Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Berk was an average Viking village housed on a small island among several others in an area known as the Barbaric Archipelago, named for its harsh culture, harsher climate, and frequent dragon attacks.

The village of Berk was settled on an island made up of one medium sized mountain, a lot of forest, and not much else. The village was built along the lower mountainside, the Great Hall was even built into the mountain itself. Most flat area was reserved for fields and pastures, so the paths and buildings were set on a slight incline. Sometimes the weather would appear nice, but no matter what it looked like it always felt unbearably cold.

The houses were built to resemble dragons with rounded shingles carved and painted to look like scales and dragon heads carved above the front door of many buildings. Supposedly this was a tradition started as an attempt to prevent the dragons from attacking buildings during their raids and it had stuck around long after its original purpose failed.

As for the dragon attacks, yes they were real and they were frequent. The Barbaric Archipelago was home to all kinds of dragons, and since Vikings had first settled centuries ago the beasts had raided their villages, sunk their ships, and attacked their hunting parties. Why they continued to insist on staying was a mystery, but their culture had been shaped around the creatures in all kinds of ways.

This wasn’t so good for a boy named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

He was currently hiding out in the smithy and had been since the night before. In that time, he’d practically finished all the work that was built up in an attempt to keep himself occupied. Try as he might, he couldn’t keep his mind from wandering as he hammered the last sword back into shape.

To say Hiccup had a lot of pressure on his shoulders would be an understatement. He was the last of his family line, which was enough pressure on its own, but even more so since he was the son of the chief and only heir of his clan.

Stoick, nicknamed “The Vast” for being a living mountain of a man, was considered one of the greatest chiefs Berk had ever had. He was strong, diplomatic, he protected the village and led them to prosperity.

Hiccup couldn’t have been more different.

His mop of auburn hair that hung over his ears, bright green eyes, and rather big nose were the only physical characteristics he actually shared with his father. Even at fourteen, Hiccup just barely reached five feet and couldn’t have gotten much scrawnier if he starved to death and his pale skin was covered in splotchy freckles. As part of the chief’s family, Hiccup had a green tunic that fit him pretty well but was often covered by a fur vest that swallowed him, although not as much as when he was first given it.

Currently, he’d traded the vest for a leather apron as he worked. The village blacksmith, Gobber, also happened to be his father’s best and oldest friend. When it became apparent Hiccup wasn’t going to grow much on his own, Stoick had assigned him as Gobber’s apprentice. The hope had been that the work would build some muscles, but that hadn’t worked out.

Hiccup banged the hammer harder as his thoughts continued to spiral to the event that caused him to have to hide out in the first place.

Since it was apparent he’d never succeed in being a traditional Viking hero, Hiccup had set out to figure out how to be a hero the hard way. It wasn’t impossible. After all, the two ancestors he shared a name with had been hiccups but managed to beat the odds and become heroes.

Hiccup really wished he knew how they’d done it, but Vikings weren’t the best at keeping accurate history. They were fonder of exaggerated legends. So Hiccup was on his own.

What he lacked in physical strength, he made up for in creativity. Not something most included in their boasts, but combined with the skills he’d gained from his apprenticeship, he was able to create all kinds of inventions that would let even a runt like him take down a dragon.

Unfortunately, his inventions tended to work better as plans than in practice.

Hiccup flinched as he remembered his latest failure. The idea had been a net launcher. The calibration and aim were perfect. Speed was the issue this time, and not only had he missed the group of dragons, but he also trapped poor Ack who’d been fighting them.

Thankfully Stoick was there to keep the riled-up dragons from killing the man while he was immobilized. Hiccup understood why everyone was so mad. This was his worst screw up yet.

As soon as his dad was done yelling at him in front of everyone, Hiccup had run off to the smithy, too ashamed to face anyone. He hadn’t even gone home last night because he was afraid to face his dad again. Instead, he’d tried to do something useful and made up all the work he’d abandoned with his latest plan, and then some.

Hiccup continued banging the hammer harder as his thoughts spiraled. The former sword was looking more like a deformed metal disk with sharp edges, but he didn’t care.

It was all just so unfair. He was trying his best, but it always blew up in his face. People used to say how the only thing impressive about him was how impressively small he was. Now it was how impressively he could mess things up.

He didn’t even care about glory. He just wanted acceptance. He wanted to be close to his dad again, like they’d been when he was little. He wanted his village to respect him instead of looking at him with disappointment or disdain. He wanted actual friends and to not feel so alone. He wanted-

“Whatever that thing did to make you that mad, I think it’s had enough.”

The sudden voice jolted Hiccup out of his thoughts. He jumped so hard he knocked the former sword off the anvil and had to twist to avoid dismembering himself with it. In the same stumbly movement, he spun around to greet the voice only to choke on his tongue when he came face to face with Astrid Hofferson.

Astrid was, to put it simply, Hiccup’s crush.

They were alike in a few ways and were even friends when they were little. Before Hiccup became busy with his apprenticeship and Astrid with her training, the two had drifted apart. Now Hiccup admired her from afar and she barely seemed to notice him.

Like Hiccup Astrid had turned out on the small side. Not tall like the twins, or bulky like Snotlout, or like Fishlegs who’d managed to be both. She was also the only child of the head of the Hofferson House and carried the future and expectations of her clan.

The Hoffersons were a proud bunch. They were descended from the former chief of an old ally tribe of Berk from the Bogs. When dragon attacks became too intense, they had to abandon the area and fled to their allies in Berk. While they were Berkians, they also put a lot of importance in the values of their heritage, such as strength, courage, and loyalty.

The Bogs also didn’t have the same superstition about giving children horrible names to frighten off gnomes and trolls, which had carried through most families that descended from the old tribe. Which is why she was given a beautiful name like Astrid and Hiccup was…well, Hiccup.

After what felt like far too long of staring like an idiot, Hiccup finally got his mind to catch up to reality and got his mouth working again. Sort of.

“Astrid!” Hiccup yelled way too loud. “Hi Astrid! Hi, Astrid.” he babbled until he got back to a normal volume. “What can I do for you?”

In answer, Astrid threw the axe she was holding one-handed. It sailed right by Hiccup, so that he felt the slight breeze it made on his cheek and embedded itself in the wall of the smithy behind him.

“I need that sharpened.”

Hiccup nodded and went to retrieve the weapon, feeling a little shaky in the knees. It didn’t have anything to do with having a weapon thrown so close to him though, at least not in the way most people would. Astrid was just amazing.

She had a small build like him, but it wasn’t as apparent in the light armor she wore. Her hands and forearms were covered by woven armguards, and she wore metal pads on her shoulders. Her black leggings were covered by a leather skirt covered in sharp spikes. However, she didn’t have the traditional helmet like all their peers, instead wearing her kransen at all times.

The rest of her appearance felt so opposite of him. In contrast to Hiccup’s earthy appearance, Astrid reminded him of the sun. Her hair, woven in a tight braid behind her, was golden as the sun. Her eyes were clear blue and shown especially bright when she was passionate about something.

Astrid in general felt so opposite to him. She was small but she was strong. She didn’t let anyone push her around or let anything hold her back. They were the same age, but she was so sure of herself.

She was everything he wished he could be, but he didn’t resent her for it. Hiccup admired her and wanted to get close to her, but that didn’t seem likely to ever happen. She didn’t bully him like the others, but she wasn’t really friendly to him either.

Now though, she was right in front of him. It was just the two of them in the early morning as the rest of the village was going about their own business, getting ready for the day ahead, and avoiding the nuisance in the smithy.

“One razor sharp battle axe for the lady, coming right up.” Hiccup gave what he hoped was a charming smile as he pulled the axe out of the wall. It wasn’t easy. The simple throw had embedded it in so he had to give it several tugs and brace his foot against the wall before it finally came loose. “Wow she’s strong.”

“Careful. That’s my mother’s.” Astrid warned as Hiccup stumbled back with her weapon in his hands.

“No worries. It’s in good hands.” Hiccup smiled, as he held it up in both hands for emphasis.

Astrid nodded and began to walk around the small shop, looking over the weapons hanging on the wall and leaving Hiccup to his work. Hiccup looked over the weapon. It had typical signs of wear, especially on the ends of the blade and grooves worn into the handle, but it had been well taken care of and was clearly a valued weapon.

Everyone knew how much Astrid looked up to her mother, so to be given one of her prized weapons had to have meant a lot to her. Hiccup was going to put his best work into it, even if all he was doing was sharpening. He could do more for her while he was at it, buffing, balancing, and shining.

He finally had the chance to interact with the girl of his dreams, and with something he was actually good at. He could take the chance to show her how much he valued her. 

Resolve set, Hiccup took the axe to the grindstone and got to work.

It was silent for several beats as Hiccup worked and Astrid browsed. Hiccup’s heart was pounding the whole time. She clearly wasn’t going to break the silence, so if he wanted to talk to her it was up to him. He had to think of something to say before he lost his chance. Anything.

“So, I saw you guys on fire patrol last night.” Hiccup would’ve dropped his head forward in defeat if there wasn’t a spinning grindstone and battleaxe in the way. Of all things to finally say to Astrid, why did he have to bring up last night.

Astrid didn’t comment on his epic blunder though, instead responding with a conversational tone. “Yeah, it went pretty well. I didn’t get burned though.” She actually sounded mildly disappointed at that. “It’s only fun if you get a scar out of it.”

Hiccup snorted, thankfully covered up by the running grindstone. “I know right. Pain, love it.” He wasn’t even sure if he was being sarcastic or trying to play it cool.

Astrid grabbed a sword off the wall and started twisting it around in her hands, checking the balance. “Battle scars are the signs of a real warrior. Honestly, most of the time it doesn’t feel like we’re even accomplishing much. Not like you.”

Hiccup felt a flutter in his chest. “Yeah?”

Taking a few practice swings she answered without looking up. “Well yeah. All we do is run around throwing buckets of water at fires and hope the beasts don’t blow up more by the time we get done. You get to make the weapons to fight against them. That’s something actually useful.”

The flutter turned to a full warmth in his chest. Astrid was acknowledging his work. The matter-of-fact way she said it somehow made it even better than if she’d been intentionally trying to flatter him.

“Thank you.” Hiccup smiled up at her. “Still, this blacksmith job is just a side gig. Need a way to build up the muscles before I get out there and do some real fighting.”

It was apparent by now that working in the smithy wasn’t going to build up his muscles, but maybe she’d think otherwise. She really was amazing. The way she moved, even with a weapon she was unfamiliar with, was so graceful. She was like a Valkyrie.

A horrible jolt pulled Hiccup out of his thoughts. Stopping the grindstone and pulling the weapon away on instinct, Hiccup looked at the damage he’d done and felt like his heart stopped.

There was now a horrible, jagged chip in the blade of the axe.

Oh, Astrid was going to kill him. Things had been going so well. They were having an actual conversation, and he was hoping he’d be able to end it by impressing her with the work he’d done for her. Now she’d probably never forgive him, if she didn’t just kill him.

Hiccup whipped his head around to look back at Astrid, she still hadn’t turned around and seemed to not have noticed. Yep she definitely hadn’t noticed, or Hiccup wouldn’t still have his body parts.

Biting his lip, Hiccup looked around for something to help him fix it. The damage was impossible to repair, he’d have to melt the metal down and reforge it, but maybe he could replace it?

Glancing over his shoulder every second, Hiccup clamped the blade and detached it from the hilt. He then did the same to an axe he'd just mended and attached the unbroken blade onto the hilt of Astrid's weapon.

Holding it up, Hiccup turned it a few times, examining it closely. It looked similar enough to pass for the same weapon, hopefully.

With the blade replaced, Hiccup decided to follow through with the rest of the work he'd planned on.

While he'd been busy with that, Astrid had set the sword back and continued looking around. Eventually her exploration took her to a small curtained off area. Pulling back the curtain revealed a cramped room taken up by a small workshop that mostly consisted of a desk covered in loose sketches.

"What's this?" Astrid asked, lifting one of the pages and trying to read the messy writing.

Hiccup looked up and almost choked. "That's not-You're not supposed to be in there." He wasn't even sure what she found but was already embarrassed by it.

"The Mutilator?" Astrid read aloud.

Hiccup cringed a bit at hearing someone actually read it out loud, but explained anyway. " Yeah, that's just a side project. Basically it uses twin-weighted counter-levers to launch crisscrossing blades in four different directions."

Astrid hummed in acknowledgment as she turned the blueprint around, trying to figure it out. "How do you hold it?"

"You don't," Hiccup muttered, "You shoot it."

Astrid dropped the page, seeming to have lost interest. " "Well I'm more of an old-fashioned 'take it down with an axe and then lop its head off' kind of girl."

"Yeah," Hiccup sighed, his enthusiasm waning. " That's the Viking way right. Go Vikings." The Viking way that he was hopeless at ever succeeding in.

He was almost done making sure her axe was perfect when she spoke up again. "The Mangler?"

"Yeah, that's just a bola launcher I was working on. It shoots bolas to hit dragons midflight." Hiccup responded automatically.

"Impressive." Astrid said, and she sounded so genuine that Hiccup looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Well just think of the possibilities we could have with that. Shoot even farther than we could throw them and keep those monsters from getting away. Then they'd be grounded and have to face a real fight."

Astrid was actually getting excited as she spoke. She'd even started to mime battle motions. Hiccup smiled, the warm feeling back in his chest.

"Well, that's the plan. But for that, you'll need this." Hiccup hefted the axe up with both hands and held it out to her. "One super sharp battleaxe for my lady."

Astrid took it and then frowned as she spun it in her hand. "Feels different."

"Oh yeah, well…I rebalanced it for you. Tightened it up, finessed it." Hiccup sputtered, hoping she wouldn't catch his blunder. "We're a full-service station here."

Astrid spun it around a few times in each hand, even swinging it around behind her back, before holding it up and seeming satisfied.

"Thanks." she said with a warm smile that took Hiccup’s breath away. Then she gave him a friendly punch to his arm, though it still hurt, and was gone.

Hiccup stood staring after her as she faded from view. He knew he had a goofy smile on his face but didn't care. Astrid had talked to him. She'd shown interest in his work. She'd smiled brightly just for him.

Hiccup sighed as he gathered up the axe head and sword he ruined and moved them to the scrap pile. Then he went to his area and collapsed at his desk, fatigue finally reaching him.

It had been a rough night, and was shaping up to be a rougher day, but then Astrid had come and talked to him so casually, something he didn't think would ever happen. It gave him a renewed sense of optimism that let him finally relax.

As he slumped over his desk to catch up on some much-needed rest, Hiccup glanced at the plans Astrid complimented and thought that his dreams might not be so hopeless.

Chapter Text

There was a bizarre sense of tension and monotony surrounding the village even several days after the battle was won and they were all settled back at home.

It was hard for Astrid to believe that only the week before she’d been obsessed with winning dragon training and furious at Hiccup for “stealing” first place from her. It felt like a lifetime now, and Astrid cringed when she thought of how she’d acted when she’d been caught up in her competitiveness and need to succeed. Although in a way, her obsession with placing first had played a part in things working out.

