Searching For You

Chapter 6: Nightmares of Reality (?)

Astrid's eyes opened slowly.

She sat up and found herself lying exactly where she had fallen asleep but something was different. She looked around and all her friends were gone, and so were the dragons, even Stormfly.

It looked like no time had passed since she had fallen asleep, still just as dark as before. "Um.... guys?" She called out to the night. When she got no reply she shut her eyes tight thinking what might have happened to them.

When she opened them again she was no longer at camp. Instead, she seemed to be in the middle of the woods. All around her was growling and shuffling. Something was watching her.

She panicked, standing up and reaching for her axe only to find that it wasn't there.

The growls were now closing in, getting closer by the second. "Who's out there!" She called in desperation. She would never admit it but she was scared, terrified even.

Suddenly the loud rumble of thunder was heard. She saw lightning striking the ground around her but no rain fell.

She heard a soft roar from behind her and immediately turned in its direction. She looked and saw nothing but still stared at the same spot, unable to take her eyes away from it.

Another flash of lightning struck right in front of a tree, illuminating the area she had been staring at. In the flash of lightning, she saw him.

The very boy she had loved and lost. "Hiccup." She said softly. He only growled and hissed at her. Somehow she was able to see him much clearer now. He came down from the tree still hissing.

"Hiccup, it's me, Astrid. Don't you remember?" Still no response.

She looked at his face and soon wished she hadn't.

She saw a few drops of blood falling from his mouth. She looked down and saw his hands covered in the crimson liquid. Immediately she assumed the worst.

"No..." she refused to believe it.

"No Hiccup.... this isn't you." He got low to the ground ready to pounce at any moment.

"No! You're not a monster!" She screamed.

He lunged forward for the attack.

Astrid awoke, quickly sitting up, and gave a small scream. She looked around and her friends were all still there, sleeping. Her body was covered in sweat and her breaths were quick and shaky.

She tried to calm herself to no avail. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. She got up and walked over to her dragon for comfort. Stormfly got up, sensing her rider's worry.

She patted her dragon's nose telling her everything was okay. "I'm okay Stormfly it was just a nightmare."

After she comforted her dragon she went and sat back down, refusing to fall asleep, not wanting to go through another nightmare.

She kept trying to reassure herself that Hiccup would never do something like that. He wasn't a monster..... right?

No, he was a caring, smart, dragon-loving boy who was not a cold-blooded killer and he would never be.

She told herself it was just a nightmare and nothing more.

Soon the sun was well on its way into the sky and the others began to awake.

She restarted the fire and passed around some fish she had packed for the trip. Once they had finished their breakfast they decided it was best to start looking around the island.