This is probably my favorite chapter, because it's mostly in Asher's POV. So, get tready to meet the Red Death in a completely anticlimactic point of view due to fright. Also, pick-up line of the day: Hey there! Would you like to talk about Homestuck~?

Hiccup lost any and all feeling in her legs when Gothi approved of her, completely looking over the perfectly liable Asher - who by the way, hated her more than ever now, she was sure. It was good, she guesses, that Gobber immediately picked her up then.

Along with Gobber's rowdy cheers and the crowds loud exclamations, the one phrase that stood out the most was "That's my girl!"

Despite it all, Hiccup played along. "Haha! Yeah! I'm so- I am so excited..." In a sense, she was. It wasn't everyday you decided to run away from home with your dragon friend.

This is my life, she thought, dragging along the various fish in a basket and Toothless' saddle. Her tools were also at hand, but other than that, it was just the regular haul.

"Hey! We're leaving!" She entered the cove through the usual entrance, taking her time to keep her bearings. "We're leaving! Pack up; looks like you and me are taking a vacation," she dropped the items near the large rock she'd been cornered in by Toothless the first time he'd regurgitated a half-fish. Ah, memories... "Forever."

Toothless didn't come out, probably sleeping, the lazy lizard. Instead of bothering herself with waking him up, she began to rummage through her stuff. Finally "satisfied", she sighed and muttered, "Oh man..."

Shink-

The sharp sound of something already incredibly pointy being honed came from right above her, and she knew it was Asher before even looking up.

"Asher! What the- What are you doing here?" Hiccup tried to play it off, pretend she hadn't mentioned anything about running away from Berk. Thankfully, Asher had either not heard, or just wanted to hurt her.

Okay, she wasn't quite as grateful for the latter...

Asher hopped off the rock nonchalantly, keeping his eyes on his ax with what Hiccup assumed was his innocent yet threatening expression. Consider her threatened then.

"I just want to know what's going on," he said, "No one gets as good as you do. Especially," he finally looked at her, coldly and with no sign of remorse, "not you."

Honestly, Hiccup couldn't have agreed more, but her heart was hurting a lot right now. Now that she thought of it, Asher hadn't never actually bullied her before. Sure, he'd give her a disappointed look here and there, indirectly kill her ego with advice and/or his very presence, but actually put it in her face how useless she was?

Nope.

Well, there was a first time for everything.

Maybe some of the hurt reflected, because he seemed to pause. Instead, he shook whatever sympathy he may have had and grabbed her specially designed harness. "Start talking. Are you training with someone?"

"T-Training?"

"It better not involve this."

She was so scared! "I know this looks bad, but you see, I-"

They hear a rustle from the other side of the cove, and Asher drops Hiccup to investigate. Hiccup falls to her feet, but stumbles back and falls on her butt. "Ouch..."

"Who are you with?" Asher says, sounding just a tad different than before. More curious than threatening, but still plenty menacing.

Panicking, Hiccup walked over to him and grabbed his hand to lead him away. "You're right! You are absolutely correct! I'm through with the lies! I've been... I've been making outfits! You got me. It's time everyone knew... Drag me back, go ahead, here we-eek!"

Asher lifted her off the ground and let her drop...again. "Stop doing that," she hissed, sitting up and rubbing her slightly twisted ankle.

"That's for the lies," he said. "Now stay there unless you want to pay for everything else."

Ah, still a gentleman then. She was about to snark at him and ask what "everything else" might be, but a growl interrupts her. She stops touching her right ankle, looking up to see Toothless stalking to them.

"Oh man," she says meekly, standing up to halt any combat between her crush and best friend. Well didn't that sound like the gossip of the week, if only the best friend wasn't a dragon and the crush completely out of her league.

Before she could take a single step forward, she was taken down by Asher...again...

"Get down- no! Run! Run!"

Hiccup scowled at him. Either "get down" or "run", make up your mind! Before she could state any of her spite, she saw the black dragon closing in at the speed of a- well, a Night Fury!

Then she saw Asher ready to throw his ax. "No!" Hiccup yells, throwing herself against him and flinging his ax away.

Asher lays on the ground in shock, and she takes the chance to run ahead and put herself between the dragon and Viking boy. Toothless, still aware of her own fragile body, barely contains himself, growling and looking over her shoulder to glare at Asher.

"No! No, it's okay! He's a friend." Toothless didn't believe that, though to be honest, it had been the best lie she'd told in her life.

Asher started, standing up.

"You scared him," she said, giving Asher a disapproving "see what you did?" look.

"I...scared him?" Asher looked indignant one second. The next, he looked rather disturbed, and completely confused. "Who...is him?"

