My Hope

Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions.

Rating: M for Mature.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Dreamworks HTTYD or Dreamworks Dragons. I also don't own any of the songs I may use.

14; Do You Trust Me?

{Astrid's POV}

Hearing everything from Hunter was a lot to take in, none of us knew what to say or do. Me especially. I had been in love with Hunter since freshman year, I finally told him how I felt and then all this happened. Hunter slept with a girl when he was 15, he fell in love with this Olivia girl and slept with her, then ended up pregnant with Hunter's child. A child he now took care of by himself because Olivia decided she didn't want to own up to what she and Hunter had done. She said she didn't want to be a mom, so Hunter stepped up and took full custody and now raised Hope himself. Not just him being a father but also Shadow!? That was really unexpected too. Not in the sense it wasn't possible just shocking. Sure it was weird why he hated Damien joining the group, and that he was always sick during races and couldn't hang out, and that he could fly any dragon while he was still under 18. You had to pass special classes to be permitted to fly so young not that Hunter was young. He'd be 18 shortly. But when he got Toothless he was 16.

All of us were quiet, not sure how to handle this. We knew he was sorry, that much we couldn't deny and we guessed it was understandable that he didn't want to say anything when it all happened. That was a lot to take on for only 15-16 years old. But to not tell us when things calmed down? Or when he came back to school with Heather? He had the chance and chose not to say anything about being Shadow or a father. He chose that. That's why none of knew what to do right now. We had stayed and listened to the whole story but after hearing what he said for being sorry, we just had to get out of there. We needed time to think about it all. If we could forgive him. We told him we'd let him know and left. And in this, we had to figure out if we could forgive Heather. She knew the truth and even if asked to keep a secret, we were worried about Hunter thinking he was in some kind of trouble. Instead of letting us worry, Heather could of told us that he had a lot going on and would tell us in time.

It was hard, having to decide if we could forgive two of our best friends or not. While walking, it was silent between us. "What do we do guys...?" Travis asked slowly.

"I don't...know." Shaun shrugged.

"Me either..." Rylee leaned on Eric's shoulder.

"I know he meant no harm and it was his personal business but...you don't...keep secrets like that from your friends." Fredrick sighed.

"Astrid...You haven't said anything since we left...What's your take on it?" Rylee looked at her. I didn't know what I could say. I was still in shock, and hurting.

"Its...not what I was expecting to find out..." I finally said after a minute.

"It wasn't what any of us expected...The question is, how to we handle this. Can we forgive him, and her? They both kept it from us." Eric stated now.

"Well Heather only kept it because Hunter asked to too. She never denied there was a secret...She just couldn't tell us." Fredrick defended Heather now, obviously because he liked her.

"She could tell us, she chose not too. Just like Hunter." Travis interjected.

"But she was asked not too. Hunter asked his whole family not to say anything, because he wasn't ready or whatever. I guess I can understand...How do you tell your friends you became a father at 15, well 16 when the baby was born...Or that you found the rarest of all dragons and was a dragon racer to earn money to take care of said child...That's a lot to say at once and that story...Man...It had to be hard to talk about." Eric looked at all of us.

"This Olivia sounds like a bitch honestly. She was 14 when she asked Hunter to have sex with her, she knew the risks. They both did...I mean...What if Hunter didn't have the condom? Did she even know he had it or just asked assuming they'd do it unprotected? Maybe that's the only reason Hunter said yes, because he knew he had protection even though it failed...But...he accepted the responsibility of his actions. She didn't...Its like she used him." Shaun answered now.

"Yeah, I could see his facial reactions...He wasn't happy talking about it but he did because he promised to tell us the truth..." Rylee mentioned.

"So we'd keep his secret about being Shadow..." I sighed.

"He was going to tell us anyway...He said that the day in training." Fredrick reminded. We all sighed again, still no closer to a decision. We were hurt by his choice not to tell us, like he didn't trust us but we understood how hard it had to be for him too. We were at a standstill. Me more so because even after all this...

...I was still in love with him.

In the silence we heard a roar above, stopping we looked up and saw Toothless and of course on his back was Hunter in his Shadow disguise. He didn't have Hope so he was flying alone, we just kind of watched him. Toothless was incredibly fast, that we wouldn't deny that factor and also even though we were confused and mad at Hunter for lying to us, and keeping all this a secret. It was still incredible to watch him fly. He was still riding a Night Fury for Thor's sake. "Alright, lets give it a shot bud!" We heard Hunter call to his dragon who responded with a toothy growl for confirmation. We saw him head land on the ground a little behind us, we didn't know if he saw us or not but either way if he didn't he didn't seem to care or it appeared that way and in fairness we told him to give us our space to decide. Flying on a dragon like Toothless, it definitely wasn't hard to get to their location right now.

