The island milled around with busy dragons, tails lashing with both excitement and a sense of nervousness. Voices rose into the air, following with them a cloud of vapor from the freezing coming-night air. Black shapes milled across the fairly large island, looking almost like fish in their likeness. Every dragon was attentive, talking excitedly amongst themselves with eyes shining. The suspense was killing every single dragon there. All except one.
A smaller dragon sat on the edge of the island, looking over his shoulder with slightly narrowed eyes. Paws kneaded the ground anxiously, the little dragon's eyes roving the island around him, scanning the landscape thoroughly. Green eyes glinting, the dragon locked his eyes on one single dragon, who was pushing her way out of the throng of the dragons, back to where she normally slept. Nightflight. Where was she going? She said herself the dragons were all leaving for the raid soon.
Getting to his feet, Shadowclaw shook himself out, wings splaying out and fanning in the slight breeze. He had grown a lot since he played with Toothless in the caves, both mentally and physically. His wings were getting much bigger, as well as his muscles that rippled underneath his scales. Mulling over his thoughts for a moment, Shadowclaw looked at the ground, oblivious to whatever was going on around him.
"Shadowclaw!" The male jumped at the sudden voice, whirling around with his heart hammering. A small light brown Nightfury started with surprise, blinking rapidly as she backtracked slightly. "Did I startle you?" She gaped. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to! I wouldn't want to scare you, it's just that I thought you looked lonely over her." She hesitated a moment, shuffling her paws on the ground. But then she looked up, blinking slowly at the dragon. "My name is Leafdapple. I was wondering if…"
Her words were drowned out as Shadowclaw turned his gaze slightly, watching as Nightflight disappeared from the throng of dragons, disappearing from view. Shadowclaw fought to growl out loud, he had to talk to her before they left! Otherwise everything would be for nothing. Pushing back the need to roll his eyes, Shadowclaw looked back at the female, straightening as she looked back at him expectantly. Did she say something?
"…What?" He asked, lost.
She flicked her tail. "I SAID are you going on the raid?" She prompted.
"Er, no I don't think so." The youngling said, in a little of a rush.
"Neither am I." Leafdapple said, nodding her head. A moment of silence followed, awkwardness and tension ruffling the air in between the two small dragons. Shadowclaw was just about to excuse himself, when the smaller girl interrupted once more. "So what do you think of this island? It sure isn't like our old home, right?" She let out a small laugh. "But I like it more, I guess. It's too bad not all of us are here, my old friend stayed back at the old home with his mother."
Shadowclaw perked, suddenly much more interested as he straightened to sit up as tall as he could manage. "We're not all here?" He asked, head whipping around to look over his shoulder. Now that he thought about it, there were a few distant faces he could grasp that weren't here. "They're back at the old home, why?"
"Some of them didn't want to terrorize the humans." Leafdapple explained, tugging out a piece of grass that was lodged in between her claws. "I probably would have stayed back if it hadn't been for my father. He's a big supporter of Nightflight. But I don't blame him, she is pretty powerful. And pretty too." She laughed slightly at this, looking over at Shadowclaw as if she thought he was going to laugh as well. But the dragon was too deep in thought, eyes narrowed to slits as he stared at the ground.
"Uh…are you okay?" Leafdapple asked, prodding them male gently with her paw.
Not answering her question, Shadowclaw turned to her, green eyes locking with her green eyes. "Do you know the way back to the old island?" He demanded thinly, eyes flashing with something close to being desperate. When the girl didn't reply for a moment, he pressed once more. "I said, do you know how to get back to the old island!" He said, louder this time.
"Y-Yeah." Leafdapple said, eyes wide as saucers. "…I-It's not that far from here, I think."
"Show me." Shadowclaw demanded, not making it a question.
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Hiccup stood in the clearing, the light of the flickering torches casting an orange glow over the village. Though nightfall was beginning to come, the son of the chief could still see the dragons below, still hard at work. Among them was Toothless and Mistyeyes, the sharp black and soft gray scales Hiccup was able to pick out from where he stood. The two were working close together, it was obvious that whatever fight they had started together had ended.
Though the sight made Hiccup feel a little left out, childish the thought may be. Wincing inwardly, Hiccup raised up a hand, rubbing his head roughly as another shock of pain lanced up his spine. The headache had been ringing in his head for the past few days, and no matter what he did, he couldn't find a way to get rid of the shockwaves that went over him randomly. He sighed to himself, green eyes downcast as he looked back at the village. The fact that his father didn't listen to him didn't really help his mood either. All in all, whatever was going on right now was not in Hiccup's favor. It was just like old times, when nothing went his way.
Shaking off the thoughts, Hiccup looked back at the dragons down below. "They're really getting serious about this." He mumbled, craning his neck to look over on his shoulder, where Ludi was clinging. The cat let out a meow in reply, her claws buried into her human's limb frantically. Despite the reasoning Hiccup had tried, Ludi was too stubborn to let go, ears lied flat against her head as her blue eyes sparkled with determination to stay on her usual perch.
"Maybe I should try and help them." He said aloud, no other person in the village to hear him talking to himself. The other people had retired to their own homes, leaving the square deserted and empty other than himself. Ludi blinked, straightening for a heartbeat before she pushed off of Hiccup's shoulder, landing on the ground with a small thud. Glancing back at him, she raised her tail straight into the air, padding delicately over the grass and down to where the dragons were gathered.
Smiling to himself, Hiccup followed the cat, trailing after her loosely as he went down the hill cautiously. Though he had almost mastered his fake leg, going down hills and such still proved a task he had to think about hard as he did it. Ludi seemed to do it with ease though, hopping and prancing back and forth over the plain, stopping every so often to look up into the air at the night sky. Her tail tip twitched back and forth, like she was intent on something. But she was Ludi, it was probably nothing.
