RIGHT. NOT WHAT MANY WERE EXPECTING, I GUESS. THIS ISN'T AN UPDATE TO ANY OF THE OTHER FICS, BUT A SHORT STANDALONE STORY THAT MAY OR MAY NOT SEE EXPANSION BEYOND THE NECESSARY AMOUNT. NO. I'M NOT ABANDONING MY OTHER STORIES, AND I'M SURE THAT I'LL FINISH THEM. MOST DEFINITELY.
ANYWAY, THIS IS AN IDEA THAT I'VE HAD FOR A LONG TIME, AND WHILE I'M... BUSY TO WRITE FOR THE OTHER STORIES, I CAN DEFINITELY WRITE A SMALL NEW ONE.
THIS IS SET BEFORE THE FINAL NIGHTMARE FIGHT FROM THE FIRST MOVIE BEFORE HICCUP GETS CHEWED OUT AND DISOWNED BY STOICK.
JUST AN IDEA, AND SOME LIBERTIES TAKEN FROM THE STORYLINE; THAT WILL BE DETAILED IN THE AN AFTER THIS CHAPTER.
ON WE GO.
"Just give me until tomorrow, I'll figure something out."
That's what he had said, and that's what Astrid kept repeating to herself in her mind as she climbed into her bed.
Of course, there would be no sleep for her that night, as a lot had happened in the last twelve hours of her life. So much radical stuff which challenged her and Berk's ideals from the past four hundred years that she was sure wouldn't let her sleep peacefully for at least a week.
She kept mulling it all over in her head, as to how she was someone who had gone from a dragon fighter to a dragon sympathizer that day, and how she had surprisingly no problem with it. If someone had said it to her a day prior, she would have probably taken that person's head off with her axe.
But no, here she was, with the flight over and around Berk fresh in her mind. A flight on a Night Fury, no less. There was nothing quite like it that she had experienced before, and she couldn't wait to experience it again if she were being honest.
She thought how it could have been so different. She remembered her rage when she found out that Hiccup had aligned himself with the winged reptiles, and how she had every intention to spill his secrets to his father. She was so sure that she would have tattled on him, that she was almost glad that they came back to kidnap her.
Maybe Hiccup had decided that she wasn't an absolute lost cause, because Toothless was still pissed at her when he had deposited her on top of a tree, and it looked like the boy had to convince the Night Fury to do the deed.
Astrid blinked at the ceiling. She was shocked that she thought of herself as a probable lost cause becore the flight, but after what she came to know and understand, it was not untrue. There was a way to finally end the war, and if they played the cards right, she wouldn't have to grow old fighting for the very land that they lived on and the food that they ate, and pass on a war-torn island to the next generation for the cycle to keep repeating before one stubborn side of the war untimately gave in... she would rather not think about that at all.
Had Hiccup left instead of chasing her... she didn't want to think about that either. They wouldn't have found out about the queen, at the very least.
Still, Hiccup apparently hadn't known about that humongous parasite in the nest before, so he had her to thank for it. Probably.
But the final test was still there, and Hiccup would have to face it. He said he would figure something out, but Astrid was filled with trepidation. True, if anyone could find a solution to such a problem, it was probably that twig of a boy, but what could he possibly cook up in one night to upend the entire 'Viking way' from the past four hundred years?
Thoughts like these were buzzing in her head so loudly that she didn't hear the first pebble hit her wooden window. Neither did she hear the second. But she did hear the third, just because it was so loud.
She scrambled to open her window. This time past midnight, on that night, it could only be one person.
Anyone else, and she will get her axe.
It was indeed the chief's son. He was about to throw another pebble, as from what she could make out in the moonlight. Seeing her open the window made him drop the stone quickly, though.
He tried to say something to her, but then stopped and swallowed. She saw his Adam's apple bob as he looked up at her, with a look of worry and determination on his face. That look was enough for her to nod to herself discreetly, shut her window, dress quickly and exit her parents' house to stand beside the boy within the span of two minutes.
She didn't forget her axe, obviously.
"Figured a plan?"
Hiccup looked at her feet pensively.
"Tell me something."
"Ask."
"During raids, when they- the dragons, when they, um, attack..."
"Yes?"
"What is the first thought that... that you think of?"
