Thank you for the reviews, guys! That's great to know that you like the beginning of this story!
I hope you like this chapter, too :)
And I'm very-very-very-very sorry for the late update! My exams ate all my free time... That is why this part is shorter than I initially planned.
Warning 1: this chapter may seem a little bit dramatic, but the rest of the story will be rather positive, funny and fluffy.
Warning 2: cliffhangers.
Well, enjoy ;)
Chapter one
At the present day.
A beam of sunlight fell on the beautiful girl's face forcing her to pull the blanket over her blond head. After the previous night it became a shield protecting her from the outer world, like in childhood, when she thought it may save her from the night monsters. She lay snug in the warm fabrics, enjoying the coziness of her bed after the troubled slumber.
"Wake up, Astrid!" a tall man with greying hair gently shook her shoulder.
"Oh... Dad! It's Saturday!" the blonde mumbled stretching herself. Abrupt movements reminded her of the healing slits and she made an effort not to hiss with pain.
"We're moving to the new house today, sleepyhead! Common! You'll miss all fun!" he baited shaking her slightly.
"They say there are ghosts in the house next door" the girl muttered from under the pillow shrinking from the unpleasant memories.
"Since when are you afraid of ghosts, Astrid?" the man laughed.
"Oh, dad, please, don't start it again!" the girl rolled her eyes. "I love our house and I don't want to move!"
"And you want to scare me with the bogeyman stories? It was a great bachelor's den when I lived here alone" the father looked all over the room of his only child. "Now we need a bigger one"
The girl threw the blanket off and sat up.
"Give me ten minutes" she yawned.
"I'll be downstairs" the man said enthusiastically, and his daughter nodded her approval, leaving the bed lazily.
Astrid put on her house slippers and went to the bathroom hoping that cold morning shower would bring her to life. The blonde took all her clothes off and sighed dispiritedly examining dark shadows under her eyes and four long red cuts going down from her shoulder-blades to the small of her back.
"I wish we never went there... Never..." she said leaning elbows on the sink and covering her pale face with her shaky hands.
Seven hours earlier.
"I still think it's a bad idea, Ruff" Astrid looked dubiously at her best friend Ruby or, as everyone called her, Ruffnut Thorston, and placed her hands on her hips.
Two blond girls got over the high plant hedge and now were standing in front of the two-storey building that probably belonged to a well-off family long time ago, but was abandoned and neglected for the last couple of years. Weeds in the garden were taller than middle-sized bushes, and the house was overgrown with moss. A small lake before the construction made the air moist and girl's hair wavy.
"I don't like it here... It's like in a scary movie!" Astrid shivered with cold wrapping herself tighter in her jacket.
"Oh! Common! Haunted houses are awesome! They say someone is screaming here at night! Isn't it amazing? Fishlegs heard that once they found a chopped off head in the lake! Cool, right? Oh... What happened with the Fearless Astrid Hofferson?" Ruffnut raised her eyebrow disappointedly.
"She is gone..." her best friend responded in a low voice. After the terrible car accident that took place five weeks ago Astrid's mother Bertha sank into a coma and her daughter from a rebellious teenager turned into a depressed, too careful old woman. Her parents got divorced two years ago, and she decided to stay with her mother. Since the car crash she has been living with her father. Though that was a point at issue which of them was a parent and which was a kid. Slapdash Arthur was not a role model for a sixteen year old girl. Smoking, drinking and accidental sexual affairs proved it fully.
"If they find two dead bodies in the morning..."
"You may say I told you!" Ruff smirked. "Oh! I bet they will think up a new crude joke about blonds. Just imagine. Two hot blonds enter the.."
"It will be difficult to tell you I was right... you know... we will be dead and all things!" Astrid brushed her long fringe away from her eyes, ignoring Ruffnut's last phrases.
"Screw you, Hofferson!"
"Screw you, Thorston! I'm tired..." the gloomy girl rubbed her frozen hands together. "And I need a pair of gloves..."
"You sound like my mom!" the second blonde sniffed with disapproval.
"I live with a forty year old kid. It kind of makes impact on me..."
"That's why we came here! To make you cheer up!" Ruff winked at her best friend.
"We're here 'cause you made a stupid bet with Snotlout and Fishlegs!" Astrid made a helpless gesture.
"And they will give me... erm... us! They will give us a twenty!"
"Wow! A twenty!" Hofferson said scornfully. "I should make a list of things that I could buy with my part!"
"Ha-ha! Very funny! Anyway, after this night no one will call me a yellow-belly"
"Umph! Will you agree to go back if I promise you a twenty and never ever call you 'yellow belly'?" the dismal blonde was grasping at straws. "I have a bad feeling..."
"Nooo! We didn't even stepped into the house!" Ruff was too excited to notice the complaints.
"Ok! We will come in, look around, make some photos to prove your beloved Fishlegs that we were there and go home without delay!"
The agitated girl nodded and pulled the door.
