Author's Note: Things continue to develop. As a side note, I have begun posting my fourth multi-chapter story, Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities. That makes three full-length books going at the same time, again with no excessive strain on my schedule or time. The massive perks of writing everything to completion first.

Also, within 24 hours of posting this chapter Living Vicariously will be well past the 10,000 views mark. The first major milestone, and hopefully one of many.

The arena was at the moment silent, though the silence was one similar to that before an explosion of some sort, as if everyone was collectively inhaling in order to shout all the louder. The entire village was shocked, watching Hiccup break three hundred years of tradition strong as law.

Hiccup didn't care. His priorities did not include making the village happy, and things had come to a head. He had established a tenuous connection with Svarturkló, Toothless's mother. One formed on necessity, but it would do for now.

Svarturkló purred softly, her way of indicating that she understood what Hiccup had requested. She moved up to stand beside Hiccup, to get a clear shot.

Hiccup turned to face her. "Will you let me get on your back, or do you want to carry me with your feet?" He still didn't know how much Svarturkló understood, but he figured he might as well ask.

Svarturkló answered by crouching. Whether she had understood or was simply aware it was his only way out of the arena was unclear. He vaulted onto her back, thankful he had left the bottom sheath on his scythe. Cutting Svarturkló by accident would have been horrible, and she had no saddle. He would have to hang on tight.

There was a roar of unintelligible shouts as Svarturkló blasted the arena bars. The arena had been built to hold in dragons, but Night Fury plasma blasts were far more destructive than most dragons. Her blast left a warped hole straight through the bars, big enough for her to fly through.

Vikings were only now jumping into the arena, their shock and the Chief's promise holding them back until now, this final act of insanity and defiance. The possibility of the Night Fury and Hiccup escaping drove them to it. But it was too late for any of them to stop Svarturkló.

Svarturkló leaped up, her wings creating powerful downdrafts. She shot out of the arena through the hole, Hiccup clinging to her back. None of the Vikings had ranged weapons, so none of them could do anything. That is, except for Astrid.

Astrid knew what she had to do. She was in a perfect position, guided by her gut to this very spot, with the perfect tool for the job. She aimed, spun the oversized bola carefully, and threw.

Hiccup knew something was wrong the split-second he heard the terrible sound of ropes spinning through the air. He didn't even have time to shout before they wrapped around Svarturkló, the weights slamming together right behind Hiccup with a sickening clack, the ropes…

Oh, the irony. The horrible, gut-wrenchingly ironic sight of a bola cruelly fouling and tangling a Night Fury's tailfins, completely twisting them. Was it fate that Night Furies could only be downed by lucky shots and coincidences? Could they only be stopped by attacking the tail?

Robbed of the use of her tailfins, Svarturkló dropped into an awkward plummet. They were falling directly at the village. Hiccup was just thankful, in the seconds before impact, for one fact. They were falling towards the empty village, and not the ocean, where they would both undoubtedly have drowned. The impact was abrupt, and Hiccup blacked out for a second.

When he came to, he realized that he was several yards away from Svarturkló. He had been thrown off of her and had miraculously survived with nothing but bruises. Hopefully, Svarturkló was similarly lucky.

She seemed mostly unharmed, though the bola was wrapped around her lower tail in a complex tangle of knotted rope and heavy iron weights. It was a momentous relief when he saw no blood, no tailfin torn beyond repair. This lucky shot had not been as damaging as his own had.

The villagers would be there any moment. He pulled out his scythe and hurriedly started cutting the ropes, sawing awkwardly with the curved blade, carefully avoiding the living parts wrapped up in the tangled clutches of the bola.

Svarturkló opened her eyes groggily and stared at Hiccup as he quickly began to release her. This was likely about when she figured out the scythe wasn't a part of Hiccup, but a weapon. Her eyes narrowed, before she snorted and nodded subtly. Necessity forced trust.