She’d gone to confront Hiccup after he’d taken the final win from her, determined to finally find out what he’d been hiding. Find out she did, Hiccup was hiding a dragon that he’d made secret best friends with. It was absolutely insane, against everything they’d ever known, and such a Hiccup thing to do.

After some shenanigans with him kidnapping her, he’d taken her for a ride on his dragon and proved how amazing they could be. For a moment Astrid wasn’t worrying about her future, her family’s status, or her place in the village. She was back to simply just being a rather rough girl going on adventures with her oddball best friend.

However, their flight was cut short when they got caught up in a crowd of dragons returning to the nest with their kills, and they’d discovered the secret behind the dragon raids.

Astrid still had to suppress a shudder at the memory of the giant dragon. Exactly what it was remained a mystery. When they’d first seen it, she thought it was like a hive with a queen, but since returning others had compared it to a tyrant king or a slaver. Whatever the case, it was the size of a small mountain, fully capable of wiping out their fleet in mere seconds, able to swallow other dragons whole and not at all hesitant to do so if it judged their offerings too small, and all together a true monster.

Coming up with a plan that only he could think of and pull off, Hiccup had given the other teens in their class a crash course in dragon flying and led them into battle on the backs of the training dragons to rescue their village from where they’d gone to confront the monster. Hiccup and Toothless took over and did a lot of the real battle with it, and they were victorious. They’d won the battle and freed both Vikings and dragons from that monster, but at a price.

The other teens had used the practice dragons and old ships trapped along the rocks to get the warriors back home to Berk and then let them go while the village was still too caught up in the aftermath to raise a fuss. Stoick had assembled the village and filled them in on what happened, proclaiming the war with dragons at and end and acknowledging Hiccup as the hero that ended it. Some were skeptical that the war that had been raging since before their grandparents were born could just be over, but even the likes of Mildew knew better than to say anything in Stoick’s earshot while his son was recovering from the battle.

So, life went on. The village was hard at work preparing for the impending winter while also having to rebuild their fleet. The dragons had apparently also returned to their lives, except for Hiccup’s dragon who refused to leave his side, and weren’t seen around while the village worked. After such a battle, the simple routine the village fell back into was both comforting and confusing.

However, Hiccup still hadn’t woken up.

^^^^^

As part of her training, Astrid had always been an early riser. However, since the battle it had more to do with not being able to sleep at all. No matter how exhausted she was, she just couldn’t make herself relax enough to sleep. Instead, she tossed and turned and watched the sky until it was light enough to get up without causing suspicion.

She’d been let off of her chores for the time being but still did them anyway just so she had something to keep her mind occupied. Astrid finished her morning tasks just in time for breakfast which had become a quiet event. Bertha was known for being a loud and abrasive woman, and while Astrid knew she was just trying to help, having her mom act so out of character and treating her so fragile was just making her more anxious.

After breakfast Astrid set out toward the chief’s house. Someone had to take care of Hiccup, but Chief Stoick was, well, the chief. The closest thing Hiccup had to other family was Gobber who likewise was caught up in fixing things, which was especially time consuming since he had no apprentice to help. Astrid had been quick to volunteer to look after him, she owed him that much.

Finally, and all too soon, Astrid was at their door. She raised a hand but hesitated to knock. A part of her wanted to rip the door off its hinges and charge in to make sure Hiccup was okay, but another part of her wanted to run home and never have to face him again.

Before she got the chance to do either the door opened and Astrid’s already pounding heart skipped a beat when she faced the chief. Quickly lowering her hand and straightening up, Astrid gave a polite greeting but couldn’t bring herself to smile. While she’d never admit it out loud, Stoick intimidated her. Even when she and Hiccup had been friends, she hadn’t been comfortable around his dad. She respected him, he was her chief and a good one, but he always seemed larger than life in a way she could never live up to.

Now though, he just looked worn down. It was clear he hadn’t been sleeping either, and there was an extra haggardness about him even as he still managed to stand tall and play the part of the confident chief. The cracks were showing though, and Astrid could glimpse the man underneath being crushed by the weight of it all. Oddly, that just scared her even more.

“Good morning, Astrid.” Stoick actually did manage to smile, even if it looked more like a grimace. Stepping back from the doorway he waved her in, “Come in, come in.”

Astrid did, trying to keep her head up and appear stronger than she felt just like him, but sure she was failing miserably. The Haddock home wasn’t dark by any means, but it felt like it compared to the bizarrely nice day they were having for being so close to winter. Hiccup’s bed had been moved down from his loft and was settled by the hearth in the middle of the room, and as expected, Toothless was settled by his bedside.

“How’s he doing?” Astrid asked, hopeful and dreading the answer.

Stoick couldn’t contain his sigh, “There’s still been no change.”

No change. That was good in a way. He wasn’t getting worse, he wasn’t going to-

Astrid cut off that line of thought. She responded to the awkward small talk as the chief left, mostly just nodding as he went through his usually speech of being back later and getting him if something happened. Then he was gone, and Astrid was left in a deafening quiet.

It was the kind of quiet that was both uncomfortable but felt wrong to break it. However, Astrid was never one to be held back and with only slight hesitation, break it she did by greeting the Night Fury. “How’re you doing Toothless?

Said dragon was curled up by Hiccup’s bed in a way that made even the Night Fury look small with his head resting on the boy’s chest and eyes closed. When Astrid spoke, he cracked his eyes open to look at her and gave a soft whine that contained so much meaning, his worry over his best friend and his frustration over not being able to do anything about it.

Astrid gave a grim smile. “Yeah, I get that.” she spoke softly.

Setting to work, Astrid measured out some of the herbs Gothi had given them into a wooden cup and then poured water on top of it. Gently lifting Hiccup’s head, she slowly poured the mixture down his throat while trying to keep him from choking on it. When that was done, she wet a fresh cloth to lay over his head. She wiped his face, rubbed ointment on his injuries, held his hand when he gritted his teeth in pain and fever.

Around midday she grabbed a bucket and went to get fresh water from the well. She didn’t realize how dark the house felt until she stepped outside and had to blink several times in the blinding sunlight. The weather really had been unnaturally nice for the beginning of winter. If Hiccup didn’t wake up soon, he’d miss it.

With an angry sigh at how her thoughts kept going back to worry, Astrid stomped over to the well. No sooner had she started lowering the bucket than she was suddenly surrounded by a flurry of voices that did not improve her mood.

“Astrid. We haven’t seen you since we got back.”

“How’s Hiccup? Has he woken up at all yet?

“Is the dragon still here? We haven’t seen it either.”

“You know Mildew’s going on about how we need to do something about it when he thinks the chief’s not around.”

Even through her frustration, Astrid couldn’t help the wave of peace that hit her at the familiarity of having her friend group crowd around her and talking over each other. They also sounded unusually somber as they tried to talk to her. Snotlout was using her name and even the twins weren’t joking around at all. She shouldn’t be mad. She really shouldn’t, but she was and deliberately ignored them as she braced one foot against the side of the well and pulled up the filled bucket.

While she worked, unable to just turn around and leave, her friends continued to talk to try talking to her. They rushed out questions that she either couldn’t or didn’t want to answer, and the fact that she wasn’t responding didn’t seem to deter them at all. At least until she finally had her water and could finally walk away.

“Astrid, how’re you holding up?”

“We can help you know? If you need us.”

They sounded so genuinely worried and even caring, and it caused Astrid to finally snap.

“Enough!” she whirled around to face them, spilling water at their feet as she did but their steps back had to do more with the look in her eyes. “Would you please stop acting like we’re friends.”

“We are your friends.” Fishlegs mumbled failing to look up from his feet, especially when Astrid’s glare turned to him.

“Really?” she hissed. “Is that why you spent years tormenting and bullying Hiccup and only started acting like buddies when he took first in Dragon Training? Speaking of, that’s about the time you all ditched me when I wasn’t number one anymore. So why are you suddenly acting like you care now? You want to get close to the “Dragon Conqueror” is that it?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what?” she said.

None of them had an answer for that. Even the twins were looking down uncomfortably, unable to face her or come up with an excuse. With a huff, Astrid turned away and started to walk away. However, as she often did when she was really upset, her anger got the best of her. Instead of just walking away like she’d planned from the beginning, she turned back to continue throwing venom at them over her shoulder.

“Well you don’t have to pretend to worry, neither of us need anything. Certainly not from you.”

She might’ve kept going until either they walked away, or she reached the hill for the chief’s house, but her final comment was their breaking point and they finally snapped back.

“Oh, you are such a hypocrite.” Snotlout said.

Astrid froze in her tracks and turned back to face them fully. “Excuse me?” she spat.

“He’s right.” Tuffnut joined in, “You weren’t exactly buddy-buddy with Hiccup before any of this either.”

“Yeah. What right do you have to call us out when you were no better?” added Ruffnut.

Astrid glared. “I never bullied him like you did.” she hissed.

Snotlout scoffed at that. “Face it. You might not have been the same as us, but you weren’t any better.”

They stood in silence for several beats. Astrid glared daggers at her friend group. Snotlout glared back challengingly. The twins didn’t look as harsh, but also weren’t backing down. Fishlegs meanwhile, was hunched up and looking around at his friends and the attention they were getting, clearly uncomfortable.

Finally, Astrid took a deep breath and spoke, the gang tensing for the argument to continue. “You think I don’t know that?” she breathed.

It clearly wasn’t the response they were expecting, as even Fishlegs looked up surprised and concerned. Astrid didn’t give them time to answer. Turning on her heal, she rushed up the hill and back to the chief’s house as fast as she could without actually running.

Once she was inside, she slammed the door behind her to shut out the world before collapsing against it. Her anger was spent, but she didn’t feel any better. Without it there was nothing covering the mess of guilt and fear that had been plaguing her. The weight of her emotions was so much that she slid down the door until she was slumped against it with her legs curled up under her and her arms hugging herself protectively.

Astrid didn’t even realize she was crying until Toothless nosed at her wet cheeks with a whine of concern. Startled at the sudden contact, she shot up into a battle stance before she could process what was happening. Toothless backed up to give her space but didn’t seem to take offence like he once would’ve. Instead, he continued to look at her in a way that asked what was wrong.

Letting out a shaky breath that took some of her tension with it, Astrid wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Sorry. I’m okay.” she mumbled.

Toothless gave her and unimpressed look accompanied by a warble that said, “No you’re not.”

Ignoring it, Astrid used the water she’d gotten to set a fresh cloth on Hiccup’s forehead and give him another drink. Then she settled back into the chair by his bedside, watching his face move every now and then with discomfort but stay dead to the world.

Toothless refused to be ignored. Once Astrid was done seeing to Hiccup, he walked up and bumped her arm with his nose until she faced him. Looking at her with big eyes and what looked like an attempt to smile, he crooned in a way that said, “Talk to me.”

Even though she believed Hiccup about dragons, believed the war was over, and had even ridden a dragon into the final battle, it still felt surreal to spend so much time so close to a creature she’d been training to fight her whole life. That was nothing compared to realizing she’d gotten so used to him without realizing it that she could understand him. Astrid couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing.

Tilting his head in confusion, Toothless gave a questioning croon. Astrid was laughing too hard to respond though, so they sat like that for a couple minutes. Until Astrid’s laughter started to choke with tears and became sobs. Covering her face with her hands, she curled up on herself and cried. Toothless gave a sympathetic warble and leaned into her, a dragon version of a hug.

Eventually, Astrid’s tears were spent enough for her to get words out. “I’m sorry.” was the first thing she said. Toothless looked confused at why she would apologize for crying.

Taking a deep, if shaky, breath, Astrid started explaining. “It’s just, they’re right. I didn’t bully him exactly, but I still treated Hiccup horribly.”

She wiped at her eyes again, giving another couple shaky breaths. Toothless just continued to hold her in his own way, waiting for her to continue.

“We used to be friends you know?” she said, even though this was probably news to the dragon. Then again maybe Hiccup had mentioned her. She wondered how he would’ve talked about her if her did. “That just makes it worse. We were friends and then I turned my back on him. I don’t even have a good reason. I was just so caught up in proving myself that I didn’t think about anything else, and I left him behind.”

Her voice broke again on her confession. “I shouldn’t even be here. I don’t have any right to take care of him now after I abandoned him when he needed me.”

Her fists clenched against her knees as she admitted her anger towards herself. However, the anger didn’t last long before it fizzled out and left ger again with nothing but despair. The dragon and girl sat in silence for several minutes before she spoke again, voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m scared.” she admitted. “I’m scared I’ve lost my chance to ever make things right with him.” She sniffed and then continued, not sure if she was admitting this to Toothless or herself anymore. “I’m scared that even if he wakes up, he won’t forgive me. That we’ll never be friends again.”

She gave a watery chuckle. She actually wanted to be more than friends, but she definitely didn’t deserve that much. That part she kept to herself though.

Astrid was broken out of her thoughts when Toothless laid the end of his tail across her lap. She turned her attention to him, but he just looked at her with meaning and flapped his tail a little until she looked down at it.

His prosthetic had been destroyed in the battle, leaving the missing part of his tail on display. Astrid hadn’t ever taken a close look at it before. No one on Berk was a stranger to missing body parts but those kinds of wounds were still personal and left alone. Now Toothless was apparently giving her permission.

His left tailfin was missing, but not as completely as she’d thought before. Closer examination revealed jagged remnants of the missing fin. In a couple of places, the tear went up onto the main body of the tail, leaving pale scars wear skin and scales had been. Slowly, gently, Astrid lifted a hand and let her fingers feel along the rough scar tissue left behind all along the end of his tail. She imagined what it must’ve been like to suddenly be shot out of the sky, falling to the ground so hard and having a body part ripped away like that, then being left trapped. It was horrible to think about, painful and terrifying, and Toothless had actually lived it.

She looked back up at Toothless. While she appreciated being trusted that way, she wasn’t sure why he was showing her his tail now. It wasn’t just to distract her, as he was still giving her that meaningful look. He was trying to say something, but Astrid couldn’t quite understand what.

Several moments passed with them sitting like that as Astrid tried to puzzle out what the Night Fury was trying to share. Then, finally, it clicked in her mind.

“Hiccup did that.” she whispered.

It felt awful to say, even if it was true. Hiccup cared about Toothless and would never hurt him again, and he was laying injured right in front of them. She felt like she was accusing him. However, Toothless just gave her a gummy smile and nuzzled Hiccup’s sleeping face, breath ruffling his hair.

“Hiccup did that.” she repeated, a little louder and surer as she’d finally caught on to what Toothless was saying. “He did that, but you forgave him. Now you’re best friends.”

Toothless looked up at her and barked in affirmation. Then he used his nose to lift her hand and rest it on where Hiccup’s lay above the blanket, settling his head down beside their now joined hands.

Astrid felt tears building up again. She was glad no one else was around to see her being so weak. Hiccup had hurt Toothless, but the two had managed to put it in the past and were now the closest friends Astrid had ever seen. There was nothing to say that her and Hiccup couldn’t do the same.

Smiling, Astrid lay her other hand on Toothless’ head, making the dragon lift big green eyes toward her. “Thank you.” she said.

There was still a mess of emotions storming in her mind, but for the first time since returning home from the battle, hope was mixed in with them too.

