Lost and Found: Family

Fly Away

"Astrid!? Um, uh, w-what are you doing here?" 15 year old Hiccup asked the blonde teenager. He had just finished Dragon Training. He was 'getting to kill the dragon'. Well, not so fast. He was leaving.

He was at the cove, packed and ready to go. All he needed to do was get rid of Astrid, and fly away. Hopefully, she wouldn't see Toothless.

"I followed you," Astrid leapt down from the rock she was sitting on. She threw the rock she was using to sharpen her ax aside. The weapon twisted on her hand, "I've been watching you, Hiccup. No one just gets as good as you, especially you," she scowled, backing the scrawny boy against the cliff wall, "You've also been acting weird. Have you been training with someone!?" Astrid demanded.

"Uh, the truth is Astrid," he had to tell her, she wouldn't go away unless he did. But, before he could get another word out, a snarl sounded from behind her. Astrid whirled around.

"Night Fury," she exclaimed, "Get down!" Astrid pushed Hiccup and herself to the ground. She then got up and grabbed her ax. She aimed at the black dragon, but as she threw it, Hiccup jumped in the way. With one swift whack with his tail, Toothless sent it flying the other way. The blunt side of the ax hit Astrid square in the head. She was knocked out cold.

"Oh, great! Now look what we've done!" Hiccup exclaimed. Toothless warbled apologetically.

"Come on, Bud. We're leaving. Forever," Hiccup said as he loaded the basket onto the dragon's back. Toothless roared in surprise. "No, not because you knocked her out, I'm due to kill a dragon tomorrow, and we both know that's not happening," Hiccup sighed. He quickly checked all of Toothless' rigs, then climbed onto his neck.

"Let's go, we're done here," Toothless and Hiccup lifted into the air. Toothless grabbed Astrid in his talons, shot one last plasma-blast at the pond, and took off into the forest.

The Night Fury gently set the unconscious girl down next to a clutch of rocks, then flew up. Up, up, up. Hiccup did one last circle over Berk, and then began to fly south. He looked back and watched his home as it faded, faded, gone. He didn't belong there.

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Astrid woke up. Her head hurt. She looked around. She was in the forest. What had just happened? The sun was rising, and the birds chirped.

Crap! She'd be late for Dragon Training! Wait, training was over for her, Hiccup had beaten her. Hiccup!

Astrid bolted through the forest in the direction of the beautiful cove where she had found Hiccup. And the Night Fury. Gosh, she hoped Hiccup was okay. Her ax hadn't hit the dragon; instead, it had hit her.

As she ran, Astrid replayed the scene where she thrown her ax in her head. Hiccup had jumped in the way. Why? The ax was heading strait towards Hiccup, how did it not hit him? Oh, yeah, the dragon hit it back with his tail. His brown and black tail. Wait, why did the dragon protect Hiccup? And why was half his tail brown?

Now that she thought about it, the dragon was also wearing some weird metal around its chest and its legs. This was confusing and very fishy...

Astrid continued her memory. The ax hurtled towards her and knocked her out. Yes, it knocked her out in the cove, not in the forest. So how had she gotten all the way over there?

As she was thinking, Astrid didn't realize how far she had run. She skidded to a stop. The only entrance she knew of to the cove was here. There has a small hole in the rock cliff, with a shield wedged in it.

Astrid tried to pry the shield free, in case the dragon was still there, but it wouldn't budge. She knew that once she stepped into the cove, she would be a perfect meal for a hungry dragon. At least, she hoped it was hungry. If it was it would mean it hadn't eaten Hiccup.

She took a deep breath and ducked under the wedged piece of wood. She stood there with her eyes closed for at least 30 seconds, before she risked a peak.

The clearing was empty. A few scorch and claw marks, her ax, Hiccup's dagger... Wait, Hiccup's dagger?!

The small knife was washed up on the shore of a large pool in the middle of the cove. She bent down and picked it up. If Hiccup dropped his dagger, he would have been defenseless against a Night Fury. Except for her ax, unless the black beast was blocking the way towards the weapon.

Astrid tried not to skip to conclusions as she walked around to investigate the scene. There were a few black scales scattered around, and quite a few burn marks. The dragon must've been angry to leave so many marks for just stopping by for a rest. Unless it lived here, which would mean it was still in the island.

A branch creaked in the breeze. Astrid jumped in fright. She quickly looked around again. The claw marks that were left on the rock walls were up to 15 feet long. She shivered.

After an hour of looking, she finally gave up. She had to give into the obvious. She collapsed onto a rock and sobbed. The dragon was gone, Hiccup was gone, and probably dead as well.

She didn't know how to tell her chief the bad news. All of his family, gone. His wife and his son. Astrid couldn't bear to imagine what it would feel like.

After a few minutes, Astrid wiped away her tears, picked up her ax, and took one last sweeping look around the cove.

She then walked to the base of the cliff, and ducked under the shield.