Chapter One: The Family Ties

It happened again…

The beloved couple known as Hiccup and Astrid had just finished a lovely romantic dinner, they stood up, kissed, and Astrid puked all over her husband and Chief. By now, it had happened several times, and he managed to keep his groans of disgust to himself.

What was to be expected? Astrid was now several months pregnant.

"I-I-I'm so s-sorry, Hic-Hiccup!" Astrid stammered through her uncharacteristic sobs.

"Hey, it's alright, it washes out better than Night Fury saliva." He told her calmly. He motioned for the on looking dragons to look away as he removed his somewhat raggedy clothing and soaked them in a ready-made washtub. He proceeded to walk up the stairs, his arm linked with Astrid's. Once in the bedroom, he donned another set of raggedy old clothes and assisted Astrid into bed.

Ever since the third time Astrid puked on him, he stitched up several sets of clothing for himself using remnants of burnt-up clothing and rags. He only wore them around the house in case any accidents, such as this night's, happened. Astrid didn't like them, but understood why Hiccup wanted them; and to keep her from ruining her own nice clothes, Hiccup fashioned her a robe of rags which actually looked a lot nicer than the garments he made for himself; that way, Astrid could wear something a bit more aesthetically pleasing, but had something to protect her nice clothing in case she was feeling queasy.

While Hiccup was pulling away the covers, allowing Astrid to stretch out on the bed, he took note of the false foot that she had to wear now, and he recalled the day she lost it. He didn't like to dwell on it, but that battle still haunted his memory as if it happened only yesterday. He pulled the blanket over Astrid, climbed into the bed himself, and left enough room for a certain Night Fury hatchling to climb onto his pillow, and nap on it.

Hiccup wrapped an arm over Astrid's belly. It had been six months by now, and he could pick up the slight movements their child was making inside her. As Hiccup fell asleep, he recalled the day of their announcement…

Flashback:

Astrid had been behaving oddly for a while, and had been spending a lot of time around Midnightfire, a blue Night Fury hatchling with some silver scales on her body. It wasn't that she was spending time with the dragon that was odd; it was what she was doing with the dragon. Astrid kept carrying her around the house like some sort of cat. At first, Midnightfire didn't mind it, but as Astrid continued to do it, Hiccup often found her up in the rafters of their newly-built house (after their first one had been burnt to the ground in a battle), and then he would find Astrid looking up at her sadly wanting to be holding the young dragon.

It wasn't until the first time she puked when Hiccup took her to Gothi's, and that was the day they found out that they've been blessed with a child. It called for a celebration, so they invited their parents and their dragons and made their special announcement.

"Congratulations, Son." Stoick had told Hiccup with a clap to the shoulder that sent him to the floor. He was promptly picked up by Astrid's parents and pulled into a tight hug, and they were bombarded with questions ranging from what gender they wanted the baby to be and what names they would consider.

After recalling that wonderful day, Hiccup's lips twisted into a small smile, and as he began to doze off he felt Midnightfire curl up on the remaining space on his pillow. Yeah, everything was wonderful in the Haddock house.

By that morning, Hiccup woke up to the sound of Midnightfire's screech from the rafters. He sat up and found Astrid reaching for her.

"Astrid, that is a Night Fury, not your baby." Hiccup told her. To his own distress, Astrid looked at him with sad eyes. He couldn't stand those eyes, as they made him want to give in to her on the spot, and Astrid knew it.

Hiccup extended his arm and called Midnightfire to him. She flew from the rafters and onto Hiccup's arm. Astrid looked at the pair of them with a sense of betrayal, until Hiccup motioned her over. When Astrid extended both arms to grab Midnightfire, Hiccup told her: "Astrid, I'm merely allowing you to pet Midnightfire. You are not taking her off of my arm."

She cast Hiccup a quick glare, but she gave Midnightfire a little scratch on the neck before Hiccup showed the young dragon to the window, allowing her to escape Astrid's clutches. She flew off to play with friends her own age and species (not necessarily breed though).

Hiccup got out of the bed, fitted his prosthetic on, donned his nice uniform for the day, and went down to make breakfast.

"What are you hungry for today, Astrid?" Hiccup asked.

"A Yak's liver and eel omelet!" She replied with a big smile. Hiccup looked at her and shook his head, her cravings were so weird, just the other day ago she cooked up a chicken with a stuffing made with bits of eel in it; and since Astrid's craving for eels, Toothless, his family, and Stormfly had been staying clear of the kitchen.

The moment that Hiccup started cooking the eel, the dragons cleared their way out of the house. At least the meal didn't take long to prepare, and after cooking it and setting it in front of Astrid, he figured that he couldn't bear to stomach anything heavier than a plate of scrambled eggs.

Just after breakfast, Hiccup heard a knock on the door and found Helga the Mace Menace Thorsten outside their door with two freshly made loaves of bread for them.

"Astrid asked for these yesterday." She told Hiccup.

"Oh, thank you, Helga, I'm sure that she'll love them, as always." He replied. Helga may be the Mace Menace, but her baking is fit to feed the gods. He brought the bread inside, and went off to do his regular duties as the Chief.

Ever since the last battle with Drago, the village had been rebuilt, it took less time than they had imagined, however Alvin and his tribe of Outcasts helped them out and there wasn't a single minute of rest for the sound of hammers banging until Berk was a village again, and a village fit for dragons as well as people. That was ow the Dragon Chief liked it.

Before, his regular duties were to help the village in any way he could; whether it was joining fleets to go pillaging, bringing in fish for everyone, working on the reconstruction, or relieving Gobber of his annoying duty of making nothing but nails for a few hours. Now, things have calmed down by a lot! He was just making sure that nobody had been getting into any trouble.

At the end of the day, Hiccup brought home a boar to roast for dinner, and found that Astrid was trying to catch Midnightfire again. He looked over to Toothless and Sapphire, and asked them: "Why aren't you doing anything about this?"

"We tried, but every time we try and interfere, Astrid starts crying." Sapphire replied.

"Besides, she's not hurting Midnightfire, and this way she's actually working as our hatchling-sitter." Toothless added. Hiccup rolled his eyes to himself and looked over to Astrid. She had Midnightfire cornered, but the young Night Fury had her own Dragonstone, and she knew how to use it. With a claw, Midnight prepared to tap on the Dragonstone set in her gauntlet, seeing this, Hiccup tried to get in between the two of them, but he was too late. A mystical bolt discharged from Midnightfire's stone, and zapped Astrid. She reeled back from the dragon as lilac scales overtook her skin.

Hiccup knew that Astrid was turning into a Stormcutter dragon, but he wasn't worried about her as this wasn't even her second time she was turned into a dragon. She turned herself in order to better help Berk during the rebuilding process for the second time. However, he was worried about the baby she was carrying. How would this affect their child?

"I'm sorry, Uncle Hiccup, but I had to defend myself." Midnightfire spoke.

"So you turned her into a dragon!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"Now my parents won't let her try to snatch me." Midnightfire replied. The family looked down to where Astrid laid herself down for the transformation, and found the beautiful lilac Stormcutter with blue accents and blue eyes.

"She did have it coming, although, I am worried about what happened to the baby." Hiccup stated. For now, Astrid was just laying on the floor, but when she woke up, she wouldn't be too happy.

The UnknownBlackHand is back with trouble already brewing on Chapter One! Things may just get crazier than the first story.