Chapter Thirteen: Oceans Away
First scene is written for Rouge Deity Master's request. I hope you like it.
By the time the Berkians and Outcasts arrived to Outcast Island, Whoshadow had come to her senses, and she was outraged. The man who had stabbed her foot was right in her reach and she lost him! She was setting off sparks, thrashing about, and roaring furiously at the top of her lungs.
"Whoa, out of control Skrills are awesome!" Tuffnut declared.
"Whoshadow, I need you to calm the hell down!" Claudette exclaimed. Alvin turned to their butcher shop, grabbed a leg of lamb, and handed it to Claudette to see is she would calm down, but the Skrill's appetite was only limited for destruction and revenge.
"Claudette, I can't have a rampaging Skrill of the island, otherwise the island will be destroyed." Alvin stated.
"I fear that she may not settle for a mutton dummy like we did the last time she was this angry." She stated.
If any dragon or Viking took a step towards Whoshadow, she would emit sparks, raise her wings, and roar at them. Claudette had enough of this and decided that it was going to take some drastic measures to subdue the Skrill.
"Midnightfire, come here." Claudette ordered, extending her arm to act as a perch. The young Night Fury flew over to her and made her perch. Claudette looked to Midnightfire and told her: "I'm going to need you to turn her human. She's too dangerous for us as a Skrill."
She is pretty scary right now. Midnightfire thought. She aimed her Dragonstone, gave it a tap, and zapped Whoshadow.
The change was quick and painless, and Whoshadow didn't even pass out at the end of it. In fact she was still standing up; and as far as appearances were concerned: her hair was a red so deep it was pretty much maroon, her eyes were a bright yellow-green, slightly tanned skin, a lean build, she stood at about five-foot-nine, and she was wearing a bright purple tunic with black trousers.
Claudette sent Midnightfire back to her parents, ran for Whoshadow, and tackled her to the ground. The Skrill-turned-human struggled to get Claudette off of her, but it was to no avail, he rider will not release her until she relaxed. She took several deep breaths before she finally eased up and Claudette got off of her and helped Whoshadow up to her feet again.
"There, now that's much better. You won't accidentally harm anyone in this form." Claudette stated.
"Yes, it is much better for us." Alvin stated.
Whoshadow dropped got down to her knees and a tear rolled down her cheek. Meatlug and Sapphire stepped forward and tried to console her, and eventually she found her voice: "First Dagger stabs me, and now he dances over the Dragon Chief. I need to make him suffer."
"Whoshadow, we all need to make him suffer now. When he escaped his prison cell, it was up to Alvin to make him pay for his actions; when he stabbed you, we would've let you take care of him when time allowed it; but now that he is responsible for the loss of our Chief, it just got personal for all of us." Astrid stated as she gestured to everyone present while holding her daughter in one arm.
"She's right, this war just got personal for everyone here. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be spreading the word around to the Outcasts, who've stayed here during the fight, and bring them up to date on what happened. I'll see that you Berkians will be accommodated for your stay here. Now, since the Haddock family suffered the greatest lost, you shall stay in my home." Alvin told them.
In a few words, Alvin's home was rustic and cozy. It provided enough space for guests and dragons. As the Haddock family filed inside, Blade started up a fire, and Alvin grabbed some mugs to fill up with mead.
Sapphire, Stormfly, Shadowrath, and Cloudjumper all settled around Blade's fire, but Toothless and Midnightfire chose a dark corner to claim. Toothless' heart was broken; out of all of the dragons on Berk, he had the strongest bond with his rider, with maybe the exception of Fishlegs and Meatlug. Now, it was gone.
"I can't imagine the pain you all are going through… but I'll try to comfort you the best I can." Alvin told the Haddocks as he handed out the mugs of mead
"Thank you, Alvin." Stoick replied. Valka had pretty much gone mute for the day.
Alvin offered a mug to Astrid, but she declined it. She just wanted to sit between Stormfly and Sapphire and hold Anora.
"So, Stoick, does this mean that you're the Chief again?" Alvin asked.
"It's either me or Snotlout… and that boy is not fit to be a leader for dragon riders." He replied.
"He's not fit to be a leader at all." Astrid retorted. Shadowrath and Cloudjumper snorted in agreement. They knew that Snotlout was a reckless idiot.
A few minutes later, Anora began to fuss. She was hungry, and in need of her special cocktail of milk and fish blood. Astrid handed the dragon-eyed infant over to her grandparents and she proceeded to go out and get the fish and milk.
Upon looking at the child, Alvin was taken aback. He was at Berk when Astrid laid the egg, but he hadn't really conceived that the baby would have such visible draconic characteristics; and yet she seemed to be the fitting child of the Dragon Chief.
"Well now, she's an unusual, but beautiful child." Alvin stated.
"Yes, she is." Stoick replied.
A knock came from the door and it turned out to be Gobber and Grump. The blacksmith looked to be in pretty bad shape, but then again, there weren't many Berkians who looked like themselves at the present time.
"Hey, Gobber, is there something we can do for you?" Stoick asked.
"I can't sleep, and I can't bear to look at a smithy anymore. All the tools remind me of Hiccup now." He replied. By now Astrid came back with Anora's dinner. Valka didn't want to give up holding her granddaughter just yet, so Astrid handed the bottle to her so Valka could feed Anora.
"Why did it have to be him? Out of all the Vikings that we could possibly have lost, why did it have to be Hiccup?" Gobber asked. He was clinging onto Stoick with his good arm and using his mug prosthetic to try and drink his sorrows away.
Snotlout and Hookfang found Helga and the twins sitting at the side of a cliff. Barf and Belch were taking a nap, but Ruffnut's dragon, Scauldy, was underneath the water's surface.
"I thought that the three of you would be going around causing trouble." Snotlout stated.
