"Stoick?" Astrid yelled, pushing through the crowd of people in the Mess Hall. Her eyes darted back and forth as she stumbled forward, ignoring yells of greeting and glares as she pushed past random people. She couldn't find the chief yesterday, she had been more than frustrated after she waited in front of Hiccup's house for two hours. He had been nowhere that she could think of, and by the end of the day, she was at a loss of what else to do other than just going back to her own house.

But she was going to go find the chief now if she had to kill somebody. The fact that Hiccup could be anywhere right now made her quicken her pace, becoming more violent with her pushes until she finally came to a stop, her eyes landing on a small table as she breathed out a huff of air. Stoick was sitting at a table with Gobber and Spitelout, the two seemed to be in deep conversations together, and Astrid had half a mind to turn around and leave.

But the other half of her screamed at her to get a move on, which of course spoke louder than the other. Sucking in a deep breath, Astrid paced forward, hands curling into tight fists at her sides as she went. Clearing her throat loudly for Stoick to hear, she looked at the Chieftain in the eye steadily as he turned back to face her.

"Hello there." Stoick said, faintly surprised by the odd look in the child's eye. "Is somethin' the matter, Astrid? Where is Hiccup?" The father looked off to the side of her, as if he expected Hiccup to come up from behind her with his usual goofy smile. He frowned as he saw nothing.

"Stoick, that's the thing." Astrid said, wincing uneasily as she spoke. "Hiccup is gone." She ignored the shocked look that he gave her and plowed on ahead. "I tried to get him to stay here, but he went off to search for Toothless. He has this weird thought in his head that Toothless didn't want to leave and that the female made him leave."

"What?" Stoick roared, Astrid hopping backwards as the man shot up to his feet. His eyes were narrowed as his head went back and forth, as if his thought that Astrid was lying to him as he tried to catch sight of his son. Bringing his fist down on the table, Stoick looked down at Spitelout. "We have to go after him." He growled under his breath. "Odin knows that child is trouble-prone. Do you know where he went?"

"No." Astrid said uncomfortably, shifting as she spoke. "He took Stormfly though, and he left yesterday, so I don't know how far away they are by now. I tried to find you yesterday, but I couldn't, I looked everywhere." She didn't ask what Stoick had been doing, it wasn't any of her business of her's at all. All she could think of was Hiccup. What if he got in trouble before they could find him? What if they were too late. "How are we going to get there with the ice there?" Astrid blurted out.

Stoick seemed to be at something of a loss for a moment or two, staying still as he looked down at the girl. Spitelout was the one to speak up. "We could follow Hiccup's example." He offered weakly. "We could take dragons and then have one or two of them devoted to supplies."

"That wouldn't be enough for everyone." Stoick snapped, looking at the ground with narrowed eyes. "We have to think of something else to be able to get across the ice. We have to get Hiccup back before he does something stupid. Like loose his other leg, or an arm. If we don't act now, Hiccup might be able to rival Gobber for the amount of limbs lost."

Gobber's face turned sour, and he flashed back. "I like Spitelout's idea now." He declared. "It's faster than goin' by boat, and we could have just as much supplies on the dragons. They can hold just as much as boats. Maybe more." He flashed a look over at Astrid, looking distracted for a moment as he straightened, looking around. "Where's that little cat?" He asked. "Did Hiccup really take her with 'im? Usually she's out and about this time o' day, just like Hiccup."

Astrid started, blinking as she followed Gobber and looking around wildly. She hadn't even noticed the small thing's absence, and a pang of guilt pierced through her heart. Hiccup had put her in charge of Ludi, and she had let the kitten run off somewhere. She was probably in Hiccup's room, wondering where he was. The thought made Astrid's heart bleed, and she said a hasty goodbye. "I'll be back later. I expect to come with you, too." Not giving them a millisecond of argue, she spun on her heel and dashed off into the crowd.

Weaving through the people around her, Astrid grimaced at the thought of Ludi. But that was not the case of course, the thoughts she wanted to linger on was Hiccup. The amount of stupidity he held exceeded her usual thought, and she didn't know whether or not to be impressed, or irritated. Because she had known of his rash stupidity when he battled with the giant dragon at the nest. But at least that had a point.

Hiccup had no idea where to go, he had no idea what would be waiting for him, and he could probably be flying in circles for four hours straight and would never notice. Astrid knew that she had made the right choice in announcing his disappearance, this way he wouldn't die. But a nagging thought strayed at the back of her mind.

