When Astrid woke up the sun had fully appeared over the horizon.

"Whew, I was more exhausted than I thought girl." She remarked to her dragon.

Normally Astrid would have been awake at first light, but anyone would have given her a pass after yesterday's events.

Time to fix this place, AGAIN. Astrid thought, Tuff was right about one thing. We do a LOT of rebuilding here.

She made her way to the clubhouse to see if Hiccup was ready to give out an assignment, but stopped along the way as a black dragon flew over her head.

Looks like someone got a good night's rest, she smiled, not knowing the real reason yet for Hiccup's early start.

Hiccup landed near the arena and picked up the last debris to clear out.

Wait… Where's all the debris? Astrid asked herself, How long has Hiccup been at this?

As Hiccup took off again, Astrid climbed on Stormfly to intercept him, but Hiccup must have seen her coming as he had Toothless fly in the opposite direction. Even with the extra weight of the debris, Toothless was still the faster dragon.

Damn that stubborn Viking. Astrid cursed. Never makes things easy.

Astrid decided to do like Hiccup and just assign herself a task to get the Edge cleaned up quicker, because it seemed that Hiccup probably wouldn't talk to anyone today.

On the bright side, it gives me time to get the other riders together. Astrid thought about her plan.

Astrid first began to clean her own hut, or what she didn't fix yesterday. Astrid then assigned herself the task of getting the new wood for the actual rebuilding portion of their project. She also needed more Ballista ammo as most of it had been used or destroyed.

Never a free day. Astrid mused.

Astrid definitely was right, there was always work to be done on the Edge, and this really wasn't too different, but a free day would be nice every once and awhile.

"Now that's a good idea." Astrid remarked, "I could probably add that to my plan."

Maybe a day off would help everyone clear their minds, though Snotlout and the twins never took something like this as hard as Hiccup, but on the other hand, they would also like any reason for a day off.

"That's how I'll get the others on board I guess Stormfly." Astrid added.

She received a squawk from her dragon as the made their way into the forest to look for supplies for rebuilding.

With as much rebuilding as they had done, the riders had barely made a dent in the number of trees, which Astrid was thankful for, seeing as she wanted quality wood to remake her ballista.

"The stronger birch is up ahead Stormfly" Astrid said as she guided her dragon toward the northern side of the island.

As they approached the birch forest, Astrid noticed a small clearing with fresh stumps and several large piled logs around the edges.

"What the… Who has been cutting these trees down?" Astrid asked.

Her answer was given again by the fleeting wail of a flying Night Fury.

Astrid was fed up, "Ok, that's it Stormfly, we're gonna fly until we catch up to Hiccup. At this rate, I don't think he got any sleep at all."

The ballista would have to wait. Her friend needed a clear head. It wouldn't be easy getting Hiccup to talk, but she definitely wasn't in the mood for Hiccup's usual avoidance yakshit.

Stormfly took to the skies, higher than normal altitude to get an overview of the island. From this vantage point, Astrid was able to see the whole island and barely make out a black speck on the southern side of the island.

Gods he's already across the island? What in Thor's name is he doing? Astrid worried.

"Let's go girl" she ordered.

Stormfly did a power dive to gain the most speed she could, leveling off at a height where Astrid could still get a decent view from above. She was closing in fast, and definitely needed a plan, otherwise Hiccup would surely noticed her coming and probably fly off again.

"Let's go in low and quietly, girl." Astrid suggested.

Toothless had landed in a small cove that the riders used for their building waste. Hiccup had most likely been there many times this morning to drop of all of the debris from the Edge he had picked up.

Stormfly and Astrid had gotten below the tree line when Hiccup dismounted Toothless and were beginning their stealthy approach to the cove.

"Alright bud, that's most of the debris cleaned up, disposed of, AND their replacements cut down and ready. We should be done before breakfast at this rate." Hiccup remarked.

Toothless wasn't having any of it though. Hiccup had been working him to the bone, and as much as Toothless loved his rider, a little consideration towards how tired the dragon would be after all this work. The dragon decided NOT to inform his rider of his approaching friends.

Astrid had just cleared the edge of the tree line surrounding the cove. There he was, organizing all the garbage of all things. It seemed like Hiccup didn't notice, nor did Toothless. Astrid needed to keep her silence until she could get even closer, otherwise Hiccup would just fly away again. It aggravated Astrid to no end how he could just act like this without thinking about how worried she was. She couldn't believe that he would avoid her all day. Why did Hiccup make he so mad?

"HICCUP HADDOCK!" So much for silence. "YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME NOW!"

The voice sent chills down Hiccup's spine. Not many people walked away from a screaming, angry Astrid in one piece.

Oh gods, what did I do? "Toothless! We gotta go bud."

But Toothless did not budge. He only sent his rider a passing glance of ignorance and snorted as he rested on the ground.

"Wha- Now? Now of all times you're gonna ignore me?" Hiccup inquired.

As he glanced towards the source he could only cower and hold his hand to try to stop her.

This is gonna hurt a LOT. "Astrid, heh, Hi! Fancy seeing you he-" Was all HIccup could get out before Astrid knocked him to the ground.

"Gah! What was that for!?" Hiccup asked out of habit, held to the ground by Astrid's foot.

But he didn't have much else to say when he saw that she also had her axe in hand. While not pointed at Hiccup yet, it was always good to hold one's tongue when she had her weapon.

"You've been avoiding me all day." Astrid accused.

