A/N: I am a horrible person for taking so long on this. I almost lost all motivation for this and with the pressures of university almost gave up. Thankfully I did not. This is the beginning of the second section of the story. Most likely we will see less of Astrid but they will still be touched on. I really struggled for ideas on this chapter, so I took a while. I think what I created is something interesting and hopefully you will enjoy it. I hate myself more than you will hate me for taking this long. Hopefully I won't take this long again. This is also the longest chapter yet.
Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Progress

I opened my eyes and it made no difference. Everything around me was black, all light purged from existence, none of it was left to help me see my surroundings. I was standing in the darkness yet... no I wasn't, I was floating. Pressure under my feet told me I was standing yet if I was to move my feet there was nothing below to stop them. I walked aimlessly in this quasi floating state, my legs floating in an intangible liquid. After a minute of travelling the dark abyss I saw a faint light in the distance. Its small glow seemed to be a safe haven in this shadowy place. As I approached it I finally felt solid ground beneath my feet, I looked down and felt relieved as I confirmed that there was grass supporting me.

I continued walking towards the light, slightly distracted by it. When I looked around again I noticed that none of the dark abyss remained. I looked up and saw a clear night sky, white dots scattered in no coherent pattern. The full moon shone brightly, its gentle light illuminating the area, a rare occurrence so far north. I walked up some steps that led me towards the faint light.

I discovered that the light was coming from a door half closed. I carefully walked towards the half open door, making sure all the while not to make a sound just in case. I recognized the door from somewhere. It seemed familiar yet old and out of place. I gently pushed the door open and saw my father looking forward and talking. I couldn't make out any of the words that came out of his mouth nor what was behind him due to his massive size. I tried to walk around him but some external force prevented me from doing so. Frustrated, I tried to ask what was going on here only to produce no sound. I wasn't able to do anything but observe.

The incomprehensible mumbles from my father continued until I heard the voice of a female which seemed to be coming from behind my father where I was unable to observe. As soon as the female voice started talking the entire scene began to fade. Sudden panic overwhelmed me as darkness started to surround me. I was terrified, there was no light to save me. The structure slowly began to collapse in line with the fading of the light. I began breathing quick short breaths and couldn't calm myself as the darkness enveloped me. As the darkness overcame me I felt like I couldn't breathe. This is it.

"HICCUP!"

I awoke suddenly in a panic trying to get a grasp of my surroundings clutching onto myself tightly. To my horror even after waking up everything was still dark. I made a move to get up but found myself bound and immobile. I began to desperately rub against the holdings, only once I felt the scales did I realise where I was. I relaxed almost instantly as I remembered how I fell asleep under Toothless' wings and he probably grabbed me close during the night.

Toothless seemed to be already awake. Most likely he woke up earlier than me but didn't move in order not to disturb my sleep. Sensing I awoke he opened his wings and released me gently, his green eyes stared directly into mine. I quickly got up, I had beads of sweat running down my face, no doubt from the panic I had experienced in the dream. Toothless looked at me with obvious concern. Maybe he had felt me panic in my sleep.

As I stood there trying to make sense of what happened, Toothless let out a soft high pitched croon to get my attention. I looked at him and his eyes were full of worry. I just stared at him until he tried again. It was clear that he was asking what happened.

"It's nothing bud, don't worry about it." I said with a tired voice. Toothless saw through my lie. He gave an agitated huff and stomped his paw on the ground, he was demanding an explanation. I was so shaken that I didn't want to risk annoying the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death' that would certainly end in my early demise.

"Just a weird dream turned nightmare, I'm fine bud." I explained. Toothless gave a roll of his eyes and then gestures to his back. "Just let me eat first and then we'll go, okay?" I proposed. Toothless then moved outside the makeshift house. As his tail left I opened the basket in the corner to see what food I had left. I frowned as I realised I had just enough for breakfast and then that would be it. I grabbed what I had left; some bread and a small chunk of meat.

I exited our new home and sat near Toothless with my back against the wall. I ate silently as Toothless and I watched the sun rise above the forest, the bright rays threatened to blind me as they reflected off of the surface of the water. I threw away the leftover bones into the lake and went back to Toothless and idly began stroking under his ears.

"We're both going to need to get more food." I stated as if it was a fact. It is unless we want to starve. Toothless let out a slow rumble of agreement. I got up and headed towards the small pile of materials that were left over from yesterday.

