Eye of The Storm - way_too_many_fandoms (2024)

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Berk was a harsh place, a place where only a select few could live and even fewer could prosper. The winters were cold, desolate, and the summers weren’t much better. The inhabitants of the island were vikings - tough, resilient people. They were stubborn, far more stubborn than any other tribe in the known archipelago.

You see, most places had pests, mice, vermin, maybe the odd pillager or two, but Berk had something better.

Dragons.

Beasts of the skies and seas, those who dwelled in caves and roamed through the woods of deserted islands. For hundreds of years they had infiltrated Berk, killing their animals and burning their crops. Most vikings despised dragons - prayed to the gods for their downfall. Very few saw the dragons as anything other than horrible monsters of destruction.

One of these vikings was a woman named Valka. Though even the mere idea of saying to the world that dragons weren’t the terrible creatures they were believed to be was greatly frowned upon, Valka believed such. They were simply animals, amazing, misunderstood, animals. Yes, they were creatures of great power, but that didn’t mean they had to be killed.

There had to be a reason they stole from the village - some sort of explanation for all of this destruction. No one would hear her out though, refusing to believe that there would ever be a time where vikings and dragons could live in peace - together. It was as impossible as stumbling through Valhalla while one was still living.

When her son Hiccup was born, Valka promised herself that she would try to teach him what magnificent creatures dragons were. She sewed together toys in the shapes of dragons and would read him bedtime stories where a viking was friends with a dragon. He was less than a year old though; he most likely couldn’t retain anything that she was saying yet, but one day he would. And what a glorious day that would be.

Valka was greatly looking forward to the day Hiccup was all grown up - wishing to the gods that they would grant her her wish; Hiccup could be different, he could show Berk what Valka had failed to.

A dragon raid was occurring - before the sun had even started its trek across the sky. Dozens of dragons scattered across the village; a few species that Valka had never seen were scouring around as well, picking up baskets of fish and the odd barrel or two.

Each raid she tried her hardest to limit the slaughter, to save as many dragons as she could; this act greatly upset the vast majority of the villagers, but no matter. What was important was that less blood was spilled on the soil, fewer lives were lost in the battle. She was doing such now, holding back vikings’ hammers and axes. There were disgruntled sounds and many offended gasps as she did so.

A Terrible Terror landed on Valka’s shoulder, causing the woman to jump in surprise. The tiny dragon squawked in her ear before flying off once more. She kept watch of the dragon for a few moments; the direction of her gaze lay towards her own house.

Flames.

Far too many flames coming from the wooden supports of the house.

A terror rang through Valka’s heart as she fled towards the hut. Hiccup was in that house, her son was there, suffering. Her feet carried her as quickly as they possibly could, any fatigue she had from the early morning was gone - instead consumed by the overwhelming need to protect Hiccup Valka rushed into the building, despite the logs burning around her, the heat making her skin blister. It was a miracle that the stairs were still standing, enough that she could bolt up them and rush into the nursery. Valka picked up an axe, just in case there was something - she might have a love for dragons, but if they were to hurt her son - she would do anything to protect Hiccup.

As she opened the door she was stunned by the sight before her.

A dragon, curiously peering at Hiccup in his cradle. The dragon wasn’t hurting him, instead holding up a talon that Hiccup’s tiny fingers were grasping onto. She took a step back, axe clambering out of her hands.

The dragon’s gaze immediately snapped to her, quirking its head to the side ever so slightly. Valka wanted to run towards Hiccup, but the dragon was now blocking the path. Through all the destruction, and the fight happening outside, she could hear Hiccup crying out in pain. The need to protect her son was growing ever stronger.

The door bust opens once again: Stoick stood in the doorway, holding his weapons, posed to kill. The dragon flinched back, terrified of the newcomer. It jumped back, stealing Hiccup from his cradle, and fleeing through a hole in the ceiling.

Valka stood stunned, unable to move, throat refusing to make any noise. Stoick leaped forward - roaring a battle cry. “Hiccup!”

Valka’s heart ached, broken. Hiccup was gone - her son. The dragon had taken it, who knows what would happen to him now. Anyone that ever got taken away during a dragon raid never came back - nobody knew what happened to him.

Hiccup was gone.

Gone for good.

Cloudjumper held the fledgling as gently as he could in his claws. The tiny boy had stopped crying during the flight back to the nest, sometimes napping, and other times waking and giggling as the wind rushed against his cheeks. Cloudjumper hadn’t meant to hurt the fledgling, the small, red mark on the fledgling’s chin had been a complete accident; if the two víks hadn’t come in and startled the dragon, the fledgling would have been completely safe.

No matter now, the fledgling would be safe back at the nest, and one of the other drako would be able to heal him.

The nest was near in the distance, more drako were flying in now, hauling in their kill and other things from the raid. The nest hadn’t been to the far away island in many moons, but seeing as many other islands were inhabited by far more dangerous vík - Berk had seemed like the most pleasant option.

Cloudjumper soared down into an open crevasse, down into where all the eggs and fledglings were. He gently placed the fledgling - Hiccup seemed to be his name - down next to a midnight black egg. Hiccup’s pawed at the egg, Cloudjumper pushing him back slightly, warbling a warning. No-touch-bad egg-break.

Hiccup looked up at Cloudjumper with wide forest green eyes; he attempted to copy the warbling noise, only hitting a few of the sounds correctly. The elder drako curled his wings around the eggs and fledging, ready to take a morning nap.

It had been a good raid.

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

The nest was a wondrous place that Hiccup loved to explore. He still couldn’t stray far from the nest, his muscles not being strong enough to do so and the fact that Cloudjumper was hovering over Hiccup all the time to make sure the fledgling was safe.

Cloudjumper knew that Hiccup wasn’t like the other drako, he didn’t have wings, or scales, or any of the other features his nestmates had, but he was a drako to the core. As soon as the elder drako had smelled the loneliness on the fledgling he knew what had to be done. The elder had experienced picking up many younger drako - those who had either been abandoned by their parents or left to die because of hunters - and each and every time Cloudjumper made sure they made their way safely back to the nest.

Hiccup was just another one of those lonely fledglings. He would be lonely no longer though. The midnight black egg that Hiccup had become enraptured by was due to hatch any day; sometimes it would shake back and forth, ever so slightly, and Hiccup would squawk and attempt to whistle at it.

The fledgling was picking up speech quite easily - nearly every day he seemed to be warbling out new phrases. It was increasingly easier to understand Hiccup once he was able to get a grasp on his own body: he was quite expressive. Even if his words came out in a funny sort of way, the way he smiled, eyes widening, his hands gripping and moving around, were enough for Cloudjumper and other elder drako to understand his wants and communication attempts.

Hiccup was chirping away at the egg, remembering not to touch from what Cloudjumper had said. Many of his sounds were a jumbled mess but every once and a while Hiccup would say something - clear as day - and Cloudjumper was captivated with the fledgling’s thoughts.

The egg was a Night Fury egg, the only one that Cloudjumper had ever seen, and possibly the last he would ever see. The only reason he knew of the egg’s origins were from other drako who had come from far away lands. There were drako from all sorts of backgrounds, those saved from trappers or hunters, abandoned fledglings, those who had been born in the sanctuary - nearly every single one was surprised when Cloudjumper had returned with the Night Fury egg four moons ago.

There was a slight movement in the nest; he first thought it was Hiccup feebly attempting to crawl away, but the fledgling wasn’t anywhere near the edge. Ee-kp nuh.

Hiccup attempted to warble back, mp-*hiss* ey. Oh the egg - it seemed to be shaking even more than usual, rocking back and forth in the nest. Hiccup crawled over to it, quirking his head in confusion.

Cloudjumper moved to, making sure that the hatchling would be okay, capable of safely breaking through the tough eggshell. He tapped the egg ever so slightly, alerting the hatchling. The inky shell started to crumble, littering the nest in debris. With one final push, a coal-black Night Fury popped out, tumbling onto the soft surface of the nest. He slowly opened his eyes, emerald irises wide in wonder. The hatchling chirped, finally getting to use the vocal cords that had been forming for months now.

Hiccup tumbled forward as well, rubbing his cheek on the hatchling, scent marking him like he had seen other drako do to their nestmates. The Night Fury turned in surprise, jumping back a little at the sudden contact.

The two children looked at each other, both their green eyes were alight with curiosity at who lay before them. Ee-kp, Hiccup said his own name, a word he had grown to love since his arrival at the nest.

The Night Fury opened his mouth in a gummy smile, trying to mimic the one he saw on Hiccup’s face. Cloudjumper looked the hatchling over, seeing that no teeth were present at all. How strange, *click*-ss. Toothless. A fitting name for the new hatchling.

Hiccup crooned, crawling back toward Toothless. *click*-ss, it seemed like Hiccup was going to have a new favorite word.

Toothless jumped up, *click*-ss, *click*-ss-ee-kp!

Cloudjumper and Hiccup shared a look, the elder rubbed his own cheek against the hatchling, nuh, ee-kp-*click*-ss, the elder drako’s name always went first, as was the tradition in their nest. Toothless began repeating the two names, warbling and chirping in excitement. Hiccup chirped back - joyous to have a nestmate who was so enjoying and agreeable.

*****

Many, many moons had passed since both Hiccup’s arrival at the nest and Toothless’ hatching. The fledgling was five years old now and he was even more energetic than when he was little, well, littler. Hiccup still hadn’t grown exceptionally. Many other drako would have doubled or even tripled in size by now, but not Hiccup, he was still small and wiry. Toothless was alright with that though - that just meant he got to spend more time with his bondmate to make sure that the other was safe.

Hiccup always found his way into trouble. Sometimes it was climbing down to where the Alpha lay, where the king stood to watch over the rest of his subjects. More than a few times he had gotten a splattering of frost across his face due to his teasing. There were also times when he had tried to fly by himself, despite the fact that Hiccup had no wings to fly with.

The first time it had happened Cloudjumper was quick to snatch up the fledgling, Toothless being too dazed with fear to move. Since then, Hiccup had taken to staying on Toothless’ back, though there were still times when he tested his abilities and would need to be rescued by the other drako. Toothless didn’t mind though; he was overjoyed at the opportunity to be Hiccup’s wings, to know that his bondmate was always going to be with him whenever they took to the skies.

Toothless couldn’t imagine flying without the smaller drako.

Neither was allowed to go out of the nest alone quite yet; Cloudjumper was very protective over the fledglings. Hiccup would roll his eyes every time one of his other nest mates got to go out flying, but he and Toothless were still stuck inside. The sky called to him even greater now, a challenge that Hiccup wanted to accept.

He knew that Cloudjumper was just looking out for them, mp-*hiss* were always looking out for their young, especially with all the dangers there were for drako. Hiccup had heard stories from the others about hunters- the horrible traps they had and the terrifying weapons they had fashioned to maim or kill drako. The outside world was a treacherous place - that didn’t make Hiccup anymore hesitant to see it though. It was good that Toothless was with him then: if Hiccup got into trouble the other drako would be there to help. Ironic how the younger of the two was much more mature.

Speaking of Hiccup needing Toothless’ help, it had once again been one of those times.

The fledgling was struggling up a rock face, newly forming muscles helping him to pull his way up when he accidentally gripped onto something that was very much not a rock. A Changewing was concealing himself against the rocks, most likely trying to escape from a situation just like this. Changewings didn’t care much for other drako fledglings, and Hiccup was unlike any other fledgling in the entire nest.

Hiccup pulled his paw back, hissing in surprise. The Changewing revealed himself - bright red scales now stood out much greater against the mossy grey rocks. The younger arched his back, stepping back ever so slightly. Most elders wouldn’t pick a fight with fledglings, it was seen as immature and unkindly, but it seemed like this elder had no such qualms with doing so. The Changewing snapped his jaws forward, causing Hiccup to jump and shriek. The younger whistled out a warning - just because he was younger didn’t mean he couldn’t pack a punch.

He knew from experience with play fighting with Toothless that his claws couldn’t do much damage though, and his teeth were much duller than others, but Hiccup was much more flexible and could pull off maneuvers that other drako couldn’t. He stalked the elder, rolling his shoulders back; if the Changewing wanted a fight, a fight he was going to get.

Hiccup sidestepped, narrowly missing a stream of burning acid - before jumping up and scratching at the Changewings vulnerable neck. The two drako went at it - the elder not being able to land many hits on Hiccup due to his small size. Shrieks, hisses, and growls were exchanged until the telltale whistle of a soaring Night Fury was heard overhead.

Toothless had appeared, disgruntled at Hiccup’s disappearance from their nest. It was likely that Cloudjumper was going to be hearing about this. Hiccup was momentarily distracted by Toothless’ arrival, turning to face his bondmate; the sudden lapse in concentration gave the Changewing the perfect opportunity to strike.

Hiccup yelped in surprise and pain, falling back to where his bondmate was standing: Toothless’ eyes had narrowed to slits and his mouth was open, ready to fire. Hiccup huddled closer to his side, rubbing a paw on his cheek as he did so - it came back sticky with crimson blood. He whimpered.

Toothless turned his attention to Hiccup, shielding the older with his wings despite the fact that the Changewing had already stalked off, quite content with himself. Hurt, ee-kp, hurt, painbadnuhhelp. The younger licked at the wound, ee-kp nuhsmart, challengehurtpainbad.

Hiccup sank lower, disappointed with himself for making his bondmate worry, okaysafenuhbad.

Toothless prodded at Hiccup, urging the fledgling to get on his back. *whistle*-p

Hiccup nodded, flying would help, flying always helped make things better.

*****

Two whole years had passed since Hiccup’s first scuffle with another drako - and it certainly wasn’t the last time something like that had happened. As his other nest mates grew up they fought more, typical happenings for short wings. They had grown into their juvenile stages and would stay there for a few more years until they began to reach the stages of maturity.

Hiccup was still much smaller than nearly all the other drako. Sometimes it seemed like even the Terrible Terrors were bigger than him. Call it an inferiority complex or something of the like, but Hiccup hated how the others would snicker about his small stature. Toothless had to pull him out of many more scuffles - his bondmate becoming more disgruntled by the other’s fiery nature despite not holding any true flame inside of him

There were so many things that made Hiccup unlike the other drako. Of course, there was his lack of wings, though there were some cousins that had no wings such as Speed Stingers of Skullions, both of which Hiccup had no desire to fight against - they would tear him apart. He did have some brains after all. Hiccup also couldn’t breathe any sort of flame: not fire, not lava, no ice, or acids - nothing. His paws looked different, letting him grab onto things much easier.

Like sticks. Oh, Hiccup loved those. He used to simply draw with them in the dirt or snow, but once he learned that if the edges of the stick were burned he could draw on the cave walls - he had never gone back. Hiccup loved making lovely depictions of the other drako, of his nest mates and Cloudjumper. He adored drawing Toothless - there were walls and walls covered with him and Hiccup. Hiccup and Toothless flying. Hiccup and Toothless curled up together. Practically anything that they could do together, Hiccup drew on the walls.

His bondmate would always watch over him as his dexterous paws made the swirls and lines. Toothless tried drawing as well, though his attempts took much more imagination to see what the picture was supposed to be since he had to hold a branch in his mouth and twist his entire body to create the correct figures.

So yes, there were things that Hiccup didn’t like about himself because they made him so different, but there were also things that he could do that no other drako could and that made it all worth it.

Hiccup didn’t know how valuable a drako like him was though - that there were vík out there who would want him.

Hiccup didn’t know that until he saw it for himself.

It was meant to be a normal hunt, they weren’t even trying to free any dragons from traps - which Hiccup was very good at because of his nimble paws. Hiccup was posted on Toothless’ back, peering down at the open expanse of water beneath them. It was a clear day, few clouds, and the warm spring air made Hiccup smile. Winter had finally passed once again and now he and Toothless would be able to play freely outside for hours without Hiccup needing to recuperate. Yet another downside of being an exceptionally rare drako.

With the clear sky, they should have spotted the ships far sooner than they had, but the short wings had been too caught up in their own games to care about what was happening in the outside world.

They were sat on a beach, Toothless gulping down fish as Hiccup splashed in the water along the shore. Every once and a while he would pounce on a fish that had swam too close, though most of the time they were able to dash away just in time. Toothless yawned, closing his eyes and curling into a ball. Hiccup trotted over to his bondmates side and plopped down as well, letting the warm spring sun lull him into a slumber.

It wasn’t long until he was being jolted away.

Something was tugging onto him; Hiccup tried to blink the sleep from his eyes and adjust once more to the light. He heard Toothless’ roar much sooner than he saw the drako. Toothless was standing in an attack position, pulling Hiccup to his side with his tail. The older tried to peek out - just to see what was going on - but Toothless was completely blocking his line of sight.

There were shouts, words in a language that Hiccup couldn’t understand. It most definitely did not sound like Dragonese. There was the clanging of metal and before Hiccup knew it strange figures were grabbing onto both him and Toothless. The bondmates were separated. Hiccup screamed out Toothless’ name as the other did the same towards Hiccup, *click*-ss *click*-ss. Hiccup struggled against his captors. As he twisted and turned he got a good look at them- vík. Horrible, horrible vík who were hurting him. And hurting Toothless. He wailed, screaming, making as much noise and putting up as much of a fight as he could so that the vík would let him go. It was unfair, terribly unfair. He and Toothless had just been enjoying the new day, off hunting together, and the vík had to simply absolutely ruin it all.

Toothless feebly attempted to shoot a blast at the vík, but they bound his jaws together, making his efforts futile. Hiccup couldn’t struggle anymore, his muscles ached and his body was wearing out. His captors were much larger than him; they were able to take hold of him like he was a hatchling.

Before Hiccup and Toothless were brought onto the ship that was waiting for them though, there was a shriek in the distance.

Cloudjumper.

He was not going to be happy with them.

Hiccup’s head hung low, so did Toothless’, as he sat in the nest. The two bond mates were sitting on opposite sides of the nest, refusing to look at one another. Cloudjumper sat between them, a pestered look on his face. He had not been happy to see that Hiccup and Toothless had nearly gotten themselves captured by hunter vík - the worst kind of vík there was. Those were the ones that went after dragons, the reason they had so many injured and the reason they lost so many of their cousins.

Cloudjumper sniffed at them both, making sure that they were alright - there weren’t any injuries to be seen beside a few scratches and bruises that would heal well before the next full moon. Badvíkbadhunt notsafewhy outwhy?

The question went unanswered by both short wings.

Cloudjumper huffed, almosttakewhatthen? gonebad ee-kp-*click*-ss gone.

Hiccup ducked his head even lower; most of the time he was overjoyed to hear his name with Toothless’, the name they shared that declared them bondmates, but not now. Now it just made him feel shame. If the hunters would have taken them, there was no telling if they would have ever found their way back, if they would have been able to get back.

Hiccup slowly pawed over to Cloudjumper; he brushed against his wing. mp-*hiss* worrynuhworry safe badheartbad safe. He tried to let Cloudjumper know his apologies, that he hadn’t expected, nor wanted, for him or Toothless to get hurt. Toothless hesitantly joined too. The elder practically sighed, rubbing his cheeks against both of the short wings.

Hiccup curled into the elder’s side, suddenly realizing how tired he was. Fighting against the vík had truly zapped the energy out of him. He felt like a hatchling again, curling into his mp-*hiss*’s side. Cloudjumper was just as warm as the spring sun though: Hiccup found himself dreaming of the summer skies to come and the adventures he and Toothless would find themselves in.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Hiccup was finally allowed to go out with Toothless again on their own; they were older now - both ten years old - and with enough convincing they were able to get Cloudjumper to allow them to leave the nest by themselves.

The bondmates relished these moments, when it was just the two of them. There were no other nest mates to take their attention away or other drako that Hiccup would end up picking a fight with. Because yes, he had continued to do that as well - it was getting out of hand. Over the years Hiccup had found ways to create his own claws, mostly from things they had taken during raids. The raids were necessary in some cases and showed weaker tribes that the drako were not to be messed with: they were still dangerous creatures that were able to harm if they so pleased.

The sharper claws led to other drako challenging Hiccup, there were still very, very, few elders that would dare challenge a juvenile. It was unsightly. That Changewing had toyed with Hiccup a few more times - Cloudjumper had gotten involved after the fifth encounter. There were some other cousins that were also still hesitant to accept Hiccup; even after all of these years he was still seen as the misborn drako.

Hiccup shook it off though, he didn’t care that he wasn’t like the others, as long as he could hold his own in a fight it didn’t matter. And by the gods did he hold himself in fights.

It had gotten to the point where Toothless had given up on breaking up the fights and would rather just wait until they were over. Hiccup was usually alright after the scuffles anyway, sometimes sporting a new scar or slight burn. He wore his marks with pride though - a sign of the battles that he had lived through and a signature of his strength.

Some of their younger nestmates had even started to look up to Hiccup. A Typhoomerang that was a few years younger than them had taken a liking to Hiccup. Toothless rolled his eyes whenever Torch would curl up next to his bondmate. Hiccup would chortle at him - snickering *click*-ss jealoussadfun

Toothless refused to admit that Torch had made him a bit jealous.

But Torch couldn’t fly with Hiccup, not in the way that Toothless could - and neither of them would want it any other way. The older draco was quite comfortable on Toothless’ back and had taken up learning all sorts of tricks that they could do together, most definitely ones that Cloudjumper would not approve of at all.

The elder would be squawking at them to stop whatever they were doing that instant, but he was not here to scold them. They could make as many dive bombs as they wanted, fly as close to the sea’s surface as they could. Hiccup’s favorite was jumping from Toothless’ back. It was exhilarating if only a bit terrifying. His bondmate always saved him no matter how far Hiccup fell.

The wind rushed past him as he fell, whipping through his hair and making his eyes water. It was such a brilliant feeling. But something was missing, something that Hiccup would never be able to have because his body simply could not.

His wings.

Hiccup knew that he was supposed to have wings. It just felt so right. He wanted to fly with Toothless side by side, to race him through the currents and reach the stars with him in ways they never had before. The problem was Hiccup had no idea how he was going to gain his wings.

Well, if his body could not make them he would just have to find a way to make them just like how he had made his claws.

Hiccup took time to study the different kinds of wings that his cousins had, the sizes, the structure, the different bones, and the feelings of all of them. He would take materials from vík during raids, materials he knew they used for the strange things that they wore on their body. Hiccup had begun wearing similar things, if only because it made him much warmer.

His attempts seemed to be in vain though - every time he would put a pair of wings together they would end up failing. Sometimes, they would even hold together when he jumped out into the open air, sometimes they wouldn’t open properly, but the worst times were when they almost worked but would give out at the last second.

Those always seemed to get his hopes up.

Toothless had borne witness to many of these attempts, and a few other drako ended up watching as well.

Hiccup threw the current pair of wings to the side - they had ripped down the sides, making it impossible for them to catch any wind. He tore at them with his claws, watching the material come apart beneath his paws. He growled at the wings, screeching in pain.

It wasn’t fair! None of this was fair, nothing at all!

The only thing Hiccup wanted was to fit in with all his other cousins, to match Toothless in the way his mind was telling him they should match. His bondmate was everything that Hiccup wanted to be but couldn’t be. Toothless was a perfect drako; he was strong, lean, he was one of the fastest drako that Hiccup had ever seen. There was no other like him - primarily because his species was nearly hunted to extinction as Cloudjumper had told them.

But Hiccup wasn’t like Toothless at all, and it simply wasn’t fair!

He stalked towards a cave, curling up near the wall, and turning his back to the entrance. A few of his nest mates poked their heads in, but Hiccup hissed at them to leave. He was one of the oldest of their clutch; they respected him (most of the time). Toothless finally made his way through, ignoring Hiccup’s protests as he did so; he was worried about his bondmate and would bother the older drako if he needed to.

Toothless plopped down next to Hiccup.

Hiccup simply moved closer to the wall.

They stayed like that for a few minutes - Toothless waiting for Hiccup to make a move and Hiccup refusing to do so. He didn’t want to have to be the first to speak, to show that he had been in the wrong in any way. Hiccup was stubborn, stubborn as all Hel. That was never going to change it seemed.

He stole a look back for a moment - just a moment. Toothless didn’t seem phased at all; he had been through situations like this many times over, these little outbursts did little to concern him. Yes, he was upset for his bondmate who was obviously angered, but there wasn’t much that Toothless himself could do. He couldn’t make Hiccup wings, if he could he would have done so long ago. But it was impossible, or at least that's how it felt. Cloudjumper had told him that nothing was impossible after all.

Though, Hiccup would have to do this on his own it seemed, without any help from the other drako.

Not a single other one of their wingless cousins had tried to make their own wings before; they had all come to realize that it was practically impossible. If the gods wanted them to fly they would have been born with wings.

When elders attempted to get Hiccup to see that fact he would brush it off. What about the drako that had been injured? Were they supposed to stay on the ground now that their wings or tails were damaged? It was unfair for them as well.

Hiccup had much more progress when it came to helping other drako who had been injured - his smaller paws worked quite well when it came to setting broken bones and the like. But he couldn’t do the impossible for himself. Hiccup could heal any of the other drako, could get them back in the air, but when it came to giving himself the ability of flight - Hiccup failed.

The only thing that Hiccup had wanted in his ten years of living was to fly, but he had never achieved it in the way his mind dreamed of. He could fly with Cloudjumper or with Toothless - sitting on their backs or dangling from their claws - but he couldn’t fly with them. Not in the way that mattered.

The way that mattered seemed impossible.

The older drako uncurled himself slightly, moving to sit on his back legs. Hiccup and Toothless locked eyes; Toothless quirked his head to the side, eyes filled with concern. Hiccup nearly snarled, instead he huffed and moved the few steps to lay next to his bondmate. He curled up at the other drako’s side, letting Toothless’ warmth encapsulate him and the other’s breaths soothing the pain in his chest.

Toothless curled a wing around the smaller drako, crooning at Hiccup. Safeokaysky ee-kp, fly, *click*-ss, fly. Hiccup wouldn’t hear any of it, the feelings were there, all the things that were supposed to make him feel better, but they did little to quell the spark in his heart.

He pawed at Toothless’ wing around him. Someday he would have those too, no matter how long it took.

*****

Hiccup was on Toothless’ back again - very disgruntled by that fact, but flying nonetheless. He may despise the fact that there was a possibility that he would never be able to fly on his own, but he wasn’t going to let that take away all the joys of the skies.

There were still parts he loved and by the gods was it an amazing opportunity to spend further time with his bondmate.

Nobody could bother them. Okay, maybe that wasn’t fully true: Hiccup had learned time and time again that there could be something out there that made his flights with Toothless less than joyful. Vík were always a problem, especially the hunter vík - they still spooked Hiccup more than they probably should have.

But he was older now, stronger, more mature. Hiccup could fight his way out of any trap - a fact that had been proven over the years. He had gotten caught in paw traps, some of which led to harsh scars around his legs. Hiccup brushed it all off though, these proved he could survive anything. Many of his younger nest mates stared at Hiccup’s scars in awe. Pride would waft off of the short wing.

Toothless was never as amused as the other drako though, instead, he would force Hiccup to rest off his injuries - something the older was not keen on doing.

Like now.

Hiccup had once again constructed a pair of wings for himself that ultimately failed in the end. He had crashed into some rocks and Cloudjumper had strictly forbidden any flying. Except Hiccup and Toothless were in the open skies right now.

Not the best at following orders.

Hiccup didn’t mind the scolding that was bound to come though, if anything it just made him want to go out more; Hiccup was always testing the boundaries that Cloudjumper had set. Most of the time it ended poorly - like that time three years ago - but it would be fine.

What could possibly happen anyway?

The sky was his before him, so many opportunities before him - who really cared if they had a few bad experiences in the past. What mattered now was that they were safe. Neither of them was sitting on an island - both of them were awake. There wasn’t anything out there that could hurt them.

They were soaring above the clouds, barely able to see the sea under them. Every so often a brid would pass by, brids were annoying creatures. They thought they were so high and mighty for being able to fly but drako could fly as well - brids weren’t so special after all now were they.

Hiccup stretched his front paws out wide, trying to catch as much wind as he could; it seemed to push him back a little. If Toothless was gliding any faster he would have been knocked off into the ocean below.

Hiccup kept himself planted on the other drako’s back, grasping onto Toothless’ neck. Part of him wanted to jump again, to feel the wind rushing past him in a different sorts of way, but he didn’t even have a pair of wings on him - so stuck with Toothless it was.

They went through the clouds; Hiccup felt the moisture touch his face, seeping into his skin. Flying through the clouds always seemed a bit strange, sometimes the water would be too much or the clouds completely blocked Hiccup and Toothless’ view. That was part of the thrill though. What kind of flight would it be if there wasn’t a bit of danger involved?

Hiccup leaned over Toothless’ side, outstretching a front paw to wade through the fluffy expanse beneath him.

Everything was so much simpler up here. Hiccup didn’t have to worry that he wasn’t like the other drako; he didn’t have to think about what Cloudjumper would inevitably say when they arrived back at the nest. Right now it was just Hiccup and Toothless - nobody could stop them when they were up here. They were like kings and tiny specks of life below them were their subjects. So small, seemingly so powerless.

Hiccup quickly learned that small things were not powerless - after all, he himself was quite small and didn’t think of himself as powerless; he was powerful. Something wrapped around the two drako, pinning Toothless’ wings together and trapping Hiccup against his bondmates body. With his wings folded in, Toothless quickly dropped, the ocean getting closer and closer until Hiccup had to brace for the impact. He knew how much water could hurt when falling from such a high distance.

Toothless let out a plasma blast to try to break some of the tension before the two of them plummeted into the sea below. Neither of them could swim in the positions they were in, instead they sank like rocks. Hiccup tried his hardest to tear at the ropes that were constricting the two, but it was all for naught. The ropes wouldn’t tear, especially not while they were underwater. Toothless was roaring; Hiccup was screeching.

Hiccup thought they were going to sink forever but another wad of rope was cast towards them, wrapping them up into yet another bundle. Thankfully - or maybe terribly - the net that was cast down began to bring them closer and closer to the surface. The minute his head came up from the water, Hiccup was gasping for air. He felt like his lungs had been completely stripped of the sweetness.

Toothless was also gasping for breath, but he seemed to get a hold of himself much quicker.

The two were hauled up higher until they were being turned over onto a hard surface. Hiccup’s eyes closed at the sudden light - it had been much darker under the water - but he could still feel the familiar surface beneath him. Wood. Wood, why would there be wood?

Toothless attempted to twist so he wasn’t lying as much on the smaller drako - that was thoughtful seeing as Hiccup had gotten a bit crushed in the struggle.

Hiccup peered up hesitantly. A boat; they were on a boat. Boats always led to one thing: vík. Perfect, the exact thing that Hiccup didn’t want to deal with. It was one thing to get hit down by some other drako, maybe even another animal, but to get struck down by a vík? That was just horrible. And chances are, if they were targeting drako, they were hunter vík. The absolute worst type of vík in the entire world.

Just Hiccup’s luck.

Vík with swords and axes stalked over them; they were all so large compared to Hiccup, some seemed to tower over Toothless as well. They were built strong and wide, like Rumblehorns or Snafflefangs. Both of those types of drako didn’t get along all that well with Hiccup - just like how he assumed these vík wouldn’t be the most pleasant of folk.

Hiccup glanced around the ship, his eyes immediately caught focus on the sail. There was a Skrill painted on it, drawn with sharp and jagged lines, but a Skrill nonetheless. Hiccup had never met a Skrill before, though he had heard many stories about the lighting bearers. They were powerful, one of the most powerful - they were fast as lightning and just as deadly. Storms always seemed to be brewing around them.

These vík didn’t seem to be kind towards drako, so why would they paint their flags with them?

There was a commotion on the deck, elder vík were pushed out of the way as a brash younger man… er well boy, yeah boy seemed about right. He was much smaller than the other vík that were on board the ship, though he carried himself with an aura that he was more important than any of them. The other vík seemed annoyed at his presence but did nothing to stop the boy. That was also strange, typically if a younger drako was acting out an elder would almost always reprimand them.

Hiccup had experienced his fair share of that.

Toothless tried to twist in order to face the boy and protect Hiccup; he didn’t truly succeed at either of those things.

The boy’s mouth was moving, doing what Hiccup assumed was speaking, but it was in a way that Hiccup had never heard. He knew that vík spoke a strange language, ever only hearing a few words and shouts, but it felt wrong to hear full phrases in the strange tongues. There were many shouts now as the boy commanded men to do what he said. Surprisingly they obeyed him. Hiccup and Toothless were separated, being restrained by a few vík each - Toothless had much more guarding him. It felt like they were on that beach three years ago all over again. Hiccup couldn’t hope that Cloudjumper was going to come flying in for the rescue, knowing him he would probably leave them to live with the consequences of their actions. Unless Cloudjumper had no idea what was going on, just assuming that the bondmates were off on another one of their typical adventures.

That’s how it was supposed to be after all. Hiccup couldn’t have expected something like this would happen.

This was a whole new kind of Hel.

Was this what could have happened if they had gotten captured before? Would they have been taken onto a ship like this, tangled up in ropes, and tossed aside? Hiccup tried his hardest to fight against the vík, but even though he had grown since the first time he saw hunters like this, he was still as small as a fishbone compared to the vík. The boy though, seemed far younger than the rest, as if he was still a juvenile at best.

There was a crazed look in his eye though as he thoroughly inspected the two drako. Hiccup didn’t enjoy how long the young vík spent looking at him in particular. His eyes trailed over Hiccup, looking at the drako like he was prey; it made Hiccup’s stomach do somersaults. The drako tried to fight back with his claws, but the only thing that succeeded was getting his paws wrapped up even tighter.

Toothless wasn’t in a much better state - if anything it was worse. The horrible vík had strapped his jaws shut, making it impossible for Toothless to fire any shots. There had to be at least seven vík that were holding him down, making sure the younger drako couldn’t make any moves.

Hiccup snarled: he hated seeing Toothless like this. They deserved to be back in the sky, not on a hunter vík ship. The boy shouted more orders in that strange tongue of his and before Hiccup could try anything more, he was being hauled away. Toothless was taken in a different direction. Both drako fought hard against their captors to not be separated, but it was in vain; there was no getting out of this.

Hiccup was pushed through a cramped hallway that was lined with cages, very familiar cages. They were exactly like the ones that Hiccup had freed many drako from before. If the vík thought putting him in one of those was going to help, they were thoroughly mistaken. Hiccup would be able to slip his paws through the bars and unlock the latch - he’d done it a million times before after all. Not that he particularly liked the reason he had so much experience, but it was an excellent skill to have regardless.

Hiccup was not thrown into one of those cages though; the vík continued to walk down the hallway. Walking felt strange, doing so on only his back paws. Typically Hiccup made his way around on all four of his paws, much like Toothless - it wasn’t impossible for him to stand or even take a few steps with his hind paws, but it was much more difficult. Hiccup was feeling the strain on his legs with every step he took. It felt like if the vík were to let go of him, he would crumple to the ground.

