In the early sun, the island of Dragon's Edge shone like an emerald nestled in a sea of sparking topaz. A soft breeze filled the three dragon's wings, carrying them towards the beautiful sight, but as they and the two riders descended, the view became slightly more terrifying. "Odin, help us," Hiccup said as he spotted Astrid just outside the dome, her hands on hips and steam rising from her head. Even from the distance, they could feel the heat of her piercing eyes on them.
"Is fleeing an option?" Kiara asked, gulping.
"Best to get this over with." He led them toward the dome and the dragons landed inside with three thuds. The riders dismounted and faced Astrid. Instead of storming up to Hiccup first, she stomped towards Kiara and shoved Kiara's note against her chest. "We're off to see the wizards and retrieve the dragon-eye?!" she repeated the note, outraged.
"I m-meant to, y'know—" A punch to the shoulder cut off Kiara's nervous ramble.
"I thought you'd grown out of your secrets and stupid solo act but instead you recruited...?" Before Kiara could respond, Astrid's glower turned to Hiccup and she shoved his note in front of his face. "And how could you agree to this?!" she exclaimed. "Have you completely lost it? What happened to being a responsible adult? Huh?!" She repeatedly prodded him in the chest as she ranted. "You could have died, Hiccup Haddock! Heck, you could have died, Kiara! After the stunt we pulled with the quakens, they. Want. Us. Dead. You both know that! WHAT were you THINKING?!"
"I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry," Hiccup quickly said, lifting his hands in surrender, "It's my fault."
"Wha-what? No!" Kiara spluttered. "It was my idea and—"
"And as your leader," he cut in, "I should have shut you down but..." He sighed, and his gaze lowered. "I suppose you weren't the only one too eager to one-up Viggo."
"So you're both knobheads. How enlightening," Astrid said, her tone so deadly that they both flinched.
"You-you're right," Hiccup said, stepping forwards.
"We're both so, so sorry," Kiara said, eyes pleading.
"Argh. Not forgiven!" Astrid shrieked, shoving him backwards. "Not even close! Either of you! Do you have any idea what you put me through?! I sent for the A team to get a full-scale invasion of their base in case Viggo has the pair of you in his clutches and IT'S A WONDER HE DOESN'T!" Her eyes flickered between the two, noting how Kiara cradled her arm and the striking bruise that claimed half of Hiccup's jaw. "You look like beat jailbirds to me! And what if—what if we got there and..."
"Astrid," he whispered as Kiara hung her head, both feeling guilt pool in their stomachs.
"Don't even," she snapped with a raised finger. "Now unless you troll-brained idiots want to get yourself killed, you are never doing something like this ever again OR THOR HELP ME—"
Hiccup took hold of her hands. "We won't."
"This won't happen again, ever," Kiara promised.
"We put you through Hell, Astrid," he said, lifting his gaze from their entwined hands to look into her eyes, "and no amount of apologising fixes that, but we're both truly sorry."
Astrid pulled her hands away and folded her arms, glaring at them both. "Still not forgiven." She glanced away. "but...that's a start." Kiara and Hiccup let out a breath.
"Thanks," she breathed, starting to back away, "I'll make it up to you." Astrid raised a brow at this. "Starting now. I-I'll send a terror mail to call off the A-team." The brow arched higher.
"You can't spell," she said flatly.
"Let me, then," Hiccup offered. Kiara gave them a thumbs-up, then turned and fled, leaving Hiccup with the job of explaining the exact details of their impromptu trip. No reason they both had to get yelled at again.
In her tired haze, she didn't get very far before walking face-first into a towering guy. "Fishlegs," she said, "Good to see ya, but I'm off."
"Kiara?" he exclaimed. "You're—"
Tuffnut shoved him aside and grabbed Kiara by the shoulders, yelling, "What happened to you? What were you thinking?"
"Not you too," Kiara moaned, rubbing her eyes with a finger and thumb. When she spotted Snotlout and Ruffnut just behind him, she attempted to turn away, but Ruffnut gripped her arm, pulling her back.