{Hunter's POV}

I had to get out of there. I hadn't wanted to talk about what happened but I promised to give them the truth but it still hurt telling them everything. I wanted to clear my head, I wanted to fly and what better way than with my best friend who I knew would be more than happy to take a flight. Toothless was my bonded dragon but I flew him and Strykeout pretty evenly. Strykeout was a my friend too, he saved Hope and me from that fall the day in training when I'd jumped off him to catch my daughter. I flew Strykeout at school, and Toothless for racing. But I flew both of them at home in shifts almost. One before dinner, one after. I loved my dragons, my family, and my daughter. I knew no matter what...They'd never abandon me. After leaving the house, I just got Toothless ready and booked it into the sky as fast as I could. I needed this right now. I had see my...Well I guess I could still call them my friends for now walking but that didn't matter. I was out here to relax, get myself together before going back home. "Alright, lets give it a shot bud!" I called to my Night Fury, he growled contently in response.

Toothless set down as we both took a minute, eyes closed even though my face was hidden behind my mask. I could feel Toothless's breathing in sync with my own as I slowly moved my hands to the metal handles on the saddle and leaned forward slightly, I felt the breeze kick up and both Toothless and I knew it was time. Our eyes opened as Toothless launched into the sky again, as high as we could go before the clouds. We did a few barrel rolls, sharp turns, loops, and flying upside down before he leveled out gliding on the breeze my arms out as if I were flying. "Ready?" I patted his neck, he shook a bit and stayed still as I pulled my feet from the stirrups and closed my eyes with a heavy sigh taking a moment to get my thoughts together.

{Regular POV}

They watched Hiccup do a bunch of interesting moves that they never saw on the track. They wouldn't lie and saw they weren't interested in seeing how he was with Toothless off race time. They just stood there watching closely as Toothless leveled out as they just hovered a moment before they saw Hunter just let himself fall off Toothless straight down and head forest. "What the heck is he doing!" Astrid exclaimed worry clearly taking over.

"Ooooooohhh! YEAH!" He cheered.

"Oh you haven't seen his latest invention yet." Heather stated smiling as she came out with Hope in the stroller. Violet and Samuel walking behind, Sam's arm around Violet's waist and her leaning on his shoulder.

"Latest...invention?" The gang asked blinking.

"Just watch." Heather chuckled. They nervously looked up as Hunter was falling down still and Toothless right behind and tucking his wings a bit to be right across from Hiccup as the two span around in the air. Hunter yelled out happily, cheering as Toothless closed his eyes and smiled as they got closer to the ground, Hunter bent just a little and put his arms through the loops on his pants then pulled them as a pair of triangular stitched wings were seen. The group blinked as the wind caught his wings and he glided along like he was flying, Toothless right behind him watching closely. Hunter pressed something on his chest and a back find appeared stabilizing him in the air. Both of them just enjoyed the wind, letting it carry them.

"Woohoo!" Hunter yelled out laughing. Toothless fired a blast under him which gave him a burst to stay in the air. He did this 3 more times. "This is amazing!"

"Hunter! Watch out!" Astrid yelled, Hunter looked. Shit.

"No longer amazing! Toothless!" Hunter called, his dragon sped ahead and wrapped Hunter in his wings as the two crashed through maybe 2 trees and rolled to a stop. Both groaning loudly as the group ran over worried for him seeing the crash. Violet was first as Toothless opened his wing and let Hunter out who brushed himself off and Toothless got up shaking it off. "Whew...Man!" Hunter smiled.

"Hunter, are you alright?!" Violet asked quickly.

"Mom, I'm fine..." Hunter mumbled as she was checking him over but he backed up and began folding up the wings back into his riding suit. "You alright bud?" Hunter asked removing his helmet and fixing his auburn hair a bit now seeing the gang, his parents, sister, and daughter. Hunter's dragon huffed and used his tail to toss a rock at Hunter's head and Hunter looked back seeing Toothless grumbling at him. "What?" Toothless turned his head from him, "What, you want an apology? Is that why you're pouting big baby boo?" Toothless growled at him. Hunter tossed his helmet down and tried to tackle Toothless though it had no affect on the large dragon what so ever. "Try this on for size."

The gang actually tried not to laugh, it was pretty funny to them. "Dada, Toothy!" Hope giggled.

"There ya feeling it? Picking up on all my heart felt remorse?" Hunter grabbed onto the front of Toothless who stood up on his back legs and walked Hunter towards the small cliff and hung him there. "Hey hey come on you wouldn't hurt me." Hunter no longer felt the ground and looked, he yelled and held on to Toothless tighter. "Woah woah you're right...your right...You win..." Toothless chuckled a deep throaty chuckle at him before flopping backwards and pinning Hunter down. "He's down, and its ugly...Vikings and dragons, enemies again!" Hunter laughed as Toothless tried to bop Hunter in the head but Hunter blocked. Before Hunter could get away, Toothless just dropped all his wait onto Hunter's mid-section making him gasp out for air.

