Hiccup and Astrid layed down on the grassy hill, watching he sunset. Hiccup grabbed a grape from the bowl that sat between them and placed it in her mouth. She smiled, and ate the precious gift he had given her. Astrid sat up and grabbed a grape. "Now its your turn," she said. Hiccup graciously accepted the small, green fruit, smiling as he chewed. When he finished, he leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips. Astrid sighed happily and layed her head on the ground. Hiccup followed suit. For a few minutes they just layed there, enjoying the view, every once in a while sharing the grapes and some kisses. "I love Sundays," Astrid said. "Me too," Hiccup responded. Sunday was their date night, the only legitament time they had alone. Everyone saw it as a relaxing, pleasant day.
Everyone, except for Snotlout. As the current successor of the mantle of chief, it was his duty to pick up Hiccup's slack on Sunday afternoon. Normally, it wouldn't have been that bad of a job. However, Berk had the twins. It wasn't that they made the job of chief that hard, most of their destructive tendencies were let off in the dragon races, it was that they made it hard for Snotlout. Thanks to the twins, Sunday became "Let off all the jobs that could wait" day. So all the tiny leaks in the roofs, that Hiccup could've fixed in a minute if they were reported immediately, were now pretty big leaks that'll take Snotlout half-an-hour to fix, all over the village. But he couldn't complain too much, it did give him a chance to flex for the ladies.
It was just like every other Sunday. "Hiccup!" Hiccup cringed, so much for a relaxing date with his love. "Hiccup!" Fishlegs ran up the hill the best he could while Hiccup stood to face him, a displeased look on his face. Fishlegs got to his position and started panting. "What is it Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked. "Eyjolf...he's...he's" Fishlegs gasped, unable to get the words out. Astrid stood up immediately, Eyjolf had been one of the academies best students. "What about him Fishlegs?" She asked. Fishlegs took a deep breath and pointed towards the docks, s morbid expression on hid face. "Come see for yourself."
A large group gathered around the event, but the left a decent amount of distance for the crying couple. The chieftain of the Hog Wrangler Clan layed his hand comfortingly on his brother's shoulder. Hiccup and Astrid pushed through the crowd just as the veil was placed over the face of his father's pride and joy. A team of six, mainly academy students, hoisted the wood board that the alumni lay up on their shoulders and began to walk to the already prepared ship, a large procession containing both Hooligans and Wranglers following behind. Eret, however, stood frozen, still looking where the pale face of his first and favorite student was covered, never for him to see again.
The procession stopped along the docks surrounding his father's favorite fishing boat and the team of six lowered the board onto the pile of firewood and stepped of the boat. With one last farewell, his mother pushed the boat off, she was too decimated to fire an arrow today. The academy students stood on the end of the docks in perfect lines, presenting the new academy salute as the boat passed. When it was deemed far enough away, the Chieftain handed the bow to his red-eyed brother. The man pulled out the special arrow his son had given him. The head crafted from the rarest and hardest material he could find, Daylighter scales. The man dipped the arrow into the fuel, lit it alight, and fired it at Eyjolf's ship. A direct hit lit the firewood aflame, and then, forty flaming arrows rose from the ranks of the academy students and were let loose upon the ship, lighting every inch aflame.
Hiccup was dumb-founded. This student had single-handedly defeated a Red Death, yet something had managed to end him. He looked to Fishlegs. "What happened?" He asked. "He died from internal bleeding due to severe injuries caused by a collision with a cliff side." Fishlegs responded. Hiccup looked at the flaming ship and then back to Fishlegs. "Where's Dawnbringer?" He asked. "I don't know, I only found Eyjolf's body. Maybe she hit the cliff way too hard or something" Fishlegs responded, trying to hide the fear in his voice. Hiccup looked at Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, Daylighters can't hit cliffs." A sudden realization hit Hiccup hard in the chest, and he ran throughout the docks, ordering search parties to be sent out immediately to check on the rest of the alumni.
