It's been a little while, hope you haven't forgotten about me! Not a lot of action this chapter, but there is a lot of important information here, and a lot more of Hiccup and Astrid talking. Enjoy!


Chapter 9: Reunions

"Hey! Astrid! Snotlout! Over here!"

Hiccup cursed silently as the sound of approaching footsteps continued and stopped right behind him. Snotlout had always had a special ability to humiliate Hiccup, something he did not wish to relive, especially not in front of Astrid. Hiccup reluctantly turned around to face Snotlout and Astrid who were now looking over at the twins with confusion written all over their faces.

"Hey, Ruff, Tuff, it's you guys!?" Snotlout called out excitedly, giving Tuffnut a fist bump."Long time no see, how you been?"

"Good, I see you finally got promoted to commissioner, nice," Tuffnut said, flashing Snotlout a thumbs up.

He nodded. "Yup, sure did, and I heard you two took over the yard, how's that going?"

"Pretty easy work, pretty decent money, so I'd say good," Ruffnut replied smirking.

Astrid, who looked much less impressed than Snotlout, looked over at the twins and crossed her arms. "What are you two doing here? This is a crime scene now, not a park,"

"We came with Hiccup," Ruffnut said, pointing straight at him.

She turned to look over at Hiccup, the same unimpressed expression on her face, "Hiccup?"

"Hiccup?" Snotlout echoed, looking over to him, completely shocked. "Holy crap, I haven't seen you since...well damn, since graduation," He looked down at Hiccup's ID card which was pinned to his breast pocket. "I didn't know you worked here, what are you? A janitor?"

"He's a mechanical engineer, and he has more education than you do," Astrid said with a sigh, her statement was made more as an insult directed towards Snotlout than a compliment for Hiccup, but he felt a little swell of pride after she said it. "Now can we get back to the task at-"

"Whoa Fishlegs?" Snotlout cried out. "Man, everybody is here! It's like a high school reunion! Do you work here too?"

"Chemical engineer," Fishlegs said.

"There are two kinds of engineers?" Tuffnut asked looking over at Hiccup and Fishlegs.

"Do you two actually have any business here?" Astrid asked, clearly getting a little irritated. "Because this might feel like a reunion, but it isn't one, some of us have actual work to do,"

"Hiccup said we could tag along," Ruffnut explained, shrugging her shoulders.

Astrid looked over at Hiccup, and glared at him. "Why did you bring them here?"

"Uh…"

"Well he was over at our scrap yard when the attack happened," Tuffnut explained. "And when we heard about it he said he had to go back to the lab,"

"So we asked if we could come with," Ruffnut continued after her brother. "And he said we could, so we drove here together,"

"You need to leave," Astrid said before looking over to the officers behind her, "Please escort them out,"

"Wait, what?" Tuffnut exclaimed. "Why us? We can't stay just a little longer?"

She glared at him. "Well for starters, this is a crime scene and a site with sensitive and confidential material that you have no clearance for, and at the moment you are of no use to anyone who is here to actually do their jobs, if anything you are a distraction to people who are supposed to be doing their jobs, so no, Tuffnut, you can't stay any longer, you're lucky you were able to get in here in the first place,"

There was a moment of silence as everyone stood in silence, a little afraid to say anything else. Tuffnut slowly lifted his arms up in the air defensively, and nodded. "Right, so I guess we'll just be on our way then," Ruffnut and Tuffnut both turned to walk off with one of the officers.

"Wait, you need to leave as well," Astrid said turning to look at Hiccup.

Hiccup looked around, shocked and confused. "...What?"

"Were you here during the attack?"

He glanced over to Fishlegs, who shrugged his shoulders in response, and looked back to Astrid who was staring unwaveringly at him. "...Well no, I was at the junkyard with the twins when the-"

"Then you're not needed here, go home,"

Hiccup just nodded silently and followed after the twins and the officer as he led them back towards their parked cars.

