NOTE: I do NOT own ROTG OR HTTYD. All rights go to DreamWorks Animation
Chapter 8
"WATER FIGHT!" Caleb and Claude yelled as they ran around Jamie and Sophie's backyard, armed with water guns.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Pippa yelped as she, Cupcake, Layla and Sophie took cover behind the shed.
"Surround the perimeter! We can flush them out!" Jamie told the twins, Monty and Donnie like a general commanding his troops.
Laughing, the boys took their positions, ready to soak the already outnumbered girls. Jack, Marina and Sapphire promptly appeared on the other side of the street and noticed the epic water war taking place.
"Five against four…That doesn't look very fair." Marina remarked before glancing at the Guardian of Equality, who smirked. "Care to join me, Jack?" she asked mischievously.
The winter spirit just smiled. "I think you've got this one covered. And I'm more of a snowball fight kind of guy." He politely refused. "Your loss, my gain." Sapphire shrugged before nonchalantly approaching the boys from behind…and drenched them with just a wave of her orichalcum staff.
Layla peeked out from behind the shed and grinned. "Reinforcements have arrived!" she yelled to the other girls as her big sister chased the boys with steams of cold water.
Back with a vengeance, the girls' team overpowered Jamie and the boys. The water fight lasted for about five more minutes until the boys cried out "We surrender!"
"Two of my most favorite words." Sapphire laughed, high fiving the girls triumphantly as Jack and her swan friend came over.
"Why didn't you help us?" Monty whined. "She'd one up me. When it's winter I have a better advantage." The Guardian of Fun explained as Sapphire wrung the excess water out of her hair to store it in her staff.
"So where were you guys?" Pippa asked them.
"We came back an hour ago. Mom and Dad told us you were here a while ago." Layla piped up.
The two Guardians looked at each other and next at Marina, who quickly shook her head.
"Oh…Nowhere really." Sapphire said in a somewhat hasty way.
"Just here, there, everywhere." Jack added quickly.
The kids looked confused.
It was just a simple question, why were they suddenly acting so nervous?
"So you guys were really all over?" Caleb inquired.
"As in all over the globe?" Claude interjected next.
"Pretty much." Marina answered.
Cupcake then snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah! You two have to make daily rounds to make sure all kids are safe, right?" she said, smiling.
The two teens nodded quickly. "So…you two wanna have some fun? We were gonna fly kites and we were wondering if Jack, you could maybe give us a few gusts?" Jamie asked hopefully, looking up at the winter spirit with his big, pleading brown eyes.
Jack took one look at the young Bennett's eyes and sighed. He was really close to the kid. Jamie reminded Jack of his little sister so the boy was already like his surrogate little brother, he couldn't say no.
Finally he said. "Sure thing Jamie." Then he glanced at Sapphire and Marina. "Tell Kangaroo I'll be late." He instructed them.
The two girls nodded and left as Jack joined the kids in going up one of the town of Burgess' hills. For the next 15 minutes, Jamie and his friends had a blast launching their kites up into the air with a little help from Jack and the wind.
The Guardian of Fun smiled. This was the very reason he loved being a Guardian-seeing kids having pure, innocent fun without any cares in the world and no fear whatsoever. He saw Jamie give him a grin, a full set of teeth showing. Jack laughed a bit. Just two years ago, the kid had lost a tooth because of him. Now the boy had a permanent one in its place.
'Time sure flies when you're having fun…' Jack thought before he had to leave.
"See you tomorrow, Jack!" the Bennett boy shouted along with his friends. "Bye Jack-Jack!" Sophie giggled as the winter spirit flew off.
Hiccup was making a few adjustments to Toothless' tail fin as Blitz nosed him the needed parts while his Night Fury provided the fire to temper the metal.
"When this thing's done bud, Astrid and Stormfly are gonna have their work cut out for them." The auburn headed 16 year-old whistled when two angry, arguing voices were heard.
Toothless sighed a dragon sigh and Blitz did an eye roll.
'Not again…' Hiccup thought hopelessly looking out the forge's window.
Sure enough, the two Hofferson siblings were at it again.
Only this time they were headed in his direction.
And Angrid was wielding an axe.
"Oh Odin…Why me?" Hiccup moaned, having a feeling he was going to have to play mediator.
