Thanks to P-Artsypants for being my beta reader and for her support in writing this story. Also thank you guys for the reviews and for your suggestions.


After almost a month since Stormfly's arrival, her right wing finally healed. This meant that Hiccup could finally train Astrid to fly a dragon. So that now she could fully understand the potential of dragons as friends.

But there was one slight problem.

Toothless's flying gear was getting rusty, the fin had a few holes in it, and well, it was kind of a mess. So he would have to train Astrid with a dragon that had never flew with humans on her back before. That means he would have to train Astrid and Stormfly at the same time, and he wasn't really looking forward to this small complication. His initial plan was to fly Astrid with Toothless, until she would get used with the feeling of flying and to ride Stormfly alone until the dragon was used to flying with humans. He had a lot of work to do.

"The first thing you need to do is to trust your dragon. Stormfly has a lot more flying experience than you, so don't try to force some maneuvers on her when you are flying." Hiccup said, getting some rope from his bag.

"So that means that Stormfly will fly where she wants?" Astrid asked with a confused face.

"No. You can tell her where to go, or what to do, or you can ever steer her, but don't try to force her to do some maneuvers that could be dangerous. Not until you have enough experience flying with her."

"And how would I know when I can do dangerous maneuvers?"

"Trial and error. And I'll be there with Toothless to make sure you don't fall to your death."

"Got it. So how are you going to teach me to fly with her?" Astrid asked, approaching Hiccup who was tying the rope around Stormfly, trying to make a steering mechanism.

"I am going to fly with you on Stormfly until you get used to flying and she gets used to people on her back." Hiccup said, climbing on Stormfly's back. This made the Deadly Nadder a little uncomfortable, she flew a little before on her own, testing her wings, and Hiccup decided that her wing was fully healed, but she wasn't expecting to be flying with humans on her back, not so soon at least.

'What are they doing?' Stormfly asked the other dragon, Toothless.

What does it look like? They're trying to fly with you.' Toothless answered annoyed and a little sleepy.

'Why?'

'So that the girl can get used to flying you.' The Night Fury closed his eyes, trying to send the message that he wants to sleep.

'Why would the girl want to fly a dragon?'

'So that they can travel large distances in short periods of time or to have an advantage in combat or something.' Toothless answered annoyed, getting up and walking towards the cave.

'But you have equipment on you that is used for flying. Why they aren't giving me any equipment?' Stormfly asked before Toothless was out of her sight.

'Because I can't fly on my own.' Toothless finished, disappearing in the cave.

"So, we are both going to fly on Stormfly?" Astrid asked a little uncomfortable at the idea.

"Yes. I don't trust you to fly her alone. And since Toothless can't fly because of his tailfin, if you fall from Stormfly you would be pretty much dead; and we can both agree that that would be a bad thing, right?" Hiccup said extending his hand to help Astrid climb up.

"But she's a small dragon."

"Dragon are a lot stronger than they look, she will have no problem flying with both of us." Hiccup said, still waiting for Astrid.

"But..."

"You want to fly or not?" Hiccup interrupted her a little annoyed. The faster she gets used to flying on her own, the sooner he can start repairing Toothless's flying gear.

Astrid accepted his help and climbed on Stormfly's back. The dragon accepted the idea of being rode by the girl and she understood that she didn't have any experience, so Hiccup had to fly with them until she was comfortable with flying a dragon. Astrid was feeling nervous about it. She was so close to Hiccup. The only time when they were so close was when they were training, but then they were fighting, they were supposed to be that close; but now, now there was no real reason for her to be this close to him. She remembers the times when he couldn't talk to her without stuttering. But that was before the whole 'befriending dragons' thing. Now they trained and talked daily, going so far saying that they were even friends. And in the end, why wouldn't they be friends? A good argument would be that Astrid had to kill Hiccup. But he was the only person that had been nice to her in the past three months. And the more they talked and trained together, the more she realized that he was actually a nice person and that she regretted not helping him when they lived on Berk. To be completely honest, she liked him even when they lived on Berk. His nonconformist ways and his overall clumsiness made him unique, but not in a bad way, like the most vikings on Berk said. And with the more time they spent together, the more she realized that she was right all along.

