A/N: I'm back! Guess what, guys! We've reached a hundred reviews! I'm so happy! Thank you all so much! Hopefully this one will make up for the lack of updates! I feel really bad about leaving you all hanging, but I'm super busy. I'm like a bee, man. But tonight is Friday, so I'm ready to stay up till twelve in the morning and type! ;)

I mean, we all know that I have absolutely nothing else better to do.

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Hiccup had the hardest job when it came to flying. Sure, Nightflight had to figure out how to maneuver around without someone to guide her, and it took the black dragoness a painstakingly long time to figure out how exactly to trail behind Mistyeyes. But once Mistyeyes stuck her tailfin straight out so that it guided Nightflight with a light touch on her nose, Nightflight actually flew forward instead of stumbling through the clouds. And Shadowclaw and Leafdapple had to make sure that everyone was in check, that job was quite heavy as well, no doubt. And leading a blind dragon in Mistyeyes's case was no good ride either. But even put all together, there was no way that it compared to what Hiccup had to do. And that was trying to figure out how to breathe through Astrid's chokehold.

The blonde was clinging tightly to the boy's stomach, her recently-created anger and irritation towards him in the heat of the moment. Having 'never' been up in the air before, the girl looked just as much of a mess as she did the very first time that Hiccup had managed to persuade her onto Toothless. Of course, they were going much faster then, they didn't have all these other dragons in tow. But the girl was clinging to Hiccup as if her hands were locked together, and every couple of seconds, she would shuffle in the saddle, fixing her perch like a perfectionist. Every once and a while, Hiccup could sense the way she looked down to the ocean, mumbling out a small curse underneath her breath as she did so.

But he didn't ever look back at her or even show the notion that he was aware of her clutch around his waist. He turned the other cheek instead, forcing himself to look straight forward and nowhere else. Focusing instead on the waves around them or the landmarks that they passed, Hiccup spent his efforts trying to find out how long they had left until Berk, or how the weather would hold up around them. It was a concerning enough job, and by the looks of the churning waves beneath them or the dark masses of clouds overhead, it was enough to let the boy's mind fret elsewhere.

After all, there wasn't much else he could think about, not with Toothless refusing to speak like he was. The Night Fury was pointedly keeping his mouth shut, looking straight forward with a smoldering green stare, looking just as preoccupied as Hiccup was trying to be. But if there was even the slightest chance that Toothless was doing what Hiccup was, his mind was far from the subject at hand; he was probably just doing his best to look indifferent. The teenager could tell by the way that the dragon's ears flicked back and forth restlessly that something was bothering, and the boy frowned guiltily as he realized that the thing bothering Toothless might very well be him.

He shook himself quickly, prying his brain off of the subject matter as he looked back up. His inner thoughts lashed out with reprimands, scolding him for even trying to linger on the emotions. There wasn't anything he could do right now, that much was more than obvious. The only thing he could do now was get these dragons to Berk, which was his main goal. If he let things like this get in the way of what he was trying to do…well, he just couldn't let it happen. He had to be focused, he had to-

"So how long is this going to take?" Hiccup tensed rigidly at the sudden question. Astrid had been the one to speak up, surprising the boy considering she had been silent ever since they first took off. And that had to be at least a few hours ago, he presumed. He started to turn back to her at the sound of her voice, a habit of his body that he had acquired from flying with her so much. But as soon as the half-conscious thought crossed his mind, he snapped back around, eyes widening just slightly with hurt at the automatic response. But if Astrid had noticed, she obviously did not think anything of the movement. "We've been flying for forever." She commented, voice curling to show her dislike for the mode of transport. "When are we getting back to my home?"

"I told you." Hiccup said, his voice stifled. "It'll take a while."

"Well yeah." Astrid growled, obviously put-off by his sudden change in mood. Her blue eyes flashed a little at his breezy-sounding tone, and Hiccup was painfully aware of her grip on his waist loosening. "But I didn't know your definition of 'a while' was 'forever.'" She scoffed softly, almost muttering to herself as she spoke underneath her breath. Hiccup frowned at this, allowing himself just a small glance behind him, caving almost too easily as he twisted back slightly.

She was glaring off to the side, as if thinking over something concerning in her mind. But then again, what could she be thinking? What was still left in her mind, Hiccup wondered mournfully. Did she know that way how she would always wait outside Hiccup's house and walk to the Forge with him in the mornings? Or that way that she spent all Snoggletog last year at Hiccup's house around the fire? Obviously not, it seemed. Otherwise there would be something there between them instead of just a cold pit of unfamiliarity.