"Sheesh, she was angry," Tuffnut said with a sigh as they walked.

Ruffnut nodded. "Yeah, I don't remember her being such a tight-ass back in high school, I wonder who shat in her cereal this morning,"

Hiccup was wondering the same thing, though not in quite the same words, Astrid had seemed fine this morning, if anything she seemed like she was in a pretty good mood. He thought to how she had almost been abducted just an hour earlier, but he didn't think something like that would've made her so upset, not like this, something else must've happened, something during the attack. Then it hit him, where was Finn? Hiccup hadn't seen him since leaving the lab at lunch, if Astrid was in charge that could only mean that Finn wasn't around to do it himself, so the question became...what happened to him? Hiccup paused a few meters from his car and turned around to look over the rubble and cop cars, around at all the people, then towards Astrid who was heading back into the building with a small group of police officers.

"Hey, you need to go," The officer said to Hiccup.

"Sorry," Hiccup muttered as he turned back around and headed towards his car, getting in and turning the engine on. Toothless hopped out of his pocket and curled up on the passenger's seat. He pulled out of the parking space and slowly snaked his car through the large chunks of concrete and began moving towards the exit. The hopeful side of his brain thought that maybe Finn had just been injured during the attack and was taken to the hospital before Hiccup had returned to the lab. The less hopeful side believed he was either dead or had been kidnapped like how they had attempted to kidnap Astrid. Hiccup wasn't sure which thought was worse, he obviously didn't want Finn to be dead, but if they had Finn, they had everything, they had all the information necessary to recreate and use the machine and who knew what that might cause. Then again, even Finn didn't know how to get the dragons to their full size. Only he and Fishlegs even knew that the englargium had such an impact on the dragons.

Once home, Hiccup immediately collapsed into his bed. It had been and long week, a long month, he had too much on his plate. He closed his eyes and rolled over onto his side, he didn't even care if he was still in his work clothes, he was exhausted and needed a break from everything. He slowly began drifting off, but just before he fell completely asleep, there was a buzzing noise and and loud ringing jolted him out of his stupor. "Gods," He groaned, sitting up. "What is is now?" Hiccup stuck his hand into his pocket and yanked out his phone, glancing down at the caller ID. "Great," He grumbled sarcastically before answering the call. "Hey Dad,"

"Hiccup? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Hiccup replied in a flat, tired tone. "I wasn't even there when it happened,"

"You weren't hurt at all?"

"I just said I wasn't there when it happened, I was out on my lunch break," He said scooching over to let his legs dangle off of the side of his bed. "They were gone by the time I arrived,"

"I knew this job was a bad idea, you shouldn't work there anymore,"

"I doubt I'll be able to for a while,"

"I'm going to call Gobber, he always said you'd have a job at the research department if you wanted it, you can start once everything has been taken care of at the lab,"

"No, dad-"

"How long do you think it'll be?"

"Dad, I don't want to work at the university, I'll find work somewhere else,"

"Where?"

"I don't know right now, but- you know my lab just blew up a few hours ago, I think I have the right to a little down time before you start signing me up for other jobs," Hiccup said signing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't need you to find jobs for me, I can handle it on my own,"

"The research department is a great job, and it pays well,"

"I know that, I just would like to look at other options first," He said moving off of the bed and walking towards his dresser.

"Just take the job and look for options after, this last one didn't pay very well, and now you're going to be out of work, you can't waste your time with no income,"

Hiccup sighed as he pulled open one of the dresser drawers and grabbed a fresh pair of pajamas from it. "I have enough money, and I have a master's degree in mechanical engineering, I'll be able to find a job, just let me deal with it,"

"You can look, but I'm going to call Gobber just in case,"

"Dad-"

"What?" Stoick said, speaking to someone else. "Sorry, I have to go now, I will talk to you about this later," click.