Hiccup wasn't even half done when someone turned a corner and barreled towards him, at full speed.

Svarturkló jolted to her feet, twisting her body to face Astrid, her gait unsteady and eyes unfocused. She was clearly not quite recovered from the impact. Hiccup awkwardly got between her and Astrid, pointing the unoccupied end of the scythe at Astrid, trying not to cut Svarturkló's tail in the process, the other end of his scythe still tangled in the mess of ropes.

Astrid hefted her ax menacingly, her eyes almost glowing with intensity, a hint of subtle madness.

"Traitor." She said that oddly, a twisted smile coming over her face. It was as if she was only now realizing what to her was a delightful fact. With that, she attacked.

Svarturkló jolted to the side, and Hiccup was pulled by the tangled scythe. What ensued was a twisted game of keep-away, Hiccup, Svarturkló, and Astrid going around roughly in a circle, Astrid trying to get within range, Svarturkló moving away unsteadily, and Hiccup stuck in the middle, pulled along as he tried both to avoid Astrid's wrath and to untangle Svarturkló's tail.

He couldn't help but laugh at the frustrated and almost bewildered expression on Astrid's face as their peculiar dance continued. Even when recovering, Svarturkló was agile enough to keep just out of Astrid's reach, and try as she might the frustrated warrior-in-training was making no progress. Hiccup on the other hand was steadily cutting through the restraining ropes, each jolt as Svarturkló moved out of the way aiding his efforts. But this odd stalemate could not last long.

He quickly cut the last rope and faced Astrid, spinning the scythe in order to keep her at a distance. Svarturkló had landed in something of a back alley between huts, and Hiccup could use his scythe's reach to block the way now that he had it loose. Astrid took a step back when he thrust his now unrestrained scythe out towards her, forcing her back.

Hiccup laughed again, taking in Astrid's angered expression. Svarturkló had regained her balance behind him, and she would be ready to leave any second. "Goodbye, Astrid. I guess you'll never get a chance to kill me. And it's rich calling the guy who's going to kill the Queen a traitor. I'd invite you to the Nest to watch, but it seems only a dragon can find it. You'd all just die anyway." He realized after he spoke that he had just told Astrid how to find the nest if she was smart enough to figure it out. It didn't matter. Either he would end the Queen with Svarturkló and Toothless, or they would die, and the Vikings could try. Not that they would succeed. He didn't care anymore. He called behind him. "Svarturkló, you good?"

Astrid's eyes widened when the Fury barked in confirmation. She shifted her ax, ready to charge, and asked the only question that summed up her confusion with everything Hiccup had done recently. "What are you, Hiccup?"

Hiccup smiled. The answer to that was obvious to him. "Not a Viking." He swiftly sheathed his scythe and leaped onto Svarturkló, who took off.

Astrid was floored by the displaced air from Svarturkló's wings. Other Vikings were arriving at the scene, moments too slow. They could only watch as Hiccup and the Fury flew off. Headed straight for the Nest. To kill the 'Queen', whatever that meant. But there was something else Hiccup had said. Something important. He had said, 'It seems like only a dragon could find it.' Astrid thought he might have just told her how to find the nest. She turned to face a furious Stoick, who had just arrived.

"Where are they?!" Stoick was beside himself in anger.

"Sir, they got away. But it doesn't matter. He told me how to find the Nest." Astrid figured she should drop that bit of news before Stoick exploded.

He stopped and stared at her. "He did?"

She nodded. "Apparently, only a dragon can find it. Did we keep the Nightmare we caught before the Night Fury was struck down?"

Stoick slowly smiled. "Aye, we did." He turned to face the other Vikings. "We set out for Helheim's gate at once! Someone bring the Nightmare to the docks!"

Astrid smiled. That was more like it. She would get another chance at the Night Fury, and at Hiccup. At whatever else lived in the Nest. She was liking her new goal more and more. Kill Night Furies. It would prove to the rest of Berk that she was the best dragon-killer. Starting with this one.

