━━ chapter twelve
nocturnal predators

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

━━"It's been one week and three days since we've seen the sunlight. Spikemoth is starting to miss annoying Mak and Erik. Ruffnut has convinced Tuffnut he has a tail. Fishlegs is ... well, we're all worried about Fishlegs. He's taken to it the worst out of us━"

"Hott, what are you doing?"

Valkyrie's brother looked up from where he sat beside his sleeping dragon. Val stood over him, arms on her hips and glowering down. He set aside his journal, "I am recording our experience, Valkyrie," he clipped her name very poshly. She rolled her eyes. "This is the longest freeze Berk has experienced in generations. I am documenting."

"If you say another word," Astrid snapped at him from where she sharpened her axe. She held it up. "I will lodge this into your head."

Hott stared at her, not at all scared, which was very unwise for him. He turned back to his journal. "Astrid has taken to be more aggressive than usual, which is saying a lot. I suggest she went outside, take some fresh air, maybe freeze her violent tendecies away."

She screamed and went to attack him, but Hiccup had Toothless fire a plamsa blast, stopping her. "Okay!" he announced. He gestured behind him to the stone board, "Can we get back to the lesson at hand?"

"I've taken to isolation by trying to shift my subconious to a separate world where it is always Summer," Tuffnut interrupted him. Hiccup glowered. He was lying against Belch, very still. "It requires complete concentration, absolutely no movement, and affirmations ... like this ..." he took a deep breath and closed his eyes before muttering, "I am the strongest warrior ... I will be the strongest warrior ... I am not afraid━"

Valkyrie arched a brow, "I ... I don't know what to say to that."

Hott wrote something out of his journal, "Scratch that, I am most worried about Tuffnut. He's officially lost his mind."

"Our Uncle Lars did it," argued Ruffnut, crossing her arms. Her hair was growing back very quickly, now at her shoulders in her mutliple, thick braids.

"Your Uncle Lars also was in love with his own helmet."

Hiccup sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He turned back to his charcoal drawing on the stone tablet. "Please," he begged them to listen. Valkyrie sighed and sat back down against Zephyr, trying to stay awake. "So, as you can see by the chart ... proper wing control can be achieved by━"

He froze as his notes were lit up with fire. The drops of embers littered to the ground, leaving a lack patch right where he had just written. Hiccup clenched his hands and spun around, "Okay, okay━" he propped his hands on his hips (Valkyrie hid her snickers), "━who shot that fireball?"

He set his gaze right on Snotlout who just whistled, looking away. At his elbow, Hookfang's maw was still smoking. The dragon narrowed his eyes, very pleased at Hiccup's displeasure. "Why you looking at me?" shrugged Snotlout.

"Come on, guys!" Hiccup crossed his arms, annoyed. "I don't want to be here anymore than you do. Will we just get back to training, please?"

Hott sighed, and wrote something else down in his journal. "Hiccup is turning into a mother, which, to be honest, we all saw coming."

"All right━" Hiccup snatched the journal right from Hott's fingers. He let out a whine, "━that's it. I'm confiscating this." Hott crossed his arms, slumping back against his Nadder and scowling at Hiccup who returned to the board, setting the journal down next to Toothless.

"I say we play Twenty Questions instead," offered Snotlout, bored out of his mind. "Anyone?" he searched their gazes before landing a certain blonde. "Astrid: Why do you love me so much, yeah?"

She gagged.

"Oooh!" Tuffnut forgot about his 'travlling to a different world' to reach out a hand, "Maybe me!" he fell forward on his face. "I'll go first," he told the dirt before pushing himself up. "Question number one: How do you play Twenty Questions?"

Valkyrie stared at him, incredulous. "Tuff, you just━nope, nope. I'm not going to," she turned back to Zephyr, settling her head on his saddle as a pillow while he slept.

Hiccup face-palmed. "Guys! Can we please just try to stay focused? Even for a second?"

"We've been stuck inside for a week straight because of this crazy weather," Astrid pointed to axe to the closed doors. "We're all starting to go a little nuts━"

Hott scoffed, "A little━hey!" he ducked her flying blade. He shot Astrid a glare. "That could have killed me!"

