"Today is about teamwork," Gobber announced as he opened the Zippleback cage.

As soon as they unlocked, the double doors of the enclosure exploded open. Grey-green smoke billowed out into the arena, surrounding the teens as they separated into their teams of two.

"Now a wet dragon head can't light its fire," Gobber told the students as the thick smog enveloped them, effectively rendering them blind. "The hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

Gobber made his way to the edge of the arena next to Saphira, who had opted to stand with her back against the wall. She stared intently into the fog, concern creasing her forehead.

"Somethin' wrong, lass?" asked Gobber as he positioned himself beside her.

"Nothing's wrong," murmured the girl, "but I have to say I'd feel a lot better if I could see them."

Meanwhile, the rest of the teens were trying to see through the smoke. Each pair slowly circled in place, back to back. Their wide eyes scanned the shadows in the fog, silently searching for any trace of the dragon that was lurking somewhere between the acrid clouds.

Some took the tension better than others.

Fishlegs, nervous as he was, began to softly recite his knowledge of the Zippleback in an attempt to stay calm. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect on Hiccup.

"Razor sharp serrated teeth, that inject venom for predigestion; prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims – "

"Would you please stop that!?" exclaimed Hiccup in a loud whisper. Fishlegs flinched but shut his mouth.

Tuffnut and Snotlout were not calm, but neither were they particularly frightened. They circled each other in anticipation, rapidly searching the haze for any sign of the Zippleback. Tuffnut was even smiling, though Snotlout pushed him around to search the smoke.

If that dragon shows either of its faces," began Snotlout cockily, "I'm gonna – there!" He pointed at a shadow within the fog, and he and Tuffnut threw their water at the figure.

There was a cry of surprise. "Hey! It's us, idiots." Said Ruffnut in irritation, stepping forward into the boys' view.

"Your butts are getting bigger," said Tuffnut. "We thought you were a dragon, hehe."

"Not that there's anything wrong… with… a dragonesque figure-" Snotlout was cut off by Astrid's fist in his face. He crumpled to the ground like a sack of rocks.

Tuffnut watched him go down, entertained. Then Ruffnut threw her bucket of water at him, which knocked him to the ground as well. He sat up with a groan.

Suddenly, something in the smoke grabbed Tuff from behind so quickly his helmet fell off. He instantly began screaming. Astrid and Ruffnut stared in the direction of his cries in horrified surprise. Ruff took a few steps forward.

"Wait," warned Astrid, knowing the dragon was close. She gripped her bucket tightly.

A tail suddenly swooped under them from behind, knocking them on their feet and spilling their last bucket of water.

Tuffnut burst out of the smoke, stumbling over his sister as he yelled, "I am hurt! I am very much hurt!"

He ran past Hiccup and Fishlegs, who wondered what exactly had happened as the fog cleared. They stared after him for a moment before turning nervously back to the remaining dregs of smog.

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now," commented Fishlegs tremulously.

Suddenly a green head emerged, snakelike, from the smoke. "Woah!" yelled Fishlegs as the head came after him. Hiccup slowly backed away. Fishlegs stumbled backwards until, with shaking hands, he tossed his water directly onto the head. It promptly began to emit sickly green gas in response.

"Oh. Wrong head," said Fishlegs with a little laugh. Then the dragon head spouted the noxious gas directly at the teen. He screamed.

"Fishlegs!" Gobber yelled in panic. The teen didn't seem to hear him as he ran off to, leaving Hiccup alone with the now fully visible dragon. Gobber turned back to the dragon and the skinny form in front of it. He instinctively put his arm out and felt Saphira bump into it.

The girl glared at him. Gobber didn't take his eyes off of Hiccup. Both were ready to intervene should the need arise.

The Zippleback's left head spat sparks. Hiccup felt adrenaline coursing through him, urging him into fight or flight mode.

"Now, Hiccup!"

