Hey guys, so here's another chapter! Hope you like it! I just wanted to give a shout out to my most amazing and awesome reviewer, zoxy2! She reviews every time I post something new and Zoxy love your comments so keep them coming. I have nothing else to say other than hope you enjoy this chapter!
Astrid walked sadly back to the village. Her head hung down and the axe that Hiccup had given her was dragging on the ground. She couldn't believe that Hiccup came back just to leave again. It didn't seem like well Hiccup. He seemed sad that he couldn't stay though.
Astrid stopped a little ways away from the village. She had only been gone for an hour. They wouldn't even know she left. She slumped against a pine tree trunk and sat with her hands on her head and her knees drawn into her chest. The beautifully crafted axe sat next to her on the ground. The double blade glowed with the same green and blue shimmer the Hiccup's sword shone with. Only Astrid did t notice something that Hiccup had done to the handle.
When Hiccup created Astrid's axe, he wanted to give her a note. Only Hiccup didn't know if he would ever be able to give it to her himself so he partially hollowed out the axe's handle and put the note in there. To seal the gap he made, Hiccup made a cap that fit perfectly over the opening and looked like it was just a full handle. Under closer inspection though, one could see that there was a slight crack between the tip of the axe and the part that held the blade.
Astrid gripped the axe in her hand as she stood up. Something didn't feel right. She looked at the handle closer and noticed the slit in the handle. She grabbed the cap and undid it from the rest of the handle. Inside, Astrid noticed there was a piece of parchment lodged inside. She carefully extracted it, being careful not to rip it, and in rolled it. She read the note so many times that she had almost memorized it. Hiccup had some explaining to do to her.
When she emerged from the forest, she was greeted by frantic shouts from her parents and friends. They noticed that she had left and didn't know where she was. So as soon as Fishlegs saw her, he told the Hofferson's and they came running over to her. They had a miniature family reunion before Gobber interrupted by saying that it was time for dragon training.
The only thing that they could do it dragon training was throw axes and other weapons at dragon shaped cut outs since all of the dragons had disappeared a while ago. Three months to be exact. It wasn't exactly what you would call fun so Gobber dismissed the class early. Astrid and the rest of the gang were walking into the woods to go to the cove. Astrid hadn't told them about her encounter with Hiccup that morning because she wanted them to be surprised.
"Hey Astrid I have a question for you," Snotlout said to her. "Where did you get that amazing axe and what's with the Deadly Nadder carved in the handle?" Snotlout pointed at her new axe that hung from her belt.
"Oh this it uh was gift from someone," Astrid hurriedly said before she sprinted towards the cove shouting over her shoulder "race you all!" When Astrid saw that the rest of the group was running after her she slowed her pace a bit, but not enough to lose the race. In first place was Astrid, second was Snotlout who was complaining that he let Astrid win, third place was given to Fishlegs who surprisingly caught up to her and Snotlout fairly quick. Tuffnut and Ruffnut tied for last because they ended up getting their helmets tangled together. They hoped to catch up with the rest of the group. Astrid took one look at her friends before helping Ruffnut and Tuffnut get untangled from each other.
When that impossible task was finished, Astrid kept through the bushes and hurriedly climbed down the rock face and sprinted to the trees. She had hoped to find Hiccup and or Toothless there, but she found no one. When she turned around, she caught a glimpse of a black blur before being tackled and dragged up into the trees.
"What the heck was that," Astrid quietly shouted at her assailant.
"I have a plan, but please don't mess it up Astrid. Act like you never saw me this morning okay. Please Astrid," Hiccup whispered to her before setting her down behind a tree so that the others wouldn't see him. Astrid sprinted out of the trees towards the rest of the group. They were gathered in a huddle near the rock face and dangerously close to Hiccup secret cave.
"Hey guys, what took so long," Astrid exclaimed as she sprinted over. "You look like you saw a dragon eat your mother."
"Astrid we were creating a plan so that if we do see Hiccup and Toothless, we might be able to bring them back to the village," Fishlegs told her. He was the only one who seemed to be taking Hiccup's disappearance seriously other then Astrid, Stoick and Gobber, who missed his apprentice very much. Hiccup was skilled with metal.
Just then, a small Terrible Terror waddled over to them. It was green and orange with hazel colored eyes. It made a cross between a warble and a growl at the group and pointed his head in the direction of a large rock before scurrying off towards it. Astrid followed close behind with the rest of the group in tow. They stopped at the bad of the rock before the Terrible Terror went behind the rock. Astrid's, Fishlegs', Snotlout's, Ruffnut's and Tuffnut's mouths gaped open at what they saw walk out from behind the boulder.
