Author's Note: Ah, I can't wait until school's over...I only got two weeks left (not counting this one) and then I'm freeeeeeeee! =D Although I do wish I could just hop on a dragon and fly away from the crazy world of school, homework, and tests...*Sighs* If only...
Hey guys and welcome back to "Sleepless Nights on Dragon's Edge!" =D This chapter (well, this story actually X)) has a lot of Hiccstrid. Here is where it starts to pick up. =D I couldn't help but fangirl at my own Hiccstrid scenarios...I just love Hiccup and Astrid's relationship so much, and it's a really fun one to write and play around with! =D
Anyway, chapter number two is right down belowwwww, so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! =D Hiccstrid ahoy!
Chapter Two: The Dreamcatcher
He didn't know how long he had been sleeping when he heard the first screams.
Hiccup awoke with a start, thinking that he was once again in a nightmare when Astrid had been screaming bloody murder. But when the young viking looked around, he found that he was safe and sound in the walls of his bedroom, lying in bed and his hut calm and tranquil.
Or so it seemed.
Toothless had woken up from his stone slab; the Night Fury seemed rather rattled as well. He looked out the window, ears twitching, a concerned expression on his face. Why it was there, Hiccup didn't know.
"Bud? What's—" Hiccup was immediately cut off when a scream pierced the silence like a sharp, pointed dagger. Hiccup paled when he recognized who those screams belonged to…Astrid.
Flinging off his covers and sloppily tying on his prosthetic, Hiccup shot out of bed like a bullet, stomped down the stairs, and was out the door in less than a minute. Toothless' thudding footsteps were close behind him as they both made their way to Astrid's hut. The screams had stopped, but Hiccup's heart pounded in his chest; fear tearing and ripping away at him. Hiccup ran up to the door of Astrid's hut and flung it open. He spotted Stormfly, who was circling the downstairs area, squawking with worry. Upon spotting Hiccup and Toothless, she relaxed just a little.
Hiccup walked up to Stormfly and rubbed her side in a comforting manner. "Stormfly? What's wrong, girl?"
The Deadly Nadder didn't give a response. Hiccup noticed that she was disoriented and uneasy. Hiccup's brows furrowed together as he wondered what had spooked Stormfly so much for her to leave her post at Astrid's bedside instead of fighting it off.
From upstairs, Hiccup could hear Astrid gasping for air as if she had just come up from the deepest depths of the ocean. Toothless did his best to comfort Stormfly while Hiccup ran up the stairs to Astrid's room. When Hiccup reached the top, he paused when his eyes landed on Astrid, who was sitting up in bed, a look of pure terror on her face. The Hofferson's eyes were glued to the window, and she visibly trembled. Hiccup was at her side in an instant.
"Astrid? Astrid!" cried Hiccup, shaking her shoulders. Astrid's daze was unnatural and haunting. In a few short moments, Astrid blinked, and she looked up at Hiccup. Her sapphire blue eyes flashing with fear.
"Hiccup…?" said Astrid quietly. Disbelief decorated the edges of her voice. Hiccup nodded.
"I'm here," said Hiccup. "What happened? What's wrong?"
Astrid shook. "I—"
Downstairs, Hiccup could hear the voices of the other Dragon Riders. Mostly Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who were demanding to go back to sleep. Snotlout reached the top of the stairs; he wasn't wearing his helmet, which told Hiccup that he had just woken up as well. Snotlout's eyes landed on Hiccup and Astrid, and he shifted uncomfortably.
"We heard screaming and we thought we should come and see what's going on," the Jorgenson said. He wore a worried expression as well. Astrid pursed her lips and bowed her head, seemingly embarrassed that she had woken up the rest of the Riders.
Hiccup knew what to do. He helped Astrid out of bed and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Then, he turned to Snotlout.
"Meeting at the Clubhouse," said Hiccup seriously. "Now."
…
The Dragon Riders and their dragons soon found themselves grouped up in the Clubhouse. A small fire was dancing in the pit, casting each of their shadows across the walls, and everyone made themselves comfortable somewhere in the room. All of them were shaken after Astrid's sudden screams, and they were all curious as to what scared her so much that frightened her. Astrid wasn't easily scared, so finding her looking as if she'd seen something from the dead made each of the Riders feel uneasy.
Hiccup sat next to Astrid; he was still worried about her after what had happened in her hut, but Astrid looked like her usual calm and collected self as she explained what had previously occurred.
"Stormfly and I had just returned from patrolling the island," said Astrid. "We didn't see anything strange, so we headed straight to bed when we came back. I fell asleep a little while later, but…I woke up because I had a nightmare."
