Astrid was finally proud of herself. After all these years where she has pushed herself every day to be the best, she finally got the jobs she has always wanted.

To be a teacher.

Well. She was a teacher's assistant, but it's better than nothing. She was the assistant to Berk primary, working with the year 1's and 2's. The school was very small and so they put 2 classes in the same room.

She was enjoying it, the kids were at that age where they weren't quite naughty, just cheeky, and most of them were polite to her. Her boss, and teacher she worked with, Mrs Rummer, or Heather after school hours, was more than kind, and soon the two became friends. Heather was a fairly young teacher, only being 25, but she was a very good at her job. The kids always listened to her, and she had hardly any problems.

But getting this job was a huge challenge. For 5 years, Astrid has felt this, what can only be explained as an empty void in her life, and no matter what she does, she can't seem to fill it. She can't remember exactly what happened to cause it, it kind of just appeared. It has definitely made focusing a challenge, especially when some things will trigger the emptiness and she doesn't know why.

It annoys her to no end. All she's asking for is something to fill it, or to find the reason it appeared in the first place. Is that too hard to ask?

Apparently so.

After school, Heather approached her.

"Hey Astrid, wait up"

Astrid stopped and waited for her boss to catch up before they walked side by side down the road to the car park where Heathers car and Astrid's bike were parked.

"So I wanted to know if you were coming along to the zoo with me and the kids, after all, they all adore you."

"Well I wouldn't say they adored me, just enjoy my presence."

"No, they adore you. Whenever you're not there, or a little late, they always ask where you are and if you're alright."

"They ask the exact same questions when you're not in, your point."

She puts her hands up "I was only trying to compliment you, you don't want that compliment I take it back."

Astrid smiles at that, glad that this was her colleague. "Thanks Heather, and I would love to come on the trip with you."

Heather beams at that. "Great! I thought I was going to get stuck with a parent, as we 'must have to have more than one adult with a group this big'"

The blond cracks up at this, finding the impression of the head very amusing.

"Nice impression"

"Thanks, I've been practising"

"You've been practicing her voice?"

"You have to admit, her voice is annoying"

"Well yeah, but why are you practising it?"

"Because at parties, when it's just the teachers, no boss, we like to make fun of her, and I happen to be the best at her voice" She says that with pride and it cracks the younger woman up more.

"Not something to be proud of Heather"

"Shut up! I think I do a very good impression"

"I didn't say you didn't"

They stop by Heather's car.

"I'll see you tomorrow then boss"

"And I shall see you tomorrow my young apprentice"

"Apprentice?" The blonde raises her eyebrow at this.

"Yes, my apprentice. I'll show you all the tricks to keep kids under control, and how to avoid parents."

"If you say so Heather"

"I do say so!" And with that, they part ways, one getting in her car and heading back to their house, while the other gets on her bike and heads to her apartment.

And Astrid thought she had seen the worse of these kids, but she was completely wrong. As she sat on one side of the aisle and Heather the other, all Astrid could hear was the sounds of shouting and excited children. Heather had tried and failed to get them to calm down, and Astrid could see that her friend also hated the loud noises of the children.

"How much longer?"

"I think we still have 20 minutes."

Astrid groaned at that reply. The nearest zoo was only half an hour away. They had been on this bus for 10 minutes, but it felt like hours when you weren't enjoying the ride. The children had only sang two songs, but it felt like the wheels on the bus sing would never end. Why did she agree to this again? Astrid wasn't quite sure.

She looked out the window at the passing cars and buildings, and soon spaced out, her thoughts going to her old friends. She wondered what they were doing at this moment.

Rachel, or Ruffnut as they called her, was probably behind the till at a super market. She was studying to be in the music industry, but she wasn't sure where she would fit into it. She didn't know what job to get so just decided that the nearest super market would do.

Her Twin brother Thomas, or Tuffnut was probably in a barber shop, cutting some guys hair. He was studying the film industry, learning to be a cameraman, but discovered he had a talent for cutting and tidying up people's hair. So he took that as a job as soon as he found out.

Frankie, or Fishlegs (don't ask) was probably hidden in a pile of books, or playing video games. He was studying to be a scientist, but he had yet to choose a specific subject to go further into. He had yet to get a job, still living with his parents, he didn't really need one.

And then there was Scott, or Snotlout. She didn't really care what he was doing, only that he was doing it from as far away from her as possible. She wouldn't class him as a friend. She didn't really want to class him as an acquaintance either, but she knew him. He was a jerk who just wouldn't leave her alone at one point, and she was so relieved to get him out of her life.

Thinking about Snotlout made her feel that emptiness again. Why did Snotlout make her feel that again? She knew she had started to feel it at 15, but the last time she saw Snotlout was 6 months ago. He was still there when she started feeling it so why did she feel empty when thinking about the disgusting man?

She wasn't sure she wanted to know that answer.

So her mind wandered to her Macaw Stormfly. Now she was a bird. She was absolutely beautiful. Her yellow and blue feathers were stunning. And she happened to be one of the only things that she had stayed with from high school to now. Stormfly and her have been together since she was 14 and Stormfly was only a hatchling. They had bonded very well and soon Stormfly was her best friend.

Astrid had been so focused on her thoughts that she hadn't even realised that they had already made it to the zoo.

"Everybody stay in your seats, and wait until I say you can get up." Heather was standing in the aisle now and was making sure everyone sat back down before turning to me.

"Can you wait off the bus so I can send the kids to stand by you?"

"Of course" She grab her bag and climbed off the bus, and stood there waiting for the students to come off, two at a time. There was only 30 of them, because Berk is a very small town so there isn't many students to attend anyway.

