AN: Hello my fellow readers. Firstly, I'd like to apologize. I wasn't able to upload this chapter before March 14th. There will be an important AN at the end of this chapter so please, if you never read any of my ANs, read this one at least.

Review response:

Vahn N. Chrome: Thanks, I'm happy to hear that you liked it. And yes, I will use some OOCs, and canon characters as well such as Kai and Gerda, but I don't have planned yet how I'd use them. As to a pool, I'd first need to learn how to make one... But thanks for the suggestion, it does sounds interesting.

SpicedGold: I must admit that I was somewhat amused when I read what I wrote for this chapter. Still, I'm happy to see that you got the essence of this chapter-which is awkwardness. I always imagined their first meeting as being very awkward after all. Also, it brings me a smile to see you reviewing again my story.

Scorpion6955: I'm sticking with the 'they were isolated from the world because of the Dragon War, hence why they weren't hunted to extinction' idea, which is the most common in the HTTYD-Frozen crossover. I did try to explain, though, how that would have worked.

MM995: I don't really think it's something I have to work on, since it is something I'm aiming for in this story. I know you have read How To Become a Dragon Chief, so it must feel odd to have read an action story and now be reading a psychological story.

Noctus Fury: First of all, a-very,very,very,very,very late-happy birthday my friend. And yes, I feel the same when an author replies my reviews. Regarding your suggestion, yes one or two weapons would be enough to make him look protective. And I know what weapon he'll be using-you may be surprised at my choice. The bust idea is a nice one, but would only happen after the Great Thaw. Remember, Elsa still is afraid of her powers until them. Also, since you like Hiccup-Elsa bonding, I believe you'll enjoy this chapter, since it is entirely composed of that.

So, without further ado:

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Elsa felt lost. The boy spoke, although absently, of fighting dragons; yet he was here with one, and possibly have been flying it before, given the saddle the creature had strapped onto itself. When she heard the boy's offer to explain himself she felt this was her opportunity to know more about this Viking boy who was clearly un-Viking, she readily agreed.

"It's not like I have a schedule" she sarcastically answered, shrugging slightly. He smiled hearing her; he didn't know many people who used sarcasm, and hearing it made him feel more comfortable, as he saw it as something they shared in common besides the fear for the unknown.

He was sweating, even though the room was chilly. Well, chilly compared to Berk's common freezing to death temperature. A girl was giving him attention, and not in a bad way. He was already progressing and he left Berk barely a month ago. 'Maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to settle here for awhile,' he thought with optimism. They could live in the woods, and he could see if they could use another blacksmith in their village.

"Well... I am a Viking. Sort of…" he said, somewhat hesitantly. When she rose a questioningly eyebrow, he explained his odd answer. "Well. These guys," he pointed to Toothless, who was lying on the ground, while Hiccup's back was on his belly. "Raid us for food. Why I don't know. The villages, thinking they're mindless hungry beasts, fight back." He paused, trying to piece more words together so she wouldn't be confused.

"So, it became part of our culture learning how to fight them. You can see how well I learned," he sardonically noted. Elsa giggled a little, covering her mouth with her hand. It was a habit she took from training how to be a Queen. She liked his sarcasm; it was a trail she admired on people, though she wasn't one to often use it. It also didn't help her that she barely spoke to anyone anymore, so even if she was sarcastic she would barely use it.

"Anyway... every teen goes through Dragon Training to become a Viking," he continued explaining. "As my father used to say: 'you're not a Viking until your first kill son' like it was a rule," he spoke, imitating Stoick's voice in true fashion: deepening his voice while buffing his chest absently, already used to doing it every time he mimicked Stoick's voice, and trying to look intimidating. He had had plenty of time to perfect his imitation of his father throughout the years, and even he considered that his current imitation was a pretty good one.

This time she did not laugh, or giggle, even though she was amused. She pictured, by the voice that his father supposedly have, that the man would be the fitting image of a Viking she had: Big, burly and bearded, wearing a round shield and a chainmail. "And well. Because of this guy here," he patted Toothless, who was sleeping, "I realized I'd never be one. That I was destined to be something else than a dragon slayer," he spoke fondly.

