To those asking for more frequent updates: meanwhile I am honoured to hear that you want to read more of my story, I would like to point out that I work 10+ hours a day with one day off a week, and I have a social life I need to maintain during my spare time, too, so unfortunately one chapter a week is the best I can do. I am not a student on her summer holidays :) thank you for understanding!

Enjoy!

It had been several weeks since the royal family of Olissa left Berk, and things had returned back to normal. Or as normal as they could – Stoick was still acting weird, and it seemed to get worse each passing day.

The king kept on giving Hiccup more and more responsibilities, and suddenly his son's opinion was very high on his list of priorities. Of course Stoick expected Hiccup to be excited about the new duties as they gave him a taste of what it was like to be a king, but that was exactly why the prince wasn't excited.

Was Stoick about to step aside, to retire early and give Hiccup the crown? That was the very thought that kept nagging at him, and no matter how hard he convinced himself that wasn't going to happen it still didn't go did appreciate that his father let him know what was waiting for him in the future, but was it really necessary to start doing it out of the blue? A warning one day beforehand would've been very nice, but that never happened.

The only thing that remained intact was the bond between Hiccup and Astrid. After Princess Arleigh left, they had met almost immediately, and that night had been enough to convince Hiccup that he had already broken his promise to Arleigh to try to forget his feelings for Astrid. He was in too deep and he didn't even want to get out of the hole he had dug himself into. He wanted to be with Astrid for as long as it was possible.

Maybe he shouldn't have.

The first snow that didn't immediately melt when it hit the ground had fallen over a week ago, and now everything was covered in snow. This was ideal for Hiccup and Astrid because it wasn't dark in the night, thanks to the moonlight that reflected off the white substance. It was beginning to be very cold in the night time, but that wasn't unusual. They were so used to the cold that Hiccup didn't even change his flight suit to something warmer – the only difference in his choice of clothing was that he added an extra, yet thin layer of clothes underneath the suit so that the cold didn't seep into his bones.

That night seemed like any other time that Hiccup and Astrid met. When the prince had departed from Berk, he had made sure no one had been following him and there was nothing that was telling him that something was going to happen, so he had left Berk without much of a worry in his mind.

He made three mistakes during the night.
That was the first one.

That cliff had become so familiar to them that they knew it like the back of their hands. It was a great place to meet; they could easily hear if something was coming towards them and they could leave just as easily. The sea not far from the cliff crossed out one direction where it was possible to approach the two royals, so that made the place even more secure. In short, it was perfect because when they were on the cliff, they didn't need to pay much attention to anybody but themselves.

Seeing that loving smile on Astrid's face after one week was always enough to warm Hiccup up throughout his body, and the fluttery feel he got in his chest when he was reminded of just how wonderful it was to have her lips against his was a feeling he'd have loved to bask in forever.

These short meetings with the princess were what kept Hiccup going, and he was so thankful they existed. With all the strange things happening in Berk, it was comforting to know that there was something in his life that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Being here on that cliff with Astrid was sort of a getaway from all that fuss, and he felt as though he entered a safe bubble whenever his feet landed on the familiar ground they were standing on right now.

"Missed me?" Astrid asked softly once their lips parted.

"Mmm" was the only thing that came out of Hiccup's mouth. He hovered his mouth over hers while tightening his grip around her waist and pulling her even closer to him. "Very much," he breathed against her skin and closed the minuscule gap between their mouths one more time.

Astrid hummed contently into the kiss and Hiccup could feel a smile against his lips. The urge not to smile became too irresistible, so in the end their kiss turned into a mess of them trying to kiss but being unable to do so because of the smiles that became wider and wider by the second.

"I missed you, too," she said after they pulled away. "I feel like these weeks go by slower and slower. Like there's a year instead of seven days between our meetings."

"Tell me about it," Hiccup replied. He knew how she felt because that was exactly how he felt about it, too. Parting ways with Astrid had become harder and reuniting with her felt like he could finally let out a breath he had been holding for a week.

"I was wondering," the princess began and eyed between Hiccup and their dragons. "I really want to go flying tonight. I didn't get to do it at all this week because my mother kept me busy with her stupid lessons, and I'd love to have a casual flying session at least once a week. You know, without any destination and so on."

He looked at her with a fond smile when he responded: "Of course, let's go."

That was the second mistake.

