A/N:
Thanks for hanging in there with me. I'm back on track again. Also, thank you Deadly-Bagel for betaing.

Dragonrider's Fury, yeah, I ignored the rest of the gang to keep the focus on the fight. I'm sure they'll have some sort of alibi for snoozing on the job. Lazy bums.


Pulling Together

Toothless looked at the bleeding puncture wound on Astrid's hip… and the gash along her flank… and the one on her shoulder… and the one on her arm. She definitely looked like someone who had just come out of an intense and invigorating tussle.

Firefly had some wounds too, not that he could do anything about them as he was unconscious. There were bite marks on his neck and haunches, and some scratches and shallow tears along his belly and flank. Stormfly, whose snout Astrid had smacked away from licking her, was giving her tongue to Firefly's injuries. She didn't seem concerned, though, and Toothless knew that she would make known any problem her licking couldn't handle. Unlike land-striders, dragons didn't bleed much before a scab would form.

"What injuries do you have?" Astrid asked.

Toothless thought about that for a moment. "My knee hurt a little. And I bit my lip. And I have hurt here." He held up his thumb to show her where his dagger had nicked it. For such a little cut, it sure hurt a lot!

Astrid stared, mouth agape. "Really!? Here I am bleeding out, and you got off without a scratch?! And all that time I thought you were in the fight with me."

"I did get scratch!" Toothless insisted, holding up his thumb again. Astrid rolled her eyes. "And I did fight with you. I use lightning rod on male Skrill. It then lost in ferns, so I find it. Gemstone not with rod, so I find it. Use it to kill female–"

"Ugh!"

"You good fighter, but I fight smarter, not–"

Astrid stopped him with a glare. "You really don't want to finish that sentence." Toothless grinned. "Next time you get attacked by a couple of Skrills, I'm leaving you to fend for yourself," she grumbled.

Toothless frowned. "If you not help, we be dead now. No doubt." He smiled at her. "Love Astrid." He shifted his gaze to the Nadder. "Love Stormfly."

During all this, Astrid was grunting and hissing as she worked her way out of her coat. She grabbed a knife and made a little cut about a hand-width above the bottom of her tunic and started tearing off a strip. Toothless had learned a lot about the dead coverings that land-striders would wrap themselves in, some made from animal hides and other from some sort of plant fiber, and he would sometimes find himself staring in fascination at how land-striders would make, use, and destroy their dead coverings for various purposes. He knew what she was doing, though, as he had seen other land-striders do something similar when they were bleeding a bit too freely.

"I think I'll need your help," she said as she worked. Stormfly hopped over and started licking at a gash on her arm, causing Astrid to hiss in pain and Stormfly to squawk in alarm. "Really, girl, this'll require more than a lick." She turned to Toothless as she pulled a strip of cloth from the bottom of her tunic. "Take off your flight suit. We'll need to use your tunic as well."

Toothless complied, and Astrid made some little cuts in his tunic and started to tear a strip off. "There, that should let you tear off three strips, just like me."

Astrid went back to tearing the last strip from her tunic, and Toothless groaned at the sight of it. It was happening again. Land-striders, he had learned, didn't have a mating season. Well, to be more accurate, every season was mating season. Males were always in a rut.

Toothless knew to control himself, though, for Firefly's sake. Firefly was not in his body, and Toothless wasn't supposed to mate with Astrid since she wasn't his mate… Land-striders had always been complicated creatures. Regardless, the unwilling reaction of his body to seeing Astrid's exposed belly sure made him realize that his leather pants were… not very accommodating.

He had experienced such feelings on a few occasions while occupying Firefly's body. Astrid had slapped him whenever his mind melted and he inadvertently stared at another female, and then she slapped him again when he and Stormfly were brainstorming which characteristics of a land-strider female could cause such a reaction in males.

"Go find a straight stick, about as wide as your finger and twice as long," Astrid said, and Toothless walked off to comply… except he couldn't really walk normally, so he hobbled. "Did your leg get hit?" she asked, concerned.

"No."

Astrid snorted as realization dawned on her. "Really?!" She chuckled.

Toothless shrugged. "Blame this body, not me. At least I not stare at Hilda again."

Astrid sent him scurrying along with a murderous glare. Stormfly, who had finished licking at Firefly's injuries and had just offered a wing as shelter from the rain, added her own hissing to support her rider.

