After six hours of restless sleep, the sound of something on the roof of his house woke the boy up. He sat up straight, quickly, and looked around the room, rubbing his eyes. His hair stuck out in many different ways, falling into his eyes. It had been a while since he cut it, so it was reaching just beneath his jawline. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck while he stretched. The banging sound on the roof continued. He rolled his eyes and flipped his thin blanket off of him, sliding his feet to the side of the bed and standing. He stumbled forward, catching himself by grabbing the side of his desk near his bed. He groaned, looking down at his feet. He smiled.
Foot.
He had to get used to his prosthetic leg, even if it bugged him a lot. It had been four years since he got it, and he still wouldn't accept it as part of him. He still thought it was just another chunk of bent metal attached to a piece of wood to his leg. But deep down he knew that his leg would never be coming back. The problem was, he was the only one who truly knew the reasons it was gone. Everyone thought it was the accident that caused it, maybe it was caught on something. But the boy knew that what took his leg, saved his life.
Another sound bang came from the roof and the boy groaned. He stepped over to his drawers and pulled out a forest green tunic and a leather belt strap. He had fallen asleep without a shirt on last night, so that might have explained why he was so cold. After the tunic was on, he grabbed a leather vest and pulled it over his head as he walked to the door of his room. His father had already gotten up, and was probably somewhere in the village doing chiefly things, since he was the chief.
The boy grunted as he stood at the door, pulling down his armour from the hook beside the door. He slid his arms through the two shoulder pads and popped his head through the top hole. He reached in front of him and tightened the buckles at the front of his armour. His hand touched the door nob, and he swung the door open, stalking happily outside with his helmet under his arm. He looked around, his house had the best view of the village, so it was easy to tell where everyone was. Especially of he was looking for someone big.
The bang on the roof came again.
"Right." He mumbled to himself and rolled his eyes, turning around to look at the roof. Nothing was there at the front, so he stepped to the side of the house, and sure enough, he found what he was looking for. "There you are, bud." He said, staring up at the roof. A large, black Night Fury dragon jumped off of the roof and stood in front of his, panting like a dog. Around the Night Fury's neck at the top of his spine was a saddle, the one the boy had made.
The Nught Fury growled happily, leaping forward and jumping onto the boy, he licked his face with a big, sloppy, slimy tongue.
"Hey!" The boy yelled as he laughed, pushing the dragon off of him. "We don't have time for this now, okay?" He grabbed the saddle on the dragon to help him stand up, he swung his leg over the dragon, sitting into the saddle. His prosthetic leg clicked into place in the stirrup, his other foot sliding into its pouch on the other side. "Ready?" The boy looked down at his helmet, throwing it to the side. "I think we'll go for a leisure ride this morning." He leaned forward and clicked his prosthetic foot backwards, opening the dragon's prosthetic tail into the take off position. "Go!" He yelled.
The dragon jumped up into the air, spreading it's wings and flapping them. The two soared into the morning sky, lightly flying over Berk. The Night Fury turned around and began a slow spiral down to the village centre. The boy caught a glimpse of another dragon, standing by a house. He knew who's house that was, and he saw one of the inhabitants standing by the dragon. It was a Deadly Nadder. The long tail spikes swirled slowly on the tail as the dragon wagged it.
"Hey!" Hiccup said as he landed with the Night Fury near the house. "You stay here, Toothless." The boy said to the dragon as he walked away to the other person and the Deadly Nadder. "Hey!" He said again, running a hand through his messy hair as he walked towards the two.
"Hiccup?" A voice said from behind the Deadly Nadder. The boy smiled at the sound of his name coming from the persons lips.
"Yeah, it's me." Hiccup said, leaning his weight to one side and crossing his arms across his chest. He grinned, tilting his head. "You gonna show yourself?" He laughed quietly.
"Yeah, sorry." The voice came again. "I was just cleaning Stormfly's tail." Hiccup saw a hand slide down across the tail of the Deadly Nadder dragon. Just then, the hand disappeared and the sound of soft footsteps began to come around the large, yellow and blue dragon. The footsteps stopped as a girl turned around from the back of the dragon. She had blonde hair that was done in a not-very-nicely-done braid down her left shoulder. It almost seemed like she knotted it all the way down. Her bangs hung slightly swooped to the left over the left side of her forehead, covering one blue eye. Right underneath her bangs was a leather band that wrapped all the way around her head. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, making Hiccup sigh.
"Hello, Astrid." Hiccup said quietly, hardly audible to Astrid. She smiled and rolled her eyes walking over to him. She wore a very tight, red shirt that seemed to be just many red ribbons wrapped around her body. Her skirt was made from a layer of a yak hide and over top of that were many strips of oeather, covered in metal spikes. A short, fur cape draped around her shoulders and was attached between her collarbones with two leather straps and a metal circle with a small carved skull in the middle. At this moment she was not wearing her metal shoulder pads, but she was wearing her coiled, leather arm bands that reached from her elbow to her wrist.
