Chapter 2
Thank you for the reviews and favs and follows guys! I didn't expect much from the first chapter so it was a nice surprise. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Hiccup barged into the Great Hall and headed straight for the table in the corner, where the riders were going through every existing book of dragons in an effort to find any clue or information about the Time Gliders.
Or at least Fishlegs and Snotlout were. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were too occupied with a heated debate on a topic Hiccup didn't have time to pick up on.
"Hiccup! Back already? We haven't found much yet, there's not a lot in those old books." Fishlegs exclaimed, completely missing the distressed look of their young Chief's face.
"Yeah but it would go quicker if Ruffnut and Tuffnut contributed to the team efforts!" Snotlout glared at the twins, who ignored his remark completely.
"Astrid is gone!" Hiccup breathed out after downing a mug of cold, refreshing water.
"Gone? Gone where?" That got the twin's attention. Hiccup sat down to the table and ran his hand through his hair.
"I-I don't know, we ran into Drago on the Melody Island, he found the Time Gliders and we tried to stop him but he opened a portal and Astrid and Stormfly were pushed into it, right after Drago, and I couldn't get to them in time. The portal closed and they were gone. Please tell me you found something, anything we can use. We have to go after them!"
"Sorry Hiccup but the only useful information we have is what we know from your mother. She said the Time Gliders are very rare because there are only two families of them, so approximately 8-10 dragons and they don't really stay in one place for very long. From what she observed of them, they usually stick by the Melody Island but they travel through time almost constantly. Where one of them goes, the rest soon follows." Fishlegs recalled Valka's words.
Valka and Gobber have gone off to the Berserker Island to celebrate the anniversary of Dagur and Queen Mala's marriage, as per the Defenders of the Wing tradition. As their allies, Hiccup was invited to represent Berk as its chief, but he was far too busy so he asked his mother to go in his stead.
Valka, doubting the rumours chose to go, trusting her son to address the unlikely rumours of Drago not only being alive but hunting down Time Gliders. Dragons, which Valka had only come across once or twice in her long life and never for long enough to study them. Time Gliders were timid and any attempt to approach them at a closer proximity ended with their departure to Odin knows when. Hence her reluctance to believe that someone of Drago's nature would ever be able to actively locate one, let alone catch or bargain with them.
As soon as they set out for the Berserker Island, Hiccup and Astrid decided to fly over to the Melody Island, to check if there was any sign of the Time Gliders, but they found more than they had hoped to find. At least Hiccup now knew for sure that Drago was alive. The threat was real.
"Hmm. 'Where one of them goes, the rest soon follows'. Of course!" Hiccup exclaimed in realisation. "There's more of them, Drago took only two, so if we can find the other dragons before they move, maybe they will agree to take us with them." He proposed.
"And after we free the Time Gliders from Drago's grasp, they can bring us all back here." Fishlegs concluded.
"Great, but how do we find them?"
"We will go to the Melody Island immediately and camp out there until we find them." Hiccup decided.
"I'll go and pack my bags." Snotlout began to get up from his seat, all excited about the new mission where he could finally prove to Hiccup that he was an irreplaceable asset to the team.
"No Snotlout, you're not going." One sentence was enough to turn his great plans into yak's smelly...
"What? But why?" He whined and folded his arms. Hiccup was as always being unfair! Why was it always him? Why couldn't Hiccup just let him prove himself! It was a perfect occasion too, with Astrid gone there was no one more capable than Snotlout, so why was Hiccup…
"Because I need you here." Wait, what? "My mother and Gobber are both gone, I need someone here, to be in charge and look after the village while I'm gone, can I trust you to keep the Vikings and dragons safe and in check while I'm gone? If it's too much I understa…"
"Of course you can trust me chief!" Snotlout's eyes sparkled with euphoria. This was much better, Astrid wouldn't know what hit her, Snotlout was on his way to becoming Hiccup's second in command!
"Actually, can I stay and continue the research? There is much more information on other rare dragons that could be useful in the future and maybe I can find something more on Time Gliders." Fishlegs grinned at Hiccup.
"Fine, stay and help Snotlout. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you're coming with me, unless you too want to stay here?" Hiccup turned to the twins who were already planning what to pack.
"Stay here? And miss all the fun? No way!" Ruffnut shook her head.
"That's right! I'm with you chief! Can't let you go alone with no backup, into the wild and unknown, or the known, since we're going to the time we already lived through, but you get what I mean."
"Thanks Tuffnut." Hiccup smiled.
"Also, a trip to the past? Wouldn't miss it for the world!" He exclaimed loudly with a smirk, making Ruffnut snigger.
The Dragons got to the Berk faster than Stoic anticipated. Before the village had any chance to grab their axes, the intruders were already about a mile away.
Stoic watched as they were getting closer, with suspicion in his eyes and dread rising in his stomach. There was only a handful of Skrills flying towards them, but what actually worried Stoic was the large figure riding on top of one of the dragons.
Tall build, dreadlocks, spear, fake arm.
Stoic furrowed his brows.
No.
It couldn't be…
Quickly the shock turned into adrenaline as the handful of electrical dragons arrived and threw themselves at the village, sending bursts of white fire at the newly repaired homes. The storm that accompanied them, put the entire village on their feet.
The Vikings struggled to attack the dragons, as they found themselves being struck down by the lightning bolts. Kids were helping to put the fire out but it was multiplying faster than they could manage to extinguish.
