Hello, everybody!

I'm sorry that this chapter came out a bit late as well - my birthday was last week, and I've had a lot on my mind of late, as well. I have a few vacations coming up, however, so I'll hopefully be able to get some writing done then.

One quick note I wanted to mention - I'm aware that I use "The Green Death" in this story to refer to the giant dragon Hiccup and Toothless defeated at the end of the first movie, and that it's actually the name of the dragon from the books. Technically, it is supposed to be the "Red Death", as that was the name kind of assigned to it in the movie. But since it was never formally acknowledged in the film, and I thought personally the dragon was leaning more toward a green hue than red (even if the color in the name is supposed to be symbolic), I've simply chosen to use that name for it, instead. There's no intended cameo or crossover reference to the book there, just to clear that up.

Aside from that, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I know this has been a very stretched out "day" - or few days - in the story, but I promise that the pace will pick up soon. Thank you all, and be sure to follow this story for updates and leave a review!

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.

Syl strode out of the Main Hall with her plate as quickly as she could, avoiding the eyes that she knew were piercing into her back and trying to forget the awkward confrontation she had just been put through.

More than anything she had wanted to sink her head down and hide in the shadows when she walked in. It was what she had always done in the few public places she was forced to go to, yet she knew it wouldn't be the case here. Astrid's personality was too bold, too haughty - she had learned that quickly enough. So she held her head high and waltzed into the Hall as confidently as she could, having regained her balance after getting off Stormfly before she went in. She wasn't Syl, the outcast, broken Chief's daughter who everyone knew stole from them but nobody dared to speak out about. Here, she was Astrid, the cocky, headstrong warrior-girl who wasn't afraid of anybody. Of course, Syl wasn't really afraid of anybody. Not anymore, at least…

Despite her sudden determination, the Hall still quieted some when she walked in, the only ones still laughing raucously being those hopelessly drunk on the outer edges of the Hall. Still, she tried not to make eye contact, marching up to the analyze the feast to distract her from the roaring sound in her ears, and… Was that her heartbeat? It couldn't be. It was way too fast.

She was quite disappointed to find that Hiccup was right. The majority of the food was picked over, leaving only a few crumbs, thin slices of fatty meat and the end loaves of bread left. Still, she circled the table several times over, picking the best of what she could find before circling again. She had been scavenging in people's houses and the woods back home for as long as she could remember - this was child's play.

Hearing footsteps behind her, her entire body went rigid.

Please don't talk to me, she thought, Please don't talk to me please don't talk to me please-

"Astrid?" Hiccup's father's booming voice asked from behind her. She winced, and sighed internally. Maybe she should've just killed Hiccup when she had the chance.

She whirled around as firmly as she possibly could.

"Hey… Chief," the words felt strange as they seeped out of her teeth. She had never called anyone Chief before, at least not to their face. She hated to let people think they had authority over her - it tended to give them enough confidence to think they could make her do things she didn't want to.

But Astrid's a girl of honor, she reminded herself, and I need to put on a show.

He looked around awkwardly, as though expecting to find some new feature in the Hall he had somehow never noticed before. "Ah, where's Hiccup?"

"H-he's, uh," she frowned. Astrid wouldn't stutter, she remembered. Calm, confident and hot-headed, that was all she needed to be.

"He went out for a flight with Toothless," she proclaimed, "he'll be back in a little while. He told me to, ah, get some more food…"

Stoick raised an eyebrow. "And the food you brought with you?"

"Well... Stormfly likes chicken. It helps her performance," Syl replied, suddenly remembering something either Astrid or Hiccup had told her earlier.

"So he thought it would be a good idea to bring some other things for her to try," she finished, feeling quite proud of herself for coming up with it so quickly.

Stoick still seemed skeptical, if a bit more relaxed. He was obviously accustomed to his son doing strange things. "Alright, well… Tell him to come see me when he gets back. I need to speak with him about... Something. And get some rest, Astrid. You look tired."

She nodded curtly. "Yes… Sir."

With one last puzzled smile, he left her standing there with her plate, going to join a few others he had been joking with toward the back of the hall. She left as soon as she could, her plate in hand.

Leaning back against the side of the building for support as soon as she had gotten outside, Syl breathed a sigh of relief. The most terrifying experience she'd had that day hadn't been soaring a mile high in the air or facing off against the very offspring of lightning and death itself, she realized. It had been talking with one of her own kind.

