This chapter focuses more on Hiccup's romantic side- which is, of course, going to be awkward.


Time stands still for several seconds as I stand and stare at her. The sparse people in the morning time are walking by are minding their own businesses, the merchant that I was talking to earlier is minding his business, and I wish that I could do anything to make me mind my own business too- not stay paralyzed to the spot and stare at the girl in front of me.

"What? Travel took away your speech?" she smirks, crossing her arms.

Her words do little to lose me out of this reality fantasy- but I do manage to get a few words out.

"What- what- Astrid?" I ask, gaping at her and her physique. Her bangs fall just short of her eyes, her mouth curled upwards in a soft grin that I can only compare to the sun's aura of warmness, her words coming out so tantalizingly I cannot force myself to get a grip on reality. Her eyes… her hair…

My imagination is cut short, though, when she gives me a rough punch on the arm.

"Ow!" I say, wincing back in pain. Is it just me, or has her punches gotten stronger?

"That was easy," she grins, acknowledging my abrupt snap out of heaven. "Now, why are you here?"

My head enters thought mode as I realize that my fantasy of her flying after me is wholly stupid and unreal.

"I'm here to search for any news of Toothless's mother," I say, struggling to stay upright from the rush of feelings that the meeting of Astrid usually brings. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on trade," she says indifferently. "Trader Johann is somewhere around here as well." How the hell does she manage to stay this calm? Or does she not care?

"He is?" I ask, looking around the market square as people begin to fill up the place. I spot him by the boats, talking to a few fishermen about, from what I can see, fishing nets.

"Yeah." she says shortly. I try to look into her mind to see what she's thinking, and mainly what she's thinking about /me, but my like for her is proving to be a huge detriment to that. All I can hear and feel in her are the winds and seas as she travelled here by boat.

A silence passes through the two of us as we take in each others' appearances once again. It's been so long that we've met, but she's acting like we just met yesterday and that today was just another day that we get to meet.

"Well… no hugs? No confessions of love?" I ask playfully, trying to lighten up the mood.

She cocks a small smile, but does not otherwise move towards me. "It's nice seeing you again, I guess."

Another awkward silence passes and I realize that, unlike the Berk Astrid, this Astrid clearly does not care for showing her emotions in public- even if she may be thrilled. Or not.

"Wait, you didn't come with Stormfly?" I ask, trying to find something to get the conversation moving again.

"I came here with Johann on his /boat," she says shortly. "Stormfly is off Berk for the time being."

"What?" I ask, hiding my very obvious surprise by turning back towards the merchant and giving him the Minox. He looks at me with a toothy grin, as if he too knows what I feel towards the girl Viking.

"I told her that it wasn't safe if it wasn't there," she says dismally. This isn't often that I see her not secure. "They would have hurt her with all the trouble that I've caused."

I grip my bow tightly at these words. Of course the place would not have been safe to Stormfly without Astrid. I've seen the villagers lockup the Zippleback and the Nightmare before, so it's only obvious that a Nadder with only two legs will not be able to escape the bolas when they are sent her way.

It's now, though, that Astrid decides to point out about my latest talent. And, with that, my heart flutters once again, despite her obvious blueness.

"Hey, is that a bow?" she asks curiously, her eyes on the bow. Awesome. She's impressed! Now if only she looked up towards my eyes…

"Yeah," I say, weighing it in my hands. "I still need a quiver, though."

"A /what?" she asks in inquiry, her head cocked in surprise. I laugh, trying to make the thing look like it's not, you know, all in the interests of getting me a kiss.

"Hold on, I'll get it," I say, turning around towards the shop confidently. "Can you give me a quiver for that Minox as well?"

Sounds stupid for someone who just made a deal, but hey, Minox /is worth a lot. As of lo.

He holds up a perfectly made quiver up for me. "Anything for the young man to please the young lady," he says, smirking.

I glare at him, but after he gives me the quiver (and a free arrow). I sling it over my back, where it joins the bow. Astrid gapes at me in shock.

"You're dealing /weapons?" she asks. With these words, I get another great idea. Why not cheer her up by being alone together? That was what we used to do. We could reminisce some old memories that way.

"I guess so," I say, turning around and waiting for her to follow me. "C'mon, we'll talk along the way."

"B-but-" she stutters. I grin.

"Trader Johann won't worry," I say mischeviously, already beginning to walk away and head back towards the cave. There's no way that she's not going to come after me, after all that time that she hasn't seen me. /I certainly feel this way.