Gobber's shout made the boy spring into action. He gripped his bucket and hurled his water as hard as he could at the sparking dragon head.

It fell back to earth with a splash.

"Oh come on," complained Hiccup as the dragon's left head twisted closer to him.

He had a moment to think, 'Why is it always me?" before the dragon as whole lunged toward him with a shriek, startling Hiccup backwards onto the ground. The bucket rolled away from him, forgotten.

"Hiccup!" yelled Gobber, hobbling forward as fast as he could with Saphira in tow.

Both of them stopped short at the sight in front of them.

Hiccup stood up slowly, hands out in front of him in a warding-off gesture. "Back, back!" he commanded the Zippleback.

To the astonishment of everyone, the dragon obeyed. From the top of the arena, Goethe leaned forward in interest.

"Now, don't you make me tell you again!" warned Hiccup, slowly driving the dragon back toward its confines. "Yes, that's right; back into your cage," said Hiccup, he voice breaking slightly in his nervousness. He cast a quick glance behind him before reaching into his vest and pulling out the eel from earlier that morning. "Now think about what you've done," he told the Zippleback, trying to sound confident. He tossed the dead sea creature into the cage, while the dragon did everything in its power to stay as far away from the vile thing as possible.

Hiccup closed the doors of the dragon's cage against the distressed cries of the Zippleback and wiped his hands on his vest. He turned around and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Everyone in the arena – and outside of it – was staring at him in speechless astonishment. His gaze swept over all of them and landed on Saphira. Her jaw had dropped, but Hiccup saw a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. A loud noise drew his attention back toward the other teens – Fishlegs had dropped a bucket in his shock. All of their wide eyes were locked on him.

A crawling, itching sensation began to form on his skin. He wasn't used to their attention.

It stuck him that they might start asking him questions if he waited long enough.

'What if they ask me how I did that?' he suddenly wondered fearfully. 'What do I say? I can't tell them the truth... What do I do? Oh Thor what do I do what do I do...´

After a lightning round of deliberation, he decided to play ignorant.

"Ok, so, are we done?" he asked with fake cheerfulness. "Cause there's some things I need to…" he pointed vaguely outside. "Yep." He started running away. "I'll see – see you tomorrow!" he called over his shoulder. As he ran he tried his best not to panic.

He never saw Saphira break away from the group to limp after him as fast as she could, or Astrid glance briefly at the dragon cage and back to him.

No one noticed Goethe narrow her eyes as the boy retreated.

Hiccup didn't stop running until he was all the way across the bridge. He breathed heavily, the effects of a sleepless night finally catching up to him. He leaned against the stone cliff face on the right side of the path to the village in an attempt to catch his breath. He was just so tired suddenly and -

"What the Hel was that!?"

Hiccup nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped his head to his left and saw Saphira standing there, wonder written all over her face.

"What the – don't do that!" he yelled back, putting a hand to his pounding heart.

Saphira took a step closer. "How did you know dragons don't like eels?" she asked brusquely.

Hiccup looked up in surprise. "When did you… whatever." He breathed heavily, getting his heart back under control. "I got the eel from when I fed Toothless this morning. Toothless didn't seem to like it, so I took it with me when I left." His heartbeat faded back to normal, allowing him to think as clearly as his sleep-deprived mind would permit. "Why?"

Saphira stood there for a moment, seemingly contemplating her answer, before shaking her head. "No reason," she said.

Hiccup didn't buy it. However, he was more confused than angry at her for keeping that of all things from him.

"Whatever," he replied, half to himself. "I'm too tired to care anyway."

He straightened and began to continue his way back home. Saphira fell into step beside him.

"So how did it go last night?" she asked after a while.

"Hm?" It took Hiccup a second to understand what she was referring to. "Oh, you mean the tail. Pretty good. I finished it."

"Seriously?" exclaimed Saphira in amazement.

