What Eyla really needed right now, was to go and see Storm. But she couldn`t. Ben and Tork would be watching her and she did not want to lead them anywhere near the dragon. Cause they woudn`t even hesitate. They would try to kill him as soon as they laid eyes on him.

It was funny how just a couple of months ago, she had been terrified of dragons. Now everything had changed. Her best friend was a dragon. She had a special bond with the dragon, a bond that she would never have with someone else.

She waited until it was starting to get dark before she snuck out of the house, through the window in the back of the house. She didn`t take a torch with her, afraid that Ben or Tork would spot her if they were out. It was bright enough for her to see where she was going, but it would be dark when she got home. But then it would be so dark that she could let Storm take her close to the village, and then the fires would give her some light.

Just spending time with Storm made her feel better. But she got more and more scared that she would lose him. Ben and Tork would not stop until they figured out what she was doing in the woods and with what. She had not felt this helpless in a long time.

Eyla was on her way home. It was pitch black. She never liked the dark, being outside alone in the dark anyway, but she had Storm with her and it made it feel a lot better. She didn`t take him too close to the village, in case someone would be out. She didn`t want anyone to see the dragon. If someone saw her, she could come of with a reasonable explanation, but not if they saw the dragon.

Eyla took the same way to get in to the house as when she left; through the window. The house was dark and she hit her toe against a chair when she went through the big room. The noise was loud in the silent house, but she didn`t wake anyone. Neither of her parents came to check it out. She went to bed, hoping that her blue dragon would continue to be safe.

The next day, Sigrid wanted Eyla to go to the woods and pick berries. She gave Eyla two of the smaller hampers and she walked towards the woods. She liked picking berries, even thought she sometimes thought it was very boring. She liked being in the woods, and picking berries was a quiet chore. No rush, she could just take her time and pick as much berries as her mother wanted.

There were still at lot of berries in the woods and it didn`t take her too long to fill the hampers. She was on her way home when she heard a familiar voice from above.

"Eyla!"

She looked up and saw he looked worried and her smile died.

"They have Storm!" he called.

Eyla stopped abrubtly and just looked at him for a few seconds, letting his words sink in and realizing what he was saying. They have Storm. Hiccup and Toothless must have flown over the island before he saw her among the trees, and saw the men with Storm. They had Storm. She dropped the hampers and some of the berries fell out. She ran towards the village as fast as her legs could move.

She saw Storm and the men just outside the woods. Storm was caught in bolas and couldn`t move, ropes around his nose, so he couldn`t open his mouth, and a rope around his neck, held by Gunnar. Her father was of course there, Ben, Tork, Longlegs. She saw her mother and a few of the other women.

"No, no, no!" Eyla called as she ran to Storm.

Eyla stopped by the dragon`s head, looking straight at her people with clenched fists. She couldn`t let them do this. It didn`t matter if she had to stand alone against the whole village, she could not let them do this.

"Eyla! Step back and let us take care of this monster", Brand said.

"No! He`s not a monster!"

"It`s a dragon, and a monster and we have to kill it."

Eyla could see in her father`s posture and hear in his voice that he didn`t like that she didn`t obey, but she didn`t move. She looked at Storm and saw the fear in his eyes.

"Can`t you see that he`s scared?" Eyla asked, desperate to make them change their minds.

"He is dangerous! Eyla. For the gods sakes, it`s a dragon! A monster!" Brand was losing patience.

"But he isn`t! Can you just look at him?! He is scared! He`s not dangerous! He`s… He`s my best friend."

Everyone gasped and started talking to each other.

"He is my best friend" Eyla said again. "He accepted me without any questions, which is more than I can say about many of you."

Some of the people looked a bit uncomfortable, they knew she was right, cause they were the ones making it hard for her. But Ben and Tork just glared at her.

"There`s a whole other world up there" she continued. "Just let me…" She heard footsteps and saw Hiccup and Toothless come walking behind her. "Let us, show you."

"No one is showing us anything" Brand said. "We are humans, we belong on the ground. Not in the air on the back of monsters!" Brand said, with his voice filled with anger. "Get that dragon." Brand pointed at Toothless.

The men raised their weapons.

"I wouldn`t do that if I were you" Hiccup said.

Eyla didn`t understand how Hiccup could be so calm

"This is a Night Fury, I`m sure you`ve heard of them, so you know how dangerous they are."

Toothless opened his mouth and they saw a blue light as he prepared for a plasma blast.

"He will hurt you before you hurt us" Hiccup continued and then threw a knife towards Eyla.

Eyla picked up the knife that landed at her feet and started cutting the ropes to free Storm.

"Eyla, what are you doing?!" Brand took a few steps towards her, but stopped.

Eyla cut the last rope and got up on Storm. Hiccup was already on Toothless.