Hiccup bit her lip, pausing to look at Toothless and then at Asher. "Asher, this is Toothless. Toothless," she paused to look at her dragon in the eye, but he wouldn't stop glaring at the boy, "Asher." Hiccup did the best warning tone she could possibly muster.

Toothless was not cooperative, and displayed his teeth in full glory, greeting Asher with the most sarcastic 'Nice to meet you look,' followed by a 'Now get out and die.'

Hiccup held hope, looking over to Asher for any sign of him understanding. The sign was not there, and he slowly shook his head, backing away from her in full tattle-tale mode. He ran out the cove.

"Duh dada," Hiccup's shoulder's slumped, "We're dead."

Toothless backed away, appearing satisfied with Asher's response. 'Weren't we taking a vacation anyway? I can't stand this island any longer.'

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Where do you think you're going?"

'Uh...vacation?' Toothless gave her a confused look.

"No! Do you know what Asher is going to do? He is going to tell my father about you and this place will rest at nothing to kill me! Aw man," she pressed her palms against her forehead, "I didn't wanna leave like this! I was doing so well and then- We have to go after him!"

Toothless grumbled, looking away in irritation.

"Toothless, now."

The dragon looked to her, but she seemed extremely serious, and his fish did depend upon her. He finally rolled his eyes and agreed, settling down to get ready for a flight.

"Thanks bud."

Asher stared at the girl of his dreams and her dragon. Her dragon.

Hiccup had a pet dragon she'd probably been keeping for...two weeks. She'd said she'd taken down a Night Fury, but instead of killing it, she made it her pet!

That was the craziest thing he'd ever heard of! Hiccup had spent her time with a Night Fury for a couple of weeks and named it Toothless of all thing! She was unbelievably crazy and he had to tell Stoick about this!

What was that girl thinking?! What was there to gain from befriending a dragon other than evil!

He'd fallen in love with a crazy girl. He'd fallen in love with a goddamn crazy girl!

Gods, a dragon!

He leapt over a log. Before he could touch the ground though, he was grabbed the the claws a a Night Fury. A Night Fury!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuugggghhhhhh! Oh great Odin's ghost, this is it! Aaahh!"

The dragon flung him on a tree branch, and he quickly grabbed on for dear life. The branch swayed, but it didn't break.

Asher turned his head towards the dragon, and found Hiccup riding it. Riding it!

"Hiccup! Get me down from here!"

"Not until you let me explain," she replied in a strong voice, barely quivering.

"I'm not listening to anything you have to say," he yelled, suddenly realizing why it hurt so much to find out Hiccup having a dragon hurt. He felt betrayed. He loved her and she'd absolutely betrayed him, along with the rest of the village.

He was throwing another tantrum, wasn't he?

No! This was perfectly liable to be mad over! A dragon! A Night Fury!

"Then I won't speak. Just...just let me show you," she held out a hand. Hiccup was inviting him to ride a Night Fury with her. What the hel, no!

"Please Asher," she says meekly, and he can't say no. He compromises and stays mute, grabbing the strange saddle and shrugging off her extended hand.

Finally on, he says, "Now get me down."

"Toothless? Down. Gently."

Toothless. What a stupid name for the offspring of lightning and Death itself, which had an incredible amount of teeth, by the way.

They start at a slow pace, rising swiftly into the air.

"See, nothing to be afraid of- whoa!" That's when the terror commenced.

The dragon shoots into the air, letting the wind slap them both in the face. Asher wasn't sure if he was screaming, but he wasn't quite aware of much else other than the constant feeling of almost falling down.

Only the flips and twirls the dragon made managed to get a reaction from him, but it was all frightening nonetheless. He just screamed and screamed and screamed, not seeing an end to the horror. His voice didn't go hoarse by the time he finished.

Finally, he heard an angels voice, but it sounded weird. Kind of nasally with a cute undertone to it. "And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."

That slowly brought him back to his senses, but only enough for him to yell out, "Okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, just get me off this thing!"

He didn't care about sounding cowardly in front of her. He wanted out! The girl and the dragon were both crazy and out to get him. One for his ear and the other his life.

Suddenly, the cold air that had been dizzying him for an eternity became cool, and some heat rushed to his cheeks to warm faster. His arms were clasped around Hiccup, but he refused to dislodge from the only bulwark he had.

The feeling of almost falling never left, but it wasn't as terrifying anymore. As a matter of fact, it was nice. It was...beautiful. Asher was never one to stop to admire a view, but he'd be lying if he said Berk didn't look awesome from so far away.

Was this what they'd been missing out on while Hiccup managed to get a Night Fury to fly?

His arms tightened around her automatically, and he smiled at the contact. The best part? She didn't push him away. Then again, she was flying the dragon - with a pedal?.

