It's been a few months since I became Flame Rider, and once I got back to Berk, I came up with a way to easily hide my identity. I now wear a headband, same color as my scales, that I can attach a mask to quite easily. I also have a hood now, but I don't think I'll ever wear it, since I can light my hair on fire.

I woke up tonight, because of Thor knows what, but couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and went out to Firewing's stable, where he was sleeping.

"Hey Fire, you wanna go for a flight?" I asked him.

"Isn't it the middle of the night?"

"Yeah, but who cares? It's not like my parents'll care if I leave right now. As long as we're back by sunrise, we'll be good."

"Why don't you leave a note here? Just in case. You don't want Stoick and Gobber to worry if we don't get back early enough." I had to admit that he was right. Stoick and Gobber had kind of became my adoptive parents after the A-team was formed. Stoick wasn't nearly as protective of me as he was of Hiccup, but if I was gone for a long time without letting anyone know where I was going, he did begin to worry. Gobber… well, Gobber had started acting like my dad should. But that's besides the point. Firewing was right, I should leave a note. So I grabbed a piece of paper out of my journal that I kept in a chest in the stable, scribbled down a note saying where I was going, and pinned it to the wall with a knife that I had laying in the chest. I then mounted Firewing and we took off into the night.

2 Hours Later

"Hey, Daystrid, I don't think we've been out this far before," Firewing said, looking over at me. I had been flying beside him for the past hour, having gotten used to flying for long periods of time by now.

"Yeah, I think you're right. Why don't we head home?" I responded, stopping and turning around. Firewing stopped and started to follow me, until a chain shot up and wrapped around his tail.

"Days!" Firewing screeched as he was pulled downwards.

"Fire!" I shot after him, catching him just below the clouds. I touched my hand to his nose and he went into his tattoo. I watched the chain fall away before realising that I didn't recognize the colors or symbols on the ships that had attacked us.

"Look, sir! A Halfling!" one of the men on the ships called, pointing at me.

"Well then… SHOOT HER DOWN!" another man called back.

I tried my best to fly away, wondering who in the name of Thor these people were before it hit me… These must be those trappers Hiccup was talking about. So, in that case… I need to get the Hel out of here!

The next thing I knew, I felt a chain wrap around my tail, and I was suddenly forcefully pulled backwards. The last thing I remember thinking before hitting the water was: Gods, I'm never gonna see Astrid again.

Astrid

"Hey, Astrid! Terror mail!" Fishlegs called, landing just outside my hut. He opened it and gasped, "And you're not going to like it…"

"What do you mean I'm not going to like it? Give me that." I ripped the paper from his hand and read it. "Oh no. Days…"

"Astrid? What's wrong?" a voice asked. I looked up to see Hiccup standing in the doorway, next to Fishlegs.

"It's Days, she's missing. The letter said that she's been gone for a couple weeks, and that no one has been able to find her." I held up the T-mail that Fishlegs had given me a few minutes earlier. Hiccup took it and read through it.

"We need to get back to Berk and see if we can help find her." He sounds worried about her, but why? She's not his sister… unless he's worried about her because she's a Halfling just like he is…

I didn't have a lot of time to think on the subject because five minutes later we were on our way back to Berk.

Berk- Eight Hours Later

We arrived at Berk about 8 hours later. As soon as we landed, I jumped up and asked the Chief, who had met us in the square, what had happened.

"We don't know, lass. Gobber went looking for her that morning, because he hadn't seen her yet, and she was nowhere to be found. He found a note in the stable next to her house, as far as I know, he still has it." Stoick was called elsewhere, and apologizing for not knowing anything about my sister's disappearance, walked off to help the viking that had called him.

"Well, then…" Hiccup turned to us. "Twins, Snotlout, Fishlegs, go rest up, we're wings up in an hour. Astrid, why don't we go pay Gobber a visit, see what he knows."

We went our separate ways, Hiccup and I finding Gobber in the forge, working on straightening a damaged sword.

"Hey, Gobber." Said viking jumped as he had not heard us come in.

"Oh, hey 'iccup, Astrid. You came wonderin' about Daystrid, din't ya?" Gobber asked when he turned around.