Astrid was taken aback; just a bit.
"What I think? When they attack?"
"Yes."
Astrid adjusted her forever wayward hair fringes behind her ear to see the boy a bit better.
"I- I don't know. They are these huge and tough winged beasts that want our food, and-"
"N-no, you mistook me."
Astrid blinked.
"Make sure I don't misunderstand you then."
Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Well, okay. When you see a monstrous nightmare during a raid, what do you think? What is the first thing that comes to your mind?"
She mulled the question in her mind a bit.
"Well, they are big..."
Hiccup nodded.
"And?"
"And angry, I guess. And the whole random flaming up thing too."
He looked around them, giving a clean sweep as if checking if someone was eavesdropping.
"Okay, walk with me."
Astrid frowned ever so slightly.
"To where?"
Hiccup shrugged.
"The forge, maybe. Just... come with me."
They resumed the talk once they were clear of the houses. Hiccup didn't look at her as he spoke, electing to look where he was going.
"When you looked at the queen earlier, what is the first thing you thought of?"
Astrid chewed the inside of her cheek.
"Same as the nightmare, I guess."
"So, big, hulking, and dangerous, right?"
"... sure."
Hiccup nodded to himself. Astrid narrowed her eyes at him.
"Are you going to tell me why you asked me all this?"
He let out a small sigh.
"Don't get mad, but I'm almost sure that what you think will be reflected by the rest of the villagers."
"Huh?"
"As in, if, and it's a pretty massive if, I just go and manage to convince my father and the others of what we know now, they will draw the same conclusions. Again, if I manage to get my whole point across before he... who knows, maybe he will throw me off a cliff."
Astrid made a face.
"Before he disowns you. You will be branded as a traitor, you know. Fraternizing with dragons..."
Hiccup rubbed his right upper arm while wincing.
"I... had figured that, but thanks anyway."
They approached the now dark forge. Hiccup quickly went inside, with Astrid following him after a moment's hesitation.
There was enough moonlight filtering in through the nooks and crevices for the two to make each other out without opening any windows.
It felt weird for Astrid to stand there in semi darkness in the forge with Hiccup, and if the look on the boy's face was anything to go by, he reflected the feeling.
Astrid resumed the conversation from there.
"You know, Hiccup, even I can see how telling them straight up that we know about the dragon's nest is a bad idea."
He muttered something she couldn't hear, so she pressed on.
"So tell me that that wasn't the only plan you had."
He shook his head quickly.
"Of course not."
Hiccup moved to one of the broadswords adorning the wall. Astrid could barely squint it out, but the boy had no qualms in seeing in the dark easily. He fingered what she could only guess was the blade.
Hiccup spoke so softly that she thought he was speaking more to himself than to her.
"The thing about vikings is that they see only one way to this killing business: brute strength. They want to physically overpower and outmaneuver their opponents, be it another person or a dragon."
"Why do you speak is if you don't consider yourself a viking?"
Hiccup stared at the blade for a few moments more before tsking.
"Never mind that now. The plan; let's speak about that. I'm concerned about how the others will receive it."
"Receive it?"
"It's... underhanded, you could say."
She raised her brows.
"What is the plan?"
Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck again.
"I wanna go the other way. I want to attack it from the inside."
"...huh?"
He gave her an uneasy smirk.
"The idea struck me when I thought of vikings fighting each other. There are some really strong and capable fighters in the village, you included."
She gave him a slow nod, not understanding what he was leading to.
"These fighters will be useless in the bad circumstances."
"Like?"
"Say, a fever. Some kind of sickness."
That made some sense, but she still couldn't figure out his plan.
"And you want to... make that huge monster sick?"
"A little more."
"...very sick?"
Hiccup chuckled lightly.
"Poison would leave it dead, I imagine."
And there it was. Astrid gaped at him.
"Your plan is to... poison that thing?"
He nodded.
"But... this..."
She was speechless. She had not thought about that. She doubted anyone in the village could, yet now that Hiccup put it under her nose, she was surprised how evident it seemed, like something that should have sprung to her mind at some point of thought.
But what Hiccup had said before was right too. Vikings were used to being direct. They were used to rushing in a fight with war howls and weapons shining. They didn't do duplicitous stuff. They were only used to a good fight and the glory of Valhalla. She could see why Hiccup seemed a bit unsure about how the others would perceive it.
