Okay, so I decided to write this one before doing either "Remember Me" or "It Comes At Night." At this moment, "Remember Me" has more votes, but not many more. When this story is finished, I will either do one or the other, depending on the votes I get. There is a POLL up on my profile with the vote. If you are a guest and can't vote, you could just leave a review with your vote in it. Once again, no pressure. Don't worry about voting; it'll just help me decide which on to do next. If nothing changes, "Remember Me" will be written after this one. And don't fell pressured about voting. :)
Anyways, this is a new story I've had on my mind for a while now. It is in Astrid's POV, and contains MAJOY HTTYD2 spoilers. So, if you haven't seen the film and don't want it to be spoiled, don't read this fic. If you don't mind spoilers, then go right ahead. But you have been warned. :) Enjoy the first chapter!
I laughed wholeheartedly as Toothless licked Hiccup to the point where he fell flat on his back, trying to avoid Toothless' tongue. Hiccup kept pushing the dragon back, saying "Aww, Toothless, you know that doesn't wash out!" Of course, Toothless didn't care. He and Hiccup just won the dragon race. I would say he was a bit, eh...thrilled? Excited? Overjoyed? Who knows with that dragon? Who knows with any dragon exactly?
I sure don't. Unless the dragon's mad. THEN it's pretty obvious. But between Thrilled, Excited and Overjoyed, it's hard to tell.
Since Hiccup became Chief eight months ago, he hadn't exactly had too much free time to spend goofing off with Toothless, so when he was able to participate in the dragon races, it made Toothless so happy.
Okay, maybe that was an understatement. Maybe it wasn't. Who knows? I don't, once again.
When Toothless finally stopped licking Hiccup, he stood up and moved over to me. On his way over, he flung some dragon spit at Toothless, hitting the dragon's snout with it. Toothless shook his head and glared at his rider. I only laughed more.
"This seriously doesn't wash out, Astrid," Hiccup said, trying to keep his voice serious although I could tell he was obviously trying to keep from laughing.
"I'll make a note of that," I laughed.
"Easy for you to say," said Hiccup. "Stormfly doesn't do that with you."
"Maybe she respects me," I offered. Stormfly nuzzled me in the side, and I laughed and stroked the dragon's muzzle gently.
"Or, maybe she doesn't like the taste of Astrid in the morning," said Hiccup.
"If that's the case, Toothless obviously loves the taste of Hiccup," I ventured.
Hiccup opened his mouth and put up his hand, but then didn't say anything.
"Oh, great!" said Hiccup, facepalming. "Now I'll never get that image out of my head."
I laughed again. Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins raced up to us, their dragons trailing behind them, beside them, and in front of them.
"Hiccup!" shouted Fishlegs. "That was a GREAT race! And that thing you did with Toothless in the end...the barrel roll?"
"Yep!" said Hiccup.
"Could you teach it to us?" said Fishlegs. "Like...right now?"
"Sure!" said Hiccup. "Shouldn't take too long."
Valka walked up to him and smiled. Hiccup and I smiled back at her. I still, even after eight months, couldn't believe Valka was Hiccup's mother. It was hard to wrap my brain around, but in an awesome way.
"Could you please tell me if someone needs me, or would you like to come watch?" he asked his mother.
"Oh, sure, I'll watch if you want," said Valka.
She and Hiccup had already formed a tight relationship. It was truly beautiful to behold, honestly. Plus, Valka knew so much about dragons, she helped Hiccup constantly when it came to new tricks and tips.
We mounted our dragons, and then headed off to the academy.
Fishlegs and I ran it most of the time, working together to keep the twins and Snotlout at bay. It wasn't too hard; they've matured a lot in the past five years. They weren't the annoying troublemakers they used to be. Still troublemakers at times, just knowing when enough is enough.
We landed in the academy and dismounted. All besides Hiccup, who remained on Toothless.
"Okay, watch me," said Hiccup. Toothless flew back out of the academy and soared over it, spinning in barrel rolls and sprints at different times. I knew Toothless was just showing off to Cloudjumper.
I realized the two of them had a hilarious relationship: Toothless was the annoying younger brother who just so happened to be in charge, while Cloudjumper was the noble, older brother who tolerated the younger one. It was really funny to watch the two of them interact with each other.
"He sure knows what he's doing on that Night Fury," Valka breathed in awe to no in particular. I didn't know if she wanted me to answer or not, so I just said, "Yeah, he does."
Toothless came back and landed in the academy. Hiccup dismounted and approached us.
"Okie dokie," said Hiccup, clapping his hands together. "Who's up first? Astrid?"
"Sure, why not," I said. "Any tips?" I asked, mounting Stormfly.
"Press yourself low," said Hiccup. "As low as possible. Keep your eyes open, lean in one direction. More than likely the dragon will realize what you want to do, and start spinning."
