The fire burned calmly, eating away at the wood and flesh that it had to feed itself. Stoick stood at a distance of it, watching the fire burn calmly against the night sky. It was the best thing they could do. The village didn't need to know of the strange visit, and definitely not about how it ended. It had left enough question that needed to be answered for Stoick himself, and he didn't want to burden the rest of the village with it.

Spitelout stood next to him, also watching the fires eat through the wood, making the steel and iron glow red. "We should get back on the dock." He said to Stoick and Gobber, who had come to help. "I don't think we can trust the ice much longer."

Stoick nodded and turned around, heading towards the wooden dock that rose just a bit above the ice. He climbed on it using some of the rigging that hung from it, before helping Gobber and Spitelout onto the wooden structure.

Far from them, still lodged in the ice, lay the boats that the attackers arrived on. They burned quickly, masts toppling over after the fire had eaten enough wood to make them unable to support themselves. The ice around them was covered with small puddles. The fire produced a large cloud of dark smoke as it burned through the supplies and bodies that lay on the boats.

Slowly, the right ship began to sink, breaking the ice around it as it found its way to the bottom of Berk's shores. The ice lost its strength, cracks spreading and reaching out towards the other ships like an army of deadly, sharp lines. They surrounded the ship, breaking the tension in the frozen water before letting the sea claim the other ships too.

The last tip of the mast disappeared underneath the surface of the water. Which was covered with pieces of floating ice and burning wood. Normally there would be more materials after the sinking of a ship, but thanks to the heaviness of the now called 'Ice-breaker' the ships sunk like stones. The remains of the bodies were dragged down by the steel and iron armour that they were clad with.

They didn't stay too long, for they found no pleasure in watching the floating remains of the failed attack. If you could even call it that. Sure, it ended with hostilities, but Stoick felt somewhat sad that it had to be resolved with violence. It was a holiday after all.

They retreated back to the mead hall, were the rest of the village was still calmly celebrating. The evening had continued, and now half of the hall lay asleep on the ground whilst the others that remained awake were calmly sharing stories in their drunken and intoxicated state.

Stoick slowly closed the large door after Spitelout and Gobber. Spitelout quickly found himself something to drink and joined a group of Vikings who were still awake. The teens sat on the far side of the hall, having their own fire pit and sharing stories. Hiccup and Ragnar sat next to them like nothing had happened. Stoick looked at the group carefully, hoping to find any kind of indicator that there was something wrong. Ragnar looked up, greeting him by holding his tankard up high, before taking another big gulp out of it.

Stoick sighed, what should have been a calm and quiet evening had turned into a rather stressful evening, and he wasn't even done with this. He had questions, and he wanted them answered. What he didn't know what how he was going to do that. In a few days the dragons would return, afterwards there would only be a few more months before the thaw sets in.

He would have to find some way to talk about it, and he would rather do it relatively soon. He knew that the boys planned to stay for the winter, but especially now that the frost would be coming to an end he feared scaring them off. They hadn't discussed plans about what they would do, and he had expected the boys to stay on Berk. At least for a bit longer.

But then again, those men who came asked for assassins. And both sides made it clear that they weren't exactly allies. Would this be the price that they'd have to pay for the assassins to be housed on the isle, constant attacks and an everlasting fear of strange foreign armies? Surely there was a proper explanation for it. But Stoick feared that if he brought the subject to them to roughly they would scatter.

And fast. He had heard about that tactic of them. If there was nothing more for them to do at one area they would leave. As simple as that. If Berk would become a liability to them they would leave. At least, that is what Stoick was convinced off. They had stated it clearly, they headed to Berk because it would be easy. They would have shelter and they wouldn't have to fear the search parties that they would send out for them.

He didn't like to admit it, but it was his biggest fear. He had always thought that the most pain he would ever feel in life would be the loss of his wife. But life had taught him a harsh lesson. When he walked away from his son, who he felt had betrayed him and his village, when he disowned him. He felt a sharp sting in his heart. He had always though that it was anger, hatred, or a feeling of betrayal. But he eventually understood that it was sadness, not because his son had sided with the enemy. But because he had abandoned him, far before he disowned him.

