How to Start a Self-Discovery

Chapter 2: Target Practice

She shuffled unsteadily on her feet, hiding her blue eyes behind her curtain of blonde hair. The boy across from her was gazing curiously at the little blue dragon that was curled up into a very tight ball. There was a large grin on his face that was offset by Astrid's nervous shifting, and his green eyes were sparkling with barely restrained excitement.

"Is… is it a dwagon?" she asked in a hush, the little animal wound up so tight it almost looked like an egg. The boy, on his hands and knees, nodded and grinned toothily.

"A Deady Naddr," he replied, reaching out to touch it. Astrid wanted to stop him when she realized what he was doing, but it was too late when the little dragon woke up just before the boy's hand touched her scales.

Letting out an, "eep!" Astrid ducked down behind her companion, burrowing her face in his stiff shoulder blades. She waited a few seconds for something; a blast of fire, or maybe some small spikes to shoot out at her, but nothing came. So, slowly, Astrid peeked her eyes out from the boy's shoulder, blinking her sky blue eyes when she saw the 'Deady Naddr' angling its face to one side. A large yellow eye was studying them curiously, but showed no signs of hostility. Instead, it padded quickly around Astrid's human shield, peering at her with its other eye.

"I think it likes you," the boy whispered excitedly, and Astrid 'eep'ed again. She hadn't even known him for most of the morning and already, he was taking her further into the woods she's ever been and showing her scary dragons that were starting to look not-so-scary. In fact, the one in front of her was creeping forward, bumping its little horn against her hand as if asking her to pet it.

Astrid giggled, obliging the baby dragon and running her tiny hand along its cool scales. The boy beside her joined in as well, scratching at the Deadly Nadder's neck as it growled softly in approval. A large yawn rose from its jaw, and it stumbled sleepily into Astrid's lap, where it curled up and promptly fell asleep.

A little 'o' forming on her lips, Astrid looked up at the boy (Hiccup?) and his cheeky smile. It was entirely too smug for his own good, and her arm reared back to punch him.

(The smile didn't leave his face.)

(Astrid's didn't either.)

...

...

...

"Ow! That hurt!"

Astrid rolled her eyes, not amused.

"Then get out of the way!"

Hiccup, plastered to a wall, sent an annoyed glance at his girlfriend.

"Oh yeah, sure. Just dodge the spinning weapons of death that the best marksman in the Hairy Hooligan Tribe can throw. No big deal."

Astrid scowled at him, hefting an axe up in her throwing arm and taking position. She heard Hiccup swear faintly under his breath, drawing a snort from Toothless who was lazing just outside the steel bars of the Dragon Training arena. Stormfly was poking her nose through the large gaps in the barred dome, angling her face to the side to follow Hiccup's movements as he tucked and rolled.

"Quit whining," Astrid shouted at him from the opposite end of the training area. "You're the fastest Viking in the tribe. If Snotlout was in here, he wouldn't last two seconds before you two become a matching set!" Hiccup, despite his rather dire circumstances, snorted in laughter as he ducked an incoming axe, glancing down at his prosthetic. (Astrid couldn't help the grin that came onto her face as well.)

"Hey, I can totally outrun a one-legged Viking!"

Hiccup couldn't help grinning as he straightened up from another tuck and roll, seeing Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Fishlegs standing at the entrance of the training ground. Their dragons had joined Toothless and Stormfly topside, a few Terrible Terrors running around to entertain them.

"Oh, yeah, because the race with Gobber the Belch totally didn't count," Ruffnut snorted, placing a hand on her hip. Tuffnut and Fishlegs snickered behind her, prompting Snotlout to growl again. But he ignored them, sauntering over to Astrid in that cocky way of his, no doubt attempting to butter her up in hopes she would dump Hiccup for him. (Fat chance, really.)

"Whatever dudes," Snotlout scoffed, throwing an arm over Astrid as he tried grinning roguishly at her. "So Astrid, wicked throwing arm. You been workin' out again?" he asked, prompting Astrid to roll her eyes a second time that day, eyeing his hand dangling dangerously close to her chest. "You know, I've been workin' out too. We should work out together sometIME!"

Snotlout shrieked (in a manly way, of course), when Astrid grabbed his arm and twisted it off her body, sending it crashing into the ground. Everyone in the ring laughed at the rejection, but Astrid simply smirked when she heard him groaning on the ground. Picking up the axe that she stuck into the floor before wiping it with Snotlout's sad attempts at wooing, the weapons specialist slung it over her shoulder before sending another well-aimed throw at Hiccup.

"Whoa!" Hiccup exclaimed as he ducked again, hands over his head. When his eyes opened to glance at his girlfriend in the, 'what was that for?' way, she just gave him another pointed glance and crossed her arms.

"Pay attention, Hiccup. An enemy isn't going to be stupidly honourable like you and make it a fair fight," she told him matter-of-factly. Hiccup sighed, mumbling 'okay, okay' under his breath as he got back onto his feet. Satisfied that he was taking her advice seriously, Astrid started to pick up the axes and throw them back into the weapon crates. Hiccup followed her lead, motioning the others to join in to get the job done faster. Once it was done, Hiccup grinned and picked up a straight sword from one pile of weapons.

