Guess who's back babyyy!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been leaving coments this whole time! I lov you guys! Aslo thanks to everyone who had been following/subscribing to this fic even when it was clear that I haven't updated in years

I won't bore you with explanations of why its' been so long, just enjoy that I'm back on my writing bullshit and enjoy the chapter...


Chapter 21: Deadly Problems

It had already been two weeks since Hiccup started working on the dinner. Maili was right, people loved her stories, they would go to the dinner just to hear her talk. And while keep talking and talking might not be a good idea, it left her with generous tips.

Hiccup's early visits to the dinner stopped for a few days, then she started to go earlier again. Not the whole day as she had done before, but earlier that she actually wanted to.

Toothless was the one who insisted. He said she looked better, happier and healthier. He thought it was probably the food. And she must admit, she missed having a full home-made meal, instead of just roasting meat over a campfire.

Fortunately, and very conveniently, Conall's eating times got moved. It wasn't so fortunately for him since now he ate later on the day, but Hiccup could now go to work earlier and get a few free hours after the noon chaos had passed to spend time with Conall.

So, her schedule was completely busy since eight on the morning to three on the morning. She would wake up to play with Toothless, then go to work, then meet Conall, then go back to work, then go meet Conall again, and finally spend her night on the sky with Toothless.

And never in her whole time on those lands had she been more grateful of the night flights. Sure, she was tired by then, but the cold air brushing past made her sore muscles relax and her mind to clear out of any troubled thought.

By the time they landed she would collapse on the ground, and Toothless had been grateful for that one too. The sooner she fell asleep, the sooner he could wake her up on the morning to chase her around the forest.

Hiccup walked out of the dinner, pulling up the hood of her cloak. Part of her wanted to stay a little longer to tell the people the rest of the story, but the most sensible part of her told her to leave already.

It wasn't too late, but the people knew she lived somewhere on the forest, and even when it freaked them out to know that, they always hurried her to get to her camp where she could be safe and not to wander on the woods at night.

Hiccup looked up at the sky, the thunderstorm that came with her offence at the gods lasted a whole week, now it was calm, but the sky seemed to be waiting for her to say another blasphemy to break down again.

She gave the sky an apologetic smile and started walking between the houses and pathways toward the closer access to the woods.

A sudden noise caught her attention, it was quickly followed by chaos, a very specific chaos, a sound engraved deeply in her mind... dragons.

She looked around in a panic and began to make her way to the noises, getting to one of the main paths of the town.

Her eyes frenetically searching for an explanation, how was a dragon here?

"WOAH!" Hiccup gasped and ducked in an instant as huge talons swept the air, the gush of wind that followed blew her hood away.

People screamed in fear and cowered to the nearest houses. Other people took their weapons and let out a battle cry. And others, ones with the same-colored kilts and an insignia pinned on their shoulders were screaming orders, getting people away to safety and trying to get the battle thirsty men to not get themselves killed.

"Hiccup!" She heard a familiar voice.

"Uh oh," the girl turned around, "Conall," she greeted him with a nervous voice.

"What are ye doin' here? Go back ta da forest and hide!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Hiccup yelled over the turmoil, she pointed at the sky, "That's a dragon."

"I know it's a dragon, we can handle it." he said, gently, but quite alarmed, pushing her back to an alley.

"No offence, but you guys are not exactly the best men for the job," she said getting his hand off her, "you don't even know what kind of dragon is that."

"By the looks of it, it's a Deadly Nadder."

"Okay, you do know," she admitted, "but still you don't know how to-"

"If ye go they could find out who ye are," He hissed, taking her by the shoulders a little bit more aggressive.

Hiccup hesitated, "I don't care, I'm not standing aside," she shook him off and ran to the center of the chaos.

"Hiccup!" Conall yelled and ran close behind her.

The Nadder roared as a spear lashed its wing and fell on the ground, the ones on the guild threw ropes and nets in an instant.

"Don't!" Hiccup shouted, getting the attention of the closer men, "That'll only make it worse!"

"Who are ye?" one asked.

"Someone with better understanding of dragons than you,"

The man scoffed, "get out of here, lass."

"Yer just getting on da way," another said.

Conall took her arm and pulled her away

"Come on, get out of town," he whispered so only she could hear him.

But she didn't.

Of course, she didn't.

The Deadly Nadder got off the ropes before they could pull it down, the men were not used to dragons attacking and worked way too slow against it. The dragon roared and opened its wings with a threat.

Hiccup shook Conall off again and quickly stepped forward, taking a torch from a man's hand and elbowing her way to the front before her boyfriend could do anything against it.

"HEY," she shouted in Norse, waving the torch around. "RIGHT HERE!"

The dragon turned around, twisting its head to look at her. Hiccup looked at the guards out of the corner of her eyes, shortly examining their faces.

'Not again,'

A man on the other side of the circle shouted, stepping forward with a sword in hand. The Nadder snapped, spinning around and shooting spines from its tail.

"Duck!" Hiccup yelled at the men, they did and the spines flew over their heads, where their chest would be. "The spines are poisonous! Stand back, I can handle this!"

Hiccup's yells got the attention of the dragon and it turned at her again, this time with a gush of fire. Hiccup screamed and threw herself forward, dropping the torch and covering her head with her arms.

With a few beats of its wings the dragon rose up still breathing out fire. Hiccup's head shoot up, she looked at the Nadder and her eyes followed the fire as the dragon slowly turned in a circle. It made a clear line, not letting her a way out and leaving her separated from the rest of the people.

"Lass!" more than one man yelled, they all had their weapons at ready, the moment the fire was low enough they would jump in.

"I not hurt you!" Hiccup said in dragonesse, looking at the dragon with concerned eyes.

The dragon seemed surprised, but didn't stand down, just looked at her with a curious eye.

"They will," Hiccup said, slowly standing up. She looked at the men again, at their confused expressions, the inquisitive eyes.

'Not again,' she thought. Over and over, but she picked up the torch from the ground and looked back at the Green Nadder.

"Chase me," Hiccup hissed, giving a step back to the fire, the Nadder tilted his head, not leaving her out of its field of vision.

"Come on," Hiccup mumbled, twisting the torch on her hand, giving it a few twirls. She waited, the fire inciting the dragon to react. The Nadder roared and dived down, but it was not to follow her game.

Hiccup jumped to the side with a yelp, the beast's talons scraping the air above her. The girl rolled on the ground to her feet and looked up to the dragon, it was still distressed, and it didn't trust her.

The people around her screamed and started getting closer, taking better grasps of their weapons.

"Bows ready!" someone yelled. She was running out of time.

Hiccup waved the torch over her head, whistling to get the dragon's attention. With all the noise and everything that was going on, it seemed impossible, but the Deadly Nadder turned at her and roared.

A smile appeared on her face, confident and a little cocky. That haven't been an angry roar, it had been one of agreement. Not a fully trusting one, but agreement non the less.

"Okay, let's play." She said dropping the torch and running straight to the dying fire. Hiccup quickly jumped through and kept running, the people of the guild getting off her way in an instant.

The Deadly Nadder roared and followed Hiccup. She had to duck the spines of the dragon a few times as they hit the outside of the houses. The girl sprinted though the town in a desperate hurry to find a way to the forest.

She fell and stammered a few times, as she had to change routes after finding people on her path, the dragon followed her on the air, snarling and throwing spines or letting out a gush of warning fire. If it was actually trying to attack her or it was just playing along, she didn't know.

