I Hear Him Scream, Ch4P2

When we first heard the roaring, we'd all stopped dead in our tracks.

Fishlegs had gasped loudly. Snotlout had let out a small whimper and tried to cover it up with a cough, stepping in front of everyone in a fake show of manliness. The twins had stopped in their fight and grabbed for anything they could use as a weapon. I'd gripped my newly-acquired axe and gritted my teeth.

"M-m-maybe we should go back," Fishlegs stuttered.

"No," I rejected, "we didn't come in here for nothing."

"Yeah!" Snotlout instantly agreed. "We're going through with this!"

Tuffnut let out an unsure sound. "I don't know," he tried to reason with us, "maybe we're out of our league. I mean, we haven't even started dragon training yet, and you want us to go against two Night Furies?!"

"One," I corrected. "And if Hiccup helps, then I doubt it'll win."

"Still…"

Ruffnut spoke up. "What if—"

A loud, deafening caterwaul split through the air. I gasped loudly, covering my ears. My ears rung painfully.

"Ow! My ears!" Tuffnut complained. "There is no way I'm going close to something that angry!" He glared in the general direction of the sound. Another dragon had responded to the scream and was matching it with equal volume, and dare I say, more force?

"I never knew dragons fought like that…it doesn't sound like they're battling at all!" Fishlegs pondered aloud. He flinched when another scream ripped through our ears and suddenly seemed to realize what exactly the sources of the terrible sounds were. "Uh...I'm not that curious. Maybe we should go," he repeated himself.

"Seriously, Astrid!" Ruffnut grabbed my shoulder. "We'll get killed if we go there right now! Let's wait for them to cool off!"

I shook my head. "Hiccup is doing half of that screaming. That means he's mad, which means he'll be more willing to fight that Night Fury with us! Now is perfect! We have to corner it right now!" I leaned down and picked up my axe, shifting into a battle stance. "Are you all cowards?"

Snotlout looked uncertain. "I don't know, Astrid. I-I mean, of course I'll go with you, and I'll beat that dragon senseless! But the others aren't so sure." He offered me a weak grin.

Tuffnut scoffed. "Please! You seem to be the most scared. Besides Fishlegs."

"Hey!" Said teenager exclaimed indignantly.

I huffed, blowing my bangs out of my face. Were these people really that spineless? Excuse the audacity, but where were the people like me?

"I'm going," I stated. I continued to walk towards the grove, where I'd last seen Hiccup, and where the noises were coming from.

"Astrid, wait!" Ruffnut pulled me back. I looked over my shoulder at her. "Please, Astrid, just think this through. You're a great fighter and all, but I doubt a dragon that powerful would have trouble defeating us! Even with Hiccup's help! We need to rethink this, and tell Chief Stoick about it so he can send out a party!"

"What, are we not good enough?" I countered. Ruffnut let go of me and frowned. "We're Vikings! We were born to fight! And you're going to stop because you think that we'll lose? You're not even going to try?" I gave the now-uncertain Ruffnut a grin and held up a fist. "Plus, if we do fight, we'd get some pretty cool battle scars. And we'd be treated with great honor and respect for taking down a Night Fury without any training! Just imagine!"

My best friend immediately brightened up, a devious smile crossing her face. She held up her own fisted hand and bumped it against mine in our 'secret handshake' that we'd created years ago and continued to do out of tradition. "I guess you're right," she finally agreed. In a too-serious tone, she added, "But if anyone gets too hurt, I'm blaming you."

"Fair enough." I lowered my hand.

"Woah, woah! Wait!" Tuffnut chimed in, "You're actually going through with this? Astrid, you're not as good as you think you are! You were lucky to get away from that Night Fury! Don't push your luck!"

Snotlout shoved him harshly in the back. "Hey!" He yelled. "Don't talk to her like that! Astrid wasn't lucky, she was skilled! You're just jealous because you could never do what she did!" He pointed an accusing finger at the blond twin, making him go slightly cross-eyed.

Tuffnut pushed the hand away with an annoyed scowl. "Yeah, well, I'm not planning to! I am so out of here!" He spun around on his heel and started to march back the way we'd come, slowly disappearing into the underbrush. He was halfway out of our sight when his twin sister sprinted out after him, grabbed his arm, and yanked him back.

"You're the first one who agreed to this, moron!" She shouted at him.

"No, you were, buttelf!" Tuffnut countered.

"At least I'm staying with the group!"

"At least I'm trying to save my own skin!"

"At least I actually care!"

"I DO care!"

Ruffnut raised an eyebrow.

"What?! I do!" Tuffnut crossed his arms.

Annoyed, I interrupted them. "Ruffnut! Tuffnut! Focus!"

"Um, hey, guys?" Fishlegs spoke up in a tiny voice.

We ignored him. "No! You're being ridiculous, Astrid!" Tuffnut pointed at me, knocking Ruffnut aside simultaneously. "You want us to fight a Night Fury! A Night Fury! And what, to help the village? We should just tell everyone where Hiccup is and let them do the rest. Plus, we don't even know if he's alive!"