Soon the whole class is out along with Heather.

"Ok guys let's go!" All the kids cheer as we make our way to the ticket booth. Heather purchases the tickets and soon we are all gathered around the other side.

"Ok so we are going to go around as a big group, but we are going to have smaller groups so it makes it easier to see the animals without people in the way."

Soon heather had made them into 5 groups of 6, so that everyone would have a chance to look at the animals. Astrid breathed a sigh was relief, glad she chose to have a big group, it will allow her to see how she handles these trips out of the school grounds, and she thought that's why she purposely made them a big group.

"First stop, the monkeys!"

They were now having lunch, and Astrid must say, it has been really good so far. All the animals seem happy and well looked after, and some of the things Heather said were very fascinating. Up next Heather had told her they are going to look at the big cats.

Once everyone was done we got back into a group and headed onwards. I was talking to Heather when one of the kids screamed and I looked up to see an unusually large panther standing there on the path, eyeing us cautiously. I stopped everyone as I stood there in complete shock, not even knowing how to comprehend this. How did this Panther get out of its enclosure? And why hadn't anyone discovered it was missing yet?

It stood there, eyeing us down for another minute before taking a step towards us, and she took a cautious step back, as did Heather who was trying to keep the children calm. The beast took another step and I was sure that it was hungry, before something tackled the panther.

They soon see its one of the keepers, who has a hold of the panther's neck and is pulling and tugging him. The Panther swats at him countless times, but somehow the Keeper dodges them. The fight continues, everyone stood there shocked and frozen as the panther growls and attacks the keeper.

Well, we thought it was a fight anyway. But I thought I heard a laugh once or twice, but how could it be? The panther was attacking him. But I heard it much clearer as the keeper backed up, laughing before running at the panther again, who in turn dodged the tackle and pounced on the keeper.

I almost run over to help, as the Panthers face gets closer and closer to the keepers before he starts to lick his face repeatedly, as I hear the Keeper shout his complaints.

"Ugh! Toothless stop!"

The keeper pushes at the panthers face and he obediently gets off. The keeper gets up and looks down at his himself to see his green shirt is now a whole darker shade.

"You know that doesn't wash out!"

The cat growls playfully, and walks up to the keeper and nudges him, looking for attention. The keeper happily gives it.

"I hope he didn't cause too much trouble, he's just curious. He loves kids"

He turns around and opens his mouth and starts to talk about the panther, but she don't pay attention. Instead she pay attention to the forest green eyes that were staring at them. She had seen them before. Those same eyes belonged to the auburn haired, scrawny and nerdy boy who she had known when she was 15. He had been in all the top classes with her, him matching her smarts. He had been bullied by his cousin and the rest of the school, but she hadn't been into teasing the unpopular boy, for she thought it would have ruined her perfect reputation. But she remembered him.

"Hiccup?"

He turned his attention to her, and he looked confused for only a seconds before his eyes widened.

"Uh… A-Astrid?" His confidence seemed to have completely gone, and he visibly tensed up. "I-I'm sorry Toothless scared you, he was just curious… umm…" Yep, completely gone.

"Its fine Hiccup, as long as he wasn't any harm…" She glanced at the panther, not sure if he had intended to or not.

"No Toothless here is a big softy, he wouldn't hurt anyone unless he was protecting someone" He leaned down and stroked 'Toothless' who seemed to actually purr, which was surprising, Heather mentioning something about their only being a few sub species of big cats who could purr.

"You see, I'm the big cat expert here at the zoo, my mum is the owner of this zoo. Toothless here was the reason I studied them more." The cat heard his name and roared gently, and clearly had teeth. This confused Astrid.

"Why is he called Toothless?" A little girl from the class asked.

"Well you see, when I was studying zoology, I was working with my mum, trying to work out what area of animals to study more. That's when one of the Panthers had just had a litter. Toothless here was abandoned by her, being the runt of the litter. I couldn't leave him to be abandoned because it wasn't fair on him, I should know"

Astrid looked down at hearing that, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"So I volunteered to look after him, I fed him and made sure he was warm, just trying to keep him alive. My mum thought he wasn't going to make it, and was reluctant to let me look after him, thinking he would die early. But you showed her wrong didn't you bud?"

He roared and rubbed up against Hiccups leg.

"I brought him home with me, my dad wasn't too happy about it, but he knew I could handle the responsibility. I saw a lot of myself in the cub and I like to think I had an instant bond with him. When I was feeding him, I saw his little gummy maw, and said 'Toothless' and he kind of responded to it, making a little cooing noise, so the name stuck"

"Is he your pet?" A boy asked.

"I would call him my companion. When he was strong enough we tried to return him to his mother, but she had rejected him again. So after much planning, and a lot of time trying to convince my parents. I became the owner of Toothless, and we have been practically inseparable ever since. He's my best friend" He smiled down at Toothless and Astrid could see the love Hiccup had for the panther, and could see the love the panther had for Hiccup.

So this is where he'd been for the last few years…

Heather spoke up. "We are heading to the big cat closure now. Any chance you can give us a tour?"

"Why of course! It's my job after all, come on Toothless, lets show them around."

The panther growled playfully and started to trot off in front, followed by Hiccup and then me.

So this is chapter one, I have been building a few chapters up, and will post them each week until I am out of them. I hope you are enjoying the story, I am trying to make these as good as my writing skills will allow, as I believe I am going to be either writing scripts when this is out, or will be starting to, because my film course covers all of that.

httydlover626 out!