#I FORGOT HIS BRANCHES NO WONDER HE LOOKED BALD

[undreaming-fanfiction]

My Kind of Perfect

Ahaha. I finally finished my entry for @thefreakandthehair's Spicy Six Winter Fic Challenge. Well, one of them. This one is Looking for the perfect Christmas tree. Also on Ao3 because it's kinda long. Enjoy!

Steve Harrington hated the word "perfect". He hated it with passion fuelled by over a decade of unreasonable expectations, disappointed glances and stern talks about fixing his priorities, hated it even more after he saw all the pressure perfection put Nancy under. It was such a funny thing, hating something yet still feeling like a failure for not being exactly that. It didn't matter how much he tried, his parents said it was only the results that mattered, not the effort. So yes, perfection could kiss Steve's toned ass.

Steve learned to find beauty in imperfections instead. He adored how Robin sometimes rambled so much she bit her lip or her tongue in the process and then kept sticking it out to make it hurt less. He loved how Nancy sometimes laughed so hard at Robin's corny jokes that she forgot to laugh like a lady but snorted instead, making such undignified noises that it had everyone present howling with laughter. He enjoyed the annoying sassiness of the younger Wheeler, Dustin's constant but caring nagging, Lucas's stubborn nature. And most of all, his heart could burst with fondness when he saw Eddie Munson chewing on his hair, storing pens in the messy bun he sometimes pulled it into, scribbling over his arms random lyrics that had just popped into his head. This was what beauty was in Steve's world, not the constrictive perfection his parents sought.

When his boyfriend - and boy, did even thinking that word make something flutter in his chest, he sure hoped it wasn't a heart attack, but even if it was, Eddie was worth it - asked him to join the search for the perfect Christmas tree for himself and Wayne ("and you too, Steve, there's no way you're spending another Christmas Eve alone"), he really wanted to tell Eddie that any tree would be perfect because it would be for them, decorated by them, that he didn't care for the word at all. But Eddie's eyes were huge and warm, full of wonder and excitement, and Steve just bit his tongue and adjusted Eddie's scarf before heading out of the door. He tried not to think about all the times his father inspected their Christmas tree and if he found a single crack, a single imperfection on any of the ornaments, it got immediately removed and tossed into the trash. What a message did that send to young Steve Harrington.

For the better or the worse, yeah no, definitely for the better, they were here now, trying to find a...tree? Steve honestly had no idea what a perfect tree looked like, he assumed it should be green and probably not balding. That would have been enough for him. But surprise surprise, Eddie Munson, probably the messiest person on this planet Earth, could be a perfectionist. Why and to what end, Steve didn't know. They had been at it for hours already, Eddie was inspecting every single branch, measuring the tree if it would fit in the trailer, watching it from varying angles and Steve was freezing. He tried to be helpful, he really did, but he didn't understand the task and he definitely didn't understand the reason for it.

As it became darker and colder, Eddie grew more agitated. He seemed stressed, his eyes were darting among the trees and after asking Steve to choose between two nearly identical trees and Steve admitting he had no preference, Eddie snapped at him. "Really, Steve? Just pick what you like, how is that difficult? Or aren't these good enough? I'm just trying to get it right, find a perfect one, but I can't do it alone, man!"

And Steve was getting frustrated too, all too reminded of all the times when his mother pulled perfectly ironed shirts from his closet in shades so similar they could very well be the same and asked him, as if he ever had a choice anyway, which one he preferred. Maybe that comparison wasn't fair because Eddie was here, Eddie actually cared and was giving him options, but the ridiculousness of the whole situation hit him like a ton of bricks. "But why?" he asked, exasperated. He ran hand through his hair, ruining it - but perhaps not, it was full of snow and moisture anyway. "Why does it have to be perfect? And what does perfect even mean, I don't even know what we're looking for! So help me a bit here!"

Eddie just stared at him as if he grew a second head. "Why?! Because it's...it's our first Christmas, Steve. Our first Christmas together, so it needs to be perfect." When he saw Steve's blank stare, he continued, losing himself in examining yet another perfectly adequate tree. "I might not be able to do fancy stuff, but this is like, basic, you know? You just...you deserve it and more, and I want to give it to you. So excuse me if I'm going to freeze to death to find the prettiest tree for us! Because you, Steve Harrington, deserve perfection and I might be, well, me, but I'm going to do my damn best to give you that." It was looking more and more like Eddie was trying to crawl inside that tree instead of measuring its circumference.

Of course, they had talked about this already. The quick sleight of hand that Eddie performed with dirty, cracked or too used mugs, plates. The ashamed look towards every crack, every spot of peeling paint in the trailer. It might have been newer than the one they lost to Vecna, but still nothing luxurious and no matter how many times Steve told him that it was okay, that he liked their home was actually lived in, there was always this unspoken feeling of inadequacy in Eddie's actions.

Steve reached out and stopped Eddie's frantic patting of the tree, whatever it was supposed to be. "Baby. I've never...I don't want perfect. I just want you."

"Oh wow. Ouch." But Eddie's mouth corners were twitching and he finally let go of the unlucky tree. "You sure know how to make a guy feel special."

"Wait, no. I mean, I'm not taking it back because I mean it, but in a good way!" Steve was rambling now and he would feel hot with shame if there wasn't that special amused twinkle in Eddie's eyes that never felt like a judgement, only kind teasing. "Okay, it sounded shitty because to me you're perfect, but also maybe not? And that's what I like, what I love so much. I'm sick of perfection, of fancy dinners, perfectly cut and trimmed trees, shiny baubles without a single fingerprint on them. Presents wrapped so perfectly you don't even want to touch them because you'll ruin them. Do you know we used scissors to open our presents, back when my parents were still home? Tearing the paper off was too unsightly or some shit like that."

Eddie blinked and his mouth hung open, forgetting to snicker at Steve's attempt to salvage his speech about perfection. "What the fuck?"

Steve just nodded and if his smile didn't fully reach his eyes, it was only for a moment. "Right? That's where perfection gets you. It's all for appearances, no real thing under it. You can have the prettiest thing but I'm so fucking sick of feeling like I'm just a visitor in my own life. So I want something real. I want cookies that are maybe a little burnt, Christmas dinner on mismatched plates, a mistletoe that falls into my face when I kiss you because you didn't attach it properly."

Eddie gave a theatrical sigh and rolled his eyes, nudging Steve in the side through his coat. "That happened only one time and I fixed it right after, I swear to god, are you going to blame me for it forever?!"

"It has only been like a week, but yes. When Dustin decides to give us grandchildren or whatever his kids would be considered, this will be the first family story they will learn," snickered Steve. His smile grew into something more restrained, tender. "But I wouldn't trade it for the world. And if there are those stubborn bits on your ugly Christmas sweater that won't come off, and even if you bitch about it being too short or too long or too ugly which, sorry love, but it is-"

"It was on sale! And you have to admit the pattern is crazy interesting! Is it a snowman? Is it a cryptid? No one knows!"

"-shush. I'm complimenting you here, not your sweater. What I mean is - it's my kind of perfect. Anything with you is. Hell, we could throw a stone blindfolded and take whichever tree it hit and I'd think that's the best one."

Eddie leaned towards him and kissed the tip of his nose. "Way too dark for that, Stevie. Good method though." He was still joking, of course he was, it was Eddie after all and humor was his second nature. But the way he managed to tame his restless energy to listen to Steve, the way he was biting his lips and hiding his smile...maybe Steve was finally getting through to him. Maybe practice really makes perfect (there's that word again, damn it), repetition too.

"Next time then," laughed Steve. "But really, I couldn't care less what tree we bring home. It's another...temporary thing, if that makes sense? What makes me happy is how excited you are for it, but please, Eddie. Don't do this for me because you think you have to. I'm not...I'm not like this because I want to. It's because I had to be. And trust me," he said, biting his lip perhaps too hard, too deep, but there were some things he found difficult to admit even to himself, "I'd sometimes like to let go. Not shout at the kids when they dive nose first into the first muddy puddle or think about which laundry detergent would get rid of the stains because I don't want their parents yelling at them. And I know they won't because they're good people, but the thought is still there, you know? And being able to...not wash dishes immediately after dinner, not to scrub my shoes so they don't look used, it's kind of new for me, but also...I like it. It's so freeing, but it's small steps, you know. It's like you're my safe space to be more myself, more...faulty? Imperfect? Is that a word? That. Yeah, I just...with you I don't feel like I need to be so anxious all the time. So, uh...what I'm trying to say is...we can pick any tree you like?" he finished, feeling even more stupid than usual. Where did he even intend to take this speech? How did they get to this from a simple tree shopping trip?

Eddie chewed on his glove, lost in thought. And maybe it was a little bit gross and the teeth imprints on the fingers made Steve's brain do a small gymnastic number, bouncing against the walls of his cranium, but he would always manage to shush it. This is what I want, he'd tell that stubborn squishy asshole that was equally his friend and enemy, and if you don't like it, we can get Eddie new gloves when he chews through these. Compromises everywhere, with Eddie, with his own brain. "Eddie?"

Eddie shook his head, sending those pretty curls flying everywhere and stirring the setting layer of snowflakes. "We're so unpacking all of that later, Stevie. Over coffee or something. And then we're leaving the mugs in the sink for half a day. At least. What did I want to...oh. That." He finally stopped nibbling on his finger and grabbed Steve's hand instead, squeezing it. It must have been impossible to feel anything through their thick gloves, but Steve could swear he suddenly felt warmer. "So, what I'm going to tell you will sound crazy lame. Like, absolutely lame. And I know you'll claim it's adorable or some shit like that, but I'm acknowledging the lameness in advance so can kick this elephant out of the room and...yeah." He cleared his throat and maybe his face grew a little bit redder, maybe not even from the cold. "So, we normally don't get like, real Christmas trees," he admitted, watching Steve's shoes as if they were the pinnacle of the latest Hellfire campaign. "It's like, at first we couldn't really afford them, you know? It's another expense and just having Christmas with Wayne was everything I wanted. One of the guys from the plant gave him an artificial tree. Kinda small, to fit in the trailer, and it's all crooked and probably older than I am. But even when I started my...um. Side hustle. And we could afford a real tree, we kind of didn't want it anymore? Because Hubert-"

"Hubert?" interjected Steve, snorting and attempting to cover it - very poorly - as a sneeze.

Eddie waved his hand. "Yes, Hubert. The tree is old enough to have a driver's licence, Steve. Of course he has a name. I wish I could remember where we got it, but anyways, we kind of stuck with Hubert every Christmas because he's like a family. It."

"He," grinned Steve and wrapped his arms around Eddie's waist, pulling him a little closer. It was magical how well they fit together. "Don't you dare disrespect Hubert like that."

That earned him a giggle from Eddie too. "True, my humble apologies, Hubert. So anyway, I wanted to get a real tree this year because when I drove past your house in the past, it was always decorated to perfection and I just thought...I don't want you to settle for anything less, you know? So I was even ready to get some fancy baubles or whatever they call it because Hubert always wore the weirdest combination of anything and everything we could find, did you know they even sold Garfield ornaments? I got them for Wayne one year and they're so fucking ugly Stevie, it's no joke how atrocious they are, but it kind of became our thing. We'd hold competitions every year to buy the ugliest ornament possible and add it to Hubert's ever-growing medal collection. So, um..." he trailed off, pressing his lips into a thin line. "What was I saying?"

Steve stroked his cheek and laughed as several snowflakes melted into Eddie's skin. They were so going to regret just standing in the freezing night and discussing Garfield ornaments. "I believe you were just describing my perfect Christmas tree, Eddie."

Eddie shot him a disbelieving look. "You mean old, plastic, wobbly and with a flamingo topper that Wayne got as a joke one year and we never bothered replacing it?"

"Yes." He leaned in again and kissed Eddie's forehead, feeling the cool skin against his lips. "It wound be my absolute honor to meet Mr. Hubert Munson. None of these compare," he declared and waved his arm around, pointing at the perfect, even trees.

Before he could pull back, Eddie wrapped himself around Steve, like an octopus. His arms went around his back and squeezed hard enough for Steve's back to produce a mostly pleasant crunch. Eddie burst out laughing before nibbling beneath the edge of Steve's scarf, placing a small kiss on his pulse point. "Have I ever told you I love you Steve?"

Steve went for casual, shrugging and willing his racing heart and the butterflies in his stomach to take a break. "Probably, but you know my memory is shit. Care to repeat it?"

"Sneaky," smirked Eddie and then he repeated it. And again. And maybe once more for good measure.

--

When Wayne returned from his shift, he found his son (well, nephew, but the paperwork could fuck off, he and Eddie knew what they were to each other) and his boyfriend sleeping on the couch, exhausted and grasping half-unpacked boxes of Christmas ornaments. Steve was cradling the flamingo topper like a firstborn child and Eddie was wearing a tinsel crown. Wayne's heart swelled at the scene, the domesticity he never imagined Eddie having in Hawkins, but apparently he was wrong and so glad for it.

"Don't you have a bed, boy?" he asked and was treated with the glorious sight of Steve straightening up, still half-asleep, and Eddie faceplanting into the carpet, sending the tinsel crown flying. "Not the ground. Bed," he added.

"Funny. Such a funny man," mumbled Eddie into the carpet. "Glad it runs in the family. Might have thought I'm adopted otherwise. You know...because I have hair."

Wayne just gave a quiet huff of laughter and proceeded to make himself a cup of tea. Beer would have been his poison of choice, but it was cold as hell outside and he wanted to linger in the kitchenette a bit longer. His boy looked happy, so sue him. "I'm sure glad you're still sleepin', boy, otherwise I'd have to take that comment personally. You wish your head was as shiny. You okay there, Steve?"

Steve moved his unfocused gaze in Wayne's general direction. "Yessir...Wayne, I mean. Okay. Am."

Suppressing a smirk, Wayne shook his head. "Watching Star Wars again? I swear I know that weird word order from somewhere..." He stopped himself and looked around the room, narrowing his eyes. There was something missing. "Hey boys, didn't you go tree shopping or somethin'?"

Eddie had already risen from the ground and leaned against Steve's knees, the other boy mindlessly running his fingers through Eddie's ever tousled hair. "Oh. That. We tried, but...let's just say that someone was eager to meet Hubert instead. Apparently no other tree compares."

Something stirred in Wayne's chest again. He'd always known Eddie wouldn't be with him forever, that the strange little traditions they had would eventually disappear as his boy built his own life. So when Eddie suggested with poorly hidden guilt that they might have to leave Hubert in the closet this year, Wayne accepted it, as he should have. Of course things would be different now, with Eddie dating the Harrington boy.

Except the boy - no, Steve - surprised him and kept doing so. Wayne had never met a kid, rich or not, this eager to please, this kind, with such a big heart and so much to give. He tiptoed around their kitchenette to prepare breakfast for Eddie and Wayne, wasn't afraid to get himself dirty repairing stuff around the trailer, watched games with Wayne while Eddie jokingly whined in the background...Wayne had never bothered to imagine what is son-in-law or daughter-in-law would be one day, but he knew a good one when he saw them. And Steve was as good as they came.

Wiping a rogue tear - nope, more like water condensation, it was freezing outside, had he mentioned that? - he gestured towards the closet. "Well? Why is Hubert still restin' then?"

Eddie pushed himself upright and walked towards Wayne, hiding his smile behind one of those strands of hair. "I wanted to wake him up, but Steve insisted we should all be here for his resurrection. So...we were waiting for you, old man."

Well, shit. What was an old man to do with all these emotions? Wayne just reached out and grasped Eddie's shoulder, slightly shaking him. "Thoughtful. I like your boy."

Eddie chuckled and laid his hand over Wayne's. "I'm glad. But he's mine, don't get any dirty ideas!"

Before Wayne could come up with a witty response, as if he could ever beat Eddie in that, Eddie had already made his way towards the couch and knelt in front of Steve who had started slightly snoring during their conversation, sleeping upright. "Wake up, sleeping beauty," cooed Eddie and gently squeezed Steve's knee. "Time to meet Hubert."

"Hubert?!" Steve was suddenly wide awake, shooting up so fast Eddie fell back to the carpet, ass first.

"Oh wow," mused Eddie from the ground, "how come you never react to my name like that? I wish I had love like your and Hubert's."

Wayne just sipped his hot tea as Steve helped Eddie up, muttering half-hearted apologies. "Don't mind the boy, he was raised well but became a clown anyway. Now...shall we?"

Steve Harrington still hated the word perfect. The Christmas of 1986 ended up being anything but perfect in the way his parents defined the word, with the never ending fits of laughter over the Munson ugly ornament collection, the flamingo topper (after a round of arguing and lots of eggnog, the flamingo was ceremoniously named Hugo, Hubert's butler), Hubert's crooked plastic branches and cookies that might not have been decorated perfectly, with attempted Hellfire designs and sports club logos, a D20 thrown here and there, but most of them ended up being blobs of icing anyway. Despite Eddie's reassurances, the mistletoe ended up falling again, tangling in Steve's hair and resulting in Eddie shouting "THIS WAS MY PLAN ALL ALONG, NOW I GET TO KISS YOU ALL THE TIME HARRINGTON!" The turkey had to be chopped into smaller pieces because the trailer oven was too small and the mashed potatoes were somehow full of chunks.

And somehow, it was more perfect than any other Christmas Steve had ever known. With Wayne hugging Steve after unwrapping two tickets to a baseball game, the kids stopping by and filling the trailer way beyond its capacity, exchanging gifts ("tear that paper off, Steve! No scissors in this house! Not now, not ever!"), piling mugs stained by hot chocolate in the sink and avoiding them until evening, it was everything Steve ever wanted.

As they removed Hubert's medals (well, ornaments, but there was apparently some lore, Hubert was an elderly gentleman with army commendations and maybe they could get a moustache ornament next year?) and Eddie solemnly announced it is now time to lay Hubert down to his yearly rest, Steve kissed Eddie goodbye and unwillingly made his way to the Harrington household. His parents were supposed to be back that day and he felt obliged to greet them, even though they were mostly strangers to each other these days.

His mother outdid herself, she actually embraced Steve and patted his back, like a real mather would. "So glad to be home, Steven. How were your holidays?" she asked and maybe she meant it, maybe not, but Steve couldn't care less.

He looked her right in the eye and smiled, unrestrained for the first time. "They were perfect."

#steddie fanfic #steddie #lexswinterficchallenge #Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Steddie Christmas

[vollzz]

it's a sleepy/sad saturday for me, so have a blackflame lore dump. I suppose this could also be sort of a character intro

under the cut I'll be talking about Greylin, one of the ruling deities, and his followers. up until now we haven't really heard much about him besides Eves' general disdain for him, so let's get into it shall we? I'll also put in a cheeky little snippet :)

Greylin - Lord of Deities (a self-appointed title)

fast facts: huge, like nearly 8 feet tall, extraordinarily brutish and muscular, allergic to wearing shirts, voice so deep you struggle to understand it. bald. always, always wears a crown. clouded, milky white eyes.

Greylin is without a doubt the most powerful of the deities, and spends much of his time enforcing that fact. The true nature of his powers are unclear - he cannot conjure flames or manipulate blood, for example, but he can immobilize the other deities and strangle the usage of their blessings. Though the other deities' allegiances to Greylin vary widely, they all fear him (though most would never admit it). It seems that he and Eves particularly loathe one another, and Greylin often goes out of his way to torment them.

[A brief note on deities and their followers since I haven't touched on this yet: when deities anoint a new follower, they bestow their blessings upon them as well as magically brand them with a unique mark. These marks are only able to be seen by deities and their followers, and a follower of one deity can see marks for every other deity as well.]

Greylin's blessings to his followers, known as Seers, allow them to resist the magic of other deities' followers. They also have an uncanny ability to sniff out and track magic of any kind. He marks them with distinctive swirling purple lines branching outwards from the center of their faces, and is the only deity to use such an ostentatious mark. Seers are often employed by royals and wealthy nobility for use as magical bloodhounds, as once they have a scent they will never forget it and can track it indefinitely. They also serve as a kind of cleanup crew for havoc wreaked by other deities (namely Nico and his blood-crazed cult followers), and as such are generally looked upon favorably by the common folk. Other followers, on the other hand, regard them with disdain - Seers are very outspoken about their hatred of the stink of magic, and the sight of their characteristic mark is often forewarning of a swiftly approaching death.

Seers are few and far between - Greylin likes to have around ten at any one point in time so as to use their scarcity as leverage when dealing with mortals. He finds amusement in goading wars and political strife between the various royal families on all the provinces, which has earned him the respect and good graces of the deity Samira.

and an excerpt -

Greylin leaned forward, his dominating presence overwhelming Calliope’s vision.

“Do you know why Eves fears me, Calliope?”

Calliope wheezed as the power constricted her even further; it held her limbs in place and forced her chin upwards to stare back at Greylin’s unrelenting expression.

“Surely they’ve spoken numerous ills of me to you, and yet when I command them, they fall in line just as the rest. Have you not ever wondered why that may be?”

Blackness began to cloud the edges of Calliope’s vision despite her attempts to breathe. Greylin leaned in until his mouth lay an inch from Calliope’s ear, the words low.

“I can wipe your existence from this world with barely a thought. I brought your pitiful deity to their knees with as much effort as I expended on you. Be grateful you’re spared the fate that Eves endured at my hand, and perhaps consider that the next time you wish to disrespect me.”

—

sheesh I forgot to add the tag list -

@hallwriteblr @kourumi @space-writes @at-thezenith @careful-fear @j-1173 @liv-is @eldritch-flower

#blackflame #blackflame oc: greylin #writeblr #writes #character introduction

[myfearless-love]

The Wildest Place You Run (3/?) - Pretty Scary Sometimes

If anyone missed Killian in the previous chapters (because who wouldn't miss him, let's be honest) then I have good news: we are getting more Killian now that most of the flashbacks are done! I enjoyed writing this chapter as we dive deeper into the character's backstories and present happenings! I hope you like it too! Let me know :)

Also, check out the amazing and beautiful art that @thejollyroger-writer made for chapter 3 & 4!! I love how she always captures the essence of the chapters!

Summary:

Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, and Elves. For centuries, they kept their existence a secret, but the constant rebellions against the strict laws of the Guild had led to a terrible tragedy. In an open clash, it became apparent to humans just what kind of monsters lived among them. Emma Swan loses the love of her life in the first battle of the war. A few months later, while still trying to process what happened, a mysterious and terrifying figure worms his way into her life. But the man is hiding far more terrible secrets than he reveals to her, pulling them both into a horrible situation...

Chapter: 3/? - Pretty Scary Sometimes

Fandom: Once Upon a Time

Rating: M

Relationships: Killian Jones/Emma Swan

Read on: FF.net or AO3

Words: ~3k

Previous parts:

Ch 1 II Ch 2

TW for this chapter: Implied miscarriage

.

"Emma! Lock the door behind us! We probably won't be back before morning…"

David's voice snapped her back out of her memories and back into the present, and she stared up at her brother with misty eyes. "What?"

"Lock the door behind us," he repeated, shaking his head slightly in disapproval, and hurried out of the kitchen.

Somewhat dazed, she started walking towards the team of Hunters, but by the time she reached the living room, they were all gone. All except Killian, who was still fumbling with his gun holsters.

Her memories still held her a little captive, she stared wearily at the front door. It had been more than half a year, but she would never forget that night or that horrible half an hour she spent in the morgue…

"It can't be him! It's probably a mistake, Neal certainly isn't…" she shook her head and sobbed hysterically.

If David hadn't been holding her, she would have simply fallen awkwardly to the shiny floor.

"Emma! It pains me too, but if he were alive, he would have come back long ago…"

"No! He's not…" she repeated tirelessly, like a broken record. She couldn't comprehend that she had lost Neal along with the little one…

"Are you sure?" The coroner stared doubtfully at Emma, and there was also a hint of pity and contempt in his gaze.

Of course. To him, he was just a corpse, but to her…

"She won't calm down until then…" David sighed somewhat bitterly and stared at the white-covered body in front of them.

"All right," the coroner shrugged.

He was a short, broad, and severely balding man, with gray hair and several days of white stubble. He reached for the edge of the sheet with his stubby fingers, but before he could pull the fabric aside, a brutally burned hand slid off the autopsy table.