He found a stick about the right width and twice as long as needed, and broke it in half. Fortunately, he found that the discomfort had lessened and he was able to stand straight again… until he returned to see Astrid with almost all of her skin exposed to the elements. It made sense to expose the wounds so that they could be tended to, but the feeling of rutting returned with a vengeance.

She chuckled despite the situation. "I guess it really is a matter of body rather than mind. You never stared at me like that when you were a dragon."

"I not try be in rut," Toothless mumbled.

Though he would sooner die than tell her, her condition reminded him of a time when Hookfang had proudly shared some imagery of a female he had mated with a few years ago. With dragons, it was a simple matter of selecting a mate, fighting off any competing males, and taking her. Impressing her sometimes helped. Both dragons had been very… enthusiastic… in demonstrating to each other how dangerous they could be, and Hookfang was quite proud of the marks he'd given and received.

"Considering who you really are," Astrid said thoughtfully, "a stalker and a brawler by nature, I should have guessed a little blood would be a turn-on for you. Aww, you're blushing, how cute."

Toothless turned aside and held out the two sticks in his hand, and Astrid snatched one of them. She had a length of rope tied around her leg, just above the large puncture wound in her thigh. Toothless was about to ask how the stick was supposed to help, but she answered that question by sticking it through the loop of rope, twisting the stick until it cinched the loop so tight that it dug into her skin.

"Tourniquet," she explained as she tucked one end of the stick under the loop. "Slow the blood flow to the leg to slow the bleeding."

"Hrrr… smart." Suddenly, a thought came to mind, lethargically and slowly. There was only one other time he had seen this tourniquet thing on someone's leg, and that someone was Firefly, and it was very soon after they had killed the demonic queen – or Red Death as the land-striders called her.

"Sorry for loss," Toothless mumbled. He brightened and said, "Not worry, Firefly make leg for you." He looked at his dragon. "Hrrr, I make new leg for you. Firefly show me how."

Astrid stared at him, confused. "What?"

Toothless pointed to the tourniquet. "I see that before, on Firefly. It mean leg get cut off. Sad loss, but," he tapped his prosthetic foot against the ground, "we here for you."

Astrid stared at him blankly for a moment, then understanding lit up her face and she broke out into laughter. "Stop making me laugh, Toothless. I'm not cutting off my leg."

"But… But…" he pointed at the tourniquet, and then his prosthetic foot. "Not matter. Land-striders strange. You strange."

As the laughing subsided, she handed a length of rope to Toothless. "Tie that around my arm, up here by the armpit."

Toothless complied, and he bit his lips as he resisted the temptation his hands suddenly felt to… wander… towards other exposed flesh.

Stupid land-strider rut.

"I should also inform you that I'm holding a knife," she said.

Toothless grinned at that. Death threats were the language he understood best. "I be good."

She did the same sort of stick rope loop twisting thing. "Good, now take this," she said as she handed a cloth strip to Toothless, then pressed a folded patch against the gash in her shoulder on her other side. "Now tie that around here. As tight as you can. Tighter. C'mon, put your back into it. Good, I'll hold that hitch tight while you make the second loop, there, good."

She took a step back to lean against Firefly's side, but ended up slumping down to the ground. Toothless didn't like the way her eyes lost focus for a moment.

"You good?" he asked.

Astrid took a few deep breaths. "I… I've seen worse." Her speech was slurring a little, and Toothless was starting to feel truly worried about her. It suddenly dawned on him that this might not be all fun and games. "Here, take this." She placed a folded cloth strip against the puncture on her thigh and placed Toothless' hand over it. "Press here as hard as you can, and hold it."

Toothless complied as he worked his way into a more comfortable kneeling position.

"You'll have to use both hands," she said

She placed his other hand on the inside of her thigh, causing him to bend over a little more as his rutting sensation intensified.

"I… I…" Astrid started to say. "Feel light… headed. Squeeze… harder."

Toothless complied, but he whined at how Astrid's breath was fluttering a bit more now. Land-striders were small creatures compared to a Night Fury, and he realized that it was entirely possible that she could die from blood loss.

Suddenly, he noticed light filtering in through Stormfly's wing. The dragon uncurled it a little to allow a shaft of blinding sunlight to fall on them.

"Storm fade," Toothless said with a smile. His smile quickly vanished when he noticed that Astrid wasn't entirely there.

"If I… fall asleep… keep… squeezing," she said.

"I will." His arms were shaking already. "I not let you down."

"Good." Astrid took a few forced deep breaths. "And if you… touch me in an… inappropriate way… Storm will bite… off your… you know what."