What if Hiccup was right? The boy and Toothless always had a stronger connection than any of the other dragons, and what if that applied here? Astrid stopped in her tacks, staring at the ground fixedly. If that were true…if that were true, did she just ruin everything?

•0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙

Hiccup glared right in front of him, a deadpanned expression on his face as he looked straight forward. His hands gripped the rope reign he had made quickly for Stormfly, and he did all he could not to lunge forward and knock the thing off. Ludi sat recklessly on Stormfly's head, amber eyes widened cutely as she squealed loudly. Her fluffy fur was slicked back to her by the wind, making her seem twice as small as she really was. Although she was much bigger than a Terrible Terror by now, she was still a runt, nonetheless.

Hiccup glared at her anyway, reliving the terror he had felt last night when he found her smuggled in his bag. How she could have possibly gotten here, Hiccup had absolutely no idea. All he knew was that Ludi knew that she was not supposed to be there, for she was even happier to see him than usual. She was always happier when she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing something.

"I knew you were more trouble than you were worth." Hiccup snapped. Ludi stiffened, straightening as she turned around to look at him. She seemed completely at ease, even though she was balanced precariously on top of a Nadder's head more than a hundred feet up in the air. She lashed her tail and gave him the "Cute Meter" stare, and Hiccup looked at her wearily.

"But…I guess I wouldn't be here without you." He said ungraciously. Ludi immediately purred, giving him something of a small nod. Standing up courageously, she hopped back to Hiccup and snuggled into his lap. She tucked her nose under her paw cutely, snuggling up against Hiccup as she vibrated with her purrs. Hiccup made a face, reaching over and smoothing her knotted fur down neatly.

"Don't walk around, please." He sighed shortly. "Do you want to fall off?" As Ludi let out a happy mew, he rolled his eyes, looking back up ahead. "You make me worry, and I didn't even want you in the first place. But I guess you knew that, didn't you?" His thoughts flashed back to the first night with her, picturing the kitten's determined face as she stumbled up to his bed on shaky legs. The way she had come back after he had yelled at her with a piece of paper in her mouth. How she had just come with him on a dragon up in the air. "And yet you will not leave me alone, will you?"

Ludi replied with a sleepy purr, eyes closing slowly. Hiccup eyed the small thing, keeping one hand on the Nadder as he stroked down her fur slowly, brushing out the knots and tangles that dotted through her pelt. "Who ever would have guessed that I would turn out to be a cat person?" Hiccup asked, smiling wistfully as he looked back up ahead. "Toothless was all I ever needed before now. I used to hate cats. Back when I was littler, I got scarred for life because Ruffnut's old cat attacked her face and gave her a scar she still has right on her forehead. So cats weren't exactly my priority ever since then."

Ludi didn't answer, having fallen asleep by now. With the only sound being the beating of Stormfly's wings and the wind whistling through his clothes and hair, Hiccup could faintly make out small snoring noises coming from the cat. Smiling crookedly, Hiccup let out a small laugh, looking ahead steadily as Stormfly flew on.

He closed his eyes, breathing out slowly. He felt something, he was sure of it. He knew that they were going the right way, the way to Toothless. Something stirred inside him, and he felt something different than before. Almost like the hole in his heart was being in the middle of being mended somehow. Like it was getting fuller and fuller the farther along they went. He didn't know where it came from, he didn't even know that it was right. But he knew they were going the direction Toothless had went, and hopefully they would come to something to give them another clue of where they went. He would search until he couldn't anymore, he wouldn't give up until he found Toothless and brought him back to the way he had been once before. It seemed like an impossible task, but he refused to be put down. He wasn't one to give up, and everyone in the village basically established that when he refused to stay inside during a dragon raid.

"Good job." He praised Stormfly absent-mindedly, leaning forward carefully as to not bother Ludi as he gave her neck a reassuring pat. "We're getting along good, Astrid would be very proud of you." He added the last part with a small wince, thoughts rushing back to Toothless as sadness pierced his heart once more.

Taking in a sharp breath, Hiccup's eyes slowly narrowed as he straightened. "I'll find you." He promised. "I'll never give up."

•0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙

"I'm gonna find you!" Toothless crowed, bouncing through the cavern noisily as he smiled lopsidedly. "Even though I've been trying to find you for five minutes, I wont give up!" His tail lashed from one side to another as he prowled along, head close to the ground as he went. Nightflight walked beside him, eyes alight with humor as she giggled under her breath.

