A/N: Okay, so I noticed I've been updating every other weekend. I try to do every weekend, but my college work comes first.
Anyway, this chapter starts off in episode 1 of Riders of Berk, I still haven't decided if I want to put Race to the Edge in this AU yet. We'll see how this story flows :).
Stoick woke up in his seat in The Great Hall with some men passed out on the floor. It wasn't the first party that people would get so dunk that they would fall to the floor and sleep. Stoick let out a groan and rubbed his eyes before getting out of his chair. He cracked his neck and stretched out his tight muscles before getting out of his chair to leave the hall. When he walked to the door and opened it, the rising sun hit his eyes making him squint as he walked down the stairs to go home. He noticed Stormfly curled up sleeping by the house before he walked inside.
When he walked in, he could hear the Night Fury growling in his sleep upstairs. He almost thought about walking upstairs to wake the two teens up, but he grabbed his axe that was hanging on the wall, and then walked out letting the two teens sleep in. When he shut the door behind him, he didn't realize he made the young girl upstairs stir in her sleep. Astrid let out a groan and buried her face in the pillow. For some reason her pillow was hard, she thought their pillows would be softer than the ones her father had bought.
She shrugged it off and placed one of her hands to rest it by her head. When she put her hand on the pillow, she noticed how strange it felt. She moved her hand away from her face a little bit, and noticed how it was a little softer. Then she moved her hand back closer to her face and she felt something hard again. She was trying to figure out what this pillow had in it. It almost felt like…what was that? It felt like a…bone, and what was that sound?
Then she felt her pillow raise her head up without her control. She opened her eyes to only find a pair of legs that didn't belong to her. She turned her head to the other direction and saw the bottom of Hiccup's chin. Astrid's eyes went wide and she pushed herself up quickly looking down at Hiccup sleeping on his back. Once she was off of him, he turned to his side having his back facing her as he continued to sleep. Astrid felt her stomach flip once she realized that she slept on him all night. She was trying to remember what happened last night. The last thing she remembered was that they were playing 'what would you do?', and feeling tired and trying to keep her eyes open.
She must have fell asleep sitting up and fell forward on him. Just the thought of that made her stomach turn. She could only imagine how embarrassed he must have felt. The last thing she wanted was to make him feel uncomfortable around her.
Astrid got up from the bed and walked down stairs. She tightened her robe around herself before she walked out the front door. The air was cold, but the sunrise was worth it to be outside. She walked to the side of the house and saw her dragon waking up. "Hey girl, did you sleep well?" Stormfly nudged her rider in the stomach before getting off the ground. "I'll be right back girl. I need to get dressed before we go out flying."
Astrid walked back inside and heard movement upstairs. She walked up the stairs to see Hiccup putting his vest on and Toothless stretching out before getting up. Hiccup turned his head to the stairs and saw Astrid. "Oh hey, I was wondering where you went."
"Getting ready to go out flying?" she asked making Toothless' ears perk up.
"Um yeah…you want to join?"
Astrid nodded. "Sure, just let me get dressed first, and I'll meet you down stairs."
"Okay," Hiccup turned his head to face Toothless. "Come on, Toothless." The young boy walked down the stairs and his dragon jumped to the bottom to get in the front room. Astrid found her favorite outfit in the dresser. Once she put on her clothes, she put her nightgown and robe away. She pulled her boots on and walked down the stairs seeing Hiccup fixing up Toothless' saddle. Hiccup heard footsteps and pulled his head up seeing Astrid in her normal wear. "Ready to go?" he asked walking to the door. Astrid nodded and the three of them walked out seeing Stormfly waiting for them.
When the two were both mounted on their dragons, an idea went through Astrid's head. "Hey, how about we make this a little interesting?"
Hiccup looked up at Astrid with a smirk, "I'm listening."
"How about we do three laps around the island? Last one to The Great Hall has to get the winner's breakfast."
Hiccup thought about it, and smiled. "Okay, and just to let you know, I like my eggs scrambled."
