EDIT 2/28/16: Combined chapters 14 and 15. Other than that, just simple type changes.

Chapter 10: Worlds Collide

Astrid dreamed about Vikings and dragons. About flying over glaciers, and through the clouds. She dreamed about Hiccup and Toothless. Eret and Drago showed up at one point, but that part of the dream was hazy, and mostly forgotten as soon as it had passed.

When she woke up, she had to blink as she took in her unfamiliar surroundings. Though she didn't really want to – she had been enjoying sleep too much.

But the more she was pulled awake, the more confused she was.

She wasn't in her apartment, that was the first thing she was sure of. The room was bigger than her bedroom.

Sitting up, she looked around for any clue as to where she was. As she did she grimaced, discovering that she had slept in her jeans. Her top was hopelessly wrinkled.

White walls, the bed made up with quilts, and green sheets with matching pillow cases. The bedside table, and the desk in one corner, were carved wood.

Sunlight poured through two large windows on her left. Outside she could see evergreen trees beyond a wide lawn. Something moved through the grass, about the size of a small dog, but covered in light green scales. It pounced on something, and Astrid snickered as it landed face-first in the grass.

It was one of the dragons she had seen in the stables the night before.

Memory started to come back.

She must have fallen asleep on the couch after eating desert with Hiccup and the others. And someone must have carried her…wherever she was. A spare room, if the simple, impersonal decorations were any indication.

Standing up, she risked a glance at the oval mirror in a wooden frame on the wall. Immediately she pulled the tie off her braid, which had mostly come out while she slept. Her scalp protested the discomfort as she combed her fingers through the messy strands.

When she looked around again, her eyes landed on something neatly folded on the desk. Going over to it, she found a note on top, written in a swirly, feminine hand.

This should fit you, if your shirt it wrinkled. ~Rapunzel

It proved to be a purple tshirt, simple and fitted. From anyone else it would seem strange… but the forethought and consideration fit what she knew of Rapunzel.

Astrid traded her wrinkled top for the tee gratefully, and quickly redid her braid to keep her hair out of the way. Deciding she was presentable, she headed for the closed door.

It opened into a wide, carpeted hallway. To her right it continued with four staggered doors, so none of them were directly across from each other. A fifth door was at the end of the hall. She went left, towards the arched entry to the living room.

Autumn sunlight poured through the large windows, so she had to blink as she descended the two down from the dimly lit hallway. It looked a little different in the daylight – something about the lighting gave it a different affect.

The biggest difference was that it was empty. And quiet.

It was still comfortable and homey… but the emptiness was strange. Actually, it looked like the kind of living room you would see in a magazine, she thought.

Glancing around to be sure there really was no one else there, Astrid gave in to her curiosity and went over to the section of the wall by the fireplace that was covered with framed photos. She had noticed them the night before, but hadn't had a chance to look at them.

Her attention was caught by family photos of Hiccup with his parents – especially of him with his father. She had tried to connect the two in her mind, to find any resembled between Hiccup and the pictures she had seen of Stoick. But no matter how hard she had tried, she hadn't been able to.

The resembled between Hiccup and Valka was obvious, of course. They had the same lean frame, and the same reddish brown hair – though Hiccup's was a little redder.

As she looked at the picture of a young Hiccup with his mountain-like, red bearded father, the differences seemed all the greater. But she saw that they had the same green eyes. The same nose. Similar smiles, too.

There were pictures of the others, as well. One of Hiccup and Rapunzel looked like it was a selfie, taken at the amusement park a few miles out of town. Rapunzel's hair was long and blonde, pulled back in a braid. Judging from how young they both looked, Astrid guessed it had been taken not long after they had met.

Astrid grinned as the pictures tracked Hiccup's growth from a scrawny kid to a young man who had clearly figured out who he was. Even if Rapunzel's appearance wasn't a giveaway of when he had started down the superhero path, Astrid could see the abrupt change in the way he held himself.

A picture of Hiccup, Merida, Stoick, and Valka, at the dining room table, with what looked like Thanksgiving dinner, must have been taken by Rapunzel.

A little further, and Jack showed up – always with brown hair.

There was one of all four at what she recognized as Look Out Pass, the highest point on one of Burgess's many hiking trails. They were all flushed from the steep climb, but they were grinning, too.

