A/N: So a day late on the update but can you blame me, I'm on holiday and am just relaxing. Anyway, someone is not happy in this chapter and they put on their version of a detective hat and discover a few things that make zero sense and makes a promise to someone else. This entire chapter is pretty much centered around Audrey and takes a bit of time jump as you will see from what I infer as to what has happened to get Audrey this mad.
Guest: I actually used your idea of the gossip magazine to help with this chapter so thank you for that! It definitely increased the tension between Henry and Audrey. Thank you for the review, I'm glad you are enjoying the story.
CB73: Audrey has a unique detective hat and it so fits her character so very well. Everything takes a bit of back seat for Audrey and her little detective work and I think it is oh so lovely. We will get back to the NightFury and Henry next chapter.
Johnathen Youngs: I will not make a page for the story, don't know how to, don't want to. I just like doing this for fun. Glad I could clarify that part of the story for you, the tension is so thick you can feel it.
Thanks all for the reviews, now on with the chapter.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Mexican ;p
(Thursday, November 1st, 2018)
Audrey was at her wits end. Every scene had something go wrong and she couldn't figure out why. Nothing went according to the script, it always started out on the right track but then at some point the dragon that they were working with would get out of control and try to kill them.
Henry was usually the target and then in the midst of a dragon rampage he would do some random move or barely touch the dragon and it would turn into an oversized salamander that couldn't hurt a fly. To add on to all that Henry was constantly disappearing. Ever since the tower scene where he left in the confusion of everything, Audrey had been trying to track him down.
That task was proving to be much more difficult than anticipated. Every time she tried to stop him, she was pulled away or he said that he had a meeting with Helga and took off. This made Audrey angry and suspicious. Angry at Henry for blowing her off and suspicious as what could Henry be meeting with Helga for, nobody has seen more than a glimpse of her in weeks.
Audrey let out a deep sigh as she sat up in her bed. This movie was really starting to put a strain on her sanity. She was glad that they had been given a break for a few days. Hopefully it would allow everyone to recharge and focus on the task at hand and give the dragons a chance to calm down and hopefully be willing to work with everyone.
Getting dressed in her own clothes for the first time in weeks, Audrey went with a comfy set up. Dark sweatpants, blue long sleeve shirt, a fur vest, and some sneakers. She let out a contented sigh as she almost forgot what clothes or than her costume felt like.
Opening the door of her hut, she was met with the brisk air that was Berk. Winter was coming and they still had a lot of work to do in order to finish filming. Trying to enjoy their break from filming, Audrey shook her head and pushed on to the catering hut to get some food.
As she neared, she could hear the voices of the other cast members inside. As she pushed the door open the scent of cinnamon, waffles, bacon, fruit, and a variety of other pleasant smells filled her nose. She let out a satisfied sigh as she loved the smell of breakfast. Grabbing a plate and going through the line Audrey sat down with her other cast members and as she did, she noticed that Henry was once again gone.
"Anyone seen Henry?" She asked, unable to hold the question back.
"No, I haven't." Finnick answered honestly.
"Who cares, all that skinny runt does is ruin everything!" Simon exclaimed as he tore into his breakfast like a caveman.
Audrey frowned as Simon's callous statement. Sure, Henry might be causing things to go off script, but it is as much the dragons as it is him. Still, she didn't care for Simon's remark and wanted to remind him of what's at stake.
"I care, and you should too, because he is the lead role of this film and without him everything would have to stop and be re-filmed with a new lead if he gets hurt or the movie could be shut down!" Audrey fired back.
"They won't shut down the movie. If that runt gets hurt then we can finally shoot the movie the way it was meant to be, with me as the lead role." Simon boasted.
"The day you get a lead role is the day that my uncle gets let back into Hollywood." Audrey muttered to herself.
Nobody else heard her comment and went on with their breakfast. Part way through the door opened to reveal a crew member who was carrying a heavily weighed down canvas bag. The crew member walked over to an empty table set the bag down with a thud. Tipping the bag over they revealed the contents to be a number of magazines.
