Why, hello again. I didn't see you there.
It's me - the one that uploads things late. As I'm sure you could guess, the last two chapters before this were originally intended to be all one, but my schedule ended up being a lot busier than I expected, and I didn't have enough time to finish it all by the deadline. In fact, I had originally considered this chapter to be a part of them, as well, but I was so ridiculously far behind that fitting them all into one ended up being out of the question entirely.
That's just about it - I'm trying to write less in these forewords to avoid dragging, so,
Sorry for the late updates,
Be sure to leave a review and follow this story, and
I hope you all enjoy!
P.S. This story is not nearly over yet.
I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.
Syl did a twirl and grinned at them.
"Pretty dress you've got here, Astrid, though it's kinda spiky. You might want to change it up a bit, sometimes."
It's a SKIRT, she thought venomously, And the spikes are throat catchers! Honestly, does this girl know nothing about fighting dragons?! I thought she hated them! But it's almost like she was never even in the war, or something!
"Other than that, the shoulder pads seem a bit heavy, and pretty over-the-top, if you ask me. And this blouse? Well, it looks nice, but damn, is it tight! I almost can't move around in this thing!"
Hiccup tried to speak a few times as Syl went on criticizing Astrid's clothes, but the boy's mouth just opened and closed, not a word coming out. Finally, after about a minute of shock, he stuttered out, "We… Heard a… A scream…"
Syl's smile dropped, and she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh. You're overgrown lizard over there was watching me when I was putting my blouse on. You really need to learn how to control him better."
Astrid snarled at her.
YOUR BLOUSE?
Syl's eyes widened. "Oh, heh, yeah. Sorry - just forgot about… You know. But, at least I'm getting in character, right?" She grinned again.
Suddenly, Astrid realized something else she hadn't considered. She whipped around to Toothless, angry. "Have YOU seen ME without clothes on?!" She growled at him, a bit more harshly than she had intended.
He reared back defensively. "Me? Never! When would I ever have seen you… Naked?!" The last word was strained, as though he had struggled to remember it.
"Well," she considered it for a moment. "There was that time that Hookfang singed my blouse nearly to ashes, and I told everyone to go away while I changed, but… The dragons didn't!"
Toothless seemed confused. "No, we did. Stormfly stayed behind with you, and the rest of us flew back to the nest and waited for you to come back! Which took FOREVER, might I remind you!" He stood up on all fours and walked over to her, narrowing his eyes. "Why do you even care so much, anyway? Is it because I can talk to you now? I can 'think' now, too, so it's more important?!"
Astrid groaned. "Yes! I mean no! I don't know, alright?"
Toothless rolled his eyes and purred at her. "I still don't see why you care - it's not like I'd tell Hiccup, Even if I could! Why does it matter if I see?!"
"Well, because it's… Personal!" She yelled at him. Why couldn't he just understand this?
Toothless snorted, and gestured at her with one of his paws. "Personal? You're naked right now!"
She was about to throw an insult back at him, or possibly even attack him before she realized he was right. She hadn't even noticed it because she hadn't felt like she needed clothes - she hadn't felt cold since she had transformed, and so much of her changed had that she hadn't even thought about her… Parts, that might've been exposed. It raised far too many questions that she did not want to spend time thinking about. Then again, it explained why he didn't seem to think it was a big deal - he had never worn clothes in his life, apart from his saddle and tailfin. For a moment, a strangely funny image of Toothless wearing a giant tunic and fur coat like Hiccup's popped into her mind, before disappearing suddenly. She knew it would be impossible for her to wear clothes as she was, as well, but who knew? Perhaps Hiccup could make something for her.
"Well…" She began, trying to choose her next words carefully - she couldn't let him think he had won the argument. "That's different. We'll settle this later."
Toothless shrugged, but she could plainly see a proud smirk on his face as he turned tail and padded back to the lake. Sighing, she turned back to Syl and Hiccup, neither of whom seemed to have noticed their argument.
Seeing her clothes on someone else was just… Weird. She had never loaned them off to anyone, nor even considered it - she doubted they would fit anyone else on Berk, she only had one extra blouse and skirt, and, well, it seemed too personal. Yet here this girl was, acting as though she had worn them her whole life. Of course, she didn't look like her yet, but Astrid knew that would come soon enough, as well.
Nonetheless, she knew it was probably a good thing that Syl get used to moving around in them, as strange as the implications were, and Hiccup seemed to think so, too.
"Well," he told the girl, after glancing at Astrid for a moment. "I guess it's good that you wear them while we're training. It'll probably be a bit… Dirty, by the end of the day, but that'll make more sense to the village when we go back, anyway."
Syl laughed nervously. "Uh… Training? 'Thought I was just impersonating your girlfriend, not going into a battle."
"Well," Hiccup asked her, "Do you know how to swing a battleax?"
Syl snorted. "No. Why would I? I only agreed to this for a day, you know."
"Yes," he replied, "But, well, it's a pretty big part of Astrid's life, so it'll probably come up at some point or other. No doubt you'll be fighting someone sooner or later."
Syl raised an eyebrow. "Is it really that important?"
Hiccup shrugged. "It's not just that - you need to learn how to fight in melee, as well, with your fists - not a knife, nor sword, for that matter."
Syl turned back around to Astrid, frowning. "I take it stealth isn't really your style?"
Astrid smirked and shook her head. The girl sighed, and turned back to Hiccup. "Wonderful… Guess we're all starting from scratch, then."
"Actually," Hiccup bit his lip nervously and started to back towards Toothless. "You're starting from scratch."
Both Syl's and Astrid's eyes widened. The girl sidestepped away from her. "You're leaving me with her? She's going to kill me!"
Hiccup rolled his eyes. "She is not going to kill you. I just need to go back to Gothi's to get a few more things she had to cook for a few hours. I could wait 'till later on, but there's probably gonna be a lot of people up there today, and I don't really want to take that risk."
"Wait!" Syl called after him, as he climbed onto Toothless. "She can't even talk to me without writing in the dirt! Just what do you expect us to do?!"
He shrugged as Toothless lifted off into the sky. "Well, get training, of course! Besides, you're the reason we're in this mess, and you need to be acting just like Astrid by tomorrow night, so you should probably get started. Don't worry! I'll be back soon, and I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on!"
And with that, Toothless sent a powerful gust of wind down onto the lake, lifted above the treetops, and they were gone.
"Alright bud," Hiccup pointed at a small ledge above the edge of the treeline in front of them. "We'll need to land on the back side of the mountain, just in case there's anyone there already. And quietly, too."
Closing his eyes, he sniffed the salty morning air and reveled in the dragon's speed as they glided down to the ledge. This was one of the many reasons he loved flying - not only because of the incredible feeling it gave him but the ridiculously fast traveling. The walk that had taken them almost two hours before barely took ten minutes in the air, and they weren't even rushing. It was unbelievable, and Hiccup couldn't help but envy Toothless for all of those years of quick travel between Berk and Helheim's Gate - it took a few days by boat, but on dragons, it was just a quick afternoon's flight away. Of course, going back there always forced them to risk being eaten…
Glancing up the mountain, Hiccup did a checked the chosen spot to ensure that they'd be able to climb up from there, before telling Toothless to land.
It being early morning, Hiccup knew it was unlikely that anyone would climb up to her hut until the sun rose further into the sky, but still, he and Toothless scaled the mountain as silently as they could.
They were about to round the corner to Gothi's house before they heard voices traveling up the path ahead of them. It only took him a moment to pull one out of the bunch - it was his father's. At first, whatever he was saying was garbled, but as he grew closer, Hiccup was able to make out most of the conversation, despite the fact that he couldn't see his Dad's or any of the others he had taken with him.
