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Astrid soared over the trees on Stormfly while Hiccup rode Toothless in lead and Fishlegs rode his dragon, Meatlug, and Snotlout rode Hookfang, his dragon, and the twins rode Barf and Belch. "It began with one Fireworm, and as we were flying back, we kept seeing more and more." Fishlegs started.

"You think they were migrating?" Astrid inquired as Hiccup countered, "If they were migrating, the whole island would be on fire."

"Not necessarily. When Fireworms migrate, they send out scouts to see if their migration route is safe. If this is a stop along that route-" Fishlegs corrected.

"An entire flock of Fireworms could be coming through here." Astrid finished.

"Well, I say bring 'em on. I love those little scorchers." Tuffnut, the twin and brother of Ruffnut, replied.

"Well, are you still going to love them when they all burn the entire island down?" Hiccup inquired towards him.

"Yes! Wait, no. Wait, is that a trick question? Because it's pretty tricky." Tuffnut said.

"Fishlegs, how much time do we have?" Astrid asked behind her at the big teenager on the Gronkle dragon as he answered her, "Uh, it's hard to say. If it's a full migration, the rest of them could be here by the end of this week."

"Ha! Good to know. It's been nice knowing you, island." Snotlout spoke up and turned his dragon around and began to fly away, "Snotlout is outlout!"

"We're not abandoning the island, Snotlout." Hiccup also spoke up and moved Toothless in front of the retreating man as Snotlout pointed out, "Uh, yeah we are. Watch."

"Guys, we put too much work into this place to just leave. Snotlout is not outlout. We are staying and that's it." Hiccup said.

"Fine! But I still like my plan better." Snotlout muttered.

***

"Okay, Astrid, you and Fishlegs filled the water troughs, right?" Hiccup began as Astrid confirmed, her hands on her hips, "Yup! Topped off the barrels, too."

"Ooh, I found a perfect cave for the Night Terrors. High enough and perfect enough so that the flames can't get to them." Fishlegs added.

"Perfect! Now if the twins would finally get back, we could find out what they've done." Hiccup replied.

"Oh, I can tell you what they've done. Zero, zip, zilch. I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, goose egg!" Snotlout commented.

"Oh, contrary, my fine fellow, we have done quite enough." Tuffnut spoke up as he and his sister walked up to the group.

"Did you clear the brush?" Hiccup wondered aloud as Tuffnut said, "Uh, no-" Hiccup then asked, "How about a fire break?"

Ruffnut shot down, "Nope, not that." Astrid shook her head some and spoke up, "How about water? Did you bring any back?"

Tuffnut shrugged, "Couldn't. Too busy."

Astrid folded her arms across her chest, now slightly annoyed with them, as Hiccup, who's also slightly annoyed, asked, "Busy with what?"

"Finding something awesome." Ruffnut answered proudly.

Astrid missed her Viking friends who was like a family to her and she already was missing her dragon, Stormfly.

Currently, the five women were walking on the trail in the woods; Astrid walked ahead of the other four, leading them on the path and remaining on guard.

The teenager was wearing her mask over her face but her hood was left down; She didn't really feel like talking at the moment. She was planning their next tactic-- Hopefully, the element of surprise- because that's her favorite strategy.

Emma and Snow walked behind Astrid while Mulan and Aurora walked behind the three of them. Astrid stopped them and crouched down, pressing her left hand lightly on the ground.

"What is it?" Emma inquired curiously towards the girl who was still crouched down.

Astrid brushed off her hands and stood back up, glancing behind her at them and shook her head. "Nothing-"

"Astrid, that's not your 'nothing' face. What do you sense?" Mulan spoke up, stepping forward and stopped beside the teenager.

"I sense Cora somewhere, waiting. But... it's like she's trying to contact me." Astrid sighed.

"How do you know?" Snow asked her daughter.

Astrid looked over at her mother and reluctantly answered her, "Magic. I can sense whenever someone uses magic-- most of the time... Because Cora and I are connected in a way, I can sometimes see what she's doing."

