A/N: This chapter is not as long as the others, but it is also emotional like the previous one, and I'm really happy with how successful this story is doing. Thank you to all the readers and reviews you are leaving. Enjoy!

Normal POV

Astrid slowly opened her eyes from her deep sleep. She raised her upper body to look around, making sure she remembered where she was. She found herself in a bed, with the covers drawn over her and her boots at the edge of the bed. The early morning rays peaked through the two windows of the room they were in, signalling a new day...and in her mind...the start to a new life with Hiccup...in treating him the way he should have been. She heard clearly that he said he forgave her...but that wasn't enough for Astrid. No living being on Midgard could forgive another so easily after all the suffering he was put through.

"I have to earn his forgiveness" she thought. She looked to the edge of the room to see Toothless looking at her with his big green eyes and she saw he had one of his wings folded around Hiccup to keep him warm.

"How could a Viking and a dragon have such close a bond?" she thought as she sat herself at the edge of the bed and began to put her boots on. She noticed that Toothless hadn't taken his eyes off her yet. That's when she noticed it. He wasn't staring at her in curiosity...his stare was that of skepticism. She could tell...even though she couldn't believe that she could now read a dragon's facial expressions...that he was unsure of her. Sure Hiccup had forgiven her...to a certain extent...but Toothless wouldn't be so easily swayed. This was the girl who exposed him and Hiccup...it was obvious to him as the way Hiccup reacted over her every time they looked back on how they got here...she was the reason he left his new found life in Sharkslane Village. She was the cause of many problems to Hiccup, and as a loyal dragon and friend...he didn't want Hiccup to get hurt again...not by the same girl.

Toothless felt Hiccup begin to stir and he carefully removed his wing to see Hiccup open his eyes and squint at the light that was entering the room. "It's too early bud" he said grabbing the wing tip and getting comfy underneath it again.

"Do you want me to light your head on fire again?" Toothless asked with a smirk. Hiccup's eyes shot open and he pushed the wing off him and sat up, rubbing the last bit of sleep out of his eyes.

"Jeez...I guess you're a morning dragon" Hiccup said as he stretched the stiffness in his back and his arms...and his whole body.

"And so is your mate" he said and gestured to where Astrid was who had been watching the whole scene in front of her in bewilderment. Hiccup blushed a bit when he said. "You're never going to let me hear the end of it are you?" he asked, showing his toothy smile.

"You know me so well Hiccup" Toothless commented with a snort.

Astrid couldn't believe what was happening..."Is Hiccup actually...speaking...with his dragon?" she thought. She was still seated on her bed just watching the two of them.

"You have to tell her you understand me because I think she'll think you're more crazy than usual" he said gesturing to Astrid with his head. Hiccup turned his head to see Astrid looking at them, wanting to know what was going on.

"You want to know if I understand Toothless right?" he asked, and she nodded in response. "Well...where do I begin" he said rubbing the back of his head. "I think it began happening three or four years ago on Sharkslane, where I began to hear these voices in my head. At first I thought I was going crazy...as these voices always seemed to be listening in on my conversations and responding to them...until the voice said who he was and that's when I realized me and Toothless had built a connection" he explained.

"He said that he always understood Norse...so he basically understood us. He said that since me and Ripper spent so much time with him and Bladewing, we began to pick up their own language little by little without even knowing it. We called it...Dragonese...and we've been talking with them ever since" he finished. Hiccup watch Astrid as she tried to process this information. It was a long shot...just dumping something like that on a person who's just started to understand dragons is a lot.

"You're telling me that dragons can understand us and you can talk with them?" she asked. It sounded really crazy coming out of her mouth.

"Basically yes" Hiccup answered.

"I don't believe you...I mean yeah dragons are different, but talking with them...I mean come on" she said getting up and walking to where Hiccup and Toothless were.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but believe me...it's true...you can test it if you want to" he said. "How am I going to test it...I can't talk to dragons...even if you can...which I still think is a bit out there" she said. Hiccup looked at Toothless and asked him if he was ok with this and he nodded.

"Toothless said you can tell him something and he'll tell that to me, and if I get it right, that proves I can talk to dragons" Hiccup said waving Toothless to Astrid for the test to begin and he lumbered over to the bed where she was.