"... Gothi! Are you alright? I'm sure that storm hit you quite 'ard the other night!" Hiccup, of course, didn't hear or see her response, but he already knew what the answer was. While Gothi's hut was high on the mountain and perched on a cliff, it was well built and had stood there as long, if not longer than she. In fact, in all the time he could remember, the hut had never even nearly been totally destroyed, even during the war with the dragons. Of course, he hadn't seen any critical damage to the hut when he was last there, as well.
"Good, good…" He replied, and his voice seemed to age ten years as he continued, "Have you seen Hiccup?"
The boy tensed and felt the hairs on his arms stand up on edge, like thin blades of grass flicking to attention in a strong wind. This was it, he knew. Unless they had come up earlier, which he doubted, this would prove whether or not Gothi was actually going to help them. He truly couldn't blame her if she didn't. What they had asked of her was insane, and it would be wiser of her to just tell the truth, rather than humor herself by playing along with their foolish plan as she had thus far.
So, Hiccup sat there, holding his breath and gripping Toothless's saddle tightly in anticipation. After a moment, he heard his father sigh, and a wave of incomprehensible muttering broke out among whoever he had brought with him.
"Quiet down!" Hiccup heard him yell. He spoke again only when the muttering had ceased. "Gothi... If there's any way you can find them, any method you can use to tell us what might've happened to him..." His voice trailed off, and Hiccup heard him suck in his breath. Was he... Crying?
"Son… Where are you?" Hiccup heard his father ask, quite painfully.
I'm right here, Dad, He thought with more than a bit of guilt.
"He's been missing for two days now," He heard him tell someone. "TWO DAYS! I just… That storm… Where could he and Astrid have gone? How do you lose two dragons and two KIDS? Tell me!" He was angry now, Hiccup knew, trying desperately to find the solution to a problem that couldn't be solved with force. H didn't speak another word after that, and the muttering returned.
They waited in the bushes until he was his father and the other's voices began to fade as they finally walked back down the mountain. Even then, he didn't dare move for another five minutes to assure they wouldn't see them if they were to look back up to the hut. When he was positive they were gone, they both walked as quietly as possible over to Gothi, who didn't seem all too surprised to see them.
She disappeared into her hut to get the supplies she had promised him, and materialized outside a moment later, carrying a small pot with a golden-yellow powder in it, and a flask, as well as a small bag to put them both in. She stared at him wistfully as he placed them carefully into the satchel, then poked him on the shoulder with the end of her staff just as they turned to walk away.
YOUR FATHER IS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU
AND ASTRID, TOO.
"Yeah, I… I know." He replied regretfully. "But I'll be back soon, and so will Astrid… Well, sort of."
Gothi continued to stare at him skeptically.
YOU NEED TO DO THIS SOONER
"Uh," Hiccup raised his eyebrows. "Sooner? How much sooner?"
TOMORROW
"T- Tomorrow?" Hiccup stuttered.
Gothi nodded.
TOMORROW
IF YOU HOLD OFF ANY LONGER
YOUR FATHER WILL EITHER GO MAD
OR SEND THE ENTIRE VILLAGE OUT TO FIND YOU.
"But… That's not enough time…"
YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED RIGHT HERE
DO YOU STILL HAVE THE GLASS I GAVE YOU?
"What, that liquid? Yeah, but-"
She smacked him on the head with her staff.
THEN YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED!
YOU ARE READY.
"Yes, but she's not!" Hiccup yelled, startling a bird that had been resting on the peak of the hut. Suddenly worried, he glanced over the edge to see if his father and his men had heard, but they were long gone, mere specks approaching the village once again.
"She put the clothes on, but…" Hiccup shook his head worriedly. "I don't know if she's taking it seriously. I don't even know if she's going to do it for more than a day!"
SHE WILL.
BELIEVE ME,
I KNOW SHE WILL.
Gothi motioned her staff towards the pack in Hiccup's hands.
THE POWDER IS A DANDELION AND LEMON MIXTURE I BOUGHT
FROM THE TRADER A FEW MONTHS AGO.
MIX IT IN THE FLASK, THEN HAVE HER POUR IT IN HER HAIR
IT WILL DYE IT BLONDE.
BE SURE SHE DOESN'T RINSE IT OFTEN
OR IT WILL WASH OUT.
I don't even remember the last time Astrid washed her hair, Hiccup thought to himself.
THE GLASS I GAVE YOU
IS THE FINAL STEP.
HAVE HER DRINK IT
JUST BEFORE YOU GO BACK
"Um… Okay?" Hiccup thought back to the luminescent vial of liquid Gothi had handed him just a few hours before.
REMEMBER
IN AN EMERGENCY,
MEAD WILL WASH IT OUT,
BUT NOT TOO MUCH.
ONE DROP WILL LAST UP TO A MONTH
BUT I DOUBT I CAN MAKE MUCH MORE
SO YOU WILL HAVE TO SOLVE THIS QUICKLY.
"Well, I doubt it will take months…" Hiccup replied, still questioning the words as soon as they left his mouth. Gothi seemed doubtful, as well.
IN ALL OF MY YEARS AS A HEALER ON BERK
I SWEAR TO YOU, HICCUP,
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SITUATION SUCH AS YOURS
AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WILL SOLVE IT.
"But… You said you would be able to get the materials from Johann…"
I LIED, HICCUP.
I'M SORRY, BUT I'M AFRAID I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO HEAL HER
I DIDN'T WANT TO GET THE POOR GIRL'S SPIRITS DOWN
WHILST I'M SURE THEY'RE ALREADY QUITE LOW.
Hiccup sighed. Gothi's wistful stare returned, evaluating him this time.
SHE'S A NICE GIRL, HICCUP
STRONG. A BIT FOOLHARDY, PERHAPS, BUT STRONG.
HOLD ONTO HER.
FIX HER.
Hiccup blushed but still nodded confidently. And with that, Gothi hobbled back into her hut, slamming the door shut behind her, and leaving Hiccup and Toothless standing near the top of the Mountain, alone.
He turned to the dragon, who only rolled his eyes and walked off to the ledge they had landed on. Hiccup shook his head and followed him, stopping to survey the quickly rising sun once they reached the cliff.
"Well," Hiccup told the Night Fury, "I think it's still early enough. We should be able to fly back from here, we'll just keep it low. Alright, bud?"
The dragon appeared not to have heard him, as he didn't react at all, still staring off over the treetops. His eyes seemed to be clouded, and foggy, emotionless.
"Uh… Toothless?" The boy waved a hand in front of his face. "Can you hear me, bud? Everything okay?" Still, the dragon didn't respond. Frowning, Hiccup turned back to Gothi's hut, ready to ask for help, before Toothless suddenly snapped out of his stupor. His eyes returned to normal, and he shook his head, as though coming out of a trance, then turned his head, like nothing had happened.
"Right…" Hiccup said nervously. "Weird… You okay, Toothless?"
He nodded, looking rather confused, but Hiccup still couldn't help but feel a bit wary. Nonetheless, he climbed onto the dragon's saddle, shifted his foot into place in the lever, and they lifted off.
He pondered Gothi's cryptic warning about the liquid. What could it be? Gothi certainly wasn't a witch, despite what Syl seemed to believe. No, she was a healer, and one of Berk's best. Aside from that, she was the Elder of the village, and given how old she was, she certainly deserved to be. For as long as he could remember, Gothi had made the decisions on who would kill the Monstrous Nightmare in the ring in training, and she had almost always been right in her decisions. Sometimes Hiccup still wondered; why him? Why not Astrid? Did she know what was going to happen, that he would stop the war? She had seen all of the training he had done leading up to the battle, so could she tell he wasn't fighting the dragons? Perhaps she had known all along, but always secretly wanted peace with the dragons.
