This took FOREVER to write but I finally did it. Sorry for the long wait but school finals, the holidays, and of course video games took up a lot of my time. I'll try to start doing better but I promise I'm not abandoning this story not by a long shot.

Anyways, happy new years and thanks for reading!

"HICCUP! Get this thing off of me!"

"He just wants you to scratch him."

"I don't care what it wants!"

"Then I guess you're going to be stuck there for a while."

Astrid was freaking out. She'd barely let out her first morning yawn before a massive black blob waltzed its way over to her and planting its warm scaly body atop her own. The dragon had given her no warning, and while having a dragon on top of her was enough to soil the trousers of any Viking, what scarred her the most were the two large eyes that were mere inches from her own.

She kept darting her gaze back and forth between the two evil creatures. Hiccup, the bastard that he was, just laughed and offered her no help despite her very real and very angry pleas. It didn't help that the dragon was virtually motionless save for the slow deep breaths it took, and the hard thump-thump of its heart. Never had she been this close to a live dragon, not one she wasn't trying to kill at least, and her whole body was in pure panic mode.

"He just wants to be friends with you."

"Well I DON'T want to be 'friends' with it, now get. it. OFF!"

A low whimper had her shooting her eyes back at the dragon. Its face had changed; where before it looked content and had its ear fins raised, now its expression had dropped and it looked…sad? Astrid watched, a bit taken back, as the dragon slowly got off her and moved away, its head and ears hanging low. She instinctually felt her gut turn in on itself, and though she didn't want to feel bad, she did, and she hated herself for it. What was worse was that she could feel Hiccups glare like a burn on her skin.

"Wow Astrid. Way to crush his spirits." There was a clear bitterness in his voice. It made her feel even worse.

She shot him a frustrated scowl. "That thing is a killing machine! I don't ever want it that close to me again, ever!"

The two of them stayed locked eye-to-eye for what felt like forever. Both were upset with the other, Hiccup much more so than he let on, but he kept his composure. It was day three of their truce, and as much as he wanted to chastise Astrid right now, he knew doing so would most likely destroy any further chances of the two getting along. That didn't stop him from showing his discontent however, as Toothless was the most important thing in his life, more so than any hopeless future he might think he'd have with Astrid, friend or otherwise.

The low and whinny whimpering she heard forced her attention back to the dragon. Astrid watched, somewhat gut-wrenched, as the dragon slunk over to Hiccup. Hiccup never took his eyes off Astrid as the dragon nudged its rider and proceeded to rest its hung head against Hiccup's side. Finally Hiccup broke his scornful gaze and leaned into his friends embrace, giving a comforting stroke along Toothless's side and speaking in a soft and caring voice.

"Go ahead and wait outside. I'll be there in a minute and then we can go."

The dragon woefully cooed once more before turning and making its way out the front door. It never looked back as her, and though she felt more relieved the farther it got, she also felt more guilty. Hiccup's returning glare didn't help either.

"His name is Toothless," She listened to his spiteful voice as she starred at the ground. "and in case you haven't noticed, he's top dragon around here, literally."

He reached over and grabbed his mask. He always wore it whenever he left, and every time she saw him put it on she was reminded of who he really was. At this point she didn't know what she feared more: him, his dragon, or the man behind the mask she'd once known.

Hiccup turned and began to leave, but stopped just before reaching the door and turned back.

"A dragon just tried to be your friend. Think about what you just threw away."

Whether she glared at him or looked shocked he didn't know or cared, he just left without another word. In truth Astrid was a bit shocked, but perhaps for a slightly different reason. It wasn't the fact that she just 'threw away' a 'friendship' with a dragon, but that the notion of it was even possible. Friends? With a dragon? It was stupefying! The mere idea that a beast of death and destruction could have any semblance of kindness or 'friendship' was frankly nonsensical…and yet, a small part of her knew that it just might be possible, at least with Hiccup involved that is. The more likely answer was that he knew some sort of magic that made the beast tame, or at least listen to his commands. That had to be it, right?

