And that's three chapters in as many days, I am so proud of myself right now. This story feels like its growing out of control. Lets see where it goes.

I do not own The Inheritance Cycle, Yu-Gi-Oh, How to Train Your Dragon, Rangers Apprentice, or Howl's Moving Castle.

This is Berk. A village of sea raiders who dared to spit at the elves of Du Weldenvarden and pillage tough locations such as the Spine. They clashed horribly with the urgals and given their average weight height and general size, usually gave as good as given. Usually. Astrid and Hiccup were a couple of exceptions to this average. To say that Stoick the Vast, leader of these rough huge vikings, was ashamed of his only son and heir was an understatement. Hiccup was tiny. The most common analogy was a fish bone next to a whale. Astrid was right there with him despite how mean she had gotten over the years.

Being as small as they were next to accepted viking standards meant taking a lot of mockery and general abuse. Astrid's plan to deal with it all was to be meaner than everybody and make them pay for every drop of blood taken. Hiccup? Well. He had given up a long time ago. Personally, he thought he'd gotten the better end of the deal. If he made himself seem weird enough, people left him alone. His affinity for magic and small vocabulary of elvish words helped and he had gotten good at avoiding trouble over the years. How could trouble find you if it quite literally could not find you? That was the phrase he lived by for most of his life.

He worried for Astrid though. The girl was barely taller than him and was constantly covered in scrapes and bruises. Just this week she'd gotten yet another black eye, the one before having just healed. She was also hiding a limp. Hiccup could only hope it was a sprained ankle and nothing worse. What worried him most though was that the constant burning light of Astrid's spirit was dying. He could see it fading day by day, week by week. She was losing hope. Hiccup had already been there and did not want to see that same look in her bright blue eyes echoed back at him. He'd been feeling an urgency over this situation for some time now.

Then that very afternoon, the dragon rider came. It had been a tense situation, but the rider had just barely gotten it across that he just wanted to talk. The vikings had allowed him into the feast hall where Hiccup was lurking behind a wall covering just trying to keep himself fed in peace. He had seen the dragon of course and was suppressing his dangerously burning curiosity. It was a beautiful red gold beast and his rider seemed equally elegant. He was here in the hall and was about to address the vikings.

He stood up, his red coat hanging off his shoulders by the collar.

"Vikings, warriors," he said with a sweeping bow. "My name is Howl Pendragon. I am a dragon rider and I have come to represent New Vroengard. I am on a quest you see to find exceptional people who might wish to join our ranks. We are in terrible need of riders for the many dragons that have yet to hatch, and once the dragon is hatched, it is not even a necessity that you join us. You could simply come back here and live out the rest of your life. The fact of the matter is, the dragons are still in trouble with their numbers being so few, so you need not worry about any strings attached."

The hall was silent in disapproval as Hiccup had known it would be. Vikings did not trust anyone, because they themselves could not be trusted. It was a tiring way to live.

"You say there would be no strings attached," Stoick said standing up. "But there always are. If we did send a few of our warriors, what promise could you give us that they would return? And what of the Dragon Riders?" he spat. "Would they be so willing to give us our privacy if they knew we had dragons up here? I do not think so."

Hiccup was surprised when Howl, as he called himself, did not storm out of the hall shouting curses at the lot of them. In fact he smiled instead.

"I suppose I shall have to leave the offer open then, to any individuals who want to see a little more of the world," Howl said almost cryptically. The man turned and seemed to stare straight at him for a moment and Hiccup shivered, knowing he'd been discovered.

"I'll be leaving this place at sun down, once my dragon has rested," he said and moved to stride regally out of the hall. The moment the door closed Stoick spoke again. "Anyone who tries to leave will be killed on the spot."

Hiccup's heart was racing. This was it. His best and probably last chance to get out of this place. He could hardly believe it. Astrid needs to know about this. The boy began edging towards the doors. There was no time to lose.

oOoOoOo

Astrid was in her usual place. There was a clearing in the foresty area just outside of Berk. Usually, she'd be practicing with her axe, but she was just sitting on the forest floor, hugging the weapon silently. Her eyes were oddly blank, and she usually called him out on sneaking up on her about now.

"Astrid?" he asked cautiously.

She didn't even blink.

"Astrid!" he tried again, coming to sit down in front of her.

"Hiccup," she said dispassionately, not really looking at him.

Hiccup gasped as horror filled him. He knew this look. When had this-? Her spirit was gone, broken. What could've-?

"Stoick spoke to me today," she said slowly. "He said I can't be a shield maiden, that he was never going to let me in the first place. He said I was too small."

"Oh Thor, Astrid," he said. "I'm so sorry."

She looked at him then, actually looked and there were tears in her eyes. "That's not even the worst of it," she said fighting back a sob.

Hiccup leaned forward onto his knees, ready to pull her into a hug. "What?"

"I am to be wed," she said, her voice breaking despite her efforts. "To Snotlout."

To Snotlout? Terror and grief gripped his heart, that brute was responsible for more than half the bruises and cuts that covered her body. This was something that could never come to pass. They had to leave. That was all there was to it.

Hiccup leaned forward and pulled the girl into his arms. "Astrid?" he said quietly. "We're leaving. Together. A Dragon Rider came today offering to take people to New Vroengard. Even if neither of us end up with dragons, anywhere has got to be better than here!"

Astrid sniffed, "Hiccup? What are you talking about?"

"You never saw Howl or his dragon did you?" Hiccup said with growing excitement. "We can leave Astrid! We can start over somewhere else where people don't hate us on sight. You can have your chance of being a shield maiden still!"

She pushed him away then, slight anger entering her eyes. "But Hiccup," she said. "We can't just leave! Where's the loyalty or honor in that?"

Hiccup's temper finally boiled over. "Give me a break would you?!" he nearly shouted.

Astrid could only stare up at him in shock.

He pointed at the village. "Since when have they ever given us a reason to be loyal?! Tell me how many vikings are loyal to you! Tell me how many vikings have ever honored you! Not a single one! You deserve more Astrid! You deserve so much more! You are beautiful, and fierce and loyal and honorable! More so than anyone I have ever met!"

Hiccup stopped for a moment looking down into Astrid's wide blue eyes. He was breathing hard and he discovered tears in his own eyes. "You deserve more than Snotlout," he said quietly. He looked away then, wondering if he'd gone too far.

"Sounds like you have a plan," Astrid said.

Hiccup looked back at her in surprise. Astrid stood up and met his gaze. Hiccup smiled. Her fire was back. It was down to a couple of sparks but it was there, and it made her Astrid.

"Howl is leaving at sundown," he said. "How well can you sneak?"