=Astrid's POV=

{Monday, December 6, 2021-2:10 pm}

(Archian Preparatory)

It was awful. I never imagined I'd have to live my life without my parents at the young age of seventeen. I figured in my fifties or sixties, but not as a teenager. Thanksgiving was terrible, even though I was with friends. Christmas would be no better. Getting things from my house had been one of the most painful things I'd ever done. I located the biggest suitcases I could find from the basement without stepping into any of the areas that I was told were unsafe. Carefully getting upstairs I packed as many clothes as I could into one bag, including a pillow, and two blankets. One of them had been something my parents got me when I was born; my baby blanket which had the head of a Deadly Nadder; yellow eyes, blue and tan body with the crown of khaki spikes, but the body was a long, pink blanket. In the very bottom corner; it read my name. Astrid Hofferson, and below that was March 9, 2004. No matter what; I could never leave that behind. The rest in the second suitcase were albums, a couple pictures that survived the fire from off the walls, some of my makeup and bathroom items. I grabbed essential documents and then loaded everything into my car's trunk. After that, I said a very tearful goodbye to my home. I went back to Ragna's and stayed there until the 22nd, Monday morning for school.

Since that day, it's been about two weeks and nothing from Stoick about locating a loophole in my parent's illegally written wills. I was sure Stoick would fix things; I just hoped it didn't take too long, but even if he manages to find what he was looking for; it would take some time with the courts to argue and get things approved. I spent Thanksgiving at Eret's house but did see my friends when they came over for dessert; it was tough for me to get through, and I must have spent a good portion of the morning crying that my parents were gone. Eret tried to comfort me, but unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do to cheer me up. By dinner on Thanksgiving; I wasn't sobbing anymore, but it was still painful. Although I despised the idea; I might have to get a job to pay for car insurance and gas. My insurance, for now, is covered until a week before Christmas since the November payment had been before my parents died. And Eret had put gas in my car yesterday since I pick him up and bring him to school every morning.

My phone bill would be due in a week, but I wasn't so much worried about that because I could still use it with WiFi. School must be the worst; everyone always looking at me and wondering if I'm okay. Of course, I'm not and wouldn't be for a while. Right now; it's Dragon Training class, and we've finished Boulder Class before October had ended, and completed all of the Sharp Classification dragons before November was over. With it being December now, Hiccup said we'd be moving into Strike Class, which only has six dragons to get through, but Hiccup warned that Strike Class was actually longer and harder than any of the other courses we'd been learning in Dragon Training. However, once we got through it; we'd spend the rest of the classes until Christmas Break going over anything we weren't sure of or needed a refresher on because Midterms were coming when we returned to school after New Year's Day. And when Midterms were done; we were getting into bonding, training, and flying for the rest of the school year.

At the moment, Hiccup was running a bit late to class. Dagur said he'd be along soon; that there was something he had to take care of before arriving.

"Sorry, I'm late. Let's get started," Hiccup stated as he walked up and stood in his usual place. "As you know; we're moving into Strike Class dragons. Who can give me an example of a Strike Class?" he asked.

Nadia raised her hand and Hiccup pointed to her. "Snow Wraith?"

"That's correct. Anyone else want to give another?" Hiccup motioned to the class.

"Wooly Howl?" Fishlegs jumped in.

"Very good. Another one?" Hiccup invited us to continue.

"Skrill!" Thuggory announced.

"Right. There's three more," Hiccup said.

"Threadtail?" Heather asked.

"Excellent work, Heather," Hiccup nodded.

"Triple Stryke!" Dagur called.

"Dagur! It's for them, not you!" Hiccup muttered as Dagur covered his mouth.

"Sorry…" Dagur sagged a bit. Hiccup shook his head with a sigh. I raised my hand now.

"Astrid," Hiccup motioned my way.

"Is the last one Night Fury?" I wondered.

"It is. Well done," Hiccup replied. "Now. Strike Class dragons are characterized by their blazing speed, vice-like jaw strength, and extreme intelligence, as well as pin-point accuracy, powerful attacks, explosive firepower and a unique ability to allow them to navigate in their respective environments/atmosphere. The dragons in this class are some of the rarest of all dragons, some are close to extinction. They are also the most difficult to train but the most loyal once they have been trained. They are also generally among the most powerful dragons," he continued to explain.

"Which dragon represents the Strike Class?" Camicazi inquired.