A door was opened, the boy stepped into a room on the other side; Hiccup and his guards followed right after. The guards took that opportunity to drop Hiccup and take their place by the door, which was now latched shut. Just as he assumed, Hiccup fell to the ground. He couldn’t even stabilize himself though because his front paws were still bound behind his back - it was humiliating to have to contort his body to look up at the boy who had caused all of this.

The boy vík was speaking those weird words again, for some reason, he must have been assuming that Hiccup knew how to speak them too - but Hiccup could barely understand any of the words the boy was saying. He was much better at reading the boy’s body language: the way he had taken off his helmet, letting Hiccup see a head full of fiery red hair, or how he held himself tall with an air of confidence.

Hiccup could tell that even though this boy was younger than the other vík he was the leader; he held all the power. He only had power over his men though, that sentiment did not bleed over into the two drako he now had captured.

Hiccup maneuvered - with quite a lot of effort - so that he was now sitting on his back paws, not the most comfortable position, but it would have to do. The boy’s green eyes bore into Hiccup’s: he hated that he had the same coloured eyes as this monster. While green eyes such as his or Toothless reminded Hiccup of sprawling forests and the new things that were out there to explore, this boy’s eyes were like acid, burning, and destructive.

The boy said a few things that Hiccup could understand - only a few words, like his name: Dagur.

Da-gur. Da-gr - it felt strange on Hiccup’s tongue, like he wasn’t meant to say it at all. That was just another sign from the gods that this was terribly wrong; drako were not supposed to be around this boy and the vík that surrounded him.

Dagur continued to speak - he must have liked the sound of his own voice - and began to inspect Hiccup again. Hands were suddenly tugging at Hiccup’s skin, pulling at his arms, and rubbing over his face. Hiccup growled a warning before he attempted to bite the boy. A drako allowed touch when they were with someone they trusted: Dagur was not someone to be trusted.

Hiccup hunched back farther, bearing his teeth to the boy. Dagur jumped back the tiniest bit at Hiccup’s sudden outburst, but other than that he still managed to seem amused at the drako’s antics. How annoying that was. The drako looked around the room, trying to see if there were any possible exits - of course, there weren’t. There were no openings at all. Hiccup was completely trapped.

Dagur continued to fawn over Hiccup like he was some kind of new toy - it made his skin crawl. Hiccup just wanted his bondmate back, to be with Toothless again and have all of this be over. Oh, Toothless, what could they have possibly done to him? Was he getting tortured? Were they hurting him in unimaginable ways?

No, he couldn’t think like that, Hiccup had to believe that Toothless would be okay. They would get off of this vík ship and then they would be far away from this place: Hiccup made a mental note to never fly this far west again.

Hiccup closed his eyes as Dagur continued his examination - if he could pretend like this wasn’t happening at all then maybe it would be over faster.

He didn’t know how long he was sitting on the floor, but after what felt like an eternity Dagur finally let up. He walked back to what looked like his perch. He sat down, a dark expression on his face but still holding that terrifying smile. He began speaking again - Hiccup had even picked up a few of the words that he kept repeating, if he would ever be able to say them was another question entirely. They didn’t sound like Dragonese at all, once he and Toothless got out of here he would ask around the nest to learn what the strange language these vík spoke was.

The vík behind Hiccup shifted until he felt himself being hauled up once again. The door opened behind him. Perfect. At least if he was in the hallway then there were bound to be more exit possibilities. The vík didn’t take him above deck, instead throwing him roughly into one of the cages he had seen earlier.

Hiccup had to fight to hide his excitement: they were giving him exactly what he needed. The door to the cage was locked, a few words were exchanged, and then one of the vík left down the hallway. The other stayed planted by the cage, axe in hand, standing guard.

This was fine. Hiccup would just have to wait a bit longer.

Hiccup didn’t think he could wait any longer. At first he was going to wait when the guards changed, hoping that he would catch them off guard, but the vík by the cage never left. He did see as the man’s eyes struggled to stay open though. It must have been getting late - even Hiccup was getting tired. He promised himself that he would stay awake though since it was a matter of life or death for him; he needed to stay conscious.

The vík’s eyes fluttered more, the time his eyes spent closed lengthened, until finally his eyes slipped closed and stayed that way. The man slumped against a wooden support: Hiccup was quick to get to work. He didn’t even need to do all the work of unlocking the cage like he typically did, instead, he carefully pawed over to where the vík was, fit his hand through the bars and grabbed onto the key that was attached to the vík’s belt.

It was like they wanted Hiccup to escape.

It was a bit difficult to maneuver his arm around to unlock the cage, but he did so quickly and quietly. He opened the door only far enough so that he could slip through the crack. The cover of darkness helped immensely as he slinked through the ship. Nobody was the wiser.

Every so often he needed to duck behind something in order to not get caught, but Hiccup’s plan was working splendidly. He snuck up to the deck and over to where he had watched the vík take Toothless. It was much more difficult to sneak around there but not impossible.

If there was one thing Hiccup had learned in life, it was that there were improbable things, but they were never impossible.

There were other drako here as well, about a handful. Hiccup sucked in a breath as he made his way through the hall: Deadly Nadders, a Gobsucker, Threadtails, and even a hatchling Hackatoo. Hiccup growled - he despised these hunters. He slunk over to where the Hackatoo was, all the other drako watched him with hateful expressions - Hiccup hadn’t the faintest clue as to why. He was a drako as well, and he was going to save them. He warbled to the Hackatoo safemehelpsafe. Hiccup repeated it a few times so that the other got the message loud and clear. *click*-ss, he said his bondmate’s name in a questioning way, seeing if the other drako had noticed him.

A Threadtail hesitantly responded, gesturing to the end of the hallway. Hiccup chirped a thanks and bounded over Toothless.

When he saw his bondmate in the cage, Hiccup whimpered. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like he was hurt in any way, but that didn’t help to calm Hiccup’s nerves. *click*-ss helpyousafemehelp. Toothless crooned at him as Hiccup got to work. It was quick going, but his paws got caught up a little as he was shivering. He hadn’t realized his fear had heightened so much.

When the lock fell to the ground, Toothless jumped onto his bondmate, rubbing their cheeks together and completely covering him in slobber. It was perfect. The two could only celebrate their success for so long though before Hiccup had to get to work freeing the other drako. They were still hesitant around him, even as the locks to their cages fell; Hiccup tried not to pay attention to that.

As soon as the last lock was gone, Hel broke loose. A vík had gone to check on the drako and seeing the sight before him screamed out for his companions. Hiccup was quick to jump onto Toothless’ back, roaring for the other drako to follow.

It was a complete mess on deck: vík were readying their weapons, drako were frantically flying away, and shouts were being thrown from both sides. The moon did little to lighten the environment - Hiccup was thankful for that. Due to Toothless’ midnight black scales, they were able to slip away into the night.

Hiccup watched as the other drako flew off in what seemed like a dozen different directions. The ship grew smaller and smaller as Toothless fled towards the clouds. Hiccup rested his face against Toothless scales. ee-kp-*click*-ss safehappygood. Toothless chattered in agreement.

As they continued to fly back home to their nest, Hiccup could only imagine what he would need to tell Cloudjumper.

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Chapter Text

To say Hiccup was annoyed would be the understatement of the century.

He had been hauled up in the nest for days now thanks to an illness. It wasn’t even like it was a remotely harmful sickness, but Cloudjumper was so fretful that he refused to let Hiccup leave the nest. He knew the underlying reason for that - he was weak, weaker than all the other drako. Most of them were practically full grown, or at least they wouldn’t grow anymore until they were much older, but not Hiccup. He was still small and useless.

After all these years of hoping that maybe he would get some magical growth spurt and become the same size as all the other drako, and he was still small. It didn’t help that when he was with Toothless he appeared even smaller - and by gods if he was standing next to Cloudjumper? Hiccup would rather just crawl back into the nest and stay there forever.

Except he didn’t want to be in the nest anymore.

Hiccup’s body was much more susceptible to sickness than the other drako, and he hated to admit it, but it was painfully true. He was flush with fever and his nose felt all stuffed. He just wanted to go flying though - somewhere out there with Toothless.

The only reason the two bondmates were still allowed to even go out was because Hiccup had lied. It hadn’t made him feel great, but if he had told the truth about what had happened that day there was no way that Cloudjumper would ever let him leave the nest until he was thirty, and that was simply way too far away. Convincing Toothless to lie as well took a lot more convincing, but he agreed to it - begrudgingly. One of the joys of being the elder bondmate, Toothless usually went along with the crazy things that Hiccup suggested even if they weren’t the best ideas in the world.

But this time Toothless would not budge.

He had been assigned to watch over Hiccup, the elder drako truly thought that Toothless would end up folding and they could go flying together, but that was simply not the case. If anything, Toothless was even more protective now. It made Hiccup feel even weaker than he normally did. He didn’t need to have someone watching over him all the time like some fledgling and he most definitely did not need Toothless to act like he was suddenly inferior.

It made his blood boil; add this to the list of things that weren't fair.

Hiccup sneezed, breaking himself out of the daze that he had fallen into. Toothless looked at him with worry; Hiccup simply rolled his eyes in annoyance: not every sneeze or cough was a sign of a terrible sickness. This was just some cold, it would end up passing. If only Hiccup didn’t pass away from boredom first.

There were only so many things he could do in the nest, he couldn’t even draw on the cave walls because when he tried, Cloudjumper picked him up by his scruff and placed him back into the nest. That had been embarrassing. He was the eldest of the nest - out of all his nestmates - he shouldn’t be treated like he had just hatched.

Hiccup pawed over to Toothless, poking his side insistently. Maybe if he annoyed Toothless enough then he would take them out flying. If Hiccup had wings of his own then maybe he would be able to get out - but it was still a no go on those. The design he had created this time seemed promising though, the last test flight would have been great if a Gronkle hadn’t appeared in his path. Hiccup didn’t even know how the Gronkle had snuck up on him like that; failing in such a way had only made him angrier.

But there would be no more test flights until he was all healed up, that’s what Cloudjumper had said and that was the rule that Toothless was insisting on. Hiccup poked the other drako’s scales again; Toothless was much more mature than he was, many elders had said that. Hiccup just thought that meant that he knew how to have more fun, after all, who else was going to come up with all those fun - and slightly dangerous - games for the fledglings. He was doing his job as a broad wing (despite still not having wings) to do so.

Other drako called him a bad example, Hiccup said that just meant the fledglings learned what not to do.

There had been an increase in fledglings lately; it was slightly unnerving. Sometimes they would come in packs, or one or two would come with a parent, but typically they came alone. It didn’t make any sense. Drako looked after their children for years, for this many fledglings, from so many different species, to be showing up at the sanctuary was unheard of.

Hiccup didn’t mind though, and he knew that Toothless didn’t either; they loved spending time with the babies. They needed guidance, especially finding their way in a nest as grand as this one. Toothless was less jealous of these fledglings, he knew that Hiccup was just doing his job as an elder to look after the younger and make sure they were safe.

There were times that Hiccup still felt like a fledgling, and not in the bad way - the way where the elders would scorn him or other drako would belittle him. No, sometimes being treated like a fledgling was nice, like when Cloudjumper would carry him in his claws in that special way, or when Toothless would give him a bath. Times like those were nice.

But this was not those times because Hiccup was still bored out of his mind and no matter how many times he poked Toothless his bondmate was not budging. It was like he was trying to upset Hiccup and Toothless never tried to do that. He fawned over Hiccup more than Cloudjumper did. Though, that was probably because they were bondmates - bondmates typically did that.

flyskyfly leaveupfun, Toothless continued to turn his head away. He huffed and curled up tighter. Was this how his bondmate felt when Hiccup was being unresponsive? If so, Hiccup felt bad because this was an awful experience. He knew that Toothless could hear him, he was just actively choosing to ignore him.

Hiccup was going to take back every nice thing he had said, Toothless was quite rude when he wanted to be.

Comefly skyhighfunsky *click*-ss *click*-ss. Hiccup had taken to butting his head against Toothless’ side; he just wanted to have some fun - and maybe get some attention that wasn’t because of his cold. *click*-ss! Still no response.

Hiccup gave his own huff and trotted over to the other side of the nest; he plopped down, turning his back to Toothless. So much for bondmates huh? Hiccup stayed sulking for a few minutes because he felt Toothless curl up next to him; Hiccup twisted to face him. fly

Nuh rest

Hiccup let out a half hearted growl - his throat was too scratchy for it to be a true growl. flyskyfun

Toothless rested his head against Hiccup’s, restneed safenestgood

Hiccup wanted to argue, but a yawn found its way crawling up his throat. His eyes were beginning to feel heavy; maybe rest wasn’t so bad after all - he could have a short nap and then get back to pestering Toothless after. If he rested a little bit that would show that he was in fact trying to rest and that he just needed to fly to get out all the restlessness that was stored up inside of him. But sleep first.

After another week, Hiccup was allowed to leave the nest. It was the best feeling in the entire world. There was a group of drako going on a mission, seeing if there were any more fledglings on neighboring islands or if there were any drako in need. Cloudjumper was hesitant to let Hiccup go, nervous that he still wasn’t completely recovered from his sickness, but he managed to convince the elder that he would be alright. He promised to stay with Toothless and would be back at the required time. Hiccup wasn’t lying this time either, when they were away on missions like this, his head was in the game - he didn’t want to get anyone else hurt or worse killed. He always put himself in danger without a second thought, but when the hurt was focused on someone else he knew what to do.

Hiccup climbed through the trees, he was much better at doing this than Toothless. Hiccup’s smaller paws made it easier to grip onto the bark, that, and his paws looked so much different than Toothless’ - the elder drako always chalked it up to being a different species. That’s what made the most sense after all. There couldn’t possibly be any other sort of information.

The small drako climbed to the top of the sprawling trees. Sometimes it seemed like this was as far as he was going to get to the sky - at least alone - when he was up here it was almost as if he could touch the stars. It wasn’t nearly as grand as amazing as actually being up in the clouds, but Hiccup could get used to this regardless.

ee-kp! Toothless was calling after him now, that must mean that he had spotted something. Hiccup sighed and crawled back down to the ground; he ignored how the bark would bite into the areas of his paws that weren’t covered by the material he made his claws out of. One day, one day he would make better coverings, ones that matched him better. Maybe he would be able to get some leather from the villages they raided, maybe even use some of Toothless’ shed scales. That would be a good way for everyone to know that they were one in the same, bondmates usually shared scales with each other as gifts already - Hiccup would just be putting them to an even better use.

The drako jumped down next to Toothless, scaring him a little at the sudden intrusion - Hiccup snorted, it was quite amusing seeing how riled up the Night Fury could get at Hiccup’s tricks. Every so often he thought that maybe Toothless was just playing it up for the other’s benefit, but times like this reminded him that the younger was simply that jumpy. Especially when it came to Hiccup - he was always on edge to make sure that the elder was safe. Even more so after the day with the hunters.

Hiccup shivered, walking in the direction that Toothless had been gesturing to. The forest was dark, the night sky barely peaked through. The wind rustled the leaves, winding through the bushes and foliage until it brushed past Hiccup’s skin. He hoped that there weren’t any fledglings that were trapped here; they would be scared out of their wits. But not Hiccup, he was brave and strong, he wouldn’t get scared just from a little bit of wind.

There was a howling noise coming from in front of the two drako. Okay, maybe that could make him a bit nervous.

The two hesitantly padded forward; Toothless was ready to fire in case anything went south. There weren’t any hunters though, instead there was a Monstrous Nightmare trapped, it seemed like he was trying to light himself ablaze as an attempt to free himself, but it was in vain. Hiccup sauntered forward - acting much more confident than he actually was. ee-kpme, *hiss*-pp he nodded back to the other drako, safehelpnice. The Monstrous Nightmare growled at them some more, Hiccup moving closer and closer until he was face to face with the drako. nuhhurtsafeyes

He pressed his head forward, a massive gesture of trust in drako. A few moments passed, the only sound that could be heard throughout the forests was the rustling of leaves once more. The Monstrous Nightmare looked at Hiccup, he was different, oh so very different. He pressed his snout to Hiccup who let out a deep sigh. see! safeweus ee-kp-*click*-ss helpgoodsafe

The Monstrous Nightmare relented, allowing Hiccup to get closer to untie and unhook the trap that was keeping him grounded. He watched in awe as Hiccup worked effortlessly with such ease and quickness.

When the elder drako finished he walked back, bowing, comenestus nestsafe

The Monstrous Nightmare huffed, nestmehave; the drako was tense though - Hiccup could tell that clear as day. He whimpered, a question falling from his lips that the other replied to timidly. badthing nestmeanwrong nuhgood.

Hiccup couldn’t understand that. How could a nest be bad? Nests were good, the Alpha protected all of them, there was nothing bad about him. What kind of nest would this drako be a part of that he was scared of it? The fact almost seemed impossible. badthing nestwrong?

The Nightmare nodded, queenhurt nuhgood

Hiccup’s shoulders drooped along with his jaw. Queen? He had never heard of an entire nest being ruled over by a queen, they usually ruled over a small group of their own species, but this place that the Nightmare was explaining seemed far more similar to Hiccup’s own nest.

He wanted to ask more questions, but before he could open his mouth again, the Nightmare was shaking himself off and flying away into the night. He couldn’t get another word out.

Hiccup turned back to Toothless who looked just as stunned as he was. Could a nest like this really exist, and if so, were all the other drako as scared of their queen as this Monstrous Nightmare seemed to be? It was wrong, a bad, very wrong thing. Hiccup wanted to help - he always wanted to help other drako - but part of him yearned even harder to assist in this instance. He would need to speak with Cloudjumper, to come up with a plan, and possibly speak with the Alpha if he allowed for that to happen. They couldn’t just sit around when who knows how many drako were suffering under this queen. It wasn’t fair.

If they wanted to save other drako, help them whenever they needed it, that meant that they would have to find where this nest was and save the drako from the bad, wrong, queen who was harming them.

Hiccup and Toothless met back up with Cloudjumper after a few hours, they were finally flying back to the nest, a long night of saving drako had passed. There were a few more among their ranks - only one fledgling was found. Hiccup didn’t know whether that was a good or bad sign. Hopefully good since that would mean they weren’t getting caught in any traps and were most likely still with their parent.

The fledgling was a Shivertooth named Frostbreath. She was weary to say anything when Hiccup first saw her, and he had made it his grand plan to get her to cheer up during the flight home. He and Toothless showed off all the tricks that they could pull off - Cloudjumper was much less amused at some of the more interesting stunts. Really, he could be such a downer sometimes; he was always worrying. Elders.

Frostbreath did perk up, after they were already halfway home, but Hiccup still counted that as a win. Seeing her let out cheerful squawks and chirps were worth all the energy it took to coax them out of her.

Hiccup had gotten so distracted with Frostbreath thought that he had almost forgotten to tell Cloudjumper about the Monstrous Nightmare that he had encountered; good thing Toothless was always there to smack some sense into him - what a great bondmate. The two picked up the pace a bit so they could meet with the elder. Toothless most certainly had the ability to fly much faster than any other drako, but staying with the group and following the leader was important. mp-*hiss*! Hiccup shouted, speakneedme

Cloudjumper paused for a split second, only for a moment to let Hiccup and Toothless find their way by his side. He quirked his head, giving the younger the invitation to speak, drakohurt nestfromnuhgood meanqueen hurtdrako. He repeated a few words a couple of times so that Cloudjumper understood his meaning.

Cloudjumper looked back at the island, it was only a speck on the horizon now. helpwant?

mehelp drakohelpneed

Cloudjumper under his fledgling. Hiccup wanted to help, but that didn’t necessarily mean that the Monstrous Nightmare had asked for it. This was Hiccup doing what Hiccup did best: getting himself into trouble that he didn’t fully know how to navigate or get out of. nuh

nuh?! Hiccup couldn’t believe what he was hearing drakohurt queenbadnuhgood help

Cloudjumper sighed, as well as a drako could sigh, nuhhelp drakoaskyes nuhhelpnow

And that was the end of that.

Hiccup crumpled onto Toothless’ back, refusing to hear what Cloudjumper had said. How could they just leave some drako that was obviously in danger to fend for himself? There was an entire nest of drako that were suffering and Hiccup was just supposed to sit around and do nothing about it?

No.

That couldn’t be that case at all.

Hiccup was a fighter at heart - a protector of his kin. He had been known for saving a small flock of drako when he was only ten, though the other drako of his nest didn’t know exactly how he had gotten into a situation that allowed him to do so, but Hiccup was respected because of his. Besides, he was older now, he should be allowed to go off on missions with Toothless and to help whatever drako he came across. It didn’t seem fair.

Hiccup seemed to be experiencing a lot of that recently. From his wings, his strange build, his paws that the younger drako looked at with wonder and the elders scorned, even his voice wasn’t the perfect mix that he had yearned for. Hiccup had grown up in a harsh environment, even if the nest was a safe place that didn’t mean that there weren’t times in which life had gotten brutal and cold: he knew that life was not fair and that if you wanted to have something then you had to go out and get it yourself.

That’s exactly what he was going to do. So what if Cloudjumper didn’t approve of his plan - Hiccup had ignored his guidance many times in the past and everything had still turned out fine in the end. What was one more secret adventure?

Hiccup and Toothless feigned sleep for most of the night - Hiccup because he was too excited to do so and Toothless because whenever Hiccup didn’t something he was destined to follow. Sneaking past Cloudjumper wasn’t an impossible feat, they had done so many times in the past, it wasn’t a big deal in the long run. Getting past the fledglings was an entirely different kind of monster. Most of them would end up waking at the slightest movement - slinking past them was quite the disaster.

Hiccup had nearly stepped on Frostbreath’s tail - that would have been bad. Getting past the younger’s clutches was something that Hiccup was never going to try to do again. The next time he and Toothless attempted to do this they would find another way out of the nest, because, yes, there was most likely going to be a next time. Many next times in fact.

The minute they reached the outside world, Toothless took off like a bolt. The wind was whipping past his face and ruffling the fur on his head. Hiccup could stay like this for hours, soaking in the moon’s rays, the cold shivers of the night. But, there was a job to be done. Hiccup didn’t know where this other nest would be, what the queen may even look like, but he was going to find it. Hiccup would spend all night searching if he had to - and of course, if Toothless would allow - hopefully, he would find another drako flying around in the dead of night and see if they knew where this bad queen was.

From what the Monstrous Nightmare had told him it seemed like many drako knew about this place. They stayed far away if they could. Hiccup was flying straight into the beast’s lair without any real plan and only Toothless and his own fighting ability to protect him. Seemed like a typical day for Hiccup - or well night.

The two of them flew for what felt like hours, and it probably was. Toothless had started grumbling that there was no way they were going to get back before daylight. Hiccup had to painfully agree. They had yet to find the nest, instead, they were stopping on a secluded island for a moment before they were up in the skies again. Drako did need to rest after all and they had already flown most of the night.

The island was deserted of any vík, which was optimal in their case; Hiccup had found a stream and was enjoying the icy-cold water that he could drink from it. As his face was towards the ground though something was watching him. Years of living with hundreds of other drako had primed him for these moments - whether it was an actual attack or just Toothless messing with him - the elder still couldn’t tell. He growled low, warning the intruder that he would fight if need be.

Instead a Deadly Nadder stalked towards him: she was gorgeous. Her scales were a brilliant blue with pale yellow markings, her spiked crown was utterly splendid. The Nadder seemed scared though, especially at Hiccup’s presence. Although Hiccup could be an imposing figure when he wanted to, this was a wild Nadder who had never met him before - she was far larger and with her massive claws could easily tear him to shreds. What was she nervous for?

Hiccup warbled out a greeting, it was probably better to get on her good side right now. Those claws truly could rip him apart. helpneedyou? The Nadder squawked, nodding her head quickly. mehelphow.

This was exactly what he had been waiting for, sure he didn’t know what this specific Nadder needed help with, but they had definitely flown in the direction of the bad nest. There was a chance she came from there, and Hiccup was more than willing to take the risk.

The conversation would have continued in a somewhat smooth manner had it not been for Toothless coming out, teeth bared, growling, wings up in a defensive position. Hiccup rolled his eyes: why did he get the most overprotective bondmate in the entire world? *click*-ss! nuh helpweher, nest? The last word was directed at the Deadly Nadder.

She was nodding again, a terrified look in her eye, nestbadwrong badqueenhurt drakohelp.

Hiccup lit up, not because he was happy to hear the terrible things the other drako had gone through, but because they finally had a lead! Take that Cloudjumper, he would be able to pull this off after all.

Toothless weakened his guard some - but only slighter. This could all be some elaborate trick to hurt him and his bondmate; there could be dozens of drako hiding in the shadows, ready to strike at any moment. Hiccup didn’t seem phased by the prospect at all, instead he was already encapsulated in a conversation with the Nadder. He tried to calm her down, which he was doing a pretty poor job at, and ask further questions about the nest. Primarily where it was. At the thought of Hiccup and Toothless heading off towards the nest the Nadder jumped back. nuh! hurtbadwrong queenhurt!

Hiccup brushed it off, helpweyou queennuhhurt.

The queen wouldn’t hurt them any longer if Hiccup had anything to do with it. He shot a look back to Toothless - he seemed just as on board. Toothless may be more protective, but when it came to adventure and the like he could be just as foolhardy as Hiccup was. Toothless still couldn’t believe that he was actually going through with this; the two had never seen another nest before, this would be the first. It was almost exciting, but why did it have to be the nest of a queen who was hurting her own kind? That just seemed completely reckless. That’s how they rolled though. What a crazy way to go about all of that.

The Nadder had flown off in the opposite direction as Hiccup and Toothless - she was attempting to escape the queen but they were able to fly right towards her. There was a sudden shift in the air after they had been flying for another hour or so. Fog began to fill the area and Hiccup could see broken - destroyed - vík ships in the water. There were rocks jutting out of the water and a feeling of bad. This felt like a place where drako simply couldn’t live. Where were the forests? The rolling mountains? Even inside the Hiccup’s own nest vines had grown out of the ice, and foliage completely covered everything. His nest was bright and lively - a place of true safety. This nest? This nest was everything but that.

Toothless couldn’t believe his eyes either, but as soon as he was about to croon to Hiccup that maybe they should leave, his pupils shifted - turning to slits. Dread filled Hiccup’s stomach, *click*-ss? Toothless ignored the other drako, flying quickly into the fog. Hiccup could only cling on in hopes that he wouldn’t be thrown off. The squawks and growls of other drako began to fill the eerie silence. Hiccup looked up and his jaw dropped.

Hundreds of drako, seemingly under the same spell as Toothless, were flying towards what Hiccup could only assume was the nest. They were holding all sorts of things: fish, wild boars, he could even see a few deer and chicken. They were hauling in their hunt, but not taking any pieces of it for themselves.

That just didn’t make any sense at all, even if they brought back food to their icy nest, the drako were always welcome to take what they needed first - unless these drako were feeding hatchlings or fledglings of course, that would be typical. Unless the nest had hundreds and hundreds of young though, this was far too much for any sort of young drako.

Toothless continued to fly forward - Hiccup was in awe when he saw a massive mountain erupt out of nowhere. Suddenly, a giant volcano was sitting right in front of him, the dense fog around the area had made it nearly impossible to see. The drako were flying through openings in the mountain; Hiccup couldn’t help but follow.

Toothless was still trying to fight against whatever had persuaded him to continue forward; Hiccup had a sneaking suspicion that if it were up to the younger that he would have flown back to their own nest in an instant. He needed to figure out what was going on though. Find out he did.

The inside of the mountain had a stark red glow to it, as Hiccup looked down he could see that it was from a steady flow of lava. He gulped, hopefully whatever was controlling Toothless didn’t cause them to fall into that. What was more perplexing than seeing the drako hauling in their kill was watching them drop each piece of meat down into the lava. Toothless landed in an inlet, giving the two enough room to see what was going on throughout the cavernous volcano.

None of the drako even attempted to take a bite of their kill, everything went down into the pit. After most of the drako had cleared out, a lone Gronckle droned over the pit, spitting out a single cod. It was a pitiful amount of food, not even enough for a hatchling. Before the Gronkle could fly away to the safety of the cave walls Hiccup saw something that caused his heart to stop.

The head of a monstrously sized drako snapped up, swallowing the poor Gronkle in a single bite. His eyes were burning with how wide they were - that was the queen. She was eating her nest. Hiccup couldn’t have expected anything like this, it was completely absurd. No queen, king or alpha would ever drop so low as to eat their own nest. It was horrible.

Hiccup dropped low onto Toothless, whispering into the younger’s ear - gods he hoped that the spell that was over Toothless had dropped by now, leaveusnow!

Toothless shook his head a few times, as if he was shaking an unseen noise from his mind, he took a few steps back, knocking a few rocks into the pit. All six eyes of the queen darted over to where the noise had come from. Hiccup’s breathing picked up in fear - usleavenow *click*-ss! They could barely spare another moment before they were once again in immediate danger. The massive jaws of the queen snapped shut right where Hiccup and Toothless had been a moment ago. The thousands of drako in the nest were suddenly up in flight - sporadically flapping their wings to get as far from the queen’s wrath as soon as they could.

Thank the gods Toothless was a Night Fury; he was able to soar ahead of the pack and back to safety. The exhaustion that had once plagued them both was wiped from their minds - even if their bodies were screaming for rest they wouldn’t stop until they were far, far away from that island.

Part of Hiccup wanted to return though, he couldn’t believe that the queen had actually devoured one of her own. Drako did not eat drako - that was a fact. They fought with each other, they sometimes gave each other injuries, but that did not equate to eating. Consuming the flesh of another drako was a horrible crime, something that many would convulse at the thought of.

But this queen had done so without a second though.

The Alpha ruled through his protection, there was mutual respect between him and his subjects, but this queen ruled by fear. She was harborer of death and destruction, everything that Hiccup despised.

She was larger - grander - than Hiccup would ever be, but there was light inside of him, urging him to fly back as quickly as he could and make the queen stop her rampage. That wouldn’t work though; he was only one drako, a very small one at that, there was no way in Hel that he would be able to defeat her. He rubbed his cheek against Toothless, the smooth scales providing comfort during the long flight back home: he hoped that Toothless would help. After seeing what they had tonight it didn’t seem fair at all that they were simply going to allow the queen to continue her tyrannical rule.

Hiccup had dealt with things that weren’t fair in the past - they never made him feel good - but that was unfair for many more drako than just him, an entire nest was cowering in fear because they needed to support a queen who at any moment could turn her back on them. That was no way to live.

The scene reminded him of seeing the drako trapped in cages all those years ago on Dagur’s ship. He was like the queen in a way, planning on using the drako for his own enjoyment and pleasure, but to Hiccup’s knowledge he hadn’t been eating them. Hiccup didn’t know of any vík who dared to do that.

The two drako were still soaring over the seas, they were quickly becoming more icy. The sun was rising in the distance, which would mean that the drako would be waking. Cloudjumper would be waking. There wasn’t a chance that Hiccup and Toothless would be able to sneak back in now - they were utterly screwed.

Hiccup’s head was bowed in shame for what felt like the first time. Typically he didn’t feel too bad about sneaking out, but Toothless had forced him to tell the whole story - if Hiccup didn’t than the younger would - and Cloudjumper was furious about it. He had threatened to keep them in the nest for years without leaving; the two could have died by visiting that nest. Worse, it could have been seen as a declaration of war. If the queen had realized the scent on Hiccup or Toothless then she could track down the nest and tear it down - threatening the hundred of drako who called the ice sanctuary home.

Hiccup hadn’t even thought about that - he wanted to save the other nest, but not at the expense of harming his own nest. A drako’s own flock came first, that was typically the case, Hiccup didn’t want to be ostracized by the nest even more than he already was. He most definitely didn’t want to see them hurt. These drako had raised him since he was a hatchling, they had watched him grow into himself. Fledglings like Frostbreath and Torch would be in danger if Hiccup had gotten the queen to follow them.

The thought was terrifying.

Hiccup frowned, sorry nomean wanthelp helpnestee-kp-*click*-ss.

Cloudjumper looked at the two younger before folding. He wrapped his four wings around the juveniles. okay safe ee-kp-*click*-ss safeherestay.

He didn’t like to hear that part, even if there was a danger to be had by visiting the other nest, they couldn’t simply abandon all those poor drako who were struggling and dying under the queen’s rule. Hiccup just didn’t know how he was going to convince Cloudjumper that this risk was worth it. Wasn’t it better for the drako to be freed? For them to know what it was like to live under a gracious Alpha and not an oppressive queen?

He couldn’t voice his thoughts now though, it was too early for that; Cloudjumper was still riled up after waking to see Hiccup and Toothless nowhere to be seen and then to watch them fly in with guilty expressions on their faces.

Cloudjumper rubbed his cheek against both of the younger, something that most mp-*hiss* did - it was quite an easy way to scent mark. Hiccup groaned- Cloudjumper hadn’t down this since they were fledglings, sure he and Toothless participated in the activity often, but this was just embarrassing. That didn’t stop the mp-*hiss* though, who was content to scrub off any scent of that other nest, the bad nest with the wrong queen.

Hiccup let Cloudjumper get away with it though - even if he didn’t enjoy it all that much. It was better to get on his guardian's good side now before he inevitably ran off again. He didn’t want to upset Cloudjumper but it was only a matter of time before he realized that Hiccup was going to go out there anyway - yes he cared about his own nest, but he couldn’t sit around and do nothing. Hiccup and Toothless would just have to come up with a better plan next time.

Next time was going to take a while. Cloudjumper had seen it fit for Hiccup to practically babysit Frostbreath, but he knew the real reason the elder was doing this. If Hiccup was just with Toothless he was bound to run off again and would probably do so in a not so timely manner. If Frostbreath was with him though, he wouldn’t dare leave the nest. He wasn’t about to put a fledgling's life in immediate danger because he wanted to go off to some terrible nest.

Hiccup grumbled even more because of how great of a plan it was - the plan surely was working now.

He was forced to stay in the nest, couldn’t even go flying outside because that could put Frostbreath in danger - and the fledgling wasn’t going to be leaving the nest anytime soon due to her own current fear of the outside world. That fear would be gone, but not gone soon enough.

Toothless was grumbling as well - he adored Hiccup and his trips to the outside world. Hiccup had begun to piece together a map of the world from pieces of paper that he scoured from different raids; it was slow going, but the picture of the outside world was steadily growing. It wasn’t like maps that Toothless had seen before, with runic writing over them and all sorts of strange lines, but it was so very Hiccup that he loved it no matter how crude it may seem to others.

They wouldn’t be able to put new islands on that map for a long time though. Hiccup had no idea how long Cloudjumper was going to force him to watch over Frostbreath - it could be years, and he was very much not looking forward to that.

