Three Years

When the bell from the center of the village went off three times, it meant that someone was either arriving or had arrived on the island. Being the betrothed to the lost heir, I was to take his place as stand in Chief when Stoick wasn't around. So I made my way down from the Great Hall where I was taking care of a business deal gone sour to the center of the village to greet whoever had arrived.

As I approached the center of the village, I noticed that the arrival had brought out all kinds of vikings, many with their weapons drawn and ready to attack. I pushed my way through the gathered vikings into the small clearing in the center and was surprised by the stranger I was met with. I immediately reached for the axe that was always strapped along my back when I finally realized what exactly I was looking at.

In the center of the village stood a singular tall but slim person. The person was dressed in complete black from head to toe, sporting some kind of armour that looked almost like dragon skin. On his right shoulder was a red dragon emblem in red, completely unknown to myself. A sword was sheathed on his right hip indicating he would draw with his left hand. He sported a shield on his back that shone with sunlight at certain angles. From where I stood, I could see that he wore a mask that covered up the bottom of his face up to his eyes and a hood that covered the rest of his head.

It was at that moment when Gobber came up beside me, ready to give me the rundown on who this person was.

"Who is he and what does he want Gobber?" I asked quietly when he was close enough. It was at that exact moment that I spoke that the hooded figure looked up and stared directly at me with piercing forest green eyes. There was a small moment of silence that transferred between us. Something about those eyes are so familiar…

"Well, he hasn't said a word since he was noticed standing here. It was like he just appeared out of thin air, one moment he wasn't there and the next he was."

With my axe currently in my hand, I nodded towards Gobber who nodded in return and took a step back. I lifted my axe up and towards the figure who stood alone and spoke with as much authority that I could.

"Who are you and what brings you to the Island of Berk?" I looked directly in his eyes as he looked directly back to me. There was a few moments of silence between us before he looked towards the axe and directly back into my eyes. "Well? Are you going to answer or not?"

"I have come to speak with Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk." The hooded figure finally said while never taking his eyes away from my own. As soon as he spoke, I had goosebumps all down my back. The voice sounded so familiar but at the same time sounded so foreign.

"You still never answered my questions." I said in a slightly irritated tone. "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked once more never wavering from my stance with my axe faced towards him.

"I will speak to no one except for the Chief." He finally took his eyes away from mine and slowly turned around facing every single person that was surrounding him. It almost seemed like he was just realizing how much of a crowd he had brought to the center of the village. When he finally did a full circle of everyone standing around him he turned back towards me and stared straight into my eyes once more.

"I am Astrid Hofferson, General of Defence, betrothed to the Lost Heir and current stand in Chief. I will ask you once more, who are you and what do you want?" I was getting annoyed by his responses and was approaching my limit to what I could take. I firmly took a step forward so that my axe head was a foot away from the figure. The figure just stood there but finally took his eyes away from mine and stared at the ground in front of him, completely hiding his eyes from my view.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said quietly. Based off the few gasps I heard from the vikings who were in ear shot, I knew instantly that I didn't imagine him saying it. I was fuming with rage when I took another step forward, hovering my axe almost directly against his chest when he spoke again. "My friend won't be very happy if you did," and almost if on cue there was a loud shriek that came from the blacksmith's hut.

Standing on top of the blacksmith's roof was a unfamiliar, black as night, dragon. As if reflecting the figure in front of me, his eyes were piercing forest green and were staring directly at me. Many vikings gasps when they saw where the shriek had come from. The ones closest to the blacksmith's hut quickly backpaced from where they were standing, holding up their weapons towards the beast. The dragon quickly jumped down from the blacksmith's roof and started making his way over to where the figure was standing. Every viking that was standing in a circle around the figure had stepped aside and let the beast past until he stood right beside the figure in front of me.

"I told you he wouldn't be happy." the figure said before looking back up and directly into my eyes again. A jolt went through my system as he did. Those eyes looked so familiar but now showed signs of anger behind them, almost matching the exact look in the eyes of the dragon. "Have you ever met a Night Fury, Astrid Hofferson, General of Defence? Do you know how much damage they can cause when they are angry?" The said dragon growled in response of what the figure said.

