Okay, so it's my first How to Train Your Dragon fanfic, and it may well be my only one. It was inspired by a drawing by duckerly28 on deviantart. I don't know how to link stuff here so if you want to see it then PM me, or go to duckerly28's dA account and search for a pic titled 'hello there studmuffin'.

Also, I apologise for some parts not being very good or overly sappy, especially where the dragons are concerned, but my writing style has changed a lot since I started writing fanfics.

I think it's obvious that I don't own the film or the book it was based on, but just in case, I will say that I did not make the film or write the book, I just enjoyed the film and haven't gotten around to reading the book yet.

Tomorrow he was leaving.

Astrid was not happy.

Hiccup wasn't exactly over the moon about having to leave either, but he tried to explain to her that it had to be done.

The world had changed, and those changes had been brought on by him. Now, he had to go on a long journey to rewrite their outdated dragon manual. Once full of how dangerous each dragon was, and the best way to kill them, the manual served no purpose in this new world; a world where dragons lived by the side of Vikings, not against them. He had to find out the truth about the species that were listed.

She refused to accept it, and argued that he shouldn't have to go alone.

He stifled a chuckle and explained that he wouldn't be alone; he would have Toothless with him.

She pouted and growled that it was hardly the point. It had been barely six months since the fight with the Green Death, and even though he was confident on his new foot, it was still too soon for him to be going anywhere.

Hiccup sighed. He knew she was just worried about him, and he appreciated the concern she showed. He pulled her close and wrapped her in a warm hug. She nuzzled against him, blinked back her tears and threatened to kill him if he didn't come back.

Astrid sat on the roof and stared up at the white fluffy clouds. A year and a half had flown by and Hiccup was still nowhere to be seen. She hated it. She knew it was a bad idea for him to go. She should've gone with him! Arms folded, knees tucked into her chest, she sighed and rested her head on her arm.

The sound of flapping wings reached her ears as her pet Nadder landed beside her on the roof. The blue dragon snorted and nudged the girl.

"Sorry Skye, I'm miles away,"

The Nadder mumbled curiously and nudged her again.

"I just wish he would send us a sign that he's okay," she mused. "I mean, strap a note to a Terror and give it directions to Berk, how hard is that?"

Skye shook her head and looked at her human. She had been moping ever since that other human left. That said, she herself had been feeling a touch lonely without Toothless. It wasn't like the other dragons weren't fun to play with, but Toothless was just so much more interesting. She stretched out her wings, bopping Astrid in the back of the head.

"Ow! Skye, what are you playing at?"

She squawked and flapped her wings. Astrid conceded. She was so busy keeping her eyes cast upward that she hadn't taken Skye out for her morning flight, was it any wonder the poor thing was acting up?

"Okay, you win, let's go for a ride."

Happy that she managed to get her human's full attention, Skye leapt off the roof and roared. Astrid grinned and climbed into her bedroom window. She thundered down the stairs and, as she picked up her dragon's saddle, her mind drifted off again. Hiccup had designed this himself – the first one he made, aside from the one he made for Toothless – and she couldn't help but run her fingers over the detailed stitching.

In a place where being a real Viking once meant being a strong, axe-wielding dragon killer, he was the only exception. His first encounter with a downed dragon led him into discovering more about them. He befriended one, studied it and found them to be a very agreeable species – anyone else would've gutted the beast without a second thought. It took a different kind of strength to do what he did.

She opened the door, saddle in hand, and got a rough, fishy tongue in her face.

"Skye, calm down," she giggled.

Strapping the saddle to her pet, she looked at the scaly blue reptile with an affectionate smirk. Having bonded with Skye, she could never go back to the old Viking ways of killing dragons. It was all she knew growing up, and she felt incredibly useless when the way of the world was turned on its head, but it was a thousand times better having the dragons as allies than as enemies.

"Come on, let's fly!"

Astrid was used to flying with Skye, but take off always made her stomach feel a bit squicky. Especially as Skye tended to just shoot off, always heading straight for the clouds; there was no steady rise into the air with this dragon, it was up or down and that was it. Hiccup always said that the Nadder's enthusiasm reminded him of Astrid. Of course, being compared to a dragon didn't go down well the first time he said it, even if it was meant as a compliment.

