{Hello, my dear readers! Long time no see.

Anyway, as you can see I changed this one-shot name, coz I didn't like the old one.

And I dedicate this chapter to my friend Lianahofferson18 ❤ I hope you like it.

Oh, I almost forgot. There is a warning!

Warning: Evil Heather is coming! But don't get me wrong, I like Heather. And on the end of this (maybe other) chapter, she will be good, again.

Enjoy!}

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"Perhaps this is the beginning of her new life, but then what about the old one?"

It has been several days since the day when Astrid freed the Night Fury and woke up surrounded by strangers who soon became her friends. Hiccup showed her that dragons are friendly and can be trusted. She trusted them, but not all trusted her. And I'm not talking only about dragons, but also about the people she called her friends.

"Oh no..." Astrid gasped...

°* 24 hours ago °*

"Oh come on, Astrid, only one single flight and I will not ask for more." Hiccup knew that she wanted to see the world from above, he saw how she looks at the sky, the sun and clouds, she just being stubborn as always. "You will like it."

"Hiccup, how many times I'll have to tell you, that I'm well and on the ground?" The blonde girl answered, and crossed her hands on her chest.

"Please, Astrid, let me show you what it means to be free." Hiccup said softly and put one hand on her shoulder.

"If I say yes, will you stop talking about it?" She asked, and he nodded. "But it's too dangerous what if I fall down, or-" But Hiccup cut her off.

"This will not happen, and if, I catch you." He said with a smile but got a hit to the head with a small stone. It was Toothless. "Ok, ok we will catch you. Happy?" Toothless smiled.

"I have no other choice, have I?" Astrid said and patted the dragon's cheek.

"Nope, Milady, you don't." The blonde looked away as Hiccup called her 'Milady'.

At that moment Toothless grinned and pushed Astrid into Hiccup's lap. Her hands were on Hiccup's chest, and his own on her thin waist. She slowly picked up her eyes and looked directly into the forest green orbs. A faint blush, like the shadow of a rose, came to her cheeks and she quickly pulled away from his lap.

"Sorry..." Astrid apologized and looked to the ground. Hiccup just nodded and then glared at his dragon, who was grinning.

°*°*

Soft clouds one after another tickled Astrid's pink cheeks as her both hands rested on Hiccup's strong shoulders. She slowly raised his right hand and touched the slightly wet clouds. And after a moment her both palms were covered by them and she couldn't do anything else, only smile, because it was the first time in her life when she felt so free.

Astrid wrapped his arms around Hiccup's waist and laid her head on his right shoulder. The auburn male froze at first, as her warm body pressed against his back, but later he relaxed and smiled to himself.

"Ok. I admit. It's pretty cool." But 'pretty cool' wasn't enough. "It's amazing. He is amazing." Astrid smiled as well and patted Toothless' cheek.

The black dragon purred in response.

"See, I told you that you will like it." Hiccup said gently.

"No, Hiccup, I don't like it." Astrid smiled again. "I love it." She said and buried her face in his shoulder.

The auburn male smiled as well, but soon his smile disappeared.

"Astrid..." He started slowly. "A few days ago... when you woke up in my hut... on your cheek was..." The blonde female froze. Can it be..? "...was a bruise..." She slowly pulled back from him.

"Who hit you, Astrid?" The auburn male asked softly.

Left a bruise...

Why is always have to be like this?! If everything already had gone well, the past has always come out?! Why all her life has to be so difficult? Why can't she just be happy?

...

"I-I tripped... accidentally. And... and probably remained a bruise..."

Astrid knew that to lie to him was a bad idea, but she hasn't another choice. She wasn't ready to talk about her father right now; it was still hard for her. Regardless of how he treats her, he is still her father and she respects that and still loves him.

At that moment Toothless lifted his head and looked at Astrid. He growled a little bit like saying, 'It's a lie.'

Hiccup frowned.

"Astrid... the truth." The auburn male said softly and waited for a response, but she was silent.

"Astrid." He tried again, but nothing, she only looked away and was silent...

...

