Dragon Prince- A HTTYD Fanfic

Chapter 10: Berk's Worry

The night Astrid left with Hiccup, the gang and Stoick were worried. The last time the fierce Shield Maiden had gone missing until the morning had been the night Hiccup had died. So, they all tried to go out and search for her, but it was just too dark. Giving up, Stoick and the teens returned to their houses and turned in for the night.

Stoick, in the middle of the night, had one of his worst nightmares yet. It started with his usual nightmare of losing Valka, his wife, before turning into hearing Astrid say those dreadful words. Hiccup's face then appeared out of mist next to his father, tormenting the chief, saying that he failed his son. Stoick barely handled it, and then out of nowhere, he saw Astrid's lifeless body. When his son had died, the chief had promised to look after Astrid since she had no one else, and he had known Hiccup was sweet on her. Seeing Astrid dead made Stoick feel guilty for breaking that promise, and he almost couldn't take it. The chief bolted up in his bed before weeping in the night, apologizing to Hiccup, wishing he could start again.

In the morning, everyone went out to search for Astrid. They found where the young warrior had shot down the Night Furies with the bolas, and saw signs of a scuffle. They didn't see any signs of Astrid, which cast a heavy wave of grief upon Stoick and the gang. Snotlout wished he had been there to help Astrid, although he wasn't sure what he could've done, as Astrid was the best of them. Fishlegs lamented that another one of them had been lost, which brought up memories of Hiccup, making him feel guilty again. Ruffnut missed her friend, who was the only other girl on Berk she could get along with and talk to. Tuffnut missed Astrid as well and wished she was still there to punch him when he said something stupid. They all headed back, where Stoick announced her death in the Great Hall. He also put a date down for her funeral service, which was the next day. Then the chief retreated to his house, unable to face the pitying faces of his people.

The next day, at the funeral service, they loaded one of Astrid's axes on the boat and set it off. Then Stoick was the first one to shoot a fire arrow, followed by all of the tribe. The lonely chief then turned back to his village and plodded back up to his house, where he isolated himself all day, beating himself up over all of the deaths that had happened on his watch. Gobber was worried for his friend but didn't see a way he could help. All of the gang went back to their respective houses, too depressed to hang out.

Suddenly, Stoick realized that all of the deaths he had witnessed were because of dragons. He remembered what Johann had said, about a man who lived with dragons and tamed them. Swearing vengeance, the bitter chief started hatching a plan to catch that demon, and kill him for his crimes.