Even with the beauty of the upper sky around her, pink-tinted clouds and a heavenly breeze rushing past, she still thought of Hiccup. She never would've seen it for the first time without him. And of course, any flight she went on by herself never felt quite as magical as that first flight on Toothless. She closed her eyes and remembered how afraid she was, how warm Hiccup was when she latched onto him for stability, how sneaky it felt riding a dragon with him, flying right past the village and not being seen.

Skye could tell her rider was away with the fairies again, her grip always loosened and it made her very wary that she might fall out of the saddle. Needless to say she would fly as straight and as smooth as possible until the girl snapped out of her little trance.

Then she caught the scent of someone familiar. Definitely another dragon with its rider. It turned out to be Torsten and her human, Fishlegs. Despite knowing that his Gronkle was female, Fishlegs had chosen to give her a male name. Not that Torsten minded – she seemed to like it. In any case, both dragon and human were excited about something.

"Are you serious?" Astrid yelled.

"Yeah," Fishlegs answered. "He was seen by a neighbouring village last night, they sent word to us by tying a note to a Zippleback; he should be back anytime now."

"YES!" She squealed.

Fishlegs couldn't help but laugh when Astrid leaned to the left, leading her Nadder into a corkscrew spin. He hadn't ever seen her that happy to hear of someone's return, but then, this wasn't just anyone coming home. Frankly, he too was brimming with excitement. He couldn't wait to read the revised dragon manual; of all the dragons he read about, only a handful of them lived near Berk. This new manual was bound to have tons of new information about the many species that lived outside the region.

For once, Astrid was glad of the speedy landing that Skye had always achieved. They'd barely touched down when she excitedly jumped out of the saddle and danced around for a moment, not caring who saw her happiness. He was coming home! It was about bloody time too. She was so worried about him and all this time part of her feared she would never see him again. But now was not the time for such thoughts. He was coming home and would be here any minute.

She dusted off her spiked skirt and fussed with her hair a bit. Such girly behaviour was most un-Viking like, but she didn't care. It had been a long eighteen months since Hiccup saw her last, the very least she could do is look her best for his return. Aside from her hair being longer, she had grown a few inches in height and had started wearing a fur vest – cropped at waist length – instead of her metal shoulder guards. She wondered if he had changed much in the time he was away.

While lost in her thoughts, Astrid hadn't noticed a hyperactive Night Fury running towards Skye. Skye, on the other hand, did notice, and was just as happy to see Toothless as he was to see her. She flapped her wings in joy and flitted around him. He playfully jumped about, tongue flailing as he did so. Full of bliss, knowing that he and his human were home in one piece, she couldn't stop herself from nuzzling him once he was still enough to do so. Toothless wagged his tail and nuzzled right back. The two sat together, quietly and happily growling. When Astrid finally noticed the black dragon, she was so moved by the adorable scene in front of her that she didn't say anything.

"Hello Astrid."

That voice; so familiar, but slightly deeper than she remembered.

She turned around, fully expecting a cute-yet-dorky smile to be grinning back at her. What met her eyes caused her to stop and stare. She wasn't so much face to face with Hiccup, more face to face with his shoulders; she had to look up to see his cute-yet-dorky smile. He was taller than her, by at least seven or eight inches. His hair was more or less the same length, but his eyes, still expressive and emerald green, bore a level of intensity that she'd never seen before – they seemed to be staring right into her soul. Her cheeks suddenly went flame hot and it felt as though she had stopped breathing.

"Hey Astrid, you okay?" He asked, his smile turning to a concerned frown.

She stood motionless; staring at him silently, until his fingers gently stroked her face. Like a knee-jerk reaction, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her, taking his mouth with a hard and passionate kiss. The warmth of her lips on his was a sudden but pleasant shock, and it was only a moment before he relaxed into the kiss. He savoured this enjoyable 'welcome home' show of affection and when she eventually let go of him, he found himself breathless.

She too was trying to get her breath back. Her face was still red and overheated, and she looked at the floor in embarrassment. Briefly, she glanced up at him, and saw that he had also turned a healthy shade of red.

"I take it this means you missed me?" He laughed.

She couldn't help but giggle. He was still her Hiccup, sense of humour and all. A huge grin spread across her face and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. She wrapped her arms around him; he was so warm and she felt so much better having him back home.

"Yes," She confessed. "I missed you."

"Well, I missed you too." He said, returning the tender hug.