It wasn’t the fledgling that was the problem, both Hiccup and Toothless enjoyed her presence quite a lot actually, it was the meaning behind it all. Cloudjumper was just being too overprotective, much like when Hiccup himself was only a fledgling. After his encounter with the vík, where Toothless had practically saved him before the mp-*hiss* showed up, he had been forced to stay in the nest for what felt like an eternity. Now he was destined to the same fate, and for such a horrid reason.

Was it so bad that he wanted to help some other nest, a nest that was being so greatly harmed by their own queen? Hiccup didn’t think so, neither did Toothless. If they could just find out what to do with Frostbreath then they were taking the first shot out of there, it didn’t even matter the time of day anymore since Cloudjumper already knew what they had gotten up to. They just needed the right moment.

But the right moment was taking forever.

Hiccup had taken to working on his wings during those long days, he had nearly perfected the design this time - actually perfected it. He yearned to test it out while flying out over the open ocean, but seeing as flights like that weren’t going to happen in a long time, he might as well do it right here.

The drako made sure that Cloudjumper was nowhere to be seen, just in case it went wrong it wasn’t like he needed to give the elder another reason to keep him inside.

Toothless was on standby, ready to go after the older if he started to fall out of the sky again. A crowd of younger drako - many of his nestmates - also stood by to watch. They didn’t tell the two bondmates that they were placing bets on whether Hiccup would actually succeed this time or not - that had become a very fun activity for the fledglings of the Alpha’s nest.

Hiccup situated himself in his wings, they were made mostly of leather that he had taken from villages, brown and just a bit worn. He had a lot of straps around his arms and legs; it wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but as long as it worked he could make it look halfway decent later. Hiccup was standing at the top of a cliff, taking a deep breath. He looked down, the vast expanse of space beneath him. The sea was hundreds of feet below him - if he were to hit the water from this height it would definitely kill him. Toothless started chuckling at him, showing off his gummy smile. Hiccup turned for a moment before staring back at the open air - this was going to be the day.

He closed his eyes and took the leap.

And he flew.

Hiccup’s eyes shot open, the feeling of staying suspended in the air was invigorating. Toothless had reflexively jumped off the cliff too, but soon realized that his bondmate didn’t need any help to fly now. He let out a roar of joy - Hiccup repeated it. This feeling was just as good as when he had flown with Toothless for the first time, now he truly was flying with Toothless. The two of them were able to soar next to each other, they couldn’t go too fast nor could they fly very far before they landed on another outpost, but the knowledge that Hiccup could do this now - well that was just the best thing to ever happen to him.

The best part was the Cloudjumper hadn’t stopped them, meaning that he didn’t know.

Hiccup looked back at the cliff that he had jumped from, dozens of fledglings stood with surprised expressions; Hiccup smirked - he had shown them that he could do it. He may not have been born with wings, but that couldn’t mean he wasn’t going to succeed in making his own.

Another drako nudged his side: it was Frostbreath. Hiccup grumbled a little, only a little seeing as he was still riding out the high from succeeding in his solo flight. He had nearly forgotten that he was still sentenced to watching over the younger drako.

*whistle*-p? Frostbreath asked him, eyeing the air. Hiccup looked out too, sighing. If he was going to have to look over Frostbreath he might as well have some fun with it.

A week had passed since Hiccup and Toothless had been initially given the task of watching over Frostbreath and the two drako were starting to get nest fever - they just wanted to get out of the sanctuary. It didn’t help that Hiccup was still thinking about the bad nest and all the drako that were still being hurt there. He hadn’t come up with a plan on what to do with Frostbreath though - there just wasn’t anyone that could look after her though. Hiccup was taking his daily track around the nest, there wasn’t many things to do after he had been trapped there for so long, when an idea hit him.

He was playing around with Torch - who had grown miraculously in the past year. Hiccup could remember the days that he could hold the younger drako in his paws, now Torch was almost as tall as Cloudjumper. it was insane how quickly he had grown. That was absolutely perfect. Torch was older than Frostbreath, and he still hung around his mother a lot, if Hiccup convinced the elder drako to watch over Frostbreath then he and Toothless would be able to get out of there.

Hiccup bounded over to where Toothless was laying. A devilish grin was plastered across his face; Toothless picked up his head, narrowing his eyes at Hiccup’s strange enthusiasm all of a sudden. This seemed very out of character from what he had witnessed in the recent past.

*click*-ss *click*-ss!

Hiccup started his incessant chatter, nudging Toothless’ side and wings to get the other to finally get up from his nap. Toothless had taken to napping quite frequently during their grounding. Hiccup didn’t understand how he still found the ability to be tired after all this time - if he slept so much there had to be a time when he wasn’t tired.

*click*-ss!

Toothless grumbled, waking up slightly - one vibrant green eye looked over to Hiccup. Taking one look at Hiccup’s expression he fell back into his slumber. Hiccup jumped back - annoyed that his bondmate would possibly think of sleeping in a time like this. He continued his nudging, his whistles and clicks. This was a big deal - he actually had an idea and it could possibly work out in the end.

Finally, after much more work from Hiccup, Toothless woke up, grumbling more now that he was completely woken from his slumber. There was a shine in the older’s eye - a miraculous gleam that could only cause trouble, but wasn’t that the best kind of fun?

Torchhelp Frostbreath-Torch-together. He tried to explain his plan as Toothless continued to look at him confused; Hiccup was a bit disappointed that it took him so long to finally get a grasp on what he was trying to explain. This is what he got for explaining when he was so excited. Toothless finally looked at him with understanding - most definitely not in approval - but he was going to go along with it regardless. Hiccup knew that and Toothless for sure knew that. The bondmates would get up to all sorts of trouble, at least this time it was actually for a good cause. fine Torch–Frostbreath-togetherhelp

Hiccup jumped up with joy, yes! This was actually going to work, he just knew that it would because it had to work.

Torch and his mother were more than happy enough to watch over Frostbreath if only because Hiccup hadn’t fully told the truth about the entire situation. He had simply said that he and Toothless were going out together. That wasn’t completely false, Hiccup and Toothless were going to be flying out together, but it wasn’t just an average flight. He knew that Torch’s mother would probably be upset with him later, but Hiccup could look past that; he would just need to make it up to her later. Cloudjumper was also destined to be cross with him for this, that wound would probably take a lot longer to heal, but eventually everything would settle again.

The best part would be knowing that those innocent drako that had suffered under the bad queen’s rule would be safe. That was the big idea after all. Hiccup had his flight suit all hooked up, ready to take on whatever the day threw at him. Toothless had perked up some as well, that was most likely from the fact that he wanted to keep Hiccup as safe as possible. For being the younger of the two he most definitely acted like he was the elder bondmate: Hiccup didn’t mind all that much though, that just meant he was allowed to goof off more.

This was not a day to goof off though. Today would be filled with terror, fright that neither had ever faced before, Hiccup had the semblance of a full fledged plan, if it would actually work was a completely different question.

The two drako set off, sneaking through a few tunnels that they had explored alone one day, not many other drako knew about this specific set - he hoped it would stay that way.

Toothless curled in, Hiccup holding onto his back; the two darted out of the cavern and out into the open sky. The elder took a moment to catch his breath, the realization that this was actually happening hit him like a boulder. If anything went wrong it could mean his end - it could mean an end for Toothless. Hiccup’s expression hardened: he was never going to allow that to happen.

It was Hiccup and Toothless against the world, sometimes the world hit back harder than they were prepared for, but they always managed to escape Hel’s clutches; today might just be another one of those close calls.

Hiccup finally let out his breath, letting the cooling winds strip his worry away from him. This was going to work, all he had to do was repeat that and not worry about all the things that could happen because saving those drako was going to be the thing that would happen.

The sea seemed to stretch on for forever, maybe it was from the nerves winding in Hiccup’s stomach, or maybe it was because they now knew the path, but the flight to the bad queen’s island seemed much shorter than the first time they had made this journey. The two took many breaks in order to have as much energy as possibly for the fight that was to come.

Would the queen even leave her nest? Would the drako under her control attempt to attack the foreigners as well? All those questions and more were swirling around in both of the bondmates’ minds. It had to be a risk they were willing to take though, or else all of this work and planning would have been for nothing. Those drako would still be trapped under the bad queen’s control.

No, this was something that had to be done, at the end of the day, it was the only thing that Hiccup thought that even had the semblance of working.

Fog began to grow denser around them - the tell tale sign that the island was close. There were more and more vík ships, all crushed and destroyed, riddled to pieces. Hiccup’s breath caught in his throat for a moment before evening out again. They weren’t vík ships, they would be fine. That was another thing that Hiccup had to tell himself, that everything would be okay at the end, even if a massive part of him was screaming that there was no way they were getting out of this unscathed. Risk. That’s all it was.

The mountain was in view now, towering up to the sky above. There was a hole on the side of it now, much greater than any of the ones that had been present before. This one had to come from some sort of massive drako or a machine of some sorts - maybe the vík had attempted to break in before they were inevitably killed; there was no way that they would be able to withstand the hundreds, thousands, of drako that were hiding away inside.

Both of them peered inside, Hiccup hesitantly asked Toothless to fire a blast, just so they could see what they were working with. The purple hue filled the hole - a hole filled to the brim with drako.

The two stumbled back, once again not believing their eyes about, this nest was so much different then he could have ever imagined.

There was a grumbling sound then, coming suddenly and catching the both of them off guard. The drako in the hole all struggled to leave, climbing over each other, ramming into one another; it was complete chaos. Then there was the roar - it was probably one of the loudest things that he had ever heard, nothing before had seemed this loud. Even the Alpha’s call wasn’t as strong, this was horrid. Then the rumbling started, the ground shaking beneath both Hiccup and Toothless’ feet. *click*-ss *whistle*-p! Hiccup screamed out, they needed to get up into the air before they were completely trampled by drako. The rumbling was the queen, Hiccup was able to figure that out very quickly: she was here, crawling out of the hole, breaking the mountain apart even more. This was complete and utter disarray, confusion that Hiccup had never experienced to this degree.

The queen was even more imposing outside of her nest than she was inside. Without the lava covering her, she stood to her full potential. Grey, green, and red scales looked more like harsh, worn leather than scales. She had six eyes, each of them darting around to see where the intruder was. Hiccup had the nagging suspicion that things like this didn’t happen all that often. As long as the two drako had a few moments to get out of the way then they would be able to get some shots in before she realized what was going on.

Or that would have been the plan if the queen hadn’t sniffed them out.

That must have been why she had come out of her cave, she could smell the two drako lurking around outside, the smell of suspicion on them both. wefighthelp

Toothless roared an agreement, diving down, landing a few shots on the ancient foe, but they didn’t little to harm her.

Every shot seemed futile, nothing would damage her skin - it was as tough as a Gronkle, even more so. The queen kept confusing Hiccup, shocking him more despite his brain already being turned to slush. How were they supposed to beat something as great as the bad queen?

A drako came flying at them, sporadically. It was apparent that the drako wasn’t attempting to harm them, just get as far away from the bad queen as they could, but with the uneven flight pattern the drako rammed right into Hiccup and Toothless, knocking the older off Toothless back. Toothless yelped, immediately diving down to catch the other. The bad queen saw the exchange, turning much quicker than either could have expected. She was ready to fire, she would have burned Hiccup to a crisp if Toothless hadn’t been a Night Fury. He sped down in record time, catching his bondmate a few meters above the ground. Now that was far too close for comfort.

Thankyou, Hiccup chirped out, already in the process of fixing himself on Toothless’ back once more.

Okay, they needed to get clear of these frantic drako before they could attempt anything else, they were all getting in the way and could unwittingly get harmed if they didn’t know any better. An idea struck Hiccup, *whistle*-p*. Toothless looked at him, confusion present upon his face, Hiccup internally facepalmed. This was one of the downsides of Dragonese, words could mean many things and without proper context could easily be misinterpreted. Uphigh. That did the trick

Toothless started gaining speed, climbing higher and higher into the clouds. The bad queen had no other option then to follow them. Her wings unfolded, creaking and crackling from who knows how many years of disuse. In the sky Hiccup and Toothless were supreme, they could move quicker than any other drako, pull off menuevers that no one else would dare even attempt. It was their domain.

The sky grew darker, as if nature knew the nervous tension that the two drako had. It was quiet up there as well, nearly silent compared to the horrible commotion that could be heard hundreds of feet below. Hiccup and Toothless took to the clouds for cover; there they waited for the right moment.

One.

Toothless fired out a shot, aiming for one of the wings. Hiccup cheered quietly.

Two.

Another, targeting the other wing. It burned the much thinner skin that was there. It almost was like burning paper.

Three.

The bad queen had turned at the last moment, causing Toothless to hit her leg instead of her wing. He grumbled inwardly at that one.

Four.

This one was directly on target. The holes in the bad queen’s wings were starting to grow, any moment they would fail her and she would be crashing towards the ground.

Five.

One more shot left, that was all they had.

Six.

Toothless couldn’t fire anymore, his limit being reached for now. Even if he were to try, the only thing that came out was air. It didn’t matter though; the queen was falling, crashing down just like Hiccup had anticipated. She let out a steady stream of fire - a last futile attempt to take Hiccup and Toothless down with her. But it was no use. The bad queen was dead.

Hiccup slumped against Toothless, utterly exhausted; he could only imagine how the younger felt. Down restnow safe.

The two drako returned to the ground, staring at the rubble that had once been the bad queen. Thousands of drako still surrounded the island. All of them looked at the queen and then to Hiccup and Toothless.

Hiccup couldn’t tell which drako started it, but one by one they bowed their heads towards their saviors. Hiccup flinched back, this wasn’t what he wanted, he didn’t want these drako to fall under his command. They were free now, they could return to wherever they had come from. Maybe they would even fly off to worlds that Hiccup had never seen before.He gestured to Toothless with a wild look; Toothless roared to get the wild drako’s attention. They quit quickly after that.

Hiccup sat back on his back two paws, standing tall, yousafe free homefly usnuhrule youfree. The message took a few moments to process in the drako’s mind. These two drako… were letting them go? They were free?

The first drako to take to the skies was a Monstrous Nightmare, a very familiar one at that. Hiccup smiled up, warbling out a goodbye to the disappearing figure. Slowly, the drako took flight. Leaving the bad queen and her island of ash behind.

Toothless nudged Hiccup’s side, home. He couldn’t agree more with that.

To be fair, proper punishment was going to be dealt out regardless of the outcome, it was just a great thing that the outcome had been good. All of that aside though, Hiccup was still going to complain about having to go through with all of it.

Watch the hatchlings, even worse than watching the fledglings.

Hiccup and Toothless couldn’t even attempt to sneak out this time because Torch’s mother had to check in on them every so often to make sure that they were still doing their job.

The elder hadn’t been too worried when Hiccup and Toothless had left, assuming instead that they probably just wanted some time to stretch their wings after being stuck in the nest for so long, and Hiccup had that brand new flight suit of his that he was probably just itching to try out. So she had allowed it. As the hours passed her concern grew though, usually the two drako would have been back by now, especially if they were sneaking out. Neither of those two wanted to get on Cloudjumper’s bad side - again. When Cloudjumper had come back to the nest and saw that they two were gone, she immediately had to tell the other. This could be a matter of life or death after all - what if Hiccup and Toothless had gotten captured by hunters - again.

Really it was a surprise that Cloudjumper let those two out of his sight at all.

The two concerned parents had searched for hours, but still the younger drako didn’t show. Until dawn was approaching. They had been away for an entire day without any word of where they were going.

Cloudjumper was about to get on them about that, but that was before he saw their condition. They looked much worse for wear, with bruises, a couple cuts, and more soot on their bodies then Cloudjumper had even thought was possible. He hadn’t dealt out the punishment then, or even the few days after when they were still resting.

He had dropped it on them when they were planning on testing out Hiccup’s new wings- which had really put a damper on everyone’s plans.

Hiccup begrudgingly accepted the punishments, one because Toothless had to do it with him so maybe it wouldn’t be that bad, and two because he was much more terrified of Cloudjumper than he was of anything else. Sure the bad queen might have been scary, but if you could have seen Cloudjumper’s face after Hiccup and Toothless had showed up again, you would have done whatever he said too.

It wasn’t so bad though, because there were more hatchlings that Hiccup had never met before. Some were very very young newborns and others were from the bad nest. It seemed that a few of the drako had followed Hiccup and Toothless’ scent trail back to their nest and found a home there. Hiccup was beyond esthetic. He knew that the Alpha wouldn’t harm any of his subjects; the drako would be safe here. And he got to look after some hatchlings that were, he’d admit it, pretty cute after all.

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Hiccup was a bit annoyed. Maybe a bit wasn’t exactly the right word because he tracked around the nest fuming day in and day out. Everything felt annoying to him these days, from the way his nestmates would try to play around with him to when the fledglings would try to get his attention. Hiccup tried not to last out at them, especially the younger drako, but it was getting too cramped. He wanted to go out and explore, but after the entire stunt last year with the bad queen - which Hiccup thought wasn’t the worst thing he could have done - he had been watched like a hawk.

Cloudjumper barely let the younger out of his sight, Toothless had even gotten subjected to the same fate as him. Hiccup hadn’t felt that bad at first, okay, Cloudjumper was being a bit more protective because yeah Hiccup or Toothless could have gotten horribly hurt but they hadn’t. Both drako were able to fly home - albeit a bit exhausted - and had even taken the punishment of watching over the hatchlings with smiles on their faces.

An entire year had passed now though and Cloudjumper didn’t seem to be letting up at all. Hiccup thought that he was going to die of boredom. He still got to go out on missions to help injured or trapped drako - he actually had a very grand image in the nest after he had saved the drako from the bad queen. Cloudjumper didn’t care for all that though - he was proud of the younger, that much was true, but he didn’t want Hiccup or Toothless to go around thinking that they were allowed to do just about anything now that they had gone off and killed the bad queen.

That would be bad parenting.

No, the elder was careful to look after them. They always got in so much trouble, from the other nest situation, to hunter vík, to that deranged boy that was sailing around the archipelago. It wasn’t the safest place to be at the moment.

Hunter groups seemed to be growing larger by the day, each searching for something special. Drako were perceptive of these types of things seeing as they impacted the drako way of life and could mean their downfall; the biggest prize at the moment was a Skrill.

Skrill were a dangerous lot, they were mysterious, often solitary. Hiccup had only met one or two in his entire life which was saying a lot because lived in a nest of thousands of drako and had explored many islands throughout the archipelago. That didn’t mean he wasn’t worried for the Skrills that were out there who could be harmed by hunter vík, or worse killed.

The same instinct in his body that had told him to rescue the drako from the bad queen’s rule was screaming at him to go out and take down those hunter vík. The logical part of his brain - and Toothless, who really was more logical than Hiccup could ever be - told him that it was impossible to take down every hunter out there. It was a death trap - though Hiccup had walked right into one of those before and he had come out the victor. Cloudjumper refused to let any of this happen though, he kept a watchful eye on the two bondmates. He even found out about the secret tunnel that Toothless had initially found that let the two fly away whenever they wanted to.

So much for getting out of here unseen.

Everywhere Hiccup turned there was a drako that was sent to watch after him. He thought that after the bad thing his status would have been bumped up a little - and it had with the younger generation of drako - but the elder’s still saw him as a little fledgling. Hiccup was so much more than that, he was nearly fully grown, or at least that’s what he told any drako that tried to challenge him on that fact. He was smart, he had made his own wings after all, and he had escaped danger before.

Hiccup had a conflicted reputation. On one hand he was a savior, known for saving hundreds of drako, and on the other he was still a nearly grown short wing who still had much to learn about the world. But how was he supposed to learn when he was cooped up inside the nest and the only times he was allowed out was when he was with Cloudjumper? That just seemed quite dumb in his eyes.

He was mature… Ish. At least he could be when he wanted to; Hiccup knew a lot about the outside world from his adventures with Toothless, sometimes it seemed like he knew more than some elders. At least he left the nest a lot, some elders were in the nest all the time, only leaving for hunting and the like; that looked like a quite boring life to life. It seemed like Cloudjumper was trying to get Hiccup to act like that, to make him safer no doubt - but Hiccup wanted to see everything that was out there. The world was a grand and exciting place that he needed to traverse.

The only option was Hiccup and Toothless needed to find a new way out of the nest. A new tunnel, maybe a new time, anything that would help them get out of here without Cloudjumper watching over their backs. Hiccup wanted a few days to himself with his bondmate. He didn’t want to deal with any fledglings or hatchlings that wanted his attention more than anything else, nor did he want to see the disapproving looks from elders.

The Alpha didn’t mind that Hiccup and Toothless went out, he wasn’t scared for them because he believed in the two younger drako - shouldn’t his word be the one that mattered the most? Not to Cloudjumper it seemed.

Hiccup and Toothless spend the days like they normally did - trying as hard as they could to make it seem like nothing was out of the ordinary, like they weren’t inspecting the caves a little more than usual during their games of hide and seek with the fledglings.

Hiccup dug his claws into the rocks, scaling up the side of a cave. It strained his muscles some, but he knew that if he were to give up now that it would be feeding into the idea that he was weak. Hiccup was not weak. Sure, he couldn’t do the same things that every other drako could, but that did not mean that he was weak. He was strong when it mattered - that was that.

Hiccup reached up to another rock, but the wall began to crumble and he lost his grip. He let out a shriek as he fell down to the ground; Toothless was quick to act and caught the older drako on his back before Hiccup could hit the stone ground. Hiccup was about to say his thanks but the sound of more rocks tumbling to the ground took away his attention. Toothless covered the two of them with his wings - protecting them from the rubble.

The commotion quieted and Hiccup peaked through the wings to make out what was now before them. As the dust settled Hiccup could see something that made him perk up more than anything in the past year had.

An opening.

The sky was right out before them; the sea was a great expanse touching the edge of the world. Hiccup leaped off of Toothless’ back, carefully pawing through the rubble and to the edge. Toothless warbled out a phrase laced with concern, but Hiccup’s joy was too great for him to care. This was a new cave exit, Cloudjumper wouldn’t even know that it existed because it had just appeared. There was a tiny part of Hiccup’s mind that said this probably wasn’t a good thing - the fact that the wall of the nest had deteriorated so easily. Hiccup thought that must just be because the nest was old, ancient even, anything that was older than Cloudjumper felt ancient and this nest was definitely older than the drako. It would be alright, the nest was safe, and now Hiccup and a way to get out of here without anyone knowing the wiser.

He looked back to Toothless - a mischievous smile on his face.

They were going to have the best time now, if they were careful about it they could sneak in and out and nobody would ever think anything was ever wrong - Hiccup and Toothless were masters at hide and seek after all, they held the title for hiding for the longest time. Hiccup never said that the reason they held that title was because that round they had snuck out and were perched on top of the sanctuary. What the fledglings didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

Just like how Cloudjumper would be fine not knowing about the little exit they had just found in the caves.

Hiccup knew that he couldn’t just jump out and leave right now - even if he did have his wings on right now so technically he could if he really wanted to. Not now though; he and Toothless hadn’t prepared at all and they were in the middle of a game of hide and seek with a group of fledglings. Hiccup would mess with them sometimes - tricking them - but he wouldn’t just run off to some other island while they were playing their games - they would end up getting bored anyway which would make his entire plan of leaving useless. The game would be less fun.

Hiccup looked back towards Toothless, stumbling over the rubble from the destroyed cave walls. He crooned over at the other, hoping that he would one hundred percent be on board with the entire plan. Of course he would - he always was.

The two began to walk towards the entrance to the cave - not wanting to be found by the new nest exit. If the fledglings came running in to find them and saw the open expanse they would be telling their parents and word would get back to Cloudjumper - Hiccup and Toothless would have to find another exit and that was a near impossible task.

It was as if the gods were looking out for them, maybe they wanted the two drako to get out of the nest, stretch their wings some more, it sure seemed that way. It was peculiar that the wall would just give away like that; the sanctuary always seemed like one the safest places in the entire world - nothing could ever happen to them if they were here. But this was a sign, a sign that the nest wasn’t as impenetrable as it seemed. The walls could crumble, the supports could fail, and then it would collapse down on top of them.

Hiccup shook his head, butting up against Toothless hoping to rid himself of the thoughts that were whipping around in his mind. No. No, those things wouldn’t happen, the Alpha would be there to fix anything that fell apart. If this hole in the wall proved to be some sort of structural failure, if the fissures in the caves grew more, then Hiccup would throw away this little piece of the outside world in order to ensure that the nest was still safe.

He wasn’t selfish after all: Hiccup always wanted to protect others before himself.

Just before they left the cave a Sandbuster, barely older than a hatchling, rammed into his side. Hiccup squawked a little, jumping up in surprise. It was just Scatter, a very scatterbrained hatchling. He looked up at Hiccup with wide eyes before running off where he assumed the other youngins were - Scatter was chirping the entire time that he had been the first to find Hiccup and Toothless. That was quite the accomplishment, especially for the younger drako.

Hiccup smiled at the hatchling’s antics; the group was already trying to persuade the elders to play another round of hide and seek. The eldest rolled their eyes, at least if Hiccup and Toothless were hiding together they could work out some plan on when they would leave and they would pass the time in a fun sort of way. Playing didn’t seem like the worst way to spend their time. Cloudjumper would probably be thrilled as well.

What a win- win situation.

After a few rounds of hide and seek, going out for dinner, and finally all of the nightly rituals - it was time to sleep. Hiccup knew that he and Toothless would need to rest at least a little bit before setting out into the night. Cloudjumper might also believe that everything was normal if the two younger drako acted like it was just another typical night.

So, that was exactly what they did.

Hiccup and Toothless curled up next to each other, just a little bit away from their other nestmates like they typically did. It was a normal occurrence for bondmates to separate themselves from their nestmates a little bit - especially as they grew older. They would spend more time with one another and take moments to enjoy time with their other half. Hiccup and Toothless were growing older - this made sense for them to do. It helped Hiccup feel a bit more normal as well, at least when he participated in drako culture and habits the other drako recognized him as one of them despite his strange appearance.

Another situation where Hiccup came out the victor. The day could not get any better.

But it was about to.

Hiccup was the first to wake up - he normally was in situations like this. It didn’t help that he had trouble sleeping regardless so the excitement that was coursing through his veins was enough to really keep him awake. The moon was only a slight sliver in the sky tonight, the darkness of the night would conceal them better than it ever had before - the only thing that would make this better was if it was a new moon, then they would really be concealed in the darkness.

The two drako were wide awake now, making sure to slink through the groups of drako. Toothless had gotten annoyed with how clumsy Hiccup was being so he picked the older up, placed the other drako on his back, and flew off towards the cave they had discovered before. Right before Toothless was about to land Hiccup placed a hand on his head: there was a drako sitting right in front of the cave.

Hiccup mentally cursed, all this waiting and they were really about to get this plan foiled because some drako decided to sleep there? No, neither of them would allow that to happen. They forged on, being careful not to step on any wings or tails and not to step in front of the elder’s snout and get sniffed out. That would just be embarrassing. The cave was dark; Hiccup’s eyes took far too long to adjust to the sudden decrease in light, but it wasn’t as though Toothless could use his locating ability - that would produce far too much noise and they would be found out long before they could sneak away.

Thank the gods there were no drako sleeping in the cave, that would have made this even more difficult. The light slowly increased as they got closer and closer to the exit that had been made earlier that day. The sea twinkled with the limited moonlight, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

There it was: freedom.

Hiccup wanted to roar out in joy, but he knew better than to do something like that now. With Toothless to support him, Hiccup took to the skies. The cold air whipped past his face, completely encapsulating him. He gripped onto the other drako as they pulled off maneuvers that they hadn’t gotten to do in months.

When they were a bit farther away from the nest Hiccup adjusted the straps on his wings - his dexterous paws making quick work of the fabric and leather. He had a wild grin on his face: this was going to be absolutely stellar. *click*-ss me *whistle*-p alone. Toothless simply rolled his eyes at the older, but allowed him to jump. Hiccup fell for a few moments, replicating the activity that he and Toothless participated in sometimes. Cloudjumper absolutely hated it, he always worried that Toothless wouldn’t be quick enough one time and Hiccup would go crashing into the sea - falling from a height that far up could be lethal if the drako weren’t dangerous.

Toothless grumbled some - a little bit annoyed that Hiccup was already pulling off his dangerous stunts, as if he didn’t indulge in the same sort of fun. The younger dove after him, but Hiccup stretched out his paws, letting the wind catch his wings and hold him up in the air - he was soaring.

He let out whoops and hollers, yelling out in ways he hadn’t been able to for the past few months. The wind brushed his cheeks; the wind was a friend to Hiccup and Toothless. Many drako regarded the wind of a creature in of itself. There were gods that protected it; nymphs, faeries, and spirits that reside inside of it. Wind was a beautiful creature and Hiccup was glad that it was there to support them both in all of their adventures.

Toothless shot out a blast, the force lifting Hiccup up some; they repeated the movement a few times before that got boring. They had hours before the sun would even think about peaking its face above the horizon. Hiccup wished he would have brought the book of maps he had. It was another thing that he had taken from a village - many of Hiccup’s special things were ironically taken from vík - and it was Hiccup’s most prized possessions.

The map would have to wait though, this was just going to be a little get away for a while, Hiccup and Toothless had been planning something like this for months; the only problem that they had encountered was that there weren’t any exits that Cloudjumper didn’t know about and that weren’t being guarded. Obviously, they were finally able to overcome that.

Just a few days, that was all this was going to be, sure Cloudjumper would be mad, but maybe this would let him see that the two drako needed some time outside of the nest every once and a while or else they were actually going to go insane. As long as they came back completely uninjured - which was a difficult task to complete even if they were going on a fun solo flight - then the mp-*hiss* couldn’t be that mad that them. Cloudjumper would just have to deal with the consequences of his actions because if Hiccup really thought about it this was all sort of the elder’s fault.

Now, would Hiccup ever say that to his mp-*hiss*’s face? Not in the slightest because despite popular belief the younger didn’t actually have a death wish. Really, he couldn’t believe that rumor was still going around. It was quite dumb in his opinion.

But forget all about that. Forget the troubles that Hiccup and Toothless were going to face once they got back to the nest, forget the pain and everything they had gone through in the past year because they were out now. The moon was looking down at them - hopefully Maní wouldn’t be peeping down - the moon god didn’t have the best reputation with youngins. Hiccup just wanted a time for rest, much like he assumed Toothless did.

Watching over the hatchlings and the fledglings could be fun, both had learned that after the year, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t also be exhausting. They seemed to be an endless ball of energy that rivaled Hiccup even on his best days. Some days all he wanted to do was curl up with Toothless and block out the world, but the hatchlings would be begging for the two older drako to play with them or to tell the story of the bad queen again: all the fledglings in the nest were encapsulated entirely when Hiccup told the tale of how he and Toothless had defeated the drako the size of a mountain.

The elder didn’t always want to tell stories, especially not that one. Sometimes he could feel the flames licking across his skin; he could smell the ash and burnt flesh scent. His dreams would be plagued with nightmares of what could have happened if Toothless was a moment too slow, if Hiccup had fallen into the burning pile of the bad queen because he didn’t hold on tight enough. The drako didn’t like thinking of those things.

But the younger drako in the nest didn’t know anything about those nightmares nor did many of the elders. The only other that Hiccup had confided in was his bondmate who was gurgling up at him presently. His bondmate would always be there, no matter what.

island? Hiccup chirped a response and the two landed on the sandy shores. They both checked around to make sure that there were no ships to be seen at all, nor any vík hiding out in the foliage, before walking more inland. If their encounters with hunters when they were younger had taught them anything it was that one should always check their surroundings.They followed the rule.

Sometimes. Most of the time. Really it was fifty-fifty.

The grass felt soft beneath his paws, the sound of the wind whistling through the trees - a few leaves drifted down that he watched Toothless paw after. They continued to walk through until they spotted a stream.

It was beautiful.

He knew that they probably shouldn’t mess around in the water, it was never known what was in strange water sources, but Hiccup hadn’t been around the outside world like this in a while and he was going to take all the chances he got. Hiccup hesitantly dipped a paw into the water; Toothless creeped up behind him, sniffing the water to make sure it was safe. Nothing hurt his skin, only the fresh coldness of the water, so Hiccup decided it was safe.

Toothless must have as well because he started to drink from it.

There were a few small fish darting around; they wouldn’t make good food, but chasing after them was a fun game to play. On his fourth try Hiccup was able to catch a very small trout and presented it to Toothless. The younger looked at him with an expression of really. Hiccup huffed and placed the fish back into the stream, watching it swim off to follow its other fish friends.

Hiccup followed the water a bit up stream, jumping from rock to rock on the edge of the stream. It was a tad bit dangerous to be doing so on the smooth and slippery surface, but the risk was part of the fun. Toothless stopped treading in the water to follow his bondmate: he needed to make sure that Hiccup didn’t get himself in any sort of trouble, or if he did at least Toothless would be there to help him get out of it.And it's a good thing he did because there was rustling in a clump of bushes in front of them. The leaves were shaking and a low growl was admitting from them. Hiccup stopped his jumping game and crouched back low, in a defensive position. Toothless quickly jumped to the older’s side, though Hiccup was a bit annoyed when he placed his wing protectively in front of the other. Hiccup was always trying to say that he didn’t need any protecting; he didn’t need help, but doing all of this was Toothless’ way of showing that he cared - and he cared very deeply for his bondmate.

Hiccup grumbled but allowed Toothless to continue in his stance. The rustling and growling increased until finally it all came to a halt. A Speed Stinger popped out from the bush. He seemed a bit confused, like he was the one that was confused as to why he was halled up in a push. The two drako took a few steps back. Speed Stingers could be a very hostile group if they wanted to, even worse they had a paralyzing sting and neither Hiccup nor Toothless wanted to deal with the aftermath of that.

Hiccup grumbled even more: this was supposed to be a relaxing trip and it was already ruined on the first island they found themselves on.

Though the Speed Stinger didn’t seem to try to harm either of them. He regarded the two with a few sniffs before running off in the opposite direction; he must have been a juvenile, a bit turned around and confused without the rest of his pack.

Hiccup and Toothless shared a look, the younger chirped out in confusion, a sentiment that Hiccup greatly shared. Speed Stingers weren’t typically seen outside of their pack and if they were they were always with one or two others. For one to be completely alone didn’t mean anything good. Toothless threw his head back, gesturing for Hiccup to hop on his back again. Hiccup paused - he didn’t want to leave just yet, but if there were other Speed Stingers out there that had possibly ostracized this juvenile from their pack - it probably wasn’t the best idea to stick around to find out why.

The moon was higher in the sky now, making its way across the star speckled sky. The air had grown chillier as the night stretched on; Hiccup was glad that he was wrapped up in his vík like clothes and his riding gear. It was strange that the vík clothes fit his body so well - they didn’t fit any of the other drako like this. Hiccup never dwelled on it for that too long or else his head began spinning and his heart started hurting.

