Walking through the eerily night is Astrid Hofferson. The twenty-year-old woman is trying to enjoy the little freedom she has left. You see with the disappearance of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third unfortunately lead the way for Snotlout to become heir. Unhappily for the young woman that meant she found herself forced into another unwanted marriage contract. But this time with it is between Snotlout and herself. The only thing her parents could do was to delay the wedding date for her twenty first birthday which is a under a year away. This whole scenario being engagement to Snotlout made her wish she was kind to Hiccup when she had the chance. Sure, Hiccup was not her favorite person, but she would admit that she would rather marry him over his egotistical cousin any day of the week.
Ever since that faithful day five years ago, she has been cursed to have nightmares about her being the reason Hiccup would die. She had always felt like his blood was on her hands. There were many times over the years where she would have to stay up all night training just to get exhausted enough to fall asleep. The only good thing that came out of the disappearance of the former heir, was that she learned that she needed to become a better person. So, she promised herself she would not allow anyone to pick on the small and the weak like they all done to Hiccup. Walking by the house that belongs to her chief she felt miserable and regret. No matter what he or anyone else says it was her fault that Hiccup went missing and met his untimely demise.
Ever since that day Stoick had never been the same. Astrid figured that it was just the pain of losing a child. A pain that she knows will never go away or the chief would never find any closure. His heart had blackened some because of the loss of his family. A lost he felt was his fault. Stoick had also became more gory and violent towards the dragons. Because everyone figures Hiccup was taken by a dragon in the nightly sky when nobody could have saved him. About a week after Hiccup had disappeared the dragons that they used for training had all escaped somehow. Stoick was not in the slightest happy about that, so that is when the people of Berk started to kill their training dragons alongside the Monstrous Nightmare. The aging chief has been working tirelessly so that nobody must suffer the same pain he did. But sadly this is his final year before handing the chief mantle over to his nephew. Then he would regrettably have to marry Astrid against her well.
There is really two ways out of the marriage. The first one is that one of them had to die or be banished. Despite her anger towards the black-haired man for forcing her into this mess, she did not want either one of these options happening to Snotlout or herself. There was truly no way from coming back from either one of those options. Last option is unlikely to ever happen. It was for Hiccup to come back and claim her has his wife. Because originally, she was in under contract with him before this one. If by some miracle the auburn hair boy was still alive and reclaimed her. It would make the marriage contract between Snotlout and her invalid. It would truly be a miracle for this to happen. With Hiccup being dead and all because there is no way he could have survive out of the village for this long.
A Hofferson becoming a Jorgenson. It was not a comforting thought for Astrid. It was no secret that the two families do not have a good relationship with each other. These two families rarely agreed on anything, so it was no secret that her father, Gunner, and Spitelout were not happy when Snotlout choose her to be his wife. Now it is no way out for her to becoming Mrs. Jorgenson. Just the thought made her want to throw up in disgust. To become the thing, she despises the most. A glorify trophy wife that belonged to Snotlout. She dreaded where this was going to lead her to having to be forced to bear is children in her womb. The life of a homemaker is not something she is looking forward to. All her life she has been the best warrior in her generation. It is her most dominating trait. She never wanted to be married because she wanted to be an independent individual and not some mother taking care of her home, husband, and children. Now all that she worked for will be taken away. Unfortunately, she must become someone's wife and mother.
She makes her way towards the arena in deep thought. Wondering if Hiccup had never vanished from existence? How would her life turn out to be? Woefully she would never get the answers to those questions. Once the blonde hair woman made it to the arena, she sees what would appear to be someone by the cages that are holding the dragons inside their prison. This unknown person looks like they were trying to break out the dragons from their cells. As quietly as a mouse Astrid makes her way but also as quickly as possible to catch this mysterious figure. She was not going to let this stranger get away from her. Just when the individual is about to release the dragons Astrid pounces on top of the person to prevent them from getting away and to stop whoever is trying to release the dragons out of their cages. "Ouch!"
The voice sounded like it belongs to a woman. The woman turns to face the person that tackled her to the ground. The woman had long flowing black hair with a pair of brown eyes that were almost black. The woman looked like she was in her late 30s. She is wearing an all-black outfit. Most importantly Astrid did not recognize who this woman is. Was she a spy from the Outcast tribe here to find ways that the other Outcast in invade her home? Why was she trying to release the dragons? Whatever the answer maybe? Astrid is determined to discover the answer. "You're coming with me!" With Astrid had taken the woman to the jail cells, so they could question later in the morning when the council members and Stoick would decide her fate.
Hours later the woman is shaken awake by a guard. "Wake up sleeping beauty. The council would like to have a word with you." Shortly after the woman was locked inside this dark and filthy cell, she had fallen asleep from the boredom of having nothing to do. Getting up so she could get on with why she was here. They then made their way through the village and towards the Great Hall. As they made their way the villagers thrown looks of disgusted towards the prisoner. The woman was not bother by the looks she was receiving. Walking into the barely lite room where several man and an old woman awaited her arrival.
