Chapter 10

The pair just stared at each other, Hiccup had only managed to say one thing since finding her there, axe at the ready and Inferno lying beside her feet. Emotions mixed in both young people as neither knew how to react, anger was present for both yet shock is what still held them frozen in place, only Toothless able to make a sound as he continued growling at Astrid. Hiccup received a nudge from Toothless' tail and snapped out of his stupor, "What are you doing here Astrid?" He asked coldly, knowing exactly how she was about to react.

The shock on her face her face was replaced with pure rage as she went off, "What am I doing here? What am I doing here!? I live on this island and if I choose to go for a walk in this cove then I damn well will! What are you doing here huh? Last I check you were-" Hiccup stopped trying to hold himself back and cut her off. "A TRAITOR!?" Astrid reeled back at his out burst, "I told you that night five years ago when YOU turned me in that I didn't care about that! That I'd rather die doing what's right and you can be damned sure that hasn't changed! I've done things out there you couldn't even begin to dream of with how closed minded the people here are, you most of all! I've fought more battles than I can count; I've made friends all around the known world and made enemies along the way! I've killed plenty of men and a dragon so big it could destroy all of Berk just by sitting down! I've gone through torture and nearly been killed a thousand times over and the only one there for me was this dragon right here! The same beast you all think has no mind, soul or conscience cared for me when I was hurt or sick, he's done more for he in the past five years then all of Berk did in the first fourteen years of my life! If anyone's the soulless killing machines it's you damned Vikings!"

Astrid was stunned, battles, torture, and the only one looking out for him was currently hunched beside him with its tail wrapped around him protectively. However the way he said the word Vikings, like it was poison on his tongue infuriated her more and with a might roar she dropped her axe and jumped at him. The Night Fury moved so fast that she was pinned on the ground before she could even blink, now it was hovering merely inches from her face with narrowed eyes practically dripping with hate, Hiccup hadn't moved when she jumped, didn't even flinch. She realized he knew his dragon would stop her and judging by the look on his face he was seriously considering letting the dragon do whatever it wanted to her, she struggled to no avail, she could swear the sound reverberating from the dragon was laughter. "Struggle all you want, he'll just sit on you laughing until you either call it quits or pass out from exhaustion." Hiccup confirmed for her, his voice still in the same cold tone when he'd asked her why she was there. She looked at him and saw not the boy he was five years ago, but the man he'd grown into, he still had the same looks but right now his eyes were clouded with anger. Anger that she deserved, she'd been looking for him to make amends and here he was and she tried to attack him for being justly mad at her; she was beginning to wonder if she was even worth the forgiveness she sought.

Once Astrid stopped trying to escape Toothless and calmed down Hiccup jerked his head and the dragon let her up, growling at her with his teeth bared for good measure. "If you try to run back to the village I'll just let Toothless use a plasma blast on you." He warned as he held a hand out to her, eyes softening as he did. She took his hand slowly, uncertain if he was going to do something hanky, but he just waited and pulled her up once she finally gripped his hand. Toothless had now moved over to the opposite side of the tent but he never took his eyes off her, she could feel his distrust of her, could dragons really hold a grudge? "Don't mind him too much; he's a bit sensitive about the last time you two met." Hiccup said looking over his shoulder to his best friend, his voice back to its usual cheerful tone. A pebble hit the back of his head and he saw the dragon turning its back to him quickly. "Toothless, you're pouting big baby boo?" Astrid watched dumbfounded as the dragon gave three grunts as if to say he wasn't pouting and Hiccup playful wrestled with him before the dragon stood on it's hind legs and walked over towards the water with a look of that seemed almost like fake annoyance before dangling Hiccup over the lake.

It was clear they'd done this before; eventually the Night Fury threw itself backwards catching Hiccup and flipping over to playfully tap him on the head before dropping his large head on the young man's torso. Astrid just couldn't comprehend how the thing she'd been told would always go for the kill was acting exactly the opposite with Hiccup, it boggled the mind but one thing was clear: Hiccup was right about dragons. He'd spent five years with only a dragon for company and other than some serious anger issues towards the village he grew up in he had turned out just fine, whereas she had stayed put in a village that celebrated when a boy left just because he was always trying to help and she could see how he clearly had the better lease in life because of the dragon affectionately nuzzling it's head against his. Astrid pulled herself up and noticed that Toothless had left a scratch on her arm when he had her pinned, she figured she should head back and let Hiccup just be with his dragon, it was clearly what he wanted. She was almost to the entrance when a rope started winding around her, causing her to fall on the ground, She looked back and saw Hiccup holding the shield she had seen before only the center as open and a rope had produced from it, one that currently had her bound.