I know, I haven't gotten the spices yet, but I'll tell Toothless later. He's going to be /thrilled that Stormfly's friend is around town. "You coming or not?"

"Y-you- oh, fine!" she says exasperatedly, following me in mild annoyance. I smirk, but quickly drops it when I feel her jabbing me on the hips when she catches up to me.

"So, none of that…?" I begin, but she cuts me off again.

"Nope," she says, an innocent smile on her face. "Just glad to see you."

"You still owe me your collection of travels to be vocalised," I say.

"Ever the man of words," she says truthfully, causing me to blush in… you know, happiness.

"I… I-"

"I think you should stop trying to fantasize me in your dreams," she says, rolling her eyes playfully. "I'm right /here. And I'm not going to act in any way that will cause you to like me more."

"I… I didn't say that," I say meekly, the bow and the quiver and the everything I have unable to hide the increasingly obvious (and painful) embarrassment on my face. Why must I do everything and mount up to something like /this?

She only gives me a sweet smile that causes my hands to fidget unnecessarily at my tunic.

Honestly, I've never thought that it would be this hard to walk normally when your crush is talking to you. You suddenly realize how terrible you are, be it that slouchy posture, trembling speech, awkward silence, it all makes you feel very, very nervous. And it doesn't help when she's also openly acknowledging my like towards her (which has grown only throughout the times that I have spent without her. I mean, Toothless definitely likes Stormfly more when she's not around, mainly because he can express his thoughts about her freely).

"So… really? Can't I feel delighted and everything?" I ask, desperately trying just to get something from her. She's here, and she's not anywhere else. She should kiss me. I should kiss her.

And you can't deny that she's not /hot… I swear, she's gotten slimmer this time. I wonder if her kisses still feel the same, though.

"No," she says flatly, glaring at me.

"Whatever," I say, giving up. Geez.

"Don't be delighted about the conversation that will follow," she says, making my head snap towards her incredibly fast in surprise.

"Huh...?" I ask, my fantasies threatening to be set free again with her almost sad, but /so cute face. I mean, she can be so beautiful no matter her emotions.

"Shut up," she says, glaring at me and my out-of-this-world face threateningly. "Listen."

"Alright," I say resignedly. You don't get around with a girl, after all.

"I was sent here forcibly," she begins quietly.

"What?" I ask, alarmedly looking at her solemn face as she walks. We're out of the market now, so that she decides to speak freely without fear of being overheard is not so unreasonable. But speaking /this?

"Your dad sent me here," she sighs, kicking the dust beneath her feet.

I gape at her in shock. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me", she says. "He told me that I should go on a trade mission with Johann so I could learn how to be a trader, which is," she makes these quotation marks in midair, "'one of the parts of being a leader.' But I know that he's lying. He wants me out for a while so he can think clearly for once."

When I simply stare at her, unable to take in her words, she continues on.

"I could see his hate for me flowing through him like wildfire. He would have locked Stormfly up the instant I was gone and demand my position for her back. And I wouldn't have been able to choose anything other Stormfly. In short", she says bitterly, "Johann came by and your father decided to teach me a lesson."

I can't believe it. My father, head of Berk, is trying to get rid of my crush.

"So…" I say, gripping my bow tightly again. "I'm supposed to choose where my loyalties lie, right?"

"Not really," she mutters, staring ahead towards the now-approaching cave. "I already know which side you're on."

I nod, because the painful truth cannot be avoided, and it would be best to not be.

And, from past experience, you should know if I choose girl or father, despite caring for them both. I wish I could just let go of one side, but they're both pretty important to me, and even so I have to choose on a side of the line. Which makes me regret not choosing the other, but if I did, then I'd end of regretting for not choosing the former, which is just a real a headache to think of.

"So, what are you going to do?" I ask uneasily.

"Just hang out with you until the ships are due to sail, I guess," she says nonchalantly. "At least you're better than Johann."

"I am…?" I ask, my spirits lightening up by tenfold at these words.

"Anyway, where did you get this bow?" she asks, looking at me with an impressed expression. "I've never seen you /touch a weapon on Berk wholeheartedly, and now you're acting like it's normal stuff for you now."

"It sort of is," I say, trying to get her into, you know, kissing mood. I can't just /kiss her like this, after all. "I know how to shoot now, you know."