"I am Stoick the Vast the chief of Berk. These fine villagers beside me are my council members. You are charged with attempting to release the dragons. How do you plead?" To say that the chief was irate is an understatement. He spent his whole life protecting his village and to hear that someone nobody knows invade his island, but also tried to let loose the dragons that were meant to be slaughtered after the current batch of recruits were finished with their training. The same dragons that have been raiding and terrorizing his village for 300 years made his mood worse.
"You guys should have at least asked me my name before demanding anything from me." The unknown woman says as she rolls her eyes. She could not even bother to care about what she was being charged with. They were planning to kill the dragons so why care that she was trying to release them? This did not go well with the occupants of the room.
"Lass the last thing you want to do is disrespect our chief! Now answer our questions so we could decide what to do with you!" Spitelout shouted at the woman annoyed that she dared disrespected his brother and chief. Spitelout and Stoick may have not agreed completely on a lot of things but that does not mean the Jorgenson man did not respect his brother. He would follow his brother to the edge of the world if he had to.
"You know raising your voice at me isn't going to get you the answers you seek." The woman replied in a sarcastic tone. Just hearing someone use sarcasm reminded Stoick of his dead son. Oh, how is wishes he could go back in time to redo everything with his son? During the past five years he had time to think of all the times he spent with his son. A large amount of his abbreviated time with Hiccup was spent bushing him aside, without the regard for how the fishbone of a boy felt. There was nothing the aging chief would give to hold his son in his arms for one more time. Sadly, that is not how life worked. There could not be life without death. This whole situation with Hiccup's disappearance taught them that life was short, and we should cherish every moment with our loved ones while we can because you do not know when it would end.
"What's your name lassie?" Gobber asked before Spitelout could even respond. Knowing that it would only lead to more arguing. Gobber is the blacksmith of Berk. Gobber had never been the since his former apprentice, Hiccup, had gone missing. Nobody could blame the aging blacksmith because out of everyone in the village he was the closest to Hiccup. It is the reason Gobber refused to choose another apprentice despite the villagers pleading him to. See with only one natural flesh hand and foot made it difficult for him to repair weapons during raid in a quick matter, and on top of that he is getting up there in his age. Gobber was Hiccup's godfather and to see the child he helps raise to go missing truly broke his heart. And with the best scenario is that Hiccup died because he prays to the Gods that Hiccup did not end up as a thrall. Just the thought made Gobber sick to his stomach.
"Thank you for at least asking for my name. My name is Frida. I am here to not only to free those innocent dragons you have locked up. But to see if you all are welling to change for the better." Frida introduced herself as the council members were outraged. What did this woman mean letting out those so called "innocent dragons" go? Dragons were not meant to be able to roam around freely as the wind. Did she not know the destruction the dragons are capable of? Or had she forgotten about all the innocent lives dragons had ended? They all doubted she could be so oblivious to what dragons did. They figured that the lady had lost her mind thinking dragons were innocent. That is the only explanation for her to even suggest such an action against everything that they believed.
"The last person that suggest something like that is my wife. Until she was taken by those so called, 'innocent dragons.' So don't you even dare tell me-," Stoick said but he could not finish because he is interrupted by Frida.
"Let me guess Valka Haddock is your wife. She-," Frida says but she too was interrupted by Stoick. The chief of Berk is not too pleased that Frida saying his wife's name. How in the nine realms did she knows about his beloved wife Valka? Because he has certainly never seen her before. So, he assumed his wife would not either.
"Who the hell told you about my wife!? Cuz there should be no way of knowing who my wife when we've never seen you before!? I want you to start talking this instant!"
"Ah temper Stoick. You know you should learn to control that temper of your. I know all about how your wife begged you all to stop killing dragons and find another way. I mean honestly what did you think would happen when you do the same thing over and over. That things will change miraculously overtime." Frida had been secretly watching the village for years now. She knew the struggles that Berk had faced with the dragon raids.
"So, you said we should be friending those beasts would have been a better idea?! The same beasts that destroyed all our lives and killed so many of us! Yes, that should have magical fixed our problems! Get the fuck out of here with that?!" Stoick shouted losing the extraordinarily little patients he had left. The council shouted their agreement on the matter. They could not believe that Frida suggested. Stop killing dragons was never an option for them while the winged beasts would surely continue to raid them if they even did such a thing. All the lives they would lose if they were to do that. They are not willing to risk their chances.
"What do you really have to lose Stoick? Eventually you are going to lose all your resources. How many close winners can you guys survive like this?" Frida replied by asking the challenging questions. Over the years the dragon raids have gone tougher. Over the past year alone seen the least amount of food ever in Berk's history. They barely survived this winner alone. But the Vikings were still stubborn as mules. They were not going to disrespect the fallen by befriending dragons.
"If you want to help us? Start by killing those cold-blooded beasts instead of letting them escape. Besides, you still didn't answer my question about how you even know about my wife?" Stoick is trying to calm down so he could have a clear head about this. He hopes that he could convince this crazy woman those dragons were not innocent in the slightest. Knowing that if he lost the rest of his patients. It would not accomplish anything. She did say she wanted to help them so maybe he should save her from the path she took.
