The twins paled and met one another's gazes nervously before Hiccup stammered, "Oh gods. Dad, I'm so sorry, I was going to tell you, I just didn't know how to-" Suddenly, something happened that both came as a shock to both of the teens. Stoick burst into a great, booming laughter that seemed to shake the whole stall. "You're not... upset?" Hiccup asked incredulously.

"What?! I was hoping for this!" Stoick cheered.

"Uh... you were?" Hiccup tried.

"Either I'm missing something, or he's completely lost it," Audney whispered into her brother's ear.

Stoick, who didn't seem to hear this, continued, "And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait 'till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time!"

Hiccup's face fell as he turned slightly to murmur to Audney under his breath, "I think we were both missing something."

"Found it now though." Audney confirmed.

Too enthralled in his own speech and pride to notice the two whispering to each other, their father added, "And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear! What a feeling!" He smacked Hiccup on the shoulder through his jovial laughter, accidentally sending him into the wall. "You really had me going there, son. All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you!"

"It almost would have been better if he were actually talking about Toothless." Audney decided finally, helping her brother, who was now grimacing, to his feet as their father continued his rant.

"And all the while, you were holding out on me! Thor almighty!" The large man suddenly grabbed a stool that seemed much too small to support him and sat on it. "Ahh, with you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about." There was a pause, and Hiccup looked to Audney for help, but she was more or less at a loss for words. Could this get any worse? Stoick adjusted himself on his stool and cleared his throat, "Oh, I... Brought you something." He pulled out a horned helmet and handed it to his son. "To keep you safe in the ring."

"Wow, thanks..." Hiccup managed, grateful for the distraction as he looked his gift over. Audney, feeling rather put-out, turned to peer out the window and nearly toppled over with shock.

Deciding she wouldn't be missed during this touching father/son moment, she hoisted herself out the window and fell ungracefully to the ground outside as she heard Stoick say, "Your mother would've wanted you to have it. It's half of her breast plate." He tapped his own helmet with an uncharacteristically warm smile, "Matching set. Keeps her close, y'know?"

Audney, who had seen both helmets, raised an eyebrow at this. Of course, her memory of her mother was foggy, but had her breasts really been so horribly mismatched? Shuddering as horrible mental images flooded her brain, she snuck over to a large boulder that she was highly certain had not been there before and sat down. "It's risky for you to come out all this way, you know." She said, keeping her voice low to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

"I got bored." Drake admitted lamely, "And I wanted to practice flying into the cove, but then I saw you and Hiccup, so I thought I'd follow you."

"Probably not the best idea," Audney murmured with a sigh, resting her head against the dragon's broad back.

"Why didn't your father bring anything for you?" The young dragon wondered aloud.

Audney heaved a sigh, "I'm not important," She replied simply, "Hiccup's doing well in the ring using tricks he learns from Toothless, and me? I'm just an attachment. The sister of the prodigal son and chronic liar."

"You're more than that!" Drake protested, though he failed to give any examples of this.

"Not to my father, I'm not," Audney corrected, then shifted uncomfortably, "Shh, the door just opened."

Sure enough, not long after, Stoick was seen making his way back to the house, and, a while later, Hiccup's voice called tentatively, "Audney?" Then, "Weird. She was here just a minute ago." Then he seemed to discover the window and peered out of it to see his sister leaning against a "rock." "There you are!" He heaved himself through the window rather than using the door like a normal person as if he were afraid that he might lose sight of her again. "Why'd you run out on me back there?" He asked, approaching her.

"What could I have done? The prodigal, dragon-slaying son can surely handle his own father without his lowly, limp-armed sister to help." Audney grumbled, getting to her feet as Hiccup visibly winced. Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, Audney was mad at him again. "You'd better fix this, Hiccup, and fast. If you don't tell them, I will." She warned before storming off, leaving Hiccup and Drake in stunned silence. After taking a moment to calm down, Hiccup headed back home himself, more than ready to put this day to rest, in hopes that tomorrow would be better.