They soared in the sky, letting that cold breeze of air brush against their skins, and they simply just lived the moment. It was obvious how much Astrid was enjoying flying with Stormfly, and Hiccup realised this was the first time he properly saw Astrid fly. She really did give it her best shot – with the Deadly Nadder, she made all sorts of difficult moves that she made look as easy as breathing. Not that Hiccup had had any doubts about it for ages now, but now it was clear to him that Astrid was a very talented dragon-rider.

"So, where should we go?" she asked when they were back by Hiccup and Toothless' side. "You know this area so much better because of your maps, so you must have something in mind."

Hiccup very recently told Astrid about his responsibility to make maps of all the possible locations and how Briral still remained his most unfinished map. Without a moment of hesitation, the princess had offered to steal a map of Briral from her father so the prince could've used it for reference, but Hiccup had refused; he didn't want Astrid to be in any trouble because of him. Astrid had protested but gave in eventually when the prince had told her that once their kingdoms were at peace with each other, he could visit Briral just to finish his map and therefore they'd have a valid excuse to see each other again.

Hiccup raised his eyebrow and looked at her amusedly, though she couldn't see that because of his helmet. It didn't stop him from expressing it through his voice, though. "Didn't you just tell me that you love flying without any clear destination? Or did you change your mind about that already?"

"I love flying without a destination I really need to get to. Going somewhere while knowing it doesn't matter if you get there is great. It feels relaxing."

Hiccup thought about it for a moment before he gave his answer: "I know a beautiful place not far from here. It's a bit closer to Berk and I think it will take less than an hour to fly there. Does it sound interesting enough?"

"With such verbose description? Yeah, sure, I'm in," Astrid replied with a laugh and the prince grinned at her even though it was hidden behind the helmet.

They turned around to head towards Berk.

"How's it going with you and your father? Has anything changed since last week?" Astrid asked and examined Hiccup's side profile.

"He's still being weird. It's been ongoing for about a month now, so I don't know if it's a permanent thing. Something about him changed after Briral's attack and I wish there was a way to find out what caused it."

"Why won't you just ask him?"

"Because I know my father. I may not know why he is being the way he is, but I know that asking wouldn't help at all. He will just brush it off as something that doesn't concern me, and if I tell him to be honest with me, he will remind me that he's my king and he doesn't take orders from me."

"What?" Astrid blurted out in disbelief. "Isn't it a bit bold of him to order you to take care of half of his duties and still tell you that you have no authority in Berk?"

"When you say it like that, it really does sound stupid," Hiccup admitted in thought. "But he's also right. He is my king and he doesn't have to listen to me even though I am his son. If he did, he'd still be resting because that wound from the battle still hasn't healed."

"It hasn't? But it's been ages!" Astrid said, surprise clear in her voice.

"I think it's only because he doesn't give himself time to rest and let it heal. Even Gothi tells him to take it easy but he doesn't think he needs any healing."

"Our fathers are about the most brainless creatures that have ever had the misfortune to inhabit this land," Astrid stated with a deep sigh. "My father has been waiting to hear the news that the king of Berk is dead, so he's started to plan a celebration feast for when that happens."

"Seriously?" Hiccup asked. A slight flash of anger rushed through his veins. How did the king of Briral dare celebrate someone's death? Was he a monster?

"Yep, he doesn't know that the arrow didn't kill your father, so he thinks it's just a matter of time that the news reach Briral," the princess explained apologetically.

"But it's been over a month."

"I know, that's why I called him brainless."

There was a short silence between them. It was a pleasant silence where the air didn't feel pressing at all. It was nothing like the silent moments between Hiccup and Astrid when they still were enemies to each other. Hiccup wasn't even sure if what they used to feel towards each other could be called animosity because they had never met before. How could he consider someone he hadn't ever seen his enemy? It had been the thought of the princess he had hated – he hadn't known anything but made-up lies about her.

He was so glad that was in the past now.

"So, what is this place you're taking me to like?" Astrid asked to break the silence.

"There's a waterfall, the stream is so strong it doesn't freeze in the winter. You can also walk behind it, and on the other side there's a beautiful view to a valley. I don't know how it looks now with snow on the ground, but in the summer it's spectacular."

"The image I just created in my mind is so beautiful that I can't wait to see what it really looks like," Astrid said. Hiccup glanced at her and saw her eyes closed.

They never made it to the waterfall.

There was a loud noise coming from the ground below them. Toothless immediately reacted to it by tensing his entire body and letting out low growls while looking down and moving his head frantically all around.

"What was that?" Astrid asked in a sharp tone. She had opened her eyes and was looking between Hiccup and the ground.