Whilst she obviously wasn't a witch, it was a common legend that she did use magic. Rumors told of some mysterious healing methods she had used in the past that could bring a Viking back to full health, even after a deathly sickness or a near-death infection. But the drink - or potion - that she had given him didn't seem to show any magical properties. But then again, why should it? It was simply a liquid in a glass, with properties only known to her, at least currently. But what exactly-
Hiccup didn't get more time to think about it. Without warning, Toothless suddenly turned his nose down and started to drop down towards the trees, going into a near vertical dive as his wings angled towards the hills below them. Hiccup panicked for a moment, thinking he had accidentally changed the tailfin with his foot without looking, but he hadn't. Toothless's body had seemingly gone limp, his entire tail flicking up under the force of the wind, and his wings folding up slightly.
"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup screeched as they plummeted downward, the trees growing scarily closer than he would have preferred. The dragon didn't respond, as though it hadn't even heard him. Still, they fell from the sky like stones tossed off of a cliff, uncontrollable. The wind screeched past his ears, and he felt himself start to float up into the air, attached only by the tethers on his suit.
He looked down and saw that the dragon's eyes had the same milky-white glaze coating them as they had just a few minutes before, his mouth open on a slight hinge. It reminded him eerily of the night the dragon had taken him and Astrid into the Green Death's lair, only this time, Toothless didn't seem to have any control, at all. Truly panicking, He grabbed onto the Night Fury's head with both hands and shook it, trying desperately to snap him out of whatever horrible trance he had gone into. Somehow, Hiccup knew he was still alive, but he certainly wasn't acting like it.
Hiccup screamed, "TOOTHLESS, BUD! YOU GOTTA WAKE UP!" The wind continued rushing past his ears, the screech of the air shrilling higher and higher. The trees grew closer - two hundred feet, then a hundred. Hiccup's life flashed before his eyes; his only memory of his mother, his father's angst after she was taken away, realizing he truly loved the warrior girl who didn't know he existed, finally shooting down Toothless, only to set him free the next day, waking up without a leg, all the way up to finding Astrid lying in the woods just a day before. Astrid… Oh, Gods, Astrid. I'm going to die here, and she's going to be stuck in that ravine as a dragon forever! Syl will leave, and she'll… She'll be… Oh, GODS…
And then suddenly, Toothless blinked. Time seemed to stop for a moment, and he watched as the dragon looked down with wide eyes, opened his mouth, and screeched at the very top of his lungs.
Just a few feet before they crashed into the trees, Toothless put all of his weight into one giant downward push with his wings, which still sent them crashing through the pines in the forest, though not quite at the lethal rate they had been plummeting at a moment before.
After crashing through what felt like hours of branches, many of which whacked and scraped his face, they finally fell to the ground with a THUMP, causing Hiccup to fall off the saddle onto the needle and leaf-bedded ground. For a moment, he simply lay there under the trees, wondering if he was already dead. When he realized he wasn't he mustered the courage to stand up, glad to find that nothing seemed to be broken.
Shakily, catching his breath, Hiccup clambered to his feet and stared at the dragon, who seemed just as terrified as he had been. "Not… Okay… Need to… Get you… Some help…"
Toothless was quiet for a moment, solemn, until he noticed a trickle of blood running out of Hiccup's nose, and leaned up to lick it off, his tongue covering the entirety of Hiccup's face. Still catching his breath, Hiccup laughed and playfully pushed the dragon's head away, leading him to give a deep coo of concern.
He surveyed the damage. Whilst he had suffered little more than a nosebleed and a few cuts on his arms, Toothless's saddle and tailfin both had severe damage, both barely usable. The adjustment mechanism seemed to be in well enough condition, but the line leading it back to the fin was nearly torn through - he would have to replace it once he got back to the village. Toothless had lost a few scales, as well, though there didn't seem to be any flesh wounds, which wasn't all too surprising, given how durable most dragon's hides were.
He frowned. There had been times in the past when he had lost control of the tailfin mechanism, or the dragon's fin had burnt off when they were battling the Green Death. But never in the past could he remember a time when Toothless had just completely zoned out, or stiffened up mid-flight like he had. It was possible he had just fallen asleep - they had had a rough past few days, after all, but he knew that couldn't have been right, either - his eyes had been more foggy than drowsy, as though he were in a trance. Whatever it was, he needed to find out quickly, which meant going back to the village, which meant…
"We need to go. Now." He told Toothless, who perked up a bit at his sudden seriousness. "And, uh, no more flying until we get back to the village, alright, bud?"
The dragon nodded, and together, they set off back through the forest towards the gorge.
They could hear the sound of a girl screaming and a dragon roaring before they even reached the crevice. Hiccup glanced at Toothless and raised an eyebrow for a moment before the both ran the rest of the way to the ledge. Syl's words were inaudible from there, but it was obvious they were having some kind of an argument. He saw Stormfly resting like a bird by the lake, looking about as annoyed as a dragon possibly could.
Hiccup couldn't help but roll his eyes as soon as he saw them. "Stick the spy who's supposed to act like the loudest girl in the world with the loudest girl in the world who's been turned into the stealthiest dragon known to mankind. What a great idea, Hiccup. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that flawless plan."
Seeing as how they didn't seem to be coming to an agreement - which didn't seem likely in the first place, given that one of them couldn't even talk - Hiccup eventually risked gliding down into the gorge on Toothless, luckily without another nearly catastrophic landing. Still, neither of the girls seemed to notice they had arrived until Hiccup walked right in between them.
"Oh, great!" Syl triumphed dramatically as soon as she saw him, throwing her hands up in the air. "Look who's back! It's the demon's boyfriend! You know, I have to say, I was actually quite afraid that she would kill me once you left - really! But now, I only wish she had. Eat me, slice me up into bits, roast me like a pig, I don't care, anything else that doesn't turn my life into a living hell!"
"Um… Right. Just a moment, please." Hiccup quickly whirled around to face Astrid, trying to avoid the confrontation, before realizing he had just put himself into another one. The girl-turned-dragon seemed to be switching back and forth between growling and glaring at Toothless, and Hiccup noticed him wince every few seconds as she did. He could guess that whatever thoughts she was sending him were not the most positive or pleasant to hear.
"Uh… Astrid?" He asked weakly. She whipped around to face him mid-snarl. This time, it was his turn to wince. "Could you, uh, give me a little more context, here?"
She ground her claw into the dirt as she wrote.
YOUR NEW FRIEND OVER THERE
NEARLY BROKE MY AXE IN HALF
TRYING TO DO A BASIC SWING-THROUGH MANEUVER ON
THE TREES.
SHE PUTS TOO MUCH WEIGHT INTO THE SWING
DOESN'T CONSERVE HER ENERGY
LOSES HER BALANCE ON THE CONNECTION
AND LEAVES HERSELF VULNERABLE
THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE EXERCISE!
IT'S LIKE SHE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT
BASIC FIGHTING SKILLS!
"Well… Not everyone's trained since they were seven years old. And you are trying to fit a few month's worth of training into less than a few hours of training, to be fair."
Hiccup glanced back at Syl, whose hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat. She was also hunched over like he often was if he ran too far.
He raised an eyebrow. "So… This was on her first try?"
Astrid looked away, still angry, and Hiccup sighed.
He looked at the forest. Each tree near the edge had a gash in it, none of them consistent. Some were larger, suggesting the tree was about to be cut down, whilst others barely had a small bit of bark scraped off. But all of them were all marked, in one way or another.
He turned back to Syl, who was still boiling with contempt. "So, I know that Astrid's training can be… Rigorous, but-"
He heard a screech come from behind him and whipped back around to see Astrid scribbling chaotically in the dirt again.
