Hello HTTYD FanFiction Readers!

After writing my own story about a Hiccup Runaway AU (The Shadow has Returned), I decided to do another one but with a little bit more of a twist to it. I had this idea come to me randomly when I was writing my other story and reading a few arranged marriage AUs (Bound, Earn It, Inner Struggles, etc.), so I have decided to mash them together in a way that might be different than the others I have read on here. I'm not dead set on the name of this story yet, but I wanted to get it posted up, which means that the name could possible change between now and the next chapter. I still have to plan this story out and finish my last one, so it might be a while before I have a chance to continue this, but I really do want to see where I can take this journey!

And without further ado...

ENJOY!

Leaving

It was, undoubtedly, one of the strangest weeks of my whole life. Everything seemed to be going normally for the most part. I would get up each and every day and train as hard as I could with my axe. Most people thought that the axe was given to me by my father when I turned ten years old, but that wasn't true. The axe was given to me as a present from my Uncle "Fearless" Finn Hofferson, and he was the one who trained me with it.

I was there when my Uncle perished in the battle against the Flightmare. I watched as the Flightmare sprayed him with a blue mist before he was frozen. Most people believe that he was frozen by the fear of going against an unknown dragon, but I knew better, as I had been sprayed by the same mist. The people of Berk brought shame upon the Hofferson name after that, changing my Uncle's name from "Fearless" to "Frozen."

Not long after, and against my parents wishes, I pledged myself as shieldmaiden to Berk to try and restore the Hofferson name, and trained every chance I could. Even though my parents were against me becoming a shieldmaiden, it didn't mean they didn't support the dream that I had. My parents were proud of who I had become and the reasoning behind it. I was even praised on multiple occasions that I was the best warrior of the next generation.

It was announced that dragon training would start, and I was beyond ecstatic that I was finally going to learn how to take on dragons. I was placed into a group with other teens my age, including Snotlout, Fishlegs, the Twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and finally the Chief's son Hiccup. I knew Hiccup didn't want to be in the ring after he arrived, but I had just ignored him and the comments that followed after. He wasn't of that importance to me when it came to the training. While he might be my Chief one day, everyone knew that it would be a long time before it actually happened.

The progress for the group was slow through training. Slower than I would have liked, but I still learned some valuable lessons. When we were facing the deadly nadder, Snotlout would not leave me alone, trying to get my attention in any way possible. When Hiccup had screwed up and my axe ended up in his shield, I did everything that I could when I ripped it from his arm and hit the deadly nadder right in the face, stunning it before it slowly walked away.

Being so pissed off with what Snotlout was doing, I knew deep down that Hiccup didn't deserve what I said, but I turned on him and just yelled at him. I saw the emotions on his face like he was an open book. He went from scared of his life because of the dragon, to scared of what I was doing as I yelled at him with my axe in my hand. When I had finished, realization seemed to hit him in the face and every emotion he was feeling at the time just vanished and was replaced with a hard expression that even I couldn't read. I got what I deserved too, which was a scolding by Gobber and had to sit outside the ring the next day while all the other teens trained.

I took this time to watch Hiccup and what he was doing. I knew he wasn't a warrior as he hid behind his shield or a barrier. I could tell that he either didn't want to be there, or wanted it to be over as soon as it started. I was left on the edge of my seat as every other teen was taken out of the gas left by the hideous zippleback they were facing, and Hiccup was the only one left. I reached for my axe, ready to jump in and protect the smaller boy but as the gas cleared, it surprised everyone that was watching.

Hiccup stood there with his hand facing the zippleback, and the dragon heads were bouncing back and forth between his hand, his face, and each other. There was no way that the boy who was scared to even face dragons not even the day before, was now keeping a dragon at bay as if he had done it his whole life. I watched Hiccup as he slowly took a few steps forward and the dragon reacted by coping him and taking a few steps back. Everyone had to pull their jaws off the floor when Hiccup got the dragon back in the cage and closed the door.

I knew that Hiccup had to be training with someone to be able to do that. There was no way I would let him get an advantage over me. When he left the Killring, I decided to follow the scrawny boy through the forest, keeping enough distance that he wouldn't see me, but following close enough that I wouldn't lose sight of him. We were nearing Raven's Point when I had finally lost him. Hiccup turned around a rock formation, and as if he was a ghost, disappeared completely when I looked over it.