I looked between the hooded figure and the dragon a few times before I finally lowered my axe to my side, never leaving the stance that I was in. The dragon followed the axe as I did so and once it was beside me once more, the dragon's eyes flew back up towards mine. The circle that was once formed around the figure was now circling the figure and the dragon together, all weapons drawn and held towards the two figures in front of me.

The figure took a step towards me and I braced myself for an attack but one never came. Instead he stopped directly in front of me, standing about a head taller than myself, he forced me to look up into his eyes.

"My name is not important, and this is my Night Fury. Now I kindly ask you to call your people off before anything drastic happens" The hooded figure said quietly enough that only I heard it. I quickly waved my hand once behind me signaling Gobber to let everyone know to lower their weapons.

Gobber noticed my signal right away. "Astrid has request everyone to lower their weapons!" was what I heard from behind me. I never took my eyes off the green ones hidden inside the hood and he never took his eyes off of mine.

"Now that that's settled, I am going to turn around and walk out of here without an issues. When your Chief returns, you know where to find me." and at that, he turned around and walked towards his dragon. He climbed onto his dragon and looked at me once more.

"What do you mean, I will know where to find you?" I asked the hooded figure once his eyes were on mine once more.

"You will figure it out if you haven't already." The hooded figure said before he nudged his dragon and they shot straight into the air and flew off in the direction of Raven's Point.

As soon as the Night Fury and his Rider were out of sight, the remaining village members instantly swarmed Astrid asking a million questions. "What did he mean you will figure it out?" "What did he tell you?" "Who was that?" "Was that really a Night Fury?" It was all too much at once.

"ENOUGH!" I finally yelled towards all the village members, who instantly went silent when I had spoken. All eyes were on me, waiting for me to say something but I didn't know exactly what to say. This was definitely turning out to be one of the strangest mornings on Berk.

"All I know is what you seen before us. His didn't tell me his name, he rides a Night Fury, and he would like to speak with Stoick." I finally said. "And until he returns, I want everyone to work on whatever they were doing before he appeared. I will handle this as soon as Stoick gets back"

There was a few grumpy noises from the vikings but everyone seemed to obey orders well enough. While everyone went back to work, I turned around to find Gobber standing there waiting for me.

"So Lass, what's the plan?"

"I don't know Gobber, I need time to think" I told him quickly and walked passed him.

I wasn't lying when I said I didn't know, and that I actually needed time to think. Those eyes were too familiar and I had to remember where I have seen them before. And a Night Fury? Everyone thought those were extinct. After the one stopped attacking Berk three years ago, we thought for sure they have all been killed off.

"Wait a second…" I said to myself as I was walking towards the Great Hall. Green eyes, Night Fury, three years ago? How did I not notice it sooner? I turned on my heel and made my way back towards my house.

When I had moved in with Stoick to take care of the Chief and wait for the Heir to return, I had taken almost everything with me except for my hidden stash under the floorboards in my room. I opened the door to my old house and walked right in. Nobody was home, which wasn't that surprising considering my Papa was a fisherman and my Mama had started training as a healer.

I took the steps up to my room two at a time and swung open the door to my old room. Everything looked almost exactly the same as I have left it, almost as if nobody had been in my room in three years. I walked over to the corner in my room where I had the loose floorboard and pulled it up, revealing the small wooden box that I haven't touched in close to three years. The last time I had taken my wooden box out it was to read the letter that Hiccup had hidden inside my handle before he left.

I once again took out that letter that I knew almost off by heart and read it once more. As I was reading through the paragraphs, one particular paragraph stood out to me.

"I feel as if I have to tell you the truth for old times sake. I could never lie to you no matter what question you asked me. I was training with someone and his name is Toothless. Toothless is the Night Fury that I shot down in the last raid that we had before I destroyed the village, again. Someone has probably already found the evidence of a dragon falling out of the sky somewhere near Raven's Point."

It was almost as if he was drawing me a map to Raven's Point in this paragraph, knowing that one day he would be back and would stay in the cove he once learned to train in.

