Chapter 13

Astrid Goes For a Spin

Arena, Next Afternoon

For the first time, the training arena was mobbed by throngs of enthusiastic Vikings, and the air filled with raucous cheers. Today's training exercise was not a mere lesson, but a contest between two of Gobber's students to see who would first complete their training. The Berkians were wild with excitement, and those that had returned from the disastrous voyage to Helheim's Gate had extra reason to pump their fists and cheer. A little competition was just the thing to raise their spirits.

For Astrid Hofferson, it was not a celebratory matter. On the contrary, this was the most serious moment of her life, and she was walking into it with a fire borne of determination and anger burning in her chest. The village elder, Gothi, and the Chief himself would be watching this match, so it was essential that she performed her best. She was Berk's finest warrior in-training, after all. She had a reputation to uphold and years of practice to show off. She would prove once and for all that she was the one who deserved to kill her first monster before any of her peers.

Days ago, she'd been confident that she wouldn't have any real competition, even with the arrival of that Snaketail girl. Except she did. Her opponent in this exercise was him, that scrawny little miracle boy who had no business even being on the same battlefield as her, and everyone was convinced that he would be the one to follow in the Chief's footsteps. Hiccup, the blacksmith's apprentice, not her, the one who had trained for this all her life.

By the time Astrid took her position next to Mr. Perfect and his stupid new helmet, Stoick stomped to the front of the crowd, and the gates released a monstrous Tigrex into the arena, Astrid's inner cauldron was already boiling over.

Short, wooden walls had been set up all over the arena, exactly tall enough for Astrid and Hiccup to take cover by crouching behind them. The Tigrex was free to run all over the arena, and it had the strength necessary to crush the walls – their only advantage against it – under its feet. To Astrid, the solution was obvious. She would sneak up on the Tigrex while it was calm and searching for them, and down it with a decisive blow before it had the chance to rampage. The winner would be decided before Hiccup's skinny butt got the chance to move. All would be right again.

I'll show him, Astrid promised herself, approaching the dinosaurian beast from behind. Everyone will see that I'm the undisputed best warrior on Berk. Not some loser that only got in because his dad's the –

The Tigrex snarled and raised its head, and Astrid only just rolled into cover in time. Breathing hard, she clutched her Dual Blades close and peeked over the barrier to see the orange-and-blue flying wyvern resume its stalking. She cursed, anger briefly flaring at her idiotic mistake. She needed to keep her cool and stick to the plan… and do it before Hiccup got the chance to steal the glory.

Astrid rolled from one wall to the next, then to the next. She paused to catch her breath and take note of the Tigrex's position. There – near the edge of the arena, sniffing the ground in search of her scent. She grinned; it was as good as defeated.

A thump on the barrier took Astrid's attention away from the monster, and her mood immediately worsened. It was Hiccup, obviously – those gangly, uncoordinated sticks for arms and eyes like a startled deer couldn't be mistaken as belonging to anyone else. Simply looking at him was enough to set Astrid's temper boiling. Somehow this guy was considered her equal. It was insulting, a false perception she intended to set straight.

"Stay out of my way," she growled in his face, twirling a Dual Blade for effect. "I'm winning this thing."

While Hiccup stammered out an answer and struggled to keep his Lance from toppling over (Pathetic, she dismissed him), Astrid advanced a few walls forward, hoping to get as close as possible before she leapt out to land the strike that would decide the match. She spared a glance up at the crowd, Stoick and Gothi specifically. They weren't watching her, which was irksome, but it didn't matter. Once the time was right, she would win in spectacular fashion and leave them without any doubt that she was the one to –

"DRAAAAAAAAAARGGGHHH!"

The air itself seemed to shatter when the Tigrex let loose an earsplitting bellow. Its wingarms were spread out in a challenging stance while its head was held high, furious eyes catching sight of Hiccup standing out in the open. Astrid grinned – not only had the idiot really screwed up by exposing himself, he'd also given her the perfect opportunity to make her move!