But that was going to have to be something to be thought about later.
"Is there any poison capable of downing... that?"
He grimaced at that.
"Not my area of expertise, I'm afraid."
But she knew someone for whom it was.
"Fishlegs."
He nodded. She kept talking having not seen it though.
"If anyone will know about this stuff..."
"Yep, that guy. I figured as much."
Astrid beamed at him.
"If this works, Hiccup-"
Hiccup chuckled again.
"Hold on now, there are some things to think about before that. Like how well the others would take to the plan."
Astrid nodded, sobering up somewhat. She took a minute before answering.
"The way I see it Hiccup, with the war going on for almost four hundred years... I don't think they would care all that much. We like a good fight, sure, but this has been going on for long enough. I'm sure a quick victory is something people would celebrate right now. A quick conclusion to this war... they won't blindsight it, Hiccup."
"That sounds good, but if it were true, someone would have thought about it, right?"
Astrid let out a long breath, while Hiccup continued worriedly.
"I mean, there has to be at least one time in the past four centuries that someone... SOMEONE would have come up with this. The chances of not thinking of something so damn obvious... it seems impossible, Astrid."
She gave a slow nod, and put out her next words carefully.
"Or... just maybe... no one really did ever think about it."
"Astrid-"
"There really is something to be said about viking bluntness in everything, Hiccup. Stop giving vikings so much credit. Ale and bloodshed in enough quantities will satiate any viking enough for them to not... think."
Hiccup looked pensive for a while, before he gave a somewhat reluctant nod.
"I suppose you are right."
They spent a few moments in awkward silence, before Astrid asked something that had been bugging her for a while.
"How would you, you know, sell all this to you dad? At least the part about the giant dragon queen the size of Berk... without letting on that you have been to the nest?"
He brightened up immediately.
"That bit is easy! I just won't say about the queen at all!"
She was immediately taken aback.
"But then... how will you-"
"The way I see it, Astrid, is that if we end up finding something poisonous to that huge dragon, there is a pretty good chance it will be poisonous to all dragons. So, If I end uo saying that the poison is for the dragons that raid us-"
"They would buy that immediately, and as the raiding dragons don't really eat what they steal-"
"They won't be hurt at all, yes."
Astrid gave him an amazed look.
"Hiccup, that's... that's absolutely brilliant!"
He blushed adorably.
"I mean, it was apparent-"
"To you, maybe, Hiccup. I never would have thought about that."
"Oh, come on, you are right here, and we were discussing it anyway. You would have come up with it-"
Astrid punched him lightly on his shoulder. If she saw him flinching ever so slightly at her incoming fist, she ignored it.
"Learn to take credit where it's deserved, Hiccup."
Hiccup rubbed his shoulder where she had hit, nodding and smiling at her light tone.
"Never mind that. Will Fish be up now?"
She shook her head.
"We can always wake him up, though, come on."
Astrid walked out of the forge, with Hiccup following. The boy seemed hesitant.
"Is it a good idea to wake him up right now?"
Astrid frowned back at him while walking towards the house of the husky viking.
"You woke me up."
At once, he looked stricken.
"I- I'm sorry, I just... needed to talk to you about... what I had thought about... all this."
She smirked back at him before looking forward again.
"I know."
"Are we telling him about the queen?"
Both were in the process of flinging stones at Fishlegs' bedroom window when Astrid suddenly asked this.
Hiccup grunted as he threw his second stone at the wooden shutter before answering.
"I don't see why not, because we might have to tell him about the size to guess the right amount of the stuff."
"And the right stuff."
Both looked up as the shutters opened and a disgruntled Fish poked his head out. He narrowed his sleepy eyes to figure out who was disturbing his sleep. Upon seen Astrid motioning him to go down, with Hiccup standing next to him, he knew that this was no prank, and hurried downstairs after dressing.
"What happened?"
"Not here."
The heir and shieldmaiden dragged him all the way to the dark and ominous forge and sat him on a stool before rounding on him. Astrid took point.
"Do you happen to know any good poisons for dragons?"
The husky boy blinked.
"Poison... for dragons?"
