Well, she wasn't dead.

That was Astrid's first thought when she woke up. She was leaning against a large rock, and there were no dragons around her. The sun had risen, recently - an hour before this was typically when she got up to practice her morning routine.

It wasn't a dream, at the very least, she was still stuck on an island. She wasn't losing her mind, at least not in the usual way. And Hiccup was still…

Her...something was still broken, and after moving around a little, it she guessed the something was her rib. It wasn't a sharp hot pain anymore, but rather a dull that was ...there. Just like she was only there on the island.

Just like Hiccup was only gone.

Turned out, her head was throbbing too.

She spotted the Night Fury near the water, laying down. Had he fended off all the other dragons…? Could he even do that?

She turned her head to look at the mountain, and a multitude of shivers went through her when she remembered that she was next to the largest dragon she had ever laid eyes on. Inside was the beast that killed Hiccup.

Toothless walked closer to her, and she backed away, ignoring the pain. The absolute desperation she'd had before had faded slightly, and while she didn't particularly want to live, she didn't quite want to die either.

But he didn't attack her. He only stared, and Astrid stared back.

Hiccup had talked to the dragon. It was intelligent enough to understand people, so it would understand her too, right? Or was it just Hiccup, just their special bond?

"I need to get off the island," she croaked, surprising herself with how hoarse her voice sounded, "I have to go back to - to Berk."

Surely, someone had noticed her and Hiccup were gone. An unpleasant feeling bloomed in her stomach when she realized that she would have to be the one to tell Stoick the Vast that his heir was dead. She would have to admit that his death had been caused by a dragon. And the worst part, she would have to say that Hiccup wouldn't even want him to kill a dragon as revenge - because Hiccup had done the impossible and befriended one.

Speaking of which, the Night Fury made no indication he understood her.

Dragons didn't speak. What was she expecting, for him to rumble out a response for her to get on?

It didn't do that, but it did motion with its head in a manner that said he wanted her to follow, so Astrid shakily got up, stumbling on her feet. She didn't take a step before she fell forward, hissing out when her hand got cut on a rock. There was no blood, but it stung.

He looked at her as though she was stupid - as if she was falling on purpose. Astrid scowled at the judgemental look, pushing herself up again. She felt a stab of pain, but willed herself to walk, not let it affect her.

There, by the shore, were a few fish. She stared at him with an impassive look on her face, before slowly reaching for one.

Toothless snatched all three of them before she could lay a finger on them, his sudden approach making her pull back with a gasp.

Oh gods, was the dragon's plan to keep her here and starve her? To torment her, as he slowly ate every food he brought? To kill her slowly, begging for food or release?

It didn't register to her that she was jumping to conclusions rather fast until Toothless made a strange gurgling sound, and the three fish were at her feet, half eaten.

Astrid scrunched her nose, taking two steps back and glaring at the dragon, who was looking at her expectantly.

"What, you think I'm gonna - oh no." She let out a delirious laugh, shaking her head, "I am not eating your disgusting crud. Thanks, but I have a habit of not eating things that'll make me sick."

Tufts of air came out from his nose as he glared at her. Astrid stood her ground, glaring right back, even going so far as to kick the fish away.

Wrong move. The dragon let out a furious roar, forcing her to take three steps back. Well, fuck - how was she supposed to know the mannerisms of dragon dining?

It didn't take its eyes off her as it ate the fish again, slowly and deliberately. What a petty little -

Well, she didn't need the damn dragon. Taking off her skirt and throwing it to the side, she padded into the water, shivering when she felt how cold it was. There had to be fish, she had to show that stupid dragon that she could survive without his help. She waded in as deep as she could.

There were a few little ones, but nothing that could qualify as a meal. Then she saw it.

It was a halibut, swimming along its merry way. Well, unfortunately, the merry life came to an end now, because she needed to eat.

Astrid lunged forward just as something wacked at her legs. She fell with a shriek, as she both felt the pain in her rib explode and the breath get sucked out of her lungs as she went underwater.

When she was five, she had fallen, just like this, into the water, and it had been horrible. She had kicked and screamed and cried in the few seconds before her mother lifted her out of the water, with her father throwing his oversized cloak over her and both of them checking her over.

Her younger self had sworn off swimming that day. The other teens learned - even Hiccup, although he was lagging behind the whole time - but she had stayed away, never wanting to experience that terrifying feeling again.

And yet, here she was.

When she managed to stand up, gasping and spitting out water, she opened her eyes quick enough to see the Night Fury devouring the halibut whole, smirking at her.

Astrid let out a shriek of indignation. It really was torturing her. Maybe it didn't want to kill her, but rather wanted her to end herself.

She wiped the water out of her eyes and went back onto the island. The sharp pain was back after the two falls, and pathetically, she fell to the floor, breathing heavily and shutting her eyes tight. It hurt so much.

Behind her, she heard the Night Fury laughing.

Furious, Astrid turned around, still sitting, and screamed.

"Do whatever you want, you demon!" Astrid had thought she had no tears left, but she proven wrong as her chest heaved. "It won't bring him back! He's still dead! Hiccup is dead!"

For the first time, she didn't care that the dragon looked furious. Oh, so it was a Night Fury, big fucking deal. She could be just as horrible and petty.

"You can kill me, you can starve me, you can burn down every resource on this island, but it won't bring him back!" She clenched her fists and swallowed. "I-if there was a way to bring him back, I would have done it already! I - I would have…" Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath. "I would have…done it already..."

