Chapter 5: Lots of surprises

For once Nico was up before Hiccup. He stretched his arms as he yawned.

"Time for breakfast." He announced to himself as he stood up and made his way downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hmm so what do we have here?" He asked aloud as he opened various cupboards to find that they were all empty. "Or to see what we don't have." He groaned and walked back into the main room and sat on the bottom step. His stomach made a loud rumbling noise.

"Yeah I know but there's no food." Nico told it.

"Who are you talking to?" Hiccup asked as he rubbed his eyes causing Nico to jump up and bang his head off a wooden beam.

"Ow…" Nico moaned as he rubbed his head. "Well nice to see you're up." He told Hiccup sarcastically.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you." Hiccup replied, suppressing a smile, as he walked down the stairs. "What were you doing by the way?" He asked.

"Oh! I was…um waiting for you to come downstairs so you could show me were the food is." Nico told him.

"I'm afraid that we don't eat breakfast here." Hiccup informed him.

"WHAT!" Nico exploded.

"Hah I'm just kidding follow me." Hiccup laughed as he walked out the back door of the house.

"I'll get you back for that." Nico muttered to himself.

After a nice breakfast consisting of well…fish. Nico and Hiccup started to discuss their plans about what they were going to do that day.

"So you're really serious about meeting these outcasts then?" Hiccup asked.

"Don't call them that and yes I am so since we're ready let's go now!" Nico told him as he yanked Hiccup to his feet.

"Uh…yeah…sure…I guess…" He replied enthusiastically.

"So which way?" Nico asked.

"Well we go through the forest and cros-" He started.

"Nico!" Astrid interrupted as she ran up to the boys.

"Oh hey Astrid what's wrong?" Nico asked.

"Nothing just coming over to say hey and ask if you could…um" She looked at Hiccup.

"Um I'll go wait over there." Hiccup told Nico as he backed away.

"Sure I'll just be a second." Nico told him.

Astrid waited until she was sure Hiccup was out of earshot before continuing. "I was wondering if I could talk to you later sometime." She told him.

"Yeah sure…Astrid are you sure nothing's wrong?" Nico asked.

"Uh…yeah I'm fine…what makes you think there's something wrong?" She asked quickly.

"You're acting weird and you look…nervous…" Nico said slowly.

"Me nervous? Pfft no way I mean do I look nervous?" She stammered.

"Yes you do actually." Nico told her.

Astrid sighed. "Well I am a bit nervous…" She admitted.

"Why?"

Astrid looked around quickly before answering. "Just…meet me after dragon training and…I'll explain." She told him before running off.

"Strange girl." Nico thought to himself as he turned and started walking over to where Hiccup was waiting.

"So what was that all about?" He asked Nico as they walked into the forest.

"I don't know to be honest." Nico replied as he thought about what Astrid had said and how she'd acted.

"Okay then, well the Outca- I mean the other village is about twenty minutes' walk." Hiccup told him as he led Nico through the silent forest. He was surprised that he couldn't hear any birds singing or animals running around.

"Hiccup why is it so quiet?" Nico asked feeling a bit nervous.

"I don't know its not usually this quiet…"Hiccup replied as he reached for his small dagger then stopped after thinking that it wouldn't make much of a difference.

The two froze as they heard a faint cry of pain.

"What was that?" Hiccup turned to ask Nico before realising he had taken off in the direction of the sound. "Nico!" He called as he ran after him. He burst through a small bush to see a clearing. He then saw Nico walking slowly towards an object in middle of the clearing with his hand outstretched. "Nico what are y-" Hiccup gasped as he realised what the object was.

"Sh!" Nico hissed as he reached the middle of the clearing.

"Nico that's a Terrible Terror!" Hiccup whispered.

"I know, its hurt." He told Hiccup as he reached the small green dragon lying in the clearing. He looked over the Terror trying to find out what was injured. "It's got broken wing." He told Hiccup as he moved closer.

"So who care's let's go!" Hiccup barely whispered.

"No we can't leave it here! I'm going to try to roll it over so it's not leaning on the broken wing." He told Hiccup as he moved up right next to the dragon. As he approached it slowly opened its eyes, when it saw Nico it gave a small whimper and closed them again.

"Hey don't worry I'm not going to hurt you." Nico told it. The Terror as if it understood him opened its eyes again to look at Nico. Nico raised his hands to show he was unarmed.

