Hello, everyone! It certainly has been a craaaazy week! How to Train Your Dragon 2 has finally come out and it was phenomenal. I watched it twice since it came out and I'll probably watch it many, many more times. The music and the animation were superb. It is a film where I had to see it twice - once to get over years of waiting and twice to really enjoy it. It wasn't a sequel pulled out of an arse and bedazzled with millions of dollars, it was actually a fantastic installment. Only two more years until the third one comes out (and, keeping in the trend of today's franchises, that third movie may be split into two). If you HAVE seen it, feel free to PM me about your thoughts! Don't post a review, I don't want anyone reading a spoiler. If you HAVEN'T, go see it on the big screen!
In terms of this chapter, I may postpone next week's posting in order to set up a page for the art I have been working on. It may not happen, and I still have chappies ready to read, I just may drag it out like a horrible person because this chapter is longer than most. I just wanted to let you guys know IN CASE. And I would like to challenge you guys to draw your favourite scene from Reunion or the movies, just to get that inspiration in the air! I have one painting up from Chapter Two on . Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty One: The Battle of Berk Part II
Astrid screamed and growled, her back grinding into the ground beneath her, her arms trembling as she pushed a Berserker soldier away from her face.
"C'mon, girl, let me stick yah," he grunted, his body writhing against hers. His knife-hand held a double-edged dagger and was coming closer and closer to her throat.
"Get off!" she yelled, trying to keep the blade away from her flesh.
"Not really my style, love," he laughed. He ground his hips into her and Astrid clenched her teeth. She did something Snowdrop would have done, and sank her teeth into the man's wrist. He screamed as she broke the skin, and she twisted them around so she straddled him. He swung with his knife and she bent back, evading it. She grabbed his knife-hand and bent the wrist back, seizing the dagger and driving it into his chest. He gasped and clawed at it as she sneered at him, stabbing him over and over.
"No one calls me love except Hiccup," she spat, slamming the dagger in one more time. She left him to bleed, picking up another axe along the way.
Astrid tore through soldiers faster than she could think. Spitelout and Fishlegs kept their dragons on the ground, snapping and razing as many people as they could. Her ears rung as screaming filled her mind, her body aching tremendously. She could hardly breathe, but she didn't give up. There was no way she could, there was no way the villagers had made it to the far side of the island through the tunnels.
She ran higher up the hill, managing to stay ahead of the enemy and keeping herself between them and the Great Hall. She saw Cauli and Netmug fighting next to each other, a miracle somehow, against someone much, much bigger. Distracted, she tripped over a body and landed on her chest. She looked up at the fight above her.
His body was the same as Stoick's, his hair braided at the base of his neck. A huge unkempt beard framed his snarling mouth. His huge fists wielded a club and a sword, his arms laced with scars. His voice bellowed as he swung his weapons, his iron armour glinting in the fire light, lined with dragon teeth. His eyes were black and full of rage, and he swung his club around his head, breaking Netmug's arm and sending him rolling down the hill. Cauli, weak and injured herself, gritted her teeth and swung at his back, but he spun around and caught her sword with his. Metal clanged against metal, and he smashed his head into her face. She slumped, limp, and the man turned.
Alvin the Treacherous looked down the hill to see the carnage below him, a smile stretched over his face showing his few teeth and blackened gums. He scanned the ground, Astrid remaining still by instinct, and he saw her as another body. He turned and walked up to the Great Hall, looking up and down at the huge doors boarded up. Astrid jumped up and limped towards him, her shoulder still aching.
"Hey!" she screamed over the noise. Alvin stopped and shifted his body around slowly, looking over at her with an eyebrow raised. She was holding her axe so tight, her knuckles hurt. Her arm shook and she felt blood form herself and others drying on her skin as the two looked at each other.
"Yes?" Alvin asked, annoyed.
"Step away from the doors," Astrid snarled.
Alvin laughed and stepped away a single step, resting a hand on a hip, his cackling wheezy and gurgling.
"And… why should I?" he asked, lowering his head and cocking it slightly. He twitched his club and Astrid pretended she didn't notice. Instead, she crouched.
"Because," she spat, "this is not your place."
He balked for a second before cracking into bouts of noiseless laughter, laughing so hard he couldn't breathe and made him drool.
"Oh!" he gasped, trying to stop, "you're funny, girl!"