Later in the day, Hiccup and Astrid haven't spoken to each other much. Well... Astrid avoided any conversation with him, while Hiccup did the opposite.

At that time, in the Clubhouse was silence. Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins ate dinner, but Hiccup with Heather didn't show up.

The blonde female looked at her food and swallowed the last bite. She turned her head into the empty space, where has to sit Hiccup and sighed. It was her fault that he doesn't eat together with everyone. And she knew it.

"I'll go look for Hiccup," Astrid said and stood up. "He can't spend his dinner because he didn't eat lunch too."

As Astrid walked toward the exit, she could feel the glances behind her, who forced her to feel more uncomfortable than before.

Meanwhile...

"Hiccup! Where have you been?! I - we were looking for you everywhere! First, you miss your lunch, then you disappear, and now this." It was a girl's voice, in fact, a very angry girl's voice, and it came from Hiccup's hut.

"Just don't say that you were with her." He didn't reply to her and there was silence for a few seconds. "I can't believe it! You were with her all this time and you didn't tell anyone about it?! Unbelievable!" The girl raised his hand in the air as Hiccup didn't say anything, just listened to the sermon. "What were you thinking?! It's dangerous! She is dangerous!"

The auburn male frowned.

"Heather, how can an innocent girl be -" But she cut him off.

"You're starving yourself! You didn't eat anything, because of her!"

"I ate..." Once again he was cut off by her.

"All this is her fault!"

Heather didn't like that blonde girl from the beginning. In fact, she tried to get rid of her, according to her, Astrid was bad, and they shouldn't trust her.

"That girl..." Heather stopped as she couldn't remember the blonde's girl name.

"Astrid," Hiccup muttered.

"Yeah, right, Astrid. She is a traitor and we can't trust her! If she betrayed her family, her tribe, she may at any time betray and us! What do you know; maybe she has long ago been preparing plans how to harm us or is still in contact with the Dragon Hunters!" Heather yelled.

"We've given her shelter, given food, revealed the secret, and what she gave to us?! Oh, I will tell you what she gave to us! Nothing! She gave us nothing!"

"Heather..."

"That blonde girl even failed to tell us about herself! Come on, Hiccup, think logically! Did she tell you where she got the bruise on her cheek?! No, she didn't! Did she say who is her parents?! No, she didn't! Did she even tell who is Dragon Hunter's head?! And again, no, she didn't!

"She didn't tell us anything! She didn't tell you anything! And that is the whole point, we know absolutely nothing about her, we don't even know her. And you know what?"

"Heather." The auburn male tried again, but this time louder.

"This isn't the place for her! She doesn't belong here and never will be! She's not one of us!" And then he lost it.

"Heather, enough!" He glared at her. "Fifteen years, I lived with a thought that I am useless! Fifteen years, you all laughed at me because I was different! And you know what I realized during that long period of time?!" He yelled right into her pale face.

"To be different... isn't always the end of the world. When I met him -" Hiccup pointed at the Night Fury. "I realized that to be different from all... is a gift." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly.

"You all were the same. Brutal. You all have killed without purpose and why it was necessary?" It was a rhetorical question.

"All that was needed to see not with the mind, but with the heart. All that who's deep in here - is the key to a better life."

"But it doesn't explain what you just said. Do you know what pain it causes? Or at least do you know the feeling of being useless? No, you don't, but I do. And it's hurt. Just imagine what had to feel a little girl with all these things. And so all of eighteen years... to live with the pain." Heather thought about it and looked down to the ground.

"But you know what else? I will not let that history recur, and the second time." The auburn male said firmly.

"Remember this: if you or someone else from the gang hurt her or even touch her by a finger, will have to deal with me, because I will protect her. And that's a promise." Toothless growled a little bit and nudged his rider. Hiccup smiled a little. "We will protect her." The black dragon nodded his head a few times.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean it like this..." Heather apologized.

"You shouldn't say sorry to me, you should say sorry to her." Hiccup said his last words and turned toward the hut's exit, leaving frozen Heather.

