6/24/2021: The biggest mistake I made with this chapter is that I forgot to keep track of the time. The day in this chapter is the same day has chapter 1. In fact the next two chapters were meant to be in the same day as chapter 1 as well.
Hours after we last left off, we in the afternoon, thousands of miles away from Berk you can hear a young man screaming in excitement. "Yeah, this is so amazing!" The young man dressed in an all-black armor while gliding beside his best friend, Toothless the Night Fury. The armor was made out of discarded Night Fury scales from Toothless. Who would think that this young man who was once the former heir of Berk Hiccup Haddock? Then, seemingly out of the middle of the fog, some sea stacks appeared out of nowhere. "Oh, not this again, Toothless!" the dragon rider screamed as he remembered something similar happening a year ago.
Rolling his eyes, the dragon also remembered that same day. The day that Hiccup, Astrid, Stormfly, and himself ran into at the time a recently thought to be dead Valka. Toothless does not like thinking about this day because that evil human Drago Bludvist made his Bewilderbeast command Toothless to kill Hiccup. Unfortunately, Valka had jumped in front of the plasma blast and was killed immediately. Eventually Hiccup and Toothless had defeated Drago and his alpha dragon.
With quick thinking, Toothless shot a plasma blast at the sea stack before grabbing and wrapping Hiccup in his wings, and crash landing on the beach shore. Once the both of them are safe on land, Toothless opens his wings so Hiccup could get out. Once Toothless does that, Hiccup reaches down towards his left foot, where a prosthetic was instead of a flesh foot. Once his hand touched his prosthetic, he switches it from flying to walking.
The former heir had lost his foot six years ago when Astrid, Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf and Belch, and himself had taken on the destructive queen dragon of the nest. You see the night Hiccup and Astrid had left their former home, they had accidentally found the nest the Vikings have been looking for for three hundred years. What they had found was a monster from the depths of hell had been controlling the dragons to bring it food from the Viking villages. The consequences for the dragons for not bringing enough food to the twisted dragon was that the Red Death would eat them whole. After leaving Berk, Hiccup, Astrid, and the six dragons found an island. On this island, Hiccup had helped teach Astrid how to train dragons for the next two weeks. Once she was ready, Astrid rode Stormfly into the nest to battle. During the battle with the diabolical queen dragon, it had broken Stormfly's wing, leaving Astrid and her dragon out of the rest of the fight. To make a very long battle short, after Toothless's plasma blast caused an explosive caused because a gas builds up in the beast jaws. When the Red Death crashed face first, it exploded a second time. While they tried to escaped from the fireball, Toothless's prosthetic burnt off at the wrong time. The Red Death's tail came towards Hiccup on Toothless and hit, and ripped the small boy off his dragon. The moment the tail had hit the young dragon rider, he was knocked out cold.
Standing up, both dragon and young man turned around, watching the sea sacks come crashing down. The feeling of deja vu hit both of them as they watched. "Well, I guess we still need to work on your solo gliding skills, Bud," joked Hiccup as he tried to defuse the tension in the air while he takes off his helmet. The black dragon knows that his rider was only joking, but he would not let that slide too easily. Walking in front of Hiccup with an innocent gummy grin and before Hiccup could question him, Toothless pounced gently so he would not harm the man. Once on the ground, Toothless quickly pins Hiccup down so he could not escape from him. Looking down, the dragon still had the same innocent gummy smile on his face. "Toothless what are y-ahhh," nervously asked Hiccup but before he could finish, he was attacked by the Night Fury's tongue.
Once he got his rider's face covered in his saliva, Toothless got off Hiccup. The moment he is off the human, he laughs at the rider's misfortunes. Hiccup sits up, attempts to wipe the saliva off his face, and tells the laughing dragon, "You know that does not wash out, you useless reptile." With some of Toothless' saliva on his forearms, he tries to shake them off to the ground. Most of it came off, but it annoyed him knowing he would have to now wash his armor and himself once they returned home. "Come on, Bud. Let's go home," Hiccup says while he starts to walk into the woods outside the beach they were on. Toothless is following his best friend as they make their way home.
