Author's Note: Well, another Thursday update. And I know for a fact I'll have to post #12 on a Thursday. So consider the schedule shifted to Thursdays permanently at this point.

When Hiccup woke up the next morning, he had a bit of a hard time remembering where he was. His first clue was the black wing folded over him like a blanket. His second was the stone roof directly above him. So, a cave, but the only one in the cove...

And then it all came back. The events in the arena, what Astrid had done, how she was proud of it, closing the Terror's eyes, running back here. His mind stopped at that memory. Turned it over. Reexamined it. Wow, he had really been out of it. Putting everything he had into running at top speed, into the hardest stuff Toothless had shown him, the things he was sure would really only work for Night Furies. And he had done all of it flawlessly. He would have dismissed that specific memory as a dream or hallucination, but how else could he have made it to the cove so fast. Maybe Toothless hadn't been crazy after all to suggest all this running, rolling, vaulting, and other seemingly random stunts. He used them yesterday and did them well. Could he still do them so well now?. He would have to test it later.

Then Hiccup remembered what came after his sprint to the cove. Learning how dragons cried, helping Toothless deal with the memories, apparently falling asleep at some point afterward.

He got up and left the cave. Toothless was still curled up into a ball behind him, wing still awkwardly outstretched, the only part of the Night Fury that wasn't curled inward. He checked the sky. It was mid-morning. He returned to the cave and leaned against Toothless's back. He would wait until the dragon woke up.

Toothless ended up waking up around noon. He seemed to have recovered from his unwanted memories and the sights of the day before, though he was silent for the first few minutes. Eventually, he spoke. 'You did all that you could.'

That wasn't exactly how Hiccup had wanted to start this conversation, but he supposed it cut to the point. "You mean, I failed miserably. She didn't even have to try to stop me. She just shoved me aside and kept walking."

Toothless snorted. They were sitting face to face, Toothless laying down so that his eyes were level with Hiccup's, who was sitting cross-legged in front of him. 'No, I mean it. You tried, and we're lucky she didn't do any worse to you than that. There really wasn't anything else you could have done.'

Hiccup thought about it. "Well, I could have said something to her instead of just trying to get to the Terror first."

'Fat chance she'd listen to anyone, and no way in a thousand years would she have listened to you.'

"She might have listened to Gobber."

'Who had no idea what was going on, and was dealing with Tuffnut. There was no way you could get his attention, get him to listen, and get him to understand in time to do anything.'

Hiccup shrugged. "I could have... maybe thrown my shield instead?" He was really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

'Even if your aim was accurate, and you put enough power behind it, I don't think you could have knocked her or the Terror out. And she probably would have killed you and the Terror after that. So, what would have worked?'

Hiccup saw what Toothless was showing him, and it did make him feel a bit better about the role he played in the event. "Nothing."

Toothless nodded. 'So you don't get to feel guilty about it. You can be sad and angry, but you don't get to be guilty.'

That did make Hiccup feel better. His turn. "By that logic, neither do you. About that Terror, or any the Queen killed using you. I won't blame myself if you don't."

Toothless hesitated, then attempted his version of a smile. 'Deal.'

Hiccup relaxed.

'Oh no, we aren't done here yet.'

Hiccup slumped. Darn perceptive dragon.

'I think, in the future, it would be wise not to antagonize Astrid.'

Hiccup had been expecting something like this, given the dragon's protective nature. "Not without a good reason. But I refuse to let her kill any more dragons in the arena, and stopping her will make her mad, just like it has been. I draw the line there."

'What will you do when she gets out into raids?'

Hiccup sighed. "That's different. She would be fighting in self-defense. I still hate it, but the guilty party there isn't Astrid. It's the Queen."

Toothless sighed in unintentional imitation of Hiccup, only deeper. 'You want to do something about her, don't you.' He wasn't exactly reluctant, but he knew the risks, and he knew how difficult it would be to even get close. 'If we do something about her, the hardest part will be me getting close enough without being enslaved again.'

Hiccup nodded. "Right. How does that work again?"

'To enslave a free dragon, the Queen has to look them in the eyes. Usually, she has already enslaved dragons bring new ones in. Once enslaved, she either has to release you, or you have to get knocked out. Although, it is an extension of her concentration, so if we threaten her actual body... it MIGHT set all the dragons free. Emphasis on might. She would need to feel threatened enough to concentrate fully on defending herself. Basically, she has to believe she will die if she doesn't destroy us right away, personally. And if we manage that...'

