(A/N: In case you haven't been to my profile (or you have, but didn't notice), I put up a new poll for the dragon Helene should get. Yes, she does have Smog, but (as hard as it is for me to say this) he won't be staying forever. Now, this won't be until much later, so there's no need to worry, but the sooner I know what dragon most people think she should have, the better.
Please, at least look at it. Even if you don't vote, the least you can do is check out what kind of dragons are listed. Please?)
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It's been two weeks since Helene's decision to remain on Berk with her dragon and her friends. There have been highs, there have been lows, but she was overall enjoying the experience and her independence from her father.
For the past week she's been learning how to fly her friends' dragons with them guiding her. The dragons she flew the best were Toothless, Stormfly, and Meatlug, while she enjoyed being around Hookfang and Barf and Belch, their riders weren't very good teachers.
Every time they took to the air and she spotted a ship, she would start to worry that it was her father. While she enjoyed independence, it was difficult for her to rid herself of the paranoia that he was watching her every move.
They spent a lot of time in the air and exploring the forests of Berk and other islands, looking for something new to document in the book of dragons, but they were always empty-handed. Unless one would consider discovering that the Whispering Death has an immunity to dragon nip and a weakness to sunlight as a new documentation.
While it was understandably disappointing, she knew that not everyday meant that something would be discovered. Life is about patience as well as taking risks.
However, unbeknownst to everyone, something or someone new was approaching. But as anyone will tell you, new doesn't necessarily mean good.
Helene and Smog were on their way to the Academy one afternoon. They hadn't been to the Academy all day because a section of Smog's nest broke off when he accidentally pushed it off the table. It had to be taken to Gobber to get it fixed and reinforced.
When they arrived, she was surprised to discover the others weren't around. There was a sundial set up in the middle of the arena with three chalk marks on it.
"Probably a speed race," she surmised.
She was searching through a basket for a snack for her dragon when the others flew inside. And they were with someone she didn't recognize.
It was a teenage girl roughly about their age with black hair. She was riding on Toothless with Hiccup. When she got a closer look at her, she realized that she did recognize her and knew who she was.
"Hey, guys, where have you been?" she asked.
Hiccup was about to answer, but Snotlout beat him to it, "I found a totally hot girl in a shipwreck." He winked at her, "You're still hotter, though."
She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Hookfang."
On command, the Monstrous Nightmare's body ignites and it's not long before Snotlout smells the smoke coming from his rear end. He jumped off his dragon and ran around frantically looking for water before he finally found some and sat in it.
Hiccup decided to get back on topic, "Okay. Helene this is-"
She cut him off before he could introduce their guest, "Heather." They all looked at her with dumbstruck expressions, "Yeah, I know who she is."
"Do I know you?" Heather inquired, not recognizing her.
"I'm Trader Johann's daughter," she replied.
She blinked in realization, "Oh, yeah, that's right, you were at my island a few months ago. Is your father here, also?"
She internally twinged at the mention of her father, why did she have to ask? She shook her head, "Nope, I recently took up residence here on Berk to learn more about dragons since I have one of my own now." Smog came up to her and squawked.
"That's amazing," she smiled. "Can you teach me a thing or two?"
Hiccup's face brightened up when he heard that, "Hey, that's not a bad idea, how would you like to learn about our dragons?"
Astrid looked dumbfounded by his suggestion, "Are you sure that's such a good idea, Hiccup? I mean, trusting our knowledge to a person we've just met?"
"Sure I'm sure," he responded. "What do you say?"
"That'd be great, thanks," she smiled.
Astrid got down from Stormfly and came up to Helene, she asked her in a whispery voice, "How well do you know her?"
"Not that well at all, actually," she answered. "I've only met her once. My Dad and I went to her island because their usual trader caught a case of scurvy."
"I don't know why, but I feel like there's something off about her, I just feel like something is going to happen," she confided.
She's known Astrid for a long time and knew where this was going, "Look, Astrid, I'm telling you, nothing is going to happen, at least not now."
"What are you talking about?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Personal experience," she replied simply.
She then looked at the sundial and decided to change the topic. She wondered who's time it was, although she thought she already knew the answer.
"Hey, who's time is that on the sundial?" she questioned.
"That's mine and Toothless'," Hiccup answered.
'I was wrong,' she thought. "Well, either you're getting slower or Stormfly's getting faster." Toothless huffed when he heard that.
"C'mon, Astrid, what are you feeding her? Tell me," he practically pleaded.
She smirked playfully and crossed her arms, "Nope."
"Helene, please!" he begged desperately.
She wore a similar expression to Astrid's, "Sorry, Hiccup."
Heather cleared her throat awkwardly, "So, um, when can I start learning about dragons?"
Fishlegs looked up at the sky, it would be getting dark shortly, "It's too late now, how about tomorrow?"
She nodded with a smile, "Sounds good."
"You can stay with me and my Dad, he's the chief," Hiccup suggested. "Are you okay with that?"
"Yes, I am," she replied, "thank you."
Before long, everyone left for home on their dragons, including Hiccup and Heather. Astrid and Helene were the only ones still there.
"Is it okay if I pilot Stormfly this time?" Helene asked.
Astrid was in a deep, angered thought when she asked that and instead of answering her question, she uttered, "I don't like this."
She rolled her eyes and slapped herself in the forehead with her palm. This action upsetted Smog, he could tell she was frustrated. He snuggled his face against the side of hers and purred like a cat.
She tenderly pet him on the head, "It's okay, boy, I'm just a little frustrated is all." She then snapped her fingers in front of Astrid's face, "Astrid, if you don't snap out of it now I'm going to take Stormfly and leave you here."
She finally snapped out of it and blinked, "I'm sorry, Hele, I- I just feel a little…"
"Jealous?" she finished with a sly smile.
She scoffed playfully, "Me? As if. Why would I have a reason to be jealous of her?"
She shrugged, "I don't know. You tell me."
It was no secret that Astrid had feelings for Hiccup, they were practically sisters. And now that they lived in the same home, there were no secrets between them.
She had no idea what it was like to have a crush on someone, but there was never any time for it. She and her father never stayed in one place long enough for her to develop that type of relationship. Not that she was ready for anything romantic anyway.
Her cheeks flushed slightly and she nervously tried to change the topic, "S-So, are- are you ready to go home?"
'That's what I thought,' she thought with an amused expression. "I'm flying this time."
The next day, each of the Dragon Riders taught Heather about their respective dragons, everyone but Astrid, her suspicions wouldn't let her. Helene was the last one to teach her about her dragon.
"What kind of dragon is he?" Heather asked. "I've never seen anything like him."
"He's a Smothering Smokebreath, they're only found on Breakneck Bog," she responded.
"Interesting. What can they do?" she asked again.
"They fly in flocks, covered in a cloud of smoke to protect themselves while they search for metal to build their nests," she explained.
"I'm assuming he's too small for you to fly," she surmised.
"He can carry me, but only short distances," she mentioned. "Since I can't fly him, I usually fly with Hiccup or Astrid most of the time." The small dragon nudged her, as if to remind her of something, "But he's always there beside me."
"Sounds like he's the best partner a person could have," she commented.
She smiled, "You got that right, he's very loyal and helpful and loves nothing more than to look out for his person." He nuzzled her face and purred happily.
"You spend a lot of time with Astrid, what's her dragon like?" she questioned.
"Stormfly is very loyal and will do anything Astrid tells her to," she answered. "Recently, Astrid's been trying to make her faster than Toothless by feeding her more of her favorite food."
"Which is?" she inquired.
She laughed, "I can't tell you that, she'd kill me."
'She looks like she could at any second,' she thought.
"Who's your next stop after me?" she asked.
"I'm going to try to get Astrid to teach me about her Nadder," she responded.
She could have laughed at that, but decided not to. "Well, good luck with that."
Smog then gave a pleading tug to her hair, but not enough to cause any pain. She looked back at her dragon, his golden eyes looked like they were filling up with water. She frowned, she knew what he wanted.
"I better get going, I promised Smog I would get him some crabs, they're his favorite and I think he's getting hungry," she claimed, scratching him on the back.
"Uh, okay, I'll see you later then," she replied.
She cracked a small smile, "Yeah, see you later."
Day eventually turned into night and everyone went home. Heather took up Hiccup on his offer to stay with him and his father at their house for the time being.
It was difficult for Helene to sleep that night because Astrid would often come in and out of the house and start walking around up in her bedroom. They were sounds she was all too familiar with having grown up on a ship.
She wasn't the only one having a hard time sleeping, Smog would occasionally stand up in his nest and move around in circles before finally laying down again. No matter how many times he did it, he could never fall asleep.
He growled softly and tiredly at her, she sighed and had a hand on the side of her face, which she then placed on his snout. "I know, boy, I can't sleep either. Maybe she'll eventually go to bed."
Unfortunately, that would not be the case. Astrid spent the entire night walking around her room in what could have been circles, but it's difficult to tell.
She thought that she would be finished with it the first night, but the gods would not answer her pleading prayers. She continued to leave the house, then pace around her bedroom upon her return for the next few nights.
Come morning, she would often claim she saw Heather doing something suspicious. She would say that she saw her looking around Hiccup's bedroom, searching for something, or claim she saw her conversing with Savage, the second-in-command to the Outcast Tribe and the right-hand to Alvin the Treacherous.
Helene was too tired to argue with her. So tired in fact that she passed out on the table at breakfast. Mrs. Hofferson didn't even bother to wake her, she would just let her be and leave to do her own activities.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and got out of bed. She marched upstairs and stepped into Astrid's room.
She pacing around in a tight circle in a trance-like state. She didn't notice she was there until she grabbed onto her shoulder, snapping her out of it.
"Astrid, please stop," she pleaded.
"No, I know what she was doing and no one believes me!" she whispered harshly.
She grabbed onto her shoulders, "Astrid, we haven't slept in nearly a week, please just lay down or sit down or something!" She was about to argue with her, but she stopped her, "I don't know what you saw, but I promise we will investigate tomorrow, but now is for sleeping."
Finally, she caved in, "Fine." She went to her bed and laid down.
Helene sighed in relief and thought, 'Finally.'
She went downstairs and into her bedroom. She practically threw herself onto her bed, closing her eyes.
Smog made a sound that sounded like a caw. She opened her eyes and reached a hand out, placing it on his head.
"Don't worry, boy, we can finally get some sleep," she whispered reassuringly.
He stood up and circled the interior of the nest for a couple of seconds before eventually laying down again. He closed his eyes and let out a soft but deep exhale through his nose.
She shut her eyes again as well and began to help her body relax by breathing in and out softly. It wasn't long before she was finally asleep. Perhaps now they could all sleep peacefully through what remained of the night.
However, unbeknownst to them, there was a person who was not asleep and their motives were far from peaceful, although not without a good reason behind it. They went into Stormfly's loft and a moment later they were flying on her back in the direction of Outcast Island.
It was morning and Astrid went outside in order to awaken and feed her dragon. When she got to her loft, however, she discovered that Stormfly was gone!
Of course, it was entirely possible that she had just gotten bored waiting for her wake up - she did get up a little later than usual - and went for a quick fly around Berk. However, a few strands of dark-colored hair quickly threw out that possibility.
She knew they couldn't be from Helene, she would never take Stormfly without her permission. That left only one possible suspect.
'I am going to kill that little bitch!' she mentally declared.
Helene was awakened when she suddenly kicked her door open. "Stormfly's gone!" Astrid shouted.
Her outburst startled Smog and angrily squawked at her. If there's one thing worse than being kept awake all night, it's being woken up from a pleasant sleep.
She sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes, "What happened?"
"Heather took Stormfly," she affirmed.
She stopped rubbing her eyes and looked at her with a shocked and perplexed face, "What?"
They immediately ran to Hiccup's house and Astrid burst inside. He looked just as Helene did when she woke her up.
"She's gone!" Before he had time to process what she was saying, she growled, "Little Miss Innocent stole my dragon!"
"Heather took Stormfly?" he questioned once he was fully awake.
"Yes," Helene answered with a slight frown. "She fooled us all."
"Not me, though," Astrid sounded prideful, but looked angry, which was never a good thing. When she was angry, it was Helheim on Earth!
"Astrid, Helene, we need to gather the others," Hiccup stated.
They quickly gathered together the other riders and soared in the direction of Outcast Island. Astrid flew with Hiccup, while Helene was with Snotlout, much to her dismay, but every time she flies with Fishlegs there's little room on Meatlug's back.
It wasn't long before they finally caught sight of Stormfly. She was too far ahead of them, they weren't sure if they would be able to catch up to them in time.
Astrid sighed in defeat, "It's no use, she's too fast."
"Maybe when you're riding her, but not a stranger!" Hiccup declared. He bent down and gripped the saddle, his chest and stomach were nearly touching the leather. "Full speed, bud."
Toothless roared and increased his speed, which wasn't an easy task with two people on his back. Even if their combined weight wasn't that much to him.
Heather heard Toothless' roar and knew they were right on top of her. She took out a chicken leg and threw it into Stormfly's mouth, she then began to fly a little faster.
Hiccup saw this and looked a little dumbfounded, "Wait, is that chicken? That's what you've been-"
Astrid rolled her eyes, "Really? You're going to do this now?"
Helene used a spy glass to look at what was ahead of them in case they were nearing Outcast Island. Unfortunately, they were, she could see the pointed rocks of their island.
"Guys, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but we're getting close to Outcast waters," she informed everyone.
"Not to worry, fair maiden, for I shall protect you!" Snotlout declared. She rolled her eyes in disgust.
"Hiccup, I have an idea, but you have to get me to Stormfly," Astrid told him.
He was able to get close to the Deadly Nadder and she jumped down from Toothless onto the back of her dragon. The two girls began to fight for control of Stormfly, just as they were entering Outcast territory.
Now, they had to act quickly. If the wild dragons in the area don't cause a premature retreat, it would the Outcasts themselves that would. Dozens of soldiers firing arrows and catapults at them would be real Helheim on Earth. No, it would be much worse than Helheim, it would be Ragnarok!
They were nearly the coast of Outcast Island. They were so close in fact that they could clearly see the outline of the isle. It wouldn't be long before they would have arrows and flaming boulders showering down on them.
An idea then bloomed in Helene's head, she just hoped it would work. "Smog, get ahead of Stormfly!"
The small dragon did as he was told and flew ahead of his trainer and the other riders. It was easy for him to accomplish due to his small size and without a rider weighing him down, a simple increase in speed was no problem for him.
Once she could see that he was far enough ahead, she cupped her mouth so that her voice could reach him, "Smog, smoke screen!"
Fortunately, her voice was able to reach him and he did just as he was told. He released a massive cloud of smoke that was large enough to cover them in a veil.
With the cover of the smoke, Astrid was able to overpower Heather and regained control of her dragon. Unfortunately, Heather still had the book of dragons in her hand, all she had to do was let go of Stormfly's saddle, she knew that they were right above the ocean, in spite of the smoky cover. And that's exactly what she did.
She let go of the saddle and she was falling towards the ocean below. When she did, the book accidentally slipped out of her hand.
Snotlout flew down to catch her and caught her in his arms, "I knew you couldn't stay away." Helene scoffed and rolled her eyes, suddenly feeling sorry for her.
Hiccup went after the book, flying out of the smoke. With him and Toothless out in the open, the Outcasts began to fire at them.
Helene called out to her dragon again, "Smog! Cover Hiccup and Toothless!"
He soared downwards like he was hyped up on dragon root. He breathed out another smoke cover, perplexing the Outcasts below. He tried to grab the book in his mouth, but a flaming arrow caused him to cease, and caused Toothless to do the same.
It was too late now. The book was gone.
"No!" Hiccup shouted. "The book!"
Upset and disappointed with himself, Hiccup rejoined the others. He wasn't the only one who felt the same way, Smog was very crestfallen at his failure, he just wanted to prove himself by retrieving it.
Helene left Snotlout and Hookfang and got onto Toothless' back. She noticed how melancholy her dragon was and pet him on the head to help lift his spirits.
"It's okay, boy, you did your best and you're okay, that's all that matters to me," she reassured.
Hiccup looked back at him with a smile, "Yeah, chin up, you did what you could."
While it did help a little, he was so depressed by his failure he could barely fly. He laid down on her lap and closed his eyes. She frowned and gently pet him along his back.
"What now, Hiccup?" she asked.
"I don't know," he replied sadly. "Alvin has the book now and he'll use it to train his own army of dragons."
She looked down at her dragon in sadness before she realized something, "Yeah, but just because he has it don't mean he'll know how to use it."
He perked when he realized that and looked back at her with a smile, "Helene, I think you might be onto something. We'll come up with a plan as soon as we get back to Berk."
A plan had actually begun to form in his mind as soon as she said that. Especially when he noticed that she and Heather resembled each other.
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(A/N: So? How'd you guys like part 1 of "The Heather Report"? Part 2 is something that I think a number of people will enjoy. I certainly hope everyone will stick around for an interesting little hint about Helene's family.
For those of you who are wondering, her name is pronounced "Heh-leh-nuh", it comes from the Germanic language; for some reason the 'e' is often rolled into an 'a'. The nickname Astrid called her is pronounced "Hel-ah".
In case you don't know, Helheim, or Hel, is one of the nine worlds of Norse Mythology. It's ruled over by a goddess of the same name and it's very similar to the Christian Hell, in the sense that it's essentially the underworld. While Ragnarok is associated with a wolf called Fenrir, legend has it that he is chained to a rock and if he breaks free it will cause the apocalypse, or Ragnarok.
I hope everyone enjoyed this and I really hope you stay around for the next chapter. It'll be a good one.)