And with a strange confidence, he continued, not noticing the moments he cut Elsa off. At first she was annoyed at it, but soon gave up, as she noticed the boy was enthralled with his tale. She couldn't deny also being enthralled, given how impossible and amazing his story was sounded. "I mean, I brought down the deadliest and rarest dragon known to Vikings. Killing him would make me a hero, a legend. Songs would be written to tell my tale. Yet I couldn't do it," he sadly said the last part, a hint of longing lingered in his words.

"Why not?" she asked, very curious to know why he gave up all of this for this creature. 'What could have changed his mind?' was the question burning through her mind, desperate to be answered. She picked the longing tone barely noticeable in his words, and figured it was probably a longing to be accepted. Her voice, though only a couple of times, used the same tone, especially when she wished she had no powers so she and Anna could be together.

"Because…" he said, then paused, as if finally thinking about it. "Because when I looked down at him, trapped and tangled in ropes, he was as afraid as I was. Because, when I looked at him, I saw myself, and it was then that I realized they were not the mindless beast I thought they were," he spoke with resolution, even though he had some sadness lingering his tone.

"Oh…" was all she could say. Honestly she wasn't expecting something as deep as that. He spoke almost as if the creature was human, capable of emotions. She was completely lost, and would be even more when she notice those words also applied to herself that night.

There was some truth in his words, as she recalled how the dragon seemed to be worried about the boy the moment it awoke. To Elsa, the thought that dragons were human-like was both amazing and terrifying, should they be as smart as a human. After all, there was no other living creature documented that could reach this level of intelligence.

"I was never one of them to begin with. Vikings are supposed to be big, burly, bearded, and strong. My dad was the fitting image of one. He was the chief after all. And I'm just a fishbone." He frowned, remembering how everyone teased him for that. "I thought bringing down a dragon would make me one of them… I was wrong," he added with a clear sad tone. Toothless nuzzled his rider in comfort.

He had awakened a while ago, and was resting, healing his sore muscles, while Hiccup spoke of his tale to the princess.

She was amazed at the sight. The creature comforted him, as if it could understand his emotions. She wondered how complex dragons were, or how much human-like they could be. Her thoughts went back to his statement of how his people saw these creatures, and she could only notice how wrong they seemed to be. And now she had no doubts, he was completely right about dragons being capable of showing emotions.

Elsa partially understood his feelings. Having powers made her different from the rest, and all she ever dreamed was that things could be normal since after nearly killing Anna. She saw it could never be after her first outburst, hence why she closed herself from everyone. She drew her legs closer to her, her chin resting on her knees. "I understand…" she said in a sad tone, a longing tear falling from her eye.

007

007

At first he thought she was saying it out of pity. But seeing the sad look she had in her eyes and the tear rolling down her pale cheek, he quickly dismissed that thought. "You could say I was a disappointment to him, and the tribe. The greatest chief Berk have ever known, and his son is a talking fishbone. The teens used to pick on me because of that, at least most of them," he added, though his tone was no longer sad.

He chose not to pry on the Princess' life, since he had no idea how she would react. Despite feeling sad for seeing a tear roll down Elsa's cheek, he knew he didn't have the intimacy to ask why she was sad, or what was clearly bothering her.

007

She was horrified at this. While, yes, she was different, Anna never picked on her, neither did her parents. In fact, before the incident, all of them, especially her little sister, strongly supported her powers. Even after it, her parents never lost faith in her, the most recently proof of that being the new pair of gloves her father gave her, which somewhat helped lower the frequency of her powers' outbursts.

"Well, this is a mess," he said after a moment of silence, chuckling slightly as he ran a hand through his head. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" it took her a little longer to understand it wasn't a rhetorical question, mostly addressed to himself rather than at her.

"Okay…" she answered, not knowing where he wanted to begin with. Maybe with names she pondered. She realized little after that he was indeed right: his story did sound confusing, as if he picked a bunch of facts and spoke them together.

He was startled for a moment, not noticing he spoke that out loud, but seeing that Elsa was being relatively accepting toward him made him relax. He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling shy, given the whole situation. He opened his mouth to speak, but failed to do so. After taking a deep breath he tried again, barely managing to be successful "I'm Hiccup…" he said averting his gaze. He didn't stutter, but even he notice his voice sounded nervous.

