Hiccup's house was nothing short of spectacular. It sat right at the edge of a cliff, giving a perfect view of the early morning sunrise and the evening sunsets, as they both painted their vibrant colors across the sky. Surrounding the house was a field of grass, with a small garden in the back, and flower boxes boarding the walls of the house. Targets, of both broken and new, were stacked in a pile on the edge of the house, and a watchtower was only a couple yards away, with a zipline going from the roof of the house.
The house itself was a perfect mix between the two personalities of the family. Effective, defensible, and cozy enough to call home. Once you walked in, a grand wooden table greeted you, with a small kitchen pressed against the wall. A staircase led to Zephyr's room, which she also shared with the dragons and sometimes Leerir. Then another staircase led to Hiccup and Astrid's small and private bedroom. In the winter, the bedroom was big enough for one dragon to come in and keep the room warm, while the other tended to snuggle up against Zephyr.
The only downside to the house, was when one of them was injured and unable to reach the other floors of the house. Therefore the only remaining options were to pitch a tent outside, or to struggle up the first flight of stairs, and bunk with Zephyr. This, is what Astrid was soon finding out. In the first days of being back, she had to wait for either Viggo, Eret, or Dagur to carry her down the stairs, and slowly progressed to leaning on someone for support. Now, however, she was simply frustrated with everyone babying her, as she felt perfectly well again.
So to keep herself busy, she watched over Zephyr, spending several hours regaining the time they had lost while she was gone. Astrid tweaked Zephyr's axe assaults, and after awhile, just lit a flame and let Zephyr play with the fire. Then while Zephyr was in someone else's hands, Astrid would clean the entire house top to bottom, inside and out, then scrub every one of Stormfly's scales.
By the week of her return home had ended, Astrid was bored out of her mind.
"Maybe you should practice on the mindfulness of your powers." Mala kindly suggested, one day on her visit with Astrid, who had spent the last hour trying to convince anyone who was in earshot, to let her get her hands on her axe, or throw balls of fire at something.
"That's not going to help. I need to move, use my powers, throw my axe. Do something!" she cried, throwing her arms up in frustration and punched the table, a small flame flickered within it, but quickly died.
"Well I daresay that you are well again." Mala told her, brushing aside the small pile of ash that she had created from flaming the table. "Join us for training one day, would you?"
"I can't, no one will let me." she growled.
Mala looked at Astrid, with an eyebrow arched high. "Serafina, you are the Queen of Fire. You were gifted with the abilities of your sister in law. I think you can find a way." Mala gave a quick and small bow, one that was appropriate for a queen to make, then walked to the door. "Be there by the pool at mid day tomorrow, and do me a favor by dragging Nikolai down with you. She's been missing for an entire week, and it's starting to worry me for the sake of the village."
Astrid, relieved to have been freed from her house, quickly nodded and ran upstairs to collect Zephyr. "Hey Zeph, do you wanna go axe throwing?"
Zephyr jumped up from her blanket fort. "On top of Stormfly?"
"With a little bit of," Astrid waved her hands and a small flame appeared. "Fire."
Zephyr squealed with delight and climbed out of her blanket fort. "Last one there is a one legged viking!" Astrid gave a chuckle and followed her daughter down the stairs, to the small shed where their weapons were kept, and Hiccup had his small blacksmith shop for leg repairs, fixing Toothless' tail, and creating Snoggletog gifts for the rest of his family.
The two grabbed their favorite axes, made from the finest Gronkle Iron, and took a few shots at a target to sharpen their skills, before calling Stormfly over.
"Hold on there Astrid." Viggo's unmistakable voice called out, as he walked across the grassy field to meet the two of them. "Who told you that you could be flying Stormfly?"
"Mala." she confidently answered.
Viggo rolled his eyes. "I don't think Mala has the proper authority to tell you if you are fit enough to ride again."
"She is the queen, I think that's a big enough authority." she snapped at him.
