Glad you could join me!

Before we get into the chapter, I have a prayer request. Later today, my family and I will be leaving for the hospital. My dad has suffered with kidney failure for the last few years, and he's finally getting a kidney transplant! My aunt is the donor, so it's a huge thing for my family. Please, just keep us in your prayers and thoughts. Thank you so much!

Astrid Hofferson. A strong independent young woman at the ripe, awkward age of fifteen and a half. The town beauty, having sunshine gold hair and the attitude of a feral cat. Ever since her parents died a few years back, Stoick the Vast had been taking care of her, not having any children of his own.

Well, not anymore.

Astrid was in training for the role of the hope and heir of the Hooligan tribe, since she was the fiercest warrior, and had the brains to lead. There was Snotlout, who was brave and strong, but incapable of buckling his own boots. So, since the absence of Hiccup, the title fell to the young blonde.

And she hated every minute of it.

On this particular afternoon, her and her adoptive father, along with his right hand man, Gobber, were out on a boat. The freezing wind made her sneer at the frigid waves below.

"Why are we out here again?" She glanced over to the chief. She had asked this question at least three times, never getting a word out of him. He never explained things to her. Today was no exception. When she rose in the morning he told her to grab her helmet and axe, and that they were going fishing. So far, they had been out here for three hours and no fishing had been done.

Finally, he answered, "Fishermen have reported being attacked by a dragon, but only their supplies have been taken, no damage to the ship, and even their catches have been left alone."

"That's bizzarre." She amended. Being attacked by a dragon was common, but it was usually to take the haul or for sheer sport of destroying the boats. So, just stealing cargo? No very dragon-like. Carving her name into the hull of the ship with her dagger, Astrid showed little interest in the development. It was a bit of a habit, and she was sure she had labelled almost every building in the village with her name.

"So we're going to see what's up." Gobber finished.

"Fog rolling in chief." A man named Mulch stated from the bow.

"That's odd, it's a clear day…"

"Maybe we should stay away from it?" Asked Astrid, being ignored, as usual.

"Steady, men." And the boat slunk into the settled cloud.

Astrid took her axe off her back as a shadow zipped through the clouds. There was an unearthly roar.

"Astrid, put on your helmet lass!" Gobber called.

She rolled her eyes. "Sure." She hated that thing, it was cold, heavy, and hard. It wasn't even hers. But she understood that it was for safety, so she put it on.

Suddenly, a fire ball hit the water, causing spray to come up and the fog to thicken.

"Prepare yer selves!"

For a moment, everyone waited pensively, hands gripping their weapons like a lifeline.

Then, like a storm, balls of fire consecutively hit the water, rocking the boat. A dragon, all black in color touched down on the hull for the briefest seconds, snatched a barrel, and disappeared.

"Aim for it the next time it comes around!" Stoick called.

Astrid noticed that a shadow moved behind him, much too small to be a dragon. But it was shaped like a large fish. It had leapt out of the water, grabbed a crate and flung it before disappearing with a splash.

"Stoick, there's another one!" She shouted.

"Spread out! We're catching these things!"

More fire shot into the water.

"It's just a distraction! Stay focused."

Astrid strained her eyes to see through the mist, but there were only faint shadows, and she wasn't sure if it was her target or her fellow vikings.

She heard a distinct 'Thwang,' a shout, and then a splash. Warbled laughter echoed into the distance.

"What was that?"

"Is everyone alright?" As the question was asked, the fog lifted, and everyone dropped their weapons. The entire ship had been picked clean.

"How did they do that?" Gobber scratched his beard. Then he noticed, "Astrid, your helmet…"

She reached up, and lo and behold, it was gone. Sure, she hated the thing, but the fact that these dragons were able to snatch it from her head without her noticing was enough to make her blood boil. Oh yes, they would come back, and Astrid would take care of the thieves personally. No one made a fool out of a Hofferson.

—

Slick fins cut through the water like a knife. Bubbles danced in the currents before propelling towards the surface.

Hiccup swam jovially, two crates in his grasp. Another heist had gone off perfectly.

Well, almost perfectly.

Toothless was still gutturally laughing at his friend.

