Back on the normal schedule at last! On the nerdy topic, who else was excited for the MLG? Personally I watched StarCraft 2 the whole way through and I was cheering for MC and Rain, and was really let down when Life came through 3-0.
Moving away from that, Chicago was great!
Anyways, I'll be in hiding for the next few days, and by the end of the chapter you'll know why.
And on a completely unrelated note, Cookie-the-Rookie and I.F.T.S will be a lot angrier at Astrid by the end of the chapter.
Yep. Completely unrelated...
Anyways, enjoy (or not *nervous smile*)!
The entire village was abuzz. Everybody was talking about what Stoick had announced earlier that day. He had gathered everybody in the Mead Hall and stated that Hiccup had actually managed to track down the elusive Night Fury. Nobody would have believed it if it hadn't come from the Chief. It was astounding to think that the screw-up had managed to actually accomplish something that benefited the village. The Chief had then went on and told everybody that they would organize a search party for it later and go hunting for it.
"…ASTRID!" Astrid's head jerked up as she brought herself back to reality. Ruffnut punched her hard in the shoulder, saying, "You were ignoring me again weren't you?"
Astrid rolled her eyes at this, replying, "No I was not, I was simply…thinking."
Ruffnut laughed at this, "About the Night Fury? Pretty exciting stuff, right? I hope I'm the one that gets to deliver the killing blow!"
"Yeah, like that's going to happen. You know they're going to let the Incredible Killing Machine take the honor and kill it." Tuffnut said confidently.
It was now Ruffnut's turn to roll her eyes, although before she could reply to the comment Fishlegs interjected with "I'm actually pretty sure they're going to let Hiccup kill it."
Ruffnut and Tuffnut groaned at the same time, while Snotlout said "I doubt that fishbone has it in him. He couldn't even clean that sheep's skin!" The groans from the twins turned into giggles as they remembered the time Hiccup had visited the tannery in search of an apprenticeship. It had ended with a mess on the floor and Hiccup's schedule full for the next couple of days.
Astrid didn't even bother looking towards the group, her attention now focused on the village's 'marketplace' where the villagers were gathering. The hunt was going to be very soon. It was approaching midday, meaning there would be fewer shadows for the Night Fury to hide in. "It doesn't matter one way or the other, so long as the beast is dead." With that said, Astrid started to move quickly up the hill, and the rest of the teens followed.
Fishlegs' eyes lit up, and he quickly started rambling on about how they would finally be able to see a Night Fury and started to guess at what it looked like, if it had any other special attacks besides its plasma bolt, how fast it could fly, and hundreds of other things before Snotlout grew irritated and growled at him "Would you please shut up, you're ruining a perfectly good moment." Fishlegs instantly stopped and looked down at the ground, afraid of pushing Snotlout any further.
The teens had now arrived at where the rest of the villagers were, and everybody started to cheer as Stoick came out of his house, Hiccup beside him. As they slowly made their way through the parting crowd, nobody seemed to notice the stern look in Stoick's eyes. And nobody seemed to notice the way Hiccup's eyes looked dead, as if all hope had left that fragile body and there was no longer any will to fight, or do anything. Nobody, that is, except Astrid. She carefully watched Hiccup, hundreds of questions bouncing around. Why did he appear so forlorn? Did he actually care for the beast? The drawings seemed to show it, but the very notion of a Viking and a dragon working together was laughable and insane.
Stoick finally reached the edge of the crowd, and as he did so everybody instantly fell silent. Stoick glanced at Hiccup, before looking at the crowd. He took a breath, and started "In the 300 years that Vikings have been on Berk, we have seen and fought a variety of dragons. The Monstrous Nightmare, the Gronckle, the Nadder, and many others. But there was always one dragon that eluded us all. It was the mystical Night Fury, the offspring of lightning and death itself. Nobody has ever tracked or even seen a Night Fury. That is, until today. Because now, we go hunting for the Night Fury that my son has bravely sought after and watched. Today, we go and destroy the menace that has terrorized our village for centuries. Today, we fight. And today, we celebrate my son's achievement!" With those final few words, Stoick raised his axe, and the entire village cheered, waving their weapons around. Ruffnut glanced at Tuffnut and smiled, high-fiving him. Snotlout gave a smug glance at anyone who tried to make eye contact and Fishlegs was bouncing on his feet in anticipation. But Astrid stood rigidly, watching Hiccup, wondering why he didn't seem happy. Maybe the Night Fury could influence the mind, like the Changewing?
The village spread out throughout the forest in a line, slowly moving away from the village. Stoick and Hiccup were near the middle of the line, while Astrid was nearby. Snotlout and Fishlegs were further to the left, and the twins were bordering at the edge of the line. Time passed slowly, only the occasional call from the Vikings to establish their position broke the monotone sound of feet crunching the leaves that were falling from the fast-approaching winter. After what seemed to be an hour and many false alarms, one of the Vikings passed on the word that he had found something. Hiccup's heart plummeted, as he realized the Viking had probably found the cove where he and Toothless would spend most afternoons. It was certainly the proper distance away. His father nudged him and gestured for Astrid to follow as well. Hiccup trudged on behind him, his heart filling with more and more dread as he started to recognize certain landmarks. He and his father quickly reached the Viking who had discovered the cove. Hiccup recognized him as Kalf, one of the fishermen of the island. Kalf gestured for the chief to come closer, and they slowly approached the rim of the cove. As they looked in, Hiccup sent a silent thanks to the gods when he couldn't see Toothless, hoping he had left. But they could still see the signs that he had resided here, and that would invigorate them. There were scorch marks in the ground that Toothless often made before sleeping, a few trees had scratch marks in them, and there were a few broken branches from others scattered around on the ground.
Stoick looked around with a critical eye before saying, "We're going down." Kalf led the way, with Stoick, Hiccup, and Astrid following. They carefully climbed down the rocks before exiting into the cove. On the rim Hiccup could see some of the villagers with bows in hand, stationed in case Toothless decided to make an appearance. Stoick immediately made his way over to the scorch marks, before looking up and calling for Fishlegs. It seemed even the chief acknowledged that Fishlegs had the most extensive knowledge about dragons, Hiccup amusedly thought. Word was passed and Fishlegs quickly made his way over, a grin on his face. Stoick pointed at the coals and asked, "What is this for?"
Fishlegs studied the coals for a bit before stating, "It appears that the Night Fury does this to maintain its body temperature. Dragons have a fairly high inside temperature, and while they are resistant to the cold, they occasionally have to 'recharge' their heat. This seems to be an improvised way of doing so." Fishlegs continued to mutter to himself, but Stoick ignored him, starting towards the trees. He had barely gotten halfway there when a loud growl ripped throughout the cove. The archers quickly readied their bows, Fishlegs stopped his rambling, and Hiccup felt all the color leave his face. No, please gods, no.
There was a moment of absolute silence, before a black, triangular head emerged from the shadows. A few gasps were heard, particularly from Fishlegs, who had taken out his book and was furiously writing down everything he could observe about the mystical Night Fury. Astrid took her axe into her hands, ready to throw at a moments notice. Stoick held his hammer in his right hand, his left hand clenching into a fist. Kalf, while a fisherman, was still trained how to fight and held his spear in front of him, eyeing Toothless.
Stoick started to advance, and Toothless let out another growl. Stoick paused before ignoring the warning and picking up his pace, breaking into a jog and letting out a battle cry, both hands now on his hammer. Toothless bounded across the remaining distance quickly and slammed into Stoick, knocking him down into the ground. The archers quickly fired their arrows, but Toothless jumped off Stoick and was able to evade most of them. One, however, found its target and buried into Toothless' side. Toothless let out a cry of pain. Astrid, seeing an opening, pulled back her axe, and started to bring it forward, while Hiccup simultaneously cried out "NO!" and ran towards Toothless.
Astrid saw Hiccup running between her and the Night Fury, but her hand had already let go of the axe. Time seemed to slow for Hiccup; he saw each rotation of the axe, the fading sunlight glinting off the metal edge as it slowly made its way towards him. He saw the look of horror in Astrid's eyes, the rage in Stoick's, and the confusion in Fishlegs'. But he didn't care at that moment, his mind not considering it important. He couldn't let Toothless die. Toothless, the one who had showed him what true friendship was, and the only one who cared about him. Toothless, the only one who had ever accepted him and not the façade he had to put on whenever he was in the village. He watched the gleaming edge of death spin towards him, burying itself deep into his chest. He could hear the snapping of his own ribs, could see the droplets of blood fly away, and felt the wind as the force of the blow blew him back, yet he felt no pain. He only felt acceptance as the darkness closed in on him, and stole the life away from him.
Please don't kill me! I know I seem like a heartless person right now, but all I can say is that Hiccup isn't done for yet!
Anyways, reviews help, and I'll make a reappearance next Sunday, or who knows, maybe I'll start bi-weekly updates! :P