YOU'RE SIDING WITH HER?!
SHE GOT US INTO THIS WHOLE MESS!
AND YOU'RE THE ONE WHO TOLD ME TO TRAIN HER!
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
"Well… I… I don't know!" He yelled. "Just forget the axe-fighting, alright? If Syl decides to do it for more than one day, she can come back here in the afternoons and you can train her, alright? We don't have time to go through all of this!"
Astrid growled again.
WHY DOES SHE GET TO DECIDE IF
SHE DOES IT FOR MORE THAN A DAY?
WHY ARE WE WORKING ON HER TERMS?
WE SHOULD JUST FORCE HER!
"Well…" Hiccup glanced back at Syl, who was still right behind him, and considered whispering it in Astrid's ear, before realizing it didn't matter. "We can't force her because she knows about all of this, now. Maybe I screwed up, alright? But if she reveals this whole thing then I could probably just turn her over to my Dad, yeah. But she hasn't run away to go tell my father because she doesn't want to turn herself in in the process. So we have to train her to be you, and we'll just have to hope that for some reason she wants to do it for more than one day!"
He turned around to look at Syl, expecting to be met with resentment or bitterness, but she only shrugged, indifferent. "Couldn't have said it better myself."
"Oh, and there's one more thing…" Hiccup said, looking down at the ground awkwardly. Syl raised an eyebrow, as did Astrid. He still didn't look up. "We're going to have to move the day we go back to tomorrow. At dawn. Because of my father, and… Something else." There was a moment of stunned silence, as they both processed what he had just told them.
"What, exactly, is this something else?" Syl asked furiously.
"Uh…" Hiccup glanced at Toothless, who looked almost as nervous as he was. "I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to get started with other stuff. You probably won't need to know much about battleax fighting until later on. Anyways, we need to move on to what's next - everyone back in the village. I doubt you'll need to know everyone in the village, as I'm not sure Astrid even does," -He heard an annoyed grunt from behind him, but continued- "so we'll just go over some of her, and my, friends. I think you might like this a bit better, considering how much you like… Ehm… Investigating people."
Syl raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you say that?"
"Oh, you know… Spying on us, finding out where we were going in order to kill me…"
"Oh, right. That." Syl replied, suddenly understanding. "Do I really need to know all of these people? I mean, if I'm going back to your village, and just for a day, couldn't I just lay low in a house or something until the end of the day? After you announce that I'm - or she - is back, that is."
"No," Hiccup replied. "Astrid doesn't just disappear in the village. Even if she's bleeding out, or missing a limb, she'll still find some way to help the rest of the village, after she gets fixed up, that is. She wouldn't just lie around in bed or hide all day, and nobody expects her to." Hiccup turned around, hoping to get Astrid's approval, but she appeared not to have heard him at all, still annoyed over something else.
"Uh… Something to add, Astrid?" Hiccup asked her, knowing he would probably regret it soon enough.
JUST WHAT EXACTLY
DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO
IF YOU'RE ONLY DISGUISED AS ME
FOR A DAY?
"I don't know," Syl shrugged. "Maybe I could come back without your dragon over there, and say I lost her in the woods. Then I could go off as you saying I was going looking for her for a few days, he could figure out whatever's wrong with you, and you come back whenever. Unless you somehow find a way to bring her back in one day. All depends on how long it takes you to fix her, though."
"That…" Hiccup thought out loud, "Could actually work! You would just need to tell the village as soon as we got back-" Something nudged him roughly in the back, and he turned around to see Astrid glaring at him again, outraged.
WHY ARE YOU AGREEING WITH HER AGAIN?!
SHE JUST TOLD US A FEW HOURS AGO
THAT SHE HATES US
AND OUR DRAGONS!
"Well, it's just that… Her plan could work! And she's thought out what'll happen to us!"
SO SHE CAN KILL US LATER ON!
HONESTLY,
HOW DO YOU STILL TRUST HER, HICCUP?
He squeezed his eyes shut. "She's the only chance we have at this plan, and we're too far into it to back out now, whether or not we keep this up for more than a day!"
Astrid grumbled.
I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND
WHY SHE WANTS TO HELP US.
"Maybe it's because I actually feel bad about what I did to you! Ever consider that?!" Hiccup realized Syl had been reading Astrid's messages, as well. "Yeah, sure, I tried to kill Hiccup, for my mother, and for my tribe. Wouldn't you do anything for your tribe, as well?"
YOU SAID IT YOURSELF EARLIER!
YOU HAVE NO HONOR.
YOU ONLY WANTED TO KILL HICCUP
TO IMPRESS THEM.
"Because they had been ashamed of me my entire life! And just after I set that trap, it all came crashing down - they disowned me, and now I'm here. And as far as killing him goes? Yeah, poison and acid are stupid ways to go, but what other choice did I have? You have a Night Fury. A creature born to kill people! And what you've done… It completely goes against Viking tradition and honor. But no, I didn't want to kill you. And you know what? I still don't. Eye for an eye, let's call it. But turning someone into a dragon? That's just cruel. It's sick. So yeah, that's right, just take a moment to revel in the fact that I have even the slightest bit of compassion for what's happened to you, because you certainly won't be seeing it again!"
"Stop it!" Hiccup screamed. "Whatever your past or present ties to wanting to kill each other or myself were, they end now until further notice. We're wasting time, here, and we need to get started, no matter what ends up happening between all of us later on. Alright?"
Astrid snorted indignantly, keeping her eyes locked on the girl in her clothes. "Whatever," Syl mumbled, crossing her arms.
"Okay," Hiccup replied, exasperated. "First up, Snotlout. You'll probably see him mostly in the academy-"
"Wait," Syl waved a hand, interrupting him. "What's the academy?"
"I'll explain later," Hiccup told her. "Anyways, Snotlout is… Well, he's Snotlout. There isn't really any good way to describe him, but he, well, he likes himself a lot. His family goes back on Berk a long way, so he likes to rub it in people's faces a lot. He'll also take any opportunity to prove how tough he is that he can. He does work out quite a bit-" Hiccup could practically feel the annoyance emanating off of the gray dragon behind him. "Oh, and he asks Astrid to marry him. A few times a day, at least."
Syl rolled her eyes, as though something had just cleared up in her mind. "Oh, he's one of those guys? I really hate them. 'Wish I could just punch them in the face. With a brick. Or an ax. Every day."
Surprised, Hiccup turned back to look at Astrid and smirked. "This might be easier than I thought!"
She narrowed her eyes.
DON'T COUNT ON IT.
They went over as many other people they could think of that she might have a more than brief encounter with over the course of an hour, and spent another hour just reviewing it. Syl seemed delighted to find out Astrid had given permission to punch almost anyone in the village that annoyed her and wasn't her elder, including Hiccup, which he wished she had left out. By the time they finished, the sun was already starting its descent down over the mountains to the west.
"Alright, then, we probably shouldn't waste much more time on that. Now, how Astrid acts. I should probably hand this task over to my lady herself, as she's probably the best suited to tell you. He gestured to Astrid, who looked surprised at first, but waltzed up to Syl confidently a moment later. She brought her claw out to write, and then… Nothing. She frowned, and moved it back down, then pulled it back up again. Then she looked up at Hiccup worriedly.
"Uh… Something wrong, Astrid?" He asked.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY.
Hiccup shrugged. "Well, I don't know, basic stuff. Where you live in the village, what you like to eat, what you do in your free time. Those sort of things, I guess."
WELL, I DON'T SPEND TIME THINKING ABOUT
ALL OF THAT STUFF.
