The grunting and clicking outside our house didn't stop. Sure, the dragons lost some of their interest, but they never truly gave up.

I didn't look anywhere except at the table in front of me. I couldn't hold Astrid's or my dad's stares right now, especially when the tension around us was so high. I thought I had done the right thing by bringing us food and water, and all it had achieved was a pack of Speed Stingers surrounding the house, demanding we give all our food to them. They now had the incentive to find a way inside.

Toothless sat on his haunches next to me and grunted, asking for attention. I glanced at him, then looked back at the table. After a few seconds, he grunted again, this time more urgently, brushing his snout into my left arm.

"How can he be so oblivious to what's happening outside?" Astrid asked.

I didn't acknowledge her.

Stormfly and Thornado had their attention fixed on the front door, just in case the Speed Stingers found a way inside. I thought Toothless would have done the same thing, but he apparently had a different way of showing his protective side.

"Hiccup," my dad whispered.

I ignored him, unable to face what I had done to us. I just wanted to disappear and not have to worry about the Speed Stingers anymore.

"Hiccup," he said, this time with more emphasis.

I took a deep breath and looked at him, moving slowly.

"Why aren't you thinking ahead, son?" he asked.

"Because I've killed everyone in this house," I said in bitter sarcasm.

"Here we go..." Astrid mumbled under her breath.

"Go ahead! Tell the entire world how I failed at trying to be helpful!" I shouted. "Isn't that kinda like every other time I've tried to make someone's life easier? Isn't that why everyone shoves me into a corner when something's happening!?"

"Hiccup, if you're going to whine about something like that, do it outside!" Astrid shouted back. Stormfly hissed at her, startled by her tone of voice. She ignored her dragon. "Please, just start thinking of a way to get food and water."

"Why?" I shot back. "It'll just–"

"ENOUGH!" my dad shouted. He jumped out of his chair, sending it toppling to the ground. Toothless roared at him. Astrid and I winced. My dad didn't budge.

"I'm tired of listening to you complain about problems that you don't even have! Start showing you actually care about someone besides yourself!"

I glared at Astrid and my dad for a second, then shoved my chair backwards. Toothless jumped away to avoid being smacked by the backrest, but I didn't care. I stormed upstairs and sat down on my bed, knees curled into my chest, squeezing my eyes shut in frustration.

I hated being in a mood like this. Absolutely hated it.

They always appear suddenly and you can't stop digging your own grave. No matter how hard you try to stop, it always gets worse. And there's nothing anyone, Viking or dragon, can do to help you get over it. As deep as you dug that hole, you have to find a way to get yourself out of it.

Downstairs, Astrid groaned in frustration. "Go bother Hiccup. He's your human."

I stayed put, not caring about what was happening downstairs.

"Toothless, stop!" Astrid shouted at him. Toothless was grunting like he needed something.

A few seconds later, Astrid stomped upstairs and said, "I don't care what you think of me, but your dragon needs you."

I rolled my eyes and slowly got off my bed, not feeling any better than I did when I had stormed up here.

"Move," I mumbled, brushing past her.

I trudged downstairs and found Toothless with a worried look on his face. He grunted again at me.

"Great. You've gotta go outside," I observed. It couldn't have happened at a more inconvenient time. Toothless had to relieve himself, and luckily, he was housebroken.

I put my hands on my hips and sighed without trying to hide it. I closed my eyes for a brief second and tried to look anywhere except Astrid, Toothless, or my dad. Especially my dad, because he was the one I needed for what I had in mind.

I knew the doors were suicide with Speed Stingers around us. The only other exit from this house was the skylight, which was covered in snow. It was too heavy for me to lift, which just oh-so-conveniently left only one person in this household able to open it.

"I'm... gonna..." I choked out before pausing. I looked my dad in the eyes, regardless of how scared I was or how much it hurt.

"Can... canyoupensklight?" I mumbled.

"What?" he asked, furrowing his brows. He glared at me, giving me one more chance to make sense without blowing up again.

I took a deep breath and repeated, "Can     you     open     the     skylight?"

He sighed then commanded, "Astrid, downstairs."

Without hesitation, she walked back toward us.

"Sit down and stay here, young lady," he instructed.

She nodded as she pulled up a chair and leaned on the table.

My dad plodded halfway up the stairs then looked at me and said, "Come on, son."

Begrudgingly, I followed him back up to the second floor of our house. By the time I finished climbing the stairs, my dad was already near the sealed hole in the roof. He was standing at his full height, which made me feel even more insignificant than I already was.

"Get Toothless up here," he told me.

Slowly, I made my way over to the edge of the floor and looked at Toothless.