So Hiccup actively ignored the thought as much as he could.

Besides, it didn’t matter because he was a drako, he would always be a drako. Even if he didn’t look like Toothless and his wings were made from pieces of leather and scrap - Hiccup was still a drako.

The two soared for another hour or two before finally finding another island that they deemed suitable. This time they scoured around a lot more, just to ensure that there were no wild drako that would come after them. It was a tiny island, more like a sea stack, and therefore no drako wanted to call it home. That was perfect for the two bondmates.

Sadly there was no stream to chase fish around in, but it was still nicer than being cooped up in the nest. Anything seemed better than that right now.

Hiccup decided to climb up some trees, but his paws started to grow weak. Although he wanted nothing more than to stay awake throughout the night and have all sorts of fun with his bondmate - he needed sleep, and Hiccup was sure that Toothless did as well. They had a bit more excitement then they had anticipated at their first island, so what little energy they had from after the long flight was zapped from them. This little island seemed alright through, they would be able to camp out here for the few hours of darkness that they still had.

Hiccup jumped down from the tree, landing on thick branch after thick branch; he crooned towards Toothless to share his idea of sleep. The younger quickly got the message and readied an area for them to sleep. He scorched the ground, ensuring that it would be nice and warm for the two drako. Hiccup adored curling up with his bondmate, feeling the steady heartbeat, and the subtle brush of wind across his scalp. Toothless was so much bigger than him that Hiccup was completely concealed when they slept like this.

Both drako completely letting their guard down like this wasn’t the best idea in the world, but they had concealed themselves in the foliage, plus the island was much too barren of anything besides trees for any drako - or vík - to come after them.

Toothless fell asleep first - he almost always did; Hiccup was envious of the other’s ability to fall asleep in nearly any position or situation. Typically, Toothless was on high alert but when he slept he finally allowed himself to drift into a world of enticing dreams and peace. His eyes slipped closed, the forest irises leaving for the day, then his breaths would turn to a steady, slow rhythm, and Hiccup would know that the other was completely asleep. They had fallen into a routine of sorts - or at least Hiccup did. He would count Toothless’ breaths once the younger fell into a deep sleep as a way to calm himself. After nightmares, this tactic worked quite well - in addition to knowing that he was wrapped up in someone so completely safe. Hiccup rarely had nightmares when the two bondmates slept like this.

It was only peaceful images behind his mind.

The sky, such a blue wide expanse out there to explore. Sometimes Hiccup would dream of what it would be like for him to be like all the other drako: to possess his own physical wings, a tail, claws that he hadn’t had to sew together. When he was living in his dreams Hiccup looked similar to Toothless - though the older knew for sure that he was not a Night Fury, Night Furies looked like Toothless and Hiccup didn’t look anything like the other.

That didn’t mean he didn’t wish the two of them looked a bit more similar.

Regardless of how many times Toothless tried to reassure him, there was always a pit in Hiccup’s stomach that would never be filled.

In his dreams though, Hiccup could ignore all of that. He could forgo the limitations of his own sad reality and delve into the fantastical world that he created in his own mind. These were the dreams that gave him inspiration for his own designs after all. In these vivid images he saw the possibility for creation. Where nature had failed him he would create himself - Hiccup was going to create everything his mind created because it was the only way to keep himself sane. It was the only way he knew at least.

Toothless was not the first to wake up - that went to Hiccup.

It probably wasn’t the healthiest cycle for the growing drako. Most short wings seemed to be sleeping all the time - and Hiccup did indulge in naps every once and a while - but his mind just spun so quickly that he needed to wake up before he thought his head was going to burst.

So, yes, Hiccup was the first one up and most days would immediately set to work on whatever idea his brain was occupied with at the moment. Sometimes it was a drawing idea - though it wasn’t as though he could add to the cave walls here, he didn’t even know if this minuscule island had caves - other times it was another armor idea. Hiccup could admit that he was making armor, even if it was what the vík called their protective coverings. But there were drako that created things with the same sort of idea - like the drako that covered themselves in metal to better protect their fragil scales.

Hiccup looked at it like that.

He got bruised much easier than Toothless, his skin was more prone to nicks and cuts, the armor simply worked to minimize that; the armor also helped to minimize all the fussing that Toothless and Cloudjumper exuded when Hiccup would get injured. Really, a simple scar wasn’t that bad - it had been the Changewing’s fault after all: Hiccup didn’t like being taunted.

There were no drawings to draw nor any creations to create though - no, this morning was just for watching the rising sun. It was a habit that he had fallen into; Toothless would be by his side in the next few minutes. They - most of the time - watched the sunrise together. It was a great way to start the day in Hiccup’s view, and Toothless believed that it was quite relaxing.

The sun would peak up over the horizon, rising in the east like it always did. Drako had a great sense of direction.

It was one of the few things in Hiccup’s somewhat short life that had stayed constant. There were so many changes happening, but there were a few things that he could rely on. For one, Cloudjumper was always going to love him regardless of how many rules he broke, that was just how mp-*hiss* worked. Another was that Toothless would never leave his side. They were two sides of the same coin - though Hiccup still didn’t completely understand the expression he had heard from a group of vík. What the older did know was that he and Toothless completed each other and always would.

The last few were the things that every living being knew: the sun rose in the east and set in the west, the winters were long and harsh, and finally - eels were never friendly. The last one probably didn’t apply to other eels.

Toothless was already trotting over to Hiccup’s side, nudging his snout against Hiccup’s torso. The older wrapped his front paws around the younger - pulling him into a tight embrace. This was nice, getting away was nice. Hiccup wished they could have done this sooner, but there just hadn’t been the opportunity. It was best not to dwell on the past though, it wasn’t as if they were going to repeat it after all; that would be preposterous.

Hiccup looked up towards the red and orange sky; he turned to Toothless. *whistle*-p.

All it took was one word and they were darting out across the sea, up into the clouds.

Hiccup and Toothless stayed there for hours, pulling tricks, barreling down towards the ocean and winding through sea stacks. There were a few drako that they passed, but for some reason there were far less drako around these parts then any Hiccup had seen before. There were very very places that drako didn’t inhabit - wherever Hiccup and Toothless seemed to fly off to this time was one of those places.

That made both of the bondmates a bit nervous. The last drako they had encountered was a Speed Stinger away from the rest of its pack - that had stuck with Hiccup because of how strange it was.

The two tried to ignore the anxiety that was curling in both of their stomachs. They just wanted to enjoy their time away from the nest, if they had to deal with a little bit of discomfort that would be fine - all of this would be okay. They stopped at a few more islands that were very similar to the rest that they had encountered. No drako; forests filled with wild animals yes, but drako no. Even places that would most definitely be teeming with drako were empty. Oceans that should be filled with Thunderdrums and Scauldrons, woods that should have Timberjacks and Typhomerangs, but there was nothing.The sun was setting once more as Hiccup and Toothless were seeking out an island to stop on for the night. The more days they stayed out the more they knew Cloudjumper would be upset; they couldn’t seem to go back home though. Even though there were a whole lot of red flags popping up all over the place, they couldn’t leave. The two couldn’t force themselves to go back home because there was freedom out here.

Sure, there were some freedoms in the nest, they could play around with the younger drako and a few of the elders that still wanted to goof off - the bondmates could run through the caves and soar through the covered skies. There were still walls though, keeping Hiccup and Toothless constrained. Cloudjumper didn’t help with the constricting feeling - after the experience with the bad queen and keeping them inside, their urge to leave was even greater.

So, they couldn’t just go back to the nest right now even if it was safer.

There were a lot of things that were safer than flying out into uncharted territory where other drako didn’t want to fly. Hiccup and Toothless had gone through much more dangerous things: vík, hunters, wild drako, Dagur, and the bad queen just to name a few. Danger was something that they dealt with all the time, what was one more night out?

They touched down on an island, much larger than any of the ones they had been on before. This one wasn’t simply a sea stack or a tiny dot in the middle of the ocean; the island was large and flourishing. As the two tracted through the sand and then through the forests they didn’t meet any other drako then. Again, this was a bad sign, a place where other drako didn’t touch was a bad sign.

The night was growing closer though, so it was best that they settled in unless they wanted to drop out of the sky from exhaustion. Hiccup’s front paws ached from holding them out by his sides for so long - he hadn’t used his flight suit for long periods of time before, not like this. His eyes were drooping and even his claws were beginning to sting. Toothless was in slightly better shape because he was born for this; his body was fit for long flights while Hiccup’s was not.

They found a small pond that had fish swimming throughout it - both took the opportunity to hunt. Hiccup didn’t have the energy to play with the fish; he tried to catch his meal as quickly as he could so he could eat and then sleep. The weariness was truly setting in now.

Toothless had caught his fill much quicker, nudging a fish towards Hiccup as his paws were still empty. Toothless always seemed to catch enough for the two of them - he never said it was because he very much enjoyed looking over Hiccup in this way.

Hiccup took the fish, gulping down bites. He didn’t even care that it wasn’t charred like how he typically ate it - his stomach didn’t enjoy raw meats all that much, at least raw fish was able to stay down though. Hiccup finished his fill and pawed over to Toothless’ side. He rubbed his cheek across Toothless’ side, the other replicated the motion. This was typical behavior, not just between bondmates - though affection like this was greatly increased, but between all sorts of drako. Parents would cuddle up with their children all the way up until they were fledglings and close friends would be affectionate with each other as well.

That was one of Hiccup’s favorite things about his species, there had been an ache in him when he was younger that yearned for this affection day in and day out. Now that he had grown that need had subsided somewhat, but he would never grow tired of curling up next to Toothless and resting.

The night was colder, colder than it had been in recent days, how far north had they flown? They hadn’t flown too far away from the nest, right? Hiccup tried to convince himself that it was going to be okay - everything would be alright in the end. It always was.

The moon was hung high in the sky - Maní staring down at the two of them. There was a rustling in the bushes, Toothless was immediately woken from his sleep; his sense of hearing was much better than Hiccup’s and those slight movements were easy for him to catch. He wrapped his wings around Hiccup a bit tighter, blocking him from any intruder’s view. Toothless had the benefit of camouflage in the night, if he kept his eyes nearly closed he could remain unseen to whoever was rushing around in the bushes.

The rustling continued and there were lights in the distance as well. Toothless bit back a growl - he knew those lights very well. Lanterns.

There were vík on this island.

Toothless needed to wake up Hiccup as soon as possible so they could get out of there, if the vík saw them… Toothless didn’t want to think of what had happened the other times. This was painfully reminiscent of the time when they were both much younger, sleeping groggily on the beach, perched up on a rock. They had been clear targets then - at least they were both smart enough to know they should conceal themselves this go around.

Toothless didn’t want to risk anything though. He patted at Hiccup’s face with his paw a few times - that seemed to do the trick.

The older’s eyes opened slowly, clearly not prepared to wake just yet, he tried to say something, but Toothless gave him a pointed look. His eyes narrowed, he let out a small noise - which was difficult to do with his vocal chords - but the word got across clear.

Vík.

Hiccup’s eyes widened in surprise. Why would there be any vík here? It wasn’t like there was a village that they had seen, these vík would be tracking through the woods for nothing. A pointed scream stole both of their attentions. It was shrill, pained. The sound of a drako that was in harm's way. Hiccup couldn’t just leave the drako and both of them knew that, Toothless looked back where the sound had come from - it seemed like they were purposefully going to get involved in vík business now.

Wonderful.

The two of them stood and stalked over to where the drako must be.

A Skrill - there was a Skrill locked in cage; the poor creature was being poked and prodded at, it was standing in the shallow pond that Hiccup and Toothless had just been hunting in hours earlier. The vík were speaking to each other, using the same strange words that Dagur had used all those years ago. Hiccup wished he knew what they were saying, though he assumed that vík had the very same notion about drako.

Hiccup’s eyes were stolen away once again when the Skrill attempted to conjure up lighting but to no avail. It was helpless. Hiccup didn’t know what to do, there were dozens of vík scattered around, readied with weapons. It wasn’t as though he and Toothless would be able to take out all of them. His expression hardened.

No, no they would do this. They had faced impossible odds before. They survived worse - this would be a walk in the park.

Hiccup and Toothless crept through the forest, trying to get a good grasp on what they were working with. There seemed to be a few cages that Hiccup had dealt with before, they were very similar to the ones he had seen on Dagur’s ship back when he was younger, but the best part was that they were empty. That must mean that the only thing the hunter vík were going after was the Skrill; still not a good thing, but it was somewhat good because that meant that there wasn’t an entire host of drako getting harmed.

Hiccup scattered up a tree; Toothless grumbled a bit at that: Hiccup was always climbing into things he probably shouldn’t. The vík turned their heads and peered up at a few leaves that fluttered down to the ground. Hiccup tensed in the trees, thankfully a gust of wind swept through - the falling leaves could be pinned on that and he would be fine, completely in the clear so far.

The Skrill didn’t turn her attention away though; with her enhanced sight she was able to realize that there was somebody in the trees. The vík must have attributed her unsettlement to the fact that she was being held captive and not that there was someone else out there.

The moon was a sliver in the sky, giving Hiccup enough moonlight mixed with the lanterns being held by the vík to see what was going on. He looked down at Toothless - he was very difficult to see in the darkness. Again, it was still a positive as he was concealed from the vík. They locked eyes, a feeling of mutual understanding setting between the two.

They watched as the vík turned their backs on them, their attention completely encapsulated by the Skrill before them.

Hiccup had to admit, the drako was larger than life. He hadn’t been so close to one in many years; he had the urge to draw the other, to document pictures in his stolen book. The Skrill was beautiful in a dangerous sort of way. Her skin was crackling like she was dreaming of finding the next lightning bolt - sadly the water was making it impossible for the drako to use her abilities.

He didn’t know what had happened that caused her to be in such a position that the vík would actually be able to capture the poor drako, but that didn’t matter all that much, what was more important was that they were able to get this drako back in the sky.The vík weren’t looking as Hiccup dropped down to the ground, his own black scale armor camouflaging him quite well. Toothless hopped over the bushes in a near silent manner; Hiccup was always amazed that the other could move in such a way. They stalked side by side, moving in tandem with one another. This was going to be like the other times, of course it was, this wasn’t something that they had never encountered before.

Hiccup adjusted his claws, making sure they were on completely - he didn’t want to end up losing one of his few defense mechanisms. They two drako took out the back vík first, dragging them off and knocking a few of the larger - and louder - ones out. He didn’t want to kill anyone, it felt wrong, even when he had killed the bad queen with Toothless it felt like the blood was still on his hands, like a smell that lingered for months.

The vík would be alright, stranded, but still alive.

It didn’t take long for the vík to start realizing that something was going on; they pulled out their weapons scanning the forest for the creature that was stealing away their comrades. The Skrill could sense the presence of another drako and the smell of something strange, something different like nothing she’d ever smelt before.

Hopefully the Skrill didn’t give them away when they were actually trying to save the poor girl. She was much older than the two of them - she may be a bit embarrassed that she was going to need the help of two short wings; at least they weren’t fledglings still, that would just be depressing.

The vík were beginning to realize what was going on now, enough that Hiccup had to keep his full attention to the battle and not actually on the drako: Toothless was already knocking over vík, flinging them to the sides, roaring at them, and making them scared as all Helheim. It was a bit funny to look at though, the way that some of them would run away in fear when the Night Fury started bounding after them.

Hiccup was able to hold his own as well, even if he was smaller and sadly weaker - yeah, it was true, he could admit it. Hiccup had his agility on his side, and his small size worked well in some situations. He was a smaller target making it much more difficult to hit him. Hiccup ducked out of the way at the last moment in front of a lot of axe swings - one of them had nearly taken off the fur on his head. He ducked, feeling the breeze from the swing.

That was a close one.

Hiccup slashed with his claws landing a few gashes on the vík - those would be hurting for a long time after. The vík wouldn’t bleed out, far from it, but there would be scars from this battle. Hiccup felt the flat part of a sword slam against his stomach - yep, lots of scars.

The Skrill began to shriek again and Hiccup allowed himself to tear his gaze away from the vík surrounding him back to the drako: they were taking her. Hiccup landed a hit that he hadn’t thought would be too bad, but the vík stumbled back, tripping over a tree root and taking a pretty bad tumble. That was going to leave a mark.

He tumbled a bit on the ground, immediately Toothless came rushing over despite the fact that there were going to be vík crowding the small drako in order to trap the creature. Hiccup felt Toothless’ body cover his own, the sound of a plasma blast ringing in his ears - oh gods this wasn’t going to be great.

Then the most beautiful thing in the entire world happened.

The Skrill was freed.

The commotion with Hiccup and Toothless streaming in and attacking must have completely knocked them off their balance, the cage must not have been properly closed seeing as that was happening when the two other drako showed up. The sky lit up in a flurry of blue and purple lighting, clouds seemed to immediately fill the area. It was like a storm had magically formed and had drifted right over the Skrill. Without the water to hold her back, she could let Hel lose now.

The Skrill left nothing to the imagination, destroying the cages and terrorizing the vík. All Hiccup and Toothless could do was watch on in awe as the drako worked her way through the campsite. In a matter of moments the vík had been running back to their ships, which were also a bit in flames since the Skrill had risen above the tree tops and spotted them. Hiccup smiled; that Skrill was quite something.

Once the vík were gone Hiccup had expected that the Skrill was going to fly off, run away as fast and as far as she could, that would have been the safer option after all, but she didn’t. She drifted back down to the ground, flapping her wings a few times before coming to a halt. She looked at the two drako with her yellow eyes that seemed to bore into Hiccup’s soul. He stole another glance at Toothless, a bit fearful that the Skrill was going to attack them next. Instead, she very slightly bowed her head in respect. Thank you.

Then she was off to the skies for good.

The two drako on the ground watched in reverence as lightning’s offspring flew away, off so some land where she would be safer - hopefully a place where vík wouldn’t attack.

Hiccup pawed over to Toothless, curling up by the younger’s side, morningleavehome nowtiredsleep. Toothless couldn’t agree more with that

*****

Alvin the Treacherous truly lived up to his name. The chief of the Outcasts truly lived up to the name: he was a deadly and horrid man. The one thing he wanted more than anything was to find the dragon conquer.

He was a boy, not yet of age, who lived in a far away land that no one had yet to find. The most terrifying part of his appearance was the Night Fury that was constantly by his side. Alvin had heard much about this strange boy: he never spoke in human tongues - only dragon speech that no other human was known as speaking, he wore a suit covered in dragon scales, a pitch black, fireproof, and practically terrifying creation. But the strangest part - aside from the boy’s strange behavior - was his wings. He must have made them himself, at least that was what everyone around the archipelago who had heard of the boy assumed; he seemed like was trying his hardest to appear and act as a dragon - something that Alvin hadn’t seen any person do before.

It was crazy to think that a human could live alongside dragons in relative peace; the boy must have found a way to control them, that was the only way that he could still be alive when he was around so many of those vicious beasts.

There was a heavy knock on his door, “Come in.” Savage came from behind the door, a frantic look on his face. “Did you get the Skrill?”

“Well, no sir-”“And why is that?”The other paused, gulping in fear, “Well, that boy that we’ve been hearing about, he was there.”That caused Alvin’s eyes to light up some - in a deranged sort of way. “What did he do?”

Savage seemed uncomfortable in front of the chief, like he already knew his fate was going to be doomed after this meeting, “He was there with his Night Fury, they were able to overpower the men and free the Skrill.”

Alvin paused in his movements, “What did you just say?”“The boy was able to-”

A knife was slammed down onto the desk in front of Alvin, doing a great job at shutting the other man up. “Get out, and don’t come back until you have that Skrill.” Savage left quickly after that, most likely fearing for his life - getting on Alvin the Treacherous’ bad side was never a good idea.

They needed that Skrill because Dagur needed that Skrill, if they were going to have good relations between the two tribes they needed the Skrill to get into the chief of the Berserker’s hands. Alvin wasn’t about to let some boy ruin the plans he had been setting up for years.

The dragon conqueror needed to go.

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Hiccup couldn’t believe what he was seeing; he was frozen in his spot, eyes widened in fear. This couldn’t be happening, everyone had said this wouldn’t happen: the Alpha promised this would never happen.

Hiccup watched as vík after vík flooded into the sanctuary, pillaging as they went. There was so much commotion, terror reverberated off of every surface. He couldn’t hear anything anymore, but he knew that it was loud, there was no way that it could possibly be quiet in a time like this. The screams were never going to leave him - shrieks and howls of fledglings that were struggling to fly away, hatchlings that couldn’t get themselves in the air to safety.

The sanctuary had become a trap - there were only so many exits and it wasn’t as though the thousands of drako in the nest could all fly out of them at the same time. They were trapped; the vík were yelling in glee at the situation before them. It was hot too, that was something Hiccup could feel, there was so much heat from the fire that was raging around him. Flames from other drako in an attempt to fend off the attacks, projectiles ablaze as they flew up to where the drako had been perched only moments before.

Everything had happened so quickly, one moment they were sitting in peace - Hiccup had been lying around with Toothless telling the fledglings the story of a group of new drako the two bondmates had discovered - and the next there was utter dread and panic setting into the stomachs of every drako that was in the nest.

This place was their home: this place was their safe haven. It was gone, they wouldn’t be able to return here any longer now that the vík knew they were here, that was if they would even be able to join their nest together again. Hundreds of drako were flying off in what seemed like a million directions as they struggled to find protection.

There was no protection here any longer.

Toothless nudging Hiccup not so gently knocked him out of his stupor; he needed to help. If he was going to go down he would not be a sitting duck, he was not going to be some prize that they could have.

Hiccup had learned over the past three years that he had become a hot commodity - there were dozens of vík that wanted him captured. He hadn’t the faintest idea as to why, maybe because his species was rare, but what he did know what that he and Toothless were massive targets in the archipelago. Cloudjumper had attempted to get them to stay in the nest, but even he realized that that was never going to happen.

Hiccup and Toothless were of age now, they could go wherever they wanted, but as Hiccup jumped onto Toothless’ back, hastily securing his flight suit and claws, he realized this was the first time he ever wanted to stay in the nest more than anything. This had been his home for his entire life, never had he known anything different. Now it was being ripped away from him in the cruelest way possible: anger began to rise in his chest.

No vík was going to come to his home, make a fool of him, and destroy everything so many drako had spent centuries building. The nest was the best possible place in the entire archipelago, a place where any drako could come and find sanctuary - Hiccup was not going to let that go.

Toothless sped down to where the vík were pouring in, a massive hole had been blown into the side of the ice, the wall crumbling - it was only a matter of time before it all fell down into the sea. There were ships that he could see; the drako thought about flying out and destroying them, but that wouldn’t take care of the problem at hand - the vík. Those needed to be gone now.

“Night Fury!” The vík screamed, taking cover. Hiccup had learned the Norse words for Toothless’ species, though trying to say them made his tongue twist in a whole bunch of uncomfortable ways.

Then another vík shouted, “It’s the boy!” Hiccup turned his head around multiple times scanning throughout the commotion. There was a boy? Hiccup hadn’t seen one of those, why would they let a boy out on a mission like this? From what Hiccup had observed boys were like fledglings or hatchlings and those were rarely - himself being a very special case - allowed out on dangerous missions.

A net was suddenly soaring through the air towards them and Toothless dodged it at the last second - that had been way too close for comfort. Hiccup thought about jumping off, terrorizing them from above, but decided against it as he crouched lower onto Toothless’ back. He couldn’t move as quickly or as agile in the air as Toothless could; he would easily get captured and then it would really start getting bad.

Arrows and other kinds of projectiles flew past Hiccup’s face, it was a gift from the gods that Toothless hadn't been hurt yet. Yet, it was going to be impossible for them to walk out of here completely unharmed, he had realized that now - that didn’t make the pain from the realization hurt any less though. leftquicksky

The two darted up, laying two blasts down where a catapult was. The wood splintered into flaming fragments - score! As they turned around Hiccup felt some tear into his front leg, feeling as though it shredded the appendage. Hiccup screamed out as the agony tore through his body - it was like lava coursing through his veins. The sudden jolting through him threw him off his balance; Hiccup took a tumble.

The top of the nest was getting farther and farther away, the wind was whipping past his face. Usually, this was a position that he was comfortable with - it was a common place for him. Hiccup was always jumping off of cliffs, it sounded like such a stupid thing when he said it, but it was true. Toothless was always there to catch him though, not now. Even when he twisted to feebly attempt to get his flight suit out - it was for naught. Another arrow had torn through the fabric of his wing: the ground was coming up fast and faster.

The cheers of the vík made him sick to his stomach; they were so proud of themselves for shooting him down. Toothless was barreling down, he was screeching out too, much more terrified than the vík around Hiccup. The older tried to yell up to the drako that Toothless should fly away, but he wouldn’t listen. That made the situation even worse as the vík got over the excitement of hauling Hiccup into a cage and turned their weapons to Toothless. Hiccup wanted to yell again, but his vocal chords felt raw and strained as he let out whimpers and groans.

Hiccup’s soul felt like it snapped as he watched Toothless get shot down - he fell into the same stupor as when the attack started. His eyes became glassed over and he tried to block out everything that was happening around him.

This couldn’t be happening, this was all some horrible nightmare and any moment he would wake up, curled up by Toothless’ side, and it would be okay again. It wasn’t a dream though; the ropes that the vík were using dug into his skin, rubbing it raw, it felt like it was biting into him.

Toothless was being tied up - this was like the day when they were fledglings dialed up to eleven, maybe to a thousand. There was so much pain, such agony, being thrown about. The drako around them seemed to be getting out, most of them; Hiccup thanked the gods. His sacrifice was worth it if the other drako were able to get away. The adrenaline that had previously been flooding through him was quickly dissipating and he was left in complete exhaustion. His eyesight was going blurry, black spots were dancing around his vision. This was bad, horribly bad - even when Dagur had taken him, even when he and Toothless had gone up against the bad things, things hadn’t been this bad. They always had each other, and now that was ripped away from the two of them.

Was this how it ended? Was he destined to die young? He knew life on the archipelago was harsh, he had watched friends fall and strangers that could have been safe fall into the traps that vík like these had set. Hiccup thought he was a bit luckier though, and assumed that there was something out there that was looking out for him and keeping him safe. Why weren’t they here now though?

Hiccup and Toothless had done so much for so many other drako, but it seemed like those good deeds meant nothing in the end. His only hope as he fell into a painful and dreamless sleep was that Toothless would be alright.

Whatever Hiccup was laying on was soft - that was the first thing that he realized as he woke up from slumber with a pounding headache. His eyes could barely make out what was around him, it was quite dark - the more he peered about though the more confused he got. This wasn’t a cage, it was actually… Nice. He would have much more appreciated being in a cage though - at least then he would have some clue as to what was going on.He was in a room, but not a room that they would have in any sort of drako nest, no this was the room of a vík. There were wooden supports - something that wouldn’t fly with a whole nest of fire breathing creatures - and tables filled with books and all sorts of papers. Hiccup’s curiosity had been piqued; this was one of those moments where he mounted not being able to read the vík language, who knew what kind of information was in those books and scrolls.

There was a large map over the wall; Hiccup moved to get out of whatever strange thing he was laying on, but his legs ached under him. He jumped back - which only proved to further aggravate the wounds - and looked down at the bandages that had been wrapped around his front legs.“I would be careful if I were you.”

The words were strange, Hiccup had no idea what the figure clouded in darkness had said as he stepped through the threshold of the room. His - Hiccup deduced the figure was a man - voice wasn’t as crazed as Dagur’s had been, nor was it as terrible sounding as the other vík. It was cold, that much was true, but calculating. The words didn’t matter as he had no thoughts about them, but the one in which the man spoke showed far more than any word ever possibly could.

The man walked over to the desk, pulling out a chair, and gestured to it as though to ask if Hiccup would sit. Body language was a dialect Hiccup knew rather well, he tried his hardest to conceal his own - just in case this man was as well versed as he was.

Hiccup was confused as he watched the man; why would a drako ever sit in the seat of a vík? They weren’t made that way, it wasn’t as though Toothless could sit in a seat like that - so Hiccup wouldn’t either, it was the principle of things. The man gave him a confused look, speaking more weird words.

It seemed like the coldness he had thawed some and Hiccup was left confused at the wonder that was flashing in the man’s eyes. He had seen vík with expressions such as those - those were the eyes they held when they believed they got a good hunt.

Hiccup wasn’t a prize though, he was a living breathing creature that was absolutely terrified. He could admit that; even though he was older, this was more gut wrenching then being on Dagur’s ship, it was more excruciating then when the hunter vík had tried to take him. He had been unconscious, he didn’t know where he was or where Toothless could possibly be. Hiccup had no way of knowing if his bondmate was safe or if the rest of the nest had made it out. What about Cloudjumper? Frostbreath? Torch? What would happen to them if they hadn’t escaped out of the nest?

He didn’t want to think about all the terrors that they could be facing, but if his mind didn’t turn to that then he was forced to think about his present situation which wasn’t all that better. The vík stalked over to him, finally understanding that Hiccup wasn’t going to sit in the chair like some human - that would simply be unsightly. No, drako were much more civilized than those barbarians could ever dream of being.

The man didn’t look like many of the vík he had seen - he was smaller, especially smaller than the hunter’s that had attacked the sanctuary. Those had been hulking, burly men with heavy pieces of armor and battle weapons ready. This man still had on a few armor pieces but only a few: he had walked in unprepared for a battle.

Hiccup could have taken that as an advantage, and it may have worked out if he was not injured. The strange, vík man outstretched a hand - was he helping Hiccup to stand? He recoiled back, not wanting the other to be anywhere near him; he didn’t need the help of a human. “I’m trying to get you back into bed.”Bed. That was a word he knew, one of the few that stuck in his mind. Hiccup recalled flying over villages with Toothless and hearing mothers and fathers yelling to their children that it was time for bed. But this wasn’t a bed, not in the slightest. A bed was curling up next to his bondmate and feeling the warm ground beneath them from Toothless’ flame - not animal furs draped across a wooden box.

The man wouldn’t move until Hiccup did, so he took that as an invitation to move onto the strange thing he called a bed. It was comfortable - Hiccup could admit that - but it wasn’t as warm as soaking in another drako’s body heart; Hiccup had always lost his own so quickly in the night.

He pawed at the furs a few times, trying his best to ignore the pain that shot up in his front leg. He had been shot there, he recalled that; the arrow had pierced his skin, when he fell it was still lodged into the flesh. It wasn’t now, replaced by a bandage that was soaked red. Those would probably need to be changed so as to not risk an infection. Hiccup stole a glance at the man - he had better not thought about being the one to change them.

The man returned to the seat that was still pulled out, sitting there himself and resigned to the fact that Hiccup would not dare to sit in it himself. Hiccup wouldn’t dare stoop so low. Besides, the not-bed seemed much more comfortable than the hard wooden chair. Hiccup wanted to doze off back into a slumber, his body was trying to get him to do so, but his mind stayed alert. He could not allow himself to drop his guard in front of such an enemy.

The man could kill him as he slept, though a part of him said that the man could have done such while Hiccup had been sleeping before and hadn’t done so. It was strange, the entire situation felt completely wrong. How could a vík be treating him with - with kindness?

Hiccup lied low on the not-bed; no, vík were not like that. They had killed thousands of drako, murdered them, traded them, there would never life a vík that showed a drako kindness.

He watched the man’s lips move, forming phrases that Hiccup could only dream of understanding; it seemed like the man didn’t know Hiccup couldn’t understand him. That was strange, he had never met a drako before that understood the complexities of human tongues, but it seemed as though this man had, otherwise why would he be trying to communicate with Hiccup in this way. The mere idea seemed impossible though - even if he was taught that nothing was completely impossible.

“Viggo.”

Hiccup looked up at the man, across his scared face, and the iron work of his armor. Viggo. That was his name. A strange name, not as strange as Dagur though - that boy had been named after a weapon of all things. But Viggo seemed very different. If all the books were anything to go by he was scholarly, something most vík didn’t emphasize. He hadn’t tried to hurt Hiccup yet, but instead assisted him.

Then he remembered that the vík under Viggo’s command had been attempting to trap him, and horribly achieved their goal. Hiccup growled lowly, as Viggo tried to inch his way closer, moving his chair to Hiccup’s bedside - he had admitted it was a bed, even if it was quite a strange one at that. “Nuh.”

Viggo’s eyes shot open, “So you do speak.” Speak, yes of course he spoke, he spoke all the time it was just in a language that the vík didn’t know. It would be the same as telling Viggo that he did not speak because he didn’t know Dragonese - that would be simply rude now wouldn’t it.

“What’s your name?”

Name, now that he could say, proudly and strongly, “eek-up.” Was it a good idea to be giving out this information? Probably not, but Hiccup had no other way to spend his time seeing as he was still injured and had yet to find a way out of this room that wasn’t the front door. Viggo had already given him name too so really if anyone was stupid to give out information at first it was that man.

Hiccup just wanted to sleep and pretend like none of this was happening. Or at least get Viggo to believe that so he could come up with some sort of plan

“Ee-cup?”Hiccup raised his head, opening his eyes as he did so, and scowled at the man, “Nuh, eek-up.” Really it wasn’t that hard; if he could learn a few words in that man’s strange language then Viggo could figure out how to say one simple word - it was a name. “Eek-up.”

Viggo examined him like he was an animal in a cage; he sure as Hel felt like one at the moment; the gaze he was under felt as though it was taking him apart, piece by piece. “Hiccup, your name is Hiccup.”

Now he got it, see it wasn’t that hard. Hiccup quickly nodded before returning his head to rest on his front paws. This was annoying, not only was he trapped, but now this vík was treating him like he was a hatchling - how ignorant.

Viggo moved closed: Hiccup moved back, but he felt the rough wooden wall, blocking him from moving any farther. He bared his teeth, showing off just how much damage he could do - that plan wouldn’t work that well though, since Viggo knew he was injured and all. Hiccup groaned at the thought that the vík had been the one to wrap his wounds.

The vík adjusted himself, pointed at Hiccup’s bandaged front leg, “It needs to be changed.”Hiccup huffed out, “Nuh.” He was not about to let this man mess with his wound, even if he had been the one to bandage it initially, whenever a vík got close to a drako like this the only thing that would come was suffering. Viggo must have been one to like mind games, messing with Hiccup’s emotions to make him think the man actually cared about him. As if that could ever happen.

“You’ll catch an infection,” Hiccup couldn’t make those words out, but what he did know was that Viggo continued to inch closer.

Now he was completely pressed up against the wall and his eyes were wide in fear. “Nuh!” His breath was heavy and hard, the blood in his body didn’t feel like it was flowing correctly. Hiccup felt like he was going to die. He needed to get out of here, but now the room felt like it was spinning, the bed and the table didn’t seem as clear as they once were. He wanted this to stop, all of it to just stop; he hid his face in his paws, maybe he could truly pretend that none of this was happening.

