Bet you didn't see this coming. Anyhow, goddamnit, I can't believe I've not come back to this yet. Anyhow, sorry about that, and for my other stories, I was busy doing so much, I'm hugely stretched thin, first I was getting out of High School (I took a few GED tests to get out quicker, honestly, they were way too easy, but now I'm a year early for graduation...and that all happened back in like April or so), and the fact that I need find a job, with all my other projects and stories, this does not add up well.
So now that I've explained my totally "valid" excuses, I've been stuck in loop for ages, deciding whether to get back to writing and what to write on, and it's been extremely hard to build up the effort to break my writer's block, which has been haunting me for a good many months. But I finally got a break from my procrastination-I mean schedule, and the since the HTTYD section on FFN seems to be slowing a bit, I've been pushed to get into it again. I still feel bad though.
Also, my first vote went to Trump, so that's happened.
One last thing, review response for all my stories are now going at the bottom for those who don't care to read them.
Anyway, it's been a bit since I've written for this so lets hope I get this right. On to the story.
Chapter 10: Loki's Design, Misery's Friend
I could hear a faint, light purr, like some panther were laying next to me. Really wish it would stop, but it goes on for so long, I have to eventually open my eye. That's when I see the most horrific and feared dragon laying its head right on my shoulder? And its also covering me with its wings? A Night Fury, laying next to me, sleeping by my side. I have to kill it quick, where did I leave my axe? Why is it always missing when I need it? I look at the beast's calm face, its as if he never expected me to attack him. I jump up and scream I looked towards the source of the purr. Instead of my perfectly planned attack of ripping it up somehow, I land on my back. What the...? Oh yeah. Great.
My outburst woke the beast, better known as Hiccup, who jumped in surprised, yelping, he pulled his wings back. His eyes dripping with concern, of which I prefer not to acknowledge. It's his fault this happened after all. "What's wrong?" I flip myself over, interesting how he can still sound so nasally when we're both dragons.
"Nothing." I try to get back up on four legs, funny how stupid they are, why couldn't I have become a godforsaken Nadder instead? At least I'd know how to walk. But in any case, I grunt while glaring rage at the source of all my misery. "It's not like I usually wake up to with four legs, two Hel ridden wings, and being covered in scales."
He looks upset, distraught, success. "Sorry." You better be. "Probably should get use to it...anyway, since we're both up, we should get some breakfast." He only threw coal on the flame, how am I even supposed to eat?
Instead of answering my yet unannounced question, he jumps into the pond in this Hel hole cove we have thus gotten stuck in, and all I can say about it all is how utterly ridiculous he looks. He is just wailing around, I don't even think he's getting fish, what fish lives in such a shallow pond? It was pretty funny, watching him flounder, but I refuse to even smirk in all my still fresh anger. And yet, in all that stupid, classic Hiccup chaos he catches a fish and throws it at me. I suppose no one can say you can take the Hiccup out of the manic who builds complex failures. Even if the worst Loki-devised solution ever encountered, he still manages to make a fool of himself, no matter his experience in the manner.
Disturbing myself from those thoughts however, the fish now lay at me feet, below my probable giant black head. "You need to eat... and you'll want to get it over quick." What? He expects me to one, eat raw fish, that he caught in his mouth, off the ground. Does he have no shame as to act totally like a, albeit clumsy, dragon? "That's disgusting, I'm not doing that, I'd rather starve." The foolish use-to-be wimp however was persistent. "No you don't." He was no longer looking at me, but at the ground, shamefully, as he should be. He thus pushed the fish closer to me, and then I felt my neck bend, and unconsciously I go from sniffing the... delicious meat...to then flicking the thing up, chomping it out of the air before swallowing. Oh Thor, that was disgusting... but it tasted so good... ewwww.
Before I'm given even a second to regret the instinct however, Hiccup gave me a sad nod and jumped back in. He eventually caught another fish, or I assume so, but I didn't care, I decided I rather be as far from any of this madness as possible and secured my own space by the rocks at the entrance. Taking a nap felt like a better idea.
