[authors note]

HTTYD does not belong to me as much as I want it to, etc etc.

Here comes another long one.

Thanks for detailing your reviews guys! Even if it's just a sentence like commenting on character development or something, it really means a lot to me.

As always I'd love for you to read and review, peas and spanks :)

------ ( 04 ) the screech ------

Thankfully, the day that she was instructed by Klint to "perhaps have a rest from this dragon business" turned out to be a gorgeous one. She woke up in the morning to a lavish sun rising into the sky, burning brightly, especially for the time of year. She'd rolled out of bed and gotten dressed with an almost happy cheer – until she realized she had nothing to do. Part of her considered taking the day off to be lazy, but to waste such sunny weather would be a downright sin, and she knew it. Once she pulled on and secured her boots, Thyre latched her axe to the back of her leather belt and stepped out into a cascade of shine.

The girl walked like a woman on a mission – that's how you had to walk through town, anyway. Vikings lived a harsh lifestyle and there was always something to do. So even if one had nothing to do, very much like her situation that morning, one still had to walk as though they were on their way to something important. In all honesty, she hadn't a clue where she was going until she was halfway there.

Thyre remembered the way to Astrid's home. Her mother and father were busy Vikings (as if there was some other kind of Viking) and therefore, usually not home. At least they weren't the three or four times she and Astrid lapped the town before taking to the woods the first time they'd met.

Thyre arrived at the home in a timely fashion. She didn't bother prepping in any way or form, not even a deep breath or a run through in her head about what she'd say concerning why she picked then to randomly show up. Instead, she just lifted one calloused hand in a fist and brought it down towards the door – which chose at that exact moment to disappear.

"Waugh!" Astrid yelped in surprise to see Thyre standing directly in her path.

"Waugh!" Mirrored Thyre, for the exact same reason.

They both fell silent and glanced in opposite directions, eyes searching the towns people further back to see if anyone had noticed their blunder. Finding that no one had, or at least that no one was about to show that they had, both girls turned back. Astrid flashed an amused smile, while Thyre wore one slightly more embarrassed. The blonde girl stepped back, and gestured toward the open space in her house. She giggled as Thyre rushed past.

The moment the door clicked shut, the Ginn native released a breath big enough to have come from a dragon. "Well, that was embarrassing," she shuddered, turning toward Astrid.

Astrid strode through her home gracefully, turning her head toward Thyre as she moved past. "A little bit," she confirmed, but didn't stop until she reached the back door. Looking back and seeing her company hadn't moved, she raised her eyebrows and jutted her hip out, looking somewhat impatient. "You came here to talk about Hiccup, didn't you? And if not him, then it's about the dragons or something. He told me about Toothless, and about the Gronckle."

Thyre paused for a moment, almost trying to pick out the next syllable before she said it. But Astrid didn't mention their spar. Perhaps the couple hadn't spoken yet since last evening.

"I think you need a swift kick in the butt," Astrid finished strongly.

"I think you think everyone needs a swift kick in the butt," Thyre responded smoothly, not yet moving in case she honestly wanted to kick her a good one in the rear.

"I think you think the exact same way," the blonde retorted before shaking her head. "There's someone I want you to meet. She might be a better teacher for you than me or Hiccup."

Thyre sighed. Honestly, she was so tired of this dragon nonsense. Perhaps she ought to have used today to seek out Bushbrow and convince and slash or beat him into submission so that he would take her back to Ginn where she could slay dragons to her heart's content. Not that her heart could ever be content after seeing what Berk had done with itself. Astrid made a slight move toward her and she sighed, rolling her eyes to the sky as though there might be a deity out there who could help her. But even if a god did come down to save Thyre, her sorry butt would still end up beaten by Astrid. Defeated, she pushed her body up from its slouch and moved out into the glaring sunlight.

She was greeted with the sound of a chirpy kind of grunt. Shielding her eyes, Thyre squinted until she could make out the form of Astrid, headed over to a strange, bird-like dragon covered in scales of blue and accented with gold.

