I'm sorry for taking so long. I let you all down OTL. Moving combined with work and summer just took most of my time. Living on my own now (yay), but I still have plenty of boxes left to unpack, problem being I need shelves for the stuff :X.
Anyway. Another reason this is so late is because my beta reader also is busy with work and stuff. I send him this chapter weeks ago but I still go no reply and decided to post it anyway. So I am sorry for any spelling or grammar mistake.
Next I want to say is I will be away for a while. I know I know, again yes. This year happened to be a lot more eventful than I had planned. The only event would be my holliday to the USA (I'm from the Netherlands) which will start the 12 of September until beginning October. I managed to find a shop who could revive my broken laptop so I will bring that with me, but I am not going to promise I will write a lot or at all.
Have fun reading!
Chapter 5: Memories
Astrid felt an unfamiliar shudder run down her spine as she watched Hiccup holding on to some body on the back of the night fury he was sitting on. It looked really surreal to her, especially when she thought she saw blood, though she couldn't tell for sure, it might as well be her imagination playing with her fears. Fears that told her to run now while she still could. Hiccup clearly now could kill a human, meaning she was going to be his next target. However, she did not give in to those fears. She had to keep her name of 'fearless'.
Stormfly followed the group of wild dragons, using the sea stacks to stay out of sight. To Astrid it seemed the nadder knew exactly where they were going as quite often the group of dragons was out of sight.
The rain that had been pouring down on them, was now mostly gone. The wind however was blowing fast, making Astrid shiver because of the cold. Being drenched didn't help either. At last an island came into sight and Astrid could see the last dragons enter some cave. It were small terrible terrors and it seemed like they were carrying body parts. Astrid shook her head to get rid of the thought and looked around to see where they were. Her eyes widened as suddenly realized what this place was.
"This is the nest," she whispered to herself, "What the chief wouldn't give to find this place."
Stormfly let out a soft growl in agreement, but she seemed edgy. It was clear to Astrid Stormfly didn't want to be here.
"It's okay, girl. We'll be out of here soon enough… I just don't know yet how to take Hiccup along," Astrid whispered as if a wild dragon could hear her.
It was weird to talk to a dragon, but strangely it felt like she had done it forever.
Astrid studied the island. It was barren and gave a feeling of sadness with all the grey rocks and dead trees. Then she spotted a figure walking along the pebble beach. Immediately the words of Hiccup came to her; this was the human slave they were keeping on the island. Perhaps she could explain a few things to her.
"Down Stormfly," Astrid told her dragon.
Stormfly hesitated, yet followed the order and landed a few feet away from the human slave, who quickly turned around and stumbled backwards, falling over her own feet or perhaps the pebbles made her slip. Her eyes were focused on the deadly nadder until she noticed Astrid.
Astrid climbed off Stormfly and walked a few steps towards the woman. Suddenly a giant dragon came behind the woman growling loudly at her and Stormfly. Astrid backed away and looked up at the gigantic beast. It had four wings.
"Stormcutter," she softly whispered in awe of seeing a dragon she had never seen before.
Stormfly growled back at the Stormcutter, readying her tail to attack.
"Stormfly, no!" Astrid quickly shouted.
The nadder looked at her with doubt written all over the dragon's face. Astrid shook her head and touched the snout of Stormfly to calm her.
"We're here for Hiccup, not for a fight."
The Stormfly lowered her tail and the stormcutter seemed to understand they were no threat.
"You're here for Hiccup?" said a shaken voice.
Astrid looked back at the woman who crawled back to her feet and did a few steps forward, but kept her distance from Stormfly.
"You're not controlled by the queen as well?" the woman asked, her voice leaking fear.
Slowly Astrid shook her head as she wondered how long the woman had been stuck here on this island.
"Do you know how long Hiccup has been controlled by the queen?" she asked the woman, stepping a little closer.
With guilt written on her face, the woman looked down, "Around two years I think it is now. It's my fault… he lost his memories because of me and after that became like he is now."
Astrid first wanted to close the gap between her and the woman, but now suddenly did not want so anymore. Instead, she stepped backwards. If she was the reason Hiccup was being controlled by a dragon queen then she deserved to live on this island in poor conditions.
Okay, where did that come from, Astrid wondered and quickly blamed it on her respect she had developed for him for knowing how to deal with dragons. Still it didn't give her the right to judge this woman like this.
"Who are you?" she asked the woman bluntly.