Frustrated with losing him, I went and trained to blow off some steam before I headed home. That night I was lying in my bed, looking at the ceiling, trying to figure out how Hiccup had done what he did in the ring. It didn't make any sense, all he did was hold his hands up towards the dragon and the dragon looked scared of it. I played the scene in my head over and over again, but each time I was more confused than the last. Frustrated again, I turned over and tried to fall asleep.

It wasn't long before I was awoken by the horns in the night. Everyone on Berk knew what those horns meant, as they were heard more often than not. I hurriedly put on my armour, grabbing my axe and slinging it across my back before I took the staircase two steps at a time and swung open the door to the Hofferson household. On the other side of the doorway was a familiar sight of a dragon raid.

Everyone was in a panic, trying to minimize the damage that the dragons were doing. Throwing nets over some, jumping on others to force them to drop the catch they had, fighting them face to face with either their fists or their weapons. I avoided many encounters so I could find the fire brigade, making sure that we could put out the fires while our parents took care of the dragons.

We were nearing the village centre when I heard Gobber yell to his apprentice that he was joining the fight, and that he was to man the forge. Hiccup had been Gobber's apprentice for a while, but I knew that recently, Hiccup wouldn't stay in the forge during a dragon raid, always claiming that he could help out in a way.

Almost like clockwork I saw Gobber charge into battle, and not long after, I saw Hiccup escaping out the side door leaving a long line of vikings yelling at him to come back. I yelled at the fire brigade crew to keep up the efforts as I chased down the scrawny viking, who zigzagged through the buildings that were still standing. For someone who had no training, he sure seemed to be very evasive.

As I rounded a corner, I came face to face with a scene that was similar to that in the killring. Hiccup was facing a blue deadly nadder, holding his hand up as if telling the dragon to stop. The dragon responded with curiosity, turning its head back and forth, making sure to get Hiccup in both his eyes. What Hiccup didn't notice was the tail that slowly raised up and the spikes that flared out. My warrior instincts instantly kicked in.

"HICCUP!" I ran forward, just as he turned his eyes to raise his hand towards me. It was like time had slowed as I rushed forward toward the small boy. I could see that he thought he had everything under control, but I knew better. The tail whipped around, ready to throw spikes when I finally tackled the boy to the ground. I heard a few thuds behind me as I rolled on the ground with the small viking and pulled him behind the nearest house. Before the complaints could start, I covered his mouth as I held him against the house, listening and waiting for the nadder to make its move.

The time never came, and as my breath slowly came back to me, I looked towards Hiccup to see an annoyed look on his face. I didn't let him go though, just in case he was planning on doing something stupid again. Instead, I looked around the house to see the nadder was gone before I finally released him.

"Why'd you do that? I had everything under control." Hiccup instantly started complaining, pushing himself off the ground and standing up. I followed his lead and stood beside him.

"No you didn't. That nadder was about to attack you. Just look at the spikes in the wall."

"No it wasn't. It got nervous when it heard you and reacted accordingly to someone who carries a weapon."

"Are you crazy, Hiccup? IT. COULD. HAVE. KILLED. YOU." Hiccup just scoffed at that, walking away before turning a corner and disappearing. I wasn't going to chase him. The nadder spikes in the wall proved my theory, but yet he was still mad at me for saving him.

When the sun started rising in the sky, the raid ended not long after. Most dragons that could flee were already flying away with whatever catch they had. Other than the little incident with Hiccup, everything had gone about as good as a raid could. Houses were destroyed, food was taken, vikings were hurt, but it seemed like everyone had survived and the village didn't completely perish.

Dragon training was called off for the day due to the raid and a meeting was called in the Great Hall for everyone in the village to attend. Stoick and his most trusted warriors were near the front of the hall, and Hiccup was off to the side. He looked like he wanted to be there as much as any other teenager.

Stoick was going on about attacking the nest once more before the ice set in. Another speech about how destroying the dragons would solve all our problems. People were complaining about following their leader, they knew that the ships that left never came back. Berk has been attacking the nest since they first settled here 300 years ago, and nothing has changed.

"Those who stay, will look after Hiccup!" I could see the hurt look in Hiccup's face as his father said that. The response for searching for the nest picked up almost every able viking in the village after that. I listened to how everyone was saying 'I'm with you' or 'To the ships' after that last comment, but what I saw was how Hiccup deflated even more. The excitement in the air just made Hiccup look like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. I actually felt sorry for the small viking.

But that wasn't all. When the excitement finally died down, Stoick started to speak about the future of Berk and making sure it always had a Chief to come home to.

