Okay welcome to the multi-chaptered Astrid/Hiccup story! You guys/gals liked the oneshot so much I decided to make a longer, more action-packed story!

The rocking of the boats was hypnotic.

Most had been destroyed by the dragons and the few that had not were practically overflowing with vikings. It was easy, sometimes, when she was with the other younger vikings to forget just how large the older ones were. Years of fighting and eating and fighting some more made people like that. Now that they all stood crammed on boats, Astrid was painfully aware of just how small and skinny the newly minted vikings were. Of how small and skinny she was. The boat she had stumbled onto was Stoick's boat and the vikings on it were all crowded as far away from the middle as they could. Not just because of Stoick and his son but because of the large black creature that had saved their lives. Thick bodies and heavy fog obscured Astrid's view but she knew, beyond a doubt, that Toothless was hovering over Hiccup with the same anxiousness that his father was showing. In some ways it was funny to see the identical looks on the dragon and the viking's face. But the last thing that Astrid felt like doing in the world was laughing.

She felt exhuasted. And not the kind that was solved with a few hours of sleep. A few days ago she had been sure that she would be a viking who killed dragons. Right before that, she wanted to be the viking who broke both of Hiccup's legs. Astrid still felt a dull sort of disbelief that everything they had been taught, everything that they had been trained to do, all of it was for nothing. They had been so intent on killing and hurting the dragons that they had failed to see what Hiccup had. Hiccup who stumbled upon it purely because he was too scared to kill the most fearsome dragon of all. Because when he looked at the scared dragon with the missing fin he had seen himself. Astrid realized that now that comparison would be even more accurate. Wrapping her arms around her suddenly cold chest, Astrid turned from the sea to the backs of the vikings in front of her.

It was hard to make it through them, with their fat and furs and metal. As she moved she realized that there were more than there should be. Her heart began to pound as she pushed through, trying to get past them. They became faceless, nameless, just barriers that prevented her from reaching her goal. Her arms began to ache and each step became harder as she tried to push through the living, breathing wall. She felt like she was trying to swim except the water was too thick. But Astrid was not the type to give up. Even as her arms burned and her breath caught in her throat, she pushed herself forward. Pushed herself through the wall of vikings. She had promised Hiccup she would look after Toothless if anything happened to him and she was going to keep that promise. No matter what. With a final burst of speed, Astrid pushed herself through the last of the vikings and stumbled onto the clear space on deck.

She saw Stoick, sitting next to Hiccup with his face buried in his hands. And she saw Toothless curled at the boys feet, his head resting protectively on his knee. The people she had just pushed through seemed to melt away as she lifed one numb foot and then the other, slowly making her way towards where they were. She could see Hiccup's form, covered by a blanket and laid out on the deck of the ship. As she walked she became acutely aware of everything. Of the breeze on the back of her neck, of the way the vikings were all silent, of how Stoick could not even look in the boys direction. Her sense sharpened once more and she realized that Toothless's eyes were closed and the front leg resting on Hiccup's knee was not moving. His ears weren't twiching either. By the time she got to Hiccup she knew what she would see. Astrid's breath caught in her throat as she saw the char marks that blackened the skin of his neck. The blanket was not rising and falling because his chest was not moving. His skin was ghostly white, there wasn't an ounce of color on him. The only time people got that pale was when they were--when they were dead..

Astrid stared down at them, feeling like she was truly out of her body. She had known Hiccup almost all her life, in the way that the others knew him. As the scrawny son of the chief who made them all look bad. But in the past few days she had seen him for something else. Seen him as someone she wanted to know better. Guilt, confusion, fear--all of it churned in her stomach as she looked at the still forms of the boy and the dragon. Distantly she could hear her name being called but it was coming from too far away to matter. Nothing mattered, not anymore. Not when the two of them were so still and so pale. They couldn't be dead, her mind protested. They just couldn't. Not now, not like this. Not when they had just started to get to know each other. She shook her head, wishing that the vision would go away if she willed it but it stayed.

In all its terrible glory, it stayed.

"Hiccup!"

With a ragged shout, Astrid bolted upright in bed.

It took her adrenaline fueled mind a moment to remember that it was a dream. Her eyes scanned the familiar outline of her room. The bed, the rafters--everything was as it should have been. Her breath still coming in short gasps, she could not quite bring herself to believe that everything was alright until she saw the massive shape curled by the fire. The disgruntled dragon fixed her with one half open gold eye, more to confirm that she was alright than anything else, before shutting it and burying her nose further under her wing joint. Astrid took in a shaky breath. If Bluebell was there then it was just a dream. Hiccup and Toothless were injured, missing a foot and a fin respectively, but they were alright. The people of Berk still had their dragons. Hiccup had killed the king and they had learned to live in peace with the other inhabitants of the island. Taking another breath, Astrid looked around her room once again. As her eyes adjusted to the flickering fire that gave the room its warmth, she could see the evidence of her room mate. There were long scratches and holes in the walls from the times when Bluebell got excited and forgot she was, well, a large dragon.

