Update 11/24/18: Fixed typos as part of the polish. Nothing changed beyond that.

Reminder that I know vikings didn't really use the Gregorian (Western) calendar, but that in the httyd books Hiccup's birthday is canonically February 29th. So it's just one of those charming anachronisms of the httyd universe.


Upon his entry to the Underworld, the messenger Hermes was amazed at what he found. Instead of finding a frail and fearful Persephone, he found a radiant and striking Queen of the Dead. –The Myth of Persephone

Chapter 16: Allegiance Won, Innocence Lost part 1

"Happy Birthday to you!"

"Please don't."

"Happy Birthday to yooou!"

"Astrid please."

"Happy Birthday, dear Hiccuuuup!"

"AAAROOOOOWWWW."

"And you got him in on it."

"Happy Birthdaaaaaaay-"

"This is torture."

"Toooooo-"

"Please stop."

"Yooooooouuuu!"

"ROOOOOOOOOOO!"

"RAWK!"

"Oh gods."

Astrid laughed as she set the cake down in front of Hiccup. It was nothing special; just a simple basic sweet cake made with what little ingredients she had available, but it was something, and Hiccup's face had lit up in surprise when he'd seen it. He was shaking his head now, face buried in his hands, but he peeked through his fingers at her when she set a fork in front of him and started cutting him a piece.

"You didn't have to do this," he said. "And I mean all of this, not just the terrible singing. Because you really, really didn't have to do that." Astrid rolled her eyes and tugged at one of the little braids she had taken to weaving in his hair. Hiccup complained endlessly about them, but never took them out, which was enough encouragement for her to keep putting them there.

"It's your birthday, of course I did. And it's actually your birthday, so I really did." She kissed his cheek. "Happy fifth birthday."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Ha ha ha, I'm younger than I actually am because I was born on Leap Day and my actual birthdate only comes once every four years. Never heard that one before."

Astrid giggled and kissed the top of his head. "Fine. Happy twentieth. Now shut up and eat your cake. I used up the last of our eggs making this. We'll have to get more soon." Hiccup shook his head over a fond smile and dug in, humming when he tasted the cake. "Good?" He nodded.

Astrid stroked absently at Stormfly's horn as she walked around the table and the dragon went to join Toothless at the fish well. She was having to pay extra attention to her Nadder lately. It was natural and inevitable but her hatchlings flying off seemed to have taken its toll on her nonetheless.

They all missed the babies' playfulness, though not necessarily their presence. When they'd been newborn hatchlings they were easy enough to house, but by the time they left they had nearly reached Astrid's shoulder and were starting to take up more room than was comfortable. Toothless still reigned supreme and as such was the only dragon who regularly slept in the same room as she and Hiccup, with Stormfly and her babies appropriating the large entrance cave as their nest. That hadn't stopped the babies from climbing all over Toothless, and occasionally, Hiccup and Astrid, to wake them up.

Astrid sat down opposite Hiccup and watched him eat. She still wasn't much of a cook, but Hiccup was the sort who almost had to be reminded to eat at all, and since his idea of feeding himself was grabbing whatever sustenance he desperately needed in between working on something else, he was usually happy with whatever simple meals she was capable of making him. She waited until his mouth was stuffed with a particularly large bite of cake before taking a deep breath and speaking.

"I love you."

Hiccup stopped, his chewing ceasing and his eyes going wide and snapping to her. Astrid gave him a shy smile and shrugged, sweeping her bangs out of her eyes. "And yes, I did wait until your mouth was full to say that." She looked at him seriously. "I don't want you to say anything. I don't want you to comment on it, or say it back. I just wanted to say it. I love you." Her smile spread across her face. "Four months ago I never dreamed I'd be saying that to you. Or anyone ever again, really. But you've changed. We both have. And you…when you're yourself you're the most wonderful, caring person. And I've never met anyone like you. So yeah." She shrugged again and felt her cheeks prickle with heat. "I love you."

Hiccup blinked at her, then resumed his chewing. He swallowed and reached for his cup of water. He drank and sat the cup back down, all the while wearing the same neutral, indifferent expression.

