Dragons: Gift Of The Light Fury

Chapter 4: Happy Snoggletog

Happy Snoggletog

As the shadow drew closer, it was clear that it was an old boat from a failed expedition. It was suspended by ropes in the air, carried by none other than a pack of dragons. And riding the Night Fury leading the flock...

"It's Astrid!" Stoick cried, recognising the Nordic Blonde astride the Night Fury. Hiccup spotted the familiar flash of black of his Night Fury and nearly dropped the hammer he was carrying.

"And our dragons!" he added from the roof he was working on. The boat skidded to a halt just in front of the Vikings and the dragons let go of the ropes. A few curious children walked forward as a couple of baby dragons poked their heads out of the boat. The whole village gasped with admiration and glee as they raced to meet their dragons.

"Yeah!" Snotlout grinned as he greeted Hookfang. Hiccup spotted Nightshadow not far off.

"Nightshadow! You're back!" he cried as he hugged the Night Fury's snout. A small squeak caught his attention. After,the beautiful blue Deadly Nadder's landed, its three children gathered around his feet. "And you guys have babies! Aww!" Stoick chuckled and walked over to Astrid.

"Well done, Astrid!" he smiled, scooping the teenager up into a bear hug that nearly squashed the air out of her.

"Thanks...Stoick...can't breathe," Astrid gasped as she was let down.

"Everyone – grab your dragons! To the Great Hall!" Stoick roared. "We finally have something to celebrate."

***

In the Meade Hall, Astrid grinned as everyone celebrated with their dragons and the new babies. One pair of children were playing a game of 'Steal the Mead' with a baby Zippleback and one poor Terrible Terror was being carried around the room by a young girl that was as big as it was. Needless to say, it did not look overly amused.

"This is the best holiday ever!" Fishlegs cheered, holding a baby Gronkle in each arm. "Who's a baby? Who's a cutie baby?" Astrid snorted at her friend's baby talk and nearly burst out laughing at the sight of Snotlout looking after one of Hookfang's kids and nearly getting his face burnt. But beneath her happiness, Astrid still felt a pang of sadness – the one dragon she wanted to see the most wasn't there. So many possibilities ran through her mind, but all of them left her thinking that her best friend will never come back. Her thoughts were interrupted by a nasally voice.

"Astrid..." Hiccup began carefully. He may be the toughest Viking teen on Berk but after being kidnapped by Astrid and Starlight, he had learned to watch his way with his fiancée especially since he had an unfortunate habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Not to mention, they'd recently found out that Astrid had what was known as a 'Berserker' mode, in which she could throw incredibly powerful punches whenever she was angry. Hopefully he should be okay – Astrid was more sad than angry tonight...it pained Hiccup to see her like this, though.

"I know it must really hard for you seeing everyone with their dragons," Hiccup sighed. Astrid's face turned away so Hiccup placed a hand on her cheek so that her storm-blue eyes met his forest-green ones. "But you really did a wonderful thing! Thank you," he finished, holding her other hand and standing on tiptoe to give her a kiss before holding her in a hug (Hiccup was praying for a growth spurt sometime in the near future, he was still the shortest of the gang). Astrid sighed and returned the embrace.