Hiccup arrived later in the day than he normally did. She could hear him coming from a mile off, what with his constant groaning and questioning of the Gods for his lack of strength. By the sounds of it, he was struggling under the weight of something heavy. She hoped it wasn't more planks, they had already established that Hiccup was a complete failure when it came to building shelters, and most of it had ended up as firewood anyway.

But it didn't really matter what he was bringing. His visit was the highlight of her day. He would sit and talk to her when she was scared and alone, which was all the time these days. He would tell her that everything was going to be okay, that it would all work out in the end, that she would find a way out of the cove, that she would see her family again…

She was certain that if it wasn't for Hiccup, she would be dead or insane by now. She wasn't going to tell him, but she owed him her life, and not just because he brought her food.

Speaking of food, the scent of fish was a lot stronger this time, and she soon saw why. Emerging through the narrow gap in the cliffs was Hiccup, carrying an enormous basket of fish. It was at least as big as he was. It was incredible, she had no idea how he was able to carry it the entire way. That explained why he was late, but there were also bags under his eyes, like he had been up the entire night.

He dropped the basket in front of her, fish spilling out. She chirped with pleasure. It was more than twice what he normally brought her, and it was fresh too.

"So how's my favourite dragon today? I brought you some extra fish. Salmon, some nice Icelandic Cod, even a whole smoked eel."

Astrid eyed the eel nervously. She had always liked eel before, especially when smoked. It was easy to prepare and cook, compared to fish at least, and it was available all year round. Something about its bright yellow stripes and curious smell just made her want to keep well back. It was probably nothing, and there was a large variety of other seafood to keep her interested in the meantime. In fact, it looked as if somebody had gone through all the storerooms and deliberately picked the biggest and freshest fish on offer.

"You are so nice Hiccup, thank you."

She nuzzled up to him, purring subconsciously. He scratched behind her ear flaps, and the purring grew louder. It was the one place she could never reach, and he knew it.

"Don't worry, it was nothing. I was up in time to see the fishermen come back, and I just had to ask nicely."

She stepped back and looked up at him sceptically, a scaly eyebrow raised. His face began to turn red.

"Well, okay. Maybe I stole the fish when nobody was looking, but don't tell anyone!"

Astrid chuckled, making Hiccup blush even harder. She could have sworn that the fear on his face was genuine. Years of being at the bottom of Berk's social food chain made him naturally worried about being caught, even if he hadn't done anything wrong. Apparently he had forgotten that being a dragon made it very difficult for her to report him.

"Well, um… don't start eating yet. I got you a present. I think you'll really enjoy it."

He stumbled back into the gap in the cliff. Whatever this 'present' was, she was sure that it didn't come close to the extra fish that he'd brought. Ever since becoming a dragon, she had liked her fish raw and whole. She didn't really have much of a sense of taste anymore, and she tended to gulp them down quickly. She had a feeling that the only reason she enjoyed fish so much was the gap it filled in her stomach, and she did have quite a large stomach…

Hiccup emerged once again, this time carrying a long iron pole with leather wrapped around it. She couldn't tell what it was. A weapon? That was pointless because she had essentially become a walking arsenal, complete with claws, teeth and fire (although she hadn't quite worked out how to use it yet). Was it clothing? Astrid had no real need for clothes, considering that her scales acted as both armour and furs, protecting her from the elements and keeping her warm. Modesty wasn't exactly a priority anymore either, now that she was an entirely different species. Man, if it was clothes, she was going to kill that boy. He probably wanted to dress her up for his own amusement and that was…

"Well what do you think?" he said, snapping open the device.

It was like nothing she had ever seen. It had a hard leather and metal shaft on one side, with small iron fingers that spread outwards at regular intervals. A thin sheet of hide was stretched across the width of it, expertly fixed to the iron struts that gave it a sense of shape. Each iron finger slotted into a ball joint, sunk deep into the hardened leather. It allowed the fabric to twist and fold, without risk of the metal supports ripping off. On the other side were two adjustable buckles, made to fit around something long and thin and scaly.

Her internal rant came to an abrupt end as she realised what it was. It was an exact copy of her tailfin, made entirely out of forge materials. That meant only one thing. Hiccup had built her a way out of the cove. Her jaw hung open. She couldn't believe it.