Viggo drew his hand back; Hiccup could hear shuffling throughout the room - the presence of Viggo in front of the bed alerted him again. Hiccup peaked through his claws. The vík stood in front of him, a few more paces back then he was initially, hand outstretched, holding a roll of bandages. “Here, if you won’t let me, I'll give them to you; I don’t want you catching an infection that will render that arm useless.”

It was strange, the way Viggo described him. Arm? No, he had paws and legs - hind and fore, there were no arms like vík called them. Hiccup scowled but took the bandages regardless. Viggo had been right, if he didn’t swap them out then he would run the risk of an infection - if that happened who knew what would come of him. There was the possibility that he could die if it got horrible, or his leg could be rendered useless. That wouldn’t work out too well.

He slouched back on his hand legs, leaning up against the wall to get as much room between him and the man. Viggo sat in his chair near the bed, watching Hiccup’s movements intently. The small ministrations of his face let Hiccup know that he hadn’t meant any harm - regardless of what his instincts were screaming. The vík had gotten bandages with the intent of helping, and then he had given them to Hiccup so that he could wrap them himself after seeing the other’s discomfort. That was so out of character for vík - it didn’t make any sense in the slightest.

Why hadn’t Viggo simply killed him already, it would have made this all so much easier. Fighting was easier than sorting out all the confusion in his mind at the moment. He almost wanted Viggo to drop whatever this act was already so Hiccup could take up his claws and challenge the man.

Hiccup tied off the end of the bandage, ripping it between his teeth; he dropped the rest on the edge of the bed so that Viggo could take them back. He hated that he was getting what felt like a handout, but it would have to do. He immediately fled back to his cramped corner, gripping onto the furs beneath him. They were soft - something that would have been great to sleep on again.

Hiccup knew that Viggo had more questions, but he couldn’t respond to any of them because of the language barrier before them. There were many things that he wanted to say - he simply couldn’t.

There was a knock on the door that stole his attention away; Viggo stood up and swiftly walked over to it: Hiccup stayed curled up on the bed. There was a smell that hit him, a very strange but intoxicating smell. It was like nothing he had ever smelled before - aromas that had never touched his nose. The door was shut and Viggo returned with a tray of something.Whatever Viggo held looked like something that was carved out of a gourd or something of the sort - whatever was in that smelled absolutely amazing. “Food.” That was another word that Hiccup didn’t recognize, but the man gestured in a way that got the message across loud and clear. It was something to eat.

That was food? It didn’t seem anything like the berries, nuts, and of course the fish, that Hiccup filled his diet with - this was strange but in a much more fascinating way then the horrible strange that the rest of this experience was. Viggo handed it to him; Hiccup took it in his paws. There was something lying in it - Viggo attempted to gesture again to show how to use the wooden thing that was sitting in the gourd, it may have also been wood now that Hiccup had gotten a feel of it.

He quirked his head in confusion, a gesture that Toothless also did many times, the two were very similar in that way. They replicated each other’s actions all the time. Hiccup still couldn’t tell what Viggo was trying to get at so he hesitantly sniffed at the substance before him. It smelled even better now that it was right in front of him. He licked the surface.

This must be what Valhalla felt like.

This was the food of the gods! The flavors were like nothing he had ever tasted before, it was savory and salty in a way that fish never was. So many different kinds of things packed together into one food item.

There was a sort of meat in there that he couldn’t recognize. Anytime he had tried to eat red meats in the past his stomach had gotten upset, that and, the texture made him want to wretch. He never understood how Toothless and the other drako could go along with it. But this? No this was perfect. There were green things in it, plant-like, Hiccup hadn’t eaten any green plants before, but if they were like this then he was going to be doing a lot of that when he finally got out of here.

There were other things too that he just couldn’t recognize at all, reds and pale colours; Hiccup didn’t know where Viggo and his men had gotten all these amazing things, or how they were able to mix them together in such a way that foods like these were created.

Viggo watched in amusem*nt as the other gulped down the stew - he really had no idea what it was. What was with this being? How was he so different than all the others?

*****

Viggo was in a meeting with his most trusted men, those he knew wouldn’t spill all the secrets that were to be heard by these select few and only them. Hiccup, the boy that had been seen as riding a Night Fury and speaking with dragons, was nothing like how Viggo had imagined him.

Viggo had realized that the boy didn’t know any Norse at all, nor any language that was human at all. He spoke in clicks and whistles, letting out growls when he was angry or nervous, and slight purrs and warbles when he was content. Viggo hadn’t met anyone like that before - the language of the dragon being spoken by a human. It seemed absurd; dragons and vikings had been living in the same world for centuries and not one had ever learned the language of the other. How did Hiccup do it?

Then there was his disdain for touch, which was much easier to understand. It was likely that he still saw Viggo had a large threat and would not be trusting him any time soon - even if the boy was in pain and needed medical attention. There were still other things that brought upon even more questions. How did he now seem to know what a bed was, or even a bowl and spoon? It was apparent that he didn’t understand what the stew inside it was, especially if his reaction to actually tasting it was anything to go by.

He didn’t move in a human manner either. More obvious than his vocals was his body language and the way he held himself. It was so… Dragon-like. He walked on all fours, moving his head and neck as though he had the same body as a dragon. The only thing that seemed human was the way he used his hands, though he did stumble a bit with grasping things correctly. Hiccup dug his nails into things, like the furs that had been set on the bed for him. Like a dragon testing the waters he needed the furs, feeling them between his fingers.

There was also the strange outfit they had found him in.

It appeared to be a mix match of many different kinds of fabrics and leathers that didn’t go together all that much. Many were dark, muted browns, greys, and blacks, and they were stitched together in an intricate fashion. Viggo was almost sad to see the damage done to such a suit - it seemed like a work of mechanical genius.

And the wings! Oh, those were simply exquisite. Hiccup must have fashioned them himself and they allowed him to fly on his own, or at least that’s what Viggo had assumed. Sadly Hiccup hadn’t left the Night Fury’s back at all during the battle until he was shot off.

The Night Fury. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. That one truly lived up to its name.

He was a deadly creature with accuracy that Viggo had never witnessed in his life. Had the dragon not reached his shot limit and had Viggo’s men not shot him down, it was quite possible that he would have destroyed the entire fleet. The dragon was breathtaking, and Hiccup seemed to share a special bond with the other. That was another thing that Viggo had never seen before: a man and a dragon working together, being so in harmony with one another. The Night Fury had tried to protect Hiccup, even though he was human. It seemed to go against nature.

*click*-ss. That was the sound the Hiccup made when he would realize Viggo was speaking about the Night Fury, that must have been his name. It was a name that Viggo would never be able to say, not in any tongue that he knew, but it was strange to think that dragons had names that they called each other. It seemed so… almost human. Was it Hiccup that created these names, or was it a norm between dragons?All of these questions made Viggo realize how much more there still was to learn about dragon kind.

He hadn’t always been a hunter, even if he was the chief of such a tribe. What felt like a lifetime ago ago he was a scholar, sailing off to the mainland to learn everything that he could - it had been an amazing experience. Dragons had been something that he was interested in ever since he was a boy, a boy that wanted to live up to his grandfather’s dreams and because of that he needed to learn all about the creatures that he possibly could. But, even though Viggo had studied for years and had been around dragons for most of his life, a boy more than half his age - at least he presumed - had learned more than he could ever dream of.

Hiccup, someone that was just a boy to the rest of the world, could speak with dragons and live with them as though it was completely normal. Between that and everything else Viggo had witnessed, there was something completely wrong.

The boy wasn’t normal, not like any viking he had ever met. It seemed like he had no idea how to interact with other people and even acted hostile towards them. After a few days, seeing how he reacted to other members of his crew, Viggo realized that it wasn’t just him that Hiccup was scared of: Hiccup was scared of humans. The first idea Viggo had was that something must have happened in his past that made him hold a disdain for humans, but that seemed unlikely. Even someone that was abused by other people knew how mankind worked - Hiccup didn’t seem to hold any of that knowledge. He was so completely different.

Viggo had allowed Hiccup to see a few of the dragons in the cages - not the Night Fury because he couldn’t risk what would happen if they met with each other at the moment, all Hel would break loose most likely. He was able to communicate with them, and it was quite interesting to see. Hiccup would move in a way that is almost entirely inhuman - so beast like. He quirked his head in the way the dragons did; he nodded like them; he spoke like them.

Viggo couldn’t understand nor believe what the conversation was - from the body language it seemed like Hiccup was trying to comfort the dragons. Viggo’s jaw clenched; he wouldn’t allow Hiccup to release the dragons that he was planning on trading - even if they were from the nest that Viggo’s men had found him in.

That was another thing, Hiccup was found living in a dragon nest. Any viking that accidentally found themselves sailing too close to one or went off searching for one never found their way back. They ended up being torn apart by the dragons - they were dead before anyone could ever try to save them.

Hiccup did the impossible though. It appeared that he lived there, actually survived, and from the state that they found him in, before he was injured, thriving. It was utterly insane, completely impossible. Obviously, that wasn’t the case if he was actually able to do it. All those dragons, hundreds, even thousands of them trusted Hiccup enough to let them into their nest and live there.

Viggo needed to know how he did it, how he was able to learn the language of the beasts and be peaceful with them. Had he somehow manipulated them in order to get the dragons to be alright with him? That seemed much more likely seeing as the nature of dragons was violent - they would ever in a million years trust a viking much like how a viking would never trust a dragon. That was a universal fact. It was true in every single case except for this one.

This one was a special one, Hiccup was a special boy, and Viggo quite liked special things.

“Listen up, we have much to discuss tonight.”

*****

Hiccup didn’t know which would happen first, him dying at the hand of one of the hunter vík or dying from absolute boredom.

At least he had been able to meet with some of the drako, there were a few of his nestmates - which made his heart swell up in anger at the sight of them trapped in cages - but other than that they drako around the campsite seemed to be from all over. There were a few wild drako, those who had no nest, they were a lot more harsh and battle hardened. They snarled at Hiccup as he passed by and he was quick to return the gesture. Even if they were bound to hate each other - somewhat - Hiccup still felt the need to help them, just as he did with any drako he came around.

These drako still deserved to be free, none of them deserved the harsh treatment they endured under the vík that controlled them.

Hiccup’s time at the camp was quite a strange one. He was still kept in a room, he quickly learned that it was Viggo’s, but the man had taken up residence in another room down the ways. It felt strange to not only be sleeping in the bed of someone who was supposed to his enemy but also in the bed of a vík. The first nights had been off putting - his thoughts were completely consumed by the idea that something was going to go wrong; Hiccup knew that there were men standing guard outside his door in order to assure that he couldn’t escape. He wasn’t going to get out of here as easy as Dagur’s ship: he would rather be back on that Hel hole than stuck here.

The camp was absolutely teeming with vík - they were walking all of the place, patrolling, holding their weapons tightly whenever Hiccup would pass them. It made him even more stressed. He couldn’t pretend like they were afraid of him, it was obvious that the only part of him they were scared of was his actions - they didn’t like that he acted like a drako should. Of course he acted like a drako though because he was a drako. He acted just like any other drako, though he did pick up many mannerisms from Toothless as Toothless did to him - that just made sense because they were nestmates and then bondmates, they spend all sorts of time together.

Hiccup absolutely despised how Viggo and the rest of his men acted like he should know all about vík culture and life. Wasn’t it apparent that he couldn’t? If no other drako before had been able to understand the complexity of vík tongue - to which there were many, much more than drako - then why would Hiccup be the first in so many hundreds of years? It didn’t seem plausible.

The one thing that Hiccup was confident in was that he needed to get out of here, sooner rather than later would work better. He yearned to be near Toothless again, but Viggo didn’t seem like he was going to allow Hiccup to get anywhere near the other drako for a long time, if ever. That just wasn’t going to do; it pained him to think about trying to fight through all the vík in order to get to the other. Toothless wouldn’t know that he was coming and would be completely unprepared, that wouldn’t help, not in the slightest.

Hiccup knew that he wouldn’t be able to get through the hordes of vík - that was impossible. It wasn’t like he had a big weapon like them, and he didn’t fight vík all that often, he was much more comfortable going against other drako. It wasn’t as though he knew many fighting techniques against vík - Hiccup could probably fight against the bad queen again before he was able to get through the massive groups of vík.

Hiccup wasn’t one to simply give up though, that went against absolutely everything he was for, he had rescued hundreds of drako before, protected Toothless, and he had saved himself - he wasn’t about to let these drako down. They were going to get out of here, all of them.

A month had passed since the first day Hiccup had met Viggo, which meant that he had been stuck in this vík camp for a month - away from his nest for a month. His leg had been healing up, grabbing things didn’t cause it to ache as much anymore; he was fearful that it would never be the same again though, that he was never going to escape that pain.

He fought through it though - like he did with everything else: Hiccup wore his scars with pride and this was just going to be another scar that proved how much he had endured, how much fight was in him.

Over the past month he had taken to observing the camp in greater detail, taking mental notes on any time there was an opening. There didn’t seem to be many, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. As the days and weeks dragged on Viggo seemed to be more comfortable around him - or at least that was the facade that he was putting up; if it was fake he did an excellent job at concealing his true thoughts and feelings. Every once and awhile something would seep through and Hiccup could tell that Viggo didn’t trust him - the feeling was quite mutual. Even if Hiccup had thought that man to be interesting, he was still a vík, and Cloudjumper had instilled in him at a very early age that vík were not to be trusted.

The only times that there seemed to be an opening was the guard change. Hiccup knew that if he was able to get out of this room then there were a whole lot of exits in the rest of the building - it would be much easier. Now, sneaking past the guards or even fighting his way through seemed very difficult. These men weren’t as untrained as Dagur’s had been, being ruled over by a boy had made them more than a bit sloppy in their jobs since their hearts weren’t truly in it. Viggo’s men though? These were men that would kill him on sight if need be, though it was apparent that Viggo wanted to keep Hiccup alive.

The possible reasons for why that could be caused a shiver to run down his spine.

Life here was peculiar, sometimes it was as though Viggo saw him as an equal, that he was genuinely curious about the other, but other times it was like Hiccup was an experiment, everyone was watching him and taking notes like he was a new species they had never seen before. That was very possible since Hiccup had never met another drako species such as himself.

The night was getting closer, he had whispered to the other drako when Viggo had taken him around the camp - as he usually did - the man rarely let Hiccup out of his sight during the day. He had needed to speak quickly to get the message across, that he needed them to all be ready for when nightfall came. Hiccup hoped and prayed to whatever god was listening that somehow the message got to Toothless, it was very improbable but not impossible. Never impossible.

He didn’t catch a single wink of sleep, it would have been a miracle if he had. Despite the fact that his body was craving it and his eyes were dry - Hiccup could not sleep. If he missed the guard switch then everything would be completely ruined; no, he needed to stay awake to catch that shift.

Hiccup’s current room had never seemed quieter - it was deadly silent. Even the drako that were outside didn’t seem to be making a peep. They were just as scared about what was going to happen, he didn’t blame them. It was possible that there were going to be injuries, though Hiccup wanted to avoid that as much as he possibly could, but there were dozens of men around the camp, all of them had axes or swords or bows - they were posed to strike at any moment.

Hiccup counted the seconds, intently listening to the steps just outside of his door. It would be easy to hear the footfalls of the burly men, they never tried to be quiet about things, not like Hiccup. Being raised with a Night Fury whose biology ensured that he was as stealthy as possible had lots of benefits, like the fact that Hiccup knew how to walk to seem like he wasn’t even there, how to slow his breathing to hide it, and a whole host of other things that kept him as concealed as possible. It seemed like all those times of playing hide and seek with the fledglings was about to pay off.

He fiddled with a piece of metal that was hidden in a pouch in his top. It was a lock picking tool that he always had on him - especially after everything that had gone down with all the other sticky situations he had found himself in. There were a few things that Hiccup always had one him; he and Toothless had actually been planning on going out before the attack which was why he had his flight suit and a few other tools that would help them on their journey. Thank the gods for over preparing.

Hiccup could hear the heavy footsteps coming from down the hall - this was it, this was his chance. Slowly, he stalked off the bed, crawling across the floor until he was right in front of the door. With outstretched hands he slid the lockpick in, the sound of the metal clanging made him cringe a bit, but hopefully the words he heard being spoken from the other side of the door would block them out. The satisfying click of the lock caused his heart to speed up.

This was actually happening.

He made sure his claws were all together, that everything was in place. With one last deep breath, he opened the door.

The response of the vík was almost instantaneous - though - they were caught off guard for a split second when they saw that Hiccup had actually gotten out of the room. They had assumed he wouldn’t be able to because he hadn’t made any sort of attempt before, that was exactly what he wanted them to think. If they assumed that he was a bit brain dead that was perfect - the best thing was to catch your opponent and what better way than to make them get them to think you were less capable than you actually were. One thing down - something went well.

That pleasantry quickly dissipated once the vík started swinging their weapons. Hiccup stayed close to the ground, continuing to be a smaller target - it was easy enough already because he was already much smaller physically than the two men before him, but sticking low made that difference even further exaggerated.

He jumped through the gap between the two men, feeling a blade graze across his hind leg. Thankfully, it only seemed to cut his clothing and not his skin, though that probably wasn’t going to continue for much longer. The vík kept trying to get him to stand on his hind legs and fight, which confused Hiccup immensely.

They were trying to get him to fight like a human.

Hiccup’s eyebrows furrowed as he slashed his claw across one of the vík’s exposed arms, he groaned in pain as the red liquid beneath his skin flowed forth. Jumping back from the sudden attack of the other, he was confused even further. The blade had swung close to his face, at the same high his waist would be if he was standing up. This made absolutely no sense to Hiccup at all.

The vík didn’t know how to approach him, switching between sending blows that could incapacitate a drako and ones that would cause a human to bleed out. Hiccup was a bit surprised that they seemed to be going for the kill since he had assumed he was a bit special and all. If his species was so rare then wouldn’t they want to trade him to some higher up buying and get as much bang for their buck? The worst they had treated him were harsh tugs as he trotted around the camp - Hiccup hadn’t been treated anything like this.

As the taller of the two vík swung his axe down - which Hiccup dodged at the last moment, time seeming to slow for a second as he watched the sharpened metal glide past his face - he jumped forward and landed a harsh bite on the man’s forearm, right above where his armor piece ended.

“He bit me!” The vík screamed out, in a way that was obviously in pain, but also confusion. That last part didn’t make any sense either - drako always bit when they were threatened, it was simply nature. Why didn’t these men seem to understand that Hiccup was a drako? Why did they hesitate to treat him as such?

Hiccup took the moment of confusion to dart down the hallway. He could hear clambering footsteps behind him, the frantic shouts for help that the vík let out. Without a moment's hesitation he ran into a room that he hadn’t been in before; thank the gods that there weren’t vík in there that would too want him dead. He closed the door; he would have pushed something in front of it or even attempted to lock it, but there was no time - Hiccup couldn’t waste a single moment. Thankfully, this room did have a window. It was open, sweet, cool air was drifting in. The moon shone in the sky, full and bright. The stomps were getting closer, so Hiccup raced over to the window. He leaned over the edge - there wasn’t a terrible distance to cover, but still the ground was far away enough that if he were to jump and land wrong he could break another bone. The door knob jangled, that was going to be a risk he was willing to take.

He staggered out the window with all the grace of a newly hatched drako; Hiccup wasn’t all that used to being in vík homes even if he had been living in one for quite some time now. The beat of his heart hammered in his ears, breath slowing as he ducked under the windowsill - effectively concealing himself as the vík walked into the room.

Hiccup completely paused, listening to the clanging and banging as the vík striped through the entire room, tossing around furniture and such. He inadvertently held his breath, not wanting to give a single thing away about his position. Slowly - so painfully slowly - he clawed his way down the wall. All those years of messing around with the fledgelings in the caves seemed to be paying off; he was so, so grateful that his species was able to climb better than his other cousins - if he was a Deadly Nadder or Gronckle there was no way he would have gotten out of that position.

There was also probably no way he would have gotten in it either.

There was something very different about him, being kept by these vík made him even more acutely aware of that. His thoughts seemed to swirl in that direction the longer he descended. Viggo had treated him so strangely, attempting to communicate with him the human languages; he could tell that the man had been speaking different tongues because they sounded so vastly different from each other. Whenever they passed the other drako that were kept in the cages he hadn’t tried to do the same, what made Hiccup so special?

Then there was that entire ordeal with the strange - but utterly delicious meal - the other drako had gotten fish, just enough so that they wouldn’t starve, but Hiccup got the food Viggo had called stew. All of it was making Hiccup’s brain hurt from thinking so hard; he wished he would just stop thinking about all of it.

How could the distance be that far, it hadn’t seemed like that when he looked out the window - he just wanted to get out of here.

Finally he felt his hind legs touch down onto the ground. The grass felt so soft under his paws, somehow even softer than all the other times he had walked around the camp. A cloud rolled across the sky and parked itself in front of the moon. Hiccup smiled, the cover of darkness would protect him. He hurried into the trees surrounding the house - the only thing that reminded him of being home. It was depressing to think that these trees were so beautiful and yet they were being occupied with a whole lot of hunter vík who would destroy them if necessary.

The trapped drako were in sight now, some of them sleeping, some pacing around their cages and so obviously stressed. Hiccup watched his steps, making sure that he didn’t step on any kinds of twigs or fallen leaves that would give away his position to the patrolling hunters. The vík in the house would tell the others soon, it was only a matter of minutes before the rest of the camp found out and Hiccup was hunted down. He would need to be quick about this.

The first cages he went to were on the edges of the campsite, mostly drako that the vík saw as less of a threat - obviously they didn’t know that even the most calm and docile drako would become violent and attack without remorse if they were threatened.

The drako lit up when they saw Hiccup stalk forward; he had to give them a signal to be quiet so they wouldn’t ruin Hiccup’s entire plan. These drako would not be the ones to help protect the others and fight off the vík, they weren’t prepared for that, they would need to take care of the fledglings that were stuffed in a cage together; the sight of which made Hiccup’s skin crawl. safe you now, me help, you run. trees safe now. The drako understood the commands and ran off into the woods, where there weren’t any hunters patrolling of course.

Hiccup turned to reach the cage of fledglings when he heard loud, frantic voices.

The rest of the hunters knew he had broken out; they would be seeking after him immediately.

Hiccup ran after the cage - taking the risk. The fledglings began squawking and wouldn’t listen to Hiccup’s command to get them to quiet. They never listened to anyone - not even the Alpha - why would they ever listen to him of all drako. There was the clanging of metal, the sounds of fires being lit, and hunters marching towards him. His claws kept slipping, he dropped his lock pick a few times, but he was finally able to let the fledglings off and pushed them off to the cover of the forest. Hiccup would sacrifice himself for them.

Before he could fully prepare himself for what he was about to face, a whole host of vík emerged before him. Forming an arc around him. One of them stepped forward, arms crossed behind his back. The smirk on his face made him look so full of himself, completely smug in what he was about to do to Hiccup. “My dear Hiccup.” Oh, that tone made Hiccup sick to his stomach, made him want to curl up a die because it was filled with false sweetness and sincerity. It didn’t matter what Viggo said - though he did know that his name was one of the words, the pronunciation was a bit off - what mattered was the way Viggo said it.

Every single time he opened his mouth Hiccup got more and more confused. This was just the charing on the cod.

Hiccup inched back, snarling at the vík who dared step closer to him. Their weapons were poised at him - swords, axes, and bows. Any moment, whenever Viggo gave the signal, he would be hurt in some way; Hiccup could die here and his nestmates would never know what happened to him. Toothless would never know what happened. He needed to keep fighting, no matter what.

Viggo stepped a few paces forward, “I’m truly heartbroken that it’s had to come to this, but we can’t have you running away. You’re far too valuable, imagine all the things we could do together with the boy who can control dragons.”

Boy? Dragons? Hiccup stepped back: this was wrong. Was he the boy they had been speaking about in the sanctuary? But that didn’t make any sense, he was a drako, a drako through and through and nothing could ruin that. He wasn’t a human, and he surely wasn’t a vík no matter what these hunters were saying. They were wrong!

One of the vík closest to him edged nearer, reaching out quickly and grabbing Hiccup’s front leg - he couldn’t even find it in him to fight back. The shock at what he just heard was far too overwhelming.Suddenly a piercing shriek echoed across the forest.

The fiery blast with a purplish hue appeared a meter or so in front of Viggo’s feet. Any closer and the blast could have killed him. Hiccup whipped his head to look behind him and the sight made him almost cry in happiness. It was Toothless! *click*-ss. Hiccup repeated his bondmate’s name like a mantra, one that would save him completely in this moment.

The younger drako lunged at the vík who was gripping onto Hiccup, pouncing on him, and holding the man on the ground. He roared, an ear piercing roar that made Hiccup nearly want to cover his ears if he wasn’t so used to it. It took all his effort to stay on his legs; he wanted to collapse from the exhaustion and the shock of the news he had heard. The vík quickly arranged themselves and readied for battle, already coming to strike, but more and more drako poured out from the forest - including Frostbreath. Hiccup was glad to see that the fledgling was okay, but was rightly concerned that she was about to go running into battle.

The chaos that surrounded him as he rushed to Frostbreath’s side was greater than the chaos in the sanctuary - though this time it looked like the drako were far more prepared; they must have planned this attack out.

Frostbreath! Hiccup yelled, ducking through vík and narrowly avoided axe swings, how, you safe? help safe you.

Frostbreath huddled near Hiccup, watching the fight intently and constantly glancing around to make sure everything was alright around them, Toothless me save, nest hurt, we save.

Hiccup’s eyes widened, that was the second piece of earth shattering news. This fledgling had saved Toothless when Hiccup hadn’t been able to.

Hiccup bowed his head in respect, Thank you. It was a pose of reverence, one that he didn’t hand out all that frequently, but Frostbreath deserved it more than anything right now. His attention turned back to Toothless who barked orders to save the rest of the drako who were still trapped: Hiccup didn’t waste a single second. He was followed by Frostbreath who - as he name suggested - used her freezing breath to ward off any of the vík that tried to get near them.

The night seemed to pass in a frantic blur of pain, confusion, and excitement.

The best feeling was hopping back onto Toothless’ back and riding off into the night - though he had absolutely no idea where they would go. Their home had been destroyed, what were they supposed to do now?

Hiccup was laying next to Toothless’, the other’s wings wrapped around him tightly as if the younger was scared that Hiccup would disappear again; he hadn’t any plans to do that any time soon.

What Viggo had said was still messing with his brain, pulling at his heart, and ripping at his soul. It didn’t make any sense at all, but at the same time it explained much of the weird behavior that the man had exhibited - the language, the food, the room. Viggo treated him like a human, not a drako, and all the other vík did as well.

Hiccup rubbed his cheek against Toothless’ side, the drako wasn’t asleep yet, not really. He let out a saddened whimper, one that got Toothless’ attention quickly. Drako me yes? Vík me? Person me? Toothless looked at him with eyes that held so many secrets - enough secrets that Hiccup felt his world fall apart all over again. Vík me!? Nuh nuh vík me, drako me, please.

No amount of pleading could change the facts though.

Toothless wrapped his wings around the smaller even tighter, eek-up vík yes. He pulled back to look Hiccup in the eye, eek-up drako yes, both yes, body vík, heart and soul drako.

His breath began to steady as Toothless repeated the words, assuring the other over and over again that it didn’t matter if Hiccup had the body of a vík - he was a drako through and through and nothing was ever going to make that any less true. eek-up-*click*-ss, Toothless warbled.

eek-up-*click*-ss, Hiccup repeated. Their bondmate name, the words that meant that they were one in the same in life and in death, in absolutely everything, there was no separating them. Drako did not form bondmates with humans, so Hiccup must truly be a drako, no matter what the human world told him.

eek-up-*click*-ss. The name was repeated all throughout the night.

Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Chapter Text

The sanctuary had in fact been destroyed - but that was a year ago. Since then, Hiccup and the rest of the drako had been working as hard as they could to rebuild the home that they had lost. They had to leave the nest, that much was obvious since the hunter vík already knew where it was. If they stayed there it was very possible that there could be another attack - it simply wasn’t safe to stay there anymore.

There was a time of grief and mourning throughout the nest, hundreds of drako were displaced because of it. Hiccup felt horrible that the drako that had come from the bad queen had lost another home - one that he had promised would always be safe. He shouldn’t have promised that - it was impossible to say that life would always be safe - but he had wanted to give them some hope and obviously that hadn’t worked out so well.

The Alpha had survived, of course he did, he was grand and amazing, too powerful to ever fall to the likes of those vík. The great leader had made another home, a ways away from where the original nest was. There was an island that the ice nest was built on, giving the entire place a place for just every kind of drako. Hiccup had loved the new nest, though the original would always have a place in his heart, it was going to be the best place he had ever lived. This nest was just as wonderful though: there were so many new forests to explore, lakes and ponds that had different kinds of fish - and horrible eels that had made Hiccup’s skin crawl, the caves were expansive and beautiful.

This new home was going to be perfect.

Hiccup dived off of Toothless’ back, winding through sea stacks and making a few close calls. This was the life. He was full grown now, Cloudjumper couldn’t hold him back - though sometimes it probably would have been better if he did since the two bondmates were getting up to just as much trouble as they normally did.

But nothing bad had happened in the past year, ever since Hiccup had gotten back and started with rebuilding the nest life had been great. He helped with the fledglings, messed around with his nestmates, and fawned over Torch and Frostbreath as if they were his siblings. He had taken the two under his wing quite a lot.

Now wasn’t the time for them to join him though - this was time for Hiccup and Toothless only. The time they were in the skies was the most important to them; the bondmates took every precaution that they could and ever since that month when they had been separated from each other, they hadn’t left each other’s side for one moment. They were attached at the hip even more - if that was even possible.

Hiccup had realized he was human, biologically at least, but none of the other drako minded. Cloudjumper had taken him in, his nestmates accepted him, and Toothless was still his bondmate regardless. The realization did make a few things in his younger years make more sense, like that Changewing who had hated him so much for what seemed like no reason.

All of that didn’t matter anymore though - what was in the past was past and Hiccup would continue to spread his wings further, reaching the end of the world.

Like now, as he pulled off stunts that he knew other drako couldn’t do, there seemed to be a few positive aspects to being human. His paws, hands, were dexterous, he could fashion clothing, help to heal other drako in ways that would have been impossible if his paws were like all the rest. He could stand on his hind legs - though he didn’t do that very often because he was simply not used to it - staying on all fours was much more comfortable as he had been walking like that for twenty years now.

The fur, hair, on his head became braided and he could cut it with sharpened rocks. When Hiccup was younger it had grown out quite a lot and none of the other drako were able to cut it, he could though, and what a pleasure that was.

There were things that he wanted to know about humans, not about vík though; he hoped his parents weren’t vík, the ones who had created him that is. Cloudjumper was his mp-*hiss* and always would be, but there was still a curiosity that even the youngest saved hatchlings had of where they came from. Hiccup had just started thinking about it later than most.

If his parents were vík… Well then Hiccup wouldn’t want anything to do with them.

The wind brushed past his ears, Toothless was darting above him. Hiccup had a disgruntled expression across his face: Toothless knew they couldn’t race all that much because he couldn’t control his wings like Toothless could, but gods would it be fun to try - even if he always lost. Fine race.

Toothless chirped, already full of himself at the win he was destined to receive. It always went that way, Hiccup didn’t mind though, it was more fun to race anyway.

Just because he was most likely going to lose didn’t mean he didn’t try his hardest though. He ducked through openings that made the path shorter and he knew Toothless couldn’t fit through; the younger called that cheating, but Hiccup just thought he was using his environment to its fullest, that was the way life was meant to be after all.

The clouds made his skin damp as he soared through them, Toothless was a few meters ahead of him, not truly trying all that hard yet. Perfect. Hiccup tucked his front legs to his sides, immediately he lost the current that was keeping him in the air and was darting towards the ocean below. He let out howls from the fun; Toothless must have whipped around to see that Hiccup was trying to beat him, and could nearly do so if the younger wasn’t quick. He tucked his wings in and started plummeting to the ground.

Hiccup looked up at his bondmate following him, a smile of glee across his face, and then back again to the space below. He hesitated; that wasn’t the ocean. That was land!

Hiccup fumbled to get his suit back in flight mode, but the strap that he threaded his front leg was stuck to his chest piece - it wasn’t moving. Breath was suddenly hard to find, his chest heaving and his throat clamming up. He screamed out for Toothless, who was desperately trying to dive down fast in order to reach Hiccup; the older had dove down earlier though, there was too much space between them now for Toothless to actually save him.

The ground was coming quicker, this was worse than the attack on the nest last year, at least then he could have taken out his suit - had he not been on the cusp of consciousness at the moment - and saved himself. Not now though, not at all now. *click*-ss *click*-ss! His voice was raw from shouting, subconsciously bracing himself for the hurt of falling to the ground. A fall from a height like this could kill him, like all the warnings that Cloudjumper had given him over the years. He should have listened; he shouldn’t have taken so many risks.

Hiccup’s eyes were darting around to see if there was anything that he could catch himself on, the trees seemed too far away though, even if he started drifting that way now there would be no way at all that he was going to reach them. Toothless couldn’t save him either: he was going to die. After all the times where he had survived against the odds, all the crazy and improbable things he fought through, a fall was going to kill him. Just because Hiccup’s own handiwork failed him. This was like some sort of sick irony.

More yells and shouts that were not his own broke him out of his stupor - people, people running towards the cliff that he was going to fall onto because he had been so stupid at to take this risk. He should have checked his suit before he went out today, he usually did, just to make sure that everything was alright, nothing fraying, rusting, or falling apart. If he had just taken those few moments to think everything through he would be fine now - but no, he had been too excited to go out flying.

Toothless was getting closer though, if Hiccup could just slow his fall the tiniest bit, get this strap unstuck, he would survive - and learn never to go out without checking his gear ever again. Hiccup would be more vigilant than ever, but none of that would matter if he didn’t survive right now.

eek-up! Toothless shouted, there was fear across his face and not just because he was watching his bondmate take a plummet that could mean an end. It was because there were vík. Vík that were running up from their village with weapons ready, drawn to attack.

Hiccup’s heart felt as though it was going to burst, everything was hurting so bad, and everything was about to hurt a lot more when he crumbled down onto the ground. *click*-ss fly sky safe! If Hiccup was going to die he didn’t want his bondmate to go down with him, though he knew that wasn’t how things like this worked. If one bondmate died, the other was quick to follow, most of the time it was self-inflicted, but bondmates this young didn’t die together. This moment was supposed to be so different, they were supposed to grow old together, living for decades longer, but that wasn’t going to happen anymore because Hiccup was going to die once his body hit the ground.

