I watched The Hidden World the other day, and OMG it was amazing. I'm so happy they managed to make a trilogy where all the movies were good, more often than not they decrease in quality as they go along. I know the third one was supposed to be the last but part of me still really wants there to be more of something, I'll take a spin-off, anything. Not going to lie, I'm probably going to see it again before it goes on DVD haha...

Anyway, I'll stop rambling about The Hidden World, I hope you enjoy!


Chapter 21: Stormfly

"This is a bad idea," Fishlegs said, nervously pacing around the room.

Hiccup pointed to his friend and nodded. "For once, I actually agree with Fishlegs. There's no way he was telling the truth, we've been fighting him this whole time, and you think he's just going to hand the dragons over to you?"

"He said he wanted us to destroy the brothers, that's why he's returning the dragons to us. Alvin knows we stand the best chance of anyone of taking them down."

"And you believe him?" Hiccup asked.

Astrid nodded. "I do believe him. Alvin is a vindictive guy and he isn't the type to go down without a fight. He brought almost all his men that night, without us, he has no way of getting back at the brothers."

"We don't even know if 'the brothers' are real, what if he's making it all up to trick us," Fishlegs pointed out.

She crossed her arms. "They're real, Heather's brother mentioned them long before Alvin was taken in by the police. He told her that the brothers were the ones who convinced him to steal The Outcasts' half of the plans from them. They're real, and they're very dangerous."

"Still, how do you know he isn't using this to get revenge on us? Remember we were the ones who got him and all his men arrested, I'd say that's a pretty good reason for him to hate us," he said, glancing to Fishlegs who nodded in agreement. "Somebody should go with you, maybe The Night Fury-"

"No," she said sharply. "If you're right and he is after us, The Night Fury needs to stay out of this. He's too valuable right now, without him none of us have any chance of catching the brothers. That's why I'm telling this to you and not him, I know if I tell him he'll only insist on going with me."

Hiccup stared at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry, so your brilliant plan is to go get killed by yourself? How is this any better? At least if he goes with you, you'll have a way to escape if something goes wrong."

"He admitted to me that The Night Fury was the real person he was after, I'm not going to risk giving him to them," she said. "And as much as they might resent me for having him and his men arrested, he hates the brothers ten times more for trying to take them over. This is about pride, The Outcasts' can't have another gang come in and take over their territory, nobody will ever take them seriously if they let that happen."

"What if you're wrong?" Fishlegs asked. "What if he's lying, and actually is after you?"

Astrid stared him in the eyes. "He's offered to return all the dragons to us. For that, it's a risk I'm willing to take." She looked down at the time on her phone. "I have to go to work soon," she said with a sigh. "Listen, I'll give you a call when I'm about to meet with them. If you don't hear from me within an hour you can call the police alright?"

"Astrid-" Hiccup began, taking a step towards her.

"Hiccup, you're not going to talk me out of this. I'm going." Astrid grabbed her bag from Fishlegs' couch and turned to leave. She was able to slip on her boots and hurry out the door before Hiccup could think of anything else to say.

Fishlegs chewed on his thumbnail and shook his head. "What should we do? Should we let her go?"

"She's too stubborn, she'll never let us talk her out of this."

"So...is that a yes?"

"No, I can't let her go alone," Hiccup said, rushing to the door and chasing after her. He rushed down the stairs and caught her as she pushed through the front doors of the building. "Astrid, wait!" he called out.

She glanced back at him and sighed, turning to continue towards her motorcycle. "I'm done talking about this, Hiccup. I'm going whether you want me to or not."

"I know. I'm going with you," Hiccup said, and that made her stop and turn towards him. "If I can't convince you, fine, but I'm going with you. I won't let you go by yourself, it's too dangerous."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't," he agreed.

"Hiccup," she said with a sigh.

"You've decided to go, I get that," he began. "I can't stop you, but you can't stop me either."

Astrid smirked and crossed her arms, turning to fully face him. "Well, I could always neglect to tell you when and where we're having the meeting."

