Chapter 11: Fright of Passage
Aside from the episode not ending the way I thought (or hoped) it would, this is probably my favorite out of the Defenders series.
Honor is huge for Vikings. So huge, in fact, that what may seem like a personal matter can drastically affect the rest of your family. Some people take that a little more violently than others.
And Astrid is one of them.
Ten Years Ago
"THE FLIGHTMARE IS HERE!"
That was all it took to send the citizens of Berk into a panic. Under the beautiful glow of the astral phenomenon known as Arvendil's Fire, an aurora that painted the night sky more artistically than any human could hope to recreate, warriors ran to and fro to protect their homes from the infamous dragon. Those who could not fight gathered their children and huddled in their homes, hoping that the dreaded Flightmare would not decide to destroy their houses next.
When the hideous screech of the salamander-like Flightmare first ripped through the night, though, even the brave Berkian warriors trembled in fear.
"Save yourselves!"
"It's too late!"
"Don't look at it!"
"The Flightmare is upon us!"
The beast itself descended on Berk, wreathed in the same brilliant glow as Arvendil's Fire. It was like a shining, flying teardrop. With its legs tucked in and its slimy wings beating, the Flightmare could fly like no other. It was so fearsome that there had not, never in the history of Berk, ever been any other dragons raiding on the same night as a Flightmare encounter.
It was that scary.
As Vikings all over the village shut themselves away in their homes, one small girl didn't run. Five-year-old Astrid Hofferson instead picked up her tiny training axe and scowled fiercely at the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the hated dragon. She had trained for her entire life for this moment. She wanted to be the brave Viking that killed the Flightmare and freed Berk from its terror once and for all.
There it was! A beacon of blue light against the greens and purples of Arvendil's fire, the Flightmare soared around for another go at a house it was having difficulty destroying. Letting out a squeaky battle cry (that was more than a little adorable coming from someone as young as her), Astrid ran as fast as her little legs would carry her, hoping for a clear shot at the dragon.
But someone stood in her way.
"Oh no you don't, Astrid," her uncle Finn warned her, placing a hand in her path. "This is not a battle you can handle. Well...not yet, anyway."
Just because Uncle Finn was one of the best and proudest warriors in the village, so long as his Machamp was by his side, didn't give him the right to take all of Astrid's glory! She frowned at him and tried to go around him, but he kept on blocking her way.
"I understand," Finn said affectionately, patting Astrid's head. "You wait here. Uncle Finn is going to make sure the Flightmare doesn't destroy Berk ever again."
She scowled, the expression clearly meant to be fierce but instead coming off as adorable.
While other Vikings and Pokémon screamed and ran wherever the Flightmare went, Finn and Machamp broke the trend by running right for the terrible dragon. For indeed, he wasn't just any warrior - he was Fearless Finn Hofferson, best dragon killer in all of Berk. Well, besides Stoick the Vast, and possibly Gobber. Either way, he was still really good at what he did.
The glow of the Flightmare abruptly vanished as it flew toward the cliff, where one of the houses blocked Finn's sight of it. But that didn't matter to him. Fearless Finn Hofferson shouted with rage and ran onto the cliff, his axe held high.
"Here I am, you ungodly beast! Fearless Finn Hofferson! Come and get me, if you dare!"
The dragon shrieked and flew up into the air, its glow gradually becoming more intense. When the Flightmare spread its wings, the bright blue light enveloped the entire area. Any thoughts Fearless Finn and Machamp had about charging forward, or going anywhere for that matter, were out the window as they found they were unable to move.
The last sound the frozen Finn Hofferson and Machamp ever heard was the screech of the most feared dragon on Berk.
The Flightmare, now finished with its two victims, flew through the plaza and continued with its act of causing destruction. The villagers all shut their windows in an attempt to hide from the dragon.
"Where is Finn?" demanded Stoick, looking around at the devastation.
