You thought this story was dead, didn't you?

Well, I managed to find both my inspiration and motivation and dragged them out of the corner they were hiding in just in time for winter solstice!

They headed home as the sun started to set and managed to slip into the village without being noticed. Hiccup went to the back room of the forge to write down notes of how the flight went while Morgan curled up on his lap for a nap.

There was a loud voice, and Morgan nearly fell off of Hiccup's lap. She recovered quick enough to scramble next to the wall before she rolled out into the open.

"D-dad!" Hiccup was saying. "You're back!"

Morgan risked a peek. Stoik was standing in the doorway, looking stern.

"We need to talk," Stoik said.

Hiccup scrambled to cover up his sketches. "A-about what?"

"How long did you think you could hide it from me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiccup said, trying to look casual and failing.

"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it." Stoik came closer, looming over Hiccup. "So let's talk about that dragon."

Hiccup was speechless for a moment. "Oh gods. I-I'm so sorry, dad. I was going to tell you—"

Stoik started laughing.

Hiccup managed a nervous little laugh himself. "Y-you're not mad?"

Stoik stopped laughing. "What?! I've been hoping for this!"

"Y-you were?"

Stoik didn't seem to hear. "Just wait until you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time! And mount your first Gronkle head on a spear. What a feeling!" He gave Hiccup a little shove, sending him out of his seat and into a nearby basket. "You really had me going there. But all this time you were holding out on me. What a feeling!" He sighed and sat. "With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about." He sat on Hiccup's stool and looked at his son eagerly. Hiccup opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Morgan felt a sneeze coming on. She desperately tried to hold it back.

"Achoo!"

Both Hiccup and Stoik jumped. Morgan wedged herself into the darkest shadow she could find and tried not to move. There was a moment of awkward silence.

Hiccup managed a fake sneeze. "'Scuse me."

There was a long pause. Stoik cleared his throat. "I brought you something. To keep you safe. In the ring." He pulled a horned helm from heaven knew where behind his back and held it out. Hiccup took it and ran a hand over it. "Thanks."

"Your mother would have wanted you to have it. It's half of her breast plate."

Hiccup snatched his hand away.

"Awkward," Morgan said under her breath.

"Matching set." Stoik tapped his own helm. "Keeps her close."

Another stretch of awkward silence. A long stretch. Morgan yawned in spite of her best attempt not to. Hiccup yawned as well. Either yawns were that contagious or he was trying to cover hers.

"I should really get to bed," Hiccup said.

"Right." Stoik stood up. "Good talk."

"See you back at the house."

"Right."

"Thanks for the breast hat."

"The hat."

There was another awkward pause.

"Good night," Stoik said before leaving.

Hiccup sighed, then jumped as a loud crash happened just outside the door. Morgan snickered. Hiccup waited until it was quiet outside before looking under the table. "Nice sneeze."

"Sorry." Morgan came out and climbed onto his shoulder. "There's a lot of dust under there."

"I have the feeling things are going to get harder."

"Probably. I'll go through your window. It's open, right?"

"I think."

"Great. I'll see you there." Morgan scampered out of the smithy. There were a few people out, so she had to do some dodging, but she made it back to Hiccup's house without being spotted. She climbed up to the window. It was closed.

"Well crap."

Morgan climbed up onto the roof, peeking over occasionally and hoping that no one spotted her. That was one of the worst things about being a Pachirisu, she decided. If she wasn't being called a squirrel, she was sticking out like a sore thumb. Well, that and not being able to reach things. Being able to shoot lightning was pretty cool, though.

It took Hiccup a few minutes to get home, and a few more to realize that his window was closed. He opened the shutters. Morgan climbed through. "Hope no one saw me."

"What do we do if they did?"

"I don't know. Pass me off for a weird squirrel. Wouldn't be the first time."

"You have a weird life."

"Tell me about it."

The next day Morgan managed to get to her spot in the ring before anyone else came. Soon it was packed. For a few moments she wondered how long it would take all those people to clear out. Probably forever. She looked over the ring. Short, wooden barriers were set up all over the place. Was this the one with the Gronkle and Astrid almost killing Hiccup? Probably. Which meant that right after this was the leaving and romantic flight bit. Hopefully. Or Astrid would lose it and kill him in the ring.

Hiccup and Astrid walked out into the ring. Hiccup's helmet wobbled a bit as he glanced nervously at Astrid. The girl had murder in her eyes. They stood in the middle, ready. As soon as the Gronkle was released Hiccup hid behind one of the barriers. Astrid did a few dodges and rolls before taking cover. The Gronkle, perhaps sensing an easy target, made a beeline for Hiccup.

"Don't do something stupid, please," Morgan murmured.

Hiccup tried to hunker down. When the Gronkle came around the barrier he squeaked and scratched under the Gronkle's chin. Astrid came vaulting over the barriers a moment later. The look on her face when she realized that Hiccup had won was enough to make Morgan start praying.

Hiccup started backing away. "Are we done now, because I've gotta—"

Astrid put the edge of her axe against Hiccup's throat. "What? You've got to what?"