She never got her answer, because a black scaled dragon flew out of one of the caves above, making both women look up, it landed on the pebble beach not much further. Atop his back was Hiccup. Astrid turned her attention to the two, ignoring the woman completely. As she carefully moved closer to him, she discovered he indeed had blood on him. He didn't seem hurt, so it was most likely not his own. She watched him jump off the night fury and walk to the water to wash the blood from his hands and his sword. When did he learn how to use a sword? Where did he get it in the first place?
The human skinned grinned, feeling very pleased. The queen was satisfied, they were to keep their rank and wouldn't be eaten. In fact, for the first time in a long time she actually felt stuffed. So stuffed she had now entered a deep sleep, one she hadn't had in a long time the human skinned knew. During her sleep he and the shadow of the night were appointed to look after the nest.
He washed the sword, which proved to be very useful. Strong, sharp, light and easy to handle. He was glad his body somehow seemed to know how to wield it.
"Hiccup!"
The human skinned let out an annoyed sigh which sounded more like a growl as he rolled his eyes and continued washing the blood of his clothes. Next to him his black scaled friend growled, but quickly stopped.
"What is she doing here?" he asked confused.
This made the human skinned look around. To his surprised he found the human female he hadn't been able to kill. Behind her a blue sting tail.
"You are quite stupid to actually follow me here," he grinned as he put the sword away, "Want to die that badly?"
The younger of the two females glared at him.
"I recall you letting me go. You would have killed me already if you could."
This comment made the human skinned boil on the inside. With strong steps he walked to her, his hand already on the handle of the sword, but he came to a sudden stop when the blue sting tail jumped in between.
"One scratch on this human and I will bite your head off," she growled threatening.
The shadow of the night jumped beside the human skinned.
"If you dare I blast you to pieces," he roared loudly.
"Then he better not hurt the girl," the sting tail said.
Her wings were raised and her tail was ready to shoot them. The human skinned let go of his sword with a low growl.
"Betrayer. Siding with a filthy human," he added to it.
The sting tail lowed her wings and tail as she watched him.
"They aren't that bad, not all of them at least."
It stepped closer to him, but the human skinned wasn't going to be intimidated by that.
"In fact," she continued, "You should know. I know you. That scent I would never forget."
With widened eyes the human skinned stared at the female sting tail that stepped closer. His body acted on its own and stepped backwards.
"You are that boy that knew about dragons, how to treat them in a kind way. Though the first time we met you didn't do anything special, the second time you scratched me exactly where I liked it," the sting tail continued.
The human skinned shook his head.
"No," he whispered as the shadow of the night looked from him to the sting tail wondering about what to do, after all the sting tail wasn't attacking.
"If I remember correctly they called you Hiccup."
The human skinned froze and stared at the sting tail before him.
"You-you're just saying that because you just h-heard them call me th-that," he managed to utter as he started to feel lightheaded.
The sting tail looked at him with soft gentle eyes. They even had pity in them. Eventually she shook her head.
"No boy, I remember a maze, in which you and the girl I brought along were running in. Trying to avoid me. You could barely lift a shield at that time. Your mind wasn't there though. I heard you asking this adult human about a night fury, the human name for a shadow of the night."
The human skinned stopped breathing for a moment and quickly glanced over to his scaled partner who had looked up when he was mentioned. He too looked confused.
A flash of shields, blue scales and blonde hair went through the human skinned his mind as he now started to breath irregular. This small memory scared him as he never before remembered anything, not even when he tried very hard. Suddenly he didn't want to remember at all and just stay in his own little bubble of truth. But now it was a dragon who was telling who he was… who he used to be, what his name was. And this sting tail gave him the exact same name as the two human females had.
With panic written all over his face he looked at his partner asking a silent question of help, to which the black dragon responded. With a jump it was right next to him. The human skinned crawled on his back and soon he and the shadow of the night were in the air.
Stormfly watched the boy and the shadow of the night leave. It was interesting to see him panic like that. Perhaps he already half realized he was human. Perhaps the truth hurt him. Nonetheless he had to be freed from the queen.
Stormfly had her fair share into the queens evil deeds. She too was controlled by it once. Why wasn't she falling for the queens will this time? Stormfly shook her head, worries for later she thought as she looked around to find the human girl next to her.
"I don't know what you said to him, but it definitely had some effect on him. Let's go after him," the girl said as she pet Stormfly softly.
Stormfly let out a purr of content and agreeing. She liked this female, even with the history they had, with her charging after her with her battle axe. That was a long time ago. So far she hadn't even touched a weapon. For now she was going to trust this human and help her, so she leaned down so the girl could climb onto her back.
"Wait," came from behind Stormfly.
Stormfly looked around and found the four winged that earlier tried attacking them until the name Hiccup was mentioned.
"Take her along," he said and looked at the older human female that was looked devastated to the sky.
