Last updated: June 22

It is now: July 31

Finally Toothless is back! And he has the maturity of a nine-year-old. *BIG SHRUG*

Read & Relax!


Hiccup

I left as soon as I was sure that most of the population was thoroughly inebriated from all the celebrating. They'd be out of it all night so elbowing my way out of the clamorous crowd was easy. I gathered all my perishables and stuffed them into my basket.

That basket was nestled inside another one that I was going to use to carry the babies. They weren't big enough to survive on their own, so they had to come with us. I went through my checklist, which had long before been memorized. You can never be too sure though.

Okay, I think that's everything, I eventually decided.

Now for the harder part. I rifled through my journal and tore out a page that I'd been saving for a while now. Although my message was as direct as I could make it, it felt like a bad bolt that I couldn't set in place quite right. It said this:

Mom and Dad,

I know this is sudden, but I've decided to go away from Berk for a bit. One way or another, I'm going to bring Toothless back. I promise.

Don't go looking for me: I have no clue where I'm going or where I'll end up. I'll be fine. I'm not afraid.

I'll be back as soon as I can.

—Hiccup

I placed it on the table but paused for a moment. After a brief debate, I finally snatched my charcoal pencil and added a little not at the end.

P.S., it read, If I'm not back soon enough, I hesitated, my heart thrumming. you can give Astrid the Kill Ring. She deserves it.

I hated myself the minute I wrote it, and my fingers twitched, aching to erase it. That dragon didn't deserve it, but I was already in deep. I hated to imagine the angry riot Dad would have on his hands if the villagers didn't get their promised show before winter.

But was it really worth it?

I offered a quick prayer for the Nightmare before I ran out the door. The guilt clung to me even when I refused to look back to Berk.

XxXxX

The cove's sparkling waterfall was visible from the distance as the sunset's rays clashed against the reflective water. I expected Toothless and Dragon to be nestled next to the pond entertaining the babies, so I was surprised to find the landscape dragon-free. Nothing was nearby except for a few chirping birds.

I entered the cove anyway.

"Guys?" I called. "You here?"

No answer.

That…probably should have been my first red flag.

I continued on, "There's been a change of plans. We're leaving tonight."

I set down my baskets and took a final look over my supplies as I waited for Toothless or Dragon to show up. I fiddled with the straps on my riding gear too.

Then I heard a scraaaaaaaape.

I froze.

My eyes trailed upwards, where I heard the sound coming from.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Astrid Hofferson, in all her terrifying glory, sharpening her axe atop a large boulder.

"Shi—Astrid!" I dropped my basket. "Wha—What are you doing here!?"

She continued to examine her axe. "I wanna know what's going on," she stated.

Her demeanor switched from unsettlingly collected to a sort of anger that just barely simmered on the surface. Eyes blazing, she jumped down from her rock and stalked towards me.

"I am done playing your games, Hiccup," she said. "So here's how this is going to play out."

I hadn't even realized she was cornering me until my back was pressed against the cold rock wall. Her axe's blade almost brushed my neck. I gulped.

She didn't waver for even a moment. "You are either going to answer my questions, or only one of us is walking back to Berk."

I narrowed my eyes. Several scenarios popped up in my head, but which one would get us both out of this satisfied?

"Now," she went on, "Where is—"

Suddenly, there was a massive shriek.


Toothless

In hindsight, Astrid and I have never gotten along. As kids, she was a bossy spitfire and I followed no one except Hiccup. I was always challenging her and fighting against her orders. It was a stupid rivalry that annoyed the hel out of Hiccup.

So when I saw Astrid cornering Hiccup, I was already ready to tackle her. Dragon and I had hidden when we'd sensed an intruder coming in—there had been a lot more of them since Dad came back to the island—but my eyes soon zeroed in on the axe and Hiccup. Dragon couldn't even think to snatch me by my tail by the time I jumped over the cove's ledge with a massive roar.

My feet slammed onto the ground, but I ignored the shaky ache before running in. Astrid and Hiccup snapped their heads in my direction. Astrid's eyes widened.

"Get down!" she shouted as she pushed Hiccup to the ground.

When a fireball didn't fly over their heads—As if I was that stupid—she looked up. She roughly helped Hiccup up before shoving him towards the exit hole. "Go! Run!" I heard her order.

She turned towards me. I was coming in fast. Her axe was raised. My muscles were wound tight. I was ready to crush her axe at the hilt. I barely noticed Hiccup running in.

"Guys, stop!" he shouted as he jumped in between us. "Stop!"

Astrid nearly struck Hiccup with her axe, and my throat suddenly felt hot at the sight. Hiccup dodged just in time, but that didn't subside my anger.