Astrid shivered at the sight while he lifted his weapons as if beckoning her forward. The wind caught his smell and blew it into her face. She wrinkled her nose as she smelled death and decay and rot. She was about to scream at him again before hands reached behind her and seized her, a hand twisting her arm back and another clamped over her mouth. She heard a man chuckle horridly in her ear, and she writhed against him. Alvin stepped towards her, club in hand, his eyes hateful.
"You see," he said with a raspy voice, "I know this is not my place."
She grunted and tried to kick her feet up, but the man holding her was strong and tall, wearing plate armour that held her like a vice. Alvin got close to her face and smiled.
"I have spent my whole life knowing it's not my place. Outcast Island? You think that's a place where people come from? No. It's a place that people are left with when they are abandoned, thrown out to starve and die. I have nowhere, so therefore, I can go wherever I goddamned well please."
She felt his breathe on her face and couldn't help but shake. Alvin watched as Astrid bore her eyes into his. He squinted and twisted his mouth.
"I know you, I've seen you," Alvin noted. Astrid diverted her eyes and wriggled again, but Alvin grabbed her hair and wrenched her head upwards, making her face clear to his sights, her mouth freed from the man behind her. The hand moved to her throat instead and she choked, but tried to keep her jaw clenched. He raised his brows and gave an 'ahh' sound, recognizing her.
"You're that annoying little blonde bitch that always helped Hiccup, aren't you?" Astrid refused to answer. Alvin grinned. "I see it now. You had the Nadder. Always barkin' orders, always hoverin' close by in case he needed you. But now that you need him…"
Alvin looked around dramatically. "Oh! Where is he? Oh, gods have mercy!"
The man behind her laughed at the theatrics, Alvin breaking into more laughter. Then he shrugged and stroked a calloused and dry hand over her cheek, grabbing her jaw.
"There's no finer feelin' knowing he won't be here to stop me. I heard about the funeral."
He craned her head back harder and Astrid hissed as her neck began to cramp. He was gnashing his teeth towards her mouth, shaking with adrenaline and loathing.
"I heard how he dropped like a fly, the poison rotting his insides out until he was nothin' but a useless pile of jelly on the floor. How does it feel? How does it feel to have him slip through your fingers, to watch him burn like he burned me?"
He held her and breathed heavily into her face before something caught his attention above. He looked up to the sky, a dragon flying above. The pink and orange Nadder groaned and trembled. Scars riddled its body, some not entirely healed, and the sounds it made were pained and heartbroken. Astrid didn't want to see the poor creature struggle, but at the same time she immediately noticed the Nadder was half the weight it should have been, and she was missing her crown of spines. She felt vomit rise up in her throat. It hovered unstably over the Great Hall, before croaking and lighting the doors on fire. Astrid shrieked as the Great Hall went up like a pile of dried straw, and Alvin howled with cheer. The dragon whined and flew off. He turned to Astrid again and gestured to the burning structure.
"This, this, is what I always wanted! How does it feel?"
The man behind Astrid roared with lustful merriment. Alvin joined in, thrusting his hands into the air, his black silhouette screaming in the firelight. Astrid sobbed as the Great Hall burned. Snowdrop, Stoick, the old and young. She prayed to every god she knew that they had made it to the far side of the island and closed the boulders over the exit. Only then would they be safe. It didn't stop her from being terrified.
He rolled his shoulders and looked at Astrid one more time, noticing the axe stuck in her hand, her arm twisted to make it useless. He closed the distance between them and wrenched it out of her hand.
"Nice axe," Alvin smiled. "It should do just fine."
He turned to the flames and got as close as he could, smacking the blade into the embers over and over. Astrid twisted and wouldn't stop moving, bucking around like a wild dragon as Alvin cut his way into the Great Hall. She planted her feet and sent all her weight forward, hauling the man over her shoulders and onto the ground. She jumped over him, running after Alvin as he forced his way through the broken and charred wood.
The man grabbed her ankle and stopped her. She tripped and her chest hit the ground, sending the air out of her all over again. She gasped the air back and looked down at the man. Dagur the Deranged sneered at her. His crooked teeth screeched against each other as he jeered at her, his eyes bulging and insane. The tattoo the marked over his face shined from the fire. Astrid kicked her foot, trying to hit his face, but he grabbed her ankle with surprising agility and cranked it over. She rolled to keep it from spraining, and kicked her other foot across his face. He howled as her metal-toed boot hit his teeth, knocking a couple loose.