"We're just not up to it after what happened back home." Helga replied as she stroked Barf's head.
"I'm surprised that you and Hookfang are flying around. Hiccup was your cousin." Ruffnut told Snotlout.
"That's because I'm training him for our next attack! The next time we fight the Berserkers, Hookfang will burn Dagur alive!" He exclaimed.
"You better get in line behind Whoshadow. I heard that she's in the arena with her rider and Fishlegs, and she's planning on her revenge on Dagur." Tuffnut replied.
"Don't forget about Toothless, Astrid, Stoick, and Valka. I'm sure that they plan on having a piece of the action." Helga added, Snotlout rolled his eyes at them and took off again. Secretly, Snotlout was grieving with the loss in his own place.
Down at the arena, Whoshadow was venting her rage by throwing axes and daggers at a stack of barrels. At the same time, Fishlegs, Claudette, and Meatlug were piled together on the sidelines. Claudette observed Whoshadow's throwing technique and was mildly surprised at how advanced her aim was. She was hitting some of the barrels right in their centers.
After watching Whoshadow throw a grand total of thirty-seven weapons, Fishlegs and Claudette pulled Whoshadow away from the barrels. Fishlegs then told her: "Listen, you can brood all you want, but it isn't going to change everything, you need to calm down. Why not just tell us what's going on inside your head?"
"What in the name of flight is there to say? The Thunder Queen's rider was right in my reach, and I ended up getting knocked out just before I could grab him; and because I couldn't exact my revenge on him for what he did to me, we lost the Dragon Chief! Now, just a couple hours ago, you took away my wings and lightning! Why would you do that?"
"We had to, Whoshadow. The way you were sparking, you would've destroyed us all! Listen, it was not your fault, what happened to Hiccup, and right now it doesn't matter whose fault it was. All we can do now is grieve for our loss, recollect our wits, organize a plan, and then we'll show Dagur what happens when he commits such a crime. Who knows, maybe we'll let you have the honors of punishing him." Fishlegs replied.
Whoshadow gave a sharp sigh and told them: "They better let me have at him."
"Well you can't do that right now… So, what do you want to do now?" Claudette asked her. Whoshadow gave her a glance in the eye, sighed, and told them: "I want to see the Haddocks."
"We can do that." Fishlegs and Claudette said together. So on they went to Alvin's home.
Stoick answered the door to find the Ingerman's with their dragons on the other side.
"I wanted to see how you were all holding up." Whoshadow stated.
"Thank you… It seems that we're holding up better than Gobber." Stoick replied, he gestured to the passed-out blacksmith. He had too much mead.
Fishlegs and Claudette went straight to Astrid, Meatlug over to Toothless and Midnightfire, and Whoshadow went over to Valka and Anora. Valka just couldn't give the infant up that night, and little Anora fascinated Whoshadow.
"Stoick, if you would like, we Outcasts will plan for a feast in your son's honor." Alvin stated.
"You're the Chief of this island, so I will have no say in what celebrations you plan on making. After what happened, and how the other Berkians are acting about it, I feel as if I am no longer in the Archipelago, but oceans away from my home." Stoick replied.
"We are oceans away from home. Home was happy, prosperous, and safe, and during the battle it was the exact opposite of all of those things. Now, we are not even in our respective homes, and Berk is not the same island it was. Berk is no longer home; home is oceans away from us, but not according to the maps, but according to our hearts and minds." Astrid replied as she stroked Stormfly's head.
Meatlug and Toothless held a conversation for a while, but the only person who could understand and translate it was Whoshadow. It clearly caught her attention, and she moved over to the Night Fury.
"Toothless, please stay strong. You're our Alpha, and we can't loose you too." She told him.
"What's wrong with him?" Valka asked, finally finding her voice again.
"His heart is broken, and dragons do not fare well with broken hearts. Toothless needs a lot of attention and love if he is going to see the day where we reclaim our home. He isn't talking much, but I think I can speak for him when I say: He will need someone to push him forward, but he will refuse to bond with anyone. The dragons will have to provide him with moral support, but you Vikings will have to make sure he eats well and get him outside. A weak dragon will not survive a fight, and a weak Alpha would be challenged." Whoshadow told them.
Toothless gave a defeated moan. Sapphire went over to him and started licking his face, and Shadowrath watched over them just trying to keep a brave face.
Within time, the Ingerman's left, leaving only Whoshadow behind; and one by one, dragons and Vikings were falling asleep in Alvin's home. Only Astrid had a dream…
She was on Berk flying Stormfly, and surveying the damage that had been caused by a battle. It wasn't that bad, everything was repairable. So she urged her beloved Deadly Nadder to land; and once on the ground, Valka found her, the grandmother was holding Anora in her arms, but she handed the infant over to her a moment later.
Astrid roamed around the plaza for a while until a happy Toothless landed in front of her with Hiccup on his saddle!
Hiccup removed his flight mask to reveal his smile as he dismounted and approached Astrid. He looked around at the damage, touched one of Astrid's exposed hands, kissed her cheek, and told her: "Do not worry, everything is going to be alright."
She was happy and her life felt like it was whole.
Astrid woke up smiling from the dream, but then she recalled the previous day's events. She began crying, and pulled Anora closer.
NNNNNNOOOOOO! Her mind screamed. She felt split in two and she was in despair, but if she looked over to Toothless, she would see him twitching as he was no doubt having a dream of trying to save Hiccup from that fall.
One chapter down, two more chapters to go. Thank you all for participating, your reviews drive my fingers to type faster. I promise you that you won't have to wait for long to find out whether or not Hiccup keeps the fate I gave him in the previous chapter.
By the way, this chapter is named after a song by Roger Daltrey, look it up, it is a beautiful ballad.