"You're… Hiccup?" Elsa asked a bit skeptical, while raising an eyebrow in amusement. She didn't know if she should laugh at the horrible choice of a name, or comfort the poor boy for having it. She did notice he sounded nervous, so at least, for her, she didn't have to worry about it being some kind of joke.

Still, that didn't change the fact that it was a horrible name.

"Yeah…" he said deadpanning, as if expecting this reaction. He did know his name was not the best, though there were worse. "Vikings give their children hideous names to scare trolls and gnomes," he automatically explained. 'As if our charming demeanor wouldn't do it already' he added in his head. Truly, he didn't understand why Vikings couldn't name their children less horrible names. Astrid had had the luck of having a good name after all, so it was possible for this to happen.

"I see…" she said, amused. She almost felt like reading some history books to see if Arendelle had that costume long ago back at their Viking age. Maybe even see if their initial royalty had similar names. It would certainly be amusing to read in her Royal Lineage classes 'King Hiccup the first'.

"Yeah, it's kind of stupid," he said, voicing out her thoughts. "I mean, I never believed gnomes exist, and my mentor always believed trolls exist. I think I spent too much time with him to deny the possibility now-a-days," he said, a small smile at his face as he remembered with fondness Gobber.

"They do…" she said without thinking, remembering that day they met with the trolls. She didn't notice the room was getting warmer, neither the sudden drop again when she realized what she just revealed to a boy she barely knew. They were probably trying to conceal their existence given how distant and reclusive the valley they lived was from Arendelle.

Hiccup was amazed, on the other hand, too amazed to notice the temperature shift. "They do?" he asked hopefully, completely ignoring the look of terror Elsa had on her face. "Do they steal your left socks?" he asked, curiosity written all over his face.

Elsa snapped out of the terror when she heard the weird question. She thought of questioning it, but dismissed it as a local belief. "No…" she answered skeptically, as if fearing she would hurt his beliefs.

"Well, that is interesting," he thought loudly, momentarily forgetting of her presence. She was a bit relieved that she didn't offend anything, and amused. "Did you-" he abruptly stopped, bringing Elsa's full attention. She started to think he noticed her powers, or how cold the room suddenly was.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't even ask your name," he apologized sheepishly. Nothing in his demeanor showed he noticed the coldness, or maybe it was because the north was colder than Arendelle in winter and he was used to it. The leather jacket certainly kept him warm so it was hard for him to notice those small changes in the temperature of the tower.

"Oh…" she said in relief. "I'm Elsa Vinterdahl, Princess of Arendelle," she said in her soon-to-be queenly tone. She didn't know if royalty existed up there, but figured that being the chief's son was akin to her position. She would have stood to curtsey, as a princess should do, but she felt too tired to do so.

Besides, she figured this costume probably didn't exist between Vikings, since Hiccup neither bowed nor presented himself with a title.

"Elsa…" he said, testing it out. He didn't speak, but he found absolutely lovely her name… and somehow fitting for the Princess, just like Astrid's name was fitting for the blond warrior.

"Princess…" he thought loudly, clearly confused. He figured it was a title, but didn't know what kind of title that was.

"It's like you," she began explaining, "My father is the King, so he is the ruler of Arendelle, which is our kingdom; much like your father is the chief, making him the ruler of Berk, your village. I'm her daughter, the Princess, and next in line, like you are your father's son and heir." She decided to let out a few details to make it simple. He seemed to be smart but, because he came from somewhere that has been shut out of the world for centuries, there was a lot of things he would have to learn to understand better the concept of Royalty.

Hiccup's pose, which was calm until now, abruptly changed as he suddenly stood. He looked very nervous, and started pacing around. Elsa was a bit started at the change in his behavior, but did not move.

"Oh, that means… ohh, we crashed into their ruler's house. This is bad, this is very bad," he muttered, pacing around, almost hyperventilating, "That means I'm talking to the ruler's daughter. Just great," he spoke the last part in exasperation, "First girl in years to speak to me and it just had to be the next-in-line ruler. What if he thinks you're in danger? Or if he finds us? He'll have our heads in spikes or crisp us like chicken," he asked her, frenetically pacing around.

Elsa would have laughed at his attitude if some of his questions didn't nag her. 'Indeed, what would happen if Father found them?' she pondered in her mind. 'Well, they could stay here through the day, it's not like anyone will come here,' she mentally reasoned.

