Astrid walked up from the docks with her friends and their dragons. "So, Heather. You've changed a lot," Astrid smiled, looking her up and down.
"Yeah," She laughed. "That's what happens when you grow up," She chuckled a little. "You don't look to bad yourself," Astrid smiled, looking forward.
"Thank you," She said, rubbing her Nadders head. "So, any special boy in your life?" Heather blushed. Behind them the three boys were looking at her with wide eyes, hoping the answer was no.
"There is actually," Heather blushed.
"WHAT? WHO?!" The boys screamed in unison. Astrid turned around with a smirk.
"His name is Asmund," Heather said dreamingly.
"Asmund? You know that means the divine protection?" Astrid asked. Heather nodded with a blush. "You know what that means boys?" Astrid said, nudging Ruffnut a little. The boys stared at her questioningly. Astrid groaned. "Ruffnut is only the left on the marked in our age," The three boy's eyes widened. Tuffnut glared at her sister in disgust and continued walking. Snotlout and Fishlegs turned to each other with wide eyes. Snotlout pushed Fishlegs away and knelt down before Ruffnut.
"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Fishlegs pushed him away and knelt down.
"No please, be mine," He said, smiling from ear to ear. Ruffnut glared at Astrid.
"You are so dead," She whispered, kicking the two boys away from her. Astrid and Heather laughed before continuing walking up from the docks.
"Come on, let's find Hiccup," Astrid said, pulling Heather forward. The teens ran with their dragons to up to the village where they searched for him and his night fury.
"Hey," Heather nudged Astrid's side. "What's going on over there?" She asked, pointing towards a crowd of girls swarming around the forge.
"I don't know. Let's check it out," Astrid said, running over to the forge. "Hiccup, you in here?!" Astrid yelled, standing outside the forge.
"Yeah I'm here!" Hiccup yelled from the inside. "I'll be there in a second," He called out. He walked over to the girls by the window and handed one of them her blade. "I'll be back in a few minutes," He smiled at them before grabbing a towel to wipe away the ashes from his hands. Astrid looked at the girls, along with the others, suspiciously. "What is it?" Hiccup asked, walking over to them.
"We just came to tell you-," Astrid trailed off with wide eyes. Her eyes glues to Hiccup's body. "Uh, earth to Astrid?" Hiccup said, waving his hand in front of her face.
"Oh, right," She looked up, blushing madly. "We came to tell you Heather would be staying here for a few days," She said, struggling to hold her gaze locked with his. Hiccup looked around, noticing Heather standing by Ruffnut.
"Heather!" Hiccup smiled, walking over to her. "Long time no see," Heather nodded, glaring at his abs. Hiccup looked at her with a frown, turning to Snotlout. "Is she okay?" But Snotlout was in the same shock. "Okay, would anyone please tell me why you're all glaring at me? It's getting a little uncomfortable," He sighed, stepping away from them.
"Wow, what happened to Hiccup?" Tuffnut asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"What do you mean? Do I have something in my face?" He asked, pointing at his face. Tuffnut was about to answer when Astrid cut him off.
"It's nothing Hiccup," She said, glaring at Tuffnut. "So what have you been up to?" She asked, trying to change the subject.
"Just sharpening their weapons," Hiccup smiled, gesturing to the girls staring into the air nervously behind him. "They needed them fixed so I helped them."
"Oh they did, didn't they?" Astrid asked, glaring at the girls. One of them waved awkwardly to her. Astrid walked over to Hiccup, gently pushing him by his shoulder towards the forge. "Why don't you go put on your tunic and we'll go show Heather around, aye?" She asked, grabbing his tunic and tossing it to him.
"Maybe later, I still have to help them," Hiccup said, pointing to the girls by the window who pouted as he put on his tunic.
"Nuh-uh mister. They can wait," Astrid said, glaring at the girls once more before shoving him out of the forge with Toothless following behind. Once Toothless caught sight of Heather, he bounced over with his gums visible and tongue out.
"Hey Toothless," Heather smiled, rubbing his chin. Toothless purred happily, cooing a little. "Oh, I've missed you too," Heather laughed before looking up at the others.
"Ready for the tour?" Astrid asked. Heather nodded and walked over to them. Then they began the little tour.
"So the Outcasts are still helping?" Heather asked.
"Yup," Hiccup answered looking around at the two tribes working and talking together.
"Hiccup!" A voice yelled from behind them. They turned around to see Stoick walking over to them.
"Hey dad," Hiccup greeted. "Something you need?" Stoick nodded.
"You still haven't told anyone about the adventure on your chief training. Come on, people are waiting in the Great Hall," Stoick pulled Hiccup towards the Great Hall with his friends and their dragons following behind.
"Okay, no need to pull me. I still have legs to walk on," Stoick let go of his hand.
"Leg," Snotlout pointed out. Hiccup sighed and turned to Heather.
"Do you have anywhere to stay while you're here?" Heather shook her head. "You could stay with us in my house," Heather looked up with a smile.
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be much of a problem. Right dad?" Stoick laughed.
"You're welcome to stay any time Heather," Stoick smiled.
"Thanks chief!"
"Oh, I'm not the chief," Stoick smiled, nudging Hiccup a little.
"It's only temporarily," Hiccup corrected him quickly. "And I'm more like a acting chief not the chief," He said, smiling nervously.
"That's not what everyone else calls you," Astrid laughed, nudging him to continue walking. Hiccup rolled his eyes and opened the door for his father and friends before walking in himself. Stoick led him to the table of the council. Hiccup sat down by his father and his friends by his side.
