Hiccup:

His first few weeks back were strange. He felt that he did yet didn't belong at Berk. Living in a house, sleeping in a bed, human interaction, they were all foreign to him for the last few years. But then, he slowly started getting used to it. The people who once made fun of him now welcomed him with open arms. People who ignored him wanted to know everything about his adventures. Gobber and Stoick seemed to be stepping on eggshells around Hiccup. Afraid of making a wrong move or saying the wrong thing and causing him to leave again. But what they didn't know was that Hiccup wasn't leaving this time. He was going to stay and train the vikings to train dragons.

Stoick wanted to hear everything that happened since Hiccup had left Berk. He told his father as much as he thought he could handle. He didn't tell him about his fight with the red death yet, nor about the dragon sanctuary, and deffinatly not about his mother. One step at a time Hiccup, one step at a time.

2 days later...

"All right", Hiccup said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them eagerly as he eyed the gang. They were standing in the arena with their dragons. "Today we are-". He heard the cry of a terrible terror and looked up. A small violet one dove at him and perched on his shoulder. Hiccup noticed a small piece of paper attached to it's leg. He untied it and the dragon flew off him and onto Toothless's head, who growled but didn't bother trying to get the puny dragon off. He laughed at the relative discomfort of his friend as he unfolded the paper and immediately recognized his mother's handwriting.

Dear my son,

When spying on the Dragon Trappers and that Drago Bludvist, I came to a startling find. See me as soon as possible, and bring NO ONE from your current location. As I'm sure you already know. I'm being cryptic incase this letter falls in the wrong hands. I'll be at the place where I first found you.

Love
-Mother

Hiccup folded the letter quickly and glanced at the assembled teens. "Practice flying, I'll be back. I have to go somewhere", Astrid started glaring at him as she crossed her arms. "Last time you left the island, you didn't come back until five years", she said, still glaring, she added, "I'm coming with you". Hiccup shook his head.

"My original plan was to not come back".

Astrid winced

"And your not coming. I need to do this alone".

She shook her head, "I'm coming. Especially now because it sounds like your doing something dangerous".

"No, it's not. I'm just meeting with someone who took care of me when I was gone".

"Oh, is it a girl?" Asked Ruffnut mockingly. However, comment only angered Astrid.

"Is it?"

"What?"

"A girl?"

"No! I mean yes. I mean, she is a she but not... no, like a- a mother in a way". Hiccup stared getting uncomfortable with the way Astrid's glare started getting deeper and deeper. "Then why don't you want me to meet her?"

Hiccup's face turned red, "it's... complicated...".

That wasn't the answer Astrid was looking for. She flared up and punched Hiccup in the arm. Without a word, she turned around, jumped on Stormfly and took off. Hiccup turned to Snotlout with a puzzled look on his face, "what did I say?"

He shrugged, "don't know, gave up on trying to figure her out a long time ago".

"Hey, I was just joking. But... is it a girl?" Hiccup turned to Ruffnut and glared at her. She recoiled slightly with her hands in the air, "alright, alright, sorry".

I'm going to go look for her....

Astrid:

Her heart felt torn. Yet, she didn't know why. She thought she and Hiccup had a good, trusting relationship. After all, she was the first person he showed his face to from Berk, no, the whole archipelago actually. But the thought that another girl might actually have seen his face made her feel that she wasn't that special. Add to that, he wouldn't even introduce her to this mysterious new friend of his.

She found herself back to that cove she laied eyes upon his face for the first time in five years. She sat on a rock and placed her head in her hands.

"I knew I'd find you here", came Hiccup's voice from behind her. She whipped around and saw him, arms crossed and leaning against a tree. He had his helmet on, his armor and his cape.

"I thought you had to go meet your 'friend'", she said with a malicious tone. Hiccup laughed lightly. "Come now, your not jealous of a person you haven't even met are you? For all you know, she could be as old as Gothi. I did say she took care of me right?"

Astrid turned away because she didn't want him to see that he had made her smile. he still hasn't told me the whole story!

"Then why won't you let me see her?"

"Like I said, its-".

"That's not an answer".

Hiccup stared getting frustrated. He clenched his fists and started pacing back and forth. She wondered why he was so hesitant to introduce her to this mysterious person.

"Come one Astrid, she is old enough to me my- my mother", he said stubbornly.

"How will I know that if I haven't even met her?"

"How did you know it's a her if you haven't met her?"

"Because you said".

"I could have lied?"

"Then your not telling me the truth? Why aren't you? Unless there is something to hide?"

"I told you, there is nothing romantic between us!"

"And how should I know that!?"

"I... I dont know-!"

"Well, you should!"

"Why... why are we even yelling?" Hiccup said sighing, "Its not going to solve anything, you know".

"I... I actually don't know".

They paused for a second, just stared into eachother's eyes. Astrid saw the sincerity in Hiccup's eyes and realized that, he was telling the truth. The guilt must have been rising in her face because Hiccup started to chuckle, followed by Astrid. Then, they started laughing, feeling stupid for even getting angery to begin with. At how childish she had been acting today.

"All right, all right", Hiccup finally said after a few minutes of laughing, "I'll take you to see her, but... please don't tell anyone at Berk... ESPECIALLY Stoick". His comment made Astrid giggle again. "When do I just speak to Stoick casually?" She asked, then saw Hiccup's serious expression, "why?" He smilled and held out his hand.

"You'll see".

Hiccup:

He told Astrid to wait with the dragons until he knew it was all right.