"A bow?" she asks, her competitive side kicking in once again. "You sure you can handle something like that?"

"Yeah, sure," I say arrogantly, hoping to make an impression. "Want to see?"

"Why not?" she says challengingly. "No one in Berk knows how to shoot a bow, how could you?"

"Oh, sure-" I say, but I never get to finish my sentence, as I'm knocked to the ground by a young Night Fury who happened to be hiding in the bushes that I just walked past.

"AH!" I say, watching myself as I'm helplessly pinned to the ground by the equally arrogant dragon. And I used to wonder where that arrogance came from.

"Toothless!" Astrid says, appearing above my face as I regain the wind that was knocked from me.

"Hello, Toothless," I mutter, giving him a deathly glare. If only I could breathe fire…

Hi, he says, crooning. Did I ruin anything for you?

A lot, I mutter mentally, glaring at him for all he's worth. Which is a lot.

To be fair, you did give me quite a shock, he says, smiling happily. So I decided to give you a shock as well.

I don't get to retort back at this, for Astrid is looking at Toothless curiously.

"Are you alright?" she asks, giving Toothless a smile. The dragon warbles happily back, giving me a huge lick and getting off me.

"And you didn't ask me that?" I grumble, causing Astrid to laugh.

"I was thinking that the mighty archer could handle his mighty self," Astrid says haughtily. It takes all her physical beauty for me to not glare at her too.

"Hey! I'm the mighty archer here!" Sena says, appearing from the cave path dexterously. Apparently, he's wearing the new tunic that I washed for him earlier. "Hi, m'am."

"Who are you?" she asks cautiously, but drops her suspicions as I get up and walk up to his side.

"Sena, Astrid," I say, gesturing to their respective selves as I say this. "We met him off the islands not far from Berk."

"Astrid?" Sena asks, his eyes wide in surprise. "The Astrid that Hiccup's been talking about?"

I glare at Sena, who only looks back at me curiously as if to ask me, "Did I say something wrong?"

"I am, Sena," Astrid says, approaching him and giving him a sweet smile (that makes me jealous). "How did you end up with this crazy guy?"

"I was in the woods and he just happened to find me," he says, causing me to smile.

"It was actually Toothless who heard you first," I point out, causing Toothless to perk up his ears in interest.

"Don't you have a family?" Astrid asks, looking at me disapprovingly. "Being with these two could drive you crazy, you know."

"We also took him on a dangerous flight," I say, laughing. Astrid glares at me, but grins nonetheless.

"It was fun!" Sena says, beaming at Astrid. "You've been with him, right?"

"I have," Astrid says, smiling. I can't help but notice that she's glaring at me very slightly.

"Hey, did you know that he's awesome swimmer, too?" he asks, pointing towards the water line. "He taught me how to swim and everything!"

"That's nice," she says. "Say, where are you from?"

"I'm from the village of Nord to the North," he says, pumping out his chest proudly. "Are you from Berk as well?"

"I am," she replies. "Say, aren't you a bit too young to be holding a weapon, though?"

Astrid points to the bow that Sena has been holding for the entirety of the conversation. To be honest, I feel like Sena is a far better converser than me.

"Oh, this?" Sena asks. I can see the astonishment on Astrid's face, as well as hear Toothless's snort which equates to As if that isn't new to you at all.

"Yeah," she says, being more and more interested by the moment. Fortunately, she turns towards me. "You taught him this?"

"It's more like the other way around," I say, laughing at Astrid's shocked face.

"So- you mean- Sena taught you how to shoot?" she asks, gaping. I nod, and Sena nods, so Astrid turns towards Toothless instead, who has been silently laughing through the whole conversation. It'll be no wonder that Astrid is going to ask me how to shoot a bow sooner or later.

"This isn't real, right?" Astrid asks. To no one's surprise, except hers, Toothless gives her a Toothless grin.

"This is real," I say, grinning at her expense. "Sena is a fighter, and I picked up some of it up."

To prove a point, I load my bow and shoot the only arrow I have towards the cave, where it lands not far away from the cave. This is the best feeling, when you're impressing someone.

"Nice," Sena says. I hand him the quiver as he says so. Astrid is looking at Toothless, and Toothless is looking at Astrid expectantly.

Where is Stormfly? Toothless says, after holding out all thoughts for so long. I grin at his ever-desire for females. Dragons are so strong, yet so not strong when it comes to girls.

Says the guy with a crush on a Viking girl, Toothless jabs.