The sliding door opened, the sound making her look over as Hiccup came in.

She only had a moment to wonder if she should be embarrassed for looking at the pictures. But he spoke before she could decide.

"You should see Rapunzel's photo albums," he said, nodding towards the pictures as he came over. "She didn't stop taking pictures for the first few months. She still takes a lot of them. I'm surprised she didn't pull out her camera last night."

"It's kinda cool, though," Astrid said, looking over the whole array again. "Being able to look back over it all."

"I didn't think you'd be the sentimental type." He looked over at her.

Astrid shrugged. Normally, she wasn't. But there was something about the framed pictures that she liked. "My family never really did pictures."

"Stick around," Hiccup grinned. "Rapunzel will take more than you know what to do with."

She almost asked if that meant she was invited back.

"How did you sleep?" he asked, after surveying the pictures for a moment.

"Fine." She felt a little embarrassed now that she thought about it. (A feeling she couldn't seem to escape this morning.) "Sorry. I didn't mean to pass out."

She had been invited to dinner, and she was still there… she didn't even know how many hours later.

Hiccup weaved off her apology. "We pass out on the couch so much, it's normal for us."

"Yeah, but that's because you guys are out fighting."

"Well, last night was kinda exciting," Hiccup reminded.

Astrid snickered, remembering the night before. "You're the one who did it. I just sat there."

But Hiccup shook his head. "When we first started, none of us could figure out why we were sleeping all the time, even when we didn't do much. Until Mom pointed out that we were wearing ourselves out mentally as well as physically. Excitement is exhausting."

That made sense, and made Astrid feel better. It couldn't have been much later than midnight when she had fallen asleep, but the light outside told her it was well into the morning.

"What time is it, anyway?" she asked, looking around for a clock.

"About eleven, I think."

Astrid cringed. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept so late.

"Where is everyone?"

"Uh…" he looked around the living room as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Mom is on Berk. Jack and Rapunzel went hiking, with Jack's normal protests that she takes everything but the kitchen sink. Merida is doing…whatever Merida does in her free time. I still haven't figured that out."

"Do you have any plans?" she asked, wondering if she should take her leave, but not wanting to.

He shook his head. "Some homework, but not much. You?"

She shook her head. There was some homework waiting for her too… but other than that, all she had to look forward to was another boring weekend.

"Do you want something to eat?" Hiccup asked. "Rapunzel made omelets for breakfast, and I think she had some leftovers to make you one."

Astrid snickered. "I can barely cook scrambled eggs."

"Well, luckily for you, I can cook," Hiccup grinned. "If you want."

For a moment she thought about saying no, that she could just have cereal, or head out and fend for herself… but she nodded.

"Come on," Hiccup said, heading into the kitchen.

Astrid took a seat at the breakfast bar while he went over to the fridge and pulled the doors open. From where she sat she could see that it was filled with everything from meat and produce to leftovers and Chinese takeout boxes.

"The saddest part is that we're gonna eat all this by Wednesday," Hiccup muttered, pulling out the carton of eggs and several small Tupperware stacked on top of each other.

"Does Rapunzel always do the cooking?" Astrid asked. "When you don't order takeout?"

He set the ingredients on the counter, holding the fridge door open with his prosthetic foot. He took four eggs out of the carton before putting them back and taking out the milk.

"Mom can't cook," he said. "Dad always said it was a good thing he didn't marry her for her cooking. Even if Merida could, she refuses. Unless there's a grill involved. Jack tries to deny that he can cook, unless it means he gets to be close to Rapunzel – or when she isn't available to cook. But she seems to get offended when we try to."

He started working with more focused intensity than Astrid had ever seen anyone put into an omelet. He was so obviously an engineer it was almost funny. She watched him whisk the eggs together before pouring them into the cast iron pan. It surprised her that he actually seemed to know what he was doing.

"Where's Toothless?" she asked after a couple minutes, realizing this was the first time she had seen him without the dragon since she had arrived at the house.

"Eh, probably off terrifying local wildlife. He wanted to stay outside when we got back. If you're lucky, you'll get to see him open the sliding door."

"You're kidding."

He shook his head, grinning. "It's a sight, believe me. I just wish he would learn to close it."

