Hey, everyone. Know what it is? IT'S SUMMER! Which means more content from me! Though this one is, unfortunately, a day late - sorry about that.

Anyways, this is the 'part two' of chapter 8, which is technically chapter 9, and I realize that I'm going to go off on an explanation tangent here if I don't move on.

The whole 'new era' thing that I was talking about one or two chapters ago was mainly based around the idea that I'll have more time to write now that I'm on break, which is true, to an extent, though obviously I still don't have all the time in the world. That's all I wanted to say on that.

Not much else to say about this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy!

By the way - feel free to ask questions in the comment section! PM me if you want, but otherwise I'll probably answer it in the foreword of the next chapter - I won't be giving away any spoilers, though! Also, whilst I understand my logic in this story could be a bit flawed at some points, and my explanations scarce, if you see any really obvious plot holes that you think I missed, please tell me! I'd like to know whose viewpoints in the story you most enjoy, as well. I try to keep it fairly balanced, though there are points in the story that more or less demand a specific person's view and opinion on the situation.

Also, if it wasn't clear,

"Human talk"

"Night Fury-Dragon thought/speak"

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CHARACTERS

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.

Astrid was unaccustomed to dreams.

She would have them occasionally, of course - the few she could remember at that age tended to be the nightmares that seemed all too real - many of them featured Hiccup dying, or her straps breaking on Stormfly hundreds of feet above Berk, sending her falling, and falling, helpless, until she woke up in her room in a cold sweat, running outside in just a blouse and her skirt to throw axes at trees in the woods, until the sun came up and people started looking for her. Some were even set before the war ended - she would find herself trapped in a burning building, carried away be a Monstrous Nightmare, or frozen like her uncle had been years ago… They all seemed far too realistic, as though each had happened to her in her life at one point - sometimes she even caught herself saying they did. She had certainly seen those things happen to plenty of people, but she knew she would never understand what it was like until it happened to her. Thanks to Hiccup, she would hopefully never have to.

The dreams where he died… She didn't even want to think about. Whenever she had one, she would rush over to his house as soon as she woke up, marching into his room and past Toothless, who would glare at her but wouldn't react, and shake Hiccup until he woke up. It rarely took less than an hour of him reassuring her to prove that he was alive, followed by another hour of her making him promise that he wouldn't die on her - after all, she would kill him if he did.

But this time, her dream didn't feel like a nightmare at all. In fact, in this dream, she felt completely calm and almost happy with what was happening. But later on, she decided that that was the terrifying part about it.

Her eyes snapped open, and she found herself in a cave - it wasn't a matter of being able to see she where she was, so much as her awareness of it - she knew where she was because she couldn't be anywhere else. In fact, she felt completely at home in the cave - as though she had lived in the entire life, and knew every corner of it. Ahead of her, a small point of light could barely be seen, but she moved toward it nonetheless. Something told her it was daylight, and as the brightness filled her vision, she realized she was right.

Her eyes were met with the sight of a huge bay in the middle of a valley surrounded by gigantic mountains, each mile high, which stretched out into the ocean on the opposite end, and narrowed to a tall mountain on the end she was looking out from. At thin, narrow waterfall ran down the mountain to Astrid's right, running down to a river a few hundred feet below. The land around the cove was covered with pine trees, many running halfway up the surrounding mountains before it turned into stone. A small something inside of her told her she had never been here before, and yet, she got the even more overpowering feeling that she had been here almost her entire life.

Out to sea, she could make out a faint black dot a hundred feet above the water, approaching at a rapid and yet leisurely pace. As the dot moved further , she could start to make out its features, yet she already knew who it was - it was Toothless, her… What was he to her? What she was about to say made perfect sense, and yet somehow, something about it seemed… Wrong. Either way, he was home, hopefully with food for her and…. Her and who?

Gracefully, he landed on the small outcropping of rock in front of the cave and spat out a pile of fish in front of her. "Toothless," She asked, glancing once at his back. "Where's Hiccup?"

