Alvin again is from ROB, except in this story, even after the events in the finale, he was unable to train dragons after his ruse to try and trick Hiccup, in my story Mildew failed and Alvin killed him... also his character is darker than in the show... that is all.
Ch. 2: The Stubbornness of Vikings
Sandy was nodding off in the corner of North's office. It was times like these he hated being the bringer of dreams. Most of the guardians didn't need sleep, they're magic kept them going at all hours, only after their perspective holidays, for North and Bunny, did they take one day to sleep and rejuvenate. After their one night of sleep, they were back to preparing for their holidays again. Tooth almost never slept. Normally her fairies had to force her because she was too much of a workaholic to take any kind of break, and the only way she would truly take a break was if she was asleep. The Sandman was a different story.
But he ruled sleep, and more specifically dreams. If he was not busy bringing dreams to children, he would nod off and dream himself. He couldn't help it, sleep was a part of him, he could not forgo sleep like the other three. But he really wanted to stay awake for the arrival of Jack's team. He didn't have to try too much longer, though, because soon a cold wind rushed through the workshop and Jack Frost flew in. He landed softly and propped his staff on one shoulder.
"Hey!" He said with his cocky grin, "so what catastrophe have you gotten yourselves into that you need me to bale you out of?"
"Ha bloody ha," Bunnymund said sarcastically, "you're hilarious you know that?"
"I just know that you guys are completely helpless without good ol' Jack Frost." The winter spirit stated nonchalantly.
"Not on you're nilly ya ice demon!" Their banter was playful, not at all as venomous as it once was. Bunny and Jack had found that once they got over any past grudges, they actually had a good friendship, even though it consisted of a lot of teasing and ribbing. But before Jack could respond a portal opened in the middle of the room, and Rapunzel fell through, almost tripping on her own feet.
"I'll never get used to that." She giggled, and then she looked around the room. She beamed at them and was greeted warmly by the others.
"Rapunzel!" North exclaimed, "is good to see you!" He held open his arms and she accepted the hug immediately. Tooth then proceeded to nearly tackle the girl.
"Rapunzel!" She squealed, "How are you? I've missed you! Have you been flossing? Let me see! Oh lovely as always! How is Eugene? Oh it's so good to see you!" The brunette could barely keep up with how fast the tooth-fairy was talking, but she smiled up at her anyway.
"I've missed you too, Tooth, some night we should have a girls night! You, Merida and I, you can take a break from all your hard work and Merida and I could get out of our princess duties!" Toothina went to reply, but once again a portal opened and the princess of Dunbroch stepped out.
"Mornin'!" She exclaimed, "now le's skip formalities an' cut right ta the chase!" It was obvious to everyone she was eager for another adventure. It struck them all as funny as she was the last person to accept and come to terms with the offer of being a guardian.
"Hiccup still is not here," North explained, giving her a hug in the process. "We must wait for him."
"He's always the last one!" The red-head exclaimed impatiently, "if he would jus' use yer snow globes instead o' flying up 'ere, we coul' start."
"He's already so far north, Merida," Rapunzel tried to defend her friend, "I'm sure it's just easy for him to fly Toothless up here."
"She's right," Jack agreed, "it never takes him too much longer, I give him ten minutes and he'll swoop in on that dragon and we can get started."
"Fine." Merida huffed. And sat down on a large red chair, sinking into the cusions.
"How has everyone been since we last saw each other, four months ago was it?" Rapunzel asked.
"Yeah, when old man Time's hour glass got stolen and time started to unravel." Jack recalled. Smiling at the memory of their last undertaking.
"Those trolls sure didn't know what hit 'em when we took 'em out." Merida laughed. "I still remember the look on there faces!" She crossed her eyes dumbly, scrunched her nose, and let her jaw go slack, giving a very accurate depiction of a troll's surprised face. Rapunzel chuckled at her friend.
"Although it was more trouble than it was worth, with them controlling time. If that hour glass had been in more capable hands, we would have had a lot harder time with it." Jack sighed.
"I'll never forget Hiccups face when we saw it was trolls." Rapunzel laughed.
Merida sighed, "foolish boy almos' blew our cover with 'ow excited 'e was ta learn tha' they really do exist." But then she chuckled, "I think we can believe in almos' everything now."
"Not unicorns," Bunny said quickly upon seeing a light of excitement in Rapunzel's eye. "They really don't exist." The light was gone.
