They escaped early one morning.

It was still dark when Hiccup crept down from his room, his father's snores echoing his every step, not stopping even when his son inched open the large oak door, a loud creak ringing through the entryway. From then on, it was just a quick jog down to the dragon stables, his breath catching on the cold air, as he hopped down the hills towards the arena. From then on, it was just the simple job of strapping a saddle to Toothless and then he'd be right away, straight off into the distance without a care-

"—And just where do you think you're going?"

Hiccup jumped, gave a very manly scream, and turned to find none other than Astrid Hofferson leaning in the doorway, her arms folded, and a smug smirk on her face. He let out a breath.

"Thank the Gods," he said, with a sigh. "I thought you were Stoick for a second."

Astrid's grin turned into a scowl. "You think I sound like Stoick?"

"The sound of both of your voices instils in me this need to run and run very fast."

He started backing away the second the words came out of his mouth, but found his plan to be rather flawed, very fast. No sooner had he started stepping back was his back flat against the stable wall, and he found himself leaning his head back as far as it could go, his arms raised in a quivering, surrendered gesture. Astrid was advancing on him, and her face had taken on this expression that really did instil fear into Hiccup's heart: a sort of maniacal grin, paired with the screwing of her fist into her palm.

"You wouldn't hurt an innocent, one-legged—"

She punched him in the arm.

"—Oh, it appears you would."

Hiccup rubbed his arm, while Astrid smiled at him, a proper one this time, dimples and everything. It didn't matter how many times he'd seen that smile directed at him; it still made his heart thud.

"We gonna to go, or what?" Astrid said. "Unless you actually want Stoick to find us here."

Hiccup gulped. The last time he'd seen his father, he'd been furious; practically spitting as he'd spoken, and Hiccup was well ready to avoid that again.

"Okay," he said, making his last adjustments to the leg strap on Toothless' saddle, "let's go."

Minutes later, they were up in the air, flying as fast away from Berk as their dragons could carry them.

"He's not going to forgive me."

They'd been flying for a good hour or so, the Isle of Berk far behind them, the sun just beginning to rise on the horizon.

"Don't be silly," Astrid said, as she flew Stormfly in a circle around Hiccup and Toothless, "he always forgives you."

"Not this time." He and Toothless swooped up into the sky, and on instinct, he reached a hand in the air to feel the clouds, before dropping back down to Astrid's level. "This time it was like, every time I'd disappointed him as a child, plus the weight of ten Gronckles, all rolled into one."

They were quite far apart, and the wind had picked up, but even through all the noise he could still hear her twinkling laugh.

"You're over-exaggerating," Astrid said. "You disappointed him in childhood way too much for that."

"Not helping."

"If he'd just speak to me, I could find some way to fix it," Hiccup said, as he and Toothless landed with a thump onto the ground.

It was an uninhabited island, one that Hiccup and Astrid had found on one of their own special little trips and had neglected to tell the rest of the group about. They'd been going there fairly often, and they really had lucked out. It must have been one of the few islands untouched by either Viking or dragon, and it was rather wonderful to be able to relax without an Outcast or a Changewing on your tail.

"He's still not talking to you?"

Astrid and Stormfly had landed next to him with far more grace. She slipped off her dragon and landed on the floor, rubbing the feeling back into her hands after gripping onto the saddle for so long.

"Not since Tuesday," Hiccup said with a grunt. "Hasn't really looked at me since yesterday, and even then, he shoved straight past me."

Astrid smiled, her hand finding Hiccup's. "He'll come around, he always does," she said. "He just needs some time to cool off. Lots and lots of time."

"And what do you suppose I should do until then?" Hiccup said.

He swept an arm around Astrid's waist and pulled her to him.

"Hmm," Astrid said, her arms encircling his shoulders, fingers threading together behind his neck. "You could always bribe Tuffnut to do something much worse, and then you'll look great by comparison."

Hiccup grinned, his eyes flickering down to Astrid's lips. "Now there's an option that I like."