She'd told him not to say anything but his silence was proving to be much more nerve-wracking than she'd anticipated. Hiccup got up from his seat, walked around the table to her, took her face in his hands and kissed her soundly. When her eyes fluttered open he was looking at her with so much affection she felt like her heart was going to burst out of chest. "I'm not going to say it back because you specifically told me not to," he said, his eyes radiating happiness. "But you should know that I really really want to." Astrid couldn't help the grin that spread across her lips, even as he kissed her again. His arms slid under her legs and around her back and she giggled into his mouth and wound her arms around his neck as he scooped her out of her chair.

"What about cake?" she mumbled between kisses as he carried her out of the room.

"Cake really isn't what I want to eat right now," he said, his voice low and husky. It sent a shiver down her spine.

"Hiccup," she protested lightly, pulling away from his lips. "It's your birthday. At the very least you could let me try again at—"

"No thank you."

"Oh come on, was I really that bad?"

"You bit me!"

"I didn't mean to! I just wasn't expecting it to…twitch like that."

"You still bit me."

"So what, you don't ever want me to try that again?"

"Babe, I would love for you to try that again. But not on my birthday. Maybe some other time. Like when we're old and all your teeth have fallen out."

"I'm sorry!"

Xx

"Hey, what are you doing in here?"

Astrid froze, her hand around a jar on the shelf above her.

She spun around to see a large man standing in the doorway of the storeroom, a sword in one hand. Astrid let go of the jar and quickly shifted her bag underneath her cloak, hoping to hide just how much she'd stolen.

"I, I was just, um, making sure no dragons had gotten in?"

The man frowned at her. "Aye and I'll bet you were just taking those beans for safekeeping so the dragons couldn't get them, eh?"

Astrid swallowed. Her eyes darted around the small space. She had her back to the shelves, there were a few barrels lined up along the other two walls, and the large man completely blocked the small doorway. The room itself was so small she'd have a hard time getting around him to the door. "I s-saw that Night Fury out there, and I thought, well, it'd be bad if he set fire to the Hall and all the food in here got burned up. I mean it's got to last until the spring harvests start."

The man's eyes narrowed under bushy brown eyebrows. "That they do, which is why we don't need anyone stealing what little we do have. There's plenty to go around, so it's not like there's much need for you to be stealing anyway, come on." He crossed the space between them in a few short steps and grabbed her hand, yanking her towards the door, where the light from the room outside shone in and illuminated her face. The man blinked. "Hold on," he said, his thick eyebrows knitting closer together. "Who are you? I haven't seen you around the village. Whose daughter are you?"

Astrid's chest tightened with panic. "I'm—I'm not from here. I came on one of the trade ships."

She watched the man's mouth twist under his frizzy mustache. "We haven't had any trade ships come through in weeks; there's still been too much ice in our port."

Astrid nodded, her free hand sliding to the side of her belt just in case. "I've been stranded here a while, that's the only reason I was taking food. I'm sorry, I really am."

The man's frown grew. "I don't recall any passengers on the trade ships we had this winter." He pulled her closer. "Who are you really?"

Astrid tried to work her hand free from his grip. "I'm no one. Just a stowaway on a trade ship, trying to get by. Please, let me go, I'll give back everything I took."

The man straightened up and sniffed. "Something's fishy about your story, girl. I'm taking you to the chief."

So much for subtlety.

Astrid pulled her knife out of her cloak and slashed across the top of the man's arm. It was a shallow wound, not dangerous, but it was a shock and enough to get him to let her go. Astrid ducked under his arm and dashed out the door into the hall beyond. She didn't bother trying to sneak through the back hallway as she had before; it was a straight shot through the main gathering hall to the front door.

"Get her! Grab that girl, don't let her get away!" There were a few other men and women in the room, some holding weapons, some using buckets of water to douse the walls in case of dragonfire, who all looked up as Astrid came barreling through the middle of the hall, followed by the shouting of the man in the storeroom. Upon seeing him in the doorway, blood gushing from the cut on his arm, the other Vikings dropped what they were doing and grabbed their weapons.