She scrambled to her feet, holding her stomach, feeling sick and sore all over, her injured shoulder numb. Dagur pulled a knife free from his boot, his huge muscular frame lunging at her. He swung the knife over her belly. She sucked it in and felt the blade whiz by, missing her by a hair. He sliced up and she twisted around to keep it from hitting her chest. He stepped in to bury the metal into her throat and she ducked. He was moving so fast she barely had time to breathe. He kicked her in the gut with his booted foot, making her double over onto the ground. Her abdomen went stiff, and she curled up in a ball, pain rocking through her. He caught her mouth with his toe and it sent her sprawling outward. Her lips were wet with blood. She tried to breathe as he straddled her, rocking her again with one of his fists. Her vision went dark for a moment, and she couldn't breathe. He closed his hands around her throat and squeezed.
"I have been waiting for this moment for so many years," Dagur seethed as Astrid's face went red. She limply grabbed his wrists, trying to pull them away. "Alvin kept me away from here for so long to wait for the perfect moment. I have been waiting and waiting to get my hands on you and your stupid friends, to choke the life out of them."
Astrid's body began to go limp as Dagur got closer and closer.
"I remember you, Hiccup, the fat one, the loud one, the twins, every single one of you. And now, and now I'm going to watch each one of you die slowly, knowing the last thing you'll hear is my voice."
"Get off her!"
Astrid barely heard the Zippleback roar before it knocked Dagur off her. She sucked in a breath and coughed, rolling over onto her side, breathing in air again and again. Dagur had been knocked a short distance away, Barf and Belch looming over him. The twins, wearing war paint and their armour, hollered at each other. One head snapped at him, but Dagur got to his feet and began running, evading the dragon easily.
The twins knew their dragon had reached its shot limit, but that didn't stop them. The dragon tried to bite into the Berserker, but Dagur was too quick. Tuffnut flew forward. Dagur jumped to the side and swung his knife. Tuffnut went pale. Ruffnut screamed.
"TUFF!" she screamed. Astrid struggled to her feet. Tuffnut pressed his arm over his chest, trying to hold everything in, blood flowing. Barf and Belch whined. Ruffnut jumped down. "Get him out of here! Go! GO!"
The Zippleback left her painfully, flying Tuffnut to the safety of the sky. Ruffnut eyed Dagur and the expression on her face was murderous, the mace in her hand vibrating. Astrid looked between them.
"You," Ruffnut hissed. Dagur grinned and showed every one of his teeth.
"I missed you," Dagur said mockingly. Ruffnut grimaced and shifted her weight. Astrid squinted, wanting to run to the Great Hall but afraid to move. Ruffnut was shaking so much and Astrid had a dreadful feeling in her gut. Dagur turned and looked at Astrid, his insanity overflowing as he giggled. He pointed to Ruffnut.
"You mean you don't know?" Dagur asked Astrid. "Your friend never told you?"
Astrid swallowed. "Ruffnut, get out of here."
But the twin wouldn't move. Astrid had never seen Ruffnut in agony like this, her body wracking with waves of revulsion. Dagur bit his lower lip perversely.
"It was five years ago," he began, "when I found her in the forest, lost and stupid, trying to find her way back to Berk on an island half a day away. And while her idiot of a brother looked under pebbles for her on the other side of it –"
"Shut up," Ruffnut growled. Astrid felt cold.
"– it was so easy to get her on her back, you would think she actually wanted it."
Ruffnut shrieked and dove for him, swinging her mace at Dagur's head. He ducked and rolled to the side. He laughed and grabbed Ruffnut by the throat, forcing his mouth over hers with a vile kiss. Ruffnut jerked around as Dagur pulled away, licking his lips.
"I'm keeping you," he said quietly to Ruffnut.
Astrid, heart racing and curses racing through her head, grabbed a shield attached to the arm of a body and flung it at Dagur. She was stronger than she thought, and it hit Dagur in the back of the head hard enough to bring him to the ground. Ruffnut stumbled back, holding her neck, as Astrid raced to her and grabbed her.
"Ruffnut!" she yelled. Her rider-sister was breathing so violently, her face wet with tears and the veins bulging out of the sides of her head, her eyes fixed on Dagur's unconscious body. Ruffnut met Astrid's eyes and crushed her in an embrace, sobbing into her shoulder. Astrid rocked her back on forth, looking down to the village and seeing nothing but bodies and broken buildings… and nets. There were nets down in the village centre, full of surviving soldiers, tethered to dragons that were flying them away. Astrid tore away, about to say something, when something slammed into Ruffnut.
