Trust Must Be Earned | Eret Son of Eret (HTTYD)

- PROLOGUE -

(Remember, prologue takes place almost immediately after httyd 1, but before riders of berk)

One day, on the great seas of the archipelago, not far from an island called Berk, there was a boat. And in the boat was a young girl, about 17 or so. She had fiery red hair, piercing teal eyes, and a sour expression on her strikingly beautiful face. This particular girl's name was Atlas. Come, let us hear her story.

- - - - - - -

This was the last straw. I was not going to take anything else from those idiot Thorston twins. It was bad enough I couldn't find my own dragon, unlike all my other friends, but now Ruffnut and Tuffnut were teasing me about it?! Unbelievable. To top it all off, I had been talking to (teasing) Astrid about Hiccup, so she jokingly told me I should get my own boyfriend. That brought back painful memories of how, when I was 14, I poured my heart out to a guy, and it turned out he was using me for popularity, me being the chief's daughter. A guy will either ever turn out to be a jerk, or something will happen, like what happened to my mother. But yeah. That's my problem. And while I can't do anything about the nonexistent guy that will never leave me, I can try to do something about my not-having-a-dragon-problem. So that's why I'm on this boat. Clearly, no dragon on Berk will have me. So I have decided to expand my scope, and look on other islands. No matter what my little brother says.

- - - - - - -

I yawned. It's been a few hours now, with no luck for even finding a dragon. Ugh. The gods must be against me. The sun was setting, and it was getting darker by the minute. But I was by no means giving up. I meant it when I said I wouldn't take anything more from those twins. I wrinkled my nose at the thought of going back to Berk dragon-less. Guess it was boat camping for me.

- - - - - - -

I jerked awake. What was that?! I could have sworn I heard something. I quickly pushed the blankets off me and got up, feeling around for my knife. Suddenly, I saw it, a flash of crimson in the dark. Then, a low growl. I internally panicked. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! First off, I was supposed to find my dragon, not the other way around. Second off, it was pitch black, and I couldn't even see my own hand, much less the dragon. Feeling around in the dark quietly, I managed to find enough materials to light a torch. What I saw nearly made my heart stop.

It was a Screaming Death. Oh, Thor. It looked smaller than I would have thought, based on the pictures I had seen in books. It must be just a child. It also looked very, very mad. I gulped. Then, I noticed there were several cuts and wounds along its body. I sharply inhaled. Who could have done this to such a beautiful creature? I placed the torch into a torch-holder, and took a small step forward. The Screaming Death growled at me, and I jumped, remembering the dangerous situation.

"Uh. Hi there." The dragon cocked its head at my talking.

"Look. This is my first time doing this, so don't blame me for being nervous."

I took a small step forward. Ok. Deep breaths. Remember what Hiccup taught you. I held my knife up for the Screaming Death to see. And then, I flung it into the ocean. The dragon looked surprised. She cocked her head further.

"Ok, Atlas. It's now or never." Remembering the exact movements Hiccup had shown us, I took another step forward. I reached my hand out, and stared into her eyes, willing her to trust me. Suddenly, she purred, closed her eyes, and put her head against my hand. The butterflies erupted, and I broke into a huge smile.

"I think I'll name you Crimson, for your eyes, gorgeous. Boy will Hiccup be surprised."

A/N: So, there was the prologue. Did you like it ok? I know things might have felt a little rushed, sorry about that. Hope it was decent enough, be sure to let me know in the comments. I will totally try to post as much as possible. Also please be sure to vote and give me some suggestions in the comments!

XOXO,

arosy