"I'm out," Thyre sighed, barely pivoting before Astrid could respond.

"Nope," the other girl said simply.

Thyre turned back around.

"Bear with me. I'm not the empathic kind of teacher that Hiccup is," Astrid briefed, before pulling the bangs away from her eyes. "This," she motioned to the dragon who stood by her side, "is Thisper. Thisper is a Nadder. I guess you don't have those over in Ginn. But she's a really nice dragon – who knows why she stuck with me and my thorny attitude, but she did."

Giving a sound that was more like a purr than any dragon noise, Thisper inched closer to Thyre, huffing large breaths of air as she sniffed around the girl for a scent. The dragon tilted its head and surveyed it with one eye at a time, shuffling its wings as it cawed an excited sound. Thyre leaned away, which prompted a cluck of disapproval from Astrid.

"Since you won't approach a dragon, let the dragon approach you."

Well, Thyre knew she was in a rut. She couldn't kick the dragon in the face and run away –she'd have hell to pay if she did that. So instead she stood, rooted to the ground, staring worriedly at the Nadder. Thisper must have seen the look in her eyes, because the dragon dropped its head and cooed a low, rumbling note, drawing closer with hesitation.

In a million years, she would have never imagined reaching out one hand to touch the head of a dragon with gentleness and no desire to kill. But Thyre was doing exactly that.

It was like her hand was moving without the will of her brain. She knew it was a bad idea. Reach something out to a dragon and you can consider it kibble. Yet she kept extending her arm, straightening her elbow until her fingers brushed against the softer scales of the Nadder's face. Instead of rearing back in alarm, or snarling in defense, the dragon only purred a note of acceptance. Thyre lay her hand flat against the creature's forehead, hazel eyes wide. She couldn't describe the feeling in her stomach but it was an interesting one. Was she nervous? Was she scared? Was she excited? Was she happy?

Thyre didn't know which one it was, exactly, but a small smile was forming on her face. She stroked the pattern of Thisper's scales for a moment before she changed her gaze to meet Astrid's knowing smile, at which point she retracted her hand and touched it as if to make sure it was still there. Her eyes trailed between Thisper and Astrid, a soft giggle coming from her throat.

At least, it did for only a moment, before she silenced herself and cast a steel-coated gaze on the sky over Astrid's shoulder.

"I don't see this happening in Ginn." She said suddenly, frowning. "Ginn dragons are not Berk dragons. I guess, I can do this with these dragons. Nadders, Gronckles, maybe even Monstrous Nightmares. But not Ginn dragons."

"What do you mean?" Astrid responded. She didn't seem shocked really, she just seemed… confused.

"I can't see myself on the back of one of those dragons," Thyre responded finally.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "You're difficult. But at least I made progress." Then she jammed one foot in the stirrup of her dragon's saddle and pulled herself on to Thisper's back. The Nadder barely even stirred – she seemed plenty content with the Viking on her back.

"I'm not going on a dragon ride, girl, if that's what you're thinking," Thyre responded, her eyes narrowed as she tensed slightly.

"Calm down, you're not coming." Astrid shrugged. "Alright, I'm off." She didn't have to look down to see Thyre's confusion. "Hiccup's not the only teacher."

"What?" the Viking still on the ground voiced her confusion.

"Yeah, some people started to ask me how to get along with Nadders and suddenly, they want me to do it in a fixed place at a fixed time." Astrid shrugged again, but she had a somewhat pleased and confident smile edging on to the corners of her lips. "Anyway, see ya."

With a roar, the Nadder took off and was out of eyesight within only a few seconds of its flight as it headed over the house and into the distance. Thyre watched for those moments, but then nearly fell over in a heart attack. She practically tripped on to her butt and landed into a gentle pile of grass, her Viking helmet flying off her head and landing on her chest. The field behind Astrid's house was open. The woods were somewhat further off, and for the time of day the sun was shining high in the sky directly above her hyperventilating form.