Grumbling, she waited there and watched the night sky in silence, until a black figure came swooping down from the sky, startling her at first before she remembered that she wasn't supposed to be scared of him anymore. As if that was going to happen anytime soon.

Hiccup hopped off once they touched down, and walked over to her, taking note of the closed doors behind her and the plate of food.

"Did they ask you where we went?"

She nodded. "I told them you wanted to go for a flight, and that we brought the food along for Stormfly to eat because you thought other foods might go well with her instead of chicken."

Hiccup's eyes widened in surprise. "You... Did you tell them that? That's… Actually pretty smart!"

She narrowed her eyes sharply. "You're saying I'm not usually that smart?"

"Wh-what? No, no," he replied quickly, before noticing her smirk. He groaned. "Gods, you have Astrid's temper down to a point, don't you?"

She shrugged. "I try."

They stood there in silence for a moment, looking back out over the village. A few plumes of smoke rose from houses - the nights were getting colder, sooner. Frost would no doubt coat the grass, fields, and buildings in the mornings to come. And Astrid would still be in the ravine…

"Your Dad wants to see you," Syl blurted, interrupting the short moment of tranquility as she remembered his request. "He, uh… He said he needed to talk to you about something."

Hiccup sighed. "Great. That's definitely a good sign."

He looked around quickly, before turning back to her. "Meet me back at your house. I'll be there in a few minutes… Probably."

He disappeared into the Great Hall, leaving her alone with the two dragons on the small platform. She started walking down the steps to take her bag off the Nadder, before she leaped into the air in front of her, sending a great gust of wind down in front of the hall and knocking her off her feet.

"Damned dragon…" She cursed, watching the Nadder glide over the village, before swooping down and landing around where she remembered Astrid's house was.

Brushing herself off for a moment, she glared at the spot it had touched down for a moment, as though expecting it to rise up again just to taunt her. It didn't. Suddenly remembering the Night Fury, she turned to it expectantly. "Well? Go."

But he only cooed softly, and held up his tailfin, as if trying to tell her something.

"What… Oh," she realized. "You can't fly, can you?"

The dragon lowered his head in shame, looking up at her through pine-green eyes that dripped with mourning, sorrow and compassion, just so full of perception and emotion, of understanding...

She snorted after a moment. "Must suck to be you, then. See ya'."

Then she turned around and headed down into the village.

But as she reached the bottom of the steps, she heard nails clicking on stone, and saw that Toothless was clumsily making his way down the steps a safe distance behind her. She groaned to herself as she reached the bottom.

"Alright, dragon. Your… Nest, is right there. Now go. Shoo."

The Night Fury tilted his head to the side innocently, and looked at the dark house, then back at her. Rumbling happily, he trotted over to her.

"No," she scolded. "There. House. See?"

She pointed back at the building, but this time he only shook his head. He stared up into her eyes, and she swallowed hard.

"Fine, you can… Follow me, or whatever. Just… Don't get too close."

The dragon didn't seem to understand the last part, as he happily bounded up to her side, nearly rubbing himself against her like a cat before she sprung away.

"I said don't get too close!" She yelled.

The dragon looked up at her with wide eyes, as though he didn't quite understand. But Syl had practically seen he and Hiccup have conversations with him just that day alone, and Astrid seemed to be able to get something out of him - he was definitely faking it. Although he didn't really seem to be mocking her…

She nearly jumped as she heard a sudden noise behind her. She tried to turn around but was almost thrown to the side by Toothless barreling past her to growl at something hiding in the shadows between two houses. She only just saw a tiny Terrible Terror rush out into the main square, darting up the hill towards the Hall and squeaking in fear.

She heard another growl from behind her and turned to see Toothless snarling at the disappearing dragon.

"Oh…" She inquired, "You're trying to… Protect me?"

The dragon looked back up at her and smiled stupidly. She shook her head in sheer disbelief.

"Dragon trying to protect me… Gods, if my mom could see me now… Or if he could…" She frowned. No, she refused to let him pop up in her mind again. She'd had enough problems of her own to worry about lately, and he was… Gone. It wasn't like she knew him that well, anyway… She had only been six when he… When he…

Shaking her head, she traipsed down the path, the dragon still following behind her.

Her house was dark when she arrived, along with many of the others nearby. At least, she thought it was her house. Either her parents were already asleep inside, or still somewhere else in the village. Regardless, she seemed to be alone, aside from, of course, the dragon.