"Oh, so it's going to be like that?" she asked playfully. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to crush you like in every competition."
"We'll see about that." He smirked before they went off.
~oOo~
The twins, Fishlegs, and Snotlout sat at their usual table eating their breakfast. Only a few of the people were eating while the others were doing their daily tasks.
"Do you guys think anything's going to change since Hiccup and Astrid are married now?" Fishlegs asked before taking a bite out of his meal.
"Shut up Fishlegs," Snotlout groaned.
"Whoa, what's your problem?" Tuffnut asked Snotlout.
"He's mad because the girl he's been chasing since we were thirteen is married now," Ruffnut replied.
"Oh please Ruff; it's not even a real marriage. Trust me, give it a few months. They'll be splitting up after Mr. Hofferson is dead."
"Snotlout!" Fishlegs gasped.
"I didn't mean for it to sound like that! I'm just saying the only reason they got married is so Mr. Hofferson can die in peace. No one said that they had to stay together." Snotlout pointed out before taking a drink.
"So if you're not upset about the wedding, what are you upset about?" Tuffnut asked.
"It's my dad, he's still mad about Mr. Hofferson choosing Hiccup."
"I thought he was over that," Fishlegs said.
"No, he was just done venting at the villagers. I'm still hearing about it at home." Snotlout grumbled before taking another bite out of his meat. Then they heard the large double doors open and saw their other two friends walking in with their dragons.
"I won fair and square, which means you need to get my food." Astrid gloated with a smirk.
"Are you kidding me? You made Stormfly spine shot at us at the last minute!" Hiccup proclaimed gesturing to him and the Night Fury.
"Hey, we never ruled out not using any combat tactics." Astrid pointed out before walking over to the table where the others were at. "By the way, I like my eggs scrambled too!" she shouted giving him a playful smirk. Hiccup let out a sigh and shook his head. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight; he might as well give in. He walked to the other side of the hall to get their breakfast once Astrid took a seat at the table.
"Wow Astrid, your first morning as a married couple and you already got him whipped." Ruffnut chuckled after hearing their little argument.
"Oh please, that's how our relationship has always been. Nothing is going to change after one day," Astrid explained.
"Really? Your relationship is going to be the same? Even after what you guys did last night?" Ruffnut asked making her bother drop his fork. Snotlout coughed on his food, and Fishlegs turned bright red at Ruffnut's question.
Astrid's face turn a little pink, but she shook it off. "Oh guys grow up!"
"I'm eating! I don't need mental images right now!" Snotlout shouted gesturing to his plate.
"Mental images about what?" Astrid heard the nasally voice behind her. She turned around and saw him holding two plates. He set one plat in front of her before taking a seat next to her.
"Nothing," Astrid replied before picking up the fork that was on her food. Hiccup shrugged it off and took a bite of his eggs.
"Oh," Hiccup swallowed before speaking. "I was thinking, maybe we should do a best trick competition after we're all done eating." Hiccup suggested seeing the others agree.
"I can't wait to show you guys how much Hookfang and I are in sync now," Snotlout gloated.
"Oh, so the both of you are setting yourselves on fire now?" Astrid asked making the proud teen glare at her.
~oOo~
"So looks like I won that time." Hiccup said proudly as he saw Stormfly flying next to him.
"Okay, I have to admit. You two are still the best….at tricks." She said hearing Hiccup let out a light chuckle.
"Says the girl who always gets second place," Hiccup replied with a smirk.
"Not this morning I did." She said before Stormfly flew past the Night Fury. Hiccup lightly smiled before Toothless caught up with them. Toothless landed in the plaza just as Astrid was dismounting. "Hey, I'm going to see dad." She said once Hiccup was back on the ground.
"Do you want me to come?" he asked as they walked towards Asmund's house.
