Living with dragons has its ups... and its downs. You need to stay calm, keep a clear head. Not always easy with Vikings. In our own way, we're very reasonable. But when a problem is caused by something Vikings don't understand, they lose all sense of reason. And that can become very dangerous.
Gobber, Chief Stoick, Hiccup, and I clashed our cups against each other's in celebration. We'd finally built dragon perches that wouldn't collapse under the weight of even the biggest dragons. Now, it was time to celebrate.
"Perches for dragons. Some of your best work," Chief Stoick gushed. From under the table, Hiccup grabbed my hand and squeezed it. The metal perches had been my idea, Hiccup's design, modified with Gobber's input. However, Hiccup did nothing but gush over the work I had put into it. "Although, we may need to move the one over the well." I sniffed the liquid in my cup and grimaced.
"Oh! Duly noted." He moved his hand from laced in mine to around my shoulders.
"And the perches are just the beginning." Before Hiccup could drink from his cup, his father slammed his hand down on it and slowly started to drag it away, keeping him from ingesting something unpleasant. "We can build landing areas for them, maybe even stables in the caves underneath the village, and-"
"Easy, son. Remember, Berk is still for people."
"Vikings before dragons." My heart rate increased as a rumble of thunder lolled in the distance. Toothless looked up at Gobber, clearly understanding what he had said. "Yeah, I said it. Deal with it."
A crescendo of thunder sent Toothless sprinting up the stairs, and set my hands shaking. The three men jumped from their seats and opened the door to stare at the storm, while I remained glued to my seat. I was making steps to recover from my fear of thunderstorms, but they were little, baby steps that would take time.
With what bravery I had in this moment, I flickered my eyes to the spaces in the doorway between the bodies. Flashes of lightning were striking the shimmering dragon perches and sending shimmering tendrils throughout them.
"The lightning is hitting everywhere!" Hiccup observed.
"It doesn't usually strike here in the village."
"Thor must be angry. The only other time I can remember lightning ever striking Berk-"
"Barnstat," Chief Stoick and Gobber said at the same time.
"Barn-who?" I asked, just barely able to find my voice.
"Jurgen Barnstat, drifter," Chief Stoick explained. "Sailed into town, he was stealing from women and old men."
"To punish him, Thor gave him a lightning bolt right to his helmet. He was fixing the mast on his ship to make an escape," Gobber laughed.
"By the time Thor was finished with him, our whole fleet was on fire."
"We shipped him off the island, and Thor hasn't hit the village since."
"You threw him off the island?" Hiccup asked. "Pretty harsh..." Lightning began to travel from the metal perches to the wood of homes, lighting them aflame and causing mass panic.
"Gobber." The chief and Gobber rushed off to help people out of their homes, followed by Hiccup and Toothless, while I remained paralyzed in my chair. My mind raced and my body rocked back and forth, attempting to comfort myself in any way possible. Another crash sent my anxiety spiking and shivers down to my toes.
"Reign, come here."
I quickly turned around to see my brother's open arms waiting for me. I whined fearfully and rushed into them, sobbing and shivering.
"Hey, hey, shh... I'm here." The words got choked up in my throat, refusing to spill what I wanted to say. "It's okay, Reign. It's just Thor getting rid of the bad people."
"B-Bad people?" I managed to gasp.
"The bad people who try to hurt us." He gently stroked my hair. "You're safe... you're safe."
"What a-about Mommy and Daddy?"
"They're helping our people. They'll be back soon, sister." He looked down at me. "Go get in bed. I'll tell Dad to come to you as soon as he comes back."
"Reign!"
I looked up and out the door to see Astrid grabbing onto my arm, trying to get me out of my chair. "Come on, you have to go to the Great Hall in case the house gets struck." I strained my ear, but the storms had seemed to pass.
"I don't hear anything, Astrid."
"It's just a break in the storms." She sighed. "Besides, Hiccup needs you." That caught my attention.
"What happened to Hiccup?"
"Just come on. He'll catch you up." I nodded and got onto the back of Stormfly, allowing Astrid to take me out into the fray. As soon as we reached the Great Hall, another flash of lightning flew across my vision, causing me to grip tighter to the girl in front of me as I listened to what was going on.
"Thor's angry at us because of the Night Fury." Mildew's words were drawn-out, dramatic, and inaccurate. Not that this was anything new for him, of course. "You all saw it." Villagers began to agree with what Mildew had said. I flinched as thunder crashed.
"What? No! This is ridiculous!" Hiccup protested.
"If we don't act now, well... need I remind you of Barnstat?" People gasped and expressed concerns to those around them.
