Hello everybody, I am actually alive! What a shock I know. Yes, it has been like 15 months since an update but we can ignore that and focus on the fact that it's finally here!

I hope everyone is doing well in these horrific times (for anyone in the future, it's 2020 and COVID-19 is a thing), and that this brings you a bit of happiness! :)


****Austen's POV****

Oh, gods, I messed up. I really messed up.

I stare blankly at Hicca's retreating figure until she disappears into the forest. It was like my feet were stuck to the ground and I couldn't get them to work. As soon as her figure disappeared, my feet seemed to work again as I suddenly ran forward. I quickly stopped though, turning around and running in search of another person.

"Chief Stoick!" I ran through the village, looking for him. I quickly found him with Gobber who was still at the forge working over a sword. Chief Stoick was sitting right outside and almost yelling to be heard over the clanging.

"Chief! I messed up! I need your help!" As I shouted, his head snapped up and he stood, worried. Apparently, my face somehow showed that my problem was with Hicca rather than a problem that could turn into a danger for the whole village since instead of running toward me and interrogating me for information, he merely sat down again with an amused look on his face. As I reached him, I put my hands on my knees and panted briefly, vaguely seeing Gobber sit by the window to clearly listen in.

"I may have messed up with Hicca."

"And how did you manage to do that?" Stoick said, somehow sounding both amused and protective.

"Well… I may have…. lied and told Snotlout that I wasn't interested in Hicca… and called her pathetic and desperate to marry me." I said, getting quieter as I went on.

"Now, while I want to punch you for hurting Hicca like that, I'm not going to. Instead, I'm gonna help you because I know that she could be happy with you in the future."

"So? What do I do to have her forgive me?" I asked eagerly, looking between him and Gobber who was looking very serious for once.

"You've gotta grovel, son," Stoick said gravely.

"What?" I asked, confused about what he meant.

"Grovel. As in begging for forgiveness on yer knees. I had to do it many times with Valka." He says with a faraway look in his eyes, Gobber nodding along in agreement.

Well that's gross

"I-Chief, how am I supposed to do that if she won't listen to me though?" I asked him, knowing fully well that Hicca wouldn't listen, and I couldn't blame her.

"Then make her listen. My most successful method was getting Valka in a room and sitting by the door so she couldn't leave. Of course, she kept hitting me in an attempt to get me to move but perseverance and motivation are both important, especially when it comes to women," He said with a nod. I looked to Gobber to confirm his statement but he just shrugged at me and tilted his head toward Stoick.

"Well… I'll try my best then." I said with a deep breath in before striding away from the forge and toward my own house.


****Hicca's POV****

I ran into the forest, reeling from the event I had just witnessed. With a start I noticed that there were tears forming in my eyes but quickly willed them away, unwilling to cry over Austen. Too quickly, I arrived at the cove where Toothless was and slowly maneuvered through the rocks, gaining entrance.

"Hicca? What's wrong? Why are you crying? I can smell tears." Toothless said, bounding out of wherever he was and stopping really close to me, sniffing around as if the reason for my tears would be obvious.

"I'm not crying," I said, knowing full well that he could smell the tears that refused to go away. One glance at the disbelieving expression on Toothless made me scoff and let the tears fall. Toothless soon became a blurry black blob that moved closer as I began to rant.

"The better question would be what isn't wrong with my life," I said slowly getting more heated as I continued, "Well the main thing is this whole Austen issue. First, his parents come to my dad to try and arrange a MARRIAGE, and he reacts by saying he has feelings for me. Then, my idiotic bully of a cousin and him end up talking. That'd be fine normally but I overheard what they were talking about. Austen said that he doesn't have feelings for me and that I'm a pathetic girl that's desperate for his attention. So he's a lying jerk who I want to throw off of a cliff, but my dad probably won't let me which makes me even more annoyed." When I finally stopped I was panting from not taking a breath that whole time and quickly noticed a low growl coming from Toothless who had moved closer to me while I had ranted, ending up curled around me in some form of an embrace. Instead of being surprised, I was touched by his concern and honestly very comfortable.

