Disclaimer to HTTYD and characters (minus Blizzard and Dawny)
Here's the very last chapter of The Storm, the White, the Blizzard! Hope you enjoyed it and plz tell me what you thought about the overall plot! ;D
-Mitti
- - § - -
Twenty-four hours passed.
Twenty-four hours from the time when Depth Island went to the bottom of the ocean, never to be seen again.
Twenty four hours after Shadow's death.
And, what were Hiccup, Toothless, Blizzard, and Dawny doing twenty-four hours later?
Sleeping.
On a nearby island that could hardly be called one due to its small size, the foursome had found a quaint little oak tree that looked half-dead already. Using that to their advantage, they cut it down (courtesy of Dawny's claws) and built a nicely-sized fire. The fish Blizzard had buried on Depth Island that had been wrapped up in a net were quickly taken out and cooked over the fire for the blood redhead and brunette, while the dragons ate their fish raw. It wasn't enough for a proper meal, but it curbed their hunger for the time being.
After the remains of their food was only bones, sleep became the top priority. Time had been unknown when down in the tunnels, but Hiccup knew they had most likely lacked on the required amount of sleep quite a bit. No one was arguing; rather, the sleeping formation that had occurred before took its action again. Dawny slept with Blizzard under her wing, while Toothless curled around Hiccup. The last one to fall asleep was, once again, Dawny, whose silver eyes pried the night fog for almost an hour, trying to sense anything suspicious.
Of course, nothing was, and soon even the UnderIce dozed off.
Their journey had been, to say the least, exhausting, and even though Blizzard had occasionally stumbled awake due to her ribcage aching, she quickly fell asleep again, seeing that everyone else was. Unlike Hiccup, who might have tried to leave the first time he woke up, she didn't have any place to go, or any people to see. Her home had been destroyed, and although that grief made her limbs and chest heavy, she tried to pass it off as nonchalantly as she could.
Finally, though, after a full day and night of sleep, Hiccup and Toothless woke simultaneously, groggy and disoriented. Hiccup's eyes felt watery, and when he rubbed them with his hands both his arms and face felt numb, even stiff. Toothless opened his jaw and gave an enormous yawn, and Hiccup was quick to mimic. As he stumbled to stand up, the boy noticed Blizzard and Dawny still sleeping peacefully.
Dawny's curved wing had been extended for Blizzard to use as a blanket, and the blue-eyed girl had happily accepted it, burying herself up to her nose so only her closed eyes and red hair were visible. Dawny had obviously moved during the night, as anyone does, but her wing had stayed firmly in position so as not to wake Blizzard.
Toothless padded over to Dawny and nudged her with his nose. She grunted, twitching her ears, but otherwise remained unresponsive. The Night Fury puffed air out of his mouth in annoyance for her ignoring attitude, before gingerly prodding her with his paw. The white-scaled dragon took a sharp inhale, stretched her legs, and opened her eyes, a confirmation of her awakening.
Dawny's movement stirred Blizzard, who groaned and fully hid herself underneath the dragon's wing. When that wing was retracted to the just-awakening UnderIce, she was shown curled up in a ball on the sand.
"Blizzard," Hiccup said, walking over to her and nudging her with his hand. Her eyelids tightened, and she took a deep breath before muttering in response.
"Is everyone else up?"
"You're the last one," he informed her.
Two blue eyes opened. "Darn," she said, before moving to a sitting position and wincing. "Why am I the last one up again? I'm not that big of a sleeper." she stood up, glancing around, before asking tentatively, ". . . so . . . what now?"
That was the question. "I need to go home," Hiccup said, looking around in the fog. "But I lost the directions out of here. So I'd saw we're lost."
Blizzard chuckled. "Yeah. Well, an island outside the fog shouldn't be too hard to find, right? I can tell you live in a sunny place, 'cuz your skin's gotten a bit lighter since the first time I saw you." self-consciously Hiccup glanced at his hand, but he couldn't tell a change in its complexion whatsoever. "I know where the fog ends the closest, d'you want me to take you there?"
"Yes please," Hiccup immediately said, thankful for the offer. "And, you know, if you want to stay on Berk with Toothless and I you're more than welcome to."