Hiccup sighed and put his phone down on the top of the dresser. He quickly changed into his pajamas and climbed back into bed and shut his eyes. Since there was nothing he had to do in the morning, he was able to sleep without thinking about work. That night was one of the most restful he had had in weeks, maybe even months. Of course nothing could last forever, and his sleep was interrupted.

BAM BAM BAM

Hiccup winced at the sound of pounding at his front door, he lifted his head up ever so slightly to glance at his window. The curtains were drawn, as they had been for more than a week now, but he could still see the sunlight trickling through the cracks and illuminating off-white curtains. He dropped his head back onto his pillow, based on how bright the light coming through was, it was most likely noon or slightly later.

BAM BAM BAM

The knock came again, louder this time, and Hiccup groaned in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming already," He called out, begrudgingly throwing the covers off of his legs and climbing out of bed. Hiccup walked slowly to the door, sticking his hand up the front of his shirt to scratch his chest as he did, then using his free hand to swing open the door. "What is it now Fishlegs? I'm trying to get some-"

He stopped suddenly and stared at the person standing in front of him. She stood there, a messy disheveled appearance, a large satchel over her shoulder, and eyes red with lack of sleep. She was wearing the same clothes she had been yesterday and she looked stressed and tired. It was Astrid. "I have to talk to you," She said firmly.

Hiccup quickly pulled his hand from under his shirt "Astrid...Hi, Astrid, you're...at my house…?" He looked over her appearance. "Are you okay?"

"Can you read electrical blueprints?"

He paused and thought for a moment. "...Well I'm a mechanical engineer...but yeah I know a fair amount about electrical engineering, why? Is something wrong?" He asked.

She glanced down at her watch with furrowed brows. "When are you free?"

"...when am I free today?"

"Yes."

"I mean, I didn't have anything planned for today, what did you need from me?"

"Come to lunch with me,"

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

Hiccup looked at her expression, she was completely serious, and he wasn't sure what was going on, but he wasn't about to turn her down. "Alright, just let me change, uh, wait here," He shut the door and rushed back inside his bedroom to grab some clothes. Normally he would've let her inside to sit, but she seemed like she was in a rush and he didn't want her to see Toothless. Once he had his clothes on he quickly got Toothless and plopped him into his jacket pocket before leaving with Astrid. As they walked out of the front doors of the building, Hiccup looked around the small visitor's parking lot. "So where's your car?"

"Right here," Astrid said walking forward, and placing a hand on a shiny teal and orange sports bike. She grabbed a helmet and threw it over to him and he caught it against his chest. "Get on,"

"A motorcycle…?" Hiccup had never seen Astrid with a motorcycle, but then again she always arrived and left the lab at odd times of the day to pick up and drop off items, so he never really had a chance.

Astrid swung her leg over the bike and put her own helmet on, securing it around her chin. She glanced over to Hiccup. "Do you know how to put it on?" She asked. "I can help,"

Hiccup shook his head and began putting the helmet on. "No, I've worn one before actually…"

"You've ridden a motorcycle before?" She asked, clearly surprised.

He climbed onto the back of the bike. "Not exactly,"

"Well hold on tight, it'll be fast," She said grabbing onto the handlebars of the bike.

Hiccup awkwardly circled his arms around her waist and held onto her. This was probably the closest he had ever been to Astrid, and he just hoped she couldn't feel his pounding heart against her back, then again, she might just think it was because of the motorcycle and not her. To Hiccup though, nothing scared him more than Astrid, not even a fire-breathing dragon.

They sped down the streets traveling downtown, closer to the city center until finally stopping by and old familiar restaurant. It was quite an old fashioned place, it had a dated look to it with a large blue awning and wooden doors with chipping white paint. The restaurant had a large painted sign that seemed like it hadn't been changed in years that read "The Black Sheep". It was a small pub and restaurant, known for their friendly atmosphere and their fish n' chips.

Once dismounting from the motorcycle, Hiccup just stared at the sign for a while, thinking. He wondered how long it had been since he had last been here, the sign looked exactly the same as he had remembered it.