I knew exactly where he was and it was time to confront him, once and for all. After three years of worrying if he was alive or not, for him to show up and threaten me with his dragon, he was going to give me some answers, Night Fury or not.

It was sometime after midday when I had finally reached the cove just past Raven's Point. It didn't take me as long as I would have liked. The whole walk over to the cove I was constantly going over conversations in my head, trying to figure out what I would say to him first. Honestly, what do you say to someone who has been gone for three years?

I reached the top of the cove and looked down into the beautiful scenery below, like I have done so many times before. In the center of the cove sat the figure dressed all in black with the Night Fury curled around behind him. I looked over the figure before moving my eyes to where the dragon was lying down, noticing him watching me. He must have heard me or smelled me way before the figure ever knew I was here.

Well, it was now or never. I made my way over to the entrance of the cove and started to climb down. As I reached the bottom, I pulled out my axe and held it beside me. If the dragon decided to attack me, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I walked out into the clearing, noticing that the dragon followed me with his eyes the whole time but never made a move towards me. The figure was still staring towards the pond that was in the cove and didn't seem to move since I seen him from the top of the cove.

For another time that day, I stood there staring down the dragon with the axe in my hand, and he just stared back. It was like time had stopped and we just stood there, staring down each other, daring the other to make the first move. It wasn't until the hooded figure stood up and turned around, that I took my eyes from the dragon and transferred them to the hooded figure.

The hooded figure tapped his side once and made a quick hand movement. Even though his dragon was looking directly towards me, it was almost if he knew exactly what his rider did. The Night Fury stood up and stalked towards the shadows, never taking his eyes off of me. I followed the dragon's movements into the shadows before I almost couldn't see him anymore as he perfectly blended into the background.

I heard a sword being unsheathed in the direction of the hooded figure, which made me snap my head back towards him. He was holding a sword that looked like it had been sharpened way too many times, the blade being very thin. He twirled it in his hands a few times before taking up a battle stance and facing me, but never made a move towards me as if he was waiting for my response.

If a fight is what he wanted, a fight is what he would get. I squared my shoulders and twirled my axe in my hands a few times before taking up a equal battle stance facing the hooded figure. We both stared into each other's eyes, waiting for the first person to make a move and we slowly started circling each other, looking for a spot that would be a weak point to attack.

It was as if time had slowed to almost a complete stop when he finally lunged towards me. His speed was magnificent, almost too fast to counter, but I brought up my axe just in time to fling the blade away from my stomach. I thought for sure that the blade would break on the first contact that I did but it barely had a mark on it. I lunged for his side, which he successfully dodged without much issue.

We went back and forward, lunging at each other and parrying the other's attacks. It felt like forever we would going back and forth, matching blow for blow before he sneakily went for a lunge, sunk down at the last moment and swung his leg at me, tripping me onto my backside. Before I could even react to the attack, my axe was pushed away from my hands and I was looking up his blade that was tucked under my chin. This was it, I was done for. He had beaten me in sword to axe combat, he had every right to kill me where I lay. I closed my eyes and waited for the attack that never came.

"Dead."

I opened my eyes to find that the blade that was under my chin had since been removed and was now sheathed back in his scabbard on his hip. I sat up slowly watching him retreat from me as if nothing had ever happened.

"For the general of defence, your movements are sloppy. You have always covered the upper body well but you leave your feet completely unguarded and with an unsuspecting attack, you were taken down and killed where you lay." He said to me facing the other way. He was standing near the pond again looking out over the water.

I was dumbfounded by his words. Who does he think he is, saying that to me? I am the best fighter that Berk has ever seen, the one sworn to protect and die for my village. I was fuming with rage, I quickly got to my feet, completely ignoring where my axe was laying and I rushed towards him, and tackled him to the ground which yielded a yelp of surprise from him.

We rolled around in the dirt for a minute or two before he grabbed my wrists and pinned me to the ground. I instantly realized that he was much stronger than I was and I had attacked him when he had let me live which means he wouldn't do it again. His face was still covered with his mask and his hood was still up but his face was inches from mine. I could look him directly in the eyes and could smell the pine tree smell mixed with leather and some kind of burnt smell. His eyes didn't show any emotion behind them but they were constantly going over the features of my face, and I instantly felt exposed.