"Did you seriously go to Viggo?" Ruffnut asked sternly.
"I—"
"Without us?!" the twins said in unison. Kiara blinked, nonplussed.
"I'm... erm, sorry?" she stammered.
"Girl, we're meant to be a team," said Ruffnut, "Don't go off and have all the fun without us!"
"How could you?" Tuffnut said, appalled.
"I... It was for stealth," Kiara attempted to explain. "The fewer the better..."
"So?" Snotlout cut in. "Ya still gotta tell us!"
"Snotlout's right, Kiara," said Fishlegs, "You and Hiccup shouldn't have left us in the dark. It was really dangerous."
"Isn't that the truth," Kiara sighed, shoulders hunched. "It would have been much easier for us to have you guys ready to help if we didn't make it out."
"Didn't make it out?" Snotlout repeated. "What happened exactly?"
"And what," Tuffnut gasped, pointing with wide horrified eyes, "did Viggo do to your dragon?!" Everyone's eyes latched onto the inelegant splotches of black, dark green and midnight blue that covered Whiplash. She hissed as she walked past them, muttering to Kiara, "you owe me so many belly rubs. And a whale."
"Hehe... Actually, I did that," Kiara said meekly. Their confused stares lifted from the dragon to land back on her.
"Okay seriously," Snotlout said, folding his arms, "tell us everything."
So much for leaving that job to Hiccup.
-
Later, the quintet of dragon riders sat around in the clubhouse, soaking in the morning sunlight and snacking on grapes and fresh bread thanks to Fishlegs. Kiara felt like her mind was knee-deep in exhaustion and sinking, but with the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout all eagerly listening, she was urged to complete her account of the night. "You caused a landslide?" Tuffnut asked, eyes twinkling as he pictured the spectacle.
"We need to get on that," Ruffnut muttered. "I wanna cause a landslide."
"We did an avalanche once," he piped up.
"Oh yes!" She sighed fondly and reclined, kicking her feet up onto the table. "Good times."
"Back up one sec," said Snotlout, leaning towards Kiara. "So, Viggo got the Eye in the end?" Kiara let out a long breath and sunk deeper into her chair. Her bones felt like they might drag her through the floor. "...yes," she said.
"Damn it," he cursed. "We've got to stop playing hot potato with that thing and just destroy it."
"Don't we ever." She closed her eyes and tilted her head back.
"Cheer up, Kiara," Tuffnut said, nudging her with his elbow, which only made her frown deepen while her eyes remained closed. "It's not like the mission was a complete bust," he continued encouragingly. "You got the crystal's secret message, remember?"
"That we did," said Hiccup. She blinked her eyes open and caught him walking in with Astrid. He held up the paper with the sentence he'd copied down from the Dragon-Eye projection.
"Woah ho ho!" Snotlout laughed, ignoring the paper and pointing at Hiccup's jaw instead.
"At least I didn't lose two molars," Hiccup responded casually as he dragged a chair over. Snotlout snatched back his arm and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Once they were settled, Fishlegs poured over the note and Hiccup helped despite how his hand trembled from exhaustion when he held the charcoal pen. In less than 10 minutes, they said, as one, "We've got it!" Kiara was quite literally at the edge of her seat. "So..?" she probed. Fishlegs cleared his throat before reading the translated version,
"Summon the gateway with a fragment of lightning. Reduce it to rubble with the might of a storm."
"Well, I wasn't planning to fly the crystal into a storm on account of... not having a death wish," Kiara said, her voice bordering on sleep-deprived giddiness. "But good to know that there are other reasons that that's a bad idea." She grabbed the crystal from her pocket, held it up and assessed it with narrowed eyes. "Looks like you can't handle too much electricity either."
"How do you get a fragment of lightning?" Snotlout asked.
"An electric spark," Kiara mused. "Maybe static electricity might..." she tried and failed to suppress a yawn, "work. Actually no, that's too weak." The spark she'd seen when she first grabbed the crystal had cut through centimetres of air. That may not be lightning streaking the sky but it was high voltage stuff.
