It's certainly been quite a while and i'm sorry. If you want to know why it took so long, I will explain at the end of the chapter. But that's not what is important right now. On to the chapter and remember I don't own anything.

10 Fire

Hiccup felt something rise within him, he was kissing Astrid. He felt the like he was human, he was a person. It changed him, made him and broke him. She felt so perfect, sitting in his lap and encased in his arms. It fought against the years of conditioning that he had received form the people of Berk. he was no longer nothing he was something, someone worth it. He clung to the thought letting it warm his insides and elevate his mind.

They separated, looking wide eyed at each other. They did not speak, their moment did not require it. They just sat there staring into each other, hearts racing in sinc. Their first kiss had just happened. It had been temid and measured, they had both kissed without confidence. But leaving each other had showed each of them that this was real and it was really happening. In fact the kiss had set of something in their souls that could not be stopped. It was like a boulder rolling down a mountain, the faster it went the more it seemed to gain.

Astrid knew her eyes were shining, showing a part of her that she didn't know existed. He saw all of her and she did not care, she moved with more confidence connecting their lips. If she had thought that the first kiss amazing, the second was mind blowing. His lips seemed to come to life as they moved across hers, inscribing indecipherable runes. And for the second time she felt heat rise within her abdomen and up to her core. There it radiated outwards fueling her heart to great pounding speeds.

Hiccup knew not where feelings, of the strength that he was having, came from. The way she was sitting his lap, the way she leaned against him, the way she kissed him, it was overwhelming. He thought that he had died and gone to valhalla. She broke the kiss pulling away slightly to look into his eyes and yet again he reached a new level of wonder. He could not understand how someone this beautiful and perfect would even be near him, let alone kiss him. For that matter how could she be that beautiful. He felt her hands slowly slid up his chest in an intoxicating manner. Then her slender, strong arms snaked around his tall neck. He marveled at the color of her skin; a milky white that caught the firelight and glowed. Her face was so, dare he say it, sweet, beautiful beyond words, more than that seemed human and pained. He cursed his cousin for what he had done. Then he made a vow in his heart to never let her get hurt if he could help it and to somehow let her be the warrior that she was and deserved to be. This time he went in for the kiss, letting her have all of him.

She pulled him down into the kiss, almost frantic to feel his lips on hers. Their movements were more fluid and faster as the kiss got more heated. Her head moving in a strange, unarranged synchrony. His arms unlatched form her and her pulled them back letting his hand slid across her back to her sides. From their he let them fall down her sides gently, making her shiver. He let them rest at her waist. She smiled slightly into the kiss and pulled him closer deepinging it. She felt wonderful, like she was able to fly and was a dragon herself. His hands gently pulled her closer by the waist.

He felt a connection to her. It was so weird, before he had only ever connected with his dragon. Connecting with a human was very strange but welcome. It was also different, he wanted to be closer to her, so close that he would be a part of her. It was more than a want, it was a need that knew no bounds, that threatened to break his control over his mind. He broke the kiss to look down at her, words passing without sound. He showed her that he need her closer if possible and she looked back with complete reciprocation. This time she started the kiss almost diving at his face. They poured as much emotion and passion into each as they could, but it wasn't enough. Hiccup felt her shift and he released her waist, his hands sliding off her hips and to the ground. She slowly unfolded her legs in his lap. Then she slid them lightly and cleanly around his waist. She then pulled, using her legs, bringing her flush with him. They were as one.

The heat she felt now seemed like it should have been illegal. He was so close to her or she was so close to him, it didn't matter to her. So she kissed him for all she was.

The short man looked at the unconscious dragon, he was fighting more than one evil here. It was a nightfury, that was what compounded his thoughts. No self respecting nightfury would have done what this one did. It had dove straight at him, when it knew he had arrows and the capability to take it down. He knew they were intelligent, most vikings thought that they weren't. They were cunning animals, in fact that is why he enjoyed catching them so much. They came him an intellectual challenge. They were far stronger and faster, but he was much smarter and had more resources. Plus he had to make a living somehow and selling dragons was a very lucrative business.

