Author's Note: Woo, crazy week. But thanks to incredible (or not so much, you be the judge) foresight, my personal life didn't impact my posting at all.

Oh, also. I plan on adding a tiny bit of personal information to my profile (nothing big, like real name or address, I like living anonymously.) Just a few facts. Before I do, I'd like to do a survey of sorts. Can anyone here guess this author's age, gender, or even career choice? Those are pieces of information that will eventually be present on my profile. I'd love to see how I come across in my writing. How much can be inferred or assumed, correctly or not?

One note for future reference. I'm going to start responding to guest reviews at the bottom of the page, so there isn't an even bigger text block in front of what everyone is here to see.

Hiccup ran, trying to stop thinking for a few moments.

Toothless was present, but he was silent, understanding Hiccup's need for quiet.

Hiccup moved towards the village at a fast pace. His runs through the forest have become much swifter, even more so than when he fled from Astrid. It was all just muscle memory now. Still, the time it took to reach the village felt far too short on this day of all days.

He ran through the village and headed for the arena, but took a detour through the center of the village. He and Toothless had figured that in order for his innocence to be without question in the minds of the Vikings come tomorrow, Hiccup needed to seem excited today. He was running through the village center so that the slower Vikings who were still making their way to the arena could see him. More specifically, see him running at an easy pace there, exuding excitement and confidence as he went.

At least, that was what he hoped he looked like.

In reality, his stomach was in knots. It wasn't what was going to happen in the arena that scared him. That was all but a foregone conclusion. It was the knowledge of what he would do tonight. He really wished Stoick hadn't moved the event to today. With more time, even if he hadn't been able to think of a better plan, he would have had time to mentally prepare. Too much tonight would rely on chance for him to be happy with it, despite all the planning they had done. Vikings were unpredictable, and there were too many unknowns. So, he worried.

He was startled out of his circling thoughts by the roar of the crowd as he entered into the arena proper, and into the line of sight of the stands. He was momentarily stunned. Vikings could be very loud when they wanted to. Ignoring them was difficult, but he tried anyway. It didn't work. Desperate for quiet, he fully expanded Toothless's sense of hearing, concentrating fully on it. The result was as if he had deafened himself. Now, all he could hear was a faint birdcall in the distance. That was much better. He held that for a moment until he saw the crowd quiet down. He then returned to his normal sense of hearing.

Calmed somewhat, Hiccup examined the interior of the arena. Today, there were only a few wooden blockades, waist-high and too flimsy to provide protection. That wasn't their purpose. They were only there to provide cover, a place to ambush from. Because Thor forbid any Viking use them to hide. There were two other people in the arena besides Hiccup. Gobber was standing next to the exit, ready to leave and shut the only path of retreat. Astrid was in the center of the arena. She held her ax at the ready. Hiccup had gotten into the habit of leaving his replacement ax in the arena, so he didn't have to run with it. He moved to the weapon rack and hoisted it, but had no intention of using it. It was really just for show since nobody would believe he intended to fight a dragon bare-handed, even if his father could and did during raids at times.

The look in Astrid's eyes was unsettling. They were confident and relaxed. She must still believe Hiccup would throw the fight. It's what he would have done if he had been in this situation at any time before the events of the last few weeks. But now he had something to fight for. Something to protect. And that meant he had no choice. He couldn't let her win. At least one life depended on his actions here and now.

Stoick was in the extra-large seat designated as the chief's chair. It was front and center of the bottom row and had the best view. He wouldn't be presiding over the training today, he was only here to watch. There was actually nothing formal about today. The only difference was that Gobber had removed the other teens from the ring when they showed up, ready for training. It was entirely possible the twins still didn't know why. Fishlegs knew, and Snotlout definitely did not. He would still be protesting being essentially declared unworthy to even be considered the best in the class if he knew. Hiccup could see them in the crowd, interspersed among the random Viking spectators.

Gobber didn't give any speeches. He simply moved in front of the controls and said one word. "Gronckle."