"See I'm not gonna hurt you." He comforted as he slowly laid one of his hands on the Terror's stomach. The Terror looked at the hand and then at Nico its eyes widened in realisation and it made a sound that was a bit like a purr.

"I need to move you off your wing or it'll get worse." Nico told it as he moved his other hand on it's back as he prepared to roll the Terror over.

"Okay this is gonna hurt." He told the Terror before he slowly rolled it over. Almost immediately the Terror made a wailing sound as Nico moved it.

"Don't worry its over you're gonna be okay." Nico told the Terror.

It made another purring like sound as it tried to get up but as soon as it put pressure on its back foot it cried in pain before collapsing, luckily Nico was able to catch it and prevent it from falling back on its injured wing.

"You need to rest." He told it as he set it back down on its side carefully. It made a hissing sound before succumbing to unconsciousness. Nico took this opportunity to take a look at it injured leg. It didn't take long to find out was wrong, there was a large bite mark on the Terror's leg.

"Looks like it got in a fight with another dragon." He thought out loud. Nico got up and looked back at Hiccup who had heroically fainted. Nico shook his head and walked up to a tree. He was looking for branches that he could use as splints for the Terror's leg and his wing. After a few minutes of searching he found what he was looking for.

"Now how am I going to make this work?" He asked himself as he approached the unconscious Terror. "I'll need something to tie this to his wing…that means I need to go back to the village…but I can't leave the Terror here or Hiccup." Nico thought for a moment before an idea hit him. "I need to find that cove!" He thought as he started to take in his surroundings to see if he knew where he was, he did, in fact he recognised the clearing…and the marks on the trees surrounding it.

"Oh god I need to move now!" Nico nearly shouted as the realisation hit him…his was Astrid's clearing, where she'd come to practice her axe throwing and let off some steam. Carefully Nico picked up the Terror and carried it deeper into the forest. He looked back to see that he was a safe distance from the clearing so he hid the Terror carefully, as not to hurt its damaged wing, between two large rocks. He walked back a few metres to check that the Terror was completely hidden before he turned and ran back to the clearing.
"Alright now what am I gonna do with you?" Nico asked the unconscious Hiccup. "Well I guess I'll ha-" Nico stopped as he heard the sound of someone walking through the forest towards the clearing.

"Damn!" Nico hissed as he grabbed Hiccup's arm and dragged him behind a rock just as Astrid walked into the clearing carrying her axe and she didn't look very happy.

"Why couldn't I tell him? argh! What's he doing to me!?" Astrid yelled as she threw her axe at the nearest tree, it hit the bark with a thud.

"Come on Astrid you're able to face off a Gronkle but you can't tell a boy that you like him!" She pulled the axe out and turned to face another tree. "THUD!" Same as her last throw the axe lodged into the tree.

"Okay Astrid calm it down…you can tell him later today after dragon training…come on you're a Viking Astrid! This shouldn't be difficult!" She took a deep breath. "But what if he doesn't like me?" She asked quietly as a sad expression took over her face but as soon as it came it was gone and was replaced by a look of determination. She turned to leave when she slipped on something.

"What the Hel!" She cried as she hit the ground, clearly annoyed she looked at her feet to see what she'd slipped on…it was Hiccup's dagger.

"Uh oh…" Nico said a bit too loudly as Astrid looked in his direction.

"Who's there?" She asked as she slowly approached where Nico and Hiccup were hiding. Nico took a deep breath and stood up.

"Um hey Astrid…uh have you see Hiccup's dagger I thin-"

"How long have you been hiding there?" Astrid interrupted as she lowered her axe.

"Um…" Nico wondered if he should lie to her.

He sighed. "I…heard everything…" He admitted as he looked at the ground.

"Oh…" Astrid's face reddened a bit as she looked away.

"Come on Astrid might as well tell him now since he heard what you said." A voice said in her head. She took a deep breath.

"Um…Nico I wanted to tell you…that well…" She stammered.

"You like me?" Nico finished for her.

If Astrid hadn't blushed before she certainly had now.

"…Yes I do…" She admitted as she started fiddling with her hair with her free hand.

