A/N: I'M BACK! All moved into my new house and things are going amazing. Though I must say moving is exciting and sucks at the same time. So I know I was gone for over a month but that is just how long it took before I had any time at all to try and write. But I'm back and the story is almost done anyway, like two more chapters. Thank you for your patience and on with the story.
CB73: Recovery is long and hard, for everyone. But unfortunately, there is no rest for the wicked and judgement has arrived. Everyone does their best to try and convince the Executives but I imagine that moving a mountain might be easier. Good thing they have someone who defeated a Dragon the size of a mountain.
Anonymous Noob the 2nd: Glad you are loving the story, we are almost there.
Sorry again for the long absence but we should be done in the next month. See you soon.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Mexican ;p
(Friday, November 16th, 2018)
The entire set was buzzing with activity, as today the executives would be arriving. Max had hardly been seen outside of the recording hut. He and the film editors were working tirelessly to put something together to show them and prove that this film could succeed and save everyone's job, and the dragons. Audrey had been going over everything she wanted to say for the past two days and now the time was upon her.
She made her way up to Henry's hut one last time before she would go to the Great Hall and help Max and Helga set up for the meeting. Henry had been doing a bit better, some movement, mumbled words, and his eyes fluttering trying to open. The medics had great hope that he would wake soon but couldn't give an actual date. While the news was good Audrey had hoped for a more accurate date. Still she climbed the stairs to his room and gently pushed the door open while holding her breath hoping that he might be awake.
The door opened and he was still laying there, the gentle rise and fall of his chest showing the he was still breathing. She knew that he would still be there, still asleep, and yet she allowed herself to hope and set herself up for disappointment. Not in him but in herself, she still felt the weight of unnecessary guilt every time she saw him asleep. A reminder that she had missed. Steven's words had helped, and she knew that it wasn't her fault, but it was easier said than done, when it came to forgiving herself.
Her chair was still sat beside Henry's bed and she sat into it with practiced ease. She had been over a lot. She took his hand in hers and just like before she could feel his hand faintly squeeze hers. She smiled and looked out the window just in time to see sun complete its rise above the horizon.
"Today is the day you know." She told him gently.
"Max has been stressing out the past two days. I don't think he has slept at all. We are supposed to somehow convince the executives not to shut us down or blacklist us." She continued.
For the past two days she had visited Henry and kept him updated on what was going on. He never responded beyond the tiniest of smiles or his hand squeezing hers. It was probably just an involuntary reaction but it made her feel better, made it seem like he could hear her. She sighed and squeezed his hand once more.
"I wish you could be there. You would be able to convince these stiffs that we did what we had to and that the dragons should be left alone. That not everything has to be looked at like a number." She said softly, her voice full of remorse.
The door opened downstairs and Steven's voice filled the air as he called for her. She tried to find it in her to scold herself for looking like a love-struck school girl. She was still tough but when it came to Henry she found that she didn't mind showing a different side of her. Something was there, she was sure of that at least. Now she just had to make sure that everything was here for him when he woke up.
"Time to go, I'll let you know how it goes and I'll make sure they don't take Toothless." She promised as she rose and placed a soft kiss on his hand, before setting down at his side.
She made her way to the door and gave a last glance at Henry, to see the faintest of smiles. She turned and walked down the stairs, a new confidence in her step. Henry had gotten them this far, now it was their turn to bring it home. As she descended the stairs, Steven was waiting for her in the living room, clearly aware of where she was.
"Time to go, Max and Helga are almost set up and the executives will be here in a few hours." Steven informed her.
She nodded her head and went for the door followed by Steven. The tension on set had increased as this day drew closer, now it felt as though everyone was holding their breath. Whether they would release it in joy or sorrow remained to be seen.
As they pushed the door to the Great Hall open Max was scrambling to have tables, chairs, and a projection screen set up. The man looked drop dead tired but the upcoming event would not allow him to stop. He did however seem to sigh in relief when his eyes landed on Audrey and Steven.
"Make sure the projector is set up and running, we can't afford for anything to go wrong." He ordered as he walked over to the pair.
"I'm really glad you guys here. I hope you have a damn fine speech prepared for these guys. They are notoriously ridged and stubborn." Max informed them.
"I've got a speech ready, how about the film what have we got?" Audrey asked in return.
"Not as much as I would like, but we have to work with what we got. A few scenes of village life and Dragon Training, as well as the final battle. We might be able to sell them on that." Max said as the projector was being set up.
