Astrid was pacing in front of Hiccup's house. She was extremely worried about the said Dragon rider. Her friends were also concerned, for both her and Hiccup. They were inside the living room talking to each other to keep their mind occupied.
"Astrid." She heard Ruffnut call out for her.
Astrid looked at Ruffnut, who was standing at the entrance of the house.
"Stop worrying Astrid. He will come back. I am sure of it." Ruffnut told her.
"I know that Ruffnut, but I can't seem to stop worrying about him. It's already midnight and he hasn't returned yet." Astrid replied as bad thoughts flooded her mind.
Just then they heard a familiar screech. Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout rushed out of the house and joined Astrid and Ruffnut as they also heard the screech. They looked up in the sky and after a while they noticed Toothless coming towards them. They all slightly backed away as Toothless landed in front of them. Astrid gasped as she saw Hiccup dismounting toothless. Both the Dragon, and his rider were injured.
"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled out as she saw Hiccup losing his balance.
She quickly dashed towards him and caught him before he could fall.
"What happened to you?" Astrid asked as she put his arm around her neck and hoisted him up as Hiccup struggled to stay on his feet.
"Prepare… infirmary.." Hiccup gasped out while taking deep breaths.
Toothless and Astrid helped Hiccup inside the house and took him to the said room. The infirmary was a big room in the mansion where Hiccup kept his medical supplies. Like a healers' hut this room was used to treat injuries. Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Snotlout would often get sent there after getting themselves injured while causing trouble. Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless along with the rest of the gang. Astrid helped Hiccup sit down on one of the beds. Astrid and others backed away a bit as Hiccup put off his cloak and chestplate, leaving him only with the shirt he was wearing. The bandage which was covering the wound on his side was completely drenched with blood. Hiccup removed it and saw how bad the wound was.
"It's worse than I expected. I have to seal it." Hiccup mumbled and then looked up.
"Astrid! Bring me a metal rod. You will find one in one of those cabinets." Hiccup ordered Astrid as he pointed at the cabinets in the room. Astrid nodded and quickly went over to the cabinets to find the said item. Hiccup then looked at Snotlout.
"Snotlout! Bring me a bucket of water and a rag." He ordered his cousin.
The raven haired Viking nodes and quickly rushed out. Hiccup then tore down his shirt and removed it from his body and took a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding. The gang gasped as they noticed other bruises on Hiccup's body. Astrid finally found the metal rod Hiccup asked for and brought it to Hiccup. Hiccup then called for Toothless. Toothless quickly came beside him. Just then Snotlout came back with a bucket filled with water. Hiccup thanked him as he took the bucket from Snotlout and placed it on a table beside his bed. Hiccup then took a big piece of cloth and dipped it in the water bucket and then he took another piece of cloth and wrapped it around one end of the rod and held it in his left hand and pointed it towards Toothless.
"You know what to do bud." Hiccup told Toothless.
Toothless nodded and opened his mouth and ignited a plasma blast. But except for shooting it out, Toothless held it in his mouth as Hiccup used the heat of the plasma blast to heat up the metal rod. After a while the rod was glowing bright orange. Hiccup took a piece of leather and bit on it and quickly pressed the hot metal against his wound. Hiccup held in his screams of pain as he bit on the piece of leather as the wound on his side burnt and was finally completely closed. Hiccup then quickly shoved the rod in the bucket and took the drenched piece of cloth and pressed it on the closed and burnt wound. He let out a shaky breath as the pain subdued and water prevented the burn from getting worse. After the pain was completely gone Hiccup removed the cloth and put it back in the bucket.
"There… there should be…. some string and needle in that cabinet. Along with some green jars and bandages. Can you bring it to me?" Hiccup asked the gang, pointing towards a cabinet.
Astrid and Tuffnut quickly went to the cabinet and brought Hiccup the stuff he asked for. Hiccup took a roll of bandage and poured some foul smelling liquid from the green jar in some small pieces of bandages and then used those to cover Toothless's cuts and then wrapped bandages around those wounds. After he was done tending Toothless's wounds he did the same with the sealed wound on his side and the wound on his shoulder. The only injury left to treat was the one on his left arm. He took the string and needle and proceeded to stitch the wound.
