Berk- 5 years later

Astrid sat on the side of her bed with a piece of paper in her hands.

'Dear Astrid' it said. She's read it almost everyday for the last five years. She looked at the letter again. 'Im leaving and not returning' it continued. No matter how many times she has read the letter, it always broke her heart.

'I've done something that could put me in a lot of trouble, more than what I used to get in. I decided it would be best if I just left. It would be safer for me and my friend. I'm sorry if I hurt you Astrid. You are the only reason that I didn't want to leave but I had to. I love you Astrid, more than you know and it broke my heart to leave you behind. I wish I could take you with me but you need to go on with your life and train hard. Take care of yourself m'lady. Don't stop because I left. Dont isolate yourself. Be strong. I will be watching you and I hope we'll see each other again. I will be waiting for that day to come. I love you Astrid, with my everything.'

It finished off with his signature. She felt tears building up in her eyes and blinked them away, letting a single tear drop down her cheek. Its been five long years since that night he left. Four years since the dragon raids stopped.

Astrids grip on the letter tightened. What made today worse, was that today Hiccup would be turning sixteen.

It was always hardest on this day. It was the day that they would leave the village early in the morning and only return late after dark. They would spend the whole day at the cove, enjoying themselves with games and hunting small animals.

She stood up from her bed moving to her desk. She put the letter in the box with all the other objects that Gobber found in Hiccups room in the back of the forge. Along with the letter was his old journal, where he wrote about his troubles and all the abuse he got since he mother died, his dagger, a bowl and the blanket he covered her with the night he left. She also had an old, torn tunic of his.

She put everything back into the box and then she got dressed and ready for the day. Fishlegs and Gobber would always keep her busy on this day. It helped to stay distracted. Other days she would just busy herself with training.

She moved slowly through her house. Her parents were already up and busy with their morning routines.

"Morning mother, father." She greeted as she sat at the table.

"Morning dear, how are you?" Her mother asked as she started dishing up their breakfast. She took the bowl of food gratefully.

"I'm coping." She replied softly.

"Read the letter again?" Her father asked. She could only nod, too scared to use her voice. Only a few of the villagers knew what actually happened to Hiccup. Her parents, Fishlegs and his parents, Gobber and the Thorsten twins. Surprisingly they actually kept quiet. Spitelout and Snotlout probably suspected that he ran away, but she wouldn't know because she haven't talked to either of them since Hiccup left. She blamed them the most for Hiccups disappearance after reading his letter.

'I don't belong on Berk Astrid. I never did. I was a constant disturbance in the village. I'm not a viking. My own family hurt me, embarrassed me. Snotlout and his gang used me as a target dummy. I couldn't take it anymore. I'm weak, I can't stop them and no matter how much you helped, it wont last. That's why I'm leaving. I want to learn more. I know there is more out there, somewhere. I won't find it on Berk. I want to learn other ways to defend myself. Ways that are simpler and don't require much violence. I know you can train me but it won't work, well because you're all about violence, not that I'm complaining because i like that about you. Its just there might be other ways out there. I won't stop looking. And when I do find it, I promise you I will come for you.'

"Astrid!"

She shook her head to clear her mind. Her parents were staring at her with concerned expressions.

"Sorry. Just caught up in my head."

They nodded before continuing with their breakfast.

The rest of the day she got lost in her thoughts of Hiccups letter. Fishlegs tried to distract her by talking about the dragons and their disappearance, but it didn't help because it just brought her back to thinking about Hiccups letter to Gobber.

'I found the nest Gobber. I have information to that can help but I'm not going to involve Berk. I don't want to get the village killed. I going to study the nest and then find out how to stop the raids.'

Somehow he did stop the raids. It's still a mystery to everyone. The only way she knows Hiccup survived was because of trader Johann.

"Astrid!"

She snapped out of her thoughts. She realised that she had stopped walking. She looked at Fishlegs apologetically.

"Its not helping?" He asked

She just shook her head sadly.

"You know it wasn't this bad before. At least then, I knew he was alive thanks to trader Johann, but now. I don't know." She knew she was getting herself worked up but she was afraid. She wouldn't say that to anyone and she only showed this side of her to her friends and family.

"Don't worry Astrid, I'm sure his alive. Trader Johann will be here in two to three days, then we can find out."

She nodded and they continued with their walk.

True to his word, trader Johann arrived two days later and had quite a story about Hiccup. It made her feel better. Two weeks later Gobber took her, Fishlegs and the twins on a survival trip on a wild island. Now that the dragon raids stopped and their dragons disappeared from the kill arena, they had frequent trips to neighbouring islands to train for surviving in the wild or raids from enemies.

