The door of the Haddock household was strong and sturdy, just like the large man who usually opened it. But Stoick the Vast was already inside, cooking soup. He heard the door open slowly, before it softly closed again. He looked across the fire, where Heather was sitting. She stared at the door with an angry scowl, but the trained eye could see a hint of relieve.

Stoick turned to the door, seeing a surprised Ragnar standing there. He looked back at Heather, who now had her arms crossed angrily in front of her chest. "I'll excuse myself." Stoick said calmly as he stood up. "Soup's almost warm, don't wait for me." He added as he passed Ragnar and headed out to the door.

Ragnar kept his eye on the door that Stoick just passed, afraid to face the anger of Heather. After a bit of silence he slowly turned back to her. She still sat on the chair, but she seemed less angry. She sighed heavily and let her arms rest on her lap. She looked up to Ragnar, a warm but still pretty irritated smile on her face.

"Where were you?" She asked gently as she stood up, taking the place where Stoick sat to tend to the soup and fire.

Ragnar carefully took a seat next to her, staring absently into the fire. "The dragons were home early, so we thought we would take them for a bit of a flight."

"You're not fooling me." Heather said. "You've been gone for two days."

Now it was Ragnar's turn to sigh heavily. "Look," He began. "We had to run an errant." He said. "Some bad people were doing something that we didn't want."

"I don't care what you do." Heather said calmly, earning a confused look from Ragnar. "It's how you do it." She added. "You go off without saying anything."

"But we're back, aren't we?" Ragnar said with a smile.

"You're back this time, but what about the next?" Heather said. "Do you know how it's like to wake up and find someone," She paused for a moment thinking about what to say, the two had been pretty close already, but she wasn't sure if they really were an item yet.

Ragnar sensed her hesitation, he leaned over and held her hand. They locked eyes for a second. "Continue." He softly said. "Please."

Heather swallowed a lump in her throat before continuing. "To wake up and find someone you care about, really care about gone." She said, looking at the ground. "With the races you at least say that you are going fishing." She muttered.

Ragnar took her other hand, forcing Heather to look at him. "Heather, listen." He said gently. "As long as I have breath and life left in my, I will do anything in my power to return here." Heather got a small smile as he said this, she knew that he liked her, a lot. "I promise you that I'll tell you next time I go," He began, thinking about his explanation for the trips. "Fishing."

Heather giggled, joy and relief filling her body. The two leaned forwards, closing their eyes and letting their lips meet. It was tender and soft, and a small moan of satisfaction escaped from Heathers throat.

The door of the room opened, breaking the moment that the two shared. Hiccup walked in, rubbing his temples. He closed the door behind him sighing as he took a seat next to the fire.

"What did you run in on your way here?" Ragnar asked as he quickly removed some saliva from his lower lip. "Angry father?"

"Worse." Hiccup said as he took the wooden spoon and stirred the soup. "An angry Astrid."

Ragnar sighed, looking at his friend. "What did she say?"

"My father wants her to keep an eye on me." Hiccup said as he tasted the soup, content with the flavour. "Make sure I don't run off."

"Well, you do get to spend time with her." Heather said suggestively, causing Ragnar to chuckle. "It's something."

Hiccup looked at the two with irritation. "Thanks for the support guys." He said as he stood up to grab some bowls. "Really feeling the support."

His sarcasm only fed the two young adults on the other side of the fire. "Well, stones won't be the only thing grinding in the smithy." Ragnar whispered to Heather, who laughed loudly.

"Soup?" Hiccup asked irritated. He hadn't heard the last joke but he was pretty sure he didn't want to.

"Yes please." Heather said as she wiped a tear from her eyes. Hiccup poured soup for the two of them, knowing that Ragnar also wanted a bowl. He handed them to the two before he poured himself a bowl. Calmly eating away.

"In all honesty though." Ragnar said after he had eaten a bit. "I don't think it's that much of a problem."

"Astrid would only to something like this if she liked you." Heather added. "So that's a good sign."

"Oh what? You two are love counsellors now?" Hiccup asked as he swallowed the soup. "Please help me get the girl." He said sarcastically, accompanying it with a roll of his eyes.