"He was there!" announced Spitelout. "He went to battle the beast! And he just...froze!"
Astrid wasn't the only child who had overheard. Not too far away, a young boy was cowering behind one of the houses. Neither of them could believe someone as fearless as Finn Hofferson would be terrified of the Flightmare.
The distant glow of the Flightmare taunted the young Astrid, who was about to swing her axe in anger, only to be stopped by Gobber.
"It's gonna take a lot more that that wee axe, Astrid," the blacksmith said.
Hiccup wanted to do something. Whenever he was scared or upset, he'd want a hug. But perhaps that wasn't the best thing to do, not while the girl he wanted to help looked like she'd chop his head clean off without a second thought.
So, he did the only other thing he could think of.
He ran.
But no amount of distance he put between himself and Astrid would keep him from hearing her scream out in anger.
Both of them would forever remember that day as the day Astrid's family had been shamed.
When Fearless Finn Hofferson had been so overcome with fear that he had done nothing to stop the Flightmare's rampage.
When the name of Hofferson became synonymous with 'coward'.
And it was all that dragon's fault.
Present Day
Hiccup was scared out of his wits.
In all his years of life, he had faced many threats that would have made most Vikings wet their pants. Before he brought the war to an end, he had dodged angry dragons, taken down a Night Fury, and faced off with the Red Death. After that was even worse - because that was when Outcasts, Berserkers, and yet more angry dragons had entered his life. Just a short time ago, he had been a victim in possibly the greatest and most dangerous scheme conducted by a league of villains from countless different worlds.
But right now, he was staring at something that was more frightening than all of that put together.
His wife.
For hours, all Astrid had been doing was hacking, slashing, and demolishing random objects with her double-bladed axe. And she hadn't stopped. Not once. She just kept relentlessly destroying things in a mindless fit of fury that showed absolutely no signs of abating.
He was so scared that he didn't even want to move. When she was in this kind of mood, Astrid was pretty much the living embodiment of the unstoppable force.
"Astrid's been killing inanimate objects all day," Blaze whispered in Hiccup's ear as she strode through the gate. "Seriously, I left this place to eat lunch three hours ago, and it doesn't look like she's lost her momentum at all. Are we sure she's not a Berserker in disguise?"
"She's just wound up about the Flightmare," he replied. "Everyone thinks it'll be back tonight with Arvendil's Fire. Speaking of which...Snivels?" he prompted, turning to his friend. "Do you know anything about this dragon?"
The Servine just shrugged sadly. "No more than you guys. Arvendil's Fire only happens once every ten years, and I certainly haven't been alive long enough to have seen the last one!"
Classes at the academy had been dismissed early due to Astrid's behavior, but Snotlout and his Magmar, Heat, had stayed behind to watch the show. The arrogant boy and his Spitfire Pokémon both leaned against the wall acting like they owned the place. "She's wasting her time," Snotlout laughed, loudly. "When the Flightmare comes, the Hoffersons freeze. Isn't that right, Astrid? I mean, you are a -"
Suddenly, there was a razor-sharp weapon embedded in the stone wall directly in front of him - literally an inch from his nose.
"...Hofferson," he finished in the form of a terrified whimper.
Sighing, Hiccup stepped in to keep what little peace there was. "Okay, everyone, let's take it easy. Just because Arvendil's Fire is coming doesn't mean the Flightmare is, too."
"The odds are pretty high, Hiccup," said Brandyn. "I may not know Berk, but obviously, the Flightmare appears when the sky lights up with Arvendil's Fire."
Astrid pointedly raised an eyebrow at Hiccup. "You were saying?"
Ignoring her, Hiccup threw Brandyn a withering look and asked him, "Is there anything else you know about the Flightmare? Any new information might be enough to help us figure out why its comes here."
"Wish I did," Brandyn replied, sadly. "All the studying I did for training at the Resistance, and they had little to absolutely nothing on Flightmares."
