A/N: ahh, guys, I'm sorry! I left of thursday to visit family out of state, and I meant to post before I left but there was more craziness than I anticipated, sooo... it didn't happen. I'm sorry guys! I didn't mean for that to happen, I swear! So here's your chapter, a little late, but here.

Also, I'm really really sorry about this, but this is a VERY short chapter. Only about two single-spaced pages. I have no excuse, other than that this is the hardest chapter for me to write, and I just needed to get it out of the way so I could move on with the story. Seriously, it's taken me months just to crank this stupid thing out. But I promise, this will not be a new trend in shorter chapters.

Chapter Twenty-One: Infiltration

"Okay, bud, let's head home," Hiccup patted Toothless on the neck. They coasted gracefully over the Berk coastline, her village just a small collection of pinpoint lights far below.

"That was...that was incredible, Hiccup," Astren said from behind her. His hands were still around her waist to hold him in the saddle, but the contact and his complement brought a flush to her cheeks.

"I'm glad we finally got through to you," she replied, glancing over her shoulder to smile at him.

Astren smiled back, and for a few moments they flew in an easy silence.

"Hiccup..." the boy started suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Just one question: how are you going to handle the Nightmare tomorrow? I mean, with befriending Toothless and all, how can you...?"

Hiccup hung her head, slumping her shoulders as she cringed. This was exactly her problem.

"I can't," she groaned hoarsely. "It's not just Toothless, all dragons are sentient beings. Even if they weren't...I still couldn't do it. I couldn't betray our friendship like that," she sighed. "I wasn't even able to kill Toothless when I thought he was my worst enemy," she admitted as they flew into a fog.

Before Astren could respond, Toothless' ears suddenly flattened to his skull, a sign of alarm.

"Toothless?" she asked worriedly. The Night Fury abruptly swerved right, then left, and Astren had to tighten his grip on Hiccup's waist to avoid being thrown off. A low growl came from the back of the dragon's throat.

Hiccup was confused, until she realized that dragons were suddenly appearing from the fog.

"Get down!" she hissed to Astren, and they both crouched to the best of their abilities. Riding on the back of a Night Fury, they were caught in a huge swarm of dragons, all of whom were returning from the hunt with their kill.

"Uh-oh, we're in trouble," Hiccup heard Astren whisper. A Nightmare looked over at them, it's eyes narrowed into wary slits. She noticed that it made no move to go after them, even though it clearly saw them. This left her confused. What was keeping them from attacking?

Toothless cringed, realizing too late that they were caught in a swarm of dragons, all on their return to Airdsgainne. He couldn't get out, not without attracting the attention of the others. And if he did, the swarm would chase after him. There was no choice but to face Aoife, and hope somehow she would be too preoccupied with collecting the spoils of the dragons' hunt to notice his reappearance. There was a good chance she wouldn't – even though he was the only Night Fury in Airdsgainne, she hadn't noticed several times before when he managed to escape for an extended period of time. Aoife was subtle in her power – the dragons were not mindless under her control, but she still had a huge influence over them. It was a combination of fear – the fear every dragon felt when faced with the possibility of her vengeance – and respect. It was dragon nature to respect the mightiest in the clan, for they were a source of security. If another clan attacked, everyone looked to the mightiest for protection and guidance. And on top of all that, Toothless suspected that Aoife possessed a little bit of magic – again, not enough to make the dragons mindless drones, but enough to make it very difficult to leave. The few times he had managed to escape her, it had taken him a huge amount of willpower to run away, and in the end, he always felt himself inexplicably drawn back to her. It was a terrible thing to have to face. The only good thing about this situation was that the other dragons would not pay any attention to him or his passengers unless Aoife commanded it, so Hiccup was safe – for now.

They were approaching Airdsgainne all too quickly; the dragons in front of him dipped sharply down, knifing through the air until they just barely skimmed above the water. Toothless had no choice but to follow them, diving steeply. He heard the boy muffle a yell of discomfort at the sudden shift, and Hiccup then shushed him.

His uneasiness mounted as they approached the slopes of Airdsgainne, but he had only moments before they were in the rocky tunnels that led to the center of the nest. He could feel his heart pounding wildly in his ears – there were dragons everywhere, and Aoife lurking somewhere in the mists beneath them.

What had he done? Hiccup was in danger here.

He ducked swiftly behind a rock pillar, staring in fear at the mists from which Aoife was sure to emerge. He even forgot Hiccup in his terror.

The unearthly red fog began to swirl with disturbance – a Gronckle hadn't satisfied her with its catch. Enormous teeth, encased by even more enormous jaws, followed by a monstrous head, erupted from the mists. Keir cringed, and then froze.

No. He was not Keir.

He was Toothless. Toothless!

He was Toothless. He wanted nothing to do with Keir, the Fury who could fly but was not free. He wanted nothing to do with Aoife's unwitting slave.

He was Toothless, the crippled Night Fury, but the one who still had the freedom to fly. And he owed that to Hiccup.

Hiccup!

He was so busy with his internal struggle that he had not noticed Aoife sniffing suspiciously at the air. She had not sensed him – he would have heard her mental cry of rage if she noticed the reappearance of an escaped minion – but she had noticed the presence of the humans he bore on his back.

HUMANS! She roared, lunging towards his hiding place.

Toothless scrambled to get away – the mental battle he'd had with himself had left him unaware and unprepared. Through Aoife's enraged cry, he heard Hiccup screaming, begging him to take off. He managed to throw himself off the ledge just in time – Aoife's teeth closed only feet behind them.

Once he was in the air, Toothless was off – tearing up the center of Airdsgainne to escape from the top, for he dared not to go down to escape and have to approach her. The other dragons, terrified by Aoife's sudden rage, also erupted into madness, flying into chaos. Toothless was forced to zigzag frantically around them, his only thought to get them out. Heart thundering, they shot out of the top of the mountain and were instantly concealed by the clouds. Toothless could finally slow his pace – apparently Aoife hadn't commanded the other dragons to give chase, for they were alone – but he didn't relax. He flew for several minutes, the only sounds the swish of the air and Hiccup's short breaths that slowly evened out.

Suddenly, Toothless realized his takeoff might have been too steep. Hiccup was secured to the saddle, but the viking boy wasn't. It was entirely possible that he had been lost back in Airdsgainne, a snack for Aoife. He cringed, knowing Hiccup would be incredibly upset if her friend had been lost, and peered back over his shoulder nervously.

Hiccup was there, of course, clutching the saddle with wide eyes as though she was still struggling to absorb it all. Behind her, the blonde boy sat, still holding on to her waist. He also looked shell shocked. Toothless nodded to himself. He hadn't lost Hiccup's friend, and she was safe. He was going to have to be more careful next time they flew on the fringes of Berk. He did not want a repeat experience.

A/N: I know, I know, a short chapter, again. However, this was another one of those parts that was hard and not as much fun as usual to write. However, it needed to be done, and done it is. And to satisfy your curiosity - Airdsgainne is another celtic/gaelic name that means 'from the height of the clouds'. Appropriate for the Nest, no? Given that it's huge and cloudy and all that. Too literal? Maybe. But it works! And Aiofe is the same origin, meaning 'great warrior woman'. Bahahaha, definitely too literal on that one. But guess what? Its sticking. Plus, it's a name that seems kinda sharp and dangerous to me. So its definitely here to stay.