"I was just thinking, since, well, you couldn't fly away…"

She quickly scribbled in the dirt.

THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU

She pulled him into another dragon hug, rolling onto her back, a massive toothless grin stretched right across her face. She laughed out of relief and happiness. Up until now she had been living with the constant thought that she might never escape from the accursed hole in the ground. Now, she could look forward to flight, freedom and seeing her Village again. The list of things she owed Hiccup for was getting longer and longer. She squeezed him harder.

"This is the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me, thank you so much"

"Yep… thanks. I love you too… need, to, breathe.

She set him back down again. Hopefully she hadn't done too much damage. He started gasping loudly for air the moment she folded her wings away and let go with her claws. She kept on forgetting just how big she was, or maybe it was just how small that Hiccup was.

'Nice going Astrid, almost killing the boy after he gave you such a great gift is the best thing you could have possibly done.'

Luckily, Hiccup was used to getting almost suffocated by larger and stronger opponents – Snotlout came to mind- and he was up on his feet a minute later.

"So, you ready to try it on?"

She nodded vigorously, and turned round to present him with her tail. She felt him carefully slip it over the thicker flesh of the tail itself, and secure it with two solid straps. He tied a small rope to a waiting hook in the tallest rod, which allowing the entire wing to be pulled open from a distance. Hiccup was murmuring to himself as he worked.

"Hmm, yeah, well… it works. It's not too tight is it?" He called over her shoulder.

She just grunted and rolled her eyes. She was a dragon for Thor's sake. She was covered from head to tail with a thick layer of armoured, fireproof scales. He didn't always need to be so gentle. Still, it was touching that he thought about her.

"And now, I just have to hop on and …

Rope in hand, he leant on her rump by her tail, and prepared to climb onto her back.

"What!?"

She spun around and growled, crouched low to the ground with her eyes slit. It was odd. Maybe the thought of Hiccup getting on top of her, in her blind spot, went against basic dragon instincts, or maybe she just really didn't want to be ridden around, like the twins did with their yak. Either way, she was not amused.

"There is NO way I'm gonna let you ride me. I still have standards you know."

"Easy there, I just want to see if I can attach the rope around your leg or the base of your tail. You need something to hold the tail open when you're flying. Can you please stop with the whole 'slit eyes' thing? It's kinda scary. Then again, you were always kinda scary…

She relaxed slightly. He was just doing this for her own good after all. She had a tendency to overreact whenever her instincts were involved. Turning into a dragon had given rise to some crazy mood swings. Hiccup was just trying to help her escape the rock prison she was trapped in, so it was in everyone's best interests that she co-operated with him.

She crooned an apology and turned back around, recovering from her sudden bout of hostility. This time, she resisted the urge to buck him off, and let him wrap the rope around her tail. Then, he took what was left, and leant right over, tying the end of the rope around her left leg. It was just long enough. Almost like he had measured it specifically for this purpose…

"Ok, now you should be able to control it yourself. Try moving your leg forward, gently. I don't know if the knot will hold-"

*Snap*

His instructions were cut short as half the tattered rope flew backwards and hit him in the face, knocking him clean over. Astrid froze. She looked back at Hiccup, who was clutching his forehead, and then looked at the rope. She had pulled it too hard, too fast, and it had whipped back and hit him square on the temple. The rope wasn't particularly thick, but for a small boy like Hiccup, and judging from the meaty thwack that it had made, it had been a hard hit.

"OW… I said GENTLY!"

She smiled sheepishly. For all the damage it had caused, she had honestly not pulled it that hard, and she certainly didn't expect the rope to break. She wrote in the dirt.

THAT WAS GENTLY

"Well, I guess you don't know your own strength, I chose an extra strong rope especially!"

She looked down, ashamed. She had gone and ruined Hiccup's perfect plan. She was just so eager to get in the air and out of the cove that she had messed everything up. She hoped that he wasn't too mad, he had put in so much work for her already.

"Don't worry about it. I can't stay mad at you, not when I brought a spare rope."

Sure enough, strapped to the fish basket, was another length of rope. That boy really did think of everything, didn't he? He unravelled it and stretched the material out to its full length. By the looks of it, it was older and thinner than the other one, so it was probably weaker as well. He removed the scraps of the unfortunate first rope, and tied the new one to the hook on the tallest iron rod. It was lucky that only the rope had broken, and not the new tailfin.

