Yes, both my fics are off of hiatus now! Yay! :D I guess I'll explain my sudden absence with this story to you guys too, only fair.
I haven't been updating the past few weeks because, as I'm sure some of you know, the past week was Hijack week on Tumblr and I wanted to participate. So the past two weeks, I've been reading and writing prompts for the days of Hijack Week as well as putting more effort into my Hiccup cosplay for Connecticon, which is next week. Sorry about that, but Hijack Week called me. (Plus, last week wasn't my best week this summer so... I wasn't very motivated, to say the least.)
Anyway, this chapter's a little bit short but it's more of a transition chapter than anything. It sets up for later, basically. I will get back on the ball with my stories, don't worry. But I promise nothing with update dates because some days I spontaneously get a life and stuff happens where I can't write that day. But I'll do my best. Enjoy!
The shores of Berk were calmer as Snoggletog grew closer to its arrival. Some thought it was the work of a more tranquil atmosphere that emitted from every Viking on the island around that time of year while others, mostly Mildew, suggested it was now because they could "go back to their roots and remember how well they did without the dragons around." The residents were, truthfully, more at ease during this time of year, as a side effect of the cheer and hospitable natures that normally would lay dormant inside of the rugged warriors until the decorations were hoisted up and Stoick broke out only the best mead for the celebrations to come. But another contribution to the calmness of the island itself was none other than the cold that came with every Viking's favorite holiday. During this point of devastating winter, it often grew so frigidly cold that the ocean froze over in places when the water stilled for the slightest time frame. The frozen waters and waves were truly one of the many great spectacles to add to the gorgeous scenery that the otherwise unappealing mound of rock had to offer. It presented a perfect backdrop to the winter festivities that were under preparation. Now, though, the tasks were performed with fewer numbers and more hands than talons. With the dragons, excluding Toothless, on their way to lay their eggs, the village would be significantly quieter and tamer.
This time also served as a bit of a break for Hiccup… a break that he often wished he didn't have. Sure, it gave the young dragon trainer plenty of free time for him to do as he pleased. But what Hiccup truly loved was being surrounded by the dragons at all times, like he was very well adapted to. With the dragons, the boy had a very well respected place within his homeland. He was wanted, needed, loved by the village and the dragons alike. And, at times, the absence of the dragons brought Hiccup back to the point in time where he was just the village klutz. Back to when he was cooped up in the house or the forge during every single raid because the town feared the path of destruction he unintentionally brought with him into the open. Back to when he was shunned by his peers for not being capable of so much as lifting an axe without toppling over by its weight. He was mentally taken back to… when he wasn't considered a Viking. Toothless may never leave his side but that didn't change Hiccup's feeling of being useless all over again. The dragons gave him purpose. What was his purpose when they were missing? His only answer was that even the "Dragon Conqueror" needed a few weeks to take time for himself and nothing could be done about it.
Reluctantly, Hiccup took this vacation in stride and tried to let himself relax for once. It was almost foreign for him to do so; he almost lived off of the unpredictability of the dragons and everyone in the dragon academy. Toothless had awoken his rider bright and early, as he always did, for their morning flight. And, for once, hearing the thumps of his companion on the rooftop brought him joy more powerful than his usual morning grogginess. This should be interesting… he thought as he mounted Toothless and the pair took off into the pink and orange hues of sunrise, the first day of Hiccup's break. The jet black of the Night Fury still subtly blended in with the higher points in the sky that still blushed deep blues and purples and were lightly speckled with the stars that desperately retreated from contact with the light of day. If there was one great thing about being dragged out of bed before anyone else on Berk, it was the fact that Hiccup could splendor in the way the sky looked each day. It never looked the same twice, yet it was always beautiful.
