Chapter 4: Splitting Up (Edge of Disaster Part 1) Astrid, Armored Hunter / S, and Dagur

A/N: I just wanted to say one thing before this chapter and for future chapters. If the POV says Armored Hunter / S it means she will be referred to by both in that POV.

Also Dagur will call her Armored Hunter, but any thoughts he has he will use S. That is the same with gender. He will call her they/them, but any thoughts he has will be she/her.

And just didn't want any confusion. So that is just to let you know.

(Astrid)

Of all the people for Astrid to be stuck with. It just had to be the idiotic twins. Hiccup had left with Snotlout and Fishlegs after they got a message from Trader Johann saying he was being attacked by Dragon Hunters.

If it was not for the fact that they hand not made armor from Stormfly or Barf and Belch yet they would of all gone. But of course she just had to be stuck with the twins. It would have been slightly tolerable any other time. But today just happened to be the day they were all supposed to be working on the edge.

Now not only was she stuck with the twins she had to make sure they did not destroy all of her hard work. So far everything had been going well, excepts for the fact that she had done most of the work.

The twins appear carrying a log towards her already done pile.

"We've done all of these already? Man, we are kicking some serious-" Tuffnut says astonished.

"No, no, no. That's your first one. All the others, I did by myself. Go, team. You know what? I'll get the rest of the lumber myself. You two start lashing together some poles for the first level of stairs. Do you think you can handle that?"

Astrid then walks off to go continue working on getting lumber. Hopefully they would not be able to mess up that easy task.

When Astrid returns an hour later the Twins are nowhere to be found.

"Really. Where in Thor's name could you two have-" Astrid's growl is cut short as the twins suddenly shoot through the air right in front of her.

"Whoo! Yeah!"

"Ha-ha! Look out!"

"Whoa-oh-ah!"

"Whoo!" The twins slam into the lookout tower and fall right into the pile of logs that Astrid had been hard at work. Now the logs were longer on the cliff, but 100 feet down smashed on the rocky ground. "That hurt," Ruffnut mutters.

"Astrid, you have got to try this. The landing's a little rough, but-" Tuffnut tries telling Astrid, but Ruffnut interrupts him. Though it did not matter. All Astrid could think about was the last two hours of work down the drain.

"Astrid, we know this wasn't what you were planning, but we really think we're onto something here. The stairs have their own use for sure, but this can truly come in handy," Ruffnut states.

"It can, huh?" Astrid snaps.

"Yes. In the right situations," Ruffnut replies. Ruffnut clearing wants this, but unless she had a really good reason this was a waste of time.

"And what situations would those be exactly, Ruffnut?" Astrid says sweetly.

"Well, I mean, we could, if we were in a-" Ruffnut stumbles.

"You have no clue, do you? Didn't think so." Why in the world did she have to be the one stuck with the twins?! "And do you know why? Because, the two of you don't think. You don't plan. You just come up with these crazy ideas and you forge ahead, with no regard for logic or what you're even supposed to be doing. What am I gonna do with you guys? Seriously. Tell me!"

"Well, you can start by being kind. Oh, wait, you can't do that because kindness is nowhere in that scrawny little body of yours," Ruffnut snaps back.

Astrid gives Ruffnut a shocked look. Of all the things she thought one of them to say that was not one. "What?"

"Easy, sis..." Tuffnut grabs Ruffnut's arm to hold her back, but she just shakes out of it.

"Back up, bro! I got this."

"Do you know what your problem is, Ruffnut?" Astrid says not wanting to be lectured by one of the times.

"Oh, you bet I do. I've got a list of problems so long; I can't even keep track. Question is, do you know what your problem is, Astrid?"

Astrid is shocked again. After all she had been doing, they were treating her like this. Why?! "My problem? Are you serious?"

"Allow me to lay it out for you, my flaxen-haired friend. You have no respect for the people around you who are just trying to help and be a part of the team. You have no respect for Fishlegs, certainly none for Snotlout, and you couldn't have less respect for the two of us! Now, you can go ahead and shame the others. You can mock this entire island of dragons if you wish. But I am not gonna stand here and listen to you insult the entire "nut" family tree!"

Astrid looks at her shocked as Ruffnut storms off. She did not do any of that. Did she? "She's wrong, you know. I do. I... r-respect you guys."

Tuffnut just shakes his head. "Oh, please. You can barely even say it. So sad, Astrid. So, so sad." Tuffnut then walks off probably to go find his sister.

Astrid looks off into the horizon. "Hiccup, where are you when I need you?"

