My apologies, this part of the story is violent and dismal, but I can promise it won't stay that way.
Chapter Seven:...in which the whole world is destroyed.
Constable Haddock let go of the gymbag and straightened himself immediately when he heard the strong, unfamiliar voice. The doorway was filled with the biggest man he had ever seen in his life, in the barely lit room, he felt like a shadow of death, coming for them at an ungodly hour. Suddenly, the Moon appeared at the window above them and it gave the trash room a silver colour, and now it was easier for the young officer to examine the unknown person in front of him. He had long thick hair in dreadlocks, his equally thick beard was braided and fashioned with gold rings, and he wore a coat covering his right side completely. In his left hand, he held something, and Hiccup recognized a bullhook, but it was much larger and thicker, then Hiccup had ever seen, too big for a bull or even for an elephant.
When the monstrous figure advanced, Hiccup instinctively leapt in front of Astrid like a lion protecting its cub. His hands quivered with rage as he heard the man's thundering voice echo around them.
"I said, who the fuck you are," bellowed the man, and Hiccup saw Eret standing behind him. For an instant their gazes locked and Hiccup noticed a flicker of fear and warning in Eret's expression before he quickly looked away. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins as his body prepared for impending danger.
Astrid didn't move, so Hiccup stayed still, too. They both looked at the giant, who seemed to be angrier by the second. The beam of the Moon reflected on the sharp and pointy blade of the bullhook when he raised it and slammed it to the ground with alarming force. The sound of the slam echoed through the room and the passage leading up to the room, hurting Hiccup's ear.
"I strongly advice you to take your masks off first," he then said in a somewhat quieter manner, but still sounding irritated. Hiccup stayed still, but turned his face back to Astrid. Her eyes were wide, either with fear or rather with the embarrassment of getting caught. A hard moment later, she stepped out from behind him, and took off her mask, dropping it on the floor. He quickly did the same, turning back to the intimidating man whose brow was pushed down into a single line across his forehead.
"Miss Stormfly? Or I assume, it was just a cover. Very clever, indeed, it's been a while since someone managed to fool me," he stated coldly, then he stepped closer to her and she needed to take a wobbly step back. "Now, it's time to tell me who you really are."
Hiccup glanced at Astrid, debating whether he should step in or remain silent. She stood tall in the face of the large man's scrutiny and said nothing. Eventually, the man gave up and turned his attention to Hiccup.
"Maybe you can help me out, son..." he began, but Hiccup was just as determined as Astrid to keep his cool.
A deep sigh escaped his lips as if he'd reached a breaking point. Hiccup felt its heat and it made the hairs on his arms stand up. He moved away from them, slowly stepping back to where Eret stood. Then, turning around, he gazed upon the paralysed couple.
"Eret?" he finally muttered without looking in his direction.
"Yes, Mr. Bludvist?" the tattooed bartender replied with a hint of trepidation.
"Do you recognize this man?" The hefty brute pointed at Hiccup with the sharp tip of the bullhook and he felt a drop of sweat trickle down his spine making him feel both ticklish and uneasy.
"He is a patron of the bar. Introduced himself as Mr. Nigel Fury," Eret relayed with hesitation. He considered elaborating further but decided against it. "He went to the Champagne Room with Miss Stormfly. Twice."
Bludvist curiously turned to Eret now.
"Is that so? What do you think they were up to?" he asked with a suspicious lilt.
"Savage heard them being... affectionate," he stated, "I assumed it was just regular business going on..."
"Foolish assumptions robbed me of half my life," he bellowed, his body quaking with fury.
A grim silence set in the room, but just then, the sound of footsteps could be heard and a slender brunette approached from the darkness, wearing a tight black leather jumpsuit and heavy makeup.
Constable Haddock had no difficulty in identifying the mysterious woman, although he had never seen her before. She was alluring in her fitted clothing and long brown hair cascading down her back, yet a sense of fearfulness seemed to surround her much like it did Drago.
"Do we actually care who they are?" she asked innocently, glancing up at the brute with a gentle yet inquisitive look. Her expression spoke of love, of understanding and connection. Hiccup found all this quite disconcerting; they were such an unlikely, ungodly match.
