A/N*
This chapter took a loooong time to finish. Its one of the longest chapters I've written and Its a little out of my comfort zone too. Its more of a filler chapter to set up for the next chapter. I hope you like it.
R&R!
Chapter 21
The wind had picked up slightly. The once beautiful morning was quickly turning sour as the edge of a storm made landfall. "Alright lads and lass's, everyone inside before this storm hits. It's time for the traditional feast." Fergus spoke, ushering everyone back towards the castle. Hiccup ended up standing beside Merida, a bundle on his shoulder as he carried the supplies back inside. Sterk Vilje and Toothless took walked on either side of them as the small procession proceeded into the large throne room that was dual purposed as a dining hall for feasts. Currently the room was bustling with activity as people poured into the massive hall. Hiccup looked towards Merida with a raised eyebrow. "Traditional feast?" He whispered toward her, not understanding what the feast was for.
"Its tradition in Dunbroch that when we win a battle a feast is thrown in the hero of the battles name."
"Ah." Hiccup nodded his head in understanding. Berk had a similar one for the same occasion, though Hiccup couldn't imagine the two cultures being so similar.
"That hero being you." Astrid said, now standing beside them. Toothless and Sterk had wandered off towards the fireplace and taken up a cozy position in front of it. "What?" Hiccups head snapped towards Astrid. A smirk appeared on both her and Meridas face.
"She's right ya know. This is all for you. You've saved us more than once and this is the perfect occasion to pay you back." Hiccup looked towards Merida who was smiling brightly now.
"Oh. This is all too much. I do it because its the right thing to do. I don't expect nor want any form of compensation. Strengthening the relationship between Berk and Dunbroch is enough." Hiccup spoke. Merida shrugged him off.
"Blah. Your so daft Hiccup. Come on." She grabbed both Hiccup and Astrid by their wrists and dragged them to a large table. King Fergus and Queen Elinor sat at the end of the table, chatting with the other lords as food poured into the hall. Upon seeing the trio approach them, King Fergus stood; gaining an instant silence as the Scottish King spoke. "This here is a special occasion. I can say, with confidence, that if this young man wasn't here that most of us would not be alive to enjoy this celebration. That being said, let us celebrate!" Fergus raised a cup as did everyone else in the hall.
All eyes were on Hiccup as they raised a toast to him. Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled awkwardly, unaccustomed to the attention. "Well, uh, thanks. But this all is really unnecessary. Just doing my job, but being the Viking I am I can not refuse a feast in my name. That being said," Hiccup grabbed a nearby cup and raised it high, "let's eat!" This earned a roar of cheering as the feast began. Satisfied with the reaponse, Hiccup took a small swig of mead. "Looks like da went all out on this one." Merida spoke, taking a large bite out of a vibrantly red apple.
"We haven't had a feast like this since the anniversary of the peace with dragons. When we retold the battle with the red death Last harvest." Astrid spoke, looking in awe at the large array of food and beverage. This had grabbed Meridas attention. "Retold?" Hiccup looked over at her and spoke.
"Ya. It's tradition that on the anniversary of the battle that it be retold. This way we never forget the struggles we endured to earn this peace."
"Or the suffering we put you through." Astrid spoke sourly. A tinge of guilt still present in her voice.
"Suffering they put you through?" Merida asked looking from Astrid to Hiccup. Hiccups face had become a blank mask as he spoke neutrally, "it's a long story."
"A story you say? We could use a good story!" An over intoxicated Scotsman spoke loudly. This had grabbed the attention of some near by people who quickly realized who he was talking to.
"The dragon rider is going to tell us his story?" Began the whispering, which soon erupted into a frenzy of banging cups and cheers. The word reached King Fergus who stood up and raised his hands, silencing the crowd. "I here our esteemed guest is going to tell us a tale." The crowd erupted in more cheers as Hiccup was abruptly hauled to the steps of the throne by an over eager Merida.
"Wait. I never said-Merida I-" Merida quickly retreated back into the crowd leaving Hiccup standing in front of the over eager crowd. "Uhhhh..."