They heard a roar come from outside. "That would be Toothless!" Rapunzel exclaimed happily as she ran to the window. She looked out to see her scaly friend, but the excited smile left her face almost instantly. "Something's wrong." She stated and the others went to the window with her.
"What is it, lassie?" Merida asked.
"Look at how he's flying," she explained, "it's not as smooth as usual, and... Is Hiccup's hair blonde?" They all squinted their eyes to get a better look. Something did look different, but no one could say for sure until the black dragon and his rider got closer to the workshop.
Toothless finally landed in front of them, immediately they knew Rapunzel was right when a blonde haired Viking dismounted Toothless. She considered them cooly for a moment, it was obvious she didn't know what to make of them, and they didn't know what to make of her either.
"An' who migh' you be?" Ever quick on the draw, Merida questioned the stranger. The blonde haired girl's eyes narrowed and her hand went to her axe. Knowing the bad blood between Vikings and Scotts. Even though Berk's Vikings were much more peaceful comparatively, Scott's still didn't trust them, and that alone was enough for this blonde-haired girl to be on her guard. Jack quickly placed himself between the two. He felt an immense sense of deja vu, remembering when Merida and Hiccup had first met... Although that had been more of a pry Merida off the boy before she killed him, and try to calm a very angry, protective dragon. Hiccup was actually much more willing to put it aside; it didn't look like that would be the case with this female Viking.
"Are you the guardians?" She asked through clenched teeth.
"Aye," Merida affirmed, notching an arrow in her bow and aiming it at the newcomer. "We are, now I'll ask again, who are ye? An' what do ya wont?"
The girl took her hand off her axe, draining some of the tension in the room. Her eyes grew softer, although they were still calculating and cold. "My name is Astrid, I'm a... friend of Hiccup's." Merida lowered her bow and slowly put the arrow back in the quiver. She had known she would be, she was flying Toothless after all, but Toothless with no Hiccup was disconcerting and was putting Merida very on edge. She knew that whatever this girl was going to tell them, it wasn't going to be good.
"Where is he?" Rapunzel asked her, worry prevalent in her voice.
Astrid looked at her, eyes softened and grew sad, almost a completely different person than the girl who had been standing in front of them. "He was taken by one of our enemies, Alvin the Treacherous." Rapunzel gasped, "Toothless saw the lights and came to get me, hoping you would help us get him back."
North grew pensive, "I wonder if Pitch has anything to do with this." He muttered to himself, hoping that it wasn't the case, but thinking that the timing was too perfect to be a coincidence. Astrid heard him, however and turned to the large man.
"Alvin has been trying to get his hands on Hiccup for a long time, he wants Hiccup to train his dragons so he can attack Berk. If this Pitch is a recent threat, then I doubt he has anything to do with it."
"Well, he is, and then he isn't." Jack stated and the blonde Viking shot him a confused look. "He's been a threat for a while, we defeated him about five years back, but now it seems that he's back, and probably with help."
"That's why you should kill your enemies," Astrid said, "that way they can't come back." Merida nodded her head in agreement, but the rest looked around uncomfortably, unless they were something like a nightmare, or another soulless being, none of them felt comfortable taking a life. "But the getting help thought is curious. Alvin has only managed to capture Hiccup twice, once when he gave himself up to get to Toothless, and the other when he tricked him with Mildew's help." Jack gave a snort at the name but was quickly silenced by a glair from North. "Alvin is vicious and cruel, but he's not smart, Hiccup outwits him every time, he hasn't even gotten close to capturing Hiccup in almost a year. So now he comes up with this brilliant plan all on his own? I don't think so, when I think about it, the only possible explanation could be that he's getting help."
"And Pitch is cunning." Tooth affirmed, "He knows how and where to strike. He knows people's fears and feeds off of it; it makes him stronger. If he is in allegiance with this Alvin brute, it may spell trouble."
"I think I encountered Pitch in Corona." Rapunzel said quietly, knowing that she had to give this information, even though she was not completely sure she hadn't imagined it. Everyone's eyes turned to her. "I heard mo-... I heard Gothel's voice in town." She was looking down at her feet, "It's not something I ever thought I would hear again." Merida put her hand on the girl's shoulder in comfort. She knew it was still hard for Rapunzel, even though it had been two years, Gothel had still been her mother for the entirety of her childhood. Her death was not something that was easy for the now brunet to accept. And the trust and love that had been ripped away in an instant was something the girl was still recovering from, although she wouldn't admit it to anyone but Eugene.
