HAPPY EASTER, though I don't agree with it. Though for this special day, I'm doing the talent show, my longest chapter yet.

Now, NOW, we get into the talent show, and damn...daniel? NO. NO...NOOOOOO...*drowning sound*

Ok he's gone now. Now back to the story, I can't believe I wrote this, I mean I put a lot of effort into this, and I really do like it, 3000 words for the win.

Also 1000 views for the win. Actually, I'll be honest, this story isn't my most popular, I didn't expect it to be, it's not only a much more structured writing than usual FFN stories, but music and falconry are ultra specific and probably a bit random for this fandom. But I say this story probably fits me perfectly. Either way, I'm gonna keep with this story till its finished (or I die, whichever comes first)

Now to the reviews:

Gamer Spice: I already PM'ed you, but here we go: Most people have a hard time with abuse, but yeah, it'll work out eventually for her. For Hiccstrid

Alright now let's get into A Night To Recall.

Update: Removing prosthetic references from Hiccup's background, they don't work.


Chapter 5: A Night To Recall

Hiccup woke next morning to Toothless squawking in his face, pushing his head and nipping his ears. He was knew his reasoning, knowing it better to just give him his way and open the window now then let this go on. He was sure he didn't want a repeat of whatever happened last time he ignored the pestering.

He got up and fitted his slippers on before looking at the clock. It read five thirty, how fun it was to wake up before anyone else he thought. He never really was a morning person, it really just bugged him why school choose seven as torture time. But this time, his exhaustion lowered quickly, he had a fair bit of energy rising in him, rather unusual for a morning, but not entirely impossible, sometimes brought on after a chuckle at his eagle's antics. He quickly opened the window though, he prefered his bird get some food and be happy then beat him up to for a small laugh.

After letting his friend out for a bit, he went downstairs and as he went to the couch, he remembered his other friend he let over. She was sleeping peaceful, or as much as one could on their dumb couch. He decided to just sit on the chair nearby, watching her sleep for a few, before he realized it was now six and he should get ready, and probably get Astrid up. He shook her shoulder quick to get her up, which she reached up and violently brought his arm down. Hiccup was now kneeling in front of Astrid's face, puzzled, nervous, and most especially startled. "Oh, sorry, I...uh...forgot I was...um, in your house." She sputtered.

"It's fine..." He chuckled nervously for a moment. "I just startled you." As he gained back some confidence. Hiccup then went into the kitchen, searching for a specific breakfast snack. "You want cereal, waffles, french toast sticks, or pancakes?" He asked, preparing a simple bowl of cereal for the morning as Astrid got back into her attire. "I'll just have cereal. No milk please." She proclaimed to him, contemplating about home. After a few minutes, she started "My dad is really going to kill me." Hiccup caught her train of thought and walking back in the room with two dry bowls of cereal filled with cheerios and a spoon each. "What am I gonna tell him?" She was getting a bit upset, possibly regretting staying over, out of fear, something she rarely felt.

"If you need extra time..." Hiccup trailed. "No, he'll come after me one way or another, maybe it'll be better to be punished sooner." She was still upset, but was having better control over herself then yesterday. "I think you needed an escape, maybe you still do, just remember me and Fishlegs will be there for you, he may not be able to see it like you, but if you let him, I know he'll care too." His short monologue was cut short. "Yeah, let more people see me weak, that'll work out real well." Hiccup didn't feel like having an argument on it so settled with planting the seed. "It's your choice, but trust me when I say we want to help...if you uh...need to clean yourself up, the bathroom is at the end of the hall upstairs, don't worry about waking my dad, if his snoring doesn't wake him nothing will." They both chuckled a second as Astrid finally rose from the couch, seeing it was now six thirty. "You can use the hair brush, mouthwash, and floss, I don't recommend my dad's toothbrush." He cringed "Made that mistake one too many times." Astrid laughed at him before going upstairs. His hair and mouth took about fifteen minutes and as she came down, Hiccup opened the door to Toothless, who left an offering in the door this time. "Ahye, you and your dumb rats." He shook his head, Astrid swore she thought the bird somehow laughing before Hiccup picked up the dead rodent and chucked it into the trash. "He knows how much my dad hates it, pretty sure it's the only reason he does it anymore." He said as he got back from the kitchen to Astrid giggling, Toothless following suit on a perch nearby. "I think I'll clean up and then we can walk to school."

