Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon and do not own any of the character. Halla and Ash are based on character from the movie Hiccup and Astrid, but have been modified for my story.
Since it is my first FanFiction reviews would be nice, thanks enjoy
thought '...'
speaking "..."
I want to warn anyone reading this story that due to school starting I may not be writing as much as I used to, but give me time and I will update I don't plan on ditching this story ever. I will update when I can.
Also I am starting to revise, review, and correct the starting chapters because yes I did reread the chapter that I made almost two years ago and some of them have errors I can't ignore anymore, so I will be updating as I correct chapters.
Ash's point of view:
'Odin that hurt' I thought trying to gain whatever composer I could muster after that unsuspecting hit. "I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird. Well weirder. You're never in the village any more which is odd seeing as how everyone wants to know about your dragon killing ability. Not only that, but your skittish, what don't like your trophy plastered everywhere." I nodded my head in the direction of Scarface's corpse, but for some reason Halla didn't make any move to look at her giant trophy.
"I don't like the attention" is all she say as she starts the bed of coals.
I give a dry chuckle "Really attention is all you really wanted before" I could tell that she was trying desperately not to look at me.
"And just would you know about what I wanted." She snapped her back still not facing me.
I leaned against the window ledge hearing it creek underneath me. Halla was tense, and based on the cold shoulder she was giving me I knew she didn't want to talk, but I need to know, I need to know how she beat me. "You know I never thought you would be a dragon killer never, but now that I know what you can do I wonder did you really shot down that Night Fury." I had said it as a joke, but I watched slightly surprised when her back tensed a harsh intake of breath that never exhaled.
"Why are you here Ash?"
"I just wanted to see if Gobber had sharpened my axe not all of us could be privilege and be dismissed from dragon training."
"Privileged is that what you think the elders did. Graduate me from dragon training." She turned around sharply meeting my eyes with a glare. I almost cracked a small smile at the nostalgic of it all. The last time I was leaning against this window Halla and I had just started some type of friendship, before the outsiders came, before everything seemed to change, now it felt like we were starting over. I start to pay attention again when Halla's tone getting louder as she finished her rant "Well no they didn't Ash they scolded me because even though I killed a dragon I still was somehow able to screw that up."
I didn't change my face expression, but instead I jumped over the window and came inside the forger. "How" I asked taking another step forward. I remembered when Halla couldn't even look me in the eye, when she couldn't even talk to me with out a stutter or a rambles, when she would trip over her own feet, her face going completely red, but now…now there was a dragon killer in front of me.
"How what?" she snapped
"How did you beat me? How did you get so good at dealing with dragons? No one gets that good especially someone like you so how?" My voice was even, but I could feel my fists tightening. My father's words ringing in my ears 'You let a talking fishbone beat you congratulation lad, glad to know all that training, all that time I spent teaching you wasted if a walking disaster can get a kill before you'
"You want to know how…" She say sighing as she crossed her arms over her chest "I stopped caring." I blinked a few times but sure that she was messing with me, I trained my whole life to be strong to be the best and all she did was stop caring. She took a deep breathe probably reading my confusion "I stopped caring about what people said, I stopped caring if people thought I was weak, I stopped caring about competing to someone expectation of me-"
"You stopped caring…about the village," I say slowly, not really understanding her rant.
She glared at me taking a step forward "Never" she snaps her eyes a blaze "no matter how badly people thought of me no matter what they said to me I always want to protect this village, I just stopped caring about doing it the traditional way."
I could feel my eyes twitch in irritation. "Traditions aren't made to be broken so you can find yourself."
"Maybe not for you someone who is the living embodiment of them. Tell me Ash has anyone ever told you, you couldn't do something, has anyone ever denied you, has anyone ever doubt you." She starts to shake her head "The village loves you Ash, if you were the chief's son" She sighs giving a dry laugh "the village would be bursting with pride." I couldn't help but feel my jaw clench my fists shaking. 'Just what exactly did she know about my life.' I thought 'did she think is was easy to get this strong, to be this fast, that I for one moment in my life I had a chance to be anything, but the perfect Viking.'