"A new type of fearling?" Jack questioned, "His nightmares couldn't talk... And they were all horses, but could he have developed them that quickly?"
"If anyone could do it," Bunny said, "Pitch could."
"What worries me is how he got so strong so fast." Tooth voiced her concern. "Last time it took him twenty years at least to get even remotely strong enough to make a nightmare."
"Well, you said he feeds off fear, right?" Astrid questioned; the other's nodded. "Alvin may be dumb, but he's not leader for nothing. He's ruthless and cruel, kills his own men at the slightest sign of disobedience. Trust me, there's enough fear in his army alone to make a large feast for this Pitch."
Rapunzel paled, "So now he's strong enough to make fearlings of people from our past?"
"Of our fears," North corrected. "He may have created fearlings that are the embodiment of what we fear."
"Great," Jack said, "that's even worse! This is going to be tons of fun."
Merida gave him a light punch on the arm. "It's nay suppose ta be fun! We're fightin' evil and right now Hiccup's in the middle o' it, we need ta help 'im! The last thing this was ever goin' ta be was fun." Jack raised his hands in surrender.
"So are we going already?" Astrid asked walking over to Toothless who looked very restless and impatient. He obviously wanted to go and find Hiccup.
"We?" Merida questioned, "Nay, lassie, there's no 'we', you should fly home an' wait, we'll get 'im back."
"No." The Viking stated coolly but in a way that left no room for argument. "I will not wait at home for some people I barely know to rescue Hiccup! I'm going with you, and that's not a request." Her stance said she was preparing for a fight, and she would fight if need be.
"You Vikings and your stubbornness issues." Jack sighed running a hand through his hair. "Look, the thing is, we're a team, we have certain dynamics and understandings. Everyone has taken the time to understand the other members of the team, and you are not part of it, having you there could mess us up."
"But we're down one member of our team!" Rapunzel interjected, ever the diplomatic one, "maybe bringing her is a good idea."
"No, it's not." Merida argued, staring frostily at the blonde in question. " She's no Hiccup, she don' think o' act like him. I won' be puttin' my trust in a stranger! Much less a Viking."
"Hiccup's a Viking!" Rapunzel argued, "and you trust him." They new the Vikings of Berk were not a bad group, so Rapunzel couldn't understand why that was the redhead's constant argument. They needed to leave, and the more people to help, the better, take Astrid, save Hiccup, worry about social prejudice's later.
"Viking's kind of a loose term with him." Jack chuckled, trying to diffuse some of the tension. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect as Astrid whipped out her axe and held it towards the frost spirit.
"Wanna say that again?" She challenged. She was not used to Jack's style of teasing, and especially in a time when she was so worried about the small Viking, anything said about him negatively set her over the edge. Especially considering he had been fighting to be considered a true Viking by his village for the better portion of his life, Jack's sentence did not sit well with her. "If that's how you talk about him, I definitely don't want to trust you to bring him back to me alive and intact."
"Too late for that last one." Jack couldn't help it, sometimes jokes poured out of him, especially when he was unsure how to diffuse tension or handle a stressful situation. Astrid was about to throw her axe, so he hurriedly explained himself. "I'm sorry!" He cried' "I meant him not being Viking-like as a complement, like he uses his brain instead of being all jump-in-and-kill-it!" Her eyes softened at his explanation, understanding he had not been insulting the boy she loved more than herself. She lowered her axe but didn't put it away.
"This is why we can't take ya." Merida told her, "you're too hot-headed an' impulsive. We already ha' one o' those... Me, a second one would spell disaster!"
"I'm a trained warrior!" Astrid countered, "looking at you're group, you're going to need me."
"We can fight just fine, thank you." Rapunzel cut in, she disliked being seen as weak by anyone. She may be kind and gentle and, for lack of a better word, girly, but that did not make her soft and weak. Her opinion of Astrid was fluttering in and out of tolerable to downright unpleasant. She tried to rationalize that the girl in front of her was stressed and worried, possibly utterly terrified at the idea of the danger Hiccup was in. But no matter, she knew that in some ways, this girl was very dangerous in this state. "Merida has a point! You're hot headed, and also cocky, you could get us killed!"
"I am going with you guys and that's final!" She screamed, frustrated.
Toothless let out a long huge roar, causing everyone in the room to cover their ears. He held it out for as long as he could, and when he stopped, he kept snarling at them, he was tired of their bickering, he had come up here to get help, not watch as they argued over whether or not they should bring Hiccup's mate. They stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to do.