The breath caught in her throat, and she suddenly forgot how to breathe. They were long, thin fingers, just like Neal's. The skin was burned almost black, cartilage showing on the fingers.

"Maybe it was a bad idea..." David whispered, pulling her head to his chest and trying to shield her vision. He tried to soothe her, even though she was no longer sobbing anymore. Her eyes widened in horror, and she gasped for air.

"I think so, too. She's quite neurotic," the doctor grunted.

"Just keep your mouth shut! We didn't ask for your opinion," David snorted.

"Sorry," he muttered in a mocking tone and sauntered off.

He grabbed something from the table and handed Robin a plastic bag containing a sooty, burnt box. "We found this a few feet from the body. Does it look familiar?" The doctor scanned the faces of the Hunters impassively.

"Oh my God…"

"You've got to be kidding me…"

"Shit…"

Emma didn't understand their outburst, she just saw the horror and shock on their faces.

"What's that?" Mary Margaret glanced at the tiny box with watery eyes.

The others, on the other hand, didn't seem to have heard the question at all, staring uncertainly at each other and the box.

"Can we have this?" inquired Robin.

"Of course. We don't need it," replied the doctor.

"How generous," Leo said.

"David, what do you think? Should we give it to her?" Robin stared at her uncertainly.

"What's in it?" Emma asked in a husky voice. "Is it something of Neal's?"

"No. It's yours," Ruby replied gently.

"No, it's not mine," she shook her head. It wasn't at all familiar to her.

"But what's inside is yours," David replied, nodding to Robin, who opened the plastic bag and carefully pulled the box out. "Emma… you probably would've figured it out or guessed, it's better to just rip the band-aid now," he whispered, stroking her hair.

Emma raised her head suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"I'm sure Neal would have been happy to see you wearing it…" he added carefully. "He was going to ask you to marry him that night…"

Robin opened the small box. Inside, her engagement ring remained perfectly intact…

She opened her eyes slowly and raised her hand in front of her face. The ring still glittered on her finger. It was made of white gold, and the most beautiful amber she had ever seen shone upon it. It was terribly painful to realize what a wonderful night it could have been, and instead, it ended with the death of her boyfriend and unborn baby. They could have been a family.

But she wore it, despite the pain it caused when she looked at it. She could still feel him a little close to her. It hurt, but not so much that she couldn't bear it.

"Swan, are you all right?" Killian was already standing on the doorstep, eyeing her anxiously.

"I'm fine," she nodded, but her tone was the slightest bit sharper than she'd intended.

"Apologies." He turned away, but she gently grasped his arm.

"I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you or anything. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"It's alright, love." His lips twisted into a faint, understanding smile.

His good manners were sometimes in stark contrast to his appearance. His dark, almost black hair, disheveled as always, brushed against his forehead now, in need of a haircut. The thick stubble on his face was peppered here and there with a hint of ginger if the light fell on him at the right angle. His right ear was pierced and adorned with a solid black stone earring. There was no room for new tattoos on his left arm, various drawings of a compass, skull and crossbones, symbols, and plants were inked into his skin, likely to hide the age-old scar that ran from his wrist to his bicep. He also accentuated his eyes with black eyeliner, making his arctic blue eyes stand out as prominently as the North Star in the dark sky.

He wore his signature black outfit - jeans, a shirt that was always missing a few buttons at the top to reveal a generous patch of dark hair, leather jacket, and combat boots.

All in all, he looked like a textbook bad boy, which was why Emma preferred to keep her distance from him.

"You better get going," she remarked as the front door closed behind the others.

"They won't leave without me, anyway. Who would look out for them?" he let out a laugh, attaching a pistol holster to his hip. "Take care, ladies," he nodded to her from the other side of the doorstep, then disappeared into the night after the others.

Emma retreated into the apartment and carefully locked the door, padlocking it as a precaution. No one could say she hadn't heeded their warning.

"Are they gone?" Mary Margaret sank down on the couch.

"Yeah," Emma nodded and plopped down next to her friend.

She closed her eyes, leaned against the headrest, and stared up at the ceiling.

"I wonder what they're trying to accomplish with all this," Mary Margaret shook her head. "Rebellions everywhere, in almost every country. They can't defeat us, so what do they want?"

"I don't care what they want. All the damn beasts need to be wiped out," Emma hissed.

Ever since that night, she hated those monsters even more, and honestly, who could blame her?

Mary Margaret only hummed and nodded, and for a long time, neither of them said a word.

After a few minutes, her friend broke the silence: "Don't you miss it? Our old life?"

"What do you mean?" Emma glanced at her.

"When we went to college and this craziness hadn't started yet," Mary Margaret replied, and Emma raised one of her eyebrows.

"I don't miss it. If there's anything I miss, it's...him. But nothing else."

"Maybe you should take the ring off. It always reminds you of him. It's been over seven months. I know you don't want to hear this, but sooner or later, you're going to have to move on. There's life after Neal."

If it wasn't Mary Margaret sitting in front of her, telling her that, she probably would have slapped her or, at the very least, made her leave. But Mary Margaret was different. Emma knew she wanted the best for her, and she had much better insight into her situation than she did.

"I can't," Emma shook her head. "It would be like...I don't know. It would be like I was denying him or something."

"No," Mary Margaret objected vehemently. "It wouldn't be like that. To be honest, I didn't agree with the others when they gave you that damn ring. It was like twisting the knife that was already in your heart. If it had been up to me, I wouldn't have told you he was going to ask you to marry him. Sooner or later, you may have realized it yourself, though. Would it have been easier for you if there had been no ring?"

"Maybe," she breathed, staring blankly at the opposite wall.

Her gaze soon drifted to her ring. Maybe she really did need to take it off. "I don't know yet… Maybe in time," she replied.

"My advice is not to hesitate too long. It will be easier after that, believe me."

"I hope so," she smiled finally.

She was startled awake by the ringing of her phone. The rays of the full moon broke on the dry branches of the trees in the woods behind the house, and the silvery light painted indelible patterns on her bedspread with the shadows.

She forgot to close the blinds.

Her phone buzzed again and, still a little sleepy, she rolled onto her side in the huge double bed. She pulled aside the dark green canopy and reached for the vibrating device on the nightstand.

She glanced at the caller ID.

Of course.

Only David would call her in the middle of the night.

"What happened? Are you okay?" she immediately straightened up in her bed, holding her breath, waiting for her brother's answer.

"You're about to find out. We'll be home in five minutes. In the meantime, open the door and get the couch ready for Ruby." His voice sounded calm and Emma concluded that they couldn't be in too much trouble.

She ended the call, jumped up from the bed, and yanked open the door to her room. She ran down the hall and hopped down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. When she reached the front door, she took off the padlock, pulled out the deadbolt, unlocked the door, and opened it wide.

She ran back to the couch and tossed all the unnecessary things off of it. A couple of remotes, two blankets, and a few pillows landed on the cherry wood floor. Just as she stood up, she could hear the hurried footsteps of David and the others.

"Let me go! I can walk on my own two feet!" Ruby's voice sounded rather irritated, but her statement was immediately followed by a loud thud.

"I can see that," David hissed angrily, with a slight note of mockery in his tone. "Jones, if you will! She already tried to claw my eyes out…"

David marched into the apartment like an angry boar. He dropped his gun on the coffee table and sank into one of the black leather chairs. Leo and Robin nervously scurried into the living room, followed by Killian with Ruby in his arms.

Ruby stubbornly struggled against Killian, trying to break free of his grip, but he held her tight. It didn't matter that she could easily stand up to two guys, she couldn't outmaneuver Killian.

Killian wisely turned his face away from Ruby's tiny but sharp fingernails and carefully laid her on the couch.

"If any of you dare touch me again, I'll castrate you!" she growled, and then hissed, a grimace on her face immediately following.

"What happened?" Emma crouched down beside the brunette in horror.

"Can we go to your room?" Ruby pleaded desperately.

"No. She's been shot," David replied before getting up from the chair and drifting into the bathroom.

"What? Have you lost your minds? Why didn't you take her to a hospital?" Emma snapped, glaring at Leo and Robin.

"It was a miracle that we were even able to carry her here," Robin shrugged.

"I'll live," Ruby growled, but tears were running quietly down her face from the pain and exertion.

"Only if I take the bullet out and tend to the wound," David nodded.

"Ruby, we have to do this," Emma sat down next to her on the couch and took her hand.

She knew full well that she didn't like to be touched when she was injured. Ruby blinked up at David in alarm, disgust written all over her beautiful face. "Only you, David. No one else…" she moaned in a fading voice.

"All right, so be it. Let me over there, Emma. Take a look at Killian's arm until then."

She got up from the couch, grabbed a bottle of disinfectant and a bandage from the pile of medical supplies scattered on the table, and walked purposefully toward Killian, who stood silently by the banister.

"There's really no need," he shook his head with a forced smile when she reached him. "It's just a scratch, love, really not that serious."

"Not you, too."

"I don't—"

"Show me. I really don't have the patience for that right now, Killian," she interrupted him.

She didn't know what to make of the look he gave her. His impossibly blue eyes reflected annoyance, fear, and confusion all at once, but he soon relented and reluctantly peeled off his black leather jacket. The left sleeve of his shirt was completely soaked with blood.

He rolled up his sleeve. At first, she didn't see a wound under his many tattoos, it was hard for her to notice any damage done to his skin other than the scar that was already there. But as she scanned his arm she soon found a cut that seemed far too tiny for the amount of blood that adorned his clothing and skin. There was barely any blood flowing from it now.

"What the…" her eyes widened as she ran her finger over the wound, but Killian didn't even flinch. Right before her eyes, the cut disappeared under the ship wheel — or helm, as he called it — which wrapped around his bicep. "Killian," she stared at him, dumbfounded.

A mere Mage wouldn't be able to do that, even if he had as much power as Killian.

"There were Elves among my ancestors," he shrugged, his face becoming an imperturbable, grim mask. His gaze seemed petrified, expressionless.

That explained some strange things about Killian, Emma thought. He had an abnormally high physical resilience and was almost as fast as a Vampire or Werewolf. That couldn't be possible through mere magic.

"Oh," she couldn't force a more meaningful answer out of herself. "Why didn't you say that before?"

"I didn't think it was important," he shrugged.

"Sorry, but you don't look like an Elf," Leo shook his head with a grin.

Emma only now noticed that the other Hunters had been standing behind her the whole time.

"That's because I'm not one. Some of my ancestors were. I'm just a freak," his voice sounded strangely bitter and he turned his head away.

Instinctively, she took two steps away. Killian's icy magic flared up without warning, along with his rage.

"Hey, calm down, dude. I didn't mean it like that," Leo raised his hands.

"What's going on?" Mary Margaret reached the bottom of the stairs, still in her pajamas.

"Nothing new. Just a bit of bickering, the usual," Robin grinned.

Only now did Mary Margaret notice David at the other end of the room. A broad smile was on her face as she walked over to where he was still crouched by the couch, finishing patching Ruby up.

Emma turned away as they threw themselves into each other's embrace, kissing as if they hadn't seen each other in days. She glanced back at Killian who was watching her face with a coy expression. His gaze positively shone with panic, almost desperate.

"I… I apologize. I think I'd better go," he murmured, lowering his gaze.

He rolled down his sleeve and picked up his jacket, then stormed out of the apartment without further explanation. Emma stared after him, uncomprehending. She had always known he was kind of a weirdo. But this was unusual, even for Killian.

"What the hell was that?" she turned to Robin, confused.

"He's a little cuckoo in the head. You'd better not get any more friendly with him than you already have," Robin shook his head. "Seriously. He can be pretty scary sometimes. He's pretty weird."

She didn't answer, just stared after Killian thoughtfully. She agreed with Robin that there was something up with him. But she immediately ruled out the possibility that he was suffering from some sort of mental illness.

"You knew about this?" Leo turned to Robin.

"That he was part Elf? No, I would never have guessed that. But now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. He's done things he wouldn't have been able to do otherwise," Robin replied and goosebumps appeared on Emma's arm.

Maybe Robin was right. She shouldn't get close to him.

#cssns21 #cssns 2021 #captain swan #cs ff #cs fanfic #killian jones #emma swan #killian x emma #captain swan supernatural summer #thejollyroger writer #cs fanfiction #ouat #once upon a time #ouat ff #captain hook #TWPYR #captain swan ff

[popculturebuffet]

Reviewcaps: Mega Man: Fully Charged (BOOM!) #1

After 5 long years the Blue Bomber returns to comics and to the Fully Charged Universe! Things get a lot more grim as Aki grapples with a new robot army under actual robots, his buried past, and the fact Mega Mini is still around for some reason. Cracked skulls and dead cells under the cut. 

So i’m a huge mega man fan. I haven’t really talked about video games here because this is my first video game adaptation, but yeah, I love em and Capcom’s vast and awesome franchise of robots and humanoids in blue, and in one case red, is one of my faviorites. From children blowing up tons of robots from a balding man who dosen’t get the hint already, to the pacifist soldier forced to fight in a war against robot whales, buffalo, mammoths, and other bizzare robot animals, to his best friend who has amnesia for some reason fighting more robot animals because capcom ran out, to his human sucessors wearing him like a hat, to some guy who turns out to be a war machine I haven’t played yet because I haven’t gotten the chance to and is the only part of the franchise I haven’t, to another universe where he’s the ai versoin of a dead child whose now a teenager mentally, to that ai’s sucessor a shy child whose dad was kidnapped by a space monster and fuses reguarly with a much cooler space monster. What i’m saying Is I deeply love this franchise, this franchise is complicated iwth all the branches, and it’s also full of lovely nonsense. 

So naturally with that many versions and a decades long history Mega Man’s had a healthy life in one of my other faviorite meddieums: Comics. Over in his home country of Japan Mega Man’s had tons of Manga: The biggest and one of the few to make it here is Mega Man Megamix, a bunch of stories that, after the first two adapted the first two games in their own rough way, took place after each of the various games, and is pretty damn good. Others off the top of my head include a Mega Man x adaptation where X dates a mermaid, a weird mega man zero adaptation, and a longrunning adaptation of Mega Man Battle Network, all ones I need to read. 

Even Brazil had a Mega Man Manga... which I need to cover too.. less because it’s actually good or notable, and more because it’s BATSHIT INSANE, and you can read about it here. But the cliffs notes: Roll is an adult woman who goes around naked half hte time and is the most importnat character, X is master roshi with all the restraint and panty snatching that implies, and ther’es a character that one writer tried to have kill everyone and take over the comic.. yes really. I go most of this .l from that page but it’s documented on various wikis that this did actually happen. Just.. why. All of it.  Meanwhile in the US.. we didn’t get that many. No nintendo power adaptations despite being a huge franchise, no horrible malibu comics like street fighter got. There was one attempt by Dreamwave comics in the early 2000′s a series that only lasted 5 issues, and had mega man trying to go to school and some intresting if loose takes ont he franchise.. but the company bottomed out due to horirble mismanagment soon after and mega man sat ont he shelf for a while until the early 2010′s. At a time when Capcom had given up on the franchise, which has thankfully changed dramatically with the release of 11 and the various mega collections, they still gave the liscence to Archie comics, who, wanting some more of that sweet money they were getting off of sonic, gladly took the lisence and gave it to  Sonic Scribe and easily the best one the comic had during it’s long run, Ian Flynn, who set about adapting mega man from day 1, while incorperating nods and call forwards to the various other versions of the blue bomber, and adding his own nice touches. What i’ve read is really damn good and it’s a shame it got cut off right before the adaptation for mega man 4. I’m only being so brief as .. I intend to cover it like i’ve been saying. I love the character, Flynn’s comic was one of the best versions of him bar none, and I could use more comics content on here too. It’s a win win, smiles all around.  But yeah sadly Archie lost intrest in doing non-Archie stuff, with the Archie Horror Line proving a sucess and a reboot on the horizon. While I do LOVE Archie Comics, this edotiral decision still leaves a bad taste in my mouth and left fans without any mega man till 11 came out and any comics till this year, when the rights apparently lapsed and Boom! Studios, home of such great comics as the mighty morphing power rangers ongoing and JOhn Allison’s wonderful Giant Days, swept it up. Hopefully Boom! will reprint the archie comics eventually, but until then they decided to do a softish reboot of another version of the franchise, another one that like Archie had been given a raw deal.. but unlike Archie had issues: Mega Man; Fully Charged

While most of you probably know this as a refrsher Mega Man: Fully Charged was a cartoon from a few years back, a CGI adatpation of the games in an attempt to get in on that market by Ben 10 and Generator Rex maestro’s Man of Action. Like the Dreamwave comics it followed Mega Man, now Aki LIght as he went to school, did school stuff, and also fought rouge robots after school with secret powers he unlocked before the pilot and were never elaborated on in show.  The show kept Dr. Light, Mega Man’s creator and dad, and his dog Rush who while at first looking nothing like the games was later upgraded to resemble his game counterpart more from what i’ve heard and what’s present in this comic. Replacing Mega’s sister Roll, as his real name was Rock because the Mega Man staff loved musical puns, was Suna.. whos basically the same character but human and with an entirely diffrent design.  The show also, for whatever fucking reason, added... Mega Mini.. a tiny robot with a brooklyn accent who lived inside Aki, Mega Man’s regular name in this series which i’m fine with as while I do lik ehim going by Rock, I get that’s not really a name. Mini also manages his powers, makes stupid jokes and makes me pray for death but death won’t come. As you can tell I hate the little bugger from the handful of episodes i’ve watched. Rounding out our main heroes is Aki’s best friend Bert Wily, whose likely related to the canon wily and is your standard dorky best friend, but his roll as an inventor does come in handy since Mega hasn’t told his dad he’s a superhero, though it’s revealed in the end that he knows.. I did do my homework, even if i’ve only seen a handful of the series. More on that in a minute.  Opposing Mega Man were various robots from the games, adapted with varying degrees of design, from the good. 

To the okay if a bit weird. 

To the how the fuck is this airman. This is airman

Really good basic design. This is what fully charged calls airman, 

Why.. why not just make him Wind Man. He looks more like Wind Man.. why did ... I can bitch about this later when I cover the series, which, yes AGAIN I intend to. BUt seriously he has an awesome looking fan for a face. How do you screw that up. 

Behind the robot masters was Sgt. Night. See in a nice twist, and one of the things I like about the series, the world of Fully Charaged already had the kind of robot on human war that would plauge the main mega man timeline for centuries in the backstory, with LIght and Night being vetrans. Night being a racisit moron, wanted to keep robots apart and set up a false flag operation do do so as Commander Night. He however.. wasn’t a compelling vilian and apparnetly dosen’t really get better, not having any depth to his operations or actoins and his basic plan turns out to be, thank you research, to wipe all robots minds to be subservient.. he’s just.. bland compared to wily who while not complex in his motives, he just wants to take over the world, still has style and in some cases,real thought to his plans. Sure the vast majority are “blame it on someone else” but in a LOT of those cases, there’s still thorught and effort put into who he’s blaming to take doubt away from him. IN universe at least.  Helping night, is Namagem... yes Mega Man..spelled backwards and this series protoman, but hte character suprisingly DOES sound intresting... he just has one of the worst names in human history. Like my god, in god we trust why not just use proto man. the Character is basically proto man, with the interesting backstory of night kidnapping him, and apparently the series gets loads better once he arrives, so i’m not going to be too hard on the name, as the writers were likely stuck with it.    But as i’ve made apparent.. I haven’t watched much of the series. I do want to watch it all and i’m aware the second half is much better, but when trying to binge watch it at a friends house I only got about halfway through season 1, and then just forgot to keep going. And the series does have good pieces: a compelling background of a brutal war, mysteries to unlock, and a steady supply of new villians via the games long history and the series own original, and honestly intresting sounding and looking, robot masters... but it stapled all this to a “cocky hero fights vilians” every week setup we’ve seen a million times and didn’t grab me, but the intresting worldbuildnig and original bits do have me wanting to give it another try so look forward to that.  And with all the intresting bits i was truly invested to see a comic make more out of this part of the franchise,a nd was utterly excited, as it could be what the series could’ve been with less hampering by the various parties involved, as fully charged felt like it had a lot of executive madates slapped on. So free of those and free to be whatever it wants with Joe Kelly advising, what has fully charged become? let’s take a look. 

We Open 6 months after the series with the comic helpfully catching us via news broadcast.. and the art being moody with washed out colors the tone having done a 180. Seriously it is kind of weird for this unvierse to go from early generator rex, a dark backstory with a bizzarely cheery tone to full on Blade Runner or to put it in mega man terms, The Megas. Seriously the breif bit of silicon city we see , the constant rain as a mysteroius figure whose revealed at the end of the next page to be Namagem.. I expect that a pretty hologram in a raincoat is going to pop up next to him any moment... what I can pick which blade runner I want to refrence. Shoo. 

Anyways a broadcast debate between a human reporter and her robot coanchor , ron roburgundy as I will call him, fills us in on exposition, while Mega Man himself narrators like this is a noir.. again i’m half expecting harrison ford to show up. Aki muses about how the city, HIS CITY, almost fell.. oh god is frank miller writing this? Are we going to get a middle schooler talking about how much he wants to make love to a city because no one wants that.  Anyways, we get expostion, both for anyone who hadn’t watched the series to give us the cliff notes, and to also catch up returning fans on what they missed. I like it, despite not having watched fully charged to the end, or known exactly what happened until research, this fills it in nicely: At the end of season 1, as I explained earlier Night was arrested, and is thankfully not a part of it nor is his foghorn leghorn attempt at a southren accent. However the remaning Robot Masters are still rioting and a new army of them has started a legit revolution, vandalizing the good guild, which still has that name for some reason despite the tone shift, who are about as compitent as the name implies. Here’s file footage of them fighting Pharoah Man. 

Anyways Dr. Light is going to negotiate peace and as I mentoned earlier nams is watching with a glare on his face. And yeah I .. I can’t keep calling him Namagem. That name is just bad and whoever came up with it is one of the biggest morons in marketing history as is whoever decided to force the poor creative team to use it. However while he is Protoman in ways.. it just dosen’t fit. The two were made together in this unvierse, maybe we’ll see as this comic fills in the blanks, and furthermore he’s a bit of protoman and bass.. and since protobass sounds stupid, and blues dosen’t work without the theme naming.. i’m going with Breakman, protoman’s disgusie from 3. With the heavy scaring, broken past and general state of him it just.. fits and HOPEFULLY the comic will give him a full on rename. If it does i’ll go with that but for now I just want to keep from slamming my head into a keyboard every time I have to type out NAMAGEM... excuse me. 

hgfjnhnghbjnh

That’s better. Okay so moving on from my new headache, we cut to the desert where the good guild, which is somehow even worse than Breakman’s actual name, are escorting light to a bunker in the desert, where the robots outside tell light to leave the good guild inside. Just as well he’d be better protected with a paper mache sword anda  note telling them to go away. 

Naturally, not long inside the robot masters leader forces light to bow and handcuffs him, before revealing himself. 

Skull Man. Who looks really badass in this thought, the skulls themed scrap throne, his regal posture and his speeches about how he feels that the only way things will be right, and settled is not by the fragile peace silicon city has but by humans beneath his rather sizable boots. And honestly.. he was a good choice for the main robot antagonist: Skull Man’s always had a cool look to him and most versions of him have been pretty cool, and the Megas gave him one hell of a theme song. If you haven’t heard of htem the Megas are an indie rock band that do reworkings of the various songs from mega man games, at the time of this recording a full album for 2, two full albums for 3, an ep for 1, and scattered other songs since the second 3 album, with plans to do their next full album on mega man x. Each of the stage themes for the robot masters is from the prosepctive of one of them and are really damn good and I’d recommend thema nd skullman’s.. really fits him here. take a listen. 

But yeah Skull Man feels like a good choice for a menacing revolutionary, as well as a former combat robot as he himself was apparently in the hard wars. He honestly reminds me a lot of more than meets the eye megatron in flashbacks.. just good stuff. But being in the wars, he’s naturally not too fond of repetant vetran light and plans to kill him as an example. Light however.. isn’t an idiot.. a good man who seeks to do his best, who came in good faith.. but just in case he put some sort of device under his skin and presses it, signaling his son to come save his ass. And thus he does come ...