Six months ago, the Dragon Hunters attacked and destroyed everything at the Dragon's Edge. Sadly, Hiccup and Astrid were not the only ones raided that night, but also the Berserkers, Wingmaidens, and the Defenders of the Wing. The Dragon Hunters had torched everything, homes and resources. When they killed the flames, everything was destroyed. They all agreed with heavy hearts that the best move was for them all to relocate to different islands for the safety of their people and families. Also, to keep a low profile so as not to draw some unwanted attention on themselves. They agree once they found their new location, they will send a Terror mail with their location. Hiccup felt like all of that was his fault because he trusted one Trader Johann and the man had backstabbed him. So, the past six months, Hiccup had searched high and low for the man that he once thought of as a friend. Sadly, all of his searches had nothing to show for. There were so many sleepless nights that the former heir endured with worry. So, it was not a big surprise that his very soon to be wife, Astrid, demanded that he takes the day off to get his mind off Johann.
Hiccup and Astrid were very close to their wedding date. In fact, it was only three days away. To say that Hiccup is nervous is an understatement. With all of the Johann stuff and his wedding just around the corner, he is a wreck. These were the times where he wishes his father was here to surprisingly give great advice right now. He also wonders what Berk would think of Hiccup and Astrid's marriage. He imagines Snotlout would be shocked at first, but that would quickly turn into resentment. Then it would lead to another beating from his cousin. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, would be shocked but would follow Snotlout beating Hiccup up. Fishlegs would most likely just freeze in shock and wonder how Hiccup and Astrid ever became a thing. His father would look at his fishbone of a son and wonder how he became the great warrior of his generation's husband. As for Hilda and Gunner Hofferson, he did not know what their reaction would be, but he knows it was not going to be pretty. He is marrying their daughter without their blessing after all. Gobber would be so happy for him because he knows that he loved the lass ever since he first saw her. The rest of the village would pity Astrid with the burden of being forced to be with Hiccup.
You may be wondering when Hiccup proposed to Astrid. Well, it was after the battle with Drago and his alpha dragon. Hiccup learned a few things on that adventure. One was that he was not really Valka in the sense that he does want other human interactions. Where Valka only seemed to want to interact with dragons rather than humans. He, at the time, knew that he was not Stoick with all of Berk reminding him every day for fifteen years of his life. But if he is not Valka nor Stoick, what does that make him? Well, whatever made him, he likes it because he had value to Astrid, the dragons that they saved, and Toothless. To him, that is all that truly mattered. Another thing he learned is that not everyone had good inside of them. He truly thought there was good in Drago, but that mistake cost his mother's life. Lastly, that life was too short and you should take shots. So, he took the chance to propose to his girlfriend when the battle came to an end.
As Hiccup and Toothless are walking through the woods, Hiccup remembers when he proposed to Astrid. At first, she punched his shoulder hard, saying, "That's for taking so long to ask me that question." Before he could say anything, she pulled him towards her and kissed him. Breaking the kiss with a smirk on her face, she sees the dreamy expression on his face, which she finds adorable. She knows that Dragon Hunters have tried and failed miserably at breaking Hiccup but she could do that with just one simple kiss. "That's for finally asking me that. Yes, I will marry you," she said, still with that smirk on her face. With that, they both never looked back.
Hiccup smiled at the happy memory of the moment he proposed. He just could not wait for the day of the marriage. Sure, he is still nervous but at the same time happy as well. He wonders whatever he did to deserve a woman like Astrid in his life. Whatever it was, he is happy because he is living one of his childhood dreams of marrying Astrid. While walking, another memory came to him. He remembered when he and Astrid were little, they would not ever want their play time to end. It was so bad that their parents had to pull them apart and drag them back home. He laughed at the handful of happy memories on Berk he had. Once Stoick and Hiccup were back home, he would tell his father day that one day he is going to marry Astrid so they would not be separated. Sure, at the time, he did not fully understand the ramifications of those statements at the time.
