Guess who's back, back again. Hiccup's back, tell your friends. Hello to whoever will read this. First things first. I don't own any character in story apart from the OC ones. This is act 1 of the first peak in the story. Hope you enjoy.
The next day found Hiccup and George racing through the clouds.
"The air is really cold here. How do these people live like this?" George asked while rubbing his hands.
"They are stubborn. They live here for generations." Hiccup replied.
When the time came for breakfast, the two friends went to the Hall to fill their stomachs. There, they saw Fishlegs buried in one of his books, Snotlout trying to impress Astrid and Heather with his ''eating" skills and Thuggory talking to his father. They each grabbed a plate and sat to the table.
Suddenly, Tuffnut opened the door letting all the cold to come in.
"Tuff, close the door it's freezing outside" Snotlout remarked.
"Have you guys seen Ruff? She never came home last night." The blonde Viking asked his friends. At that exact moment Big-Bertha bursted the door open asking if anyone had seen her daughter. It didn't take long for the group to realise that something must have happened to the two girls.
"Tuff and Snotlout get your dragons and search the East side of the island. Heather and Thuggory, you guys will search the North side. Hiccup and George, you have the West side, While Fishlegs and I will search the South." Astrid didn't lose time to get a search plan ready. Everyone wemt to their respective sides and searched for hours, to no avail.
The sun was starting to set and everyone were at the Great Hall. Stoick was trying to relax Big-Bertha, while the group was trying to rest for a minute. Then, Hiccup realised something.
"Where's Alvin?" He asked, everyone looked at him trying to process his question.
"Oh no! Alvin is taken too? This is en epidemic! No one is safe!" Tuffnut yell earning a smack in the head from Astrid.
"No you idiot. Alvin was the one that took them. Now that I think about it, We didn't see any Outcast on Berk while we were searching. Did anyone see any?" She asked, get only negative responses.
"If Alvin hurt my little girl, I swear to Freya he better find a Whispering Death hole to crawl to or else..." Big-Bertha threatened.
"Spitelout send the Alpha team for scouting. Tell them to return as soon as they have intel on where he might have taken the girls." Stoick ordered his second in command. At the exact moment Spitelout opened the door to leave, a Terrible Terror came in and landed on the main table. Stoick saw a paper was warped around the dragon's leg.
"To Berk,
I have two of your girls prisoners. If you want them alive you have to fight for them. In a week another dragon will come with the location of the girls and the battlefield. Don't even think of attacking my island. My people abandoned it while you were at that pointless meeting.
Alvin the Treacherous"
"I have to say his writing is so much better than mine" Gobber said trying to lighten the mood.
"Ready the men and repair any damages to the ships. We must be ready for when that dragon comes." Stoick ordered. Mogadon, Dagur and Big-Bertha all gave similar orders to their second in command.
"With your permission Chief, I would like to train my Riders at the Academy" Astrid asked Stoick. She only got a nod from the huge man, which was enough for her.
The next morning Tuffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs were practicing some drills that Astrid made them do. After a while Heather and Thuggory also joined in.
"Why isn't Hiccup here training like we do? He thinks that just because he traveled to places he could skip practice?" Snotlout asked exhausted from practice.
"He said the he will scout the islands near Outcast island hopping to found the battlefield Alvin talked about in his letter." Heather said between swings of her axe.
"And George?" It was Astrid's turn to ask.
"He's helping the village prepare for the battle." Thuggory said while punching a sand bag.
In the plaza, George has just finished moving some boxes with food to the Hall, when he walked in front of the Forge. He could hear the sound of the hammer pounding the hot metal. He went inside hoping that the blacksmith hasn't too busy to help him with a favour.
"Hey Gobber, is this a good time or should I come back later?" Asked politely knowing full well just how much busy the one handed man was.
"Come inside lad, come, come. Tell me. How can ol'Gobber help ya?" He asked eagerly. George saw many similarities between Hiccup and Gobber, which was to be expected since the man was his mentor for nearly a decade. The white hair boy saw the orders on the countertop and made a mental note to ask Hiccup to help the man with his work later.
"Gobber, I'm here because i need you to make something for me."