"Cool!" Rachel and Thomas exclaimed as they made a b-line for the table.
"What is this all about?" Finnick asked.
"Figured everyone could do with a bit of an update on how the rest of the world is doing. We are pretty isolated out here and it's nice to keep up with current events and just a little bit of gossip. Enjoy I have to go." The crew member replied as they grabbed a magazine of their own before heading out the door.
"I can't wait to read about how awesome I'm doing. I'm sure there are people clamoring for me to replace that worthless Henry as the lead role." Simon said as he picked up a magazine labeled The Director's Cut.
Everyone just rolled their eyes as they shifted through the massive stack of magazines, looking for one they would like. Finnick found one labeled Dragon Monthly, stating he was going to see if he could find out what Henry was doing to the dragons. The twins found a magazine labeled Mishaps and Mayhem, for obvious reasons.
Audrey continued to shift through the pile of magazines, avoiding the obvious gossip ones that had ludicrous headlines. Like celebrities with secret double lives, or how they think a certain famous couple is fighting. She never cared to read beyond the front page of those as it was funny to see what people could come up with from nothing. As she continued to shift through the stack one magazine caught her eye, it had a picture of Berk on it along with the entire cast. The name of the magazine was Movie Monthly and the headline read.
'DragonWorks or Dragon's don't? Read about the disasters of the new company DragonWorks first movie!'
Livid Audrey snatched the magazine and opened it to the page where the story began. The author started of by saying his information was from an anonymous source within the production of the movie itself. Audrey would have discredited the article then and there if it didn't start going into impressive detail about all the 'accidents' that have happened on set. From the hellish plane ride, to the blacksmith shop almost burning down, shooting down and losing the NightFury, the Nadder almost killing Henry and herself. The article even mentioned how she yelled and punched Henry citing that she maybe difficult to work with.
'Could Hofferson be digging herself a hole just like her infamous uncle did?'
Audrey started seeing red, she nearly tore the magazine in two as she read the last line.
'With all these issues and the dragons acting out, could it be that the dragons are acting out to try and get away? What is really happening on set and are the dragons being taken care of? Are these just normal accidents that come with the territory of working with dragons? Or are the dragons trying to tell us something else?'
Audrey threw the magazine across the room and stormed out. She needed to find Henry and fast, since now because of his mistakes she was getting blamed as being difficult and her reputation was starting to plummet. Without and thought or preamble she marched up to Henry's hut and kicked in the door. To say Steven was surprised was an understatement. Audrey stood in the doorway breathing heavily and darting her eyes around the room, clearly looking for someone.
"Can I help you Audrey?" Steven asked, a bit unsure of how to proceed.
"Where is Henry?" Audrey asked through gritted teeth.
"Why?" Steven questioned, clearly worried for his son.
"I have a bone to pick with him." Audrey answered walking into the house.
"Audrey what is the matter, you look like you are about to kill my son." Steven remarked.
"I very well might! I just read a magazine that said this set was nothing but a disaster and that because your son is acting weird and I got tired of it and tried to knock some sense into him, now they are calling me difficult to work with because of his mistakes!" Audrey shouted at the man.
Breathing heavily, eyes burning, and her fists clenched. Audrey waited for Steven to give up the location of his son, but when the man remained silent Audrey went on another tirade.
"Where is he?! He is always disappearing and doing weird things that go off script and screw the rest of us up. He is always meeting with Helga in 'private' what the hell does that even mean?! He has endangered my career as well as everyone else's, now tell me where he is!" Audrey demanded; her patient long gone.
Letting out a sigh Steven motioned for Audrey to walk into the hut. He could see that his son had run out of time and if he wanted to salvage anything that might resemble a friendship with Audrey, he has to fix it and he can't wait any longer.
He offered Audrey a chair to sit in, but the girl was to pent up on rage and frustration that she refused. Understanding her feelings Steven was prepared to direct her in the right direction.
"You will have to ask Helga. I know that she is in the recording hut right now. Go and ask her about Henry." Steven said carefully.
