27. Lightning strikes.
After the whole pushing Hiccup off of Hookfang debacle, Storm led the chase to the arena, where, surprisingly, Snotlout was waiting for them. The man was all ready to give a half-assed apology and get back into training, because 'I saw how miserable you were without me.'
Hiccup had calmly pointed out that it hadn't been even a full day without him, but let Snotlout apologize. Which he did, very badly. His condescending mumble of 'I'm sorry' that was directed at Hiccup and Storm did nothing but make him receive harsh glares from both.
Considering his shoulder was already out of the splint, he couldn't claim that his injury was stopping him from begging his heart out. His injury wouldn't have bothered him in the first place, his shoulder was placed in a splint as a precaution and after a good night's rest and the morning off, Snotlout had to go to Gothi to have it taken off. Coming down from the old woman's hut was when he saw the others flying around the sea stacks, having fun it seemed, but Snotlout knew that couldn't be true, his friends were always miserable without him. So he decided to be the bigger person and give the 'demons' their apology so his friends wouldn't have to suffer without him.
He ended up on his knees, almost crying, promising Hookfang five barrels of his favorite fish and the best pedicure in the known world. The Nightmare accepted the apology, with the clause that the dragon could light Snotlout's ass on fire anytime he wanted to, of course no one but Hookfang knew of the hidden clause. He was permitted to join the next training lesson, although his unsupervised time with Hookfang was still suspended.
While Snotlout was apologizing, Hiccup had taken the time to inspect his prosthetic and found that the problem was a loose nail, just as he had thought. They had overlooked these kind of problems while packing to come to Berk and he had no spare nails to fix his prosthetic with, so he decided to use the gang as a cover of sorts and go to the village, the forge more precisely.
Hiccup knew that him walking alone, or with Storm, around the village would make a lot of people suspicious, and considering vikings weren't known for their smarts, the pair would most likely be attacked, regardless if they were helping Berk or not. Storm agreed to stay at the academy and get the dragons used to being in the cages again. Hiccup insisted he would help Astrid take back the buckets that Storm had borrowed that morning and drop by the forge on his way back to the academy.
"My knight in night-like armor," Astrid joked.
"Anything for you, milady," Hiccup answered seriously.
Astrid spent the walk to the village with her head down trying to hide her blush. Hiccup had blushed as soon as the words had left his mouth, but his helmet helped to hide it so he kept looking straight ahead. He didn't know why he had said that, other than his ever persistent need to make Astrid like him. He didn't speak until they needed to say goodbye, and even then he had only weakly told her to tell everyone about the incoming storm and be ready in case it was bad.
He barely stopped himself from running away from the awkwardness he felt. He almost forgot to stop by the forge, but the clanking from the forge made him remember. He found it strange that Gobber was working in silence, especially in the middle of the day when nobody would complain of the noise.
Hiccup felt nostalgic standing at the hatch of the forge. He silently watched the smith work for a while, reigning in his want to jump into the forge and check every nock and cranny to find out what had changed in his absence. Hiccup was content to stand there and wait for the smith to notice him, which he did with a startle and dropped the sword he was fixing on the ground.
"Dear Thor! Are you tryin' to kill me?" Gobber had yelled, clenching his chest with his good hand. That gained the attention of vikings that were passing by, they stopped what they were doing to see what Hiccup would do next and if Gobber would need saving. Hiccup pretended like he didn't notice.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," He sincerely apologized. Gobber's eyes narrowed.
"Well you did. What did you want anyway?" The smith asked while picking up the fallen weapon and putting it on coals again. Gobber hobbled his way to the hatch so he could speak to Hiccup better.
"A nail, if you can spare one."
"You need a single nail?" came the confused question accompanied by Gobber's raised eyebrows.
"Yes," Hiccup stepped back from the hatch and raised his left leg, pointing at it in explanation. "For this, need to repair it as soon as possible."
"I'm busy right now, but if you come back later maybe I'll be able to help," Gobber tried to dismiss him and was ready to go back to work, but five years did not diminish Hiccup's stubbornness.
"Gobber," Hiccup called, forgetting for a moment that the smith hadn't introduced himself. "I would like to do this before the storm hits, I'll pay you whatever you want."
