Hello readers! This is a oneshot that I wrote almost two years ago and never published. It's an interesting concept, and I just wanted to throw it up. If people like it, I may do a continuation and expansion of it into a multi-chapter fic.

Then again, it might be weird. Who knows?

Let me know in a comment or a PM. Thanks!

They had finally made it! The most famous squad of Scalebind fighters to ever come out of Berk had finally made it to the ranks of Helheim, the most coveted and difficult military training academy to gain entrance to in the world. At least, their half of the world. The globe had long ago been split in two, separating two warring empires from each other. The empire of Dragonoa represented the very best of the things that humans wanted in life. Freedom, security, purity, safety, everything one needed to be comfortable in life.

Blackreach was the other empire in the world. Evil men, obsessed with death and blood, seeking honorable deaths above all else. In many cases, people from Blackreach were mutated via blood magic or just sheer black arts, all in the pursuit of creating better and more bloodthirsty warriors. Not much was known about Blackreach other than that; they were terrible killers and their lands were tainted and cursed. That was all one needed to know to join the fight against them.

As the two empires fought for control of the world, military forces were extremely important, and every village, town, city, suburb, even nomad camp sent fighters to the training academies to learn to fight. It was a long process, but Dragonoa had regulated it and created a lifestyle of military protection. Nobody forced you to fight, but anyone who could become a soldier wearing the traditional Dragonoa blue would be respected and treated well throughout the entire empire.

So, young people tried the best they could to become soldiers. Many knew that they weren't cut out for it, and there was no shame in that. At least, that's what the adults knew. Kids were a different story altogether. Those who decided against becoming soldiers were treated as second class by those children who do endeavor for that future. High school was a proving ground, where those who were strong trampled on the weak.

It was a shitty reality, but that's what kept Dragonoa's military strong enough to repel the demons from Blackreach. In Berk, a large port and fortress town near the Atlantic borders, becoming a soldier was everything. It literally became life and death sometimes, because almost everyone who lived there was a soldier, or the descendants of soldiers. Berk had numerous legendary soldiers in the history books of Dragonoa, but none more so than Stoick the Vast. A master of Scalebinding, he led the further incursion into Blackreach territory in history, and yet still he led invasions. He was famous. His son…not so much.

Hiccup they had called him. He was pathetic. Normal people in Dragonoa developed their scales at age six or seven. By twelve, Hiccup hadn't grown any. Many believed that he had some sort of defect, and that he would never be able to summon a weapon. Being the son of the famous Stoick, it made his life very difficult. So difficult in fact, he was driven to run away. A cowardly move, and he was quickly caught. However, they couldn't simply allow his cowardice to go unpunished.

They took him deep into Blackreach territory and left him there. He died quickly. Nobody survives long in Blackreach even with scales, and the disgrace didn't have a single one when they left him there. Astrid used to wonder if it was the right thing to do at the time, but it was something that she forgot about before too long. When the wellbeing of Dragonoa was in question, they had to be firm. Hiccup was going to cause problems if he wasn't punished for being pathetic.

She didn't think about it anymore. The only thing she thought about was the fact that her team, the five bright young teens from Berk, all talented Scalebinders, had been accepted into Helheim, a massive ocean stronghold. There, they would be trained as officers in Dragonoa's military and find glory defending their home. They were a small number because of their nature; Scalebinding was an ability that was quite rare, and only the far northern settlements ever gave birth to children who could Scalebind to their extent.

It was said that thousands of years ago, real dragons used to prowl the world, and that some of them eventually mated with humans in magical ways lost to time. The result of that are those who carry dragonblood inside them. These bloodlines matured across time to create the current evolutionary trait of Scalebind. At young ages, children will grow scales like dragons, and those scales gift them the same magical powers their ancient ancestors got when they intermingled with the dragons.