She stopped at that thought, a part of her finding odd how suddenly she was feeling comfortable not only around him, but also at sheltering him, even from her father.

The castle is, since the beginning of the isolation, a place full of secrets, but she almost never considered having her own secret to hide from her parents-except the one time she started to use her powers in secrecy.

She considered that, if she could hide from Anna her powers all these years, hiding him from her father could also be accomplished, especially since it didn't depend only on her. To her, Hiccup seemed to be smart, considering how he travelled so far and how he seemed to hide his friendship with the dragon from his village.

She snapped out of her mind to tell him her suggestion when she noticed his behavior had not changed. He was muttering things too fast for her to understand, no longer preoccupied in being answered. However, she did notice the annoyed look his dragon was giving him, and was surprised to see the dragon showing yet another human trail, and also quite amused at seeing so much annoyance radiating from the black creature.

At one moment, Hiccup's head was struck by the creature's tail, as if it was telling to him 'stop acting like a child' or 'you're worrying too much'. It did seem to work, though, as he slowed down, evening his breathing before he scratched the dragon under his chin. His shoulder slightly relaxed and by the look of his face he didn't seem to be as worried as he had just been.

"Thanks bud. I think I needed that." The dragon snorted in response, as if saying 'Indeed you needed'. The giant reptile purred at the scratching, and Hiccup was soon sitting with his back leaned on Toothless again.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Well, you can stay here. This tower isn't used since a long time ago, and I won't tell father about you," she pointed out to both of them. Despite the risk of both him discovering about her powers and being hurt by them she was very eager to know more this un-Viking boy.

He seemed to be very clever, but his eyes showed he had dealt with many different feelings before. She almost felt like looking at her father's eyes when the King spoke of his childhood, and she wondered how this boy's childhood had been.

Hiccup left a sigh out in relief before quickly blushing. "W-well… thanks, I guess," he said shyly. Elsa smiled at his antique, his statement being very clear. She controlled the small blush that threatened to appear since, considering the facts; he was the first boy she ever spoke in years too and was probably of her age.

But there was no need for him to know that.

"So, where was I?" and after a quick pause he continued, "Right. So my father, Stoick the Vast, was the chief of Berk. It's a small village located in a cliffy island. Because of the raids, we had our contact with the other island cut short, and pretty much everything we needed we did. You could say we stopped on time, since there was little room to do anything besides fighting them." He gestured absentmindedly to Toothless.

"When I was growing up, and my… Differences"-she could tell he thought before saying that, given how he hesitated to use the word-"Became evident, he introduced me to Gobber the Belch, his best friend and the village's blacksmith," he said smiling, remembering when he was introduced to the man. He had been afraid of the man, considering how much metal Gobber had instead of flesh, but soon as he became his apprentice, he found out that Gobber was quite playful and friendly, thus quickly beginning their friendship.

Elsa was familiar with the profession. Arendelle's royalty had their own blacksmith, though Father had sent him away along with most of the staff when the isolation began. Still, she was quite perplexed that the boy when younger was working around molten metal and the furnace. Apprentices usually were only slightly younger than her age, yet he seemed to talk as if he had been a blacksmith apprentice since he learned to walk.

"I soon became his apprentice, and after a while he became a friend to me. Sometimes he would look out after me when my dad was away looking for the Dragon's nest. You could say he was sort of a fatherly figure. At least better than dad was," he said, his smile changing into a sad frown. He was torn between being mad, and sad at his dad, considering how the only time he was looked upon with approval was before he had to leave Berk.

Elsa didn't know what to say. Even though she was in isolation, her father was always there to support her. She couldn't even imagine how it would have been her life without her father's support. She admitted that, once or twice, she thought on running away, perhaps to the North Mountain and living there, so her family would be safe and together again.

It was and still is her father's and mother's underlying support that kept her here, in hope that one day they would become one again. A small tingle of hope still resided inside her, refusing to die down no matter what, surviving even her first, and by far worst, power outburst.

"He thought that if I took the apprenticeship, I would build some muscle, and become more…Viking-like. Years passed and it became clear to him that he was wrong. He grew distant and most of the times he would speak at me as chief rather than my father," he spoke, his eyes showing hurt, beyond Elsa's imagination, that he felt whenever his father looked at him disappointed simply because of what Hiccup was.