"Oh," she drawled, "how horrible..."

"She has a point," Valkyrie pointed to her left at Fishlegs who hadn't been paying attention at all. He was too busy tickling Meatlug's feet, muttering to himself. "Even I'm starting to lose it," she admitted. "All the flowers have frozen over! I have nothing to make flower crowns with!"

Hiccup sighed, exasperated.

"And I could have made Yaknog for everyone before the freeze came for the Snoggletog spirit," she went on, not hearing everyone gag and turn their noses in disgust. "But no, all of you didn't want me to!"

"You're Yaknog is disgusting," Hott told her straight-forward. "You made it with cabbage."

"That's what gives it its taste!" she argued back, offended. "I happen to love it! And so does Hiccup, don't you, babe?"

Her boyfriend froze. Quickly, he put a smile on his face, lying straight through his teeth. "Yeah! Yeah!" he nodded, rubbing his stomach with a pleasant hum. "Love it━so much."

Valkyrie huffed at her brother, nodding to say, see?

Suddenly, Barf and Belch snarled. They jumped up and started to chase their tails in a circle. Ruff let out a bark of laughter, pointing at them as the other Dragon Riders stop to stare. "HA!" she cried. "Barf and Belch just found out they have tails!" she arched a brow, frowning at their snarls. "And looks like they really hate that idea."

"Yeah," agreed Tuff. "I got the same way when I found out that I had a tail," he started to chase the air, around and around. Valkyrie sighed, yep, she will be going crazy very soon having to deal with all these mutton heads the past week. "You can't run from me for ever invisible tail!"

His sister cackled, walking up to Hiccup to whisper knowingly, "I may have told Tuff he has a tail, too."

"You can't hide from me for long!"

Valkyrie wasn't sure to be thankful or annoyed when the door to the pen-turned-bunker opened. Sheets of snow and wind blasted in, knocking some sense back into the Vikings for a few moments. Zephyr jumped awake, making Valkyrie fall forwards onto her face. The others laughed, especially Snotlout and Hott.

"Ow," she grumbled.

"Odin's ghost!" cursed Stoick as he pushed the door closed again. He shivered in his fleece and fur coats. Hiccup walked up to him, confused as to why he had made his way through the storm here. "It's cold out there! Worst freeze in the history of Berk! Look!" he held a hand out to his red mane, a little upset, "My beard is frozen solid!"

Valkyrie sat back up, arching a brow.

"So, father," Hiccup asked, "what brings you to the Academy?"

"Trader Johann hasn't reported to port," said the chief. "He's trapped out in the storm━he won't last the night. I was thinking━"

"Oh, yes!" Hiccup jumped to the chance, a bit too excited━not that the others noticed. Valkyrie was too busy shoving her brother and Snotlout for laughing at her fall. "I can go! Uh━" he dragged his dozing dragon to his feet, pulling him towards his faster, "━Toothless can find Johann's ship in the darkness. He━" he composed himself, nodding and puffing out his chest. Toothless helped with a gummy smile, "━is the perfect dragon for the job."

Stoick frowned at his son, remembering very well he once told him that Night Fury's were terrible in the cold. "Uh ..." he scratched his frozen beard, "... I'm not so sure━"

"Please, dad," begged Hiccup, clasping his hands together in prayer. "If you ever cared for me at all━the way a father cares for his son, you will let me leave━" he turned back to the group of teens. It was chaos. Barf and Belch had snagged their tails and were chewing very angrily, not realising yet the pain they'll experience. Hookfang joined in with Snotlout on his saddle, only making matters worse. The Twins were cackling, until Ruff shoved her brother to Valkyrie, in which she responded with a nasty push. Hott and Astrid were agruing over her axe almost taking off his head, while Fishlegs still sat by Meatlug, counting her toes and giggling.

Stoick winced. He sighed and turned to his son, practically on his knees, pleading. "Close the door behind you when you leave," he returned into the raging storm and Hiccup celebrated with a cry and punch of his fists in the air.