But then life would be rough again. Taking his son from him in a fight that he shouldn't have fought. The Red Death would have wiped them all out, killing all able adults of the island, if it weren't for him. Against everything he had been told, after being spat upon and being treated like an outcast he came back. He came back to help all those who had hurt him. And when he and his dragon were knocked into the ocean Stoick felt the most horrible feeling in his life. One he would not lose for six years.

He felt scared.

He feared

He feared for his son, his only son, who he had disowned and neglected. Who had come back to rescue him and an entire village who didn't treat him right. He feared that he might never see him again. That he had failed to protect the only thing that he had left in his life. He had always been protective to Hiccup, locking him with Gobber in the smithy during raids. He would be safe there. He had been so small and weak, he would have been taken by a dragon if one of them got the chance.

But for six years he felt scared. He felt scared that his little boy had drowned at the shores of battle. He feared that he had failed as a parent, the last thing he had done to him was apologise.

But there was no body, they never found one. He had feared that one day a tiny bloated corpse would be brought in with a boat, or that it would wash up on the shores of the island. But such day never came.

He started to gain a strange sense of hope. He felt that his son was alive. His mind denied it, saying he would have drowned, frozen, or maybe he'd even been eaten by sharks or other hunters. It was logical, men who were lost at sea would have to be pulled out of the water directly. Otherwise most hope for them would be lost as they were pulled away by currents.

But his heart wouldn't believe it. He was alive. He was alive and somewhere safe. In good hands. And so it appeared to be. His son had grown up a man, and what kind of one. He had become a foreign warrior. Shrouded in mystery.

Stoick would never tell him, but he had his fair share of parent approach him for contracts. He had denied them all. Saying that Hiccup would have to choose himself. And that if they truly wanted his son to marry their daughter, than she would have to woe him herself.

Gobber poked him in his side, pulling him away from his thoughts. "Thinking about the years to come, or the years that should have been?"

"Both." Stoick said as he gazed at the group young adults. Heather leaned her head on Ragnar's shoulder and Astrid and Hiccup were sitting rather close. Especially since they were the only ones on the entire bench. Ruffnut had taken a seat on Hiccup's other side, but if she got too close she'd get a stare from Astrid and would quickly retreat.

A smile slowly crept up on his face, and it was enlarged as Gobber passed him a tankard with mead. The two Vikings calmly found food and a place to sit as they had a merry conversation.

The aftermath of Snoggletog was even worse than other years, if we ignore the year where Astrid blew up half of the village. The mead hall was filled with passed out Vikings, with only a few here and there awake, but most who were awake would quickly fall asleep again.

They slowly walked through the hall, careful not to awake any of the Vikings who laid scattered across the floor. Once they made their way to the door they quickly exited the mead hall.

"How long do you think we have?" Ragnar asked as the two ran through the village. "One, two, maybe even three days?"

"Two, not much more." Hiccup answered. "The dragons will return by then, if they know we're gone they'll come for us."

"So what's the plan?" Ragnar asked as they crossed the bridge to head to the arena. "Just observing?"

"Yes, just observing." Hiccup confirmed. "I don't want to return and explain blood that isn't mine."

"Understandable." Ragnar said as he looked at the sky. Seeing two dots head towards them in the distance. "Looks like they were out of luck again."

"Indeed." Hiccup said, waving his arms to signall their dragon where they were. They quickly picked up their pace. Heading down towards their riders. Hiccup stood on the edge while Ragnar grabbed his saddle. The dragons landed with hast and the two assassins tied the saddle on Bolt together. After securing the straps and making sure that the saddle was both secure and comfortable they quickly seated themselves on the backs of their dragons. Securing themselves into place before taking off.

Gobber stirred in his sleep, dreaming about the dreaded Boneknapper and how he had almost met his fate at the hands of the dragon a few times. He turned on his other side, rolling down a hill in his sleep. However, the weight on the table shifted, causing it to tilt. Gobber quickly slid off it and landed on the ground. Waking up roughly.

This wouldn't be so bad if he was the only one leaning on the table, but he could quickly hear the chief cursing next to him. "Good morning chief." Gobber said with a sarcastic joviality. "How was your night?"

"Good." Stoick muttered as he stretched. "Until I woke up."

"Understandable." Gobber said as he bend down to search the ground. He had unscrewed his tankard last night and was now looking for it. "What are your plans for today?"