Hiccup understood. "We have a fully enraged Queen on our tail, and at no point can you look her in the eyes. Not that bad."

'I don't even know where to start.' Toothless moaned, discouraged.

"I do."

'What?' Toothless was puzzled but very hopeful. Hiccup had sounded so sure of himself, and he had been impressed by his ideas before.

"The whole 'can't look at the eyes thing'. I bet it doesn't count if I look at her. So, you can just use my sense of sight, and fly blindfolded!"

Toothless liked that. 'Can the blindfold be red?'

"Uh, sure, why not? Alright, first problem down. Next up, we need to actually be able to fly. I had an idea for that, before the whole deal in the arena."

Toothless remembered that. 'The thing on a string, right.'

Hiccup laughed. "The thing on the end of the string is gonna be us. It'll keep us in place, so you can stay in the air with the tail still, and I can learn what each position does without constant interruptions via crashing. We just need to go somewhere that has a steady wind."

'I assume you know a place.'

"Yup."

'I'm not sure I like this.'

They had set up on the edge of the cliff. Ironically enough, it was the same dead-end cliff Hiccup had almost run off of when he was being chased by Astrid. It had the wind they needed, and it was pretty private, even compared to the rest of the forest. Being on the far side of the island from the village, the waters should be clear of boats coming and going and the forest should be free of anyone wandering aimlessly. So now, instead of not running off, they would be not flying off.

Toothless was persistent if nothing else. 'What if the rope breaks?'

"We'll just be pushed back a bit. You're way too big to be moved any more than that."

'I'm not sure you understand how this works. Are you certain about that?''

"Yeah. well, probably. Maybe. Look, the rope won't break, because you won't be putting your full weight on it." Hiccup tugged the rope to emphasize this.

'Fine. Let's just test it already.' Toothless crouched. He was in full gear, and Hiccup was already on his back. Toothless was tethered to a strong pole that Hiccup had had him drive into the ground near the edge of the cliff.

Hiccup, in addition to his normal attire for flying, had a charcoal pencil and a piece of parchment. He wanted to take notes, so they would only have to test each position once.

The next few minutes were perfect for Hiccup to test in. With the ability to hang above the ground without any fear of falling, Hiccup could test what the tailfin positions did without Toothless also having to adjust everything else to compensate. He was gradually coming to understand what each position did, and noting this information down for future reference.

Toothless was bored. He passed the time spent hovering by trying his hardest to remember specifics about his time in the nest. Simple things, like his own name. It galled him that he could perfectly remember the scores of Terrors dead by his claws, but not the face or name of the other Night Fury.

Hiccup had just finished testing the fifth position. This one seemed designed to lose altitude, as that was what happened every time he set the tailfin to this position. The interesting part was what happened when Toothless did not instinctually mimic it with his real tailfin. That seemed to be how a sharp turn and drop was achieved when only one of the tailfins was put in this position. Hiccup sighed. This was complex, it was no wonder he hadn't been able to get it earlier in his sporadic, short, and hectic flights over the cove. At least now he knew how complex it was. He brought them back into the air and tried the sixth and last position for the first time.

Toothless instinctively reacted to the change in airflow around his artificial tailfin, as always. The problem was, Hiccup would discover in later experiments, this position was used for stalling in midair, and for stopping forward momentum. Toothless's instinctive reaction was to curve up and forward, spreading his wings perpendicular to the oncoming wind. Thereby increasing the drag that the poor, slender rope had to withstand by a thousandfold.

The rope snapped, and Toothless and Hiccup were sent tumbling backward. Luckily, there were no trees behind them because of the way the terrain was laid out. Unluckily, Toothless's head had swung out to the right as his body was contorted by the winds, and his skull clipped a tree as they went tumbling past. All went dark.

Hiccup crawled out from under Toothless's wing, only to find that he couldn't go very far. The safety clip that held him on in flight was bent double, effectively locking Hiccup to Toothless. He was more worried about the dragon in question. He wasn't moving. That wasn't even the worst part. The link between them, that pocket of foreign senses in the corner of his head, was gone. Hiccup couldn't even tell if Toothless was breathing. He tried not to panic as he watched Toothless's sides, praying for them to move. If Toothless was dead, it would be all his fault. He had suggested this stupid idea, and the rope hadn't held like he said it would.