Astrid skid to a halt in the middle of the hall, two Vikings having blocked the exit. There were six of them altogether, including the one who'd caught her in the storeroom, all armed and advancing. Not terrible odds if she had an axe or a sword, but she had only her little knife, and her cloak was weighing her down.

"Drop the weapon, girl," said a woman a few years older than her. "We've got you surrounded. Just surrender and come with us and we'll sort everything out."

Astrid tightened her grip on her knife. Her eyes darted around the room, taking in every detail that could help her formulate an escape route. Six Vikings, one injured and trying to hold his sword with his left hand, not doing well at it, the woman with the sword by his side. Two blocking the door, one with a spear too long to be useful in close range combat, one with a warhammer that'd be fatal if he hit her with it, so he'd focus on using the handle against her if it came to it. To the right were a couple of men who looked to be brothers, judging by the similarity in their appearances, both wielding axes. They were standing too close together.

"What's it gonna be, girl?" The hand holding her knife dropped, and she stashed it in its sheath on her belt as the injured man and the woman advanced. Astrid reached into one of the pockets of her cloak.

"I'm sorry." Before the Vikings had time to question her word choice Astrid had pulled a jar of oil from inside her cloak and smashed it on the ground at their feet. The man's foot slipped on the oil-slick stone and he went down, taking the woman down with him. Astrid turned, whipping her cloak off her shoulders and throwing it over the heads of the two brothers. While they fought to untangle themselves Astrid dove under their feet, sliding between them and under the table behind them. She somersaulted to her feet and was off down the hallways she'd come by the time they were all on their feet again. She turned down hallway after hallway, trying to remember the way out, the sound of angry Vikings following her. She stopped next to a small closet and peered at the room she could glimpse around the next corner. The kitchens. Perfect. She reached into the bag at her side and pulled out a ceramic jar of flour. She aimed for the pile of plates sitting on a table and hurled the jar at it. While the crashing and clattering of hundreds of metal and ceramic plates echoed through the hallways Astrid slipped into the small closet and waited.

"The kitchens! This way!" She watched through a small crack in the door as five of the Vikings rushed by. She waited, breathing as quietly as she could and holding her knife ready just in case as she heard the injured one stomping through the hallway, muttering about getting blood all over his favorite vest. He passed by the little closet and paused. Astrid held her breath as he turned and frowned at the door.

He approached, quiet, and Astrid glimpsed a smile growing underneath his bushy mustache and he leaned close to the door. Astrid braced herself against the shelf at her back as the handle turned.

"Gotcha." The handle turned, and Astrid kicked, both feet slamming into the door and smashing it into the man's face. He yowled and grasped at his nose as Astrid bolted out the door and down the hallway, the same direction she'd come. The Great Hall was empty now, and she scooped up her cloak on the way to the door. They didn't even bother to leave someone behind to guard the door, she noticed, pushing the wooden doors open. Well, what could you expect from a tribe called the Meatheads.

She didn't bother to worry about being seen as she dashed through the village. Her cloak was torn down the middle from someone's axe and soaked with milk and eggs and little pieces of smashed jars. She had to find Hiccup, or Stormfly, one or the other, but as she looked to the sky she saw no sign of either of them.

"Get her!" She looked back and saw the woman from the Great Hall pointing at her and shouting. "That blonde girl, grab her!"

Astrid made a sharp turn between two houses and emerged into an unfamiliar street. She knew the general direction of the beach, where she was to meet Hiccup after everything, but not exactly how to get there from here.

"There! That's her, get her!"

Astrid didn't waste time looking back anymore. She ran down the boarded streets towards the port, shouting following her. There was a voice nearby and something grabbed her shoulders. Astrid screamed, expecting to be pulled around and face some huge hulking Viking, only to watch in fascinated horror as she kept rising and rising, the world below her growing smaller. She looked up to see black scales and her scream died in her throat. Toothless looked down at her and warbled. Astrid laughed in relief and stroked at the claws wrapped around her arms.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup's worried face appeared over the side of Toothless's head and Astrid nodded.

