Righty-o, people! Here we are again!

I think I'll just jump straight in tonight!

After roughly half a week's travel, Astrid has arrived, with the help of a Deadly Nadder, at a huge castle on a lonely mountain plateau far in the west, where she believes Hiccup might be. Having conquered her fear of dragons, she now feels ready to face a new challenge...the challenge of the unknown. How will Hiccup react when he sees her? Will he even recognise her? And what will the passage of seven years' time have done to them both?

I think this is possible one of the most compelling chapters I've written in this story, so brace yourselves!


Chapter Three: Cold Reunion

Astrid stared in wonder as the great fortress drew ever closer and closer.

Now no more than ten miles from the giant bastion, the young woman marvelled at its sheer size.

This immense castle seemed to be carved from living rock jutting out from the mountain top, a massive, blue and black spire capped with pure white snow.

However, several violent sneezes later, she was feeling a lot less enchanted.

Shivering with the icy chill of the wind as the air rushed past the soaring dragon, Astrid found herself wishing that the ride was over.

As amazing as the new experience of flight was for her, it would be a lot more enjoyable were she not frozen to the bone.

But she didn't have to wait long.

Although the pair was still a few miles from the fortress, the Nadder suddenly began to descend.

As the ground came into sharp contrast with the surrounding clouds, the dragon dipped, spread its wings wide, and glided smoothly in to land.

At this altitude, the ground was devoid of all life.

Sliding from the Nadder's back, Astrid gaze around at the barren landscape; the grey rocks and white snow slopes stretched to the horizon, reflecting the harsh glare of the sun.

The dragon clucked several times, tilting its head to one side, and shook its flanks, seemingly agitated.

"Why?" the Viking asked blandly. "What have you got to be afraid of up here? There's no-one around but us..."

Her voice faded as the Nadder turned its head to stare up at the castle, its immense walls towering up over them, even from this distance.

"I understand," Astrid spoke quietly, "I can imagine he wouldn't exactly be...approachable." The dragon gave a slight chuckle, rustling its wings in amusement. "I can't...I can hardly believe I ever saw you as..." the young woman wondered, stroking the beast's rough face.

Suddenly, she noticed something odd.

The beautiful creature seemed to have some kind of a bruise just underneath its right eye, a greyed patch of skin in place of the brilliant blue, where the scales seemed to be somewhat mashed and disfigured.

Realisation suddenly sinking in, Astrid's hand went to her mouth, and she shied away from the blue Nadder.

"That's..." she gasped, "that's where I hit..." The dragon gave her a reproachful look. "Oh Thor!"

Astrid's mind flashed to an event so far back in the distant annals of the past, that it seemed like another lifetime entirely...


"Let me...why don't you?" Astrid struggled to pull her axe out of his shield, straining at the wooden frame while he yelped with pain.

Finally managing to stand, the girl gasped as the striking blue figure of a huge Deadly Nadder charged at her, screeching with fury.

Planting one foot firmly on the small boy's face and the other on the stony floor of the training arena, Astrid strained with all her might at her embedded axe, her heart pounding with fear as the charging dragon rapidly closed on them.

"Ow! Ow! OW!" The freckled-boy shouted with pain, Astrid's foot squashing his nose.

Finally freeing her weapon, the blade still stuck in his shield, she swung with all her might at the dragon's onrushing form, which was now only a few yards from her.

The wooden frame connected directly with the Nadder's face, splintering into hundreds of shattered fragments, and the dragon gave a yelp of pain at the impact.

Astrid clutched her axe tightly and glared viciously at the blue beast.

But the dragon, it seemed, had had enough.

"Well done Astrid." Gobber's approval sounded through the cold air.

As the Nadder limped away, clucking with pain, the victorious Viking turned back to the small boy, now cowering in fear on the floor of the arena.

Astrid felt incensed; never before had anyone dishonoured the training rituals so.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" He stared up at her in surprise, a little shocked.

