[Normal P.O.V.]
2 years later...
She wiped the sweat dripping off her face with her towel. The aching of her muscles forced her to take a knee. Her face red from exhaustion, she took deep breaths, trying to stabilize herself. She gripped her axe, Stormfly, hovering it above the ground.
Astrid's body was in the brink of collapse. The only thing keeping her up was the adrenaline and her desire to pass. Every muscle in her body was groaning in pain, but Astrid ignored it. Not until she hear those words. For two years, two years of hellish training, degrading insults from Night Fury. She spent two years just to hear Night Fury acknowledge her as a proper recruit. As a person qualified to join the Drakos.
She just finished the last test from Night Fury. The test that will decide if she's allowed to graduate from Night Fury's wing and take the final exam. Not even asking the others, she was sure that Night Fury gave her a hard time on purpose.
She had to spend a whole week in the simulation dome, where she had to survive from native savages and terrorists, with only a commando knife, rations, and two mini-grenades. After finding out that you can actually die in the simulation, but only from the mental suffering and torture. The feeling of death could send anyone to shock and eventually die. But even after all that, she survived.
But then Astrid had to suffer physical pain, like gunshots, knife wounds, and other injuries you'll experience in the field. They attached her to a stimulator which creates exact replicas of the pain of the wounds and injuries. A small part of her brain wanted to quit right there and then. But she's a Hofferson. And that's good enough a reason to keep going.
Astrid had to do a lot more things which challenged her physically, mentally, and emotionally. But in the end, she finished them all. Yes, she finished a rigged test from Night Fury. She was sure that it was rigged. Now, all she needs is the approval from her superior.
As if he he read her mind, his voice came out of the silent room, reverberating around them.
"Astrid Hofferson, you have passed my last test. You're no longer my recruit, but a finalist in the exams. Make me proud."
His words hit her like a wave of euphoria. The sense of victory and pride swelled up inside her. Though she was exhausted, she managed a small smile, to which Night Fury acknowledged with a nod.
In the sidelines, everyone she knew who were there, cheered for her. Their voices echoed around the entire floor, attracting several other agents to eye them oddly. Camilla and Thrane clapped silently, but Astrid could feel Camilla forcing herself not to scream. She could tell from her clenched jaw and her stiff claps.
Over the past two years, she grew closer to them. Even having fun with them. She spots Heather beside Thrane, who had a large smile on face, obviously proud of her best friend. After the incident, they thought she would never return. But one day, during a simulation, Eret was trapped in a corner, with a bounty hunter aiming his rifle at his head. He closed his eyes, expecting for him to fire. He then heard a loud bang, except it wasn't from the bounty hunter. Eret glanced up to see the bounty hunter with a hole on his head, as it crumpled down in a lifeless heap. Right behind the body, was Heather, with a revolver-the same revolver from the incident-raised and aimed at the former position of the bounty hunter.
They had welcomed her back with open arms, and happiness. When they wanted to know how she got over her traumatic experience. She simply smirked, saying that she had finally conquered her demons, and that Gothi was truly an angel. This left the rest wondering what kind of healing powers did the old woman have.
Right next to Heather, were her teammates, Eret and Thuggory, grinning with delight and bliss for the blonde woman. And who could forget the gang? They were the ones making the most noise. Even Finn was screaming like there's no to tomorrow.
The smile on her face only grew wider as they continued to cheer. She did it. She was a finalist. Only one more step to become an official agent of Drakos. Suddenly, Night Fury's voice cut through their celebration.
"Hofferson, you should've noticed by now of my intentions." He spoke in a toneless voice.
Astrid eyed him carefully. This only confirmed her suspicions. Night Fury had his arms crossed over his chest, showing his forearms wrapped in bandages which we were wounded after a recent mission. This past few months, he has sustained more injuries than usual. One time, they saw him entering the training room with blood smeared across his entire body. A mix of his own and his victims' blood caked his face, but as usual, his face remained emotionless as ever.
"Yeah, no kidding." Astrid replied sarcastically. She had a sudden burst of confidence all of a sudden which prompt her to ask this; "So what's your problem with me, other than being a dick?"
Astrid expected anger to flare up in his eyes, or for him to glare daggers at her. Instead, his lifeless and emotionless eyes bored at her, paying no attention to her insult.
"I guess I just felt like being a dick once in a while." He deadpanned.