"Okay, so I jumped into the forestay and got launched back into the water, not my crowning moment. But hey, we lifted the chief's boat, and I got a nifty helmet out of it." He shook his head, the bucket twisting in the waves.

The dragon swung his tail back to make sure a barrel stayed with the rest.

"Human's are so stupid. I swear, they get stupider every year." The boy laughed.

His dragon companion snorted.

"Toothless, I have every right to say that." In a few moments, the duo had made it to his grotto, their home. It was a small cave on the side of the cliffs that lined Berk. The opening was about a foot in diameter and only accessible through the water. Inside though, was cozy. Just enough room for a boy and his dragon. The cave had one main limestone shelf about a foot above water that the boy had lined with wood. In the middle, he built a stone feature for a fireplace. The stone walls had nets hanging from them and from them hung various tools that had been abandoned over shipwrecks. Among them were shields, hammers, and plenty of blades of various weapons. He was well stocked. On the left side of the cave, another shelf, narrow in width, housed food and Hiccup's treasures.

"Because, you silly creature, I used to be human, but look," he waved his tail. "Fins. Human's don't have fins, Toothless."

The dragon rolled it's eyes and pushed the loot up on the limestone plateau. His boy had a tendency to make this excuse whenever the topic of humans was brought up. Obviously, he had a guilt complex when stealing.

Hiccup broke open one of the crates he had been carrying, using a dull sword. "Let's see what we have today…hmm, looks like some netting and some weighs. Ah, perfect."

Hiccup had found this grotto years before and had been slowly altering it to be the perfect haven for a merman. That's right, if you hadn't guessed it yet, Hiccup had been transformed into a hybrid, half boy, half fish. The first and only of his kind. While he could just sleep under water like all of his aquatic counterparts, he decided he didn't have to. He could breath air or water, whichever he desired. Besides, when he slept underwater, he had a tendency to float away and wake up somewhere foreign.

But that was also a problem, as he was the only one of his kind. Oh yes, mermaids existed, but only the females of the species. There were no such thing as mermen…besides Hiccup. This made for an isolated life. The mermaids did speak with him and they allowed him in their community. But so many of their practices felt foreign and made him uncomfortable. He had been a human, once upon a time, and how they treated humans made his skin crawl. He may not have liked them either, but he would not drown and rape them for sport.

They would never know his origins.

"Hey, lift me up." He called to his companion.

Toothless obediently raised Hiccup up so he could hook the net on the ledge. He scaled the wall and hooked it again, making a hammock that hung maybe a foot away from the fire pit.

"Perfect!" He said, crawling into it. Unfortunately, the gaps between the ropes were a bit too big, and his hand fell through, sufficiently tangling him up. "Rats." He struggled some more before looking over to the smug reptile. "Little help, bud?"

Toothless whacked the bottom of the hammock, popping him out and sending him into the water.

"Thanks bud." Hiccup shook the water from his face. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. "I know!" And without the dragon's help, he climbed up on a limestone ledge and dug through older crates until he found what he was looking for, a thick wool blanket. He lined the hammock and looked to his work in satisfaction. "This will beat sleeping on the wood hands down. I have no idea why I didn't think of this before."

The dragon grumbled unhappily.

"Oh fine! Go! Get your dinner!" He waved emphatically.

The Nightfury bounded around on the shelf before diving into the water and disappearing. Hiccup rolled his eyes and climbed up to the spot Toothless had occupied. "Let's see now…" He dug around in one of the barrels they had lifted awhile back. "Smoked mutton…and yak jerky." The teen began to devour his own meal.

Hiccup had eaten his fair share of fish in his life. Even after he knew Toothless and ate them smoked, cooked, and sometimes burnt, his taste for the aquatic creatures had depleted. It made it hard to eat them too, since he bonded with them. You only make the mistake of befriending your food once. Now he left the fish to Toothless while he got the meals from the vikings. It was a fair trade off, he supposed. They throw him into the sea, he steals their food. Win win.