"This time," Astrid told herself, and clenched her Midnight Blackwings in a grip made strong through pure resolve. "This time for sure!"

She vaulted over her cover and charged her quarry with her fiercest battle cry…

…and was just in time to watch the impossible happen.

As she looked on in disbelief, the Tigrex lost its footing and slipped, and Hiccup, having somehow ended up clutching the Tigrex's horn, pulled downward on its head. The beast slammed into the ground and stayed there, tongue lolling from its mouth, while Hiccup stood beside it with a flabbergasted expression.

The crowd went wild.

Astrid was dumbstruck. Was she dreaming? Was it over? Who were they cheering for? It could not be Hiccup. Look. That was clearly an accident. He'd won by a fluke. Look at him. He was Hiccup. She was Astrid. She had one chance to prove herself the best and come up with a perfect battle plan and then he just swooped in and stole the show with his dumb luck –

"NO!" she exploded, voice cracking, legs shaking. Fury flooded her veins and seized her bones as it never had before. She swung her blades back and forth at random, slashing the air and scarring the barriers around her, all while an uncontrollable string of curses spewed from her mouth. "SON OF A HALF-TROLL, RAT-EATING, MUNGE BUCKET –"

A heavy hand on her shoulder snapped Astrid out of her tantrum. She looked up, startled, at Gobber's stern eyes, which blinked a silent warning before morphing into a sympathetic smile. Out of respect for her teacher, Astrid reined in her anger with great reluctance, but nothing could take it away completely. She balled her shaking hands into white-knuckled fists and gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw hurt. She inhaled and exhaled with forced restraint, the breaths escaping through flared nostrils. She watched as Hiccup tried to sneak off – like he was too good to stay and receive the elder's blessing – only to be held back by Gobber.

She had her chance, but it was gone. Astrid Hofferson had failed.

"Quiet!" the Chief shouted above the clamoring crowd. "Gothi has decided!"

Astrid closed her eyes and buried her frustration for the moment. Together with Hiccup and Gobber, she looked up at the diminutive old woman whose decision would determine which of the two trainees was the better warrior. Despite an uneasy feeling in her gut, Astrid stood tall and prepared to receive Gothi's judgement. The elder's wisdom deserved no less than total respect.

Gobber raised his hook, pointing to Astrid. Gothi shook her head.

Lowering the hook, Gobber next raised his hand to indicate Hiccup with a questioning expression. Gothi responded with a crooked smile and pointed a gnarled finger toward the boy.

It was done. The crowd erupted into applause, Gobber jostled Hiccup excitedly, the other trainees came out to surround their victorious comrade, even Stoick slapped his knee and proclaimed his approval. Astrid was forgotten, cast aside to make way for the tribe's newest hero, left alone to stew in a cauldron of simmering fury that pushed against her inner walls like a volcano about to explode. Her needle-sharp glare, through which she focused all her pent-up rage, was set upon only one target – Hiccup Haddock, who sat like a gods-damned king atop Fishlegs' shoulder with his arms raised in victory.

Ohhhh, how she wanted to punch him. In a matter of days, he had come out from nowhere to take everything away from her.

But how?

It was high time Astrid found out.

Hidden Grotto

"We are sooooooo leaving!"

Hiccup had run away from the oppressive cacophony of mindless excitement as fast as he could. It was only when he had left the arena, packed to the brim with every Viking on Berk, and fled to the open silence of the empty village did his breathing return to normal. It had been too much: the roaring of the crowd, the admiration from his peers, the genuine excitement in Gobber's voice, and worst of all, the praise booming from his father's mouth.

He deserved none of it. Their adoration was founded on nothing but a lie. He couldn't face any of them, not without guilt tearing him apart from the inside out. Forget revealing the truth and ending the war – it was impossible now. He would be branded a villain, a traitor, more of a disgrace to Viking-kind than he ever had been.

He needed to leave Berk entirely. He would be giving up on saving Berk, but he could at least save himself and Sightless.