"Yup. Tested it this morning. That's why I was late. Didn't even have time to get rid of the eel." Suddenly he groaned as he remembered something. "I didn't have time to grab the basket either…"

"You tested it this morning?" echoed Saphira. "Wait, does that mean Toothless can fly now!?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, not exactly…" said Hiccup, remembering the incident in the grotto. "He doesn't exactly have control over it. He would need someone else to actually operate it."

Stiarna paused for a moment. "How do you know the prosthetic works if Toothless can't control it himself?" she asked. "I mean, if someone would have to be helping him while in the air…"

Saphira looked at him. Hiccup grinned, a bit sheepishly.

"What exactly did you do?" she asked.

"I… I may have accidently gotten stuck on Toothless's tail when he took off," he said quietly, not sure how she would react.

"Are you telling me," she said slowly, making sure to look him in the eye, "that you rode a dragon this morning?"

"Well, uh, sort of? I mean I was on the tail and focusing on the prosthetic more than anything else…."

He turned away from Stiarna, thinking about it. He found himself remembering more details about his 'flight' now than he had at the time.

He remembered the rush at seeing the ground fall away from him, the feeling of cold air snapping at his clothes and messing up his hair, the drop of his stomach when Toothless went into a dive, the feeling of gravity defied when the dragon had pulled up.

Hiccup found himself smiling through his fatigue. Suddenly he realized he wanted to feel those things again.

"Once you've tasted flight, there's no going back," Saphira said quietly, wistfully. Hiccup turned to her questioningly. She was smiling softly at him with a look of understanding. "I used to ride a dragon," she clarified before turning away.

Hiccup might have imagined it, but before she looked away he caught a glimpse of something like surprise in her expression. When she continued speaking, however, there was nothing but longing in her voice.

"There's nothing like flying. Nothing. You only got a taste, but trust me, that's all it takes to get hooked. Being up there, it's like… like a different world." She looked to the sky, watching the clouds drift by.

"I miss it," she whispered. "I miss that freedom."

Hiccup watched Saphira curiously. He got the feeling that she meant more than she was saying, though in his exhausted state he couldn't hope to figure out what. She suddenly blinked and turned to him again, smiling awkwardly.

"Sorry, I kind of lost myself there," she apologized. "Anyway, I would love to see the prosthetic. Do you think we could…" She trailed off as Hiccup suddenly yawned involuntarily. "You know what? It can wait."

Hiccup looked at her gratefully. He was so tired it was getting hard to see straight. Thankfully they were almost at his house.

Hiccup yawned again. 'Gobber's going to kill me for missing chores,' he thought absently.

"Freya above, I forgot about that!" exclaimed Stiarna. Hiccup realized he had spoken his thought aloud. "Thor… sorry, Hiccup, but I better get to the smithy. I'll cover for you, I promise. Get your rest, you look like you need it," she said quickly even as she redirected her course for the village.

Hiccup merely grunted in acknowledgement. When he finally made it home, he wasted no time in finding his bed.

He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Gobber was the first to recover after Hiccup and Saphira left. He immediately started ordering the bewildered teens to clean up, muttering to himself in between instructions. It didn't take them long, but the time seemed to be more than what it was as everyone tried to make sense of the incident.

The twins were less concerned about how it had happened than how they could exploit it for their own purposes.

"This could open a whole new world of possibilities for shenanigans!" exclaimed Tuffnut in a loud whisper.

"Do you think we could bribe him?" Ruffnut asked her brother.

"What would we offer him?" returned Tuff.

"I don't know, but I do know someone who might," responded Ruffnut with a smile.

"Good thinking sister," Tuffnut said as he returned the girl's grin.

They were right behind Gobber when he left the relatively clean arena.

Snotlout, Astrid, and Fishlegs lingered behind.

As soon as the authority figure had left, Snotlout rounded on Fishlegs.

"All right nerd," he growled as he twisted the front of the other boy's shirt. "Spill. How did he do that?"