"Our parent's war is about to become ours! Figure out which side you're on!" And without another word, she stalked away, leaving a troubled little Viking to ponder his mistakes, and perhaps learn from them...

Or so she had hoped.

It seemed that the boy had indeed chosen his side in the end...and it certainly wasn't hers.


"Why did I treat him like that?" Astrid spoke sadly, the memories of old stirred by events new, causing her distraught emotions to churn fitfully once again.

"Why couldn't I just have accepted him as different? I could have just minded my own business, but no. No, I just had to stick my jealous nose into his life...and mess things up." She ended on a low note, staring bitterly down at the ground.

For the first time in her life, Astrid was truly angry, enraged, furious...at herself.

For everything she done, and for what she was about to do.

"This is stupid..." she muttered to herself. "He probably doesn't want to see me – and he really doesn't deserve to have remnants of his old life cropping back up. He probably just wants to forget..."

She started back along the path down the mountain, only half aware of what she was doing, before the Nadder ran around in front of her, clucking with curiosity. "What are you doing?" Astrid sighed.

"I don't really know any more." Cocking its head to one side, the dragon stared at her reproachfully. "You came this far, why turn back now?"

The Viking simply stared.

This creature, this wonderful, beautiful dragon actually cared about her.

Nudging her with its snout, the Nadder coaxed her gently.

"Go on. You can do it. Just go." Spurred on by its gentle guidance and persuasion, Astrid turned around and stared up at the looming fortress.

Several more steps, and she turned back to look at the dragon.

The blue creature was still crouched across the path where she had left it, staring at her coaxingly.

Smiling back at the Nadder, the young woman felt a sudden rush of happiness.

Even if it turned out that the goal of her journey was for nought, she had still accomplished something wonderful, something which she could share with the other Vikings back at Berk.

"Thank you," she spoke, voice laden with emotion, "for everything!" Then, facing the giant castle once more, she steeled herself, and walked bravely on, filled with hope and conviction.

Turning back only once more to watch the dragon take flight, soaring off in the opposite direction, Astrid shivered a little at the thought of what she might be about to face, but at least she could do with a somewhat clearer conscience than before.


Placing a hand on the frozen iron of the castle gates, the Viking took a deep breath, and pushed.

As the metal bars swung open, Astrid stared for a moment up at the stone walls and dark window openings of the black fortress, before walking purposefully across the desolate courtyard, avoiding the pools of slush and dirty black ice.

Her breath was like the little puffs of smoke from a sleeping dragon's maw, and she shivered a little.

It was hard to believe that anyone could find any kind of solace or inner peace in such a place.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flitted about the corner of her eye, startling the young woman and causing her to jump with fright.

Turning to look up the tall spire to her left, Astrid's eyes slowly traced the stonework up and up, until finally coming to rest upon the blue tiles at the very tip of the steeple.

And there, crouched upon a great stone gargoyle, peering down at her with wide, vivid eyes was a Night Fury.

The Night Fury.

Toothless.

Astrid's last memories of the black dragon involved one very angry black beast bearing down upon her, growling with malicious intent, before being called off at the last moment by its rider.

But the dragon which now stared down at her from high above was hardly the aggressive beast which had once threatened her back in the clearing at Raven's Point.

But, no more than a few seconds later, the Night Fury was gone again, disappeared over the wall.

"Well," Astrid sighed, "at least I know he's here."

After what seemed like an age, she finally reached the portal to the fortress entrance.

The huge pair of doors before her was covering in striking blue and white paintings –

Of dragons.

"Dragons..." Astrid murmured, running a hand across the intricate coloured impressions and panels. "No wonder he sought refuge here. The place must have some significance...some connection with dragons." Probably something only he could understand.

And, with a sudden rush of vim and vigour, she pushed hard against the great iron handle on the entrance.

As the doors swung open majestically, the young woman walked cautiously forward.

In spite of the many windows to the outside, the room ahead seemed as dark as night, in stark contrast with the piercing white glare of snow capped mountains and cold, streaking clouds.

