A/N: Blame my recent trip to Japan on the lack of updates! But I got back here yesterday and got up early to type out another chapter. I've been getting a surplus of PMs and reviews asking where I was and I was getting a little bit guilty haha

So without further ado, I'll try to get this out before tomorrow! ^^

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"Favorite food?"

"…I don't know. Probably…chicken?"

"Favorite thing to do?"

"Flying."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. That's weird. Considering flying scares the crap out of me now."

Hiccup gave a small, noncommittal hum in reply to her comment. Astrid was sitting behind him neatly, legs crossed as she watched the boy with keen blue eyes. The past half hour had been spent like this: the girl pestering with questions about herself while Hiccup was trying to do other work. The Viking was currently trying to figure out whether or not there would be any point in telling others to go out and hunt before the sun went down. If he didn't manually send out dragons, there was always the chance that mothers or littler dragons could sneak off with the party as well. And that didn't serve well considering they were the ones that needed the rest more.

He was offering replies at least. He didn't look back at her, and the replies were thin and curt. They were nowhere near the enthusiasm he would have replied with at any earlier time. But they were replies nonetheless. At least he was actively answering her. Astrid wore a small frown on her face, the puzzled sort of expression that she always got whenever she was talking to Hiccup and he never seemed to give her the time of day. But she didn't voice her complaints if she had any; she never did.

"Alright." She said instead when he didn't respond to her attempt at humor. Still there was nothing in response, the teen's eyes narrowing a little bit as he crossed his arms over his chest in thought. Puffing out her cheeks for a second, Astrid rolled her eyes immaturely before pressing ahead. "You said I had a family?" She prompted, blue eyes sparking a little bit with interest at the new topic.

Hiccup gave a nod, stilling a little bit at this one. Geez, what a time to bring up this.

"What are they like?" Astrid asked, tilting her head to the side.

"They're like any family I guess." Hiccup replied, still purposefully keeping his eyes forward. He was wearing his own frown by now, and he gave a restless shift, throwing his weight between each foot with a worried sort of air. "You've got a dad. And a mom. Your mom fusses too much according to you, and your dad takes you out for axe-throwing practice every so often. It's why you've been the best fighter in Berk out of all the others that are our age." He noticed that with the comment about Astrid's mother, his voice had grown a bit bitter. So he cleared his throat and scolded himself mentally. He didn't need to be making such an immature child out of himself.

"…They love me?" Astrid asked a bit hesitantly.

"Of course." Hiccup said, surprised by the sudden turn. He finally relented, turning back and allowing himself the one thing that he had been holding back all this time. He allowed himself to feel what he had a long time ago for her, it seemed. The wall broke a little bit and he noticed all the little things that he treasured. The way that her eyes flashed with intelligence even when she had no idea what was going on; the way that she held herself like she had all the confidence in the world; the way that she smiled and the way that she laughed. It was all still there. Even if she wasn't. "Who wouldn't love you?" He asked, voice a bit quieter as he added this last part.

Astrid seemed to notice the change, even if it was a rather subtle one. Or he hoped that it was a subtle one at least. They were close to Berk, so close that the weather had dropped another ten degrees. He couldn't be making stupid mistakes like this to draw them back more. Yet Astrid cleared her throat, not looking bothered by the odd reply. Or confused, even. She just looked…unsure. And when she tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, she cleared her throat and created yet another unsteady bridge to walk on. "…and…" She was being awfully slow and reluctant in her speech. "…do I…love anyone?"

It had to be at least a full minute before Hiccup even thought of replying. "What do you mean?" He asked, playing the dumb card. He was really wishing that he hadn't slipped up. Or that something would happen to break up this little conversation. Much as he hated to admit it, he rather preferred their conversation last time, when it had been broken up by Amber's fit. Though it was obviously peaceful right now, other than the buzz of conversation going on around them. So hopes of something like that happening were around zero.

