Reports of my death were... for a brief time, actually correct. However, even the crypt couldn't keep me from continuing this story, so enjoy the latest chapter!

Why did we need to do this in a maze?

The training session had only started a few minutes ago, but Frieda was already exhausted from it. This wasn't due to any amount of physical fatigue, but rather not knowing whether to go around the corner to face the Nadder was tiring in itself. Right now, her sword and shield weighed heavily on her.

If training keeps going like this, I don't think any of us will make it to the final exam…

Frieda's thoughts turned to the first day of training, to how Hiccup was nearly killed.

Why did I leave him yesterday?

Her "victory" in outlasting the Gronckle had caught the attention of Snotlout and his gang. They'd mostly ignored her until now, probably because she hung out with Hiccup, but now, they wanted to hang out with her. If she were honest, the attention felt nice, but after seeing them react to Hiccup in the hall yesterday, she felt torn.

Soon enough, Frieda stopped at one of the many entrances into the maze. She was trying to pull herself together when she noticed Hiccup, unaware of what was going on around him, talking to Gobber.

"So, Gobber, I looked through the manual, and found out there wasn't anything known about Night Furies. Is there any other information on them, or-"

"Your right, Hiccup."

"I am?"

"No, TO your right!"

Frieda looked to her right to see Fishlegs being chased by a screeching Nadderhead. She saw Hiccup turn to run just before she ran into the depths of the maze. After making a left turn and then a right, she came to an epiphany.

If I can help Hiccup succeed today, maybe the others would accept him. I just need to find him again.

With that in mind, the young Viking began to look for the tribe's heir. She rounded another corner, and crashed a wheezing and panicked Fishlegs.

"Fishlegs! Did you see which direction Hiccup went?"

"He… the Nadder… went after him…"

With that, Frieda rushed off as quickly as she could. She tried to listen for the Nadder, but all she could hear was the twins as they presumably fought each other. She was about to tune them when she heard a loud squawk. After that, she heard Tuffnut and Ruffnut scream as they tried to get away.

Okay, the Nadder is no longer after Hiccup. That means he's either safe or…

Frieda stopped that line of thought. She didn't want to think about the grim possibility, didn't want it to be true. She rushed around various turns before she finally found him, talking to Gobber yet again about Night Furies. This irritated her slightly, but at least Hiccup was alright.

Her relief went away with a squawk. Frieda turned to see the Deadly Nadder getting ready to charge.

"Hiccup!"

Before the heir could respond, the Nadder started to rush towards him. Acting quickly, Frieda dropped her sword and shield and tackled him out of the dragon's path. The Nadder hurtled past them and was unable to keep itself from crashing into one of the maze walls, causing them to fall over. The arena quickly descended into chaos, as the Frieda and the other teens tried to avoid getting caught under the collapsing walls.

Gotta keep moving, gotta keep…

Out of the corner of her eye, Frieda saw one of the palisades tip towards her and Hiccup. Acting nearly on instinct, she pushed Hiccup out of the way before summersaulting in the opposite direction. Frieda quickly got up relatively unscathed, but the wall had caught Hiccup by his foot, and he struggled to get himself free. To make matters worse, the Nadder, which managed to avoid the walls, had the heir in its sights.

Frieda looked around for a weapon and quickly spotted Snotlout, pinned under another wall and still holding his mace. She sprinted over the debris, and was quickly next to him.

"Oh hey, Frieda. Nice to see ya here, and just in time to see me…"

Frieda didn't bother listening to him, and simply took the mace out of his hand.

"Oh, okay, that's cool! Not like I needed that, you can…"

Snotlout's voice trailed off as Frieda hurried back to Hiccup, the Nadder now nearly standing over him. Without a moment's hesitation, swung the mace, breaking several of the dragon's head spikes. The Deadly Nadder recoiled in pain, and it retreated back to its cell.

Hiccup, having managed to free his foot by now, began to get up on his feet as he looked at his savior.

"Thanks, Fried…"

"What in Thor's name was that, Hiccup?!"