He looked to the house, then to her, then to Stormfly, who was lying in a shed-like structure next to the house with an open front, already fast asleep. Then, yawning, he sat down right in front of her.

"Ugh," Syl drawled, glaring daggers at him, "he wonders why I hate dragons. If you're not all trying to kill me, you're annoying me to death."

He cocked his head innocently and purred at her.

"Oh, you know damn well what I said," she retorted. "I know you can understand me, along with the rest of your kind. You… Monsters killed us for years, and you were lucky enough to be shot down by the first Viking who didn't know any better than to kill you on the spot."

Rolling his eyes, the dragon started to get up, but before he could take a step toward her, she had quickly disappeared into the house, slamming the door shut behind her.

She sighed, taking a moment to observe what she could of the dark room. It was similar enough to the layout of Hiccup's house if a bit smaller. The same cold fire pit sat in the middle, and a small kitchen was out back, as well as her parents' room, but the small staircase wound up along the front wall, and the upper room - her room, she realized - was completely cut off. Another strange thing about the home was just how old it felt. Not like the Great Hall old, but still much older than any of the houses in her own village, as well as many of the others she had seen in Berk. It seemed… Settled, as though it had had many years and many winters to adjust to the frost in the ground, as well as all the other elements.

Curiously, she began to walk up the steps, before a muffled voice spoke from somewhere behind her. There was a quick, timid rapping on the front door, and she groaned, trudging back down.

"Astrid? Are you in there?" She was able to make out. She winced, still not used to her "new" name. It just didn't feel right. Then again, neither did "Syl", at first, but she had gotten used to that in time.

She moved toward the handle, before hesitating just inches away. There was silence for a moment.

"If Toothless was bothering you, I'm sure he wants to apologize," He continued.

As if, she thought. But despite herself, she opened the door. Hiccup walked in carefully, Toothless sticking his head in behind him.

He looked around the room shyly for a moment, before glancing back at her. "So, uh… I guess this is your house… For tonight, anyway."

She nodded quickly, trying to avoid the question she knew was inevitable for as long as she could. "Yeah, I guess. What did the Ch- I mean your Dad, want?"

"Oh," he seemed surprised for a moment. "It was… Nothing. Well, I'll tell you about it tomorrow. That is, if…"

He looked down quickly, cheeks flushed.

Frowning, she sharply motioned toward the door. "You should probably get going. It's been a long day."

He turned and marched out the door past Toothless, his instincts telling him to get out of the awkward conversation as soon as possible. No doubt Astrid's voice unnerved him as well - from what she had seen, that girl could make him shrink into the palm of her hand without a single word. She couldn't imagine how he acted around her when she could speak. Maybe this was a good example.

As if solely to contrast her ambitions, and seeming to muster up some courage as he stepped outside, he glanced around to see if anyone was watching. Then he turned back to her.

"Syl… I need an answer."

In that moment, when he spoke through his shrill, nasally voice, she saw someone… Else. Not the scrawny boy that was nearly disowned from his entire tribe at birth that nobody listened to. He was strong, but not forbearing. Powerful, but still not quite a Viking. It was a different kind of strength, as well - there was no real reason to listen to him or answer him. There was obviously nothing he had to threaten her with, and yet she simply felt compelled to heed his words. Maybe this was the great Night Fury rider she had heard about. Maybe this was the legendary boy who had tamed a dragon. Maybe this was the boy - no, the leader, - who had convinced an entire Village to turn their backs on the past, make peace with their enemies, and see a new way of life…

Or maybe they were all just a bunch of idiots. Regardless, it was a side of him she had never seen before, and one that she had a feeling was quite a rare sight. It was a bit refreshing. A bit familiar.

"Are…" He took a deep breath. "Are you staying, or not?"

She sighed, and thought about her response for only a moment. "You'll find out soon enough."

"But wait-" He started. But she had already slammed the door in his face.

She stood there for a moment, listening. There was silence, and then, muffled but audible, "Well, bud, I don't know how you're dealing with Astrid as she is. I stand by my opinion that girls are impossible, in every sense of the word. I guess we'd better go home. We'll… We'll know one way or another in the morning."

She was running.

