Astrid had had a rough few days. She'd almost let the boy she was sworn to protect die, pretty much destroyed herself in the process, become flightless, thrown herself and Hiccup into uncharted waters, had way too many close calls with dragons, and now they were searching for the dragon that had tried to kill him.

"This is a very bad idea." She yelled from where she was trailing a few feet behind him.

"Yes, yes, I got it the first hundred times you said it."

"No, I mean, this is a bad idea even for you. And I've seen my fair share of Hiccup ideas."

"Okay I get it- wait- 'Hiccup idea'?" The auburn haired Viking shouted back at her, his face screwed up in confusion.

"A Hiccup Idea." Astrid continued. "Impulsive, doesn't make sense to anyone but you and, while clever, will most likely end in sever bodily harm to all those involved.

The two were still in their first hour of searching for the dragon that Hiccup had knocked out of the sky the day before. They had started their search at the crash site where they had found it, the cut bolas still sat on the ground, and were following the faint trail of scales and blood. At the beginning of the trail broken branches hung from trees, as though the Night Fury had taken to the skies in haste, but then as they went on the splintered branches became more spaced out and paw prints appeared on the ground. Why was it only flying in short bursts, Astrid thought to herself, perhaps it had been more hurt than it seemed and there was still chance for her to convince Hiccup to kill the creature. Even though they'd discussed the idea that maybe, just maybe, dragon killing wasn't his path to glory she still held on hope. What could she say. Astrid Hofferson doesn't like to be wrong.

The path of the black scales led them straight to the north of the island. Few trees here had ever been felled for lumber and the entire forest began to take on an ancestral feel. As if these trees had been here for as long as the Gods themselves. Ahead of her she could see Hiccup come to a stop. The path had lead them to a break in the trees, and a cove set down in a basin of rock walls. The sunlight, blocked out by the trees above her, pooled into the cove like a waterfall illuminating the vines and the small spindly trees clinging on to crevices in the cliff. Through a small tunnel in the rocks the two could stand at the edge of the cliff face and look down into the valley.

"Well, this was stupid." Hiccup spoke. His eyes downcast and defeated. He reached down to the ground and fiddled with one of the scales that ended the trail.

"I could have told you that." Astrid replied, leaning a shoulder against the boulder wall.

"And thank you for the support." He quipped back. "Really. Absolutely incredible job with all that help. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Probably be dead." She squatted down to kneel beside him. "Why can't you just leave it, okay? It's over. The dragon's gone. Let it go."

"I can't. I-I just... I just need to know..."

"Know what?" She prodded when he didn't continue.

"I need to know why he didn't kill me! Gobber said it- and you saw that Gronkle get ready to fire! Dragons always go for the kill." He paused. "So why didn't the Night Fury?"

Slumping down on the ground Hiccup stared out into the cove before him- at the same time a great black blur flew by from below. The two both fell back, Hiccup letting loose a short yelp and Astrid cursing her tongue off.

"Shit, well if you wanna end up Night Fury lunch then here's your chance!" She grabbed his shoulder sleeve and tried to tug him backwards through the tunnel. But he lurched out of her grasp and scrambled on his hands and knees to the very edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing?" She whispered at him, trying not to alert the dragon to their presence. "That was a joke! I didn't think you actually wanted to be killed by that thing."

He didn't respond. His eyes were locked onto the dragon that swooped around the cove. It's movements were clunky. Nothing like he'd thought a Night Fury would fly like. Every time it looked like it was gaining altitude and would fly out of the cove it crashed back down into the earth- even relying on its front claws to try and take it higher by unsuccessfully digging them into the rock. It banked all wrong. He was aware in the back of his mind that the thing could probably kill him with a single shot- and that Astrid was behind him yelling. But still he leaped down onto a lower ledge to get a better look.

"Stop making my job so difficult!" Astrid yelled in a harsh whisper and snuck down beside him. She watched him pull his journal out of the inner pocket of his vest and begin sketching the dragon that lay before them. Even unbound by bolas and at it's full length it was still one of the smaller species. Without the wingspan it would be one of the smallest she'd ever seen. Hiccup beside her had perfectly captured the body shape.

"Why don't you just... fly away?" She heard him ask to himself. She was asking herself the same thing but found her answer when Hiccup rubbed out the left tailfin from his sketch.

A pang hit her in the chest. Flightless. The dragon was flightless. And it shouldn't have made her sad for the thing but it did. Angels were creatures of the sky. And so were dragons. And here were two of them both stuck on the ground.

She couldn't explain it to Hiccup. He wouldn't have understood. He'd never been in the air. Far above everything. Close enough to feel like you were piercing the veil to the heavens. If she tried to explain the heart-squelching, terrifying, constricting feeling that being flightless had left her he wouldn't understand the full scope of it.