^^^^^

Not much had changed, but finally letting herself cry and talk, and Toothless’ comfort took a weight off Astrid’s shoulders. That night she was finally able to get to sleep and sleep soundly.

It was too good to last. Sometime later she was woken up by something that set her instincts off. Astrid lay still but her senses were alert, trying to pinpoint what had woken her. The darkness and quiet meant it was still the middle of the night.

Straining her ears, she failed to pick up anything other than the typical nightly sounds around Berk. Astrid was about to write it off as just her still being high strung and attempt to reclaim her restful sleep when she caught the whoosh of something speeding past her window.

Astrid tensed, slowly reaching for her axe as she quietly crept out of bed. The sound passed again. Now that she knew what to listen for, she heard it better and could say for sure that it wasn’t just a stray farm animal. Whatever it was, it was big and fast. She’d only lived fourteen years, but she’d spent almost every one of those years training and was sure that what she was hearing was a stray dragon.

What she normally would’ve done was go wake her mom up and alert the village of an impending dragon attack, but things were different now and Astrid wasn’t sure what to do. She couldn’t just do nothing, but if others got involved it could cause a panic which was the last thing the village needed at the moment. After a couple of moment’s hesitation, Astrid decided to fall back into just taking care of it herself.

She took the time to pull on her boots and throw a coat on over her nightdress, and then with her axe in hand she climbed out her window and went to find the source of the sound.

Her intuition was correct. It was a dragon, a Deadly Nadder that was running around the grassy area behind her house stopping every now and then to lift its nose and sniff like it was searching for something. It wasn’t being particularly stealthy, it was a wonder no one else had noticed it yet.

Astrid watched it for a moment, deciding what her next move should be. It didn’t seem to be aggressive, just a bit agitated. That meant there was a chance she could calm it down and get it to leave before anyone else woke up and saw the dragon running around the village.

Sneaking up behind a Deadly Nadder wouldn’t end well if she wasn’t planning to kill it, and even then it ended badly about half the time, so the first thing she’d have to do was get its attention.

Just as she started to act, Astrid froze. This wasn’t a dragon she recognized, and Hiccup wasn’t with her. She would have to do this alone, all while there was the possibility of it being a wild beast that didn’t want to be friendly and deciding to tear her apart if it deemed her a threat. However, she pushed the fear down. She was a Hofferson, and she wouldn’t freeze up no matter what happened.

Gulping down every instinct she’d ever learned growing up, Astrid threw her axe down to stick in the ground next to her. The thud got the dragon’s attention. It startled for a second and then turned to lock eyes with her. Astrid held her hands up to show she was unarmed and not a threat.

The two stayed like that for several seconds that felt like an eternity.

Then the dragon charged forward with a squawk. Astrid had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming at the top of her lungs as a dragon ran right for her, something she’d had nightmare about since she was a little girl. Her first instinct was to grab for her axe, but she instead decided to do what Hiccup had shown them at the arena and held her hand out.

She really hoped this worked and she didn’t end up getting her hand bitten off. Just to be safe, she held out her left hand and kept her dominant one tucked safe at her side. As the beast quickly closed in, she also couldn’t help but clench her eyes shut and turn her face away.

Something warm pressed against her hand. Hesitantly, Astrid opened her eyes and turned to look at the dragon pressing its nose against her hand. Its eyes were closed and it had a peaceful expression, reminding her of Toothless when he nuzzled at Hiccup.

Slowly, the tension started to drain out of Astrid. She unwound herself from where she’d been prepared to run or fight and straightened up with a disbelieving laugh. The dragon responded to her laugh by opening its eyes and giving a chirp that was clearly friendly.

Before Astrid knew what was happening, it had surrounding her with its wings and was nuzzling at her like a mother bird. It kept turning its head to look at Astrid closely with one eye. Astrid smiled at her new dragon friend and took the opportunity to look it over as well.

Despite growing up around dragons, Astrid had never gotten a lot of chances to get close to one until Hiccup was taking her for a ride. She’d always pictured their scales as being rough and maybe slimy, but they were actually quite soft and smooth.

She was reminded of that as she pet the dragon, something she never thought she’d get the chance to do again for any dragon other than Toothless. The Nadder crooned and stroked her hair in return with its beak. Now that she was close, Astrid could make out its pattern. It was blue with yellow spots in a very distinct pattern, and if she looked closely, she could make out scars that she recognized.

“It’s you.” she whispered in disbelief.

The Nadder chirped in what sounded like affirmation and cuddled back to Astrid in a dragon hug. It was the same Deadly Nadder they’d faced in dragon training, the one she’d rode into battle against the giant dragon, the one she’d carried Hiccup to Gothi on before setting it free.

Astrid had expected to never see it again, yet here it was. It had come back to Berk, and based on its reaction, it had been looking for her.

“You came back.” she said, pulling away and holding the dragon’s beak in her hands. “You came back, for me?”

It felt too crazy to be true, that the dragon she’d gone into battle with once would risk its life returning to the place it had been enslaved just to check on her. Maybe she was just being narcistic to think it was here for her, but before she had much of a chance to think otherwise the dragon again chirped in confirmation.

Astrid wasn’t sure how to react to that. She stood there for several seconds, still as a statue, trying to figure out if this was real or just a crazy dream after not sleeping for several nights. The Nadder broke her out of her thoughts by bumping its beak against her forehead, assuring her that it was really there.

It had been an emotional day followed by the first night’s sleep she’d had in a while, so Astrid almost reacted by once again bursting into hysterical giggles and crying but managed to hold onto her dignity that time around.

Leaning her head against the dragon’s beak, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. The dragon followed suit, grounding her.

They stayed like that for several beats before Astrid leaned up. The dragon opened its eyes and looked at her, questioning if she was alright.

“Yeah.” she breathed, “I’m fine.”

Petting the dragon’s beak, Astrid smiled at it. “I’ve been worried about you too, and I wanted to thank you for helping us. I know you didn’t have to, especially after we trapped you here and hurt you.” Her smile dropped as she spoke. “I’m sorry. For what we did, for what I did.”

The dragon crooned and nudged against her, telling her she was forgiven. Astrid smiled again. “And after everything, you come back here just to make sure I got home okay after the battle. You really are amazing.”

The dragon chirped in appreciation at the praise and Astrid chuckled as she stroked its side. She felt more at peace than she had for a long time, even more than when Toothless was comforting her. The rest of the world faded away as she and the Nadder talked softly about all that had been going on, as well as they understood each other, made sure the other was really uninjured, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

However, once again the moment just couldn’t last. The sound of a door banging open startled Astrid back to the reality that she was in the middle of Berk with a dragon. The Nadder responded to her startling up by adopting a defensive stance with its spines out.

“No, no. Shh.” Astrid reached up to pet its beak soothingly. “It’s okay. I think someone’s just going to the outhouse.” Those words meant nothing to a dragon, but the Nadder still calmed down in response to Astrid tone.

“Listen you need to go.” The Nadder did understand that but looked offended at being sent away. “No, listen. The war might be over but there are still a lot of people here that don’t trust dragons yet.” Astrid held the dragon’s head in her hands again, “Please, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Finally, the dragon accepted that it couldn’t stay. It leaned into Astrid’s embrace, letting out a sad croon. Then, hesitantly, it stepped back, and with one last look at her it took flight and disappeared into the night sky.

Astrid watched it go. Without the dragon the night was bitingly cold even with her coat, so she couldn’t stay out any longer even though a part of her didn’t want to go back to her room just yet. Still, she grabbed up her axe and climbed back in through her window. Kicking off her boots and throwing her coat aside on the floor, she collapsed in bed and eventually was able to get some more sleep.

^^^^^

It turned out Astrid’s second goodbye to the dragon didn’t last very long at all. The very next day they ran into each other again.

The chief had returned early along with Gothi to clean and change the bandages on Hiccup’s leg, or what was left of it. Astrid felt guilty for how she reacted to his missing leg, but she felt increasingly anxious when they got ready to take the bandages off until she couldn’t take it anymore and had to excuse herself. As soon as she was outside, she broke out in a sprint and didn’t slow down until she was back in her own home.

After taking a few deep breaths in a fruitless attempt to calm down, Astrid grabbed her axe and set out into the forest to train a bit. It had been a while, since before the dragon training final, and it was probably just what she needed.

Jogging through the forest to find a good spot, Astrid froze when she once again came face to face with a dragon. Not just any dragon, the same Deadly Nadder. It looked up when she approached and upon recognizing her gave a friendly squawk.

“Are you following me?” The teasing question was out of Astrid’s mouth before she could finish processing the fact that she ran into the dragon again. Deadly Nadder’s had always reminded Astrid of birds in a way, and if it had feathers she could imagine them puffing up with indignation as the dragon gave a squawk that seemed to say, “I was here first.”

Astrid chuckled. Even after learning the truth about dragons, she still never thought she’d reach the point where she was entirely comfortable around them after spending her life training to fight them. However, there wasn’t a trace left of her instinctual tension and she couldn’t muster any up if she tried. She knew that this dragon wouldn’t hurt her, and she was starting to enjoy its company.

The dragon seemed to have similar feelings, as it didn’t react to Astrid holding her axe and even let her approach with it still in her hand. Astrid reached her free hand out in greeting, and the dragon pushed its beak against it in return.

“So what are you doing here still?” Astrid wondered. “I figured you’d want to go back home now that you’re free. Back to the nest with the other dragons where Vikings can’t get to you.”

The Nadder flared up in agitation at the mention of the nest, not the reaction expected when mentioning its home. Then again, it had been just as much as slave there as on Berk. It was actually worse off, in constant fear of being eaten alive. No wonder it didn’t want to go back.

“Okay, I get that.” Astrid said, petting its beak soothingly, “But you can’t stay here either. It’s still not safe for dragons on Berk. There are some uninhabited islands around that you could probably settle on.”

The Deadly Nadder tilted its head as if considering this. Although, it didn’t take off immediately. Like the night before, Astrid and the dragon settled into a “conversation” but without fear of being interrupted. Eventually they entered into a target contest. The Nadder shooting spines and Astrid throwing her axe.

It was fun. More fun than Astrid could remember having for a long time. Before she knew it, the sun had started to set and she had to get home before someone started looking for her.

“I have to go.” she said. The dragon made a said croon and nuzzled her. Astrid smiled and lifted her hands to hug its beak. “I’ll miss you too. Maybe we can meet up again?” She couldn’t help but add, even as she told herself it was a horrible idea.

The dragon made a happy squawk of agreement, and the two parted ways again. Although, this time Astrid felt a lot lighter as she left.

^^^^^

Meeting up with the dragon became a daily routine. After heading home for the day, Astrid grabbed her axe and went into the forest for training. They didn’t have a set meeting place, but it didn’t seem to matter. The Nadder was excellent at tracking and always found her. They would then spend several hours “talking”, playing, or sparring. At the end they’d settle down on the forest floor, the dragon curled around Astrid and her leaning against its side.

After spending time close to the dragon, Astrid was able to learn a few things about it. For one, she was able to identify by the placement of spikes that this Nadder was a girl. She also loved to play fetch, showed affection by preening, and enjoyed having her spikes petted. Without even realizing, this dragon was starting to become her best friend.

“You know, I feel kind of bad just calling you “the Nadder.”” Astrid remarked one day when they were settled down laying against each other. The dragon tilted its head curiously. “I know I usually just address you directly, but I mean I still don’t have something to call you. It just feels weird.”

The Nadder chirped in understanding and looked at her expectantly, waiting to hear what name she would come up with. Astrid thought it over. As the seconds passed in silence, she explained her trouble thinking of a name.

“I want to give you something good.” she said. “Something meaningful. I mean, Hiccup named his Night Fury “Toothless.” She gave a small chuckle and the Nadder chirped. “I’m not making fun of it. It is a silly name, especially for a Night Fury, but it also feels so fitting for those two.” She explained.

Settling back down with her hands behind her head, she continued. “It’s not even the worst I’ve heard, far from it. Berk has a tradition of giving hideous names for superstitious reasons. My family never followed that though, and it doesn’t feel fitting for you either.”

She trailed off, watching the sky as she tried to think of a name. As her thoughts worked, she told the Nadder the story of how she first flew on Toothless and realized there was more to dragons than she’d always been taught.

“It was amazing. I’d love to do it again someday, be able to touch the clouds.”

The Nadder chirped in excitement and got up suddenly. Astrid almost fell at suddenly having her back support removed but caught herself and sat up. The Nadder took a couple steps over to stand beside her and then lowered herself with her wing dipped to allow Astrid space to get on.

Astrid stared; not sure she was seeing right. “You want me to go flying with you?”

The dragon chirped in confirmation and tilted its beak toward its back, telling her to climb on. Astrid hesitated for a second. This wasn’t like riding on Toothless where she had Hiccup and a saddle to hold onto. It wasn’t even like the battle where she at least had some rope. In the end though, she decided to go for it and climbed on the Nadder’s back.

No sooner had she settled on her back than the dragon shot into the air. The flight wasn’t as chaotic as when she’d first flown with Toothless and he was trying to teach her a lesson, but it wasn’t as peaceful as the second half of the flight when he was trying to impress her.

The Nadder was fast and she knew it. She zoomed through the sky, cutting turns and doing flips in a way that felt dangerous and graceful at the same time. Astrid’s stomach felt frozen in her throat, but she also couldn’t close her eyes in fear of missing a second. She was reminded of Tuffnut’s words when they flew into battle, “awesome and scary.” That was really the best way to describe flying with the Nadder.

Hesitating for a second, Astrid again decided to go for it and let go where she held onto the dragon’s spines with her hands and clung to its back only with her legs. She held her arms out in imitation of its wings, feeling the sense of freedom and weightlessness that came with the wind whipping by her. Smiling widely, she whooped in joy and the dragon gave her own joyful roar.

Eventually, their flight had to come to an end as it was time for Astrid to go back home. When they touched the ground, Astrid slid off the Nadder’s back with shaky legs but a big smile on her face. The Nadder nuzzled her beak against her and she hugged her back with a laugh.

“Thank you. You really are amazing.” The Nadder crooned in appreciation for the complement. “Oh, and I think I’ve thought of the perfect name for you.” Astrid pulled back to grin at the Nadder who looked at her in anticipation. “What do you think of Stormfly?”

^^^^^

A couple more days passed with flight added to the things Astrid and Stormfly did when they hung out at the end of the day. On this day, they’d just set down after a flight when unexpected voices caused Astrid’s heart to skip a beat.

“Whoa.”

“You have a dragon?!”

Astrid looked up at hearing the twins and was met with her entire friend group standing only a small distance away. They were all staring Stormfly with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Astrid’s heart was pounding, wondering what would happen now, but she kept a brave face and scowled at them in challenge.

“Do you want something?” she said tonelessly.

Fishlegs looked like he was going to actually take the lead and explain why they were apparently looking for her in the forest but was cut off by Tuffnut.

“You still have your dragon! I didn’t know we got to keep our dragons!”

“Yeah, no fair!” Ruffnut crossed her arms, “I want our dragon back.”

Astrid rolled her eyes at their antics. “I did set her free. She came back on her own.”