Suddenly, there was a small flash of brown, Hiccup perking as he faced the shape. Leafdapple was weaving her way through the crowd, green eyes wide with both concern and worry. Hiccup felt a small stab of fear at the expression creasing itself over her face, but then he caught sight of Shadowclaw, who was trailing behind the dragoness per the norm. He looked much less upset, almost a little impatient as he flew after his friend. Hoping that that meant it wasn't anything too serious, Hiccup allowed himself a small breath of relief.

He prodded Toothless in the neck, a little cautious now as he turned to his friend. Toothless twitched at the touch, turning his head and opening his mouth as if he were going to start firing out sentences. But then he seemed to catch onto what Hiccup was indicating, slowing down as he caught sight of Leafdapple and Shadowclaw. Astrid stiffened considerably behind Hiccup, her grip coming back at once as the dragons came closer. The boy offered out a small mumble of comfort at her anxiety, but his mind wasn't on her discomfort, for once not on purpose. He looked intently at Leafdapple and Shadowclaw, watching the two closely as they made their way towards him.

Eventually, they met. Leafdapple was panting from her sudden burst of speed to catch up, but she drew alongside Toothless and Hiccup despite the worn look on her face. "Hiccup." She puffed, calling the boy's already-earned attention. "I think we might have to stop soon." Hiccup frowned at this, realizing that reason that Shadowclaw looked a little peeved. The male had a disgruntled look on his face, a flick of impatience going through his tail every so often as he flew alongside his close friend. He obviously thought different than Leafdapple, but he was much too wary of hurting her feelings to speak outright against her.

But Toothless obviously did not think of that part in the equation. He spoke up incredulously, tilting his head to the side with a look of bewilderment. It was the first time he had talked all flight, so it took a moment for his voice to get working. But when it did, he asked a simple one-worded question. "Why?" Hiccup turned back to look at the Pack, and at the sun behind them. It had just started its descent a few hours ago; they still had a good expanse of travel that they could cover before the sun faded altogether. If they were to stop now, they wouldn't even come close to the amount of miles that Hiccup had hoped to cover today. "We still have a lot of time left to travel!" Toothless pointed out.

But Leafdapple shook her head. "No, we can't keep going on like this." She pressed, not letting up on her stance in the argument. Or maybe that was the cause for Shadowclaw's impatience, Hiccup thought suddenly. The male had probably already tried to reason with his friend, but she would hear none of it, shooting him down before he could even finish his words. It seemed exactly like something Leafdapple would end up doing, and against himself, Hiccup gave a small smile at the picture between them.

"Why not?" Toothless demanded immediately. "We could easily get closer to Berk before-"

"Where we stayed last night didn't have a surplus of food." Leafdapple snapped tartly, puffing up at the notion of her being wrong. "Most of the dragons around here are hungry. And the younglings can barely fly on their own already, they're losing altitude faster than you can gain it, Toothless." Hiccup turned back to look at the party behind him, realizing with a small, disappointed sigh, that the female was right. Some of the adult dragons had scowls on their faces, determined but obviously hurting from the large amount of activity without much food. Inwardly, Hiccup felt his own stomach caving in on itself. With everything that had happened today, the fact that they had had little to no food last night had been easily forgotten. But now he could see that the others in their traveling group were not able to push the matter away as smoothly as he had.

The younglings were openly complaining, all except for Amber of course. The cute little Night Fury was trudging along with a determined look, little wings fluttering at her sides like a bumblebee's. Even since she had been snatched out of the air by Hiccup, she had made a special point to be the best out of the pick of younglings. Now, as the others were lagging, it was obvious that she was doing her best to speed ahead. But her mother was lagging behind; if she kept this up, she would get separated from the female and she might spiral down to the ocean again.

"With the rate that things are going, we'll be dropping like flies." Leafdapple said, panting herself as she struggled to match Toothless's pace, who was a much more skilled flier than she. Hiccup opened his mouth to agree with her, knowing that it would probably make Toothless even more angry towards him, but he was cut short as Mistyeyes suddenly made an appearance as well, Nightflight dragged behind her. "What's going on?" The pale dragoness asked, baffled as he looked from each person assembled. There was a small hint of reproach in her voice as well, as if she were wondering why in the world she hadn't known about this little meeting. From behind her, Nightflight cocked her head to the side, questioning as she tried to listen over the beating of wings around her.

