Author's Note: Okay first off, 600 followers! I now longer know how to adequately express my gratitude to you all, this is just incredible! I never thought I'd make it this far when I started this story! All I can say is thank you all and we continue to excel onward!

Back to the regular note

Okay, this little scene was originally supposed to be included in the previous chapter, but I felt that it would have just made it too long. So that is the reason this chapter is so short, and don't worry, we will get to see Stoick and Gobber again, but in the next chapter!

Also, I feel like there is an unspoken question among you guys, and it's: "When is Astrid going to bond with Stormfy?" To be honest, that's probably not going to happen. Now I know that in canon, that's the dragon she's bonded to, and it's not that I don't like the pair, it's just that this story led her on the path to bonding with the Monstrous Nightmare. I'm sorry if that upsets some of you, but that's what my story was telling me to do.

Speaking of the other characters: I know I said that this final book is Hiccup and Toothless centered—which it is—but I can assure you all that the other characters will get more 'screen time', for example, the next chapter is almost entirely revolving around Astrid. I have very specific storylines for each and every character I've implemented into this story, and that will mean longer, and more involved scenes with them in the future. Especially Valka and Stoick ;)

But if you still have any concerns about the story or something you don't understand, please, do not hesitate to voice them in the reviews or through p.m. I know I have a lot of plot lines to follow and wrap up, but I assure you I know where each is going. If you want me to, I can post a summary of the entire story to this point at the start of the next chapter. I just don't want anyone to feel lost as to where the story is currently and where it might be going.

A boy and his dragon—travelers under the stars. In each other is a place to rest sleep-laden eyes and to find solace against fear. They are there to catch each other when one falls, and to offer company that never grows stagnant or stale. I never used to believe that two separate entities could be halves of each other, but now I am not so certain.

—from "Eternal Brothers" by Astrid Hofferson

"Okay, what do we know as of now?" Hiccup asked. "Dagur's back up and preparing to move against us. What else?"

The lean frame of the twenty year old loomed over a long, ovular stone table that seated five other Berkians and an ex-trapper. Astrid and Ruffnut occupied two hand carved wooden chairs on one side, Fishlegs and Tuffnut directly across from them, Eret squeezed in between the two. On the very end of the table, directly across from Hiccup, sat the sullen faced Snotlout Jorgenson, eyes downcast and ignoring the conversation. Hiccup recalled how adamant the Berkian was about not attending this "pointless" meeting. Despite everyone's dreadful feelings about the boy's attendance, Hiccup thought he should be a part of this. The Berkian did live with them anyway!

"Take a look at this," Fishlegs piped up, pulling a tiny paper square, yellow with age, from a satchel and placing it on the table. With a graceful swipe of his plump hand it unraveled and grew larger, larger… It grew until nearly the entire stone surface was covered by its girth, corners of the paper draping off the curving table sides.

All the others leaned in for a closer look at the paper. They noticed that the seemingly single paper was actually a composition of many papers, all connected and overlapping each other.

Tuffnut, who had decided it necessary to stare at the map, only inches from it had his face smashed into it by his sister. He flew from the thing grasping his face and singing his pain as his sister snickered, and Fishlegs desperately soothed the spot on the map that had been impacted, like an injured limb.

Astrid rolled her eyes at the childish display. Not even a minute into the discussion and it was already falling apart. She fixed her gaze on the overweight Viking, asked: "What were you saying Fishlegs?"

"Umm-m-m-m… Oh yeah! The map!" He hovered over it, eyes narrowly questing. Suddenly his hand shot down like lightning, struck a place on the map.

Once again, they all leaned in to see the thing. Hiccup noticed the large finger pressed into a small, nearly invisible island at nearly the opposite end of the map that their Kingdom was.

Eret's eyes went wide with recognition as he blurted, "That's Trapper's island!"

All eyes flocked to the black haired man like hungry vultures to a half-eaten desert carcass.

"You know this place?" Hiccup asked.

He nodded vehemently, "How could I not? It was the place I called home for nearly ten years!"

"So you know this place in-and-out, then?" Fishlegs asked, barely able to contain his excitement.