"Tell us the story of your victory over the red death!" A feminine voice shouted, who happened to be Merida. This snapped Hiccup out of his daze as he coughed to clear his throat.
"Well, uh, ya. You're probably dying to hear that story. But first. I believe you need to learn a little bit about my home."
Astrid gave Toothless a soft nudge, interrupting the large dragons cat nap. Sterk and Stormfly were up and looking at her curiously. "Come on. Time to put on a show." With that the dragons followed Astrid to the back of the room.
"My home is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south if Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word, sturdy. It's been there for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunset. The only problems though were the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. Not berk. We have...dragons." At this, the door to the hall slammed shut and some of the torches inside the hall were extinguished.
"The only way to gain any status among them was to slay a dragon. Because of this, I was at the bottom of the social list. Too small, too weak, too scrawny, too creative, too...Hiccup. But that was all to change. On that fateful day five years ago I not only set out to find myself the most deadly dragon known to Viking kind; I planned to kill it. I was going to kill a Night Fury." Even more torches were extinguished, cascading the hall into darkness.
"You see. Every dragon we've faced has been categorized and their threat value assessed. Each one was labeled to be killed on sight. Not the Night Fury though. Never seen by Viking kind, it lurks in the shadows waiting for the opportune moment to strike. And when it does, it never misses. Your only hope is to hide and hope it doesn't find you." The light behind Hiccup suddenly ignited. Revealing Toothless as he stood menacingly behind Hiccup.
This caused some if the closer people to back up in surprise and fear.
"I shot him down. The village didn't believe me though. So, hoping to salvage what little respect I had, I set off into the woods to find it. When I did find him I realized something. I couldn't kill a dragon. I wouldn't kill a dragon. So I did something that no other Viking had ever thought to do, I let him go. Honestly, I was expecting him to turn around and kill me right there and then. And when he pounced on me, his head recoiling as if he was about to strike, I believed with all my heart he was going to kill me. He didn't though. Instead of killing me he roared and took off. From that moment on, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about dragons." At this, Hiccup scratched Toothless head. Making the large Night Fury look much more passive.
"It took nearly a month to gain his trust, and another month to learn how to fly. That first flight was nearly my last, but that tale is for another story. While I was learning some secrets about dragons, I was enrolled in dragon training. Using the tricks I learned with Toothless and some other dragons, I quickly became a favorite within the class. Even surpassing the dragon fighting prodigy, Astrid." Hiccup smirked slightly towards Astrid, who rolled her eyes at him. A slight grin on her face.
"In a series of unfortunate events that involved me winning dragon training and gaining the 'Honor' of killing a Monstrous Nightmare, Astrid found Toothless and myself in our cove attempting to leave Berk. If it wasn't for her intervening, I probably would have left Berk to never come back. Being the loyal Viking she is, Astrid fled to go tell Chief Stoick, my father, about Toothless and I. We intercepted her though. Hoping that if we changed the mind of the most devoted Viking of our generation that their could be hope to change the minds of the other teens. In the following flight, we discovered something terrifying. We found the dragons home and on that Island was a monster. A dragon so large it could swallow the entire island of Berk in a single bite. Its giant tail could level this very castle in one sweep." Hiccup swept his arms around the throne room, the candle light flickering off the walls.
"We fled. Barely escaping as the massive jaws of the Red Death snapped behind us. We got back to Berk unscaved. It was then that I realized the dragons weren't attacking us just to eat. They were attacking us to feed the Red Death, it was acting as some sort of 'Queen Bee'. I had to tell the village. So I went to the dragon arena, believing that if I showed the entire village that Dragons weren't killers that I could finally get through to the village. I wish I could say that the plan went perfectly, but it didn't. My father enraged the Monstrous Nightmare before I could befriend it. Running for my life, I had no where to go as the Monstrous Nightmare pinned me to the ground. In a show of extreme speed and agility, Toothless burst into the kill a matter of secounds, he defeated the Monsterous Nightmare. He was captured though, the horde of Vikings quickly overwhelming him. I pleaded with my father not to harm him. I even explained to him what was lurking on their grabbed his attention, but not for the reason I had hoped. He quickly learned how to find their island and left to ready the Berkian fleet. I pleaded again for him to stop, he didn't listen. Instead he disowned me. Stating that he had no son." Hiccup spoke softly towards the end. It still stung, though he had long forgiven him.