But, as her eyes began to adjust to the change in light, Astrid began to make out more and more details of what seemed to be a large entrance hall.

Closing the great doors quietly behind her, she walked out into the middle of the great chamber and peered around.

Directly opposite the opening to the outside world was a small fountain with a pair of short staircases either side leading to an upper level.

The roughly circular room was lined with grey pillars, and a massive collection of candles hung down from the ceiling.

The whole room was painted with beautiful shades of blues and greys – and everywhere she looked, Astrid saw pictures of dragons.

Some of the paintings portrayed great sunset vistas, resplendent in full colour, with dragons soaring high above lonely mountain peaks, pine forests, gorges and glaciers, while others depicted the creatures meeting with humans.

Even the chamber itself seemed to have been designed in honour of these beasts, with every nook and cranny, stone and statue shaped to a perfect image of the creature it sought to pay homage to.

Standing directly in the centre of the room, she suddenly noticed that the whole floor, illuminated by a great opening high above, was a giant mosaic of two beings, a human and a dragon.

Stepping backwards to examine the exquisite work of art, Astrid's heart leapt into her mouth at the message it brought.

The two beings were standing together on a seemingly endless field of deep, green grass, the human's hand resting on the brow of the dragon, the pair staring deep into each other's eyes.

This was the ultimate expression of friendship and trust between man and beast.

A sudden slamming noise almost made Astrid scream with fright.

The whole room had been deadly silent ever since she had pushed the huge front doors to, and such a noise seemed almost to desecrate the sanctity the place.

Staring around for the source of the noise, the young woman's hand went straight to her weapon.

But her search for a new presence in the chamber did not last long.

The figure of a man was making its way slowly down the stairs to the left of the central fountain, hidden in shadow.

But, as the newcomer walked past the dried-up water feature and out into the central light, his face was bathed in the dusty, faint rays of an afternoon sun.

In spite of the passage of seven years time, Astrid recognised him instantly, as though it were only yesterday that he had said goodbye to her.

Hiccup was clothed in a green tunic, fur vest, leather pants and thick woollen boots, almost identical to those he once wore as a teenager back in the Viking village of Berk, all those years ago, albeit a quite few sizes larger.

But now Astrid began to notice even more difference between this boy and the tiny Hiccup who had once stood up to his father in front of the entire village defending the life of a dragon.

His physical stature had changed quite a lot; still quite slim as far as Vikings went, the skinniness of his youth had now been replaced by a lean, muscular figure.

He now stood almost a head taller than Astrid.

Hiccup's brown hair now flowed down to his shoulders and partially obscured his eyes, which seemed to be the one feature that had remained entirely unaltered by his transition to adulthood.

But the strangest thing of all was that the young man who now stood before her bore no expression of any kind on his face.

And this, more than anything else, seemed intensely menacing; every time Astrid had seen him before, Hiccup's features had always portrayed exactly what he had been feeling, be it amusement, anger, fear or sadness.

But now...

Now there was nothing.

Thankfully, this bizarre lack of emotion was only momentary, as the boy's face slowly twisted into an uncertain smile.

"Well...hello there..." he spoke slowly, his voice now deep and mature.

But Astrid could not reply; she had been struck dumb by his presence.

The young woman had never felt so...attracted to another human before.

Everything about him – his clothes, his figure, his face, his voice...

Blinking several times, Astrid realised that she had been staring.

"H-Hi...Hiccup," she replied with a slight stutter.

The boy began to smirk a little.

"Well, you obviously know who I am, so...refresh my memory; who exactly am I talking to?" His voice seemed to have an infuriatingly slight edge of sarcasm to it.

But even if she were imagining this, the young woman could hardly believe that Hiccup couldn't tell who she was– Had she really changed that much?

Or was he just being facetious?

"You...don't you recognise me?" The boy paused for a moment, his mouth slightly open, before shaking his head slightly.