Toothless looked up at Stormfly, who was standing over them and protecting them from the rain. "Stormfly, you not really would bite–"

SNAP!

After a moment, he dared to push his head out from between his shoulders to glare at Stormfly, then at Astrid who was weakly chuckling.

"Tooth–" her breath shuddered. "Thanks."

########


########

Ruffnut groaned. "This trip is so lame, isn't it, Barf?" Her Zippleback head grumbled in agreement

"I know," Tuffnut whined. "The storm spiced things up a little bit, but it's more annoying than exciting. Belch says he's ready to die from either exhaustion or boredom right now."

"No dragon trappers to contend with."

"Or hostile dragons."

"Oh, what if the others were attacked by dragons and we had to save them?"

"Ohhhh." Tuffnut rubbed his hands together. "That could be fun. But what sorta dragons would we have to defeat?"

"Skrill, I suppose, judging by the lightning we saw way yonder."

"Yeah, then we swoop in on Barf and Belch, laying down a cloud of gas, and blow it up."

"Or," Ruffnut mused, "what if it was two Skrill? Ya know, like a mated pair."

"Will you two shut up?!" Snotlout shouted over the whipping wind and driving rain. "And tell BB to stop slamming into Hookfang."

"Hey, BB is a majestic creature!" Tuffnut snapped as said dragon flipped upside-down in the gusting winds for the thousandth time.

"Yeah, Hookfang is flying into them," Ruffnut added. A sudden updraft caused the Monstrous Nightmare to slam into them from the below. "See?!"

"Ugh!" Snotlout groaned. "And we still don't know where we are. Are you sure our dragons aren't keeping us lost on purpose?"

Tuffnut scoffed. "BB couldn't sniff their way out of a room if there was a pile of fermented fish at the door, and they'd be the first to admit it."

"What about you, Hookey?" Snotlout demanded of his dragon. "If you can sniff out a strip of dried fish I left in a satchel, you can sniff out the others, right?"

"Hookfang says that it's not helping that the wind is shifting as quickly as he can blink."

Snotlout sighed. "Well, then, stop blinking, Hookfang. Duh!"

Said dragon looked back to give him a flat stare – until he slammed into the others.

Lightning flashed in the distance, and Ruffnut thought she heard thunder over the howling winds. Finally. Every time there was a period of no lightning, they would inevitably lose their orientation at the next gust of merciless wind. Hopefully, they could get closer before it stopped again. "Look, there's the lightning again!" she cheered. "Let's go that way."

"We have been going that way, and we're no closer," Snotlout shouted back. "And someone tell me again why we're flying towards the lightning?"

"Got any better ideas?" Tuffnut shot back. Snotlout groaned. "That's what I thought."

"I really don't see why this is so hard," Snotlout groused.

"Simple physics, my dear Snot," Tuffnut shouted over the howling wind. "Imagine you're on top of a barrel, trying to roll it across the ground. Simple, right? But forces beyond your control are spinning you around… and it keeps sliding across the ground at random… and you're so tired you're gonna fall into the ocean and drown if you don't find land soon… and the hills turn into trees and rocks turn into streams and so on."

The heads of Barf and Belch stared at him. "Yeah, I dunno, it made more sense before I said it," Tuffnut admitted.

"Like everything else you've ever–" Ruffnut started to say until she saw another bright pulse of light through the clouds. "Hey, look, more lightning!"

After what felt like another eternity of flying, with the occasional lightning bolt guiding the way, they felt like they made some progress. There was one long, sustained flickering of lightning, then nothing for a long time. The wind settled down to something that didn't tumble the dragons constantly, but there was nothing in sight beneath the clouds.

"Well, it has been an honor," Tuffnut said. "We are nearing the end of the rope, whereupon we shall fall and sleep with the fishes, and eventually be consumed by them. Yes, my dear Belch, ironic indeed. Hookfang, my only regret is that you can't set your rider's arse on fire one last time."

"Awww," Ruffnut whined, "I was hoping I would die while fighting an evil dragon with my bare fists to protect my stuffed yak."

"You mean our stuffed yak!" Tuffnut shot back.

Ruffnut pointed a finger at him. "We've been down this road already, and don't you dare even think of dying to protect my yak!"

"I'll die protecting what I want!"

"I was thinking not dying today would be fantastic," Snotlout said. He suddenly straightened in his saddle and pointed ahead. "Look, Hookfang sees land!"