He spent the next ten minutes cleaning himself up before he came back downstairs to Astrid and Toothless messing with each other. He'd headbutt her shoulder and she'd bop him on the head with her hand, it was funny enough to draw a chuckle from Hiccup. "Alright, you ready?" He managed through the now longer form of chuckles escaping. She laughed at the bird before nodding "Yeah, he's just..." Searching for the perfect description. "Crazy, ridiculous, hilarious, yeah, pretty much" He looks back at the bird squawking. "He never knows when to quit." Hiccup opens the door. "I was gonna say amazing, but those work too." They walked out the door with backpacks strapped on, and took the walk to the school, nothing much interesting happened throughout the rest of day.


After school, Hiccup and Astrid went back to Hiccup's house to pick up their gear before rushing off to Fishlegs to do a few hours of practice before the the talent show. They all thought it was unneeded, but as they got there, Hiccup argued it wouldn't hurt. They practiced for an hour before they relaxed, it was only five thirty, and the show wasn't until eight, so they had a lot of time especially with being so close to the school.

With the rest of the group decided on taking it easy till show time, Fishlegs and Hiccup started messing with their instruments while Astrid went up for some food, after asking Felix of course. Soon Hiccup and Felix started a tangent of just getting it right together, constantly. Like before Astrid came in, they were somehow screwing around a perfect blend, mostly following Hiccup's lead. Astrid eventually came down to the sound of the randomness between the two guys and decided to join in seeing if she could cut in. This left them in a separate suspension for hours.

Eventually it became seven thirty, they needed to sign in by eight if they wanted to participate, so Hiccup stopped them off, they all packed up and by seven forty five and jumped out the door. Felix's set was hard but with entire group picking up the slack, it took them less than five minutes to get in the car. Felix started the car and set off for the school, arriving in the parking lot within three minutes off from his house. "I'll sign us up, you able to handle unpacking while I'm gone." Hiccup set, opening the passenger door. "Yeah we got this, just go." Astrid told him as he ran off.

Hiccup went inside, right up to the auditorium doors, there was a short line for signups as people on the inside were filing into the giant room. As he got up to the signup table, he noticed his cousin sitting on the side, his bass hanging off his back. "Hello Useless, what you plan on doing for the show? Weights" He laughed. His crew had to be somewhere nearby, and Hiccup really didn't feel like messing with those dopes. After looking around and seeing none of the other jerks, he focused back on the registration table, the girl responsible, who was sitting there was probably one of the drama kids part of the usual stage crew Hiccup though. He filled out the paper and was asked his name, his performance type, and upon stating music, she gave him a band paper, probably for all the random music "geniuses" at his school, to sign. It asked what he was performing and his group name. He put down "Smell like Teen Spirit by Nirvana" and for the name, he zoned out for a moment. After a second of contemplation, he decided on "A Viking Siege" and signed off the paper and handed it to the girl. Now all he had to do was wait.


They got loosely two minutes to setup everything, which was hardest with a drum set. The amps and pedals were always an easy deal, and the stage was filled with outlets, but fixing up the disassembled cylinders and key them in place usually took more time. With Astrid so trained well enough even in percussion instruments, knowing basically how they should be was helpfully to speeding the process, as Hiccup was nearly no help in this area. But they quickly got the drums set up, though it took an extra minute with the help of a girl named Heather, Astrid vaguely knew her, at one time competing in something or another. She rarely cared about her competitions names, only on beating them.