The magic varied according to what type of Scales were grown. Blue scales, green scales, brown scales, red scales, purple, and every other color imaginable. Experimentation was always the key to discovering ones abilities, but the most common Scalebinders had the same abilities as denoted by their color. Regardless, Scalebinders were powerful, and almost always ended up as commanders and generals in Dragonoa's army.

Astrid and her friends had formed together early on in life and become nigh inseparable as they honed their Scalebinding abilities. Tuffnut and Ruffnut, twins who bore green scales, Fishlegs who bore brown, and Snotlout who bore red. She herself bore blue scales, and together, the five of them had abilities that all complemented each other. It had been a large part in their passing of so many challenges and requirements that allowed them entrance to Helheim.

They arrived at the stronghold, their fur armor setting them apart from soldiers coming in from the mainland. "Look at the size of it…" FIshlegs murmured, the large man staring at the high walls and fortified turrets. "It's no wonder Blackreach has never even attempted to siege Helheim…it's more a mountain than a stronghold."

Snotlout snickered, his eyes instead alighting on some other women landing on another ship from the mainland. "It's a wonderful sight, to be sure." Astrid rolled her eyes as his innuendo struck home. The man was an insatiable womanizer, and it infuriated her how good at it he was. Plus…women from the mainland would be fawning all over him and his fiery red scales. They snaked along his muscled arms and up his neck, stopping at the base of his skull. They went down his body beneath his clothes, and she had never chosen to find out exactly where they spread to under there.

"Let's go. We need to report." She muttered, repositioning her bag on her back as she climbed the stone steps up into the massive mouth of Helheim. Her team followed her, the twins remaining thankfully silent while they walked. Normally, the two of them would be up to all sorts of mischief, doing anything they could to have some fun at her expense.

As they walked, she was silently grateful that, so far, nobody had stopped them to ask about their intended destination. People from the mainland were irritatingly curious of Scalebinders, mainly because they had never seen them before. On top of that, many were threatened by the magic Astrid and her friends wielded. It was dangerous to them, although no Scalebinder would attack another soldier of Dragonoa without provocation.

"Hofferson!" A booming voice called out, stopping nearly the entire procession of new recruits as they all looked up at a balcony, eyeing the ornately armored general who stood there. "You and your team report to the main barrack immediately."

She nodded, knowing the man could see her. She would give no other indication of acknowledgement to the general from here. She was already keenly aware of all the recruits staring at her, murmuring amongst themselves. "Let's go." She muttered sternly to her team. None of them spoke against her, and they quickly wound through the throngs of soldiers to the inner gate. Once through, it opened to a simply massive courtyard, easily a mile long, but perhaps only a quarter mile between the forward and rear walls.

All down the space were training areas, stables, barracks, physical training constructs and numerous other things she couldn't exactly place just yet. In clearly marked areas, the grass gave way to large stairwells that were dig into the very stone that Helheim was built upon, and the lower caverns had their entrances. It was in these caverns that much of fighting force of Helheim was housed. Specially designed and supported, it was rumored that the caverns below the fortress were immune to collapse. She hoped it was true, but she would never place her life on that fact if given a choice.

Nearly two and a half thousand recruits would be filling up the stronghold soon, its previous garrison having graduated and moved on to posts across the globe. The core garrison of Helheim, numbering fifteen hundred strong, never left. They lived in this fortress. The recruits that entered now, twenty five hundred of them, would make up the rest of the garrison space of the stronghold. They would fill vacancies as needed, but realistically, this was their home for the next five years while they trained.

"This place…"

"Yeah, it's huge Fishlegs, we heard that part already," Ruffnut rolled her eyes, a puff of smoke emerging from her nose as she snorted. A direct effect of her dragonblood. Her green scales give her the ability to breathe gas, and gases of different types. Most notably, she can breathe an explosive gas that is set off by her twin Tuffnut, who fires electric bolts from his palms.

"This is even larger than I had heard though," She acquiesced. "Where is this main barrack anyway?"

