The Great Beyond

Chapter 9: Quake, Rattle, and Roll (Reign)

                I rocked back and forth on my heels, impatient for Hiccup and Toothless to finish their latest defense system for the Edge. Recently, that feeling something big was about to happen grew stronger and stronger in my gut, so just to be safe, all of us were taking precautions to prepare for an attack from my brother. I had already finished making our armory more easily accessible, in the event we needed to grab weapons fast, so I offered to help Hiccup make the proper adjustments to the large spyglass he was setting up. It was mostly ready, the clarity just needed to be adjusted a bit so we could see as far as possible.

"All right. I think one more plasma blast should do the trick, bud." Thinking fast, I jumped back just as Toothless shot a purple blast at the glass, nearly avoiding the cloud of smoke it created. Hiccup, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, and after the shot was fired, I could hear him coughing.

"Whoo!" Once the black smoke and golden embers completely cleared, I stepped forward and leaned down, peering through the spyglass.

"Nice," I gasped. "I can see straight to the horizon."

"That should make it a little harder for anyone to sneak up on us." Though Hiccup couldn't see it, I smiled, feeling far more reassured than last night, when I started freaking out about all of this in the first place. "I wonder how the twins' lookout tower is coming along." I stood up straight and shook my head, unable to picture them making any actual progress.

"I can only imagine."

Hiccup and I shared a brief laugh as he made his way closer and placed a hand on my shoulder, looking at me with concerned eyes.

"Does this help at all?" he asked. "Be honest." I sighed, leaning my head against his chest and allowing his steady heartbeat to ease me into full contentment.

"It certainly makes this place safer, if that's what you mean." I paused for a moment, unsure whether I should share the next thing that came to mind. But, Hiccup would know if I was holding something back, and then he'd just start worrying more, and that was the last thing I wanted. "Look, I already feel bad that my panic resulted in everyone having to do work—"

"Don't worry about it, Reign," he shrugged, strangely casual about all this. "We were going to have to set all this up eventually. It's better we do it now, rather than after it's too late, and we'd have to rebuild the entire outpost as well." Still, I felt no better about any of this.

"Are you sure? I still feel like—" This time, Hiccup cut off my train of thought by kissing my nose, causing my cheeks to flare bright red and my brain to become all flustered.

"I promise you, it's fine. And I will continue to tell you that until you believe it."

Before I could respond, two extra pairs of footsteps turned me around. Astrid and Snotlout rounded the corner, their faces glistening with sweat.

"Hey, guys, you have to check this thing out." I rested a hand on the large spyglass. "You can see forever." Astrid stepped forward first, leaning down and closing one eye. She looked around for a bit, when her brow furrowed, and she glanced up at us.

"The view is tilted to the left slightly," she informed us. "You can still see perfectly fine, but it's just kind of off-putting."

Without a single protest, Hiccup knelt down and started to hammer the right leg that propped up the lens, attempting to shorten it without having to take the whole thing down and cut the leg. He hadn't been hammering for very long when the twins landed on the platform, donning matching smirks on their faces.