Ruffnut gasped as the hook cut through her arm, locking into her. There was a clutch of Berserker soldiers below with crossbows loaded with hooks tied to chain. Ruffnut cried out as they pulled on the chain, dragging her down the hill.
"Hold on!" Astrid screamed, trying to pull on the chain. Ruffnut shoved her away.
"The Hall!" she cried. "Get out of here!"
"No, I'm not letting them take you!"
Dagur stirred next to her, groaning and making it to his knees. Astrid held Ruffnut's face and pressed her forehead to hers, trying to keep the chain from pulling her into the hands of the enemy.
"It's too late," Ruffnut sobbed. "You have to buy them more time!"
Astrid sobbed loudly and sucked in a breath as the chain began to slip out of her bloody hands. Dagur staggered to his feet, trying to remember where he was. Ruffnut shoved Astrid away and the chain went taught, hauling her down the hill toward the nets. Astrid forced herself to turn away as Dagur looked around. He didn't see Astrid disappear into the Hall, so he began to make his way down the hill, smiling as Ruffnut was shoved into a chain-net that would carry her back home.
"Keep moving!" Stoick ordered. He had an arm wrapped around Snowdrop, who clung to his neck. He held the back of the pack, urging people to keep running. They had been running constantly for hours. Feet were bleeding and children were sobbing as parents tried to keep pace with the rest of the fleeing villagers. Stoick himself was sweating and he could hardly imagine how everyone else was fairing. Most of them had been injured early that week in the other attacks, and some were not strong enough to keep up.
Half a dozen people had dropped to the ground, unable to continue, and two of those had been left behind. Stoick kept the rest moving. The tunnels were dark and confusing, but Spitelout at the head of the crowd knew the tunnels well. He guided them this way and that as Stoick kept looking over his shoulder for any signs of attack. They were lucky so far.
They were nearing the end of the tunnel before the ground jolted. Many people stopped. They panted and wheezed and held onto each other as their legs trembled. Everyone went silent. Then, another jolt rocked through the tunnel. Some people screams and the ground shook, some people fell. Stoick pulled Snowdrop from his neck and she whimpered. "Stay behind me," he said, pulling his battle axe forth. The rumbling got louder and louder, and people started to scream.
They were nearing the end of the tunnel before the ground jolted. Many people stopped. They panted and wheezed and held onto each other as their legs trembled. Everyone went silent. Then, another jolt rocked through the tunnel. Some people screamed as the ground shook, some people fell. Stoick pulled Snowdrop from his neck and she whimpered.
"Icky?" she asked quietly. Stoick put her down and nudged her away, looking over his shoulder towards where the noise had come from.
"Stay behind me," he said, pulling his battle axe forth. The rumbling returned, like something was trying to bash and claw its way into the tunnel.
The Whispering Death broke through the surface, his head snapping back and forth, hungry. Everyone jumped back and shrieked. "Get to the end of the tunnel!" Stoick bellowed. People sprinted for the end of the tunnel, Stoick pushing people to their feet as the dragon lashed its head around, trying to see the people through blinded eyes. "Go, go! To the sunlight!"
He turned around to face the beast, shoulders ready and teeth clenched, when he noticed Snowdrop on the ground in front of the beast. She must have tripped somehow in the chaos, and she lied frozen in front of the lurking monster that sniffed. Stoick crouched and his back began to sweat.
"Snowdrop," he murmured quietly, keeping his eyes on the dragon that loomed like a snake ready to attack. "Don't move."
Snowdrop squeaked and pushed herself back on her rump, her boots scraping the stone. The dragon snuffed at the sound. Stoick tensed.
"Don't move," he repeated firmly. Snowdrop rolled onto her belly as Stoick tried to inch his way to her.
"Icky, my leg –" Snowdrop sobbed. "It hurts."
"Hush, lass," Stoick breathed, taking another step. "Look at me, let me worry about him."
Snowdrop's tears streaked through the soot on her face, and her tiny teeth clattered. "Help," she whimpered.
Stoick licked his lips. The dragon was staring at him through bleeding eyes, but Stoick knew it could smell him. The tiniest change could set him off and Stoick knew that. He wished Hiccup was there with him.
"Think you can run to me?" Stoick asked. Snowdrop sniffed and shook her head.