Heather, however, had a bit of info she thought would be useful. "I heard someone in the village say the Flightmare is so terrifying, it's able to freeze their prey right in its tracks."
"Yeah, why don't you ask Frozen Finn Hofferson?" Snotlout jeered.
It took maybe two seconds for Astrid to pin him to the ground with her boot crushing his face. On the sidelines, Hiccup shivered and sent his thanks to Arceus that it wasn't him suffering her pitiless wrath.
"You think it's funny, Snotlout?!" Astrid screeched. "You think it's a joke that my family name was ruined by that dragon?!"
There was a whimper of pain from underneath her as Snotlout tried to move his mouth enough to form a legible reply. He mumbled, "I did find it funny a couple of minutes ago, but now I can see how it might be upsetting you."
Astrid wasn't the only one who was upset. Hiccup's level of worry had gone up to eleven the moment he realized what day it was, and the effect it was having on his wife. Ever since that fateful night ten years ago, Astrid had put her entire heart and soul into training to kill dragons, especially the one that had shamed the Hofferson family. They had completely forgotten about it with all the things going on like Hiccup shooting down a Night Fury and discovering dragons weren't at all what people thought they were. But now, with the inevitable light show to be happening that night, she'd devolved right back to her old, over-aggressive self.
"Hey guys, I know this is a bad time, but does anyone know what else is important about today?" asked Snivels, nervously eyeing the seething former Hofferson.
After taking a second to think about it, Hiccup decided that he'd have to figure that out later. He was more concerned about how the heck he was going to remind Astrid that Team Go-Getters was as much her family as the Hoffersons were without accidentally revealing to Snotlout, or any of the other Vikings, that she was married to him.
"Everyone's talking about how the Flightmare is coming back tonight," Blaze casually mentioned.
"Well, that and Astrid's uncle," Ninjark added.
"Hey, a little sensitivity here!" whined Snotlout. "Can I get up now?"
Snarling, Astrid finally got off of him and went to retrieve her axe, practically ripping it out of the wall. She then stalked out of the arena without so much as a glare in any of the riders' directions, her mood so stormy that clouds were practically forming over her head.
Huffing irritably, Hiccup cast a scathing look at his friends. "Thanks a lot, guys. Really appreciate it."
"Relax," Blaze replied, "I'll go talk to her. She listens to me."
Hiccup just stood there, staring after his wife until he could no longer see her. He didn't think he'd have to remind her who her family was now, and he doubted that conversation would go very smoothly.
A sympathetic Toothless padded over and gently nudged his rider with his nose. The response he got from that was, "She's really taking this hard, huh, bud?"
The Night Fury growled softly in reply.
Hiccup sighed. "Astrid..."
"She sure is," a voice said in amusement. Hiccup turned to find Adhesive hovering not to far behind him. The Poipole expected to at least get a chuckle out of his friends, but frowned when he got nothing. "Oh, come on, anyone who knows her name ought to get that joke." His demeanor changed as he went to leave the arena, as he started singing happily to himself, "Hiccup and Astrid, flying in the sky, getting all K-I-S-S-Y..."
The sun was setting when Hiccup strolled into the forest at Raven Point to meet with Snivels. The Servine had requested that he meet with his trainer to discuss an "urgent matter," as he put it. In return, Hiccup had requested that his best friend do some research for him, and Snivels was certainly not the type to pass up an opportunity to learn more about a rare dragon.
On his way to the planned meeting place, Hiccup noticed Astrid sitting on the ground in front of the team's house, running a stone over her axe.
Oh no. He did not like that look on her face.
But at least she wasn't alone. Blaze was talking to her, just like she'd said she would.
"Look, I'm no stranger to what it is you're trying to do. But don't you think you're taking it a little too far? Haven't you learned by now that you can't face every threat in this world all by yourself? It's always a good idea to have backup, you know."
Astrid tried, but could find no way to ignore what the Blaziken was saying. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, Blaze, but this is between the Hoffersons, and no one else."