Tuffnut squinted. "How can you tell– Oh, nevermind, BB says that Hookfang says that he sees land."

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "I don't gotta be a dragon whisperer when Hookey is an open book. With the way he's suddenly very excited about flying in that direction and dropping lower, he's either seen land to rest on or a potential mate." Said dragon looked back at his rider and snapped his teeth. "Bah, don't beat yourself up. She wasn't exactly your type anyway."

The storm clouds started to dissolve, and shafts of sunlight stabbed through to the ocean below. The speck of an island came into view, and as they drew closer, Ruffnut could see a tall, narrow mountain with a flat side as if sheared in half by the gods themselves. This was definitely the island on which they had awoken this morning, and judging by the position of the sun that was starting to peek through the clouds, it wasn't even noon yet.

"Hey, BB says that Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, and Stormfly are down there," Tuffnut announced. "Stormfly is filling them in on everything." Shortly after, they descended into a clearing to see with their own eyes – on calmer winds, thank the gods.

"What's Astrid doing here?" Ruffnut asked. She then noticed what appeared to be a Skrill lying on its side. "And is that a Skrill? And is that an ax in its neck? Cool! And is that another Skrill?!"

"Yeah," Tuffnut said. "Stormfly is giving us the scoop. Hey, did you know that Hiccup managed to move through the air?"

Snotlout gave him a flat stare as their dragons touched down on the ground to immediately collapse in exhaustion. "He's a dragon. This surprises nobody."

"No, like, he was in a spot, and then he was instantly somewhere else… like he transitioned himself into a new location–"

"Translocated!" Ruffnut shouted before Tuffnut could claim credit for inventing the word.

"Hmm, not bad," Tuffnut admitted. "But it was instant. The translocation happened in the blink of an eye."

"So, what you're saying," Snotlout slowly said, deep in thought, "is that Hiccup blinked… and then he was somewhere else? Huh. Hey, Hookey, can you do that? Can you blink across the island?"

Said dragon deigned to give his rider a lidded stare before closing his eyes again to sleep. "Lazy bum." A narrow gout of fire leaped at his rear, causing him to scream and run around in a panic before finally rolling around on the ground to extinguish the flames. "Okay, fine! Just go to sleep already!"

"What's this about Hiccup discovering some new ability?" an eager voice said from behind.

Ruffnut jumped in alarm to see Fishlegs standing behind her, eyes practically popping out of his head, open notebook and charcoal pencil in hand. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" she hissed. "And it's about time you showed up. How did you find us?"

"Simple," Fishlegs said as he leaned against his slumbering dragon with a smile. "When we all got separated, Meatlug and I had no clue where to go. However, I knew that it was important to group up again, and then I saw the lightning, and I knew that you twins and Snotlout are naturally attracted to danger and shiny things, so Meatlug and I decided to fly towards it to find you."

"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense," Tuffnut drawled out.

"But Meatlug filled me in about this whole blinking across the island thing, and it completely ruins my whole dragon rating system," Fishlegs whined. "I already had a Night Fury's speed marked as twenty, but if he can move some distance in literally no time at all–"

"You mean zero seconds?" Ruffnut suggested.

Fishlegs blushed. "Alright, fine, let's assume we can say 'zero' represents the nothingness that no actual number can represent, but then his speed would be… uhhh… higher than twenty… higher than a hundred… higher than a thousand…" He threw his hands up and shouted, "There literally is no number in existence for how fast he flew! It would be the logical opposite of zero! What have you done, Hiccup?! You ruined math! You just forced us to come up with abstractions for concepts that cannot be represented by numbers! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT SORT OF COMPLICATIONS YOU JUST CREATED?!"

He stood there, panting, arms raised in outrage, and suddenly seemed to deflate as he realized the tantrum he was throwing. "I need to think on this," he said meekly.

"Congratulations, Hiccup, you have officially broken Fishlegs," Snotlout said out of the side of his mouth. Said dragon made no response, though, as he was out cold.

"We really should check on Astrid, though," Tuffnut said. "BB says that Stormfly says that she's pretty torn up." He rubbed his hands together. "Oh, and she's not wearing anything. Hey, Stormfly, can you share with me what your eyes are seeing– HRK!"

He suddenly found himself doubled-over with Ruffnut standing over him. "Admit it, bro, you were literally asking for that." A groan was his only response. She looked over at Stormfly, whose wing was forming a tent over Astrid… and...

"Wait a moment, is Toothless in there with her?"