His bones would crack and snap as the harsh soil and rock berated him; he would have lacerations across his body from the impact. That didn’t happen though. One of the vík shot something out at him - Hiccup fully expected it to be another arrow like from last year, for it to stab into his skin and bring about his demise. Though what hit him wasn’t an arrow, but an array of ropes and metal things that clung to him, wrapping Hiccup up and pinning his limbs to his body.

He let out a shriek in surprise as the forceful impact of the ordeal pushed him off course a little from where he was initially going to land. The moment was just enough though, and the movement was just enough off course, that Hiccup went careening towards Toothless. The younger took the opportunity to grab onto his bondmate and grip the other closer.

Hiccup could make out shouts and the snapping of tree limbs. A few stray twigs slashed against him, leaving faint red lines across his body, but Toothless was able to take most of the impact. The worst feeling was the fall itself - though Hiccup hadn’t died of course - instead the pair landed in a lake, crashing all the way through until they hit the bottom. Hiccup gasped out in pain and immediately felt his lungs fill with water.

In a dazed state the drako swam to the surface: he would not let Toothless’ efforts be in vain.

Breaking the surface was one of the most beautiful things Hiccup had ever felt, the air filling his chest as he coughed up the pond water wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but it was great to know he wasn’t going to drown after all that effort.

Toothless lugged himself out of the water at Hiccup’s side, flopping down onto the sand; Hiccup followed suit. All of his energy had been completely zapped from him, like when he had gotten too close to the Skrill that one time and felt like everything had been put on pause. He had quickly passed out after that encounter. Hiccup wanted to sleep more than anything, his body was not about to fly out again, especially with his ruined flight suit. His front legs were still pinned to his body, the only reason he had been able to make it out of the water was because of his frantic kicking and more than a little help from Toothless.

Hiccup didn’t know how he was going to get out of this one: Toothless stalked over, exhaustion clear in his body, and his tail was hanging limply behind him, but bit through the ropes that bound Hiccup into an uncomfortable heap. Thank you. He shook the ropes off, tossing the material away like it was poison.

Toothless curled up to his side, unable to wrap his tail around the smaller, but still pressed their cheeks together. Safe eek-up-*click*-ss safe. They weren’t safe, not in the slightest; if anything they were in more trouble now than ever. They were once again on an island filled with humans, vík no less, who had already attempted to kill them. That was just the perfect start wasn’t it.

Now they were both exhausted, but they needed to get out of this place before the vík found out where they were and came searching for them. Toothless nudged his side, fly? The word was met with a grim expression.

Hiccup looked down to Toothless’ tail - it was bent at the wrong angle, it must be hurting the younger horribly, but he didn’t seem to show it. Toothless wouldn’t be able to fly like that. Drako used their tails for balance in the skies - Night Furies especially so - so there was no way in Hel that Toothless was going to be flying away anytime soon.

That meant they were trapped. The walls were high around them, like a prison cell. A downed drako was a dead drako and right now Hiccup and Toothless were sitting in their grave.

*****

“Astrid! You did it!” Arms wrapped around the young woman’s shoulders, pulling her into a hug. It was Gobber of course, a man who was practically a mentor for all of the young people of Berk. She had spent a lot of time with the man during dragon training, and then after as they fought side by side with each other. She had been there when they had found the nest - abandoned but still there - the white bones of a massive dragon had forever been burned into her mind.“I… I did.” Astrid looked off in the direction the dragon had gone, a smaller one and a larger one, though the smaller one had looked much different than any dragon she had ever seen before.

A hand clapped her back, “And a Night Fury at that!” That would be Stoick, the chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. Astrid had been taken under his wing when she showed her proficiency in training - she was now in training to be the next chief of Berk, a feat that she would have never imagined possible when she was younger.

There was a large ruckus coming from the back of the group that had formed on the cliff’s edge: the other young adults of Berk. Astrid found them quite annoying, they were always getting into trouble and could barely keep together in a group. They were better at stumbling over dragons than actually killing them. They were already forming their little arc around her, holding their weapons and asking too many questions for her to worry about right now. She had more important things to attend to, like gathering together a search party to go off towards Raven’s Point. The two dragons were down there and she wasn’t about to let them out of her grasp.

The Night Fury might try to fly off since it had seemed relatively uninjured. The other was bound quite well from her throw so that thing wasn’t going anywhere.

Walking through the woods to where the dragons had gone down was much more annoying than Astrid had initially thought - there were many places to search and the woods were so dense that the group truly had to look over every nook and cranny to make sure they didn’t miss anything. Especially since they were looking for a dragon that was much smaller than most.

The dragon was slim too, strange in appearance. Astrid hadn’t gotten as well of a look as she would have liked from her angle, it was falling too far away from the edge to truly get any details on its appearance. The dragon hadn’t been flying like most dragons did, instead it was falling. That must mean that one of its wings was injured, which was even more perfect because then it couldn’t fly away at all.

That dragon had been so different from anything any of the other Berkians had seen that it would be one of the best prizes of all. It was depressing to think that the Night Fury had gotten away - strange enough that it was flying during the day. Maybe if they went sailing out soon they would still be able to catch it.

There had been less and less dragons on Berk ever since five years ago. Nobody knew why that was - it didn’t make the most sense - but seeing the destroyed nest, there were more than a few ideas floating around. From another, even more monstrous dragon, coming around and destroying it, to a savior from the viking kind - which was even more impossible than a bigger dragon because no viking in their right mind would ever try to help dragons. That was laughable.

Look at where that had gotten Valka, losing her son to a dragon, she was never the same after that night. It pained Astrid to think about, but it was the sad reality of their world. Truly a kill or be killed mentality

Tuffnut yelled out after hitting himself in the face with a twig - real winner they got there, Astrid thought, rolling her eyes. It had actually helped, in some crazy sort of way, “Guys! Look over here!” He had to be joking.

Tuffnut wasn’t in fact joking as the group crowded around the spot the young man was talking about. There was a path of debris, broken branches, flattened ground, and it seemed to continue on until a drop off. The dragon must have been back there, it must have careened through the air and landed through the trees - the momentum driving it through the forest. “Alright, stay behind me.” Astrid took out her axe, battle ready. She crouched low, prepared for if anything came charging at her.

“You’re really doing this Astrid? Just because you’re going to be chief and all doesn’t mean you have to boss us around so much!”

Astrid scowled at him, “Would you shut it Snotlout, I’m in charge of this group so yes, I do get to ‘boss you around’. Stoick appointed me and I’m not about to let you muttonheads mess this up.” She continued stalking towards the cliff's edge, or what she assumed was a cliff. The group continued to bicker behind her. You’d think after all those years of training, battles, and then just the maturity that came with age that they would learn how to be a tiny bit quiet. Apparently that wasn’t ever going to happen.

There was a sudden quietness that put Astrid at ease for a split second before she remembered who she was with; whenever it went quiet around these guys meant something was wrong.

Then she spotted it.

The Night Fury, as dark and gloomy as the midnight sky. It was still here, curled up near the edge of a pond - apparently this wasn’t a cliff at all but a cove. The scene would have been quite beautiful if it wasn’t for the Night Fury hanging around. The sight was perplexing though, the dragon could have just flown away, saved itself from the vikings that were obviously going to come hunt it, but instead it had stayed. That didn’t make any sense at all.

Then Astrid noticed a faint stirring coming from beneath its wings - that must have been the smaller dragon they had seen, the one that had been falling through the sky and that Astrid had expertly shot down. The Night Fury had its wings wrapped around the smaller dragon, as though it was protecting the younger - or at least Astrid assumed it was younger due to its size. The smaller dragon didn’t seem anything like a Night Fury though, the proportions were all wrong, there weren’t ear flaps, and the dragon didn’t even have a tail for Thor’s sake! It didn’t seem possible for a dragon to look like that at all.

Then she realized why. The rustling under the Night Fury’s wing continued until the dragon came out from under it. Astrid slapped a hand over her mouth in shock - that wasn’t a dragon. That was a boy. A living breathing boy, who was dressed in dragon scale armor with a pair of false wings. The entire ordeal seemed even more impossible than just a strangely proportional dragon.

Why would a person and a dragon be flying together, and why would the dragon be trying to protect the boy? Was it protecting the boy? This was unthinkable. Dragons and humans were mortal enemies from times of old, they had never once lived in harmony, they hadn’t even reached peace after hundreds and hundreds of years of fighting. But obviously the two were comfortable with each other, enough that they laid together and seemed to rest side by side.

“Th-this is impossible. The Night Fury is one of the deadliest dragons in all of history! It’s blasts are seen as being perfectly accurate and can go through-”“Fishlegs nobody cares about your stupid dragon facts!” Snotlout’s voice echoed throughout the cove.

Astrid grumbled, “Would you guys quit it!?”

There was even more rusting and whatnot coming from the cove. The Night Fury had awoken and was staring up at them - the group of young adults all had wide eyed expressions on their faces. The Night Fury’s pupils had turned to slits, the fury part of its name was really coming through right about now.

“Oh Thor-”

“This is awesome!”

“Ruffnut we’re gonna die!”“Guys-”

Before Astrid could say anything more the Night Fury was bounding over towards them; they all stumbled back in dear, tripping over each other to get to safety. The shieldmaiden stood her ground though, even though the dragon could have come after her and killed her - she would not be like her uncle who had frozen in the face of a dragon. This was her time to redeem herself, and against a Night Fury no less.

The dragon hoped from the rocks, but before it could make it’s way into the air, it came crashing back to the ground in a giant heap. Astrid’s shoulders drooped, what was that? It should have come flying up so why wasn’t it doing so now?

The Night Fury attempted to take to the skies again, but came tumbling down. The boy ran over to the dragon - though running was a strange way to put it - he trotted on all fours, not like a human at all. There were the sounds of whistles and clicks, a few strange sounds that Astrid didn’t recognize at all. It seemed like they were… talking? Was that even possible? The two seemed to understand each other, but neither was speaking in a human tongue. Obviously, the dragon wouldn’t understand Norse, but how could the boy understand the language of the dragons?

A twig snapped under her foot and both figures’ eyes snapped up to meet hers. They were scared, actually scared. That wasn’t right, if anything she should be the one that was terrified. There was a Night Fury a hundred or so meters in front of her, though at least from her height the dragon couldn’t reach her. It was downed and a downed dragon was as good as a dead dragon.

Astrid should have taken her chance and killed the dragon right there and then, it was injured, she would have had the perfect shot, but that boy made her hesitant. He was human, even if he didn’t act like one, and he didn’t deserve to die. Not from her blade at least. Astrid was a viking, she had killed others in battle before, but she wasn’t about to kill someone who seemed defenseless - there was no honor in that.

There must have been some other reason for why the boy was acting so peacefully around the dragon, maybe he was under its control in some way - a secret gift of the Night Fury like Changewings who could take a viking under their control with their hypnotizing eyes. It wasn’t like vikings and dragons could live together without killing the other.

Astrid stepped back, feeling the burning stares of the two as she did so. She needed to tell Stoick about this - this was far different from what they had initially planned for.

*****

Well this couldn’t possibly get any worse. Not only had Hiccup been shot down when he was falling through the sky - though it was a blessing in disguise because he would have actually died if the force from the impact hadn’t sent him hurtling towards Toothless - but a group of vík had found the spot that he had Toothless had been resting.

It was risky to do so, and Hiccup truly had tried to stay away after he had slept for almost half an hour because it would be best for one of them to stay guard while the other was recuperating - and obviously Toothless needed to rest because his tail was broken, but sleep had quickly taken Hiccup. All the adrenaline that had kept him going before and during the crash had left him completely exhausted - like every strand of energy was zapped from his body.

It was a wonder that he had woken up at all, but then he had heard yelling from the forest surrounding the cove and knew that he should probably check it out. He knew that it was in a human language, but he hadn’t expected the vík to find him and Toothless so quickly.

How long had Hiccup been sleeping? It hadn’t been that long, had it? Apparently so.

The leader of the group had been the one to shoot him down, Hiccup knew that. He hadn’t gotten the best look at the girl, but her axe was one that he wasn’t about to forget any time soon. That axe had been pointed at him, until the girl realized something that Hiccup always hated admitting. She must have assumed he was human, because he was, but humans didn’t act like Hiccup did - that was what made him so special. He may have the body of a human, but he had the mind and soul of a drako. Life was great like that.

Or it was great until the group had run off to get what Hiccup assumed was even more vík. Just when Hiccup thought that maybe his life was going to get a bit better, it decided to throw itself off a cliff. This was the second time in the past two years where everything had been piecing together perfectly and then he got trapped with some vík. They did say history repeated itself but this just felt a little extreme.

Toothless made no move to get up, instead he was lightly pawing at his tail, wincing every once a while when it would hurt a bit more than normal. Hiccup pawed over to the younger and rubbed his cheek against Toothless’ side, looking down at the bent tail. He wasn’t going to be flying any time soon, neither of them would if Hiccup’s flight suit was anything to go by. The weapon that the girl had thrown at him had torn through the fabric, making so many tears and rips that it would be easier to simply make a new one. It wasn’t like he was going to be doing that any time soon though - now Hiccup and Toothless were trapped on this island with these vík that seemed a bit more dumb than the ones that were at Viggo’s camp.

Not that that was a bad thing, if anything it was a great thing for Hiccup because that could possibly mean that he was going to find a way out of here quicker. Toothless let out a welp and Hiccup’s attention was brought back to the real problem at hand. Even if Hiccup was able to find a way to get off the island it wouldn’t matter because Toothless couldn’t fly.

His mind felt like it was going in circles trying to figure out what their next step should be. Neither of them would be able to get out this cove now that Toothless couldn’t fly and Hiccup had never scaled a wall that high before - not without help at least. They had practically trapped themselves. It had been a good idea at the time, the water had broken their fall some instead of landing on the rocks that could have torn them to shreds, but in doing so had also doomed them to be walking targets.

The vík would be able to pick them off easily now - and they would probably go for Toothless first. Hiccup was just a human to them so he didn’t really mattered, what was most important of all was the grand Night Fury: the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, the silent one, the dragon that would kill without a second’s hesitation, and also the dragon that was about to fall asleep with his legs in the air and looking like a complete and utter fool.

That was the dragon that vík were so scared of, really?Hiccup curled up at Toothless’ side. How did they see Toothless like that? As though he would be able to just tear through everything and everyone. That wasn’t Toothless like at all, and since they had never seen another Night Fury before, Hiccup just assumed that it was something in the species. Even if Toothless was very special, he wasn’t one hundred percent different from his species, no dragon was, there were always going to be similarities between species due to them having similar history. That was just the way it worked. Hiccup would like to believe that every Night Fury out there was just as happy and excitable as Toothless was.

Hiccup didn’t know how the other would cope if he thought of another version of him - a cousin or a sibling perhaps - that was so completely different from himself. Hiccup knew that if he had grown up with somebody like that he would have asked someone to strangle him a long time ago. It seemed like the only obvious way to go about it all.

Toothless listened to Toothless’ loud heartbeat, the way his breaths rose and fell and how he would kick his leg in the sky every so often, as though Toothless was already ready to get out here in the skies again. Hiccup knew that wasn’t possible at all - at the moment - but that didn’t mean that he was suddenly going to tell Toothless that. It hurt to keep his friend in the dark but it was truly for his best, even if he knew that it was for the best. Hiccup didn’t want Toothless to be even more upset than he already was, and telling the other drako that his injury could take weeks to heal wasn’t exactly on his list of things that would cheer Toothless up.

Hiccup fell into a fitful slumber; he hadn’t slept like that in a while. His nightmares seemed to grow and fester until he was screaming out real screams that were ripping through his throat and making him hate the entire ordeal even more.

The two hadn’t been asleep long, less than an hour, but after that nightmare, Hiccup couldn’t find sleep again. It simply wouldn’t rush up anymore or make him even the slightest bit drowsy. It was a wonderful thing that none of the vík had snuck up when they were napping, though that could have been because they too realized that there was no way that Toothless was getting out of here and if Toothless couldn’t then Hiccup wouldn’t be able to either.Neither of them would even want to leave without the other - the vík didn’t understand that at all, but that was probably for the best.

Hiccup’s heart was racing as he peered around the cove, not a soul inside, besides the ones of the trees and the so-called inanimate anyway. His breath began to slow as he got a grasp on the situation. Nothing was going to go wrong, that was impossible. Or well… It was improbable, because like Cloudjumper said: nothing was impossible, just improbable, and with improbable that could mean a wide range of different things.

Toothless was akake now too, taking in his surroundings. He sighed and grumbled, a clear sign that he was disgruntled. It probably wasn’t because of their situation but because of himself. Hiccup layed gently across Toothless’ side, safe you now, help fix me safe. no sad!

What a Hiccup thing to say. He was practically glowing with positivity half of the time that it was impossible to think that there was ever a time where he was sad or upset. Toothless knew better though, they were bondmates after all and bondmates knew absolutely everything about their partner. It was just the principle of things such as that.

Hiccup bounded over to a grouping of rocks, standing atop the tallest, and tried to get the best view he could of the forest. It wasn’t great, Hiccup could barely see anything through the dense trees, but that was alright. It wasn’t like there were hoards of vík crawling out of their homes and coming to attack. Hiccup and Toothless would be alright, for now, they just needed to hold in a little longer so that Toothless’ tail could heal up. As soon as that happened, they were getting out of here because Hiccup didn’t want to spend another second on a vík island.

Times like those always ended in disaster.

Even when Hiccup had thought that something was going right, like when Viggo was treating him kindly with his good food and kind expressions, there had been something darker lurking under the surface - a monster that, like Hiccup, had been waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Hiccup sighed, looking up at the sun, it was starting to dip down in the sky now, not enough that the day was ending just yet and the vast expanse above was filled with stars and the moon said hello for its nightly visit; no, it wasn’t that time yet, but Hiccup wanted it to be. Maybe then the vík would be asleep as well and then they could both be a little more at ease. That would be simply wonderful.

*****

“There’s a boy, Stoick! I couldn’t tell how old he was because I was too far away, but he couldn’t be much younger than me. He was being held by the Night Fury, like the other was protecting him in some strange way.” Stoick put his hand up, gesturing for Astrid to stop talking.

She had been going at it for quite awhile, spewing absolute nonsense about a dragon holding a human - that was simply absurd. No right viking would ever try to get near a dragon like that unless to kill them, and no dragon would trust a viking enough to lay down together with one. Astrid would not let it go through, she continued to insist that something was terribly wrong - and that there was. There was a Night Fury on Stoick’s island with some strange boy that everyone had immediately taken as some sort of omen the minute Gothi had scribbled away in the dirt - Gobber’s translations may have been a bit off, yet that didn’t take away from the terror that was ringing through the entire hall.

There had been celebration at first, even up until the young adults were going off into the forest to look for the beast, but that had ended quickly when they hadn’t come back in a timely manner. Astrid so lovingly had ignored the part where there was also now a boy on his island that may come from another tribe that may have better connections with dragons than anyone on Berk.

There could have been a time where that would have changed but it hadn’t, that timeline seemed like it was completely gone. There was never going to be peace between viking and dragon and sometimes you just had to force the idea into someone's head. The more Stoick said it the more bland it felt on his tongue. It wasn’t his fault that the dragons were such monstrous creatures. If those beasts didn’t constantly steal food, destroy their homes, or kill them - then maybe there could have been something. But that was far in the past and would never return again because the woman who had started the idea had let it burn down to embers and stamped those out for good measure as well.

His wife, Valka, had once believed that the two vastly different creatures could live together, that dragons were a peaceful nation that was simply doing what they needed in order to survive. She believed this all until the night their son was taken away from them. Every day she would say that it should have been her, Valka should have been the one that was taken away that night - it would have been fair. Instead their son had been taken, killed by those beasts, or at least that was what the two parents in mourning assumed.

In all the years of the war nothing like this had ever happened, a dragon didn’t just take a child, they were usually killed in the onslaught of everything, but never taken away like that night. The dragon must have had a brain in that big head of his - the knowledge that taking away their son would tear the family from the inside out. And that it had.

Nothing had been the same since that night. The two mourned together for a long time, but even they had to move on. It was a message from the gods, that was what the village had decided: Hiccup wasn’t meant to survive. That much was true, he was a runt - that was where his name came from after all - and he should have been casted out at his birth. At Valka’s insistence, that had not happened, instead Hiccup lived as any other newborn on Berk. Until The Attack that is.

Stoick wanted nothing more than to hunt down the dragon that killed his son and take his revenge, and he knew that Valka did as well.

His once calm and collected wife had turned into more of a “proper” viking. She had never tried to stop the rest of the village from killing dragons, instead she participated in the fray. Losing her son had ripped a part of her away, a part that she was never going to get back.

Now there was this boy who was living with a dragon - it wasn’t the one that had taken his son all those years ago, but a tiny part of Stoick prayed that something else had happened that night. Maybe, by some miracle, his son had returned. And was able to get a Night Fury to obey his commands and fly himself back to Berk? That seemed highly unlikely, but the love that the father held in his heart for his lost son made him think of all different sorts of possibilities - even the ones that didn’t make all that much sense.

Stoick sighed, slumping in his chair. He could already feel the headache setting in, and there was still much to do. There were preparations to be made, issues to resolve, he couldn’t be thinking about his son at the moment. And that damned dragon needed to be taken care of as well.

Even though Astrid had said that the Night Fury couldn’t fly, it didn’t calm his nerves at all to have it sitting there in the open. There was a chance it could climb its way out, and there was still the boy that needed to be handled as well.

How would they separate the two? That would need to be done of course, Stoick wanted to get as much information from this boy about what village he had come from and what he was doing with a Night Fury of all things, and of course how he had come to Berk and if it had been accidental or - “Stoick?”

Valka’s voice broke his train of thought, pulling him out of the endless downward spiral that was his mind. “Yes?”

Her eyes were calm, but still held the expression of pain and sorrow that she never full got rid of - not even on the happiest of days, “Astrid was asking if you wanted to send out another party tomorrow, to collect the boy and detain the dragon?”The chief looked between the two women before him; Astrid looked battle ready, though there was something the way she slightly teartered from side to side that gave her an air of unease, “Of course, tomorrow morning I’ll put together a party to sort this out. We’ll get the information we need from the boy and decide what to do with the dragon.” It went unsaid, but everyone knew what would be done with a Night Fury. Though they were the rarest of prizes, and more than a few hunters would give him a pretty sum for it to be alive, the dragon needed to be killed.Night Furies were a deadly species, even worse than the Skrill if that was even possible. There was no way in all of the world that Stoick was going to let the dragon go - it would come back one day and rain havoc on the village, tearing it to shreds, and doing who knows what else. No, it was best that it was dead, that way it couldn’t harm anyone else ever again.

“I can put together a list of candidates, I’ll meet first thing tomorrow morning.”

Stoick let himself smile beside himself, “Thank you Astrid, your determination is nothing but admirable.”

“It’s an honor,” with that, the shieldmaiden turned and made her way out of the Great Hall. Stoick could already hear her listing off the possible candidates. None of which had been in the search party earlier in the day. Stoick couldn’t blame her though, it wasn’t the most clever group that was for sure. The twins always found a way to mess things up, Fishlegs had the build of a viking but was severely lacking the heart of one, and the chief knew firsthand how obnoxious Snotlout could be. He was forever grateful that he had picked Astrid as his successor, even if his brother despised him for the decision.

*****

Astrid hadn’t been able to sleep the night before, even when she tried the only image that came into her mind was that of the boy and his dragon companion. It felt strange to think of the two like that but it was the only thing that she could think of. It was obvious that they weren’t strangers to each other from how they interacted - but at the same time the idea that a dragon would willingingly stay alongside a viking, and the viking returned the trust back, seemed impossible.

That was another thing, this boy didn’t seem like a viking at all. Even though they continued to talk about the boy as such, it felt exceptionally wrong to paint him that way. He didn’t act like a viking, he didn’t yell, or shout, or immediately pull out a weapon that Astrid had stared down at him. Instead, he had barred his teeth and crouched like he was planning to attack in a different manner. Astrid had never seen another viking, scratch that, another human person act that way in her entire life.

The boy acted primal, animalistic. He wasn’t human, at least not anymore. If Astrid had noticed that just from their first encounter, she was fearful of what else she might learn. It felt wrong, so very wrong, to see the dragon and his boy companion acting comfortable around each other. It also felt exceedingly uncomfortable seeing a boy act like a dragon. There was the possibility that the boy was only acting like that so the Night Fury didn’t kill him, but it came so naturally that that didn’t seem to be the case.

None of this situation made sense at all, but Astrid was going to get to the bottom of all of it, if it was the last thing she did.

*****

The girl was back, Hiccup wished that she would stay away. She probably thought that she was concealed in the bushes and between the trees, but he knew better. Living around drako made sensing those who wished to remain unseen quite easy. It was simple really, picking up on the small movements in the grasses that didn’t make sense to be from the wind, or other times when leaves would fall in the wrong places.It was a time like this where Hiccup watched the girl “sneak” around the woods. She wasn’t nearly as secretive as she thought she was. There were others too, Hiccup and Toothless both were able to see that; vík were gathering around the cove, edging closer and closer. At first they decided to play it off like they couldn’t see a thing, as if all those humans didn’t exist at all. That had worked until the vík were getting close enough where any of their throws could have harmed either of the two drako.

Hiccup curled into a defensive position being Toothless: they always protected each other’s backs. His teeth were bared, and his claws were on as well as they could be in their condition. The mix between the fall and the rope contraction had really messed up all of Hiccup’s equipment. He silently mounted the loss, yet knew that this was just an opportunity for him to improve upon his designs and make it even better later.

If there was still going to be a later.

The vík were getting closer and closer, until they were finally inching their way out of the forest. They were all tall and strong, true warriors. Standing at the center of it all was the girl; she must be very important. Was she a queen or something? She seemed a bit young to be, but then again it wasn’t like Hiccup had really learned vík culture over the years. So, there was a possibility that he and Toothless were facing another queen, not like that was the biggest deal in the world. At least this one wasn’t the size of a mountain, that would make things a bit easier.

The girl gripped onto an axe; she held it comfortably, obviously she was very well versed in her weapon. That could pose some problems, along with the half a dozen or so vík that were standing around the cove, also ready to come shoot them down. This time there was no advantage in the sky - neither of them could fly - so the ground would have to make do.

The girl seemed to shout some things in her human tongue, but Hiccup ignored it. Although whatever language the humans spoke could be interesting, he would rather speak that tongue of his family and friends. After all, it was truly superior. He had watched many misunderstandings come from speaking human, he didn’t want to ever risk people misinterpreting his words like so often happened to vík.

So, instead of barking out a reply, Hiccup growled lowly at the girl as she continued to make her way forward; she was now standing at the edge of the cliff that fell into the cove. There was no coming any closer unless she wanted to risk being in the cove with the two drako. Hiccup wanted to challenge her to it, for her to take such a risk - he would have done it. But then again, he would do just about anything if there was enough reason for him to do so.

Toothless had raised his wings, less so for flying, and instead for making himself look more intimidating. Many drako did it, shoving out their wings and other limbs in order to look grander than they actually were, not that Toothless wasn’t grand, but he wasn’t the largest of dragons and sometimes he needed to compensate by use of his wings.

The vík didn’t stop in their assault though, they continued to track closer and closer until they were forming a tight circle around the group. Toothless should have fired, and he did - sending off a few warning shots, but Hiccup didn’t want to kill these vík. He had watched so much death and destruction in his life that he didn’t want to add to it anymore. Sometimes, most of the time, that got him in some pretty sticky situations, but he always seemed to get out of them one way or another. This would just be another one of those.

The girl was stalking closer, in front of all the rest. She stood before Hiccup, both looking at him like an enemy and a comrade. Hiccup despised when other humans believed he was one of them, he never wanted to be associated with them at all, but in this instance he may have to go with it - this could be a matter of life or death and he really didn’t want to die. Not now, not ever. Most of all he didn’t want to see Toothless get killed.

Hiccup stood down, whispering back to Toothless, me safe now, help us will. The younger drako stood down slightly, but only slightly. He didn’t trust these humans at all, not like Hiccup seemed to. The smaller took a few steps forward, walking on all fours like he typically did, which seemed to make everyone more than a little surprised. Hiccup didn’t let it break his stride though, he needed to show that he didn’t want to hurt anyone, that just because he was less than human and Toothless was a drako that that didn’t mean they had to be enemies. The girl could trust him and maybe he could trust her too. He wanted that more than anything, even if after all this time, after the terrible things he had been through, he still wanted to believe that something good could happen. It was wishful thinking, nothing more than that, but it was enough to build confidence in Hiccup that allowed him to walk further, to take another step towards the girl.

Hiccup couldn’t speak Norse, and the girl couldn’t speak Dragonese, but he would make this work.

“Vík oo.” His words were choppy, he knew that human fledglings spoke better than he did, but then again this was a second language to him, he wasn’t going to be great at it his first go around. “Drako me.”

The girl looked down at him with an expression akin to disturbance. Hiccup ignored the way she looked at him and continued to walk forward, one paw in front of the other. He’d be a liar if he said he wasn’t terrified as well, with all the vík surrounding him all it took was one of them to charge and it would all be over. Hiccup continued to walk regardless - if the girl wanted him dead she would have done it already.

He stopped when there was a meter or so between them, enough space where the both of them would feel comfortable in their situation. The girl swallowed hard, gripping onto her axe but not holding it to swing, it wasn’t anywhere in the sky, nor was it near her soldier. Hiccup almost wanted to take off his claws to truly show that he wasn’t a threat, but at the same time he didn’t want to be completely hopeless if all of this came to fighting. Coming into a battle without a weapon was one of the stupidest things he could ever do - he’d rather not die at the hands of vík.

“You can talk?”

Hiccup rolled his eyes; why did everyone assume that he couldn’t speak? That was one of the first things out of their mouths. First Viggo and now this girl? It was really starting to get annoying. “Speak, me, yuh.” Yes, his speech in Norse may be infantile, but that didn’t mean it was nonexistent.

The girl nearly dropped her axe in surprise, “Gods, you can, how… Can you understand me?”

Understand, that was the only word that Hiccup got from the sentence that came from her mouth, but it was more than enough for him to piece together what she meant, “Yuh, speak oo me.”

The girl looked between a few of the other vík around her, then a silent agreement rang out within the crowd. The vík began to crowd even closer. Hiccup jumped back, why were they doing that? He thought that they had reached an understanding now, at least a little bit. But as he felt hands grab onto him and Toothless roar out in terror, Hiccup knew that he had been thoroughly mistaken.

Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Chapter Text

At this point Hiccup thought that his entire life functioned in a continuous loop that he was never going to find a way out of.

It was like every year he found himself in a dastardly situation where his life was at risk - and most of the time it had to involve vík. At least this time it wasn’t like Hiccup went barging into the disaster, though he did walk forward thinking that maybe everything would go by a little smoother, but of course that wasn’t the case at all. Nope!

Instead Hiccup was being escorted through the village, down the paths, and to a place that was very different then any of the places he had been before. It was a circle shaped building, with chains at the top and a door that he was never going to be able to get through once it was closed. Best of all, he and Toothless were escorted - shoved - into another cell. Just fantastic; Hiccup started the day wanting to stretch his legs some and now the gods were telling him that wasn’t what he was meant to do, instead he was going to be hauled up in some dingy stone cell away from the sun and skies.

Hiccup hadn’t said another word to the vík, and definitely not to that girl, despite her attempts at getting him to say anything at all. There had been a massive betrayal of trust - something that for drako was not lightly forgiven. Hiccup had bared himself for the girl, was calm, collected, and most importantly trusting, and she had thrown it right back in his face.

At least he wasn’t chained up, there weren’t any ropes contorting around him; the reason for that was most likely because the vík had seen that he was able to get them off regardless - it would have been a waste of time and supplies for them to wrap Hiccup’s torso in rope.

The girl had said a few more things, Hiccup kept his back to her, not daring to even let her see his eyes. She had given up after that, sighing heavily, and very obviously angered, as she stalked off out of the strange building and off to who knows where. Maybe she was going to get the alpha of the village, though she seemed to have a lot of control in the village. When they had passed a few vík - who were outrageously startled as they watched Hiccup and Toothless make their way down the path - they had all given the girl looks of respect. She must be someone important, but she still looked too young to be the alpha of the tribe. There had to be someone else.

Hiccup felt Toothless wrap his tail around the smaller, covering the two of them with his wings which helped to shield them from the vík’s view. Hiccup sneered - these moments between him and his bondmate weren’t for peering eyes, especially not those of humans; this was a drako experience that was special to them and only them. He grumbled quietly as Toothless rubbed his snout along Hiccup’s side.

Hiccup sighed; Cloudjumper was going to be angry again, as scared as he was last time. He vaguely wondered if the other would even be able to find the island that Hiccup and Toothless were on; they had flown for hours and hours, changing direction so many times with their acrobatic tricks, that it seemed impossible to be able to track them.

Cloudjumper would come up with something that was improbable though; he was quite good at doing that.

That didn’t help to stop the pit that was forming in Hiccup’s stomach, he didn’t like scaring the mp-*hiss* like this, not even remotely. There had been so many times that Hiccup and Toothless had been taken captive, many of those times the elder had to come in and save the day - but Hiccup did want to add that he had done quite a lot - even those times where the elder had planned everything out to a T. This was just another one of those times. First it was the hunters, then Dagur, Viggo, and a whole host of other smaller groups that had tried to steal him awake over the years. Hiccup’s popularity had grown throughout the archipelago and with that came more and more enemies.

Oh, oh no.

Hiccup hoped, prayed, that these vík weren’t thinking of using him or Toothless as a weapon for war, or worse, a bargaining chip. Hiccup knew he was important, but he didn’t think about what that truly meant. If any ship had seen them careening down, diving towards the island, or even if one had followed them on their travels - they would be heading here. Hiccup did not want to deal with that on top of everything that was going on in his life right now.

There was the gentle sound of a wind blowing, shuffling of feet. and the very faint sound of people, making a general commotion forming from the village. Hiccup scoffed - humans were always so quick to fill what they called silence. There was always something happening in the silence, people could not simply let it be. The forest sounds, the sounds of drako that had plagued his childhood, were nonexistent here. The only drako on the island were himself and Toothless - that was as far as Hiccup could tell.What a depressing way to live, without any other drako, without nestmates hatchlings, without fledglings to look over even when Hiccup really didn’t want to. A world without other drako wasn’t a world that Hiccup wanted to live in at all; he yearned to hear at least one more distant roar, the song of his family and home back again. That wasn’t happening though, not for a while, or whenever Hiccup found a way to get out of here.

If there even was a way to get out; Hiccup wasn’t so sure about that one anymore, which didn’t help him to calm down at all.