"But you're not a Hofferson," Blaze reminded her. "Not anymore, anyway."
Astrid couldn't help but gaze down at the pendant that was hanging around her neck. She'd told the Vikings in the village below that it was just a simple trinket Hiccup had given to her. But it was so much more than that. He'd given to her as a gift just a week before their wedding at the Ice Caves, and she'd yet to take it off since that day. It was, along with their wedding rings, a symbol of their devotion and undying love for one another.
The former Hofferson snapped out of her trance when she caught Blaze giving her a smug grin. She scoffed, "I still need to do this alone."
Deciding that perhaps he should take over, Hiccup stepped closer to try and talk her out of what she was undoubtedly planning - well, even if she wasn't, at least "running away in the middle of the night to fight the Flightmare alone unless it didn't show up at all" was a really good guess, considering her mood. The setting sun cast his long shadow over her face, prompting her to look up and scowl at him.
He didn't much like that look, either.
"I don't want to hear it, Hiccup," she told him, sharply. "I've waited my whole life for a chance to clear my family's name, and you're not going to stop me."
"Who said anything about stopping you?" he asked, caught off guard by the accusation.
She scoffed at him and picked up her axe, then left him for elsewhere.
"Okay, clearly being a supportive husband isn't doing me any favors," Hiccup muttered to himself, almost disappointed that Astrid wasn't going to hear that brilliantly sarcastic line.
...On second thought, he was quite thankful, because she probably would've punched him for that.
He caught up to her rather quickly, planting himself directly in her path and talking before she could brush him off. "Look, no-one loves a new and interesting dragon more than I do," he explained, "Okay, Snivels does, but that's not the point. I need you and the others to defend Berk. If that thing does show up again, it'll take all of us to drive it away."
Thankfully, she folded her arms and glared instead of ignoring him.
"Not if it doesn't even get here!" she retorted. Then she smirked devilishly. "Come on, Hiccup, tell me you haven't been dreaming about the Flightmare," she said slyly. "Observing it, learning about it, training it..."
"Well..." Hiccup replied, shifting awkwardly. "You know, Astrid...training dragons isn't the only thing I think about."
Astrid raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you actually saying that to me with a straight face?"
Hiccup opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get the chance as Snivels happened to arrive at that exact moment. "Hey, Hiccup, I did the research you asked for!" He stopped when he noticed Astrid, realization dawning on him. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt..."
"It's fine," Hiccup insisted, trying to hide his disappointment. The moment's already been ruined, anyway.
"Okay then," Snivels went on. "I asked some of the wild Pokémon on this island and used the information I gathered to make a map of the route that the Flightmare takes every ten years. For generations, it goes through the northern swamp on the way to the village. The same exact route, every time!"
With a wary glance at his wife, Hiccup muttered, "As helpful as that is, Astrid doesn't want to talk about the Flightmare right now..."
"Sure I do!" she assured him, brightly.
A little too brightly.
"So, anyway," Snivels continued, "If we can figure out why the Flightmare takes the same route again and again, there's a chance we'll be able to train it. But if you want to get close to it, you're going to have to be stealthy, virtually invisible in the dark."
"Stealthy," repeated Astrid. "Kind of like a...Night Fury?"
Catching on to what she was doing, Snivels groaned. "Exactly like a Night Fury."
"When do we leave then?" she asked.
They shared a brief discussion, and Hiccup admitted that it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Astrid tag along while they dragon-watched. Astrid told Hiccup that she had forgotten something at the house and getting it back would only take a minute, then dashed off without waiting for his response.
"So," Snivels said, now that he was alone with his best friend. "Anything else you might be planning later on? Maybe a little...surprise?"
Hiccup failed to catch any of the hints the Servine was giving him. His attention was entirely on Astrid.
