Growing Taller

Disclaimer: I do not own DreamWorks's How to train your Dragon.

Chapter 3: Astrid curled up in her blankets to sleep. It was already past midnight, but Astrid had been awake, talking to Sky. She had had a lot of trouble sleeping lately, going to bed really late and waking up really early. If she tried to get to sleep at an earlier time, she would lie awake, tossing and turning. This whole area of her life was filled with unrest. She rolled over, and tried not to think too much about anything.

However one thing was playing on her mind. Earlier when she was talking to Sky she could've sworn she heard someone mumbling nearby. It had startled her, but she didn't think much of it. But now that it had come up again in her mind, she wondered just who it could have been. What if there was some creepy stalker following her around? If that was the case then they knew where she lived! The more she thought about it, the more frightened and unable to sleep she became. It was going to be a long night.

As the sun rose over Berk, stretching its rays across the landscape, Astrid stretched her limbs. She had had a grand total of 3 hours sleep, and was not in a good mood. If there was a creepy stalker following her, she telepathically warned them to stay away if they knew what was good for them. He angrily rubbed her eyes, threw on her usual leather spiked skirt, leggings and blue shirt, before heading downstairs.

She plonked herself down at the table, and started munching down on the food her mother had already set for her.

"Morning, Astrid." She said from her chair where she was drinking tea. Astrid made a muffled, grumbling sound in reply. "When are you leaving?" her mother asked. Astrid stopped eating and looked up at her.

"Leaving? What do you mean?" She asked.

"Remember? Gobber asked for you and Hiccup to help the kids to train their dragons." She said, before taking another sip of her tea.

"Oh shi—!" Astrid quickly gulped down the rest of the food on her plate and hopped towards the door while pulling on her fur boots.

"Don't forget your coat, it's freezing out there."

Astrid blew hot air into her palms as she treaded over the frosty rocks towards the Cliffside arena where they trained the dragons. When she arrived, she noticed the kids lined up in front of a lecturing Gobber, with Hiccup standing off to the side. 'I'm late!' She ran the rest of the way through the small tunnel that led down into the arena, and pulled up next to Gobber, throwing out apologies.

"Nice of you to join the party!" Gobber said sarcastically, turning away from the kids.

"So, what do I do?" She asked politely.

"For now, stand over there and listen." Gobber directed her over to where Hiccup was standing. She started towards him as Gobber continued teaching. As soon as she got in a 2 meter radius of Hiccup, she knew something was wrong.

"Hey." She said simply, hoping she wouldn't have to do much to get him to spill.

"Hey, Astrid!" He said over-enthusiastically. "Fancy seeing you here!" Yep, something's definitely up.

"You already knew I was coming..." She replied, pretending to be ignorant.

"Anyways, enough of the pointless yabbering!" Gobber finished his explanations to the small Vikings. "Let's get some dragons out here and go over to the experts!" Gobber pointed a fat finger at Hiccup and Astrid. The two were taken off guard, and looked at the big-eyed, short 10 year olds who turned to them, expectant.

"A-ah..." Astrid stumbled over her introductions. Luckily Hiccup was able to start them off.

"So! I'm Hiccup, this is Astrid, we're gonna do some dragon training!" It was short but effective.

Hiccup turned and started towards the first of the huge stone doors around the outside walls of the arena, now the only one of which was in use. After the battle with the Green Death, the dragons had been given a new, more humane enclosure system. The first door had been converted into a tunnel that led into what could be described as a dragon stable, with spacious sections for each of the rider-less dragons of the tribe. As the children were led through the walkways of the stable, they stared in awe at the various species of dragon. Hiccup named each species as they passed them like a professional tour guide.

"Ah, that's a Zippleback. And over here we've got a Gronkle. Oh and this little guy is called a Terror." Hiccup was really good at this, Astrid thought to herself as she stared at the back of his head.

"Mr. Hiccup, do we have any Nightfurys here?" A slightly chubby boy asked Hiccup from the back of the pack.

"Ah no, we don't. Toothless is so far the only Nightfury the village has seen."

