After dropping off Norbert, Hiccup returned to his temporary home, and by then only one person was left. Nestra.

Hiccup groaned in annoyance. "What do you want?"

She walked up to him, her face red from embarrassment, and slapped him. "How dare you?" She asked, anger in her voice.

"I don't know what you mean," He answered, looking down at her.

"You know what I mean. How could you tell everybody that I…"

"I didn't. Your father brought them here, and he didn't want to discuss it anywhere else. I had no choice but to say what I had to."

"You're just a lying little fox."

"I mean I definitely am, but you're still single."

She charged him angrily, but Toothless picked him up and flew off. The two laughed silently together, and Nestra ran off to her hut. "I swear on my life," she started, "I will get you back."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at Norbert's hut, the parent was fuming. He had never faced such embarrassment, nevertheless ones caused by his daughter and a noodle for a chief. He was breaking every object in his path out of rage, the plates already shattered on the ground.

When Nestra returned, she decided to join in her father's rampage, rather than be in the way of it. That wouldn't have turned out well.

She started to rant, "This is all Hiccup's fault! That useless piece of-"

"I'll kill that boy, I'll kill him!" Norbert shouted. She turned to look at her father, ready to agree with him, but then she saw the look on his face.

"You're not kidding," she whispered, the pure rage on her father's face evident enough of the words she spoke. It scared her, at first, until a smile slowly crept on her, the tips of her mouth rising up. "Good." At her comment, Norbert began to laugh. It was a soft, creepy laugh, but it reassured Nestra.

"My daughter, by the end of the week, Hiccup Haddock will have lost more than his left leg."

"How do you plan to go about it?" She said, smiling even larger if that were possible.

"We're not going to get past him with that dragon. But, he doesn't have an escort anymore since she went home."

"While that's great news, again, how do we get past the Night Fury?" She plumped herself down on a chair. "At this point we might as well give up."

"We just started five seconds ago how do you give up that easily?"

She got up, and went to her bag, or bags.

"Hon'. C'mon, we'll get him back I promise."

She continued to stuff her bags with clothes and accessories she brought. It was honestly more than necessary, but she was prepared.

"If you really think we'll win then tell me how to get past that dragon!" She snapped at him. He was used to her tantrums though.

"I promise pumpkin, I-I'll find a way," he said, not sounding confident at all. In response, all he got was a scoff and an eye-roll.

Norbert knew his daughter was a brat, and that she was spoiled, but he didn't really care. He knew she'd one day marry a man who would be more capable than her at managing the tribe, and, if he was lucky, it'd be with a man of immense wealth with much land. It didn't matter much anyway, as long as she never ruled.

Ever since she was a baby, he'd showered her with gifts. His wife had died, and knowing he wouldn't have any other heirs, he'd decided that, no matter what, his daughter would be the happiest girl ever. Why though did he go to so much trouble? It's obvious his Viking nature didn't naturally make him a soft man at heart.

The truth is, he loved being feared. But he did not like to be underestimated. When others claimed he'd never have a happy family due to his tough nature and rough demeanor, he'd fumed. Sure enough, the next day he'd courted his wife, sweeping her off her feet while at the same time vanquishing enemies. He was the deranged flirt of the tribe, and it was truly awesome.

Of course though, all good things had to come to an end, and when she died, he'd lost a little bit more than his mind. Many claimed Norbert had killed his wife, or that she'd taken her own life to get away from him. The rumors had practically butchered his spirit. He thought any bad thoughts about him and his private life were dispelled. But oh, he was so wrong.

Out of spite, he'd made a horrible priss of a daughter, but nobody could deny how happy he made her, even when she was pouting or arguing with him.

Norbert also was aware how much of a flirt his daughter was. He had no doubt in his mind she had flirted with the Haddock man, but that didn't matter to him. She was upset. She was crying, and he would avenge her reputation at any cost.

Then, he noticed her folding up a particular piece of cloth.

"Hold on there sweetie."

She grumbled. "What now dad?"

"I know what to do."

She perked up, and looked at him. "Really?"

Walking over, he took the cloth from his daughter's hands. "Tell me, Nestra, do you know what this is?"

"My dress?"

"Exactly." His eyes lit up.

"I don't understand."

"As much as it didn't seem to bother Toothless, I could tell that he was ticked. That dragon is very protective of his master, and so any threat to him would attract his dragon away from, say, a certain hut?"

"But dad, why would we lure them away with this when we can just sneak in while they're out flying?"

Norbert's face turned blank with realization, and he face palmed. "It's too late now. No doubt they'll have returned back by the time we get there."

"But we won't have any other chance. We leave tomorrow morning now that the chiefs have turned against us. Even now it's late enough that we should spend the rest of the time packing."

If there was one thing Nestra was good at, it was time management.

"Then how are we going to do this?"

"I remember talking in the hall once with Hiccup's wife, and she once said he was flying all night after a particularly difficult day. And this day, even though he won, is definitely difficult enough for a particularly looong fly."

"How can we be sure?"

"Well, your dress idea wasn't a total bust."

"And how are we supposed to use it?"

"I've seen a couple of Hiccup's ideas in his sketches while he was showing you and the other chiefs. In one of them was a pulley, and it gave me an idea."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hiccup and Toothless landed in the soft grass outside of their hut. It was a good, long flight, and only when the sun began to peek itself over the horizon did he decide to head home. After all, he didn't want Toothless to get too tired, and he had a long day ahead of him.

Swinging his foot and hoisting himself off the saddle, his foot touched the ground, and he petted Toothless's nose fondly before sighing.

"Alright bud, we gotta get ready for today."

Toothless nudged his rider, and crooned as if trying to comfort his rider.

"I know, it's gonna suck. But we're leaders now. We gotta do this for the good of the tribe, dragons and humans," Hiccup said, a determined look on his face. Yes, he would do this for his people, it was what he was good at after all. He'd faced trial and error, and nothing was going to stand in the way.

Not even that shadow he just saw out of the corner of his eye.

Both he and Toothless's heads whipped toward the moving figure. The only thing they could make out was that it was a woman.

Immediately, Hiccup came to a conclusion. "Nestra." Toothless groaned at that name. "C'mon bud, let's shoo her away again. I would've thought she'd learned her lesson."

Suddenly, the figure moved rapidly. But it was too smooth, as if she were gliding rather than running.

Despite the odd behavior, Hiccup picked up the pace, practically sprinting. He saw her turn a corner, and just like that, she disappeared behind a tree, as if she were never there.

"I couldn't have imagined it, could I?"

Toothless crooned in response.

"I probably should've gotten some sleep last night."

He smiled, and then began to head back to his hut. Maybe, even if it was just a couple minutes, some sleep would help. After all, he didn't want to be falling asleep when times were so serious.

After what seemed like forever, they made it to the entrance of their hut. Hiccup got an odd feeling, but nudged it off to his sleep deprivation.

Opening the door, he stepped inside, and what he opened it to was worse than anything he could have ever seen, more horrifying than anything anybody would have done when the war was still going on.

The bodies of dead dragons lined the now-bloody room.