"Oh…" Nico said as he rubbed the back of his neck, he looked at Astrid who was trying very hard not to look at him. "Listen Astrid…" He started as he took hold of her hand. "It's not that I don't that I don't like you…look you're a very talented, very pretty girl but it wouldn't work between us...and there's someone else who likes you and it would…complicate things between me and him if we went out." He told her. Once he'd finished Astrid finally looked at him.

"…Ok I understand…it was a stupid idea anyway." She sighed. "But can we still be friends I mean I've known you for three days and already I trust you more than anyone on this island."

"Sure, speaking of which is there anything you'd like to talk about?" Nico asked.

Astrid looked away for a while as she thought whether she should tell him or not. When she turned back she realised that he was still holding her hand and she blushed again. Nico who'd forgotten that he was still doing it went red and quickly withdrew his hand from hers.

"I'm sorry…" He apologised.

"It's okay." Astrid told him as she smiled.

"You didn't answer my question though." Nico reminded her.

"Oh yeah…" All of a sudden Astrid went from smiling to crying in a second.

"Whoa what's wrong?" Nico asked as he put a hand on each of her shoulders.

"Everything." Astrid replied as she wrapped her arms around Nico and buried her face into his shoulder.

"Easy Astrid talk to me." Nico told her as he awkwardly wrapped his arms around Astrid.

"It's just everyone expects so much from me and if I tell you honestly I don't want to be the best…I know that people hate for being so good…" She sobbed.

"But they don't know what you're going through, they have no idea of the weight that's been put on your shoulders." Nico told her.

"Still people hate me because all they see is the cold side of me…no one except you knows that I have feelings and that I'm not the tough Astrid that they think they know that doesn't care about anyone else."

"Well start being the nice Astrid then I know that I'd certainly prefer it." Nico suggested.

"But my dad wo-" She started.

"Astrid your dad isn't in control of your life, you are!" Nico interrupted. "Listen when Stoick gets back you need to have a talk…and if you want I'll be there to help you through it."

"Thanks Nico but if I went up against my father like that…he'd never let me forget it." Astrid said quietly.

"Astrid if he lays another finger on you tell me okay? Don't keep it to yourself, tell me and I'll personally have a talk with him." Nico told her.

Astrid smiled. "Thanks Nico but if you got involved it would just get worse for both of us…and he'd hurt you…badly…" She told him.

"If that's what it'll take then I'll do it…Astrid I may not be your boyfriend but I'm just as protective as one." Nico replied.

Astrid thought for a moment. "Okay then but I couldn't bear the fact that you'd gotten hurt on my account." She told him as she hugged him again.

"Astrid just remember I'm here for you...no matter what."

"So what should I do?" She asked him.

"What do you mean?" Nico asked back.

"How do I show the 'nice' side of Astrid?"

"Easy just pretend that it's me you're talking to and you should be fine." Nico told her.

"But what if people don't like me? What if the-" She rambled.

"Astrid! Calm people will like you they're not going to hate you for being yourself." Nico told her.

"But they don't like me now?" She countered.

"That's because it's not the real you." Nico pointed out. "Anyway can you keep a secret?" He asked.

"Well you've kept mine so yeah of course." Astrid told him.

"Except mine's a lot more serious." Nico warned.

"Oh…kay…"

"Okay would you believe me if I said you didn't have to fight dragons and that you could train them?" Nico asked.

Astrid looked very confused. "Um…honestly I'd have to see it to believe it." She replied slowly.

"Okay follow me but leave your axe here." Nico told her.

"What no!" She protested.

"Do you trust me?" Nico asked as he looked into her eyes.

"…yes I do." She told him as she searched his eyes for something to say he was lying.

"Okay then leave it here I promise nothing bad will happen." He assured her. Astrid looked at him for a second before sighing and placing her axe on the ground. "Okay then but this better be worth it." She told him as he gave her a goofy smile.

"Come on!" He shouted as he grabbed her hand and led her to the rocks where the Terror was hidden.

When they reached the cluster of rocks Nico turned to Astrid.

"Okay now wait here and whatever you do don't freak out." He told her as walked towards the small gap between the rocks. He looked in and saw that the Terror was still unconscious.

"Okay buddy I'm gonna introduce you to my friend Astrid so please stay calm and don't freak out." He told the unconscious dragon. "Or you could just stay unconscious…"

He carefully lifted the Terror up and turned to walk back to where Astrid was waiting. She sighed with relief when she saw him.