He was still worried the next day, but Hiccup had a duty to his clan and he performed his daily rounds. It was nothing unusual, a few damaged homes, a couple of property disputes, and a handful of saddles. However, the happenings at the Dragon Academy were not per the norm. Eret had just recieved a new class from Fishlegs, as they rotated the students between the different dragon class experts, and was going through a brief summary of the Tracker class dragons. Hiccup watched as he easily went through the Nadder and Rumblehorn, for which Skullcrusher let out a loud roar. Then he started on the Daylighter. "The Daylighter is..." Hiccup looked at him, concerned. "The...the Daylighter..."
Astrid had also noticed Eret's stuttering and walked over to him. A few of the immature students whistled and howled, but she lifted her left hand to shut them up. Hiccup saw his moment to reveal himself and coughed, turning the boys' faces bright red when they realized where the gift came from. "Is everything alright, Eret?" Astrid asked him. "What? Oh, everything is fine." He answered in a completely unconvincing fashion. "Eret, go home, get some rest, you can return when your mind is settled." She ordered. Eret sighed. "Yes Headmistress." He responded and gestured to Skullcrusher. Hiccup put a comforting hand on Eret's shoulder as he passed.
When an Academy student wanted special help or lessons, they could ask to live with a professor. The 16-year-old honor student asked professor Eret if he could stay with him. Eret reluctantly agreed, worried that he couldn't properly care for a teenager. Since the Hog Wranglers lived the farthest from Berk than any other clan, Eyjolf hardly got to see his father, making it Eret's job to fill that void. And when his father couldn't make his graduation a year later, Eret had been the one to take his place. Hiccup didn't know how it felt to lose a son, but he knew how it felt to lose a father-son relationship, and he watched the downcast man walk home, tears barely visible, but still present.
Astrid took over as Eret's sub, and blew a kiss to her man as he turned to leave. He smiled and sent one back. The wolves in the back just shrank down in their seats. Hiccup couldn't wait to have them for Strike class.
The Lugchugger slammed its three tails into three of the trebuchets that assaulted them, and roared from its heavily armored skull. The heavily-armored rider let out a similar roar as he raised his bow in the air and notched an arrow. "Excellent shot Stonegrinder, now let me show you one of mine." He said and let loose an arrow, taking out a soldier on the ground.
The first arrow hit Boris Bonehammer in his knee. He winced a little and shot his own arrow at the enemy archer between the eyes. Stonegrinder made a concerned growl. "I'm fine boy, just keep smashing." He responded, and the dragon charged a large group of soldiers, flattening most of them with his three bludger-like tails. The only known dragon in the Boulder class with multiple tails. He let out a few fire blasts at the enemy, catching them alight and making them scurry for water
The second arrow hit Boris in the shoulder. This time he let out a small grunt and, unable to use his bow, chucked a hand axe at the attacker. Stonegrinder let out a slightly louder growl. "It's nothing we can't fix later." Boris responded. He pulled off his outer jacket, giving him access to the large amount of hatchets and daggers he had on his chest. For someone with the name of Bonehammer, he strangely preffered ranged weaponry. A barrage of weapons struck the attackers from the sky as he chucked his stores at them. A black shadow stealthily rose behind him.
Stonegrinder felt a little nudge from his back. A hand rested on his neck and a head rested next to his ear. "I'm sorry, boy." He heard as a large weight was removed from his back. Boris fell to the ground, three arrows protruding from his body. Stonegrinder attempted to dive after him, but the black dragon grabbed his neck with its claw-like tail. Romulus stared at his new prize with delight. "Lord Romulus!" He heard from he ground. "This one has a map!"
The Black Death slammed Stonegrinder on the ground and several soldiers surrounded him, chaining him up and muzzling him. Romulus walked over to the map and grabbed it from his subordinate, noticing the Blue Death symbol at the top of the parchment. Three islands were circled. "Berserk, Outcast Island, and Berk." He read, astonishing his troops. "You speak Nordic, sir?" His subordinate asked. "You know what they say, know thy enemy." Romulus answered as he walked towards his dragon, tossing the map behind him. "Send search parties to those islands, the Dragonstone is on one of them." He commanded, stepping on the Black Death's neck. "And what of the Blue Death?" His subordinate questioned. "Do we not need it?" Romulus looked forward form his perch on the Dragon. "The beast is merely a guard." He said, smiling under his helmet. "And guards are meant to die."