"I can't feel my foot," she cried, "Someone stepped on it, it hurts so bad."
Stoick hushed her again. "Stay still, stay quiet. I'm on my way."
He took another step and the dragon hissed. Snowdrop cried out but tried to quiet herself as Stoick flinched. He was so close to her now, the dragon only a Night Fury wingspan away. He got to his knees and reached out to her. Snowdrop reached back, grimacing. Her little cheek was cut and scraped, but she tried to stretch out nonetheless.
But Stoick was never known for being patient. He jumped forward, grabbing her arm and pulling her against him. The dragon shrieked and began twisting after them. Snowdrop screamed as Stoick began running, sprinting for the exit. He quickly put Snowdrop down behind a boulder and he turned just in time to square off with the dragon. Its round mouth riddled with sharp teeth lunged after him, shrieking. Stoick jumped back and swung his axe. The blade barely scraped the dragon before the creature slammed Stoick's body into a wall. He growled and shoved the beast down, using his whole weight to force it to the ground.
"Icky, no!" Snowdrop cried.
He brought his axe back and buried it into the Whispering Death's head. Snowdrop covered her ears as it chortled and writhed around, whining and choking and convulsing. It thrashed back and forth wildly. Stoick held onto his axe as hard as he could as the beast slammed into the wall to throw him off. The air flew out of his body and his grip loosened as the dragon smashed him over and over before slumping to the ground, wriggling. Stoick panted as he pushed the body away from him, freeing him from the wall. The dragon twitched and groaned and twisted around, bearing his thousands of teeth, snapping forward. A tooth caught the chief's forearm, sinking into the flesh. But before Stoick could strike again, the dragon went limp, its massive head bouncing off the ground, his tooth slipping from Stoick's skin.
It had been years since Stoick had killed a dragon, but he never forgot how to do it. It felt too familiar. He looked at the dragon with a bad taste in his mouth. He ran onward, the smell of dragon blood on his skin repulsive. He thought of his own dragon, and Hiccup and Toothless. He had to do it, he had to kill that one dragon to protect the village. He limped to the boulder and knelt next to Snowdrop, who reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, hiding under his beard. Her leg was bleeding, crushed under the weight of an adult, and he caught up to the group as the last of them made it to the bay. Many people were stumbling onto the sand of the shore and collapsing from exhaustion. The air was salty and cool, the sky turning a pale blue as the sun began to rise. Spitelout ran over to him, his brow covered in sweat.
"The blood –"
"Is not mine," the chief interrupted. "Save for my arm. Nothing serious, my friend."
"Is everyone out?" Spitelout asked.
"I hope so," Stoick grunted, waving to Juniper to take Snowdrop. The matron ran over and took the child gently, Snowdrop crying hysterically.
"Do we close it?"
Stoick nodded strongly and returned to the mouth of the tunnel. He and Spitelout grabbed the boulder next to it and began pushing, closing the mouth of the tunnel with it, sealing them in the bay. He turned and looked up.
"Any riders here?"
"No…" Spitelout noted. "No one."
Stoick paused before rubbing his mouth. "They're coming, I'm sure of it. They'll be here soon."
Spitelout only stared at his leader. He nodded stiffly as Stoick pressed a palm to his arm, his fist clenched.
It had only been a moment that Hiccup had his eyes closed. He opened them as Rose put her hand into the water to wash away the blood from her nose. She sniffed and they were quiet for a moment.
"Let's take a look," she murmured.
She lifted his leg from the water. He bit his tongue to keep from cursing as she rested his leg on her knee. She was shivering, but she was careful. The riding suit had melted away around his thigh, and the skin was raw. It oozed blood and looked charred in places. Rose frowned and put it back under the water.
"…At least it wasn't your good leg," she muttered. Hiccup's teeth chattered as he sat in the stream, the water around his chest. She kept her hands over his leg, the sleeves of her sweater soaked to the shoulder. They sat there awkwardly.
"Why didn't you tell me," Hiccup said, breaking the silence. Rose looked up slowly.
"About what?" she asked.
"Everything," he replied. "At the wedding. Or you could have gotten better, you could have… you could have, I don't know, fixed yourself so you could just tell someone what was going on."
Rose pursed her lips and looked down again. "I told you why I couldn't tell you at the wedding. They would have…" She paused to take in a breath. "They would have killed my mum."
"So?" Hiccup spat. "So?!"