Frieda stared the heir down, breathing in heavily as adrenaline still flowed through her.

"You're constantly obsessing over a dragon you haven't even seen! You're getting all of us distracted, and when you're not doing that, you're getting us deeper into trouble! Not only did you nearly get yourself killed again, but you almost got me killed too! What were you thinking?!"

The other teens were speechless, but none more so than Hiccup. Frieda had never acted like this before. She has always been somewhat less aggressive than most Vikings, and she had never yelled at anyone. She then asked a single question, with that same aggressive tone.

"Whose side are you on, Hiccup?"

"Whose side are you on, Hiccup?"

The sentence still repeated in Hiccup's head long after the arena was cleaned up. If he were honest with himself, he wasn't sure anymore, not since he cut the Night Fury free. Studying the Dragon Manual didn't help either, since there was absolutely no information on Night Furies. He also found it odd that, aside from the aforementioned dragon, the manual advised that every dragon be handled the same way.

Extremely dangerous, kill on sight.

His thoughts turned back to the thing he'd shot down. True, it was black and strong, as a Night Fury is supposed to be, but what sort of dragon looks even remotely human? Plus, why didn't it outright kill him? Something didn't add up, and that bugged him. Ultimately, he decided that if he was going to sort all this out, he'd need to learn more about what he had shot down.

By the time he neared where he last saw the Night Fury, the sun was just beginning to lower after reaching its high point. Hiccup looked down at what he was holding: a shield in his right hand, and a fish taken fresh from the docks in his left. The heir then took a deep breath to calm his nerves before he closed the distance to the dragon.

Hearing something go through some bushes, Astrid turned to see that the boy came back, holding a shield in a somewhat awkward manner. Almost immediately, she twisted her body into a defensive stance, gritting her teeth as she moved her broken wing. She was in no position to lunge at him in her current condition, but she could still fight back, still blast him with a bolt of flame. Astrid's eyes took a moment's glance to see what weapon the boy was wielding only for her to be confused, seeing a cod in his hand.

Wha…? NO, focus! He still has a shield, he is still dangerous.

She kept her attention on the shield, occasionally taking a glance at the obviously crazy Viking hiding from behind it.

Hiccup stood completely still as he watched the thing glaring at him and his shield, its tail shifting from side to side in an increasingly rapid matter. He was worried that everything could go south very quickly if he did the wrong thing or, even more worryingly, nothing at all. His mind rushed to find a way to defuse the situation, or at the very least let him get out of this alive and mostly intact. Soon enough, he thought of something. It would be risky, but at least if it failed, he could run as fast as he could. Probably.

Becoming more and more irritated by the Viking's lack of action, Astrid was about to fire when he began to slowly lower the shield and set it on the ground before getting back up. Her mouth hung open slightly as her eyes scanned the shield before her attention went back to the boy. He was wary of what she could do, that she was sure of. What she didn't get was why he was doing any of this.

Astrid's eyes briefly shifted to the cod, which the boy was holding near his chest, but she was determined to not show how hungry she was to the Viking. Her stomach growled just then, almost as if to spite her. Startled, the Viking moved his jacket to reveal a small blade, which in turn caused Astrid to return to a more defensive stance. Her mouth remained open so she could fire with little delay.

You are not going near me with that, Viking.

She focused on the blade, waiting for the boy to grab it in his free hand and to lunge at her. However, the boy instead lifted the blade by the tip of its handle and dropped it at his feet before kicking it into the bushes and leaving her dumbfounded.

Why… why not use the blade to try to kill me?

While she was still processing her thoughts, the Viking somewhat nervously held the fish to her. Coming back to what was happening, Astrid quickly took the fish out of the boy's hands, causing her stomach to growl in appeasement.

Okay, not blown to bits yet.

While Hiccup was still a bit uneasy about being here, he was glad that things were going well so far. What relief he had quickly left him, however, when the Night Fury stopped just before taking a bite from the fish.

