"What do ya mean what, lad!?" Gobber shouted, hand and hook waving about wildly, "That was amazing!" His prodigious gut now joined in on the act.

Hiccup glanced down at the unconscious Gronkle laying next to him. He poked its rough, scaly hide with his foot, then shrugged. "Right… Well, I've got things to do, so… Later, I guess," Hiccup said, pointedly ignoring all the slacked-jaw stares, and walked out of the arena with long, rushed strides.

The remaining recruits and Gobber simply exchanged looks with each other for a few long moments, before Gobber finally spoke. "Alright... Yew lot, meet me in the Mead Hall after the sun sets. We'll talk about yer performance, and I'll tell ya what comes next. Got it?"

The young Vikings nodded, and Gobber hobbled out of the arena. Once he was truly gone, the children erupted into chatter.

"Did you see how fast he was!?" Tuffnut shouted, arms flailing to emphasize his surprise.

"Yeah- almost as fast as you when you're running from a mouse," Ruffnut jabbed. Tuffnut growled, and his twin snarled in return. The blondes slammed their helmets together, then staggered away from each other, heads ringing.

"Ouch…" they muttered simultaneously, clutching their rattled skulls. They recovered quickly, then immediately got tangled up in another sibling-brawl. The other teens, unfortunately used to this sort of behavior, ignored it.

"Tuffnut's right, Hiccup was fast- I wonder if he has speed eight, just like the Deadly Nadder? Hmm, nah… Probably more, like, speed five..." Fishlegs said, then devolved into quiet mumblings about the possible statistics of his age-mate.

Astrid sighed, glancing at the only other not-occupied member of the group; Snotlout. He had that cocky grin on his face, and his arm muscles were rippling as he continuously flexed.

"No," Astrid said the second he opened his mouth. She'd seen that look before, and knew from experience that it was always followed by some piss-poor attempt at flirting. Sure, Snotlout was kinda strong-for a young Viking- but Hiccup was evidently much more powerful. Also smarter. Honestly, Astrid wondered, how could someone like Snotlout be related to someone like Hiccup? And no, she did not swoon at the mere thought of his name, and the way he had leapt in front of her, to protect her, and how rough his voice was when he scolded her…

The blonde girl turned away from the put-out Snotlout, face red-hot. "I'll see you guys later. I've got...Uh… Things, to do. Yeah." With that weak excuse, Astrid ran out of the arena, unnoticed by the other teens, who were each wrapped up in their own little worlds.


Astrid's things revolved around finding and spending time with Hiccup, which was actually quite difficult. That boy could vanish whenever he wanted- an ability gained from being shunned for 90% of his life (the other ten was spent getting bullied or yelled at). He wasn't in the forge, and neither was Gobber, so she couldn't simply ask the master smith where his apprentice was. Not that she would- that would be mortifying.

And so, Astrid had no choice but to wait at the smithy. And wait. And wait. Finally, the young warrior got so frustrated that she grabbed her axe and walked out towards the forest. Sparring with trees usually helped whenever she was in a bad mood, and today was no different.

A lean-muscled arm chucked her axe through the greenery. The revolving motions of the weapon, the glint of sunlight hitting metal at the perfect angle, the blur of colors, was mesmerizing, regardless of the fact that she had seen it hundreds- thousands- of times. The heavy thunk as the blade sunk inches deep into the gnarly bark was extremely satisfying, and Astrid pretended for a moment that it was an enemy warrior. Yes, a truly hulking man, running at her, log-thick limbs pumping back and forth, meaty arm drawn back above his head to slam his mighty hammer/mace/axe into the thin-framed girl, breaking her body with one powerful strike.

Unfortunately for this man, he had chosen to mess with Astrid Hofferson, shieldmaiden of Berk, Valkyrie-in-training, most powerful female Viking in the entire archipelago- no, most powerful Viking, period. And she was merciless. A one-handed axe buried its way deep into his face, splitting his skull vertically. The blonde warrior rushed forward, brutally ripping her weapon from his cleaved face, resulting in a wave of crimson blood and brain matter, as well as a few bone fragments. Blood splattered against the girl, but was expertly ignored. She did a backwards somersault, to avoid having his mountain-like corpse fall and trap her, then spun on her heel. After all, in battle, one could never be too careful. Some enemies might not be honorable, and try to sneak up on you while you were distracted by one of their friends.

Astrid, trapped as she was in her war-fantasy, did not register that the person she saw was actually a person, instead of a tree. That is, until her axe had left hands, and began spinning rapidly towards them.

The shieldmaiden let out a loud gasp of horror, but was unable to choke out any words of warning. In that dreadful moment, time seemed to slow down, and Astrid was able to identify who she was about to kill. That dark, auburn hair, that almost looked brown, the actually brown leather vest, green tunic, tall figure, pale skin, freckled face, and most of all, those emerald eyes, wide enough to engulf the sun.

She was about to cause the death of Hiccup, all because she had let herself get too caught up in a stupid game.

At least, that's what Astrid thought, until the lad simply reached up and caught the axe's wooden handle, as if she had thrown a simple pebble at him. The thunderous look on his face, however, showed the girl that he knew the difference very well.