She had heard her father coming before he even reached the house, cursing up a storm and chucking the bottle at some poor neighbor's house nearby. The shatter of the glass was what made her jump, and before she knew it, she was out the back door. She was never sure what would stir his temper - a large number of casualties at a dragon raid, a loss of their food supply just a month before the first blizzard hit, or he just found some liquor that day. There always seemed to be something.

And so she ran, her mother simply vanished, and her brother… Her brother stayed behind, likely to take the worst of the punishment, as always.

Twigs and sharp rocks scraped against her small feet and thighs. She hadn't had time to put her shoes on, and they were too worn to make much of a difference, anyway. She didn't care - she knew she could find some herbs to fix it later, perhaps with a salve or paste. She just needed to go, to run. To escape. She imagined that her father was right behind her, crashing wildly through the trees like one of the dragons that haunted her nightmares, screeching, clawing and biting. So she kept running, and running, until-

There. A gnarled tree stood solidly in the woods, limbs beckoning like a ladder for her to climb. She obliged, pulling herself up into its embrace, higher, and higher until the rushing feeling left her ears, and she could no longer feel her heart pounding in her chest. Only then did she look down.

Either it looked higher than it was, or she had climbed a very, very long way up. It didn't matter. She wouldn't be going down anytime soon, and she wasn't afraid of heights, anyway. Taking a deep breath, she looked up to the stars, trying to forget the troubles of the world. She wondered what the Gods were doing up there, feasting in Valhalla with the heroes and warriors of old, perhaps? She wondered if she would ever go there. She hated fighting, but did that make her a coward? A weakling? Would she have to die in battle to go to them? Wasn't there anything else she could do?

She pondered these questions for a few minutes, then half an hour, then an hour. The moon was a quarter of the way across the sky before she heard a voice calling out from down below. It was faint at first but slowly became discernible as it moved toward her through the forest. She froze for a moment, then relaxed when she recognized it - it was her brother.

He sprinted through the forest with ease - he had always been much stronger than her and was set to finish dragon training within the next few weeks.

"Syl," he called, using his nickname for her, "I know you're out here, somewhere… Come on, Dad's not here. He fell asleep back at the house."

She waited for a moment, watching him glance around the woods, never bothering to look up. Then, quietly, she dropped down to the branch below her, the leaves rustling slightly as her feet landed… Then again… And again. Finally, she was no more than a few feet above him, and she dropped to the ground, her feet crunching in the .

He nearly jumped two feet in the air when he heard. Gripping his sword, still lodged in its sheath, he spun around quickly, ready to attack a threat at a moment's notice. He relaxed when he saw her, letting go of the hilt.

"Gods, I thought we'd lost you for a little while, Syl," he told her jokingly. "But you wouldn't make me find a new sister, would you?"

She giggled, and he tickled her under the chin. Then he hugged her.

They stood that way for a moment, before he released her, and asked, "You certainly know how to climb. You must've been really high up in that tree, huh?"

She nodded enthusiastically, proud that her brother thought she was good at something.

"How about this," he told her, bending down on one knee to make eye contact. "We'll come out here every other night, and you and I can practice climbing. Does that sound nice?" She nodded quickly again - she knew her brother was afraid of heights, and probably wouldn't like to climb himself.

"And," he smiled, pulling out a bag tied around his waist. "I'll bring snacks, too."

He spilled the contents of the bag on the ground, revealing a small mound of wild apples, strawberries, and plums he must have been saving for a while. They sat there on the ground together, picking away at the berries. When she went to get an apple, she noticed a fresh scar on his arm, a thin trickle of blood dripping on the grass. She grabbed his arm with worry, and he frowned.

"Did Dad hurt you?" she asked.

"N-no," he stammered, trying to cover it with his sleeve, "I just… Tripped. There was a needle lying on the ground, and I…"

He stopped, seeing that she hadn't believed a word of it. He groaned softly. "It's… It's not important. I'm fine. Dad's asleep now, so you don't have to worry about him."

She nodded, and the conversation lapsed into silence for another moment. Then, "Why is Dad so angry all the time?"

He didn't seem all that surprised by the question, but still sighed, and responded, "I… I don't know, Syl. I really don't know."

Once again, the conversation ended, the air seeming a bit thicker than it was a moment before. She couldn't stand it and jumped up.

"I can climb really fast, too," She told him.

He laughed weakly. "I'm sure you can. You certainly got down pretty fast."

She grinned. "But I can go up quick, too! Watch!"