"What, so that Night Fury is just loudly scolding itself?" Ruffnut countered. She narrowed her eyes in false anger and made her voice low-pitched and scratchy. "Stupid me! I wanted to jump, dive, and then  roll, not dive, roll, and then jump! And what the hell is wrong with me, stepping right-left instead of left-right?!"

Fishlegs tried to regain our attention again. "Guys?"

Snotlout grinned widely at Ruffnut's commentary that had happened to fit perfectly in with the slowly-growing-fainter roars. "I'm still in!" He shook Tuffnut in the shoulder. "Come on! Man up! Or are you not Viking enough? Are you going to do what Hiccup always did?"

Oooooh snap.

Tuffnut stuttered. He glanced between us, and his annoyed and grudging expression slowly melted into nervous grin. "Alright…but I'm with my annoying sister. If anyone gets hurt, you're responsible." He pointed at me.

"Guys!"

We all looked at the now-irritated Fishlegs.

"Aren't any of you paying attention?" He asked in exasperation.

"To what?" I asked, tilting my head to the side slightly in confusion.

Fishlegs gestured to the forest. "Just listen!"

We all lapsed into silence. My eyes widened slightly when I realized that the draconic screaming had stopped. "They're not fighting?"

"Only one way to find out," Ruffnut announced. She shifted her weight and gestured for me to lead. "Would you mind showing the way, Ms. Ambitious?"

"Don't make me throw you into that tree!" I grinned at her. She scoffed dramatically, leaned back, and made 'oh no she didn't' gestures with her hands. Everyone started to laugh. Tuffnut and Snotlout even started wolf-whistling.

Recollecting myself, I waved my arm towards myself in the universal sign of 'follow me' and started to stalk my way deeper into the forest and closer to the gorge (looking over my shoulder, I was happy to see that everyone was following.). We all fell silent as we got closer and closer to the Night Fury and Hiccup's hiding spot. I took notice of the sheer quietness of the forest. Everything was still, as if someone had drawn an enormous, lifelike picture. The sound of the undergrowth moving beneath our feet was like booming thunder compared to the abnormal silence of the otherwise dangerous forest.

I realized that we were about to cross out into the small clearing just in time. Gasping softly, I dug my feet into the ground and spread my arms out eagle-style, gritting my teeth when all four of my friends bumped into me and nearly pushed me out towards the hidden area. I hissed a warning to them and dropped down low, motioning for them to do the same. We all started fanning out, each one of us positioned about a meter away from each other. I pushed Fishlegs when he crouched down right next to me, but he shook his head defiantly.

I moved the undergrowth to the side and slowly began to belly-crawl towards the edge of the cliff. I calculated each step to be in time with any other background noise, silently sending a thanks to the gods for deciding to make today windy. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw everyone else doing the same thing. We crept towards the edge.

Everyone gave soft gasps. There were two new additions to the bottom of the canyon. One, there was an enormous hole in the middle of one side of the cove. Two, an entire wall was broken apart and crumbled. It looked…shattered.

I narrowed my eyes at it. What had happened to it?

I finally tore my gaze away from the wall when I realized why we'd come here. I looked down into the canyon and felt my heart skip a beat.

There wasn't a dragon in sight.

What?! How could Hiccup have possibly been able to get out? I doubt he'd want to try to fly out of there…

I continued to search for the dark-brown Night Fury with pine green eyes.  There were certainly hiding places for him, and judging by the last time we'd actually seen each other, I wouldn't be surprised to see him trying to keep out of sight. But we'd heard another Night Fury, so where did it go? Had it flown off and abandoned Hiccup?

A cold dread creeped up on me. Did it kill Hiccup?

I shuddered at the thought.

Tuffnut startled Fishlegs and me (we both jumped and covered our mouths to avoid from squeaking) by whispering, "This is pointless!" He began to stand up, staring down into the cove cautiously. "I don't see anything down there."

"Get down!" Snotlout, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, and I all hissed in unison. If the circumstances were different, I'm sure we would have all looked at each other with surprised expressions and burst out laughing. Lucky for us, we were trying to stop one annoying Viking from getting himself blown up by a hiding Night Fury.

"I'm sure Hiccup's just trying to hide, so get down!" I rushed to explain. I continued to make 'get down' gestures at Tuffnut until he finally complied with an exasperated sigh and roll of his eyes. I sighed myself, placing my head in my unoccupied hand. There is not enough face to palm…

I felt my face drained of all color when, as Tuffnut placed all of his weight on his hands while sitting down, the rock beneath him cracked at lightning-speed and fell apart.

Tuffnut screamed. Ruffnut shrieked his name with an unnatural amount of fear in it, lunging towards her brother's feet. She grabbed him, but he had already gone over the edge. His greater body weight began to drag my best friend down to her death.

That wasn't going to happen if I could help it.

"No!" I lunged for her, took hold of her thigh, and began pulling. Snotlout and Fishlegs were at my side in an instant. "Hold on, you two! Ruffnut, don't let go!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!" She hollered at me.

"Why don't you concentrate more on me?!" Tuffnut wailed. He suddenly gasped, and for one terrifying moment, I thought Ruffnut had dropped him.

