The Rise of Light (Book 3: Together Forever)

Dragon's Downfall

Astrid's POV

"So... where are we going?" I asked Hiccup as he flew us away from the Hidden World.

He smiled up at me, "It's a surprise!" I groaned. "What?"

"I hate when you surprise me," I told him and he scowled at me.

"This... Is a good surprise!" he replied. The remainder of the flight was spent in silence.

After several hours of flight, Hiccup landed. I blinked in surprise.

The place was beautiful. A steady stream of water was tumbling down a waterfall into a river. There were flowers everywhere, even if they were dominated by a bright red one. There were willow trees beside the small pools that were created by the river. Birds flew by and I could see the sun filtering through the foliage above, where the tree grew on the cliffs surrounding the little area.

"I told you it was a good surprise," Hiccup muttered as he shifted and walked toward the river, well more of a stream.

"Fine! I admit it! This is amazing! You're amazing!" Hiccup smirked.

"Of course, I am! You wouldn't've married me otherwise!" I walked up to him and punched his arm. I frowned when I saw no reaction. He showed me his hand and I scowled at the scales there before punching his shoulder, this time far harder than I had punched his arm.

He laughed as he shook out his shoulder. 

"That hurts, you know," he told me and sat down.

I smiled. "I know," I told him and sat down in his lap.

We started acting like we had when we were younger. I chased him around when he splashed me with water. Then I had flung mud at him and we had ended up in the stream, soaked.

When we eventually fell asleep I curled up under Hiccup's wing and he bent his tail in front of me.

I, however, was awoken by a fish whacking me in the face and someone yelling, "You just got Loki'd!"

I groaned when I saw that Tuffnut was an inch from my face.

"What're you doing here?" I asked him.

"Oh. Ruffnut and I are gathering Blood Trilliums for our research," he stated and just then Ruffnut showed up.

"Astrid! What're you doing here?"

"Hiccup and I were on vacation for a couple of days... Speaking of Hiccup... Where-"

"Righ, here!" he said in a muffled voice. I turned to see that Hiccup was carrying a basket of fish with him.

"I hate to say something-" he cut me off again.

"No, you don't."

I glared at him before continuing, "-but that is way too much for just the two of us..."

"It's not just for the two of us. I woke up just before they got here so I decided to get breakfast for all of us," he replied as he sat down. "Although, I'm not really sure why they're here..." he trailed off, looking at the twins, perplexed, as they picked more of the Blood Trilliums.

"They're doing research on the Blood Trilliums," I told him. He gave me a look. "That's what Tuffnut told me!"

Ruffnut came up to us with an armful of the blood-red flowers. "Do you want to see something cool?" Although it wasn't really a question because she touched the center of the flower and in the blink of an eye, it turned green. I stared in astonishment as vines grew out of the plant and tried to latch onto Ruffnut's thumb.

"It's a carnivorous plant," she stated and set the plant down while tossing it a small amount of fish, which it grabbed onto immediately and the petals folded inwards around it. "They eat meat instead of using sunlight to create energy. When we first set it off, it tried to eat my hand. They take whatever they can get. Thanks for the fish, Hiccup!" She said as she placed the Trilliums in another basket. Barf and Belch came and grabbed both baskets before they flew off.

"We'll see you later!" Tuffnut said as he followed Ruffnut.

We spent most of the day in peace until just before sundown, when Ruffnut and Tuffnut, followed by Barf and Belch came crashing into the clearing.

"Run!!!" Ruffnut screeched as they skidded to a stop. We gaped at the upheaval until another crash came from the opening in the cliffs.

Hiccup pushed me behind him and Inferno was in his hand. I instantly skirted around him with my raised axe.

"Hiccup! Astrid! Get out of there!" Ruffnut shouted from above. We ignored her.

The intruder smirked at us and before I could react a dart was lodged in my neck. I blinked for a second before I collapsed.

Hiccup's POV

I twisted out of the way of a dart and saw Astrid collapse.

I shifted and grabbed her in my claws before shooting a plasma blast at him.

"Get out of there! For the love of Thor! He has Dragon's Downfall!" Ruffnut shouted.

My eyes widened at the information and immediately jumped off the ground from my hind legs while my forepaws clutched Astrid, who was still unconscious, tight against my chest.

I let another blast shake the ground as I shot towards the trees. I felt the whiz of air that came from darts that barely missed me as I flew through the canopy of leaves.

Holding Astrid tighter, I followed Barf and Belch back to the Hidden World.

Night's POV

The crashing of the waves filled my ears. As everything around me faded out. As the world was slipping out from beneath my claws and even my wings couldn't save me from the gaping hole I was falling into.

I didn't even realize the tears were pouring from my eyes as I felt all that I had known, get pulled out from under me. 

Nothingness flooded through my veins. And as I looked up in pain and sadness. As my vision flooded back and the shadows that were consuming me, took pause.

My instincts had me extending a wing out in between him and death. The sharp stab had me screaming in pain and looking at an arrow lodged right under my bone and in the membrane of my wing.

I shoved Falcon down the waterfall before jumping down myself. I spread my wings and landed before yanking the arrow out of my wing and without a backward glance flew to New Berk.

A/N

I can't believe that this chapter kinda started as a really weird dream. The blood trilliums changing came from that... The other guy came from that... The poison darts... Ruffnut and Tuffnut showing up out of nowhere... Kinda funny... :)