The sudden sound of rushing wind brought her out of her thoughts, and before too long the flapping of wings died out and she was left in silence once again. This had been the general routine; Hiccup would get up, usually around the late morning to mid-afternoon, and go 'flying' for an hour or two before coming back home. Whether she realized it or not Astrid slowly began to adapt to the same schedule of sleeping in and staying up late. Part of the reason was that she didn't want to be asleep while he was awake, partly out of fear and partly because she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could. Perhaps 'spend time' wasn't the right phrase; 'learn all she could about him so she could better learn how to stop him' was more what she was thinking. She still had so much doubt and uncertainty about everything that had happened, but she buried those feelings down and focused on what she knew she needed to do. Hiccup would be gone now for a while; best get to work.

Xx-Xx

Neither had spoken a word since they'd left. They were both upset; not at each other but at her, the thick-headed, yak-faced, dragon murder-loving Viking they'd mistakenly brought to live with them. She infuriated Hiccup to no end, but Toothless…right now he was just depressed. All he'd wanted was to be her friend; to help Hiccup show her that not all dragons were evil. Toothless wasn't evil, not anymore at least…he hoped. He wasn't the same dragon he'd once been; he wasn't…he wasn't hers to control anymore. Once, he had been his former Queen's Enforcer; a dragon tasked with keeping the other dragons in line and striking terror into the hearts of humans. That was why he never had to take any of the human's livestock; his job was to make sure the others acquired the food, and if any human tried to impede their raiding Toothless would made short work of them. Likewise, if any dragon failed or refused to give their Queen her rightful pay, he would make short work of them as well. He'd been very good at it, Hel, he'd enjoyed every waking minute of it; the fear, the power, the destruction! The humans had been right to call him the offspring of lightning and death. That was who he had been.

But not anymore.

Toothless felt his rider's muscles relax as Hiccup let out a sigh. "Well, that didn't work out how I thought it would."

He just grumbled to himself and kept flying.

"I know you're upset and I'm sorry. I thought if you were just direct with her she'd warm up to you quicker. Should have known it wasn't going to work."

Toothless snorted and just kept gliding along. He wasn't upset with Hiccup, just annoyed with the whole situation. That female human had been nothing but trouble from day one, and his rider's persistence to try and change her ways of thinking bewildered him. She'd made it clear how she felt; why waste time and energy on pointless banter?

Humans. What was a dragon to do?

"Let's just try things even slower from now on. We'll let her warmup to you in her own time, she has to. Even someone as stubborn as Astrid can't ignore the truth in front of her forever."

He let out a snickered huff. Hiccup's optimism knew no bounds, even if it went against things that could and should never be. Perhaps that was why they were friends now. Before Hiccup, Toothless cared nothing for the humans, save the fear they emitted whenever he made his presence to them known. He was certain that would still be the case today had that fateful night never occurred.

He could still recall it; the instant, striking pain of his flight being ripped from him. He'd known the moment it had happened that he was as good as dead. A dragon that could not fly was a dead dragon, and as he had laid bound in the forest of Berk that night, he'd come to accept that fact and simply waited for death to take him. One could only imagine the surprise he must have gone through the next morning at seeing the scrawny young Viking standing over him, and the pure shock he'd gone through once the boy had started to free him. He should have killed the boy regardless, in any other situation he would have without a second thought, but something had changed in him. Even after having left the young Viking nearly dead from fright and getting trapped in the forest cove, a fundamental change in the way Toothless viewed his surrounding began to take shape within him. Maybe the loss of his flight had done it, or maybe he'd just been gone for too long. Whatever had caused it, Toothless had become deaf to the commanding voice of his Queen, and for the first time in his life he'd truly felt alone and lost. The emptiness in his head and the quietness of the world around him had left Toothless feeling scarred and hopeless, and it would have been the death of him had the small human boy not returned. From there things had changed drastically for Toothless. No longer having his every action commanded to him, Toothless had been free to think for himself for once, and his curiosity for the young Viking had taken up much of his then freed thoughts. Before he'd only views humans as little more than vermin; parasites that proved to be a great annoyance to his Queen and her insatiable hunger. He never believed they could prove to be more than just hairy brutes, but his newfound freedom of thought and Hiccup's foolhardy determination opened his eyes to a word he never thought possible. All that alone would have been enough, but then, the most extraordinary thing happened. Toothless had accepted that he would no longer fly, and while normally a death sentence, he'd been content with living on so long as Hiccup was around to keep him happy. That had all changed the minute he'd felt the leather fin getting strapped to his tail. In that singular moment a bond was formed, a bond that went deeper than any friendship could. The moment Toothless had been able to fly again had been the moment he knew that Hiccup was something he was willing to give everything to protect, even his own life.