"Here, let me help you." Astrid suddenly said and went over to him and took the needle from him and started stitching his wound.
"What were you doing to get yourself this injured?" Ruffnut suddenly asked.
"Dragon rescue." Hiccup replied.
"Oh."
Just then Luna came inside the infirmary.
"Toothless! Hiccup! What happened to you two!" Luna gasped as she saw both of them.
"Uhh...hey.." Toothless awkwardly said, trying not to get his mate worrying too much.
"Don't 'hey' me! What in the name of the sky were you two doing!" Luna angrily asked.
"Luna. It was just a normal rescue mission. It's just, the enemies were much more combative. But we managed to make it out in one piece." Hiccup told her.
"Okay." Luna said, letting the information sink in.
"Hey, why don't you get back to our cave. I will join you in a minute. And then we can spend some quality time together." Toothless suggested her.
Luna looked away from the black scaled Dragon and quickly left the room. Hiccup chuckled at this.
"Real smooth bud. Real smooth." Hiccup told Toothless between his chuckles.
Toothless just gave a toothy smile and left the place. Hiccup looked around and saw the gang staring at him.
"What? I can understand and speak the language of Dragons." Hiccup told them, feeling a bit awkward under their stare.
"You know what, I am not gonna bother questioning about this anymore." Astrid said and went back to stitching the wound.
Once it was done he wrapped bandages around the wound. He moved his arm a bit to see if it was loose or uncomfortable. Once satisfied he got up from the bed and stood on his feet. But suddenly Hiccup felt lightheaded and almost fell until Astrid rushed on his side and caught him before he could fall.
"Thanks Astrid" Hiccup thanked her and then looked at the rest of the gang "And thank you guys for helping me around. You all should go to sleep now." Hiccup told them.
They all agreed and headed back to their rooms. Astrid helped Hiccup to reach his room. He was feeling a bit drowsy because of the blood loss. Astrid struggled to carry him as Hiccup was slowly losing his consciousness. By the time they reached his bedroom Hiccup had almost passed out. She dragged him to his bed and proceeded to lay him down. But to her misfortune, she tripped and fell on the bed, followed by Hiccup, who fell on top of her.
"Hiccup! Get off me!" Astrid hissed, trying not to yell.
But Hiccup was already asleep and didn't respond. Astrid finally managed to push him off her with some struggle and sat up. She looked at Hiccup and smiled as she saw how peaceful he looked. She leaned down and kissed him on his cheek and then got off the bed and proceeded to leave the room.
"Good night Hiccup." Astrid said as she glanced at the sleeping form of Hiccup while standing in the entrance of the room. And then she left.
(At morning)
When Hiccup woke up it was almost noon. He got off from his bed, ignoring the pain caused by his wounds. He made his way downstairs and saw Ruffnut chatting with Astrid in the living room.
"Good morning." Hiccup loudly said as he entered the room.
"Good morning Hiccup." The girls greeted him as they noticed him.
"Where are the others?" Hiccup asked as he took a seat beside Astrid.
"Tuff and Snotlout went out for a hike and Fishlegs went to that 'Dragon mountain' to gather some knowledge and wisdom." Ruffnut said and air quoted the word 'Dragon mountain'.
"Uh huh." Hiccup replied.
As for Astrid, she was trying not to look at his face. She had a hint of pink on her cheeks as the events of the previous night flashed in her mind.
"You should get yourself freshened up and eat something. I don't think you have eaten anything since yesterday morning." Ruffnut suddenly said.
"Yeah, you're right. I am starving right now." Hiccup said as he left the room.
The girls watched him as he left. After he was out of their view Ruffnut turned towards Astrid.
"So, what happened between you two?" Ruffnut asked Astrid.
"Wha-What do you mean Ruff?" Astrid asked back in shock.
"Don't play dumb Astrid. I know something must have happened between you two. Or else why were you blushing when Hiccup sat beside you?" Ruffnut said back with a smug look on her face.
Astrid looked away in embarrassment as she couldn't believe Ruffnut noticed it.
