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Astrid Hofferson really hated the whole Princess schtick, especially when she wasn’t the Crown Princess. Since her brother was the Heir to the throne, her role was political pawn in the big game of chess that was the ever shifting landscape of alliances.
She’d argue she knew more about the kingdoms than her brother did. She knew more about everything than he did! The alliances, laws, traditions, warfare, and fighting!
But no. Because she was the second born, and a girl, tradition dictated she’d be locked in a tower and guarded.
Gods, the sorcerer that her family had picked as her guardian was certainly a piece of work. Viggo Grimborn, cold, ruthless, and cruel. He was offered a generous amount of gold for his protection, and in exchange, he wouldn’t attack her kingdom.
Astrid would argue there were better ways to get a treaty with this psychopath, but again, she was ignored.
Her only relief came from the fact he didn’t care about her, at all. Sometimes he even forgot to feed her. He rarely spoke to her, and when he did, it was a few harsh words. Eventually, she got him to allow her some more freedom within his ruined fortress, so she could fetch her own food and books from the meager library.
He agreed, only so that he could ‘give up his babysitting duties’.
Really, the only thing he was really charged with was protecting her from the knights and lords that would come to take her hand. They had until she was 21 to rescue her, of course winning the privilege of marrying her, before she’d be released from Viggo’s clutches and married to the highest bidder.
The fact her father had picked the most brutal and fearsome sorcerer of their time had not escaped her. She expected a very long, lonely seven years of captivity.
One day, about a year into her stay, she saw motion by the gate. A knight, decked out in gold and emerald armor, flew into view on the back of a black dragon. The knight was huge, even from here she could see he was imposing. And his mount was a dragon? Incredible!
But this man stood no chance against Viggo. No one did. Every knight that entered these ruins would meet a horrendous fate. She didn’t know what it was exactly, but the screams that echoed through the stone walls gave her enough of an indication.
And she never saw anyone leave.
Still, she had her role. So she went to her bed, smoothed out the sheets and laid down. She folded her hands on her stomach and closed her eyes, pretending to sleep.
Then she waited. Waited for the inevitable screams of pain, of torment. Waited for the scream that would twist into the snarl of an animal, and then silenced.
As the hour crept on, there was nothing. No clang of swords, no nothing. Surely Viggo would have detected the knight's presence by now?
Finally, she heard the clamoring of armor coming up the stairs.
No way!
The door creaked open, and she kept her eyes shut, trying to relax.
“So there’s the princess,” said a gruff, older voice.
“Wow, she’s pretty!” A younger, nasally, dorky voice squeaked.
Astrid stifled a confused frown. Two people? The younger one must be the knight’s squire. Unusual, but allowed, if she recalled.
“Aye. The Princess Astrid, daughter of King Axel of Berk. Once, our allies.” There were footsteps as the two came closer. “Alright, you go and kiss her.”
“What?! Why me?!”
The man barked a laugh. “Well I certainly won’t! Your mother would have my hide!”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I told you on the way!”
“Dad, I can’t hear anything when I’m flying.”
“Well, why do you think I brought you along?”
A pause. “I thought you needed a ride?”
“Ha! That’s a good one!” There was a thump and someone stumbled forward. “Go kiss her and tell her what’s going on.”
“Isn’t it supposed to be True Love’s Kiss? What if it doesn’t work?”
“That’s just the stories, lad. She’s not really asleep.”
“What!?”
“I’ve got to go fight the wizard. You stay with the princess until I get back.”
“But—!”
Astrid heard the armored man clamor out of the room while the younger one shuffled his feet.
“Gods above, I can’t believe this.”
Astrid stifled a smile. The situation was unorthodox, but rather humorous.
And she was finally going to get her kiss and freedom!
Well, she’d probably have to marry this young man, but it was preferable to getting married off to an older noble.
She heard him approach slowly. He seemed to be wearing armor too, perhaps just chainmail, and a cape if the flutter was anything to go by. Then a hand caressed her own, a thumb gently running over her knuckles. He leaned closer, and she heard him breathing deeply.
“Princess?” He asked softly. “Any chance you’ll let me out of this?”
“No,” she murmured, still desperately trying to stick to her script. “It’s the law. I can’t leave unless you kiss me.”
“Ah geez, okay. But…this is my first kiss and I didn’t know I was expected to do this and if it’s not very good I’m really sorry because you’ve probably been looking forward to this and I’m not much of a Prince Charm—“
“For the love of Thor, shut up and kiss me!” She snapped, eyes still shut.
