Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 6

Hiccup tried to act cool in front of Astrid, while also making sure that she couldn't tell who he was by lowering his voice a bit. She was wearing a light blue dress, that stopped right above her knees, but she looked somewhat uncomfortable wearing it, always trying to pull in down.

Surprised that the prince was talking to her, Astrid stuttered a bit before saying her name.

"Astrid. Astrid Hofferson. Nice you meet you… um… Henry." She said while standing up to bow, before Hiccup stood too.

"No no, you don't have to bow." He said, while putting his hand on her shoulder and slightly pushing her down to sit again.

"So… What brings you out here?" Astrid asked, curious as to why the prince would leave the party, and come talk to her, instead of some important king or queen or something.

"I wanted to get away from all of the people. I'm not much of a party guy. Why is a lovely young lady like yourself out here, on her own?" Hiccup said, suddenly feeling like a different person, more confident in this new personality.

"Same as you, I guess. I like being out here, alone with my thoughts." She said, shifting her gaze back to the night sky, looking at the stars.

The chatted for a bit, learning things about each other. Astrid turned out to be the daughter or some noble Hiccup had never heard of, and lived near the marketplace. No wonder she always comes to my booth, Hiccup thought. She just lives nearby.

Astrid learned little things about him too, but not enough to let her know that he was the mechanic that she so often visited. She learned that he played guitar, had a cat, and liked to write in his spare time. Nothing about working with machines, or disguising himself as a commoner.

After a bit of small talk and sitting in a comfortable silence, Hiccup realised that he should probably go, since it was getting late and guests were starting to leave. Standing up, he said to Astrid.

"Well, it looks like I must take my leave now. I do believe we'll see each other again." He said, then walked away, leaving Astrid to wonder about what he meant.

Astrid's POV

After being somewhat shocked that the prince had just talked to her, Astrid got called by her father and was told that they were leaving now. Heading out of the palace, she glanced back at the whole building. It was very old, but every so often it would go under construction to make it more modern, and nice. It was quite large, and made of stone bricks. She could see through some of the windows which had the blinds open, and the occasional servant would walk past the window.

Turning back around, she and her father walked to their car and started driving home. During the drive, Astrid thought about what Henry had meant about seeing each other again. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on what it was. Brushing off the thoughts, she rested her head on her hand and watched as the car sped past the apartment buildings, everything a blur.

Once they arrived at their house, Astrid stepped out of the car and into the house. After changing clothes and getting ready for bed, she went into her room and sat at her desk. Looking out of the window, she could see the marketplace. There were some restaurants near her, and she could see into some of them, watching as people ate dinner. If she really leaned forward and craned her neck around, she could see a sliver of Hiccup's booth.

Hiccup was different than anybody she'd ever met. He worked all day, and she had never seen him in anywhere else than in his booth. She had seen him working there for a few years, but she had only recently started visiting him.

She hated to admit it, but Astrid was starting to think that she was feeling something more than friendship for Hiccup. But now, after meeting Henry, she was quite confused. Even though they had only talked for a little bit, she couldn't help but feel something for him too. Getting confused and annoyed at herself, Astrid opened the lid of her laptop and pulled up a new article from the newspaper which had just been published lately.

Thieves in Red strike again!

Reading the article, Astrid found out that the group of thieves had robbed a bank, killing two innocent people. Clicking on one of her opened windows, she dragged the news article into the window, creating a new tab. Looking at the other tabs, she saw numerous articles about the red thieves, all attacking different places. Thinking about it for a few minutes, Astrid eventually closed her computer and went to bed, the day's events tiring her.

Hiccup's POV

After the party had finished, Hiccup left and went up to his room. After changing into his nightclothes, he sat down at his desk and opened his computer. After surfing the Internet for a while, he stumbled upon a news article that caught his eye. Looking at it, Hiccup saw that it was about the red thieves who had broken into the castle a while ago. They were still in Berk, and Hiccup started to think that they were there for a bigger reason than just robbing people. Thinking about it for a bit, he eventually got too tired and lay in his bed, quickly falling asleep.

It had been a few days since the ball, and Hiccup hadn't seen Astrid at the booth. It was odd, since she had come almost every day in the past few weeks. He was happy, since he finally had someone who he considered to be a good friend. Shrugging off her absence, he continued on doing his work. His work, currently, was nothing.

It had gotten dark, and Hiccup had left the booth. Carrying Toothless, the cat suddenly squirmed out of his grip after passing an alley.

"Hey! Toothless! Get back here!" Hiccup whisper-yelled, since he didn't want to attract attention, and have someone see him talking to a cat. Toothless looked back at him as if to say, what are you going to do about it?, and started walking down the dark alley, making sure Hiccup was following. Hiccup, curious as to why Toothless was so interested in the path, followed. Toothless started to go faster, and made turns throughout the streets, leaving Hiccup to run and pant behind him. After running for about 10 minutes, Toothless suddenly stopped. Hiccup, out of breath, bent over and rested his hands against his knees. He was about to talk to the cat about not doing that again, when he heard faint voices around the corner. All traces of anger being replaced by curiosity, Hiccup quietly walked over to where he heard the voices, and peeked his head around the corner.

It was a dead end, and was surrounded by large cement buildings, creating walls around the small space. There was a small lantern in the middle, and there were people surrounding it.

Holding his breath, Hiccup's pulse quickened. He looked at the people, and saw that they were all wearing a shade of red, but their backs were turned to him, and he couldn't see their faces. Straining his ears to hear what they were discussing, he heard someone say,

"We can't keep living like this. What will they be able to do to us if they can't find us?" the voice said, sounding nervous. The question was meeted with an amused snort.

"Impossible. They have eyes everywhere, and you know that. remember what happened to that guy who tried to escape?" The man made a crunching sound with his with his mouth, and Hiccup flinched. Looking closer at the men, Hiccup suddenly realised who they were. One of the men turned around to see if there was anybody near, and Hiccup silently booked it, picking up Toothless and stuffing him in his backpack. The man who turned around brushed off the small sound he had heard to be a squirrel, and turned back to talk.

Hiccup ran so fast, he was sure his prosthetic foot would fall off. Making it all the way back to the palace without stopping, Hiccup ran up to his room, closing the door behind him. Toothless scrambled out of his bag, licking down his fur. Hiccup, in a slight daze, dropped his bag and walked over to his bed, falling down onto it. He lay there, staring up at the ceiling as his brain tried to process all of the events that had just happened.

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