"Hey, Bud. You want to fly the rest of the way home?" Hiccup asks his dragon companion, reaching down to his prosthetic to switch it from walking back to flying. They, most of the time, would fly all the way home, but today he wanted to walk to clear his troubled mind so he would not worry Astrid anymore. Hopping on the back of the Night Fury, he sits on the leather saddle. Then once on the saddle, he sets his foot and prosthetic in place. Lastly with his prosthetic foot he gets Toothless's prosthetic tail fin in position. With the beat of his wings, they were airborne.
No matter how many times he was in the air, Hiccup always feels like the shackles of his insecurities and doubts were unlocked. Then, once the shackles were unlocked, Hiccup truly felt free. Free and he also felt that he could do anything in the air. If he could stay in the air for the rest of his life, he would do it without a second thought.
A few moments of flying later, they landed in front of a two-story hut. On the right side of the hut, there is a smaller hut where Hiccup's workshop is at. On the left of the tall hut is the feeding station for the dragons. Hiccup walked inside his home while Toothless ran towards the feeding station to feast on the delicious fish. Once inside the hut, he smelt the scent of a drink he knows so well: yaknog.
Over the years, Hiccup had gotten used to Astrid's reckless cooking. His friends and allies always joked that Hiccup had an iron stomach. Hiccup is a believer that one should be grateful for what another does for each other. He also believes in it was the thought that counts. "Astrid, I'm back," Hiccup called while he walked inside the kitchen.
"Welcome back, Babe," Astrid answered, while turning around with a mug of yaknog. Holding it out for Hiccup to take from her. Nervously laughing, he takes the mug from the blonde woman.
"Thanks milady," Hiccup says before downing the yaknog. Once the drink is down, he hopes he does throw up.
"Did you have a great flight with Toothless?" asked Astrid, concerned with the well-being of Hiccup. In all the six years they have been together, she had seen the growth in the former heir of Berk. But there are times like when trader Johann where Hiccup took all the responsibility of the betrayal. Once he does this, he would work himself alone to the ground to fix his so-called mistakes. She just wants Hiccup to start to open up about his problems and let others help him. She also wants him to know that he did not have to do everything alone anymore with her by his side and their friends and allies.
"It was just what I needed," Hiccup answers. He knows that he was not a good liar, so he did not see the point of trying when Astrid looked at him so worried.
"Just promise me that once we're married, that we will tell each other our problems. That we won't do things alone, but as a team. Hiccup, what I'm trying to say is that we're stronger as a team. You don't have to do everything on your own anymore. You have caring friends, allies, Toothless, and the rest of the dragons we've saved, and most importantly you have me by your side," Astrid pours her heart out with this statement. She is just tired of sitting and watching her love suffer from his self-doubts and insecurities. She just wanted him to see the same strength in him that she and the others see in Hiccup.
"I promise, milady," promised Hiccup with a true warm smile on his face. She is right. He did not have to do everything anymore. He was not that same fishbone of a boy he was on Berk. He had friends, allies, dragons, and the love of his life willing to do anything for him. Sure, he is still worried about where trader Johann went, but with the help of everyone, they will find him and get to the bottom of his betrayal.
Astrid pulled the young man towards her and kissed him on the check. Breaking away from the kiss, she said, "I love you, Babe. But we need to start packing up. That way we will be at New Berserker Island." The marriage of Hiccup and Astrid was going to take place on New Berserker Island. With that, the young couple started to pack for the next morning flight towards the home of the Berserker tribe.
I want to thank everyone that has reviewed, favorite, and followed this story. You guys made my hellish week just a little bit better. I really do thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I do apologise to anyone who may wanted Valka in this story. Anyway I do hope that this chapter doesn't disappoint any of you guys. So don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism on this story because it is always welcome. Thank Alaba for the suggestion on Astrid's mom's name. I was thinking of doing a prequel starting from when Hiccup and Astrid ran away to them relocating to where they are now. I was thinking of doing that once this story was finished. What do you guys think I should? I also apologise to anyone who may wanted Light Fury to have met Toothless early. After the review Whiskerface. I realized that maybe it would be best to hold off Light Fury presence in this story. But she will be in the story in the future when I think of a very great way to being her in it.
Disclaimer: I don't own the character in this story. Their rightful owner are Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell. I do own this story so please don't use without promission.
Anyway I do hope you guys have a wonderful day today :P