It took her longer than expected, but she finally found her way out of town and into the forest. She made it past the trees and kept running to put some distance from the town and its people.

Hiccup finally stopped, panting and grasping her chest. She slowly turned around to the dragon.

"Okay," she said out of breath, "that's-"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEETCH

"AAHHH!" Hiccup yelled and threw herself to the ground, the dragon's claws scratching the air on the place she had been.

The dragon landed in front, not too far from where she laid. The girl raised her head, looking at the Deadly Nadder with panicked eyes.

"O-okay…" she said with a shivering voice, slowly starting to stand up, "It's okay," her tone had raised an octave, she cleared her throat and repeated in her normal tone, "it's okay."

The Nadder twisted its head, watching her carefully. Hiccup smiled and sighed, at least it wasn't trying to kill her, it was just curious now. She gave a step forwards, reaching out with her hand. The dragon squawked and stepped back.

"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm a friend," Hiccup said, but she wasn't sure if the dragon could understand her. Hiccup drew back her hand and put it on her chest, trying dragonese this time, "I not hurt you. I Little Viking. Little Viking friend."

Hiccup started coming closer, her hand opened towards the tall, green dragon.

"Little Viking friend," she repeated and gave a couple of steps more, she was close enough to touch so she closed her eyes and looked away, showing the dragon her full trust and letting it close the space.

Soon enough, she felt the warm breath of the Nadder against her hand, and then its horn pressing against her palm. Hiccup smiled and opened her eyes, she turned at the dragon, calmly holding its jaw and caressing its scales.

"Atta boy," she said soothingly. The dragon squawked and gave a step closer to receive her affection, gaining a short laugh from the girl.

Suddenly, some bushes shook, not far to her right. Hiccup turned with a panicked look, her brain raced, knowing there was no lie good enough to explain what was going on without having the SAME CATASTROPHIC OUTCOME IT HAD HAVE TIMES BEFORE- never mind, it was just Toothless.

"Hey, bud." Hiccup sighed relieved, looking at the dragon's head, curiously popping out of the bushes, "come on, get close," she said, waving at him. The dragon slowly and carefully stepped out, the Nadder gave a step back, inspecting the black dragon carefully.

The two dragons looked at each other with growing curiosity, tilting their heads and cooing at each other as they started to walk in circles, slowly getting closer and closer.

Hiccup stepped back to not get on the way, watching curiously as the two dragons meet, circling each other happier and more exited with each step, cooing and growling.

"Hiccup!" a familiar voice yelled behind her.

She jumped surprised and she wasn't the only one: the two dragons turned alerted, pupils turning to slits and with a threatening stance.

"Whoa, whoa!" Hiccup quickly rose her arms, getting on the way.

"Hicc-AH!" Conall yelled as soon as he entered the scene and backed up immediately.

"it's okay, it's okay! He's a friend!" she told the dragons, though it was mostly directed to the Nadder than to Toothless.

The Night Fury, focused his attention on the person and calmed down after seeing who it was, he was not happy of his presence, but at least he was calm.

"See?" Hiccup told the green dragon, gesturing at Toothless, "he's a friend, he's not going to hurt you." The Deadly Nadder calmed down, looking carefully at Conall with an eye, not letting him get off his sight. "that's it…"

Conall chuckled, looking in awe as Hiccup slowly lowered her hands.

"Ye know, I don't think I could get bored of watching ye doing dat."

Hiccup dropped her hands at her sides and turned around to the older boy with a sigh.

"Thanks, but given what I've told you, you should know better than approach a dragon running and shouting."

Conall grimaced with a little shrug, admitting his mistake there. Hiccup hummed a laugh but her attention was driven off him as the Nadder sat down quite loudly and fell to his side.

"Whoa!" Hiccup rushed to his side, the dragon growled before she could get too close, making her stop dead on her tracks. She raised her hands in surrender and waited for the dragon to calm down a little before taking a step forward.

"Easy," the girl said calmly, slowly getting closer. Her eyes shifted from the dragon's eye to his wing and the wound the guild had made, it didn't look so bad but then she noticed a dark spot on his leg "I'm going to help you," she said in the same soothing voice. Slowly, she finally got close enough to touch the dragon's leg, he winced and hissed in pain.

"Is it too bad?" Conall asked, giving a hesitant step forward.

"I'm not sure," Hiccup admitted, there was not enough light to see clear, if the dragon had flown all this way the one on the wing couldn't be that bad, but the one on the leg, at least the blood surrounding it, did seem kinda big. "I think he's just tired-" the dragon started to panic again, aggressively growling at Conall. "No, no, no!" she quickly crawled to the dragon's head, putting a hand on his horn.

The dragon tried to stand up, but exhaustion and pain kept him down. Hiccup looked at his eyes, at the slitted pupils and the angry, untrusty expression.

"Stand back," she said, turning to Conall. He looked worried, but more offended than anything else. Hiccup pointed with her head back to the town "Your mates down there hurt him, and you look too much like them,"

Conall pursed his lips and avoided looking at her. But in a couple seconds he admitted defeat and stepped back.

Hiccup turned to shush the dragon, assuring him it was okay as she stroked his scaly head. But her eyes couldn't get off the dragon's neck and body. The light might not be good to see the wounds on his leg, but it sure was enough for her to see it wasn't the only one. There were several marks on his legs and body, around his wings and jaws.

"Chains…" she realized.

"What?"

"He was chained down," her hand slid down to a deep scar circling his jaws, "quite roughly…"

"Yeah, those…" Conall hesitated, but sighed after a few seconds, "those are from Dragon Trappers."

"Dragon what?" Hiccup asked, looking at Conall over her shoulder.

"Dragon Trappers," he repeated with a serious and worried expression, crouching to be at her same eye level. But above the seriousness and the worry, Hiccup started to smile.

"Trappers?" she snickered, "there's no- there's no thing as a dragon trapper."

"How are ye so sure?" he asked deadpanned.

"Oh, please! Why would someone want to trap a dragon?" she asked, turning around to the Deadly Nadder again, shaking her head slightly.

"I don't know, yer the so-called dragon expert," he said, mocking her a little.

"I am no dragon expert, but I take the compliment."

"It was not a compliment,"

"And you don't know, because it's ridiculous!" she continued, completely ignoring his comment, "I come from a village of dragon hunters, oh Helha- every Viking-habited island around the one I'm from is filled with dragon-hunting Vikings! The only reason we capture dragons is to stick them on cages and throw them on a ring with a bunch of teenagers to teach them how to kill-" Hiccup stopped herself at the judgmental looks of the two dragons, "sorry,"

"Well, maybe from where yer from there's no dragon trappers. But there are some somewhere out there."

"And how would you know that?"

"Th-they… sometimes come here," Conall stammered, receiving a you-are-kidding-me look from the girl, "they have never come with a dragon,"

"Then how do you know they are dragon trappers?"

"The ones I've seen pride themselves quite a lot on it," he said, quite annoyed by the imaginary trappers, and making Hiccup roll her eyes, "they are always talkin' about how dangerous their job is, and how much they do selling da beasts."

"Selling them?" Hiccup repeated, weirded out. "Who on their right mind wants to buy a dragon?"

"I don't know?"

"What do they even want them for?"

"I don't know,"

Hiccup looked away, thinking, her brain finally finding the picture it was missing. That pirate ship. The one they found after she and Toothless had left the Barbaric Archipelagoes. It hadn't been a pirate ship. Those weren't pirates, they were trappers!