Hiccup and Svarturkló flew. Svarturkló began to flag, wingbeats unsteady by the time Berk was a smudge on the horizon behind them. She angled towards a sea stack, landing roughly on top of it.

Hiccup got off of her back and wished he had Toothless's saddle. He kept water in a canister in one of the pouches, and Svarturkló could probably use some right now. He sat down by her head, keeping in her line of sight. "Rest for a while. We need you at full strength when we get there. The Queen won't let Svarturkappi go without a fight." Hiccup just barely remembered to use the name she would recognize.

Svarturkló moaned and rolled onto her side.

Hiccup could see that her wing-muscles were cramping right at the base of where her wing met her body. The shoulder of the wing. He had seen this happen to Toothless once, after a long flight. He had been able to help then by massaging the shoulder muscles. Svarturkló could probably use the same treatment, but did she trust him enough to let him mess with her wings?

Svarturkló tried to flap the wing that was pointed towards the sky, and let out a pained grunt. She looked Hiccup in the eye.

Hiccup moved closer, slowly. "I can help. Trust me." He put his hands on her nose. When she didn't react, he slowly slid them up along her head, and down her neck, towards the shoulder muscles. She moaned again, softer this time. He was keeping in contact with her so that she knew what he was doing when she couldn't see him. He made it to the shoulder joint and began pushing out the cramps.

Svarturkló made a noise of surprise when the cramps started to fade. She turned to look at Hiccup when he took his hands away, finished with that wing. They made eye contact again, and after a long moment she slowly rolled over to give him access to her other wing.

Hiccup smiled at the trust they were establishing as he helped her. He had been a bit worried that she would just leave him here on this sea stack in the middle of nowhere and try to rescue Toothless herself. Now he wasn't worried about that. If nothing else, she was in his debt now, so she wouldn't leave him here. He finished with the other wing and Svarturkló rolled over onto her stomach. She closed her eyes and purred in thanks.

"You're welcome." Hiccup took in her worn appearance. She had flown from the nest to Berk, got hit by lightning, probably knocked out a couple times by Vikings, taken down by bola, and then flown some more. She needed to rest, badly. He was pretty sure she wouldn't make it to the nest in this condition, never mind anything after that. But she was preparing to get up. "Svarturkló. You need to sleep. Rest. We can go after that."

Svarturkló continued to struggle to her feet. She shook her head, clearly understanding and ignoring Hiccup.

Hiccup decided he needed to take more drastic action. He stood with her, and put his hands to either side of her jaw, holding her head to look into her eyes. "I'll make you sleep if you won't rest."

She snorted, intentions clearly unwavering.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." He scratched the pressure point, and she collapsed into sleep. Right on top of him. Again. He had forgotten about that part. She had pinned both of his legs under her head when she fell. "I should have thought that through."

Hiccup considered his position. "Oh well, I could use some rest too." He wasn't worried about Svarturkló waking up and trying to leave before she was rested. He was betting that because the pressure point naturally puts dragons to sleep, she would stay asleep until she was rested. And she wouldn't leave without him. He relaxed and laid back. "Not like I can go anywhere anyway right now."

Svarturkló woke up soon after the human fell back asleep, though she didn't know it. She didn't know at all what to think of this strange human. He smelled like her son, knew both of their names, and wanted to help rescue her son from the nest. He had said he wasn't a Viking and threw away the horns that marked him as one, had defended her when they had been shot down, and had helped her with her cramped wings before putting her to sleep when she wanted to keep going without rest, somewhat like a parent would with a hatchling. She didn't like that last part, but it did show he cared. Also, he was relaxed enough to fall asleep pinned under a dragon's head.

She knew he had some connection to her son. She didn't know what it was, or how her son was still alive, but that could wait. Right now, she needed to...

She looked at the sleeping human.

