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01.
“Days Like These”
Days Like These - The Cat Empire (Song for the chapter)
Hyde tapped the pencil against the table covered in papers and designs of houses, prosthetic tails and legs. Head resting on her hand as she kept half an eye on the rising sun, and the other half on Toothless who was still asleep on a large slab. She looked back to her sketches. Hyde yawned eyes drifting close, however, was jolted right back awake when there was a crash and a loud thud to her right. Hyde whipped her head around to glare at the now half awake Night Fury as he, unlike his fully awake self, ungracefully stumbled about the backroom of the Blacksmiths shop, that had been Hyde's residence, for the last couple of months. The dragon slumped heavily against Hyde and she feared for the chair she was sitting on Toothless seemed to chitter slighter, licking his lips before going limp. "So...food?" No reaction. "Flying?" Toothless's ears perk up and he cracked one eye open. Wings lifting and spreading out before folding back in after realising the tight space they were in. Hyde sighed and placed the pencil down. She bounced her knee and Toothless jerked up, shaking his head like a wet dog after a swim, before looking at her, eyes wide open and fully alert, he nudged her, eager to get moving. "Yeah, alright, alright! Mr Bossy!" Hyde said as she went to pull on her boots and scrounge around for a warmer jacket. Hyde, since coming to Berk, had been constantly reminded of her lack of wintery clothes, for Akkadia, for some reason was much, much warmer than Berk, which seemed to spend most of its time knee deep in snow. Hyde pulled on a leather jacket over the top of her white long-sleeved top, which had multiple layers to it in a further attempt to keep warm, all held close to her body with a simple belt around her middle. The jacket itself was one she preferred flying with. It had two small and close together buttons near the top but it was far enough down to stop her from feeling like she was going to choke, in fact, it had a bit of a collar that refused to go down even a tiny bit and stubbornly stayed wrapped around most of Hyde's neck. The sleeves though often rolled up, were tugged down keeping the bandages hidden from side and her warm. Hyde stumbled as she was nudged by Toothless a little too roughly. She got what she needed anyway. She patted the short sword by her side, tugging at the scabbard anxiously, unsure if it was going to stay. Toothless crashing against the walls as he pounded and scrambled his way outside to the cold drew Hyde's attention once more and she followed suit, mutter something along the lines of: "Impatient, Reptile"
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It wasn't too long after Hyde and Toothless had left that the others on Berk began to rise and slowly drift from their houses, some more enthusiastic than others, as the winter holidays were upon them, and the celebrations would soon begin. The dragon riders whether by choice or not were happy to help set up the decorations once the sun was shining high. Stoick stood proudly as he watched the children run about, entertaining themselves with the help of the dragons, Hyde, was nowhere to be found, he took note, he let it slide, she had only returned from her adventure last night during the fifth day of the Yule celebration, thankfully, only being gone for three days, before returning to rejoin the celebrations, and the bet which was made the night before, was now in effect, Hyde was required to drink for the next 7 days, until the wheel turned and the sun, and when Buldar, the god of the sun, came back from Hel, and brought with him, light and warmth to help banish the winters grasp on the world, On the New Years Day. If she is drunk, she loses and thus has to clean the shoes and socks of everyone in the tribe for four months. His heavy footsteps drew attention to him as people started bustling bake and forth, with ingredients or baked goods, some kids with their parents leaving offerings and gifts of food and wine to the gods, A giant tree sat in the centre proud and domineering in its massive size, now truly noticeable due to the various decorations which covered it, along with the candles that created a circle around it, along with various ribbons and cloths the encircle the tree. A Viking with an assortment of homemade decorations approached the chief. "the tree?" He asked motioning to the decorations, he nodded. "I'll handle this," Gobber said as he ambled up to them. "Ah, good morning, Gobber!" Stoick said cheerfully. "And a good yule to you too," Gobber replied as he began instructing the Viking on where to place the decorations. Stoick watched as the area became more and more crowded, Fishlegs and Astrid, helping decorate houses, the twins almost concernedly nowhere to be found, nor Snotlout, however, he was likely at home helping his mother to bake her famous cookies for the festivities. "Odin's beard, Gobber. Vikings spending the winter holiday with dragons. What would our fathers say?" Stoick asked as he marvelled at the four-hundred-year-old tree and the dragons and children that rushed around it. "They'd think we'd lost our minds!" Gobber informed a laugh in his voice. Stoick let out a laugh as he stopped in front of the tree. "Well done. Well done, all of you! I've never thought I'd live to see this day. Peace on the island of Berk. This will surely be the greatest holiday, we've ever seen!" Cheers erupted from the crowd and the dragons roared their own little cheer. Roars sounded above them and Stoick looked around, confused, "What the...?!" Hundred upon hundreds of colourful dragons, blotched out the sun as they flew over the island, and the dragons on Berk heads perked up and eyes changed to slits, restlessly shifting and shaking, before taking off to doing the hard flying over Berk, cries of protest and worry, cries for their dragons t come back echoed across the island before it was all mindless and incoherent sounds that meddled into one. "What in Thor's name?!" Cried Gobber. "Meatlug!" Fishlegs cried running out of sight, as Snotlout dangled from his dragon's mouth trying to convince him to stay, the twins reached out and voiced their own protest as the shields they had collected and decorated dropped to the floor. Hiccup stopped, eyes wide as she watched the chaos around her. "Where's Hyde?!"