Hiccup curled up next to Toothless, letting himself be lulled into a false sense of comfort from his deep breaths, one day he would be home and this would all feel like it was a bad dream.

*****

Astrid did not stomp, no matter what Snotlout tried to say; she was acting like a mature adult as she made her way towards the Great Hall to have another meeting with Stoick. She put one foot in front of the other, not letting anyone stop her in her path.

Today had not gone as smoothly as she had planned - though it was amazing that the boy and his dragon had gone alone somewhat willingly - it must have been because of the whispering they were doing between each other. The dragon had nearly set fire to the forest, something that would have ended in a complete disaster, and the boy had just left her with more questions than answers. Speaking of the boy, boy probably wasn’t the right word to use to describe him. He was a young man, he would have been quite tall if he wasn’t hunched over on his hands and feet all the time.

There was something about him that was familiar though - something that Astrid really did not want to think about. His eyes. They were so vibrant, a forest green colour that would make anyone jealous, and yet they were a very familiar set of eyes. Astrid didn’t let herself dwell on that any longer; she shouldn’t come up with any conspiracies about where this man came from.

The working theory had been that he was from some other tribe, far away enough that the news that the tribe was working with dragons hadn’t reached Berk, but she didn’t think that was true at all anymore. This man didn’t act anything like a viking, even if there was some sort of crazed tribe out there that was peaceful with dragons, they wouldn’t be as completely clueless as this guy was.

It was infuriating.

Just when Astrid had almost gotten somewhere, the rest of the group had attacked, that had really ruined the entire moment. She didn’t think that man would speak at all now, not if his dejected demeanor and complete refusal of just about anything was to go by.

She had told one of the other men to get fish for the dragon, so that it wouldn’t be rampaging away in its cage - though the only time the Night Fury seemed to be hostile was when it or the man was in danger. Another confusing thing that Astrid was going to need to figure out. How fun.

When she arrived at the Great Hall there had been a line, there always was, and it would be quite unbecoming of her to walk in front of everyone else just because she was the heir - everything was about setting a good example for her tribe, even if the only thing Astrid wanted to do at the moment was push ahead and speak her mind to the chief.So, she stayed in line, waiting not so patiently for her turn.

Astrid’s mind wandered, back to the man, the dragon, and all the other duties that she had to take care of. Winter was going to be coming in a few months so the village needed to prepare - it wasn’t like they could truly deal with this on top of everything else. Astrid could feel a headache forming, making her mind melt completely.

Finally it was her turn, after hearing the complaints of the rest of the village - some of them were just utterly preposterous, she couldn’t believe that she was going to have to deal with this someday, what a wonderful thing to look forward to. Stoick’s expression was harsh when he looked down at her, most likely because he was also tired of having to deal with all of this ridiculousness. His face seemed to soften a little when he saw Astrid, letting out a long sigh. “Is this an update on the situation, did you and the others coral them?”Astrid nodded, face pinched, “Yes, they’re in the arena.”“Together?” Stoick questioned.

She averted her gaze some; it wasn’t like she really thought about separating them, “I’m not too sure that we should separate the man and the dragon, both are very protective of each other, and I don’t want to risk bringing harm to the man.”That was when Stoick shifted in his seat, “Man? Did he speak with you at all?”Nodding, Astrid continued, “Slightly, strangely he doesn’t seem like he knows how to speak, not Norse at least.”

Stoick looked around the room, there were still dozens of other vikings standing in the Great Hall, those were ears that shouldn’t be listening to this conversation. It wasn’t like he wanted to start an uproar with what Astrid could have told him. With one last look, he returned his gaze to Astrid, “We’ll continue this later, alone.” Valka stiffened by his side, Astrid had almost forgotten she was there. Sometimes that woman was so quiet she could disappear into the background; Astrid had heard from her parents that Valka used to be a completely different person, though that was twenty years ago, people do change. But do they change this much?

Astrid answered her thanks, knowing that later on in the night she was going to have a conversation that could change so many things in not only her life but the life of all those on Berk.

So much had changed in the past two decades - Hel, so much had changed in the past five years. Half a decade ago there had been many more dragons that flew around the island, they attacked almost daily, but something had happened that stopped that completely. There were still wild dragons that would come around, Deadly Nadders, Gronkles, Zipplebacks, the odd Monstrous Nightmare or two - but they never stayed and they never came back. Astrid was sure that it was connected with the old nest that she and a group of other warriors had found; it had seemed like only weeks before dragons had been flying around the site.

And of course, there was the mountainous dragon that lay dead outside of the mountain. Astrid was sure that she could feel her heart stop completely in her chest as she looked at the beast. Nobody had ever seen a dragon that large before, it was impossible. Obviously it wasn’t, because Astrid had seen it, that thing must have been a leader of some sorts - and something had killed it. There could be a dragon even larger than that one, a dragon so powerful that it was able to kill the mountain sized dragon and leave it to die.

The remains had been scorched, leathery skin was strewn about the beach, and rubble was everywhere that could be seen. Whatever had killed that dragon was something that Astrid never wanted to see. She could live her entire life without ever having to face that thing.

That must have been the reason the dragons stopped their raids, why five years ago everything had changed.

Now another thing was changing, now a man with a dragon showed up and threw Astrid for another loop. Dragons protecting vikings? Vikings protecting dragons? Both of those things seemed utterly incomprehensible. But was that man even a viking? It didn’t seem possible, sure speaking Norse wasn’t something that every viking did, there were other dialects and whatnot, but to be almost completely oblivious to the language seemed unlikely. There was also his strange clothing - it looked like a cluster of different objects all thrown together in a strange way. There was also the black scale armor. Initially Astrid assumed that the man had stolen the scales, or skinned a dragon in order to get them, but now that he saw the dynamic between the man and his dragon, she knew that wasn’t true at all.

That man didn’t seem like he would ever skin a dragon, let alone even hurt one at all, and wasn’t that just insane to process.

Astrid stalked off back to the arena; the meeting hadn’t gone as well as she had hoped, thinking that it would be much longer and have lots of information to share between the two. Now she was going to have to make sure that that man stayed alive, and hopefully get some more information out of him.

*****

Hiccup learned not to eat food from strangers, strangers being vík of course, most of the time when another drako offered something it was for the best, a sign of trust and mutual understanding, but taking food from vík hadn’t gone well. Sure, the food could sometimes be good, albeit a bit strange, but Hiccup didn’t trust it at all anymore. The last vík that had given him human food had been Viggo, and that man had been a whole lot of bad news.

The food that Hiccup had been given seemed a lot more bland, it was bread - Hiccups knew what that was - and something else that Hiccup didn’t recognize. Toothless hadn’t been given anything, which set him off. Hiccup was fearful to give Toothless the bread since he didn’t know what was in it, but he didn’t want his bondmate to starve. Not that Toothless would let him go hungry either, but Toothless needed a lot more food than he did. The younger didn’t accept though, so the guards who were watching over Hiccup and Toothless were watching in confusion and annoyance that neither were eating - though the food of course had been meant for Hiccup.

He sat watching them, with a content smile upon his face; he liked watching the vík grow more and more annoyed, it was like a game to him.One of the guards he recognized from the forest before - there had been a few changes in guards, not that Hiccup cared much - “Are you going to eat that or just keep looking at me with that dumb expression?”

Hiccup quirked his head, dumb? He didn’t think he was dumb, Cloudjumper had always said that he was a bit more intuitive than the rest - though he would never say that to anyone else - and Toothless was always one of comment on Hiccup’s smarts. “Nuh eat.”

The guard rolled his eyes, waving his hand dismissively, “I don’t know why I bother, it's not like you can talk anyway.” The guard turned around and Hiccup stared daggers into his back. He could speak; he absolutely hated how everyone thought that he was unable to talk, he knew drako that couldn’t speak, most of the time that was because of injuries, but there were other reasons as well, and they weren’t stupid - not like how the vík were treating him.

Hiccup growled, which seemed to catch the two boys standing outside of the cell of guard - it was quite funny to see actually. The one on the left was much more fearful of Hiccup, though he didn’t think that he was truly all that scary. There were some hunters out there that were fearful of him, especially when he and Toothless went after their ships and burned their camps, and they were right to be scared, but growling? That was low. Growling wasn’t all that scary, and many - most - drako didn’t think that his growling was scary at all.

It must have been because behind the drako interior, the human exterior was shown brightly to these two vík - they must have found it very off putting that a human was growling like an animal.

Add that to the more amusing parts of Hiccup’s day; sue him for wanting to find a little bit of joy and humor in this absolutely horrible time.

Toothless laid down, his tail never leaving its spot around Hiccup - the older knew that was a bad idea though. Toothless’ tail needed to heal, and if he kept messing around with it, it would never do so correctly. Hiccup knew that the reason his bondmate held this position was because he wanted to protect the older, but Hiccup couldn’t stand seeing Toothless in more pain because of him.

This was all his own fault.

If he hadn’t come up with the idea of going out, if he hadn’t pushed them to go farther and farther, if Hiccup had just had a bit more sense in his life then they wouldn’t be in this situation; they would be back home, at the new sanctuary, the new nest, but now they were stuck in this dingey cell with no possible way of getting out. And of course there had to be these two guards that weren’t the brightest stars out there, really the shorter one was truly getting on his nerves. If that one would just shut up then this would have been a lot more enjoyable.

But nope, he couldn’t do that, the boy continued to drone on and on about how this was so below him, as if watching a Night Fury was something to be laughed at. Hiccup wouldn’t think so, if he was in the boy’s situation he would have the sense to be at least a little scared - Toothless was Night Fury after all, it wasn’t like he was some Terrible Terror that couldn’t do much besides leave a stinging bite.

Maybe the boy thought that Hiccup was useless or something, because he could also defend himself if need be despite what many others thought. He was strong, stronger than he looked, and just because he was in a bit of pain from the fall didn’t mean that he couldn’t hold his weight in a fight.

This entire thing was one big joke.

The people of this place didn’t seem as dangerous as Viggo’s men had been, Hel, some of the ones he met the first day in the woods had been completely incapable. Sure they could carry their weapons and all that, but it wasn’t like Hiccup hadn’t seen this all before. He knew it was better to go along with the entire thing until he had an easy escape - that had worked against Viggo, for the most part - and Viggo had been the worst enemy that he had ever fought. Besides, they weren’t getting out of here because of Toothless’ injury so they might as well not put up much of a fight.

That didn’t mean Hiccup wasn’t going to be a complete ass about everything and be extremely annoyed at the guards - really they were asking for it. The boy that annoyed Hiccup the most had started up another rant, something that Hiccup couldn’t understand because the sentences were filled with strange words that he had never learned, but the boy’s tone of voice made it obvious that whatever he was saying was obnoxious.

If anyone asked, that guard was just asking for the food to be thrown at him. Hiccup would say so, and Toothless would be quick to agree. He let out a dragon chuckle as the guard became increasingly annoyed as he wiped the food from his face. Hiccup had a good shot - all those times when he play-fought with the fledglings had really helped him now; they loved throughing snow at each other.

The guard wasn’t as pleased, he gripped onto the bars that separated the two drako and the humans, yelling a whole lot of nothing at Hiccup and Toothless. The older just smiled as the boy went on yet another one of his rants, which only served to piss the boy off even more. Just as he was about to push his arm through the bars, the girl came back, a furious expression on her face, “Snotlout!” The other guard jumped at the girl’s anger.

“Astrid! Uh, we were just giving the man food, but it doesn’t seem like he’s all that fond of it.” Astrid, that was the girl’s name, and Snotlout was the boy that had been annoying him incessantly, what strange names. Viggo’s name was strange, and so was Dagur’s, but this was an entirely different kind of weird. Was it common that vík got horrid names because that just seemed cruel of them.

Astrid stalked forward, pulling Snotlout back from the bars with a quick movement. Hiccup’s eyes widened in surprise; he hadn’t expected the girl to be that strong. “Are you going to be incompenant this entire time or just today?”

Now Snotlout actually had the gall to seem scared, his shoulders raised to his ears, his face paled, “He started it! You’ve got to believe me, this thing,” he pointed at Hiccup, who cringed at Snotlout’s words, “Threw his food at me because he didn’t want it.”

There was a heavy sigh as Astrid dropped her grip on Snotlout’s tunic, “Whatever the reason it was most likely deserved.”

“Hey!”

“Fishlegs,” another strange name, vík must hate their hatchlings. Said boy jumped in surprise yet again - was he always so scared of everything? “Find some fish, if he’s been around dragons as long as it looks he’ll probably eat that.” Fish! Yes fish, Hiccup loved that. Normal food, the kind that every drako ate; he hesitantly stepped towards the bars, trying to get Astrid’s attention. If they were going to bring food - the kind that drako would eat - then he wanted to make sure that Toothless got his fill as well. It didn’t seem fair that Hiccup would get all the food and Toothless would be left to starve - even if they would have shared regardless. He whined out a question, one that the vík couldn’t understand, but Hiccup hoped that his tone and body language would be able to express the want he had. Astrid had a stone cold expression as she looked at him, like there was something below the surface that was ready to break free, but she kept it concealed. “Make sure there’s enough for the dragon as well.”

Hiccup calmed, sitting back on his hind legs, good. Toothless would be taken care of as well.

Snotlout scoffed, “Why would we do that?” Now they were back to not being able to understand each other, how great.

“Because, if we want to get him to talk then it wouldn’t be best to starve him out.” She walked a few paces closer, “And because he cares about this dragon. I don’t understand why, but I feel that if we hurt it…” Astrid looked down at Toothless, into his emerald green eyes that were a shade or two darker then Hiccup’s own, “If we hurt it he’ll do whatever he can to enact revenge.”

Revenge, dragon, he. Hiccup knew those words. Revenge was something he had sought in his past and still yearned for now. Dragon was the word that vík used to drako - similar but different. Then there was he, that was how he knew the vík were talking about him; he seemed to be a very popular subject because the trio kept speaking about him continuously. Maybe it was because he was new - hopefully all this excitement would die down and he could go back to waiting out for the perfect time to escape.

But in the meantime, Hiccup laid down next to Toothless, trying to get the drako to straighten his tail so it could start healing. Food was on the way and tomorrow would be another day.

*****

The chief’s house was a slightly imposing structure. It was at the top of a big hill, a path leading up to it, overlooking the rest of the village - the positioning was perfect to show that he ruled over his people. But besides the larger build, it was the same design as all the rest, also signifying that the chief was one of his people, another villager, another viking.

Astrid was walking up the path to the door, moving a lot slower than she usually did. She knew that she was dragging it out, trying to make this last as long as she possibly could before she had to face Stoick. Even though Astrid was purposely wasting time, she wanted nothing more than to get answers - the ones she had been waiting for for two days now. They couldn’t be said in the Great Hall nor could they be uttered in the streets, but in the security and privacy of the chief’s home, Astrid could finally hear about what had been eating her up inside.

Stoick had experienced a subtle change ever since that man and his dragon showed up. It wasn’t apparent to most yet, it would be soon if he kept it up, but Astrid could see it. She had spent years around the man, learning all that she could from him to be the next chief of Berk, so she knew when things were getting a little off. Ever since the man showed up, Stoick had gotten more reserved, almost quiet, which was a far cry from his usual boisterous self

It was unsettling, Astrid had never seen him like this. She heard that the man had gone through a change such as this when his son had gotten taken away - he was terrifying after that - ruthlessly brutal towards any dragons that dared to show themselves on Berk. Astrid had only heard stories of those dark times, but since then he had returned his normal self - but this was another change, and one that Astrid was witnessing first hand.

She couldn’t believe what she was saying.

The house was more imposing than it normally was, typically Astrid could visit the home and not feel phased at all, she’d see Valka or come to give something to Stoick. Now this seemed wrong, walking up the steps didn’t feel like the typical path, even if she had made the trek only a few days prior. The sky was darkening, the stars were out, but clouds were covering the night sky, concealing all the things that should have been great and peaceful.

She finally made it to the door, taking a very deep, and long, breath before knocking. She could hear shuffling behind the door, wondering if she could have run before someone answered, but she was too far along now to simply give up. There were still answers that she wanted though, questions that Stoick had as well; Astrid couldn’t just leave now.

“Astrid, oh dear come in, Stoick’s waiting for you.” It was Valka, with a calming smile. The woman always treated Astrid like a daughter - and the young woman allowed her to. She felt horrible for what had happened to Hiccup all those years ago, two decades of mourning, so the least she could do was to let Valka fuss after her sometimes, besides, it was nice. Even Astrid could admit that. “It’s been getting colder out; how about you go sit down near the fire.”Astrid smiled at her, “It’s great to see you again, finally something peaceful in these hectic days.”

Valka waved her hand, “It’s the least I could do.”

Before they could continue their conversation, Stoick stole her attention away - back to much more pressing matters. “Astrid.”

Her mouth turned to a thin line, “A lot happened today.”

Valka began moving around the room, setting things into their place and fussing over things that didn’t need to be fussed over. She seemed a bit scatterbrained at the moment, it was slightly unnerving.

Astrid sat down at a chair near the hearth, the warmth of the fire radiating onto her skin: the outside had been pretty cold, winter was coming in a month or so, and the days were getting shorter and shorter. She was going to need more layers soon. Her mind absently wandered back to the man, how did he cope with the winters? He must have stayed with the dragon for quite some time, at least a year or so from how comfortable they were with each other, so how did he deal with the cold?Were the dragons as warm as she believed? A Night Fury was no Monstrous Nightmare, but almost all dragons had an internal flame that was bright and strong. Maybe the dragon’s skin was warm since the man was almost always curled up at its side. It seemed leathery though, not the most comfortable place to sleep.

“Did you see the boy again today?” Stoick’s voice broke through the silence.

Astrid’s attention turned, “Yes,” it was strange that Stoick seemed to only call the man a boy, despite the fact that he seemed grown, “I made sure that Snotlout and Fishlegs gave him some rations.” She left out the part that she also made them give rations to the dragon; the chief would probably find out soon, but that was a problem that she could deal with later. “He refused to eat at first, but we got him to.”

“I take that was mostly your doing?” The chief asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Astrid let a miniscule smile appear on her face, “Yeah, I don’t think he likes Snotlout all that much.”

Stoick leaned back in his seat, a great wooden chair that had carvings of all sorts, stories from chiefs before him, “He’s an acquired taste that one.” The man sighed, “You said he could speak Norse?”

She nodded, “Only slightly, his vocabulary is very limited and his pronunciation is wrong most of the time. It’s not natural for him.” Her thoughts drifted to the strange noises she had heard him speak, all of which were directed towards the dragon. “I think he knows how to speak with the Night Fury.” Even as she said them the words seemed impossible, nothing like that had ever happened before.

But wasn’t that what this man was best at? No other viking would dare stand so close to a Night Fury let alone ride one and lay next to it. The boy acted like a dragon, in the way he moved and the way he held himself; was it really that big of assumption to think that he had learned a way to communicate with the beasts? No, not in Astrid’s mind.

Stoick’s eyes seemed to light up with curiosity as she said the words, “Speaking with the dragon?” Astrid nodded, something in her gut told her she shouldn’t have said that. “I’m not too sure though, they could just be sounds and such, it doesn’t have to be a language.”

Valka paused in her steps, she must have been listening into the conversation; the woman seemed to be transfixed with what was occurring. Once upon a time she had adored dragons, wanted to know all that she could about them, it only made sense that this new development would pique her interest. Stoick continued, “For years we’ve wondered if there was a language of the beasts, and now you have evidence that you just want to ignore?” Astrid couldn’t tell if he was angered by her response or if he was pulling some other sort of emotion - either way, she didn’t want to cause any sort of fight to start.“We can’t be sure.” The room went silent; Astrid’s voice and the crackling of the fire became the only sounds, “A few repeated sounds doesn’t mean a full language, I’ve seen the twins speak full gibberish before that some of the children have mistaken for Latin.”

“This is a sign, Astrid,” Stoick leaned forward in his seat, “Even if its not a language that boy knows how to communicate with dragons. With him we may be able to stop this war for good.”

She should have been glad; Astrid should have been over the moon at the thought. Dragons never being an issue again? Living life in complete peace? It seemed like such a foriegn concept though she had wished for it since she knew what peace could be. But this didn’t seem right, this wasn’t the way to go about bringing peace. Even if the man was a bit strange - and he very much was - he was still a person. He had feelings, most likely a family of sorts that was looking for him; sure, Astrid didn’t fully trust him, but he didn’t seem all that harmful. The bigger problem was the Night Fury, but so far it seemed that if they kept the an happy the Night Fury was happy as well.

“Don’t you want to end this, Astrid? Don’t you want to wake up and not worry about if there’s going to be a dragon attack, to not have to worry about your loved ones going missing?” The young woman gulped, she could see the desperation in the chief’s face, the hope that had been dashed down for so long coming to the surface. “I-” Her voice was choked, “The attacks have been slowing, in the past five years they’ve been few and far between.”

“A few is not zero. Lives have still been lost and damage has been done.” Astrid couldn’t argue with that and she hated that she couldn’t. Yes, there had still been dragon attacks, and even though they were dwindling, Astrid had still attended the funerals of those she had fought beside. The feeling of pulling her bow back; the ships being ablaze with the arrows of a dozen vikings, would forever be burned into her mind. The man had nothing to do with that though. Never once had a Night Fury been spotted on or around Berk - it was the stuff of legends, like the Boneknapper. Those dragons weren’t ones to show their faces.

Astrid struggled to find the right words, “We don’t know if he’s like this with all dragons or just the Night Fury, this could be some weird case, some outlier or something.”“We need to try. The gods have handed us this boy and I’ll be damned if we don’t take the opportunity.”

Nothing Astrid said would matter, in the grand scheme of things, after all, the chief could do whatever he pleased. She could fight tooth and nail to get his decision overturned, but it wouldn’t really matter in the long run. The best she could do was make sure that the man wasn’t harmed in any way, and apparently the dragon as well or else the man could bring Hel down onto them. Astrid sighed, resigning to her fate, “I’ll keep communications with him, to see if I can get any other kind of information from him.”Stoick looked at her with an expression she hadn’t seen in a long time. “Thank you, report back with any updates.”

“I will.”

*****

Hiccup looked up at the sky, or at least the tiny portion that was visible through all the mayhem before him. The stars didn’t seem as bright here, like all the torches from the village were blocking out the rays of their light - Hiccup didn’t like that one bit.

Cloudjumper used to tell him stories of the stars, back when he was a fledgling: there were the twin fledglings that were always bounded together, the great Alpha and his right hand man - those two looked very similar to each other but their sizes differed greatly - and whole host of other constellations that he couldn’t remember all the stories for. Toothless knew some of them, but he had fallen asleep an hour or so ago. Usually the two of them would sleep during the day, for the most part, and see how long they could stay up during the night. Today had been quite exhausting though, between the visits from all the different vík, learning their names, dealing with the obnoxious guards, and then not getting any proper food for hours upon hours, it wasn’t a hard guess as to why Toothless decided to sleep now.

Hiccup would have too, but his mind was far too occupied with other things to even lull himself into even a little slumber. So, he took to looking at the stars. They were still beautiful, even if they were a bit washed out; he could stare at them for hours and never grow tired.

“Tuff you idiot!” Hiccup eyes darted over to the other side of the enclosure, where there was sudden banging and a whole lot of ruckus.

A shield rolled across the rock floor, “Hey this was your idea too!” The voices sounded like they were trying to be quiet, but within the silence of the arena and their own inability to actually be quiet - Hiccup was able to tell fairly easily that there was someone, or better someones, trying to sneak in.

Just as he sat back on his hind legs, getting into a defensive position in case anything went wrong, he saw two figures collapse onto each other a few meters away from the bars that kept him trapped. Hiccup jumped back in surprise, accidentally bumping into Toothless and rousing him from his sleep. The younger drako immediately took notice that something was wrong and jumped into action. He raised his wings, baring his teeth, and let the steady sound of a charge getting ready to fire build in the back of his mouth.

“Please don’t kill us!” One of the figures yelped out, putting hands in front of their face.

The other didn’t seem as bothered, still scared, but not as scared as the first, “Wow, you two are like actually real.” From the sound of the voice Hiccup assumed this one was male - as he looked between the two he realized that they had been in the words as well. It seemed like he was going to get to meet the entire group of misfits that had thoroughly ruined his day - and possibly longer than that by how this all seemed to be going.

The two vík began to argue back and forth, Hiccup and Toothless looked between each other and back to the vík as they did so. These vík seemed a lot less… Competent than the ones that Hiccup had encountered before. Sure, he had met his fair share of not all there hunters, but these two may have just taken the cake, quite surprising, then again the vík on this island were less than stellar.

Toothless turned to Hiccup, twins. Hiccup nodded in agreement. These two vík had to be twins; he had never seen a set of twin vík before, not during all his and Toothless’ time of exploring the world together. Twins existed in the drako world as well, though they were very rare. That would mean that two drako were in the same egg and many times that didn’t end all that well - stealing the other’s flame, too cramped in the shell, there were an entire list of things that could go wrong. Hiccup had seen twins before, that was just the nature of exploring and living in a nest with so many other drako.

Strangely they acted a bit like this, annoying each other and bickering with one another, then again many nestmates did those things as well, but with twins it seemed to increase tenfold. That was likely due to the fact that they always seemed to compete with one another since they could never tell which one was older. How curious.

The boy seemed to care less about danger, waltzing right up to the bars to Hiccup and Toothless’ cell and gripping onto the, “Any actually Night Fury! You know I always thought they’d be bigger, more intimidating.” The boy turned to his sister, “Nothing like that monster dragon we found on that island though, right Ruffnut?”

The girl, Ruffnut it seemed - really how much did these parents hate their young? - more annoyed than anything at her brother’s antics. “Tuffnut you’re going to get yourself killed if you keep doing this.”

“Nah, watch this,” Toothless growled as the boy tried to stick his head through the bars, if escaping was that easy, Hiccup would have tried to already. Trust him, he had tried everything so far and nothing was working out. Tuffnut jumped back, “Okay! Don’t get close to the dragon, got it.” He must not have had many brains up in his head because he immediately moved closer to Hiccup, leaning in like he was going to start a conversation.

Toothless grumbled once more, moving Hiccup closer to him with his wing. Hiccup rolled his eyes; Toothless could be very overprotective. This vík didn’t seem very harmful at all, he probably couldn’t do anything more than accidentally scratch Hiccup’s skin. Ruffnut wasn’t even getting closer enough to touch, let alone lean forward, so she was marked as safe. Or as safe as either of them could be on an island filled with vík who most likely wanted them dead.

So, not really all that safe.

Hiccup sighed as he leaned into Toothless’ side some, soaking up the warmth. The winter chill was going to set in any day now, something that Hiccup didn’t care for all that much, so nights like this were going to need as much heat as he could. The younger didn’t complain at all though at the other’s position, the closer Hiccup was the easier he could protect his bondmate, and wasn’t that what the spirit was all about?

The tiredness was finally beginning to catch up with him, Hiccup’s eyes growing heavy, the warmth wasn’t helping with keeping him awake, neither was the steady breaths that Toothless was letting out. That was one of the few things that had stayed the same, the way that Hiccup and Toothless would fall asleep next to each other.

No matter what island they ended up staying at, no matter if it was their old nest or their new nest, Hiccup and Toothless were always going to have a place together, that was just the truth. They would fall into each other’s embrace and feel safe and secure.

Within Toothless’ wings was a place that Hiccup could always call home, it didn’t matter where they were, it didn’t matter if they were young or old, if time had miraculously drifted them apart, Hiccup would know that he could allow himself to be gently wrapped in the hold of Toothless and know that despite all the troubles of the world, everything was going to be okay.

The twins continued to bicker outside of the cell, and it was getting on Hiccup’s nerves a tiny bit, but he just pressed his ear against Toothless’ chest and let the sounds of a steady heartbeat and deep breaths lure him into the land of dreams. Someone would come get the twins in the morning, if they ever lasted that long. If Hiccup fell asleep they would probably see no point to staying since their entertainment was gone - served them right.

Hiccup wasn’t something to gawk at. He was a living, breathing creature just as much as anyone else - Toothless was too. All of these vík were treating them like they were an experiment to be watched over, to see what strange things they could write down in their notes. The entire thing felt very clinical and disturbing.

The vík watched over him like hawks watched their prey - waiting for a moment when he would do something suspicious, when he would slip up, and they would dive in for the kill. These guards weren’t making it any better. For most of the day Hiccup would be scorned, it was like they thought he couldn’t understand a single word they were saying, but Hiccup didn’t even need to know what the words were to know the point they were trying to get across.

Hiccup was wrong.

He wasn’t supposed to be like this, even though he had been raised by and with drako his entire life, they expected him to act like one of them - to be human. How could he be human when he hadn’t been so ever before? For his entire life he was meant to hate humans, to despise them, and to fear them. Why would he ever want to become something that he should hate?

That didn’t make any sense to him at all, besides, it was much better being a drako. Life wasn’t simpler by any means, but he knew that he was much happier around drako then he ever would be around humans, around vík. If they wanted him to be a part of his village, for Hiccup to want to stay, then they wouldn’t be treating him like this - he wouldn’t be shoved into a cell and treated like a useless being without any coherent thought.

The only vík that treated him with any respect - and who didn’t seem to be outwardly terrified of him - was Astrid. It was strange, he had only known her for a day or two, and those days hadn’t been the best, but he already felt himself getting attached to the girl. It was mostly because she was the only person that had given Hiccup any sort of sympathy - though maybe sympathy wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t like she was getting him out of here, but she had gotten proper food for him and Toothless, and Astrid had seemed a little hesitant to let Hiccup be trapped away.

Maybe there would be one good thing on this island, even if Astrid was a vík, he would rather know that someone was on his side, at least partially.

The sound of something dropping before him pulled Hiccup out of his sleep. Fish, a half basket full, and standing on the other side of the bars was Astrid. She had something in her hand that Hiccup couldn’t initially make out, but before he could look closer, Toothless bounded forward to get his meal. Hiccup laughed at the younger’s antics, which caused Astrid to look at him with a surprised expression. Did she think that drako couldn’t find humor in things? That would be a boring life to live.

Both of the drako kept eyes trained on the girl as she worked. The sound of metal clanking against metal was what really got their attention. As Toothless finished off his last fish, the bars slid open. Neither took a step forward, it could have very well been a trap and it would have been foolish to walk right into one of those. Instead they waited to see what would happen.

Astrid took a few steps back, seemingly shocked with herself that she had gone through with opening the cell gate. The key she had used was slipped onto something on her belt - it was a strange looking key.

Hiccup was the first to take a step forward, as he usually was. The girl choked out a sound as he approached. He crawled on all fours, a comfortable position for him, but to Astrid that must have seemed very strange. A human walking on their arms and legs? That would have been quite amusing to witness. But Astrid didn’t seem amused in the slightest, her eyes darted frantically from Hiccup to Toothless and back again, making sure that neither was going to try something.

She finally stopped moving away though, which only served to close the distance between them faster. They had been an entrance way behind her, but that had been closed off - which made sense - it wasn’t like the island wanted to lose their prisoners so easily.

“Oh gods,” Astrid seemed more than a little scared, “Alright, if you don’t hurt me, I won’t have to hurt you.”

Hiccup sat back on his haunches, eyebrows furrowed, “Hurt? Nuh hurt.”The girl let out a deep sigh, “Thank Thor.” She looked back at Toothless, “I’m not going to hurt the dragon either, none of us will.”

Hiccup snorted at that, that wasn’t a promise she was likely to keep; he knew that every vík on this island was probably killing to go after Toothless - to obtain the highest reward that any drako hunter could hold. Though, it was still nice to think that there was someone who would help defend the other drako if it did come to that - which would involve Astrid going against her tribe though, which didn’t seem all that likely from what Hiccup had seen in the past. It was still nice to hope though, even if hoping turned out to be futile.

The two stared at each other, Astrid looking down at Hiccup. He knew that if he were to stand on his hind legs like she did that he would be a few centimeters taller, but that would just be painful, there really wasn’t a point. He could show that he had power despite the way she looked at him.

The way drako held themselves was extremely important, a lot could be discerned from a drako’s age, personality, and status from how they carried themselves. Hiccup would just have to play into all of that right now, even if Astrid wouldn’t fully understand what he was doing.

He placed his forearms in front of him, leaning ever so slightly on them. His chin was raised slightly, and his shoulders were drawn back. If he had wings he would have looked ten times more intimidating, but Hiccup had to work with what he had, and wings were not a part of that.

Toothless creeped up behind him, and Hiccup could only tell because he had been around the other drako for twenty years now - they knew each other better than they knew themselves. Astrid didn’t make a move back, probably because she wanted to appear strong in the face of “danger” as if Toothless would just attack her out of nowhere.

“We aren’t going to kill you, or hurt you, we just want information.” As soon as the words left the girl’s mouth she sighed, “You probably don’t even know what I said.” Astrid sighed, looking around the arena. Hiccup stayed in his spot, unmoving, but watching the girl intently. “Alright, you,” she pointed at Hiccup, “Me,” she pointed to herself, “talk.” Astrid continued to gesture, which did help his understanding of the entire one-sided conversation. So, she wanted to talk, that was going to be somewhat difficult.

How were they supposed to understand each other, sure he could pick up a few words of what she said, but she wouldn’t have any idea what he was attempting to convey. That’s also completely throwing away Toothless’ side of everything - he couldn’t say a single thing in Norse - his vocal chords weren’t made for those sounds.

The thought of a conversation actually occurring was also completely ignoring the fact that Hiccup didn’t know if he wanted to say anything. If he started talking it could easily bring more problems, he didn’t want to sell out his friends and family back at the nest - that was just rude. Toothless whined behind him, which pulled Hiccup’s attention out of his own mind.

The drako was reeling back, stepping closer back towards the cell, but that didn’t make any sense. Toothless hated it in there - and Hiccup did too - so he would never try to get back into the cell. The younger was still moving backwards, but his eyes were trained on the entrance of the arena.

What Hiccup saw made his stomach churn, his heart to race, and his brain to move at a million miles a minute. Astrid must have noticed both of their discomfort and turned around to face the new intruder that had wandered into the arena. The man walking in was an imposing figure, strong, and built justly. His hair was a fiery red, some tucked under a metal helmet, the horns curling to the sides. Astrid gasped, obviously not expecting for the man to walk in, “Stoick.”

Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Chapter Text

Stoick.

That was the man’s name. Hiccup hadn’t seen him before, but he had heard the name come from the other vík as they stood guard outside of his and Toothless’ cell. He must have been important from how much people talked about him - and as he walked into the area Hiccup knew why. This was the tribe’s alpha, this man was their leader. Hiccup had previously assumed that it was the Astrid girl, from how she carried herself and the way that others respected and obeyed her, but he had thought that she was a little young to be their leader. It was like the Dagur situation, though that had simply been laughable. Those people hadn’t really trusted him, but they did trust Astrid.