An odd thought struck her. That this dragon would understand. But she shook her head at the thought. It was a demon. If anything deserved to be trapped on flat earth it was this thing that had brought her life crashing down around her.

She wouldn't admit that the feeling of disgust at the creature had been lessened by their odd kinship.

Astrid was brought out of her musing when Hiccup dropped the stick of charcoal and it tumbled into the cove below alerting the dragon that it had an audience. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him down as she flung herself flat against the rock to give the dragon a smaller target to try and hit when it fired. But he didn't drop down with her. And the Night Fury didn't fire.

"Hiccup! Get down! Now!" She hissed through her teeth. But it seemed like where this dragon was concerned he paid her no mind.

Instead he straightened up and looked at it. She watched the two make eye contact and, instead of firing, the dragon turned it's head as Hiccup did. Another odd thought hit her. It looked like the two were connecting over something.

For the second time Hiccup looked into the Night Fury's eyes and didn't feel true fear for his life. Instead what bubbled up was pure, concentrated curiosity. It wasn't going to kill him. There was no doubt in his mind now. But he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about this dragon. He felt like a little kid again- desperately trying to understand how the weight of the rock related to the strength and size of the catapult.

Dragons always go for the kill, he'd been taught.

And he'd been taught wrong.

And if Vikings were wrong about this- what else were they wrong about?

It had taken Astrid some firm words and pulling on his arm to get Hiccup away from the cliff and to follow her back into the village before it grew too dark for them to find their way back through the dense forest. And before they'd made it back the skies had opened up and let down a torrential rain. Hiccup was used to the rain and barely flinched as it soaked through his clothes. He'd grown up in Berk, where every inch of the land had been flooded at least twice and he'd poured water and live fish out of his boots on a steady occasion.

Astrid on the other hand was used to walking through the rain unscathed. Rainwater was a earthly thing. Why would an angel be affected by it?

So when the first raindrop landed on her head with a heavy, wet plop she may have overreacted.

"What the absolute Hel is this oh Gods it's so cold?!" Her boots were squelching and she could feel the water level building up in them. She raised her arms over her head as well as she could to block out the attacking water droplets but weather on Berk doesn't go halfway and she still found herself getting steadily more soaked.

"You've... never felt rain before?" Hiccup quirked an eyebrow at her.

"No! I could always just sort of... walk through it! This feels gross!"

"Here." Hiccup said as he shrugged out of his vest and tossed it to her. "Hold it over your head or something. It's, uh, it's not much but its better than nothing I guess. And I'm used to this kinda stuff."

Astrid did as he said and held the fur vest over her head to block out the majority of the rain. She mumbled a thanks and was happy he turned around before he could see the red that spread across her cheeks.

"It's the least I can do right?" He said as they hurried towards the village. "And plus what's a little water to a big, strong Viking like me."

"Oh, my hero." She faked a swoon as he flexed the non-existent muscles on his arms.

"That would be a pretty good Heroic Fate, eh? Saving damsels in distress from dastardly weather- not that- not that you're a damsel in distress." He whirled around and held his hands up, trying to explain himself, and walking backwards. "In fact you're, like, the opposite of a damsel in distress! You're, um, you're a destructor of distress!"

"Thanks?"

"I mean destructor in the best possible way."

Their hurried walk to the village didn't take long and within minutes they were standing at the edge of the forest. Astrid tossed Hiccup's vest back to him before they walked out into the pathway towards the dining hall, explaining that it wouldn't be easy to explain why Hiccup was walking next to his floating vest. The two scurried to the large building, trying to dodge the rain as best they could but by the time they hauled open the massive doors they were both wet. All the other teens and Gobber were dry as a bone and already seated inside. Hiccup ignored the conversation as he moved to scoop up a plate of food from the table, avoiding Snotlout's obvious blocking him from sitting down at their table. He'd have to wait until the rest left before he grabbed a second plate for Astrid.

"And where did Hiccup' go wrong in the ring, today?" Gobber took his late arrival to call him out as he sat himself down at the next table. Astrid sat on the table and propped her feet up on the bench.

"Uh, he showed up?" Tuffnut offered.

"Didn't get killed?" His sister joined in, both of them chuckling.

"He's never where he should be. If he'd stood still just a l-iiiiitle bit longer that Gronkle could've-"

"Tha's enough, Sno'lout." Gobber cut off his cousin before he could continue. Hiccup kept his eyes down on his food as he pushed it around the plate, suddenly not so hungry.

"Don't listen to the, Hiccup." Astrid comforted from her seat above him. "You did fine. Better than most of them over there."

"But it's true!" Snotlout continued anyway. "He can't even manage to get here before he gets rained on! I for one think it's rude to come tracking mud and water into a public place-"

"Alrigh', if you're so eager to share why don' you tell us where you wen' wrong in the ring."