"You do know that he's right there?" She whispered, leaning down so that only Toothless could hear her. The Night Fury shot her a look, glaring at her in mock anger. Drawing himself up to full height, Toothless puffed out his chest proudly, standing tall and erect as he looked down at her.

"I am a magnificent seeker." He declared, Nightflight laughing slyly as he spoke. "And so it stands to reason that I could find a dragon egg in a pile of eels! I would know whether or not he was right there, for he is not! He must be the GREATEST hider ever, for even I, Toothless the Great, cannot find him!" He ended his proud speech, closing his eyes and lifting his head self-importantly.

Nightflight nudged him humorously. "Sure." She gushed. "You are far too great for something like him to defeat you." She blinked, pressing her head against Toothless's side affectionately. Toothless blinked, pausing for a moment that seemed like forever. But then he smiled, leaning back against her with a rumble.

"HEY HEY HEY." The two jumped as they spun around. Shadowclaw paraded forward, coming out from his hiding spot as he glared sharply at the two. "We're playing hide-and-seek!" He whined. "You guys are supposed to be finding me, not cuddling!" He sat down with a huff, glaring over at Toothless.

The Night Fury straightened, smiling widely, embarrassed. "Sorry!" He yelped, Nightflight blinking warmly down at the small dragon. "There you are! I never saw you there, you picked a really good hiding spot. It was much better than your last one, we found you really fast with that one."

Shadowclaw puffed himself up, still looking sourly at Toothless. "Yup!" He quipped, hopping to his feet and leaping around Toothless with his tail waving in the air proudly. "You can't beat me now! Sooner or later, you'll never be able to find me during this game! I'll be lost forever, and you'll never be able to find me!"

"And how are you supposed to live while alone?" Toothless purred.

"Pft. I'm almost old enough to get out of the nursery. I'll be fine. And anyways, I'd just be hiding from YOU. Not anybody else, except for Nightflight, I'll hide from you too." He looked up at Nightflight with large green eyes that were sparkling with humor and sweetness. The gaze made Toothless's guard drop, just like it always did. He blinked, confused for a moment or two before he leaned forward, prodding Shadowclaw in the side, making the smaller dragon sprawl down onto the ground.

"Let's play another round!" Toothless said happily. "I'll find you this time!"

"Nuh-uh!" Shadowclaw yelped, turning around and dashing into one of the other tunnels, gone in an instant. Toothless's tail curled up as he smiled, and he purred loudly at the pure innocence and cuteness of Shadowclaw that always made him feel something inside of him. He never tried to figure out what made him feel weird, it was always just something he associated with affection.

"Let's go, then. Before he runs into a wall." Toothless said, looking over at Nightflight warmly. "We don't want to return him to his mother all scratched up and bruised. I don't think that his mother would let us play with him anymore."

"Yeah." Nightflight agreed airily. "Your mother can be a little overprotective sometimes. But…I wanna ask you something first." She spoke the last part a little hesitantly, and Toothless perked his ears, turning back around to look at her, puzzled. "You…like it here, don't you?" Nightflight asked, titling her head to the side.

Toothless was a little surprised at the question. "Of course, I love it here." He said.

"And you wouldn't leave? You wouldn't leave me again…right? I don't think I would know what to do without you, Toothless. If you leave, I wont be whole anymore." Her large eyes met his, and she blinked slowly, almost sadly. Going forward, she pressed herself next to him, closing her eyes as she did so. "You wont leave…right?"

Toothless was still a little caught off-guard, but he smiled, leaning down and touching her head with his nose gently. "Of course, I wont." He promised. "I wouldn't ever want to leave you, I have nowhere else to go, right?" Nightflight shifted as he said this. "Besides, I have friends here, and I don't think I'll leave them either." When she still didn't look convinced, he added. "I've lived here my whole life, why would I leave?"

Nightflight pulled back, turning and putting her back to him. Toothless tilted his head to the side, wings dropping to the ground as he looked at her with concern. "Nightflight?" He asked hesitantly. "Is there something you wanna talk about? Something you wanna to tell me about?"

For a moment, she looked as if she was about to say something to him, her eyes wide with something close to helplessness. But she recovered, giving him a smile as she got to her feet. "Nah. I just wanted to test you." At Toothless's sour look, she reached over and prodded him teasingly. "Let's go! Shadowclaw has probably ran into fifty walls by now!"

Toothless snorted an agreement, getting to his feet and charging after Nightflight as the two dashed after Shadowclaw through the tunnel he had disappeared from.

•0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙ •0·˙

A/N: I gotta go! Have a good Christmas! ^.^