The dragon stared at her for a moment, concerned, before telling her, "Hiccup's been gone for years, my other. Are you feeling alright?"

She frowned. Of course - why had she asked such a stupid question? It had been years since she had seen him last… Hadn't it?

Toothless shrugged. "I'm telling you - you spend far too much time in that cave. We're safe out here - there isn't anyone else around for miles. You don't have to hide from anyone anymore. Why don't we go flying after the children eat? You haven't been out in… Well, it's been months, hasn't it? You can't stay in the dark with them forever."

She blinked. "The ch-"

Suddenly, she was quite nearly knocked over, as three tiny bodies came darting out of the cave behind her, rushing to the pile of fish, and plunging their faces in. She couldn't help but feel startled, and confused looking at them - these were her children, weren't they? She had raised them since birth. Yet once again, she had that same feeling that something was… Wrong. That this wasn't right.

Swallowing a fish in a single gulp, one of the baby Night Furies turned its head up to her, grinning. "Look, mama!" He told her. "Look what papa taught us!" It turned back to the others and nodded for them to follow. They walked up to the ledge, excitedly.

Astrid looked up at Toothless, shocked, but he only smiled down at the younglings. They pawed the edge, anxious. Her eyes widened.

No… She thought. No! They're not ready!

They jumped.

She ran up to the ledge a moment later and whipped her head around to Toothless. "They weren't ready!" She screeched at him.

He shrugged and smiled at her, then walked up to the edge, and pointed down with a claw. "I don't think you're giving them enough credit," he told her.

Terrified, she walked up to the ledge and watched as one of them struggled to open his wings, then another. Both of them slowly stopped falling, gliding to a nearby ledge and landing on all fours. The third one, however, the one who had been talking to her a moment ago, did not open his wings. Instead, he kept tumbling downwards, parallel with the nearly vertical cliff face, flailing his limbs, and screeching for help.

Astrid's eyes widened, and she jumped off of the cliff, trying to aim towards her child. They're not ready! She thought desperately, as though it would stop her child from plummeting through the air.

She dived down the mountain, the wind whistling behind her ears, the whole world rushing up past her. But all she could see was the small black ball hurling down the mountain, flailing its arms and screeching. She kept getting closer, and closer…

She caught it. She felt her paws take on a bit of weight as they collided with her child, and she clung to it. Relieved, she tried to spread her wings out, only to find that they wouldn't work - they were lifeless, stuck to her body like useless ornaments.

Terrified, she turned her head down to look at her child - she wanted it to be the last thing she saw if that was how she would die.

Instead, she found Hiccup.

He rested in her arms, and looked weary, and frail, as though he had just barely survived a long battle. He smiled up at her weakly. Five words escaped his lips, like the last wisps of smoke from a dying fire. "It's… Okay, Astrid," He told her. She felt tears run up the side of her face, though she didn't realize it. In that moment, it was just her, and him. A small stream of blood streamed out of his lips, as he gasped out two last words. "I'm… Sorry."

And then his eyes closed, and his head collapsed over her paw, lifeless.
Then, there was nothing. The world disappeared, and the cove, Toothless, her children, and Hiccup were gone. And she was still falling… Falling...

It felt as though an eternity had passed before she heard a voice. It was small, and faint, but seemed to get louder as she continued to fall through an endless, black void.

"Astrid." The voice called out her name, and repeated it again, then again. She closed her eyes.

"Astrid."

"Astrid."

"Astrid!"

"Astrid!"

"Astrid!"

"Astrid, wake up! Don't die on us yet!" She realized whose voice it was. Could it be? Had he come back to rescue her? But wait…

Her eyes snapped open and were met with the face of a very concerned and angry looking Night Fury, outlined by the sun. Seeing that she had woken up, he slowly backed off of her, apprehensive. She coughed.