Rose only looked at him with bewilderment. "You're saying I should have? Knowing what they would have done?"
Hiccup shrugged dramatically, the pain shooting up his leg. "Hundreds of people are dead now, Rose! Maybe thousands, because you didn't tell me! All for your mother."
"Hiccup –"
"No, instead of telling me to at least give us enough time to get ourselves ready for this, you wait, you go back to Outcast Island, and when I find you next to death, you don't even tell me then?!"
Rose backed away in the water slowly, shocked. "The matrons thought I was in pain. They drugged me."
He sniggered. "That didn't stop you from waking up in time to help Astrid."
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Hiccup glared. "I… stayed there because I was scared, okay?"
Hiccup scoffed. "Whatever."
"I was!" Rose repeated, her face pleading with him. He didn't look at her. He could only shake his head.
"You could have told us about the poison, about Alvin and everything! Astrid wouldn't have been poisoned, we wouldn't have lost our – I mean, none of this would have happened if you just said something!"
"Lost what?" Rose asked quickly. Hiccup didn't hear her.
"And why me?!"
"What did you lose?"
"Why did you have to bond me?! I get it, I freed a nest, Saviour and all that, but why? Does your mother have something to do with that, too?!"
Rose felt the sting of tears in her eyes. "Hiccup –"
Hiccup shook his head again, pushing her hands away from him and feeling his leg. He felt his flesh move under his hand, closing over the wound, and he pulled away, the feeling of it happening against his palm repulsive. His gaze bore into Rose's shadowy silhouette.
"You should have told me," he repeated. "We needed more than a day."
"I was always told Stoick was always prepared," Rose muttered.
"Yeah, five or six years ago. After two, he started relaxing, and after four, he was convinced the Outcasts and the Berserkers were perfectly alright with just leaving us alone!"
"But she said he would never stop fighting!" Rose exclaimed, pleading with him. Hiccup laughed scornfully.
"Who, your mum?" he asked scornfully. "How the hell would she know?"
Rose growled loudly and grabbed her hair, pulling on it, frustrated. "What if you had to choose?" she yelled. "What if you had to choose, knowing your mum would be killed?"
Hiccup shook his head again and forced himself to his feet, his leg healing, but still open and sore. "I'm done, Rose."
Rose crawled over to him, splashing through the icy water. "No! Tell me! What if you had to choose?!"
Hiccup elbowed her away. She fell back into the water, holding her cheek, and Hiccup's heart pounded in his chest.
"My mum is dead!" he yelled.
"She was captured!" Rose screamed back. Hiccup caught his breath and Rose made it to her feet, weighed down and shaking. "Dead and captured are not the same thing! What if… what if she's alive?!"
"And what proof could you possibly have to convince me of that?" Hiccup challenged, his voice breaking.
Rose froze. She looked around and wrapped her arms around herself. Toothless lifted his head from the ground, his fins curling back against his neck. Hiccup looked between them, angry. He wiped his jaw with the back of his hand and turned around, limping towards the embankment, leaving her behind.
"Me." Rose was barely audible over the stream, but Hiccup heard it. He stopped. His back was to her as she let her arms go, giving up. "I am. I'm your proof."
Hiccup couldn't move, his stomach growing cold. Those three words hung in the air like a storm cloud. Toothless slinked over, piercing him with his eyes. Hiccup slowly turned around, the water sloshing around his legs. Rose looked up at him sadly, biting her lip and her eyes wide and begging.
"Can't you see?" she asked hoarsely. Hiccup stepped away, looking at her green eyes, his eyes catching the red in her hair, her complexion, her build, her voice. She stepped towards him again, her hands on her chest, pointing to herself. "The proof is standing right in front of your face, Hiccup."
The night went eerily quiet, the sound of the stream and the two of them panting. Hiccup's legs hitting the back of the embankment, he stared at Rose with his lips parted, silent. Rose sighed shakily.
"Remember at the wedding," she asked, a tear dripping from her jaw into the stream, "how marrying you wouldn't work out for us?"
Hiccup turned away, climbing up the embankment. "Enough," he said, walking away. Rose ran after him.
"Fourteen years ago, she was captured in an Outcast raid, and two moons later she started showing," Rose continued. Hiccup walked faster towards Toothless, who backed away.
Listen to Spirit Weaver, Toothless said firmly. Hiccup gawked at him.