"You're right, all of you," Chief Stoick declared. "Thor is angry, but I don't believe he's angry at Toothless."
"That's right! Have you all forgotten what Toothless has done for this village?"
"Well, then who do you suppose he's angry at?" Mildew snapped.
"I don't presume to know Thor's mind, Mildew. But we will find a way to soothe his anger."
The next morning, there was a small break in the horrible string of storms, but only temporarily. I had gotten no sleep, and was almost completely unaware of everything around me because of that.
"Another storm is coming."
Like I said: almost completely unaware.
"What?" I reached out and grabbed onto Hiccup's arm, looking around at the sky as lightning slithered along the cloud cover.
"Thor tore a hole in the Great Hall," Tuffnut pointed out. "Maybe he's hungry. I know I am."
"We need to make Thor happy. What do you get the god of thunder and lightning?"
"In the past, I know Thor's enjoyed a sacrifice or two." I shook my head at Fishlegs.
"Let's sacrifice Tuffnut."
"Okay," he shrugged. "What time should I be there? There better be fire involved."
"Nobody's gonna be sacrificed," Hiccup protested.
"Not yet, anyway."
"I had an aunt that was cursed by Odin once," Astrid started. "She had to pay tribute to him by sailing to the end of the Earth."
"Did it work?"
"I don't know. I guess she couldn't find it, because she kept showing up from the opposite direction." I sighed. There went that option.
"The gods have never been mad at anyone from our family." Panic crossed Fishlegs' face as he raced over to rap his fingers against a wooden set of stairs. "Knock on wood, hop on one foot, slap a Jorgenson." Rather than hitting Snotlout, Fishlegs merely tapped his shoulder. In response, the boy pushed him and turned to our group confidently.
"If I were Thor, I would want a giant statue..." He mounted onto Hookfang's head and stood with proud posture, "...of myself, Snotlout, as Thor."
"You do know we're trying to make him happy."
"Exactly." Snotlout began kissing his biceps, while the rest of us grimaced in repulsion.
"I think I just threw up in my mouth..."
"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Astrid and I looked at Hiccup with a mix of concern and confusion.
"It's not an idea, it's a reflex."
"No. What- No. I-I mean the statue." Astrid gagged for the second time.
"There I go again."
"No, not Snotlout! Thor!"
"Hmm. Berk has never given Thor a statue," Fishlegs pointed out.
"Well, then it's high time we did." I sighed and crouched down against Toothless as another rumble of thunder echoed.
"I don't like this..."
Everyone was buzzing as Hiccup got ready to unveil the statue. I would have stood up there with him, had the storms not been within arm's reach at the moment. The statue better have worked, otherwise, I was in for a lot more sleepless nights in a row.
"Attention! Attention, everyone!" People hushed each other and turned to face Hiccup as he stood before the covered statue. "Okay, so, I know we're not exactly Thor's favorite people right now, but I am confident that this beautiful statue will go a long way toward getting us back in his good graces. So, without further ado..."
Hiccup pulled back the cloth to reveal an impressive and massive statue of Thor, shimmering underneath the limited sunshine we had. People gasped and whispered in awe, with words of hope sprinkled throughout.
"Well done," Chief Stoick complimented us. "Thor will appreciate this tribute, and will smile upon us once again!" Cheers arose, and the people moved closer to the statue to get a better look at it.
"You really think that this is enough to appease the mighty Thor, while you allow a Night Fury in your midst?" Mildew scoffed, bringing down the mood as usual. "You're fools! All of ya!"
Thunder rumbled loudly above us, and everyone scattered to take cover as the next system of storms moved in. Hiccup and Toothless quickly ushered me into their home, and lightning struck everything it could, quicker and more furiously this time.
"Unbelievable. Even more lightning than the last storm," Hiccup sighed as he held me to help ease my shaking.
"I don't understand! We gave Thor a giant statue!" Gobber slammed the door shut to shelter us.
"It was a gallant effort, son, but it looks as though this is not what Thor wanted." As soon as another rumble of thunder echoed, Gobber slid away from Toothless.
"Gobber, what are you doing?"
"Eh... I love Toothless... I'm just erring on the side of caution." Toothless lowered his head and purred.
"Don't worry, bud. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. No matter what some people think!" He glared right at Gobber, who sheepishly glanced at the boy. However, I could see that Hiccup's confidence was starting to crumble as the storm got more intense and he crouched beside his dragon. "Y-You don't really think Thor is angry because of Toothless, do you?"
"Of course I don't." There was a sudden knocking at the door that caused me to jump.
