Chapter 2 Astrid and a New Home
Hiccup's P.O.V
Toothless and I had been flying for about two hours, when I spotted an island. "Toothless, let's land down there" I said. He growled in response, and we flew down to a clearing on the island.
I jumped off him and looked around the clearing, "Ok bud, let's stay here for tonight, We'll continue flying in the morning", I told him.
"I'm going to go get some firewood, ok bud, I'll be back soon", he nodded, and started walking towards the beach. 'He's probably going fishing', I thought to myself. I wandered around, collecting sticks to make a fire, when I had enough; I went back to our makeshift camp.
Toothless was already back with a huge pile of fish; I smiled and put the wood down, "Hey bud, would you mind?" I asked, Toothless shot his smallest fire ball at the wood and the fire started. I grabbed a sharp stick from beside me, and took the fish Toothless pushed towards me, and started roasting it.
After we both finished our lunch, I went over to my basket of supplies and went through it, making sure I had everything. "Let's see my clothes, blanket, pillow, my tools from the forge, my blueprints, my journals, all my drawings of you, leather and a few other extra parts, to fix your tail in case something happens to it, my fur vest, my charcoal pencils, extra material, needle and thread, two rolls of bandages and some herbs, in case something happens".
"Alright looks like I didn't forget anything, so, what do you say bud, wanna go explore the island?" I asked Toothless. He nodded and we started exploring the island. It was a small island and we finished exploring it around 6, We flew back to camp, I set up the fire wood and Toothless lit it.
We had some supper and when we were done; I leaned against Toothless, and started sketching in one of the journals I brought with, I sketched for awhile.
I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to someone saying my name, I opened my eyes and immediately closed them again, because the fire was still going, and it blinded me for a few seconds. When I could see again, I saw Astrid standing on the other side of the fire, beside her was a Deadly Nadder.
"Astrid?" I asked, "What are you doing here?", "I came looking for you", Astrid said.
"Ok, but why? Not that I'm not happy to see you, I am, but why did you come after me?" I asked, Wondering, why she would leave her family and friends to come looking for me. "Why, because...because, I was wondering if you had everything you needed, You didn't really have time to pack." she said.
"Yeah, I have everything I need, now what's the real reason you followed me?" I asked, I knew she had another reason for following me, but she didn't want to tell me, I could tell by the way she refused to look at me. "What do you mean? That is the real reason I followed you", she said, still refusing to make eye contact with me.
"Then why can't you look at me Astrid?" I asked. "You must have followed me for a reason, so just tell me", I asked once again. Astrid said nothing, still finding the ground very interesting. "Please Astrid" I tried once more.
"Oh for the love of, I LOVE YOU!" She yelled. "I love you Hiccup, Life on Berk would never be the same without you, so I followed you! That's the real reason I followed you!" she exclaimed blushing.
I could not believe it! Astrid Hofferson just said she loved me, ME Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III, also known as Hiccup the useless. "You...you love me?" I asked to make sure I had heard her correctly, still finding it hard to believe.
"Yes, I've had a crush on you since we were kids, but I never knew how to tell you without embarrassing myself, So I thought it would be better if I ignored you, but that was a stupid thing to do" Astrid explained, sitting down beside me. I could tell she was being sincere.
"Astrid?", "Yes Hiccup" she said, "I love you too" I told her. I could not believe it; I have wanted to tell her that for so long, it felt good to finally say it.
"Really?" she asked, "Yes, I have had a crush on you since I was 5." I admitted, smiling and blushing at her.
Astrid looked at me for a moment, then grabbed the front of my tunic and pulled me in for a kiss, I was a little surprised for a second, then I kissed her back. We pulled apart after a minute to catch our breath.
"Hiccup? "Astrid said, "Yeah Astrid?", "Is it ok if I come with you?" she asked. "Are you sure you want to come? You actually have a life back on Berk, I don't." I said.
"Yeah I know I have a life on Berk, but without you, I don't call that much of a life", Astrid blushed.
I started blushing again myself, She was willing to leave everything behind to be with me, "Ok, sure you can come. Now who's your friend?" I asked, gesturing towards the blue Deadly Nadder, on the other side of the fire.
"Oh, this is Stormfly", she said, walking over to the Deadly Nadder, "She helped me find you, I never would have found you otherwise", Astrid told me, petting Stormfly on the nose.