Before Astrid could decide if she believed him or not, he set two plates on the stone counter in front of her. She managed to wait until he came around the bar to start eating.

It was easily the best breakfast she had had in a while. Admittedly, her normal yogurt or cereal wasn't much competition.

"Oh," Hiccup paused between bites. "There was an article about the Stabbington Brothers online this morning. It's better than I expected. Ratcliffe was actually arrested, based on the Stabbington Brothers' plea bargain." His expression darkened. "Of course, he'll probably pay his bail and skip the country before the trial. Or they just won't find enough evidence to go to trial."

"The Stabbington Brothers are back in jail though," Astrid reminded.

"That's the good news," Hiccup agreed. "Some of the first good news this week. The article said the police got an anonymous tip, so there was no mentioned of us." He looked over at her with a fresh grin. "Congratulations, you just caught your first bad guy."

"I didn't do anything," she reminded.

"All I did was steer Toothless," Hiccup said. "And I wouldn't have been out there if it weren't for you. Take some credit, Astrid."

She looked over at him, wondering if she really was allowed to take credit. Normally she would have accepted without argument… but she still didn't feel she had done enough to warrant it.

This time.

"Now we just have to figure out what Pitch is up to," Hiccup said after a moment, taking a sip from a glass of orange juice.

"How?" She was getting a little frustrated with herself, that she had to keep asking questions.

"Wait for him to make the next move." Hiccup poked at the remainder of his omelet. "There's not much else we can do. Even Jack can't figure out how to find him."

Astrid considered that as she took a few more bites.

"How do you deal with that?" she asked. "I mean, how do you keep going to school and everything without going crazy?" She doubted she would be so calm if she knew the Nightmare King had a personal vendetta against her.

"You kinda get used to it," he said with a shrug. "At first, yeah, it was paralyzing. There were a lot of nights when I couldn't sleep. But pointed out that it wasn't doing any good, and it just meant they were winning. So I made the decision to stay ready, but keep going with my life."

Astrid shook her head in amazement. She was pretty sure she would go crazy if she were in his position.

But then, Rapunzel and Jack were off hiking, and Merida was off somewhere. They were all living their lives, so maybe there was something to the philosophy.

"It was that or spend my life in fear," Hiccup pointed out. "And the more we beat them, the easier it gets. I couldn't do it without the others, though."

Astrid tried to imagine being a part of the team. For a group of people who hadn't known each other for more than five years (even less in Jack's case), they had become a close knit family that needed and supported each other.

She was deep in those thoughts, and others that hadn't formed enough for her to recognize them yet, when Hiccup nudged her arm.

"Look," he said, nodding towards the sliding door.

She looked over, and had to bite back a laugh when she saw Toothless sitting on the other side. He looked at Hiccup through the glass, his head cocked to the side in a silent request.

"You can do it," Hiccup said, apparently unaffected by the dragon's pleading look.

Toothless looked at them for another moment, before accepting that Hiccup wasn't going to open the door for him. Sitting back on his back legs, he lifted one paw to the door's handle.

Astrid's eye widened in disbelief as she watched the dragon wrestle with it. After a moment he got one of his claws hooked around the handle, and pulled the door open a crack. She let out a stunned laugh.

There was just enough room for the dragon to wedge one foot between the door and the frame, and he used that to leverage it open enough for him to prance inside the house. He looked insufferably pleased with himself as he waltzed over to Hiccup.

"Don't look so smug until you learn to close it," Hiccup said, getting off his stool to go over to the door.

But Toothless clearly saw no reason to wrestle with the door when it wasn't in his way.

When he sat back down, Hiccup was absently scratching the dragon that now seemed fixed to his side.

Looking at them, Astrid decided that Hiccup did look more complete with the dragon next to him. She remembered what Jack had said the night before, about how strange it was to see Hiccup without him, The next time she saw Hiccup at the school, she would probably be half expecting the dragon to come up as well.

Then she remembered: she didn't have any reason to see Hiccup at the school anymore.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked, and she realized her disappointment must have shown on her face.

"Yeah. I just realized that, now the jacket is done, I probably won't be seeing you much," she admitted. "I don't have any reason to go to the art lab."

"Oh." Hiccup's face fell a little.

Toothless cocked his head as he looked at Hiccup, sensing his human's change in mood, but not understanding what had caused it.

