Found again (HTTYD FF)

✯40✯

Astrid stood frozen in place and watched Hiccup fly away. She still couldn't absorb anything she had witnessed.

She had to go over it over and over in her mind, but it still didn't make sense.

How was such a thing even possible?

It had to be magic. Damn magic.

She never believed in magic. She trusted her abilities and her clear mind, trusted her experience and knowledge, trusted the ordinary, albeit cruel, world.

But this? How could she be sure that in the next moment some creature wouldn't leap out of the shadows and turn her world upside down once more?

She could still feel the grip of those strong dragon claws around her ankle, still feel the touch of his hot scales on her back - and in retrospect, she could feel his strong heartbeat in that moment. The fear of her uncontrollable fall washed over her again - she hadn't been flying with Stormfly long enough to stop dreading the feeling of weightlessness and the pit in her stomach. She wasn't prepared for anything like this.

He asked her to keep quiet about it.

Why?

She already knew what he was anyway. Everyone on Berk knew - or so they thought. As it turned out, Hiccup was much more than he first appeared. It wasn't enough that he had wings, a tail, and could communicate with dragons - no, that would be too little. Astrid was more or less still able to deal with that. But on top of that, he had a second body?

How, she asked herself again, was that even possible?

Stormfly gently bumped into Astrid's shoulder, nudged her snout into her arms, and groaned pitifully. As if to comfort her. Apologize.

"It's okay, girl. It's not your fault. I guess it's my fault. We shouldn't have followed them. If we'd stayed here, I might have never found out who he was, but at least I wouldn't have ruined everything! Ugh! Let's go for a flight." She paused for a moment as her fingers ran over Stormfly's scales. "He won't want us here anymore after what happened tonight. He probably... probably won't want to see us ever again. None of us were supposed to know his secret. I want to take a good look around before we have to leave, what do you say?"

The Nadder wiggled in agreement and immediately began urging her rider into the saddle.

Nothing could lift Astrid's spirits like the support of her best friend. (Yes, she had only known her dragon for a short time, but she couldn't imagine life without her anymore.) But this time, there was a huge weight on her heart - she had no idea where it came from - and not even Stormfly could remove it.

Still, she climbed into the saddle. She didn't have to give any signal to her Nadder. She jumped off the cliff herself and went in the opposite direction of the way Hiccup had disappeared to.

She hoped, if only to preserve the rest of their friendship - if there was any left - that they would not meet him.

She decided to stop thinking about it. To enjoy the beauty of the nest. While she still could.

She concentrated on the movements of her dragon's wings and the pleasantly cool air. She needed to relax if she wanted to take anything from the view.

She closed her eyes for a moment, just breathing, taking in the hot, scaly flesh beneath her and listening. When she opened her eyes, she was a little calmer. Not enough, but it would have to do for now.

She didn't know how long she'd spent watching the nest and the life inside it. The dragons here were so content, so full of life. It was nothing like what she had seen all her life. The large reptiles didn't have glassy eyes, they didn't move so jerkily and alertly, they didn't set their teeth on each other and try to strangle each other. Instead, their gaze was clear and reflected so many intelligent emotions, they moved gracefully and calmly, simply coexisting contentedly. If she hadn't been seeing this behavior for the past few weeks on Berk, there would definitely be a stunned and incredulous Astrid sitting in the saddle now instead.

She was glad things had worked out the way they had with the dragons.

"What do you say we check it out from the outside?" Astrid wanted to know what exactly was behind the walls of ice that protected this dragon paradise. She hadn't gotten a chance to see the area around the nest to her satisfaction on the way here - she was too busy staring at the icy structure. And on her secret nighttime quest to find Hiccup... she didn't have the capacity to focus on anything but the creature that stood between her and falling into the icy ocean.

Of course, Stormfly had agreed to her suggestion. She turned towards the nearest exit of the nest in sight, only to hear a call echo through the nest before they could barely make it halfway through the short journey. Stormfly stopped.

"What is it, Stormfly? Is something-"

She didn't even have time to finish her sentence. Suddenly, a swarm of colors and wings surrounded them. Astrid couldn't tell if Stormfly had taken off on her own or if the mass of dragons had taken her with them. She could see almost nothing in the chaos.

She gripped the saddle tightly. "Stormfly-!" She ducked down, just in case a dragon above her happened to catch her.

What's going on? Can't she have peace for the rest of an already exhausting day? It didn't matter that it was only morning and she still had the whole day ahead of her! May the Gods grant her a moment of rest!

She wouldn't be surprised if she bursted with frustration now.

She trusted Stormfly. She had to, no matter what she did - because her dragon trusted her just as much. Paying her back was the least she could do at this point. And it was also the only thing.

So she just gripped the saddle tightly until her knuckles turned white, held her breath, and stared ahead. The panic she'd been trying to suppress all this time, and tuck as deep into her subconscious as she could, wouldn't allow her eyes to close for fear of having to avoid something.

Thankfully, the flock quickly made it out of the nest and the tight space between the dragons quickly turned into a much more acceptable distance.

She straightened in her saddle.

"Stormfly, where are we going?"

She looked over her shoulder at the receding nest, confused. She hadn't even had time to enjoy the view of the turquoise blue hill of icicles. With her need to hold on tight to the saddle and keep an eye on what was happening, she didn't have time for that. She turned her gaze back to the scene before her.

Where the dragons were flying to was a mystery to her until they stopped over the empty ocean a few miles from the nest. The only question left was why exactly they were there.

Her question was not to remain unanswered for long.

She didn't look down - why would she look down on an empty ocean? That was why she gasped in surprise when a huge head armed with massive tusks emerged from the depths, and hundreds of fish flew out of its mouth. One by one, the dragons began to pounce on them. And Stormfly joined them.

At first, she hesitantly began to descend, trying to reach the falling fish before they disappeared back into the ocean. She caught a fish. A second one. Then she must have decided two are not enough. She flapped her wings violently, flapped her wings, and dove into the fray for the remaining fish.

Astrid had no choice but to yelp in surprise and hold on to the saddle with all her might, hoping that Stormfly wouldn't do any unexpected acrobatics - she wasn't sure she was ready to actually hold on in a situation like this.

Suddenly it was over - Astrid didn't even have time to start cursing all the decisions that had brought her to this point. There wasn't a single scale left in the sky - fish scales, there were more than enough dragon scales.

"What the hell just happened!?"