Astrid walked to the front door and then looked back at him. "What are you looking at?"

"...Nothing, just, thinking…"

"Have you been here before?" She asked.

Hiccup looked over to her and walked up to the door. "Yeah, I used to come here with my parents when I was little but…" He paused, and he could see the discomfort on Astrid's face. "Well, my dad doesn't like coming anymore, let's go in," Sometimes he hated how much he drowned in his own self-pity. Hiccup wondered if other people saw him as a pitiful person, he wondered if Astrid saw him as a pitiful person. He figured that she probably did.

They walked inside and were immediately greeted by a familiar face, he was the co-owner of The Black Sheep and and old friend of Stoick's, Hiccup's father, it was why they used to go so often back in the day. "Astrid, how's it going? Table for two?" He said as he glanced over to me. "Hiccup?" His face quickly changed from happy to shocked, back to happy again. "How long has it been boy? How have you been doing all these years? How's your father?"

Hiccup smiled awkwardly. "My dad's good, working a lot as usual,"

"And you?"

"I'm good, working at the lab, er, I guess I was working at the lab…"

His eye's widened a bit. "I heard about that, didn't know you worked there, are you alright?"

"You don't have to worry about him, Mulch, he was out on lunch when it happened, anyway, I don't mean to rush you but…"

"Of course, of course, right away then, the booth in the back right?" She nodded. "This way," He said turning and leading us down the rows of tables and booths. The restaurant was very busy, it looked like it had been doing well all the years he had been away, and that thought comforted Hiccup a little. The booth that Mulch led them to was very secluded compared to the rest of the dining area, it was so far back that the windows weren't visible from their seats. "The menus are over there, just give a holler when you're ready to order okay?"

Astrid nodded and smiled. "Thanks Mulch,"

"No problem," He said before turning and walking back down the rows.

As soon as Mulch had left and right before Hiccup could said a thing Astrid grabbed her bag and moved out of the booth, motioning for Hiccup to do the same. He was understandably confused, but complied anyway. "We just got here, where are you going?"

"This way," She said quietly, turning towards the back hall that led to the fire exit. They both walked down the narrow hall, out the back door, and into the alley that was behind all the stores. Once outside, she turned and began walking quickly down the alley.

"Where are we going?" Hiccup asked again, picking up speed to match hers. She didn't answer, and instead just continued walking until she reached the back of another one of the various stores that were along the street. Hiccup couldn't tell which is was, there were no signs to indicate the store from the back. Astrid walked up to the door and knocked on it, following it up with a "It's me,". A woman opened the door from the inside, only slightly at first to check who it was, then all the way. She moved to the side, allowing Astrid and Hiccup to enter the building.

"It's empty?" Astrid asked as the woman shut the door behind them.

"Yes,"

Astrid nodded and walked forward down the hall until they reached a heavily secured door, the woman pulled out a set of keys and began unlocking it. Hiccup glanced down the rest of the hall, he could hear the sounds of people chattering and moving about somewhere else in the building. He tipped his head around until he caught view through a doorway, he could see the leather arm chairs, the security officers, and the ATMs, they were in The Bank of Berk.

"Hiccup,"

He turned to look back, the door was open and Astrid was halfway inside, looking at him and gesturing for him to enter. He walked in and looked around, the vault had a table with four chairs inside and the walls were covered with security deposit boxes. The woman stepped inside, took one of the boxes out of it's slot and placed it down onto the table, before leaving the room and shutting the door.

Hiccup looked over at Astrid. "You really need to tell me what's going on,"

Astrid pulled a key from her purse and used it to unlock of security deposit box, opening it. "I need you to look at these," She said pulling out a number of neatly folded blueprints from the box. "Look at them and tell me what you see,"

He stared at her, a little confused, but then sat down in the chair opposite to her and took the blueprints. His eyes scanned over each page carefully before moving on to the next, and he started to understand what exactly he was looking at. "These...are for the machine,"

She nodded. "That's right,"

"It's not complete though, where's the rest?" He asked look up at her.