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Yeah, you could do that. But I would argue that in the same way I've decided to respect your decision to go, despite strongly disagreeing with it personally, you should, in turn, respect my decision to come with you."

Astrid couldn't help but twitch a small smile, choking back a laugh as she placed a finger to her lip. She cleared her throat and settled her expression back to a serious one. "It'll be dangerous."

"Danger's my middle name, can't you tell?" he said flexing his arms downward and baring his teeth like an animal.

"Hm, oh, definitely. Yeah, I see it now," she said holding back a smile. "Listen, Hiccup, I'll-" her smile quickly faded. "If you're really determined to come with me, alright, come. But make sure you know what you're getting into though, this isn't fun and games."

"Don't worry, I know."

Astrid walked over to her bike and climbed onto it, grabbing the helmet off the back. "Meet me at my house tomorrow at eight, and don't tell anyone about the meeting." I nodded, and Astrid stared at me for a moment. "You're sure about this? This isn't-" she sighed. "I shouldn't have brought you into all this. If something happens-"

"Nothing will happen," Hiccup assured her. "Besides, regardless of how I was brought into this whole mess, I'm choosing to stay, because I know it's important, because I want to."

Astrid looked down at her reflection in the visor of her helmet. "You said last time that you didn't help because of your mother. Why did you help then?' she asked looking towards him.

"You needed my help," he said. "Isn't that reason enough?"

"I guess you've always been that type of person, you're a good man Hiccup," she said smiling to herself. Finally, she moved to slide the helmet over her head, using her heel to click the kickstand back up, and with a twist of her wrist, the motorcycle came to life. Astrid gave him a quick wave before turning her bike around and driving off down the street, the rumble of the engine fading into the city.

Hiccup couldn't help but feel a tightness in his chest, was this happiness or sadness? He didn't know. Astrid had a way of twisting his emotions around, making him feel things he didn't understand. He had her, didn't he? She was what he wanted since the first grade, to be with her, for her to be with him. It was good, better than good, for a while anyway. It couldn't last, as much as he brushed off what Fishlegs and Gobber said, he knew they were right, but he had no idea what to do about it. The closer he was to her as The Night Fury, the further he felt from her when he was Hiccup.

The next morning he woke early, sleep was a difficult thing, he had too much on his mind. Toothless lay curled up on the pillow next to him, his tiny body went in and out with each long breath. Work wouldn't be easy, his brain was preoccupied already, spinning and swirling with everything but engineering. A robotic limb that was controlled by thought through nerve receptors became as interesting as a simple potato-clock to him. Night couldn't come fast enough.

"Earth to Hiccup," Gobber said, waving his prosthetic arm in front of his face. "Are you listening to a word I'm saying?"

Hiccup blinked out of his daze, his eyes focusing on the hunched man standing in front of him. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Gunnar wanted me to ask you if you could help him work on the sensitivity controls for the new prosthetic's fingers," he began, giving Hiccup a long skeptical look. "Do you think you're alright to help? Maybe you should go home early, you've been out of it all day."

"No, it's alright, I'll go see him at his lab," he said standing up and grabbing his laptop, shoving it away into his bag. Gobber looked strained, like he had something he wanted to say, but couldn't say it. "...What is it?"

He rubbed the stubble on his chin with his hand. "You've been getting more and more distracted lately, I'm worried you're stretching yourself thin."

"I've been getting my work done haven't I?"

Gobber shook his head. "That's not the point Hiccup. Maybe having this job, and your other job is too much for you, have you thought of that?"

"I'm fine, grad school was much worse than this."

"What's kept your mind so preoccupied then?" He stared at Hiccup, who said nothing. "It's Astrid isn't it."

Hiccup immediately frowned. "This isn't her fault."

"Of course it isn't, she can't do anything about something she doesn't know is happening," Gobber said. "Maybe you should take a step back from her, this isn't healthy."

He shook his head as he looked down and zipped up his laptop bag. "I'm not talking about this."

"Hiccup."

