Chapter 3 - Astrid

"Hiccup! Are you crazy? That dragon will kill you!" Astrid screamed at me, thinking that I was lost in my own fantasy, but I already had a reply to that, and it even stumped me. . .

"Well I'm not killed, am I?" The look on her face was shock. She was not expecting that, and I could tell she was really trying to find a comeback, but she found none. Her eyes refused to look into mine, fearing that I would know that she was defeated, but she herself, wouldn't allow the painful fact that she was defeated enter her mind or heart. Astrid wasn't a girl that was a fan of defeat. Once, she lost in a battle to Snotlout at arm-wrestling, and she was infuriated. When I walked by her, she glared at me, and then mumbled something about defeat being as low as hell, so I knew it would be a very smart thing to not bug her. And even right now, that story is applying. Astrid, defeated by my comeback, and Toothless in their quick battle, was refusing to accept bitter defeat, so she just pushed that fact aside, and looked at me with a glare that was full of anger, shock, and. . .something I've never seen. . .fear.

But, as I was looking at her, I had a not-so-calm anymore Toothless behind me, trying to push me away from him, since he wanted to fight Astrid, but I didn't want that to happen, because there are several ways that could turn out, and all those ways are bad. So, I just tried to stand where I was, but it was increasingly difficult as Toothless kept applying more force with every attempt to gently push me away. So, to counter-act this, I just rubbed Toothless' neck gently, making him stop pushing on me, and also calming him down, making the situation easier for me. So, with Toothless calm, and not it attack mode, I focused my attention back on Astrid, who was shocked that I was doing that to Toothless and such, so I thought a little explanation would help.

"Astrid, it looks like you saw a ghost, died, and smothered your face with snow. . .calm down, Toothless isn't going to hurt you. . .*whispers* I hope. . ."

"Calm down? There is a Night Fury right in front of me, you are acting like a friend towards it, and you do realize that you are completely going against the viking way of life, right? And Toothless? You named the dragon Toothless?"

"Astrid, I don't care that I'm going against the viking's way of life. Everything we know about these guys, is wrong. The viking way of life when It comes to dragons is wrong, and it is wrong for us to fight them, and it is wrong for us to kill them. There's something else out there. . .I can just feel it, and I know that it has to be causing this war between us and them. And yes Astrid, I named him Toothless. If I didn't name him Toothless, then I wouldn't call him Toothless."

She just looked at me blankly, as if everything I said impacted her with so much ferocity that it rendered her speechless. . .oh wait, I forgot, that's exactly what I was expecting it to do. . .But I knew that words alone would not change her view so quickly, I needed proof that dragons weren't who we thought they were, and to do that, I needed Toothless. But, there was a problem. . .Toothless does not like Astrid right now, and I'm sure Astrid feels the same way. So, I'm stuck with trying to work something out in my head, a plan that will show Astrid the truth without endangering or angering Toothless.

But, before I could do anything, Astrid starting backing away, glaring at me, then I heard her say three words. Three words that made my blood run cold. . .

"You're so busted." She ran off towards the village, axe in hand, and determination in mind, and I knew that if she went back to the village, either I would lose Toothless, I would be in some serious trouble, or both. . .So, I had to catch her in order to stop her, but I knew that she was much faster than me, so I looked for Toothless, who I thought was still right next to me, but I saw him trotting off to the other side of the pond, curling up. I knew I didn't have much time before Astrid was deep in the woods, so I ran over to Toothless, and told him that we needed to find Astrid, but he just snorted, as if he didn't really care about her. I can't blame him, I mean, she attacked him only minutes ago, but I still needed to catch her before she ruined my secret about Toothless, so I mentioned to Toothless that if she reached Berk, that I would lose him, and when I said that, he un-curled and lied on his stomach, directing me to get onto his unsaddled back, which I felt uncomfortable with, but I would have to get used to it, because last night when I was talking to Toothless about making a saddle for him, he growled, meaning he didn't like that idea, and I probably knew why. He was the son of Lightning and Death, so his pride must be high, and he doesn't want to feel weak or 'controlled'. I really can't blame him with that either, but still. . .

I got uneasily on his back, and he was off into the sky, but this time, I can't explain it, but I knew how to hold onto him correctly. I almost had a black out from the shock that I experienced when I didn't budge when Toothless shot vertical into the air. I wasn't even slipping off a little during that period of time, but I didn't care, I knew how to ride a dragon bear-back now, so that was a. . .triumphant feeling I guess. . . But, once we leveled out, Toothless noticed Astrid running, so he swooped down, and picked her up, then we flew her to a tree that was hanging over a cliff-side, and Toothless dropped her on the lowest branch, and the only thing under her was a 1,200 foot fall to her doom if she let go or something of that nature. . .

