New chapter! Yay! Sorry this is later than I said it would be. Fanfiction has been annoying me and I think if it weren't for the fact that I do nothing else, I would take a break from even reading. Instead I'll ask you if you all would mind if I ranted every now then about stupid things people do. Also if you could recommend any good ones from any genre? That'd be cool.

About this chapter. Easily the longest one. Did some POV changes because it really expands character. It was hard to right though because I don't really do lots of dialogue which is what makes up the majority of this scene and keeping Hiccup in character while angry is hard. You don't really ever see him angry. Still I had an epiphany and I now know how this story will end. It's just a matter of getting there now.

Disclaimer: I'd never be able to come with something like HTTYD. Love the show though.

So maybe she had been a bit mean but Astrid didn't think that she had been any worse than usual to Hiccup. Raising her axe, she took aim at her training tree near her house. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was what had caused his melt down. She frowned and threw. Her aim was off. She was off and she knew why.

Astrid didn't want to admit it but she had been watching Hiccup today. That by itself wasn't really strange. They had been friends once, when they were young, but that had ceased once she had reached the age where she began noticing how different Hiccup was, and not the good kind. He stuck out like a nail, never just doing what he was supposed. Astrid wanted to be different but she wanted to be the best like her father would have wanted her to be. She wouldn't allow anything or anyone to get in the way of that.

Still, they might not be friends now but Astrid could still tell when something was up with Hiccup. When he walked into the ring without his usual sarcastic comments, it was an immediate red flag. She then proceeded to watch as he destroyed all her previous conceptions.

Hiccup wasn't spineless. Astrid would never admit it but, she admired his willingness to keep trying to be something he wasn't. She would never have been able to face the fact that she just wasn't cut out for what she wanted. Thankfully, Vikinghood came to her almost like breathing in a woolen sweater. Sure, there was some chafing every now and then but for the most part, she was fine.

The point was she knew Hiccup was brave. But he didn't rush directly into the path of a dragon's fire, at least not without one of his machines. And that slide! It was almost beautiful how he had coasted along the ground to keep the twins from getting their heads blown off. The look on his face had been wild and fierce. It was only accented by what he had yelled at Snotlout.

"Pay attention and get your act together or, Odin help me, a raging dragon won't be the only trouble you'll have on your hands!"

Hiccup had threatened Snotlout. Hiccup!

Honestly, it rankled how much he had improved. Astrid wasn't even sure she could have pulled it off some of the stuff he had done today. But that wasn't why she had said what she did. She wasn't that petty.

It wasn't even that big a deal. Just a joke, a tease, like he had tried before. Nobody dies in the Kill Ring, at least not without one of the gods out to get them. And he should have been able to defend himself! With the amount he'd been showing off, it was ok to assume that, right? Astrid nodded to herself. It wasn't a big deal.

So why could she still feel his hurt stare on her back?

Oh man, his noes! His beautiful noes! Snotlout was sure it would never be the same and all because his runt of a cousin just had to pick today of all days to snap. What in the nine realms had he done to deserve this?

Ok so maybe that last comment was a little bit uncalled for, but Hiccup was showing him up, and flirting with Astrid! It only made sense for him, being an alpha male, to show the runt how things worked. Besides, if he was going to be chief someday, he'd have to get used to asserting dominance.

Today was the day that he was supposed to debut. It was the beginning of his Viking career. He could see it now. He would single handedly subdue every dragon in the ring with the sheer force of his mighty personality, killing the Monstrous Nightmare with a single blow before the whole village. Chief Stoic would be so impressed that he'd name him his heir and chief-to-be, then Astrid, unable to resist him any longer, would finally kiss him passionately and agree to be his girlfriend.

Nowhere in it was there a Hiccup. He couldn't just come up in here and suddenly be, and Snotlout shuddered to admit it, better than Astrid! He even got a comment out of her that wasn't punctuated with a fist!