"I'm fine, but uh," she glanced down at the sea far below them. "I don't exactly want to fly the whole way home like this!" Hiccup reached down and Astrid took his hand. Toothless tilted his wing downward to make it easier for Hiccup to haul her onto the saddle. "I lost some things along the way, sorry," she said as she settled in front of him. "I think I lost most of the eggs and the mi-mm!" She was cut off abruptly as Hiccup turned her head and kissed her, briefly but deeply.

"Are you alright?" he murmured against her cheekbone as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I saw them all chasing you and—are you bleeding?" His hand clutched at her wrist and yanked back her blood-splattered sleeve. She shook her head.

"It's not my blood. I'm fine, seriously." Hiccup released her with a relieved sigh in her ear. Astrid glanced over her shoulder at him, and then past him to the glowing village shrinking into the distance. She could see the dark shapes of dragons leaving it behind. Her eyes shifted back to Hiccup. She frowned. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, eyes sliding shut and head falling to her shoulder. "You just had me worried," he said, his voice muffled by the fabric of her shirt. He shifted and pressed a kiss against her neck before raising his head to look at her. "You were taking a while, and then I saw you being chased…" he shrugged. "It was a close call. I just got scared."

Astrid gave him a soft smile. "You know I can take of myself, right?"

Hiccup grinned and pulled her closer, his warm arms comforting against the cold night air. "Of course I do. I can't help worrying anyway." He kissed her ear and whispered, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Astrid snuggled into his embrace and said nothing, leaving her thoughts to swirl like a maelstrom in her head.

Xx

"Hey Astrid." Astrid startled and nearly spilled her tea down the front of her shirt. She spun around to smile widely at Hiccup, who had just sauntered through the doorway of the kitchen.

"Hiccup! Hi, Hiccup! You're, uh, you're back early."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, I was testing something new on the tail rig, but it started messing up so we had to come back early. Are you drinking tea? Can I have some?"

Astrid shoved the kettle behind her back. "I just made enough for me, sorry." Hiccup took a step toward her, frowning.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine." She took a sip of her tea and immediately cringed at the bitter taste. Hiccup stepped closer.

"What are you drinking?" he asked, peering into her mug. Astrid was about to answer when his eyes slid over her shoulder to the small pile of herbs on the table behind her. "What are those?"

Astrid shrugged, trying for nonchalance even though internally she was panicking. "Oh, well, I was just feeling some sniffles coming on, so I decided to make some tea to ward them off, that's all."

"Oh." Hiccup kept frowning at the herbs on the table. "Hey Astrid?" he asked after a moment, and she hummed into her tea. "Aren't those the herbs you said were for—"

"Nope."

Astrid bit her tongue and ignored Hiccup's skeptical frown.

"Really, because I'm pretty sure those were the ones you said were for—"

"They have a lot of uses."

"Yeah, but in that combination wouldn't that be—"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Astrid." She continued to ignore him, just like she ignored the bitter burn of the tea as she drained her cup. "Astrid, is that what I think it is?"

Astrid sat her cup down and took a deep breath before she looked at Hiccup. She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look."

"What look?" Hiccup asked, following her as she carried the kettle to the stream and began to wash it out.

"That look," Astrid bit out, scrubbing violently. "That big-eyed, hopeful look, like I've gotten all your hopes up."

"How is this not supposed to get my hopes up?"

Astrid rolled her eyes and pushed Hiccup out of her way as she walked back to the table and began packing the leftover herbs back into the box with the rest of their medicinal herbs. (Honestly, she didn't think she got nearly enough credit for how much organization she had brought to Hiccup's life.) "Because."

"Well that's a thorough and easily understood answer."

Astrid threw her hands in the air. "Because it's going to happen someday," she told the box of herbs. "We both know it's going to happen someday. And I just want to be ready for when it does." She turned to Hiccup and pointed a finger at his nose, her eyebrows drawn together in a look of warning. "What that doesn't mean is that it is definitely going to happen someday soon, which is why I don't want you getting your hopes up." She dropped her hand and looked at her boots. "That doesn't mean it's not going to happen soon, either," she muttered. She squared her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest, still not looking at him. "It might be days from now, it might be months. I just want to be ready either way." When she looked at Hiccup he was biting back a smile.

