Hello!
This is my first FanFiction. Hope it turns out okay!
And yes, please review and tell me what you think! It would be greatly appreciated!
-Mitti
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The Storm, the White, the Blizzard
Chapter I
The morning had arrived.
It had been a common thing before to wake up with the alarm bell ringing, or sounds of shouting while battles raged on relentlessly. Every morning, at least one house would be burnt to the ground, the only evidence that there was ever an inhabited house was the few belongings that could not be burned scattered on the ground. Also, the people that had lived in the house were dejected and sad, even as they had continued on with life and constructed a new house. Mostly every burning was the time for someone to lose something valuable.
However, five months ago, all of that war and fighting and anguish had disappeared into a healthier, livelier, and friendlier relationship.
And, much to a certain teenager's self-esteem, it was all because of him.
But this morning he definitely wasn't exactly feeling happy about it.
"Ugh!" Hiccup mumbled as the wooden roof overhead creaked and shook, excited purring noises coming from the boards. Setting his freckled face down in his pillow, Hiccup attempted, once again, to get a little more sleep before his morning ride.
Obviously his "ride" had different plans. Impatient growls and scrabbling claws against wood. This was the way to always get Hiccup out of bed. If the claw marks got deep enough, he would surely be punished by Chief Stoick, who also just happened to be Hiccup's father.
"Okay, okay, I'm up," Hiccup said sleepily, blinking his green eyes open; something they protested to greatly. Stretching his arms out, he felt the soreness in his muscles from yesterday's training, which had been brutal after one of the last winter breezes had caught up to them and sent them spiraling down into the forest.
"Them" being Hiccup and -
"Mornin', Toothless," Hiccup said louder. The Night Fury obviously heard him, and his claw marks ceased as a loud thump was heard from the side of the house. Toothless had jumped down to the ground in anticipation.
Grabbing his brown vest from the post on his bed, Hiccup climbed out of bed. He had no need for breakfast; he often ate with the other dragon trainers after practice. Those other dragon trainers included: Snotlout, the annoying big-headed boy who had never exactly been a friend to Hiccup; Fishlegs, the blonde and intelligent rider, whose knowledge of dragons had diminished slightly, due to having to erase all of the "killing tactics"; the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who could be annoying and slightly less intelligent than most, but still a help when needed; and, last but certainly not least -
Astrid.
Whenever Hiccup thought about her, he felt very awkward. However, that was only his mind, and himself in reality before peace between dragons and Vikings had been established. When actually training or talking with her, though, he found himself acting like, well, himself. It was not that he did not do this often; now that everyone thought of him as the "teacher" for the dragon academy, Hiccup was grateful for the fact that he could be himself around anyone that he knew. And, that included pretty much everyone on their island of Berk, despite him not knowing some too well.
Hiccup's thoughts about his friends were interrupted by impatient scraps that were being made by Toothless from outside. "I'm coming, bud!" Hiccup replied to him, climbing down the wooden stairs in his house and exiting the big doors.
Outside was certainly a sight.
Only a week ago had the snow begun melting for sure this time. The weather had gotten warmer, and the snow only had a few patches left on the ground. The grass had turned green, and the trees were full of individually-shaped leaves, depending on the tree.
Hiccup had not seen the grass so cleared in almost a year. After the snow, blizzards, and ice, Vikings of all ages seemed to be enjoying themselves in the clearing below. Seeing all of this, Hiccup felt better that everyone seemed to be in an even deeper relationship with their dragons.
Just like Hiccup was about to be closer to his dragon - but, in this sense, quite literally.
Overly excited to see his tired trainer finally come out, Toothless had climbed up the house again, and jumped off the front so he could expertly flip around, despite his balance being wavered with only one tail-wing, and stare at the brown-haired Viking with his intense, yet warm, green eyes.