"You two can talk to each other in your heads, right?" Astrid says, remembering the events before. Sena looks at her curiously.

"Where did you get that?" he asks. "I thought he never told anyone."

"Well, he told me," she says, giggling a bit, causing me to blush heavily. "They could be flirting right now and we won't know."

"Hey!" I say, and Toothless laughs audibly.

"Toothless doesn't like Hiccup," Sena says truthfully. "Toothless likes St-"

I give him a sharp glance and he changes tack with lightning speed.

"Storms," Sena autocorrects. "He told me last night. I can talk to him a bit, too."

"Cool," Astrid says, even though she feels more envy than awe. "It's nice to see all you guys happy, you know."

"Yeah," I say. "It's been a while… huh? Toothless?"

I see Toothless smelling the air curiously, his snout high in the air. Something smells, he says. And it's weird.

"He says something smells," I say, telling the others and their inquiries.

Astrid sniffs the air. "Yeah, something does smell," she admits.

"I don't smell anything," I say.

"Hiccup smells! He has armpit hair," Sena pipes up innocently. Well, at least he thinks it's innocent.

That's when it gets to me. And Toothless's thoughts.

Pheromones.

Not wanting to put up with the awkwardness, I turn away and let the others make conversation without me.

"Astrid?" Sena says meekly, noticing my distant movements. "Did I say something wrong?"

I'm about to turn around and ask why Sena isn't asking Toothless, who is far more reliable than Astrid, when I hear a soft snort by my side.

I can't hear anything, can you? Toothless asks, who is staring at the cave now in the not-so-far distance. I feel a great deal of gratitude towards him as he decides not to pick on me for this one.

Hm, I think.

Well, actually, I'd like to know if she has a clue about Stormfly. Isn't she with her now? he warbles hopefully. I roll my eyes, trying not to show what truth lies in the back of my head.

Yeah, right-

Shh! Listen. She's talking about you…

I wish I could perk up my ears like Toothless could- I could have picked up her voice from a mile away. Still, her voice comes in clear from behind my back, where she's happily talking to Sena.

"...Really?" she asks, smiling happily. "And he did all that for you?"

"Yes," he grins, looking at me very gratefully. The things I can feel with my thoughts, I guess.

"He seems nice enough… around you," she say loudly, smirking as if she wants me to hear this.

"He is," Sena says, smiling. "But what do you mean, not good around you?"

"He acts like a loser around me," she says even louder. "He's this absolute coward that doesn't know how to stick up for himself." Toothless warbles quietly in mirth, earning him a glare, to which he smiles to. If I could threaten him with anything…

"Really?" Sena says, a confused expression muddling him. "He's really fearless with me. He's like my big brother."

My face is burning undeniably how now. I want to tell Sena that No, she's trying to make me look bad, don't go along with her, but how do you say that with your crush hearing you?

You should kiss her, Toothless points out, to which I 'accidentally' hit his paw in retort.

Oh? What's this? Toothless growls, turning to face me, his face bared with teeth.

Uh, nothing, I say, backing away slowly. I didn't mean to, uh, hit your leg...

Oh, yeah? he says, his eyes slit. You tried to hurt me, did you?

No! Um, well… I say resignedly. Thank goodness Sena and Astrid are still talking.

What? Toothless says, cornering me into a tree- all this done so quietly that the pair do not notice.

I mean, uh, I wanted you to shut up, but… I say, desperately thinking of something to say. /I'm sorry. I-

Toothless snaps his mouth shut on my arm, causing me to wince instinctively. However, I can only feel the moist tongue of Toothless on my hand. This looks like... a form of handshake, really.

Are you kidding? Toothless suddenly says, cooing softly. I've hit you so many times before. I just want to tell me that it's ok if you hit me. I won't hold anything against you.

I'll hold it against myself, you stupid reptile, I shoot back. Am I supposed to like hurting you or something-

Shh! he suddenly whispers. A dragon, chirping, now whispering… whoa.

"Are you two good friends?" Sena asks very innocently.

I clench my jaws and eyes shut, determined to hear the answer.

Astrid smiles mischievously. The price of tormenting her is me being tormented, I guess.

"We're pretty close," she finally says. Causing me to grit my teeth in mild disappointment.

Well, better than she said that she refused- Toothless points out, but I push the conversation out of my head and head towards the two.