"Well, I, um… what?" stammered the other boy.

Snotlout ground his teeth. "I'm asking you," he said, tightening his grip, "how Hiccup was able to cage a dragon with his bare hands!"

"I – I – I – I don't know!" shouted Fishlegs, clearly in panic.

Suddenly, Snotlout felt a hand on the back of shirt. Astrid yanked him backwards, making him lose his grip on Fishlegs's shirt and stumble onto his butt.

"That's enough, Snotlout," said Astrid coldly, looking down at him. She turned to Fishlegs, softening her expression. "Fishlegs, are you sure you don't know how Hiccup did it? Was there anything in the book of dragons?"

"I – I've been trying to figure it out, b-believe me, but nothing I've ever read… I'm sorry," said the large boy.

Astrid huffed, an irritated scowl on her face. "It's not your fault," she assured him. Snotlout murmured something angrily on the floor behind her.

"But, um, you know…" began Fishlegs timidly. Astrid raised an eyebrow. "I – or, um, we – could go ask him."

Astrid blinked. Snotlout looked up in surprise.

"…Why didn't I think of that?" muttered Snotlout and Astrid at the same time. Fishlegs chose not to respond.

Astrid turned on her heel and began walking toward the exit. Snotlout scrambled to his feet.

"Woah, wait for me, babe!" he called, running to catch up.

Astrid turned, grabbed Snotlout's hand and twisted it. The boy fell to his knees with a grunt of pain, but the girl didn't let go.

"Call me 'babe' one more time," she growled, "and I will feed you to the next dragon I see." She released him roughly, then motioned to the other boy in the arena. "Come on, Fishlegs. Hiccup might be more willing to talk to me if you're there. And you probably want to figure this out more than I do."

The large nerd followed her quickly, glancing at Snotlout as he did.

Snotlout was holding his wrist, and Fishlegs was surprised to see him looking at it in seemingly deep contemplation. The dark haired boy suddenly looked up to find Fishlegs staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked defensively.

"N-nothing," stammered Fishlegs hastily. He ran to catch up to Astrid and didn't look back.

After another moment of staring at his wrist, Snotlout stood up and followed the other two at a distance.

Gobber was not entirely surprised to find only one of his two apprentices in the smithy.

That being said, he did resolve to have a lengthy discussion with Hiccup about the meaning of responsibility – and his actions at the arena.

"Why isn't Hiccup here?" he asked Saphira, who, while she was waiting for him, had taken the liberty of starting the forge.

"He's resting," said the girl, not looking at him.

"Resting?" asked Gobber raising an eyebrow in doubt.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"He was up all night."

"Doing what?"

Saphira paused.

"It's not my place to say."

The blacksmith narrowed his eyes. "What was he doing, lass?"

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, I don't really know. He just said he was tired and was going to rest."

Gobber studied her.

"You're a bad liar, lass," he stated. Saphira looked up at him with a glare.

"Look, you can believe me or no, but I don't know what else to tell you. Take it up with Hiccup later."

Gobber narrowed his eyes at the girl in front of him. She stared right back. They stood there for a moment, until Gobber grunted and turned away.

"I'll do that," he promised, still in doubt about the girl's claims.

"Fine," conceded Saphira. "Now what can I – "

"HEY SAPH!"

Gobber's gaze could have melted iron. The twins elected to ignore him. They walked over to their house guest and put an arm on each of her shoulders.

"Are you busy today?" asked Ruffnut.

"Sorry guys, now's not the best – "

"Great! Let's go," interrupted Tuffnut.

The twins started pushing Saphira to the door. The girl was saved from being kidnapped, however, when Gobber grabbed the back of one twin's shirt and hooked the other's.

"Now just what do you think you're doin'?" he asked.

"Saving a young girl from the horrors of hard work," said Tuff matter-of-factly.

Gobber rolled his eyes. "Get out of here, ya troublemakers!" he yelled as he tossed the pair out of the smithy. They landed on top of each other on the ground.

