When they reached their dragons, Stormfly immediately began squawking, first in excitement, then in distress when she noticed the state her rider was in. Astrid laughed and visibly struggled to lift her arm to pet her snout, which concerned her dragon even more. Toothless seemed confused, too.

"Shh, be quiet, girl. We don't want anyone to find you, do we?" Stormfly cooed and looked at her torso. Undoubtedly, she could smell the blood and herbs on her. "I'm all patched up now. I'm a little weak, but I'll get better. Now, let's get going."

It wasn't until she said that that Hiccup realised he hadn't really thought about how Astrid was going to ride in her current state. Clearly, she'd have to go with him, since there was no way she'd be able to keep herself in the saddle. She was so weak, though, he still felt afraid that she might fall off.

"Astrid? How were you planning to fly?"

"I thought it was obvious I'd ride with you."

"Yeah, I know, but... what if you fall asleep and, I don't know, slip off the saddle or something?"

Astrid thought for a moment, then looked down his body. He felt himself blush, even more so when she reached out towards where her eyes were... but her hand landed on his lower belt. More specifically, on one of the metal loops that he used to tie himself to Toothless. She fingered it thoughtfully. Hiccup tried not to stiffen; her hand was a little too close to other things, and while that obviously wasn't her intention, it made him uncomfortable.

"Do you have another one of these?" she asked him.

"Yeah, right here." He pointed to his other side, where another identical metal loop hung, but she shook her head.

"No, I mean another belt."

"Sure, I always carry a spare. Why?" As soon as he asked, he understood. "You want to... secure yourself to Toothless?"

"And to you, maybe. Just in case."

"Uh..." It was a great idea, there was no denying that. The belt had stopped him from falling off Toothless more than once, and while Astrid wouldn't be able to hold on, he could. So why was he hesitating?

"What, don't want to be tied to me?" she teased. Hiccup tried not to react, but he realised that she wasn't far off. The only times they'd been on the same dragon, their relationship had been very different. Somehow, the prospect of being so close to one another seemed a lot more daunting now, for reasons he didn't understand.

"Uh, no, no. Let's get going. My arms are getting tired. I rarely carry anything this long", he joked in an attempt to distract her. He was pretty sure she noticed, but she let it go. "Toothless, get over here."

His Night Fury came closer and lay as flat as he could while Hiccup put Astrid down on the saddle. She used Toothless' neck for support as he rummaged in his bags for the extra belt. Once he found it, he held it out to her and, despite her current clumsiness, she swiftly attempted to tie it around her waist, but failed. Hiccup chuckled.

"That belt is a little, uh, complicated. May I?"

When Astrid nodded, he grasped both ends and tried to link them, only for him to realise that it was too loose. The blonde noticed his hesitation.

"What is it?"

"Uh, I need to tighten it a bit."

"Okay." She spread her arms a bit further to give him easier access. Blushing, he encircled her waist with his arms and tugged at the belt, trying to ignore the warmth of her body inches from his. He pulled back as quickly as he could and tied up the ends. After that, he hooked one of the metal loops to Toothless' saddle. Satisfied, he looked back up at Astrid, and found her smirking.

"What?"

"You're as red as my shirt."

"Well, I..." He couldn't think of any valid excuse.

"Honestly, you get flustered so easily. You need to be around women more."

He scoffed as he checked the bags one last time. "Yeah, well, the last time I tried that, things took a quite unexpected path."

Astrid stiffened. "Sorry", she mumbled.

"It's fine." He was going to climb before her, when he realised it would probably be much safer for her if he sat down behind her. That way, he'd be able to keep a hold on her.

He got on Toothless and immediately felt her back against his chest. Of course, you're on a dragon together, what did you expect? He wasn't sure if the sudden warmth was her body against his, or the blood rushing back to his face. He tried to ignore it as he strapped himself to the saddle. Once he was done, he remembered Astrid's comment and took hold of the metal loop that was still free, hooking it to his own.

Since he was further away from Toothless' pedals than he would normally be, he had to scoot forward a little bit. Gods, now they were practically cuddling, and she seemed to be leaning into him. It made sense, of course, given how sleepy she was, but that didn't stop his heart from racing. She must've felt it.