"I do." He said. "But why is it so important all of a sudden? I mean I understand it's a critical faction for Drago."

"From the message we intercepted," Astrid said, "we learned that Dagur has been placed as head-trapper there and, to be blunt, he's preparing to attack us. He didn't mention how, but he did say it would be soon."

Hiccup nodded in silence. And when he rears his head at us, we'll retaliate with the force of a hundred Night Furies! That's a factor he can't expect.

A slamming of fists rang from down the table, Eret cursed under his breath.

"So he's coming for us or is Drago's entire army on its way?" Fishlegs asked once they were focused again.

"It doesn't say," Astrid said. "But an attack is an attack and we must prepare for the worst. It's what we'd do on Berk." Her voice lost some of its power as she mentioned her birthplace.

Hiccup found himself staring up at the high, grey ceiling. The dome-like arching was not a natural feature, he knew. The curve of the ceiling was too perfect and revealed small bumps where stalactites had been worn down by human hands. It had taken the help of some of the larger dragons to reach such a height, and not many of them—especially Drago's skittish rescues—particularly enjoyed having human boots pressing down on their heads...

If Night Furies could stand on each other's shoulders, it would take probably ten to reach that ceiling… He shook his head: I'm obsessed!

"What do you think, Hiccup?"

He snapped from his reverie, slouching form slamming back into the chair to stare alert at the speaker. Astrid waited with expectant eyes, as if she knew he hadn't been listening. Unfortunately for him, she was correct.

He still had to try to hide it though. "Umm-m-m, well it's certainly a problem!" he bluffed, pretending he'd been closely following the entire discussion. There! This whole meeting is about Dagur and Drago, therefore whatever I missed was most likely a problem, right?

Astrid just nodded, appearing surprised by the response.

Ah no! It was something other than Dagur and Drago wasn't it?

Out of his long silence, Tuffnut finally spoke up. "So Hiccup," he said, drawing all eyes on him as if he'd just entered the room, "you're saying we shouldn't go back to the Trapper's island?"

Ruffnut rolled her eyes at him from across the table. "You're such an idiot! He obviously meant the dragons shouldn't go there! If we don't take the dragons there, then Dagur can't take them, duh!"

Hiccup furrowed his brow at her logic, a response that was shared by his blonde-haired companion.

Astrid, trying her best to make sense of why the twins were here, asked the girl: "Ruffnut, if we don't travel there on dragons, how are we going to get there?"

Her response was quick: "We take a boat." The twin was so confident in her answer!

"I hate to say this," Eret interjected, "but if we travel there by boat, not only will it take an incredibly long time, but it'll also leave us in plain sight. They'll see us coming from a league away!"

Hiccup nodded. "Eret's right." He agreed. He still was desperately trying to figure out what the first options was. Curse him and his abominable fixation with dark scaled dragons of the night!

"I still think the first plan is preferable." Astrid said.

Hiccup bit his tongue, figuring now was as good a time as ever to catch up, regardless of how he appeared. He mustered up all the strength he had to appear innocent. "What was the first plan, again?" he asked, voice genuine.

From the opposite end of the table, Snotlout snorted. "Someone's been daydreaming," he said with comical disdain.

Astrid shot him a glare, said: "Now's not the time to act like a child."

The pig-faced boy responded with eyes fixed on the helmet in his lap. "Yeah, well, now's also the time to pay attention, especially when the one slacking off is the one who called the meeting in the first place!"

Astrid gritted her teeth, her only defense against releasing a torrent of anger on the contemptuous Viking.

Hiccup noticed this and the anger arising around the entire table, responded quickly: "This is a free council. You may speak your mind here. If something's bothering you, say it." He didn't even have to look at the girl to his right to know she disagreed with this. He just felt it.

The childish Berkian at the far end of the table remained silent—his eyes downcast and a smug smile plastered on his face.

Hiccup took a deep breath before glancing back to Astrid. "Care to remind me of the first offer?"

She nodded, trying hard to shift her eyes from the Berkian at the end of the table to look at him. "We fly in there, under the cover of night and take out their ships. If we trap Dagur on the island we might just put a stake into their plan. From what I gathered from the message, he's the one whose idea it was to attack us. Without him to lead it…" She shrugged. "Trying to execute a plan without its creator is like an apprentice attempting to be the teacher… Failure is inevitable."