“Incredible.” muttered Fishlegs, mostly to himself. “This means its not just Hiccup and Toothless and their bond isn’t just because of their prosthetic. Dragons actually can form close bonds with humans. Do you realize what this means?”

“Yeah,” said Tuffnut, ignoring most of what Fishlegs was actually excited about. “It means we get to keep are dragon. Where are they? Astrid, can you tell yours to call them or something?”

Astrid just glared in response, and the gang’s excitement at seeing her dragon dwindled when they were reminded why they were originally there. Surprisingly, it was Snotlout that stepped up to broach the topic.

“Listen Astrid.” he started, rubbing the back of his neck, “About what you said the other day, you were right.

This caught Astrid off guard, and she dropped her glare, but didn’t say anything. Snotlout continued.

“We weren’t great to you during dragon training, and we definitely weren’t great to Hiccup.” They all looked uncomfortable at the admission, “But we’re just trying to do the same thing as you and make things right.”

“Please, Astrid.” Fishlegs mumbled, the sensitive boy sounding heartbroken, “Will you forgive us?”

“We really are sorry.” Ruffnut said, in a rare moment of seriousness. Although her brother quickly ruined it with, “Yeah, she’s sorry.” Which earned him a slap from his sister.

Astrid stared at them for a beat. They all looked at her in guilt and hope, and she had to admit that while they were muttonheads, she missed her friends. With a sigh, Astrid let her anger go.

“Alright, I forgive you.” she said to the visible joy of the gang. “But, you have to earn Hiccup’s forgiveness on your own, and if you ever do that to me again…”

She trailed off intentionally in an eerie warning, but the Nadder picked up the que on her own and flared her spiked tail in a threateningly display. While Fishlegs and Snotlout jumped, the twins had the opposite reaction as they looked in awe.

“Whoa. How’d you teach it how to do that?” Ruffnut asked in wonder.

“Her,” Astrid corrected. “and her name is Stormfly.”

“Cool, but how’d you get her to do that on command?” Tuffnut pressed.

Astrid just smirked, “Not telling.”

^^^^^

Either Stormfly really did accept the request to retrieve the other dragons, they thought Berk was safe now, missed their riders, or some combination of the three, but the next day Astrid heard a commotion going on in the village from her place by Hiccup’s bedside.

Toothless heard it first. He stuck his head up in alarm, and after listening for a second bounded toward the door. Astrid was curious what was going on at first, but then she heard it too. There was the sound of shouting, and roaring?

Heart skipping a beat, Astrid shot up from her seat and followed Toothless. As soon as she’d pulled the door open, he shot outside and bounded toward the noise that seemed to be coming from the plaza, Astrid sprinting after him.

By the time she got there, Toothless was already between a group of angry Vikings and a group of dragons. He was growling threateningly, which just agitated the Vikings more and they raised their weapons in defense.

“Stop!” she yelled, running forward to also stand between them.

“Astrid!”

Turning at hearing her name, she actually got a good look at the dragons that had invaded the plaza. They were the arena dragons and standing with them were her friends. Stormfly was also there, tail spines ready to shoot if someone attacked.

“Our dragons came back too!” Tuffnut yelled excitedly, “But these geezers are freaking out.”

“And it’s freaking them out.” Ruffnut stated.

Astrid licked her lips and turned to the scared crowd. “Listen, it’s okay!” she tried to calm them down.

It was no use. The crowd was already shouting over each other and steadily growing as people came out to see what the commotion was. The dragons were giving warning growls and even roars which didn’t help the tense crowd. Astrid and the other’s voices were lost in the fray as they tried to get both groups to calm down. The tension and noise built, and Astrid wished she could just throw her axe at something as her heart pounded, but that wouldn’t help either.

“Enough!” Stoick’s booming voice broke through the chaos and the crowd parted to let him through.

A few people tried to shout explanations at him but cut off when he held up a hand for silence. He looked around, taking in the dragons, the teens standing protectively around them, and the group of anxious Vikings about to turn into a mob. Then he looked right at Astrid, and she thought her heart would stop when he called on her to explain.

She wanted to hide, but she was a Hofferson and wouldn’t show fear. Standing up straight and putting on a brave face, she spoke clearly for everyone to hear.

“These are the dragons we rode into battle. The ones that saved our lives and our village.” That was a good place to start. “A few nights ago, Stormfly-that’s what I named my Nadder-returned to check on me. I guess the rest also wanted to make sure their riders were okay.”

Astrid hears some awed mutters and hoped the village would believe her. The dragons’ true nature was still new to everyone. The chief at least looked contemplative, but then an angry shout broke out and Mildew came stomping forward.

“Traitor!” he bellowed. Astrid bristled at the accusation but reminded herself that attacking a scrawny old man wouldn’t be a good thing at the moment. “You’ve been harboring a dragon, and now you’ve brought a whole group to destroy our village-”

“Oh, shut up you old windbag!” Another voice broke out. This one was much more welcome, but still set Astrid’s heart racing as she now had to face her mother.

Bertha was average height for a Berkian but was also broad which made her appear a bit short. While her build was made more of muscle than anything, she did have a large chest that had at one point earned her the nickname “Big-Boobied Bertha” although most knew better than to actual say it out loud anymore for fear of her retribution. Her hair was the same gold as her daughter, woven into two braids that hung over each shoulder. Her eyes were also blue, but a bit greyer and currently looked stormy as she trampled her way through the crowd to stand between her daughter and Mildew.

She came to a stop in front of the old man and out her hands on her hips. “Listen here, you’d better be careful what you say next. I don’t care that’s you’re a spindly old Hogfly. If you accuse my daughter like that, I won’t hesitate to call a blood feud and break you apart with my bare hands.”

Mildew glared back at her, but also knew that she wasn’t bluffing so eventually he huffed and backed down. Turning back to the chief, he tried another tactic. “Fine, but what are you going to do with the dragons that are invading the island.”

“You mean the ones that saved us from the Red Death?” Gobber was the one to answer. Then he looked back at the dragons and laughed, “Also not what most would consider and invasion.”

Bristling, Mildew swung his staff to gesture at the dragons. “Laugh if you want but there are still dragons in the village and they’re apparently bringing them here.” He gestured at the teens, but wisely didn’t say anything further about them at a glare from Bertha. Instead, he turned to Stoick and hissed, “Are you going to do something about it?”

Everyone looked to Stoick, waiting to see what the chief would decide. True to his name, his face showed no hint of what he was thinking. He looked around, at the crowd, the dragons, the teens. Astrid’s heart pounded, waiting to hear what he would say.

Finally, he drew himself up and addressed everyone with a booming voice that invited no argument. “I know the history we have with dragons, more than some, but I’ve also lived to see the day when that could change. These dragons have helped to save our village and our lives, which means we owe them a life debt. As such, no one is to attack them or start any trouble with them.”

“You can still defend yourselves,” he said, anticipating the protest before anyone could say it. “but you are not to start a fight. They’ve apparently been here for some time and have yet to cause trouble, so I don’t want to hear about anyone trying to do so.” He sent a subtle glare toward Mildew at that. “A life debt is a sacred thing, and so none are to break it unnecessarily.”

“As for what to do about them moving forward, the council will meet to decide that. For now, just leave them be.”

There was still a clear tension among the older members of the crowd at having dragons so close, but having the chief point out the lack of aggression and promise a permanent plan seemed to satisfy most. Mildew of course refused to be satisfied with dragons being left alone, but a glare from the chief and an order to let the council handle it was enough to shut him down. He stormed off muttering, the council members headed off toward the Great Hall, and rest of the crowd got as far away from the dragons as quick as they could leaving the dragons and teens alone in the plaza.

There was silence for a moment as they all tried to process what just happened. Tuffnut was the first to break it.

“So, does that mean we get to keep are dragons? Oh, please tell me that means we get to keep them. I already thought of the perfect name for mine.”

“Me too!” cheered Ruffnut.

“Guys.” Astrid started, but before she could ask any questions she was interrupted by Fishlegs.

“Um, you know you guys have the same dragon?” he pointed out the obvious flaw in them both coming up with a name.

Ruffnut snorted. “Yeah, but we each have our own head.” she stated as if that should be obvious. “My head’s name is Barf.”

“And mine’s Belch.” Tuffnut crowed pointed to the other Zippleback head. Both heads looked down at the twins and then at each other before seeming satisfied with their, or perhaps just his, new names.

“Guys.” Astrid tried again.

Snotlout burst into laughter. “Barf and Belch? Well that suits you.” he mocked. “I thought of something cool enough to suit us. This guy here is known as Hookfang!” He finished with a shout and striking what he no doubt thought was a cool battle pose.

The Monstrous Nightmare, now called Hookfang, snapped his massive jaws close to Snotlout. Astrid was sure he’d meant to accentuate the tough front Snotlout was putting on. Instead what happened was Snotlout let out a startled shriek and tripped backward on his own feet. That didn’t faze the dragon at all, who let out a warbly laugh at his rider’s misfortune.

“Guys!” Astrid raised her voice, finally getting their attention. “What happened?”

The twins looked at each other and then smirked at her before replying condescendingly, “Uh, our dragons came back. Just like yours did.” “Yeah, shouldn’t that be obvious?”

Astrid bristled but had more important things to do at the moment that get into a fight with the twins. Thankfully, before she had to lose her temper, Fishlegs spoke up.

“I’m not sure what to tell you Astrid.” he shrugged. “I’m guessing they made the trip during the night because when we got up, they were wondering around the village. They looked like they were searching for something-”

“Yeah, us!” Tuffnut interrupted.

Fishlegs spared only a second to be annoyed before continuing, “Yes, once we each met up with our respective dragons they seemed to calm down. Then other people started noticing and crowding and that upset them.” he trailed off.

 Astrid stood, hands on her hips, taking everything in. She didn’t like being taken off guard, but now that the shock was wearing off, she was genuinely happy the other dragons came back. They all looked happy to be reunited, dragons and teens both. Stormfly also looked happy to see her dragon friends again.

“So, what now?” Fishlegs asked.

Astrid shrugged. “We wait for the council to make a decision.”

“Well while we’re doing that, let’s go do something fun.” Tuffnut said hopping on his dragon head. “Let’s go Belch!”

Ruffnut scrambled onto her own dragon head. “No, let’s go Barf.”

“Guys? Same dragon?” Fishlegs repeated but was ignored as the twins fought over who would get to go first.

As they took off Astrid let out a resigned sigh. “Come on girl,” she called Stormfly, “We need to make sure those muttonheads don’t cause trouble while we’re tying to convince the village to let you guys stay.”

“We’ll help. Hookfang and I are natural leaders.” Snotlout said smugly, but hesitated to actually climb on his dragon. Hookfang was taking sadistic glee in making his rider nervous, but still let him climb on and took off after the others.

Realizing he was getting left alone, Fishlegs scrambled onto his Gronkle and took off with a frantic, “Wait for us!”

^^^^^

The others took the dragons being allowed to stay for the time being as an invitation to take them home for the night, and Astrid was happy for the excuse to have Stormfly stay close to her and followed suit. There was an overhanging structure built onto the side of their house that was sometimes used for storage. With a little work, made much easier with a dragon’s help, it was a suitable stable.

“Here you go girl.” Astrid said, wiping sweat off her forehead. “I hope you’re comfortable here.”

Stormfly assured that she was by chirping happily and waltzing into her new stable, making herself at home. Astrid smiled fondly and gave her a kiss on her nose goodnight before walking around enter the house.

Yawning and stretching as she walked through the door, Astrid froze when she saw her mother waiting for her. Bertha sat at their kitchen table and nodded her head at the seat across from her. Astrid wasted no time in taking her seat and waited for her mom to speak.

Waiting dragged on for several seconds as Bertha intertwined her fingers and leaned her chin against them. Astrid wondered if she was thinking where to start or just stretching the silence out to torture her.

Finally, Bertha spoke. Not one to beat around the bush, she got right to the point. “The council has decided you can keep your dragons.”

Astrid’s jaw dropped and her heart soared at that declaration.

“Not everyone trusts the dragons yet, but no one wants the war to keep going. You lot have proven that it really is over, so the chief and some of the rest of us were able to convince the rest to let you lead the way in learning to live with them.” she continued.

It felt too good to be true, but her mom wouldn’t lie. Astrid looked at her hopefully, and Bertha smiled. “Yes, this is really happening.”

Excitement built in Astrid’s chest, but punctured when Bertha continued. “Now about you hiding that dragon.”

Bertha took a deep breath and sighed, continuing in that forced gentle tone she’d been using since they got back. “I understand why you hid it, but I want you to know you can trust me enough to come to me about these things.”

Astrid gulped, wondering if she could say what she was thinking. Oh well, they were sat down for a discussion anyway. She might as well get it out.

“Mom, can you please stop that?”

Bertha looked confused, “Stop what?”

Astrid struggled to find the right words, “Stop being so nice to me.”

“I’m always nice to you.” Bertha said offended.

“That’s not what I mean. Just,” Astrid cut off and tried to start over. “Stop coddling me like that. I’m not fragile, I can deal with things, but I hate when you act like that. It just means something’s wrong. Like with Uncle Finn.”

There was a flash of pain in Bertha’s eyes and Astrid wondered if she’d gone too far bringing up what happened to her mom’s brother. It was true though that Bertha hadn’t acted like herself after that, and Astrid wasn’t able to think of anything else when someone tried to coddle her ever since.

As fast as it appeared, the pain was gone and instead Bertha looked a bit mischievous. “In that case…”

Before Astrid had a chance to react, Bertha swatted her on the upper arm. Astrid held her arm and looked at her mom in surprise, only to be met by her mom standing with her hands on her hips and a stern frown that still made Astrid feel like a little girl that destroyed the furniture with hatchet practice.

“What were you thinking?! You hid a dragon from me! I know it doesn’t look like it, but the village is in chaos and things could’ve ended horribly depending on who caught you. They almost ended bad this morning. I could’ve helped you sooner if you’d have just told me ahead of time. Don’t ever hide anything like this from me again!”

Most children would probably have reacted differently at being swatted and scolded, but Astrid just smiled at finally having her mom back to her old self. “I won’t.” she promised.

“You’d better not.” Bertha warned, then lost her stern tone and continued. “Now about your dragon.”

“Her name’s Stormfly.” Astrid mentioned, eager to introduce the two properly now that she could.

“Well, I notice you’ve already given her a place to stay. That should do, although it might require a little more work to be suitable for long term. That’s your responsibility, ya hear. That’s your dragon and so its up to you to handle taking care of it.”

Unlike most, Astrid preened at being trusted with responsibility, something Bertha knew well. She smiled and hugged her mom, “Thank you.”

Bertha hugged her back with her own smile. Then they broke apart and she kissed her daughter on the forehead. “Well, you need to get some rest now. To bed with you.”

Astrid said goodnight and then slipped into her room. She’d almost forgotten how close the overhang was to her window until Stormfly stuck her head into her room to croon goodnight. Astrid smiled at her and drifted into the most restful sleep she’d had in a long time.