"Hiccup? What the Hel? Let me outta this!" She said trying to get out of the rope only to find it tightly in place. Hiccup simply shook his head and began pulling her back towards the campsite, she didn't make it easy on him, struggling the whole way to get free knowing it was a lost cause but determined to make him work for it. "Sorry Astrid, as much as I want you to leave I can't let you." His words stung a bit, he wanted her gone, "I can't take the same risk you'll run off to Stoick and bring the villagers down on our heads again, because this time they'll either kill Toothless… or more likely he'll kill them." Her eyes widened, did he have that much confidence in his dragon or did he just want to avoid death on either side? She didn't get to think about it long as he continued. "Until either I'm done here or know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can trust you not to say anything, you'll be staying with us." Her eyes shot up to meet his hoping he was joking, stay with him and the dragon? He couldn't be serious, her parents would eventually wonder where she was, and apparently he had thought of that already, "If anyone asks, Ryder has agreed to train you in the evenings to help you become a better warrior. Anyone in their right mind who knows you would accept that and wouldn't dare try to stop you, including your parents." Astrid had to give him credit for thinking it through at least.

Hiccup didn't untie her after that, but he had offered to make her dinner. He was currently pulling a couple fish from a barrel on the far side of the tent that she'd missed and putting them on spites to cook over a renewed fire courtesy of Toothless, the dragon definitely didn't care for her, either staying beside Hiccup or in a blackened spot of the ground he would curl up on and watch her from. Hiccup either didn't notice or didn't care, he himself was civil, at least as civil as you can be while basically kidnapping someone, but given she had been thinking of telling Stoick about him being there Astrid really couldn't blame him. When the fish were done cooking over the fire he took them off their spites and onto a small plate before making his way over to her, he untied her binds and handed he the plate while taking a single fish for himself. Making his way towards the only way in or out he sat beside it and began to eat, Astrid tired to hide the hurt that ran across her face, he wasn't taking any chances she might run again. She was so distracted by this she didn't notice Toothless sneaking up and stealing her fish, once she realized what the dragon had done she was both surprised such a big animal could move so quietly and angry since her stomach was starting to growl. Toothless made that same sound akin to a laugh while giving what looked like a smug smirk at her, he stopped when Hiccup placed his fish that only had a few bites taken out of it on Astrid's plate, he didn't wait for her to say anything merely walked over to his scaly friend and held out his hand. Astrid had to fight the urge to puke when the Night Fury regurgitated half a fish into his waiting hand.

After washing off and re-cooking the half fish Toothless had given him as an apology, Hiccup watch Astrid from a distance while she ate. He was mentally kicking himself for not at least taking his helmet with him on the flight the evening before, but he had been wearing it all day and after his battle with Dagur he needed the fresh air blowing across his face. Beside there was nothing he could do now, what if's don't change things and he didn't want to have the dreams he once did about Berk making peace with dragons and him possibly impressing the blonde now sitting by his fire in a glare off with his dragon. Hiccup had been down that road, luckily he'd met a lot of people who helped him move on in life, but his feelings for Astrid were the one thing he never truly got over, just buried under anger and feelings of betrayal. It's not like there weren't other girls, there were, but none of them held a candle to her and he turned them all away, only one came close and he considered settling down for a time and trying to have a relationship with her but word of Stoick looking for information about him came and he was in the wind again. That was nearly four years ago before the Red Death and looking back he knew things had to be the way they were, the only close relationship Hiccup seemed destined to have was his friendship with Toothless, everyone else was strictly business.

When they'd both finished eating Hiccup bound Astrid's hand and legs, she didn't fight this time, but she was clearly unhappy with it. He figured the look Toothless was giving her, daring her make a break for it, played a part in her being so cooperative. "So where am I supposed to sleep?" Astrid asked in an annoyed tone of voice, nodding to the single bed roll in Hiccup's tent, having never really needing a spare since he only ever had Toothless and he made his only bed's Hiccup hadn't really thought of that, with a heavy sight he led her to his bed roll and motioned for her to lie down. "You'll take the bed roll; I can rough it with Toothless." Astrid was not expecting him to be that much of a gentleman towards her after everything that had happened in the last couple of hours, their chance meeting, the argument, him holding her hostage, and his dragon and her trying to glare a hole into each other's head. She was about to refuse and walk out but he acted quickly, grabbing the binds around her hands to pushing while simultaneously sweeping her legs out from beneath her. He lowered her gently onto the roll and retrieved a blanket, laying it over her before making his way back outside the tent. While she was still plenty mad at him for holding her here against her will, Astrid couldn't help but think it was sweet of him to give up his own bed for her, and she hated that she found it sweet, she was Astrid Hofferson, sweet and her don't mix. Then it hit her, Ryder had been Hiccup all along, the sparring match, the moment in the forge before the duel, and the duel itself. What had happened in the arena the day before was already an impressive feat of both fighting ability and endurance with excruciating pain, but realizing that it was HICCUP performing those feats was stammering. When he'd left he was know as useless, the worst Viking in the seven generations of Berk, and now he could probably hold his own against almost anyone on the island, after all he did recently beat the undefeatable Dagur the Deranged.

