"We're a little short-handed at the moment due to the delivery, so I need you two to check on these prisoners." Astrid heard First say from outside her cell. She watched from the foliage as two Roman Legionnaires walked in with food and water. When the door was locked behind them they let out a sigh of relief. "I thought he had found us out." One of them said. The other looked at him and nodded. "Let's just finish this so we can get back to the task at hand," he said. They began to walk in the direction of the lake, and Astrid and the white dragon followed behind them.
One of them looked around at all the trees. He was just a little taller than the other. "Why do they need such a large cage anyway?" He asked. The other stretched out his shoulders and responded. "It helps soothe some of the more feisty dragons, allowing them to be tamed easier." The taller one nodded and looked around again. When she almost couldn't see them, Astrid tapped the dragons neck and it shot forward a few yards, creating a small rustling. The taller one looked up at where she had passed. "Did you hear that?" He asked, turning towards the other. The shorter one paid no attention to his question, he was examining some of the dragon's early paint marks. He stood up from his crouching position. "Let's keep moving." He told the taller one, and they continued towards the pond.
Astrid continued to follow them as they walked through the forest. The shorter one continued to examine the dragon's paintings, completely ignoring the taller one's growing fear of Astrid's constant rustling noises. "Seriously, I think we're being followed!" He yelled at his partner. The shorter one rubbed his hand next to a picture on one of the trees. "These are paintings of Rome's architecture." He whispered, and continued on. The taller one sighed and followed him. "If we die because of you, uncle, Mom will be outraged."
The pair emerged from the forest into the clearing with the dragon's latest creations. The shorter one examined the paintings as they walked towards the large stone wall. "These paintings are incredible. such detail." Astrid heard him say. He looked up at the wall. "Wait a minute," he said, "Is that me?" Astrid's eyes widened as the man walked up to the portrait. "Hey, look at..." The shorter one stopped talking as he looked over at what the taller one was examining. It was the dragon's masterpiece, a perfectly detailed portrait of Astrid. The taller one dropped the buckets he was holding and slowly walked towards the painting. He ran his hand along the artwork's cheek, and Astrid felt a slight bit of warmth run along her's. "Astrid."
Toothless followed the other dragons through a series of tunnels until they entered a large room in the cave system. It had several different paths leading in and out of the room. A loud growl caught Toothless' attention. As the other dragons continued, he stopped to watch as a group of Legionnaires dragged a large Monstrous Nightmare out of one of the caves. A pair of Roman officers followed closely behind. "The Crimson Flame remains undefeated," one of them laughed. "That's not true." The other responded. "I count that one against the Viking girl as a loss." Toothless' ears shot up at the mention of "Viking girl" and he snuck off behind the group.
They emerged into an even larger room filled completely with cages. The soldiers dragged the Nightmare to an open cage and chained him to metal fixings on the inside. One of the officers closed the door as they scurried out of the cage, locking it when the last one was out. "See you next match, Crimson Flame." The officer mocked. "Come on boys, let's go fetch some wine before we set sail." He threw the keys onto a table as the group walked into another cave. Toothless "gracefully" removed his armor and then snatched the keys from the table.
The Monstrous Nightmare watched as the Night Fury waltzed over to his cage. He was a little suspicious of the small dragon, but it had traces of a familiar and soothing scent, so he remained quiet. Toothless "skillfully" unlocked the Nightmare's cage and blasted out his chains. The large dragon slightly bowed in gratitude to the small dragon as they exited the cage. They began to advance towards one of the cages when Toothless heard a small groan. He looked over to one of the cages to find it full of Vikings. Not just any Vikings, these Vikings smelled like home. Toothless bounded up to the cage door. One of the Vikings looked up from the floor at the Night Fury. "By Odin's Beard, Toothless!" The other vikings looked up in astonishment, one of them fell off a stone slab bed. "It is him! Come on boy, open the door." Toothless tried out several keys until the lock clicked, releasing the Vikings. "Good boy." They said, a few even scratched and pet him. Toothless smiled in his classic gummy smile.
The white dragon leaped out of the woods onto one of the rocks behind the taller soldier. Astrid jumped off and grabbed his sword before he could react, and pointed it at his back. "How do you know my name?" She demanded. He took off his helmet, revealing several small braids behind his right ear. Astrid lowered the sword slightly in disbelief, but she brought it back up as he began to move. "Don't move! Just tell me how you know my name." She ordered. The sound of hair on metal brought her focus on the other soldier, who had removed his helmet. She gasped. He looked exactly like the painting, and even more amazingly, he looked a lot like Hiccup. The dragon purred as it walked over to him. "Solstice?" The man questioned as he dropped his helmet. The dragon chirped gleefully at the mention of the name and bounded into the man's arms.
Wait, Astrid thought, this one called him uncle, and if they're related.... She looked at the back of the taller man...Then they'll look... The taller man began to turn around. "I said don't move." Astrid whimpered, terrified of what he looked like. She felt her knees begin to wobble as more of his features came into view. Messy hair, freckles, a scar under his mouth, and two tear-filled green eyes. She immediately dropped the sword.
Hiccup held tightly to his Astrid. He kissed her on the head as she cried in his shoulder. "You came." She whimpered. He smiled as tears flowed from his eyes. "Of course I did," he said, "I love you." Astrid looked into his eyes as the tears began to fall more frequently. Never had that one phrase held so much passion and love. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. Hiccup pulled her close to him and cupped her cheek. Astrid could feel his message, I will never lose you again.
"It's times like this I regret not having a chance to marry." The two lovebirds quickly separated as they remembered they weren't alone. Remus laughed. "You should see your faces. Now Hiccup, are you going to introduce me to my future niece." Astrid was surprised by the vocabulary. "Niece?" Hiccup clapped his hands together. "Right. Uncle Remus, this is my fiancée, Astrid; Astrid, this is my Uncle Remus." He introduced, waving his hands to each of his companions at the appropriate times. Remus stretched out his hand. "A pleasure, Astrid." Astrid subconsciously shook his hand. "Now, we need to fetch that stone." Remus said and picked up a stick. He crouched down to the ground. "Here's the plan." Astrid stared at him, paying no attention to his explination. "Uncle?"