After placing her helmet beside her, she laid one hand over her heart, the same hand she'd placed over a dragon's skin just a minute earlier. Thyre caught her heaving breaths, and realized just how tired changing experiences made her, and just how warm the sun was, how cool the grass was, how comfortable she was in the field behind Astrid's house…

Just like always, she promised herself only a few seconds of rest from her busy day to rest her eyes.

Just like always, she fell fast asleep.


Astrid had changed Hiccup. Hiccup had changed Astrid. And he kind of liked it.

People always went on about staying true, never changing. Heck, whenever anyone broke up there was always the required yelling/crying match about how "you're not the person I fell in love with" or "I don't even know you anymore" and all related dramatic statements. But Hiccup kind of like the changes they had made to each other.

Now that Astrid wasn't focused on being the best, on winning in her dragon training class, in dangerous affairs, she had more time to think about what else she wanted in life. She had time to spend with her family, and with her friends. Of course, there was her boyfriend too, but besides that. She was slightly more mellow. Not to say that she didn't have those moments where she was beyond brutally honest, or those times were her determination nearly took over her head. And Hiccup did get his fair share of punches still, whenever they were deserved. But in their relationship, her caring side had certainly blossomed. Sometimes it was obvious – she would come by to his classes and smile at him through the chains as he worked with the people of the towns. Other times, it was more subtle, like wiping down his dragon gear at night when he went to bed. Either way, Hiccup knew she cared. And he wanted to make sure she knew he cared, too.

Hiccup was finally confident that Astrid's "class" had a set time and place. He knew she would not be home for roughly two hours, just enough time for afternoon to turn to evening. Toothless was not in his plans, but he had gone right from a relaxing ride to Astrid's home, so he had no choice but to allow the Night Fury to follow him as he tip-toed towards the back of her home, so he could get in the back way and creep to her room. In his arms he held a gathering of wildflowers. He knew she liked them. They'd gone on a walk once and she'd spent a while looking at them and smelling them. They were assorted in color and kind of pretty by a boy's standards. Bees seemed to think them really pretty to. That was a pleasant experience.

Toothless shook his head and growled, his footsteps growing slow.

"Are you kidding me?" Hiccup laughed, glancing over at his best friend. "Is your moral conscience really kicking in? I mean I know I'm breaking and entering, bud, but it's to put a flower on her night stand! There's got to be enough kindness in that gesture to cancel out the fact that I'm sneaking in to her house."

But Toothless still reared his head and snorted. He really didn't want to go, for some reason. A reason Hiccup discovered as he rounded the corner and saw Thyre pretty much sprawled and passed out in the center of Astrid's back yard. Toothless huffed and lifted his chin, sending a knowing glance toward Hiccup.

"Oh, that's what you're so mad about." Hiccup said with a shrug. "Well, it is weird." But weird things never bothered Hiccup before, and they wouldn't bother him now.

"Alright, let's go wake her up." Hiccup suggested.

Toothless bared his teeth with a hiss.

"Okay, I'll go wake her up."

Awkwardly, he wandered over to the sleeping girl, and stood in the sunset that fell on her face. His shadow seemed enough to disturb her. With a grunt, she pulled her arms in and settled her face on her hands, huffling in her sleep and wiggling to get more comfortable.

"Uh, you can wake up now, Thyre," he said. She shifted again, and he was thisclose to nudging her with his boot when she suddenly bolted and delivered a deserving smack to the offending boot.

But Thyre didn't get on to her own feet. She remained seated, blinking the groggy sleep away from her eyes and lifting her head toward the sky. When she came to understand where she was and what time of day it was, she simply raised her eyebrows and blinked once. Lifting one hand to lazily push the hair out of her eyes, she glanced past Hiccup toward Toothless and mumbled, "Oh. That's what that growling was."

Toothless settled on the ground and huffed again, turning a cold cheek to Thyre as she looked over. He made it clear he would not come any closer, so Hiccup sighed and slowly seated himself in the grass. He kept what he considered a respectable distance – at least a foot and a half away from the Viking girl –but she didn't seem to put up any protest that he was sitting beside her as it were. Instead, she plucked a small blade of grass and played around with it, like nervous busy work.