(Armored Hunter / S )

"'Astrid, Astrid, Astrid!' Everyone's always talking about Astrid. How pretty she is. How smart she is. How muscular and shapely her upper arms are. How can Astrid not see the genius in Stuffnut and Fluffnut?" Ruffnut says from up on the tower she stands.

"They are still here. Should we go back and tell the boss?" The Armored Hunter gazes at the hunter beside her. Ryker had told them to scout the left side of the island and see if all the riders left. Apparently they were still here, but one person did not mean they all were still here.

"No, we grab her. And take her back. She may be useful." They all slowly start creeping towards the tower. Staying out of view and making sure no one would be able to sneak up on them.

Once they get to the bottom of the tower she stays on lookout while the two hunters sneak up and grab Ruffnut.

When they start walking back towards the camp. Ruffnut on one of the hunter's shoulders and a bag over her head. S suddenly hears twigs and leaves crunching as something runs towards the lookout tower.

Unluckily Ruffnut heard it as well. "Help!"

S sees Tuffnut up at the top of the tower looking straight down at them. "Ruff! No! The Dragon Hunters. Astrid. I gotta get Astrid," he cries before hurrying down the stairs.

"When I get out of these chains, I'm gonna-" Ruffnut cries out.

"You're gonna what?" One of the two dragon hunters says.

"Uh, I haven't decided yet, but rest assured, you are not gonna like it!"

"Feisty, isn't she? I like it," the other dragon hunter replies.

S shoots a glare at the hunter, but of course he could not see it due to her helmet. She was going to make sure that hunter regretting saying that. But for now she had bigger worries to think about. Now the riders knew they were here. How many there were there they did not know. Which was not good on any level.

(Astrid)

Astrid looks up as Tuffnut runs into the clubhouse panting. "Tuff, you okay? Tuffnut, breathe. What's going on?"

"You have got to do something about those stairs. I mean, there must be hundreds of them, there's over ten at least."

Astrid has the urge to roll her eyes and go back to what she was doing, but Tuffnut looks panicked. "That's it? The stairs?"

"Oh, no. It's Ruffnut. They got Ruffnut!"

Astrid suddenly gets a shrinking feeling in her stomach. "Who did?"

Tuffnut looks up at her into her eyes. "The Dragon Hunters."

"This is all my fault," Astrid starts pacing trying to figure out what to do.

"Oh, tell me about it," Tuffnut mumbles.

"I shouldn't have been so hard on her."

"You were way too hard on her, on poor, poor sis."

"She's just Ruff being Ruff. She can't help it."

"Truer words, A. Truer words." Astrid glares at Tuffnut. He was speaking the truth, but she was trying to think. "Sorry. Just trying to help you work through, you know, the shame, all the bad things that you did, all the things you should feel bad about, you know, get some closure." Tuffnut turns to leave but suddenly freezes staring out at the horizon.

"What is it?" Astrid hurries to stand beside Tuffnut. On the horizon is a whole fleet of dragon hunter ships all heading straight towards the edge.

"There may not be a Ruffnut to apologize to. In fact, there may not be any of us at all." Tuffnut stares out at the horizon for a few seconds before turning to Astrid. "Okay, what's the plan? We have to get my sister back."

Astrid turns and grabs paper, string, and a charcoal pencil. "First thing is to send an SOS to Berk. We need reinforcements, fast. The auxiliary team."

"How do we know he'll get there in time?" Tuffnut comes over to see Astrid writing the message.

"We don't."

"Well, how do we know they'll get back here in time?" Tuffnut asks as she ties the message to a Terrible Terror's leg.

"We don't."

"Okay, there is a terrifying lack of clarity in those answers."

Astrid turns and grabs onto Tuffnut's shoulders. "It's all gonna be okay, Tuffnut. We're gonna hold down the Edge, defend this base, and we will get your sister back. Okay? Say, 'Okay, Astrid'."

Tuffnut nods his head taking deep breaths. "Okay, Astrid."

"Now, there is no possible way we can defend the Edge against an all-out assault with only one flyable dragon. But maybe, we can slow them down until help gets here if we use our spears and arrows sparingly." Astrid starts trying to figure out what they all had in her head.

"Wait! I know an even better way we can slow them down," Tuffnut exclaims.

"Not now, Tuff. I need to think." Astrid needed to think of how they could defend the base, she did not need to have to damage control whatever Tuffnut wanted to do as well.

"No, seriously, Astrid! You need to hear this. Listen to me!"

Astrid paused for a second. Not listening to them got them in this mess. She might as well listen to Tuffnut even if they did not do it. "All right, what? What is your idea?"