Astrid pointed straight ahead, at a large turreted building set into the wall on the forward bank. "There. That's where General Cloud is." She wasn't certain that she was right, but her guess was probably right. There were several similar structures in the huge courtyard that looked exactly the same, just smaller, leading her to believe that they were barracks, and that was the main one.

They arrived there quickly after, not speaking much but getting strange looks from the current guardsmen garrisoned there. One of them stepped to block then, but a firm growl from Snotlout had him backpedaling quickly out of their way. Inside the building, which Astrid had correctly guessed as the main barrack, they found General Cloud, standing amongst a group of other officers.

When they had all entered and the door slammed closed, the general turned to observe them. Astrid's sharp eyes flicked to the other officers, seeing if she could identify ranks among them. From what she saw, none of them were above captain. She finally focused on the General, meeting his eyes and holding firm.

"Your father told me you would be coming." The General said, matter-of-factly. "I hope the stories he told me weren't lies."

Astrid shook her head, dropping her bag to the ground in front of her. "I don't know what he told you." She said bluntly, never breaking contact with his eyes.

"He told me that you were the best Scalebinders he'd seen since he and Stoick shattered the Black Veil."

"We are." She replied shortly.

"Somehow I doubt he was telling the truth."

Astrid's eyes narrowed. "What you believe doesn't matter to me."

In response, his eyes narrowed as well, the red orbs shining dangerously. "I see you inherited his lack of respect."

She shrugged. "He told me you would appreciate it."

"I don't."

"Too bad. I'm not here to lick your toes."

He shook his head, a grimace on his face. "I look forward to watching the sergeants here break your disrespectful spirit, brat. Get out of my sight." Astrid wordlessly picked up her bag and left, leading her friends out and heading towards where they were to be garrisoned. Unlike the other recruits, they would be garrisoned above grounds, in nice quarters. Scalebinders were higher power, higher echelon soldiers. They wouldn't be treated like simply grunts.

"I think that went well," Tuffnut snickered. "Now, two generals hate us. Our careers are off to a great start." He was referring to General Mildew, whom they had met in Berk upon leaving for Helheim. In a single fell swoop, they managed to burn his personal ship to cinders, render him bald, and remove two fingers. It was an accident, but the damage was done.

"We don't need the approval of generals," Astrid growled, allowing a bit of a hiss to escape her, indulging her dragonblood a small bit. "We need the approval of Stoick."

Snotlout snorted, a small spurt of flame emerging from the action. "Why do they think they can control us? Everyone knows Scalebinders only answer to Stoick."

Fishlegs scratched a spot on his neck. "We need to obey the generals a little bit, Astrid. We cannot undermine the structure of command here. We are five Scalebinders in a garrison of four thousand."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut pondered together. "How many do you think we could kill if they turned on us?"

Astrid growled at them. "Doesn't matter. Our goal is to get our blues. Then we go and start killing off those monsters from Blackreach." She snapped. She wasn't normally an angry person, but generals irritated her. Pompous idiots who hadn't seen battle for years. More often than not, they sat in their ornate manors and simply enjoyed being rich and in positions of power. It was the commanders who truly garnered respect. Old soldiers who remained on the front lines and declined higher pay and comfortable lives to fight for their home.

Soon, they would start their training. Meaning tomorrow. It would be long, and it would be difficult, but they were strong, and they would graduate. "Get some sleep," She ordered when they reached the third floor of their barracks, where only the five of them would reside in their own rooms. "We start at five tomorrow morning, with Commander Frost, on top of the wall."

XXX

Astrid and the other Scalebinders stood in a cluster, atop one of the mighty turrets of Helheim. It was early enough in the morning that the sun was just barely shedding its rays on the dark sky. Why they were up this early, and literally nobody else was, other than the night guard, wasn't something she was considering. It was well known that Scalebinders were crucial weapons in the Dragonoa army, and they would train and live in entirely different ways than the normal soldiers.