A person walked out with a leather mask covering his entire face except for his eyes, which were a dark purple. He had on black armor and the Terrible Terror was perched on his shoulder and curled around his neck. (And yes, this is the armor you see Hiccup wearing in the HTTYD 2 trailer. Just clearing that up.)
The man reached up and scratched the Terror under his chin. The small dragon leaned into the scratching and closed its eyes in pleasure. He made a purring noise deep in his throat before the man hit the sweet spot and it collapsed into his arms. It fell into a light slumber as the mystery man set it on the warm sand to rest peacefully. The man stood up and was about four or five inches taller than Astrid and was about the same height as Fishlegs.
Astrid of course knew who this was, but the way his eyes resembled a dragon's so much was kind of creeping her out. In fact, his eyes were a dragon's and a Silent Beauty's at that, but Astrid didn't know the name of the dragon, only that she had seen them before. The person still wore the full suit of armor, mask and all, as he walked over to a larger rock and gracefully leapt on top of it. The large boulder was about five feet high and the man made it look as though it was an easy jump.
"Hey Astrid," Snotlout said, noticing Astrid's awed look. "You like that, I can do that. Watch this," Snotlout said as he took a running start and attempted to leap on top of the boulder where the man was standing, only to slip and crash face first into the side of the boulder. Astrid heard a deep laugh come from the man's throat before he hoisted Snotlout up to stand next to him.
"See Astrid, I made it," Snotlout said with a sort of dizzy tone in his voice. Snotlout's helmet was crooked and he was stumbling close to the edge of the boulder. Luckily, the boulder was flat on top and about five feet in diameter, or five feet across the center. The man just hopped down off of the boulder and gestured to the group to follow him. Astrid and the rest of the group followed him. Snotlout tried to follow, but just ended up tripping over his feet and falling off of the boulder. The man led them into a more wooded area of the cove before coming into a small clearing. There was a flat stone in the center that was the same color as Toothless. It shimmered in the warm sunlight that filtered in through the gap in the trees. The group gazed in awe at what lay on the stone. There were four more weapons that appeared to have the same sort of metal and design as Astrid's axe, which Hiccup had taken and put on the stone near the others.
"Whoa, shiny," Tuffnut said with a grin on his face. "Ruffnut, guess how much fun our training will be with these. Oh wait; training isn't fun anymore because someone freed all of the dragons." Both Ruff and Tuff looked sad. The masked stranger led the group to the stone, but held out his hand to tell them to stop. They stood in the same spot for a minute, when Snotlout finally spoke up.
"Okay, we followed you this far and we've seen the sweet weapons, but who in Thor's name are you," Snotlout exclaimed.
"Someone that was a friend and maybe still is," the stranger said in a gruff voice. No one recognized the man yet. Astrid then noticed how his eyes changed from a dark purple to a bright aqua color.
"Did anyone else see that or am I seeing things again," Tuffnut asked staring with a confused look on his face. "This may be like that time I fell out of the tree on my head or the other time that rock hit me on the head or the other ti-"Tuffnut was cut off from his rambling by his sister.
"I saw it too Tuff. Don't get your hopes up." Then to the stranger she said, "I don't know if you know this, but your eyes changed color."
"Well, for one, I did know that because I wanted them to and secondly, how have you guys been. It's been three months, right? You look great Astrid and you too Fishlegs. Snotlout, you are still the yak headed, stubborn, show-off that you were back a ways. And Ruff, Tuff, you haven't changed the slightest," exclaimed the stranger. Everyone just stared at him with disbelief, even Astrid, though it was a fake expression. She was just playing along like Hiccup asked her to.
"Don't look so surprised you guys, it's just sad. I mean the look works great on Ruff and Tuff, but the rest of you, not loving the look." The man earned a punch in the shoulder from Astrid, who backed away realizing she may have just given away who he was. "Well, owww Astrid, could you be any less subtle," the man said jokingly. He rubbed his shoulder for a second before putting his hand down and whistling three notes into the trees.
"Do any of you have any idea who I am yet," the man asked. They all shook their heads. "Maybe this will help." Suddenly, four dragons burst through the foliage of forest surrounding them.
"Finally, something to fight," Snotlout exclaimed while reaching for his mace.
