Author's Note: To give this story a better flow and more consistency, I am combining some of the chapters! Not to worry though, the next new chapter is on it's way :)
Stretching in his bed, Snotlout sighed before getting up. It was still dark outside and normally he'd still be fast asleep but Hiccup had assigned him to take the early morning patrol shift. Groaning, Snotlout shuffled towards the door and down to the stables. Gods, if only there was some sort of drink that would just magically wake him up.
"Come on Hookfang, it's time for patrol duty," Snotlout yawned. A flap of wings answered him.
"Hookie… don't do this to me! Hiccup will kill us if we miss another patrol shift," Snotlout whined. Snorting slightly, Hookfang clambered out of his pen and begrudgingly allowed Snotlout to mount up.
Flying around the island, Snotlout had to admit that the crisp morning air woke him up and it was kind of nice to be alone, with no one ordering him around. Of course, Snotlout would never tell anyone this but still, it was pretty nice. The water lapped peacefully at the sandy shores below and the sun was just starting to peek out over the horizon, turning the sky wonderful shades of red and orange. As Snotlout flew past a secluded sea stack, he felt a slight pang of longing.
"Oh shut up Snotlout! Get over it," he mumbled to himself. Hookfang cocked his head to the side and even though Snotlout couldn't see his dragon's expression, he could take a pretty good guess at what the Monstrous Nightmare was thinking.
"No! I am not talking about it!" Snotlout crossed his arms defiantly. Hookfang gave a low growl.
"No Hookfang! I do not want to talk about it!" Doing what Monstrous Nightmares do best, Hookfang proceeded to set himself on fire.
"Okay okay Hookfang you win! I'll talk about it," Snotlout shrieked.
"Talk about what, Snotlout," Astrid asked in a slightly teasing voice as she flew up beside him.
"Don't sneak up on me like that! Also shut up Astrid," Snotlout yelled before flying away, still aflame.
"What a muttonhead," Astrid muttered to herself before starting the final morning patrol shift.
A couple of hours later, Astrid stood in the hard packed dirt arena with the other riders, facing Hiccup, who was going over their drill for the day.
"Alright everyone! Today's training exercise is just going over basic formations," Hiccup started to explain before he was cut off by a loud groan from the twins.
"H… why do we have to do the stuff we already know how to do," Tuffnut groaned.
"Yeah why do we do we have to do this?" Ruffnut rolled her eyes.
"Guys… to be frank we're all a bit sloppy on these formations and if we don't clean them up, we increase our risk of being caught."
"All of us are sloppy?" Astrid arched an eyebrow.
"Okay well most of us-" Hiccup began.
"Why does Astrid get special treatment," Ruffnut whined, crossing her arms.
"Ugh," Hiccup facepalmed.
"Hey does anyone know where Snotlout is," Fishlegs asked, trying to get the twins onto another subject.
"That's actually a very good question Fishlegs! Where is Snotlout," Hiccup wondered.
"I saw him on the early morning patrol, which was weird because he usually sleeps through those shifts," Astrid said.
"And…? Did he mention where he was going?" Hiccup looked at Astrid expectantly.
"No, but he flew off on Hookfang, mumbling about not wanting to talk about something…" Astrid trailed off thoughtfully.
"Well… we could go look for him or wait for him to come back…" Fishlegs suggested half-heartedly.
"Fishlegs, I really don't think either of those are a good idea. Snotlout probably wants to be alone right now and who knows how long we could be waiting for him," Hiccup said gently.
"You know you're probably right," Fishlegs replied with a sigh of relief.
"So what, we're just going to do formation training with only four dragons," Astrid asked in slight disbelief.
"Look we need to practice formations where we don't have all our members. What if someone's been captured or their dragon got hit by a dragon root arrow?"
"Alright Hiccup but you'd better not let Snotlout off the hook for just disappearing like that," Astrid grumbled.
"I'll talk to him, I promise." And with that, the five dragon riders flew off into the sky.
Meanwhile, Snotlout had flown off to a small island just off the coast of Dragon's Edge. Running his fingers in an aimless pattern through the sand, Snotlout stared listlessly into the water. Hookfang nudged his rider in the shoulder but the young viking just shrugged him off. Too many thoughts were racing through Snotlout's head and trying to sort through them just made everything worse.
"Why me Hookfang?" Snotlout jabbed angrily at the sand he was tracing patterns in. Hookfang just rumbled and nudged his rider again.
"I just…" Snotlout trailed off, trudging down memory lane.