Astrid shifted, and Hiccup could tell how uncomfortable she was telling everyone that she had a nightmare. None of the Riders made fun of her, though. They had all been through quite the amount of trouble at such a young age, and each of them had their own fair share of nightmares. Some were related to previous events while others were completely out of the blue.
Astrid didn't go into detail about her nightmare, but she explained how she felt after it.
"I felt as if someone was…sucking something out of me," Astrid explained. "I know it sounds weird, but after my nightmare ended, it just…disappeared. Gone. And it hurt too…"
Hiccup's brow furrowed at Astrid's description. He had felt the same way the night before when he had had a nightmare of his own. "Did your mind feel…empty afterwards?" he asked.
Astrid turned to Hiccup, a surprised expression on her face. "Y-Yeah…Yeah, I guess it did."
Snotlout shivered. "I don't know about you guys, but the creep factor is going beyond one-hundred right now."
Unlike Snotlout, the twins were thrilled by Astrid's rather paranormal experience. The two shoved their way to the front and began to bombard Astrid with questions.
"Did you see any ghosts?" asked Tuffnut.
Astrid blinked. "I didn't—"
"What about a zombie?" questioned Ruffnut. Then, she paused. "Wait, I don't think zombies have the capability to mess with heads."
"Maybe it ate her brain!" suggested Tuffnut. He turned to Astrid. "Do you feel the sudden urge to eat our brains?"
Astrid recoiled. "Tuffnut—"
"Guys, guys!" Fishlegs stepped in. He pushed the twins, who were very close to Astrid's personal space, away from her. "Leave her alone."
Ruffnut and Tuffnut frowned. "We're just investigating," said Tuffnut.
Fishlegs shook his head and he turned to Astrid. In a gentler, less sped-up tone, he said, "Astrid, you mentioned that you felt as if someone was in your room earlier. Did you see anyone?"
Astrid shook her head. "I didn't see anything clearly, but I swear that when I woke up, there was a dark figure sitting outside my window. I screamed because I was frightened, but before I could get a good look at what it was, it disappeared."
"Could you describe the figure?" Fishlegs asked. Astrid chewed her lip and nodded.
"It was…well, dark," said Astrid. "And it blended in with the night really well. Oh, and it definitely wasn't human."
"Maybe it was a Lycanwing," prompted Tuffnut. Snotlout scoffed.
"We've already established that Lycanwings aren't real, Tuff," said Snotlout. He paused. "Well, I established that. All of you guys thought that it existed."
Hiccup rolled his eyes, and he felt a little surprised that Astrid didn't respond with a snappy comment like she usually did. Hiccup glanced at Astrid; she looked distressed and shaken. Hiccup's heart dropped like a stone in the water.
Fishlegs had taken note of what Astrid said. After reading over his notes, he said. "Okay…Whatever Astrid saw has to be a dragon. There's nothing else on the Edge that fits the description."
"The Night Terrors?" suggested Hiccup. Then, he paused. "Actually, it can't be them…Smidvarg and the gang would never disturb us in the middle of the night."
"Well, if it was spooky enough to scare Astrid," said Ruffnut, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. "Then we have a serious situation on our hands."
The room fell deathly silent, and Astrid lowered her head, trembling. Hiccup wondered what she had seen that left her so rattled.
"I'll go and fly around the island to see if whatever Astrid saw is still out there," volunteered Snotlout, mainly because he was tired of the awkwardness and fear that radiated through the room.
"I'll come too," said Fishlegs helpfully.
Hiccup nodded and he turned to Ruffnut and Tuffnut. "Why don't you two join them?"
Tuffnut scoffed. "And why should we go?"
Ruffnut nodded. "I'm perfectly content staying right—"
Hiccup glared at the twins, and they both swallowed down their words.
"Okay, we're going. Let's go, Ruff," said Tuffnut quickly. Then he, Ruffnut, and Barf and Belch shuffled out of the room, following Snotlout and Fishlegs close behind.
Astrid and Hiccup along with Toothless and Stormfly were left alone in the Clubhouse. The Night Fury and Deadly Nadder were watching their human companions from the corner of the room as well as keeping their own guards up for any sign of the creature that Astrid had described. Stormfly had been on edge since what had occurred in Astrid's room, and since she was incredibly loyal to her rider, she wanted to do everything she could to protect her.
Astrid stared into the flames; the orange firelight illuminated her face as Hiccup turned to her. Astrid's sapphire orbs were distant and her blonde hair was disheveled like a bramble bush, but to Hiccup, she looked as beautiful as ever.