"Okay, well, as you know, tricking is my area of expertise. I am the official Dragon's Edge Trickster. Trickster extraordinaire. The Mayor of Tricksville."

"Yeah. I get it. We all know how tricky you are." This listening to the twins was going to be very hard on her.

"But, they don't! So, I figure, we trick them into thinking there are more of us than there are. We can start with our scareships, and then build our own little tricking army. It'll be awesome! Wait. I think I just had another idea. Whoa! Do you know how many Loki-ish thoughts are running through my mind right now?"

"Tuff!" She needed Tuff focused not lost in his mind.

"It's like a hurricane of practical jokes pounding on the inside of my head! Whoa, here comes one!"

"Tuffnut!"

Tuffnut suddenly wakes up out of whatever was going through his mind. "Yes?"

"This is not the time for pranks, or Loki-ing. This is a time for strategic thinking and precise preparation. There are times in life when you have to be serious. Deadly serious, or people can die. We can die. Ruffnut can die. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand. I am taking it seriously. I'm seriously a trickster. And I seriously have some ideas that can help."

"Tuff, listen to me. You know all those times early in the morning when it's still dark outside, and I'm out by myself on Stormfly?" Astrid needed to show that this was a time to be serious not time for joking.

"Uh, well, I do now. Wait, is this gonna get weird?" Tuffnut looks at Astrid weirdly. And strangely Astrid was a little curious of what Tuffnut was thinking.

"No. What I am doing is training. Day and night, I train myself for situations just like this. That's why we're gonna do it my way."

"But, I have ideas. Good ideas."

"And, I believe you," Astrid stumbles. She could not lose one more twin right now.

"No, you don't. The only thing you believe is that I'll mess this up and get us all killed," Tuffnut says voicing her thoughts.

"No. That's not true. The only thing I believe right now is that we're wasting time arguing, when we should be preparing. Come on, there's a lot of work to do."

"That's my sister out there, Astrid. And if this goes wrong and we don't save her, I couldn't live with myself."

Tuffnut really cared about protecting the edge. If she was in Tuffnut's shoes and something happened to Hiccup like this she would want to do the same thing.

"You know what? You're right. You do what you have to do, and I'm gonna set up our defenses. Then we'll come together, and when the time is right, decide which one to use, okay?"

"Awesome plan. I like it! And we'll definitely end up using mine. So, it's great."

"Good, just so long as we understand and agree that I lead the counter-attack and you follow me."

Tuffnut nods and they both heads off to start setting up their own defenses.

(Dagur)

"Well, guess you don't know the Dragon Riders as well as you thought, eh, Dagur?" Ryker comments to Dagur.

Dagur watches as the two hunters and S bring Ruffnut with a bag over her head in front of them.

"You don't know 'em at all," Ruffnut laughs.

The riders were all supposed to leave to go help Johann. Why were they still here. It did not make any sense.

"Hey, at least my brother had a plan to get the Dragon Eye. It's not his fault they didn't take the bait," Heather yells at Ryker.

He knew his sister would stand by him always. He just felt a little guilty from hiding the fact that he knew a lot about the Armored Hunter. He knew his sister would never keep anything from him. He had told her though about Viggo, but that was all. He just did not want to see S get hurt for some reason.

"They never left to rescue Trader Johann from those dragons. The girl proves it," Ryker growls pointing at Ruffnut.

"Yeah. I prove that you have all been fooled."

Dagur notices S freeze and tighten up. She looks at Ruffnut, but then looks away in thought. Dagur turns back to Heather and Ryker. He would have to ask her want she was thinking when they were more alone.

"Then I guess we better leave. Come up with a new plan." Heather states.

"No new plans. We'll just have to deal with all of them instead"

"Listen, if you all want to go on a suicide mission, that's your problem, buddy. But don't say I didn't warn you!" Ruffnut exclaims causing them to all look at her.

"She's lying! She's trying to confuse us," Dagur says knowing that it would not be good for him if she was telling the truth. It would mean he did not actually know the dragon riders as well as he thought and then he may lose his position with the Hunters.

"I'm always lying! Wait, now I'm confused," Ruffnut mumbles.

"Or she's telling the truth to confuse us," Heather says looking at Ruffnut.

"Gather the men. We move slowly. Destroy anything in our path, until we get our Dragon Eye. Then, we destroy whatever's left," Ryker yells at the men who are already on the beach.

S and Ryker then start heading to one of the row boats while Ruffnut, Savage, Heather, and Dagur head to another. As they are setting off from the shore Dagur picks up a conversation from S and Ryker.

"I think-" The Armored Hunter starts to say.

