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


"You used to be better than this." Hiccup said parrying and dodging Astrid's attacks.

"It's. Not. My. Fault." Astrid said, trying to hit Hiccup.

After her injury she couldn't train for a month. A whole month. That slightly weakened her muscles and now Hiccup was better than her. Hiccup, the screw-up of Berk, was now a better fighter than Astrid. He didn't stop his training while Astrid was healing. She would sit and watch him train for hours, but she never thought that her suggestion and her inactivity would make him better than her. After her foot finally healed, she didn't start to train with him from the first day, she took a week to recover herself and to get used to walking and running again. After almost an hour of training with him, she abandoned Hiccup and ran away to be alone. She couldn't understand how he got better than her. And so much better. She couldn't land a hit in their entire practice and he defeated her more than ten times in those sixty minutes. When Hiccup finally found her, she was quietly sobbing on a cliff, looking at the sea. Then he promised her that he would do anything in his power to help her, that was the moment when he promised to give his best to help her be the a better fighter than him, so she could defeat him, again. And since then, they have been training with real weapons, he wanted to help Astrid be the axe wielder that she was before and he was confident enough to block and dodge her attacks, so it was a win-win situation.

"Yes, I know, it's Snotlout's fault for giving you a forced break." He said while trying to counter one of her attacks, but she quickly noticed his intentions and backed away.

"But why did you have to train without me...?" Astrid said with an exasperated and frustrated voice. She got into a more relaxed position, saying that she didn't want to train anymore.

"You suggested that because you wanted me to be a challenge to you." Hiccup said, relaxing his grip on his swords.

"I said a challenge. Not utterly impossible." She said, making an annoyed sigh.

"Astrid...I...Wait, you really think you can't defeat me?" Hiccup said, slowly realizing that he had become a very skilled fighter. But at his question, Astrid just got more angry and placed a strong grip with both of her hands on her axe and with a skilled move, she threw the axe at Hiccup, but the boy was now experienced at dodging flying stuff that came at him and gracefully dodged her axe.

"Argh!" Astrid made a noise before starting to walk aggressively away from Hiccup.

"Astrid." Hiccup said releasing his weapons and following her.

"NO. Leave me alone..." Astrid said pushing Hiccup away when he reached her and tried to hug her.

"You know you won't be able to get rid of me, don't you?" He asked facing Astrid.

"I...Just...Why did you have to get so good..." She said punching his chest. Hiccup got used with her small break downs after their training. She did this almost every day. He figured that she still thought of him as a hiccup and that she couldn't stand the fact that a hiccup was better than her in combat, so that would lead to all this stress and frustration. The problem is, that he wasn't a hiccup anymore, he was taller than her, he had grown some muscles with all his training and he just wasn't the small, weak boy he was. If before he couldn't defeat Snotlout, now he would have no problem in winning against him. Astrid saw him evolve a lot with all his individual training, but she didn't know that she would devolve in that time. That was her only problem. She was proud of Hiccup's evolution, but she was stressed about her involution.

"I had a good teacher." Hiccup said, slowly grabbing her and bringing her closer to him.

"You trained mostly alone..." She said with a sad voice, but accepting his hug.

"You were there and supported me. Don't you think I forgot how you yelled at me when I did something wrong." Hiccup said trying to light the mood a little. Astrid released a small laugh at his joke, but she was still disappointed by her incapacity of beating his ass in training.

"But you could get over your small mistakes. When you defeat me in a duel I just get so mad that I can't see straight anymore."

"What did I promise you?" Hiccup asked looking at her.

"That Toothless won't try to kill me if I don't hurt you?" Astrid jokingly asked. She was her old self again. Her small break downs didn't last long, but were painful to watch for Hiccup, he didn't like to see her like this. He didn't like to see her sad and annoyed, frustrated and helpless. Hiccup didn't want for her to feel helpless, he was there for her.

"No." The boy said, hugging her again.

"That after my leg healed you would teach me how to ride Stormfly?"

"Nope. Not that one."