Ragnar and Heather looked at each other, deciding that it would be best to be silent. They slowly ate their soup in silence, enjoying the mixture of vegetables and leftover pieces of meat. It was common to use leftovers the next day, for it was a waste to throw food away, especially during the winter months.

Hiccup finished his plate, pouring himself another bowl. He noticed that Ragnar finished too, so he put his bowl aside and poured seconds for him too. Before Hiccup grabbed his bowl again he looked at Heather, who shook her head, indicating that she had enough.

The night passed calmly, as did the days to follow. The weather became better, less snow and less frost. The sun shone a few days, creating a blinding glimmer across the snow and ice. Life in the village had continued as always. The dragons had returned, along with their babies, which were quickly integrated into society. Small Gronkles were fed at the quarry, where the excess of small and unusable stones were easily processed into Boulder-class food. Small Nadders were handled with extreme care, since they often had the habit of shooting their not yet lethal but still harmful spines if startled. The same rule counted for dealing with small Nightmares, since they had the habit of setting themselves on fire. The small Zipplebacks were a different story, they were unpredictable and destructive, but luckily wouldn't stray far from their parents.

The days passed with speed, and Hiccup got used to having Astrid by his side. The first few day had seen a bit of tension, but that was quickly resolved. As much as he didn't like it, Ragnar was right. He did have Astrid's company, and he didn't really mind. In fact, he kind of liked having a reason to have her nearby. Their regular days would consist of working in the Smithy or working with Dragons. Astrid would follow Hiccup into the smithy, where he could operate the forge and make or mend weapons and tools, and Astrid could use the grindstone where she could also help out a bit.

Tending to dragons, especially the little ones this time of the year, was Astrid's job, but Hiccup never rejected when she dragged him with her. He enjoyed spending time with the little reptiles, and especially when Astrid was there too. Everything was going fine, life was calm and quiet, free of worries and stress. Sure, there were the occasional problems, firewood running low or loose dragons, but it was small compared to other problems they could face.

The months went by, and the weather slowly became better. Warmer waters flew through the port, being carried from the already warmer south. The ice in the sea slowly shrunk, although the temperatures would still always be below freezing level.

Then, on one early morning, Hiccup opened the door of the house to head to the forge, a long day of work waiting for him. He stood in the doorframe, taking in the cold air. He looked around the village, the hill that the chief's house was built upon providing an excellent view across the village. His thoughts were broken however as something cold fell in his neck.

He jumped forward and whipped around, hoping to find whatever fell into his neck. It was cold, almost freezing, but it felt like liquid. As he looked up at the doorframe he could see the origin. It was water. Small droplets of cold water were dripping from the icicles that hung on the frame of the door. The ice was melting, thaw had set in.

He continued through the village, making his way towards the forge. More and more people came out, finding small droplets of liquid water on their buildings, stalls and carts. Winter was over, at least most of it. Although bad, the weather on Berk was usually predictable. And once the first thaw would set in it was certain that the winter wouldn't last much longer.

The forge was already up and running, Gobber having started the fire with the help of Grump. As Hiccup walked in he was greeted by an immense heat, the embers in the forge already glowing hot.

"Good morning Hiccup!" Gobber greeted with joy as he saw his apprentice come in. "What did you have on the agenda today?"

"I'm sure you noticed the thaw when you left home Gobber." Hiccup said. "I say we finish the last few things and then prepare for the post-winter repairs."

"Aye, Johann's ship, the fishing boats." Gobber said. "They all need a bit of patching up."

"Indeed, so what's the plan for now?" Hiccup asked as he pumped the bellows, firing the forge up.

"Well, bucket of old tools needs to be emptied and some sharpening has to be done." Gobber said. "But I suppose your lass will be here to help again."

"For Thor's sake Gobber, she's not 'my lass'." Hiccup said annoyed. "But I think she'll be here soon."

"Good, I'll take the tools." Gobber said as he swapped his bellow hand for a tong. "You start making some nails."

"Fine." Hiccup sighed. Making nails was a tedious and repetitive job. Simple and boring. It wasn't as elaborate as creating axes and tools. But it had to be done. Hiccup grabbed one of the long metal rods that he would need, cutting it into small pieces of a finger length.