"Relax. You will get comfortable with dragons soon enough." Hiccup said, noticing how nervous she was.

"I hope..." Astrid said, trying to avoid eye contact and looking for something to hold on.

"Let's go girl." Hiccup said to Stormfly, making the Nadder to slowly extended her wings and with a few quick beats, they were in the air. Astrid was taken by surprise and she soon found herself clinging herself to Hiccup, burying her face in his back. She then quickly realized that she was now hugging Hiccup, but she was more afraid of falling to her death than for him to notice what she was doing, so she didn't let go of him.

Soon, Stormfly began to slowly glide over the sea. A Nadders flying pattern was very different from the Night Fury's one. While the Nadder was flying more like a bird, with long periods of gliding, the Night Fury was flying straight, like a bullet, without any unnecessary movements.

Only after Astrid felt that the dragon slowed down, she raised her head from Hiccup's back and started looking around. It was a beautiful view. The first thing she noticed was that there were a few birds flying close to them, so she curiously extended her arm, trying to touch a bird, but she flinched when the birds got scared of her and suddenly changed trajectory, grabbing Hiccup harder. The world just seemed a lot different in the air. From the ground, the world looked it ended and the sky began. But up in the air, the sea went on forever. The glimmering rays of the sun fell on the water, making the waves glitter. Everywhere you looked, there was blue. Blue sea, blue sky, blue Nadder. The wind whipped her loose braid around and fresh air filled her lungs. Never before had she felt so free. Do the dragons always feel like that when flying? She was very jealous on the dragons right now.

"Wanna see something awesome?" Hiccup asked turning a little to face Astrid.

"Hiccup, this is amazing. The whole world looks different." Astrid said not really paying attention to Hiccup, she was too busy admiring the sea and the view. Hiccup noticed that she was distracted, so he slowly made Stormfly to ascend to the sky, Astrid would notice at some point, and then, her reaction will be priceless. And he was right, after they reached a certain height, Astrid subconsciously began to tighten Hiccup harder, making sure that she won't fall. Hiccup only now noticed that Astrid was hugging him. When did that happened? Why was Astrid Hofferson hugging him? Well, she was hugging him to not fall to her death from Stormfly's back. But Astrid Hofferson was actually hugging him. If holding another person to make sure that she won't fall to her death was consider hugging. Was that actually a hug? Well, it looked like a hug from where he was standing. The girl he had a crush since they were little, was hugging him. Astrid Hofferson was hugging the former Hiccup the Useless.

Holy shit.

"As-Astrid?" Hiccup started stuttering a little, then he coughed in his hand to regain his voice. "So, what do you think?" They were now near the clouds now. Astrid extended her right hand, trying to touch the clouds, expecting them to be soft and fluffy, but she was pleasantly surprised when she felt her hand dipped and refreshed by the cool, damp clouds. Then she started looking towards the ground, seeing tens of islands, small and big. Damn, she could even see Berk from here.

But Astrid was silenced by the view. All those now tiny islands that sheltered hundreds of vikings were now sitting there, looking like small leafs in the water.

"This. Is. Just. Amazing." Astrid said almost not paying any attention at the boy. "Why hasn't anyone befriended dragons before? We could have flown a long time ago. Why are all those viking so stubborn? Why?" Astrid asked a little annoyed, resting her shin on Hiccup's shoulder.

"Well..." Hiccup began, wanting to turn his head to look at her, but stopping when he noticed her position, "Uh..." He gulped. " Well, because most of the dragons hate vikings and most of the vikings hate dragons. So...It doesn't look like there will be peace for some time. But maybe if we could train a few more dragons to show the world that..."

"Let's go to Berk." Astrid interrupted Hiccup.

"What?! Why?!"