"You live five homes down from the Great Hall, two beyond mine, with your room in the loft, and your family's house has never burnt down. Your favorite food is spit roasted chicken, preferably the wing. You like to practice blunt axe-throwing at the forest behind Fishlegs's house when you have the time to. You also sleep on your left side - and before you ask, I only know that because you were complaining about your swinging-arm hurting the other day after you tackled Tuff, and you blamed it on how you'd slept, I swear. Oh, and you're right-handed."
Astrid stared at him for a moment, astonished.
HOW DO YOU KNOW ALL OF THIS?
He shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Just… Paying attention, I guess. Stuff I noticed. Little things. I swear I'm not stalking you, or anything like that."
She smiled at him and nudged him with her snout jokingly. He shoved her back, and she shoved him again, knocking him to the ground by accident. "Ow," he smiled and grimaced at the same time. "Alright, you got me."
Syl rolled her eyes, and told him, "I still don't know what you see in her." He didn't hear her.
From there, they went over as many small things about Astrid that they could, which eventually lead into a rough overview of her day-to-day life and agenda, and then to random stories from her childhood, with Hiccup commenting from time to time on the things she forgot. Eventually, Syl had to tell them that there was no way she was going to remember all of it and that they may as well stop then because, as she had already stated multiple times that day, she had only agreed to do it for a day, anyways. Though, at worst, the dark mood that had fallen over them from earlier had lifted, at least somewhat.
They spent the rest of the afternoon going over the remaining peculiarities of Astrid's life, Syl agreeing to continue with it after Hiccup suggested that they start on the flying portion. By the time the sun was setting, Syl knew more about Astrid's life than most of the people in the village.
"Alright," Hiccup told the girl, "We should probably get on to flying, now. You are gonna have to fly eventually, you know."
"Uh," Syl stuttered nervously, "I- I don't need to, do I? Couldn't she just… Come with us, or something? I don't see why I have to… Fly, on her back. That's just… Wrong."
Hiccup sighed. "Yes, you will. We could always just walk into the village, but I'm sure we would end up flying later on that day, and that would be without warning, and without time to prepare."
"Fine! Let's just start, then." She stood up rigidly and started to walk towards the Nadder unhappily. "Do I just climb on her back, or-"
"No, no, no!" Hiccup yelled, jumping up himself, and running over to block her from climbing on. "No, you can't just… Before you can ride a dragon alone, you need to bond with them. Like Toothless and I did, and Astrid and Stormfly have, as well." He smiled and pulled up against Toothless, who grinned as well. Astrid had long since decided that they fit so well together that it was almost ridiculous. This was a perfect example.
Syl stood there staring at them for a moment, dumbfounded. "Bond with them? That's the big secret to dragon training?! That's how you became the 'dragon conqueror'?! By bonding with him?! What, do you spend a few months working out a friendship with them first? Build trust over time?!"
"Uh… Yeah. I guess so…" Hiccup replied.
"Wow. Here I was, thinking you used some magic to get these dragons to stop trying to kill you, at the very least. And you're telling me that you just become friends?! Close pals?!"
"Well, yeah! Do you think we hypnotize them, or something?!"
"No, but…"
"How else do you think we do this, then?"
"Well, I don't know, but how the hell are that dragon and I supposed to become best friends in the next few hours?! You just said you build it up over months!"
Hiccup rubbed his forehead tiredly and walked over to Stormfly, who seemed to have been only half paying attention to the conversation. "The process is a lot simpler than that. You just need to do this, alright?"
He walked up to Stormfly. She bent her head down, and he placed his palm on her snout, forming the bond Astrid had seen him create with hundreds of dragons in the past - including herself, now. Not that she was a dragon, of course.
"It's that simple. But to do this, you need to gain her trust. When a dragon lowers its head for you, it means it trusts you enough to bond."
Astrid noticed Syl's eyes flick to Toothless for a moment, as though realizing something, though she wasn't sure why.
"Luckily for you, Stormfly already knows us. If you were trying it on a dragon in the wilderness, it could be much more-"
"She needs to trust me?!" Syl burst out. "How am I supposed to trust her?! I turned her rider into a dragon! She could bite my head off, or worse!"
Hiccup sighed, and muttered, "Well, she certainly has your personality down." Astrid rolled her eyes. She was nothing like that girl.
"I will stay right here to make sure she doesn't bite your head off, alright?" Hiccup pleaded with her. "Besides, if she wanted to kill you, don't you think she would've tried already?"
Syl frowned for a moment, then raised her chin up high. "No. You three go off in the forest. I'll do it alone."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "Are you sure?"
Syl took a deep breath and nodded, turning to Stormfly.
"Alright, then." Hiccup shrugged. "Ax."
Hesitantly, she walked over and handed him the ax, making Astrid smirk as Hiccup struggled to hold it up.
"And the knife," Hiccup replied.
"Wha- What?!" Syl stammered.
"The knife. Under your belt?"
Syl scowled, and pulled the knife out of the belt holding up the skirt. She tossed it to Hiccup, who fumbled as he caught it, and dropped it. Picking it up, he turned around and walked off into the woods once again.
Astrid glanced at Syl one last time, then looked over at Toothless. "Hey, Toothless," She hadn't said anything to him since she had yelled at him when he and Hiccup had gotten back earlier.
"Yeah?"
"Could… Could you tell Stormfly what exactly is going on?"
"I'm pretty sure she gets it."
"I know, but just…"
Toothless frowned, but turned to Stormfly and told her something in the dragon language nonetheless. She said something back, and Toothless turned to walk back into the woods.
Astrid ran up to him. "Wait! What did you tell her?"
Toothless smirked. "Oh… It's not important."
Rolling her eyes, Astrid followed him back into the woods, leaving Syl alone by the lake with Stormfly.
"I'm worried."
"We just left her, Astrid."
"I know, but…"
"She's not going to hurt Stormfly, trust me. You took away her weapons, she hasn't tried to hurt her so far, and besides, I just have a… What do you call it?"
"A hunch?"
"Yes. A hunch."
Astrid sighed. Whilst it was reassuring to hear someone else say it, albeit a dragon, she still couldn't help but feel nervous about leaving the girl who had tried to kill them with Stormfly, despite the fact that she was completely unarmed, as far as they knew. On top of that, Hiccup had once again demonstrated the extent to which he was agreeing to this girl's terms. Why?! She could see no logical reason for him to, aside from agreeing to her demands in order to get her to do what they wanted. But it was beyond that. Hiccup actually seemed to have a genuine trust for the girl, as though he actually believed she wanted to help them, despite the fact that she had clearly stated that she hated them, and wished their dragons were dead. It made no sense whatsoever. The only other logical conclusion Astrid was able to arrive at, she didn't even want to think about.
Once again, it took them only a few minutes to reach the same spot the two of them had been lying in earlier, though luckily it had dried off somewhat since they'd last been there. The sun seeped in through the cracks in the colorful leaves above them, creating strange patterns and shapes on Hiccup and Toothless's backs.
"What's it like for you," Astrid asked him suddenly, "coming back here after you were trapped down here years ago?"
The dragon frowned. "Strange, I suppose. I have to admit, I was scared the first time I realized I couldn't get out, but then Hiccup came here, and… Well, I thought he had come to kill me again, but..." His frown was replaced with a smile.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Really? The mighty Night Fury, having a bit of a claustrophobia issue? I wouldn't believe it 'till I saw it."
"Oh, and the Great Astrid the Warrior's never been scared of anything in all her moons?"
She shrugged. "I was scared the first time I saw you. I didn't know what you were."
His smile dropped somewhat, and he replied, "Yeah… I tend to get that a lot."