Making a nail wasn't hard. The only thing there was to do was to heat it, hammer a square point on one end and flatten the other, so that it would be sturdy and capable of holding weight. He lay a few of the pieces of metal in the forge, there they would become softer because of the heat but wouldn't melt. He took them out one by one with tongs, quickly but carefully making nails from the pieces of rod.

As he cooled the 18th nail Astrid walked in. She sat down next to the grindstone and was greeted by Gobber. "Hello lass." The old smith said jovially. "Anything special happened since last time?"

"It looks like thaw is setting in." Astrid said as she grabbed the first item from the table, the head of a scythe, and stated turning the grindstone. "But not much else."

Gobber nodded, turning back to his forge. The short conversation was quickly replaced by the hammering on steel, the grinding of the stone on metal and the hissing of the red-hot nails that Hiccup dipped into the water. The day slowly went on, everyone doing their job and keeping to their busyness. If there were customers Astrid would help them, if she couldn't Gobber or Hiccup would take it from her.

Astrid didn't mind working in the shop, in fact, she liked it. The work varied from light jobs like sharpening knives and nails, to heavy work like operating bellows or manning the smelter. But there was one thing that she definitely liked about the job, she could spend the entire day with Hiccup.

True, they didn't talk much. It was difficult to raise ones voice above the hammering and general noise in the smithy. But instead of that she could watch him work. He never noticed since he was always focussed on his work, rough hands tracing across the fine metal, inspecting every part of it for small imperfections that could be the downfall of a weapon. If there was a crack the size of a hair it could mean that a blade would shatter if it came into contact with another blade. If the weight was off a weapon could be completely unusable.

Astrid watched carefully as he traced his fingers along the edge of a small sword, which gobber had given him to tidy up a bit. They had quickly discovered that Gobber was used to the average Viking weapons, large and deadly. While Hiccup was very good at the weapons that required more concentration. Creating an axe was a matter of nailing a head to a handle. Most of the weight would have to be in the top, that way it would have more force if it was swung. Swords were a different story. If held by one hand the sword would have to be perfectly balanced, otherwise the blade would easily become unwieldable in a fight.

Astrid watched as drops of sweat formed on his forehead, trailing down his face before falling from his nose or chin to the ground. She was mesmerised by the way he worked, gentle and rough at the same time, calm and energetic, but most of all precise and powerfully. He wouldn't strike a weapon to try if it fixed it, he would strike it to fix it. Gobber could learn something from him.

Astrid wasn't the only one who looked at Hiccup that way. Every day there were a few of the village female inhabitants that would come by the shop for repairs. They would gladly take the job, since most were so small that they didn't even mind charging the customers for them. But the girls always insisted that they would wait for their job to finish. They always denied a replacement or the offer to do it directly, stating that they 'had the time'.

Astrid knew fully what they were up to. And even though she wouldn't admit it, she had her axe sharpened more often now that Hiccup was back in town. That was why she had secretly taken the task of glaring at any of the female customers who lingered and dared to look at Hiccups general direction. She did it discreetly of course. Just a gentle smile while she stabbed a just sharpened knife in the table, or twisted one between her fingers. The message was quite clear most of the time.

Gobber noticed, usually shrugging it off or chuckling as the girl looked at him for help. He was very clear, they would have to take it up to Astrid if they had a problem with her. Hiccup was oblivious to the flirting girls, usually too concentrated on his work to notice any of the hints that the girls so desperately tried to send before they would be caught by Astrid.

"Hey Astrid." Hiccup asked as he put a cooled nail away. "A few days from now I got a day off."

"Truly?" Astrid asked, interested. "Why so?"

"Well, the post-winter repairs will start soon, along with a whole range of extra work." Hiccup explained. "If I wanted some peace and calmness it would have to be soon."

"Sounds logical." Astrid agreed. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Probably fly out a bit and go fishing." Hiccup calmly said. "Care to join me?"

"Sure." Astrid said, keeping her calm. Although Hiccup knew she would join just to keep an eye on him, it still triggered something that he asked her to come. "When did you wanted to go?"