"You know." Astrid snapped, obviously seeing through his confused facade. "My family loves me. I'm pretty sure that I love my family. But that's not what I'm talking about. I mean is there anybody that I love. Or…that loves me." She was watching Hiccup carefully, and if the boy hadn't known her any better, he would have thought there was a suspicious look in her eyes. Or rather…a challenging one. She couldn't be daring him to…..could she? "You know…it's just a question." She added after a while when he didn't reply.

Hiccup's shoulders had gone stiff, and his whole body had gotten rigid. He didn't want to talk like this anymore. He didn't want to answer her questions. Not right now. He couldn't right now. He had to get the dragons back to Berk and safely add them to the island. Anything else and he wouldn't be able to do it. So he turned pointedly once more, jaw locking back tightly as he shook his head. "Let's not ask any more questions." He said flatly in response. "We're done."

Astrid perked a little stubbornly, looking almost offended by the rejection he had given her. Like a put-out child, she opened her mouth to snap out a retort to him. But Hiccup was already walking away, hands balled into tight fists as he left her behind. Part of him was screaming that he was making a mistake; it always did whenever he pushed her away like this. And he had to force himself not to glance back at her as he made for the crowd of dragons. It never got any easier, he thought. But that offered a small sense of relief for him. It never got any easier at least. He would hate himself if it wasn't hard anymore.

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Mistyeyes was stretched out contently, eyes narrowed into tired slits as she stifled back a small yawn. Since they had found themselves on the home-stretch early this morning, the group hadn't stopped to take a break during their long flight today. The pale dragon's wings were aching and she gave an airy sigh at the relaxed feeling that spread through her from the much-deserved rest. It didn't help that her main priority was to fly around the group all day and make sure there were no stragglers. While also dragging along Nightfight. But to be fair, Nightflight was starting to get the hang of things a lot faster than Mistyeyes had first thought she would.

Nevertheless, she was happy to just lay here for the moment. And as she did, her tired blue eyes were trained over to the small group of younglings, who were traipsing around together in some sort of game. Though they looked tired enough to flop down and sleep for a month, the little dragons were hopping and jumping together anyway, competing to see who could get the highest off the ground. She smiled tenderly at the sight of the little ones, and she suddenly wished that she had their kind of energy.

"Hello." A voice suddenly roused her attention, tearing her focus away from the small children as she turned to look back towards the sound. Toothless was standing a few feet away, ears flicking back and forth a little bit as their eyes clashed. "Can I sit with you?" He asked, Mistyeyes blinking oddly at the reserved kind of tone in his voice. But then she remembered the fight that they had had, the female frowning a little bit at the thought of it.

"Of course you can." She purred in response, curling her tail tighter around herself. She was tired of all the fighting between them, she thought a little dryly. This certainly wasn't a time to draw lines between friends, and she should have realized that and not have snapped so much. Toothless seemed to brighten at the easy forgiveness, going over and taking up a place at her side, looking more than happy as he nosed her ear affectionately. "I'm not doing anything fairly interesting." She warned good-naturedly after a moment. She turned half of her attention back onto the little ones once more as she said this.

Toothless followed her gaze, humming a little bit as he caught sight of the game going on a ways away from them. "You always watch them." He pointed out with a smile, tail flicking with amusement as one of the little females won the match with a terrific leap nearly five feet off the ground. "You seem to find a lot of interest in it." He added with a glance her way.

Mistyeyes only gave a small laugh, not responding to his teasing. "I do." She admitted with a soft kind of look in her eyes. "They're so cute it's hard not to find any." She paused, then added: "Sometimes with all these things going on, you forget the simple things, or the things that make you happy. But the little ones always remember. That's what I like the most I think." Months ago, she would have found the same attribute of innocence in Shadowclaw. She certainly found it when she had first come to Berk. But after all these things that have gone on, and after the all the things that Shadowclaw had gotten into, it seemed that the air of innocence had gradually been melted away. It had helped largely in the long run, but it seemed as if the little male had grown up too fast. And that was a saddening thought.

