Disclaimer: I do not own 'How to train your dragon', Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid or any other related character. I own this story and any OC's appearing in it.

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Ten years had passed since that …memorable night. Astrid, now a young woman years old, still remembered it like it happened yesterday. Not many new what really happened that night. Stoick had asked every guard if he, or she in Astrid's case, had seen anything. But everyone claimed to have seen nothing. It bothered Astrid to lie against her chief, the father of her friend, but it was for a greater cause.

The whole ordeal had caused Astrid to become disgusted by Dragon Hunting. She still was the most formidable warrior of her age, but she didn't like it as much as used too.

There were only a few who really knew how Hiccup and his Dragon escaped. Those people were Gobber, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotloud. First they disapproved her actions but later on they knew she had no choice. The six of them were the only ones who celebrated Hiccup's birthday every year, even thou they didn't even knew if he was alive.

But Astrid knew he had to be alive. With merchants coming to Berk to trade, also came stories. Stories of a winged traveler, searching around for something. Or that a black shadow had freed a town of Pirates. But the stories became more and more unlikely, so Astrid tried not to draw to many conclusions from them. And Stoick tried not to listen to them.

Stoick had …troubles dealing with Hiccup's departure. He kept searching for the Nest, losing many ships in the process. He knew the Nest was near and he wouldn't stop before he would have destroyed it, so that the dragons would stop attacking their village.

But that problem seemed to have ended by himself. Three years after Hiccup had left, the dragon's attacks slowly started to decrease, until the point that it took months before one even showed himself. For the longest of time, the Vikings tried to come up with an answer for that. Maybe the Dragons had moved, or they had killed themselves. But one day, they got their answer, as a giant Dragon carcass floated around in the see. It didn't take long for Stoick to figure out that this was some sort of 'Queen Dragon' and the rest of dragons had to hunt for it. But that changed nothing for Stoick, or any other Viking. They still wanted to hunt and kill dragons, which disgusted Astrid even more. They had no more reason to kill the Dragons, but still …

And so it came that Stoick had sent out ships to hunt for Dragons in further regions. Sometimes it took months before any of the ships returned, sometimes with less than half the men it parted with.

So the village was practically empty, except for the elderly, the women; children and enough men to defend the village if needed.

Astrid liked to walk these days, she enjoyed it as much as she once enjoyed fighting. She liked going to the place where she had seen Toothless for the first time, where she had learned of Hiccup's secret. The place where she fell in love for the first time in her life. She liked to sit and watch the water, but mostly watch the sky, like she expected Hiccup and Toothless to appear from the clouds and fly towards her, take her in his arms and fly away for another flight. But that never happened.

Or at least, not yet.

The night was as dark as ever as Snotloud, Tuffnut and Fishlegs went out to patrol the village. The three men had changed, as change come with age. Snotloud and Tuffnut mostly had stayed the same, only taller and more muscular. But Fishlegs had changed the most. The 'baby fat' he had for most of his teens had changed into muscles. He still was a chubby all-knowing-about-dragons-geek, but more …geeky. They always patrolled together, talking about the past, their present, but mostly about Hiccup.

"I mean, it would be great to see him again." Tuffnut said. "The village isn't what it used to be."

"And it wasn't much to begin with." Snotloud said.

"What do you want, with all of our men sailing far from Berk to hunt dragons?" Fishlegs said.

"How's your sister doing, Tuff?" Snotloud said. "Recovering from that nasty fall?"

"Yeah, that's the last time Ruffnut will challenge Astrid for a sparring session." Tuffnut said, grinning. "I told her that Astrid still could kick her ass, but did she listen?"

"Well, I'm sure Astrid didn't mean to roll her of that cliff, it sorta …happened." Snotloud said.

"You know, you're really interested in my sister the last few weeks." Tuffnut said. "Getting interested in her."

Snotloud blushed slightly and wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by Fishlegs, who raised his hand to silence them.

"Shush." Fishlegs whispered. "The forest. Do you hear that?"

The three young men listened.

"It sounded like …someone talking." Fishlegs said.

"Well, there are other guards patrolling the woods." Tuffnut said.

"It didn't really come FROM the woods, more like …above it." Fishlegs explained.

They became silent again and listened.

"Yeah, I hear something. Like the sound of and axe soaring in the air after being thrown." Tuffnut said. "And something that sounds like …growling."

"A dragon?" Snotloud asked. "It has been almost six months since we saw one."

They became silent again and listened again. Nothing. The sound had disappeared.

"Guys, I suggest that we don't mention this to Stoick" Tuffnut said. "If he hears that we COULD have heard a dragon, he will have us searching the woods and the mountains for weeks."

"I agree." Fishlegs said.

"Me too." Snotloud said.

"So am I." Another voice said. The three startled men readied their weapons and aimed at the source of the voice. They lowered their weapons as they saw who it was.