Slowly, more dragons began to settle on Berk. Not all of the dragons from the nest, far from it, but a significant amount. While they were anxious initially, like Bertha said, most were too tired of the war to start a fight unprovoked, and the dragons seemed to feel the same. Eventually things seemed to finally be settling down for real, for both the Vikings and dragons.

The only thing missing was Hiccup.

Until two weeks from returning home. His fever had broken, and Gobber finished the prosthetic he made to replace his left leg. Astrid stepped out while he attached it, so he’d be able to get up when he finally woke instead of being confined to the bed any longer. While she was still out in the village, and Hiccup was left alone with Toothless, she heard a commotion going on headed over to see what was going on. Then she broke out into a sprint when she heard what it was.

Hiccup was finally awake.

^^^^^

Waking up took some time. Hiccup floated in and out of consciousness for a while before his mind finally cleared and he woke up for good.

The first thing he saw when he could make out his surroundings was Toothless’ face hovering over him and looking hopeful. Even through the soreness and stiff muscles, Hiccup smiled at seeing his best friend was okay.

“Hey Bud.” he greeted, voice rough from disuse.

Toothless warbled in excitement and practically jumped on top of him while licking his face. Hiccup laughed at first but cut off in a cry of pain when his still tender bruises were jostled. Alarmed at possibly hurting his fragile human, Toothless jumped back, and Hiccup got his first good look at his surroundings. He was home.

His bed had been moved down out of his loft, but it was still his house, and Toothless was in it.

“I’m in my house.” Hiccup said, wondering if he was still dreaming. “You’re in my house. Does my dad know you’re here?!”

Hiccup tried to remember what happened. Toothless had been discovered after coming to rescue him from his disastrous final exam. His dad disowned him and took Toothless and the others to find the nest. He took the other trainees and the arena dragons to rescue them. Then his dad had saved him from drowning and went back under to rescue Toothless, and he’d apologized and said he was proud of him. That really happened, before they even entered the fight.

And then…his memories started getting spottier from there.

His attempts at recollection were interrupted at the crashing sound of Toothless jumping around their small house and knocking over everything in his way, including the pot over the fire pit.

“Toothless! Would you stop.” Hiccup said helplessly, preparing to power through his sore muscles to keep his hyperactive dragon from destroying the house. “Oh, come on.”

Throwing the covers aside, he prepared to stand up but stomped when he moved his legs and felt something very wrong. Hesitantly, afraid of what he’d see, he looked down at himself. His right leg was fine and someone had even put a new boot on his foot, but his left leg now ended just below his knee. Where a shin and foot used to be was a peg leg made of a carved wood base and a metal claw attached to a spring system so it had some give.

Hiccup stared at his legs. He closed and opened his eyes several times, futilely hoping he was still coming off a dream and would see his leg back where it should be. It was no use. His leg was really gone. His leg was gone.

He hadn’t even realized his breathing had picked up until Toothless rushed back to his side. He looked up at Toothless’ understanding eyes and felt both better and worse. He felt a fresh wave of guilt, stronger than before now that he understood what he’d put his best friend through. He also felt grounded in a way, just by knowing he wasn’t alone.

With a deep breath, Hiccup swung his legs off the bed. He took in the sight of his metal foot next to his boot and wondered when the horror of the image would fade into the norm. Then he braced himself and pushed himself up to his feet. Well, foot and peg leg.

It felt…weird. Hiccup wasn’t sure how to describe it. He of course didn’t feel the floor under his nonexistent foot, but he still felt it in a way. The pressure was instead on his knee in a way that made him feel lopsided but not exactly as he could also feel that he was standing even. It all made him feel dizzy, and that added to the way he wasn’t used to adjusting to his metal leg and hadn’t stood up for two weeks made him stumble as soon as he tried to take a step.

Luckily, Toothless was there to catch him. The dragon settled up against his side, walking in a semi-crouch so that Hiccup could lean against his back. Together they made their way to the front door. Hiccup swung it open to go look for someone to fill him in on what he’d missed, but slammed it shut at the sight of a Monstrous Nightmare just outside.

Were they in the middle of a raid? That would explain why no one but Toothless was around, but there shouldn’t be raids anymore now that the queen was dead. She was dead, or had he failed in the end?

Well, he wouldn’t get answers standing around by the door. Hiccup told Toothless to wait inside, he didn’t want to imagine what would happen if he got out in the middle of a fight with dragons. Suddenly he understood why his dad was always yelling for him to get inside during raids. With that, he opened the door trying to prepare himself for whatever he might find.

However, he was not prepared to see a peaceful Berk going about an average day while dragons flew around the village and perched on buildings. Even crazier, the Monstrous Nightmare he’d seen outside his door was being ridden by Snotlout, who was challenging the twins and their Zippleback to a race. Hiccup stumbled out in a trance, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

“I knew it, I’m dead.” It was the only explanation he could think of.

“No but you gave it your best shot.” Stoick laughed putting his hand around his shoulders. He’d been the first to reach his son when they realized he was awake and he led the group over to welcome him back. He waved out toward the village, “Well, what do you think?”

Hiccup wasn’t sure how to answer. It was simply amazing. More amazing than he’d ever thought things could be, and even more so because he’d helped it to happen.

“Turns out all we needed was a little more of this.” Stoick repeated the old mantra as he waved over Hiccup, with so much unsaid in his tone.

“You just gestured to all of me.” Hiccup repeated his line, but hopefully this time.

Stoick just nodded as he beamed at his son. There was so much emotion in the expression: relief, apology, pride, and joy. Hiccup smiled back, trying to also convey the feelings he couldn’t put to words.

The moment was broken by Gobber. “Well, most of you anyway. That bits my handywork.” he said, gesturing to Hiccup’s metal leg. “With a little Hiccup flare thrown in. What do you think?”

Hiccup supported himself on his remaining leg and lifted his metal one up a bit to look at it. “I might make a few tweaks.” he shrugged, half joking. Although he already had some ideas for it.

Suddenly he was punched in the arm from behind. He yelped and whipped around to face a scowling Astrid. Rubbing his arm, he scowled back in question and disbelief.

“That’s for scaring me.” she stated simply.

“Is it always going to be like this, because-” Before he could finish the thought he was cut off by Astrid grabbing him by the front of his tunic and dragging him forward into a kiss.

Hiccup felt like his mind and heart stopped. Astrid was kissing him. Astrid was really kissing him. For as rough as she acted everywhere else, the kiss was surprisingly gentle. The rest of the world felt like it faded away and it was just the two of them sharing their first kiss together.

All too soon it ended, and Hiccup finished his earlier sentence with, “I could get used to it.”

For her part, Astrid hadn’t planned to kiss him when he woke up. She’d gone over the scenario so many times in her mind, how she’d apologize and ask for them to be friends again, and respect whatever he decided. However, when she actually saw him after wondering if he’d ever wake up for two weeks her emotions took over and she just reacted, first with a punch and then a kiss.

“And that’s for everything else.” she said self-consciously, both teens becoming aware of the audience that was giving teasing cheers and whistles.

They were saved from the awkward moment by Toothless literally climbing over the members of the crowd to get back to Hiccup. Gobber unveiled the new tail and saddle he’d made based on Hiccup’s designs, adjusted for his metal leg, and handed them over to Hiccup.

“Welcome home son.” Stoick said.

And for the first time in a long time, as Hiccup saddled Toothless and took to the sky with Astrid and her own dragon at his side and passing by a village finally at peace, it really felt like it.

^^^^^

Later that day, Hiccup and Toothless watched the sunset from a ledge overlooking the village. They’d broken away from the others awhile ago and had spent a couple of hours enjoying the freedom of being able to fly over the island together without worry and had found a spot to rest.

Hiccup really needed the break, something Toothless seemed to know without Hiccup having to say anything. He probably dealt with similar issues himself.

Hiccup’s leg ached horribly, in a really weird way. He expected his stump to hurt where the unfamiliar replacement pressed against the newly healed tissue, and it did in a sharper way. However, the part that no longer existed was starting to ache from learning how to control the pedal again. How was that even possible?

The last thing Hiccup wanted to do was touch his leg, feeling where it ended too early and his metal leg was tied on. It would make it too real in a way he wasn’t ready to deal with yet. However, eventually the pain won out and he pulled it close to rub the aching stump.

A flurry of wings and cheerful squawk startled him out of his thoughts hard enough to make him jump. He tried to play it off as he swung his foot back to hang over the ledge with his remaining real one and half turned to greet Astrid.

No sooner had Stormfly touched down that Astrid jumped off her back as gracefully as if she’d been doing it for years. Toothless jumped up excitedly and ran over to greet Stormfly who jumped into whatever game he’d started. While the dragons ran around, Astrid walked over to join Hiccup on the ledge. As she settled next to him, Hiccup realized he’d been watching her with that dopey look again and jerked his face forward, hoping his blush wasn’t as noticeable as it felt.

Several moments passed with them sitting together in silence, swinging their legs and watching the sun set over Berk. It was the kind of moment that could be awkward, companiable, or beautiful. Hiccup’s heart pounded against his ribcage as he tried to decide which one it was.

“I’m sorry.”

Hiccup was again broken out of his thoughts by Astrid, but this time he managed not to jump like a startled Terror. He looked over at her curiously, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her head was facing down at the clenched hands in her lap, bangs covering her face.

“What?” Was all Hiccup could think to say.

Astrid took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you. You were my friend and I turned my back on you when you needed me. I was so obsessed with proving myself, but I was selfish. I abandoned you, didn’t stick up for you, and I just acted terribly.”

Hiccup didn’t respond, still trying to process what he was hearing.

“And the way I behaved in dragon training.” Astrid sighed. “I’m ashamed of myself. I needed the win. It was my chance to finally prove my worth, but I still shouldn’t have let it get to me that much.”

“What do you mean? You’re amazing.” Hiccup finally found words and they were out of his mouth before he could realize what he was saying.

Astrid finally looked up, and actually smirked at him and bumped shoulders. “Thank you, but you might be a bit biased.”

Hiccup blushed deeper. She definitely noticed now if the way she smirked more teasingly was any indication. Then her face fell, and she went back to not looking him in the eye.

“Really though.” she sighed. “I don’t think you realize how hard I have to work. I’m the next head of the Hofferson clan, but I’m small and pretty so people think I can’t be tough. Then there’s everything they say about us after what happened to Uncle Finn.”

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck suddenly feeling guilty. All that time he’d watched her through the window of the forge, but he’d never really noticed she was facing her own issues trying to fit in.

“That’s not the point though.” Astrid said, “I was still awful to you, and I’m sorry.” Her face dropped again to look at the hands clenched in her lap.  “Please forgive me.”

Hiccup had never heard Astrid sound so small. He hated it. Reaching out, he set one of his hands over hers, getting her to look up. That look of uncertainty was so wrong on Astrid’s face, and he felt like he’d do anything to fix it.

He smiled at her, “Don’t worry about it, and thank you. I’d really like to be friends again.”

“Really?”

“Really.” he assured, bumping their shoulders again.

Astrid smiled warmly, and then punched him in the shoulder.

Hiccup yelped in both pain and surprise. “Why would you do that?!” He thought they were having a moment.

“I just kissed you in front of the entire village. I want to be more than just friends.” she said, as if that should be obvious.

Maybe it was. Hiccup blushed as he remembered the kiss. His face was probably redder than the sky by now, and as he looked wide-eyed at Astrid, she was getting one to match.

He stared dumbly for a second before he finally started to realize what she was saying. “You mean, you want-You and me?”

“Yes.” Astrid said without hesitation, even as she looked away awkwardly, “If you want to.”

“Yes!” Hiccup cringed and tried to sound like a normal person. “I mean yes. I’d like to be more than friends too.”

Astrid turned back to him smiling shyly. Hiccup realized then how close they were and decided to take a chance. Slowly, giving her time to reject him if she wanted to, like he half expected her to, he leaned forward until his lips pressed against hers.

This kiss was nicer than the one they’d shared before. There was no one around to pull them out of the moment too soon, so they could really savor the feel of being together. Still, it felt all too soon when they pulled apart. However, Astrid scooted over and nudged Hiccup’s arm so she could lean against his side. After a slight hesitation, Hiccup wrapped his arm around her with his hand curled on her side and titled his head to rest against hers.

They watched the sunset together, taking in the sight of Berk looking so beautiful in the twilight as vikings and dragons alike settled around the village for the evening. The dragons tired of their game and came over to settle beside them. To Hiccup the moment was perfect.

Knowing how Berk handled change, Hiccup guessed there would be trouble to deal with in the not-so-distant future. However, in that moment, he felt like he could take on the world.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Winter in Berk

Winter was the worst, and it was especially bad in Berk.

Berk was a small village on one of several islands making up the Barbaric Archipelago. The area had several native dragon species that had become a part of Berk since the village made peace with them. It also had several stages of winter that took up most of the year.

For the last few weeks, the villagers had been cooped up inside, but it seemed the snowstorms had broken for good. At least for now.

The Ingerman siblings had been bursting with excitement since their mom first said they could finally go outside. Being stuck inside for weeks at a time was a lot to ask of anyone, but for a group of nine-year-olds it was practically torture. They were hardly able to stay still long enough for their mom to bundle them up in furs, and only kept from running off without their extra layers was how scary she could be when she was overprotective.

Finally, Brant, Brenda, and Shrug literally ran out the door. However, when they actually got outside their excitement dimmed. It was nice to be out of the house, but there wasn’t much to do outside either. Everything was covered in ice or buried in snow, the animals were put away, and the dragons were still gone on their migration to the nesting grounds.

Brant kicked batches of snow around as the thought about their family dragon. If Shrub were there then they could play all kinds of games in the snow, or go flying, or curl up next to him to enjoy the outside without the cold. He wished they would hurry and come home. Nothing was the same without their dragon here.

He was yanked out of his melancholy thoughts when a snowball burst against the back of his head. Brant whipped around and saw Shrug digging around in the snow a few feet away. Not giving his brother a chance to get him again, Brant quickly scooped up a handful of snow and pressed it into a shape close enough to a ball and sent it flying.

It burst against Shrug’s side and the normally nonchalant boy jerked up with a satisfyingly dumbfounded look. He locked eyes with his brother, or seemed to beneath his bangs, then gave a challenging smirk and started gathering snow.

The two ran off to find shelter while also trying their best to hit each other with snowballs. Even when he’d found a good spot to stock up on ammo kneeled behind a covered cart, Brant still got his with a surprise snowball and gave an undignified shriek. He looked up just in time to see Brenda throw another one and threw his arms up to protect his face, but instead of feeling an impact he hurt Shrug’s surprised grunt.

The brothers’ snowball fight became a sibling snowball fight and then turned into an all-out snowball war when the other kids started joining in. At one point Chief Stoick got hit by a stray snowball. No one knew who threw it but they all froze in worry, but he just laughed and pretended as if to throw a giant snowball in retaliation leaving them to scatter as they scream-laughed.

Winter wasn’t so bad at all.

Unseen to anyone, a winter spirit walked across the rooftops with a shepherd staff slung over his shoulder, taking a break to admire his handiwork.