Blizzard turned away, giving a small laugh. "In case ya haven't noticed, I'm not too social," she pointed out, before sauntering over to Dawny and rubbing her head affectionately with her hand. "I think we'll focus on trying to find a new home. Is that okay with you?" she directed the question at Dawny, who clicked in response, and then turned to her green-eyed friend. "Okay with you?" she asked again, her voice quieter.
"Of course." Hiccup wasn't one to force her onto Berk; it was obvious that she would much rather choose isolation than socialization. "But where do you think you'll go?"
Blizzard's hand slowly fell to her side, her expression subdued. "I dunno," she said finally, looking off at the surprisingly calm ocean. "I guess I'll find another island myself, one with just enough sunlight." she smiled. "But you should go to your home first. The air feels damp, and I think it's gonna rain." she climbed aboard Dawny with stiff movements, before looking expectantly at Hiccup. "Well? Let's head off right now!"
"Okay," Hiccup agreed, walking to the antsy-looking Toothless. After being cooped up in tunnels for days, he was ecstatic to be flying around again in the open air. "You lead the way."
"Erm . . ." Blizzard looked uncertainly at Dawny, who met her eyes evenly. "Can I just ask you to start flying?" she asked the dragon. "I have no clue how to get you into the air."
Dawny answered the question by tensing her muscles and skyrocketing into the fog above. Blizzard's shriek of surprise was very audible as she quickly wrapped her arms around Dawny so as to not fall off. Toothless gave a snort of amusement before he followed suit of the UnderIce's example, just with a less abrupt start. Hiccup quickly got into the pace of controlling his friend's tail-fin, and soon caught up with their two companions in the air.
"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked in amusement, seeing the combination of awe and terror etched on the blood redhead's face.
"I-I've never been up this high!" her voice squeaked a bit as she looked down. "You do this every day?" When Hiccup nodded, Blizzard puffed her cheeks and slowly exhaled.
"I have a new respect for you and Toothless now," she said breathlessly as their dragons' wings beat up and down to stay in the air. The flight from Depth Island had been much lower to the ground, since they had been searching for an island to stay at. This time, though, while they were trying to get out of the fog, the higher the better.
"Anyways, let's go!" Blizzard said, shaking her head to clear it. "We head this way. And Dawny, please go a little slower! I'm really not in the mood to be getting thrown off of ya!"
If a dragon could smirk, then Dawny was smirking.
- - § - -
Roughly one hour later the foursome was not even bored yet.
Of course they were headed towards the end of the seemingly never-ending fog, but while their quest continued boredom was slowly eroded away when Dawny kept whiplashing Blizzard, who was glaring daggers at the dragon. Since Hiccup knew that it was actually fun for even the pale girl, he decided to let them "fight" and watch as a spectator, Toothless agreeing with this choice.
So the two watched as Dawny shot up a fair distance higher. "DAWNY!" Blizzard cried, but the aforementioned dragon merely hummed with happiness before plunging down, down, down, down . . .
And into the water.
Toothless lowered himself a bit, eyes alert for any sign of the now-submerged duo. They continued flying in the same direction (whichever direction that was) and soon caught a glimpse of a white shape swimming rapidly in the water.
She burst through the surface.
"Are you okay?" the question had exited Hiccup's mouth more times than he cared to count. This was the second time Dawny had taken to going underwater, and the now-dark-haired girl was officially soaked.
"Fine," she snapped, but her voice held mirth and her eyes were sparkling. "Why doesn't Toothless do that to you? Dawny's been messing with me the whole time we've been flying!"
"I control his tail-fin, remember?" Hiccup pointed out. "If I didn't want him messing with me, he wouldn't be able to."
Toothless looked almost disappointed at that, and Blizzard laughed.
"Ah, this is just so much fun!" she cheered, her previous grudge with Dawny evaporating like mist. "It's so nice to actually do something besides worrying!" she laid down on Dawny's back, closing her eyes. "D'you worry a lot on your island Berk?"
"Sometimes," Hiccup said, shrugging. "Mostly when a rogue dragon comes, or the devastating winter." The worst time of the winter season; when the blizzards (the snowy kind, not the girl) blew in for days and days.
"Ah," Blizzard said again, unmoving from her position. "It's also nice just to have friends." she giggled, sitting up and opening her eyes. "I've never had friends before. Mainly 'cause I live on a deserted island . . . or lived, I guess, since it's . . ." she shook her head, hiding her tears and forcing them back down. "Whatever."
