I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. Direct quotes from the movie will be bolded.
The Suspicions of Astrid
"You know," Sunset said as she perched on a rock, overlooking Hiccup and Toothless. "I think Astrid is starting to get a little suspicious."
"Why do you say that?" Hiccup pushed his hair out of his eyes so that he could see his friend clearly.
"Well, when I went to follow you, she grabbed my shoulder and was all like, why are you going? She's never cared much about us before, so I think she'd only ask me that because she thinks something's up."
"Then maybe we'll just have to be a little more careful." Hiccup scratched Toothless on the head, moving down towards his chin. When he scratched there, Hiccup collapsed to the ground, purring contentedly.
Sunset stared in amazement. "I never realized there was so much we didn't know about dragons."
"And that everything we do know is wrong," Hiccup murmured.
Sunset rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You know Toothless kind of acts like the cats in the village. He likes being rubbed under his chin and there's a certain type of plant that he loves." She took off her Viking helmet and angled it so that the metal strips lining the base would catch the sunlight. Toothless caught sight of the patch of light and chased after it, pouncing every now and then.
Hiccup laughed. "I think we have two more tricks in our dragon training arsenal."
"That is what we're doing, isn't it?" Sunset said thoughtfully. "Training a dragon."
Her grip on her helmet slackened and the patch of light landed on Hiccup's chest. Toothless pounced and knocked Hiccup to the ground. "You did that on purpose!" Hiccup accused.
Sunset burst into laughter, putting her helmet back over her messy red hair. "I swear I didn't! But it was hilarious!"
"Yeah? Well, so is this!" Hiccup tackled Sunset off the rock and pinned her to the ground. "What are you going to do now?"
Toothless turned his head to see the two kids tussling in the grass. Concerned that they were fighting for real, he got to his claws and hurried over. He nudged Hiccup off of Sunset and stood in between the two, snorting softly.
"Aw, he was worried we were hurting each other." Sunset scratched his ear.
"It's okay, bud," Hiccup assured the Night Fury. "We were just playing."
Toothless nodded in apparent understanding. He then knocked Hiccup in the direction of the pool with the intent of pushing him in. "Hey, wait a second! Toothless! Tooth-"
Hiccup yelped as the Night Fury gave a final nudge, pitching the boy into the water. Sunset quickly climbed back on the rock as Toothless advanced towards her. "These are new leggings!" she protested, gesturing towards the pine green clothing.
Toothless grinned slyly and gently grabbed the girl by the hem of her grey shirt. Sunset let out a shriek as the Night Fury pulled her to the pool and tossed her in. She broke the surface, coughing and shoving her helmet back into position. "Okay, I think Toothless won this round."
Hiccup grinned, treading water beside her. "Yeah, I think so too."
Toothless snickered victoriously.
He liked this game.
...
"So, how are we going to deal with the Deadly Nadder today?" Sunset asked as they rushed for the arena, determined not to be late and give anyone a reason to be suspicious.
"I think the rubbing trick will work," Hiccup decided. "Gobber doesn't want us using shields today, so it might be more obvious if we attempt to distract a Nadder with an axe making a patch of light."
"Right," Sunset muttered as they entered the arena. She gingerly picked up the axe Stoick had given her from the weapons rack. "Axes."
"Are your hands burning off yet?" Gobber teased from above.
Sunset glared up at him. "I have no idea how to use this thing," she warned. "So if I accidently take off someone's head, it's not my fault."
Snotlout gasped in mock-surprise. "I think Miss Animals-Are-Friends-Not-Food actually made a threat!"
"Oh, just release the Nadder already," Sunset muttered grumpily.
The cage swung open and the Nadder raced out, snorting angrily. Hiccup and Sunset watched in disbelief as the dragon easily shot spikes from its tail, trapping Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut in a corner.
"No fair!" Snotlout cried. "You didn't tell us about this!"
"Now, see, if ya read the book, you would have known," Gobber drawled.
The Nadder's tail suddenly swung towards Hiccup and Sunset. Sunset managed to duck, but Hiccup got knocked to the other side of the arena. The Nadder spotted Sunset and charged at her. Sunset recalled Toothless and how the dagger made him uncomfortable, so she chucked her axe to the side.
"Sunset!" Gobber roared, furious. "Stop picking the deadly beasts over your own life!"
But the Nadder stopped just in front of Sunset, no longer feeling threatened. Sunset smiled.
"Aarrgghh!"
Sunset's pale skin turned even whiter as Astrid charged at the Nadder, axe waving madly. She quickly rubbed the special spot, causing the Nadder to drop to the ground. Astrid halted a few feet away from the pair, her expression one of disbelief.
"Nice going, Sun!" Hiccup beamed in relief and ran over to his friend, holding his injured side.
