Chapter 12

The next day, Stoick and the others that set out for Helheim's Gate returned to Berk. Because of this dragon training was called off and the trainees were giving a snow day of sorts.

Gobber walked down the docks to meet his friend. But, upon seeing only one ship of three returning, and in extremely poor condition, he could tell this wasn't going to be a happy reunion.

"Well, I trust you found the nest at least?"

"Not. Even. Close."

"Oh, excellent."

"I hope you had a little more success than me," Stoick questioned, while Gobber took his bag.

"Well, if by success you mean that your parenting troubles are over with, then… yes."

"Wha–" Stoick started, but he didn't get a chance to finish because Astrid's mother came running down the docks to talk.

"Congratulations, Stoick! Everyone is sooo relived," Halldora exclaimed.

"Out with the old and in with the new, right!"

"No one will miss that old nuisance."

"The village is throwing a party to celebrate!"

Stoick just stood there, shocked at what he was hearing. There were only two options for this kind of behavior. One: Hiccup had done something right for a change, and not something small, but something BIG, or two: Hiccup had up and left.

Stoick decided to go with the more likely of the two options, the latter.

"He's gone?!" he asked, somewhat panicked.

"Um… yeah, most afternoons," Stoick sighed in relief, he wasn't gone, "but who can blame him, I mean, the life of a celebrity is very rough. He can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by his new fans."

Wait, what? "Hiccup?"

"Who would have thought it, eh? He has this way with the beasts. Personally, I think it comes from how much time he spends with that Hofferson lass. Always sneaking off to the woods together, those two. Started even before Hiccup became famous."

So Astrid and Hiccup have been getting more acquainted. Maybe even a little more than that. This is interesting. Perhaps Halldora and I need to have a talk on the future of these two respectable dragon fighters.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Astrid and Hiccup were doing anything but fighting when it came to a certain Night Fury.

"Remember this is your first real flight. No ropes, no cove, and no places to softly land if things go bad."

"Astrid, relax. We got this. You get the cove set up for training and Toothless and I will do our best not to die."

Astrid gave him a glare that even Toothless shied away from. "Kidding."

"Listen Hiccup; just come back in one piece."

Hiccup nodded at Astrid before climbing onto Toothless and taking off towards the cliffs. Astrid, after watching them disappear into the sky, looked around the cove. It was really the ideal place to train. With the small body of water, they could do swimming exercises. The ground was hard enough for good traction, yet soft enough to not be too hard on the knees. There was also shade to rest and even a small cave to take a short snooze in.

As for equipment, all she had brought was one of each type of main weapon used on Berk. A long sword, broadsword, hammer, one and two bladed axe (personal favorite), spear, bludgeon, mace, bow, and a quiver of arrows were all ready to be tested to find the perfect weapon for Hiccup.

Really, there was nothing to "set up", so she decided to head for the cliffs and see if she could watch Hiccup and Toothless.

She was got there just as Hiccup was taking off again. She knew the plan; successfully steer Toothless over the ocean and get back safely. Basically, just making sure to memorize the movements of his foot and see how the tail fin reacts. Taking out a spyglass, which had been made by Hiccup himself, she settled down to watch their progress.

She could see the pair start to dive and make their way under a large stone archway that they had marked just for this test. So far, so good, Astrid thought to herself. Until, Hiccup decided that it would be a good idea to steer Toothless strait into a stone pillar. Astrid grimaced when it same thing happened again. Come on, Hiccup. Get with the program.

A sense of déjà vu suddenly came over her as she remembered thinking those same thoughts about Hiccup at the start of dragon training. It startled her how much had changed since then. Not that she didn't like the change; just that everything was flipped upside down and inside out. She was friends with a dragon, a Night Fury, no less, when not a month ago, she was trying to do everything in her power to kill dragons. A month ago, she would have beaten anyone to a bloody pulp if they had so much as suggested that she try to get to know Hiccup better and now she would do that if they suggested that she didn't. A month ago, she wouldn't have cared if a dragon was killed in battle, if anything, she would have cheered the person on who did the killing. Today, she was hoping that Toothless came back from this flight without so much as a lost scale. As for Hiccup… gosh, the thought of him getting significantly hurt terrified her. It was one thing to make jokes about it. It was quite another for it to actually happen.

