How To Train Your Mandalorian;

CH VI; Forbidden Friendships

Characters: Hiccup Haddock, Stoick the Vast Haddock, Gobber, Astrid Hofferson, Snotlout Jorgenson, Spitelout Jorgenson, Ruffnut Thorston, Tuffnut Thorston, Fishlegs Ingerman

Ships: Hiccstrid, for now

Description:

Mandalorians, fiercest warriors in the galaxy and often some of the most stubborn organics, or inorganics, you'll ever meet. Enter the idea to colonize a planet in wild space well outside of normal territory. This world was called Arteo. Watch as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third tries to make himself a proper Mandalorian as he and his people face the threat of dragons.

Chapter Description:

Hiccup and Astrid begin learning about the Night Fury, and that maybe they were wrong about dragons. But as friendships grow outside the ring, the challenges within grow. Elsewhere Stoick the Vast reaches the Dar'yaim Gate.

Disclaimer:

I do not own Star Wars, I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. I am but a humble fan trying something I haven't done before in mixing these two together, may Disney, who may soon be the entertainment overlords please spare me their wrath and lawsuits, I wouldn't have much to give them anyway.

Mando'A and other dictionary

Buir- parent, father or mother

Manda- heaven, afterlife only for the warriors

Kama- beltspat/leg cover, serves as armour

Haran- hell

Haar'chak- "Damn it!"

Buy'ce- helmet

Nerf- somewhat small chicken-esque creature

Flimsi- paper

Mir'osik- shit for brains

Shebs- rear/ass

Verde- warriors/soldiers

Berk, Great Hall

"Where did Astrid go wrong today?"Gobber passes his plate onto one of the empty tables nearby.

"I mistimed my somersault, it was sloppy."

"Yah, we all noticed." Ruffnut's eyes roll and she leans against her hand pressed into her face.

"No, she's right ya have to be hard on yer selves." Gobber looks at Hiccup, his head hung low and sitting tight to Astrid, the young woman's eyes hard as the iron of her armour. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

"He showed up?" Tuffnut growls through the bite of Nerf in his mouth. The Mandalorian grabs at a leg off his plate as something swings around behind him. A force strikes his head sending his face crashing into the table. Astrid's gaze locked on him and her lips pulled into a line.

"He wasn't where he was supposed to be." Her look softens as she rubs a small circle into Hiccup's upper arm.

"Thank ya Astrid. Hiccup wasn't in tha right place, placement is important when fighting dragons. Now ya all need ta live and breathe this stuff. So read up." Gobber drops a leather bound book of flimsi on the table. "Read this. Tomorrow ya learn learn more about placement as ya face the Deadly Nadder."

"Read!"

"While we're still alive?" The twins mock faint onto the table sending a few dishes clattering to the ground.

"Why read words when you can kill the stuff the words tell you about?" Snotlout pounds his fist into his open palm.

"I've read it like seven times! There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water and melts your face and then there's thi-"

"There was a chance I was gonna read it, but now… nah."

"You read, I'm gonna go kill things." Snotlout pushes off the table, the twins and Fishlegs following shortly.

"So just you and me eh?" Hiccup casts a glance at Astrid beside him. Her cheeks burn and a small smile covers her face.

"Yah, you and me. Shall we try to learn something about Night Furies?" Her hand and his go for the book, just barely missing each other as Astrid pulls it closer to them.

"Y-yah… definitely. Yes… yah…" Hiccup's face could match the red markings on his armour. Astrid's small smile broke into a much larger one, she scooted closer invading Hiccup's personal space and pushing the book between them before opening it.

"Well then Dragon Boy, shall we?" Hiccup's raised an eyebrow at her.

"Dragon Boy?" Astrid just cocked her head at him.

"Well what else are you if not a Dragon Boy given that demonstration I saw earlier tonight?" Hiccup's blush turned even redder than before as a few of the nearby Mandalorians quite smartly moved away from the young couple. "Why don't we read the book before you pass out on me?"