"Which is why I have signed a contract with the Hoffersons as of this morning!" I felt my heart drop into my boots and didn't hear anything after the initial announcement. Everything seemed to slow down as I saw Hiccup look up and find my eyes. The surprise on his face matched my own. I couldn't think straight, my parents knew that I wanted to become a shieldmaiden, they knew shieldmaidens never married, that I had trained years to become a shieldmaiden. I saw Hiccup mouth out a 'I'm sorry, I had no idea' before he was brought forward by his Father. I was slowly pushed up to the front of Great Hall to stand in front of Hiccup while my parents stood behind me.

There seemed to be a lot of commotion going on but as I stood in front of Hiccup, and we looked at each other, I couldn't process what was going on. I stood in front of the one person that I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with, and he couldn't even keep eye contact with me. Was he disgusted with me? Did he not like me? Why couldn't he keep eye contact with me? I didn't understand why I was feeling this way, not exactly. I never even thought about boys before, so why did it matter what he thought? I wanted to become a shieldmaiden, but those dreams were crushed by Stoick's warhammer.

The Haddock and Hofferson family were finally the last to leave the Great Hall after everything that had happened. Some of the village people congratulated us before leaving, others looked like they were sorry for me and the situation I was put into, most didn't care and just left. Many of the village people had to prepare the ships for their departure in the coming day. I guess I was grateful that Stoick hadn't married us on the spot, instead waiting to come back from the hunt for the nest so that we could get to know each other before actually tying the knot.

When I had finally walked through the door to the Hofferson household, everything seemed to hit me at once. I was ENGAGED to HICCUP. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't believe what my parents had done. I knew that if I stayed in this house another minute, that I would explode towards my parents and I knew they didn't deserve that. Deep down, I knew that they were just trying to look out for me, make sure my future is set and that I wouldn't have to worry, but it didn't mean that I wanted it. I rushed upstairs and grabbed my axe from my room before rushing down and out the backdoor, heading directly into the forest.

Once I got to my common training grounds in the forest, I started throwing my axe as hard as I could. All that could be heard within the forest was the THWACK every time my axe connected with a tree trunk. Training would always get rid of my anger, but today just seemed to cause more with each throw.

While retrieving my axe from a tree trunk, I noticed movement further past the tree I was at. Looking closer, I could see the auburn head of hair as he moved throughout the forest. Something just clicked in me, and I decided that enough was enough. I chased down the boy, all the way to Raven's Point before he fell down a hole. I wasn't waiting or thinking straight and followed the boy down the hole. When I appeared in the cove, I saw the shield stuck between two rocks. Thinking it was weird but paying no mind to it, I jumped over it. Coming around the corner, I saw the scrawny boy just standing there as if he was waiting for me, so I tackled him to the ground.

"Astrid? What are you doing here?" I held my axe towards his neck, hearing his question but not exactly hearing it.

"I want some answers. How did you put that zippleback back into its cage? And the nadder? What was that all about? Are you training with someone?" I wasn't waiting for his answer before asking another. I could see the worry on his face as if he was waiting for someone. Good, maybe I will meet this person.

"Astrid, I suggest you put your axe away."

"Why?" I asked as I pushed it a little closer to his face. "Are you scared I might chop off your head?"

"No, but uhhh…"

"What is it, Hiccup? Spit it out!" I was just getting angrier as he dodged my questions. I was Astrid Hofferson, the best warrior this generation has seen, and I'll be damned if I don't get my answers. Hiccup held up his hand towards something behind me suddenly, not caring that my axe was against his neck.

What I felt next was definitely the scariest moment of my life. Hot breath hit the back of my neck and I just went stiff. Something was behind me, and based on how that breath felt, it wasn't just any normal viking.

"Just take it easy Astrid. Give me the axe." Hiccup grabbed a hold of the axe, but I wouldn't let go. "Astrid." Hiccup said my name through gritted teeth, as if that was supposed to be threatening. "Let. Go. Of. The. Axe." I felt the breath on my neck once more before I complied. Hiccup grabbed the axe and slid it a good distance behind him.

"Good. Now stay very still. Any sudden movements might piss it off."

"Piss what off? Hiccup?" Hiccup had slowly pushed himself away, getting to his feet with his hand stretched out in front of him.

"Easy there bud, she's a friend." Bud? Who is this person he talks to? "She wasn't going to harm me, come on, no need to scare her like that." Who in the Hel was he talking to?