"Now there are two people that befriended dragons. Now they might listen." Astrid answered, not really paying any attention to his reaction, she was too amazed by the view.

"No. That's insane! They would never accept dragons. They are too closed minded." Hiccup brought his counter argument.

"We could at least try."

"Then we will both be marked for high treason and executed by the Blood Eagle. And I really don't like the Blood Eagle."

"Me neither..." Astrid said under her breath, remembering how close she was to dying on Berk.

"If we had enough dragons to at least raid Berk, then maybe they would listen. Or try to ambush us. Depends on their mood."

"Why would we want to raid Berk?" Astrid asked confused by his plan. She knew that Hiccup disliked Berk, but to go so far to raid Berk. That didn't sounded like Hiccup at all.

"Well, I wasn't thinking to really raiding Berk. I was thinking that if we had enough dragons to safely raid it, then they would listen to us. Because we would be a force."

"But what if they think we're bluffing?" Astrid asked, starting to like Hiccup's plan.

"Then maybe we should actually raid some boats or islands, or even Berk." Hiccup declared.

"So that we can make a name for ourselves. I like this idea!" Astrid said with a small smile on her face. This idea was crazy enough to work. It would take time, but they could change the entire Barbarian Archipelago. They could become the greatest heroes in the viking history. Astrid the Dragon Rider. She liked the sound of that.

"I kind of already started to make a name for myself." Hiccup said slowly at which Astrid laughed.

"And what name would that be?" She said with a mocking tone.

"Fáfnir. I told a pirate that my..."

"What?!" Astrid yelled "You are Fáfnir?!"

"Well...Yes..." Hiccup confusedly said.

"You know what they say about you in the villages?!" Astrid was yelling at the boy.

"No, not really." He was still confused and the vague answers Astrid gave weren't really helping.

"They said that your dragon ate a man alive. That your dragon broke the hand of a sailor when he tried to help his comrade that was eaten alive. And the other two sailors had to abandon him." Astrid declared, still not fully believing that he is Fáfnir. But he was the only person that came to mind when someone told a story about a man and a dragon, so it kind of made sense.

"Well...It wasn't quite like that." Hiccup sighed. "I guess is time for you to know."

"Know what?"

"You remember when I told you I killed a man?" The boy wasn't sure he wanted to tell her that story, but this seemed like the best time to clear his name.

"Yes." Astrid said. She was actually very curious about that. She noticed the first time when she brought up the subject that he was very defensive and hurt, so she decided to drop it until he was ready to bring it up.

"I killed him with my old bow. One of his friends threatened me, and Toothless crushed his arm. And then I traded their lives for the roman bow that I use now and some arrows." Hiccup slowly said. Even he wasn't sure that this was the right time. He still hadn't got over it. He might break down in front of Astrid. The girl noticed his sudden change in mood and realized that he was still affected by this. But the story made perfect sense. Hiccup didn't had the strength to kill a man in melee combat and she noticed his accuracy with the bow. But why did he killed him? What had gotten into Hiccup that he killed a man with his bow? She was going to insist on this later. Now she had to get them back on his island.

"Stormfly, let's go home." Astrid said, patting her dragon on the side, making the Nadder to slowly turn and descend to the sea level.

They flew in silence back to the island. Luckily for Hiccup, the island wasn't very far. They didn't managed to fly for a long time. But even so, Astrid seemed comfortable flying with Stormfly, so the hardest part in her training was over.

Astrid kept thinking about what Hiccup told her, realizing that the name of Fáfnir will play a huge role in making the vikings to accept dragons in their society. So far, it wasn't in a good way, but that at least meant that someone trained a dragon to listen to him, but this would make dragons to look more like weapons than real friends. Dragons are supposed to be friends, like a huge scaled flying dog that you keep in the house and talk to when you are sad and they make you feel better just by their presence.

When they landed, Hiccup quickly dismounted Stormfly and started to fast pace towards the forest. When Astrid noticed, the boy almost disappeared in the trees.

"Hiccup. Wait!" Astrid yelled.