"Her gift comes in handy." Mulan simply added, "But she doesn't like using her magic a lot-"

"Magic always comes with a price." Astrid muttered and then cleared her throat. "We should keep moving." She turned on her heels and continued down the trail in the woods as Mulan and Aurora followed after her.

Snow and Emma shared a look as Snow started, "Something is on Astrid's mind. She seems upset."

"Maybe she doesn't actually want to leave here but she wants her family?" Emma suggested, "I mean, this place is where she grew up, where she's lived for practically her whole life."

"You think she only agreed to go with us because she thinks it would make us happy?" Snow replied softly.

"Since we've been here, I have noticed Astrid giving up her needs for everyone else's." Emma said reluctantly, "She put aside her hatred of Hook for us, she sent her beloved dragon away for us, and she's continuing to do that."

"I know. I'll just have to talk to her about it." Snow commented, "I wish your father was here right now." Emma squeezed her hand in assurance and let go, both continuing to walk after the other three women.

Astrid stood beside the group who all stood slightly behind Ruffnut and Tuffnut as Ruffnut began proudly, "Behold! We call it the Namey Rock."

"And why is that?" Astrid inquired as Tuffnut answered, "Duh, 'cause it has our name all over it. Cool, huh?"

"Oh, yeah. I mean, no. Man, you two are completely ridiculous." Snotlout said, bringing his hand up to his face.

"Ridiculous? Perhaps. But answer me this-- Where's Namey Rock?" Ruffnut replied as Snotlout groaned out in annoyance. The twins laughed and bumped their helmets together, grunting a little.

"Uh, Hiccup, you might want to come take a closer look at this. I think it's a claim stone."' Fishlegs spoke up.

Hiccup walked closer to the large rock and began to read what was engraved on it, "I, Magmar Thornston, hereby claim this island in my name and the name of all my family present and future, forever and ever."

"And what else?" Tuffnut inquired, stepping beside Hiccup who looked over at him and finished, "And ever- apparently."

"Ha! Long-lost great Uncle Magmar! Oh, my Thor! Wasn't he the one who could pass an entire cod through one nostril?" Tuffnut said as Ruffnut nodded and replied, "And debone it at the same time? It's really a lost art."

"People just don't appreciate the craftsmanship." Tuffnut agreed with his sister.

"Oh, come on! That stone is a fake. It's so obvious that these two made it up." Snotlout pointed out.

"I don't think so. For one thing, everything is spelled correctly." Fishlegs also pointed out as Snotlout muttered, "Okay, you may have a point."

"Let me get this straight." Astrid spoke up while gesturing to the Thornston twins, "These two own island?"

"It would appear that way." Fishlegs agreed.

"Yeah!" "In your face!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut both exclaimed, "We are so in charge of this place-!" "-Whoohoo! Oh, preach, sister."

"Well!" Ruffnut started, "According to this stone-"

"That was a rhetorical preach." Tuffnut cut his sister off and looked at Snotlout, "Hey, where are you going, Subject?"

"Ha! You may be in charge of this island, but you're not in charge of me." Snotlout answered, fixing to fly away on his dragon, Hookfang.

"Ah, ah! Respect the crown. Don't make us get ugly." Tuffnut said as Snotlout remarked, "That ship sailed a long time ago."

"Ugly!" Ruffnut said, punching her brother's arm as he held it in his other hand now.

"Clearly, we need a dungeon." Tuffnut commented about Snotlout.

"Okay, let's all just take a breath and calm down." Hiccup spoke up, stepping in between the twins and Snotlout. "The first thing we need to do is get this claim stone authenticated."

***

After they got that done, the twins decided to make some changes to the island. "All right, Fishlegs. Says here you are now the official poet laureate of Thornstonton." Tuffnut started as he read his parchment he and his sister had wrote earlier.

"Do you even know what that means?" Fishlegs inquired as Ruffnut simply answered, "We were hoping you would! It's your job, after all."

"Astrid, you are the official Royal brush-clearer. We don't want Thornstonton burning down, after all." Tuffnut added as Ruffnut laughed some, "Or do we?" "Hmm."

"I'm not clearing brush for you two. I'm not cleaning anything for you two!" Astrid commented in annoyance.

Hiccup stepped over to her and held her shoulders in his hands, saying, "Come on, Astrid."