"Oh. You mean that you'll give your all to help me become the best warrior around, again."

"Yup. That was the one I was thinking of." Hiccup said quickly kissing her. "Now let's go back to training."

Astrid looked cheered up at Hiccup as he went back to their 'arena' to train. She couldn't believe how much he cared for her. He was going to probably waste another month or more before she could be back to her old self. In that time he could befriend different dragons and make small diplomatic missions to other small villages to convince them to accept his protectorate, or he could be working in the forge with the Gronckles to make more armors and weapons to sell them, or he could even work on one of his ridiculous inventions or even his leather armor. She finally followed him and noticed him standing in near a tree with his swords near him.

"Are you ready?" He asked noticing her.

"You know how much time you wasted training me?" She asked, getting her axe from the ground.

"You know how much time I wasted not being near you?" He said equipping his weapons. Astrid couldn't help but to feel a little happy about this, but their quest could be going a lot faster if she wasn't a dead weight right now.

"Seriously now, Hiccup. You could have befriended different dragons or help the village to forge more stuff. Or to even try to get another village in your protectorate." She asked a little confused by his judgment.

"We only train for a few hours together, then you know that I go flying with Toothless to make a map of the surrounding area. And sometimes I do stuff. Don't worry, I haven't forgot the plan. But you are a priority now." He said approaching her.

"Aww. You are saying this just so that I'll feel bad after I kick your ass." Astrid said before charging at him.

...

After the 'arrow incident' Hiccup was always by Astrid's side, trying to make sure she was comfortable and help her with everything he could. She liked to have him always around, always by her side, this made the healing process a lot more faster and easier to bear. But he was a little too worried about her, after she finally healed, he didn't want to train her how to fly with Stormfly. He was too worried that she would injure herself or worse. So she usually sneaked away at night with her Nadder and went out flying. Even the other dragons kept the secret away from Hiccup, even they noticed that he was being overdramatic about this. She was big enough to take care of herself, she was still slightly injured, but Hiccup was exaggerating. When he finally accepted to teach her, Hiccup was quickly surprised by her fast learning. Little did he know that her talent at flying was just a long series of trial and error. After a few official days of training, she had the splendid idea to challenge him to an official race to Jàrnstarfa, Audun's village. He got there fifteen minutes before her.

They usually flew to Jàrnstarfa at the end of each week, to help the small village with trade and the forge. Hiccup and the local blacksmith managed to create about twenty swords and ten axes in a week and they could sell those weapons for three gold nuggets. He was even suggesting to train another blacksmith so that they could forge a lot more weapons in a shorter time, they had the materials, but they didn't really have the manpower. The weapons Hiccup made were highly demanded by the nobles of different villages. Of course that they kept Hiccup a secret, only Audun knowing his true identity. He was marked as a traitor in the entire archipelago, so if someone would see him, they wouldn't hesitate to capture or to kill him for the bounty. So Astrid would usually deal with the traders, which was a good thing since she was a little more diplomatic than Hiccup and since she was young and beautiful, she could try to charm different merchants for a better bargain. And, slowly but surely, the village was growing thanks to their help.

This week they went a little earlier, since Astrid needed a break from training. They took Ild and Blad on every trip they went on. The two Terrible Terrors had proven very useful in a lot of situations. They could sent messages to each other, they could use the small dragons to scout the area and now that they understood them, the information they brought back was a lot more useful, they could even use the two dragons in combat, their grip was annoying on every enemy and their small fireball had proven useful on a number of situations.