Berk, Kill Ring

The wooden maze of walls was running throughout the arena metal bolts and brackets made of durasteel holding the planks together. Hiccup stood, his back to the rest of the group looking towards Gobber who was leaning on the chainlinks of the arena's dome like roof his finger working at something next to his metal tooth.

"So I noticed the book of Dragons didn't have anything on Night Furies, is there like a sequel or a Night Fury Pamphlet-" Hiccup spun as a blast of fire smacked into his shield sending him rolling over the ground and charging from where Gobber was as the sky blue and golden crowned Deadly Nadder released a screech diving off the top of the wall and rushing after the black and red clad Mandalorian.

"Focus Hiccup! Yer not even trying!" Hiccup wheeled around a corner the Nadder in hot pursuit jumping back up to the walls to get a vantage only to lose the lanky teenager as he passed under and went for the other side of the arena. "Today is all about attack. Nadder's are quick and light on their feet."

Fishlegs turns a corner a slight shriek emanating from him as his helmet rotates upwards coming face to face with the Nadder's yellow eyes and slitted pupils.

"Yer job is ta be quicker and lighter!" The Nadder's gold, blue, and slight red highlighted tail swings upwards spines sticking out after a quick whip. Swinging in an arc towards the husky Mandalorian the yellow and poisonous tipped spines fly after Fishlegs. The teen pulls up his shield as he runs, covering his head and upper chest as a quadruplet of the spines embed into his shield. Throwing off his balance from the forces Fishlegs careens into the wall shattering the spines and running away faster as the Nadder squaked at him.

"I'm really beginning to question you're teaching methods!" Fishlegs shouts, another scream ripping from his throat as another line of spines slam right behind him forcing him to pump his legs faster.

"Look for it's blind spot, every dragon has one." Hiccup sprints away from the Nadder as Tuff and Ruff round different corners and coming face to face with the dragon which had been hunting their friend. Stuck directly in a row right in front of the Nadder's large beak-like snout and out of view of its eyes.

"Ugh, I wish these buy'ce blocked out smell. Do you ever bathe?"

"If you don't like it get your own blindspot." Shoving backwards Tuffnut threatens to push Ruffnut into the dragon's sight range. Pushing back the female twin holds her ground and sends Tuff dangerously close to the dragon.

"Why don't I give you a blindspot mir'osik!" The Nadder's head cocks ot the left, its slit like pupil focusing in on the pair of armoured teens before snapping its jaws at them and launching itself forward.

"Blind spot yes. Deaf spot? Not so much" Gobber smiles as the two charge away, his eyes narrowing on Hiccup wandering over to him.

"So how might one sneak up on a Night Fury?"

"No one who's ever seen one has ever lived to tell the tale." Gobber picks at his ear slightly before turning his head away as an adult walks up to him.

"Hiccup." Astrid motions over to herself, Snotlout right behind her, the Nadder padding down the makeshift hallway towards them. Astrid rolls right in front the Nadder pushes up against the wall. Hiccup follows, making the roll with not even a whisper. Snotlout glares from behind his visor, his face growing red before he too follows the pair. Snotlout takes a step back, pushes off his foot, and landing in a heap on the ground. His shield ringing across the flag stones and drawing the Nadder's slitted pupils to him. Hiccup and Astrid spared barely a glance backwards before shooting away, Snotlout scurrying backwards as the Nadder beats its wings and perches on the top of the walls, jumping from section to section.

Dust rises from the ground Hiccup and Astrid caught squarely between the dragon and a wall, right in its blindspot. Hiccup's gaze darts from the dragon stalking forward to his wife in front of him. Her grip on the axe tightens and she begins to twist to strike as a voice comes from behind the dragon.

"Don't worry babe! I got this!" A mace collides with the wooden wall and dropping harmlessly to the ground. The Nadder releases a squeaking chuckle and turns to face the offending man. Astrid and Hiccup duck behind a wall finding cover right before the Nadder would have seen them. "The sun was in my eyes!"

A beam of sparking fire scorches the ground and burns along the wall, Snotlout pushing off his hands and knees and rushing away. Astrid snatches Hiccup's upper arm and pulls him away with her. Blinking a few times in her helmet Astrid isolates the comlink between herself and her husband.