She raised an eyebrow. "You hear humans say that a lot? I mean, I'm not saying I do, but…"
"No," he shook his head. "From a lot of dragons, too. Night Furies, as you call us, don't have a very good reputation in most nests. At least, that's what I've gathered. Aside from that, my purpose was very… Different, from most of those that participated in the… Raids. A lot of dragons thought I wasn't doing my best to serve the queen. But... I was just doing as I was told..." Once again, his frown deepened, and she got the feeling there was something he wasn't telling her. He shook his head after a moment, clearing his mind.
"Anyways, like I was saying, it was terrifying knowing that I was caught down here, like broken prey just waiting to be eaten, or killed. But at the same time, I almost…"
"Almost what?"
"... It's nothing."
He didn't say anything after that, and she decided not to pressure him. They all sat down in the small clearing, Hiccup leaning into Toothless in the same way as he had with her earlier, and her trying and failing to sit in the more or less comfortable way she had earlier. He threw down the two weapons once he had.
"Well," Hiccup sat up, glancing once above the ledge to his left to gauge the time. "We'll give her half an hour, then go back, regardless of whether she's done. I hate to do that to her, but we can't afford to waste any time. But until then…"
He looked sheepishly down at the ground for a moment, then up at Astrid. "Since we're all here, there is something I kinda wanted to try."
She motioned for him to go on, and he jumped up, eager to explain. "Well, it wasn't really possible until now, and I didn't think it ever would be, but… If you're okay with it, Astrid…"
She narrowed her eyes.
TELL ME WHAT IT IS, FIRST.
He grinned and turned to his Night Fury. "Toothless, you and I can finally talk to each other! Well, sort of. If you're willing to translate, Astrid…"
She sighed, and nodded.
FINE.
BUT ONLY A FEW WORDS.
NO DEEP CONVERSATIONS, HERE. HEAR ME?
He nodded, biting his lip in anticipation, then turned back to face Toothless. After a moment, he gathered the courage to speak. "Uh… Hey, bud."
Toothless turned to her. "Tell him I say 'hi', back."
She wrote out,
HE SAYS 'HI, HICCUP.'
Hiccup shivered. "Gods, this is weird. Though it must be even weirder for you."
He scratched his chin, trying to think of what to say next. It was obvious there were a million things he wanted to ask, but they didn't have the time.
"So, uh," He began, "What does it feel like to be missing a tailfin?" He spat the sentence out quickly, then bit his tongue as soon as he said it, as though wishing he could take the words back.
Toothless kept staring at Hiccup this time, but told her, "Tell him that it does feel strange, but I've gotten used to the… Creation, he's made for me. It's probably the same way he feels missing a leg. Limited, but still as alive as ever, especially with him.
She translated it into text again, trying to cut corners where she could. Hiccup let out a deep breath as he read it, as though still trying to accept that it was happening. After that, he sat there for a moment, processing what he had said, and glanced at his foot for a moment, likely trying to imagine it were part of a tail.
He stopped for a moment, thinking, then looked up. "Toothless, Do… Do you have another name? You know, among dragons. What… What do they call you?"
He paused for a moment, and frowned, considering the question more deeply than Astrid thought he needed to. Slowly, he turned back to her. "I… Don't think so. I was referred to sometimes as 'Nest-breaker' and 'Night-fire' oftentimes by my kin, due to the raids, and I know you call me a 'Night Fury', as well."
"I think he means a personal name, not… What you are," Astrid clarified.
He frowned again but shrugged after a moment. "I guess… Toothless is all I know. And I'm happy with it, too." He finished the thought confidently, as though trying to convince himself, as well.
Astrid eyed him nervously. "Uh… You sure about that?"
He nodded.
She wrote it out in the dirt, and Hiccup relaxed some once he read it, leaning back onto his hands. "Well, if it's what you prefer…"
Toothless nodded.
They spent a few more minutes going back and forth until Astrid complained that her claw was aching, and eventually refused to translate Toothless's answers when they kept going anyways. A few minutes of silence followed.
Eventually, Hiccup was the one who broke it. "What… What do you two think of this whole thing? With you turning into a dragon, and Syl, well, you know… I know you think I'm putting too much trust in her, but… What other choice do we have?" He looked up at her nervously.
There was another moment of silence. Eventually, she wrote,
I'M SCARED, HICCUP.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME,
AND TOOTHLESS DOESN'T, EITHER.
AND SYL
SHE GOT US INTO THIS WHOLE MESS.
I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW WE CAN TRUST HER.
AND ASIDE FROM THAT,
"... Yeah?" Hiccup asked after another moment had passed.
I JUST DON'T KNOW HICCUP.
HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT'LL
TAKE YOU TO BRING ME BACK TO NORMAL?
WHAT ABOUT THOSE SUPPLIES GOTHI SAID
SHE WOULD BE GETTING?
For a moment, Hiccup looked as though he were about to say something else, but eventually told her, "No, she… She didn't say anything about them. I guess we'll have to wait 'till they come in with Johann."
Astrid frowned and turned to Toothless. "Any thoughts on the matter?"
His entire thought seemed to be let out in a sigh, if that was even possible. "Astrid, I truly don't know, either. I don't know why or how this happened to you, and I don't even know where to start with bringing you back. And, honest to the Gods, Astrid, I didn't do this to you, either. As far as the girl goes..." He grumbled to himself. "I can't tell you what to think of her, but Hiccup's right. We have to trust her."
She relayed what he had said back to Hiccup. "Astrid," He told her, "If you can't trust her… Please, at least trust me. I
"Astrid," He told her, "If you can't trust her… Please, at least trust me. I know that this will work."
After considering his words for a moment, she nodded, and laid her head back down for a few minutes more, before speaking something else that had been on her mind for quite some time. "Toothless… What if she steals my life?"
"Uh, what?"
"You know, what if she just decides to take my life over permanently? I couldn't do anything about it, and… And…"
Toothless raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think SHE wants to be you for the rest of her life?"
"I know, I know… I guess you're right."
There was another short lapse of time before Hiccup spoke up.
"Astrid," he asked carefully, "there's something I wanted to talk to you about…"
He paused for a moment and started to scribble in the dirt, before continuing. "I really don't know how long it's going to take me to… Fix, all of this. It could take days or weeks… Which means you'll be down here alone, for a while… Toothless and I will come back here as often as we can, of course, but…"
Her eyes widened as she considered a new, frighteningly realistic possibility. Trapped in the gorge for days, months, weeks, then years, as Hiccup's attention would slowly begin to move on to other things as life settled down for him in the village. His and Toothless's visits would lessen as time went on, and as even he began to accept the lie they would be attempting to pull off on the entire village. But she would remember - she would slowly go mad in the gorge, struggling to get out… Exactly as Toothless had. Suddenly, though she wasn't sure why, she remembered the first time she had seen the Night Fury, all black, with sharp teeth and venom in its eyes. She had nearly thrown an ax at him before Hiccup had stopped her. At that moment she had realized, that was how Hiccup had been doing so well in Dragon Training, that was where he was sneaking off to each night, that was what he had been hiding.
But this time, she realized, she was the experiment. She was the Night Fury both hidden and trapped in the gorge, she was the dragon everyone wanted the honor of shooting down. She couldn't help but wonder how long it would take until some girl followed Hiccup into the woods and tried to kill her. Perhaps the most frightening part of it all was that one already had. And now, that girl was about to become her.
Toothless seemed to have read her thoughts, though she was sure she hadn't projected them. "It's not so bad down here. The lake can be nice to swim in, and you can run under the waterfall if you like. If you wanted to, I could teach you how to make a bed of hot coals with your-"
"No! No," she shook her head quickly, "There's no way I'm learning to breathe fire. And I'm DEFINITELY not learning how to fly. Hiccup will find a way to bring me back quickly, I know it."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Toothless raise an eyebrow, but ignored it.