"Full of good ideas, me."

They'd been inching closer with every word spoken, and Hiccup finally closed the gap and pressed their lips together, his eyes fluttering shut, as his arms slid up her back and held her close.

They ended up lying in the grass on the clifftop, looking out to see. Hiccup had sprawled his arm lazily around Astrid's waist, and she was tucked comfortably on him, her ear pressed against his chest as she listened to his heartbeat. She liked doing that: it was fun to hear it speed up every time she ran her fingers across his skin.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Hiccup mumbled.

Astrid lifted her head. "Bit late to back out now," she said, cocking an eyebrow. "We're already here."

Hiccup flashed a smile. "Not about coming here—" he reached out and tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear, his fingers trailing down to cup her cheek— "I love coming here. I meant about last week."

"Ah," she said, resting her head back on Hiccup's chest, "that I'm not so sure about."

Hiccup bit his lip. "In the moment it seemed like the best thing to do, but now I'm not convinced."

For weeks, the problems on Berk had been near constant. Operations on the Edge had been temporarily postponed; as members of the Berk tribe, the riders had been ordered back home by Stoick, and none were too happy about it. Since coming home, they'd been rushed off their feet, trying to protect Berk from oncoming attacks.

Viggo was playing a game, and he was playing to win.

They'd come very, very close to losing.

"Look," Astrid said, placing her hand on Hiccup's chest, "you can't beat yourself up for making a decision in the heat of the moment. You had your team to think about. At least everyone got out alive."

"I know," Hiccup said, grimly. "I just can't help but worry that because of that decision more people are going to be in danger."

The last fight had been a nasty one. Viggo, who, up until now, had been a creeping-in-the-shadows type foe, the kind that was always lurking behind every misdeed you might come across, had shed his hood, no longer waiting for Hiccup to bring the fight to him. The ships had hit the Edge in the middle of the night, and their early warning systems had not been enough.

"Hiccup," Astrid said, her hand cupping his cheek as she forced him to look at her. "We're always going to be in danger. We're Vikings, it's an—"

"—Occupational hazard," he finished for her, "I know."

"Sometimes you just have to trust that we know how to protect ourselves," Astrid said. "That's all you can do."

"I wish it didn't have to be," Hiccup said, his mouth pressed into a thin line. The hand on her shoulder tightened.

In their last spat with Viggo, the cost had been high. This time they'd paid not in gold, but in something far worse in Viggo's hands - secrets.

For years, Berk had kept its secrets locked away. Their most guarded treasure chest didn't hold any physical money, it just held reams and reams of parchment that contained all kinds of information. It held ledgers, detailing every transaction made between Berk and the other tribes around the archipelago. It held notations of hidden areas, places where treasure was stored, and stocks were kept. That little chest held everything that kept Berk from crumbling down the middle, and only three people knew where it was: Stoick, Gobber, and Hiccup.

Berk had been hit by several burglaries. There was a spat of homes being broken into, stores being ransacked. Nobody could find the culprit, and there had been no witnesses. The fourth time it had happened, Hiccup had gone to his father.

"We need to hide the box somewhere else," he said.

It was a quiet word whispered into his father's ear, almost definitely inaudible to anyone else amongst the hullabaloo in the Great Hall, but Stoick gave Hiccup an incredulous look anyway.

"Not here," he said, looking around wildly to see if anyone had heard what Hiccup had said. He took his son by the arm and dragged him back to the house, where Hiccup had made his case as they sat beside the hearth.

"No one's ever found it before," Stoick said, gruffly.

"No one's ever looked before."

Stoick rubbed his hands together, as embers from the fire flickered into the air. "How do you know they're looking now?"

"C'mon, Dad, there was gold ignored on Mrs. Ack's table and in the storeroom. If they're not taking the valuable stuff, then what are they looking for?"

Stoick pursed his lips and then stared into the fire for a few moments, his expression unreadable. "Where do you suggest we take it, then?"