As soon as Hiccup secured his riding gear and a basket full of fish from the village storehouse, he dashed straight to the grotto to find Sightless. A quick glance at the lake revealed that the Gore Magala was asleep on its far bank. That was fine; Hiccup didn't need to wake him right away. He had enough food to last a few days – there was no destination in mind, and no telling how good the fishing would be outside of Berk – but he might make another stop at the village to grab some additional supplies. He could leave Sightless to rest until he was certain he was prepared.

"We're leaving!" he repeated. "Let's pack up! Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation… forever."

He crouched in the shade of a small boulder, slipping the basket's strap off his shoulder. Once he had relieved himself of the weight, he examined his riding uniform, making sure everything was correctly in place. It would be disastrous if there was another mid-air malfunction, not without Gobber's smithy to rely on. Fortunately, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary…

That is, until a loud ssssssssscrape from nearby ground on Hiccup's ears, inspiring goosebumps to spread over his skin. He froze, snapping his head in the direction of the sound, and saw her.

Astrid, mere feet away from him, running a whetstone over her Dual Blades as if he had bumped into her at the village plaza and it was an ordinary day on Berk.

"What the…!" Hiccup exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Once the initial surprise faded, though, he coughed and made an effort to preserve his dignity. Forcing his voice to stay calm, he asked in what he hoped was a casual tone, "Wh-What… uh, what are you d-doing here?"

Astrid didn't answer right away, first holding her blade to the light to examine its sharpened edge. Only after she put down the whetstone did she speak, and it was in a much more natural casual tone that turned Hiccup's blood to ice.

"I wanna know what's going on," she stated, hopping off the boulder. Her eyes narrowed, and Hiccup found the tip of her black blade leveled at his nose. "No one just gets as good as you do," she accused, "especially you."

Hiccup was too busy trying to keep his cool to think about how, in hindsight, suddenly jumping from the worst to the best warrior in the village might have looked suspicious. Astrid advanced on him, her tone low and threatening as she asked him what he'd been doing and who he'd been training with. He backed away in a futile bid to keep his distance, frightened by the aura of menace rolling off the Hofferson girl in palpable waves. He didn't last long, though – in no time, she had him by the harness with her blade aimed squarely at him.

Then a loud, snapping sound echoed off the walls of the grotto, and Astrid dropped him, abandoning her interrogation attempt. Hiccup felt relieved for all of two seconds before realizing where she was going – further into the grotto, toward the tree under which Sightless was hiding.

He scrambled to catch up with her, excuses bursting from his mouth like soup from a shattered pot. "O-O-O-Okay, okay, I-I'm through with the lies! I've been… making outfits!" he blurted, jumping in front of her to tug emphatically at his riding uniform. "So, yeah, it's time everyone knew. Go ahead, drag me back, here we go –"

Astrid tried to see over his shoulder, and Hiccup leaned hastily back into her field of view. The third time he attempted to obstruct her, he grabbed her hand to prompt her into dragging him off. This backfired immediately as Astrid wrenched his arm up and backwards, a starburst of pain flooding his shoulder and torso, and she used the momentum to push him onto his back.

"Ooooooowwwww! Why would you do that?!" he demanded, clutching his throbbing arm to his chest.

"That's for the lies," Astrid growled. "And this…"

Hiccup didn't hear what came next – he was too busy emitting a strangled squawk when she shoved her boot into a… sensitive area.

He did, however, hear the ominous growl coming from nearby. Suddenly, the pain in his groin was the least of his worries. Footsteps in the grass told him that Astrid was going to investigate.

"Oh no…" he muttered. His gut twisting with dread, he stood up and followed Astrid to the very sight he feared seeing – Sightless, rousing from sleep and swiveling his head in their direction, no doubt sensing two bodies rather than the usual one.