"Come on, Gobber!" complained Ruff.

"We just wanted to ask about Hiccup!" said Tuffnut.

Saphira poked her head out at them. "What about Hiccup?" she asked cautiously.

"How did he do that thing with the dragon?" asked Ruffnut immediately. "Please you gotta tell us!"

"It was so cool!" added Tuff.

"What makes you think I know?" asked Saphira, confused.

The twins looked at each other.

"Because… you're friends?" suggested Tuffnut.

"And you followed him out of the arena," pointed out Ruffnut. "Didn't he tell you anything?"

"Nope," said Saphira. "Sorry."

"Then do you know where he is now?" asked Tuff.

"Last I saw him he was heading for the docks."

The twins jumped to their feet, suddenly ginning. "Thanks, Saph!" they called in unison over their shoulders.

Saphira ducked back inside the smithy to find Gobber looking at her in suspicion.

"I take it back, lass," he said. "You're not a bad liar when you want to be."

Saphira only shrugged, her expression neutral. "I do what I have to to protect the people I care about," she stated simply.

Gobber squinted at her a moment longer before deciding to let it go for the time being.

For the next quarter of an hour, the two got into the swing of their work. Gobber was sure to give Saphira tasks that didn't stress her ankle too much. Occasionally the girl grumbled something about looking forward to being back to normal. Given that they were missing a pair of hands, Gobber couldn't help but agree.

It felt like they had hardly even started when Fishlegs and Astrid walked into the smithy. They looked around, then turned to Gobber and Saphira in confusion.

"Where's Hiccup?" asked Astrid.

"Not you too," complained Gobber without looking up.

"He's not here," said Saphira, also keeping her eyes on her task.

"Do you know where he went?" asked Fishlegs.

"Nope," said Saphira immediately.

Gobber glanced at her, then looked at the pair in the doorway. "Like she said," he told them. "But if Hiccup knows what's good for him he'll be around later." He went back to his work.

Astrid narrowed her eyes and was about to storm out, but Fishlegs stepped forward.

"Gobber… what Hiccup did… I've never read about anything like that."

Everyone in the room looked at the normally shy boy. He seemed to shrink under the attention, but continued.

"I…I think that you should probably ask Hiccup about it, and make sure it's not…"

Gobber had moved closer to Fishlegs while he was talking. As the boy trailed off, the man's gaze hardened.

"Not what, Fishlegs?" he asked quietly.

The smithy went silent. The two girls glanced at each other instinctively. Both were intrigued by the exchanged, if a little surprised.

"…Nothing. S-sorry Gobber," mumbled Fishlegs after a moment. The blacksmith gave a satisfied nod. He glanced between the boy and Astrid.

"You two get out of here. We have work to do," said Gobber with a tone of finality. He went back to his anvil, where he was beating a short strip of metal.

The three teenagers exchanged glances, but Astrid and Fishlegs left rather quickly. Saphira studied Gobber for a minute before returning to her job.

The blacksmith's eyes were smoldering like the coals of the forge.

Outside, and out of Gobber's earshot, Astrid turned to Fishlegs.

"What was that all about?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"N-nothing… It's better if I don't say," he stated, his eyes shifting.

For a moment, Astrid considered pushing him for answers. As she studied the boy, however, she realized just how shaken he was. More often than not he was nervous anyway, but now he was ghostly pale and sweating profusely, and his whole body was shaking.

Fishlegs looked like he was ready to faint, puke, or both.

It made Astrid wonder even more about Hiccup's stunt in the ring. However, she decided to spare Fishlegs.

"Suit yourself," she told the large boy. He visibly sagged with relief. "I'm going to keep looking for Hiccup. Are you coming?"

"N-no, that's ok. I should probably get home and… yeah. Bye!" Fishlegs left hurriedly. Astrid stared after him for a moment before heading in the opposite direction.