See you next in "No One Knows" and a Happy New Year!
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02.
“No One Knows”
No One Knows - Queens of The Stone Age (Song For The Chapter)
Hyde’s eyes squinted against the glare of the sunlight, blinking rapidly. “Alright, ready bud?” Hyde leaned forward. Toothless burst forward with a flap of his wings, gliding across the cloud, they dived and Hyde whooped loudly before Toothless opened his wings once more stopping them from crashing into the water and flew amongst the sea stack. “are you ready?” Hyde asked patting Toothless, she shifted her leg and the metallics clicked into place, locking them.Toothless let out a worried warble as his flight became unsteady. “easy, easy.” She slowly stood up, knees bent as she eyed the sea stack, deep breath in, deep breath out. Hyde jumped, a huge grin adorning her face as her blond, almost white hair whipped out her face, she landed heavily and her feet were already moving as she ran across it to reacher the other side at the same time as Toothless did, she jumped. Perfect! The prosthetic clicked into place sit connected and she moved it opening the tail fin. “Yes!” She cheered. “What do you say, bud? Wanna go again?” Hyde asked as the two flew through some more darkened clouds, he gave a small growl in response before a Terror’s high pitched growl drew her attention away from her dragon, and towards the oncoming swarm of dragons. Hyde gave a cry of fright as Toothless swerved this way and that to avoid the dragons. Hyde felt a something yank at her sword before the knots came undone and it tumbled down to the sea. “No!” She cried reaching out for it. Toothless made an urgent sound before diving down. “Toothless, No, no, Wait! Whoa! Stop!” Toothless stopped only a metre from the water's surface. “We’ll get it later bud. We need to get back and find out what’s going on.” She said directing Toothless back to Berk, Hyde smiled slightly, happy that Toothless would go after something that was precious to her like that.
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Hyde’s eyes darted all around her as the two of them darted onto the snow below. “Astrid!” She cried as the shield maiden ran to her. Various other Vikings crowded around her, blocking her view from Astrid. “Why did they leave?” “What's happening?” “Will, they ever come back?” Hyde held her hands up to try to calm them down, she glanced around above the Vikings head she could see dragons lifting off and joining the herd in the sky. “I-I-” She stuttered clueless as to what to say. “Calm down! Give her a chance to speak! Hic-Hyde, where are all our dragons going?” Stoick asked, catching himself before he called her by her old name, the name that wasn’t even hers. She blinked trying to subtly take a step away from the crowd that despite the chief's orders, seem to keep pushing closer. “I don’t know.” She said as her hands fell to her side. “I don’t know.” She briefly wondered if they remembered that she handed even seen a dragon until four years prior to the Red Death’s defeat, and actually doesn’t know too much about their behaviour and habits. She glanced over to Toothless, she watched as Stormfly tries to encourage Toothless to join them, but Toothless fell back down onto all fours, tail lying useless on the ground, motionless. “Where'd they go?! Yule is ruined!” One Viking cried as Hyde inched away from the crowd suffocating her. “It's not ruined! We're Vikings! We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations! And there's no reason we can't do it again! Now we don't know where they've gone off to. But we have to have faith that they'll be back again soon. Am I right?” Stoick said Gobber was quick to back him up. “You're right, we are Vikings! We are tough!” A pause of silence follows only interrupted by the bells and baubles attached to his arm and helmet. “Most of the time…” Scattered laughs echoed throughout the room. “Let's sing some holiday songs!” Gobber said as he began to lead the crowd away, most, however, went back to their homes, half-heartedly being or creating decorations.