"Now what kind of honor is attacking someone who let you live?" Was his question to me without ever moving. I could feel the hot breath even through the mask that covered his face. We stayed like that for what felt like hours, until he finally released my wrists and stood up. I instantly sat up and I stared at him as he took a few paces away from me and sat down in a equal position.

"Who are you?" was my question to him. Before entering the cove, I knew for sure that it was Hiccup but after getting beat not just once, but twice, I couldn't be sure anymore. Hiccup could never fight, he could barely lift a sword when he had left. Yet here was someone who I thought was Hiccup, perfectly defending himself time and time again.

"You really haven't figured that out yet?" he chuckled mostly to himself. "I thought you of all people who have figured it out. Hel, you knew exactly where to find me!" he exclaimed with his hands held out towards me.

"I thought I knew exactly when I showed up to the cove but I started to question myself once you beat me in combat." I said honestly. I wasn't dead yet, so there was no point in lying. If he wanted me dead, he would have killed me the first time he placed the blade under my throat.

"Is Fearless Astrid Hofferson finally going soft after all these years?" he chuckled to himself again before raising his hand to his hood and pulling it back, revealing auburn hair. He pulled the mask down from his face and revealed his signature smile that he used to wear before he left. Even though I was almost certain it was him, I still couldn't believe that it was actually him.

"Hiccup…"

"The one and only. Were you expecting someone different?" He responded almost sarcastically. "I mean really, who else would ride the offspring of lightning and death?" before chuckling to himself once again. He tapped his thigh once before making a quick hand gesture again. Within moments the Night Fury had crawled out from the shadows, where I had completely forgotten that he was there, and walked over towards where we were sitting down.

"And Toothless…"

"Ahhh, very good, you remember."

"How could I forget?" I asked him, taking my eyes away from the dragon to look at him again. He was watching my every movement but seemed like he was relaxed around me or his dragon, I couldn't tell which. "After finding the letter in my handle, I stayed up for nights reading it over and over again. I almost couldn't believe that you had actually left and on a Night Fury at that. I mean really, Hiccup the Use…" I almost said his old nickname before I could stop myself. His eyes instantly went dark at the mention of his old name and I knew right away that I had messed up.

"I see that people still remember me as Useless." He took his eyes off of mine and stood up quickly, turned around and started walking towards and along the pond. I was up in an instant following him.

"I didn't mean it like that Hiccup…"

"No, you did." He said to me, never taking his eyes off the pond. His dragon followed us but I didn't care. "I was always Useless, or I was always messing something up, or damaging more houses than the dragons did in raids." He finally stopped and turned towards the pond, looking directly at the waterfall. "For years I always wanted to be a Viking, to be one of you guys until I shot Toothless down in the forest and realized that I could never be a Viking."

"But you're back now, that must mean something?" I asked in almost a plea. We stood like that for what felt like a few minutes, with him looking directly at the waterfall, me looking at him, and the Night Fury somewhere behind us doing who knows what. He finally sighed and turned towards me, looking me directly in the eyes again, making my heart skip a beat in the process.

"My sources tell me that the raids have gotten worse over the last year which means that we have to take action soon before Berk is completely wiped out of existence." He said as a matter-of-fact. He took his eyes off of me and walked past me to where his dragon was watching us. "Toothless noticed it sooner than normal this time, which means she is getting stronger." He started scratching the Night Fury under his head and on his neck, almost in a calming manner. "Even after all that Berk has done, I can't just sit by and watch it fall if I could have prevented it."

"Hold up, back up a second." I interrupted him before he could continue. "Who is 'she'? And what do you mean getting stronger?"

"'She' is the Queen of Dragons at Helheim's Gate. She has control over dragons that raid the villages in the archipelago, Berk being the worse as we are the closest."

"And what do you mean by "your sources"? Do you have people watching over Berk now?"

"My sources don't exactly watch over Berk, they just rely information to me, you'll meet them soon enough. Actually, you know one of my sources quite well."

I was even more confused now than I was before. All I got out of that was that Hiccup had been to the Nest, the place Vikings had been searching for since they landed here and that he had been watching over Berk even though he wasn't here. I also didn't know what he meant when he said I knew one of his sources quite well.

