I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. Direct quotes from the movie will be bolded.

A Close Call

Stoick rubbed his forehead in exhaustion as his ship drifted to the docks. He stepped down to meet Gobber, who studied the battered and lone boat with a slight smile. "Well, at least we got one of them back."

"And we didn't even find the nest, so it wasn't even worth it," Stoick grumbled, cracking his back and starting down the wooden dock. "Did you have more luck than me?"

Gobber smirked. "I can safely say that all your parenting troubles are over."

Stoick froze and stared at Gobber in masked horror. "He's...gone?"

Gobber laughed. "Most afternoons with Sunset, but I can't blame them. They can hardly step into the village without being swarmed by fans."

"Hiccup? Sunset?" Stoick asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Who would have thought? They seem to have this way with the beasts. I gave them the news that they would be the two battling the Gronkle in the second-to-last round! They were speechless."

Stoick smiled with pride. "I never would've thought. Hiccup is probably overjoyed right now."

...

"This sucks," Hiccup said flatly as he and Sunset made their way to what seemed like their second home-the cove.

"Did you see Astrid's face?" Sunset asked worriedly. "She looked like she wanted to tear my head off!"

"I'm sure she'll get over it," Hiccup said, although even he didn't sound too confident about it. "So...which one of us gets the 'honour' of killing the Monstrous Nightmare?"

"You," Sunset said instantly. "I made it this far with only picking up an axe once, and I'm never doing it again. Besides, you're the one who wanted all this to make your father proud. You can do it."

The boy sighed. "You know what? Let's just forget about it for now. We got a new harness and everything, so let's test it out."

"Fourth time's the charm," Sunset agreed.

"Huh. I thought this was our fifth try," Hiccup mused. The two friends entered the cove and Toothless hurried over to meet them, purring softly. Sunset scratched his muzzle as Hiccup did the usual hooking up harness routine. "Alright, Sun, climb on."

Sunset obeyed, climbing onto the back of the saddle as Hiccup jumped on in front of her. He clipped his cheat sheet to the harness and took a deep breath. "Okay. Here we go!"

Toothless shot into the air as Hiccup nudged him. Sunset swallowed nervously as they soared out of the cove and through the blue sky, rapidly rising in the air. "Uh...shouldn't we be a little closer to the ground? In case something happens?"

"We'll take this nice and slow," Hiccup assured his friend.

"That's fine and dandy, but just because we take this nice and slow doesn't mean we won't crash," Sunset responded dryly.

"Stop being so negative. That's normally my job." Hiccup shot a quick smile over his shoulder before turning back to study the cheat sheet. "Let's try position four."

He adjusted the pedal and Sunset watched as the prosthetic tailfin flared. Toothless rolled into a graceful arc and Hiccup cheered. "You did it, Hiccup!" Sunset exclaimed. "I think this is the one!"

"Only one way to find out for sure." Hiccup grinned and turned Toothless around, directing the dragon towards a large rock arch. They passed through perfectly and Hiccup whooped.

His triumph was short-lived, however, as Toothless knocked against a stone stack. Sunset gritted her teeth to keep them from knocking together. "Hiccup!" she cried as Toothless rammed into another sea stack.

"Sorry, sorry!" Hiccup apologized. He made the proper adjustments and soon they were soaring high into the air, far past the fluffy white clouds.

Sunset tightened her grip on Hiccup's waist and stared in awe at their island below. "Hiccup, this is...this is indescribable!"

"Definitely too amazing for words," Hiccup agreed with a smile. "Can you just feel the wind in-?"

There was suddenly a mighty gust of wind, causing Hiccup's cheat sheet to come loose from the harness. The boy cried in panic and attempted to grab it only to have the harness itself come loose from Toothless' saddle. He flew off Toothless and Sunset nearly fell off herself, but she managed to thrust her body forward and latch onto Toothless' body for dear life.

"Hiccup!" Sunset cried as the boy plummeted through the air. She inched forward as quickly as she could (although it was difficult when the dragon was also spiralling through the air). The girl managed to wrap her arms tightly around the Night Fury's neck and slip her foot into the pedal. "Uh...position three?" she tried.