"I just need some time alone." He replied with a sad voice.

"I can help you. I know what you are going through." Astrid yelled after him, trying to follow him.

"How could you know?" Hiccup yelled back.

"I've seen their faces every night for the last three months." She said with a sad voice when she noticed Hiccup sitting down near a tree. She slowly approached the boy and sat down by his side. He was quietly sobbing, staring down in the grass, like the way to forgetting that horrible event was hidden there, somewhere.

"Who are they?" Hiccup finally asked.

"Four villagers that tried to rob me when I reached my third island. After I traded some boar hides for a flask and some bread, they followed me to my boat on the other side of the island and started threatening me. They said they would kill me if I didn't gave them my axe and the rest of the hides that I managed to procure. When I refused one of them tried to hit me with a club. I quickly crouched and grabbed the dagger from my boot and stabbed him. He started to cough, but I was too busy to care for him when his friends started charging at me. They didn't seem to care about their friend at all. Two of them were armed with clubs and the other one with a knife. I grabbed my axe and parried one attack while stabbing the another with my dagger. Then with a quick turn I hit the guy with the knife with my axe, and got it stuck in his chest. The last one tried to run, but I threw my dagger at him, and hit his neck. Then I stood there in the dirt and blood crying for a few hours. Why did they try to rob me...? They could have lived... Those poor bastards could have lived...They still cross my mind when I go to sleep. I hope that one day I will start to believe that I killed them only to protect myself. But at the same time, I can't stop believing that there could have been a better way."

"You never seemed to be affected by this. Why?" Hiccup said, trying to focus more on her story, trying to forget his problem.

"I just had no one to confess to. Even when I lived in Berk, my parents taught me not to show any emotion. That this is the viking way. That a real hero is not afraid of anything. But now I know that showing emotions doesn't make you weaker. Even the simple idea of admitting a fear makes you stronger. A real hero is not the person who isn't afraid of anything. A real hero is the person who acknowledges his fears and keeps charging at them for the better good. And if the viking way makes you ignore your emotions, then the viking way is wrong." Those were the last words Astrid said before Hiccup started crying near her. She slowly approached and protectively hugged him. She was now here to protect him. He was there for her when she abandoned the viking way. He was there for her when she befriended Stormfly. He was there for her when she gave up Berk, for dragons. Now, she was here for him. She was finally here for him.

Hiccup wasn't like the most vikings. He tried to be, he really tried, but he failed. He failed to kill a captured dragon that couldn't fight back. Anyone else would have done it. But he wasn't anyone else. He was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the first human to ride a dragon. He was the human that would make dragons accepted in the viking society. He was the human that would mend this afflicted world. And Astrid was now finally there to help him.

Hiccup cried himself to sleep. Astrid was still near him, tenderly caressing his hair, trying to soothe him. She decided to stay there with him, trying to protect him from danger while he slept.. She knew that there weren't any dangerous animals in this forest, but if a wild dragon appeared or some random vikings or pirates, she would be here for him.

In the morning, Hiccup had woken up before Astrid. He was slightly surprised to see Astrid near him, hugging him. If what she did when they were flying wasn't a hug, this certainly was. He remembered her being there before he fell asleep, but he wasn't expecting to see her when he woke up. She actually stood there all night to protect him. This brought a small smile on his face. She actually cared for him. Astrid Hofferson cared enough for him to stay all night in a forest, near an uncomfortable tree to console him. This meant a lot for him. There was actually another human being, except from Gobber that cared for him. He thought that Astrid would have a bad reaction if he noticed her like this, so he tried to move a little to wake her up, but without alerting her that he was awake. When he tried to turn around, trying to make himself more comfortable, Astrid woke up.

She slowly removed her arms from around him, trying not to wake him, not wanting to explain why she hugged him all night. Well, at first it was self explanatory, she hugged him because she wanted to comfort and protect him, but after he fell asleep, she continued to hug him because he as warm and she just liked to. She wasn't going to tell him that.

"So you finally woke up?" Astrid said in a quiet voice, trying to get up.