It wasn't until I heard Fishlegs whisper a certain Viking's name that I realized what had happened.

I risked a glance out into the gorge. A sleek, mud-covered Night Fury was leaping down from the cliffside, uncamouflaging himself from it (so that's why I didn't see him! His scales blended in perfectly!). Hiccup's eyes were wide, his pupils were mere slits in fear, and he let out a high-pitched, fearful warbling sound when he finally reached solid ground. The side of the cove he was on formed a right angle with ours, so it took him only a few seconds to sprint the short distance to where Tuffnut was dangling.

The human-turned-dragon situated himself under Tuffnut, who had gone as still as if he were dead, letting out tiny anxious sounds. Hiccup paced slightly, never taking his eyes off of the male twin.

"A-a-aaah! Night Fury!" Tuffnut started to visibly shake. "Don't drop me! Pull me up! Pull me up!"

Hiccup visibly winced and deflated, yet he stayed right where he was.

"That's Hiccup!" I wheezed.

I gasped when I began to feel sweat build up on my palms. "Pull!" I commanded as fast as I could. The three of us still on solid ground heaved back as one, slowly lifting Ruffnut from her half-fallen position, and onto solid ground. She was gripping Tuffnut's feet so hard, I was sure that if she'd grabbed skin, he'd be bleeding. Snotlout and I leaned over and took hold of one of Tuffnut's legs for each of us, while Fishlegs wrapped his bulky arms around Ruffnut's chest to keep her in place. "PULL!"

We all groaned as we leaned back, struggling to keep a grip on the rapidly-slipping Tuffnut and keep ourselves from falling at the same time. Hiccup cried out from below, anxiousness and dread coloring his voice. Vaguely, a part of me registered that, even in dragon form, he still sounded as if he talking through his nose.

I thanked every god willing to listen when we finally pulled Tuffnut over the edge. Ruffnut tackled him, sending him flying away from the cliff. They embraced each other tightly, burying their faces into each other's necks. The heartwarming moment lasted for only a second, though, and the two quickly separated and sat up. I fell back on my knees, leaning over slightly to try and regain my breath faster. I heard Snotlout and Fishlegs doing the same.

"That was…too close…" Fishlegs gasped.

"No kidding!" Tuffnut shakily replied. He stood up and looked over the edge warily, staring at Hiccup. "That's…Hiccup?"

I nodded, unable to respond.

With a massive intake of air, I forced myself to stand up on shaky legs and stare down at Hiccup. He looked confused and unsure of himself. I noticed that he was crouching slightly, keeping his head low to the ground and arching his back. His wings were folded up against his body and his tail was held straight out. The fact that he was trying to creep away did not escape my attention.

At least he's alive, I thought in relief. But why does he look so scared?

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs let out an overjoyed whoop. "You're alive!"

The outcast's ears perked up at his name and he stopped. He stared at Fishlegs for several seconds before turning his green eyes back on me. He looked into my eyes and trailed them down my body, stopping them at the axe that was by my feet. He looked between me and my weapon until I finally made the connection. I lifted one foot and kicked it behind me.

"Astrid? Are you sure?" Snotlout whispered fearfully. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Hiccup since we'd gotten Tuffnut to safety. "What if he's the wrong Night Fury?"

"He looks and sounds like Hiccup. It's definitely him." I met Snotlout's gaze. "Don't you recognize your own cousin?"

Snotlout didn't respond. A long, tense silence ensued for several minutes. Hiccup began to get nervous and averted his gaze from us several times, staring from the ground in front of him, to the cliffside he'd just come from, and back to us.

Suddenly, his right ear twitched, and he looked back at where he'd been hiding earlier. The Viking seemed to listen to something (he tipped his head to the side and perked his ears). Suddenly, his ears and side frills flattened, and he crouched low to the ground and let out a short hiss. He arched his back high off the ground, giving him a pantherlike form, and spread his wings out slightly. His tail lashed in long, wide arcs.

"That's a defensive warning!" Fishlegs gasped in sudden recognition. "I think the other Night Fury is—"

We heard it give a strange, throaty call before the evil Night Fury leaped out of the shadows. It jumped onto a rock, baring its teeth at us and crouching low, completely ignoring Hiccup. On the edges of my vision, I saw Fishlegs reach out and grab Ruffnut's arm and squeeze it.

Hiccup ran a few paces forward, placing himself between us and the snarling Night Fury. He gave a long hiss that was followed by a snap of his jaws and high-pitched trill. The Night Fury focused on him, shifted its weight back and forth a few times, and jumped to the ground. It stalked towards him at a fast pace, making Hiccup mimic it in the opposite distraction. The entire time, the Night Fury gave out a low rumbling sound. Hiccup responded with a somewhat defiant growl.

"What are they doing?" Snotlout asked Fishlegs worriedly.

"I think they're arguing," he breathed. "That means that they're speaking to each other…and that means…" he trailed off. We didn't need him to fill in the rest.

Hiccup suddenly yelled loudly, shaking his head wildly. The Night Fury growled, leaning in towards him and pointing his nose down. The Viking did the same, and they nearly pressed their foreheads together, each one roaring loudly.