"Don't make it sound so easy" I say my voice low trying very hard to keep from shouting. ""Don't make it sound like I was born this perfect Viking, I was trained Halla the same way you can be."
"Who would train me. I would see you and the other teens training with the parents, who was going to train me Ash my dad, Stoick, the man who would rather chain me to my bed to keep me safe-"
"At least he care" I shouted, feeling the need to punch something, so I step back not wanting to take my anger out on Halla. I don't look at her when I speak still trying my best to calm down. "Your dad wanted to keep you safe out of harms way do you remember what you were like after your mother died, you weren't you Halla" I could see her own jaw tightening.
"You don't know what you're talking about" she snapped taking another step towards me.
"No" I say, the image of little Halla in my head "you stared blankly at everyone, you didn't talk, you didn't eat, you looked half dead. Tell me Halla did you even cry when your mother died."
Halla wasn't looking at me any more, but based on her shoulders shaking I knew she was mad. Did Halla always have this much emotions, was she always this angry because its seems that every time I talk to her she's always mad.
"I did" she says her voice small, but still so full of rage almost as if she was a volcano just waiting for the right time to explode. "And you want to know what happened my dad the great and powerful Stoick the Vast would leave. He would stand there and than leave so I stopped crying, because crying only made people leave." She backed away from me her shoulders still tensed face still looking down.
"Just because he didn't know how to deal with you doesn't mean he doesn't love you." I say, taking a step back as well. The air was tense and it seemed that if we got to close to each other than something would be said or done that neither of us could take back.
"He still doesn't" I hear her mutter as she adds more coals to the bed.
"He's chief he has other things to worry about-"
"I know that" she says letting out a sigh as she rolls her eyes. She groans out of annoyance and walks back in front of me.
"Why are you here Ash?"
I pause for a moment "I heard a noise."
"And you now know it was me, why are you still here though, talking to me. We don't exactly have friendly conversations."
"We have our moments," I say remembering the first few no aggressive talks we had.
"That was a long time ago." She says her arms crossed again.
"Not that long" I say wondering why I didn't just walk away, why was I talking to her knowing that we were in a competition of some sort.
"Feels like it" she says grabbing her apron on the other side of the wall.
"A lot happens in a few weeks. Your trophy out there proves it." I say the last part coming out bitterly.
She sighs tying the apron strings behind her. "Does that really bug you that much? You'll win dragon training you'll kill" she pauses her hands stilling "you'll kill the Nightmare, what more could you want."
"There are rumors going around that say I wont be. That you'll take that from me so you father and the rest of the Vikings on the voyage to the nest can see you for what you really are, the true heir to the village." She finished tying the knot, her shoulders tense. She slowly turns towards me her mouth in a straight line. "They say that you're coming into your heritage."
"You shouldn't bother with rumors," she says, turning back to the bed of coals.
"You really have changed," I say crossing my arms over my chest.
"You make that sound like a bad thing…people seem happier with the new me." She says a hint of bitterness in her voice.
I grunted because she was right, everyone was happier with this new Viking like Halla, everyone except for me. Halla turned her head so she was staring at me "Are you angry with the new me because I can actually keep up with you."
My eyes narrowed, fists clenching as I remembered that idiot outsider taunts. 'Are you intimidated by Halla, afraid that with all her training she can pass you by, or maybe you're afraid that she won't need you to look after her? That no one will need you afterwards. After is why you train so hard isn't it, to be needed. ' I grunt leaning against the windowsill. "No" I say, but even to me it sounded like a lie "I'm just trying to do what's best for the clan." I take a deep breath "and screwing with tradition is not for the best."
"Maybe, maybe not, but who are you to decide that" she says leaving the bed of coals to pick up my axe that was on the table with the other weapons. She struggled with the weight, but made it over to the spinning stone wheel to sharpen it. We stayed slight for a moment as she sharpened my axe, her focus on her work, while mine was on her.
