A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I'll make sure to keep you posted on the picture!
It's PurpleMistPepper who's making the picture, so everybody give a special thanks to her! :D
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The clearing was thick with humans and dragons both, so packed that you couldn't stumble five steps before crashing into another person. The smoke was stinging her eyes, and as Astrid ducked yet another attempted blow from a dragon, the girl was wheezing for air that didn't seem to fill her lungs. The Night Fury was growing impatient, eyes burning with absolute hate and anger as it loomed over her. Narrowed her eyes stubbornly, Astrid tightened her hold on the axe, springing up to her feet and off the burning ground once more. Her legs wobbled slightly underneath her, but she drew her hand back anyway, swinging it forward and catching the dragon's cheek on the sharp blade.
The dragon howled, grimacing away from the strike before he recovered a millisecond afterwards, straightening up and gathering a deep breath in. Astrid's breath caught as she recognized the move from Toothless, and she immediately drew her axe up in an attempt for a shield, knowing she had absolutely no time to run. If she turned her back on the dragon now, the result would be much worse. Hiccup's voice rang in her head, and the blare of a purple light shot at her. "And a Night Fury NEVER misses." The words barely had time to ring in her mind before the shot rammed right into the face of her shield, knocking her over to slam into the ground.
The girl spat out a mouthful of grass, gagging on the sharp taste that burned her mouth at once. She started to get up, but she could feel the way her limbs dragged sluggishly, the way they started to shake and tremble underneath her own weight. She couldn't take much more of this, and the same could probably go for all of the other Vikings around her. Surveying the battle scene, Astrid realized with a twist of her heart that they were fighting a losing battle. She could see some recognizable figures, like Snotlout and Stoick, who were doing their best in parrying off blows from the dragons. But with a sickening drop in her stomach, Astrid realized that there were unmoving shapes lying on the ground. Were people dying?
Her eyes widened slowly, her stomach dropping all the way to the ground and staying there. The ground swayed underneath her, and she felt like she was going to vomit. Hiccup. Where was Hiccup? Last time she had seen him…he was no match for any kind of dragon here. The sudden thrill of panic gave her strength, and she jolted to her feet at once. She glanced over her shoulder, where the Night Fury had been moments before. It had gone. It must have presumed Astrid dead. The girl narrowed her blue eyes before turning and racing through the crowd.
Hiccup was fine, he had Toothless with him. There was no way that he was a goner, Toothless wouldn't let anything ever happen to him! The thoughts didn't seem to cut it for Astrid though, as she quickened her pace to an all-out sprint, hair whipping back flat against her head. SHE would make sure nothing happened to him. The last time they had seen each other, she had let him run off even when she felt something was wrong with him. They might not have been on the best terms, but…if anything happened, she was going to hold herself personally responsible.
She weaved through the crowd, desperately searching for a glimpse of the boy's face or even Toothless, but she came up empty. She was running so fast, she felt like she was flying. She barely had time to place her foot on the ground before it was back up again, she had never run this fast before. Smoke burned her throat and set it on fire, and yet she kept pushing herself. Her axe was clutched in her hand as she ran and she struck it out at random times, slicing a Night Fury as she went in a small hope of helping the others in her village. She was always too far gone for the Night Fury she injured to look back in sight of their attacker.
She was almost all the way to the other end of the village, when suddenly a large Night Fury swooped forward, planting itself between her and the rest of the square. She gasped sharply, burning her throat once more as she did so. Staggering backwards, she came to a clumsy halt, stopping just inches away from the dragon, nearly tripping over herself. Her eyes were wide with surprise, she wasn't easily caught off-guard. But she supposed that her getting this far without being interrupted was a miracle in its own way. But the longer she stayed still, the farther away Hiccup could be getting from her. Tightening her hold on her axe, Astrid started to charge forward, letting out a harsh yell of battle as she raced forward. The Night Fury drew itself up, showing its teeth. Blood was leaking from its shoulder, it was already wounded. Astrid doubted it would be as tired as she was getting, but she knew that with the injury, she had a better chance of fending it off.
Her axe collided with the dragon's skin, and she felt it stick immediately. The Night Fury howled at once, staggering and roaring in pain at the crucial blow. Astrid was panting by now, legs shaking underneath her. She could barely hold herself up without staggering. The smoke was pressing on her now, threatening to shove her to the ground like she was a mere twig on the ground and not the brave Viking she really was. It wasn't fair. Throwing herself forward, the girl wrapped her hands tightly around the handle of the axe, bracing herself a moment before tugging it back to her as hard as she could imagine.