"Dragon trappers…" she said lowly, "there's more of them…"

"What do ye mean?"

"I… I think I have seen some of them,"

"Ye just said it was ridiculous!"

"I know, I know. It still is, but… months ago I found a ship, I thought they were pirates, but their ship was filled with dragons below deck."

"Okay…" he said weirded out, "I have so many questions now." Hiccup leaned back, a little awkward, "why did ye think they were pirates?"

"They seemed pretty sketchy to me, what else would they be? Noble merchants?" she quickly excused herself.

"Why were ye on their ship?"

"I… was…" she cleared her throat and spoke lowly, "Iwasgettingsupplies,"

"What?"

"I was gettingsupplies,"

Conall stood quite for a moment, squinting his eyes, trying to make sense of her words.

"Did ye stole from them?"

"No…?" Hiccup said, the guilt very clear on her voice.

"Hiccup, what the-"

"Hey! I was in a very needy and cold position!"

"That's no excuse for-"

"That doesn't matter now!" Hiccup cut him off, waving her hands between them, "do you know to who they sell dragons to?"

"No, I just know that trapping and selling dragon is a thing people do,"

Hiccup looked away again, thinking hard. Conall watched her carefully as her eyes moved around, as if they could actually see her ideas moving around. Her hands unconsciously caressed the dragon's scales to keep him (and her) calm.

"What were ye doing on town?" Conall asked slowly, cutting Hiccup's trail of thought, she gave him a short and confused hum, "What were ye doing on town?" he asked again.

Hiccup looked at Conall for a moment, then shrugged slightly.

"I… I saw the dragon flying over the town. I knew there would be trouble, so I went."

"Ye shouldn't have," he said and stood up, "It's too risky for ye being on town, they saw what ye did, they- they saw all of ye."

"I know, but…" Hiccup wavered off, slowly standing up, "I can't just stand aside when I know I can help." She thought he was going to get angry but he smiled at her.

"Yeah, I know," he said and a little smile appeared on Hiccup's face, "I have to get back there, and all of ye should really get away from here, they are organizing a search party."

Hiccup's eyes went wide with panic for a moment, she looked back at the injured and tired Deadly Nadder, a shaky breath left her lips but she nodded determined.

"Okay, we'll move." She turned around, getting a surprise kiss from Conall.

Hiccup blinked a couple of times, taken aback, her reaction just making the boy smile. She smiled too, and brushed off her bangs, sweeping the end behind her ear.

"See ye tomorrow," he said.

"Yeah, good night." Hiccup said, Toothless growled at them and pulled his rider from the back of her clothes to get her away from the boy. Conall just laughed lightly at the dragon's tantrum and waved at Hiccup before sprinting back to the town.

"He's hiding something," Toothless growled.

Hiccup sighed, her shoulders dropping. "Stop being so suspicious about him," she turned to the dragon and crossed her arms with a playful smile, "you are just jealous."

Toothless' ears went up straight, "I'm not jealous! He's hiding something!"

"Oh really? And what is it?"

"I don't know, but he is lying to you,"

"Lying about what?"

"I don't know," He looked away. Hiccup dropped the subject and turned to the other dragon, crouching down and putting a hand on his nose.

"We have to move away from here, or they will find us." She told him, "You can stay with us tonight if you want to." The dragon thought it a second, then started to purr loudly.

"Are we going to our nest?" Toothless asked.

"No," Hiccups stood up, "It's too close, if they are putting out a search party, they could find us, we have to move camp."

"I thought they were afraid of the woods,"

"Yeah, me too bud, but it seems hunting down a dragon gives them enough bravado to conquer that fear." she looked around for a moment, then to the Deadly Nadder. They were too close to the town to let him there while they searched for a new, safe place.

"Can you move?" she asked the green dragon, he huffed and started to stand up very slowly, "easy, easy," Hiccup said, "be careful."

The dragon fully stood up and Hiccup held his head, stroking his scales and giving him a short praise.

"Okay, we have to find a new place first," she told them the short plan, "we move there so you can rest, then Toothless and I can go find our stuff."

The dragons agreed and they flew off. They went to the closer and safer place she could think of and ended up going to the cliff they had gone to many times now, using the trees as a hide. They set the Deadly Nadder there and then ventured to the woods for her things.

Once they went back, Hiccup set a campfire and went close to the Nadder, with the light of the fire it was easier to see his wounds. And now that she had her things, she could mix a few herbs and roots to make the same paste she had use on Toothless when he was hurt on the cove back on Berk.

Hiccup and Toothless didn't fly that night. They stayed on camp with the injured Nadder. Toothless took his time to walk around and find the perfect place to sleep.

He finally roasted the grass with a low flame and sat down, the girl waited a little longer until the ashes cooled down, pocking the fire on the meanwhile.

"Do you like him?" Toothless growled lowly, calling for Hiccup's attention, "Conall, you like him?"

"Yeah," she said as a small smile threatened to show on her lips, but she turned her focus back at the campfire.

"Do you really like him?" Toothless' question took Hiccup aback, she stopped pocking the fire, staring right at it for a moment.

"Yes… I… I do," she turned to the dragon as he rested his head on his paws, "why?"

"Nothing," he said, "I won't get on the way again," he said after a while, catching Hiccup's full attention once again. She smiled and stood up to sit at his side.

"You are getting softer on him,"

"No." he snarled. Toothless opened his eyes and looked at her, his head still on his paws, "I'm doing it for you,"

Hiccup smiled softly and rested against him, she laid her arm over his head and started to softly scratch his scales, "thanks buddy."


They woke up before the sun raised, the Deadly Nadder was still injured but he was anxious to go back to his nest so they said good bye and let him go, not before suggesting him to fly only at night or above the clouds so no human could see him.

It hurt Hiccup's heart to see him go, and she was sure it hurt Toothless' too. It had been so long since they flew with another dragon. Oh Freya, it had been so long since they had even seen another dragon.

Their hearts longed for the sky and the playful company, but there was no time for that. There was a higher risk of being seen now if they took flight, the sun was raising, and so was Hiccup's anxiety.

The time to go to the diner came too soon, she didn't see Conall in the morning and that just gave her a bad feeling. Still, Hiccup went to the edge of the town accompanied by Toothless.

They stood outside the town, close enough to see the first houses, but far enough to stay out of sight, hidden between the trees, rocks and bushes, looking with worry at the same houses.

"Don't go," Toothless whined lowly.

"This is the best place we've been," Hiccup insisted again, though her voice sounded more nervous than the last time, "I have a good job and…" and a boyfriend, "and I don't want to leave now. We can't, we are so close to get the money we need to finally live by our own with no worries."

Toothless growled, looking back at the town. He shifted uncomfortable, he hated that she spent so much time there. He liked that she was happy, he was glad she had human friends and that she was eating well, but… she was so out of his reach there.

At least when she was with Conall on the forest, he could keep an eye on her, and even when he wasn't watching her every minute, she was close and he could protect her if something happened.

He couldn't do anything when she was in there. Last night had been too close to his fears. Nothing went wrong, or at least not too bad, but what if it had?

Toothless knew how dangerous his people could be, specially towards humans. And a fire-person as afraid, confused and injured as the spiked-person had been was more dangerous even.

"Stay close," Hiccup said, putting a reassuring hand on his head, "If something goes wrong, I'll return back here." She told him and he turned to her with worried eyes, "If… if it goes worse… I'll scream and you go for me… okay?"