I spent the next hour making improvised traps for small game. It was what little my dad had actually taught me and probably the only thing that was remotely useful. It happened when I was around seven, maybe before he gave up on me and still cared. Only Gobber cared and even then he didn't treat me perfectly. Shaking my head to rid memories of Berk I headed into the forest with my best friend following closely behind me.

Not long after entering the forest we both arrived back home with one small task accomplished. I had placed traps throughout the forest where I predicted animals would be. I hoped that I would be lucky and that I hadn't forgotten how to properly set up some traps over the past eight years. Otherwise we would have had to actively hunt which I had no weapons to do so with or let's be honest the skill to hunt either.

Toothless suddenly began nudging me which brought me out of my trance. I looked over at him and saw that he was constantly looking at the saddle on his back. I smiled and chuckled slightly and approached him to get onto the saddle. I barely had time to prepare as the second I had my feet in the stirrups he launched into the sky without warning almost throwing me off in the process.

In a matter of seconds we were above the few clouds that dotted the sky. The weather has been holding up for quite a while now. The pieces of white fluff were now below us. We flew towards the dark blue sea. For a while we just glided above the coast of the island. I felt relaxed and it was as if I had nothing to worry about anymore. The freedom that flying offered to dragons was of great envy. After a while Toothless looked at me and then back at the water, I understood what he wanted and simply nodded at him. We dived down towards the water below, my stomach clenched at the sudden descent and momentarily we were submerged under the water.

Not even two seconds later we out of the water. I was soaked to the bone, but obviously it didn't bother Toothless, as when I looked at him, he had a mouth full of fish. The cold wind began to attack my soaked body and thankfully Toothless landed on a nearby sea stack for us to rest. Although when I got off it was quite clear that Toothless hadn't realised my predicament and was too focused on his fish. Sighing I grabbed what little sticks there were around where we landed and threw them all into a pile. I gave an exaggerated cough to get Toothless' attention. He stopped his loud chewing and looked at me with an annoyed gaze and then quickly set the pile of twigs alight.

I mumbled a quiet 'thanks' as I sat near the fire in an effort to dry my clothes. As Toothless ate behind me I began to reflect on the dream I had. It confused me to no end. What was that place? Who was that woman? What were they saying? I thought hard but I couldn't come up with any proper explanation. My mind cycled through endless possibilities. If it was a memory then I clearly did not recognise it. Perhaps a vision, no it couldn't be, father rarely ever spoke to other women.

Toothless brought me from my trance when I heard the plop of a regurgitated fish on the ground in front of me. I looked up at him with a small tinge of disgust, but I knew that he noticed me and was trying to cheer me up. Not wanting to dismiss his concern I nodded towards him, put the half eaten fish on the tip of a nearby stick and held it above the flames.

I stared into the dancing fire, my eyes were fixated on something that wasn't there; an imitation in the flames. Fire looked so beautiful when controlled. On its own, it provided heat, light, cooked our meals, and allowed us to create through forging. Yet, it could burn, kill and ravage entire villages with no mercy, no matter if it was a man, woman or child. I sat mesmerized by the orange flames, the small sun before me. Even though the Vikings have used fire, they have never controlled it like the dragons. But with such a gift the question remains, why do dragons use it for harm? Why do they raid us? After all, I've seen that Toothless is friendly and the terrors I have also met didn't even attempt to make me feel threatened. There must have been something else that caused those dragons to be aggressive.

I left my thoughts for later and began to eat the now cooked half eaten before it was burned. The taste was a bit off, no need to wonder why, and I finished eating feeling satisfied and slightly disgusted. I slowly put the stick back on the ground and suddenly I was pounced on by Toothless which elicited a grunt from me as my back hit ground. As quickly as he threw me onto the ground Toothless got up and started to slowly run away.

"Why you little sneaky reptile" I said as I ran after him. Of course Toothless didn't make it simple and began to run away from me. We ran around in circles around the now dying fire and annoyingly he matched my pace and even mocked me a couple of times. Eventually I picked up a stick, picked up the pace and then suddenly turned and met Toothless the other way head first. Toothless was looking behind clearly looking for me which gave me an opportunity to run forward and poke him with the stick while he was distracted. He looked at me and gave an annoyed huff.

I began to run away but Toothless quickly caught up and crushed me. He kept his head on my chest preventing me from getting up. I was content to just lie there with his company while I regained my strength. After a while I decided it wasn't suitable to waste any more time.

"Alright bud, I think it's time we headed home don't you think?" I asked Toothless. He lifted his head up slowly and then slowly sat back. He looked at me pleadingly.