Hiccup suddenly reared his head back and jumped sideways and backwards, lowering his head to the ground and baring his own teeth at the Night Fury. His eyes were mere slits.

Outraged, the demon lifted itself up on its hind legs and spread its wings, flapping them. Hiccup gave another 'defensive warning', as Fishlegs put it.

The Night Fury leaped at Hiccup. The teenager scrambled backwards, falling. He rolled over and began to sprint away from the quickly advancing dragon, weaving along the ground like a cat. A clumsy cat, I noted - he tripped several times.

"We have to help him!" Fishlegs howled. "That thing is bigger than him! If it pins him, it'll be all over!"

I did the first thing that came to mind. I reached behind me, grabbing my axe. Throwing it into the air, I spun on one foot and used my momentum to take hold of it and send it flying through the air towards the Night Fury. At the same time, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs threw their own weapons (consisting of a club, knives, and another axe) at the beast. Mine and Tuffnut's were the only ones that hit their target, but it worked.

The Night Fury (not Hiccup) gasped in surprise and gave the weapons a shocked look. Its shock melded into raw anger when it seemed to make the connection, and it stared right at us. We made eye contact. (Strangely, the dragon faltered, but it literally shook it off.) To my horror, it opened its mouth and started an all-too-familiar noise that made me freeze on instinct.

Hiccup was on the thing in the instant, letting out a ferocious snarl so powerful, all of us flinched. He tackled the Night Fury to the ground, using his front two paws to pin its chest to the ground. He looked at us and swung his head to the side, giving us a clear message:

"Get out of here!"

"Run!" Ruffnut shouted. She and her twin turned and sprinted off into the forest, closely followed by Snotlout and Fishlegs. I turned to follow and stopped. Looking back, I saw Hiccup jump away from the Night Fury just as it tried to snap at him. He growled loudly at it, making it pause. Then, the teenager looked over at me with scared and heavily upset eyes.