There was an "Awww" in reply. Another kid spoke up, this time a scrawny little girl.

"Can I have your dragon, Mr. Hiccup?" She asked in a high pitched voice.

"Well, don't ask me. It's him you have to persuade, and that won't be very easy." Hiccup was a total natural with the kids.

Finally they reached the pen they were looking for. "What kind of dragon is that?" The kids murmured. This time Astrid was able to pluck up the courage to answer.

"He's called a Nadder." She said, gesturing at the green dragon in the pen, who was poking his head over the fence curiously. "The same as my dragon. This one's name is Spike"

"How do we know he won't attack us?" A boy asked.

"He won't, silly. Our dragons don't do that anymore." A classmate answered.

"That's right." Hiccup said. "If you're nice to them, then they'll be nice to you."

Astrid smiled at him as he unhooked the lock and pulled the door open. Astrid herded the class back, and Spike stepped out, keen to find out who was visiting him.

"So, all you gotta do is be friendly." Hiccup said, as he slowly approached the dragon, holding out his hand to its nose. The Nadder also approached with caution, and after a slight examine, he deduced that there was no threat, and placed his nose in Hiccup's hand. The children clapped. Next, Astrid did another small demonstration. After that the children took turns at approaching Spike, and created a bond with him in the form of a pat on the nose. Spike was more than happy to be receiving so much attention.

Finally, the class proceeded into the arena, which was no longer enclosed at the top with cage and chain, and Hiccup began teaching them how to fly.

"Let's hurry and wrap this up, a quick lesson's a good lesson!" Gobber shouted.

When the lesson on flying was taught, and the kids were taking turns in the air with Spike, Astrid finally had some time to speak with Hiccup. She approached him as he stood to the side of the arena.

"You're really good with the kids." She said with a smile, and Hiccup jumped at the sudden sound of her voice. 'He's so fragile...' She thought. He turned away from her quickly, unwilling to show her his face. Astrid frowned.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you or not?" She decided to get straight to the point.

"B-bothering me?" Playing dumb... "What do you mean?"

"How dumb do you think I am?" Astrid crossed her arms. "Something's definitely up with you. You've been acting weird."

"I've been acting exactly the same as I always do." Hiccup replied, a little too honestly. As if he was disbelieving. Astrid thought maybe he couldn't believe that she had figured him out so easily. She smiled.

"Oh come on, Hiccup, we've been friends for how long now?" It pained her a tiny bit to say the word 'friends'. "I thought we could talk to each other." She hoped that would break down this wall that he had built around himself. But on the contrary, she saw his face fall even deeper into a sadness she had never seen from him before. She was sincerely concerned.

"Hiccup...?" She reached a hand out to him, but he took a step back from her.

"That's what I thought to, us being such great friends and all..." He muttered, looking straight into her eyes. His emphasis on 'friends' was definitely not good.

But before Astrid could say another word, he turned around, showing her his back.

"Oh and just so you know," Hiccup continued. "My Dad's making me go on that 4 month long hunting trip in the mountains tomorrow." 'Hunting trip? The Rite of Passage hunting trip? Why in the world is Hiccup going...?' Astrid thought. "So, I'll see you later." Hiccup muttered.

"Wait! Hiccup—!" She couldn't fit in another word as Hiccup approached Gobber and said something, before running out the entrance tunnel of the arena.

Astrid sighed and stared at her feet. 'Does Hiccup hate me...?'

When the lesson was finally over, and the kids left the training grounds, happy and satisfied, Astrid also walked down the familiar path that led to her house. But when she arrived, she went to Sky's shed instead of into her house. Her mind was too jumbled right now to deal with her mother, so she decided to head to her usual thinking spot, the Cliffside hill just offshore of Berk. She dismounted Sky and made her way straight to the grassy slope, before lying down and staring up at the sky.

It was so silent. The wind passed over her lying figure, the grass around her swayed and danced, Sky curled up peacefully beside her, the clouds moved across her vision, and everything was silent.

It was only then that the 4-month-long hunting trip thing had clicked in her head. Hiccup was going to leave.