This was a bad idea, a really, bad…

Hiccup's thoughts came to a screeching halt as he watched the dragon breathed a small jet of flame out of her mouth, quickly cooking the fish before taking a bite out of it. Soon enough, all that was left was the head of the fish. The dragon was about to take a bite out of the fish, when its eyes then glanced in Hiccup's direction. Then, it suddenly holds the head out towards him

Maybe it had enough?

Hiccup gingerly took the fish head from the Night Fury, but noticed that it was still looking at him, as though it was expecting him to do something. After a moment, it pointed at the head and then bit the air. That was when it clicked; it wanted him to eat the fish head.

Oh, come on... Why did I have to come out here?

Reluctantly, Hiccup slowly took a bite. Being cooked, the fish head wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but it was still bad. The heir swallowed and gave a nervous grin.

For reasons she didn't know, the boy's smile caused Astrid to smile. However, hers shrank into a frown, as she started having conflicting thoughts. She wanted to know why the Viking came out here, why he helped her. She concentrated hard, trying to recall words that she had heard before and their meaning. After a moment, she looked back at the Viking and asked.

"Why?"

What was left of the boy's smirk quickly disappeared. He just stood silent, his wide eyes focused on her. Astrid took this as a sign of confusion, and tried to clarify.

"Why… Did you… Help me?"

A dragon just talked. I must be losing my mind.

Still somewhat in shock, Hiccup wanted to clarify if he really just heard her talk.

"Did...Did you just say something?"

"…Yes. Why did… you help?"

Hiccup tried to think of a good reason, but was under pressure.

"Why?"

"I… I don't know."

"Don't lie."

"Well, it's just, I...I thought you...were just hungry. I, uh, just gave you fish so you wouldn't starve to death."

"...What?"

"I just, uh..."

Hiccup paused to take a deep breath, in an effort to make sure he spoke in a coherent manner.

"I-I just wouldn't let you stay out here on your own. I was the one who shot you down, because I wanted to be the first Viking to have... well... But, when I looked at you, I saw a person instead of a dragon, someone scared, confused, completely helpless."

Hiccup's fear of the Night Fury was dwindling, as he started to trust that she would not blast him at this point.

He decided it was his turn to ask a question.

"How do you even know how to talk?"

"Watching and… copying. Did that for… a long time."

"...Okay, then."

Is he done talking? It's getting late, and I need to find shelter.

Astrid, wanting to end the discussion, asked the boy if he was finished speaking.

"Done talking?"

"Uh...Yeah. I gotta...go...do a thing."

She watched the Viking begin to head back, and Astrid was about to begin looking for a suitable place to rest when the Viking turned back around.

"Wait, before I go, what's your name?"

The dragon girl stared at the boy for a while, wondering whether she should tell him or not, whether she could trust him or not. Her gaze then drifted to his eyes, and she saw no malicious intent within them. Astrid then sighed before finally giving a response.

"Astrid. Yours?"

"Oh, I'm Hiccup... I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then…"

With an awkward wave, the boy walked off, back to the village. Astrid watched him go off, over the hill. After he was no longer in view, she said something to herself.

"See… you then."

With that, she continued to find a place to reside in her local area.

A talking dragon...Oh, the Gods have a cruel sense of humor.

Hiccup wandered back to Berk, when he noticed a campfire, with some people having discussions around it. He focused more to see it was Gobber and the Vikings in training, Frieda included. Curious what was going on, he decided to join their gathering to see they were discussing.

And with that, the current chapter is done!

This chapter took a good amount of time to fine tune, as it had to cover two very important things. Obviously, the chapter would have covered the first prolonged social interaction between Astrid and Hiccup, but more on that in a bit. The chapter also was intended to flesh out Frieda a bit more. A lot of time was put into the first half of the chapter, and it was actually completed after the second half. I wanted to make Frieda sympathetic, even when she finally lashes out at Hiccup. Hopefully, I pulled that off.

The second half was a bit easier to have written out, though it was still a challenge. The first thing I wrote for this chapter was Astrid asking "why" to Hiccup. All in all, this was fun to write, and I'm curious as to what is your favorite part. See ya all around next time!