Not following her inner musings, Toothless eyed her with a glint. "I would have figured you would have been caught by the cuteness." He commented, watching with a chuff as Mistyeyes was jarred out of her mantra. She turned, grinning as she pushed his head away with a roll of her eyes. "That's how I always thought you would end up." He said then, Mistyeyes perking at the change in tone. He was looking over at the group, watching as a mother broke into the game, chastising the children for not resting, corralling them together and shushing them as they objected in a chorus.

"What?" Mistyeyes asked, tilting her head to the side with a confused look.

"Like that." Toothless said, nodding towards the older female as she led the group of kids away. "You know, when I was smaller. I always thought that Nightflight would end up somewhere in your place; maybe me along with her or something." Mistyeyes blinked, glancing his way. "And I always thought…you know, you would find someone and settle down and have a few younglings yourself." Feeling her gaze on him, he turned and met it with a small shrug. "It's what I always thought." He admitted.

"Then you must not have known me all that good." She chuffed, trying to tease him.

"Then you don't want one?" He asked though, not following her humor.

Her smile was dashed, a more thoughtful look on her face as she turned back to watch the group walk away. She mused for a second, sighing softly through her nose as she narrowed her eyes. "…no." She said eventually. "No, I would probably. Some day. When this is all over and if everything turns out okay…maybe I would consider it a bit more." Her ears flicked a little dismissively. "But that could be a long way away. There's no sense in talking about something like that right now."

Toothless opened his mouth to reply, when yet another voice broke through the train of thought. At first it was a small cough, but when the pair of them didn't notice who it was at first, they spoke up. "Hey." The couple turned, surprised. But Mistyeyes smiled at once as she saw Hiccup standing a ways away from them. Though the grin was once again deflated a little bit at the wary air that Hiccup seemed to hold around them, especially when Toothless turned back to lock eyes with him as well.

At first he didn't say anything, Mistyeyes starting to look a little bit more saddened as he shifted a little bit. She noticed his stiff posture and his tired-look eyes. There were large bags underneath them, dark against the skin, and she wondered when the last time he slept was. Or slept soundly, anyway. "…Can I talk to you?" Hiccup asked when neither of the two returned the greeting he offered. "It's kind of important."

Mistyeyes glanced at Toothless, wondering whether or not the dragon was still angry with his human, or whether or not he saw all the details about Hiccup that she did. The Night Fury looked a little surprised, as if this was the first time he had really looked at Hiccup full-front. And it probably was, considering that ever since now the dragon had been trying to avoid the rider. His mouth was halfway open to speak, but nothing was coming out as he sat there. Clearing her own throat, Mistyeyes turned and heaved herself up to her feet, feeling a small hint of regret at the thought of leaving her sunny spot of relaxation. But looking at how tired Hiccup seemed was enough to get her going again. After all, if he could do laps around the island like he had been looking like that, she could go out and follow him.

"Sure you can." She said easily in response, hoping that Toothless would follow her lead and be friendly. "What do you want to talk about, Hiccup?" At her side, Toothless got up as well, shaking out his wings as he stretched briefly. He didn't offer to say anything yet, and against herself, she felt a small hint of irritation. The whole of their group was acting like young ones in school; they needed to all grow up a little bit and reconcile. Though by the look on Hiccup's face, she wondered if that was what the boy was trying to do at the moment.

"We need the others." Hiccup said in response, furthering her suspicion as he turned and started towards the other end of the island. Of course he had gathered them together first. Feeling yet another hint of frustration at the dodging and ducking going on, she turned back and tugged Toothless after. Hiccup walked a few paces ahead, and she took the moment to turn back and eye the male Night Fury a little reproachfully.

"I think you should forgive Hiccup." She said a little tartly, unable to hold back the sour note from her voice. Toothless glanced at her, ears lowered a little as he frowned. "You only have to look at him to see how much stress he's going through and with all this drama going around it's obviously not helping." She paused, then: "Drama that was helped created by you, let's not forget." He sighed a little bit at this, as if he wanted to object. But Mistyeyes gave him a 'Don't-You-Dare' look, and he shut up at once.