"That would be the Night Fury," Dagur interjected. "Though, I feel it should be the Skrill," he shrugged. Hiccup arched a brow. "What? Come on, Hiccup; you know that the Skrill is the top dragon,"

"On what grounds?" Hiccup wondered.

"W-Well; it's faster," Dagur tried.

"Skrills can ride lightning," Eret said.

"If there is any. If not; it flies regularly. Also, the electrical blasts created by a Skrill are ones that were charged from absorbing lightning. If the Skrill hits the water; there will be no electricity," Hiccup informed casually. "A Night Fury, on the other hand, can reach speeds to break the sound barrier. Which is a speed of about seven-hundred and sixty-seven miles per hour; notably in divebombs. Also, Night Furies have a six-shot limit but recharge faster, making it seem like there is no limit. In either case, it doesn't matter which dragon represents the class; every dragon is unique in their own way," Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Eh," Dagur shrugged.

"Alright, we're going to start with the Woo-," Hiccup began once more, but a Whispering Death shot up from the ground, forcing everyone to scatter to avoid being hit. "Woah!" Hiccup looked at the others. "Is everyone alright?!" he asked quickly.

"Y-Yeah!" they called back.

"I swear it wasn't us this time!" Eret stated quickly. Hiccup rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You have a plan?" Dagur asked Hiccup.

"Be quiet, and get them to safety," Hiccup informed. Dagur nodded, silently making his way towards the students as Hiccup remained where he was.

"Your parents will kill me if you end up hurt again!" Dagur called.

"Dagur! Just get them back," Hiccup demanded. Dagur nodded, moving u to a safer spot as Hiccup kept the Whispering Death on him, which wasn't easy given these dragons had notoriously poor eyesight. The dragon snarled at Hiccup, diving at him, but Hiccup jumped to the right and rolled away from the collision. This kept happening, and I found myself getting worried. Hiccup was good and had handled Hookfang well during the last dragon brawl, but this particular dragon was a wild one and not pre-trained by Hiccup.

"I-Is he gonna be alright?" I asked Dagur.

"Actually…I don't know…Whispering Deaths are incredibly hard to train, and don't typically respond to Hiccup's usual training methods…" Dagur winced a little as Hiccup got knocked into the stables.

"We have to help him, brother!" Heather demanded.

"Hiccup said to stay back…" Fishlegs reminded. Hiccup got on the dragon's tail, beginning to climb up and sit right behind its head. The Whispering Death didn't like this and began to thrash around, trying to throw Hiccup off. Finally, after five minutes; it happened. Hiccup hit the ground hard, cringing as he tried to recover. Hiccup rolled and got up slowly, shaking his head to focus. The Whispering Death whipped it's tail, firing spikes at Hiccup, and one got him in the side and was sticking out.

"HICCUP!" his friends yelled in worry. Hiccup moved his hand away from his side instantly, seeing blood beginning to come through. Hiccup hissed, struggling to get up.

"Dagur, do something! Hiccup's gonna get himself killed!" Snotlout ordered Dagur. Hiccup got a graze on the arm, and he'd been slammed against the ground again. Without warning, there was a screech-like roar from the edge of the trees. And then suddenly, an all black dragon with green eyes jumped out and rammed into the Whispering Death; efficiently knocking it away from delivering a final blow to Hiccup.

"Toothless!" the friends said in surprise and relief. Who is Toothless? The Night Fury? Why did they know who this Night Fury was? Dagur moved us away from the dragon fight, and he went to Hiccup's side to make sure he was alright.

The Night Fury smacked the Whispering Death away, then Stormfly jumped in, shooting her spines at it. Together, this Night Fury and Stormfly pinned the Whispering Death to the ground and prepared to fire. "Toothless! Stormfly! No," Hiccup commanded the two dragons. Stormfly and the Night Fury known as Toothless backed off, releasing the Whispering Death as it got up and moved away. Hiccup carefully moved between the Stormfly and Toothless, panting, and holding his side. "We don't kill other dragons," he told them. The Whispering Death made another launch for Hiccup, but Toothless growled lowly, snarling as he fired a purple blast as the dragon to make it back down. Hiccup hit the ground in pain as Stormfly squawked with concern. Toothless and the Whispering death were growling at one another, almost facing off.

However, what shocked me is that Toothless, this Night Fury protectively stood over Hiccup, refusing to let the Whispering Death near him. Toothless snaked his tail around Hiccup's figure, then prepared another blast. The Whispering Death stood down, almost bowing its head in submission, then diving into the ground to get away from Toothless. I couldn't believe what I just saw. A Night Fury, one of the rarest, fastest dragons around just showed up and protected Hiccup from assault by a Whispering Death. The Night Fury gave a snort of annoyance, then turned to look at Hiccup.