Sleep. She needed to sleep. The short time she'd had wasn't nearly enough. When she was rested they would go to the nest. And it would be a they. Her son would explain to her exactly what was going on once they had rescued him, and she would keep the human safe until she could hear the truth. If it turned out he was somehow deceiving her, she would tear him limb from limb. But she didn't want to have to do that. He seemed entirely unlike any other human she had encountered.

She set her head back down, and then realized she would be pinning him under her again. Well, if he wanted her to rest, she would force him to as well. Fair was fair. She fell back asleep.

Svarturkló was the first to really wake up. She felt the horrible pangs of hunger in her stomach and realized that she hadn't eaten in a few days. She carefully got up and flexed her wings. They barely felt sore. She would have to thank the human for that. Bringing him a fish would do nicely.

She walked off of the sea stack and flew a fair distance away to where she could see a shoal of fish. She shot a fireball into the water and waited. Once the dead fish had floated to the surface, she ate her fill and grabbed as many as she could carry with her claws. Then she returned to the sea stack. The human was awake and watching her. He didn't look scared that she would leave him. He seemed to trust her. She dropped a fish in front of him and thanked him despite knowing he couldn't hear her.

That made her wonder, though. dragons and humans couldn't communicate. So how had he known her name, or her son's name? It wasn't something that could just be guessed. Her son must have told him. But how?

Hiccup was inwardly disgusted by the prospect of raw fish. But he was pretty sure that Svarturkló wouldn't understand that he ate fish cooked. Toothless hadn't understood for a while, and Hiccup could talk to him. Besides, he needed food. He was pretty sure raw fish wouldn't kill him. So he ate as much as he could stomach. That turned out to be about half of it, but that was enough. His stomach no longer felt like it would implode.

Now he just wanted to throw up. Great.

He tried to focus on anything else. "How are you? Not mad that I put you to sleep, I hope."

Svarturkló growled, then purred.

"I guess you're telling me you didn't like that... but you understand why I did it? I'm okay with that. I won't do it again unless I have to."

Svarturkló growled again.

Hiccup raised his arms in surrender. "Okay, I won't do it at all. Just try not to fly yourself to exhaustion."

Svarturkló laughed, a guttural sound Hiccup could only recognize as laughter from Toothless. It reminded him of why they were there, and how he had gotten on top of a sea stack far from Berk, with his best friend's mom. His face fell. "Well, I guess that's it for Berk. Even if I could get them to understand, there are too many people who want me dead there." He straightened and addressed Svarturkló, who was staring at him empathetically. "But I don't regret any of it. I wasn't going to let them kill any dragon, especially you. Your son and I were going to try and free you, right before the lightning hit you."

Hiccup felt like he needed to explain, even if she didn't understand. "We were gonna taunt the Queen away, and get her to chase us over a lake. Then I was going to drop a rock on your head, which would knock you out, getting the Queen out of your head. You would have fallen into the lake instead of crashing, and we would have fished you out. All would end happily ever after. It was a good plan." He laughed. "But this works too."

Svarturkló crouched, having finished her meal, beckoning for Hiccup to get on.

Hiccup was about to when he noticed her scar. The lightning had left a strange, complex pattern on her back. "Wait, does this hurt?"

Svarturkló shrugged. It did, but she didn't care, and it was the only way to carry the human safely. She barked at him.

Hiccup scrambled on, trying not to put weight on the scar, even though that was almost impossible. It spanned most of her back. "If you say so. Now, let's go save Toothless. I mean Svarturkappi." He guessed he would have to get used to using that name, at least for now. It wasn't a bad name. Just different. He wouldn't care if it meant he would see Toothless again.

Svarturkló took off. She winged her way towards the nest, flying with as much gliding as possible to conserve energy. She had no idea what they would find there. Hopefully, the Queen would be asleep, as she so often was. Svarturkló noticed that the human was very good at staying on her back. He didn't have much to hold on to, but he remained secure without impeding her movement. He had clearly flown before, given his lack of reaction to the novelty of flight. With her son? She still didn't understand that. She would get answers from Svarturkappi. Once they found him.

