Staraster-A How To Train Your Dragon Fanfiction

Chapter 10~Taming Nightmare's

~Katana's POV~
"This is great!" I grinned, watching closely as Staraster zoomed over the water, catching salmon and halibut alike. She howled happily until her mouth was full of fish. Kyrra laughed softly.
I glanced over my right shoulder at her. She was everything I never was. Beautiful, loved, caring...and happy. Kyrra's optimism rubbed off on me as she smiled back. I forced my gaze away, suddenly finding my dagger a lot more fascinating. I felt myself get spattered with water and shivered.
"Aw, Staraster!" I laughed. Kyrra came over to us and stroked her dragon's mane as Staraster's mouth frothed with fish. A particularly large halibut stuck out of the left corner. "How did you know about this place?" I asked.
Kyrra's smile grew soft, her eyes distant. "Back when Hiccup first took me on a ride with Toothless, when we were much younger, much better friends, and he was not yet Chief, he brought us to this beautiful cove."
She gestured around us, at the looming mountains sandwiching us and the spires rising out of the water. It was dark in the shadow of the two mountains, and the only light came from Arvindal's Fire.
"Fascinating?" I contributed. Kyrra's smile faded, even as Staraster nuzzled her. I think she was worrying about her sister. I watched as Staraster began poking her nose in tide pools, searching for something.
She gave a soft howl of delight and turned to face me with a large starfish hanging out of her mouth. I chuckled and watched her nosey around some more. Kyrra was watching too, happy for the moment. "It looks like her wing is almost healed," she noted.
Her dragon finally found a pool off away from the channel and began lapping at it happily. She was just thirsty. The lights drew my attention to the sky; I found myself watching it, wondering if Arrow, Melina, and maybe even the Flightmare were up there.
And if they were, if they were still alive.
•••
~Arrow's POV~
I clutched frantically at the niche in the mountain, feeling myself slipping. Bonecrusher nudged me up, his front paws on the mountain rock. I was only ten feet off the ground, and I still had so much farther to go.
"Just hold on, Mel," I panted. "I'm coming!"
•••
~Melina's POV~
The Flightmare watched me, more curious than cautious. I carried no weapon but my bare fingernails, and I trembled uncontrollably. It shrieked a siren at me, moving closer. The Flightmare was a glowing blue; I knew its diet was glowing algae and that's what made it that way.
And the algae only glowed when Arvindal's Fire's shone upon it, so wherever the Fire and the algae went, and the stream it lived in, was where the Flightmare went. I had to think of the facts to try to wake myself up from this nightmare.
It wasn't working. The luminescent dragon leaned over me, breathing freezing mist. She forced me against the snow at the top of the mountain. I felt my cheeks numb when the mist touched them.
I had no idea why she had only taken me, or what had happened to Arrow and Bonecrusher, but I needed to focus on the here and now. I reached my hand out to the dragon's face, but instead of letting her embrace my hand, even though I didn't think she would, I used my hand like a neon sign that read, Stay.
My opponent cocked her head. I slowly brought my legs closer to me, out from under her, so that I could kneel. My bare knees numbed immediately from the snow. I kept my hand outstretched-and looked away. Then three things happened all at once.
Kyrra and Katana flew up on Staraster, Arrow launched himself at the Flightmare, and the Flightmare pushed its face into my hand.
•••
There was a loud explosion. I coughed on snow, choking and hacking. "Arrow? Katana? Kyrra?" I looked up to see Kyrra and Arrow unconscious in front of me, the Flightmare winded a couple feet away, and Katana lying on the ground beside me covered in the blue mist, her face frozen in an expression of horror.
"Katana? Katana? Kat?!" I cried, shaking her. "KAT! Don't go, please don't go!" I checked her pulse. There was nothing. Her skin was colder than the snow. The Flightmare made a small noise, attempting to come near me. "STAY AWAY!" I screamed.
"LOOK WHAT YOU DID! This was my friend!" I was sobbing now, hysterical and heartbroken. I leaned over Katana, at a loss for words. A single drop of blood dripped out of her hand and stained the pure white snow. I respectfully shut her eyes. And then, her mouth. I bent over my fallen friend, and touched my forehead to hers.
"You were a beautiful, intelligent, girl," I told her softly. "You were loved by your friends and you will be cared for by Thor. You were a respectable young woman and there wasn't a soul on Berk who hated you. I didn't know you very well, but I knew that you were a kind, good person. You were a loyal friend to the end. Rest in peace." With finality, I took her dagger out of its holster and stuck it into the snow beside her.
Kyrra was awake for the ending. She scrambled over, silent in her grief. She looked up at me tearfully. "We need to send her off right," she murmured. I nodded, choked up. She continued, "Let her ashes be remembered, and the grandchildren told of her excellence."
I bent over again. There was a place in my heart that was paining me. It felt like extreme heartburn, but I knew it wasn't that. It was the loss of a heart.
I checked Arrow's pulse, feeling guilty that I had not done so already. He was still wearing the bracelet I had given him, but more importantly, he was also alive. I breathed out, relieved beyond belief. He was cold, so cold. I dragged him up into my arms, attempting to warm him.
He had climbed this wall, for me. I eyed the Flightmare, who looked-ashamed?-as I crawled over to the edge of the mountaintop, dragging Arrow behind me. Bonecrusher was in a depressed heap on a small ledge not far below. He whined and thwacked his tail when he saw me.
Suddenly I began falling! I cried out and shoved Arrow back onto solid ground as the snow under me gave way. "Help!" I yelled, my hands scraping for purchase. My legs dangled in the brisk air. Bonecrusher roared in distress below me. Kyrra was frozen, still cradling Katana's head in her arms. "Kyrra!" I shouted. "Please!"
"Hang on!" she yelled, as Staraster howled anxiously. I knew she couldn't save me, because of her wing. I slipped off the edge, my hands wet and freezing. I shut my eyes. I wished to go in peace. Staraster and my sister cried out as I plummeted towards the ocean.