He had been doing this for years, usually following a ship that looked like it was full of drunkards and waited until they were all passed out. Then he would take a single barrel that would last him a week or so. As they were catching on to his trick, he figured it would be better to get as many supplies as he could muster so he could spend the harshest of the seasons in his cave with his fire breathing reptile.

As Hiccup finished licking the salt off his fingers, his loyal friend came back. Toothless climbed up on the shelf and lit his pile of wood on fire, then laid down on the embers.

Hiccup yawned and climbed up to his hammock, jumping in it to swing side to side. His tail hung over the edge.

"Today's been a pretty great day, huh Bud?" He withdrew a fork he had stuck in the wall and began to brush his much too long hair. "There was that race with the dolphin's this morning, then the flight around Breakneck Bog, and then the heist. Literally not a boring minute." He paused as he struggled with a knot. His hair always got tangled when he jumped out. He should have learned how to braid. With that sad thought, he lowered the utensil.

Toothless sensed his sadness and looked towards him. He whined.

"No, I'm okay...I just..."

He longed for companionship. Real conversation, with like minded individuals, like that girl he was friends with all those years ago, whatever her name was. Although, now she was probably adapted to whatever hogwash they were teaching up there. He honestly didn't know, and that bothered him. He wanted to learn why the humans had cast him out. Why had they sacrificed him? Why cast him into the sea as a child? It didn't make sense. But then, he supposed, humans didn't make much sense at all.

He stared at his tail, knowing it like a mother knows her child. It had been strange waking up at the bottom of the ocean. Even if it was ten years ago, the fascination with it was still brand new. His tail was the same vibrant green as his eyes. The base was the same as any other tropical fish, sharp, thick plated scales on his backside, surrounding his dorsal fin and rounded, silky scales that overlapped on his underside. But the fins, those were the spectacular part. They were wide spanning, like fans, but almost completely translucent with a tint of green to them. Running along the fans were fractals of color, bright and incremented, and unlike anything in nature. Spines acted like toes. Hundreds of them ran the thin webbing and created movement.

He rested his tail back over the edge with a yawn.

"Goodnight Toothless."

The dragon warbled back.

—

It had been three days since the heist, and Astrid was determined to catch whatever lifted the ship. It had taken her days to come up with this plan, but she was sure this would get it. She talked it over with Fishlegs and Gobber, who spent their time brainstorming and designed a practical trap. It would be simple. Bolt the cargo to the ship, so it couldn't be lifted. Then, when one of the creatures attempted to lift it, they'd be thrown off balance, and onto a net. Any motion would release the weights and trap it. It was based off an old dragon trap, called a netter, but this was a more secure and sophisticated version. If anything would catch the thief, it would be this.

It was a whole other matter when she consulted Stoick about it.

"No, absolutely not. You are not going back out there!"

"Oh come on! Someone has to stop this!"

"We will, but you're staying here. The villagers are talking about a curse and I am not subjecting you to it!"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Stoick, I thought you were better than listening to old wives tales. It only steals cargo, it doesn't hurt anyone!"

"But what if it does this time?"

"Why are you such a coward?!"

"I am not a coward!"

"Then let me go!"

"No!"

"You're being ridiculous!"

"Are you calling your guardian ridiculous?" He warned.

"No, I'm calling my chief ridiculous."

He scoffed.

"Give me one good reason why I can't go out there!"

The great man narrowed his eyes at her and said evenly. "I'm not losing another heir. Not to the water."

His declaration stunned her, but she smiled. "That's a better excuse. I'm still going."

Stoick rubbed a hand down his face.

"Look, I won't go alone." She amended.

"Who's planning on going with you?"

"Uh...the trainees?"

He shook his head, dolefully. "I'd rather you go alone then go with those knuckleheads."

Astrid exasperated. "I understand, and...to extent I agree with you, but I need them in order for this plan to work."

He huffed. "So determined." He hesitated, but he studied her resolved stature. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, go." He waved her off, half-hearted.

"Thank you, I promise I won't let you down." She nodded. Without another word, she jogged down to the village.

Stoick sighed as he watched the girl jog away. She was so determined, so stubborn. For the most part, it was dangerous, but she had a big heart, especially for her tribe. She would make a valuable chief one day. After a bit more training of course.