They set up camp around a small cave and worked together to gather food and wood for fire. They all settled in while Fishlegs tended to the fire, while we all sat around on rocks or against it.

"Hey Gobber," Ruffnut called. We all turned to her. "Did you hear what trader Johann said about the new tribe?" She asked.

"Ah a bunch of rubbish. Never have I heard of dragons and vikings living together peacefully." He said. "And a chief that never shows his face. That's stupid. Like all Johann's stories, it's made up."

"Well actually not all trader Johann's stories are made up." Tuffnut cut in. " Remember what happened to Outcast island two years ago. No one survived. Burned to the ground. Yeah no one believed him until we actually saw it for ourselves."

Everyone shuddered at the reminder of the Outcast incident. Dragons attacked them at night. They left nothing behind. Everyone one dead. The villagers of Berk saw it as Odin's wrath on them for killing Stoick Haddock. There were rumours of vikings riding on the back of the dragons.

Soon they started eating their dinner, they talked softly among another and then turned in for the night.

A black dragon flew through the dark sky at high speed. On his back his rider pressed his body flat against the black saddle. They made the perfect team, soaring through the air invisible to the eye. The rider signaled his hand to the left. Two dragons moved out from behind the black dragon. The rider then signaled to the right and two more dragons moved out from behind him.

The rider put his hand on the dragons head. "Let's do this bud." He said through his mask. They dove down at high speed, the screeching sound of the dragons plasma blast the only warning for the guards before the doors are blown open. Riders dropped from the other four dragons back. They took out the rest of the guards inside the prison yard.

The rider of the black dragon walked into the prison, his dragon behind him.

"Split up. Heather, Cami take the left side to the prisoned dragons. Throk, Thuggory with me. We'll take the right to the slaves."

The group moved out, their dragons following. The three men arrived at the cells containing the slaves, taking out any guards and destroying the locks on cell doors.

"It's okay now, we're here to free you." The masked rider told the prisoners.

"We need to hurry."

Once all the prisoners were free they returned to the main hall to meet up with the girls. Ten dragons crowded the room, the two girls trying to calm them.

"How many with you?" a girl with dirty blonde hair asked.

"23," the masked rider replied.

Thr prisoners cowered away from the dragons. The other girl, one with black hair, walked up to a young boy. "There's no need to be scared. They're friendly. They won't hurt you." She said. She took his hand in hers and slowly pulled him forward.

" Let me show you. Don't be scared." She smiled at him and he hesitantly moved with her pull. Her smile brightened. They stopped in front of a purple gronckle. The raven haired girl brought her hand up to the dragons snout and the gronckle pushed into her hand, purring. She brought the boys hand up and replaced it with hers. The dragon continued purring at the gentle touch. All fear left the boy and he started smiling. The raven haired girl looked at the masked rider and nodded. The masked rider looked at the other prisoners.

"Alright, listen. We don't have much time. We need you to trust us. The dragons won't hurt you. They want to help." He said to them. "We need them to get to the ships. That means you have to ride them. Please."

At first no one moved before slowly one by one, the prisoners moved towards the dragons.

"Ok, two per dragon. Cami, Throk and Thuggery, take the last three."

The other riders mounted their dragons with a prisoner behind them.

"Heather, keep an eye out for any hunters." The raven head girl nodded.

Soon they were all in the air, using the darkness as cover. They made it to the ships without being spotted. A guy with black hair and a tribal tattoo on his chin walked up to the masked rider.

"Is that all of them my tàn," he asked.

The rider nodded, climbing off the black dragon.

"Take us home Eret." He replied.

Heather walked up to him.

"We did good Hiccup," she whispered to him as she draped her arms around his neck and pecked the cheek on his mask. Slowly her hands started to loosen the knots behind his head. She pulled the helmet off his head revealing his face and messy auburn hair. The last few years has changed him alot. His jaw was more sharp, his green eyes are brighter and his hair was even more messier. He has gained more strength and muscle even though he still looked scrawny to be a Viking.

He had a small lopsided smile on his face and he leaned down to connect his lips with Heather's in a short kiss.

They pulled apart, Heather resting her head on his shoulder as he looked at the new arrivals. Eret and his crew were helping the injured and directing them to sleeping blankets spread around the deck. It would be about a five our sail to their island.

Hiccup led Heather to his cabin. Thuggery and Cami followed them so that they can start planning ahead for the future.

Here's another chapter.

From this point updates will come slowly. I already had these two chapters typed so the rest I'm still busy. Please review thanks.