This story is not actually mine; rather, it was gifted to me by the original author, TidePoolDevil, due to issues on their end that prevent them from writing. I am simply holding onto it for them, and potentially continuing it, hopefully with their assistance.

So, without further ado, enjoy!

Chapter 1

}Decisions change lives{

~Hiccup~

Great. Just great. I get to kill the Nightmare. Whoo. Woopdy-do.

I huffed and brought the heavy basket up higher on my back. Stepping over a fallen log I looked behind me, checking for unwanted tails. Nothing there. I waited perfectly still for a moment more before nodding satisfied and continuing on my way to the cove. The further and further I got from the village, the quieter and more peaceful it became. Bird calls sounding above me, mingling with the rustling of the trees in the wind. I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the feeling of peace that came with the forest.

I followed the worn dirt path down to the cove, losing myself in the quiet of the forest. Just a little further and I'm free. Free. I wonder what it'll be like, relaxing probably, uplifting maybe. I sighed, my breath disturbing the tranquil feeling of the forest, it will be bliss.

I looked up and felt a grin tug at my lips, almost there. I slipped into the entrance to the cove and stopped by the firmly stuck shield. I lifted the heavy basket up and over, letting it flop to the ground. I slid under the shield, my boots disturbing the loose soil, and picked up the basket again.

"Hey bud, where are ya?" I called out, dropping the basket of fish by a boulder. "We're going on a little vacation. Forever."

I knelt down to check everything was in order with the basket when I heard the shink of a sharpening blade and someone spoke up.

"What are you doing?"

I glanced up briefly to see Astrid seated atop the boulder sharpening her axe nonchalantly.

"Hey Astrid." I mumbled. Wait… Astrid?!

My head snapped back up and I scrambled backwards in panic. "Astrid, hey! Uh… hey… hi… hey Astrid!"

She examined her glinting axe in the light and dropped the sharpening stone she was using. "I want to know what you're doing. And you better answer."

Her nonchalant attitude was gone in an instant and she turned to glare at me, the sunlight giving her a golden halo but shadowing her face.

I gulped. One thought ran through my mind as she fixed me with her predatory gaze. Finished.

She slipped off the rock and advanced on me, pointing the axe blade at me threateningly. "You didn't answer my question. What. Are. You. Doing." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "are you training with someone?"

I raised my hands in a (hopefully) placating manner, "Astrid, I know this looks bad..." Excuse, excuse...

She surged forward and seized me by the shoulder of my riding harness. "It better not have anything to do with this!"

Oh for Thor's sake...

"Alright, alright you got me. I… I've been making outfits! So what are you waiting for! Drag me back, expose my secret." I took her hand and held it to my shirt so she could drag me away.

She glared at me and grabbed hold of my wrist, twisting my arm at an unnatural angle. I cried out in pain and fell to the dirt.

"Why would you do that?"

"That's for the lies!" She dropped the butt of her axe on my stomach, "And that's for everything else."

I grunted in pain when the iron capped wood connected solidly with my stomach. I lay splayed in the dirt, gathering my breath. I picked myself up slowly, brushing the dirt from my clothes. In the corner of my eye I saw a green eyed shadow moving toward us.

The gods hate me...

I turned away, looking up at Astrid as she brushed her golden bangs from her eyes. As she did so her head tilted slightly towards Toothless. A muffled gasp wrenched itself from her throat, eyes widening in shock.

"Get down!"

She shoved me to the side, perhaps harder than necessary, and raised her battle axe. She charged forward, a battle cry raging in her throat. I scrambled to my feet as Toothless narrowed his pupils to slits and charged Astrid in all his fury. *Ha ha, puns :D*

"No!" I skidded on the loose soil, shoving Astrid aside and came to a stop by the snarling creature of rage and black scales otherwise known as Toothless. I pushed my back against his head, creating a wall between a snarling beast and a dragon.

"What are you doing!" Astrid screamed, beautiful features morphed with anger and hate.

"Stopping you!" I shouted, protective instinct giving me strength in the face of fear.

She looked taken aback by my outburst, her hold on her axe going limp. "What?" She hissed through bared teeth.

"Stopping you." I answered evenly, straightening and looking her in the eye defiantly.