Astrid's nose scrunched up in confusion. Lately, she noticed that Night Fury was growing more... lifeless. Each time she interacted with him, was like talking to a dead person. Before, he showed a few emotions here and there. But now, the coldness in his voice could make everyone's spine shiver.
Then she recalled the day she first noticed it. It was the day after Night Fury took off his mask in the dark. The day where he showed his true self. A broken and suffering man who always puts up a mask to hide himself, which was two years ago. How long did he have to suffer like this? Her heart actually panged with concern, and this time, she agreed with her heart. No one deserves to feel like that, no matter how much she hated him.
The very next day after that, Night Fury showed up late, which was already suspicious. He was never late. Then the second thing she noticed was the tired and lazy tone in his voice, as if he just wanted to sleep all day.
After that, she noticed more signs like him spacing out randomly, or his sudden aggression towards training, or the worst one, the time where he nearly killed Eret during a sparring session. The look in his eyes when he stared down at Eret was terrifying enough that made her want to run back to Berk. He gave him a half-assed apology after that, saying he regretted doing it. But from how toneless his voice is, no one knew if he were telling the truth.
Something happened after that day. But after two years, she never found out what. But for now, she needed to concentrate on her objective. Night Fury stared her down to intimidate her, but over the past two years, she learned to not cower in fear under his gaze. But to instead hide her fright with a firm look which she does often.
"Prepare yourself. You're about to enter the real world."
"Tomorrow's the final exam. Aren't you guys nervous or something?" Heather asked.
Astrid and the others were hanging around the Bench, without a care in the world. Well, except for Heather. They were given 3 days of relaxation and freedom before they would take the test. It was a nice thing to do after two years of hell. Yes, they had given their blood, sweat, and tears for this and they have been rewarded with a three-day rest. It was worth it...
"Relax, it's probably just a hoax to scare us graduates. I bet it's a welcome party." Racquel replied, not taking her eyes off her phone.
"I actually agree with Racquel. We already kind of graduated. Technically, we're already part of Drakos." Eret agreed. He took 3/4 of the sofa with his body, so Tristan and Shawn were forced to sit at the floor which luckily, is a fluffy carpet with the natural scent of flowers.
"Don't be stupid. Since when do they make hoaxes?" Shawn commented with a scowl. His dislike for Eret only grew bigger once he started hanging around with them. He glanced at his biceps, then at Eret's. His scowl deepened as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Thrane, what was your final exam like?" Finn asked.
At this, both Camilla and Thrane paled. The look of horror and dismay only grew when we asked what was wrong. Camilla shook her head, her eyes distant as she were experiencing a memory right there and then.
"Some things just needs to be kept quiet." She muttered lowly.
Thrane said nothing, only nodding in agreement towards Camilla's words. All of a sudden, everyone felt nervous and regretted asking.
"Uhh, was it that bad?" Thuggory asked nervously.
"It's different every year. But let's just say we don't want to reminisce that memory ever again..." Camilla shuddered at the thought.
During all this, Astrid didn't say a word. She's been thinking about what Night Fury had said.
'Prepare myself? For what?' She thought.
She was thinking deeply about it, not paying attention to her friends arguing about the exam that will take place the next day. Fortunately, Heather's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Hey, Astrid. What do you think? Will there be a final exam?" Concern evident in her voice.
Though Heather was her best friend, she had never told her nor anyone about her interactions with Night Fury. Something inside of her told her to keep her mouth shut. But keeping a secret for two years is harder than she thought.
She nearly gave herself away a few times. Like that one time where Heather, Camilla, Racquel, and her were talking about their high school debut. And Camilla had said that a guy had cornered her to a wall, and kissed her. Granted, the guy was immediately kneed to the gonads, but at least she experienced her first kiss. While the other girls were either squealing or impressed—Racquel sported the latter—I was hiding my face, failing at being subtle.
Astrid suddenly remembered all the times where Night Fury had gotten close to her face. The weirdly sweet memory caused a furious blush to appear on her face as she tried to hide it from her companions. Racquel was always an observant girl. So when she saw Astrid lowered her head, avoiding eye contact. Her Thorston tingles went up. And that's how she spent the whole day pestering Astrid about the—as Racquel would say it— the burning passion on her cheeks. This caused the other girls to perk up and pester her about what she was blushing about.
The amount of dirty and perverted things that Racquel spewed that day was more disgusting than Shawn's attempt to woo her. Back to reality, Heather waited for Astrid's response who seemed to be out of it at the moment.
"Uhh, Astrid?" She tried again.
Astrid blinked her eyes, as if waking up from a trance.
