Authors Notes: Hello! So, I realize, the Prologue may have thrown you off a little bit. It was a gamble to open up with an original character's POV but i figured it was ok since it was only meant to set the tone of the over all story. In this chapter I try to mention most of the major characters from Berk, establish their role and relationships, and also describe the setting. As far as the cartoon goes, it is slow with giving us an idea of how the viking teens interact with each other excluding Hiccup so i wanted to capitalize on that a little. And one more thing, when i watched the movie, Astrid's romance with Hiccup came off as totally unbelievable. I dont have a personal mission to break them up but I like the drama so sorry all you AstridxHiccup fans, their relationship may be on the rocks for a while XD love love love and review 3
ASTRID
The heat from the forge felt warm and inviting to the slender blond girl as she approached the resident blacksmith, one of her skull adorned spaulders in hand. A hulking peg-legged man with horned helm turned to her flashing a welcoming smile, "Ah, Astrid! What brings you here so soon after first meal? It's rare to see any of Hiccup's friends here this time of day, aren't you kids usually training up in the arena?"
Astrid rolled her eyes, "Yeah right, with Hiccup flying about seeing to the whole island? He hardly has time for The Academy anymore."
The burly blacksmith smiled and shook his head as he screwed on a prosthetic hammer to his right arm, "You know Astrid, with Stoick and Spitelout off meeting with the other Viking Chieftains; Hiccup is working hard to keep everything running smoothly. You know him; he just wants to make Stoick and the people here on Berk proud."
Turning the spaulder over in her hands the young warrior reluctantly nodded. Gobber was right of course. Who better to remind her how everything the Chief's son did was always with noble intent? Having taken Hiccup as an apprentice when the boy was young, Gobber had been like a second father figure. Astrid's mouth settled into a hard line. She couldn't even remember her father. Like any Viking, she knew he was fond of raids. Only, one day he left and never came back. Astrid was too young to have any lasting memories of the man and her mother always disregarded questions about him and his whereabouts. She couldn't quite place how she felt about it; maybe she didn't feel anything at all. All she could think of was how she never really had a father. Hiccup had Gobber, and Stoick. Was she a little envious?
Astrid rarely had resons to envy others. Last she could remember experiencing jealousy was when the 'old Hiccup' suddenly became 'Dragon Charmer Prodigy Hiccup' over the course of a few days. Last year during their Dragon training with Gobber, Hiccup would constantly get cornered by a dragon, the situation looking dire, and suddenly the dragon would be happily subdued. In those days Astrid prided herself in her agility and dragon slaying prowess. She was tough, strong, independent, virtually unstoppable; all the qualities prided by generations of Vikings. And Hiccup, frankly, she never really noticed him before. He always used to flop about making a mess of things. So when the tribe chose him best in training it vexed and infuriated her. She knew she was upset that someone like Hiccup was besting her. A feeling she was becoming more and more familiar with as of late.
"Did you want me to fix that up for you?" Gobber was looking at the piece of armor in her hands.
The pauldron had all but been forgotten as she was lost in thought, Astrid handed it over roughly," Yeah, it's got a dent right there, see?"
Gobber inspected the dent, went to an anvil and got to work, "I can take care of that. How did you get it so damaged?" Maybe it was because comparing herself to Hiccup exasperated her, but Astrid took some time to look outside before she would reply. Stormfly, her dragon, was lazily flying above the arena. Astrid told the blue Nadder there wouldn't be any training; she could do whatever she wanted, so why was she still hanging around the arena? What does that dragon have, feathers for brains?
"She's strong-willed, just like her Rider." Gobber chimed following the young lass's gaze as he struck his hammer-arm against steel.
"Yeah," Astrid brushed her long bangs from her face and plopped down on top a barrel nearby. "I guess she is…restless... I know just how she feels. Last week, when Hiccup couldn't make it to training, I wanted to get the other Riders together for some practice flight formations and combat simulations. I just couldn't stand to sit around and not train anymore, I mean, were Vikings. We have to be on top of our game! Especially when winter is nearing and the season for Raiding is near. And when Stoick returns I want the Academy to be ready to show him were ready to be true vikings. But when I tried to get everyone started no one wanted to cooperate. Snotlout insisted he only had time to practice weapons combat, Fishlegs didn't even show up, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut complained that if Hiccup didn't come to training no one should have to, as if they had better things to do. There was yelling about who wanted to do what, which became an argument about who gets to decide when Hiccup isn't around, which led into one big brawl… I was fighting with Tuffnut and Snotlou. I guess Ruffnut had enough debating, she came around and got me in the shoulder- used her helmet for bludgeoning."
