Age of the Dragons (HTTYD Fanfiction)

Chapter 33

I know my update schedule has been kinda confusing lately, but from here, the next update will be Sunday 9/20, then Thursday 9/24, then Tuesday 9/29. I'll post another schedule when we get to the end of this one!

"Hello?" Annie asked through the phone. "Hey Annie, its Christopher!" Christopher said. Annie was surprised. "Hi!"

"I figured I'd check in after all the past few months excitement." Christopher said lightly, but his tone carried a heavier meaning. Annie got the message. "How about you come over later today?" "Sounds good!" Christopher said.

"I'll send you my address in a sec." Annie said. "Bye!" And she hung up.

Then, she grinned. She had been trying to make a move to start the movement, but wasn't sure how. And it seemed like Christopher had a plan.

~/|\~

Later that day, Christopher showed up. He and Annie communicated silently, fooling the audio trackers much the same way. But pretty soon, they had been deactivated.

Suddenly, the false friendly smile dropped off Annie's face. "Finally!" she exclaimed, "my face hurts from smiling!" Christopher laughed.

Annie beckoned him over, and they both sat down. "So why are you really here?" Annie asked.

"I've talked with Hiccup," Christopher explained, "and he has a plan to get started. But I will need your help..."

Christopher stayed for almost another hour, teaching Annie the basics of new programming, and showing her how to debug a house. "After all," Christopher explained, "there are quite a few Berkians for me to get, so I figured I'd teach someone else how to do it! And Hiccup couldn't do it, because he isn't in a very good position with the government..."

Christopher also plugged his total program into Annie's primary console, so that he could communicate names, addresses and numbers of the people Annie needed to detrace in order to set Hiccup's plan in motion.

And finally, head swimming with information, Annie eventually said goodbye to Christopher, now armed with a large quantity of USB drives.

But for the first time since she had come back, Annie felt like she had a purpose. A way to help. A plan.

~/|\~

It was dark when Scarlet returned. She sighed, setting down her patched briefcase, and sitting down in a chair. Then, she frowned. Usually, she could hear Hiccup's soft breathing from his room, but today, the house was silent.

Then, a light next to the other chair flicked on.

Scarlet gasped. There was her son, looking grave. "Mom, I haven't been completely truthful to you about where I went."

Scarlet was at a loss for words. This was all too much. "I couldn't talk before now," Hiccup explained, "because the government has audio trackers placed in every house, and some things are better kept secret. But now, my friend Christopher has disabled them, and it is safe to talk."

He paused. Scarlet opened her mouth, and closed it again, and opened it, and closed it, but no sound came out.

Finally, she croaked out. "Um...okay..." Hiccup sighed. "Now what I'm going to tell you may seem like a figment of my imagination, but I assure you that it is all real."

And he explained everything. From the moment he was captured right up to the time she had arrived in the med-bay just ten days ago. And finally, he sat back, finished.

Scarlet was once again speechless. Dragons? Amber slavers? Mythical viking ancestor?!!

Hiccup looked at her nervously. Everything he'd said seemed utterly ridiculous, but he with no dragons around, he didn't know how to prove that it was all real. I must have seemed like I hit my head too hard! he thought, groaning internally.

"Please believe me," he pleaded, "it's all real. I swear! But I don't know what I can do to show that..." Then, his thoughts fell on the A-Team, who would be returning with their dragons very soon. An idea suddenly flashed in his head.

"Wait! I can prove it! Probably in the next week, a couple dragons and their riders will be coming! I can show you then! But in the meantime..." he trailed off.

Scarlet smiled. "Don't worry, Hiccup. I trust you! I will believe that what you are saying is true until you can show me that it is."

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks mom!" he said, and grinned. Suddenly, Scarlet felt herself smiling. It had been many years since she had felt this close to her son. And even in these horrible conditions, three jobs, husband in a coma, Scarlet knew that she still had a family.

~/|\~

The sun was setting as the last of the equipment was strapped to the dragons. Chests and crates had been hung from Darkfyre's, Stormfly's and Flametongue's talons, while Fishmeat and and Hurl & Burp looked like crates themselves, from all the equipment that had been strapped to them. Finally, Soren approached with the Inferno Zero.

"Alright." he sighed regretfully, "I guess it's time to go." And he slid the Inferno Zero into its sheath, and hopped on Darkfyre. The entire A-Team took one last look at New Berk, and then, eventually, they took off.

The dragons hurtled into the sky, but the humans couldn't keep their eyes off New Berk, as it began to grow smaller and smaller. Finally, it was a small sliver in the distance, just off the side of the nearest island. "Goodbye." Soren whispered sadly, as they rounded the corner, and the great island that had harbored them for months vanished.

Slowly, the sky grew dark, as the A-Team flew on. Soon, the fiery sky became navy blue, and the stars began to appear. The team was silent, lost in their own thoughts and memories.

"Do you think we'll ever come back," Lila said quietly to Soren. "I don't know," he responded, "but I know that we will do everything in our power to return."

And so they flew on, heading towards the outer edge of the Archipelago.

~/|\~

A man dressed in an eye-scorchingly orange tuxedo walked into the room, where a man behind the desk was relaxing, watching TV.

"Sir, there have been protests about unfair labor treatment in Florida. The most recent peaceful protest reached about 1,000 people!" he reported.

"WHAT?!!" the figure behind the desk said. "That's not cool! Everyone loves me!"

"Well," the messenger said, "you have made the minimum wage for all workers of 50 cents...And almost 50,000 people have died of hunger and homelessness since..."

"What a horrible thing to say!" the man behind the desk said. "I would never do that to innocent citizens! It must have been somebody else! I actually lowered the minimum wage to 50 cents! The people are celebrating because their employers don't have to pay them! It was the right thing to do! Whatever idiot lowered the minimum wage should be in jail! Maybe it was you! You're conspiring against me! You're fired! Also, have the protesters tear-gassed and put in jail! YOU'RE FIRED GET OUT OF THE BUILDING NOW!!!"

"Uh...should I leave and then spread the message, or spread the message and then leave...?" the man said, confused. "JUST MAKE IT WORK!" the man behind the desk roared. "Okay..." the messenger said, and he walked hesitantly out of the door.

"Hmph!" the man behind the desk said, "they'll think twice about crossing their supreme awesome president Malt Dunprod again!" And he turned back to the TV.