"Hiccup are you insane?" The hiss bit the poor young man's ear. "We are in enough trouble as it is without you making it so obvious to Gobber of all people!"

"Oh come on! He wants us to be interested this isn't liable to get figured out by any of them! Everyone here except you thinks I lied about shooting down a Night Fury, haran! They're probably taking this as me trying to make my story more believable!"

"Hiccup! Astrid! Get in there!" The pair twist around as the Nadder jumps onto the wall above them, twisting its head so one of those yellow eyes focuses on the two Mandalorians.

"By the Manda…" Hiccup pushes off a second after Astrid, her hand wrapping around his wrist and pulling him after her. They dart right and the Nadder hops from wall to wall, its weight shifting the wooden pieces more as it beats its wings and squawks more often. Astrid spins on the ball of her foot, the Nadder tracking her and by extension the young man she was pulling after her.

Taking a left, a right, straight ahead, another right, a left, on and on, the Nadder keeping pace as the pair of Mandalorians ran. As Astrid was about to take another turn Hiccup pulled, shifting the pair's weight and sending them into gravity's embrace. The Nadder let out a confused squawk, it's legs still going forward as it's body twisted to keep the blue armoured female in sight. The poor creature's center of balance changed as it did so, sending the creature spiraling into the ground, the wall restricting its wings.

A loud crack echoes next to Astrid and Hiccup, the former straddling her husband. Her cheeks red and thankfully hidden by her helmet.

"Ooh, love on the battlefield."

"She could do better."

"No. She can't!" The twins snicker and watch the young married couple, their visors still aimed at each other and having failed to move. The Nadder slowly got up, its eyes growing wider as it caught the two teenagers in sight. However the pupils quickly shrunk as it saw the heavy-set man with a false arm approaching. Turning on a dime the Nadder took off heading back into its pen.

"You two can stop now." Ruffnut groused, her eyes having not left sight before them.

"Actually I'm quite enjoying this, wouldn't you agree Hiccup?" Astrid's face was crimson beneath her helmet, much like the young man under her, but he only managed a nod. "Though I must say you were out of position again, I think we need to do some more training."

"Well I'm sorry, who was it who kept a Nadder off your tail?" The black clad Mando smirked back.

"Well I wouldn't have been chased by that Nadder if it weren't for…"

"Snotlout!" The pair turned in unison as a black and orange armoured teenager charged out of the arena. Astrid pushed off her legs about to sprint after him when a weight settled nicely on her shoulder. Whirling around, her arm cocking back she comes visor to visor with Hiccup.

"M'lady, he's not worth it. He's a di'kut and will most likely end up alone. Let's just let him be. Now I think you suggested some training? So how about we go get some food and head into the forest?" Hiccup's hand had worked its way down her arm until it interlocked with Astrid's fingers and given a slight squeeze.

"Alright, but you're prepping the food."

"Of course M'lady," the pair quickly took off leaving Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and Gobber standing and watching their retreating forms.

"Did-"

"Holy SHAB! Astrid just got calmed down! By Useless no less!"

Raven's Point Forest, the Cove

Hiccup smirked as he and Astrid lifted the small bag of fish and dropped it into the entryway. The two Mandos smirked as the black dragon bounded like a dog to the fish. His teeth were centimeters from sinking into the bag when Astrid's hand appeared before the beast's face his widened jaws haltingly moving closer. That slim hand, it's fingers held together and completely straight kept inching closer, the dragon let loose a growl and its mouth quietly snapped shut.

"Good, because we have to share." The acid green eyes rose to meet the cool crystalline blue locked onto his shadowy form. His lips tugged downwards attempting a face that might get him food faster. "Beg all you want, dragon or human doesn't matter to me, I don't give up my food for just anyone."

"Astrid, don't torture him! He's hungry, probably has been since he crashed in here." Leveling a withering glare at her husband she pulls three fish from the bag before dumping the rest. "We got a couple cod and some eel for ya bud."

The dragon hisses, it's eyes narrowing to slits as it rears back wings spreading out and teeth barred. Astrid's hand wraps around her axe before Hiccup catches the arm, his mouth stretched to a thin line.

