Chapter 16 : Irregularity

-EoT-

Astrid Hofferson PoR (Point of Reference)

The female warrior glared at the black demon. Lightning and Death itself stared back, inquisitively, its paws crossed like in a drawing of a cat Astrid had once glimpsed in a book Fishlegs had bought from Trader Johann. She sat a good dozen paces away, by the water's edge.

Almost an hour had passed since Hiccup had left to "build Toothless a new tailfin." Astrid wondered if he was serious, or just buying time to mess with the village. Nonetheless, she was honorable even if he wasn't, so she was still here.

The dragon sunned itself near some rocks, its wings spread wide, despite sitting upright. He watched her with large, green orbs. His eyes were the same shade as Hiccup's.

Both of them had given up on remaining tense in the other's presence.

The quiet chirping of birds and buzzing of insects finally got to Astrid. Unable to resist any longer, she acknowledged the Night Fury and tried to broach a conversation. "So how'd you do it?"

Toothless cocked his head at her. She imagined putting an ax in the middle of that stupid spade-shaped face but cringed when her mind replaced the black scales around the eyes with pink, freckled flesh.

For some reason, she kept flashing back to Hiccup's own knife embedded in his chest. It just… it wasn't the same as considering fighting the mindless dragons. Hiccup was Hiccup, even if he was a traitor.

Hiccup was a person. And now here she was acknowledging a dragon as worthy of speaking to, as a person.

"Shut up! Forget I said anything!" Astrid snapped, leaping to her feet and walking off around the lake.

The dragon, made lethargic by the sun, dropped his head on his paws.

"Gods. Why did I go ahead of everybody? Why was I so stupid?! Why couldn't I have let Stoick go first? Let the chief deal with all this?" Astrid worried her bangs, rubbing her hair back and forth in her fingers. She was maybe halfway around the lake now, just strolling.

Across the lake, Toothless rolled onto his back and spread his wings out on the ground, groaning with relaxation.

Astrid flinched. What was she doing, making a deal with the traitor? She should've kept fighting, kept trying to convince the village. One of these times somebody could restrain Hiccup. If the rest of the village could subdue the Night Fury, get just a couple more people in the loop…

But no. She'd struck that deal, out of exasperation and exhaustion, anger and apathy. She was a warrior of honor. She couldn't go back on her word now.

Kicking a rock into the water, she stomped the rest of the way around the lake and gave the sunbathing dragon a fierce glare from a few steps away.

The dragon stared back, clearly annoyed but not enough to go through the effort of killing her and restarting time.

"I don't get you. What's your goal? Your endgame? Why Hiccup, anyway?"

Toothless gave her a long, slow blink.

"Ugh!" Astrid threw up her hands and stormed back to the water's edge. "The Hel am I doing now?!" She sat back in the same place she'd been, now facing the water. It wasn't like it mattered if the dragon killed her. "I did it again, assuming dragons would have goals and endgames."

Insects buzzed. Birds chirped. Astrid clutched her forehead.

"Gods. Is this what the time loop does? Mess with your mind? Am I going crazy?" Astrid blinked. If she was going crazy, there was a sure sign. She was talking to herself!

She shot to her feet for another lap around the lake. If Hiccup didn't get back soon, she was going to kill him when he did.

Overhead, the sun reached the peak of its arc and began to descend.

-EoT-

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third PoR (Point of Reference)

"Would you STOP THAT!"

Hiccup stumbled, looking up. The shout had come from where he was going, the cove. Why was Astrid-

"Gods, I SWEAR I'll swim out into that lake and find my ax if you don't- I know you're there, so CUT IT OUT!"

Hiccup ducked into the crevice, scrambling down over the rocks to get into the cove. As he emerged from the other side, he spotted Astrid and Toothless.

"STOP IT! Gods you stupid, fire-breathing scaly fish-gobbling-"

Astrid spun around, swiping at the air behind herself with an empty hand. At the same time, Toothless leaped around to the space that was now behind her, his tail wagging and his tongue lolling.