She would have. She would have. Even now - if Odin could come down and tell her these was a way to bring Hiccup back to life, she would.

She expected death. Saying something so dirty, snooping so low, should have gotten her killed.

Astrid didn't open her eyes, scared that the minute she did, it would kill her, so that she would see it. She refused to submit herself to that.

Something finally hit her face, but it wasn't anything hot, it was...scaly.

She opened her eyes to see a minnow lying in front of her, and a few feet away, Toothless looking, with no expression on his face. It wasn't half eaten, and perfectly fresh.

Astrid levelled her gaze on the dragon, and then, deciding that she finally had to swallow her pride, picked up the fish. "I need a fire."

Toothless grumbled, coming closer as she cleared some rocks away. At the very least, she did know how to survive on an island (and would have gotten the damn fish if he hadn't pushed her) so a fire was no problem.

But even that the dragon refused to let her do on her own. He barely waited for her to move her hands before he shot at the ground, and the nearly blinding purple light turned into a bright orange fire.

She shot him another glare, and he snorted.

The fish took a good few minutes to be edible. She'd had to cook carefully so she wouldn't burn her hands - there was no stick she could skewer with, the island was just made up of rocks.

As she ate, she observed the dragon carefully. She knew he couldn't fly on his own - hence her broken rib - and that someone needed to operate the fin. Well, wasn't that absolutely spectacular, seeing as it was something she'd probably never figure out?

The only way back would be to sail (she swiftly ignored the thought in her head asking what she would do when she got back). She had seen a boat last night - only it was hung up on a rock, and destroyed. Well, fuck.

"We need to get off the island." When Toothless looked at her, she waved a hand to make a sailing motion. "I have to go back."

If a dragon could look unimpressed, then he looked unimpressed.

"Okay - listen, you really, really deserved me being mad at you."

His eyes flicked down to the fish in her hands, and back up at her face.

"Yeah, you made up for it. So it's a truce, isn't it? Or is now the part where you go back to being a dick?"

Toothless's expression changed from dubious to irritated rather quickly, but this time, she saw what was coming.

Not wasting a second, she brought the rest of the fish up to her face and stuffed it in her mouth, right as the dragon lunged.

Her cheeks bulging with food, she smirked at the dragon victoriously.

Then, the strangest thing happened - it started to pout.

It. Started. To. Pout.

But since she wasn't affected (okay, maybe just a little affected), she simply spit it out on the floor and said, "Let's see how you like -"

The dragon eagerly dived down, and slurped up the fish, nearly making her throw up in her mouth. Yeah, she was definitely no longer hungry.

The demon didn't seem to understand that she hadn't done it to be nice. He was now doing some sort of weird gummy smile at her (it was seriously creepy) before it nudged to her side.

Astrid sighed. "Oh, so sharing food made you like me?"

No wonder they'd managed to kill dragons for centuries - they were Thor-damned stupid. He was an idiot if he thought she was trying to be his friend.

"Whatever." She scooted away, staring him dead in the eye. "So, are you going to help me get off or not? Maybe I can make some boat if you can show me if there's any logs on this island -"

It was nudging up to her again! This time, Toothless pressed his nose into her hand, and then opened his eyes wide, as though he had shown her something brilliant.

Astrid gave him a deadpan look. "That doesn't help."

He kept himself there for a few seconds before beating his wings. A gust of wind hit her face and Astrid got a mouthful of her own hair. She spit it out, glaring at the dragon yet again.

He was demonstrating something to her. He couldn't be telling her to fly him, because he wasn't that stupid. He must have known she couldn't. But then what was he…

When it hit her, she made a face before the words came out of her mouth.

"Fly another dragon?" She growled lightly. "In your dreams, demon! In your dreams! There is no way I'm getting on a disgusting…"

He nudged into her hand again.

"vile -"

He looked towards the sky.

"horrible -"

He finally roared at her, just as she shouted, " - dragon!"

The dragon roared again and left her, running back to the seashore. Good riddance! Flying a dragon, what kind of maniac would…

Hiccup would. He had. Wasn't that the whole reason they were there?

Astrid suddenly felt a stab of anger at Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.

He'd been good for nothing. A disappointment. Then he'd gotten in her way. Then he'd become some macho dragon fighter and taken her spot, while cheating his way to the top. He'd been infuriating, and horrible, and a dirty cheat.

And then he had the gall to go die and leave her here after turning her world upside down.

The fucking prick.

Astrid felt like crying again, but she didn't. She laid down on her back and screamed out every curse word she knew, and by the end, her throat hurt and she had forgotten who she was mad at.

Toothless left her alone for the rest of the day. She got her own fish and made her own fire and ate by herself. When she wasn't doing that, she was thinking.

Fat lot of good that did. Nothing was accomplished.

The cold settled in as night fell, the comforting presence of the sun gone again. No dragons appeared overhead - there must not have been any raids tonight. Maybe Her Highness The Dragon Queen was full.

Her hands were cold to the touch, and so was her face. She didn't dare run her fingers through her hair, scared of the tangles. She most definitely had a fever.

She heard Toothless come up behind her, and she faced him. He was observing her carefully - from what she could tell - and he made a motion, as though he was about to spread his wings but changed his mind, going off the other way.

"Wait."

The dragon turned its head, his eyes somehow appearing bright even in the dark.

"Okay," she said, her teeth chattering, "I'll train the damned dragon."

This was very fun to right but I'm panicking because I have an essay due tomorrow and I haven't written a single word of it.