"Don't like eel bud? Don't worry, I'm not much of a fan of it either." His foot pulls the black and yellow corpse from the pile of fish. "There, no more eel. Astrid would you mind putting that away?"

The young woman slides the bag over the eel and drops it off to one side, keeping a good distance between it and the Night Fury. Hiccup slides behind the beast and Astrid can see that look on his face. His brows pulled together as his eyes poured over the dragon's ruined tail fin. Stepping around the dragon, keeping about three feet between herself and it as she moves to him she settles her hand on his shoulder.

"I know that look, what are you thinking of doing?" Hiccup slowly reaches out, his over fingers running softly over the healed wound. "Dragon boy?"

"I… Astrid I think I can restore his flight." Her body stiffens, like electricity coursing through her blood.

"What?" It's cold, far more than she'd intended. It pulls the boys attention as he notes her hardening eyes.

"Astrid, everything we know about them, about dragons, it's wrong. We're living proof of that. We've fed and touched a Night Fury! The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, and it's standing eating out of a pile of fish we brought it! This supposed monster seems nothing more than a common Strill." Hiccup's arms were waving, he'd turned his back on her, pacing as he walked, his arms tossing this way and that. Astrid's eyes widened, she'd helped the enemy. Glancing back at the black form she had stepped closer than the three feet rule she'd imposed upon herself.

"Hiccup? You're talking about restoring flight to one of the deadliest dragons on Arteo! Are you insane?" Astrid's voice had grown in volume, a few birds fleeing their perched near the Mandalorian couple.

"Astrid, you called him a dragon, not a beast." Her jaw dropped. Her shaking arms falling loosely to her sides. Her face warred with itself as thoughts raced behind her crystalline eyes. Hiccup was certain if they stood there long enough smoke might start drifting from her ears too. "He isn't so bad. Spared our lives twice, ate fish with us, doesn't appear to want to eat our shebs. Would it really be so bad to try and give him back what I took away?"

"Hiccup it… it isn't that simple for me…" Astrid was running her hands over her upper arms, keeping them crossed over her chest plate, her eyes not willing to rise and meet his own. Stepping up and snagging one of her hands. Squeezing before using his free hand to catch her chin and draw her face to look at his.

"Alright, let's study him? Give him food, keep him healthy, if he is one of a kind, nothing like the dragons in the ring we'll figure something else out? But… if he is just the unholy offspring of adorableness and bad decisions could you really keep him from flying? I mean I think he's the only dragon that hasn't purposely mauled or blasted a single Mando." Astrid kept her eyes locked with him and nodded.

"But if he is neither of those things…"

"I doubt it will happen, but if it comes to that… yes." Hiccup hardened his eyes. "Let's head back, Gobber will want everyone at dinner so he can tell us some kind of dragon fighting story I bet."

"Yah…" Astrid's gaze lingered on her husband, and his nearly chiseled expression.

Berk, Lower Defenses, Missile Battery Three

The teens and Gobber were gathered before a heater set at the center of the small platform just beneath the main firing mechanism. The older Mandalorian was passing out food as the sky darkened into the blackness, stars lighting the night like beacons or passing starships. The warm orange let out a soft glow in the space leaving the flooring and everything below it shrouded in an inescapable gloom. A few stray clouds marked by their dull grey lazy crossed the sky, but steered clear of the tiny village below them.

Gobber waves his arms as he hobbles around the circle, his prosthetic arm swapped for a skewer with a good chunk of Nerf stabbed upon it. Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Snotlout, and Fishlegs had their eyes focused on Gobber's movements and leaning forwards at the edge of their seats.

"... and with one twist 'e took my hand and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face. I delicious. He must have passed tha word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg." Gobber waves at the piece of wood stuck to his leg with his remaining hand. Fishlegs leans away while Astrid sends a glance at Hiccup, the other boy quite silent after the reprimand the pair had gotten over 'love on the battlefield'

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something?" The older Mando raises an eyebrow at his husky trainee.