The following afternoon, the teens were all gathered in the arena, this time with a proud Stoick watching over them. A Gronckle was loose, and it was more or less hovering around between Hiccup and Audney, the ever-vigilant bodyguard. It wasn't long before Hiccup got the beast on the ground, just as Astrid came charging out to attack. "Arrrghhh! No! No!" Astrid wailed, throwing a bit of a temper tantrum.

Although she was mad at Hiccup for not letting the truth come out as she had instructed, Audney couldn't help herself. She saw a chance to cut Astrid down, she took it. Her rivalry with Astrid was not that unlike Snotlout and Hiccup's. She and Astrid were Berk's two finest female Viking teens. Although Audney didn't appear to be all that strong, she was still far more intelligent than Ruffnut, which wasn't saying too much, but the improvement gave her second best and she took it in stride, often picking at Astrid... Of course, the fact that her beloved brother had a major crush on Astrid didn't help the situation. So when she saw Astrid freaking out, she just had to say, "You snooze you lose. Looks like you'll just never be good enough."

Hiccup grimaced at Audney's rubbing salt in Astrid's wounds, but tried to shrug nonchalantly regardless.

"NO NO! SON OF A HALFTROLL RAT EATING MUNGE BUCKET!" Astrid fumed, but was interrupted by loud noise from the crowd above. On further inspection, the cause of the noise was Gothi, the village elder, tapping her staff against the bars of the ring.

"Wait, wait!" Stoick demanded, seeing this movement.

"So, later!" Hiccup attempted to get away before the Elder could make a decision, but both Gobber and a vengeful Audney grabbed him.

"Not so fast." Gobber chided.

Audney, with a Cheshire grin from ear to ear, purred, "That's right, Hiccup. Don't you want to see if you've earned the honor of slaughtering your first Monstrous Nightmare before Daddy Dearest?"

Hiccup gulped back a response to that and excused, "I'm kinda late for-"

"What? Late for what, exactly?" Astrid demanded, quivering with anger.

Stoick made a calming gesture with his arms as he boomed, "Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided."

Tickled pink by the fact that he'd trained one of his students to the elder's liking once more, Gobber stood behind Astrid and Hiccup as Audney took several steps back, knowing she had no place in this. He pointed to Astrid first, but the elder shook her head 'no,' much to everyone's amazement. Gobber blinked for a moment, trying to comprehend what the elder was implying. He pointed to Hiccup, just to be sure. The elder nodded affirmatively, and the crowd cheered. If looks could kill, the one Astrid was directing at Hiccup would probably have obliterated the entirety of Berk's population.

"You've done it! You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber beamed proudly after recollecting his thoughts.

Audney slunk up beside Hiccup and threw her arms around his neck, "I always knew you'd do it! Just the terrible, murderous Viking Berk needs!" She encouraged with false enthusiasm, each word having a hidden metaphorical knife that twisted and burned Hiccup's pride. At least, that was her intention. She backed off and allowed everyone else to ram those weapons in deeper as she took off for the cove, wanting nothing to do with the boy.

"Can you believe him?!" She snapped to Drake, Draco, and Toothless, who were more or less gathered around her, pinned between her and a wall with no room to spread their wings to escape her mad rantings, "So now he's going to have to- TOOTHLESS! Are you listening? This applies to you, too, you know!" The girl shot a glare at the Night Fury, who was looking off into the distance.

"No, he hears Hiccup's voice." Draco commented.

Inhaling deeply to stop the blood from ringing in her ears, Audney listened closely and could hear Hiccup say, "-leaving. We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. Forever." There was a thump that Audney assumed to be the basket of fish he usually brought for the dragon being dropped on the ground. Toothless moved to greet him, but Audney held out a hand to stop him.

"He doesn't deserve it," She growled lowly.

The Night Fury paused and nuzzled his head against her open palm, trying to soothe her as Hiccup continued to talk to himself. "Oh, man..."

