Gone (HTTYD Fanfic) REWRITE [Book 5]

~17~

Flying felt almost unreal. She didn't know how to explain it. She loved the feeling of the wind in her hair -granted, her hair is braided. 

At first she was hesitant. The Deadly Nadder looked intimidating. It sounds weird when said, but with the dragon just sitting there, looking nonthreatening. It unnerved her. But she trusted Hiccup. And if he trusted the dragons, then Astrid -though reluctantly- trusted them too.

Now that she is experiencing flying for the first time, maybe trusting the dragons wasn't such a  bad idea after all. Flying felt exhilarating. She understands why Hiccup likes it so much. 

When they approach the wall of fog, it put a damper on her exhilarating experience. Her arms tighten around Hiccup's middle, feeling anxiousness creep up.

She can hear faint sounds of dragons roaring. She watches as the Deadly Nadder turns at certain times, leading them farther into the fog. 

When the fog clears, they see a monstrous dragon, the size a a mountain, coming out from its cave. 

"Ruff, Tuff, watch... your backs!" Hiccup yells, startling Astrid from her trance. The dragon sees them approaching and snaps in their wake. Hiccup leads them away from the dragon. 

"Look at us! We're on a dragon! We're on dragons! All of us!" Tuffnut yells in excitement. Astrid would be more excited too about riding a dragon if it wasn't for the fact that they could die any moment. 

"C'mon! Let's move it!" Hiccup yells at them. They fly above the dragons head, flying around as Hiccup tells them what they have to do. 

"Fishlegs, break... it down." Hiccups says to the nervous viking teen as he tries to keep steady on the Gronkle. 

"Okay." Fishlegs says shakily. " Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing. Steer clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils. Relies on hearing and smell."

"Okay. Lout, Legs, hang in its... blind spot. Make some noise... keep it confused. Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has... a shot limit. Make it mad." Hiccup tells the others. Astrid was astounded of Hiccup's leadership skills. She never knew that a scrawny boy that was afraid of his own shadow, would be such a good leader.

"That's my specialty." Ruffnut brags.

"Since when? Everyone knows that I'm more irritating. See?" Tuffnut says and starts making annoying sounds. He turns the Zippleback's head that he is on upside down. 

Hiccup rolls his eyes, annoyed by their antics. "Just... do what I... told you. I'll be back... as soon as I can."

"Don't worry, we got it covered." Tuffnut says as they all fly away.

"That's... what I'm afraid of." Hiccup mutters. He leads the Deadly Nadder that him and Astrid are on to the burning ships that are docked on the shore.

"There!" Hiccup points to one of the ships. He leads the Nadder over to the ship and he gives Astrid the rope. Astrid looks down at the ship and sees Toothless chained to the ship. He starts roaring when he sees Hiccup. 

Hiccup lines up his jump and hops off the Nadder. He falls to the deck and looks up at Astrid. "Go help the others!" He yells to her. Astrid nods and reluctantly flies off. 

She flies over to the Dragon Queen seeing Snotlout standing on the gigantic head on the dragon, hitting its eyes with his hammer. 

"Yeah! Your the viking!" She yells to him. He looks at her and smiles awkwardly, and swings his hammer down again, not paying attention to where he is aiming. The Queen roars enraged and breathes fire at the viking ships. Astrid gasps as the one Hiccup is on goes up in flames. She sees something fall in the water and she waits to spot Hiccup. 

A moment later, she sees Toothless take to the sky. Astrid lets out a breath of relief when she sees him, knowing that he is alive.

"He's up!" Astrid yells to the others. "Get Snotlout out of there!" She yells, talking about how Snotlout is still on the dragons head. Astrid sees as the twins catch Snotlout on the Zippleback's neck, where their necks separate. They looked shocked when it works out fine. 

When watching the event unfold, Astrid doesn't see the Queen turning towards her. She notices when the dragon starts inhaling, trapping Astrid and the Nadder, as they can't fly away. 

Astrid prays to Thor to get out of this alive, hoping that something will stop the Queen from firing. 

Astrid hears a high-pitched screech and a blast is aimed at the Queen's mouth, stopping the dragon from firing. This also results in Astrid getting throw off the Nadder and quickly descends to the ground. She screams as she gets closer to the ground and hopes that this ends quickly.

Though her descent is cut short when something snags her leg. She opens her eyes and sees a black underbelly of a dragon. She hears a grumble and watches as Toothless looks down at her and gives her a toothless smile. She smiles back at him, relieved that Hiccup had saved her. 

Toothless sets her down on the ground gently and flies off. "Go." Astrid says breathless as they fly off.  Astrid runs over to the other vikings that have crowded together, watching the scene unfold.

Hiccup and Toothless fly up high into the sky. A familiar screech is heard and they blast at the Queen's head. The large dragon falls to the ground. The vikings shield themselves from the rubble and dust. Astrid watches as the Red Death extends its massive wings. 

The behemoth roars enraged and flaps its wings furiously, pulling itself from the ground and chases the duo.

They fly fast through the sea stacks and the vikings watch in amazement. Their mood deflates when they see the Queen soaring after them. They watch as the black dragon soars into the clouds, disappearing from sight. The Red Death follows. 

The Vikings watch as the outline of the Queen is shown every time Toothless fires. They soon see orange brighten up the grey clouds. A black spot flies to the ground at a steep descent. The Red Death falls after them.

A shot is fired and the Red Death's mouth goes alight. The Red Death hits the ground hard, exploding. The vikings run away hurriedly, to not get caught in the explosion. 

Toothless and Hiccup disappear into the cloud of smoke a fire. The vikings watch anxiously , waiting for them to fly back to the ground safely. 

They hear a desperate screech and then it goes silent. They wait for the ash and smoke to settle. "Hiccup!?" Astrid hears Stoick yell. Her heart pounds as she follows his yells. "Hiccup!? Son!?" 

His yells are no more but Astrid keeps running in the direction of his last yells. When she spots the chief, she staggers as she sees Toothless laying on the ground, eyes closed, wings folded, breathing deeply. 

Astrid's breath staggers as she feels a sense of deja vu. Hiccup could be dead. This would be the second time she lost him. Only this time, its real. 

She feels her eyes well up and a tear travel down her face. She hears Stoick say something but she is too upset to hear what exactly he side. 

She sees Toothless open his wings, revealing Hiccup laying inside. Astrid feels hope swell inside her. Stoick hurriedly takes the young man into his arms and puts his ear to his armored chest. She hears him burst into relieved laughter. "He's alive! Your brought him back alive." Stoick says to Toothless. Astrid smiles, a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders, but she still feels weighed down. 

The crowds cheers and dragons roar. Astrid sees Gobber walk to Stoick. "Thank you for saving my son."

Gobber looks at Hiccup and cringes. "Well, yeh know, must of 'im."

***

1313 words.