Maybe marrying her was a mistake, he thought sadly to himself. She's still a Hofferson at heart, and she wants to fight that dragon more than anything. I should have known this was going to happen. We got married too soon, I should have waited a few years. But I couldn't...because I love her too much.
Well, it wasn't really all bad. The life expectancy of humans wasn't that long, they'd be lucky to even reach their thirties, so marrying in their teenage years was pretty much the norm. Still, maybe it would have been a good idea for Hiccup to have waited just a little longer before he'd gone and popped the question...
Snivels caught on with what Hiccup was thinking quite easily, based on his trainer's expression and the direction he'd been looking. The Servine exchanged a look with Toothless, the message he was wordlessly sending as clear as day - Are you serious right now?
Had there been any visitors to the island that night, they would've wondered to themselves why all the Berkians on the island started panicking when an aurora lit up the night sky.
Arvendil's Fire was one of the rarest and most spectacular phenomena ever recorded in the history of the archipelago. It'd be crazy not to sit back and enjoy the natural light show while it lasted, as the pulsating banners that streaked across the sky were stunningly gorgeous on a clear night like tonight. But Berk was home to a long-standing tradition of terrifying dragon attacks that occurred with every aurora, and so they had long ago learned to associate the colors of Arvendil's Fire with the merciless beast that assaulted them upon its arrival.
So, as it were, the village was complete chaos, with warriors running to and fro with their weapons drawn, and mothers hurrying to get their children to safety before the attack began. Gobber was up on the roof of his forge, putting his experience as a battle-hardened Viking to good use by screaming his lungs out.
"Arvendil's Fire is here!" he bellowed to the panicking masses. "Everyone, get to your homes and stay inside!"
His voice could he heard from all the way up into the forest hills. Brandyn had gone out to the bluff to watch the light show, regardless of the high chance of the Flightmare showing up. There's no way he'd ever want to miss such a magnificent display of natural beauty.
Too bad Ra and Camazotz can't watch it with me, Brandyn thought to himself. They would have loved this.
Just how long was it going to take for the two Cosmoem to evolve? Brandyn was tired enough of how silent and immobile they'd been ever since that night they had to go confront Dagur on Dragon Island. Sure, they'd gotten on his nerves at times, but he'd do just about anything to hear his partners talk again.
Heck, I'll even take them teasing me about being in love with Heather!
As if on cue, the raven-haired girl stepped out of the shadows between the trees and went to join her boyfriend.
"They're really freaking out down there, huh?" she asked, referring to how Gobber was yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to get into a shelter. "They should try finding a new island home, if this one dragon actually scares them all that much."
Brandyn chuckled at his girlfriend's joke. "Funny as that is, it just goes to show how right Snivels is about Vikings. They're always so judgmental, fearing and hating things they don't understand. If they can't be more like us, they should at least try to not cause so much trouble all the time."
"That would be nice," Heather mused. "I'd certainly love to go the rest of my life without having to look over my shoulder to make sure Alvin isn't there."
"Didn't he actually end up helping you?" Brandyn asked thoughtfully. "You'd have never met Team Go-Getters if he hadn't attempted to use you as a pawn in his plan."
Heather stared up at the banners of light decorating the sky instead of her boyfriend's eyes. "I never really thought about it like that," she admitted. "I still hate his guts, though."
"You're not alone in that department," Brandyn said, his face stretched out in a reassuring smile. "Neither of us have to be alone, anymore, in fact. Maybe this is just me, but I feel like things for me have gotten infinitely better since I met you. Well, actually, since I met all of Team Go-Getters, but really, every moment I spend with you is something special."
That earned him a heartfelt hug and a kiss on the cheek from his girlfriend.
"But Heather," he said, his smile faltering before it faded. "We can't keep this hidden. Our friends are starting to get suspicious. Maybe we should tell them about us."
Heather pulled out of the embrace she had initiated, frowning. "Ninjark has been asking me more questions than usual. I guess it wouldn't hurt if we told a few of our friends..."