"Hiccup, don't blush in front of me." Hiccup heard Astrid speak as she stood at least an inch from him. He hadn't realized he had blushed, but he guessed that thinking about Astrid made him blush. She swung her fist hitting him in the arm. He groaned and grabbed his arm.
"Ow!" He said, smiling down at her. "What was that for?" He rubbed his arm, looking back at her.
"That was for old times sake." She said, grinning as Hiccup frowned, very confused.
He had grown quite a bit in four years, so he was taller than Astrid now. She looked up at him through her thick eyelashes and grabbed the front of his armour. She stood on her tiptoes and yanked his head down to hers, pressing her lips to his, instantly pulling away. Hiccup had a small smile forming at the corners of his mouth as she pulled away, her hand still gripping his armour. She curved her eyebrows inwards as she smiled at him.
"And that was for everything else." Hiccup shook his head at her as she stepped away from him, blowing him a kiss. She began to walk back over to Stromfly when something dark caught Hiccups eye. A black figure sprang for Astrid, knocking her over. Hiccup heard her scream as the thing appeared to be a dragon.
A Night Fury.
"Toothless!" Hiccup ran over to the dragon and pulled him off of Astrid. Astrid's eyes widened as she sat up, gasping for air. Toothless growled low from the throat, staring at Astrid. "Are you okay?" Hiccup pushed Toothless backwards, rushing to Astrid. The Night Fury continued to growl. Astrid coughed and grabbed her chest with her hand as Hiccup sat beside her, holding her.
"Yeah, I-," she coughed again. "I'm fine. Lost my breath. Just help me get up." She reached up and wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck, groaning as he helped her stand, but right as she stood, she fell onto her knees. "Ankle." She muttered under her breath, loud enought for Hiccup to hear her.
"Astrid, I'm so sorry." He said, helping her up again so she leaned onto him.
"No, he's just acting like an overprotective girlfriend." She said, groaning as she limped along with Hiccup. He frowned as he saw the pain she was in.
"Here." Hiccup said as he reached his arms underneath Astrid's knees. He swung her up so he was holding her bridal style as they walked down to Hiccup's house.
Astrid leaned her head against Hiccup's shoulder, "Thanks. But we could have just gone into my house." She sighs.
"Yeah," he rolled his eyes. "Because everyone knows that your parents have good medication in their house." They both giggled, making Astrid blush. "They would have given you a glass of goat milk and said, 'This stuff is from the mountain of Globerdoff! It'll make ya better in no time!'" He said, mimicking the strange accent that every parent had. Astrid wanted to punch him, but when she was like this, she didn't dare.
"That's a great way to get a girl to like you." A voice came from beside them, they both turned their heads. A boy stood there, leaning against a house. The smirk on his face was devilish.
"Go away, Snotlout." Hiccup frowned at the boy. He had been trying to get Astrid to like him for years, and he envied Hiccup because he liked her too. Even if everyone in the village knew that the chief's son was in love with Astrid Hofferson.
"Yeah," Snotlout said, ignoring Hiccup's words. "Getting your Night Fury to attack a girl is definitely gonna get her to like you." He walked over to them, staring at Astrid in his arms. He smiled at her. "Hey babe, what's goin' on?" He said, brushing his hair out of his face. Astrid looked away from him, nudging her face into Hiccup's shoulder. Snotlout grunted and rolled his eyes.
"Go away." Astrid muttered angrily to Snotlout into Hiccup's shirt. Snotlout stepped closer to Astrid and Hiccup, he didn't seem his normal self today, he had never actually tried to get near to Astrid, only persuade her creepily to get near to him.
"Why would I do that?" He reached his hand out to touch her but Hiccup moved away.
"Snotlout, what's gotten into you." Hiccup stared at Snotlout, his eyes seemed to be glowing, but Hiccup stared at them. They were glowing, and Hiccup knew it had something to do with his behaviour. Then he saw something else, on the side of his neck. There were two puncture marks. "We're leaving. See you at lunch." He quickly walked away from the smirking Snotlout, Astrid in his arms.
"What was that about?" Astrid muttered as they reached Hiccup's house. "Was he okay?" Hiccup didn't know what to say, so he told her the truth.
"His eyes were glowing and there were puncture marks on his neck." He nudged open the door to his house and walked in, the door closing behind him as he set Astrid down. They both walked over to the nearest bed, which was Hiccup's. Astrid sat up against the wall, sitting on the bed. Her foot was aching badly now.
"So?" She began. "What do you think might have happened?" She asked Hiccup.
"I'm not sure," Hiccup walked over to the kitchen, his prosthetic foot clumping along.
"But I think it might be dragon related. I remember something from the Book of Dragons. It said something about hypnotizing it's victims."
"Changewing." Astrid said, Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks as he began to return to Astrid with a small brick of ice.
"A Changewing?" He said, shaking his head and walking over to place the ice at Astrid's foot. He looked up at her. "What would a Changewing want with Snotlout?"