He pulled the lever. As always, the bulbous lump of a dragon burst out of the doors and proceeded to slam into the opposite wall.

Hiccup was pretty sure, after seeing that this many times, that it did so intentionally. Or it had memory problems. One of the two.

It circled the upper edge of the arena, processing the fact that there were more annoying Vikings watching than usual and fewer actual threats.

As it circled them, Astrid grinned. She had ducked behind one of the flimsy stands, and Hiccup had done the same on his side of the arena. The Gronckle had to know they were in there, but it didn't know where. Astrid looked directly over at Hiccup and smiled. It was probably impossible to see from the stands, and it made Hiccup's hair stand on end. She beckoned as if to tell him to go ahead. The steel behind her gaze was to remind him of her promise.

He steadied his nerves. Now more than any other time, this had to look good.

The Gronckle decided to examine the barriers closer to the ground. It would pass between them in a few seconds. Hiccup waited until it was a few feet away, and charged towards it. He had half a second to see the shock on Astrid's face as he moved past her.

He had known what he would have to do seconds after the Gronckle had burst into the ring. His best bet was the pressure point under the chin. Hitting it immediately wouldn't be hard, but that was only half of the challenge. He needed to make this look violent enough so as to not raise questions about why the dragon dropped so easily, and if he could, he needed to make it look spur of the moment. Ideally in a way that wasn't slow enough for Astrid to mess it up. He and Toothless had created a strategy for each of the arena dragons last night, and the one for the Gronckle might have been the most impressive looking of the bunch. Although what they had been forced to come up with for the Zippleback was a close second.

Hiccup charged the dragon, angling slightly at its left side. At the last minute, he rolled under its half-hearted swipe and lunged at the dragon's head from the right. The Gronckle had been confused by a combination of Hiccup's aggressive behavior, the intimidating scent of Night Fury that clung to him, and the shocked and enraged warcry of Astrid half a second after she had realized Hiccup wasn't going to let her win. Because of this, Hiccup's roll hadn't been great, but he had made it to where he needed to be; he was within touching range of the Gronckle's chin. He punched his right hand out at the dragon's pressure point in a quick and subtle motion. At the same time, he swung his ax in a flashy arc at the Gronckle's tiny forehead, angling it so that the haft struck between the eyes, just hard enough to look real.

The end result was impressive to behold, no Vikings saw Hiccup break out of hiding and charge straight at the dragon, a hard stare of concentration his only expression. They saw him roll away from a swipe of the dragon's meaty but short forearm and clobber the Gronckle between the eyes, and they saw it immediately struggle and ultimately fail to retain consciousness. And all of this happened in the time Astrid was leaping barriers and rushing towards them, screaming promises of bloody murder. At which of the combatants they were directed was not specified. In that moment, the crowd was silent.

Hiccup felt bad for hitting the Gronckle, but he hadn't hit it very hard. The pressure point was what sent it to sleep. It wasn't an immediate sleep, like with Toothless, which just happened to make things look that much more dramatic. It had worked perfectly.

Gobber dropped back into the arena. The crowd remained silent because they knew what was coming next. Elder Gothi had always been one of the spectators of dragon training. She was there from the beginning. That was because she, not Gobber, was the one who decided which trainee got to kill the dragon at the end. It wasn't a simple matter of proclaiming whichever participant happened to defeat this particular dragon the winner. Gothi picked based on criteria no one entirely knew. Most years, she picked the obvious favorite, but every once in a while she picked the runner-up for no discernable reason.

It would be just Hiccup's luck if this was one of those years. He didn't need Gobber to drag him to stand next to Astrid, who was entirely still and held her back stiff. She was visibly holding herself in check. She knew as well as Hiccup did that she was at a disadvantage, but not out yet. Gothi could still pick her.

Right about then someone had finally seen fit to inform Snotlout what was going on. His cry of "WHAT?!" broke the silence, and he was immediately hushed by the Vikings around him.