"Alright," I say enthusiastically, stepping in and breaking up the conversation. "How about we all go in and have breakfast in the cave?" I ask, giving him a very, very, aware smile. I mean, I wish that I could tell him that he's killing me right now, but how I don't know.

"That would be nice," she says, grinning. "I'm not really due until the ships are."

Toothless joins me, warbling at the very-not-so-far-from-the-truth truth.

Well, for your own good, you do smell, Toothless warbles. Is it because you want to mate-

"C'mon," I say loudly, drowning out Toothless's thoughts. "Let's go."

Toothless scorches me with a dose of fire, but otherwise doesn't say anything. When Astrid turns around to see the source of the burning, Toothless only looks at her with an innocent stare.

We enter the cave just as the sun makes its first quarter of its cycle. Astrid looks around the cave in impression as our soft footsteps echo loudly throughout the cave.

"Well, isn't this big," she says, settling down by the pile of tunics not far from the fire. We all sit down, me next to Astrid, Toothless intentionally sitting away from me on the opposite side of the fire. I glare at him, but he only gives me a Toothless look back in response.

Sena, though, sits right next to me, plopping himself down with an exhausted look on his face.

"Man, I'm so hungry!" he mutters, his stomach (and pretty much everyone else's rumbling in agreement). "I'll go get the bread."

"So… yeah," I say awkwardly, wishing Astrid would hold my hand or something. "This is where we've been living for a while."

"Isn't it kind of risky?" Astrid asks, looking outside the room nervously. "What if anyone shows up?"

"Toothless knows how to deal with by-passers," I reply shortly. Toothless warbles in response, right after realizing that Astrid had a really, really, bad idea about how Toothless dealt with by-passers. Especially those who don't like dragons.

"I suppose he'd save a few pieces of flesh for himself after he's done," Astrid replies sarcastically, causing the Night Fury to warble happily.

"That wasn't supposed to be a compliment," I say out loud to Toothless, who only closes his eyes and laughs mentally.

"I doubt that it matters, though," she says, absentmindedly accepting the bread that Sena finally brings us. "You're there to knock sense into him if time happens to that."

My face blushes red at these words, by hands trembling as they hold my newly-acquired loaf of bread. Is she complimenting me? Oh, god, this-

"That wasn't supposed to be a compliment, either," Astrid says, punching me lightly with a vindictive grin on her face.

"Oh, right," I say, turning away towards Sena, who is sitting down next to me happily once again. At least he understands embarrassment.

"You people," Sena jokes, taking a large and eager bite into the bread. I feel a sense of pride rushing into me as I finally see Sena happy with what he has now.

"So, uh," I begin, trying to ease in conversation again. "How about Toothless?"

"Oh, he-" Sena begins, but Toothless's eyes flash open once. "He's going to get some fish now."

"You are?" I ask, turning towards Toothless accusingly. "What were you doing all this time?"

Oh, stuff, Toothless replies mischievously, getting up and walking out of the room quietly. My eyes follow him all the way out.

/I'm getting back at you for this, I tell him.

/Oh, you do that, he says, warbling and giving me a smile on the way out.

I glance at Astrid, who in turn gives me a what-are-you-looking-at look. I turn back to my own now-measly lump of bread, my thoughts running wild once again. Why is everything that she has always seem better than mine?

A silence dawns over us, broken only by Sena's occasional sound of licking his fingers in delight. I thought conversation was supposed to flow smoother with more people! I wish Sena would get the cue to at least /say something. When he doesn't, probably because he doesn't know, I decide to take the chance myself.

I cross my fingers just in case, though.

"So… it's been a while," I speak at last. Sena has the grace to look around the room as I talk. Maybe he /does know, but he wants me to do this by myself.

"It has," Astrid says, her eyes not leaving her bread.

"You must have been incredibly busy."

"I dunno," she says, brushing her hair to the side. "It's more like I've been watching my back for the past weeks and trying not to get murdered."

"He wouldn't do that," I say confidently. "He'd never kill a villager of Berk."

"I don't look that much Berkian anymore, do I?" she says, taking a vicious bite into her bread. "For all I know, he could be plotting to kill me right now. He doesn't want to do it outright, because then the people would go against him, so he's looking for 'accidents' to happen."

"Dad…" I say to myself, my thoughts clashing back and forth with relentless force. "Why does he love Berk so much? Why did he never love me?"

"It's not your fault," she says offhandedly. "You can't choose what you're going to be born into."