And one of skullman’s minons mistakes him for a bomb.. which light clarifies i’ts a BLUE BOMBER. To skullman’s credit his response is to just order them to go full throttle showing no panic as Mega Man makes his entrance. 

Light thanks him by.. asking what took him so long.. when his son, whose a middle schooler mind you, had to fight through a bunch of armed assholes to get in here most likely. Mini shows up to my annoyance.. though credit where it’s do his zinger of what took so long “some birds, a plane, some guy in a cape” is actually.. really funny. I question why they kept him at ALL, but hey, at least he’s less grating and isn’t around long.. more on that in a minute. 

A really well drawn action scene insues.. while the expressions vary for this comic, I will give the fight scnee, I will give the artist credit for having fluid motion and nice pops of color, most things are kind of blendy into the background other than major character but the color pops where it should.. not exactly my style but it works okay. In a nice change of his character though, Aki offers to spare the various robots there of a fight and possible death, as while he already attacked them it was in self defense.  And while it is a 180 from the show.. it’s not only a welcome change as it’s closer to the games canon and a more intersting personality.. it also still works. Aki went through a LOT at the end of season 1: while he did win, he found out he had a brother, his dad knew who he was but was never honest with him about it and also likely knows where his power came from but hasn’t told him, and has had to deal with 6 months worth of rioting where he’s unsure what side he’s on, machine like he is or man like his family. He’s trying to find the right ballance; be the hero his city needs.. but be the man he needs to be, one who will spare his enemies and won’t fight unless he needs to, for the good fo everyone, His friends, his family, everyone in the city who deserves to sleep soundly. And he’s also starting to wonder, via narration of course, if he’s a hero.. or even a kid.. or a weapon> Which again while a bit of a shift from the series again makes sense: he’s a middle school aged boy who started this jsut fighting random assholes and some idiot racist who was transparently evil and had selfish goals.. now he’s fighting against a revolution who MIGHT have a point. While Silcion city seemd fine and equal.. there wer eplenty of idiot swilling to listen to night. As the real world has proven over the last few months, just because things have gotten better, dosen’t mean that things are 100% or that prejudice is just gone. He’s a 12 year old asked to take a stand in a messy conflict that lead to war in the past with his father offering no answers and growing colder. While I thought his angst was  bit overblown on first reading the more I think about it the more it fits. 

Anyways Mega makes short work of the skull squad after they refuse to back down, but while Mega Man’s ready to ghost.. Skull Man’s not done and drills into mega man’s head... and reveals something. Flashbacks. 

But yeah, Skull Man’s either implanted or restored some memory of Aki fighting in the hard wars.. right alongside dr. light.. with a drill because science. DR. Light then gets REALLY badass, breaking out of the robot restraining him’s grip before fucking UPERCUTTING Skull Man.. jesus christ, Dr.Light clearly traded his empathy for miraclo pills holy balls.  Rush helps him escape and take Aki with him but skull man’s confident, he lost the battle but won Mega’s mind.  On the way home Mega Man tells dr.light what he saw and isn’t sure if it’s the past the future or something else but Dr.Light assures him..

Even though his eyes give away he’s clearly hiding something. Also I haven’t mentioned it yet but Dr.Light looks like santa in this sisue, red shirt, blue pants, big white beard. Just.. why though. Just put him in a suit or something. Also Mini crawls out of Mega’s head and passes out due to the memory restoration.. a nice way to write him out while still giving it weight since while the audience is presumibly cheering his long overdue demise, he is aki’s friend.. why I have no idea but he is.  Back at the lighthouse, the light’s home and home base, which is admitely a really good alternate name for light labs and a better one in my opinon. Light brushes off Suna, telling her to go to bed and avoiding telling her anything. Yeahhh.. while it could be the pressure of the situation I really dont’ like dr.light’s characterization before. Fully Charged, outside of the whole secret identity thing which at least was expalined as Aki not knowing if his dad would let him continue as mega man if he knew, though it extended clearly past the point he was clearly supporting mega man’s actions so I dunno. But he was a compationste scientest, deeply ashamed of his past in the war and wanting to make peace, he was done really well and peformed well by gary chalk. Here? He’s a dick who clearly did something terrible in the past and treats his kids like crap. It’s okay to be suspcious of him given the flashback but he’s given us no reason to like him or want to hear his side eventually, and hopefully that changes. 

Suna talks to Aki who tells her what happened and both side give out good arguments; Suna points out she reallyc an’t trust what some creepy asshole put in his head, as Skull Man could just want to brainwash him.. but Aki counters easily and quietly: How’s he supposed to know what’s real if his dad won’t tell him anything? He took months to tell Aki he knew about his alter ego, and even before his id came out avoided talking about the hard war, which hasn’t changed. He vows to find out though, and Suna naturally is helpful, pointing out there’s more people to ask and since she actually pays attention in school she knwos just who.. Dr. Wily. Yup he’s finally here. dun dun dun. We then close as Breakman watches and tells his brother he can’t stop what’s started. And we’re out.  Mega Final Thoughts: This was a decent issue, doing a fair job of bringing in new readers, and the art was decent and matched the tone.. which If elt was a bit too bleak at times. Better than say a Zack Snyder film at least, but still a bit too close to that form of edgelord for my case. That said it opens up some intresting mysteries and has me at least willing to give it another shot next month and was a solid opener, which while not having the best charcterzation for dr light, vastly improved Aki and Suna’s while giving us a far more intersting villian in Skull Man. If this holds, we’ll see. But until then I plan to cover more mega man comics, as well as my continued weekly coverage of amphibia. Until I see you again, stay safe, wear a mask and later days

#aki light #suna light #dr light #thomas light #rush #skull man #the megas #dr wily #namagem #breakman #capcom #boom studios #comics #reviews #recaps #mega man #mega man fully charged #megaman #video games #video game adaptations

[vannahfanfics]

Before you read, here’s the previous chapter!

Rise of the Guardians: Earthsong

Ao3

Chapter 1: Pitch Black is Back!

Jamie squealed with delight as he threw open the front door to his home, taking the front steps two at a time before throwing himself into his front yard and rolling around happily in the soft green grass that had seemingly appeared overnight. Sophie came plunking down the steps, chanting “one, two, one, two" as she went, before jumping down onto the concrete and squealing with delight to run over and sprawl out beside her brother. Jamie laughed as he spit out a lock of her blonde hair that had somehow gotten into his mouth, then rolled onto his back to breathe in the warm springtime air. Alongside the house, the flowers we shooting up, and would soon form colorful little buds. The trees alongside the street were beginning to develop new leaves, too.

“It's spring!” he cried, charmed, and his head suddenly snapped to the side as he heard an amused chuckle float down from the fence. He beamed widely when he saw who was sitting there; it was his best friend, Jack Frost, leaning against his staff as he sat on the wooden planks, one leg swinging lazily as he gave Jamie his signature lop-sided smile. “Hello, Jack!”

“Good morning, Jamie,” the youthful winter spirit and newly-named Guardian smiled gently down at him. It was then that Jamie realized that, with the oncoming of spring, his wonderful friend would probably be leaving for the season. Suddenly depressed, he sat up and pouted down at his lap, prompting Jack to hop down from the fence wearing a concerned look. “Hey, what's that face for?” he grinned weakly and ruffled Jamie's hair affectionately. Even though he was sad at Jack likely departing, he could not help but smile slightly.

“I was just thinking about how you would be leaving.” Jack frowned deeply and looked away awkwardly, swinging his wooden staff in his hands.

“Oh. Yeah. Gotta go spread joy to other kids in the world, ya know?” he smiled, but a hint of sadness still left a shadow on his boyish features. He then beamed widely and poked Jamie in the chest with the end of his staff, knocking him over into a fit of giggles. “But I’ll be back soon! What's spring without a freak ice storm, yeah?” he joked. It was then that Sophie came tottering up to Jack, jumping up and trying to grab his magic staff, and the tall boy laughed in amusement as he held it out of her reach. “So, Jamie, why don't you get all your friends? You really didn't think I would take off without a farewell party, did you?” he winked. Jamie gasped happily, then jumped to his feet to scramble down the sidewalk, calling for his sister to follow as he raced down the neighborhood to gather his friends. Jack watched him with a smile, leaning on his staff as the little boy ran from house to house.

I guess this is her doing, he thought as his wintery blue eyes swept over the neighborhood that was now cast in green. Just the night before, it had been Jack's domain, a winter wonderland where children built snowmen and snow angels and had fervent snowball fights. In all centuries he had been doing this, he had always thought that spring was a natural process, just a product of the Earth going about its business. It made sense now, though; he brought winter with him wherever he went, and so it stood to reason that there would be another side of the coin, a spirit of spring and flowers and warmth. Why is it just now that I’m seeing her, though? Wouldn't she have introduced herself by now? It was a puzzling situation, but unfortunately, he had no solutions. He had seen the girl once in four hundred years; who was to say when he would see her again?

“Jack! Jack, let's go!” Jamie demanded impatiently, and his friends chorused in agreement. Their whines abruptly ripped him out of his thoughts. He soon forgot all about the beautiful girl as he dashed over to the little boys and girls, dancing on the wind as he raced them to the nearby park.

The children fell upon the various play sections of the playground with glee, swinging from swings and sliding down slides with squeals of delight. Jack perched himself in the grass, cross-legged with his staff on his lap, watching them with a warm smile. It always did him good to see the kids happy, especially Jamie; the little boy was screaming with glee as Cupcake chased him across the playground in an intense game of tag. Abruptly, the chunky little girl shifted gears and charged him, startling him thoroughly. As he scrambled to his feet, sputtering for her to stop, she grinned cheekily at him before poking him in the chest. Though it was an innocent gesture, the girl had almost superhuman strength, and the small touch knocked him flat on his back.

“You’re it!” she cried with a booming laugh and sprinted away across the grass. Jack groaned as he sat up, rubbing his surely bruised chest while the children held their breath, waiting for him to chase them. He pretended to be disinterested for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck, and then suddenly jumped to his feet and conjured a harsh wind to carry him across the park. They scattered like marbles, shrieking as the winter spirit chased them across the playground, riding across his magical windstorm. Jamie howled with laughter as he desperately tried to escape his friend, but in his effort, he lost control of himself and went crashing through a tangle of bushes. Jack immediately abandoned the game and went running after him, shoving the green shrubberies aside to glance around wildly.

“Jamie?” he called, and he could hear his voice floating up from somewhere. He hopped over the bush to find that the area was wooded and sloped downward at a considerable angle. He followed the trail of broken branches and strewn leaves to find Jamie sprawled on his back at the base. “Jamie!” he cried as he slid down to him, afraid that he was hurt; thankfully, the little boy just giggled happily. Smiling softly, Jack reached down and poked him in the forehead. “You're it.”

“Aw, nuts.” Smirking, Jack grabbed him by his skinny arm and pulled him to his feet, and Jamie took a moment to shake the leaves and twigs from his hair and brush the dust from his clothes. Before the boy could take off, however, they both stiffened as a vile voice drifted out of the trees. Jack raised a finger to his lips, then crouched down and cautiously crept over the ground to peer through some hawthorns. Jamie crawled after him, his eyes enormous as he peered through the gap in the bushes, and what they saw there sent shudders traveling up both their spines.

There, in a small clearing with a vicious scowl on his pasty white face, was none other than the Guardians arch-enemy Pitch Black.

“Ugly, disgusting things,” he snarled as he stamped a budding flower beneath his foot, grinding it mercilessly into dust. “Spring. I always hated it!” he roared as he whipped around, his black cloak fluttering like bats as he glared around at the beautiful springtime assemblage. “With all its warmth and goodness and light… It’s revolting,” he continued to mutter to himself in delirium. Frightened, Jamie pressed close to Jack, and to reassure him, the young teenager wrapped an arm around him as if to shield him from the dark villain. Angered by his presence, Jack's fingers curled around his staff, and his teeth clenched together.

“If it hadn't been for those meddlesome Guardians, this world would be mine!” Pitch ranted angrily as he continued to crush several flower buds beneath his feet, like a young child throwing a temper tantrum. He's so vile, Jack thought in disgust. Abruptly, Pitch froze in the middle of his angry hissing, and a slow, evil smile crept across his face. “This could still be mine,” he realized aloud, leaning down to pluck a flower shoot from the grassy clearing. He held it up, turning it over slowly in his hands with an evil snicker. “Yes… Yes… That's it! I can cast the world in darkness by draining it of its life… its warmth… its spring. Even if those Guardians are still around, the world will slowly rot into despair and fear if it’s trapped in an eternal winter!” he grinned evilly, and the fresh flower bud crunched as he savagely crushed it in his fist.

Before Jack could burst on the scene and confront him, he cackled evilly and vanished into the shadows. Even after his form had melted into the blackness, his evil laughed remained, echoing through the trees until fading up into the blue sky. Jack jumped out into the clearing, as if he could still catch him. He then sighed deeply and kneeled to gently pluck the mangled flower bud from the green grass layer.

“That can't be good,” he murmured and looked up to the place where Pitch had vanished. If he's on the loose again, he must be devising some evil scheme. What could he have possibly meant by ‘taking away the world’s spring’?” he wondered as he stood up, tucking the little crinkled flower into the pocket of his frosty blue hoodie. He turned his head as Jamie came crawling out of the bushes, looking around with scared eyes.

“Pitch Black is back,” he whispered fearfully.

“Seems like it. Come on. We had better get you guys home, if he's lurking around here,” he mumbled and walked over to the little boy, placing a hand on his back to begin guiding him up the hill. Jamie grabbed onto his hoodie, eyes still full of concern.

“The Guardians aren't gonna let Pitch do what he wants, right? You gotta!” Jack snorted with laughter and affectionately ruffled his brown hair, smiling broadly and nodding. That seemed to reassure the boy well enough, and so he began to dash up the hill, panting heavily. As the little boy ran off, Jack's smile wavered; he felt guilty, telling such a bald-faced lie. Taking down Pitch nearly destroyed the Guardians the last time; he couldn't guarantee anything. He looked down at his hoodie, pulling out the little mangled flower that had tried to grow with all its might. … We have to win, no matter what! I can't let Pitch spread the darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~

After Jack had safely delivered the children home, the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. He needed to head to the North Pole immediately to report the news to North and the other Guardians, but something inside Jack told him to linger. Twirling his staff in his hand like a baton, he strolled across the forest floor, leaving frosty footsteps in his wake; it was strange, walking across the soft, loamy ground, when he was so used to the forgiving crunch of snow. He tapped a tree occasionally, leaving fern-like patterns weaving across the bark, his signature mark. His feet carried him to the lake in which he had been born. It now glittered with light as gentle waves lapped at the sandy shore. It was a stark contrast to the mirror-like sheet of ice that was so perfect for ice skating. He walked to the edge of the lake, staring down into the blue water, watching little minnows swim about.

Jack had never given much thought to spring. He was the incarnation of winter, after all; it was theoretically his job to transition the warm, lovely summer into the cold, brusque chill of fall. If anything, spring was his enemy.

Still, he could not deny that standing there, watching the light play across the water as the sun dove below the spreading canopy of the forest with the warm breeze flowing over him, it felt nice. He smiled weakly. The children love spring, too. As a Guardian, it's my job to save it, then. He was about to turn to leave when he noticed something strange in the water, a reflection on the opposite bank. He watched it shift for a moment, unfocused, before it briefly took the form of a young woman in a brilliant white dress with golden hair. He gasped, his head snapping up to look at the opposite bank, but she wasn't there. Am I imagining things now? He wondered, staring at the tree line for a moment. No one emerged, and so he just wrote it off as a trick of his mind. He whipped his staff around, throwing up a wind to carry him to the North Pole, and grinned widely as he rode it into the sky.

Look out, Pitch! We'll be coming for you soon enough!

Here’s the next chapter!  Want more stories? Check out my Table of Contents!

#rise of the guardians #rotg #rotg fanfiction #rise of the guardians fanfiction #jack frost x oc #rotg oc #jack frost #pitch black #rotg jamie #rise of the guardians jamie #frostednature #frosted nature #mother nature #mother nature oc

[inkdrinkershadowsinger]

Thoughts/Background Goblet of Fire

What kind of creepy graveyard is this? Skeletons crawling over one another? Snake hidey-holes? Is this Nagini speaking or can she hear Voldemort from that far away? This just shows how fast she is as she moves along the ground here. Literally, we have here the Angel of Death equipped with wings and a scythe, which normally the Grim Reaper carries.

One light on in the caretaker’s house which is right next to the family graveyard? We are assuming that this is the Riddle estate, correct? Wealthy families like that would have had a family graveyard near their home. Also, that house in the background, Riddle Manor? Is super big and though it is dark looks grandiose.

The house here, looks well lived in, but at the same time, almost like it has only recently been inhabited. This is a kitchen, but it looks like there is a shovel on the wall, and only one light?

Still, only one light on in the main Riddle house. Wormtail can’t even draw a curtain? Dang.

Those are some old fashioned keys. I understand that this is a Manor or whatever, but this takes place during the nineties? No one thought to update the locks on this place? Frank mentions, “Those kids”, like people breaking in has been a real problem. Why not update the security? Also, who has been paying for the upkeep of this place? Lucius? Some secret Dark Lord Corporation? Is that why they are old school? Because we all know that wizards like to keep everything super, super, super old school?

Seriously, who is keeping up this place? The topiary is amazing!!

He looks like he is walking up a sort of backdoor entrance or servant’s entrance.

He is the caretaker for the grounds, but can’t dust a little? That clock needs a good one.

The light wasn’t muted because no one was casting a lumos, they were simply using a lamp that had the fabric bits removed that dampen the light.

The way that Barty is smiling when Nagini perches herself on Voldemort’s chair is fucking terrifying.

Ron’s room really is all orange. Such a fanboy.

The Burrow is in such a great spot. The little pond in front, the trees, the openness. The house itself is incredible. Still, only one light on. Whose? You can see the group walking away. That has to be Mr. and Mrs. Weasley’s room. Or Ron forgot to turn off the light, again.

They are all having to run to keep up with Mr. Weasley because he gets his cardio, bitch.

Mr. Weasley is rocking that straw cabana hat because he knows Muggles son!

Such a beautiful shot!

Did they travel through a worm hole here? I know the director or whoever had to make a creative choice in how this was going to be portrayed, but…. Idk.

Everyone is flying around, the arena is clearly segregated into Ireland’s colors or Green, Red, and Yellow, perhaps hinting at the final score of the match? Nice job, filmmakers.

What is this guy juggling? It looks like toy merecreatures almost.

Orange is the Weasley families favorite color. They’re just owning it at this point.

The pitch looks like it is in the inside of a volcano or a mountain.

Some people have seats right on the grass of the pitch? So, if the Weasle’s have bad seats at the very top what would the very lowest seats be classified as?

Who knew that a job qualification for Professional Qudditich players is the ability to adequately throw and spark fireworks?

Krum is a showoff.

Those are omnoculars? What Ron has to his face?

The way that they were all packed in together, it’s a wonder the whole place didn’t burn down with all the incendios they were throwing around.

They are all wizards, underage or not, and this is a life threatening situation, and yet, no one is firing back at the Death Eaters?

Okay, so everything did get torched to the ground. None of these tents had some fire retardant?

That amount of spells coming at the trio.

That style of hat that Crouch is wearing has got to be some ministry trend. Wait until they all hit the trucker hats in the 2000’s.

That Dark Mark is really cool.

I love her hat though. It looks like something that would have been worn to the royal wedding.

Seeing the train is always stunning.

I love the collection of sweets here. Colorful, to attract the youngins.

This is a really colorful movie. The third one was very muted while still being stunning. This and the next one experience with splashes of color that are just beautiful.

They are passing a big lake in the background there. Out of the window just looks wild and remote.

He addresses it clearly to Sirius Black. Is that a qualification for the owls to know where they letter needs to go or do they just have to have been there before? I need to know the specifics of owl travel.

You get to see the whole scope of how large not only Hogwarts is ,but the grounds, and I love that.

You see Neville in this first sequence as they are watching the other schools arrive as well as Fred, George, Ginny, Colin, Harry, and Hermione. Angelina Johnson is in the background behind the twins.

The sails on the Durmstrang ship looks like it is decorated with a two headed dragon. Is that the symbol for Durmstrang?

So while Dumbledore is chatting, Hagrid and Flitwick are behind him chit chatting.

There are two levels to the head table in this movie. The main folk are sitting at the higher table. Snape is leaning against the wall, not directly related to them at all. I bet he hated first days at the school.

Snape is one hundred percent mimicking Dumbledore’s speech for a hysterical Flitwick in the background.

The bald guy behind Dumbledore looks asleep, straight up.

Are butterflies the symbol for Beauxbatons? That would be very interesting. A creature that transforms completely into something else.

Hermione and Ginny are the only two who know what’s up in this shot.

Dumbledore was giving Madame Maxime eyes.

Filch is just standing dead in the middle of the Durmstrang wizards.

He is still standing there when Krum and Karkaroff walk in.

The kids so promptly follow Dumbledore’s instructions even though some of them are probably embarrassed about having to sing the school song.

But not Harry James Potter. He is living for this song.

Again we get so many shots of the school in this movie.

You can see the house point containers behind Dumbledore’s head.

You can see them again after the goblet is revealed.

Is that a tower of marshmallows?

OMgosh! The sky acted up when Crouch Jr came in because Hogwarts knew that he wasn’t who he said he was!!!!

The cup is so primitive looking compared to the container that is in.

It almost looks like each layer was created by a different faction of the wizarding world as a whole. That could definitely be a fanfic.

The perspective starts on the Durmstrang ship which again features a dragon.

Cages, nets in the background of the DADA classroom.

There is also a lot of glass and mirrors in the room which almost makes me think of a fun house where you don’t look like yourself in any of the mirrors which is super fitting for Crouch Jr. at this phase.

Why does Hermione look so suspicious already?

And what is the use of all the bugs, Crouch Jr. you sick mother f-er.

Who needs fifty overflowing worms in a jar?

Dean Thomas is straight up rocking a composition notebook from Walmart on that desk. He is representing Muggle culture at its finest.

Crabbe is wearing a ring. Is that his heir ring? That would be interesting as we see the younger generation start to really get pulled into the war in this film.

The portrait on the stain glass crying. We have all seen this, and appreciate the majesty.

We love a rain soaked Robert Pattinson.

Everyone is just watching the battle between the twins and Hermione.

There is no other light in the Great hall except for the Goblet? Dumbledore does love his aesthetic.

Snape is like, get me out of here.

And that display of power is why all of them dang kids sing that dorky song.

Who is Cedric kissing here as he goes up to the head table?

The cup is like the opposite of the Goblet of Fire. It is shiny and bright and new while the goblet is ancient looking.

You can see Harry’s scar quite prevalently in this shot.

The Hogwarts trophy room. I have never connected this before. It is huge.

Karkaroff has gold fillings.

What are the spinning trophies and where can I get one?

One light on in the top part of the castle.

Pensieve memories are blue, and the Goblet’s fire is blue. Coincidence? Fic writers, you tell me.

The suns on the curtains in the boy’s dorm is a nice touch.

Ron has a homemade quilt. I bet he gets those for birthday gifts instead of the infamous Christmas sweater. Molly Weasley is a boss.

What are all of these trophies for? I bet Dumbledore keeps all the ones that the various clubs and groups have won over the years.

Magical cleaner?

The scope of Hogwarts is amazing.

The owlery is literally covered in bird shit, like every inch. Dumbledore clearly instructs Filch not to clean it to deter frisky students.

Is that a cat on the stairs there?

I can’t ever decide if the Common Room looks too big or too small, here.

Harry talks about Voldemort so casually. But I guess if someone tried to kill me year after year we would form a sort of familiarity.

Those cabinets in the back are filled with board games. Bet me. Gryffindors are notoriously bloody, and game night, gets wild.

I bet Neville spends a lot of his time in the lake just researching and studying all of the different plant life.

Neville cares not at all for the drama behind him. He’s just like, “Give me the plants”.

I love that bright orange flower. Hagrid ain’t no fool. He knows how to get the ladies.

The mist in the background could almost be taken as fog, but then you think about the dragon’s and it literally could be smoke.

Hagrid representing all of the men who are shorter than their women.

There looks to be about six dragon handlers here.