"So they loaded my best friend onto the lead ship, the rest of the Hooligans loading up into various other ships. I watched them disappear into the horizon, knowing that none of them would return with what lurked beneath Dragon Island. I had given up and would have remained mopping if it wasn't for a certain viking prodigy that gave me a push in the right direction." Hiccup looked over towards Astrid, who was standing beside Merida now.
"With the help of the other teenagers of Berk we freed the dragons inside the kill ring and with their help we flew to Dragon Island. The sight that greeted us was terrifying. The Red Death had broken out of its ancient laier and was standing on the beach, towering hundreds of feet above the Vikings of Berk, who were fleeing towards the opposite side of the island to escape the impending massacre. The entire Berkian fleet was aflame leaving the only hope for survival gone. Without hesitation, we engaged the Red Death. While the other dragon riders distracted the death, me and Astrid flew over the remainders of the Berkian fleet, hoping to see any sign of Toothless. We spotted him struggling to get free, the flames surrounding him and blocking out the outside world. I jumped down and told Astrid to help the others while I freed locks were too strong though and before I could get any sort of leverage the massive tail of the Red Death swung at the ship, cracking it in half and sending us to the bottom."
"I wasn't about to let my friend die. I followed him to the bottom and continued to struggle with the locks. Even when my body begged for air I continued to tug at the ropes. Right before I lost consciousness a massive arm wrapped around my body dragging me back to the surface. It was my father who had saved me. He didn't even say a word as he dived back into the water. A few seconds later he emerged, Toothless above him as he landed beside me. With a nod of his head, I understood what we needed to do. In a matter of seconds I was strapping into the stirrup and preparing for battle. Just before lift off my father grabbed my arm. He told me he was sorry and that I didn't have to go out there…." Hiccup paused at this, memories of the battle flooding into his head.
"What did you say?" Asked a guard after a too long of a pause. This snapped Hiccup out of his remission. Quickly remembering where he was at, he spoke. "I told him we were Vikings, it was an occupational hazard."
This earned some chuckles from the crowd.
"And with that final word, we took off, soaring high above to gain the aerial advantage. Astrid, Tuffnut and Ruffnut had just rescued Snotloat from the clutches of the Red Death." The names earned a few snickers. "Ya, ya, ya. Vikings and terrible names. We get it. Anyways. The Red Death opened is giant mouth and began sucking in air, unfortunately Astrid was got in the vortex it created. Unable to escape, her and her dragon were slowly dragged toward the razor sharp death of the Death. Seeing this, we dived down upon the Red Death, at the last second we released a firebolt into the dragons mouth blasting the pair free, unfortunately the blast knocked Astrid off her dragon. Spinning, we flew over her and caught her mid air. We set her down and gained altitude, knowing this would be the most important fight of our lives."
"A few shots at the Red Death revealed a giant set of wings. As it opened its wings a giant shadow was cast on the island, blocking out the sun and turning day to night. We flew off as fast as we could away from the dragon, it followed. We weaved in and out of huge sea stakes, praying to Thor that we wouldn't collide with one. We dared to glance back as we passed the beach, the Vikings of Berk cheering us on as we zoomed by. The Red Death never slowed, never hesitated as it pursued us. It smashed anything in its path, crashing through the sea pillars as if they were made of twigs. We couldn't last much longer on the ground. That much was clear. So we began to climb. Entering the dark clouds that surrounded the island we knew that we had the advantage. Afterall, the dark is a Night Furies element."
"We disappeared into the clouds and out of sight." At this all the lights in the hall were extinguished. No one could see a few inches in front of them as everyone held their breath. "The night is our this we surrounded him." Hiccups voice was just a whisper as it floated around the room. Coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Thats when we attacked." A shot of purple lit up the hall, illuminating a shadow of the Red Death.