The adjustment to the tailfin managed to stop Toothless from free-falling, but it also caused the dragon to fly away from Hiccup. "Not it! Not it!" Sunset cried frantically as she tried position four. Toothless immediately spun around, diving for the boy.

When they were close enough, Sunset reached out and grabbed Hiccup's hand. She hauled him onto Toothless and panted with relief. "Man that was close!"

"No kidding," Hiccup wheezed, slapping his chest to make sure his heart was still beating. "But hey, we did it!"

Toothless shared their victory and shot a fireball in excitement. The flames expanded in the air-and Toothless flew directly into it.

"Ouch," Sunset managed to say as they came out on the other side. She gingerly touched her face, relieved to find that the worst damage was singed eyebrows and hair. She turned around to glare at Hiccup, who was doing a poor job at hiding his laughter. "I ought to push you off right now."

"But that's violent." Hiccup smirked. "Sunset Hockerson doesn't approve of violence."

"Shut up," Sunset muttered. She spotted a beach below them and guided Toothless towards it. "We're taking a break."

"Fine with me." Hiccup smiled. "We can catch some fish and eat lunch here. You do eat fish, right?"

Sunset glared at him. "You know I do."

Hiccup smirked. "Just making sure you haven't changed your diet-again."

Toothless landed on the beach and the kids dismounted him. "Good job, Toothless," Hiccup praised, rubbing his head. "Now how does lunch sound?"

"Brilliant," Sunset yawned as she curled up against Toothless. "You go fishing and we'll supervise."

Hiccup crossed his arms. "This is payback for laughing at you, huh?"

"You bet."

"Note to self," Hiccup muttered as he headed towards the water. "Never tick off a woman-especially if said woman is your best friend."

Eventually Hiccup managed to collect a decent-sized pile of fish. Sunset had given him a break and started a small fire. The two teens leaned against Toothless as their fish cooked, the smoke curling into the air.

"So...about the Monstrous Nightmare..." Hiccup began.

"You're still doing it," Sunset replied. "I refuse to win a tournament where the prize is slaughtering a poor dragon. It goes against everything I believe in."

"Well, I don't want to do it either!" Hiccup cried in exasperation.

"We both know that we won't kill dragons," Sunset pointed out. "And that means that one of us is going to have to find a way to show the other Vikings that dragons aren't what they believe them to be."

"Why do I have to be the one that shows them?" Hiccup asked.

"The Vikings will expect me to refuse to kill the Nightmare. They might be a little more impacted, however, if you refuse and show them that dragons can be our friends."

"I could probably counter your argument with one of my own but I have a feeling this is just one of those things where I'll end up agreeing to whatever you say," Hiccup said finally.

Sunset smiled and tore off a piece from her fish. "At least you know when to pick your battles."

A soft screeching caught their attention. The teens looked up to see a trio of Terrible Terrors landing in front of them, eyeing the fish hungrily. One managed to snag a piece of fish and dragged it away, only to be attacked by another. Sunset giggled and removed a fish from her own pile, tossing it to the squabbling Terrors. The fight ended as each Terror took a piece of fish.

Toothless narrowed his eyes as a piece of his fish started hobbling away. The third Terror emerged from his fish pile with the stolen seafood clamped in its mouth. Toothless yanked the fish back and swallowed it whole. The Terror hissed angrily and prepared to shoot a gas blast, but Toothless cut it off with a small flame. The flame flew straight into the Terror's mouth and the little dragon puffed up as the fire ignited with the gas.

"Aw," Sunset laughed as the Terror deflated. "Come on, Toothless. Be nice." She tossed another piece of her fish at the hungry dragon. It gobbled it up and purred happily. Sunset smiled softly as the Terror curled underneath her arm. "Can I keep him?"

Hiccup snorted. "Oh sure, keeping a Terrible Terror as a pet is a great idea."

"Your sarcasm is uncalled for," Sunset grumbled.

Her friend smiled slightly and glanced at the darkening sky. "We better head back. The last thing we want is for Astrid to catch us sneaking back to the village after midnight."

"Very true," Sunset got up and stretched. "Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

"Will everything turn out alright?"

Hiccup was silent for just a moment. "I sure hope so, Sun. I sure hope so."