And, to the young Viking's surprise, the sky had a fantastic surprise in store for his eyes during this particular flight on Toothless. After about a half hour of soaring through the frost bitten air, the heavens opened above the pair with a faint clap and a flash of brightness. The uncommon sight of light dancing with the clouds and the fading crescent moon were painted across the world above, reflecting in Hiccup's bright green eyes. He had always wondered exactly what those hues were and why they appeared. The boy remembers asking his father about them once and being told that they were nothing special; just something that happens in the archipelago and nothing more. But Hiccup knew that those lights must have held some kind of higher meaning. They had to be more than just something cool to look at.
Upon the opening of the tunnel through time, the five Guardians emerged into this new land on a ride down the auroras; Jack, Tooth and Sandy riding the variants of pink and blue with ease while North and Bunny had to succumb to the rises and falls of the uneven slope. And man, did Bunny hate every second of that ride on the crazy rainbow road in the air. Momentarily, the lights faded away and the Guardians floated, or fell, onto the cold snow that covered the landscape of the new territory.
"Now that," Jack dusted his hoodie off "that was fun." He looked at Sandy, who gave him a thumbs up.
"Maybe for you, frostbite." Bunny barked, once he successfully freed himself from the mound of snow that he landed in "Why is it that every time we get summoned somewhere it's always freezing?!"
"Is not so bad." North interjected, dusting the snow off of his coat "Warmer than the Pole."
"Not by much…" Bunny muttered under his breath. He took his small hourglass out of his holster and scanned the contents, finding half of the sand to be gone. "Well, at least the loon was right about something."
"Hey!" Jack called "The guy's been alone for hundreds of years. When you're secluded long enough, anyone can go nuts."
Tooth flew up above the trees, in an effort to pinpoint where they were. All she saw was small islands and ocean for miles in all directions, maybe a boat or two off in the distance performing whatever task they were assigned. Strange, though. This blank looking landscape wasn't exactly what she imagined this place would be like. Or, at least, she expected to see a village or castle on a hill or something to point them towards where Pitch was headed.
"Tooth!" North's voice distantly echoed "What do you see?!"
Upon hearing North's shout, she rushed back down to her companions. "Looks like a pretty small place… and I don't really see any settlements anywhere. Why would Pitch come here?"
"That's why we're here." Jack stated "We have to find out exactly what's going on and stop him."
Sandy waddled in front of his colleagues and made the form of a house above his head, a question mark soon accompanying it.
"I think Sandy's right here, mate." Bunny affirmed "We should find a hideout or we'll be sitting ducks out here."
"You scared, cottontail?" Jack jeered with a smirk slipping onto his face.
Bunny's face turned sour as he faced the boy "You know what's in this time period, Frost?" He interrogated. Jack was silent "Dragons. A whole mess of 'em. And I'd rather not meet one while it's trying to eat us in the middle of the night because we're exposed prey." He took a stride deeper into the woods and looked over his shoulder. "Anyone else care to last longer than a night?"
Tooth and Sandy followed the large rabbit without question; apparently they were on the same page with the "dragons are dangerous" thing. For Jack, it took a gentle pat on the back from North to get him to come along and take him out of his thought of always wanting to see a real, live dragon. Though, it didn't go far from his mind and was soon the focus of the guardian of fun's attention. He had always wondered what they looked like- what they really looked like. Sure, he'd seen them depicted in a lot of books that Jamie had shown him. They were even in pictures of the young boy's history book for school, which the eternal teen only knew because Jamie thought someone immortal like Jack would have been around for medieval times… not true for the boy born in the English colonies. That's also how Jack's first believer learned of the Guardian's past life and how he became a Guardian in the first place. Yeah, those memories were a lot of fun to dig up again. If there was one thing that jack wanted to do while they were in this time, it was at least see a dragon for himself.
The quintet of Guardians wandered in the unfamiliar forests for hours, North taking head of the pack to slash his comrades an open path with his twin blades. Jack had never pictured Vikings living in a place like this. Everywhere he looked there were monstrously tall trees coated in snow, which meant that the absence of winter in the land must have brought the thickest greenery outside the Amazon with it. And the winter spirit couldn't help but admire the white blanket over the island he was treading on. That was when he began to wonder… who brought the snow before he did? And what happened to that person when Jack became Jack Frost? Whoever he was, he was great at his job. Jack was even envious of the amount of snow he saw. If he ever unleashed blizzards large enough to do this much, he might get an earful from Manny himself about how "irresponsible" that was of him.