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Hyde felt the chill creep up on her spine as the sun began to set after a tiring meeting that took place, not long after dinner. Hyde was walking next to a hunched over Ruffnut, more obvious than normal, at the end of the line as the teens walked alone. Ruffnut was the first to break the silence. “That…was depressing…” “I know! I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly.” Astrid said, Hyde, screwed her eyes up needlessly hoping it would stop Fishleg’s whistling, despite not moving her hands in an attempt to block out the sound. “What are you so happy about? Don't you miss Meatlug?” Tuffnut asked, walking in between Fishlegs and Astrid. “Me? Oh! Yeah! I miss him so much!” Hyde’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as Fishlegs sobs began abruptly. Not a good liar. She would write to Dolma, the Akkadian Tribes healer, as she continued encountering her quest via letters. The crying stopped as quickly as it started, “Well, good night!” Hyde mentally crossed out that statement. Terrible liar, and actor. The group watched as Fishlegs scampered away. The flask of mead clanked against Hyde prosthetic, now empty as she moved forward once more, but was stopped by Astrid’s gasp. “I've got an idea! Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions! You know, to bury the sadness!” She said a smile on her face, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout all groaned. Hyde’s head perked up. “Actually, Astrid might be on to something.” She said encouragingly. “Easy for you to say.” Tuffnut bites back as he motioned to Toothless and the ledge of a cliff, “Your dragon can't go anywhere without you.” “Must be nice,” Ruffnut said almost venomously as she began walking leaving Hyde behind as the rest followed.
*-*-*
Hyde slept less than normal, at a young age Dolma had noted Hyde’s inability to sleep normally, said it was Insomnia, not that it mattered to Hyde, at least not at that time. Unlike the previous morning though, she did wake up and there were people about, some children who woke up early ready to play, before realising there was no one to play with, now moved slowly as they attempted to entertain and cheer themselves. Hyde made her way back to the desk where she moved to continue working. “Yaknog!” Hyde heard a time later in the distance. “Get your Yaknog! Come on! Get a frothy delicious cup of cheer!” It was Astrid. Astrid, carrying a tray full of multiple cups and a large jug. “Hey, you guys! Try this tasty new beverage I made for the holidays.” She said running up to the other dragon riders. Tuffnut pulled a face. “Ugh! What's that smell? Is that you?” He shoved Ruffnut away. “It's Yaknog!” Tuffnut gagged. “Ugh! If I drink that I'm gonna yak nog all over the place!” “Maybe you'd rather taste a punch in the face?” Astrid asked cheerily as her eyes narrowed and her fingers curled up into a fist. Snotlout interrupted. “Astrid, it sounds delightful. I'd love a mug.” Snotlout grabbed one of the filled mugs and lifted it up to his lips. His cheeks puffed out as he reacted to the foul taste and he reluctantly swallowed. “You could really taste the yak!” He said, mug being hurriedly put back on the makeshift tray and he stepped away. Tuffnut gave a cry as Fishlegs pushed him out of his way with his hips, sending him flying as Fishlegs ran up to Astrid. “Hmmm! Yum! What is that?” He asked excitedly. “Oh! You wanna try some? It's my new traditional drink.” Snotlout violently shook his head with a look of warning on his face, Fishlegs, thankfully gets the hint that it was not safe for human consumption as he straightened out, crossed his arms behind his back and took a step back. “Oh... You know... Ehm... I have... suddenly inexplicably changed my mind.” “Well, you don't know what you're missing. I bet Hyde will love this.” Astrid said as she turned to go find the Akkadian. Ruffnut grinned evil, imagine what the poor girl would soon be facing, the however fell when what sounded like a whimper came from Snotlout who was hunched over, clutching his stomach, “Are you crying?’ She asked. He gagged. At the smithy, Hyde had successfully made progress, on both the mead, and the tail, it wasn’t even lunchtime and two empty jugs sat to the side of the table as Hyde took a sip from her flask, her fingers gently prodded at the stitches that ran from one side of her cheek, over nose, and to the other side, the injury which was sustained during the ambush when she was kidnapped a few days earlier, Hyde scratched it. “Hyde?” Astrid called and Hyde’s hand slammed down onto the bench with a loud thud, remembering that she was not permitted to scratch her itchy wounds, she took another mouthful of mead before replying. “Yeah, I'm over here.” She said. Hyde smelled something awful. “Here. Happy holidays, from me to you.” Hyde smiled, as she reached over and grabbed a mug from Astrid, who was smiling. “Thank you, Milady!” Hyde said. “What are you up to?” Astrid asked, eyes examining the almost complete tail. “Okay, you're gonna think I'm crazy, but I just couldn't