"Leafdapple said we need to stop early." Toothless explained shortly, not offering any of the background information as he looked over towards the younger one. She puffed at the hidden barb underneath the words, as if she were some unfair dragon just wanting to rest. "But we still have a lot of time left to travel; it'd be pointless to stop now."

"It's pointless to keep going." Leafdapple snapped, irritated by now as she glared openly Toothless's way. An offended look crept into the older Night Fury at the look that was thrown his way, and from behind Leafdapple, Hiccup could see Shadowclaw trying to suppress a smile, getting over his own hostility with his friend at the bold stance she was now taking. "Everyone is so tired that we're crawling along like an inchworm." She continued. "We need to stop early so that there's more time to hunt for the others. If we end out early today, we can start out early tomorrow."

Mistyeyes perked, looking back and reflecting Hiccup's own surprise as she realized how slow they were actually going. Like him, she had probably thought none of it, preoccupied with her own wonderings to try and evaluate their progressions. "Well, it looks like Leafdapple is right." She concluded, looking back over at the group, pointedly not looking in Toothless's direction. The black Night Fury's ears twitched at the notion of her not being able to look at him, but thankful he did not voice his opinions outright. It would have caused yet another scene that they did not need right now. "I think it would benefit us better if we took it easier than we have been. The younglings look ready to keel over."

Astrid watched the exchange between Hiccup and the dragons with dumbstruck disbelief. Hiccup tried to ignore her stare, doing his best to focus solely on the task at hand. He took in the looks of everyone around him, realizing that there was a cross. Leafdapple and Mistyeyes, both so alike in nature it seemed, were both looking at him expectantly, waiting for an order to find the nearest spot of land. But Toothless and Shadowclaw seemed unwilling to stop, lean and supple even without the energy that food provided.

Turning around and hoping for a resolve laying in the one that hadn't spoken up yet, he offered a tentative smile Nightflight's way. Even if she couldn't see it, he hoped that she would hear it in his voice, though he doubted the emotion was well-set-up enough for such a thing. "What do you think, Nightflight?" He asked, encouraging her back into the swing of conversation. "Should we stop, or keep going?" He prompted, when the female didn't seem to hear him at first.

But then she perked, looking lost for a moment or two as she looked around aimlessly. But then, finally staring over in his general direction, she blinked rapidly. "…What do you think we should do?" She asked after a beat of hesitation. Mistyeyes blinked at this, looking saddened at the question as she drooped visibly. Toothless sighed underneath his breath, looking away from the pair of females, as if he were tired of facing them.

Hiccup sighed heavily at this, shoulders drooping at the disharmony that seemed to be racing between each person here. The only two that seemed out of the loop was Leafdapple and Shadowclaw, younglings as they were. He turned around, depressed by the thought of what was going on between the group, shaking his head a little as he fixed his eyes on a point far ahead. Maybe if he focused on there, it would be like nothing was wrong here.

"We'll stop." He decided flatly.

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Toothless and Mistyeyes split up to lead out two hunting groups once they finally managed to find themselves an island that seemed plentiful. It took about half an hour to find, but Hiccup was rather glad that they had come across it. Now, as the dragons that still had a few scraps of energy left had gone after Toothless and Mistyeyes to hunt, Hiccup watched over the rest of the Pack.

Mothers were curled underneath a shaded tree with their sons and daughters, eyes half-closed as they dozed after their long flounder through the air. Those of the younglings who were still able to walk were pacing around now, trying to find entertainment until their meal arrived, looking impatient as they milled around noisily. The older dragons twitched with irritation at the nesciences of the little ones, turning around and shooing them away, telling their little ears off for coming and ruining their naps. But Hiccup smiled tenderly at the sight, eyes softening as he saw the flash of affection through the seniors' eyes as the pushed the Youths away.

The boy had taken to sitting off to the side, watching over the dragons until Toothless and Mistyeyes came back with the food that they had been promised. He was just about to get up and move from his perch on a rather thick root of a tree, but he stopped short as movement off to the side caught his eye. He turned, green eyes lighting up as he twisted to look over to the left. Shadowclaw was sitting neatly beside Leafdapple, both of the dragons' tails curled around their paws.

They both looked on peacefully, watching a group of baby Night Furies stumble and play with one another tiredly. Leafdapple's eyes were soft as she surveyed them, and every so often she let a small smile grace her features. Shadowclaw leaned over close to her, nudging her with his shoulder and saying something close to her ear. Leafdapple responded with a snort of a laugh, rolling her eyes as she pushed him away affectionately.