"I meant medical, but whatever." Viggo blew off. "I am supposed to meet a Berkian named, Fishlegs here. Would you mind sticking around until then?"
"Yes, I mind."
"But I don't want to face him alone!"
Astrid rolled her eyes at him. "Man up Viggo. Fishlegs is just a cuddlier version of Hiccup, and a nicer version of you, and double the nerd in both of you."
"But what if e brings the others? I really don't want to be the one facing Stoick alone after locking him up for a week." Viggo begged a little.
Astrid scoffed at him. "Fishlegs is under strict orders to go to the house alone. Only the Twins know where our house is."
"Well I am not going to put it past the Twins to forget a few orders, and end up leading the entire Berkian herd here."
"Fine." she sighed and climbed off of Stormfly. "If they come, I'll give them a piece of my mind about them coming here." she twirled her axe around her hand. "Meanwhile, you can help me tone up my skills."
"What skil-" Viggo pulled out his sword just in time to clash against Astrid's axe. "Oh I see how it is." he pushed her off of him, and sliced at her leg. She blocked and threw her elbow into his shoulder. He grimanced and responded by grabbing her shoulder and sweeping her legs.
It worked until she brought him down with her. Astrid rolled them over, and the two engaged in a small fist fight, rolling in the grass, and occasionally hopping onto their feet for a few hits with their weapons, before being knocked back down to the ground.
"Surrender?" Astrid asked, as she leaned over him with her axe pressed against his neck.
Viggo smirked up at her. "Never."
Zephyr watched the fight play out, and pretty soon Leerir joined her on top of Stormfly. "So, Grimborn and Serafina are at it again?"
"You act surprised." Zephyr giggled. "They are waiting for the new people to show up."
"Ah, the Berkians." Leerir nodded. "Mom's been pretty upset with them here. Argues with Dad a lot about them. Although, would you call it arguing if they are agreeing to the same thing, just yelling it at each other?"
"My, what a fine point you make!"
Leerir and Zephyr gasped and looked in the direction to see Tuffnut leading the Berkians. "Uncle Tuff!" Zephyr cried, jumping off of Stormfly and running into his arms.
"Oh no! They are attacking us!" Ruffnut cried, and slowly started running off, with Tuffnut following her. Leerir and Zephyr both started to chase the two, throwing their small punches, while the Twins dramatized them.
"Oh Ruffnut! I can't take it any longer! I'm going down!" Tuffnut cried out and Zephyr shoved him to the ground, with her small six year old body.
Leerir on the other hand was making some damage towards Ruffnut, who actually had to run to stay away from him. In the midst of running, Leerir shifted. His skin turned to grey and white fur, his green eyes turned to red, and his fangs bore out of his mouth.
Ruffnut said something that Hiccup never would have wanted his daughter to hear, and started sprinting away. "ASTRID, ASTRID! DAGUR! MALA!" she started screaming, as the wolf pup started to chase her.
"W'at in 'e name of Thor is t'at?" Gober stared at the wolf pup.
"Do not approach it." Stoick ordered. "It's a werewolf."
"Then we shall destroy it." Ingrid sneered, grabbing her axe.
"But Hiccup said not to harm anything or anyone!" Henrik argued, pushing the handle of her axe down.
"Apparently he doesn't realize how dangerous those beasts are! Look at it! It's set to kill Ruffnut." Spikelout jabbed his sword in Leerir and Ruffnut's direction. "Not that it would be such a problem."
Out in the field, Leerir jumped and nipped the edge of Ruffnut's skirt. "Hey!" she yelled at him. "No biting!"
"Let's help her." Stoick cried, grabbing his weapon and charging at the small wolf pup. Ingrid and Spikelout followed, leaving Henrik, Gober, Fishlegs, and Snotlout behind, questioning their leaders' actions.
Spikelout grabbed Ruffnut and pulled her out of the way from Leerir, while Stoick jumped onto Leerir, trapping the wolf with his arms. Leerir barked and howled, biting at Stoick's arm to release him.
