Hey there! Since I've had a few reviews and plotted the rest of the story out, I'd put up another chapter. Thanks go to Bella, a random person, and Alexa Twilight for your reviews.

Hiccup stayed in the woods all day, unable to wrap his mind around what had happened that morning. He had considered following the pair, but by the time he had awoken from his dead faint on the mossy forest floor, it was already midday, they were long gone, and his eyes were just about falling out of his head with fatigue. So he sat back against one of the boulders in the clearing and resting, mind spinning, until he fell into an uneasy sleep, images of black scales and fiery hair dancing behind his eyes.

That night, Hiccup slipped back into the village, and tried to sneak into the house he shared with his father. After the mortifying episode the night before, the strange events of the morning and his absence from the village that day, he didn't feel up to another disappointed lecture from the chief of the island. He entered the house and shut the door quietly behind him, eyes on the giant man seated on a thick slice of tree-trunk. He was slouched over the fire-pit, stirring the coals with his axe, embers wafting around his beard, and the boy was momentarily reminded of spikey hair and sharp blades. Shaking his head, Hiccup tried to sneak past, up the stairs to his room, and was almost there when the dreaded word echoed quietly up to him.

"Hiccup."

He froze, wincing at the sound. "Dad. Uh..." Stoick stood as his boy retraced his steps, came reluctantly back down the stairs and took a deep breath. Might as well get it over with... "I, uh... I have to talk to you, Dad."

"I need to speak with you too, son." Hiccup and Stoick straightened at the same moment.

"I've decided I don't want to-"

"I think it's time you learn to-"

"-fight dragons." Both men frowned in confusion. "What?"

Stoick gestured to his son. "You go first." Hiccup shook his head, already dreading where the conversation was going. "No, you go first."

The chief nodded. "Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning."

What? Hiccup groaned, hands fidgeting nervously. "Oh man, I should've gone first. Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings, or small home repair Vikings-?"

Stoik continued as if he hadn't heard. "You'll need this." He held his axe out to Hiccup, the blade gleaming dangerously in the firelight. It was a large weapin, made for throwing. Made for someone strong. Someone, anyone, other that the scrawny boy in front of him.

Hiccup withdrew, eyeing first the blade , then his father. "I don't want to fight dragons," he stammered. He had thought long and hard about this on the way back and now he was sure.

Stoick laughed disbelieving. "Come on. Yes, you do."

"Rephrase." Hiccup swallowed. "Dad, I can't kill dragons."

"But you will kill dragons."

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."

"It's time Hiccup."

"Can you not hear me?"

"This is serious son!" Stoick forced the axe into Hiccup's hands and stepped back.

Its weight dragged the boy down, his arms already beginning to ache under the heavy weapon. He looked up to see Stoick under-lit with firelight, his face an expression of hope and pride.

"When you carry this axe... you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us. You talk like us. You think like us. No more of..." he gestured non-specifically at Hiccup, "...this."

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Deal?"

Frustrated, Hiccup tried one more time to get his father to listen. "This conversation is feeling very one-sided."

Stoick ignored his protests. "Deal?!" Hiccup glanced at the axe in his hands. It was a no-win argument. "Deal."

Seeming satisfied, Stoick grabbed his helmet and duffel bag from somewhere behind him and headed for the door. "Good. Train hard. I'll be back. Probably." He nodded glumly. "And I'll be here. Maybe."

The chief headed out the door, leaving Hiccup alone. The door banged behind him and the boy sighed and set the weapon carefully on the floor, then headed up the stairs to his room, where he lay down on his bed and stared out the window at the black sky, wondering what the next day would bring.

Dragon training the next day was terrifying and painful. Hiccup trailed out of the ring with the rest of his group, rubbing his shoulders and trying to forget the fact that he had almost had his head blown off by a Gronckle. The others were joking and laughing together, pumped up by their first day of training despite everyone's dismal failures. Well, not everyone's. Astrid didn't get hit. Astrid did everything right. As she always did.

Hiccup broke off from the group and headed away, towards the smithy where he was supposed to work in the afternoons. The voices of the other kids faded behind him and he wondered if anyone would even notice if he just disappeared. Then he snorted. Of course they would. They wouldn't have any entertainment if i was gone. That's all I'm good for.

A hand on his arm broke through his depressing inner monologue, and before he knew what was happening, he was lying on the ground in an alley between two buildings. Coughing and wheezing, he looked up to see a familiar angry face towering above him.

"You!" he huffed, trying to get his breath back. "Wh-what are y-"

"I should've killed you yesterday," she growled, placing one bare foot on his chest when he tried to get up. "You scum! You've ruined everything!"

"How?" He tried to wiggle out from under her foot, but she had him pinned. He was reminded of the unpleasant fact that she had a sword and she probably had no problems using it, whether on an animal or a boy. "Wh-what did i do?"

"You shot down my dragon, is what you did, and you injured her too! She can't fly!"

Hiccup paled. "I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to..."

She sneered and opened her cloak a little, so now he could see her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. "You're a pathetic, grovelling weakling. Maybe i should put you out of your misery here and now, to save everyone else the trouble."

Hiccup swallowed, eyes wide in fear and locked on her fingers, which were now playing with the handle of the sword as if teasing him with the idea of death. "Wait! M-maybe i could, uh, help in some way... Do you want food? I have food. Or water, or clothes, or fish..." he trailed off as the fury left her face and was replaced with guarded interest. Encouraged, he kept going. "Maybe I could help your dragon. I have a friend who is a healer, and i watch them sometimes ... I mean never healed a dragon before but i could i try-"

"Ok, stop talking now." The girl seemed to have an internal debate, then, carefully, she stepped back, removing her foot and letting him up off the ground. "I don't know what to do," she admitted. "Maybe you can help."

"Oh, thank Thor." Hiccup eased himself up, watching her warily. "I thought you were actually gonna... You weren't really gonna... Were you?"

She gazed at him indifferently. "Where's this food you were talking about?"

Later on, after Hiccup had grabbed as much food as he knew wouldn't be noticed and bundled it up for his new friend, they headed into the woods together, the girl leading the way. They climbed over boulders and pushed through bushes and threaded between trees, the afternoon sunlight dappling the mossy, leafy ground. Too afraid to draw any unnecessary attention to himself from her, Hiccup balanced the bundle of food awkwardly in his arms as he tried to keep up with her, not saying a word when he nearly fell into a hole or over a root. Finally, when he was about to ask if she actually knew where she was going, she turned towards a couple of giant boulders and slipped through the crack between them. He followed slowly, not sure what to expect, and stared, surprised, at what was waiting on the other side. They were in an isolated cove, protected by stone walls and complete with a crystal pool taking up half of the ground space. On the shore, curled up on what looked like a nest of singed grass, was the Night Fury.

Dun dun dun... Not really.

I know, this was too short, but I'm stretched pretty thin at the moment.

To be continued...