She watched as Hiccup stood, deep in thought. She could imagine his mind slowly ticking over, working out the best way to make the fin work in flight with the new rope. He ran his hand up and down the tailfin, folding and unfolding it. She could only guess at what he was silently inventing, building, and testing in his head. He truly was amazing. He had built a workable tailfin, of his own accord, to be used on a dragon that no one had ever seen, and all this time he was acting like it was no big deal!

"I think… I think I have an idea, but you might not like it."

I'M ALL EARS

"Since this rope isn't strong enough, and you won't be able to use it in the air without it breaking… Maybe I should, you know… control it. Manually."

Her jaw dropped. Leaning over her back to tie the rope around her tail was one thing, but actually riding on the back of a dragon, whilst it was flying. That was something that had certainly never been tried before. She wasn't sure how it would work, but Hiccup probably already had a plan.

"I'll sit on top of you, near your tail, facing backwards. I'll have the rope in my hand, and I can control it with a lot more precision", he explained, as if on cue.

It sounded like a good plan, but there was so much that could go wrong. What if he fell off? What if the rope snapped again? What if she couldn't fly well enough to compensate for having an artificial tailfin?

But then she looked at Hiccup. He was looking serious, ready, and determined, waiting for an answer. He had made the fin, and come up with a way to use it. It was the least she could do to listen to him. What were the alternatives? Starving or going insane in a pit in the middle of the forest. Every day she felt like she was losing the will to live a little bit faster. She did not want to sink back into desperation and suicide, not after she had come so far.

Besides, now she had Hiccup, it couldn't be that bad. He was willing to risk his life with some ridiculous flying scheme, just so she could survive a little bit longer. She felt a pang of guilt. She couldn't believe that this was the boy who she had gone out of her way to ignore for the past decade. She could hardly refuse him now.

OKAY, IF YOU THINK IT WILL WORK

"I know it will work. Just let me get into position".

She obliged, crouching low to the ground to let him scramble onto her back, rope in his mouth. She could hardly feel his weight as he wrapped one hand around the loose end of the rope, the other around her tail. She felt a slight tug as he opened the tailfin and closed it again, experimenting with the right amount of force to use.

"Okay, I'm ready. You can start flying now."

She backed up against the edge of the cove, giving herself as much room as possible. She prepared to take off, her haunches tensed and ready. Slowly, she unfurled her wings. She could feel the raw power in each as she stretched the muscles in her shoulder. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, as anxiety mixed with excitement. She was about to fly properly for the first time, and if she got it wrong, Hiccup would be the one that suffered.

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and focused on her wings and tail. She made a few minor adjustment, making sure she was level and balanced. She breathed in deeply. She was ready.

She exploded upwards, leaping high into the air. Bringing her wings down at exactly the same time, she pushed herself higher, revelling in the sense of weightlessness that came before every stroke.

She braced herself as she levelled out, fully expecting to fall to the left like she had every time before. A bolt of panic shot through her veins as she felt herself tilting, but Hiccup's fin shot open and quickly adjusted her lean.

She could hardly believe it, it was actually working. She was staying level, and moving forward, she was flying! Hiccup mirrored her thoughts.

"It works, it actually works! This is amazing!"

He tugged hard on the fin, and she suddenly felt herself pulled to the right in a tight turn. She looked back, and saw that Hiccup was still holding on. He turned and looked at her. As their eyes met, no words were needed to express the pure joy that came with being in the air. Their shared happiness came to an abrupt end however, as his look of elation turned to one of terror.

Turning around, she saw the cliff face approaching rapidly. She tilted her wings and tail towards the sky, pulling up to avoid hitting the rocks at full speed. But she had pulled up too hard, and found herself losing control as she flipped upside down, cresting an aerial loop.

While hanging in the air, Hiccup lost his grip on her tail, and fell, the rope snapping off in his hands.

"ASTRID… aaaaAHH"

She roared and dived after him. The artificial tailfin flapped wildly with the sudden rush of air, but in the dive, she didn't need it.

She grabbed Hiccup from behind with her claws, and spread her wings as wide as she could. They were almost pulled out of their sockets as she fought to slow down before they hit the ground. Just before they both smashed into the ground, she pulled up and levelled off. She started to fall to the left with the fin no longer active, and dropped Hiccup to avoid landing on top of him.

