The next few weeks, Toothless had been spending a little more time with Orca than me. He'd always talk about her, and say how awesome she was, and he'd spend most of each day showing her the new improvemnets on Berk.

I shouldn't have felt jealous, but I did. My jealousy got me to the point where I despised Orca, and hated to be around her.

And finally, I snapped.

It was a cold, crisp night, and snowclouds were built up on the horizon, turned beautiful shades of pink by the setting sun. I would have enjoyed it if I hadn't been so disgruntled. Toothless landed next to me, happy and playful. What is his PROBLEM?! "Hey, Paint!" he greeted cheerfully. "Guess what I showed Orca today?"

I couldn't take it anymore. I whipped around angrily. "That's all it's about anymore, isn't it?!" I growled. Toothless flinched. "Everything I hear from you now is 'Orca this, Orca that'! She's all you talk about!"

"No, that;s not how--"

"I don't wanna hear it, okay?! I get she's an old friend of yours who disappeared a while ago! Fine, go be in love with her somewhere else! All I was was a REPLACEMENT, wasn't I?!" Toothless's eyes got wide.

"Paint, no, that's not it!" he protested.

"So?!" I countered, tears forming in my eyes. "You don't love me! Every time you said it was a trick!!! You LIED!" I ripped off the necklace he'd given me and shot off into the sunset, crying.

============

Toothless sat at the edge of the cliff miserably, staring at the necklace. He'd just lost the love of his life, all because he'd said something wrong. Orca landed quietly next to him and sat in silence.

"I'm sorry," she whispered after a moment. "I should have left when I had the chance. Besides, Wave needs me. Oh, this is my fault."

Toothless shook his head. "It's not your fault, Orca," he sighed. "It's mine. I should have listened to Paintsplash when she needed me for things the past few weeks. I ignored her and spent so much time with you. I kinda..." He swallowed, cringing. "I forgot about her, Orca. I have never done that in my life, and I feel so ashamed. I was so excited to see you again that she just...disappeared. In the time I spent with you, she didn't exist. I'd told how much I loved her, but that all went away, along with her. Because I ignored her, she felt that...she felt that I didn't love her. I was so inconsiderate too, always talking about you and not thinking about how Paint felt about it." Toothless laid down and buried his head in his paws. "I hate myself for that," he whimpered. "I will never be able to forgive myself...I doubt even Paintsplash will forgive me."

Orca sighed. "Go and find her," she said, "talk to her."

"I can't even bring myself to do that!" Toothless argued. Orca looked at him, her eyes disapproving.

"Toothless," she said firmly, "it takes a lot of guts to stand up to an enemy. It takes even more to say 'I'm sorry' to a loved one. You need to throw away your pride, Toothless. You're an Alpha now. You of all people know that it takes humility to perform a kind act for a commoner. It also takes humility to admit that you were wrong. Think about that for a while." And with that, Orca flew off.

Toothless sighed and picked at the grass. He sat and thought for a long time. For three days, actually, he thought.

Hiccup tried everything to make Toothless happy, but nothing worked, and he didn't even know why the dragon was sad. Fishlegs looked him over, but couldn't find anything wrong. The Twins suggested slapping Toothless to get him to forget whatever was bothering him. Hiccup disapproved of the idea. Valka tried to get it out of Toothless, but, she couldn't speak dragonspeak. Snotlout was fairly concerned. Hookfang had been like this once, but Toothless didn't have the symptoms of fire shortage. Gobber tried to help, but, it was useless.

Toothless slept in Hiccup's room like he always did one night, pondering what to tell Paintsplash. Hiccup came in, followed by Astrid. "Is he any better?" Astrid asked. She looked worried.

Hiccup sighed. "No. He doesn't even wanna go flying." Astrid looked at Toothless, her bright blue eyes stormy and sad. She walked over to him and rubbed his head. Toothless moaned and shifted his weight, pulling away from Astrid. She stood, concern written all over her face. She rejoined Hiccup, who looked depressed. The chief was worried about his best friend. Astrid put a hand on Hiccup's chest and wrapped her other arm around him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"He'll..." she said. "He'll be okay." Hiccup wrapped his arms around Astrid and rested his head on hers, closing his eyes and drawing in a deep breath.

"I hope you're right, Astrid."

============

I laid on the floor of my cave, depressed. I'd been there for three days. No one could cheer me up, and I felt constant regret that I had ripped off my necklace. But then, what did it mean to me? Toothless didn't love me...not anymore.

I sighed and scribbled out another failed sketch. then I heard a knock at the entrance of my cave. Asla was standing there, sorrow in her eyes.

"You have a visitor, Paintsplash," she said. "Someone wants to see you."

I sighed again and dragged myself off the floor. I moped to the entrance. "They're on the southern wing, Paintsplash. Hangar three, on the outer ledge of the runway." I scuffed my paws as I walked to the hangar. I rounded the corner despondently and lokked up...

And stopped.

Toothless was standing there. His eyes were wet, and tears stained his cheeks. He held my necklace in his paws. He looked miserable. I reluctantly approached him. I sat in front of him, and there was an awkward silence for a while. Then I drew in a deep, shaky breath. 'What do you want, Toothless?" I snapped.

He said nothing, and stared at the ground. Finally, he sighed. "I came to say I'm sorry, Paintsplash," he said. "If you don't believe me, that's fine. I understand you don't really want to see me right now. But I love you, and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't apologize. You were right; I was spending so much time with Orca that I didn't stop to think about you, and I hate myself so much for that. I don't ever want to do that again. You're all I ever think about, and I don't want to forget you again. Please. Will you forgive me? Will you say yes to me again, as...as your fiance?"

I looked at the ground. I wanted to stay mad, I wanted to hold a grudge. But it wasn't me. It's not in my nature to stay mad. I closed my eyes and tears began rolling down my cheeks. "No, I'm sorry, Toothless," I sobbed. "I lashed out, I overreacted. I let my jealousy get the best of me. It's me who wants to apologize!" I felt Toothless wrap his arms around me, and I sobbed into his chest.

"In that case," he whispered, "I accept your apology. But...do you accept mine?" I nodded fervently, and Toothless chuckled. "Then both our answers are yes." He wrapped the necklace around my neck once again, and peace washed over me. I tightened my embrace.

That was the first time in a long time I had been happy.