"Gobber." Snotloud said in relief. "Don't sneak up on us like that."

"Sorry, lads." Gobber said. Gobber still was the tribes blacksmith and Dragon Hunter Trainer, but had become a bit slower in his old age. Still, he was a formidable fighter and loved to tell stories.

"Why aren't you in bed, resting?" Snotloud said. "I heard that the last dragon training nearly fried your wooden leg off."

"I was resting, but then I heard something." Gobber said. "And when I took a look outside, I could swear I saw something flying above the village. So I decided to take a walk and find out if someone else saw it."

"As far I can guess, we were the only ones." Tuffnut said. "You think it could be …?"

"No, can't be." Gobber said, knowing who they were referring too. "Probably a dragon stretching his wings. I say, let it rest and let's talk about something else. Tuff, how's your sister doing after that bruising Astrid given her?"

The men began talking and didn't seem to notice the men standing on a branch of a high tree, concealed by the night. He sighed and jumped off.

The next morning the five friends sat at their usual table in the great Hall.

"Really, Astrid." Ruffnut said. "I'm fine and there's no need to apologize."

"You could have ended with much worse than just a sprained ankle." Astrid said.

"But I didn't, so shut up about it." Ruffnut snapped.

Astrid smiled. Even thou Ruffnut had become a bit more …girly after all those years, she still was related to Tuffnut.

Snotloud gestured the girls to come a bit closer.

"We think we saw a dragon yesterday night." He said.

"So?" Ruffnut said, taking a sip of her drink. "It's not because Dragon rarely come to Berk anymore that you are hero for seeing one."

"No, but we think we heard talking too." Fishlegs said. "Gobber saw it too."

"What, you don't suppose it's …" Ruffnut began, stopped to look around if no-one listened. "Hiccup?"

"That's what I asked yesterday." Tuffnut said. "But it can't be him. Why show up after ten years?"

"I think Gobber was right, and it was just a dragon flying around." Snotloud said. "And maybe we heard a guard in the woods talking."

"Yeah, that's it." Fishlegs said.

But Astrid wasn't so sure. If all of them thought it could be him, couldn't they …

"Want to find out for sure?" She asked the group. The looked at each other for a moment and then nodded, all serious.

That afternoon the five friends went to the woods to search. Even if they wouldn't find anything, they still tried to have fun. They joked around, teased each other and acted like the kids they once were.

"Astrid, can you climb that tree and search from higher ground." Ruffnut asked, taking a seat to let her ankle rest.

"I can." Astrid said, choosing a good tree at the edge of a cliff to climb in. She climbed up to the highest point and took a seat on a branch. Memories flowed back. She, hanging on a branch while Hiccup is trying to explain his reason for hiding Toothless. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't feel the tree moving.

"ASTRID, THE ROOTS ARE COMING LOOSE!" Fishlegs yelled from the ground. "THE TREE IS GOINT TO FALL!"

"Great Thor." Astrid whispered as she noticed the tree moving. She looked down the cliff. She wouldn't survive that. She was never going to be on the ground before the tree would fall, but she had to try. As fast as she could she climbed down. But the tree started cracking dangerously.

"ASTRID, JUMP!" Tuffnut yelled, holding his arms out, signaling that he would catch her.

Astrid braced herself to jump, but it was already too late. With a loud cracking sound the tree fell. With the sound of her screaming friends she fell. She closed her eyes and waited for the fall. As she fell, darkness overtook her. The last thing she heard was someone else yelling her name.

Astrid groaned as someone poured some water over her head. She immeditaly sat up when she remembered what happened before she woke up.

"Wasn't I falling?" She asked herself. "Am I dead?"

"If that were so, that I would be too, dear lass." A voice said.

Astrid turned her head to head to the source of the voice. Much to her surprise, it was Gobber, who was sharpening his hook.

"Gobber?" Astrid asked. "How? Where?" What?"

Astrid noticed where she was and also noticed that she didn't knew where exactly. She was in a cave, that was sure. But it was filled with some furniture, like a bed, where she laid on now, a closet and other stuff.

"Why did you bring me here?" Astrid asked. "How did you rescue me?

"I didn't bring you." Gobber said. "And it wasn't me who rescued you."

"Then …who?" Astrid began.

"It was me, Astrid." A new voice said.

Astrid jumped from the bed and raised her fists. "Who is there?"

"Guess." The voice said.

Suddenly it came to Astrid that she recognized the voice a bit. Yes, she knew that voice. But it was deeper than she remembered. It couldn't be …

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked.

From the shadows, a man dressed in a white tunic with a black leather vest. On his back he carried two swords and a small dagger rested on his belt. He had changed in those ten years, but Astrid still recognized him. Hiccup.

Tadada! REUNION!

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