Back at the smithy, Snotlout strutted into Saphira and Gobber's view. He didn't even bother to look around before shouting "Hiccup! Get your useless butt over here!"

He didn't notice Gobber's murderous gaze until it was too late.

The boy yelped as the blacksmith grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his pants and literally threw him out.

Saphira, despite it all, barely controlled her laughter.

Snotlout, for his part, stood up with a grunt and wondered where it all went wrong.

Hiccup did indeed come to the smithy later.

Much, much later.

Gobber was hobbling out of the dark smithy when Hiccup walked up to him. Saphira was nowhere to be seen in what little sunlight remained.

"Hi Gobber," said Hiccup with a small, awkward smile. The blacksmith turned to him, a mixture of anger and concern on his face.

Hiccup winced, and his smirk disappeared.

"Where have you been?!" exclaimed Gobber, looking his apprentice up and down. Hiccup shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I… I've been…" he sighed. "I fell asleep," he admitted.

Gobber raised his eyebrows. "You did?"

"Yeah," said the boy in embarrassment. "I'm sorry Gobber, I really am. I was up all night, and…" he trailed off, looking up at his mentor. The blacksmith seemed to be considering something as he stared at Hiccup.

"What were you doing last night?" he asked.

Hiccup froze. There was no way he could tell Gobber what he'd been up to. He tried to think of a believable excuse, but nothing came to mind.

"I… I can't say," he stammered. "I'm sorry Gobber, I would if I could, but I really can't this time, please you've gotta believe me, just trust me on this-"

Gobber cut him off with a gesture. His expression was something between anger and disappointment, though his eyes were closed. Hiccup felt the weight of guilt building in his stomach.

However, when Gobber opened his eyes, they were full of concern. "Hiccup, you're a teenage boy. I don't really expect you to tell me everything. However, when you start missin' work, then pull stunts like that stuff in the arena today…" He sighed. "Hiccup, I'm worried about ya. I just don't want you doin' somethin' you'll regret."

Hiccup looked down at his boots. They stood there silently for a moment. Gobber was the one to break the silence.

"I can't help but think that this is partially my fault, too," he said. Hiccup looked up in surprise. "I've barely given you any free-time, mostly because ye never asked for it," admitted the blacksmith. "Now, though, you've got Saphira, and what with dragon training and whatnot, it's no wonder you two are missing work or staying up all night or whatever." He sighed. "I've thought about it, and if you kids want to take every other day off, I'm sure I can manage somehow."

Hiccup jaw dropped. "Gobber… I don't know what to say…"

"That seems to be a recurring problem today," said Gobber drily. "Just promise me one thing, lad," he said seriously, stepping forward so that he was in Hiccup's personal space. "Whatever you did to that dragon today… and whatever you did last night… think long and hard about it. Some prices you just can't pay."

He stepped back, leaving a very confused Hiccup to stare back at him. Gobber's expression was neutral as he nodded at him.

"G'night, Hiccup," he said before turning and heading off into the night.

"G-goodnight, Gobber," responded Hiccup to his mentor's back. He stood looking after him for a minute, then headed back to his own home, his thoughts whirling.

Saphira stepped out into the moonlight in front of the blacksmith stall. She looked back and forth between the retreating forms, her brow furrowed, then entered the smithy.

A/N:

Hello people! Man was this chapter a doozy to write. So many things… at one point I felt like:

So my flashlight's on, and stay up 'till dawn

I got this headache and my life's on the line

I felt like I won, but I wasn't done

The nightmare repeats itself every time

Got to keep my calm, and carry on

Stay awake until the sun will shine

But I'm not so strong, and they're not gone

They're still out there to take what's left of mine

~ I Got No Time, TheLivingTombstone

As always feel free to review with constructive criticism and/or random thoughts!

My offer to Beta still stands.

Thanks to everyone who followed/favorited!

I own nothing but my OC.