"You really expect this to work huh?" she asked with a smirk, and Hiccup's response was just a shrug of his shoulders and a small smile. "Alright...I'll tell him something that you could never guess" she said and proceeded to whisper in the dragon's year...and just like that she was done and sat up and folded her arms with a victory smirk on her face.

"Alright Toothless...what did she tell you?" he asked, wanting to hear the secret. Toothless looked at Astrid for a split second and then back at me.

"She said she thinks you're HOT!" he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You think I'm hot?" Hiccup asked looking at Astrid with a confused expression. Astrid immediately blushed a deep red that would make a tomato jealous.

"I DID NOT SAY THAT!" she said covering her mouth and looking even more embarrassed. Hiccup looked back at Toothless who was snickering at the two humans in front of him. "Toothless, enough with the jokes already!" Hiccup said, smiling a bit at what Toothless did.

"Couldn't help myself...it's always funny to see you human's facial expressions. She said that she wished she didn't have to kill dragons...and always wished to have a dragon as a pet" he said. Hiccup couldn't believe what he heard. The Astrid Hofferson who was so keen on becoming a full fledged warrior and dragon killer wanted to have a dragon as her friend?

"You wanted to have a dragon as a pet and you never really wanted to kill dragons" he said and saw Astrid nod her head. She had her mouth I bit open when he said that.

"So it looks like you really can talk to dragons" she said with a small smile, impressed by his new skill.

"Well me and Ripper anyway. I bet you were confused when you saw him talking to his dragon right?" he asked. "Wait, how did you know that we saw that?" she asked. Hiccup hadn't been there when they were Sharkslane so how could he have known.

"It was bound to happen. Ripper can also talk to dragons although he doesn't let it on, and most people back there know that we can. That's why they aren't surprised when we talked to dragons" Hiccup explained. Astrid thought that it was pretty cool at how he could talk to dragons...she was in fact amazed at how much he had accomplished over the years.

"Other than learning how to speak...Dragonese...what did you do all these years?" she asked. It was still early in the day as only now the sun's rays were brightly shining through the window. Might as well catch up on past years.

"Well...I can't say I did a lot" he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Really, because that was the first time that anyone beat me in hand-to-hand combat" she said. Although it was a memory that both of them wanted to forget, it had to be brought up some time because Astrid saw his true fighting skills come out.

"Oh yeah, that...well Ripper said that I had to learn how to fight in case I got separated from Toothless. I wasn't into it at first...but he kept insisting and he even got Treeroot's help in convincing me to take up lessons. When that didn't work he kept taking Toothless away from me for a whole week before I finally said yes" Hiccup said with a laugh at the end, to which Astrid also giggled a bit.

"Treeroot and Ripper trained me non stop for about two months, always getting me up at the crack of dawn and if I didn't get up they'd just throw a bucket of fish on me and not allow me to take a wash for the rest of the day. I didn't believe them at first...until they actually did it of course...and that's basically about it" he explained.

"So you didn't go travelling about, exploring the world?" she asked getting up from bed and going to a mirror to make sure her hair wasn't messy or so.

"The only travelling I did was for a place away from any settlements...so I could keep to myself and..." he stopped because he didn't want to go further as the main reason was to get away from it all and not having to go through the same pain again.

"So you could forget your past right?" Astrid asked without turning her back. Her own expression gloomed a bit as she remembered why he left.

"Yeah...but I guess no matter how long you run from your past, it always catches up with you doesn't it?" he asked getting up and walking to the stove. Astrid heard by the tone of his voice he still held his past close to him. She frowned as well, thinking about the memories, if they could be called that. He might have told her that he'd forgiven her, but she knew he was still hurting on the inside. He didn't show it and he was a master at it, but she could sense that he was still angry at Berk, his friends...his father.

"A past that wants you to give it another chance" she said solemnly. She turned around and looked him in the eyes, "We...I know that Berk doesn't deserve you Hiccup, from what I have experienced you're definitely better off...but you are the only person who could help us end this war once and for all" she said. Hiccup looked at her for about half a minute.

"And why should I Astrid? For my whole life I was shunned, teased, beaten up just because of how I was. No one excepted me for who I was...(looks away to the window)...they all wanted me gone...you wanted me gone" he said turning back to Astrid who glanced away not meeting his eyes. She was afraid that she'd see the hurt in his eyes again.