But when he looked ahead, his eyes met very large and blue orbs, widened from the shock and slightly teary eyes.

"A-Astrid?" He said, still unable to believe his eyes. He wanted to say something to her, but quickly shut up when we heard the other's voice.

"Astrid, I-I didn't mean it like this." But the blonde female stopped her.

"Heather, don't apologize. It's okay." She said softly and gave a tiny smile. "It is also my fault. I had to tell you all everything on the same day when I found myself here and anything like this wouldn't have been."

"And I think now is the best time to tell you about everything." She took a few steps closer to them.

"You don't have to..."

"No, Hiccup, I have to." She said softly, soon in Hiccup's hut came the rest of the gang and was ready to listen to the story of Astrid.

"Well, first if you all think that I have killed the dragons, then you all are wrong because I haven't. Why may you ask? Well, to be honest... I don't know.

"Maybe because I was afraid of them or maybe because I didn't want to kill someone." Astrid shrugged his shoulders.

"Or because when I was still a little girl, hunters every evening told me a 'horror' stories about dragons. How they can kill and cause a lot of pain. Or something like that." The auburn male nodded slowly.

"So, I guess, I always thought that they were wild and dangerous animals and nothing more." She smiled as Toothless nudged her side. "But I was wrong." She patted a large dragon's head.

"How did you learn to fight and all?" Asked Snotlout and crossed his hands.

"Well, eighteen years I lived among men. I learned I guess." Astrid laughed a little.

"You lived with men all your life?!" Ruffnut yelled. "Are you still a...?" Astrid blushed.

"Ruffnut!!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"What? I'm just curious." Ruffnut shrugged her shoulders and looked back into the red as a tomato Astrid. "So...?"

"Yes, I'm still a..." Astrid stopped and thought a little bit. "Come on, they are over 40!" Ruffnut shrugged her shoulders once again and after that in Hiccup's hut was an awkward silent. Heather was the only one who broke it.

"Have they hurt you?"

"N-no." Astrid slowly shook her head. "They couldn't." She added. Hiccup looked at her and frowned, asked her to continue.

"They couldn't because he didn't allow them," Astrid said and lowered her head.

"Who is he?" Heather asked.

"Head of the Dragon Hunters..." The blonde girl whispered and the gang's eyes widened. "Viggo Grimborn didn't allow them to hurt me."

"Awesome name." Said Ruffnut. "Scary, but awesome."

Astrid looked into Hiccup's green eyes.

"He lives in the shadows. Everyone is afraid of him, even me or his older brother Ryker, the man who was shouting at me that first day when Hiccup saw me."

"But someone hit you; you had a bruise on your cheek. And don't say you tripped." The auburn male muttered the last part and took a few steps closer to her as Toothless did the same.

"It's my bad luck." She said and looked at Toothless. "I wanted to feed him, but Viggo found me and..." The blonde female tried to hold back her tears. "And then h-he hit me for it because I've helped one of the dragons. And it is a misdemeanor..."

"Wait," Tuffnut asked confused. "Why are you so special to him that he doesn't allow anyone to hurt you? And why are you so panicking about that. You broke the one rule. So what? We broke the rules every single day and don't even care about it." Tuffnut said and the two twins smashed their heads together.

"You don't understand. This is different." Astrid looked at her fingers and continued. "If I do it again... he will kill me..." She closed her eyes and a single tear rolled down her pink cheek.

Toothless licked her palm gently as Hiccup hugged her, his hands rubbing small circles along her back in an effort to comfort her.

"Eh, guys?" Tuffnut started as he looked at the small window. "Uh, guys?" But no one paid attention to him, he sighed. "GUYS!" He yelled and all looked at him confused, Astrid still in Hiccup's lap.

"So... I just wanted to ask if we shoukd defend the Dragon's Edge or just watch how it'll be destroyed." He simply said and shrugged his shoulders.

Hiccup's eyes widened and he ran up to the window.

"Oh, no..." Astrid gasped as she saw what Tuffnut had in mind.

To Be Continued...

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{What do you guys think? Is it good or bad? Let me know.}