"Anything you need lad."
"I want some knifes." George said to the smith, which took him by surprise.
"But I see you already have not one but two swords equipped on you. Why on Odin's beard would you want a knife?" The blonde Viking asked.
"Not a knife. Knifes a lot of them. I want to have some to throw at the enemy." The white haired boy clarified to the smith earning him a wide grin.
"Aye, I can do that. I will make the swords and axes that the overgrown red beared mountain wants and with the remaining metal I will make you those throwing knifes." Gobber said, getting a smile from his now customer for his description of Stoick.
At lunch, George found the group eating on their usual table. He greeted all of them but Snotlout and Tuffnut were too busy stuffing food in their mouths to reply. After they finished eating they talked about their training. Snotlout in particular flexed about his many skills with not only the blade but also with his dragon. Then, because Snotlout is Snotlout he challenged George to a duel to see who was the better fighter.
"Are you sure Snotlout that this is a good idea? George has been in many places and learned many things. He won't be easy to beat." Fishlegs tried to reason with his friend but to no avail.
"Oh, Shut up Fishface, How good could he be? He let his love die because he wasn't strong enou-."
"SNOTLOUT!" Heather yelled making him stop his insults but it was too late. She turned her eyes to George only to see his gaze fixated on Snotlout. There wasn't anger in his eyes nor hate. It was something else, something much more chilling. The white haired boy stood up and all the group's eyes were on him. Tuffnut was waiting for him to tackle Snotlout. Even Astrid, Thuggory and Fishlegs were expecting him to attack the black haired boy. George closed his eyes for a moment and replied.
"I accept your challenge Snotlout, but in the future, for your own sake, retain yourself from using Callisto as an excuse. You got that?" He talked calmly like what Snotlout just said were never spoken. With that he left the Hall.
"Snotlout, I think the Gods have just saved your life." Heather pointed out earnings some confused looks but stopped herself from continuing the conversation.
Some time later, Everyone was at the Academy waiting for the duel to begin. Snotlout mounted on Hookfang was taking some swings with his axe.
"Snotlout, I must warn you. I am a better fighter than Hiccup. If you can't beat him, you can't beat me." George said to Snotlout
"So that means that when I beat you then everyone will know that I'm better than Hiccup." The dark haired boy remarked.
"Do you want me to use one sword or both?" The white haired boy asked. Snotlout scoffed giving George the answer to use only one sword.
"Come on Nightwing, let's show those Vikings how it's done." George said while petting his dragon. Nightwing simply roared at the other dragon. Hookfang determined to beat a Night Fury in combat took off for the skies. With a single swing of his wings Nightwing was already in the air.
The air battle lasted a few minutes but the experience George had as a Dragon Rider gave him an advantage, something Hookfang realised and made his ''pet'' to land and leave him to battle the Legendary dragon alone. Nightwing seeing this happening looked at his rider and put him on the ground as well. There were now two battles. One in the air where Astrid, Heather or any other couldn't see a clear winner and the other was the ground battle, where no matter how strong Snotlout's attacks were. George simply block and countered. Snotlout getting desperate gathered all his strength and with his final blow tried to go for the kill. With the axe coming from his top left side, George raised his sword up and with a swift move he was behind Snotlout with his sword in the black haired boy's neck.
The ground battle was over with a clear winner. However, the sun was starting to set and it getting hard to see what was happening in the clouds. Occasionally a loud explosion could be heard or the distinct whistle of the Night Fury but that was it.
"Who do you think will win?" Meatlug the Gronckle asked the other dragons.
"Hookfang. Nightwing.Barf and Belch disagreed. They had adapted their rider's personalities and rivalry to the core.
"I think Nightwing will win. He has more experience" Stormfly said calmly as ever.
"The Night Fury will win without a doubt. He saved my friend's life. He is strong." Windshear said with admiration gaining the attention of the other dragons. They clearly wanted to know more so they made her tell them everything she knew.
After some time the sounds stopped and everyone looked up. A figure was free falling from the sky. It took some second for the humans to see but the dragons found the answer immediately. Hookfang lost the fight. Snotlout and the others went to see fallen dragon and make sure he was all right.
