Here it is, folks. It's been an interesting ride, but the final chapter is here. I'll do all of the talking in the author's notes at the bottom, so enjoy!

Chapter Ten: Coming Back Around

The first thing that hit Davin was the fact that she was suspiciously warm and comfortable, which told her that she was very likely not dead, and probably not even still in that clearing.

The second thing that hit her was the throbbing pain- the kind that was just bad enough to notice, but not to do anything about- in her left arm. The pain in her head was a lot worse- dear God, did she have a headache.

As her eyes flickered open, the oppressive white light that came from fluorescent bulbs made her eyes, used to the dark for so long, hurt at first. She squinted and craned her neck forward a little.

Just as she'd suspected, she was in a hospital room- hence the utter whiteness of everything. There was an IV connected to her right arm, a fact that, had she been fully conscious, would have freaked her out- she didn't really like needles, especially when they were stuck in her. Her left arm was in a thick, bulky cast, something that, again, had she been fully conscious, would have instead made her say words that would shock even her uncle, who was a sailor and swore like one. Her mother sat at her bedside, reading a book- a book that she recognized as one of those sappy romance novels she and her mother delighted in mocking.

"I thought you said you'd never pick up one of those things," she croaked in a voice unused for- well, she didn't really know how long. Her mother started and set the book aside, taking her daughter's unencumbered hand.

"It was all there was to read," she explained, obviously not caring about the book anymore. "How do you feel, honey?"

"Well, my arm feels weird in this cast and it kind of hurts, and my head really hurts, and I've got a needle stuck in my arm, but other than that, relatively okay. How long have I been out?"

"Two days. You have a broken arm, two cracked ribs, and a concussion, a fairly bad one. The doctors say that judging by the height you fell from, something must have broken your fall, because you've gotten off very lightly."

A thought flashed across Davin's bruised and tired brain. "How's Hiccup?" she asked worriedly.

"He's a little worse off than you, but the doctors say he'll be fine as well. He's got a concussion too- a little less serious than yours- a fractured leg, and a broken foot. He's also got some burns, but they're fairly minor. He must have landed badly on his left side, because most of the injuries are on that side."

Davin fell back onto her pillows, relieved that Hiccup was okay. A second thought flew through her mind, and she jerked upright again, regretting when her head swam. "What about Toothless and Réalta? The Night Furies?"

"They're both alright as well," Mirabelle assured her daughter.

Davin fell back again. Then her brow furrowed. "How do you know?"

"They're camped out near our house, dear. Nothing anyone did would make them move."

"No one hurt them, right?"

"No, of course not." Mirabelle scooted her chair closer. "Things in Berk are a little different, dear. You'll see when you get out of the hospital."

Davin was confused as to what her mother meant, but right then her head hurt too much to dwell on it very long.

"Davin, could you come here a minute?" her mother called. Davin, who had been working on writing with her right hand, set her stuff down and went downstairs, taking the stairs carefully. Her mother sat at the table, hands clasped together, with a serious expression on her face.

"I wanted to discuss something with you," Mirabelle began once Davin sat down. "I talked with your father while you were in the hospital. And we both decided that we've been deciding too many things for you. You're not just my little girl anymore- you've grown up a lot. I realized that after everything that happened. And you're right, we have been making decisions that affect you without asking your input. So I wanted to talk with you about this first."

"Wow," Davin said, a little surprised. "Thanks, Mom. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I know that you weren't very…happy with the move. While I was talking with your father, we discussed whether it would be better if you went back to live with your father in D.C. Now, I'd like it if you finished the year in Berk, but once summer starts, if you'd like to-"

"Actually, Mom," Davin interrupted, "I…well, I want to stay in Berk."

Mirabelle raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know I didn't really like it when I first got here, but it's kind of grown on me. It may snow nine months of the year and hail the other three, but it's not so bad a place. And it's got one thing that D.C. doesn't really have."

"And what might that be?"

Davin grinned. "Dragons, of course."

