because they wanted to talk to me about something.
"So, is everything packed up and ready for the trip?" my father asked, "Yes everything's ready" I said with a smile on my face. "Where's mom?" I asked, "Oh…your mother will be here shortly, she just went to the house to get something" my father replied. "Oh there she is" my father pointed out, "So what did you get for me?" I asked, "This" she said and showed me a very small chest, maybe a jewelry box I think. Then she opened it, inside was a ring, a golden ring, it has a flat top and on it was an engraved figure, it was Azriel. I carefully took the chest from my mother's hands to mine, "Mom who made this?" I curiously asked while I amazingly stare at the ring.
Then she replied, "uh…your friend Hiccup did" I looked at her with a questioned face "Hiccup made this for you?" I asked still looking at the ring. "Actually…he made this for you…" my eyes grew wide when she said that, "what! Was he going to propose to me? Or is this some kind of friendship ring thing…I wish this is just a friendship ring, please be a friendship ring because if this is a real wedding ring, I don't know what I'll do or say to him…" I can feel myself blushing at that the thought then I bowed my head down to hide my face from my mother, "Uh…then w-why didn't you give this to me?" I asked stammering, "On those three weeks before he left…I'm really sorry because I kept forgetting it, and then when he left, I really wanted to give it to you but I got scared that I might just hurt you more if I gave this to you…I'm really sorry dear" she told me.
"No…you did the right thing, and you're totally right, if you did gave this to me after he left, I would totally be hurt" I said with a weak smile and then I took a deep breath, "Well anyway, I gotta get going, don't want to keep Hiccup waiting for me any longer" I said, "Why did I say that, why did I say that, that totally sounded like were in a relationship, what was I thinking!" I told myself in my mind. "What?" my mom said. I did a weak laugh, "I…need to go, bye mom" I quickly said and kissed her cheek, "yeah goodbye" my mom said meekly. Then I went to dad who was going through my things, checking my things if everything set and ready to go, "Goodbye too dad" I said as I jump to him for a kiss on the cheek.
After that I hopped on to Azriel, "well then, let's go girl" I told her. And in a single flap of her wings, we were in the air. I looked at my parents again and said a loud Goodbye before we left for Hiccup, and as for Hiccup, "wait for me, because I will get to you, one way or another"
NORMAL POV
(Meanwhile on the snowy mountains, dawn)
Astrid and her newly named Nadder, Stormfly, were already flying for hours now. "Look girl, there's the…this is not a deserted village, this is a desolated kingdom!" Astrid exclaimed as a devastated kingdom, emerged as they flew past a tall mountain. The castle that was standing in the middle of the kingdom is totally destroyed, no walls and towers were left standing, and the houses were burned to the ground. Astrid got scared at the sight as they fly above the desolated kingdom.
They circled above it for a few minutes to see if anyone was still alive, but all they saw were burned dead bodies of humans and animals, "A dragon did this" she guessed, "but much bigger" she added. But she knew this wasn't the dragon that she saw when she was traveling back to berk three days ago because there were no traces of gigantic footsteps or a pathway that only huge dragons can create. Staying there and seeing more dead bodies gave her the chills, "Let's get out of here girl" she ordered, the Nadder didn't complain and followed because seeing the whole place also scared her.
Then after a few more minutes of flying, the next place amazed them, "Well this is a breath taking place" Astrid said and then she took a deep breath, inhaling the cold fresh morning air. What amazed her more was the valley below them; below them is a flowing wide river, the starry sky reflected on the clear water of the flowing river, and along the riverbank are a dozen of pine trees while the rest were grass and flowers. Stormfly flew near the ground for her rider to enjoy the place. She opened her arms and took another deep breath, Hundreds of flower florets flew away with them as they pass through the place.
