Hi lads and lasses, supersandman here once again to bring you another installment of survivalist.
And another attempt at being fashionably late
Shut it wade! And for Gods sake stop toughing my mead!
But it taste so gooood
*sigh* one day wade, pow! To the moon Alice!
Alice? Alice? Who the fuck is Alice?!
Great thank you wade now I've got that song stuck in my head.
What can I say expect you're welcome!
*Cocks his gun* run Forrest run!
Anyway enjoy the chapter, hope it still does me justice.
Chapter 16- Everything you say is true
Astrid didn't know where she was, all she could see as she opened her eyes was blue sky, simply blue sky with several white clouds in the distance.
She liked the clouds, as a young girl she always want to know what they felt like.
As she reached out to touch them she noticed that she got closer to them as if she was flying.
But before she reached the clouds, a bright white light engulfed her vision and woke up.
Astrid opened her eyes back into the real world, having realised it was all a dream and must have woken up back in her bed.
But as she looked around, she noticed it wasn't her bed nor her home either. In fact she was outside on a pile of blankets and furs.
Wondering where she was, she sat up and looked around as she recognised where she was.
The cove.
To be more precise, Hiccup cove.
She was racking her brain at how she got here, she never came here on her own accord.
Did he kidnap her?
'No' she thought, realising Hiccup, though the short time she got to know him wouldn't resort to that.
As she thought more about how she got here, all she could recall was what lead her to fall asleep in the first place.
Following Hiccup, him meeting his Night fury he called Toothless, getting caught by him, touching his dragon before...
"Oh Thor" she whispered to herself as she recalled passing out.
"I gotta say Astrid, you're pretty heavy to lift" she spins her head around to where the voice came from only to find Hiccup sat near the lake by a camp fire, smiling as he roasted two Icelandic cod on separate sticks. She was left speechless as he carried on.
"I'm amazed as well you never ratted me out to the chief or anyone else about what you found about me, and it's been...what? Over a year?"
She was about to regain her speech and reply but Toothless beat her to it as Hiccup nodded in agreement.
"Yeah over a year, just as my first night dragon feeding occurred" Astrid just sat there, astonished how he got all that with her even saying a word. She wanted to find out as she finally got a chance to speak.
"How?" Hiccup just looked at her with a raised eyebrow at her simple question.
"How what?"
"How did you know I was watching you since there?" she watched as Hiccup smiled before standing up, grabbing the two cooked fish before walking up to her, handing over as he sat for casually.
"For one thing milady, I've spent a lot of time looking over my shoulder even before I was kicked out" it took Astrid a few seconds to process what he meant before lowing her head as he meant the bullying, she wished she'd had been brave enough to stand up for him and be his friend there, but at the time all she could think about was her honour.
Hiccup looked at her and smile knowing what she was thinking, having watch her for years and how her facial expressions gave away her emotions.
"Astrid, I'd have not had you throw away a chance to regain your families honour by being ruined by a runt like me" she looked up at how he knew what she was thinking as he carried on.
"You're still hurt that everyone thought your uncle Finn froze out of fear that night and self exiled himself to save the Hofferson name" she furrowed her eyebrows, processing what he was saying once again.
"Thought? Why do you say it like you don't believe it?" he gave her a toothy grin, the one where she had to hold herself back from emotionally as he looked too damn cute to her, he rubbed the back of his neck as he answered her.
"I might have bumped into the Flightmare once or twice" upon hearing the name, Astrid tensed up nearly reaching for her axe, she vowed revenge upon the blasted beast that ruined her family name in one night. But she stopped to wonder why Hiccup was so calm about it as he carried on once again.
"The first time me and Toothless encountered it we were unprepared by what it'll do and to be pair I was scared having heard the tales from Gobber about it scaring the life out of you"
"So what was it you were unprepared for?"
"It's paralysing breath" he replied as he looked at her confused expression but said nothing as he was waiting for her to put two and two together.
After a minute or two she finally cogged on what Hiccup was saying.
"So uncle Finn didn't freeze out of fear, he was paralysed" Hiccup replied with a smile and a nod, before frowning again at the realisation.
