I didn't want to get up today. This coming week was going to be nothing but bad, and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't even pretend to convince myself to have a little faith this trip wouldn't be so bad. There was no point.

I sighed heavily as I stood from my bed, Toothless watching me from his rock. I washed my face using water stored in the basin nearby and hoped to wake up somewhat. I had barely slept through the night because I was worried about what nightmares awaited me and my dad on Berserker Island.

Water slowly dripped from my face as I stared at my reflection in the basin. The ripples from the droplets turned my face and hair into wavy patterns for a few seconds before calming down and revealing the same stressed Hiccup again. I wiped the rest of the water from my face, breaking the staring contest with myself. For the record, it ended in a tie.

I was up early enough to hopefully give Toothless a flight and then breakfast. Then I'd leave him in the care of the only person on Berk I could fully trust to keep him safe: Astrid.

"C'mon, bud. Let's go flying," I said to Toothless as I walked down the stairs.

Toothless perked and jumped off his rock. He grunted once he reached my back, slightly frustrated that he couldn't go any faster because I was blocking his path down the stairs. As soon as I reached the landing, he bounded around me and stopped at the door. His eyes were wide in anticipation as I slowly made my way toward him. Normally, I enjoyed immersing myself in his little routine, but today I couldn't do it. This morning was going to be perfunctory for me.

I reached around Toothless to pull the door open. He leapt outside with a grunt, a faint plume of steam coming from his mouth. Just like the evenings, the mornings were still a little cold as winter was on its way out.

I climbed onto Toothless' back and hooked in with my peg. Like usual, he gave me almost no warning that he was taking off, but I was used to it. Flying with Toothless was almost a second nature to me, so I barely thought about holding onto his saddle. It was all instinct. Just like feeling his subtle cues for turning and adjusting his altitude.

I let Toothless decide where he wanted to go. Wasn't even thinking about flying anyway. Our little date with the Berserkers was stuck in my head and wouldn't leave.

Once Toothless started making a beeline toward the great hall for breakfast, I finally realized I had missed most of the flight. Couldn't even remember where we had been or how many barrel rolls we had done. If any. Toothless landed cleanly, and I dismounted, pulling the great hall doors open for him. He galloped into the great hall. Within a few seconds, I found Astrid sitting with Stormfly about halfway between the main entrance and our stock of fish in the back.

"Hiccup!" she said as Toothless startled her from behind. She glanced at our dragons to make sure nothing crazy was happening then turned her attention toward me.

"Hey," I said back. And continued walking past her. I filled a basket with fish for Toothless and returned to her table. Placed the basket in front of Toothless, where he began eating.

I sat down across from Astrid with a cooked fish in front of me and began forcing it down.

"All right, Hiccup. What's going on?" she asked.

A few seconds passed when I realized she had asked me a question. She was staring at me too intently to simply want small talk. "Did you say something?" I finally said as my mind pieced a few things together.

"Are…are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" I lied, but it wasn't convincing.

"No, you're not. What's going on?"

I sighed, my mouth full of fish that I couldn't taste. I swallowed and told her. "My dad and I are going to Berserker Island today. We have to renew the peace treaty."

Her face wrinkled in disgust. "You have to go too?"

I nodded. "They specifically asked for me and my dad."

"Too bad your father doesn't have Thornado anymore. You could make it a quick…what?" She noticed my eyes growing wide in terror after that little suggestion.

"They still hunt and kill dragons over there," I stated.

"How do you know…oh. Never mind. Last year."

"Yeah…They'll never believe that 'dragon attack' was a fake if we show up with a saddle on Toothless."

"So you get to sail to their island," she concluded.

I nodded.

"Want me to take care of Toothless?" she asked, reading my mind.

I looked at Toothless, who was just finishing his basket of fish. He shoved his head into the basket, searching for any morsels that had escaped him for now. Satisfied, he brought his head back up with the basket still firmly attached. Both of us watched as Toothless used a front paw to pry the basket off his head, where it fell and rolled for a brief second on the floor. Astrid giggled at his production. I smirked a little.

"Yeah. If you don't mind," I said, still looking at Toothless. He crept up to me, asking for attention. I reached out a hand and knuckled gently into the top of his head. He closed his eyes and rumbled happily.

"Shouldn't be too hard," she stated.

"I would hope so." I was going to leave it at that when a thought hit me. "You'll need to ask Gobber to make a stirrup for you." Dropped my voice to a whisper and leaned across the table. "He'll need to fly around the island."

"Why are you whispering?" Astrid asked.

"So that Toothless doesn't hear me about F-L-Y-I-N-G," I said, trying to avoid making an empty promise to my dragon.

Astrid looked at me in realization. "He knows that word, doesn't he?"

I nodded. "Seriously. Don't say it around him and then leave him alone."

"Okay. I'll make sure of it." She looked at Toothless, who was still nudging into my shoulder. Still asking for attention. For some reason today, he was especially affectionate. "He just eats fish, right?" she asked, beginning to cover all of his basic requirements.

I nodded. "No eels," I clarified. Astrid grinned slightly.

Astrid looked at Toothless again. "I can handle this for a week," she told me. She was absolutely sure of herself.

"Good," I said with a small sigh.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. The white noise from around us filled the great hall with Vikings milling about, eating or having conversations about nothing.