Me and Toothless landed on the branch next to her, and I was trying to talk to her, but she told me she didn't want me to talk, so then I extended an invitation to show her that dragons aren't what we think they are. . .that they are actually the exact opposite. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow in question, and I told her to take my hand.

She scoffed, and swatted my hand away, making Toothless warningly growl some, but I reached my hand out to her again, and told her that I would show her what she's missing, and that she and everyone else at Berk was wrong. . .

She glared at me a little, but looked down, saw the drop, and knew that she was yet again defeated, as all of her escapes were cut off, and she only had one choice. So, much to her dismay, she took my hand, and sat behind me on Toothless' neck, causing him to glance up at me with a 'are you sure this is a good idea?' look, which I smiled, and patted his head. I looked behind me at Astrid, and told her she might want to hold on to me, and she did so quickly, and at that, Toothless blasted into the sky, flying straight up into the air, towards the clouds, and the view was so magnificent, that the entire village of Berk looked like an ant from way up here, and I could tell Astrid was enjoying this, but I felt something, and glanced at Toothless.

He was enjoying this with me yes, but I could tell he still hadn't forgiven Astrid for what she did, and with us this high, and his mind like that, there's no telling what he could do or would want to do. So, in order to avoid any future crisis's and rivalries between the two, I looked behind me at Astrid, and she smiled at me, but stopped smiling when she saw that I had a serious face on, and I told her she needed to apologize to Toothless.

Toothless' ears perked up when I said that, and he glanced up at me, giving me a little smile, as if he already knew that I was doing or did the right thing, which I know that I was in fact doing the right thing. I knew that apologies were much better than rivalries, since rivalries might lead to bloodshed, and I didn't want to have Astrid's blood on my hands, so I knew that she needed to apologize.

Astrid didn't respond for a few moments, so I told her again, and she snapped at me, telling me she already heard me the first time, and she earned another warning growl from Toothless, this time more severe, causing her to say sorry to me, but I wasn't the one she needed to apoligize to, It was Toothless. But, I knew that this was hard for Astrid, since she has never appologized for basically anything for quite a long time, and making her do so, is like backing her into a corner, she gets drastic, and that may lead to violence, but in this situation, she only had one escape yet again, so she took it.

"I-I'm sorry Toothless. . .for. . .attacking you." I never actually thought that she would do it, but she actually had enough courage and strength to do so, and Toothless purred at Astrid, making her hold back a giggle, since I could feel her cup her hand over her mouth, fidgeting slightly to also hold back her body's reaction to holding in the giggle, but I didn't pay it much attention. I was instead focused on Toothless, and the flight.

It was so beautiful and peaceful up here. . . Now I know why dragons like to fly so much, you feel so free, and you feel like your not chained to the ground anymore. . .you feel un-bound, un-restrained, and un-captured. . . The feeling just makes you want to live in the air, floating above the harsh, cold ground, that seemed to have a suction to it, that kept u there, away from the freedom and beauty of the sky. . .

I looked behind me, and the magnificent view was enrapturing Astrid as well. Her eyes were wide, she had a wide smile plastered on her face, and she was even raising or extending her arms to touch the clouds, that felt like mist, a cool, refreshing, and beautiful mist. . . I don't think that she ever knew how great flying was, and how great u felt when u come into the sky, to enjoy it's fruit and gallery of clouds, light, and luminous or bloom effects that hung in the sky day and night for all to see it's artistic beauty and creation.

So, as we glided through the seemingly endless sky, I heard Astrid say something that I never expected her to say, and I think that she wasn't expecting herself to say this either. . .

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah Astrid?"

"Where'd you find him?"

"Find who? You mean Toothless?"

"Yes. . .him."

"Oh, well. . uh, I found him south of Ravenpoint after I. . .shot him down."

"Oh. . .well, I was just wondering where you guys met, and also. . . I just wanted to say thanks."

"Thanks for what Astrid?"

"Thanks for showing me Toothless, thanks for the gift of flight, and thanks for showing me the truth about dragons."

"Oh, well. . .your welcome Astrid. Heh."

"This is just. . .amazing. . .He's amazing." She patted Toothless' neck slightly, making him glance back at her, purring a little in response to that, and making me smile, knowing that she now knows the truth. . . But I still had one question running through my head. . .

What was causing these dragons to attack us and steal our food?

. . .and I found out soon enough. . .

We were flying for about an hour or so, and we were all enjoying ourselves. Toothless wasn't angry with Astrid anymore, and that made me happy, since that might of caused some future problems, but it's over and done, so I just let the past be the past. . .