When I felt the presence move from behind me, I finally took the chance to look. I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing, so I rubbed my eyes expecting it to disappear, but it didn't. Hiccup had his hand on a dragon's nose that was as dark as night with glowing green eyes. I've read the book of dragons front to back and not once was a dragon mentioned that resembled this one unless it was a dragon that nobody has ever seen to draw before...

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" I whisper-yelled at him, even though I knew that the dragon could hear me. "That's…"

"A Night Fury. I know." I was blown away with how calmly he said that. "You asked who I had been training with? Well, now you know."

I looked between Hiccup and the dragon. The dragon just growled at me when I did so, and I looked back towards Hiccup again looking for answers.

"Astrid, this is Toothless." Hiccup looked from me towards the dragon. "Toothless, Astrid. Be nice."

"Toothless? You have a pet dragon?" Hiccup looked back at me with a scowl on his face. Great, now I pissed off not only a dragon, but the viking who is stopping him from attacking me right now.

Hiccup looked down and away as he quietly admitted. "He's not a pet. He's my best friend."

"Hiccup, do you hear yourself right now?" Because I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Anger seemed to reappear in Hiccup, as he looked at me once again. "What did you expect me to do, Astrid?" I took a step back as he spoke with anger in his voice. I instantly recognized the voice of a Chief behind his words. "I had NOBODY! I was bullied, talked about, threatened and beat up. Toothless is the only friend that I have!" I could see the tears well up in his eyes as he yelled. The night fury just crooned and tried to comfort his friend, and Hiccup just scratched him under the chin while not saying anything else.

"But, how?" I was still amazed at how he had become friends with the night fury. Hiccup sighed and closed his eyes, his shoulders falling slightly.

"Why does it matter?" I don't know why it mattered, but it mattered deeply to me, and it hurt when he said that to me so I just deflated in front of him.

"Because, if I am to be your wife, I need to know what I am getting into." Hiccup looked up in surprise at that, but I couldn't meet his eyes. This arranged marriage is something that we both have to live with, even if I didn't want it.

"I… I shot him down during the second to last raid." I looked up then but Hiccup was looking towards Toothless. "I ripped off his tailfin in the process. When I found him tangled up in a bola, I knew that I couldn't kill a dragon, and why I despised dragon training." Hiccup closed his eyes and rested his head against the night fury's head. "I released him from my bola, and he growled at me in a threatening way after." Hiccup nervously laughed.

"I found him a day later in this cove, unable to escape because he couldn't fly. Just like Gobber said, without the wings or tails, they can't fly. He was grounded, and it was my fault."

I felt bad for the dragon. Hiccup might have shot him down, but it sounded like he regretted doing it ever since. The dragon seemed to forgive him for it, but that didn't mean Hiccup could ever forget about it.

"I entered the cove after I figured out why he couldn't fly. I approached him slowly, fully expecting to be blown to bits, but he just would look at me annoyingly and try to get away. When I brought in a basket of fish, is when our relationship took a turn for the better. He started to trust me and allowed me to look at the damage I caused. I spent most nights figuring out, designing, and creating a new tailfin to help him fly."

The dragon must have realized what he was talking about, because he brought the fin in between us, as if showing me what Hiccup had done. I just looked at the incredibly designed replacement fin, an exact replica of his regular fin.

"I might have picked up a few things along the way, which helped me excel in dragon training without hurting the dragons."

"So the zippleback was a trick?"

Hiccup laughed. "Did you know that dragons hate eels?" I just shook my head, I never read anything like that in the book of dragons. "Well, I figured that out with Toothless here and used that to my advantage. Putting the zippleback back in it's cage? It was just scared of the eel that was around my neck." Hiccup laughed again.

"So what about the nadder?"

Hiccup seemed to be stumped on that one. "I'm not entirely sure. It wasn't like the other encounters with Toothless and the dragons in the ring. I could see her eyes changing continuously, as if she was fighting something that was controlling her. I was almost through to her when you pulled me away."

"Hiccup, that nadder was going to kill you. I watched before I saw the tail ready to attack, and I just reacted when I did."

"I don't think she would have. You just scared her when you yelled my name. Dragons aren't our enemies. Our enemy is whatever is controlling them."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Disbelief was evident in my voice, that even I heard it.

