Toothless was nowhere in sight. Hiccup set down his basket and opened it up, his head clouded with troubles. He knew he was running away from them but he had no other choice. If he stayed, he would have to go along with the finals and kill a dragon, which he didn't want to as it would be betraying Toothless and his kind. He had nothing against dragons anyway and there was no reason for him to kill them when he had just started to get to know them. As he checked his supplies, he suddenly heard the sound of a rock against a sword. He looked up to the sound and found Astrid, sitting on the rock right in front of him, sharpening her axe.
"Aggh! What the…" Hiccup was shocked at first, then tried to recompose himself. "What are you doing here?"
Astrid hopped off the rock and back him down, spinning her axe threateningly. Hiccup's eyes darted around nervously, searching for Toothless.
"I want to know what's going on," Astrid said as she walked up to Hiccup, as if cornering him. "No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?"
"Uh…training?" Hiccup pretended to be oblivious about this.
"It better not involve this," Astrid grabbed him by his odd-looking harness.
"I know this looks really bad, but you see…this is, uh…"
They heard a rustle coming from the other side of the cove. Astrid dropped Hiccup to the ground and set off to investigate. Hiccup panicked as he ran towards Astrid, trying to distract her.
"You're right! You're right. I'm through with the lies. I've been making…outfits. So you got me. It's time everyone knew. Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go…"
Hiccup put her hand back on his harness, getting her to 'drag him back'. Astrid responded by bending Hiccup's hand backwards, driving him down.
"AAAAUUGGGHHH! Why would you do that?"
"That's for the lies," Astrid pounced the hilt of her axe off of Hiccup's laid-out body. "And that's for everything else."
Hiccup's yelp was answered with a growl, coming from the other side of the cove. Astrid looked up to see Toothless who was coming out of the shadows. Toothless pounced toward them, snarling. Hiccup groaned feebly as he knew their cover was blown. As all Vikings would behave when they see a dragon, she dove onto Hiccup.
"Get down! Run! Run!" Astrid pulled her axe, ready to take on Toothless.
"No!" Hiccup knocked Astrid's cocked axe to the ground, out of reach, then stopped Toothless short of crushing her. "No. It's okay! It's okay…"
Toothless pulled up short and landed hard, spraying Astrid with sand.
"She's a friend."
Toothless snorted in disagreement, and Hiccup could feel it in him. But he had to be the rational party here as he tried to convey his calming feelings to Toothless. Astrid was a bit frozen with shock as she tried to get on her feet. Toothless still wanted to have a go at her but Hiccup held him back.
"You just scared him," Hiccup said a bit accusingly to Astrid.
"I scared him?" Astrid exclaimed in disbelief. "Who is him?"
"Astrid, Toothless," Hiccup tried to introduce them both. "Toothless, Astrid."
Toothless growled at her, not too happy to be introduced to someone who wanted to kill him and got in between him and his mate. Hiccup could feel a hint of jealousy in Toothless' growl, and he knew Toothless knew he used to have a crush on Astrid at one point. Astrid backed away, eyeing Hiccup and Toothless together with pure disgust. She turned and ran for the village.
"Ta-tadah, we're dead."
Satisfied with Astrid's departure and demonstrated his supremacy, Toothless turned away.
"Where do you think you're going?" Hiccup asked Toothless, demanding the dragon to come back.
Toothless grumbled as he stared at Hiccup in bemusement. He knew his mate wanted him to do something, he just didn't want to, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do to persuade Hiccup otherwise, as he could feel Hiccup's nagging, urging bond in his own heart.
"Well?"
Toothless rolled his eyes. He was going to regret this.
-:-
"Oh great Odin's ghost, this is it!" Astrid screamed in panic, groping at Toothless' claw that held her tight on the shoulder.
Hiccup and Toothless flew Astrid to the top of a towering pine. It bowed and creaked under their weight as Astrid dangled a hundred feet in the air.
"Hiccup! Get me down from here!" Astrid demanded as she tried to keep her hold on the branch she was dropped onto.
"You have to give me a chance to explain…" Hiccup tried to calm her down but Astrid would have none of it.
"I'm not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!"
