Astrid Struck

Chapter 1
Cat got your Tongue?

In the days that followed the release of the dragons I realized that the life I'd learned to enjoy, despite all of its downfalls, was gone. No longer was I able to spend time alone with only my own mind to consult as everybody wanted to bond with me now and get to know me better. Initially it was a rush, but after the first three or four days I realized how much it wore on me mentally. In the middle of the night I was not able to sleep as my mind fought to function and analyze all of the day's interactions like it would have in the days before my fame. That constant interaction with people drained all of my mental strength.

Physically, I was still that same old weakling. Unable to hold my weight against anybody, I would be teased by even the older men still. I vowed to bulk-up though, if for nothing else it would be for my own peace of mind. Of course Toothless would stick-up for me if I had needed it, but I would not always be able to depend upon him in a time of crisis.

Only to add to my woes, the one thing that I wanted to do was obtain some time alone with Astrid. It was that one thing that was so desirable to obtain that seemed to be the simplest, but with my disposition nothing to do with a girl is as simple as it would seem.

Morning broke upon the city of Berk. Tents and shiny stone buildings stood out among the various rising smoke drifts that remained from the night before. The sun shone brightly through the windows into the dimly light houses awaking even the deepest of sleepers by now as roosters sung their usual hymns into the gentle wind as it caressed the city in its kind touch on its way onto the mainland miles away.

In the sky dragons flew around like vultures upon a dead animal, but these birds were flying for only the experience to share with their new found human companions rather than to eat decaying carcasses. The very same human beings that they would have tried to kill less than twenty four hours prior were now their closest of allies in this world.

There were no repairs left to be made to the city as all had been done in the previous two nights by the assigned construction workers who'd been forced to stay at home at all times in any conditions. All the animals were in their places and none were dead or missing. At last peace had come to the city of Berk, for now anyhow.

"Wha-hoo," Hiccup burst out delightfully upon taking to the sky upon Toothless's back.

"Hey, dragon master," Snotlout addressed Hiccup with a smile as he dove down to he and Toothless's level to converse more appropriately with him.

"Morning, Snotlout," he beamed despite his apathy of company.

"Dude, I was wondering if you had any tips about how to keep my dragon from going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. If he doesn't stop doing it soon I may have to send him out of the house over the night time."

"Uh, no, you'll have to figure that one out on your own, sorry."

"Oh, ok, Hiccup, well, I guess I'll be seeing you around," he replied disappointedly taking away from him.

Looking up towards the heavens Hiccup's heart welled up into his larynx and forced the words he had in his mind from ever being uttered. While Hiccup stared dumbfoundedly at the bright tan bottom of the Deadly Nadder, Toothless decided that they were going to go up to their level. With Hiccup temporarily non-responsive the tandem was severed and Toothless struggled to do the work upon his own.

Toothless brushed up against the dragon's tail with his face while upon his uncontrolled ascent, and the Deadly Nadder looked down to the ground to see what was going on.

Hiccup allowed his eyes to wonder to places that they shouldn't briefly as she leaned forward to see what was going on below before turning back and seeing Hiccup and Toothless there beside her.

"Oh, gosh Hiccup! Don't do that!"

"Oh, sorry," he replied softly.

"You're alright I guess, just don't do it again. How's that new leg of yours doing?"

It was only his second day with the inhuman leg substitute, and he still couldn't function outside of the saddle with it. "Well, it's, um, alright I guess. I haven't fallen on it today yet."

"You have just woke-up," Astrid giggled looking back at the source of a loud whooshing sound that was associated with the rapid displacement of air.

Hiccup turned around cautiously in his saddle being careful as to not fall from this great height.

"Hiccup, my boy, good morning! You get a good night's rest?" asked his dad coming up from behind him on an orange colored deadly nadder.

"Well, I guess so," Hiccup replied hesitantly in disbelief that his father had come to make peace with a dragon this quickly.