"Oh, uh... I mean- yeah. Yeah. I think so." Astrid spluttered.
Satisfied with the answer, Heather went back to discuss about the supposed final exam. Cocking an eyebrow, Racquel seemed to pick up Astrid's frantic response. She prayed to all the gods to take away Racquel's observant skills just for the moment. But before she could ask her, a loud automatic voice came up from the P.A system, to the Astrid's relief
"All passing recruits, please GET YOUR ASSES IN THE ASSEMBLY ROOM NOW!"
[Astrid's P.O.V]
The sudden voice scared us shitless. Never in our life have we ran towards something as if our lives depended on it. Well, maybe Camilla and Thrane had since they weren't recruits. But when we yelped and shot out of our seats, this caused them let out a laugh then telling us to get there in time or else Night Fury will skin us alive. I don't doubt that.
When we arrived in the assembly room, we didn't know we arrived. The assembly room apparently went through puberty. I didn't recognize it at all!
Instead of the plain white room with a single depressing podium in the middle, the walls have been plated with black silicon tiles, and above us, blue florescent lights illuminated the room, giving it a very futuristic vibe. But that wasn't all.
A round table with four short poles at each side, was in the middle. Buttons of Norse runics on top decorated the table's corners. Instead of a single podium, a large stage replaced it. But the most noticeable changes they made were the giant chains dangling at sides of the walls. There were even some hanging on the ceiling. These chains were ones for ships and yachts. Why would they put stuff like that, we had no idea.
"Welcome, graduates!" Shatter's voice boomed. Our heads whipped towards him, seeing him together with the rest of the recruits.
Shatter hasn't changed a bit. We rarely see him but when we do, we only see a glimpse of him. But now looking at him, there's no difference. Still big and tall as ever. The only thing different about him were his clothes which were a black trench coat, boots, and possibly, even more chains.
After seeing our faces, he must've seen our confusion with the room because right after, he let out a small chuckle.
"Don't mind the room for a moment. It's still in progress." He said
Hell yeah, it's in progress.
"So, what are we doing here?" A girl, who I think her name is Maisie Thorn, asked.
"Oh, right. I'll be discussing the details of the final exam." Shatter replied. At this, he already had our attention. So there really is a final exam. Can't say I'm disappointed. I love a good challenge.
We joined the other recruits at the round table in the middle. That's when I noticed that there were fewer people now. Before we used to be twenty. Now, we're down to twelve. I guess there were some who weren't cut out to be agents. My eyes unconsciously landed on Heather. I'm glad that she was able to pull through.
"Now, that you're all here. Allow me to give you the gist of the exam." He extended his hand, the chain on his ring and bracelet rattling along.
"It will be a team battle. Whoever wins will determine whether they would pass or not." He explained. I was about to ask but someone beat me to it.
"So, will we be fighting each other?" The man, named Zythid Lethe, asked. The first time Travis heard his name, he went fucking nuts.
Shatter's face lit up, as a mischievous grin crawled up his face. I have a bad feeling about this. Shatter never grins, and when he does, it's most likely trouble. Like that time where he made Night Fury our supe-... oh, hell no!
"Night Fury!" He called out, his voice booming like thunder.
And speak of the devil. A shadow forms on the ground, gradually growing larger until Night Fury drops down from... the ceiling? Wait, what? Was he just hanging around the chains or something?
Nevermind about that. Something feels off about Night Fury. First, he's wearing his combat armor. The hood, the mask, the scale gauntlets, even the sword that's sheathed on his back. The pulsating purple glows on his armor gave him a dangerous aura, like his own blood was pumping through his armor. But what's really weird was that he was making no sound. When he dropped down earlier, it was if he was as light as a feather. Each step he made, not even a squeak or crack was heard. I didn't think it was possible but he has even gotten better than last time I saw him fight, which was two weeks ago.
"Called me, Shatter?" Night Fury asked. Even with his boss, he still had that monotonous voice that sounded robotic.
"I was just explaining the final exam to them." Shatter replied happily. Happily? I'm sensing bullshit is about to come up. He then turned back to us. "It will be teams. Except you lot are one team, and you will be fighting Night Fury."
Whispers and murmurs suddenly came up, obviously confused. One even raised her hand. I think her name was Artemis.
"What do you mean, sir? Like a one on one? Or by group?" She asked vigorously to which Shatter responded with no hesitation.
"No. You all will fight him at the same time. If at least one of you could leave a scratch on him, I'll pass you all."