"Yep."
"Not for Snotlout or the twins?"
Hiccup let out a breathy chuckle.
"No, this is, er, serious, Fishlegs."
"Okay, then, why dragons? You want to poison them or something?"
"Is that possible?"
Fishlegs' eyes went wide, as he looked at the solemn faces of the two others.
"You are serious?"
"Is it possible, Fish?"
"Uh..."
When he was sure that it was definitely not a prank, he thought about it.
"I think it is, but I'll need a book from my place to make sure."
"Can you get it now?"
"I- yes, I can, but you could have asked me this before coming here."
Hiccup had the decency to look apologetic. Fishlegs didn't leave it at that though, his expression having changed from one of trepidation to looking miffed.
"Not to mention, you didn't say why you need the information."
"We will once you get your book."
The husky boy remained a tad bit annoyed.
"I still maintain that you could have mentioned this sooner."
Hiccup gave the grumbling boy a sympathetic look, while Astrid just patted him on the shoulder.
"You'll live, now go."
The muttering Fishlegs had left to go retrieve his material from his parents' house, so two other teens took to sitting in the forge to wait for him.
Hiccup was rubbing his thighs, looking a bit stressed. Astrid looked over at him, a bit more eased, but with a question on her lips.
"So now, only Toothless remains."
"What about him?"
"Do you plan to tell Fish about your night fury?"
Hiccup thought about it for a few moments.
"Seeing that the question of how we came to know about the nest and the queen will crop up once we tell him everything, I don't see how we can avoid it."
Astrid licked her lips, contemplating something in her mind's eye.
"The kind of guy he is, he will probably want his own dragon if he sees yours, you know."
"And you are saying you don't want one for yourself?"
"I..."
Hiccup's tone was playful, but Astrid took the question seriously. She had been too engrossed with what was happening and what they wanted to achieve, that she hadn't had time to think about that at all. But now that he had put it forward for her consideration...
"I think yes- once this business is hopefully over."
"Any breed you fancy?"
"Are they all harmless and cute like Tootlhless?"
His smile fell off.
"Astrid, the only harmful dragon is that big ugly bitch lazing at the bottom of that volcano and bullying other dragons to feed her."
"You have tamed other dragons too?"
Hiccup looked to the ground.
"Not to the extent of Toothless, but I've seen enough to know that the ones who raid us are harmless. Once we remove that overpowering control that queen has on them, that is."
"And you are so sure because...?"
His answer was simple.
"The arena dragons. They might act aggressive around all of us heaving those shiny metallic weapons at them, but I have seen and subdued them enough to know that they are only acting defensively."
And that was true. All of it made sense to Astrid as she pieced all the performances Hiccup had pulled in the ring. It had been frustrating for her back then, but now that she thought about it, he had never hurt a dragon to do anything, but did something to the dragons to immobilize and subdue them for a while.
And all that was only possible if the dragons had let him do it to them in the first place. Hence, the conclusion of lack of bloodlust and blind rage.
"Astrid?"
She looked over at Hiccup, a frown on his face telling her of his distaste of the current topic.
"I guess I'll have to see it for myself before I trust the other dragons completely. Toothless is so very different that thinking of him as a dragon seems unreal sometimes, so I suppose my uneasiness is due to that."
Hiccup didn't seem pleased with her answer, but he didn't push her further. Astrid took advantage of that.
"Of course, there is no problem in choosing a breed for myself."
He looked at her with an inquisitive look. She compared the dragon breeds she knew of in her mind.
It was an easy choice.
"Night fury."
Hiccup barked a laugh at her. She pouted at him, and he gave her a placating gesture.
"Admirable, flattering even, but you would have to be extremely lucky to find another one, Astrid."
"Well, I will have to just steal yours then."
Hiccup was really laughing now, holding his stomach and everything. Astrid smiled; she hadn't seen him happy in a long while.
Not like she had looked at him a lot in the past few years anyway.
"I'll have to warn Toothless, then. Oh, man, he will be so pleased with himself once I tell him that you want one for yourself as well after being charmed by him. It's not as if that stupid reptile doesn't need a bigger head, after all."
Astrid pushed the slightly guilty thoughts out of her mind and tittered with him.
"Well, he deserves it. He is amazing."