"Almost," he replied, "you are somewhat familiar." That faint smile of derision was starting to get on her nerves.

"I should be," she snorted, somewhat irritated.

Hiccup frowned for a moment, his smirk beginning to widen a little, before he slowly opened his mouth.

"Ah yes...Astrid Hofferson. What a surprise!" Unsure of whether or not he was being serious, Astrid started to retort, but didn't get very far.

"I must, say," Hiccup cut in, "I honestly didn't expect to ever be seeing you again." His attitude was, somehow...indescribable, and the Viking woman couldn't tell what he was feeling.

The boy simply stood there, smiling broadly at her, his green eyes gleaming in the bleak, grey light of the entrance hall.

"Tell me," he spoke slowly, putting tremendous emphasis upon every word, "how are things back in Berk?" Astrid was a little put off by the blunt nature of the question.

"Er...well, actually, that's kind of the reason I'm here," she replied. "You see, things aren't going so well..." her voice faded away, as Hiccup started to shake his head.

"No," he laughed for a moment, before stopping dead still, the smile vanishing from his face.

"No. I don't think I can believe that." The blond woman before him was a little stunned.

"It's the truth!" Hiccup's hands clenched slightly, his face hardening a little.

"So you would have me believe," he continued in a tone disturbingly familiar, "that you came all this way just to ask for my help in sorting out a degraded village of Vikings who are destroying themselves through lack of awareness? You drove me away, and now you want my help?" His voice was rising ominously, a muscle twitching in the corner of his mouth; this was not the greeting Astrid had expected.

"You haven't changed a bit, Astrid!"

Now beginning to feel her own fury stirring, the young woman bit back her next retort; she had to sort this out peacefully– but it seemed that Hiccup would not allow that.

Now beginning to pace from side to side, the dragon-rider glared at her menacingly.

"You think I can't see what you're doing?" he spat angrily."Did you really think that I would simply submit and return with you to Berk, just place myself under your persecution again?"

"Hiccup, it's not like that!" Astrid now felt like shouting at him; the boy was being infuriatingly blind and obstructive.

"No? No?" Hiccup stared at her in a surprisingly good imitation of his own father's commanding attitude. "Oh, of course, I should have remembered!" He laughed mockingly. "You're Astrid Hofferson!

Just a few witty lines, a flash of beguiling beauty and a bit of good old Viking warrior charm and you've got everyone eating out of your hands!" Hiccup paused for only a second, his face cold and hard.

"Well not ME! " Willing herself to be quiet, Astrid tried desperately not to bite back and further fuel his anger, but couldn't help herself at this last insulting comment.

"Hiccup, you stubborn git, if this is how you're going to act after seven years alone, then I am not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!" But this last response tipped him right over the edge.

And this time, he didn't just lash out with words.

As quick as a flash, Hiccup reached down to his belt and drew a small sword from its sheath.

Astrid responded as any warrior would, pulling her own axe from its fastenings at her waist, just in time to block Hiccup's strike.

"If he wants to fight," she thought viciously, "then I'll show him!" As their weapons clashed together, the young woman caught a glimpse of the boy's face beneath his long hair.

His features had twisted into a bestial snarl, and his eyes seemed glowed with menace, just as they once had seven years ago.

But, with blinding speed, Hiccup lashed out with a second blow, and it took all of Astrid's skill to parry the small blade.

With a sudden fearful thought, she realised that he could fight.

With several rapid movements, the pair threw and blocked almost a dozen strikes, the sound of their blades ringing off the high ceiling and reverberating around the dim chamber.

Astrid was a skilled fighter, well trained and disciplined, but never before had she faced the powerful combination of extreme speed, dexterity, brute force and embodied anger which now threatened to overwhelm her.

Reeling back from a series of strong strikes, the young woman found herself fighting a retreating battle.

Darting around her opponent, Astrid bumped up against a pillar, stumbling a little at the sudden impact, momentarily losing her focus on the fight.

But a moment was all Hiccup needed.