"You last quite a while with the Fury didn't you?" Stormfly said almost mockingly. Hookfang opened his eyes amd grunted.
"He was hiding and evading all my attacks until I run out. Then he simply appeared and one shot me. He is strong. But he told me that the other one is stronger. I can't believe a dragon could be stronger than him." Hookfang said to the other dragons right before he went to sleep to rest. A second later Nightwing appeared and landed next to his rider. The duel was over with George and Nightwing as the winners. The other dragons were speechless from what they have heard from Hookfang
Realising how late it was getting everyone started to head for their homes. Only Snotlout stayed behind murmuring to himself.
The next morning Astrid woke up when she heard the district Night Fury whistle. She came to recognise the two dragons from their whistle. She run to her window to see if her assumption was right. A dark figure with a distinct red fin zoomed aboved her.
'He's early. He must have found it. We should go find him, after we put on some more clothes.' The voice said making Astrid look down at what she was wearing. She closed the window and immediately started putting on her usual attire. The moment she stepped out of her house, Stormfly walked up to her rider signaling her that she was ready for their morning flight.
"Ok girl, today we won't go on our usual route. I need to talk to Hiccup." The blonde girl said to her dragon. Stormfly simply chirped.
'How will you talk to him?' The voice asked breaking the silence inside her mind.
'What do you mean How? I will go up to him and simply ask him.' She responded not understanding the underline meaning of the question.
'I mean that, last time we talked to him he told us that story. He was smiling when we left. It might be awkward.' The voice reasoned
'I told you. He thinks of me as a Valkyrie so I will treat him like one. That night he didn't deserved what Mildew and Spitelout said. That's it nothing more nothing less' Astrid responded making the voice silent once again.
After some time she arrived at the cove, where she couldn't find neither George nor Hiccup. She tried to leave but Stormfly stopped her and pointed to the tree next to the lake. There, Astrid could see Toothless sleeping peacefully. She got off her dragon and walked towards the Night Fury expecting to see the auburn haired boy next to him. When she didn't she looked around. The sound of water splashing made her look behind the tree.
Once again all she could see were scars. She was staring for some time before Hiccup realised she was there.
"What are you doing?" His voice sounded tired, which made Astrid realise she was staring and averted her gaze away from Hiccup.
"Sorry I wanted to talk to you about what you find, but I see you are busy and tired. I will see you at dinner so... Bye!" She run towards her dragon never looking back at the naked boy.
'Smooth' The voice mockingly said.
'Shut up' The blonde shield maiden ordered. She was now inside the Great Hall eating her breakfast zoned out of reality.
"Astrid are you all right?" A voice made her look up. Fishlegs was standing there half concerned half confused. Astrid didn't understand why he had that weird expression so she asked him.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Your face is red. Are you sick?"Fishlegs asked right on time when the others came in.
'Great' she thought, not wanting to make a big deal of what had just happened.
"I'm fine. I was just running so that why I'm red" She answered looking at everyone.
"Ok then. Have you heard. Hiccup returned from his trip we should go find him and ask him about what he found." Heather said cheerfully. Even the mention of his name made Astrid flinch in position. She stood up and walked away fron the group and towards the exit.
"No need. We will have a meeting this afternoon to discuss this. I'm going to the Academy to train. You should do to." The blonde Viking said with a monotonous voice.
All day she couldn't concentrate in training. His face kept circling her thoughts, which made her more angrier, so now she need extra training to vent off.
"Ehm, Miss Astrid. I'm sorry to bother you when you are training but Mister Tuffnut is making us all wear wigs and fly with Barf and Belch." Brenna, the little academy studen that Astrid saved, said. The blonde Viking sighed and walked to Tuffnut. She took over his class and made everyone do some simple tricks with their dragons. When the class ended, Astrid took a minute to relax.
"Wasn't it cool how that Night Fury blew up the dummy the other day." A kid said making Astrid pay attention to the conversation. Every kid, especially Brenna, were talking about how amazing the dragon and his Rider were. The conversation stopped when one of the kids made them look up and saw a Night Fury flying above them. The blonde shield maiden looked up and saw Nightwing circling around before landing. Brenna lost her excitement when she realised it wasn't Toothless but Nightwing and went back to her friends. Nightwing heated the ground where he was and took a nap.