"What?" he asked loudly. Rose grabbed onto his shoulder, spinning him around roughly. She grabbed onto his wrists and held them. They struggled.
"I was born five moons later," she stated, "and the only way to keep me alive was to pretend I was a mistake."
"Get away from me!" he screamed, the words tearing out of him.
"That's why I bonded you, that's why I waited in the matron's house. I knew there was poison on the island, I just didn't know who it would hurt. I knew if I stayed sick, whoever got hurt would be brought there. I thought it would be you or Stoick and I knew they wouldn't let me anywhere near you two when they knew where I came from."
Hiccup pushed her away again, his knees weak. Rose squeaked and looked up at him for a tense moment. Hiccup was shaking, his suit dripping ice water and yet his heart was colder than that. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't see. He shakily fell to the ground, the air whooshing out of him all at once. He wrapped his arms around himself. Rose crouched in front of him, watching him carefully.
"My mother is alive?" Hiccup asked hoarsely.
"Aye," Rose replied. "As far as I know at this point…"
"And you're trying to tell me… that…"
Rose rested a hand on his knee gently. He looked up slowly, pale as a ghost. "I'm trying to tell you that I'm your sister."
Stoick looked over the horizon as the sun crawled closer and closer into the night. The pale blue morning light hung over the remaining villagers as they huddled close together for warmth. Thornado paced back and forth along the short bay shoreline, keeping an eye out for any ships or dragons. So far, they were safe. The chief weaved his way through the villagers. Some were still bleeding, some were fading. Others stayed close together. No one talked above a whisper, wrapping whatever clothing they had on their backs closer around them in the morning chill. He looked away to readjust the bandage that wrapped around the Whispering Death bite pointlessly.
Spitelout sat with his grandson Swamplout, bouncing the small boy on his knee to keep him calm, his other hand on the hilt of his sword. He nodded once to Stoick, who saw Snowdrop sitting in front of the boulder that blocked the tunnel entrance. His face went taught as he knelt next to her.
"What are you doing, lass?" he asked her. Snowdrop shivered but didn't move.
"I'm waiting for Astrid and Hup," she replied. "How will they get through the rock?"
"They're going to fly to us, over the hill and down into the bay when it's safe."
Snowdrop didn't say anything. Stoick awkwardly straightened himself up, rubbing the back of his neck. Valka was always so much better than him when it came to talking to children. She would have known what to say while he was always abrasive or silent. With Snowdrop, he didn't know what to say. He knew that Astrid and Hiccup would return with the others, assuming everything went well. Assuming, he remembered.
Suddenly, many of the villagers tensed as a shadow skittered over the sand. Stoick snapped his head to the sky, his body going tense. Spitelout silently motioned everyone to be quiet, slowly placing Swamplout on the ground and pressing a finger to his lips. A screech broke the humming silence and some villagers cried out as the Hideous Zippleback croaked, its double-heads looming over the beach below. Stoick glared.
"Everyone, get clear! Make room!" he yelled. "It's our dragon!"
Everyone immediately scurried and scuttled towards the cliffs, clearing the sand as fast as they could, hope for returning home rising. There was confusion as the dragon weakly flew, slamming into the sand exhaustedly. Barf and Belch whined, dragging themselves towards Stoick. Stoick's gut twisted horrifically as one of the heads collapsed to the ground, revealing Tuffnut clinging to the back.
Stoick ran over, throwing his weapon out of his hand to catch the young man as he slumped out of the saddle. "I need help!" he cried.
Juniper was already there, Tuffnut whimpering as they pressed their hands to his bloody chest. Villagers began to gather around them, many holding back fearful tears. This was not good, this did not bode well, this was a bad omen and Stoick felt it. He felt it in his gut and his chest as they dragged Tuffnut away from his dragon. He looked to the Zippleback, who looked up at him with a defeated look in their eyes, and Stoick turned away. He already knew that the gods were not in their favour tonight.
Astrid coughed and choked on the smoke that billowed through the Great Hall, the flames licking her body and leaving behind no pain on her skin. Whether she should have thanked the dragon suit or her dragon skin, she was not sure, but she squinted through the smoke, desperate to stop Alvin before he made it to the tunnel. Blind, bloody, and aching, she turned this way and that around the growing flames. Alvin had only entered moments beforehand, he couldn't be that far ahead.
They retreat with the sunrise, Stormfly whispered in her mind, weak and exhausted. The ships flee. Safe?