"That was awesome!" Tuffnut exclaimed.
"Don't ever scare me like that again," Gobber snapped, relief evident in his voice. "Alright, don't be handing out back pats just yet. There's a double attack today."
"Double?" Fishlegs asked in disbelief as he and the others gingerly squeezed out of their entrapment. "Are you trying to kill us?"
Gobber ignored him and opened a small flap in the middle of the steel door. A tiny green dragon scurried out, sniffing madly. "This is a Terrible Terror."
"Aw!" Sunset cooed. "He's so cute!"
Tuffnut snorted. "This is what you want us to fight? Please, I can-"
The Terror latched itself onto Tuffnut's face, squealing madly and biting his nose. "Ouch! Take it off! I am hurt! I'm very much hurt!"
Sunset grabbed a shield from the rack and handed it to Hiccup. Together, they used the metal parts of the shield to guide a patch of light towards the cage. The Terrible Terror caught sight of the reflection and chased after it. Sunset hurried over and lifted up the flap of the cage as Hiccup urged the Terror inside.
"See? Quick and easy," Sunset said.
"Is that all for today?" Hiccup asked.
Gobber nodded with a smile. "Unless you two want to have a rematch with the Deadly Nadder, class is over."
"Great. See you later!" Hiccup and Sunset raced out of the arena.
Astrid glowered after them. No one was that lucky. Something was definitely up.
And she was going to find out what.
...
"Okay, I think this is the one!" Hiccup declared as he strapped the newest saddle and tailfin onto Toothless.
Sunset shook her head. "That's what you said about the last one," she reminded him.
Hiccup climbed onto Toothless and Sunset tied the rope around a small tree stump. The other end of the rope was tied around Toothless' midsection. Hiccup had decided that they could give the new harness a trial run before actually going in the air.
Toothless opened his wings and the wind carried him a few feet gently above the ground. Hiccup practiced using the different positions of the tailfin. Sunset giggled. "He looks like a really big kite."
"What, aren't you going to eat your words?" Hiccup asked smugly. "The harness works-"
The rope suddenly snapped the two crashed into the tree behind them. Sunset snorted and hurried over to them. "You were saying?"
"Okay, technically, the rope broke, not my harness," Hiccup muttered, embarrassed. He tried to get up, but found that he couldn't stand straight up. "What the-?"
"Um." Sunset smiled. "You're kinda stuck to Toothless."
"I didn't notice," Hiccup drawled, pulling on the metal hook. It wouldn't budge. "Well. This sucks."
"What are we going to do?" Sunset asked.
Hiccup leaned against Toothless with a weary sigh. "I don't suppose you know any blacksmith tools?"
"Other than an axe and a hammer, not so much," Sunset answered honestly.
"And none of those are fit for this situation." Hiccup shook his head. "So we're just going to have to wait here until night before sneaking into the village."
"With Toothless."
"With Toothless," Hiccup confirmed.
"What could possibly go wrong?" Sunset rolled her eyes.
...
Night fell far too quickly. Sunset walked a distance ahead of Hiccup and Toothless, making sure that the path was clear. The glow of a lantern floated in their direction, so she hastily gave a soft whistle to warn them to stay put.
"Sunset," the Viking greeted as he passed. Sunset smiled innocently in return. When the Viking was far enough away she whistled again.
"Almost there," Hiccup whispered to Toothless. They hurried for the forge and Sunset closed the door firmly behind them.
"Okay, okay, this should do it." Hiccup grabbed a slab of metal and attempted to pry the hook loose. Toothless, however, would not hold still.
"Toothless, settle down!" Sunset hissed as the Night Fury knocked over a bucket of bolts with his tail.
"Hiccup? Is that you?"
"Astrid!" Hiccup hissed. "Sunset, distract her!"
"Me? Why me?"
"I would do it, but I'm currently attached to a Night Fury."
"Okay! Don't have to get snippy about it," Sunset muttered. She threw open the window and jumped out of it, slamming the shutters closed behind her. Astrid stumbled back at the girl's sudden appearance. "Hey! Astrid! What's up?"
Astrid frowned. "I normally could care less about what you and Hiccup do, but you've been acting extremely weird lately. Well, weirder than your normal weird, anyway."
"What do you mean?" Sunset asked, attempting to sound confused.
"Aside from all the sudden skill in handling dragons, there's also the fact you keep disappearing. Also, you're in Gobber's forge in the middle of the night without Hiccup."
Before Sunset could respond, there was a startled shout from inside with a loud crash following. Astrid shoved Sunset aside and threw open the shutters, but there was nothing there. When she turned around, Sunset had disappeared. Astrid punched the wall frustration.
"Whatever it is you two are hiding," she growled, "I will find out."