Audrey nodded in agreement, the battle with the Queen would be the turning point. If the executives were worried about money than what could sell better than an actual Dragon fight against a tyrannical Queen. Just as Audrey thinking of a way to work that into her speech Helga walked in from around a pillar, carrying Sharpshot in her arms and scratching the little Terror.
"Don't forget we need to convince them that the Dragons are our friends and not our enemies." Helga said as she continued to stroke the Dragon, earning her low purrs from the Terror.
Everyone nodded in agreement as the continued to make preparations. Going over last minute plans and changes to their demonstration when the sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air froze everyone in their tracks. The executives had arrived.
"Damn, they are early. Move it people, we don't have much time!" Max shouted.
The hall burst into action as people scrambled to put the finishing touches on everything. The projector was hooked up, scripts were laid out across a table, and Helga, Audrey, Steven, and Sharpshot all took their seat. Max ran out the doors to great the executives while the others waited in sickening silence.
Audrey felt her chest tighten as the minutes ticked by. An unusual seed of fear had sprouted and took hold. She turned her gaze to Steven and Helga seeing their stoic like gazes gave her a bit of confidence. She took a deep breath and steeled her gaze, just as she heard Max's voice outside the door.
"Right this way please." Max said as he opened the door, his voice wavering and overly respectful, like he was trying butter them up.
Audrey scowled at the tone; sure this was a nerve-racking time but this was a time to show some back bone. Not be a total kiss ass. She promised to not come off overly timid, even if these people held all their careers in their hands.
Max lead a group of people comprising of three men and two women, all wearing expensive looking suits and walking as if they were stiff as boards. Audrey groaned softly; this would be a lot harder than she initially thought. Max sat the 5 executives down before quickly scrambling over to his own seat next to Helga. The group of executives stared coldly across the table, taking time to examine each of them. Max cleared his throat which brought everyone's attention over to him.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice." Max began.
Again, with the spineless greeting, Audrey was getting sick of it. They were not about to save their jobs, the movie, or the Dragons by acting this way.
"We didn't have much choice Max." One of the women bit back.
"With how urgent your message sounded and the rumors swirling around the set. We were already planning a trip out here, this just sped up the process." One of the men responded, sounding annoyed.
"Right, well I guess let's get down to business then." Max said a bit awkwardly.
"Yes, let's. I would like to know what you have done with all of our money." The other woman replied, her eyes narrowing and interlocking her hands in Bond villain like fashion.
Max began to explain how the filming began and after a few initial hiccups things got on track. Though the executives all narrowed their eyes and leaned forward at the sound of things going wrong. Max's uncertain tone didn't help either.
"Though after a bit, things started to get really weird." Max finished.
"I don't like where this is going, there has already been enough mishaps." One of the males sneered.
"Neither did I." Helga spoke up, still stoking Sharpshot.
"What do you mean Helga, and why are you holding that animal instead of having it in a pen. Those are expensive." A woman commented, clearly annoyed.
Sharpshot flicked an eye open and lightly growled at the woman, not at all pleased with her tone. The woman leaned back in her seat; a bit thrown off by the reaction.
"He didn't appreciate your comment." Helga said, her voice filled with mirth.
Audrey smiled at that, it was good to see at least one of them break their cold, unwavering demeanor.
"Keep that thing under control." The woman bit back, trying to regain her composure.
Sharpshot growled again and raised his hackles, but Helga quickly calmed the Terror.
"Stop referring to him as a thing. He is much smarter than you give him credit for." Helga commented as she stroked the Dragon under his chin.
"Now as for what happened, the Queen happened." Helga stated her voice turning serious.
"The Queen?" All five of questioned, clearly interested.
"Yes, the Queen, she made my life and the life of our injured star, living hell." Helga explained.
She went into great detail of how she could hear the Queen's voice in her head, taking over her mind and using her influence on the Dragon's to nearly hurt several of the cast and destroyed several props. The executives all started shaking in anger and throwing glares at Sharpshot who was curling into Helga from the threatening glares. How the Queen's influence on her started to slowly make her go mad.
"This is outrageous! We need to lock those beasts up right now!" One of the men shouted as he stood up in outrage.
"Calm yourself sir, the Dragons are no more of a threat now then they were before." Helga said calmly, clearly not fazed by the man.
"How can we remain calm when you just told us that your mind was taken over by a Dragon Queen and that it used you to sabotage this set?!" The man shouted at her.