Slowly and carefully, Hiccup slipped his hand into Astrid's, and she gripped it with all her might. Hiccup didn't mind her strong hold.
The two stayed in silence for a few moments, only the soft crackling of the fire, the flickering of embers, and the light breathing of the dragons in the corner of the room penetrated the quiet. Hiccup let out a small breath, and he once again turned to Astrid, whose eyes were still glued to the fire.
"How are you doing?" asked Hiccup softly.
"I've…been better," replied Astrid. She sighed. "I'm sorry for waking you guys…I really didn't—"
"Don't apologize," said Hiccup. Astrid looked up at him. "We all have nightmares every once in a while. It's no big deal."
"But it is," countered Astrid. She looked away from Hiccup. He turned Astrid to face him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Hiccup. Astrid didn't respond for some time, but at long last, she let out a weary sigh.
"We were all fighting the Dragon Hunters, over the ocean," said Astrid. "They came on their ships so we went and attacked them before they could reach the Edge. We were winning, but you suddenly got shot out of the sky. You and Toothless crashed into the ocean, but didn't come back up…"
"I tried to save you but the Hunters were swarming us. When I finally managed to go under…I found you and Toothless, but…but…"
Astrid squeezed her eyes shut and Hiccup pulled her to his side. It was odd how two entirely different scenarios related by just one little thing: Hiccup and Astrid had lost each other in their nightmares.
Astrid pulled away from Hiccup. "I shouldn't be this terrified…I mean, it was just a nightmare…"
Hiccup understood; he and Astrid had become an official couple recently, and more than once had their feelings gotten in the way of battle, no matter how hard they tried to push them aside. Losing each other was a fear that both Hiccup and Astrid shared; they were both terrified of it becoming real. That fear would never go away; it was something that came with love. When you love someone, you never want to lose them. You never ever want to let go. Neither did Hiccup or Astrid.
The auburn-haired boy wrapped his arm around Astrid's shoulders and held her close. "Astrid, everything's going to be fine, I promise. We'll figure out what's going on and put an end to it," Hiccup reassured her.
Astrid nodded, consulted just a little, but she still seemed rather on edge.
"How about you get some rest?" Hiccup said. "I'll wake you up when the others return."
Astrid seemed hesitant, but she soon gave in. She leaned against Hiccup. "I guess I'll do that then." Astrid sighed and she allowed her eyes to close, but it hadn't even been a moment when her face scrunched up and she opened her eyes again. Her skin was uncharacteristically pale.
Hiccup was bemused. "Astrid…?"
Astrid shook her head. "I…I can't sleep. It's like I'm being sucked into an abyss or something…" She closed her eyes again, but the longer they stayed closed, the paler her skin became. Hiccup began to panic when Astrid opened her eyes again, letting out a gasp.
"Please don't do that again," Hiccup breathed, but he had an overwhelming feeling of deja vu.
Astrid looked up at Hiccup, her face contorted with worry. "Is there something wrong with me?"
"There isn't," answered Hiccup. He sighed. "I think you might be going through the same thing I did yesterday…"
Astrid's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?" she asked in bemusement.
Hiccup chewed his lower lip, then he allowed his story to spill. He told Astrid what had happened to him the night before, and he explained that was why he had been so tired yesterday; he hadn't gotten a good night's sleep. He told her that he had had a nightmare too, one that was just as realistic as hers, but a different scenario. Thankfully, Astrid didn't ask for Hiccup to go into deeper detail about his night terror, but she did show her concern when he told her that he had stayed up all night without getting a wink of sleep.
"The only two things that our experiences have in common are the nightmares and the mysterious figure that we saw out our windows," summed up Astrid. "There has to be a hidden connection."
Hiccup agreed. "Whatever we saw outside might have affected us somehow…And when it does its stuff on us, we can't sleep."
"Well this just got even weirder," drawled Astrid. She sighed and shook her head. "When the others come back, we'll have to do some research. I think Fishlegs might be right about that being a dragon, so we're going to have to look it up."
Hiccup nodded in agreement, determined to get to the bottom of this.
…
When the other Dragon Riders had returned from their short patrol, they reported that they hadn't seen any sign of whatever Astrid and Hiccup had seen. Hiccup told everyone to pull out all of the dragon notes, Bork's notes, dragon books, and notes from the Dragon Eye lenses that they had. The Riders complied, and soon, the table was flooded with notes and books containing the information of every dragon that the Dragon Riders knew or didn't know about.
