Hey guys. I just want to let you know now that I'm not going to post chapter 3 until September 12 or 13. After I release chapter 3 it will be on a biweekly schedule on either Wednesdays or Thursdays, depending on when I release chapter 3.

In the meantime: enjoy!


CHAPTER 2: THE WOODS


Hiccup opened his eyes begrudgingly, wanting to know why he was waking up so early. "Nnngg," he groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Astrid giggled at his morning slowness. Hiccup's eyes popped open at the sound, having forgotten the previous night's events.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Astrid doted cheerfully, beginning to get up.

"Good morning," Hiccup replied in a low, tired mumble.

Astrid was now digging vigorously through the pack.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup questioned, propping himself up on his elbows trying desperately not to fall asleep again.

"Oh, nothing." A mischievous grin glued itself on her face.

"That sure doesn't look like nothi-" he started before being interrupted by a sudden splash of cold water.

Hiccup bolted up almost instantaneously, gasping from the sudden burst of cold now surging through his body. Toothless, now awake because of the commotion, looked at the two of them curiously. Astrid was giggling at the face that the now-fully-awake Hiccup was making.

An idea began to form in his mind. "Well, I guess you got me," he said in his usual sarcastic tone. He started to get up, Astrid still laughing. He shook his head violently, sending water droplets through the air; foreshadowing what he did next. He turned toward Astrid and darted towards her faster than he thought he could.

"Ah!" she screamed, running away from him knowing that he was trying to get her wet.

"Oh no you don't!" he yelled playfully, chasing her into the woods.

Toothless watched as Hiccup chased Astrid back and forth and through the woods, not understanding their new game. He watched them until they ran out of his sight and he laid back down.

Hiccup continued to chase Astrid, both laughing at the fun they were having, until he tripped on his prosthesis. Astrid ran back to him hoping that he had not hurt himself. She held out a hand to help him up, but that was a mistake.

"Hah!" Hiccup half grunted, half yelled as he used her hand to pull himself up and pounce on her.

"H-h-hey," she said, barely holding back her laughter enough to say that.

They both laughed hysterically as they rolled over each other down a large hill. As they got up and brushed themselves off, the laughter beginning to subside now, Astrid realized something.

"Hiccup?" Astrid called out to him, sounding very concerned. "Where are we?"


Toothless drifted back to sleep as they left. He awoke a few hours later; to his surprise, neither Hiccup nor Astrid were anywhere in sight.

He went over to the still-soundly-sleeping Fishlegs and Meatlug. Toothless, now very worried, nudged Fishlegs. The boy woke with a rather large yawn, while Meatlug slept on.

"What's the matter, Toothless?" Fishlegs asked, wondering why he woke him.

Toothless let out a low, rumbling moan and looked back where Astrid's sleeping roll still lay.

Fishlegs looked around for a moment before realising that hiccup and Astrid were gone.

"Wha-whe - Toothless, did you see which way they went?!"

Toothless pointed his head towards the part of the woods he last saw them run into, but he was afraid that they may have derailed from the straight path he was assuming they took.

Fishlegs set off into the woods with Toothless following shortly behind. Meatlug, being the lazy dragon she was, slept soundly at the camp.


Hiccup leafed through his journal, frantically looking for the map he had drawn of the area when they first decided to camp there. At last he found it, but his hopes soon dwindled. He did not recognize the area at all; he did not see the hill they had rolled down.

"Astrid," he could not bear what he was saying, "I have no idea where we are."

"Just think for a minute," she could not give up, not yet. "We came down that hill, so obviously we should go back up. And we couldn't have gone too far; we weren't running that fast and we've only been gone for a couple hours, most of it was spent right here trying to figure out where we are. If we just . . ."

"Astrid," he called out.

". . . go back in the direction we came from, then . . ." she continued, either not hearing or ignoring him.

"Astrid," louder this time.

". . . eventually, we should . . ." she rambled on.

"Astrid!" almost screaming now.

"What?!" she yelled, her voice cracking slightly.

Hiccup thought he could see tears swelling in her eyes. "Astrid," he said comfortingly, grabbing her firmly by the shoulders, "it's going to be all right. We'll find our way back. I know we will."

Astrid broke down at this and hugged him tightly. "But what if we don't?" she asked between bursts of tears. "What if we never get to see Berk or any of our friends or family again."

"That's not going to happen; I won't let it happen," he reassured her, but, in reality, he was beginning to doubt it himself.

The two of them climbed the hill and looked into the woods. Hiccup could see where they had left some tracks, but he knew they wouldn't continue very far.

They went back into the woods, following their tracks as far as they could until they stopped. They looked around at the surrounding area. Astrid thought she could remember it, but it was very vague. They were surrounded on all sides by sparingly placed trees and thickets of brambles, berry bushes, and other shrubbery.

They could see the remnants of woodland life, but no signs of themselves. They began to wonder if they had taken a wrong turn. The trees continued on for as long as they could see, and no paths or creeks seemed to lead out of the area. The duo ventured on for a while longer before Astrid plunked herself down on a rotting log.

"Hiccup, what are we going to do?"

"The only thing we can: keep going until we see something familiar or find a way to get out of these woods."

Astrid sighed and let herself roll onto the ground. She had given up.

"Astrid, it's going to be alright. We'll find our way out of the woods and we'll see our families again."

Unbeknownst to them, they were not only going deeper into uncharted woods; they were being followed. They were being watched. They were being studied.


I just want to ask: would you guys rather it be formatted as a modern novel or how it is? Please review.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I affiliated with How to Train Your Dragon or DreamWorks Animation SKG®