"I'm not sure. I think we need to find that out," Hiccup replied and was ready to go down.

"Don't you think that's exactly what we shouldn't do? It could be anything," the princess hesitated.

"It could also be another wounded dragon that needs our help," the prince said reasonably and with that he and Toothless lowered the altitude and glided towards the ground.

Astrid and Stormfly followed them at their heels and the four of them landed at the same time. The noise appeared again, this time much clearer. Hiccup and Astrid hopped off their dragons and searched the ground for any possible movements. The prince took off his helmet so that he could hear better. The sound was coming from the woods – they hadn't flown very far yet so the forest before them was the same in which they once took care of that Timberjack.

"Should we enter?" Astrid asked and beckoned the edge of the woods with her head.

Hiccup could only open his mouth until things started to happen in fast motion. First there was yelling, then there were a couple loud thuds and the sound of swords being drawn out, and before either Hiccup or Astrid knew it, they were captured by a gang of people.

The first faces that Hiccup saw were unfamiliar to him, but the next ones he recognised. They were the knights of Berk, accompanied by people he didn't know. A small relief washed over him as he said: "It's me, Prince Hiccup. I demand you to release us immediately."

Astrid stopped wriggling herself in an instant. When Hiccup looked at her, there was a mix of confusion and anger on her face.

"We can't do that, My Lord. King's orders," one of the knights holding him said.

Hiccup forgot how to breathe. He felt like the ground under his feet was about to collapse and suck him in. In fact, he wished that would happen, because that way he could've escaped the reality.

Stoick had ordered the knights to capture him.

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged a terrified look.

Two thoughts filled the prince's head.

First, why did his father want him captured?

Second, he hoped to gods that Astrid didn't think he was in any way involved in this. He tried to tell her with his gaze that he had no idea what was going on, but he couldn't tell whether Astrid could read that from his face. She wasn't paying attention to Hiccup either as she was trying to get rid of the two knights that had a very firm grip on both her arms.

Hiccup knew he should do something, but his body refused to move and no words came out of his mouth. He was still stunned by what the knight had said and his mind refused to believe it true. There had to be a mistake. Unless Stoick had figured out his son's secret and 'catching him in the act' was his way to approach it… If that was the case, how much did his father know?

As they were led towards the knights' dragons, Hiccup looked behind his back. Toothless and Stormfly had managed to escape. A slight ray of hope blossomed within him – perhaps they would rescue Astrid and him while they were on their way to Berk. Maybe Toothless could fire his plasma blast at the knights and Stormfly could shoot her spikes at them.

That didn't happen, though.

What surprised Hiccup the most was that they didn't take a hidden route to the castle. The prince had expected Stoick to not want everyone to see that he had ordered the knights to capture his son, but when they entered Berk from the main gate, he realised that his assumptions were horribly wrong. Did the king want to publicly humiliate Hiccup? If so, he was doing a marvellous job at that – for some reason, there were still a lot of Berkians awake and they all were curiously looking at the knights and the two prisoners, and when some of them finally recognised the prince, they began whispering with each other.

Astrid was sitting on the dragon that was behind the one Hiccup sat on, so he couldn't see how she was doing. He tried to look, but the princess was sitting behind a strongly-built knight so it was impossible to see anything through him.

When they were escorted to the Throne Room, the prince didn't even have to look up to see who were waiting for him and Astrid at the other end of the room. He knew that his father and his advisor, Gobber, would be there, and he was proven correct the moment he heard Stoick's bellowing voice.

"Back at last," he said to the knights. Hiccup still wasn't looking, but he was quite sure that his father was now looking between him and Astrid. "And you caught them. Yes, very good, very good…"

When the prince heard Stoick rise from his throne, he looked up. He thought his father was going to walk up to him and yell at him, but his father wasn't even looking at him. His eyes were fixed on the princess of Briral, and when he stopped right in front of her, the smile on his face was so malicious that Hiccup felt sick.

"Once again you find yourself at our mercy, and this time you're not getting away. We have just the perfect cell for Your Highness, I would give you a personal tour, but I assume that place is already familiar to you."

Hiccup had never heard Stoick speak like that. His voice was filled with loathing, anger and mockery. The look on his face was so threatening and intimidating that even Astrid had become speechless.

The princess took a quick look at the prince who immediately mouthed 'I am so sorry' to her before he heard Stoick order the knights to take her to the dungeons, leaving Stoick and Hiccup alone with the knights that were still holding him.