"Don't ask me!" Astrid frowned, looking at Hiccup. "Thank you." She whispered as he stood up from her foot. He looked down at her as she looked up at him, smiling.
"What?" He asked, giggling lightly. She continued to stare at him. "What's wrong?" He said again, shrugging.
"Nothings's wrong." Astrid retorted, making Hiccup's eyes widen. She then let her head fall backwards, leaning it against the wall and closing her eyes.
"Hey." Hiccup moved over to pull up a chair beside the bed, he looked at her questioningly. "Look at me." He said softly. She opened her eyes and let her head fall to the side, looking at Hiccup loosely.
"Yesterday I saw Snotlout walking back from the forest, he didn't have Hookfang with him." She closed her eyes again. "I asked him if he was okay, and" Hiccup began, but he was cut off by Astrid pulling him towards her. She had always been stronger than him, but he had grown. But she could still push him around. As she pulled him down, he braced himself on the bed with his hands, it was lucky he had both, because he would have crushed her. He stared down at her as she placed both hands around his neck, pulling him down to her. As his lips touched hers, Astrid felt herself completely melt. Hiccup placed a hand on her side as she continued to kiss him.
The door to the house bursted open.
"Hiccup!" A booming voice rung through the room, making Astrid quickly let go of Hiccup's neck and Hiccup fall backwards. Astrid instantly let her head fall back onto the wall. "Boy! Where are you!" The sound of the chief's voice made Hiccup stand up straight. He rushed to his dad and stood in front of him.
"Yeah dad?" Hiccup said in his normal, childish voice, althought it had gotten lower in the past four years. A large hand came down on his shoulder, almost knocking him off balance. The chief, his dad, laughed.
"I was just makin' sure ya was here, boy." Stoick stumbled his way over to the kitchen, sitting down in his large, wooden seat.
"So, uh, dad." Hiccup began, looking over at Astrid as his dad let out a large, long burp. When he was finished, Hiccup sighed, crunching his eyes closed as his fists tightened. He stifled a gag at the smell but still continued. "Dad, we have company." He pointed to Astrid, who was blushing fiercely, and lowered his head. Stoick instantly went red aswell, his eyes wide. He scratched the back of his head.
"Well, uh, I didn't, well," he stammered. He sighed, looking over at Astrid lying down in Hiccup's bed. "Astrid, dear. How are ya this fine mornin'?" He asked her, slightly blushing.
"I'm well, chief." She said quietly as she smiled, her eyes drifted to Hiccup, who, in fact, was staring at her the whole time. When their eyes met, they both looked back to Stoick.
"Astrid, call me Stoick, it'd be better like that." He smiled at her as she nodded.
"Sure thing, Stoick." Just as she said that, a knock came at the door.
"Stoick! We need ya here out in the village square!" The voice was unmistakably Gobber's. Stoick was up like a flash, and out of the house in the same amount of time, without a word. Hiccup scratched the back of his neck, turning to Astrid.
"What was that about?" He said, smiling his odd smile that also made Astrid's heart melt. He walked back over to her, his prosthetic leg squeaking as he did. When he sat down at the end of the bed, he sighed when he saw the stain of water near Astrid's foot.
"What was what about?" Astrid shifted to a more comfortable position, leaning forward and looking up at Hiccup with her big, blue eyes.
"You know, uh," Hiccup stuttered, running his fingers through his hair. "before my dad barged in?" He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at her.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Astrid said sarcastically, grinning as she shrugged.
"You kissed me, and there was no punching me before it," he swung his fist in front of him, trying to mimick the way she punches him in the shoulder. "or telling me what it was for."
Astrid smiled and giggled, sighing as she shook her head. "You mean like this?" Before Hiccup could even answer, Astrid grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled her mouth to his, making Hiccup's eyes widen. Even if Astrid's eyes were closed, she could still sense that Hiccup was surprised. "Surprise!" She said, pulling away and shaking her hands beside her head. Hiccup bowed his head, shaking it, and smiled.
"I don't know if I would just call that a surprise, maybe a surprise attack." He said, still looking at the floor. He tapped his good foot on the wooden boards. The room went silent as Hiccup's cheeks went red.
"Don't you have something to do?" Astrid said, breaking the silence as she poked his arm. Hiccup's head instantly shot upwards, looking at her.
"What? Oh! Yeah, uh, I'd better get going, uh, I'll," he stood up, walking backwards to the door. "be back, you stay here, okay?" He smiled as he opened the door, standing by it as Astrid waved at him. When he shut it behind him, he sighed, leaning against the wooden frame. "Good gods, Hiccup, get it together." He said, mentally punching himself as he walked away, heading off towards Snotlout's house. He needed to figure out why that other boy was acting weird earlier, for he knew that it was anything but good. Changwings are good at hiding, but they haven't been spotted on Berk since three years ago. That was when Hiccup and the gang had their first encounter with a Changewing, and also learned that their eggs aren't good fortune rocks.