He landed and rolled, bouncing painfully along the ground before grinding to a halt in the middle of the cove. She spiralled into the shallower part of the lake, the water absorbing most of her momentum in a colossal splash. Her thoughts shot back to the first time she had landed in the water, and she desperately swam towards the shore, scanning the area for Hiccup.

She found him lying on his back, sprawled out across some soft moss. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. For the third time that day she had possibly killed Hiccup, and this time, he wasn't getting up. She held her breath, waiting to see if he was still breathing. Then she saw it, his tiny chest lifted up as his lungs filled with air.

She breathed a shaky sigh of relief. He wasn't dead.

"Oh Gods, what have I done?" she moaned as she padded over to his unconscious body.

She poked his chest with her snout, nuzzling him as she normally did, trying to wake him up. Droplets of water rolled off her head, making dark, wet patches as they landed on his jerkin. She head-butted him slightly harder, but he didn't move. Failing that, she prodded him in the side with one of her claws. He didn't move. She let out a short roar right next to his head; still no reaction. She was panicking now, trotting in circles around him, desperatly trying to think of something that would wake him up.

She had an idea. It was odd, but it was all she could think of. She brought her head right up close to his, hesitated for a second, and then began to lick his face.

His eyes fluttered open, as her rough tongue coated his nose and mouth with dragon saliva.

"What is that… oh no, ah …ah no stop, stop!"

He woke up immediately, coughing and spitting, frantically wiping his face. He sat up quickly, and then immediately lay back down again, groaning. She warbled in relief, He was dazed, confused and totally off balance, but he was alive. Shaking, she helped him back to his feet, using her neck as a support. It was amazing, the boy really didn't weigh anything.

"Don't you ever, ever, ever, EVER scare me like that again!"

She wrapped a wing around him, pressing him into her side. They stood there in shock, Hiccup gripping her hard, before the rush of emotions caught up with them. Sure they had almost died, but they had been flying. Really flying, together, up in the air and around the cove. No words could possibly describe the feeling of absolute freedom that she enjoyed, if only for the few seconds before things had begun to go badly wrong. Both their hearts were still beating fast, from the thrill of the flight or the fear from the crash, she couldn't say. Hiccup chuckled.

"Well, I guess we're going to need a new rope…"

He let go of her and hobbled off in the direction of the lake. He was trying to act annoyed, but she could tell from the smile on his face that he probably found the whole thing hilarious. Trust him to see a near death experience as just another joke.

"Was that really necessary, the licking? Next time, can't you have just, I don't know, used this water?"

As he bent over to wash his face, an evil smile spread across hers. He had his head down, completely oblivious to the world around him as he washed the last of the saliva off his face.

Maybe it was the adrenaline from the flight and the crash, maybe it was because he was so vulnerable, or maybe it was because there was something terribly unfair about her being soaking and him being dry. Regardless, she pounced, tackling Hiccup into the water. She lost her orientation as they rolled under the water. He broke the surface barley a second after her, apparently horrified. He splashed her with water and charged into her, with absolutely no effect whatsoever.

"Hey, no fair! I don't weigh several tons."

She laughed and picked him up, before dropping him back into the water and sending a tidal wave in his direction with one of her wings. He responded by jumping onto her back, where she couldn't reach him, despite thrashing like a maniac.

They laughed and rolled out of the lake, play-fighting the entire way. Every time Hiccup tugged on her ears, Astrid would lick his face until he let go. She would wrap him up with her wings, and he would tickle her soft underbelly, causing her to screech with laughter until he stopped.

As the day wore on, they built a fire and ate the fish, although Astrid let Hiccup have the eel. Hiccup ate his meal sat up against the dragon, who had curled up protectively around him, occasionally blowing his hair into his eyes as she breathed out. Before long, they were up again, and continuing with their battle. Astrid tried to lift him up with her head, but Hiccup scratched behind an ear and under her chin, hitting a nerve spot that caused her to collapse in bliss.

They continued on this way until both of them were exhausted, and lay down together by the fire, Hiccup safely wrapped up in Astrid's wings. Neither could say exactly what they were doing it, but both were perfectly happy, in that moment, to just enjoy being alive.