Wow i can believe how many of you loved this story, i guess we all like to see Hiccup as a bad arsed survivalist. Now most of you will wonder about the names of Astrid parents but i can say they are Norse names, even if i had to google it. But hope you enjoy this one as you did the other two.

Chapter 3-Knowing the truth

"Hello?" an echo could be heard throughout the heavily wooded area as young Astrid Hofferson, Berks future shield-maiden, trudges on through shouting for some response.

She didn't know how she got here, she could have sworn she was at home in her bed, but now she seemed to be in this forest that was slowly getting darker and darker.

But was she scared? No.

Was she being honest? Not even close.

She was petrified, here she was ten years old in an eerily dark forest with no one for miles, no sign of life, not even the tweeting of birds.

Not even a dragon roar.

Just darkness and silence that was driving her mad.

"Hello?" she shouted once again with a little fear in her voice.

But why should she show fear? She's fearless Astrid Hofferson for Thor's sake, she did not show fear, she caused it.

So why was she afraid?

While she was contemplating on why, she didn't notice a dark silhouette upon the forest floor until it was too late as she fell over it and hit the floor herself.

Angry at what tripped her up, she turned her head towards what tripped her only to come across some that not only shocked and scared her, but down right make her sick to her stomach.

The dark silhouette on the ground turned out to be a body, but this body wasn't like anything she ever saw before.

For one thing, it had no head, by the looks of it had be cut clean off leaving only a trail of blood that went away from the rest of the body.

The body itself had been disemboweled like a knife or set of razor sharp claws has ripped open the stomach and pulled out the entire contents, leaving them to rot on the ground.

Deep claw marks surrounded every single part of the bodies limbs as they lay limp in a bloody pool of crimson red.

She wanted to look away but she couldn't, all she could see was that image stuck with her no matter what she did.

What scared her the most was even though the body itself was mangled to hell, it seemed familiar to her.

Maybe it was the small scrawny frame.

Maybe it was the blood and tatter over large tunic that showed a hint of familiar green.

She didn't know what to think, for some strange reason, she needed to find the head.

She didn't know why, but she had to.

Following the bloody trail that came from the open neck where the head used to be, she slowly and hesitantly walked for several yards, keeping her guard up in case whatever did that horrific crime was still around.

She wouldn't go down without a fight.

Closer and closer she walked and the more the spine chilling feeling grew until she saw the small dark shape on the floor where the trail was leading her to.

She lifted her axe from its strap across her back as she used the head to carefully shift the head so she could see the face.

But as soon as she did, she dropped her axe and began to scream loudly as her whole body, from head to toe, went ghostly pale.

The head belonged to non other than Hiccup, the messy auburn hair lay limp and lifeless, the skin around his face was grey and showing signs of decomposing as his lifeless eye laid open in shock, more due to what had killed him in the first place as they laid there staring back at the screaming Astrid, piercing her very soul.

As she slowed down her screaming to a whimper, what happened next made her scream even more.

The head began to speak.

"Astrid..."

She started to hyperventilate as tears came streaming down her face.

"Astrid..."

She didn't want to be there, she wanted to be home, with her family and friends, she didn't want to see this.

"Astrid, Astrid wake up!"

Suddenly Astrid closed her eyes and when she opened them up again she was in her bed as her mother was shaking her awake, panic in her eyes, feeling a cold sweat all over her body and tear stains down her cheeks.

She realized what it was, a nightmare, but why did it feel real.

"Astrid dear are you okay?"

Astrid could only look at her mother before embracing her as she cried again, at this point she didn't give a damn if it was unviking like, she was in her home where no one could see her.

Her mother, Hella Hofferson, knew all too well what got her daughter into this state, it's been happening a few weeks now since Hiccup was kicked out of the village, to which she shamefully didn't do anything to prevent it, neither did she or her husband, Agusto, vote for him to be kicked out.

Even they, being a proud family of warriors, couldn't find it in their heart to banish a ten year old for something that might have been an accident.

But what's done is done and they thanked Thor every day that it wasn't their own daughter, who right now was in her mothers arms, trying to calm down.

"Another nightmare?" Hella asked her softly to which Astrid replied with a short nod, Hella simple sighed as she knew what it was about.

"Astrid, dear, just go and ask Gobber about Hiccup, at least if you know how he is then you can be at peace" it was at this point Astrid looked up at her mother with concern.

"But w-what if he's..." she didn't get to finished as Hella hush her before she could.

"If he had been then Gobber wouldn't be this happy then I ever saw him"

It was true, the first week, Gobber was pissed off with the whole village, even wanting to take Spitelouts head clean off, not that she would have minded, the Hoffersons and Jorgenson have never gotten along.

But with Gobber, after he went to visit Hiccup the first week, he came back with a genuine smile on his face so she would have to guess that the boys doing well.

But she wish that Astrid would just go and ask him, hopefully this time she would as her nightmares are getting out of hand.

Astrid meanwhile is debating in her head whether to take her mothers advice and go speak to Gobber or not, but she knew if she didn't the nightmares would only get worse.

