Light a Match (Astrid x Fem)

Shadow

Burn woke to a woman shaking her at the Break of dawn.

"Burn! Wake up deary! You've slept in!" The woman urged. Burn rubbed her eyes in her dreary daze. When they she had finally gone to bed, it was nearly sunrise, around the time she would wake up on a typical day. "Stoical gave me permission to take you to the next Dragon Council, in 15 minutes!" Burn shot up. She had known that the more dragons she killed the better her life would get, but to be invited to the council? Burn quickly got dressed and took an apple for the road, hurrying alongside her mother.

"Either we finish them, or they'll finish us. It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave, they'll find another home! One more search, before the ice sets in." Stoick ordered.

"Those ships never come back." A Viking reminded.

"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me!?!" Stoick asked.

The silence in the hall was punctuated only by imaginary crickets. Burn knew he wasn't addressing her, so she kept quiet too.

"Alright. Those who stay will look after Hiccup." The crowd was suddenly alive with roars as Burn pitied her friend.

"Aye, that's more like it." Most of the vikings filed out, but Gobber and Stoick lingered, Burn staying behind as well to eaves drop.

"Alright. I'll pack my undies."

"No, I need you to stay and train Burn and the new recruits."

"Oh perfect. Train the Viking that's already stronger than half the town. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Oh... what and I going to do with him, Gobber?"

"Put him in training with the others."

"I'm serious."

"So am I!" Burn couldn't believe her ears. They were actually giving Hiccup a real chance.

"He'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage."

"Oh, you don't know that."

"I do know that."

"No you don't."

"No actually I do."

"No you don't!"

"Listen. You know what he's like. From the time he could crawl he's been... different. He doesn't listen. He has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for... for trolls!"

"Trolls are real! They steal your socks. But only the left ones. What's with that?"

"When I was a boy-"

"Oh, here we go."

"-My father told me to bang my head against a rock, and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache."

"That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas. Even as a boy. I knew what I was, what I had to become. Hiccup is not that boy."

"You can't stop him, Stoick. You can only prepare him. I know it seems hopeless, but you won't always be around to protect him."

"Burn will..."

"Burn is strong, yes, but she's more reckless than a Nadder chasing a chicken. One day she will pick a fight she won't be able to win. Who'll protect him then? He is going to go out there again. He's probably out there now!"