stop thinking about what Tuffnut said last night. Toothless can’t come and go like the other dragons, and that's just not fair. I was up all night and I think I found a way to fix that.” Hyde took a large swig, her eyes watered. “No way! You built him a new tail? So he's gonna be able to fly without you!” Hyde nodded, refusing to swallow. “Hmhm!" “Wow, what a great gift!” Astrid said, Hyde made another affirmative sound. “What if he never comes back?” Astrid asked, concerned. Hyde looked back at the tail, the thought hadn’t occurred to her. “Mh…" Astrid laughed. “What am I saying? Of course, he will!”Hyde nodded, not truly believing her own response. ”Mhm!” “Well, I'm going spread some more holiday cheer! You’re amazing!” Hyde watched as she ran off, and as soon as Astrid was out of sight she spat out the Yaknog all over the floor and grabbed a new jug of mead, and down it as fast as she could in order to get rid of the taste. “Note to self: never let Astrid cook or make new foods.” She turned back to the tail. She grabbed the tail and headed outside, to where Toothless was dislodging roof tiles once more. “Toothless!” She called. “Come on down, bud! I got something for ya!” She held up the tail for the dragon to inspect it after he landed on the ground. “What do you think of that?” Hyde moved to place it on his tail but the dragon playfully moved around in circles, forcing Hyde to chase after his tail. “Would you just settle down! Toothless! Come on, bud! Let me get that on you!” She sat on the dragon's tail, something she realised was becoming a habit. “Yeah! You are going to love this.” She fiddled with the mechanics and it finally clicked into place. “Okay.” She patted Toothless’s tail and she moved it away before she could do anything else, madly shaking it about, trying to throw it off. “Nonono... To-Toothless! Stop! Please, wait! Toothless, please!” The tail opened up and Toothless stopped, as he experimentally moved it. “Ah... Here you go. See? Got it?” Hyde smiled. Toothless turned his head away from his new tail to stare at Hyde, before returning to the tail, then back to Hyde. “Toothless…” Hyde stepped forward arms reaching for Toothless, he recoiled back before his wings shot open. “Whoa!” He turned and Toothless in the air and towards the now grey clouds, away from Berk and leaving Hyde, like so many have done before him.
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03.
"Tell Me Something Good"
It was three days later, the days were heating, much to Hyde's and most of Berk's pleasure, as the sun was beginning to shine, the air was still a biting cold, but certainly better, soon, they wouldn't be able to play on the ice, as it would become to close to thawing any second. The days seemed to drag on, and Hyde's spirits were still down as she lay awake in her makeshift bed, eye's closed as she soaked in the warmth from the forge in the smithy. Hyde knew that Berk doesn't reach temperatures closer to her own island, even n the hottest of days, and she only felt a mild annoyance towards that fact, dragging Gobber into the water regardless, or if it was a colder day, he dragged her. She remembered trying to wash Toothless for the first time, safe to see it didn't particularly work, and she ended up giving up and dumping him in the lake, much to the shock of Gobber, who was helping, sort of. Hyde remembered after that incident he handed. Her a heavy Bola, and instructed her to throw it, she couldn't. He tried an axe next, and Hyde finally got the hint that he was testing out her strength, she surmised that it must have been when she forcefully dragged a struggling Toothless to the lake, ignoring the fact that it took an hour to do so. She had better and worse luck with the axe, she fell over when she was first given it, and when she got her footing, swinging it was another problem, Gobber may not have gotten too much on her strength, but did discover that Axe's and Bola's are not Hyde-safe items. Toothless, it's been three days since he left, she wondered if Toothless had found a mate, another night fury, or had kids, she shuddered to think that Toothless may be still searching. Bang! The roof shook and Hyde jumped up. Bang! Hyde practically dove towards her leg which was resting against the side of her bedside table and grabbed the closest pair of pants, top and jacket, hastily putting them on before stumbling her way outside. Toothless!? Hyde felt her left leg give out from under her, slipping on the ice and she landed heavily. Hyde's eyes fluttered open, after adjusting from the sudden bright light, and the pain in her backside from falling, Gobber look down from the roof of the Smithy hammer in hand. "Mornin' Hyde! Glad your up." Hyde rose to her feet, dusting of snow and ice. "Morning, Gobber." She replied voice lacking any real enthusiasm, it reminded Gobber of when she first came back to Berk, as a prisoner to serve out her punishment, before she began working under Gobber, in fact, Gobber remember the trail and error they went through when they tried placing her in the pirate program, she left when Snotlout broke her right arm, forcing her to hold her sword with her left, she improved after that. Gobber approached the teen. "I was looking for your sword." He spoke up trying to distract her. "M-my sword?" Gobber nodded. "The chief wants you to wear it at the great feast tonight, who knows, he may be beginning to trust you, may even call you by your name and not Hiccup." Hyde lifted her head, eyes widening a small sparkle, a light of hope flickered across her eyes but was gone as her shoulders slumped. "Alright... Come on. What's on your mind? Out with it." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from leaving. "It's been three days. I just thought Toothless would be back by now." Gobber's body heaved with a sigh as he leads the young Akkadian back into the Smithy. "I'm sure he is with the other dragons," Gobber reassured. Gobber noted, a second later her lack of care towards the trust that she may have installed in the chief, something she has worked hard to gain. "Yeah? I wish I can be that sure." "Ah, listen... I know what it's like to miss someone you love this time of year. But what do we do, when they can't be here for the holiday? We celebrate them! And I imagine that is exactly what Toothless would want you to do. Right?" Hyde nodded her head in agreement, before looking up. "Who do you miss?" She asked, eyes sparkling with innocent curiosity, her voice soft, a contrast to normal. Gobber leaned down to get to eye level of the small girl before placing a finger to his lips. "It's a secret." He said quietly. Hey simply raised an eyebrow as the tribe's Blacksmith straightened up. "Now! Why don't you go help out, I'm sure they'll need it." Hyde nodded before running off to find the chief, to see what she could do. Gobber watched after her, twisting the hammer on his fake hand before turning back to continue work on the roof.
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Hyde found herself carrying oars through the village when she bumped into Fishlegs, who was carrying a large basket of fish, her nose scrunched up as the stench hit her. Before plastering a smile on her face as she greeted the other dragon rider. "Oh, Fishlegs, you hungry? There's enough fish there to feed a dragon!" She exclaimed, shifting the oars that rested on her shoulder to a more comfortable position. "Hahaha... Oh, a dragon? That's..." He ran, skirting around the Akkadian and hurrying into a barn. Hyde followed steps becoming light enough that only a dragon with good hearing would be able to detect her, years of training kicking in. Fishlegs snuck his head out of the barn as Hyde hid behind the side, the door closed and the footsteps still loud due to Fishlegs size pitter-pattered away, the oars were leant against the wall and Hyde grasped the barn doors opening them. Her eyes widened. A wild, frenzied Meatlug, chained to the wall was thrashing about in an attempt to break the chain. She launched forward and a scream bubbled in Hyde's chest that turned to a startled cry as the Gronkle crashed into her after the chain was broken, Hyde's hands dug into whatever had barrelled into her, no longer feeling the ground beneath her feet, and suddenly rather scared of falling. "Meatlug?!" She exclaimed in shock as the flew through the village, houses now a blur as they sped past. "Hyde? Where are you going?!" Astrid asked, ducking the dragon and Hyde as they flew past, Hyde squinted and tried to shield her eyes from the wind. "I HAVE NO IDEAAA!!" Hyde could only barely hear Fishlegs over the sound of the wind rushing past her ears, but could not figure out what he was saying.
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"I can't believe him," Fishlegs says as he and the rest of the teens enter the barn where Meatlug escaped from. "YOU can't believe HIM?! YOU KIDNAPPED YOUR DRAGON!" Astrid shouted Ruffnut began walking over to the haystack, followed by Tuffnut. "Well, that makes it sound so mean," Fishlegs said. Ruffnut and Tuffnut moved some of the hay. "Hey, guys?" Tuffnut called voice of pure shock, Ruffnut stared in wonder end excitement. "He flew away the second he was unleashed!" Astrid pointed out angrily. "I'm seventy-two percent sure he wanted to stay." Ruffnut gasped. "GUYS!" Tuffnut shouted. "Whoa... Meatlug barfed up a pile of rocks." Fishlegs said, approaching the small pile of multi-coloured rocks nestled in the hay. "You're such an idiot! Those aren't rocks. Your dragon laid eggs!" Ruffnut said. "Hey, wait! I bet that's why the dragons left! To lay their eggs!" Astrid said, eyes lighting up with happiness. "But, boy dragons don't lay eggs," Fishlegs said, shifting uncomfortably. "Yeah, your boy dragon is a girl dragon." Ruffnut pointed out. "Okay, that actually explains a few things." Astrid sprung up. "Hey! Everyone's missing their Dragons, right?" She hurried over to the right side of the barn, a blue egg in her hands. "Oh, here it comes." Snotlout groaned, rolling his eyes as he took a step back. "I've got an idea! It'll be another new Yule tradition!" She turned around, a red ribbon wrapped around the egg.