"Wait for the village to sober up." Stoick said as he looked around the hall, finding passed out Vikings scattered everywhere. "And I'll have a chat with Hiccup and Ragnar about yesterday."

"Seems like a busy agenda." Gobber commented as he screwed his tankard back on his stump. "How did you wish to wake up the village?"

"Not, we let them sleep in." Stoick answered. "More time for the remains to float away."

"Ah, yesterday's little adventure." Gobber softly said. "That certainly left some questions."

"Aye, but that's something we'll look into later." Stoick said as he put the table back as it was supposed to be. "Let's start cleaning first."

The day was slowly continuing. As the sun rose higher on the skies more and more Vikings awoke from their intoxicated slumber. Most would wake up with a headache, others with a severe hangover and a rare few would have no trouble at all.

Today would be a day of cleaning. Getting rid of the mess that was left by Snoggletog. It had left quite some rubble in its wake. Except for the Vikings that were scatterd through the hall, there were also broken chairs and benches. They weren't broken on purpose, those thing just happen during the festivities. Some of the wooden or iron tankards would be broken because someone stepped on them. Everything ranged from an easy fix to complete repairs.

However this would have to wait. For now most of it was just getting basic life back. The decorations were to be removed and recycled into firewood. A new watch was to be started, securing the island for when parts slowly became accessible again.

Normal life would slowly return to the village, but it would take a few days before everything was fully returned to normal. Normal life would only fully return once all the dragon were back, and those would not return for a few days. Men and women were already starting with the clean-up. They gathered everything that wasn't where it belonged. Leftover food, broken plates and scattered cups were being picked up and collected. Everyone was helping with cleaning the hall, picking up trash and picking up fellow Vikings that lay on the ground.

Heather slowly woke up when someone took the tankard she used as pillow. She slowly stretched as she fully woke up. Beside her Astrid was also just getting out of her slumber.

"Sleep well?" She asked as she slowly say up on the bench. Watching around as the village was cleaning the hall, a smile creeping up on her face.

"Pretty good." Astrid answered as he sat up, looking besides her, finding a vacant spot. "Where are they?"

"Probably woke up early." Heather shrugged. "Probably didn't want to wake us up."

"I guess." Astrid responded with an absent mind. Thinking about the last night. She had somehow expected the two to take advantage of the broken day after Snoggletog, but her suspicions disappeared when she noticed how much the two were drinking. "What were they drinking yesterday?"

"Hiccup and Ragnar?" Heather asked as she stood up from the bench. "Just honeyed water I think."

Astrid looked at Heather, who gave her a confused look. "They've headed out." She said.

"How?" Heather replied. "The dragons are gone, the port is frozen. They can't leave the isle."

"Don't underestimate them." Astrid quickly said. "I feel like there's a lot they aren't telling us."

Stoick looked from a distance, observing the young girl chatting. "Do you think they suspect more?" Gobber asked as he tossed a tankard towards another Viking, who caught it and put it back with the rest.

"I got a feeling." Stoick said. "But I don't think anyone will have an easy time finding out what is going on with them."

"It's just difficult." Gobber responded. "They talk about it every now and then, but it's in that foreign language."

"That's the thing though Gobber." Stoick softly said. "That man yesterday, they talked with him, they knew him, at least to some extent."

"Ay, but we'll never know what they said." Gobber said, calmly putting a bench upright. "However, he might." He then added.

Stoick followed Gobber's stare, seeing Johann walk up to them, a look of worry on his face.

"Master Stoick." Johann greeted calmly, before his voice grew soft. "I wished to discuss yesterday's events somewhere quiet."

"That sounds like a good plan Johann." Stoick said as he turned to the large doors of the hall, motioning Gobber to follow.

The seas were dangerous in these parts. They were a mixture of deep, dangerous waters filled with deadly, shark-sized eels and shallow sharp rocks, which often had destroyed ships mounted on them. The waters were made even more dangerous by the large pieces of ice that floated around, along with entire island made from the frozen water and the darkness of the night. A large bank of fog hung above the water, which limited vision extremely. It was here that our assassins found themselves, hiding away on a ship as they observed a group of Templars on another one. Luckily the misty seas allowed them to come in unnoticed and observe the Templars safely. Their dragons were a few ice blocks away, since their black hide would easily be seen through the fog.