Gobber held his hook over Astrid's head. The Elder considered for an interminable moment, before slowly shaking her head. Gobber moved his hook over Hiccup's head, ignoring the quiet muttering among the crowd, and Astrid's rapidly darkening face. Gothi again paused, before smiling and nodding.

The world exploded into motion and sound. Hiccup was most immediately concerned with avoiding Astrid, who hadn't moved.

She turned to face him, and he saw rage bordering on insanity there. Then the rage faded. Astrid's face returned to its normal color. The rage was replaced by ice. Her tone, or what little of it could be discerned above the noise of the crowd, was cold and professional. "I can't wait to see how you fare against the Nightmare tomorrow. Either result will be interesting." That was Astrid's creepily calm way of saying he had just guaranteed his own death. Either the dragon would kill him tomorrow, or she would shortly after.

Hiccup was just glad she hadn't snapped then and there. He had been expecting some reminder of the fact that he had just sealed his fate in her eyes. At least she had confirmed his reasoning so far. Hopefully, his logic would hold true.

Gobber was excited, and Stoick was beside himself in pride, but all Hiccup could feel was anticipation. Now came the uncertain part of his day. How soon could he break away from the celebrations? He wanted to spend any extra time he had with Toothless, ideally in the cove. That place had become a symbol of safety for him, and he needed that reassurance. Quietly slipping away wasn't an option though. He had to endure the enthusiasm of various Vikings as they flooded the arena floor, and lifted him off of his feet in celebration. He did his best to act enthusiastic. The stomach-churning feeling of anticipation made that hard.

It took Hiccup four hours to finally get a chance to leave. The partying in the Great Hall had started immediately and was less chaotic than usual thanks to a rare bit of Viking foresight. The festivities were restricted to a certain amount of mead per Viking. This was because Hiccup would kill the Nightmare at noon tomorrow, and partying Vikings usually got so drunk, come noon no one would be awake. The Vikings took the limitation of alcohol in fairly good humor because they knew they would just get twice as drunk tomorrow, and be sure not to miss the fight to boot. As such, Hiccup needed a legitimate reason to depart, instead of just slipping past the unconscious or oblivious partiers.

That excuse had come in the form of a complaint to Stoick, of all people. He had insinuated that he needed to train in the forest in preparation for the next day, and that had had Stoick giving his permission quite quickly. Hiccup was sure Stoick would have wanted to accompany him on his last preparatory time before his big day, and because of this had asked quickly as soon as he saw the telltale signs of a brawl in the making. He had timed that perfectly and was able to slip away without Stoick following when he had to go and deal with the brawlers. In Stoick's case, he didn't so much mean split up the fight as win it.

Toothless had been quite interested in seeing his first Viking party, and was still paying keen attention by the time Hiccup made his exit. He pulled back from Hiccup's perceptions and stretched before moving on foot back to the cove to meet Hiccup. Not having eaten since the night before was annoyingly distracting. As such, he was dreaming of cod and other types of fish when his instincts alerted him that something wasn't right. He froze. He was near the edge of the cove, and he was approaching from downwind of the cove, as was his habit. It paid off this time because there was already someone down there. And it wasn't Hiccup. 'Hiccup, there's someone in the cove.'

Hiccup slowed to a stop on his way to that very spot, still about five minutes away if he ran. He immediately accessed Toothless's senses. The dragon moved slowly, and after a minute was in a position to see the inside without being in danger of being spotted. It was Astrid. The very sight of her in the one place Hiccup considered safe was an unpleasant surprise. She was sitting cross-legged on a boulder, slowly sharpening her ax with a whetstone.

'It looks like she's waiting for something.'

"Someone. She must think this is where I go. I have no clue why she would be here. She isn't planning on killing me yet."

'She can still hurt you without killing you. It would improve the likelihood of you dying tomorrow against the Nightmare if you had injuries.'