"Why would I do that?" Stormfly asked as she looked at the woman.
"She is the mother of the boy. She belongs among humans, not among dragons."
"Why not bring her yourself?"
"She is afraid of dragons, but you have that girl on your back. Perhaps that will help her calm down. Please, sting tail," the four winged begged.
Stormfly nodded and spread her wings. Quickly she leaped into the sky and grabbed the woman on her way, making her scream.
Astrid looked down the moment she heard a panicking scream. The next moment something flew through the sky and landed right behind her. Quickly Astrid grabbed hold of the woman that landed behind her so she wouldn't fall off.
"W-why?" was the only thing the woman managed to utter as she wrapped her arms tightly around Astrid, whilst looking down.
"I didn't tell Stormfly to do that. She just did. Be happy. I think this is the only way off the island. Now hang on tight… but loosen up a little so I can breathe."
Astrid felt the grip loosen a little. Once they were out of the maze of sea stacks she started scanning the sky for Hiccup and his night fury.
"So where are you from?" she asked to lighten the tension.
"B-Berk," the woman answered with a whisper as she looked behind her with disbelieve yet a smile on her face.
Astrid looked around in surprise. She hadn't expected her to say that. She also couldn't recall anyone gone missing or her face. Just who was this woman? She could ask of course, but it wasn't important right now.
"You're in luck, I'm from there as well."
"I already knew that the moment you came for Hiccup," the woman said and looked at her.
She still seemed to be uncomfortable on the back of a dragon, but dealt with it. It was not like she was going to jump off, that would kill her.
"It's good to know someone still cares," she continued with a mumble.
"What do you mean?" Astrid asked still looking for a black dot somewhere in the sky.
Hiccup could have gone anywhere on the back of that dragon. Yet, Astrid wasn't one to give up.
The woman behind her sighed, it sounded sad.
"Before he lost his memories he told me that he ran away because he heard he was going to be exiled the next day."
Astrid almost lost her balance when she rapidly looked around with widened eyes. Exiled? Hiccup was going to be exiled? Is that the reason they searched for him for days. Only to exile him once he was found alive? Stoick would exile his own son?
"That's…" she started as she looked in front of her again, yet couldn't find the words so remained silent.
It made her question the chief in many ways. Sure she saw Hiccup being shouted at, scolded even in public. He often did something stupid and messed up plenty of times. She got scolded at plenty of times by her own parents, but she also got their love. Like the hugs when it was winter, to get warm. The bedtime stories or their teachings. Now she wondered if Hiccup had any of that.
To shake the thoughts off she shook her head and started scanning the sky again. At what seemed to take forever she finally spotted the night fury.
"Stormfly, over there," the called out to her nadder friend.
Stormfly instantly turned direction when she spotted the black dot as well. Soon the black dot disappeared into the clouds, making Astrid grunt softly in annoyance. Stormfly started to move up and down in the sky, confusing the girl, but when they suddenly were blasted by wind in their backs Astrid understood Stormfly was looking for wind to help them move faster.
The human skinned stared in front of him, not really seeing the clouds or blue sky or anything at all. He was in a state of shock mixed with sheer fear. For years he had wondered, had so many questions. He had wanted to know the answers, but now that the answers seem to come as well is his memory returning, or part thereof, it only terrified him. He suddenly wished he had been a mindless creature who would only carry out orders and ask no questions. The shadow of the night had never asked questions about anything, so why did he?
Was he really human? He didn't want to be a human, he didn't feel like a human. Then again he had never felt like a real dragon either… Just what or who was he?
No, wait he just told himself not to ask questions anymore. Violently he shook his head to get the thoughts of his mind. Then his partner suddenly stopped moving forward and he almost fell off. When looking at the cause of the sudden stop he found the three who had been calling him Hiccup. The shadow of the night grumbled lowly as he waited for the human skinned to say something of what to do, after all this was his problem. Though, it was one the human skinned didn't know how to solve. It wasn't something he could attack.
"What do you want?" he shouted at three with a shaken voice, hoping the three hadn't heard, though the older woman seemed to be preoccupied with not falling down.
"For you to be who you really are," were the words he got back from the blonde haired female.
"I already am who I really am!" he shouted back at her, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself too.
"You cannot truly be who you are if you do not know who you used to be. Your past is part of you. Your past is that of a human, at least accept that. If you wish to continue living amongst dragons, that's fine, but I'm not letting you or your night fury be controlled by a queen who makes you do terrible things!"
The younger female gave him a stern look and the human skinned knew he was lucky he had caught her first back on her home island. He was certain she would have been one heck of a fighter. He also knew he had made her fear him, but none of that was present. In fact the roles seemed to be switched. He was starting to fear her, better yet, he feared her words.