"Anytime now Ingrid!" he yelled, as Leerir bit his arm hard enough to pierce the skin and let a lining of blood flow out.
Ingrid raised her axe, but Astrid and Viggo rushed over. "Mom no!" she yelled, showing her out of the way. Viggo released Ruffnut from Spikelout, and tried to wrestle Leerir out of Stoick's grasp, but Spikelout knocked him aside.
"This is for breaking your pack with our tribe!" he laughed, playing with his weapon, then swiped it at Viggo. Viggo rolled away to dodge it, and started crawling towards his garnet encrusted sword. "Oh you're not getting away that easily." he sliced Viggo's cheek with the tip of his sword, kicking Viggo's several feet away.
On the other side, Astrid was playing defense against her mother, trying her best not to harm her. "Mom, stop!" Ingrid however kept pushing towards Leerir, slowly making Astrid retreat. "Mom, you don't know what you're doing!"
"I know what needs to be done Astrid!" Ingrid snapped at her daughter. "Get out of my way!"
Astrid clenched her jaw. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this." she closed her eyes and snapped her fingers. Suddenly her fists were engulfed in flames, her hair turning a deep scarlet red, and her eyes flickering with the flame in her hands. She sent one of the fires to the grass, encircling her mother in it, and growing the flames high enough so that even at her mother's inhumane height, she couldn't escape the circle.
Tuffnut and Zephyr stopped fighting, and stood beside the others, who were debating on which side they should fight on, based on morals, and keeping their heads.
Astrid charged towards Stoick and Leerir, ready to throw her axe to harm Stoick, but another axe met hers before any harm could be done. In front of her, Ingrid stood between her Chief and her daughter.
"How did you-?"
In the moment of Astrid's confusion, Ingrid swept her off of her feet, and unlatched a small wooden jug from her belt. She unscrewed the lid and began to pour a seemingly harmless water from its container. Astrid however shrieked and desperately started to crawl away from the water. Crying for help from any of her friends.
Tuffnut didn't stand still for any longer, he and Ruffnut shared a look before running towards Astrid and Ingrid. Ruffnut grabbed the bottle of water and threw it in the opposite direction, while Tuffnut jumped on top of Astrid to block the water that would fall on her.
With no one to fight him, Stoick grabbed his sword and prepared to strike Leerir, but a force ripped the sword out of his hands and knocked him unconscious for a few minutes. From above, Toothless' plasma blast shot at Ingrid and the Twins, making them all scatter.
Mala jumped down from Dagur's dragon, her face beat red with fury and her hands clenched tightly. "Did I not make clear the circumstances that were needed to be met for your release?" she growled upon the crowd before her.
"The werewolf was attacking one of our members." Spikelout argued with his Chief. "We have a right to defend ourselves."
"No you don't." Mala snapped. "You were specifically told not to harm anything, yet you go picking a fight and trying to kill my son!" Around her, everyone froze, realizing their mistake in attacking the Queen's son.
"We-we-uh-we're sorry. We didn't know that, that wolf was a um-well-."
"Stop your blabbering!" she snapped then pointed at Ingrid, Spikelout, and Stoick. "You three will be returned to the cells until you are forced to leave this island! The rest of you, one more toe out of line, and I'll keep your leaders hostage and revoke the food supplies we are preparing for Berk." she looked around at the group, glaring at each and everyone one of them. "Do. You. Understand?" she hissed through her teeth.
The silence was a good enough answer.
The force that had knocked Stoick out dragged him back onto his feet, once he had woken up. Then it revealed it's pale skin with navy blue markings across her arms, midsection, and up to her face. Her hair consisted of nearly three feet of pure white bliss, and she had enough height to rival Ingrid.
"You disgust me." she hissed, her accent was different from Ingrid's, but all the same was still a large part of her voice.