"Because he was very distant, Gobber taught me almost everything I know. At first I just helped his work, but when I was old enough, he taught me how to forge, sharpen and those sorts of things. He also began teaching me how to read and write, but I soon took over, especially to read more about forging." The hurt didn't leave his eyes, but a glint of light also appeared.

She imagined this man, who also had a funny name, had been his pillar of support and strength all those years he spent on his tribe. She wondered about his mother, considering he didn't say a word about her. She thought about asking, but fearing reaching a touchy subject she quickly dismissed the idea, deciding to remain silent while hearing his tale.

"We would sometimes be visited from Trader Johann. I always traded with him stuff for some paper and ink, and books. And he was always happy about it since I was pretty much the only one that would buy that sort of thing," he noted with some amusement. He recalled Johann's words at how he could become a great trader if he wanted to. Though he figured that if he would go for a job, he certainly would choose to be a blacksmith.

"Pretty much the only one?" Elsa asked, thinking if he was the only one that read in his tribe. "Do you mean there was someone else that bought these things?" she pondered. Not everyone in Arendelle read, not because of poverty, but because some jobs, like the people that worked at the docks, barely had any spare time, so reading was practically out of question.

But they way he spoke unsettled her by making her think that not everyone in his tribe even knew how to read, much less did something of the sorts. It would make sense, since reading required paper, and paper was very flammable. Having dragons around would surely discourage the habit of storing books and papers.

"Yeah..." he answered a bit hesitant. She didn't miss another pained look he had in his face… "There was this boy called Fishlegs…" and Elsa couldn't avoid giggling since she found the name so funny, even funnier than his or his mentor's name. He smiled; her laugh sounded like music to his ears. He never got a girl to laugh, at least not without him being the joke, before; so managing to do so felt very good. He blushed slightly while thinking of this, but neither of them noticed it.

Once she finished giggling he continued. His blush was no longer existent for her to see. "He liked to read, a lot. We used to be friends, but when I grew apart from the rest because of my differences, he ended up joining them." His smile vanished, and so did Elsa's.

She didn't notice, but she was starting to feel sad whenever she saw a pained or a hurt look on Hiccup's face. She was unknowingly growing fond of the boy, and couldn't understand how anyone could dismiss such friendly person, or at least as friend as he had been so far with her.

"He got distant since all he wanted was their acceptance, pretty much like me. And, although he liked to read a lot, he was big, very big. And because he could handle a weapon, he was accepted by the gang. He would never tease me or anything, because he never quite stopped being a friend, so to speak. But he wouldn't try to defend me either…"

Elsa understood very well how it felt to lose a friend, especially because of being different. After all, that was what happened between her and Anna… sort of, at least. She lost her best friend because of her powers. The more she thought about what he was telling her, the more she saw that they were similar in many aspects, despite the cultural and historic differences of course, making her feel sympathetic to his situation.

"Still... I was so focused on getting my father's approval that, once Gobber taught me everything he knew, I started using it to compensate my lack of muscles. I learned how to sketch, and soon I was building machines and contraptions to help me kill a dragon," he explained, while his face showed some disgust. Elsa linked the disgust to the idea of killing dragons, seeing how he was being friendly toward one.

"Most of the times, my inventions backfired and destroyed something in the village. Sometimes I accidentally set houses on fire, sometimes I destroyed one of our boats, and last time I accidentally destroyed half of our harbor, not to mention that my little mistakes ended up helping the dragon steal our livestock. Because of that I wasn't exactly the most beloved by the village," he spoke, laughing at the memories.

Apart from the lecturing his father gave him every time one of his inventions backfired, or the teasing the teens gave, he was sometimes amazed at how he could be more destructive than the dragons themselves. He had once heard the Twins marveling his power of destruction, even though it didn't surprise him so much, as they were always causing trouble to his father.

She flinched. She was right after all; he seemed harmless, but deep inside was dangerous. She couldn't imagine what he had built that could possibly destroy half a harbor, no matter its size. Or burn houses… He was, in a way, pretty much like her. On the outside, she was just a princess, but inside, she had ice powers that could kill someone, as she almost did with Anna… 'To think that 3 greatly destructive beings are confined to the space of a small tower for the time being' she thought, amused at the irony.