"Five more minutes." Hiccup said, trying to stay on Astrid's shoulder..

"It's morning already." She said, slowly pushing him away and getting up, "Let's go and get something to eat. We didn't eat anything yesterday." She pointed out, starting to head towards the cave.

"Fine." Hiccup said, getting up and running after her, recovering the advantage she had.

"Are you feeling any better from yesterday?" Astrid asked Hiccup when he managed to get to her.

"Actually yes." Hiccup answered with a small smile.

"So you will be fine with me kicking you ass again in training?"

"I managed to defeat you a few times, so please."

"You just got lucky."

"So I got lucky like twenty times already?" Hiccup said with a proud smile. Nobody really managed to defeat Astrid. None of the teens on Berk ever managed to defeat her. But Hiccup did, a few times, he defeated her in a fair fight. Well, he was trained by Astrid, but that is not so important.

"Shut up." Astrid finally said, giving him a soft punch to the shoulder, trying the end the conversation about Hiccup defeating her. He actually got very good at sword fighting. Even if Astrid was fighting with only one sword and Hiccup with two, he managed to win at least one duel in a day of training. If she would use her axe he wouldn't stand a chance, but for now, Astrid was letting him have his moment. She still wasn't going easy on him. She would never tell him that, but she was actually proud of him, even if the small injuries that Hiccup sustained, making them end their day of training prematurely were very common. Once, Hiccup actually managed to injure her. When she tried to dodge an attack, he managed to make her trip and that caused her to hurt her ankle. She wasn't able to train with him for a few days. But she forced herself to fight with him, ignoring his protests. She knew that maybe she should've rested a little longer, but she promised that she will turn him into a fighter, and Astrid Hofferson doesn't go back on her word.

Finally, they reached the cave where Ild and Blad were playing at the entrance. They stopped when they noticed the two teens and just looked at them until they entered the cave. Inside, there was Toothless with Stormfly sleeping near the fire, and they even brought a boar and left it near the fire. They actually hunted a boar for them. That meant that Toothless finally accepted Astrid as part of the family, he wasn't going to hunt for a stranger and he was definitely not going to let a stranger alone with Hiccup for that long.

"Thanks bud." Hiccup said, approaching the fire and petting the Night Fury.

"They hunted for us?" Astrid asked, approaching the boar to skin it.

"Looks like it. Toothless used to hunt when I was too tired to do it myself." Hiccup answered, approaching Astrid. "Need some help with the boar?"

"No, I'll manage." She replied simply. "And Hiccup, I was wondering, why aren't you trying to sell all those pelts that you got from hunting? They could be worth a lot of silvers, and you really killed a lot of stuff while you were here. And the fact that I arrived here didn't really help the boar population on the island."

"So, I'm just to go riding a dragon to a random village and be like 'Hey, I have pelts. Want to buy?' " Hiccup said with a sarcastic tone, trying to imitate a foreign merchant in a funny way.

"You could, if the village was small enough. And you can also go by the name Fáfnir, to make sure they didn't forgot about it." Astrid said, skinning the boar. Hiccup started pacing around the cave, thinking about her idea. This was just insane enough that it could actually work. But only if the village was small and unarmed, so that they couldn't kill him and the dragon. But if the village was too small, they wouldn't really have anything useful to trade. Maybe try and catch trader Johann so that he could spread the word and trade with them.

"What about Johann?" Hiccup asked with a small cunning smile, revealing that he had a plan.

"That could work. But he trades only in expensive stuff, so you may need a lot of boar hides to trade with him. But that could at least spread the word about a dragon rider. So it might work but I don't really suggest it, yet." Astrid explained her opinion on this plan.

"You're right..." Hiccup said resuming his pace .

"But first don't you need to repair Toothless's tailfin?"

"I have an idea!" Hiccup stated excited.

"What?"

"We can try and sneak back on Berk and get back some of my stuff from the blacksmith, so that I would have the resources to repair Toothless's tail. And maybe even get some real swords so I can defend myself in case of something." Hiccup quickly said in one breath.