"I know you want to play more, but we seriously need to work on our home." I tried to reason with Toothless. Thankfully he wasn't as stubborn today and leaned forward to allow me easy access to the saddle. I got on his back and before long we were on a gentle glide back home.

After a couple of minutes we landed beside the lake and the big tree. I wasted no time and began to work on reinforcing the walls of the house. There were still gaps between the wood that had to be covered up. I asked Toothless to help me by bringing me over some materials so that I could focus solely on fixing the walls. He seemed content to lie beside the lake but eventually got up and dragged his paws into the forest to gather some materials.

After some time I managed to decently patch up the gaps in the walls, as well as anyone with very little building experience could do. I began crafting the door that would fit into the entrance of our makeshift home. Throughout the entire time I kept the use of the knife to a minimum as just the mere presence of it gave me the chills.

A couple of hours have passed and our rough house was beginning to form into an actual place where we could live. I started to work on a bed. I wasn't too fond of sleeping on the hard floor. Eventually when I finished the bed I realised that I had nothing to make my sleep comfortable. I settled on a grass and leaf cover but until I managed to find some form of cloth there was little hope of me having a comfortable bed.

After an exhausting day I fell onto my bed without a care in the world that it was uncomfortable and I quickly drifted away.

…

Again, I found myself in pure darkness. I was in a familiar place as I stood on the black nothingness. I sat down in the dark, waiting for something to happen. As before, the house appeared in front of me. I carefully got up and cautiously walked towards it. However, this time as I arrived at the door, it was closed. There was no light inside the house. I had a sense of looming dread wash over me, almost taking away my ability to breathe. I heard my heart beating loudly in my ears.

I tried to pull the door open but it was stuck. I gave a much harder tug and the door finally released and granted me passage into the home. It was so dark I might as well have been sleeping. I wished that I had some light so I could see. Unfortunately that wish was granted as the roof collapsed in on itself and fell onto the ground completely covered in flames. I jumped back in shock from the sudden occurrence.

I heard someone scream shortly followed by another. I quickly bolted from the burning building not wanting to experience the fate it had in store for me if I stayed any longer. Despite the presence of the flames, it did very little to help me perceive what was happening. It was also odd how I didn't hear the inferno or even my own footsteps. I started to leave the presence of the house and hoped to avoid any trouble, but I was knocked onto the ground. I hit the ground hard and was suddenly able to hear what was going on. I heard the flames ravaging the buildings that have appeared around me. I was slowly losing vision of what was going on. I only saw a silhouette run towards me before I completely lost sight of everything.

"Wake up, Hiccup! Please!"

I woke up shaking and slightly covered in sweat. My head was hurting as if the whole occurrence had been real. I threw my legs over the bed and placed my feet on the ground. Toothless was sitting right next to me with obvious concern in his eyes. He moved closer slightly and started to nuzzle my face. I put my arm around his neck slightly using as support and scratched his neck lightly while I slowly recovered. These dreams are insane.

I gently pushed Toothless' head away and sluggishly got out of bed. Toothless' eye were fixated on me the entire time. I got dressed in silence. I was about to leave the house when Toothless gave a low rumble.

"It's nothing bud, just a bad dream" I explained to the black dragon. I did not want him feeling bad for me. I attempted to leave the house but he blocked the exit. This stubborn dragon just doesn't let things go does he? He gave out a loud huff as if demanding an explanation. What's the point if he doesn't even understand me?

"Okay you persistent reptile" I said as I sat back on the bed. "I had a similar dream as the one I had last night. There was nothing but then there was this house. Last night when I went in I saw my dad and someone else but then everything fell apart. This night I saw the house again, however, there was no one there and it was dark. It was set ablaze and the roof caved in. I was scared and ran out. I heard people screaming and I was knocked to the ground. Before I lost sight of everything something approached me." I explained to Toothless. He looked at me expecting more. "Then I heard someone begging for me to wake up, and everything went black." Toothless' eyes seemed to widen at this statement. He looked at me and rumbled something before shaking his head. He came up to me and began rubbing his head against me trying to comfort me. I knew he was trying to make me feel better.

"Anyways, how about we check on those traps? I'm quite hungry and I'm sure you are as well." I said. We both got up and left the house and walked into the forest. After checking all my traps, two were set off and only one caught a small rabbit, which was already dead. This small return made me realise that living off of traps would not be enough.

"Hey bud, we're probably going to need to go hunting if we're to get food. Or you could catch more fish. Until we get a more sustainable food source at least." I said. Toothless gave a small rumble of approval. "Thanks bud."