Astrid let out a horrific gasp. "Get down!" she cried, shoving Hiccup to the ground. He barely felt the pain when his chest struck the dirt, because a numbing chill was already coursing through his body at the damning sound that came next.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

A sky-rending scream, and the rushing of air under wings, told Hiccup he only had seconds to move. Through the pounding in his ears, he thought he heard Astrid shout his name, but he was already moving, leaping at her and tackling her aside. He reached out, blind, finding her Dual Blades through a miraculous stroke of luck and tearing them from her grasp. Flinging the weapons away as hard as he could, he whirled back around to confront Sightless, now rearing on his hind legs and screaming in protective fury.

"No no no, Sightless, it's okay!" Hiccup pleaded, desperate to protect Astrid. He waved his arms above his head to bring the Gore Magala's attention back to him. Sightless leaned this way and that, his wings churning up a maelstrom of black fog, but Hiccup threw himself into the monster's path each time, refusing to budge even when Sightless tried to lunge for Astrid.

Finally, Sightless backed off and landed on all fours. His raging screams softened to a growl and his body language calmed, his wingarms settling upon his back. Hiccup ran to Sightless' side to stroke his head and neck, where he felt the Gore Magala's body still taut and quivering with agitation. He cast a concerned glance over to Astrid, who stood several feet away on trembling legs.

"It's okay, she's a friend," Hiccup reassured Sightless, keeping his hands firm atop the monster's carapace to hold him steady. To Astrid, he added, "See? You just scared him."

"I scared him?!" the Hofferson girl yelped, more shaken than Hiccup had ever seen her. "Hiccup, that's a monster! It just… tried to…" She trailed off, her breaths becoming slower and her eyes narrower, fear shifting to suspicion as her sharp mind started to piece the connections together.

Hiccup gulped, only now beginning to realize what thin ice he was on. He stepped forward and, hesitantly, introduced, "Uh… Sightless, Astrid. Astrid… Sightless."

"Shiraaaaaahhh!" Sightless spread his wings with a shriek and a wave of black mist.

Astrid recoiled at the shroud rolling toward her boots and turned tail, running for the grotto's exit without a single look back. Her Nargacuga Dual Blades lay forgotten.

Hiccup felt a horrible sensation of impending doom press down on him. She was going to the village. He could not let her get to the village. If she got the word out, and managed to convince them…

"Da da da, we're dead," he moaned.

Berk Woods

Hiccup has a monster. Hiccup does. Oh gods, a monster. Hiccup. Has. A MONSTER.

The mantra circled, unceasing, through Astrid's head like a confused Gronckle. It fueled her legs to push forward, to run faster despite the ache building in her calves. She smacked ferns and bushes out of her way, too hyped up on adrenalin to feel them scratching her arms. Trees passed by in a blur without her ever seeing them, her eyes trained on that distant light where she knew the woods ended and the village began.

Stoick. She needed to find Stoick. Gobber. Gothi. Anyone who would take her seriously. But what would she say? They might not believe her. It was too surreal. She barely believed it. Who could she tell? No, if she just got her story straight, she would convince them. Right?

No, she would. She would. She had to. There was an unknown monster on the loose – A Gore Magala, her brain told her, and she believed it, because what else could it be? The mist that spread from its hideous wings was unmistakable. Hiccup had been claiming for days to have shot one down, and she'd never paid much attention, because it was Hiccup. And yet, there he'd been, standing in front of it, his hand on its head like it was at his beck and call…

What if it was coming? What if Hiccup told it to hunt her down? Huffing and puffing, she shot a fearful glance behind her, seeing nothing. Somehow, that didn't comfort her in the slightest, and she only ran faster, more determined than ever to reach home. Wasn't that what they said about the Gore Magala? Hide and pray its mist doesn't reach you.

She ran faster, more impatient than ever to reach the safety of home. A fallen log lay across the path. She leapt on top without effort, her legs now propelling her off and back toward solid –

Talons seized her shoulder.

"AH!" Astrid yelled, yanked away from her promised landing. Before her horrified eyes, the ground shrank beneath her, smaller and smaller with every beat of the wings that now thundered around her ears. Her other arm reached out and grabbed the claw that held her, grabbed it for dear life. She'd never left the safety of the ground before, and now it was robbed from her. She was at the mercy of the sky, a sky that was her enemy, that would let her die if she fell, that conspired with her kidnapper to carry her to Valhalla.

