I know, some of you guys probably hate me. I've been promising the 'Thursday Update' for a while, although with a combination of school work and lack of motivation, I wasn't able to finish it on Thursday.

NightFuryOne: Thanks, glad I surprised you!

Lighty7: A review from you? I'm honored! Sorry to hear you don't like the transformation part, but I hope you read the rest of the story!

Berk was in disarray. There was no other way to describe the chaos that befell upon the small island. Ever since Hiccup's body had left with 'that cursed devil' people were dumbfounded. Nobody, not even Fishlegs, had seen or heard of a dragon doing anything remotely like what the Night Fury had done. Some people started to wonder if there was something more to dragons than what they had previously thought. Of course, nobody dared voice these dangerous thoughts to anyone, least of all the Chief. Stoick had fallen into a vicious cycle of emotions that was constantly eating away at him. One second he would feel sadness and despair for having lost the final remnant of his family, the next he would feel hatred, and such rage towards dragons as unseen from anybody. It would consume him so completely that other people worried for their Chief's sanity.

Dragon training was scheduled to start earlier, under Stoick's orders. Normally, the teens would have been excited to start training earlier, to become adults sooner. However, the loss of Hiccup was starting to affect the teens. Snotlout claimed that it was because he missed his 'favorite punching bag' however the other teens knew that it wasn't just them who mourned Hiccup, even if he was, well, a hiccup.

4 days after Hiccup's death and departure, there was a burial. Stoick had Ingvar, Fishlegs' dad, make a small boat for the funeral. The boat was loaded with some of the things Hiccup had owned; some of his drawings, a spare sketchbook he had along with his pencils, the set for hnefatafl1 that Hiccup had received from trader Johann as a birthday present, an old set of blacksmith tools Gobber had given him, and an axe that Stoick had planned on giving Hiccup next year for dragon training. Most of the village had shown up to watch the boat burn, despite the fact that he wasn't liked by any of them. Astrid still couldn't quite believe what had happened, and she had watched numbly as the wooden boat sailed out, while the fire slowly consumed it. She had stayed in the same spot for the better part of the day, before heading back towards her house.

That had been yesterday, and the 5 adolescents were now in the Mead Hall for their morning meal. Nobody had talked much, however Fishlegs decided to lighten up the mood by proposing to go ice-skating. After brief consideration, everybody agreed to meet up in the cove that they had last seen Hiccup at. At first, they went there for peace, but it quickly became a meeting place for them, where they could train and play games. Astrid was the first to arrive, as usual. Snotlout arrived next, with Fishlegs in hot pursuit. Tuffnut made a dramatic entrance, falling from the edge while Ruffnut 'innocently' watched from the top. Tuffnut dragged himself up, spouting curses and insults. Ruffnut stopped laughing for a couple seconds to yell down, "Good going, you clumsy troll!"

Tuffnut smirked, promptly replying, "At least I can remember to lock the barn!"

Ruffnut scowled down at Tuffnut, jumping down from the cliff and landed on Tuffnut. The twins proceeded to roll on the ground, fighting each other. Astrid yelled at them to stop or she'll 'show them what it's like to be an ice skate.' Tuffnut was the first to stop, grinning at Ruffnut. They both got up, strapping on the bone skate with a length of leather. By the time the twins were ready, the others were already on the ice. Fishlegs was taking it slow, while Snotlout was attempting to impress Astrid with 'graceful tricks'. Astrid, of course, was not interested, moving across the ice with ease. Tuffnut sped onto the ice, crashing into Snotlout. Ruffnut followed shortly after, laughing gleefully while landing on top of the pile.

As Snotlout was about to push them off none too gently, the ice gave a resounding CRACK. Tuffnut had time to mutter, "That's not good." before the ice gave way, plunging the 3 teens into the freezing water. Astrid and Fishlegs rushed over, managing to catch Ruffnut before she disappeared into the murky depths. Fishlegs carried her to the shore, while Astrid deftly untied her skates, took a deep breath and jumped into the hole. She almost released the air from shock as the frigid water hit her without mercy. Astrid squinted her eyes, trying to pierce through the cloudy water. Her attention was drawn by one shape that was frantically moving. As she neared, she saw it was Tuffnut. Astrid grabbed his arm, dragging him back towards the entrance. Fishlegs was leaning over, and when he saw Tuffnut he reached out a hand to help. Astrid handed over Tuffnut, who had stopped struggling.

Astrid took another breath, and then dove back into the icy water. She swam deeper, looking for any sign of movement. She soon reached the bottom, and started swimming in a random direction, wondering to herself how large the lake could be. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a metallic glint pierce the cloudy water. She swam over, seeing Snotlout's still form. Astrid grabbed his arm, silently noting that she could no longer feel her hand. With a powerful kick, they both rose towards the surface. As they got closer, a burning sensation started in Astrid's chest, reminding her she had a limited amount of air. When Astrid arrived at the surface, she looked around frantically, trying to find the hole. Astrid clenched her eyes in silent rage, before pounding on the ice, hoping Fishlegs would hear her. As the burning sensation increased, she started slamming harder against the ice, smiling as small cracks appeared.