I turned and ran away.

~~~

I drooped the second Astrid ran away. Great. Just great.

"What the hell?!" The Night Fury shouted in his charmingly loud voice.  He rounded towards me and paced around me furiously. "They were threatening us! And you want them to survive?! Are you insane? Do you want them to come back?"

"Yes, because I really have a choice in the matter!" I snapped sarcastically. "Thanks for the attack, by the way! I really enjoyed that, too! Love it when you do unnecessary things like that!"

The Night Fury seemed taken aback by my bold remarks. Recovering, he argued, "I started it? You were the one who started that fight!"

I blanched. "What?! How?"

He snorted as if the answer was obvious. "Yelling 'don't you dare hurt them, or I'll hurt you' seems like a good enough threat."

"I was defending them! They were tired and scared and you were going to kill them while they were weak!" I paused. "And how is that a threat?"

"You told me you would attack me if I tried to defend both of us from a group of humans carrying weapons." The Night Fury stalked towards me and stared right into my eyes. "How do you know they didn't want to kill us? I know for a fact that they were planning on going after me. I heard them speaking of it in the forest. Wouldn't you want to defend yourself if you heard your enemies planning your death?"

I blinked. "What?" I hadn't heard anything…then again, I'd been crying until the dragon had suddenly pushed me in the side and commanded that I 'hide unless I wanted to be killed by a group of humans that was heading this way'. Confused, frightened, and uncertain, I'd listened to him and had followed him to the rocky area of the cove. We'd both huddled in a tight little cave and planned to wait for them to leave. Of course, I ditched that plan when I saw Tuffnut almost get killed. I'd left our hiding spot without warning, ignoring the dragon's hiss. Even though Tuffnut and I were never friends, I couldn't just let him die! I knew him!

Then the Night Fury had yelled something about it being a trick and how he was going to handle it, and I defended them. And then we'd gotten into a fight.

And now we were in another one. Again.

"Well?" I was pulled out of my thoughts by the incredibly patient Night Fury. He had his paw raised, as if getting ready to slap me.

I stared at him, feeling the sinking, drop-dead feeling of sorrow fill my chest. I didn't want to have another fight. It may be light-hearted(ish) now, but knowing us, we'd probably end up trying to break each other's hearts. I just couldn't handle that right now.

I closed my eyes and answered his previous question. "Yes."

The Night Fury quieted. I opened my eyes in confusion and saw him studying me with a scrutinizing gaze. I tensed, waiting to see if he would decide to attack.

Coming to a decision, the dragon sat back down. "Alright, then." He was hunched back slightly and his wings were folded loosely behind him. It made him look very relaxed, which was strange since he was giving me the most serious look I've ever seen on any intelligent creature. It was unnerving and weird.

I grimaced under the distrustful look he was sending me. I stared at my feet for awhile, and when I looked back up, he was doing the exact same thing! The tension filling the air wasn't exactly helping, too. If either of us made a sudden move, the other would tense up. But other than that, I'd say we spent a good thirty minutes just staring at each other, neither sure what to do.

It was awful.

I was actually starting to daydream about a better, happy place when the Night Fury suddenly snorted. I looked over at him immediately, perking my ears.

"Humans are annoying, aren't they?" He asked softly. "That group of hatchlings looked to be as stubborn as any other of your kind. They're going to come back." He wrinkled his nose at the spot where the group of teenagers had been in disgust, as if he were looking at them right this very instant. "Stupid humans."

"Hey!" I said, offended. "Don't say that! How would you like it if I went around insulting your kind like that?" I stood up quickly and walked a short distance parallel of him, nearly tripping over my tail in the process… again. In anger, I kicked at a small stone. It flew a small distance, ricocheted off of a large boulder, and flew right back at me. It squeezed my eyes shut for a second when it hit me right in the nose. What is it with my luck? Why am I the butt of every joke at the moment?

"Hah!" The Night Fury barked. I frowned at him, trying to look harsh and make my pupils look like itty-bitty slits (you know, the disturbing-scary thing?) like I'd seen him do before. I'm not sure if it worked, since the Night Fury continued to laugh at me. I felt my scales go hot in embarrassment.

"Cut it out!" My voice shook slightly. Surprisingly, the Night Fury actually did stop, and gestured with his head for me to go on. I knew he wanted to continue the conversation, but for the life of me, I could not remember. "What were you saying, again?"

It took him a few seconds, but the Night Fury continued very calmly, "You are a dragon." He lowered his eyelids at my immediate rejection, his ears dropping and giving him a perfect 'unamused' look that made me halt in my tracks. "How can you still consider yourself a human after all of this? Though I hate to admit it, you were right before; you are a dragon. An annoying one, at that." He snorted dismissively.

"Change me back?" I asked hopefully. I widened my eyes and flattened my ears, hopefully pulling off a damn-good 'cute' look. I'd done it before and it had actually made the Night Fury waver; maybe if I was adorable enough, he would change me back! (End sarcasm.)

"For the last time, no! Do you think I just go around changing people into dragons for the fun of it?" He twitched his tail irritably. "Asking me a million times does nothing but harden my opinion on it, and you can't pull of the 'cute' look. Seriously…stop…it's creepy."

I would have laughed if he hadn't been serious. Instead, I settled for, "But why can't you—!"

I stopped myself. If we continued on with this conversation, then it'd end up like the last one. I didn't want to get into another fight. Chances are I wouldn't get as lucky. Plus, I was trying to make amends, not widen the gap between us.

The Night Fury gave me a calculating look. As it became apparent that he wasn't going to talk anytime soon, and that I was waiting for him, he started to change. His eyes went distant, like he wasn't even here. I noticed that he stopped moving altogether when he got deeper and deeper into whatever he was thinking about.

I sent him an exasperated look in return. If you didn't count those last few sentences, then we'd been having a generally harmless conversation (By 'harmless', I meant that neither of us were getting ready to attack the other.). And now he had to go and ruin it by just cutting himself off from me? Gee, thanks, Night Fury. I'm not trying to be nice to you or anything.