Another minute passed, and Hiccup glanced up at the sky again. The sun had not yet fully set, but the stars were already starting to become visible, dotting the dark blue sky with scattered pinpoints of white.
He stood up, making Toothless flinch, and turn to look at him. "We should probably get back. You know how much I hate to rush this with her, but we really can't waste much more time."
Astrid had to admit, it was admirable to see that Hiccup at least recognized the time limit they were working with. On top of that, he had taken charge in trying to sort things out since the moment he had realized who she was, which was a side of him she rarely saw.
As they walked back through the woods, Astrid glanced at the walls of the gorge, trying to judge how much space she would have in the coming days. This would be her new home, she realized.
When they reached the lake, all of them were relieved to find both the girl and Stormfly fully intact, though neither acting like close pals, either. Syl was leaning up against a tree with her arms crossed, and Stormfly was once again nestled like a bird next to the lake, with her head tucked into her wings. It seemed as though they had barely moved since the three of them had left.
"So," Hiccup asked shyly, "Did you… Uh…?"
Syl rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Yeah, we did your stupid bonding ritual. No magic sparks or anything, though. A bit of a let-down, to be honest. For a moment there I almost thought I was about to find your magical, 'Oh, dragons and humans are perfect together!' connection, but nope. Nothing."
"Toothless?" Astrid asked, but he was one step ahead of her, already talking to Stormfly in his guttural dragon language. He frowned as he listened to her response, and turned back to Astrid once she had finished.
"So?"
"Well, they did bond. But… Apparently, she had an interesting… Youth, as you'd call it. Something about her father dying and her mother, and… A lot about her brother, too."
"Wow. So… All dragons have that connection when they bond with a human?"
Toothless nodded. "It's strange, isn't it? All of these years, and we didn't even know this kind of connection could exist. But since the end of the raids… Well, it's as though a whole new world of possibilities has opened up for us that we didn't know about."
"Weird. Did she tell you anything else about what happened?"
He shook his head. "No, the bonding's become quite the private experience between us and humans, as I'm sure you can imagine. Honestly, I'm surprised she was willing to tell us as much as she did. She still hasn't told me about her experience with you."
"Oh, Gods…" Astrid had never even thought about it. For a brief moment, Stormfly had lived her life, too, just as she had lived through Hiccup's when they bonded. Yet still, she could remember the first time he had bonded with Toothless in near perfect detail, despite the fact that she hadn't even been there. This made her wonder, did every dragon have a specific memory from their rider's life? And if so, what had Stormfly's been with Syl? Or Toothless's with Hiccup? Then she realized she was starting to sound like Hiccup herself.
"So…" Hiccup asked, "Are you ready to start flying?"
Syl sneered. "Let's just get this over with. I don't intend to do any more than I have to."
They both walked over to Stormfly, leaving Astrid standing there with Toothless. "I should probably go help them. I know Stormfly a lot better than Hiccup does."
She took a step forward, before Toothless spoke in her mind again, forcing her to stop, and look back at him. "Astrid?"
"Yeah, Toothless?"
"I'm… I'm sorry this happened to you."
She blinked. Had he just… Apologized? "Uh… Okay. It's not your fault, you know. It's her's."
"Yeah, but… Well, none of us ever apologized for this, and… Well, I thought it might be nice. Something you needed."
"Well, um," She turned back to face Toothless, noting his suddenly worried but still confident gaze. "Thank you, Toothless."
He nodded, and sat back down, seemingly deep in thought.
Though she was able to hear their conversation from where she had been standing easily enough, she had toned them out, choosing not to listen until she was closer. Of all her senses, her hearing had never been her best, and thus her newfound ability to hear a bird chirp in the forest almost a mile away was frightening enough in itself, on top of the other changes. Toning out the sounds she could tell came from far away was a skill she had quickly acquired since the transformation. And so, she chose not to listen until she was close enough to hear it, were she still human.
"... Pretty simple. Much simpler than riding anything else, in fact. With Toothless's tailfin it's a bit different, but on Stormfly you just need to tell her where to go, and she'll take you there. It's that easy."
"You certainly make it sound that way," she told him sarcastically.
"It is! Just trust me. I'll get on Stormfly, and you climb on back, alright? We'll just circle around a few times and then land back down here again. Then you can try."
She shrugged, obviously trying hard not to show how utterly terrified she really was. Nonetheless, she bravely hopped onto Stormfly's back once again, grabbing onto Hiccup's shoulder, and making him wince. "Alright, Stormfly," He leaned down and whispered into the Nadder's ear, but Astrid still heard him. "Just take us around the ravine a few times. Then we'll land back here. Gently."
Astrid couldn't help but feel an odd pang of something as she watched them take off into the night sky. Was it jealousy? It couldn't be. This was all planned, as well as necessary. Yet still, seeing the two of them on Stormfly's back, Syl wearing her clothes and holding her arms around Hiccup's chest, made her want to punch someone in the face. Unfortunately, she hadn't yet figured out how to make a fist with her paw yet, though she was more than willing to learn.
As Hiccup had told her to do, Stormfly circled the ravine twice, then landed, letting Hiccup climb off, and Syl move up to the front of the saddle as far as she could, looking only slightly queasy. Still, it was enough to make Astrid smile.
"Alright," He told her. "Just tell Stormfly what you want her to do."
"Make my mother love me again, maybe?" Astrid heard her mutter under her breath before she leaned down slightly towards the dragon's ear. "Uh, once around the ravine, I guess. And don't kill me, either. Thanks." Stormfly lifted off into the air, and Syl was barely able to suppress a slight scream as she lifted off. She grabbed onto the saddle and trying to flatten herself against it.
It took slightly longer than when Hiccup had gone with her, given that Stormfly had taken extra precautions to ensure that the ride would be smooth and gentle. Yet still, Syl was breathing heavily when she climbed off and grinning like a madman.
But the grin dropped as soon as she saw Hiccup, and she returned to her normal, annoyed glare. "That's over with. What next?"
He sighed, and looked at the sky, which had lost almost all of the sun's light, the stars by then quite clearly visible. "Well, I suppose we could risk a fire. I doubt anyone will be out looking this late, so we could probably make camp here. We're on the other end of the island, anyway, and there's a mountain separating us from the village, so we should be fine."
Hiccup and Syl went to gather firewood from the forest, leaving Toothless, Astrid and Stormfly waiting next to the lake.
"Hey Toothless," She said, remembering something she had wanted to ask him about earlier. "If we can do this… Mind-talk thing, do you think you can do it with Hiccup?"
He tilted his head, thinking. "I… I've never tried it. It might work! Gods, imagine, Astrid! We could finally talk to each other! We could… We could..." His thought faded, and he settled for simply grinning, his eyes shimmering, as though imagining the possibilities.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Gods, you're worse than Hiccup. Why can't you just write like me, anyways? Didn't Hiccup try to teach you?"
He frowned. "Yes, but… I didn't understand the symbols. And it takes too long, as well. I don't know how you can stand it."
She shrugged, and dropped the subject. They waited there in silence for a moment. Toothless stood up, and, without warning, breathed a steady stream of fire at the ground in a circle around him, making Astrid jump.
"Gods!" She yelled. "Toothless, what the hell?!"
"What?" He asked, lying down inside the circle once he had finished. "It's nice."
"Nice? It's fire! And you nearly scared the skin off me!"
"You have scales, not skin now, Astrid."
"Whatever! Just tell me next time, alright?"
He shrugged, and walked over to her. "It's so comfortable to lay down in, though! Do you want to try it?"
Her mouth fell open. "Wha- TRY it?! Are you crazy?! I thought I told you I don't want to be a dragon! I'm not going to breathe fire!"
"No, no," he told her, "Here, I'll do it for you."