Standing in front of them, and watching the horizon with her steely blue eyes was Commander Frost. She wore leather armor, covered with ringmail, over her entire body. An armored skirt hung around her hips, and steel gauntlets covered her hands, steel boots on her feet. Her platinum blonde hair was braided and hung over her shoulders, where her blue cape was clasped. At her hip, a longsword hung in its scabbard, the hilt decorated with a gold crocus flower, and a strand of stark white horse hairs extended from the pommel.

Commander Frost was shrouded in mystery, as much as she was respected and feared. As a person, nobody really knew where she came from. Nobody had ever claimed to be her family, and nor had anyone ever claimed to know where she had hailed. She herself had never said anything about family or home, so mostly, people left her be on that front. She fought bravely, having led many attacks, and defenses, against Blackreach and its demons.

"What are we doing up here so early?" Snotlout yawned, rolling his muscled shoulders and hearing several cracks.

Commander Frost ignored him, but Astrid didn't. "Shut up and you'll find out, idiot…" She murmured sharply, rolling her eyes at his lazy attitude.

"What? Just wanna know is all…" Snotlout began, and Astrid immediately whirled to pummel him into nothing, but a stark clearing of a throat stopped her. She turned back to find harsh, steel blue eyes glaring at them.

Commander Frost did not look amused. "You five represent the highest level of recruit here. Act like it and shut your mouths while we wait for the sun to rise." She snapped.

"All due respect, Commander," Astrid began, and she thought about stopping when the icy gaze turned on her. She swallowed and pushed on. "What are we doing up here? I was led to believe that we would be doing combat training this morning."

Commander Frost sighed harshly. "You will be. Patience is the first lesson you will learn."

This lasted all of ten minutes before Snotlout began to speak again. "Alright, this is ridi-" He was cut off immediately as Commander Frost took a dagger from her belt and flung it, the action happening so fast that Snotlout couldn't react to it. The blade sank into the center of his thigh, but to his credit, he hardly even grunted.

Commander Frost, looking still unimpressed, walked up to him and ripped the blade out. "Keep your mouth shut. All of you. If I hear another word, the five of you will be on the first ship out of this fortress."

Astrid and the others took her word and quieted, all the way until the day was bright. Then…they continued to stand there through the day. Hour after hour the five of them stood there, watching the horizon. The sun began going down, leaving them staring at a darkening sky. An hour later, and they stood in darkness, cramped, stiff, sore and tired.

Finally, Commander Frost, who had been sleeping on a makeshift cot that she had ordered brought out for her, lit a torch. "Look alive, recruits. Defend yourselves. If you survive the night, good. If not, then you do not deserve to be here anyway. Mark!" She yelled. Astrid and the four others were dumped from the wall into the darkness of massive courtyard.

The entire night was the closest thing that Astrid had ever come to living within a nightmare. In the darkness, they were not alone. Something was there, hunting them. Luckily enough, injuries were not so severe that they would cause death, but not to say the five of them weren't damaged. Astrid herself suffered a harsh slash across her thigh, but she managed to make it through with just that.

She huddled in a corner, blocked on three sides by the main walls and the back corner of the armory. She remained there until the sun began to peek over the walls, and a horn blasted. She limped out of her corner to find the others emerging from similar places, suffering various degrees of injury.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard, draped in black, was a figure that held two swords in its hands. Both had blood dripping from them, and Astrid knew in that moment that this was the person who had hunted them that night. The one they were to survive. Commander Frost stood there as well, looking somewhat pleased.

"Gather round before you get treated for your wounds!" She yelled. Astrid and the other Scalebinders did just that, limping and shuffling to stand together in front of the commander and this person in the black cloak.

Commander Frost waited until they were together to speak. "Good. You all survived the night. This was to give you a glimpse of how things are in Blackreach. It is dark, terrifying, cold, and you might have to go for long periods without sleep or rest of any kind. This man," She gestured to the figure with the swords. "Will be your combat trainer. He is the deadliest agent we have against Blackreach and the terrors there. We all know him only as Night Fury."

Again, let me know what you thought.

Enjoy your day!