"I never fitted in Berk...I was an Outcast among my own people...no one wanted anything to do with me and befriending Toothless just gave them the excuse they needed to get rid of me. My own father doesn't even care about me. After mom died, he just didn't know what to do with a fishbone like me. Mom was probably the only person on Berk who understood me...accepted me for me...and always told me not to care what others say about me...that I'm special in my own way...and when she died, the only person who ever truly loved me was gone...I was alone again and had been. Ripper was the next person who accepted me, became my friend...I don't know if he felt sorry for me or what, and I don't care, but Ripper never really did understand how I really felt...not like Toothless" he said looking at his scaly friend who was also listening in on the conversation.

"Look at his tailfin" he said and Astrid looked to Toothless' tail and saw one natural tailfin, and a brown leather tailfin. "I shot him down that night" he said, and she looked back at him again. "No one believed me...as usual, so I went to the forest, I searched for hours until I found his trail. He was tied up in the net I shot at him and he was there on the ground. I told myself I would cut out his heart and bring it to my dad, proof that I was a Viking, that I can be what he wanted me to be...but I looked at Toothless, and saw something I never saw in anyone else...he was scared, helpless, waiting for the world to take his life...(sigh)...I saw myself" he said looking at the fireplace under the stove.

"I cut him loose...turned out Ripper had followed me there and saw everything. He didn't understand at first but said he'd keep it all a secret, and I studied Toothless who was trapped in the Cove...because when I shot him down, I injured him, ripping his tailfin off...so I made him a new one and became his rider and we've had each other's backs ever since" he explained, finally looking up to Astrid whose expression was unreadable right now.

She looked at Toothless and for the first time she saw something more than a beast...she saw a friend, "Toothless was more family to you than any of us had ever been. He accepted you, treated you with the respect you deserved, cared for you...I think Toothless if more human than any of us back at Berk" she started looking back to Hiccup who had started a fire and was preparing to cook something.

"But just like Toothless earned your trust...let us earn your trust again Hiccup...we need you, Ripper won't come if you don't, and we're running out of options. The raids are becoming more frequent and violent on account for both sides...and I know that you're the only one who can help us" she pleaded with him. Hiccup looked at her and glanced to him, and he warbled something at him and Hiccup's eyes narrowed at this and he looked back at Astrid with disappointment.

"You killed a dragon didn't you?" he asked, and this caught her completely off guard. Before she had a chance to ask, "Toothless read it all over you...he said you have that feel around you...or maybe he peered into your mind, dragons can do that...read thoughts" he said and Astrid looked to Toothless to see him with an emotionless face, definitely from finding the fact that she had killed a dragon.

"Hiccup...that was a long time ago...I had no choice, the dragon was coming right at me...if I didn't kill it, I wouldn't be here" she said, trying to move from this but then she saw Hiccup chuckle.

"How much did they celebrate your feat? How much blood was spilt when they cut that dragon up...did they hang the head up in the Hall for your accomplishment? More importantly...how did you feel after killing that dragon?" he asked standing right in her face now. Astrid was now backed up against a wall, she knew there would be no point in lying, so better come out with the truth now.

"(sigh) I felt pride for killing the dragon...I felt that I had accomplished what a shield-maiden does at such a young age. I looked up with pride at the head of that dragon over in the Hall, knowing that I had taken its life...I was finally..." she stopped when she realized what she had become.

"You were finally a Viking" he spat the word with extreme hatred and turned around. "Tell me, why should I trust any of you now, you're all Vikings, made for killing and nothing else" he said going back to his cooking. Astrid looked at him...he made his point, why would he help them? All they did was celebrate when he left and after that they just forgot him, wanted nothing to do with him...even when he was there. They all saw him as a curse, a misfit, an outcast...she realized that he had perfect reasons for not helping them.

"You're right, we don't deserve your help...not after what we did to you. It's not fair for you in any way" she said turning around. She had her eyes on the door that led outside. "I know I didn't do anything to help you, but I want to change that now, if you are willing to accept me. And they're not asking you Hiccup...I am" she said and walked out the door, going gods know where.

Hiccup sighed and looked through the door she left and back to Toothless. "What do you think bud? Is it time to leave the past behind?" he asked.

"I'm with you whatever decision you make Hiccup, you know that...but can we really be sure. You know as well as I do that no one on Berk wants to see you again, and you're just going to go back like that?" he asked.

"No I'm not...but I just don't know what to do...my mind is plagued my so many thoughts and emotions right now it's hard to..."

Scream!

"Astrid?" he said and ran out the same door.