Drago paused before he answered her, and Hiccup tried to decipher Astrid's face, looking for any hidden plan or agenda. Unfortunately, all he could read in her eyes was fear and concern - which indicated that the odds were heavily stacked against them.
"Listen, sweetheart," the brute said to Heather in a softer voice, "I thought we had put an end to the past; we've completed the chapter, closed the book, and thrown it away completely. I'm not pleased that I have to deal with this irritating pair of driftwood."
"Hey!" Astrid exclaimed sharply, not liking being called driftwood, and all eyes turned to her.
"Something you would like to say?" thundered Bludvist, all gentleness disappearing from his tone, but Astid obstinately shook her head without uttering another sound.
Heather dug into the back pocket of her jumpsuit and pulled out a box of matches, which created an ear-splitting rattle in the stillness of the room when she shook it. Hiccup was confused by this odd behaviour, yet when Heather returned the box to her pocket, he noticed Eret's jaw clench while Drago seemed deep in contemplation.
"Heather, my dear," he resumed speaking shortly after, "You are correct. I'm finished with this game. It's time for me to establish some new regulations, I'm afraid..."
He edged nearer to Sergeant Hofferson and Hiccup was again overcome with the urge to protect Astrid. He moved in front of her, blocking her from Drago. Knowing that she wouldn't be impressed by his gallant attempt at being heroic, he nevertheless found himself unable to control this primal instinct inside of him to guard what he held dear.
The brute gave a loud, sinister laugh. "What a gentleman you are, son," he said, speaking directly into Hiccup's face. "And people say chivalry is dead these days - well, let it die today."
He dropped the bullhook on the floor, and then, in an instant, seized Hiccup's jacket and violently tugged him away from Astrid, before swiftly shoving her chest. Her surprised groan and the clattering of the trash behind them told Hiccup that she had stumbled and tumbled onto the ground. He stood bent over, hands on his knees, panting as fear engulfed him. He swivelled to check if she was alright. She appeared to be fine, sitting among a pile of cardboard boxes and empty containers, flinging and kicking away the junk while muttering what sounded like angry expletives under her breath. Relieved to see that she wasn't hurt, he almost had time to send her a reassuring wink while he straightened himself, but before he could, Drago displayed impressive skill as he kicked the bullhook up from the ground, catching it easily in his hand.
In an instant, the monster stepped forward and struck the young man. He hit him hard in the lower part of his left leg resulting in a loud crack. Hiccup dropped to the floor with a strangled cry as Astrid screamed in distress. Unmoved, the giant raised his bullhook and landed another blow in almost the same spot, causing Hiccup's tibia to break into pieces. The pain was so excruciating that he couldn't even scream; it felt like his throat had closed up. Through blurry vision, he saw Astrid crawl over to protect him, just like he had done for her earlier. His head hit the ground as he faded away, barely registering her angry shouts at Drago or his cruel laughter in response.
Drago sneered at Astrid, "Quit yapping, you ugly little dumpling. Now I've got zero interest in who you are—or rather, who you were."
Hiccup was relieved that the hulking creature seemed to have no intention of causing Astrid harm, as he could no longer guard her. He lay still on the cold floor, feeling only a faint comfort from its chill as his body burned up with the lingering pain. He attempted to keep his eyes open, but it was getting harder and harder by each passing second.
"I'll be damned if someone takes away what's dearest to me again!" Drago shouted.
Hiccup was almost amused. Drago was likely about to kill them, yet still decided to declare his love for someone in the room. For a moment, he felt the pain not in his leg, but in his heart. He wanted so badly to tell Astrid how much she meant to him before it was too late. He opened his mouth and tried to speak from behind her, but all that came out was a quiet mumbling that nobody could hear.
"Follow me, my dear," Drago thundered now, and casually walked up to Heather, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. Heather locked gazes with him, lifted her hand and affectionately touched the big man's revolting face, before turning away from him.
The brunette paused, glancing at the scared pair a few yards away from her. Then, she reached into her back pocket again and this time she produced a small metallic container. Astrid tensely edged closer to Hiccup, who felt her shaking hand on his waist; she was desperately trying to comfort him (or herself) by softly stroking his side.