Toothless growled at the weapon in her hands, still not trusting my judgement obviously. I glared at her axe, edge stained with fresh blood. Probably from when I pushed her over.

"How about we start over?" I suggested hopefully. "Toothless, Astrid. Astrid, Toothless."

Toothless snarled at Astrid, baring his teeth. Astrid gave me a look that stated she obviously questioned my sanity before turning tail and running, forgetting her axe in her haste.

My shoulders slumped in defeat. "Duh-da-dah. We're dead."

Toothless waddled away obviously not caring anymore.

"He-hey! Where do you think you're going?" I demanded.

We flew out over the forest, scanning the floor for the familiar shield maiden. Toothless grumbled, he obviously didn't care about my crush in a positive way.

I leaned over the side and saw a familiar speck of shining blonde. "There!"

Toothless grumbled but obliged with a steep dive, swooping Astrid and seizing her by the arms and carrying her up. She screamed and struggled in a desperate attempt to escape. Toothless hovered for a moment, tossing Astrid so she landed in the top of a tree before landing himself. The tall tree bent and nearly touched the ground under his weight.

"Hiccup!" She shouted kicking out and trying to get a better hold on the branch. "Get me down from here!"

"Astrid please let me explain," I started, trying to calm her down.

"I am not listening to anything you have to say!" She shouted.

"Okay," I said calmly. "I won't speak. Just let me show you."

I leaned down and offered her a hand.

Her brow crumpled in thought for a moment before she swung up on the branch. She glared at my hand and smacked it away. Toothless growled when she reached out to climb on. I patted the top of his head reassuringly and after a moment of hesitation Astrid climbed on the saddle behind me.

She sat as far away from me as physically possible and held her arms up, obviously not wanting to touch me. "Get me down."

I frowned, she sounded nervous…

I leaned forward, patting Toothless' head, "down bud, gently." I turned back to Astrid confidently. "See, nothing to worry about."

Toothless made a sound in the back of his throat and next thing I knew we were flying upwards nearly entirely vertical. Astrid was screaming at the top of her lungs but over the rushing of the wind I could barely hear her. The wind tore at my hair and bit my eyes, tears streaming across my cheeks. Astrid flailed about trying to stop herself from flying off backwards and wrapped her legs around my waist, forcing the breath from my lungs.

"Toothless!" I shrieked.

Astrid pulled herself up and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, burying her face in my back.

Toothless leveled off and I felt Astrid sag in relief. Barely a moment after we barrel rolled to the right, soaring into a swift dive. We pulled up abruptly before Toothless flew into every one-coming wave, soaking Astrid and I with salty water.

"We need her to like us!"

Toothless pulled upwards in a constant spin.

"And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." I said sarcastically.

"Stop!" Astrid begged, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!"

Toothless made a satisfied noise and leveled off, breaking out above the clouds, now painted hundreds of shades of pink and orange in the sunset. Astrid relaxed against my back and I felt her lift her head. She gasped in wonder and untangled herself from me. I caught a glimpse of her touching the clouds in amazement.

We soared through the clouds, above the sea and below the stars. I stiffened slightly when Astrid leaned her head on my shoulders, then I realised, not out of fear, out of happiness.

"This is amazing." She finally said, she leaned forward to touch Toothless' head, "He's amazing." She rested a hand on my arm and spoke in my ear over the wind, "What are you going to do? Your final exam is tomorrow, you know you're going to have to…" she lowered her voice, "kill a dragon."

"Don't remind me."

Toothless froze and dove to the right suddenly, into the fog, drawing our somber conversation to an abrupt halt.

"Toothless?" I questioned. He'd never acted like this before.

I rested a hand on his head but he shook it off. This isn't good.

"What's the matter bud?"

Toothless didn't respond he just looked around nervously, his ear flaps vibrating and alert.

A screech sounded beside us and I saw a Monstrous Nightmare flap about beside us, a dead sheep in its claws. Astrid and I leaned forward as far possible trying to look small and insignificant. I started in shock as slowly dozens more dragons appeared out of the fog, all carrying what must be their kill.

I frowned concerned, "it looks like they're… hauling in their kill."

"What does that make us?" Astrid whispered nervously.