"You could have just told me that," he said, and stole a brief kiss. "You didn't have to be all secretive about it." He walked to the alcove where they kept dried meats and fish.

Astrid leaned against the table behind her and watched Hiccup as he began filling his pockets with dried fish jerky treats for Toothless.

"I need to talk to you about something," she said.

"Okay," he said, sorting through their stores. "I could've sworn we had more of the dried cod in here—"

"I want my axe."

Hiccup looked over his shoulder at her and raised an eyebrow. "You what?"

Astrid nodded, her arms crossed over her chest. "I want my axe. After what happened during that last raid and that time I got caught by Camicazi I think it's best if I have a weapon with me. A real one. That knife is good for a lot of things but it wasn't much help when I had six angry Vikings running after me."

Hiccup straightened up with a deep breath and leaned against the wall nearest him. "Oh boy." He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, one-" Astrid groaned, already knowing she wasn't going to get the answer she wanted. "Would you just listen? One, there's no way I can get your axe from Berk without it looking suspicious—"

"You could make me a new one—"

"Two," Hiccup continued, raising his voice over her, "I can't let you go carrying your axe on raids with you—"

"Why not?!" Astrid demanded, and Hiccup sighed.

"Because you have to look innocent," he said, hands out in a pleading gesture that took her by surprise.

"I what?"

He shrugged. "I can't let you go out there and do anything that makes you look culpable for your actions. You have to maintain the illusion of innocence." He nodded at the ground. "If you got captured or something you have to be able to claim that I made you do everything. That I told you it's what would keep your village safe. And if you start running into raids with an axe on your back no one is going to believe that."

Astrid huffed. "If I've got an axe on my back no one is going to be able to capture me!"

"But you still won't look innocent!" Hiccup pleaded, his eyes searching hers. "You have to be able to leave here and claim you were coerced into everything."

Astrid threw her hands into the air. "Why would I wanna leave here?" She hadn't really expected an answer, but Hiccup's silence and refusal to meet her eye was more than answer enough. Her shoulders fell and she blinked at him. "Hiccup?" She approached him and put a hand on his shoulder and leaned down so he had to look at her. "Hiccup, you don't seriously think I'm going to leave, do you?"

He still avoided looking at her. "I'm not ignoring the possibility it could happen."

Astrid tipped his chin up, forcing him to look at her. "Hiccup, I love you, I'm not leaving."

He gave her a bittersweet smile. "You say that now." He pulled away, his eyes on the ground. "One day I'll screw up, or you'll decide that I'm not what you want me to be, and then you'll want to leave, and I don't want you to feel like you can't."

Astrid stared at him. "Is that really what you think is gonna happen?" she said quietly.

Hiccup cleared his throat. "It's happened before." He shrugged. "You've got your trust issues, I've got mine. I've got a lot of issues, and I'm not the easiest person to deal with sometimes, so I get it if you end up deciding you don't want to deal with me anymore."

They were both quiet for a long moment. Finally Astrid sighed. "Hiccup, does this have something to do with your dad?"

"No," he said, in a way that obviously meant 'yes'.

Astrid shook her head. "Hiccup, just tell me what this is all about, please?"

Hiccup bit his lip and avoided her gaze, and Astrid grabbed his arm and dragged him to sit down on the bench by the fire. She pinched his chin and made him look at her. "Start talking."

Hiccup sighed and rolled his eyes but at last spoke. "Things were pretty good until I was ten." He looked at his hands fidgeting in his lap. "And then I think he sort of gave up on me ever turning out all strong and buff and brave and 'aarrgh kill all dragons!'." Astrid bit back a snort, which brought the hint of a genuine smile to Hiccup's face, though it quickly faded. "And I don't know, it was like every year after that I could see him getting less interested and more disappointed in me. So I'm aware that one day you might realize that I'm not what you want me to be, and if that happens I want you to be able to leave."