"So now tell me what happened between you two yesterday night? Did you two kiss? Or-or maybe you two got a bit… passionate." Ruffnut said as she shook her arms at the last word.
Astrid's face turned bright red. She quickly said,"No! Nothing like that happened! Look, while I was trying to get Hiccup to his bed I tripped and fell on the bed with Hiccup on too of me. After which I pushed him off me and went back to my room to sleep. Nothing more happened between us!"
"Maybe for now. But I doubte that something won't happen in future." Ruffnut slyly said, making Astrid grumble under her breath.
(A while later)
Hiccup was sitting in the library, writing some notes in a notebook. That's when Astrid approached him, but Hiccup didn't notice her.
"Who is that?" The sudden question made Hiccup almost jump out of his seat. It was Astrid who asked the question. She was apparently looking at the notebook. One of the pages had a rough sketch of the Storm-cutter rider and other page had some notes regarding the said mystery person.
"Is he one of your allies?" Astrid asked again, looking at Hiccup.
Hiccup restored his composure and said,"Uh, no. To be honest I don't even know if this person is an ally or an enemy. A couple years ago I stumbled upon him. And ever since then we have had some brief meetings but unfortunately I never had a chance to have a conversation. He's also a Dragon rider like me and rescues Dragons."
"Wait, I thought you were the only Dragon rider out there." Astrid said in shock.
"So I thought until I met this person." Hiccup said.
"Uh huh. Well Hiccup, I wanted to talk to you about something." Astrid said.
"Okay. What do want to talk about?"
Astrid sat doen on a chair infront of Hiccup and then said,"Can you teach me and the gang how to train and ride a Dragon?"
Hiccup looked at her in shock and asked,"Can I ask why?"
"Well, you see.." Astrid began explaining "I talked with the gang and they all agree with the fact that Dragons are just misunderstood. And they're willing to be more interactive with the Dragons. And I thought what better way would it be than teaching them how to ride a Dragon."
"Astrid it's not easy. Dragons are extremely powerful creatures. At the wrong hands they can cause unimaginable destruction. I don't question your judgement or their friendly feelings towards Dragons. But I can't risk anyone learning hoe to tame a Dragon and use that knowledge to cause chaos." Hiccup told her.
"But think about it Hiccup, you wanted peace between Dragons and Vikings. This can be the first step to do it. You can convince the rest of the Berk by showing them the gang riding their own Dragons. And with that you can convince other clans too." Astrid suggested.
"I still wouldn't consider doing that. As I said, I am not willing to take a risk that big." Hiccup dismissed her.
"But Hiccup-" Astrid tried to say but got cut off by Hiccup.
"I don't want to talk about this Astrid. So can you please drop the subject?" Hiccup rudely told her.
Astrid's face fell and she got up and left the room. Hiccup looked at her as she left, regretting his rude behaviour. He contemplated the idea.
"It's worth a shot… but what if things like that happen again?" Hiccup thought.
"...But peace was what she wanted….. she gave her life for it….. I had taught my allies how to train Dragons and it turned out well….may be it's worth taking the shot." Hiccup finally decided.
(A while later)
Astrid was sitting in the living room. Her friends all had gathered in the room.
"So, what did he say?" Ruffnut asked her.
"He immediately disagreed. Even got a little angry when I tried to convince him." Astrid replied.
"Damn. I really wanted to ride a Dragon." Tuffnut said.
"Excuse me." Someone suddenly said behind them.
They jumped on their feet and looked back and saw it was Hiccup.
Hiccup walked inside the room and said,"A while ago Astrid came to me requesting me to teach you all how to train a Dragon. A idea with which I don't exactly agree with."
He looked at them and let out a sigh and continued "But after a lot of thinking, I have decided that…"
The gang looked at him with anticipation.
"...I will teach you how to train Dragons." Hiccup finished.
"Wait! For real!?" Tuffnut excitedly asked.
Hiccup smiled and said,"Yes. I always wanted peace among Vikings and Dragons. It can be a small step towards it."
Astrid smiled as he said that as the others cheered.
"So, when do we start?" Astrid asked as she stepped forward.
"From tomorrow." Hiccup said and then left.