Hiccup took off running in the direction the dragon had flown. Sure, it had been two days, but maybe he was still out there.

He ducked into a small crevice and out onto a rock. He was in a cove with high, pale stone walls and a crystal clear pond-pool-thing. A single black scale sat on the ground. He's gone... "Well, this was stupid," he muttered.

Just then, a huge black shape blocked his view. "Woah!" Hiccup scrambled back as the Night Fury turned and slammed to the ground. He moved forward, grinning. He was still here...?!

The dragon growled and tries to climb the sheer walls of the cove, only succeeding in tiring himself out. In a last ditch attempt, he beat his wings furiously, frustrated and exhausted. He got into the air, but couldn't control himself.

He crashed again.

Hiccup started. My notebook! He snatched the charcoal stick from the spine and began to draw the Night Fury. It was a rough sketch, but it would do.

The dragon snarled at the walls and moved to the clear, blue pool, which took up quite a bit of room in the cove.

He snapped at the fish, but didn't catch one. Hiccup wondered if he even thought he could, when the dragon lifted his head out of the water.

The Night Fury looked... defeated.

"Why don't you just... fly away?" Hiccup whispered. Then he spotted the problem.

The Night Fury's tail was torn. There was only half of it. He looked down to his drawing and carefully erased the one half.

Then he dropped the charcoal stick.

He inhaled sharply as the dragon turned towards the sound and stared at him, unflinching and unafraid.

He stared right back.

~~~~

As Hiccup entered the Great Hall that night - after everybody else - he found them already eating, and Gobber already lecturing.

"Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?"

Hiccup honestly didn't care. He'd been caught out in the storm that was raging and he was soaked. To top it off, he was still just as miserable as when he'd first started dragon training.

He knew he was never going to be able to kill a dragon, not after meeting that Night Fury.

"I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble," Astrid was saying.

The others rolled their eyes and Ruffnut, sarcastic as always, added, "Yeah, we noticed."

Snotlout tried to hold her hand. "No, no, you were great! That was so 'Astrid'."

She scowled, and clearly had to restrain herself from slapping him.

"She's right. You have to be tough on yourselves," Gobber snapped, kind of to make a point, but mostly to shut them up.

Hiccup opened the door fully.

"Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber asked pointedly.

"He showed up," Ruffnut said.

"He didn't eat eaten," Tuffnut added.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and sat down at the empty table next to them.

"He's never where he should be," Astrid said.

"Thank you for your input, Astrid," Ember said. She stood up and whacked the twins in the back of the head as she walked over to sit with Hiccup.

"On that note, where did Ember go wrong?"

The twins didn't say anything for once, probably due to nursing what must've been a bruise under their hair.

"She didn't take any risks. She was too scared to do anything other than run out of the way."

"Guess again," she muttered. It was lost in a loud clap of thunder.

Gobber stood and slammed a heavy book onto the table. "You need to live and breath this stuff."

They all stared.

"The dragon manual." He patted it fondly. "Everything we know about every dragon we know of.

"No attacks tonight. Study up." He walked out into the storm, back to his nice, warm house.

Tuffnut stared after him like you've got to be kidding. "Wait, you mean read?"

Ruffnut looked scandalized. "While we're still alive?"

Snotlout looked outraged. "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?!"

Fishlegs was the only one at the table who looked even romotely excited. However, his expression was far from remote... more like, ecstatic. "Oh! I've read it like seven times! There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face! And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week..." He went on and on and the twins and Snotlout just stared.

"Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was gonna read it..." Tuffnut said.

"But now..." Ruffnut finished.

Snotlout stood up to leave. "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff," he said.

The four of them walked out of the Great Hall, Fishlegs still spouting random information. "Oh, and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees..." His voice was soon lost in the storm.

Astrid stared after them, an expression close to incredulity on her face.

Hiccup fidgeted nervously and then stood up. "So, I guess we'll share-"

"Read it." She pushed the book towards him and left.

"All mine then. Wow, so okay. I'll see you-"

The door slammed.

"-tomorrow." His face fell and he sighed.

Ember tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, uh... I should probably get back home... And I've already read the book a bajillion times, so... But, I'll see ya later, right?"

He nodded glumly.

"She'll come around. Until then, stop moping about. Get something done. Oh!" She reached into the bag she always carried with her and took out a small notebook. "Here. I took some notes. They might help."

He nodded again.

She walked out of the hall, but called back before she left. "See you tomorrow!"

Just then it occurred to him. "Wait. Help with what?!" he yelled, but she was long gone.

Hiccup sat down at the table and pulled the dragon manual in front of him. It was more than a little freaky, reading a book about dragons. By candlelight. Alone. In a huge room. While it's storming. At night.

Opening it to the first page, he began to read.

Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class.

He flipped to the first page, with a picture of a flatish dragon with a huge mouth decapitating Vikings.

Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at short range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.

He turned the page.

Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through fully grown trees. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.

The drawing for this dragon depicted a Timberjack flying over a forest. All the trees were missing their top.

The pictures began to look like they were moving, due to the candlelight flickering and dancing in the wind.

He turned the page.

Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous.

The storm outside only seemed to be getting  worse.

Changwing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight.

He began to flip through the pages faster.

Gronkle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chocks its victims. Turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight...

Then he got to the page he'd been looking for. "Night Fury..." he whispered to himself.

It was blank. No image. No information, except a couple tidbits that weren't helpful in the least.

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself...

"Speed; unknown. Size; unknown. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance is to hide and pray it doesn't find you."

Hiccup was pale as he placed his notebook, open to his drawing of the dragon, over the page.