"You know more than you are telling me." Audrey seethed.
"It is not my place to tell. Just know that Henry didn't want any of this happen and the boy has been working on a way to make it up to you. I know it might be hard but please don't be mad at him. He is only doing as he is told." Steven answered sagely.
"Doing what he is told?" Audrey repeated, not understanding.
"No time to explain, off you go to meet with Helga." Steven said as he ushered Audrey out the door and shut it behind her.
Some of Audrey's rage dissipated only to be replaced by confusion. She tried to make sense of Steven's cryptic words, but nothing made sense and as she neared the recording hut all it did was anger her further. She knocked on the door furiously and waited for Helga to answer. After several moments and not hearing any movement she went to know on the door again, harder this time, but when she went to strike the door her hand met only air.
"Hello?" A soft voice asked.
Audrey peered into the open door and saw a familiar pair of purple eyes looking back at her. Regaining herself and her resolve she prepared to question the mysterious director.
"Helga, I need to know, where is Henry?" Audrey asked, her voice stern and leaving no room for debate.
"The boy…the boy…the boy! He goes into the woods, yes, the woods, he learns things, strange things. Things that could break her hold on them." Helga ranted on.
Audrey took a step back, fear and confusion taking over as Helga began to act erratically. Helga took a step into the light and Audrey was met with the sight of a disheveled director. Her hair was frizzy and sticking out in all directions, there were bags under her eyes, and her eyes were sunken in. She kept grabbing at her hair and head, smiling, and at times she laughed like a maniac.
Then in an instant it was over, the weird ticks stopped, her frantic movements ended, and Helga was looking down at Audrey with a curious glance.
"Hello Audrey, how can I help you?" She asked, her voice returning to its normal sweet and soft tone.
Audrey didn't know what to do, she just started to back up and look around to see if anyone else saw it, but it looked like she was alone. When her gaze landed back on Helga the woman was still looking at her waiting to see what she could assist the young cast member with.
"Are you okay Helga?" Audrey asked carefully.
"Never better, now what can I help you with?" Helga asked again.
Seeing that there was no getting out of the awkward spot now Audrey figured she would ask again if Helga knew where Henry was.
"I'm just looking for Henry, have you seen him?" Audrey asked, a bit more carefully this time.
"No, I haven't, but I know he likes to spend time in the forge and over in the hills and forest. Perhaps those would be places to start." Helga advised.
"Okay, thanks." Audrey replied, seeing her chance to get out of the conversation and away from the strange scene.
Helga waves Audrey off and closes the door to the hut where she places her hands on her head, closes her eyes, and leans up against the door. She starts to shake and begins to mumble.
"Get out…get out…get out!" She groans as her eyes flash open to shift between purple and red.
Audrey continued to back away from the hut. Helga's strange attitude had thrown her for loop, and she didn't know what to do. As she continued to back away, she ran into someone, falling over herself and the unknown person, Audrey dusted herself off and turned to help whoever it was.
"Sorry about that, wasn't paying attent…Henry!" Audrey snapped when she realized who she had run into.
"Hey, Audrey. Hi Audrey, hi Audrey, Hey Audrey." Henry stuttered.
There was a silent moment where neither one said anything, they just looked at each other. Henry not sure what was going on, just started to slowly back away.
"So, I'll see you around." Henry said, slightly unsure of himself.
Before Audrey could react, Henry was back up the road and entering his hut. Scowling and scolding herself she muttered to herself.
"Oh, I'll be seeing you Henry." Audrey promised.
A/N: Detective Audrey is on the case and she does not give up easily. So you might have read that in the beginning I vaguely referenced all of the movie scenes going wrong and Henry/Hiccup had these weird moves and was disappearing a lot. That was supposed to indicate all his time with our favorite NightFury, I plan on the next chapter showing all that time so we will take a bit a step back to see it and look at how all this tension built. See you all next time and have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! P.S that is my birthday hehehehe ;p
Published 03/12/2020