It had been rough at first of course. That were a lot of failed attempts that had made him doubt his hope of flight, but each failure had only proved to drive the young Viking to keep working and improving. The day of their first real flight had been one Toothless would never forget. All he'd thought about the whole time had been how grateful and indebted he was to Hiccup for all he had done for him. The Viking that had shot him down and stripped his flight from him had also given that flight back and freed him from his Queen's control. Hiccup had given him more that juts the ability to fly again, he'd given him his own individuality; his own sense of being and purpose. He was his own dragon that thought and acted for himself, and all he'd been able to think of from that day since was how he'd do anything to keep his human safe.

Anything.

"Let's go land by those rocks down there. You can catch us some fish while I make a quick fire to roast them."

Toothless was shook from his thoughts once again. He didn't daydream a lot, but when he did it always reminded him about how lucky he truly was. He gave Hiccup a cheerful chirp before descending down to the rocks below. He only wished that one day he could tell his friend how he truly felt in a way he would fully understand. Until then, fresh fish sounded amazing.

Xx-xX

"I swear I saw something here before…there!"

Searching once again through Hiccup's extensive collection of books, Astrid found exactly what she'd been looking for. Ship building for idiots byFlóki Vilgerðarson, an odd title for a book that turned out to be anything but what its name implied. There were pages and pages of text, the first ten or so talking about different types of wood and how each one reacted differently to being cut and formed and how well each did when in the water for prolonged periods of time. There was way more to the book than she'd anticipated, and far too much useless knowledge that she'd have to pour through to find the answers she was looking for. Luckily there were a few diagrams scattered throughout the pages, but they were few and far between and really only showed how a boat should look like, now how to get it to that point.

Things could never just be easy, could they?

She put the book back in its place and left it there. She didn't want Hiccup getting suspicious of her if he noticed it had been taken. She had to be smart about everything she did and always stay two steps ahead of him, else she'd never get off this island short of jumping off a cliff and swimming as far as she could. For now, at least, she was content with having a knowledge base to work off of, and she decided to take a walk to clear her head. She had a goal and a means of achieving it now…but the events of the morning, er, afternoon still pulled at the back of her mind.

Friends with a dragon. Had Ragnarök come already? Honestly, she was having the toughest time wrapping her head around it, but why? She knew the truth; she knew what was real and what was pure make-believe. Dragons had some semblance of intelligence, no one would argue that, but to think that they could 'feel' anything beyond pure, ravenous instinct was just nonsensical…wasn't it? Friendship was a Viking thing, a human thing. Animals could be trained, yes, but they were still just animals, dragons included. Whatever 'friendship' Hiccup had with his 'pet' was nothing more than sum of unholy conditioning, it had to be…right?

The more she thought about it the more confused she became. Every day more and more questions flooded her mind, and she began to realize there was only one person who could answer them. It was a conundrum she was stuck in. She wanted nothing to do with Hiccup or his dragon, yet she was forced to rely on them for almost everything. Her initial anger and depression about her situation had begun to vanish completely, and with Freya as her protector and guide well, what really did she have to fear? She had an opportunity like no other to end the dragon menace once and for all. It was time to set her personal feelings about Hiccup aside and focus on what needed to be done.

