[OH LOOK AN EARLY UPDATE
mainly bc this week has gone by so freaking sLOW i didn't feel like waiting another two days rip
there will be hiccstrid eventually i swear]
The next morning, when everyone was up and ready, Valka had them gathered on a ledge in the sanctuary.
"You have everything down? Are you sure?" Valka asked Gobber. He nodded. "What about the dragons missing limbs? Are they all accounted for?" Another nod.
"Yes, yes, and yes. We'll be fine, dragon rider." At Gobber's words, Valka sighed and walked to her dragon companion. She climbed on, and Hiccup and Fishlegs followed suit. As Cloudjumper took off, Valka prayed to the gods that Stoick would be in a good mood when they arrived.
Hiccup stole a glance at Astrid. He hadn't really bothered to look at her as he used to, since five years of not seeing her let his juvenile crush sizzle out eventually. But seeing her now, here, and riding a dragon made him like her all over again. She didn't know who he was,and that was a good thing. She probably would lose her current image of him, and he'd be thrown back under the label of 'weak'.
Although, now that he thought about it, she hadn't been rude like the others. She just never talked to him.
He dragged himself out of his thoughts when his mother took off, Fishlegs and Meatlug picking up the pace to fly beside her. He quickly urged Toothless to flap his wings to catch up, flying above them both.
After an hour or two, Fishlegs decided to start up a conversation.
"So, how did you guys find the sanctuary?" Hiccup glanced down at Valka, who turned her head to look up at him. She flicked her head slightly toward the other boy on his Gronkle, telling Hiccup to answer the questions and not her.
"Oh, well. You see, it was her who actually 'found' the sanctuary. It was basically already a thing before either of us got here, since it's more the Alpha's nest than anything. Her dragon brought her here about twenty years ago. I got here when we were flying and she snatched us out of the sky, thinking we were working for trappers. 'Bout five years ago, give or take." He honestly didn't care if Fishlegs put the pieces together, since Hiccup trusted him. Fishlegs was his closest friend (only person you could even consider remotely a friend), so Hiccup kind of wanted him to find out.
It'd be nice.
"Oh," Fishlegs replied. He looked around a bit before asking, "how many breeds are at the sanctuary? There are many I haven't ever seen before."
Valka jumped in at this point. "Oh, over fifty, at least! We have dragons in the nest ranging from common Nadders and Hobblegrunts to Seashockers and Deathsongs!"
Hiccup piped up, "We have Deathsongs here? Since when?"
Valka set her staff on Cloudjumper's back in front of her. "They usually stay up towards the upper levels of the compound, and they don't stay inside the ice walls. They basically nest on top of the entire sanctuary and keep to themselves. They do come down for feeding time, though."
Hiccup guided Toothless into a barrel roll, the dragon happily complying since he was tired of flying in a straight line for hours on end. They leveled out a bit in front of the other riders before the Night Fury spread his wings to catch air and slow down, drifting back to fly between Valka and Fishlegs.
"I never see them."
Fishlegs seemed to think for a bit before speaking. "What's feeding time?"
"It's when the dragons eat. You need to witness it! It's a fun experience." Hiccup leaned back until he was lying down between his dragon's wings.
"So where are you guys from?" Fishlegs had a guess, since he wasn't the Tuffnut of his peers, but he couldn't be sure. He was starting to remember their voices from somewhere, and the fact that their stories of finding the sanctuary lined up almost perfectly with the years both Hiccup and his mother vanished. He still couldn't be the one to assume such things, since he hadn't even ever seen their faces.
"Be-" Hiccup started, but Valka interrupted him.
"I'm from... Fayoak! Yes, Fayoak. It's this island way up North." She looked at Hiccup, who had a miffed vibe from her cutting him off.
"I'm from Berk...eley. Berkeley. It's like your village but with eley. It's better than just Berk." Hiccup smiled at Fishlegs, although the Viking wouldn't be able to see it.
"You're from Berk, aren't you?" At the sudden change of demeanor from both dragon riders, the one he assume to be Hiccup not acting nearly as surprised as the one he assumed to be Valka, he knew he'd said something at least of importance to them, if he wasn't correct.
"How'd you guess? I didn't think I left enough hints," Hiccup sat up straight in the saddle as Valka looked at him.
"You were dropping hints?" She asked, pulling off her helmet.
"Things lined up." He took off his as well, since Fishlegs knew. The Viking's eyes widened.
"So I was right?! You guys are Hiccup and Valka?!" Both dragon riders in question sighed.
"We've established that," they both said in unison. Fishlegs gasped.
"We have a lot to catch up on!" They continued on peacefully, talking and chatting.
***
Back at the sanctuary, it wasn't nearly as calm.
"TUFFNUT! Stop bothering the Monstrous Nightmares! Right. NOW." Astrid's voice rang throughout the sanctuary, causing a small flock of Terrible Terrors to flutter off in a mass of squeals and sharp clicks.
"I'm not hurting anybody! I just wanna see them light on fire, that's all," Tuff's voice trailed off as he poked another dragon with a long stick he found lying around. His twin sister, Ruffnut, stood nearby, looking on with excitement. It was mainly aimed at the possibility of her brother getting seared, but she wouldn't say that out loud.
Okay, she probably would.
"I don't care. They need as much energy as possible, and they don't need to be wasting their firepower at trying to get you to leave them alone," Astrid exclaimed as she walked up to him and took the stick, snapping it in half over her knee. He wailed.