"Why the precautions? Is she... dangerous?"

"Well, she is when she's surprised. And she doesn't want anyone from Berk to see her... just yet. And I need some time to convince her to introduce herself to you first".

After some reassurance that he was in no immediate trouble, she reluctantly agreed to stay behind with the dragons.

"Mother? Mother? Are you here?"

"I thought I told you that no one from Berk should come".

Hiccup jumped and quickly turned around to see his mother standing with Cloudjumper sitting behind her. She had on her mask and stood with her head high and her staff in hand. She looked like a chieftess, strong and foreboding.

"She was persistent. Wanted to come and meet you. I wanted to show her that there was nothing to be jealous of because your-", he looked over his shoulder and scanned the rocks for the slightest movement, just incase Astrid decided to eavesdrop. When he was done, but not entirely satisfyed, he brought his voice to a low whisper, "-my mother". Valka smiled as she knew how young girls minds worked, for she had been one a long time ago. "Alright, she can meet me. But she has to promise not to tell anyone at Berk, not even her closest friend".

Hiccup made his way back to Astrid, knowing that his mother would make a dramatic entrance. Smiling to himself when he thought of Astrid's reaction when she finds out that Hiccup's mother is alive.

Astrid:

It was a few hours until Hiccup came back, Astrid started to get a little worried. When she heard the crunching of pebles and saw Hiccup emerge from a big boulder with a bemused grin on his face, she raised and eyebrow and asked, "so, where-".

She heard a roar from above which startled her. She, as well as the two dragons looked up. A giant brown dragon which Astrid only ever red about appeared from the clouds and started to circle them. Stormcutters are rare compared to dragons like gronkles or naders. It's owl like head swivled as it watched them; it's intelligent eyes studied their movements. Toothless started to wag his tail excitedly as his face broke into his typical smile while Stormfly roared in alarm as she got ready to protect her rider. Astrid stared with a slight feeling of apprehension, especially when she saw the masked rider upon its back. It was standing up on the dragon's back with such ease. It held a staff gave her an ominous feeling, is this the person Hiccup was talking about?

She heard Hiccup chuckle and say, "come on, I think you scared them enough". The rider glanced down at him and nodded. It pointed it's staff next to Hiccup and the stormcutter turned it's head to see where it was indicating. Hiccup didn't flinch as the dragon and rider landed right next to him. The stormcutter brought its winged claw towards the rider who hooked it's staff onto it and held on. The dragon slowly set her down next to Hiccup who chuckled and shook his head.

"Oh, too bad I didn't have at least five dragons escorting me!" Said the female voice of the new masked rider, "Would have made my entrance more-".

"Dramatic?"

"Yes!"

They laughed as she turned to Astrid. She lifted her hands and slowly removed her mask. Astrid gasped as her eys met those forest green eyes... Much like Hiccup's, and heck, she even looks like him, could she really be... no, it can't be... but could it? Astrid drew a blank. Hiccup was right, she dose look old enough to be his mother... The woman didn't shift her gaze from Astrid's eyes, almost like she was imspecting Astrid's soul rather than her physical body. After a few minutes, the woman smiled and said, "hello Astrid, I'm Valka, Hic-".

"Hiccup's Mother!!!" Astrid almost screamed, the surprise obvious in her throat. Valka only laughed at her reaction as she replied, "oh dear, I have much to explain don't I? I will, as long as you promise not to tell Stoick. Once he gets over the shock of seeing that our son is alive-", she says ruffling Hiccup's hair.

"Mooooom", Hiccup said in a whiny, protesting voice.

"-then he would be able to handle me also being alive after... 20 years now? He might be tuff, but even the strongest god has a breaking point, now come. I, and Hiccup will explain everything".

Astrid gave her a questioning look, "everything?"

"Everything".

This was going to be in the next chapter but it made more sense here so... yah.

Astrid POV:

At first, their story seemed to remarkable. But seeing the sincerity in their eyes, I came to believe it. Thes past twenty years, Valka was alive, and living amongst the dragons in a dragon sanctuary. Protecting them. She thought of Hiccup every waking hour and every dreaming night. The regret over filling her, the why didn't I take him with me? Then, she heard from Trader Johan that a huge dragon has been slain, and she came to investigate. By a shear stroke of luck, Hiccup (who was an outcast from Berk at the time), ended up being there, wounded and unconscious. She then took both Hiccup and Toothless back to the sanctuary, where she nursed Hiccup back to health. The next five years they had been saving dragons and avoiding Berk (no matter how much I hate hearing it, I can understand why). Then, well, Hiccup had to save the dragons here, well, not here, at Berk. Then he saved me, and showed me who he truly was. It all makes sense now. What happened to his leg, how he survived, and... why he wanted to keep this 'stranger' a secret. Because she wasn't just some person who nursed him back to health, or acted as a mother, she was his mother, and according to Berk? She was supposed to be dead.

Of course, she'd be the one to teach him how to dance, Stoick would never. Especially if it had reminded him of Valka, whi was supposed to be dead all this time. But here she is, ruffling her son's hair and laughing with him. Now, I wonder what else could be possible.

I also changed Chapter 8 so it makes more sense. I have no idea what I was thinking at the time. I think I wad planning to end it sooner, so I was getting all the surprises out of the way and then when I wrote this chapter I had forgotten that I already mentioned her then I added a part here that said that she didn't believe him and I realized that her reaction back then sounded like she believed him so... yeah...

It's a good thing I'm going back and editing everything lol.