Here is Chapter 4. There is some swearing!
ERICH
"Oberleutnant Klein!" a deep voice called from down the corridor" I snapped to attention, turned and clicked my heels together.
"Yes Mein Kapitan?" I replied obdiently. Despite his rank of Konteradmiral, or in the foul englisch language, Rear Admiral, I called Hans Fleicher Kapitan out of habit. He didn't mind, seeing as we'd been serving together for so long. I come under his command as a lowly Fahnrich in 1942, when I was posted to the Scharnhorst. He had been the Commanding Officer of the battleship and oversaw the destruction of HMS Victorious during a bloody gunfight. With extreme fortune, only two men lost their lives due to a King George V Battleship, but I was nearly the third. An attacking destroyer shot rounds into where I was standing. Had Herr Kapitan not been there to throw me to the floor, I would've been obliterated. He became my mentor after that and a very good friend, and, although it was a good thing, I was sad when he was promoted to Konteradmiral, because it meant relinquishing command of the Scharnhorst to take command of the then Kreigsmarine flagship, the Bismarck. I was very attached to 'Schonliche Scharnhorst', so I was happy that she was here in the fleet, her new 15-inch guns pointed fearsomely at the island as our ground forces took it from the Britischer defenders.
"The radioman tells me the Seydlitz will be here in two days. Our Japanese and Italian Allies are escorting. The specially modified Drache you requested as well as the experimental aerial weapon have been procured and are aboard." I stood stark still, facing ahead. He noticed his error. "Oh, stand fast my friend." I relaxed and smiled at him.
"Sehr gut, mein Kapitan. I look forward to retrieving the wayward schwein from the world of yesterday. I will be sure to keep him alive..."
HICCUP
We sat inside Gothi's house, mugs of herbal tea in hand. Per the Elder's request, dad was outside with Stormfly, whilst Astrid, Toothless and I sat on the floor. The wizened old lady came back into the house and sat on a small chair.
"My dears," she said in a small, yet strong voice, "I speak to others for the first time in many years. I felt a disturbance in the spirit world just before I woke to your cries Hiccup." Astrid and I looked at each other We didn't know there was a spiritworld.
"There is a person here, who does not belong. You must find him, and find a way for him go home." She digressed into silence and didn't speak again. She waved her hand, gesturing us to leave. We were confused, very confused.
"Does not belong? Belong where? Here? There? Everywhere?" cried Astrid as we left. I hushed her up, in case she woke up half the village.
"Astrid, I'm confused too, but maybe all of this has to do with that fiery thing that chased us earlier. When we go looking for it tomorrow, maybe our wayward friend will be there as-well Perhaps it was the loud, fiery thing." I suggested. I looked around and noticed dad had gone back home. Stormfly was patiently waiting and leapt to her feet when she saw us and padded over. The dragon nudged Astrid as if to say 'come on let's go home'. My girlfriend patted her on the chin in response.
"Well I'll cya in the morning Hiccup to find that whatever-it-was. G'Night!" My eyes widened as she began to walk away. The prospect of being alone, especially after that dream... it was unbearable, not knowing if something was going to happen to her, well us.
"Astrid wait!" she stopped in her tracks and turned to face me, hands on hips. When she saw me face, she groaned.
"Hiccuup! It was just a dream! It's not like anything's going to happen is it?" I looked down at my feet. I didn't know, but I wasn't taking any chances.
"Astrid, I don't want to take any chances. I think it would be best if stayed in one place tonight... just in case." She looked away, deep in thought. She lit up almost instantly, her blue eyes piercing the darkness and she flashed her teeth in a grin.
"Alright." she smirked.
"Awww Astrid please, I can't bear to think what would- wait what did you say?" She grinned again, her immaculate teeth reflecting the moonlight.
"I said Alright. Your house?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I then realised a fundamental error in her plan.
"But Astrid, there's only two beds in my house, one's dad's, the other's..." I trailed off and gazed at Astrid, astonished, "Awwww, now that's... that's... clever." She giggled and took my hand.
"It's a great idea." she said huskily. I couldn't help but to agree.
ASTRID
It was mid-morning by the time I woke up. I could feel a cold sensation on my shoulder, so I swung my head lazily on the pillow, seeing Hiccup's metal foot. He was already awake, sat up, hair all over the place, looking exhausted and quite flustered. I sat up with an Mmmm, curled my arms around his chest and rested my head on his shoulder, my bare breasts tingling against his back.
"Morning Dragon-Boy."