Hiccup knew she couldn't do anything too drastic because a broken or severed limb would be pretty obvious. But why would she risk attacking him and not killing him at all? It didn't fit with her motives. She would be dishonored for beating someone up the day before that person's fight in front of the village. For interfering with the entertainment, if nothing else. "No, that's not why she's here."

'Then why?' Toothless sounded nervous, despite the fact that she didn't know he was there.

"I don't know. But I want her out of there. That place isn't for her. It's ours."

Toothless agreed with that entirely. But there was the question of getting her to leave, and even then... 'I don't think it matters anymore.'

"What?"

'Hiccup, the only thing that made that cove safe for us was that no one knew about it. Now one of the worst possible people does know about it. And there are remains of a fire, so she knows you spend time there. I don't think we can go there anymore. It was a safe haven, but now it's a death trap.'

Hiccup hated Astrid for this. Knowingly or not, she had destroyed the safety of a place with more good memories than the rest of the island combined. But he knew Toothless was right. They couldn't go back there anymore. He was just lucky that everything of material value in there was currently packed and on Toothless's saddle, which was on his back at the moment. If it wasn't for the Night Fury's last minute suggestion, Astrid would have found some quite incriminating stuff in that cove... and Toothless would have been in there. Trapped in a stone prison with a cold, dangerous, and slightly insane dragon-killer in training, armed with an ax and a rage well past murderous. With no way out. That made Hiccup shiver to think about. This could have been so much worse.

He resumed running, and Toothless turned from the cove and its invader, who had poisoned it for both of them, permanently. Toothless met him halfway. Hiccup moved over to Toothless and embraced the Fury in their version of a hug. It was for both of them because they had both lost something they valued.

"We'll find another place. But it won't be the same."

'No, it won't. But we need one anyway.'

"we might as well start looking after we eat."

'Fine by me.'

An hour later, they were full and ready to begin the search. Toothless was determined to find somewhere that Astrid would never find. That no Viking would ever find. Somewhere isolated, but reachable from the village, if one knew the way. Ideally, somewhere partially sheltered from the elements. Somewhere with fresh water nearby. But after surveying the uninhabited side of Berk, he was coming to the realization that a place that met all of these requirements might not exist.

Anywhere high in the mountain was out, because Hiccup could never get there without Toothless or a few spare days to climb up. For that matter, Toothless wouldn't be able to get there either, without Hiccup operating his tailfin. On the far side of the island, they found a large cave system, with running water in one of the side caves, in the form of a small underground stream. It was nice, but it opened up into a large field. That was way too exposed. Anyone within eyeshot of the field would see a black dragon in that field with no difficulty. Eventually, they decided they needed to revise their expectations.

'I guess the cove was one of a kind here on Berk.' Toothless huffed in annoyance, passing over the same patch of woods for what felt like the tenth time.

Hiccup sighed from his position on Toothless's back. He had to agree. "Fresh water, plenty of space, well-hidden... Wait. On that note, how exactly did Astrid find the cove? The entrance is almost impossible to see unless you know where to look. And I always take different paths to and from there, so I know I didn't beat a trail leading to it."

Toothless snorted, banking into a shallow curve, directing them in an arc across the back end of the island. 'Maybe she got lucky. Or maybe she's been searching for a while, at least for where you were going. I wouldn't have noticed her unless she was loud, upwind, or actually in the cove.'

The conversation died off after that. It didn't really matter how Astrid had found the cove. She had, and that was all there was to it.

They decided eventually to check the coastline of the back edge of the island. It would be a long trip to get there from the village, but Hiccup could make it in half the time it would take most other Vikings, and if they did find something, it would be as isolated by distance as possible.

They soared close to the water, circling this half of the island. Berk was a vertical place, and more than half the edge of the island was sheer cliff. There were a few isolated beaches, but they were small and simple strips of sand, probably gone entirely when the tide was in. Although the tide was almost in now, so they might actually be larger at other times.