"Release him," the king said as he turned around to sit on the throne. The knights let go of him and before Hiccup had time to utter out a single word, Stoick spoke again. This time his voice was emotionless and cold, and it was hard to say if he was mad at his son. "You were seen with Princess Astrid tonight outside of Berk."

"Yes?" Hiccup responded. He acted calm but in reality his nerves were about to murder him on the spot.

"And you seemed rather friendly with her," he stated the obvious again.

"I suppose that is correct," the prince said, not daring to ask how much the knights and the unknown people had seen. In fact, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Then something Hiccup didn't expect to happen, happened. Instead of Stoick bursting out with rage, he burst out laughing. His laugh was very short-lived though, as he let out a hiss of pain and pressed his hand against the spot where the wound was. He continued to laugh silently, but the strange reaction made Hiccup even more nervous.

"That's the most brilliant idea you've ever had, my son!" Stoick said happily, still laughing.

Hiccup blinked. "Excuse me? What idea?"

"At first I had my doubts, but then I realised that there must be something big going on. I must admit I was hoping you'd tell me about it some other way than this, but at least now we have that nasty princess locked up in the dungeons and that's what matters. I am proud of you, Son."

The prince wasn't quite following. "What is it you think I've been doing?"

"You've befriended the princess so you could get information about Briral, of course! You've been spending so much time with her that you must've found out something that will help us defeat Briral and have our revenge!" Stoick said cheerfully. His smile was hidden behind the bushy beard, but the risen cheeks told Hiccup that his father's smile was very wide.

"What?!" the prince blurted out. "That's not why I spend time with her!"

Stoick's smile faded just slightly. "Oh come on, what other reason would there be?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe I simply want to spend time with her? She's nothing like you've told me, and she has done absolutely nothing to deserve to be down there," he said and pointed at the floor with his hand. He had no idea where his courage was coming from, but something about his father thinking that he was taking advantage of Astrid sent his blood boiling. "You need to release her and let her go!"

The king shook his head, still smiling. "You must be joking."

"This is the furthest I've ever been to joking. I am dead serious, Father."

Stoick still refused to believe him. He had stopped smiling, however. "This is getting ridiculous. Stop this foolishness and start acting like the son you are."

"Oh for Heaven's sake!" Hiccup bellowed which took his father and Gobber by surprise. "I am not pretending! You cannot use other people as your tool to get your revenge on Briral! In fact, Briral doesn't have to be our enemy! Blood has been spilled for centuries, and what have we achieved from that? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! This grudge between our kingdoms is ridiculous, and our innocent citizens are the ones that suffer the most from it! Berkians deserve a peaceful life, and you've stolen that right from them by holding a grudge you don't even know the reason for! You can't just blindly hate something and expect everyone to follow along, I used to do that but that's not me anymore! So please, if you want to do something right, just release Astrid because she's done nothing wrong! Punish me all you want, but leave her be."

It was clear now that Stoick was angry. He was really, really angry. "How dare you? After everything I've done for you, you pay me back like this? Going against your own father? I am your king and you have no authority to address me like that! Now I see what that wicked girl has done to you – she's brainwashed you to turn you against me so that Briral will have an advantage on us, and that she has succeeded in."

"She's not wicked and she hasn't brainwashed me! These are all my own thoughts that she's just helped to realise!"

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about. She's obviously nothing but danger to Berk, and she will be treated as such. I am relieved I could put an end to this before it was too late. She will be executed in the afternoon."

"NO!" Hiccup cried out. His heart was beating so fast it was about to break through his ribcage. His brain had stopped thinking and he didn't register the words he said before they left his mouth. "Please, don't! You can do whatever you want to me, but do not kill Astrid! She's done nothing wrong! I– I love her."

The second those last three words were said, Hiccup knew he had made his third mistake of the day. He wished he could take them back, because what happened next was beyond his wildest imagination.

Stoick stood up from his throne and looked at the prince as though he didn't recognise him. "HOW DARE YOU BRING SUCH SHAME AND EMBARRASSMENT UPON MY KINGDOM? HOW CAN YOU BE SO WEAK AND FALL IN LOVE WITH THE ENEMY?"

"Briral doesn't–"

"DO NOT UTTER OUT SUCH NONSENSE IN MY PRESENCE! YOU'VE COMMITTED TREASON OF THE WORST KIND AND YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED," Stoick roared and glanced at the guards standing around the room. "SEIZE HIM!"