"Unfortunately, until we can prove it, no one in the village will believe it besides a few close friends" Astrids high hopes shattered at clearing her uncles name but she also knew Hiccup was right, until evidence was handed to them, no one will believe the word of two teenagers, especially if one of them was kicked out of the village.
Hiccup gave her a reassuring smile, silently telling her it'll happen one day as she smiled back before he changed back to the original topic.
"Anyway, I knew you were watching me interact with the dragons and curiosity would get the better of you to follow me, I knew you discovered my other two big secrets, befriending a Night Fury and that I'm the dragon rider at most of the raids" she nodded in agreement as she remembered that night vaguely "as for knowing you were watching me in the cove, well Toothless sniffed you out" he gestured to the laying Night Fury who lifted his head up at hearing his name, ear plates up like some kind of dog.
She was astonished, she always watched them and yet the dragon could have easily exposed her and admit her spying easily and yet neither boy nor dragon did until this morning.
"But how did you know I wouldn't rat you out?" Hiccup looked at her with sincerity in his eyes as he replied.
"Because I trust you Astrid" her eyes widened at his response, never thinking she'd hear that from him "you may have ignored me for a good five years before I got exiled but you wanted to be my friend again, I saw it in your eyes that day, you were telling the truth, I gave you a chance and so far, you haven't broke it" neither realised how close they were to each other nor did they notice their hands touching.
In fact they were so close their lips were a few inches apart, until...
*Flop!
Both backed away immediately and nervously as Toothless dropped a fish right between the two teens while glared at him as the dragon barked and warbled.
"What do you mean it's a present?" Astrid watched in amusement as Hiccup argued with the unholy offspring of lightening and death itself while Toothless responded back before Hiccup blushed deep red.
"Wh-what?! Toothless! You got a perverted mind!" this earned a laugh from the dragon as he trotted away to hang upside down in a nearby tree while Hiccup slumped back down again as Astrid was curious to what him and Toothless was arguing about.
"So, what did he just say?" Hiccup blushed even more.
"You promise not to hit me?" Astrid was confused at this but nodded in agreement as he gave her the answer.
"He thinks you're my mate" this made her blush as much as it did Hiccup as she rubbed her arm, something Hiccup always notice this whenever she got nervous but decided to change the subject to save herself the embarrassment.
"So...anything else you'd like to know" Astrid snapped from her state of mind as she looked at him, she was contemplating if dragons could sense feelings, ones she always kept denying herself but saw Hiccup change topics for her own sake so only smiled as she replied back.
"Tell me how you and Toothless met and how you can understand him" Hiccup smiled as he retold her the story right from the beginning...
Meanwhile in the great hall
"This has gone on long enough!" the booming voice of the chief being heard by everyone in the great hall as they watched him ponder the map once more after every raid.
They knew, as chief he wanted to end this war to protect his people, but they also knew he was doing this for revenge because one dragon decided to carry his wife away.
"We can't keep this up for any longer! They'll keep it up until there's nothing left!"
'Except the fact that in the last two years they haven't been as bad' Gobber thought to himself, he knew his friend was trying to do what's right but knew he was still hung up on Valka.
"I say we take the fight to them! We hit Helheims gate, before the first ice sets in!" some of the villagers were sceptical as always they knew what usually happened upon reaching the fog barrier to the dragons nest.
"The ships never come back!" Stoick, un-fazed by the call out to his plan having heard it time and time again, rolls his eyes as he replied back.
"We're Vikings! It's an occupational hazard! Now who's with me?" he looks around at uncertain faces as he sighed at what he was about to say.
"Okay, those who chose to stay can look after Hiccup" suddenly most of the room stood up agreeing to the plan, fearing the dread in looking after the young Haddock after this morning.
All except the Hoffersons and Ingermans, stunned and angry that their chief would use his son as a method to convince the others to join him.
As the rest of the village departs the hall, Stoick too looks over at the two families with a raised eyebrow.
"Aren't you coming?" he asked looking at the two patriarchs.
"You gave us a choice chief" Agusto replied first with arms folded as Hella stood with her husband.