Astrid was reeling. "Hiccup! What—"

"Toothless, stop!" Hiccup shouted. "It's okay! It's Astrid, remember? It's just Astrid!"

He blocked my every attempt to dodge around him. I wanted to get to Astrid and…do something! I don't even know what. Not anymore at least.

"Toothless—Hey!" Hiccup grabbed the my face and forced eye contact. "Just calm down for a minute okay? It's Astrid, bud. It's just Astrid."

I struggled to take a deep breath and let it out. Hiccup's hair got ruffled from my exhale.

"What the…" Astrid's voice quickly warped my attempt at calming down.

Hiccup winced as I tensed up. We broke contact as he tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"Sorry about that," he said, "You just freaked him out a little."

I shot him a quick glare, and he elbowed me.

"I freaked him out!?" She was shaking her head and slowly backed away from us. Good. "And just who—…who is him!?"

I turned my narrowed eyes on to her, still fuming. Meanwhile, Hiccup chuckled nervously.

"Well, that's a, uh, funny story." He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "This is gonna sound crazy, but um…" He hesitated. "Astrid, this is…Toothless."

I saw her mouth my name as her eyes became a touch wider. I shuffled my feet, suddenly restless under her scrutiny.

It took her a moment to settle on one statement. "That's a dragon."

Hiccup nodded and shrugged. "It's, um…it's a bit of a long story. I—"

She was already backing away from us even faster. "You're out of your mind," she stated before breaking into a run.

She vaulted for the exit, leaving Hiccup frozen in place.

By the time she was almost out of the cove, a mere shadow in the distance, Hiccup's delayed reaction finally kicked in.

"Welp." He popped his p. "We're dead."

I snorted. No shit.

"What the heck was that about?" Hiccup immediately turned to me, arms crossed.

I jerked back, eyes wide and surprised. I looked from him to Astrid's retreating form. She was already over the cove's ledge.

I looked at Hiccup and narrowed my eyes.

He was having none of it. "I had it handled. Now she's gonna tell everything in the village."

Crap. My ears immediately pressed back against my head.

He groaned. "C'mon. Let's go get her."

XxXxX

By the time we were in the air, Astrid had cleared a good quarter mile. She was jumping over logs and stumbling under low hanging branches. Swooping in, I plucked her out of the air as she jumped over a drop off in the landscape. My talons might have pinched her arms, but I didn't care.

She was screaming, and even though I couldn't make out any words with the wind in my ears, I took dark pleasure in her fear.

Hiccup steered us towards a particularly high tree. I caught on fast enough to begrudgingly drop her into the closest branch. It had seemed stable enough to me. She shrieked the minute I let her go, and she grappled with the branch.

She was fine, I swear.

My landing jostled the tree far more than it should have. Hiccup grunted as he tried to maintain his balance. He swatted one of my ears, but I rolled my eyes and swatted him back.

Finally, I could hear Astrid's words.

"Hiccup!" she screamed. "You better let me down, or I swear—"

"You have to give me a chance to explain," Hiccup replied.

"I've heard enough, you madman!"

I growled.

"About the dragon," Hiccup asked, calmly, "or about Toothless?"

"Does it matter?" She tried to pull herself up onto the branch, but it was too reedy. She kept slipping. "You're crazy, and that—" She pointed at me. "—is not your brother!"

I glared at her, that hot feeling in my throat returning. Hiccup didn't reply for a long time. The air was tense and the trees around us shuffled and squirmed. The wind was probably chilling both Hiccup and Astrid.

I hadn't exactly cooled down, but I was more leveled out now. I looked Astrid up and down. She looked…exactly the same. Dirty braid, set scowl, and armor designed to wall away pretty much everybody.

What the hel does Hiccup see in her?

And why the hel did I expect her to look any different?

"What if I can prove it?" Hiccup suddenly asked. "Will you hear me out?"

He offered her his hand. She stayed silent but eventually gave in. She swatted away his hand and grabbed at my saddle. I wanted to shoulder her off, but I knew Hiccup would get pissed if I let her fall. I just barely felt the additional weight as she settled in behind Hiccup.

"Now, get me down," she eventually said.

Hiccup sighed. "You heard the lady."

Damn right I did, I thought to myself, and I'll sure as hel get her down.

I stretched out my wings, preparing to launch.

Hiccup was saying, "See, it's not so bad." But he never got to finish his sentence before I shot off.


Hiccup

My brother is a jerk.

When Toothless shot into the sky, Astrid's hold around my waist suddenly became a chokehold. I grappled with the saddle until I could get it into a more secure hold. I could already feel the ache in my fisted hands. Toothless went in for a dive bomb. My ears began to ring as Astrid was screaming.