In his business he had seen a lot of dragons and had learned the personalities of each one. Though he had never caught a nightfury, he had encountered two other furies. His encounters had been brief but he had learned much from them. They, without a doubt, were the hardest dragon to out smart and capture in their size class. They never rushed you straight on, never made mistakes, never missed their shots, and they never had ego issues. The last one was interesting, most common dragons could easily be captured if you got them to be blinded by what they were. If they thought they were stronger, you could outsmart them. But nightfuries were different and strange. They knew their strengths and limits and pushed them, using who they were to their greatest potential. They were way smarter than the average dragon. That was what was the puzzle nightfury charge him and look as if it was fighting itself. Its actions were not its own. The thought was scary. He had seen some pretty big dragons, even captured a few. He had heard talls, from farther north, of a dragon that was the size of a mountain. That within itself was bad, but even worse was that these stories always included that dragon could control other dragon telepathically. The people that told these stories were usually considered insane. He travelled a lot, his job required that, and no matter where he went the story never changed.

Maybe it was coincidence, maybe not. That was what he had to figure out right now. The actions of the dragon at his feet were those of someone with a lot of power who wasn't used to being shown up or stopped. That told him one thing, he was dealing with more than just a bunch of dragons.

The taller man approached quietly, "brother, its time,"

"You are to hasty," the short man replied without turning. He was looking out over Berk from the great hall.

"I do not understand, the chief is away. Now would be the perfect time."

"We must be better in the eyes of the people, we can not do this unless we show the chief useless."

The taller man smiled cruelly, "That would be hard,"

"Careful, remember these are vikings, not logiticions."

The taller man nodded, he would never understand his younger brother. All he knew was that his brother was nothing short of genius. He had just defeated the largest dragon assault that this village had probably ever seen. Not only that, but he had done it without any casualties and they had just captured a lot of dragons. That was another thing, his brother had found this island as a good spot to harvest dragons. How he knew these thing was beyond him.

He walked up next to his brother and motioned to the dragon, "shall I put it in a cage"

His brother nodded and he called to some of their men. They began the process of moving a thousand pound deadweight. They tied ropes to each of its limbs and then all strained in dragging it to a cage. The thing was to heavy, they were so dangerous in when they were awake, but now it was so harmless.

It took them a good hour to get it to the cage and safely inside. The work had been hard and he was sweaty. He checked his work for the fourth time, his brother didn't like mistakes, especially with dragons. Looked at the unusually peaceful form on the cage floor. The black rough scales, ear flaps and triangle shaped head all part of this legend before him. Them he noticed something, it had a saddle.

He turned and ran, he didn't care how exhausted he was his brother needed to know about this. His brother was still standing at the entrance to the great hall. He doubted that his brother had moved an inch physically.

"What is it," the shorter man asked.

"The dragon has a saddle!" the taller man exclaimed, out of breath.

"Oh, that,"

"But that means…"

The short man cut him off, "yes and i'm counting on it.

They had stopped kissing. But they were still very close. She sitting in his lap with his arms around her, pulling her against him. Her head was against his chest and she could hear his heart. She had learned something, more than something. She could trust him and he cared about her. Also she didn't have to be tough all the time, there were time for being tough but also there were time she could be vulnerable, with him. It felt to good to be true.

Hiccup wondered once again, what had he done right to deserve this? To be in a life threatening situation with the most beautiful women sitting in his lap. After this he would never know what to expect.

She shifted her head and looked into the fire. Life was going to be different now. It would be odd at first, but they would learn to live with each other. Or that's what she assumed, after what had happened she couldn't imagine leaving him. She also knew that eventually they would take things further than they had tonight. One day they would consummate and at the rate that they were going it would be soon.

He looked down at her golden hair, it caught the firelight in a way that made him think of her eyes. She turned and looked up at him, he smiled. She smiled back and the world stopped for him. It was a beautiful smile, full of something he didn't know what to call. It went straight to his heart and filled it up.

She leaned her head back against his chest. She did not care what the night brought; the cold she couldn't feel, the dark she could not see, it was only the warmth from within that showed her what she could be. What she meant in only a short time to him. She could only imagine what the future would be like.

"Are you cold," Hiccup asked.

"Not anymore," she answered. She swore that she could feel him blush. Smiling to herself, she let her consciousness go slowly bit by bit as she descended into sleep.

So there is the chapter. Now if my counting is right this is six weeks behind schedule. First thing is this will not be a recurring issue. OK, so the first two weeks that I didn't update were because of some unusually stressful quarter finals. I had missed a lot of school days and (long story short) did three weeks of school work in two weeks plus quarter exams. After that I need a one week rest to recuperate. Then I found out that we were moving. It took a couple weeks to help my mom get the house ready for showings. I am still working out some of the finer details of that whole thing. The bright side is that most of that stuff is over and summer begins pretty soon, so I will have a lot more time to write. And maybe start another story.

I hope that whoever is reading this has a good day or night.

nerdT14