Astrid and I were cracking jokes about some vikings in Berk that did some stupid stuff on accident or on purpose, and we would start laughing, and I think Toothless was laughing too, I really couldn't tell. But anyway, we were gently gliding in the air, and I was looking at the view while Astrid was talking to me, and Toothless was keeping steady. . .until. . .

One moment Toothless is smiling, and flying peacefully through the air, and the next moment, we are being taken for a ride after Toothless' ears perk up, and he makes a grunt noise or something. I didn't know what was going on, so I asked him what's wrong, and placed a hand on his head, and he shook it off, grunting. I looked around and saw more than 50 dragons of all shapes, species, colors, and types flying in the same direction we were headed, but all of them had food of some sort: Sheep, goat, deer, fish, cow, chicken, you name it, they had it. I was wondering what they were doing with so much food, but before I could answer my own question, I looked ahead, and saw a rocky, misty, and volcanic island that we were headed for.

I wasn't all that nervous until Toothless was dodging all the rocky pillars and arcs that laced the outskirts of the island, but once we were done going through the maze of sharp and deadly rocks, we headed straight for a large hole on the side of the mountain, and so did all the other dragons that were around us. I didn't know what what was going on, I was just as confused as Astrid was, and I looked back at her, and she looked at me with fear and confusion, and I just nodded that I felt the same way.

I looked forwards again, and when I did, Toothless flew into a large opening in the mountain, and the entire inside was a deep red color, and all the dragons were dropping their food into the hole in the middle of it, and I thought that they were wasting out food, so that made me feel so great. But I looked on, and more and more dragons dropped their food into the hole, making me think they were wasting more of our food, and before I could say anything to Astrid, Toothless flew up to a pillar, and hid behind a rock, secluding himself, and looking at the hole in the middle of the opening. I didn't know what was happening, but apparently he did.

I heard a buzzing noise, and saw a Gronkle flying in with no food in his paws or teeth, but once he flew over the hole, he spat up a fish that was in his mouth, and started to scratch his right head with his back paw, much like a dog, but there was a rumbling sound, and the Gronkle perked up, and started flying up and away from the pit, but then something happened. . .I was not even expecting this, like I wasn't expecting any of this. . .

A huge dragon or monster, or whatever you want to call it came up out of the pit, and clamped it mouth around the Gronkle, swallowing and eating it. Me and Astrid were both shocked and scared of the dragon's sheer size, and we knew why the dragons brought so much food, to feed her or him or it. But I managed to not freak out, but I wanted to when the dragon started to sniff the air, and I knew that it had acquired our scent, and was about to attack us, so I told Toothless that he needed to go now, and he happily obliged, and we took off from that spot moments before the dragon snapped at us and missed. I thought that we were safe, but something happened next that would haunt me my Nightmares. . .

The big dragon launched fire at us, missed, but it a dragon in front of us, knocking it off balance, and sending ti crashing into us, and consequently, I was knocked off Toothless' back, but somehow Astrid managed to stay on. But the only thing I could see what the big dragon's mouth approaching. I thought that I was going to die, but Toothless swooped down, and grabbed me, and flew out of the cave. I was so thankful for Toothless doing that, because I didn't want to die, and he saved my life.

So, once he set me down and landed, I ran up to him, and gave him a big hug on his neck, making him purr. I told him that I was very thankful for doing that, and he purred more, and once I let go of him, he licked me on the face, making me chuckle, and making Astrid want to giggle. I sat down, and Toothless lied down in front of me, putting his head in my lap, purring. I knew that Toothless loved to have his head, neck, or chin rubbed/scratched, so I started to gently rub his neck, making him purr more, and push his head into my hand, obviously wanting me to continue. I always chuckled when he did that, because he was so playful during these moments, so after I stopped, I quickly got up, to avoid being pinned, and I turned my attention to Astrid who was now sitting on a flat rock that overlooked the sea and rocky outskirts of the island.

I thought she was upset, but she was actually absorbing everything that has happened today. Even I was absorbing what just happened, but I wasn't focused on it right now, I was instead focused on her, so I sat down next to her, and asked her what's wrong.

"What's up Astrid?"

"Hiccup. . .I know now, that these dragons have to be controlled by that big dragon, but now, I'm wondering. . .what will happen to Berk now? There's no way that any vikings can defeat this dragon. . ."

"Well Astrid, first thing's first. . .we need to get back to Berk before we jump into anything else."

"You're right." I smiled at her, and helped her up on Toothless' neck, and we were in the air moments later.

I couldn't stop thinking about how we were going to take down such a massive dragon. I mean, It would take so much firepower to even put a dent in that thing, but I had to get my mind off of that right now, since Berk was fast approaching. . .