He frowned as she grabbed onto a branch, pulling herself up. "Wait, Syl,"

But she wasn't listening, pulling herself up onto one branch, then another. Maybe she could get her brother to follow her. Maybe he could finally see the stars, too. He was tall. Really tall. Maybe he could even touch them...

"Syl, wait," she heard him call worriedly, his voice growing fainter with each spoken word. "That's… That's too high. Come back down, we can come back tomorrow if you want!"

She could barely hear him anymore. She kept going, higher, and higher, much higher than she had been before.

The limbs got smaller, and smaller, until-

"Sylvi, get down from there right n-" but before he could finish, there was a sharp SNAP from a branch underneath her. She screeched and heard her brother call out her name from below her, and she was falling and falling, leaves and branches rushing past her, scraping her cheeks and bare skin, the wind rushing past her ears, until-

Syl bolted upright in bed, clutching at her sheets for support, before ripping them away in disgust. She looked around the room, searching for the dark night sky, for the bright green summer leaves in the trees, for her brother…

But instead, she found her room.

No.

Not her room. Her memories slowly returned to her as she took in her surroundings, remembering where she was. Angrily, she tore away the sheets, cursing at them, and then cursing at her own voice when she remembered it wasn't her own. None of it was her own. Not her voice, not her clothes, not her room, not her hair - Gods, what had they done to her hair?! It was way too short with lots of loose ends - and not her home.

It was all too much. She stood up beside the bed and started walking toward the door quietly, moonlight shining in from a small window her only source of light. She went to pull it open before she heard footsteps from down below. She suddenly remembered that night, as well. Hiccup had left with Toothless, she had eaten and gone to bed early, Astrid's parents had gone up to say goodnight to her, and she had pretended to be asleep-

Her parents. That was it. At least one of them had probably heard her scream as she woke up, especially given that their room was just below her's. She quickly slithered back into bed, pulling the covers back over her. A few minutes later she heard footsteps coming up the creaky stairs. The door slowly groaned open, and the footsteps moved into the room. She kept her eyes shut, facing toward the back wall, remaining as still as she could possibly be. For a moment, she was afraid they would light a candle, or walk over to her, but just as she was about to sit up, there was a soft grunt, followed by the door closing, and the footsteps trailing softly back down the steps.

Exhaling, she let herself relax on the bed again, though it quickly became apparent that she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night. Her eyes had already adjusted to the light, and a thousand different thoughts were running through her mind. One prevailing among the others and returning as soon as she tried to cast it away - Hiccup's question.

She had to leave. It was the simple conclusion at which she had arrived. Sure they had food, and her housing obviously didn't seem that bad, but the dragons, the training, the people, acting like an entirely different person for the Gods' sakes. It was all just too much. She needed to leave, hard as it may have been. But the second question remained - where would she go? Who would even bother to accept her? She hadn't spent a lot of her recent years making friends, and though she was a Chief's daughter, her tribe alone held such a bad reputation that she would be much better off not telling people who she was.

Groaning to herself, her eyes searched the room, looking for something to distract her from the horrible question. But there was nothing. The entire room was perfect, immaculate, every corner clean, every sheet folded, nothing at all was-

Wait.

She had almost thought for a moment that she had seen something. No, of course not, it was just her eyes playing tricks on her. It must have been.

But as she looked back, she saw it again. A floorboard, hardly noticeable toward the back of the room, was bent slightly upward at one end, with two nails missing.

No, she told herself, shaking her head, It's not important. If she had grown suspicious of every loose floorboard she ever saw, she would spend the rest of her life tearing apart every single Viking home she walked into.

Yet… It didn't seem right, for some reason. The rest of the room was incredibly clean and neat, aside from the clothes she had thrown on a wooden chair in the corner. She knew Hiccup and Astrid would want her to keep it clean, as well, and she would probably have to if only to keep up her - or Astrid's - reputation.

Curiosity finally winning over, she got up, careful when she placed her bare feet on the ground not to let the boards creak too much. Slowly, cautiously, she made her way to the back of the room and kneeled down to the board.

It was rough and splintering, unlike the smooth, worn down boards in the more frequented parts of the room. In fact, Syl could see exactly the path Astrid must have walked every day when she got up, it was so specifically obvious.

Tentatively tugging on the beam, she found that it was surprisingly easy to pull up, the back end not properly nailed into the wood. Once it was out, she placed it down softly and peered inside.

