"I'm telling you! He's the worst!" I was walking with Astrid towards the training arena, to practice fighting with our weapons. I was telling her about Snotlout's latest attempt to flirt with me, which had been the previous night, and it had really gotten on my nerves "I don't know what to do to make him understand I'm not into him!" at least Tuffnut had stopped trying when he realized I wasn't interested, thanks the gods, or I would have lost my mind.

"Maybe you should tell him why" replied my friend, making me frown.

"What does that mean?" I asked confused.

"Well, we both know you are not into him because you have a crush on Hiccup" even if it weren't like that, I wouldn't be interested in him "So, maybe, telling him that would make him back off, or, at least, stop trying " I immediately rejected that idea. No way.

"That's not an option" I said, shaking my head.

"Why not? You told me, didn't you?"

"I didn't tell you" I argued "You guessed"

"Whatever" she rolled her eyes "The point is...I know, why can't he know?"

"Because I don't need more people to know" I said, a little bit frustrated "It's hard enough as it is, I don't want to complicate things even more" if someone else found out about it, they probably wouldn't stop teasing me, or talking to me about it and I didn't feel like standing that.

"Your friends in Haustchet know, don't they?" she asked logically. 

"I didn't tell them, they guessed because I was being way too obvious" I talked about him almost every day, and they realized what was really going on because of everything I said "And besides, how can I make sure he doesn't tell Hiccup or the others? How can I trust him?"

"Fair enough" she said, and I smiled.

"There's my favorite girl!" 

Oh, gods, not again! 

I looked ahead to see Snotlout approaching us. 

That guy really didn't give up!

The rest of the riders were behind him, and I smiled at them instead which made them smile back.

"Hey, guys!" I greeted, ignoring Snotlout. They replied with 'hey' or 'what's up?', and things of the sort.

"So, Lexa, I was wondering if you wanted me and Hookfang to give you a fly later"

Okay first of all, I had Thunderlight, and, second of all, no, I didn't! UGH!

"You are starting to get on my nerves, Snotlout" I said, tired of him, and about to give him a piece of my mind, but Astrid spoke first.

"Hey, back off!" she said, putting an arm around my shoulder "She is reserved for Hiccup" I opened my eyes wide and looked at her; I thought I had made clear I didn't want anyone else to find out!

"Astrid!" I said, sternly, while looking at the others out of the corner of my eye. I hoped that it would be enough for her to stop, but I was so wrong.

"What?" she asked innocently. I gave her my 'Are you serious?' stare and the riders laughed.

"Aww, does our little Lexi-boo have a crush on Hiccup?" asked Tuffnut. At least, he was having fun with that, considering how he was acting some days ago.

"Don't call me that" I avoided the question.

"Wait, she likes Hiccup? And not me?" asked Snotlout upset, making Astrid laugh.

"Thought it was obvious" she said, while I wished that a hole could open on the ground right then, and swallow me whole "You're losing your touch" she mocked.

"I-I never lose my touch! Every girl loves me!" I rolled my eyes.

"Not this girl here" said Astrid "She likes him, and nothing will change that" she smiled, while I pleaded for the gods to do something and save me from that situation. 

"Who likes who?" asked that voice I knew really well. I looked over Fishlegs' shoulder: Hiccup was smiling while approaching us.

I avoided eye contact, Astrid was looking to the side and whistling casually, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were pretending to fight over their helmets (Or they were actually fighting), Snotlout was on the floor looking miserable, and Fishlegs was looking at us with a look of utter confusion written on his face. 

"Are you guys okay?" asked my best friend.

"Yes, yes!" Astrid acted quickly "Everything's fine, I was just sharing some of my Dragon Racing tips with Lexi" Hiccup nodded, and looked over at Snotlout.

Nice saving, Astrid.

"Uh...What's wrong with him?" he added, but we shook our heads innocently.

"Every girl loves me, every girl loves me..." he was repeating over and over.

"Okay..." he looked back at us, and we smiled nervously "Anyway, who likes who?" my eyes opened wide, thinking he had forgotten about that.

"What? Where did you hear that? No one was saying anything about that" I said, giggling nervously.

"But... I just heard..."

"It was your imagination" Astrid added, while Fishlegs looked at me confused.

"But, you said you liked-" began the blond.

"L-Looking herself at the mirror!" said Astrid, I gave her my 'Seriously?' stare, but she just shrugged and vocalized 'I'm sorry'. Hiccup didn't seem convinced, and I couldn't blame him. I couldn't have believed it myself if I were in his position.

"You are all acting weird, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, yes, everything's fine, everything's perfect, it's a wonderful day and nothing is wrong with the world!" I pushed him down to the village.

"What? But-" he turned to look at me.

"I'll see you later!" I waved to him. Once he was gone, we all let out a sigh of relief "Phew, that was close" I said wiping my forehead, and, then, I glared at the boys "If you ever say anything about my crush on Hiccup, I will chop your heads off, do I make myself clear?" they all nodded frantically, and a little bit scared, too "Good" when the whole awkward situation finished, Astrid and me continued our way to the training arena"What part of 'I don't need anyone else to know' did you not understand?" I said, once I made sure we had left the riders behind. She just shrugged.