"TOOTHLESS!" I shouted. "WHAT IN ODIN'S NAME—"

We barely kissed the grass by the time he pulled up. Then we were shooting towards the setting sun. The trees were soon beneath us. I tried to signal to Toothless, but he wouldn't stop.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"C'MON, BUD, SLOW DOWN!"

I turned back, about to explain myself to Astrid. However, the words shriveled up and died on my tongue. There was a silhouette in the distance. My heart dropped when I recognized it. Dragon.

Astrid looked back, and her breath hitched.

"WHO THE HELL IS THAT!?"

"A FRIEND, I SWEAR!"

Dragon then decided to our chaotic party. He flew closer, his grin draconic and anything but reassuring. Astrid shrunk away. I was unimpressed with Dragon. Her hold on me somehow got stronger.

"THAT'S A DRAGON!"

"YEAH, AND YOU'RE RIDING ONE!"

"OH MY GODS!"

I sighed. Dragon's wings almost touched Toothless's. He blocked the sun and dwarfed us all. His eyes skimmed over Astrid. There was a gleam there that set me on edge.

"NO, DRAGON, DON'T YOU DARE!"

But he dared. He and Toothless shared a brief nod. Suddenly, they were jumping in and out of clouds. I was chilled to the bone as they performed loop de loops. They swooped and dove over the ocean. One of my icy hands was soon gripping one of Astrid's. Hers was shaking.

My friends are idiots.

This went on for an unnecessarily long time. I was about ready to shout at them to CALM THE HEL DOWN, DAMMIT, but Astrid beat me to it.

Kinda.

"OKAY, OKAY! I'M SORRY!" she cried. "I'M SORRY!" She buried her face in my back. "I'm sorry. …Just get me down from here."

Suddenly, Toothless leveled out, and we slowed. I felt a rush of gratitude when Dragon went back to flanking us. Even if he was still grinning at us, amused.

Without the fear of death via dragon ride hanging over us, Astrid finally loosened her hold. I relished the relief on my ribcage and soaked in the scenery. Warm reds and oranges splashed across the sky. The sunlight cast a colorful glow over the ocean's surface and the rock pillars that inched by the shore. The clouds had a pinkish hue that morphed into a more subtle orange when Toothless flew closer to one of them. Astrid let one arm pull away from me long enough to touch the misty mass. The chill didn't even bother me when she brought down her now-frosty wet hand.

It was…amazing to see her. I was drawn in by the way her eyes widened in wonder and the way they flickered from one place to another. I don't think I'd ever seen such childlike wonder on her before. A small smile tugged at her lips.

How long had it been since I last saw her look so beautiful?

Astrid shook her head in awestruck disbelief. "Okay, fine!" she finally said. "I'll admit it: This is pretty cool."

"Glad to hear it."

"You're still crazy."

"Aaaand there's the Astrid I know," I teased.

She smirked and flicked the back of my head. Then she looked around. Brimming stars were beginning to peek out of the dark blanket that was spreading over the sky.

"This…" Astrid said, "it's…amazing. He's amazing."

A peaceful silence settled between us. Toothless and Dragon started communicating with short growls and snuffs as we flew on. Soon the sky was completely dark, and I was acutely aware of how off schedule I was.

This is going to be a long night, I thought.

And boy, was I gonna hate being right.


This ended up getting too long, so I have some extra content that will end up going into the next chapter. I'm gonna be posting it on Tumblr as "sneak peak" content. You can find me at tenchikotheauthor on Tumblr.

Here's a hilarious fact, I have Grammarly loaded onto my computer, and it registers "axe" as the incorrect spelling of the word. Why? Because it's the European spelling. *looks at the geographical location of Berk* There's a reason I spell it that way, Grammarly.

EDIT: forgot to answer guest reviews!

Twilight sparkle: Happy to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! Dude that's awesome! I'm happy to hear that. My face became a hot tomato when I read that. Yeaaaaah you saw what happened. This is one of those parts of the story I had planned from the get-go, so it stayed fairly true to the source material. However, I did my best to keep it original at the same time.

And YES! Make coffee! Drink it as you read this! That is the ideal setup I want my readers to enjoy as they read my stories. That makes me so happy to hear!

Glad to hear you like the hook (by hook you mean the story summary, right?). I've been thinking about tweaking it a little, but I'm glad to hear that you like it.

I did end up creating a Wattpad account by accident recently, but I have no plans to use it for anything other than reviewing my friend KTMB's works. She's the author behind Katherine and the Truth About Jack (shameless friend plug) and it's really good! She updates every Friday, so if you like Rise of the Guardians and the Guardians of Childhood books, I seriously recommend it. Thanks again for the review!

— Tenchiko