Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon, all rights belong to DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell. Please support the official release.

Hero Reborn

Chapter 12: Rumors

Astrid could not remember the last time she had been so shocked in her entire life. When Hiccup's small, thin frame was replaced with a huge Nightfury, her mind was sent reeling. Just what exactly was going on? So far no one seemed to have any idea, even Gothi was clueless.

Hiccups transformation had been received with mix reactions. Some believed that it was a blessing from Thor to reward the young hero. Some thought that maybe it was a curse, a curse to punish Hiccup for going behind everyone's back and befriending the enemy, for betraying his kind in favor of monsters. As for Astrid, she wasn't sure what to think.

I mean a Human turning into a dragon, that's just insane! She had only just gotten used to the idea of dragon's living amongst them, and now this. She knew some were over reacting out of fear and confusion, but she was barely holding it together as it was herself, so she couldn't really blame them.

She had always prided herself on knowing what's what, no question went unanswered. She didn't like mysteries; they were unsettling and made her feel insecure. She always stayed one step ahead of the game but she couldn't plan ahead now, because she had no idea what to expect. She felt like she had been knocked off balance, like the ground had been pulled out from under her and she was trying to regain her footing.

She and Hiccup had formed a strange relationship, a relationship she had been glad for. She had for the longest time, thought of Hiccup as the village screw up, just as everyone else had. She'd rallied against the idea of such a person one day becoming chef. But He had shown her that she was wrong, and through him she'd learned so much about a world she had never understood. He'd shown her the beauty of the creatures she'd once detested and secretly feared. And she'd even come to understand him and his pain. She had been devastated when she thought she had lost Hiccup for good. But now that he was back…just how was she supposed to feel? Happy? Well of course she was, but she knew that waiting just over the horizon was trouble.

Astrid sighed heavily to herself as she pulled her favorite axe out of her unfortunate wooden target. She had been coming to the training arena every day since Hiccup returned. She felt less burdened by all her worries when she was using her muscles, it gave her a chance to clear her mind and just let go. She felt solid and unmovable, like a rock.

Holstering her axe in its loop at her belt, she made her way out of the arena, refusing Stromfly's eager invitation to fly, and into the village. She couldn't remember the last time she ate and, feeling her stomach growl, decided to make her way to the dining hall.

Snow had begun to fall in the recent days, and small piles could be seen here and there littering the ground. It wouldn't be long now until winter finally set its icy claws into Berk, which meant real food would soon be in short supply. She wasn't looking forward to eating dried rations again but it was something all Berkians had grown used to, and was to be expected with the recent dragon raids before the war ended.

Opening the large doors she was pleasantly surprised to see that the room was mostly empty and her usual table was unoccupied. The smell of smoked meats, rich chesses and baked goods wafted her way and caused her stomach to growl in anticipation. She quickly grabbed herself a generous helping of smoked meat, roasted vegetables and bread from the main table and made her way to the closest seat to the fire pit.

Glad for the warmth of the fire she began digging into her meal, savoring the flavors as her stomach was slowly becoming full. Just as she was finishing her last piece of bread she felt a cold breeze blow in as the doors to the hall were opened. Hugging herself, and inching closer to the fire, she looked up in annoyance to see who had just entered and disturbed her meal. But was shocked to see not a fellow Viking, but two night furies come shuffling through the door way.

From the look of Hiccups limping they'd been at it again. Hiccup hadn't been in the village much since the transformation. For the most part he'd been spending his time with toothless in the woods, but on rare occasions they could be spotted coming in and out of the dining hall. Astrid hadn't seen Hiccup since the night of the funeral, so she was once again floored by just how much he resembled a Nightfury.

She watched as he, a toothless, made their way towards the barrels of raw fish in the back corner of the hall. The cook had been leaving them out for the dragons, but she knew it was mostly for Hiccup and Toothless. Since Hiccup still didn't seem to know how to fly and Toothless no longer had a rider, so catching their own fish would be a problem.

Hiccup was just slightly smaller than Toothless, not as thickly muscled or tall, but she guessed that was because toothless was probably older then him. She watched with slight disgust and wonder as Hiccup swallowed a fish whole and was making alarming progress with his pile of food.

It was shocking to watch Hiccup behaving in such an animalistic way. Just like a dragon. Just how much of the old Hiccup still existed in this new Nightfury? Did he still remember who he was or what he'd done? …..Did he still remember her?

Almost as if he could hear her thoughts the Nightfury in question lifted his head and locked eyes with her, and she froze in place. Those eyes, even though they were sickled, shown with the same intelligence she had once seen, and admired, in Hiccup. And the toxic green color reminded her of the ever changing leaves in the forest. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes from his gaze; it didn't seem like the gaze of other dragon, it was predatorily. It felt more like one of curiosity or insecurity and it made her want to comfort him.

Frightened by this new feeling she quickly averted her gaze back to her food; trying to look at anything but those piercing eyes. Why was she acting like this? It wasn't like her at all, she was Astrid Hofferson! She was supposed to be tough and unrelenting, not…whatever this new feeling was!

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hiccup and toothless raise to their feet and head towards the doors. She watched has they stepped out into the night and let the door slam behind them, leaving her once again in silence.

She sat there a moment more, watching the spot where the two had disappeared before turning her attention back to her last piece of half eaten bread. Moving to get up she decided that she'd lost her appetite and shoved the plate away from her and made her way out of the dining hall. Opening the door she made her way back through the cold night air and into her own house. Marching up to her room she collapsed onto her bed and finally allowed herself to relax. She had been so tense the last few days that she had felt like a coil waiting to snap.

Within minutes she was drifting off to sleep, letting her dreams run wild as she went deeper into unconsciousness. She dreamed of dragons, of flying through the air on stromfly's back and letting the wind run through her loose hair. But most of all she dreamed of the forest and those toxic green eyes that made her feel so small.

A/N: Just saw HTTYD2 last night and it was awesome :3 the pacing felt a bit rushed and some of the characters could have been developed more but all in all the movie was great. I might even decided to pull some inspiration from the new film. :) But that's for much later. So for this chapter I decided it was time to have another Astrid chapter. I wanted to focus more on her struggle to cope with all of the changes that are happening around her seeing as she seems more of the type to rally against change in favor of what she knows. She's very traditionalist and resistant to people swaying her beliefs so I think she'd have trouble dealing with hiccup's transformation seeing as they were starting to get close and now she'd unsure of where that leaves her. Once again i want to thank everyone for there support and understanding, it really helps me out makes me feel like I'm writing something worth reading at least lol. But I have been getting a few rather harsh reviews ( which i have since deleted) about my inability to keep to dead lines, so I would like to make myself clear. I am a college student and I'm currently balancing two separate jobs. I don't always have the time to sit down and write. I also don't always have an idea. I wont write unless I feel like it was worth reading, I don't want to give you canon fodder. So please have patients, I don't appreciate getting harassed :(

-Tsuchihana