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"Oh, this is gonna be so good!" Astrid said as she clutched two eggs tied up in ribbons, quickly followed by the other teens with their own eggs, the group hid the eggs where they could, skirting around other Vikings those rare few who were still out in the afternoon. The regrouped in the middle of the village. "Wasn't this a great idea?" Astrid asked the group, smiling madly. "Uh-huh! Everyone's gonna be so surprised!" Fishlegs squealed. An explosion sounds from the house Astrid just delivered an egg to, a baby Gronkle comes flying out of a house, hitting Fishlegs in the head. He fell backwards uttering a cry of pain, Snotlout leaned forward screaming a big "SURPRISE!" In his face, before the Gronkle glances up at them, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout coo's at the baby Gronckle. Astrid's eyes widened, fear clutching at her stomach. "The eggs explode?!" It was like dominoes a second explosion then a third, fire blazed heat and furious as it at away at the house, baby Gronckles flying and destroying everything it hits. "THE EGGS EXPLODE!!!" A Viking runs screaming from his home, helmet on fire. Astrid was the first to move out of the teens. "I'm sorry! Sorry!" She cried as more houses exploded. Something crashed into the tree, the tree that has been there since the first Berkian's a second or so, and a small fire, started simmering away, before leaves and branches caught and it began to spread to more projectiles and almost the whole tree was on fire. "Awesome!" Ruffnut laughed. "Wow!" Tuffnut agreed as he watched the explosions. "This is your best idea yet!" Snotlout said to Astrid. "What in Thor's name is going on?!" Stoick's voice boomed across the Village, over the clamour and screams of those around him. "The eggs explode."
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Hyde blinked, arms spread out as she soaked up the much warmer weather on the island, trying to calm her nerves before she opens them. hot springs, and thousands of nesting dragons. "You guys come here to have babies!" She says, a smile on her face as she begins to climb down the small cliff that Meatlug dropped her off on. She spotted a Gronckle push it's eggs into a spring and approached slowly, peering into the water, one of the eggs exploded, almost silent underwater, one after the other and they began to make their way out of the water and to their mother, Hyde smiled. "Aww. Wow!" She stood up. "Hey, look over here, you missed one." The egg exploded sending Hyde stumbling back to avoid flying shell and the initial blast. "Man, it's a good thing those don't hatch on Berk!" She commented, thinking of the destruction it would cause. She stood up, brushing off the dust and began walking. "Toothless! Toothless? Ah, Toothless, where are you?" She called, dodging baby dragons. Hyde's eyes lit up with recognition and happiness. "Hookfang! Stormfly! Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you guys!" A hand was placed on her head as if to block out the sun. "And you have... babies?" She crouched down to greet the baby Nadders. "Oh, look at you guys! All happy, together. Who knew you are leaving to celebrate your own sort of... holiday. I should get back to my holiday. So what do you say there, Hookfang? Think, you could give me a ride back home?" She asked, patting the large dragon. He gave a rumble of approval before lowering his neck allowing for Hyde to climb on with ease. He rose into the air and Hyde looked back to the island once more. "I'll see you all back on Berk when you're good and ready, okay, gang?" She said waving to them, Hookfang turned, ready to take the young rider home, Stormfly was the first to rise into the air, followed quite quickly by all the other dragons. "Oh... Nono nonono... I think I just started the return migration." They tried again with the same results, Hyde sighed and watched as the babies began running forward towards the cliff, "Well, if you insist!" The first lot launched themselves off the cliff and into the air but returned quickly, they weren't strong enough. She groaned."Don't follow me, I'm a terrible person to follow, ask my husband, hell ask my brother." They stared at her hopefully/ "Ah, boy, this is never gonna work." She glanced to her side. "Oh, hold on, I've got just the thing." She patted Hookfang and they dived down.
