Hiccup tried.

She had tried and she failed. The girl cowered behind the obstacles in the ring, she ran away from the Gronckle, she weaved into Arne's path in hope he would land the hit that knocked the dragon out. She hoped, she tried and she failed.

The Gronckle remembered her as the girl with the nice grass and had taken after her in hope that she had more. As the dragon had cadged Hiccup in against one of the walls, the girl didn't have a choice but to knock out the dragon using the soft spot only she knew about.

She had won the 'honor' of killing the Nightmare.

When Gobber had raised his hook atop her head and when Gothi nodded, she felt like her life was over. She couldn't kill a dragon, she didn't even want to try. Hiccup remembered Arne's furious eyes as she was lifted by a cheering crowd. Fishlegs and Snotlout were the ones who cheered the loudest, the twins were silent, even the crowd's joyful shouts didn't sway them to make noise.

They had taken her to the Meade hall for celebration. A week. She had a week to think of something. This celebration was for everyone who survived Dragon Training. All of the teens were in the middle of that celebration. Another celebration is tradition after the slaughtering of the Nightmare, where the recruit that had won that 'honor' was the main focus of that celebration.

Hiccup managed to leave the party because she wasn't the only one who people were congratulating. She had ignored the twin's concerned glances and just left.

As soon as she left the Meade hall, she started panicking. She couldn't do it, she couldn't even entertain the idea of blood on her hands. The girl wasn't thinking ahead when she went home and packed a bag with supplies and headed to the cove.

"Oh yeah dad, I'm so happy that I won," she mocked her own words as she entered the cove, "I can't wait to kill the Nightmare, I am so…" she bit her bottom lip and threw down her bag on the ground, her next words coming out as a frustrated shout, "LEAVING! We're leaving and never looking back. Looks like we're taking a little vacation… forever!"

"Leaving?"

Hiccup jumped, a yelp leaving her lips at the new voice. She quickly turned and came face to face with Arne. Fear coursed through her, when she heard the voice she had hope it was Tuffnut and Ruffnut who had managed to beat her to the cove. She stood frozen, scared of what conclusions the boy would come to.

"Hiccup, you're leaving?" Arne repeated his question again, shock in his eyes.

"Yeah," she nodded after a moment, seeing no point in hiding anything anymore, "Yeah, I'm leaving… and so are you," she told him and pointed to the cove's exit, "You're leaving now, and going back to the celebration."

"I'm not leaving until I figure out what's going on here!" the boy argued, "You left the celebration without even speaking with anyone!"

"I don't own anyone anything!" Hiccup raised her voice.

"You just won Dragon Training!" he exclaimed, "Do you know what kind of honor that is?"

"Honor? HONOR?" she shouted, "I did not want to win that honor."

"But you did," Arne calmly told her.

"And I saw how happy you were that I had," she let out a humorless chuckle and shook her head, she finally noticed that Toothless had sneaked behind Arne and was observing their argument with interest, "I will leave and you'll be left as the winner, maybe you can be actually happy about that."

"I –" he cut himself off and took a calming breath, "I was angry, I'll admit, but I wasn't angry that you won."

"Yeah, sure," Hiccup rolled her eyes.

"I was angry at myself, because I lost, not because you won," he explained in a defeated tone.

"That's the same thing."

"It's not," he disagreed, he let out a sigh and crossed his arms, "I was angry because I didn't try hard enough and lost the chance to save my family's pride."

"Didn't try hard enough?" Hiccup's eyebrows pinched together, disbelief in her eyes, she saw Toothless sit down now when they weren't shouting at each other anymore, "Arne, you do nothing but try. You're Berk's golden boy, everyone is always compared to you."

"Not anymore," Arne gave her a tight smile and shook his head, "Now everyone will be compared to you."

"Not when I leave," Hiccup whispered.

"Why?" he asked again.

All the anger or frustration they had felt was gone. Now they stood there looking at one another with their feelings on show. Hiccup knew that hiding would do nothing good for her, she had tried to hide the truth and now she had to choose between Berk and her own happiness… she was done hiding.

"I can't kill a dragon, Arne," she explained in a whisper, "I can't kill an innocent creature."

"Innocent?" he gasped.

"Innocent," she reiterated, "Dragons are not what you think they are."

"Dragon's aren't innocent, they're blood –"

"Thirsty creatures?" she finished for him and shook her head in amusement, "What would you think if I told you that you have been in the presence of a dragon this entire time, and you're still alive?"

"Hiccup, you're not making sense," Arne told her, a concerned frown overtaking his face.

"Aren't I?" she tilted her head in question, a smug smirk adoring her face.

The Night Fury took that as some kind of signal. Toothless crouched and jumped over Arne to stand next to Hiccup. The boy froze and Toothless growled in greeting before situating himself in front of Hiccup to protect her in case Arne tried something.

"Hiccup…" the boy whispered, he reached back and wanted to grab his axe that he normally had there, only to come to the startling realization that he had left his axe in the academy. Arne gulped and reached out his hands in a calming gesture, "Hiccup, please, get away from the dragon."

"Why?" she asked with genuine confusion, she took a step forward and placed a hand on Toothless' neck.

"Please, Hiccup," the boy practically begged, "It can attack you at any moment. Step away and run."

"And what about you?" she questioned and leaned on the calm Night Fury.

"I'll try to hold it off," the boy gulped, seemingly realizing what he was saying, "Just, please, get to safety."

"Arne," Hiccup giggled, "Open your eyes and actually see what you're looking at."

That seemed to startle Arne out of his shock. He actually took in the scene in front of him. The Night Fury was calmly watching him and Hiccup… Hiccup was leaning on the dragon with no fear or worry on her face. She actually looked amused. Arne blinked a couple of times and took a step back, not believing his eyes at all.

"Arne, this is Toothless," Hiccup said as she gestured to them both, "Toothless, Arne."

The boy let out a shaky breath as he started to inch backwards. Hiccup looked at what he was doing and let out a humorless laugh. She shook her head and crossed her arms, amusement and disappointment clouding her eyes.

"Yeah, run away," she told him and rolled her eyes, "Go back to the village and tell everyone what 'Hiccup the Useless' is hiding. I'm know you're dying to do that," she hissed out the last words and turned away from the boy.

The air sat still for a moment, their breathing and the wildlife the only noise that could be heard. Hiccup kept her eyes on the cove's wall. She heard his footsteps start up again and she thought he was leaving the cove, but the footsteps weren't fading… they were getting closer.

Hiccup quickly turned to look at Arne, shock clear on her face. The boy had cautiously walked up to Hiccup, still keeping space between himself and the dragon, he kept casting wary looks at the Night Fury but kept most of his attention on the girl. Determination was mixed with the fear in his eyes.

"I'm not going to run away," he told her, his voice came out shaky.

"But you want to," Hiccup raised her eyebrow in question.

"I'm not a coward. I want to understand, please," he said in a pleading tone.

Hiccup almost gasped at his words. He was sincere, and despite his fear he held strong.

"Okay," she nodded.

Hiccup stepped back from Toothless and Arne followed her lead, taking a couple of quick steps back. The girl smiled and chuckled as she heaved herself onto Toothless' saddle. She turned to the boy and extended her hand to him.

"Get on."

"What?"

"Get on," she laughed and grabbed his hand as he came close enough, she pulled with all her strength and he got the message, sitting behind her, "I'm going to change your world," she promised.