She sighed as she thought it over, giving her mother her answer.

"I'll ask him in the morning mother"

Hella smiled as she laid Astrid down in her bed and kissed her good night as she left for her own room to sleep.

Astrid however couldn't sleep, she was thinking about her nightmare.

Was there any truth to it?

Was Hiccup really in danger?

But then she remembered her mother say to her about Gobber smiling. Even Astrid knows the old blacksmith practically raised, treating him like a son.

If he was smiling, then Hiccup must be alright.

But she still wanted to know, she wanted to make sure he was safe with her own two eyes.

And now she had an idea how.

The next morning.

As Astrid woke up and made her way from her home to the forge, the first thing she sees is Gobber, holding onto a piece of parchment, looking fully focus on what was on it.

So much so he never saw or heard the young future shield-maiden walk into the forge until she coughed, scaring the wits out of the blacksmith.

"Odin's great soiled underpants!" he shouts as he turns around to see a sheepish Astrid waving at him earning a dead panned look from him "don' scare the shite out of me like that again lass! I nearly had a one way ticket to Valhalla"

Astrid gave an innocent smile telling the blacksmith she didn't mean to.

"S-sorry Gobber I didn't mean to scare you"

Gobber simply rolled his eyes at the young girl.

"Meh, don' worry about it lass, it'll take more than a scare to take ol' Gobber down" he proudly says as he pounds his chest with his hook hand as he gets back to what he was doing beforehand, but still keeping his ears open "anythin' I can help you out with there Astrid?"

She nearly forgot why she wanted to come here until she spotted the parchment in Gobbers hand and the over large open sack that appeared to have a few bits of tools and stones inside of it.

"Err, can I ask what's with the sack?" she asked pointing towards it as Gobber looked too until he shrugged.

"Jus' a few things Hiccup needs fer his latest project" he said casually as he looked back at the parchment then to the sack several time "I think that's everything on his list" he said before putting the parchment in his trouser pocket as he went over to the sack to seal it up.

"Is tha' all ye wanted ta ask lass? If not then please spit it out before I go to meet up with the lad"

"That's wanted to ask you about!" she said with a little panic in her voice causing Gobber to stop what he was doing to look at Astrid, raising one eyebrow at her.

"Wha' ya want to know lass?"

At that moment she knew what she wanted to say, she had spent the night trying to make it sound right, but at the moment she needed to say it, she forgot how she wanted to word it.

She had to admit she was doing an un-Astrid thing.

She was nervous.

But she still needed to say it. So taking in a large gulp of air she said it in one breath.

"Iwanttoknowifhiccupsalrightbecauseihadanightmarethathewasdead!" she shouted taking in air afterwards.

Gobber, however, looked confused at what she said.

"Err lass could ya repeat that, bu' slow it down a wee notch"

Astrid sighed having to repeat herself again but she straightened herself up as she calmed her nerves.

"I just want to know if Hiccup is okay is all" she said slower with a hint of annoyance in her voice while she looked down to the ground, rubbing her right hand over her left arm.

Gobber, finally getting at what she was saying, simply shrugged.

"Oh is tha' all?" she nodded in acknowledgement as he carried on "well the lads doing okay, better than okay in fact which is the reason I'm taking these tools ta him, a few things fer his forge"

Astrid shot her head from down to look up to Gobber so fast, she was sure she'll regret that later on. But at the moment she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly.

"D-did you just say his forge?" Gobber simply nodded like it was no big deal.

"An actual forge?"

Gobber rolled his eyes as he carried on "yes, Astrid, an actual forge"

"What you built him" she carried on questioning, but was shock at the answer he gave her.

"No, what he built himself"

"B-but surely you..."

"Told him how to build one and what materials he needed ta make one as well as a few extra tools ta get them, he gathered the supplies, he laid the foundation and he built it with his own hands, I helped a bit, the lads good but he isn't tha' good" he chuckled as he finished closing his sack up and putting out the fire to the forge "well tha's the fire put out, don' want someone coming in here again ta set fire to the place again" afterwards he walked past Astrid toward the exit but stopped as head heard her say something that annoyed him.

"Well surely with Hiccup not here there will be no forge on fire"

Gobber sighed sadly and, without looking at her, spoke.

"So yew think Hiccup did it too Astrid?" he sighed again as he walked waited for Astrid to hesitantly walk out so he can close it up.

Astrid looked at Gobber with a raised eyebrow.

"But surely you can't believe him, I mean he nearly burnt down your home"

This time Gobber did turn around sharply with a glare on his face as Astrid back away, both from surprise and fear.

"An' I told ya he didn' do it!" he shouted, making a few passers-by stop in their track as they looked at him as he turned around again, walking away.

"God day miss Hofferson" and with that he was into the forest and out of sight.

Leaving a very stunned Astrid in place.

Over an hour later at the cove.

It took him a little longer to get there since the weight of the sack was slowing him down, but he made it just in time to see Hiccup chopping up a few log for lighting up the forge.