Heather flipped the small container and emptied a pungent liquid over the cardboards and old newspapers. Astrid didn't need long to piece together her plan, she was on her feet on a blink of an eye, trying to stop the brunette, but Drago had anticipated this, so before she could do anything, he lunged forward and seized her by her clothes. He carried her a few steps into the rear of the room then tossed her away. Hiccup heard the clanging noises, followed by Astrid's cries of pain, likely from having been flung into a metal shelf.
Astrid's moans were cut off by the metallic clang of the container coming to rest on the ground. Heather produced the box of matches from her back pocket again, and struck one on the side, allowing it ignite before dropping it onto the floor. Hiccup watched as flames leapt into existence, accompanied by Drago and Heather's hasty retreat. For reasons unknown, Eret remained, terror written plainly across his face in the glow of the fire.
Astrid's hand grabbed him, trying to move him away from the heat of the fire to the back of the room in a heroic effort. She kept murmuring, "I'm sorry," in an attempt to ease whatever pain she must have caused to him. But, strangely enough, he didn't feel much at all - as if his body was already in a state of becoming a ghost - not yet dead, but soon to be.
Eret made frantic movements with his hands behind the fire, and he repeatedly invoked Astrid's name. "Why does he know her name?" Hiccup thought and annoyance welled up inside him, because the words that the bartender said didn't make any sense to him - he wondered if this might have something to do with the strange dizziness that was coursing through his brain... What was plain and clear to him was that Eret intended to save Astrid from certain death, and her safety was the only thing that mattered to Hiccup. So he hoped and preyed she'd listen to Eret.
Astrid hand seemed to freeze on him, and Hiccup could have sworn he heard her mutter something like "What the fuck?", before she started shouting some incomprehensible gibberish to Eret.
"Nei, ég fer ekki frá honum," she told the bartender loudly in a strange voice the young constable had never heard before. The thought of ghost Hiccup not being able to understand living Astrid saddened him for a moment. He opened his mouth to encourage her to go, but instead of a simple "I want you to leave..." all he could manage was a stammering "I want you... I want you...".
Eret's hurried paces echoed in his ears, but Astrid stayed by his side. He wasn't happy about it.
He felt her carefully crawl to his front, then quick hands gently explored his chest, searching for his heart, he hoped. He desperately wanted to express what he was feeling before they could no longer understand each other, but again, all that came out of his mouth were broken pieces of sentences, "I... you... I... you…," while the word 'love' sat on the tip of his tongue, and refused to be born.
She cooed softly in an effort to soothe him, then pulled something out from his pocket - not his heart, but something much more common: his phone. He felt a warm hand envelop his cold one and she held it tightly as she guided his index finger to unlock the screen. He was certain that she couldn't find anyone who could rescue them from the scorching inferno, unless she had an exclusive line to the King of Heaven. But sadly, he was sure she didn't.
Somewhere in the background faint beeping could be heard, growing increasingly loud before eventually fading away. He understood that she had attempted to send a distress signal to Berk Police using an app on his phone, but it failed due to their depth belowground and lack of reception. She furiously shook the phone, as if her angry response might make a difference, but the beeps quieted down once more.
A single gunshot followed by a second rang out in the distance and he heard her curse. He desperately wanted to shout for her to save herself and flee, it seemed very urgent now. To his relief, he felt her standing up, leaving him alone surrounded by flames and bullets; despite the agony that kept him immobile, he was grateful she was willing to escape. There were the quick stomps of her feet and then the noise of metal clanging together. As she scrambled up the tall steel shelves, racing towards the window, he felt a wave of relief.
The metallic noises grew louder and he could hear her low grunts as she tried to lift herself up to the window. He remembered it was barred, but hoped somehow she had been able to climb out. He felt lonely and empty without her, but it seemed selfish, so he tried to focus on the sounds of the crackling fire in front of him. It reminded him of cold nights when he fell asleep in front of the fireplace listening to his father talking with Gobber about old adventures in the background. As he drifted further away from reality, everything around him became blackness and time and place suddenly ceased existing.
Then who knows when and where, there was a huge rumble and he felt the earth was shaking underneath him, ready to swallow him up.
Finally, everything stopped and the world around him came to a halt.