"Yes," came the muffled reply from Toothless.

A feral smirk crawled over Ruffnut's face. "And what, pray tell, are you doing all alone with a naked Astrid?"

"Not what you think!" came the vehement response. After a pause, he said, "Much blood coming out of Astrid."

"Well, that doesn't make sense. She's been around the block, if you know what I mean."

"Not what I mean!" Toothless said in annoyance. "I hold cloth thing, press into hurt, stop blood coming out. She still breathing, but sleeping. I worry. She did bleed a lot."

"I did some work with Gothi and picked up a few things," Ruffnut said as she rummaged through her saddlebag for her medical satchel. As much as she still believed that nothing was actually fun unless it produced a scar, she also respected the need to ensure that one survives long enough to appreciate said scar.

As she approached, Stormfly whined and pulled her wing in tighter around its occupants.

Ruffnut glared at her. "C'mon, girl, I've bathed with Astrid before. Nothing I haven't seen." The wing slackened, and Ruffnut was able to worm her way inside to take in the situation. "Storm, can I get some light?" The wing shifted to allow a small view of the bright sky above that was becoming less and less cloudy.

Astrid was laid out on the ground, asleep, with one leg lifted to rest in Toothless' lap. Toothless was pressing a crimson-soaked rag against a nasty-looking wound in her thigh. The poor thing was trying his best, but his arms were shaking from exhaustion.

Despite the situation, Ruffnut couldn't help but smirk. "Ya know, Tooth, if you take off your pants, you're in the perfect position to–"

"Not funny!" Toothless snapped.

"Okay, fine, mister all work no play," she chided as she looked Astrid over. "Hmm, tourniquets look good. They can be loosened in a while. This laceration on her shoulder has stopped bleeding, as has that one, and that one, and…" she grabbed Toothless' trembling wrist to lift his hand away from the outside of Astrid's thigh. It looked like something had punctured her there, and the wound wasn't small. "Bleeding has stopped here, too, so you can stop torturing your arms, now."

"How is she?" came Fishlegs' worried voice from outside.

"She hasn't died yet, and the bleeding has stopped, so she'll be fine," Ruffnut said. "Definitely some awesome scars. Good thing I always carry sutures in my saddlebag. How are you holding up, Toothless?"

"Sore. Knees sore. Legs sore. Back sore. All of me sore."

Ruffnut waved it off dismissively. "Bah, builds character. You can rest in a bit, but I'll show you how you can help me stitch her up."

"Like when I stitch leather?" Toothless asked, intrigued.

"Ya," Ruffnut chuckled, "but this leather bleeds if you do it wrong."

########


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Hiccup woke up with the world's worst hangover. At least, that was how it felt.

While he no longer felt the irresistible pull of sleep, he still felt dead on the inside, as if standing would have been a difficult task if it was even possible at all. However, as he blearily blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked around, he felt relief wash over him and a purr rumble through him. The sun was shining, about midday. Meatlug snoozed away, her body acting as a backrest for Fishlegs and Toothless as they sat by a campfire. They appeared to be cooking a chunk of wild boar, judging by the smell. Best of all, he felt a warm body pressed against his belly, and he curled his neck to see his lovely wife, arms wrapped around one foreleg while resting her head on the other. For some reason, she was undressed, her smooth skin interrupted only by ragged–

Hiccup shrieked.

Astrid snapped awake and shouted, "Stay!" Hiccup forced himself to relax again. "Good boy!" she jibbed, but Hiccup was not in a joking mood. "Keep that wing over me. A woman needs her privacy."

Hiccup forced himself to take deep breaths to slowly calm down. {What happened to you?}

Inside the enclosure of dragon belly and wing, with a little light coming in from above, she looked at the sutures all over her body, then looked at Hiccup and grinned. "If I told you I got in a fight with a couple of Skrills, would you believe me?"

Hiccup whined.

"I'll be fine," she said soothingly. "Remind me to properly thank Ruffnut for carrying those medical supplies I never thought we would ever need on the field. I mean, she had cured sinew, little pliers, a curved needle, everything! Oh, and they made some broth for me – did you know that Fishlegs always packs a pot? – and I'm feeling a lot better now."

Hiccup whined again. {I'm so sorry! I was too slow, and I exhausted myself so quickly. If I was a little less helpless…}

Astrid elbowed his stomach. "That is the last we will hear that sort of talk. Understood?" A groan was her only answer. "Good. Really, though, you were amazing, Babe. When you were up in the clouds, and I saw all that lightning… I thought you were dead. But you weren't, and somehow, you… blinked all the way to the ground from the clouds in an instant." She kissed the base of his neck. "That's for defying physics to save me and Toothless."