Luckily, she didn't climb on these thoughts for long because she was constantly being snapped out as he kept speaking of his story. She found amusing the change, since it was only a mere moment ago that he was being shy and nervous from talking to a foreign girl, and yet now he was all carefree telling the history of his life. She also noticed he barely remembered of her being in the room; it was like he was spilling out everything of his life out of need.

"Ironically, when I made my biggest mistake was also when one of my inventions finally worked. I created a bola launcher to throw bolas for me and I called it 'the Mangler'." Elsa flinched at hearing the name, but he didn't notice. "And when I used it I managed to bring down the deadliest dragon known to Vikings: Him…" He pointed to Toothless, who held his head high as if liking the compliment of 'deadliest dragon'.

She left a giggle out after seeing the proud, smug grin on the dragon's face. Hiccup saw the look and muttered teasingly something on the lines of 'proud salamander' earning a glare from Toothless.

When she stopped laughing a thought came to her "So, you mean that there are more dragons, other than him?" Elsa asked, wondering if there were different kinds as he seemed to imply. She thought that, if there really were, they might be like dogs, which have different breeds.

"Yeah, there were a lot of breeds. Some were like giant humming bees with bludgeon like tails and rock-like skin. Some had two heads or even four. There is one that looked like a bird, but with spikes in its tail. There was one that could lit himself on fire, some that had 4 wings instead of two, one that could spray boiling water, one that could burry himself underground. There were a lot of different types of dragons with different abilities," he explained, oblivious to the fearful look in Elsa's face.

She couldn't imagine how unsettling it would be to face a 4-headed dragon. The stories only spoke of dragons with one head, and they were frightening enough.

"And Toothless was considered the most dangerous one. You see, when he came on the raids, he never took our food, never showed up, and most importantly, never missed. No one had ever seen him before, least of all engaged in combat…" he recited, and Toothless huffed in agreement, holding himself highly and proudly. "And I was determined to shoot him down to prove myself worthy of my tribe, and my father."

He finally spoke his motives for hunting and shooting down the dragon, she noticed.

Elsa felt respectful and pitiful of Hiccup, considering he went above and beyond to gain his father's approval. She somewhat tried to do that by doing her best to conceal her feelings and by putting every effort in keeping at bay her powers and by working to be a good Queen.

But her attempt to get his approval didn't last long after her father spoke to her, seeming very sad and guilty of the 'polite attitude' she was having during their first lessons. Since then she relaxed on this task, no longer feeling so pressured and intimidated by her father, though still wary of letting either him or her mother too close to her.

"That day I managed to shoot him down. Of course no one believed I did so I went to find him all by myself." She left a small gasp escape her lips at the thought of him facing alone the dragon behind him. "That's when I found him tangled in the woods. I was determined to kill him until I looked into his eyes." He sighed, "As I told you before, I found out I couldn't kill him, so I set him free." He paused, patting unconsciously the dragon. She admired his bravery, not only of going alone, but of also freeing his enemy.

"So… what happened? He didn't kill you, as you're here. And didn't fly away, as he's here with you." she commented, eager to know how two enemies became so close. Her mind was playing a million different scenarios, trying to come up to an explanation of what happened, and most importantly, how from enemies they became friends.

A flash of guilt washed through him, and his shoulders crumbled a little. Both she and the dragon noticed that. Before she could ask though, the dragon nuzzled him as if trying to cheer him up. It apparently worked, as a smile crossed his face. "I know bud, despite what it brought to us I can't stop from feeling bad about it, but thanks anyway," he spoke to the dragon, apparently more cheerful than what his face showed her seconds ago.

The dragon crooned happily, before licking his rider's face. The giant tongue made him fall flat on his back, while the dragon continued his saliva assault. Hiccup tried, unsuccessfully, to cover his face with his arms, since he was kind of pinned by Toothless' head. He laughed at his dragon's antic, before playfully scolding him. "Come one bud, stop, we have a princess watching us." Said dragon gave one last big lick before settling down, allowing him to get up and, at least try to, clean himself.

She was laughing quietly at the situation before her, covering her mouth with her hand as per habit of her Queen training. It was an amusing sigh to behold, and equally unusual for her. She also laughed a bit more when she heard Hiccup mutter 'thanks for nothing useless reptile' to Toothless.