Quickly thrusting his blade forward, the young man wound the handle of his knife around the joint of Astrid's axe where metal head joined the wooden haft, and gave a powerful flick.

Feeling her axe jerk violently in her hand, the Viking warrior gripped the handle even tighter.

But this, it seemed was a mistake.

With a sudden wrench, Hiccup planted his feet firmly on the tiled floor, twisted the sword in his hand to the left, and gave a mighty shove –

And a moment later, Astrid found herself sprawling backwards, crashing to the ground, her axe spinning off over the huge mosaic, coming to a halt ten feet away.

Rolling to one side, the young woman got a brief glimpse of cold steel before something landed on her...hard.

Pinned to the ground, she felt the edge of a sharp blade against her throat, and looked up to see Hiccup's vivid green eyes mere inches from her own.

Slumping back on the floor, Astrid held her hands out above her head, awkwardly conscious of the way Hiccup was resting on top of her.

"Alright, y-you win!" she stammered, eyes wide with fear.

But this, it seemed was still not enough.

Hiccup clenched his teeth, pressing his short sword even tighter to her neck.

"H-Hiccup?" But Astrid could tell from the look at his face that the boy would no longer listen to her.

Every muscle in his face was taught, his eyes narrowed and full of fury.

"Why now?" he demanded suddenly, voice still laden with anger. "Why, after all this time, have you decided to walk back into my life again?" Astrid shook her head frantically, petrified by the look on his face and the sound of his enraged voice.

"I left you behind. All of you," the boy continued, oblivious to the fact that his sword was almost drawing blood.

"And just as the memories finally begin to fade, you just happen to turn up to try and capture my attention yet again?" His voice was quiet and deadly now.

"Why shouldn't I just kill you now? What possible reason could you use to justify your continued existence? All you ever did was make my life Hel!"

And, for just a moment, Astrid felt that she almost deserved what was coming. It seemed so certain that he was going to do it –

A sharp bark suddenly startled them both, and Hiccup threw his gaze over his shoulder to see the great, black form of a Night Fury leaping over the fountain.

Toothless bolted straight up to them and began to gently nuzzle his nose against his rider's face.

Hiccup looked into the dragon's solemn eyes; the beast seemed almost to have a look of sadness and regret on its face.

Its ears were flattened back and its eyes were wide and glistening with what seemed to be tears.

"Is it pleading for my life?" In spite of all of her training, Astrid still found herself asking the question.

"Please," she could almost see Toothless saying, "please don't do it. You're better than this."

Hiccup's eyes fell; he could no longer hold his friend's gaze.

And as the knife fell away, the boy's grip slackened, and Astrid gasped for air, massaging her throat.

Pulling herself up so that she was sitting with her back against the nearest stone pillar, she looked at Hiccup, who was now kneeling before her, his hands resting on his knees and head pointed downwards.

Toothless was gently caressing his head, purring quietly.

Astrid just sat there observing the two of them.

Then, something occurred to her; every time Hiccup had been sad, angry, or enraged at anyone at all, he had disappeared off into the woods in the direction of Raven's Point.

It seemed as though Toothless was the only being alive with the ability to calm and comfort the boy...and this kind of compassion could only be present in someone with a deep understanding of other's feelings and an even deeper level of empathy.

But, as Hiccup brought a shaking hand up to his face, Astrid received yet another shock.

He was crying.

But, without another word, the young man suddenly stood up, and, without another word, stormed off up the staircase, past the fountain, and disappeared through a small door on the other side of the hall, slamming it violently behind him.

"Hiccup, wait–!" she started, attempting to get up, but immediately slumped back against the cold stone pillar; her duel with the dragon rider had been utterly exhausting, and the bruises she had received upon hitting the floor now became apparent.

Every bone and muscle in her body seemed to throb with weariness.

Suddenly becoming aware that Toothless was still present, sitting back on his hind quarters the way Hiccup had left him, Astrid turned to look at the black dragon.