Asher felt the moment was wrong to ask, but a glance back was enough to not need to. The sunset shone on them, and there was a clear difference between the brown fake tail Hiccup was controlling and the true black one.

Hiccup actually being violent. It was almost unimaginable. Not even in the ring had she taken down the dragon with any sort of it. She'd used tactics. Tactics she'd no doubt gained from the Night Fury...

"Alright," he finally began to process thoughts correctly, "I'll admit it. This is pretty cool." He paused, sensing it wasn't enough to describe what he was experiencing for the first time in his life. "It's amazing."

"He's amazing," Hiccup said, smiling but facing forward.

"I guess he is." The "he" came naturally, and Asher knew he could get accustomed to Hiccup's crazy.

The dragon continues to fly in silence, making no noise whatsoever. Strange, he'd always know when a Night Fury was near by the sound they can't help but make. A loud FFFWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOUUSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH that was usually followed by, "Night Fury - Get down!"

"So, what now?" He asked, suddenly remembering why he'd been running away from her in the first place. Vikings hated nothing more that dragons, and currently, Hiccup owned one.

Hiccup groaned. "I was going to fix that..."

"By leaving?" He glared at her suddenly red neck, feeling betrayed again. "Well, you can't. You're not going to leave unless you want to fall off the end of the world." He wasn't actually sure of that, but Hiccup had to stay with him - the village.

"Toothless will fly us back up," she puffed her cheeks stubbornly.

"That may be so," Asher said, exasperated, "But you can't just run away from this Hiccup! Tomorrow, they're expecting you to-" He paused, aware of a dragon's presence.

Lowering his voice, Asher continued, "To kill a Nightmare."

"Ugh. Don't remind me- whoa!"

Asher gasped, as did Hiccup. Toothless had started to descend into the darkness, forcing Hiccup to struggle for control.

"Toothless!? Toothless, what are you doing? What's happening?" Toothless refused to listen, continuing on his own path and flying ahead without consent.

"Can't you steer him!?"

"Not without his consent! I'll have to let him lead us-" They narrowly avoided collision.

With another dragon. A Zippleback, to be specific. Asher panicked and turned to his right, only to find a Nightmare there too.

The fog rolled over and cleared briefly to show they were surrounded by dragons, all headed to the same place.

"Get down," Hiccup whispers when one of the Zippleback's heads notices them. The dragon ignores the humans and moves on.

Asher's breath hitched. How was Hiccup not as nervous as him? This whole time he'd thought she had complete control of the dragon, but-

Well, at least he knew who to blame for the neck-twisting ride back then...

"It looks...like their hauling in their kill."

Asher's heart thumped. The Night Fury... "Then...what does that make us?"

Hiccup doesn't answer, and to his annoyance, she also does nothing to stop the dragon they were riding. Not that she could, apparently...

After a few more frightening close-calls, they arrived at a...mountain? Only, it was red-hot and surrounded by dragons to the core. Dragons of all kind, not even sticking to just the fundalmental kinds Gobber had been teaching them about.

Were they-? Was this- was this the dragon nest?

Hiccup seemed to think so as they entered the mountain, where it was hotter inside than it had been outside.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this..."

Asher could think of few things Stoick wouldn't give to find this. Very few.

They settled down on a rock, high above the large gap at the center of the mountain. It was terribly hot, but Toothless wasn't leaving and Hiccup wasn't urging the dragon to.

That worried him, but he stayed quiet to observe the dragons, just as Hiccup was doing. Just as she'd been doing for the past couple of weeks...

"Nice to know all our foods being thrown down a giant hole," Hiccup whispered sardonically. Asher gave her a weird look before figuring it was just a Hiccup thing. Adorable even in the most perilous of times.

Toothless hissed at her to shut up.

Asher's eyes narrowed, but Hiccup did nothing and continued to observe. She elbowed Asher (Elbowed? Since when did Hiccup elbow?) and pointed at a Gronckle that had finally arrived over the giant hole. Hiccup elbowed people? Maybe he was focusing on the wrong thing...

The lazy Gronckle barely had a single fish to drop into the hole. It dropped it and, satisfied, began scratching itself.

To their horror, a sudden and unfamiliar roar filled the air, barely sounding like an irritated grumble despite it being loud enough to shake them. Shake them all.

The Gronckle's eyes widened before it calmed to an extent. Hiccup gasped.

And a giant scaly red dragon head popped out of the foggy hole and swallowed the Gronckle whole.

"What is that!?" Asher almost yells, terrified. Hiccup shakes in front of him, but still answers.

"I don't know, but I don't care to find out. Toothless, let's get out!" The gigantic dragon shifts an eyes towards them, releasing a louder roar as it stares Asher in the eye. "Toothless, now!"