Astrid began feeling awkward around George. He didn't try to learn anything else besides how he and Hiccup met but for some reason she also felt that she shouldn't ask anything more. If he didn't want to share something, she shouldn't pressure him. However, she did wanted to learn one thing from George.
"Hey, George. You got a minute" She asked reluctantly.
"Sure. What do you want?" He replied with a smile, something that reminded her of Hiccup when he was... younger.
"Well, You see... The other night..." She tried to say but was getting flustered. Why was she stuttering? She was Astrid Hofferson. She took a breath and repeat her question.
"Where did Hiccup's scars came from?" She asked quickly. The question took George by surprise. His smile disappeared. He opened and closed his mouth several times trying to find the correct response. Finally he answered with a question she feared to answer.
"How do you know about his scars? He wouldn't simple tell you about them." Astrid averted her eyes from the White haired boy.
'Since you don't want him to know, you should tell him that you saw those scars that night in the forge.' The voice inside her head said.
'Right, right. That isn't a lie' Astrid answered.
Realising she still haven't given her answer to him she cleared her throat and said.
"It was before he revealed his identity. The night he fixed my axe" George contemplated on that answer and then looked at her.
"It's not my place to talk about it. If you want to know you should let him tell you." He began.
"But don't pressure him. It's a complicated matter. If he trusts you he will tell you, in due time." He finished avoiding the answer completely. The blonde shield maiden, since her question wasn't answered, had another one.
"Can you teach me those moves you used in the duel?" She asked with a serious tone. Again, George smiled. Astrid, expecting to be turned down was ready to protest. His answer came unexpectedly.
"Hiccup and I talked about it. He thinks that everyone in the group should learn to fight like us. 'Or at least half as good as us'" He said quoting Hiccup's exact words from a few hours ago, when they had the conversation. Astrid thanked the boy in front of her and went to her dragon for a quick flight.
Diner time had come and everyone learned that Hiccup had returned from his scouting trip. The Auburn haired boy entered the room with George at his side. All eyes were on him. The other tribes' eyes were expectant, while the eyes of the Berkians were still confused from this strange image in front of them.
"Τυπικό. (Typical)" He said to George in Greek, while they walked towards the main table were all the chieftains and their second in command were.
"So, boy. What have you learned?" Spitelout said with the same irritating tone. Hiccup turned to the other tables.
"I searched every island around the Outcast island that could be used as a battlefield. I have found nothing." He said murmurs could be heard from different pockets of people
"Does that mean that Alvin is somewhere else? Where could he possibly be? Are we sure he checked every island? So he is still Useless." All those things could be heard around the Hall. Spitelout using this as an opportunity he stood up.
"All those years and you are still Useless. It shouldn't be surprising from you. If MY son was scouting he would have found their hideout AND rescue the prisoners." Spitelout said proudly.
"With what dragon? His Monstrous Nightmare is still resting from his fight with the Night Fury. I hear your son couldn't even touch the white haired Rider. Am I wrong sister?" Dagur the Deranged, chieftain of the Berserkers, said looking at his sister.
"No brother you are right. When we searched Hookfang, Snotlout's dragon, for any injuries we saw that it only took one hit to bring him down" Heather said looking at George.
"Couldn't you be more restrainted?" Hiccup whispered to his friend.
"He had it coming." Was the only answer he got from his felow Rider. Considering Snotlout's personality the answer was more than enough.
"Ha ha ha. With warriors and dragons like that, no matter where the battlefield takes place we will win. Now DRINK!" Stoick said ending the argument and any murmurs about Hiccup's inability to find them. He will take small steps to approach his son. Small steps.
The remaining days passed quickly and at Dinner of the last day a purple Terrible Terror landed near the fire of the Hall. Gobber snatched the letter from the dragon's leg and read it the two words that were written.
"The Nest"
Done. I'm sorry i haven't uploaded for so long. It was... Hard for me. I don't remember if I said this before but the story will have at least two Peaks. Act 2 of the first should be coming soon. Thank you for reading.