"You really need to get around more", she insisted as he managed the pedals and Toothless took off, followed by Stormfly. "No need to be so nervous."

"What did I just say?"

"So you had one bad experience, it happens to everyone. Granted, yours was much worse, but are you going to shy away from women for the rest of your life?"

He sighed. Why was she so insistent on this all of a sudden? "No, but right now I'm more worried about other things. Like staying alive through all this."

"I know, and if you ever need to go undercover, then you need to be able to do so calmly, without getting flustered."

"Excuse me? I think I just handled myself pretty well back there."

"Oh, right, I forgot." He couldn't see her face, but he heard the smirk in her voice. "Hiccup the master seducer."

"You're never going to let that one go, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say 'never', but expect teasing for at least a week or so."

"Thanks for the warning", he deadpanned and she laughed.

"No, but seriously, you can't blame me for being curious. What did you do?"

"To be honest, I didn't really do anything. She came up to me first, and when she told me her name, she happened to be the woman I was looking for. We talked about random things-"

"What kind of talking?" she interrupted. "Normal? Or flirty?"

He considered it. "I guess she was the one being flirty. I was simply... not rejecting it."

"So she invited you to her house?"

"Yep. And then, on the way..." He trailed off. He didn't like thinking about that.

"Let me guess, she kissed you?" Astrid filled in the blanks.

"Yeah."

"And you kissed her back."

"I had to, if I wanted to keep up the charade."

"So you didn't particularly like it."

"No. I couldn't stop remembering when Cami... when that woman kissed me, back during the Thing. And I realised that... I was doing the exact same thing. And if I'd hated it, if I'd felt... violated, when I understood what was actually happening, then this woman had to feel the same."

He didn't mention that it sort of scared him, because just a year ago, he would've never thought himself capable of doing something like that. And if now deception came so easily to him, what was next? Murder? He hated to think of that.

Astrid snorted and shook her head. "Hiccup, if that woman took part in my kidnapping, she's nowhere nearly as innocent as you are, and I can assure you that's not how she saw it."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because whoever that woman is, she's obviously more like me. And I know I wouldn't feel violated in such a situation."

"How would you feel, then?"

"A little cheated, maybe. Tricked, because you managed to get information, or whatever, out of me, without me realising it. But not violated. In fact, I bet that woman's biggest regret was that things didn't escalate any further." She turned her head enough to watch him from the corner of her eye. "They didn't escalate, did they?"

Hiccup's face was on fire. "Of course not. But why would she regret that?"

"Because she wanted to have some fun. Duh."

"I lied to her. Why would she still want... me?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

He snorted. "I would gesture at myself, but I can't right now."

"That's not an answer."

"Seriously? What woman would want me?"

"Should I make a list?"

If he had been drinking anything, he would've spat it all out. "What?"

"I've heard some of the women in my camp talking about you, Hiccup. In very... specific terms. Just because you aren't a standard Viking doesn't mean you're not attractive."

Hiccup swallowed. He wasn't sure if he should ask, but the curiosity was too much. "Do you think I'm attractive?"

Astrid straightened, turned her head around and smirked at him. "If I answered that honestly, would you be able to look me in the eye ever again?"

He blinked. "Never mind."

She went back to her original position, leaning against him. "Thought so. Anyway, I think I've embarrassed you enough for now." Hiccup suppressed a sigh of relief. "I'm going to sleep now. Wake me when we're close to the island."

He wasn't expecting her to lay her head on his shoulder. His immediate reaction was to stiffen.

"Does this bother you?" Astrid whispered. He turned only his eyes and saw that her eyelids were droopy. She was almost half-asleep, and he didn't have the heart to keep her from resting.

"No, it's fine", he answered just as softly. She didn't say anything, and within seconds he heard her breathing even out. (He tried not to think about the fact that they were close enough for him to notice such a thing.)

They'd been flying for hours, and Hiccup was feeling slightly tired, but he didn't stop. He wanted to get... well, not home, but to the island, as soon as possible, and give everyone the good news that they were okay. Astrid had been sleeping peacefully the whole time. Securing her to the saddle and to himself had been a smart idea, because a few times she'd started slipping. At first, Stormfly would squawk worriedly every now and then, but after a while she understood that her rider seemed to be mostly fine.