The fire roared merrily in the hearth and Snotlout eagerly warmed his hands by the flames. Outside the storm raged on with rain pounding against the door and thunder booming overhead. Reaching for his stuffed yak, Yakkity, Snotlout snuggled into his blanket and tried to ignore the thunder. An especially loud clap echoed throughout the village and Snotlout jumped in fright. Clutching his blanket and his beloved Yakkity, Snotlout ran to his dad, whimpering in fright.
"What're ya doin, boy-o? A Jorgenson never cries!"
"B-but daddy… the thunder is scary," Snotlout sniffled.
"Well boy-o, yer gonna hafta toughen up! Yer probably the only eight-yer old afraid of a bit a thunder!" Spitelout chuckled heartily before walking away.
A few years later, Snotlout was coming home from a long day of Dragon Training. His bones ached, his muscles ached, even his teeth ached! Gobber had them practicing combat moves all day long and Astrid had taken it as an opportunity to kick his butt multiple times. She'd knocked him down so many times that Snotlout couldn't even count them all.
Taking a seat at the roughly cut wooden table, Snotlout pulled out some dried berries and munched on them. Hopefully his mom would cook up some of her famous yak chops and then he could go straight to bed. Reaching for more berries, Snotlout was about to pop them in his mouth when Spitelout came lumbering through the door.
"Boy-o! Make a good impression in Dragon Training?"
"Yeah dad of cour-"
"You'd better boy-o! Ain't no Jorgenson failing Dragon Training! You won't be able to bring home a wife if ya can't kill a dragon!"
"Okay dad," Snotlout mumbled, his eyes downcast.
"Since then, he's always been pressuring me to get a beautiful wife and have grandbabies," Snotlout muttered to himself. Hookfang looked at his rider sympathetically and nuzzled his shoulder.
"Thanks Hookie…" Snotlout snuggled into his dragon's side and promptly fell asleep.
Hours later Snotlout woke to the sound of the ocean waves lapping lazily at the sandy shore. He panicked slightly when he realized that he wasn't in his hut on Dragon's Edge but then the memories of yesterday came crashing back and the young viking remembered exactly where he was and how he got there. Oh gods, Hiccup was going to kill him when he got back! Snotlout quickly got up and went to wake up his dragon.
"Hookfang," Snotlout hissed. A grunt answered him.
"Hookfang come on! We need to get back to the Edge!" Hookfang narrowed his eyes in annoyance before getting up and allowing his rider to jump on to his back. As soon as Snotlout was in the saddle the pair took off for the Edge.
"Guys…? Hello? Where is everyone," Snotlout wondered as he and Hookfang laned in front of the club house.
"They're all out looking for you," Hiccup stated dryly as he emerged from the shadows.
"Well… shut up Hiccup!"
"Snotlout, what in the name of Thor were you doing?! You could have been killed! Dagur or Viggo could have captured you! Of all the irresponsible -"
"Look Hiccup I just had some things to work out, okay," Snotlout snapped before hopping back on Hookfang and flying away to his own hut.
"Well that was completely… wonderful," Hiccup mumbled sarcastically.
"Hiccup, there's no sign of him anywhere," Astrid announced as she and the other riders landed in front of the club house, missing Snotlout and Hookfang by a matter of seconds.
"Yeah we searched everywhere," Fishlegs added worriedly.
"Oh Snotlout's here alright. He flew in just before you guys did," Hiccup said.
"So you're just going to let him off the hook for missing drills and scaring us all half to death?" Astrid gave Hiccup an expectant look.
"I'll talk to him later. He's clearly going through something and I think he needs a little time to cool down," Hiccup replied.
"Or maybe you just need a woman's touch of tact," Heather chuckled.
"What?! I have tact," Hiccup yelled in mock outrage.
"Uh H, hate to break it to you but you definitely do not have.. Tact. Whatever that is," Tuffnut said. Hiccup responded with a facepalm.
"Hiccup… if you've already tried talking to Snotlout, maybe Heather and I should go," Astrid suggested.
"Okay… just be careful."
"Hiccup he's Snotlout. It's like being threatened by a cupcake," Heather laughed.
"It's not that. We don't want him flying off like that again. With Dagur and Viggo out there… Snotlout could be captured and seriously hurt if he's not careful," Hiccup explained.
"Alright, we'll be careful," Heather promised before she and Astrid left in the direction of Snotlout's hut.
"You know H… if the group continues like this, we could become totally fractured. No bueno," Tuffnut pointed out.
"My brother's right. We Thorstans are experts in fractured groups. I remember when great Uncle -"
"Ruff, Tuff, really not helping!" Fishlegs spoke up in defense of his best friend.