"Hey bud, you think you can make me a spare bed?" She heard him say outside the tent, there was a yelp and an explosion coupled with a bright blue flash, she sat up quickly and was about to try and make her way out when she heard Hiccup chuckling. "Thanks bud, but next time don't aim so close to the tent where we keep the food." There was a grunt from the dragon and then a clicking sound as Hiccup removed his prosthetic leg. Astrid lay back down and wondered just how often the two outside had moments like that, she'd witnessed two, possibly three if she counted what was happening when she discovered them and it had only been a few hours. The trust between them was obvious, he had shown he would risk everything for that dragon five years ago when he stood up to his father and rammed Snotlout to free it, and that surly only grew with time, when he'd been yelling at her earlier the Night Fury kept it's tail wrapped around him in a protective fashion and stopped her when she dove in the blink of an eye, the dragons Berk had told her about all her life wouldn't do that. These thoughts lingered in her head as she drifted into an uneasy sleep, the last one being what it would be like the fly on a dragon with the man just outside and another small blush found her cheeks.

*The next morning

Hiccup woke early as usual, he was planning to get back to why he was here today, leading the dragons away from Berk. The events from the evening came back as he remembered why he was in a hole that Toothless had made with a plasma blast for him as he reattached his metal leg. He looked inside his tent and saw Astrid still sound asleep, he looked her over in detail for the first time since he'd come back, age had been extremely kind to her the last five years. Even though she hadn't grown as much as he had, him being a head taller than her, she had filled out nicely, he dare say perfectly; she wore her hair the same for the most part only she no longer kept her left eye covered, instead she kept it tucked behind her ear. He realized he was being to stare and make old feeling stir again so he shook his clear to clear his thoughts and gathered his armor, he'd have to some patch work on it before going into the village to talk to Stoick, hopefully Gobber would be willing to lend a hand to convince the chief to allow him to help and be on his way, and vanish once again, maybe even settle down somewhere secluded for himself and Toothless. Hiccup pulled out a small sewing kit from said dragon's saddle bag and sat on a nearby rock to begin fixing up the arm.

Astrid awoke with a stir, she went to brush a few strands of hair out of her eye and found her hands bound together. A wave of panic ran through her before she remembered where she was and how she'd come to be there. Hiccup wasn't just alive, he was there, just outside the tent he'd let her sleep in with the same dragon she found him with years ago. Questions ran through her head as she replayed the events in her head, recalling things he'd said in his outrage, battles, having to kill men, being tortured, all things he'd mentioned going through. She wanted to know about all of it, and hated that she was the cause of him not having another person to look out for him, considering he didn't even trust her to leave his camp with out him for fear of her telling Stoick she knew she'd have to work to prove she wanted to make it up to him. She heard the sounds of clipping and noticed that his armor and helmet were no longer where they had been stacked; she surmised that he had collected them and was currently fitting it on himself. Astrid was about to call out to him to see if she could at least stretch when he spoke,

"Hey bud, about time you woke up," a loud roar/yawn from the dragon he was talking to, "You ready for a morning flight?" there was a moment of silence and then a low growl, "Oh come one Toothless, I was just in there and checked, she's still sound asleep. Come on we'll take a quick lap around the island, scare some yaks, startle a few Berkians and be back before she wakes." Another grunt came from the reptile and Astrid was even getting annoyed with him, she had her arms and legs bound, where was she going to go? "Alright then if you really don't her I guess she'll just have to come on the flight with us." Hiccup's voice had a playful yet threatening tone in it as a roar what sounded something like protest was heard. Another moment of silence came over the campsite before Hiccup spoke again, "You're willing to skip our morning flight just because she's here? Her legs are tied together bud, and I have her axe hidden, how is she going to get out?" No response came from the dragon. Hiccup sigh was heard before coming into the tent; he cut the bindings on her leg and pulled her up.

"We're going back to the village today so I can do what I came here for; you'll be staying by my side until that's done and not telling a soul who I really am is that clear?" He asked, she silently nodded when another voice came from the entrance. "And how exactly did she learn who ye' are 'Iccup?" The pair looked over and found Gobber standing there with his arms crossed looking at them skeptically. Astrid's jaw dropped and Hiccup groaned, it was going to be a long day.