"Phew!" Hiccup ran up to her, grinning with relief. "I thought I'd lost you for a moment. Gods, I don't know what I'd-" Frightened, she leaped up, knocking him over, and bolted off toward the small forest in the gorge, wanting to get away from them all, away from him, as much as anything.

She dashed under the pines, feeling her tail whip against the underbrush, crushing the smaller trees and bushes beneath it. She was aware of feeling wet all over, though she couldn't recall why. She kept running, as though in a trance, her body carrying her forward as she tried to process what had happened, until she nearly smacked her head against a stone wall - she had reached the end of the gorge.

Evaluating it for only a moment, she jumped up and tried to grab onto a small ledge running along about eight feet above the ground. Luckily, she made it high enough, but she misjudged her weight and ended up slamming wings-first against the rock, tumbling back down to the ground a moment later, dazed.

Admitting defeat, she lay there on the ground and curled herself up in the tightest ball she could, trying to hold back tears.

It took less than a minute for her to hear Hiccup's voice calling out for her, as well as Toothless's in her mind. The dragon found her first, with Hiccup trailing behind.

Hiccup ran up to her, breathing heavily - he wasn't used to running. "Astrid… You… Run into… Why… You okay?" She didn't respond.

She heard Toothless creep up to her a moment later. "... Astrid?"

"Go away."

"But I don't-"

"I said go away!" She snarled at him, starting to unravel from the ball she had rolled herself in, before curling back into it a moment later, still keeping an eye on the two of them - Syl apparently hadn't followed, or at least wasn't letting herself be seen.

She watched as Toothless glanced at Hiccup as if questioning why he even bothered with her, then padded off into the forest the way he had come. Hiccup looked as though he wanted to follow for a moment, but, after taking a deep breath, sat down beside her instead. Still, she didn't respond.

They waited in silence. A minute passed. Then another. Astrid pricked her ears up - a trick Toothless had taught her when Hiccup had gone back to the trap the day before - and listened for the sound of feet in the brush, or a rustle of leaves - any sign that Syl might be listening to them. When she heard nothing, she laid her head back down, and the silence and tranquility of the forest returned.

Gathering his courage, Hiccup spoke. "Astrid, I…" He sucked in his breath. "I know this is hard and all, and I understand that you don't like someone, someone like Syl, especially, to… Impersonate you, but we need to… Need to..." His voice trailed off, as he tried to think of what to say. Sighing, she wrote a message for him in the dirt.

I HAD A DREAM

Hiccup looked back up at her, raising an eyebrow. "You had a… A dream? What about?"

She thought for a moment, trying to remember the details - the memory was already fading in her mind, but she knew it had been terrible.

IT WAS ABOUT ME

AS A DRAGON

Hiccup nodded, urging her to go on.

I WAS IN A CAVE I THINK

THERE WAS THE OCEAN

AND A BIG COVE SURROUNDED BY MOUNTAINS

TOOTHLESS WAS THERE

YOU WERE GONE

YOU HAD BEEN GONE FOR YEARS

TOOTHLESS AND I WERE

She lifted her claw, hesitant. It was only a dream, She told herself. Hiccup is here, now - he's still alive, and I can talk to him about this.

He stared at her, and she could tell he already knew what she was about to tell him. She took a breath, and looked up at him, then continued writing.

WE WERE MATES, I THINK

WE HAD CHILDREN

THREE BABY NIGHT FURIES

THEY ALL JUMPED OFF THE CLIFF

TWO OF THEM OPENED THEIR WINGS AND LANDED

BUT THE THIRD ONE

KEPT FALLING

AND FALLING

I DOVE DOWN TO GET HIM

I CAUGHT HIM

BUT

She lifted her paw up before continuing, hesitant. Hiccup wasn't the kind to be scared of dreams - at least, not anymore. But something told her that she shouldn't tell him what she had seen after she caught… Him, though she didn't know why.

I CAUGHT HIM

BUT THEN I JUST KEPT FALLING

AND FALLING

AND

She frowned, trying to remember.