Had anyone been able to see him, he would’ve gotten quite a few double takes. Windblown hair was a standard in the dragon riding Berk, but his hair was also completely white without a speck of color even in his eyebrows despite him only looking to be around sixteen to nineteen. His skin also had almost no color and could’ve looked sickly to a human. His outfit looked normal enough at first, just a simple white tunic and brown pants with a brown cloak, but his feet were completely bare even as he walked across the snow and there was a layer of frost across his shoulders.

His name was Jack Frost. He’d been given that name by the moon when it deemed him worthy of a new life.

In his last life he’d been Jackson Overland. He lived in a small village similar to this one, but without the dragons, and spent his days learning the tailor trade from his parents and helping take care of his baby sister. The two of them had gone ice skating one day when she almost fell through. He’d saved her by turning it into a game, but ended up falling himself.

For that, he’d been reborn as Jack Frost with the power to create frost and snow and ride the cold north wind. It was a good life, but it was lonely at first.

The only way for spirits to be seen in the mortal world was to become legends, the kind that people believed in. Jack didn’t have any believers, and he wasn’t on the best terms with the other spirits. That was partly his own fault though as he did have a mischievous streak, especially to the ones who had actual work that could be disrupted like the big four.

Nicholas St. North, Toothiana the Fairy, Bunnymund the Eastern Pooka, and the Sandman. They were an elite group known as the Guardians who watched over the children of the world in various ways, protecting their wonder, memories, hope, and dreams.

Jack Frost was a Guardian now too. He’d proven himself, found his purpose in filling scary moments with fun, and was friends with the other spirits and his own group of believers. He was even started to become more widespread and get his own variations of folklore, but some were hilariously wrong. Still, things were great, and all it took was three hundred years and a fight against a Nightmare King who wanted to erase the guardians and turn the world into a fear driven hellscape.

Still, things were great. However…

Despite the game still going strong and the air filled with laughter, the smile slipped off Jack’s face. Things really were great. He had the purpose and place he’d longed for, and he loved his purpose. Being able to bring joy and fun out of situations of sadness and fear was wonderful, but a there was a part of him that still clung to self-doubt and liked to rear its ugly head every now and then.

Jack did his best to shake the thoughts away but his mood was still soured. So, leaving the kids to their game he lifted his staff and took off in a gust of wind that ruffled the villagers’ hair and earned a few startled laughs.

Despite not having any believers here (yet hopefully), Jack still liked spending time on Berk. Of all the places he visited a lot because of the frequent cold spells, Berk was among his very favorite. Part of that was because of the dragons. He was overjoyed that the village made peace with them, they were wonderful to have around. Another reason was the original group of dragon riders.

Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut. Apparently, it was tradition on Berk to give hideous names to frighten away gnomes and trolls. Astrid got lucky since her family was descended from another tribe that didn’t have that tradition. The rest of the group weren’t so lucky. Then again, Jack knew some gnomes that could take mischievous to a dangerous degree, so maybe they were onto something. Still, it was a good thing they couldn’t see him because his poker face wasn’t that good.

Names aside, the group always seemed to have some shenanigans going on and Jack liked to stick around and have a front row seat.

Speaking of the dragon riders, it seemed they were also taking advantage of the “good” weather.

******

Astrid was a little embarrassed at how childishly excited she was for something as simple as going outside, but she couldn’t help it after spending weeks either stuck in her house that was too small to train or in the arena with the other riders. Astrid loved her friends, even Snotlout, but it was a too much to be stuck in close quarters with them for days at a time.

Finally, she could get out and work off her pent-up energy.

The village was beautiful as she stepped outside. She lived close to the edge of the village so not many had passed through that side yet and most of the snow was undisturbed. Since no one was around, Astrid decided to indulge in a little childishness. Sticking out arms straight out she tilted her head back and twirled around. Fresh snow kicked up as she moved, and she let out some girlish laughter.

Having turned nineteen this past summer, Astrid felt confident she’d stopped growing. She wasn’t as tall as she’d have liked and was still slim despite her muscles, but she wasn’t short or skinny either so she supposed she shouldn’t complain too much. She still tied her blond hair out of the way in a braid but had started adding a smaller braid over her bangs for decoration. Said bangs had finally stopped being so stringy but still frequently fell over her blue eyes and had to be pushed back.

Even in the cold, she was still never without her metal shoulder guards or leather arm guards and her skirt was made with metal spikes covering it. Beneath all the armor her outfit was simple: a tunic, pants, and boots. Currently her tunic was a thick wool shirt dyed red with a fur lined hood attached, blue dyed wool pants, and fur lined boots. And of course, she had her favorite axe with her at all times. She was the perfect image of a viking warrior, even when playing in the snow.

Feeling herself starting to get dizzy, Astrid stopped and instead started making her way to the forest but kept skipping her feet a little. The morning would’ve been perfect if Stormfly were there for them to go on a morning flight and see the snow coated island from above before doing some training together. However, she was still at the nesting grounds with the other dragons so Astrid would make do on her own.

She was about to step out of the village when something burst out of the snow drift beside her giving a crude imitation of a roar. It was still enough to startle Astrid, which was not good for whoever decided to do so. Instinct taking over, she put all her weight on one leg and kicked out with the other in one quick motion. The kick caught Tuffnut right in the midsection and sent him flying several feet away where his sister came out of her own hiding place barely able to breathe she was laughing so hard.

“What are you doing?” she said putting her hands on her hips and giving no sign that her heart was still pounding.

Ruffnut just shrugged, still showing no concern for Tuffnut sprawled out in the snow and trying to remember how to breathe. “This weather is perfect for a variety of pranks that can’t be done at any other time. As disciples of Loki, we must take advantage of that.”

Astrid raised an eyebrow, continuing to look unimpressed.

“That’s right.” Tuffnut chimed as he grabbed his helmet, completely unperturbed that he’d just been kicked several feet which was especially impressive with his height.

Despite not being identical, the twins looked almost exactly alike. When they were little they would actually switch places, but then more differences started becoming apparent as they matured, in the physical sense if nowhere else. They were both tall with long proportions and faces, and both had the same dirty blond hair grown out to reach below their waistlines. However, after they hit their teens Ruffnut had started separated hers into three braids and a few years later Tuffnut had figured out how to fix his into dreads.

Ruffnut also stood out with the unique design of her helmet. It was one of the few in the village that had six horns altogether. Tuffnut’s helmet was more basic in design, but the design of the horns marked him as a Thorston.

“It’s not enough to just do the same basic pranks every year though.” Tuffnut continued to explain. “Which is why we came up with “the snow whispering death!””

The way he said it made it clear Astrid was supposed to be impressed. While several responses did come to mind, she just asked “How long were you buried in that snow drift?”

“Since we came up with the idea and chose this spot.” Tuffnut non-answered as if it should be obvious. “You were the first to come by though.”

“Yeah, we should try something else.” Ruffnut said with a devious smirk. Astrid also noticed that she hadn’t bothered burying herself in snow and suspected she was actually using the pranks to prank her brother.

Luckily for Tuffnut, they were interrupted before she could suggest something else. “Hey guys!” Fishlegs called as he waded through the snow.

Ironically, Fishlegs was the one who had the perfect warrior build. He was taller than the rest and had a broad figure that even at seventeen made him a small giant. He also didn’t have a fighting bone in his body. He preferred studying dragons, gardening, and writing poetry to all else.

His helmet had wings in place of horns. That along with his blond hair, marked him as an Ingerman. He wore a fur tunic that hung partly down over his pants and made him look like a small bear.

“What’re you doing?” he asked as he got closer.

“Thinking of pranks we can pull off before the snow melts. You should’ve come by earlier. You’d have been the perfect victim of the snow whispering death.” Tuffnut said way to enthusiastically and Fishlegs looked disturbed as he wondered what the “snow whispering death” was.

“Do you want to come with us? You’d be really useful.” Ruffnut said ominously making Fishlegs more disturbed.

Coughing awkwardly, he shook his head. “No thank you. I was actually going to check out the marketplace before it gets too crowded with last minute Snoggletog shopping.” Then he got the big smile he always wore when his dragon was involved. “Meatlug will be home soon with her new little ones, and I still haven’t gotten her a present. She’s so hard to shop for.”

“We can help!” Tuffnut offered as he popped up in Fishlegs’ personal space making him shriek. “We’re great at finding gifts for hard to shop for people. Right Ruff?”

“Right Tuff.” she agreed stepping up to Fishlegs other side and boxing the poor boy in. “And we’re great at finding the best deals.”

“Well thank you,” Fishlegs said stepping away. “but I’ve got this. Besides, weren’t you going to try out your snow pranks on someone.”

“Don’t worry, we can do that later. Let’s go!” Tuffnut proclaimed and grabbed Fishlegs’ arm while Ruffnut grabbed the other. It was actually kind of funny in a way to see the small giant of a boy being strongarmed by his much smaller friends.

Before they could march off with him, Ruffnut turned back to Astrid. “You coming?”

“Thanks, but I’m going training.” she waved them off.

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and bristled. “That sounds fun too. Especially if it’s just the two of us.” Snotlout said in the obnoxious tone he still seemed to think sounded suave.

Not even bothering to give him a response anymore, Astrid just elbowed him hard in the midsection. While he doubled up in pain and tried to get his breath back and the twins laughed at his suffering, Astrid stormed off.

By the time she reached the tree line, her anger had simmered down enough for her to enjoy the peace it brought. She was worried at first that her favorite training spot would be too buried in snow to even get too, but was pleasantly surprised to find the snow hadn’t piled up very high in that area.

Leaning her axe against a tree, she started on her stretches and warmups. Then she was ready to train. She’d been spoiled from years of training with Stormfly that it almost felt too easy to train on her own most of the time. The snow and ice made for a nice obstacle to keep things from getting boring.

She had to be especially conscious of her footwork so she wouldn’t slip, and a few times she had to dodge icicles she brought down with an axe throw. The snow that got kicked up or fell down also made for good imaginary enemy fire. It was almost like she was training with winter itself, and she had to say that winter made a great sparring partner.

After pushing herself as far as she could in one session, she collapsed on a tree root breathing heavily. The cold air actually felt nice after a workout, and from her seat she could admire the frost patterns on the trees around her. Looking up further, she almost thought she could make out Toothless and Hiccup far up in the sky taking their morning flight.

A part of her wished they would’ve invited her, but she also understood the importance of having those private moments. She just wished Stormfly were there so she at least had someone to spend her quiet moment with.

At that thought her mood started souring and she sat up. She loved her friends and the time they spent together really was good more often than not, even the twins shenanigans, but there were times she just felt disconnected from them in a way. The times Stormfly left just made it even more apparent that in some ways she was alone.

When the group split up, Jack chose to follow after Astrid. Seeing what chaos the twins could manage to get into at the marketplace did sound amusing, but getting to train with Astrid was just too much fun to miss. They worked together really well, their movements responding so naturally to each other that he could almost forget she couldn’t see him.

However, there was no way to pretend she could see him when she was upset and he couldn’t even comfort her. He understood what she was feeling, and that connection eased his own loneliness, but he couldn’t share it with her and she was left feeling completely alone.

What he wouldn’t give to be human again, just for a moment.

Chapter 2: A Deal with the Moon

While Jack spent years longing to be seen, being human again hadn’t really crossed his mind. By the time he learned he used to be human, let alone regaining his memories of that time, anyone he’d known was long gone. He missed them, but he had no reason to think about being human again.

At least until Astrid.

A snowball hit him right in the face. Sputtering in surprise, he looked at Jamie almost doubled over in laughter while the rest of the group looked various degrees of concerned or amused. Pippa asked if he had a death wish to pick a snowball fight with a literal snow sprite while Claude remarked it was nice to see him get a taste of his own medicine.

Jamie finally started to catch his breath and looked up, only to laugh again at the bewildered look on Jack’s face. With a sly smirk, Jack raised his staff and sent a shot of snow hurling at Jamie. The boy was hurled off his feet and half buried in snow and the group chuckled.

“So, are you feeling better now?” Jack looked up at the question to see Cupcake leaning against the tree he was sat against with her arms crossed. Similar to Fishlegs, she had both height and a large build.

“Huh?”

“You looked upset about something.” Jamie explained while dusting himself off and straightening his fur hat. “I decided to try a page out of your book.”  

The entire group was looking at him concerned and hopeful in a way that warmed his heart. This had been his first group of believers, and even now that they’d grown into teens and young adults, they still never forgot him and remained close friends with him. Jamie especially, as his very first believer. The brown hair, eyes, freckles, and round face was also the spitting image of his sister, and Jack was actually pretty sure he was her descendent.

Jack smiled and tried to wave them off. “I’m fine. Just lost in thought.”

“About what?” Cupcake asked, not letting him go that easily.

He hesitated for just a moment, wondering what to tell them, but as soon as Jamie sat down beside him and the others settled around the words easily came. “I was just thinking about someone I met in Berk. You remember Berk?”

“The place with real dragons!” Jamie exclaimed excitedly. “Someday I want to see it myself.”

“Yeah. Well, I was just there and started thinking about how they can’t see me.”

Their faces all turned sympathetic and concerned.

“Are you still struggling with not having believers. I’ve been working on it the best I can.” Jamie said, and he had. The boy had been turning Jack’s stories into songs to be shared by traveling bards since he was still a child and was largely to thank Jack’s growing folklore and believers.

“I know. You’ve helped me a lot and I’m grateful.” Jack quickly assured. “But this place is far away to the north. Besides, they have their own culture and folklore.” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “It’s just that there’s this girl there.”

He was interrupted by scandalized “ooohs” from several members of the group. Jamie glared at them, but Jack was amused despite himself and just smirked and continued.

“She’s-” like me. She still feels alone sometimes even when she’s surrounded by people that love her. He wanted to say but hesitated as if felt too personal to disclose to other people, even if she would likely never meet them. “She’s amazing. She’s stronger than most people on her island even though she’s about my age, and she’s incredible when flying her dragon. She doesn’t let anyone mess with her but she’s still playful when she wants to be.”

“She’s also beautiful.” he continued, lost in his thoughts and half forgetting he had an audience. “She has the bluest eyes. Her hair looks really soft and it’s so bright and cute how she braids it. Then her smile, when she’s really happy about something, it’s enough to break your heart.”

A chorus of awes broke him out of his thoughts and he his normally pale cheeks turned dark purple with the force of his blush when he saw how they were all looking at him.

“You like her.” Pippa said excitedly and practically squealed when he blushed harder. “You really do. You’re in love. That’s so cute!”

Jack didn’t bother trying to correct her, mostly because she was right. Somewhere along the way of liking spending time on Berk and around her to identifying with her, his feelings turned to a genuine crush. He could admit to that much.

He coughed awkwardly and finished explaining. “So yeah, I was just daydreaming what it would be like if I were human and could actually interact with her like that.”

That sparked such an intense conversation that Jack started to regret bringing it up. Finally, he was able to change the subject and the others, possibly catching onto his discomfort, refrained from bringing it up again. He noticed Jamie give some weird looks, but he didn’t say anything.

Later, when the day was ending the group said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Jamie however, stayed behind. Jack didn’t speak, waiting for him to say whatever was on his mind. After a few moments, Jamie took a deep breath and blurted out. “Would you really do it?”

“Huh?”

“Become human.” Jamie clarified looking him in the eye. “If you could, would you really want to?”