They are carrying branches or their wands lit with fire at the end. Is that to confuse the dragons? Make them think that they already covered that area in their territory and are thus safe?

The handler on top gets bucked off the cage. He is done with this job.

I’m sorry, but those badges are ingenious. Do we know in the movie that Draco is the one that made them or is that fanon?

Those Hufflepuffs are nasty.

The sculpture that is seen in that scene in the courtyard looks like the same one that is present in Half Blood Prince. Do they also move around the castle at will?

Harry pushed Draco, and that guy in the back is like, “Yes, let’s have a fight.” Then he and the other guy straight up bounce when Moody pops on the scene. But Goyle is ride or die. Or maybe they ran and got McGonagall because she came really quickly???? Hmmm??

The walls are all green and lightly moss covered. Gorgeous.

Like, is there a legit list of all the things that teachers cannot do. 1. We do not use Transfiguration as a punishment. 2. Trying to main or kill students is expressively forbidden. 3. Flashy robes are allowed and encouraged. Share in the glorious pattern of life.

Crouch Jr. should have been shitting his pants at being at the end of McGonagall’s wand.

Again with all the mirrors. So, Crouch Jr. can make sure that his transformation isn’t slipping?

What are the faces in the mirror here?  

All the clues were there, and I didn’t see a single one. This movie and book is a masterpiece of plot. Plain and simple.

McGonagall was like, “Let’s not have the arena with the dragons so close to the castle, eh, Albus?”

There is a bed for each of the champions in this tent. Could no one transfigure a couch?

They have punch and muffins in the background. “Lime punch before you fight a dragon?” “Sure.”

I never noticed that blue in Madame Mazime’s hair. I love the school spirit that she is showing here. Dumbledore seriously thought of mimicking her. He would look bomb with a tie die beard. Convince me otherwise.

Filch is featured spectacularly in this movie.

The trunk at the bottom has a red cross on it, making this very likely an emergency tent that just so happens to double as the waiting area for the champions.

Colin made that sign for Harry.

I feel like that chain, oh, I don’t know, could have been magically reinforced or something.

How does his glasses stay on? I bend over, and mine are on the floor.

Even Draco here is like, “Come on, bro.”

Snape knew he should have stayed in bed.

So, does the waterfall seen here does that fall into Hogwart’s grounds as well because that would be awesome for field trips. My love for this ancient, magical castle in the middle of nowhere is unmatched.

Where was Seamus during that challenge? I did not see him.

The picture of the woman in the far left is very striking.

The Black Lake is a huge expanse. I always think of it as kind of small, but it is massive in this movie.

The pastries in the back are floating along the table. So cool.

Mrs. Norris just chilling, waiting to see these pitiful humans embarrass themselves.

Why can’t they have healed Harry? I understand the look, but dang, people continuity.

Neville has got them shiny dancing shoes. Augusta was very pleased when Neville asked her to buy them for him.

Hermione is a queen, and she knows it.

There is that semi circle of stone again from the third film. Hmmm….

Ginny’s friends are coming in with the support. Love a squad.

There was fruit on that table. I always wondered if they got snacks and what not during the daytime, between meals.

What was the need of carriages if the ball was held at the school?

Ron waited until last minute to even try on those robes or he definitely could have worked something out.

Owl sculptures are supporting the fires here.

Krum is dumbstruck by our girl.

Somehow she loses Krum to argue with Ron.

Is that couple making out at the table?

People are dancing in the hallway?

A gaggle of girls are crying on the stairs. Every middle school dance ever.

I’m telling you, whoever designed this cemetery had a very messed up imagination.

Neville stays out all night long. It is morning coming through that window. You dog, you.

Half of the allure of going to Hogwarts is to get to become a prefect and use that bath. Let’s be honest.

Crouch Jr. hates his life right now.

All of those books are like represent my best life.

Half of those students are like, “Yeah, no, you took all my money last time.” Because let’s be real, no one bet on Harry, and Fred and George scored big time.

Those top tiered placed have got to be enlarged with wizard’s space because they are quite small, and the whole school plus the two others are expected to attend each trial? Yeah, not big enough it seems.

Harry is a show off.

Seamus is wearing Hogwarts merch. Like where did he get that? A catalog? Gift shop in Hogsmeade?

You can see the merpeople’s ancient village here, or hints of it. Archways, etc.

Fleur looks legit worried here. Like Harry was right to not trust Dumbledore to ensure their safety when he can’t even tell Fleur who is out of the competition by this point that her sister is going to be okay.

Why are Fred, George, and Ginny right next to Malfoy and Co. for this shot, shouldn’t they be at odds? Or was that the best spot and neither were giving it up?  Or plain movie making reasons?

Harry is wearing a wand holster on his leg. Fanfiction writers catch all the details.

Seamus is like, “I am Harry’s hype man. I will keep him from getting hypothermia.”

Why did Hermione turn French here for that line?

Rescue….. that’s a strong word here, Dumbles.

Crouch Sr. is such an interesting character. He knows what it is like to lose a family, and he has his guard up because of that. Their story and their family is so interesting to me for some reason.

I think that’s the closest that Crouch Jr. gets to breaking character.

If you were born in the nineties you had at least one of those jackets that Hermione is wearing here, and if you had more, you had them in several colors.

Who bewitched Mad-eye’s eye? It is a very powerful magical object in its own right, right?

Please see my post about Sirius and Azkaban.

As soon as Snape is mentioned Crouch puts his head in his hands because he knows Dumbledore is going to have to have a say.

Dumbledore is looking so closely at the details that he misses the bigger picture in Harry’s dreams and Moody’s actions.

It’s so weird that Snape has a storage area for ingredients near Dumbledore’s office. I bet that Snape has several storage areas spread throughout the castle.

Snape could have just looked inside Harry’s mind, and be done with it, but no….because plot.

Neville is carrying yet another plant behind the trio here.

Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle are so carefree here that you almost forget that the happiness of youth that they have at Hogwarts is about to go extinct just like Harry and his friends. All of the kids in this story face a sharp change in perspective after this book.

I like that Harry has fake Moody, Krum has Karkaroff, Fleur has Madame Maxime, but Cedric has his dad because he gets to say goodbye to him.

The maze is just a massive headgame.

Do you think the reason that Fleur ultimately becomes close enough to Krum to ask him to her wedding is because Krum sought her out and made serious recompense for him being imperioused while in the maze?

They are just resorting to brute strength there at the end. The maze making them forget that they are capable wizards. A jelly legs jinx probably would have had much the same effect.

Angel statues I get, but this big dementor, grim looking thing holding the bones of Voldemort’s father. I just don’t get it.

Cedric gave Peter a chance to speak or stop, but Peter again took the cowards way out, and blasted Cedric before he really had a chance to fight back. What a punk bitch.

I’m glad that you are forced to choke your own self Peter because you deserve it.

Voldemort’s transformation here is both stunning and horrible.

The Death Eaters come out of the Dark Mark’s mouth.

Their masks here are different then the ones used earlier in the morning.

Voldemort is snatching their weaves here, and I love it. Stupid klan robe wearing wizard Nazis.

Voldemort puts his foot on Cedric’s face. Like, son, you need to pay for that privilege.

A lot of the Death Eaters here look like they have like staffs. I don’t understand.

A Death Eater in the background is litearlly clapping when Voldemort makes Harry bow, like get a hold of yourself, Hershel.

The statue, again, in the background presents such a striking image as the two duel.

The spell that Crouch Jr. urged Harry to learn is the one that saved Harry.

Harry just wanting to physically protect Cedric’s body with his own. Just heartbreaking.

I’ll never not sob when I hear Amos Diggory sob, “That’s my son! That’s my boy!”

Fred and George look to follow Crouch Jr. and Harry out. Do they tip off the professors?

Doesn’t Crouch know what it is like to stand in Voldemort’s presence? He was just babysitting the man, I mean, dang. Fangirling is one thing, but you have business to handle.

Don’t insult my Neville. I will throw down.

The mirrors are gone at this point. It looks like Crouch has almost packed up because he knows that he will no longer be needed.

Not his blood, ahhhhh!!!!!

Snape puts such flourish into his casting. That scene at the carriages earlier in this film. He looks like he is rearing back away from Karkaroff, but he is merely preparing to cast one fanciful, flourish of a hex on the man.

Just stick your face in the crazy Death Eater’s face, Harry. Great thinking. No wonder Snape doesn’t hold your intelligence in high regard.

We don’t get one look at Professor Sprout. This boy’s Head of House?

Look at all that magical cooperation, and yet, none of this was used in book seven, or any book after except for mentioning Fleur married Bill, and Harry learned a little tidbit about the Deathly Hallows symbol from Krum.

I love this film. It is stunning, and truly made me a diehard HP fan. I don’t think I will ever really tire of it.

#Harry Potter #Goblet of Fire #Harry Potter and the goblet of fire #Harry Potter thoughts #Harry Potter analysis

[palechasm]

aloe.

one word drabble prompts

                                   A L O E  -  B I T T E R N E S S            five times hisato was bitter, and one time he wasn’t.

                             (alternatively titled ‘one more time, with feeling’)

i also want to apologize for how fucking long this is?? like wow you go to write six tiny little blurbs and it still ends up being five pages long. i’m so sorry

warnings for death, gore, animal death, animal cruelty, dissociation, and Bad Morals For Children.

i. bitter

          Rain drips down his nose, clouds smothering the dusk sky like wads of soiled cotton, choking the dying rays sunlight. Dark skies and gentle rolls of thunder have marked each day of his life, more surely than the steady cycle of the pale, cowardly moon they hid.

         He was born beneath a roiling, weeping sky, and now it seemed he would die beneath another.

         The forest sings around him, a chorus of frogs loud enough to rival the storm’s lazy rumbling. So often did the rain fall that it seemed the sky itself was too bored with precipitation to make any real effort at a weatherfront.

         But the frogs and the clouds’ cranky grumbling were the only signs of life around him, and his throat was too raw to yell over the noise. Not even a lone doe picked her way through the underbrush, searching for tender greens. Instead the deer dozed in their thickets, safe and dry with fawns tucked safely into their sides.

         Would they object, he wondered, if he tried to join one of the peaceful families? The longer he waited, the less it felt that his parents were fervently searching for him the same way he had for them.

         His throat ached and burned from calling for his mother, and as a trickle of cold water rain down his neck and between his shoulder, another sob hitched in his throat. It hurt, more than anything, to cry. But what else could he do?

         The rain carried him through into the night, and as he knotted his limbs into a tight ball under the feeble arms of a bush, the verity of his situation set into his chest like a sharp, heavy stone.

         Although young, he was both smart and old enough to know that sometimes, children went missing–  and sometimes, they weren’t found.

         He imagined little skeletons littering the fields and the brush, the rice paddies and the bottoms of wells. The lonely remains of little boys who wandered away and died alone, bones poking through the moss and mud like pale branches.

         He thought about the trees that wrapped around him in an endless sea. Thought that this might be where he would die, where the creeping fingers of green weeds would wrap around his bones and hold on forever. The forest would steal him away, and shy, friendly deer would step on his ribs where he lay forgotten.

         Night bled into thin, reedy wisps of dawn. The rain didn’t stop, and no one called his name.

         Something angry and resigned and unfamiliar squeezed his heart.

         They weren’t looking for him.

ii. bitter

         Black feathers ruffle in a thick mane around the bird’s neck as he shakes water from his body, plumage rolling down his back like an inky wave. He’s smaller than Susutori, and the way he postures toward her in greeting, head dipped and wings splayed, makes it evident that he’s younger as well.

         But Susutori is pleased to see him and warbles a pleasant call, her eyes soft and her chest puffed like she’s proud. The newcomer straightens and fluffs his own feathers, their greeting finished. The motherly crow ushers him closer and buries her beak into his neck, preening a spot of mussed feathers.

         “You take too long to visit,” She scolds, once finished. “And Sokkou says you’ve been lazy with summons.”

         “Sokkou is a worm-eater and a suck-up.” The other bird grouses.

         “Watch your words in front of my nestling, or I’ll stick you with your own team of them.” Susu shakes her wings, preening irritably. “We’ll go elsewhere to talk.”

         The black, curious gaze of her companion rests on him, and Hisato stares back with matched interest.

         “I forgot you had a little human.” The large bird cocks his head, neck stretched to peer at him. “It even looks sorta like a chick. In an unfortunate way.”

         Something tugs at Hisato’s heart. For a moment, he’d felt nothing but an easy fascination. It was rare to see any of his adoptive mother’s clan, and there was a sliver of pride in hearing her claim over him- pride, and the warm embrace of belonging. As if he really were one of them, a chick taken under Susutori’s wing.

         And then it’s gone, and he was just an oddity. An it. Something strange and sad to gawk at, a boy with no family taken pity on by a crow. A misfit amongst humans and birds alike.

         A large wing shoots open and clips the crow’s body, sending him flapping and stumbling with a squawk.

         “He’s a human, and he looks perfectly fine.” Susutori bobs down to Hisato’s height, fixing him with a stern, parental look that broke no argument. “Hisato, I have business to attend to. Stay put. I’ll be back to bring you a meal.”

         She turns, meeting her younger counterpart as he rights himself from her push.

         “You have a bald spot on your tail,” Hisato mumbles, giving him a sour glare. “It looks unfortunate.”

         Susutori has the sense to disappear the both of them into a puff of smoke, just as her subordinate’s beak drops open with indignation.

         Then he is alone, separated from the safe and familiar like he’d been just a few years ago.

         This time, crows and humans both far away, and together with their kind.

         And Hisato, alone, the taste of dirt filling his mouth.

iii. bitter

         “Normally we’d use our feathers, but a leaf will have to do.” The oversized crow settles into the dry, brittle summer grass. Hisato feels her gaze, making certain he was beginning the exercise correctly.

         “Susu, is this what ninja do? The ones your friends help, sometimes?”

         “Using chakra is a shinobi skill among humans. Useless, as always.” She mutters, picking at the feathers of a wing. “They leave so many of their own kind defenseless.

         “Among crows, we teach all of our young how to protect themselves. And you must learn, too. There are many humans who won’t understand your position, and may try to harm you.”

         The crow speaks carefully, skirting around words like ‘death’ and ‘murder’, but the message is delivered without question. Hisato would always be in danger from other people.

         “What is my position?” He wonders aloud, cross-legged and raptly focused on the soft green patch quivering on his knuckles. What did it mean to be kept apart from the world?

         “You have no village, so you are unprotected. But with the skill to defend yourself, other humans will be suspicious because you are not a civilian. With no headband or sworn allegiance, they will fear you as a bandit, or worse, a defector.

         “You will be surrounded by threats, Hisato. The day your parents failed you was the day this fate was sealed.”

         Her words are succinct and sharp. His focus is broken and he stares at his mentor, leaf forgotten.

         “Am I… an outcast?”

         The thought is foreign, strange. It isn’t something he’d before considered himself to be, but the more he looks at himself the more the word fit. It wraps around his skin like an ugly tattoo… or a manacle, perhaps, callously locked over his wrist.

         “You are what you are, Hisato. Such is the only certainty in life.”

         He looks down, and begins the exercise again.

iv. bitter

         There is no blood on his hands, he idly thinks. Slivers of dirt ring his nails, but the pale lengths of his fingers are clear of rusty smudges. His palms are unmarred, his knuckles clean, although dry and lightly scarred.

         And yet, a dead man lies a scant few yards away, head lolling and chest peeled open like an overripe fruit.

         A jutsu he would rather not use again, given the others at his disposal. He wouldn’t have used it, if he’d known. Known the reality.

         But he hadn’t realized, hadn’t understood….

         Hadn’t thought.

         Before the man’s blade had sank into his throat in a ruthless swipe, he’d pushed him back, air colliding into his enemy like a wall and when he landed, tearing up dirt and grass and moving to rush back at Hisato with rage in his eyes–

         – when he landed, springing to attack again, Hisato kept pushing.

         Air funneled into the man’s lungs faster than he could think to stop. And when his opponent had finally realized, he couldn’t scream.

         Susutori had given him this jutsu. It was one of the first combat techniques he’d learned, being a simple but brutal attack with little possibility of a counter. He understood, now, how ruthless the crow was. How the battlefield had painted her with blood and resolve, and what it meant that she could kill so efficiently and without remorse.

         Hisato touches a hand to his side, robe torn open with ragged, stained edges. It isn’t deep, or life-threatening, but it could have been. His neck would have been. The wound bleeds like a warning.

         But for how closely he’d let danger touch him, or something else entirely?

         Red coats his fingers and seeps under his nails as he puts pressure on the wound.

         Ruddy dirt cools beneath the gaping corpse, and skyward a trio of scavenger begin to circle. The only blood he wore on his hands was his own, hot and slick from a living, pumping heart. And wasn’t that just as bad? Did it matter what spatters of blood belonged to who, when someone lay dead?

         He approaches the gore, reaches with sticky, warm fingers to close the thing’s eyes. Twin smears are left behind on the pair of eyelids, and he withdraws to clasp at his side once more.

         No matter whose blood it is against his skin, a man that had breathed and walked only minutes ago lays still, the broad wings of a carrion bird spreading to full as it breaks its swoop to perch on his leg.

         Hisato watches as they descend, one by one, a funeral procession claiming his body for the wilds. Nature will cycle his life back into itself, an ever-flowing balance.

         It shouldn’t be disturbing, watching them clean up the terrible mess he left behind. He’d seen death, animals picked apart and others thriving from the end. He’d seen what was left of humans that had met their fate, only the remnants of bleached, stained bones as their final mark of passing. The encounters had never left him feeling sick. Crows, after all, were scavengers at times, and so he’d never thought them gruesome.

         He sits with his head in his hands, folded into himself and wondering if it shouldn’t be him, carried away by the birds in pieces.

v. bitter

         Pillowed in his lap was a shivering dog, coaxed with gentle murmurs and a skewer of trout. Hisato ran a gentle hand across its shoulders, though the fur clinging there was thin and coarse. Strays were not uncommon in villages, no matter how large or small they happened to be. Hisato often sought out the wandering canines enjoyed their simple and easy company.

         They were seemed so uncomplicated, living next to humans who might react a dozen different ways to his presence. Dogs either welcomed you or didn’t.

         But the dog cradled between his knees was different from the other strays he’d befriended, kicked by the world within an inch of his life and chased away from the sunspot he’d been curling himself into. Not hurting a thing, but made to put his tail between his legs regardless.

         His health was poor, fur damp and coming away in clumps on his haunches. He’d chewed his paws until they were bloody, then licked at the wounds until they were hot and sickly. His pads were cracked, his nose dry, his tail limp. There wasn’t an inch of dog that wasn’t sad and broken.

         He would fix this, Hisato decided. He would fix the terrible things this place had done, because what more important thing did he have to do with his time? He would make it right. And when once healthy again, he would take the dog to a kinder, warmer place with dirty streets and plenty of strays to clean them.

         Next to a warm fire, an element he usually forwent, Hisato slept with a lapful of dog that, for the first time in its life, had not been chased or beaten.

         The world was not kind to strays. Many of them never knew a better life or a different place than the one they were born into, but Hisato had been lucky.

         When he left his friend to the bustling streets and overflowing trash bins of a Wind village just west of River country border, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had been so lucky after all. Dogs, after all, were passed over without a thought no matter what village they wandered into. For humans, homes were a tricky thing- stay in one place too long, and someone might notice you don’t have the right papers or the right permission from the right people. Just a group of men in fancy robes, foolish enough that land could be owned like a lifeless commodity.

         He would visit, Hisato told himself.

         And that would have to be enough.

i. warm

         “You’re a weird kid,” Said a well-muscled and ill-shaven man, cigarette dangling from his lips. “But I guess that don’t hurt nothin’.”

         Hisato stared silently, head cocked curiously even as he craned his neck up to watch the gruff, scarred face. A dull, warped shuriken was cradled in his little fingers, the feeble shine of tarnished metal drawing him to the empty field. He’d pulled it front one of the few, lonely wooden posts jutting from one end of the field, scattered with forgotten weapons.

         “What are you even gonna do with that? Can’t throw it anymore, th’ hells been bent outta it.”

         He looked down at the weapon, feeling bashful, and thumbed a blunted edge. “It’s for my mom. She’s a crow.”

         “Don’t you call your own mother a crone, boy.”

         “No, she’s a crow.” He corrected, squinting up. “What’s a crone?”

         The man guffawed, and Hisato wasn’t sure if he was laughing or choking. “Well my ma-in-law is a buzzard, so I’ll give you that one, twerp. I don’t know what th’ hell she’s gonna do with scrap metal like that, though.”

         A grin had split through the rough face towering above him, and he smiled back, enjoying the warmth of the man’s attention. Large, thick fingers reached into a pouch at his hip, pulling out a sharp, crisp shuriken.

         “You want me to teach y’how to throw one of those things or what?”

         At Hisato’s awed grin, he pressed the cold metal into pale, childish fingers.

         “Tell ya what, if you can hit that post I’ll let y’have this one, too.”

#harefrost #𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎 / 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 // 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚎 #𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 // 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚜 #𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚢 // 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

[minatoiskyuubismate]

Night of the hunters pt 1 and 2-the dagurized version

Its finally finished! Took me forever to write it, and english is not my mother tounge.

Night of the Hunters part 1 and 2

 And the furs were not the only presents.

 For his next visit Dagur brought a round package with him.

“What is this?” Hiccup asked.

“Take a look.” Dagur grinned and handed Hiccup the wrapped disk. He unwrapped it and found a wooden Shield with a painting. When he looked closer he recognized himself and Dagur standing together. The older one had put a hand on the smaller ones shoulder and both smiled.

“Its…like our paintings in the great hall! All the chiefs were there portrayed with their firstborns!”

“I saw that one of my crew is an good artist and I told him to do a painting of me and you. He did treffen you very good, eh? And that’s only from his memories!”

“Yes…it looks great!” Hiccup smiled.

This time Hiccup was shown in his real scrawny form.

“It will get a nice place here in my hut.”

 Later, in Hiccups small hideout…

“You will return to Berserker island?” Hiccup asked as they laid side by side.

“Aye. I must look how things are going on there. And my men need some break and time with their families. Even Berserker have families.”

Hiccup nodded and snuggled near Dagurs side.

“Still cold, little brother?”

“Not really. But I can better sleep with the feeling that you are here. I feel …safe.”

“Safer as with your dragon?”

“Dagur.”

“Okay, your Nightfury is your bodyguard.”

“He is not my-never mind. Let s sleep.”

Dagur laid an Arm over the scrawny form besides him and pulled him closer.

 Some weeks later something happened that would change the life on Dragons edge and of his inhabitants forever.

It was a nice, sunny morning. Hiccup was on an early patrol flight over the island. On his way he trained varios flight maneuvers with Toothless, to be prepared for another attack –but mostly simple for fun. They made slalom flights between Sea stacks and Hiccups favorite move. For this he let Toothless fly under the trees while he jumped from his back on an branch. While the Nightfury glided under the crowns, Hiccup jumped from Branch to Branch took a bendable twig for a swing forward and landed again in Toothless saddle, whooping happily.

“Good Teamwork, Bud!”

The Nightfury laughed and the glided along the river till they landed on their favourite spot, a small ledge near the water. Tootless laid down to rest and Hiccup glided from the saddle to rest against the side of his friend.

“We should do this more often. From now on, I promise, we will—“

He stopped when he heard a roar in the distance. Toothless growled low.

“Yeah, bud. That was a not a normal roar. This dragon called for help!” Hiccup said and mounted Toothless. They followed the sound of the roar who was heard again. Definitly a distress call. Hiccup has learned over the years the different colors of dragon calls. And this dragon needs help.

 When they reached the beach on the other side of the edge, they found several ships docked near the beach. Hiccup and Toothless hid between the rocks and watched as some men were loading supplys on their boats to row them to the ships. And most of them were cages. Cages with dragons in it!

“I never saw those colors before, but I have seen that insignia on the sails! It was nearly the same as on the Reaper.-Those are Dragon Hunters!” he whispered to Toothless.

A monstrous Nightmare, who tried to free himself from the cage, he was locked into, caught Hiccups attention. He frowned, when a man slammed his mace against the bars, Toothless growled low.

“Quiet, you useless lizard!” the hunter said and grinned.

