I am so sorry about the wait guys. You are all so patient. You are all amazing!

My excuse this time is that I am currently in the Philippines. Been really busy going places and trying all sorts of food (they eat a lot here). Fortunately for you guys, I am ill right now so I have time to post a chapter.

Anyway, I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.

Enjoy the chapter!

Astrid woke up early as had become her routine over the past few weeks. There was something about the village in the early morning that she loved. There weren't many in the village who liked to get up early. The streets were quiet and the early morning light bounced off walls and windows and paved stones. The only people awake were the fisherman and the bakers.

She smiled as she walked down the stairs of her home, avoiding the creaky step in the middle so as not to wake her parents. She helped herself to a piece of bread that sat on the table finishing it off quickly before picking up her axe.

She ran her finger across the engraved handle. It had been a gift from Hiccup. He had given it to her a week after she had gotten her Dragon Mark. Her name had been intricately carved into the handle, a handle which fit in her hand perfectly. It was perfectly weighted and was light enough for her to swing around without tiring too quickly.

Grabbing an apple off the table, Astrid opened the front door and headed outside. She took a bite out of her apple, smiling at the satisfying crunch sound, and propped her axe on top of her shoulder as she headed towards the forest. A few minutes later and she tossed the apple core into a bush in the clearing that had become her usual morning training area.

She stood in the middle and threw her axe at the first tree. She felt pride build as she saw that the axe had sunk about an inch and a half into the wood and had hit the sloppily painted target in the middle. She pulled it out and lobbed it at the next tree that stood behind her. She repeated the action over and over again until she heard tussling in the bushes. She quickly adjusted the grip on her axe and positioned her feet as she had been taught. As soon as she had figured out where the noise was coming from she raised her axe, prepared to throw it if she needed to.

"I come in peace!" she heard a familiar voice yell. She rolled her eyes and dropped her axe to her side.

"I could have killed you," she replied as Hiccup stepped out from behind a tree.

"That's what you think," he said with a wink. She raised her axe up again and he quickly held his hands out in surrender. "Okay, okay! I take it back! Since when are you so aggressive?"

Astrid didn't say anything. She just propped her axe against a tree and shook her head, a smile playing across her lips.

"Is there a reason you're here?" she asked with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"What? I can't come and visit my girlfriend for no reason?" he replied with a smile.

"You could. But you have a reason for everything, so as much as I enjoy spending time with you, what's the reason?"

"I could be spontaneous if I wanted to," Hiccup muttered. He noticed the look Astrid was giving him and cleared his throat. "But you are right. I do have a reason. I thought we could spend the day together. We haven't done that for a while."

Astrid smiled, stepping forwards so that they were face to face. "Well isn't it fortunate that I have no plans for the day."

Hiccup smiled, leaning down to kiss her quickly. He then quickly walked off behind a tree leaving Astrid stood with crossed arms and a raised eye brow. When he came back he held a picnic basket.

"So, I have the perfect island in mind. It shouldn't take too long to get there. Shall we go?"

Astrid nodded and they both changed forms. Hiccup grasped the basket in his claws before taking to the sky, Astrid not far behind. They didn't talk much as they flew. They both liked to enjoy flying and the thrill of flight. They often just cherished the silence between them when they flew. Just enjoyed each others presence.

Soon enough an island came into view. It was small and quite overgrown. It was clearly uninhabited. Hiccup flew around to the far side of the island, landing on a beach with white sand and turquoise water. Astrid landed next to him changing back to her human form and looking around at the sights surrounding her.

"This is amazing," she said with a smile, watching the sunlight shining on the sea.

"I thought you might like it," Hiccup replied from behind her. She turned around to see that he had already set out the blanket and was setting out some food.

She walked over, taking her seat she began helping him take everything out. Once they were done she looked around amazed at the amount of food he had brought. There was fresh bread, smoked salmon, roasted yak, a few pieces of cheese, a couple of apples and she was sure those were a couple of Thyra's special sticky buns.

"How did you manage to get all of this food?" she said staring in amazement.

"I'm the Chief's son. There's usually someone bringing food to our house for some reason or another. Especially since everyone knows my mom can't cook to save her life." The two shared a small laugh before they began eating. They spoke as they ate, laughing at jokes hidden in storylines and listening as one told of something that had happened that the other hadn't heard.