"And I don't like the full moon..." Astrid said looking at the sky and followed her best friend.
They found themselves in a spacious hall with big curtained windows, old-fashioned furniture and wide stairs in the center of it. It was dark and dank inside, and Astrid felt the draught.
"Okay, make photos and let's get out of here! This place makes my skin crawl!" she was speaking hoarsely. The cold disagreed with her voice and mood. "Wait! Stop! What are you doing?"
After shooting the interior and some separate things Ruffnut started pulling the doors leading to the other rooms.
"Ugh! They won't open!" she grumbled with a sad face, and headed for the stairs. "I want to see what's upstairs!" the girl said with fiery eyes.
"Ruff! Don't leave me alone! Wait! Ruff!" Hofferson ran after the girl trying to come up with her. "Ruff? Ruffnut, where are you? Common! That's not funny!"
Not finding her friend Astrid walked down the steps and sat on the couch that was supposed to be dirty, dusty and squeaky, but it was not. The girl jumped to her feet, ran up to the bookcase and passed the hand over it. No dust. No spider's web. That meant that the house was inhabited, or at least somebody cleaned it... recently.
A sudden loud creak made her jump up out of fright.
"Ruff, is that you?" Astrid's heartbeat accelerated. "Come down! I have a suspicion that we're not alone here..." she looked at the ceiling wishing to see through it and find her extravagant friend. "I'll be waiting for you outside!" the blonde shouted hoping that Ruffnut would hear her.
It was even worse outside because a strong wind was added to the set of unpleasant freezing out weather states. Astrid forgot that the difference in temperature at night and in the day time is tremendous in Berk. Last time she was out so late (or so early) almost two years ago, when she and Ruff were playing detectives and got lost in the forest.
Another terrifying creak called girl's attention. She turned around and screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAA! Holy sh... Toothless? What are you doing here? Why are you... Are you naked? OUGH!" she hurried to close her eyes with her palm.
"I may ask you the same question, Hofferson!" the boy had no special sympathy for the pugnacious Barbie. "And I'm not naked. If you look here..." he gestured to the lower part of his body "... you may notice a pair of blue jeans"
Tyler Toothless and his dorky, at the first gaze, friend Hugh, usually referred to as Hiccup, Haddock came to the Astrid and Ruffnut's school three months ago. Ruffnut momentarily fell for the sexy mysterious brunet, and glued her locker over with his pictures, though the young man preferred to hold himself aback from other guys was reluctant to come in contact with anyone who took interest in his personal life, especially with the noisy blonde whom he considered to be light-headed and boring, and bimbo. Astrid being Ruff's friend was classified the same way.
If Toothless showed himself as a dreary, unsociable lone person, Hiccup on the contrary, tried to be a nice fellow, who can be useful for every person. Practically, as Astrid thought, his fingers were all thumbs, as he dropped or cracked something every time they met, though he was cute and his smile was adorable. Sometimes she even wondered what she would answer if Hiccup asked her out. But he never did, and such lack of his attention annoyed her more than she wanted to admit.
Astrid never fell in love. When she was fifteen people started to whisper behind her back, and she began to think about dating someone. Ruffnut's brother Toby, or simply Tuffnut, offered his help, as he was in love with the girl next door and wanted to make her jealous. Nothing good came out of the Tuff's idea, as his neigbour got married soon, though he continued to pretend his sister's friend's boyfriend until he had to move to other state. When Tuff left for college at the beginning of the school year, Astrid had to face an endless queue comprising the guys of all sorts with omnipresent Snotlout in the lead. Not that the most popular girl in the school did not want to date the hottest quarterback ever, who was adjudged guilty of the other girls' drooling... He was merely not her type.
"You'd better go home" Toothless said nudging the blonde towards the entering gates. "It's unsafe and impolite to break into somebody else's house in the middle of the night! Didn't your parents ever tell you?"
"Wait..." Astrid stopped short in confusion. "Ruff... Ruby is there..." she pointed at the building.
"What? Where?" the boy screamed clutching his head. "Where exactly?" he grabbed girl's arms and shook her, his eyes were burning with anger and... fear.
"I don't know" she pushed the guy away rubbing her aching arms. "Somewhere upstairs"
"Oh no!" he whispered and broke into a run. "Stay here! I'll be back in a minute!" A second later he disappeared behind the door.
Hofferson stooped to shake the dirt drops from her tracksuit pants and sneakers, when something heavy stroke her in her back pushing the girl into the lake. Water drops flew to all directions the very moment she plunged into the water that was surprisingly warm in comparison with the cold air.
Astrid came to the surface and looked round. A blast of wind was like slap in her wet face. "Who's there?" she yelled looking about. An inhuman roar coming from the giant black monster with enormous wings sitting on the big rock made her blood run cold. His big green eyes were examining the girl. He was observing the future victim.
"DON'T MOVE!" Toothless shouted running like a deer. Ruffnut was right after him, but she was much slower than her avoidant companion.