"Did last night... really just happen?" he spoke, without switching his gaze from the window. I laughed softly and whispered lustily into his ear,
"Of course it did, otherwise I wouldn't be here naked in your bed, would I?" He finally looked down and looked me in the eye. A second later, he smiled and spoke again,
"No. No you wouldn't beautiful." My heart soared at the complement. I leaned in for a kiss. Our lips met in passion, our tongues waltzing. I heard a throaty chuckle from the foot of the bed. I broke the kiss and looked. I shreiked at the figure of Stoick the Vast peering over the top of the stairs and pulled the bed covers over my chest. Toothless and Stormfly stirred on the rock and Hiccup turned and took in the sight before his eyes.
"Dad!" he yelped, slumping into the headboard in defeat. Stoick roared with laughter and climbed up the rest of the way.
"Awww, you should've seen your faces!" he hit the floor and rolled around, snickering like he was drunk. Almost instantly, he stopped laughing, wiped his eyes, stood up and stared Hiccup in the face with an expression of wrath.
"You broke the rules." the Chief growled. Hiccup was exasperated, trying to gain support from me, though I was equally shocked at our predicament. Oh Gods help us now!
"Uh dad, I'm sorry, please, just don't..." he paused in thought and then stared at Stoick in confusion, "Hang on, what rules?" he asked. A smile tugged at the corners of Stoick's mouth, before he burst out laughing again.
"Fooled Ya!" he bellowed, wheezing as he drained his lungs of air, "That's just it! There is no rule! I was actually hoping this would happen!" Stoick calmed down and smiled proudly at his son, "From now on, Hiccup," he turned to me, "and Astrid, you can consider that bed shareable." I just glowed, my inside warming up, from embarrassment or happiness, I didn't know which, "In fact," Stoick continued, "I think perhaps it's time you two had your own house. You're both 18. You may think it's young, but I assure you, it's not. You are adult Vikings now and I am proud of you both." he smiled warmly, matching both mine and Hiccup's own internal warmth.
"Well, I should leave you two alone now. I'll let you think over what I've said. This isn't my place to be right now." he tipped his head to us and made his way down the stairs. "Come on Thornado, let's see what's happening today." I heard the main door open and the big Viking clomping out, followed by the scuttling of the Thunderdrum behind him before the door slammed shut.
I dropped the covers in delayed surprise and felt cold air wash over me, tingling the skin. I rotated slowly toward Hiccup, who was just staring at me, smiling enthusiastically. I squealed and gave him a fully frontal hug. He gave me a deep kiss which I returned, pressing our mouths together. He pulled away and giggled giddily.
"Come on, let's go look for that fire bird. We'll talk about our future on the way, yeah?" I bit my lip and nodded. I was just full of excitement. This was the best day ever!
HICCUP
It took us a little while to get dressed. It wasn't that we couldn't find our clothes or anything, we just mucked about a little. But eventually, we got out of the house and made our way to Toothless's cove, our dragons in tow. But what had seemed so certain just minutes before,now made both of us start to doubt, to wonder: would be be together forever?
"Hiccup, earlier, I know we were sure that we would one day, spend the rest of our lives together, but now I just can't see it happening." she told me as we made our way through the woods.
"Yeah me too," I agreed, "For some reason, now that I think about, marrying you seems tooo... well much." She looked at me sullenly and for a few moments there was only the sound of our footsteps. When I looked back at her, she was wearing a small smile and she lightly punched me in the shoulder.
"Hey, it's too early to be contemplating marriage. We haven't thought about it until now, so let's just take it slow." That was the best advice of the year.
We carried on in near silence walking the route I used to take when I was hiding Toothless in the cove. All we could hear were the birds singing their morning songs, the occasional distant roar of a dragon and a loud thunking sound. I stopped and listened. It sounded pretty much like an axe hitting wood. Aww no, not now!
"I think dad has commissioned the building of 'our' house before asking whether or not, we want one yet and where we would like it," I groaned. Astrid listened and heard it as-well.
"What? This is incredulous! No-one ever seems to ask before they start doing something that will affect us." she snarled. I knew how she felt. Taking her shoulder, I looked at her and told her, "Welcome to my life." Branches crashed in the distance. Astrid raised an eyebrow, pondering.
"Why cut the branches off first, why not just cut down the whole tree?" she asked to no-one in particular. It was a question, but one that didn't need answering, so we continued to the cove.
ASTRID
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the lip of the cove. Hiccup was obviously cautious.
"Right, whatever it is, it might be awake. I'll stay up here while you go check it out down there." Unbelievable!
"it's not that I don't want to go down," I said, "But why me?" Gesturing with my hand my chest to get the point across.
