Chapter 6: You and I

                                    

                                          
Astrid's POV
                          
I shot up in a sitting position, panting heavily as I tried to piece together what had happened. And then it hit me, I had died. 
                          
I rubbed my forehead as I filled my lungs with the heavy, humid air around me, which stung in the slightest, probably due to the smoke from the fire. Fire. I removed my hand from my forehead and studied my arms, which I had expected to be red and blistered, but to my surprise, they looked completely normal.
                          
My hand quickly ran up to my hair as I lifted my braid, examining it, only to be surprised by seeing that it had only been slightly singed at the tips. I raised a brow, finding this extremely odd considering the inferno I had been through, but decided not to think much of it, considering my skin looked normal as well. 
                          
For the first time, I took a look around at my surroundings, and was again surprised to find myself in the middle of what seemed to be a dark cave. I looked down at what I had been laying upon and recognized it as a stone pedestal. I jumped down from the pedestal, my bare feet landing gently on the cold, stone ground as I realized I was not in the same outfit I had been in before. 
                          
Goosebumps rose up my arms and legs as I studied my outfit, which was a loose fitting, long-sleeved, brown dress. In my opinion, the dress wasn't very flattering on me, at all.
                          
Again, I took a look around the dark room, now having decided that I no longer wished to stay in this humid, cold room any longer. I noticed an entrance and quickly made my way over to it. In some miraculous way, I managed to find my way out of the cave, discovering the slim exit faster than I thought. I slipped outside and breathed in the fresh air. 
                          
Gods, it felt much better to breathe in that light air than the heavy, humid air inside the cave. Though my lungs may have burned a little, I brushed it off as I was busy enjoying being alive. 
                          
As soon as I had gotten over the rush of being back from the dead, I realized it was time for me to go home, the question was only how. I had recognized the place I was as Berk, we had flown on this side of the island several times before, but that didn't mean I knew exactly where to go, so I did the most logical thing that came to mind.
                          
I raised my fingers to my mouth and blew, a sharp noice emitting me as I called for my beloved dragon to come to my rescue. And to my surprise, not even five minutes later, the Deadly Nadder came flapping towards me at top speed, her split tongue hanging out of her mouth as she screeched happily at the sight of me. 
                          
"Stormfly!" I exclaimed as I ran up to her and wrapped my arms around her neck. "I've missed you, girl"
                          
Once again, Stormfly screeched happily as she nuzzled up against me, obviously having missed me as well. 
                          
After having reunited with my beloved dragon, I quickly got my mind back on track, it was time to go home. I climbed up on the dragon, nearly flashing my entire butt to every woodland creature that wanted to watch, before we were soaring through the skies.
                          
I couldn't help but grin as that familiar gust of wind hit my face and I raised my arms to touch the clouds. Freedom was once again mine, I was alive.
                          
It didn't take long for the two of us to fly over to the village. It was clear to me that it was very late at night, seeing as I hadn't seen any of my friends out on any midnight flights and the entire village was devoid of light, except for the large, lit torches that were scattered around the village. 
                          
We landed outside the Haddock residence, which had become my home before I had managed to fall off Stormfly and lost my memory. I slid of the dragon, giving her one last hug before letting her fly back to the stables she slept in.