Hiccup didn't answer at first, his expression pensive.

"Well, if you want, I'm sure we can think of something."

#

Astrid got home late Saturday afternoon… and by Sunday, she was already going stir crazy.

It had always been just her in the apartment, so the quiet was nothing new. It was part of why she had moved out on her own: because even with two of her brothers gone, the house had been too loud. Especially when she was trying to do homework. It was kind of hard to memorize every muscle in the human body when her dad was yelling at the TV, or the dogs were barking at a raccoon that got too close to the house.

That noise she didn't miss. But there had been something about the noise level of the Haddock house that had been… comfortable. The conversations, the clang of pots and pans in the kitchen, even Jack and Merida bickering. It was a home, and the sound was a reminder that they weren't alone.

After experiencing that for the first time, it made the quiet of her own apartment too heavy to handle.

So after her kickboxing class Sunday morning, she headed to the garage. It was better than her apartment, and she had nowhere else to go.

She had forgotten how busy the shop was on Sundays. Everyone wanted to get routine maintenance done that day. As if they all woke up, realized they had to go back to work the next day, but still had a whole list of things they needed to get done. So the waiting room was full when she stepped inside.

Eret was behind the counter. As usual.

"Hey, Astrid," he greeted, setting aside one of his many clipboards as a woman with two young children left the counter to find a seat. (Something about the look of the children promised there would be screaming at some point while they were there.) "What's up?"

She was about to say she was good. But it hit her suddenly that he had worked for Drago Blüdvist. Even harder than when Hiccup had told her, because now she was face-to-face with him.

How did you even up working for someone like that? Sure, Eret had an ego, but she had never thought he might have something so grim in his history. Even the probation officer jokes had never made her suspect he might have worked for the megalomaniac who had trashed half the city a little over a year ago… and three years before that. Right before Eret had shown up in the garage. She had assumed he was just a recovering juvenile delinquent who was arrested for graffiti or something. (She had ruled out drugs, since that didn't fit. Unless it was steroids…)

"You all right?" he asked.

She nodded, shaking off the thoughts as she reached the counter. "Yeah, sorry. I just came in to get some snow tires."

It was a little early, but not unreasonable so. Snow could arrive in Burgess as early as October. Judging by the recent storms, it would probably start soon, too. (Vaguely, she wondered if their early winters had anything to do with Jack's affect on the weather. She didn't remember winters being so strong when she was a child.)

Somehow, meeting the Big 4 was changing her entire way of thinking. This must be what it was like to have your whole world flipped upside down. Finding out that things you thought you knew weren't what you thought, and suddenly seeing them in a new way.

Eret's brow furrowed as he lifted a sheet on one of the clipboards. She knew it was bad news even before he spoke. "We're booked for the rest of the day."

"Seriously?"

"Sorry."

Astrid sighed in frustration as she braced her elbows on the counter. This was the only excuse she had come up with to stay away from her apartment.

"Did you find what you were looking for the other day?"

It took her a second to remember what he meant. It felt as though it had been a lot longer than three days since she had come in looking for Hiccup.

"A lot more than I was looking for," she said, trying to think of the best way to phrase it without saying it outright – sound carried in the waiting room. "I was looking for Hiccup."

Judging from the way the blood drained from Eret's face as soon as she said Hiccup's name, that was enough.

"So… you know?"

Astrid nodded.

Eret rubbed the back of his neck. "She's gonna kill me," he muttered. "I'm so dead. She's gonna use me for target practice, and feed what's left to the dragons."

Astrid quirked an eyebrow.

As if the universe was enjoying the show, the door to the garage opened. One of the mechanics leaned his head around the doorframe.

"Eret, your probation officer is here," he said with a smirk.

If it was possible, Eret went even paler. Actually, he was edging towards green. And, thanks to the "target practice" line, Astrid was starting to put the pieces together.

Honestly, how had the Big 4 been operating so close to her life all this time, and she never noticed anything? She liked to think she was an observant person, but she hadn't even noticed Merida until a couple weeks ago. Of all of them, Merida seemed like the one who would stand out the most.

Sure enough, when she looked back towards the door, she saw Hiccup and Merida both coming up to the door.

"Both of them," Eret groaned. "Why does this always happen to me?"