The way they acted regarding one another only increased her curiosity of how they became friends.

He cleaned his face of the dragon saliva as much as he could before continuing telling Elsa hisa story.

"As I was saying before someone interrupted me"-he cast a glance to the dragon, who just huffed in response. Elsa could clearly read 'I regret nothing' in his attitude-"I freed him and he pounced on me." Elsa paled at the mere thought of having that dragon pouncing on her, while looking threateningly.

"I thought it was the end of me, since we were taught that dragons always go for the kill. I closed my eyes, waiting to be crisped like a chicken, but the only thing he did was make me be half deaf by roaring in my ear. Then he ran away," he said, his face slightly pale as he probably was reliving that day. The only time he had been as afraid as his first meeting with Toothless was when meeting Windwalker for the first time.

She tried picturing the scene; how she would feel if she was in his situation. It was hard though, as she have never been in a life threatening situation before. Still, she could only imagine the panic he must have felt that moment. However the way he spoke made it seem to her that he had been somewhat accepting his fate that moment. She briefly wondered if he had thought so little of himself to the point that a part of him would be glad of embracing death.

Even at her worst times she never considered death as an escape, nor did she think she would accept it if she was facing it. If he really was as similar to her as she thought, she couldn't even think of how hellish his life must have been to reach that point. His current demeanor was the complete opposite of someone that had inside the idea that his own death would be better for everyone.

She was glad that he spoke up before she could lose herself into this macabre idea.

007

Hiccup stopped patting Toothless once a question came up to his mind. "Do know you how long I was out? The moon shifted a lot from when I was last awake," he asked; a little worried that he might have had a head injury on the crash and blacked out for too long, even though the time he spent telling his story to her spoke otherwise about his mental state.

Not to mention the way Toothless tackled him. He knew that, if he had a head injury, Toothless would never do that.

Elsa stopped to think. Since she was used to gazing at the moon, she more or less could tell how much time has passed based on the shifting of its position. It had been a pastime she acquired after too many sleepless nights gazing at the lonely figure in the sky. When she learned that she could guess time by watching the moon's position shift, she quickly learned how to. "I think it was more or less 4 hours," she said, a bit doubtful, while lightly scratching her chin.

"Well, I guess I'm too thick headed to be hurt after hitting a wall," he sardonically commented, chuckling. He was relieved that he didn't pass out too long, meaning he had no serious injuries. Toothless also seemed to feel the same, as he felt the dragon's muscles relax slightly.

Elsa chuckled a little too at his humor. She felt much better talking to him that she practically forgot the reason she had come to the tower this night. Hearing his story made her mind be astray from the thoughts that often plagued her mind-in special the memories of what had happened earlier this, when her mother was teaching her. She felt comfort in seeing how he seemed to experience similar pains she did, and a part of her didn't even want him to leave. But when she checked the sky, her smile vanished as her mind went back to her real life.

"I guess I must be going…" she said with a sad tone. During Hiccup's talk she didn't even notice how her shoulders relaxed, or how little her powers frosted the wall. "They'll start searching for me if I'm not found in my room." she sadly added. Hiccup could tell that she didn't want to leave, though apparently nothing could be done. He didn't question about her habits, so there was no way he knew if she was an early riser or not.

"Will you stay? I'd like to hear more of your tales…"

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IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE BELOW

Due to the recent events that has happened to me-driving school just started, uni decided to pound us with homework until we're soaked to the bones with tiredness, my friend losing her baby one month before it was supposed to be born, among other things- I feel I have lost sight of this story's path-even though I have the next chapter ready- and have little time to work on it and on How To Become a Dragon Chief. Because of that I'm putting this story on hold until June-July (which means there will be NO updates until them) so I can finish driving school and get used to my workload from uni, so I can start writing again this story. I want to give you guys a story worthy of the time of each one of you, and I don't feel the lastest stretches are meeting this requirement. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing any and/or all of you by putting it on hold so I can plan it out again, but I feel that this is the best course of action to do this. I also want to wrap up HTBADC so my focus will be exclusively on HTLIG. If any of you wish to speak of something regarding this story, or just curse me, feel free to send me a PM.

Until June my friends!