Hiccup looked at Thyre. He'd come to be able to recognize her – that rigid spine, her agitated stare, and her oddly colored hair, which was always pulled and fastened behind one ear and hidden on top by her spiked Viking helmet. She gave off an imposing façade. He'd known that from the start, that she tried to be intimidating by the way that she dressed. Or perhaps not so much frighten people than she wanted respect as a warrior – a dragon killer.

But when he looked at her that night, she seemed completely different. She sat in the grass with her elbows on her knees, slouching forward almost lazily. Her hazel eyes were focused on the blade of grass between her fingers, yet they held a tired quality within their depths. When she had gone to sleep earlier, she rested her helmet off to the side, and somewhere during the snooze the tie that held her hair had come undone and lay somewhere among the grass. Unshackled, her hair fell a little past her shoulders. It was mostly straight, but slightly disheveled courtesy of helmet hair, and there was a kink in it from where it was almost always tied. The only thing Hiccup could pinpoint about her that was similar was the deep wound over her eye.

At least, it was until she turned her head toward him and replaced her somber expression with a glare. "Quit it," she hissed.

"Sorry!" Hiccup responded immediately, turning away and looking up and away and anywhere but at Thyre.

Out of her reverie, Thyre pulled her legs beneath her and propped herself up on her fists.

Suddenly, she gave a frustrated huff and ripped the blade of grass in her hands in half and stared at the stars. "Damn Astrid," she growled. "Her dragon was actually nice. And I wasn't even scared! Damn Astrid. I guess if she could make that happen for me, I have to respect her." She raised one eyebrow and glanced at Hiccup from the corner of her eye to make sure she had his attention. "I guess I'm going to trust you, kid."

Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, but Thyre kept on going.

"When I came here, I didn't expect to see any dragons. I thought you killed them all. I thought that's how you won." Her voice grew soft and once more she looked away. "I just don't understand how to be friends with them. I could see, maybe, it happening here. But… we have a couple of different species over in Ginn – and not one of them is nice or tame or docile."

The boy furrowed his brow, running his hands through his hair as he contemplated her finally voicing her doubts. Hiccup didn't know how to work fast enough for this. It was almost as if he was worried that if he didn't respond correctly, she'd suck herself back into that shell of hers and he'd never get anywhere. Finally he sighed. "You know how it works in a colony of bees?" Thyre cast him a 'what does that have anything to do with anything' sort of stare, but he continued. "That's what the dragons were. They had to take our food, or else they'd be punished. But we got rid of the queen bee. And then they changed."

Thyre said strongly, "You. You got rid of the queen bee."

"I guess so," Hiccup admitted, at least slightly taken aback by the credit he was given by Thyre. Most of the time it seemed she had a dragon horn lodged up her rear – to hear any form of praise made him stutter. "I mean, I had support."

Thyre snorted. "But you were the only one on that dragon." She glanced over her shoulder toward Toothless. He appeared to be sleeping, yet his breaths were not deep enough. He had to be awake, listening. Thyre smiled in amusement – an eavesdropping Night Fury, who would have known? But she had to get back on track. "You're the only one that suffered repercussions."

They both glanced at his missing left leg before Hiccup shrugged. "Yeah, well. We all get a little marked up by dragons."

Thyre glanced back up to find his eyes on that ugly scar of hers. If she could look at it too, she would, but instead she lifted her chin a little and breathed in deeply.

"Do you want to know?"

"Yeah."

"Are you expecting a sob story?"

"Yeah."