"You're getting on my NERVES!" The Viking warrior roared, "Hiccup better get here soon, or I'll-"

Hiccup rushed past Toothless and grabbed Astrid's hands, abandoning the tail and saddle. "Astrid! Astrid, calm down. I'm here!"

"Finally!" Astrid noticed Hiccup's grip on her arms. "Let go of me!" she snapped, pulling her wrists free. "Gods I want this to be over with. What in Hel's name is your dragon even doing?!"

Hiccup looked up. Toothless was still wagging his tail in the air, though his mouth… "Toothless! Put that down!"

Toothless warbled through the mouthful of saddle and fin he'd picked up. The whole bundle was in his jaws. The dragon was practically bouncing, holding it just a few paces away.

"Toothless," Hiccup said, "Down." The scrawny Viking took a step toward the Night Fury.

The dragon took a step back, wagging his tail.

"Tooth-"

Toothless took off, racing around the cove's lake, then stopping on the far side.

"Hiccup, what is going on with him?! Why is he suddenly not listening to you?" Astrid advanced on him, "Should I be going back to the village now?"

"No, no!" Hiccup said, trying to defuse Astrid. "He's just… I don't know! He's…" He looked at his friendly dragon, trying to figure out what the reptile was thinking. His back wasn't arched, so he wasn't hunting. His eyes were big and round, so he wasn't threatened. He was happy... "He's playing!"

"... Playing?" Astrid asked, incredulous.

"Yeah! Come on, I think it's keep-away or tag. Or both! You go that way, I'll go this way." Hiccup began to jog one way around the lake.

"Hiccup, dragons don't play! They fight! And hunt!"

"Not Toothless!" Hiccup shouted back, remembering the play fighting and keep-away he'd done with the dragon several lives ago, before the stress of the time loop got to him.

"This is insane!" Astrid shouted, remaining in place.

Toothless barked happily, dropping the saddle and dodging away to keep himself on the farthest point of the lake from both Astrid and Hiccup. Slowly, Hiccup drove the Night Fury closer to Astrid.

"Try to grab him!" Hiccup said.

"What if he tries to kill me?!"

"He won't!"

-EoT-

An hour later, Hiccup hung tangled in the straps of the saddle, wondering how going along with Toothless' playfulness could possibly have seemed like a good idea. Astrid, lying halfway crushed beneath Toothless, groaned.

"So maybe dragons aren't terribly good at play fighting with multiple people…" Hiccup mumbled.

Astrid struggled to untangle her arm from one of the straps, then gave up and let it hang. "It was your idea to try to get the saddle on!"

Toothless, as tangled in the saddle and tail as both of the humans, moaned.

"It worked last time!" Hiccup trailed off, "... when the saddle had buckles."

"Oh, great," Astrid said, "So what now?"

"What now, what now?" Hiccup asked.

"Oh don't you what now me!" Astrid snapped.

"Gee, sorry. I just… don't get what you mean."

"What do we do now!"

"Get untangled, right?"

"After that."

Hiccup wilted.

"You better not think this changes anything."

"Astrid…"

"Oh, now you're going to tell me something about dragons being amazing, gentle creatures. And?" Hiccup felt Astrid trying to drag her leg out from under Toothless, to no avail. "They're still raiding us. They're still stealing our food. They're still a threat!"

Hiccup hung his head. Toothless, on the other hand, perked up. "Look, Astrid… There has to be some other way. You've met Toothless now, non-violently. Surely you can see that-"

Toothless stood up, shaking himself down. Astrid's arm slipped free and she fell to the ground as the saddle slipped into its proper place.

"H- Hey, Toothless. Bud, what's up?" Hiccup asked, freeing himself from the metal ring that allowed for proper control of the tail and finishing up the strap-work there.

The Night Fury looked to the sky, tensing his legs. Hiccup recognized the action from all the dragon's leaps, bounds, and launches.

"Bud, where are you going? What-"

Hiccup noticed Toothless' bound just in time to grab ahold of the strapwork. Astrid, in front of the dragon's wing, was swept up and forced to grab onto the saddle or risk plummeting a dozen feet into the cove's lake.

"HICCUP, WHAT THE HEL!" Astrid screamed.