Her hair was a bit longer passing her shoulder to almost reach her mid-back. There was a scar on her lower chin something I know the chief will notice and demand to know what happened, her hands were covered in gloves anymore, but you can still see the a faint line of scarring here and there. She looked stronger, her frame although still thin didn't seem as awkward. It was like she was finally coming into her skin. She pulled the axe away raising it to her face her fingers sliding down the blade. She smiles in satisfaction and walks to the table to clean it. After she's done she walks over to me holding out my axe.
"You shouldn't practice so hard, the blade was so dull it couldn't cut into a log." She says trying her best to be civil maybe even a bit friendly.
"I have to practice," I say taking my axe back, relief flooding me when its familiar weight is back in my hand.
"Why?" she asks, still in front of me her head titled in curiosity.
"Because I have to be the best." Is all I say as I leave the forger, leaving before we get into another fight, before we get to into my private life, before I start yelling, before I make her hate me all over again. I toss my axe back and forth in my hand.
I can only imagine her asking why I had to be the best, but how can I tell her the real reason I want to be the best. It isn't because it's expected of me. Its because I want to kill as many dragons as I can because...because I never want to see her or anybody else look so lost, so empty, and broken after losing someone to those devils.
I went down to the docks and sat over the edge, my axe beside me. I sighed hunched over staring at the dark water, the moon only half full producing enough light to see a sliver of my reflection. Yes it was true people expect me to be the best, but I have more of a drive than just to keep up appearance, to be honest I didn't care if I was the best of not, but if I was the best if I was the strongest than I could protect everyone.
I sighed leaning back on my arms my legs dangling over the dock. I remember my dad training me when I was little he was so proud of me when I could throw a bull eyes with an axe, but a more important memory was the empty look in my mom's eyes when we thought my dad was dead. I remember Halla after she lost her mother. She wouldn't speak, any noise scared her, I remember how broken and small she was.
The whole village attended Halla's mother funeral and it was that day I decided I would be the best no matter what. Halla stood next to her father so small compared to the large form of her father Stoick spoke, his voice hard muffled at times from his grief, but you could tell by his eyes he was trying so hard to keep it together, his fists were clenched and you could tell that he was a man that wanted blood for his dead wife, but than you had Halla. She was so small as she stuck to Gobber's side the man placing a giant hand on her small shoulder, but she didn't cry, she didn't speak, tears ran down her face, but she made no sound almost like she was invisible. As her father started to speak I watched as her shoulder's shook how she buried her face into Gobber's leg. As others came to pay their respects Halla stayed no matter how much Gobber or her father pulled her, she stayed planted in front of her mothers grave.
It was later that night, when the horns rang. Halla was missing and her father and a group of men had gone hunting, my father included. I remember sneaking out of my bed to help the other look and I remember thinking the cemetery. So I ran there, wondering how grownups could be so stupid. She was there of course hunched over her mothers grave she was crying muttering something, but I didn't know what. As I got closer I could tell that she was crying out "sorry" "its my fault" "I did this." I remember I go so angry because it wasn't her fault it was the dragons, they did this, they were the ones at fault. I remember not knowing what to do so I ran back to the village to grab the adults. I remember showing Gobber the way, but by the time we got there Halla wasn't hunched over the grave crying she was standing wiping her tears with her arm. Gobber called out to her and I remember she turned to face us her face shocked at first that we found her, but than she smiled. She smiled that stupid smile like she wasn't hurting, like everything was all right. Gobber took her home and for a while no one saw Halla, after a few weeks we could find her in Gobber's shop, and everyday she had that stupid smile on her face.
My fists clenched. I want to be strong enough to kill every dragon to protect my village. I don't want anyone else to look so broken because of a dragon…I don't…I took a deep breathe…I don't want to see people suffering anymore. That idiot was right I don't want Halla to be stronger than me, because if she's stronger than me than she'll fight and if she fights she could get hurt and that's something I'm not willing to live with.
I grabbed my axe my hands curling around the slightly worn off handle. 'I'll get strong enough to kill all the dragons if it means keeping that broken look away.' I thought standing up my axe resting on my shoulder, as I walked away.