Never had Astrid Hofferson been so horrified. The terror flooded her bones more completely than her past anger ever had. Her tribe and her reputation be damned. She was flying at breakneck speed and her feet couldn't find the ground and her stomach lurched and the wind snatched her words before she could yell for help and oh gods now the treetops were grazing her legs how high up am I please Loki stop the ride I WANT TO GET OFF.

Completely convinced she was about to die, Astrid filled her lungs and let out the scream to end all screams.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Even as her breath gave out and her scream dwindled to a silent gasp, the flight began to slow, and a tree appeared beneath Astrid's feet. The talons released her, and for a horrifying second, she was in free fall. Then she struck a thick tree branch that flexed to accommodate her weight, and she clasped it in both hands. The Gore Magala landed right above her, causing the entire top of the tree to dip towards the ground under its mass.

Now that her life wasn't in immediate danger anymore, Astrid's anger blazed back through the fog of fear that had once suppressed it. Ignoring the stinging pain in her palms, she slowly started shuffling hand over hand to the tree's trunk, glaring up at that mop of brown hair sitting all high-and-mighty on his giant pet.

"Hiccup!" she demanded. "Get me down from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain!" he pleaded, staring down at her with big green eyes wide in concern.

How could he have the audacity to patronize her?! What about this situation made him think he could be so calm?! She was dangling dozens of feet above the forest on a flimsy branch, being lectured by a scrawny little failure who was good for nothing but mending weapons, all because said failure had somehow tamed a monster and had used it to kidnap her!

"I am NOT listening to ANYTHING you have to say!" Astrid snarled.

"Then I won't speak," Hiccup answered. "I won't say a word. Just let me show you."

She stared up at him and his outstretched hand; neither his eyes nor his voice implied he was lying. She lowered her head and, approximating the distance between her and the forest floor, made herself reconsider her original plan. She could take a tedious, painful journey down the tree, or she could take Hiccup up on his offer…

Setting her mouth in a hard line, Astrid made her decision. With a flex of her arms, she pulled herself up until she could get her knees onto the tree branch. She got to her feet, balancing precariously, and smacked away the hand that Hiccup offered her. She placed one hand on the Gore Magala's saddle – only hesitating for a moment when the thing growled – and hoisted herself up in one smooth movement.

Gods, she was sitting on a monster's back. It was such a weird sensation that she almost wished she was back in the tree. She raised her arms, unsure of what to hold onto and uncomfortable with every one of the possibilities.

"Now get me down," she said, not quite as firmly as she intended.

Nodding, Hiccup patted the Gore Magala on its head and ordered, "Sightless, down. Gently."

The Gore Magala, seemingly, obeyed, its arms spreading and cape unfurling to a breadth larger than Astrid had expected. It didn't take off right away – it simply sat there, as if taking in the cold breeze that was beginning to pick up.

"See?" Hiccup said to her. "Nothing to be afraid of."

The gods must have been waiting for him to say that, because all Hel broke loose.

When Sightless sprang off the tree and into the air as though launched from a ballista, Hiccup mentally kicked himself for not seeing it coming. Or, he would have, if he wasn't busy trying not to die. Sightless' climb was nearly vertical, threatening to rip him and Astrid straight off the saddle. Hiccup thought he could hear the Hofferson girl's scream over the wind, but didn't want to turn his head to make sure; the wind was racing past him so fast that he almost felt his face being peeled off.

Soon, Sightless leveled out and slowed to cruising speed, allowing Hiccup to get his bearings. As he did, fingers clutched urgently at his face, digging into the skin like it was a lifeline. Hiccup's heart soared when he made the connection – those were Astrid's hands! They felt so soft and smooth despite her ironlike grip, more so than Hiccup had imagined. He wondered if he could get away with holding one of them… to help her hold on, of course. But even so! Astrid! Holding his face! It was almost too much for his adolescent brain.