"Pass me the spyglass." Hiccup whispered as they lay on the deck, being able to peek just over the edge of the ship. Ragnar passed his the lens filled cylinder, allowing Hiccup to observe the stranded ship the enemies stood upon.

A scream was heard, loud enough to pass across the waters and reach Hiccup and Ragnar. Normally it would alarm them, but this was the third one in a short time.

"What's happening?" Ragnar asked as he lay next to Hiccup.

"It got another one." Hiccup said as he watched some Templars drag one of their wounded men up on the deck, his foot mangled by something. Their leader stood on the deck, ordering another group of men to go down into the ship. "It looks like the ship is booby-trapped." The ship was caught on one of the sharp spikes, but still lay mostly above water. The Templars on deck were a mix of Vikings and Romans.

"With quite some traps then." Ragnar said as he kept down. "Why would someone guard a ship so heavily?"

"They don't want something to be found." Hiccup said as he observed the ship. Another cry was heard and the men now dragged a lifeless body out of the ship. The fallen soldier looked like a pincushion, bolts and arrows were pinned in his body. He was put next to the other soldiers that had already lost their lives in the ship. The two men that had accompanied the late soldier were immediately send back down. Hiccup looked at Ragnar. "The Templars want whatever is in there bad."

"Then I suggest we take it from them as soon as they have it." Ragnar responded, earning a nod from Hiccup. "It will just be a matter of waiting it out."

"Indeed, they're killing their own forces anyway." Hiccup said as he lay down again, sliding down the half sunken ship the place where the rock pierced the deck. There they couldn't be seen. "Let's just wait here."

"They won't leave before they got it anyway." Ragnar said as he lay back against a rock. Calmly resting himself before they would attack the Templars.

Hiccup slid down next to him, grabbing his notebook from his armour and opening a blank page. He grabbed his charcoal and sharpened it with his knife. He quickly drew a crude map of the area, including their positions, the Templars, frozen water and the field of view they had in the fog.

"We could come in from here." Hiccup said as he draw a small arrow on the map, crossing the drawn ice that lay from their wreck to the Templar's. "Climb over the edge, surprise them."

"Or we wait until they are on their own boat." Ragnar said. "Threaten to sink it, demand that they surrender whatever they found."

"We'll have to be clear though." Hiccup said. "We don't even know what we're trying to steal."

"That could be troublesome." Ragnar responded. "It could vary from a pebble to a crate of goods."

"Indeed, which would force us to change our attack quite drastically." Hiccup said as he took another look at the map. "We might even have to sail back with a loaded boat."

"Or we might have to hide it somewhere." Ragnar said. "Unless you want to explain sailing into a frozen port with a boat with bloodstains."

"I don't want to imagine that conversation." Hiccup softly muttered. "They are already suspecting too much."

"We can't blame them though." Ragnar said. "What did we expect, that their first failed attempt would go unnoticed?"

"We should have seen it coming." Hiccup said. "We could have excused ourselves for a moment, headed out, sunk the ships a bit from the coast and return."

"All in a day's work." Ragnar softly said with a chuckle. "We do things that an army would have trouble with."

"We're a bit better trained than the average army don't you think?" Hiccup said as he climbed up the half sunken ship, peeking over the edge to take another glance at the Templars. One man came limping out of the ship's hull, going straight for the leader, passing him a cylindrical object before passing out on the ground.

"Hiccup?" Ragnar asked from down below, his voice a combination of being worried and confused.

"I think they have the item." Hiccup said. "It's about the size of a piece of firewood." He kept observing the Templars. Watching as they took a captive terrible terror and got him to spit fire. They were busily scribbling something on a piece of paper.

He slid down and immediately saw what confused Ragnar. On the side of the boat sat three Terrible Terrors. The small dragons calmly observed the two strange men, who looked at the dragons with confusion.

"Why aren't they breeding?" Hiccup asked confused. "What are they doing here?"

"That's exactly what I thought." Ragnar responded. "Somethings not right."

The small dragons calmly continued to stare at the strange men, who in turn stared back. One terror licked its own eye, something that was always strange to see, but not uncommon. Then the three terrors turned and flew away, disappearing into the mist. Ragnar and Hiccup only had time to share a quick glance with each other before they heard the roars of dragons.

