Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 5: Compromises and Sacrifices

-Hello! Since it's my birthday, here's an early chapter for you! This chapter will have a lot of talking, but it will show where the characters stand with one another. 

PLEASE read Author's Note at the bottom when finished reading! Otherwise, enjoy!

-NFD

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I kept my shock out of my expression, carefully maintaining the angered, protective, and suspicious demeanor I had before. I couldn't let Astrid know that I was aware of who she was, not if there was a chance that she held a grudge against me for the battle with the Queen. For example, I did leave her behind on that island, so I wasn't sure how she got here herself, but I had no doubt she would be angry about that.

I needed to behave like a brand new, wild Dark One who knew nothing about her and simply wanted to protect my offspring. That wasn't very far from the truth. I actually was a wild Dark One, I did want to protect my daughter, and I didn't know much, if anything, about her anymore. Not to mention, I was technically a 'new' Dark One because my body had changed so much since I'd last seen her.

Still, I wished I could understand what she was saying; she talked too fast for me to read her lips, and I didn't want to focus on that too much, or she would know it was me. I couldn't use magic for fear that she would feel it and, again, know it was me. So, I ignored the desire to understand what she was saying. Instead, I watched her body language for clues. 

She fell silent after realizing I didn't understand her, let alone react positively in any way. A new, deep fear was in her eyes now, coupled with a realization that I didn't understand. She must've assumed that the only Dark Ones nearby came from my family. When I did nothing but behave like a wild dragon, she figured out that I wasn't one of the 'friendly dragons' she knew. In her eyes, I was just a dangerous, angry, 'papa bear,' and she was close to his offspring, but she couldn't do anything, or she'd risk pissing off the 'bear.'

Except the 'bear' could breathe fire, had wings, and only had a hunger for meat. That was a scary image.

We stared at each other silently, stuck in a stalemate. Should I deem her a threat, or was she safe? That was a hard decision to make; how did I know if she wasn't just another bloodthirsty Scaleless waiting for the right time to trick me? What had these season-cycles of isolation done to her opinion of dragons? My time away from Scaleless definitely changed me; I had no intention of letting her ride on my back for any reason. I was slow to trust her, and I no longer had any problems with killing Scaleless for protection. I was a wild dragon now, all traits included, and I liked it that way.

Still, the desire to understand her and break the stalemate was too much now, especially not knowing what she might be planning, if anything. So, I very carefully reached with my magic toward her mind, connecting slightly to it very gently in the hopes that she wouldn't feel it, only willing myself to understand her, but not letting her understand me—Aurora was left out of it. For once in my life, my bad luck didn't screw it up for me... yet.

"Hello," I growled, silently praying that I did this right. 

She jumped, the fear in her eyes unchanging. "Good dragon," she said nervously, her voice a bit deeper than I remembered. "Nice dragon..." Thank the Moon, I did it; she couldn't understand me. "You can leave now..."

Deciding it would be best that she continued to believe that I was an unknown, wild dragon, I snorted at her. "Like that's going to happen."

"Gods, I wish Hiccup was here..." She said, much to my amusement. "J-Just leave, please. Shoo." She waved a hand in a 'go away' gesture. "Go fly and... stuff." I tilted my head at that. "Or... whatever you usually do."