Silence ensued. It seemed a bit awkward, but everyone just faced forward, looking to where the fog ended (however far away that was). In Hiccup's mind, Blizzard seemed to be getting over the fact that her entire home island had sunk to the depths of the sea quite well, but even she had that soft spot that missed her familiar tunnels and mountain.
His mind then drifted from the battle with Shadow to dragons to Berk to, well, anything. Dawny had stopped irritating Blizzard, and had rather set her silver eyes straight in the direction they were headed, seeming unnervingly intent.
Intent on an island that she sensed.
Blizzard gasped. "Hiccup! Look!" Hiccup jumped as she pointed ahead. "The fog's ending! And I think I see an island!" she said excitedly. "Is it your home? Is it Berk?"
Hiccup desperately tried to get a glimpse of what was on the island. Toothless had started flying faster, outpacing Dawny and leaving their friends behind in anticipation. A hopeful smile was etched onto the rider's face, but it disappeared when he burst from the fog and saw the island in full view.
It wasn't Berk.
Far from it, in fact.
The island was about twice the size of Depth Island (not including the mountain), so maybe about as big as Berk, with birch, maple, and spruce trees all around it. There was a steep ledge on one side, while on the opposite side of the island the ocean shore was a sandy beach. It looked completely untouched by any human or dragon.
By now Dawny had caught up with Toothless, since he was simply flapping his wings but not going forward. "That's not Berk, is it."
Hiccup shook his head, and Blizzard sighed. "Well, c'mon," she said, trying to lighten the mood. "Let's go land. We can eat there, and from the looks of the sky . . ." she tilted her head up. "It's gonna be dark soon. Fish'll be harder to catch."
Realizing that the sun was setting, Hiccup and Toothless reluctantly followed Dawny and Blizzard, who were already making a beeline for a landing. By the time all four of them had a firm footing on the ground, just at the edge of the forest and near the steep cliff, the blood redhead was mesmerized.
"This forest is so huge!" she said, blue eyes wide with admiration. "I never thought I'd see a forest like this in my entire life!" a grin plastered to her face, she began looking at every little detail around them. When she turned to Hiccup though, her smile faded a little bit.
"Aw, cheer'up," she said, patting his shoulder. "We'll find your home island. But we also need to eat. Your island's not going anywhere and you've been gone for 'bout a week anyway. What's another day?" When Hiccup gave her a small smile and a nod, she continued. "Besides, since we slept for quite a while on that other small island, we won't need sleep tonight. We can search in the dark, and seeing the light of a village will be easier to spot."
He couldn't argue with her reasoning, so he let her lead the way over to the part of the ledge that was less steep that the very peak. She peered down at the choppy waves, shuddered, and then turned to Hiccup.
"Dawny and I can catch some fish," she offered. "Would'ja like to watch?"
Hiccup blinked, brows furrowing. "Sure," he said, but he wondered why she had bothered asking. Maybe it was because Toothless and he didn't have anything better to do.
"Awesome!" still in a happy-go-lucky mood, she called to Dawny and climbed aboard her. "Watch this; it's so much fun!"
As Dawny dived into the waters below, Hiccup wondered to himself why he was suddenly feeling those aching pangs of homesickness. Blizzard was right; he had been gone for long enough that most likely a quick break to catch some fish wouldn't matter. Besides, everyone would be angry whether or not he arrived now versus a few hours later.
A splash down in the ocean brought Hiccup back from his thoughts. Both girls were submerged in the water, with Dawny swimming at an incredibly fast speed. Blizzard, who was lying on the white-scaled dragon's back, had tensed before she let go of the dragon and slid off her back. Dawny did not stop swimming forward.
The pale girl's face came above water, smiled at Hiccup and Toothless, before she took a big breath in and sunk under again. This time, she swam downwards, kicking her bare feet hard to propel herself faster. Hiccup shared a look with his friend on shore; neither knew what in the name of Thor they were doing.
Just as Blizzard swam too low to be seen, Dawny had swerved around in the water and dived down as well, shooting herself in the direction of her blood redhead rider. Interest sparked at the brunette boy; they seemed awfully confident, when their plan looked like it could never fit.
