Night Rider

Finding a Way

-Hiccup's pov-

"No! Astrid! Listen!" I cried, turning on the spot so fast that my hair whipped me in my eyes. "It did happen! You-"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." She remarked sharply, pulling Stormfly's spines out of the tree and placing them in her Hunter's satchel.

"No! You do! You were there! These are your memories!" I wailed at her.

"I have no memories of you or this place before now." She spoke swiftly, completely ignoring my desparate pleas. "I think you have the wrong person."

"No! It was you! Astrid Hofferson! You just don't remember because-"

"They're not mine? They're fake?" She interrupted, fastening her satchel tightly and whistling through her teeth for Stormfly.

"You don't remember because your memory has been altered!" I screamed at her, running inbetween them to stop Stormfly from reaching Astrid. Stormfly knew my scent and didn't barge into me, instead she stopped gracefully and sniffed at my outstretched hands cautiously, almost as if she could smell fish or dragon nip on them.

"Let my dragon go!" She demanded, pulling a spine from her satchel and positioning it in her hand as if it was a dagger and pointing it at my neck.

"No! You must listen to me! Your memories have been taken! You have been given fake memories in their place! You live here! This is your home!" I forcefully told her. I grabbed her free wrist to stop her reaching Stormfly behind me, and a party of lightning bolts ran through my arm and upto my heart, but I ignored them - I had more important matters to direct my attention on than my own feelings. "Have you ever wondered why everyone here knows you? How you have a house already? Why there seems to be things, like information, which you are missing?" I answered, thinking about how she couldn't even remember where he own hut was.

This stopped Astrid. She had a look of wonder and confusion on her face, and her eyes seemed distant and hazed. I knew she was thinking about what I had said and I stopped talking and just watched her face for any signs of recognition. However, when she had snapped out of her trace, she still hadn't shown any signs at all - her face had stayed like a statue all the way through. She took one threatening glance at me, then hopped on Stormfly and flew away.

I didn't stop her. How could I? My mind was blank of things to say and she had sent this menacing glare my way, so I dared not to speak to her. I was still staring at the blue sky when Fishlegs came up to me from his voyage to Berk, and gave me the unsurprising news that Astrid wasn't there.

"I tried..." I sighed to Fishlegs, fastening Inferno more securely onto my leg.

"What?" He questioned.

"I tried, but she couldn't remember..." I told him dreamily.

"Astrid? You saw her?" He questioned me, his voice full of shock.

"Yeh, she was in the forest, just walking and I tried to make her remember, but she wouldn't." I told him, snapping out of my dream-like state and focusing on the present, which was with Fishlegs, and not the past, which was Astrid. The beautiful, warrior of Astrid with her blazing eyes.

"What did you tell her?" He asked, his face turning into a serious one like I was under interrogation.

"I told her about the first flight she had on Toothless..." I told him, my mind whiring to try and find out what I had done wrong.

"And that didn't work?" He asked astounded, "No-one except Astrid and you has ever been on Toothless. It must have been powerful!"

"Yeh, but... it didn't work. That was the first time anyone had actually been with me and talked to me as if I was a true member of the tribe, but I guess it was a stronger memory for me than it was for her." I told him. At this statement, Fishlegs's face fell a little. Maybe that day didn't mean anything to her at all. Maybe, it was just like any other day.