She snapped the two halves in half again. More wailing.
"Stop this torture! Come, sister. We'll find fun elsewhere." With that, the twins were gone, leaving Astrid with Snotlout and Gobber.
"Gobber, please go make sure they don't start a fire anywhere." Gobber nodded, hobbling after them on Grump, struggling to keep up with Barf and Belch. Now she had to deal with Snotlout.
To be frank, he wasn't as bad as she thought he'd be. All he'd done was watch and laugh at whoever made a fool of themselves. Any thoughts of him not being bad vanished as he sidled up next to her.
"Hey, babe. Looks like we're alone now, huh?"
Astrid sighed, pushing his face away with her hand and walking away. She ignored his 'aw, come on, babe!' and continued on to Stormfly, who was down by the water, preening. She mounted and took off to scout the area and look out for any armadas or large masses of anything.
As her Deadly Nadder rounded the sanctuary's interior a few times, Astrid got a good view of the nest. It was beautiful, with many caves and levels dotting the entire place. There were a couple of waterfalls and plenty of flying space, with the bottom being a large pool of water who-knows-how deep. The Alpha rested in the water, with a bunch of baby Scuttleclaws flapping around his face and on his back.
Stormfly darted out of one of the various exits/entrances and into the open world, which was startlingly different from the nest. The weather was nice, and it was one of the warmer days. The sun shone brightly, and Astrid wondered how the ice never seemed to melt. The seas were calm, the salty aroma of the waves wafting up towards them in a cool updraft that Stormfly used to glide on.
Astrid could breathe easier up with the clouds. It cleared her mind from the worries of an upcoming war, the thought that she betrayed generations of her family's heritage by riding the very thing that's been the bane of her village's existence for many centuries, and the constant state of numbness since Hiccup's...
No. She wouldn't say Hiccup's "death". They never proved he was dead, so how was she supposed to believe he was so? For all she knew, he could've been taken, or even left against his will. He was acting funny during the few weeks before his sudden departure. Almost as if he was hiding something.
Something like a Night Fury.
She stopped thinking about Hiccup to navigate her way around sea-stacks and other obstacles, flying Stormfly around the entirety of the mountain the nest was located in. It was slightly foggy, stopping a few miles off the shore of the island. The fog didn't go up very high, either; it faded away at around where the treetops were.
Satisfied with her round, she steered Stormfly back into the sanctuary. The Nadder squawked, also happy with their flight. Astrid gave the dragon a pat on the neck as they descended onto a ledge overlooking a majority of the Alpha's territory. She could see that Gobber was doing well in keeping the twins in check, and Snotlout was busy trying to get Hookfang to respect him.
Stormfly hopped off the ledge and flew down by the water again, and Astrid hopped off with a pat of gratitude to her dragon's side. As Stormfly resumed her preening, Astrid secretly hoped that Berk would see the light in this situation.
***
It had been about five hours, and Fishlegs alerted them when he saw Berk on the horizon.
"Okay, okay, do you know what you're gonna say?" Hiccup turned to Fishlegs, sitting up and putting on his helmet, sliding it over his face as if he hadn't been sleeping nearly the entire trip. Fishlegs nodded.
"Mom, are you sure they're not going to spear us down on sight?"
"Most likely not, if we come in without much bravado," Val replied, putting on her own helmet as well. Fishlegs looked excited.
"We can show them dragons aren't bad! Dragons can be a part of daily life! We could win this war! You..." He trailed off, looking reluctant to finish the thought.
"We what, Fish?" Hiccup stretched, now fully awake.
"You might be able to come back..." He looked at them, a look of hope washing over his features. Valka shook her head.
"Even if I wanted to, I don't think I'd feel welcome." Hiccup nodded, agreeing with her statement. The island of Berk was approaching in the distance. Fishlegs' look of hope quickly turned into on of slight exasperation.
"But, but the Chief would love to have you back, I'm sure! He's grown so cold since you left, Hiccup, and I'm sure he would be equally elated, if not more, to have you back too, Mrs. Haddock," He tried. They could see the bustling and calm Vikings going throughout their business now, although they were about a big as ants from the distance.
"Maybe someday. Not anytime soon, though." At Hiccup's words, Fishlegs smiled. He was looking forward to seeing the Chief become happier (hopefully) and was secretly elated that Hiccup was coming back.
"I'm glad. Oh, about your identities, why does it matter so much if the others know?"
"If they know, I doubt they'd see me the same way they do now. I wasn't the best person in the village when I left. Sure, I had the training going for me, but the only reason I was succeeding in that was because of Toothless," he gave the dragon a respectful pat as the Night Fury purred.
"So you're basically scared to show the people you grew up with how much you've changed and improved over five years? They think you're dead, Hiccup. And they don't even suspect Mrs. Haddock. Well, except for Gobber. He brought it up one night on how there was a possibility you guys might know what happened to her, since Cloudjumper looked just like the dragon that took her. Now I understand that he is that dragon."
Valka nodded, having been silent for a few minutes. "We're here, be ready," she said after a moment.
They landed, and it was chaos the moment their dragons' talons in the ground.
[okay so i made it so there was a small snip of hiccstrid, but there's still like zero development
there is this scene with an abundance of it that i decided to keep from my old writing so any veterans of my writing you'll probably recognize it
highly doubt it tho since the first version of this story stopped in like june 2016, and then i rewrote a heckin lot of stuff
also i'm beginning to add pictures/gifs on each chapter 8)
thanks for reading!! :)]