Toothless nodded and nuzzled against her to give her courage. The girl smiled and walked around the rocks they had been hiding behind.

"I'll come back for lunch, don't let anyone see you."


Hiccup's walk to the diner felt longer than it actually was, she didn't take her short, usual path thought the houses. She almost never saw people there and even when she was nervous of seeing people, she had to know what they were thinking of her before putting a foot inside a small room and trapping herself with angry people.

And maybe it was her brain playing with her but the town felt way lonelier that it had always done at these hours. The few people she saw didn't mind her that much though. The ones that turned their attention to her just smiled and nodded in a silent greeting; she had done the same.

Hiccup kept walking, her hand constantly going for the hilt of her sword at her hip. It had been a while since she last took it with her to the town, not everyone carried a weapon with them here and she had seen very few women doing it. So, she stopped just for the sake of fit in.

Today she carried her usual knife on her belt and the sword on her hip. She had her cloak on, using the hood to cover as much of her face as she could. She got to the diner and even when she was still away from the door, she could hear all the people inside. There were too many of them, more than there should be.

Hiccup let out a nervous breath and took off her hood.

'Just open the door, if they attack, run away. Scream, Toothless will come for you,'

She reached out for the door with a trembling hand, she clenched her jaw and breathed in, filling up with courage. She pushed the door and stepped inside.

Just when the door opened, everyone shut up inside and turned at the squeaky noise. All eyes fell on Hiccup, and even when it must not have been even a second, it felt hours to her. In a moment, everyone had stand up, loudly talking and quickly stepping closer.

Hiccup's brain had not time to process their words, she just stepped back and pulled out her sword in a panic. There was a choir of "whoa" and they gave the girl her space.

"Hiccup!" Aila said relived and squeezed between the people, opening he arms as soon as she could and going out for a hug, "Yer alri-AHH! Put that down!" she stepped back, just in time before she stabbed herself with the sword.

"What?" Hiccup asked, still shocked, "Oh… sorry," she lowered the sword, the wild look on her eyes not leaving.

"Are ye alright?" Aila asked, worriedly looking at her eyes and her nervous, defensive stance. "Ye don't look that good,"

"No, I'm… I'm fine, I just… Didn't sleep that much,"

"Yeah, I can tell," the girl said, eyeing her up and down. A weird and awkward silence fell while Hiccup tried to calm down and make sense of the situation. The silence didn't last long.

"Because of the dragon?" a woman asked and a choir of questions followed from everyone.

Hiccup stammered, not really knowing what to do know. She was so sure this would have a bad outcome that she had planned for every kind of response they would have and how she could run away from it, but… she had no plan whatsoever for a believable lie.

"Come on," Aila pulled her inside and then pushed her all the way to the kitchen, asking the people to keep their questions for latter and to take a seat.

"Hiccup!" Maili gasped the moment the kitchen door opened, she hurried to go and hug the girl, a second latter the woman pulled away and took Hiccup's face, turning it in every direction and examining her, "child, are ye alright?"

"Yeah," Hiccup said trough squished cheeks.

"Mom, let her breathe." Aila said lowly.

"We heard what ye did last night," Maili said releasing Hiccup's face and resting her hand on the teen's shoulders.

Hiccup hesitated and took the woman's wrists and gently pulled them down.

"What… exactly did you hear?" she asked slowly, the three women looked at each other a little confused, "It's just that people tend to twist the stories."

"That… ye ran straight to da dragon and made it chase ye ta da forest."

"Oh, well… that's pretty much it."

"Did ye-"

"Aila," Maili quickly talked to keep her daughter quiet, giving her a stern look that just mothers could give. Aila shut up, pursing her lips with panicked eyes.

"Didyekillit?" she asked quickly. Maili snatched the rag cloth from the girl's apron and smacked her shoulder with it, "oi! MOM!"

"Does it look like I killed it?" Hiccup asked, genuinely curious of the picture they had of her, but mostly bewildered they thought she did. No person, specially a teen, would kill a dragon without patting themselves on the back for the job they did.

"I don' know, ye look pretty shaken up." Aila said, ignoring the looks of her mother, "is it because of dat?"

"Nah, it's… actually the other way around," Hiccup said, quickly thinking of a good lie, "It flew away before I could, I barely slept thinking it could come back on my sleep."

Mali sighed bothered and took Hiccup's face again, raising it a little to look at her. Hiccup met a frown and pursed lips, for a moment she thought the woman hadn't believed her, but then she talked.

"Did ye have breakfast?"

"Uh… no, actually…" Hiccup said, confused to where the conversation had turned, and to amazing discovery of hungry she really was.

"Okay, ye're eating first, den ye go out ta work," she released her face and walked to the stew.

"No, it's okay, I'm not hungry," the girl's lie was quickly followed by her grumbling stomach. Maili turned to give her a look before forcefully taking a bowl and a ladle, she broke eye contact to fill the bowl.

"HA!" the old lady laughed at Hiccup's side, slapping her arm with a lot of strength, "betrayed by yerself!"

"Yeah... that happens often," Hiccup muttered and let herself be driven to a stool by the old woman.

Aila returned to the tables outside the kitchen, Hiccup heard all the people outside the moment the other girl opened the door, but for now she stayed there, talking to the old lady while she ate.

Hiccup began to calm down, with every spoon she ate she felt the warm and love fill her inside. She was comfortable and she was happy. And when the time came to go out to work, it didn't affect her that much. She knew she had these women on her back.

Walking out to the dining area wasn't that bad, everyone had their own questions and they all wanted an answer. Hiccup told them the same thing she told the women and shrug it off, feigning it was a usual thing to happen.

After everyone almost begged for an actual retelling, she started to give more information to feed their hungry minds. Hiccup walked around the tables, telling them what had happen the night before, picking up the empty dishes and delivering mugs as she went.

It gave her a slight sense of familiarity, walking around the tables and lying about how she fought off a dragon. She just hopped this didn't blow on her face like on Berk.

"It chased me around through the trees," Hiccup said, "Nadders are light on their feet, so they are not really that easy to shake off. And the spines on their tail are highly poisonous," she took her wrist and showed it to her audience, "with a little cut it can paralyze your whole arm."

The people gasped. The door opened one more time, and more people squeezed inside the tiny diner, Hiccup didn't mind them and kept on with her tale.

"But a shot on the chest is very dangerous," She said, serious now, "if the poison reaches your heart… you're finished. But Vikings are though, and very stubborn, even towards death. I've seen some men survive a shot to the chest." She said hitting her own chest with her fist, as if holding an invisible knife. The people gasped again a little in awe and horror.

"But… well, they were big men, to someone…" she looked down to herself, she then raised her eyes, shrugging in a what-can-you-do manner, "well, to someone my size." The people laughed, Hiccup smiled too and a little chuckle left her lips as she said, "That's dead surely, no matter where they hit me."

"Then what did ye do to da dragon?" Someone asked, Hiccup turned to the voice and her smile began to drop.

By the door were four men, all wearing the same-colored kilts and the same ornament over their shoulder. Three of the men were curiously waiting for her response, the other one… well, the other one was Conall.

He looked pissed, no, more than pissed. He was completely furious, even when he was just resting his back against the wall with his arms crossed, Hiccup could hear him yelling at her trough his eyes.