Toothless finally spotted something when they were almost three-quarters of the way around the island. It was a strange hole, bored directly into one of the nondescript cliffs at an angle sloping downward into the rock.

Hiccup had seen it as well, and they moved closer out of curiosity. The hole was a bit too circular to have been natural, and Hiccup was aware of that. "What made this?"

The underlying question was, was it still there?

'Humans call them 'Whispering Deaths'. This cave looks like it was abandoned a long time ago.'

Hiccup was glad to hear that, but he had a different question. Something Toothless had just said didn't fit right with what he knew.

"Toothless, I thought back in the cove you said that you couldn't understand my words before the link. How would you know what humans call a dragon I've never mentioned, or heard anybody mention?"

Toothless snorted as he touched down in the cave and disturbed a very fine layer of dust. 'I didn't understand enough. Dragons can learn your language, but usually, that would have to involve spending time around humans. For obvious reasons, we don't tend to do that. But, the Queen liked to take us on raids, so over the years I've picked up some stuff by accident. I know what humans call all of the dragon species that ever went on a raid. Vikings like to yell about what dragon they killed, quite loudly. Seeing enough humans standing over dead Gronckles while yelling 'Gronckle' makes the connection pretty obvious. I don't know a lot, but I bet...' He trailed off.

"Bet what?"

'I was going to say, I bet my mother knows more of your language than I do. The Queen used her almost exclusively until I got old enough to fight. She has had way more time around Vikings than I have. Well, until recently at least.'

Hiccup could tell Toothless wanted to focus on something other than a reminder that his mother was still in captivity. "We should see where this leads." It probably wouldn't lead anywhere, but it would be a distraction.

Toothless, on the other hand, was optimistic about what they would find. 'Yes, this place could be perfect.'

"What makes you think that? For all we know it just ends a few feet in."

'This was probably carved to be the Whispering Death's den. If so, it will be expansive with multiple exits that are well-hidden to Vikings. And these dragons don't like to have to fly through their tunnels, so it will all be sloped, not straight up. If this was made to be a den.'

They moved into the cave. It almost immediately became too dark for Hiccup to see. He stopped. "Toothless, I can't see well enough to move around in here."

In way of reply, the dragon walked back to him, and nudged his head behind him, indicating that he should ride.

Hiccup got on blindly, lay as close to the saddle as possible, and accessed Toothless's senses. He felt better immediately, as the dragon's night vision made the cave seem as if it was moderately well lit. All the tunnels were of uniform radius and in the shape of a circle, unnaturally smooth.

Softly padding through the tunnel, every step echoing subtly, Toothless made his way into the mountainside. The tunnel was straight, and only led to one place. Something that seemed to be a natural cave, rough and adorned with stalactites and stalagmites.

"This must have already been here when the dragon made these other tunnels." Hiccup whispered this because any louder and his voice echoed eerily in the cave. The echoes of Toothless's footsteps were unsettling enough on their own.

There were two other tunnels branching off of this natural center cavern. They took the one to the left, which sloped up, ending in a hole in the side of a small hill, in the middle of the densest part of the forest. The hole was extremely congested by undergrowth, and Toothless chose not to try to force his way through it.

Hiccup could fit through, and he clambered through to see that the tunnel entrance was almost invisible from the outside. It was so deep in the forest that the area immediately around the hill it was dug into was shrouded in shadow. It was very difficult to spot after taking his eyes off of it even though he knew exactly where it should be. Hiccup marked the entrance with a quick flag of sorts, a long branch with leaves only hanging off of one side stuck upright into the ground on top of the hill. It looked distinctive, and would hopefully be recognizable approaching from other angles. He made his way back to Toothless.

'Why did you do that?'

Hiccup smiled, even though the dragon couldn't see it, because they were already backtracking to the central cavern. "If there is another exit, I want to see how far away they are over land, and that was so I could find it again."