"A few days from now." Hiccup answered. "I asked around and the only day that works is three nights away."

"Three nights?" Astrid repeated, suddenly worried. "That's a day of a full moon at night right?"

"Indeed it is." Hiccup said. "It's the only day that would work with the repairs."

"But, that day is the dragon race." Astrid argued. "You can't go that day."

"Why, it's Ragnar's turn." Hiccup said, playing dumb. "I'm pretty sure he'll handle himself."

"But I still got to fly." Astrid argued. "I'm not just going to let him win."

"Well, it's a pretty long flight for the island I was looking for." Hiccup said. "So I can't wait for the race to finish."

Astrid sighed. "Isn't there another day that you can take off?" She asked, looking at Hiccup.

"I don't think there is." Hiccup said.

She looked at Gobber, hoping the smith would have some other alternative. But he also shook his head. "I'm sorry lass." Gobber said calmly. "But it's the only day we can spare him."

Astrid's sigh was long, loud and irritated. She thought for a second, before turning back to Hiccup with a determined face. "Fine." She said. "Go fishing."

"Alone?" Hiccup asked carefully.

Astrid stepped forward, trapping Hiccup in a corner of the forge. Gobber looked carefully, hoping they wouldn't break any of his materials and that they would watch out for sharp object. "If you do anything else than fishing." Astrid said. "And you know what I mean with that." She added. "Then I'll make sure that you'll never be able to leave Berk again, ever."

Hiccup gulped softly, although Astrid was smaller than him she was still rather intimidating. He nodded slowly, bringing a small smile to Astrid's lips.

"Good." She said as she headed towards the door of the forge. "I'll see you around." She said before she disappeared outside.

Gobber gave Hiccup an expecting glare, knowing that he had the boy in a tight spot.

"Thanks for covering for me." Hiccup said with a small smile. "I promise I just need to get her off my nerves for a moment."

"You and I both know that isn't true lad." Gobber said with his heavy accent. "Just be sure to show me that grinding technique."

"Thanks Gobber." Hiccup said as he continued with his nails.

The days past slowly, and soon enough Hiccup was packing his bags to head out, Ragnar stood beside him, checking carefully if he took everything. It was early in the morning and the sun was just rising above the sea. Hiccup tied the bags to Toothless' saddle, taking a few supplies with him to help him on his trip.

"Did you pack the bait?" Ragnar asked with a smile as he saw Hiccup tie the bags with the extra hidden blade, he still hadn't had time to forge a new one.

"Sure, and the lures and hooks." Hiccup relied sarcastically. "I also got a spare boat and a few watertight boots."

"Good, you can never be too prepared." Ragnar said as he stepped backwards, allowing Toothless to spread his wings and test the distribution of the weight on his back. He gently moved, feeling the bags and saddle move along his back. After a while he made an approving rumble. "Looks like you're all set."

"Looks like it." Hiccup said as he climbed on Toothless' back and switched his foot to his prosthetic for flying. "Well, I'll be off."

"Don't forget your deal with Astrid." Ragnar reminded him as Toothless spread his wings. "The one involving you dying, horribly."

"Thanks for the reminder." Hiccup said as he got comfortable in the saddle. "Really needed that." He shifted his weight and closed his helmet, the dragon flapping his wings and ascending into the sky. Heading off towards the north.

Ragnar turned back towards the village, he had a race to win.

Hiccup and Toothless soured through the skies, doing the occasional rolls and dives to keep the flight entertaining. They didn't have to travel that long, since the winds were good. After a bit the two decided to rest at a nearby small island.

"Alright bud." Hiccup said to his dragon as he slid of the back, grabbing his map from his armour. "Let's see where we are."

He unfolded the map, carefully looking across the isles to spot the one they were on. "Itchy armpit." Hiccup read from the paper. "Alright, we should be heading that way." He said as he looked at the horizon, spotting burned trees and a large black cloud of smoke coming from afar.

"Looks like something is happening." He said to Toothless as he quickly but carefully folded the large map back into his notebook, stuffing it back into his armour. He quickly jumped on his dragon, strapping himself in and diving of the tall island, gaining speed to inspect the area in front of them.