AND THEN I WOKE UP, I THINK

There was another moment of silence, as they both sat there, thinking.

"Well," Hiccup replied, "That… That's a lot to take in. I… I'm not sure what it means, but…"

DO YOU THINK IT WAS A VISION?

Hiccup shook his head. "No, it was just a dream. I'm sorry it scared you, Astrid, but… Well, it was just that - a dream. Nothing more, nothing less. But if it was a vision of the future or at least a potential one… Well, that's all the more reason to change you back as soon as possible."

He got up to leave, and Astrid growled at him, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment once she did - it had come out a bit more aggressive than she had intended. Hiccup looked down at her, startled.

HICCUP

She looked down, slightly ashamed. While there was no way she was going to admit that she was scared, she wasn't ready to face Toothless again, or at least not yet.

COULD YOU STAY HERE FOR A MOMENT?

His eyes widened, but he sat back down next to her, crossing his legs.

A strong wind blew through the forest, making several leaves fly off of their branches, cascading to the muddy ground around her. The thunderstorm from the night before would be the last one Berk saw for a while, she knew - winter would be setting in soon, and the ground would begin to freeze and frost over in the mornings, painting the grass a pale whitish-gray, not too unlike her newfound scales.

If she was to remain as a dragon into the winter… She wasn't sure what she would do. They might have to reveal their plan to the village - assuming it worked - and in the midst of the coldest and driest season on Berk, she knew that they would already have enough problems on their hands, without a dragon girl's mouth to feed, as well.

She looked down at Hiccup, who had inched closer to her since he had sat back down. She realized what he was trying to do - it was awkward, and seemed kind of odd, but she decided that she may as well seize the opportunity, too, if only just this once.

Slowly, she uncurled her body from the odd-shaped ball she had tried to roll herself into and exposed her left side to Hiccup. Her wings had folded to her back at some point - likely after she had woken up - and her tail unraveled as soon as she had moved. Smiling sheepishly, Hiccup crawled over to her, nestling himself in the small gap between her front leg and her side that he had rested in with Toothless dozens of times before.

As he sat down, she came to realize how ridiculously powerful she really was. She had been strong and tall for her age before, she knew that, but even recently Hiccup had begun to sprout up past her, and even grow a few muscles - something she had known would happen to him eventually, but still surprised her nonetheless. But now, here, sitting in the crook of her arm, she realized how much power a dragon really had, not even counting their wings or firepower. There, squeezed comfortably against her side and leg, all Astrid would have to do was move her leg ever so slightly inward, and she could crush him. She could barely even feel him sitting there at all - she might not even notice if she did. It was a terrifying thought, and she knew she would never do that, yet still… A small, animalistic part of her grinned from the rush of power she got from it, from the idea that humans could be so small, so weak, so fragile, and even question why they had ever thought to fight dragons… She was small, too, compared to other dragons - she could only imagine if she were as large as a Nightmare, or a Nadder! She would be invincible.

But of course, that was not true - she knew that all dragons had their weak spots, and thus she probably wasn't quite as powerful as she believed. Still, she realized how much Hiccup really trusted her - putting his life on the line just to sit with her, in a rare moment of peace.

"It's kind of odd, isn't it?" Hiccup suddenly broke the silence. She turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. He had his hands behind his head, relaxed, and looked up at the trees, in deep but light-hearted thought.

"I mean, I always thought I would be the one that became a dragon - especially a Night Fury. I mean, I never expected this to happen to anyone at all! But, you know, with Toothless and I, I just thought… Well, I just didn't expect this to happen."

She nodded - it did seem odd that she would have this happen to her. After all, Toothless herself had told her that Hiccup was considered by other dragons to be more dragon than he was human sometimes, and she didn't have a hard time believing it. His whole life, he had been an outcast in their village, but when he was around dragons, he acted like he had lived with them forever, and in a way, he had. He had been the first to shoot down a Night Fury, and first to train one, or any dragon at all - in the odd, crazy world they seemed to be living with, it would almost make more sense if he had somehow been turned into a dragon. He might've, as well - Syl did say the trap was originally intended for him. But then again, none of them were sure what had turned her into one, and Gothi hadn't offered much advice, either.