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

━━At this point, Hiccup wasn't sure whether he'd prefer Tuffnut chasing his imaginary tail over Johann's stories the entire trip back to Berk. A whole night of listening to tales of squids and Scauldrons and how he was let into the king's court by calling his daughter a yak. Hiccup was beyond glad to finally see Berk in the horizon. He had no idea where Johann had the time to come up with all these ridiculous stories.

But there was something Hiccup was grateful for; the storm had settled around Berk, which meant everyone would be finally coming out after a whole week and three days. That meant, Hiccup could finally have a break from everyone━that's if Astrid and Valkyrie hadn't killed them all in the night he left them alone.

The snow was starting to thaw when they landed; still in heavy pillows, but Hiccup could see the dirt road of the plaza, and so he set Toothless down there. At first, he thought that maybe the village didn't realise the storm had stopped overnight, because where he'd thought they'd be rejoicing in coming outside again, there was no one around.

Johann hopped off next to him, glancing around a little confused. Hiccup started forward, trying to push away the worried churn in his stomach━he was being paranoid; everything was fine. They were all just still inside.

That was until Toothless growled, and Hiccup's worry sky-rocketed. He glanced at his dragon, holding a hand out. It was the only sound aside from the wind whistling in Hiccup's ears━he couldn't even hear people chatting inside their homes. It was silent; absolutely silent.

"Huh," let out Johann, coming to stand beside Hiccup. "Not the welcome I'm accustomed to, but nonetheless."

Hiccup ignored him, "Where is everyone?" he asked no one in particular.

"Oh! This reminds me of a time I landed on━" Hiccup held his finger up and was thankful Johann shut up immediately.

"Hello?" he called out, his worry crawling from his stomach up to his throat. This was his village━or will be one, day. His people. Was his father okay? Were his friends okay? Was Val okay? "Anyone?"

Toothless spotted some scattered apples from a nearby stall. The sacks of potatos and wagons were still filled with produce. Hiccup followed him, his fingers fiddling with the hem of his tunic sleeves. Something was wrong━terribly wrong.

Then, he saw the door of his home wide open. His heart dropped. "Dad?"

He broke out into a run, not waiting for Johann to catch up. Hiccup burst into his house, his heart pounding to see the fire still going and his father's drink fallen and spilt at his feet. He picked it up, looking around. He found himself short of breath━where was his dad?! He thought the worst, and his hands started to tremble. No ... he couldn't be. His father was Stoick the Vast. He couldn't die. He was still alive, somewhere, fighting whatever happened. He had to be. His father was invincible.

Hiccup took a deep breath. He couldn't lose it. He had to find out what had happened.

A second name came to his head. He set the drink down and rushed back outside. Johann had only just reached the top of the stairs and sighed, seeing the small boy run back down.

Hiccup jumped onto Toothless's saddle to be quicker, bounding down and outside Valkyrie's house. He knocked on the door, but didn't hear anything. She would be still in the Academy, but if he checked on her without checking on her family first, she'd be furious.

"Hello?" he called through, starting to feel more and more helpless. "Mallory? Asrifth?" he pushed open the unlocked door and peered inside. It was just as empty as his house; they were nowhere to be seen. He checked her brothers rooms to find them deserted, and then the Sanctuary━all the dragons were gone, their food troughs completely empty.

This was getting worse and worse.

He and Johann searched the entire village, peeking in through windows and around doors. There was no one in sight. Hiccup took deep breaths, trying to keep calm. Where were they?! Toothless purred at him, muzzling his hand and he clung on to the saddle for comfort. He left Johann to keep searching the town while he flew to the Academy. The others had to be still inside ...

But he had a terrible feeling they wouldn't be.

Hiccup should have never left them. What happened? Were they okay?

He raced to open the doors of the bunker. There was a shriek━

"AHH!" he fell back, shielding his face from the flock of their trained Terrible Terrors. Sharpshot swooped around him, terrified before flying off. Hiccup pushed himself to stand, peering in.

No one━no one. Nothing except his burnt drawing on the stone board.

Toothless warbled, just as scared as Hiccup. They were supposed to be here; his friends were supposed to be here, waiting for him so they could figure this out together. Valkyrie was supposed to be okay━to be here.

"What in the name of Thor is going on?" he breathed, fingers tightening around Toothless's saddle. He had to find them.