He saw movement.

Toothless's sides moved in and out, slowly but regularly. Hiccup resumed breathing as well. Now he just had to wait. Twenty minutes later, he heard a groan. Toothless opened one eye. Hiccup leaned over to stare into it. "You alright buddy?"

The dragon shook his head and then winced, whether in answer or just to clear it Hiccup didn't know. He slowly put his hand on Toothless's head, hoping his friend would understand what he was asking.

He did, and after a few moments, Toothless recreated the link.

This time it didn't hurt. Instead, Hiccup felt only relief. He was still worried about Toothless's head. He remembered some questions he had been asked after falling out of a window... headfirst. They were supposed to determine if he had any head injuries that couldn't be seen. "Hey, listen. How many fingers am I holding up?"

Hiccup held up three fingers. A long moment later, he got a reply.

'Three.'

"Good, good. Um..." What were the other ones? "Where are we right now?"

The answer came faster this time. 'Berk, hopefully still on that stupid cliff.'

"Great. Uh, what is your name?" Hiccup immediately felt awful, that was a terrible question to ask, of course he couldn't-

'Svarturkappi.'

Wait, what? "Toothless, say that again?"

'Svarturkappi. I have a few names. Svarturkappi, Kappi, or just Cap for my family, because long names are a pain. Except for you, you are a friend but you call me Toothless, because...' The Fury tried to bolt upright, but he was dizzy and only managed to jerk somewhat to the left and upright before collapsing again. In the process, he yanked Hiccup with him, because they were stuck together for the moment. Toothless repeatedly shook his head, trying to clear it. His voice rose as he spoke, conveying his excitement. '...because I couldn't remember my names or any other specifics from the nest. Because the Queen told us to forget! I was trying to remember anything at all, like...' His face fell. Literally and figuratively as he slumped to the ground.

Hiccup felt like Toothless had remembered something else important. "Like what?"

Toothless moaned in anguish. 'Like who the other Night Fury is, the one still a slave to the Queen.'

"Who is it?" Hiccup could tell this wasn't going to be good.

'Her name is Svarturkló.'

Hiccup had a guess. "Your mate?"

Did Toothless have a mate? It would explain why he was so clearly unhappy if she was still enslaved. He wasn't sure what could be worse than-

'No. My mother.'

Well, that just might be worse.

'My mother is still enslaved to that monster.' That was ominously neutral in tone. Toothless was beginning to quiver slightly. 'My mother is being used as a tool of murder and destruction, put into danger at a whim by a tyrant.' That was definitely on the 'Rage' side of angry in tone.

Hiccup had to consider the possibility his friend was about to do something they would both regret, like trying to fly to the nest with half a tail and no plan, or some other self-destructive act.

'MY MOTHER IS-' Toothless cut off his latest roar as he noticed something.

Hiccup had reached the pressure point and was barely touching it.

'Don't even think about it.` Toothless was growling now, a deep vibration Hiccup could feel in his bones as well as hear.

"If you don't calm down, I will make you." Hiccup was deadly serious. And Toothless knew it. They both also knew that if Toothless wanted to, he could tear Hiccup apart before he did anything. Hiccup was trusting that his friend's better side would prevent that.

And it did. Toothless forced himself to calm down, at least somewhat. Which really only meant he restrained himself to growling, instead of anything more. 'We need to do something.'

"And we will, as soon as we have a plan and are ready. A good plan, not something we make up on the way there."

'We need to go NOW.' Toothless shook Hiccup's hand away.

"No."

Toothless snapped his teeth out, baring them in a violent snarl. 'She is still there! We spent fifteen years in that hellhole, my entire life, and I, by some stroke of good luck was set free, but I. LEFT. HER. THERE. We need to GO.'

"I understand, but it couldn't be helped. You didn't even remember she was there until now, and we still can't fly well enough to even get there, let alone challenge and defeat the Queen! You need to calm down and think before you act."

You don't understand! My mother is trapped and enslaved by a monster. You don't understand that I would do ANYTHING to get her free.' Toothless abruptly flared his wings, crouching angrily.