So Astrid's wakeup call was about as much fun as any other early morning wakeup call due to shock caused by the fact you're a reptilian flying beast that almost everyone within a year's travel is looking forward to gut. Excluding the huge bounty, it's actually nice to be alone and have no one actually picking on me though. I even have a few friends, granted it's not amazing, Astrid hates me, Fishlegs is confused, and I have both a Nadder and a Night Fury as tolerable acquaintances willing to help me, and let's not forget I am the beast most feared by Viking-kind but it's definitely not the worst that could come of being bitten by a dragon I suppose, however unexpected a dragon bite transformation is. And even though Astrid is also brought into this mess, at least she understands that I'm still the not really-Viking I was before, just with a few more muscles, scales, and maybe wings. Honestly not what I was hoping for when I asked Odin to be more Viking, seems like Loki was the only one who bothered to answer it, but not much I can do.
Given Astrid deciding to take a nap by the entrance of the cove, hidden behind the boulders from the entrance. It's not the worst idea, but if someone comes around the boulders, they'll easily get the drop on her. And she'd be reluctant to help anyhow, she either wouldn't fight to free her of this curse, or if she did, she'd do it so she can go to Valhalla. Not exactly great for us, especially when I want to prevent anymore bloodshed, at least without understanding it all. In any case, she wouldn't even know how to defend herself if she did fight, and since neither of us would deal any better with killing any Berkians, our best bet is to calm them down. Given Fishlegs was the only one that didn't devote himself to the "Kill on sight" mantra, neither of us would likely live long against anyone else, especially after they see Astrid's clothing and saw me run away. All in all, I'm not sure how to fix any of this, not to mention the clueless dragon who can't remember the past week consistently.
I suppose we need a plan. So let's see, first problem, being stuck in this cove, and we're both unable to fly. Next problem, Astrid can't eat, let alone hunt in her new body, not without disgusting herself at the very least. That means first things first, teach Astrid how to handle her new body. Once we fix that problem, then we can both learn to fly, which should make living long less of. So next we'd need to find a shelter, a safe cave maybe, shouldn't be an issue once we can fly. Afterwards, we'll be able to pull as much as possible into figuring out this curse and how to fix it. And then maybe, just maybe, looking into the friendly side of dragons, if I'm not dead by then.
Obstacle one however, Astrid doesn't want to accept nor learn how to be a dragon. Hel, I think she's on the edge of seeking her own death. What can I do to get her to save herself, keep throwing fish at her? I severely doubt that is gonna do anything, but it's the best solution I have right now, hope she will eventually accept it.
Given three days of providing the fish, she still hates me, go figure. Not that I expected that to change, but I'd have thought she'd be convinced to at least learn to take care of herself. Instead she'll occasionally tell me it be better if either one of us had died instead, and I suppose one time I did agree, so I get her train of thought, at least partly. Maybe I shouldn't have expected much, I suppose not wanting to believe it and wishing it didn't happen is better for her mind.
And thus, given the past few days, Fishlegs came the yesterday to tell me Berk have started small, short search parties for Astrid, being ever wary of the "Night Fury" in the woods. He said they have yet to go far from the village to avoid meeting said 'Fury' but we both knew they'd eventually throw caution to the win, as always. So new top of the todo list, instead learn to fly.
Toothless came by as well, but he's only so far been a useless overgrown lizard yet. And when I asked him if he could help teach me and Astrid to fly, he told me I could remember how to fly if I "just submit to my instincts". When I explained for the upmteenth time neither of us were 'hatched' dragons, he got angry and told us to deal with it ourselves. It was funny then to watch him attempt to leave without my help, until he gave up two hours in and asked for help. I'll probably have to say sorry about whatever pissed him off later.