What if they were━?

No, Hiccup scolded himself as he perched himself back on Toothless's back. They were alive, just like his father and the rest of the village. They had to be.

He met back up with Johann by the merchants homes. He hit the ground running, skidding to a stop right in front of the tader, searching his eyes for an answer before he asked━and the one he receieved wasn't one he wanted. Still, he asked, "Johann, anything?"

He shook his head, "The whole town, Master Hiccup. It's empty!"

"So's the Academy," he murmured, pushing forward. Toothless and Johann followed. "This is very strange," he had to keep himself moving and thinking; it was the only way Hiccup could keep himself from breaking down. Where was his father? Where was Val?

"I don't like this one bit," whimpered Johann. "There was one time I was on a trade run with a man who claimed to be a warlock and━" they passed Fishlegs's house, and Hiccup froze to hear a clatter inside.

He looked over, his breath hitching with hope. Johann realised he had stopped and glanced back.

"Let's go, Toothless," Hiccup urged his dragon to the door of his friend's house. "Johann, stay here."

They ventured into the house to find it trashed. The fire was still going in the fireplace, but all the barrels, tailor work and tables of the Ingerman home had been upturned, like a whole plague of Terrors had come in with chaos on their minds.

"Fishlegs?" Hiccup hoped for the best. "You in here━?"

A shadow loomed over him. Hiccup gasped and looked up, seeing nothing but a large body before his head hit the wood, and he passed out.

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

━━Hiccup's head hurt, as did his body when he woke up again. A pair of green dragon eyes peered down at him, and Toothless moaned, nudging him softly. Hiccup felt a real sense of deja vu and quickly glanced down. Good, he still has one leg attatched.

Then, another face juttered in.

Hiccup yelled, scrambling back at the wide-eyed, frantic face of Fishlegs stare him down. "WHOA!" he exclaimed, heart racing. "Don't ever do that again!"

"Hiccup!" cried Fishlegs, tearful in his relief. "Oh, thank Thor!" he pulled him into a bonecrushing hug. Hiccup grunted, desperate to break free but Fishlegs just squeezed onto him like a lifeline. "I'm so sorry I fell on you!"

"O━okay! Fishlegs!" he finally let go of him and Hiccup stumbled. He flexed his shoulders, relieved only to frown at his friend who paced, tugging at his cheeks. "Uh ... Fishlegs?"

"Fast, really fast!" he was saying, shaking. "Too fast! Speedy. Oh, and their sting, paralysing sting!"

"Whoa, hold on, Fishlegs," Hiccup held out his hands, trying to get the boy to stop and take a breath. He did, but it was more of a whimpering wheeze. "What are you talking about?"

The pudgy Viking approached him and in a terrifed whisper, as if scared someone would overhear them, said, "Speed Stingers."

Hiccup's stomach lurched, "Speed Stingers? Here?"

It didn't make sense. This wasn't their climate; they didn't inhabit Berk━thank the gods. But now they're here? Oh, gods; Hiccup has heard the stories.

Fishlegs explained what happened, still pacing. "It all started just after nightfall," he began in an omnious voice. "They don't fly, but they're fast. Faster than any dragon I've ever seen, and they hide in the shadows. Scavengers, looking for anything they can find. One drop of their venom can paralyise a human or dragon in an instant. They move in a pack following a leader who directs them like a war chief. By the time Stoick ordered everybody to the Cove, the entire village had been overrun."

Hiccup was shivering; but not from the cold. "W━well, where are the Speed Stingers, now?"

"I don't know," sighed Fishlegs. "The sun came up and they disappeared, but they'll be back━" he turned to the flames dying down in the brackets, the light illuminating his face in a terrifying glow, "━they come out at night."

"I━I━I don't understand," Hiccup followed, trying to make sense of the situation. So far, it would seem no Viking or dragon had been killed, and by the look on Fishlegs's face, no one Hiccup cared immensely about. "Why did you come back here, Fishlegs? Why not stay with everyone at the Cove?"

Fishlegs met his gaze, tearful. He led him back outside and pointed to the top of his roof. Hiccup's eyes widened, startled at the