"I'm not a Jetii Fishlegs. Even they can't do things like that without hands. Course that's what the stories say…"

"I swear I'm so angry right now. I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight… with my face!" His lips pull upwards and winks over at Astrid, the young woman rolling her eyes and shaking her head from side to side.

"Un-unh." Gobber's adam's apple bobs and he waves one of the Nerf's legs at Snotlout. "It's the wings and tha tails ya really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon, is a dead dragon."

Hiccup's eyes went wide, raising to catch Astrid's, her face pulling tight as she kept focused on him. "Alright. I'm off ta bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get inta tha big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up ta tha Monstrous Nightmare." Spinning on his peg leg Gobber takes the steps with a soft foot and clack before disappearing into the darkness. Six pairs of eyes waiting and staring til even Gobber's walking faded from their ears.

"It's gonna be me! I'm gonna take all of you out than that Nightmare is gonna be mine!" Tuff growls. "It's my destiny. See?"

His sister, Snotlout, and even Fishlegs scoot over to examine the ink printed onto Tuffnut's arm now revealed by the removed section of bodysuit. Astrid placed her hand between herself and Hiccup, letting the young man ensnare their fingers. Leaving his half cooked fish on its stake Hiccup tries to pull free and head for the stairs, Astrid's hand kept them locked together and his head spun as she followed him.

"Your Buir let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs almost prodded at Tuff's arm before it was jerked away from the larger boy.

"It's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark." Ruffnut's eyebrows fell lending a pointed look at her brother.

"I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before."

"Yes it was. You've just never seen me from the left side until now." Snotlout sticks his finger out poking Tuff's still red skin and the blond bites his lip tightly.

"It wasn't there yesterday. Is it a birhtmark or a today-mark?" Snotlout smirks and turns towards where the other two were. "Hey Astrid look at this-"

The four remaining teens all contort around Snotlout to see the pair of abandoned and not fully cooked meats instead of their fancily armoured fellows.

Berk, Forge

Astrid was trying to get her feet under her as Hiccup charged into the forge, pumping one of the buttons two or three times before a dim orange glow lit the darkened building. The warm light began to seep through the room, sending the cold and the dark running into the corners til the intruders left and they could regain their rightful place in the dead of night.

"Hiccup?" Astrid's eyes work around the still low lit room the other having managed to free himself after pulling her within. The bumps on her skin were slowly receding as the heart of the forge sucked in breath after breath and growing stronger as the flames rose to greet the disturbed air.

"Sorry Astrid!" His voice bounces from around a corner on her right, or at least it seems to. Stepping closer to the weapons rack Astrid reaches out with her hand. "Just give me a minute!"

Twisting to the left where Hiccup's voice had just come from her crystalline eyes stop as they see a shadow from behind the wall of tools. Hiccup appears a pair of broken vibroblades in his hands as he stalks towards the hearth.

"Hiccup? Why are we here? I thought we had a deal?" Hiccup drops the blades into the fire and his shoulders sink as his weight rests on the edge of the forge's smelter.

"I… I know we had a deal Astrid… but I… I did that to him, I could be the reason he dies. I can't live with that, I… I know you want more proof, but I'm telling you Astrid… he isn't like the others, and honestly I don't think the others are doing any of this on purpose, I just… I feel like there's something we're missing, like there's something wrong out beyond our village that's causing all this. It's like a storm cloud on the horizon lazily making its way here… I can see it, I know it's coming, but what chance do I have against nature itself?" Each word only made the young Mando's shoulders fall further, til eventually he had spun around and was sitting in the smoke stained floor his backplate tight to the smelter. Astrid eyes widened. Sitting there as he was it was like the fire illuminated around him, but his face, his body, the way his legs tucked into his chest and his arms encircling them. It wasn't Hiccup. Her boots ring out across the metal floor swiftly crossing what felt like a chasm between them… and she finally started to understand that this is who he was, even if he didn't know it himself. His walls had fallen away, and his heart might as well have been resting in her hands as she began rubbing along his forearm. Kneeling down, dirt and ash coating her greaves Astrid catches Hiccup's chin and pulls his face up, their eyes clashing… but his were no longer shining emeralds, they more like green glass one wrong move from shattering.

