Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to the How to Train Your Dragon Franchise other than this story. If I did, Astrid and Hiccup would be freaking ENGAGED by now.

Astrid raised up a victory fist as her dragon touched down on the shore.

"Yeah! Go girl!" she cheered. "Ha! So much for your lose-free racing record, Hiccup. Who's the best rider-"

She looked up in the sky. There wasn't a black dragon in sight. "…now?"

That's strange. Thought Astrid. He wasn't that far behind me.

She had challenged Hiccup to an impromptu race to Dragon Island (yeah, there's an original name for you) earlier that morning. There wasn't any particular reason why. The wind was right, the sky was blue, and their dragons had recovered from that little "incident" with the blue flowers. (Curse you, Mildew.) They were raring for a good, long fly. So why not? And, besides, as she jokingly told Hiccup, the dragon trainer was getting a little too cocky about his title as Berk's Best Rider. It was time someone put him in his place.

And maybe-just maybe- Astrid had wanted to spend some alone time with Hiccup.

It had been a close race, but at the very end she and Stormfly had managed to put in a last burst of speed and surged past the other two to the finish line.

But…that was over two minutes ago. Hiccup and Toothless should have landed by now. She really wasn't that far ahead...

"Hiccup?" the young Viking female called out.

If she had been racing any other boy from Berk, Astrid would've assumed that he just couldn't stand the idea of losing to a girl, and abandoned the race altogether. But this was Hiccup. That kind of macho crud just wasn't in his nature. It was one of the things she liked the most about- ANYWAY. Did something happen?

"HICCUP!" yelled Astrid. Nothing.

"Oh gods." she murmured. Panic seized her, and she hopped back onto her Deadly Nadder. "Come on, girl!"

This was bad. Very, very bad. What if Hiccup had fell off his saddle? What if the artificial tail broke? Toothless couldn't fly without Hiccup guiding him. And in this icy water, you'd lose consciousness within half a minute of falling in. With his metal leg, he'd sink like a stone…

"HICCUP!" she called again. She scoured the rock formations, desperate for a glimpse of green fabric or black scales.

"HICCUP!"

Finally: "Astrid, over here! I found-"

The last part was garbled in the wind. But, he sounded safe, thank Thor…

If this ends up being because he spotted a cool-looking shell on the shore, I'm dumping him into the water MYSELF, she thought with a flash of irritation. It would be just like him to have her freaked out over absolutely nothing.

Astrid spotted him on a small, rocky beach. Next to him was…

…That's no seashell…

}3

Hiccup was kneeling next to a teenage girl with long black hair tied up in a ponytail. She was slightly damp, seemed to have a cut on her forehead, and was giving her rescuer a look that Astrid really didn't like for some reason.

She landed next to them. She got off, looked at the ponytail girl, and then back at Hiccup. "Hey, Hiccup, next time you suddenly decide to go fishing, would it kill you to tell someone first?"

Whoa. Where did that come from?

"Astrid!" Hiccup snapped. He turned back to the brunette. "Hey, just ignore her." He said gently. "She's just mad because I let her win the race." Astrid rolled her eyes. As if.

"…That's…okay. I must look…really awful right now." The girl joked weakly. She tried to sit up.

Hiccup put a hand behind her back to keep her steady. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy there, now."

"I'm sorry…," simpered the mystery girl. "I must look really pathetic right now."

"Yeah, a little bit." Astrid said bluntly.

"Astrid…" Hiccup warned through clenched teeth. He smiled back at Ponytail girl. Okay, if she thought the way she looked at Hiccup was annoying, the way Hiccup was looking back at her was TWICE as annoying.

"So, what's your name, anyways?" the male Viking asked the girl." How'd you get so far out here in the first place? "

"My name"- she was interrupted by a brief fit of coughing. "It's Heather. My family…well, we're traders, and…we got caught in this huge storm… I…think we were blown off course, and…there was this huge wave, and I just- it just threw me overboard, and then…my Gods, what about my family?"

"Shh, it's okay now." he cooed. He was using the same tone of voice that he used to calm down wounded Terrible Terrors. "I'm sure they're fine."

Stormfly gave a bored yawn, making everyone jump.

"Dragons," the girl whispered.

Seriously? thought Astrid. You didn't notice them until now? This girl was definitely not the sharpest axe in the armory, that was for sure.

"Now, d-don't panic. You see, uhh…" Hiccup started to try and explain things, but the brunette suddenly broke out into a huge grin.

"You're Hiccup. Oh my Odin, you're the amazing Dragon Trainer!"

Said "amazing dragon trainer" blushed.

Something was bothering Astrid about this girl. Really, really bothering her. "Well, this has been fun and all, but we really ought to be going now-"

"ASTRID." Hiccup said firmly. "Go back to the village and tell Gothi we're bringing her a patient. Toothless and I will have to fly slow in order to bring Heather back safely."

She dragged Hiccup aside. "Are you crazy?!" she whispered. "We can't just bring a strange girl like this back to the village! She could be a pirate's daughter, or a spy, or…I don't know, from a plague ship!"

"What is your problem?" asked Hiccup. Astrid flinched at the uncharacteristically sharp rebuked. "She's hurt. She's stranded. We can't just leave her here."

"Hiccup, I've got a really bad feeling about this-"

"Astrid. We're bringing. Her. To Berk." This apparently being the end of the conversation, he turned around and started to help Ponytail girl- sorry, Heather- up. "Careful…"

She tried to stand, but at the last possible moment, the girl stumbled and crashed into Hiccup's chest. She then grabbed onto his riding vest for support and stood up. Their faces were so close their noses almost touched. Hiccup was as red as a beet. Heather looked away and gave a small, embarrassed smile.

Astrid suddenly found herself seriously wishing she had brought her battle axe.

The blond Viking got back onto Stormfly with a huff. "Fine. But don't come crying to me when you wake up with a case Dragon pox tomorrow. Let's go, Stormfly!"

This 'merchant family" of hers had better come looking for her REAL SOON. I don't think I can stand this mushiness for much longer.

Something told her that this was going to be a very long week.

A/N: Wow. This is the first Fanfic I've ever posted. (Not that I'm nervous or anything. Nope. Just showing my skill as a writer to the cruel judgment of the world…no pressure. Gulp.) I've actually been reading stuff on for a while now, and I've done a lot of reviews as someone called Fangirlanonymous (so, yeah, some of you might know me as "that crazy chick who writes ridiculously long reviews") but up until this point I've been too lazy to actually get an account. So, I decided to celebrate/introduce myself with a ridiculously long postscript.

Anyway, as you all probably know, D:ROB isn't coming back until November 14 (this is Mildew's doing, I'm sure of it). I'm especially disappointed because the next episode is when Heather, Astrid's potentially-evil romantic rival, is supposed to come into play. And you know what that means- JEALOUS ASTRID! Not only will this be hilarious to watch-because, come on, she's Astrid- it's long overdue. The writers have been beating around the bush with Hicstrid, and hopefully this new factor in their relationship will finally move things forward. And, no, I don't think they're going to replace Astrid with Heather. You'd have to be suicidal to get in the way of HTTYD fangirls and their Hicstrid.

Well, anyway, you guys know the drill. Review, please! Constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms, but the only flames allowed are the ones coming from Dragons!