"You can tell that it's not complete?"

Hiccup looked back down at the blueprints flipping through them once more. "I don't know much about the machine, but it's just obvious that there's a lot that's missing here, anyone with enough knowledge about electronic machines should know as much,"

Astrid leaned forward. "Would you be able to identify the blueprints missing from these if I gave them to you? Could you tell just by looking?"

"...not just from looking this once, maybe if I read these over more times I would, or if I had more information on the machine, then yeah I guess I could," Hiccup shook his head. "Astrid-what the heck is going on? Why are you asking me all this?"

"The criminals, they took the other half of the plans when they attacked the lab," She explained with a sigh. "They probably think they have all the plans, but my uncle kept half here and half at the lab, I need the other half to rebuild the machine,"

Hiccup furrowed his brows. "Rebuild the machine? The lab was attacked yesterday, don't you have more important things to worry about right now than the machine? That machine was what led those guys to you in the first place!" He wanted to yell; You were almost kidnapped because of it! But knew it was better not to, he wasn't supposed to know that.

"Listen to me Hiccup, when those men came into the lab, they didn't just take the plans for the machine, they took the machine itself, they ripped it from it's power source, dismantled it, and took it. My uncle…" She paused for a moment, looking more emotional than Hiccup had ever seen her. "My uncle was on the other side when it happened, I know they can't open the machine without this half of the plans, so unless we give them these blueprints or find a way to rebuild the machine, my uncle will stay stuck on the other side, and I don't think anyone wants me to try for the first option,"

"Astrid…"

"I don't need your pity Hiccup, I need your help, so tell me right now, can you, or can't you identify the rest of the plans?"

Hiccup's brain was on overload, she was telling him to much information all at once and he didn't know how to deal with it. "If I had enough time to look over these then I think I could,"

She pulled out another neat package of folded papers and handed it to him. "I have these, they are several pages of his notes, some of his thesis, and some other information about the machine, with this, and the full blueprints, would you be able to rebuild the machine?"

Hiccup just shook his head and looked at her. "I could, probably, but I never worked on this at the lab, I just worked on the drone, you should be asking the engineers that built the first machine,"

"You think I haven't already tried?" She asked. "They're terrified about what happened, they were trying to kidnap my uncle, they almost kidnapped me. The engineers know that once those men find out they don't have enough to rebuild the machine themselves they're going to come after anyone who can," Astrid sighed and shook her head. "Look I'm not going to lie to you, what I'm asking you do to, it might put you in danger, but every engineer from the lab has either left the city or is planning to leave, you're the only one still here, and I don't trust anyone outside the lab with this information,"

"How are you possibly going to get the other half of the plans from them?" Hiccup asked, a little afraid to know the answer. "They're already after you to begin with, and you're going to try and steal the blueprints back from them? This is crazy,"

Astrid nodded and chuckled to herself. "You're probably right, but I won't let my uncle stay trapped there, and I won't give those bastards the rest of the blueprints, so this is the only option I've got,"

"Astrid,"

"There's also something else I should tell you," She said. "You might think I'm asshole for telling you this now, but I think you have a right to know...your mother," Hiccup shuddered at the sound of those words, your mother, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear what came after them. "She worked on this machine with my uncle years ago, the two of them were able to get it working, but only briefly,"

Hiccup shook his head. "No,"

"She went through, and they couldn't get her back, my uncle was looking for her, he wanted to finish the machine so he could find her again, you don't know how much he blamed himself for what happened. He told me that time passes slower on the other side, she might still be there, she probably isn't, but if she is…"


DUN, DUN, DUN!

Don't know if anyone was shocked by this, there was foreshadowing so I was thinking some of you probably saw this coming. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it, there should be more action next chapter, and please leave a review on your way out! Thanks for reading!