She's right, Hiccup thought. But this is all too quick; we need the Night Furies before we even attempt an attack.

"This is all good," Hiccup said, "but I think we should wait and intercept another message before attacking. We don't know if Drago's on his way here. And if that's the case, we'll need to be prepared for him."

Fishlegs was first to speak up at this. "We can't wait too long, though." He said. "This could be the only chance we have to take Dagur out and cut off Drago's supply of dragons."

"Why doesn't someone go spy on him?" Tuffnut asked suddenly.

The room fell silent at this and everyone just exchanged glances.

Everyone seemed to agree with the male twin. Everyone except Hiccup, that is.

His auburn hair rustled as he quickly shifted to speak his concern. "It's too risky." He said. "Someone could easily discover you and… just…no."

"I don't know, Hiccup," Eret said. "It is a pretty good idea, and I do know that place in and out. And I know some of the men who work there."

"Doesn't matter," he said, "even you and your knowledge of that place won't be enough to protect you if you're discovered."

"Then I'll go with him!" Astrid volunteered—a little too eagerly. "I have skill in combat—both hand-to-hand and with a weapon! If there's trouble I'll be there to get him out."

"I don't need any help." Eret said confidently. "You don't know the island; you'd only slow me down."

"It's a small place, right?" she said. "It can't be that difficult to navigate. And who said I have to follow you anyway? I'm more then capable of holding my own."

"Size doesn't matter." He retorted. "There are traps riddled throughout that entire fortress. Traps—might I add—that are meant to stop dragons. One misstep and those things'll snap shut and sever your head."

"I'm well aware of what dragon traps look like, I used to construct and place them on Berk all the time."

"Oh, really? Then you, above all, should know how difficult it is to locate a trap that you haven't placed. And there are all different kinds, each with sizes varying from small to large."

"You make it sound like every open space is covered with traps. There must be walkways you people use!"

"You think to sneak in plain sight?" he asked in disbelief. "There are walls surrounding this entire place," he made a square around his head with his index finger. "There are men always patrolling it, watching for dragons—"

"Why would they be watching the inside, then? Their focus should be on the ocean."

"It is," he admitted. "However, they can see the pathways in the inner fortress and periodically they check—"

"Stop!" Hiccup shouted, glancing at both of them. "You two want to go to this place, yet you can't even agree with each other in the preparation stages."

"That's why I'm going alone." Eret said, staring at Astrid with finality.

"No-o-o," Hiccup said pointedly, "nobody's going... I'm sorry but I can't allow something that risky."

"We'll never accomplish anything if we don't take risks!" Eret protested.

"True." Hiccup said. "But nothing will be accomplished through foolish risks, either."

"Why do you get to make all the decisions?" Snotlout suddenly demanded, his turquoise pools reflecting deep resentment.

Hiccup stared at him for a moment in surprise before responding. "You live here, in my home. I don't restrict many things, but when it comes to the safety of the Kingdom and those that live here—"

"Give me a break," the brown-haired Viking snorted. "You just like to make us feel powerless!"

At his yelling, Toothless, who had been resting outside the door, perked up and peeked his head in to watch the conversation.

"Powerless?" Hiccup repeated with an incredulous breath. "When have I ever tried to make you feel that way?"

Snotlout barked a laugh, "The great Master of Dragons just has to have everything his way. It doesn't matter if he forces people to follow him!"

Hiccup shook his head, anger beginning to form, "I never forced you to follow me."

"Yes you did!" he snapped, surging out of his chair. "You got me exiled from my home!"

At the sudden movement, Astrid silently unsheathed a dagger, held it beside her lap. Snotlout was quickly becoming hysterical and could be dangerous as a result. Knowing his father…

Across the table, she noticed by the subtle tensing of Eret's right arm and the discreet alertness in his eyes, he was doing the same thing as her. He remained seated though, like her, but held his eyes on the male.