"That wouldn't be such a good idea Snotlout. Check the trees," the man said while gesturing with his arms in the air to the surrounding trees. Changewings appeared on the tree trunks and in the leaves around them. There was at least seven or eight of them. "Still have no clue who I am, how about you Astrid, you should know. You ignored me the whole time I stayed at the village. Ruff, Tuff, you should know to. You followed me around and mocked me. You guys even pranked me so much that I actually left and stayed in the woods for weeks before coming back. Then there's you Snotlout. I didn't think that you would care for someone you constantly picked on. I was your punching dummy and the one who you would humiliate. Even you Fishlegs, you were never part of the physical beatings and for the most part you stayed out of the name calling, but you never helped. You just watched. Oh and if you guys haven't guessed by now, let me give you a few more hints towards figuring out my identity." The man paused for a second. His eyes began to turn red with his growing anger that he has always tried his best to control. He was facing downwards so that they wouldn't see the color shift. "My father never loved me, so I would leave for days and even weeks to go and explore with friends who care. Actual friends. My father always saw me as a disappointment. When I returned at first he looked so thrilled to have his son returned. Then over the next few years of my life, he began to see that I was never going to be like him. All big and strong. I was a talking, walking fishbone who always screwed stuff up. I'm the reason you don't have dragon raids anymore. I found all of the dragon's new homes. My father disowned me as a son three months ago to the day. And guess what that day was. It was supposed to be the most special day of anyone's life. He disowned me on my birthday. You all watched too. And if you still haven't guessed who I am, well let me say one more thing. I was the first human to understand and get along with dragons and the first to tame and train and befriend a dragon. This dragon is known to you as the unholy offspring of lightening and death itself or even better known as the Night Fury." As if on cue, Toothless flew out of the trees above and landed next to the stranger. He flattened himself to a position that was perfect if he needed to attack or pounce. He barred his teeth and his pupils grew into slits as he let a low rumbling growl out of his throat. The stranger looked up at the frightened teens and they saw that the deep purple dragon eyes that changed into the aqua, sad looking eyes, have now changed a ruby red color. The stranger was mad and he was trying so hard to contain it, but was struggling every step of the way.
"Listen, I don't know who you are, but I think you have Hiccup's dragon," Tuffnut said while still cowering in fear of the very protective Night Fury.
"You are all so blind. You can't see that I'm the one everyone calls a fishbone, a screw-up, or by my well known, unofficial title, Hiccup the Useless," Hiccup Basically creamed at the teens. They were dumbfounded. Hiccup removed his mask to reveal the face that all of the teens knew. His eyes were back to their normal shade of forest green and back to human eyes instead of dragon eyes. "You were all blind. You never saw noticed how often I was gone. How I would constantly disappear into the woods and stay away for days and weeks at a time. When I get back, it's right back to the beginning. Always picked on or ignored. Called a klutz or a screw-up by people every single day. You don't know how it feels to be the runt of the litter, to be the smallest one, to be the hiccup of the group," Hiccup said, sliding to the ground. Toothless stepped out of his defensive pose and quietly cooed and nudged his friend. Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut all watched as Hiccup broke down in front of them. They saw just how strong the bond was between boy and dragon.
The sun was starting to go lower in the sky as they watched Toothless help Hiccup to his feet. They had almost forgotten about the dragons that Hiccup had called with his three note whistle. The Changewings watched curiously as their leader broke down from a very angry stage. They had camouflaged themselves to blend in with their surroundings. Astrid watched as Hiccup turned back towards the four dragons behind him.
"Hiccup, I don't mean to sound rude, but what just happened? I mean we understood you for the most part, but I don't understand one thing. Why are you giving gifts to these people if they hurt you? Also, why are we here again," asked the blue and gold Deadly Nadder that stood behind Hiccup. Hiccup explained once more to the dragons before turning back towards the group. He motioned for them to come closer. They all gathered around the jet black slab that the beautiful weapons sat on. Hiccup reached down and handed each person their respective weapon. The twins get their double-headed spears with the Hideous Zippleback carved in the handle, Snotlout grabbed his new mace from Hiccup and admired the Monstrous Nightmare carved into the handle and Fishlegs was eager to see his weapon and as soon as he grabbed it, ran his finger along the Gronkle carved in the wood of the handle. Astrid took her double-sided axe and clipped it to her skirt's belt. They all seemed pleased with their gifts and then Hiccup asked them all a question that would change their lives forever.
"Who wants to learn how to train your own dragon?"
Well I know this is a shorter chapter. All of my other chapters are over 5,000 words and this one is only not even really 3,000. Well, one I am very tired and two, you have no idea how hard it is for me to write 5,000+ words for each chapter. Especially since I have school and school work. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also, things may not go so smoothly with the whole Hiccup and the rest of the teen's friendship. There will be a battle between Berk and the dragons just to let you know. Other than that, please review! I love reading your comments. Most all of them bring my spirits high for the day. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-AIC