"Are you dead yet?" That question seemed to take me aback.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Just answer it. Are you dead yet?" I couldn't believe this, so I just shook my head. "So you are standing in front of the most feared dragon in all the archipelago, and are still alive to tell the tale. If dragons were mindless animals and killed us for fun, do you think that we would be standing here having this conversation?" Again, I shook my head slowly. "Exactly. I have this theory that the dragons are being controlled to attack us, and when we attack back, they are just defending themselves."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but I would be lying if I didn't agree with him slightly. Toothless could be an exception, but I saw how Hiccup was stopping that nadder in the village before I interfered. Could the theory that he is telling be true? And if it is, what is controlling the dragons?

"I need some time to process this." I walked over to my axe and grabbed it, sheathing it on my back before walking towards the entrance.

"Astrid." I turned back towards Hiccup to find him looking at me with pleading eyes. "Don't tell anybody about this, okay?"

"I won't. I promise." I don't know what forced me to say that. I should have been running from the cove and towards the village to tell them what Hiccup had done. I should have been calling him a traitor from the very beginning, but I just couldn't. Something clicked inside of me when he told me his story. I never realized how bad Hiccup actually had it. I've heard the rumours and whispers on the wind, but hearing it directly from him just broke something in me. I left the cove feeling even more confused than when I entered, and with a huge secret on my shoulders as well.

I found myself in my room thinking about what had happened the last few days. Not only was I engaged to Hiccup, someone who could barely lift a sword, I was engaged to someone who was hiding a dragon inside the forest. Sleep seemed to evade me throughout the night, and the morning came soon thereafter.

Seeing the sun and hearing the early morning vikings getting to work meant that today was the day that we would be sending off the ships in search of the nest again. I didn't see my parents until they were already on the ship ready to cast the sail so I didn't even have a chance to talk to them about the marriage. I spotted Stoick standing on the docks, checking everything was accounted for, but I also knew he was looking for Hiccup. He took another glance around the docks and surrounding areas above, landing his eyes on me for a few seconds before his shoulders fell and he jumped onto the boat as well.

Dragon training was still on, which means that all the teens were expected to show up. The teens, Gobber, and I all waited for someone who never did show. Gobber thought it was strange but knew that his apprentice was used to working on something until it was finished. Gobber shrugged it off as Hiccup was busy working on something and would show up eventually, but I had a gut feeling that he wouldn't.

Training went off without a hitch, with only Tuffnut getting a sore nose out of it when the terrible terror decided that his nose looked like a tasty treat. All the teens left the killring after that, while Gobber gave me a look, shrugged and left as well. Gobber was most likely off to the forge to see if his apprentice was there because he never did show during training that day.

My thoughts were still running rampant like an angry dragon destroying a village in my head, so I went to the last place that I had seen Hiccup. I walked slowly through the forest towards Raven's Point and where the cove was. Everything that had happened, kept coming back to me as if I was in a dream. Hiccup had trained the Archipelago's most feared dragon and was keeping him not far from the village. The night fury didn't even attempt to hurt her except for when I was threatening Hiccup with my axe. Hiccup really felt like he wasn't wanted in his village, and even his own home. I thought back to all the years I ignored him and another pang of guilt hit me like an axe.

For years, I was taught that dragons will always go for a kill, but Hiccup had proved that theory wrong on multiple occasions. All the thoughts that were running through my head at the current moment contradicted everything that I had been taught over the years. Dragons attacked us because they were being controlled by something else. That's why wild dragons never put a fight up like they did during raids, instead they just flew away without attacking.

The cove appeared before long, and I escaped through the hole that I had found earlier. I looked over the calm cove and knew something was wrong. Hiccup was nowhere to be seen, and neither was his dragon. I climbed down into the cove and called out for both the boy and the dragon and received nothing in response. I walked through the cove looking for any clue as to what might have happened, finding only a small roll of paper pinned to a tree.

Opening up the letter and reading, my heart dropped into my boots worse than it did when I found out I was engaged.

Astrid,

I know you will find this letter eventually. I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you in person, and I do hope that you will forgive me someday. I've been going back and forth on leaving Berk for the past few days, after all, why stay in a village where nobody cares for you? Toothless was the only friend I had for the longest that I could remember. When my Father engaged me to you against yours or my wishes, I decided that I had finally had enough, and decided to leave. Had you come into the cove not even ten minutes later, you wouldn't have found me at all. At least with me gone, you can finally achieve your goal of becoming a shieldmaiden and bringing honour back to the Hofferson name.