The other passage on the right side sloped slightly downwards. This passage also ended without branching off, and also let out into the outside world. It terminated in the wall of a shallow ravine, with a river flowing through, in the direction of the ocean. This exit wasn't congested with plant life because it ended in solid rock instead of an overgrown hill. They followed the stream back and found that the ravine had over time become quite easily sloped due to erosion. There was no difficulty in reaching the rest of the forest.

Toothless and Hiccup took to the air. The ravine was barely visible from through the trees. They circled around the general area for a while, getting their bearings. The other tunnel exit, when they eventually relocated it, was some six hundred feet from the ravine. It was more than far enough away that one couldn't be seen from the other.

'This place will do.' Toothless sounded satisfied as he overlooked the area.

Hiccup had enjoyed exploring the cave, but he had a few reservations about them using it. "Don't you mind that it is so tight?" Most of the tunnels were barely large enough for Toothless to turn around in.

Toothless took them down in a slightly less dense part of the forest. 'Not really, and we wouldn't spend much time there anyway. It really just needs to be a safe place for me to stay, and us to meet up. Now we can fly, so we can relax on other islands or the top of sea stacks. Besides, it is safe and has three exits. One of which no human can enter from the outside. Another that is extremely hidden, and the third is big enough for me to use and means I can leave the cave whenever I need to, whether or not you are there. I don't need this place to be perfect. Also, when I sit and use your senses, I can sit in the cave opening overlooking the sea. That will be a nice change of pace.'

Hiccup only had one more possible issue. Actually, two. "Will you mind if I bring torches with me? I kind of need to see to go anywhere in there. I could eventually attach them to the walls, so it would be easy to see in there, but then I would need to relight them and replace them... that wouldn't work."

Toothless interjected his opinion. 'But you wouldn't need to go in that often. This cave isn't going to be like the cove. I won't want to spend time in there with you, and you won't need to come get me every day. We can just meet in the forest every day. This is just a safe place for me to stay when we aren't doing stuff together.'

Hiccup couldn't argue with that. He guessed that in the back of his mind, he was still trying to find another cove. This though was no cove. That was okay, he was just going to have to get used to it. "What about the saddle?"

Toothless paused. 'We can leave it in... well, I guess you would have to come to the cave every day. Meeting in the forest wouldn't work unless I was already wearing the saddle. We'll figure it out.'

Hiccup laughed. "Of course we will. At least we found somewhere today, so you don't have to sleep in some random hole in the forest tonight."

Toothless chuffed in amusement. 'True. I've done that before. Nothing like waking up to bugs all over you, convinced you're a rock for them to crawl over." He rolled over dramatically, reenacting the scene. Then he stood up "Nice morning snack, though.' He licked his lips.

Hiccup laughed. "How many bugs were there, if a dragon as big as you considered that a snack?"

The dragon shuddered dramatically. 'Hundreds. I think I slept next to an ant colony or something. They have a weird taste. Not bad though.'

Almost at the same moment, Hiccup and Toothless remembered to check the time. The sun was almost finished setting. Toothless hadn't noticed because of his night vision, and Hiccup because he had been in caves or the deepest parts of the forest for most of the afternoon, and hadn't registered the fading light in an open area as that dark in comparison.

"It's almost time." Hiccup's voice was soft.

They flew back to the part of the forest closest to the village that was out of sight of the village itself. However... "Hey, Toothless. Next time, don't fly in this area."

'Why?'

"We might be visible from Mildew's place. He's a grumpy old man that aggravates pretty much everyone. He lives up there."

Hiccup pointed at a hut sitting isolated a bit higher up the mountainside, quite a ways from the village.

Hiccup didn't seem particularly worried, but Toothless was mortified for not seeing it before. He immediately dove into the forest, out of sight.

"Woah! I was going to say, Mildew isn't there right now. He loves dragon-fighting, and now that he's too old to participate in raids, he always shows up for the graduation killing of the Nightmare. He'll be sleeping in the Great Hall tonight and tomorrow night, just like every year. So you're good for now."