"You know there's more to dragons then meets the eye. Sometimes we must look at things at an unfamiliar perspective. Because there's always two sides to every story." Frida explained but all she got was screams of disagreement. The Berkians thought that there was no way to save this woman's crazy suggestion. So even went as far as making jokes at her expense. It was then that she saw that they would not change at all. There was only one thing she could do at this moment. With her eyes turned a bright Ruby shade. That silenced the council members as they were confused as to why are eyes change color like that. "By the time the sun sets tonight. You'll find yourselves transforming into dragons. The only way for the curse to break is that every single one of you will have to learn to accept others for their differences and most importantly see the beauty of the dragons you seek to kill. You all have exactly one year to break the curse. If unable to break the curse? You all will lose your memories of ever being humans and would live the rest of your lives as dragons. Good luck Berk because you're going to need it." Then her eyes returned to their original color. The silence filled the air as the information of what Frida is truly sink in their minds. She is a witch. Now she puts a curse on the entire village.
"You're a bloody witch! How dare you put a curse on my people?! Why should we keep you alive for what you did?!" Stoick yelled losing the rest of his thin patience. That response had shouts of agreement. It is decided that they were going to sent the unholy witch to be executed by decapitation. With the snap of her fingers smoke covered her. Once the smoke cleared to reveal that she had disappeared before they could capture her. Stoick is silently cursing himself because he let the witch slip through his fingers. He felt like a failure because all his life he prides himself as a protector of his villagers. Now he accidentally got his people to be cursed because he did not figure out what he was dealing with. "A chief protects his own." That quote is the creed of Haddock family that has been passed down from generations to generations. Now his villagers are going to have to pay for his mistake.
The villagers of Berk were not to pleased when they all heard about the curse that the witch had cast on them. They were outraged and for good reason to. Who would have ever wanted to be transformed into an entirely varied species? The answer is nobody that is who. But not everyone in Berk believed in the curse. Astrid Hofferson believed that the curse was a just a cruel trick to scare them into submission. There was no such thing as witches that roamed around. Nobody had come across a witch before and now they had crossed path with one out of nowhere. Just did not seem to be what happened. What were the odds of that happening?
With the little bit of light in the sky left Astrid made her way back home from the woods. Grabbing her axe that was sticking out from being tossed into the tree and away she went. Ever since the disappearance of Hiccup, Astrid had pushed people out of her life even more so then back than. But has been times where she felt alone. What her mother told her five years ago is true? It was lonely at the top. Not that she would ever admit to that. Making it home just before the sun goes down. The moment she is inside her house safely her mother hugged Astrid. "Oh sweetheart, why were you out there that long? We only have short amount of time before we turn into those awful beasts. I know you were training but why when there's a curse placed on Berk." Hilda cries as she holds her daughter in her arms. The older woman knows that her daughter loved to train alone in the woods. But Hilda strongly believes that in the last moments one should spend them with love ones. You made be wondering why she did not go looking for her daughter. The answer is simple she did not know where Astrid went into the forest. Due to the large amount of space that the forest had taken. It could have taken the rest of the day just to find Astrid. It was simply better to wait for Astrid to show up rather than searching the woods.
"It's going to be okay mama. I bet we're not going to become those mindless beasts anyway."
"I doubt that, Astrid. Because I was there when that witch cursed us." Gunner says as he wraps both his wife and daughter in his arms. Savoring the moment of the two loved ones in his arms. Gunner Hofferson is one of the council members so he saw what transpired with Frida. He would be lying if he told you he was not afraid of what will happen to his family. He had to be strong for both his wife and daughter in this time uncertainty.
It was then when the sun set, and darkness came. Immediately the three broke away from each other while pain shot through their bodies. The three Hofferson fell on their hands and knees from the sheer pain they felt. They feel a large amount pressure on the end of their spine as they grow tails. Not only could you hear their clothing tearing from them out growing them, but also you could hear a popping sound as their bones grew. They felt a burning sensation has their skin transforms into scales. Astrid felt her arms moving to her back as they became her new wings. Her parents grew their wings unlike their daughter their arm did not transform into wings. Astrid feels tears streaming down her cheeks as she tries to scream but do to her vocal cords changing into that of a dragon's vocal cords, she was unable to make any noise whatsoever. Astrid, Gunner, and Hilda all three slipped into unconscious from all the pain they felt.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If anyone of you guys read my other fanfic HTTYD Dragon Master and Mistress? You guys would know I am not good at producing names. I am planning on bring Light Fury into this story because I want to write the Night Lights in this as well. The problem is that I cannot think of any name to give her. If you guys have any suggestions on what I should name, the Light Fury please don't hesitate to share? Anyway, I would like to thank everyone that has favorited, followed, and reviewed this story so far. Hope you guys are having a wonderful day, stay safe out there and I will see you in the next update. :D