Astrid ran up to him. "Hiccup, we could really use your opinion. If a younger sister asks her older sister politely if she can borrow a weapon to temporarily replace the one she lost, isn't it the older sister supposed to allow that, as well as get the younger sister a new weapon?" she asked, occasionally giving the reddish blonde older Viking girl acid glares.
Angrid just scoffed. "You said 'I'm gonna borrow your axe okay?' and then just took off with it. How is that asking politely? And do I look like I have new battle axe money on me?" she countered back sharply.
"Well you could've at least said sorry for losing my axe!" Astrid snapped. "I did a while ago! But you didn't accept it!" the older Hofferson grumbled.
Hiccup decided to get in between them. "Well in my opinion, maybe you girls should…" he began to say before the two sisters began calling each other names.
"Half-troll!" Astrid shouted.
"Munge Bucket!" Angrid yelled.
This went on for a few seconds before Hiccup's patience gave out.
"Would you two just stop fighting?! You're both acting like childish brats!" he exclaimed angrily before clapping his hands over his mouth.
But it was too late.
The damage had already been done.
Gobber had just arrived at the forge a few minutes later only to see a screaming 16 year old Viking boy running for his life with two very mad shield maidens in hot pursuit.
"Why is he always such a peacemaker?" the blacksmith wondered out loud. His apprentice should've known by now that mediating a very heated argument could result in the mediator getting caught in the cross fire.
If only Gobber knew what the young Haddock boy did…
Or more specifically, yelled.
He watched as the two Hoffersons caught Hiccup by the hem of his tunic.
"Well, at least thrashing someone is something those two have in common." The blacksmith chuckled while Blitz and Toothless looked away as Astrid and Angrid proceeded to give Hiccup a lesson on how to never anger a Hofferson.
Bunny was slightly annoyed that Jack missed half of the Geography class but he softened up when the winter spirit explained his tardiness and the class continued with minimal incident.
It wasn't until Math class in the Palace of Beginnings did the intrigues began to arise.
Sapphire and Jack were in the middle of a Math problem when Father Time (their Math teacher) noticed two small packets sticking out of the two teens' bags.
"Just out of curiosity, what are in those things?" he asked, pointing to the packets of dragon nip.
Both Guardians looked up from their books and noticed the packs of dragon nip in their bags.
"Herbs." Sapphire said hesitating slightly on her words.
"What kind of herbs?" Father Time asked.
"Medicinal herbs." Jack mumbled, a bit nervous.
Sapphire handed Father Time her packet. "Marina's allergic to this stuff. Can you & Mother Nature maybe make her an allergy potion or something?" she requested politely.
The time being took the packet and said. "I'll see what we can do." With no suspicion in his tone whatsoever but then he noticed the pages of the water spirit's open notebook.
"My dear, while I know Mathematics can be one of the most boring subjects known to man, let us have a little respect for our Mathematics notebooks by refraining from drawing dragons near x and other equations." He said tapping the notebook with his cane.
Sapphire blushed slightly as she turned the page but not until Jack saw drawings of Tridacna and a bunch of other dragons littered across the paper. He smiled slightly before he got reprimanded for drawing pictures of Blitz on his notebook as well, which made Sapphire giggle.
"Incidentally...why dragons, you two?" Father Time asked them curiously.
That made the two teenage Guardians go rigid.
"Uh…" Jack said dumbly, not sure on what to say next.
"Well…" Sapphire mumbled before the old grandfather clock chimed at 12 noon.
"Never mind. Your homework for today are these equations. Copy them quick so you can both have lunch." Father Time instructed them.
Quickly, Jack and Sapphire copied the equations and left, sighing with relief.
"Saved by the bell!" Sapphire breathed.
"Grandfather clock to be exact!" Jack agreed with her as they left the room.
Father Time cocked his head, puzzled at their reactions to a quick alibi to get out of answering his first query as well as their reactions to his previous question. All he asked was why they both drew dragons in their notebooks.
And the 2 teens immediately became tense, which was very strange.
Then he opened up the packet the Guardian of Equality had given him and took out the dragon nip. "Hmmm…What an interesting herbal specimen…" he mused as he took a cautious whiff of the plant.