The sight caused Hiccup to gain a smile of his own, bringing his knees up closer to his chest as he rested his chin down gently. Somehow Leafdapple and Shadowclaw still seemed to find light of the situation that there were in. Why couldn't any of them do the same? Hiccup wondered idly. Even Toothless and Mistyeyes, as close as they were now that they had both come to the realization that everybody else knew, weren't able to talk and laugh as much as the two used to. The tense situation that they were in concerning the Pack and their new responsibilities left them unable to do just that and it also left Hiccup unable to help Astrid.

At the thought of the girl, Hiccup reluctantly turned, twisting around and finding her sitting off to the side. She had taken a much more tolerable air with the dragons, but she was still obviously uneasy. She shifted every so often, glancing around with quick blue eyes. She was taking a special care in staying close to Hiccup, wary with the amount of reptiles that were around her. She looked over at him every so often, a fact that he had missed up until this point.

The pairs' eyes accidentally locked, Astrid siting up a little straighter as she flushed with embarrassment at being caught staring. She started to look away, but stopped short for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly as she looked back at him. Something flashed in the back of her eyes, a small spark of something. It looked as if she were struggling to pin down a thought that was simply going too fast for her mind to take in. Hiccup wilted at the thought, a sad kind of flicker coming into his emotions. Astrid was still looking at him oddly, but he refused to do the same.

Turning, the boy spun around, looking back to Shadowclaw and Leafdapple and heading their way pointedly.

Astrid frowned at the movement, tucking her knees close as she rested her chin down with a glum expression, watching him go silently. She didn't protest, and she didn't follow him either. She just remained where she was sitting, a person with no recollection and no aspiring goals to look forward to except to follow others and wish for the best. The boy…Hiccup… he didn't seem to like her all that much. It was fine by her, of course. She just needed a way to get home, she was just stuck with him at the moment, and it didn't mean anything.

Still, she felt weird whenever she saw him. Like a certain kind of feeling that you remember having but you can't exactly pin it down. Still, he seemed like he was starting to get tired of her. She might as well stop trying to get any more answers out of him; he shut up like a clam whenever she tried to ask a simple question. So he wouldn't help her if she were to ask him why these clinging thoughts or feelings came at random points. And he certainly wouldn't answer why she felt them when she looked at him.

So she watched him go without a second thought, turning and averting her attention elsewhere, like on the dragons or how long they had travelled so far today. The clinging thoughts were useless to worry about, so she might as well forget them. She was having a hard enough time figuring out how to talk outright with… Hiccup… (the name still tripped her up with that same weird surge of feeling). She should just concentrate solely on holding conversations up with him. If he was the only human within miles like he said' she might as well not make an enemy out of her only friend.

Whatever feeling she had of him…. whatever kind of emotion there was that she couldn't pinpoint… she guessed that she would just have to ignore it.

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"Hey." The soft greeting threw off Mistyeyes's aim, the dragon jerking with surprise right before she shot herself forward. She landed awkwardly, with a loud huff of surprise as she fell lopsidedly. The rabbit that she had been stalking took off at her arrival, a loud squeal of surprise coming from it as she dashed away. She sat up crossly, spitting out tufts of grass with an irritated look on her face. She turned, ready to shoot out angry roars in the direction of whoever had just ruined her catch. But when she saw who it was waiting for her, she stopped short with surprise.

"Toothless?" She asked, wide-eyed as she got to her feet hastily. "What're you doing out here? Why aren't you with the others that came along with you?"

The black Night Fury flicked the tip of his tail, dismissing the question. "I could ask you the same thing." He pointed out fairly. He paused for a minute, as if expecting Mistyeyes to swallow the answer. But she didn't, blue eyes still shaded with irritation as she glanced the way that the rabbit had gone. Toothless sighed, giving in now as he ducked his head apologetically. "Sorry about the catch." He offered. "But I wanted to talk to you. It couldn't wait."

Mistyeyes hesitated, contemplating. But then she nodded, sitting down neatly as she drew her tail over her paws. "You'll have to explain to Hiccup why we didn't bring anything back to the others." She informed him presently, before he could start. Toothless sighed, frustrated, as if this was the least of his worries. "Go on, then." Mistyeyes encouraged after another moment of silence. "What's so important? We're meant to be hunting." The sun was starting to go down more prominently by now; they probably only had about a few more hours until it was completely gone.