"Cosmic punishment?" Astrid asked, snickering. Her amusement probably wasn't polite… but this should be interesting, and she was enjoying it.

"Shut up," he hissed, under his breath.

They watched the two teammates approach, embroiled in a discussion, even as Hiccup reached for the door and held it open.

"—ot following you," Hiccup said. "You're mistaking me for Jack."

Astrid's brows rose further.

"Hey, Eret," Hiccup said, looking toward the counter. Was it her imagination that he started to grin a little when he saw her. "Hey, Astrid."

He wore his brow leather jacket, over jeans and a black tshirt. All in all, she was not complaining about the image. How, how, how had she never noticed him before?

"So that's how ya found the house," Merida said, looking between Astrid and Eret.

He was definitely looking a little green.

"It's fine," Hiccup said, coming up to the counter.

Merida looking over at Hiccup, as though she were going to argue… but she shrugged, before turning back to Eret. "Ya ready?"

"I have to ask Gobber."

Rolling her eyes, Merida went over and pushed open the door to the garage – which had a very clear "EMPLOYEES ONLY!" sign on the glass.

"Hey, Gobber! I'm stealin' yer secretary for lunch."

"I'm not a secretary," Eret muttered. Even as he organized some of the clipboards strewn across the desk.

"Yes, you are," Astrid said, in unison with Hiccup and Merida.

The garage door opened a moment after Merida let it swing shut, and Gobber came into the lobby.

"I keep tellin' ya, lass, ya can't take him on my busiest day," he told Merida. He nodded a greeting. "Hiccup. Astrid." His expression was extremely satisfied seeing them together.

Hiccup waved.

Merida was already talking, so there wasn't room for anything else.

"He has t' take a lunch."

"For half an hour," Gobber said. "Yoo're always takin 'im for an hour."

"I'm standing right here," Eret said, but neither of the combatants seemed to hear him.

"I think they enjoy it," Hiccup murmured.

Gobber and Merida stood almost toe to toe, and the red head didn't appear the slightest bit intimidated. Her hands were on her hips as she met the larger man's gaze squarely. It was Braveheart, just without the uniform.

"It's the only break he gets all day," Merida said. "It works out."

Gobber considered. "Where are ya goin'?"

"Mexican," Merida said.

"Didn't we have Mexican last week?" Eret asked.

"Deep fried ice cream," Merida said, as though that explained it.

According to Eret's shrug, it was good enough explanation for him.

"Fine," Gobber waved. "Bring me back somethin'."

Merida nodded, obviously satisfied with her victory as she turned to Eret. He had already grabbed his jacket (even before Gobber waved them off), and was shrugging into it.

"Your car, or mine?"

"Yours," Merida said.

Eret nodded as he pulled his keys from his pocket, following Merida out of the garage.

"She thinks they're less obvious that Jack and Rapunzel," Hiccup said, as soon as the door closed behind them.

Gobber scoffed. "That lass doesn't have a subtle bone in her body."

"What did you mean about Jack following her around?" Astrid asked.

"A couple years ago, to mess with her, Jack followed her everywhere for a couple days," Hiccup said. "I was already in town, but I was behind her for a couple blocks on the way here."

"Why are ya here?" Gobber asked. "If you've got some free time, there's plenty of work to do."

"Sorry," Hiccup said. "Eret sent me a text saying that package was here."

"Ah." Gobber looked around the desk, which was fairly neat… but Eret was the only one who actually knew where everything was. "Ya shoulda come on Friday, when I knew where it was."

"I was busy."

Gobber grunted. "I don't know where he put it. Ya can look through the office."

"Thanks."

"Want help?" Astrid asked.

"Sure."

She followed him around the counter, into the office. Which was a lot less organized than the front desk.

"I used to try and keep this place somewhat neat when I worked here," Hiccup said, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm guessing it's not a big package." She didn't see any large boxes anywhere. Any boxes period, actually.

Hiccup shook his head, holding up his hands to form a six inch square. "Should be about this. Can you look on that table?"

She went over to the side table he had gestured to and started sifting through the layers of loose papers, tools, a calculator, and candy bar wrappers. The tools she set on the corner of the table, since Gobber would probably want them back.

"Have ya done any work on the basement?" Gobber called, from the front desk.