"Thanks, bud," Hiccup smiled a little, putting his hand on the dragon's head, and rubbing a bit to relax the clearly concerned creature. Stormfly nudged Hiccup a bit. "Yes, thank you too, Stormfly," Hiccup pet her nose as she moved into it.

"No way…A Night Fury?!" Eret and Thuggory said in shock, the girls and myself surprised as well.

"I wanna bond with him!" Ragna demanded. Instantly, Toothless narrowed his eyes at them, and we stepped back, slightly afraid.

"Pfft, you'll never bond with Toothless," Tuffnut said.

"He only listens to Hiccup, and tolerates us even though we're Hiccup's best friends," Ruffnut added.

"And he's Stomfly's best friend," Hiccup added tiredly. "I've had Toothless for three years too; I helped him when he was hurt…And he's just stayed by my side since. He's always around here, home, or work depending on where I'm at," Hiccup held his side tighter.

"You need to see Nurse Mala, Hiccup…Hell, you might even have to go back to the hospital for that hit to the side…" Minden informed quickly. Hiccup moved his hand to the spine that was still sticking out, he gripped it tightly and pulled it out, then let it fall to the ground.

"I'll be fine…" Hiccup winced as he forced himself on Toothless's back and pointed to the main building. Toothless began walking with Stormfly following. "Dagur, start the lesson for Skrills," Hiccup told him. Dagur nodded and not long after, Hiccup was out of sight. I seriously couldn't believe this. Hiccup was…Friends with a Night Fury; it didn't even hesitate to protect him from that Whispering Death, or my friends and I when we got too close to Hiccup while he was hurt. I literally had no words, and it seemed my group didn't either. And even so; we couldn't do much because Dagur had started the lesson already. I guess we'd have to wait until later to ask Hiccup about the Night Fury. Well, I know I was curious, but I think that once again, my friends are jealously and slightly pissed off about it.

. . .

=Normal POV=

{Thursday, December 9, 2021-5:35 pm}

(Boggs Residence)

After school on Thursday, everyone went to Bog-Burglar to relax at Camicazi's house and whip through the remainder of their homework. Astrid was mostly quiet during all their complaining that Hiccup had Stormfly, and Toothless, who was a male Night Fury. Hiccup was back to teaching on Tuesday after unfortunately, having to go to the emergency room to take care of the wound on his side from Monday. Either way, everyone was doing great with the Strike Class lessons so far, but they were still only on Threadtail. Today, when Camicazi got a call from her mother; it was discovered that she had to work late and wouldn't be home to make dinner. So now, everyone was discussing what to do for food because they were getting hungry.

"Why don't we just go out?" Ragna suggested.

"I suppose we could. Everyone down for that?" Eret asked. Astrid hadn't even been paying attention when she nodded along with the others.

"Well, let's go then," Camicazi said.

"I'm just going to use the bathroom first," Astrid said, getting up and moving to the bathroom down the hall. Once the door was closed, the remaining six in the room began whispering.

"Anyone think it's odd that Astrid is still living with us even though she's got what her parents left her?" Nadia asked.

"We all do, actually," Thuggory nodded as he stood with the others, preparing to leave. Gruffnut accidentally knocked over Astrid's bag, and what slid out of the side was a purple journal. Camicazi picked it up, inspecting the book, then opening it up to realize it's was a diary.

"What is it?" Eret asked.

"Looks like a diary that Astrid started at the beginning of Senior Year," Camicazi replied quietly, flipping through pages. Finally, she stopped on an entry from November 20th, the Saturday after the will reading at Haddock Manor. Scanning the page, Camicazi's eyes widened. "And oh, my Gods…She doesn't have any money,"

"What are you talking about?" Nadia asked.

"Astrid's entry from the day after the will reading; she says right here that she couldn't collect the payout because of the nature regarding the fire in the home, and her parents didn't legalize their wills, so she doesn't get anything," Ragna said, glancing over Camicazi's shoulder.

"And the next page says that Stoick is trying to find a loophole around it, but until then; she's broke," Camicazi added.

"She's free-loading then; staying with your girls and me until this comes through. Pfft, Odin only knows how long that can take," Eret remarked. The toilet in the bathroom flushed as they quickly put the diary away, but not before grinning a little as an idea formed.

"Okay, let's go," Astrid smiled a little. After that, they all loaded into their cars and headed for Archia Burger because it wasn't too far away.