'4 months. 4 months of Hiccup not being here, of Hiccup being gone.' Her thoughts kept repeating themselves annoyingly. All she wanted was for them to stop, to leave her alone.

Sky stood up and approached her, before rubbing her nose to her cheek. Astrid looked up at her with a slight laugh.

"What are you doing, Sky?" She sat up and scratched Sky's neck. The wind hit her face instead of passing over her, and she felt something cold on her face due to the wind's impact. She reached her hand up to her cheek, and looked, to see water. Tears. She was crying.

Sky comforted her again, as more and more tears streamed down her face. She wrapped her arms around her dragon's neck, and Sky made a muffled whine.

"What the hell? Four months?" She shouted at no-one. "What..."

Those painful questions were welling up in her head again.

Why did Hiccup hate her?

Why was he leaving?

Why did she care so much?

As the winds carried her cries across the harsh landscape, silencing them and preventing them from being heard by anyone, the sun set on Berk for the day.

The overly bright light of the sun woke Astrid the next morning.

'Why is the sun so bright? Didn't I close my curtains...?' She opened her eyes to see that she wasn't in her bedroom. She remembered how she had fallen asleep after crying for ages about Hiccup leaving. She also noticed that Sky was lying asleep beside her.

'I can't believe it. Sky must be starving. Why didn't she fly home and tear open the fish basket?'

At that moment, Sky awoke, and moved over to Astrid, nudging her furiously.

"I'm so sorry Sky." Astrid said, still lying on her back. She sighed and closed her eyes. "We should go back and get some food. Mum would be freaking out, too."

"I already fed her." Astrid shot up at the sound of Hiccup's voice, once again bashing their foreheads together.

"Gah! Why do you keep doing that?" Hiccup shouted at her.

"Why do you keep scaring the crap out of me?" Astrid shouted even louder back, before removing her hand from her wounded forehead and staring sadly at the scrawny boy who had caused her so much grief the night before.

"I didn't mean to!" He was saying. "I came because your mum came over to our house late last night, and said you hadn't come home yet. I told her I knew where you'd be."

"So..." Astrid thought out loud. "You've been here all night?"

"Well not really. I was going back and forth getting food for Sky. She wouldn't leave your side, no matter what I said."

Astrid looked appreciatively at Sky, then back to Hiccup. "And you didn't think of just waking me up? That would've saved you a lot of trouble you know." She said sceptically, hiding the enormous amount of sadness she was feeling.

"Well...you looked peaceful..." Hiccup said with a blush.

'He's acting like himself again... that's good.' She smiled at him, at his cute blushing face.

"So, I wanted to talk to you, one more time, before I left." He said, looking at her. Astrid's eyes widened, betraying her for a split-second. She regained herself.

"That's good. I really wanted to speak to you too." She replied. "I really don't want you to—,"

"I've come to a decision." He said, before she could finish.

'A decision? Has he decided not to go?' Her hopes grew dangerously high, she was worried they would be crushed.

"I...I'll go on the trip." He said, looking away from her. There it was. Astrid's heart sank.

"But, I'll come back! And when I do, I promise I'll have changed into a strong Viking." He continued. He was starting to sound like one of the kids who he would be accompanying on the trip. "I'll come back as someone who you can rely on, I promise."

'Wait...What was he saying? Does he know about my secret?'

"I know I'm not exactly the coolest guy in the world. So, I'm going to use this trip to my advantage, and become the coolest guy ever! Better than anyone else. So, I need to ask you something."

Astrid was getting confused. "What is it?"

"Can...can you promise me, that you'll wait?" He asked, looking anywhere but at her.

"Wait for what, Hiccup?" Astrid seriously had no idea why he was saying what he was saying.

Frustration overtook Hiccup, and He blurted it all out.

"Wait for me to come back as a strong and cool Viking before you go out with another guy!" He felt like slapping himself again.

Astrid stared wide-eyed at him. There were still questions floating around in her head, like 'What is he saying?', 'Does he know that I hate short guys?', and 'Why does he think that I was going to date another guy?' But the overwhelming happiness had vanquished all the uncertainty the felt. She could only think of one thing to say.