"I have to help Gunnar, I'll see you later," he said quickly, slinging the bag over his shoulder and hurrying out of the room and down the hall.

Hiccup didn't like running out on Gobber like that, he was a good guy, and he knew he was only concerned for him. Still, it wasn't something he was ready to hear. Hiccup knew that his dual relationship with Astrid wasn't a good idea, he knew it made him anxious, but he couldn't bring himself to give her up. Astrid was the only girl he had ever wanted, there was never room in his mind for anyone else. To give her up felt like giving up on ever having a relationship at all, and he wasn't ready to do that, maybe he never would be.

That night he drove his car midtown to where Astrid's house was, he had never been there as himself before, at least not that he could remember. It felt unfamiliar as he drove up and parked in front of the house. He was so used to arriving from above, looking at it from below made it seem different, almost like it was a different house entirely.

As he climbed out of his car, he heard the sound of her front door opening and shutting, her footsteps pattering down the stone steps towards him. When he turned around, she was standing there behind him, dressed in dark colours with her hair pulled into a tight braid that swayed when the wind blew past. His eyes drifted to the house over her shoulder, it was a nice townhouse, he couldn't remember ever seeing the front of it. "It's a nice place."

"Thanks." Her voice was quiet. "It was...it's my uncle's house."

"I didn't know you lived with him."

"Yeah, my parents retired and moved out of the city when I was in university, he wanted me to stay with him rather than pay for residence. I guess we both got so used to it I never thought of moving out."

Hiccup watched her expression carefully. "We'll find him."

Astrid nodded and cleared her throat, moving to where her motorcycle was parked. Two helmets were strapped to the back seat, she took one of them and tossed it towards Hiccup. "Let's go," she said, climbing onto the bike. Hiccup complied, getting on behind her and pulling the helmet on over his head. As soon as he had carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, Astrid switched the motorcycle on and ripped down the street at full speed.

The wind whipped past them as they drove, with how fast Astrid liked to ride it was no surprise how easily she had gotten used to riding on Toothless. By the houses that passed by them he could tell that they were heading further out of the city, closer to the outskirts. A trap he thought. Why would they want the meeting so far out of the city if it wasn't a trap? Hiccup's hand moved to touch the zipped jacket pocket where Toothless was hidden, he could feel the warmth on his palm through the fabric. At least they would have a way of escape if anything went wrong. Though using Toothless would also reveal who he really was to Astrid. Was he ready for that? His heart rate quickened at the thought and he squeezed his eyes shut. Even thinking about it made him queasy.

They began slowing down, and Hiccup opened his eyes to look around. The area wasn't as deserted as he had expected, it wasn't an affluent area, but it wasn't exactly run-down either. There were people walking around, sitting on steps, hanging around while smoking cigarettes. Astrid took her helmet off and began scanning the area. "I think it's that one there," she said pointing to a small restaurant on the corner. With cautious movements, they approached. The small shop was in disrepair, the windows foggy and spotted, the awning ripped and full of holes, and the sign out front so dirty it was unreadable. Astrid moved closer and peered inside, cupping her hands around her eyes so she could see better. "I don't see anyone."

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Hiccup asked, looking around nervously.

"Pretty sure."

The door opened a crack, just enough for someone's eye to peek out at us. "Astrid?" There was a brief moment as the eye looked her up and down. "Come in," the person whispered.

Hiccup and Astrid looked at one another before hesitantly entering. The inside of the restaurant wasn't much better than the outside. "We're here for the dragons," Astrid said. When the man turned around, her eyes lit up with recognition then quickly narrowed. "...You."

"Savage the Staunch will suffice," he said glaring at her.

"Where are the dragons?" Hiccup asked looking around. "That's what we've come for."

Savage's eyes moved from Astrid to Hiccup, then back to Astrid. "Who's this? I thought it was agreed you would come alone?"

"What difference does it make? Did you bring the dragons or not?"