Thyre laughed, "Well here's some disappointment." She inhaled, about to start some tirade, but all of a sudden she hesitated. When she started again, her voice was small. "I was stupid. I was reckless. I joined a class with Bear, and you've seen him. I mean he's big and strong, the perfect Viking build, but he's also really clever on his feet." Thyre scratched the back of her head, like she was embarrassed to admit it. "I wanted to be the best. And for a while we were good friends and we fought together, but that's when they started to put pressure on us to be the best of our class and kill our first dragon… So it was me and Bear in the ring and suddenly this one Spindleneck got out of its cage – super angry, I suppose – and it started to attack, and they told us to leave but I wanted to prove I was stronger than that – so I rushed it." Thyre finally breathed. She really just wanted to get that story over with, but she couldn't find words fast enough. "It saw me coming, some little overconfident girl, and it nearly took off my head. I ducked, but it still hit me. And once it pinned me down I thought I was going to die, but Bear managed to drag me out from under its claws while Klint came in and took care of it."

Absentmindedly, she lifted one hand and trailed a finger over her scar like she was reliving the memory. Raising her head, she was somewhat surprised to find Hiccup's gaze intently on her. He was a good listener, she had to admit.

Thyre cleared her throat and continued, "I never felt more humiliated. So embarrassed. And they all saw, everyone saw. I hated dragons." Her face contorted as though she were in pain. And Thyre, in a way, really was. She didn't like to open up. But she always awoke from her dreams with some kind of thought buzzing in her head, and if she had the chance to get it out, Thyre would. And here that chance was. She took advantage of this opportunity. Hiccup didn't even really have to listen. Thor bless him, though, since he was.

"That was one mistake. Are you going to let it rule your life? You…"

Once more, she cut off Hiccup. "Are insecure. Yup. I know. Oh, and tell anyone we're having this conversation and I'll rip your liver out, fry it up and feed it to your dragon."

Despite her dry delivery, her voice still had that threatening edge in it. But Hiccup was feeling somewhat confident today.

"Toothless," he responded, in the same strong tone Thyre spoke with. And that, for some reason, seemed to make her look up.

"What, do you want me to call him by name?" she asked, looking back over to Toothless. He'd cracked an eye open at the sound of his name, but shut it as soon as he saw Thyre peeking.

Hiccup asserted, "Well yeah. You don't want me to call you 'that Viking' when I talk about you, do you?"

"I kind of don't want you to talk about me," snapped Thyre.

He felt the conversation flying away from the good zone they'd been in before and threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, yeah, I get it," he said quickly but Thyre still turned her head away and bit her lower lip.

She debated getting up and leaving at that exact moment, but spared one glance to Hiccup's confused face and decided to give their conversation another go.

"Were they really slaves of some giant dragon?" she asked quietly.

The look on Hiccup's face was tired. "No, I ripped off my leg and made it all up."

Ignoring his sarcasm, she continued. "I just… I've thought of them as mindless, vicious beasts for so long. And you're telling me they're intelligent and friendly creatures." She smiled at such a wild idea, shaking her head gently. "And – oh god, this one cracks me up. I can ride them! I never go into town here. I can't see all those people up on their dragons. It's unreal. I don't know how Bear does it. Bear loves it. He adjusted so well and he was a really good fighter, too. What happened to tradition?"

Hiccup cracked a grin toward himself. She sure talked a lot when given something to talk about. But his grin was quickly replaced with a frown as he turned to look her in the eye, to make sure his message was sent across. "The tradition was wrong, Thyre."

She couldn't help but kind of perk up. Was that the first time he used her name? Or was it just the first time he ever said it to her? In the deep of her mind, she understood why she ought to call his dragon Toothless, as was his name. But for now, Thyre looked over and surveyed his face carefully. And suddenly, she cracked a crooked smile, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh Thor. Do we tolerate each other now?"

He squinted. "What's wrong if we're friends?"

Thyre shrugged. "I don't know. Nothing? But I'm not a nice person. I don't want to be a nice person. People don't pick on you if you knock them flat to the ground with an axe."

He nodded his head and said knowingly, "Oooooh, so you're protecting yourself." He cracked a grin and Thyre shook her head.

"Um, no," she tried to defend herself, but was quickly shut down by Hiccup's interjection.