~~~~

Ember shook her coppery hair out of her face, spraying droplets of water everywhere.

"I'm home!!" she yelled. Gobber probably didn't need the notice, but she didn't want him to worry.

After walking up to her bedroom, she reached into her bag and brought out her notebook.

She opened it- and swore.

It wasn't the right notebook. This was the notebook she'd written her "notes" in. This wasn't her dragon book.

She frantically emptied the bag.

Oh, no. No no no no no.

Where was it?!

She ran over to her desk. There weren't any drawings laying there.

She ran a hand through her hair.

She ran back downstairs and looked out the front door towards the Great Hall.

"Oh, Hiccup..." She looked stricken.

"I'm so sorry..."

~~~~

Hang on... He grabbed Ember's notebook from where it sat on the table.

He looked back at the dragon manual, a little confused. What did she write? This seems pretty to the point.

He opened it to the first page, titled Thunderdrum.

But... there wasn't any extra information. Just drawings.

Like his own, of the Night Fury. Except, she'd gone into detail.

There was the entire dragon, a close up of its wing, it's mouth and teeth, it's tail, every aspect of a dragon that could be dangerous or pertinent.

He frowned a bit. She wasn't vicious or brave or loud, like the rest. She didn't even go outside during the dragon raids.

How did she know all this?! These were dragons that he'd never seen before. And he was willing to leave the forge during dragon attacks.

How did she know about these dragons?! Where had she seen them?

Where has she found a dragon that would stay still for long enough to be drawn?

He looked back towards the front door, suspicious and confused.

Where had Ember seen these dragons?

"What aren't you telling me?" he muttered.

Then his eyes widened. Night Fury!!

He wrenched the little book open to the last page, titled Night Fury, just as he'd expected.

He let out a relieved sigh.

It was blank.

She didn't know about the dragon in the cove.

But could she?

~~~~

Alrighty!! There's another chapter for you!

How's everybody been?

I feel like I've been neglecting you, and my stories...
But I'm not!

For those of you who are reading Where We Belong, yes, I am working on the next chapter!

For those of you who are reading Any Other Way, I'm also working on that!

Just so you know I haven't forgotten!

I hope you're still enjoying this!!

~ Cinder