Clearly this was a very unique kind of medicinal herb. He wondered where the water spirit got such an interesting plant but quickly remembered his pledge to Sapphire to create an antihistamine for Marina.
Father Time sighed and left to start working on it with his wife and Millennium.
Jack and Sapphire decided to go to Berk without Marina as the swan left that afternoon to visit some of her Himalayan Snow Geese friends and wouldn't be back until next dawn. They jogged on over to the forge but didn't see Hiccup.
"Hiccup! Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III!" Sapphire called out as they entered the place. "We're here for more dragon training!" Jack hollered as they walked past tons of weapons and anvils.
Then they noticed a two limbed Viking with his back turned.
"Oh, Gobber hey! Have you seen…"Sapphire began to say when the blacksmith turned around, with a crossbow.
"Mercy! We cry for mercy!" Jack yelped, putting his hands up in the air. "Don't shoot, please!" Sapphire squeaked in terror.
Suddenly they heard a familiar voice groan from behind. "Gobber, quit scaring them…"
Gobber chuckled. "I wouldn't shoot them, Hiccup. Unless I absolutely have to." As he put the crossbow down and stepped aside, revealing Hiccup.
"Whoa Moon Bots…What happened to you?" Jack's eyes widened at the sight of a bruised and battered Viking teen with a black eye.
"Hiccup you look like you got hit by a truck!" Sapphire said in shock.
Hiccup groaned as he put a raw steak to his swollen shiner. "I have no idea what a 'truck' is…But I bet the pain from getting hit by that thing's nothing compared to getting thrashed by girls…Ouch…" he moaned.
The two Guardians then noticed Toothless and Blitz crooning from the outside to Tridacna. They seemed to be talking about recent events before the three of them looked at their owners, a knowing look on their faces.
Looking at them and back at Hiccup, Jack and Sapphire sighed.
"Let me guess, Angrid and Astrid?" Sapphire asked knowingly.
The 16 year old auburn just nodded.
"Those two sure know how to make a punching bag out of you." Jack said teasingly. "I know that." Hiccup said, somewhat annoyed.
"Well why do you always have to try to get those two to make amends? I'm sure they can handle their sibling problems on their own." Gobber told him. "Does yelling swear words at each other help Hoffersons solve their sibling problems?" Hiccup said sarcastically.
The others shook their heads.
"I just don't know what to do now. There's no way those two will be able to make up without trying to kill each other!" the 16 year old Viking teen sighed.
Jack balanced his staff on his small shoulders. "Maybe we can talk to them." Sapphire suggested.
Gobber and Hiccup looked at them, surprised.
"Really? Talk to both of them?" Gobber asked the two teens in shock.
"Yeah Sapphire and I are both older siblings so we know what Angrid and Astrid are going through. We'll just talk to them separately." Jack explained.
"I'll talk to Astrid, Jack will talk to Angrid. Shouldn't be too hard now, can it?" Sapphire offered. They waited for Hiccup and Gobber's consent.
Finally the two Vikings nodded.
"Alright. Come on Blitz!" Jack called over his dragon to join him.
"Let's find our friend Astrid, Tridacna!" Sapphire called out to her Scauldron.
"Hold it. You're both going to need these." Gobber then placed helmets on their heads. "Better safe than sorry." Hiccup advised the two Guardians.
Shrugging, Jack and Sapphire left along with their dragons.
"Sure hope they don't get into trouble with those two." Hiccup remarked as Toothless nuzzled him. "Ah…They might not be Vikings, Hiccup. But I have to admit, they've got spunk!" Gobber then placed his heavy palm on Hiccup's right shoulder.
"Ow!" the Viking teen winced, rubbing his sore shoulder as Toothless gave him a comforting lick.
Blitz seemed worried as he and his Rider began their search for the older Hofferson sibling. He'd seen Hiccup get beaten up senseless by Angrid and he did not want Jack to be her next target. The Himalayan Fury crooned worriedly and even grabbed onto the back of Jack's shirt as they flew around.
"Blitz seriously! Don't worry I won't let Angrid hurt you. Just please let go." The Guardian of Fun requested as he struggled to get the hem of his jacket out of his dragon's mouth without ripping the fabric.
Blitz warbled worriedly as he let go and tried to think of something fast.
Suddenly he got an idea.