Smiling wryly Astrid looked up at the sky and spotted Toothless, a shadow as matte black as a starless midnight sky, flying high up in the clouds. "It's funny," she continued, "Ruffnut could never even touch me before. Maybe she's gotten better; she's always got her brother for a sparring partner after all." Astrid waved up at Hiccup's black Nightfury, wondering if his rider could see her. She thought about stepping outside so she could be more visible. Gobber suddenly exclaimed loudly, holding Astrid's armor up while admiring his handy work.
"Well, its as good as new! Here you go Astrid, all fixed up and ready for the next bludgeoning." Gobber snorted at his joke. Astrid hardly took notice as Hiccup and his dragon flew out of sight, she was disappointed to see them go. Hobbling over, Gobber lifted the spaulder to Astrid's respective shoulder and began fastening it as he took on a gentle tone, "You two have gotten pretty close. Don't be down Astrid, I'm sure if you talked to him, told Hiccup how your feeling-"
Astrid briskly stood up shaking her head, " What do you mean? Tell him what? Like...like, that I miss him? I don't. It's just - he's taking on too many responsibilities. He can't even make it to the Academy anymore! I mean, why does he have to do it all alone for anyway? I mean, I know hes trying to take care of the island while his dad's away but even Stoick the Vast has Spitelout to help him out. Stormfly and I are just as capable of running errands and helping around, why don't we get to help out?"
Gobber laughed sharply, "Ha! That's more like it! Why not? I'm sure the lad could use all the help he can get!"
Astrid mulled that over in her head for a bit then gave a determined smile, "Yeah, all right. Well, in that case, I'm going to go get Stormfly and we're going to help Hiccup and Toothless with island whether he likes it or not." She thanked the old blacksmith for fixing her armor, and then took her leave of the forge. Without any way to call her dragon down to her, Astrid would have to walk to the Academy if she wanted to get a ride from Stormfly. On her walk Astrid reassured herself that all her unease was just from the boredom of having too much free time. She and Stormfly had been too idle,once Hiccup set them on a few tasks she was sure they'd all be back to normal.
The townspeople went about the day just the same as usual, some of them taking a moment to greet Astrid as she walked by. The Isle of Berk and its denizens, the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, were formidable and proud. Its people deeply steeped in devotion to their long standing Viking traditions and love of everything sturdy and harsh. Astrid shared that love, for Berk, the oval island she had called her home for all of her sixteen years. She loved its tall mountains, great rock arches and cliffs, and lush forests. She treasured the town overlooking the ocean. The town had many buildings, including the Great hall, Gobber's blacksmithing forge which now doubled as dentistry, the store houses, barns, and houses all leading down a slope to the Dragon Training Academy/ alternate Arena. Now she even appreciated the dragons of Berk, which used to be a major pest problem, a problem that was now remedied with Hiccup's successful resolve to coexist with the creatures.
People were calling Hiccup's movement revolutionary, and it was a revolution Astrid had firmly supported from the moment she felt the thrill of flying on the back of his dragon Toothless. Looking about, Astrid could see that Berk was quickly changing, in only a year it had gone from dragon-obstinate to dragon-accommodating. There were perches for dragons to rest on; new armor and weapons used for dragon riding, Thawfest dragon events, and the dragons were even generating new jobs for the Vikings. Never did she think it was possible, but Burk and its people were becoming peaceful.
As she passed by the Great Hall, a great cacophony voices flooded from inside. It was so loud that she almost didn't hear the distinctive snickering behind her. "Going to try and find your boyfriend, Astrid?" Ruffnut was smiling gleefully as she approached Astrid, standing in her path.
"I'm heading up to the Academy. Unlike you and your lug-nut for brains twin, I actually care about being a productive member of society."
"Really?" Ruffnut frowned at that comment and looked at Astrid with stipulation, "If you say so Astrid," then she folded her arms across her chest, opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. She idly circled her rival, laughing before starting again, "How's the shoulder? I got you pretty good last week if I remember right."