They peeked out from their ship, spotting many different silhouettes in the skies. The men that stood on the ship quickly panicked, not prepared for a dragon attack. Some of the dragons swooped down, grabbing unprepared men and dropping them in the cold waters besides the ship.

"What is happening?" Hiccup asked as they looked at the onslaught. "Why are they attacking?"

"Doesn't matter." Ragnar said as he stood up and grabbed his halberd and pulled his hood over his head. "We won't get a better chance."

The two jumped off the side of their ship, landing on the thick, strong ice that connected the two. They quickly and quietly ran to the ship, unnoticed by the men who were defending against the dragons.

They climbed up the side, Ragnar sunk his hidden blade into the neck of a nearby Viking. Hiccup went over the top, shooting a nearby Templar with his crossbow. They quickly worked their way through the defending soldiers, occasionally ducking from attacking dragons. Luckily they had more experience with the animals than the unsuspecting hostiles.

They quickly found the leader, who held the strange item in his hand. Ragnar got to him first, meanwhile Hiccup was fighting off the remaining crew. Ragnar held his blade to the man's throat who defensively held his hands up in the air.

"Hand it over." He said sternly. The man was about to hand it to him, but he then saw something coming from the side. He quickly grabbed the man and dragged him down, causing a massive dragon to miss his target.

The fall knocked the item out of the leader's hand. It rolled across the deck of the ship, ending at the end of the boat. Ragnar jumped up, running after the rolling cylinder. The leader behind him was grabbed by a large dragon and tossed into the eel infected waters.

Hiccup and Ragnar remained, which focussed the dragon's attention to them. They slid behind a few crates that stood on the deck, hiding from the relentless dragons. Ragnar grabbed his whistle and blew on it, signalling Toothless and Bolt that they could use their help.

Their dragons landed on the ship in a matter of seconds. Rocking the boat back and forth. They quickly reunited with their riders, helping them keeping the hostile dragons at bay without harming them.

The wild dragons retreated, leaving only the assassins and their dragons on the boat. They carefully came out, scanning the skies for any remaining dragons. "What was that about?" Ragnar asked as he walked towards the object that they had seen the Templars use.

"I have no idea." Hiccup said. "But I don't want to stick around to find out."

They walked to the end of the ship, where the cylinder still lay calmly. A Terror walked next to it, siffing it a few times and taking it in his mouth.

"Oh no you don't." Ragnar said as he jumped forward, grabbing the terrible terror, which dropped the cylinder in surprise. The dragon wriggled its way from Ragnar's grasp and jumped away before it stopped and turned to look back at the assassins.

"Curious little bugger." Ragnar muttered as he bended over to pick the item up. But the Terrible terror tried to stop him again. This time he quickly grabbed the cylinder and ran away before Ragnar could grab him.

"He's playing." Hiccup said with joy, entertained as the small dragon tried to take off but failed because of the weight of the cylinder. "How cute."

"He'd be a lot cuter if he gave that back." Ragnar said as he sat on his knees, clapping his hands. "Come here dragon, come to Ragnar."

The Terror looked at them, but then looked behind them. In a matter of seconds the little dragon scurried through Hiccup's legs, running off to the other side of the ship. The assassins quickly turned around to follow the little dragon, but faced a surprise.

At the other end of the ship the dragon climbed up the leg of another dragon. A large four winged beast stood on the bow of the ship, looking threating at the assassins. Toothless let out a warning growl, but the large dragon wasn't intimidated.

"Alright, this changes things." Hiccup said with worry. They slowly approached the dragon, spreading out to each side of the ship to make them a smaller target. The Stormcutter looked at Ragnar, identifying him as more dangerous because of his larger arsenal. Because the dragon turned it's long neck to Ragnar Hiccup could now see the body of the beast. It was large and filled with spines along its back. But what surprised him even more was that a humanoid figure stood on the back of the beasts. It had first been shielded by the large head, but Hiccup could now clearly see the large man or women that stood on the back of the dragon. He or she shook a staff, which rattled lightly. It caused the Terrible Terror to climb further, scaling the persons leg and perching itself on her arm. The rider removed the cylinder from the little dragon's mouth, inspecting it before shaking the staff again.

The Stormcutter roared, causing both the assassins to instinctively turn away from the origin of the sound. Once they turned back they only noticed the last part of the tail of the Stormcutter disappear into the fog.