Carefully manipulating his mouth, Blitz tried his luck at human speech. But the only sound he managed to make was…
"Jaaaacckk! Jacck!"
Well that made Jack come to a landing in the woods.
The Himalayan Fury did it again when he landed alongside him.
"Jaacck! Jaaacckk!"
The winter spirit was astounded.
"Whoa…Blitz you just said my name!" he exclaimed, eyes wide in awe.
Blitz then gave him an imploring worried look and Jack cocked his head confused.
"That's why I'm wearing a helmet. For safety reasons." The Guardian of Fun then replied to his dragon's question before an axe suddenly whizzed by between them, impaling itself on a nearby pine tree.
Jack whistled, adjusting his blue horned helmet as a reddish blonde Viking girl wearing a red tunic march over to get the axe.
Luckily, this particular Viking girl was who Jack was looking for.
"Hey, Angrid! Whatcha' up to?" he asked nonchalantly as she pulled the axe out. "Taking out my anger on a couple of trees, why?" Angrid replied with a glare.
"Nothing really. Just wanna know." Jack said, smiling playfully at her. Blitz gulped and took a few steps back.
Chances were this was going to end badly.
"Look if you have time to kill, Frost, go waste it on somebody else. I'm in a bad mood." Angrid said acidly glaring at the Guardian of Fun with her angry blue eyes. "You know you can always use my first name. Frost is kinda too formal. But in my opinion, taking your anger for your sister out on a bunch of innocent trees isn't really gonna make you feel any better." Jack said lightly tapping a tree with his staff, coating the bark with frost.
"Since when are you such an expert on sibling relationships? You don't know anything about me or Astrid. So just leave already." Angrid vehemently shot back.
Jack laughed. "Angrid…Name really suits you…You're full of anger!"
Those nine words were the ones he instantly regretted.
Blitz worriedly crooned as his Rider took off running, Angrid with her axe following him!
"You are so gonna get it!" the Viking girl yelled as she flung her axe, missing the winter spirit every time much to her frustration.
Terrified Jack headed for the nearest tree and climbed like a cat. "Geez! You've got some major issues, Angrid!" he yelped as he narrowly avoided another flying weapon assault.
Furious, the girl retrieved her weapon as Blitz caught up and to his horror, began to chop the tree Jack was perched on! Jack yelped as the tree shook. Losing his grip and dangling on a lone branch, he cried out, "Okay, okay I'm sorry! But I just wanna talk!"
At those words, Angrid stopped in mid chop. "About what do you want us to talk about?" she asked suspiciously. "About you and Astrid. Maybe I can help with you two in making up. I just want us to talk first. Older sibling to older sibling. That's all I want." Jack said pleadingly.
Angrid looked up at him dangling onto the tree limb and sighing, put down her axe and sat down on the grass.
Seeing this as a signal to begin, Jack gratefully got down the tree and sat next to Blitz, who had seated himself between them, just to be on the safe side.
"Okay let's start with a simple question. Do you really hate your sister?" Jack asked Angrid carefully. The girl was silent for a few minutes until she sighed. "Well…no." she said timidly.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Then why do you keep fighting with her?" he asked her. Angrid twiddled her thumbs and looked at him nervously. "To be honest…I don't know…" her answer made Jack stare at her in confusion.
"Huh?" Jack said confused.
"I know it's crazy but…I don't know, I try to reach out to her and next thing I know, we're screaming at each other. Maybe…" Angrid replied before trailing off.
Jack motioned Blitz to move aside so he could sit next to her.
Finally Angrid sighed, "Maybe I shouldn't have come back…After I was forced to go to the Shivering Shores…"
That last sentence made Jack do a double take.
"Wait, you mean you never wanted to leave your home to begin with?" he asked in shock. The tough 18 year old Viking shyly nodded.
"Then…what happened?" the winter spirit inquired. Angrid took a deep breath.
She had to at least tell someone now…
'It was another nightly dragon raid in Berk.
The two young Hofferson girls huddled together in a corner of their house.
"Angrid, I'm scared…" Three year old Astrid whimpered to her five year old big sister.
"Shhh…Don't worry Astrid. Mommy and Daddy will be back soon after they teach those mean dragons alesson. In the meantime I'm here." Young Angrid soothed her.