"How do we stop spinning?" I asked.
"Lean in the opposite direction and balance it out," said Hiccup. "Stormfly's pretty smart. She should get it quickly."
Couldn't argue with that. Stormfly was a pretty intelligent dragon (not as intelligent as Toothless or Cloudjumper). I leaned over the saddle, and Stormfly shot out of the academy.
I had no problem spinning. I whooped as the wind hit my face, blowing my side braid to the back accidently. Ahh, I didn't care at the moment. At that point, I was focusing on hanging on tight enough so I wasn't thrown from the saddle.
Now, I had a little trouble on not spinning. When I tried to level out, I ended up spinning in the opposite direction. I tried again only to go back to the old way. It went back and forth that way until I finally managed to stop barrel rolling. When I did, I felt like my stomach had been turned upside down.
We landed back in the academy, and I dismounted shakily.
"You okay?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah yeah, fine," I managed. "Don't ever ask me to do that again."
"Okay, Fishlegs, you're next," said Hiccup.
Poor Meatlung. She couldn't hardly even spin. She couldn't get up to speed, and then when she tried to barrel roll, her legs and body weighed her back to normal.
When she and Fishlegs landed back at the academy about three minutes later, already having given up, Hiccup gave them a reassuring smile.
"It's okay," said Hiccup. "Meatlung's still the best Gronckle around."
Meatlung offered Hiccup a smile as Fishlegs dismounted.
"Okay, Ruff, Tuff, you're-"
"WHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOO!" shouted the twins as they jumped on their dragon and rocketed into the sky.
"-up next," Hiccup finished lamely. He shook his head. "Why do I even bother?" he asked me. Trick question, I realized, so I didn't answer it.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut spun recklessly out of control, Barf and Belch's heads wrapping around each other until they spun back to normal, leaving the twins dizzied and dazed on their backs.
The Zippleback landed and Ruffnut and Tuffnut dismounted, eyes half open, their legs wobbly.
"Ah, piece of cake," Tuffnut mumbled before crashing to the ground, Ruffnut copying him. We laughed. It was normal for the twins, so we weren't all like "Oh man, they backed out!?". The twins got up a few moments later, asking each other if they wanted to go again.
Snotlout and Hookfang went next. He had almost the same problem I had, only Hookfang alighted on fire as he spun. Snotlout shrieked for the dragon to land, and of course, he didn't, and just kept spinning off in different directions, never leveling off.
Eventually, Hiccup called up, "Okay, Hookfang, come on back."
Hookfang listened to Hiccup, flew back towards us, and landed in the academy. I supposed Hookfang had a special amount of respect for just Hiccup, since Hiccup had been the first person to train him. You have respect for your first mentor, so to speak.
"Okay, perfect," said Hiccup. "In the most imperfect way possible. Okay, Mom, you want to try it out?"
"Uh...sure, why not?" Valka offered, mounting Cloudjumper. The Stormcutter blarred into the sky.
"She's awesome," Hiccup breathed.
"Well, you have to get it from somewhere," I said.
"That's not what I meant, but okay," he said.
We watched as Valka and Cloudjumper performed the barrel rolls with ease. It made perfect sense why they would be able to; they had been companions for a little over twenty years. They could almost read each others thoughts.
Valka and the Stormcutter headed back and landed at the academy again. Valka dismounted, and Toothless bounded over to Cloudjumper and bounced in circles around him.
There's the Alpha dragon for you: Toothless.
It was hard to believe Toothless was now the Alpha: King of all dragons. It was actually still hard to believe Hiccup was Chief of Berk. It was a little strange at first for us. Our conversations went something like this:
Hey, Chief.
Hiccup will do, Astrid.
Okay...Chief Hiccup.
Astrid...
Mr. Haddock?
Stop. Just Hiccup. You're still my friends.
Something like that. We went back and forth on awkwardness. He was so busy that sometimes he didn't even register what I was saying:
Me: So...how's Toothless been doing?
Hiccup: No, I haven't seen Gobber.
Me: So...what'cha workin' on?
Hiccup: Of course I'm wearing shoes, Astrid.
Me: So...my dragon's on fire.
Hiccup: I guess I'll see you then.
Like I said...awkward. But he's pretty much got the whole Chief thing down by now. It's been eight months, after all.
"Okay, so I should be going," said Hiccup.
"Hang on, Hiccup," I said. "I was hoping you'd race me to Itchy Armpit."
"I don't know, Astrid," said Hiccup. "What if someone needs me-"
"You go on, Hiccup," said Valka. "If anyone needs you, we'll try to work it out until you get back. You go on."
"Really?" asked Hiccup. "Thanks!"
Valka smirked as we mounted our dragons and took to the air. Little did I know that that race would change everything.