In the blink of an eye, Hiccup was surrounded by the guards of Berk. Two of them grabbed his arms and started dragging him towards the large wooden door, the rest had their spreads pointing at him. The prince didn't fight back because he knew it'd be no use. He didn't even ask where the guards were taking him; he already knew. He would be spending the night in the cells, right where Astrid was now. That fact made this situation a bit more bearable, but it didn't make him feel any better about it. Why didn't he ever think? Now he lost all his chances to free Astrid, all because he let his mouth move before his brain proceeded a thought. What he had said was true, but that had been literally the worst place to say it.

The cells were far beneath the surface, and the air was bad in there. The two guards threw Hiccup into one of the cells, and he lost his balance and fell to the cold stone floor. They closed the cell door with a bang before locking it. Hiccup was left staring at the door with a blank expression, he had never spent a single second in a cell as a prisoner and his ability to have rational thoughts seemed to vanish with the guards. He didn't know what to think or do for that matter.

"Hiccup?" he heard a familiar voice call him. He instantly came back to his senses and he turned his head in a swoosh. He saw Astrid staring back at him in the cell right next to his, and he felt some warmth returning to his body.

"Astrid!" he cried and rushed next to her in a blink. When closer to her, he noticed her bloodshot eyes. She had been crying and knowing that made Hiccup hate himself even more. He carefully placed his other hand on Astrid's that was holding onto one of the bars and looked her in the eyes with a gaze he hoped transmitted apology and deep sorrow. "You have no idea how sorry I am. I don't know how you could ever forgive me."

"It's not only your fault, don't blame yourself," she replied silently. "But why are you in that cell? You're the prince of Berk, for crying out loud! Doesn't your father have any mercy? You're his son!"

"He thought I had befriended you to get information out of you, and when I told him that wasn't the case I accidentally let it slip that I loved you–"

"Wait, you love me?" Astrid cut him off.

"I do. After I let that slip, he just lost it. He told me I am a disgrace, and he thinks you've brainwashed me. I am down here because of the crime I've committed."

"Excuse me?" she said with a high-pitched voice. "That's outrageous! How can he do that to his own son? And to think I've brainwashed you? That's just ridiculous."

Hiccup shrugged. "I think he's so blinded by his hatred for Briral that he's ready to risk everything and everyone if that means he's one step closer to defeating your kingdom."

"But what will happen to us now?" Astrid asked. Her red eyes radiated fear as if she already knew the answer.

Hiccup took his time to think of a response to that, and when he spoke, he didn't dare look at Astrid, "They will use you as a bait to lure the Briralians into a trap before executing you, and I will most likely be hanged for my crimes, or banished."

Astrid inhaled sharply and she tightened the grip on Hiccup's hand. "Tha–that cannot happen, I don't want to lose you like this!"

Her voice was trembling, which made Hiccup raise his head to look at her again. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, and he also felt something inside him grieve more than ever before.

These could be the last moments they ever spent together.

"We'll figure something out," Hiccup said but his voice didn't sound even half as convinced as he'd have liked. "You're not going to lose me."

"It's just... you mean so much to me, you have no idea how much I care for you," Astrid said weakly, her voice being just a mere whisper. "I…I love you too."

Hiccup gave her a small and sad smile at that. "I love you," he said.

There was nothing more he wanted to do right now than kiss her, just a little peck on the lips would have been enough, but the gaps between the bars were too tight. All he could do was stroke Astrid's hand and look her in the eyes.

He didn't know how long they were sitting there on the cold stone floor, maybe minutes, perhaps hours, trying to be as close to one another as the bars let them, but suddenly there was the sound of approaching footsteps. Hiccup didn't want to look up, but when he heard the cell door creak open, he had to. His insides turned solid ice when he realised it had been Astrid's cell that had been opened, not his like he had expected.

"What do you want with me?" she asked the two guards in her cell. She tried to sound demanding, but the fear in her voice was too strong.

Without saying a word, the guards seized her by both arms and started dragging her.

"NO!" Hiccup shouted and stood up.

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried out in a desperate voice.

The prince ran to the door to his cell and tried to reach out to her through the bars, but his arm was too short. "Astrid! Where are you taking her?!"

No answer from either of the guards. Hiccup repeated the question, but it was to no avail. All he could hear was Astrid's cries of pain as she was dragged on the floor towards the stairs that led out of the dungeons.

After a while, all sound was gone and he was left in complete silence.

"Astrid," he said in a whisper and leant his forehead against the cold bars.

AAAAAAA what'll happen? :0
Will they survive?

That you'll find out in the upcoming chapters hihi ;)
Love you all :3