"Yeah, Dad said that you found a note in her stable. Do you…?" Hiccup asked.

"Still 'ave it? Aye, tha' I do,'' Gobber interrupted. He went over to one of the tables along the wall of the forge and picked up a sheet of paper. He hobbled back over to us and handed it to me. I immediately recognized my sister's fairly neat scrawl:

To anyone who may be worried about me:

I am fine, just went for a flight with Firewing cause I couldn't sleep. I should be back by high noon at the very (and I mean very) latest. So, don't come looking for me, unless it's after that time.

-Days

I sigh, she hadn't given us any clues on where she was going, and I had no clue how far out she went on her flights.

"Do you have any idea where she could be, Gobber? Where could she have gone?" I questioned, we needed someplace to start looking for her.

"I don't, an' the A-team has searched the entire island an' all of Berk's waters, no luck," Gobber replied.

"Thanks for the help, Gobber," Hiccup said, as we left the forge. Once we were out of earshot for Gobber, he turned to me. "I take it, she went for a flight, but never returned."

"I think so. Her note says she went for a flight and we know that no one has seen her or Firewing in two weeks." A worried look crossed Hiccup's face, before turning expressionless once more. "Hiccup? What are you thinking?"

"What? Oh, nothing. Just, um, we'll do another search of our island and waters, then start the rest of the archipelago tomorrow." I wasn't buying that was what he wanted to do, so I decided to keep an eye on any strange behavior from him for the rest of the day.

We'd searched Berk's territory till the sun set and could barely see our dragon's heads in front of us. We'd stopped at the Hall for dinner, then gone off to our respective houses, except me. I'd silently followed Hiccup, back to his house, where he stayed for only a few minutes. He left telling his dad that he was going for a flight and not to wait up for him. Then he'd taken off from his room, with me following.

We'd been flying for about a half hour before I completely lost him. I scanned the area around me, not knowing exactly where I was, and not being able to see well from the lack of light.

"Looking for someone?" asked a voice behind me. I whipped around in my saddle, to find both Hiccup and Toothless looking at me, and neither looked happy.

"Uhhh…" I didn't know how to answer his question, although he interrupted any train of thought that I might have had.

"Can I ask why you're following me? Considering you've never followed me before." He said the last part more to himself than to me, but when I caught it, I wondered what he meant.

"Can I ask why you're sneaking away in the middle of the night, telling your father that you're going for a flight, when you are so obviously not?!" I countered.

"How long have you been following me?!"

"Since we left the Hall."

"Oh.

"Do you know where we are?"

"I haven't got a clue. Do you?"

"Of course I do," At my doubtful look, he added, "We just left Berkian waters, heading North."

"And why did you go this way?"

"I'm not gonna get you to go back to Berk, am I?"

"Nope. So you might as well tell me what you're doing out here. By yourself."

He sighed. "Astrid, I have an idea where your sister might be…"

"I knew it!" I interrupted.

"You knew it, wait what?!"

"I knew you knew where she was, that's what you were thinking about earlier after we left the forge."

"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't believe me… and it's more of a hunch than a fact."

"Okay… so what are you thinking?"

"That she was shot down by trappers on that flight she went on and that's why she never returned."

"Trappers? Like Ryker and…"

"No, no… much worse. These-these people tend to kill on sight…"

"But they wouldn't kill her, I mean she's just a kid."

"And she's also a Halfling."

"What does that have to do with anything!?"

"These trappers take great pride in killing Halflings. If they caught Daystrid, there is a very slim chance that she is still alive, Astrid. That's why I came alone… well that and one other reason…

"I know I can't get you to go back to Berk, so you can come with me… just know that you're going to see a very different side of me."

"Okay…" Where this was going, I had no idea. But I wanted to find my sister, so I just went along with it.

Northern Markets- Sunrise

We landed in the woods quite aways away from the actual Markets themselves. That's when I realized that Hiccup's prosthetic was different, and so was Toothless's saddle and tailfin.

Hiccup caught my look, and said, "That's part of the other reason I came alone, I'll explain later.

"Right now though, I want you to stay right here, okay? I will be back as soon as I possibly can." He pulled a staff from the side of Toothless's saddle and was gone before I could say any more.