"Open up, Stoick! We've come for the Night Fury!"
"But I'm afraid they do." Hiccup stood and started to approach the door, but his dad cut him off with his arm. "Get Toothless to a safe place, I'll try to reason with them." He ran after his dad and tried to stop him.
"But-"
"Just go!"
"Safe travels, old friend." I managed to scoff at Gobber before being ushered upstairs by Hiccup, even closer to the lightning. My breathing started to increase as I thought of being closer to the biggest source of my anguish. I covered my ears as we jumped out the window and another crash of thunder shook the ground.
A mob of people was pressing themselves against Hiccup's front door, preventing us from escaping the old fashioned way. The Night Fury let out a worried warble, backing away from the hut slightly.
"Don't worry, bud. It's you and me." I jumped as more thunder rumbled, and tried my best to catch footing as Hiccup dragged me behind Toothless to a safe hiding place.
"We can h-hide Toothless in the c-cove for now," I suggested quietly.
"They'll just find him. No. We have to leave." My fear was diluted by those words. This whole 'we' have to leave situation sounded familiar, but something told me it was in different context this time.
"'We?'"
"He can't make it on his own. And I wouldn't want him to. I'm going with him, Reign."
"But you'll come back, right?"
"Yeah, eventually. When they all realize this didn't happen because of Toothless."
I was at a crossroads. 'Eventually' could mean tomorrow or years from now, and I wasn't so sure I wanted to wait to find out. But at the same time, I knew Hiccup was willing to do anything to protect Toothless, and this was one of those things. It came down to the risk of losing someone and a dragon I cared about very deeply, or the loss of only the dragon leaving a hole in our lives indefinitely. And as regretful as I was to say these next words, I knew they were what had to be said.
"You better go."
Overwhelming sadness washed over me as Hiccup stared at me for a moment, then turned and hopped on Toothless to get him away. Almost as soon as they were gone, the thunder and lightning intensified, and for the first time in years, I felt afraid and alone. I stood helpless and exposed as horror and loud noises crashed and crumbled around me.
If I were going to get over my fear at any time, it was now. I had to suck it up, be brave, stop letting this force of Thor get to me. I was without my biggest crutch to lean on when I was afraid, forced to stand on my injury and walk to help it get better.
Fear was replaced by anger as the mob, led by Mildew, approached me.
"Where's the boy?" he demanded. "And more importantly, where's the dragon?"
"I don't know, Mildew," I snapped, "but you got your wish. Hiccup and Toothless are gone."
"Oh, bah! Find the Night Fury, all of you!" The mob turned and headed somewhere else in a vain attempt to locate Hiccup and Toothless. As soon as they were gone, I glanced out over the horizon, then decided I should probably go check on Shriek. I didn't know how she'd respond to storms, as she'd never been on Berk for one, and while now wasn't the best time to find out, it was better than never. I raced back toward where Astrid and I lived, and around back to find Shriek cowering against Stormfly.
"Looks like we both have the same fear, huh, girl?" I made my way over to my Thunderdrum and pet the top of her head to soothe her, resting up against her large, flat body for my own comfort. "We're gonna be on our own for a while, girl. I-I don't know how long, but... Hiccup and Toothless are gone for now."
She seemed to understand what I was saying, and nuzzled closer to me. We stood against the storms together for now, waiting until the day the pair would return to Berk. I was doubtful the people would change, but Hiccup had to come back eventually, right?
And in that moment, my fear wasn't the merciless hand of Thor coming down on me. It wasn't the chaotic crescendos of thunder and haphazard flashes of lightning. Because as chaos rained down around me, I watched as villagers wheeled a pitch-black dragon with merciful, green eyes, chained down to a plank of wood, down toward the docs, where a boat was ready to ship him off. I watched as a boy who was a symbol of comfort was roughly brought back into the village to fend for himself.
"Come on, girl." Everything fearful and heart stopping had faded from my mind as I gathered up the rest of us and ran to where I had last seen Hiccup. He was holding some sort of metal weapon, a look of determination on his face.
"Hiccup! They've got Toothless! They're about to float him out to sea!"
"I know. Why do you think I have this?" He lifted the weapon up, and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Ooh, tough one. How many guesses do we get? Five?"
"Okay." He suddenly grabbed my arm and started to drag me away. "Reign, fly me to the docks."
"Uh... okay?" I helped him up onto Shriek and flew her as fast as I could to the docks, knocking over a few mob members as we circled to land.
