Forevermore

Summary: The Dragon's Beast is a man with scales riding a fatal dragon. He is the only reason Astrid is alive. She is to wed and then kill the beast that has beset Berk for 99 years. But that's not how things work. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock has felt like less of a human with every passing year. Just one more year until that's true. This is life. Forevermore.

Astrid Hofferson

She awoke to a deep blue light peering through her window and wetness on her cheeks. She didn't bother trying to convince herself it was merely sweat; it was no use. She just lay there, savoring the peace and quiet before the true thunder would come crashing down.

It was still night, but not for long; Astrid was still free, but not for long. As slowly as it came, the sky still became blue and the sun still became bright. With that, the silence left.

Astrid wished the birds would just shut up. They had no right to be happy. Not on a day like today.

Everyone who knew her said that Astrid was lucky to be alive. The only female that was firstborn without death was Ruffnut (believe it or not, the name was fairly common within her family), and that was only because she was the twin of a boy, Tuffnut (see). Being a firstborn girl on the island of Berk meant instant death. They had different plans for Astrid. To be honest, Astrid would have rather for them to have drowned her. But someone had to do her job. Someone had to kill the Dragon's Beast.

The Dragon's Beast was said to have once had a name. He was said to have once been human, to once have looked human. But then he did the unthinkable; he sided with the dragons. The Elders cursed him of eternity as a scaly beast-man with his dragon. The village of Berk had honored them for years and years to come. They still did. But in Astrid's reality, it was idiotic for the Vikings to have done. All they did was have him around to torment them forever! Such a beast would not care for what he looked like.

A beast you're marrying, a small voice in Astrid's mind spoke.

It was true. Exactly twenty-one years ago, a deal was struck. As a price for no death, Astrid was to marry the man. Therefore, while the village was still raided, the Dragon's Beast interfered with any major (human) damage. Still, the village wanted the raids to stop. That was the real reason for the deal. Astrid was to marry the beast not to prevent death, but to kill the Dragon's Beast. And that had been every day life for Astrid. Every day it was train, train, break, train, train, and sleep. They didn't care if she knew how to read or write or do math.

That was why every break was filled with books. Astrid wasn't going to be some dead-brained fighter like Snotlout. Plus she wanted to be the best in everything (not that she wasn't the best warrior). They tried to stop her; it wasn't going to matter in the end anyways. But Astrid was born stubborn, and stubborn she would stay.

The only person to support Astrid's care for knowledge was Maeve Ceres. Maeve was the village healer of Berk, and was born a slave. Although being Berk's first female to become free of slavery by herself, it also lead to the reasoning that Maeve was never able to read or write (she never cared for math). Maeve declined Astrid's offers to teach her.

"It's takes away the little time you have. Besides, you can't teach an old dog new tricks," Maeve would always say.

Speak of the devil. A light knock sounded throughout the room. Slowly, the door opened to reveal Maeve herself.

"They found it best that I were to wake you up," she said lightly.

Astrid smiled despite her mood. It wasn't that the phrase was really that funny, but the truth behind it was. Astrid was feeling so awful that it would take an elderly friend to make sure she didn't go into an raging rampage.

"I've been awake for a while," Astrid said, hoisting her into the seated position.

Maeve shrugged.

"They figured. Let's get you ready."

Astrid pretended not to notice Maeve just barely refrained from saying the words 'big day'.

,~'

Astrid blankly looked at herself in the mirror. If it had been a true day of marriage, and out of love, Astrid would have admitted to liking how she looked. The dress was an ivory color with lightly added floral patterns that trailed a couple inches past her feet. The fabric gleamed in a way that only silk could and it accented her curves delightfully. Astrid's shoes were unnoticeable under her dress, but when she walked, you could see that they were delicately crafted with the same material as her dress.

Her father came in, also with an emotionless expression and Astrid turned around. It was time. When Astrid approached her father and went to open the door, her father stopped her.

"Take this. It is the only thing that can kill the Dragon's Beast."

It was a blade of the smaller category. In its metal were intricate and ancient runes, in which contrasted to the plain handle. Astrid took the blade and slipped it into a hidden fold in her dress, made just for this occasion.

"Are you ready?" her father asked.

No. "Yes."

It looked odd. The Dragon's Beast was here with his monster, yet the skies were void of the other beasts. The Dragon's Beast wore armor made mainly of black leather and metal, with some brown leather as well. On the shoulders were red dragon symbols. Then, of course, there was his mask in which Astrid was eternally grateful for. In the (very) few places the armor exposed, there were shiny black scales that matched the feral dragon next to him. Seeing his face would probably have had Astrid stumble into a kneel and face the ground crying.

As she approached, Astrid could feel her stomach churning. She didn't want to do this. She wanted to go home and... And do what? This was her life. This was all she knew. This was the final test.

Astrid averted her attention from Maeve and her mother, both of whom did not attempt to hide the tears leaking through her eyes.

The chief, Spitelout, nodded and Astrid's hand was placed into the Dragon's Beast's. Her breathing hitched. She wasn't positive that she was feeling his gloves or his actual hands. Both were black and (assumedly) eerily cold. The pastor opened his mouth, but the Dragon's Beast shook her head.

