Releasing Hiccup from the hug, Astrid looked into his eyes, before laughing softly and asking him,"What are you doing out here?" while Hiccup said the same time, in utter disbelief, "You're flying on a dragon?" They both laughed, amazed that they were talking in tandem.

"I know we have a lot to talk about, but there is something I want to show you first." He half-pulled, half-lead her into the ice cavern. Not knowing anything that he meant, she looked around on thwalls, trying to see if there was a drawing he wanted to show her.

The ground then transformed from ice to stone and as it did, she became aware of a clink, clink, clink, that sounded like metal on stone. And it sounded really close. Trusting her ears to tell her where it was, she looked down, before noticing that one of Hiccup's legs was metal. The implications of this caught up to her in an instant, and brought her to an abrupt halt.

"Hiccup, why do you have a metal leg?"

Looking back as he felt her stop, he looked down at the prosthetic limb, before sighing, "That is a long story. But we do have a walk ahead of us, so I guess it couldn't hurt to fill you in."

As he began telling her, he also began to vividly remember that day…

~`~Flashback~`~

He had been thinking constantly of the dragon raids, and how all the things that were stolen were taken to the "Queen Dragon", as Astrid had put it. His thoughts returned to Astrid. It had been about 2 years since he had seen her. Quickly shaking his thoughts from her, he went to see his mother. After explaining the situation to her, he sat patiently as she considered his thoughts. As much as she didn't want to kill any dragon ever and resented the practice, this sounded like a dragon simply bullying other dragons to do most of everything for itself. After much consideration, she consented, on the strict condition that Hiccup would never tell the Alpha what he was about to do.

Agreeing immediately, he grabbed the supplies that he had been planning to take with him, called for Toothless, and they flew off to the Queen's Lair, as Hiccup had referred to the island. Relying on Toothless to get them there, Hiccup settled in for a long flight.

A couple hours later, by Hiccup's reckoning, they reached the island. He immediately noticed that there were ships there, and pulled Toothless so they could see what was going on. As they came around the island, he immediately recognized the Berk crest. Feeling anger flare up inside him at the sight of the crest, he also felt slightly confused. How had they found the island? Then he saw 4 dragons mixed in with the vikings. What was this? They were actually working together? But how? When he had left, they had very clearly expressed that they would never be associated with dragons, except to fight against them.

"On my command…"Hiccup faintly heard the voice he hadn't heard in a very long time, his father's voice, "Rider's, Attack!"

The dragon's charged the mountain, before a vicious roar stopped them in their tracks. The side of the mountain began to topple, revealing the Queen Dragon in it's full glory. Three times as long as any Viking longboat, and twice as large as the doors that led into the Main Hall on Berk…he did not enjoy thinking of his past home. He didn't want to be seen. If he was seen, he could be followed back home.

Thinking about how best to approach the situation, he decide to make quick attacks, at top speed. That would force the behemoth to fly at him, and by guiding it into the clouds, he could remain unseen. Going with the plan, he was able to defeat the Dragon easily, but as they tried to dodge around it, before it ran head-long into the ground, one of its claw's tore his leg off, at the ankle. Desperate, he shifted the steering mechanism into a last resort position, which would allow Toothless to fly himself. Grabbing into his saddle pack, he pulled out the linen's and other equipment that would help to staunch his legs bleeding. Then his world faded from consciousness…

~`~End Flashback~`~

"I got here, and as I'm still here in front of you, you can probably guess that I survived." Hiccup finished.

Astrid looked amazed. He had been riding that Nightfury? She had remembered seeing a Nightfury streaking by as they had fought the Queen Dragon, but she had never suspected that anyone, especially Hiccup, was riding on it.

Coming back to the present, she saw that the tunnel was getting taller and wider. Curious, she continued to follow Hiccup to the end of the tunnel. "Welcome," Hiccup said, spreading his arms wide, "to the Dragon Sanctuary."

Squinting through the light, Astrid gasped as she saw the inside. Expecting a bleak, icy land inside, she was incredibly surprised to find that, instead, it looked like a paradise here. Exotic trees were everywhere, the stones were covered with moss and other greenery, and dragons were everywhere, all the colors she could have ever imagined, and all different shapes and sizes.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Hiccup asked her, making her jump slightly. In her amazement, she had forgotten he was there.

"You have been living here? How did you find this place?" She asked, amazed and wanting to ask about the knowledge he had acquired.

"It may be a better for her to explain…"

"Her?"

Suddenly, a large 4-winged dragon flew up in front of them, with a masked rider on it's back. Falling back on years of training, Astrid drew her axe and slipped into a defensive stance in one graceful movement. But then she felt Hiccup pushing down on her axe, encouraging her to lower it. The dragon landed and the rider dismounted, taking off her helmet revealing twin braids and a face that she knew well. Looking back at Hiccup, she noticed something instantly. Their eyes, they were the exact same color.

"Was that really necessary, Valka?"

"Says he whose dragon makes a shriek when it dives."

"Astrid, may I introduce you to-"

"That's your mother?"

Hiccup took a step back, shocked. No one ever figured it out that quickly. Well, she had always been smart, maybe not as intelligent as him, but still very smart.

"But you were lost in a raid, 20 years ago."