Astrid shook her head, trying to clear it. Under the covers she brought her knees to her chest. That nightmare, it was not new. But each time she had it it was just as awful. When she closed her eyes she could clearly see the burn marks on his too pale skin, the way his features looked when all the life had been erased from them. He seemed younger, frailer than they had all thought he was. And Toothless, Toothless hadn't looked like a fearesome dragon that had once struck terror into the hearts of everyone in Berk. He looked like a creature who had fought and died saving them all and trying to protect the boy that he loved. It was the most heartbreaking thing that Astrid had ever seen.

"Astrid?" Astrid's head flew up to see her mother standing in the doorway, "are you alright?"

"I--" she caught herself as her voice trembled, "I'm fine mom," she insisted, her voice steadier.

Like most viking women, Astrid's mother was no stranger to using a weapon or killing a dragon. Aldis the Quick had earned her name when she had single handedly taken down three Terrible Terrors in the span of a minute. Like her daughter she had a tumble of thick blonde hair and the same pale skin but the rest of Astrid was all her father. Her mothers face clearly showed she did not believe her daughter for a moment. Aldis stepped into the room fully, closing the door behind her. At the intrusion of her mother, Bluebell's eye opened again and her head came out from under the wing joint, her mother fixed squarely in the dragons gaze. Aldis had had some reservations about her daughter riding a dragon and even more about her bringing one into the house but when the frost had set in there was really nothing to do but figure out a way to make Bluebell comfortable inside the house.

It did not help matters that Aldis was one of the vikings who had a hand in capturing the dragons they had used in training. Bluebell and Aldis had tolerated each other much in the same way that Stoick and Toothless tolerated each other. But the dragon was far more enamored with Astrid. Or, as enamore as a Nadder got. Because if there was one thing on the earth that Bluebell truly was enamored with, it was herself. Both Astrid and her mother were vikings, far more inclined to pick up weapons than hairbrushes but every spare moment that Bluebell had was spent preening. It was an excellent thing that Astrid kept her gear clean because it quickly became clear that if there was dirt on the saddle it wasn't going anywhere near her dragon. The one time they had tried that both Astrid and Bluebell had wound up covered in mud with Bluebell as close to hysterical as a dragon got over being so dirty. Aldis, without batting an eyelash, had told them both that until they got clean neither was coming in the house.

Deciding that the woman was not a threat, Bluebell once again tucked her head and fell asleep as Aldis crossed the room to where her daughter sat on the bed. Astrid pulled her knees higher to her chest as her mother came to the bed and sat down. Astrid hadn't told anyone about the reoccuring nightmare. So much was going on, her dreams seeemed stupid to talk about.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" she asked. Astrid shook her head, "I was nervous before my first hunt too. Its nothing to be ashamed of--"

"I'm not nervous," Astrid said looking down at her hands.

Tomorrow was another one of their tests as newly minted vikings. After passing dragon training it was customary for the new vikings to go out during winter and go on their first hunt. It was supposed to be for food and dragons but in the spirit of their new truce, it was just for food this time. But it was a real hunting trip, which was both a blessing and a curse. Their little rag tag group of new vikings had bonded over their eager participation in Hiccups stupid-crazy-ride-the-dragon-save-the-world-plan but this wasn't like training with Gobber. They were going to go out into the wilderness for three days with nothing but their weapons and wits. But between Hiccup's injury, Ruffnut and Tuffnuts squibbling and the fact that Snotlout still flirted with her, Astrid had no idea how they were going to make it out of there alive--much less with any sort of kill.

And the worst part was that their dragons were staying behind.

They had all protested, loudly, that they should be allowed to come but Stoick and Gobber had refused. They had made great allowances with the dragons but at the end of the day Stoick had put his huge foot down and said that vikings were vikings and every viking had to know how to killl something from the ground. Toothless, always the most vocal of the dragons, had been gravitating between encircling Hiccup in his wings in an effort to hide or kidnap the boy and growling furiously at Stoick until the viking threatened to make him sleep outside. But in the end Hiccup had agreed with his father. He did have to learn how to hunt, on the ground, with a weapon. Toothless had reacted in true Toothless-fashion by giving up the growling and resortng to only wailing and hugging Hiccup, cocooning the boy in his wings. The other dragons were much more reserved with their displays of affection, except of course for Snotlouts who had gotten hysterical and lit himself on fire when he'd seen his viking packing up his weapons. Bluebell hadn't made any great leaps forward with her affectionate displays, the only indication she had even acknowledge Astrids impending departure was the act that for the past few days Astrid had barely been able to be out of her dragons sight.