About an hour later, the chief's personal ship was preparing for launch. While most of the crew worked on the standard procedures, Astrid made herself busy with setting her trap, with the blacksmith's apprentice to help.

"So...what are we looking at?" Asked Snotlout, punching his palm.

"One thief is a dragon, I know this for sure. I'm not sure what the other thing is." She admitted, tightening a knot. "But, it's smaller. That's what we're going to catch."

"Let it be known that I think this is a very bad idea, and I'm just here because I was too afraid to say no." Fishlegs spoke up.

"Oh, come on Legs," the leader of the group smirked. "This is the chance to be apart of the discovery of a lifetime."

"Or a horribly painful death, you never know." Tuffnut shrugged.

"Thank you, Tuff, that makes me feel so much better." The tubby boy rolled his eyes.

Astrid smirked and put her hands on her hips. "Tuff, I say this with the greatest respect." She then frowned. "Zip your howling screamer."

Snotlout snorted.

"No one is going to die." Astrid restated firmly. "Now, help me get this net up. I want a fish fry for dinner, boys."

—

He exhaled strongly from the rock he perched upon. "What a beautiful day for relaxing in the sun." Hiccup stretched out in the warm rays, drying himself from the frigid water he was forced to wallow in. The sun was something he was not graced with on most occasions. Seafolk stayed out of it's rays to remain unseen and to keep from drying out. But this unspoken rule always went ignored by the fish boy. It was not like anyone would scold him anyways. While sunning himself on a rock had it's perks, nothing could compare to the feeling of flight.

But that was a rare treat he only indulged in every once in a while.

This winter was going to be miserable. Holed up in his grotto, the surface frozen solid. No sun. No warmth.

Luckily, his best friend was a fire breathing reptile.

A shadow passed by overhead, followed shortly by a low chattering. Speak of the devil. Hiccup peeked up to see the dragon land on the rock next to him.

"What's up, bud?"

Toothless shook his head, snorting, and then nudged him.

"What?" Sitting up, he looked around and saw a boat in the distance. "So?"

Toothless bounded him around him, excited.

"You want to lift it? It looks that good?" He peered over and squinted. "I bet it's the chief's ship, trying to get a look at us again." He smirked. "Well, what do you say, bud? Should we give them what they want?"

Toothless nuzzled him happily.

"Get your shots ready, this is going to be fun!"

Steeling himself for the cold, Hiccup slipped into the water without so much as a splash.

Toothless was not as graceful.

The duo raced through the murky depths, aiming for the ship. When they were still a little ways away, Hiccup signaled Toothless to start up his heat.

Opening his mouth, hot bubbles exploded out and boiled the water, creating a cloud of steam on the surface. He swam around, widening his cloud before breaking the surface and taking off into the sky under cover.

Now Hiccup just had to wait. He dove deeper, raring himself to go. Three blasts hit the water, making the steam above even denser. After a few moments, another two blasts hit the water, and he knew it was time. His fins cascaded through the currents, propelling him up and up until he broke through the surface. He spotted figures on the boat, and leapt to grab a crate that sat towards the front.

As he pulled on it, he was thrown forward as the box was much heavier than he anticipated. He flopped helplessly on the deck with a 'ouf'. Luckily, the crew hadn't noticed yet as Toothless kept them occupied. All he had to do was get to the edge of the boat and pull himself over.

However, when he attempted to move, a trigger was released. He suddenly found himself up in the air, spinning. A net wrapped around him, along with a rope that twisted tightly and burned his skin. He dropped from the trap and fell hard back onto the deck. A canvas covered him from sight.

He squirmed, wrestling with the bindings, but only made them tighter. Turning attentive, he heard Toothless shoot the final plasma blast, signaling that he was retreating. He heard the dragon roar one last time into the distance and his heart sunk. He hadn't noticed that Hiccup had been captured.

"Quick, we need to get out of here!" A woman's voiced called sharply.

"Did it work?"

"Yeah! But we need to leave before that beast comes back!"

The longboat gave a sudden lurch and Hiccup knew he was in trouble. This isn't what he wanted when he hoped for a human encounter.