Trying to keep up my sulking attitude, I dropped to the ground, rested my chin on the ground, and wrapped my tail around my side. I stared at him the whole time. His eyes followed me as I moved, but I don't think the dragon really registered it; he just continued to watch me unblinkingly, as if trying to decide on a major decision that involved me. (Little did I know that that was exactly what he was thinking about.)

Unfortunately, since the Night Fury was so focused on thinking, it made me have no choice but to ponder on what had happened. I gave a sigh, once again feeling depression creep up on me.

I never asked for any of this…I wish I wasn't here. I just want to go home. I want things to go back to normal. I looked up at the Night Fury and then down to my feet. I wonder what he thinks about this? Does he still think that this was the right thing to do? Or did I convince him otherwise? I hope so…but I'm not willing to make any bets.

I wonder…does he still think I'm trying to trick him? I sucked at my explanation, but I thought that he'd just be able to infer what I was trying to get across. I don't really blame him, though…I should have just told him my thoughts the second I woke up. It must have been suspicious seeing me stutter and then come up with that. No wonder he doesn't want anything to do with me… I half-covered my eyes with my paws. But at least I'm trying! Why can't he see that? Why doesn't he try to understand? I don't get it. I mean, he could have killed me, and he didn't. What made him do that?

I looked up into his lime-green eyes. They were still distant, elsewhere. Maybe he's thinking about the same things…

This is stupid, I told myself. Here I am wondering on what this Night Fury is thinking, and he's standing right in front of me! Maybe I should ask him. I pondered over this for a few seconds. He's never really given me much of a straight answer, though. I've always had to dig for them, and by then, we'd both be angry and start another fight. I sighed again, a bit louder. I moved my head to rest my cheek on my paws and stared out into the still lake.

I want…I want things to be normal again. I want to go home and be able to see Gobber and Dad. I just… My mind trailed off into soundless sorrow. I closed my eyes.

I heard a soft 'whumph' over to my side. I straightened, opened my eyes, and moved my gaze over to it. The Night Fury had mimicked my position and was lying down, too. He was even staring out into the lake. I heard myself give a small noise in response, which caused the Night Fury to immediately turn towards me with narrowed eyes.

He doesn't trust me. I want to trust him, but it's so hard when he won't even consider it, I thought.

Out of nowhere, an idea popped up in my head. A crazy idea, but one nonetheless. Besides, I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III; I always do crazy things.

Maybe I have to show him that I want to be on good grounds with him. He certainly isn't listening to words. Besides, what's that saying, again? 'Actions are louder than speaking'? Nevermind. I started to climb to my feet. The Night Fury didn't move. Well, here goes nothing. Sort of.

I silently walked over to him, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. He didn't seem to notice me. Slowly, I sat down besides him and returned to my previous expression, cautiously watching him the entire time. The dragon still didn't seem to notice me.

I huffed loudly. His ear twitched and he raised his head, twisting his neck around to stare at me. His brows lifted high above his eyes in surprise. I blinked at him.

"Hi, there!" I offered him a small grin and nodded once in greeting.

"…What are you doing?" The Night Fury looked at me as if I'd grown two heads. I shrugged unhelpfully, settling down into the comfortable grass below us.

"Well, it was kind of awkward…"

He gave a short laugh. "And this makes it better? Sorry, human, but I don't cuddle. Now get out of my spot."

I raised a brow, lifting my head to look fully at him. "Since when is this your spo—ah!" I yelped when he nonchalantly brought his single-finned tail around and slapped me upside the head, stinging my cheek. "Ow!" I complained, holding a paw to my face and glaring at the Night Fury. "What was that for?" I whined somewhat angrily.

He regarded me with a serious look, but I could detect some amusement playing behind his eyes. "My spot. Out. Now."

(I noticed that his voice sounded more confused than anything else, and it was painfully obvious that his 'anger' was forced. Had his opinion on me somehow changed? What was he thinking about?)

I complied. There was no way I was going to sit around and let myself get slapped. As I walked away, tail dragging on the ground, I made sure to mumble loudly, "Not your spot."

"It is so!" The Night Fury called from behind me.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." I plopped to the ground. I kept my ears tilted behind me towards him. Just in case.

I'm glad I did. If I hadn't, I would have never heard him give a loud puff and stand up. Then I wouldn't have turned around to see what he was doing. And if I hadn't done that, then the resulting conversation would have never happened, and the chain of events that snowballed afterwards would have become nonexistent.

I leaped to my feet when I saw him turn towards the blown-up cliff. "Hey! Where are you going?"

He looked over his shoulder, but did not slow his pace. "I'm leaving."

I blinked several times. "W-what?" He was leaving? He was just going to abandon me? A small part of me was hurt. I didn't want to be left alone again, especially after I'd decided to try and put an end to our problems. I knew it was to be expected, though; I suddenly realized that I had nearly come to depend on the Night Fury, the thing that had ruined my life. And this particular Night Fury didn't seem to care a bit about my well-being. (I believe the proper word for this would be 'ouch'.)

I didn't bother to try to convince the dragon to stay. He seemed to have come to a solid decision, judging by his tone and body language. I lowered my head and hunched over, watching as my only chance to ever be normal again walked away mercilessly. Don't cry, I ordered myself, it'll only make things worse.

The emotional turmoil I was feeling before came down on me and struck like a deadly snake. It was sudden and unexpected. I closed my eyes and gasped. It had felt like someone had actually hit me in the chest. My legs began to shake. I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could.

This can't be happening… I heard the dragon begin to jump onto the rocks. I should stop him. I need to stop him.

