The air was beginning to cool down as Astrid and the others made their way back to Berk, their mission a success and feeling pretty pleased with themselves. With one of their number missing, though, celebrating felt weird, and the ride back home was quiet. Even Snotlout didn't feel like boasting and making his part in the plan seem bigger than it had been.

Of course, there were other things on Astrid's mind, a nagging feeling in the back of her head. Why had Hiccup known what the fire stone looked like? Vikings weren't exactly known for their studious habits, but he seemed to be both smart and a good fighter. Her thoughts went back to Fishlegs. Fishlegs knew he could talk to her about anything, no matter how small or idiotic he felt it. Why hadn't he spoken to her about feeling underappreciated and felt the need to confide in Hiccup? And more importantly, where had he gotten to?

"Something isn't right." Noticing questioning looks out the corner of her eye, she shook her head, waving a hand. "Never mind, it's nothing." Feeling Ruffnut reach over and nudge her from Barf's head, she sighed. "It's nothing, Ruff. Leave it. I'm just thinking out loud to myself." The female twin shrugged in a 'suit yourself' manner before she turned her head back. Astrid bit her bottom lip in thought, frowning to herself before she started veering off from her friends. When they went to follow her, she waved them off. "You guys go back. I've got something I want to do."

Once she was sure they weren't following her and had turned back in the direction of Berk, she kicked Stormfly into high gear, circling the island away from the village. For a moment she almost directed Stormfly to Mildew's before she banked a little more to the right, steering her towards the part of the forest where she knew Hiccup's camp was. If she wanted answers, she was going to get them straight from the source.

She ended up finding him in the cove, looking worn out like she did after practicing with her axe and strapping Toothless's prosthetic onto his tail while the Night Fury greedily gobbled down a full basket of fish all by himself. The black dragon looked up when he heard her slide down into the valley, ear flaps pinned back before he crooned softly and Hiccup sat up on his knees, testing the tail fin by opening it up, tugging on the pulley attached to it from the stirrup. The anger that he might have been lying to her vanished when she saw what he was doing, though it was still stirring underneath as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Going for a test flight are we?"

If he was looking any more suspicious than he did, she would have sworn he was hiding something. He nearly jumped at her voice, looking over his shoulder at her with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon, princess." Hiccup pushed himself off the ground and dusted himself off, walking around Toothless's side and coming to stand next to him, mimicking her pose. "What if I was?"

"I thought we were going to go together." She stepped a little closer, lowering her hands to her hips as she raised an eyebrow, tilting her head. She could see him looking her over - at the burn marks along her legs and arms from where some of the lava had hit her, the ash still on her face and her hair in a messy bun. Without a word, he walked over to her, taking hold of one of her hands in spite of her noise of protest and leading her over to the rain water. He sat her down on a rock, placing his hand on her knee to force her to sit there and she watched him pull a cloth out of the small satchel at his hip, dipping it into the water. "Hey, they're fi-" Astrid hissed when the wet cloth met her skin, nearly jerking her hand out of his hold. His grip was firm though, and she clenched her hand around his as he started cleaning her burn marks.

"You should have just sent your dragon in, princess," Hiccup said, making sure that the cloth was wet before it glided along the next. Surprisingly enough, the water from the rain pool wasn't warm like the water of the lake had been, but a nice cool feel. He chalked it up to it not having a natural source. "She would have been able to-"

"Why do you care so much?" He looked up at the question, eyebrows raising in a bit of surprise as she stared down at him, looking a bit embarrassed that she'd just blurted it out. Astrid frowned, attempting to feel angry. "One minute you seem like you don't care at all. I can never tell whether or not you're lying to get on my good side. I don't even know if you're telling the truth about not knowing what happened to Fishlegs." Hiccup dabbed the wet cloth on another burn, lowering his gaze back to her arm where he tilted his head in thought. "You only seem to want to antagonize me and then you go calling me things like "princess"... I don't understand you, Hiccup."

He gave a small sigh as he pulled his hands away, remaining knelt in front of her as he bit his bottom lip, chewing on it softly. His training hadn't prepared him for this, not even his nastiest plan could cover him. Hiccup took hold of her hand, brushing his thumb over her fingers. "I was...supposed to lead you back to Outcast Island." The look of betrayal on her face said everything but he held up his free hand, asking to continue before she said anything. "I was supposed to lure you into a false sense of security, supposed to get you to trust me. I had nothing to do with Fishlegs's disappearance, that was all Savage's idea." The lie fell as easily from his lips as a rehersed play as he looked at her as regretfully as he could. "I didn't plan on falling in love with you."