Suddenly another hunter, a bald huge man, slammed the hunter against the bars. He was a muscular giant with a black moustache and goatee. And he wore a different attire than all the other hunters.

“Just load them up!” the big man growled.

“Yeah, Ryker. Sorry, boss.” the hunter stammered.

“Then do it! Or you will end as food for this one!” the leader of the hunters said and shoved the man against a cage with a Gronkle in it.

Ryker smiled evilly at the Nightmare, but the next moment he turned and sniffed.

“Could it be?” he murmured.

Hiccup ducked behind the rock he was peeking and ordered Toothless to be absolutely quiet. But when he heard the nearing steps, he dashed to the Nightfurys side and jumped into the saddle.

“Let s go, bud! We must tell the others!”

In the next Moment Dragon and Rider shot out of their hiding place and up into the air. Rykers eyes went wide.

“So my senses were not tricking me! A Nightfury!” he said. “Get the bows ready! I want this dragon!”

In the next moment, arrows whizzed past Hiccup and Toothless. The dragon fired a plasma blast at the archers, who quickly jumped out of the way. Ryker growled and took a bola from his belt. He whirled it over his head and threw it with all his strength and the fleeing Nightfury, who was a good distance away. But the ropes tangled around Toothless tail and the metal balls smashed the artificial fin of the Nightfury. Hiccup tried to work the pedal but it was blocked.

“Oh no! Toothless!”

The dragon desperately flapped his wings to get higher, but the destroyed Tailfin and the weights of the bola pulled him down and they crashed into the ocean! Hiccup was thrown out of the saddle from the impact.

“Im coming, bud!” Hiccup coughed and tried to reach Toothless, but before he could, the Nightfury was netted, pulled away and hauled aboard the ship who passed by.

“NO! TOOTHLESS!” he shouted, but a wave splashed into his face and he started violently to cough. When he could look again the ship was already out of reach.

 “What a great catch! A Nightfury!” Ryker said proudly to his men. “They are very rare! Do you know what we will get for this dragon? A small fortune!”

“Whats with the rider?” asked one of the hunters and pointed to the floating form between the waves.

“Leave him. We only need the dragon.”

 “No! Toothless!” Hiccup cried desperately as he tried to stay on the surface. Then he spotted a single log in front of him. He swam to it and cling onto the wet bark. With growing fear he watched as the ship vanished between the waves.

“Toothless…” he whined and let his head sunk on the log. “Don’t worry, bud. I will find you.”

 At the late afternoon, Astrid was standing on the platform with Stormfly, looking to the horizon. She sighed. Still no sign of Hiccup and Toothless.

“He never was away so long without telling us.” she sighed.

“Don’t worry. They sure met Dagur and Shattermaster, went out exploring and simply forgot time.” Fishlegs tried to calm her. “Or he found a new dragon…”

“I don’t think so. Something is not right. I can feel it! -Fishlegs, call the others! We are going to look for them!”

Astrid looked worried at the dark storm clouds who approaching the island.

Some Minutes later Hiccups Friends were flying through the storm, it had started to rain heavily.

“We all go in different directions!” Astrid ordered. “I will head south.”

All Riders flew off in opposite directions calling out for Hiccup and Toothless and tried to spot the tow between the waves.

“Still nothing. Oh Hiccup, where are you? Toothless…please take care of him!” she pleaded for herself into the wind and rain.

 Not far away, but out of seeing range, Dagur was on the way back from Berserker island when Shattermaster stared to get restless.

“Hey, Bud. Whats up? Don’t like the storm? I hope you are not getting seasick, my friend.” Dagur smiled and petted the massive head.

Suddenly Shattermaster ran to the railing and looked out into the stormy sea.

“What ´s the matter?”

The Gronkle whined.

“Chief! I just spotted someone out between the waves! Someone hanging on a log! But we are too far away!” Savage said, who looked through the spyglass. He had seen a small figure clinging on a floating log.

“Shattermaster must noticed it too. Okay, bud! Come on! Someone needs our help!”

Dagur jumped on the gronkles back and let Shattermaster soar in the air. The Gronkle had no problems flying steady through the storm.

 Meanwhile Hiccup was at the end of his strength.

“I-I cant hold on anymore and its so cold…my body feels like ice….thats the end…I think…” Hiccup murmurs weakly. His whole body was stiff from the cold water and he had no strength nor willpower anymore to hold on the log. When the next wave hit his face, his clammy fingers slipped from the wood and he sunk under the water. But before everything went dark, he spotted a movement over him. Someone came diving in his direction! Hiccup could only feel that he was grabbed around his waist by a strong arm und pulled upward. Then everything went black.

 Dagurs Head broke through the surface of the stormy water. With his right arm he held Hiccups limp body tightly to his own.

“Shattermaster!” he called. In the next moment, the Gronkle hovered over the waves, so that his rider could grab the leather collar with his free hand. “Up, Buddy! Bring us back to the ship! As fast as you can!”

Shattermaster gave his best. He felt, that the limp body Dagur was holding in his other hand was in great danger. A short moment after he lowered his rider on the deck of the Berserker ship.

“Good work, bud!-Hiccup! By the gods of Asgard, not again! Hiccup, wake up!”

He turned the Hooligan around and began to pat his back hard. Two times.

Suddenly the younger boy began violently to cough and threw up out some seawater. Dagur turned him around again. Hiccups eyes cracked a bit open.

“Uggh…Dagur? What took you so long…” Hiccup murmured weakly before he lost his consciousness again.

“Thanks Odin!” Dagur croaked when he felt Hiccups steady breath and hugged the boy.

“I wonder how often he still must save the little Hooligan.” Savage murmured, as Dagur hurried with his precious cargo into his cabin.

 On the way to the edge the berserker sat in his cabin, Hiccups limp form in his arms, which he had wrapped in this thickest fur.

“You are out cold, little fishbone. And so is your body. How long have you been in the water? I wish you could tell me, but for now its more important to get you back to your friends. And I could be late for my meeting. But nevertheless, you are more important.”

Suddenly the body in his arms began to stir.

“Dagur…” a weak voice called for him.

“Hiccup! You are awake again? Whats up, little brother?”

“Toothless…..hunters….” the Hooligan murmured weakly “Im cold…”

The whole body of the boy began to shiver.

“Don’t worry.” Dagur answered, laid Hiccup back on the bed and headed to the door.

“Savage! Tell Lars I need something strong and hot for the boy to warm him up.”

“At once, Chief!” the second in command answered.

Some times later Lars brought a tankard with a steaming liquid into the cabin.

“Whats this?” asked Dagur as he took the mug and sniffed at it.

“Hot mead with a special herbal mix. A good medicine to warm someone up again and prevent him from freezing to death.” the cook said.

“Good. Thank you, Lars.” the Berserker nodded. Then he returned to the fur bundle on his bed and lifted Hiccup in his lap.

“Here. Drink. It will warm you from inside.” and put the tankard to the boys lips. Hiccups eyes cracked open a bit and he took a careful sip. He scrunched his face when he swallowed the brew.

“I know its tasting awful, but it will help you to warm your icy bones. Come, little one, try some more.” Dagur encouraged Hiccup. After a few more sips the Hooligan refused to drink more.

“So tired….and still cold…” he murmured weakly.

“Then sleep, little brother. I stay by your side.”

“Your armor….cold…”

Dagur nodded and removed his armor, laid beside Hiccup and began to rub his hands and arms to warm his cold skin.

“You were defiantly too long in the cold sea. You could have freezed to death, how skinny you are!” the berserker said.

When Hiccup stopped to shiver, he pulled the boy into his embrace to keep him warm. The Hooligan recognized the familiar scent of the older man, he relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.

“We still have some time till my special meeting. Your outpost is not far away. First I bring you home to the dragons edge, your friends must be worried about you-especially your little girlfriend. “ Dagur smiled and closed his eyes too.

When Dagur awoke again, Hiccup was tightly snuggled against him, still sleeping and searching for warmth. The older man smiled and touched the Hooligans shoulders. He was relived, when the skin of the boy nearly had his normal temperature again.

 Meanwhile, at the hunters ship.

“Have you secured and tested the chains of the Night fury?”

“Aye. And we pulled off this strange harness he wore. He has only one tailfin. The other is missing.

Ryker inspected the harness with the torn tailfin. Toothless who was chained on all fours and muzzled in a cell, growled.

“This looks like an artificial Tailfin. His rider must be a clever mind. Like my little brother. He sure would have liked him as a new playmate for “Maces and Talons”. Maybe we should have pulled him out of the water too. Meh, but now it´s too late. Never mind, the dragon is more important.” the bald man said and laid the harness in a crate near Toothless cell. “Watch good for this one. The old legends told that Nightfurys are the cleverest amongst all dragons.-How long we need till our Rendez-vous-point?”

“About three hours. The storm is beginning to calm down.”

 Meanwhile the dragon riders have returned from a fruitless search.

“The weather is getting better. We rest two hours then we continue with our search.” Astrid said.

Snotlout groaned and left the clubhouse with Hookfang behind him. This would be a long hard day.

Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks, when the nightmare made a warning sound. When he looked out to the sea he spotted a ship that headed towards the base. And he recognized the crest on the sail. He hurried back into the clubhouse.

“There is a ship approaching the base!” Snotlout said.

“Which one?” asked Astrid.

“Its Dagurs! He is standing on deck, carrying something in his arms….looks like a fur bundle.”

“Come on!” Astrid called the others and they hurried down to the small harbor.

 Dagur walked along the dock with the fur bundle in his arms. The shieldmaid was the first who spotted the auburn mop of hair sticking out at the upper end.

“Hiccup!” Astrid gasped and ran up to the Berserker. “What happened?”

“We spotted him out in the stormy sea. He was about to drown but with Shattermasters help I was able to fish him out of the water. If my bud did not sensed him out in the water-we would have passed him without noticing. He was totally frozen from the cold water but I held him warm. Don’t worry. He will be okay again. Give him something hot to drink and keep him warm. I cant stay, I have an important meeting.”

Dagur handed to bundle to Snotlout, Savage the bundle of clothes to Astrid.

“Thank you Dagur-for saving him- again.” Astrid said. “But where is Toothless?”

“He was nowhere spotted. Hiccup talked a bit in his sleep but all I could understand was “Toothless” and “Hunters”.”

“Okay. We take over from now. But if you get knowledge about the Nightfury whereabouts call us.”

“I will.”

Hiccup was brought into his hut and Astrid stayed with him, watching over his sleep.

 “Toothless!”

When Hiccup shot up from his sleep, he still was wrapped in the warm fur-but he was not on Dagurs ship anymore.

His friends surrounded his bed and gave him worried looks.

“Hiccup! Thank Thor, you are alive! -Take it easy, you had a hard day!-What happened? We searched after you for hours! And where is Toothless?” Astrid said.

“Dragon hunters ….they took him away and let me alone back in the Ocean! I would have drowned if not Dagur –where is Dagur?” asked Hiccup.

“He already left with his ship. After we returned from our fruitless search, he arrived at our base. He gave you to us and told us how he saved you out of the stormy sea. I can´t believe it! This was the second time he saved you from drowning!” Fishlegs answered.

“Yeah. But I hardly remember anything. Damn, I still feel weak and dizzy.”

“Here, I cooked a hot soup. This will warm you up and give back your strength.”

Hiccup remembered vaguely that someone tried to make him drink a hot liquid. Thankfully he took the bowl from Fishlegs and started to eat. After that he was feeling much better.

“So Toothless was captured by Dragon hunters?” asked Astrid.

“Yeah. Three ships. With the same sign on the sails like the reaper… there are so much other dragons…and they are all in cages!”

Fishlegs flinched.

“And then there was this giant bald man, the leader…if he dares to hurt Toothless, then I-I….” Hiccup sighed. Then he put the bowl on his nightstand and jumped out of his bed. “Come on! Lets go!”

“Hiccup, for Thors sake! -Haven´t you forgotten something?” Astrid said and shielded her eyes. Then Hiccup realized, that his clothes were missing. He let out a shriek and pulled the fur around his hips.

“ARRGH! DAGUR!” he cursed. “Uggh…sorry, everyone.” Hiccups face was beet red, Snotlout snickered, till Astrid bumped him in the guts. Then she got Hiccups clothes and laid them on the bed. Fishlegs ashamed looked to the side and Ruffnut ogled the scrawny body with a wide grin. As did her brother.

“Get dressed, we are waiting outside. You can ride with me on Stormfly.”

 “Our leader really is a cutie, eh?” Tuffnutt grinned, while the gang mounted their dragons. “I never saw so much freckles on a-“ He stopped when Astrid shot him a warning look. A few minutes later Hiccup joined them and lead his friends to the beach where he last saw the hunters. But there was nothing important to found, only a lot of empty barrels and crates and some other trash from a deserted campsite. But when Snotlout stepped on something pointy, it was an arrow tip covered with a green substance that Fishlegs identified as high concentrated dragon root.

“In this concentration it can overwhelm a dragons senses completely, making it almost impossible for them to fly. Did Toothless got hit by one of those?” Immerman asked Hiccup.

“No, some bolas brought us down. They destroyed Toothless Tailfin and we crashed into the ocean. Then he caught him with a net and pulled him aboard. And they let me all alone in the middle of the ocean! Damn hunters!”

“How are we gonna find Toothless?” Astrid asked. “We have no idea where they are going!”

“Maybe not. But we do know where they have been. And at this point we will continue our search.” Hiccup said.

 A few hours later they reached the Reaper and started looking around for clues. Hiccup got a weird feeling when he saw the big eels in the water. Here it had all begun. Here he met Dagur again. Here he saved him the first time from drowing and getting eaten by the big eels. Here he encountered the new, changed Dagur. But where was the Berserker at the moment? He could helped them to find Toothless. He wished the oder man would be here now and soothe him, hold him…

His thoughts were interrupted, when he heard the breaking of wood and Snotlouts shriek. The Jorgenson had broken through the old planks and landed in some sort of storage compartment.

“Get me out of here!” he shouted.

One by one got down below the deck and started to look around the storage.

“Just keep looking. We must find something!” Hiccup said.

“What if we don’t? Toothless is in the hands of this monsters-he…” Fishlegs ranted.

“I know. I am afraid for him as you are.” Hiccup tried to calm him. “But this Ryker-he actually enjoying hunting and caging dragons!”

“And he has Toothless!” Astrid growled and slammed her axe against a decorative shield who was hanging on a wall.

“We are going to find him. And if it means to search the whole archipelago!” the Hooligan said. Astrid removed her axe from the shield and when the blade got loose, something fell out and landed on the floor. Hiccup picked it up and stared at it.

“It’s a dragon eye lens!” he said.

 Soon all gathered below decks and began testing the new lens with their dragons, but nothing seemed to work. In the meantime Tuffnut watched the shield closely.

“Mmh, its either the innards of a Yak-or a Changewing in a cage.” he said, rubbing his chin.

Hiccup turned and now he could see it too. On the shield really was an image that showed what Tuff had said. A caged dragon. And one of his two eyes was the dragoneye lens.

“Tuff, you are a genius! So our next destination is Changewing Island!” Hiccup declared.

 On the island they tried to catch one of the Dragons who can make themselves invisible to get some of their acid spew. After they got a sample on Snotlouts helmet, the returned to dragons edge to activate the new lens with the dragon eye.

“Hold still, Snotlout!” Hiccup said who tried to find the right position for the dragon eye in his hands.

“Easy for you to say! You don’t have Changewing acid burning through your helmet and dripping on your skull!” the Jorgenson growled.

The lens revealed some sort of ship movements and Fishlegs began to study it.

“That doesn’t help! We have seen this map before.” he said.

“Judging by the position of the ships there must be some sort of a port. And it’s the closest one to the beach where Toothless was caught. But where they are heading? It seems their base is somewhere else.”

“We should hurry! There is no time to loose!” Astrid said.

“Yeah! Enough of this!” Snotlout growled and tossed his ruined helmet away.

“But how we are going to avoid this dragon root arrows?” asked Fishlegs. “The only dragon here who is immune against the effect of dragon root.”

When all looked at Ingerman he realized what he had revealed and whimpered.

“It seems then its my turn to get shot.” he sighed.

 Ryker was sailing to the hunters port with his new catch of dragons. A hour ago he collected some new crew members on an island. The bald man was satisfied with himself. He had made a great catch with the nightfury and his brother would be very pleased about that.

Suddenly he heard the men screaming and turned to see Astrid and Hiccup on Stormfly gliding overhead and fire at his ship.

“I want my dragon back!” Hiccup shouted and pointed with his sword at Ryker.

“More kids on dragonback? It seems he had brought his whole gang with him!” the Leader of the hunters smirked.

The twins and Snotlout were now attacking, but Ryker wasn’t too concerned.

“Fire!” he said calmly.

The hunters manned their ballistas and fired several bolas at Snotlout and Hookfang.

“Is that all you got?” the Jorgenson yelled. As answer more bolts and stones came flying.

Stormfly circled the ship and destroyed some of the balistas with her hot fire and several hunters fired arrows at them. Astrid shielded them with her axe and knocked them away, Hiccup did the same with his sword.

“You are sure this plan will work? That was pretty close! They have a lot of firepower!” she said.

“But we can´t retreat! -Fishlegs! Your turn!” Hiccup yelled. If we only had Dagur and Shattermaster here too, then our chances would be much better, the Hooligan thought.

 Fishlegs looked at Meatlug. Okay girl, lets go!”

Then they headed for the ship with a battlecry. When they are close enough, the Gronckle fired a lava blast on the ships deck and it did not took long till the archers are aiming for them. Fishlegs doged the arrows but one hit Meatlug and she began to loose control, doing a good fake playing. With a heavy thud, the Gronkle and his rider crashed on Deck and was in the next moment surrounded by Rykers men with drawn bows and swords.

“Meatlug! Come on, get up!” Fishlegs pleaded. Ryker approached them, while a chain was put around the Gronkles neck.

“You monster! How could you do this!” Immerman glared at the leader.

“Its my business, brat! Take them below and toss them in a cell!” Ryker ordered. While the hunters dragged the protesting Gronkle and his rider away, the bald man turned his attention to the remaining Riders. “Damn pests! But I will get you too!” he growled.

 Fishlegs and Meatlug were shoved into a cell and locked. When the hunters were gone, Immerman spotted Toothless in the opposite cell.

“Hey, don’t worry, bud! Hiccup is on the way to save you.” he said. The nightfury warbled and rattled with his chains. “I know, I know, but you must stay patient! We´ll be all right.”

 Meanwhile outside the battle was still going on.

“Ready the catapults-fire!” a hunter yelled.

“Look out!” Astrid yelled. Stormfly was able to avoid getting hit, but Hiccup lost his grip and fell off the Nadders back.

“Hiccup!” Astrid screamed as she saw her friend fall towards the sea. “Come on, girl, fetch!”

Stormfly dived, but before her claws could reach the boy, a chain wrapped around his chest and he was pulled towards the ship.

“NO!” the shieldmaid yelled. Hiccup landed in the sea. She could not go farther because a rain of arrows came towards her.

“Up, girl!” Astrid commanded to get out of firing range.

 “Help us! Please! I think she stopped breathing!” Fishlegs meanwhile tried to get the attention of the single guard in the cell room. The man groaned. “You think your boss want his newest dragon gonna die? And on your watch?” Immerman continued. With a sigh the guard made his way to the cell and saw Meatlug lying moveless on her back. He open the cell door and in the next moment the Gronkle turned on his legs and bumped him hard! The impact smashed the man against the wall and knocked him out. Fishlegs grabbed the key and rushed out of his cell.

“I am coming Toothless!” he said.

 Outside the chain with Hiccup was pulled aboard.

“Heh, look what we have here! A little runt!” Ryker grinned when the chain was removed from the Hooligan.

“Give me back my dragon!” Hiccup roared and charged at the bald man.

“Hey, you are a feisty one! But you cant stand against me!” the hunter chief grinned.

Ryker blocked easy his hits and hit him square into the chest. Hiccup staggered back and lost his sword. Two hunters grabbed the Hooligan by the arms.

“Your precious Nightfury belongs to me now. But I like your spirit. Throw him in a cell. ” Ryker grinned, as Hiccup was dragged down to the cells.

“You´re gonna regret this! You are messing with the wrong Vikings!” Hiccup yelled.

“Well, so are you, little runt.” said Ryker.

Then, suddenly bursting to the door that led to the lower decks came the Nightfury.

“Toothless!” Hiccup shouted happily. When the dragon fired a plasma blast before the hunters feet, the men dropped the boy and he rushed over to the Nightfury. He quickly mounted Toothless and with a second shot the dragon knocked the two following men away. Fishlegs and Meatlug joined them.

“Sorry it took so long, but they had stripped Toothless of his harness and I had to put it back on!” Immerman said.

“Never mind! Lets get Ryker! He will pay for what he had done to Toothless!” Hiccup growled and they charged at the leader of the hunters.

“Snotlout! Twins! Keep ready!” Astrid up in the air shouted.

“Now!” Hiccup commanded.

They charged straight down towards Rykers Ship, but the bald man just smirked: ”Fire.”

Toothless and Meatlug were caught in a pair of bolas and toppled to the deck. A net was thrown over the trashing Nightfury.

“NO! Not again!” Hiccup roared. ”Astrid! Stop!”

Then another bola tangled around his legs and let him hit the planks.

Seeing what happened Astrid and the other riders halted their attack.

“Cursed it!” she growled.

“Watch out!” Snotlout shrieked, when all three ships began to fire arrows at them.

“Evasive action! Now!” Astrid shouted and pulled back. The twins dragon got hit first and spun around towards the ocean, where they crashed and shortly after pulled aboard Rykers ship in a net.

Next Hookfang was hit. He began to wobble and Snotlout tried to hold him up.

“Stormfly! Grab him!” Astrid said and the nadder caught the Nightmare by his tail and pulled him out of shooting range. In the meanwhile Snotlout removed the dragonroot arrow.

“Its no use! We are outnumbered! Stormfly- let´s get out of here!” the Shieldmaid said.

“Hey, Astrid! I didn’t thought you would me drag off someday.” Snotlout grinned while he clinged to Hookfangs neck.

“Shut up or I order Stormfly to let Hookfang go!” Astrid grumbled. She and the Jorgenson were the only ones of the team who were able to get away.

 Ryker approached Hiccup and Fishlegs smirking.

“Your pathetic tricks won´t work on me. “ he said. “I am a Dragon hunter after all! I know that Gronckles are immune to dragons root. I use your worthless escape plan to lure your friends closer. And I got some more of you brats!”

He turned and watched as the net with the twins and the zipper was pulled on deck.

 “Astrid! What should we do?” Snotlout asked.

“We retreat. We had no chance against them at the moment!”

“Sounds like the best solution at the moment.” the Jorgenson said when he saw the archers still aiming at them. Astrid hated it to leave Hiccup and the others with the hunters, but she knew that with an half conscious Nightmare they could not do anything. So she flew with Hookfang in tow away from the ships.

“I will return, Hiccup! I promise!” she murmured as she took one last look back.

 Below the ship Hiccup and the others were shoved into a cell.

“Whrere are our dragons? What did you do to them?” Hiccup demanded.

“If I were you, I would worry about yourself, runt.” Ryker smirked.

“Don’t call me runt! I am Hiccup Haddock the third of Berk!” the Hooligan heir growled.

“Tch, for me you are just a runt-with a very special dragon.”

When the leader of the hunters left, Hiccup suddenly spotted someone very familiar. Someone he had at last excepted on this ship. Heather. Stepping by as she belonged to the crew.

“Heather! What in Thors name-“ Hiccup gasped.

“No way!” Tuffnut said.

And then, to make it even worse, Dagur too appeared and put an Arm around Heather.

“Surprise, Surprise! Did you miss me? Of course you did!” he grinned broadly.

Speechless Hiccup and his friends could only stare at Dagur then at Heather, who was smirking.

“And did you know my sister?-Wait, sure you do! You guys were little pals and buddy buddies!”

Heather shrugged.

“Family is Family.” she simply said. Hiccup just stared at her and her brother.

“Hello, little brother.” Dagur grinned who walked to Hiccup.

“Dagur, I cant belive it! You two joined the hunters?” Fishlegs said.