Yet I felt no strength to do so. He hates you, my mind informed me, and wants you to suffer and die. In that order. What would make him stay? You're just another evil human to him. You're his victim. He doesn't feel any sympathy towards you.

I listened to him skid down the incredibly steep hill. He gasped, and I suddenly heard a loud 'thump'. I snapped my eyes open and looked over at him. He was a few meters away from the cliff. The little bit of hope that had built up inside me died down when I realized that he'd just jumped to avoid falling off of it. The Night Fury tried again, heaving himself back up the rockface. The cliffside, now consisting of very small rocks compared to its previous state, did no good for the gigantic beast trying to climb it. It crumbled under his claws and he was forced to run away from a small landslide.

Like the stubborn thing he was, the dragon continued to try and climb the cliff as if nothing had happened.

I stood up, turned, and walked in the opposite direction, towards the tree-covered area of the gorge. I walked with my head lowered and my wings and tail dragging on the ground in defeat. There's no point in sitting there and watching him, I reasoned somewhat guiltily to myself. A small part of me was still screaming for me to try to reason with the Night Fury, to make him stay.

I lied down when I got underneath the miniature forest. The leaves were rustling gently above me, playing with each other in the wind. I closed my eyes and let the sounds carry me away.

---

The low sunset was quite the view. Or, it would have been, if I weren't so distracted from it.

"Gods damn it!"

The Night Fury let out a terrifying roar of outrage, shooting a blast of fire at the ground standing in front of him. He walked parallel to the cliff, holding his wings out and flapping them a little bit. Suddenly he leaped into the air, trying to climb up the cliff and fly at the same time. He fell to the ground.

"ARGH!"

I cowered beneath the trees, hoping he wouldn't notice me. Once again, it became very clear to me that I was trapped with my enemy. But this time, he was angry enough to start shooting off fireballs in random directions, though he was smart enough to aim them towards the ground. The dragon let loose a wild string of curses that would have made a sailor blush.

The Night Fury tried to climb the precipice again, very desperate now.

He tried again.

And again.

And he attempted to pull the task several more times, but ended up nowhere near success each time.

He's not going anywhere, I thought somewhat smugly. Oh, look! It's karma! Nice to meet you, I've been fine, thanks…

The Night Fury fell again. He got up and screamed at the obstacle as if it would just apologize and step aside. "Stupid! CLIFF!"

I snorted. There were a few things that I had grown accustomed to seeing in my recent past. A Night Fury screaming at a rockface was not one of them.

The Night Fury turned swiftly around to look at me, eyes aglow with something akin to evil.

I jumped, shrunk back, and averted my eyes sheepishly. Oops.

My light-hearted emotions quickly turned to dread when the dragon began to jog over towards me. Oh, crap! I scrambled to my feet and searched desperately for cover. Nothing that would be useful showed itself to me.

I was in the beginnings of breaking out into a run when the Night Fury leaned down and leaped off the ground, using his wings to propel him at an incredibly fast speed. He landed right in front of me, making me skid and stumble backwards.

"Do you think this is funny!?" He hissed, cornering me against a tree. I leaned into it, trying to slip around the pesky plant-life to safety. "You think that this is a joke?!"

"Uh—uh--!" I was shocked. He looked just as angry as he had when he'd turned me into a dragon. It was…scary.

"Wrong answer." He growled darkly. The Night Fury reached up and slapped me across the face with his paw (I was crouched low to the ground and he'd raised himself off the ground and onto his hind legs). While I was still on the ground, trying to recover from the shock, he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and flung me aside. "Don't you dare laugh at me!" He screeched. The beast didn't give me another chance to react, and threw himself at me, pinning me to the ground. "At least I'm trying to get out of here, human!"

I gaped at him. "I-I-I—" Swallowing, I demanded, "Get off me!" I brought my hind legs up and kicked him in the stomach. Using the few precious seconds I had, I rolled swiftly and tried to sprint out of the cage-like trees and out into the open area. I'd barely made it a foot when the Night Fury gripped my tail in his jaws and flung me back towards him. I felt his paws wrap around my neck and fling me to the ground. My head made contact first and caused stars to swim in my vision.

I felt more than saw the Night Fury begin to build up a blast of fire. I just froze in fear.

"S-stop!" I cried out desperately, suddenly finding my voice. I flipped over and backed up as quickly as I could, not daring to turn my back on the dragon. He's mad with anger! I realized when he showed no reaction but to turn his body towards me. I need to break through to him, or he'll kill me!

"STOP!" I screamed. I lunged forward, spun my body sideways when I landed, and slapped him across the face with my tail. The Night Fury gave a high-pitched yelp of surprise. Slowly, he turned his head towards me, face wrinkled up in fury.

"Wait! Just think! Listen to me!" I spread my wings out in an attempt to look bigger. He paused. Feeling rage starting to build up inside me, I continued, "Quit taking your anger out on me! You of all people have no right! If anything, I should be the one attacking you!" I crouched low to the ground and swished my tail wildly, looking fiercely at him.

Suddenly, the Night Fury's eyes dilated to the regular size. He rubbed his paw on his face, looking slightly surprised for a split second. Then, he gave me the evil eye. "Well, at least I'm not moping around, waiting for death! I have every right to be mad at you!"

I reared my head back as if he'd slapped me. Waiting for death?

I wasn't doing that…was I? I mean, I was upset, but it's not like I'd be elated at all of the current events. But I wasn't suicidal! I would…never…

I thought back to how I'd been acting. With a jolt, I realized that if I wasn't fighting the Night Fury, I was usually wallowing in self-despair or sulking. And I couldn't bring to mind one time where I wasn't bitterly wishing that I could be a human again, or that I should have never shot the Night Fury down, or that that it should have killed me instead of changing me into a dragon.

I realize this is bad…but how am I supposed to feel?

It's no excuse to be…suicidal, I grimaced at the last word. Oh, gods! What's happening to me?