"Down," he suddenly exclaimed to his partner, who immediately followed the order and dived down under the sting tail.
It turned into a chase in which he was being hunted this time. The human skinned decided he didn't like being the one who was chased, but he knew very well the shadow of the night was much faster than the sting tail. At least normally… for some reason this one seemed to be able to keep up. The human skinned looked over his shoulder and found the sting tail right at their tail.
"Go faster," he urged his scaled friend and looked down at him.
"I can't. I have been flying a lot, fighting even. I'm exhausted," the shadow of the night replied, annoyed about his current predicament, "this is just like when you got hit by the four winged."
A shadow of the night cringed when a stinging pain went through his head by recalling the memory. He did however start to remember more of that than before. Just that made him understand the fear that was coming from his partner who was starting to remember things too. Something was going on, neither of them understood what and it scared the hell out of them.
Without either of them noticing they had come closer to a fleet of ships. The same fleet they had ignored earlier that day.
Astrid made Stormfly fly as as fast as she could. The gap between them and Hiccup and his dragon was getting smaller quite quickly. It was just then she noticed the ships bellow coming closer at rapid speed. Well actually it was them closing in on the ships with rapid speed. The night fury suddenly had to focus on the arrows that were being shot at them. Astrid leaned forward to get a better look at the ships and grinned when she noticed they belonged to Berk.
"Down, Stormfly," she commanded the dragon she was sitting on.
It seemed to be hesitating about the decision, nonetheless followed the command.
"Hold on tight," Astrid told the woman behind her.
Not knowing what Astrid's plan was, the woman behind her tightened her grip even more than it already was.
With a pull on Stormfly spikes they suddenly flew upside down right over the ship and right over a person who was about to throw bolas at them. She grabbed them right out of the man's hands, leaving him with a gaping mouth. She then let Stormfly turn into the direction of Hiccup and his night fury. They were trying to find a way out of the nets and arrows that were coming their way. Ships had surrounded them by then.
Astrid stood up, keeping hold on one of the spikes as she swung the bola around above her. Her target was the night fury's tail. With great precision she threw the bolas, hitting its target. The effect was immediate, the night fury let out a load roar and looked at his tail for a fraction. He tried to keep himself in the air, but tumbled down. With a loud splash he and his rider landed in the ocean.
"Grab Hiccup," Astrid told Stormfly as she sat down again.
Stormfly made a dive and used her claws to fish Hiccup from the cold waters. Astrid steered Stormfly to one of the boats and let her dragon drop Hiccup, who rolled over the deck.
"Stay out of shot range," she said just before jumping of the blue scaled nadder. As if she had been doing it all her life Astrid easily landed on deck a few steps away from Hiccup who was stumbling to his feet as he was coughing from swallowing sea water seconds earlier. His back was turned to her. He looked up for a moment, seeing the deadly nadder, but without Astrid on her back. Quickly he spun around only to meet with a fist in his stomach. Time to recollect himself he had not as Astrid grabbed his wrist, spun him around and pushed him down harshly. He grunted as he landed and tried fighting his way out, but Astrid held her grip firm.
Suddenly the boat was swaying. Astrid looked up and saw a furious night fury claw his way onto the boat. Behind her she heard gasps of Vikings, shocked to seeing this beast. One they had never seen before. She heard weapons being grabbed as the black dragon walked towards her. As response she pulled out the sword Hiccup was carrying, to her surprise it was very lightweight, and held it near Hiccup's throat.
"One wrong move and he is done for," she threatened the beast.
It instantly halted and let out a low growl, looked at his friend Astrid was sitting on and then backed away a few steps. Astrid pulled the sword away from Hiccup, but held onto it still close enough to strike when needed as the night fury walked up and down making soft sounds as it was having a conversation with Hiccup.
"Do something," the human skinned practically begged as he looked to the side where saw his own sword dangerously close.
"She will kill you," the shadow of the night argued and glared at the female sitting on his partner.
He had heard her words earlier on and was thinking them over. Knowing his partner would never find peace if he was to remain as he was now. Next to that he himself was starting to question things too. Like how did he ever get to the nest of the queen in the first place? Why weren't there any other shadow of the night's there?
He shook his head, halted his pacing and promptly sat down watching the female. It glared back at him, but looked somewhat questioning. Pulling the sword away from his partner's throat ever so slightly.
"What are you doing?" the human skinned called out to him, "shoot her."
"And risk you being killed? Not likely. Have it her way."
"What!"
The human skinned one looked at him with surprise and fear written all over him.