"Of course it wouldn't."
It wasn't Brandyn who had said that.
The couple turned to see Adhesive fly out of the shadows, cell phone in hand. "I've been waiting a while for you guys to get together. You know, since I ship Heatherwings and all. With Arceus as my witness, I swear your secret will be safe with me."
The couple gave him a pair of grateful smiles. Though they quickly faded when Windshear and Buck also came out of hiding, chuckling in their typical draconic fashion.
Snivels strutted confidently into the house, unable to hide the smile on his face - until he saw that none of the other Pokémon were paying him any mind. Screaming internally out of frustration, he tried not to look disappointed as he approached Amber, who was sitting by the fireplace and watching the little Fireworm named Ziggerastica as he danced among the embers.
The Charizard looked up to see her mate standing beside her, and smiled warmly at him, despite the expectant look he was giving her.
"Is there anything important you'd like to say to me?" Snivels asked, trying to be polite about it.
Amber's smile faltered a little. "Snivels, I love you, thanks for being such a wonderful mate?"
Was he imagining it, or was there a bit of smugness hidden in her expression?
"That's not it," Snivels said, sadly.
"What then?" she asked. "If you're not going to tell me what I'm supposed to say, then how am I going to know when to say it?"
"Please tell me you didn't forget what today is!" he begged.
Blaze stepped in between the two Pokémon lovebirds. "Everyone knows what day it is," she said, which made Snivels smile hopefully. "It's the night of Arvendil's Fire. After today, we'll have to wait another ten years to see it again. And I don't wanna go pointing fingers at anyone, but some of our species might not be able to live for that much longer."
Immediately, Snivels's smile faded and he headed towards the door. "I think I'm gonna go for a walk."
As soon as he was out of earshot, Amber let out a loud sigh of relief. "I almost caved in there, thanks, Blaze."
"Don't mention it," Blaze said. "Seriously, though. We just need to keep him in the dark long enough to get the surprise ready."
"Maybe you should have left that task to me," Ninjark finally spoke up from his position in the far corner. "My species is naturally swift and secretive. We don't have the word 'ninja' in our name for nothing, after all."
To demonstrate his point, he leaped up into the rafters and disappeared into the shadows. Then he reappeared seconds later, right in between the two fiery females.
"You've got skill," Blaze admitted, "But you're not as close to Snivels as some of us are. You're probably listed as number seven or eight on his list of friends he'd talk to when he has something on his mind. No offense."
The Greninja didn't look as upset as she thought he'd be. "I'm actually gonna have to agree with that," he said. "But the next time you guys need someone who can move through the shadows as fast as a bolt of lightning, you know who to call."
The aquamarine light of Arvendil's Fire cast an eerie green glow over everything beneath it. The tops of the trees pulsed with light in tandem with the banners of color above them, contrasting spookily with the otherwise pitch-black forest where the light wasn't strong enough to reach. Hiccup observed this phenomenon with a strange feeling in his gut as Toothless passed over on their way to the swamp to the north.
"Okay," he called to Astrid over the wind. "We are going to observe the Flightmare. See what we can learn about it, try to redirect it...that kind of thing. If we can't, then we fall back to town."
He felt her hands on his shoulders. "And if it doesn't show up?"
"Then we've got an easy night, don't we?" he replied, turning his head to grin at her.
She smiled back, and took her hands away only to wrap her arms intimately around his waist. He felt her chest against his back, and her chin on his shoulder. Her warm breaths hit his cheek and neck, and he knew that if he turned his head, he'd see her lovely blue eyes fixed directly upon him.
Such a moment reminded him of that fateful flight on Toothless, the one where he and Astrid had been soaring amongst the banners of light not unlike Arvendil's Fire, but without the threat of the Flightmare's arrival. Maybe they'd have time to fly amongst the beautiful colors in the sky later, if they were lucky.
"But," he continued, trying to hide the fact that he was grinning like a lunatic. "We're observing. Understand?"