My attention was snagged by my dad and Johann walking toward us. As usual, Johann was spinning some yarn again, trying to impress anyone who would listen.

"…You'd never believe it, Stoick! He really was that tall! At least ten feet! Just make sure you don't visit their home unannounced, because he'll be the first one to 'greet' you."

"Uh-huh," my dad replied. His tone of voice told me he wasn't particularly interested in what Johann was saying. As they passed us, my dad looked at me and said, "Hiccup, start getting ready. We're leaving as soon as Johann is finished with his meal."

I sighed and nodded. "See you in a little bit," I said quietly to Astrid. "I'll bring Toothless with me."

"Okay," she said. And was quiet after that.

I walked out of the great hall with Toothless in tow. We reached our house within a few minutes. I opened the door to let Toothless in and trudged upstairs. Made a small knapsack that I could keep on a boat. In it, I placed a bar of coarse soap I had made a few weeks ago from yak fat and lye. It did a great job of keeping my skin and hair from getting too oily and matted. I gathered my fur vest and a couple of extra shirts and wrapped them into the knapsack as well.

My plan was to leave Toothless with Astrid and visit the great hall for provisions along the way. Based on what my dad told me, it took about two days to sail between Berk and Berserker Island. Just long enough to drive someone insane from hunger. And two days was just enough to make someone need more than just a send-off meal. Luckily, we had wonderful "treats" such as hardtack that was hard enough to crack teeth. We also had several different types of berries, which were a favorite for me on expeditions. I was also planning on taking some salt-cured meat with me on the trip, but I couldn't find any. I quickly resigned myself to being a vegetarian for a few days.

I sighed, my shoulders slumping as I looked at nothing. Turned around to find Toothless sitting on his haunches, staring at me.

"Let's go, bud," I said quietly. I trudged down the stairs again and walked out, Toothless just behind me. We continued walking until we reached Astrid's house. Stormfly was curled up in her pen, sleeping. Toothless must have noticed because he didn't bound over to her like he normally did in hopes of getting a playmate. He simply stopped for a moment, looking at her, then padded close to me as I approached Astrid's door.

I knocked. And waited. After a few seconds, Astrid opened her door.

"Hey, Astrid," I said half-heartedly. "I brought Toothless."

Astrid didn't say a word as she strode through the door and wrapped me in a hug I wasn't ready for. "I'll take care of him," she whispered. She let go after a few seconds, then shuffled over to Toothless, stroking the top of his head. He sighed happily and leaned into Astrid's hand.

"Okay," I said with a sigh. "Thanks. See you in a week or so."

I turned and began walking toward the great hall. Predictably, Toothless grunted urgently and ran in my direction.

I had already been through this once before, when Mildew single-handedly got our dragons banished from the village. There are things in life that you just can't get "better at," and one of those things is to leave a dragon behind. Probably the worst part of it is seeing the expressions on their faces. They don't understand what's happening, and there's no way to explain it to them.

I turned back toward Toothless and touched him on the cheek. "Stay here, bud. Okay?" I gave him a quick hug around the neck to let him know I still cared for him. But there was nothing else I could say or do. I let go and began walking again toward the great hall. From behind, Toothless moaned softly. I looked down, noticing the grass below my feet was blurry from tears gathering in my eyes.

I really hated doing this.

I slowly walked into the great hall and approached the back. Grabbed a basket and filled it with hardtack, fruits, vegetables and berries for our trip. We could survive two days without meat or fish. After that, we had to hope the Berserkers would be "hospitible" like they had promised.

I walked out of the great hall, the basket slung over my back. Carried it down to the docks, where my dad was helping Johann into his boat. He untied the mooring rope and gave the boat a small push with his foot. I heard the water protest slightly as Johann collected the rope and threw it onto the deck.

"Thank you, Stoick! And thank you, Master Hiccup!" he called. My dad waved slightly. And I did nothing. Not only because I was tired, but also because I still didn't want to be here.

"Looks like you're ready," my dad observed.

I placed the basket on the docks. "Sure," I said mindlessly.

"Put your belongings and the food inside, and we'll take off."

Without saying a word, I hefted the basket again and placed it on the boat deck. Threw my belongings after it. My dad untied the mooring rope and gathered it neatly near the helm. I climbed into the boat without a word. My dad followed suit and used an oar to push off from the docks.

The boat was fairly small for Viking standards. No interior section, but it was generally large enough for us to spread out. A large sheet of leather was folded and stored in a corner of the boat, intended for use as a shelter from the sun or rain.

My mind still not working, I grabbed an oar, waiting for my dad's signal to start rowing. I didn't look at him, only listening for his okay.

Within a few minutes, he said, "What are you doing, Hiccup?"

I looked up at him slightly. "Hm?" I asked.

"You don't need to row. Just relax and enjoy the trip."

Yeah, right, I thought. I put the oar down and just sat there, staring at nothing.

As we left the island, I felt the breeze freshen slightly. It was still a little cold, so I shivered and curled a little tighter. I felt the boat turn a little, my dad's powerful strokes through the water propelling us toward our destination. The wind caught the sail and billowed it toward the bow. After a few moments, my dad stopped rowing.

The boat rocked gently as the wind took us with it. I heard my dad adjust his position in the boat. Everything was silent after that, except for the wind blowing and the water lapping against the boat.