"Accompany you on the journey or look after Hiccup" Mooseleg carried on as he stood with Brenna and the twins, who were old enough to join the raids at this point.
"And frankly Stoick, we don't mind looking after the young lad" Hella simply put it as she smiled at Agusto.
Ever since she saw her daughters mood not only change for the better thanks to Hiccup as well as saving her little boy from a certain death, she felt in debt to him and she knew it's what Valka would want.
"Besides which..." Brenna carried the conversation on as she stepped forward, not scared of the chief at all "you can't take all the warriors, we need a few to stay behind in case of invaders"
Stoick would have argued but stopped himself and sighed as she was right, they were all right.
The village couldn't be left unguarded, but still didn't feel guilty in using his son like that, he could however feel the tension in the room, knowing the two families took a liking to Hiccup, he only sighed and nodded as they left the hall too, leaving only him and Gobber behind, who only looked at him in surprise.
"'those who choose to stay can look after Hiccup'? Seriously Stoick? Tha's a low blow even fer ye!" he argued as he went to fill up his mug full of ale again before walking away "ah well, time te pack me undies"
"No Gobber, you need to stay behind also and train the new recruits for dragon training" Stoick intervened making the old blacksmith look at his friend, sighing before sitting down again.
"Aye, so you want me te train the Jorgenson twit, dimwit one an' two, Fishlegs and Astrid..."
"...and Hiccup" Stoick added, taking Gobber by surprise but before he can protest, Stoick cuts him off once more.
"Hear me out Gobber, I've done a lot of research into getting Hiccup back into the tribe, it took a while to find but I did, if he completes either a heroic deed that would benefit the tribe or completes the traditional ritual, in this case being top of his class in dragon training, then he can be brought back into the tribe, bypassing the vote" he finished off with a smile finally finding a loophole he wanted.
Gobber however was speechless for a few seconds, yes he wants to see Hiccup back in the village for good, but through dragon training?
Throughout the time Hiccup has been looking after the dragons in the arena, he's noticed the beast cooperation and even excitement when Hiccup enters to feed them.
He always said it each time, Hiccup has a way with the winged beasts.
He wasn't about to harm them, even to gain access back into the tribe.
"Stoick, I don' think tha's such a good idea, Hiccup won't like this"
"Of course he will"
"I'm sure he won't Stoick"
"Yes he will! He always said he wanted to kill a dragon"
"When he was younger! The lads changed" he retorted drinking some more of his ale before realising his stone tooth was missing.
"Look Gobber this is the best thing for him, this worked for me when my dad told me to do something similar"
"Oh no" Gobber groaned knowing what was coming.
"When I was a lad..."
"And here we go" he groaned once more as he peered down into his mug finding it more interesting than the same story the chief told over and over again only to find his stone tooth floating in the remains of his ale.
"...my father told me to go out and hit my head against a rock, I didn't understand why but I did it anyway, over and over again and do you know what happened?"
"Ye got a headache" Gobber replied in a drone toll in his voice before finally getting his tooth back, knocking it back into place as Stoick carried on.
"No Gobber, the rock broke, it showed me Viking can achieve anything with the right incentive, even tackle mountains or even tame the seas, and this will work for Hiccup too"
"Stoick I don't think letting Hiccup smash his head against a rock will work, he not like you in that way, he's Hiccup and the sooner ye accept that the easier it will be te win him back!" Gobber argued but Stoick paid no attention to this.
"Nonsense, he'll do well, anyway, you let him know while start to get the ships ready for the journey ahead" with that he left the blacksmith by himself in the hall with nothing but the shield portraits of former chiefs and their heirs as he looks at the more recent of the lot and sighed.
"Ah Squidface th' Terrible, how much of an idiot ye son is" he shrugged as he walked away sighing "saying that you were no better either" he finished off before he too left the hall too wondering how he was gonna tell the 'good news'.
Meanwhile back in the cove
"So let me get this straight" Astrid stated as she listened to every word Hiccup told her, from the axe, to Toothless rescuing him from her burning house to befriending him and finding out dragons aren't what everyone thinks they are and to finally discovering why they attack.