He felt her withdraw to a normal sitting position. "Sure," she answered.
"Say the words, 'I understand, Hiccup'," her husband insisted, pointing a finger in the air superiorly.
In somewhat of a drawl, Astrid repeated, "'I understand, Hiccup.'"
That was about the best he was going to get out of her.
"Well that just instills me with confidence," he muttered under his breath.
The terrain started to become less forested and more mountainous. Toothless rose higher so as not to risk flying into a rocky peak, and after maneuvering through the small mountain range, they found themselves soaring over a secluded clearing dominated by water and grass. Very few trees grew here. It seemed almost...mystical, in a way, when illuminated by the glow of the aurora.
"There's the swamp," Astrid reported. "Yep, I can't wait to...see this thing."
Ordinarily, Hiccup would've had alarm bells going off in his head at Astrid's suspicious pause, but something up ahead had him distracted.
It was a bluish glow, coming from behind the mountaintop directly ahead.
"We won't have to wait much longer," he told her. When the sound of wingbeats reached their ears, he raised his voice to shout, "Remember, observe only!"
The Flightmare was smaller than they remembered, about the same size as Toothless, but that's what happened when you encountered something you hadn't seen since your youth. The dragon's entire body was illuminated with a blue light like its own private Arvendil's Fire. It spotted them and unleashed its horrendous screech, diving down with its glowing claws ready to tear and its wings flashing with a blinding light.
With a yell, Hiccup tugged on Toothless's saddle and hurriedly steered them out of the way of the violent dragon. It passed them by, only to swoop right back in the direction from which it came, its glow never faltering for even a second. Toothless flew out of its way yet again, and turned tail to fly back the way they had come. The Flightmare leveled out and began to chase them, glowing as brightly as a star.
"Okay, it certainly lives up to the hype," Hiccup commented. Then, he heard the *sh-shing* of Astrid's axe being unsheathed, and suddenly she was no longer behind him.
She was below him.
Panic bolted through Hiccup's system. "Astrid, what are you doing?!"
The former Hofferson landed flawlessly on her feet, an impressive feat given that she had just fallen dozens of meters. She stood in the middle of the swamp, in a clearing surrounded by dark, foreboding mountain peaks, with the sky swimming with rivers of luminescent color.
Astrid looked up to the black shape of Toothless circling above her, and shouted defiantly, "Defending Berk! And clearing my family name! We'll see who's a coward!"
Up above on Toothless's back, Hiccup sighed, completely disappointed in himself. He should've expected she would try to pull a stunt like this.
"Come on, Hiccup, you know her better than this..." he chastised himself.
Another hideous shriek blasted across the glowing sky. The Flightmare was coming, carving a banking turn over the mountains before diving straight for the stubborn human that had the idiocy to defy it. A brilliant light flashed from its wings with every flap.
"Here I am, you ungodly beast!" Astrid bellowed, lifting her weapon. "Fearless Astrid Hofferson! Come and get me, if you dare!"
Hiccup barely registered the fact that his wife had just said, almost word for word, what Finn Hofferson had bellowed at the Flightmare ten years ago. His heart had sunk down to the pit of his stomach when he realized she had neglected to refer to herself by her new surname.
The Flightmare flew right at her, spraying a mist from its gaping maw. Not knowing for sure what it was, Astrid swung her axe at it. The mist spread around her from the force of the blow, slowly and ever so surely enveloping Astrid in soft, eerie glow.
She was powerless to stop it.
She froze.
"NO!" Hiccup shouted. "Toothless, DIVE!"
Flapping its wings twice, the Flightmare rose above the ground. Not to escape while it could, but to finish off its prey in one pounce. However...
A plasma blast nailed it right in the side of the head, throwing it to the ground in a heap. While it was occupied, Hiccup did his best to ignore his pounding heartbeat and got off the saddle to help Astrid up. Her muscles were locked in place, unable to move.