A minute passed. Then another.
"What do you think they're doing, bud?" Hiccup asked, glancing over the cliffside. Toothless throated a rather concerned noise, obviously wondering the same thing. Just as the Night Fury was prepared to launch himself into the water to search for their possibly-drowned friends, a foggy white figure appeared from the depths.
"Well, at least they're alive," Hiccup sighed in relief. "But why were they down there so long?"
As Dawny started swimming upwards so they could see her clearer, farther out Blizzard appeared as well. Her pale hands were easily spotted, and they were grasping something . . .
The net!
The same net that held the fish on Depth Island was now being used by Blizzard and Dawny. Hiccup hadn't even known that they had taken the ragged brown net with them, but had to admit it was clever planning on their part. He could see the shining backs of a few fish that had fallen into the now-rising trap.
In-between the silver-eyed dragon's teeth was a corner of the net, while her companion had the opposite end. Both were rapidly yanking upwards so that the fish caught couldn't escape, and soon the duo had swam over to another corner of the net and officially trapped some of the fish.
Their faces rose above the water. A mouthful of water was spluttered back into the ocean by Blizzard, and she coughed and hacked a few times before looking up at the ledge.
"How was that?" she shouted, holding up the net.
"Great!" Hiccup responded as Toothless jumped down into the water as well. He swam over to the middle of the net and grabbed it with his teeth so he could help drag it in.
"Thanks, Toothless!" Blizzard said, and Dawny hummed in agreement. Before long the three had brought the net with several squirming fish inside up on the ledge, courtesy of the UnderIce and Night Fury's ability to fly (Toothless could fly a few feet upwards without Hiccup). Blizzard quickly climbed off of Dawny's back.
"How many fish d'ya want?" she asked, opening up the net and spitting up a bit more of the salty water. "Ugh," she muttered. "I really need to practice holding my breath underwater. I was choking to death."
Hiccup smiled at his friend's sarcasm, before he and Toothless started collecting twigs from the nearby forest and making a fire. They roasted (or ate raw) a fish for each of them, since with the lack of food they couldn't eat too much right away anyways, and Blizzard threw back three more fish.
When their meal was finished, the sun had officially set and the stars were coming in. Blizzard was fascinated with the sky, since she rarely saw it on Depth Island, and kept tracing invisible lines to connect the stars even as the foursome began looking for Berk. Her relaxed attitude seemed to make any tension or worry dissolve between them, since whenever there was silence she filled it in with nonsense rambling. Who knew that the antisocial, paranoid, isolated island girl that attacked Hiccup when they first met could actually make a conversation entirely out of what was around them.
One hour passed. Then another.
But three time's the charm, as the saying goes.
As Hiccup was starting to nod off a bit, Blizzard suddenly gasped and cried out, "I see light! Hiccup, look!"
He snapped his head up as his green eyes frantically searched the horizon. True to the pale girl's word, a small speck of light was seen up ahead. A smile broke out on his face as Toothless throated an ecstatic noise.
"Let's go check and see if it's Berk," his friend suggested, and the two dragons complied with a rathe attitude. Hiccup was so excited to see his friends again that he hardly noticed Blizzard abruptly drop her talking and rather hug her knees to her chest. The carefree, jovial aura that had been around her for hours had quickly dissipated.
Hiccup craned his neck to look for any sign that it was his home island, and was all too happy to see the tallest part of Berk.
Raven Point.
It reminded him vaguely of Depth Island's mountain, except that the latter had been steeper. He shouted in joy, Toothless doing a loop in the air to prove his ecstasy. As the two glanced over at their traveling companions, however, they were greeted with the opposite of happy.
Dawny didn't seem as if she would care either way, but she had been slowing carefully as she looked up at her rider's innocently fearful expression. Blizzard had hidden the bottom half of her face between her knees as her wide blue eyes stared at the many houses on Berk, but when she noticed Hiccup and Toothless watching her she quickly moved to sit cross-legged.
"What's wrong?" Hiccup asked, and Blizzard's face flushed in embarrassment. She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it as she wrung her hands nervously. "I . . ." she started, looking at the fires on Berk. "I'm . . . not too comfortable around people," she said quietly.