"Ah ha… he's, uh, not usually like this," Hiccup tried to explain. Astrid relinquished her grip and instead wrapped her arms around his torso, which was even better. He could feel her body heat! And the way her chest pushed right up against his ba–

Then Sightless folded his wingarms.

"Oh no," Hiccup added, and braced himself for the drop.

The fall was as stomach-dropping as he anticipated, but it was nothing compared to the stinging shock of hitting the ocean with the force of a small meteor. One instant there was wind: the next, an impact that rendered the whole body numb. After that was a crippling chill of fresh air as Sightless re-emerged, leaving Hiccup feeling as though he'd just rolled naked in snow. All before he could so much as take a breath.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted as Sightless dunked himself again in the icy brine. "We need her to like us!"

However, Sightless seemed to have lost his ears as well as his eyes. He skimmed the ocean surface at a breakneck pace that dried them off almost instantly, then swerved upwards in another vertical climb. With an apparent desire to one-up himself, though, the Gore Magala added some creative flair in the form of a dizzying series of rolls. The sky, sea, and earth all melded together into a blurred blue canvas, onto which Hiccup's lunch was soon to be the paint. But his building nausea paled in comparison to how annoyed with Sightless he was becoming.

"And now the spinning," he drawled to no-one. He officially had no control over his monster, only able to wait and make sarcastic observations until Sightless was done with his temper tantrum. If he was trying to send a message, this was too over the top.

Sightless stopped as suddenly as he'd begun, and Hiccup used the lull in ridiculous activity to make one more sarcastic observation. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile," he managed to say, just as the useless reptile in question initiated another freefall…

…with more midair rolls. Hiccup's vision had just stopped spinning, too.

Ever since Astrid's mouth had wound up right next to his ear, her screaming had served as constant background noise for Sightless' unwarranted stunts. As they whirled on a collision course with the frigid sea, though, Hiccup noticed that she had gone silent, her face buried into his shoulder. As surreal was it was to believe, Astrid had stopped fighting. She was reduced to squeezing her only ally tight, to hoping that putting her faith in him would save her.

And, in a plaintive voice Hiccup had to strain to hear, she pleaded with all her might, "Okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off this thing…!"

Hiccup saw Sightless' head tilt in their direction. He didn't know if the Gore Magala understood the words, or merely the tone. Either way, as soon as Astrid cast her apology out into the world, everything stopped.

At first, Astrid wasn't aware that they'd stopped. The monster's flight had been so wild and chaotic that her stomach was in knots and her heart was in her mouth. Once her insides caught up with her outsides, however, it dawned on her.

Everything was still.

There was no more biting cold. No more chaotic twirling across the sky. Even the wind had died down to the softest of tickles, tweaking her hair and dancing over her skin. The contrast was so great that she almost believed they'd landed. Is it over? she dared to think.

Curiosity implored her to open her eyes, just a crack.

What met her eyes was, to put it simply, the most incredible sight of her life.

The sky was a brilliant orange blaze, the clouds great formless masses of orange and yellow, like the crowns of trees caught in a forest fire. All was set aflame by the sun that hung just above the sparkling sea, its midday glow diminished so that it appeared as a round disc of red fire perched atop the horizon. Its remaining light spilled all over the surface of the ocean, scattering glittery white stars onto a sea of glowing crimson. Astrid hadn't even realized how close it was to sundown, which made the awe-inspiring spectacle that much more so.

Before Astrid could come to terms with the enchanting sight before her, the monster – was she still on a monster? Her mind didn't seem to find that important anymore – turned away from the sun. The sky shifted gradually from the radiant orange of an inferno to the soft pink of cooked salmon. A crisp gust blew past, and rather than cold, Astrid felt nothing but wonder as she floated up… up and up until there was no more sea, no more land. The clouds were bigger up here, less like blazing treetops and more like… mountains. Great, snowy, towering mountains that stretched not only up, but sideways and diagonally so that they filled up Astrid's entire world.