"...a dragon the size of a mountain, a 'sub-alpha' as you call it, controls the dragons that raid to bring her food like a some sort of queen bee to her drones and if they don't bring enough food she eats them too?" Hiccup nodded, remembering the giant head very much in detail and the confirmation from his mother of what it was only cemented his belief there would be no convincing the Red Death.
Astrid however was struggling to be convinced by this.
"You do realise it sounds ridiculous Hiccup"
To be fair Hiccup would have said the same thing if he didn't see it himself so understood where she was coming from. Didn't make it any less disheartening though and Astrid caught his deflated expression.
"D-don't take it the wrong way Hiccup, I want to believe you but, to tell you the truth, no record in Viking history tells us why the dragons raid us, not even in the book of dragon so one person out of generations of Vikings without proof would sound far-fetched to just about anyone"
It took a short while for Hiccup to process what Astrid said to him.
She was right, without evidence, no one would believe him, not even her.
Hiccup contemplated for a few seconds before looking At Toothless, who had listened to every word said and by the nod he gave his human companion understood what needed to be done as both stood up leaving Astrid confused as he jumped on the back of the black dragon.
"Hiccup, what are you doing?" she asked as the auburn haired boy sighed before smiling.
"You're right Astrid, no one would believe me with out proof" he holds out his hand towards her "so let me show you"
Astrid was taken aback, still sat down looking at the hand Hiccup presented to her to grab a hold of.
"W-wait, are you suggesting I climb on his back and f-fly to the nest?!" Hiccup simply nodded as she carried on.
"That's stupid! And crazy! An-and..."
"Totally Hiccup?" she nodded at his response as he grinned at her knowing what might change her mind.
"And I thought Hofferson weren't afraid of anything" that did it as Astrid went from shock to mad as she stood up took Hiccups hand and climbed into the saddle right behind him as Toothless stretched out his wings to adjust to the extra weight.
"You may wanna hold on tight milady"
"Now why would I need to hold Hiccuu..." her words failed to finish off the sentence as they shot straight up into the air as Astrid screamed for dear life, flailing her arms about until Hiccup grabbed hold of one of the hands to put round his waist to which she responded flinging her other arm around his waist, holding on for dear life.
"Toothless can get a bit excited when it comes to impressing!" he shouted yet seemed so calm about it like it usually happen a lot, to which it does as they did all sorts of stunts.
"But he fails to realise that he can get over the top, that right you useless reptile" this earned him a slap in the face with one of the Night Furys ear plates and a laugh from said dragon.
Astrid meanwhile had her eyes closed as it all occurred until eventually she felt a steady movement. Daring to open one eye, she saw a sight that she always wanted to see but never she would, not until she was sent to Valhalla.
They were flying smoothly above the clouds.
Astrid couldn't believe the beauty of the morning blue sky, the sun shining all around them as white clouds passed them by, waiting to be touched, to which she did and was surprised with awe to find it went through her finger tips so easily, leaving water behind, all she could do was smile to which Hiccup saw in the corner of his eye as Toothless gently glided down below the clouds to the view of the glistening ocean sparkling blue that reminded Hiccup of a certain shield-maidens eyes as they flew along.
Astrid meanwhile was contemplating in her head how wrong people were about dragons, for centuries, Viking fought them until their last dying breaths and here she was on one of the most fear dragon ever known and it's amazing.
She then turned to the boy in front of her who showed her this and couldn't help but smile while holding him tight, unbeknownst to her that he was blushing madly.
Suddenly Hiccup looked straight on as he saw a flock of slow moving dragons ahead in the distance and knew they were getting close and turned serious.
"Astrid, I want you to hold on no matter what and keep low" Astrid looked up from Hiccups back and was about to ask why until she saw what he was seeing and nodded in acknowledgement as they flew ever so closer to the flock, keeping low as not to be seen.
She saw several dragon bringing in their kill that they took from the raids, even daring to look at the eyes of a Nadder that flew by with a sheep in its talons.
She was shocked to see that their eyes, unlike Toothless' dilated ones, these ones you could barely see. It's as if they weren't in control.
That's when it dawned on her about what Hiccup said.
"Hiccup.." she whispered enough to get his attention "..are they in a..."