*-*-*
"Ah, Gobber, this is a disaster," Stoick said as he weaved his way through Vikings who were cleaning up the mess that the Gronckle eggs created. "Ah, it's not so bad." "Oh, not that bad? The village is destroyed. The dragons have gone and left us. Let's face it – this holiday is a complete- What are these people looking at?" He pushed through to the front of the crowd and his eyes widened High in the sky, he could barely make out shimmering creatures. "What is that?" Gasps and murmurs flowed through the crowd as a large Viking ship with a Dragon Figurehead emerged from the clouds, makeshift ropes held were strung and held firm by the dragons. "It's Hyde!" A villager shouted the crowd erupted into cheers and noise of celebrations. "And our dragons!" Astrid said as she spotted Stormfly. The boat landed heavily on the frozen water shattering the ice to pieces before moving forward, as if the ice was of no consequence to the old ship, leaving cracks that led to the freezing ocean below. It was stopped by a pile-up of ice and snow. A moment's silence after the ropes were dropped, a single baby Nadder hopped from out of the ship curiously looking around, gasps and sounds of awe echoed throughout the crowd, and suddenly, the baby Nadder chirped and the rest of the babies heads popped out and began spilling from the ship. Hyde had barely gotten off of Hookfang before Snotlout was hugging the dragon's snout, hugging him. Hyde smiled and glanced to her left where Fishlegs was just barrelled over by Meatlug. Hyde grunted when she was pulled into a hug, Snotlouts belt digging into her stomach. "Oh, um-" Snotlout quickly let go, shuffling back towards his dragon. "Th-thank you." Hyde smiled. "Your welcome." "Everyone! Grab your dragons!" Stoick's voice boomed. "To the Great Hall! We finally have something to celebrate!" He practically ran to the great hall, and the Vikings followed. Hookfang gently bumped his snout against Hyde's arm. "Toothless?" Snotlout asked, almost hopefully, but could guess the answer. She shook her head as the two began making their way to the Great Hall.
*-*-*
A baby Gronckle wiggled in Fishlegs's arms. "This is the best holiday ever! Howsa baby!" The teen made baby noises at baby dragons. Hyde leant against a pillar, watching as a poor Terrible Terror was played with by a young child. "Hyde, I know this must be really hard for you seeing everyone with their dragons." Astrid leant down, she could properly look at the downcast eyes of the Akkadian "But you really did a wonderful thing." A handle gently caressed her chin and it was lifted up to look at Astrid as she straightened up again, Hyde briefly noted how much taller Astrid was than her. "Thank you." Hyde smiled briefly, then Astrid's lips pressed to hers, it was a brief and quick peck, and Astrid pulled away quickly before pulling the smaller teen into a hug. "Astrid," She starts, voice almost shaking, vulnerable. "where did Toothless go?" "I don't know." A moments silence as Hyde simply enjoyed the contact, then Astrid was pulling away, a weird smile on her face. "Wow, man, I wouldn't wanna be you right now! I mean you brought back everyone's dragon except yours!" Hyde's eyes narrowed. "Not helping." Hyde gave a startled cry as she was turned around forcefully by Astrid, practically pushed. Her eyes widened and a grin spread across her face. "Toothless!" She bolted forward, meeting him halfway. She pulled back after hugging him. "Bad dragon! Very bad dragon! You scared me to death. Don't ever stay away that long again, and what is in your mouth?" She asked eyes squinting at the pointy object that was sticking out of the dragon's mouth, the object cluttered to the floor. "You found my sword! That's where you've been? Thank you! You are amazing!" Hyde latched on tot he dragon once more, hugging him until Astrid's voice rang out. "Happy Holiday!"
*-*-*
Hyde groaned, loud bangs came from the roof and Hyde glared at the sunlight filtering through the window. She reached to the mug of mead on her bedside table and down it. The bangs come again and she fumbled to put her leg on and some clothes. She exited the shop, and practically felt her way around to Toothless, "I'm coming, Toothless!" She grumped. He gave an impatient warble as she glanced at the dragon, then on the ground, Toothless has pulled out the old flight gear. Hyde kicked the suit great away. "Toothless, what'd you pull this out for? You don't need this anymore. Come on, let's get going." She tried to approach him to get on put he moved away. "Would you quit fooling around? You have your new tail now. Toothless?" He lifted the tail opening it, then slammed it down on the ground repeatedly, until he flicked his tail and it flew off, landing in the ocean. Hyde blinked, now well and truly awake. He pulled the old gear towards Hyde again. She crouched down. "does this mean...You won't leave, like the rest?" He nudged the gear towards her once more.
*-*-*
The wind whipped past the dragon and his rider, "Alright, boy, you ready?" Hyde unhooked her leg and somersaults off of Toothless, and they freefall together. Hyde let out a sound of excitement. She straightens her body after glanced at Toothless as they freefalled, her eyes shot open as Toothless tapped her gently spinning her in the air, she giggled. She reached out and she felt and heard the click as the leg hooks back into its pedal and they soared across a mountain, snowing blowing everywhere. "Whoo-hoo!" She shouted as the climbed in the air. "Happy Holiday's, Toothless."