"Y-you can't mean that."
"You wanted to know who you are… what you are. If she and the blue sting tail know the answer, let them tell you."
The shadow of the night then plopped his head on the wood, admitting his defeat.
"Traitor," the human skinned hissed at him.
Astrid watched as the night fury lay down, his head on his paws. It looked relaxed but was still watching her with an intense stare.
Behind her Vikings seemed to have gotten over their initial shock as she heard murmurs. People seemed to wonder what to do, for the dragon was not attacking, which was highly unusual. Next to that her riding a dragon act seemed to have gotten attention as well.
"Quiet!" roared the voice of none other than the chief.
Astrid swallowed, she wasn't really prepared for the questions she was about to get any second now. She just hoped things would turn out right… and the chief would believe. Who was she kidding, she still barely believed all this herself!
The stomping behind her got closer indicating Stoick was coming closer. She made sure she was still holding Hiccup down and got him no chance of getting away.
"What is the meaning of this, Astrid?"
It was as if those words were going through her entire body. She could feel the disappointment in them, the anger. It was then she realized this was the same as when he had been talking to Hiccup all those years ago. But she wasn't Hiccup, she wouldn't be intimidated by this. She looked up to the man who was giving the dragon further ahead more attention. His axe in his hand, ready to strike.
"If you could please lower the axe. The night fury won't attack, I have his partner here."
Stoick looked at Astrid for a moment and then back to the night fury, confused and probably not sure what to do first. Shout at her for picking the dragon's side and how it would have a human partner or question about the night fury.
"That's a night fury?" he eventually decided to say as he glared at the creature who kept his eyes on Stoick now.
"Yes," Astrid simply answered as turned her focus back to Hiccup who was trying to escape. "Start explaining. Now!" Stoick commanded.
Astrid sighed, "I will just… look there is a dragon in the sky and she has a human on her back…"
"I don't care about that!"
"She is from Berk! She told me herself and believe me chief, she doesn't enjoy being on the back of a dragon. So please put away the axe and let it land without attacking it so the woman can safely get off."
Stoick glared at Astrid and any normal person would avoid this, but Astrid was determined to show this stubborn man the truth, but only her way, which involved dragons. It wasn't often that someone wouldn't back down and she know it. When he looked up to Stormfly high in the sky, she knew she won. She saw him trying to identify the person, but the dragon was too far away.
"Fine, but if it starts attacking-"
"That won't happen," Astrid assured him and she looked up to Stormfly. "Come down!"
Astrid watched how Stormfly lowered ever so slowly, hesitant about her decent. She had to divert her attention back to Hiccup who was once again trying to free himself.
"Would you stop that?" she hissed to him.
"Let's make a deal, keep the woman, let me and the shadow of the night go and we won't return to your island for any raid it ever again," he mumbled back as he looked up to her as far as he could.
The offer was tempting. Yet…
"I am not letting you go," she whispered back and was shocked up when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She found her mother sitting across her.
"Foolish child, what are you doing?" she whispered, "and who is he?"
Astrid saw her mother study Hiccup who glared back at her, apparently not liking her presence. Then her eyes grew wide and she looked at her daughter. The question wasn't asked, but Astrid knew it and she nodded.
Across them another commotion had started. Stormfly had landed, she sure took her time, but that was probably because she was being careful. After all, it was a fleet full of Vikings with weapons.
As soon as the nadder had set foot on the ship, the woman on her back slid off and quickly got away from it, not even paying attention to the crowd she had landed in. She bumped into Astrid's mother with her back, spun around and spotted the girl on top of the boy.
"You… you are crazy. Flying upside down like that, we could have died," she uttered as she pointed at the girl.
Astrid gave her some sort of smile, not really willing to reply to that. What caught her attention was her mother's surprise when she saw this woman. In fact, the entire boat went silent. Astrid looked around and eventually saw Stoick's stunned face who dropped his axe at that moment.
"Impossible…" he said looking as he was seeing a ghost.
This caught the attention of the woman who now found out about the people she had landed among… and that she was being stared at.
"Val… you're alive?" Stoick said in a tone Astrid had never heard him talk, "where have you been all these years?"
Astrid watched the woman who apparently was called Val. No, Astrid immediately realized, it was Valka, Stoicks wife meaning that was Hiccup's mother. She looked down to the guy she was sitting on, he finally seemed to have given up on fighting and looked at a the scene with a bored expression.
"The nest," Valka eventually said in a whisper.
Stoick's stiffened for a moment, then marched to his wife, grabbed her by both arms and looked at her with a penetrating look.
"Where is it?" he asked as if his life depended on it, "tell me where it is."