Hiccup stared at her. {Wait, that's what you're calling it? Blinking? I blinked from the clouds to the ground? That sounds like Snotlout's work.}

Astrid rolled her eyes. "And, somehow, it stuck."

{Speaking of which, where are he and Hookfang? And where are Barf and Belch and the twins? Please tell me they're not still lost.}

"Oh, they slept the night and flew back to Berk to get some things. Ya know, some more clothing for me, and some additional medical supplies, probably some horrid concoctions that Gothi will demand I drink lest I suffer a painful death at her hands. Oh, and I left Nuffink with your mom and told her I'd be a few days tops, so they're informing her that she's on babysitter duty for a bit longer. It'll take two weeks until my injuries have healed enough to even think about flying, three tops. It'll be torture to be away from Nuffink like this, but I'm going to owe Valka big time when I get back."

Hiccup started purring, causing Astrid to let out a contented moan. {Correction, I will owe her big time when we get back. You really did save the day. I was dead and I knew it before you showed up.}

Astrid smiled at him from inside her winged tent. "Hey, someone's gotta pull your arse out of the fire."

{At least nobody can say I was naive in trying to insert myself into a hostile situation when I didn't have to.}

"First time for everything."

Hiccup let out a mock growl at that and shifted slightly to flatten Astrid to the ground.

"Careful!" He froze with a startled yelp. "Sutures."

He let out an apologetic croon as he craned his neck around to inspect the sutures. Nothing appeared to have pulled out, but he couldn't hold back a soft growl at the sight of her injuries.

"To be honest, your purring was a lot more pleasant."

Hiccup dug around and found his way back into a solid purr again.

"Thanks. You should have seen how proud Ruffnut was of her work, though. She said," Astrid shifted her voice to the back of her throat to imitate the subject, "Stormfly, if you lick Astrid's wounds and mess up any of my sutures, I will mess you up in ways you've formerly assumed to be impossible." She chuckled. "I'm assuming the threat extends to you, Babe."

Hiccup chortled at that. {Well, then, I suppose I have a couple days before I need to worry, if they left only this morning.}

"Nah," Astrid waved that off. "They should be back by sundown, so you and Storm are keeping my privacy, by the way."

Hiccup wiggled into a more comfortable position and gave her a lick. {Then I shall camp here with you.} A thought suddenly came to mind. If the other riders had slept overnight, took the day's flight to Berk, overnighted there, and were flying back today... {How long have I been asleep?}

"Almost three full days. Toothless insisted we make some stew and slip it into you while you snoozed, but you must be starving. I wonder if Stormfly–"

A gust of wind buffeted Hiccup as Stormfly swooped in to land. {It is good to see you are awake, Firefly! I am so disappointed that I was taken out of the fight so early on, but I'm glad you're as deadly as Toothless ever was. I have some fish for you.}

Hiccup grinned up at Stormfly, then looked around for the promised food. He suddenly realized that he was absolutely starving.

Stormfly looked up and her throat started contracting. Hiccup groaned.

He had gone through these motions before, when Stormfly first found him and Toothless a few days after their souls had swapped bodies. He knew his instincts would take over, that his head would tilt up and his mouth would open wide. He just wished that he wouldn't close his eyes and purr blissfully in anticipation of the regurgitated fish.

With that deed done, Stormfly took a step back as Hiccup licked his lips. {That should be enough to get you on your paws, Firefly. I killed that boar over by the fire only this morning, and the riders already took what little they needed. The rest is all yours.}

It wasn't until Hiccup was halfway to the boar carcass, mid-leap, when he realized that he left Astrid uncovered – not that Fishlegs would try to peek as he would probably faint if he did. However, Stormfly had smoothly slid in to cover for Hiccup's sudden absence.

As Hiccup devoured the boar, he was distantly aware of Fishlegs staring in morbid fascination, saying, "Wow, that sure is… intense." It wasn't until he was crunching down on a hind leg bone that he realized there was nothing else remaining.

Sleep suddenly sounded like a good idea, and Hiccup found himself flopped down on his side.

Something brushed against his belly, and as sleep tugged at his body, he was faintly aware of Toothless making himself comfortable, smiling as he hugged one foreleg. "My turn."