"What storm?" asked Gobber with a suspicious glare.
"A storm is coming at Berk, sometime in the evening or early night." Hiccup calmly stated. There was a snort from the villagers that hadn't gone back to work, more interested in the exchange between the two at the forge.
"A storm? With this weather? You're delusional, boy!" came a jeer from one of the vikings. Hiccup turned to the group that were now observing how he would react.
"I gave my warning, it's your choice to ignore it." He simply said in his best menacing tone, he turned back to Gobber and loudly proclaimed, "I didn't know that these many vikings have no jobs to do!"
"They do," Gobber stated, glaring at them all until the group dispersed. The smith dropped a single perfect size nail in front of Hiccup, who thanked him and asked what he owed to the smith.
"Just let me get a look at that leg in the near future, and your other inventions. You and that girl of yours made quite the impression when you showed yourselves at the meetin' and I want to know what kind of contraption can do that fancy gas thing," the smith requested.
"My sister and I would be delighted to share our work with a fellow smith, you got yourself a deal!" Hiccup was about to walk away when Gobber's voice made him turn around.
"Lad, you seem like a sincere man, why'd you lie about a storm?"
"I didn't lie," seeing the skeptical look on Gobber's face he leaned back on the hatch to continue the conversation a bit more privately. "You were there when Eret told his stories, what was the only dragon mentioned by breed?"
"A skrill."
"Exactly," still seeing that the smith didn't get it Hiccup almost face-palmed himself, but remembered that he was wearing a helmet and that would look more ridiculous than anything else. He proceeded to calmly explain, "As our trainees have figured out, my sister's name is Storm, she rides the before mentioned skrill, a dragon who loves storms, she told me a storm is coming. I will take the word of the girl who has been riding in storms since she got on dragon back over the weather which can change in a few hours."
His answer left Gobber with something to think about. Hiccup made his way back to the academy as he had told Storm he would meet her there so they could return to their camp together.
The storm did come. It started deep into the evening when most of Berk's inhabitants were already indoors. 'Most' did not include Storm, Hiccup, Toothless and Shadow, generally because they didn't have a hut to be in and partly because they didn't think it would be as bad as it was. When they needed to flee to the academy, because they needed a roof over their heads, the storm wasn't in full swing yet. They occupied the last free cage with the all metal doors, the other cages being taken by the gang's dragons.
Hiccup took their bags and put them against the far wall, then looked back at the entrance where the cage's doors weren't closed all the way. He smiled at the sight he saw. Storm was crouched, looking outside through the gap with Shadow was above her doing the same thing. Hiccup dug through their bags until he found what he was looking for – a detachable hood that attached to Storm's armor, it was made from Shadow's scales and did a great job of completely covering Storm's head where her helmet couldn't. It served the same purpose as all of her armor did: protecting her from constant electrocution.
He went over and handed to hood to her, his silent encouragement for her to go out and enjoy the storm with Shadow. She did so eagerly while Hiccup got comfortable with Toothless. He lit a couple of candles and took out his sketchbook and started mindlessly doodling. He didn't know how much time had passed when a very loud thunder startled him, lightning must have struck near the arena. He looked back at his sketchbook finding that his mindless doodling was actually a very recognizable sketch of Astrid.
"I hope she's okay," he whispered to himself, looking at the sketch with longing. Toothless gently nudged his hand with a quiet purr, successfully diverting Hiccup's attention from the parchment. Hiccup put the book aside and let Toothless lay his head in his lap, gently scratching the Night Fury's head, the movements were so familiar and calming that he almost fell asleep. The cage's doors opening, together with another clap of lightning made him jump.
Storm stood in the newly opened doors, she was breathing heavily, and Shadow was behind her nervously surveying the sky. Hiccup swiftly stood up and so did Toothless, they sensed the urgency without the need for words. Without wasting time he went to dig through their things once more, this time he was looking for a cloak he had for times when flying in a storm was unavoidable.
"The storm is getting worse," Storm had finally calmed down enough to talk. "The Hooligans were unprepared, they're running around like headless chickens trying to secure everything and their livestock are running around the village and the woods!"