"I was just about to say that," Hiccup said pointing at their general direction, she gave the boy an awkward smile and turned around to ignore him for a short while as she finished telling the story. "So, I was running through the forest, no weapon at hand, everything was getting darker. Not a good sight."

Hiccup eyed Conall out of the corner of her eye, thankfully the nervousness didn't show on her voice. She sounded quite confident in what she was telling, happy even. She sounded… she sounded like when Berkians were telling their tales on the Mead Hall…

It was just that her tales were a lie.

"Dragons can see better on the dark that we can,"

"All dragons?" one of Conall's coworkers asked. Hiccup turned at him, and her eyes couldn't help to fall on Conall for a moment.

'Well, this is awkward.'

"Just some," she said, "I mean most of them can see better than we do at night, but there are also nocturne dragons. They really can see better than we do." Hiccup turned to the rest of her audience, "the thing is: the forest suddenly lit up in bright, yellow light." She said dramatically, slowly walking closer to the kitchen's door.

"This is a very bad sign for so many reasons, but I'm going to narrow it down on… two," she said, not so dramatically, and the people chuckled, "okay, so first of all, light means fire, so that sucker just shot fire at me."

Aila opened the door, she and Hiccup exchanged trays and the other girl returned to the kitchen while Hiccup began to walk to the tables, she quickly read the little paper with the order so she knew where the food should go.

"Second," She said, raising her eyes from the note, "I'm giving the dragon my back and that's a huge no-no. It's like lesson 1 on 'how not get killed by a dragon'" she put down the food on a table.

"What did ye do?" A woman on the table asked her.

"What did I do?" Hiccup asked, "well, there is just so many things you can do in that situation, and the first one is going with your instincts and hope for the best," people laughed, "which is what I did, now my instincts are not the best. They are when I'm sailing, I have saved my family on the sea many times thanks to instinct, but instincts on battle are not my forte."

Hiccup walked away from the table to another, she let people laugh and chuckle as she quickly did her job, and also to build up a little bit of tension.

"So, I just threw myself to the side," she said with her dramatic voice again, everyone shut up immediately, "I didn't see the fire, but I felt its heat blowing over my back. I stood up and turned, the place I would have been if I kept running in the same direction was completely burn to a crisp."

The people looked at her in horror, fascinated with her tale.

"But there was no time to think: oh man, I should be dead, because I still could be." She said pointing at herself, then looked up to say: "I heard the dragon, it had taken off to the sky and was now above the trees." She looked down to the people, talking a bit slower and lower, "I couldn't see it, and I'm sure it couldn't see me,"

"But Nadders have a very good sense of smell…" she said touching her nose, "and if they can't see you, you can be pretty darn sure they can smell you… this one, it knew where I was."

Hiccup looked around the diner, she had everyone captivated… everyone except Conall. She kept looking over her shoulder to his place, with every word she said he looked more and more furious. Half of her head told her to stop, for the sake of her own safety and for Conall.

On the other hand, she was just having so much fun, her brain was just forming the story on her head and she knew exactly how to tell it.

"It let out the loudest roar," Hiccup said with an overdramatic voice, "I ran again, as fast as I could. I heard the furious dragon flying above me, quickly gaining on me. But I finally made it to my camp, and I could see my sword laying on the ground."

"The dragon roared again and I knew what was coming, everything began to illuminate again! I jumped forward this time, took the sword and got ready to fight that thing!"

Everyone was pumped up, sitting at the edge of their seats. Hiccup wished for a moment that she could give them an actual battle but it wasn't a good idea.

"…but it was gone," Hiccup finished.

There were mixed reactions to those words, some sounded relieved, some angry, some disappointed.

"Where did it go?" one of Conall's buddies asked again.

"I don't know," Hiccup said, shrugging a little, "It was just… gone, I waited the whole night for it to show up again, but it didn't."

Conall gave her one last look and left the dinner. Hiccup looked at him go and hesitated to talk.

"Sorry to disappoint, but it seemed more eager to leave than to fight me," Hiccup said, "and… I have to get back to work," she said, awkwardly pointing at the kitchen's door.

There was a collective, "aww…" as she made her way back to the kitchen.

"Sorry guys, but I don't make money out of telling stories!"

Hiccup closed the door and rested on the wall besides it with a tired sigh, she lightly smacked her head on the wall and closed her eyes. Reminding herself that she was not alone on the kitchen and that she still had to put on an act before the women too.

"Ye don't have ta do it, ye know?" Maili asked, side eyeing the girl as she chopped a carrot.

"I know, but… it's fun." Hiccup said tiredly and raised up her head, "I'm just tired, that's all," she looked at them for a few seconds to see it they bought it, they did. Hiccup looked down to her hands, her fingers slightly caressing the wooden tray.

"Besides it brings more costumers so," she shrugged, "it helps, right?"

Maili hummed a laugh as she dropped the carrots on the stew.

"Yes, it does." The woman said, "But I think we're over crowded today."

Aila walked to her side holding a full tray, she elbowed the younger girl softly.

"Aye, so ye better keep yer mouth shout for da rest of da day." She said, stealing a smile from Hiccup's lips.

"Okay," Hiccup laughed and raised up as the girl exited the kitchen, "What's my next batch?"

After that, Hiccup did try not to tell too much, she was doing it more for Conall than for the women, but every time she stepped out of the kitchen she was bombed with more and more questions.

The men that came with Conall had left too after a couple of questions, theirs were more serious and less curious than the rest, but someone else always got on the way to make their own questions.

The time of her brake came and she had to excuse herself to go out. Most of the people inside looked really upset about it.

"Aaaw," the crowd exclaimed once again as she left the room, this time to go outside.

"Lassie!" an old voice yelled as soon as she stepped outside. Hiccup turned to the voice, from the alley besides the dinner Aila's grandmother walked out, "Lassie wait," she said and Hiccup walked to her, "take this, it'll give you luck." she said, tying up a string on her wrist.

Hiccup looked down at her wrist confused, but the woman gave her a warm smile and returned from where she came from, walking slowly and limping a little, as always. An awkward and very confused smile grew on Hiccup's face, but there was no time to question the old lady's sanity.

The girl turned around to make her way out to the forest but instantly smacked face first into someone.

"Oof!" Hiccup bounced back, almost falling but a hand took her arm. "Oh, so…" she started saying but looked up to see the one she had smacked against, in front of her were three men, all with matching kilts and a crest on their shoulders. They were from the guild.

"…rry." She finished without so much enthusiasm. She got her arm off one of the men's hand, "thanks…" she said and awkwardly pointed to the side, "I… I'm gonna go."

Hiccup could only give a step before the man took her by the wrist again, this time more forceful.

"Ye're coming with us." He said.

Hiccup looked at them, with a little bit of fear in her eyes. She was tall, she knew it, she had grown up a lot in the last months. But it was not just that, she had found out that people around here were just smaller than your regular Viking.

Aila was five years older than her and Hiccup almost matched her height. She was the same size than Conall when they first met (now he was taller, but that was not the point). Hiccup was taller than anyone her age in here, and she may not look older than she was, but her height helped her sell the lie that she was 17, she could even have gone ahead and say she was 18.

Hiccup was tall, she knew that. And still… these men were way bigger than she was.

"Uh… no?"

"It wasn't a question."

Hiccup wrestled a little, stepping back until she managed to slip her hand off his.

"Why would I be going with you?"

"Ta answer a few of our questions," another of the men said, "about dat dragon."