But there was one detail that surprised Jack. Throughout the whole walk thus far, there was never even a sign of a dragon to be seen or heard at all. Bunny said that the place was teeming with the reptiles. So where were they? Were they nocturnal or something? Did none of them live on this particular island? It was pretty confusing.
"So, Bunny," Jack smirked "Where are your hoards of dragons?"
The rabbit's shoulders squared "Hell if I know. But if they're avoidin' us, let's keep it that way."
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Aha!" North bellowed "I think we found it!" The rest of the group crowded around the large man and glanced to where he was casting his gaze. They had stumbled to the entrance to a decent sized cave that was carved out of a hill. It looked like they had found their hideout.
"Alright, let's go check it out." Tooth suggested before rushing inside herself. "Wow!" Her voice chimed with an echo "Come look at this!"
The male members of the group and looked to each other with a shrug. Sandy was the first to follow the Guardian of Memories inside. The other three quickly followed suit and re-joined the Sandman and Tooth Fairy inside, awestruck at what was before them. The cave, though small in size, harbored a waterfall that created a tiny pond surrounding it.
"It must have been made from the melting snow or something." Tooth sighed "It's warmer in here."
Bunny stepped towards the pond and entered it, only finding the water to come up to his ankles. "This should work nicely." He chuckled "We'll set us base here."
"Great!" North slung his massive bag off of his shoulder and allowed it to make a small crash onto the hard dirt ground. "Shall we go explore a little bit? Maybe figure out where Pitch went?"
"Sounds good to me." Jack chimed.
"So, should we split up?" Tooth inquired "We could cover more ground that way."
Sandy nodded and formed a moon above his head, shrugging.
"Yes, we all should meet back here by dark." North ordered "We can't risk anything with Pitch roaming around."
The Guardians all exchanged looks before exiting the cave and parting in separate directions.
After a good few hours of flying on Toothless, Hiccup landed his dragon by the now closed Berk Dragon Academy. The boy had arranged to meet with his fellow dragon riders that afternoon for a regular meeting.
He still wasn't quite used to the lack of dragons and felt an initial shock when none of his friends had their dragons. Then he remembered… Right… they're all gone…
"About time, Hiccup." Snotlout moaned "We've been waiting on you, here."
"I know, I'm sorry." Hiccup started "I lost track of time, I guess."
"Of course you did." Ruffnut muttered "You still have your dragon."
"Why are we even here?" Tuffnut interjected "We can't practice or anything without the dragons."
"I called this meeting" Hiccup continued "Because my dad gave us an important job for the Snoggletog festivities tomorrow night. He's put us all in charge of entertaining the kids this year." Snotlout groaned and Tuffnut made a face. Astrid, though, smiled. "Come on, it's not that hard. All we have to do is keep an eye on them and read them some stories. It's not the end of the world. Fishlegs, you still have your book of lore, right?" Hiccup looked around the arena, but didn't see his friend "Does anybody know where Fishlegs is?"
"Last time I saw him was yesterday." Astrid admitted "It's not like him to be late."
Just then the Viking in question staggered into the arena, looking rather pale and even more nervous than normal. His limbs were shaking like dead branches gripping for life and sweat coated his brow.
"Whoah" Tuffnut gasped "What happened to you?"
"You look like you've seen the full wrath of Thor." His sister added on.
"I might as well have." Fishlegs stuttered before his weak legs gave out beneath him and he fell onto his backside with a quiet whimper.
Hiccup was the first to his side, gently clutching his larger friend's shoulder "Fishlegs, what happened?"
Fishlegs gulped "I had the worst nightmare last night, Hiccup…"