I faltered, the defiant words dying on my lips. I stared into the Night Fury's eyes. He was definitely angry, but there was something else…frustration and worry was hiding just beneath the surface. Whether it was for just him or the both of us, I wasn't sure.

"I have every right to be mad at you!"

His last sentence replayed in my head. I narrowed my eyes slightly and tipped my head to the side. "You're mad at me for being upset?" I asked. "And for not doing anything? Why?"

My fellow cove-captive said nothing for a few moments. Finally, he answered, "Giving up doesn't help either of us if we're both stuck in this canyon."

"How can I possibly help to get us out of here? It's not like we can just blow up another side of one of the cliffs," I pointed out.

The Night Fury lapsed into a thoughtful silence. Suddenly, he brightened, and looked over at me.

Oh. He thought that I'd been serious.

Maybe this is a good thing, I thought. He thinks you're suggesting getting out of here together. Maybe this can be the end of this long battle we've been having!

A wide grin spread across the Night Fury's face. "Maybe I can't get out of here…but you can."

I shook my head a little bit. "What? If you haven't noticed, I'm in the same position as you."

The Night Fury said nothing. Instead, he brought his tail forward. I tensed for a split second. Forcing myself to relax, I stared at it. It took me a few seconds to realize what he was trying to get across.

His tail only had one tailfin. Mine had both.

"No!" I immediately cried out. "I can't fly!" I shuddered at the memory of the thunderstorm that had destroyed my will to even use my wings on my first night as a dragon.

"Why not?" He looked at my quizzically.

I shook my head again. "I just can't."

He paused, frowning, and then sighed and shook his head as if the solution to the problem was obvious. I barely detected kindness in his voice. "I'll teach you."

I gasped. My ears stood straight up. "What?!"

He got up and walked towards me until we were almost touching nose-to-nose. "But, in return, you must come back. I'm assuming that you'd be hungry by now. Well, I am, too. If I teach you to fly, and you get food and come back, then, maybe…" The dragon gave me a mischievous grin that made me a little more than uneasy, "…maybe I can find a way to change you back to your human form."

I jumped to my feet. "But you said that was impossible!"

"Right, now, yes," The Night Fury sat down and leaned back casually. "But as the magic in your veins grows less concentrated and evens out, which means it'll get weaker, by the way, it'll be easier to extract it. I'd say it'd take about…oh, a month? Then it would be…" The dragon suddenly stopped. He got that far-away look in his eyes for a split second, and then seemed to get angry at himself. The Night Fury looked down at his feet, took a deep breath, and then looked up at me with an expectant expression.

I gaped at him. Was he lying to me? I mean, this conversation just came out of the blue. And he'd made it blatantly clear why he'd even started it: he needed food. But, on the other hand, I was starving, too. I don't care if dragons could survive days on end without food; with each passing hour, I could feel my body grow weaker due to lack of nourishment. But that was a minor problem compared to what he was proposing.

Are you really going to pass up an opportunity like this? My mind asked. Earlier, you were devastated when the dragon tried to leave. Not only is he offering to stay now, but he's also giving you a chance to go back to normal! How can you possibly let that go?

I looked into the eyes of the beast, still unsure.

Summoning up my courage, I demanded in the most serious tone I could muster, "Look me in the eye and tell me that you're not lying."

He met my gaze evenly and straightened. "I swear on the Dragoness of the Moon and the Dragon of the Sun that every word I've spoken is truthful."

For a few seconds, I felt something almost tangible go between us. In it, I felt a great sense of truthfulness that was surrounded by a sea of apprehension and…nervousness. I had only registered this when the brief connection shattered.

He's not sure what to think, I finally figured out. Right now is my chance to show him that I don't want things to continue on like this. Right now, I can show him that I'm willing to trust him, if only he would do the same!

Besides…I really can't pass this up. It's my only hope.

With my eyes still fixed on him, I answered, "I…agree. We have a deal, Night Fury." I spoke the last part softly and lowered my ears, feeling all my anger and pent-up agony from the entire day leave with something that I wanted to welcome, but was a bit unwilling to: hope. Maybe…I can only hope for things to work out. "I'm putting my trust in you…don't break it." I offered him a small grin. I felt my brows lower down in a slant, most likely making it look sad.

He hesitated; obviously, he wasn't expecting me to answer like that. The dragon sniffed at me warily, never taking his eyes off of mine. Something I'd never seen before sparked beneath the green orbs.

To my great astonishment, the Night Fury closed his eyes, leaned his head down, and pressed his forehead against mine. My breath hitched in my throat and my body immediately tensed up, expecting an attack. But the dragon didn't move otherwise. He stayed stock-still, his warm forehead barely pressing against mine. His scent became very strong: the smell of firewood being burned on a chilly autumn evening.

Was it…a gesture of peace? Being dragons, we couldn't exactly shake hands. (Though it would be awesome if we figured out how.)

Show him. If you refuse now, you will never get this chance again.

I lightly pushed my own forehead against his. I'm putting my trust in you.

That weak bond from before presented itself again. I felt my uncertain, shy faith reaching out to him. The dragon's own emotions slowly crept out towards me. Shocked, yet excited anxiety. He wasn't exactly celebrating something…it was more like he'd been given a pleasant surprise. The two distinct emotions coming off of us clashed, and I felt a new one coming off of him: a faint fear, like a creeping suspicion that something was very, very wrong. I felt the dragon mentally brush it aside, and heard something I thought I'd never hear coming from him:

"Damn this. I'm going to at least try."

Excitement and joy bubbled up in my chest. I tried to contain it from the dragon, but I felt him huff from the supposed amusement of it.

After a few more seconds of doing this, the Night Fury leaned back. He looked at me with half-lidded eyes, snorted, and silently dashed away from me. Halfway across the lake, he stopped and turned towards me. The bright green eyes glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky and back to me.

"Tomorrow," he told me with a large amount of authority to his voice. I noticed a faint grin on his lips.

I nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow."