Hello to whoever will read this. This chapter marks the beginning of a new Arc in the story. It starts here and will end at the first MAJOR plot point in my story. Hope you enjoy.
!!!ATTENTION!!!
This chapter will have an extremely mature content. Be warned!
The sound of the sea hitting the wooden planks was enough for anyone to wake up. In the captain's cabin, a beautiful woman was sleeping. Her long black hair were loose and they were wrapping her whole body. Next to the bed a pitch black dragon was sleeping as well. It's three tails were placed next to each other forming one big tail. The woman opened her eyes when a strong wave hit the boat. She got up and opened the door.
"What is happening out there?" She asked the first person she saw.
"Sorry ma'am, but it seems that we are being attacked." A strong looking man saluted and answered.
"Attacked? By who?" She asked getting her sqord and waking her dragon up.
"We don't know." The man said stepping back in order for her to leave and get upstairs. When she opened the door, the sun momentarily blinded her. After a second or two, her vision became clear, she saw a dragon rider with long blonde hair commanding her equally blonde dragon to attack. She narrowed her eyes.
"I know who is attacking us." She said, with the only emotion that came from her words, being that of pure hate.
Back on Berk, Hiccup had just woken up from his sleep. He took a quick bath in the cove's lake and when he returned to the camp George was already up and cooking some fish. The white haired boy so in his friend's eyes that something was wrong. When he finished the fish he went to him and asked him.
"Everyone here still treat me like I'm Hiccup the Useless. You saw them back in the Hall, they couldn't believe that I was Fury. We should have never came, these people will never change." Hiccup said taking a big bite from his food.
"You know that, that wasn't an option. We have to stop any war in order for peace to prevail." George said now.
"Yeah, but I think that this time it will be hopeless." The auburn haired boy said now looking down.
"Hiccup, what's the problem? I've never seen you so down, since..well ever." George asked putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"You want to know what the problem is? This whole village is the problem. Stoick is the problem. Astrid is the problem... I am the problem." Hiccup yelled motion with his hand at everything he said. George smiled.
"Remember what that weird pirate always said?" The white haired Dragon Rider asked getting both his hands on his friend's shoulders.
"Why is the rum always gone?" Hiccup answered with a confused look.
"..Yes.." George said nodding his head to the right while smirking.
"But he also used to say that 'The problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude about the problem' remember that?" He continued. Hiccup thought for a second and then he remembered it.
"You do remember that he was eaten by a Kraken right?" Hiccup asked now with a smirk. George moved his head around.
"Technicalities." He joked. Both of them laughed.
"Anyway, we should be going to the Academy. I promised Fishlegs that I would show him Nightwing's wing spam. You should bring Toothless too." George said now.
"I will. I want to see their faces when they see two Night Furies." Hiccup smirked. George rolled his eyes and motioned for the dragons to get ready.
In the village, Astrid was eating her own breakfast. She was thinking all night about what happened the night before. She was furious with Hiccup.
'Who does he think he is. I can't believe that I felt pity for someone like him.' She thought.
'You didn't. You felt pity for Hiccup. That was not Hiccup. He is someone else. Hiccup was kind, gentle and funny.' The voice said.
'You know. You are right. But Hiccup is also right.'
'What do you mean?
'He always says that I am a Valkyrie.'
'Right..' The voice said questionably.
'Then maybe I should become one. I don't have to feel pity for him or anyone else. I will do whatever I want. Besides, I am a shield maiden.' Astrid thought
'You do that and everyone that you are close will leave you. You will be alone.' The voice said.
'Whose side are you on? Besides, I'm always alone.'
'I'm you so I'm on your side.'
'Then don't oppose me.' Astrid thought finishing her food and getting ready to go to the Academy, where today she would have to put up not only the twins and Snotlout, but also Hiccup.
At the Academy the twins were fighting, as usual, Snotlout was working out, he wanted to impress Astrid with his muscles. Fishlegs was teaching the young children about the Boulder class dragons, when a whistle echoed through the open building. Everyone looked up and saw two black dots coming closer. The children had their eyes widened, it was their first time seen a Night Fury. When the two dragons landed, they were immediately surrounded by eyes full of amusement and excitement.
"Ok, everyone. As you can see, today we have two guests here. They have come to teach us about Night Furies." Fishlegs said to the kids. Then he looked at Hiccup.
"We only need one Night Fury for our book so.. If you want, you can help me register your dragon, while George is teaching these kids." He said. Hiccup frowned but couldn't answer. George immediately pushed him away so that he could have space to teach.
"Ok, everyone, my name is George and this is Nightwing. Say hello to the children Nightwing." He said and the dragon roared. Hiccup followed Fishlegs to the side of the Academy, where the twins and Snotlout were watching his every move.
"So... you are not dead." Snotlout said crossing his arms. Hiccup shrugged.
"Where is Astrid. I thought she was the head teacher or something." Hiccup asked looking around for the blonde warrior.
"She hasn't come yet. She should be here any minute now." Fishlegs said hastily. His eyes never left the legendary dragon. He was trembling from excitement.
"So this is a Night Fury. The unholy offspring of lighting and death. Oh this is so exciting." He squealed. Toothless eyed him carefully.
"Don't worry he means well. He is just happy to finally have the chance to meet one of your kind." Meatlug said to Toothless. The black dragon relaxed and let the blonde man touch his wings.
While Fishlegs was geeking out, Snotlout was scanning Hiccup.
"Do you have something to say to me, Snotlout?" Hiccup asked the smaller man.
"Yeah. Just because you returned doesn't mean that you are the heir again. I'm Berk's heir. You are nothing." He said shoving his finger in Hiccup's shoulder.
"If you want to keep your finger, I suggest to take it off of me. Now." Hiccup said with a serious voice.
"Or what?" Snotlout said mockingly. Hiccup narrowed his eyes. He grabbed Snotlout's finger and twisted his arm. The short black haired boy, with his arm behind his back now, screamed from the pain. Tuffnut smiled seeing him in pain. Fishlegs stopped examining Toothless and looked up. Ruffnut was laughing her lungs out. Suddenly a roar was heard. Hiccup looked up and saw Hookfang, eyes turned to slits, and sharp teeth ready to consume him. Just before the dragon could attack, Toothless fired a shot right between the dragon and his rider.
"What do you think you are doing?" Toothless asked with a snarl.
"I'm attacking this man, who is hurting my pet." Hookfang asked with an equal snarl.
"Your pet? He isn't your pet, he is your rider, your friend." Toothless answered. Hookfang laughed.
"Just because you need a human to fly doesn't mean that I need. This human is nothing more than just a pet I keep around for entertainment. No dragon should have rider. No dragon should be enslaved by humans." He stopped laughing and looked at the Night Fury with a serious look "However, No dragon should kill a human without cause, and he gave me cause." Hookfang said looking back at Hiccup, who was looking at the Nightmare straight in the eyes.
"If you hurt him, you are dead." Toothless said reading his shot.
"Hah, you think you can take me down. I'm the strongest dragon in the island. When, my human becomes the leader then I will become the new Alpha." The red dragon said raising it's head.
"You are not our leader yet. We still have the council. We won't let you become a tyrant like Her." Meatlug said getting between the two dragons, while all the humans were watching.
"Well, if he becomes like Her, then I would just end him. Like I did with her." Toothless said showing his teeth. Meatlug turned to him surprised.
"You are the one? We knew that a Night Fury killed her, but we thought that he died with his rider."
"Nope. Still alive and kicking." Toothless said happily. Hiccup let out a sigh and released Snotlout. Hookfang went to his human to help him. Snotlout scratched his dragon's chin and murmured a thank you.
"What is going on here?" A voice came from behind the group. Everyone turned and saw the blonde shield maiden standing there with Stormfly by her side.
"Oh nothing. Just the usual.
Training the younger generation about dragons. Fishlegs freaking out about dragons. Oh and Hiccup humiliating Snotlout." Tuffnut said with a bored voice but got excited about the last part.
"He did not humiliated me. I just helped him learn a new move. That's all. He could never beat me in a real fight trust me Astrid." Snotlout said winking at her. Fishlegs, Hiccup and Astrid rolled their eyes.
"Snotlout provoked Hiccup and paid the price." Fishlegs said smirking. Astrid's eyes fell on the auburn haired boy. She gave him a cold look and wemt to Fishlegs.
"So, you took measurements?" She said with a monotone voice. Fishlegs raised his eyebrow but answered her question. After hearing that he did, she turned to Snotlout.
"Go to Gothi, to take a look at your arm." With a huff he nodded and left. Then Astrid turned to the twins.
"Don't you guys have a class to teach?" She said and Ruffnut dragged her brother to the middle of the Academy, where George was continuing his lesson. Finally Astrid looked at Hiccup.
"Hiccup, I don't want to know why you attacked him but you could at least do it away from the children." She said with a calm voice. Fishlegs and Hiccup looked at each other.
"Ehm, Astrid, are you ok?" Fishlegs asked unsure.
"Yeah, why?" She asked.
"Well, you usually yell at the twins or Snotlout when they break the rules of the Academy, and fighting is one of the rules." Fishlegs continued.
"Yes, but Hiccup doesn't know the rules and frankly, I don't care what he does, as long as he doesn't interfere with my work or me in general." She said looking at him. Her blue eyes gave the same icy feeling that it used to emitte when she was fifteen. Hiccup chuckled.
"That's the Astrid I remember. The Valkyrie Astrid. The one that cares only about herself."
"Listen up you one legged muttonhead, I had enough of you, if you want to leave, nobody is stopping you. And if there is even a little ounce of humanity or kindness or whatever emotion besides rage and hate, then at least say goodbye to Gobber and Stoick. They are happy that you are alive. If you can't see that, then maybe you are more stupid than the twins and Snotlout combined." She said straight to his face. Hiccup was ready to reply, probably something sarcastic that would trigger her rage. However, before he could speak, George approached the group.
"Oh Astrid, good, I need to talk to you." the white haired boy said. She raised an eyebrow.
"You want to talk to me? Why?" She asked.
"Well. The chief said that if I wanted something, that had to do with Berk's safety then I should talk to you." He said smiling, which changed the atmosphere of the group. She motioned for him to continue, since he said that it was about Berk, he had her full attention.
"Remember how I said that I would go to the other tribes to ask them about their point of view in the war?" He asked and she nodded.
"Well, it turns out that the chief of the Meatheads got inspired by my actions to stop the war and he said that he would contact the other chieftains to meet." He stopped for a minute so that she could understand the situation.
"This meeting will take place here, on Berk, and every tribe from the Archipelago will come. Including the Outcasts and the Berserkers." He finished.
"What?! Why are you telling me this now?! When will they arrive? Why are the Outcasts coming? Does the chief know about this?" She asked in quick succession.
"This is the first time I could talk to you. They will be here in four days. The Outcasts are coming to negotiate a treaty between the three tribes. Stoick was the one who said that he wanted to stop this war, so I think that he would be ok with this." He replied just as quickly as she asked. She sighed. She rubbed her templates and nodded affirmative.
"Yeah, ok I will make the preparations. But if the Outcasts attack. When the Outcasts attack. I want you and your Night Fury to blow them back to their island." She said looking at him.
"Don't worry. You have two Night Fury riders. What could possibly go wrong?" He gave her a reassuring smile. She facepalmed.
Away from Berk, in the deck of a ship, a young warrior, with long blonde hair, was struggling to free herself from her bindings.
"Why did you attack us? Do you have a death wish?" The black hair woman said closing the gap between their faces.
"You think that I would let you roam free after of what you did? You killed her!" She yelled. The black her woman slapped her prisoner.
"You know that I will kill you right?" She said. The blonde haired girl didn't respond.
"Before you perish though, I want you to know that I will hunt down the rest of your precious squadron, including that annoying hooded girl, and I will kill them too." She said with a smile while she motioned for one of the men to bring her sword. The prisoner jerked up trying to attack her but to no avail. Finally she gave up, she looked down.
"That fake arm of yours really pisses me off." The black haired woman said. The prisoner chuckled.
"Yeah, the maker of that arm is a really weird guy. He likes playing with mechanisms and inventing stuff. You should know he's the one that made your sword." She looked up and meet her capturer's eyes.
"Indeed, He will be the last person from your little group that I would kill with this blade. Death by your creation. Kinda poetic, isn't?" She said before she started laughing. The blonde haired girl widened her eyes.
"Wh-" She tried to say, but before she could finish her sentence, the blade had already traveled through her throat and the edge came out from the back of her neck. She coughed blood. Then the black haired woman retracted her sword and with a quick motion of her arm, slashed the remaining throat, decapitating the half dead girl.
The body fell to the wooden deck. The men were frozen from the execution they witnessed. The woman turned her attention to the wounded dragon. She tried to kill her but her own dragon stopped her.
"Let me do it, Eclipse. I have to do it, if we want to have his good will." She said. Eclipse touched noses with the yellow dragon and purred then he stepped back for his rider to do their work. The yellow dragon whined and tried to step back. Before she could escape the blade had already dug a whole in her skull.
"It is done." She exhaled some air.
"Continue with our route. We must find the others and eliminate them. For our Master." She said raising her sword in the air, blood traveling from the blade to her palm and then to the deck of the ship. The men saluted and returned to their stations.
Done. Bigger chapter. First things first, I had hit a dead end with Astrid's emotions, so this chapter is like a reboot of her affection towards Hiccup. Also as I said in the beginning, this is a new Arc in the story. In this chapter I wanted to develop the secondary characters a bit more, but then it would become a very big chapter.(Take note for what I had written about them because it's the details that will make this story shine. Hopefully). Lastly if you think that the last part was too bloody or gory please let me know. (The execution was inspired by a video game: Shadow Of Mordor). If you didn't like it please tell, I will decrease the violence. (Characters will continue to die just not so brutally. Personally I don't find it brutal, it was actually a very quick death). Anyway, changing the subject, Next chapter will be the Meeting of Chieftains. I will do some research if there was something similar in the real Viking culture and I will write it down. Thank you for reading.