Hiccup knew when they had passed Helheim's gate. That wall of fog was pretty distinctive. It was chilly, and damp inside the ever-present fog bank.

Svarturkló flew quietly, slowly moving past and between sea stacks that appeared out of the fog. She was headed in a single direction. The island of the Nest.

Hiccup saw it as they flew out of the fog, and into the airspace above the Nest. It was a desolate island, devoid of anything green or living, save for dragons. The Nest island was dominated by a massive mountain in the center. No, Hiccup realized as they drew closer, a volcano, probably dormant. He figured that would be where the Queen was.

An aggravated screech split the air. Hiccup and Svarturkló both recognized it at once. It came from Toothless. Or, as they flew around the island and saw what was going on, rather from the Queen through Toothless.

Hiccup could see Toothless, down on the shore. His friend had several nasty scratches on his face and legs, some of which were still bleeding. His eyes were slitted, and it was obvious what was going on. The Queen was using Toothless's body and trying to fly. As he and Svarturkló watched, Toothless took off, faltered, and fell back to the ground, in what appeared to be the latest in a long line of failures, judging by the skidmarks in the rocky beach. The Queen didn't seem to understand that Toothless was incapable of solo flight. It was ticking her off.

The Queen, through Toothless, roared again in frustration.

Svarturkló was horrified at the sight of her son unable to fly, and being injured by the Queen in the process. She quickly saw the saddle, and prosthetic. She was a smart dragon, and the fact that the human had experienced flight before implied to her that her son was able to fly somehow, but the Queen didn't seem to know that. She angled down to the beach, landing in front of her enthralled offspring. The human climbed off of her back and turned to her. She didn't catch everything he said, but he seemed to want her to go to the volcano, and... Yes, she understood. She left the human there, trusting he could carry out his part of the plan.

Hiccup stood alone, facing a homicidally angry Queen in the body of his best friend. He took his scythe off of his back and looked at it. He looked at the Queen, who was staring at him. "This won't help me. I could never make myself hurt him anyway." He threw the scythe away from them. It landed, an obvious marker embedded halfway in the rocks and sand that made up the dark beach.

He turned back to the Queen, to Toothless. He had to carry out his part of the plan. Keep the Queen's attention on him. "Toothless, buddy, I know you're in there. I know you can only watch, that this is all the Queen. I don't blame you for anything she's done or will do using you. You shouldn't either."

Hiccup knew that there was every possibility the Queen would kill him using Toothless. He wanted his friend to know it wasn't his fault. He didn't plan to die, but his plans rarely worked anyway. Besides, the Queen seemed interested in what he had to say. She probably understood him completely, if the amount of time she had spent around humans through proxies was any indication. He was stalling for time. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Svarturkló had entered the volcano. Just a few more seconds.

The Queen decided to stop playing nice. She jumped at Hiccup, plasma blast charging as she did.

Hiccup had been expecting this and rolled to the side. The pounce signalled by a subtle crouch was easy to avoid. Its follow-up of an entirely lethal swipe of extended claws less so. Hiccup stumbled back, knowing he was going to lose this deadly game of tag. No matter how well he knew Toothless, knew a Night Fury's capabilities and tactics, he simply didn't have the reflexes to match them.

His hands began to bleed from the jagged rocks as he scrambled to his feet, a mouth full of sharp teeth slamming shut in the air where his chest had been a moment ago. The Queen leered at him, pausing for a moment to look him in the eye. Probably searching for fear, desperation.

Hiccup smirked, unable to resist. "Sloppy. Toothless would have me pinned by now. Must be the whole 'controlling someone else' thing slowing you down."

