The next day went by without incident. At least, it did until late afternoon. As Toothless and I were wandering through the forest, the sun shining golden through the trees, I realized that something wasn't right. It was too quiet.

"Stay here, Bud," I told him. "Stay out of sight." I didn't want anyone to hurt him, and I knew that the area was too thickly wooded to properly fight on him. I fearfully made my way forward.

Something fell on top of me. I yelled in pain as it knocked me to the ground. Another something dropped from a tree right in front of me.

The twins.

Tuffnut was on top of me; Ruffnut in front of me.

"Ow! Was it really necessary to tackle me?" I protested.

"Uh, no," Tuffnut said. "I just did it for fun."

Ruffnut helped him up as she spoke. "We have reached a decision," she said. "A decision long awaited, I'm sure."

"We have decided," her brother continued for her, "that we will give you another chance. Because family matters to us. Without it, we'd… probably do the same thing as you."

"Except not on a Night Fury," Ruffnut clarified. "We may be crazy, but we're not that crazy."

"Another chance?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"You have one chance to prove to us that dragons aren't the monsters all vikings know they are."

I began to think furiously. "Um, I… I… Uh…." I began to stutter. Tuffnut tapped his foot on the ground, impatient. At that moment, a Terrible Terror sprang out from the bushes. It jumped on Tuffnut's face and started biting his nose, just like the one in the ring did. I guess dragons just have a thing for Tuffnut's nose.

I pulled my knife out, and used the sun's reflection on it to distract the Terrible Terror. It dropped down and scurried after the sunbeam, toward me. As it reached me, Tuffnut was yelling, "Oh, I am hurt, I am very much hurt!"

The little dragon rubbed against my boots. I tucked my knife back into my belt, reached down, and picked it up. It cuddled close to me as I held it against my chest.

Tuffnut, still holding his nose, stared at me as if I were crazy. Ruffnut was doubled over, laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Tuffnut demanded.

Ruffnut straightened up, a smile still on her face. "The viking who can't handle a little toy-sized dragon," she said.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut began to argue again. They didn't notice as Toothless came bounding up from behind, with the Hideous Zippleback we rescued from the dragon fighting arena trotting behind him. I stared as Toothless led the Zippleback over to the twins.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were batting their heads against each other, their helmets absorbing most of the impact.

"Yeah, well, I think your ancestors were muttonheads!" Tuffnut shouted.

"My ancestors are your ancestors, doofus!" Ruffnut shot back.

"Precisely!" Tuffnut cried, as he continued his skirmish with Ruffnut.

The Hideous Zippleback started to move its heads along with the movements of the twins. The gas breathing head followed along with Ruffnut, while the sparking head followed along with Tuffnut. They batted their heads against each other, ending up with their necks tangling up with each other. It let out a small, confused, grumbling sound.

The twins simultaneously looked up, distracted from their fight. They stared, wide eyed, at the entangled Zippleback for a second. The gas breathing head let out a tiny cloud of gas, staring at the twins, pitifully.

Ruffnut laughed. "Look at him barf up that gas," she marveled.

"Let's hope the other head belches up a spark," Tuffnut agreed. "That would be… beautiful." He wiped a tear off his cheek.

Both dragon and twins continued to stare at each other in wonder. The Zippleback slowly untangled its necks and lowered its heads toward the twins. Hesitatingly, they each reached out and touched the heads closest to them.

Toothless cooed as he watched them somehow bond with each other.

"You'd better be sorry for dragging me away that day in the ring, Belch," Tuffnut muttered to the head that was rubbing against him. But he didn't sound irritated at all.

The sun was getting closer to the horizon. Ruffnut sighed as she looked at her side of the dragon. "Barf, we're gonna have to leave," she said. "Don't let my idiot brother fool you. We aren't as gullible as you think. So we'll know if you try to ditch us before we see you again."

As the twins made their way into the forest, I saw Toothless sitting there with his ears perked up, looking happy.

"You knew, didn't you, Bud?" I asked. "You knew they'd take to each other."