Crack

Astrid stopped. She looked around, realizing she'd walked away from the house and into the nearby forest. She had a knack for getting lost in her own thoughts and not realizing where she was going or what she was doing. The trees around her were thick and spread far from one another, but the late afternoons light still shined down on her. She'd lost track of time and wasn't sure how long it'd been since she'd left, but she didn't want to be gone when Hiccup returned.

Crack

There it was again, and only now did she realize how quiet it seemed to be…to quiet. Part of her Viking instincts took hold, but without any sort of weapon or defense there was little she could do to prepare herself. She scanned the forest around her, seeing little more than green foliage and dark-wooded trees. Her eyes grazed over a shadowy patch, but at the last second she caught something move from there out of the corner of her eye. She starred back at the blackened spot and soon spotted two orbs with black slits starring back at her. Her heart froze for a moment before she heard an all-to-familiar sound come from creature before her, and in an instant she jumped and ducked behind a nearby tree trunk.

The razor-sharp spikes missed her, but just barely. Astrid began to breath heavy as the creature let out a fierce shriek and shot another set of spikes in her direction, some even piercing through the depth of the tree she hid behind and coming dangerously close to her own body. She took a second to breath before making a quick dash and running as fast as she could back toward Hiccup's cottage. As she ran more spikes were shot at her, some coming within mere inches of impaling her through the leg or chest. She didn't look back, but she heard every branch that broke and felt the ground vibrate with each step that the creature took as it grew closer and closer to her. Her lungs began to hurt the faster and harder she ran, but soon a sense of relief filled her as she cleared the forest's edge of caught sight of the wooden home just barely a hundred meters away.

The final sprint, however, was short lived. She'd barely taken three steps from out of the forest's edge before her foot got caught on a rouge root, and she ended up falling face first into the grass. Astrid raised her head and spit out a lump of dirt she'd involuntarily almost swallowed, but before she could get up and start running again a large shadow suddenly enveloped her body. She rolled onto her back and looked up with shrunken pupils at the imposing beast before her, and the terrible gut feeling she'd had finally turned into a reality.

A dragon, and one that she knew.

The scars had given it away almost instantly. Scars may have been too early of a word to use, as the deep stab wounds that filled the underbelly of the Deadly Nadder were still bright red and had barely closed in on themselves. One of the wounds must have ripped open as there was fresh blood streaming down the dragon's chest and underside, but the gore that covered the beast paled in comparison to its intent, soul-piercing gaze.

Astrid remained frozen in place. Not by fear, though that was a factor of it, but by something else. The dragon was going to kill her, there was no doubt about that, but what filled Astrid's mind in those few silent seconds was why it was going to kill her. The pure-blooded Viking in her believed that it was simply in a dragon's nature to kill; it was what their kind did, and nothing could be done to change it. That part of her would normally win in a debacle like this, but another part of her believed something different. Whether she knew of or acknowledged this other part of her was a question for another time; what mattered was that a part of her had changed since she'd been brought to this island…since she'd met Hiccup again. Who he was, what he was, and what he stood for changed her perception of things, of everything, even if she didn't realize it yet. When she looked at the dragon above her, she knew its intent for murder wasn't an instinctual thing, it was vengeance. Revenge for what she'd done to it, a creature who'd done no wrong to her and had only been curious, only to be attacked and brought to the brink of death by its own spikes. In a moment of unconscious realization Astrid knew that she was to blame for the dragon's actions and thirst for blood, and her imminent death. How ironic fate could be, and how swift it's judgment could come.

Astrid shook from her repressed thoughts as the dragon let out a deep rumble and slowly brought its face down closer toward her. Naturally her chest felt ready to explode due to how fast her heart raced, but as anxious as she was she couldn't help but notice…something. As its yellow, murderous, feral eyes bore down onto her, she felt a tugging in her chest; an unheard voice calling for her to reach out and touch the beast to feel its pain and sadness that it harbored. She would deny to herself that she would have done it, even as her trembling fingers rose from their spot in the dirt. She'd never get the chance to go through with it or stop herself midway, as the sound-piercing shriek of a Night Fury caught both dragon and Viking off-guard.