"This is getting way more murdery than the movie," Morgan muttered.

Gobber entered the ring and said, "All right, the village elder will now make her decision."

Everyone went quiet. Gobber held his hook over Astrid. The elder shook her head. There were quiet gasps from the onlookers. When Gobber held his hook over Hiccup the elder nodded. Astrid was actually raising her axe when the other teens burst in. Fishlegs scooped Hiccup up and set him on his shoulder, and they went off cheering. Morgan had to wait for almost an hour before the last person left. By the time she got to Hiccup's house he was already packed and wearing his harness.

"So what's the plan?" Morgan said.

"We're leaving."

"Where?"

"To…" Hiccup sighed. "I don't know. Somewhere else. Anywhere else."

"Why?"

"Hiccup ran his hands through his hair. "I can't kill a dragon. There's no way."

"So you're just going to run away?"

"What else can I do?"

"I don't know. Fess up to your dad?"

"He'd kill me." Hiccup picked up the basket he'd packed. "Welp, let's go."

Morgan hopped up onto Hiccup's shoulder, and they sneaked out of the village. Morgan kept a constant lookout for Astrid. She'd get there before them, right? Or at least about the same time. But what if she didn't show up? Or what if she got there early and killed Toothless? Or if she killed Hiccup? She had looked a lot more angry than she had in the movie.

They reached the cove. Morgan hopped off. "I'll go get Toothless." She scampered under the nearest rock. Hopefully Astrid hadn't seen her already. That would be hard to explain. Unless there were giant white and blue squirrels on the island that Hiccup had failed to mention.

Toothless was napping on the other side of the cove. Morgan climbed up onto his neck and tapped his head. "Nap time's over."

Toothless shook his head, throwing Morgan off. You're early.

"Crap happened."

As Toothless stretched Morgan glanced over at Hiccup. Astrid was there, forcing Hiccup to back up as she interrogated him. Hiccup, to his credit, was trying to keep her facing away from Toothless. Unfortunately, Toothless finished stretching and saw her right as she threw Hiccup to the ground.

Well crap," Morgan muttered.

Toothless charged at Astrid. Hiccup managed to get to his feet just in time to shove Astrid out of the way. Toothless reared up, but Hiccup stood between him and Astrid. "Whoa whoa whoa. She's a friend."

And I'm a midget dragon, Toothless growled, but backed off a little.

Morgan got as close as she could without being noticed. Hopefully she wouldn't have to zap Toothless or anything. Or Astrid. That could get awkward.

"What is that?" Astrid said.

"Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid." Hiccup gave Toothless a warning look.

Toothless growled. Touch him again and I will rip your face off and feed it to you.

Astrid glared at both of them, then scrambled to her feet and ran off.

"Dun dun dun, we're dead," Hiccup said.

Toothless snorted and trotted off. Hiccup sighed as he closed the basket and shouldered it. "Welp, time to go."

"Wait, what?" Morgan said.

"We're leaving, remember?"

"So you're just going to let her run back to the village and tell everyone?"

"What else can I do?"

"Go after her!"

"Why?"

Morgan facepalmed. This was so much harder than it looked in the movie. "Because if she gets back there they might start hunting for you, and if they do manage to find you they might end up killing all of us. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to have an ally if you did manage to convince her."

"She won't listen to me."

"Then show her what it's like to fly."

"What if she doesn't like it?"

"She's an adrenaline junkie. She'll love it."

"A what?"

"She likes near-death situations. Are we going after her?"

Hiccup hesitated, then sighed. "Fine."

"Yes!" Morgan hopped up onto Toothless. "Let's get going, then."

This is possibly the most idiotic thing I have ever heard, Toothless said.

"You should hear my little brothers when they've had too much sugar."

Hiccup got on Toothless. "You have brothers?"

"Yep. Two of them. And five sisters."

"Sounds crazy."

"You have no idea."

Toothless took off. Astrid wasn't very hard to find, and they caught up to her in a couple of minutes. Toothless caught her by the arm just as she was jumping over a log and carried her, despite her screaming, to the top of a tall pine tree. Morgan said a quick prayer right before the Night Fury let go. Astrid managed to catch a branch before plummeting to her death, but almost fell again as Toothless landed on the tree and caused the top to bend almost parallel to the ground. Morgan moved to the other side of the saddle before Astrid could see her. Hiccup on a dragon was probably bad enough.

"Hiccup, get me down from here!" Astrid yelled.

"Just give me a chance to explain," Hiccup said.

Astrid tried to get her leg around the branch and nearly lost her hold again. "I'm not listening to anything you have to say!"

"Then I won't speak. Just let me show you." He held out his hand. "Please, Astrid."

Astrid glared at him before pulling herself up. She slapped away the hand he offered, causing Toothless to growl, and managed to get on behind Hiccup. "Now get me down."

Hiccup patted Toothless' neck. "Toothless, down. Gently."

Morgan had just enough time to wedge herself partly under the saddle before Toothless took off fast enough to give some people whiplash. They were over the ocean almost faster than Astrid could scream. Even Morgan started getting nervous. Then Toothless dived.