"Listen." She pressed with a small sigh, lowering the sharpness of her voice now as she looked at him a little bit more gently. "He's already lost one of his friends. Not even his friend, you know how much more special she was than just a friend. He lost Astrid already, and he probably thinks that he's well on the way to lose all his other friends. And he looks absolutely miserable. So I really think you should reconsider what you're doing right now."

Toothless took a second, before sighing himself. "…you're probably right." He said lowly in response. The first reason he had even gotten mad in the first place was because this whole ordeal wasn't fair to Hiccup. Granted, it wasn't fair to Astrid to be kept in the dark and he was still tense about the whole matter there. But Mistyeyes always seemed to have a way of explaining things so that Toothless would reconsider them or his views on something. A little unfair at the way she used that to her advantage, but still. Maybe that was why she was such a good leader in the first place.

"I always am." She replied accordingly, dipping her head a bit cheekily as he threw her a look.

It took them a while to get past the group of dragons to the others. Hiccup had to stop every once in a while to wave off some of the other dragons trying to reach him, Toothless and Mistyeyes offering apologies as they rushed after. It was like trying to get through a maze, Toothless thought bitterly to himself as he weaved around Night Fury after Night Fury. He was starting to think that they wouldn't be able to make it until the sun was completely gone.

But they finally caught sight of the others, just before the sun was about to blink away too. Nightflight was laying off to the side, looking worn-out and drowsy like Mistyeyes had been. Shadowclaw and Leafdapple were a bit more awake, holding conversation together like they always did. Mistyeyes could hear Leafdapple's laugh from where she walked, and her tail curled up with amusement as she grinned. At least the pair of them never seemed to have any sort of falling out at least. They were always joined at the tail no matter what happened it seemed.

But the pair of young dragons cut themselves off as Hiccup and the others approached, Leafdapple perking first as Shadowclaw's back was to them. "Hi Hiccup!" She called merrily, Nightflight catching on that they had come back last as she started to get up as well. Shadowclaw spun around, waving his tail in his own greeting. "I was wondering where you'd gotten off to." Leafdapple went on as they neared. "I was starting to think you'd forgotten about us." The moon was nearly out by now, and the island was getting darker by the second. It wouldn't be too long until it would be too dark to see four feet in front of your nose.

"No, it just took a while to get back here." Hiccup explained with a small sigh. "Everybody sounds like they need something no matter where I go." Mistyeyes frowned at the tired voice Hiccup was using, a hint of concern growing in her stomach as she took a seat near the human. "I'll have to go and check on them later." He added, crossing his arms over his chest and stifling a yawn as he spoke.

"Do you need our help?" Nightflight asked, stealing the question before Mistyeyes could get it out.

"No, that's not why I wanted to talk to you." Hiccup shook his head.

There was a silence for a moment as they waited for the boy to explain himself. But he didn't offer anything, merely standing and staring down at the ground with the worried mask he always wore. Mistyeyes glanced over at Toothless, seeing the he looked just as blank as Hiccup did. Rolling her eyes and huffing, the female leaned over sharply, nudging him in the side with enough force to knock him off his feet. But to his credit, he didn't slip. He just stumbled a little bit, looking shocked and angry as he turned back to look at Mistyeyes with an indignant look. She replied with a sharp nod in Hiccup's direction.

Toothless glared at her, something that obviously didn't bother the female as she shrugged. Sighing, Toothless's face fell as he turned back to his rider. "What's wrong?" He asked, Mistyeyes feeling a hint of relief at the genuine concern in his voice. She might have been the one to nudge him into speaking, but he really was worried about Hiccup. They all were. But it was obvious that the dragon Hiccup needed to hear from right now was currently Toothless, and everyone knew that fact.

Hiccup glanced at his friend, looking a tad surprised at the fact that he was first to talk. But he gave a sharp intake of breath anyway, looking down and wringing his hands together tightly as he cleared his throat. "This is the last island that we can stop at." He reminded them, the others exchanging glances at the fact. "It's the last island closest to Berk that can fit all of these dragons. So…the next time we fly…that' it." He said, Mistyeyes realizing why he was so nervous finally as she too winced at the thought. "Next time we take off we'll have to land in Berk."

