Thinking of You…

Hiccup walked out of his hut into the biting chill of the air, followed closely by Toothless. While Berk was always cold, even in summer, there was an unnatural frigidity that had descended on the small island. This was mainly because of all the ice—ever since Drago Bludvist's death, the whole village had been called for a massive clean-up and dumping of the Bewilderbeast's ice into the sea. While this was being expedited enormously by the large (to say the least) pack of dragons released from its power, there were still large patches of ice everywhere—outside the doors, on the windows, even on the giant statue of the former chief, Stoick the Vast, that was resting outside the doors of the great hall. It was in fact this "former" status that made Hiccup feel the chill much more than everyone else. He sighed once more. Not a good start to the day

"Sorry bud. I really am acting like a grump today, aren't I?" He asked his Night Fury regretfully.

Toothless wrinkled his nose in a sympathetic sort of way. He didn't remember what happened to his dearest friend's father, but he realized he was the one who caused it. He was immensely grateful to Hiccup for breaking the Alpha's hold on him, and for forgiving him for what he did. His eyes widened when he realized how to make his friend stop sighing so much.

"Hey, bud!" Hiccup laughed as Toothless nudged him forward a little bit. Unknown to Hiccup, Toothless was pushing him right where a hard-to-spot patch of ice was lying. It was decently hidden from human eyes, but no match for a Night Fury's keen senses.

"Toothless! Hey Bu—WHOA!"

His metal leg slipped on the frozen ground, and he fell, almost somersaulting as he tripped backward and hit the ground hard.

"TOOTHLESS!"

Toothless gave his signature gurgle; it was quite obvious he was laughing.

"Bad dragon! Very, very bad dragon." Hiccup got up, checking quickly around to see if anyone had seen his humiliating slip. Hiccup saw no one, so he dusted off his vest in a relieved fashion. That's when it hit him.

"Where is everyone?"

As Hiccup glided over Berk, he sighed again, not even caring if Toothless thought him a grumpy passenger.

He had found the people of Berk outside the Great Hall, bowing in reverence to his late father's statue. He had realized that his presence, as the new chief of Berk, would be considered intrusive; so all he did was circle a couple of times up high, not enough time to be noticed but enough to pay his own respects. He scratched Toothless thoughtfully, not paying much attention to where they were going. If he had, he would have probably noticed the sleek blue dragon soaring around them. Its rider was, in fact, the only person who had looked up and seen the black silhouette of Toothless on the sky.

Toothless flew on and on, with the blue following carefully. Hiccup lost track of time up there in the clouds. He always loved the skies above Berk—they were so peaceful, and spending time up there could really change your perspective on things. In fact, he thought with a smile, these skies had changed the perspective of one of the village's fiercest dragon haters. Now, she was, impossibly, his fiancée. His smile widened as he thought of the hair-raising ride Toothless had given them. Not the most romantic of first dates, especially since it started with Astrid beating him up and threatening to do much worse.

Toothless pricked up, and looked around. Hiccup laughed, because he seemed to have read his mind. He scratched Toothless a couple of times, then resumed his thoughts. Toothless had, in fact, picked up on another dragon entering their vicinity-and he smiled a toothless smile when he recognized the scent of the dragon and the rider. He slowed down imperceptibly, to give the Nadder a better chance of catching up. Night Furies are fast, even when soaring.

All the warning Hiccup had was a rush of wind before he felt a thump right behind him on the saddle, and thin, warm arms wrapped around his waist. He let out a muffled shriek as the girl behind him pressed into his back, before realizing it was the very fiancée he had been daydreaming about.

"Astrid! We were just talking about you…"

Astrid raised her eyebrows. "Talking?"

"You know what I mean..."

She smiled. "Yeah, I do, don't I?" Toothless and her dragon, Stormfly, had started a squawking conversation. They were very close friends, the first and third dragons on Berk to ever trust a viking.

After a couple of minutes they felt Toothless slowing down, and the air rushed past them as they descended. When they looked down, they saw a small seastack, and farther out a cascade of trees once filled with orange color, but now cold and snow-caked. It looked strangely familiar...

Toothless touched down. Hiccup and Astrid slid off, and the exceptionally dangerous unholy offspring of lightning and death itself started rolling and playing in the grass like a newborn kitten.

"Wuss."

Toothless bared his teeth, and his tail flashed out, tripping up Hiccup almost the instant he said the word. He landed hard on the grass. Again.

In Astrid's defense, she did try to hold it in. She really did. But at Hiccup's face, a combination of cute surprise and mild indignation, she couldn't hold it in. Tears of laughter ran down her face as she full-out howled at the stricken Hiccup. She didn't even notice the look Stormfly gave her, and the single spine that she shot just behind her left leg.

