"Hiccup? What do you think?" Fishlegs questioned, observing the note. "I don't know Fishlegs." Hiccup replied.
"Obviously It's Hiccup's turn." Tuffnut stated in a matter of fact way. "Hiccup's turn for what?" Ruffnut asked. "Why to attack! My dear sister!" Tuffnut answered.
"Attack who Tuff? We don't know who it was!" Astrid said frustrated. "Was I talking to you A?" Tuffnut said shaking his head at Astrid, who just crossed her arms.
"Guys, We are not attacking." Hiccup stated calmly. "We know nothing about what just happened, except that we apparently have new enemies." He added.
"Or old ones." Snoutlout said. "Yes or old ones." Hiccup agreed.
A Council member had walked up to the group while they were 'arguing' and waited till they were done to speak.
"Chief, Two houses are burned to the ground, and we lost the all our food supply. One of the fireballs hit the supply hut." He stated.
Hiccup groaned and put his hand up to his head in a frustrating movement. Another Council member showed up as well, "Chief, Do you agree with the Council now about having Berk stable? This will keep happening if you don't do anything about it." He said. Hiccup didn't reply, as he didn't need to. Astrid and Hiccup looked at each other nervously, knowing what he meant.
Hiccup turned to the first Council man who appeared, "We need to terror mail the traders as soon as possible to rebuild our food supply, and show me to the houses that were destroyed." Hiccup ordered. "The rest of you," pointing to his friends, "Make sure no one is hurt and get rid of the ash.. everywhere."
Everyone scattered to do what Hiccup had ordered, while Hiccup had talked to the Vikings who lost their houses, again.
Over the next few days, Hiccup had avoided all the Council members including Gobber. He didn't want to be pressured into making a decision he didn't yet want to make, especially on his own. He needed to talk with Astrid again, he wanted Astrid and him to be ready for it. But, with his daily chief duties and Astrid at the training academy everyday, as she was the instructor for dragon riders, it made it hard to get a chance to talk.
Astrid also had to take care of both their dragons while he was busy. At the end of each day, they both were always tired. The only time they really saw each other, is when they sat with their friends at the Great Hall at meal time, but they only engaged in the conversation with their friends. Hiccup still had a lot on his mind besides 'Berk's Stability'. The traders haven't shown up yet and they were running out of food, fast. Along with the daily issues of Berk.
Astrid, who was talking to Fishlegs about the dragon training, caught Hiccup staring at her, she didn't know if he was just in lost thought or was actually staring. Astrid took his hand in hers, his eyes now looking at her, fully paying attention. Hiccup squeezed her hand a little.
After the meal, the gang decided to do a sunset flight with their dragons, Hiccup was the one to suggest it, as he was anxious to fly Toothless again.
Everyone mounted up and took off towards the sky, flying higher and higher. Everyone was soon in their familiar spots behind Hiccup, which reminded them of the day's on Dragon's Edge. Fighting the Dragon Hunters, Dagur, who grew into a friend. Trader Johann, just recently Drago. They never could see the catch a break.
"Hiccup, You're wondering off again." Astrid laughed, interrupting Hiccups thoughts.
Hiccup chuckled back. "I guess I have a lot on my mind." Astrid smiled gently. "I know." She replied looking ahead.
Their quiet moment was gone as the twins scream getting everyone's attention. Hiccup looked back to see the twins falling from their dragon.
Toothless dove as soon as he saw them, Hiccup almost lost his balance and fell off as well. Toothless caught the twins before they landed in the cold ocean water.
"Oh Chief! You saved us!" Tuffnut exclaimed holding onto Hiccup kissing his shoulder, a weird way of thanking him while Astrid had a disturbing look on her face.
"Toothless is actually the one who saved us bro." Ruffnut corrected patting Tuffnut's shoulder.
"True sis." Tuffnut agreed, just holding onto Hiccup instead.
Toothless was beginning to feel the extra weight, Hiccup noticed how his dragon was flying slower and lower, meaning he wanted to land on a nearby island to get the extra weight off his back.
The gang took a short break from flying but as they were getting ready to head back to Berk, Hiccup realized they wouldn't be back before nightfall. He then decided that they would be spending the night. The riders seemed excited about it, reliving old memories.
Everyone knew what needed to be done, like set up their sleeping furs, building the fire, finding food, (the twins were in charge of catching fish. They volunteered for the task) Astrid just told them she wasn't eating their disgusting salt encrusted sea bass. Fishlegs, Snoutlout, and Hiccup agreed with her.