"Hiccup… You told me when we took our vows that you didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but that no matter what there would be a Hiccup and an Astrid. If you think what you're doing is the best choice, the only way to help all of us… then I'll stand by you. No matter what. Always," One of Astrid's hands finds Hiccup's intertwining their fingers and pulling tight while her forefinger and thumb tighten their hold on his chin. "Now… what do you need help with?"

Dar'yaim Gate, Light Troop Carrier Arrowhead

"I can almost smell them, they're close." Stoick's gaze lifted from the holographic display in the middle of the troop bay turning towards one of the gun ports that revealed only a hazy fog that permanently surrounded the area. "Man tha missile batteries and get tha Slugthrowers ready. Steady verde, we'll find it, I can feel it."

The warriors snatch the wooden stocked weapons off the racks and move to the slits in the airship's hull pointing their rifles out and linking them to their HUDs. A few of the soldiers climb into turrets on the upper and lower decks a whir and click of the rifles and turrets resounding in the ears of the Mandos. Stoick drew his hammer out and looked over to Spitelout.

"Connect tha lines ta yer buy'ce. If those devils get in here they might make it hard ta breathe." Looking over at the helmsman Stoick motions into the fog. The whine of the engines pick up and the deckplates shift to the left beneath the feet of the Mandos.

The formation of troop ships disappears into the fog, a flash of burning light, the screech of angered animals, and the crack of rifles filling the sound. Lightning like blasts illuminating the ships like silhouettes against the massive forms of dragons twisting through the air.

A/N:

So yes I did just end on a cliffhanger. For those who I haven't answered yet with the many questions I am getting please always PM me so that I can explain things that won't give away the story elements and such but do my best to answer your questions. I hope that you all continue to read and that you continue to enjoy this story. At the moment I have two chapters now in reserve and am going to try and work on this while I prep for Midterms so I have no idea when exactly this chapter and AN will go out. Please leave reviews with constructive criticism, things you have questions on, and anything you liked if you like it at all. For anyone interested I am most likely going to run through the whole of the HTTYD series with this fic, as in split into multiple fics each one focusing on one of the movies, if anyone is interested I might do a fic where I explore the time gap between HTTYM and HTTYM 2 so I'll take requests for that alongside trying to do some of the fun moments from the series that were produced between those two movies, especially since it's such a huge time gap.

I have been considering doing an Order 66 styled fiction as it is a time period that I have more knowledge about and also because I'm excited for Jedi Fallen Order. If you like that the idea please tell me someway and I'll put it on my list to look into. Wow this is really long winded and I feel bad for it.

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed! There's an extra note, sorry! This one is the original one from when I finished the chapter months ago.

For those who are interested in knowing what is going on, I have recently graduated from college. This along with trying to get back into the rhythm of full-time work is one of a number of reasons I've failed to update as regularly on my stories. Now that said I have decided to make a few changes. I would really like to work on requests/commissions if anyone has those so please don't hesitate to ask. I currently have one in the works that I hope to post the first chapter of soon after you see this note. I don't know how many stories this note will be posted after the standard AN but if you've read it once you get the gist.

I have a number of long term stories, RW3Y, HTTYM, and Path of the Fallen. I will be adding two more, one is the request I have been working on, Imperial Academy which is a Star Wars Rebels AU and a new story The Dragon & The Beast. I think in order to make this more manageable and easier to avoid annoying people with lack of updates I plan on doing one-shots for a number of different fandoms between working on chapters of these larger stories. Hopefully this dry-spell of me writing and the writer's block I've been fighting on my longer stories will have ended by this point and all of my stories will be back to being written. No clue is anyone is still reading this, but hey there's still a bit more.

This means that one shot series like How To Train Your Dragon Short AUs, RWBY: So Far, and a new one Descendants Short AUs will start being updated/created again in between works for my longer fics. Well I hope anyone who reads this knows that I will be trying my hardest to get stories back on track and will continue to enjoy my content going forward, with any luck by the time this is up I'll have a number of chapters for a number of stories and shorts in reserve just in case. See you all next time!

-Six out!