Things happened almost to quickly for Astrid to witness. The Deadly Nadder rose its head and flailed its wings in an aggressive manner, but a light plasma blast to the face sent it stumbling back a few feet from where Astrid lay. Free of the Nadders imposing presence, she was quickly enveloped in a new, darker shadow, though one she was strangely glad to be trapped under. The great black dragon positioned itself between Astrid and the Deadly Nadder, and for a brief moment she saw Toothless in a new light, literally. He stood there: tall, proud, mightier than all other dragons, and it was in that moment that a glimmer of respect formed, perhaps even…trust. The sudden appearance of Hiccup however reminded her of all the things she hated, him above all else. He hopped off of Toothless and looked down at her, concern emanating from his eyes that were all but hidden from behind his mask.

That damned mask.

"Astrid! Are you okay?!" His voice seemed to almost be shaking. She wondered who's heart was beating faster.

"I'm fine." She responded coldly as she got to her feet and cleaned off the dirt from her legs. "Not like I didn't just almost get murdered by a dragon or anything."

She didn't realize how much of a relief her sarcasm was to Hiccup's ears. He thanked Odin she was alive still; if he'd lost her now…it didn't matter, she was safe. He turned his attention to back toward the Nadder, who was engaged in a heated yelling match with Toothless. Neither dragon showed any signs of backing down, but Hiccup knew he needed to end things before any of them got hurt, or killed. Igniting his blade, Hiccup stepped forward and held the flaming sword toward the Deadly Nadder, more in a form of intimidation that any real aggression.

"Go. Leave and heal your wounds away from this place, and do not come back." His voice carried an authority Astrid had not heard before. No wonder the dragons listened to him; he didn't just talk to them, he commanded them.

Toothless let out a final warning roar to the Nadder, telling it to leave or offer up a challenge if it so dared. Outnumbered and in pain from its reopened wounds, the Deadly Nadder curled its wings in and let its spiked tail drop. This wasn't a fight it would be able to win, but that didn't change its feelings toward the human female that had caused it so much pain. The Nadder gave one last deathly stare into Astrid's soul before turning and making its way back into the forest, small drops of blood forming a trail as it vanished into the shadows. Though now gone, the presence of the Nadder still lingered over Astrid, as she knew the dragon would not be so easily dissuaded from obtaining its revenge. It knew where she was and where she would be, it was only a matter of time before it returned to finish what Astrid had started.

Confident that the Nadder was gone for now Toothless relaxed himself and looked over at his rider. Hiccup retracted his blade, the Monstrous Nightmare saliva fueled flames quickly extinguishing before he fastened the sword's hilt to his side. He let out a slow deep breath as he removed his helmet and ran a hand through his auburn hair before looking over and giving Toothless a relieved smile.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would."

Toothless cooed at him. Hiccup smiled a bit more before looking back and starring at Astrid who stood with her arms wrapped around her torso and staring blankly into the forest. Her eyes shifted over and met Hiccup's, and as soon as their eyes locked her expression changed to a much more familiar 'Astrid-like' look. She gave him a half glare that had no real weight behind it, so in return all Hiccup could do was roll his eyes and sigh.

"You're welcome." He scoffed sarcastically before shifting his tone to be more serious. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine." She said dismissively. She didn't want to admit that she was actually thankful…not to him at least.

Hiccup rolled his eyes again. He already knew it was pointless to try and get anything more out of her; he could ask her later what had led up to the dragon attack. He knew, obviously, that she had started it, and that she wouldn't have been in the situation she'd been in if she'd just stop provoking dragons and started treating them with the respect they deserved. That was a pointless endeavor as well, but one could always hope right? Afterall, hope was the only thing that drove him to do what he did. Without hope for a better future, what was the point in doing…anything?

A question for another time.