"We didn't let up as we hammered away at him. Each blast infuriating the death." The crowd was enthralled in the story. If they didn't know any better they could believe that this was actually taking place.
"Enraged, the Red Death opened its giant maw and sprayed fire in every direction. Hoping for the slightest chance of hitting us." At this fire erupted around the hall, reigniting all the torches. "He got lucky and the fire got the edge of Toothless prosthetic fin. It ignited and quickly began to burn. We were out of time. We dove down on the Red Death; with our tail on fire we were easily spotted. The Red Death snapped at us as we dove down, going fast as we could. The Red Death followed, his eyes filled with bloodlust. Our fin burned and burn, the smoke fueling the Deaths hunger as it opened it mouth; filling it with flammable gas, it prepared to finish us off. At the last second we spun around and fired a single shot into its mouth. It ignited, covering the entire mouth of the dragon in flames. The ground was quickly approaching it, and seeing it so close the death opened its wings to stop its descent. What it didn't realize was that the blasts we had shot at it had tore holes in its wings. Its wings ripped open and it crashed head first into the ground, exploding in a giant fire ball of flames."
"We flew up its back, trying our best to get out of the explosion. The prosthetic fin broke off, burnt to a crisp. Having no control we looked on in horror as the massive tail of the death came towards us. A final blow against us as it died. There was no hope in dodging it. We crashed into it full force. I don't remember what happened after this, having been unconscious. What I do know though is that as I fell Toothless did his best to save me. The fire consumed me as he dived down to reach me. We survived and had managed to bring a well earned peace between dragons and vikings. Though a price was paid for it." Hiccup looked down at his missing leg, a light smile playing his lips. "But we're a matching pair now and I wouldn't want it any other way." The crowd of Scotsmen quickly swarmed Hiccup. Everyone cheering and praising him for his accomplishment, even though it was all those years ago.
Hiccup took it like he did all those years ago. He smiled, nodded his head and said it was nothing. This earned him another roar of cheering. "These vikings! Taking down a monster the size of their island and losing a leg! And it was nothing! HA!" A Scotsmen spoke, earning more cheers. The crowd slowly dispersed. The feast continuing and more stories were to be told. Hiccup weaved his way through the crowd and sat down at a relatively empty table. He sighed in relief. It had been awhile since he's told it. He had no doubt that he remembered it. An event like that would be hard not to remember. He just never really liked to tell it. He scratched his prosthetic absent mindedly, the phantom foot tingling. A flood of red curls overflowed him as Merida sat down beside him. Two plates full of food in her hands as she set it down in front of them. Astrid was quick to follow her, carrying her plate and a few cups of mead for the three of them.
"Thanks." He spoke before eating, the days events leaving him gave him a soft nudge as he sat talking to both Merida and Astrid. He looked back and saw Toothless nod his head towards the door. The storm outside had quieted and cleared as the feast progressed. Seeing the look on Toothless face made it abundantly clear what he wanted to do. A flight at night after a storm was absolutely amazing. A large smile spread across Hiccups face. "Alright bud. Let me get ready and we'll go." Stormfly nudged Astrids back to as Hiccup stood. Apparently flying after a storm was a dragon tradition. Merida quickly stood up as well. "Could I come with?" She quickly spoke. She had only flown a handful of times, but never at night.
Hiccup looked over at Astrid who he could tell was frowning. A night flight was something special. Something couples on Berk did together. It was an experience like no other. Hiccup and Astrid had shared multiple experiences like this. She had changed her mind on dragons on one such ride. Hiccup couldn't say yes. It would strain his and Astrids already strained relationship. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted. "Sure." Hiccup looked wide eyed towards Astried, who had spoken. Merida smiled brightly and hugged her.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is going to be so much fun!"
At this she took off towards the castle doors, tugging Astrid along.
"Oh this is going to be something alright." Hiccup mumbled helplessly. Toothless grumbled a chirpy reply as he nudged his rider forward.
"Alright, alright. Lets go bud."
Well? Any thoughts/suggestions?