Savage hocked up a ball of spit, it made a disgusting splat sound as it hit the ground. "Fine," he grumbled, shuffling towards the back of the room where the shadows obscured him completely. Hiccup tensed, his hand once again moving towards his warm jacket pocket. Fingers holding onto the zipper, ready for the meeting to go sour. "Here," he said again, emerging from the darkness. In his hand was a cheap pet carrier, pieces of newspaper taped around the slits. "These are the last ones we've got, I hope you know what you're doing."

Astrid took the cage carefully, giving Savage a suspicious glance before opening the door and looking inside. She let out a relaxed sigh, inside were three small dragons, exactly as had been promised. One was red, with a long snout and narrow points all over its tail and wings. The second one had two knobby heads. It was green with red bumps along it's back and two tails. The final dragon was the only conscious one, it stood on its thick hind legs and looked up at her. The dragon was blue and yellow, with sharp spines covering its tail and spikes arranged like a crown around its round head. "Anything else?" she asked, shutting the door on the carrier.

From his pocket, Savage produced a thumb drive and handed it to her. "That's all of it there."

"Good," she said, her eyes moved to meet Hiccup's. "Let's go."

"I suggest you do as you promised Alvin," Savage said as they walked towards the door. "He doesn't take well to people who lie or cheat him."

"The brothers are as much our problem as he is yours," Hiccup said, before following Astrid out the door and across the street. They made it back over to her motorcycle and attached the pet carrier to the back. "What was that thumb drive?" he asked.

"It's all the information they have on the dragons and the machine. I told Alvin to have his men give this to me, we're going to need anything we can get." She handed it to Hiccup. "You and Fishlegs can look over it right?"

He nodded. "Of course, I'm surprised they were willing to give so much away. The dragons, all their information, this is everything they had."

"I told you, the only thing Alvin wants is revenge. If we can get that for him, he'll give us anything he can." She took her helmet from off the seat. "We'll need to bring the dragons to Fishlegs, he can care for them until we get Gothi to check over them."

"And...The Night Fury?"

Astrid smiled to herself. "I'll see him on Friday, I can fill him in then."


A gentle cold breeze blew through her open window, making Astrid's skin prickle with goosebumps. She kept it open so she could hear the rustling trees and soft flapping sounds that came when The Night Fury flew over her house. Her eyes moved to the far end of her living room, where the small blue dragon lay curled up in a bed she made of old sweaters and scarves. The dragon, for whatever reason, had no ill effects like the others had. She was perfectly healthy and strong. While Fishlegs had taken on the task of caring for the additional two dragons, using the same instructions given to him for Meatlug, Astrid had decided to take the blue dragon to show to The Night Fury. Stormfly was the name Astrid had given her, and over the two days she had with her, she had grown close to the small creature despite how skittish it still was.

A heavy gust of wind whooshed by her window, whipping the trees around and rattling her shutters. Astrid stood from her couch and pushed the window shut. She moved quickly on her feet, climbing the stairs two steps at a time, her eyes drawn to the small skylight window. The familiar sheen of The Night Fury's helmet made her smile as she stepped up onto the end table and unlatched the skylight.

"Come in," she said. "I have news."

The Night Fury gave Toothless a quick nod, then climbed down into Astrid's upstairs hall and followed her down the stairs. "Good news I hope."

"Very good," she said, gentling taking him by the arm and leading him towards Stormfly, who stood up to sniff at the new person. "We have the dragons, the ones that were taken by The Outcasts."

He turned to her. "How?"

"Alvin and I have a deal together, he'll give us everything he has if we take down the brothers for him. He knows that you're the only one who has a chance at stopping them."

"The brothers?"

Astrid nodded. "They're the ones who stole our half of the plans, the ones you've been trying to stop from robbing banks the last few months. They've got both halves now, Alvin or no Alvin we have to stop them."

"How many dragons did they give you?"

"Savage gave us three, the first two were sick, like one Toothless rescued. But the third...is perfectly healthy. I named her Stormfly," she said gesturing to the small blue dragon. The Night Fury crouched out slightly to get a better look at Stormfly, then reaching a hand out to hold the dragon. Stormfly looked at him with caution, backing up slightly. "She's a little skittish, I think everything that happened made her nervous around people."