It seemed to take a second for Toothless to digest my rant but when he did, his response was very low, "Well he sounds stupid, and he definitely doesn't deserve any time or forgiveness on your part. Either ignore him completely or tell your dad what Austen did. That should result in some pain on that boy's end, which is what he deserves."

The blunt response made me laugh at the simplicity, Toothless shortly following. Our laughs seemed to break the tension in the cove that had been there since I arrived. Without really meaning to, I ended up laying on my back with my eyes closed, feeling the heat radiating from Toothless on my left side. I had no idea how much time passed but it seemed like minutes before our peace was interrupted.

"Hicca, the sun is setting…" Toothless said, breaking the quiet. I shot up from my position and saw that the sun was indeed almost nearly gone. Considering the sun was fairly high in the sky when I first got to the cove, I was confused about how so much time had gone by without my knowing. As I stared in vague horror at the sun that was slowly disappearing, one thing ran through my mind.

"Oh my gods, my dad's gonna kill me."


I ran back to my house all the way from the cove. Once my house was in view I paused to catch my breath, not wanting dad to question why I was panting or sweating. Noting that the sun had indeed gone completely down at some point on my journey back, I hesitantly opened my front door with a faint creaking sound. I peeked in to see my dad sitting on a chair in front of the fire and slowly moved over to him.

"Hey, dad," I said, noticing his immediate jump from hearing my voice. Whatever he had been thinking about

"Hicca, dear gods! Why were you out so late? It's well past sunset now. I thought that we'd agreed that you'd be home before sunset! Where have you even been going?" That last question made me break out into a sweat so I did the only thing I could do - I avoided it and didn't answer.

"Well, I have been thinking of ideas that I can work on in the forge and lost track of time." While those statements were both true, they didn't have the same meaning for dad and I. "Since I don't have the exact measurements and methods ready yet, I'm not going to the forge so I don't distract Gobber with my brainstorming. Of course, if Gobber needs me though, I'll totally be there helping out and doing stuff."

"Ah, well that makes sense. It's quite a good thing for yeh to do lass. I know that it can be hard with the other teens going off to do things together and you're with Gobber in the forge." Dad said before changing the topic, "Now, I'm quite certain that dinner is ready so how about we eat?"

We ate dinner together in oddly comfortable silence, although I could tell that dad wanted to say something, possibly connected to what he was staring into the fire about when I had first come home. Of course, right as I went to walk upstairs to my room, dad calls me back, presumably to share what's been on his mind

"Ok, so Hicca... I know you've got a lot happening right now, and things you're working through. but I figured that there's been enough time and I want you to join the other teens in dragon training!" Dad said with a weird hand motion resembling jazz hands.

What. what? WHAT?!

"You want me to do what?" I asked, needing confirmation on what I had heard.

"I want you to join the other teens in dragon training! It can be a way to get your mind off of those things!" Dad said, still doing his weird hand motion.

"You do realize that my main problem is with Austen. Who is also a teen, and will be in dragon training? Making it impossible for me to not focus on that while I'm there?" I said dryly. Dad's face fell, seeing the logic in my argument.

"While you make a good point," he started before pausing. After a moment, it was clear why when he rushed out the rest of that sentence, "I may have already signed you up and you start next week. Love you, Goodnight!" After that, he practically ran upstairs and slammed his door, stopping any chance I had to protest.


Okay, that's it for this one. I plan on actually focusing on this story and am almost done with the next chapter. See you soon!

For my chapter question thingy: What is your favorite color? Mine is purple

Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow for more!

~Night Fury's Avenger


P.S. CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THIS SOMEHOW HAS ALMOST 31.5K VIEWS? AND 145 REVIEWS AND 140-145 FAVES AND FOLLOWS?

This was literally a story I started on a whim and was like "meh why not" and didn't expect anything to come from it. But here we are now with people apparently liking my writing and that makes me happy. So thank you to every single person reading this.