"I can't believe you!" Astrid stood from where she was sitting, wirling around on her foot and starting to head for the entrance to the cove before he caught her by the wrist, wrapping his fingers around it as she attempted to struggle away from him. "Let me go! Let me go, you...! Stormfl-!" His other hand clamped around her mouth to keep her from screaming for her dragon.

"Listen to me," Hiccup said desperately, keeping up with her struggle before she finally gave up and stomped her foot on the ground, scooting his feet away from her so that he wasn't within foot crushing distance. "Please." The word sounded so foreign on his tongue but it made her still, glancing out the corner of her eye at him. When her struggling ceased, he let go of her, pulling back as she turned around and slugged him in the shoulder, causing him to reach up and rub it. "Okay, I deserved that."

"So everything...everything was a lie?"

"Yes! But only in the beginning." He ran his fingers through his hair, shaking his head. "The attack was staged to get you to trust me. After that, I was on my own. I...you made me feel things I've never felt before, taught me things that can't be learned in the kill ring. I really wanted to help your dragons recover from the Blue Oleander poisoning, I wanted to help Toothless get back into the air...living in Berk, it's like a whole new world opened up to me."

"And how can I be sure that you're not lying to me now?" Astrid crossed her arms over her chest, studying him with a new critical eye now that he'd shed some light on things. She was expecting him to tell another lie, to dig his grave deeper. She wasn't expecting him to pull his dagger from his belt and toss it away and then pull his axe from his back and hand it over to her handle first. Hesitating, she took it, looking at it questioningly before looking back at him. Hiccup looked like he was shaking, but he held his head up and squared his shoulders, tilting it back to expose his neck, making her stare at him with wide eyes. "What are you...?"

"I'm giving you the opportunity to kill me, Astrid," he said, hands curling at his side as he closed his eyes. "Strike me down if you want, so that I may never tell another lie, or let me live, and trust that I won't."

There was silence between them for a moment, a long, pregnant pause as Astrid weighed her options in her hands. The axe felt heavy in her fingers as she looked at him, searching for any signs that he was once again lying to her. When she couldn't find any, she closed her eyes and threw the axe in the direction that he'd thrown his dagger, and he opened his own eyes when he heard it clatter to the ground, turning his head to watch it before he looked back at her, watching her place her head in her hands.

"I don't know if I should trust you again," she finally said, running her fingers through her hair before looking at him as he lowered his arms and shoulders. She looked at him, pursing her lips together. "I don't know if I'm being played again or if you're being sincere, but I won't be able to get Fishlegs back without you." Astrid lowered her hand to rub at her neck, glancing away as a bright blush coloured her cheeks. "I...I'm probably a fool for letting you go like this." When she looked back up at him, her expression lightening. "Don't make me regret it."

He let a look of relief wash over his face, though how much of that relief he actually felt was true. Hiccup gave a small sigh and inclined his head, smiling slightly. "You won't." You're such a fool. "I promise."

"Swear it to me." At the look on Hiccup's face, Astrid wandered over to pick up his dagger where it had fallen, picking it up with a small twirl of it around her fingers as she turned and walked back over, the tip of the blade between her fingers as she handed it to him. "Swear by blood that you will never lie to me again."

Hiccup reached to take the blade from her, looking at her curiously as he did so, eyebrow raised. "You want me to make a blood pact, princess?" he asked, fingers flexing in his free hand. "You want me to swear my life to yours?"

"It shouldn't be too hard for you." Astrid crossed her arms, looking at him expectantly. It was a desperate move, she knew, but how else would she know if she could trust him? "Go on. If you're really telling the truth, you'll-"

She didn't get to finish that sentence.

Blood dripped down from Hiccup's palm, sliding along the flesh and dripping down his fingertips. She stared in slight shock, watching him raise his hand to lick blood from his fingers and eyeing her in a way that unnerved her before he held his hand out again. "My life is yours, princess."

Astrid wasn't sure how she wanted to feel about that. She looked at his hand again before she coughed into her own, giving a small sigh. "Right. Well. We're going to take Toothless for a test drive. And then you're going to help me get Fishlegs back."

"As you command." He gave a low sweep of a mocking bow.

"Oh shut it."

Well this certainly put a damper in his plans, but on the upside, she had to trust him unconditionally now. He watched her walk around him and smirked when she had her back to him, picking his cloth up from the ground and wrapping it around his hand, tying it with his teeth before he followed her over to Toothless. Things should start getting...interesting...