"It's okay," he whispered. "I won't hurt you." Hesitantly, Stormfly inched closer to his hand, finally nuzzling her head against his fingers. He laid his palm down open on the table, allowing her to slowly walk onto it. Carefully he lifted his hand up to bring her to Astrid. The Night Fury took Astrid's hand and gently moved it towards the dragon, letting it sniff her fingers.

Her breath hitched. "That's amazing, you're so good with them."

"They're loyal creatures when it comes down to it. All you have to do it show them you're not a threat." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small bottle of enlargium. "Do you want to try flying on her?"

Astrid stared at him. "Really?" He nodded. "You can teach me?"

"If you're right and these brothers have both halves of the plans, we're going to need as much strength as we can get." He looked around her living room. "Do you have any rope? You're going to want something to hold on with."

From her backyard shed, Astrid gathered a small bundle of rope to tie around Stormfly's body. Once the small dragon was no longer so small, they both mounted her, leaping off into the sky. The Night Fury sat behind Astrid, his arms guiding hers, his muffled voice whispering into her ears and making her shiver. Flying on Stormfly wasn't quite like flying on Toothless, she didn't have the speed that he had, but she had all of the agility. It was mesmerizing, like the first time she had ridden on Toothless, by the time they had returned to her rooftop it felt like they had been flying all night. Toothless lay curled up on the rooftop napping, waiting for them to return. His ears perked up as they began gently swooping down to land.

"Hey bud," The Night Fury said, giving Toothless a scratch on his neck. "Thanks for waiting." Astrid climbed down, moving a gentle hand over Stormfly's snout, her eyes closed and she leaned slightly towards her. "She likes you," he said turning back to them.

"I hope so, I'd really rather not be eaten anytime soon."

The Night Fury laughed. "You won't be, dragons are social creatures. Once you gain their trust, there's nothing they won't do for you." He looked at Stormfly, who had moved closer to Toothless so she could sniff at him. "You should keep her here, take care of her." She nodded and he reached into his pocket, taking out another small pill and handed it to her. "If something happens, if you're attacked, give this to her, she'll know what to do."

Astrid inspected the small pill in her hand. "This is...enlargium right?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, that's the stupid name Fishlegs gave it. Remember when I told you about the megadosing? The molecule that they were dosed with, we started calling that enlargium."

"Enlargium?" he laughed awkwardly. "I guess that's a good name for it…"

"Fishlegs...he said he might be able to start making the enlargium at work. So if the dragons need it, we will have it for them. Where have you been getting yours from?"

"Mine?" The Night Fury seemed to tense up. "I've...I brought it from there."

"So you have a limited amount of it?" she asked. "Should I have Fishlegs make some right away? Do you need it to survive too?"

He shook his head and hands. "Don't worry about me, it's the dragons we should be concerned with right now."

"You know you can tell me if you need anything right?" Astrid asked.

"Of course," his hand moved to touch hers. Their fingers intertwined and she felt the rough fabric of his riding gloves against her skin. "I don't need enlargium, only the dragons do. I'll tell you if I need more for Toothless." She nodded. "The brothers…" he began again, and her eyes moved up to look into the black sheen of his visor. "They don't know who you are, do they?"

Astrid bit her lip as she thought about it. "I'm not sure, I've never seen or spoken to them. It's possible Dagur told them about me, or they might know about me and Finn because of the machine."

"Do you think they would come after you?"

"It's clear they've been planning to steal the plans for months, if they were after me they would've tried something a long time ago."

He nodded slowly. "You're probably right…"

Astrid reached up and gently touched the back of his head, bringing it closer to hers so she could rest her forehead on his helmet. "It's alright, nothing is going to happen to me." She felt his hands move around to place on her shoulders.

"Is it okay if I come again tomorrow?" he asked.

She smiled. "Do you even have to ask?"