There was a dragon in Hiccup's room.

This was nothing out of the ordinary. Over the years, Hiccup had gotten used to being awoken some mornings by an impatient nudge to the head, and flying with Toothless up into the cold morning air.

But it was much too early for that. Squinting into the darkness, Hiccup could see that the sun had only begun to rise. As he took a better look at the dragonby his bedside, Hiccup realized that it was not his dragon at all. It was blue.

"Stormfly?" Hiccup said, groggily. "What are you doing here, girl?" He reached forward to scratch her neck, but the dragon pulled away. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sitting up with a yawn, Hiccup noticed that something was wrong with the dragon. She was agitated, shifting her weight between her feet and ruffling her wings uncomfortably. She cooed unhappily at Hiccup, shoving him with her snout and nearly knocking him off his bed.

"Easy, easy girl" he said, throwing off his blanket and standing to meet the dragon. As he did, he felt something brush up against his leg. Toothless had creptover from the corner where he slept, shifting his large green eyes questioningly from Hiccup to Stormfly. As he met his dragon's gaze, and the drowsiness left his head, Hiccup felt dread hit him like Thor's hammer.

"Stormfly," he said, strain in his voice, "Where's Astrid?"

There was very little light in the room Astrid had been thrown into. She was surrounded by darkness, making the small space feel endless and daunting. The only illumination came from a single shaft of light that squeezed in through the small, boarded up window on the locked door. Astrid had splinters in all of her fingers from trying to pry off those boards earlier, but it was no use. How long ago had that been, an hour? Probably longer.

She slammed her fist against the wall in frustration. She should've known better than to go flying without her axe, much less without telling anyone where she was going. But the skies of Berk were so clear and empty with most of the village off on a fishing trip, and she couldn't resist testing the air before anyone else woke up. Then, without any warning, she'd been grabbed out of the sky and off of Stormfly faster than Astrid was willing to admit. She pounded the wall again, stupid.

The Rothogg Bandits had been at odds with Berk for a while, even before Hiccup found out they were capturing dragons to sell their hides and teeth. She'd helped him put an end to the operation, but obviously the Bandits weren't pleased. That was why they'd captured her, she supposed. The thing about hanging around with Hiccup was that, while there would always be adventure, (which Astrid liked very much) there were also the semi-regular life-threatening situations, (which she was not as fond of.) For example: getting herself stupidly captured by murderous bandits who wanted to lure her boyfriend away from Berk so they could kill him, and then probably her too.

If only she'd waited for Hiccup that morning, at least she would've had some backup. Where was he now, and had he noticed her absence yet? Astrid had gestured madly at Stormfly to return to Berk as she was being carried away, but she couldn't be sure the Bandits hadn't captured the dragon as well. But if Stormfly had managed to make it back home, and Hiccup realized that Astrid had been captured, there would be nothing to stop him from flying right into the Bandit's trap.

Hiccup sped over the open sea, the crisp morning air stinging his eyes through the holes in his helmet. He didn't really notice, he was too full of anger and fear to focus on anything else. He hadn't been sure where Stormfly was leading him at first, but once she turned east over the ocean, there was no doubt that they were headed to Rothogg.

In his gut, he knew it was a trap. It had to be. The Bandits had been looking to get back at him for months now, he should've seen something like this coming with half the village gone. All those he trusted to fight by his side had gone with them. Well, all except one.

It had been so long ago that he'd been an outcast, Berk's resident screw-up. Those memories came back to him now; the feeling of being alone against the world, the knowledge that everyone was cooler and more capable than he was, the worry that he would always disappoint those who he cared about. He had always dreamed of doing something amazing, showing them all that he was a true Viking. Astrid and the others seemed so impressive and capable, judging him every time he walked by. He had never imagined that one day he would be their friend, that he would lead them into battle. And then there was Astrid. For all his guessing and hoping and dreaming, he had never thought that she would feel for him the way he felt for her.

Hiccup gritted his teeth and pushed Stormfly faster.