Change of Heart - Re-written

I wasn't happy at how the first try ended up so I decided to take another shot at it now that I'm not so stressed because I finally got the report card my mom has had for 3 god damn weeks and didn't tell me a thing about it. Glad to say I passed all my classes =)

Anyway don't hold back the critisism if you believe I've done a horrible job. I need to know what I did wrong though, to I can improve it.

This is the only time I'm saying this so pay close attention:

I DO NOT OWN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON!

Astrid was appalled. That scrawny, clumsy, screw up beat her? Hiccup was the one chosen to prove himself a Viking in front of the tribe? It was ridiculous! How could that toothpick manage to beat her! When they first started dragon training he was stumbling around almost as badly as the others were. She kept a level head while he almost got himself killed on the first day! How in the god's sakes had he beaten her?

Yanking her axe out of the tree she was mangling in her anger she growled at the image of the chief's son walking through the woods. Blinking she realized that what she thought was an imaginary Hiccup, really was Hiccup. What was he doing out in the middle of the woods when he should be celebrating his win? And what in Odin's name was he carrying on his back?

Suspicious, she decided to follow him. As she got closer to where he was she noticed how worn down the grass and other debris on the ground looked. So this must be where he always sneaks off to. A few more minutes of following the boy she came to a small area enclosed by rocky cliffs. It looked peaceful enough, no one else around. So who was he talking to?

"We're leaving, let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation, forever." Leaving? Why? Why would he leave after a victory like he achieved, to be considered a Viking in front of the whole tribe? This only made her angrier.

Astrid snuck around behind him and decided to scare him a little for kicks. She hopped onto the boulder he conveniently placed himself in front of and grabbed a small nearby stone, waiting for the right moment to make him notice her.

She saw her opportunity when Hiccup dropped the basket right in front of the boulder, giving her a nice view of both how engrossed Hiccup was in his actions, and what was in the basket. Why does he have a basket full of fish in an enclosed valley with no one around? Who else was here?

Dragging the stone across her axe she almost smirked at how the boy jumped, but she didn't, instead keeping her eyes on her axe.

"Oh! What the...? Uh, uh, what are you doing here?"

Lifting it slightly, to emphasize how big and sharp it was; she finally turned her eyes to him. "I want to know what's going on." Flipping her axe to her other hand she was somewhat satisfied of how afraid he looked, "No one gets as good as you do, especially you. Start talking." Continuing her advance towards him, while he backed away, she didn't give him a chance to stutter an answer. "Are you training with someone? It better not involve this." She grabbed the weird thing he was wearing. A harness? Why was he wearing a harness?

Hiccup looked very, very nervous and afraid. Good, he should be. "I know, this looks really bad but you see, this is uh..."

CRACK

Astrid gasped, grabbing Hiccup she threw him to the ground to shut him up. What was that? Gripping her axe tighter she narrowed her eyes, trying to see into the shadows being cast by the setting sun. She moved closer to the shadows, only slightly listening to Hiccup's lame excuse of making outfits.

Then he took her hand and pressed it to his chest, her heart jumped, but she ignored it for the time being. Get out of my way! She thought angrily as he continued to block her view of behind him after stopping her advance towards the ever growing darkness. So she did the only thing she could think of. Cause him pain. Grabbing his hand she twisted it.

"Oww! Why would you do that?" He whined from where he had fallen from turning his body to prevent her from breaking his wrist.

Before he could get up she stepped on him, knocking him onto his back again. "That's for the lies. And that's..." she dropped the butt of her axe on his stomach, "...for everything else." Her head snapped up when she heard the snarl. Eyes scanning the shadows, she gasped when two large yellow-green eyes stared back. She turned and tackled Hiccup back to the ground, "Get down!" Looking over her shoulder she watched as a...a Night Fury came bounding towards them! "Run!" Rolling off of the boy she stood with her axe raised, ready to lop off the beasts head. But she was thrown to the ground, axe ripped from her grip and flung away by Hiccup. Was he crazy?

Astrid watched, wide-eyed as Hiccup stood between the dragon and her. His arms rose as he called to the furious Night Fury. "No! No! It's okay, she's a friend." Slack jawed she watched as the beast...listened. Falling down from its hind legs it tried to lightly push its way out from behind Hiccup. It didn't try to hurt him at all. Her eyes met Hiccup's," You just scared him."

What? "I scared him?" She shouted, and then paused. "Who is him?" Her eyes darted from the dragon to the boy who was comfortable with his back to it.

"Uhh, Astrid, Toothless, Toothless, Astrid." The last part stated rather sternly towards the hissing dragon.

Astrid shook her head slowly. This...this was crazy! She turned and fled, she had to tell the tribe. Hiccup was known as scrawny, impulsive, and one who didn't listen to instructions but now, she summed it up into one word. Insane. He was insane. She had to get to the tribe before they caught up to her and tell them of Hiccup's new title and how he earned it. Jumping over the log she was suddenly snagged from the back and lifted high into the air.