Astrid smiled a little. "Always be here?" she asked. "Always. I swear to the gods themselves." Her sister promised.
Suddenly a loud crash was heard outside.
"What was that…?" Astrid whispered.
Nervously Angrid crept over to the door and gingerly opened it. All of a sudden, a Gronckle burst through, knocking Angrid backward and lunged toward Astrid!
"Ahh! Ahhh! Angrid help me!" the little girl shrieked.
"ASTRID!" Angrid grabbed a scuttle of wood and tried to whack the Gronckle pinning down her sweet baby sister to the ground.
But the dragon just shoved its tail into her! Poor Angrid fell to the ground, feeling utterly helpless.
"Help me!" Astrid shrieked in terror.
"Someone, anyone! Please! Help us!" Angrid sobbed out.
Good thing their father was nearby!
"Get your ugly butt off my daughter, you beast!" Sven roared as he swung his mace at the Gronckle several times until the dragon flew off Astrid and took off.
Quickly, Angrid rushed over to her sister and hugged her tightly.
"It's okay Angrid…I'm okay." Astrid quietly sobbed as she tried to wipe away her big sister's tears.
Angrid looked back at her father. Sven had a worried look on his face.
But Angrid could see it in his eyes…
Disappointment…
The next week, a boat bound for the Shivering Shores showed up at the docks.
And Angrid was one of the passengers.
"Do I have to, daddy?" the young reddish blonde looked up at her father.
"Do you want to protect Astrid better?" Sven asked her back. "Well…Yes." Angrid replied.
"Your mother and I have both decided that this is for your own good. When you come back Angrid, you'll be able to fight for real." Sven told her gently.
Suddenly a little blonde Viking child rushed over to them.
It was Astrid.
Seeing her sister with her meager belongings, Astrid angrily pummeled her legs with her tiny fists.
"You liar! You lied to me!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face. Her mother tried to calm her down but the little three year-old was relentless.
"Astrid let me explain…" Angrid whispered.
"You swore to the gods themselves Angrid! You swore that you'll always be here but you're breakingthat promise! Angrid I…I HATE YOU!"
With that Astrid ran away from the docks without looking back at her heartbroken older sister. With a heavy heart, Angrid boarded the ship and left for her training...'
Angrid struggled to blink back her tears as she finished telling Jack her story. "I knew deep down that my parents were doing what they thought was best for me…But those 13 years were really hard on me. I missed Astrid terribly…I wrote her letters but she never wrote back. I never got to explain why I left and up to now, she still hates me!" she buried her face in her hands as she began to sob.
Unsure of what to do, Jack scooted over to her. Blitz gave him a look that clearly said. 'Comfort her. She's sad!'
"You need…a hug?" he asked awkwardly.
Angrid suddenly flung her arms around him, in a bone crushing embrace. "Thanks for hearing me out Jack. It means a lot." She sniffled.
A weak gasp was her response.
Blitz whined at Angrid who realized that she was suffocating the winter spirit.
"Whoops…My bad…" she mumbled sheepishly as she released him. "You're welcome…" Jack wheezed out, praying that none of his ribs were broken.
As soon as he managed to breathe normally, Jack looked at her. "My sister was like that too. When I broke a promise to her once, she wouldn't talk to me for one full day. It was torture for me, her shutting me out. But luckily we made up and put the past behind us." He said, smiling a little.
"You have a sister?" Angrid asked him surprised. Jack sadly nodded. "Had a sister…My real family died a long time ago…What really hurts is that…I couldn't remember anything about them until I become a Guardian 300 years after I died…And I still miss them." He replied, his icy blue eyes filled with sadness.
Angrid wasn't sure how to react to that but managed to say. "I'm…sorry to hear about that." Jack lightly chuckled. "That's why you're lucky to still have Astrid with you. But well…the other Guardians are my family now so…I'm not lonely anymore." Angrid smiled a bit.
"Well? Shall we look for your sister?" Jack asked her coyly.
The reddish blonde grinned. "Okay." She replied as they got up.
Blitz smiled a toothless grin at them which both made them laugh as they went.
Jack has helped Angrid and next chapter, Sapphire helps Astrid. Will the two Hofferson sisters become friends again? Find out tomorrow in the next chapter of Dragons and Guardians ;)