"AAAASTRIIIIIID!" Ruff screamed when she saw the beast starring at her friend.
Still half-naked Toothless jumped in the direction of the horrifying creature. What happened next hit the girls like a ton of bricks. It all was like in a slow motion, and they were unable to believe their eyes. His skin became dark, legs and arms longer and bigger, body wider, his jeans tore to pieces. What was the boy only a moment ago now looked exactly like the monster sitting on the rock. Ruffnut and Astrid swore at the same time. Toothless pushed the first beast and they both fell into the water fighting, forcing Astrid to make her way to the shore.
"Oh my God, Ruffnut!" the blonde hugged her best friend squeezing hera little too hard.
"Astrid! What the hell is going on?" the girl burst into tears. Her body was trembling.
"We'd better never find out! Let's go!"
They stopped the sentimentality realizing that it probably was their only chance to ran away alive. When they reached the gates the roars and sounds of fighting and splashing were still heard.
"Astrid!" Ruff looked unusually frightened. "Your back is bleeding!"
Hofferson ran her right hand over her back and looked at the result. Her fingers were covered in red liquid. The girl felt a giant lump in the throat.
"This thing scratched me... Ough! It hurts..." she mumbled wonderingly unable to look away from her fingers. "And my clothes are soaked! I need to change before getting into the care... or I'll leave puddles there... and you father will kill you..."
"Who cares about puddles? You need to see a doctor! Now!" Thorston went into hysterics, jumping into her father's car, that she borrowed to visit that terrible place.
"No!" Astrid abruptly turned to face Ruffnut. "NO! We're not going to see a doctor, and we're not telling anyone about what happened there!" she spoke fast taking the seat. "They will sent us to the nut hospital! Promise that you won't tell anyone!"
"You're right..." Ruffnut nodded still crying. "No one should know about that... Astrid?"
"Yeah?"
"What the hell was that?" Ruff asked driving off to the main road turning the steering wheel with her sweaty and shaky hands.
"I don't know..."
"They looked like..."
"Dragons?" Astrid assumed and shuddered. "I still can't believe I saw it! He just grew up that tail and wings and turned coal-black..."
"You were right, Hofferson! That was a very, very bad idea..."
"I told you" the girl smiled for the first time in last five weeks.
"That's crazy, but I made you smile, after all!" Thorston grinned, and Astrid gently punched the girl in her arm. "Ouch! Ladies and Gentlemen, Astrid Hoffersonis smiling! My girl is back!"
The air in the car became warm and was pleasantly soothing Astrid's frozen skin. She found a towel in the Ruffnut's gym bag and covered the seat with it not to stain the trimming with her blood.
"I need to tend my wounds and try to fall asleep, when I get home... Maybe in the morning it all will turn out to be a bad dream... Ough... I hope dad won't notice anything... "
Two young dragons were fighting for a while, but as soon as the girls were gone Hiccup started to calm down. It was always easier when humans were far from him during the full moon period. The only person whom he was able to handle was his best friend Toothless, and only when he was in his dragon guise. Toothless was turning into dragon as far back as he remembered, and was able to control himself even after the transformation, the boy with the light brown hair, who got that extraordinary gift from an old witch Gothi, was only mastering the abilities to control his mind, emotions and behavior being in the dragon's... shoes.
Several hours later two young men were sitting on the ground looking at the lake surface.
"Human never came here before..." Hiccup rubbed the nape of his neck. "That was why we decided to stay here..."
"That was strange... I thought that frightening stories about haunted house would keep them far from this place..." Toothless was confused, and it irritated him. "And what was even more strange you managed not to attack the blonde" he pressed his back against the rock, on the top of which Hiccup was sitting observing Astrid several hours ago.
"Yeah... Probably my dragon-self is also fond of her..." the boy blushed.
"You know this is the first step to the self-control! Congratulations! Who knows? Maybe you will stop drinking water from the toilet soon!"
"Ha-ha!" Hiccup said without a shadow of a smile. "As if you never did it!"
"So, when are you going to tell her about the consequences?" Toothless asked looking at the red faced guy.
"You mean to tell the girl who is always ready to fight, the girl I'm in love with, that the next full moon she will turn into an uncontrollable flying beast?" Hiccup gave a sigh. "She will kill me, won't she?"
"You left four amazing scratches on the perfect skin of the perfect school queen bee! She will definitely do it, dude!" the boy chuckled.
"Ough! Things are getting worse and worse" Hiccup complained burring his face in his hands. "Ok. Let's go find some clothes! Even after so many years it's still awkward to sit together naked!"
"Uh-huh! And we should take our clothes off before the transformation next time... The shop girl is at a loss why I come to buy two identical pairs of jeans each month!" Toothless muttered the last phrase under his breath.
Please, review and follow! Tell me if you like this story or not! Your opinion is very important for me! So, what do you think about human Toothless?
I'll do my best to update in the middle of February :)