Disclaimer: Only this is my idea.

Author's Note: School… Eww. Thanks for reading. (Also, Val, if you get this far, WOW! You are now, officially, my best friend.) Lol, sorry, all. Enjoy this next chapter.

"Last night we discovered why the dragons raid Berk and other villages." Hiccup explained.

"Why?" Astrid asked eagerly.

"There's this enormous- gigantic- colossal- dragon-"

She raised one eyebrow. No dragon, however colossal it was, was too big for Hiccup. She voiced this thought to him. He blushed an impressive tomato red. He continued his story of how this enormous dragon would force the others to bring back food for it, it would eat them. So Hiccup had been right about dragons from the start. They were only defending themselves. It was people like Astrid who were at fault.

"That's why you thought you wouldn't come back?" She wondered.

"We had to assess his brutality and we weren't making any promises of being back on the island tomorrow. She wants me and some of the others to go back to the nest today to…" Hiccup gulped. "…to fight it."

Astrid stood up. "This is it, then. Let's go, tell everyone now. There's no time to sit around and talk, Hiccup. We have to get ready."

"No we're not, Hofferson," He said firmly. Then he added, "And we're not doing anything together. Go back and get some sleep."

She glared at him. She didn't understand Hiccup's strange fascination with using her own words against her. He couldn't tell her to go back and get some sleep! This was Astrid he was talking about! She had changed very much because of this guy, but the one thing that didn't change was… "No one tells Astrid Hofferson what to do." She said tenaciously.

"Listen, this is going to be way too dangerous. Besides, you barely know what you're doing with your Nadder."

"Thunderer and I are perfectly fine with each other! You just don't want me to come with you. How come Camicazi gets to go with you?" She persisted.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Because she was one of the first here to get a dragon. She has a way with dragons. Plus her swordplay might come in useful." He explained.

Astrid continued to stare him down. "But why not me? What about my axe-work?"

"You shouldn't go," Hiccup said, standing up, "It's too dangerous. You'd get torn to pieces."

"Like you wouldn't?"

"Listen, you need to stay here. Your leg-"

Astrid's temper rose. "Hiccup, my leg is perfectly fine. It's been a whole week." She said through gritted teeth.

He was officially out of excuses. He stopped beating around the bush. "Astrid, I'm not going to be responsible for you getting hurt." He said.

"Psh! Really, Hiccup? I'm not going to get hurt." She brushed it off.

"You don't know that!" He argued, "You have no idea how horrible it would be if you were injured!"

"I don't. And I won't. Because no matter what you say, I'm going. And I'm coming out whole and alive."

"You don't know that I won't. And I don't know if you would enjoy seeing that."

"It depends on which me you're talking about."

Hiccup didn't understand what she meant. He ignored her comment. "You're not going," He said stubbornly, "and that's final. You simply can't. Do you have any idea how horrible it would be if you got hurt?"

"It would be fine! I'm going into battle, Hiccup. That's what I've been trained to do. I haven't been trained to sit at home, worry, and wait. I'm impatient. I'm a Viking for Thor's sake! You're the one who shouldn't go. Honestly, Hiccup, if anyone's going to come out hurt, it's going to be you." Her voice had risen to a volume at which Hiccup found it difficult with which to compete.

"If I don't, who will?"

"I would!" Astrid clapped a hand to her mouth. Hiccup stared at her again. Why did he always have to do that? It made her red and sweaty. Wait, what did this mean about how she felt about Hiccup? She couldn't possibly feel as strongly as he did. But somehow, she was willing to stand up for things that he stood up for with minimal knowledge. The only knowledge she had was that Hiccup was passionate about them. And that was enough for her.

Hiccup broke the awkward silence with an "Oh no you won't" and a whistle. From the village, Toothless flew to his side. The Heir hopped on. Astrid wasn't going to let him ditch her! Not now! Not ever! She attempted to jump on back of Toothless but he took off too quickly and she fell. Toothless and Hiccup flew up and she went down, landing on the hard earth.

How could he? After everything? And Astrid watched him fly off into the distance.