While the twins were finding the dinner, Astrid and Hiccup went off into the woods together, earning them strange looks from their friends. Hiccup told them they were getting firewood and search for fresh water. Their friends reluctantly let them be.
Hiccup and Astrid picked up loose sticks when they saw some, it didn't take long to gather more then enough to make a fire, as they did, the two walked in silence, a rather awkward silence. They final had a chance to talk, but neither of them wanted to bring it up.
Until Hiccup did.
"So.. I will need to tell something to the Council." He said, trying to get Astrid to talk about the subject of marriage.
Astrid opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly they heard a stick crack. Hiccup put a protective arm in front of Astrid. She brushed it away, motioning that she could take care of herself.
As far as Hiccup could see, nothing was out there. He walked closer and closer to the noise, stepping slowly, with Astrid right behind him.
Both Hiccup and Astrid jumped when the figure appeared out of a bush, it was Heather.
"Hiccup?" "Heather?" Heather and Hiccup said that the same time. "What are you doing here?" They said in unison again causing them both to laugh.
"We were flying with the rest of the riders and decided to camp here for the night." Astrid replied picking up the sticks she and Hiccup had dropped.
"I was ambushed." Heather quickly explained. "I was coming to visit you when I saw a fleet of ships with weapons headed towards Berk. I landed on the ship and asked them what they were doing headed to Berk. They don't take well to questioning I guess. They took Windshear and left me on this island, I've been building a raft to get myself off of here."
"That's terrible Heather. You can come with us back to camp and stay at Berk until a ship can take you back to Berserker island." Hiccup stated. Heather smiled thankfully.
"What about Windshear?" Astrid asked. "She doesn't have a way off this island without her." Astrid added. "We will help Heather find Windshear, and maybe we could find the people who attacked us. And Heather, you can ride with me back to Berk." Hiccup reassured her.
"So they did attack you?" Heather asked. Hiccup nodded and explained what happened that night showing the way back to the others.
"Yuck! I thought Astrid said no salt encrusted sea bass you muttonheads!" Snoutlout complained and made a gagging face. "Au contraire my friend, this is salted sea bass, not salt encrusted sea bass." Tuffnut explained. "What's the difference!" Snoutlout shouted.
"The difference my friend is that thie fish isn't encrusted with salt." Tuffnut stated profoundly while pinching his fingers together when he said 'salt'
Snoutlout slapped his face, and stopped replying to the twin. "You two couldn't find any other way to season the fish?!" Fishlegs asked shaking his head at the two.
"No Fishy, but when you come up with an idea I would like to hear it." Tuffnut answered somewhat bitter. Fishlegs opened his mouth to say something but didn't when Hiccup and Astrid returned.
"Is that Heather with you?!" Snoutlout asked not believing it. "Yea, where did you find her at? In a bush?" Ruffnut asked laughing.
"Yea actually we did." Hiccup replied looking at Heather.
"So, What are we having for dinner? Ruff, Tuff?" Astrid questioned. The twins looked at each other debating on what to say to Astrid.
"The disgusting salt encrusted sea bass!" Snoutlout said annoyed. "It's salted sea bass to you mister!" Ruffnut corrected. "You've got to be kidding me. What did I tell you muttonheads! Why don't you ever listen!" Astrid replied angerly.
The twins slowly backed away and ran off into the forest where Astrid couldn't harm them. Hiccup, watching all this happen, shook his head and fed the fish to the dragons.
"Looks like we will be skipping tonight." Hiccup stated. "We wouldn't be if the twins had a brain." Astrid declares shaking her head.
"We will be fine." Heather tells the group. "Heather's right, It's just one night." Fishlegs agrees. Heather smiled at him warmly, as he looks down to his feet. Hiccup and Astrid glance at each other noticing Fishlegs shyness.
"So why are you on Hooklout Island?" Snoutlout asks Heather.
"Hooklout Island?" Hiccup asks confused. "Yeah! Hooky and I named it while you two were off kissy kissy." Snoutlout replied making kissing noices. Astrid walked up to him and punched him, shutting him up.
"So.. Why are you here?" Fishlegs asks nervously. Heather sighs, "I ran into some trouble when I was coming to see you guys, They captured Windshear and left me stranded on the island for a few days." She explains with sadness in her voice.
"We will find Windshear, Heather. Whatever it takes we will get her back." Hiccup reassures her. "No.. um..dragon left behind." Fishlegs added. "Thank you Hiccup and you too Fishlegs." Heather smiled again.