"No Fishlegs, they're completely right."
"We are? Wow!" Tuffnut sounded amazed at his ability to be right at anything.
"You are. If the group becomes fractured…." Hiccup's voice trailed off sadly.
"It could take years to rebuild," Fishlegs finished Hiccup's thought.
"No bueno at all," Tuffnut exclaimed!
Knock knock knock. Snotlout opened the door of his hut to find Heather and Astrid standing there, looking concerned. Without even thinking, Snotlout gestured for them to come in. In all the time they'd been on the Edge, this was a first. Usually if Astrid showed up at his hut, it was to thoroughly kick his butt (usually for borrowing her axe to clean between Hookfang's claws). Sitting down on his bed, Snotlout stared at his boots. There was only one reason that Astrid and Heather would be in his hut, looking like someone died…
"Snotlout, what in the name of Thor is going on," Astrid demanded.
"What she means is, 'Snotlout, what's wrong?" Heather spoke in a far gentler tone.
"Right… I'm sorry Snotlout. I'm just really worried about you," Astrid apologized.
"I…. just…" Snotlout mumbled to the floor.
"Come on Snotlout, you can tell us." Snotlout looked up, surprised by the sincerity in Astrid's tone.
"She's right Snotlout. We really are worried about you." Heather sat down next Snotlout, hoping to help him voice what was bothering him.
"Fine! I'm in love with….. Someone!"
"…That's what you're so upset about," Astrid asked incredulously. Snotlout looked at her with eyes that were pools of blue hurt.
"Snotlout, who is it? She must be pretty important to you if you're this worked up about it," Heather said with a glare at Astrid.
"It's… not... mtgttgkg," Snotlout muttered, his eyes returning to his boots.
"Sorry Snotlout, didn't catch that last bit," Heather said cheerfully, trying to uplift her friend's dejected mood.
"Look, I don't want to talk about it!"
"Snotlout we're going to find out eventually," Astrid pointed out calmly.
"Shut up Astrid!"
"Astrid we should probably go," Heather said. Nodding, Astrid followed her friend out the door.
"Thank Thor they're gone," Snotlout muttered as he flopped back on his bed.
"Weird about Snotlout, don't you think Astrid," Heather asked in their shared hut.
"Yeah… he's usually trying to hit on anyone and everyone. You think that if he was in love, we'd never heard the end of how amazing his girlfriend was," Astrid mused.
"Maybe his love is unrequited," Heather joked. Astrid was about to answer when there was a knock at the door. She jumped up to answer it and found Fishlegs and Hiccup standing in the entrance. She stepped aside to let them in and then returned to her bed.
"How's Snotlout," Hiccup wanted to know.
"You're not going to believe this but…" Astrid began.
"He's in love with someone," Heather finished.
"WHAT?!" Hiccup and Fishlegs yelled in unison.
"Like I said, it's pretty hard to believe," Astrid said.
"Snotlout in love… that's a strange thought…" Hiccup trailed off into silence.
"Maybe we should try to figure out who it is and… help them get together? Maybe then Snotlout would stop acting so reckless," Fishlegs suggested.
"Fishlegs are you suggesting that we help Snotlout get a girlfriend?!" Astrid was trying not to laugh.
"You know that's not a bad idea Fishlegs! If we can help Snotlout, then hopefully we won't have to worry about him flying off and accidentally getting captured by Dagur and Viggo!" Hiccup was warming to the idea.
"You all make excellent points but when Astrid and I went to talk to Snotlout, he was pretty insistent about not telling us who he was in love with. Plus, as much as I hate to admit it, Snotlout is a good warrior. He's not as reckless as the twins and even they've only been captured a couple of times," Heather pointed out.
"So you're saying that we should let Snotlout work this out on his own and trust him to not get captured or hurt or do anything stupid," Fishlegs asked, slightly incredulously.
"Yes," Heather answered.
"Hmmm.." Hiccup was pacing up and down the length of the room.
"Hiccup what are you thinking?" Astrid looked at her friend in concern.
"We should leave Snotlout to work out his own feelings but also let him know that we're here if he needs us. We're a team, remember? We all have each others' backs!" Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Snotlout was tossing and turning in his bed. After staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, he'd finally fallen into a fitful daze that only kind of counted as sleep. His dreams, if you could even call them that, were strange and hazy. Snotlout couldn't make out anything except the face of Fishlegs. Then he dissolved, only to be replaced the faces of the rest of the riders. Snotlout couldn't make out what they were saying but from the way they pointed, he assumed that they were talking about him. Then the faces dissolved once more and Snotlout was left in total darkness.