The Queen whipped around and slammed him to the ground with her front paws before he could react, snarling angrily. Hiccup could hear the plasma charging in Toothless's throat, and just like that he was face to face with a Fury entirely capable of ending him in an instant, helpless. It gave him deja-vu, thinking back to when he had first met Toothless, but there would be no mercy this time. Unless he had bought enough time.

There was an explosion from inside the volcano, and Toothless paused. Then, a second explosion, and Toothless's pupils abruptly returned to their normal shapes akin to rounded squares. He immediately looked up and fired, releasing the plasma blast that had been about to incinerate Hiccup. It detonated in the air. He looked back down, and licked Hiccup, straight across his entire chest and face.

Hiccup laughed. "Happy to see you too."

Toothless suddenly realized he was still on top of Hiccup and jumped away with an apologetic yelp.

"Bud, we still have things to do. You with me?" He held out his hand.

Toothless didn't hesitate to make contact and restore the link both of them felt incomplete without. 'Brother, you are amazing.'

Hiccup smiled. "You weren't too bad yourself, Bud. That was a really good pin. Excellent form and-" Toothless frantically licked Hiccup's face. "MMMPH!"

Pulling back and wiping his face off, Hiccup quickly inspected the saddle and prosthetic, making sure they still worked. "Let's get up there."

Toothless wasted no time, taking off as soon as Hiccup was on his back. He had a few questions as the flew towards the volcano, where hordes of dragons could be seen flying in all directions, away from the Nest as fast as their wings could carry them, disappearing out into the fog. 'How did you do this? You've released everyone from her control entirely!'

Hiccup laughed. 'I remembered what you told me. You said she might have to release everyone if she had to immediately defend herself. So, your mom flew in there and started blasting her. She must have pulled entirely back to herself in shock. Now, she has no control over anyone unless she looks them in the eyes again."

Toothless continued to the logical conclusion. 'And because there are two Night Furies, as long as we are both attacking, she can't leave her body to take over either of us anyway, because the other would destroy her undefended body!' This was way better than the 'blindfold and hope' plan that was all they had been able to come up with. Not that that was a bad plan, but this was better.

Svarturkló flew out of the mountain, passing her son and the human as she fled. 'She's coming out! Get ready to fight!'

She circled around as the mountain exploded, and fell into formation with her son leading the way back at the Queen. Now that she had a moment to investigate, she took up a position above and to the right of Svarturkappi and took a good hard look at the tailfin. It was fake, but functioned just like the real one would, reacting normally to every shift in the wind. She looked at the human on his back, who was flicking his head left and right to look out for any danger, but otherwise unmoving. Did this human... could he really... create a new tailfin just like that?

That would have to be yet another question for later.

Hiccup gulped. Toothless had implied that the Queen was massive in her own body, but this was ridiculous. She was so big she had to break the old volcano open to get out. This body had six eyes, all open in rage, and her head was big enough to hypothetically use a Viking longboat as a chew toy. She roared in rage, a horrifyingly loud sound. Both Furies faltered in midair as the sound struck them. Hiccup immediately folded Toothless's ears back, hopefully blocking it out somewhat. The Queen stopped roaring and inhaled. That wasn't good. Both Furies dived, right before the Queen let loose with a massive torrent of fire, sweeping her head in an attempt to catch them in it.

Toothless dropped, Svarturkló copying him, as they barely outran the flames. Luckily, the Queen didn't seem able to keep the torrent of fire up for long and stopped before the Furies splattered against the rocks, letting up just in time for them to pull out of their dives.

"Okay, this is gonna be hard." Hiccup really needed a plan. He and Toothless had never even discussed this part. That seemed like a bit of an oversight, in retrospect.

The Furies flew away from the Queen, buying themselves a few seconds to regroup.

Hiccup noticed something on the horizon. "Oh. Uhh... Toothless? I may have accidentally told Astrid how to get here. I didn't think she'd figure it out, but..."