Jack shrugged, “Well I can’t so-”

“Are you sure?” Jamie interrupted Jack’s attempt to brush it off. “You said the moon chooses the guardians and was the one to give you your powers. Maybe he’d be able to turn you human.”

Jack actually paused and thought about it. Jamie could be more right than he realized. He’d never disclosed to them that he was human once upon a time, but if the moon could make him a guardian maybe it could turn him back.

“I think you should do it.” Jamie said, ripping Jack out of his thoughts. At his questioning look he answered. “Ask the moon if it can make you human. I think you should do it.”

“Wait, what?” It wasn’t often Jack Frost was at a loss for words, but he could barely process what Jamie had just said, let alone think of a response.

Jamie’s smile turned sad. “I realize what that would mean, and I’d miss you. You’re my friend. Because of that, I want you to be happy. If being human and having a life with that girl is really what you want, then I’ll be happy for you.”

Jack stared at Jamie feeling a mix of emotions. In the end, he just hugged him with a soft, “Thank you.”

The sun was setting now. Jamie shivered when they separated so they said their goodbyes and he rushed home. Jack was left standing alone with a storm of thoughts raging inside.

It was one thing to daydream about becoming human again, but another thing entirely to actually go through with it. He couldn’t deny that a part of him longed for a human life, having the kind of companionship only humans could have without outliving anyone he cared about. However, that would mean he’d be giving up his life as a guardian, his powers and the ability to bring joy and fun to children from all over.

No matter what he chose, he’d have to sacrifice something. Jack decided to think about it.

*****

A week later, Jack came to a decision. He was a little surprised about how quiet it came to him. There were no fireworks, no more discussion, no big moment that pushed him in any direction. He just realized one afternoon that he knew which choice he wanted to make.

He wanted to become human and be with Astrid.

It was almost a full moon. That didn’t really make much difference as the moon was still there even when he wasn’t visible, but it still felt like good luck to Jack. He flew to where the moon appeared closest and landed on the highest point available.

“Hey Moon!” he yelled, not wasting any time. “I need to talk to you!”

Jack knew the Moon could hear him, but still startled when an ethereal voice said “Yes?”

While capable of speaking, the Moon preferred to communicate silently. Jack hadn’t heard that voice since being given his name and hearing it again was somewhere between jarring and soothing.

Regaining his bearings, Jack got straight to the point. “I want to know if you can make me human again.”

“Why?” the Moon asked simply.

“There’s this girl, Astrid. You know her, from Berk? I’ve fallen for her and want to be human so I can be with her.”

The Moon answered. “Do you know if she returns your love?”

His voice was still calm and neutral. The question was logical and stated matter-of-factly, free of any accusations or scandal. Jack had thought this part over himself and answered honestly.

“No. She can’t see me and doesn’t even know I exist. I want to be human so I can court her.” he sighed. “I know she might not return my feelings. I could end up doing this all for nothing, but I think it’s worth it to try.”

“Are you sure?”

Jack looked at the Moon determinedly. “I’ve thought a lot about this. I’d rather take the chance and fail than live out the rest of my existence wondering what if.”

The two stood in silence for several moments. Jack continued to stand tall but inside his heart was pounding as he waited for the Moon’s reply.

“Alright.”

The simple answer threw Jack. He almost wasn’t sure he’d understood at first.

“I will return you to a human life.” The Moon continued. “For one year, until the start of next winter, you can live as a human on Berk. If in that time you can build a life for yourself and form bonds to make it worthwhile, then you can live out a human life on Berk.”

A smile broke out on Jack’s face as it set in that this was really happening. It didn’t even dim when the Moon continued.

“However, if you can’t build a life within that time, you’ll be given your life as a guardian back.”

“Deal.” Jack said his smile bright with excitement. Then he took off for one of his last flights on the wind as he prepared to become human again.

*****

“Have you gone completely insane!”

Even after becoming friends, Jack was still used to clashing with Bunnymund and didn’t so much as flinch while the towering rabbit type pooka ranted at the top of his lungs. Behind him, North, Toothiana, and Sandy all wore matching looks of astonishment. Jack had called a meeting saying only that it was important, and they gathered in North’s workshop to hear his news. Whatever they were expecting, his announcement certainly wasn’t it. Even the yetis were frozen in shock.

“You’ve always been a firebrand,” Bunny continued, “but of all the ridiculous, irresponsible, stupid-”

Tooth finally broke out of her stupor and flew over to get between them. Her bright green feathers were puffed and wings flapping more rapidly than normal. “That’s enough Bunny.” she said not unkindly but leaving no room for argument. Then she turned to Jack and much more gently asked, “Can you explain what you meant?”

“I talked to the Moon and he’s making me human again.” Jack repeated. “When I leave here, I’m heading for Berk and that’s where I’ll stay.”

The yetis slowly got back to work, but most not so subtly still had their main focus on the guardians’ conversation. The elves, not being able to read the room, started cheering and dancing around their feet. Baby Tooth who’d zoomed over to Jack the second she saw him and been clinging to him since suddenly let go looking confused and upset.

“Berk. That’s the island you visit so much.” North said starting to find his way to a realization.

“Yep.” Jack smiled. “I met a girl there, and I want to be with her.”

That led to another round of shocked silence that was broken by a loud sarcastic bark of laughter from Bunny.

“You want to be with her? So that’s what’s gotten into you. You think you’re in love.” he scoffed and threw his hands up, finally starting to get under Jack’s skin.

“I am in love,” Jack frowned and crossed his arms defiantly, “and I’m going to court her.”

That caused another round of cruel laughter to escape from Bunny while the others looked uncomfortable. Jack continued to glare unimpressed, but it did kind of hurt to see his friends react that way to him saying he’d fallen for someone.

“Your really think it’s that easy.” Bunny jeered. “You’ll just decide you’re in love and throw everything away to chase after this girl. You’ve never even met her, have you? I bet she can’t even see you.”

“Bunny.” Tooth hissed.

“You don’t have that many believers still, so you’ve just been stalking this girl and now you’re going to drop into her life and expect her to fall in love with you.” Bunny continued to mock, ignoring Tooth.

“Bunny.”

“It doesn’t work that way. She has her life and won’t want you in it and you’ll have thrown away everything for some stupid lonely dream because you can’t deal with reality.”

“Bunny!” Tooth shouted rising higher in the air.

That finally got Bunny’s attention and he realized what he’d said. Realizing he’d started crossing a line but still upset and stubborn, he crossed his arms and stepped back neither continuing nor apologizing.

Ignoring the sting of old wounds brought up again, Jack took a deep breath. “I’ve thought of that. I have one year to try to start building a life with her. If I can’t then it’s back to being a guardian.”

None of them spoke for several beats until Tooth finally broke the silence and tried to voice what they were all thinking. “But if you do….”

“Then I get to stay.” Jack smiled.

Again there was silence. This time it was broken by North.

“But you won’t be a guardian anymore.” he said sadly.

Jack rubbed the back of his head. He’d known this wouldn’t be easy, but saying goodbye to them was still harder than he’d imagined it would be. Not trusting himself to speak, he just nodded.

“But we need you.”

Jack laughed, but even to his own ears it sounded wrong and forced. “Come on, you don’t need me. You were fine for centuries without me and you’ll be fine without me now.”

They exchanged glances. Sandy, a small man who appeared made out of sand, used his sand to mimic several images as was his way of communicating. He seemed to be asking what about winter.

“That’ll be fine without me too.” Jack shrugged. “None of you ever needed me and will be fine without me.”

“No!” This time it was North who shouted.

Jack jumped and most of the elves scurried away in terror. He stomped forward until he was in Jack’s space. Despite being a big softy and goofball around his friends, North was still an intimidating image. The giant of a man easily towered over Jack, face shadowed by the bushy white eyebrows and long beard as he leaned over him.

Grasping Jack by the shoulder with one hand, North jabbed at his chest with the other. “Now you listen to me, we do need you. Have you forgotten all you’ve done since becoming one of us. You reconnected us with the children we’re supposed to protect. You defeated the Nightmare King. You turn fear into joy and remind us to have fun. None of this could’ve happened without you.”

Jack looked down but North grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to look him in the eye. “Jack. We need you.” he spoke softly but so emphatically Jack couldn’t doubt him. “You are one of us. You’re important to us. Even if all this goes on without you, it won’t ever be the same when you’re gone.”

Jack suddenly felt like crying. He looked around North at the others and saw matching convictions in all their expressions. Even Bunny had dropped his angry act for a moment to show how much he’d miss Jack. Jack would miss them too. They’d become his family and he already felt their loss.

It wasn’t too late though. He could tell the Moon he’d changed his mind, drop the whole thing, just forget about Astrid and continue on with his life as a guardian and winter spirit.

That didn’t sound appealing either though.

He thought about Astrid. The way her whole face lit up when she was excited. The enthusiasm she had for things she cared about, strange as that was sometimes. Her strength, her beauty, her tears when she thought no one was looking.

Closing his eyes, he forced his voice level and said, “Thank you. I’ll miss you guys too, but I want to go. Maybe Bunny’s right and it’s just a stupid crush that isn’t worth all this, and if it is then I’ll come back, but if it’s worth staying for then I have to find out. I have to.” He cut himself off as his voice started to crack.

The yetis had dropped all their tasks awhile ago and gathered around to see what would happen but they others paid them no notice. They looked at each other, holding a silent conversation, then North smiled at Jack.

“All right then.” he said with a soft smile and tears in his eyes as he lifted Jack up in a bone crushing hug. “If that’s the way it’s to be, then we wish you luck.”

No sooner had North set Jack down then Tooth crashed into him in her own tight hug. Tears flowed freely down her face, but she mustered up a smile for him. “We wish you happiness. My fairies and me will be around if you ever need anything.”

She broke away and Sandy stepped up. He smiled and made a series of images almost too fast for Jack to decipher. He thought the sentiment was that he’d miss him and a promise to send good dreams often. Jack smiled, “Thanks Sandy. I’ll miss you too.”

With the others having said their goodbyes, Jack turned to a now very awkward looking Bunnymund. He tapped his foot rapidly and hummed like he was trying to think of what to say but afraid to say too much. Jack smiled fondly and said only half-mockingly, “I love you too Bunny.”

Bunny coughed and then smiled and held out his hand. “Like Tooth said, if you ever need anything don’t hesitate to call us. You’ll always be one of us.”

Jack grasped his hand at the wrist like Bunny had taught him was proper for pooka. “Thank you.”

After that Jack turned to head out, but was tripped by over a dozen elves rushing forward to hug him by grabbing his shins. Instead of crashing to the floor, he was luckily caught by a yeti who pulled him into another rib-crushing hug but with a bunch more fur. This led to the yetis passing him around for hugs while the elves still tried to cling onto him, now apparently convinced it was a game and trying to climb him.

The only one who didn’t say goodbye was Baby Tooth. She disappeared after Jack made his decision known and hadn’t reappeared. His heart broke a little more that he wouldn’t even get to see her before he left.

Finally, and yet all too soon, the final goodbyes were said and Jack took off towards Berk to start a new life for the second time.

Chapter 3: The Stowaway

Snoggletog was getting closer and it showed. Decorative shields, bells, and ribbons were hung all over Berk. In the center of the plaza a huge fake tree had been built out of scented wood and painted bright colors.

It also showed in the marketplace, overcrowded with people still doing their holiday shopping and getting desperate as time ran out.

Astrid had all her gifts ready as she’d started keeping them simple after being informed she was a horrible gift giver. That made getting presents easier at least, but she still had to brave the marketplace for ingredients.

Weaving between other shoppers to get to the right stalls, she had a rare moment of being thankful for her small size. Even so, it was not an easy task and the trip took at least three times as long as it should have while she was jostled, squished, and shoved around. Surprisingly though, she was able to get everything on her list, even if she had to fight for some of it, so she was still in a good mood when she started heading home.

Trying to get out of the marketplace was no easier than trying to navigate through it. Like a fish swimming upstream, she wound up exhausted with little progress to show for it. Crushed against the side of one building while she looked for a good opening to dive back into the fray, she felt something tap her shoulder and whipped around.

“It’s okay! It’s just me.” Hiccup rushed to explain, pulling his hand out of harms way and holding it up in surrender. He was hanging partly off Toothless who was hanging over the side of the roof. “We thought you could use some help.”

“Hiccup!” she smiled.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was Chief Stoick’s only child. He wasn’t quite what the village envisioned their future chief would be like. He had his family’s auburn hair and green eyes, but until recently he didn’t show much else of his family genes. In the last couple years he’d sprung up and was now one of the tallest in the village, but he was still skinny even if he’d gained some muscle.

Toothless was a Night Fury. Once the most mysterious dragon until Hiccup shot him down but chose to befriend him instead of killing him. Like his rider, he was deceptively small as he was made for speed and agility. He was also built for camouflage and his pure black scales made him almost invisible at night. He’d been the most feared dragon for a reason, until the village got to know him for the oversized kitten he was. Teeth retracted, he gave Astrid a gummy smile as she took Hiccup’s hand and pulled herself up.

She’d ridden with Toothless and Hiccup often and easily climbed into the saddle even with the awkward angle. Hiccup resituated himself, fitting his prosthetic leg into the stirrup that controlled Toothless’ own prosthetic tailfin, and they took off. Once they were in the air, Astrid closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of the wind around her. It felt like forever since she’d gotten to experience it.

Unknown to her, Hiccup looked back and smiled warmly at the look of pure joy covering her face. Toothless warbled encouragingly but Hiccup just blushed and turned away.

“Finishing your Snoggletog shopping?” he broke the silence.

“I got the message and everyone’s getting a pouch of money this year.” she said then patted her bag of purchases. “This is just stuff for yaknog.”

Hiccup couldn’t mask the brief look of horror and got a punch in the shoulder. “Would you stop it. I had you try it once years ago. This is for the dragons.”

Toothless gave an excited bark at the promise of Astrid’s holiday drink, earning him a fond pat on the side and emphatic thanks from her, but Hiccup still fought to keep his stomach from churning at the memory of the one time she’d had him try it.

Astrid had been so excited about coming up with new holiday traditions to make everyone happy that he’d tried her new beverage eagerly. He’d been unprepared for just how bad it would taste, like sour milk that was disturbingly warm, and then there was the texture. Needless to say it wasn’t the hit she’d been hoping for, at least until the dragons returned and absolutely loved it. In the end her yaknog did end up becoming a lasting and popular tradition even if not in the way she’d originally planned, but Hiccup would never forget that one time he’d been subjected to it.

“So what about you?” she said, thankfully taking his mind off his traumatic experience. “Have all your gifts ready?”

“Yeah.” he said, mind going to the creations he’d spent the last couple weeks working on, and one in particular. “I actually just finished the last of them this afternoon.”

“Well I’m excited to see what you made this year. You’re an amazing gift giver.” Hiccup’s heart warmed at the praise. He hoped she’d think that of the gift he’d gotten for her this year. Toothless warbled and Astrid laughed and assured. “And I’m excited for your gift too. They’re always amazing.”

