Chapter 1

The first thing Astrid noticed when she woke up was that Stormfly wasn't the reason for her depart from the realm of dreams. Second, was that it was still night, yet there was a glow outside that made it bright as day. Third, was the noise.

She could hear human and dragon screams echo throughout the village. Roars and war cries resounded within her room and she jumped out of bed. Only one thing made sounds like that; a battle.

Berk was under attack.

Astrid grabbed her trusty axe and rushed to put her armor on. Once it was secured she raced outside to help with the fight. However, the sight that was right outside her door almost made her vomit on the spot. A dead Nadder, throat slit and blood still leaking out, lay on the ground at her feet. Astrid could only choke back a cry at the beautiful beast lying in a pool of it's own blood. She was disgusted. How dare someone attack Berk's dragons! And a Nadder, a beautiful Nadder, as well! She would not rest until every one of the slayer's comrades were dead.

Sidesteping the Nadder, she rushed out and took in more scenes of the battle. People were rushing to and fro with weapons in hand. Dragons were soaring overhead. Fires had erupted everywhere. There hadn't been this many since the days of dragon killing.

She soon spotted her mother, with a mace, looking up to the sky. "Mom!" she yelled.

Her mother look over at her and scowled. "Astrid! What are you doing out here?! You need to get to the Great Hall!"

"But I can help! Just let me find Stor-"

"Astrid, we've had this discussion. Untill Gustav and his friends take over, you don't go into actual combat!"

Astrid was more than a little confused, but an argument in the middle of a fight was like asking to be killed by the enemy. It only made you a target while disracting you from what was really important. Without another word, she turned a ran for the Great Hall. As she ran she wondered if Hiccup had gotten the same arangment as her. Probably not, lucky son of the chief.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, she saw the rest of the gang, minus Hiccup. Of course.

Ruffnut spotted her first. Rolling her eyes she called Astrid out. "Astrid! Where were you?! We've been waiting!" Then the gang turned to a contraption that she had almost forgotten. Suddenly, she knew what she had been sent here to do. Be part of the water brigade.

"Come on! Because of you, the fires spread!" Snotlout shouted as he rushed after the others. She quickly followed, confused as to why they were not using their dragons, but she figured that Hiccup must have comandeered them to help in some plan. Typical.

She quickly fell back into the old routine of putting out fires, or trying to. Still, she was much slower than she had been. Partially because she was out of practice, but mostly because she was starting to notice some peculiarities about this battle. First, none of the dragons flying above her had riders on them. None at all. Second, all the Vikings she looked around at kept glancing at the sky anxouisly. Third, she never heard the sound of Toothless. There was no sharp whistle, no plasma blasts, and no giant, purple explosions. Why was she here, helping put fires out the old fashion way when she could be of much more help atop Stormfly blasting enemies? Why were they all down here when they could be up there? Nothing was making much sense right now and she was certain that Hiccup had the answers she was looking for.

Soon enough, the sun started to rise and, just like that, the Vikings started to relax. Well, all but Astrid, whom was still confused as to why the battle stopped so suddenly. She looked around and people started to move toward the plaza in the center of town. She followed them, a feeling of deja vu begining to crawl up her spine. She looked back to her house. The Nadder was still there. Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to figure out what had happened when she heard that the chief was speaking. She strained her ears to pick up on what was being said at the center of the gathering.

"Blasted...how many did they get?"

A new voice spoke, very familiar, yet different. "Got a few sheep, couple of yaks, no chickens, and killed 2 of ours. Better than usual, I'd say."

Stoick raised his voice. "Good. With winter almost here, we need all the livestock we have. You did good, Hiccup, but I didn't expect anything less from you."

"We could do it too, if you gave us a chance." Fishlegs muttered under his breath. "When there's no competition, playing hero is easy."

"Hey! Don't talk about my cousin that way," Snotlout whispered harshly.

Astrid looked over at at the two of them. If she hadn't already mentioned it, she was extremely confused. She decided enough was enough, she was getting some answers! Muscling her way to the front, she looked around to spot Stoick (he would be much eaiser to spot then Hiccup). Once she saw him, she looked for Hiccup. But what she saw in his place, almost made her knees buckle.

There was a young man. He was quite a bit taller than her, maybe half a head. He wore the same clothes as Hiccup but instead of just barely fitting him in the sense of being a bit too large, they just barely fit him in the sense that they were a bit too small. They clung to his chest and arms so that she could see every muscle. And what muscles! They burst from his body and she had no doubt that he could lift a boulder. Who was that? Hiccup? Certainly not the Hiccup she knows.

"They almost got to the Hofferson hall but I was able to stop them and take out their leader. The rest got away." And his voice! At least two octaves deeper than the one she was used to. It almost reminded her of Stoick's.

"Good job, Hiccup. That ought to cover it. Alright, everyone! Let's get to work! I want all the halls repaired by tomorrow! We need to get..." and she let his voice drift away from her mind. She watched as the new-and-improved-Hiccup slowly made his way to the rest of the gang. And her.

"Hey guys."

"Cuz! How did it go? Any new trophies?" Snotlout inquired.

"Just one this time."

"Still puts mine to shame. I wish I had a Night Fury."

"There was only one Snotlout."

Snotlout shrugged. He looked as if he was completely comfortable talking with Hiccup like this. However, when Astrid looked around, the others did not seem to share his confidence. The twins had different expressions. Tuffnut looked at Hiccup as though he were Thor himself. Ruffnut grimaced and turned her head away as fast as possible. Fishlegs bounced from one leg to the other as though he wanted to bolt. Fear and alertness were all over his features.

"We should probably head on back. They'll need your help as much as mine," Hiccup said to Snotlout. He nodded and the gang went their seperate ways.

"You coming, Hofferson?" Statled, Astrid looked at Hiccup and saw that he was heading toward her house. Her eyes widened. Was he... asking to walk her home? The Hiccup she was used to would have just kept walking with her until they reached her house and then said a quick goodnight before stumbling away. She quickly nodded her head, not trusting her voice, and followed him.

They walked in silence, a second suprise to Astrid. Normally, Hiccup would have been yapping his head off. They reached her house soon enough and Astrid saw the dead Nadder for a third time.

"Pretty thing, isn't it?" Hiccup asked.

Astrid nodded before frowning. "I hope we got every single one of the killers."

Hiccup chuckled. "Not everyone, I'm afraid." He walked over to the body and placed his hand on the snout. Astrid stood still watching him. She could have done that all day and not gotten bored. His next words snapped her out of her daze. "This one, though, it will make a nice decoration for my wall."