Stoick lit the fire in his house, the room slowly filled up with warmth as the wood slowly turned to embers. He took a seat next to the fire, slowly poking the fire with a cast iron rod. Johann sat across the fire, taking sips of his still warm tea. Gobber slowly polished his leg, making sure the wood wouldn't weather as quickly.

"So, Johann." Stoick said, putting the now red hot rod away. "What did you wanted to discuss."

"About last night master Stoick." Johann said as he held his cup with two hands. "I picked up a bit of what our friend said to the dying invader."

The room was silent as Johann took a sip of his drink, he looked at Stoick with questioning eyes. "Continue." Stoick spoke calmly. Curious what his son was involved in.

"Well, the conversation didn't clear up much." Johann said. "I believe it will create more questions." He took another sip of his tea, wincing as the hot tea burned his tongue.

"It's clear that your Master Hiccup indeed knew this man." Johann continued. "Not personally, but they knew the group or faction that he was with."

"That red cross?" Gobber asked as he put his leg back where it was supposed to be. "Is it some kind of tribe?"

"Not really." Johann said as he grabbed a book from besides him, which he had borrowed form Astrid earlier the day. He flipped a few pages until he came upon a shield, which had the same red cross painted on it. "This is the logo of the order of Templars." He said calmly. "It's a large group of powerful people, who wish to control as much land as possible."

"And you think these Templars are after my son and his friend?" Stoick said. "Is that why they came to Berk?"

"I don't think so." Johann said. "The Templars are the main enemies of the Assassins, who try to stop them from gaining too much power." He explained. "I believe that the Templars were looking for some kind of base, and that they found Berk to be sufficient."

"Is that why my son returned to the archipelago?" Stoick asked. "To stop some foreign army from taking over?"

"I believe so." Johann said. "Which means that whenever they sneak off they will be out doing gods knows what."

"We could help them." Stoick said. "We can support them against these Templars."

"I wouldn't do that." Johann said with a grave tone. "The brotherhood of Assassins and the Order of Templars are both shrouded in immense of mystery." Johann explained. "It's best if we just keep an eye out for our friends."

"We better keep an eye on them." Gobber said. "No one has seen them the entire day."

Stoick sighted, thinking about something to do. "I want to know what those two are up to." He said as he poured some tea for himself. "And I know who can do that."

They arrived in the evening, landing their dragons at the cove. They slid out of the saddle and calmly discarded evidence of a real fight. They had washed blood of the steel and cleaned clothes. They would have to make sure that Berk wouldn't suspect them of doing things too dangerously, since that would probably limit their chances of free time even more.

"Alright, that should be everything." Hiccup said as scrubbed a bit of dried blood of his blades. "I think it's safe to return now."

"We still need to find that thing though." Ragnar said. "What are we going to do about that?"

"I'll do some scouting during the next race." Hiccup said. "We'll find the item and the rider."

"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own?" Ragnar asked as he rubbed Bolt's chin. "Those were a lot of dragons."

"It'll just be observation." Hiccup said confidently. "And I always have Toothless if I need to make a quick escape."

"If you say so." Ragnar said as he climbed back in the saddle. "Let's head back."

"What is our story?" Hiccup asked.

"Everyone is probably at home, eating." Ragnar said calmly. "We'll be fine."

Hiccup also got back on Toothless, and they jumped in the air and made their way to Berk. They landed at the arena, where a few torched burned for light. Ragnar slid off and scratched his neck.

"I'll head back home." He said as he stretched. "I'm starving."

"I'm just going to get some fish for Toothless." Hiccup said as he guided his dragon towards the entrance of the arena. "I'll meet you there."

"Alright, see you there." Ragnar said as he walked across the bridge to head back to the Haddock house. Hiccup calmly walked down the ramp, the gate was already open, which wasn't strange given that there weren't any dragons in the arena anyway.

"Quite the trip wasn't it bud?" He asked his dragon as he slowly walked through the dimly lit arena, heading to one of the cages that had been transformed to storage. Toothless followed him calmly, looking around before fixing his gaze to the left.

Hiccup was confused, but he soon realised that they weren't alone in the arena as he heard the sound of a stone sharpening an axe. He also looked left of him, spotting Astrid sitting against the stone wall. "What trip?" Astrid asked calmly as she stood up, slowly walking to Hiccup.

