Chapter 9

Over the next few days, Hiccup spent most of his free time with Dalla, teaching her to train dragons, which Astrid did not enjoy.

"Why do you care so much?" Ruffnut asked as they stood around the arena with the other villagers, watching Hiccup train the other tribe. "You're the one who was spending all that time with Snotlout."

"Hiccup knew I wasn't going to leave him for Snotlout," Astrid snapped at her.

"How do you know Hiccup is going to leave you?" Ruffnut said, "He likes you a lot. He's not going to leave you for her. Why do you think that?"

"I don't know," she said, "There's just something about her." At that moment she could hear Dalla shriek in fear as Hiccup released the nightmare and watched her cling to his arm. "See?" Astrid said pointing at her and Hiccup, "She's all over him!"

"Would you calm down," Ruffnut said, "There's nothing going on with them."

"I know that," Astrid said, "I'm talking about her! She's trying to steal him from me!"

"Oh jeeze," Ruffnut said, "Come on," she said and pulled Astrid back, "We're leaving."

"No," Astrid said, "I want to stay and make sure she keeps her hands to herself."

"He's not going to let her do anything," Ruffnut said, "You're going to let this go for now and talk to Hiccup about it if its seriously bothers you this much. You should also probably stop hanging out with Snotlout so much and start actually hanging out with him."

"Uh fine," Astrid said, "I guess you're right."

"I am," Ruffnut said, "Now go home and wait for him and make this better."

"Fine," Astrid said, "When did you get so smart?" she joked and Ruffnut punched her in the arm.

Down in the arena, they had finished training for the day and the only people left were Hiccup and Dalla. "Things with that girlfriend of yours any better?" Dalla asked as Hiccup released the remaining dragons.

"Not really," Hiccup said, "But I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet. I assume she'll be waiting for me at home so I'll talk to her then." Dalla was suddenly very close to Hiccup, making him feel uncomfortable.

"Maybe you don't have to," she whispered. "I'm not here just to train with you and the dragons, but I'm here to unite our tribes. By marrying you."

"What?" he said and moved away from her, "I'm not doing that."

"You said yourself that you and your girlfriend weren't getting along," she said, "So just dump her and marry me. We can unite our tribes and be stronger than ever!"

"Just because I was arguing with her doesn't mean I don't want to be with her anymore," Hiccup said.

"Why?" Dalla said.

"Because I love her," Hiccup blurted out. This was the first time he had thought or said this and it was like a light bulb had gone off in his head. He turned back to face Dalla and said, "I'm sorry Dalla, but I can't marry you. I would really appreciate if we could be on friendly terms and that our tribes could be allies, but I cannot marry you." Dalla was silent for a moment.

"Fine," she said, "Since you trained us how to use the dragons, I have no choice but to remain friendly with you and your tribe. My tribe will be disembarking early tomorrow morning. Sorry for all this confusion."

"Its alright," he said. Dalla smiled before turning and walking away. Toothless came bounding out of the stands and landed next to Hiccup to fly him home.

A few minutes later Hiccup got home from the training to find Astrid waiting for him. "Hey," he said happily and sat down next to her. "I've missed you. I'm sorry about everything recently. I've got a whole group of people working for me now, so I have more time to spend with you and as soon as Dalla and her tribe leave in the morning"

"Are you going to see her again?" Astrid asked.

"Well I have to," Hiccup said, "I promised to stay on good terms with her and her tribe. Does that bother you or something?"

"…No," she whispered and turned away from him.

"Yes it does," Hiccup said, "Talk to me."

"Its stupid," Astrid said and got up and walked toward the wall, still not facing Hiccup.

"I still want to know," Hiccup said. Astrid sighed and turned back to face him.

"I don't like Dalla," she said.

"And why not?" Hiccup asked, "Have you even met her?"

"No," Astrid said, "But I can tell that she likes you and it bothers me."

"Why?" Hiccup asked.

"Because you're my boyfriend," she said.

"And you're jealous," Hiccup teased and smiled at her.

"Fine," she said, "I'm jealous! If you stop hanging out with her I won't hang out with Snotlout anymore!"

"Astrid," Hiccup said as he got up and took her hands in his, "I promise you that there is nothing going on with Dalla. I'm with you and always will be. I'm also sorry that I got jealous about you and Snotlout. You're right. I should've trusted you and known nothing was going on. So, can we both get past this?"

"I guess," she said.

"You guess?" Hiccup asked.

"How am I supposed to know you won't leave me?" she asked, "You're the chief, she's a chief, it's just a much better match."

"Astrid," Hiccup said, "I promise I don't want to be with her, even though she's a chief. That means nothing to me."

"How am I supposed to be sure?" she asked.

"Because I love you," Hiccup said. Astrid smiled at him.

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course," he said, "You're the girl of my dreams." Hiccup pulled her in and kissed her hard.

"I love you too," she said when they broke apart. Hiccup smiled and kissed her again.

"Marry me," he whispered.

"What?" Astrid said and stumbled backwards, "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Hiccup said and walked back over to her, "I love you. There's no one I would want to help me rule over this island with, raise a family with, or be with for the rest of life." Hiccup took her hands and knelt down onto one knee, "Astrid, will you marry me?"

"Yes," Astrid said almost at once, "Yes yes yes." Hiccup smiled and pulled her down into a harder kiss.

"I love you," Hiccup whispered.

"I love you too," Astrid said.

"I love you more," Hiccup said between kisses. Astrid giggled.

"Not uh," she said and giggled more as Hiccup kissed her again.