I was carrying the wood Gretchen had chopped down, and used a saw the village had provided for us to cut them into straight boards. I then sanded them down and attached them to the frame we had already set up. Everyone seemed amazed at how fast we had come this far, seeing as we had just arrived earlier that day. I thought we were moving kinda slow though. It was almost nightfall, and we only had the skeleton of our house up, and only one side completed. But, if they say we move fast, then we move fast. They're in charge here.

I finished up hammering up the boards I had just cut, when Hiccup and Toothless walked by. Hiccup slowed down to stare at my house-to-be, and soon stopped to walk over to me.

"Enjoying my handiwork?" I said, thanking whoever that I remembered to speak in Norse, after speaking English with Gretchen all day.

"Yeah, have you even taken a break at all today?" he asked.

"Not really..." I said, slowly glancing back to my house. My dad was off getting some dinner for himself, seeing as he couldn't really do anything to help us, other than help haul the wood to us. But we already had enough, plus extra for firewood. He really overdid himself.

"You should come with us to dinner." He replied, gesturing to Toothless. "You could even sit with me and my friends if you like." he said.

I gaped at him. I could see the fear in his eyes, yet he was willing to ignore that, just to help me feel comfortable? In all my fifteen years, when people see me, they go ahead and let us live where we want, then leave us alone, and hope they never see us again.

It was the Curse of the Devil. My father had an aura around him, and in spread to me and Gretchen after a while, making us all Outcasts. But we didn't mind.

"Sure?" I responded.

"You don't sound to excited about it..." Hiccup joked.

"I am. I'm just shocked. I know you're scared of me. Everyone is." I answered.

He looked at me, with the fear as well as a question in his eyes now. He held out his hand to me. "Well...are you coming?"

Hiccup trusted me too? Well, trying to, anyway, but still. This guy was amazing.

"Of course." I said, ignoring his hand, and I set down my tools, and he led to me to the Meade Hall, even though I already knew where it was, and even gave me a little tour of the town as we went.

This was getting awkward for me. I'm not used to people other than Gretchen.

When we finally entered the Meade Hall, I sat down at an empty table, to make things easier for both Hiccup and me. Gretchen walked in after a while and sat next to me, snitching some meat from my tray as she sat.

"It's a little rough." she stated in English, chewing vigorously. "But what can you do?" she asked. "If only I had a little bit of power left in me..."

"I wonder what that would have been like." I pondered, also in English, thankful for being able to speak in my native tongue once again.

"Well, you know, dear, it wasn't too good. No one ever wanted to go near me, except my old apprentice. She didn't like me too much, though. She ran off with her sister when I turned...I better not say that here."

"Please, we're crazy Englishmen, who could understand us?"

We looked around, and sure enough, people were staring at us in confusion, wondering what we were talking about.

"Plus, no one wants to be near us anyway." I said. "Not too different~"

"Hey." Ruffnut said as she slid into place right next to me. "How are you doing?" she asked while biting into her meat.

"Uh...good? How about you?" I said, switching back to Norse.

"My brother's being an idiot, as always." she stated, gesturing towards the table she was previously at. I looked in that direction as well, and I had to agree.

Him and Snotlout were placing bits of everything into their drinks, then snorting it up their noses.

"Gross." I said.

"Agreed." Ruffnut said.

"Why are they..."

"Cause they're idiots." Ruffnut answered.

"Hey guys." Hiccup said, sitting across from me, Astrid right beside him.

"Come to join the party?" I asked.

"Yeah. Way more fun than over there." Astrid gestured over to the same table. Fishlegs was actually staying there, counting the seconds each of the boys could hold whatever in their nose before it fell out into the cup again.

We all flinched and turned back to our table, thoroughly disgusted. Even Gretchen.

"Disgusting little vermin-worms..." she muttered in English.

"What?" Ruffnut asked.

"She called them gross." I supplied.

Everyone nodded in agreement, as everyone heard the sound of someone choking. We all turned around and saw that Stoick had finally tried putting a stop to their stupid behavior~

...By slapping Tuffnut at the back of his head.

Said twin was coughing on whatever fell from his nose to his throat, as Fishlegs jumped up and started thumping powerfully on the back, as Snotlout just laughed at the two. Stoick just shook his head and started to walk away slowly.

"Idiot." Ruffnut muttered and got up. "I better go." she said.

We all nodded as she left, and I poked around my plate.

"Anyone want this?" I asked.

"Not really..." Hiccup replied as Astrid shook her head, and Gretchen went up to throw her uneaten food away. Hiccup then stared at her in shock, but got over it and decided to throw his food away too.