After another one of their races, they finally reached the village. They were loved there. Everyone knew them and respected them. The two teens managed to bring the small village on the map with the new type of iron that had been 'discovered' on the island and with the skilled blacksmiths that lived in the village. Those vikings quickly accepted dragons after they saw what Hiccup could do with them. They had three Deadly Nadder and four Gronckles protecting them. The dragons lived discreetly in the forest. They would hunt or fish and sometimes the villagers would bring them food. They managed to take care of themselves and to make the vikings feel safe in their homes. The village only had four guards and the rest of the vikings worked at transporting stuff from the forge to the docks and to the warehouse. So far a lot of different vikings wanted to move and live in the village, but they were all rejected so far, Audun and Hiccup weren't sure how they would react to dragons if they would knew the truth. They wanted to keep it safe for now. Maybe after they had enough dragons to protect the island, they would make public their protectorate of the dragons and more villages would join, but so far they were still weak. They were stronger than most small parties in the Barbaric Archipelago, but they couldn't face the army of a strong village or the army of an alliance.

"I will go and talk to Audun about the new trader." Astrid said before quickly kissing Hiccup and letting him on his own.

Their dragons were used to go to the forest after they arrived in the village. They understood that any visiting vikings or traders could prove to be a threat to the village if they were seen in the small settlement. Before even noticing, Hiccup was left on his own in the village market. He slowly started to walk to the forge to get working. He just left the market, when he was suddenly jerked around and felt a sudden and powerful pain in his chest. In a few seconds, he was lying on the ground with a knife at his throat. A foot on his chest to keep him down.

"Where is she?" A bearded man asked him. He couldn't comprehend what just happened. Who was this guy? What was he doing here? And most important, why in Hel's name was he threatening Hiccup with a knife?

"Who the heck are you?" Hiccup asked, slowly recovering from the initial shock.

"I am the one who fucking asks the question! So where is..." The man stopped when he felt a cold blade on his own throat.

"Get off him now, or I will kill you where you stand." Astrid said, slowly pressing her dagger on the man's neck. He then slowly turned around.

"Astrid?" The man asked with a small sparkle in his eyes.

"Dad?" The girl said slowly lowering her weapon. Then they quickly jumped and hugged each other. It had been five months since they last saw each other. Five frickin months.

"What are you doing here dad?" Astrid asked with tears slowly dropping from her eyes. She missed her parents. Even if they were harsh on her on times, they made her the strong girl she was today. They made her a warrior.

"I am here to take care of you. After your small adventure on Berk, you got a bounty on your head." Cuyler slowly said. "I am going to protect you from those vikings and from this runt." He said slowly turning to face Hiccup.

"But I am fine here. I made friends here, and Hiccup is protecting me." She said trying not to feel insulted by her father for calling her boyfriend a 'runt'.

"How can this disgusting spawn of Loki protect you?" He said releasing Astrid and turning to face Hiccup now. He wanted to hurt the boy for making him banish his daughter and after that, putting a bounty on her head, but most of all, he wanted to hurt him for bringing her back on Berk to be shot by Snotlout.

"He saved my life. Three times." Astrid said making her father look at him.

"This pathetic, craven worm saved you life?" Her father asked Astrid looking surprised at her.

"I'm right here for Thor's sake." Hiccup said getting annoyed by her father.

"Just. Shut up." He said looking at Hiccup. Then, he quickly turned to look at his daughter, "Astrid, we have to leave." Cuyler grabbed her arm.

"I am not going anywhere." Astrid quickly shot back.

"You would rather stay with the runt that got you shot by an arrow than you father?" Cuyler asked looking surprised at her. He expected her to want to run from the boy after what he had done.

"I...Don't...Stop calling him a runt!" Astrid said trying to understand what is happening. Hiccup slowly approached her. He knew those rare moments when she was panicking and that she didn't react good when she panicked. When Astrid noticed him closing by, trying to support her, she quickly jumped and hugged him. Her father looked at them with a disappointed look.

"I see..." Cuyler said. "For how long?"

"Two months." Astrid quickly responded holding Hiccup by her side. She didn't want to leave Hiccup for her father, but leaving her father on his own, just, seemed wrong. After everything that happened. He left Berk to try and protect her. He abandoned his home to support his daughter. And now, he wanted her to choose between them. She could never choose between Hiccup and her father. They both helped her a lot. Her father made her the warrior she is today, taught her the art of combat and the strengths of each weapon and armor. But Hiccup helped her understand dragons, he helped her to change her mentality in better, he gave her the possibility to change the world. He gave her the possibility to finally achieve peace with the dragons.

