The last few weeks had been pretty hard for the gang, mostly Hiccup. He had been defeated by Viggo Grimborn and the boy wasn't taking it so well. To be honest, he had never actually faced an opponent that used his brain instead of his muscles. All enemies he had ever fought were brawny, shot first and asked questions later. But this guy, Viggo, he's smart, he's clever, and had been able to manipulate him like he was an inexperienced little kid. With the Dragon Eye gone, most of the Dragon Riders spent their days training in the arena, practicing new tricks with their dragons or playing with the Night Terrors. Even though Hiccup and Astrid kept on repeating that these dragons weren't their pets, and they're supposed to be lookouts, the twins still didn't take it seriously and kept training them at fetching things and other useless tricks. Even though there hadn't been any attacks since Ryker's, Astrid kept on training hard, saying that they must be prepared if anything happens. Hiccup rarely stayed a whole day with the others; he just stayed in his hut, saying he was thinking. He barely went outside. And when he did, it was early in the morning, and late at night, to take Toothless flying. The black dragon used to love flying under the moonlight with his rider, but it became less pleasant since Hiccup barely smiled or talked to him. Or to anyone in particular... The gang really started worrying about him, especially Astrid. He was always positive, and always found a way how to fix things. But since he's been defeated by those Dragon Hunter scum, he was just... not motivated to do anything. The fact that he didn't have anything much to do, and that he's been beaten, really brought him down. He wasn't joyful anymore. All the light Astrid saw when she looked into his eyes seemed to just vanish. He didn't look so good either. He always looked tired and exhausted every time they saw his face. Dark circles were formed under his eyes, he was pale, and the way he stood wasn't so great.

Over the weeks, some had been thinking about leaving Dragon's Edge and go back to Berk, since the reason they were here was now gone. Snotlout was the first to talk about it, asking why they were here again, and why they still trained and guarded this place. Sure they didn't have the Dragon Eye, but Dagur was still out.

And that was another issue.

With Dagur out, Dragon Hunters on the loose, the Dragon Eye between Viggo's hands and Hiccup depressed, life was going great... It impressed the riders that their leader hadn't done anything yet. He wasn't the kind to give up so easily, especially in situations like this.

Astrid walked up to Hiccup's hut that late night, as she did often, wanting to make sure he was okay and he hadn't ran away, which could happen anytime. Especially now. She knocked a couple times at his door and entered when she heard the low and depressed ''come in''. She pulled on the handle that opened the door, and walked in, towards a downhearted Hiccup who was hammering a thin rod, lifting it up above his head to check if it's straight and didn't curved.

''Hey, what are you up to?'' Astrid asked, walking up to him, looking the most innocent as possible.

''Strengthening the iron in this tail piece. Toothless keeps bending it when he makes turns.'' Hiccup said, sounding a bit better than the last time she talked to him. ''So, what's up?''

''Oh, just came to check you out. You know...'' she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

''Yeah, I do know...'' he said, turning his back to her.

There was a moment of silence between them that Astrid didn't like, and wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

''Hiccup, you can't continue like this.'' she said.

''Oh, really? How's that?'' he asked, laying down the hammer and rod.

''You have to do something of your days. You can't keep locking yourself up in here and do nothing.'' she said concerned ''I know it's probably hard for you right now, but you have to get out of here. At least come with me at the Club House.''

''And why would I do that?'' he asked, confusing Astrid.

''Because I'm asking you.'' she said.

''After you lied to me?'' he said, turning around offensively.

''Lied to you?'' she asked, shocked. ''I thought we've been over this.''

Hiccup looked angrier at her than he had been the first time she had informed him that Heather was on their side. She knew what was going on in his head. And it wasn't his fault. He was depressed, and because of that, a lot of bad memories and thoughts came back and made him angry.

''You think I would've been fine with the fact that the person I relied the most on lied to me? Well you're wrong.'' he said, rising his tone, causing Toothless, who was relaxing on his lava bed, eyes closed, snoring soundly, to jerk up his head, and look in his rider's direction with surprise and concern.

''Hiccup—'' Astrid said, but was cut off.

''I relied on you Astrid. I truly did.'' he said, calming down a bit.

''Hiccup, stop it. You're sick.'' she said, placing her hands forward as she approached him carefully as he was going to attack her.

''Stop. Just stop talking to me.'' he said, causing a small feeling of tightness in Astrid's heart. She knew that he was out of control, and he didn't meant what he said, but it still had an impact on her.

''Okay...'' she said, not wanting to go any further with this. ''If you need me, I'll be at the Club House. I'll give you the night to think about it, we can talk about it more then.'' She knew he needed time, but it was taking too long, and he was getting worse every day. She turned around and walked out of her friend's hut, feeling a bit guilty about all this. If he kept going like this, they might need to take him back to Berk until he gets better.

...

Hiccup kept his eyes fixed on her as she left, and as soon as she was out of his sight, his tense body went limp, and collapsed on the floor, sitting in a way that seemed anything but comfortable. He placed his hands over his eyes as tears slid down his cheeks. He heard Toothless growling lovely as he got up and went to him, giving his rider some gentle pushes on the back. Hiccup wiped away the tears with his hands, and got to his feet, Toothless helping him up as he did. He wasn't quite sure what he should do now. Join the others at the Club House and apologise to Astrid, or stay here and keep doing what he was doing. He figured out he should go see Astrid. He should. What he did wasn't right, and he knew that. But he was still a bit angry and thought that if he went there he might just hurt her more.

''Come on, Bud. You and I are going for a little flight.'' he said, rubbing his best friend's scaly head. In response, the Night Fury gave a happy roar and hopped around, following his rider out of the hut. Hiccup climbed on the saddle and clicked his leg in position, opening the red tail immediately. As soon as he heard the sound, the black dragon launched himself into the night sky, and was soon out of the sight of any eye.

...

Astrid went to the Club House, where she told Hiccup she would be. She joined the others around the fire pit, seeing the concern in each face.

''So, how was it?'' Fishlegs asked.

''Not so great...'' Astrid answered him without even looking at him.

''Did you guys at least talked?'' Snotlout asked.

''Yeah.''

''And?''

''Not so great...''

It was pretty much the same questions every night. And every night, those questions got the same answers. It wasn't only hard for Hiccup, but also for the rest of the gang. They were like Night Terrors without their leader. They didn't quite know what to do in any situation.