Hiccup looked back over at Toothless who starred back with a confused expression. He shrugged, and motioned for Toothless to follow as he started to make his way back toward his home.

"Come on bud, let's get some more work done on your saddle before we head out tonight."

Barking in agreement, Toothless began following Hiccup back toward the house, but stopped momentarily to gaze at Astrid. She was starring at him, her eyes showing a mix of unease and doubt, but also something more, he couldn't tell what. His ears flattened against his head as he recalled the early afternoon events, and a blunt pain filled him as he remembered her distrust and distain at his presence. He wasn't a bad dragon; he was a good dragon…wasn't he?

He darted his eyes away and slunk past her to get to Hiccup. Astrid continued to watch the dragon as it neared its riders' side, both seemingly just leaving her where she stood without another word. She knew what she wanted to say to him but didn't have the courage to do so, and she knew what she wanted to say to him but loathed the idea entirely. She probably would have stood there until they were gone and regret not saying anything, but a certain guide of hers helped push her insecurities to the side.

"Toothless…"

Both man and beast stopped dead in their tracks. They both turned their heads almost a full one-eighty degrees and starred at Astrid. Was Hiccup going crazy, or did Astrid just call Toothless by his name? He looked at her, the normally proud and stoic Viking, and knew something was different, though what he had no idea. Neither he or Toothless made a sound as they watched Astrid take a few steps forward toward Toothless, her arms still wrapped around her and her gaze lowered, but there was no mistaking that she'd called for him. Finally she stopped and looked up, her and Toothless's eyes meeting each other once again, only this time Toothless could see more behind what was going on. A strange silence lasted for but a moment before Astrid spoke again, and though her words were her own, they were aided by a mutual friend.

"Thank you…for saving my life."

Toothless starred at her, then to Freya who stood behind the young Viking. She simply smiled at him, allowing him a moment to digest Astrid's words before giving a slight nod to him. Toothless returned his gaze to Astrid, who obviously looked somewhat uncomfortable, and thought of what to do next. A part of him wanted to show her his bug gummy smile and lick her face in joy, but he knew such action would null what had just transpired. Instead, he decided to do something that would show her his gratitude for her kind words, and his respect for her and her boundaries. Standing tall and proud, Toothless slowly and graciously bowed his head before Astrid and quickly rose it again, glad to see that his behavior had produced a smile upon her face.

As the two of them formed a mutual bond, Hiccup stood on the sidelines dumbfounded and lost in the void of his own thoughts. What in the Nine Realms of existence did he just witness? He was dreaming right, or perhaps this was one of Loki's illusions; he knew it wasn't either. He didn't know what to say, what to think, how to feel, he just…he didn't know, and it both excited and terrified him. This was real, this was really happening, so why did he feel so conflicted about it? He should be ecstatic; overjoyed at the shining glimmer of hope he'd been searching and longing for these past almost four years. Here was proof in front of him that change was possible!

So why didn't it sit right with him?

He knew Astrid, more than he'd like to admit. The years may have made her older, but she was still the same Astrid he'd known as a boy. She was a fighter, a killer. She was a proud Viking warrior who took great joy and pleasure in killing dragons, and it was very unlikely that things would ever change. He could be wrong of course, as this recent display seemed to prove, but he remained skeptical, and for good reason. He'd given her blind hope once before; he wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

He felt an intense heat on him and blinked free of his daze. They were both starring at him, well Toothless was at least. Astrid on the other hand was, as usual, giving him the death glare, which oddly enough made him feel a bit better, if only for his own sanity's sake. Hiccup took a hard swallow and was about to speak, but Astrid beat him to it.

"One word and I'm throwing you off a cliff."

And with that she stormed off toward the house, leaving a bewildered Hiccup and curious Toothless behind. A few seconds went by before Hiccup finally relaxed and let a tired smirk cross his face. He turned to Toothless, who looked back at his rider with a knowing look, and gave him a warm smile.

"Well bud, looks like you made a new friend today."

Xx-xX