"Then what is it?" Aldis asked her daughter.

"Its really nothing," Astrid said, trying to get her lips to go up into a smile even though it was pointless, "it was just a bad dream, that's all. Nothing to be worried about even."

"And is this the same dream that keeps waking you up every other night?" Aldis asked.

"Its not every other night," Astrid mumbled, looking down at her knees.

"You are a stubborn one, my daughter," Aldis said, her voice full of affection, "but the Gods send us dreams for a reason."

"You think there's a reason for my dreams?" Astrid demanded sharply, her head flying up.

A cold knot settled in her stomach. There were variations to the dream but it always ended the same way: her standing over Hiccup's body. But if there was a reason, if the Gods were sending her these dreams because they would happpen--Astrid didn't know what she would do. Even before the dragons there had been so many close calls and near misses with Hiccup and any viking related activity. Now he had no foot but he was determined to go on the hunting trip with the rest of them. Astrid looked at her mother, painfully aware of just how horrified she looked when her mothers expression softened and she laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"There is always a reason," Aldis said softly, "even for the things we think are senseless," she paused, "perhaps the Gods have seen fit to warn you. So you can stop what you are seeing."

Astrid held her mothers gaze. What if she was right? What if that was why she was having these dreams, because Hiccup was going to get into trouble? They were about to go off huting. Almost every viking made it through dragon training but not every viking came back from their hunting trip. Maybe that was why she was dreaming the same dream every night. It was a warning, to make sure that she was able to make sure that Hiccup came back safetly. She glanced over at Bluebell. Without Toothless, Hiccup would be at a serious disadvantage. Astrid knew she was a good viking and if this was the Gods way of warning her that she was going to be needed to protect Hiccup, then that was what she was going to do.

Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, she got to her feet and went over to where she had her pack by the door. Undoing the ties, she immediately began to sort through the contents.

"I need more bandages," she said finally, walking over to the door. A hand closed over her shoulder.

"Astrid," her mother said, "you need to go to sleep."

"No, I need to make sure everything is perfect," she said, her brow furrowing as she thought about what else she would need.

"Astrid," her mother said firmly, her other hand closing about Astrid's other shoulder, "you need to rest. You've checked your pack ten times already. You have everything you need but if you're so exhausted tomorrow that you can't keep your eyes open then you won't be of use to anyone."

"But--"

"Sleep, Astrid, no more questions," Aldis said firmly, turning her daughter aroud and steering her towards the bed, "and you," her mother turned to Bluebell who actually opened an eye to look at her, "she gets up and you keep her in bed. We clear?" Bluebell raised her tail in a lazy wave of confirmation.

"This is unbelievable," Astrid muttered, realizing that her mother and her dragon had effectively ganged up on her, "can't i just--" her mother folded her arms over her chest, daring Astrid to challenge her. Not in the mood to go on another suicide mission so soon after surviving her last, Astrid sighed and nodded, "okay okay, look, I'm going into bed," she said pulling back the covers, "see?" she tried for her best innocent impression that did nothing to fool her mother.

Aldis looked at her daughter. The bright, determined gaze--even the complete failure to look innocent--that was all her father. It hadn't been five winters since Astrid's father had passed. And with each day, each month, each season Aldis watched her daughter leave girlhood further and further behind with a bittersweet fascination. The older her daughter got the more she acted like her father. Same headstrong stubborness and determination that had made her father the great viking that he was. If there was a task to be done, her hands were the first to do it. If she did not know how to do something she worked until she did. She was all the things that had made her great--and had gotten him killed. As she looked at her daughter Aldis felt her stomach tighten in fear of what the Gods had in store for her. The Gods had a reason for everything, even the most senseless of acts.

"I'll get you your extra bandages but that is it," Aldis said finally, "You don't want to be weighed down because your pack's too heavy. Now you, you get some sleep."

"Deal," Astrid said, getting under the covers with blinding speed.

"Goodnight Astrid," Aldis said softly.

"Goodnight. mom," Astrid replied as Aldis left the room.

As she laid her head on her pillow and let her eyes close, Astrid couldn't help but think that the weight of her pack was the least of her worries.

Next time the rest of the group gathers and they set off! What could possibly go wrong?

ALSO after an unfortunate incident allow me to make this clear: IF YOU WANT TO USE THE NAME BLUEBELL YOU MUST ASK ME FIRST. You cannot just take it. Contact me and we will talk but if you just 'take' the name, even with crediting me, your story will be considered plagiarism and will be treated as such. I thought it was common sense but apparently not

Please please review! This story was born out of your feedback on "Of Hills and Bluebells" so your reviews really do influence the author (namely me). So please review!