CHAPTER 5

BANG!

Hiccup jumped as the door shut behind him. He slowly turned around to meet red fiery eyes. Hiccup leapt back in surprise as saw Aliyah, almost stumbling in the process. Luckily Aliyah caught him by his arm before he could fall. She let a small giggle escape her mouth as he stood upright. "Come on, I'm not that scary looking. Am I?" She said trying her best to fake sounding hurt by her actions.

"No. No. You're not scary at all." Hiccup stuttered, falling for trick. "I mean you're really pretty actually." He continued. His emerald eyes widened when he realised what he just said. He had hoped Aliyah hadn't realised it as well, but she did, and she was going to enjoy messing with him.

"So you think I'm pretty Hiccup." She teased. Hiccup's face turned red. The young boy didn't know how to respond. Aliyah walked up to him and bent down to meet his gaze. She could have sworn he was getting redder than Stoick's beard.

"I….I….," the young boy stuttered only for her to cut him off.

"I'm teasing." She told him, as she continued to giggle at his dismay. "You should have seen the look on your face. It was redder than you dad's beard" She said in between breaths. When she finally finished she turned to face Hiccup, " But seriously. How are you going to impress Astrid if you get freaked out every time you see a girl?" She asked.

"In my defence you did sneak up on me." He countered, before realizing what had she just said. "Wait how did you-"

Aliyah held up his notebook, revealing various sketches of a blonde Viking girl. "The drawings along with the word Astrid may have given me a hint, or two, or twelve. Seriously how many of these did you do of her?" She asked, skimming through more of the pages.

Hiccup wasn't having any of it. He tried to snatch it from her but she moved her hand up last second, putting the book out of his reach. "Hey. Gimme it" He said, trying to jump to reach it but failing due to their height difference.

"Nope," She responded moving her hand away. "Not until you tell me about your crush on Astrid." She continued. Hiccup continued jumping while Aliyah gracefully avoids each of his attempts. He continues to try and get book by jumping, not realising that he's making more noise than he should. He moves forward, practically lunging at Aliyah, who easily moves out of his way. Finally he tries once more think he finally got Aliyah, only for her to sidestep at the last second. He realized to late that she had tricked him into lunging.

CRASH!

The sound of a boy hitting a wall was heard followed by the falling of several things of the shelf on the wall. Several items fell of the shelf and would have nearly hit Hiccup on the head, except for an old book that did land on his head. "Ouch" the boy winced as he slowly tried to get up. Aliyah offered him her arm to which he took as got up.

"HICCUP!" a loud voice rang as someone banged on the door.

Both Aliyah and Hiccup were shocked to hear Stoic banging on the door. Hiccup quickly scurried around the room, trying to tidy up the mess he made. He grabbed his journal and quickly slid it under the bed. He quickly opened the door to his father, who was looking really tense. Both Hiccup and Aliyah paled on seeing him. Hiccup more so because he knew his father wouldn't see Aliyah nor would he believed she even existed.

"What was with the loud racket?" his father asked. Hiccup didn't know how to answer. If he told him he was chasing a girl (who only he could see) around his room for his journal because said girl wanted to see his sketches of his crush, his father might have thought him to be mad like Larry the Loony, or maybe think that Hiccup had drank Mead. Hiccup was sweating unsure of how to answer.

Aliyah quietly crouched down to the boy's side and whispered into his ear. "Tell him that there was a dragon in your room." She looked to see the boy was still a bit frightened by his father and was unwilling to speak.

"Well out, with it Hiccup." The large man ordered

Aliyah whispered into his ear in a much softer tone. "Trust me."

Deciding to trust his only friend, Hiccup told his father that there was a dragon in his room. Like anyone could imagine Stoic was beyond angry at Hiccup for making such a claim. He was about to scold the boy and teach him a lesson about making jokes like that when a mini fireball was shot right between them. Both Hiccup and Stoic were taken aback by the blast and turned to where it was shot from. Lo and behold, a small green dragon, a terrible terror was sitting on the window edge looking at them curiously.

Not wasting a moment Stoic grabbed and ripped the shelf straight of the wall and proceeded to try and club the small dragon. The dragon was no fool it knew trouble when it saw it, and a large man moving a chunk at wood at you was definitely it. The dragon jumped off the window edge just as the man brought the club down on the place it was standing and flapped its wings as it flew out into the sky, disappearing into the forest.

Stoic mentally cursed himself for missing the dragon. He moved to go follow it outside when he heard his son call him. "Ummm…Dad….aren't you….ummm… forgetting something." He turned to face son. He looked at him with confused look try to figure out what he had forgotten. His son motioned to the make shift weapon his hands and then to ground with stuff that had fallen when he pulled out the shelf. Stoick felt slightly embarrassed when he realised his son wanted his shelf back.

"Sorry son," He apologised, rested the shelf down. He looked back at his son. "Sorry, I almost didn't believe you about that dragon son, but next time why don't you call the Vikings to handle a dragon."

Hiccup nervously scratched the back of his head. "Okay I'll do it, next time a dragon attacks, I'll be sure to ring you." He responded to his father.

"Good, now I'm off. That little demon isn't going to slay itself." His father spoke, as he stepped out the door. "Good night."

"Good night, Dad." Hiccup responded. Stoic left the room and both Hiccup and Aliyah let out a breath they both didn't know they were holding. Hiccup and Aliyah stared at each other for a minute before Aliyah started to chuckle.

"That was a close one huh. You should have seen the look on your face." She told him. "It was priceless." Hiccup stared at the girl with wonder. One moment she was calm and collected, knowing just how to handle a situation, and the next moment she was acting like Ruff and Tuff. Well maybe with little less 'Nutiness' in the mix. Deciding not to question the girl anymore, he proceed to clean up his room.

Aliyah after now done laughing, decided to help as well. As they finally finished putting the last of Hiccup's books away, Hiccup turned to Aliyah. "Where's Rush?" he asked.

"Out." Aliyah responded, turning to face the boy. "He told me something about a sheep kissing Snotlout today. Would you care to tell me that story?" she asked. The little eight-year old merely nodded as he jumped onto bed. Aliyah sat on the chair by his desk and listened as he recalled the tale.

Meanwhile Rush was running through the forest chasing a dragon with strange bone armour. "Got you." The boy muttered under his cloak. He jumped up a tree and tried to bend it back, when it couldn't bend anymore the tree snapped back into shape, sending Rush flying like a stone from a slingshot. The dragon apparently had a rider, dressed in a similar like bone armour. The rider noticed Rush fast approaching and stared the dragon out of the way. Rush missed the dragon and rider but quickly grabbed another tree. This time the tree launched him upward. The rider and dragon were initially startled when the tree nearly smacked into them, nevertheless they avoided it. What they didn't avoid was Rush landing right on the back of the dragon. The rider turned around only to be greet with Rush slamming into them sending both Rush and the rider off the dragon. The dragon realising its rider was missing turned around looking for him. It tried to give out a roar of distress but when it opened its mouth not a sound was heard. Rush and the rider meanwhile fell to the forest floor.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I bet you guys didn't expect an update so soon. Well consider this a new year's present. Tell me what you guys think of the story so far and if you all are interested check out my other story 'Return of the Cybeast'. Like always, fav, follow and review. Constructive criticism is accepted. Also a shout out to the miraculousdragonmaster who reviewed last chapter.