"I am not going to abandon you again." Her father said, looking at the two teens. "I am certainly not going to leave you with this runt." Hiccup was just angrily glaring at the man. "You were a screw-up and you will always be a weakling." Cuyler said, noticing Hiccup's anger. When he said that, Hiccup's anger reached its limits. He wasn't going to let Astrid go with the person that banished her from Berk, not after all this time he spent with her. So blinded by his anger, he quickly placed a powerful punch on Cuyler face. The man was took by surprise by Hiccup's reaction, how could the 'runt' expect to defeat him.

"Hiccup don't! Please!" Astrid quickly yelled noticing Hiccup's action. Her father was surprised by this. She was begging the runt not to hurt him. Why? He could defeat Hiccup with one hand behind his back. He was a weakling and he always would be a weakling. The teen tried to hit him again, but now, Cuyler caught his fist and hit his ribs with his free hand. He then grabbed Hiccup and threw him to the ground near him. He quickly got his dagger and put it on the boy's neck.

"Any last words, rat?" Cuyler asked, mocking Hiccup.

"You have exactly five seconds to get off me." Hiccup said glaring at the man. Cuyler was shocked to see that the boy was dead serious. There wasn't any glimpse of fear in his eyes.

"Hiccup. Please don't do this." Astrid said watching the scene. She was scared that one of them was going to die now. She loved them both. She didn't want any of them to be hurt, but they are just too stubborn for their own good.

"Why in Hel's name are you telling him to sto..." Cuyler began to say as he slowly turned around to look at her daughter. Behind him there were four Deadly Nadders, with their spikes prepared to be shot at him and two Gronckles were ready to ram at him.

"Three." Hiccup said, still trying to be intimidating, but in truth, he was bluffing, he didn't know if the man was going to bite the bait, but there was no other choise, he could die now. He just had to get angry before and charge madly at a veteran viking. What was he thinking? Oh. He was trying to protect his honor and Astrid, that is what he was doing. But he never had any honor before, so why was he trying so hard to keep the respect he had now? Because he finally had the guts to follow his instinct. The fact that he escaped Berk and managed to befriend more than eight dragons gave him the courage he lacked before. And the fact that he managed to make Astrid his girlfriend surely helped a lot.

When Cuyler heard Hiccup he slowly let him go. He wasn't going to die now, not after he finally managed to found his daughter.

"Have you never heard of Fáfnir?" Astrid yelled at her father. She didn't dare to approach any of them since she didn't want to choose between them.

"I did. And I knew it was Hiccup. But how...?" He said looking at the dragons that were prepared to kill him.

"This went better than I expected." Hiccup said slowly getting up, holding one hand over his over his now injured chest.

"You didn't plan any of this?!" The man asked shocked turning around to face Hiccup.

"I was hoping that Toothless wouldn't come. You should be happy that he didn't." Hiccup said while gently leaning on a Nadder.

"Toothless?!" Cuyler asked with a mocking tone. "What was he going to do, look angrily at me?" Hiccup laughed a little at his comment.

"You said you have heard of Fáfnir. Now I notice that you don't know shit." Hiccup said, still trying to look threatening.

"Watch your tongue you little runt!"

"If you know so much, tell me what dragon does Fáfnir ride."

"Snotlout said he saw you on a Nadder taking Astrid away."

"He is an idiot and I asked you what dragon Fáfnir rides, not what dragon carried me and Astrid away from Berk that night."

"A black dragon. The pirate was too stupid to recognize it." Cuyler said not knowing what is the sense of this conversation.

"He didn't recognize it because no one saw it before." Hiccup said.

"And why is that?" Cuyler asked, mocking Hiccup again.

"Because it's the unholy offspring of lighting and death itself and it's very protective." Hiccup said, noticing Cuyler expression slowly starting to pale.

"A Nightfury? You ride a Nightfury?" He asked shocked looking at the boy.