Mirabelle laughed. "That is true, of course. Well, if that's what you want, I'll tell your father. You'll spend the summers in D.C., though?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want Dad to get lonely. He can barely function without a woman in the house." They both had a good laugh at that.

Davin stood up. "Well, I should get back to working on writing with my right hand. Hiccup's been writing notes for me in class, but his handwriting's kind of hard to read."

Mirabelle caught her daughter's uninjured arm on her way past. "I really do appreciate that you've given Berk a chance, dear. It's a small town, but it's a nice place. Besides, we'll need all the help we can get getting acclimated to not killing dragons anymore."

"Yeah," Davin agreed. She gave her mother a one-armed hug, then trotted back up the stairs.

The response at school hadn't been any worse than either Davin or Hiccup had expected. Everyone now knew about their friendship with the Night Furies, but in light of recent events, the crime was far less condemning. Some would likely always see friendship with dragons the epitome of sin. To their surprise, however, there were some at the high school who must have been closet dragon sympathizers, and could now step into the light with their beliefs now that Berk was beginning to come around in its general feelings towards dragons. Most people, however, didn't bother the pair much, although they were treated with a new attitude that was less contempt and more awe. A lot of people gawked at their injuries, which in Hiccup's case were enough to relegate him to a wheelchair, since his left leg and foot were entirely useless at the moment. Davin mainly used his wheelchair as a rack on which to hang her bag, since with her cast and arm brace (in order to prevent her already fragile ribs from breaking again), it was anywhere from difficult to impossible to carry her backpack without causing herself bodily pain. Hiccup didn't mind as long as it didn't cause him to tip over (which had happened once).

The biggest change in Davin's school life that she noticed- and the one she liked the most- was the addition of five new friends to her repertoire. She found that she liked Astrid and Ruffnut quite a lot, who, despite their tough girl, bad ass, slightly delinquent-ish exterior, were actually pretty nice. Besides, if, among the three, conversation failed, they could always come back to the ultimate discussion: between Ruffnut and Astrid, who was the better shot with an axe?

Almost as soon as she got her cast and arm brace off, Davin was out the door and running around to the back of the house, where Réalta had taken up residence.

"Hey, girl," she called, and the midnight-blue Night Fury's head darted up. Seeing the absence of the strange thing on her human's arm which she'd had to be careful of, the dragon bounded over and nearly broke the girl's arm again in her exuberance.

"Whoa! Hey, Réa, just because I got my cast off doesn't mean you don't still have to be gentle," Davin protested somewhat futilely. "I'm still healing."

Réalta huffed a little and reluctantly sat back, allowing the girl to sit up. "Thank you. Now, the doctor said that I shouldn't do anything strenuous with my arm yet, but that as long as we're careful-" She made sure to emphasize the word. "-I can fly again."

The Night Fury liked the sound of that, and she sprang to her feet, leaping in circles while she waited for her human to gingerly get to her feet. Davin got her saddle from where her mother had put it in the back shed and cinched it onto the dragon, then cautiously swung herself on, making sure that she was buckled in and strapped down. "Okay. Let's go. Gently."

For once Réalta did as she was told, taking off smoothly and gliding over the forest at the edge of town. Davin smiled happily as the wind brushed past her face. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed flying until she got into the air. It was truly what she'd been born for.

A shadow passed above them, and for a second, Davin flashed back to the clearing, imagining a dragon coming in for an attack. But the absence of a cacophonic din, the smell of things burning, and any other dragons brought her back to reality, and she looked up to see a very familiar Night Fury above her.

She rolled her eyes as Hiccup and Toothless leveled out next to her. "You should definitely not be flying," she scolded, though she ruined the effect by grinning a little. "Your leg isn't even really healed."

"We're being careful," Hiccup defended. "Same as you. Besides, I knew you'd be up today."

"How?"

"I know you," he said simply.

She laughed. "Yeah, for five months. That hardly qualifies you to know me inside and out." She paused. "I can't really believe it's only been five months since I came to Berk."