"C'mon, Toothless," I told him without feeling. He trotted up the stairs with the same worried look on his face as a few moments ago.

Before I could react, my dad pulled me into a loose hug and whispered, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

I took a deep breath and said, "Yeah. Me too."

"I'll open the skylight for you and Toothless. When you two come back, can you have an idea of how to get food and water around the village?"

I nodded slowly without looking at him and mumbled, "Yeah. I'll figure something out." 

My dad pulled away from me and stood on my bed. He unhooked the latch holding the skylight cover shut and shoved upward. The cover opened about halfway, so he shoved again. The crunch of fresh snow compressing met my ears. Several large chunks dropped into the house. But the cover stayed open. My dad nodded at me and plodded back downstairs.

I grabbed a knife and stowed it in my belt.

"Ready, bud?" I asked flatly.

I felt like I was violating our friendship because every time I called Toothless "bud," I meant it. But this time, there was no connection behind that word.

I climbed onto Toothless's back, hooked in with my peg and hunkered down in the saddle to avoid my head striking the wooden frame surrounding the skylight. Toothless jumped up, finding purchase on the roof and climbing out of the house.

"Hold, Toothless," I told him as I unhooked from the stirrup. I dismounted from his back and closed the skylight.

A light snow flurry was drifting down from the pale grey clouds above us.

I gave a quiet groan as I got on Toothless's back again. I hooked in with my peg and said, "All right, Toothless. Let's go flying."

Toothless jumped from the roof and soared to a point at the edge of the forest on the eastern side of the village. He paused, waiting for me to get off his back so I could stand guard. I slid down into the snow, reached into the satchel at my waist and pulled out the plate I had stored there this morning. As Toothless trotted a few paces into the forest, I attached the plate to the bottom of my peg.

In the distance to the west was the great hall. It was too far away to pick out any Speed Stingers over there, but I knew they were gathered in that area. Around the other houses in the village, I counted twenty-one green dragons. Six of them were on the south side of our house. Each dragon seemed to be doing the exact same thing – waiting. They were waiting for the perfect time to attack so they could access whatever food was being hidden from them.

I saw two of the houses in the village with their doors wide open. The one closest to me had what looked like a small snow drift beginning to intrude.

I watched as one person carefully closed a door behind himself and began running toward an unknown destination in the village. He became obscured by a different house just as a loud shriek met my ears from that area. A Speed Stinger tore across the plaza in his direction, but I had no idea whether the Viking had gotten to safety.

I glanced back at Toothless to see what he was doing. He had finished and was cautiously loping in my direction. I could tell by his expression he was concerned about my state of mind, which didn't make me feel any better for losing my temper earlier.

Why do I have to be so dumb? I wondered.

The Speed Stingers were in the village, and from the looks of the two open houses, they had already been successful in locating some food. But there was almost nothing else I could have done yesterday to prevent their arrival.

More importantly at this moment though, Toothless was eyeing me from a small distance, trying to make sure I wasn't going to blow up again.

I looked Toothless in the eyes and told him, "Toothless, I'm sorry."

He stayed in his spot, not moving as I took a small step toward him. But he kept his eyes on me. I reached out my right hand toward him, hoping he'd accept my apology. I had scared him with my temper, and I had to earn his trust back.

I stayed where I was and held my hand out for him to approach. Slowly, he moved his weight to his front legs with a soft groan and fixed his eyes on my hand. As he got closer, I felt his breath warming my hand. After about five seconds, Toothless brushed his snout against my fingers.

"That's it," I whispered.

I slowly closed the rest of the distance between us and hugged Toothless gently around his neck and chest.

"It's okay, bud. I won't do that to you again. I promise," I told him.

That warm feeling of being around Toothless returned. He felt like my best friend again. And I felt like he was going to protect me.

Toothless moaned after a few seconds.

I pulled away from him and saw a look of trust in his eyes again.

"So how are we gonna get food and water around Berk?" I asked him.

I crossed my arms in thought and glanced around the village. There were still no signs of Vikings outside. Occasionally, there was a flash of green darting around the great hall or silo. Around our house, several clicks, grunts, and snarls came from the Speed Stingers gathered there.

Why aren't we fighting back? I wondered. Why aren't there dragon carcasses lying around Berk by now?

I was surprised at our reclusiveness today. There were no signs of Vikings fighting the Speed Stingers away, and Toothless didn't try to scare the Speed Stingers near our house off.

Toothless' actions made sense, considering my state of mind for the last day. The Viking population in Berk, on the other hand, did not.

I surveyed the village one more time. From our point of view just inside the forest, there was nothing that gave me any hints as to how I could approach the problem we had with the Speed Stingers.

"C'mon, buddy, let's see what we can find."