"Oh gods, Hiccup, sorry, but you should have seen the look on your fa—AHH!" Hiccup saw it in slow motion-she backed up a little too much, and tripped over the spine. Astrid landed even harder then Hiccup had, and made a curious combination of a laugh and a whimper that had Hiccup fighting for breath as it was his turn to laugh. Astrid scowled, rolled over and swatted him. He narrowed his eyes. "Nuh-uh, not this time!" He started tickling her, and she squealed in indignation. She tried to get away, but Hiccup scrambled after her, and the ensuing scuffle was intense. Astrid had almost pinned Hiccup, who was squirming around like crazy, when they heard a loud SNORT. They immediately looked at the two dragons, who were watching them with a bored look in their eyes. It was obvious in both their eyes that Toothless had called either Hiccup or both of them a wuss. Hiccup was not very amused. He stuck his tongue out at them (which Toothless immediately copied) then turned around and sat down next to Astrid on the grass. Astrid was still giggling.

"Will you stop laughing?" Hiccup said, exasperated. Astrid held her breath for about two seconds as she looked at Hiccup with what was meant as a cold, serious stare. Then she gave up and exploded laughing again, this time with Hiccup joining in at the look on her face.

"Those two plotted that, didn't they?" Astrid grinned back at Stormfly who fixed her with a coy 'squawk.'

"Probably from the instance you jumped on Toothless." Hiccup smiled. "They really know how to make a couple enjoy themselves."

The two sat in comfortable silence for the next few minutes, Astrid leaning her head against Hiccup's shoulder and his arm around her. After a while, though, Astrid felt Hiccup shift. She looked up at his face. His expression was troubled, and he was just staring off into space. She sighed and sat up.

"Okay Hiccup—out with it."

He didn't respond immediately. She thought he hadn't heard the question until he suddenly spoke, very softly so she had to lean in to catch his words.

"I was just wondering…were Dad and Mom like…this? Were they this happy?"

"Oh, Hiccup." Astrid hugged him. She pulled away and looked at his face. His expression hadn't changed. She sighed again, and started braiding his hair; she loved doing that. "Hiccup, Stoick and Valka were just as happy as us, maybe more. That's why he never gave up on finding her again. He dedicated his life to being reunited with his family, his whole family. And he did! His last days were his happiest in his whole life! You gotta stop thinking this is somehow your fault. He did what any good father would do—he sacrificed his own good for the good of his people, for you. For us. I don't know what I'd do if you were the one under that ice, Hiccup." She kissed his cheek.

Hiccup sighed.

Astrid saw what he was thinking, and frowned. "And don't you dare think that you could have stopped him. Stoick was at least 400 pounds, and however amazing you are, you can't even beat me in a tickle fight, and I'm lighter than you." He smiled slightly.

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"Nope." She said happily. "You know its true."

He smiled tenderly as he turned his brilliant emerald gaze on her. She always had loved his eyes, even when he was the runt at dragon training. "Does it seem like this has happened before?"

"What? Me telling you what an idiot you are and that I love you? You think?"

He laughed at that and kissed her on the forehead. "Well, that to. But do you remember this place?"

Astrid squinted at the trees, then gasped as her mind filled in the absent colors, and a smoking trapper fort, way off in the distance. "This is that place? The one where you were talking about being chief! And we found that fort! And you called it that stupid name, what was it..."

"Itchy Armpit." Hiccup supplied with a grin. "Toothless' idea."

"Yeah, I bet. You just ran out of cool names and that dorky brain of yours started working overtime."

Hiccup laughed, and Astrid smiled with a slight sense of triumph. It was very hard to ever get Hiccup to talk about what was bothering him, and she seemed to have scored a small victory.

There was another moment of silence between them, but Astrid regretfully stood up and stretched. "Sorry Hiccup, I promised I would do an extra shift of ice clean-up. It starts pretty soon."

Hiccup looked up at her and smiled. "It's all right. I should fly back soon anyway. Anyway, you're Astrid—always helping everyone around her, even a one-legged, useless—mmmff?"

Astrid had instantly dropped down and kissed him, straight on the lips, effectively shutting him up. She held it for a couple of seconds, then pulled back. She smiled, which he returned in a goofy sort of way.

Then she punched him on the shoulder. Hard.

"OWWW! What was that for?"

Astrid smiled in that cute way that Hiccup loved. "No one calls my babe useless and gets away with it." She walked over to Stormfly and saddled her up. Just before she flew away, she turned back to see the auburn-haired figure looking out into the trees again.

"What are you thinking about now?"

She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was smiling.

"I'm just thinking, Milady. I'm just thinking of you…"

A/N: Rewrite added more dialogue, and I added the 'Tickle fight' and 'Astrid remembers' scenes. Hope you enjoyed!