They fell into pleasant silence, just enjoying the flight and each other’s company while Toothless directed them the long way. Still, it felt like no time at all they were landing in front of Astrid’s house. She dismounted and thanked them both for the ride. Rather than take off, Toothless jostled Hiccup in the saddle and gave him a pointed look.

“Hey, Astrid?” he started, but didn’t get any further when the twins came sprinting up to them.

Tuffnut almost slumped over as soon as he stopped but didn’t lose any of his excitement even as he had to try to get it out between gasps for air. “Guys…Quick….Great Hall.”

Astrid and Hiccup shared a quick look. They were both feeling equal parts curiosity and worry at whatever could get the twins worked up. Astrid was the one to ask, “What did you two do?”

“Why do you assume we did something?” Ruffnut asked looking genuinely indignant before quickly adding, “Don’t answer that.”

“They found a stowaway!” Tuffnut blurted out having finally gotten enough breath back for it. “In the ship that just got back from the winter trading. Some guy snuck in there. They’re questioning him at the Great Hall. Let’s go!”

Without waiting to see if they’d even understood the rapid explanation that just came out of his mouth, Tuffnut turned and sprinted off again. Ruffnut wasn’t far behind. Even with dragons around things could still get slow in a small village so anything unexpected was automatically exciting.

Astrid and Hiccup shared another look. Their curiosity and worry were stronger now. Hiccup held out a hand to Astrid and she climbed back into the saddle she’d just left and Toothless flew them over to the Great Hall.

News traveled fast around Berk. Despite having the last dragon currently left on the island to fly them there, the Great Hall was still crowded by the time Hiccup and Astrid set down. People poured out of the open doors and down the steps and multiple voices could be heard trying to talk over each other all the way down where they landed.

A typical gathering in Berk all things considered.

The two had to fight their way in, a task Toothless made a lot easier. Finally they were at the front of the crowd and were able to get a look at what was going on. The council stood together in discussion and a single person was sat in front of them.

At first they thought he was an old man with the snow white hair and lanky build. However, getting a better look at his face they were shocked to see he was no older than them. He looked unconcerned for someone who was having his fate decided, sitting with his legs crossed and watching the council almost amused.

Suddenly he looked their way and his eyes locked with Astrid’s. He had the bluest eyes that crinkled as he smiled brightly at her. She felt her breath catch as she looked at him. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place exactly what.

Then the moment was broken as Stoick’s booming voice called for attention. Everyone quieted down as they waited to hear the verdict.

*****

For the amount of time he’d spent thinking about if he wanted to become human, Jack hadn’t really thought about what it would be like.

It was weird. Not bad necessarily, but it would definitely take some getting used to.

The first thing he felt was heavy. After spending centuries being carried by the wind and all his movements being light as falling snow, just existing in a human body felt hefty and sluggish.

He also experienced cold for the first time since his death. His whole body tensed and shivered against his will. He could barely speak when the Berkians questioned him because his teeth were chattering so hard. His bare feet quickly became painfully cold but not enough to be numb.

So far being human wasn’t the greatest, but he always found a way to turn things around and have fun and he’d do it again.

He also hadn’t put a lot of thought into how he’d introduce himself to Berk. Human couldn’t normally ride the wind and show up at any location whenever they felt like it. Luckily, the Man in the Moon had that covered.

From his place in the sky watching over the world, he’d seen Berk’s tradition of sending out ships to do trade with other tribes. They always sent a last group of ships just before their winter holiday to gather anything they still needed before the freeze took over. The last of these ships was almost home and would give Jack perfect cover for getting to the island.

Jack was surprised. He’d been worried the Moon wouldn’t even grant his request, but the Man in the Moon had actually gone so far as to put a lot of thought into helping him.

The story of how he came to be there was easy to come up with, since it was mostly the truth. Jack originally came from a village far away. He fell into a frozen lake as a child and it left his hair white. He didn’t have any family left and spent a long time traveling around. Now he was looking for somewhere to settle for good and hoped that place would be Berk.

Mostly the truth, just omitting the whole being reborn as a winter sprite and traveling on the wind for three hundred years.  

With one last moment of hesitation, Jack offered his staff to the Moon. It had been his one possession and comfort for so long that giving it up felt like saying goodbye to another friend. He was embarrassed that he actually shed a few tears as it was lifted away from him, but the Moon didn’t comment on them.

Then he was carried away. It wasn’t like when the wind carried him. This felt less like riding a horse full speed and more like a kitten being lifted by its mother. Then he was set down in the cargo hold of Berk’s ship. As his feet touched the wood he felt his body grow heavier as his humanity was restored. It was such a mixed feeling of loss and gain that he collapsed to his knees and cried while he had the privacy to do so.

Just as he calmed himself down, he heard the commotion of the ship reaching the harbor. It wasn’t long after that when they came to retrieve the cargo and discovered him sitting innocently on a crate. While they stared dumbfounded, he greeted them cheerfully like they were old friends that bumped into each other at the market.

Things happened quickly after that. He was lifted up by the scruff of his cloak and carried away while they yelled about finding a stowaway and calling the chief to deal with him. Before he knew it, he was in the Great Hall and set down in front of the gathered council.

Jack recognized most of them. Spitelout was Snotlout’s father and looked similar to his son. He was also the most vocal about not trusting Jack. While he was a jerk, Jack did understand where he was coming from. First there was the Heather incident that ended with Alivn having the Book of Dragons. Then there was Hroar and his ability to make dragons go crazy.

Also that guy who sold fur so he could steal female dragons for their eggs. What was his name again? Jack actually played a part in that adventure since it was in the snow but he couldn’t remember much about that guy besides his apparently addictively soft furs. Jack still wondered what animal they came from.

That said, his insistence on throwing Jack in jail until he proved himself trustworthy felt like overkill.

The council also included Formerly Silent Sven. He always made Jack think of Bunny because of how egg shaped his bald head was. One year Jack helped decorate the eggs and gave a few an oversized mustache to match Sven’s. Bunny still didn’t know what was so funny about eggs with mustaches but Jack could barely breathe he was laughing so hard.

Then there was Phlegma. As a florist she was one of the more ordinary looking of the group, but also made Jack a little nervous due to her ability to live up to her name “the fierce” when she wanted to.

Gobber was the easiest to recognize. He was tall, stalky, and a little bit hunched. He was bald under his long-horned helmet, but still looked hairy do to his long, braided, blonde mustache. He was missing an arm and a leg that he replaced with a hook and a wooden peg respectively. He stood at Stoick’s right hand and summarized the details for the rest of the council and villagers as they arrived.

Chief Stoick was a mountain of a man. He towered over everyone else and had the broad muscular build to emphasize it. His hair and beard were both long and braided in a way that seemed to add to his size. He wore a green tunic, gilded belt, and fur mantel to show his status. He watched Jack the whole time with an unreadable expression and Jack found himself feeling intimidated.

However, the one who made him most nervous of this group of people deciding his fate was Bertha. She was a strong, stalky woman with two thick blonde braids framing her face. Bertha believed anything weighing her down or getting in the way was nothing but a hinderance, so she had a simple helmet and outfit and some nonrestrictive armor but was otherwise unremarkable. Yet she was the one Jack feared most for two reasons.

First, she was terrifyingly strong and skilled and could take down just about anyone quickly and methodically if she believed them to be a threat.

Second and more importantly, she was Astrid’s mother.

Jack suddenly felt the need to sit up straighter and finger comb his hair into something a little more presentable. While he was tempted to tune out the council’s conversation and get a look at the Great Hall he’d never gotten to see from the inside, much like he’d been at his first trip to North’s workshop, he decided that could wait and focused on what they were asking him and how he responded.

He had to make a good impression on the woman who might end up being his mother-in-law.

They asked him questions, some more hostile than others, and he stuck to his story. The revelation that he was an orphan seemed to pull a few heartstrings. Gobber, who’d been the nicest during the interrogation, looked completely heartbroken for him. Finally, the questioning came to an end and the council turned to each other to discuss what they’d do with him.

While they did that, Jack took the opportunity to look around the Great Hall. While Jack had been to many more impressive places, especially the other guardians bases, he still felt this place had earned its name. It was big, for the village, with a high ceiling creating a sense of greater scale. Carvings decorated the pillars and multiple tapestries hung around the walls, telling stories Jack would’ve loved to hear.

It was also full of a curious village all staring at him. He grinned cheekily back at them and laughed when a few looked unsettled at his reaction to what should’ve been an intimidating situation. Then he went back to looking around.

Feeling a new set of eyes on him, he looked up and right into Astrid’s eyes. His heart skipped a beat and he suddenly felt very nervous and was questioning everything. Even back when he’d first been human, he’d never really had a crush on anyone and wasn’t sure what to do.

Realizing he’d been staring, he smiled as warmly as he could. Trying to convey his feelings without pushing too hard to start.

The moment was broken when Stoick broke the chatter with the council’s decision. Berk had a share of strangers come seeking hospitality only to betray them. They didn’t want to make that mistake again so he wouldn’t be free to just run around the village. They also weren’t going to turn their backs on someone in need, especially someone in his position, or use their caution as an excuse to mistreat him. That part was said pointedly at Spitelout.

“So, here’s what we’ve decided.” Stoick continued, and Jack felt his heart speed up in anticipation and nerves. “You will be placed in the care of one of us. That way we can watch you and watch over you.”

Jack nodded. It sounded like a good compromise. He just hoped whoever got custody of him wouldn’t put him under house arrest or be attached to his hip or anything like that.

“As for who’s going to take you in,” Stoick started.

Jack knew Stoick was out. The chief’s house was off limits to outsiders ever since they housed Heather their and she gave the Book of Dragons to Alvin. Spitelout put his hands on his hips and looked away in a clear indication of “not it.” Jack was thankful for that. Gobber looked like he wanted to take the boy in, but that would give him access to the forge which was also off limits until he proved himself. While no one else made it as obvious as Spitelout, they didn’t look eager to house a stranger either.

“I’ll do it.” said Bertha simply, and stepped forward to gather him up as that was that.

The gathering reeled for a moment at the suddenness, before Stoick officially called an end to the meeting. As the crowd dispersed, Jack felt Astrid’s eyes on him again. Everything happened fast after that, or at least if felt like it to Jack. He was hoping he’d get the chance to finally talk to Astrid for real, but the chance never came.

With the meeting declared over and not much else interesting likely to happen, the crowd started dispersing. Bertha gripped Jack by the shoulder and started steering him towards their house. Jack was pretty sure she wasn’t trying to hurt him, but she was strong. Astrid said something to Hiccup and followed after her mother.

When they got to the house, Jack was given clothes to sleep in, a bucket of warm water to wash up with, a few blankets, and a place next to the hearth to make a bed. Leaving him to settle in, Astrid and Bertha left to talk in private.

Changing his outfit felt surreal, and even a little bittersweet. Looking at his reflection in the water, he was a little surprised to see his hair was still white and eyes still blue. A part of him had been expecting his appearance to go back to the way it was when he was originally human. On that note, he decided to take stock of what it felt like to be human now that he had the chance.

First he ran his hands through his hair. It had a different feel without a thin layer of frost dusting it, the same as his skin when he ran his hands over his face and down his arms. The missing layer of frost on his shoulders felt especially odd, but the oddest thing was how warm he felt. Holding his hands close to his face, he felt the body heat he’d lacked for three hundred years radiating off his skin and the puff of heat from each breath.

“Are you warm enough?”

The voice almost made Jack jump out of his skin. He whipped around to see Bertha had come in to check on him. He felt a rush of heat in his face, another bizarre change, that she’d seen him standing there blowing on each of his fingertips probably looking like a crazy person.

“I’m sorry for the cold reception you got at first.” Bertha continued.

“No worries.” Jack laughed it off. “I’m used to cold.”

Bertha looked at him in a way that made Jack irrationally worry he’d given away too much, but if she read something in his words, she didn’t say it. “Well, I’m sorry anyway. Our village has a bad track record of people showing up seeking our hospitality only to find ways to hurt us, and my daughter always seems to get the worst of the danger.”

Jack knew all about that, but tried not to show it and listened intently. It was easy because he was genuinely curious about something. “Not to sound ungrateful, but why did you decide to help me. I’d figure you’d be the last to volunteer.”

“I’m both a warrior and a mother. I can’t just see someone who needs help, especially someone so like my own child, and do nothing.” Bertha said simply. Then she offered him a smile and set her hands on his shoulders. “It seemed life hadn’t been very kind to you and I wanted you to have the chance to change that. Your first impression might’ve been rough, but Berk can be a wonderful place to make a home. I hope your able to find what you’re looking for here.”

Jack smiled back, fighting not to let tears fall or give into the temptation to rush into a hug. It had been so long since he’d received any form of a mother’s love. In the dim firelight he could almost picture his own mother in her place.

“Thank you.” he said voice thick. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Thank you. For helping me and taking me in.”

Bertha smiled warmly back at him and they finished sharing a sweet moment.

Then her grip on his shoulders tightened just enough to threaten pain and her expression turned ominous. “But I’m warning you now. If you turn out to be any sort of threat or harm my daughter in any way, you’ll live just long enough to regret it. Even if you manage to take me down, I can still crush every major blood source in your body with nothing but my bare hands and dying breath.”

Jack wasn’t sure how to respond to that and wasn’t sure he even could with how hard he was wincing. She didn’t end up giving him the chance to answer as she patted him and bid him a cheerful goodnight, leaving Jack alone and still trying to process what just happened.

With how eventful the day had been, Jack thought sleep would come easy. Instead, despite being mentally and physically exhausted, he just couldn’t get to sleep. He tossed and turned in his nest of blankets but just couldn’t get himself to settle down enough to sleep. Eventually he threw an arm over his eyes with a sigh. Then he felt a tiny hand pat his cheek and jerked around to see Baby Tooth sitting on his pillow.

“What are you doing here?” he asked but there was nothing but pure happiness in his voice at seeing his little friend again.

Baby Tooth fluttered around to hug his chest in a clear indication that she’d missed him. Jack leaned up on his elbow and set one hand over her tiny body in a return of the hug.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but I can’t really hang out with you while I’m trying to be human.” Baby Tooth backed away and hovered in front of him looking heartbroken and Jack immediately hated himself.

Of all Toothiana’s mini fairies, the one he’d dubbed Baby Tooth was particularly small and had bright eyes and freckles that reminded him of his little sister. That combined with their experiences during the last Nightmare War gave Jack a big brother feeling toward her.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” he rushed to assure. “I really am happy that you’re here, but no one here can see you and if they see me talking to “nothing” they might set me drifting off the island for going crazy.”

He added some mildly dramatic flair as he described the consequences of being labeled crazy in Berk that got a tinkling laugh out of Baby Tooth, just like he’d hoped. He held out his hands and she landed in them.

“Even if we can’t hang out like we used to, I will still try to find time for you. It might take a while since I’m sort of under custody in a way right now, but I won’t ever forget you or abandon you. Promise.”

Baby Tooth smiled and nuzzled against his hand. Jack laid back down and Baby Tooth settled in beside him on his pillow. Whispering, he told her all about the misadventures he’d had since coming to Berk, adding in some exaggerations and voices to make it more fun and less clinical. Eventually, they both fell asleep.