Soul of the Sky (HTTYD Runaway Fic)

Aziren

Hiccup
"Why are you looking for him?"
Astrid started awake. "Who?" I sighed in exasperation. "Hiccup. Why are you looking for him?" She looked sad. "Because he's missing and he's our friend and we want him back." Suddenly, she sat bolt upright in the saddle. "Did you help him run away?" she demanded. "Um, no. What makes you think that?" She gestured to Toothless. "We found his scales in the cove. Scales, scorch marks, footprints and blood. Besides, Hiccup couldn't have gotten off the island any other way." I should have set a fishing boat adrift instead of the whole death thing. But how was I supposed to know that Gothi has magical powers?

"What do I tell her?" I questioned frantically. "Say yes. Tell her we got Hiccup off Berk and he made a boat. Then he left and we don't know where he is." I sighed, faking reluctance to reveal information. "Yes. We helped the kid leave Berk. He built a boat, took some supplies and left. That was six years ago. He could be anywhere by now." Astrid looked sceptical, but she accepted the explanation.

"Do we land there?" Toothless asked, referring to the island below us. "Yep."

Astrid
We searched the island from top to bottom, and there was no sign of Hiccup. 'Magnus' crossed it out on his map and we moved on. The same with the next few. Still no Hiccup.

Day after day, island after island, camp after camp, the missing Viking was nowhere to be found. All we saw was trees and exotic-looking dragons, most of which came to greet the Dragon Master and his Night Fury companion. Although the scenery and the change of pace were kind of pleasant, I'd clearly gotten far too attached to my friendly Nadder mount. And I spent a lot of time on edge, praying that Stoick's pessimistic prediction was wrong. He'd banished all hope for fear that it would destroy him, and I was beginning to understand why.

All the time, I was wondering about the Dragon Master. Magnus didn't seem to be an appropriate name, but we needed something to call him. What was he hiding? Where was he from?

He'd admitted that he 'used to be' a Viking, so what had changed? That infernal mask hid everything. For all I knew, he could be Hiccup in disguise.
That thought had me stifling laughter. Hiccup wouldn't ride a Night Fury. 'Magnus' looked nothing like him, at least from what I could see. He resembled his dragon, lithe and graceful. Certainly not an awkward, scrawny, adorable...and my brain was at it again. My feelings hadn't changed even after six years.

What would we do when we found him, and would he even want to be found? Hiccup had run away for a reason. For the past few days, I'd wondered why. Most of the rationales I'd thought of didn't seem right. The only one that made sense had been pushed to the back of my mind, too terrible to contemplate. What if he'd left because of us?
The more I tried to ignore it, the more logical it seemed. Snotlout and the twins had teased him constantly, Fishlegs and I had ignored him and the rest of the island had viewed him as a disgrace. What if the 'worst Viking on Berk' had finally snapped?

"How come you were there?" I asked. 'Magnus' turned in the saddle, facing me. "On Berk, when Hiccup ran?" I nodded. He was silent for a moment before responding. "We were overflying your island and he shot us down. Toothless crashed in the cove. Hiccup came an hour later to find the Night Fury he'd hit, only to see two where he'd expected one. He ended up spending a lot of time with us while I replaced the broken tailwing." That explains a lot. Why Hiccup was gone all of those afternoons. Why the forge was lit at night. How he'd learned all that crazy stuff in the ring with the dragons, and how he'd escaped. "The blood in the cove, was it yours or his?" 'Magnus' hesitated. "Both."

"So at least we know you're human." I muttered, provoking laughter from both him and Toothless.

* * * * *

"...and she did this crazy thing, like rolling around on the ground trying to battle a tree, and I swear Meatlug is the cutest creature in the history of the universe."
Fishlegs was telling me all about how adorable his Gronckle was. Meatlug and Stormfly were following us as we searched an island for the nine gazillionth time. "It really makes you wonder why we fought them." I said softly. "They seem so peaceful and calm. I can't align this," I gestured to the two dragons tumbling playfully in the bushes, "with the creatures that killed my family."

The dragons that had swooped down on the island day after day had been blank-eyed, mindless killers. The ones that had taken my family had been aggressive and violent. The whole thing with the gargantuan volcano dragon somewhat explained the difference, but how could I reconcile the playful Nadder with the one whose spines had pinned me to a wall as it snapped a yak's spine and fled with the dead animal grasped in its claws? How to rationalise Stormfly's scars now that I knew the war had been needless?

Suddenly, the roar of a distressed dragon cut the air. It sounded dangerously close.
As if in response, Toothless appeared out of nowhere beside us. The Dragon Master - it was difficult to think of him as Magnus - leapt off his back. "The Hunters have struck again."

Hiccup
"Another attack?" Toothless murmured as I slashed the bindings off the downed dragon. He was a Raincutter named Aziren who had frequently visited the Edge. His wandering ways had taken him far and wide, and the fledglings loved his stories. I remembered him for his witty jokes and energetic personality. None of that energy was present now, as he lay bleeding out on the ground. His body was crisscrossed with slashes, his breathing labored and uneven. I hadn't expected him to wake up.

Our companions clustered round the prostrate Raincutter as his eyelids fluttered. "Aziren!" Toothless murmured, leaning over the injured dragon. "Don't move, you'll hurt yourself worse."

"Dragon Friend." Aziren rasped, reaching out weakly with his uninjured wing. "What happened to you?" I asked while unwrapping the ropes from his tail. "Hunters." he responded, eliciting a worried croon from Toothless. "Many of them. They attacked Wingmaiden Island while I was visiting, taking most of her warriors. Worst of all, they have imprisoned all the hatchlings and Atali with them." All of us gasped in stunned horror. The impact of Aziren's words was lost on the Vikings, but it was clear to them that something was wrong. He tried to stand up, but couldn't in his weakened state. "Save them, Hiccup. Save them."

His lilac eyes dimmed, and he fell to the ground. It took me a moment to register that he was no longer breathing. The vibrant, kind-hearted Raincutter was dead.

Astrid
I will never forget what happened that day. It was clear that the dragon had died, but the reaction of the others was completely unexpected. Toothless howled in anguish, his voice joined by Stormfly's higher one. All of the dragons began to join in as the sound rose. They sang an eerie melody of grief and longing, and I realised that the Dragon Master was singing with them. He sounded just as dragon-like as any of the others. In the shock of the moment, all I could think was when did we start thinking of them as monsters? Because they clearly grieved over the death of the other, just as much as we would for one of us.

'Magnus' rose from the fallen dragon's side, turning to us. "His name was Aziren." he told us through tears. "He was killed by the Dragon Hunters."

I'd been prepared for anything else. But murdered?
I shouldn't be so shocked that this stupid war had claimed another victim. I'd killed and injured dragons before. Without a second thought.
But the knowledge that this dead one was a person made things so much worse.

I didn't know you, Aziren.
But I'll grieve for you just the same.