Hiccup didn't exactly know how to respond, but Toothless did. He made a purr-like noise to Dawny, who squeaked in response. The two dragons went against the control of their riders and rather veered away from the village and more closer to Raven Point.
"Toothless, where are we going?" Hiccup asked, noticing Blizzard's now purely terrified expression. A glint next to her made him realize she had been holding onto her mirror shard that Hiccup had given her back. Her hand was tense and tightened, and a stream of blood fell down from her palm. Wherever the dragons were taking them, Hiccup hoped it wouldn't make Blizzard meet any people (because who knows what she would do then; she attacked Hiccup when she first met him).
But Toothless didn't do that.
Rather, he brought them to the Cove.
The same place Toothless and Hiccup met was right before them as the Night Fury and UnderIce landed in the darkness. The small pond was visible since it reflected the starlight, and the whole place looked nothing less than beautiful. Blizzard cautiously got off of Dawny and looked around at the scenery before turning to Hiccup.
"I think I want to go back to that one island we found," she murmured quietly, keeping her gaze glued to the ground.
"What?" Hiccup asked in half-disbelief, but he knew it was expected. She had never been comfortable around people, and that would most likely not change.
"It's so pretty," she sighed. "It has a nice forest, and it probably has a freshwater stream like Depth Island had. I dunno if you ever saw it. It came from the big mountain." two blue eyes trailed to meet Dawny's, then Toothless's, then Hiccup's. "Dawny and I could stay there," she said with a hopeful tone. "It would be just like before, except I could experience sunsets and sunrises and the stars . . ." she trailed off, looking at the starry water.
"It's okay, I understand," Hiccup said, and Blizzard smiled softly.
"Thanks." she then glanced at Dawny. "If you want, you can tell your friends 'bout 'the UnderIce dragon', but please don't give me away." her voice was pleading. "If you must, say that you gave the UnderIce dragon away to a girl named . . ."
"Blizzard?"
"No," she quickly rejected. "Um . . . say her name was Twig."
Hiccup's brow furrowed. "Why can't I say your name?"
"I don't want anyone finding me." this was probably just paranoia speaking, but Hiccup nodded and agreed to go along. "And if you could, don't give Dawny's name away either. Just say her name was 'Frost' or something."
"Half of her real name is Frost," Hiccup pointed out.
"But I normally just say 'Dawny'!" Blizzard countered, rubbing the UnderIce's head affectionately with her non-bloody hand. "I'm sorry if I sound stupid," she said, smiling half-heartedly. "But I really don't want anyone to know about me. I'll just be a quiet inhabiter of Shady Isle."
Hiccup blinked. "S-Shady what?"
Blizzard looked at him proudly. "Shady Isle," she repeated. "It's what I'm gonna call that island we stayed at. Don't really know why."
She hesitated speaking for a moment, before rushing up to Hiccup and enveloping him in a tight hug, arms around his neck. "Thanks for being my friend," she said gratefully. "Now Shadow's dead and I've got a new home for a fresh start."
Hiccup hugged her back. "You're welcome."
When she let go, her hand accidentally whipped upwards, causing her mirror shard to nick Hiccup right in the chin. He winced and she gasped, placing the shard in her mouth and taking his face in her hands. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she apologized, before gently wiping the blood away with her thumb. She then narrowed her eyes and peered at the mark. "Have you been scraped there before?" she mumbled, before letting go of his face and taking the sharp object out of her mouth. "It looks like you already had a scar exactly where I cut you. How ironic."
"I don't know," Hiccup admitted. "I don't remember being cut there. Oh well, no harm done." he gave her a reassuring look, as if to say it wasn't bad (which it wasn't).
Blizzard smiled at him and Toothless, who had walked up to Hiccup's side when he got the cut. "Maybe I'll see you guys again someday," she said brightly as she climbed aboard Dawny, who clicked at Toothless in farewell. "Hopefully. Bye!"
"Bye, Blizzard!" Hiccup called as Dawny sprung up in the air, his voice followed by Toothless's roar. Blizzard threw her arms up in the air before shouting back;
"I promise I won't attack you the next time I see you!"
And with the quick blinding reflection of a mirror shard, the two new friends of Hiccup and Toothless disappeared into the night.