Finally, the two came to a stop amid the bustling dragons, Hiccup turning and weaving in order to stay out of the way of the busy dragons. He recognized all of them of course, Meatlug, Stormfly. They were all hard-working, not giving a second thought as to why they were following orders from Mistyeyes, who had arrived only a few short weeks ago. Nevertheless, thinking about it, her plans did make sense, and they were the best of plans the dragons could work with as of now.
Stormfly was talking to the group she was in charge of, the Nadder gesturing back to the hill. "So if the time does come in need of retreat, just grab up as many humans as you can. I made a trail that goes all the way back to Raven's Point. If the humans try and refuse to retreat, here's what you all need to do. It's pretty easy, you shouldn't worry too much, but they are Vikings. They have stubbornness issues. Anyway-"
Mistyeyes and Toothless sat in the middle of it all, watching the others work and making sure they did it all right. Mistyeyes was looking with concern at the dragons in charge of guarding the island, gaze slightly worried. But the group was making do with what they had pretty well, eels lined across the edge of the island neatly. Most of the dragons were pulling faces, the smell making them work faster in order to finish early and leave the stink. Though Hiccup couldn't smell anything, he could only imagine that the dragons where going through in order to stay this close to the eels. Especially the ones working with them, who were pulling some particularly disgusted faces.
"I didn't know there were that many eels on Berk." Hiccup said, coming to a stop by the two Night Furies.
Toothless flattened his ears, eyeing the fish with disdain. "Neither did I." He growled.
Glancing over at the Night Fury, Hiccup felt guilt like an arrow pierce his heart. Looking at the ground for a moment, Hiccup mumbled to his friend. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I was confused." Looking back up, he directed his gaze onto Mistyeyes. "I guess you had to find out from her then." Mistyeyes flicked her ears, looking as though she wanted to say something, but she kept her mouth closed. Turning away, she got up, heading over to the group that was in charge of protecting the island. She would leave this conversation between the two of them.
"Actually, no." Hiccup blinked with surprise, looking over at Toothless with a lost expression on his face. The Night Fury looked amused as he looked down at his human. "I found out just now actually." Pausing a moment, he added. "I kind of guessed at first, though. Dragon's intuition I guess, I was right." He looked back at him. "Don't worry though. If I were you, I would have done the same thing."
Hiccup hummed out an agreement, looking back over at Mistyeyes. The Night Fury was jabbing at one of the eels, pushing it slowly over to where it had to be. Obviously it rolled out of the way and the other dragons refused to try and move it back. The female had a look of irritation on her face, aided by annoyance. But you could tell by the fluttering of her wings that she was proud to have to do this as well. It was the finishing touches on it, after all.
Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut as he grimaced. Toothless straightened, eyes widening as he saw Hiccup's distressed look. "What's wrong, Hiccup?" He demanded, eyes shining with surprise and worry. The Viking held his head, both eyes closed as pain vibrated through him.
"Uh-" Cracking open one eye, he realized Ludi was looking at him rather grimly, not at all as surprised as Toothless was. "…I gotta go! Stay here." He added quickly, turning around and breaking out into an uneven run. Despite the fact that he had told Toothless to stay, the dragon did not listen to him of course, the dragon breaking off after him. Ludi flattened her ears, glancing back at the sky once more, her expression changing from grimness to a cold look of dread.
Head ringing with pain, Hiccup ducked behind a random house, pressed his back up against the wood with a thump. Ducking his head down to his forehead pressed on his knees, the boy's hands clenched together, shaking with the amount of suppressed pain coursing through him. Like an aid for his headache, a small whisper started in his head. "She took him away from you." It whispered, smooth and almost sounding like it was comforting him. "She's a liar and a cheat, a dragon hardly worthy to be in Berk at all, wouldn't you say?"
"N-No." He managed to choke out, teeth grinding together.
"Why not?" The voice asked, slightly put out. "After all, who is she to barge in and start ordering people around? She's like a virus, pretty soon all the dragons will think they're all high and mighty. We wouldn't want that happening, would we?" Hiccup let out a small cry of pain. "All it will take is one little hit. One little stab. Then you'll be rid of her for good, she'll never bother you again." Hiccup felt himself jerk forward, as if to get up. Flattening himself to the wall, Hiccup inhaled sharply, tense and stiff as he fought to keep himself back. "Come now, why fight? Here's the deal. You get rid of the female, and your village wont burn down in flames."
"Hiccup?"
The boy snapped his eyes open, pain leaving for a brief moment as he looked back at the voice, eyes wide. Astrid stood in front of him, blue eyes showing both anger at him and slight worry. "…What are you doing in the back of my house?" The girl asked, miffed as she looked down at him. Her eyebrow raised. "Is everything okay? You look a little…" She paused, searching him. "…weird."
He jerked once more, feeling like he was going to throw up. Launching himself forward, Hiccup grabbed hold of Astrid's shoulders, gripping them tightly. The girl opened her mouth to yell at him, but his eyes were so filled with strange panic, she snapped them shut. "Astrid, you have to help me!" Hiccup begged. "I don't know what's wrong with me, you-" His words were drowned out by a loud burst that sounded like an explosion.
Both of them turned, eyes wide. Yellow light of fire filled the entire village, lighting up the night sky and booming with an explosion loud enough to wake the gods. Black shapes moving in the sky told tales of Nightfuries. Flames upon Flames rained down on the village of Berk, Astrid's startled scream inaudible over the roar. But Hiccup couldn't pay attention. The only thought in his mind was a sickening one.
They were back.
And this time, they wouldn't leave until every single person was dead.
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A/N: There you go : )
Anybody going to Natsucon in Collinsville Illinois?
If you live close by, you should! I'm going, and I'd love to see you all if you're coming!