They caught her.

"Oh great Odin's ghost this is..." Instead of words passing through her lips, a very loud scream did. She yelped when she was dropped ungracefully onto a very, very high tree limb, hanging from it. She started yelling at Hiccup who was, oh dear Odin, who was riding the Night Fury! "Hiccup, get me down from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain." Hiccup tried to reason with her, while his dragon glared at her with its slitted yellow-green eyes.

"I am not listening to anything you have to say!"

"Then I won't speak, just let me show you. Please Astrid."

Astrid turned her eyes towards the ground; there was no way she could get down without serious injury or death; especially since the black dragon was sitting on the tree-top in a way that prevented her from climbing down. This left her only other option.

She gritted her teeth and pulled herself up onto the branch, slapping away the boy's hand, she grabbed the saddle and glared when the dragon growled at her before pulling herself up. "Now get me down."

"Toothless down, gently." Hiccup turned to her with a smile as Toothless spread his wings, "See? Nothing to be afraid of."

Astrid had thought of the many ways she could and probably would die. She knew, like any other, good Viking, that she was expected to grow up to fight dragons and enemy tribes and quite possibly die from either one. It was mostly the dragon part of their life she'd thought she'd die from. A big, heroic, fiery end as she downed the beast with her axe...Not falling to her death a thousand feet in the air off of its back!

The blonde warrior screamed as Toothless shot straight up into the air while clinging to the saddle which she soon realized, as she started to slip backwards, wasn't a good grip. Unthinkingly she wrapped her legs around the nearest stable thing and pulled herself closer, the stable object being Hiccup. She could hear him saying something to the Night Fury, who was doing barrel rolls, flips, loops, even diving into the sea, but didn't pay any mind to it, she was feeling way too queasy to think or hear anything except she was sorry and wanted off this crazy ride before she was sick.

The craziness stopped.

Opening her eyes slowly she was astounded. They were up in the sky, the setting sun coloring the normally white (though mostly gray due to their weather pattern) clouds and blue sky orange with its light. A part of her rolled it's eyes at the corniness of the setting, but that part was a very small voice because the other part of her was too engrossed in this new sense of freedom she had.

Making sure she had nice grip on Hiccup's shoulder she reached up with her free hand and touched a cloud floating just above their heads. Like all Vikings (even those who wouldn't admit it) they were curious as to what clouds were made of. She shivered as she felt water slide down her arms, but grinned. This was, amazing. Reaching up with her other hand she felt the cloud with it as well, resisting the urge to laugh. Who would've thought that while water made things float on the ground, actually floated up here.

Her hands came down to Hiccup's waist as they did a very wide and gentle loop. Breaking through the clouds she saw it was nighttime, and the stars were closer than ever before. Suddenly the sky lit up with more than just stars. A rainbow of colors blended together in a ribbon across the sky, right next to them. Then she saw their home. Berk was always lit up with torches during the night in an attempt to ward off raiding dragons, and fire was nothing special to them but the flames from up here...nothing came to her mind that would truly describe it. Leaning down she wrapped her arms fully around the insane boy and rested her chin on his shoulder. He tensed in surprise, but relaxed a moment later.

What...what was going on with her? Earlier that same day, she wanted nothing to do with the village screw up and now...she wanted everything to do with him. It was a strange, new feeling she never had before...an insane feeling, she thought with an amused smile. Hiccup must've made her insane too, because she never wanted this flight to end. She smiled; Hiccup had remained true to his word. He hadn't said a word, just sat silently and let her be. She knew he was different, everyone did, but she now wanted to know what was different about him. What made him...Hiccup? She realized that he probably wanted an answer from her, but he'd have to break his word to ask her himself.

"All right, I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's amazing. He's amazing." You're amazing. She reached down and patted Toothless' neck, feeling Hiccup's eyes on her she turned to see him smiling goofily, making her heart skip. She smiled back until she remembered something, "So what now? Hiccup you're final exam is tomorrow. You know you're going to have to kill a-" Hiccup shot her a look, understanding she lowered her voice and whispered in his ear, "Kill a dragon."

"Don't remind me." He mumbled. Astrid started to feel sorry that she had mentioned it, even though it was the horrible truth. She thought to apologize but suddenly Toothless jerked them to the right, making them both cry out in surprise. "Toothless what's happening?" Hiccup asked urgently while he dove into the fog they had been flying over. "Whoa what is it?" Toothless let out a small roar and banked to the left, just in time to avoid a collision with a Monstrous Nightmare.

Now is the time to tell me if I:

1. Fail Horribly! =O (insert what you think I did wrong here)

2. Meh, it was okay =I (insert what you think I did wrong here)

3. It was good =) (insert what you think I did wrong here)

4. OMG IT WAS EPIC CUTENESS! =D (why would I say insert what u did wrong if you already think it's epic cuteness?) =S?

5. Somewhat like 4...but less hyper (insert what you think I did wrong here)