Laughs echoed through the otherwise unpopulated pizza place we had settled down in. For a second, I felt bad for the workers who had to deal with a bunch of teenagers wearing formal clothing at 11.30 pm on a Friday Night.

I took a deep breath as I attempted to calm myself after a laughing fit caused by one of Tuffnut's horrible stories. "Unbelievable."

"No, no, it's true! It really did happen! Right, Ruff?" Tuffnut looked to his sister for help and she just shook her head and sighed.

"Fine, It's true, I was there." Ruffnut grumbled as she crossed her arms, clearly not proud of having been witness to ... what she had witnessed.

Hiccup leaned back in his seat, one arm resting on the back of my chair. "Gods, Tuff, you lead a crazy life, maybe you should write a book about it?"

I snapped my head towards Hiccup, shaking it frantically. "Don't give him ideas!"

"Yeah!" Snotlout chimed in. "Besides, everyone knows books are my thing!"

Everyone except Snotlout burst into laughter. Snotlout glared daggers at all of us. "What are you laughing at? That wasn't funny!"

Fishlegs and Heather struggled to keep their laughter at bay as Fishlegs spoke. "It definitely was."

"What's so funny about my extraordinary writing talent, Fishface?" Snotlout scowled at Fishlegs as he awaited an answer.

Right as Fishlegs was about to reply with what I assumed would be some sarcastic or witty retort, he was cut off by the piercing sound of sirens blaring. My brows drew together as the group simultaneously turned to look out the large window behind us —which had a great view of the main street. Two fire trucks zoomed past, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

"What's happening?" Ruffnut murmured, clearly not excepting an answer.

Snotlout didn't seem to have realized this and therefore answered exactly what everyone already knew. "A fire somewhere, duh."

Ruffnut hit Snotlout over the back of the head, gaining a few laughs from the rest of the group. "No shit, knucklehead, I was wondering where."

I glanced over at the clock hanging above the disk and saw that it was a little after midnight. I gently gripped Hiccup's hand as I shot him a small smile. "It's getting late, maybe it's time we go home?"

Hiccup glanced over at the rest of our friends, who were still busy staring intently out the window before he nodded. "Yeah, I agree. Let's just swing by my dads office first so we can take my car home, I doubt they will be leaving before they get kicked out."

I chuckled at the comment as we simultaneously got up from our seats. "Bye everyone, we're going home!"

Our friends bid us farewell and we were left walking hand in hand down the empty Main Street, our only company being each other, the full moon and the glittering stars above. Hiccup laced his fingers with mine, the warmth of his hand seeping into mine and crawling up my bare arm.

The walk to city hall wasn't very long, but we managed to make it one of the most romantic walks I had ever been on. As promised, Hiccup's black Ford was parked in the parking lot, standing all alone beneath a tall oak. I raised a brow at the lone car. "How did your car get here?"

"My dad used it this morning because his car was at the shop. He picked it up after work and asked me if I could swing by his office and pick up my car after prom. It wasn't a problem for me." Hiccup explained as he twirled his keys around his fingers. "He gave me my keys back before I left."

"Oh, ok." Was all I said as he opened the door to the passenger seat for me, like a real gentleman.

"Are you all settled in, m'lady?" A lopsided grin stretched across Hiccup's face as he leaned on the door. I felt my cheeks flush red. M'lady. M'lady. I recalled the one time Eret had called me that and how wrong it had felt, but now ... I glanced up at Hiccup and smiled as brightly as I could muster.

He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to my lips before he shut the door and ran to the other side of the car. He slid into his seat and turned on the engine. "Did you put your seatbelt on?"

I tugged at the fastened seatbelt with a smirk. "Of course, I wouldn't want to die in a car accident for the second time."

Hiccup gasped dramatically as he put a hand on his chest. "Are you suggesting that I would get you in a car accident?"

I shrugged. "Things have been way too calm in my life lately, if I know the fates or whatever control the universe well enough, that means that something bad will happen very soon."

"Who said it has to be bad?" Hiccup asked, no trace of humor on his face.

I shrugged. "No one, I guess, but it just seems like the typical time for something ... devastating."

Hiccup placed a hand on my knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. "As long as I am here, I won't let anything happen to you."

I smiled at Hiccup before pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "I love you."

A grin tugged at his lips. "I love you too, now let's get going."

Hiccup pulled out of the parking lot and drove out onto the road. The dark buildings of the town were a blur as we zoomed towards our neighborhoods. I kept my gaze out the window, carefully observing the white stars dotting the dark sky and the occasional tree that kept popping up in between buildings.

As we drove through my neighborhood, the sounds that had disrupted us at the pizza place grew louder. My stomach tied itself into a heap of knots as I curiously looked for any sign of a fire anywhere. I glanced over at Hiccup, who seemed to be doing the same thing as me, but decided not to comment on it.

My gaze lifted to the dark sky and I suddenly found it a different shade than before. I narrowed my eyes to get a better look at it and found it to be tainted by thick, grey smoke that originated from somewhere a little further up ahead.

For a moment, I prayed to every god I could think of that it would all just be a bonfire that had gotten out of control and burnt the neighbors lawn, but as we inched closer the otherwise dark street was lit up by a house set ablaze, its fiery orange light casting a shadow on the surrounding houses.

The sirens were deafening by the time we finally turned the corner and were faced with the sight of three fire trucks parked outside my house, which looked like Hel incarnate.

It was at that moment I stopped registering things. I failed to register Hiccup's mouth, which was hanging wide open. So wide one would think his jaw would unhinge itself at any minute. I failed to register myself getting out of the still-moving car and stumbling over to my lawn, my knees buckling as if they had been turned into cooked spaghetti. I failed to register my own mouth dropping open, I failed to register my aching knees as they hit the warm grass. At that point I couldn't give less of a shit about whether I ruined my dress or not.