Ruffnut was the last person Astrid wanted to see, she found herself contemplating shoving the tall girl out of her way. Every moment that went by she could feel the frustration building as she watched Ruffnut circle her like a vulture, " I don't have time for you. Get out of my way Ruffnut, or I might just seriously hurt you."
Ruffnut's amused expression suddenly hardened, her raspy voice dropping along with her mood, "I seriously doubt it Astrid. If you were gonna hurt me, you would have done it already." She paused for a moment to critically look at the shorter fair-haired girl. "Pfft, I've been thinking. Your going soft."
"What are you talking about?"
"I mean, you used to be the toughest Viking out of all of us. And now, I don't know, now I hear you're crying to Gobber about how much you miss Hiccup. It's pathetic. Especially, when Hiccup is the only one stepping up to get things done around here. No wonder no one follows your leadership anymore."
Astrid's jaw dropped, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?... Wait, how do you know what Gobber and I were talking about?" She paused," Have you been following me?" She couldn't believe her ears, " You know what Ruff, its rich hearing you talk about whos got leadership around here. After all, It was only a year ago you and Tuffnut and all the others were laughing and making jokes about Hiccup. And now he's- what- your new leader?"
"Uh-oh, whoa! Cat fight!," Ruffnut's more infuriating double, Tuffnut, had appeared cheering from where he had been observing the two girls on the Main Hall's stairs. "Come on Astrid, hit her! Hey Ruff, do that thing where you beat Astrid with your helmet again! I thought that was hilarious last time!"
His sister gave him a sharp look before she turned her attention back to the heated argument, "We may have made some jokes about him, but you were there too Astrid and you were laughing right alongside the rest of us! Maybe even more than us, since you're so superior to him and everyone else. Maybe you don't remember always complaining about how he should stay put and keep quiet. Yeah, we made fun of him a lot, but mostly because none of use wanted to be the odd one out the way Hiccup was. We were following your example, and you looked down on everything he did, until he found Toothless, and suddenly you did a complete one-eighty and went against everything you ever stood for. Now, Hiccup may not have a love for total demolition like Tuff and I, he's not a braniac like Fishlegs, and will probably never be as physically fit as Snotlout. He's not the perfect Viking like you, but at least he cares about everyone enough to give them a chance. He has integrity and a purpose, one that is actually making Berk a better place. And you should really consider yourself lucky that he still hasn't figured you out yet."
" Intergrity?... What? Figured what out? What are you talking about?"
"Everyone else might have forgotten who you are, but I haven't. I remember how smug you were. Pleased about how everyone just loved you; because you always had to be the fastest, the strongest, you just had to be the best. My brother and Snotlout, Fishlegs and me, we all thought you were so much better than us. But you never really cared about the rest of us, about how you always overshadowed us, you never offered to train with us or help any of us out. You wanted everyone to know that could do anything alone and still be miss perfect. Sure, I'll admit that's why we all worshiped you. Until we realized, you were only ever looking out for yourself."
"That is not true!"
"It is. It is true, Astrid! Do you even know how many times I tried to be-friend you? I actually used to think it would be pretty easy for us to get along seeing as how you and I are the only two girls our age on the whole island. Man, I can't even count how many times I've tried talking to you, grouping up with you for training, sitting with you in the Hall; but you never even gave me a chance. You just assume I'm completely incompetent, like my brother!" Said brother,Tuffnut tried to interject, taking obvious offense but his sister didn't stop to listen. "You are selfish, controlling, and completely power-hungry! That's exactly, why the moment you realized Hiccup had real potential-"
"You think I like Hiccup because of the dragons? That so rediculouse!"
"No Astrid, I think you like Hiccup because of the power, and if not then what? What made you warm up to him so quickly?"
Astrid hesitated; she couldn't put it into words. She never bothered to ask herself that before. Ruffnut nodded knowingly, "Then it's just as I thought, it's because-"
Astrid couldn't listen to Ruffnut running her mouth at her anymore, she reached out and grabbed a fistful on the squabbling girl's long blonde hair; her grip fortified by the victim's firm braid, she twisted and brought Ruffnut's head face-down against the ground hard. Kneeling pressing her bodyweight on Ruffnut's back, Astrid used her free hand to grab Ruffnut's arms in an attempt to pin them. She could only grab hold of one; she started twisting it, pushing it further up, Ruffnut hollering loudly. Astrid could faintly heard someone calling out her name, telling her to stop, but she didn't care.