Astrid shook her head and reached for Hiccup's hands, curling both of hers around one of his. "Hiccup, what's brought this up all of a sudden?" Hiccup's other hand wrapped around hers.

"It's a long story; I'll tell you some other time, it's just…" She watched his mouth form a thin, squirming line. "There's someone I haven't heard from in a while, and I thought I would have heard something by now, you know, with Snoggletog passed, and my birthday passed." He heaved a sigh. "I don't know. It just got me thinking that maybe I don't mean as much to her as I thought I did."

Astrid's eyes narrowed. "Her?"

To her surprise Hiccup laughed. "It's not like that," he said, jostling her shoulder, "I promise." When Astrid continued to glare he leaned in and kissed her cheek. "It's a long story that I am not in the mood to cry over today, but I'll tell you all about it sometime."

"Someone you met on your travels or something?"

Hiccup nodded. "Or something." His eyes dropped to their clasped hands. Astrid gave them a reassuring squeeze.

"I mean it, Hiccup. If I was going to leave don't you think I'd have done it by now?"

He gave her a genuine smile and knocked her knee with his. "I'd like to think so." He kissed her forehead and got to his feet. "I've got work to do," he said, and kissed her hands before releasing them.

Astrid smiled after him. "Does that mean you'll get me my axe?"

Hiccup stopped in the doorway. "No."

Astrid's smile dropped off her face. "What do you mean 'no'?"

Hiccup didn't look at her. "I stand by what I said. You can't look culpable. And that's my final word on the matter."

Astrid spluttered. "But, I, Hiccup!" Hiccup disappeared into the passageway and Astrid ran after him, stopping in the entry way to shout, "Fine! See if I keep drinking that Moon Tea, then!"

"Withholding sex only works if we're having it, Astrid!" Hiccup shouted back.

"Yeah well, I can withhold other things!" She yelled back, but he was already too far to hear her, or at least he pretended to be. Astrid pouted into the dark tunnel.

Right. Time to take matters into her own hands.

Xx

This was quite possibly the stupidest thing she had ever done in her life.

Ideally the time to do this was probably not when Berk was experiencing one of the worst raids it had had in years, but there was no real way to sneak off without Hiccup noticing otherwise. She'd waited until he'd left on Toothless before grabbing her cloak and hopping on Stormfly.

She peered out at the flaming village in the distance from between the trees. Beside her Stormfly cackled and shifted her feet nervously. Astrid stroked her snout. "I know, girl, I know. But you can ignore her, I know you can. I just need you to wait here for me for a little while, okay?" Stormfly growled and nuzzled against Astrid's side, clearly uneasy, but when Astrid stepped out of the treeline her Nadder didn't follow.

Astrid lifted the hood of her dark cloak and sprinted towards the village. She'd made a new cloak just for this occasion; it was a lighter weight than her old one but darker, and better suited for stealth. It was strange, being back in Berk; strange ducking behind statues and slinking between houses, avoiding being seen. It was strange returning here as an outsider. It was stranger still being here in the midst of a raid and not feeling the same fear or anger at the dragons swooping down on them.

All of Berk was in chaos. A few homes were on fire, and she could see the smoldering remains of no less than three catapults, but there were more than that being erected in their places, more so than usual. Two of them that she could see didn't even have boulders beside them to be fired. She frowned. What was the point of putting up catapults if they weren't going to fire them?

Distracted as she was Astrid didn't notice the figure passing the alleyway until she'd burst out of it and slammed into them. A large hand grabbed her shoulder to steady her and Astrid looked up and gasped.

Stoick the Vast. She'd run into Stoick the Vast. "Sorry," he said absently, eyes to the skies above, as he patted her shoulder before running off. As soon as she was free Astrid bolted across the path into the alley between another couple of houses and glanced back at Stoick in time to see him pause. He looked around, a perplexed frown peeking through his massive beard, before he shook his head and ran off shouting, "Prepare the nets!"