"I'm not going to show you," Valka immediately replied, "I don't even know how I got out of it. I don't know the way."
Stoick looked disappointed, that was until he realized Astrid was the one who brought his wife back and so she must have been there too.
"Astrid, where is that nest?"
"You want to sail there with an already half defeated fleet of ships?" Astrid replied giving the chief a glare. How could he only think about the nest at this point?
There was several agreeing from the rest of the crew.
"Fine, we're sailing home first for reinforcement!" Stoick shouted loudly to make himself heard, then he turned to look at Astrid again, "now explain to me what you were doing the back of a dragon and who this is."
Astrid sighed as she tried to quickly gather the right words and decided to start with the beginning.
"A few days ago Berk was under attack. I went to check up on the supplies and saw something going into that direction. I shot it out of the air with a bola…"
"That was you!" came from Hiccup as he tried to sit up, "I should have killed you back then!"
"Would you shut up," Astrid hissed at him and pressed him against the wood.
From the corner of her eyes she could see Valka cringe a little, but made no complaints.
"So because of the bola, he and the night fury over there were stuck on Berk for a while. I managed to track them down… and got caught," she mumbled the last part, not very proud on her sloppy work there.
Her mother looked surprised at her, after all Astrid wasn't the kind of girl to easily get caught.
"After a while of watching him and the night fury I found out who he was," Astrid continued as she looked down at Hiccup.
He seemed annoyed, rolled his eyes and then shot a glare at the night fury in the distance who just rolled its own eyes and closed them shortly after that.
"Well? Who is he?" the chief asked impatiently.
Astrid was about to tell him, already had her mouth open to say the name, but changed her mind in the middle and looked up to him with some sort of glare, she could not explain.
"Why don't you find out yourself, chief?" she said boldly, shocking everyone on that ship.
She got glared at in return from Stoick, but eventually he averted his gaze to the boy she was sitting on. Astrid waited for him to reply. To say 'Hiccup'. To see his face lit up in joy. To give her a hint that he indeed cared for his son and would recognize him. At the same time she was afraid that he would do what apparently he had planned on doing; exile his only son. Seconds became a minute and he still hadn't said a word. Still didn't know. How can you not recognize your own son, she wondered.
"It's Hiccup," Valka eventually said with bitterness.
Stoick looked at her with wide eyes as she just looked at him with anger and disappointment. Some sort of shock went around the crew as soft whispering started. Curious about what had happened to Hiccup to side with dragons.
"About two years ago I suddenly find him on the island. At first I didn't know who he was. In fact I believed I was imagining things. Then he tells me he could bring me home, but I had to ride a dragon for that."
Valka looked over to the night fury.
"He called him, Toothless. What I saw was very… surreal. That dragon was protecting him. They even communicated as if the understood each other. When I told him I was from Berk, he said he couldn't bring me there. He refused to go back there."
She turned her attention back to Stoick and gave him a look of disgust.
"He heard you planned on exiling him the next day, so he left on his own," she said with a trembling voice, mostly because of anger as far as anyone could tell.
Stoick was speechless as he stared at his wife, who continued the story.
"He and Toothless ended up in a fight with the stormcutter that had brought me there. He did some crazy stunts, but got knocked unconscious. When… when he came to hours later he had forgotten who he was, then this loud roar from inside the mountain echoed around and… he went inside one of the caves. Ever since then… he's been the queen's slave as well his night fury."
Stoick seemed to have lost his ability to speak, while others clearly did not. There was soft murmurs, whispers, loud enough for Astrid to hear them. The words annoyed her, irritated her that she was almost willing to let Hiccup go, but she couldn't. She just wanted him to remember who he really was. She didn't understand why, but it didn't matter.
"Tie them up," Stoick's voice echoed across the ship.
In seconds groups of Vikings had thrown a net over Stormfly, who tried to fly away in panic. Ropes were tied around Toothless muzzle and wings as he glared at them and attempted to break free. Bellow her Hiccup tried to free himself and for a second he was, when she was pulled from his back. However three Vikings caught him and tied him up, throwing him near the dragons. He glared at them.
"Stoick, you can't do this!" Valka shouted at her husband, but he pushed her away.
"Her too," he said as he looked at Astrid.
Astrid gaped as she felt ropes being wrapped around her wrists once again. It hurt. She looked over to her mother with a plea for help, but got none and was thrown next to Hiccup. After that Stoick commanded to set sail again, while he was being shouted at by his wife.
They were ignored. At least mostly. Every now and then someone threw them a glance. Probably to make sure the dragons weren't trying to escape.
Hiccup had managed to sit up and looked over to Astrid.