She looked back at him. He was trying to hold back a smile, and looking at the ground, as though he didn't want to look at her. It was obvious there was something he wanted to ask her.

She rolled her eyes, and wrote out in front of him,

ALRIGHT, HICCUP

I KNOW YOU HAVE A TON OF QUESTIONS

ABOUT ME AS A NIGHT FURY,

AND SINCE WE HAVE A BIT OF TIME

I GUESS

She never got to finish writing her sentence. He jumped out of his spot and turned to face her, grinning.

"What is your sight like? Can you see sound or anything like that? How do your ears work? Wait, no, how do your teeth work?! Can you hear things from farther away than humans? Oh! How do you talk to Toothless? Are you in each other's minds or something? Can you feel a fire in your stomach? Or is it an acid? Do you have more than one heart? Well, that's a stupid question. How would you tell? Well, of course, the Book of Dragons stated that..."

Astrid groaned, and her head fell to the ground. Me and my big claw… She thought to herself.

Syl still wasn't sure why she had stayed back by the lake. But then again, she wasn't even sure why she had agreed to the two dragon-lovers' crazy plan.

The Nadder had flown off to Gods knew where soon after Astrid had run into the forest, which Syl couldn't help find odd, given that they had seemed relatively close when she was still human. But who knew? Maybe the dragon had forgotten that Astrid was even human in the first place.

As the Night Fury and Hiccup had chosen to follow Astrid into the forest a moment after she ran in, she had been left alone in the muddy clearing, the waterfall rushing into the lake just behind her. Of all the opportunities to run away, she knew, this would be the best yet - nobody was watching her, and whilst she knew that Hiccup had offered to let her run away earlier, she had still been apprehensive of the fact that the boy could seemingly call his dragon to him at any time. A Night Fury, of all things - she certainly couldn't outrun in, never mind the possibility of having to fight it. But then again, he seemed to trust her enough to leave her alone, even then, so perhaps she should've repaid him by fulfilling his expectations, if just this once…

But then again, why should she? She didn't owe him anything. And from what she had heard, the girl didn't seem too keen on their plan, either - so why should she stay? She knew she could probably make it if she went out on her own - she figured she knew which berries to eat, and with some practice, could probably even make a fire. Given some time, she could probably even find a way off the island.

With a bit of newfound confidence, she slowly got up, crept over to Hiccup's pack to look for anything she could use, and was about to start searching for a ledge to climb in the gorge, before she heard a rustling in the brush behind her, followed by a low growl that sent shivers up her spine. She sucked in her breath and turned around, expecting the worst.

Out of the forest emerged the Night Fury, black as ebony, with a fierce snarl on its maw that made the hairs on Syl's arms stand up. Its teeth were as white as pearls and sharp as knives, she knew, with eyes so filled with energy and hatred they were almost hypnotizing. Ever so slowly, keeping her eyes locked on the beast throughout, she placed the food and water she'd taken from Hiccup's pack on the ground, and backed away from it, moving her hand to the small kitchen knife sheathed at her side.

After glaring at her venomously for a moment, the dragon slinked over to the lake. Startling her, it then proceeded to burn a ring of grass around itself, sending a bit of smoke up into the air for a moment, before lying on the ground with a soft groan, and closing its eyes.

Syl let out her breath, which she hadn't realized she had been holding in, and slowly sat down, as well. Glancing up to the dragon every few seconds, she took a small whetstone out of her back pocket and began to sharpen her knife.

Though she tried not to, she couldn't help but stare up at the black creature with an intense loathing. It was only a moment later that she realized she had been biting down on her lip so hard it was bleeding, and the weak, rusted knife she was sharpening had bent in the whetstone. Cursing, Syl threw it on the ground, along with the stone.