"Let me take it to the Edge," Hiccup said.

"The Edge?" Stoick scoffed. "Viggo's attacking there more than he isn't nowadays. What makes you think it's safer there?"

"Attacking, yes," Hiccup said, "but he hasn't stolen anything from us. He clearly thinks whatever he's looking for is here on Berk. We've got to make sure he doesn't find it."

Stoick still looked dubious.

"Look, I can find a hiding place that's far from the Edge. Somewhere it'll be safe. We can't risk this information."

His father was silent again, his lips pressed into a thin line. Hiccup watched the embers dance in front of his father's eyes. And then-

"You have to promise me it'll be safe," Stoick said at last, his voice stern. "I don't have to tell you how much trouble we'll be in if that box goes missing."

"It won't go missing," Hiccup said, with a certainty that was almost foolish. "I won't let it."

Astrid's eyes flickered up to Hiccup's face, and she sighed when she saw his brooding expression. "Hiccup," she said, "what happened to me—"

"—It's not going to happen again," he said, darkly.

Having Toothless, the fastest winged-creature in the whole archipelago, was an advantage that the other riders didn't have. Snotlout was destructive, Fishlegs was clever, Astrid agile, and the twins something else entirely, but none of them could manage the speed that Hiccup and Toothless could go.

When it came to down to the wire, Hiccup and Toothless were always the ones that managed to get away.

Viggo had picked them out of the sky one by one, dragging them all as prisoners onto his ship. Astrid almost made it, she was so very nearly out of range when her leg got tangled in the net and she and Stormfly had tumbled down to their fate below.

Hiccup could still feel that sick feeling in his stomach when Viggo had taken out a knife and pressed it to her throat.

"Hiccup!" he called, in that faux-pleasant drawl he favoured. "How lovely to see you again!"

"Let her go," Hiccup snarled.

"Heard about the betrothal," Viggo said, "how wonderful that must—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, because Astrid had slipped from his grasp, twisted back and jammed her elbow into his nose. Viggo fell back, spluttering, while Astrid dived across the deck to grab her axe that she'd dropped in the fall.

The deck was all at once filled with commotion - Viggo's lackeys were tearing after Astrid, while she rushed to defend herself. The rest of the gang were struggling with their bonds, Snotlout and the twins yelling furiously, while Fishlegs was calling for Meatlug.

Viggo pulled himself up, clutching his nose with a dark fury as he said, "get her."

Hiccup saw what was about to happen before he did, just barely calling out, "ASTRID!" before one of the Vikings down below snuck up behind Astrid and slammed an axe handle into the back of her head.

Astrid slipped and fell limp onto the deck. Everyone on the ship froze.

Hiccup frowned, his hand sub-consciously slipping through Astrid's hair. He could feel there was a bump the size of a longboat on the back of her head, and the thought made the anger build up in his chest again.

Astrid batted his hand away. "You're doing it again."

"Sorry." He let his hand fall.

"It wasn't your fault it happened," Astrid said, "and what happened after wasn't your fault either."

Viggo wanted the box for Astrid.

He held her limp in his arms on the deck, and all he wanted in exchange for her was a box of secrets. It made Hiccup's blood boil. There wasn't a lot that Hiccup wouldn't bargain for Astrid's life – in fact, there wasn't anything, he'd march right into Asgard and make a deal with Thor himself for Astrid's safety – but this one really did make him hesitate for a few moments.

But not for long.

He retrieved the box and slung it across the desk – "wise decision," Viggo drawled – picking up Astrid and freeing the rest of the riders.

When they returned to Berk, heads hung, Stoick was furious. The reprimand that Hiccup had gone through seemed to last all night: the riders had slung themselves on the steps outside of the chief's house, listening to Stoick's yelling. Not even Snotlout found it funny.

One week later, and Stoick still hadn't spoken to Hiccup.

Astrid sighed, lifting herself up off Hiccup's chest. "Maybe we shouldn't have come," she said. "It was irresponsible to leave after everything at Berk."