"I think we know who won that round." Samuel chuckled.

Toothless began to lick Hunter's face leaving slobber on him. "Ugh!" Hunter rolled out from under his dragon and tried to wipe of off. "You know that doesn't wash out!" Hunter groaned out as Toothless laughed at him again victoriously. Hunter whipped the spit back on Toothless who began to clean himself. "You cheated, Tooth...You're 1,322 pounds and 27 foot body! I'm 145 pounds and 5'8''..." Hunter nudged his friend.

"You sure you're alright?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine...We do this all the time..." Hunter shrugged. Astrid punched him in the stomach.

"You idiot! What is wrong with you, you could of killed yourself with a stunt like that." She scolded.

"I knew what I was doing...Just brought the wings out a little too late is all." Hunter stated.

"When did you make those wings?" Rylee asked, "Never seen them in the races before?"

"Made them right before I came back to school...I had to get them attached to the riding suit, today was a test run. They really aren't for races, just general flying purposes. But they act as a temporary fix if Toothless and I get separated or I feel like flying solo." Hunter explained.

"Still inventive I see." Astrid mumbled.

"Always." Hunter said.

"Dada, me fly Toothy?" Hope asked reaching for Hunter.

"Not quite baby. When you get bigger." Hunter replied as he unbuckled her and picked her up in his arms.

"I fly wiff you dada?" Hope looked up at him.

"Maybe tomorrow. Toothy is really fast for you, I don't want you to fall." Hunter kissed her nose and she giggled. "So why did you all stop to watch me fly?...Weren't you leaving to think or whatever..." Hunter asked.

"Well yeah but you're still the owner and rider of a Night Fury man...Only one seen in 100's of years...We never see it other than on T.V." Shaun remarked.

"I guess." Hunter said.

"Dude you have two strike class dragons...Damien has another one. Its still unreal, I'd kill to fly just one for a minute." Travis stated.

"Wouldn't we all." Astrid crossed her arms over her chest.

"You want to fly on him?" Hunter asked her, she blinked in surprise. Hunter handed Hope to his mother as he got on Toothless's back then put his hand out to Astrid who looked at it, then at him. Astrid looked at her friends quickly, wondering if she should or not.

"If you won't I will..." Rylee beamed. Astrid glared as she slowly took his hand but hesitated.

"Do you trust me, Astrid?" Hunter asked. She didn't answer, "You can't claim to love me if you don't trust me. It goes hand in hand. So do you trust me?" Astrid closed her hand on his while she nodded slowly then he pulled her up behind him. "Hold on tightly." Hunter said to her, she wrapped her arms around his waist nervously. "Lets go bud!" Hunter called, Toothless roared out and launched into the sky top speed, Astrid screamed at first and buried her head in his back. Hunter chuckled a bit as Toothless got high enough to just glide again. "Astrid...Open your eyes." Hunter told her.

{Astrid's POV}

He asked me if I trusted him and I hesitated until he said that if I loved him, I trusted him. If I didn't trust him, I didn't love him. So I let him pull me up on Toothless, I held on as we took off. It was so fast, I couldn't believe it. I screamed in fear but then I felt nothing. "Astrid...Open your eyes." Hunter said to me, I took a few breaths and pulled me head off his back and opened my eyes to look around. I couldn't believe what I saw. We were high just below the clouds now, I couldn't even see the ground anymore but I didn't care either. This was amazing...I kept my eyes ahead seeing the sun beginning to set on the horizon line, it was beautiful. I put my hands on Hunter's shoulders and raised one to touch the clouds, I found myself smiling wide at it all. This was breathtaking.

"Hunter this is..." I couldn't even find the word to describe it.

"You ain't seen nothing yet. Hold on..." Hunter said as I did and Toothless flew up past the clouds, my eyes widened seeing it. It was already dark, the starry filled sky and moon. Off to the left I saw a glow, looking more I saw the Northern Lights. It was incredible, amazing...There were just too many words but none being enough to describe what I saw. And the feelings I had, as mad at Hunter as I wanted to be. I couldn't. Sure he lied and kept secrets but he was still Hunter, he didn't change. Not inside he didn't. I loved him, I was in love with him and this would never change. I didn't know what my friends wanted to do but this, it showed me that Hunter was still the same and deserved a second chance. I forgave him. I forgave him for everything.

[Authors Note; Okay so just so we're clear...The flying scene the gang watched was the one from the second HTTYD movie where you hear the song 'Where No One Goes". And the flight scene at the end is the romantic flight from the first HTTYD movie only instead of Hiccup and Astrid being 15, they look like how they do in Race To The Edge at 17-18. ^_^]