"Look on the bright side; at least he won't bother you anymore" she said, shrugging it off, while I rolled my eyes.

"That doesn't change the fact that now all the riders know!" I said sternly, she just giggled. Did she really think it was funny? "What's so funny?" I asked, trying not to sound rude.

"I just can't stop thinking about Snotlout's reaction when he found out" she kept laughing, as the image of Snotlout laying on the floor, swinging back and forth and repeating 'Every girl loves me' flashed through my mind. Suddenly, I was laughing too. It was quite funny, to be honest "See?" said Astrid between laughs "Now you're laughing, too!" it was then that I understood what people meant by 'Tomorrow we will all be laughing about this' when something went terribly wrong. Though, in my case, it was just minutes later.

"Alright, it may be a little funny. I'll give you that" I said, smiling.

"A little?" I rolled my eyes, the smile never leaving my face.

"Okay, really funny"

"Are you kidding? It's hilarious!" and we burst into laughter again, while the villagers that passed by looked at us as if we were crazy, but I didn't mind.

When we arrived to the training arena, it was empty. The weapons section was on one corner, but we wouldn't really need it. Astrid had her axe, and I had my black sword. First, I practiced with those kinds of training dolls, stabbing them and stuff, while Astrid practiced throwing the axe into a target, but then it turned into a weapon fight between the two of us. I didn't know how that happened, but, from one moment to another, I was trying to dodge Astrid's attacks, while she tried to throw the sword off my hand. It was quite entertaining.

It ended when she finally managed to get rid of my sword with a surprise attack from behind. I fell to the floor from the strength, and she took advantage of that to stand in front of me, aiming at me with my own weapon.

"Not bad, Hofferson" I said, it all had happened really quickly, and I was really amazed by the way she had managed her axe.

"Not bad yourself, Cornwell" she stuck her hand out to help me up, and then gave me back the sword "How long have you been practicing?"

"Every day since the beginning of the week" I said, and bit by bit I had gotten better. 

You should have seen me the first time I trained, my sword fell more times than I could count. Of course I had practice sword fighting before, in Haustchet, but just for the fun of it, I wasn't really interested in beating anyone or learning new techniques.

That changed when I came back to Berk, where you received a challenge from every single Viking you came across, and I was embarrassed every time I refused, because I didn't know how to use a weapon. Hiccup helped me some of the time with what he knew, but, mostly, I taught myself most of the things.

Astrid nodded at what she had heard, as we headed back to the village. She was explaining to me the tricks she knew, or giving me some advice, when we heard Fishlegs calling for us.

"Lexi! Astrid!" he came running up the hill "Hiccup's gone!" he said, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. I frowned and looked at Astrid, who looked back at me with a worried expression.

"What do you mean he's gone?" I asked.

"We can't find him anywhere! We went to look for him, because Barf and Belch didn't seem like themselves, but his father said he hadn't seen him since this morning" when he came to talk to us. I frowned, where could he be? Hiccup tended to do those kinds of things, but, most of the time, he would come back by lunchtime, but lunch had already finished.

"It's been a whole week" hissed Astrid thoughtfully, and I looked at her, eager to hear her theory "What if he went looking for Drago?!" she asked worried, and I was officially scared. It was definitely a possibility.

Everyone started to talk at the same time, not listening to the other, saying they would kill him, or asking why he would go when he had been warned.

"Okay, guys" I said, sticking my hands out to try and calm them down, but they kept talking "Guys!" they didn't listen. I wished Thunderlight was there, he could shut them all up by roaring, but he wasn't, so I had to come up with something else "GUYS!" I yelled, tired of their bickering. They all shut up and turned to look at me, thanks the gods "Relax! Gods..." I turned to look at Fishlegs "Where did you look for him?" I asked him.

"The entire island, he couldn't be found" I quickly came up with a plan.

"Okay, then, we'll look again, maybe you missed something" they nodded "Astrid, you go look for him to the cove, Ruff and Tuff, you search around the island, Snotlout will look for him underground and I'll go look for him outside the island" I had a clear idea on where he might be "Fishlegs, you stay here and cover for me" no one could find out I had gone outside the archipelago, or I would be in serious trouble "Maybe he'll come back" they nodded again "Dragon call if you find him" and with that, we all went to fetch our dragons (At least, the ones that needed them, like Astrid or I)

I was right, he was in itchy armpit. Toothless was resting behind him, and he was sitting by the cliff. It seemed that he had been there for a long time.

I was pretty sure he heard me coming, because he looked at me out of the corner of his eye, it was just a second, before staring back ahead.

"You are going to get both, me and you, in serious trouble if you keep coming here" I said smiling, while getting off Thunderlight, but he didn't answer back "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked approaching him. He seemed distant, and was looking off into the distance blankly. I sat down beside him, and several minutes passed before he finally started to talk.