"I guess so," I say slowly, smiling. I'm glad I wasn't born into anything else, at this rate. If I wasn't the hiccup with a strong sense of justice, I would have never spared Toothless that day. I wouldn't be here as the happiest person on Earth. I wouldn't be here with Astrid.

"Mm…" a voice to my left says. I turn around and see Sena leaning next to me for support.

"After all that and still no sleep?" I ask, reaching over and patting his back gently. He only mumbles something as he rests his head on the floor next to me, his breathing soft and rhythmic.

"Sena's pretty nice, isn't he?" Astrid asks, her eyes on Sena's sleeping body. He looks so peaceful in his curled up position that I'm convinced that he truly is happy- in fact, his face also harbours a small smile, his mouth curled up slightly.

I silently thank Sena for breaking the awkwardness that was seeping through me and Astrid.

"If only I was his family," I sigh. "He's gotta leave someday, and yet I feel like Berk would have welcomed him a lot."

"Maybe," Astrid says thoughtfully.

"How are the others?" I ask, trying to veer away from this morbid feeling of leaving those you care about. Everyone's going, but we can choose who to go with.

"They're fine," Astrid says. "Fishlegs even likes Ruffnut now."

"He does?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at these words.

"Yeah. How is it like to be here?" she asks.

"It's been nice with Toothless and Sena," I say, smiling (and also glaring) towards the mouth of the cave. "I've never been with better friends."

I pray to the gods that she gets what I mean by that- that she's more than a friend to me.

"You look happy enough," she says, smiling at me. I blush, but not enough for her to notice.

My eyes dart towards her hair- soft, blonde hair that falls perfectly in all the right places, glistening with the aura of a strong girl in the sunlight. Her bangs land in front of her eyes perfectly, shielding her from the view in front of her, but also giving her reign to see more than what just meets the eye.

"So, what are you going to do, now that Berk is an arena for the position of chief?" I ask.

"I'll do my best, I guess", she says. "Your dad is going to do everything he can to stop me, though."

"And all because I ran off with Toothless," I say guilty.

"Nah," she says, her smile appearing on her face once again. "You're happy, Toothless's happy, and even I'm happy. I have Ruffnut and the others by my side. I'll make sure Berk becomes the place I've always seen it as."

I nod, unable to say anything because of the rush of feelings that I get. I'm glad that Toothless is by my side, and I'm glad that there are people who support that.

"Gotten far with finding his mother yet?"

"Sena can speak some Dragonese-"

"Dragonese?" Astrid asks, giving me a confused look. "The language of dragons?"

"Yeah," I say. "So we're guessing that Sena's village may have some clues to where the Isle of Night-"

"The what?" she asks frustratedly. She looks cute when she's frustrated.

"The Isle of Night," I repeat patiently. "It's where Night Furies are rumoured to be."

"Cool…" she muses. "So you're going to find them, right?"

"I will," I say. And I will.

"Stormfly is down south," she says after a quiet silence. "Just thought that you should know."

I nod. Toothless certainly isn't going to be happy about this.

"What do you think of the future?" I ask, watching Sena snore softly in his sleep.

"I told you, I want to be the chief of Berk," she replies. She doesn't say that she thinks the future will be beautiful, or the future will be terrible, only that she wants to be the village to Berk.

"No," I say. "After that."

A silence follows as Astrid processes my words.

"After that?" she asks, her eyes raised in questioning. After that, her face falls. "Oh…"

"What will you do?" I ask. "After that?"

"I want… I want… I don't know," she says, finishing her bread quietly. "There are just so many things that I want to do and don't want to do."

"Any specifics?" I ask, wanting to know of her motives.

"I want to stay on Berk and rule the place," she says. "I… don't want to…"

"To?"

"I don't want to have kids," she says.

I look at her in shock.

"What?"

"I'm a fighter. I'm tough. I don't think I could do something as tender as… raising children."

From what I can see, though, she has more reasons than that.

"More like, you don't want to choose between competitors," I say quietly, realizing what her true motives truly are. She can't decide between a smart boy like me or Fishlegs, or a strong man like Tuffnut. Or even Snotlout.

She gives me a pained look, tears threatening to flow from her eyes.

"Was it that obvious?" she asks, her face hung low.

"I could tell," I say. "So… you don't want to?"

"I don't," she answers. "It spares me the problem of heirs, as well. I don't want to carry my family line. I just want to… make things right for once. The dragons can't be kept in cages or dens. They need to be free. Like us."