"Hiccup, we still have to talk to the new trader, so, can you two finish this another time?" Astrid asked, approaching Hiccup and helping him to walk away.

"Are you serious? Now?" Cuyler asked his daughter.

"He is already here and I need to talk to him to make a deal for the weapons." Astrid explained helping Hiccup to sit down on a barrel.

"He wanted to kill me. WITH DRAGONS!" Her father yelled. "How could you love him after he befriended dragons?!"

Astrid gave her father a sad look. "Dad... I befriended three of those Nadders and the two Gronckles that are here." She said, trying not to face her father, but instead trying to help Hiccup with his wound. She thought that he broke a rib or something. Hiccup was still kind of small compared to other vikings and a direct punch from her father would cause some damage.

"WHAT?!" Te yelled at her.

"YES! DRAGONS ARE FRIENDLY AND THEY AREN'T THE BEASTS WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!" The yelled back annoyed at her father. She never did that, but she was just so angry that he hurt Hiccup. That her father hurt her Hiccup. Cuyler was now looking at her as she was trying to somehow reduce the pain in Hiccup's chest. He was shocked by her reaction. She would have never done something like that before. She wouldn't have dared to treat her father with disrespect before. That runt changed her. Hiccup managed to destroy all that he created for fifteen years in just five months. He managed to make Astrid forget about their viking heritage and befriend the beasts that killed them for generations.

"I underestimated your destructive powers." Cuyler said with a weak voice, looking at Hiccup.

"DAD! Don't. Go. There." Astrid said with a threatening voice while glaring at her father. But Hiccup grabbed her hand, stopping her. He then slowly got up and approached the viking.

"I tried to protect Astrid since she first arrived to my island, three months ago. That was your job, as a father, to defend your daughter from the world. I did MY best to protect her. So don't try to place your failure as a parent on me. YOU were the one that banished her from Berk. YOU were the one that abandoned her. YOU were supposed to be there for her after everything she went through. And I will use my destructive powers to make all you stupid vikings understand that the viking way is WRONG." Hiccup yelled at the man.

"You better watch your tongue boy. I am not afraid of joining my friends in Valhalla." Cuyler warned him.

"Of course you are not." Hiccup shot back with a mocking tone. "You made sure that you have enough blood on your hands to make it difficult for us to achieve peace with an enemy we can't possibly defeat."

"The dragons can and will be defeated. We just have to find the nest." Cuyler said.

"You really think it's that easy? There are six different nests that I know only in the Barbaric Archipelago. You have no possibility to defeat them. Even if you manage to destroy one, the years that would take to recover the manpower would be more than enough for the nest to be rebuilt."

"That can't be true." Cuyler said, looking surprised at Hiccup. That information couldn't be true. There was no possible way to be that many dragons.

A new person joined the conversation. "You must be Astrid. The chief told me that I could find you here." All of them looked surprised at the new person. Cuyler didn't even noticed when the dragons sneaked away.

"Yes. I am Astrid." The girl said with a forced small smile on her face. She didn't want to let Hiccup and her father alone, things could get ugly.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Ealdwine and I came all the way from Somerset to make a trade agreement for your excellent weapons." The man said.

Well, this was bad. Astrid wasn't in the mood for this now. Things were just to tense right now for her to think about how she could get more silver from him.

"Wait a few seconds. Aren't you Hiccup, from the Hairy Hooligans?" The trader asked, noticing Hiccup.

"No, I'm not. You must got me confused with someone else." Hiccup quickly said. He knew that nobody must know his true identity. That could create a lot of problems for the village and for them.

"I am sorry but I don't forget a face. Especially when it is worth five gold nuggets." Ealdwine said, making a small sign and another six warriors quickly joined him.

"Oh. Five gold nuggets? Why didn't you say so?" Hiccup said turning around to face the merchant and his warriors. He shot a quick look at Astrid and he saw her discreetly nod. That was the sign he was looking for.

"So you wouldn't mind to join us to have a small talk, wouldn't you?" Ealdwine said again.