That struck a nerve Toothless hadn't known existed until now. "I understand far better than you know."

The venom in Hiccup's voice gave Toothless pause, but his anger pushed him forward. 'Do you?!'

"Yes."

'Then you-'

"At least you still have a chance to save her if you'd stop and think! My mother was taken by a massive four-winged dragon when I was a baby, grabbed out of our house during a raid. I never got that chance."

Toothless was shocked into silence by the vehement anger in Hiccup's voice.

Hiccup continued just as angrily, shifting to look Toothless right in the eye. "I've grown up hearing stories about the quests my father undertook to try and get her back. Everyone talks about how driven he was, how stubborn he was, how he searched for years. Do you know what you both have in common right now?"

Toothless tried to object but Hiccup cut right over him, still speaking forcefully.

"You have no plan, same as him. That first quest was launched the day after her abduction. If my father had stopped to think, to come up with a plan, I might still have a mother today. Looking at what happened, I have a pretty good idea of what he should have done. He should have asked around, found out what kind of dragon took her. He might have realized it wasn't native to our area, had only been spotted in the North. I don't know if he knows that even now. I know because I asked trader Johann, who travels. I do know that he went in search of the nest, the one she clearly wouldn't have been taken to. I know he searched for months. Months my mother didn't have. He didn't stop searching after that, but by then it was probably too late."

At that Toothless slumped, struck by the futility of what Hiccup was describing, the horrible sense of hopelessness inherent in that scenario.

But Hiccup wasn't done. "So excuse me if I don't want my only friend to make the same mistake. Especially when I can do something about it. My dad still doesn't know or admit to himself that he could have done better. He's too stubborn. But you? If you survived having no plan and lost your only chance to get her back, you would know. And it would probably kill you inside. Assuming you didn't just die in the attempt, because you went in without taking the time to make sure you even had a chance."

The anger had faded from Hiccup's voice by the end of his speech, and all that was left was a numbing sadness.

Toothless knew that Hiccup was right. He hated to admit that he had to leave her there, even for a little while longer, but Hiccup was right. And Toothless knew he had been a jerk, regardless of any extenuating circumstances. 'Hiccup, I'm-'

"Sorry, I know. Don't be. I know that you couldn't think straight. If that was what it took to get you back to sanity, it was worth it."

'It shames me to admit it, but we do need to wait. You are right, we need a plan. And experience flying as a team. Only then will we go.'

"Good. Now, another important question." Hiccup had thought of something else he needed to know.

'Yes?'

"What do you want me to call you now? You apparently have three different names, four if you count Toothless. Which do you prefer I use?"

Toothless thought about it. He explained his reasoning. 'Well, Svarturkappi is my full family name. Svartur is the family name. Kappi is my shortened name. Cap is what I would go by with friends if I had any. But... I like Toothless. It's a reminder of everything good that's happened since you shot me down. Starting with that, really, even if I did lose a tailfin. So, please just call me Toothless.'

Hiccup was more than happy with that. He was also ecstatic that his friend remembered everything, even if it did add urgency to their taking down the Queen, something he still didn't really know how they were going to do. Besides, he was eventually going to have told Toothless about his mother anyway. Not how he would have planned on doing it, but it helped him talk sense into the upset dragon, so at least it helped. Now, for the other current problem...

At that moment, Toothless decided to stand. Because Hiccup had sat down at some point, the tether between the two was already taut. The result of this was that Toothless wondered for a second where Hiccup had gotten the sudden upper-body strength to do a handstand. Then he understood, and slowly sat back down, so as to not drop Hiccup. That was embarrassing for both parties.

"I'm stuck to you, at least until I can unbend this." Hiccup put all of his strength into the task, accomplishing exactly nothing.

'How do we do that?'

"I can't do it here, I need to go to the forge. There are tools that can do it there."

'We can go together.'

"Oh, alright. Sure."

Hiccup had to ride Toothless, which disappointed him somewhat. One of these days, he wanted to run through the forest at speed with Toothless, to see just how good his teacher was.

Toothless wanted to as well, and they decided they would definitely have to at some point. Because he had a rider, Toothless couldn't go at top speed. Not that it mattered, because they had decided to wait until dark to enter the village itself. Dark meant it would be easier to hide a dragon, especially a Night Fury. They might not have been thinking entirely clearly, but they were still somewhat cautious.

