Gone (HTTYD Fanfic) REWRITE [Book 5]

~5~

They have been walking through the forest for hours now and still no sign of a dragon. The sun has fallen and the moon has took it's place. They trudge through the woods, listening to the sounds of the forest. 

Astrid glances over at Tuffnut who has his eyes closed and is hugging the chicken. Ruffnut is harshly dragging him with them.

"Taste like chicken. Chicken of a stick. Chicken a la mode." Tuffnut says and he almsot falls over. Astrid pushes him back up and shakes him to wake back up.

"I think we should head back." Astrid says once Tuffnut is stable again. 

"Sure!" Ruffnut says excited. "Since we never found that quote on quote "yak-dragon", declare me the Thorston Challenge winner and we can all go home!" 

"Um... Okay. Alright. Um... by the power vested in me, I hereby declare that Ruffnut is the- whoa!" Fishlegs stops what he was saying when they hear a loud roar coming towards them. 

The brushes rustle and twigs snap. They all stop to see what is ahead of them. A black dragon creeps out of the words, snarling. They all jump back, startled. It growls as it circles them. 

"Ah man! Tuffnut wins the Thorston Challenge..." Ruffnut pouts, apparently forgetting about the wild dragon circling them like they are it's prey. 

"Yes!" Tuffnut says, now wide awake. "Told you. Know pay up." He says and punches Ruffnut. She yells and kicks him.

"Guys! Are you forgetting that there is a wild dragon who can easily kill us?" Astrid snaps at them, pushing them apart. 

"Right... So what do we do?" Ruffnut asks. The dragon stops in front of them, growling. The bright green eyes of the dragon glares at them.

"Why isn't it attacking us?" Astrid asks herself quietly. She looks into the dragon's eyes. For some reason, they look really familiar.

Astrid sees a shadow at the side of the dragon. The shadow looks strangely looks like a human. When the figure comes into the light for the moon, she sees that it is a man. He wears a black bandanna and some sort of suit. She sees the man has black hair and forest green eyes. 

"Uh... A-Astrid?"

"I know Fishlegs. I see him too." 

The twins don't look scared. They look amazed. "Cool! He has a dragon! Can I touch it?" Ruffnut asks the man. His eyes look at her and he furrows his eyebrows.

Tuffnut walks closer and the dragon snarls. Out of nowhere, the man holds a flaming sword. He glares at Tuffnut, daring him to come any closer.

Tuffnut doesn't back away but he doesn't walk any closer. "Okay, so the dragon is off limits." He says.

Astrid walks to where Tuffnut is and the man points the flaming sword at her. For some reason she feels drawn to him. 

"Who are you?" She asks him. He furrows his eyebrows. She looks at Fishlegs, silently asking for help.

"Astrid, he may not speak Norse."

"Can you understand what I'm saying?" She asks. The man stares at her and reluctantly nods. "We don't ant to harm you or your dragon. Can you put you sword away?" She asks him, holding her hands up to show she isn't armed.

His eyes flicker to something behind her. His grip tightens on the sword handle. "Astrid, your axe." Fishlegs says. He seems to frightened to approach the man like the others did. And for some reason, the twins haven't done anything stupid. 

She reaches back and grabs the handle of her axe. She completely forgot that she brought her axe with her. When she pulls it off her back, the dragon growls. The man rests a hand on the dragon's nose and the dragon goes quiet. Though he still eyes the teen wryly. 

Astrid sets the axe on the ground in front of her, not taking her eyes of the man. She turns to the twins.

"You two, get back to camp. Don't say a word about any of this to Gobber or Snotlout. If you so much as say anything about this night to either of them, I will put my axe through both of you heads. Got it?" She threatens. She knows that with them here, they could do something reckless and get them all killed. 

They nod and run off. She lets out a breath and looks back at the man. He lowered his flaming sword but didn't put it away. Honestly, she can't blame him. She would've done the same.

"Fishlegs..." She whispers to him. HE looks at her. She can see how scared he is. But she is going to need his help. He is the smartest one out of all the teens. He can come up with a plan if this all goes wrong. "What do I do?"

"Try to get him to talk. See if you can get him to not hurt us. I would loved to still be alive when we leave this island." He says hastily. She nods and looks at the man.

"Hi. Um.. this is Fishlegs and I'm Astrid." She introducing them. She knows that this could end really well or really bad. "Can you tell me what your name is?" She says softly, not want ing to seem as a threat.

He looks at her confused. "A... As-Astrid?" He says. His voice is hoarse, as if he wasn't ever spoken. 

She glances over at Fishlegs and sees him quacking in his boots. "Uh.. yeah. That's my name. Can you tell me yours?"

He stares at her and suddenly, she knows why those eyes seem so familiar. It's those eyes that she had longed to see for eight months. The eyes that she was always fascinated with. The ones that she loved to look at. They always showed kindness and compassion. 

She knows who exactly this man is. She stumbles and Fishlegs grabs her arm to steady her. She feels light headed and puts her hand to her forehead. She looks back the man and he looks very confused. 

"Hi... Hiccup?" She says, the man looks surprised and then confused again. She hears Fishlegs gasp. 

Then everything goes black.