All I could see was everything that I had ever loved being incinerated before me. All I could feel was the scorching heat of the inferno. All I could smell was the thick smoke that coiled up from the ravenous flames. All I could hear were the muffled shouts of the firemen as they attempted to hose down the hellscape before them, 15 men and women up against the darkest pit of hell itself.

The records of my childhood, my ancestors and many of my memories all gone up in flames. Of course, I knew one shouldn't be too attached to the material things, but knowing that I would never in my life be able to physically see my long-dead grandparents again or that I would never be able to see myself as a child ever again? It was devastating. Everything I had ever known had gone up in flames and it felt like my entire existence had been wiped from this earth. I dug my hands into the grass beneath me, desperately grasping at its warm, green straws.

Already, I felt like a shell of myself — my childhood home had gone up in flames after all — but then the panic began to set in. Where were my parents and where was Stormfly? My eyes frantically shot back and forth around my home, at the firefighters, the fire trucks, the ambulance that had arrived at the scene moments after Hiccup and I had. They were nowhere to be found.

I let go of the grass as I stood on wobbly feet. In a frenzy and perhaps in a small fit of insanity, I began running towards the burning house. But before I even managed to make it 6 feet, strong arms wrapped around my waist, holding me back. I thrashed violently in Hiccup's arms.

"Astrid, I understand how hard this is for you, but you have to stay here." Hiccup said in the calmest voice I had ever heard, right before it began breaking. For a moment, it soothed me, but I was eventually ripped back to reality as I was once again hit with a massive wave of worry for both my parents and my bird, my only family.

"Mommy!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, not caring whether I woke the entire neighborhood or burst Hiccup's eardrums. "Daddy!"

My vision tunneled as I was unable to focus on anything other than them. I struggled against Hiccup's iron grip, begging him to let go of me. Sobs wracked my body as I thrashed against him. And then, two figures were carried out of one of the side windows of the house, my parents' bedroom. A spark of hope ignited in my chest as I stopped resisting Hiccup, relaxed my shoulders and steadied my breathing.  I watched the scene before me intently, devouring every detail as time seemed to slow around me and my hearing faded, making the heavy flames sound like a crackling fireplace in the middle of winter.

The figures I assumed to be my parents were carried down the ladders. From what I could see they were wearing their pajamas, indicating that they had been asleep or been about to go to sleep when the fire had started. I watched with intrigue as the EMTs rushed towards the firemen with two stretchers. All other sounds were drowned out as the only thing I was able to hear was my own heartbeat and every shuddering breath I took.

The EMTs checked them both out and when I thought that they were going to put them both on the stretchers and drive them off to the nearest hospital, they did the exact opposite. Two large, black bags were brought forth and in them the EMTs placed the bodies of my parents.

The world seemed to stop right along with my heartbeat. I could no longer hear my own heartbeat or my breath, the only thing I heard was the excruciatingly loud sound of the zipper of the bodybags sliding up before I released a scream so loud, so raw, so full of emotion and so gut wrenchingly heartbreaking I couldn't stand on my own two feet for a moment longer. I fell to my knees, Hiccup unable to keep me up as my entire world shattered around me.

My parents were dead. I was officially an orphan. I was officially all alone in the world. I had lost the two people on this planet that mattered the most to me, long before their time. I had lost the people who had given me life. I had lost the people who had loved me since I was no bigger than a pea in my mother's womb. I had lost the people who had raised me, who had taught me how to speak, walk, use the potty, read, write, count, drive and love. I had lost the people who had held me in my darkest moments. I had lost the only people I couldn't live without.

The feeling? It was a feeling so painful it was nearly indescribable. It was like someone had carved out my heart with a dull knife before breaking it into two right in front of me right before viciously stomping on it with a spiked boot. I had lost the ability to breathe, the ability to see properly, the ability to speak.

Orange lights danced before my blurred eyes as I grasped at the grass beneath me, nails digging into the warm dirt as my whole body shook violently, tears streaming out of my eyes like miniature waterfalls. I gasped for air, but was unable to get any. Nothing mattered anymore.

I didn't register it when I fell over to my side and laid down in the grass. I didn't notice it when the fire was finally put out, leaving only a blackened shell of the once so glorious home that I had always loved. I didn't notice it when the EMTs rushed to my side, focused their attention on me and asked my boyfriend who I was and what had happened. I didn't notice it when they rolled me over so that I laid with my entire back flat against the grass, my tear-streaked and makeup-smudged face turned up towards the glittering stars above that lit up the immense darkness that surrounded them.

I filled my lungs with the crisp air of the night that had been tinged with smoke. The smoke that had coiled from the ashes of my life. I couldn't feel anything. Not a single one of my limbs were responding to my commands and I just felt like some strange entity floating through an empty darkness. My mind was blank as I stared emptily up at the sky. Was this what it felt like to truly die? Was this what one felt the moments before? Because if so, death wasn't even half as scary as I had imagined it to be. Hell, maybe death wasn't an enemy, but a friend? A friend that takes all your pain away and finally lets you rest. Yes, death was a friend, a dear one at that. If I was able to, I would have cracked a smile, but my body refused to listen to my orders once again.

As the world went still, my body felt heavier and the stars seemed to be blinking just a little brighter. I let out a sigh that I had been holding in for a long time as I gave in to that darkness that surrounded me. I let the darkness consume me and finally give me the rest I deserved. Death was a good friend, perhaps it would take me to the stars?