"WHAT?" Astrid yelled, dropping her dagger in the boar's carcass.

"Just think about it. It's perfect." Hiccup tried to continue his idea.

"No, no, no, no, no. Just, no." Astrid quickly said, standing up.

"Why?"

"WHY? Are you really asking me 'why'? Well, let's begin, YOU are marked a high traitor to the vikings ways and you most probably have a bounty on your head, and I am banished from the village until I bring YOU back." Astrid said yelling at the boy. This woke up the dragons, they started to look worried at the small fight that broke between the two teens.

"That's why I said that we would sneak in the village." Hiccup explained.

"How did you even arrived to this idea? We were talking about trade and now you want to sneak inside Berk. You said that you wanted to raid Berk."

"I don't want to raid Berk. I don't even care about Berk that much. But it's the only place that surely has what I need for Toothless." Hiccup explained.

"And what does Toothless need?" Astrid asked slightly annoyed at Hiccup

"There is a special type of metal that is light enough to not slow him while flying. I used that metal to make his flying gear and I am pretty sure you noticed that some parts from his flying gear are pretty much rusted. Not to say anything about the tail fin."

Astrid sighted defeated, but still not agreeing with his plan. "But what if they catch you, or me? Then what?" Astrid said, yelling the last sentence at him.

"They won't." Hiccup confidently said.

"How do you know that?"

"I learned how to sneak behind boars and killing them for three months. I learned how to hide my tracks." Hiccup said trying to support his plan. "And I am pretty sure that you don't have any problem sneaking. For Thor's sake you trained all your life to be a warrior."

"Hiccup, you could die. You could have a slow and agonizing death." Astrid gave her final argument.

"But this can also be the start to a new viking society accepting dragons." Hiccup responded gesturing with his hands.

"Fine!" Astrid said exasperated. "But mark my words. If you die, I swear by all gods that I will follow you all the way to Valhalla or where the heck you will end up and kill you." Astrid threaten Hiccup, hoping that at least this would change his mind.

"Deal." Hiccup quickly responded with a winning smile. He wasn't serious about this, was he? This could get both of them killed, at least one of them. Things could easily turn from bad to worse. Why did he want to do this? "We are leaving at nightfall."

"Wait. Today?" Astrid asked surprised.

"Yes, why not?" Hiccup said beginning to pack some supplies in his bag.

"How are we going to get there?" Astrid asked gesturing in the air.

"With Stormfly. Toothless can't fly with this tail fin and we will take Ild and Blad with us to help us scout the area." Hiccup explained.

"Wait, so you want to endanger my dragon and also Ild and Blad? But...Hiccup, I swear to all gods that if something happens…"

"…you will kill me. Got it." Hiccup interrupted her while approaching Stormfly and putting his bag near the dragon.

'Does he want to fly back to Berk? Why?' Stormfly asked Toothless with an almost shocked expression.

'Maybe for revenge, or to gather supplies like he is saying, but I am pretty sure that he has a more deceiving plan in his mind.' Toothless said with a small grin in his mind. He was actually proud of Hiccup, after only three months he got over Berk and now he was going back, not as the useless boy he was, he was now going back as a dragon rider, trying to gather supplies for his master plan. Well, their master plan, Astrid also contributed to it. Toothless was actually happy that he had trusted the girl, she had proven a very valuable ally against the vikings.

'I just hope that I won't break my wing.' Stormfly said still looking at the two teens discussing the plan.

"But still, why Berk of all places?" Astrid asked exasperated by this discussion and his plan. His plan that might get all of them killed.

"First. It's only one hour of flight from here." Hiccup started explaining

"What? Berk is really that close?"

"Second. I know the place and how to sneak around it."

"Sure you do." Astrid said under her breath.

"And third. I trust that you aren't going to betray me and then break my leg, dragging me to the village so that you could be accepted as a viking again."


Thanks for reading and please leave your opinion about the story so far.