“Right! Sorry sorry…”
His hand over hers squeezed as he leaned in, face just within reach. His breath was warm over her face and she swore she heard him gulp.
Then he pecked her. So swiftly, so briefly, she barely felt it.
As he started to pull away, she grabbed his wrist and held tight. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
He whimpered, then cleared his throat. His other hand touched her cheek, just gently brushing over her skin. Then he pressed his lips to hers, firmly, but trembling. He caught her bottom lip between his and held her for a moment. His lips were warm, sweet, but slightly chapped. There was tenderness and care in his touch, like she was precious, and not some prize to claim. Then he pulled away.
Finally, she opened her eyes to look at the face of her rescuer.
He wasn’t conventionally attractive. No chiseled jaw or cut cheekbones. He had some baby fat on his ruddy cheeks, a round nose, freckles, and the most awkward, sheepish smile with crooked teeth she’d ever seen. But he had very pretty deep green eyes and a mop of auburn hair. He was slight and frail, like a stiff wind would knock him over. He might not even be able to carry a sword.
She let out a loud snort and a laugh.
The smile fell suddenly and he huffed. “Yeah, real ego boost, Milady.”
“Sorry sorry!” She giggled. “I just—...”
“Was expecting a manlier man?”
She cleared her throat and sat up. “It matters little what I was expecting. You are what I have now. I am Princess Astrid…as your father said?”
He sighed and sat on the bed next to her. “Yep, dear ol’ dad. I’m Hiccup, by the way.”
Her eyes crinkled at his name. “It’s nice to meet you, Hiccup.” She crossed her legs, giving him more room on the bed. Might as well get comfortable while they waited. “I think I knew a Hiccup once. A prince.”
“Son of King Stoick the Vast?” He lifted an eyebrow.
She nodded.
“Welp, that’s me. And that other man you heard was the King. Well, not king anymore…” He said the last sentence a little bitterly.
“Oh!” She snapped her fingers. “That’s right! He was usurped! By King Drago.”
Hiccup scoffed. “Gods hearing his name like that still sounds stupid.”
“So what are you doing here? Why have you come for me? It’s rather unheard of for two people to come for a Princess together, let alone one deliver the kiss and the other slay the guardian.”
He shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. He told me we were rescuing you to get into your father’s good graces, but beyond that, I’m not sure. Apparently he told me on the way here, but I couldn’t hear him.”
“I think I understand. By having you marry me, you will become a Prince and given back your birthright. And given your um…” she gestured to him. “Physicalities, he decided to aid you to make sure it was a success.”
“Again, big ego boost.”
“I don’t know if it will work out the way Stoick wants,” she tapped her chin. “I’m supposed to marry the person who slays the guardian. The kiss is just a formality. But he’s already married, isn’t he?”
“Yep. Mom’s waiting at home.” He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassment clear on his face. “He’s trying to be a knight. My Uncle, Lord Spitelout, retained his land and fortune when my father was usurped. Only by his loyalty to his sister, my mom, were we saved from certain death. Now dad’s trying to find a way to restore his honor, even if it's not in the monarchy.”
“Then this mission has two objectives.”
“The whole ‘marriage’ thing was a surprise, honestly.”
She smirked. “And I thought my life was rough.”
Suddenly, the ruins shook violently as a horrendous roar shook the stone. Not the roar of a warrior, but the roar of a horrible beast.
“That would be dad,” Hiccup stated, dully.
“What?! How—?”
He gave her a strange look. “You don’t know why we were usurped? I thought everyone knew by now.”
She shook her head, confused. “I’ve been in this tower for about a year, before that, I tried to keep up with the changing politics and the war, but I was often boxed out of meetings.”
He chuckled. “Boy, are you in for a treat.”
Another roar, another tremble, the sound of thunder, explosions, yelling…
“Is your dad an experienced warrior then? I was under the impression kings only ceremonially know how to fight, but from what I’ve seen of my father…they don’t practice much.”
Hiccup grinned. “Don’t worry. Some stupid sorcerer is no match for dad.”
“Viggo is very formidable,” she insisted. “He’s slain every knight that’s come to rescue me, without much effort.”
“Again, Dad’s way out of his league.”
One more tremble, this time making rubble fall from the ceiling, followed by the crack of stone splitting. The tower shook violently, throwing Astrid into Hiccup.