. . .

(Archia Burger)

After arriving at the fast food place; it seemed to be a quiet night there with very few diners. They all placed their order and let Astrid go last. Once she was done, and the cashier gave the total, the others started.

"Oh, Astrid…Can you get it?" Nadia said sweetly. "I didn't bring my wallet today,"

"My parents cut my spending until Monday," Thuggory shrugged.

"Left my wallet in my bag at Cami's," Eret informed.

"Mine is in the car, but too lazy to go get it," Gruffnut sat down in one of the chairs. Astrid got nervous because she didn't have anything, but she would try anyway. Astrid just fished out her card and handed it to the male behind the counter. The boy swiped it through the machine, and it was declined. The man tried for the second time, and it happened once more.

"I'm sorry, but your card is being declined. Would you like to try another one?" the man asked gently. Astrid bit her bottom lip, thoroughly embarrassed.

"What's wrong, Ast?" Ragna inquired.

"M-My card isn't working," Astrid admitted.

"Oh, that's terrible, sweetie. It must be a bank issue," Camicazi frowned. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go then and make something at the house. My card isn't approved for a large charge; it limits at $50 per day," she added. Astrid faced the cashier, trying to smile.

"I'm sorry…Can't you just…Void the order?" Astrid requested.

"No problem, and hey; it happens, so don't feel bad. I just have to get the boss over to do it because it's so big," the man replied. "Yo, bossman! Need you for a void," he called.

"I'm comin'," a familiar voice replied. Seconds later, Hiccup strolled up beside the cashier. Instantly, they could see that Hiccup was wearing a different uniform from the others, and his tag read Hiccup, then under that was Manager. Hiccup saw Astrid standing at the counter, looking mildly upset, and then the friends behind her, snickering slightly. "What seems to be the problem, Mikkel?"

"Oh, this young lady's card was declined twice, and she's asking to void the order," the cashier, Mikkel informed Hiccup, who saw how embarrassed Astrid looked.

Did those assholes set her up knowing she doesn't have the money right now because of what happened? Hiccup wondered. "Well, sometimes these machines can give us a little trouble with cards and larger orders. Which combo was yours, ma'am?" Hiccup inquired professionally, and with a smile.

"I-It was the number seven, b-but don't worry about it…I'll just have to call the bank tomorrow and figure out what happened," Astrid tried to play it off casually.

"Let me see your card, please?" Hiccup asked. Astrid bit her bottom lip but gave him her card. Hiccup started tapping a few things on the screen. A moment later, a receipt printed out as Hiccup smiled, handing Astrid her card back. "All set," he told her. Astrid looked at him, surprised.

"H-How did you make it work?" Astrid asked, entirely baffled. And once more, she noticed that only the thing she ordered was on the receipt and that there had been no charge; it said Manager Meal. Did Hiccup give me his meal because my card didn't work?

"Like I said, sometimes these machines mess up. I just put your card in manually, and it went through no problem," Hiccup said gently as he handed her the cup and a lid with it. Hiccup saw that the others had stopped laughing, looking either mad or confused, maybe both.

"Hiccup, I know I'm flat broke because of the will situation that your dad is trying to fix, and it says manager meal on the receipt. Why'd you do that for me? Especially after the way I've treated you…" Astrid asked quietly. Hiccup leaned on the counter with a smile.

"Because something tells me that maybe you'll remember what I said in October when you found out about my life. Where I said that I know who my real friends are and that if I ended up broke tomorrow; they wouldn't toss me aside just because the situation changed," Hiccup said as Astrid's eyes met his.

"But they haven't-," Astrid began.

"Not saying they have, but please; for your sake of not being hurt any more than you already are with the loss of your parents…Consider what I said, and ask yourself if those people behind who purposely left you with the bill are really your friends or not. I saw them laughing Astrid; I know they did this on purpose to embarrass you in a public place," Hiccup informed as Astrid looked down a little. Hiccup got her food when it was called to be ready, then he set it on her tray. "Also, I did it just to see the looks on their faces right now, which is gonna get me through the rest of my night," Hiccup stood up with a wink as Astrid glanced back seeing their shocked, slightly annoyed faces. "Enjoy your meal," he added.

"Thank you," Astrid whispered.

"Hey, it's what friends do; help each other out. I'd hope that if the roles were reversed, you'd do the same for me," Hiccup replied.

Astrid smiled a little, then turned to head to the drink machine. However, she did ask herself one thing. Was he right?