"Toothless is right." Rapunzel said, "this isn't doing any of us any good, we need to go and rescue Hiccup."
"An' how do you know tha's what 'e said?" Merida argued still in an argumentative mood. She knew that Rapunzel didn't actually understand all of what Toothless said, she spoke chameleon, not dragonese. Two very different languages. But she also knew that Rapunzel always had the best grasp of what the dragon was trying, besides Hiccup of course.
"No!" Jack said harshly, "We are not going to start fighting again, Rapunzel is right. Toothless will want to come as well, and technically he's part of the team. None of us can fly him, so Astrid will have to come as well." Merida huffed but did not argue. "Do you know where he is?" Jack questioned the female Viking.
Still bristling with anger, she crossed her arms and scowled at the ground. "No, and that's most of the problem, our village would have launched a full scale attack to get him back if only we knew where he was. Another thing that makes me believe that Alvin has to be getting help, he's always just gone straight back to Outcast Island, as I said – not the smartest person, but we searched the entire island. No Alvin, no Hiccup... Nothing."
"I can help with that!" North exclaimed, "My globe! We can find him with that."
"There are thousands of lights on that thing!" Jack exclaimed, "How will we know which one's him?"
North gave him a knowing look. "Not the one of children."
Jack blanched, "you have more than one?"
"Yes!" The man exclaimed, "I have one for the guardians and magical beings as well."
"Well don't just stand there!" Bunny exclaimed, "Where is it?"
"Follow me!" North cried and they ran out of the office and down a windy staircase until they reached the workshop floor, then the bringer of cheer took them to the left through a hall where yeti's were working tirelessly on toys. If she hadn't been so eager to find Hiccup, Astrid may have stopped to marvel at all the wondrous things in the workshop, because it certainly wasn't anything you saw everyday. But as it was, she followed quickly behind Rapunzel as they all ran, single-file, through a maze of hallways, each different from the next.
Finally they reached a door on the far side of a hall and North opened it. Inside was a globe, not nearly as big as the one they had passed in the center of the workshop. Also, it didn't have nearly as many lights on it, and they were all different colors. North showed them the cluster at the top, saying that was them.
"There are a few other lights on the globe," North explained. "This globe is all the magical beings in the world, not just guardians. But it also has our human guardians, so look for a brown light, that is Hiccup."
"Bit of a boring color, isn't it?" Jack observed.
"All other colors were taken." North shrugged. They looked around the globe, each looking for the little brown light that would signify their friend.
"There he is!" Tooth exclaimed after a bit of fluttering around the globe, "I found him!" They all came around and looked.
"That's the Isle of Fangs!" Astrid exclaimed. "It's sharp, fang-like rocks make it uninhabitable, and it's almost impossible to navigate with a boat without sinking. We never thought to look there because our ships would have been shredded trying to reach the island. We assumed Alvin would be unable to navigate the rocky outcropping as well." She cursed her own stupidity at not checking every island.
"Interesting, you can use a snow globe to get there, is fastest way." North thought.
"No," Merida countered, "not directly on the Island, we don' know where anythin' or anyone is, it could be dangerous. We should land 'ere," she pointed to a small island about thirty miles away, "then we can plan from there."
"I agree," Jack said, "that's the smartest and safest thing to do. Anyone know what that island is called?"
"Cannibal Island, named for Bethesda the Beastly, who went crazy there and ate her people." Astrid explained, everyone shot her an odd look, but she simply shrugged. It was an old story that didn't faze her so much anymore, sometimes she forgot talk of cannibals and the sort were strange and uncomfortable to others.
"North?" Tooth questioned the big man, "you said this map shows all the magical beings. What about Pitch?"
"He escapes it, he is too shadowed to show up as a light, I have tried to get him on the globe, but I have not succeeded."
"Figures," Jack mumbled, they couldn't get that lucky. "Alright, so let's get this globe so we can rescue our gimpy friend and stop the awful people!" Merida and Rapunzel smirked, but Astrid looked almost bored, Rapunzel guessed she was trying to keep herself from looking anxious. Toothless let out a roar of agreement, eager to get to his human. Jack threw the globe and they all jumped through the portal.
Pitch wandered the caves of the dark, dank island he had found. There really was no better place for him to hide out until he was ready to make his move. Alvin had told him the people of Berk would not come near the island, it was very dangerous for ships, and no one would think Alvin would possibly bring his outcasts here. But Pitch knew ancient secret magic, something he had recently acquired with the help of one of his new allies, and that had helped Alvin's ships get through. He felt better, this time he was not fighting alone, he had found people who could see him. They did not necessarily have to fear him to see him; they just had to have a heart just as cold and dark, and a strong thirst for revenge.