"If you wanted answers, you should have stayed inside." Hiccup said, nodding towards the dinner, "I already told that story." She started to walk around them, but the other man got on her way.

"I don't think ye know who we are, do ye?" he said.

"Well, you never introduced yourself, so no." the girl said dryly.

"We work for da town's guild." The first man said. "It's our job ta keep order and protect these people from anything or anyone." He said, heavily implying she was included on that anyone.

Hiccup looked around, a little awkward, and if she was being honest with herself: scared. To make things worse, she realized that they had caught the attention of a few people around them.

"Yeah…" she said a little unsure. "And I work for that dinner," she said awkwardly, pointing at the building's door and slowly walking in a circle around the guys, "and right now I'm in a break, and I', tired, so I really want to take that break."

But before she could take another steep the third guy took her arm, hard enough for it to hurt.

"HEY!" Hiccup yelled and tried to pull away. The second guard quickly realized they had starting to make a scene and elbowed the one taking Hiccup. He released her and Hiccup stepped back.

The girl quickly took a step back, distancing herself from the men. She drew her hand to her arm, caressing the sore spot and giving them a furious glance before looking around. They had drawn the attention of everyone around them.

"Is there a problem?" a man almost as big as the ones from the guild stepped forward, softly putting a hand on her shoulder and pulling her back a little.

Hiccup looked between them for a moment, before her eyes started scanning the scene again. This had scaled too much way too quick. She should take a run for it and just leave this place. It wasn't safe anymore.

As much as it hurt her to leave the three nice ladies from the diner without a goodbye, she had to leave. Maybe she could still look for Conall at night and explain-

He was there.

Not so far from where she was, half hidden in an alleyway and behind the people. He was looking at her and didn't try to hide when she met his eyes.

The man who had stepped from the crowd got on her way of vision, hiding Conall behind him.

"Lass," he said, his tone obvious it hadn't been the first time.

"Huh?" she raised her eyes to him and he gestured with his head to the men of the guild.

"We just want a word with ye," the second man, the one on the middle said, more calmly this time, "it shouldn't take long, then ye can go back to yer brake." The man stepped aside and gestured the path she should take.

Hiccup looked at him with a frown, her fingers nervously caressed the sore spot on her arm. This was bad. She looked at where he was gesturing and walked forward with hesitation, fully aware that the fear should be clear in her eyes.

The man put a hand on her back as she walked past him, gently hurrying her forward. If she had though the horrible feeling that invaded her chest this morning was bad, this was way way worse. She looked a little bit over her shoulder and managed to lock eyes with Conall. He looked away after a second.

Did he- did he sold her out?

The feeling got worse.


They guided her to a big building by the docks, the first room was big and filled with tables, half of them were full of more people from the guild, eating and taking a break. There was a big door at the end of the room, it was open once as two guards walked out and Hiccup could see various doors with bars on them.

But they guided her to the stairs and went up a to a smaller room. There was a single table and two chairs, one on each side. They sat her on the one further from the door and one of the three men who were escorting her walked out.

He came back after a few minutes of incredibly uncomfortable silence, followed by another man and a woman.

"I was told we're wasting yer break time," the new man said, putting down a plate and a mug in the table before sitting in front of her. The rest of the guards stood against the wall, two on each side of Hiccup.

"That's for ye," the man said, pointing at the food but Hiccup didn't even bother to look at it, she kept staring at him, completely annoyed. "Okay," the man sighed and rested back.

They made a lot of questions and she answered some. She was mostly pissed, but more than that, she was worried for Toothless. The dragon knew she should be back by now, what if he rushed in? So far, people were believing her. Even the guild.

They were nice enough to give her food. Even when it was just a mug with water and half a sandwich.

But her leg was bouncing anxiously, and she barely met his eyes, constantly looking at the door. Just wanting to leave.

"Why do ye want ta go to the woods so much?" the man on the chair -the one who's name she didn't bother to remember- asked.

"Because Nadders have very good sense of smell." Hiccup said annoyed. "If that thing tries to sniff me out it's gonna go to my camp and I don't want to lose more of my stuff."

"More?" one of the men on the side asked, she hadn't bother to remember his name either.

"I told you, I lost most of my things on the shipwreck." She said tired, then twisted on the chair, resting her arm over the back of the chair, looking at the man "aren't you playing any attention?"

"We can send ye with an escort ta yer campsite." The man on the chair said before the other could say anything to Hiccup's sass.

"No thank you, I can take care of myself." she said, twisting back and sinking a little on the chair.

"It is out duty ta protect the people from this town." He said and she opened her mouth, but the man talked first, "That includes ye."

Hiccup just sank more on the chair, crossing her arms. "I don't need protection."

"Just tell us where yer camp is," the man said, "I can have some of ma men around-"

Hiccup suddenly sat up, a sarcastic smile on her face, "Oh! Yeah, yeah, because I'm gonna tell where I sleep to a bunch of people I don't know!"

"She's got a point, chief." the woman said, then turned to Hiccup, "But it would be safer for ye if we knew."

"It doesn't matter," Hiccup said, looking at her, another person whose name she didn't remember. "I'm probably gonna be changing places the whole week to throw that thing off."

"Why don't ye stay in an inn on town?" the man on her side said, Hiccup did remember his name, he was also a Conall, "Woods are not safe on their own-"

"OH yeah!" Hiccup exclaimed, "let's bring my scent to the town 24 hours so everyone is in danger, that's a great idea!" she rolled her eyes, dropping back on the chair again and crossing her arms.

The chief of the guild breathed in and out, slow and loud. Hiccup was really pushing her luck with him, but she still dared to look at his furious eyes with a bored expression.

"Can I go now?" she asked, rising an eyebrow after almost a full minute of the staring competition.

The chief sighed annoyed, "Guide her out."

A sense of relief washed over her body as she stood up and walked to the door, the woman opened it for her and Hiccup could see a little smile playing on her lips. Hiccup didn't smile back, but she had to admit, if she had to choose a favorite from the room, it was her.

The woman had a weird sense of humor and seemed to find Hiccup's demeanor at the very least entertaining.

"Don't encourage her," the other Conall mouthed as the girl left the room.

"I hate that kid." The chief hissed, caressing his temples and looking at the door annoyed.

"She was kinda funny," the woman said.


Word got around fast.

About the fact that she was the girl from last night's incident, where she worked, and the kind of stories she told there. About the lies she had told of her past and what happened just now with the guild.

Hiccup's nervous eyes looked for Conall between the crowd on the streets, but she did not see him, and the people were making it very difficult for her to keep walking out of town.

Everyone she passed by either, pointed at her, whispered something to the people around (that just made everyone look at her), or straight up walked to her to talk. As soon as one spoke, the ones nearby would start talking and making questions too.

It got Hiccup wishing things were like on that same the morning, where the town looked almost deserted, and the few people who saw her didn't know her and just smiled and nodded politely. It took her a long while to get to the edge of the town, and even when she knew there weren't people around her, she still could feel their eyes on her back.

Fortunately, or maybe not so much, she found Conall before she could even step into the forest. He was resting back on the first tree she could see, arms crossed and a pissed expression.

"Hey," Hiccup said weakly.

Conall glared at her, the same way he had done on the diner, he gave the town a little glance before turning around and walking into the woods without a word. She followed him for a few minutes, nervously slipping her finger under the string the old lady had tied on her wrist and pulling from it.

For good luck she had said. Hiccup was going to need a lot of that now.