He stomped forward, tucking something- it looked like a book, or something similar- into the inner pocket of his vest. Each step, while silent, shook Astrid's world. His rage was nearly physical, threatening to surge forward like a cloud of black smoke and choke the girl, his sharp glare anxious to rent her into pieces. To try and avoid such a bloody fate, Astrid began to walk backwards, speeding up until she was nearly jogging. She, however, did not have eyes in the back of her head, and bumped into a tree moments later. Her fearful hands pressed against the sudden obstacle, willing it to disappear, or maybe to move between her and anger-incarnate.

During her panic, Astrid had taken her eyes off the angry Viking, which proved to be a mistake. She looked up, and suddenly found that Hiccup was right in front of her. She squeaked, a sound which was ignored by both parties. Hiccup reared back with Astrid's axe in his hand- oh gods was she about to be killed by her own weapon!?- and whipped it forward.

Astrid had just enough time to close her eyes and hunch her shoulders, before a loud thunk echoed throughout the clearing once more. Oddly enough, the noise was not accompanied by any significant pain, and it didn't feel like Astrid's head had just fallen a not-so-great distance from her shoulders. She cracked open one eye and glanced down, relaxing slightly when she saw the rest of her body. She opened the other one, then looked up- and up- at the figure looming over her. He was tall.

The only thing Astrid could think about at the moment was how close they were. She had imagined a moment very similar to this many times, though it usually involved less sharp objects, and a much softer mood.

"What was that?" Hiccup growled, his guttural tone sending shivers down Astrid's spine, snapping her out of her reveries.

"S-sorry! I didn't realize you were there, you're just so quiet, and I wasn't really looking-!"

"So that makes it alright to almost kill me?"

If she could have, Astrid would have backed up after that accusation. Hiccup's rage carried on his oddly-chilled breath, which brushed up against the trapped girl's cheeks. It paradoxically ignited a fire in her face. And somewhere much lower. The imagined heat prevented her from noticing when the temperature surrounding them dropped marginally.

"N-no! I swear, I wasn't trying to kill you, I just slipped and you were just there, and I'm sorry, really!" Astrid cried, stuttering heavily, and she was trying very desperately to sink into the tree her back rested against. She would've never allowed herself to be this vulnerable around anybody else- family, friend, and most definitely not a stranger. Had anyone else tried this, they would've found themself with a few missing teeth, a fist in their face, and a greatly-reduced chance of having children. However, Hiccup was not anybody else.

He also did not like to be angry for long periods of time, or his control of his ice powers would slip- like right now, for example. That would lead to unfavorable events. So, with a heavy sigh (that once more caused Astrid to heat up at the unnecessary reminder of their proximity) Hiccup cast aside his ire.

"You do realize that, if I hadn't caught your axe, you'd surely go to Helheim for being a murderer, right?" Hiccup asked, now amused. He brought his right hand up, resting his forearm on the tree trunk, right above Astrid's head. He put his weight on the limb, leaning forward in a casual manner. Their foreheads were almost touching, and Astrid was rendered speechless. She simply nodded, desperately drinking in the sight of Hiccup's sparkling eyes. If she leapt for it, she could probably steal a kiss right now…

"Lucky you, I didn't die, but still… I think punishment is in order," Hiccup said, his silky voice. His words flowed like water, and it was only the contents that saved her from being wrapped up in them.

"P-punishment…?" she asked breathily, astounded.

"Oh yeah," Hiccup crooned, leaning forward so he was whispering into the blonde's ear. The sensation was odd, yet not unpleasant.

"What… What are you gonna do?" Astrid asked, barely restraining herself from leaning forward into him.

"Hmm… You sure you wanna know?"

Astrid nodded, strands of hair rubbing up against Hiccup's face, such was their closeness. She finally caught his scent; it was very similar to the forest, where the lad spent much of his time, which is probably why it took so long. There was also some smoke mixed in- not ZIppleback smoke, gods forbid. More like the smoke from a barbeque, the smell of cooking meat and charred wood- which was odd, since Hiccup was a blacksmith, not one of the cooks in the Mead Hall.

Then, suddenly, he was gone, taking his pleasant scent with him. The shieldmaiden heard a cracking sound behind her; the sound of wood being broken. It was familiar, since most of the structures in Berk were made of timber, and these things got broken. Whether it be because of a dragon raid, bar fight, or Hiccup field-testing a new toy, these wooden objects got broken in spades.

The Chief's son was now walking away, his back turned to Astrid. His left hand was swinging idly at his side, while his right…

"Hey…" Astrid called weakly, her shaky knees keeping her in place.

"Your punishment, Miss Hofferson; One week without your axe! Maybe that'll keep you from nearly killing anyone else. Bye!" Hiccup replied loudly, not bothering to stop walking. His voice echoed through the forest, bouncing off trees.

Astrid collapsed, her legs too weak to hold her up anymore. The blood in the limbs had all gone to her face, which was currently blazing like the sun and redder than magma. She was breathing heavily, as if she had just sprinted around the entirety of the island of Berk twice, without a single break.

"Not fair…" she muttered, voice lacking the same heat as her face. She was far too absorbed in the memory of those emerald eyes, massive due to how close they were to really be angry. Maybe she should've taken the risk and kissed him while she could...


School is getting a bit more heavy now- nothing I can't handle yet, since it's only the second week, but either way I've had a bit less time and motivation to write. As such, don't expect anything wild from me anytime soon :P

K bai :D