"Hey, how 'bout we spar next?" the Dragon Tamer suggested, twirling the sword in his hand deftly. Snotlout grinned, snatching up a hammer and tapping it lightly against his palm.

"Oh, bring it on, dude," the muscled Viking prompted. Ruffnut growled at him, grabbing a mace from another crate and pushing the somewhat shorter Viking away.

"No way, ladies first," she argued, winking at Hiccup (who gulped nervously). But Tuffnut laughed from his position leaning against the wall, dragging the tip of his wickedly curved blade against the ground.

"But Astrid's been training with Hiccup for most of the morning," the male twin said innocently, prompting his sister to growl at him. The two promptly engaged in another one of their brother-sister spats, only this time with their respective weapons in hand. Fishlegs stood near them, and was very glad he decided to pick up a wayward shield in each of their hunts in the weapons crates.

But Astrid didn't hear the fighting, her eyes trained on the comfortable ease in which Hiccup held his straight sword. He was laughing at Ruff and Tuff, sword thrown over his shoulder with the blade shining in the sunlight. The blonde-haired Viking didn't know why, but the sight of Hiccup holding a sword unsettled her a lot. It didn't matter how many times she saw him handle it with the skill of a master, or the fact that it was her that taught him in the first place; the idea of Hiccup and weapons just didn't… go.

"No sparring," Astrid said, striding forward to snatch the sword out of Hiccup's grip. An internal sigh of relief swept through her body, and Astrid threw the sword into a weapons box. "Your tuck and roll still needs work. Toothless!"

At the sound of his name, the Night Fury's head popped up from its lazy spot on the floor, ears upright in alertness and pupils wide. He spotted Astrid shoving his rider a round shield, and a forked tongue lolled in happiness when he realized what he would be asked to do. Quickly bounding into the arena (and ignoring the other people who ran out of the arena to avoid him) Toothless settled himself beside his rider's mate, tail wagging in excitement. Hiccup just looked annoyed.

"What am I today, target practice?"

Astrid raised a hand, patting Toothless' neck as she grinned at her boyfriend with the shield dangling in his hand.

"Yep."

Yelping, Hiccup brought the shield up to block Toothless' first fire shot. Astrid observed him carefully as he underwent the same tuck and roll, duck and dodge strategy he had used for her axe throwing. His prosthetic (after undergoing many adjustments in the first year of its use) didn't appear to want to malfunction anytime soon. It was a good thing too, since Toothless didn't seem to want to stop firing shots at his rider. Funny, as half a year ago the dragons were just barely starting to get used to their riders charging at each other with pointy and dangerous weapons.

Weapons weren't a tolerable point for dragons until very recently. A Viking carrying a weapon often reminded them of the night raids, and the times they answered to the Green Death and the Green Death alone. It was only with Hiccup's help, and Toothless' example that the dragons started to tolerate the appearance of weapons. Hiccup had to explain the Viking's need for weapons to Toothless, likening it to a dragon needing their fire to protect themselves. But it was a whole other story when you were talking about humans, dragons, and weapons.

Ironically enough, it was Stoick the Vast who broke the barrier of Viking training with a dragon, weapon in hand. Toothless had been watching his rider's father training, and Stoick had accidentally thrown a weapon in the Night Fury's direction. Retaliating, the Night Fury shot a blast of his unique fire at Stoick, who dodged and decided it was crossing the line to let a dragon attack him without repercussions. From there, the two waged an all-out war until Hiccup came running and screaming, stopping the two and sending them both into hearty laughs (in their respective tongues). It had sparked a whole new way of training, despite the reluctance at first because of the fear of falling back into the old Viking lifestyle.

"Okay, Toothless, that's enough for today," Astrid said, patting the Night Fury on the neck again. Toothless obliged, closing his mouth and grumbling in satisfaction when she started to scratch him behind the ears. Hiccup was catching his breath on the other side of the arena, throwing the burnt shield into a crate of weapons needing to be fixed and limping over to the Night Fury.

"Couldn't go easy on me, could you buddy?" Hiccup asked, patting Toothless' nose as it nudged at his hand. The dragon's replied growl seemed to be a chuckle more than anything else, prompting Hiccup to roll his eyes before smiling softly and hugging his neck. Astrid watched from a little ways away, a comforted feeling sweeping through her body as she watched the dragon and the rider together.

This was where Hiccup belonged. Not lugging an axe or a sword or a shield around. Not training with other Vikings in the art of combat every day at the crack of dawn. He belonged beside his dragon friends, loving and caring and nurturing each and every one of them as they flocked to his side. It was Astrid's job to excel in battle, and be the tougher of the two, not Hiccup's. It was up to her to have the will and the guts to slay any creature, dragon or human alike, if they dared cross her or those she deemed precious. Hiccup was supposed to remain docile and pure, untainted by the eternal blood that would inevitably stain his hands had he so chosen to kill. It was Astrid that would take all that he should have endured as son of the Viking Chief. She would be the one to paint her body red with the blood of her victims. Why?

Because Astrid was tough. Because Astrid could handle it.

Right?