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a weapon being sharpened. Having helped around the smithy most of her life, Audney would recognize that noise anywhere. Apparently, the dragons did, too, as they were all looking at her expectantly. "Stealth mode." She commanded, and crept up into some shrubbery closer to Hiccup, where she could now see Astrid sharpening her axe, and a panicked Hiccup.

"Aggh! What the-" Hiccup was clearly caught off guard by the sight of Astrid and took a step back, trying to compose himself for her, "What are you doing here?"

The girl hopped off of the rock and stepped closer to Hiccup, backing him down as she threateningly spun her axe. Hiccup's eyes were darting around nervously, trying to locate Toothless, who was about to leap out to the rescue when Audney rested a hand on his nose. "His mess." She muttered, "He made his bed, now he can lay in it."

"I want to know what's going on. No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?" Astrid demanded.

"Uh, training?" Hiccup fumbled, trying to think up an excuse.

Astrid grabbed his peculiar harness "It better not involve... this." She looked down at the thing, somewhat repulsed by it.

Suddenly, Hiccup had been handed his excuse by Astrid, "I know this looks really bad, but you see... this is, uh..."

"I said no, Toothless!" Audney hissed, pouncing on the dragon's head, accidentally knocking into a branch in the process, causing a rustle. "Crud."

Astrid dropped Hiccup to the ground to investigate the sound, but the boy quickly rebounded, "You're right! You're right!" He announced, walking backwards as he struggled to keep up with her, "I'm through with the lies. I've been making... outfits. So you got me. It's time everyone knew. Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go." He put her hand on his harness, trying to force her to drag him back to the village, but Astrid instead bent his hand backwards and drove him to the ground. "AAAAAUGH! Why would you DO that?!"

"That's for the lies." Astrid replied, still cool as a cucumber as she dropped the hilt of her axe on his crotch, "And THAT's for everything else."

Hiccup yelped in response, and Audney flinched, giving Toothless just enough room to break away from her, growling. "Oooh no. No, no, Toothless, don't do it buddy," She whimpered, but she knew it was too late.

Astrid glanced in their direction to see Toothless jump clear of the bushes, moving closer as he snarled. "Oh man." Hiccup mumbled as Astrid pinned him to the ground.

"Get down! Run! Run!" She commanded, withdrawing her axe, ready to take Toothless down.

"No!" Hiccup and Audney shrieked almost in unison. Hiccup knocked Astrid's axe out of reach as Audney skidded to a stop between Astrid and Toothless. Hiccup whirled around to face the irate Night Fury, "No. It's okay! It's okay... She's a friend."

Toothless seemed to disagree, snorting to show his disgust. "Yeah, I don't care for her much either." Audney assured the dragon, "But I don't get to kill her, either."

Astrid was frozen in a combination of terror and confusion, as Toothless looked from Astrid to Hiccup, equally confused. "You just scared him." Hiccup said finally, stroking the dragon's head soothingly.

"I scared him?!" Astrid seemed unconvinced. Hiccup and Audney gestured for her to quiet down before they were discovered, and Astrid obeyed, asking in an intense whisper, "Who is him?"

"Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid." Hiccup introduced. Unfortunately for him, Astrid backed away, eyeing the boy and his dragon with pure disgust before turning to run for the village. "We're dead." Hiccup announced. Toothless, apparently satisfied, turned to leave, and Hiccup wheeled around to face him, "Where do you think you're going?!" He demanded angrily.

Drake and Draco, seeing that Astrid was gone, came out of the foliage to stand beside Audney as she watched her brother go after Toothless. "So... What now?" Drake asked, looking to the girl.

Audney sighed and hung her head, "I guess Hiccup's probably going to go after her..." She paused before adding, "I'm mad at him, but I don't trust her. I'll have to follow them."

"You mean we, right?" Drake challenged playfully, nudging her hand.

This brought a smile to Audney's lips, "You know just what to say, don't you?" She rubbed the top of the young dragon's head before looking to Draco, "Do you mind if I borrow him for a while?"

"I'll come along," Draco said after a moment of thought, "In case that brother of yours gets into any more trouble."