"Sure, my dad doesn't hate you yet," she playfully joked. Hiccup rolled his eyes as he followed Astrid to her old house. While they were walking, Hiccup noticed some of the villagers having trouble with the dragons. He saw a man yelling at a Monstrous Nightmare on his roof, another trying to pull a bag of apples out of a man's hand, and a woman yelling at a Deadly Nadder for running threw her clothes liner. Astrid saw some flying shadows on the ground knowing what it meant. She grabbed Hiccup's arm and pulled him in her father's house. Stormfly went in her pen as Toothless followed his rider.
Once they were in the house, Hiccup raised an eyebrow at her. Astrid saw the look he was giving her and she put her hands on her hips. "What? It's three o'clock, you know what that means. Did you want me to leave you outside?" she asked before walking away from him to look for her father.
"Oh….well then, thank you for that." He said watching her as she knocked on her father's bedroom door. They heard a groan from the other side of the door. Astrid cracked the door open and saw her father lying in his bed with a rag in his hand covered in fresh blood.
"Dad?" Asmund heard his daughter. He turned his head and smiled seeing his daughter and son-in-law standing in the door way.
"Hey, how are you two doing?" he asked hoarsely. Astrid bit her lip before walking closer to him. She almost felt nervous being near her father in this state. Hiccup stayed by the doorway watching Astrid kneeling by the bed.
"Have you gotten out of bed today?" she asked seeing her father trying to sit up.
"No I haven't," he answered before letting out a cough.
"Do you want me to get you something to eat?" she asked only to see her father shaking his head.
"No, I'm not really hungry right now." He replied before turning to his side to go back to sleep. Astrid let out a sigh before getting up from the floor. She was hesitant to leave her father alone; she knew how much he needed her right now.
"Um…you know Astrid," the young girl turned around looking at Hiccup. "If you want to stay here you can, no one is going to stop you."
Astrid gave him a weak smile. "I know, and you two can leave once you guys are ready. I'm going to be here for a while."
Hiccup nodded and took a step back. "Okay, so I'll see you…"
"At dinner," she finished for him. "I'll see you later at The Great Hall for dinner." She saw him nodding in agreement before walking out of the house with Toothless. Astrid turned once the front door was shut. She pulled a chair from the dining table and set it in her father's room. She placed the chair at the foot of her father's bed and sat down.
~oOo~
Later that night, Astrid did what she said and she would do ate with their friends at The Great Hall. She barely touched her meal and turned her meat over with her fork. She had sat in that chair all day waiting for her dad to wake up. All she did was to help him out of bed a few times so he could relieve himself. She had never seen her father so helpless in her life. She kept encouraging him to eat something, but he kept telling her he didn't have an appetite. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone say her name.
"Astrid, are you feeling okay?" Fishlegs asked.
Astrid kept staring at her meal until she heard someone say her name. "Uh what?" she asked lifting her head up.
"You haven't eaten anything," Fishlegs gestured to her now cold food. Astrid shrugged and put her fork on the plate.
"I don't feel like eating." She mumbled before getting up from her seat.
"Are you sick?" Ruffnut asked only to see Astrid shake her head before getting up from her seat.
"I've got to go. I'll see you guys later." Astrid mumbled before walking away from the table. Hiccup watched her walk to the giant double doors. He got up to chase after her and caught up with her on the stairs outside of the hall.
"Astrid!" the young girl stopped walking down the stairs and turned around. She saw Hiccup walking down the stairs to get closer to her. "You don't have to do this, we're here for you. You can talk to us."
"You didn't see what I see. I have never seen my father like this. I need to be with him, and he needs me now more than ever." Hiccup could hear her voice thickening, and even in the dark he could see tears forming in her eyes. Astrid let out one last sigh before finishing. "I just want my dad back." She hung her head down feeling a hot tear going down her face. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to stop the tears.
Hiccup pressed his lips together. He didn't completely understand her situation, but he could imagine what it would be like if it was his father dying. He walked back down one more step to stand next to her. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. Astrid tensed at his touch before hugging him back. She placed her chin on his shoulder feeling one of his hands resting on the back of her shoulder pad. She heard the 'click' sound when his ring met with the cold metal of her armor.