The rest went by in a flash. She was stumbling backwards, the force of the movement having knocked off her balance. The Night Fury whipped around, anger shining in every inch of the beast's eyes as it looked at her intently. She barely had time to blink before the creature pushed itself off the ground, ramming into her head-on, claws-extended. They rolled with the impact, before the dragon managed to pin her down, a feral growl ripping from its throat. Astrid gasped sharply at the pain, blue eyes widening while tears stung her eyes even worse than the smoke. She screamed in pain, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to shove the pain away from herself, but it was too great, it burned under her skin, feeling like a million needles were being pricked against her at one time.
She didn't know how long it lasted, seconds, maybe minutes, but she was screaming the entire time. She couldn't stop. She grabbed for her axe, but it had skidded away from her, she had no idea where it was. In the light of the new situation, Astrid felt a lump grow in her throat. That was it then, she realized. She was one of the best fighters in the village, or at least in the top twenty. If she couldn't fend for herself, they were really in more trouble than she thought they were. They stood no chance, it was that way from the beginning. And she was just realizing it now.
She closed her eyes in defeat, and waited.
But all of a sudden, a roar reached her ears, louder than everything else on the island. The weight that was crushing her against the hot ground vanished, and she snapped her eyes open, sitting bolt upright. Fright was evident in her eyes, and usually that was an emotion that was never there with her. But her eyes landed on what was happening in front of her. The Night Fury that had attacked her before was under the claws of another, a familiar smoky-gray shade of a dragon. The dragon grabbled a moment with the other Night Fury, but it was evident that she was winning the battle before it even started. After a short moment, she swung around, flinging the Night Fury back into the crowd with a warning howl. The dragon hesitated moment, turning and looking back at the gray Night Fury, some other kind of emotion flashing through its eyes. But it whipped around, charging back into the fray without another passing glance.
The gray Night Fury watched him go for a moment, making sure he wouldn't turn and come back. Then she turned, blue eyes locking worriedly with Astrid's own. She started forward slowly, unsure, as if she didn't want to frighten Astrid. But she knew who this one was, she knew it the moment she came to the rescue. "Mistyeyes!" She breathed out, relief in every syllable of the word. The dragon stopped in front of her, looking down slowly, assessing the girl as she came to a stop. Astrid started, suddenly feeling a burning starting to spread. Now that she wasn't in shock, she looked down, closing her eyes immediately. "I'm fine, Mistyeyes, I really am." The dragon tilted her head to the side, still looking troubled.
Suddenly, a thought crashed into her, Astrid's heart hammering against her throat. "Where's Stormfly?" She choked out, unable to bear the thought of losing her dragon. Mistyeyes blinked for a moment, as if processing the question. Then she smiled, shaking her head slightly as she went and nuzzled the girl comfortingly. But Astrid still wasn't settled. Her eyes took a new form of intensity, and she managed to push herself up to a standing position, despite her many worsening injuries. She placed one hand on the dragon's shoulder, as if to prop herself up. And she looked right into her eyes. Usually Mistyeyes had the same look in the blue orbs as Ludi did most of the time. A kind of aloofness, a sense of contentment and happiness that originated from some odd reason. "Hiccup?" She asked, the word coming out in a wheeze.
This time, Mistyeyes hesitated. The indecision was clear in the dragon, the way she shuffled her paws, the flash of absolute sadness going through her eyes. Astrid slowly took back her hand, slapping it down to her side as she narrowed her eyes. "You're wrong." She snapped, starting to feel dizzy as she wobbled where she stood. Mistyeyes stiffened, alarm lighting her eyes as she made a move to go and help Astrid stand. But the girl pushed away her help, turning and starting back into the throng of the fighting. "You're wrong!" She yelled behind her, voice cracking slightly. She didn't even know whether or not Mistyeyes was following, but she kept talking. "Hiccup is FINE, I saw him just a few minutes ago, right!? He's just…he's just waiting for me at the other side of the island!" She staggered, losing her footing as she felt the ground shift underneath her.
She spun in a full circle, confused suddenly. Which way was she going in the first place? She couldn't remember suddenly. She held the side of her head, wincing slightly as she felt the beginnings of a small headache that was spreading. A large shape was barreling towards her through the crowd, looking like it was charging straight for her. "…Hiccup?" Astrid mumbled, blinking away the black spots from her vision. Her eyes slowly widened once more as she realized what it was, but before she could try and run, something rammed into her side, scooping her up and barreling up into the night sky.