Toothless saw it too. 'Cool. At least someone will get to watch us die horribly. Most of them will probably enjoy that. Before, you know, the Queen destroys them all.' His voice was light. He was still giddy due to his renewed freedom and impending reunion with his mother, once they had a moment of peace. Speaking of which...

Svarturkló snapped at Toothless. 'Concentrate! We have more pressing matters to attend to right now.'

Toothless grumbled. 'Great to see you too.'

Hiccup laughed. Toothless was relaying everything they both said, so Hiccup understood. He wasn't sure if Toothless realized he was doing it or not, but he wasn't about to bring it up. "Now. We need a plan to kill this thing. Unless we can reason with her?"

Toothless recoiled and slapped Hiccup with his ear.

"Yeah, didn't really think that was an option. Oh, and Toothless, if we need it, my scythe is on the beach." Hiccup pointed at his distant weapon.

Toothless chuffed. He and Svarturkló were turning, slowly returning to the Queen, who was distracted by the spectacle of the Viking fleet approaching.''We need a way to kill her.' He looked at the Queen. Massive, huge firepower, six eyes... 'I have no idea how to do that.'

Hiccup was looking at something else. "I might." He explained his idea to Toothless, who passed it on to Svarturkló.

'We can try that. It might work, and we're only risking the human.' Svarturkló was still unaware Toothless was passing everything she said on to Hiccup reflexively.

'Mom! Hiccup isn't expendable!' Toothless was very annoyed. 'We need to talk later.'

Svarturkló looked pointedly at Toothless's tailfin. 'Yes, we do.'

Toothless wilted. 'So, everyone ready?'

Svarturkló responded. 'Yes.' She flew ahead with a burst of speed.

Hiccup crouched into the saddle. "Let's go."

Toothless flew into action.

Astrid couldn't believe her eyes. There were two Night Furies. And they were fighting the biggest dragon she had ever seen. This must be the Queen. Not that she cared. She only had eyes for the Night Furies. She would wait and see how all this played out, ideally killing a Night Fury if the opportunity presented itself. She didn't care what anyone said, that was what she was going to do. Looking around, she scowled. The Viking fleet was horribly underpowered compared to the massive dragon. They were setting up their catapults, but it wouldn't be enough to even scratch the thing. But they were Vikings, so they would try anyway. That was the Viking way.

Fishlegs was nearby, on another ship, pale and stammering absently about redefining every stat in the book. He wasn't entirely sure why he was here. He was just a spectator. Honestly, they all were. The only players in this battle were the large dragon, the two Furies, and... was that Hiccup? Fishlegs guessed if Hiccup was up there, he was a player too. Three against one, but the one was a horribly massive dragon. He was betting on the Furies, but not because the numbers were in their favor. He was betting on the Furies because they had Hiccup. And if ever there was a case of brain against brawn, this was it. Also, if the massive dragon won, they were all dead. So he really was hoping Hiccup pulled something from up his sleeve.

Stoick stared at the spectacle in front of him. He was still trying to pull together some sort of understanding from the confusing mess the world had become. Ideally, in a way that meant Hiccup hadn't betrayed the Viking way. He thought hard, trying to find an interpretation of reality that his narrow-minded perception could accept.

Gobber simply stared. He still felt betrayed by the pure strangeness Hiccup had been showing, and now he felt guilty. He had seen Hiccup's changing personality. Had that led to this? He still didn't understand what Hiccup was doing. He knew there was more to the story. He just hoped they all lived long enough to hear it.

The Vikings were reduced to watching. There was nothing they could do. Helplessness wasn't a Viking emotion, but they all felt just a bit of it.

Author's Note: It's nice to see that I got quite a few of you with last chapter's twists. Also, there have been several interesting guest comments. I'm not entirely sure if both of these came from the same guest, but as they deal with the same topic, I'll assume so.

Guest: ""I swear, I'm not against Astrid as a character . . ." It's never good to swear especially given how you've written Astrid in this and most of your other stories as well bely this assertion. If you don't like or respect a character, and it's pretty clear/obivious that this is the case with Astrid, then why not just own it."