Not to mention the fact that he distracted Snotlout from laying the beat down he was obviously going to give to that Gronkle. He didn't need anyone making him look bad before the Elder because he'd worked too hard to have her not pick him to fight the Nightmare. Snotlout didn't want to even consider that possibility. He'd never be able to impress the Chief. And if he couldn't impress the chief he wouldn't get to have his kiss with Astrid or, more importantly, become next in line!

Snotlout wasn't sure who he even was without that.

Hiccup frowned. It was going to be a long night.

It had started storming on his way back and the boy had had nothing to protect himself from the rain. Needless to say, he was soaked by the time he made it to the Mess Hall. He gathered his food and began to head towards Gobber and his class.

It was tradition for all of the Viking teens going through Dragon Training together to gather and discuss the day's lesson over dinner. Looking at the expressions of Snotlout and Tuffnut though, Hiccup didn't want to even bother trying to find a seat at their table. Instead he sat at the nearest round one and hoped futilely that he'd be left in peace.

"Now that you're all here, we can finish this up!" Gobber's voice echoed in the empty hall.

"Class, where did Astrid go wrong?"

Astrid was quick to answer. "My somersault was sloppy and it through off my reverse tumble."

She'd no doubt spent much of the day contemplating how she'd done in the ring. Just hearing her voice made Hiccup's hold on his drumstick tighten.

Ruffnut clearly did not care and made sure that they all knew it with a sarcastic, "We noticed."

"No, you did great", Snotlout replied. "It was so—Astrid."

Hiccup couldn't help the small snort that escaped him there. Gobber, hearing it and finally noticing him sitting there, called attention to Hiccup.

"Oh? Do you have something to add, Hiccup?"

He could have just let the opportunity slip but, instead Hiccup through cautioned to the wind and replied, with an odd smile, "Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention to Astrid. To busy fending off the dragon she ran from, you know?"

All other noises ended except for the soft shhp of several heads turning to stare. Hiccup very deliberately ignored the shocked faces and returned to eating. Of course, he knew implying that a Viking would run from danger, was tantamount to spitting on them. This is not to say that Vikings never ran from dragons, they just found a better way of saying it usually. No self-respecting Viking would ever allow someone to call them a coward. Hiccup wasn't in a gracious mood, though.

Astrid's face was pinking a bit with anger. Hiccup knew how much she probably wanted to strangle him right then and could not be more pleased that fighting was usually forbidden in the Mess Hall. His smile grew a little bit sharper.

Gobber, sensing the tension decided to try to hurry things up. He honestly regretted leaving Hiccup to the end, now.

"Well, uh, where did Hiccup go wrong today?" He winced a little at his faltering tone.

"He showed up?"

"He didn't get eaten?"

Astrid looked him dead in the eyes and shot, "He's never where he should be."

Love you, too Astrid. Hiccup had had enough. If he hadn't seen the look in Astrid's eyes he might have just brushed it off as her being her usual cold self. Her eyes, however, spoke differently.

He glared right back at Astrid and said, "Was that supposed to be some kind of veiled way of saying I shouldn't be training with you? That I shouldn't even be bothering?"

He pressed his hands against his table and lifted himself up. "Since we're talking about mistakes lets discuss some of all of our mistakes today," he said as he stalked like tiger towards the other table.

Snotlout's face had taken a slightly constipated look as his anger overwhelmed him.

"You can't talk to Astrid like that!" It was, Hiccup supposed, sort of sweet that Snotlout felt the need to defend her. Astrid clearly didn't care though and all it really did was draw Hiccup's wrath onto him.

"Snotlout, you almost got hit by a flaming ball of death today. Or were you to love-struck to notice?" He'd crossed Snotlout's anger threshold with that bribe. In fact, he could almost feel the heat coming off him from across the table.

Snotlout's hands fisted in rage and, committed to laying a few good ones into Hiccup's face, began lifting himself off the bench.