"For a minute there I thought you ha…what is that?!" She shouted.

"Astrid calm down I found him in the clearing just before I met you he's hurt bad but he won't hurt you." Nico assured her.

"Nico that's a Terrible Terror!" Astrid hissed.

"I know." He replied coolly.

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"Okay…why did you want to show me this?" She asked.

"Because Astrid I'm proving to you that Vikings and dragons can get along." He said motioning to the Terror in his arms.

"No they can't they attack us so we fight back." Astrid shot back.

"The reason they raid your village is because they're forced to by the Red Death and will be eaten by it if not enough food is brought back." Nico explained.

"A Red Death?" Astrid asked.

"It's a massive dragon whose head alone is bigger than three ships piled on top of each other, it's body is probably a third of the size of Berk." He told her.

"How do you know that?" Astrid asked as her eyes narrowed.

"It's hard to explain let's just say I know a lot of things about Berk and that now if I wasn't here then Hiccup would be training a Night Fury that he would've shot down in the raid I appeared in."

"Oh kay that's a lot to take in…" Astrid sat down on a small rock. "Wait what wold I be doing now?" She asked.

"Um…you'd be doing really well in dragon training." Nico told her.

"Is that it? What is meant to happen once Hiccup 'trains' a Night Fury?" She asked emphasising the word train.

"…You find out…um he convinces you to go with him on a romantic flight and you realise…you have feelings for him…" Nico told her.

Astrid's jaw dropped. "WHAT?!" She screamed.

Nico rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah that's what was supposed to happen…"

Astrid didn't reply she was too shocked by what Nico had told her to say anything.

"So that's why you rejected me? Because I'm supposed to be dating Hiccup?!" Astrid shouted.

"Astrid calm down you know that it wouldn't work even if you weren't supposed to be dating Hiccup, as much as I'd like it to it just wouldn't work." Nico sighed.

This softened Astrid a little and calmed her down. She walked up to Nico and put her hand on top of his. "We could at least try." She suggested.

Nico looked into her soft blue eyes and sighed. "Astrid I'd love to and in another life I would but I know that it would really hurt Hiccup if I did."

Astrid looked at the ground and sniffed as a stray tear ran down her cheek. Seeing this Nico carefully set the Terror on the ground and took a hold of Astrid's hand.

"Don't cry." He told her. "It's not your fault."

Astrid burst into tears and once again buried her face in his chest.

"I…just…want someone…to love me…for who I am…" She sobbed.

Nico pulled her into a tighter hug he felt sorry for her, he understood why she'd acted like she had towards others. "Astrid I love you for who you are just not in that way." He whispered softly.

"You're the only one…all the others like me for my looks nothing else." She cried.

"That's not true!" Nico sighed. "Look you may not like him Astrid but Hiccup does care for you and I can assure you he likes you for more than your looks…I think you should you know…be friends with him at least it's worth a try…" Nico suggested to her.

"But would he even want to be friends with me after all the crap I've out him through? I wouldn't want to be if I were him."

"Listen." Nico told her as he took hold of her shoulders and dislodged her from him so he could look at her eyes. "You may have been horrible to him but Hiccup's a nice guy he'll forgive you and he'd also want to help you if you ever told him about your dad." Nico told her.

"You're right I need to start living the way I want to and I'll start by making up with Hiccup!" She announced.

"That's my girl." Nico smiled.

"Thanks Nico you're the best friend I could ask for." Astrid told him as her eyes sparkled with happiness as she smiled. "And I'm jealous of the lucky girl who manages to catch you." She added still smiling a genuine smile.

Nico chuckled. "I trust you wouldn't kill them then?" He asked.

"It depends who it is." Astrid winked as she looked at the sky. "Oh Thor! Dragon training!" She remembered as she grabbed Nico's hand. "Come on!"

"Wait I need to find a safe place to put him while I'm at training." Nico said pointing at the Terror.

"You can leave him at my house." Astrid told him.

"But what about your dad?" Nico asked.

"He'll be out till midnight." Astrid assured him. "Come on he can stay in my room."

"Okay." Nico said as he carefully picked up the Terror. "Let's go!" He told her as they ran back to the clearing. Nico stopped as he remembered Hiccup. "Wait Hiccup!" He told her.