"You'll do it." Tuffnut said, "And you'll like it, little missy. Snotlout, you, my friend, have an excellent job. You, sir, are our new sergeant at arms."

"Mm. I like the sound of that- 'arms'." Snotlout commented.

"Knew you would. All right, Hiccup. Oh, Hiccup, you are our new stable boy." Tuffnut finished.

"Stable boy?" Hiccup started as Astrid stifled back her laughter and nudged him in his arm some, "Come on, Hiccup." Hiccup let out a heavy sigh.

"So, uh, what's a sergeant at arms do, anyway?" Snotlout asked.

"You enforce the rules. If someone doesn't follow them, you make sure they do. And if things get really nasty, you show them to the fancy new dungeon and give them some yak dung tea. Got it?" Tuffnut answered.

"Dungeon! I like it. Better than 'stable boy'." Snotlout remarked. Hiccup slightly glared at him as Astrid smirked at Hiccup also.

"Okay, and speaking of new rules, without further 'adieu'..." Tuffnut continued, pulling out a folded scroll.

Ruffnut took the scroll away from him and unraveled it herself. "Yeah, no more further 'adieus'. Anyway, rule number one: Everyone must bow to your rulers when they enter the room."

Astrid and Hiccup shared a look as Tuffnut continued, "Rule number two: Everyone must also bow to your rulers when they exit the room-"

"Everyone must bow to your rulers when they are in the room." Ruffnut added.

"So, basically, we just bow all the time." Hiccup remarked.

"Ooh, stable boy, coming in for the big win. That deserves a bow... from you." Tuffnut replied, "I'm not doing any bowing." Hiccup rolled his eyes, sighed, and bowed. "Thank you."

"Next, there will be a small fee for landing your dragons on the island-" Ruffnut began as Tuffnut finished, "And another small fee for taking off."

"There will be a fee for sleeping."

"A fee for waking up."

"A fee for eating."

"And a small fee for drinking."

Astrid folded her arms across her chest and scowled somewhat. "How about breathing?" She bitterly remarked.

"Good idea! Mark that down." Tuffnut said and nodded at his sister who replied, "Way ahead of you."

"And finally, the letter 'S' has been officially removed from the alphabet." Tuffnut finished, "So, you're going to want to avoid words like sword-"

"Severed leg-"

"Severed head-"

"Cyclone!"

"That's actually a 'C'-" Fishlegs corrected them as Tuffnut cut him off, "Uh-uh! Notlout, quiet him!"

"Notlout? Who's Notlout?" Snotlout commented and moved over to Fishlegs.

"Do you two realize that there is an 'S' in the name of your island?" Astrid pointed out to the twins.

"Ilence, ubject! How dare you ay such thing?" Tuffnut answered.

"Any other rules?" Hiccup spoke up.

Tuffnut opened another scroll just as a Fireworm shot through the paper, igniting it in flames, and slithered on the ground in front of them. "Table boy, clean that up."

"Okay, while I'm doing this, you guys needs to stay on top of this Fireworm thing." Hiccup murmured, picking the Fireworm up by a stick as the wood ignited in flames also.

He slung the worm towards Toothless who smacked it away from them with his tail. "It's starting to get pretty real."

***

Astrid landed Stormfly on the wooden platform near her hut just as Ruffnut spoke up, "That's a two mackerel landing charge, little lady."

Astrid rolled her eyes and moved Stormfly as the dragon stepped a few feet away from the twins. Ruffnut added, "That's another two mackerel." She nudged her brother, "Are you keeping track or should I?"

"No, I got it." Tuffnut said.

"Look, I don't have any more mackerel. And if I did, I wouldn't give it to you for your dumb take-off and landing charge." Astrid spoke up.

"Excue me. Are you calling the laws of this land dumb?" Tuffnut challenged.

"You don't like dumb?" Astrid remarked with a small smirk, "How about dopey? Brainless, dimwitted, moronic-" She lifted her hands slightly in gesture, "Shall I go on?"

"Notlout!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

"Coming in hot!" Snotlout replied and rode in Hookfang, landing beside them. "Ergeant at arm Notlout reporting."