"So… no kids?" I ask with finality.

"Yeah," she says. "Though I still have emotions."

I smile. Although it hurts me to know that she doesn't want to share a future with me, I am glad that I can continue my journey with Toothless… forever.

"So, yeah…" I say, looking at Astrid's clear blue eyes. She stares right back.

"You never thought about competition before, then?" I ask, watching as the wind slowly blows her hair to the side. The effect is so mesmerizing that I can swear that she is up to something… sweet.

"Never. You're already a winner." she whispers, leaning in towards me and pressing her lips against mine.

Her kiss is both gentle and magical all at the same time. There is no tongue licking or caressing, just the touch of lips that press strongly against mine. The mere effect of her wet, soft lips are enough to make me feel like someone wanted, someone needed, someone loved.

My eyes widen in shock, but then quickly close again to feel the full passion that this Viking girl has for me. She might be the next chief of Berk, she might not be the next chief of Berk, she might marry with someone someday, she may not marry with someone someday, but as of now, in this very spot, at this very time, she is loved by me, and I am loved by her.

She pulls away from me, her eyes leaking small tears of happiness. I brush them away gently, letting them land onto my fingers. Her tears will not stay there, but her touch always will.

"So, what about your future?" she asks, giving me a smile. "Where will you do?"

"I'll live life," I say after some thought. "I'll find Toothless's mother."

"Of course you will," she says, leaning in to hug me gently. "Just always be happy."

I nod, hugging her back.

"You too."

S

I wake up to the sound of cooing.

"Hmm?" I ask groggily, opening my eyes to see Toothless staring back at me.

Ku, he whispers, more a sound than a word. I give him a questioning look.

He nods his head towards something behind me. I turn around and see Astrid and Hiccup sleeping together peacefully in each other's arms, their heads side by side as they sleep soundly. From Astrid's peaceful eyes, I can see that she has not slept like this for a while. They look so happy and cute together… too bad that she's not staying. She could be a big sister to me…

Ku, he says again. This time, he means for me to go.

I nod, following Toothless out and leaving the pair behind in the cave.

"Have they been like this long?" I ask Toothless.

He nods, snorting rather enviously. I smirk.

"What, want someone as sweet as that?"

To my surprise, Toothless nods eagerly, giving me a soft coo.

"Well, you know what," I say, sitting down next to him by the grass. "Me too."

I touch his snout gently, sending a soft rush of trust flowing in through me. I've hardly ever made contact with Toothless before. I'm scared, actually. But now… well, we're in equal footing at the very least. He warbles in understanding.

"I liked a girl from the market. As soon as I saw her I wanted to talk to her so much… but when I finally did, she said that she had to go. She's probably off the island by now."

Toothless continues to look at me.

"You know, Toothless," I say, leaning onto a nearby tree and watching the bright sky above. "This kind of love doesn't last long. You like them, you feel like everything you do is for them, you want to be with them, but when you do get together, you always leave. I've seen relationships like this before, in the alleys of markets and behind stalls of merchants."

A soft coo of understanding is all I get. I continue.

"But the feeling you get," I say, feeling the soft ground under me with my hands. "The feeling that you're loved and wanted. The feeling that you feel like you are worth something, and something that is worthy of having. Is that feeling worth the pain that you will get after leaving them?"

Toothless gives me a long, questioning look, his ears perked up in interest. He doesn't want to speak Dragonese, nor does he want to say anything. He just wants to listen.

"I mean, the rush of feelings… the love of the moment. It'll be here one minute, and then it'll be gone. You get to be the happiest person in the world, but only for a moment. Then you feel a week's worth of pain. Are those of the same value?"

As an answer, Toothless gives me a soft lick on the face. His tongue feels weirdly warm.

"Hey!" I say, laughing as I wipe the saliva off gaily. "Alright… I was being too sappy. Sorry."

He croons, closing his eyes and giving me a happy look. Like he's in love.

"Still… without this kind of love, this world would be a really, really, dull place," I say. "Even if it never lasts."

And this time, Toothless nods.


Thank you for taking the time to sit through all of that and reach the end of the chapter.

For those Hiccup-Toothless friendship fans out there, the theme will greatly return in the next chapter.

As for you Hiccstrid fans, though, I don't do that that much. Sorry.

Glossary:

Ku- go. Comes from Japanese Iku.