"So, where should I start?" Hiccup asked, resting his hands on the table.
"Just tell us what you learned and how you changed from being what you were and to who you are now," Stoick said. Hiccup nodded, taking a deep breath.
"Okay, so honestly, we didn't go on much adventures or something like that. It was mostly training all day and some chiefing duties afterwards. But that started two weeks after I arrived. The two first weeks were spent on stopping the war between the dragons and the people living there," Snotlout chuckled.
"It took you two weeks convince the dragons over there? If I was there I would've taught them in a few seconds," Hiccup sighed.
"It wasn't just two weeks on stopping them from raiding. I also had to train them, help their blacksmith build saddles and make sure the dragons wouldn't destroy everything in their village. It took me long enough just to get the people on their backs," Hiccup chuckled at the memory. "Some ended up burning themselves by wrong approach. Some earned a few spikes in their feet and some kids startled all the dragons so they went out of control," The council chuckled, imagining the scene for themselves. "Once that was done, Camicazi and I was sent to craft our own weapons in the forge," Hiccup stood up and walked over to Toothless's saddle and unsheathed a sword. "For me, it was swords."
"How? When you left you could barely hold one for a few seconds?" Tuffnut asked, secretly fist bumping beneath the table with Snotlout.
"I was getting to that," Hiccup said, laying the sword back in place. "Camicazi chose and axe, but just as for me, they were too heavy. That was when the worst part of the training began. The chieftess, Bertha, trained us from dawn to dusk each day for a year. Sometimes she would give us some time free to keep our bodies from collapsing," Hiccup laughed. "Anyways. When the second year came, we took a break from training until the holidays were over and from then on we began training on combat skills, climbing, navigating. Everything someone should learn in a life time," Hiccup paused.
"Was that all you did?" Astrid asked amazed. If that was everything they had done then it's not weird he was such a muscled person now. Tough he was still not as buff as everyone, he would always be her, I mean, their, fishbone.
"Basically yeah. We did come across a few new dragons though that had their nests on their Island," Fishlegs squealed, bringing everyone to cover their ears.
"Can you tell us about them? Please?" Fishlegs begged.
"Alright," Hiccup smiled, pulling out his notebook from Toothless's saddle bag. "None of the dragons really bothered the village, but one specie," He opened his notebook on a page and pointed to the dragon. "Smothering Smokebreaths," He explained. "I remember reading about them in the Book of Dragons, but without the book, it was no use."
"Oh, I've read about those!" Fishlegs said.
"Of course you have," Snotlout rolled his eyes.
"They stole the metal from the village by the cover of night and deep fog. It took a while for us to find out what was happening, and until the problem was solved, the training was paused. Which I was kind of grateful for," The villagers laughed. "It took me and Toothless a day to solve the problem. How we did it, was simple. We found our thief, observed them, tracked their nest and led them to an inhabited island."
"What other dragons were there?" Heather asked. Hiccup scrolled through his notebook a few pages before stopping again.
"We discovered a new species of something called Rumblehorns, Scuttleclaws, and Stormcutters," He showed them the pages and left it to stay open on the last one mentioned. Stoick looked at the notebook to see the dragon. His eyes widened.
"Gobber," He said, nudging Gobber's shoulder. "This is the dragon," Gobber examined the picture further.
"Is something wrong dad?" Hiccup asked, stopping the conversation to ask him.
"Hiccup, may I have a word with you?" Hiccup nodded and stood up. They excused themselves and walked over to the other side of the hall.
"What is it?" Hiccup asked again. Stoick sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Hiccup," Stoick began, taking a deep breath as he pointed to the dragon. "This is the dragon that took your mother."
"What?" Hiccup asked in disbelief. His voice cracking.
"This dragon killed your mother Hiccup. It's the species that took her from us," Stoick said, anger rising within him. Hiccup looked at his father. He remembered what his grandfather had told him, but unsure if he should tell his father. He had to.
"Dad, mom isn't dead," Hiccup choked out, looking into his eyes. Stoick looked down at his son in shock.
"How dare you?" Stoick growled.
"No, dad, you don't understand!" Hiccup practically yelled. The villagers turned to them. "When I died. I met my grandfather in Valhalla. And he said," Hiccup paused. His voice fainter. "He said my mother wasn't there," Stoick held his son by his shoulders.
"What do you mean?" Stoick asked, forcing Hiccup to look at him.
"He said she wasn't there!" Hiccup choked out. "What I'm saying is that, what if she's somewhere out there dad? What if she managed to live with the dragons like we do?" Hiccup asked. He was panicking. Stoick saw that. Both of them were confused on what to do.
"I don't know son," Stoick said much calmer. He pulled Hiccup in for a hug, whispering. "She would have been back then. I know she would," Hiccup sighed.
"Then why did he tell me that?" Hiccup asked. Stoick pulled away, kneeling down a little.
"Listen son," Stoick said with a soft tone in his voice. Even if he was just as confused as his son, he knew he couldn't show it. He had to be strong for his son. At least when he was the only family he had left. "I don't know why he told you that, but I know everything someone says is for a reason. Whether they lie or they speak the truth."
"So you're telling me he lied?" Hiccup asked.
"No, I'm telling you he said it for a reason. Maybe she's out there and maybe she's not. The point is, you can't just believe something you hear. You have to see it for yourself," Stoick smiled at his son as he stood up and walked towards the others again with Hiccup following behind.
Hiccup looked down in his notebook to inspect the dragon. Something was familiar with it. He knew that. And by the story he heard from Gobber that might be from where he remembers it. Only that he didn't know. But one thing he did know was that he and Toothless were going out searching.