Astrid shrieked, grabbing on tightly to Mistyeyes as the wind threatened to knock her right off of her perch. "Let me down!" She yelled, watching as the burning village slowly rounded away from them. Mistyeyes was shooting into the forest, blue eyes narrowed into determined slits as she veered off, straight into the trees. Astrid ducked her head, mumbling in protests as the branches slapped at her face and black. They flew for a while, and Astrid had no idea where to, but suddenly, Mistyeyes let out a loud yip-like call, swooping down and digging her claws into the earth to stop herself. Astrid nearly fell right off of Mistyeyes from the force of the stop, but Mistyeyes quickly thrust out her wing, steadying the girl before kneeling down close to the grass.
Astrid didn't move, letting her eyes close softly. She could just stay here. The smoke was only just reaching this place, they had flown far enough away. The air was slightly fresher, and it did her good to suck in the non-polluted wind for the first time in what seemed too long. She felt even more light-headed now that she could actually manage to take a breath. Mistyeyes let out another sharp yap, and eventually footsteps could be heard coming closer. But she was too dead to the world to try and look up at what was happening. But her hold tightened considerably on Mistyeyes's flank, something that the gray dragon noticed with a hint of concern.
"Mistyeyes?" The dragon perked at her name, watching as Stormfly shouldered her way out of the line of trees. "What's wrong? I thought you were-" She broke off, eyes growing large as she caught sight of her rider slung over the Night Fury's back. "What happened!?" The dragon roared, looking much more panicked than she had been a moment ago. Mistyeyes looked from Stormfly back to Astrid, looking unsure. She felt a nervous tingling in her scales, and she knew that she couldn't stay here much longer.
"Look, Astrid got attacked, she'll be fine. You have the Elder with you, right?" She asked, looking over Stormfly's shoulder anxiously. The Nadder nodded dumbly, looking a little confused by now. "Great." Mistyeyes said curtly, trotting over briskly and shrugging Astrid over so that she was on her own dragon. "Look, I'm gonna go back to the village, we really aren't doing well right now." She glanced over her shoulder, a frown pulling the edges of her lips down. "Toothless left a while ago, and he still hasn't come back…I'm worried about him, if something happened." She looked back at Stormfly, as if wanting some sort of assurance from the Nadder, but she didn't say anything, only ducking her head.
"I'll see if I can help by bringing more injured people to the Elder." Mistyeyes said finally, turning and heading back the way she came. Her ears were flat to her head, and she paused a moment before looking back. "Make sure that Astrid is safe, okay? Don't let her come back to the island." She turned, closing her eyes and shaking her head side to side. "We're done. Just please…start getting the people with you off the island. We'll follow you there."
"What!?" Stormfly blustered, staggering slightly. "B-But, how will we find each other? Where do we go? You can't just give up like this! The Vikings will never abandon the fight, they're much too stubborn!"
"People know when to quit!" Mistyeyes roared, voice trembling with emotion as she cut her friend off. The two faced off for a moment, eyes locked in a glare that could have burned through wood if placed in the middle. Stormfly opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something in response. But she shook her head, turning rapidly and pacing away into the trees, anger coming off of her in waves. Mistyeyes stared after her grimly, but did not stop her. She had no idea if Stormfly would actually follow her orders and evacuate, why would she? Mistyeyes was not leader here, that much was true. Shaking herself, Mistyeyes turned, heading back into the sky without another glance.
At least she knew that Stormfly would never break her promise with Astrid. Through thick and thin, Stormfly would take care of her rider, that was the whole thing about Berk that made it special, made all of the other Night Furies hate it. There was a sense of love on the island, and loyalty. Up in the air, Mistyeyes took the moment to close her eyes as tight as she could, letting out as sharp breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She joined Berk for a specific reason. To be apart of that love.
And it turns out she would never be able to fully experience it like she'd wanted to.
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It was the safest place to be. And the hardest to get up to. Hiccup looked all the way up, head nearly touching his back. Ludi was already up the tree, having recovered from the unwanted joyride/swim. The small cat proved a good climber, having already made up half of the tree by now. But it might have something to do with the way they were being hunted down by a large, raging Night Fury. Sighing, Hiccup looked over his shoulder at the forest, which was still empty as before. Nothing even moved, which was the thing that unnerved him.