After nightfall, Hiccup led the Night Fury through the village. Well, Hiccup technically didn't have to lead, given how Toothless had seen the forge and the surrounding area a dozen times through Hiccup's eyes. But it was safer to have a human in front, in case someone walked towards them. Toothless might have been far more curious about his surroundings, but he had seen all of this before. So, he quietly followed Hiccup, hiding as best he could. He and Hiccup made it to the forge without incident.

But someone had seen Hiccup, if not the black dragon, enter the forge. "Hiccup? Are you in there?"

These words made both Hiccup and Toothless freeze. Hiccup mainly in fear with a bit of anger, and Toothless mainly in anger, with a bit of fear. Hiccup threw on an apron to cover the flight harness and stepped out of the saloon-style doors quickly, to prevent Astrid coming in after him and seeing Toothless. He faced Astrid, who had her ax with her.

Inside the forge, Toothless was completely still. Inside Hiccup's head, he was anything but quiet. 'Ok, so we can't run, you can't hide. She's armed and has proven she can kill in cold blood. And she hates you. The only thing we have going for us is that she doesn't know I exist. On the count of three, I'll jump her. You grab her ax on two. One...'

Hiccup had to speak up, even if that plan probably was their best chance of surviving this encounter. "Hi, Astrid. Hi AstridHIASTRID." As he said this, Hiccup was freaking out. He had to stop Toothless's countdown before he leaped out. "No don't yet" was all he could manage in a near-silent whisper, hoping Astrid didn't see or hear anything strange in the moonlight.

'Okay, I'll jump her if you grab her ax. Try to talk us out of here first.'

Hiccup wanted to collapse in relief, but he still had to get away from Astrid. Or, grab her ax and let Toothless deal with her. It was a somewhat tempting solution, especially if he considered what she had done in the arena, but it wouldn't end well in the long run. He had to figure out why she was here. If it was to attack him, then she could have fun dealing with the enraged Night Fury literally at the end of his tether.

"Relax. I'm not here to hurt you." Her words were soothing, but her tone of voice and posture added an undertone. It said; "I will end you if you do anything to make me mad." All in all, a mixed message.

Hiccup knew which version he believed. "So, then why are you here… in the middle of the night?"

"To warn you. I won't lose dragon training. I can't. You're the only one even close to capable of threatening my chance of winning, however you're doing it. So you need to be careful. Don't try to win. Then I won't have to stop you. That works out better for you." Her words were delivered with confidence, the meaning clear.

"Let me get this straight. I let you win, or you… what, beat me up? That seems more of Snotout's area of expertise. And I don't see you as the outsourcing type." Hiccup smirked.

Her voice was acid, her eyes ice. "If you somehow beat me in training, I'll wait to see how you do against the Nightmare. If it kills you, I won't have to do anything. But if you kill it, you become the undisputed best in our generation. My family honor will be slighted. I'll cut you in two, just like that Terror."

Hiccup was pretty sure that family honor wasn't supposed to work like that.

But the wind had just shifted, and Toothless caught something. 'Hiccup, I think she might be a little insane. I can smell just a hint of it. I couldn't before, not through your senses, but now I can with either of ours. If she was on the edge before, killing that Terror must have pushed her over. She is actually crazy.'

That terrified Hiccup. Before, angry Astrid was at the very least predictable. Now...

Hiccup actually had a bit of practice dealing with the insane. The son of the chief of another tribe, Dagur, was certifiably nuts. Which was actually appropriate, given his tribe was the Berserkers. Hiccup had to interact with him every couple of years. In his unpleasant interactions with Dagur, he had learned that there were a few different kinds of crazy. There was the normal crazy, which was easy to recognize if not to deal with. That wasn't Dagur. Dagur was paranoid and obsessed with violence. The really crazy side only came out if he was thwarted. Hiccup was going to have to assume Astrid would be the same, given she wasn't acting crazy. Which meant that for now, she wouldn't be much different. Cross her, or get in the way of whatever obsession she had, and he would see just how crazy she could get. At least with Dagur, Hiccup only had to deal with him once every few years. Astrid, he shared an island with. "Uh, sure, no problem. Have fun being the best, I'm totally good with second place."