Stoic watched Berk heading towards destruction.
Anger boiled inside of him.
He turned and saw the figure, standing on the back of the dragon, right above the village. He was observing his flying monsters do his dirty work, until he chose to look in a specific direction.
Stoic noted his focus and followed his eyes.
They landed on his son, who was of course being chased by a dragon. Right towards the stranger, who just got off the dragon and was walking towards his running son.
Hiccup!
Stoic gripped his axe tighter and ran.
"I waited for this day, dragon master!" He heard the figure say, as he was about to strike a blow at his son, who slipped and fell to the ground. Hiccup was looking up at the man, with fear in his eyes, unable to move, as if paralysed.
Stoic jumped in front of him, receiving the hit to his axe. He looked up at the stranger, and saw the face that haunted his nightmares ever since that night all those years ago...
"Drago Bludvist." He growled.
"Long-time no see, Stoic the Vast!" Drago smirked, as soon as he shook off his initial surprise at missing his target.
"What do you want from Berk?!" Stoic demanded angrily. He was not in a mood to play games.
"I'm on a hunt, you see. As soon as I have what I came here for I will leave you and your starving little Island alone. You're no use to me, I want him." He pointed with his weapon, at Hiccup who was right behind Stoic.
"What hunt?! You and those beasts are destroying our village, call them off or I will make you!"
"Stoic, Stoic… You're as short sighted as ever. You want me to call my dragons off? Well why don't you make me?" Drago smirked evilly.
Stoic's eyes wondered off behind Drago. It began to look like the Vikings finally woke up from their evening daze because the fire seemed to be decreasing. The dragons were outnumbered and seemed to be getting tired from the crowds of Vikings targeting them.
"You'll all go up in flames tonight, at my hands!" Drago laughed, but Stoic kept his composure,
"I think we can take you on." He sneered confidently, but Drago had different ideas.
"Tell you what, why don't I make you a deal? I can be merciful too. You give me the boy and I will take my dragons and leave, kindly letting you all live." He suggested, looking hungrily at the boy.
"What do you want with my son?" Stoic furrowed his brows.
"Hiccup and I have a lot to talk about." Drago looked over Stoic's shoulder. He couldn't wait to get his hands on the little Viking that destroyed his life's work.
Then he saw one of his dragons approach from behind, about to grab the boy. Drago smirked. The boy was his! Soon everything would change.
"Aaaaaah!" Came a scream from behind Stoic. The chief spun around to see what happened to his son. Hiccup got snatched and pulled up in the air by a dragon.
"Hiccup!" Stoic shouted after his son, thinking the dragon belonged to Drago, but the other man's loud and angry reaction suggested otherwise.
"You! I had a feeling one of you followed me here." Drago roared.
Suddenly someone dropped down from the sky, right between Stoic and Drago. This person was dressed in a weird suit of armour made of dragon scale and was pointing a weapon of sorts at displeased Drago.
"If you thought you can kill him this easily, think again." Said the newcomer in a familiar, female voice. Drago laughed bitterly.
"You're here, so what? There's only one of you here. And your one, single dragon. What can you do? You're outnumbered!" Drago growled convinced he still had the upper hand but he was soon proven wrong.
They heard a different kind of roar and the stormy clouds suddenly began to ease. Stoic and Drago looked up to see a variety of dragons go after Drago's Skrills. This caused the Vikings to stop and look up in wonder and confusion at this peculiar situation. Soon a small crowd began to form near the Chief and the two newcomers, watching the confrontation on the ground and in the air.
"I picked up some reinforcements on my way here." She said with a smirk but her tone suddenly turned much more threatening. "Leave, Drago. I'm warning you!"
Drago glared at her and looked around at the crowd, then up at his dragons. He seemed to assess the situations and weight his options.
He couldn't win this battle.
But he would win the war.
He would come back, even stronger, and he would kill the boy.
"This isn't over." He sneered at both the newcomer and Stoic, and went over to his dragon. He jumped on his back and flew away with a yell that had all Skrills follow him.
As soon as he was gone, all the other dragons began to fly away. None of the Vikings attempted to stop them. Perhaps too confused? But more likely just distracted.
"Who are you?" Stoic asked the masked figure in front of him once Drago was far enough. She turned to him and took her mask off, setting off a chain of gasps and shocked exclamations from the crowd.
Especially the smaller version of the girl herself, and her friends.
"Astrid?" Stoic furrowed his brows in confusion mixed with suspicion. The girl before him looked just like Astrid Hofferson, and if it wasn't for the clear age difference and the fact that Astrid was standing in the crowd right this moment, Stoic would think it was her. But this Astrid, if she really was Astrid, was taller, and just dropped down from the sky.
"Nice to see you again, Stoic." She spoke in a slightly more developed voice that belonged to the Astrid they all knew. Was this a joke? Were gods displeased or was it Loki playing tricks on them?
"Did gods send you?" Stoic furrowed his brows at the suspicious girl.
"Not exactly." She blinked. "Tell me, have you ever heard of Time Gliders?"
Thank you for reading! Do let me know what you think, I always love to hear how the readers feel about my stories and I'm especially excited about this one as this is my first HTTYD fic.
The next chapter should be up by the end of next week as I have to work on my other stories.
Until next time! Stay safe and happy x