She then felt someone roughly pulling her up, she tried to get them off. She succeeded in jabbing her elbow into them, "It's me Astrid, stop it!" She recognized that nasily voice.
Hiccup? She stopped long enough let him pull her up. Then Hiccup and Tuffnut lifted Ruffnut up out of the dirt, they all looked towards Astrid. She was at a loss for words, she looked around; Toothless, Fishlegs, and his Gronckle Meatlug were standing by the Great Hall's doors. Hiccup was staring at her bewildered, "Astrid, what has gotten into you?" Behind him the Jorgenson boy was inspecting his twin sister's arm. Hiccup touched his bottom lip; his fingers came away wet with blood, looking at it he frowned.
"Hiccup, what are you doing here? H-How long have you been there?"
"Fishlegs came and found me. He said there was an argument getting way out of hand."
"Fishlegs?" She didn't remember seeing him during the argument but it didn't matter now. She tried to explain things, " Its Ruffnut, shes the one that came after me."
"I know." He looked at her matter-of-factly.
"You do?"Astrid was very confused.
"Yes, Astrid. I asked her to find you for me."
"What?" Astrid scrunched up her nose, "Why would you ask her?"
"Well, I didn't exactly ask, she volunteered to go get you while Tufnutt and I transported logs from the forest with our dragons. But she took so long getting back Tuffnut ended up leaving to find what was holding you and Ruff up." Hiccup could tell Astrid didn't understand so he explained," the twins came up to me last week and asked me if I needed any help around the island. I admit I was a but skeptical about their offer at first but i figure it could save me the energy of having to take care of their messes if i keep them busy."
"Wait, the twins offered to help you?" Astrid wondered if she was hearing right.
Tuffnut gave Astrid a dirty look, "Yeah, well, I guess we got bored or something. So what?."
"What about last week when I tried to get everyone together at the Academy? You guys didn't even want to train. You said you shouldn't have to if Hiccup didn't."
This time Ruffnut replied, hugging her injured arm close to her body, "For Thor's sake, Astrid. Do you ever listen to anyone but yourself? What we said was - if Hiccup couldn't be there to train, then none of us should be."
Hiccup looked at the two blonds nervously, "Just a minute, you guys. Listen, I appreciate you helping me out, but I didn't mean for you to completely stop training on my account. If I knew you guys were still getting together for training I would have wanted you to go." Hiccup took a step closer to Astrid, "Thank you, Astrid, for trying to keep the Academy going, unfortunately I don't think that's going to be possible until my dad gets back to take care of things again. I've been getting pretty overwhelmed with all the errands that pile up around here. The twins make a pretty good team when they want to and if they are still willing I think ill still need them around for a bit." Hiccup smiled at the two and they nodded back agreeably. "Fishlegs has been out helping his dad catch crabs on Wreakers Reef, they'll be off on another trip first thing tomorrow. Obviously Snotlout's dad left with mine, so he's been busy helping his mom out with his little brothers and sisters. I couldn't bring myself to bother any of you for help before, but all your hard work and dedication has really meant a lot to me. I know you have probably been busy, Astrid, but I would be really grateful if you could help me and the twins out with-"
"No. Thanks Hiccup, but I don't think I can help out, sorry." Astrid couldn't stand to see Hiccup standing alongside the twins after everything Ruffnut had said to her. She wanted to explain how originally she was also on her way to help him; she was the one who should have been helping him from the very start. She didn't know why it didn't occur to her that Hiccup was just too nice to ask for assistance. In hindsight, Astrid felt embarrassed, a little over attacking Ruffnut and for elbowing Hiccup; but mostly about her mistaking everyone's reluctance to train as insubordination. She had been under the impression they had nothing better to do; when in fact, they were all busy lending a hand to the Vikings that needed it. Until now, Astrid had only been helping herself. She wondered if Ruffnut might have had somethings right about her.
"I'm going home." Astrid turned to leave, and even though Hiccup tried to talk her out of it she found herself walking away from the Great Hall with all of its chaos and calamity. She returned home. Alone.