An entire fortress, destroyed.

Eret, son of Eret, walked across the remnants of their once great dragon trapping fortress, which now lay in ruins thanks to that masked dragon rider. He had to admit that it was somehow impressive. The large swarm of dragons had first done great damage while that vigilantly had released their trapped dragons. Then a huge dragon appeared, which froze their entire fort and destroyed everything that was left.

His men were still working on releasing other men who were trapping in large ice caves, and he wasn't sure they were going to succeed.

The worst thing was that she was still there, destroying docked ships in their now inaccessible port. She was casually burning them to the ground, cutting them off from any aid and resupply. "How could this happen?" He yelled as he paced around a part of the wall that was miraculously still intact. "We have the best equipment, but we can't defend ourselves against the beasts we're trying to catch?"

One of his faithful men stood behind him, looking over the edge at the devastation that was being done on their fleet. It was a waste of good ships, but after the attack they didn't have the men to crew them anyway.

"Do we have any dragons left?" He asked the men who were slowly gathering behind him. One of the men wanted to say something, but decided to swallow his words as he saw the dragons fly away. Eret stood there, surrounded by silent crew.

"Great, just great." He said as he turned back to the dragon rider that was destroying ships. "We have no dragons, no home, and no heads to call our own."

The crew gulped, they remembered what had happened last time a ship arrived empty handed. Luckily some of their ships were out on voyages at the time, but they could return at any moment.

The rider at the docks was still burning ships down, reducing a once worthy fleet into a messy graveyard of masts and burning wood. Eret looked helplessly as invaluable equipment sunk to the bottom of the cold waters, being claimed by the sea.

His knew the dangers, and he knew that they couldn't risk getting those back. But he also knew what awaited him when he returned with this news.

He really didn't want another one of those marks on his chest, but he feared it would be worse.

The rider had almost finished their last hip, which used to be the pride of their armada. It was quickly reduced to an ash-filled burning piece of firewood, the fire quickly eating through all the wood on the ship. It only took a few seconds for the fire to eat trough the mast, and even less for the intense flames to sink the ship entirely, hissing loudly as the fire was extinguished by the salty water.

Hiccup looked on from a ridge, carefully observing the riders attacks. He or she was smart, and very adept with his or her dragon, using it perfectly while remaining a proper balance on the back of it.

The rider was too occupied with destroying the enemy fleet to notice the small dragon and man on the ridge line. Instead she was focussed on a new target.

The ships that were expected back slowly sailed into view, their sails raised high and their weapons readied. Their crew had seen the smoke from afar and had decided that it would be best to return as quickly as possible. They spotted the dragon rider, quickly firing salvo after salvo of nets at the masked enemy.

The rider swooped down, letting the enemies focus their fire on them while other dragon came in behind them. Timberjacks cut through masts like they were matches. Changewings turned steel weapons into molten porridge. Even Terrible Terrors flew in, tossing nets overboard and dumping other valuable material into the cold Nordic waters.

Hiccup watched in awe at the large dragon assault. It was grand and relatively organized. It was an incredibly scary preview of what humans and dragons could create if they worked together. He was snapped out of his thoughts rather quickly though.

A net flew through the air, hitting the dragon rider's Stormcutter in the left pair of wings. She plummeted towards the ground, landing on one of the ships, which was filled with angry and adapts dragon trappers.

They slowly walked towards her, step for step, carefully watching for her not to pull some tricks. Now that their leader was down, the other dragons panicked, and most of them scattered. Leaving the rider defenceless.

The trappers felt confident, and were sure that they finally had their dragon stealing vigilantly. That was until they heard a familiar whistle.

"Nightfury!" One of the men yelled, quickly ducking behind a barrel. The others quickly followed. Toothless shot the base of the mast before landing on the ship, causing it to topple towards the helm of the ship. A shock went through the entire vessel as it landed, and the dragon rider lost balance.

The rider hit the deck, which caused a strange cylindrical object to fall from the armour the vigilantly was wearing, rolling across the deck. Hiccup spotted it quickly and dove towards it. In the chaos he secured it to one of the loose straps on his armour, they were meant to hold small bags like herbs and coin purses but this would do fine too.