But the belief of his new allies was not enough to bring him back to his former glory. He still needed fear, luckily Alvin struck up enough fear in his men to make quite the feast, then there was the boy in the dungeon. His fear was delicious, so strong, and there was so much of it. The icing on the cake would be when they were ready to go to war. Alvin had only wanted to conquer Berk, he was so shortsighted, but Pitch had convinced him not to stop there. He had an army of bloodthirsty savages, and Pitch's fearlings, he would also finally have dragons once the boy broke, and the boy would break of that Pitch was certain. Then, the people of Berk would be enslaved to Alvin, they would have to join his army, making it bigger and more ferocious still. Then he could take over surrounding islands, move to the mainland, to Europe, Asia, Africa, Everywhere! The army they amass could be big enough to take over the world! A world where Pitch would reign, and everyone would fear him.
The Nightmare King wandered deeper into the caves, lost in his own plans, practically salivating at the desired end result, but also trying not to get over confident, that was his downfall last time. He slowed to a stop when he realized where he was, he was at the cell of that boy Alvin had captured. He knew the man wanted him to break before they attacked Berk, he wanted dragons. 'Well' Pitch thought, 'there's no reason I can't help him along.' Quietly, he slipped into the cell and observed the boy. He was young indeed, but not so young as those miserable brats who had helped defeat him five years ago. He was very small as well, Pitch wasn't sure if he was naturally like that or if it was a byproduct of Alvin starving him. He looked like someone who should have died under Alvin's torture by at least the second day, but either he was very good at withstanding it, or Alvin knew just how to drag it out. Either way it didn't matter, Pitch leaned over him and put his face close to the boy' ear.
"You should give up," he whispered in a voice only he could manage, "it's pointless, you are going to die if you don't give them what they want."
A slightly heavier raspy breath was the only response the semi-conscious boy gave. Not having the strength to do much else. Pitch felt his fear at his words, and decided to delve deeper. "If you don't give in, Alvin will find another way to train his dragons, you are not the only one who knows how. He will kill you, and he will kill everyone on that island." The boy shuddered again. "What do you owe these people?" Pitch continued, "what have they ever done for you. For years you were unaccepted, ostracized, and abused by the very people you are trying to save. Then you save them when they most need it. You have given so much, lost so much, and what have you gotten in return? A small scrap of respect that they give you in order to use you for your knowledge?" He smirked as he could feel despair radiating from the boy. "That's all they want, your knowledge, not you. If they could get that with another Viking they would, they would happily shun you aside again to let another Viking, a real Viking take your place. They don't love you? Why do you think you've been here for so long? They aren't looking for you; they know you will not give in, because they know how much you still want to please them. They are happy enough to let you die, confident enough in their own ability with the dragons, you have now become worthless and disposable."
The small frame shuddered with noiseless sobs, he was too exhausted to refute anything, and after two weeks of grueling torture, he was starting to loose himself to fear and despair. Pitch's verbalization of his fear only made things worse. 'Unloved, alone, worthless' ran like a mantra unchecked through his head and he could not stop it. The skeletal boy curled in on himself as much as the pain would allow, his mouth open in a soundless scream, his vocal chords having given out days ago.
Pitch watched him break, his satisfied grin painting his face like an ugly mask. He left the cell and went to find Alvin; it was only a matter of time now before he gave in completely. He wandered the dark corridors for a while, excited at the thought of finally putting his plan into motion, of finally getting revenge.
"So, how's everything going?" The Nightmare King was not startled by the voice behind him; indeed he had known she was there for a while.
"According to plan," the Boogieman purred. "It will not be long before we can start this war. What news do you bring?" The shadowy figure stepped towards him, a hood over her head.
"The man in the moon has warned them." The shadow said, "and Jack's team was called to the North Pole."
"Excellent!" Pitch exclaimed, "this is all going according to plan."
"I think I would have liked this war to have started before the guardians were aware of our plans."
"There is not much we can do that the man in the moon cannot see." Pitch explained, "Don't worry, Gothel, this time, we will win."
I apologize if Astrid seemed OOC I was trying to capture her stressed and scared, I don't know if I succeeded. And even though I kind of portrayed her as a bit of a bitch, I adore her and love her, so don't think that I was trying to bash her character. again, stressed and scared.