*-*-*
Dear Dolma
Winter in Berk lasts most of the year. It hangs on with both hands and won't let go. And the only real comforts against the cold are those you keep close to your heart. This year, I gave my best friend a pretty great gift. But he, he gave me a better one.
- Elizabeth Alta Hyde-Snyder
A/N: Suggestions for Extra's are more than welcome.
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04. Extra
"Walking On Sunshine"
Hyde scratched the mostly healed cut on her nose as Gothi hobbled about, Gobber had one hand firmly pushing down on her shoulder and she wondered if he’ll end up breaking it. The salve, or whatever it was that was meant to heal any scars was apparently ineffective, mainly due to Hyde’s insistence of scratching the wound and reopening it to the point where there was no hope of there not being a scar that ran across her nose and a little on her cheek. Gobber, who had found her earlier that down, blood dripping down her face and a couple of fingers cover in blood, had concluded that Hyde was not to be trusted to go to Gothi alone, as she would try to escape, and had to be supervised, just in case she injured herself again. The other teens landed the role of supervisors, mainly Fishlegs, Astrid and surprisingly, Snotlout, who grumbled and groaned all the while, but still hit Hyde’s hand whenever it headed towards her nose. Hyde sulked. Astrid had been staring, Hyde noticed. She raised an eyebrow questioningly. “You're so, tanned.” She said. “So was my mum,” Hyde replied shrugging. “And your dad?” She asked, “White as any other Viking.” “Was your mum, not from Akkadia?” Hyde stretched her legs out. “She was Akkadian, just her skin tanned rather than burnt.” Astrid nodded. “But you're tanned all year round.” Hyde leaned forward. “That’s because I’m special, besides, my older brothers like me, he’s pretty tan. I think the trick is we spend more time outside where the sun is blazing on hot than we do inside.” Astrid nodded. “That’s right, Akkadia is hotter than here isn’t it?” Hyde nodded. “Is that why you don’t like it here? It’s too cold?” Hyde shrugged before giving a sheepish grin and nod. “Yeah, I struggle a little with cold, I’m used to the heat.” Hyde lay down head resting on her hands as she stared at the sky. “But tell me something. Astrid.” She began, her nose twitched and she moved her head as the wind picked up, blowing sand over her. “Where exactly are we?” She asked as the other teens splashed around in the water. “Somewhere in between the Meathead Tribe and Berk.” “Okay, why?” “It’s hot..?” Hyde gave her a pointed look, she knew full well there were perfectly good beaches on Berk. “It’s a surprise.” Hyde let out a loud groan before she was yanked by her leg, the left was left wrapped up and away from the sand, a pair of crutches next to her and she was dragged into the water by the twins. Hyde tired quickly, still not used to swimming with only one leg, and not being a good swimmer, to begin with, didn’t help matters, after aggressively scrubbing the sand off of her stump so it would rub and aggravate the skin when the leg was put on, was so mind-numbing that Hyde was practically falling asleep on the way back to Berk. The surprise as it turns out, allowed her to sleep in her own bed, in her own house. Gobber was the one who found the house plans she was working on, it took him a while to figure out what exactly half of it meant because it was a mix between Akkadian and traditional Viking writing, not to mention some wouldn’t even consider it a house. The house which she designed, was to be built around a tree, and Stoick and Gobber had asked the teens to take her off the island for the day, so he and Gobber and many others can focus purely on the house. “You won the bet.” Stoick had said when presenting the house to Hyde. She barely heard him though, as she was excitedly climbing the branches that lead to different rooms, and marvelling at the designs that seemed impossible, but was now Hyde’s home. She slept soundly that night, much to Stoick’s confusion. “She likes height.” Gobber had concluded shrugging.
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How To Train Your Dragon: Memoirs of Elizabeth Alta Hyde-Snyder
How To Train Your Dragon [Volume #1]
Published - Complete
Isle of The North [Volume #2] A Christmas Special
Published - Complete
Gift of A Night Fury [Volume #3] (You are here)
Published - Complete
How To Train Your Dragon: One Step Forward [Volume #4]
Not Published - Coming Soon
Legend of The Boneknapper [Volume #5]
Not published
How To Train Your Dragon: Go To War [Volum #6]
Not Published
Other works relating to this series:
Dragon Manual
Published - Ongoing
The list will be updated as titles and books are edited and confirmed.
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I'm having a little trouble choosing a cover for the 6th edition of the series. There is this one:
and this one.
tell me which one you like best!