There's No Such Thing As Normal (Hiccstrid)

Chapter 13

Astrid's P.O.V.

"Sh-ut up!" I gasped with a jump as I was thrown into the waking world, shooting into a sitting position. I looked around to find myself in a cave that looked strangely like a room. "Ugh, Ember, why do you have to scream like that?!" I groan, holding my head.

"Because you're infuriating."

"I'm infuriating? You're the one that made me pass out!" I snap. I looked up as Hiccup walked into the cave, whistling a cheery tune as he carried wood to a fire. He clapped his hands together as he dropped the wood and turned toward me with a smile.

"Hey, sleep okay?" he asks.

"What's the fire for?" I groan.

"To cook you alive," he growled creepily.

"Ugh. Fine. Just do me a favor and burn me dead," I say, falling back on the bed. "Just like, take my ax and chop my head off," I add, running my finger over my neck. I then closed my eyes so I didn't see it coming. I heard Hiccup's slightly uneven footsteps coming toward me and took a deep breath. See ya, Emerald.

"*chuckling* Open your eyes, idiot."

No, I don't want to literally see my end coming.

Suddenly, Hiccup's hands wrapped around my ankles and he pulled me out of the bed. "Get u-u-u-u-u-up!" he groaned as I fell to the floor, "You're gonna be late for training."

"I don't wanna go to training, Daddy!" I cried, pulling a sheet over my head.

"Get up, get up, get up, get up..." he chanted as he stood over me and gently kicked my sides.

"Hiccup, if I can take Snotlout punching me repeatedly while calling me a psychotic hottie for over two days at a time, do you not think I can take this?" I ask before he let out an extended sigh.

"Should I call Stormfly?" he asks and I shoot to my feet.

"No dragons!" I shout, drawing my ax.

"Hey! That gotcha up!" he cheers. "Hungry?"

"Sure," I sigh after a pause, giving in.

"Still got a mouth for chicken?" he asks, going to a basket.

Two hours later

"No, no, no, no!" I shouted as I tried to pull myself from Hiccup. He was dragging me through his tunnels and I had a bad feeling about where he was taking me.

"Astrid, come on, it's not going to be that bad!" he snapped as he pulled me in front of him and pushed me forward from behind.

"It is going to be that bad! I don't train during the day!" I tell him as I dig my heels into the ground.

"Then it'll be easier, you'll be able to see better," he says. I reached over my head and grabbed his shoulders before flipping out of his grip and stepping back as he turned to face me.

"Hiccup, I've developed a kind of night vision, okay? The sun hurts my eyes," I say before he grabbed my wrist and pushed me through a door, making me find myself in a ring that looked kinda like the arena at Berk, but in a cave. He tossed me something before closing the door. I looked at the thing to see it was a pair of goggles.

"Put them on and the sun won't hurt," Hiccup's voice said from an outer ledge, making me realize that there was no chain dome, and the ring extended upward to the sky, kinda shaft-like, letting the sun light the room. I hesitated before putting on the goggles, letting me see a little better. Where Hiccup's voice sounded, there was a strip of rock carved away to make a viewing section, the place shielded by a chain net. Hiccup was standing behind the net, arms crossed as he leaned on a ledge or something.

"What am I doing in here?" I asked.

"Well, I'm going to throw something at you, and I want you to just respond how you normally would," he said before pulling a lever and having a door open in the wall. I cautiously stared into the darkness, expecting to see a dragon of some sort.

"Hello?" a weak voice called, making my blood freeze.

"Human!" 

Why would he be keeping a human? That's obviously a cage and he lives with dragons now, doesn't he? I slowly walked toward the cage door.

"Please, help me!" the voice sounded male, and panicked. I took off my goggles and rushed forward but the door closed before I could get in. I ran into the door before panic slowly spread across my mind as I slowly turned to look at Hiccup.

"Wrong door. Sorry," he said.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"I'm gonna worry about it, Hiccup, who was that?!" I shouted.

"An enemy. He's locked up for your safety, and the safety of my dragons," he said firmly.

"Are you gonna lock me up? Starve me?" I asked.

"Astrid, don't be silly. You have to fail the test first," he said before opening another door. I looked at it as the blue and yellow Deadly Nadder from the healing cave came into the ring.

"Don't I get a weapon?!" I shout as I dodge her fire, remembering how Hiccup made me leave my axe in his room.

"Nope. You gotta survive without it," he said. She shot a stream of flames at me and I dove over it before clinging to the rock wall and climbing higher. 

I turned to have the wall against my back, and grabbed a jutting rock in the wall before looking at the dragon as she looked at me. I suddenly felt really stupid when she flew up to me and shot at me again. I let go of the wall and fell a few feet before grabbing her tail and swinging onto her back, grabbing the spikes of her crown as she tried to shake me off. I sat on her neck and tried not to get stabbed my the spikes as she went crazy, spiraling through the air and doing free falls before catching herself. I let go of her crown and wrapped my arms around her neck as I felt my grip slipping from the horns. The dragon started a free fall and when she pulled up, just before hitting the ground, gravity sided against me and I was yanked from her neck before I hit the ground, twisting my wrist as I tried to catch myself. 

I cried out in pain as I rolled to the edge of the ring and propped my back against the wall. The Nadder landed in front of me before preparing fire. I shielded my wrist and head as I held out my other hand, hoping she'd take it as a plea for mercy. Breathing heavily as I waited for the end, I almost jumped out of my skin as I felt scales touch my palm. I slowly lifted my head to see she had put her nose to my hand. Suddenly, a whistle sounded from Hiccup's direction and the dragon squawked at me before flying out of the ring, using the opening in the top of the shaft. I looked at my hand before Hiccup spoke, making me turn my gaze to him.

"Congratulations. You just calmed and bonded with your first dragon."