Astrid smiled. She said nothing and walked away. Hiccup was just about to sigh when she spun. Glared at him. And then smiled again. "Don't forget!" She yelled as if it had been a friendly reminder. Then she continued walking. She was gone for good this time.

Hiccup wasted no time. He bolted inside the forge and pried the bent metal loose with the tool he had come here to get. As soon as he was done he and Toothless ran as fast as they could out of the village. It was pitch black, so Hiccup rode Toothless on the way back to the cove. He was shivering, not from cold, but from fear. Things on Berk were going to be way more difficult now. "So, just how insane is she?" Hiccup was only slightly relieved by the answer to this.

'Only a little right now. Probably not enough to be noticeable unless you know what to look for.'

"Great. But it's probably going to get worse over time, and way worse if she's under stress. You know, like the stress of being shown up in dragon training. Right now, I would be willing to bet she's fixated on that. Being the best. Bud, I think no matter what I do, she's gonna get worse. Quickly."

'Then don't try and avoid it.'

Hiccup brightened. "Actually, we need to do exactly that. Look, if I just let her win…" His face fell as he thought that through. " No. I can't."

'Why?'

"We both know why. I won't let her kill that Nightmare."

'But if you win, you have to. No matter what, someone has to.'

"Yup. I'll have to figure something out." Hiccup sighed. "I could almost wish we had just-" He stopped.

'Hiccup?' Toothless wasn't sure what the problem was. He crooned inquisitively.

"Toothless, why didn't we just have you flame the tether? Or even just bite it?" Hiccup looked down. "For Thor's sake, I could have just taken my belt off, or the saddle! What were we thinking?"

Toothless considered that. 'I don't know. But I had just hit my head. Maybe the better question is, what were you thinking?'

Hiccup shrugged. "I guess I didn't really think about it." He laughed. "Ironic, given the whole speech I had just given about thinking before you act."

Toothless chortled, swiping his tail at Hiccup playfully.

"Hey!" Hiccup narrowly dodged the tailfin aimed at his legs. "We have better things to do than play 'Trip the Human'." He made eye contact with Toothless. "We need to learn to fly. Like, really fly. We'll do it tomorrow."

Toothless felt like bouncing around the cove, no matter if it was the middle of the night! 'You're ready to try?'

Hiccup smiled. "Yup, got my cheat sheet done right before the accident. We'll do it tomorrow. For now, though, I guess I'll have to sleep here. If you don't mind, of course."

Toothless chuffed. 'Not an issue. You might be cold though.'

"Can I borrow your wing again?"

'I have a better idea.' Instead of extending a wing out over his back, Toothless extended a wing out to the side. As he was curled around that side, this time his wing was resting on the end of his tail, creating almost a sheltered tent a few inches off the ground.

Hiccup crawled underneath it, grateful for the extra space this arrangement provided. Only his head was visible from the outside. He discovered that in this arrangement, heat from the tail making up the 'side' of the flat tent was collected in the space, warming it. "Perfect."

'I thought so.'

Hiccup smiled. Tomorrow. Tomorrow they would finally fly and have a way off this island if things went bad.

Random Side Note: The names are indeed words in another language. And sometimes (not always) they might be important. But there's no need to look them up. It won't help. If the reader needs to know what a name means, it will be revealed through the story. And if you do look them up anyway, beware of red herrings. If you fall for any, you can give them to Toothless later. I'm assured he likes them.

On a completely unrelated note, this has been a really weird week. One unexpected Httyd-related experience might be a coincidence, but two in the same week is stretching it. Not only did I walk into work to hear the song that plays on the HTTYD3 trailer on the radio (and I'd never heard it before on the radio at all, along with the fact that the radio is usually playing music of a very different genre), but that same week I was in Blacksburg, Virginia. And there we went to a disc golf course that turned out to be set in a forest that was basically the image I hold in my head of what Berk's wilderness looks like. Super vertical terrain, steep slopes, random unstable boulders, tangled undergrowth, everything. All it was missing was the draconic presence and evergreen trees instead of oak trees. It was actually unnervingly similar. And then, of course, ten minutes in we get hit with a massive storm. It even had the bad weather! And getting out of there during a torrential downpour was actually a dangerous endeavor.