"So… your own people turned against you. That must suck," he pointed out.
"I already expected it," Astrid said calmly as she looked over to Stormfly who was trying to battle the net but only got more stuck in, "could you tell her not to move. It will get worse she might hurt herself."
Hiccup threw her a skeptical look, but turned to look at the deadly nadder and softly talked to the dragon in their language. A moment later Stormfly had calmed down and lay there, looking defeated.
"Why are you worried about her anyway?" Hiccup asked as he watched the Vikings on deck, "Vikings and human… that sounds ridiculous."
"You're a human and you have Toothless," Astrid commented.
She saw his face drip annoyance.
"I'm not a human," he mumbled to her and remained silent after that.
It was much later he dropped to the side with a loud thud, making everyone jump.
"Calm down! Sheesh, he just fell asleep," Astrid told them and looked at the guy near her feet, wondering how he could even sleep in such a situation.
It was hours later, the sun had almost disappeared from the horizon and Berk had come into view, when Hiccup awoke from his slumber. He tried to sit up, but only rolled a little and found out his ability to move around was limited by ropes around his arms and legs. He thought his situation over and managed to push himself up, but bumped into another person in the process. Quickly he shove away from her as she looked at him a little surprised.
"How can you sleep through all that noise?" she asked him.
Then Hiccup indeed heard voices, or more like shouts. As he looked around he found himself on a ship with tons of people. One of them was the woman who had told him he had amnesia, she was currently in a fight with a large man who looked very intimidating according to Hiccup.
"I… don't know… how did I get here anyway?" he asked and turned to look at the girl again.
For a moment she looked surprised, but then she started to smile a little as her face lit up.
"Do you remember who you are?"
"Who I… uhm, some dragon named Toothless told me my name was Hiccup," he said as he looked around to find the dragon.
His eyes landed on a black pile with ropes around him. Two big green eyes met with his. The dragon looked relieved, but guilty at the same time and looked away. He looked back at the girl, finding ropes around her hands and feet as well.
"Why are we tied up?" he asked somewhat afraid of the answer.
The smile she was having disappeared and she looked to the side. Hiccup followed her gaze and found another dragon, this one was under a net.
"It's probably because the chief believes we sided with dragons."
He threw her a confused look, but she was now focusing on the movement of the many Vikings around. There was a lot of shouting from others now as well and not much later they hit something softly.
Gobber made his way down to the harbor. He had heard the ships had returned from their search for the nest and saw the first ones already throwing the planks down as he came closer. He suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw Astrid being pushed forward and her growling back that she could perfectly walk without being pushed. The girl stopped in front of him as he gaped at her.
"Astrid… how?" he started and then saw a bunch of Viking pulling a deadly nadder along.
They poked it with a stick, making the dragon fight back with her tail.
"Would you stop doing that to her! You'll only get hurt yourself!" Astrid shouted to the Vikings, but none of them listened and she let out a frustrated growl.
It suddenly became clear to Gobber what the girl had done, though he would call it crazy.
"You… went after that guy on a dragon," Gobber stated.
Before she could reply, Gobber saw Stoick march off the boat. He gave the deadly nadder a glare when he passed it and stopped near Gobber, giving Astrid a scowl before he turned his attention to Gobber.
"How did things go here? Where is Snotlout, he's supposed to be here too."
"He's out on sea… fishing," Gobber as he mumbled, still a little overwhelmed as he watched the scenes taking place.
He turned his focus on the people coming off the ship, more particularly the woman that just came ashore. She was looking around happily for a moment, but then her gaze fell upon Stoick and a frown covered her face.
The next one was a young boy who tried to calm a big black dragon which clearly didn't like the spears pointing in his sides. It made quite a turmoil and actually managed to grab one spear, while he had his muzzle tied, and threw it in the water, including the one holding onto the spear.
Gobber gave Astrid a questioning look, knowing this dragon was the same one who had attacked them a few days ago. Astrid seemed to completely ignore him and focused on the fight displaying. Stoick had joined it as well and threw himself on top of the night fury. The fight was quite a display, but the chief eventually won and the dragon was tied down onto some wooden platform with wheels under it.
"Bring those monsters to the kill ring," Stoick roared.
Quickly some Vikings gathered and started pushing the cart with the night fury, while some others took care of the deadly nadder. Gobber watched how the dragons were taken away and was surprised to find Astrid look worried about them.
"They… they're not going to kill them… are they?" asked a voice behind him he recognized all too well. He spun around and found the boy that had been riding the night fury. He looked a little scared as he was looking at the dragons in the distance.
"I hope not," Astrid whispered.
