Astrid's POV
As breakfast was currently cooking over the fire pit, Ruffnut, Heather, and I decided to spend some quality time together. Which included gossiping. Brigid decided to put her two cents in, and said "Auntie Astrid are you, and uncle Ryder married now?"
"Brigid!" I said astounded. My cheeks slowly heating up. Ruffnut, and Heather were laughing like crazy. "Don't worry Astrid, she asked Ryder the same thing on our flight here." Heather let out through guffaws. "That was epic. She definitely has the Thornston bluntness streak." Ruffnut comments while ruffling Brigid's hair.
"But he seems like a very nice guy, not what people would expect from the so called scourge of all Vikings." Heather comments.
"So Astrid what will you do? You literally gave yourself to him to rescue us." Ruffnut asks looking at me expectantly. "And you were definitely snuggling closer to him during the flight. At least tell me if you managed to cop a feel." Ruffnut purrs while wiggling her eyebrows.
"Ruffnut you're married!" I yell.
"I know, but it doesn't hurt to look." She tells me, while waving dismissively. "Now spill."
My cheeks burn, and I have the feeling I'm doing a very good impression of a tomato. "Yeah, I think he's a nice guy. He told me he wouldn't hurt me, and he's been respectful. Even after I told him I would do anything he wanted." I explain. "Heck, he's been more of a gentleman than any of those suitors I refused, and you're right Ruff. He certainly has some well toned muscle." I giggle.
"But you know why I rejected all those men." I say to Ruffnut in a very serious tone.
"I know Astrid." Ruffnut says, and at Heather's questioning expression explained. "Astrid had a crush on the chief's son since they were five, and swore me to secrecy. After his death she wouldn't even think of marrying anyone else."
"Is that why Stoick was so hard on you?" Heather asked.
"He didn't know about my crush, but he blames me for Hiccup's death. I kind of blame myself as well. If I had gotten there faster…..." I mumble.
I suddenly hear shouts from the corridor, and see Snotlout barreling into the kitchen screaming about ghosts. He is suddenly tackled to the ground by a man wearing only a towel, which I presume is the Dragon master. Snotlout was still screaming about ghosts, and was trying to escape the man's grip.
As I was taking in the event I noticed the man was thin, but he had lithe muscles. The tattoo of a Night Fury covered his back. As the struggle continued the towel around his waist began slipping revealing his abs. Ruffnut at this point decided to cover her daughter's eyes. Tuffnut, and Fishlegs were watching the event near the entrance. Both doing nothing but staring at the pair.
"Oh for the love of Frigga. Snotlout I'm not a ghost." He says with exasperation as he pins Snotlout, and finally gets him to calm down. "What even made you think I was dead?" He then asks.
That voice sounded so familiar, and his statement about Snotlout thinking he was dead had me taking a second look at his appearance. I noticed a mop of auburn hair, but what really caught my eye was the small familiar scar on his jaw. I couldn't help but call out "Hiccup?", my mind was still trying to deny that the Dragon master, Ryder, was in fact the scrawny boy I had a crush on.
He looked up at my question. The towel around his waist was slipping down lower. 'Damn, puberty did him wonders' I can't help but think, and then proceed to mentally scold myself. 'Bad brain! Now is not the time to be ogling.' 'But DAMN' The sudden blush covering my face didn't help. I now had his attention, and I quickly point at his body. He looks down, and notices the slipping towel. He quickly scrambled off of Snotlout, all while wrapping the towel securely around his waist again.
"S…Sorry y..you ladies had to see that." He mumbles keeping his head down, clearly embarrassed.
"Hiccup, is that really you?" I ask. He nods, and I see a faint hue of pink on his cheeks.
"I think some explanations are in order, but I should get dressed first." He says, and makes his way hastily out of the kitchen.
The kitchen is silent as we watch his retreat. "Alright, I seriously didn't see that coming." Tuffnut states.
We did not have to wait long as Hiccup came back into the kitchen wearing a black tunic, and brown leather pants. 'Those pants should be forbidden' I can't help but think. I'm roughly elbowed by Heather, which promptly snaps me out of my musings. The Night Fury accompanies Hiccup into the room, and lays down near the fire, and Hiccup leans against him. We all sit around the fire pit, and take a fish and a bowl of soup. The others are all unusually quiet as they are looking at Hiccup, and the dragon behind him who's eating a pile of fish like there is no tomorrow.