"Any people injured?" Hiccup asked, having found his cloak and shrugging it on as fast as he could. He had never been more thankful that Storm had convinced him to cover Toothless' flying rig with a thin layer of paste made from Shadow's scales, making the metal underneath less prone to attracting lightning.
"None so far, but I'm pretty sure there is a group of them that decided to go after the animals, and our students are in that group. Most of the damage is to some huts and farm buildings, but if the vikings go out there that will change, because they are armed. With metal weapons."
Storm's words made the matter so much more urgent. Hiccup needed to come up with something quickly, because without a plan it would not necessarily go well, with only two dragons that were comfortable enough to fly in the pouring rain and the frequent lightning strikes they had limited options. Luckily one of the dragons was a skrill.
"You redirect as much lightning as you can from the village and I'll take care of the animals!" with that they stepped out into the downpour, their helmets kept the water from obscuring their vision too much. Toothless closed the cage's doors with his tail, Hiccup jumped into his saddle and they were off.
Astrid should have known better that to doubt someone who lived with dragons for who knew how long and had a sister literally named Storm. She had told her parents of Dragon boy's warning when she had gotten home, but they had laughed it off. 'With weather this good?' they asked, she felt a little embarrassed and she didn't press the matter anymore. The truth was that there were no dark clouds or harsh winds and a storm was unlikely. So when the evening rolled around and everything was still quiet she just assumed that Dragon boy was wrong.
The winds picked up, the clouds rolled in, the storm started and no one she knew was prepared. It got progressively worse and the Chief ordered everyone to the Meade hall. A few huts had been hit by lightning and so were farm buildings and fences that were keeping the animals from escaping. Astrid spared a concerned thought to the 'demons', as far as anyone knew they were living somewhere in the forest, and this storm didn't help anyone a bit.
She was with the gang, coordinating a plan to get as many of the livestock indoors when a sheep was dropped down near them. Then another. They wasted no time and got them in to the farm building the gang had made their way over to. Astrid also noted that it seemed like there was a break in the storm, but the harsh downpour proved that wrong, there was a lull in the lightning hits on the village not in the storm itself.
The animals kept getting dropped off and the gang kept leading the animals into the building, they had figured out that dragons were responsible for the animal drop off. And where there were dragons there were 'Dragon demons'. Lightning strikes had their distinct sound and Astrid looked around the sky trying to see if the lightning had damaged something in the village again, but what she saw truly shocked her. There was a dragon in the sky, a skrill lit up by all the lightning that couldn't reach the village. The dragon was re-directing all of the lightning to the ocean or anywhere that wasn't the village, but what made her gasp was the distinct shape of a person on the dragon's back.
The lightning seemed to dance around them, never quite reaching a target. It was a mesmerizing sight. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Eret stand near her, he was also immersed with the pair in the air. She grew a bit worried, she knew what a strike to the head could do to someone and if the person on the skrill, one of the 'demons', fell off it would have disastrous consequences. The skril let loose and the deafening noise and blinding light made her avert her eyes.
The rain got worse, she suddenly couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her. The animals had stopped appearing and she couldn't see any of her friends around. Lightning landed near her she jumped in fright and the next thing she knew she was picked up by her shoulders. Astrid let out a scream and immediately regretted it as rain water made her choke.
Astrid was put down in front of the Meade hall a moment later. The huge building provided some cover from the rain, and her heart almost burst out of her chest when she turned to see what dragon had given her a lift and came face to face with a Night Fury.
"Toothless…?" she barely managed to whisper when Dragon boy shouted from atop the dragon.
"Get inside!"
Another lightning strike reached the village, but Astrid barely noticed it. She felt like a storm was raging inside her head. She pushed her way into the hall where she saw the rest of the gang already inside drying off, her parents were immediately on her, thanking Thor that she was alright. 'You should be thanking Hiccup.' she thought.
She felt like she was walking through thick fog. Of course those eyes were familiar! Those were the eyes she saw every time she used to go to the forge, she saw them after every raid that Hiccup had failed in, every awkward conversation she had with the boy was spent staring in to those eyes. That laugh that had nagged something in her brain every time she heard it today was familiar. Of course Dragon boy was familiar! He was Hiccup!