Conall stopped walking, but he did not turn. Hiccup froze on her feet; it took her almost a minute to gather enough courage to slowly walk closer to him. With a lot of hesitation, she raised her hand to touch his back.

"Ye lied ta me,"

Hiccup's hand stopped, shaking slightly, inches away from his back. Conall voice was trembling, barely holding the anger and not turning to face her.

"I'm…"

"NO!" he yelled and turned at her, "I stayed along with ye because I thought ye were being honest with me!"

"Conall I-"

"Ye LIED!" he shouted at the top of his lounges, shouting Hiccup up immediately and making her take a step back. Conall chuckled a little, "Ye lied and worst of all is ye're telling them all da things ye refused ta tell me until three weeks ago!"

Hiccup's eyes got glassy, her throat dried up, "I…" she tried to say something, but she couldn't.

"Ye what?" he said harshly, "yer sorry?" he asked mockingly.

Hiccup's eyes found their way out of his. She stood silent, not knowing what to say, not knowing if there was even something she could say to make this right.

"That's why ye were there yesterday, weren't ye?" he asked, she didn't answer him. "How long have ye been working on there?"

Her jaw trembled, she felt too week, even the weight of her cloak seemed too much.

"Two weeks," she said in a whisper. Conall chuckled incredulously, passing a hand through his hair, and trying hard for the tears to not form on his eyes.

"Well, I hope the pay's good," he said with a tight voice, "because I'm not helping ye anymore." He turned around and started walking away.

"Conall wait-" Hiccup rushed to his side and grasped his hand, he twisted, shaking her off.

"What?!"

"I… I didn't mean…" she opened and closed her mouth a few times, struggling to find the words. At the end she sighed, "I'm sorry… but I couldn't just stay here."

"Ye're not anymore," Conall said, looking at her with glassy eyes. He breathed heavily, he was hurt, as much as she felt. "I… I don't want ta see ye again."

"Conall…"

"Ye've got plenty of friends on that dinner, ye won't be alone." He turned and walked away.

"Conall," Hiccup called one last time, he turned around, looking at her furiously, "are you… are you going to tell them?"

Conall scoffed, "is that really the only thing that worries ye?" he shook his head and looked away, pursing his lips, "Goodbye, Hiccup." He said and walked away without looking at her.

A tear slowly rolled down her cheek. Her chest hurt. Her heart hurt. A small sob left her lips and she quickly covered her mouth. Her eyes didn't leave the spot where she last saw Conall, though her vision was so blurred by the tears all she could see was a mass of colors.

"What's wrong?" Toothless asked, suddenly on her side. How long had he been there? How much did he get to hear of her conversation with Conall?

"You hurt?" he asked in a low and worried grumble. He sniffed her, gently pushing her with his nose, but he got no response.

Another sob left Hiccup's mouth and she sat down on the grass, her hands gripping tightly the tunic at her chest. Toothless sat with her, not knowing what was going on but purring comfort to her as she broke down on tears.

Hiccup didn't understand what was happening either, she didn't know why she was crying, she didn't know why it hurt her so much. They were barely a couple, they just dated for two weeks. But it hurt so bad, why did it hurt her so much?

"Fuzzy?" Toothless asked, concerned, "why crying?"

"He…" Hiccup's voice wavered, and she opened and closed her mouth a few times to try and say something but the words got stuck on her throat. She sobbed again and bended forwards in pain, hugging herself.

"We-we…" she tried to say again, speaking between sobs, "we broke up," her voice broke saying it and she had to cover her mouth to muffle the sound.

"You broke something?" The dragon asked, his ears instantly perking up. He stood, looking at her carefully. He sniffed and softly touched her with his nose, trying to figure out where the broken bone was.

"No… we…" Hiccup close her eyes and shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it now." She said hugging herself, she didn't want to explain these things to him right now.

Toothless walked around her and laid down, purring and laying his head on her lap. Hiccup sobbed and hugged his head, trying to her herself to stop crying.

You were barely something she told herself, stop crying!

But if they were barely something…. Then why? Why in Freya's name did it hurt so bad? She could as well have broken a rib; she was sure that would hurt less.

As she slowly started to calm down, her breathing returned to normal, and her brain started processing things again, she started to realized why.

Yes, they had just dated for three weeks, but they had known each other for longer. He had been her friend. He had helped her and thought her his language. They had shared hours and hours together, talking about each other's lives.

And he had been the only person ever to truly understand her, or at least try to. He had been the only person to see her relationship with Toothless with curiosity, to don't think it was wrong.

He was the person who knew most about her, the real her. And now…

Another lump formed on Hiccup's throat and she started crying again.


It took her a long while to stop crying again and to calm herself a little bit. Her chest still ached and her eyes were red and swollen. Her brake was over long ago, but she hadn't moved a bit.

She didn't want to go back to the diner, but she didn't want to stay there either. Besides, after her conversation with the town's guild it was best if she showed up, even if it was late. Something told her that they would be giving rounds around the diner more often, and keeping a close eye on her.

So, Hiccup forced herself to stand up, give Toothless a gentle rub on his head and walk back to her job.

She was right about the guild. As soon as she entered town, she saw a small group of guards by the entrance. She walked through the main path for a while but turned to the alleys after passing a second group.

Hiccup had almost made it to the back door when a voice stopped her.

"Ye doin' all right, lass?" a woman said, and she sounded actually concerned. Hiccup didn't turn, not even to look at the woman, she recognized that voice. It had been the woman present on her interrogation by the guild.

Heavy steps followed behind her and soon a hand took her arm, forcing Hiccup to turn around. She tried to shake the woman off but her grip only grew tighter for a moment, then she released her.

"Oh my- ye don't look fine," the woman said, taking Hiccup's chin instead and lifting it slightly to look at her better.

Hiccup slapped her hand away and turned around, "I'm fine!" she said harshly, "Just- tired."

"Why are ye in such a rush?" a man asked behind her.

"I'm late to work," she said, in the same cutting tone.

They didn't bother her anymore, but she still could feel their gaze on her neck as she entered through the back door to the kitchen, walking directly to the sink. Still, the question lingered on her head. Do I really look that bad?

"Yer really late this time," the older lady told her in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, I… I know," Hiccup said, whishing there was more light around the sink, maybe she could see her face better in the water that way. She cupped her hands and sank them in the bucket of water, cleaning her face.

It wasn't the first time she had done this. It wasn't the first time she had bottled up her feelings, wash the tears away, and walked around the Village as if nothing had happened. Of course, her little ritual was easier when it was just her, alone on her house, than now that she had a little audience.

Hiccup sighed and rested her hands on the border of the stone sink, breathing slowly, her head still low. She finally sighed and raised up, "I'm sorry… I'll get to work," she said, her voice didn't sound as normal as she wanted, but she started to force a little smile on her lips, that always seemed to help.

She reached out for her apron and started tying it, still giving the women her back.

"Darling, are ye all right?" Maili asked her, clearly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hiccup said, finally turning. She was forcing a smile, and even when she looked calmed enough, they could see that there was something odd about her.

"We… heard that the guild-" Maili started but Hiccup quickly interrupted.

"Oh, it's fine," she said laughing a little, thought the sound was forced and hollow. She took her tray and patted the pockets on her apron to make sure her little notebook and charcoal pencil were there, "They just asked a few questions."

Hiccup finally walked out, but it wasn't better than in the kitchen. There were more eyes in here, more people talking to her and making questions, mostly about the dragon. A lot of people wanted her to tell the tale again.