They walked to the edge of the forest, not running because they had time to kill. Hiccup wanted to release the dragons an hour before midnight when no one would be around, but before it got too late in the night. The plan was gone over several times, and eventually, they settled in a tree, a few dozen trees back from the edge of the forest. The branch in question was thick enough to support Toothless's weight, and he clung to it with all four feet, like a cat would.

They sat like that, waiting. During that time, they discussed something neither of them wanted to think about.

"What if I get caught? It shouldn't happen, but it could." Hiccup sounded nervous, and he probably would have been kicking his feet if he wasn't still in the saddle.

Toothless snorted. 'It won't. They are all still partying, and you are sneaky enough to sneak up on a dragon. No Viking will see you unless you want to be seen. Besides, I would save you.'

That was what Hiccup was afraid of. "Bud, I'm touched, but if they catch me you can't just run through the village with your fire blazing and expect to make it to me alive. The arena is on the opposite side of the village, and you'll have to stay here while I release the dragons."

Toothless whined in frustration. 'Why can't we just fly to the arena?'

Hiccup had an answer for this one because he had already considered it. "Because. The arena is in a really tricky spot. We could fly there, but it's built into the side of a cliff. The only places you could land would be accessible to Vikings. You would be in more danger than me if they discover you. It would basically be a death sentence if you were found there because there's only one exit by foot and none for you by air without me." All of this was technically true. However, there was more behind Hiccup's reasoning than that alone.

He was pretty sure he wouldn't be caught, but he had to plan for every scenario. If he was caught, he wouldn't be killed immediately. Toothless on the other hand would be. He also knew the dragon had a powerful protective instinct, at least when Hiccup himself was involved. He was pretty sure if he was caught he would be outcast. That, while normally a death sentence for someone of his size and weakness, might have been the best possible punishment for Hiccup at this point. This was because when someone was outcast, they were put out to sea in a rowboat with only a set of paddles, and told never to return, under threat of death. If he was outcast, Hiccup could just row to a beach on the other side of the island, and leave with Toothless. He didn't want to leave Berk, but it would hardly be a punishment.

However, if Toothless was killed trying to rescue him, Hiccup would never forgive himself. Toothless was his only friend, almost a brother to him. Therefore, he wanted Toothless as far away as possible, for his own safety. That way, if Hiccup was captured, he could convince Toothless to just stay away. He couldn't explain any of this though, because he wouldn't lie to Toothless. There was always the slightest possibility the sentencing wouldn't be exile. He couldn't honestly guarantee he would survive being caught freeing the arena dragons.

The best possible solution was to just not get caught. The time was approaching. He had already committed countless acts of treason in the last month. What was a few more? He wasn't sure why this felt different. It might have been because this wasn't a dragon no one knew existed. This was with the dragons the village knew and hated, the ones they enjoyed watching people fight and kill right in the village. And he was going to free them. Just another act of treason, a betrayal of the culture he had been raised in. It didn't bother him. Astrid had told him something, in training that day before he went back to the cove, unknowingly right after his first act of treason. She had said, 'figure out which side you're on.' Hiccup knew which side he was on now.

It wasn't the side of the Vikings. It also wasn't the side of the Queen or the raiding dragons fighting because they had no choice. They were the victims and a Tyrant. He was fighting to free them, but until he did, they would oppose him, because they had no choice. He was on a third side. One that consisted of a sum total of two people in the world. Himself, and Toothless.

They were against the Queen. It was unclear if he could convince the Vikings to not be against his third side. If they knew about it now, they would surely oppose him as a traitor. He really believed that to have a chance, he needed to end the Queen. But that wasn't why he was doing this. This wouldn't help end the Queen. The Vikings didn't know it, but this could be seen as an act of war. A declaration of war, by his third faction. He didn't want to fight them, just like he didn't want to fight the enslaved dragons, but in both situations, he had no choice. They, or in this case Stoick and the whole Viking culture, were forcing his hand. This wasn't about stopping the Queen, this was about doing what was right. He wouldn't kill that Nightmare, and he wouldn't let anyone else kill it. And so, a declaration of war.