The beaming smile that he gave her made her feel warm in her belly, like she suddenly had some warm tasty soup filling her stomach completely.
"No, but seriously, of the ones more... frequent, and easily available...?"
Astrid licked the inside of her teeth, mulling it over.
"A nightmare, or maybe a nadder."
Hiccup nodded.
"I can see it. Either will look good with you."
Before she could reply, Fishlegs entered the forge, huffing and puffing in exhaustion while clutching a small book to his chest. Hiccup immediately stood to beckon him further inside, but the husky boy winced in the darkness of the smithy.
"Do you have a lantern or something? I'll need light to read the book, so..."
Hiccup shuffled around to accommodate Fishlegs' needs while the bigger boy went to sit on the stool the smaller boy had occupied earlier. By the time Hiccup was back with an oil lamp, Fish had caught back most of his breath.
"Right then..."
Fish started to shuffle through the pages as quickly as he could. Hiccup held the lantern higher while standing next to the bigger boy, making sure he had enough light to work with.
"There we are. The blue oleander. Let's see... very beautiful, very soft, perennial, and... poisonous to reptiles. So, by extension-"
"Poisonous to dragons."
"Precisely."
Hiccup and Astrid shared a look. Astrid gave a small nod. Hiccup faced Fish.
"So, Fishlegs, how affective is it to, say, larger dragons?"
"Large as in, nightmares?"
"Larger."
Fish frowned.
"Larger than a nightmare?"
"Maybe something like a dragon the size of Berk."
The larger boy blinked at the smaller one, and turned to Astrid when he didn't start laughing. She didn't laugh either, which made the husky boy gulp; his voice came out like a croak.
"Could you... please repeat that?"
"You heard me right."
"Which dragon-"
Astrid placed a hand on Fish's shoulder, forcing him to look at the shieldmaiden.
"There is something you need to know, Fishlegs, but before we can tell it to you, we need your word that you will NOT run out of here screaming, and you will not tell ANYONE. It's of the utmost importance that this remains strictly between us."
"Not to mention, you must hear the whole thing before asking any questions. There is no time to get sidetracked."
Fishlegs looked at the two very serious teens and gulped again, before giving a tight nod.
Astrid glared at him.
"Your word, Fish."
"I- I give it. On my life."
Astrid glanced at Hiccup.
"Stage is yours."
Hiccup gave a sigh before starting.
"Okay, so here is the thing..."
He spent a good half hour explaining the entire situation, starting from downing and training Toothless to the fateful flight with Astrid where they unearthed the secret of the nest. Astrid kept the bigger boy in check, making sure he never asked anything too sensitive, or asked anything at all.
By the end of it, the bigger boy was massaging his head, trying hard not to panic.
"Okay, so, in short, you have a night fury,"
"Yes."
Not as a pet; that was clear. The way Hiccup had talked about that dragon was the way one would talk of a very close friend.
"Which- whom you named- I'll come back to that later. But there is a mean and massive queen dragon in the nest beyond Hellheim's gate, which forces other dragons to steal for herself,"
"Yes."
"And your plan is to kill said dragon with poison."
"Can it be done?"
Fish gave Hiccup a look that screamed annoyance and hilarity in same measures.
"From the sound of it, this queen seems to be of stoker class, what with the obsession with heat and lava and volcanoes. What about its fire?"
"It didn't fire while we were there, we told you of the entire encounter."
"Okay, fine. So, stoker class... I don't really see why it won't work."
It was as if Hiccup let out a breath he had been holding for a while. Astrid gave a breathy chuckle herself.
The husky boy continued before the other two became too happy, though.
"Just make sure enough of those flowers reach her, which, by the way, I meant to ask. How are you planning to deliver those to her?"
As Fish finished his question, one of the sheep in a nearby pasture bleated. Those animals had been bleating the whole time, as they feed during the night regularly, but this once, the sound seemed to have a greater significance for some reason.
Fish put it together when he saw Hiccup's lone raised right eyebrow and a smirk.
"The- the animals- the food that they steal!"
Hiccup gave a nod. Fish turned to Astrid, who was looking pleased.
"That's actually really smart."
Astrid sniggered.
"See, Hiccup? I told you as much."
Hiccup laughed.