She also took note of the other Berkians' reactions to this. Fishlegs was submitting to his timid way and was downcast, avoiding eye contact with the Berkian. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were just expectantly glancing between Hiccup and Snotlout, waiting for one of them to say something. The twins seemed to be enjoying this, and Astrid feared they might provoke one of them.

Luckily, Hiccup spoke before one of the trouble-makers could say anything. "You're upset about what happened on your island, I know and I'm sorry, but you're not the only one who was affected by this. And it will be made right one day. Everyone on that island will see the fault in their ways." He gesture at the others all sitting calmly around the table.

For a moment, Snotlout looked like he was going to say something else, but his demeanor changed, he said: "And what would that be?" There was a trace of challenge in his tone and he betrayed anticipation through the faintest tugging of a smirk on the corners of his lips.

Hiccup noticed this, fought back a sudden shrill of anger. "You cannot deny that the dragons are capable of sympathy!" He reasoned.

"Maybe when you're with them. You treat them like they're the greatest creatures that exist! You obey them, feed them, you even build them a home—no, a Kingdom!" he shook his head in disgust, glancing at everyone at the table. "Nobody is fooled by your fake: 'Oh, dragons are our friends!' act." His voice rose an entire octave as he gave a rather unflattering impersonation of the auburn haired male. "As long as we keep the dragons happy they'll keep us around. Is that it? Is that your definition of friendship—something I have to pay for?"

At that moment a roar shook the length of the entire table, and a Night Fury was snarling by Hiccup's side. "Shut up, you revolting human!" he shouted. "If it wasn't for Hiccup, I'd kill you right here!"

Hiccup coaxed his companion to calm with a caressing hand, however he still couldn't help the disbelief at the Berkian's words shining in his eyes. "You couldn't be more wrong." He said. "The only thing you have to do for a dragon is gain his trust. Once you have that…there is nothing he won't do for you."

Snotlout snorted: "More like nothing he won't ask of you..."

Hiccup felt his own anger rising. He's a fool! How can he say these things when he hasn't even taken a chance to bond with a dragon? He obviously doesn't understand the first thing about one!

Astrid noticed the impact of Snotlout's words by the wrinkling of the lean Berkian's lips, placed a hand atop of his as his white knuckles pressed into the table top.

He stared at her, she said: "It's not worth it. He's just trying to make you angry."

He sighed at her words, dismissing his anger. She was right, he was being deliberately goaded into this anger, but there was something strange about his tone still. He wondered at it, but knew he had to continue with the meeting. So he stored his concern away for later pondering, spoke to the brown-haired Berkian with calm finality: "If you want to discuss this, we'll do it at a later time. Right now we have more important matters to talk about."

Snotlout didn't seem pleased by this, but sat anyway, throwing himself into his chair with a childish 'humph'.

Eret just shook his head in embarrassment of the Berkian's immaturity as the others tried to conceal theirs.

"Now," Hiccup said, clearing his throat, "we need to discuss how we're going to take down Drago and Dagur."

"I'll take care of Dagur!" Eret said quickly. "Him and I—we've a score to settle."

Hiccup perked with interest. "You hold rancor for him?"

"Let's just say I'll feel better after I've slipped my blade between his ribs."

Hiccup felt the burning resentment in the ex-trapper's tone, knew of the perils personal dispute carried. "I'd prefer we didn't kill them. Not if it can be avoided, anyway."

"Hiccup," Eret said, "I hate to tell you this but those two men—they're not just going to stroll willingly into confinement, let alone allow you to show them the true glory of dragons!"

Astrid smiled grimly. "He's right. I can't attest to Dagur, but Drago—from what I've seen of him... he's not going to change. He does what he does because he wants power, he doesn't care about friendship or loyalty."

Hiccup shook his head in frustration, "How can you all just make the decision for them? I gave you all a chance, and, as I remember, some of you were confident you'd never see things my way. But look at yourselves now!"

Everyone paused at this and considered his words. Even though he wasn't direct, a few permitted slightly guilty expressions but still seemed unwilling to outright abandon their opinions.

Hiccup spoke up again: "I'm not saying you're all wrong. Most likely, these men will not change. But we can't assume."