But it didn't look like Astrid would be getting her wish. For at that moment, a terrified screech filled her ears and violently jerked her away from her thoughts. Looking through the spyglass, her heart froze. There was Hiccup and Toothless separated and falling. Without Hiccup, Toothless couldn't fly and without Toothless, Hiccup couldn't either. It was a deadly cycle.

Astrid could only watch as each figure tried to straighten themselves. Finally, after Hiccup getting slapped by wing and tail, he managed to grab onto Toothless' saddle and clip himself in. But now they were in a true dive, heading vertically down toward the forest. At the last second, Toothless/Hiccup put on the brakes and skimmed over the tree tops… strait for the stone pillar maze surrounded in fog. Honestly, can they not catch a break!? Soon Toothless/Hiccup were swallowed by the mist. Astrid's heart was in her throat. Where were they? There was no way that they could have made it through that maze at such breakneck speeds! Not even a Night Fury! With BOTH tailfins and NO rider! No, it was impossible and they were both probably dead and what would she tell Stoick or Gobber and what would she do, losing them so quickly after truly meeting them, getting to know them, sharing their happiness, …learning to love them,… learning to love him…

She needn't have worried, for not one second later did she see both dragon and (more importantly) rider were very much not dead. She watched as Hiccup cheered and may or may not have done a cheer herself. She laughed to herself as Toothless let loose a fire ball and forced Hiccup to fly through it. (Secretly she was glad he did. She thought he deserved a bit of punishment for putting her though that. What a way to figure out how you feel about someone.)

She quickly made her way across the island toward the spot where she had seen Toothless/Hiccup land. Gosh, with how much she was referring to them as almost a single entity, she might as well call them as such. How about Toothcup? The name sent a sudden chill up her spine and she had to physically stop walking in order for the chill to cease. She quickly resolved to never utter that name again, with her mouth or her brain.

Finally, she reached the beach that they had landed on. It was more of a stone platform than a beach really. The first thing she did was walk up to an unsuspecting Hiccup and hit him in the shoulder. Hard.

"OW! What the- Astrid! Why would you do that?!"

"I wouldn't complain too much, Haddock. What were you thinking trying to go through that maze? Were you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

"How did you know about that?"

"I was right there watching!"

"Ok, ok, calm down Astrid. Nothing happened-"

"What do you mean 'nothing happened'? First, I saw you and Toothless falling toward a very certain death, and then you both are diving toward tree tops about to be skewered, and then you go through a rock pillar maze at breakneck speeds just hoping to hit one and spatter yourselves into permanent graffiti! All after I specifically told you to be careful!"

"I'm sorry?" he said meekly, not meaning for it to come out as a question.

Astrid huffed and moved to sit next to him. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again," she growled.

"Astrid." She turned to face him because his voice was suddenly serious. "I'm sorry. It didn't occur to me that there might be people who actually cared whether I got hurt or not. Up until you and Toothless came along, it was only Gobber and my dad. So …I am sorry. And thank you. For caring."

Astrid gave a small smile. "Hiccup, you better get used to me caring. Because whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me, and it will take a lot more than an almost collision to scare me off."

"Eh, I guess I could get used to it."

Suddenly, the air seems to be filled with chirping and chattering. The two look up and see a small flock of Terrors heading their way. Behind them, Hiccup and Astrid heard Toothless growling and saw him hunch protectively over his small pile of fish. Two of the Terrors approached the pile and tried to steal a bite but only one managed to grab a fish head. This lead to a small fight between the two over who got first dibs.

Toothless looked on at the fight with the expression of someone who'd just been told something that they'd known their entire life. It said one word: "Really." However, this expression morphed into one of confusion as he suddenly noticed one of his fishes get up and start to walk away. He'd never seen a dead fish stand up and walk. Then again, he'd never seen any fish, dead or alive, get up and walk.

Soon he realized the fish wasn't doing anything extraordinary. It was a Terror trying to swipe a fish. Toothless dispelled that illusion by grabbing it. A small tug-of-war ensued with the Night Fury as the obvious winner. But Terrors obviously weren't very good sports as the small dragon started to puff himself up to torch the Night Fury. Toothless merely raised an eyebrow (if that's what you could call them) and, as soon as the first glimmer of gas started to appear, he shot a small blast directly into its mouth.