He quickly got up, noticing that the trappers were slowly coming back from their initial shock of his sudden entry. He looked back at the vigilantly, who was still loosening the net that was wrapped around the large dragon.

"Shit." Hiccup muttered as he unsheathe his hidden blades. "I was hoping to keep it clean."

The first Viking attack with a harpoon, charging at Hiccup in the hopes of stabbing him like a fish or a whale. Hiccup however, easily dodged the large and slow weapon. He pulled on the metal rod, closing in with his attacker and finishing him with a gentle but effective swipe across his neck with his blade.

The second men to attack decided to do it together, on attacked him from the left with an axe as the other stormed at him with a sword. The man with the axe held it above his right shoulder, and in the short time Hiccup had to react to the attack he came up with the perfect plan.

The vigilantly had removed the last of the netting of the dragons wing and decided to check on the newly discovered ally. He stood on the deck, completely still as two Vikings were running at the hooded man. She was sure that he was done for, until he rapidly dodged the axe, causing it to embed itself into the chest of the other man. He remained at his position, making her wonder if he wouldn't attack the other man who had just killed his partner. But she quickly discovered that the hooded man was vast and vicious when she saw the blood form on his lower lip. He coughed up a lot of blood, spraying it across her hooded rescuer. The axe wielding Viking soon fell down. Never to rise again.

The rest of the crew stayed back. Not wishing to face death to get to the dragon rider. They all gathered on the far end of the ship, the furthest they could get from the deadly attacker.

Hiccup looked back, noticing the other rider had mounted the giant beast again, ready to take it to the skies. He also noticed that she was looking at him, but not at his face.

She was looking at the small cylinder strapped to his hip.

The large dragon leaped forward, hoping to catch the now seen as hostile rescuer. Hiccup quickly leaped out of the way, calling Toothless and taking to the sky.

It was a messy escape, and the rider was right behind him, he dived through layers and layers of clouds. Heading in and out of caves and making it as difficult as possible to track him. But to no avail. The rider was skilled, and the large Stormcutter stayed right on Toothless' tail.

He decided that he would have to use speed. He dove down, rapidly gaining speed as he plummeted towards the earth. Toothless' and Hiccup slowly pulled out the dive, changing their path from vertical to horizontal.

They flew at a great speed and covered great distances, but the Stormcutter wasn't too far behind. Its four wings flapped with immense speed and power, making Hiccup and Toothless doubt if they could escape the large beast.

They broke one more cloud, and looked behind, noticing that the Stormcutter had stopped and was staying back. Hiccup was confused, he looked ahead, spotting Berk on the horizon. The rider mustn't like Viking settlements.

Hiccup decided that it would be his advantage, and slowly continued his way to Berk.

Because it was only halfway through the day, and the race had just been finished, Ragnar was surprised to see Hiccup return so soon. But he was content with seeing him return. His flight was steady and normal, meaning that neither him nor Toothless were hurt, and that they had probably succeeded in grabbing the item.

"How was your day." He yelled casually as he greeted his friend, who landed his dragon near the arena. "Because I became first in a race."

"Pretty good." Hiccup said, having caught his breath on the last way back. He tossed the cylinder at Ragnar, who caught it with ease.

"There you go." Hiccup said as he leaned back on Toothless. "I think that's what we were looking for."

"It's bound to help." Ragnar said, calmly stuffing it in a satchel.

Their conversation was interrupted by a voice that pierces the calm air. Sending shivers down Hiccup's spine.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked from the other side of the arena, having just arrived from the other side of town. It was at that point that Hiccup knew he forgot something. He forgot to wash.

"Is that, blood?"

AN:

HEHEHEHE, you all have to wait two weeks for me to write, let alone upload the next chapter. MUAHHAHAHAA

Sorry, it's 1:10 AM and i'm starting to get evil. (I hadn't done a proper cliffhanger in a long time.)

^ If the last part seems rushed that's the reason. ^

Wanted to get this out before I'm gone for a while.
I'll be able to check e-mail and pm's and reviews so keep sending them. I might just take a bit longer to respond.

Alright, have a nice vacation everyone!

Take Care!

R4y.