"We are not making a new plan. We are sticking to our plan no matter what," Ryker replies still looking forward.

"I was not going to say that we should make an entirely new plan. I was just going to say I think the prisoner is lying as well as telling the truth." The Armored Hunter comments getting Ryker's attention.

He looks at her with a confused and interested look. "Why do you say that?"

"Well you see we know there are 3 people here. The prisoner, her twin, and Astrid there second in command. I am betting they sent half of their team to go to help Johann and left the rest to protect the base. That is the most strategic move."

"I see...so what was your plan?"

"I think we should attack at night in the cover of dark like we planned. I think we should pull them out of their base and make them face us. Though I believe one of them might of saw us. So they would likely set up defenses, so we must plan to have to go against a few weapons."

"Nothing they have will be too hard for us to get rid of," Ryker says looking towards the main boat again.

"We just cannot underestimate them like we did last time," The Armored Hunter says trying to get their attention again.

"You still give them too much credit."

S shifts to a different position which Dagur recognizes as the one she is usually in when she glares at someone. "Maybe, but I feel…"

S gets cut off when Savage starts speaking. Dagur turns and glares at him but lets him speak.

"Uh, excuse me, sir. Oh, and ma'am. But there's something I've been wondering about," Savage says in his timid voice.

"A daily occurrence, but go ahead." Dagur nods before looking back at the rowboat Ryker and S are in, but it is now too far away to even be able to hear anything.

"In regards to this Ryker fellow, it seems as though he's taken on the role of leader. And, well, I was always under the assumption that this was your role."

"Pfftt! That's not his role," Ruffnut laughs and Dagur turns to glare at her.

"It is, you dunderhead," Dagur says irritated.

"We're just using Ryker for the time being. When he leads us to the Dragon Eye-" Heather says backing him up.

"We figure out the most painful and horrible way to get rid of him and the rest of his crew. Duh!"

"Ah! That's a relief," Savage sighs as he continues rowing the boat.

"Once we get the Dragon Eye, Ryker and his men? See ya!" Dagur draws his finger across his neck. Though a small part of him is guilty about doing this to S's tribe. Though he did only says Ryker's men so that does not include S since she is a girl. Anyways after this was all over she could see if S would want to join him in his tribe. She would probably enjoy it more then her other tribe anyways.

(Astrid)

Astrid works on tying up some ropes to trip some arrows. "This is our last line of defense, Stormfly. If they make it this far, hopefully, these will take them out."

She suddenly hears Tuffnut and looks up and sees him hanging from some balloons. "Uh-oh. Uh, regardless of how this looks right now, I can assure you I have a master plan for these balloons."

"I'm sure you do," Astrid sighed it looked like whatever she made would just have to do.

"Um, but Astrid, just a little quick thing. Can you bring me back down to Earth, before I fly into the sun?" Astrid flies up on Stormfly and grabs him before setting him on the floor of the clubhouse. "Is it time?" Tuffnut's carefree mood turned to a serious one.

"It's time. This is gonna be a rough day, Stormfly. Whatever we have to face, I'm glad we're facing it together." Tuffnut appears pulling a crate filled with things. "Hey, whatcha got there?"

"Ta-da! Only the solution to all our problems." Tuffnut steps aside showing that the crate is filled with close combat weapons plus some random arrows. "I call Macey, but you can have any of the others, except maybe this sword and this axe. Can't decide, huh? Yeah, I can understand that."

"Tuff, these weapons are all for close combat. If we get to that point, there's two of us and we're done."

"Oh. Well, no, I know that, but-" Tuffnut starts.

"Listen, we don't have time. Just do me one favor."

"Fine, but-"

"The ballista on my roof, you know how to use it, right?"

"Uh, it's a massively destructive weapon, isn't it?"

"It is. So, get up there, and massively destroy things. But on my command, not before. Got it?"

Tuffnut looks happy for final getting a reason to use her ballista. "Got it. Come on, Macey." He grabs his mace and runs off towards her hut.

Tonight was going to be long. Hopefully help get here in time before it was too late.

A/N: So next chapter should come soon unless life gets in the way. I honestly thought this would not get posted on time for my schedule since last week a whole bunch of things came up. Though hopefully I have good luck and the next chapter gets posted next week.

The time that takes place between this chapter and the last one was 2-4 weeks. Future chapters I will say how much time has passed between the chapter I say it on and any chapters that may be important. This timeline in this story will take longer than RTTE since I always thought events happened too often. Compared one season takes about a month if you figure out what the timeline for the show is.

Next Chapter: An Unfortunate Turn of Events (Edge of Disaster Part 2) Heather and Hiccup