The Terror got up dazedly and staggered away from Toothless. "They're not so fireproof on the inside, aren't they?" questioned Astrid. Hiccup shrugged. Astrid, in a burst of empathy, decided to take pity on the creature and tossed it a small fish from Toothless' pile. "Here you go, little guy."

The Terror brightened up considerably at the sight of food and quickly gobbled it down. Astrid went to sit back down and noticed the Terror still looking at her. It moved forward as she finished sitting and nudged her hand, curling up beside her like a cat. The weight of what they had where doing and what they had found out came crashing down on her in that moment, if it hadn't already. She turned to face her friend. "Hiccup…"

"I know. Everything we know about these guys… is wrong."

After their small revelation, the trio had headed back to the cove, where Astrid had started on Hiccup's training. Turns out that Hiccup seemed to have natural talent when it came to sword fighting. But it had taken them a while to figure this out. It wasn't until, during a break watching Hiccup write, that she suggested using his left hand instead of his right. From then on, things went a whole lot better.

Now, Astrid was on her way home having left Hiccup at the forge, with orders to try and design a lighter and quicker blade for himself, instead of the usually heavy broadsword. It wasn't until she almost ran into her that she noticed Ruffnut standing in her path.

"Astrid, we need to talk."

Well, that didn't sound at all unpleasant.

"Privately."

Oh this just keeps getting better and better. "Why? I really need to be getting home."

"It's about Hiccup."

Astrid huffed. She was already going to be in trouble for staying out too late and she really wanted to go to bed. But then again, late is late, and talk or no talk, she was going to be in trouble so why not.

"Fine. Lead the way."

After following Ruffnut into the, surprisingly, empty Great Hall she waited for her to start.

"I need to know where you stand."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb with me Astrid. You think I didn't notice how you and Hiccup always go off into the forest after dragon training together? I'm not stupid. I need to know what your motives are for getting all friendly with him."

"Um, why? It's not like I go asking you why, when he offers to give you a helping hand, you grope on him. And it's not like you're his girlfriend or anything."

"No. But I might be his future wife."

"What?"

"You know, the one he marries and, coincidently, hands the chiefdom over to."

"WHAT?"

"Oh come on Astrid. I thought you were smarter than this. When I marry Hiccup, I will become the chiefess. I mean, hate to say it, Hiccup is the best option for chief this town has and for every powerful man there is a powerful woman behind them."

"So that's it! You're only after him for the power?"

"Well, duh! What else would I be after him for? His skills? Nonexistent. His charm? Same. His good looks? Hate to break it to you, but he's not best picture of a good looking Viking."

"But what about him? You plan on getting married to him and then what? Just leave him in the dust?"

"Pretty much."

Astrid just gapped at her.

"There's only one thing standing in my way. You."

"Me?"

"Yep. Everyone knows that Hiccup has had a crush on you since his eyes could see properly. And with you getting all friendly with him, I wouldn't stand a chance if you decided you were after him too. So, where do you stand? What are your intentions?"

Astrid couldn't believe this. Here was Ruffnut, acting as if she had any right to ask these questions, when she was planning on hurting him horribly.

"I'll tell you what my intentions are. They're to make sure none of this comes true. To make sure that Hiccup is kept safe from you and that he doesn't get hurt. Because I care about Hiccup. He's my friend and I don't use that term lightly."

After finishing she stormed out of the Great Hall, hurrying as fast as she could home. When she got there, her mother was waiting.

"Astrid, where were you this afternoon?" Her voice was deadly calm. Astrid realized that she was at the brink of exploding.

"Um, I was in the forest."

"What were you doing?"

"Training."

"Where you with anybody? Like Hiccup?"

"…Um, no."

"Then how come Stoick comes to me this afternoon and inquires me about a marriage contract between you and Hiccup? And when I say no, he says that he has been hearing things about how you two are off in the forest doing Thor knows what?"

Astrid realized just how deep a pit she might be in.

"I told you not to be spending time with that boy and here you go gallivanting off into the forest with Hiccup! Now I've got Stoick the chief on my back about giving me an answer before the official tournament about whether or not I accept his proposal!"

It was going to be a long night.