"Sure." She said simply, but her smile said 1000 more words. Hiccup sighed, as if he was relieved. They both sat like that for a short while, staring at each other, and a goofy smile on Hiccup's face. Before he finally decided that it was time for him to go.

"Wait, Hiccup!" Astrid said just before he flew off on Toothless. She boldly lifted herself onto the back of Toothless's saddle. Both the black dragon and Hiccup looked at her sceptically.

"What?" She replied to their looks. "I'm coming to see you off. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't?"

Hiccup gasped and faced the front, a blush dusting his face. Toothless seemed to let out some form of dragon giggle. Astrid turned to Sky.

"You don't mind do you?" She asked the Nadder. She dragon-shrugged in reply. With that, Toothless took off towards the ship-littered coasts of the village, to Astrid's surprise. She wrapped her arms around Hiccup's torso on instinct. All of a sudden Astrid and Hiccup were brought back to the night flight they had shared not long ago. They both blushed, but Astrid didn't move. Sky, who was following behind them, and Toothless both giggled to each other.

They arrived at the beach and Hiccup hopped off his dragon. Stoic and Gobber were also there, to see off the upcoming Vikings. Hiccup looked over to the bunch of children gathered around a boat docked on one of the wharfs, as well as all the adult Vikings going along to supervise.

"It's going to be really weird not having anyone my own age to talk to for 4 months..." Hiccup complained, before turning around to say goodbye to Toothless. Astrid felt a bit sorry for him. Separating with Hiccup must be really hard for Toothless. As it must also be for his rider. She watched Hiccup stroking the sad dragon for a second, before she got an idea.

"Hmm..." Astrid thought for a second. "I'll be right back." Astrid ran up to the head Viking leading the trip, and muttered a few words to him. After what seemed like a short debate, Astrid ran back to explain to Hiccup, who was totally confused.

"There. I'm a genius. Now you'll have someone your age to talk to." Astrid said with her hands on her hips, quite proud.

"You mean..." Hiccup started, wide-eyed.

"No! Not me!" Astrid assured him. "I convinced them to let you take Toothless. Since you saved the whole village and all. Toothless should be about your age in dragon years."

Hiccup smiled and turned to Toothless, who was still confused.

"You're coming with me." Toothless beamed and jumped on Hiccup enthusiastically. When Hiccup was finally set free from the dragon embrace, he said goodbye to his father and Gobber. They both patted his shoulders in reply. Stoic seemed to be having a pretty tough time, seeing his son 'growing up'. Finally Hiccup came to Astrid.

"I won't say Goodbye, cos that's not right." Hiccup said to himself, trying to think of something to replace that sad word.

Astrid came up with one for him, grabbing him by the shirt, just as she had done before, and joining their lips together briefly but sweetly.

Hiccup was a bit stunned for a second, but by now he had gotten pretty used to surprise kisses.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"I'll tell you when you get back." She replied. "Don't die from the cold."

Hiccup nodded with a smile. And just before he turned away from her for the final time, he reached into the fur jacket he always wore, and pulled out his sketchbook, before placing it in Astrid's hands.

"I'll be back."

He turned, jumped onto Toothless's back, clicked in his metal foot, and took off, leaving Astrid standing on the sand. The boat below him also launched off the shores of Berk, beginning the journey. Toothless shot a bolt of blue fire into the skies like fireworks, and all the parents on the shore waved and shouted. Astrid stood silent as the black spot faded into the clouds.

Only after she was absolutely sure Toothless, and subsequently his rider, were completely out of sight, she opened the sketchbook. Flicking through, she smiled warmly at the countless sketches of Toothless, in all manners of his personality. But her breath caught in her throat when she stopped on the back page. It was going to be a long four months.

Thank you all so much for your patience! I'm sorry it took so long to get this out! I had a serious case of writer's block! Anyways, I hope the fact that this is a bit longer will make up for it! After this, there's only one more chapter to go. TT-TT Thanks again and please review!