"I am sorry fellow, but I am not able to follow you were you are going." Hiccup said before releasing a small sigh. He hated to do this, but Berk kind of forced him to accept his new life. He then quickly grabbed his dagger and threw it at the soldier near Astrid, straight through his eye. The girl quickly grabbed the weapon and with a quick move she sliced the throat of the next soldier. Hiccup then leaped forward, knocking down one of the soldiers, he quickly got his sword and stood up slowly backing away from them. Before they could even understand what happened, two of the soldiers were killed and one was unarmed. The teens then both charged at the remaining forces, gracefully dodging their attacks and killing them.

Cuyler and the merchant were both looking shocked at the two teens. They just killed six soldiers that probably fought in a lot of battles, in less than a minute. Hiccup quickly dropped his weapon and approached Astrid.

"Are you all right?" He asked hugging her.

"Yes, are you?" She asked returning the hug.

"They are starting to get serious." Hiccup said holding his girlfriend closely near him, afraid that someone might want to take her away.

"Last time there were only two." Astrid said, still holding him.

"I couldn't bear to see you hurt." Hiccup said slowly moving away her bangs from her eyes.

"Me neither." Astrid said before kissing the boy.

Her father and the trader were both looking dumbfounded at the two persons that just bested six trained soldiers in combat. After almost half a minute, Cuyler decided they had enough time and he cough in his hand. The teens quickly noticed and awkwardly separated.

"Well fought." Astrid quickly said, slightly blushing.

"Y-You too." Hiccup quickly responded, also starting to blush.

"How in Odin's beard did you two managed to do that?" Cuyler asked, looking shocked at the teens.

"Well...It's not the first time..." Astrid awkwardly said. She still hadn't recovered from the idea that her father just saw them kiss. She was sure that Hiccup was in the same situation, but he was a lot more timid than her, so she figured that she would have to stand for them this time.

"You killed before?" He said slowly approaching his daughter.

"Well, yes. To defend myself." Astrid said, slowly recovering from the awkward situation.

"So, you killed humans before you killed dragons?" Her father asked.

"Well, so far only humans tried to kill me." Astrid quickly shot back, knowing where he was going with this conversation. Her father sighed and quickly closed by and hugged her. He was happy that she was still alive. He would worry about her relationship with Hiccup later, the small fight that broke in front of him just made him more sure that he wasn't going to abandon her daughter. He was going to protect her from future bounty hunters. He then slowly let Astrid go and approach the merchant, or the bounty hunter, or whatever he was. He slowly removed his weapon from its sheath and with a quick move decapitated the man.

"I didn't know that the word had traveled so fast. I will protect you from all the bounty hunters that are going to come. You have my word." Cuyler said approaching his daughter.

"Dad, can you come to live with us on our island? The place is huge. We can train there, we can hunt, there is plenty of space for the dragons." Astrid asked at which her father sighed.

"I will join you two. I will try to accept dragons being around all the time, for you." He said hugging her again. After that, he slowly started to walk away in the village. Hiccup slowly approached her.

"Do you know what you just did?" He asked her with a sad expresion.

"You two will get along fine. Trust me." She said trying to contain her excitement.

"That is not what I was meaning." He said slowly kissing her. Astrid was took a little by surprise by this. He usually wouldn't try to kiss her without any reasons.

"Why was that for?" She asked a little confused.

"We wouldn't be able to do that whenever we want anymore." He said slowly walking to the forge. Now this really took Astrid by surprise.

"And why not? Please don't tell me you don't like me anymore. Not after what..." Astrid began to say but was quickly interrupted by another kiss. "What in Hel's name is wrong with you?"

"I don't want to have our little moments in front of your father." Hiccup said before entering the forge.

"But he wouldn't be always there. He will have stuff to do, right?" she asked just realizing the situation.

"He said that he will never leave you and that he will protect you, so what stuff do you think he would have to do?" Hiccup asked her a little annoyed by her rash decision.

"Shit..."


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