"Me either," he said honestly. "I would be willing to bet this is probably one of the more interesting semesters you've had."

"I think you'd win that bet." They flew in silence for a minute before Hiccup spoke up again. "Let's go to the cliff again," he suggested.

Davin smiled. "Okay. I haven't been there in weeks."

They angled their respective dragons towards the agreed upon destination. The trip was silent, but not uncomfortably so; both were simply enjoying being able to fly for the first time in almost a month and a half. Hiccup looked over at Davin and couldn't help but smile at the blissful expression on her face as she sat back in the saddle, eyes closed.

When they reached the cliff, Davin slid off of Réa's back straight to the ground, settling herself as Réa curled up around her. Hiccup and Toothless sat in a similar arrangement, and, again, for a minute or two, no words were spoken.

"I heard that you're going back to Washington," Hiccup said, and Davin could tell that he wasn't happy about the news.

"Well, yeah. My mom offered to let me go back permanently."

"I understand. I mean, all of your friends are back on the East Coast. You must hate being far away from home."

Davin gave him a slightly confused look, feeling that something had gotten lost in the translation. "Yes, but I've got new friends here in Berk, too." Realization dawned on her. "Oh. You thought I was moving back permanently?"

"You aren't?" Hiccup asked, surprised.

"No. When my mom asked if I wanted to go back to D.C., I realized that I'd really come to consider Berk as my home. I'll go to visit my dad during summers, but I'm spending the school years in Berk. Besides, if I went back to D.C., I'd probably have to leave Réa behind, and I could never do that." The aforementioned dragon nuzzled the girl, obviously appreciative of the sentiment.

"Oh," Hiccup said in a much happier tone. "Well. That's good. I wouldn't want to have no one to talk to at lunch."

"That's it?" Davin prodded.

"Well…I'd miss you," he admitted.

"I'd miss you too." They sat in silence again.

"Why didn't you like me when you first moved here?" Hiccup asked suddenly. The blunt question took Davin off guard.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I guess…I was going through a difficult patch in life. I had no intention of staying in Berk longer than I had to- as soon as I got my high school diploma, I would be packing my things and leaving. I didn't want any reason to stay, and…you were one."

"What do you mean?"

"You reminded me too much of…well, me. You're the kind of kid I make friends with easily, because we know where each other is coming from. And being friends with you threw a wrench in my plans to leave as soon as I graduated. Of course, that wrench ended up getting thrown anyways."

"Yeah. And admit it, Berk grows on you."

"It does," she agreed. "So don't worry, I'll be back in August."

"That's good. I'd hate to be stuck talking to the others all the time without some kind of intermediary."

"So I'm demoted to intermediary now?"

"No. You're my friend."

"Good. You're my friend, too." They smiled at each other and took the other's hand. It wasn't romantic, or anything- just two friends linked together, with their own scaly friend wrapped around them as all four watched the day fade spectacularly into night.

Whew! Well, I told you that this chapter would go faster than Chapter 9, which was an ugly beast to write. But we've finally reached the end. I hope that last bit wasn't bad, I went over it sooo many times in my head, and that was what I liked best.

A big thank you to my wonderful, lovely sister (you're my first BFF!) who helped me on the plot when I got stuck. And a huge, ginormous thank you to all of you readers, especially those of you who have reviewed. I wrote this for you, and it's a very good feeling to know that my work is appreciated. You have no idea how excited I get when I get an email saying that I've got a review!

Be on the lookout in the future for the upcoming sequel to Opposites Attract, titled The Sum of All Fears. That one will be a very interesting monster to write. However, there are some other things I'd like to finish before starting that, so it's not happening soon. But definitely within the near future.

Here are the copyrights:

How to Train Your Dragon is (c) Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell, without whose brilliant series this story would not be here.

All else, including original characters and dragon species (unless otherwise specified) are (c) me. Please notify me and credit me if you wish to use them.

As always, reviews are love. Thank you all!

Cheers.

~Rebel-Angel-Hero