Still, she couldn't help but marvel at the red cloth mechanism replacing the dragon's left tailfin. Whilst the metal bar going up the side of its tail held it more or less in place, it was still very flexible, able to stretch out to the full extent the dragon's natural one could, whilst still being very sturdy and taut when flexed. From the back of the tail, a string ran up along its body, all the way to the streamlined saddle on the back, where it connected to the contraption used to adjust the fin. It had a small, oddly shaped rest that she knew was designed for Hiccup's dead leg, though she figured it could probably fit into a smaller foot, as well.

She was about to move closer to get a better look before she realized the dragon was staring at her, something almost like curiosity in its eyes. But that wasn't possible, was it? These beasts didn't have emotions - they were dragons, born and brought up to kill Vikings - it was in their nature.

Muttering under her breath, she sat back down. The dragon's gaze stayed on her. She picked up the knife again and tried to bend it back into shape with the whetstone.

Then she dropped it.

The dragon was walking towards her.

She hadn't even seen it get up. How that was possible when it was right in front of her, she didn't know. But she did know that it was moving towards her quite quickly and seemed to have a certain venom in its eyes that it had been missing before.

Her breathing becoming rapid, she slowly got up, clutching the knife. Blunted as it may have been, she could still use it as a weapon. "Don't… Don't try anything… Stay back!" She yelled in between breaths. The dragon continued forward, snarling, as though it found her statement petty. This is it, she thought to herself. I knew it! They're going to kill us all! I'm the only one around here who understands - they're not safe! Frightened, she suddenly realized, And I'm going to die because I'm the only one who wasn't afraid to say it.

Slowly, the Night Fury stalked towards her, one foot after the other. The gap closed. Twenty feet, then ten feet, then five, and it stopped. Her breathing turned into full-on panicky swells in her lungs, and she felt her heart beating so fast she thought it might burst out of her chest. She tightened her grip on her knife.

The dragon looked up at her for a moment.

Then it bent its head to her knees.

It was so simple a gesture that she didn't realize it at first. But when she did, she had to blink twice to assure herself of what it had just done. With its head bent down, it was incredibly vulnerable - whilst its scales were still thick, a sharp enough knife could still penetrate it.

She stared at the dragon for a moment, suspicious. "Is… Is this some kind of a trick?! Are you… Are you…" But she couldn't think of an excuse - in the position it was in, there was no easy way it could defend itself against a blow, especially with a sharp object, to the back of its head. If struck in the right place, she knew, the blood would be cut off from its head, and it would die almost instantly, unable to even scream one last time for help. There was no way she could see the dragon coming out of this scenario alive, and yet…

She looked down at the blunted knife in her hand, then back up at the dragon, angrily. "Is this… Is this some kind of a… A joke, to you?"

The Night Fury rolled its eyes. Quicker than she could react, it looked up and grabbed the knife out of her hand with its mouth, placed it on the ground, and bent it more or less back into shape, then stepped back again, and lowered its head once more.

Slowly, she picked up the knife again. "How…" The words escaped her, and she ended up mouthing syllables, before clenching her jaw shut. She took a deep breath and raised the knife above the dragon's head. It huffed as if to say, "Get on with it!", but didn't look up.

She let out the air through her mouth in a steady stream. This… This is it… She thought, coming to another realization. This is what I wanted - If I kill this… BEAST, I could go back to my island, and they'd celebrate my accomplishments like they always should've! I can be the one, the mighty Night Fury slayer! Ending the bane of Viking's existence for generations! I could do it - my Mother and I could get along, we could conquer Berk, and the entire world! I could raise an army on my own! They would be groveling at my feet! I could make those bastards pay for abandoning me here! I could… The thoughts trailed off in her mind, and she couldn't help but grin internally. This is my chance… She raised up the knife once again, her hands shaking in anticipation - this dragon had chosen to trust her, and it was the last mistake it would ever make in its life.