"Then I won't speak. Just let me show you," Hiccup pleaded as he extended a hand. "Please, Astrid."
She eyed him and the dragon, then the ground far, far below. After a moment, she swatted Hiccup's outstretched hand away and reluctantly climbed over the pedal, lines, and harness. She settled behind Hiccup, avoiding as much contact as possible.
"Now get me down."
"Toothless? Down," Hiccup urged his mate as he patted softly at Toothless' neck. "Gently."
Toothless leered mischievously, which Hiccup barely just felt that but he brushed it away, thinking Toothless wouldn't do what he thought he was going to do. The dragon spread his wings slowly, in which they fill with the updraft. Toothless released the tree, tucks in his legs, and hovered in place.
"See? Nothing to be afraid of…"
Toothless, without warning, suddenly launched straight upward. Astrid screamed in horror. The acceleration was tremendous. Every downbeat bucked the saddle, heaving them into the sky, doubling their speed like a rocket. Astrid was thrown backward. She screamed and hugged Hiccup for dear life, squeezing the breath out of him.
"Toothless! What is wrong with you? Bad dragon!" Hiccup shouted, mortified at Toothless' stunt. He tried to reassure Astrid. "He's not usually like this. Oh no…"
Toothless rolled and plummeted toward the coastline far below. Astrid screamed for her life again as Toothless rocketed over the ocean waves, deliberately dipping them in the froth and soaking them, mostly Astrid as the dip was mostly the tail end.
"Toothless, what are you doing? We need her to like us!"
Toothless ignored Hiccup, rocketing skyward and began tumbling head over tail.
"And now the spinning," Hiccup groaned in sarcasm. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."
"Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Astrid clamped her hand over her eyes, begging. "Just get me off of this thing!"
Astrid was defeated, her aggressive energy gone. Satisfied, Toothless relented. They leveled off and headed up into the clouds. Astrid opened her eyes again, and looked out over a world she'd never dreamed of. She reached out and touched clouds, pierced columns ablaze in golden hues, and floated over a vast, alien sky-scape. Her terror was replaced by wonder. She grinned, despite herself.
They continued flying about until nightfall, impressing her with the high-altitude scenery around her. Toothless rose above a blanket of clouds and leveled off under a starry sky. They emerged from a blanket of clouds under the dancing Northern Lights, shimmering in ribbons across the vast sky. Below them, Berk's torches flickered in the inky darkness. The new perspective is breathtaking. Astrid tucked her arms around Hiccup's waist, resting her chin onto his shoulder. Hiccup smiled at that gesture. If he were still crushing over her back then, he would've been elated, head over heels over this, but now that he didn't really feel that much for her ever since he had Toothless, it felt pretty good to at least know that Astrid acknowledged him, even as a friend.
Toothless climbed past Berk's tallest peaks and headed out over open water, leaving the village lights behind them, and Astrid looked almost like she was reluctant to leave such beautiful scenery.
"Alright I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's…amazing," Astrid carefully reached down and patted Toothless' side. "He's amazing."
Toothless purred appreciatively.
"So what now?" Astrid asked, eliciting a groan from Hiccup. It's a problem without an answer. "Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow. You know you're going to have to kill…" she lowered her voice so that Toothless wouldn't hear, "…kill a dragon."
"Don't remind me. I…"
Hiccup's words were cut short when a strange, unearthly din approached. Toothless' ear plates suddenly stand on end. Panicked, he abruptly dove, dipping into cloud cover.
"Toothless! What's happening? What is it?"
Toothless' fear and anxiety suddenly reflected in Hiccup's heart, as if trying to telling him to keep it down. Suddenly, out of the dense cloud, a Monstrous Nightmare emerged.
"Get down!" Hiccup hissed as they both ducked. The Nightmare called out. A Zippleback appeared to the other side of Toothless, boxing him in.
"What's going on?" Astrid asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Hiccup admitted. "Toothless. You've got to get us out of here, bud."
Toothless hissed for them to keep quiet. Other dragons, previously invisible in the thick clouds, appeared all around them. Hundreds of them, all carrying fish and game in their talons.