I can't take the silence anymore, and finally ask. "Hiccup how are you alive?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" He asked genuinely perplexed, and then asked "Why did you think I was dead?"
"Hiccup, the last time I saw you a dragon shot at me." I say eying the Night Fury. "When I woke up I saw blood, scales, and I also found your dagger." I explained. "How could I not draw that conclusion."
"The blood was probably from the fishes that Toothless ate that morning, as for my dagger I threw it into the lake weeks before I left." Hiccup replied. "And Toothless only shot at you, because he was probably thinking you were going to hurt me. He's a Night Fury, he never misses. If he wanted you dead you'd be." Hiccup states.
Ruffnut was looking curiously at the duo. "How did you meet a Night Fury?" She then asks.
Hiccup was scratching the dragon's neck when he replied. "Remember that night after the raid when I said I shot down a Night Fury?"
At this we nod. "That's him." Hiccup gestures to the dragon who was eying us lazily. "I went in search of him that morning, and found him tangled up in the bolas. I couldn't kill him so I set him free. He then pounced on me, and I thought I was a goner." Hiccup continues to tell us. "Then he roared in my face, and flew off. Only he didn't get very far. He lost his tailfin." Hiccup gestured to the black, and red tailfin of his dragon. "I decided to build him a prosthesis, and Toothless, and I became friends from there."
Fishlegs timidly raises his hand, and asks. "Why do you call him Toothless?. He clearly has teeth."
I see Hiccup turn to his dragon "Wanna show them bud?"
The dragon then turns his head to us, his jaw wide open, sharp teeth displayed for all to see, when suddenly the teeth are retracted.
"Oh my, retractable teeth." Fishlegs was looking excitedly at the dragon.
"Hiccup why did you leave Berk?" I ask.
Hiccup sighs, and turns towards me. "That night that you followed me, I'd just overheard my dad, uncle, and a couple of villagers talking about me. Everyone of them thought I wouldn't amount to anything, and dad even agreed. I also found out that he was never going to make me chief, even after he started training me when I was little. It was always going to be Snotlout." I tell them.
Snotlout's eyes widen, and he yells "WHAT!" then he groans. "Cuz, I didn't even want to be chief. After we thought you were dead I was made heir, and Uncle began training me. I swear nothing pleases that man. It always has to be his way." Snotlout grumbles. "The only person who was actually happy about me being declared the heir was dad."
"All these five years it's been chief training, and when Astrid rejected my marriage proposal I suddenly find myself engaged to Heather. Dad, and uncle wouldn't even let me voice my opinion" Snotlout rants. "No offense Heather."
"None taken. I wasn't actually happy with being told one day by my brother that my wedding was already arranged." Heather grumbled.
"So you guys never…." Tuffnut asks gesturing between Heather, and Snotlout.
"No, it was simply decided that we would wed. I think my brother wanted to cement the relationship with the Hooligans. What better way than a marriage." Heather replies. "Snotlout, and I came to an understanding, and were trying to find a way out of it. So far we had nothing."
"Okay, enough of that depressing talk. I just have to know." Snotlout says. "How did my fishbone of a cousin get himself a dragon army?"
"That's actually a longer story, but it's how I got this as well." Hiccup says as he gestures to his prosthetic. "The short version is that the dragons didn't raid because they wanted to, it was because they had to or they would be eaten themselves."
"Eaten!" Fishlegs squeaked.
"Yes Fishlegs. The dragons were raiding to feed a dragon as large as a mountain. I think it was a queen, and it could control their minds. After Toothless, and I defeated her, these dragons simply followed us."
"So they saw you as their new leader?" Ruffnut questions.
"That is the working theory." Hiccup supplies.
Just then a blur shoots pasts us, and attaches itself to Hiccup's face. I notice that it is a blue Terrible Terror, and it was clutching a scroll. "Lazy, seriously! My face is not a cushion." Hiccup says with exasperation as he pries the Terror off, and takes the scroll. I then suddenly hear him curse as he reads the scroll.