She frowned and sighed.

"But what does it matter, anyways?" She asked herself.

The knife clattered to the ground harmlessly, landing with a dull THUD.

"I could bring back your heart on a plate for all my mother cares, and she would still send me back here, if not just kill me on the spot. There's… There's no point." She sat back down, hugging her knees, not even remembering the dragon that was in front of her a moment before was still there. He looked up at her, as though disappointed, then backed up a bit, still staring at her.

Finally acknowledging him, she raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He looked at her, then over at the small bundle of Astrid's clothes, then back at her. Rolling her eyes, she got up and moved over to them. As she picked up the skirt, she couldn't help but look back at the dragon, more in annoyance than in fear. "Toothless," she muttered, "What a stupid name."

After sitting through what felt like ages of Hiccup's questions, and desperately trying to answer them, Astrid finally told him that her paw was starting to get cramped and that the questions would have to wait. When that didn't work, she just stopped answering them, which made him shut up, eventually. After that, they just laid there, reveling in that small moment of peace, which they both knew wouldn't last.

Yet she felt safe, and she was with Hiccup, and in those moments, lying under the trees, she felt as if nobody was watching her, nobody cared about what she did, and she could spend the rest of her life without worries. The smarter half of herself told her that it made her vulnerable and she shouldn't have been thinking that way, but she decided not to worry, at least for the moment.

When Hiccup seemed to believe a reasonable amount of silence had passed, he asked her just one more question. "Astrid… Are you sure about… This?"

She looked back at him - he was in that space behind her leg once again - and rolled her eyes.

DO I HAVE A CHOICE? IT'S TOO LATE NOW.

"Well," he replied, "we could just… Not. I might be able to convince the Village that you're actually missing - I could work out. I could go out here, and bring you food, and we could try to change you back… I could just tell people I was looking for you…"

She shook her head.

PEOPLE WOULD SEE YOU BRINGING FOOD

AND THEY WOULD WONDER WHY YOU WOULDN'T

TAKE ANYONE WITH YOU

BESIDES

SYL ALREADY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED

IF WE LET HER GO

OR PUT HER IN PRISON

SHE COULD TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS

Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed, as though he hadn't considered it. "Well, she might not…" Even he sounded doubtful. She frowned.

YOU'RE TOO TRUSTING IN HER, HICCUP

YOU NEED TO LEARN NOT TO GIVE AWAY SECRETS

ESPECIALLY IF WE'RE GOING TO DO THIS.

He was about to respond before she heard a scream coming from where they had come. She whipped her head over to Hiccup, wondering if he hadn't heard it due to her new dragon-ears, but he looked surprised, as well. Her eyes widened. That… No-good, rotten, sorry excuse for a...! Throwing herself onto her feet, she rushed back through the trees to the lake. "Toothless!" She thought, trying to send the message out to him. There was no response. She broke through the forest, growling, barely aware of Hiccup yelling something behind her.

"Where is she?!" She yelled out in all directions with her mind, probably sending the message to every dragon within several miles of the gorge.

She saw Stormfly circling down from above, looking quite frantic. Toothless was sitting near the lake, looking almost… Embarrassed? That couldn't have been right, but she had no other explanation for his expression. And Syl…

Quickly scanning the beach, she immediately noticed one thing that was missing - her axe. Then something darted out of the forest behind her, and she whipped around to fight, not noticing Toothless's suddenly worried look as she did.

Sure enough, there stood Syl, holding her axe. And…

Hiccup rushed up behind her a moment later. "Sorry… Astrid… You're… Very… Fast… Now…" He turned to look at Syl, and his jaw dropped open, only a single word leaving his mouth. "... Oh."

Astrid blinked.

Syl was wearing her clothes.

"So," the spy threw her hair over her shoulder and adjusted the circlet to hold it in place. Then she grinned at them. "How do I look?"