"No," Hiccup said, slipping an arm around Astrid's waist and nestling his nose in his hair. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been thinking about that again."

"What if Viggo attacks Berk while we're gone, and we aren't there to help protect it?"

"If he was going to attack, we would've seen his ships as we flew out. There was nothing on the sea for miles," Hiccup said, "besides, I haven't had a chance to be alone with you since the accident."

Astrid gave a fond smile. "I told you, I'm fine."

Hiccup stood up, reaching out and taking Astrid's hands in his, pulling her up next to him. "I know you're fine," he said, with a grin, taking her in his arms again. "You're Astrid Hofferson."

"And don't you forget it," she said, lifting up onto her toes to kiss him.

Hiccup's hands slid up to her face, deftly sweeping the hair out of her face, his thumbs brushing across her cheeks. He moved in close until he could practically feel her lashes against his, his eyes fluttering shut. "You're amazing," he whispered, before closing the gap fully and pressing their lips together.

They broke apart a few minutes later, both flushed, hearts thudding in their chests. Hiccup linked their fingers together again, a smile on his face that made his cheeks ache.

"Take a walk with me?"

It didn't matter how long they'd been together, and it didn't matter how dire the situation back on Berk was, right here, on this island with her, Hiccup felt like he could never feel sad again.

"What are you going to tell your father when you go back?"

She was a few paces ahead of him, skipping across rocks and diving through the shrubbery with all the grace and poise of a dancer – not the Berk kind, that was all drunken limb and stomping feet, no, like the kind he'd seen on visits to other tribes, where the steps seemed to flow into one another. Astrid was beautiful like that – she was tough in the same way that she was soft, and neither seemed to undermine the other.

"Are you listening to me?" she said, and Hiccup realised that she'd stopped, her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face.

Odin help him, he'd been staring again.

"Of course I was," Hiccup said indignantly, and then added, "what was that last part again?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I said, what are you going to tell your father when you go back?"

"Oh Thor, I don't know," Hiccup grumbled, taking a few steps over the rocks to take Astrid's arm. "I was concentrating on other things. More interesting things. Prettier things."

He poked her in the side, and she giggled, hiding her smile behind her hand.

When the laughter subsided, she gave a happy sigh and rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you," she mumbled.

Hiccup's smile could have launched ships. "I know," he said, and his voice sounded positively dreamy.

"Oh, you do, do you?"

She flashed him an evil sort of grin and wiggled her fingers, and all of Hiccup's teasing fading from his face as he realised what she was about to do.

"Astrid, don't."

"What did you say, Hiccup?" she said, that smirk getting wider and she extended her hands out towards him.

Hiccup started to pre-emptively giggle, his hands raised in surrender. "Don't Astrid, please."

"What was that?"

His shoulders were shaking now as he tried to stop himself from laughing. "Don't, please, I'll do anything-"

She dived on him, tickling his sides with a fury only a Viking woman could execute, and Hiccup spluttered into tortured giggles.

"Astrid please, I love you, I love you so much, just stop," he said, as he descended into uncontrollable laughter.

Astrid did stop then, because she was starting to laugh herself, doubling over Hiccup. And then she froze.

Hiccup blinked. "Astrid, are you-"

She shushed him. Hiccup shut up.

They both lay still in the bracken, frozen in position, and then Astrid said, "do you hear that?"

Hiccup frowned. Ever since the incident when Astrid went blind, her ears had become much stronger. She was always the first to spot when something was awry.

Hiccup concentrated hard, and then he heard it too, the faint sound of voices.

The two shared a look, and then wordlessly, they both pulled themselves up off the floor, creeping towards the end of the forest. The voices got louder the closer to the edge they got, and when they reached the end of the treeline, the two of them peaked out into the clearing that followed.

Hiccup's heart sank. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yup," Astrid said, all trace of teasing gone from her voice. Her hand instinctively slipped down to where she kept a set of knives tucked into her boots.

"Viggo."