Normally, he would relax and enjoy the scenery when flying. However, seeing as this was anything but a regular flight, he couldn't really do that, so he let his mind wander. Eventually, he thought back to when he'd threatened and subsequently burned Pam.

He hadn't meant to do that, he really hadn't, but she'd given him no choice. It had been clear that verbal threats alone wouldn't work on her. As long as he didn't make good on them, she wouldn't say anything. He wondered what would've happened if the burning alone hadn't made her lose her nerve. How much more damage would he have had to inflict upon her? Would he have had to cut her? Chop off a piece of skin? Would he have been capable?

He wanted to think that the answer was no, but then again, if anyone had asked him if he would ever deliberately harm someone to get what he wanted, the answer would also have been negative. It frightened him to see just how far he was willing to go. At the moment, all he'd been thinking was that he needed to get to Astrid, and fast. Was that really all it took? Was he capable of becoming a monster like Dagur if he had the adequate motivation? If he thought he was in the right?

The darkness in this new world was absolutely terrifying, and he felt like he was starting to drown in it. That he was letting it consume him.

"What's wrong?"

Hiccup jumped; he hadn't noticed that Astrid had woken up at some point and was apparently watching him.

"You could've told me you were awake", he said without looking at her. (Partly because her position made it awkward to do so.)

"You seemed worried. Again, what's wrong?"

He told her. He told her everything that he'd done to get her, and how he'd practically had to resort to torture. He didn't explain the full scope of his feelings, but he knew he didn't have to; she'd understand.

"Hiccup", she said at last. "Imagine this. Toothless is tied up, dangling over a cliff, and there's a man next to him with a sword in his hand. He's going to cut the rope. You are too far to get to him in time, but you have a crossbow in your hands. I don't know how good your accuracy is, but let's say it's average. The only way to save your dragon is to shoot the man, knowing that most likely he'll die. Would you do it?"

Hiccup didn't answer. He would hate himself afterwards, but he knew he'd still do it.

"Yes, of course you'd do it. And that's perfectly normal. We'd all go to great lengths for those we care about." She paused. "Well, those of us who actually care about someone, at least. We'd be capable of doing things we didn't think we were capable of. That's just what was going on back at Pam's house. And the fact that you're still worried proves that you're not the monster you think."

"But where do you draw the line?" he asked. "Where do you say, 'okay, this is too much'?"

Astrid sighed. "That is something you'll have to decide for yourself."

Hiccup wanted to reply, but the now familiar contour of Astrid's island could be seen a short distance away. "We're here", he said instead.

"Great. Don't land in the middle of everyone, though. Follow my instructions."

"What? Why?"

"I have a protocol in case I arrive and something's amiss, like now."

"Oh, okay."

At her indications, they landed right next to a tent by the edge of the camp. Hiccup was astonished to see that some people that were clearly coming towards them turned away when they saw where they were. The only one who didn't do that, he noticed, was Eret. Moments later, an elder woman came out of the tent.

"Hofferson?" she asked as Stormfly touched down next to them. "What happened?"

"Long story", Astrid, who had straightened as they got closer, replied. "I got stabbed. I've been bandaged, but I'd rather you checked me."

"Of course."

Hiccup unhooked the loops from Toothless' saddle and himself. He wondered whether it'd be appropriate to offer her a hand get down, but she took hold of his arm by herself. The healer hurried to her side and helped her towards the tent.

"Any special instructions, Hofferson?" Eret asked.

"Not for now. Just fetch Einar."

Eret disappeared, as did Astrid and the healer in the tent. Hiccup had no idea of where to go, so when Einar arrived, he followed him to the dragon stables, wondering what would happen now.

A/N: What will happen now? You'll have to find out... mwahaha :P

Also, sorry that not much happens in this chapter. Hiccup and Astrid decided they wanted to have a long conversation, and I had to go along with it. But things will pick up again very soon, I promise.

Finally, I wanted to warn you guys that, from tomorrow on, I have to start studying for my finals, so updates might take longer than a week. (I say this a lot, and the schedule never changes in the end, haha.)