“I know, its not Dragons edge, but we have to do. “the Berserker said and looked straight into Hiccups eyes. “Enjoy your new home, brother. I am afraid, you would be staying here for awhile.”

Then he began to cackle like a maniac and strolled away with his sister.

Hiccup couldn’t belive it! A day ago Dagur has saved his life and now he betrayed his trust and joined the hunters who caught his Nightfury? He coudnt belive it! Has he returned to his old deranged self?

Like in Trance he walked away from the bars and let himself sunk to the planks in a corner of the cell.

“Hiccup?” Fishlegs whispered. But the Hooligan heir diddnt respond. With a stony face he stared down at the planks before him.

“Woah, must be a great shock for him.” Tuffnut said. “To be tricked from the man who saved his live so often.”

 Part 2

 Evening has come and Hiccup, Fishlegs and the twins were still trapped on Rykers ship.

“I still cant belive it! I thought really Dagur has changed, and now this! Even Heather has betrayed us!” said Fishlegs.

Hiccup, who did not left his place in the corner lifted his head.

“The bigger question is who are these dragon hunters and what do they want with us?” he asked.

“You are about to find out.” said a voice.

Everyone in the cell turned to find Heather and two hunters approaching. The cell was open and the two crewmen grabbed Hiccup and dragged him outside.

“Ryker wants to have a little chat with you.” Heather said and slammed the door shut.

“You are lucky, that these guards are here, otherwise I would take your head off!” Hiccup growled.

“Try it, runt!” Heather laughed as she imitated Ryker.

“After everything we did for you! Took you in. Taught you dragon riding. Risked our heads for you!”

“For that I am thankful, Hiccup. But I have to follow my destiny.”

“Betraying your friends and joining this dragon hunter scum?”

For this offended words Hiccup got a slap on his head of one of the guards.

“OW!”

“Shut it, runt! We are only doing our job!” one of the guards growled.

“Killing innocence dragons?” Hiccup shot back.

“I said hold it!”

The hunter lifted his hand to backhand the Hooligan, but Heather stopped it with her axe.

“Enough! Ryker wanted the boy in one piece, so don’t let yourself provoke!” she hissed, then turned to Hiccup. ”And you-shut your mouth! You are not in the position to criticize someone!-You pampered Chief heir don’t know what it means to be truly alone! Dagur is my brother. I trust him with my life!”

Hiccup swallowed his retort about being called “pampered” and said: “I appreciate that you finally found together. But I would be happier if it had not been on in the rows of the hunters.”

“It was a difficult decision, but I made my choice.”

In the meantime they had reached the captains quarters.

“And your concern is touching but if I were you, I would be more worried about yourself. Ryker is not known for kindness.” said Heather and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Rykers voice was heard.

“Ryker wants information and he can be very persuasive.” said the female Berserker and open the door. Then she shoved Hiccup inside and closed it again behind her and the Hooligan. The guards remined outside and took their positons on both sides of the door.

“When Ryker is finished with this runt, then this fishbone will not be such a loudmouth anymore.” one of the guards smirked.

 Meanwhile, Astrid, Snotlout and their dragons spend the entire night at a beach recovering from their fight with the hunters. The shieldmaid had spend the night mostly planning the next move. With the sun rising over the horizon, Stormfly woke up and stretched her wings and legs, followed by Hookfang.

“Morning, girl.” Astrid greeted.

Only Snotlout was still snoring near his dragon. With a small bite, only using the tips of his long teeth on his riders butt, the Nightmare did his wake-up call.

“IIAARGH! Hookfang!” Snotlout screeched and jumped up.

“It seems Hookfang is okay again.” the shieldmaid smirked. “Good that the dragon root effect is only temporary.”

The Jorgenson then noticed that Astrid was looking at a map.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Trying to figure out where the Dragon hunters are heading.”

“That’s a bad idea. You remember what happened yesterday? Even if we find them, what can we do about this arrows with this tranquilizing stuff?”

“Well-I had no idea. I wish, Hiccup was here.” she murmured.

“Hiccup! Hiccup! Do you think I could not come out with a plan?”

“To be honest, no.”

Snotlout growled and picked up one of the fishes, Stormfly had caught and dropped on the beach.

“It’s a shame, that the skins of our dragons aren’t as hard as the one of a Boneknapper.” he grumbled.

Astrid lifted her head and rolled the map.

“Snotlout, you gave me an idea!”

Jorgenson turned. “Really?”

“Come one, you two! We ´ve got some work to do!” Astrid said mounting Stormfly.

“And that with an empty stomach!” Snotlout growled as Hookfang snatched the fish out of his hand.

So Snotlout followed Astrid who did not told him her entire plan, cause she knew the Jorgenson would not be very pleased if he would know where are they heading.

 Meanwhile, the other riders exept for Hiccup, were sleeping in their cell when they suddenly woke up by the creaking of the cell door. They looked up and saw Dagur shoving Hiccup into the cell, he looked tired as if he did not slept all night.

“Hiccup! Are you okay?” Fishlegs asked with worry.

“Yeah. I am only tired. They questioned me all night long and don’t let me sleep.”

“They?”

“Ryker and Heather mostly. Dagur doesn’t say much. He was very quiet, did mostly observe what the others doing. - But something was a bit odd. When Ryker got too rough and grabbed me at my collar, cause I refused to answer him at the beginning, Dagur at once interfered and growled at the hunter to release me. They nearly started a fight when Heather got between them and told the two muttonheads that on this way they will never get out something of me. And to finish this ordeal and get back to you finally, I told Ryker everything” Hiccup said.

“WHAT?” Fishlegs gasped.

“I told Ryker what he wanted to know. The location of the Dragon eye.” said Hiccup.

“They know of the dragon eye?”

“Well, Dagur must have told them about it! Its very important to the Dragon Hunters. They are looking for it for a long time.”

“And where did you tell them it was?”

“Back at Dragons edge where its been guarded by all the other riders we left behind.” Hiccup said loudly, making sure the guards could hear him.

“What?” Tuffnutt blinked. “But ther is no—“

Hiccup placed a finger on his lips and nodded. Fishlegs understood, the meaning and continued: “Yeah, Dragons edge is like a fortress. Lots of dragon riders.”

“Under the command of Captain Gustav, eh?” Tuffnutt added jokingly.

“Aye! That’s right!” Hiccup nodded and smirked.

“Errrmm….?” The twins shot their leader a suspicios look.

“Oh Thor! That’s the only thing I could said to prevent them from sailing to our base and overtaking it!” Hiccup whispered. “And to my surprise, Dagur agreed with me and told Ryker the same.”

“He is really acting weird for a traitor.” Fishlegs mused.

“Yeah. But we must stay careful! I don’t know what the Berserker siblings had in their minds. Especially Heather looked determined. Eventually Ryker will send someone down there to check out what I told him.”

“But this will buy us some time.” said Fishlegs.

“Exactly. We need to get out of here before they find out I was bluffing. Dagur knew about the A-Team, so he could belive that they are in charge at the edge at the moment.-Okay, guys. Any ideas how to break out?”

 Meanwhile, Astrid and Snotlout were still flying over the sea.

“Is that the island where going to?” the Jorgenson asked, getting more and more impatient.

“No.” Astrid said.

“How about that one?”

“Also no.”

“That one?”

“For Thors name…-“ she started, then she saw the island Snotlout was pointing at.

“Oh yeah, that’s exactly the one.”

When they got nearer the rocky island, Snotlout got a bad feeling.

“Astrid, I recognized these holes.” he said. “Why did you not tell me that we are going to an island full of Whispering deaths?”

“Because I knew you would react like this. Besides, this isn’t the island full of Whispering deaths. Somebody else lives here too.”

 As if the Somebody should have known, the ground began to shake and breaking through the surface came the Screaming death, he seemed gotten bigger in the last three years since they met him.

“The Screaming death? Just great! Why diddnt wave him over and let him kill us?” Snotlout asked with rising panic.

“Will you just relax? When he gets closer, he will recognize us and calm down….I hope.” Astrid answered.

But the Screaming dead roared and charged at them at once. It was obviously that he did not recognize them.

“This was the worst plan ever! This guy hates us! Lets turn tail and get out of here!” Snotlout shrieked. He and Astrid fled into the clouds and hid there. The Screaming death lost the sight of them and flew past.

“And now?” asked Snotlout.

“What we need is in the tunnels below. Let´s go, till he is distracted!” answered Astrid and she head back to the island and dived into the tunnel system, the dragons had created. Snotlout had no other choice to follow her.

 In the meantime, Hiccup and the others still were not able to escape from the cell. Tuffnut had come out with a weird plan to dig out or to set the cell on fire. Fishlegs brought out the plan of psycology warfare, but this was too boring for Tuffnut.

Hiccup did not notice what his friends were rambling und discussing around. He was leaning at the bars of their cell and looked outside. Dagurs behaviour did not let him rest. What was the Berserker up to?

When Heather arrived, he pushed back from the bars and returned to his friends.

“Ryker wants to see you.” she said.

Fishlegs, who stand in the front, blinked. “Me?”

“No, all of you.” Heathter said. “Let´s go.”

“They walked all out of the cell and were escorted to Ryker and Dagur who awaited them at the other end of the cells tract.

“I am Ryker! And this is my ship! You are my prisoners.” the leader of the hunters announced. “And your dragons are now my dragons!”

“And how they are treated is entirely up to you.” Dagur added and waved to follow him and Ryker. They followed the two men till the last few cells. In the first one they saw Meatlug chained up and force feed to eat Rocks.

“Girl!” Fishlegs yelled.

“This Gronckle is very helpful.” Ryker said.

“Her name is Meatlug!” Fishlegs glared.

“I don’t care about her name. All I care is that it makes me metal, all day and all night.”

Meatlug shot out some lava into a bucket.

“That’s cruel! She is not a metal producing forging fumace!” Hiccup growled.

“For me, Gronckles are.” Ryker retorted coldly. The Hooligan glared at him, but said nothing. His words would be fruitless here. But when he shot a quick glance at Dagur he could see a pained look crossing his face. He started to wonder where his Dragon Shattermaster was. And Heathers Razorwhip Windshear?”

Fishlegs in the meantime looked at the lava Meatlug spewed and recognized it as the same molten mass they used to make Gronkle iron three years ago. A rough shove from Heather ripped him out of his thoughts.

“Toothless!” Hiccup rushed to the next cell, where the Nightfury was chained up and muzzled. “Don’t worry bud, we find a way to free you.” The dragon lifted his head and whined.

“This nightfury is our most precious freight at the moment. I wonder how much I will get if we sell it in our next auction.” Ryker mused.

“You can do this to him!” Hiccup hissed. “He is my friend!”

“Oh, I can. And I will. And you should be careful, that you not end on an auction too, runt. But I doubt someone would place a bit for a toothpick like you.”

Hiccup clenched his fists, he wanted nothing more than to punch this arrogant man. But he know that he would never had a chance to Rykers strength. Dagur grabbed Hiccup by the arms and shoved him forward.

When they passed Toothless cell, something made Hiccup suspicious. The Nightfury did not growl at Dagur or bared his teeth-and he belived to see that the Berserker winked at the dragon and shot him a short encouraged smile. And Toothless did only watch him with his big green eyes and showed no threat.

Barf and Belch, who were in the third cell, were being fed and rubbed down by two hunters with a greasy cream.

“When we had his hide, it will fetch top prices in the northern market islands.” said Ryker.

“What?” Ruffnut shrieked.

“Zippleback boots I always wanted a pair.” Dagur said to her. Hiccup shot him an angry look.

“This is what faces all your dragons. Of course, they could get a better treatment…” said Ryker taking the jar with grease from the hunter.

“And how?” Ruffnut asked. The bald leader tossed the jar straight in her hands and looked at the riders furiously.

“Start giving me the right answers! Tell me what do you know about the dragon eye! How many riders exactly are guarding your base?”

Hiccup and the other riders looked at one another and then at Ryker in silence. The Hooligan crossed his arms in defiance.

“Very well. Keep fattening this one up. Then we have more hide to sell.” Ryker growled, took the jar back and pointed at the zipper.

 Ruffnut suddenly threw herself onto a guard standing next to her and begged for the life of Barf and Belch.

“Then tell me, what I want to know!” Ryker demanded. Ruffnut began to slid off the guards waist making whining noises.

“Ruff! Stop it! Thorstonsons don’t beg!” Tuffnut scolded her. Dagur rolled his eyes. Ruffnut was now lying at the feet of the hunter, groaning in despair.

“If you really want to save your dragons, then give me some informations!” Ryker growled. In this moment, Ruffnuts whine stops, she stood up, a stern look on her face.

“Never!” she spat and returned to the others. “Sorry, I lost my head for a second.”

“Something you and your dragon may have soon in common.” Ryker growled. “Get them out of my sight!”

 Astrid and Snotlout were flying through the tunnels when the shieldmaid spotted something.

“I knew it! The screaming death grew and when he does, he must shed his skin and the too small scales too. And here they are.” she said and landed before a pile of white scales. Astrid dismounted of Stormfly and picked one of them up.

“Yes, that’s it! Come on, Snotlout! Help me collecting as much scales as you can!”

But shortly after, a loud roar echoed through the tunnels.

“Oh no! He is back! And he will find us by our scents!” Snotlout said worried.

“And here he is.” Astrid murmured and put her collected scales slowly down. The Screaming death towered over them. The Nadder hissed and Hookfang screeched. Snotlout chuckled nervously and dropped his scales, except for one which he held before his face like a shield. “We are gonna die.”

The Screaming death roared and prepared to blast the intruders, when suddenly a female Whispering death appeared out of an side opening of the tunnel. She hissed and screeched at the much bigger dragon, who growled low and ten went away.

“What just happened?” Snotlout asked, looking behind his lowered Scale Shield.

“Well, the Screaming death diddn´t remember us, but it looks like, his mother did.” said Astrid and stretched out her hand. The whispering death allowed her to touch her and purred.

“Good girl.-Okay, now get those scales together, fast!”

When Astrid picked some scales up the whispering death shoved some more of them in front of her feet.

“Oooh, that’s sweet of you. Look, Snotlout, she wants to help!” the Shieldmaid smiled.

“Or she wants to get these tunnels clean.” the Jorgenson murmured.

When the two packed the scales on their dragons and mounted they followed the whispering death out of the tunnels.

“Bye, big mama! And thanks for your help!” Astrid waved at her.

 Meanwhile, Hiccup, Fishlegs and the Twins are still locked up in their cell, thinking how to escape. Again a heated discussion went around.

“Listen guys, I have memorized the guards schedule and I got up with a plan. But we need to get this door open first.” Hiccup said.

Ruffnut held out a key.

“You mean with this key I stole from the guard?”

The three just stared at her, dumbfounded.

“How did you-“ Hiccup tried to figure out. Ruffnut explained how during her begging she pickpocketed the guard and took his key wihout someone noticing it.

“So that was the reason for all this fuss before.” Fishlegs said.

“Yeah, you guys should listen to me every now and then.” Ruffnut said and handed the key to Hiccup. He just shook his head and turned to look at his friends.

“All right. As soon as we took out the guards, we spilt up and get our dragons. Then we blast our way out of here.” Hiccup explained.

When Hiccup unlocks the cell he remembered when he was locked in a cell at outcast island.

“Well-lets see if this trick works here too.” he mumbled, then he started to yell:”Guard! Guard! I cant take it anymore! I want to save my dragon! I will tell Ryker whatever he wants to know!”

When he saw the guard approaching the cell, he waited until the man was right in front of it. Then he slammed the door open with all his strength knocking the guard out cold. The same he did with the second guard.

“Okay-lets go. But one last thing: If this ship is like the Reaper, then could be boobytraps anywhere, so be careful!” Hiccup warned. He and the others silently sneaked to the other cells.  

Fishlegs was never happier to see Meatlug again. But before he freed his Gronkle he checked the weapons on the wall.

“They know the formula of Gronkle iron!” he murmured exited.” But what was that guy feeding you to get it? They are so many rocks here.”

 Meanwhile Hiccup had made his way to Toothless. When he open the cell, he nearly stepped on a booby trap, but he was able to avoid setting it off. The he hugged Toothless.

“Hey, bud. You diddnt think I would leave you here, did you? Lets get you free of this chains.”

 The twins had more problems to free their Zipper. Barf and Belch refused to go with them, they rather stuck their snouts in the barrels with fish. When the twins wanted to make clear who the boss was and had to avoid the swatting tails, Tuffnut stepped on a hidden booby-trap in the planks and the alarm bell sounded.

“Great! Really great!” Tuffnut groaned stepping on the trigger trying to stop the alarm.

 Fishlegs was still trying to figure out how to create Gronckle iron. He just needed the last indigredient, when he was interrupted by the alarm sound. And in the next moment he was grabbed by a hunter and dragged out of the cell.

 The twins still tried to move Barf and Belch, but they remind in staying in their cell. Too tempting was the amount of food here. And to make it more worse, two hunters were aiming with their crossbows at them.

“We will talk about this later!” Ruffnut angry hissed back to the Zipper.

 Dagur who stood in a dark corner and watched the whole scene, shook his head. These twins are as dumb as their dragon is, he thought. Then he spotted Hiccup in Toothless cell. The Hooligan was so busy freeing the nightfury that he diddnt notice Dagur walking into the cell.

“I am sorry, but you are not going-or better said-flying anywhere, brother.” he said.

“Don’t call me that, traitor! Maybe I am not going anywhere yet, but I will for sure!” Hiccup hissed and grabbed a spear. Toothless, who was still chained and muzzled, growled.

“Oh I doubt that.” Dagur grinned closing the cell door behind him.

 Fishlegs and the twins found themselves on the deck of the ship with Ryker and Heather looking down at them from the bridge.

“Did I not warn you about them?” Heather told him annoyed “They never quit.”

Then Dagur arrived with Hiccup thrown over his shoulder, who was trashing around.

“Put me down!” the Hooligan growled. The Berserker did- but not before he gave the boy two half-hard slaps on his butt.

Hiccup glared at Dagur when he was standing on his feet again.

“Hey, Rykie, Ryker-man, can we please just work together on this? You know dragons. I know Dragon Riders-OW!”

He jumped when Hiccup kicked him with his peg leg on his shin. Then the Hooligan was grabbed by a guard and shoved to his friends. Dagur rubbed his shin and glared at Hiccup.

Ryker narrowed his eyes. “And?”

“Send a message. Throw one over board.“ Dagur said snickering. “That will be fun.”

“An excellent idea.” said Heather. “Unless you think Viggo might want to question them personally about the Dragon Eye.”

Everyone just stared at her. “Better put them to work.” she continued.

“Then I prefer to go overboard.” said Tuffnut. Ruffnut nodded.

“Split them up so they can plot any more escaping plans and make them serve you, as their dragons do.” Heather suggested.

“A good idea. Put them to work. But the next one who tries to escape goes overboard!” Ryker commanded. Then he looked at Dagur.

“Well, its obvious who got the brain in your family, eh?” Ryker grinned and walked away laughing.

The Berserker turned to Heather.

“What was that all about sister?” he asked her.

“I was protecting you, brother. From what you told me about him, I doubt Viggo likes loosing valuable property. If anything happens to the riders, let Ryker be on the hook for it, not you.”

Dagur smiled and hugged Heather.

“That’s my sister!” he said happily.

 When Astrid and Snotlout returned with the screaming death scales to an island not far away from the last position of the hunters ships, they upload them and Astrid tried to sew them together.

“OW Dammit!” she cursed, putting her finger in her mouth.

“What are you doing?” Snotlout asked, who just finished a small snack.

“I am trying to make a protection armor for Stormfly. These scales are hard enough, to block the arrows. But as a Shieldmaiden I am not so skilled with needles and Threads.

“Aah, now I understand! For THIS you wanted the scales! -Let me see.”

Snotlout observed the work Astrid has begun.

“That stich will not hold long. You should try this.” he explained, took the workpiece out of the girls hand and started to work. With wide eyes Astrid watched amazed how the Jorgenson get to work. With skilled hands he began to sew the scales together.

“Okay. Which one next?” he asked, when he finished the first set of scales.

“Uhh…this one. –That’s amazing! Where did you learn to sew like that?”

“My mother taught me. Its helpful when you tear your clothes as often as I do.”

“Then your mother is a practical and wise woman. - Okay. Then you do the sewing, before my fingertips got all holes in it.”

“Would be a pleasure. At least I have something with that I can impress you.”

“And if this works, remind me to thank her too.” said Astrid and pulled out a map. “All right. When our armors are finished, the next step is to find those Dragon hunters again. And then we will have a surprise for them.”

 On the hunters ship, Hiccup and Tuffnut were scrubbing the deck with brooms.

“So let me get this straight. Dagur took you down all by himself?” the male twin said, leaning lazy on his broom handle.

“If you have forgotten, he is bigger and much stronger than me!” Hiccup grumbled.

“Yes-but you have your brain and cleverness.”

“Oh Thor!” Hiccup groanded.

“This is another argument for why I say: Always carry a sword.” Tuffnut shot back, turning away from Hiccup and started scrubbing around.

 Ruffnut was in the cell under deck scrubbing Barf and Belch.

“Sont try and make up with me, mister. This is your fault. Have you not only thought with your stomach, we would be free by now.” she growled, glaring at Barf. Belch growled back. “And you-don’t taking his side, buddy! You are in this too.”

The two dragon heads began to gurgle to each other, as if discussing something. Then they bowed down and began to lick her.

 Fishlegs was also down below in meatlugs cell sorting through rocks in barrels. However, he was doing a lot more than just working for the hunters. He observed which and how many rocks a crewman shoved into the Gronkles mouth and took note. Then he realized which last indigrend he was missing three years ago.

“One part iron ore, one giant spoon of hardened Gronkle lava, that’s it!” the hought out loud. The angry grunting of the hunter brought him back of his thoughts.

“Oh, sorry. Back to sorting, all right.” Fishlegs said nervously.

 Back on the deck, Tuffnut was standing silently leaning on his broom handly and Hiccup were starting to get annoyed.

“How do you not get having a sword is a huge advantage in a fight?” he snapped.

“It is and if you have a mace….”

“I diddnt have a mace a sword or a crossbow!” Hiccup shot back, gritting his teeth.

“Oh, so now we are getting hypothetical? Bet you diddnt can breathe fire either.”

Hiccup annoyed curled his fingers and lifted his chin in anger.

“One more word and I will do what Dagur planned to do first!” he hissed.

 Fortunately for Tuffnut, a call from a hunter on the watch caught their attention.

“Two dragons heading in our direction! With Riders!”

“That’s Astrid and Snotnose. So they want to try it again.” Dagur said.

“Standby catapults! Archers, take your positions!” Ryker ordered. The hunters loaded the catapults and the archers aimed their arrows at the upcoming dragon riders.

“Wait, until they are in range.” Ryker ordered.

 Snotlout was slightly nervous about charging an entire fleet of Dragon hunters and he wasn’t exactly confident that Astrids plan would work. The Shieldmaiden, who seems to read his thoughts, said: ”Don’t worry, Snotlout. We were prepared this time and knowing Hiccup and the others, I am sure they will cause a nice little distraction on the flagship.”

Then the two flew down straight towards the in the middle crusing ship.

 Dagur looked very excited.

“Look at them! This little walkyrie is coming straight in! A true suicide run, I diddnt think, she hat it in her!” he laughed.

“Foolish girl!” said Ryker.

Heather on the other hand looks quite serious.

“Astrid is no fool. I know her better than you, brother. What are they up to?” she mused.

“Well , I will be sure to ask them after I knock them out of the sky.” said Ryker. “Hunter-fire at will!”

The first arrows flew and the hit both Stormfly and Hookfang.

“Hey, whats going on? I swear, some arrows have hit them!” Dagur wondered and took a look through his spyglass. His eyes widened. “Their dragons are wearing some sort of armour!”

The two dragons blasted the three ballistas right next to Dagur.

When Ryker pulled out one of his swords, Heather knocked him to the ground just as the two dragons shot their fire in his direction.

Hiccup and Tuffnut saw their chance.

“Now or never.” said Hiccup.

The two of them whacked the nearest hunters with their brooms.

“I hate cleaning!” Tuffnut said and whacked another Hunter with his broom then knocking him overboard. “A lot as you can see.”