"I have not! I've been busy cleaning up the edge. I knew I'd have to do more work since I couldn't rely on Snotlout or the Twins to pull as much weight." Hiccup defended.

"Hiccup, you've done enough work for all of us, just how long have you been at this? It's ridiculous!"

"I don't know, couple of hours maybe? What do you think bud?" Hiccup directed at Toothless, who only returned a glare and silence.

"See? Even Toothless thinks you've gone crazy. You've got to give it a rest and let us help you with the Edge. Not everything is yours to solve alone."

"Astrid, I didn't tell anyone NOT to help me, I just started early and continued working, I mean, you're up early too you know. You probably would have started without anyone asking."

"Actually Hiccup, the first thing I had in mind was asking YOU what needed to be done. Even though I do have my own agenda of stuff I need, I know that you need us to work together. After all, you did say you rely on me." Astrid blushed slightly.

"We all make mistakes." Hiccup sardonically remarked. Oh shit, what did I just say, and why?

"Excuse me?"

Now the axe was at his throat.

"Uh.. I didn't… say anything at… all."

Hiccup on received daggers from Astrid's eyes.

"Astird… I… I don't know why…. why I said that. I'm sorry." Hiccup confessed.

He had done it now. He closed his eyes waiting for any sort of pain to come, but instead he only felt Astrid remove her foot from his chest. When he opened his eye, he saw her standing a few feet away, facing the forest.

"Astrid? Look, I didn't mean it. You're right, I've been up so long that I talk nonsense."

"No Hiccup, you're right. You trusted me and I didn't tell you anything and it almost got Heather killed." Her voice broke.

"Hey, there were plenty of things I didn't tell you back in the day, like Toothless." He put his hand on her shoulder, "And think about this: If you hadn't told me about Heather, then we wouldn't have known about Viggo or saving Heather when she was in trouble for that matter."

Astrid turned to face Hiccup, but looked at the ground, "Look, Hiccup, I want to think that but knowing you all these years, I know that if you keep something from me, it's for the good of everyone. Besides, you don't really keep too many secrets. I just wish I'd told you about Heather earlier, then we could have stopped yesterday from happening altogether."

"Astrid, I… I don't actually tell everyone everything a lot. I never tell anyone what bothers me or how it affects me because I may think it would affect the group, but sometimes I just gets in the way of my judgment."

Astrid only raised her eyes to look at Hiccup.

Hiccup confessed, "Since you're here, and I kinda started this, I guess it's time to be honest: The reason why the Heather situation bothered me is because we had gotten so close of this past year. All of us. It was just like old times before we defeated Dagur four years ago. And now that we've grown up, I was really happy to see how we had all matured and everything was going great. I guess my biggest problem was that it felt like it was causing us to fall apart, and I don't want that Astrid."

That was partly the truth. Hiccup would almost certainly never tell Astrid that it made him feel that she didn't like him. Every 'we' and 'us' in his previous sentence was partly devoted to just him and Astrid.

"I don't want that either Hiccup. I'd like to stay with you as long as possible. I mean the riders… Yeah the group, y'know." Astrid stuttered.

"I can see that now Astrid and I've gotten over it. I promise. I guess my lack of sleep is just making me think all sorts of crazy stuff."

"Told you." Astrid teased.

"You hear that Toothless? I'm crazy, tired, and sorry. Is that enough to get your attention?" Hiccup joked.

Toothless only rolled his eyes and swatted Hiccup down with his tail, laughing at his grounded Rider.

"Well, it looks like someone forgives you." Astrid smiled.

"Yeah, well the tail could have been a little less powerful."

Astrid helped Hiccup up.

"Woah." Hiccup commented.

"What?"

"I just got some major Deja vu."

"Huh?"

"Astrid, do you remember the last time we were in a cove and you were mad at me and I was on the ground at the edge of your axe?"

"OH!"

That caught Astrid off guard. She hadn't thought about that moment in a long time. Especially since it was when she started have feelings for Hiccup. Feelings that she could never really express due to a wall built by her warrior persona. Feelings that had only resurfaced more intensely in the past year at the Edge. What would Hiccup think of her now though?

"Yeah. I can't believe it's been four years since I first met Toothless." Astrid nervously laughed.

It was best to hide them. She only told Heather they were friends because Hiccup was too perfect for someone as messed up as Astrid. He was smart, a great leader, cute, calm, and a great friend. He would never go for someone like her.

"Yeah, except It was at the end of the day, not the beginning, so some differences here and there." Hiccup recalled.

"And you didn't kidnap me this time?" Astrid reminded.

"Hey, greater good. You said it. Besides, did you not like the ride on Toothless?"

"I could have done without the first minute Of aerial acrobatics, well, then. Now? maybe."

"Oh, right. Maybe his craziness rubbed off on me."

Toothless snorted at the idea.

"That was definitely the craziest day of my life. I got chosen to kill the nightmare, I tried to run away, you caught me, I 'caught' you, we found the Red Death, you *ahem* kissed me…"

Both teens were blushing, but they were both too embarrassed to look at each other and notice.

"Right!" Hiccup broke the awkward silence, "So not everything was the same in this situation, uh, why don't we head back so I can properly go about running this place. Well, if Toothless is satisfied with my acceptance of being dumb today."

Toothless gave a happy roar in reply. At least they'd take it easier.

"Sounds like a plan, dragon boy." Astrid agreed.

"Oh, and Astrid?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

Her heart melted just a little. Who cares if feelings weren't for warriors? She'd follow Hiccup to the ends of the earth. But how to tell him?