"It looks like they're hauling in their kill," Hiccup whispered as he flinched at the sight of a Zippleback eyeing them ravenously.
"What does that make us?" Astrid asked worriedly.
The dragons banked and dived in formation, plummeting through the thickening fog and weaving between towering, craggy sea stacks. They emerged at the base of a massive volcanic caldera, glowing with rivulets of lava. The flock of dragons fell into rank, funneling through a crack, and zipping through a winding tunnel. It gave way to a vast, steamy inner chamber, tiered with pocky shelves. Dragons of all breeds laid about, nested in hordes. The arriving dragons fly in, dropping the fish and game into a central pit, glowing red and shrouded in mist.
"What my dad wouldn't give to find this," Hiccup breathed in amazement at what he was witnessing.
Toothless peeled away from the procession, landing on a small shadowy shelf to keep a low-profile. Hiccup and Astrid peeked around, taking in the busy hive of sorts. They watched as the food continued to be dropped into the pit.
"Oh, well, it's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole," Hiccup noted sarcastically.
"They're not eating any of it," Astrid said, odd out about it.
Last to arrive was a dim-witted Gronckle. It hovered over the pit and regurgitates his paltry contribution, which was a pathetic little fish. As it fell into the steamy pit, a terrible roar rang out. The Gronckle tried to flee, but before it could even make a move, a gargantuan dragon head suddenly jutted from the steamy pit and snapped it out of the air, swallowing it back whole. Hiccup and Astrid recoiled, terrified as they resisted the urge to gasp or scream in shock.
"What…is that?" Astrid asked in horror.
The monstrous beast sniffed the air, seemingly aware of them. It neared the ledge where Toothless is hiding and roared out loud. Several dragons took flight in fear.
"Alright buddy, we gotta get out of here. Now!"
Toothless didn't need to be told twice as he hurriedly took flight, barely evading the monster's snapping jaws. The behemoth dragon lunged for them, snatching a Zippleback out of the air instead. Toothless quickly disappeared into the winged exodus as thousands of dragons fled the caldera in fear.
-:-
"No, no, it totally makes sense. It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers, and that's their queen. It controls them!" Astrid leapt off of Toothless and ran towards the village. "Let's find your dad."
"No, no!" Hiccup chased after Astrid. "Not yet. They'll…kill Toothless. Astrid, we have to think this through carefully."
Astrid eyed him, incredulous.
"Hiccup, we just discovered the dragons' nest! The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here! And you want to keep it a secret? To protect your pet dragon? Are you serious?"
"Not my pet. My mate," Hiccup stood firm, resolute. "And yes, I am serious."
"Y…Your mate?" Astrid blinked, looking like as if she just heard that Hiccup had just declared he was a dragon. "Wha…What are you talking about?"
Hiccup sighed and showed her the mark Toothless gave him and explained the situation, finally letting her in on the family secret. Astrid was taken aback at what she was listening to, and even more so when she learnt about Hiccup's curse as well as his bonding with Toothless. It took almost forever until she finally had everything processed in her head after listening to Hiccup's tale.
"So you see…I can't let them know about the nest, or Toothless," Hiccup said in a pleading tone. "They'll kill Toothless. They'll kill my mate. I can't let that happen to him. I can't…bear to lose him, not after knowing how much we love each other…"
"O…OK…" Astrid finally found her voice as she relented. "Then what do we do?"
"Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out."
"OK," Astrid then punched Hiccup in the arm. "That's for kidnapping me."
Toothless' growl was heard in the background, but at least he was not charging towards her again. Astrid then grabbed Hiccup in an embrace, the kind that was supportive and grateful and understanding before she let him go quickly.
"That's for…everything else."
In the awkward wake of the moment, Astrid hurries off, leaving Hiccup smiling as he watched her leave. Toothless hobbled up, eyeing him, giving him a reprimanding look.
"What are you looking at?" Hiccup asked defensively. "Stop being so jealous. You still owe me for pulling that stunt."
Toothless let out a dragon-like laugh as he licked Hiccup and nuzzled him, making Hiccup giggle against his will. Trust the dragon to know how to make him unable to stay mad at him for long.
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