"Because the Dragon Queen is dead." Audrey said, finally done with sitting on the side lines.
"What do you mean she is dead?" One of the women asked.
Audrey began to tell them of how she began to suspect Henry of trying to upstage her and his increasingly odd behavior. She was furious and thought he was going to ruin her chances of getting her uncle back into Hollywood. She had to fight not leaping over the table and punching each one of them when they scoffed and told her it would never happen.
Still she continued one telling them how Henry managed to train the NightFury on set. This sent a shockwave through all the executives as they were uncertain that such a feat was possible. They began to converse softly amongst themselves which brought a break in the meeting. Audrey leaned over to Helga and Max curious as to what was going on.
"What are they talking about?" She whispered.
"I think they might want to use Henry, if he trained the NightFury then what other Dragons can he train, and how much money can he make them." Helga pondered.
"I told you Audrey, it's not me who cares about the money." Max reiterated.
Audrey curled her fists in anger, these people were looking for ways to line their already fat pockets and they were going to use Henry to do it.
"Where is this Henry?" They finally asked.
"Why?" Steven asked with barely contained rage.
"That is none of your concern." One of the males responded pompously.
"Well the fact that he is my son, still a minor, and that I am his agent. I think you will find that it is my business. Now tell me." Steven replied sternly.
Grumbling and seeing that they had no way out of this, one of the females turned and spoke up.
"Fine, if your son can truly tame Dragons then we would like him to tame some for us." She answered bitterly.
"Fat chance he will train them for you." Audrey spoke up.
"And why not girl?" One of the men sneered at her.
"Because he will not allow you to use them as simple props to be discarded when you are tired of them." She said bitterly.
"What we do or don't do with our property is not your concern girl." They said dismissively.
Audrey turned red with rage as they dismissed her as if she were nothing. She stood up and was about to tear into them when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Steven looking up at her his eyes boring into her with a calming wisdom. She took a deep breath and allowed her anger to dissipate. She remembered that she had to convince them that the Dragons weren't just mindless animals to make money off of, but they were living creatures with feelings.
"They aren't just property. You can't just treat them like this. They have emotions, thoughts, personalities. They are so much more, and I wish you could see that. Because they chose to fight with us when we defeated the Queen, Toothless saved Henry when I couldn't, they have the amazing ability to forgive and a knack for mischief." She chuckled as she recalled some of Toothless' antics.
"Please let us show you." She continued as she nudged Max to play the video.
Max gave the order and soon the room darkened, and the projector came to life. Showing the roughly edited images of the movie. Just as Max said it showed the village and everyday life, the first Dragon attack scene, the first days of Dragon Training. Though the executives did huddle together when the Nadder scene came up. It was an important scene, but Audrey wished they could have done more with it. It made the Nadder look so… terrifying. Not the image they were trying to project. Not to mention all the destruction that had been showcased.
The film quickly shifted to the hidden camera that Max had attached to Sharpshot. The images were truly spectacular. His bonding with Toothless, the moments with Audrey/Astrid, and finally the battle. As the battle with the Queen fleshed out, Audrey had to look away when he fell. She couldn't relive that awful moment again. The terror in his eyes, the sudden realization in hers that he would die because she missed. Obviously, that didn't happen but in that moment it seemed certain. The film stopped as Steven found Henry and the room lit up again.
"I know it doesn't seem like much, but we can do this. If you are worried about money think about the selling point of fighting an actual Dragon Queen. No other company in the world can claim that! Don't shut us down, don't blacklist us, we can do this. All of us including the Dragons, can do this." Audrey said, trying to inspire the 5 executives.
Silence filled the room, and as time ticked by Audrey deflated as the 5 people before remained unmoved. Though as one of the females rose and appeared ready to give her verdict the doors to the Great Hall opened. To reveal the body of the infamous NightFury with Henry sitting atop his back.
"Before you deliver your verdict, I have something to say." He said sternly, meeting every eye in the room.
A/N: So Henry only know how to do dramatic entrances' huh. Wonder what he will have to say to the unmoving mountain that is the Executives. A new battle awaits him and I he has to put a plan together on the fly. But then again Henry/Hiccup is best when he has to think on the fly. Also I already know what the last line of the story will be, obviously you have all seen the movies if you are here but can you guess it, here is a hint it's a direct quote from the first movie. Please leave a review as you can see from above I read them all. See you next time.
Published 07/23/2020