"So you want us to make a plan?" Mistyeyes asked, already trying to think of something.

But Hiccup shook his head. "No." He said. "I wanted to make sure that we're all together on this." He said, his words causing the female to still in surprise. The phrasing of the words were a little off, Mistyeyes understanding what he meant but still a little lost. She opened her mouth a little hesitantly to ask for clarification, but he was already giving it as he shook his head. "I want to make sure that we're not fighting or hating each other going into this. Because…we don't know how bad it will get or how far it'll go. We knew that it was going to be hard, but I didn't know it was going to be this hard. And going into this… I just want to know that I'll have you guys with me."

"You'll always have us with you, Hiccup." Leafdapple said with a frown. "We're friends, and I can't ever see any of that changing."

"Yeah! We'll stick with you." Shadowclaw chimed in. "Promise."

Hiccup smiled at them gratefully, though there was probably never any doubt in the boy's mind that they wouldn't be with him, Mistyeyes assumed. It was them three that he was worried about. And that showed plainly as he turned over to look at them with his clouded gaze. Mistyeyes glanced from Toothless to Nightflight, troubled and unsure. She would stand by Hiccup, of course she would. Though between the two of the Night Furies, she was lost. Nightflight was a confusing dragon to consider when it came to loyalties, and yet she had been through so much that it was hard to imagine being too tough on her and the choices she was making now with refusing to help Astrid. But Toothless was someone she had promised to spend the rest of her life protecting and being with, even if he could get daftly stupid at some points.

So she never knew which one to think of or who to let cloud her judgement.

"I'm with you, you know that." Nightflight spoke up first, giving a small nod. "I owe you a lot and I would be a fool to forget such a thing. I don't care what happens from now; I just know that I'm willing to follow whatever it is." She paused, then added: "I can never make up for the things I caused. And the things that I still cause. But I'm willing to try my best by being a friend to you and the others as long as they will have me." She flicked her ears as she said this, and Mistyeyes guessed that if she could see she would have glanced their way as she addressed them. Her eyes softened a bit at the thought and she too gave a nod.

"I second what Nightflight said." She declared, drawing herself up. "I've made mistakes in the past too." She shifted a little bit as she remembered the way that she had pushed Toothless into attacking Hiccup in the first place all that time ago back in the cave. It seemed like forever ago and in some ways it was of course. "So you shouldn't worry about the mistakes you make now. Because we've done the same if not worse." She offered a grin. "It's all perfectly okay, Hiccup. And we'll always forgive you if you do the same to us."

Hiccup was doing the things he was for a noble cause, she reminded herself. Granted, all of their mistakes were derived from what they thought were nobel as well back then. But after all of what had happened so far, their views had drastically changed. For the better of course. So the fact that Mistyeyes could clearly see the fact that it would be okay from Hiccup's choices was enough to still her nerves. As soon as things died down here they could move on together to fix the broken pieces, she was sure. It would be fine.

"You know how I feel about this whole thing." Toothless started, jarring Mistyeyes out of her thoughts once again. She perked, realizing that she had missed Hiccup's smile that had been directed her way. It was fading now as Toothless spoke up, she realized, and she deflated a bit as well. But neither her nor Hiccup or anybody else interrupted Toothless, and she settled down a bit more as she sighed. Hopefully he wouldn't make too much of a mess. For someone that she loved, Toothless was much too alike his human. He could be terribly daft at times.

"I went through what Astrid is going through right now, and I live with the guilt all the time now." He said, studying Hiccup carefully. "And the fact that you aren't even trying to help her is a little off-putting. Just considering how much could go wrong from the simple refusal." He paused, titling his head a bit as he shifted. "But I guess that you know best about what you're doing." He said slowly, a little reluctantly. "At least you've been through it before too…"

"He tried his best to help last time." Mistyeyes hated to remind him, but she felt it needed to be. Toothless glanced at her, seeming to think the same thing. But she pushed on anyway, disregarding the look that was given to her. "A lot of things went wrong from that." She went on. "So what makes you think that trying to help her instead of focusing on what's at hand now would help any more?" Granted, she didn't know what would have happened if Hiccup had just given up before now. The Night Furies would still be on the island, she would still be looked up to in that sense she supposed, and Toothless would be happy with Nightflight she guessed. Completely different than what was going on right now at least.