Hiccup

So that was it. Hiccup just got up and left after telling me his whole story with Toothless. I guess he figured he had nothing to lose after he told me, so why did he ask me to promise him not to tell anybody? I crumbled the letter in my hands, anger seeping into my veins, and stuffed it into my pocket. He was running away from Berk, from his Dad who he thought didn't care for him, and from the marriage that we both didn't want. He thought he was doing good on my part by doing so, but why was I hurting so bad inside because of it?

I walked over towards the pond in the cove when something glittering caught my eye in the water. Reaching down, I pulled out what had to be Hiccup's first dagger. I remember seeing the excitement in his eyes when he completed it, showing it to his father and just being brushed off. That was the first time I saw Hiccup's heartbreak from something his Father did. I remember thinking that I could never imagine my Father doing that to me.

I heard a SQUAWK overhead and found myself looking at a beautiful blue deadly nadder landing in the cove not far from where I was standing. I stayed as still as possible, still not trusting dragons to not attack on sight as I started to tiptoe backwards. My foot landed on a stick and the nadders head instantly shot in the direction of where it had heard the noise. My first reaction was to turn and run for my life, but I also remembered what Hiccup had said yesterday. Dragon's aren't the enemy, and this one hadn't attacked me yet. Instead, it was looking at me curiously, as if wondering what I was doing in the cove.

I sheathed Hiccup's dagger in my boot, trying not to make any sudden moves while I watched the dragon turn its head back and forth as if trying to remember who I was. Damn Hiccup for putting stupid thoughts into my head, I just knew that if things went wrong, that I would definitely not have a place in Valahalla. So instead of running, or grabbing a weapon, I decided to face the dragon head on, showing that I wasn't scared.

I raised my hand towards the dragon like I had seen Hiccup do. First with the zippleback in the ring, and then with the nadder in the village, and finally with Toothless who was breathing down my neck at the time. The hairs on the back of my neck seemed to all be standing on end when I approached the nadder, even though I took deep breaths trying to calm myself down. A SQUAWK forced me to stop walking forward as I eyed the dragon curiously. It was almost as if the dragon was telling me what to do. I must be losing my mind if I am thinking a dragon is telling me what to do.

I decided to trust my gut and do what the nadder said, staying perfectly still, waiting and watching. The nadder still didn't move towards me, instead turning its head back and forth still, trying to gauge what I was doing. I closed my eyes and wished for this to be over quickly, and I didn't have to wait long until a warm snout was pushed into my hand. I took a sharp intake of breath, opening my eyes slowly to the beautiful blue nadder standing in front of me with its eyes closed. I couldn't believe it, Hiccup had been right and I felt an instant connection with the dragon.

"Hey girl." I rubbed her snout and scratched under her chin like Hiccup had done to Toothless, which the dragon responded with a purr like I've never heard before. I looked over the body of the nadder and recognized the patterns that were all over her body. It clicked on why I recognized this dragon so fast. It was the same dragon that Hiccup had tried to train in the village during the last raid, the same one that I had tackled Hiccup out of the way before it unloaded some spikes into the house.

These dragons already proved to me how smart they were, and curiosity got the better of me. "Hey girl, think you can help me with something?" The dragon gave a low squawk as if asking what it was that I needed help with. I ignored the funny feeling that I was understanding dragons now and instead reached down into my boot and pulled out Hiccup's dagger. "Think you can find the owner of this dagger?" I also brought up the crumbled note that I had stuffed into my pocket. "And the owner of this note?"

The nadder sniffed both of the items that I held in my hands and her head shot into the air, continuously sniffing. SQUAWK! The nadder jumped up and down. "Did you find their scent?" Another SQUAWK! "Think you can find them?" Another SQUAWK! before the nadder laid down on the ground and pointed her head towards her back. Was I really going to do this? Go after Hiccup and Toothless after they had abandoned Berk? I didn't even have to think twice about it, someone had to protect that mutton-head of a viking, and he was my soon-to-be husband.

I climbed on the back of the nadder, and she slowly stood up. "Easy now girl, this is going to be my first time flying." The nadder seemed to understand and take a few small steps forward before jumping into the air. The scream that followed was one of fear but was quickly replaced by one of excitement. I was flying. I couldn't believe it as I passed Berk overhead, hundreds of feet in the air.

We did one circle of Berk, before we shot off in the direction of one mutton-headed viking and his dragon friend. "You aren't getting away from us that easily."

Let me know what you think and what direction you'd like to see this story take! If you haven't, feel free to take a look at my other story 'The Shadow has Returned', based around a Hiccup Runaway AU.