Toothless, predictably, began to bank due to his bad tailfin. Desperately, Hiccup grabbed onto one of the ropes running the circumference of the metal ring and pulled, extending the tailfin.

"GET US DOWN! HICCUP!"

The bank corrected. Toothless continued to climb, shooting up out of the cove. Astrid clambered to a sitting position on his back. Hiccup dangled from the strapping.

"HIIIICUUUP!" Astrid screamed, furious and terrified.

"I don't know what he's doing, Astrid!" Hiccup shouted back, "He normally gives me more warning!"

"You mean this happens REGULARLY?!" Astrid exploded.

Trees swept past beneath them, almost close enough for Hiccup's dangling legs to kick. He didn't, instead trying to pull his legs up to get a foot onto Toothless' leg. "Not regularly! But-" He paused, struggling to climb a little higher. "Often? I mean, whenever it's safe for him to fly he likes to-"

The trees ended and, just as suddenly, so did gravity. Hiccup drifted upward until he was hovering just next to Astrid as Toothless plummeted.

"HIIIICUUUP!"

As suddenly as it disappeared, gravity returned. Toothless' wings shot out, immediately halting their fall just above the ocean. Hiccup slammed down onto the dragon's back, several of the Night Fury's spine fins jabbing him in the chest. None of them left any lasting harm.

The prosthetic tailfin faltered. Hiccup reached down past Astrid's leg, adjusting the pedal with his hand from his awkward position on Toothless' back. The fin snapped open again, and their flight corrected.

"Where are we going?!" Astrid demanded.

Toothless began to turn on his own. Hiccup pushed the pedal until the tailfin responded. "I don't know! We've never gotten off Berk before!"

"WHAT?!" Astrid shouted, "And you're just going along with this?!"

"Well…"

"Turn us around!"

Toothless settled on a course - west-northwest away from Berk.

"Astrid-"

"Turn us AROUND!" Astrid shouted, stomping on the pedal. Hiccup clutched his bruised hand, letting go of the pedal. Toothless' flight began to deteriorate.

"Astrid!" Hiccup pulled himself into a sitting position in the saddle, behind Astrid. He pushed her foot away, getting his into position in the pedal and restoring the prosthetic fin. "Stop, okay? Calm down! Just look around!"

"Hiccup, I-"

"Shh!"

Astrid stopped talking. Hiccup pointed past her, at the sunset sky awash with color, the way it reflected off the waves. He swept his arm out, indicating all the water around them just a short drop away.

"Look at this! Isn't this incredible?"

"I…" Words failed her. Hiccup could tell that she really didn't know what to say. For once, one of his points was really hitting home.

"Think about it," Hiccup said as they shot across the water at - for a watercraft - unimaginable speeds. "With Vikings on the backs of dragons… just look at this!"

They flew silently for an indeterminate period of time, Toothless flapping occasionally to maintain speed and altitude. As they watched, the sun set. The sky morphed through a bounty of hues - blues to purples, yellows to oranges. Eventually, the sun dropped entirely below the horizon and the sky became dark.

"Look there!" Astrid said suddenly, pointing to their right. In the darkening sky, a sheet of color wavered across the stars, "By the Gods…"

"This is amazing!" Hiccup said.

"This… this is amazing," Astrid agreed. "He's amazing."

Hiccup grinned as Astrid went to pat Toothless on the ear. When the dragon smacked her hand away, he became more concerned. "Toothless, come on! She's just-"

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted.

The scrawny Viking looked up over Astrid's shoulder. Ahead of them lay a wall of fog, as solid as the night sky was clear.

"We're headed right for it!"

Hiccup wrapped his foot around Astrid's, reaching the pedal over her leg. Pulling in his other leg, he clambered over her to get seated on the front of the saddle.

"What is he doing?"

"I don't know," Hiccup said, worry rising. He settled into the front, getting a solid grip on the saddle. "Hold on."

Still traveling unimaginably fast for any kind of boat, the Night Fury and its riders shot into the fog.

-EoT-

A/N:

Sorry about breaking the previously unbroken Hiccup perspective. I thought some Astrid and Toothless conversations would be priceless.