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief and took a moment to calm herself before she set off again, sneaking behind houses and along low fences, pretending to be as panicked as anyone else whenever other villagers passed her by.

At least the back of her house faced the sea. No one would see her climbing the wall to her window. She found her handholds easily, having climbed in and out of her window a thousand times before.

She paused just outside her window to peek inside. The room was dark and empty, and from the sliver of moonlight she could just make out her axe resting against her trunk in the corner. She pulled herself onto the windowsill and slipped easily and quietly into the room. She stopped and listened for sound from below but heard none. Her father was probably out fighting, while her mother must have grabbed Brenna and headed for the safety of the Great Hall. She crossed the room and grabbed her axe.

It was funny how such a simple thing could provide such a feeling of relief. She almost laughed, tossing the weapon from hand to hand and feeling the familiar pull of its weight against her muscles. She turned it over, admiring the still-sharp blade. "Hello old friend," she whispered. "It is so good to see you again." She twirled it expertly, pleased to see the near-five months since she'd last had it in her hands had not seemed to dull her skills. She strapped the axe to her back and carefully arranged her cloak over it.

She looked around her room.

It was strange being back here, after so much time. She wanted to go through her trunks and see her things; her favorite whetstone, the sewing box she'd inherited from her grandmother…the drawing of herself she'd found in Hiccup's workshop. She wanted to lie down in her bed, just for a minute or two.

But at the same time she didn't. This room, this house, this village…they weren't quite home anymore, were they? She'd grown used to sleeping in the warmth of Hiccup's embrace; to walls of stone instead of wood. To the rumbling of dragons instead of the chirping of crickets. Even so, being back in this room she missed curling protectively around Brenna's little sleeping form. She missed waking up to her father's singing or the smell of her mother's cooking… It both was home and wasn't.

She wasn't the same girl she'd been when she'd last left it, and she couldn't dwell here any longer. The noise outside was louder than before, so with one last rueful glance she slipped out the window and scurried down the side of the house.

As soon as her feet hit the ground she knew something was wrong. She could see the docks from here, where several men had netted a Monstrous Nightmare. She could hear the frightened screeching of dragons nearby, and crept around the side of the house to peer at the village square. Her heart leapt to her throat.

Several villagers were advancing on three young Nadders, grabbing their jaws and holding them down. Even in the red glow of firelight she could see clearly the bright colors of their scales: bright green, amethyst, and cerulean. Loki, Prim, and Tumble.

"No," Astrid whispered, a hand reaching out towards the babies she'd helped raise. There was a screech from above and Astrid looked down in time to see Stormfly descend on the chaos, talons extended to pull Vikings off her children. "No." She saw the machine a second too late. "No!"

It fired, sending a net weighed down by iron balls over Stormfly and her hatchlings, sending them all sprawling to the ground under the weight of the net.

Everything slowed. She watched in horror as Hoark grabbed Stormfly's snout and wrestled her to the ground.

"DRAGON MASTER!" Across the square Stoick was shouting. "RETURN THE GIRL AND WE'LL RETURN YOUR PETS!"

Astrid looked around. The Nightmare by the bay. The Nadders in the square. The Zippleback she could see being tied down near the forge…they were trying to capture as many dragons tonight as they could. They wanted to trade…for her?

She looked back at the center of the square, where just yards away her beloved Nadder and her offspring were struggling against the net that held them. Stormfly would be able to throw off the net easily enough if not for the iron weights, and she still had plenty of firepower, and from where Astrid stood she could see one of the weights, it was a straight shot…

It took less than a second for Astrid to decide what to do.

She dropped her cloak, grabbed her axe off her back, took careful aim, and let her axe fly. Astrid Hofferson had not missed a target since she was nine years old. The axe severed the rope, the net loosened, and Stormfly's wings spread, allowing her to throw Hoark aside. She opened her mouth and released a jet of white hot flame that incinerated the ropes holding the fledglings down.

"What in the—?" The villagers were ducking out of the way as the young dragons threw off the remaining ropes and took to the skies.