“Well, looks like there is some more cleaning to do!” Hiccup said. “Lets go!”

They charged at the hunters with their brooms. Several of the men tried to attack them from behind, but Snotlout appeared across the side holding their backs free.

 Under the decks the entire ship shook from the impacts of the two riders attacks and Fishlegs toppled over. Then he saw his chance, grabbed an axe and cut the chains that held Meatlug.

The approaching hunter had no chance as Fishlegs commanded: “Meatlug, hug!”

He was tackled and his head banged against the cell bars, knocking him out cold.

“That’s it. Come on, girl.”

 in another cell, Ruffnut and a hunter were circling on another. First she tried to defend them with two Fish, but the man simply sliced them in half. Ruffnut, out of ideas how to defend herself backed away. When she was swatted away, Barf and Belch got angry and attacked the hunter who had dared to hit their rider. Two good headbutts send the hunter out cold.

“Okay guys, that’s a start. but don’t even think for a second that we are close to be quits.” said Ruffnut to the Zipper. “Now move, you two-headed lizard!”

 Outside Snotlout and Astrid concentrated their fire on the escorting ships. When they pull alongside, the Jorgenson noticed, that the stitches on Stormflys armour were coming loose at one part.

“Oh no! I knew I should have used a lockstitch, not a cross-stitch! Stupid, Snotlout, stupid!” he whined and hit his helmet. “Mom gonna be so disappointed in me!”

“Lets hope it holds as long as we need it! Now we are taking out those two support ships! Go!” Astrid said and began their attack on the two escorting ships.

 On the flag ship Hiccup did his best to defend himself from the charging hunters. And a simple broom was not very effective. But thanks Thor Tuffnut came to help him and slammed the handle of his broom into the attackers face.

“Lets go and get the dragons!” said Hiccup.

They began to head straight down towards the lower decks not noticing, that two archers were aiming at them. But Dagur pushed them aside and ran towards Hiccup.

“The fishbone is mine!” he snarled and began swinging his axe at Hiccup, slicing his broom in half. However this diddnt dishearten Hiccup, he beared a great grudge against the Berserker, who changed the sides. Dagur could see the anger and disappointment in the face of the young Hooligan. The boy let out an angry roar and used his two broom handles to attack Dagur. The berserker was busy trying to block the attacks, he never saw Hiccup so enraged. And when he rammed his shoulder against his chest, Dagur lost his balance and crashed to the ground.

With a scorn look on his face, the Hooligan threw the handles at his opponent and walked away.

“I really have hurt his feelings…” Dagur thought.

 A few moments later Hiccup was inside Toothless cell and began undoing the chains and the muzzle of the Nightfury.

“Toothless, we are leaving.” he said. The dragon warbled happily, finally to be freed again. The Hooligan then heard someone entering the cell and turned to find Dagur standing there.

“Not so fast brother!” he said.

“Dagur, you damn traitor! After all we went through! How could you-and I thought I can trust you!” Hiccup spat. Suddenly Toothless placed himself before Dagur, whined and gave him the “puppy-eye” look. And Hiccup understood in this moment what the Nightfury wanted to say. He trusted Dagur and that could only mean, that he wasn’t a traitor.

“You still can trust me, Brother.” Dagur answered and with one strike, he broke the chains who held the Nightfurys legs. Toothless let out a happy warble and run to his rider.

“Wha-“

“Listen carefully, brother. We and Heather are as spys here. A few weeks before a ship of the hunters with this Ryker came to Berserker island and he tried to buy Cloudstorm and Shattermaster from me! I refused and he made an offer to work for them. So I left the island in charge to my uncle. He is taking now care of the little Skrill, so don’t worry. A surprise for me was, that Heather joined the hunters too and she and I made a temporary peace. She spies with me to find out who the main head of the hunters is. And I and Shattermaster are helping her.”

“Damn, Dagur! I thought you betrayed our friendship!” Hiccup cried and rammed his fist into his gut. The Berserker only flinched a bit and smiled when the boy hugged him. He could see the relive in his green eyes.

“That I will never do! You are my little brother and I will protect you-like I doing with Heather. I know she is still mad at me, but I and she must now work together as siblings, because we had the same goal.” Dagur said and handed Hiccup Toothless harness. He helped him to put it on the Nightfury again.

“Okay, brother. I will give you a chance to flee but it must be real and you and your Nightfury must fight me with all your strength! Otherwise you will blow my cover!” the Berserker said then.

”Now go! I give you some time, before I alert the guards! And always think: I and Heather are your enemies at the moment, and so the hunters must believe it! And your friends too! If one of you gets caught I and Heather will try to help you escape. But if they found out we are traitors….”

“You and Heather are taking a big risk.”

“Hey, we are Berserks. We love risks.”

“Take care, you both.”

“Now get out of here! Your friends and their Dragons are down there!” Dagur told with a hushed voice and pointed to the brig.

Toothless gave Dagur a short lick, before he stepped out of the cell. While the Berserker waited in a dark corner to give him and the other prisoners enough time to prepare their escape, he remembered when he set his first step on Rykers ship.

 Flashback:

It was on a small island, where he and Shattermaster went onboard. After a short introduction and a few instructions, Dagur was allowed to roam free on the entire ship. First he inspected the below decks in hope to find a trace of Hiccups Nightfury. And he found it.

“Toothless!” he whispered when he saw the chained and muzzled Nightfury behind the bars of the cell. The dragon lifted his head when he heard the familiar voice and recognized the scents of the Berserker and Shattermaster. Toothless whined and gave a pleading look to Dagur. Every time he moved, the chains made a rattling sound.

“I know, I know, you want that I free you-but I cant. Listen, I am here to spy on the hunters, they are looking for Dragons everywhere to catch and sell them! Please be patient, I am sure, Hiccup and his pals will come for you. But till then you must behave quiet. We will find a way to free you. You will not end at a market or an auction!” Dagur whispered.

Shattermaster warbled and tried to encourage Toothless on his way.

“Don’t worry, my human and I had agreed to help the hunters, but only to spy how they are hunting the dragons and where they are transporting it.” the Gronkle said. “Dagur will not allow that you been sold!”

“I see. Good, I will stay patient. My human will come for me for sure!” Toothless said.

 “Long time no see, “Brother”!”

Dagur spun around when he heard the familiar voice behind him.

“Heather! Sister! What in Thors Name are you doing here!” he hissed quietly.

“I think the same as you. Serving as a spy. Or am I wrong?”

Heathers eyes narrowed.

“No, you are not. They got Toothless and Hiccup and his gang will soon be here to free him. But we are not helping them. They must think that we are working for the Hunters! When the time Is right, I will tell him about our plan.”

“How did you got in contact with Ryker and his bunch?” Heather wanted to know.

“Well, one day this ship came to our island and Ryker tried to buy my dragon pals from me with not a small amount of Gold! It was clear that I refused, I would never sell my bud Shattermaster or little Cloudstorm!”

“Cloudstorm?”

“A Skrill hatchling I found on my first adventure with Hiccup. A deathsong killed his mother, so our tribe is now taking care of him.”

Heather looked at him. Her brother really seemed to have changed. The way Dagur and Shattermaster behaved was the same bond Heather shared with Windshear.

“But then Rykie made me a special offer. He promised a lot of gold when I worked for him as a scout and warrior with my men in these waters. So I agreed to ally with him, but only to serve as a spy for Hiccup and his riders. The hunters are from the archipelago of shadows. This is the reason why we haven´t meet them yet.”

 “Hey! Ryker wants to talk to you two!” a crewman said who appeared before the siblings.

“Then lets Rykie not wait.” Dagur grinned and walked forward, followed by Shattermaster.

Toothless watched the two Berserkers leaving. He now understands what Dagur and Heather had in planning and he knew that he must not blew their cover.

“Bud, go on deck and fly back to Savage. Wait there for me. It could become a bit rough here in the next two days and I want you out of trouble. Go bud! Go back to Savage!” Dagur ordered with a hushed voice and pointed to the hatch.

Shattermaster wagged his Tail and flew up to the opening.

“Good boy.” the berserker smiled. Then he turned to Heather.

“You cant imagine how clever he is. He understands everything I say to him.” he smiled at her.

“Oh-I can, Brother. Believe me.” Heather said as she followed her brother.

End Flashback.

 Outside on the decks of the ships were everywhere burning small fires from the attacks of Astrid and Snotlout.

“Look! The Nadder lost some of his armour! Get her!” Heather shouted and pointed with her axe at Astrid. The Shieldmaiden looked down at the deck and gasped.

“Eh, did I see right? Is this Heather down there?” Snotlout asked.

“Yes, I see it too. She joined the hunters! I couldn’t belive it!”

“And this after all we did for her! After all I did for her!” the Jorgenson whined.

 “Concentrate all fire at the Nadder!” Ryker ordered-but in the next moment the ship shook from from an impact. The main hatch was blown away by a plasma blast and Hiccup and Toothless came flying out of the now blasted hole.

“I told you, you were messing with the wrong Vikings!” Hiccup yelled. The next were Fishlegs on Meatlug

“Out of our waaayyy!” Fishlegs screamed as they pulled upwards. A few moments later green Gas began to exit from the hole and the hunters backed away when they saw the heads of Barf and Belch sticking out with the twins riding on their necks. Then the Gas was ignited and a large explosion let the men flee and freed the escaping way for the Zipper, who followed the others.

 Ryker looked at his burning ship and then at the Dragon riders who disappeared into the distance.

“I may have underestimated these Dragon riders.” ha admitted.

“I told you so!” Heather snapped and wiped some dust of her skirt.

 “Did I really see Heather on this ship?” Is she with the dragon hunters?” Astrid asked Hiccup, when they brought a safe distance between them and the ships.

“Not just Heather! Dagur is there too!” Ruffnut yelled.

“Yeah. They joined the hunters.” Hiccup said with a dark look. “Guys, we have a lot to talk about.”

Fishlegs fascinated watched the armour that Stormfly and Hookfang wore.

“Screaming death armour? Whose idea was that?” he asked.

Snotlout pointed at Astrid. “But I did the sewing.” he added.

“Excellent workmanship, cousin! And Astrid-this was a great idea!” Hiccup found his smile again.

Astrid smiled back.

“But the armour looks heavy. Maybe we should try a set made of Gronckle iron. I have now the complete formula.” Fishlegs said proudful.

“Well, we might need to do just that. I am pretty sure this was not our last encounter with the Dragon Hunters.” said Hiccup and his face went serious again. A lot of thoughts were circling in his mind and he stayed silent for the rest of the way home.

 On Rykers ship, Dagur and Heather joining up with Ryker. Dagur rubbed his head as if he was hit by something.

“Damn brats! They knocked me out when I tried to captured the little runt and fled on their dragons!” he cursed.

“So whats next?” Heather asked.

“We will report back to Viggo.” Ryker answered.

“And we tell him what?” Dagur asked.

“That we are one step closer to get the Dragon Eye back.” Ryker smirked evilly.

When the Leader of the Hunters stepped with Heather away to inspect the damages of the fight, Dagur was left alone. He looked into the direction where the Riders had disappeared and sighed.

“Please, little one. Take care of you.” he whispered.

 After the council in the clubhouse, Hiccup and Toothless were back in their hut.

The boy stared at the painting, Dagur gave him some weeks ago. With a sigh he took it from the wall and hid it in one of his chests.

“I must keep it secret, that you and Heather are spying out the Hunters.” he murmured and closed the lid of the chest. “For the moment, from now on, it must look, as we are enemies again. And I must keep this secret that they are spies for the hunters for myself-for now.”

Toohtless warbled.

“You know that Dagur and Heather are only doing as if they are evil. And I am glad that they are still our friends-and Dagur still my brother.”

 to be continued.

Next chapter will be “Snow way out”

Some of the episodes wil not be in chronological order.

#httyd rtte #httyd fanfiction #hiccup and dagur

[nyxysabyss]

LEVEL HORIZON; YEAR THREE 5/9; Reciprocity & Ensurient Amity

Chapter 22!

If I could make this go away, I would. If I could stand in your place, I wouldn’t hesitate. But I’m left with only one choice, and that’s to stand by your side through the end. I won’t waver, I can promise you that. ~Patch; Becca Fitzpatrick

 Kuroo’s expression is flat as they approach the tavern and Koushi Sugawara wonders about the contact they are supposed to meet. He’s never seen the cat so stiff-backed and visibly on edge.

But then… they’ve all been on edge.

The last few hours since the snake came for Natsu have passed like sap in winter, and everyone has been wrapped in the same circling thoughts after Kuroo’d lectured Hinata about their scaly opponents. The little girl was caught in the grasp of a bunch of these awful monsters; how were they going to get her out?

Hinata hadn’t been able to stay still and had finally given up an hour in and begun a pacing loop around the village, his leveler shadowing him silently with his own wings pulled a little more taught with unease. Daichi had sat down with the larger cat and asked him everything he could possibly think of about snakes, determined to be as prepared as possible. Tanaka had settled at the table as well, his gaze fixed vacantly at a wall as he listened to Daichi and Kuroo, but his projected tranquility didn’t fool the thrush. The bald crow’s muscles running into his limbs were outlined in chiseled definition, betraying his tension, and Koushi’d known that the only reason he remained at that table instead of outside making village rounds with Feathers and Hinata was by sheer force of will.

The only one who’d seemed mostly unfazed was Kenma, so it was him that Koushi had gravitated toward to help keep himself more calm. When the thrush had asked him about it, the small cat had shrugged.

“This is how it always was back when Kuroo still actively hunted snakes. He was always gathering information and planning out the next move. This might not actually be the toughest rescue he’s attempted.” He’d murmured. Koushi had turned to stare at Kenma with surprise.

“Not the toughest? If this isn’t, then what was?” The golden cat had glanced at him briefly.

“Mine. For this to be as ugly as that was, he’d have to lose the other eye.”

“That’s how he got that?” Kenma’d nodded.

“He was lucky, that was all. The snake had two blades; it was sheer chance that he got him with the one not tipped with venom or things would have been drastically worse. Kuroo’s speaking from experience when he says not to bull rush these guys. He might be fine now, but it took him a few years to adjust.”

Suga’d promptly jumped when a knife had embedded itself in the floorboard beside them, and the only reason he didn’t leap defensively to his feet was because Kenma hadn’t batted an eye. He’d looked straight up unimpressed, actually, and Koushi’d glanced around in surprise. Nothing else in the room seemed to have changed; Daichi’d still been speaking with Kuroo and Tanaka’d still been resolutely studying the wall.

“Eh?” He’d asked with confusion and Kenma had simply stared blandly at the black cat.

“He gets cranky when I bring up his poor decisions.” The golden cat had said with a bored expression, and when Koushi’d looked back at the larger feline, sure enough, an ear had been fixedly swiveled in their direction. The black cat hadn’t been joking when he’d said he heard everything. Koushi’s face heats slightly at the memory of how the cat had pointed that out the other day.

When the sunlight had begun to angle and the restless younger level pair was just coming by on about their eighth lap around the little town, Kuroo had finally stood. Kageyama, Hinata, and Tanaka had been right there at his elbow in an instant, but the cat had huffed at them with amusement.

“You guys are awfully jacked when we’re just going to find something to eat.” He’d said and Hinata had balked immediately.

“What about the tavern and your contact?” Kuroo had fixed him with something of a very ‘Tsukishima’ smirk.

“Does it look like nightfall?” The redhead had scowled up at him, his nerves clearly fraying by the moment.

“It will be alright Hinata. We wouldn’t want to go into some fight on an empty stomach, anyway.” Koushi had said and Hinata had caved with a sullen scowl.

Thankfully, the meal had been brief and little more than pausing at street vendor stalls; the thrush didn’t think the redhead would have been able to sit through a full meal. Now as the last light is falling, they follow Kuroo to the tavern, everyone alert and on edge.

Koushi doesn’t think he’s ever seen the black cat quite so tense, what with the way his shoulders are pulled rigidly into line instead of their normal half-slouch, and his hands curl into loose fists instead of relaxed against his sides. Koushi wonders if he realizes that his unease is gearing up at least the youngest three avians; Daichi appears as controlled as ever.

But Kuroo pauses just outside, an ear cocking askance. Then the black cat fluidly kneels to the gravel outside the entrance, appearing to study the pebbles and grit, the ear still twitching off to the side. Koushi wonders if anyone else feels as awkward as he does, watching the large feline run a hand through the dust as if he were contemplating the meaning of life.

And then, quick as a viper, he spins and whips a small stone in the direction his ear had been twisted. It ricochets off the limb of a tree as movement from its branches draws their attention. The cat stalks toward it as a graceful form drops to the ground, the man fleet of foot and gracefully agile. Deep red hair frames his sharp face, but black triangular ears poke through the auburn locks. His rusty gold eyes take them in with hard focus.

The man turns and leads them to a secluded area down a dim alley before turning to face them once more. The low light thrown from the first evening lanterns casts the sharp angles of his face in steep shadow as his head tilts toward the black cat.

“Bold of you to bring people with you. You must not value their lives much.” He says conversationally and Kuroo scoffs.

“Save it, Mutt.” His insulting greeting is brisk and Koushi’s eyebrows rise.

A canine?

The man’s face darkens just a touch but his tone remains even when he addresses Kuroo as he comes to stand in front of him.

“I’m very selective of my contacts, Tetsurou, as you are well aware. It’s the reason I’ve survived this long, and I will remind you that it is expressly because of you that that list is so short.” Kuroo rolls his eyes, but Koushi’s brows draw down just a bit.

Tetsurou? These guys must have been… close back in the day. Not even Kenma calls him that. He doesn’t think he’s even heard that name more than once in the last three years.

“That was centuries ago.”

“And you weren’t the one who was under scrutiny for the next three hundred years.”

“No, I just had to drop off the grid to avoid a knife in the ribs.” Kuroo rebuttals and the man’s eyes narrow.

“You almost got me killed. I had to shut down nearly all communication lines and go dark. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to balance movements without igniting suspicion? Or the scope of damage you idiocy unleashed? You’re as much a reason for the snakes’ resurgence as that blasted Crow regime. I’ve ensured others’ silence for far less.”

“Tch. Don’t think I forgot the price you had for mine.”

“Obviously wasn’t high enough; you’re still around.”

“Enough, fox. You didn’t come all the way out here to trade threats.”

“Indeed. I came to see if you really did escape with your skin that day— though you are down an eye. And your choice in company has changed. What do you need, Cat?”

“Information.”

“Obviously. What are you offering?”

“We will take down the nest that’s here.”

“Bull. The last figure I had for this place is a couple years old so it’s no longer accurate. Since sentries have cracked down in the southern areas, this hub has boomed. I don’t care if your friends are all highly trained mercenaries. You and six…” He says before eyeing the golden cat disdainfully, “five people won’t have a chance against four hundred snakes— and I guarantee that’s a low number. I hope you have something better or this was a wasted trip.” Kuroo releases a huff of frustration, and Koushi frowns at the odd slight against Kenma. But neither he nor Kuroo even seem to notice it and the black cat is replying without hesitation.

“What makes you think it’s only us?” The fox’s expression flattens.

“You stormed the main western slave port alone. I can’t see you having gained an affinity for the masses.”

“They had Kenma.” The black cat returns and Koushi knows just by the sound that he’s on the defensive.

“And if you’d used your head, you could have simply had me buy him and release him back to you instead of quite flagrantly announcing your existence to the rest of the snake world as well as your connection to me.”

“Whatever, it worked, didn’t it? We both got out, so I wouldn’t be so fast to think the rest of us couldn’t take down this place.”

“You’re a fool, Tetsurou. Do you have anything better to offer than a weightless promise of pulling this nest to its knees?” Kuroo looks to the side and scowls.

“I knew you’d be a bitch to work with.” He mutters before looking back at the sharp gold eyes. “How about a free pass.”

“To what, your funeral?” Kuroo rolls his eyes.

“If you are ever caught by sentries from the crow rookery, ask for Iwaizumi. Any crow in their ranks should know him.”

Koushi has to focus to keep his surprise off his face. It somehow makes him uncomfortable, selling Iwaizumi’s protection without the sentry leader’s consent or knowledge. The fox’s brow creases.

“I know him. He’s just a sentry leader.”

“Not just a sentry leader. He seems low profile, but he has the ear of the Grand King. You drop his name and you should be afforded some clemency— at least temporarily. When you see him, tell him you are Kuroo’s source. It might not get you out, but it will likely keep you alive.” The fox’s eyebrow rises.

“You must not trust this rookery rat much if you aren’t even on a first name basis with him.”

“Funny. I place exactly zero trust in you.” The fox smirks and huffs through his nose.

“You surprise me, Cat. But if you know someone that high in their ranks,” His burnished golden gaze slides across the rest of them calculatingly, “Sentries. You’ve been flying under the radar with sentries. How times change, huh?” He says with a predatory smirk.

“Alright, I’ll bite. What are you doing here, Cat?”

Koushi sees the tension slide just a touch in Kuroo’s shoulders and knows the mood has shifted; the fox is asking in earnest.

“Covert entry. We need to know layouts and the best way in.”

“What happened to toppling the nest?”

“Leave that to me. I’ve got one more ace up my sleeve that no matter your asking price, I won’t reveal. What I need from you is details.”

“Well, my earlier admonition still stands. There were over four hundred in this nest at last count, but that was before the crows cracked down on them a couple years back. The actual number is probably somewhere closer to five. You might have a death wish, but what about them? They have any experience with snakes?”

“No.” The fox’s expression creases into a scowl.

“Seriously, give me something to work with.” He mutters, running a hand through his hair before fixing the black cat with a hard look.

“The rookery rats figured out early on after their first few attempts to blast the network in the south that ignorance isn’t a good gamble. A few casualties in and they made adjustments. I hope you remember that if you’re caught, I’ll gut you myself to keep you out of torture. Them, too.”

“Capture probably isn’t going to be an issue.”

“You sure about that? That one ain’t native.” The fox says canting his head toward Hinata. The black cat glances at himself and the others.

“Unlikely. His leveler is the crow. Of the seven of us here, there are three pairs. All the same,” Kuroo says to them his gaze landing solidly on Tanaka, “He will kill you if you are caught.”

For the second time in as many minutes, the thrush is surprised at the information the cat volunteers, and knows by the dark crease in Kageyama’s brow that he isn’t happy about it either. Still, they’ve opted to trust Kuroo’s insight and lead, so he keeps silent. All the same, Koushi understands why he fixes on the bald crow; if either half of a level pair bites it, both will, but the scowling crow doesn’t have one. Tanaka shrugs.

“If we can get Natsu out, then I can probably live with that.”

The fox’s eyes flash sharply, and Koushi wonders if he imagines the shadow of anger that crosses his face. But it’s gone in an instant and the fox glances at Kuroo with exasperation.

“Another rescue mission? Didn’t you learn from last time? Who is it and I’ll just buy them for you.” He says with a hard frown and an annoyed shake of his head.

“It’s my sister.” Hinata says stepping forward and the fox frowns, taking in the redhead a little more fully.

“Exotic, which means expensive...but doable. Who picked her up?”

“No one, she’s been here for centuries.” Kuroo says and the fox watches him for a long moment and then raises a hand to his temple.

“I take it back. She’s a nest egg. Usually nothing short of a faction kingfish can get someone to release those.” His brow furrows in thought before he huffs and looks back at them.

“Well, at least it’s an extraction. That will increase your chances. Asset retainment isn’t located in the main nest, so you will have fewer snakes to contend with… wait, if she’s been with them so long, how did you find out she was here?”

“She found us in town. The snakes were using her as bait.” Kuroo says but the fox frowns.

“Not likely. They don’t bait close to their strongholds. They get the wrong person and they run the risk of drawing retaliation from the surrounding population. She might be a plant.” Hinata shakes his head firmly.

“She’s not!” Kuroo looks mildly affronted at the redhead’s outburst.

“We don’t think she is. She’s quite young to be able to pull off an act like that.” He murmurs.

“Then she’s a blind. When they need someone to run errands, snakes sometimes use captives that will blend into their surroundings to help hide their actual numbers. People don’t question their movements and activities when they don’t feel their presence. But if she’s a blind, then she’s almost hardwired to obey them. She’ll have been through enough punishments to ingrain it into her head that she can’t escape even if she has the freedom to move around.”