"Me?"

"Oh, oh! He let his big head get in the way!" Ruffnut held her hand up for a high five from her twin.

"Hey!" Snotlout objected. "That's not fair!"

"Dragon trainin' isn't suppose' to be fair." Gobber broke up the squabble. "It's suppose' to be hard and toughen you lot up! Now see here..." He broke off to toss a large book onto the table and Hiccup craned his head to see.

"The Dragon Manuel. Everythin' we know abou' every dragon we know of. There'll be no raids tonigh' so ge' readin'." Gobber took his cue to head out, leaving the teens staring at the book.

"Wait, he means... read?" Tuffnut pulled a face at the idea.

"While we're still alive?: Ruffnut continued for him and made a face to match.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you things about?"

"Oh, I've read it like seven times!" Fishlegs bounced in his seat, eager to share his knowledge with the rest of the group. "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face! And there's this other one-" Tuffnut cut him off by miming to shut his mouth with his hand.

"Yeah, that sounds great and there was a chance I was gonna read that..."

"But now..."Ruffnut trailed off.

"You guys read and I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout stood and the other followed. The twins shoving each other and Fishlegs still spouting information on deaf ears. As they left the table Hiccup approached.

"So, all mine then?" He asked no one in particular. The Dining Hall was still occupied by some odd Vikings here and there so he didn't dare grab a second plate for Astrid yet. The two waited in silence, Hiccup eating his dinner and feeling guilty as he heard Astrid's stomach begin to growl. The storm grew more fierce and the sun fully set as all the other Vikings trickled out. By the time they were alone the Hall was dark and not two seconds after the last Viking left did Astrid pounce on the leftover's.

"Oh, Gods, I thought he'd never leave." She stuffed her mouth with cold chicken. Hiccup brought over one of the larger candlesticks to illuminate their table. He sat down and ran his hand over the large tome. Bound in red leather the Dragon Manuel was one of the oldest books on Berk and it looked it's it to the first page he saw that many of the pages were weathered and stained.

"I've always been curious about this thing." Astrid leaned over the book, still picking at her plate. "When I used to watch the meetings and stuff this book was always out. I got to look at some of the pages but never really got to read it."

"I guess I never really bothered to." His eyes skimmed the page and he began to read out loud.

"Dragon classifications. Strike class, fear class, mystery class."

"Well that's encouraging." Astrid spoke as she sidled up beside him, their legs inches apart.

"It's more creative than Death class 1, 2 and 3 I'll give them that." He turned the page to read the first listing.

"Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools." The picture showed a dragon with a massive, gaping maw that took up the majority of it's body. "When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."

Oh, he hoped that picture was an exaggeration. Astrid flipped the page, reaching over him, and took over reading.

"Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees...extremely dangerous. Kill on sight." She kept turning pages and reading with increasing speed.

"Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous." She flipped the page again. "Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."

A crack of thunder shook the hall and startled the two causing them to bump shoulders and for Astrid to grab Hiccups arm from instinct. They looked at each other and it was a moment before Astrid let go- blush rising on both their cheeks and the room was suddenly warmer than it had been five seconds ago. Both pointedly looking away they scooted a little further from each other before Astrid continued reading. The pages turning into a blur as she listed off dragons.

"Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight... Again, this is all very comforting." As Astrid flipped they finally landed on the page they were looking for and she let Hiccup take the book from her hands.

"Night Fury." The page was blank. Little more than a few sentences. "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you."

"That's it?" Astrid's voice rose. "Just 'We know nothing about this dragon! Good luck!' Oh yeah. Very helpful."

"We know more now." Hiccup pulled out his sketchbook, turned to the sketch of the Night Fury, and dropped it down onto the page. "We know it's size. And that you can engage it and come out alive."

"We need to find out more about it." And Astrid found herself agreeing.

AN: A shorter chapter this time around. I reeeeeally wanna get to Forbidden Friendship next chapter (who doesn't though) however this would be a big chapter since there's a few scenes, plus some original hiccup and astrid scenes i wanna plunk in so it might be a longer wait. What do ya'll think? Forbidden Friendship + Longer Wait or Quick Update + maybe no Toothless...

Also! Who's heard the news? The final book of the HTTYD series is going to be released this year in September! It's going to be called How To Fight A Dragon's Fury! I'm so pumped! I'm also very afraid because I know it's going to be so painful...So if you've been meaning to read the HTTYD books do it now (fair warning they are very, very, veeeeery different from the movies).

Second Also! If anyone has any questions or anything it's probably easier to ask me on tumblr. I'm tipsymaple on there. Or ofthewilderwest which is my HTTYD sideblog.

As always, review and pet your animals and tell them I love them.