"Hiccup knows what he's doing." Nightflight murmured where she sat.

Toothless was silent. Then he turned and looked back at Hiccup. "They're right." He relented finally, with a small grin towards his friend. Hiccup didn't react for a moment, as if he was afraid that if he moved at all the whole thing would be broken. "I shouldn't think that I know better than you. Not after all this time. …I guess I need to be a bit more smarter if what's going to happen is really going to happen."

"We don't need to be fighting amongst ourselves when we get to Berk." Mistyeyes replied, voicing her thoughts from earlier now aloud. "It'll be hard enough joining together the two sides. We don't need to make it worse by bickering like a bunch of younglings." Maybe not the most flattering metaphor, but it fit, sadly. "We worked better together when we got along. It was like a well-oiled machine back then."

"Plus the fighting is kinda irritating." Shadowclaw volunteered with a roll of his eyes. Leafdapple snorted, turning and nudging him with her shoulder. It was a good-natured way to tell him to shut up. But he only shook his head. "Well it is!" He pressed shrilly. "And we don't even do it, which makes it worse. We just end up sitting like mute rabbits off to the side staring like complete idiots." He drew himself up comically. "Once or twice I considered getting myself involved just to cure my boredom."

"Let's not do that." Mistyeyes shot down. "We don't need encouragement."

"Do you have a plan, Hiccup?" Nightflight asked suddenly from where she sat, never the one to joke around for very long in the first place. Shadowclaw slouched again at this, all comedic air falling as he perked his ears instead. Leafdapple went quiet as well, green eyes sharp and focused now as she found herself leaning forward. Toothless glanced at Hiccup and gave a small sigh at the nervous look that met him. He hadn't realized how bad Hiccup seemed to have become in the short time that the group had been bickering. Fresh guilt welled up in his chest and he made a silent promise not to let himself snap so much again. Not at Hiccup at least.

"I was trying to think of one." Hiccup said. "Though it makes things a little easier now that I know that things aren't as complicated between us." He paused, shifting uneasily before looking at Nightflight with an almost apologetic look. "You don't want to try and get the villagers to understand you….right?" He asked for clarification. But there was a bit of hope in there, as if he secretly wanted Nightflight to correct him. That he wanted her to keep trying.

But she shook her head, shooting down any false hopes. "I don't think I could even if I wanted to." She recalled. "It's harder to do. I can't do it anymore. What happened with….with Astrid was a fluke, obviously. I tried to do one thing and ended up doing another. I wouldn't want to mess up like that when things are that drastic and important."

"I know." Hiccup said, covering up the disappointment with a smile. "I don't want to make you do anything you don't want." He paused for a second, frowning now as he glanced at the others. "…Well, I was thinking that maybe we could try and-"

Toothless wasn't listening anymore, much as he hated to admit it. The Night Fury was instead staring over at Nightflight, who was either oblivious to his look or just didn't want to turn his way and face him. He understood where Nightflight was coming from. Sort of. At least, he didn't blame her as harshly as he had before. But he just wished that she would try at least one more time. If not to fix Astrid, then to at least figure out what was wrong with her. After all, she had looked so different when she was trying to get Astrid to understand her than say, when she had gotten Hiccup to. It was an odd change, and Toothless hadn't been able to realize what had changed. And Hiccup had been staring at the ground, he hadn't even seen in the first place.

Was it something that could easily be fixed? And if it could, were they even going to try and fix it?

Selfish thoughts, and yet…

Toothless couldn't help but think that Nightflight had the power in her to solve all of this in the easiest way possible. And she just wasn't open to even trying that easy way.

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A/N: Once again, apologies for the lack of updates. I'll be back before the end of the month hopefully. I'm trying to get back into the swing of fast returns. So keep watch for me and please keep reviewing! You have no idea how much that motivates me to get back onto here! Especially with my crazy schedule!