The screams were ripped from their mouths as they plummeted towards the waves. At the last second Toothless' wings snapped open, and they leveled out. The Night Fury then proceeded to splash around in the waves until, in desperation, Hiccup changed the tail fin position. Toothless shot upwards. After a bit of spinning he dived again and started going up and down. No matter what Hiccup did or said, Toothless refused to calm down. They went high, and Toothless started freefalling.

"Alright, I'm sorry!" Astrid said.

Morgan braced herself, but Toothless didn't stop. She said a silent prayer that Astrid wouldn't hear her before hitting Toothless. "She said she's sorry. And she's probably going to throw up if you don't stop."

Toothless growled, but spread his wings. Astrid yelped as they stopped falling.

"Now let's show her what flying's really about," Morgan whispered. "And no trolling."

Toothless sighed, but didn't go crazy again. Instead he went upwards, into the clouds. Astrid, who had hitherto been holding on to Hiccup for dear life, let go. They came out of the clouds. Tall columns of puffy whiteness rose up in front of them.

"Huh," Morgan muttered. "I didn't know clouds could do that."

They flew around them and through them. The sun started to set, tinting everything peach and crimson. Morgan had to cover her mouth to keep from squealing in delight. This was even better than flying on a giant eagle! When she glanced back Astrid had her arms around Hiccup, in a non-threatening manner for once, and Hiccup was bright red. As long as he didn't open his mouth anytime soon.

They flew for hours, until the stars came out. The auroras came out as well, nearly causing Morgan to squeal again. With a slight tilt of his wings Toothless turned, and soon they were flying over Berk. Morgan was busy staring at some tall rocks, carved to look like Vikings, and wondering who kept the fires in their mouths lit when she heard Astrid say, "This is amazing. He's amazing."

Toothless started making a purring sound. Morgan patted him.

"So what are you going to do?" Astrid said.

"I don't know," Hiccup said.

"Hiccup, your final test is tomorrow. You have to think of something."

Hiccup sighed. "I really don't know. Morgan?"

Morgan wriggled out from under the edge of the saddle and climbed up to the front. "What?"

Astrid let out a startled cry and jerked back, nearly falling off. "What is that?"

"I'm a Pachirisu," Morgan said. "My name's Morgan."

"So you're some type of weird—"

"Call me a squirrel and you've had it."

Astrid took a closer look. "What exactly is a Pachi… whatever?"

"A Pachirisu looks like me, obviously, and we can do things like climb and shoot lightning. But I'm not going to show you right now, because we're kind of up in the air and stuff."

"She's kind of been helping me out," Hiccup said. "So what do we do?"

Morgan scratched her head. "It's going to be pretty hard. I mean, ideally we'd manage to get everyone to see that killing dragons isn't a good idea, but that's going to take some work, and if—"

Toothless veered to one side, nearly throwing Morgan off.

"Toothless!" Hiccup said.

Toothless just shook his head and flew faster, away from Berk.

"Toothless, what's wrong?"

Morgan hunkered down and held on. "Whatever it is, I get the feeling we should be quiet."

They went into the clouds. Another sound started, a thrumming that got louder as they went on. Soon the source could be seen: dragons. Dozens of them, all flying the same direction. All of them were carrying either fish or livestock.

Hiccup put a hand on Toothless' head. "You gotta get us out of here."

Toothless shook his hand off and continued flying, ears twitching.

"I guess if you wanted to know where the dragons go, you're going to get your answer," Morgan muttered.

A Monstrous Nightmare came up next to them, carrying a whole cow in its claws. Which was funny, because Morgan didn't remember ever seeing cows on Berk. Maybe it came from somewhere else?

Look who finally deigned to come back, the Nightmare growled.

Toothless growled back. Shut up.

I guess even you can't escape the pull, huh? The mighty Night Fury, a slave just like the rest of us.

I told you to shut up.

The Nightmare eyed Hiccup and Astrid. You didn't actually make off with a couple of humans, did you?

And what if I did?

The Nightmare growled louder. They'll try even harder to kill us, you idiot.

Says the one that keeps taking their sheep.

Do you really think She'll like them?

What's sweeter than the flesh of your enemies?

Morgan gulped. This definitely hadn't happened in the movie, and she was starting to get nervous. How far was it to the nest?

Maybe you're right, the Nightmare said. Maybe I'll take one and offer it instead.

Toothless growled. Touch them and I'll rip your throat out.

You're all talk. I bet you were hiding from them this whole time.

Say one more thing, I dare you.

I think I'll let my actions speak for themselves.

The Nightmare dropped from view. Morgan looked around, but all the other dragons seemed to enthralled by the call or whatever to notice what was going on. Maybe it was based on willpower?

Toothless started moving around to make himself a harder target, but without the full use of his tail fin he was pretty limited, and Hiccup didn't seem to get what was going on. They started going through jagged rock formations. Morgan had just started relaxing when something hit them from below, and they began tumbling from the sky.

Hope it was worth at least a portion of the wait. Happy Holidays!