But she ignored most of the questions, and answered shortly the ones that she didn't. She told them she had no time to talk since she arrived so late. When they asked about that, she told them that she had to move her camp thanks to the dragon.

They believed that.

But it didn't take Aila too long to realize something was up with her and she made her the same questions her mother had made; Hiccup responded the same way.

None of the women made a question again about it, they just left her alone and pretended nothing happened. But they didn't seem to buy her "tired for moving camp" excuse, and kept giving her worried glances, seemingly, being the only ones to notice her weird demeanor.

She almost lost her composure a few times, her smile dying, or her eyes staring blankly for too long. But everyone else on the dining area believed she was just tired, some even suggested she take a day.

Hiccup would just smile again and shake her head, dismissing the idea. Thought to be honest, it didn't sound so bad in her head.

After a couple of hours, she started to lose up a little bit, answering a few questions. After all, it was one of the reasons she was getting a good amount of money, and it was going to be the only income she had now.

Besides, it was also one of the reasons why so many people came to this diner, just to hear her talk. And she was not going to let them down. A few hours more, she had momentarily forgotten about Conall and began to enjoy talking to the people there.

The buzzing feeling inside her chest was still there, but it was easier to ignore. Her smiles weren't so forced and her laughed didn't sound so hollow.

Hiccup answered questions, she told them short stories, and occasionally -with the help of Aila's stares- she would remember she as supposed to be working, and went back to the kitchen.

A couple of hours before her time to leave, she gave up and started to tell them about the Nadder again. When she finally pulled out the apron from her neck, she felt exhausted. And just taking it off felt like taking off a huge weight on her shoulders.

She said her goodbyes to the three women and walked out, closing the door with a long sigh.

"Served ye well, didn't it?"

Hiccup yelped at the voice and stepped back disoriented. Her eyes ended up fixing on the older lady, standing in front of her on the alley.

The girl frowned looking at the short woman and to the door. Didn't she- wasn't she-

"What?" Hiccup asked confused.

The old lady waddled up to her and took her hand, patting the back. Hiccup's eyes fixed on the thin string that she had tied on her wrist this morning. For good luck she had said.

Flashes of her day suddenly passed through Hiccup's brain, specially of Conall. Her shoulders fell and she felt a heavy stone falling to the pit of her stomach.

"I… wouldn't say it did," Hiccup said, looking away.

"Oh, no, it did." The woman reassured her, patting her hand again with a warm smile.

Hiccup frowned and looked up to meet her eyes, but her world suddenly gave a spin. The girl quickly closed her eyes, trying to somehow push the feeling away. Her free hand waved the air, trying to find something for support but didn't find any.

Her head stopped spinning and she dared to open her eyes again, she looked at the ground, it still moved slightly, and when she looked up, the old lady seemed very blurry.

"Don't take it off yet," the lady said, as if nothing had happened.

Had she not noticed my… whatever that was- wait. Am I going to faint?

"Ye'll still need it," with that, the old lady released Hiccup, pushing her back into the alley. The girl stumbled forwards, gripping her head, still trying to make a sense of things. She heard the door close behind her and when she turned the lady was no longer there, though she still could see her shadow under the door.

Hiccup sighed again, rubbing her eyes. The old lady's weird demeanor had been kind of fun on her time working there, but today had been way too odd for her liking. Maili had warned her to not humor her mother, but of course, Hiccup didn't listen.

She started walking, not minding the dizziness and trying to focus on the alley in front of her. Her eyes had adjusted themselves before she had to take a turn, but she stopped as soon as she did.

In the alleyway, there was still the small group of guild guards, two resting on the wall on each side. Hiccup's shoulders dropped and she threw her head back with a long groan.

"I thought ye wouldn't be surprised," the woman said.

Hiccup started walking, passing between them with a deep frown on her face, "I just had a six hours shift, and I have more things to worry about than you. So, I'm sorry if I forgot about your existence." She said, rolling her eyes at the last sentence.

"Lass," the woman called for her.

Hiccup turned around with an exasperated expression, waiting for the woman to say something else, but she just stared at her, "what?"

The woman slowly closed the space between them, looking at her with critical eyes that just made Hiccup very uncomfortable.

"Ye look terrible," she finally said.

Hiccup's expression fell, she rose an eyebrow, "Ever worked on a diner?"

The woman didn't say a thing she just kept staring at her. Hiccup huffed softly, looking away from her face, her eyes fell on the crest at her shoulder. The guild's crest held up a piece of clothing that wrapped around her torso, it had the same colors than the kilts of the rest of the guards and the one Conall had been wearing over the last month.

Hiccup turned her eyes away, growing frustrated by just seeing those colors.

"Can I go, or what?" Hiccup spat out.

"Yeah… sure," the woman said, Hiccup didn't look up at her but she still could feel the penetrating stare on her.

She turned around and kept walking through the alleys, she had no plans on going through the main streets now that people knew her and would stop her on almost every steep.

"Lass," the woman called again. Hiccup just stopped, not turning this time. "Ye sure ye don't want backup on yer camp?"

"I'm sure." Hiccup said and kept walking, the woman and the rest of the guards stayed put, but something in Hiccup's mind told her that she would probably have problems with people following her now.

She didn't see any more guards on the alleys on her way to the forest. Maybe they had expected her to use the main streets. She made sure that no one was following her as she made her way into the forest, listening carefully and her eyes searching between the trees as the sun started to set and the forest started to darken.

But with every steep she had taken into the forest, her body seemed to grow heavier, her chest ached and she started to feel a terrible pain between and under her eyes as tears had starting to form, just waiting for the moment to burst out.

Fortunately, Toothless jumped into view sending a little smile to her lips that soon fell.

"Are we alone?" she asked lowly. The dragon, raised his head, his ears perked up as he looked around and sniffed the air, his eyes -dangerously sharp- scanned the area around them. After a few seconds, he growled and lowered his head. "Good,"

Without waiting any second longer, Hiccup walked up to Toothless, put a foot on the stirrup, and slipped on his back. Toothless sprinted deeper into the forest to put more distance between them and the town, they sky above them grew darker and darker, and in no time, they were back to the sky.

The summer's air was hot, but as the sun moved further down and the night raised up, the air started to cool down. They flew higher up, above the clouds to not be seen, up there was really cold. The strong and cold wind cut her bare arms and face, but the girl did not feel that coldness.

Hiccup breathed in slowly and closed her eyes, letting the cold air erase her feelings and bring her calmness. She let out her breath and looked up at the stars and let her head be marveled by its beauty.

It's not worth it, she told herself and laid back on Toothless as the buzzing feeling started to settle on her chest again. She felt a cold hand, stabbing her breast and clenching her heart, it squeezed it slowly… painfully.

Her bones between her eyes and bellow started to hurt again, her tears pleading to be released but she held it back. As much as it hurt her, she did not give in to what that cold hand tried to do, no matter how cold it was turning, not matter how hard its fingers clenched around her heart.

It's not worth it, she repeated, holding her tears at bay and praying that the wind that blew over her body took everything away.


Hi!

A little side note:

If you want to see some fart of this fic and Hiccup's designs, also some extra info on other FemHiccup AUs I'm working on, hop on to my tumblr (dianagj-art), I have a lot of FemHiccup stuff there. And if you are curious about my fics you can just ask away there my dudes, it takes me a little to answer sometimes, but I do answer.