Disclaimer: Of COURSE I own How to Train Your Dragon along with Wicked, Harry Potter, and Julie Andrews!
Author's Note: I was up all night thinking about what I could do with this: I had totally forgotten that I had thrown Hiccup in at the end there. Let's give this a whirl. Thanks so much for reading! This has become my most popular story! To quote my friend Valerie: "Plus ten self-esteem points." Enjoy chapter eight! Maybe one day I'll name these chapters.
The small boy stood there gazing at the girl who had proved his invention functional. She glared at him.
"What are you doing here?" Astrid accused.
It appeared that her reaction had made Hiccup as testy as she was. "I might ask you the same question." He shot back.
"Well, why don't you? This is no place for you. Go home."
"Not until you answer some of my questions." He said.
"Not on your life! I've got to go kill that dragon! You're holding me back from the chance of a lifetime!" Astrid had the feeling that Hiccup wanted to tag along for the adventure.
Hiccup scoffed. "The chance of a lifetime? Oh, please. There will be other dragons."
"You don't understand; the dragon I hit was a Night Fury."
Hiccup stared at her in the silence. "Did you really?" It was too dark for Astrid to tell if he was staring creepily at her at not or just in amazement. Then, his demeanor changed. "We have to tell my dad!" He said excitedly and he began to rush off. Astrid grabbed the back of his shirt and held him back.
Astrid knew exactly why he wanted to tell his dad about the Night Fury. Hiccup wanted to be accepted by his father. Like that's ever going to happen. It was obvious that he thought since it was his invention, his father wouldn't continually scoff at him. Even though Hiccup's invention had brought down the dragon, she was the one who had done it, not Hiccup. There was no way Stoick would believe it coming from Hiccup, anyway.
"No, we're not, Haddock," She said firmly. Then she added, "And we're not doing anything together. Go home and offend somebody else."
Hiccup tried to pretend she hadn't made the last comment. "Let's think about this for a second," he said, emphasizing the word think-Astrid rolled her eyes-, "this is the Night Fury we're talking about! You know? The dragon the Vikings know absolutely nothing about? If you kill it now, we'll have to wait until we bring down the next one, and who knows when that will be!"
There was that 'we' again. Hiccup was trying to make up for what he had said. But this was not the right way to go about it.
"This is possibly the only Night Fury out there. If I don't kill it now, there won't be a next time." Astrid said and tried to rush off. This time heheld her back by her hand!
"Exactly!" Hiccup exclaimed. He rambled on but she wasn't paying him any attention. Astrid was stunned. How dare Hiccup try and hold her back? By the hand? Just because they were getting married in two weeks didn't mean he had to start getting all touchy! And besides, he had no right. A voice inside her head said, Neither did you, Hofferson.
She glared at him. Her heart burned in anger. According to him, she didn't think. Now he was trying to steal credit for the dragon she had downed. And now he was giving her some stupid look and whispering to her out of the side of his mouth, "Correct me if I'm wrong, Astrid, but there is a Monstrous Nightmare sneaking up on us." She felt its hot breath on her neck, stiffened, and internally groaned. She wondered Could this day get any worse? (Author's Note: Since the entire story has been one day, Astrid's day has seriously sucked so far.)
But it did: Hiccup's hold on her hand tightened. He screamed like a maniac and ran in the opposite direction, dragging her with him.
"Hold on!" Astrid yelled over the roars of the dragon chasing them, "Go back there and fight, you yellow-belly! This is your chance to kill a dragon!"
"Are you kidding?" Hiccup said frantically, "I don't have a weapon with me! Don't you?"
Astrid groaned and muttered, "Useless."
"I heard that!" He attempted to be menacing, "And I am not useless! If it wasn't for the mangler, you wouldn't have brought that dragon down in the first place!" He pulled her hand out of his grasp. Astrid was surprised that she hadn't let go immediately. Why in Thor had she held on?
"If your failure of sticking up for yourself hadn't distracted me, I wouldn't have left my axe behind!" she retorted.
"How could you let a little twig like myself distract all your raw Vikingness?" Hiccup said sarcastically.
"One day, you're going to get pummeled," Astrid warned, "I'd be sorry I wasn't the one who'd done it and Snotlout would be our heir!" (Author's Note: According to Cressida Cowell, Snotlout is Hiccup's cousin, so if Hiccup did get pummeled, Snotlout would be the heir. Oh, Woden…)
Hiccup gave a short derisive laugh that was unlike him. "You'd just miss 'the way I think'!" He was using Astrid's own words against her!
"Of course not!" She bellowed, "LOOK OUT!" And they dodged a breath of fire from the Monstrous Nightmare.
"Astrid Hofferson," Hiccup said, getting tired, "you are going to be the worst wife any Viking could ever have." Astrid almost slapped him in the face. "LOOK OUT!" He squeezed her around the waist and they skidded to a halt, just barely falling off the dock.
She wriggled out of his clutches.
Thank you, Thor, She sighed sarcastically. What a horrible ending to her story. Dying with Hiccup?
They were saved by a shield whizzing past their heads. Stoick had thrown it to alter the Monstrous Nightmare's course. As it ran at Stoick, she sprinted off to kill the Night Fury and left Hiccup.
When she was a good distance away, she heard that Hiccup had screwed something-or-the-other up…again.
His most recent insult rang in her ears. "Astrid Hofferson, you are going to be the worst wife any Viking could ever have." That was way below the belt. She was surprised she had held her tongue. She could have easily said, "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, you are going to be the worst Viking and husband ever." But she hadn't.
After trudging fruitlessly around the forests of the Isle of Berk for about half an hour, she realized that she would have to come back when it was lighter. She had no idea where she was going. Or maybe she would tell Stoick… At least Hiccup wouldn't be trying to take credit if she went tomorrow to tell him herself.
Astrid worried that Hiccup might try to tell him, but Stoick would never believe him after another screw up like that. She arrived home and flopped on her bed. She tossed and turned that night.