"Ah!" Hiccup, surprised at his dragon from interrupting his thoughts, jumped as Toothless purred in greeting. "Bud, don't do that, you scared me." Toothless, after catching Hiccup's slight laugh and smile, mimicked the look, his retractable teeth still in, as not to pose as a threat. To Hiccup, though, Toothless hadn't exactly been a "threat" for basically their entire time together.
"Are you ready to go, bud?" An enthusiastic nod from the black-scaled dragon answered Hiccup's question. "Alright, then, let's get your . . ."
Memories came rushing back from the previous day. Hiccup had been riding Toothless with Fishlegs and Astrid, looking for the whereabouts of some dragon-nip that had been mysteriously cut down earlier that week. In the harsh season of winter, if the dragon-nip was cut too early, it would not grow back, which could be a major problem for trainers with a strong-headed dragon, that still needed calming.
A scent trail had been laid, so Meatlug, Stormfly, and Toothless were following it from the sky. As they were following it, a hailstorm became brewing. Now, this was typical weather for the winter-spring change, but it was an unlucky time to have it. While the dragons began desperately looking for shelter, a sharp piece of hail had snapped Toothless' saddle straps enough to make the leather-crafted saddle slip off to the side. Hiccup, who was obviously sitting on the saddle, had followed its lead, causing his prothetic foot to lose control over Toothless' tail wing. When the dragon began swaying precariously in the sky, Hiccup had fallen off and, being dragged down by thousands of hard ice pieces, had found himself falling through a tree, whose twigs had scraped and bruised his arms and legs.
He had dozed in and out of consciousness for a minute or two, but Fishlegs and Astrid had revived him and brought him, Toothless, and the broken saddle back to Gobber's blacksmith, where he was to repair the saddle while Hiccup rested.
After remembering these events, Hiccup slapped himself in the forehead with a groan. Toothless tiled his head to the side, his floppy ears swaying a second after his action, as if to ask what was wrong. "I left your saddle in Gobber's shop, bud," he recalled. "It needed new straps, after that landing we took yesterday."
In Toothless' mind, all this meant was that their flight would be delayed, once again. Growling impatiently, he jumped up and around in a circle, ripping up the baby blades of grass and scattering them. He had been eager to go, partially because he wanted to make up for the crash that had happened yesterday, and partially because that flight had been in the morning. They had not been up in the sky for a whole of twenty-four hours.
"Alright, bud, alright!" Hiccup said, shielding his face from the flying grass with his thin arms. "We'll go there right now, and then meet up with the others at the academy."
Toothless agreed with that, and soon the likely pair were walking, or, in a dragon's case, jumping around to burn off excess energy, to the blacksmith's, where Hiccup had spend most of his childhood with Gobber. He had been the Gobber's apprentice, put there because there was no other place for him. Now, however, Hiccup was the teacher at the academy; he still enjoyed the blacksmith, though. It was where all his new inventions turned alive.
After what felt like forever in Toothless' head, they reached the blacksmith's. Purring in delight, he jumped into his rider's face once again and smiled his big, toothless smile. Hiccup, whose view of their destination was now blocked, protested, "Hey!" before pushing the black-scaled dragon to the side, but just enough so they were side by side.
"C'mon, bud," he said, leading them into the blacksmith's, where Gobber was already working.
"-And 'ave never -" Gobber broke off from his sentence when Hiccup and Toothless walked in. He was sharpening a rusty-looking sword. "Nice o' you to come by," he said, dropping the sword on the creaky wood table, which squeaked in protest as the heavy weapon was dropped on it. "I assume you two ar lookin' for your saddle?"
"Yes. Were you able to replace the saddle straps?" Hiccup asked worriedly. "I wanted to help -"
"You looked like you 'ad jumped out of the sky. Which, in mah opinun, you did." Gobber rummaged through Hiccup's heap of supplies, which was placed on a much more sturdy table, thanks to the repairs Hiccup had made to it after it had collapsed a while ago. It's wood was fresher, and brought a spruce scent that was mixed with the metal and ash aromas. It hardly budged as Gobber set his heavy hands on it.
"Ah, 'ere they ar," Gobber said, holding up a few finely crafted leather straps. Hiccup's saddle, which was now strapless so it looked somewhat like a leather board, hung on the wall above his workplace. Grabbing the saddle, Gobber attached them to the saddle, adjusting them to fit around Toothless. After meddling for a few more seconds, Gobber handed the good-as-new saddle back to it's original creator. "Be careful, and don't go jumpin' ou' of the sky."
"I won't," Hiccup promised, then tied the saddle to Toothless. The rest of the equipment needed before flight was also on Hiccup's spruce-wood table, so Hiccup walked back and forth from there to outside, where Toothless was getting even more impatient. Finally, after the sun had gone up at least three to four inches in the sky, the two were ready to take off.
"Are you ready, bud?"
Toothless made a throaty noise in agreement.
"Alright, then, let's go."
Toothless shrank back a bit, winding up, then bursted off on powerful hind legs and spread out his black wings and began soaring happily through the sky, with Hiccup halfway in control. Both were grateful for the brisk wind, but for much different reasons; Toothless, because it felt like freedom, and for Hiccup, it felt like a nice wake-up call and a breath of happiness. They both relished in the air, which was either bitter cold or a cool breeze, well, all year. On Berk, the weather was mostly always cold. They were lucky this year to get the snow melted this early.
There was one more reason, however, that the pair enjoyed getting up early and flying.
The sights.
When Toothless took off, Hiccup could see the whole village waking up and starting the day. It always warmed him when he saw so many with dragons, playing or laughing, or even flying. Vikings here now were not at war; unless, you count "war" as a fight over who got the last small fish, with one side the child and the opposing side the "Terrible Terror" which was not so terrible anymore.
"It's great to think we did all this, eh, bud?" Toothless purred in agreement, his pupils wide in his green irises.
Hiccup smiled. "Are you ready, bud?" After a twitch of the dragon's left ear, Hiccup leaned downward in concentration. "Then let's go."
At first, the two had been flying at a relaxing speed, just getting used to the altitude. Now that they were adjusted to the cold, though, dragon and rider were ready for a more exhilarating adventure, which they were lucky enough to share most mornings.
And, with a swift flap of his wings, Toothless began flying speedily, with Hiccup positioning his prothetic foot into the saddle's stirrup, which caused Toothless' tail wing to also correct its posture, allowing the dragon to steer and still go at a very fast pace.
Almost unconsciously, the pair began heading upward as well as toward the ocean. White foam was mixed with the deep blue waves, which were clashing more than usual. It was explained to the duo when the blasts of air hit them; one a tensing cold, the other a breath of warmth. The argument between temperatures was beginning to unsettle the ocean.
"It looks like a storm might be coming," Hiccup commented to his dragon as the two slowed down. The rolling-in stratus clouds looked heavy with rain, and hopefully the soon-to-come downpour would wash away the rest of the snow, making it officially spring.
Toothless purred in agreement, perking his ears up as if he heard something. Hiccup watched intently, wondering if his dragon's keen hearing had perhaps heard something unusual. When his ears were batted back from another harsh cut of cool air, Hiccup passed it as nothing and continued steering Toothless through the chaotic air velocities.
The duo had experienced much worse, but it was not exactly planned as an "average morning". Especially after the beat-up from yesterday's hail storm, Hiccup had decided to call it a morning. "Ready to head back, bud?"
Toothless made a deep growling sound, as to agree. This warm-cold battle was sure to last for a few hours, then maybe calm down a bit. "Don't worry, bud, we'll go out flying again later."
As the Night Fury was steered toward the shore and began flying swiftly as to get away from the dicey weather. It took them a little longer to get back to the dragon academy, because of the gust of wind that occasionally blew the two off course. When Hiccup had arrived, everyone was there, waiting for him.
"Hey, Hiccup!" Said a cheerful voice. Hiccup turned to see Toothless' big black head, and leaned to the right so he could see who had spoken. Fishlegs, alongside his Meatlug, was waving. "Were you out in that storm?" the big teen asked.
"Yeah. The air currents are fighting," Hiccup explained. He turned back to everyone else, who seemed to be awaiting what he had in store for the academy today. "No flying today," he reported. "At least, outside of the island. The wind is too strong. In the meantime, we still need to catch the dragon-nip thief."
"I heard you guys lost the trail," Snotlout said. "I would've easily found it."
Astrid rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Hiccup fell out of the sky. We didn't lose it; we came back to get him here."
Hiccup shrugged apologetically, and Fishlegs nodded in understanding. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, just smirked to themselves and began joking about anyone else they'd known that had fallen out of the sky - so, pretty much everyone.
"Whatever," Snotlout scoffed. "Are we, or I, going to find the dragon-nip thief?"
Astrid, who had just about been done with Snotlout's escalating ego, uncrossed her arms and punched him in the arm, with him protesting, "Ow!" loudly.
"Yes, we're going," Hiccup said, climbing aboard his black-scaled friend. "But no doing anything reckless or stupid - and you know who you are."
The twins never listened, so why would they now? Ruffnut and Tuffnut were still joking about when Astrid had been thrown off Stormfly after Hiccup and Toothless had tried to injure up the Red Death.
Smirking, Astrid boarded her Nadder, commenting, "You know you're never gonna get through to them."
Sighing, Hiccup said helplessly, "I've got to try, don't I?"
Snotlout, climbing onto Hookfang, said, "Let's go!" And zoomed out of the academy entrance before the other riders could protest. Ruffnut and Tuffnut, getting buffeted by Hookfang's wings, began saddling up their dragons, Barf and Belch; who, in fact, shared the same body.
As soon as the other four were ready, Hiccup motioned for Toothless to dash to the entrance. Happy to be out and exercising, Toothless purred and raced to the sky, where he spread is black-scaled wings and began soaring up to the murky-colored clouds. Wind blasted in Hiccup's ears, making him shout his orders to the others just for himself to hear them.
"We need to pick up on our trail we had yesterday," Hiccup yelled, hoping his voice was drifting back. "Astrid, you lead, I can't remember where we were." The blonde teen nodded, quickening Stormfly's pace until she was a few yards in front of Toothless. Scanning the forest that was rapidly approaching below them, she pointed off into the distance.
With the wind blasting in his face, Hiccup felt his lungs begin to loose the air that moved much too fast. Taking huge gulps in an attempt to stay breathing, his eyes followed Astrid and Stormfly as they moved about the sky, trying to find where they had left off. No one knew where Snotlout had gone, but then again, no one really cared.
Hearing commotion behind him, Hiccup glanced at Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who were attempting to push each other off their dragons. Only half wanting to intercept, Hiccup glanced at Fishlegs, whose eyes said, 'Alright, yeah, I'll break it up'. While the teen Viking steered Meatlug over to the others, Hiccup turned back around to see that Astrid was now much far ahead of them. Pushing Toothless a little faster, Hiccup wondered if Astrid was trying to compete. It would fit her personality, but then again, if the others lost her, they would have to spend a while trying to find each other again.
After several minutes more of flying, Astrid suddenly glanced back at the other riders, then swooped down to the forest. Hastily following, Hiccup turned Toothless downward.
"C'mon, bud!" Hiccup yelled, and Toothless made a low sound from his throat, beginning to tuck his wings close so as to drop faster. With Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs tagging behind, Astrid and Hiccup soon became side-by-side on their descending dragons.
When the trees got closer, Toothless spread out his wings for a jerking stop. Astrid and Stormfly stopped in a more lengthy fashion; wings slowly spreading out, the duo completely stopped only when Stormfly's clawed feet touched the earth. Jumping to the ground, Astrid looked up at Hiccup and smirked. "Pretty nice landing, huh?" she asked smugly. Hiccup only rolled his eyes.
"Wonderful," he said, dropping Toothless down to the soil. Fishlegs followed, and the chaotic twins landed in a way that could be described as "crashing". Eyes rolling around, Ruffnut groaned while Tuffnut stood up unsteadily, soon to fall down again.
"Okay, so where did the trail end?" Hiccup asked the others. When Fishlegs pointed to the ground, where Meatlug was quickly waddling over to. Looking closely, the boy realized that a few pieces of dragon-nip lay down on the ground. Barf and Belch walked over as well, smelling its enticing scent to dragons. Toothless, being the farthest away, could not smell anything, but Stormfly looked a little off of focus because of it's aroma.
"What direction is it headed?"
"North," Astrid replied, gesturing vaguely toward a group of pine trees. "We were headed that way before you fell."
Hiccup groaned. "Can we please forget that ever happened?"
"Nope," Ruffnut said, grinning idiotically, snapping out of her daze; also making Hiccup inwardly groan once again. When you wanted the twins to learn, they learned nothing; when you wanted them to forget, they never did.
Soon the conversation died, as the five began heading northward, toward the trail. The dragons led them; every time a new piece appeared, all of their pupils became dilated and they succumbed to feeling light-headed and giddy. Every time the dragons went off to Wonderland, the Viking teens knew they were headed the right way.
Snotlout was still nowhere to be seen. Occasionally Fishlegs or one of the twins would ask, "Should we go look for Snotlout?" But Astrid had always nonchalantly replied, "Nah, let him crash into the cliffside." Hiccup, honestly not against the idea, just let them discuss whether Snotlout was of actual importance. The defense that he was happened to be: "Who else is going to be annoying and full of himself?" Of course, that theory was led by Tuffnut.
"Let's stay focused, guys," Hiccup reminded them. "I think we're getting close to the thief's stash; look at your dragons." Indeed, the dragons had all begun to wobble, despite their attempts to stay focused. Toothless's paws dragged tiredly, and he groaned at Hiccup when they pushed onward.
"Stormfly?" Astrid was trying to coax her dragon forward, with success but complaints from the dragon. Soon, Hiccup decided it be best to leave the dragons.
"I think the dragons need a nap," he explained after announcing his idea. "Besides, the stash seems like a big one. After all, the thief's been stealing for over two weeks."
Astrid nodded, while Fishlegs turned to Meatlug in the attempt to have her settle down. All dragons did gratefully, whether being coaxed or without even being told. It was a relief to all of the Vikings' scaled friends.
"Alright then, let's go," Hiccup said, following the trail. Astrid fell in step beside him, while Fishlegs trailed a few feet. The twins were sometimes in front of the threesome, sometimes behind; fighting while banging their helmets together sometimes made them lose sense of direction.
The five continued on, despite Ruffnut and Tuffnut's "clashes". The sun was directly above them, indicating that it was around noon. Despite the sun's rays, however, the air on the island felt slightly chilled. A breeze blew past, taking the dancing leaves with it. The shade from trees above didn't exactly help either.
Just when the twins had stopped fighting for a moment of peace, Hiccup had glanced behind to make sure they had not fallen in a hole or something that had caused them to stop talking/shouting. However, there was irony in that gesture; as Astrid abruptly stopped and took a sudden step back, Hiccup only had time to look at her, confused, until he realized that he was the one who was going to fall into a hole.
"Aah!" Hiccup shouted in surprise as he tumbled down a rather steep declining tunnel. Disoriented but glad the ride had ended, the boy yelled, "Astrid? Fishlegs?"
"We're up here!" Came the reply from the blonde. Looking up and gaining focus again, Hiccup saw his friends quite a few feet above him. Groaning, Hiccup asked them; "Did I fall down a tunnel again?" Since, because it always happened to him, for some reason, he had always tumbled down the hills or whatever was willing to snag his prothetic foot.
"Yep," Tuffnut said, sniggering.
Fishlegs rolled his eyes, then yelled, "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Hiccup responded, standing up and wincing. "What is this, anyway . . ." Trailing off, Hiccup turned to see the cave looming up right behind him. Stuttering for a moment in shock, Hiccup's green eyes opened wide at the gaping tunnel. "Uh, guys?" he asked the other Vikings. "Do you think we've found the cave?"
Fishlegs gulped loud enough for Hiccup to hear. "Um . . ."
"Yes!" Tuffnut exclaimed, giving his sister a high-five, but then was faced with another problem. "How do we get down there?"
Astrid was willing to answer that without words. Walking away from the hole, she came up behind Tuffnut and roughly pushed him. Not ready for it, the blonde boy fell down into the entrance to the dark cave, similar to Hiccup's fashion of falling except with more flailing arms and legs.
More gracefully and skillfully, Astrid followed. Ruffnut rolled over a few times but regained balance after jumping in, while Fishlegs still looked uncertain about going in whatsoever.
"C'mon, Fishlegs!" Hiccup called. "It's not far."
Not seeming to happy about it, the Viking boy also skidded down to the bottom of the hole. Brushing dirt off of himself, he seemed disgruntled, to say the very least.
"Now that we're all here, let's go," Astrid said, willing to lead through the evil-looking tunnel. Complying to her leadership, Hiccup fell in step a few paces behind her. Tuffnut followed, and then Ruffnut, and lastly Fishlegs, who was muttering to himself in an attempt to stay calm.
The cave was very dark. Only the light from the outside world kept them seeing one another's silhouette. After a while it was getting dark enough for any of them to even see each other, except for when they turned toward the beginning of the cave.
"Uh, Astrid?" Everyone turned around to look at Fishlegs' shadowy figure. "Could we maybe stop and look for torches before going in there?"
Astrid frowned, not that anyone could see. "We've come this far. If you wanna turn back, be my guest." Intending this for everyone who wished to go, Astrid had openly invited the fact that she was not going to rest until she found the dragon-nip thief. Quick, scurrying footsteps could be heard as Fishlegs turned around to go back to Meatlug. However, Hiccup thought, he might have trouble trying to get over the cave's entrance walls.
Astrid turned toward the other three. "Let's go, then," she said, leading the way into the intimidating tunnel. The twins had been snickering at some "funny" joke, but even they were silent as they crept behind Hiccup, who silently followed Astrid.
Finally, when it seemed like they should hit the end of the cave any second, Hiccup noticed a faint glimmer of light ahead. Astrid's silhouette was clearer somehow, and turning back, he realized it was the same with the twins.
"Light!" Ruffnut had called it out first, and she stumbled around the other three and began running. Following his sister, Tuffnut shouted, "Wait for me!"
Hiccup groaned. "When will they understand that you shouldn't go running into a possible danger?" Astrid turned around and fell in step with Hiccup, her blue eyes amused. As the two friends walked along, faster now in anticipation, they heard the twins exclaiming something happily.
"Well, it's probably fine," Hiccup commented. Astrid, excitement lighting her face, raced ahead as well to where the light was shining. It was getting lighter, and Hiccup could see Astrid as she ran down the tunnel excitedly, until she turned down the cave pathway. Knowing it was a bad idea to split up, Hiccup began stumbling after her.
"Astrid, wait!" Obviously the blonde Viking could not hear. Turning around the curve of the earth, Hiccup was about to keep running until he realized he was face-to-face with the cave wall.
The turn had been very short, and turned a mere second after the first. Rubbing his hurting forehead, Hiccup decided to be more careful as he took the second turn. This time, though, there was no wall of earth right in front of him; now, there was a wide, low room of dimly lit torches and dragon-nip.
And a lot of it.
The twins were joking around with the dragon-nip, while Astrid was inspecting through the piles, looking for somebody (or something). When Hiccup came within her peripheral vision, she looked up and shrugged.
"Haven't found anything, except for the dragon-nip," she said as Hiccup came by her to an unusually large pile of dragon-nip (but then again, all the piles were a bit oddly large). "I thought something might be hiding in one of these piles."
"That's a good chance." Hiccup spread out the dragon-nip as much as possible, but when the duo got to the earth ground all there was was dragon-nip floating gently down. While the both sighed and began looking for another pile to rummage within, Tuffnut yelled, "Look! A dragon!"
Whipping their heads around to the entrance, Hiccup and Astrid had saw that Tuffnut was, indeed, correct. A "Terrible" Terror was in their vision, it's eyes spinning hazily and it's feet stumbling, similar to how Toothless and the other dragons had been acting before they reached the entire cave. The small green dragon hardly noticed them; it was too lulled by the dragon-nip's scent. It didn't help the Terror that a big bushel was hanging from its mouth.
"We found the thief!" Astrid said, approached the Terror and picking it up. "Quite a small thief, and not what I was expecting -"
"But we found him either way," Hiccup pointed out. "C'mon, let's grab some of this dragon-nip to keep him dazed, so he won't try to run away."
Astrid, who was holding the tiny dragon in a strong grip, just watched the other three as they walked over to the few piles of dragon-nip (most was scattered on the ground by now) and shoved their arms in. Ruffnut sneezed, while Tuffnut snickered, but fortunately quiet enough for his sister not to hear, while Hiccup turned his head as a bit of dust came up from the week-old dragon-nip. After keeping his pile in his arms for a few seconds, it suddenly slipped from his grasp, as if it was covered in grease. Confused, Hiccup was about to attempt to figure it out when he saw the others waiting for him, some impatiently.
"Go on ahead," Hiccup said distractedly. "I'll catch up with you." The twins weren't about to be told twice, and they disappeared into the dark cave. Soon an "Ow!" echoed back to the last two Vikings; Tuffnut had run into the wall.
Astrid looked at Hiccup for a moment longer, then said, "Don't be long." Without another farewell, she, too, disappeared.
Investigating his pile, the brown-haired boy threw aside handfuls of dragon-nip, inspecting a few for any grease or oil. When none was found, he delved deeper into his armful, only to realize that the brown stalks of dragon-nip were sticking to his hands.
"Wha . . .?" Confused, Hiccup brushed of the sticky stalks, and carefully dissected his pile without having anything stick. When he got near the bottom, he found a big blob of black stuff.
Ink.
The blob looked more like a book, really, but it was drenched and still drying in ink. Picking it up (and immediately getting sticky and watery hands), Hiccup tried to wipe off a bit of the cover. When that came to no avail, he tried opening it. Taking each side of the cover, front and back, Hiccup pulled.
After a few seconds, a big smacking sound was heard, and soon the brittle pages of the book were opened. The writing was the same Berk used, so Hiccup scanned the pages.
"Dragon: UnderIce. UnderIce?" He repeated, crinkling up his nose in confusion.
"Ability: Holding breath underwater for long periods of time. Oh, so it doesn't breathe water. Summary: The UnderIce dragon is scaled white, but it can occasionally turn to a pale color, similar to the sea floor." Reading aloud, Hiccup got more and more confused by each passing word.
"The UnderIce dragon is an unknown shape. It is said to be long descendants of the Night Fury, the offspring of Lightning and Death itself." Clearly this book had not been updated on Berk. "It's eyes are said to be petrifying as a myth, but more testimonies have answered to the shockingly silver eyes of the dragon makes you freeze."
"This dragon is known to live within the ocean and fog, where it is less capable of being seen." Wishing he could see one, Hiccup wondered why none had ever been seen on Berk. As he scanned the page for something else he could read without the page breaking, he noticed one last sentence at the very bottom of the page.
"Rarity: Extreme."
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First Chapter is up! Tell me what you think!
Thank you!
-Mitti
