Chapter One: Where did They Go?

This is Berk, boasting the balmy fun-in-the-sun climate that'll give you frostbite on your spleen. The one upside is our annual holiday – we call it Snoggletog. Why we chose such a stupid name remains a mystery, but with the war long over and dragons living among us, this year's Snoggletog promises to be one to remember.

A young blonde Viking girl was curled up asleep in her wooden bed. Her peaceful slumber was interrupted by the sound of something jumping on the roof. Groggily opening one eye, the girl pulled the covers over her head, praying that whatever it was making the noise would realise that she needed a few extra hours sleep.

"Astrid!" a muffled voice from the next room grumbled. "Can you shut that dragon up? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"So am I!" the girl called back sleepily.

BANG!

"Astrid, I swear, if you don't shut that reptile up I'm rearranging your good leg."

"Mmm..."

CRASH!

"ASTRID!"

The noise and the shouting persisted, so the girl finally gave in and fumbled around for a brightly coloured amulet on her bedside table.

"Okay, okay, okay," she yawned. "I'm going...I'm coming." Swinging her...right foot and left prosthetic leg out of bed, Astrid Hofferson trudged outside, half asleep, into the winter morning to see her best friend roosting on the roof. "Well, good morning, Mr Bossy," she greeted. Toothless was Astrid's Night Fury – and she was as much his human – and her best friend ever since she'd shot him down in a dragon raid a month ago and lost him his left tail fin...yeah, while it didn't sound like the best foundation of a friendship, that was how it all started for these two.

Toothless made a small rumbling noise with his throat which always made Astrid smile. She imitated him as she walked round the side of the house which she had lived in with Berk's leading family – the Haddocks – ever since her parents were killed in a dragon raid and she'd become betrothed to the heir of the Hooligan tribe, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. She used to hate her life, but since Toothless arrived, she couldn't be happier, especially as the guy to whom she'd been engaged to her whole life actually liked her now.

"You always have to wake me up so early to go fly...ING!" Astrid yelped, skidding on a patch of ice that had formed outside a few days ago and almost doing the splits as she fell. During the battle with the Red Death, Astrid had lost her left leg and it only hindered her walking further than usual in the winter. Thankfully, Toothless shot under Astrid to catch her before she could hit the ground. "Stupid leg..." she muttered. Toothless growled again sympathetically. "No thanks, buddy, it's okay. Yeah, we can go flying now," Astrid smiled before Toothless suddenly burped in her face.

"Eww...eww! What?! Eww!" she spluttered as she tried to breathe in some air that didn't stink of fish. "Toothless!"

/\

Within minutes, Astrid and Toothless were high in the clouds, practising a new set of tricks they'd been working on.

"Come on! Let's see what you've got today!" Astrid crowed, leading the Night Fury into a nose dive. An outcrop was approaching so Astrid prepared for a trick that she and Toothless had been perfecting for weeks.

"Okay, are you ready?" she grinned, slipping her prosthetic leg out of the stirrup and standing upright on the saddle. "Easy..." As they reached the outcrop, Astrid jumped over it, landed on Toothless on the other side, and clicked her prosthetic foot back into the stirrup and the two continued flying.

"YES! Finally!"

/\

"Here?" a Viking woman called from her Gronkle whilst holding a Snoggletog decoration.

"No, that one just a wee bit higher!" Gobber the Belch called from the ground. "Yes! That's the spot!" A small child dressed as a Gronkle roared at Meatlug, Fishlegs' Gronkle. The dragon roared back and the child raced away laughing.

"Atta boy, Meatlug," Fishlegs smiled. Nearby, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was also putting up decorations with the help of his Deadly Nadder – a female named Stormfly.

"Ready, girl?" he called, balancing three shields in his arms. Stormfly nodded so Hiccup tossed the shields in the air. Stormfly whipped her tail spikes out and used them to pin the shields to a large wooden fir-tree that had been built the previous day. Just then, Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast, walked in.

"Odin's beard, Gobber," he smiled. "Vikings spending the winter holiday with dragons – what would our fathers say?"

"They'd think we'd lost our minds," Gobber replied, equally jokingly.

"Well, done! Well done," Stoick congratulated the village. "I never thought I'd live to see the day," Stoick sighed. "Peace on the island of Berk. This will surely be the greatest holiday we've ever seen." Suddenly, a roar sounded from above. All the Vikings glanced upwards to see a whole flock of dragons flying out to sea. Hiccup was standing by Stormfly when her pupils narrowed into slits.

"What in Thor's name...?" Gobber gasped. On a nearby rooftop, Snotlout Jorgenson's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, roared and took to the skies, leaving Snotlout hanging onto a beam.