"Jack keeps running off," Hiccup said. "The wiring is done, but I can't finish the framework and the walls on my own."

"Astrid has some carpentry experience," Gobber said, his tone pointed for some reason.

Astrid snickered. "Hardly."

When she glanced over, she saw Hiccup shaking his head, eyes closed.

"I don't need experience, I just need a second pair of hands," he said after a moment.

"What are you doing in the basement?"

"Trying to make a headquarters," Hiccup said. "You probably noticed, the garage isn't exactly secure. But Jack won't stick around and help me finish it.

"I don't have anything to do," Astrid said. "I can help if you want."

Hiccup looked over from the desk. "You sure?"

Astrid shrugged, trying not to seem too eager. But it was something to do that didn't involve going back to her apartment. Even better, if didn't require sitting in the shop all day.

"Don't—Here it is."

Looking over from her own search, she saw Hiccup pull a small box, about the size of a CD jewel case, from among the papers.

"Hong Kong," he said, looking over the label that wrapped around most of the way around the box. "That explains why it took so long."

"What is it?"

"It's for a school project," he said. "I could have made them, but I don't want to explain to the teacher why I have a forge in my backyard."

She snickered. Yeah, that would be kind of hard to explain.

"Plus, I ran out of time," he added, before looking over at her again. "So, I don't know." He shrugged, shoulders, arms, and hands getting in on the motion. An attempt at casual that didn't exactly hit the mark. "Wanna come help me?"

Her attempt at casual probably missed the mark, too. "Sure."

#

When Hiccup had shown her the garage the day before, it had been mostly organized. Now was a different matter entirely.

Hiccup had thrown yet another bolt of leather over the workbench, and several wooden beams leaned in one corner. The rug in front of the couch was a mess, and the strange angle of the couch suggested it had been pushed aside quickly.

Hiccup lead her up the three wooden steps to the door. Straight ahead she could see the living room, but they turned into the laundry room instead.

Both the washer and dryer were heavy duty – probably necessary considering how many of them there were. On top of the washer was a basket of laundry, waiting for the load inside the machine to be moved. Several stacks of folded clothes were piled on top of the second machine.

It was the items hanging from the rack above the sink that caught Astrid's attention, though.

Before Hiccup's fall a couple weeks earlier, she might not have recognized Merida's Braveheart jacket. (Out of all their uniforms, it was the piece that changed the most often, as far as Astrid could tell.) But after the hours of footage she had watched since then, she immediately recognized the half-dry garment. It was mostly a dark indigo, save for brown, black, and royal blue detailing. Up close, she could make out the intricate Celtic knots embroidered on the panels over the shoulders, which the news cameras weren't able to catch.

Several other things hung from the rack. But the jacket was the most distinctive, and it was right at the front.

She was so distracted by it, she didn't notice what Hiccup was doing until she heard him open a door in the back corner that she hadn't even seen. He flipped the light switch as she came up behind him.

A staircase lead straight down, then turned right for the last few steps. Hiccup started down carefully, one hand braced on the wall.

"Where's Toothless?" she asked, following a couple steps behind.

The stairs were wide enough the dragon probably could get down them with little trouble.

"He and the blue Nadder are off having a play date or something," he said. "I need to figure out a name for her. She came over to the garage earlier, and Toothless ran out so fast he almost knocked the couch over."

That explained part of the mess in the garage.

"The Bat Cave, as Merida calls it." Hiccup gestured as they reached the bottom steps.

Astrid looked around at… the half finished basement. It took her a moment to look beyond the wooden framework and loose wires for her to make out more than that.

Even with the partial framework up for several walls, the space was massive.

"I've been working on this for almost two years," he said. "My dad and I…" he stopped. Took a deep breath. Exhaled. "I've done as much as I can on my own, and on the few days Jack doesn't run off.

"There's going to be a computer array over there. We'll probably bring the couch down from the garage. That'll be a gym, another bathroom, a medical room… if I ever get it all done."

"What needs to be done?"

"The frame for the second wall to the medical room—" he gestured again to the far left corner, where one frame was already up "—the sheetrock, the floor, the baseboards, paint, and set up."

"No pressure," Astrid muttered, looking around.

"On top of school, being Night Fury, and everything else."

Astrid looked over at him, the corners of her mouth pulling in a grin. "We should probably get to work then."