"So if she has control over the dragons, how do you expect to stop her? Toothless over here seems fine just the way he is."

"Toothless has trained himself to block out her commands, but the closer we get to the nest, the harder it is for him to block them out. I have been planning on ways to stop her but I am going to need more help in taking her down." he explained nonchalantly as if he has done this many times before.

"So that's why you asked for your Dad in the village…"

"Yes, it was one of the reasons I asked for him. I already knew he wasn't on the island but I had to make it look like I didn't know."

"How do you know the Chief isn't here?

"Astrid… I am the Chief's Heir, or I was. Every year he sails to a different tribe where the treaty signage is being held so that we can keep peace within the archipelago. This year he was signing it on Bog-Burglars Island." He explained it to me as if I should have known all along never really looking towards me..

"So if you knew the Chief wasn't here, why did you show up today and not when the Chief is here?"

"Because I wanted to see if it was true…"

"If what was true?" Now he had spiked my curiosity.

"That the Fearless Astrid Hofferson was actually the betrothed to the Lost Heir of Berk. My sources told me that she is not only betrothed to the Heir, but she is currently living in the Haddock household taking care of the Chief. They also told me that she likes to make sure that people know she carries two daggers on her at all times." Hiccup finally took his eyes away from his dragon and gave me a look with a questionable eyebrow lifted.

"How…?" I asked in a quiet voice, blushing as if I had been caught with a dirty secret.

"I told you, I have my sources." He gave me a sly smile and stopped petting the dragon and took a step towards me.

The Night Fury instantly starting circling around me sniffing. He stopped on the center of my lower back for a second before moving on towards my feet, and stopping once more on my right boot for a few seconds. The dragon turned away from me and walked back towards Hiccup, circling behind him and sitting beside him.

"And I see that you don't only carry the two daggers, but also a third one." He said with a sly smile. "I would like that one back though" he motioned towards my right boot where his first dagger was sheathed.

"Wait, he told you all that?" I asked in astonishment. Was Hiccup talking to dragons now? No, it couldn't be possible, could it?

"Of course not, do you think I am some kind of Dragon Whisperer or something?" he chuckled to himself. "When he paused for a second on your back, he noticed my smell on the daggers that I crafted for you. When he stopped on your boot for a few seconds, he was confirming he was actually smelling the first dagger I crafted, even though the scent was weak."

I reached down to my right boot and pulled out the dagger that I had stored there. Not many people knew I carried the small dagger in my boot, and nobody knew that it was Hiccup's dagger. Standing back up, I strolled over to where he was standing and flipped the dagger in my hand so that I was holding the blade and the handle was facing Hiccup. He grabbed the handle and nodded his head once before sliding the dagger into a sheath that was on his left arm.

Before he had the chance to react, I brought my fist up and hit his right arm as hard as I could. The armour he was wearing absorbed a lot of the impact of my punch and hurt my knuckle in return but it made the message clear.

"Owwww! Why would you do that?!" He exclaimed in pain as he rubbed his right arm.

"That's for leaving without saying goodbye and for not coming back for THREE YEARS!" I quickly dropped to the ground and swiped my feet towards his, making contact, and making him fall on his backside. I stood back up and stood over him before he could move. He had the most adorable look of shock and pain on his face, it was almost too much. "And that… That's for everything else today." I said in a quiet voice before I turned around and headed for my axe.

"I guess I deserve that one." I heard him say as he sat up. I picked up my axe from the ground and turned around once more. I noticed him watching me. "Hey Astrid?" Just him saying my name gave me butterflies in my stomach. He didn't wait for a response from me. "Don't tell anybody about us, Toothless and I. Stoick will be back tomorrow and I will make an appearance again." He told me as a matter-of-fact.

I nodded towards him once before turning around, slipping the axe onto my back once again, and started making my way up and out of the cove and back towards the village. It was getting late and I didn't want people to start asking questions about my whereabouts. I built up a sweat throwing my axe at a few trees before I broke the edge of the forest to the village. Tomorrow will definitely be an interesting day to say the least.