"Good, good," he returned looking from Hiccup to Astrid. "You want to come to the town meeting later this afternoon, Hiccup? I think that it is time that you become a full-fledged man and the final rite of passage is the inclusion in town meetings."

"Well, dad, I guess I would like to. I don't see why not."

"That's my boy! We will need your direct assistance tonight as the topic will concern you tonight. We need to decide what we are to do about the dragons here in the town. Their presence presents many problems in addition of their benefits. I'm sure that you can understand."

"Um, yeah, sure, dad, I'll be there right at dark."

"Good, my boy is finally turning into a great man isn't he, Astrid?"

"Yes, I believe so," Astrid smirked at him.

"Well, I got to take care of some business. I'll talk to you latter son."

"Later, dad," replied Hiccup watching his father as he moved away from him.

Hiccup turned back to Astrid and met her gaze. Nobody was around for this brief second making it the perfect time for Hiccup to confess his feelings. There were millions of things that he wanted to say to her. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. He wanted to tell her everything that he felt about her. He wanted to tell her exactly how he felt, exactly what he wanted to do with his life, everything, but in the end it all was lost into his gut where it never escaped.

"Astrid and Hiccup sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," came a chorus from above as a two headed green mass zoomed across the front of the couple.

"Idiots," Astrid called after them from her dragon's back shaking her head.

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed looking down at them briefly, then back up at her. Once again nothing came from his mouth despite of how much he'd desired to allow it to flow out. He couldn't simply ask her to go with him to the wilderness to find a few dragons that could be mastered, he couldn't tell her what he felt about her, he couldn't tell her anything. It drove him almost to the point of insanity.

Astrid glanced back over at Hiccup from the corner of her eye, "Hiccup, do you want to go on a ride?" she asked.

"Um, sure," he replied shyly, thankful that she'd went ahead and made a move since he evidently couldn't even render a full sentence to her.

A giant beast flew across the vast, untamed ocean with the morning sun at its back. Wind lashed through its face as it raced towards the place where her instinct told her to go: The Island of Berk. Dragons could not survive without a queen, and they were going to get one. From her birth she was trained a call that meant she was to return to this location.

Having hatched and grown to a full size before being sent to the mainland it appeared that the island would remain peaceful to the current queen and this specimen would be allowed to go off and conquer its land of choice. The chances of that happening were now for not. Some sort of trouble had befallen the dragon race there and now it was this dragon that left the hope for the future of Burk's dragon race.

Astrid led the way over top of the trees away from the city. The forest below sprung with life beneath them as it all scattered at the sight of the dragons above. In the distance the trees reached an end and a thin blue strip separated the tree line from the horizon.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Astrid commented looking across her shoulder and over to Hiccup.

"Yeah," Hiccup returned smiling. As much as he wanted to say that it wasn't as beautiful as what she was he couldn't bring it into himself.

Maybe he was doomed to this silence in her presence. Perhaps he was not supposed to be with Astrid in the first place. Only the gods knew that, but he was almost certain that he was condoned to this silence for the rest of his life. It would be such an agonizing death to be so close to the one he desired the most only to be denied by his own bashfulness.

He vowed that he would not live this way. He was going to change something. He had to.

A/N: Thanks for reading. As a decently experienced writer in the "Spyro the Dragon" video game category I decided to take on this endeavor. I do not expect quite as large of an audience here with me being foreign and all, but reviews are highly appreciated and criticism is highly valued.

Thanks for your review in advance, and I hope you'll be back for the next chapter later on this week.

Special thanks to TwinTrouble (Twin2) for returning me some excelent feedback as well as to "Took-Baggins" who did it through P.M. (I'd rather it be in a review, but it really doesn't matter to me). This is now the best work I'm currently capale of. I will get better as I get the newer information down and I can work on other things that I need to fix. Go ahead and tell me everything that is wrong so that I can try and fix it though.

See my Profile Page for further update information (near the top of the page)

Without you none of this is possible,
Cornys

(Text last updated: 5-11-10 17:54 EST.)