Soon enough, most of the food was gone and the two were full. They packed everything up into the basket before leaving it next to a distinguishable tree and heading off into the thicket to explore.

At some point they ended up playing a spontaneous game of hide and seek that ended up becoming a competition of who could scare the other the most that slowly evolved into a game of tag. They managed to find themselves back at the beach, both falling down in the sand next to each other laughing so hard that tears formed in their eyes.

Then Hiccup stopped laughing. He stopped so quickly it put Astrid on edge. He sat up looking intently at the thick mass of vegetation in front of them.

"Change into your dragon form," he muttered in a low voice. She could hear the worry in the way he spoke.

"Why? What's going on?" she asked confused.

"Just do it. Quickly," was all she got for an answer. He was suddenly in his Night Fury form and she was quick to follow his example. As soon as she had changed forms and she was listening with her dragon ears rather than her human ears, she knew what had Hiccup so riled up.

There was something there. Something else was on the island closing in on the beach. No, there wasn't just one. There was at least three. They weren't human. She had learnt to recognise what a human sounded like.

She was about to suggest they grab the basket and leave when a dragon stepped out of the thicket. A Monstrous Nightmare. A big one. He was a dark red with golden eyes that narrowed in their direction. He called out and soon three other dragons stepped out behind him. Another Nightmare, a Zippleback and a Nadder. The other Nadder was green, her angry eyes a dark brown colour. The Zippleback was brown with yellow accents here and there and the Nadder was dark blue with black accents on his frills and spikes.

"What are you doing on this island?" the first Nightmare asked taking a step in front of the other three.

"Minding our own business," Hiccup replied stepping in front of Astrid and holding his head high to show he wasn't afraid. "What's it to you?"

"You're trespassing on our nest's territory. You have no right to be here."

"I apologise," Hiccup replied relaxing his posture slightly so as not to seem aggressive. "We weren't aware. We will leave right away and we'll never return."

"We can't let you do that," the Nadder said, taking a step forward as he spoke. "Trespassers are to be dealt with by our King. We must escort you to our nest to await his judgement."

Astrid turned to Hiccup to see what his response would be but was surprised to see he nodded along. She had realised through the conversation that these were not Dragonborn. They were full dragons. She had never seen any before. She hadn't yet learned much about them but she supposed that Hiccup would know and so as the group of Dragons jumped up into the air with Hiccup alongside them, she was quick to follow.

They flew away from the island in the opposite direction to Berk. The other dragons were silent. The only sound was the flapping of wings and the wind as it whistled in her ears. She glanced over at Hiccup who gave her a reassuring smile. She smiled back to show that she trusted him.

They flew for a while before something in the distance caught Astrid's eye. It was pure white making it seem like a ray of light had been caught and was held in one place. As they drew closer Astrid began to make out different hies of white and blue. Soon it was obvious that whatever it was was where they were headed.

And then she could suddenly make it out. It was almost like an iceberg but more intricate and much more beautiful. Giant shards of ice rose up out of the sea, all intertwining in precision and delicacy, light bouncing of the ice in all directions causing a glare that made her eyes ache. It was amazing.

One of the dragons noticed the way she stared. He snorted before he spoke out with a proud voice.

"Welcome to the Ice Fortress. Home of the White King."

So, sorry it's a bit shorter than usual guys. I'll do better on the next chapter I promise. For now, at least there's something relatively exciting happening. Hope you like it, let me know what you think!

thearizona: Sorry it took so long. I need to work on that. But I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far!

CartoonPonyDrawing: I'm glad you liked that part. I'm sorry I wasn't more descriptive but thanks!

OechsnerC: Thanks!

Phoenix373: Thanks! Don't worry. I will finish this story. I'm just sorry it's taking me so long. I won't abandon it though.

Hopeismythingwithfeathers: That was just uncalled for.

dracologistmaster: Thanks! The trip is going well so far. Apart from being ill...

Theimissinglink: Thanks for the understanding.

Checkingdude: Is this better for you?

twilight sparkle: Of course friends. Thanks for your support with the story!

The SkrillRider: Thanks, Astrid is fitting in just fine.

J-jungle-cat: Updated!

Thanks to everyone for all your patience and support!

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Until next time!