He let out a sigh before releasing her. "Come on," he started his way down the stairs.
Astrid raised a brow watching him go down the stairs. "Where are you going?"
"Going back home to help you pack your clothes. You're going to move back into your house." He stated as he kept walking down the stone steps.
Astrid gasped and ran down the stairs to go after him. "Hiccup, wait. You know you don't have to do that." When she finally caught up to him, she grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around.
Hiccup gave her a weak smile and pried her hand off. "I know, but you need to be with your dad, especially right now. The only reason why we got married was so your dad knew someone was taking care of you. Now you need to take care of him."
Astrid stared at him with wide eyes, and then she felt a smile growing on her face. Then she turned to the hall and shouted "I'll be right there!" Hiccup watched her go back inside and then came back out with Toothless and Stormfly. Then the two teens walked to the Haddock home to pack up Astrid's belongings.
~oOo~
After Astrid folded her last shirt, she looked up to find Hiccup picking up a pile of her clothes. She walked up to him and placed her hand between his shoulder blades. Hiccup turned his head and saw her smiling at him. "Just, thank you for understanding why I have to leave."
Hiccup shrugged and started to make his way to the stairs. "It's not a big deal; I would have done the same thing." Astrid gave him a week smile then picked up her folded clothes. When the teens walked out of the house, Stormfly and Toothless followed their riders to Astrid's old home. He opened the door and Astrid walked into her old room and put her clothes away. Hiccup followed and set the pile he had on the bed.
"Again, thanks for understanding."
"Hey, I get it. So I'll see you tomorrow."
Astrid nodded at him. "Yeah, see you tomorrow." she lead him out the door and he walked home.
~oOo~
When Stoick returned home, he put his helmet on the table and sat down. He let out a deep sigh and rested the back of his head on the chair. When he heard the door squeak open, he lifted his head up to only find his son and Night Fury walking in.
"Oh, I was wondering where you went." Stoick spoke as he looks behind his son expecting to find someone with him. "Where's Astrid? Did she go back to The Great Hall?"
Hiccup let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that….she's with her dad."
"Oh, well that's not a problem. Just make sure she walks in the house quietly when I'm asleep. I need enough energy for tomorrow; I need to store up for the freeze." Stoick stated as he shut his eyes.
Hiccup let out another nervous laugh and started to play with his hands in front of his chest. "Yeah, about that….she won't be sleeping here. She's going to be with her dad all night, maybe for a few days."
"What?" Stoick opened his eyes seeing his son running up the stairs. "Hiccup, come back down here!" Stoick got up from his chair and walked to the bottom of the stairs. He saw his son walking back down the stairs and he stopped mid-way looking down at his father. "What is going on?"
"Well dad you see-"
"The truth Hiccup," Stoick interrupted making his son sigh in defeat.
"Astrid wanted to be with her dad to take care of him. I know that by law we should be living together, but she should be taking care of her father right now. So we packed up her clothes and she and Stormfly went back to their house."
Stoick frowned at him, then lout a sigh. "I think you made the right choice."
Hiccup was taken back at his father's comment. He raised a brow and took a step down the stairs. "Really? You think I did the right thing?"
"Son, she needs to be with her father. Anyone would agree with that, but this discussion isn't over yet. We'll talk more about it in the morning. Now I'm going to sleep. Good night son," Stoick walked away from the stairs heading to his bedroom.
"Alright, night dad," Hiccup went back up the stairs to his room with Toothless fallowing him. Hiccup took off his vest and hung it on the headboard. Toothless went to his rock bed and curled up before he started to sleep. Hiccup lay down on the bed pulling the cover over him then started to sleep.
A/N: Okay, so what do you guys think? I was thinking about making this chapter longer, but I thought you guys waited long enough. Chapter 8 will follow episode 1 in case anyone was wondering.
So until then, I'll see you guys next time. Bye!