"That topic is over, Astrid. Back on topic, guys, come on."
"So, you get the poison to her through the food, and as the raiders don't eat any of it, they stay safe as the queen drowns in the flowers and hopefully dies."
Hiccup nodded but put in a point of his own.
"Just to be safe, we leave aside the fish. The queen is the one with any affinity for land-based meat, not the others. We transport the flowers by yaks, sheep and chickens, and hopefully it's enough."
"But the flowers can be sensed by the dragons, Hiccup. It's harmful to them when ingested, but they can smell it, and they hate it. If they get a whiff of those flowers, then they aren't coming near the island."
Astrid frowned.
"How bad do they smell?"
Fish turned to her.
"Not to us. Those flowers smell really nice to human noses."
"Then where the hel were these flowers for the past few centuries? If they smell so good to us and make the dragons run for the hills-"
"Fly for the hills, more like."
Astrid turned a woolly eye at Hiccup, who was snickering at the comment he couldn't help but give.
"Really? Now?"
"Sorry."
She huffed.
"Seriously though, where were these flowers all these years?"
Hiccup puckered his lips in thought.
"Like you said, we probably shouldn't give vikings too much credit in the thinking department."
Astrid bit her lip, clearly wanting to say something but choosing against it.
Fishlegs looked at the two others with big eyes, wondering since when these two were so comfortable in talking to each other so cordially to the point of friendly banter. Hiccup had always strayed clear of the other teens, and Astrid hadn't really talked to Hiccup in the past few years at all.
Same could be said for himself, choosing spending time with the others over social suicide. It did make him feel remorseful every now and then, but sitting there and talking about poisonous flowers with them seemed to amplify the feeling a bit.
He then realized with a blink that he hadn't noticed this newfound cordiality between the girl and the boy before him when they had come to fetch him from his house earlier. He must have been really tired and displeased to have missed it.
Hiccup turned to him, and he forced his head back to the task while quickly getting rid of the small frown on his forehead.
"I'll figure out a way to hide the flowers. I have some ideas, but that can wait. This whole poisoning plan has to be accepted by dad and the others first. Other things come later."
"What, like make the animals eat the flowers or something?"
Hiccup made a face.
"No, that's... not what I had in mind-"
"Their digestive systems might alter the flower's properties-"
"That's not it, Fish. We will discuss it later."
The bigger boy shut his mouth and sat back, closing his book. He sighed, exhaustion burning his eyelids now that the excitement was coming to a close.
"What now?"
Hiccup looked grim with his lips pressed in a thin line.
"We tell my father about this."
OOOOH, STOICK IS UP NEXT.
NO, I'M NOT EVIL, DON'T HATE ME.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, THIS IS A MUCH SMALLER STORY; SHOULD BE COVERED IN A FEW CHAPTERS. I WON'T BE EXPANDING IT MORE THAN I SHOULD. LESS CHANCES OF WAITING LONG TIMES BETWEEN CHAPTERS.
I KNOW I SHOULD BE UPDATING MY OTHER STORIES, BUT I HAD TO GET THIS OUT. THIS IDEA WAS BUZZING AROUND IN MY HEAD FOR A WHILE, ALONG WITH SOME OTHERS THAT I MAY OR MAY NOT GET OUT IN THE FUTURE. SORRY.
BUT HEY, SOMETHING FOR YOU TO READ IN THE MEANTIME. IT'S A REALY BUSY PHASE OF MY LIFE, AND WRITING THIS WAS AS MUCH OF A DITRACTION AS A NECESSITY, AS IT WASN'T LETTING ME SIT STILL TILL I GOT THIS OUT.
AS FOR THE ARTISTIC LIBERTY I TOOK: ROB S1E9 INTRODUCED THE BLUE OLEANDER AND THE BOTANY BOOK PURCHASED BY FISHLESS AFTER THE EVENTS OF HTTYD1. LET'S JUST ASSUME FISHLEGS GOT THE BOOK EARLIER ON; IT'S NOT AS IF HE BACAME A GEEK AFTER THE FIRST MOVIE (XD).
SEE YOU FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER THEN, WHENEVER I HAPPEN TO PUBLISH IT LOL. TA FOR NOW.
ARTREYCROGHT