"Listen here you little—"

The slam of Hiccup's foot against the table leg cut him off and with his eyes drawn to the noise, he only barely registered the soft tap of his own chicken leg against his Adam's apple.

The room was quiet as he stared down into Hiccup's unnervingly green eyes and softly gulped, feeling his throat tighten right where Hiccup held the poultry piece.

"You could have been dead if this had been a knife." Hiccup's voice was soft and deceivingly gentle.

"You would have died and all because you can't keep your eyes where they need to be. You're too easily distracted and it'll get you killed." He let the chicken drop and backed up. Snotlout collapsed back into his chair, wide eyes staring forward absently.

Hiccup turned to look at the twins and thought back to the arena. All the possible mishaps that could have occurred were making his stomach churn anxiously.

"All you two ever do is fight each other, even when there's a dragon right in front of you. That shield you wanted so desperately could've caused the fire to scatter all over both of you." For once the twins were interested in Hiccup. They stared at him as he continued.

"You would've lost the use of your hands but, hey, at least the bickering would've ended. Can't punch each other with burnt hands now can you?" Hiccup kind of liked the darker turn his humor had taken. It helped accent the point he was trying making.

He honestly thought that they'd make a great tag team once they got over their issues. It was a shame to let such potential waste away, when it could be put to use protecting the village. In fact his whole class was an undiscovered goldmine of talent.

The boy turned and faced Fishlegs this time. He could hear the soft stuttered breath and almost felt bad for the nervous boy.

"Fishlegs, you know everything about dragons. But you can't use any of it because you're more timid than a Terror in the face of Mildew!" Hiccup, said then in exasperation tossed his arms up.

"Look at you. You're heavier than a sow pregnant with twins. There's no reason for you not to be able to crush a dragon's head with your bare hands. Grow a backbone!"

He'd never be the most violent Viking but Hiccup swore that he'd at least get Fishlegs to stand up for himself. Even if meant making him cry.

The room was thick with tension that Hiccup only now truly acknowledged. You could tell by the way Gobber fidgeted that, he wanted to interfere, yet something held him back.

Hiccup had just been riding the flows of frustration for the past ten minutes, but now that he'd finally reached the one who had set him off, looked into her stone face, he felt oddly calm. No, cold and steely.

Hiccup was a sharpened blade aimed right for Astrid's heart. There would be no mercy, just an assassin's precision as he slid his knife into the gap between two ribs, parting flesh like butter.

"You're selfish." He stared right into her eyes, and felt a little bit of pity. "You pretend like you're fighting for your village and you're family, and maybe you even believe it, but all you really care about is being the best."

Astrid stood up then, her face snarling, impassioned. "Shut up!" but Hiccup had already started and he didn't like to leave thing unfinished.

"That's all it is for you, a competition to reach the top only you've never had any real challenge. No one to share the burdens of climbing peaks with you. And you don't know what to do now that there is someone."

"Shut up!"

"But I'm not going to be that rival for you, Astrid." Red-brown hair twisting as he shook his head. "This isn't a game anymore."

"My father died fighting those bastards. This is war and you think I don't know that—," Blond hair that had once looked so lustrous, now hung like scattered hay around Astrid's face. The brown freckles he'd thought of as the sun's kisses clashed painfully with her red cheeks. Hiccup looked at her with new eyes, analyzed the round contours of his crush, and was struck with a certain amount of sickness, like he'd loved something he shouldn't have.

"No, you don't. You haven't shown it." Hiccup knew she was only minutes away from throttling him but he was done.

"You can't just drop this you, you—Ugh!" Astrid screamed.

Without looking back, he got up to his feet and slowly began the walk to the door, only to be halted by the clearing of Gobber's throat.

"Wait, Hiccup," He said gravely. "You've forgotten your own mistakes."

Hiccup turned his head slightly and Gobber suddenly noticed thin black scale earing he now wore, glistening in it the candlelight.

"My mistake?" he asked softly then replied, "Trusting children to have my back," and kept walking out the doors and into the storm.