I could feel Astrid holding on to me, and that made me feel great, and I have Toothless to thank for that. Can u believe that? A dragon helped me get the girl of my dreams. She's been pushing me aside and ignoring me this whole time, but when Toothless stepped in, she now respected me and such. So, dragons are great friends to have around. . . specially if it's getting a date. . .heh

We landed not to long after, and she was talking about taking this matter to my dad, but I knew that that would be a bad idea, since my dad and the vikings would try to kill Toothless, and he was my biggest concern. Because if I lost Toothless, I would probably lose the will to live, since he was a pretty big part of my life, and I didn't want to lose that. So I needed to come up with a plan that kept me and Toothless safe, but also showed Berk the truth about dragons, and that they were wrong.

"Astrid wait. . my dad will kill Toothless. We. . need another plan."

"Hiccup we finally discovered what's making the dragons do this, and you want to keep it a secret? To protect you pet dragon? Are you serious?"

"Yes." What I saw in her eyes was shock. She was not expecting me to say that I think, but I knew she knew why i didn't want to do this. She saw that Toothless was a large part of my life, and if I lost him, I would be lost, and that I would do anything and everything in my power to protect him. Now, I know what you're thinking, "Come on, a Night Fury needing protection?", but I know that when it comes to vikings, they will stop at nothing to try and kill Toothless, and I did not want that happening. And I was happy that Astrid understood this.

"Well then. . what do we do?" I didn't honestly know how to answer that question, so I just had to tell her I needed more time.

"Just. .give me until tomorrow, I'll figure something out. . ."

"Okay." She turned around, and started to run off, but stopped, and looked at me, making me question what she was thinking. Because, Astrid doesn't act like this, she usually punches me on the shoulder, or leaves without saying a word or turning around to make eye contact, but this time, she went against both. Astrid was truly a unique person. She would always surprise everyone with her talent at fightning, and she had a knack for turning the tides of the battle to her favor, which is why she always came out on top, but, she did that by scanning her opponents, looking for openings, and waiting for the right moment to strike. She used alot of strategy when it came to that. She was just like me sort of, but her intelligence was in the battlefield, and mine was in engineering and science.

"Hiccup. . .I have a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"If we convert Berk to the truth, will we all get dragons?" I looked at her for a second, pondering what she just said, and gave her a definite answer.

"Astrid, I don't know. . .First, we need to focus on Berk knowing the truth, then we'll focus on things like that."

"Okay. see you tomorrow."

"See ya." And at that, she was off. I knew that she knew the truth about dragons, and that made me smile a bit. And while I looked at her run off, Toothless came up next to me, and smiles at me, and I smiled back, but I knew why he was smiling, and I rolled my eyes, playfully pushing his head away, making him purr a lil.

After all that, I walked over to a rock, and sat down, trying to figure out what I was going to do, but the more I thought about what to do, then more I couldn't figure anything out, until Toothless came next to me, nuzzling my side, and making me chuckle. But, him doing that gave me an idea, and I came up with a seemingly fool-proof plan that I was pretty sure would work. So, with this plan that I hoped would work, now implanted in my thoughts, I set up a fire, and caught some fish, while Toothless caught his somewhere else.

I settled down next to the fire to absorb it's warmth, and my mouth watered when I heard my fish making it's 'popping' sound once it was cooked completely. I started eating it, then smiled at Toothless, who had just landed, and chuckles when he walked behind me, and laid down behind me, allowing me to lean against his wing, and I smiled at him, earning a toothless smile back, almost making me laugh. . .

It was peaceful that night, and I liked it. . .the crickets chirping, the waterfall gently rumbling, and Toothless breathing. . . it was all so peaceful, and as I leaned against Toothless as I was about to sleep, I smiled at one thing. . .

Astrid was now in the light, and she embraced it without any doubts. She knew the truth, and she was not blinded anymore by Berk's lies. But, you really can't blame Berk for this, since they don't know that they'res a monster out there controlling these dragons to get food for it, so they think that dragons are attacking them just to steal their food for themselves.

And as I was thinking of this, I felt something go over my chest, and I slightly cracked my left eye to see Toothless' tail on my chest, and I smiled at that, and closed my eyes, enjoying the peace of the cove, and the warmth of the fire, and Toothless. I knew that I would have in impossible task ahead of showing Berk the truth, but I didn't want to focus on that, I wanted to focus on the here and now, and just relax, and think about the peace that was now starting to make me drift off. And I thought about Astrid, and her having her own dragon, and I thought about Berk ending the war with the dragons, and us having a long period of peace and harmony with them, and I could feel myself going away from reality, until I was in a deep, peaceful sleep. . .

"Okay! Chapter 3 is DONE. . .teh

Chapter 4 coming up next! XD

And, as always, please R&R XD"