Astrid, who was sitting quietly by Stormfly listening to the conversation, noticed the twins weren't back yet. She was a little bit worried about them, as it was her fault they ran off in the first place, they probably would have anyways but Astrid felt a bit responsible if anything were to happen, besides Barf and Beltch aren't with them either. Astrid went to go search for them and left without anyone noticing her.
After searching almost the entire island, and the dark sky growing darker each moment, Astrid had thought it was best to head back to camp, the twins probably made it back there anyways.
While Astrid was walking, she heard some noise again, She listened closer and heard that it was actually voices.
Astrid walked towards the familiar voices till she came across the twins eating berries. Lots and lots of berries. Their mouths were stained with red, indicating they had already eaten a.. lot.
The twins hadn't noticed her presence until Astrid cleared her throat.
"What do you two think you're doing?!" She asked but didn't wait for a reply. "You could have shared these with everyone else since you ruined the fish!" Astrid shouted.
Tuffnut, along with Ruffnut just shrugged. "We uh... We were picking some for you!" Tuffnut stated showing Astrid the handful of berries that were in his hands.
"You were not! I swear you..wait.." Astrid started, and took a closer look at the so called 'berries' the twins were eating. "Those are Yew Berries! They are poisonous and it causes rashes all over and can spread to others!" Astrid stated backing away.
The twins looked at each other and started freaking out. "Astrid! What do we do? I don't want to die!" Ruffnut exclaimed frantically.
"Yeah! There are so many things I need to do!" Tuffnut added. "Dear brother! You are right! We haven't had even Lokied anyone this year! Or finished torturing Snoutlout! And we haven't eaten all of Berk's yaks either!" Ruffnut shouted.
"Astrid! You have to help us!" Tuffnut begged. Astrid didn't know what to tell the twins. Most people are smart enough not to eat poisonous berries, but why would she think the twins were? She should have seen this coming a lot sooner.
"We have to get back to the others. Just don't eat anymore." Astrid told them and the three walked back to camp, Astrid, keeping the distance between Ruffnut and Tuffnut somewhat large.
Back at the camp, Heather, Fishlegs and Snoutlout were laughing with each other, going over previous adventures over the years, Hiccup who was trying to listen to their stories, but it was proven difficult with his thoughts distracting him. One thought particularly.
Hiccup had noticed Astrid's absence earlier, but
it was getting darker, he started to worry more and more, not just about Astrid, but the twins as well. He was their chief after all.
Everyone's attention turned to Astrid's voice coming in the forest, "Hiccup! Ruff and Tuff need to get back to Berk right away!" Astrid told him coming right up to him.
"Uh why?" Hiccup asked unsure of the urgency, scratching his head. "They ate Yew berries." She replied looking over at the twins who had rashes all over and were itching them.
Hiccup slapped his forehead, "Of course they did. We have to get back to Berk as soon as we can for the twins' sake. Ruffnut, Tuffnut and I can fly back while the rest of you can put out the fire and clean up the camp." Hiccup ordered, something he did a lot.
"Sure. Leave us to clean it all up." Snoutlout grumbles. Hiccup gave him a stern look. "You could go with them instead Snoutlout and risk getting poisoned as well." After hearing that, Snoutlout went along with the plan, but not without whispering something under his breath.
While Hiccup was waiting for the twins to get on Barf and Beltch, He went over to where Astrid was and placed a hand on her shoulder, momentarily comforting her. Astrid looked up at him with a small
smile.
"You didn't eat any berries right or touched the twins?" Hiccup joked. Astrid laughed a little and shook her head. "You know me better then that." She replied looking at the group of young Vikings. Hiccup's arm eventually found itself wrapped around Astrid, a small gesture that made her feel warm inside.
"We can talk later, I promise." Hiccup whispered and then left her with their friends, as the twins and himself flew back to Berk, their friends not far behind.
A/N:Hi peeps! Here with a second update, let's hope you liked it as much as the other one. This one had a lot more Tuff and Ruff in it, as in RTTE where each of the characters kind of get their own episode, along with the rest of the gang in it. So expect more like that. I hope I portrayed the twins like they would in the show, smart but yet stupid. ;) I love them tho, they make me laugh every time I watch the show. As for Hiccstrid, they do small things that represent their love for each other, glances, smiles, hands on shoulders, holding hands, etc. They don't make out all the time guys! They will however have their moments, trust me! Thanks for reading LAD!