…I'm not dead? …I'm…I'm alive? …I'm alive!

Sorry for the delay guys. Lots been happening and I've been struggling to find time to write. I've also been struggling with motivation for this story.

But anyway, I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.

Onto the chapter!

Astrid stood outside the Ingerman home as she knocked on the door. Today was the day she would learn how to change forms. She didn't know whether to be terrified or excited. The door opened and she was greeted by Thyra Ingerman.

"Hello, dear," the woman said to her with a kind smile. "Stormfly is just coming. It's lovely to have you and your parents back home. Your mother was a good friend of mine and I really missed her."

"Well, it's nice to be here," Astrid replied. "Its…different. But it's growing on me." She smiled politely and Thyra grinned.

She looked like she was about to continue, when suddenly the words "Bye, Mom!" filled the air and a blur of Stormfly grabbed Astrid's hand and started pulling her off.

"Goodbye, Mrs Ingerman! It was nice meeting you!" Astrid managed to call before she was pulled away completely.

She was swiftly led to the edge of the forest where the boys were waiting. Toothless stood looking excited as he held his new tail.

"Hi girls," Hiccup said with a smile.

"Hi!" Stormfly replied happily, finally letting go of Astrid's hand. "So where are we going?"

"To Raven's Point," Hiccup said as they turned and started walking into the forest. "Toothless and I found a cove there a few years back. It's the perfect place for testing his new tail." Stormfly and Toothless grinned and walked ahead as they talked between the two of them. Hiccup and Astrid walked a little slower behind them. "It's also a good place for showing people how to turn into a dragon."

Astrid's eyes widened as she heard the words whispered in her ear. Then she thought about the three sets of eyes that would be watching her, probably watching her fail.

"You're all going to be teaching me?" she asked nervously.

"No, don't worry about that," Hiccup replied softly. "As soon as Toothless can fly, he'll never want to come back down and Stormfly will stay up there with him. While I'm helping Toothless get in the air, you can talk to Stormfly and get some tips from her. It should be helpful, especially since she's a Nadder."

"So how exactly does that work?" Astrid asked as they walked through the forest.

"How does what work?" Hiccup asked focusing on where he was walking.

"What dragon a person is. You and Toothless are both Night Furies, so you would assume that your parents are too, but they're not. How does that work?" It had been bugging Astrid for a while and she wanted to know if there was any logic to the way it worked.

"Well, it doesn't really have anything to do with family," Hiccup replied. "But people always seem to be the dragon that most suits their personality."

"What do you mean?" Astrid asked confused.

"Well," Hiccup replied. "Take Fishlegs for example. He's a Gronkle. Gronkle's are the most gentle dragons. They look tough on the outside but on the inside, they're all soft. Fishlegs fits the personality perfectly. On the outside he may look tough, but he's really soft on the inside."

"OK," Astrid said with a smile. "I think I get it."

Their conversation continued a little while longer before they saw that Stormfly and Toothless had stopped ahead of them. They stopped alongside them looking down on a sunken cove in front of them. The grass was bright green and the pond in the middle had the clearest water Astrid had ever seen.

"You coming?" She turned around to see that Stormfly and Toothless were already making their way down. Hiccup stood at the top looking towards her with a smile. She nodded and they began making their way down. Hiccup offered to help her but she was determined to do it on her own.

Once they were all standing in the cove, Astrid looked around amazed at the high walls that surrounded the grassy pasture where they stood. It felt completely peaceful. She watched as Toothless put down his new tail with an excited look on his face.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked, almost jumping up and down in his excitement. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Change forms so I can attach the prosthetic to your tail." He said as he walked over to the bundle sitting on the grass.

Astrid felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Stormfly beckoning her to sit down on the grass beside her and give the boys some space. When she looked up she saw that Toothless had changed into his dragon form. She forgot how small Night Furies were compared to most of the other dragons she had seen. Then she noticed his tail. When she had heard that his tail fin and been severed she hadn't quite realised what that meant. She saw the raggedy remainder of the fin that would have looked equal to the whole fin that sat beside it.

"What happened?" she asked Stormfly quietly. She knew that the tail fin had been severed, but she had no idea how. Stormfly stayed quiet for a while, watching Hiccup attach the mechanical tail fin.

"Human raid. Just because we can change forms they think we're unnatural or something and that we shouldn't exist. So they raid the village. Hiccup and Toothless are both Night Furies, the fast dragons known, so they usually go ahead and try to cause as much damage to the ships as they can before they reach the shore."

"But something went wrong," Astrid finished for her guessing the ending. Stormfly nodded and continued.

"Hiccup had a plan. A good plan. And the first two times it worked. But the third time the humans figured it out. They shot at Toothless and, well, I guess you can see what happened."

In the time of their short conversation, Hiccup had managed to strap the mechanical fin onto Toothless tail and Toothless now stood on top of a high rock that overlooked the cove.