"Because, you are better at fighting than me, if that thing turns out ot be hostile and not only that, I have very good eyesight." I stared at him blankly, raising an eyebrow, "Hey, remember, I shot down a Night Fury in the middle of the night!"
"Hiccup, why can't you take Toothless with you?" He bit his lip, then smiled stupidly. Agh, I don't have time for this, "Alright, I'll go, but if you see anything remotely wrong, shout got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Shout if I see anything."
Shaking my head I turned away and stepped towards a slope that led into the cove. I skipped down and took cover behind a rock. I slowly peeked out from cover and scanned the cove. There, on the shore of the lake, was a strange beast. Strange, tattoo like marking covered its flanks. Several flat horns stuck out from its nose, well, I'm assuming it was the nose and another spike stuck out of the top. There was a track in the dirt where it had spun around, presumably during the crash. One bit of it looked out of place. There was nothing there, just a frame of sorts that distorted the view of the cove walls behind it. I drew my sword, broke cover and scampered towards it. It was in an awkward way. It partly rested in the lake, the horns, six of them, poking through the still water. I stepped on its left wing and it creaked. I looked down at it, rather bewildered. Each step on the wing I took towards the main body, made a creak. I looked at the frame. I could see blood, floating in still-air. Curiosity welled up inside of me and I reached up to touch it. My finger bumped into an invisible substance the moment I touched the blood. In surprise, I jumped up and quite by chance, noticed the thing was hollow. The inside, it was all but empty. There was a seat of sorts, a stick and lots of levers and weird markings. Something caught my eye. A black and white miniature painting of a woman. She looked very pretty, but it was too fine to be a painting. What in Thor's name was this thing, with tattoos, levers and pictures? It wasn't alive, that was for sure. The wing creaked once more, but I wasn't doing it.
I stiffened, suddenly alert. Slowly, I cranked my head over my shoulder. Without warning, a brute force shoved me against the construct and a sweaty hand grabbed my throat and near strangled me. I struggled to breath and looked at my assailant. My eyes widened as I recognised the strange man from the dream, dressed in a dark green overall. He was hurt, blood streaming from an open wound above his eyebrow and narrowly missing the organ. He was of a slight build, yet he was so strong! Greasy, black hair plastered his scalp, but what got me the most were his brown eyes. Shock, desolation, despair, anger, but most of all, empty of personality. He was filled with conflicting emotions and I knew he had seen horrors in his life.
"Hvem er du?" he said. I looked on quizzically, "HVEM ER DU? Hva gjør du her?!" he seethed through his teeth. I shook my head as much as I could. I didn't understand a word. He scrunched up his face, furious. With his free hand, he reached to his waist and pulled out a knife from a pouch.
"Tid for å sove." In instant clarity, I knew he was going to kill me. Dammit Hiccup! I struggled for all I was worth, my boots clanging against the construct.
"Stoppe det!" he screamed. Big mistake.
A blue shape darted from the top of the cove and crashed into the man. The instant his hand tore free, I leapt towards the bundling mass of blue and dark green. The man screamed in shock and horror at the dragon atop of him. He desperately tried slashing Stormfly with his knife, but Toothless himself jumped from the trees and ripped it from his grasp.
"Ingen takk! Vennligst ikke skade meg." he sobbed. His fierce resolve crumbled instantly and I watched in disbelief as he wailed uncontrollably, shuddering with every heave. Hiccup joined me then, running up to my side.
"Astrid, I'm so sorry, I-" I slapped him hard and he recoiled in surprise.
"Where were you? Where were you when I needed you, Mister 'I-have-very-good-eyesight Man!" I mocked, "Gaahhhh!" He was taken aback, and he backed up a bit.
"Astrid I'm sorry!"
"NO! Shut up! I was nearly just killed because you won't looking! Did you like your old self so much, you decided it was more important than me?!" I howled. I stared at him, I was on fire! "You know, I think you were right. Marrying each other is too much! Hel, for you a simple relationship is too much! Damn you Hiccup! DAMN YOU!" he stared at me aghast. But he stayed calm.
"Astrid," he said firmly, "Calm down, I think you're overreacting." I felt myself flush, "*sigh* You're right. I... I'm sorry." He came up to me and we embraced, "I was just so scared! I've never felt that scared before!"
"Shhh. I let you down. For as long as I live, I won't let that happen again." I gazed sadly into his eyes. He was such a charmer and made me feel better already.
"Ummm, hello? HELLOOOO?!" exclaimed a loud voice. We looked over at it's source, none other than our easily broken warrior, "Would you mind telling these beasts to get off of me and why the FUCK I'm fluently speaking a dead language?!"