"No wonder why Hiccup would stay at this place….this place is amazing" she thought with a smile, then as the name 'Hiccup' crossed her mind, she became nervous because she remembered that this is already the valley that Hiccup was talking about and if they continued to fly north, they should be seeing two tall mountains, but Astrid only knew that she was supposed to see one tall mountain. Speaking of the devil, they have already reached the end of the valley, and stood there were two towering mountains, "There it is…Hiccup's place" she said. Stormfly began to rise, and without knowing they were heading towards the wrong mountain.
Astrid was too involved in her thought, thinking what she would say to him if they finally faced each other. Then in a matter of seconds they were already landing. Astrid still didn't realize that she was in the wrong mountain because as Hiccup said, a tall mountain with a cave facing east. She was thinking that she was in the right place but she's also getting the vibe that she's in the wrong one, because she was expecting a house or any kind of building standing in the middle of the cave, but instead she saw that the cave was being supported by countless enormous pillars, and what's more shocking is that you can't even see the floor anymore because covering it were tons of gold, jewelry, silver, and more rocks that any man or woman would desire, there were also statues made out of pure gold. In other words the whole place is piled up with money. "Hiccup?" she called out in a loud voice, she didn't know why she did it but she did.
After that single call, she was expecting a human to reply but instead the mountain of gold bursted; she raised her arms to cover herself from the small pieces of gold coins. And when she looked up, what she saw was something else, She saw a magnificent dragon with dark red scales, and in those scales were gold coins clamped between them, the dragon raised its arms that also serves as its wings, and clawed the ground and pulled itself out of its own bed of gold. It has two sets of horns sticking out of its head, razor sharp teeth sticking out of its jaws, it also has a very long neck, long arms, and short hind legs but each of them has a complete set of sharp talons, and a single row of sharp spikes running down from the head to tail.
"A human!" the dragon roared in a deep scary voice. Astrid still doesn't understand dragons so she basically didn't understood what the dragon just said, but other than that she had never been scared her entire life, her hands started to shake, she couldn't move her feet, her whole body froze in fear. "I am not going to tolerate this anymore! Prepare human for you must face…death!" it said as it raised its head up. Astrid only realized that it was going to breathe fire, when she saw the chest of the dragon glowed bright red. She quickly jumped to the right, evading the dragon's fiery breathe but due to the dragon's sharp eyesight, he saw Astrid dodge his fire breath, the dragon quickly followed his fire breath with a huge swing of his arm to knock her but it missed because Stormfly snatched her up, the dragon's enormous arm barely missed Astrid's feet, then Stormfly flew towards the exit. "You're not getting away!" the dragon bellowed as it rammed a pillar causing it to fall on to the next one and blocking Stormfly's path. The enormous dragon dashed for them and swung his left arm, knocking Stormfly on the side. They were sent flying straight at a pillar. Stormfly's head slammed at the pillar first, causing her to fall unconscious, and because of that the Nadder released her grip on Astrid's arms and they hit hard to the ground.
When they were lying on the ground, Astrid knew that something was wrong with her leg and whatever it was it was really painful because when she tried to stand, it really damned hurt as hell, but she still tried to stand though, but something stopped her, she turned around and saw Stormfly lying unconsciously on her leg, preventing her to move. Astrid tried to pull her leg out but it was no use, Stormfly was too heavy. "Now you die…Human" the dragon bellowed. Astrid felt the dragon's presence, she looked in front of her and there the dragon stands. It inhaled, making its chest glow red, showing them that he was about to breathe fire at them again. "Hiccup…I'm sorry"she thought with tears falling down from her eyes. She began to lose consciousness as the pain takes her over, barely holding it. But before Astrid passed out, she felt the ground shake and after that she started to hear multiple roars from different directions. After that her vision really got blurry as the pain really takes her in, and then the last thing she saw was pair of boots and a black figure behind it. "Hiccup…" she muttered before darkness…
SO THAT'S CHAPTER 11 PLEASE REVIEW, SORRY THAT THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG BEFORE I POSTED IT, AND SORRY FOR MAKING YOU ALL EXPECT THAT MY PREVIOUS POST WAS A CHAPTER, I'M REALLY SORRY.