"Glide over the water!" Hiccup called up to his brother as he stood below. "If you're going to crash, aim for the water!"

Toothless gave a slight nod and readied himself on the edge of the rock. He opened up his wings and Astrid was amazed at the length of each wing compared to the small frame of his body. She supposed that was why they were so fast. They were very aerodynamic. She watched as he crouched down and then sprung from the rock into the air. At first things looked good. Then he began to falter. And then he crashed. Hiccup rushed over, a little worried but the only thing Astrid could hear was the laughter coming from Stormfly beside her.

Astrid looked up shaking her head only to find Hiccup was bent over laughing too. Beside him stood a drenched Toothless not looking happy. She couldn't help the slight snigger that came out of her mouth at the sight. Toothless shook himself off, drenching Hiccup in the process.

The next few minutes involved Hiccup removing the prosthetic, looking over his work and making adjustments, then fitting it back onto Toothless' tail.

The process repeated a few times. Toothless would jump off the rock, each time with improvement, but would ultimately falter and fall. Hiccup would then make adjustments to the mechanics and they would try again.

Until Toothless didn't crash.

He leapt off the rock and soared around the cove before deciding to it was safe to try a different manoeuvre. He adjusted his fin, flapped his wings and pushed to get out of the cove. He flew higher without any problems and was soon trying all sorts of manoeuvres as he tested his new tail. The next thing they knew he had landed and had pounced on his brother and was laughing with glee.

"You did it Hiccup! It works! I can fly again!" he exclaimed happily.

"Race you to the other side of the island!" Stormfly called before leaping up, changing into her dragon form and flying off. Toothless grinned and raced off after her. Astrid sat laughing at the two as Hiccup just shook his head and walked over to Astrid.

"Well, Toothless can fly again. Now it's your turn," he said smiling.

Astrid didn't know whether to be excited, worried or terrified. She had asked Stormfly about transforming while Hiccup and Toothless had been busy but Stormfly had been very vague. It made her wonder if she would ever learn to change forms at all. How would she fit in on an island of shapeshifters if she couldn't change her form?

"I know you're nervous," Hiccup said sitting beside her. "But just have a little faith and confidence in yourself and you won't have a problem." He took her hands in his and smiled reassuringly. It made her feel better knowing that he clearly trusted that she could do it. She smiled back and he stood up, pulling her up with him.

"So what do I do?" she asked.

"Do you remember when you learned how to create fire for yourself?" Hiccup asked.

"When you asked me to find my core?" Astrid asked in reply.

"Yes," Hiccup said letting go of her hands. "I need you to find it again."

Astrid nodded and closed her eyes. She felt inside of her for her core and was surprised at how much easier she found it this time compared to the first time. She still needed to concentrate but it was definitely easier.

"Ok," she said, letting Hiccup know she was ready.

"Good," he replied clearing his throat. "I've never tried to teach someone how to change into their dragon form so let's just hope that this works." He stopped for a second but carried on before she could say anything. "Your connection to your core in your human half is weak, but it's stronger in your dragon half. I want you to try to strengthen your connection with your core." He stopped and she could tell he wasn't going to say anything else.

Astrid thought about his words. While they sounded confusing and didn't seem to make much sense, she understood what he meant completely. She could feel her core, but her connection to it was weak. She focused on strengthening it. She felt its heat burning deep inside of her. She felt the heat rise. Her feet began to feel more grounded and wider. Her legs felt further apart. The sounds around her burst to life and she heard things she had never heard before. And, was that her shoulders shifting back? It all felt so completely natural. The heat of her core was growing hotter and hotter, but even though her connection to it was stronger than ever, she was beginning to feel it's heat less and less. It was warm and comforting more than anything else.

When her connection to her core felt it was as strong as it was ever going to get and her body seemed used to that, she opened her eyes. She was surprised to see the proud look on Hiccup's face, but she was shocked at the fact that he was smaller than her. Wasn't he a good couple of inches taller? She looked down wondering why and almost shrieked as she saw claws where her feet should be.

She had done it.

So what do you think? Did the whole thing with the core make sense? Did you think her changing forms was too fast? I didn't want to drag it out but I didn't want it to be too quick either. Please let me know your feedback!

secret love writer: Sorry it took so long again! I hope you can forgive me!

Nightfurylov3r: Does that answer your question?

FirstBookworm: I love brother fluff. That's why I made Hiccup and Toothless brothers.

thearizona: Someone who understands! And thanks for thinking that this is a good story! I really appreciate it!

dracologistmaster: It would be an interesting twist, wouldn't it…

OechsnerC: I'm updating! Sorry for the delay!

The SkrillRider: Sorry it took so long! Thanks for saying that this is your favourite story. I'm really not liking it at the moment so knowing that someone else does is really encouraging. Thanks!

So once again, sorry to everyone for taking so long. I'll try to be quicker with the next one!

Thanks for reading everyone. Don't forget to follow, favourite and review.

Until next time! (Hopefully sooner)