Hiccup jumped off of Toothless and jogged up to the woman. "Woah there Niki! Let's not get anymore violent then we have to!"
"Get out of my way, brother." she snapped at him, brushing aside his hands.
Hiccup paled slightly, hoping no one noticed the mistake she had made. Only Gober seemed to have his eyes fixed upon Hiccup.
Niki walked towards Ingrid. "You, a Reck-" Ingrid threw her fist into Niki's throat, making her lose breath and literally choke on her words. "I don't think a Rogue Moon Elf has any place in telling me what to do with the Elemental Queens. Not after what your kin did."
Niki's eyes were furious as she lashed out her hand, forcing Ingrid to the ground underneath a rope of ice. "I am Queen Ling! And I do not run from my gift!"
"That's right." Ingrid mercilessly laughed. "You run towards power. Anything to make you better than what you're supposed to be."
"Nikolai!" Hiccup called out, warning her not to make any harmful moves. "She's not worth it, stand down!"
Mala had jumped in front of Niki, as a great wolf with magnificent black fur that had golden specks around it. She growled at Niki and nipped the edge of her leg. Niki threw a disgusted look down at Ingrid and backed off from Mala.
Mala made sure that no one was going to act up anymore, before shifting back into her human form. "I will not tolerate any violence from anyone." she glared at not only the Berkians, but also at her fellow Defenders of the Wings. "Fishlegs, you go with Hiccup and Viggo. They need your help with a project. Ruffnut and Tuffnut, go find Throk, and help him bring the prisoners back to the dungeon, and while you're coming back, tell Heather to meet us at the cove. Nikolai, Astrid, you're coming with me."
The Twins jumped to attention and saluted Mala, then ran off to find Throk.
"Alright, Fishlegs, you mind coming with us?" Hiccup nervously asked, scratching the back of his head. Fishlegs nodded quickly, and Hiccup figured it was most likely because of Mala's intimidating glare she was giving everyone.
On the other side, by the house, Niki was kneeling down beside Viggo, touching the wound on his cheek. "Who was this from?" she asked, wiping the blood off of his cheek with her pale hand. When Viggo didn't answer she glared at him, but pulled out a potion bottle from her sack and poured a little onto his cheek. Slowly the wound retracted the blood and stitched itself back together again.
"Where have you been?" He asked.
Niki kissed Viggo's cheek. "Thank you for saving Leerir. I'll get home late, just don't get yourself hurt again."
He sighed heavily and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before allowing her to follow Astrid and Mala. The three of them walked up to the edge of the cliff and Mala stood back to watch them. Niki didn't hesitate, running freely and made a complicated flip seem simple, as she dove off the side of the cliff, and into the waters below.
Astrid seemed a bit more hesitant to dive off a cliff, but she backed up with everyone watching her, as she picked up speed. Her flaming hair dancing as the sun crossed it and the Berkians stared at her as if she was crazy. Astrid jumped several feet off of the cliff, thrusting her feet over her head. As she fell though, the Berkians caught a glimpse of her feet, as they vanished and instead were replaced by a shimmering golden tail.
"This place keeps getting even weirder." Snotlout said out loud to no one in particular.
"Hey! You, Snothat was it?"
Snotlout looked behind him to find the reheaded maniac strutting towards him. "It's Snotlout."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Dagur waved it off. "Are you interested in something dangerous? Done by only the bravest vikings ever before?"
Snotlout spoke before his brain could process the thought. "Of course!"
"Excellent." Dagur clapped him on the back, then started to walk away without another word.
Snotlout wheeled around on his heel, baffled by Dagur's sudden departure. "Aren't you going to tell me anything? Like what it is? Or show me it?"
He waved it off and cackled. "Oh Snothat, part of the fun is not knowing! Someone will come and get you when we need you. Toodles!" And with that final word he walked off, leaving Snotlout with cold blood and shivers down his spine as thoughts of the worst and unimaginable things circled through his head.
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