"...trance? Yes Astrid" Hiccup finished off as she looked around at all the dragons with the same expressions.
Suddenly they jerked a bit as they entered the fog bank of Helheims gate wondering to herself what Vikings would give to get through here in one piece as the manoeuvred around the concealed sea stacks, the very ones she guessed stopped plenty of ships from getting any closer.
After a couple of intense minutes they clear the fog bank as she looks up in astonishment a slight bit of fear as thousands of dragons circle around a large mountain top while the raiding parties fly upwards and into the volcanic centre where she noticed what Hiccup said was true as they deposit their kill into the bottom.
Toothless finally lands, slightly sluggishly but still in control as Hiccup soothes him before turning to a confused Astrid.
"It still slightly affects him but he's been getting stronger in breaking her hold" Astrid nods as she saw it all and even worse when she sees a lone terror bring a small fish as an offering.
This is where things turned more scary for her as she hears a roar, gasping as a gigantic head rises from the depths, heading directly toward the small terror as she hides her face behind Hiccups back not wanting to watch.
Hiccup however was watching the scene with disgust, remember the first time he saw something similar and couldn't do nothing about it.
Toothless was in the same frame of mind, as he waited for the right time for Hiccup to give as he watches the Red Death move closer and closer until...
"Now bud!"
Toothless fires a plasma blast at the large head, knocking it slightly to the side of the cavern causing a few rocks to fall and scaring off a few of the dragons in there.
All expect the Terror who was frozen with fear until Toothless took off once again towards the exit as Hiccup made a grab for the small dragon and making their escape as the queen roared with anger, but still dazed from the unprepared attack as her attackers were long gone.
The two teenagers didn't speak until they were far away from the nest and the fog entirely, Astrid in complete shock at what happened and Hiccup keeping focused in case they were followed. Toothless however knew they were safe as he explained to Hiccup that the queen won't send any dragon to take them down due to losing a whole flock last time, with that Hiccup relaxed a bit and focused on Astrid behind him.
"Are you okay milady?" he was waiting for a reply but she said nothing all the way back until they landed back in the cove.
Hiccup dismounted first as he put the scared Terror in his arms near his house, glad they saved it from a terrible fate as he turned towards the form of Astrid who was slowly getting off Toothless, approaching her with concern.
He was about to ask her of she was okay until she embraced him suddenly nearly knocking him off his feet as she placed her head in the crook of his neck and started to cry.
He said nothing, he was surprised at her sudden reaction as he automatically put his arms around her, soothing her as she eventually stopped crying but still stayed in one place as she finally spoke.
"You were right Hiccup, you were absolutely right! That thing is responsible" she lifted up her head as she looked into his forest greens eyes as she carried on.
"And all this time you've been fighting her, to liberate her prisoners" he smiled and nodded "and while at the same time trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum" he nodded again but frowned as he spoke.
"But we can't tell anyone in the tribe Astrid"
She was about to argue about being wrong not to tell them but as she saw in his eyes she thought about it, the word of two teenagers against centuries of war, they'll either think they've gone mad and ship them off or call them traitors and have them executed. In the end she nodded.
"So how are we gonna handle this" Hiccup looked up in surprise as she carried on "yes dragon boy, I'm in this too, I lost you once through my arrogance and pride, I'm not losing you again!"
His surprise turned into a smile at her words as neither realised that they were still holding each other as he replied to her.
"In fair, all I've been doing is dwindling her numbers however she will need to be taken out, just need to figure out the right time" they both let go of each other nervously laughing.
"Well..err I best head back and make sure everything's fine with my family..." she was about to walk away and neared the exit before something clicked in her mind and she was fighting an urge.
"Oh fuck it!" she muttered as she ran back to where she left Hiccup, grabbed the front of his tunic before smacking her lips against his, smiling as she parted leaving him completely dazed on the spot.
"Thanks for the flight dragon boy" she giggled as she ran through the exit, unaware that Hiccup had fainted on the spot with a goofy smiled plastered upon his face as Toothless watched the whole scenarios take place and could only do one thing as he saw his human brother on the ground.
He laughed.