Suddenly the dragons all changed direction, falling into a steep dive through a tunnel-like cave. I gasped in horrified amazement as my eyes adjusted to the dark. Hundreds of dragons circled a giant hole, dropping their burdens into the pit. Toothless landed behind a stone pillar and we leaned forward to watch in fascinated horror. The pit seemed to glow with a pulsing orange light, turning the cave an eerie pale orange.

"They're not eating any of it." Astrid said, her voice a mixture of confusion and disgust.

"Well, it's nice to know all our food is being dumped down a giant hole." I said sarcastically.

My attention was attracted to a drowsy and apathetic looking Gronkle hovering over the pit. It opened its mouth and regurgitated a measly little fish, letting it fall into the light. The Gronkle scratched the side of its head with a hind leg before turning to leave. A mighty roar echoed throughout the cavern and all the dragons cowered in their little niches, fearing what comes next. The Gronkle started and tried to flee but it wasn't fast enough. The source of the roar bellowed again and out of the pit came the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen (next to Astrid of course). The head of a massive dragon came up out of the pit and closed its jaws around the Gronkle with an echoing snap!

Toothless sat back on his haunches and I leaned forward preparing to take off.

"Come on bud, let's get out of here."

The monster slowly sank back into its hole but it stopped abruptly, its nostrils flaring.

"Bud get us out of here." Toothless made a sound of agreement and unfurled his wings.

The monster turned to us and just before its mighty jaws would've swallowed us whole we lifted off, streaking away through the cave and into the night. Panicked shrieks and cries filled the night as we were swept away from the nest in a swirling mass of colours.

We soared through the night and back to Berk's shores, not looking back. We came to a stop on the pale sand of a hidden beach, the moon making it glow a bright white. Astrid slipped off Toothless' back and took a few steps before turning back to face me.

"It makes sense now, it's like a giant beehive. They're the workers, that's their queen. We have to warn the village."

"No. No… Astrid, they'll kill Toothless. I can't let them do that." I argued.

She looked at me in disbelief, "You want to keep this a secret? The thing we've been searching for since Vikings first sailed here, and you want to keep it a secret to protect your pet dragon?"

Toothless looked miffed when she called him a pet, but I ignored him.

I lifted my chin and pushed my shoulders back; I'd never been more serious.

"Yes."

Astrid looked surprised for a moment but then her expression softened with understanding, "Okay. So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. If I stay I'll have to… y'know, and there's always the risk that someone else will find Toothless. I don't want to take those risks. That's why I'm leaving. Maybe I'll come back one day, but for now I'm leaving." I shook my head slowly. "I can't stay here. It's not safe, for me or Toothless. I am not a dragon killer, I am not a Viking. I am a dragon rider and I can't stay here."

"So you're just leaving?" Astrid demanded.

"I never said that."

"You're abandoning us, leaving us at the mercy of that… that creature!"

"I never said that either."

Astrid looked positively livid. "Then what did you say?"

"Nothing. You didn't let me finish."

She growled and punched me in the arm, "just say it!"

"Ow! Ow fine!" I rubbed my bruising arm, "I was going to say that I'll leave, find somewhere safe and then comeback with, perhaps, more dragon riders and defeat the nest. I was never going to abandon Berk. Well, maybe leave it in the hands of someone else, but I was obviously never going to be chief!"

Astrid frowned thoughtfully, "Okay. Me too."

"…What?" I asked shocked.

"I'm coming." She said. I stared at her open mouthed. This couldn't possibly be happening. Astrid Hofferson, agreeing with me?

"What? Did you honestly think that after what you showed me up there, that I was just gonna sit back and stay on the ground in Berk for the rest of my life, surrounded by people like Snotlout?" She explained as if it were obvious.

"Y-you want to come? With… with me?" I squeaked.

She rolled her eyes. "That's what I just said. Anyway, I just need to go back to the village and get some stuff. I have a feeling that you don't want to leave before your final exam in the morning."

She stepped forward and punched me in the arm roughly. "That's for kidnapping me."

I held onto my now thoroughly bruised arm and gave Toothless an I have no idea look before I turned back to Astrid. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes almost..bashfully before seizing me by the collar and planting a kiss on my cheek.

"And that's for…everything else." she turned away shyly and ran into the dark of the forest.

I half turned to Toothless and caught his cheeky look.

"What are you looking at?"

Toothless chuckled in his dragon way, the sound strange and warbling in the night.