"Oh, you know." Hiccup quickly said. "The dragons returned early and we thought to safe them some of the attention of the village."

"Is that so?" Astrid asked. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Well, everyone was still sleeping, so we quietly left." Hiccup said as he turned and continued to the storage. "Wouldn't want to wake up anyone after Snoggletog."

"Planning on doing that more?" Astrid asked, earning a confused look from Hiccup. "Quietly leaving?"

"What? No, of course not." Hiccup said quickly. "Why?"

"Just wondering." Astrid said calmly as she opened the large doors for him. He headed in and searched for a good basket.

"What's with the interrogation?" Hiccup asked as he returned from the storage with a basket of fish. Spilling its contents on the ground.

"I need to know what you're up to." Astrid said matter-of-factly. "So what were you doing?"

"And why do you need to know that?" Hiccup asked, ignoring her other question.

"Your dad want's me too." She said with a grin. "He wants to make sure you don't leave or do something stupid."

"You got to be kidding me." Hiccup silently muttered.

"What was that?" Astrid asked as she gripped her axe. Hiccup knew he could beat her, but he didn't want to fight. And an angry Astrid usually didn't play fair.

"Nothing." Hiccup muttered as he saw that Toothless was done eating. "How long will this last?"

"As long as it take for you to screw up." Astrid said with a grin, fully knowing that Hiccup understood her.

"What do you mean with that?" Hiccup asked, playing dumb.

At this point Astrid lost her patience. "It's simple Haddock," She said. "I don't know what you're up to, but trust me on this, if I discover that you are doing anything I don't like, you're in trouble."

Hiccup looked at her with unpleasant surprise. He swallowed loudly and looked at Toothless.

Astrid sighted. "Listen, what I mean is this." She said as he looked back at her. "Everyone on this island cares for you Hiccup, and we don't want to lose you again." She said.

A smile grew on Hiccup's face. "I know." He said softly.

"Do you though?" Astrid asked. "Because you did leave for two days, leaving everyone worried."

"I'm sorry for leaving." Hiccup said softly. "I'll tell you next time."

"There won't be a next time." Astrid said with a smile. "Because I'll be coming with you."

Hiccup again looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'll be there, keeping an eye at you." Astrid said with a growing grin. "Every day, from dusk till dawn."

Hiccup sighted. "Astrid, don't you trust me?"

"Hiccup, I don't do this because I don't trust you." Astrid said, thinking about what to say next. "I do this because,"

It was silent for a while. "Because?" Hiccup asked.

"Because, I" Astrid began. "Because I don't want you to get hurt." She quickly said.

It was silent for a good while, only Hiccup and Astrid staring at each other, Toothless calmly observing his rider and his female friend.

"But," Hiccup said, breaking the silence.

"No, this is not up for discussion." Astrid quickly said. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said as she turned, running back across the bridge.

Hiccup sat down, Toothless curling around him. "'Why bud?" He asked his dragon. "Why is this such a mess?"

AN:

Huzzah! A new chapter!

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The plot is really starting to pick up now. Sorry for the wait, I hope everyone can excuse me.

Race to the edge is amazing. I didn't really like the earlier series that they had because it didn't feel right, it just looked so much different from the movies. Race to the edge somehow does it better. I already watched all thirteen episodes and can't wait for the next batch. I believe they should be here in six months.

I'm pretty sure this kind of torture is illegal in most countries.

Anyway, as always thanks for reviewing. Writing is fun and all, but it's even better to see that your work is actually being enjoyed and appreciated. Every review is motivation and you guys are amazing.

Now for less good news:

Vacation is here, and I'll be having a vacation for a good five weeks, starting next weekend. I'm going to try to make sure I have a couple of chapters ready, so that you aren't without updates for the full five weeks but it'll be difficult. I can't promise anything but I'll do my best. This is mainly just a heads-up that you know I'm not abandoning anything, I'm just going to be away for a while.

I'll try to update next weekend and have one ready for the one after that. The most possible scenario in my opinion is that I update next week, than a two week gap, update, a three week gap, update. Then my vacation is done and I can focus on writing and uploading. This does mean that I need to make three chapters in the next week. Which will be troublesome. At least I have a good idea of where to go for the first couple chapters, so that should help.

Anyway, this Au has been long enough, so as always: Take care!

R4y