Heartbroken

The Deadly Nadder Rider

It was a sunny day on Berk. The sun was shining, the bees were buzzing and the flowers were blooming. To Astrid's thought, it was the perfect day to fly Stormfly. It was very early in the morning though, specifically right after dawn, but Astrid couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about what she saw yesterday. She was definitely sure that she'd seen another Deadly Nadder. Though, it wasn't any ordinary Deadly Nadder that she'd seen anywhere on Berk before. All the Deadly Nadders on Berk had similar characteristics to Stormfly; blue scales with yellow and purple spikes. But this unusual Deadly Nadder was red with orange and indigo spikes. Astrid was amazed by the colors of the dragon and, also, the way it glided in the sky; it seemed so happy and free.

Astrid thought of that Deadly Nadder all night until it was finally morning. She decided to get up early and train with Stormfly at the Dragon Training Academy that her and her friends started 5 to 6 years ago. The tough viking girl wanted to build an obstacle course to clear her mind; like she always did. She jumped onto Stormfly and flew away until she couldn't see her house along with any other. 

Stormfly and Astrid arrived the the academy and started their course. The blue dragon flew up as Astrid jumped onto the top bars of the Academy and climbed onto it. She walked on all the top bars when a whole bunch of miniature dragons flew towards her. They hit her, which caused her to lose her balance, and she hit her head on one of the bars. That was all she remembered before everything else went black. 

When she finally opened her eyes, she was in the arms of a man who looked around her age. There was a moment where she was scared but as she gazed into his blue eyes, she felt safe even though she didn't know him. "Sorry, I'm usually not that clumsy," Astrid said as the young man was holding her.

Astrid remained in the stranger's arms as the rest of the gang came into the Academy to see an unknown man holding Astrid. 

Hiccup's first instinct was to let Toothless fire him into a million pieces but he remembered that he was the chief of Berk and he had the act maturely in this situation.

"Might I ask who you are," demanded Hiccup in a harsh tone. Before the mysterious boy could reply, Astrid jumped out of his arms and as she walked towards Hiccup. She said, "Don't worry Hiccup, he saved my life." After a moment of surprise from the rest of the gang, Astrid turned towards the boy and asked, "How did you save my life?"

The boy grinned and cleared his voice to speak. "Well, I was flying around the area of Berk when I saw the "Dragon Academy" sign and wanted to check it out. As I walked in, I heard a "bang" sort of noise and as I looked up, you were falling towards me and I caught you."

After he finished his story, the first one to speak was Ruffnut. "Wow! What a hero. You're so brave. So lucky, you came when Astrid fell. You saved her life." 

"I didn't really save Astrid's life, the least damage that could've happened was a headache," the savior replied.

Soon after, Ruffnut turned to Astrid to see her cheeks turn red. "Astrid, are you blushing?"

Astrid's flushed cheeks were very noticeable in bright daylight. Everyone was clearly able to see it. But as soon as Ruffnut made her comment, Astrid instantly replied, "No! It must be because I hit my head on the bar." Astrid could hear how stupid and irrelevant that answer was. How does hitting your head on a bad make your cheeks red, she thought. But it was better than letting everyone to know that she was really blushing.

"Alright girls that's enough. Now you," Hiccup pointed at the new boy. "Name."

He looked up towards everyone, "My name is Ryder Hero."

"Woah! Your last name is Hero? Maybe it was your destiny to save Astrid to fulfill the duty of your name!" said Tuffnut.

"No Tuffnut. It's probably just a coincidence." said Astrid as she approached Ryder.

Hiccup could see from the look on Astrid's face that she liked Ryder. From the first day that Hiccup met Astrid, she has never shown any affection towards any guy other than her dad, Hiccup... and now Ryder.

"So...Ryder, where are you from and why aren't you there?" Hiccup asked in an cruel way.

"I'm from Killerville. From that name, you can figure that, there, they kill dragons. So about a year ago, when I was in the woods, I saw a Deadly Nadder with a wounded wing and I thought that it would be the perfect time to kill it since it wouldn't be able to fight back or fly away from me. I took my blade and I was ready to kill it. It would've been the first time killing a dragon and my parent would finally be proud of me. That was when I looked into his eyes, his big green eyes, and I saw that he was scared but couldn't do anything to save its life. I know that it might sound weird but when I looked into his eyes, I saw myself. We were both scared and alone and unhappy. That was when I realized that I WOULDN'T kill a dragon. So I helped heal his wing and we've became friends ever since. I named him Glider and now we're Ryder and Glider; the perfect team. I knew that if I told my family and friends about Glider that they would kill him; the only friend that I ever had. So I left. We've explored new places since and I never went back to Killerville. That is how I ended up here."

"That was so beautiful" said Snotlout. He wiped the tears as the dripped down his face. Everyone looked at him weirdly. "What?! I'm an emotional person."

Everyone looked away from Snoutlout and returned their attention back to Ryder. "That was such a touching story. But I have a Deadly Nadder too and her name is Stormfly. Can I see your dragon?" Ryder made the Deadly Nadder calling sound and a few seconds later, a bright red Deadly Nadder with orange and indigo spikes came gliding into the Academy.

"No way! That's your dragon?! I saw him yesterday. He was so powerful and fast. You're a really good dragon rider." Astrid said in amazement. "Do you mind if you can show me some tricks for my dragon, Stormfly?"

"Sure, I've unlocked many secrets of the Deadly Nadder in the past few years, and I'll be more than happy to share them with you," Ryder said as he tapped his finger gently onto Astrid's nose. Astrid giggled in flattery.

"That's a great idea! Then we can write the secrets that you've uncovered into the Book of Dragons," Fishlegs said in excitement.

"Astrid, meet me at the dock at noon so I can show you all my secrets. I'll be waiting," said Ryder as he jumped onto Glider and flew away.

"Wow! He is something. I wouldn't mind having an alone time with someone like him," Ruffnut commented, giving Astrid a funny look and raising her eyeborws at Astrid's direction.

After Ryder left, Tuffnut could see on Hiccup's face that he wasn't pleased that Astrid and Ryder are going to be alone... together.

So, Tuffnut grabbed Astrid's arm and took her to a corner away from the rest of the group. "Do you think that Hiccup will be okay with you having an alone time with this new guy. Bonding, talking about dragons, flying dragons?" Tuffnut asked in a concerned tone.

"His name is Ryder. And I think so. Why wouldn't Hiccup mind me learning new secrets about my dragon?" Astrid asked, confused.

"Astrid, I don't think that Hiccup is concerned with you learning new secrets about your dragon, but about you being alone with Ryder."

"Why would he be concerned about that?"

"Well, I don't know... because your his girlfriend!" Tuffnut exclaimed in a sarcastic tone. "Look. I'm just trying to look out for Hiccup. Promise me that you and Ryder are only going to talk about dragons, nothing else. Okay, Astrid?" Tuffnut said who, in Astrid's defense, sounded a lot like a parent.

"Look, Tuffnut. I appreciate that you're looking out for Hiccup but you two have nothing to worry about. I like Ryder, yes, but I like Hiccup more. This is my life and I get to do what I want. So mind your own business," Astrid replied as she left to go see Ryder.

A couple of minutes after Astrid's departure, Tuffnut realized that she never confirmed to Tuffnut that she were ONLY going to talk about dragons to Ryder. Then, Tuffnut realized that maybe Astrid wanted to talk about more than just dragons.