Me and Astrid followed suit, and we all sat back down at the table, awkwardly trying to converse with each other. Gretchen left at some point to go to bed, but I decided to stay in the warm hall. It was way too cold out there for my comfort. It's a good thing me and Gretchen had a lot of blankets.

I then noticed that Hiccup and Astrid were silent, apparently waiting for me to respond.

"Damn." I muttered in English, thankful that Gretchen wasn't here.

"What?"

"I just used my profane vocabulary." I replied in Norse. "I just zoned out, I have no idea what you guys just asked me or whatever.

"Oh, we asked you where you found 'Hippo'."

"Uh...in a cave. Near water...and me and Gretchen were swimming, we found him...uh..." I stumbled in my head to come up with something plausible. "I almost drowned, and so did Gretchen when she tried to save me." I tried. "He saved us. Like an overprotective Hippo mother." I finished. "I'm going to bed." I said and quickly left, only realizing when I got home that leaving like that was suspicious.

Hiccup and Astrid stared at the door as it closed. Hiccup closed his eyes in thought.

"Why did she leave like that?" Astrid said. "What's up with her?"

"And why did she call Gretchen Gretchen?" Hiccup asked. "She always called her 'Grandma' before."

"Oh wait." Astrid said. "That's not all. I asked Gretchen the same question a while ago, about where they found Hippo. She said that they found him while hunting, and he was injured, and Hannah, being a little girl who tagged along, insisted on helping him, and nursed him back to health."

"Huh." Hiccup thought. "Well, she was a little girl, so she could have...no, that can't be right. Who are they?" he asked himself.

"The real question is 'what are they hiding and why?'" Astrid told him.

"Oi!" Stoick and Gobber bounded up to the two teens. "Where'dya little friend go?"

"Dad, I don't know if I'd consider her my friend..." Hiccup then started to tell of the strange things he had discovered about Hannah and her dragon, and how he knew they were hiding something from them.

"Aye, that'll raise ya some suspicion." Gobber agreed. "Well, we were coming over to discuss that dragon of hers. It's...different, it is."

"They called it a 'White Light', and both of the girls said that, so that must be true..." Astrid pondered.

"Unless they thought that up together." Gobber supplied.

"Well, son. I'll keep my eye on those two for ya. You both head to your beds, now. It's getting kinda late." He thumped Hiccup on the back, and Astrid caught him as he stumbled, and they both headed to their homes after sharing a brief kiss. Both in their separate homes, however, they both thought the same thing.

What had they gotten themselves into?

"Stupid, stupid stupid!" I shouted in English as I walked up the hill. I grabbed my blankets from our supply crate, and walked right to my father, who was warming Gretchen, and started a fire to keep us warm through the night.

"Dad, I'm stupid." I stated, again in English. Dad then huffed at me and shook his head.

"Darling, you're not stupid." Gretchen assured. I was glad we could speak in English for this conversation, Norse kinda hurt my face.

"I stuttered when they asked me where we found 'Hippo'."

"They asked you that too?" Gretchen shot straight up, her gray curls covering her face. "This could be trouble."

"What?" I asked, my face immediately mirroring Gretchen's worried one.

"I said we went hunting, and you found him and nursed him back to health!" Gretchen whispered.

"Dam—dang...I said we went swimming and I almost drowned and he rescued me."

"Oh, dear..." Gretchen rubbed her temples.

"I know! We nursed him back to health in the forest, and he flew off, and when we went swimming, he saved us, and then we had a mutual trust for each other!"

Gretchen paused in thought. "Yes, that's a good one. Because I did say you were little when we nursed 'Hippo.' And you did learn how to swim when you were about eight, you stubborn child. So...you didn't entirely remember the hunting incident, but you remember the cave incident!" Gretchen smiled. "This could still work!"

I smiled too. "I better be more careful though. That was pretty stupid of me."

I frowned as Gretchcn slowly nodded her agreement. "Well, it seems as though your father has fallen asleep. We would be smart to follow his example."

I yawned as I nodded, and lay next to Gretchen against my father's warm side, the fire he created as well as our blankets protecting us from the extreme cold of night.

However, I couldn't fall asleep. Something was eating away inside of me. I could tell it wasn't because of my mistake, we could always just fly away if it didn't work out. This wasn't the last place on earth, it was just the last one we hoped would work.

This feeling, it was evil. It rubbed at my insides, as if softly trying to assure me that I would not be all right.

Yeah, I would like some reviews, please. So, be a dear and review! Tell me what to work on, please. There's no such thing as being too criticizing. I know I'm messing stuff up, just tell me what to fix and I'll work on it.