"Thank you both... Really," The girl murmured, rather touched by the thought that both of them would go into harm's way to help her and her brother.

"No need to thank us." Draco assured her, "We dragons generally follow the Old Code." When the girl tipped her head curiously, he continued, "A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked."

Drake explained, "That's the oath of knights of the Old Code. Dragons generally follow it as well, as becoming a true hero of man means doing most of those things. It's what we live by."

Audney looked to the ground for a moment, thoughtful, before returning Draco's gaze with determination as she said, "Then I suppose I'll have to learn to be more honest, when this is over."

Draco chuckled heartily, "You're a good child."

The girl smiled a bit and lifted her head to the sky, "It looks like he's got her. Ready?" She lowered her gaze to drake, who nodded slightly and allowed her to climb onto his back before he and his father both took to the sky, just in time to see Hiccup pull Astrid from the treetop she'd been standing on up into the saddle.

They entered earshot of the boy just in time to hear Hiccup say, "Toothless? Down. Gently." Toothless spread his wings and released the tree, allowing it to snap back into place as he hovered in place. "See? Nothing to be afraid of." Toothless suddenly shot straight up, and Drake had a hard time keeping up.

Audney let out a loud whoop as she yelled up to them, "YEAH! SHOW HER, TOOTHLESS! SCARE THE PANTS OFF HER!"

"NOT HELPING!" Came Hiccup's nervous reply before he said something to Toothless, then Astrid... But apparently Toothless wasn't listening to a word Hiccup had to say, as he soon plummeted downward, causing Astrid to shriek at the top of her lungs as he twisted in midair and splashed them with ocean waves.

Clinging to Drake's neck, which she found much easier to hold onto than Toothless' saddle, Audney shouted, "YEAH! Go Toothless!"

With this encouragement, the Night Fury tore away from the ocean and began to roll head over tail. Audney, Drake, and Draco, highly entertained by this, caught up just in time to hear Hiccup say, "And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."

Astrid clamped her hands over her eyes and whimpered, "Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off this thing!" Toothless seemed satisfied with this, and leveled off, ascending into the clouds.

"Aww, it's over already?" Audney complained, watching the pair enjoy a romantic moment in the clouds.

"If you want, we can try that later," Drake offered.

The girl shivered, "With your flying skills? I'll pass, thanks."

"Hey, I told you, it's the landing I have problems with, not the flying." Drake protested. They continued flying well after sunset, and apparently, the top-down view of Berk got to Astrid.

"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's... amazing." She paused before adding, "He's amazing." As she reached down to pat Toothless' side. "So what now?" Hiccup groaned at the sudden change of subject, "It's a problem without an answer. Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow. You know you're going to have to kill... kill a dragon."

"Don't remind me." Hiccup mumbled.

Audney leaned against Drake, rather bored, "Stupid Astrid. He talks to her about it and not me? I'm his sister, I've been with him since birth, yet she's somehow more important."

"He doesn't see it that way." Draco said softly, coming up beside the girl and his son, "She's an ideal mate for him. You're just his sister... You can't compare yourself to her."

"But it isn't fair! Everything I do, every breath I take, every move I make, everything is for him. Doesn't that matter at all?" She was on the verge of tears now, huddled close to Drake's neck.

"But has he really seen that?" Draco pressed, "You accuse him of lying and keeping secrets, but have you not done the same? Do you not continue to do the same? He only knows as much as you allow him to see."

Audney sucked in a breath, "His word speaks only truth." She murmured, "From now on... I want to live by the Old Code, too."

"I think you know where to begin." Draco said thoughtfully.

"I know." She confirmed, but suddenly, Toothless took off, interrupting their little moment, and Audney, Drake, and Draco quickly followed suit, completely unprepared and unaware of what horrors awaited them.


Kinda short chapter is kinda short. Eh. Not too bad. Getting close to the end of the movie now! Probably within the next three chapters or so... Not sure if that's where I'm going to end it or if it should be a "to be continued" scenario and make this a prequel to another fic. I suppose I should wait until this is truly over to decide. Anyway, hope you liked it~!