"Okay, gotta go!" he panted. "Gotta go!"
With difficulty, he hauled Astrid into the saddle and climbed up in front of her. Toothless wasted absolutely no time, blasting into the air as soon as he knew his rider was in position. They made it up into the clouds just as they heard the Flightmare's screech of outrage.
The glowing dragon took to the air, looking this way and that. But Toothless's black scales hid him perfectly amongst the dark clouds of the night. Knowing that it would never be able to find them like this, the Flightmare eventually gave up searching and flew away.
Once he was sure the Flightmare wasn't going to come back their way, Hiccup steered Toothless out of the clouds and down to the clearing below them. "I think we lost it."
With the Flightmare gone, he could shift his attention back to Astrid. He grabbed her arms and shook her gently, uttering out her name, panic evident in his voice. To his immense relief, the blonde started to move again.
"What...what happened?" she muttered, clutching her head.
Hiccup answered, a tad uncertainly, "It, I don't know, sprayed you with some kind of mist. It paralyzed you."
He watched her eyes widen in horror as the significance of what had just happened crashed down upon her all at once.
"It...froze me," she spoke in a harsh whisper.
She shivered with cold and fear, and Hiccup wrapped his arms around her without hesitation, finally giving her the hug she needed ever since that dreadful night ten years ago. He could feel her heartbeat pounding against his chest, faster and harder than a dragon's wingbeats. That was why he hugged her so tightly, to introduce her to his warmth and to let her know that she didn't have to be scared.
Yep, the only reason why...
He let go when Astrid calmed down. "Well, the good news is the effects are only temporary. It gives the Flightmare just enough time to strike."
"I knew my uncle wasn't scared of that dragon," Astrid told him with certainty. "He was paralyzed by it."
In no time at all, the two of them were back up in the air. Hiccup was clutching the front of Toothless' saddle so hard that his knuckles were white. He had just realized, and accepted, that there was only one option open to them now, and it secretly made his blood run cold.
"Let me guess - we're falling back?" Astrid asked, somewhat dejectedly.
However, Hiccup shook his head, exactly the opposite of what she was expecting him to do. After all, he had been so against the idea of her going after the Flightmare.
"No, we're following the Flightmare," he replied. "We are the only thing between that dragon and Berk."
Astrid couldn't help it - she fist-pumped. "Yes!"
On Hiccup's word, Toothless took off, soon reaching a cruising altitude that allowed them to see far and wide across the island of Berk. More mountains passed underneath, followed by vast stretches of black forest.
But when Toothless cruised over the next mountaintop, the landscape opened up like a spread-out map, and their mouths hung open when they saw exactly what was below them.
"What in the name of Fjord?" whispered Hiccup.
It was the river - glowing as blue as the Flightmare.
Snivels walked through the dark forest, the only illumination coming from Arvendil's Fire up above.
Every now and again, he'd flinch a little at the sound of an animal's screech. The Flightmare was nearby. And wherever the Flightmare was, Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless were bound to be there as well.
But Snivels's attention wasn't exclusively on the Flightmare. Or the beautiful lights dancing across the sky.
He was sad. And mad. He'd waited for this day for quite some time, but for a completely different reason than Astrid had. He sighed as he trudged through the shadowy foliage that surrounded him like a blanket of darkness.
"I get that Arvendil's Fire only happens once in a decade, but did all my friends really have to go and forget my birthday?"
Poor Snivels. The first birthday he gets to spend with his friends and family is being completely overshadowed by Astrid's dilemma.
...Or is it?
Gotta feel sorry for Hiccup, too. It's not often the one you love gets so caught up in something that's been haunting them their whole life that they seem to forget just how important you are to them. This could definitely be a test in their marriage.
P.S. Adhesive's joke can be hard to understand if you don't know the origin of Astrid's name. It means "divine beauty," so the joke he was going for was how well her name fits with her appearance.