Astrid felt a small bubble of hope brew in her stomach, the idea of the Berserkers retreating the sweetest she had thought since burned back into being the night before.
Alvin was still in the Hall, Astrid thought quickly. She felt her way along the hot wall, lit by the angry Nadder flames all around her. She was close to where the entrance of the tunnel was, seeing fragments of the banner and carved door with runes boding safety and protection embedded in the wood. She squinted in the smoke that burned her eyes when she realized the entrance had been caved in. It was sealed and safe from all the chaos. That meant Snowdrop was safe. Alvin wouldn't get to her, or anyone.
But as soon as she thought it, Alvin came up behind her with a grin on his mouth and hatred in his heart, a rock in his hand. She barely felt it crack against her head, but by the time the world went black, it was too late.
"Leave me alone!" Hiccup exclaimed loudly, limping away from Rose who ran after him. His leg hurt, his head pounded, his heart raced.
"Stop!" she begged, stepping in front of him frantically. "I'm not letting you go back, not until they're gone!"
"My friends are out there!" he yelled, thrusting a hand toward the smoke that filled the sky. "My family!"
Rose twisted her face in conflict, cursing under her breath. "I know, I know," she admitted. "You're tired, you're scared, I get it, I really do! But you can't go back, not with how dangerous it is. The dragons need you, our mother needs you, and we need you alive!"
Hiccup pushed past her again, closing the distance between himself and Toothless. He grabbed the Night Fury's saddle, ready to hoist himself up, when Rose grabbed onto his shoulders and hoisted him down. Toothless groaned nervously and jumped into the low branches of the tree out of Hiccup's reach. Hiccup felt himself fall back, his body reflexively compensating, his arm swinging back and catching Rose's face. She fell back, barely keeping herself upright, her hand on her face.
He felt regret seep under his ribs and awkwardly shifted, watching her hold her face, trying to stay quiet. "Oh gods… I'm sorry," he said quickly, unsure of whether to approach her.
She pulled her hand away, blood in her palm from her nose. She put it back against it, the bleeding not slowing. "I'll be fine," she said quietly.
"But it's still bleeding," he replied.
Rose didn't look at him, her cheeks paling. Her mind was elsewhere, her eyes vacant. Then, she looked back up at Hiccup with wide eyes, blood smeared from her mouth over her lips. Hiccup gulped. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Rose blinked. "Stormfly… just told me that the ships are retreating," she lied. "We can return safely shortly."
"You don't look relieved," Hiccup said with a tremble in his voice. "What else did she say?"
Rose looked down and wiped her nose clean with her sleeve. "Nothing."
"Did she at least tell you if Astrid is okay? Were they grounded?"
"She didn't say," she said quickly, deflecting. "Alvin thinks you're dead. He thinks Astrid's funeral was actually yours, so he has no reason to stay any longer than he has to. So he's leaving."
Hiccup grabbed onto her desperately. "Ask her if everyone is okay, how is the village? Is anyone hurt?"
It was Rose's turn to push Hiccup away. "I can't hear her anymore!" she said harshly. "It's not something I can control with new dragons!"
Hiccup backed off. "I want to go back. Now."
"Soon," Rose bargained. "Soon, the ships will be long gone and then you can return. We can't let any of them know that you're still alive. It will undo everything my – I mean, our – mum and I worked for."
Hiccup pursed his lips and stared at her for a tense moment.
"I won't wait long," he said.
"You won't have to," Rose added. Hiccup shook his head and turned away, sitting at the base of the tree, placing his head in his hands. She subtly looked up to Toothless, who looked heartbroken and tortured.
You lie, he murmured to her.
He'll get himself killed, she replied.
That has never stopped him before, the Night Fury said.
He can be a hero when he's ready. Just not tonight. Rose took a shaky breath and watched Hiccup for a moment before looking away.
Meanwhile, the last of the Outcasts boarded the ship quickly. Alvin crossed the docks, the last to climb onto a ship, Astrid's unconscious body hoisted over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I've got a good one for us!" he bellowed, making the other Outcasts cheer. He dropped her body unceremoniously onto the deck of the ship, stepping over her to Dagur, who held the back of his head angrily.
"Did you get her good?" he fumed. Alvin shrugged.
"Not enough to kill her," he replied menacingly, "but yeah, I got her good." He looked back at the smouldering village of Berk and smirked, the smell of destruction tickling his nose deliciously as they left the smoke behind.