Back to matters at hand, it's been three days, Astrid is either consistently pissed or unwilling, the village is preparing to find Astrid, in slightly unexpected condition, Toothless is still upset, and we're trapped in a hole waiting for the villagers to attack us. Even if they believe I'm still me, the chance they'll care about that after seeing Astrid's tattered cloth is slim, not to mention the chance we'll be able to explain Astrid still being alive, unlikely.
On those thoughts, I'd begun to hear something, and given Astrid's reaction, I'm neither crazy nor alone there. Gobber's faint call searching for Astrid is loud enough for worry. And that's before more villagers are heard yelling for what they'd probably consider a dead girl now. Damn you Loki, this curse was bad enough, I'm still not sure how you got me to involve Astrid, but if we live through this, I'm finding a way to Asgard and making you pay.
I go to Astrid's side only to hear her remark, "I hope they end this quickly," before she directs her next statement at me, glaring her unholy anger at me, "Leave me, I'd rather die here." Not surprising, though severely drowned in more guilt than I'd felt in a while. "But what about finding a fix, a cure, wouldn't it be better than suicide," I ask her, praying she agrees.
"No, living the past few days as this beast, devised by Hel herself, is worse than anything I could have possibly experienced in her own depths, any torture beyond life has to be better then a second more of this."
I haven't given up yet, something else, triggered by the closing voices, reminds me of a huge alternative problem. "What if that other Fury comes back to try to defend us, I can't stop him from killing everyone, and what about if we're forced to defend ourselves against our will, I didn't attack you of my own conscious, and I think that'll happen to everyone else in that party if either of us stay here. Do you want that? To attack your own tribe against your will?" I'm not actually sure any of that is true, but I can only hope that embellishment will convince her.
She silently, reluctant and regretful if my Night-Fury-face-reading skills are correct, and resigns to listening to me, she gets up on her legs, and follows me to the edge where Toothless usually gets out. "I'm gonna push you up, you gotta climb those few ledges above, and then you're out, got it?" She nods, and so I lift her up, and as the the voices come really close now, she struggles hard to get over the lip, by the time she reaches it, the villagers are calling out, making it obvious they see me, so I turn towards them. They gasp in shock to see what looks like me trying to escape, and I'd bet that once they come down and see the clothes beneath the ledge, they're gonna assume I killed Astrid. I know they can't see her escaping now, but I hear her call out my name worried, so they definitely know she exists. "Get as far away as possible, I'll get out on my own, I'm not planning to let any of them get hurt, trust me, meet me at the beach tonight." Judging from the rustling above, I assume she left so I look back towards the gawking few villagers.
They have yet to move. I pray I can find some way to make it out and keep my promise with myself, Astrid, my dad, Toothless and Stormfly, and most importantly, my promise with Loki, because I swear after I fix this, I'm bringing him to Midgard and making him pay for this. And neither Odin or Thor, nor Hel or Jörmungandr, is stopping me from getting the payback for this.
OMFG, that took way too long to do. Sorry. Anyhow, I think I'll be getting back, hopefully I'll have another chapter up before New Years, but I'm not gonna make a promise on that. Now let's talk about that ending, sorry I left it on a cliffhanger, I usually hate doing that, but since I don't plan to take long, and since I have a very clear idea of what I'm gonna do here, and since I feel the groove to write again, I doubt you'll be waiting long, and you'll be very happy to hear
Reviews:
Thunderbird 22: Yes she did, she has a lot of that to do.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock 3: Thanks, really glad you're enjoying it, as for that other part, spoilers. :D
Sisnol: Thanks for reading, yeah, I've been told the story works, tho bit odd by multiple friends, but I have chucked it up to mostly the adoption thing, I want to make this my own while keeping it original, and yet still fitting the original enough to feel as though they work together, so thus it's basically getting respun my way. And yeah, I tried to weed out the English errors but I don't have a beta and only a few friends previewing it. And sorry about the forgetting to update this, I tried to explain myself a bit above, but there really is no excuse, I will however try to write more for this.
As always, thanks for the reviews guys.