Gobber was impressed by the boys skills in building.

The building of the forge itself consisted of three walls and an open one, for extra ventilation.

The whole thing itself was larger than his own back in the village, something he always wanted to do in future, but with the war with dragons, he never got time to.

The hearth and forge were made from carefully placed and perfectly cut stones thanks to Hiccups steady hands as they were positioned in the centre of the room as the large bellow stuck out through the opened wall.

The anvil itself was just a large flat rock with a piece of sheet metal on top, Gobber did offer Hiccup on of his spare ones but he insisted he'll make his own once he had enough iron, for now he was using stone tools so wouldn't need a proper one till he start metallurgy. For that he needed the pickaxe for.

He had the forge big because of his work bench and design desk, the place where the magic happens as Gobber used to put it.

The forge was at its basics but in time Hiccup could upgrade and make it bigger and better each time.

Gobber then spotted the boy putting more chopped wood in a bunker next to the forge itself, he was dirtied up, his hair was sticking up more than usual and he was only wearing his under vest instead of his green tunic and fur jacket.

"Hey muscles, go wash yaself up and put a shirt on, you don't want the lasses catching ya like this, they'll have their wicked way with ya!" Gobber chuckle as Hiccup went red with embarrassment as he rushed to the lake, dunking his head in before heading to his hung up tunic on the nearby tree and putting on before dead-panning Gobber.

"Gobber! I'm ten years old..."

"...soon eleven" Gobber added earning a glare from Hiccup.

"Even that Gobber, I'm not interested in girls, they're weird and they think I'm even weirder!"

Gobber merely rolled his eyes.

"Come on lad there must be some wee lass ya got the hots for?"

Thus made Hiccup frown as he slumped down next to the fire near his cave.

"Well yeah, there was Astrid but I knew I had no chance with her, she could do better than me"

Gobber started to frown too as he sat next to the boy patting his shoulder.

"Now don't start thinking that lad, no lass can do better than you, whereas most would want all muscle and no brains, they'll need you lad, because ya smart, gentle, a sarcastic little shit" this made both of them chuckle "but that makes you, you lad, and that's all Astrid could have had"

Hiccup had to smile "yeah your right Gobber, but she used to make my stomach feel quesy every time I thought of her or was near her, hell we used to be inseparable when we were younger, even pulling pranks on a few villagers, ranging from throwing Mildews rotting cabbage into his outhouse to stealing your left socks and blaming it on trolls"

Gobber glared at the boy before smacking him around the head with the blunt end of his hook "Ya little git! Ya made me believe that we had trolls going around the village, stealing socks when all the time it was yew little sods!"

At that Hiccup couldn't help laughing which Gobber could resist laughing as well, it was a funny prank.

It went on like this for a minute before Hiccup finally calmed down as he got his breath back and sighed, remembering what they were talking about.

"It all changed Gobber, when we were five and the Flightmare attacked, ever since her uncle froze, she was determined to gain back her families honour, even if it meant pushing me away" he looked down trying not to cry to little success as tiny drops came from his eyes as he carried on.

"I-I guess I wasn't Viking enough for her" Gobber felt sad for the boy as he held him close to his.

"Just before I was banished, I-I just wanted her to believe me that it wasn't my fault, but I saw the truth Gobber" Hiccup closed his eyes as he controlled his breathing "she didn't just like the others"

At this Gobber sighed that Hiccup knew all about this before he got a chance to say it.

"I know lad, I know, she confirmed it herself" at this Hiccup looked toward Gobber with a furrowed brow.

"What you mean confirmed?"

Gobber went on to explaining to him about Astrid turning up to the forge before he left to come here, that she was asking if he was okay and quite frankly didn't believe Hiccup could build a forge.

Hiccup merely scoffed in humour at this "more like thinking I couldn't build one without burning it to the ground" he chuckled before sighing.

"Well Gobber maybe one day she'll learn the truth, but for now I'm not going to be the one to tell her, she'll have to find out on my own" he then stood up before placing more logs onto the fire as Gobber looked at him.

"Are ya alright lad?" Hiccup merely shrugged.

"It hurts I can admit, but I've been used to this sort of pain before with her, mainly when she ignored my cry for help when Snotlout and the twins beat me up, made me feel worthless" he then looked up to the sky before looking around the cove.

"But now I'm free Gobber, no more bullying, no more negative remarks from the villagers, and no pleading for Astrid to help me, In fact pretty soon she'll forget about me like she used to do" he then smiled as he gestured Gobber to follow him to the forge wanting to show off his new designs which the old blacksmith happily hobble after.

Little did either of them know that above the cave on the edge of the cove sat the blond-haired warrior with her knees up to her chest, crying her eyes out.

She didn't know how much pain and suffering she had cause Hiccup.

And now he was practically done with her.

She wanted to go down there and beg for forgiveness for ignoring him, for making him feel worthless.

But she didn't want to hurt him either further.

All she could do at this point was whimper three words over and over again.

"I'm sorry Hiccup"