Astrid shook her head. "Bad deeds can't go unpunished." She said. "The evil Drago's committed, the lives he's taken and the countless more he's destroyed… There can be no forgiveness for that beast!"

Hiccup frowned at her statement. He feared that perhaps he was truly the only one who cared if others perceived the dragons the way he did. This was saddening.

"I say," Tuffnut piped up dramatically, "we throw him in the Dragon Pit and let them tear him apart limb-from-limb!"

"Yeah," his sister chimed, "then he'll see that the dragons don't obey him and that they can annihilate him in painful glory!"

He felt his sadness grow. That's the image of dragons he was trying to disprove. They were so much more than mindless killing creatures!

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Snotlout asked with a devious smirk: "Fishlegs, what do you think about this?"

The portly Berkian's eyes went wide as he tried to swallow in a suddenly dry throat. All eyes were upon him and he felt as if they were waiting to predatorily strike him upon the first sign of weakness.

Trying to not anger anyone, he said: "I—I don't know."

A wave of fury swept over Hiccup as he noticed the way the others preyed on his timid nature through expectant stares. It wasn't exactly their faults, it was just a natural thing to do when people wanted an appeal to their opinions and it all lied on one undecided person… Still though, he couldn't help the anger he felt as he witness them all subtly ganging up on him.

He was about to say something to the group, but realized that he was just doing the same thing as everyone else—trying to sway the Berkian's opinion. So he just remained silent and allowed it to play out.

Fishlegs spoke after a moment: "Well… Drago's pretty evil and, like Astrid said, doesn't care about reason..."

Hiccup sighed grimly. Whatever true opinion the boy had, had surely fallen prey to the masses. It was just the unfortunate way of things.

He realized, at this moment, that he was in a sour mood and that the meeting had tired him considerably. Once I set off for the Night Furies, I'll feel better. He assured himself. I just have to power through this…

What seemed like hours to Hiccup, passed by as the meeting continued in its slackened pace. Hiccup was bored out of his mind, falling in and out of focus as they (mostly Astrid and Eret) discussed tactics, back-up plans, decisions, and a whole bunch of other tedious things that, to him, seemed so insignificant he wanted to groan every time they were brought up.

He glanced around the table, shivering as he felt a cold draft bristle his shoulders. He knew he shouldn't have found it amusing, but he could help but smile as he saw that both twins were unconscious. Tuffnut's mouth was perched open at an angle that appeared disgusted but too tired to care, as his face was pressed sideways on the table, facing him. Ruffnut, who at least had the decency to lean back in her chair, looked like a corpse, propped up-right beside Astrid. Unlike her brother, her mouth was sealed shut and her face betrayed no emotion.

He felt the draft again, shivered. Of course he had to sit with his back to the door! If it weren't for the dragons and their destructive panic he'd have curtains installed! He stopped, realizing how stupid that thought was. If it weren't for the dragons, he would be living here!

I just want to go searching for the Night Furies! As childish as the impatient thought was, he found himself not regretting it in the least bit. He was about to discover the dragons he had been endlessly searching for since he'd discovered Toothless twelve years ago, and the only thing in its way was this now-boring meeting.

Astrid and Eret continued to talk with an occasional interjection from Fishlegs. Was that all they did before they lived here?

He felt his fingers betray boredom as they tapped soundlessly on the stone surface of the table. He stopped, shivering as he felt yet another draft.

Stupid cold! Why do you have to bother me?

He sighed silently, leaning back in his chair as he heard the single, joyous phrase that made him leap back up.

"Okay," Astrid said. "I think we're done here… you don't need to look so relieved, Hiccup."

He felt embarrassment burn in his cheeks at her discovery. "Sorry. I'm just…tired."

"And bored?" she playfully questioned.

"Only slightly," he admitted with a slight spark of nervous guilt.

They both turned as the twins, now awake, began a childish squabble over something neither cared to know about.

Astrid just rolled her eyes glancing back to Hiccup. "So…" she said as if trying to create a whole conversation on that one word.

"So…" he responded lamely.

Awkward silence fell over them.

Hiccup scratched the back of his head to occupy himself.