The Night Fury was staring at her, its ears pinned mournfully back, its eyes wide with sadness.

But she neither wanted nor needed its sympathy now.

"Hiccup –" she made another attempt to get up, but this time it was not her aching body which held her back, but the dragon.

The Night Fury pressed his wide nose gently but firmly against her chest, willing to her stay seated, leaning back against the pillar.

"Toothless, what are you doing?

I need to go after–" But Astrid suddenly stopped, realising that she had just directly addressed a dragon by their human-given name for the first time ever.

Warbling softly, the Night Fury nuzzled her with its warm forehead, before gently nudging her in the ribs with his snout.

Toothless then plodded slowly over to the shadowed wall, which was still faintly illuminated by the dusty rays of the setting sun, and motioned with his head for her to follow.

"Alright then..." Astrid mumbled uncertainly, forcing herself painfully to her feet and limping over to where the dragon stood, beckoning to her; it seemed her injuries were a little more that superficial.

Eyeing her pained leg with what seemed to be a guilty expression, the Night Fury then stared up into her eyes, trilling faintly.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine..." the young woman replied with only a little honesty; she wasn't actually sure if her response were true.

But if Toothless could see past her brave face, he certainly wasn't showing it, for the dragon now motioned for her to look at the wall.

"What is it?" Astrid asked curiously.

The paintings seemed to be just like the others she had seen earlier.

But, on closer examination, she got quite a shock.

These particular pictures seemed to illustrate some kind of conflict between humans and dragons, a clash of interests or cultures perhaps.

They showed fearful scenes of terrible battles fought between man and beast, of the losses suffered by both sides, of the grief and pain which each one felt.

But, almost at the end of the row of paintings, Astrid saw something which made her cringe with fear; the spine-chilling illustration of an enormous beast which towered above the humans quailing before it in fear.

This gigantic dragon was depicted letting off an immense blast of intense flames which incinerated an entire village.

The pain, terror and death visible in the eyes of its victims made Astrid shudder, and she leaned forward to examine the beast in closer detail.

The grey creature had great, ragged wings twice the size of ocean stacks, a massive, club-like tail, pale, grey eyes, and sharp spines down the length of its back its back.

Toothless brushed his nose against the painting, warbling agitatedly.

"You're...afraid of this thing?" Astrid asked surprised.

However, upon looking back at the immense monster, she saw why.

The thing was terror incarnate.

After a while longer of staring at the painting, the young woman turned back the dragon at her side.

"Why are you showing me this?" she asked curiously, but Toothless shook his head and began to walk away again, this time towards the portal through which Hiccup had fled.

"You want me to go and speak to him?" The dragon nodded solemnly.

Astrid took a deep breath, but before she could open the door, Toothless grabbed her hand in his mouth, and dragged it over to a painting directly to the right of the wooden door.

Startled at this action, the Viking wondered momentarily why she couldn't feel any teeth...there didn't seem to be any present.

"Toothless? But I could have sworn you had–" Releasing her hand only for a moment, the Night Fury held his mouth wide open to Astrid, and rapidly deployed and then retracted a sizeable set of razor-sharp incisors.

"That explains a lot!" the young woman spoke with a slight chuckle, which the dragon echoed in his own, deep rumble of a laugh.

Toothless now gently placed her hand upon what seemed to be a painting of the very castle in which she now found herself, and nudged the intricate image of the topmost tower, before gesturing back to the door.

"That's where you'll find him." Turning to place a hand on the door, Astrid gently stroked the Night Fury's face, taking solace in the fact the at least he had forgiven her for past mistakes.

The dragon purred for a few seconds, before giving her another nudge.

"Go on. Be brave, and go." It was the second time that day that she had found herself being urged on by a dragon.

With a deep breath, Astrid pushed the door wide open and walked through.


...and here we are, safe and sound on the other side.

I know you're probably sick of seeing these words, but any and all comments, feedback and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

Two weeks 'til next chapter!

Lumpyness.