“ Hiccup! ” A bellowing voice echoed through the fortress. “ Get the Princess out of here! ”
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Hiccup shouted back. He leapt from the bed and held a hand out for her. “Quick, we’re going out the window!”
“What! Are you mad?!”
“Just trust me!” He took her hand and headed for the window. He used his cape as a shield to protect her from falling debris.
Then he leapt up to the window ledge. “It’ll be safe to climb up on my back,” he said, giving her that awkward smile.
Astrid had doubts. He didn’t really seem strong enough to hold her, but she’d already insulted him enough today. “...okay.”
He grabbed the edge of his cape and swirled it around him. As it passed, it turned black and leathery, and a moment later, the black dragon she had seen Stoick ride in was perched on the window ledge and the ex-Prince was gone.
“Oh,” she squeaked.
He warbled at her, gesturing up on his back.
A chunk of the ceiling fell a few feet away, prompting her to leap on him and hug around his neck for dear life.
He dipped forward and out the window, then spread his wings to glide out over the crumbling ruins.
Astrid peeled one eye open to look.
A huge red and green dragon with six eyes and a mouth that could swallow her whole was breaking through the ruins of the fortress.
Viggo was nowhere to be seen, but the cool green light that she had associated with his spells was rippling through the stone.
Hiccup flew quickly over the lava mote that surrounded the castle and landed at the edge of the volcano.
Astrid slid off his back so he could transform back into a man.
“You and King Stoick…” she began, pointing at the devastation. “You’re Dragonborn?”
“The last Dragonborn family, at least as far as we know.”
“I didn’t think they existed anymore.”
“If Drago had his way, we wouldn’t.”
“And your kingdom…they knew?”
He sighed. “Unfortunately, yeah. I uh…I had a little incident with my first transformation. It happens rather randomly the first time. You get a strong enough emotion and whoosh!” He flailed his arms. “My strong emotion was anxiety, and it happened while I was addressing the kingdom for the first time.”
“Oh dear…”
“Yeah, not great. The people weren’t thrilled that they were being ruled by a family of Dragonborn. Made Drago’s coup a real threat.”
Astrid watched as the giant dragon emerged from the ruins again and took off into the sky. It circled once before coming in for a landing by them.
“Watch out,” Hiccup urged, before transforming once again.
The giant dragon couldn’t land as he was, and retook his human form while still up in the air. Hiccup flew up to catch him, and then landed by Astrid’s side.
“Nice to see you up, lass!” Stoick called, holding his hand out.
Now she remembered. She’d met Stoick once when she was younger and he was still a king. There was no way to forget the giant man. Huge stature, big red braided beard, and eyes of kindness and wisdom. He wore gleaming gold and emerald armor that befitted a king. Although, now that armor was tarnished in scorch marks and blood.
“Are you alright?”
“Perfectly fine!”
She took hold of his hand, and he lifted her up to sit in front of him on Hiccup’s back.
“Alright lad, take us out of here!”
Hiccup warbled and pushed off the ground, taking to the sky at a dizzying speed.
A large hand rested on her shoulder, a comforting, paternal hand. “I would have flown us back, but the boy is so much faster than I am.”
It was bizarre to hear them both talk about transforming into dragons so casually.
“Where are we going?” Astrid tilted her head back to ask. The man loomed over her.
“We’re going to Berk, to show your father we’ve rescued you…and to arrange your marriage to my son!”
“I thought so,” Astrid chuckled helplessly. “You know, I think my father will put up a stink. After all, Hiccup didn’t defeat Viggo.”
Stoick clicked his tongue to his teeth. “He doesn’t need to know Hiccup didn’t fight him. It was a joint effort, right Princess?”
She hummed noncommittally.
“Unless…you don’t want to marry my son?”
“I don’t get a choice who I get to marry,” she replied, a tinge of sadness in her tone. “I’ve already decided that Hiccup is probably better than the old nobles that would pay a lot of money for my hand.”
Hiccup huffed, as if to say, ‘ so glad I rank so high up’ .
“But I worry that my father will try to find a loophole to get out of this, given who you are…or who you were.” She said the last bit with a grimace, figuring it would make him mad.
He just laughed.
“If anything, who I am will only convince him more. I’m a very powerful ally, afterall.”
Astrid thought back to the crumbling castle, and the fact she was riding on a dragon right now.
Her soon-to-be-betrothed dragon, at that.
Stoick was right. He was a very powerful ally.