"Any trouble securing the forge?" the Chief's voice broke through her daze. Good, she needed a distraction before she went around spouting nonsense about Berk's long lost heir. She needed to make sure she was right first and that meant getting Dragon boy alone, but she could figure that out later. Giving people false hope was not on her agenda.
"None," Gobber proudly replied.
"One of the younger ones helped you?" Stoick asked. Astrid noticed that the others were at the same table she had wandered to, where the Chiefs conversation was heard easily. Lightning was once again repeatedly striking outside the building's doors making the man speak loudly so he could be heard clearly by his friend.
"No, did it all by myself. Nothing should be damaged." Stoick raised a skeptical eyebrow at the smith's words, Gobber just didn't have the ability to secure everything in the half hour before Stoick ordered everyone to the hall. Stoick had great trust in his friend's abilities to live a normal, fulfilling life, but because of his missing limbs he couldn't do some things as fast as other people could and with the atrocious weather that came with the storm, even the heathiest viking would've had problems.
"How?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Got everything done before the storm hit," Gobber clarified.
"How did you know it was going to hit?" Stoick inquired more confused than before.
"The Dragon lad came by the forge earlier, mentioned a storm. I was skeptical at first, but somethin' about the lad seemed trustworthy so I secured everything as a precaution."
"Why did he only warn you? Better yet, how did he know?"
"I wasn't the only one that heard his warnin' as for how, he said something about a skrill and his sister," Gobber's eyes caught the gang sitting not far away, he gestured to them. "Ask them, they ought to know something about it."
With the Chief's attention shifted to the gang Gobber walked away. Stoick made his way to the table much like he had when he asked about their training, the same tense atmosphere covered them. Stoick the Vast was an imposing man, more so when he wanted answers. Astrid lowered her guilty gaze to the table, she felt like she was about to get scolded for staying out too late like when she was eight. But her guilt didn't come from keeping quiet about the storm.
"We haven't had a storm this bad for a while," he started knowing full well that they had overheard his conversation with Gobber. "No one in the village knew it was coming, but Gobber said that the 'demons' had prior knowledge of it. Did you know of it?"
"They mentioned it," came Fishlegs timid response.
"And you didn't think to tell me this?" the disappointment was clear in his tone, he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. The gang sat in silence, not knowing what they could say to not anger the Chief more.
"You wouldn't have believed us Chief," it was Snotlout who spoke. "I was getting some water for my chores when I overheard Dragon b – the male 'demon' tell Gobber about the storm, I wasn't the only one who overheard though, there was a group of viking watching him talk to Gobber and they mocked him when he even mentioned it and they were older, they know more, so I just forgot about it."
"My parents laughed it off too," Astrid pitched in.
"So did one of the carpenters when I went to buy some planks," Eret agreed, he saw the Chief unconsciously tilt his head in question. "The planks were to board up the decaying windows so no water would come in."
"Why do you always believe them?" Tuffnut decided to ask, then with narrowed eyes he added. "Are you working with them?"
"They are helping you. And I do have three to four years of experience with dealing with them and while Dragon boy and his dragon thrive in the dark and silence, Storm and her skrill thrive where there is lightning and storms, so it's safe to say that she knows when one is approaching." He got a distant look in his eyes and for a moment he said nothing, then he looked straight into Astrid's eyes. "It's quite a sight, isn't it?" he asked her.
"Yeah, it was," she agreed, slightly concerned for Storm. Astrid hoped she was okay.
"They have a skrill? How do we know they didn't create this storm to prove themselves right?" Stoick angrily asked.
"Skrill storms are mostly dry ones," Fishlegs piped up. "And we would have seem lightning before we got any rain. And they don't last that long." He pointed to the hall's doors where the storm was still raging. Stoick had to agree, Fishlegs was the most knowledgeable when it came to dragons, yet he was still suspicious for his own reasons.
"When the storm breaks I want you to find them. Tell them I want the meeting moved to as soon as possible." Stoick told them, before taking his leave. He had to check with his people to make sure they were all okay.
"Should we have told him how they helped collecting the animals?" Before he was out of earshot he heard Ruffnut ask her friends. He hummed to himself, another thing to question. Stoick felt a headache coming on, he never wished for a block of ice more.