She spoke up. "I never really had the chance to ask, but… How was your trip?"

"Good! It was good…managed to find a bunch of Changewings," he laughed awkwardly. "No Night Furies though..."

"Any sign of them?"

"Nope…no, just the same old nothing."

She nodded; that horrible silence resuming.

Unable to bear the silence any longer, he said: "Well, I'd better get going!"

This jolted surprise into her features, "Get going? Where?"

He froze, mentally punching himself. Hold on! Hold on! She didn't know yet! "Oh, y'know…just…out." He mentally applauded himself for his astounding ability to forge words.

Astrid arched a brow, her arms crossing. "Hiccup?" Her voice managed to accuse him while questioning him at the same time. It was like a machine that pressed the answer right out of his mouth and it left him feeling violated.

"What?" he defended. "I'm just leaving…" at her unconvinced look, he sighed in annoyance, "Ugh, I shouldn't have said anything!"

She smiled slyly. It was the kind of taunting smile that said, 'I'm going to play with you before I kill you.' She had him in a trap—one that no amount of lying could get him out of. Not that he was a good liar anyway…

He fidgeted under the irresistible gaze before his restraint snapped. "Oh, come on Astrid! You know this is what's best for us!"

He didn't even have to state where it was he was going or why, she just knew. Her smirk unwavering, she said: "You're going to break your mother's heart."

"I know," he said guiltily, "but I have no choice. If Drago's preparing to attack us we're going to need all the strength we can get. And besides, I know where the Night Furies are now; north! Can you believe it?!" the level of excitement in his voice seemed like it should have belonged in a body much larger than his.

"I assume you're going alone?" she asked already knowing the answer.

"It's best this way! You know that. These Night Furies are extremely protective—"

She cut him off with a snort, glancing at Toothless who was watching them from the doorway. "That's an understatement!"

"Listen," he said, softer now. "Night Furies…they don't particularly like other dragons. If you show up there with your Nightmare…" he shrugged.

She sighed knowingly, "I understand… And I doubt we'd be able to fend them off anyway. And if we somehow managed to do that we'd still accomplish nothing."

He nodded grimly, "There's only a small margin of success. And if we fail this, we fail everything."

She suddenly became angry. "Can't these Night Furies see the threat Drago is to them? Do they want to die? I mean you'd think that the most intelligent specie of dragons would at least have some common sense!"

Toothless perked up at her insult, glared venomously at her. "At least we don't allow our stupidity to get us captured! Humans," he laughed bitterly. "Hiccup's the only smart one."

Hiccup sent the dragon a glare, focused on Astrid who was smirking victoriously at the dragon's anger. Even though she couldn't understand the reptile, she knew by the low responsive growl he understood her words completely and was angered by them.

"Everything will be solved when I find them and talk to them." he assured.

"When is everything truly solved?" she asked rhetorically.

He sighed, "Okay, maybe I won't be able to solve everything, but I know I can at least get them to help us fight Drago. They might be stubborn, but they're gonna want to survive as much as every other dragon does."

She stared at him, her mind analyzing this. "I sure hope you're right. This Kingdom won't survive without you." There was fear in her tone—subtle, but there nonetheless.

He smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry! Once this is all over with and the Night Furies are here, we'll have a clear shot at defeating Drago! And maybe we'll even get you to name that Nightmare of yours!"

She smirked, "You know why I haven't named him." she said.

He nodded, a yawn escaping. "Well, I'd better get packing!" he said, nodding for Toothless to come over. The dragon was more than eager, knowing what was about to transpire.

"All right then," Astrid said. It came out in such an odd way that it made Hiccup a bit suspicious.

He ignored it for now, though, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before bounding off with Toothless.

She watched them, silently, a thought permeating her mind. He'll be off searching for the Night Furies by dawn, and, even though he doesn't want me to, I'll be off to Trapper's island...it's for the best. He may know a lot about dragons, but I know more about war—and how to win it.

Next chapter will be much longer and will be much different from any chapter in this story. You guys should enjoy it :) but first it must go the the Hell that is the editing process.

Btw, do you guys prefer longer or shorter chapters?

See you next time!