In Lieu Of A Tail

8. Five Years Of Freedom Later

Hiccup stretched and yawned as he awoke, kicking off his bed cover and stepping onto the wooden floor, his prosthetic leg squeaking in protest when he put his weight on it. He winced, he knew he would never get used to it, even though he had lost it almost 5 years ago, it was still a strange sensation. He also knew that his sacrifice was nothing, not when compared to the lives he must have saved by killing the Red Death.

He joked with Toothless that he 'just had to get even', but not too much, he knew the dragon felt as guilty about Hiccup losing a leg as he did about Toothless losing a tail fin.

He spotted the Night Fury asleep on his rock, and crept downstairs quietly, not wanting to disturb the dragon. He began to quietly put together a breakfast for himself, making a mental note to visit his friends of the tribe on Caldera Cay – the Defenders of the Wing – to get some more fruit preserves as he was down to his last jar. He heard a thump from upstairs and called for his dragon.

"I'm down here bud! Making breakfast!"

The dragon grunted in response, still half asleep – there's a reason they're called Night Furies, they are not morning dragons. A crashing arose and Hiccup snorted in laughter, knowing the dragon had probably nudged his bed so that it fell onto its side, had he been in it he would have been awoken by a wooden floor to the face.

"Toothless! I'm down here!"

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" The dragon asked as he plodded down the steps, eyes still heavy. "Also, your bed fell over again, it wasn't me, I bet it was Fyredart!"

"Sure, Fyredart – the Terrible Terror the size of my leg – knocked over my solid oak bed." Hiccup sniggered.

"Yeah, he did," Toothless muttered sleepily, clearly not paying attention, "what's for breakfast?"

"Fish, duh," came the shriek from the window.

"Fyredart, we were just talking about you." Hiccup called.

"I know, why do you think I came? I heard my name."

"Be that as it may, we both know the real reason is because you knew it was breakfast time and Hiccup always has extra fish." Toothless said, rolling his eyes.

"That's just a coincidence, but seeing as we're on the subject..." He turned to Hiccup, eyes big, round and sad.

"You know that doesn't work on me," Hiccup said.

"Then it's a good thing it works on me." A voice sounded from the doorway.

A girl stood in the opening, one hand on the doorknob and one hand grasping a wooden bow. Her quiver rested on her back and her bronze hair was done up simply, with half of it pulled back out of her eyes and the rest free to fall in natural and wild waves. She wore a dark green long-sleeved tunic and a leather skirt with dark turquoise leggings. Her brown fur boots were sturdy and comfortable. At her waist a simple belt held several pouches and a sword on her left hip. A satchel rested on her right hip. She had armoured plates on her shoulders and a thin cloak with a hood looped over her arm. Her eyes burned with a lively green fire of curiosity, contrasting her pale face. Her mouth twitched up into a grin as she put her bow in her quiver and reached into her satchel, pulling out a fish and tossing it to Fyredart.

"Aurora!" Fyredart screeched with a mouth full of fish. Aurora giggled.

"It's good to see you, how are the Beserkers?" Hiccup questioned. "And the Bog Burglars, and–"

"They're fine, and so are all the other tribes you asked me to check on." She replied. "Seriously Hiccup, at least let me eat something before I tell you about my trip."

"Fair enough, how was you flight?" He asked, embracing her and checking she wasn't injured.

"It was great, and I'm still in one piece, Hiccup, I haven't lost any legs." She teased. Hiccup simply stared at her with an are-you-serious look, she laughed.

"Where's Astra?" Toothless interrupted.

"She'll be here in a minute, she's just dropping off our camping stuff at our hut, she said to go on ahead and to tell you she's fine." Aurora answered with a smile, still sniggering about Hiccup's face.

A roar was heard and then a midnight black dragon burst into the hut, almost knocking Aurora over.

"Nice try Astra! But I was expecting you to do that!" Aurora said gleefully.

"Oh really? What about this?" Astra quipped, knocking the girl over with her tail and looking away innocently.

Upon closer inspection, the dragon was not just black; small, pearly-white scales were scattered within her hide and glittered like diamonds in the right light. One could also say that they sparkled like stars, thus her name – and what Aurora called her species: 'Star Fury'. The dragon was similar in build to a Night Fury but was slightly smaller. Her fire blast was also different, being green – like her eyes – and having a habit of exploding upon impact. The dragon was particularly good at hiding at night, as the stars helped camouflage her.

"Anything interesting happen?" Hiccup asked.

"No, unfortunately the archipelago is as boring as ever. Barely any dragon trappers and most of them were cowards anyway." Aurora sighed, getting up and glaring playfully at her dragon.

"Strangely, most people would be happy about that." Astra muttered. "Just my luck that my rider craves chaos and adventure, not that I'm one to talk. I still think I'm saner than you Aurora!"

"No disagreements there Astra." Aurora whispered, her eyes gaining that faraway quality that never boded well. Hiccup put his hand on her shoulder and Astra curled her tail around the girl, pressing her snout into one hand while Toothless nudged the other. Fyredart landed on her head and her face brightened, stretching into a grin. "What about that breakfast, Hic? We're starving, we flew nonstop all night to get here in time."

"Okay, okay! Breakfast coming right up!"

AN: I'm sorry, I hope this was worth the wait! Obviously it takes place several years after the Red Death. What do you think of big brothers Hiccup and Toothless? Do you guys like Aurora and Astra (spoiler alert: they both have a couple secrets I haven't explored in this chapter)? Please tell me what you think of my OCs, this is still a Hiccstrid by the way, leave a comment!

The next chapter will probably be up in a few days and should take place after breakfast, maybe we will learn more about Aurora and Astra, who knows!
Again, please tell me what you think of Aurora and Astra, and vote if you liked the chapter!
Until next time!