Black spots appeared, threatening to drag her into unconsciousness. Astrid gave one final push, breaking the ice. She emerged, gasping for breath, dragging Snotlout out with her. Astrid dragged herself up, before smashing her fist into Snotlout's chest. A spew of water flew out, quickly followed by a ragged breath. Astrid breathed a sigh of relief, seeing he was awake. As she lay down, she looked at the ceiling. The cove didn't have a ceiling did it? That was when she finally realized where they were. They weren't in the cove, but what appeared to be a cavern, with a small hole at the top and an ice-covered pond in the middle, where they had just come out. Astrid wearily got up, wincing as her hands tingled, signifying that feeling was slowly returning. She kicked Snotlout in the side. When he didn't budge, Astrid heaved a long sigh, glancing around for anything that could help them get out of this place. There weren't many; a few vines, rocks, and some moss. She glanced at the hole, briefly thinking, before she yelled out loudly, "FISHLEGS!"

This startled Snotlout, who shot her a dirty look and complained, "Did you have to wake me up? I was having an amazing dr…" Astrid cut him off with a punch the shoulder. Just as Snotlout was about to start complaining again, Astrid shot him a glare, daring him to continue. Snotlout shut his mouth, scowling at Astrid, who was now intently listening. As she heard a faint call, she smiled, pumping the air with her fist. She yelled out again, and Snotlout finally understood the predicament they were in. He listened with Astrid, and the reply was clearer and much closer than before. Astrid heard the distinctive crack in the voice, grinning as she said, "It's Fishlegs!"

She called out once more, and the prompt response was followed by footsteps. Astrid then heard Ruffnut say, "I don't see them anywhere."

Astrid called back, "We're in a cave, and we can see a hole. Look for it!"

After a few minutes of waiting, with the occasional call between the two groups, Tuffnut managed to find the hole. Fishlegs threw down a vine that was hanging from a nearby tree, and Astrid expertly climbed it, followed by Snotlout's clumsy imitation of her. Once they were safe out of the hole, Fishlegs eagerly asked, "What happened?"

Astrid recounted the tale, while Fishlegs looked down at the opening that now seemed very obvious. When she finished, Fishlegs wondered aloud if there were any more caves like this. Snotlout rolled his eyes and replied, "Why would you want to know?" Fishlegs didn't reply, knowing Snotlout would never listen.

Tuffnut broke the silence that had settled over the group by asking, "Should we go back home?"

Ruffnut punched Tuffnut, "You idiot, we left our skates back at the cove."

Tuffnut scowled back "Right, troll-brain, let's go."

The teens made their way back to the cove; the twins were arguing, Fishlegs was humming to himself, and Snotlout was, surprisingly, quiet. Astrid glanced at him, before deciding to take the gift while she could and didn't comment on it. It wasn't too long before they reached the cove.

While the teens searched for their lost skates, Astrid grabbed hers and started walking around the cove, thinking about that one day. She could still see every event clearly, as if it had just happened. She walked to the spot where Hiccup had intercepted her axe. She knelt down, looking around as a fresh wave of guilt washed through it. Her searching eyes stopped as they stopped a foreign brown, rectangular object hidden in the shadow of a rock. She walked over, studying the book. It was plain, the cover unadorned. Astrid slowly opened the cover to the first page. It was plain except for 7, carefully written words; Property of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third

Astrid's breath caught, and she tentatively turned to the second page. It was filled with drawings drawn with the same expertise as the ones she found in the forge, but with less detail. The beginning of the book was filled with pictures of the village, of people. However, as the drawings progressed, the focus started to shift towards landscapes. Eventually, that became different as well, the drawings finally centering on the dragon. Astrid flipped through the page, amazed that more than half the book contained drawings of the dragon. As Astrid neared the final pages, there were a few journal entries. Astrid stopped, taking her time to read them. What she saw shocked her. They were all about the dragon as well. Ways to tell the others about dragons, things he observed, ideas on a possible saddle, but the final journal entry was the strangest. It showed Hiccup toying with the idea of leaving Berk with 'Toothless'. However, at the end of the journal, he wrote 'However, I can't simply leave everyone in Berk ignorant of the truth. I will have to think of more ways to tell the others. Without Astrid beating me with her axe, of course.'

Astrid slowly closed the book, leaning against the rock and closing her eyes. Her mind was desperately trying to process the information. Memories attacked her, reminding her of everything she had done to Hiccup. Pushing him into the mud, scorning him, laughing at his feeble attempts to help out. Was he so desperate for a friend he found one in a dragon? Astrid didn't notice the shout of rage from Tuffnut as his skates eluded him, or the joyful announcement from Ruffnut sometime later that she had found hers, or even the fight that ensued as Tuffnut claimed the skates were his. It wasn't until Snotlout gently shook her, gently saying, "Wake up sugar, it's time to go." Astrid responded with a punch across the face, knocking him to the ground. She got up, stealthily placing the book further back into the shadows to conceal it from sight. Astrid then did the same with her thoughts, stopping them and hiding them from sight. Snotlout pulled himself up, while wearing a big smile as if he'd won some great victory. The teens departed, their feelings light except for Astrid, her guilt growing and weighing her down. If she had taken some time to think, he might not have died. If she had ignored that piece of paper. If she had…

been his friend her consciousness bitterly reminded her.

Astrid battled with her emotions until they reached the village. Dusk was fast approaching, and the teens all agreed to meet up the following day. Astrid wearily went home and got into her bed. As she looked up at the ceiling, she resolved to find the truth the Hiccup had discovered and do what he could no longer do. With the small amount of comfort that offered, Astrid fell into a dreamless sleep.

1. Hnefatafl is a Viking board game, consisting of 12 red 'pawns', 12 white 'pawns' and one 'king'. We don't know how it's played unfortunately.

And yes, Vikings did have ice-skating. It was made of bones and tied with a leather thong. I do my research :P

Anyways, I'll be furiously mustering up motivation to write, and I'll see you next time!