Not on the Vikings, he now realized, though they would think so. On the Viking way. They would fight to protect it, just like the enslaved dragons would fight to protect the Queen. There were so many similarities here that it made Hiccup's head spin. A powerful, persuasive entity on each end, forcing and seducing both sides into a bloody war. Both sides fought for something that wasn't right, something driving them into worthless conflict. The differences though, few as they actually were, were important. The dragon's forcing entity was a creature, a person. Something that could be stopped with force. The Vikings' entity, on the other hand, wasn't a physical thing. It was an idea, a way of life ingrained into each person, just like the Queen was in each of her slaves. The Queen could hypothetically be killed with force or fire. If that happened, all of her slaves would be free. And they would be happy with that. For the Vikings, it wasn't going to be nearly as easy, if it was possible at all. There was no central target to attack with force and fire in an idea, and the Vikings, far from hating it, would cling to it as their way of life. Freeing the Vikings might be impossible because the vast majority of them didn't want to be freed.

In both cases, there was one present exception. Hiccup and Toothless had both escaped their mental entrapment. Hiccup because he couldn't find it in himself to fit into the ideal, and Toothless because he had been freed through luck. And so they formed the third side. The one dedicated to destroying both evil influences. If they could. Hiccup had no plan for the Queen, but he at least knew that it could die. How did one destroy an idea? Or even replace it, if the ones holding on to it didn't want to let go? Unlike the Queen, there was no way around the individuals protecting the influence. They each had their own little copy of the Viking way ingrained in them, and to fix it in one didn't affect the others. To fix that would be to convince each Viking individually to let go. It was the equivalent of if Hiccup, in order to save all of the enslaved dragons, had to shoot each and every one down separately with his bola launcher. Possibly an impossible task. And the entire time, he would be vulnerable to those he had not yet reached.

That was the reason he wouldn't reveal what was going on until after the Queen was gone. Because he wanted to approach the near-impossible task he understood how to deal with first.

Toothless nudged him and craned his head to look back at him. It was time.

Responses to Guest Reviews:

To a review from a guest who titled themself asNoOnE: That's a reluctant 'no' on increasing update frequency. As a reader, I personally like as many updates as quickly as possible. As a writer, once a week is basically the sweet spot for me. Enough time to get feedback, but not too long between chapters. And enough time to make sure I keep building up my stored up material. Starting Anew is a great example. I can run two stories simultaneously with no pressure on myself, because I wrote Starting Anew while this story was being published at its current pace. In the future, I may have even more stories running in tandem with this system. I definitely have no shortage of inspirations to draw from. The stuff on my profile page is enough for years to come, and that isn't even everything.

As for how I came up with the sharing of senses idea, it was actually inspired by something totally different. I noticed that HTTYD AUs generally spent far more writing time in the cove than village over the course of the first movie's plot. Analysis of that led me to believe that it was because the village scenes are… wait for it… boring. Unless there's some interesting side-plot, the cove scenes are generally more interesting. Which brought me to consider how to make village scenes more interesting. That eventually spawned the idea. And the entire story… snowballed. Ridiculously. More of an avalanche, really.

To the guest who said: CAnt wait for more. Loving the slightly crazy/insane Astrid vibe too.

Glad to hear it. This was a plot twist I wasn't sure would be well received. I know a certain story that depicted Astrid far less extremely actually received borderline harrassing repeat comments from one particular guest. I wondered if I'd get the same. That being said, I always felt that Astrid never lives up to her potential (in a very twisted way.) Well, potential as a villain, anyway. I swear, I'm not against Astrid as a character, though looking at my stories both complete and in progress, I really don't treat her character very well. Insane and evil, a thousand years dead, not in the same world(literally), unimportant to the plot, etc. I have maybe one story in progress that depicts her as both relevant and a good character. And that one isn't even progressed enough to be on my profile page.