Now that they were set up, they plugged in and turned on the amps, the microphone was already up because each "act" would need to introduce themselves. With mic ready and on, Astrid decided this was a good time to pump up the group a bit, still questioning Hiccup's choice in name, but not minding it enough to disagree. "How's everyone doing tonight?" She wasn't the most charismatic frontwoman they knew, but she had enough energy to put on the crowd, so the crowd started a light clap. Hiccup also suspected that Snotlout's little possy may have been fueling a bit of it, not that it was all that great, they tried an original song and it was obviously written by Dogsbreath, lesser known as Dylan Doel, whose breath really does hurt more than his fists, as Hiccup knew, and Snotlout. Simply put, he'd expect a dog to produce better stuff when shot in the leg.

"Who here's ready for some Teen Spirit?" She asked, cutting Hiccup out of his random tangent and trying to spark the crowd, working better than any other group so far, igniting the crowd enough for a very light cheer inside a room designed to enhance sound. "Alright then."

Hiccup started the song off with the simple riff, setting the tempo and tone, before Felix jumped in at the right moment, now moving his head enough to sway his short blond hair. Soon Hiccup kicked up the distortion and the intro followed right into the light interlude before the lyrics started.

"Load up on guns, bring your friends.

It's fun to lose and to pretend.

She's overbored and self-assured.

Oh-no I know a dirty word.

Hello, hello, hello, how low."

Astrid sang it better then in practice Hiccup thought. Mixing of the competition, being driven, relaxing with friends do bring out the best in people, shouldn't it? Either way, he continued playing, banging his head, picking up the lead. He was moving towards the chorus along with Astrid, and fell into a great harmony with her.

"With the lights out, it's less dangerous

Here we are now, entertain us.

I feel stupid, and contagious.

Here we are now entertain us."

"A mulatto, an albino,

A mosquito, my libido."

Hiccup knew what was coming next, and to hold over the link between the chorus and the next verse, he was gonna try a short solo. He suggested it before, and perfected it to the point that no one really disagreed. What was the point at doing an exact cover anyway he thought.

"Hey" as he pulled on and off a quick solo not akin to the song before setting back to the usually.

"Yeah" he just followed the song there, not bothering a second solo.

As the song continued, the audience was starting to get dragged in, very few were really there for much more than to participate, so most were competition. That should have made it a little bit harder to get the interest in any amount of the group. For A Viking Siege, it appeared not.

By the time the end of the song rolled around and Astrid was holding the last couple denials melodically, Hiccup pulled a long and strenuous solo for her to harmonize with, which none of the band had actually thought of doing beforehand. So by the end, Felix was playing the drums like a nut, going into some type of beserker mode that was entirely entertaining, Hiccup was playing a now rhythmic solo, all of it fitting a melodic hold on Astrid's voice before she cut it. Hiccup cut out the song with a distorted blues riff and just cut there, as the bass had been out since the third denial.

They were all panting out of their mind, and Felix was just getting the hang of himself, looking as confused as ever, as most of the audience cheered. It was, in Hiccup's eyes, impossible to spot someone not at the very least clapping, some loudly proclaiming either an encore or a wolf-whistle. Hiccup was feeling rather proud of his group he thought he sort of accidentally started. He was also thinking maybe another song might be a good idea, but before anyone could draw up their reserves for another performance, Heather returned to the side of the stage telling them it be better if they move off, not wanting to upset any of the few staff responsible. That and the fact they never practiced anything else legitimately made Hiccup's choice obvious. He got off the stage, packing up his gear and taking both his and Astrid's guitars to the car.

He came back after a few minutes of struggling, and opened the door to Snotlout and his gang. "Oh hey Snot, what lovely night for nothing good to happen huh?" Asking with sarcasm and a tad of self-deprecation caused by his cousin. "Nothing good?" His cousin mocked in question. "Why, I was only going to congratulate my cousin for a entertaining performance." As he slugged him in the abdomen hard enough to knock on the floor. "Really?" Hiccup wheezed. "And I though I couldn't get enough of your hugs." He spluttered before getting a boot to the rib. "Ahh" Hiccup was one to usually K.O. before he'd ever beg for "mercy" though Snot wouldn't give it anyway.