"What?" Astrid asked.

"Long story he's unconscious over there can you go wake him up please?" He asked.

"Yeah." Astrid replied as she started jogging to where Nico gestured to. She stopped when she was about to go past him and punched him in the shoulder.

"That's for rejecting me!" She told him before she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "And that's for being such a good friend to me." She added as she turned and ran over to where Hiccup's unconscious form was hidden

Astrid's POV

My lips tingled from kissing Nico's cheek.

"Why did I do that you know it wouldn't work anyway you're supposed to be getting close to Hiccup." The voice in her head told her. I sighed, love was so complicated.

Finally I spotted part of Hiccup's foot sticking out from behind a rock.

"How do I wake him up? How do I talk to him? What do I say?!" All these questions exploded inside me all at once.

"Calm Astrid just wake him up and apologise, that's all." I told myself.

As I approached him I couldn't help but notice how handsome he actually was, I'd never see him up this close before. The freckles dotted across his face and his messy auburn hair made him cuter.

"Wait a second what!" I shouted inside my head, now I realised what Nico said was true I was destined to fall in love with Hiccup.

And all it took was to see him unconscious." The voice in my head said smugly.

I kneeled down beside him and stroked his hair, it felt so soft beneath my fingers.

"Hiccup." I said shaking him slightly, no answer, so I shook him a bit harder. "Hiccup!" I almost shouted.

His eyelids fluttered open and I held my breath as I was captured by those emerald-green eyes, I couldn't look away they were so attractive.

"Astrid!" Hiccup blushed furiously when he realised I was kneeling over him. "Um…what are you doing?" He asked nervously his eyes widening slightly.

"So attractive." I murmured.

"What?" He asked confused he opened his mouth to ask more but I took that as my opportunity to apologise.

I felt him tense beneath me as I pressed my lips against his. His touch made my heart beat race. I felt him press into the kiss and I obliged pressing into him. The kiss was sending feelings of electricity all through my body and it was wonderful. I felt his hands slowly place themselves unsurely on my back and I put mine around his neck. I felt him smile slightly against my lips. I slowly pulled out of the kiss and looked into those beautiful green eyes of his.

"Hiccup I'm so sorry for how I've treated you over the years please forgive me I was going through a re-" I was cut off as he pressed his lips against mine again for another kiss. The feeling wasn't as good as the first one, though it was still amazing, and didn't last as long as he broke off the kiss suddenly.

"Apology accepted." He smiled.

I punched him on the arm lightly.

"That's for taking me by surprise." I told him as his face took on a confused expression.

"And this is for everything else." I finished as I leaned in for another kiss. My lips had just touched his when I heard someone clearing their throat.

"I don't mean to interrupt you two love birds but we've got dragon training and I don't think you wanna tell them why you were late." Nico told us cheekily. I shot him a furious stare in which he returned a thumbs up.

I got up and held out my hand for Hiccup to take.

"If you tell anyone about this I'll kill you in the slowest most painful way ever." I warned Nico as I turned to look at him.

"Don't worry you keep my secret I keep yours." He told me. I rolled my eyes and trudged back towards the village stopping to pick up my axe from the clearing. I glanced back to see Nico giving Hiccup a pat on the back and saying well done. I smiled he really could be a joker at times even when he walked in on his two best friends kissing while holding a Terrible Terror.

"What is with this guy?" I asked myself jokingly as I headed back to the village.

Woah 4,269 words! This is the longest I've ever written and that's mainly because I made sure that there was at least two chapters worth of writing to make up for lateness I was on holiday which is my main excuse but now I have a laptop which is and will continue to help my writing process.

I enjoyed this chapter because I got to show that Astrid isn't the tough girl that everyone thinks she is. I don't like how DreamWorks made her such a mean character to begin with they didn't give a good reason for her actions. Which is why I've made her dad a horrible guy because I hate it when people see her as the bad guy in the movie so I've done my very best to make sure that's not the case in this story. Astrid is one of my favourite characters which is why I'm so serious about the whole thing and I think some people can be very harsh to her in stories.

Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, next one will hopefully be out later in the week so adios till then my friends and please review and tell me what you think of the current flow of the story.

A.N- This story will be following the main plot of the movie but it's gonna have a lot of stuff changed in it (like the next training session won't be like the session in the movie.)

Adios!