"Two years" he said. I lowered my shoulders and exhaled, exhausted we were having that conversation all over again "You spent two years as a prisoner in a pirate ship, and it's all my fault"

"Hiccup, we already talked about this" I sighed "It wasn't your fault, it was no one's fault. No one could have known"

"Maybe I could have done something to stop it"

"What? What would you possibly have done? You thought we were dead! Everyone thought we were dead! I would have thought that myself!" I replied raising my voice a little bit, but didn't get angry.

"If I hadn't had the stupid idea of fighting off The Red Death, maybe Thunderlight could still have all of his tail" he said looking at my dragon, who tilted his head to the side, trying to understand what he was saying "And you could have flown away" okay, that was getting out of hand.

"Stop worrying about me!" I said exasperated "You saved more than 300 people when you did that! If you hadn't, neither Toothless nor Stormfly nor Thunderlight could be here now!"

"I can't!" he said defeated, startling me "You are my best friend! And you spent three months wandering on your own not knowing where to go! Then you got captured by pirates, spent two years as their prisoner, and it took you three more months to escape! How do you expect me not to worry?! Or even to feel guilty?! " I grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look at me.

"Hiccup, what happened to me" I looked at Thunderlight, who was looking at us sadly, then I turned to Hiccup again "To us, it wasn't your fault" I was the one who decide to take the risk and face the consequences when I saved them "If you want to blame someone, blame me. I know nothing about surviving in the wild, and if that couple hadn't found us, we would have died!" his face turned to look at the sunset again, I was starting to get desperate "You want forgiveness? Fine, I'll give it to you. You're forgiven, okay?" he looked at me, his eyes sad. I guessed he thought I hadn't forgiven him "I forgive you, Toothless forgives you" the dragon roared in response "The gods forgive you" Thunderlight nudged his hand and Hiccup smiled rubbing his nose "Even Thunderlight forgives you!" he chuckled in response; finally I could see that smile again "So just forgive yourself already!" I then looked at Thunderlight and something occurred to me: I hopped on his saddle and grabbed the handholds. Hiccup looked at me confused.

"What are you doing?"

"Racing you" I said and he smirked "For old times' sake?" he then hopped onto Toothless.

"You got it" he said as we both took off in the direction of the finish line.

"I win!" I bragged happily, as I landed on the ground of Berk. Hiccup landed some minutes later.

"Unfairly!" he reproached, and I chuckled. I had done the same Toothless and him had done once; Thunderlight blew a gust of wind towards them, making them lose slightly their balance, giving me the advantage.

"It's the same thing you did five years ago, remember?" I hopped off Thunderlight, petted him, and looked at the Viking amused.

"Whatever" he rolled his eyes and hopped off Toothless. I wrinkled my nose playfully at him, and then saw the riders coming at us.

"Where were you?! We've looked for you everywhere!" said Astrid, looking at Hiccup; he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"I was just...Wandering around; being held in the island makes me kind of anxious. You know me" I smiled slightly at his awful lying.

"You are in time, your father is about to announce something in the great hall, c'mon" said the girl and we all went running towards the building.

"As you know, we've taken serious precautions in the last few days, trying to keep the village safe in case Drago Bludvist dares to attack" scared whispers were heard everywhere, showing how scared the people were of that person, though I had no idea who he was"Now, it's been a whole week without signs of any attacks, so we're getting rid of the measures" I smiled, that meant that Hiccup could soon go back to exploring territories and discovering new dragons "But I must ask you to be careful, don't let your guard down" everyone started to talk among themselves, and I turned to look at Hiccup, to see what he would say, but he wasn't there anymore. I looked through the crowd of people and saw him going out the door. I knew exactly what he wanted to do, so I immediately ran after him.

"You are going after those trappers, aren't you?" I asked, though I didn't need to. He was doing Thor knows what in Toothless' saddle.

"This might be my only chance to talk to Drago" I looked at him reproachfully and gave him my 'seriously?!' stare, Hiccup noticed and approached me "Look, I know that you told me that they are dangerous, and I'll have that in mind. I promise" I wasn't worried about the trappers, but about my human best friend. If anything were to happen to him, I would never forgive myself.

"But I need to try"

"Hiccup, don't" I took a step forward.

"I have to" he then gave me a kiss in the cheek, before taking off.

I stood there, still shocked.

What on Thor had just happened? I looked over to Hiccup and Toothless flying away, and then it sunk in.

I wouldn't lose him. Not again.

I hopped onto Thunderlight and followed him. I heard screams from behind me, and I turned around to see Astrid and Stoick yelling at us to come back, while the rest of the people stared at us, not quite knowing what to do. I ignored them and increased my speed, positioning myself right behind them.

"You want to get yourself killed, right?" I asked, flying next to him. He looked back at me, and his eyes opened wide.

"You came!" he said surprised.

"Woah, Hiccup, I thought you knew me better" he looked at me confused.

"What do you mean?"

"If you are going to do something that's obviously very stupid, then I'm doing it with you. That's what friends are for" he smiled at me, and I smiled back, happy I had someone like him in my life.