Since the Riders had returned saying that they hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary, Hiccup decided to use the information that they had to use. This dragon only struck at night and affected dreams, meaning that it was nocturnal. So Hiccup put away all of the books and notes of the diurnal dragons that they had. Not much was left after those notes were put away, making it much easier to narrow down the dragon options that were laying before the Dragon Riders.
For half an hour, the Dragon Riders flipped, read, and skimmed through notes. The twins eventually got bored and fell asleep against Barf and Belch; the Zippleback heads took pleasure in chewing on their helmets as they slept. Hookfang had grown antsy, so Snotlout took him out for a quick flight, which left Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, and their dragons searching through the books and notes. Toothless sniffed one of the pages and crooned. Hiccup picked it up, wondering if his dragon had found what they were looking for.
And sure enough, Toothless had indeed found a note that had information very similar to the ones that Hiccup and Astrid had laid out. It was a small, faded parchment—one of Bork's older notes no less—and in the corner of the page was a small, sloppy sketch of a dragon that fitted Astrid's description.
"Fishlegs, Astrid," called Hiccup. The Hofferson and Ingerman looked up from where they were reading. "Come look at this."
Astrid and Fishlegs walked over, positioning themselves on one side of Hiccup. Toothless peeked over Hiccup's head, curious green eyes looking over the small note sheet too. Hiccup presented the sketch of a dragon with a long body; it was thin, but it possessed a strong build. Its talons were sharp, and horns rimmed with feathers protruded from its forehead. More feathers lined the top of its head, and some were even wrapped around its neck like a scarf. Its tail blossomed with thick feathers as well, and its mouth was full of sharp teeth. It didn't look too scary, but it didn't look very friendly either.
Fishlegs gasped. "Oh my Thor, I've only heard about these in stories! That's a Dreamcatcher!" he exclaimed.
Hiccup's emerald eyes read the single page, sucking up the information that it provided regardless of there being very little. Dreamcatchers were extremely rare, and some said that they were even rarer than a Night Fury. They only lived in the coldest regions, but when the weather warmed, they headed down to find a warm place to lay their eggs. Dreamcatchers were drawn to dreams, hence the name, since that was their main diet when they traveled so far from their homes.
Astrid was astonished but was a little startled at the same time. "That's seriously messed up."
The twins, who had suddenly woken up from their corner, thought otherwise. "Messed up?!" Tuffnut burst out. "That's flippin' awesome!"
"Yeah! Imagine if we could feed on each other's dreams too!" said Ruffnut. "No more vegetables!"
Hiccup ignored them and continued to read on, discovering how this dream-eating process worked. Apparently, Dreamcatchers could sense dreams from far away. When one was having a dream, it was like a beacon to the dragon, and it lured them instantly. The closer a Dreamcatcher was, dreams and nightmares increased. It didn't matter which one the dragon liked; it just had to get energy from it. Dreamcatchers would perch on the roofs of vikings who were dreaming, then let out a slow, peculiar warble that sounded like a hypnotic croon. Whatever the viking was dreaming would instantly be sucked from their mind, leaving them hollow and blank.
Whenever the Dreamcatcher struck, vikings were unable to sleep for a long period of time. If they tried, they would be met with an unfamiliar darkness to the mind and their skin would turn pale. A ringing sound in the ears was also common. This condition was called Dream Deprivation, which only happened when Dreamcatchers ate the dreams of a viking. It only lasted for a few hours, but it caused several sleep problems to those who were affected by it.
This was the dragon that had sucked the dreams out of Hiccup and Astrid's minds. They both felt somewhat invaded, and they both knew that if they allowed this dragon to stay any longer, all of the Riders would suffer from lack of sleep. And if they did, they wouldn't be alert for when the Dragon Hunters attacked them next.
We need to find this thing, thought Hiccup, brow creasing. And relocate it before it causes any more problems.
Author's Note: And so we now have a name for the mysterious dragon that ate Hiccup and Astrid's nightmares! Dang...even I'm creeped out by that, and I created this dragon...Ironic, huh? X)
I hope explained all of the dragon facts pretty well; the Dream Deprivation, the dream-eating process and all that stuff...If further explanations are needed, I won't hesitate to give them. =)
...Oh, and a little fun fact I wanted to throw out here...I based the Dreamcatcher's design is based off of the actual, real-life Dreamcatchers that people sometimes make. =D I mainly just used the feathers, but yeah, I just wanted to put that out there. XD
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chappie, and I'll see ya in the next one! =D
Until the next chapter!
~BeyondTheMoon1203