Before she could send another thought, he was already circling her, breathing out a steady stream of fire at the ground around her, and forcing her to lift up her feet when he nearly went straight over them.
He stepped back and looked at her once he finished, meeting her venomous glare with curiously innocent eyes. He sighed when she tried to step out of it. "Please, Astrid. Your hide is armored, it won't burn you. Try it, just this once."
She kept up her glare but pulled her foot back into the circle. "Fine. But I swear to the Gods if this burns me, I will make you wish you never hatched."
Slowly, she lowered her rear and tail onto the ground, then laid down her front, hesitating on her head. Her eyes slowly widened as she felt the warmth of the ground touch her neck.
In a very un-Viking-like manner, she started to roll around in the burnt grass, purring happily, and trying to ensure as much of her body as possible was touching the rim. It felt amazing! Like a warm feast wrapped up in a blanket. She had been warm enough as it was, but to feel a warmth coming from outside of her? It was incredible, and she felt as though she could lie there forever. She didn't speak until she was sure she had covered as much of her body as possible in the warmth.
"This is amazing! How have I not done this before?!"
Toothless seemed to smirk. "Maybe because heat like that would melt your flesh off if you were still human."
She looked down at the burnt ground with a newfound respect. This wasn't just heat, it was fire, and she was lying right in it. In fact, the circle was still smoking in some places, the ground not yet cooled.
"Weird…" She thought. "All my life I've been told to stay away from the fire. It was even my job to put them out during the war. And now… I'm immune to it."
"Well, don't go flying in the old nest," Toothless warned her. "I'll admit that I've never seen a dragon burned to death, but I saw an old… What do you call them? A Zippleback, lose its wings over the magma, once… Needless to say, no one ever saw it again. I guess some flames we just can't endure."
Suddenly, Astrid realized the spot she was sitting on was growing cold, the warmth from a moment before becoming less and less present against her chest. She was extinguishing the flame! Quickly, she wriggled over to the other side of the circle, once again purring as she felt the warmth against her stomach. Once she had settled into a comfortable spot, she let out a long, high coo that reverberated against the wall of the ravine. She felt as though she were in a state of perfect bliss. And then it was all stripped away.
"Uh... Astrid?" She sucked in her breath, praying to the Gods that she had only heard the voice in her mind, but she knew she hadn't. Climbing to her feet, she slowly turned around… To find Hiccup and Syl standing there with their mouths hanging open, each holding small bundles of twigs in their arms. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying again that they hadn't seen what she was doing, but once again, she already knew they had.
After a moment, she gathered up the courage to reopen them. Slowly, Syl's arms went limp, and the twigs she had been holding fell to the ground softly. Gradually at first, she began to nod, then increased the pace, and looked around the clearing as though there was a crowd there watching her. She threw her hands in the air. "I knew it. I KNEW IT! Your girlfriend's gone absolutely crazy! The dragon side of her brain's taken over! Gods, I so called it! We need to leave her here, now, before she eats us both!"
"What? No! She's not going to eat us, and she's not crazy! She's just fine!"
Pausing for a moment, he turned back to look at her.
"Um... you are fine, right?"
Eyes widening, she nodded frantically. Of course, she was fine! She had just… Gotten ahead of herself. She hadn't been paying attention, and had just let her instincts get out of control, that was all. Even in her head, the argument sounded pathetic.
Hiccup waved his hands, trying to calm her down. "No, no, we're fine! We're all fine, here! Astrid's just a bit… Tired. To be honest, I think we're all kind of tired. I know we're supposed to look like we haven't slept in days, but we could all use some rest if you ask me. We'll just have to work extra hard in the morning."
"Fine," Syl crossed her arms across her chest, defiantly. "But I'm not falling asleep until she does." She pointed at Astrid accusingly.
She shrugged, and settled back down onto the ring. It was no longer smoking, but a little bit of warmth still seeped through.
She watched the stars as Hiccup lit the fire. The sun had completely set by then, plunging the world under a dark blanket, lit only by the hundreds of tiny white dots in the sky, and faint crescent moon.
Toothless lit the bundle of twigs with a small ball of fire shot from his mouth, accompanied by a high-pitched version of the screech that normally came with one of his blasts. Syl jumped, obviously expecting to be roasted alive, but sighed with relief when she saw the fire had been lit. Glaring at the two Night Furies throughout, she crawled over to the fire, and curled herself up into as tight a ball as she could.
Hiccup shivered and scooted over to Astrid. "I'm still a bit cold. How about you?" His eyes widened for a moment as he realized what he had said. "Oh, I mean, ugh, never mind. Stupid question." He turned back to look at Syl for a moment. "We can't afford to lose too much time. We'll sleep for a few hours, then get started a few hours before dawn. We still need to get you ready."
"Good thing I'm a light sleeper." She told them ominously, before rolling over to face the lake. An onlooker might've thought she was asleep, but Astrid knew she was wide awake, still listening to them, mistrustful.
Worried, she turned to look at Hiccup. He was gazing off over the glistening lake, likely already thinking about the last project he had left in the smithing shop back in the village or everything she and Toothless had told him about Night Furies in the past day. Nonetheless, she was happy to see him turn back around when he heard her move, waiting for her to speak her mind.
I'VE BEEN A DRAGON FOR TWO DAYS.
He frowned and began to tap his finger against his knee rhythmically. "Well, I haven't had a chance to look into this, at least not yet. Once I get back to the village, I promise I'll-"
She groaned.
IT'S NOT THAT.
I'M AFRAID, HICCUP.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS.
I DON'T LIKE THIS PLAN,
AND I DON'T WANT TO STAY DOWN HERE FOREVER.
"I…" He paused for a moment, searching for the right words. "I don't know what to say. I don't understand any of this either, Astrid, and I wish we didn't have to do this, but…" -he looked straight up into her eyes- "I promise you, Astrid Hofferson, You will not stay in this ravine forever. I swear it on my life, in the sight of the Gods." He sat back after a moment. Then he rose up to his feet and turned to walk back to the fire. But Astrid whimpered, a bit more meekly than she would have preferred, and he turned around just as he took his first step towards Syl.
HICCUP,
She wrote, embarrassed,
COULD YOU STAY HERE?
Hiccup's eyes widened, and he glanced at Toothless, who shrugged, laid his head on his paws, closed his eyes, and wrapped his tail around him. Hiccup rolled his eyes, carefully crawled over to her, and curled himself up against her side, in a similar way to how he had fit into the cavity next to her leg earlier that day. Once again, she felt that swell of power, but this time, it was more reassuring than anything else. Pushing it aside, she turned back to Toothless.
"Hey,"
He opened an eye lazily and yawned. "Yes?"
"Don't you want to test the mind-thing on Hiccup?"
"Oh," he glanced at the boy curled up next to Astrid, before closing his eye. "We'll just try it tomorrow."
She frowned, and watched him for a moment.
"Toothless?"
He looked back up at her, slightly annoyed, this time. "Yes, Astrid?"
Her frown deepened as she tried to remember. "Earlier, you said it was terrifying being trapped down here. You said you felt like… Prey, waiting to be eaten. But you were about to say something else. That you almost…?"
He sighed, letting a snort out through his nose. "I did feel like prey down here. I was amazed that Hiccup even set me free, and with a lost fin… I thought I would never fly again." He shook his head and sighed. "Not only that, but I felt like I had an obligation to go back to the nest. They needed me! The raids would fail without me! So many would be seen and captured with those spires you built still standing. I had to find a way to fly, but…"
He hesitated for a moment, and she once again got the feeling there was something he wasn't telling her. "But… What?"
He looked up at her, with what she could only describe as an extremely anguished mixture of hatred and regret.
"I… I knew I had to get out, but… I almost didn't want to."