Finally, the Night Fury gets it through its head. They lift off into the air and shoot out, speeding past any and all dragons. Asher watched as the others followed their example and took off as well, racing to get away from it.

"AAAHHH," Hiccup screams, looking behind them. Asher turns just in time to see a Zippleback get caught in the teeth of the huge dragon, barely saving them from certain death.

"Go Toothless!"

The dragons sped away, and Asher didn't complain about the wind hitting his face.

"What was that thing, Hiccup?" He asked the apparent dragon expert.

"I don't know! I've never been here before, but- but..."

"What do you mean you've never been here? You've had this damn dragon for two weeks!"

"I don't know! Maybe Toothless and I had better things to do than visit the dragon nest's mother of doom," Hiccup yelled, insulted.

Asher huffed. "This is not a joke Hiccup!"

"I'm not joking," she yelled, as Toothless slowed down to an easier glide. She pet its head. "It seemed to...it seemed to be controlling them. I don't think they like it..." Toothless gave out a shudder that consisted of his shoulders and above, supporting her statement to the fullest.

Asher thought for a minute. Finally, it dawned on him. "You're right!"

"...I am?"

"Yes! Don't you see? It's like a beehive! The smaller dragons are the bees and the big one's the queen."

Hiccup gave him a side-way glance, which Asher took as doubt.

"No no. It makes total sense. She controls them; she's the queen and they're the workers!"

Hiccup stayed silent, and Toothless landed on the shore of Berk. Asher barely paid mind to it, still talking.

"Come on, we've gotta tell your dad," he held her hand and pulled forward.

To his surprise, Hiccup flung herself back.

"What, no! No, he'll kill Toothless!"

Asher stopped.

"No. We have to think this through, Asher." Hiccup paced, calmly freaking out as Toothless walked over to drink from the water.

"What!? Hiccup! We've found the dragon's nest! The thing Vikings have been searching for for three hundred years! You're not gonna seriously throw it away for your pet dragon, are you!?" It'd been happening all day.

Hiccup let Toothless control their flight.

Hiccup let Toothless "tell her" to shut up, when not even her dad could manage that.

Hiccup let Toothless be human, when it was supposed to be a dragon, and it was getting to Asher!

But Hiccup's eyes barely widened at the questioned. She hesitated, but puffed out her chest and looked him in the eye with a straight answer, no sign of backing away from it.

"Yes."

Asher stopped glaring at her. In all his fifteen years he had never seen Hiccup look so...determined. Firm. Unwilling to back off.

He still didn't completely trust Toothless. How could he place his trust in the dragon after only one day? Maybe sometime later...very very very later, but he didn't trust it now.

But Hiccup was human. A Viking, now more so than ever before.

She looked away, as if suddenly guilty about her decision, but she was still not going to back off.

"Okay," he finally, answered, nonchalant as always. No use freaking out, especially not in front of his crush. She was a bit crazy, now he knew it more than anything, but what was Hiccup without crazy? "So, what do we do?"

Hiccup looked up at him, surprised by his lenience, no doubt. He looked right on, still expecting an answer.

She almost smiled, but took the question seriously enough not to. Oh sure, when the dragon was thrown into the problem she had no problems keeping her complacent attitude away. Asher tried not to be jealous. Who ever heard of some being jealous of a dragon?

"Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure it out, somehow..."

"Okay."

Asher walks closer to her, watching as she stills at the sudden closeness. He was blocking her path from her pensive pacing. He didn't care, she could think without moving. He'd seen her do it so many times before.

So, to stop her thinking, he flicked her between the eyes.

"Hey-!"

"That was for kidnapping me," Asher stated firmly.

Hiccup gave him a look before turning to Toothless. The dragon did nothing to help his rider. Ha!

Then, he leaned down an cupped her cheek. She stilled and must have flushed, because her face was suddenly warmer. He smiled at the thought of blushing Hiccup, cursing the darkness surrounding them for hiding the view.

His own blush arouse as he closed the cap between them, touching her...cheek with his lips. How disappointing, really, but exhilarating at the same time.

"That's for everything else," he said, looking away. Then he turned and ran away before Hiccup could protest against anything else. Had that made it clear enough, or was he going to have to confess some other day?

His face was completely red when he reached his bedroom.

I freaked out when her "cupped her cheek"...

OH GOD IM BLUSHING! BLASPHEMY!

Anyway, Asher dominates the chapter, therefore I must mention a man.

Chapter Name: His Crazy Crush Owns a Night Fury

See ya, I guess...gonna read more Homestuck! I recommend not searching it up, yo, cause Hussie's gonna take yo sould if you do YOOOOOOOO!