Gobber looked from the boy to Astrid, back to the boy, weirded out by the situation and not believing his eyes. Astrid saw this and gave him a weak smile with a nod. Then he looked back at the boy, who seemed to have noticed his weird behavior and gave Gobber a questioning look.
"Hiccup?" Gobber uttered eventually as a grin appeared on his face.
"Uhm… yes… should I know you?"
Gobber's jaw dropped as he stared at the boy. By Thor had he grown, but he looked as scrawny as ever. His hair looked more ruffled and his attire was replaced with more leather. It had all sort of pockets and Gobber wondered what could be in those.
Then it hit him that Hiccup didn't seem to recognize him.
"He has amnesia," Astrid explained as she was focusing on the chief who came their way again.
Gobber noticed the glare Stoick was throwing at the two teens as he passed. He didn't even know what to say when the chief suddenly announced to throw the two in prison. Luckily someone else knew, and she voiced her opinion quite loudly too.
"Prison? Have you gone mad?!" he heard Valka shout as she made her way to her husband.
"They sided with dragons!" retorted Stoick as he pointed at the two teenagers, "they are the ones that have gone mad!"
Gobber saw how Stoick glared at some Vikings to move and bring the two teenagers to prison already. Quickly some made their way to him and pulled the two along, not willing to feel the wrath of Stoick. Gobber sighed as he watched his friend stomp of, angry wife in tow constantly shouting at him, and decided it was best to first let this sink on before even approaching him about the mistake the man just made.
Astrid didn't like being searched for weapons and she certainly didn't like being touched like the way they did. It wasn't like she was carrying anything anyway. Once they had searched every inch of her, she was pushed into a prison cell. With a loud bang the door was closed and the ropes around her wrists were removed.
All the while, Hiccup was still being searched. Many items were taken from him, maps, paper, charcoal pencils, pocket knives, a sword, some weird thing that looked like a pocket knife yet without a blade, a compass and more. She was surprised that he was carrying that much along and he seemed to not even know why he was carrying it. Everything landed in a box and Hiccup in the cell across the one of Astrid. The rope around his wrists were removed as well and after that the group of Vikings that had brought them there left.
It was then Astrid let herself vent. Angrily she kicked the cell door several times, walked around a little before punching a wall and regretting that right afterwards. Gritting her teeth she sank through her knees, rubbing her hurt knuckles.
"You alright?" came worried from the other cell.
Astrid looked up and him holding onto the bars of the door, looking worried, afraid and mostly confused.
"Ya," Astrid sighed as she sat down on the floor and started staring at the ceiling.
This sucked. So much for trying to help. She started to very much dislike Stoick and mostly his poor decision making. She brings back his son, his wife even! And what did she get in return? A prison cell.
"I'm sorry," mumbled Hiccup from his cell.
It surprised her.
"What are you sorry for?"
"I don't know… it feels like this is all my fault."
Astrid watched him go to the far end of his cell, hiding in the darkness. It surprised her how he, even without his memories, still took the blame. It brought her back to the day where they were in the kill ring chasing a gronckle. How it ended in a disaster and took the blame for all the destruction, while she had been to blame too.
"It's not your fault," she whispered, "I did this to myself… and I think I dragged you along. I should be sorry… so.. I'm sorry."
She heard him, but didn't dare to look and stared at the floor instead. She felt weird. Never in her life she had said sorry to anyone other than her parents. And saying it to her parents had been a long time ago. To think she would say that word, to Hiccup even, was weird.
They stayed silent for a long time. Neither knew how long, but after what seemed forever the door further back opened silently. Astrid eventually looked up when she heard footsteps coming closer and found her mother.
"Mom!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
"Shh," her mother urged as she shushed the girl.
The woman then pulled a bread from her sleeve, passing it to her daughter. Astrid took it with a smile as her mother made her look at her.
"Whatever happens tomorrow, you made the right choice."
"Even the part that involves me riding a dragon?" Astrid said with uncertainty leaking her voice and an uncomfortable grin on her face.
Her mother started laughing, "Yes even that. Though I do wonder where in the world you got that idea from."
Astrid nodded in the direction of the cell across her and added with a grin, "him."
Her mother looked around and found Hiccup looking miserable at the floor. He noticed he was being watched and looked up.
Astrid saw her mother set a step towards Hiccup's cell, pulling another bread from her sleeve.
"Here, eat."
Hiccup looked confused, but leaned towards the prison door and took the food.
"Thanks."
"Thanks, mom," Astrid said now too.
Her mother looked around, nodded and then left. Leaving the two to eat their dry bread, waiting for an uncertain future as to what was to happen to them.