Resting in a small, hollowed-out chamber was a small piece of metal that glinted brightly in the scarce moonlight. Picking it up, using mainly her fingers to feel it, she found that it was a small necklace attached to a silver chain. Lifting it out more clearly into the beam of moonlight, she found that it was sloppily painted and shaped to resemble a rounded shield with an orange dragon painted in an everlasting circle inside of it, entrapped by the borders of the trinket. The pendant itself, however, was quite well crafted, from what she could tell, with very well rounded edges and not a single dent or smudge.

Flipping it over, she saw a short line of runes carved roughly into the back. If she squinted hard enough, she could just make out what it said.

For Astrid, it read, you should smile more.

That was when she realized who had made it, and almost kicked herself. Not so much because she knew who it could be, but who it couldn't. The twins were out of the question from the start. It couldn't have been her parents because they wouldn't be so blunt. Fishlegs was too shy to ever make anything like that, and obviously didn't have any interest in her, anyway. It was too sincere and timid to be from Snotlout, which left only one person.

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. It was simple, and far from a confession of love, but still an obvious sign of admiration. It was humble, yet awkwardly outspoken. Frivolous, but heartfelt. It was just very, very… Hiccup.

Hiccup.

She was starting to get more of an idea of how much more the word meant than just a name - there was no other word that really encompassed his personality as a whole. Until then, she had assumed he had been viewed only as 'the Mighty Dragon Conqueror' on Berk, just as he seemed to be everywhere else. Sure, she had heard the occasional tale of the Berk Chieftain's clumsy son setting free an entire flock worth of sheep during the raids, but she had dismissed it as nothing at the time. When she caught her first glimpse of him after he and his father came bearing news of the demise of the Green Death, she thought little of it. It probably wasn't even him, she reasoned, and if it was, maybe he was just a late bloomer. It happened to plenty of Vikings before, someday including, she hoped, herself.

Yet here he was, months later, just as much of a Hiccup as he had been before. For once, she understood the situation between Astrid and him quite clearly - they had obviously always known each other, and until recently, she had probably never even considered dating him, unless to take over his spot as Chief and Berk along with it. Yet she seemed to see something in him - not his strength or cunning, as he didn't seem to have either, but in fact, the exact opposite - his awkwardness, and sarcasm. It didn't make any sense, and it probably didn't to Astrid, either. She had looked for a logical partner all her life, one who was strong, and not smart enough to ask questions, and yet here she was, with perhaps the least logical of them all.

It must've been a constant torment in her mind, she knew. He had more than obvious feelings for her, and yet she had consistently rumbled and rolled her eyes whenever their relationship with each other was brought up at all. Yet she hadn't pushed him away, either, her heart reminding her to keep him around, for whatever reason.

Hiccup, well, Hiccup probably just didn't get it, the poor boy. Maybe that was why he always made offhand messages about how they weren't a couple when she brought it up. He was too afraid and too confused to think it could exist, and he had probably always imagined "dating" Astrid to be… Different, when he was younger, and so didn't think that he had anything with her at all. It would probably be that way until the day they were married, she knew.

Of course, this was all just a guess, anyway. Maybe Astrid really did hate Hiccup but kept him around for his inheritance. Maybe the love she thought she saw him look at her with was just some misguided admiration for her beauty, a solemn view of something he could never really have. It was obvious they weren't "dating", either - they just relied on each other, the brains and the brawn.

Yet the necklace in her hands argued otherwise. Astrid likely wasn't one for material possessions - until then, her ax had seemed to be the only thing she had really been attached to, thanks to some ridiculously fable-like tale about her uncle and a dragon that came to terrorize Berk every year. Her room was not only neat but stark - nothing truly personal seemed to be displayed or flaunted there, like many of the other homes she had been in. By all means, Astrid seemed to be absurdly true to her reputation of a stone-cold warrior with no attachment to worldly possessions.

Yet here was a single, small trinket with the purpose of solely contradicting that fact. She could've just thrown it away - it couldn't be worth that much -, or else wear it every day. Yet here it was, her secret treasure, stowed away under a floorboard in her room. The one time the great and terrible Astrid Hofferson had let herself get attached to something, resting frigidly in her pale hands.