If it was possible, the crowd became even more silent and uncomfortable. The Dragon's Beast dropped his hands and, with some hesitation, pulled Astrid with him.

"It's no' a proper wedding without the vows," Maeve said calmly.

It surprised Astrid. Maeve never spoke much about the Dragon's Beast, and it was just now that it seemed clear; Maeve wasn't afraid of the Dragon's Beast. It shouldn't have been as shocking, considering the fact that Maeve believed in the good of everyone. But how could the same rules apply to the Dragon's Beast? He was a no-good blood bringer.

"It's fine, Maeve," Mr. Hofferson said.

If Maeve's outspokenness hadn't been the most shocking moment, the next one was. It made Astrid briefly forget her fears. The Dragon's Beast looked at Maeve and Maeve looked right back at him. Unwaveringly. Slowly, the Dragon's Beast nodded, as if agreeing to something that their silent starring implied. And maybe it was. With the apparent agreement from the Dragon's Beast, Maeve looked at Astrid and gave a soft smile.

Astrid guessed the Dragon's Beast wasn't much for good-byes. With a tug and a yell from Astrid, they were up and in the air in no time.

The wind blew through Astrid's hair and, to be honest, it made Astrid feel— terrified. She was over fifty feet off the ground and flying at top speed. Without thinking too much about it, Astrid clung on to the Dragon's Beast for dear life. She could feel the Dragon's Beast stiffen, but, for the moment, she didn't care. If this were some plot to kill her, then he would go down with her— even if he'd come back to life. He still felt the pain of it. He still felt pain, right? Astrid wasn't able to think straight. There were only two words going through Astrid's head correctly: Fly and death.

When they landed in the middle of (really) nowhere, Astrid let out a sigh of relief, only to become purely petrified. She was holding onto a hideous beast that rode a dragon, so tightly she could feel him breathing. With a yelp, she let go with such enthusiasm that she fell off the dragon. It was the ground. The ground was fine. It wasn't the Dragon's Beast or the beast's dragon or the sky or Berk...

Suddenly, Astrid recognized a sound of laughter. It wasn't her as it sure as Hel wasn't the dragon. It was the Dragon's Beast.

Without thinking, Astrid sputtered, "Are you... laughing?"

From Astrid's seat on the ground, she could see and hear some shuffling as the Dragon's Beast dismounted his dragon.

"Yes. Is it not normal for one to laugh?" He replied, much to Astrid's surprise.

"Well, yes," Astrid mustered. Why was she still talking?

"No laughing, huh? Some new rule of Berk's? I wouldn't be surprised," the Dragon's Beast's tone grew bitter, "They've always managed to come up with the most inferior rules."

Astrid was incredibly insulted, but something about this seemed off to Astrid. Why would the Dragon's Beast know anything about Berk's politics? The Dragon's Beast landed on the ground and looked at Astrid through his mask.

"Well, come on then. Let's get inside."

Astrid stood up stiffly and followed the Dragon's Beast into a cave of sorts. Despite the situation, Astrid had plenty of questions flowing through her head.

"What am I to call you?" Astrid blurted, making the Dragon's Beast stop walking.

"What?" he asked.

"I-I," wish I was smart enough not to say that, "have a feeling th-that what we call you on Berk would not b-be very... appropriate."

Much to Astrid's surprise (again), the Dragon's Beast snorted.

"No, probably not. Last I heard, they were calling me Lizard Man. My name's Hiccup."

"Hiccup?" Dear Odin, how many times would it take for her unfiltered words to get her killed before she killed him?

"They used to say that hideous names warded off trolls and other 'nasty' creatures. As if out lovely Viking demeanors didn't already do that."

Parents still did that, but at least Astrid was smart enough to keep that to herself.

"And what's your name, Milady."

Milady? This was weird. Not the kind of weird fear that Astrid expected to feel with such a dreaded creature, but the normal kind of weird. In which made it weirder.

"A-astrid."

"Well, 'A-astrid', this is your room. I hope you find it to your suiting. Now, before I leave you to your own business, would you mind handing me over that dagger in your dress."

"What dagger?" Astrid pretended to be void of knowledge for such item.

The Dragon's Be— Hiccup merely held out his hand. With a sigh, Astrid handed over the blade.

"Thank you. I'll come get you in the morning for breakfast."

With that, Dra— Hiccup was off, followed by his dragon who gave Astrid and indignant huff.

What. The Hel. This was not, under any circumstances, in her wildest dreams, even under the influence large doses of mead, what she imagined The D— HICCUP to be like. The great and feared Dragon's Beast was named Hiccup, for Thor's sake, and he called her weird terms such as 'Milady' and mocked her stuttered by calling her 'A-astrid'. Then he look her dagger as if it weren't some tool he knew was planned on being used to kill him (in which, in another lovely plus made this 50% harder).

Astrid was fairly certain she was going to keel over from absolute, pure shock.

A/N: I'm not going to say much, other than these three things:

I don't own HTTYD 1 or 2.

I am going to have Hiccup's (sort of) POV in the next chapter.

Review.