“The snake caught her talking to us. How do we know she won’t be transferred or something in case we come after her?” Daichi asks.

“They are already right next to one of the biggest nests in the vicinity, why would they feel the need to flee? Five and a half people is hardly a viable threat and not nearly enough to make them feel pressured enough to move from the shadow of safety the nest grants.” The fox says and Koushi is momentarily distracted by his second shot at the small cat, but they again ignore it. So he does, too.

“If she’s a, um… ‘blind’... then would she still be where they keep the rest of the captives?” Koushi asks uncertainly.

“Most likely, but it’s not a guarantee.” The fox says and turns to Kuroo.

“Start there. If she’s in trouble for interacting with outsiders, I’m confidently comfortable saying that’s your best bet. If she isn’t, then I hope your ‘plan to crush the nest’ isn’t just you talking out your ass, because that’s the next place to look. I hope you intend to brief these guys before they head into this hell; they will die horrible deaths if they aren’t prepared.” Kuroo nods.

“That’s a given. Tell me about the retaining outpost.”

The fox nods and produces a quill and a couple sheets of paper. He snags Kenma by the arm, making Kuroo tense, but the fox merely turns him and flattens one of the papers against his back. It’s a curious action that, combined with his earlier remarks, gives Koushi the distinct impression that he thinks very little of the small cat, and he wonders how Kuroo can just bite his tongue, because he sure wants to say something. It makes him think there might have been more to their last encounter than either have divulged through their volleying insults.

The black cat keeps his expression frigidly neutral, however, and Kenma’s own features barely change at the fox’s manhandling. With a flicker of surprise, Koushi realizes by their collaborative lack of reaction that quiet restraint is the price of this advantage. In an instant, he realizes why these two are a level pair… even if it calls for quietly suffering the fox’s blatant disrespect toward Kenma to ensure his full cooperation, they still work as a seamless team to secure it. The revelation pairs with the fox’s actions and Koushi is inexplicably certain the black cat and the canine somehow have a far more complicated history than just working partners and contacts.

Placing the quill tip to the parchment with swift, precise strokes, the fox begins a sketch.

“The holding point is a league north of the actual nest, situated on the bank of the river gorge. It’s close enough to provide immediate backup if an alarm should go up, so know that if you trip it, you will rapidly find yourself overwhelmed by hostile company. It’s mostly underground so you will be nearly on top of it before you see it; the best way to approach is from the north. Don’t try climbing the gorge cliffs, they usually have guards posted that side. Alarm stations are here and here…” The fox rattles off, still scratching away while Kuroo and the others crowd around him.

Koushi watches as the fox gives an in-depth explanation of both the holding point and the actual nest, Kuroo or Daichi periodically pausing him to voice a question. He doubts that Daichi missed the curious tension between the two cats and the fox—doubts any of them did, but he marvels at how they all follow the two felines’ lead and calmly disregard the fox’s actions to focus on the task at hand. They are, after all, trying to coordinate a rescue attempt.

It’s only a few minutes before the fox straightens and releases Kenma from table duty.

“There’s not much else I can tell you. But…” He reaches into a pocket and pulls a couple small vials out and hands them to the black cat with a single nod. “If any of you catch a slow fatal hit.” He says gruffly. Kuroo closes his hand around them with a returning nod before pocketing them.

“We will need a way to escape quickly. Can you hook us up with a means of transportation? Something that can handle flightless individuals?” The fox nods.

“Leave it to me. I will have it together by the large oak just outside town tomorrow evening for you.”

“Tomorrow? We have all the information now; what’s keeping us?” Hinata asks with a frown.

“Trust me Shrinky-dink, she ain’t going anywhere. You now have everything I can provide at your fingertips. Use the time you have to come up with a sound strategy to make it work for you.” The fox says before nodding at the black cat.

“I expect to hear that this nest has been decimated in three days’ time, Cat.” He says with a wry smirk. Kuroo raises a hand in silent farewell and the fox melts into the darkness outside the ring of lantern light.

Kageyama turns to Kuroo with a frown.

“Who was that guy?” Koushi wonders if the cat realizes the crow setter’s question is probably far more than just a question of ‘how he knows so much about snakes’.

“That, Feathers, is the top bookkeeper who presides over most of their operations. He’s got a bottomless memory and catches every detail. He’s nearly one of the kingpins of the snake ring himself, but you won’t find another person on the continent who knows as much as he does about the intimate workings of it.”

“He works inside the trafficking network? As in helps them commit their crimes by assisting with record keeping?” Tanaka asks incredulously.

“I get it, though.” Koushi breaks in softly, drawing their attention. “He can do so much more from the inside.” Kuroo nods before turning to Daichi and handing him the paper with the holding point sketched out on it.

“I will catch up with you shortly. I have one more raven I have to send.” He says taking Kenma’s arm with a mild frown. The two quickly disappear, and the thrush wonders if Kuroo is off to offer him a groveling apology for having to put up with the fox. Koushi ducks his head with a smile and tosses an arm over Daichi’s shoulders.

“Shall we go argue over the best way to do this until he gets back?” He asks lightly.

“Mm.” His leveler murmurs and they head back to their inn.

The thrush watches his leveler with quiet fondness, knowing that he’s probably humming as badly beneath that calm facade as Hinata and Tanaka. Koushi knows Daichi. He’s entirely capable of extreme violence when provoked, but he’s cautious, too.

The silver-haired setter knows he and his leveler aren’t fundamentally the same. If it comes to it, Koushi will accept death with grace because everyone dies… but Daichi will not.

Daichi is loyal, devoted, and kind… and heartbreakingly selfless for the things he cares the most about. When it came time to make the decisions that will place both himself and Koushi in mortal peril, the thrush is positive he will waver.

Koushi smiles slightly. He might be Daichi’s little ‘silver star’, but Daichi was Koushi’s entire sky.

The grey-haired setter isn’t afraid of death. He’s walked this world for hundreds of years and he’s never once been afraid of anything when Daichi was beside him.

He’s also selfish. He will readily put himself to the hazard, knowing full well that if he dies, so will his leveler. That is what keeps that fear of death at bay. The fact that he won’t be facing it alone means it will just be another adventure they share.

And it’s because he knows Daichi so well that he knows the taller crow will understand and never hold it against him. If Daichi were fighting only on his own behalf, he’d be able to think the same… but Daichi’s never been able to sideline Koushi, and so the thrush will step up and do it for him.

It will be a last resort, of course— the thrush loves life, and would very much like to live this one out to its complete fulfillment— but he will not shy from the impossible decisions. He will make the calls Daichi cannot, and he will fight with everything he’s worth for the people he loves.

Koushi leans into Daichi a little more, reveling in the contact. He really does love this crow. Daichi had set him free so very long ago and having known what it’s like to have no inhibitions places the thrush at peace. His eyes sparkle, just a bit, a silent challenge to the weaver of fate, a dare to bring her worst, because Daichi stands beside him.

He doesn’t fear death.

Level Pair ; Chapter 1;  Chapter 21; Chapter 23

A/N:  So. Um, foreshadowing much?

Eh, never mind that, how about my contact? I wasn't sure how I felt about my fox in the end. The more I wrote his character, the more I hated him. I was going to name him and then I ws like, yeah, he's the master of secrets and information, why would he tell his name to anyone? And you guys know how a character can kind of just go off and do its own thing on you? Well, my fox did and as he fleshed out a little more through this scene, I was like, 'I don't like you and I'm not sorry I didn't name you'. He started out this grey character with a peculiar proclivity for details and ended up... well, this. I was so annoyed with him that I was editing this right up until my posting deadline which is now. Apologies if there are errors -_-

Have to go play VB, so I am out for the night; have a good one you guys!

#Level Pair #level horizon #Haikyuu #sugawara koushi #Daisuga #kuroo tetsurou #fanfiction #long post #seriously the fox irritates me #he totally made this chapter way more challenge than it needed to be.

[ridingthatbike]

Do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive

Let people call you crazy for the choices that you make Climb limits past the limits Jump in front of trains all day And stay alive (from  "Amy A.K.A. Spent Gladiator 1" by the Mountain Goats)

Riding the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route

My photo set is here. Q’s photo set is here. Q’s writeup is here. Route info is here.

1.  Altitude, full sun, no clouds, no shade, burn zones, holy shit I am turning to dust, I’m a human raisin, I need sunglasses.  We bought three tubes of sunblock. The dust makes my mouth taste bad and the only thing I want to eat is sour patch kids to obliterate the taste so by the end of the trip I’m starting to get acid sores in my mouth. This doesn't happen at home. In a span of two hours, we see a small rattlesnake in the shade in the canyon, and watch two bald eagles fly above the river and land in a tree. This also does not happen at home, and I’m so grateful that Dan taught me how to spot eagles when we were backpacking this spring.

2.  On a long hot dusty sandy steep slog up our third climb of the day, pushing our bikes in the sun, a pickup truck pulls over. They offer but really actually insist on giving us a ride over the mountain. They give us cold drinks, and the fella hands me a chunk of ice and points to Q, saying “now I don’t know him so you’ll have to do this: you put that ice right on his neck.” Their dog licks the sweat from my knees as they tell us stories of their Idaho lives, and before sending us on our way, they hug us and point us toward the ice cream shop.

3. One of the things I wanted to learn to get comfortable with on this trip was having less access to water. But record snowfall in Idaho this winter meant epic snowmelt, and the rivers and creeks were raging. There was water everywhere. It was thrilling and kind of scary. And in a way, disappointing. But just a little time passes, it gets hot, we take a few days off route, and suddenly there is way less water available. I start feeling anxious. It’s a hundred degrees! What will we do if we run out? We can’t run out! I calm a bit when I realize that this is exactly what I wanted, that this is what I want to practice getting comfortable with. The route is still largely along creeks and rivers, so I know that I can get water, even if it involves a shitty long scramble. I am pleased that we turn out to be reassuringly good at monitoring how much we have and where to get more.

4. A thunderstorm rolls in, and we wait it out on the porch of a saloon. A local tells us that the road to the summit we were planning to climb the next day has washed out. He painstakingly maps out a dirt road detour before the storm knocks out the power, and we sit, waiting, watching the sky, deliberating, contemplating the maps and the miles, and eventually I ask the other folks on the porch if anybody has a pickup truck and some free time tomorrow. I’ll buy you breakfast and a tank of gas in exchange for a ride to Ketchum. I strike a deal, and we hobo-camp by the river that night, wondering if our agreement will be forgotten in the harsh sober light of day.

5. We get some really helpful route info from the bike shop: so far this year, nobody’s been on the section of trail we want to ride, and the main intersection of trails still has six feet of snow. Ok. We’ll take pavement up to the top of Galena. Our tallest summit on this trip, 8700 feet, and it feels like total redemption -- the climb is amazing and smooth, we feel strong, everything feels amazing and possible. We climb like champs, gleeful and proud and punchy in gusting winds. Maybe altitude makes us wacky, I don’t know, or maybe we like being reminded that we are capable. The overlook is glorious, and though we are pretty sure the dirt track back down off the mountain would be clear, I am so excited for a fast smooth paved descent that Q acquiesces and we blaze down the highway, getting pushed around by the wind and chilled from the speed, hearts pounding, eyes watering. 

6. Maggie and Rajal join us to look at books of wildflowers, helping us identify what we’ve seen so far. We start talking about birds too, and they mention seeing a western tanager. We look at photos and I get distracted by learning to identify thrush songs. A few days later, after accidentally barreling past the turnoff to a planned stopping point, we find a perfect dirt road with a perfect swimming hole and two perfect shaded sitting rocks in Silver Creek. We dunk our heads in the water, filter some ice cold water to drink, and sit quietly at the edge of the creek, cooling down and listening to the churn of the water. Q points to a branch on the other side of the creek. Hello, western tanager, we have only just learned your name!

7. We bomb down the wildest dirt road I’ve ever met - washboards and washout ruts across the track, deep channels in the same direction as the road, big humps like a pump track, tightly switchbacked, deep gravel and sand in places, and I LOVE IT. Grinning like an idiot, just utterly thrilled. Just a few years ago, I would have been out and out terrified of riding stuff like this. Part of it of course is having the right kind of equipment for the conditions, but a lot of it is just practice and experience and also learning to read the terrain, a skill I really worked on this spring. It feels so good to be enjoying it and unafraid and riding well, after a spring of fear-limited riding. It’s so easy to forget where you started and how much you’ve learned and grown. I sing out loud, “don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got, I’m still I’m still jenny from the block. I used to have a little now i have a lot, but everywhere I go I know where I came from!”

8. Rolling out of camp early one morning, rippin’ down a dirt road all fired up and fresh, we see something in the road ahead and slow way down. Q says “ohhhhhhhhhh shit” as the shapes take form and we see long long mammal legs. But as the shapes come into focus, we see it’s a mama elk and four babies. FOUR! As I am busy being astounded by the sight of four elk calves, more elk come out of the woods and onto the road. And more. And more. A full herd of elk! Holy shit! Well, I guess we’ll just wait this out and watch for a while. But at the sound of our tires on gravel as we roll our bikes to a tree to lean them against, the herd scatters and disappears as if it never even existed. We wait another minute or two, and then I start singing at the top of my lungs as we ride down to the spot where they’d just been. The road surface is entirely covered, edge to edge, with clear impressions of big and little tracks.

9. I wake up to a rustling sound that I thought was maybe the wind. I look over to Q’s side of the tent and WHOA, there’s an animal right by his head! Something has crawled under the rainfly and is curiously pawing at a bag. I wake Q up with my sleepy efforts to shoo it away, basically just shouting at it and patting the side of the tent. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! exclaims Q, as we realize the critter is a skunk. “DON’T SCARE IT!” Eventually, through some combination of our noises and movements, the skunk saunters away: not the retreat of a scared animal, but the bored sashay of someone who’s got something better to do in the weeds anyway.

10. A blazing hot day, after we’d ridden most of the day’s miles and stopped to swim in a lake, we cranked out ten or twelve miles on a dirt road so washboarded that I felt like it was going to rattle the teeth right out of my mouth. It was so dusty, and I was so hot. I was too spent to enjoy the ride. I was feeling a little sorry for myself and started singing “if i get home before daylight, I just might get some sleep tonight.” Q seemed to be doing fine, and it was so hard for me and I didn’t even know why. That evening, as we set up camp and started prepping dinner, I realized I forgot to pack the fucking vegetables and burst into tears. This is no big deal! What the fuck! Why am I crying? We put it together later. Carrying the Camelbak just makes everything so much harder when it’s hot out. You don’t realize you’re overheated, and everything is a struggle. The times each of us struggled most were the times we were wearing the pack. Q calls it the Crybaby Bag and I laugh.

 11. Our first choice campsite was closed due to a bridge out with a ten-foot drop, and our backup option was fully booked for a wedding. Contemplated stealth camping, and even stopped to chat with a local family at their swimmin’ hole on the river to inquire (they directed me to a cave on the side of the highway where the kids party on the weekends) but the closer to town you get, the more exposed the terrain is and the more private land there is -- and everyone in Idaho has a gun and I just didn’t wanna mess up. We decided to road dog it all the way back to Boise, around 80 miles total on a 100 degree day. So onward, onward, onward, past all the trucks with boats, past the reservoir, past a lookout where a family stopped to take in the view and said “wow, how long did that last climb take you?” and we sort of blinked like, that was no climb! We just spent 500 miles on dirt roads in the mountains, this was just sort of like floating! That was the moment I realized that we were leaving Idaho tougher than when we arrived. We climbed the last summit, pushing hard to get to the top before the little store at the top closed, downed tall boys of sweet tea, and asked about pitching a tent behind the shop. Nope, not allowed. Ok, we’re really doing this. We roll fast down the paved descent toward town, on the highway’s narrow shoulder, in between fast traffic and a rock wall with a jersey barrier to keep falling rocks off of the roadway. And shit, that’s a fucking rattlesnake. Holy shit holy shit oh thank god it’s dead. I say a tiny thank you to the dead rattler. I’m sorry you’re dead but THANK YOU FOR BEING DEAD so I don’t have to choose between the dangers of a live rattler and a road full of pickups with trailers racing by. I think of it as one last gift from Idaho to me directly. Suddenly and incredibly, we are on the greenbelt that goes right into town, close enough to have cell signal finally, and we get in touch with our pal in town and confirm that we can crash at her place for the night. The sun erupted into the most glorious sunset I’ve ever seen, unfolding before us, and the temperature dropped at least ten degrees as we rode along the river, and a huge clear nearly-full moon appeared, and I felt jubilant, couldn’t stop laughing. I felt amazed by the bounty of beauty in the world made accessible to me by luck and effort, just triumphant and strong and capable and grateful and astonished by what our bodies and minds are capable of, what an incredible thing it is to have this opportunity to learn and grow and become stronger and smarter and more connected and more open hearted. Bursting at the seams of my being, filled to the brim with joy. Idaho really pulled out all the stops for us, like it was giving everything it had, to make us fall in love.

[captivesrp]

Ashrille awakens early in the morning, wanting to get a head start on the day. Cold dew squishes beneath her feet as she walks out to the pond.

Kneeling by its bank she carefully applies her markings. After they are done to her satisfaction she wanders, the skull clacking on the end of her staff, down an old trail, thinking of a place that grew strange mushrooms. The air is cold and the sky is dark; it is early in the morning. Ashrille wonders if it will rain.

Ashrille finds the area where she saw the mushrooms last and locates them underneath the rotten bark of an old tree. She has a hand around a spongy stem before she realizes that she forgot her collecting bag in the hut.

The walk back seems even colder.

She stops just out of sight of her hut. Voices can be heard nearby.

“Are ye sure a child lives ’ere?” one gruff voice whispers.

“Yeh,” another replies. “The old witch’s spawn. Here’s ’er house.”

“Oy, it’s disgusting in there.”

Silence.

“She ain’t ’ere.”

As quietly as possible, Ashrille hooks her staff into the branches of a nearby tree and uses it to hoist herself onto a bough.

“’Ere’s ’er little footprints,” the second voice says while coughing.

“Ey, maybe we should get ye something for that cough.”

“Shut yer mouth.”

The two men stomp around a bit.

“Mebbe we should have the child-witch take a looksee at ye,” says the healthier voice, stifling a laugh.

“Shut yer mouth,” coughs the other.

The coughing man’s searching brings him almost directly below Ashrille. He wears a sword on his hip and brown rags cover most of his body. His cough is wet and deep. She probably could fix it.

Ashrille catches a glimpse of the other man. He is a tall, bald man with a bow slung over his shoulder and a quiver at his hip.

Baldy kicks some dirt into Ashrille’s pond and stares into the depths of the forest. “Where do we look for ’er?”

“We ain’t looking deep,” Cough replies. “She prolly heard yer yappin’ by now.”

Cough scratches himself. Ashrille clutches her staff tightly. A small movement on her plane catches her eye: a small brown squirrel is skittering through the trees. The squirrel chitters loudly as it leaps by on Ashrille’s branch, uncaring of her predicament.

Ashrille looks back down. Her eyes meet Cough’s.

“Oy! Draeg! Found ’er!” Cough shouts.

In her surprise at meeting his gaze Ashrille loses her balance and topples to the ground. Shocked, the strangers give Ashrille enough time to scamper away, staff in hand.

She will not lose this staff.

“Oy! She runnin’!”

Ashrille finds it hard to run in her robes. The price of fashion. She stumbles through the woods and breaks into a small clearing where she is blindsided by bald Draeg. She topples to the ground, clutching her staff tightly. She feels her skull bash against a rock. Her vision begins to fade.

“Pick ’er up! I think ye knocked ’er out!” Cough hisses.

Draeg holds back. “Nah, I don’t wanna get my eyes poked out by that stick.”

Ashrille feels one of the brigands pull at her staff. With her fading strength and before she fades into unconsciousness, she wraps her body around the shaft.

*     *     *

Ashrille feels her vision slowly come back. Her head pounds. It is dark: darker than it had been when she last saw light.

“How long are we waiting for Rauth?” one of the two men mutters. Ashrille thinks it is bald Draeg.

“Oy, look, there ’e is,” Cough replies. “Shet, is ’e gonna run down that hill?”

“Looks like it. ’E’s got a kid with him, lookit that.”

Ashrille opens her eyes fully. She is staring at the night sky. She tries to sit up but finds herself tied, her staff bound with her and holding her rigid. Her fingers ache from the death grip she has on it. A sliver digs into her back and she realizes she is in the back of an open wagon. She cranes her head and recognizes where she is, sitting at the bottom of the hill that leads to Oxmouth. Torches flare at the crest of the hill and Ashrille can hear faint shouting.

A dark figure drags a smaller figure down the treacherous hill path. His momentum is incredible. An unseen arrow strikes the man in the back and he topples headfirst down the hill, taking the child with him. Both bodies come to a stop with a sickening crack near the wagon.

“I think that means we go.” Cough sighs.

“Dumb bastard.”

“Aye.” Draeg nods.

The wagon bounces as one of the brigands hops onto the front seat, driving the splinter further into Ashrille’s back. A whip cracks and the mule tied between the wagon shafts groans. Ashrille’s head pounds. She fades once more.

*     *     *

Bright light assaults Ashrille’s eyelids. She slowly rouses, staring into the blue, blue sky.

“Hey, ye think Logain’s gonna care that we let ’er keep ’er stick?” Draeg asks.

Silence answers him.

“Hey, you think Logain is gonna care?” he asks again.

Silence.

“Gilth! Ye deaf oaf!” Draeg shouts. Ashrille hears a sturdy thud.

“Ah! The feck? Whaddya want?”

“Ye think Logain’s gonna care that we let ’er keep ’er stick?”

Gilth coughs, hacks, and spits. “Nah. ’E just said, ‘Bring me a kid, put ’er in the hole’. That’s what’s gonna happen. What she gonna do with that stick in that big ol’ hole innyways?”

The two fall silent.

Draeg shuffles in his seat. “How far are we?”

“A few days’ travel, I’d imagine.” He glances back. “Should we feed the kiddo?”

“We don’t got food,” Draeg snaps.

“Then just give the waif some water!” Gilth snaps back.

Draeg grunts and swings into the back of the wagon where Ashrille is. He stands over her and uncorks a canteen.

“Ye gonna make this hard, or what?” he hisses.

Ashrille closes her eyes and opens her mouth just a crack. She feels him crouch low. He stinks of many days of travel. The water that falls onto her face is sour and more of it runs down her nose than makes it into her mouth. She coughs and sputters.

“Good ’nuff,” Draeg spits.

Ashrille tries to shuffle to get comfortable, but the sliver in her back causes comfort to elude her. The most she can do is slowly come to terms with her predicament while she watches the sun cross the sky. The skull on her staff stares at her ominously. She is surprised that it is fully intact after falling with her a few times. She clutches the old wood tightly.

Night begins to fall; slowly, but it begins.

“Oy, there’s a village,” Draeg comments.

“Yeh, gag ’er and cover ’er up,” Gilth orders.

Ashrille’s vision is suddenly limited to the inside of a canvas tarp as the wagon rumbles along. A hard leather gag soaks all the saliva from her mouth and the tarp makes her skin itch.

She hears the townsfolk greet Draeg and Gilth. The two kidnappers reply curtly. It takes a few minutes to pass through the village.

They never bother to take the tarp down, but the unnatural darkness makes it easier to try to sleep. Somewhat. Under the heat of the tarp, Ashrille begins to have fever dreams. Her breathing increases rapidly and her mind races. To her, the dreams last for days.

*     *     *

Ashrille is blinded by sudden exposure to the sun.

Gilth hefts her up and throws her onto his shoulder as best as he can. Ashrille feels like puking, bouncing on his shoulder as he jumps from the cart, and she fails to observe any of her surroundings.

“Hole number one?” Gilth asks.

“Yeah, that’s what Logain said.” Draeg shrugs. “Throw ’er in.”

She feels their rough hands release the bindings on her own, and then Ashrille’s world shifts in a sudden blur. She loses her grasp on direction and is falling. The long drop is agonizing. She strikes the ground hard. Her staff rolls away from her and she stares into the bright blue sky. It is so far away. She begins to fade into unconsciousness. She neither moves nor stirs; she simply sleeps.

#ashrille #chapter two