"Stop!" I watched cautiously as he jumped off and stood before the mob. "Stop! You could get rid of Toothless, you could throw him off the edge of the world, but it's not going to stop this lightning from destroying Berk." He held up the weapon for everyone to see. "It's the metal. The lightning is hitting the metal." People groaned in protest. "Just think about it. We never had a lightning storm like this until we put up those perches, that statue, right? And they're all made of metal!" I stopped for a moment to think back on the events of the past couple of days.
He was right. Everything that the lightning had struck had been made of metal. It wasn't the wrath of Thor; it was some sort of... science.
"Oh, bah! You ever heard of anything so insane?" I glared at Mildew from my dragon. Unfortunately for Hiccup and I, the mob would rather believe Mildew than him. Hiccup ran over to Toothless and held up his tail, revealing that his artificial tail wing had been burnt away, leaving only sizzling metal in its place.
"Y-You see? This is where the lightning struck Toothless. On this connecting rod... this metal connecting rod." People still refused to change their minds. "Look, if you don't believe me, I can prove it!" I hoisted Hiccup up onto Shriek and tapped her to fly into the air. "Fly me up." I was wary to let him off on the mast of the ship, but he got off before I could stop him.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"'Sure?' Uh, that's a strong word. It's really more of a hunch." I shot him an unamused look. "I'll be fine. Go." I hovered there for a few seconds, then guided Shriek down onto the docks, all the while watching Hiccup, ready to jump should he need to be saved.
"Hiccup!" Chief Stoick cried, trying to get his son to come down.
"You'll all see for yourselves! When I attach this metal rod to the top of this mast, the lightning will be drawn to-"
I watched in horror as the rod was struck by lightning, sending shocks throughout Hiccup that knocked him unconscious. His body fell limp and he plummeted into the sea below, likely to drown if I didn't do something now.
"Hiccup!"
But before I could move, Toothless broke free from his restraints and dove into the water. The surface was too murky to see underneath, and those moments of waiting to know whether or not they would ever come back out were some of the most agonizing I'd ever experience in my life.
Thankfully, Toothless emerged from the sea, pulling Hiccup's body in his mouth.
"Son..."
Chief Stoick, Gobber, and I raced over to him, praying he was still alive. While the chief checked on Hiccup's breathing and heart rate, I crouched down and gripped tightly onto his hand.
"He's okay. He's going to be okay." I helped the two get him back home and into his bed, this time remaining there until he woke up. He shot up with a start and a gasp, touching his head almost immediately after as the pain hit him. Seeing that his owner was awake, Toothless rushed to Hiccup's side to sniff him and make sure he was okay.
"Toothless! What happened, bud?" Panic flashed in his eyes as he yanked back the blanket, looking down at his feet. "At least I didn't lose another one." The Night Fury nuzzled Hiccup affectionately. Before I had the chance to say anything, Chief Stoick and Gobber rushed up the stairs.
"My boy! You're all right!" He picked up his son as though he were two years old and hugged him. "You took a lightning bolt to the head."
"Just like Barnstat. Except we won't be throwing you off the island."
"So everyone knows Thor wasn't mad at Toothless?"
"They do now."
"Until we figure out why Thor was angry at the metal, we're all walking on eggshells." We were all drawn outside by the banging and crashing sounds of the statue being dismantled.
"Oh, we worked so hard on that statue. Kind of a shame we just have to scrap it for parts."
"Well, maybe we don't have to. Why don't you take it to one of the high points on the island and leave it there?"
"Good idea, Chief," Tuffnut interjected. "I would've thought of it myself, but I'm not the chief."
"We'll handle that for you." I suspiciously watched Tuffnut and Snotlout walk away.
"I... better go with them." He took off after them, and the three boys used their dragons to carry the statue away to who knows where, returning laughing with mischievous grins. With my arms casually crossed, I approached Hiccup.
"And what exactly did you two do?"
"We just dealt with the statue," he answered innocently.
"Yeah, sure," I scoffed. The conversation took a quick turn as Hiccup's face shifted to one of concern.
"I'm sure the last few days must have been awful for you. I'm really sorry."
"I think I'm over it," I answered honestly. "I've got bigger things to worry about."
"I'd prefer you didn't worry at all."
"Yeah, well," I reached over and kissed his cheek, "when your boyfriend goes around doing stupid stuff like fighting giant dragons and getting struck by lightning, you can't help but worry." He smiled at me. "I'm gonna go fly with Astrid for a while. I'll see you later."
No matter how much things change around here, Vikings are still Vikings. They're not afraid to admit when they're wrong, and when they do, watch out. Because you'll be up to your ears in pie and smoked fish.