"Stormfly, go, go!" Astrid yelled, dashing forwards. Stormfly's wings rose, Astrid pulled her axe out of the ground and had just enough to time to grab the side of Stormfly's saddle and glimpse Hoark's stunned expression before she was in the air and the eyes of all of Berk were upon her.

For a moment she didn't dare look down. She just hung from the side of the saddle; feet braced against Stormfly's flank, chest heaving, hair slipping from its braid, axe in hand, and waited for the stupidity of what she'd just done to crash into her. She heard a shout, then a scream, and finally braved a look at the village below.

It was as if everything had stopped. Dragons were struggling against their bonds but the Vikings meant to be subduing them had all turned their attention upwards. All over Berk weapons were frozen in the hands of warriors who had stopped to look up at her. She could see Stoick, staring at her in confusion and horror. There by one of the catapults was Fishlegs, hands clapped over his mouth. There was her father, his hand still aloft though his axe had fallen to the ground, watching her with such an expression of sadness.

Outside the Great Hall she could see Gothi herding mothers and small children into the Great Hall, and there was Ruffnut, a small bundle in her arms. She'd had her baby.

And there was her mother, gaping at her, face shining with tears in the firelight.

And then she saw Brenna, pulling at her mother's hand and pointing at Astrid, jumping up and down and grinning up at her with a look on her face of utter wonder. All the breath in her lungs left her at once.

Astrid's back straightened and she stared down at the villagers, so stricken at the sight of her.

Let them look.

Let them see what she had become. Let them see what they had created.

Let them see their sacrifice for what it was.

She felt more alive, more free, more herself than she had in months. This was what she was made for, she thought: an axe in her hand, a dragon at her side, and the wind in her hair.

There was an explosion from down near the docks, and she looked down in time to see Hiccup and Toothless disappearing back into the sky as the Monstrous Nightmare shook off the remains of his net.

Astrid hauled herself onto Stormfly's back and secured her axe to her back. "Come on, girl," she said, stroking the Nadder's neck. "Let's go give the boys a hand, huh?"

Perhaps the villagers were in too much shock to really fight back, or perhaps it was their combined firepower, but it took no more than a couple of minutes before she and Hiccup had freed the rest of the captured dragons. She felt exhilarated, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she and Stormfly dove down between houses, fire destroying catapults and nets, her axe occasionally severing ropes. At last the rest of the dragons were taking to the skies, confused Berkians watching as they flew away, and Astrid and Stormfly rose above the clouds to fly alongside Hiccup and Toothless.

Astrid's smile died when she looked at Hiccup. He didn't even acknowledge her.

"Hiccup?" Still no answer. His helmet was still on, mask still hiding his face. He stared straight ahead. "Babe?"

"We'll talk when we get home," he said, his voice shaking with what could have been anger or perhaps fear.

Astrid sighed. "I'm not sorry, Hiccup." She told him, staring at her hands on the handle of her saddle. "I know this went against everything you told me not to do, but I don't care." Her grip tightened. "I don't care that they know. I don't care if they see me as a traitor. I love you, Hiccup." She looked at him. "I don't use those words lightly. I wouldn't say them if…" she faltered, then took a deep breath. She was a Hofferson. She was fearless. "If I ever thought I'd be saying them to anyone else." She thought she saw him shift, his head tilt her direction, but she couldn't be sure, though she'd certainly gotten Toothless's attention. "I love you, and I'm not going anywhere. I love you, I believe in you, in what you're doing. In what we're doing. And if that means they see me as a traitor then fine. I don't care what they think of me, I care what you think of me." Her voice rose, strong and sure over the wind. "I care that you know that I love you and that I'm not ever going to leave you. I care that you know that you're not going to stop being what I want you to be. You're what I want you to be. I just want you. As screwed up as you are, and as I am, and as screwed up as things have been between us in the past I still just want you."

She watched him, eyes wide and heart beating fast with hope and fear. Hiccup's shoulders rose and fell, a measured, careful movement.

"We'll talk when we get home," he said, voice firm, and Astrid slumped in her saddle.

"Okay."