"Take this mutineer to the new dungeon, and her little dragon, too." Tuffnut said. "Give her some time to think about her attitude."

"Dungeon? Are you serious?" Astrid replied.

"Do we look serious?" Tuffnut asked, his arms folded across his chest.

"Oh, you really don't want me to answer that." Astrid remarked, annoyed and moved towards the new dungeon.

Astrid was the only one on guard duty as the other four women slept for the night; She offered to take the first shift anyway since she really couldn't sleep.

Astrid sat on a high rock and sharpened her battle axe while looking around them; She squinted her eyes in the darkness and noticed a figure, swiftly jumping down from the rock and moved over to where the person stood watching them.

The figure turned their back and began to walk away from the group as Astrid ran after them and stopped in front of them, widening her eyes as she stared at Cora, pinning the woman to a tree with her axe at her throat. "What do you want? The compass? You're not getting it."

Cora smiled somewhat and lifted her closed hands in the air beside her, herself still being pinned against the tree. "For now, I just need to give something to you, my child." She opened her hand to reveal a coin with a symbol of two arrows crossing one another on it; The coin was strung on a black cord. "Remember this?"

"Where did you get that?" Astrid quietly asked her, immediately reaching for the coin. "That doesn't belong to you!"

"I suppose everyone lets you down, right Astrid?" Cora started, closing her hand that was holding the coin. "That's why you're afraid to go to their Storybrooke with them, afraid that they'll let you down just like everyone else did."

"You don't know what you're talking about. They asked me to go home with them and I told them I will. I can trust them..." Astrid began, dropping her axe to her side and stepping back while looking down at the ground for a split second and back up at the woman.

"You think you can trust them? Yet, you're still wearing that mask of yours." Cora commented, "Astrid, my dear, retrieve the compass from them, and just come back with me. You know I would never hurt you."

"But you did hurt me. You killed the woman who raised me, my mother... I suppose, my foster mom..." Astrid remarked while folding her arms across her chest.

"Do you want to know the real truth on why I did what I did? It was to protect you, Astrid." Cora admitted sincerely, "Freya was going to sell you to the highest bidder for you to be a slave... She never cared about you-- not like I did. She was never a mother to you. I was there everyday, kept you fed and happy and... was just there for you."

Astrid unfolded her arms from her chest. "That's why it hurt so much to see you do what you did." She admitted slightly above a whisper. But she cleared her throat and spoke up some, "Nice try. You don't even have a heart anymore to show feelings. You could be lying."

"Let me show you." Cora gently started and touched the side of Astrid's forehead and pushed her memory into the teenager's mind to show her the truth.

Cora appeared in front of Freya who was currently planting yellow tulips in her garden beside her cottage. "Freya, answer me this. Why would you fail your daughter the way you did?"

Freya looked up at the woman and also stood up, now facing her completely. "Two questions: Who are you and what do you mean?"

"You were going to abandon that innocent child. You were going to sell her to whomever pays you the most and make her a slave." Cora began to explain, "Astrid will grow to be a very important person someday and is part of something big in the future."

"She's just some little girl who was placed in front of my door." Freya answered, "I do love and care about her but not like a mother, more of a distant cousin or something. In all honesty, she's the reason that drove my late husband to drink himself to his grave."

Astrid flinched at hearing these words from her mother but continued to watch the memory play out.

"You don't to have her as a daughter and you will not harm her in any way." Cora replied as she stood in front of Freya, immediately moving her hand through her chest and ripped out her heart; Freya's heart was now glowing in Cora's hand as she gripped it tightly, making her mother grunt in pain and hunch over.

Astrid watched in tears just as Cora crushed her heart and opened her hand to reveal dust, making the dust fall to the ground. Freya collapsed onto the ground and was now dead. Cora then turned around and started to walk away as Astrid dropped from the tree and knelt beside her mother.

Astrid stepped back with watery eyes and shook her head. "Why did you show me that? Why would you let me hate you all this time?"

"I didn't want you to hate your mother." Cora simply replied, taking a few steps backwards, "It was easier to let you hate me instead of telling you the truth."

"Why now?" Astrid wondered aloud in confusion.