Her tired eyes closed as she mulled it over. The rider's voices became irrelevant, her mind lost to the ideas they threw back and forth. The sunlight and warmth faded in and out as she felt her body dib into the cool night air of some hours ago and several miles away. Her hands clutched the Dragon-Eye tightly, making its ends dig into her palms, and her vision swam with the hunters surrounding them. Hiccup was rooted before her, face alight with the orange glow from his sword. And together, they were going to end it all. "Here's to saving the king." As he brought down the sword, Kiara felt a towering presence behind her. A pressure drove through her and Ryker's blade erupted from her chest and clanged against Inferno.
Kiara gasped as her hands flew to her chest. Daylight was back, but the sun-lit surroundings teetered with her sudden movement. "Woah, there," Tuffnut exclaimed, "Almost dropped you." He lowered her onto her feet but her knees failed her and she sank onto the wooden platform, hand still clutching her chest. Her heart was fighting against her ribs to escape and her breaths came in shallow uneven gasps as if air wanted as little to do with the inner struggle as possible. Ryker's sinister laugh was echoing in her ears like he was still there, still behind— "Kiara, look at me." Tuffnut was crouched before her. "Breathe with me."
He took a deep breath and she followed. In... then out.
"That's it, again."
In... Out...
Slowly, her heart grew steady and she made sense of her surroundings. She was in a lower part of Dragon's Edge, near her hut, and with a friend kind enough to carry her to bed. Smiling faintly, she watched as Tuffnut's expression shifted from focussed to relieved.
"Holy yak-butter, that actually works," he whispered, awed.
"Don't sound so surprised," she retorted. "I taught you that trick."
"I dunno, Missy. Your trick for frying fish was a big flop," he joked. She gave him a shove.
Her smile fell as she looked down. The image of a sword sticking out of her chest was still freshly branded into her mind. That had almost happened, hadn't it? She'd almost sentenced herself and Hiccup to that fate, and left their dragons to a life of captivity. She scrunched her eyes shut at the thought.
Tuffnut watched her. Curled up with that troubled frown, she looked battered and helpless, and so unlike the fiery girl he knew she was. She deserved better than this, and yet...
"I think I get it," he said quietly. Kiara gave him an odd look. Hearing a contemplative tone from him was rare. "This world had been so unkind to you... made you face the worst of days since you got here," he continued. A short humourless laugh escaped him. "Heh, you can't catch a break here, so... it's no wonder you want to leave."
Kiara was alarmed at the way sadness filled his eyes. "Tuff, that's not—"
"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to deny it for me." He got up and offered her a hand. Unspoken words crowded her mind as she clasped it and was pulled to her feet. When he didn't let go, she saw that Tuffnut was struggling with the same predicament, except the words crowding his mind soon tumbled from his mouth. "I wish—no, I...it's just... I want—stinking boar pits!" He pulled on her hand in his frustration. "I want what's best for you!" She stared on with a look that urged him to elaborate, but instead, he deflated, his grip on her hand loosening, and settled on easier words. "So, get some sleep. It's, er, best for you." He patted her hand awkwardly, then let go and walked away.
As Kiara watched him go, a sinking feeling pulled at her heart. He thought she hated it here.
He couldn't be further from the truth.
---------------
Hey Dragon Lovers,
What's that you say? A ship? *I squint into the fog cloaking the docks and spot a tall grand shape bobbing up and down.* Nah, I don't see it.
Any thoughts on the aftermath of Kiara and Hiccup's escapade? I gotta say, writing AA (angry Astrid) was a blast. And you may have noticed already, but I freaking love writing dream sequences. I definitely overdo them lol but they're so...versatile and interesting to write. warped reality is really fun to play with. Also, what better way to show the impact of a traumatic experience than BOOM nightmare! It's like secondary tremors of the main event! Ok, I feel evil now (sorry Kiara.. I'll lay off the nightmare fuel from now)
I hope I've brought you some joy with this otherwise light chapter :)
Till next time,
Tan