Looking down, Valka looked back up at Astrid, "Yes, I was taken 20 years ago. But I am still very much alive. And even more surprised when I found my son." She looked off into the difference as she began to remember what had happened that day, the happiest day of her life.

"I was on patrol of the Archipeligos…"

~`~Flashback~`~

"C'mon, Cloudjumper, there doesn't seem to be anything here." Cloudjumper had woken me early this morning, insisting on going for a flight, which was very unlike him. When I had finally mounted up, he took off, obviously with a destination in mind. He brought me towards one of the far islands. We had flown for hours and we had not seen anything. "Cloudjumper, what are we doing-?" I cut myself off as I saw a black dragon and a human lying down, apparently passed out on a nearby seastack. Flying over, I saw they needed my help now, or they would die. Swooping low, I clambered off of Cloudjumper and slowly moved towards the figures. Grabbing the human and hoisting him over my shoulder, I then motioned for Cloudjumper to grab the dragon. As Cloudjumper flew by, I hopped onto his back, falling a little under the added weight. Flying quickly, we made it back and as I looked more closely at the human I had picked up, my eyes were drawn to the chin and lips. I didn't even realize they were there until I found what I was looking for. A small scar, from the wing talon of a four-winged dragon. The exact dragon I had been riding. "Hiccup?" I gasped…

~`~End Flashback~`~

"And we have lived here together, with me teaching him all I know about dragons." Hiccup nodded, smiling as he remembered all that he had been taught.

"Who did you bring home this time, Hiccup?"

Turning, Astrid saw a woman, roughly the same age as her. The black hair fell loosely behind her, rippling with every step she made, as amber-gold eyes appraised her. The lithe figure moved with a grace that made Astrid feel self-conscious.

"This is Astrid. She is on our side."

"Well, it's a relief to have another girl here. This place was beginning to stink of testosterone. Also you may want to duck."

"Not again…" Hiccup groaned, pulling Astrid down with him as he ducked under the sweep of the broadsword. Flipping away, Hiccup rounded to see the familiar, facially-tattooed man charging.

"What did I say about using weapons with sneak attacks?"

"We both knew I was never going to hit you." The other man said, readying another swing.

Astrid saw what had happened and was about to charge in after him, when the woman grabbed her wrist. "Don't worry. This is just a sparring match."

"He came at Hiccup with a sword! How is that sparring?!"

"Helps us all. I'm Heather by the way. Where are you from, Astrid? Berk, was it?"

"How do you know?" Astrid asked, warily.

"He won't shut up about you if we let him talk about you." Heather laughed, "I've always wanted to see what he was talking about and seeing you now…I can definitely see what he meant."

Astrid looked back to the fight, which had now degraded into a hand-to-hand combat. Looking back at Heather, she asked, "How did you join Hiccup?"

"That's a bit of a story. But they look like they will be a while. So, I guess I can tell you." Settling down to tell the story, Heather looked off into the distance for a minute before beginning. "Three years ago, I was with my family and we were caught by raiders…

~`~Flashback~`~

"Take the ship, boys. I'm sure we can find something useful on it." The man, who seemed to be in charge, barked, as the other men clambered aboard the ship. I was hiding with my mother below deck. I could hear the stomping they made, all the grunting as they carried away whatever precious cargo they could find.

"Check all the decks! I want this boat stripped down to the foundations!"

A few minutes later, my mother, father, and I were on the deck, kneeling in front of a large, barrel-chested man, who was telling us that he was Alvin the Treacherous and we were now his prisoners. I was forced to work or see my family killed. He told me to train the dragons that he had captured. We spent weeks and weeks, trying to train the dragons. I became less and less hopeful that a dragon could be trained and that we would die.

Three months after we had been captured, we heard the alarm one night. As none of them were escaping, they wondered why the alarm had been sounded. Looking over, a hole opened in the ceiling outside our cell. A helmeted person came through and took out a sword that suddenly caught fire. I had always thought it had been impossible, but here it was. He sliced through the door as if it was not there.

He then gestured for us to follow him and took off down the hallway. We followed closely, before he brought us up to the surface. Looking around, I saw no way that we were going to get off the island. Until the man took off his helmet and made the strangest call we had ever heard. It rumbled through the air, with power and energy, but still contained a small musical quality. Suddenly, three dragons came down to us. I stared at him, dumbfounded. He had actually done it, actually trained dragons! He climbed on top of the smallest one and he yelled to us, "Get on the Timberjack!" He pointed to the largest dragon. We quickly climbed on and as soon as we were seated we took off, away from the island.

~`~End Flashback~`~

"And I have been with him ever since."

"What happened to your parents?"

"The decided to continue their life as traders. I wanted to help stop those raiders from hurting families ever again."

They both sat in silence as Hiccup and the other man drew closer. Suddenly, Astrid recognized the man. "YOU!" She yelled, jumping at him, "I will kill you!"

"Astrid," Hiccup panted, too tired to stop her, "You know Eret?"

"Of course I do. He tried to have Berk join Drago Bludvist's army!"

(A/N: Hey guys and gals! Thank you to whoever is still reading this. I'm so sorry for the long break but I have been pretty busy and please don't kill me if this chapter sounds really terrible. I plan to have the next chapter finished sometime in February.)