As an update to that, I have several stories that are good to Astrid in the works, or at worst neutral, just so you know. Imperfect Perception and I Saw Myself come to mind. I truly do like Astrid as a character. Key words there, as a character. In relation to how the story's underlying mechanics work, it's a bit less clear. She is, and I'm speaking entirely of the technical side of writing, an anchor. She ties Hiccup to Berk, to responsibility. It's a quite restrictive limit on what I can feasibly do with his character without making him inexplicably OOC. She also gives him a renewed attachment to the villagers through that loyalty, which I often don't want for the same reason. As a result, when I come up with the barest fragment of a new plot, she often slips my mind until later. Stoick suffers from the same issue, though less severely, as does Toothless's missing tailfin, oddly enough. Valka is a whole other complication that falls along similar lines. (Don't get me started on the mess of a character Dreamworks gave us with Valka. I like her, but she's got some serious internal contradictions.)

The exception to that was this story, because I deliberately wanted to portray Astrid as a villain, and the only feasible way to explain why Hiccup wouldn't change her mind is insanity. It's actually a compliment to her character, that I couldn't see myself portraying her as cold or uncaring naturally, incapable or unwilling to change. I had to resort to insanity to even make it possible.

Guest: ""The only core part of HTTYD is the interactions between Hiccup and Toothless." Au contraire: Without Astrid's role in HTTYD1, the movie would have ended tragically. Had Astrid not successfully prodded Hiccup after the ships sailed to attack the nest, Hiccup would still have been wallowing in self-pity while Stoick, Gobber, most if not all of the village warriors, and Toothless were, in all likelihood, slaughtered by the Red Queen. Also, it was Astrid, not Hiccup, who deduced that the Queen was controlling the other dragons."

Yes, she played an important part… but you forget, she is also the catalyst for everything you list here. If she was not present, and I believe this was well-portrayed in the beginning of Becoming Luthrasir, among other stories, Hiccup and Toothless would have left. Thus avoiding all that followed.

That, however, is not what I meant. Core, in this case, is not a reference to the plot of canon. Core is a theme, something that differentiates this from, say, Eragon, which has a moderately similar setting and relationship between characters, but a very different core theme. Plot and setting are clearly important, but the core of this story is that two people from different worlds connect despite everything (to oversimplify dramatically). Also something about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, in reference to Hiccup and Toothless, not Astrid. As an example, I think we'd all agree I Hear Him Scream is an example of an excellent HTTYD fanfiction. I'd personally rate it as one of the best of all time, perhaps the best entirely, but that is irrelevant to the argument. In case you haven't read it, (and I really suggest you do if that is the case), while the sequel begins developing some hint of Hiccstrid, the first book completely avoids romance in its entirety, and paints Astrid (along with pretty much every other character) as a flawed person who makes bad decisions, and hurts Hiccup quite severely in the process, somewhat intentionally. But it has the same core as HTTYD, therefore proving Astrid, while an important part of the original story, not a core part. There are plenty of other examples that do the same.

I do quite enjoy such friendly debates, so I apologize if this is long and unwieldy. To summarize, while I like Astrid as a character, in the mechanics of plot she is something of a tether to Canon, and that doesn't play well with how I write. She's often a casualty of my trying to put out things that are truly unique.

If you'd like to continue this discussion, anonymous Guest, (and I'm totally up for that) I request you go to the momentary trouble of creating an account and using the IM function. This way I can reply without clogging up my author's notes, and we can have a real discussion. Also, it would prevent hard to follow and semi-irrelevant future reviews, which would occur if we continued this in this fashion. Regardless, this is the only time I'll be discussing this here in the Author's Notes.

To my other readers, rest assured, I dislike long Author's Notes, so this will be the exception instead of the rule. Things are really getting started now, story-wise, and this wild ride is far from over.