As we arrived back home I set up a small fire with Toothless' help and began cooking the rabbit after I had skinned it. Toothless was impatiently waiting for me to finish up. He had already given a lot of cues that he wanted to fly but I needed to have something in my stomach before going into the sky. It wasn't long until I had finished cooking and ate part of the rabbit, but according to Toothless I had clearly taken too long. By the time I had put the rest of the rabbit away Toothless himself has put be on his back and quickly took off into the sky. He gave me little time to get my foot into the pedal which almost caused us to crash as quickly as we have taken off.

"How about some stunts today bud?" I asked Toothless while patting his neck. He seemed to understand and quickly began building altitude. Before I knew what was going on we were diving and spinning at the same time. Before we hit the water we made a sharp turn upwards and flew upside down before levelling out again. It was not as difficult as I had thought it would be to keep up with him. After an hour or so of flying I directed Toothless back to the island. We landed with a slight thump and I slid off of his back.

I began to think how I would hunt for food. After some deliberation I decided that I would make a bow and hunt from a distance. I rarely made bows back in the forge, but I still knew the theory for it. I doubted that it needed to be perfect for hunting anyways. I began to carve the rough shape of the bow from a piece of wood left over from earlier. While I was doing that I was treated with a beautiful scene of Toothless trying to catch a fish. He would wait extremely patiently and then suddenly lunge into the water, disturbing the still surface. I almost cut my finger while watching him, and with a knife as sharp and perhaps cursed as this I decided I wouldn't get distracted again.

I started humming some songs while making the bow. I was completely engrossed in the work and didn't realise that a lot of time went by until Toothless finally nudged me. I looked up at him smiled. I gestured for him to come over and he lied down beside me. I idly scratched his head whenever I took a break and inspected the bow. Eventually using some fibre I made a novice rope and soon constructed the bow properly. I pulled back on the string to test it and then slowly set the string back into place. I got up and headed into the forest again with Toothless close behind me a bit confused. I was looking for feathers without trying to hard a bird. Luckily after a couple of minutes I came across a small stream which any birds seemed to have used as there were many feathers around the place. I began to pick them up one by one. Toothless looked at me picking up the feathers clearly without any understanding to why I was picking up feathers.

"They're for the arrows Toothless, better accuracy. "Once I was satisfied we headed back home.

I broke some stones near the lake to create sharp edges for arrow heads. Eventually I got some arrows done. Although they were not perfect, I believed they would at least get the job of hunting done without much of an issue. I let out a massive sigh as all the work for the day was finished. However, Toothless had other plans. He came up to me and dropped a small wooden dagger at my feet.

"Oh no, I forgot to train yesterday didn't I bud?" I began, "Well we might as well train now."

I picked up the wooden dagger, although it wasn't of much use as we mainly focused on dodging attacks. Compared to two days ago, I was doing much better. I knew how to dodge Toothless' charges and I was aware of the tail the entire time. I found a much more balanced stance thanks to his help. Although I did still fail to dodge his attacks a couple of times, but more importantly it was progress. After about an hour or so we were finished. I sat on the edge of the lake with Toothless beside me.

We watched as the sun set over the horizon. The warm orange glow slowly fading away as the shade slowly climbed up the trees until a point where the shade had evicted the light completely. I leaned onto his neck and just enjoyed the beauty. The birds were singing quietly as if they were full of uncontainable joy but still tried to not wake their children. I smiled when I looked up at Toothless who appeared to be sleepy.

I thought about the bow, thankfully I had done a bit of work on shooting back on Berk, but I would probably need to do some training before I would be competent at it. As the moon began to rise I slowly walked back into our house, taking all the sights in. Eventually I lied down on my bed. Before I could fall asleep Toothless made a grunting noise. I looked at him confused. He looked at my bed and then looked between his wings.

"It's alright bud, I'm fine on this bed. There's no need for you to sacrifice your comfort for me." I told Toothless. Nevertheless he continued to stare at me and then gestured to the space in between his wings again. I sighed in defeat and went to sleep with Toothless.

"Are you happy now bud?" I asked when I was perfectly snuggled between his legs. He let out a soft purr. He was more comfortable than any bed.

A/N: Some interesting things happened this chapter. As always please leave a review, it really helps keep my motivation up and helps me to write the story in the correct direction. I will make an effort to reply to any reviews if you wish.
Until next time! (And hopefully not over a months time) :).