- - § - -
Blizzard smiled softly to herself as Dawny flew back towards Shady Isle. "You know what, Dawny?" she wondered aloud, glancing back at the quickly-fading outline of Berk. "I wanna take back what I said. It won't be a 'maybe I'll see you again someday'.
"We're definitely gonna see 'em again."
She tried to hold it in, since she knew this should be a happy occasion that all the peril was gone, but she couldn't help a few crystalline tears from falling down her pale face, the small smile on her lips never fading as she and Dawny, as blood redhead and white-scaled dragon, rode to begin their new life on Shady Isle.
Someday . . .
- - § - -
Hiccup walked side-by-side with Toothless as they entered the village of Berk. They saw no one around, and that was understandable at this hour, but the duo still felt as if they were being watched. Toothless's ears kept twitching uncontrollably.
Despite the nervousness, Hiccup was glad to be back. He knew that he could never really tell anyone the entire truth, since Blizzard had practically begged him to tell no one of her existence. Still, it would probably all be behind everyone, minus the buzz about a new dragon species.
Both jumped when a Nadder jumped straight out in front of them, pupils in slits. Toothless growled for a moment in caution, before his eyes opened wide and he bounded over to the dragon, sniffing her.
"Stormfly?" Hiccup then realized they were close to where Astrid lived. "What are you doing up?"
"I should ask you the same thing."
Hiccup froze when he heard the familiar voice behind him. Toothless smiled his tooth-less smile, the signature move from which he got his name, and rushed over to the person behind him. Hiccup turned around.
And then he got punched in the side. Hard.
"Aah!" he gasped, keeling over and clutching his ribcage as Astrid stood above him, sky-blue eyes blazing. He opened his mouth to say something before she interrupted.
"Where were you?" she said harshly. "You've been gone for eight days!" as Hiccup slowly stood upright. "We've been searching all over!"
"I know, and I'm sorry," Hiccup said, about to continue until Astrid once again cut him off.
"'Sorry' isn't good enough! Everyone was so worried!" her tone was now a mix of anger (obviously), worry and . . . relief? "We've been sending out search parties to try and find you. A few ships are still out there!"
Guilt gnawed at Hiccup's stomach. "But I found what I was looking for," he pointed out. "Astrid, I found an UnderIce dragon!"
Astrid gave him a deadpan look. "You could've told us where you were going!" she pointed out. "You and Toothless just disappeared one night without a trace!"
Hiccup nodded bashfully. "But we're back now," he said as a pathetic excuse, making Astrid roll her eyes. "Besides, we've found out a lot about the UnderIce dragon, right bud?" Toothless looked up with big green eyes in agreement.
Astrid sighed, before looking at Hiccup's eyes and frowning. "What's in your eyes?" she asked, stepping closer to get a better look.
Hiccup blinked. "I dunno. What do you see?" he stretched his eyes open to let her see.
She shrugged. "They just look . . . shiny, I guess." shaking her head, she looked in the direction of Hiccup and Stoick's house. "How are you going to explain to your dad where you went?"
Hiccup groaned. "I've been avoiding the subject," he admitted, getting a small smile out of his blonde friend. "But I'll have to face him eventually."
Astrid nodded, before asking. "So . . . what about this UnderIce?"
Hiccup felt relief crash down on him. Astrid, thank gods, wasn't going to hold a grudge (for too long, anyway). "Her name's Frost, and she's got almost iridescent scales with big silver eyes. She's quite a bit like Toothless, but she makes sounds like squeaks, clicks, hums and chirps."
"Is she on Berk?"
Hiccup knew she was going to ask that. "No. Frost's on a different island with her own rider. They were friends before I went there."
"What island?"
"Just a random one. Not too many people lived there anyway. Frost's rider's name was Twig . . ."
- - § - -
Wow.
Just wow.
Okay, I can't believe I've actually finished my story! IEEE! I've been planning on redoing this story chapter by chapter (you know, just looking it over, fixing things, making it better, etc.) but for now I'm just happy I got the whole story out here.
The Storm, the White, the Blizzard, folks, written by yours truly!
PS - what do you guys say to a sequel, happening after the second movie? Naturally our good friends Dawny and Blizzard would return, but they'd be just a tad different ;). Well, they would be 5 years older.
So just tell me what'cha think!
Thanks to everyone~
-MidnightKitti22