For a moment, she toyed with the idea of stealing it. Astrid would be livid if she ever found out, and likely Hiccup, as well. Perhaps she would never even find out - if Syl did leave, Astrid would be an outcast, stuck as a monster forever. The mere idea of toying with her entire life in a single decision was enough to make her grin. Astrid Hofferson, the arrogant warrior who Syl envied in every way imaginable, finally brought back down to the earth in the most ironic way possible. The thought was tempting, but then again, living her life while she was forced to watch from the sidelines was just as much so…

Sighing, she laid the pendant and chain back down in the box and slid the board back into place. Ensuring that it was back in place, she put Astrid's clothes back on over her nightgown, gathered up some food from the kitchen, and slipped outside as silently as she could.

Hiccup had a chill in his bones before he even woke up, and he sat up in bed with a start. The sheer abruptness jumped Toothless awake, and he glared up at him. Something felt wrong.

"Come on, bud," he told him, tearing away the covers, "we need to go. I've got a bad feeling about today."

Throwing on his clothes, he dashed down the stairs, stopping to grab his coat before throwing the door open. A throng of both Vikings and dragons were spread about the village, peering behind and to the sides of various buildings and towers, searching. Most of them, however, were simply going about their day. He saw his father talking to Snotlout and the twins in the main square and ran over to them as fast as his disproportionate legs could carry him.

His father raised an eyebrow. "Son?"

"Where's Astrid?" He spluttered.

"Your friends were just wondering the same thing," he said, gesturing back to the three teens behind him, "Her parents are out looking for her, too. You haven't seen her anywhere?"

"Check the docks," he replied quickly, "There'll be a boat missing, or a whole ship, or…"

They all stared at him for a moment. Then he replied, "She took Stormfly, you know."

Hiccup eyes widened as his father's words sank in. She… Took Stormfly. It was a possibility he hadn't even considered. Sure, he had guessed that she might run away - assumed she would, even. He had spent half the night thinking about it, had laid there in bed, waiting for something to happen, something to signify that she had left, that it was over, even though he knew one would never come.

But to take Stormfly. She had told him she hated dragons… Was it all just a lie? Astrid had warned him, and he hadn't listened. He hadn't listened, and now Stormfly, her best friend, was gone. Maybe Syl really did hate dragons. Maybe she had just stolen her to get the last laugh, as part of some cruel trick she believed she was the victim of.

He rushed back into his house, hearing one of the twins say something unintelligible behind him to Snotlout. His father called after him, but he didn't listen. He made for the stairs but tripped on the first step and fell over. Toothless nudged him back up onto his feet with a concerned grumble, and after gasping out a quick, "Thanks, bud," he was on his way up again. He had grabbed the worn saddle lying next to his back and hoisted it onto Toothless's back before a question ran through his head.

Why would Stormfly go? In his frenzy, he hadn't even considered Stormfly's whole view on the situation. Even if Stormfly did let her on, there was no way she would have willingly left Berk and Astrid. Unless, of course, Syl had threatened her somehow… But that didn't make any sense, either. Syl still seemed quite terrified of dragons. She flinched every time one of them so much as breathed a few feet away from her and had practically fainted whenever Astrid tackled her. No, Stormfly wouldn't, couldn't be threatened by her. So how-

A large THUMP from outside that shook the entire house made him drop the strap he was trying to fasten. Gods, what now? He thought, rushing back down the stairs. He stepped out the door, gasping for breath once again, and was met with…

Blue. Lots and lots of blue that blocked his path outside. Stepping back, he saw that the blue marked the scales of a dragon that he had nearly walked into. But not just any dragon.

Syl slipped off of Stormfly's back and down onto the ground, obviously quite pleased with herself, despite the fact that her face was as pale and clammy as a rotten cod's underside.

"Sy-" he started, catching himself. "Astrid? Y-you… Where…?"

Stoick and Snotlout rushed over a moment later - the twins had obviously left when Hiccup had gone back inside.

"Where you been, lass?" The Chief asked her. "Your parents are out looking for ya', you know. It's not like you and Stormfly to go missing this early in the morning."

"I, uh," she began, swallowing uncomfortably. "I know I was a little… Out of practice in the Academy, so I decided to go for a morning flight with Stormfly to catch up a little. I… Needed some fresh air, anyway."

"Well, as long as you're alright. Try not to go missing so often, Astrid. Or if you do, 't least tell us you're going to first," He chuckled to himself, and she smiled back at him weakly.

"Don't worry, Chief. I'm back," she turned to Hiccup, a glint in her eye and a smirk on her lips, "and I'm here to stay."