"Hey…I was thinking…" He said, looking back up at Ludi, who peered down at him with her owl-looking eyes that gleamed in the darkness. "we could find a hiding spot…that you know…isn't impossible for me to get up to." He said, ending on a flat note. Between his shoulder and his bad leg, there was little to no chance of him managing the climb to the branch where Ludi was. The cat huffed angrily, straightened up and hopping down a few branches, stopping a few feet off of the ground and looking at him expectantly. Hiccup grumbled underneath his breath, itching with irritation as he stretched up, gripping the tree branch closest to him with reluctance. "I make exceptions for you, you stupid cat." Hiccup grumbled, sure that Ludi wouldn't hear. But the cat sniffed, turning and hopping back up the tree a ways, stopping and looking at him smugly.
The movements cause his shoulder to throb strongly, and he had to grit his teeth to concentrate the task at hand and not at the pain. He managed a few branches, panting by the time he was a mere two feet off the ground. "I can't do this." He mumbled, closing his eyes and using his good arm to press down on his shoulder wound, which made it worse. "I'm sorry, Ludi." He shot up to the cat, a nervous rustle in the branches sounding above him as a sort of reply. Silence came for a moment, but Ludi was the one to break it, and when she broke it, she BROKE it into a million pieces.
In little to no time at all, Ludi's voice rose into a shriek, screaming and yowling down at Hiccup like the whole place was on fire. It nearly caused Hiccup to fall off the of the stupid branch. But as he tightened his hold, he realized what Ludi was fussing over. A rumbling noise was getting closer and closer, and a dark shape was hurtling forward, clumsy and falling over itself. Hiccup sucked it a sharp breath, turning and looking up desperately at Ludi, as if she could help him. But she seemed to be stuck where she was, jerking down to where Hiccup was, but not moving, as if she were glued to the branch. Her eyes were wild, and her tail flicked rapidly back and forth. There was nothing she could do except call out to him. Grinding his teeth together so hard, he thought they would fall out, Hiccup jumped off his branch, grabbing the next one clumsily and pulling himself up with a pained grimace.
His shoulder shrieked with pain, the wild movements making it start to open once more. His fake foot bent and dented on the wood where he banged it against, making his whole leg ring with a sharp ache. The climb was terrible, and by the time he made it up to Ludi, he collapsed on the wood, closing his eyes and breathing unevenly. Ludi poked and prodded him, making him sit up so that she could make sure he was alright. Only then did Hiccup pause, looking down into the clearing below, swallowing the lump in his throat as he did so.
Nightflight paced beneath their tree, smelling the air loudly, intent on the wind. She stayed like that for a moment before cursing under her breath, ducking her head and reaching up to rub her ruined eyes. "Where are you!" She called, and Hiccup flinched immediately. Not flinching from fright or surprise…but…another kind of emotion. One that Vikings never felt, not ever. Or…weren't supposed to. Pity filled his heart as he looked down at her, the way she called out, she sounded so desperate. Not angered or hateful, just…confused.
Ludi obviously felt different. Turning, the cat tore a branch off of the bark they were sitting on, dropping it down below and watching with a satisfied look as it landed on Nightflight's back. Immediately, the Night Fury jumped two feet in the air, whirling around as if searching for an enemy to defend herself from. She started to backtrack quickly, smashing into a tree and looking dazed. She turned, trying to see what the tree was, and slamming into another in the progress. Hiccup watched, silent. Ludi curled her tail up in amusement.
Finally, Nightflight shook her head to clear it, turning tail and racing away to who-knows-where. But she was grounded, that was sure. She couldn't see anything. She was wandering in the dark, alone, now. The kind of fate that would suit somebody like her, right? Without any friends, without anybody to help her, in the dark, where she can't see anybody, or even herself. She was utterly alone, and it would stay like that, it seemed.
Ludi nodded once, an affirmation, before turning over to Hiccup, ready to start hopping with happiness, it seemed. But she stopped, ears perking as she saw Hiccup's head ducked, as if he couldn't bear to look down at the clearing anymore. She reached out to prod him, but before she could, he spoke, voice low and subdued. "Did you see that?" He asked softly, glancing back into the empty space below them. Ludi didn't do anything, looking at him oddly. "Ludi…she…" He couldn't seem to know what to say. Ludi waited, and eventually he turned to look at her, green eyes shadowed.
"She looked just like me."
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A/N: "I looked at him…and I saw myself."