"Um, denial," he snorted. "When I met Toothless, he was really slow to trust me. For good reason. He was protecting himself too. But I showed him I was different and he decided I was okay, and now, he's my best friend."

This time, both Thyre and Hiccup glanced at Toothless. He shut his one eye like he wasn't paying attention again, but they both saw anyway.

Thyre raised an eyebrow. "I thought Astrid was your best friend."

"Astrid is more than that," Hiccup said gently, glancing toward the ground where he had laid the flowers meant for her.

Aah, awkward. Thyre didn't want to talk about his significant other. She tried to skirt around the conversation but found that she couldn't think of anything to talk about. She was suddenly too focused on the situation, the right now: She was sitting with her butt on her heels, palms on her knees and spine straight up, facing Hiccup. What the hell kind of body language was that? Open? Oh no, Thyre, what are you becoming? She questioned herself, and looked over Hiccup. He slouched almost beside her, one leg outstretched and the other bent where he could rest his elbow.

Finally she sighed, "I don't know, kid."

"I'm your age!" Hiccup sputtered.

"Whatever kid," she grinned and moved on quickly. "Like I said. Maybe the dragons here in Berk are different than the ones in Ginn. I don't see myself befriending the ones back on my island, definitely not riding them… I don't even see myself being in the same place as one and not getting eaten. You don't understand. They're so much more vicious in Ginn. And I'm not talking about Gronckles or anything like that. We've got them and some others I've seen around here but those are just the pest dragons. I'm talking about the legitimate, mean, killing dragons."

She stopped in the middle of her tangent to find Hiccup's stare on her face, again. But this time it wasn't like the last few times. His green eyes weren't considering her anymore. They were scrutinizing. Before he was just listening – now she could see him figuring her out, in his head. Even when she drew her shoulders back and became more defensive, he didn't stop that curious stare. Finally, she straight up planted her palm in the center of his face. Not expecting it, Hiccup took the blow like a champion and whined, "Oooh, why?" as he was pushed onto his back.

Thyre finally pushed on to her feet, giving her back a decent stretch as he began to walk away. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Toothless giving her a glare as she wiggled and shimmied the cramps out of her muscles.

She meandered back to the place where here butt had made an impression in the grass, holding out her arm for Hiccup to pull himself back up with. Once he was on his feet, she retrieved her helmet off the grass and her hair tie as well, after some hand shuffling to find the string. Once her hair was fashioned to the side and she had replaced the helmet on her head, Thyre turned toward Hiccup.

Somehow, now that she was dressed again and standing with her shoulders back, Thyre didn't feel as accomplished as she should have.

She turned away.

"Well, Astrid should be coming back soon, yeah? I think I'll be on my way then to leave you two love birds at it."

She began to shuffle away as fast as she could, but Hiccup read her mind.

"So, dragon training tomorrow," he called out.

"Don't you 'dragon training' me," Thyre snapped back. But Hiccup had learned that he could fight fire with fire.

"I mean it," he said back. But Thyre didn't hear him. She heard something else - a strange wind in the skies above. Her eyes narrowed and she swung her head toward Toothless, who had awoke and was sitting up staring into the sky.

The noise became louder, and Hiccup worriedly crept closer to Thyre, before backing up and making his way toward Toothless. She barely even noticed, then. Her hazel eyes grew wide.

Suddenly, the whisper in the wind became a high-pitched screech and a flash of black streaks in the night sky. Toothless growled and rose to his feet, tail flickering worriedly. Hiccup ran and hopped on to Toothless' back, who spread his wings instantly. "Stay here, I'm going to go check out what that is," he instructed, fastening himself in to his harness. "I'll be back-" he started again, lifting his head just in time to see the moon's light reflecting off her battle axe as she disappeared into the forest in full sprint.

Ahead came another screech that echoed through the darkness. Hiccup could waste no time now. He didn't need to tell Toothless that, either. Together they took off at top speed, climbing into the air before divebombing overhead of the forest.

Hiccup hoped he would find Thyre before she made it to the screech. Or worse, before the screech made it to her.

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