It was magical, dream-like. Astrid was hypnotized. Her precious Dual Blades, the training arena, Berk itself… none of those existed anymore. A sense of gentle, all-encompassing peace swept everything away and settled its folds over her mind, radiating warmth and comfort throughout her body. Muscles that were used to being worked to their limit relaxed, hands that had once been balled into fists slackened, and eyelids that had just been squeezed shut forgot how to close. Astrid the warrior had been left behind, her feet still shackled on Midgard. Astrid the teenaged girl was flying – no, floating up to another realm, where earthly rules held no influence.

Astrid's eyes eventually meandered upwards, where a foggy grey haze drifted just above her head. It was a cloud, some distant part of her mind told her; why didn't she touch it? The spark of curiosity was a pinprick of light shining through the dreamy daze, and Astrid reached out with a tentative hand. Her fingers brushed against… nothing at all, and instead a cooling wet mist soothed her skin. The clouds were made of water! A giddy, childish delight bubbled up within her, and she flung her arms high above her head with the biggest, silliest smile stretching wide across her face.

She didn't know for how long she was floating through the clouds. All she did know was that, after rising higher and plunging through the mist, it was suddenly nighttime. And, once again, she was spell-bound.

The night sky was all around her, a thick blanket of black pocked with twinkling speckles. The moon cast a soft, silver glow over the clouds she'd just left behind, making it seem as though she were sailing over a sea locked in ice. The monochrome palette of black and white was beautiful, but soon more colors flooded the sky – rippling banners of green and blue, setting the sky alight as surely as she sun had once upon a time.

And then it did. The clouds fell away, and a vast, dark shape appeared below. A familiar shape, one dotted with tiny flickering lights. If it were possible for Astrid's eyes to widen any further, they would have. For indeed, it was Berk. She was staring down at her home from a bird's eye view, the buildings nothing more than anthills in the dark, lit by torches like tiny red stars.

She must have gasped, or made a noise of some kind, because Hiccup turned his head to look at her with emerald-green eyes. Awkward, sarcastic, wonderful Hiccup, who had reached out his hand and brought her to this enchanting wonderland above the clouds. Had she been angry with him? Suddenly, monster training didn't seem all that important anymore. She would rather fly all night, into morning, throughout the next day… maybe forever.

Astrid reached out and resumed her hold on Hiccup's waist, pulling him close so that he was nestled right up against her. A warm, fuzzy contentment crawled up her arms and through her chest to make itself cozy deep within her core. She leaned her head on the Haddock boy's shoulder and sighed. She thought she heard his breath hitch and felt his heart thrum under her fingers, but she ignored it. She was comfortable, and just wanted to revel in his closeness and snuggle him without shame. After all, it was cold, and he was warm and soft.

"Okay, I admit," Astrid murmured, half to Hiccup and half to herself, as she looked down once more at the tiny village a thousand feet below. "This is pretty cool. It's… amazing."

He was amazing.

But maybe she wouldn't let that slip just yet.

So there's a Monster Hunter movie coming out soon, and I don't care what the haters say – beyond some… glaring… issues, it looks pretty nice. Can't wait to see Diablos smash stuff.

Back to the story!

I wanted to do something different for this chapter, so I had it told mostly from Astrid's perspective. I thought it'd be fun to try and get inside her head a little more, explore her thoughts about Hiccup. Even then, I had no idea just how much fun it'd be to write the romantic flight in Astrid's view. I think it's my favorite scene in this story so far.

Still, though, the instant transitions from afternoon to sunset to the dead of night is a little overdramatic, even for a northern latitude.

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, because the fluff ends here. In "Monsters of Berk", I mentioned it was Fatalis that ruled over Helheim's Gate, but now that the Black Dragon has returned in Iceborne and is stronger than ever, I thought it'd be more appropriate to use a weaker, yet even more horrifying, monster for the series' first villain…

Reviews, as always, are welcome!