"Eyla" Sigrid said.

"I finally found something I believe in" she said.

The dragons launched in the air. They flew over the island and landed by the cliffs where they usually met. When Eyla got off Storm, she walked around back and forth. She didn`t know what to do.

She stopped and looked at Storm, who was standing closer to the trees with Toothless.

"I don`t know what I`m gonna do." Eyla said with tears in her eyes. "I don`t know what to do." She ran her hands over her face and then through her hair. "If I lose him…"

Hiccup didn`t say anything. But he knew exactly how she felt, he had felt the same way six years ago and once again when Drago tried to turn Toothless against him.

"I will lose him. I can`t lose him. He`s given me so much. When I`m up in the air with him, nothing can compare to that. It`s like… You and Toothless have this great special bond. He`s your other half. Storm is my other half. I just can`t lose him."

No one had said to Hiccup that Toothless was his other half before, but that`s the way it was. Tootless was his other half, his soulmate, even if he was a dragon. He almost lost him twice, and if he lost him now… It would destroy him. He knew exactly how Eyla felt about Storm.

Hiccup looked at Eyla with different emotions, how much like him she was, feeling sorry for her, knowing how special the dragon was for her, and before he really realized what he was doing, he kissed her. The kiss surprised them both and they both pulled back.

"I eh… I … I eh… I didn…" Hiccup said and put his hand on the back of his head. He didn`t know what to say.

Eyla couldn`t help but give a quick smile.

"It`s okay… I didn`t.. I mean… I…" Eyla stopped and took a breath. "You have a girlfriend, right? Astrid?"

Hiccup looked at her, frowning with raised eyebrows and an apologetic look and nodded. Eyla looked at him with tilted head.

"As long as you`ll still be my friend" she said after a few moments.

"Always."

Eyla looked at him for a few seconds and sighed.

"What am I gonna do?

"We`ll think of something. But for now, maybe it`s for the better if you stay away from the village."

"You`ll probably right. I can`t go back right now."

"I`ll think of something. I`ll be back soon."

Before he walked over to Toothless, he gave Eyla a hug and told her it would be okay.

Eyla watched them leave, then she walked over to Storm, who put his head against her torso. She put her arms around his head and leaned her forhead against his nasal brigde. She didn`t allow herself to think about the kiss, then it would mean more than it actually did. Which was just something that happened in the moment. She had always thought about Hiccup as a friend. He was good looking, charming, and funny, but she needed a friend and he had become a close friend. She needed someone on her side and he understood her, he encouraged her. And he was like her. As long as he was her friend, she wouldn`t be alone.

What occupied Hiccup`s thoughts on their way back to Berk was not the kiss, but what they should do about Storm and the village that wanted to kill him. Somehow they had to come up with something to make them change their minds. But just like his people, they were not intrested, they didn`t want to see that maybe there was another way. Even after he fought the Red Death and killed the enormous dragon, not everyone was pleased to have dragons in the village as their pets.

In the evening, when he had time for himself after helping some of the villagers, he sat at the table in the big room in the Haddock House and thought about the kiss. He liked Eyla from the moment he met her, but he always thought about her as a friend. Someone that understood him in a way no one else ever had. Someone that was like him.

When they were on the cliffs after Eyla cut the ropes to free Storm, and she was afraid to lose him, he saw so much of himself in her. The fear he had felt, the sadness he had felt, and the love of a dragon that was so close to you, you almost shared the same heart. Maybe that was why he kissed her. Or maybe….

Valka walked down the stairs and saw her son leaned back in the chair with his arms on the table. He sighed and put his elbows on the table to rest his head in his hands.

"Is something wrong?" Valka asked and sat down next to him.

Hiccup didn`t say anything for several seconds.

"I kissed Eyla."

That was not what Valka expected to hear, but she didn`t say anything.

"You have a lot in common. Do you like her?"

"I don`t know" he said and leaned back again. "I mean, yes, I like her, I thought I liked her as a friend.

"So what happened?"

"They caught Storm" he said after a few seconds. He saw Valka`s worried look. "We saved him. They didn`t hurt him. She is so afraid she will lose him. Just like I was about losing Toothless. Storm has done so much for her, he changed her, like Toothless changed me. And when I saw just how much he means to her, he is her other half, like Toothless is mine. And I just felt this… I just kissed her."

Valka was quiet for a few moments. She loved Astrid. She was a great girl and she would become a great wife to Hiccup someday. But sometimes, some things change. It doesn`t have to be something in particular, sometimes things just change.

"You know…" Valka said slowly, "Sometimes things change, someties you don`t find the love of your life when you`re fifteen."

"But I love Astrid. I`ve always loved Astrid."

"Then you don`t have to worry about it." Valka put her hand on his shoulder before she left him.