"Come back – what're you doing?!" he yelled.

"Meatlug!" Fishlegs cried, racing off to find his dragon. Hiccup glanced around.

"Where's Astrid?" he muttered. If anyone could figure what the dragons were doing, it was his fiancée.

/\

"What do you say, pal?" Astrid grinned. "Want to go again?" Her thoughts were interrupted when she and Toothless flew into a flock of dragons. Astrid raised her arm to protect her head when a Monstrous Nightmare that looked suspiciously like Hookfang caught her armlet, causing it to fall off. "Oh, no – my armlet!" Toothless sensed his rider's distress and went into a nose dive. The armlet had once belonged to Astrid's mother so it was very important to her, even if it was made from the scales of an ex-Deadly Nadder.

"WHOA!" Astrid screamed. "No, no, no, no, no, no! Whoa, wait! Toothless – stop," she panted, brining the Night Fury to a halt just before they hit the waves. "We'll get it later, bud. We need to get back and find out what's going on." Reluctantly, Toothless headed back to Berk.

Back on the island, dragons were taking off from rooftops, the Plaza and anywhere else a villager could name. Vikings struggled in vain to hold their dragons back but the reptiles just flew off without explanation.

"No, no, no! Don't leave, Stormfly – don't go!" Hiccup pleaded to his dragon. Stormfly turned a blind eye on him and took off without even glancing back. "Please..." At that moment, Astrid landed.

"Hiccup!" she called, racing over. Hiccup came over to meet his girlfriend.

"Astrid – what's going on? Where're they going?" he asked. Astrid didn't have to speak as the entire village raced over.

"Why did they leave?"

"What's happening?"

"What if they never come back?"

"Stop! Wait!" Astrid cried. Thankfully, Stoick intervened.

"Calm down! Give her a chance to speak!" he roared. "Astrid, where are our dragons going?" Astrid was at a loss for words.

"Stoick, I don't know," she murmured. Turning back to the dragons flying over the ocean, she spotted Toothless seemingly talking to Stormfly. In the end, the Deadly Nadder flew away, leaving Toothless on the cliff gazing sadly after the others.

/\

"Where did they go?"

"Snoggletog is ruined..."

"It's not ruined!" Stoick sighed in the Meade Hall that evening. "We're Vikings! We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations and there is no reason that we can't do it again! Now we don't know where they've gone off to but we have to have faith that they'll be back again soon," he explained. "Am I right?"

"That's right!" Gobber agreed. "We are Vikings – we are tough!" The village made a face at his Snoggletog get-up. "Most of the time." The teens sighed in the corner. Of everyone in the village, they had the closest bonds with their dragons. As Gobber made a suggestion to sing Snoggletog songs, they slipped out of the hall and headed home.

"That was depressing," Ruffnut Thorston groaned.

"I know. I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly," Hiccup agreed. Astrid grimaced next to him – just like Toothless had made a habit of waking her up by jumping on the roof, Stormfly always woke Hiccup up in the mornings by poking her head through his window so that she was the first thing he would see. Hiccup had gotten used to it and looked forward to it – his bond with Stormfly was almost, if not as close as the one between Astrid and Toothless. Tuffnut suddenly caught note of Fishlegs whistling merrily next to him.

"What are you so happy about?" he snapped. "Don't you miss Meatlug?" Fishlegs started.

"Oh...yeah," he sniffed. "I miss him so much. Well, good night." He scuttled off. Hiccup's face lit up.

"I've got an idea," he grinned. "Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions. You know, to bury the sadness." The teens made faces. Not wanting to bear the brunt of her boyfriend's anger (this happened whenever he had an idea that was rejected), Astrid shrugged. He did have a point (not to mention he was giving her one of his looks - namely the raised eyebrow look).

"Actually, Hiccup could be onto something," she shrugged. Hiccup grinned at her but Tuffnut snorted.

"Easy for you to say," he huffed. "Your dragon can't go anywhere without you," he added scornfully, indicating Toothless who was sitting on a cliff nearby. Astrid spotted him and her heart sank. Tuffnut was right.

"Must be nice," Ruffnut muttered. The teens headed off home but Tuffnut's comment had got Astrid thinking – it was her fault that Toothless was stranded and couldn't fly without a rider. Now he couldn't be a normal dragon and go where his friends went. Maybe there was a way she could remedy that...


AHHH! I meant to post this yesterday! I've got schoolwork on the brain...two more weeks...two more weeks...

Anyway, time for this year's Christmas/Snoggletog Special! I'll be updating every week on Thursdays with this one on the lead-up to Christmas like I did with A Family's Gift last year.