Toothless copied her, sitting down and staring intently her way. It was a while before he managed to speak up, and when he did, his words were measured and short. "I think…" He paused a second, ears twitching restlessly. But then he spoke up again, forcing the words out. "I think we should get Nightflight to try again." He said finally.

Mistyeyes was too stunned to reply at first, eyes wide with both disbelief and shock as she stared blankly his way. "…What?" She asked voice incredulous. "You mean on Astrid?" When Toothless nodded again, she swelled even more. "Toothless, surely you can't be serious! Just this morning you were ready to tear her head off for what she did! You blamed her for her mistake, you treated her like a traitor, you haven't talked to her all day, and now you expect her to try again?" She gasped shortly, the only way she could think of to express her confusion. "And then you expect her to do it?"

"You have to think about our options, here, Mistyeyes!" He urged her quickly, before he could finish her sentence. "Hiccup isn't going to help her; you know that fact as well as I do! He has some weird thought in his head that he should push her away, and I know that that isn't the way that this needs to be worked out."

"And taking more chances is?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. Her anger was starting to melt away, replaced by curiosity and thought. The offer was a weird one, and it was even weirder to have been brought up by Toothless himself. At first she had taken it as a joke, but evidently, Toothless was serious about this. "What's wrong?" She asked finally, receiving the notion that something was amiss with him. "There's something the matter, isn't there?"

"This happened to me before." Toothless said flatly. "You know that as well as I do." Mistyeyes blinked, looking away softly at the thought, having tried her hardest to forget that specific moment in time. "I know what it felt like to come back and realized what I'd done. And I know what it feels like to deal with it afterwards, and how hard it was. Especially with what happened." He did not name the circumstance, but it ran gorily through Mistyeyes's head anyway. "I don't want Astrid to feel like that if something like that happens again. She deserves better."

"It'll be okay." She said softly.

"You're sure about that?" Toothless demanded. The female stopped short at this, becoming quiet as she sighed through her nose slowly. He nodded, as if the huff answered his question. "Astrid already lost her memory." He pointed out. "What's worse than that? What else could possibly go wrong?" Mistyeyes rolled her eyes at the phrase, but he wasn't finished. "If Nightflight does well and if she actually does get Astrid to be able to understand us, we could get her to remember ourselves. Hiccup wouldn't have to do anything. We could help her."

"And if Nightflight can't do it?" Mistyeyes rounded. "She probably won't even want to try."

"That a chance we'll have to take." Toothless said firmly. "This shouldn't have happened in the first place, I knew that much. But now that it has, we have to go through with this. Any other situation and I would tell Nightflight to keep her distance. But this is just too close to home, both for me and for Hiccup. Don't you see, Mistyeyes?" He pressed relentlessly. "This is the only way that we can fix this. And Nightflight will have to understand that."

Mistyeyes weighed her reply, blue eyes critical as she stared steadily his way. "…We can't make her do anything she doesn't want to." She warned thinly, obviously not going to be the one to address the situation to the dragoness. She was already so worked up over everything; she surely wouldn't be okay with what she and Toothless were thinking of. "And Hiccup won't be able to know about it. He'd stop us. He'd… he'd get mad."

"It'll be worth it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because," He said shortly. "I've been through it before."

"Does that make you an expert?" Mistyeyes questioned.

"I'm the only one it's happened to."

"Nightflight is the only one who's caused it." Mistyeyes pressed. "And she's just as confused as all of us."

Toothless didn't reply for what seemed like forever. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"You know I'd do anything for you." Mistyeyes said at once, a reflexive answer as it blurted its way out of her mouth. But as soon as she said the words, looking at Toothless's earnest face, she couldn't help but feel a small prick of foreboding at the words, as if she had just predicted something evil. We'd all do anything for each other. She thought grimly, her look measured now. But sooner or later, something is going to wrong. I just don't know what.

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A/N: Really sorry, guys, I am. Trust me, I hate this school business just as much as you all do with my lack of updates. I try to get on more and more but I just can't manage it most nights. Even now, I'm cutting super close to when I have to leave for a band competition. So just know I'm trying, and that more reviews my way will definitely help. Once again, really sorry.

Things will pick up soon, though, so rest assured. I'm still thinking about you all :)

I hope this long chapter lives up to expectance, and if not, blame it on lack of time lol

I'll try to update again really soon, and thank you so much for your patience. I really love you all ^^