But something was different. After that boot he stopped hearing laughing and instead heard a lot of meatier sounds, like a fist meeting flesh, hard. He looked to his right to see Snotlout brought down for a second, panting heavily, before he rose back up, his crew fleeing, and him walking back to whoever was behind Hiccup. When he turned around however, he saw Astrid was standing there, now holding Snot's hand in a wristlock, bringing him to the floor. Hiccup thinks he hears Astrid snarling the leave him alone before Snot whimpers and is released, promptly and cautiously moving back inside.

Astrid then reached out a hand to Hiccup, bringing him back up to his full height. "I don't like him seeing him beat you anymore then you like knowing my dad beats me." As she slung his arm over her shoulder for the moment. "How bad does it hurt?" As Fishlegs came out, lugging most of his set out the door, and slowly to his car, Astrid swiftly follows suit, laying Hiccup in the passenger side. "Thanks Astrid, Scott just jealous of our raw Vikingness." Making a crack at the name he came up with. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he got to you head to." Astrid sounded seriously as Fish brought the last cylinder, before they both started laughing. Hiccup hissed mid-laugh however when his rib stung. "Ah, it might not be broken, but damn he bruised me up." He lifted his shirt revealing a really blue bruise where he was kicked. "Hiccup..." Astrid started. "If I see that happen again, I'll make sure to kick his ass, nobody harms my friends, same goes for you Fish." She pointed at their drummer. "He rarely comes after me anymore, but if you really want to kill him, I wouldn't mind. And please don't use that name in public" Felix quipped.


When Hiccup reached home, driven by Felix, having Astrid also in the car, he felt less pain. His night wasn't painless, but yet he didn't regret it at all. He got to spend time with his good friends. More intriguing to him was the fact that he hadn't really thought about crushing on Astrid, nor letting any of his nervous tics lose, or any of his normally less than "perfect" behaviors, and he was now joyed about the passed month. As Felix parked in front of his house, he packed his gear and opened the door. As he left the car, Astrid followed suit. She was not standing beside him as walked up to his door. "Thanks for the help by the way, in all of this. I never really got a chance before this...I mean it was all..."

And then she slugged him in the arm, he hissed out. "Ah, what was that for? I'm already kind of injured" He was now glaring at her unhappily to say the least. "Thats for refusing to let me help before." And then she grabbed him by the shirt and pulled his face into hers, kissing him on the lips for a quick second. "And that was for everything else."

That left Hiccup in a daze, one that remained for a few minutes after Felix's car left. The rest of his night left just too ecstatic to sleep.


Now, that's a wrap. Holy crap, the talent show took a lot for me. I usually try to aim for 2000 words (which for this story is easy cause I love it) but this was like the ending battle for the first book (though this is not an ending, ohhh no, this is just the beginning, we are kicking into full gear from here on out, it will get crazy, and the people are even crazier)

So now that I did that, I'll tell you, it felt awesome to write this, I mean I've been writing and rewriting the plot in my head for this chapter, and I don't think it could have gone better. I was thinking of bringing in Toothless here, but I soon decided it would have been more than needed, so he'll grow in importance steadily like everyone/thing else.

Oh and by the way, none of the teens have an easy life, nothing is as simple as it seems, Hiccup might be the closest to having no baggage, and he's missing half his leg (I forget if I explained why but I'll recheck and regroup all that later, don't worry, I'm not leaving a single stone unturned by the end)

Oh and btw, Google Docs (which I must now use cause my computer doesn't support word) has been bugging out at the 26 pages of the previous chapters, so I started a new doc, and I've already got six pages.

Oh and by the way, I'm looking for art on this, if anyone did any that be cool, but if someone could point me to someone who'd be willing to lend me their art as a cover for this, I'd appreciate it.

Either way, if you liked what I did, and how it's going, give it a follow and fav, and any thoughts, like "What about Astrid's family?" Or "What's with Felix?", or whether you liked or hated it, tell me in a review. They really do help. Thanks for reading, and as alway, see you in the next chapter.