I smiled, got up and walked over to Astrid and Stormfly, I started petting Stormfly as well.
"Astrid?" I said, "Yes Hiccup?" she said, "It's getting late, Toothless and I were planning to leave first thing in the morning, so I think we should get some sleep." I told her.
"Ok, I'll sleep over here with Stormfly", Astrid said, "Do you want a blanket? I brought one with", I asked. "Don't you need it?" Astrid asked, "Not really, I'm not cold right now" I told her, "Ok" she said.
I walked over to my basket to get the blanket, once I had it, I brought it to her, "Here" I said, handing it to her, "Thank-you" she said.
I walked back over to Toothless and laid down against his side, "Goodnight Astrid" I said, "Goodnight Hiccup", she said. "Goodnight bud", I whispered to Toothless. Soon we all fell asleep.
The Next Day
I woke up and saw Astrid and Stormfly were still asleep. I went to get more fire wood while Toothless went fishing for the four of us. When I got back, Toothless was back with enough fish for all of us.
After starting a fire, I started roasting a few fish for me and Astrid, Before looking over to Astrid and Stormfly, Stormfly obviously smelt the fish; she got up and walked over to Toothless, and the big pile of fish.
Because Astrid was sleeping on Stormfly's side, when Stormfly got up, Astrid fell backwards onto the ground and was startled awake. "Ahh!" Astrid screamed.
"Good morning Astrid" I said, trying to hold back a laugh. "Morning" she said a little annoyed. "Breakfast is ready." I said, as I handed her a fish.
"Thank-you." she said, taking the fish and sitting down beside me. We ate in silence for a few minutes, "Hey Hiccup, when are we leaving?" Astrid asked, "As soon as we're done breakfast." I told her. We finished eating in a comfortable silence.
When I was done, I went and picked up the blanket Astrid used last night, and put it back in my basket. Then I walked over to Toothless and re-attached it to his saddle. I looked over at Stormfly and saw Astrid petting her.
Then I noticed Astrid had her pack tied to Stormfly's back with a piece of rope, and another piece of rope around her so she could hold on. 'I should make a saddle for her, when I get the chance.' I thought to myself, as we mounted our dragons and took off.
We flew in silence until; "Hiccup where are we going?" Astrid asked, flying closer to me.
"To be honest with you Astrid, I don't know, I didn't really have time to think about where I would go, all I knew was Toothless and I had to leave." I explained.
"Oh, ok, but where should we go?" Astrid asked. "Um... let's fly to the next island we find, we'll stop there and see what happens I guess, unless you have a better idea." I said. "No, sounds good to me."
Actually the next island we found, was two hours away from the one we had spent the night on. We circled the island to see if it had a village, nope, it didn't so we landed in a clearing near the center of the island.
"Well this looks like a good place to rest I guess" said Astrid. I looked around the clearing, "Toothless and I are going to explore the island, would you like to come with?" I asked, "I'd love to come" Astrid said, "Ok let's go" I said.
We walked around the island for about an hour. "It's a really nice place" Astrid said, "Yeah; it's also a really nice place to stay", I said. "What?" Astrid asked.
"Astrid, I've been thinking, we can't just keep flying our whole life, why don't we stay here?" I asked her. "You're right, we can't keep flying forever, and this is a really nice island, Ok let's stay here" Astrid replied happily. "Great! When we get back to the clearing, we can start building a house", "Sounds good to me!" Astrid replied.
We got back to the clearing an hour after noon. It probably would have taken us longer to explore the island on foot, but we rode our dragons to explore the island faster.
We started a fire, and roasted a few fish for Astrid and I. Toothless and Stormfly went fishing for themselves. After lunch, I put out the fire.
"Ok, so how are we going to build a house with no tools? I've only got my ax with me", Astrid said. "Well, I brought my tools from the forge," I told her, "And with Toothless and Stormfly's help, we should be able to build this house in no time", I added, "Ok, then let's get started" Astrid said.
We worked till supper time, and by then it was too dark to continue; we had actually got the floor done by then. I set up a fire and Toothless started it. After we had all eaten, Astrid leaned up against Stormfly, and I leaned up against Toothless.
"We did a pretty good job, considering how late we started. "I said, "Yeah we did" Astrid agreed with a yawn, "It's been a long day, I'm gonna go to sleep, goodnight Hiccup." "Goodnight Astrid".