Now Hiccup understood the situation a bit more. Astrid must have been the right hand to Stoick, since the leader probably couldn’t attend to all of the wishes and wants of the tribe. Drako had members of the nest that worked somewhat like that, but every drako was more or less in equal standing, helping each other regardless. Hiccup had always thought that the vík way of life was quite barbaric, they didn’t have the same structure and order that drako did.

Toothless took a step back, growling lowkly. Hiccup snapped back at him *click*-ss, nuh.

The younger just snorted in response, not letting his guard down. He didn’t seem to like Stoick one bit. He had been weary of the other vík, but not to this extent - this was like an instinctive hatred that went above and beyond the typical feelings of most drako. It was almost like a grudge? But that didn’t make sense at all, Toothless had never seen this man before, Hiccup surely hadn’t, and they had done everything together since they were hatchlings; if Toothless had met Stoick before then Hiccup would have too, that was just the matter of things.

eek-upp nuh. Bad vík.

The man’s breath drew in as the two drako spoke with one another. Astrid even seemed a bit stunned, had Hiccup or Toothless finally said something that they could understand? “That name.” The chief’s voice was deep, a rolling noise. His accent was strangely different from any other others that Hiccup had heard, stronger, more prominent - much more so than Astrid’s or any other the youngins Hiccup had encountered.

Stoick continued to walk forward, his steps becoming more sure as he did so. Hiccup’s heart began to race - the man was coming right towards him. Logically, he knew he could fight the man off if he needed to, he had gone after drako that were far larger than he, and he had fought other vík in his past, but Hiccup felt cornered, trapped in a way he hadn’t before.

All those other times Hiccup had been fighting in an open place, the vast expanse of the old nest, the skies, the open air, in a large clearing, but now he was stuck in an arena. There would be no way out, no way to fly or even run. Hiccup was helpless as the man continued forward. Toothless stepped to guard Hiccup, sneering and opening his wings to block the older from the chief’s view. Hiccup could understand where his bondmate was coming from, he didn’t want to see the vík either, but he didn’t want to see Toothless hurt, he would go through Hel and back before he allowed something to happen to Toothless. Stop, me safe, me vík talk. Toothless gave him a concerned look, one that held equal parts worry and stress; Hiccup gave his best reassuring smile in response, okay?

Toothless hesitated for a few moments, looking between Hiccup and the towering vík, before letting his wing drop. Stoick sighed, Toothless didn’t paw away though, he stayed glued to Hiccup’s side, refusing to move a single inch.

“Hiccup.”

His heart stopped, completely skipping a beat. Why did this man seem to know his name? Sure, the pronunciation seemed more than a bit off, just like the way that Viggo had said it, but it was his name - no doubt about that. Toothless had said it, but nobody ever picked up on what Toothless said. No vík knew Dragonese and Hiccup highly doubted that this one from a strange island was going to be the first to speak the tongue of the drako. It was impossible - and no Cloudjumper it was not simply improbable. This was impossible, completely so.

Hiccup cringed back, fear in his eyes that shone brighter than the sun on a hot summer day. “Hiccup, my son.” No, no that was worse, that was a million times worse.

“Wait, he’s your son? How do you know that, there could be other men named Hiccup out there and it's not like humans know how to speak with dragons, that thing could have said anything.”Astrid’s words didn’t stop Stoick, he stepped closer and closer until he was only an arms length away. He extended his hand forward, “He has his mother’s eyes.”

This was what death must feel like. When the heart stops pumping blood and the veins move sluggishly slow. The brain isn’t firing anymore and everything blends together in a mushy sort of mess. Life needn’t go on, something had ended it, fully and completely. So, therefore, this is what death must feel like.

Hiccup didn’t want parents, not vík ones; he had Cloudjumper, he had his nest - any other parent was foolish. And vík? They were the worst of all. He had heard stories as a hatchling of how vík would throw the young they didn’t want into the sea, how they were ruthless. Hiccup was barely accepting that he was human, at least physically, he didn’t ever think about his human family. He didn’t want to think about them.

What he knew was that Cloudjumper had saved him, the building he had been in had been on fire, it was burning all around him, had he not been taken out he would have died. He knew that Cloudjumper had smelled the loneliness on the newborn, the scent that meant something was terribly wrong. Hatchlings were not meant to smell lonely, they should have the scent of their caregivers and nestmates - but Hiccup had no such smell.

Hiccup may not have known everything about vík - he didn’t pretend he was an expert - but what he was sure of was that if he had stayed with his human family life would have been much more treacherous for him; he would not have grown to the man he was now if he had stayed on that island.

Apparently that island was here, the place that Hiccup and Toothless had accidentally crashed landed on. What were the chances of that? It was like the gods really did have it out for him - the more and more things like this happened the more he was starting to think that statement had more validity that he originally imagined.Standing before Hiccup now was his father, at least that was how the man saw it, he would never understand that Hiccup was not his son. No matter how much blood was shared between them, despite the communalities beneath their skin, that man had been no father to him. Was he so distant that his scent had been absent from Hiccup’s skin? Even when he was nearly born and should have been spending ample time with both his parents, there had been nothing.

Why should Stoick care now? Why should he pretend that he had ever cared, if that was the case he was twenty years too late. Hiccup growled as Stoick attempted to lay a hand on him, he dared not bite or leave any sort of injury, lest the man hurt him in return, but he would voice his discomfort and agitation as loudly and as obviously as he pleased. Stoick had no right to touch him, to treat Hiccup like his child.

There was something rising up inside of him, something that he had never experienced this strongly before. “Hiccup? I’m your father. I’ve been hoping, praying, for all these years that I would see you again and now-”

Hiccup yelped out as he felt Stoick’s hand bruh his arm, that was when Toothless jumped into action, “Stoick!” The younger - thankfully - didn’t leap onto the vík, he would have done so if it was another drako, but at least he held back now. The drako quickly found himself in front of Hiccup, baring his teeth at the chief. Astrid stepped between Stoick and Toothless - a place where even Hiccup wouldn’t want to be.

She gulped as she turned her back to Toothless, which Hiccup had to be amazed at, “Stoick, if we do anything to that man the dragon is going to come at us. We have to be careful.”

“That man is my son.”

Astrid looked back for a moment and back to the vík, “I don’t think Hiccup believes that.”

“That’s absurd, he’s my son through and through.” The man wouldn’t listen to anything that Astrid had to say, he was enraptured with the idea that Hiccup was his son - he didn’t want to think that at all.There was a possibility, then again there was a possibility that any vík out there was his parents, it wasn’t like Hiccup knew. The only drako that knew where he came from was Cloudjumper and it wasn’t like he was there was the chance that he was coming around anytime soon. Hiccup was really stuck with this mess, more stuck than he had ever been before.

The chief must have finally gotten the hint that Hiccup wasn’t going to come up to him, that the younger would continue to shrink away, because he finally left the drako alone. A scowl was stark on his face, filled with anger and another emotion that Hiccup wasn’t used to seeing on vík. The only expression people held when they looked at him was either disturbing intrigue or fear - this emotion was new to him, he didn’t want to see it anymore; he wished it was gone. Stoick left the arena soon after that, leaving Hiccup and Toothless with Astrid once more, “Oh gods, this isn’t going to end well. I didn’t think this was going to happen, that’s for sure.” She sighed, pacing around the arena, “Your name is actually Hiccup?” Hiccup crouched back, trying to get around Toothless to look at Astrid again; he nodded. “You’ve got to be kidding me. After all these years, Valka and Stoick have been mourning for years,” she suddenly erupted, “We all thought you were dead!”

Toothless let out a disgruntled noise, which caused Astrid to flinch some, looking as though he was ready for a fight. Nuh vík bad, nuh safe. Hiccup had to agree with that one, he didn’t think any of these vík were safe in the slightest, but there was a morbid part of him that wanted to know about these “parents” even if they weren’t his true parents.

Hiccup sidestepped Toothless’ grasp and strided forward, “Dead?”

Astrid peered down at him, there was another one of those different emotions that he didn’t like seeing on the vík. It was as if they actually cared and Hiccup knew that that simply wasn’t true. There was no world where vík cared about him, that would be completely and utterly absurd. He didn’t want this fakeness, the way they pretended that they cared in order to get something out of him. Too many vík in his past had done the exact same thing - he wasn’t about to fall for the same thing over and over again and act like it was okay. He wasn’t going to roll over and let them mess with his mind any further.

“Everyone thinks you were killed by dragons.”

No, no that was impossible. Besides the bad queen, who had tried to kill everything without any remorse, no other drako had tried to kill him before. Hurt, maim, badly injure, sure. Hiccup had been at the brute of that all before, but never had he actually thought that another drako would kill him.

Drako had saved him, time and time again they were there to help him. Cloudjumper had saved Hiccup from the loneliness of his childhood, Toothless had saved him more than anyone else. From Dagur, hunter vík, Viggo… himself. Toothless was always there to make sure that he was okay, that he was safe; his bondmate would never hurt him. Hiccup’s nest would never hurt him. There wasn’t a drako out there that Hiccup hadn’t been able to come to some sort of agreement with.

“Drako help.”

Astrid’s lips formed a thin line. “They’ve killed vikings, Hiccup.”

At that moment Hiccup decided he didn’t like hearing vík try to say his name, it was all wrong, his name wasn’t meant to be spoken by vík at all.

Hiccup wasn’t stupid, he knew that drako had killed vík before, he himself had thrown more than a few hunters over the sides of ships before and hadn’t waited to make sure that they were still actually alive. It was just the nature of their world, kill or be killed, the vík had to agree with that. “Vík kill drako.”

The two locked eyes, there was a spark that he felt in his chest, something that rang out through every fiber of his being: Hiccup wondered if Astrid felt it too. The electricity shocked him, making him shake inside. He didn’t know what it was, but it was pretty scary to feel. That was another feeling that he didn’t like.

Astrid looked out the entrance of the arena, nobody had showed up again, it was completely empty. “We keep killing each other, it's a cycle that doesn’t end.”

*****

The stars seemed dimmer tonight, more than they did the night before. Toothless’ breathing was beginning to lull Hiccup into a sleep: it was taking longer than normal. Even the night before he had been able to fall into slumber quicker than tonight - though those two twins had interrupted him. There was nobody tonight though, the only sounds were the crackling of far away fires and the hoots of owls and other night birds.

Toothless’ tail flicked from side to side, it had been healing up. When Hiccup had finally gotten a better look at it in the light he could see that it wasn’t completely broken, if anything there was a fracture. That was great news, that meant Toothless would heal quicker which would mean that they could get out of here sooner. It was only a matter of days; Hiccup and Toothless would be back at the nest before they knew it.

It was times like this where he missed Cloudjumper’s doting nature. When he was growing up it had been quite embarrassing, especially in his teen years, but now he wanted nothing more than to go back to that. Life was strange like that. When you’re young you can’t wait to grow older, to live the life that all the amazing adults are having, but when you finally reach the age that you’ve been dreaming of for so long, you begin to realize that it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Just because the broadwings were older didn’t mean that they immediately knew what was best for the world, sometimes the fledglings had the best ideas, but those were pushed aside because they were seen as knowledgeable, incompetant.

Hiccup let the subtle wind brush past his cheeks, it was difficult to get good airflow in the cell - he was going to take anything that he could. The skies were calling out to him, if he looked hard enough he swore he could see drako flying up out there, but he knew that was just his mind playing tricks on him. There were rarely drako around these parts, and Hiccup had only heard stories. He had a sinking feeling that any of the drako that would have been into this very arena had been killed instead, it wasn’t like they were going to risk either of the two drako they had previously captured conspiring with the enemy.

Though technically Hiccup and Toothless were also part of the enemy, but the vík’s view of Hiccup had seemed to change. It wasn’t a welcome change, that much Hiccup knew and felt. The other vík, those who had heard about it and spread the story far and wide, were greatly displeased that Stoick wasn’t getting rid of the threat - that would have been the smart idea at least.

Even if Toothless was injured and Hiccup didn’t have all the biological advantages of being a true drako, they still weren’t anything to be scoffed at. The two had been through more ruthless battles than some of the vík on the island, at least that was what he had assumed from seeing some of them and the way they carried themselves - vík seemed to act very differently after a few fights under their belts.

But neither of them were killed, they were kept in their cage, sometimes allowed to wander the arena, though after the first couple times they had done that it had become quite boring to see the same grey, rocky walls and chains that were a clinking reminder that they were not free.

The wind shifted, moving so that it was no longer brushing against him. Hiccup frowned, so much more getting the smallest touch of freedom. Then the birds went silent, which Hiccup would have found a bit odd, but every animal had to sleep after all, they must have grown tired of their song and decided that staying up wasn’t worth it anymore.

He let his eyes shut for a moment; he was finally drifting off to sleep - took long enough. His eyelids felt droopy and his body was about to enter that amazing state where he could feel like he was dancing on top of clouds and nothing from nowhere could hurt him.

That peaceful place never came though, because something had reached through the bars, catching Hiccup off guard as his eyes fluttered shut for another moment. Hiccup’s eyes shot open, but before he could scream out for help - if help would even come - a cloth was pressed over his nose and mouth. It smelled faintly like citrus, and that was the last thought Hiccup had before his eyes finally came to a close.

*****

Stoick didn’t feel the best about this plan, he had only used it as an absolute last resort, but it seemed like that resort was now as he gathered a few men that would help him figure this all out and get his son back.

Hiccup, the very same boy who hadn’t looked like he would make it through the winter, who had been born early and should have been thrown out into the sea - that boy had grown into a man that lived with dragons. He spoke with them, acted like them, all the while his parents assumed he was dead because of the damned creatures. Oh, how wrong they had been.

Stoick didn’t want to think about what those beasts had done to his son, the ways they could have mistreated him, but he knew the one in the arena. A Night Fury - an omen that something terrible was going to happen because nothing good ever came from those creatures. He thought they were gone, completely eradicated from the face of the Earth, but here one was, on his very own island. Astrid had voted against killing the dragon, many of the other villagers had too - they thought that if they killed the dragon something even worse would come to take its place. Sometimes Stoick wished that vikings weren’t so superstitious.

His son also seemed very attached to the beast, though he couldn’t fathom as to why. Dragons had killed so many, destroyed so much, and Hiccup was going to side with them when they had been destroying his tribe for centuries? Highly unlikely, it was impossible that any viking would try to befriend one of those beasts, even his own wife, his sweet Valka, had finally seen that there was no peace to be had between viking and dragon. They could only kill first in order to not be killed by the monsters.

It was the dead of night as Stoick and a handful of men had stepped into the arena. He had hand picked the guards for the night - at the annoyance of Astrid - so he knew that they would not try to stop him. Very few of his vikings would try to stop the chief in his actions, but they did exist, and Stoick had to make sure that this went as smoothly as possible.

Hiccup was his son; he didn’t belong to the dragons. His boy would be coming home, no matter what anyone else had to say about it. Stoick had wished for a moment like this for twenty years and now it was finally handed to him, by the gods he was not going to throw it all aways just because a dragon might get a little annoyed. He had been fighting dragons longer than his boy had been alive, he wasn’t about to hide inside just because this one tended to be a bit more deadly than the others. That was a coward’s thoughts.

The arena was silent, a perfect setting for his plan. Nobody would be able to stop him. Stoick stalked through the entrance, making sure to not wake the sleeping dragon and Hiccup. When he saw the position the two were lying in he thought he was going to be sick. It was horrendous. The dragon had the audacity to make it seem like it was protecting Hiccup when Stoick knew full well that no dragon would ever do that. His stomach twisted in knots as he inched closer and closer - weapon tight in his hand. If worse came to worst, he knew what to do.

One of the guards opened the gate as quietly as he could - the plan was to take Hiccup as he was still sleeping - that way he wouldn’t be able to fight back. That plan heavily backfired though as none of the vikings present expected the Night Fury’s hearing to be quite as good as it was. Just seconds previously, it had been sleeping soundly, and now its eyes were shot open, pupils slits as they glared at Stoick and his men.

He grasped his weapon, ready to swing it whenever he may need to. Hiccup was stirring as well. This plan wasn’t going nearly as well has he would have hoped. “Get Hiccup, I’ll take the dragon.”

“But Stoick-”

“Do as I say.” His voice was like a boulder dropping onto each of the men - they knew not to disobey the chief when he got like this, that would only lead to more pain for all of them. They worked to get Hiccup out of the grasp of the dragon, which was more than a little challenging. The Night Fury refused to let go, grabbing on as strongly as he could. There was a loud roar, gods, that was going to alert more of the village which would just lead to further commotion. Stoick clasped his hands over the dragon’s mouth, clamping his jaws shut. “Get the restraints!” A leather binding was passed into his hands, and Stoick made quick work of wrapping the dragon’s snout.

Hiccup was completely awake now, and he was panicking more than anything. So much for trying to knock him out. He lashed out at Stoick’s men, scratching at their skin and trying to claw his way back to the Night Fury. In his tired and newly woken up state, he wasn’t a match for the two vikings grabbing onto him. There were tears forming in his eyes; Stoick was pained to see his son in such distress, but it was for the best. He knew what he was doing.

Hiccup was dragged out of the cell, still a bit delirious from the cloth that had been pressed to his nose and from the fighting that had just occurred.

Stoick hoped that Hiccup wouldn’t hate him after this - that was his biggest fear above everything. He wanted his son to love Berk as much as he did, to call this place his home. Stoick knew that this was a rocky start to everything, and there would probably be some bad blood between them to start, but they were family, and family ran deeper than anything else.

The Night Fury was subdued after a while, much more fighting that Stoick would have liked, but it wasn’t going to be going anywhere. It had been trying to protect its tail as well as Hiccup, it must have had some sort of injury then. Stoick couldn’t care less if the dragon was injured, it was better thought that it was, a downed dragon was as good as dead in his eyes. They would just have to wait until its hope finally dwindled until it completely gave up. Then everything would go back to normal.

*****

You’d think after waking up in strange places for the millionth time in his life that Hiccup would be a bit less terrified when such an occurrence happened: you would be wrong.

He once again found himself in one of those strange things that vík called bed - though this one was a lot less comfortable than Viggo’s had been if he did say so himself. There was something different about this room than the one he had been in when he was trapped at the hunter camp. Maybe it was because of the pitched ceiling, or because of the emptiness of it all, but something felt so very off that Hiccup was even more unnerved here than he was when he had been with the hunters.

He wasn’t tied up, which was strange, so he decided to do the practical thing and look for a way out. There weren’t any windows - which really put a damper on his whole mood - but there was a door, and if Hiccup knew one thing about vík homes it was that doors typically meant freedom. He stalked over, moving slowly. The wooden floorboards creaked under Hiccup’s feet which made him cringe. He paused in front of the door, listening to see if there were any sounds from the other side - just in case the vík had put guards in front of his door just like the hunters had done.

There was nothing, no breathing, no sounds of shifting fabric or feet moving: it was silent. Hiccup grinned to himself - these vík seemed to be lacking the brains that Viggo had. He reached for the doorknob, ready to relish in his escape, but as he turned the knob it became stuck. Looking at the knob confused he tried again, and again, and again until Hiccup was frantically gripping onto the doorknob to see what in the Hel was wrong with it.

It wouldn’t open, not for the life of him. His heart sped from anxiety - sweat forming on his palm. This couldn’t be happening. He didn’t want to be stuck in another room, not again, he wasn’t about to fall in the same trap. This was completely outrageous. Hiccup swore up and down that he was going to be safer, be better, but now he was falling into the same things that Viggo had done to him - what was the point of trying anymore if everything he tried didn’t work. He had thought that he would be able to protect himself - he prepared for a situation like Viggo’s - but then these vík had thrown in another variable that Hiccup hadn’t expected.

That fabric with its strange smelling stuff on it. That had thrown him for a loop. His brain had gotten all foggy, he wasn’t getting as much air, so he had passed out - nearly at least. Everything had felt like he was walking through cotton, like there was something fuzzy wrapped around him. The world was so far away. But then it was back again, ripping him awake from Toothless and shoved into a house that wasn’t a home and surely wasn’t his.

There was a sound coming from the other side of the door, the stomping of heavy steps. Hiccup scrambled back. Usually he wouldn’t be this scared, but something inside of him was saying that whoever was going to be behind that door was more terrifying than anyone he had ever met before. Hiccup’s breath was ragged - the wood was digging into his palms, there would be splinters probably. Those were going to be a pain to get out later.

There was a clicking from the doorknob, it must have been locked. Hiccup mentally beraded himself, of course that would have been the case - he felt stupid for not realizing it. If he hadn’t freaked out so greatly there was a possibility that he could have picked the lock on the door and gotten out. Though he didn’t know if there were any guards, and now there definitely was someone outside who was trying to come in.

The door creaked open. The figure who walked through the door looked nothing like the person that Hiccup was imagining. He expected it to be his “father” - or at least the man who claimed to be his human father. Hiccup still wasn’t going to believe that at all, he was going to ignore it for as long as he could - that man was dead to him.

No, the person who walked through the door was a woman, much smaller than the vík he had encountered earlier. She was still tall though, probably as tall as Astrid was, with a diamond shaped face and light blue eyes that seemed green in some lighting. She was a far cry from what most of the other vík looked like, which was somewhat more horrifying. How could someone that looked so kind be affiliated with humans that did so much harm?

She had tears in her eyes as she walked towards him, moving every so slowly as to not scare him off. This woman was very different from the other vík that he had encountered, he wondered if she was even a real vík or some other sort of human that they had kept on the island. It wasn’t like Hiccup knew much about humans outside of vík and hunters - as well as their associates. He continued to back away until he couldn’t do so any longer, his back was pressed up against the wall. Hiccup tried to make himself look as threatening as possible, getting into a fighting stance, his teeth bared and a low growl coming from his throat.

That seemed to upset that woman, at least a tiny bit. She stopped her movements and stayed near the door, a few meters in front of where Hiccup was crouched. “All these years, I’ve been waiting for you to come home, I knew that, that… those monsters wouldn’t kill you.” There was something in the way she said monsters that seemed ingenuine, as if she didn’t fully believe her own words.

Hiccup had been called a monster before - a demon, a devil - all words that he was quite familiar with. He also knew that drako were considered monsters or beasts by the rest of the world; they were to be pushed away, pests to be killed, or even objects to be bought and sold. Never had he met a vík who actually believed that drako weren’t beast-like at all. Even Viggo, with all of his smarts and thirst for knowledge, believed that drako were dangerous and monstrous creatures. That just goes to show that there simply weren’t any vík who saw drako as friends. Well, to most of the archipelago they assumed Hiccup was the only human to befriend drako - what they didn’t understand was that he truly was a drako and had sworn off his human side completely a year ago, after finding out the truth about his past of course.

“Oh, Hiccup,” his name was just as grating in her voice as it had been in Stoick’s, “How I’ve wanted to see how you would grow. Who knew you’d take after me.” There was a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She was overjoyed to see her son, but the man before her wasn’t her son anymore. The only thing they shared between them was a past last name, and now that was gone too.

Hiccup belonged to his nest, to his Alpha, to his nestmates, to Cloudjumper, to Toothless. No human was worth anything to him. Any vík in his past had only served to hurt him in the long run and he was done with giving second chances. The only one that had looked at him with some resemblance of mutual respect was Astrid, and Hiccup had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be seeing her for a long time.

The woman before him wasn’t whoever she thought she was, she may say that Hiccup was her son - she seemed convinced she was his mother from how she spoke - but that wasn’t the case at all. Hiccup hadn’t had a mother growing up, he only had Cloudjumper, but he was content with that. He liked his mp-*hiss* and nothing was going to take that away from him. This woman wasn’t going to replace Cloudjumper, she shouldn’t even try, because although the elder may say that all things weren’t impossible but simply improbable - this was one of the rare occasions where Cloudjumper would agree with him and say that this was impossible.

The woman reeled back as he hissed at her; sometimes Toothless said Hiccup acted like a frightened cat when cornered, he would have to disagree. “Oh gods, what have they done to you?” She kneeled down on the ground, getting on the same level as him. “I wish I was faster that night, if only I had taken you before that dragon did, you would have grown up with all the other children, I just know you would have had the best of friends.” The more the woman spoke, the more Hiccup felt sick to his stomach.

Not being taken away? Forced to live here? Giving up everything he had with the drako in his nest for a couple of vík who had seemed like they were more than willing to kill him? No thanks, that was not the life that Hiccup wanted. He enjoyed his life with the drako: Hiccup would never give up anything, absolutely anything, that had happened during his life. Everything worked together in tandem to make the drako that stood today, the one that was snarky and sarcastic, who tricked his bondmate with a whole eel before, the one that saved drako after drako after drako for no regard for his own personal safety because he wasn’t going to let any other one of his kind get hurt anymore.

Hiccup wouldn’t have traded that for anything, even the bad parts - and there had been a lot of bad parts to his life - worked to make him the person he was. The mistakes, the accidents, the bad decisions, all taught him how to be better. Without those past experiences he wouldn’t be as strong or as smart as he was now. None of that would have come to fruition if he had stayed on this island, if he had stayed on Berk of all places.

He wouldn’t have met Toothless then, it would have been so highly unlikely that there was no way the two would have ever seen each other, and Hiccup didn’t feel like he was anything without his bondmate - which was why his heart ached so greatly now as he pondered over what his other half was doing. Hopefully, he would be okay. He was a strong drako, and had a mind that was sharp and simply amazing. If anyone was going to be able to survive through all those vík it would be Toothless.

Hiccup didn’t know if he could make it through though. This place was making him doubt things about himself, think about different situations that he didn’t want to get involved in. Every single time he met a new vík he wanted to scream, to cry out - none of it made sense. The worst part was that Hiccup was doubting his own belief in himself more and more. He had tried to put up a confident facade when he was around Toothless, to try to be the strong older bondmate, and that had worked - but now he was alone and with that he didn’t need to put up the same front.

The woman continued to look at him. This was his mother? It was a strange word to think of. Hiccup had never had a mother before; he had female drako that had looked after him while he was growing up - many of the elders looked over all the hatchlings, it was a way to show that they cared about each other and would always protect the other drako in the nest. The closest thing to a mother Hiccup had was Cloudjumper, or maybe Torch’s mother if she was in a good mood.

This was completely foreign, at least the terrain with Stoick had been a bit more manageable - not this. He didn’t want this. He knew that most fledglings, almost all hatchlings, wanted a mother to look after them while they were in their nests, but not Hiccup. He didn’t need that; he had Cloudjumper and the rest of his nestmates. Hiccup was content with the way he had grown up, sure there had been a few rocky parts - like all the times he got himself in a lot more trouble than he should have - but there was a deep, dark part of him that wondered if there could have been more.He shook the thought from his head, watched intently as the woman - he wasn’t going to call her his mother - walked around the room. She looked much different than Stoick had when he had come to the realization. She looked as though there were actually years of pain behind those eyes, but there were other things too - the want to fix it all, to go back in time and pretend like none of this had ever happened. It was all impossible, what was done was done, there would be no turning back now.

“Hiccup?”

He looked at her with fear in his eyes - he was terrified of what the next step was. More than anything he wanted to go home, to move past this horrifying chapter in his life and live the one he had grown used to. No matter what these vík were trying to say he didn’t belong here. Berk was no home for him, the sanctuary was. With Cloudjumper, the Alpha, Torch, Frostbreath, his nestmates, and all the rest of the drako that lived there.

Most of all he belonged with Toothless and being apart from him was tearing him apart piece by piece. Each hour he stayed locked up in this strange house was another part of him crumbling down. “Nuh, me nuh vík.”

The woman smiled at him, sad and confused. She inched closer, “Oh honey, you are. You’ve got the heart of a viking deep inside, I know it. These, these dragons have kept you away from your family, the place you’re meant to be.” She moved to place a hand on him which only served to scare the man further, making him flinch back and hit the wall behind him.

“Nuh!”

The woman didn’t reel back this time, though she did pause, “Dear…”

Hiccup wanted to cry, he wanted to sob until everything would leave him, but he didn’t want to show his true emotions, nor did he want the woman to believe that she could create such an effect on him. So, he clenched his jaw tight, and acted like he was perfectly fine - like his heart wasn’t about to beat out of his chest and his brain wasn’t struggling to come up with answers. “Stop.” He loathed not being able to speak the language of the vík, if he could just say more than a few sentences, more than the few words that he knew, everything would be so much easier to communicate.

Hiccup could say how he wanted to go back home, how everything he loved and how learned to love was far away from this island. There were drako waiting for him out there that were aching to know if he was safe - if Toothless was safe. There were duties to attend to, hatchlings to look after, fledglings to play games with which would teach them what to do and what not to do. Outside of this house there were hunters that needed to be taken down, ships of stolen drako that too were yearning for their homes, for someone to swoop in and save them.

But Hiccup was stuck repeating the same phrase over and over again and feeling more of himself fall away as the vík continued to not understand the point he was trying to make.

Everything about Hiccup’s appearance screamed human - maybe not the armor and some of his mannerisms - but the way his body was built was very human. Hunters assumed he was some drako saving vigilante from a far away tribe, others thought he was a demon sent to terrorize them. Never did they think he was a drako, though Hiccup’s mind told him that he was.

He didn’t look like the typical drako, but his soul was more drako like than any other. His language, his attitude, the way he walked, the things that he did, everything was just like a normal drako. The vík didn’t understand that though.

When they saw drako, they saw a monster that they needed to kill - basing everything purely on appearances. Because of that, they didn’t look deeper, if they had they would have probably killed Hiccup by now since they would have realized he and Toothless were one and the same. Hiccup was still breathing though, so nope, they were going to continue to think he was a vík.

There was heavy pause between the two, the mother and the son who wasn’t. Was this how they were destined to be? Estranged, never believing in the other? It seemed to be the case - they would never be a part of the same world, no matter how much the woman pushed for it. Hiccup could not accept the vík for the horrible things they had done to his kind and the vík could not accept that the drako were more than vicious killing machines.

The woman backed away, her expression hardened as she took the door knob in her hand, quickly turning it, and saw herself out. There was the click that meant Hiccup was stuck again. Though this time he would take being alone than being with her, really he would rather be alone than spend anymore time with another vík - it wasn’t good for his mental health he decided.

Hiccup took a few more moments to regain his composure, a couple deep breaths here and one or two admissions that nothing terrible was going to happen. He knew that she was going to go talk to Stoick - it would be careless if she didn’t, but Hiccup didn’t want to think about that. He didn’t want to think about the conversation that they would have about him, or what other plans they would come up with to make him follow their direction.

Instead, he took to looking around the room further, he hadn’t had much time to do so before as he was freshly woken up from a drug induced state and immediately thrust into a situation that he didn’t want to be in. Usually, he wanted time to speed up, especially now when he needed to get back to Toothless, but for now he was going to take things slow. Hiccup didn’t know the next time the vík would be back and he wanted to enjoy what little time he had to himself without another human breathing down his neck - trying to force him to be someone or something he wasn’t.

The walls were barren, no drawings like the caves in the sanctuary, not much at all. It was like this room was left abandoned, as if it hadn’t been used at all. As Hiccup looked around the room more, he realized why that was the case. This was his room, or at least it was supposed to be. There was a strange bed in the corner that he had seen vík put their hatchlings in, it was small, just enough space for the newborn, and it could rock slightly side to side.

Had that been where he was laying when Cloudjumper found him? No, he didn’t want to think about it, he didn’t want to think about any of it because that would mean he actually cared. He didn’t. He couldn’t care because these people had been anything, but kind to him. Okay, maybe Astrid had developed some sort of soft spot, but other than that they had been cruel to him time and time again. There was no doubting that.

Hiccup touched the furs on the bed, they weren’t as soft as Viggo’s were, but they weren’t unpleasant. Nothing would be as great as curling up next to Toothless though, feeling the warm scales against his skin, the wings around his body.

Oh, Toothless. He must be terrified right now, Hiccup knew he was. They had been separated for what Hiccup assumed was only a day, but he had been out, so there was no telling how much time had actually passed. He huffed. Hiccup had promised that the two of them would never be separated again, they would always be within a breaths width of the other - but Hiccup had failed. He hadn’t factored in something like this, and for that he was so incredibly stupid. What he should have assumed was that something was going to go wrong, because something always went wrong, that was the nature of life. Well, Hiccup was getting really fed up with it; he wanted one year where everything was all okay, he hadn’t had one of those in ages.

Hiccup curled up on the furs, needed the warmth more than he wanted to admit. He wouldn’t grow to like this place, no matter what his “mother” had said. Berk was not his home, it never would be, and they had to accept that, just like how he had to accept that he was human. It wasn’t a pleasant truth, but it was the truth - nothing he did could ever change that.

There wasn’t exhaustion creeping through his brain nor his bones, but Hiccup shut his eyes regardless, hoping that he would be able to wake up in a pace that was better than this one.

*****

Valka walked down the stairs with solem steps, they were much louder than they typical were, weighed down by the ache of pain that permeated her every being.

Hiccup was alive, her son - who she had been mourning for twenty years - was back under her roof. He was back home, but he was much different than she could have ever imagined. He acted so… so animalistic. Valka knew that there were vikings out there who were a bit unstable, but they were nothing like this. They still had the shreds of humanity inside of them, not Hiccup. He seemed to reject all of that.

When he had spoken a few words in Norse she had been completely shocked, but overjoyed. There was hope, hope that Hiccup could alcimate to his environment. She wished for it long and hard, if Hiccup could speak to her they could form a relationship - she would be a mother again.

She had wished that her son would come back to her, and now he was. For the past two decades she had looked after the children of the village trying to fill the empty hole in her heart ever since Hiccup had been taken away from her. That had been the worst night of her life.

The fire raged behind her eyes every single night, repeating it time and time again until she thought that it would never end. Last night had been the first night when she hadn’t woken up from nightmares; the terrors had subsided for the first time in a very long time. It was the best sleep of her entire life. Hiccup was sleeping in the room upstairs, just like he was always meant to be, and it made her so completely elated.

She hadn’t expected him to be so fearful of her, the way he backed away like a cornered animal had made her heart shatter. He wouldn’t have been like that if he had stayed on Berk, if all those horrible things had happened to him. Valka couldn’t believe what she was seeing when she looked at the boy. He was just a boy, sure he was twenty now, but to Valka he would always be her little boy. Sadly, she wouldn’t be able to turn back time, to see him as a toddler or a gangly teen, but she would enjoy the time she had with him now.

It was worth it, even if everything was rocky right now. Valka yearned for the day Hiccup wouldn’t look at her with such fear anymore and would be able to hug his mother. She wanted them to be a family again: Valka, Stoick, and Hiccup - just how it was always meant to be. Some day that would happen, she knew it. It was going to be hard, but that would be okay.

Valka stepped down to the floor; Stoick was sitting in the large chair near the hearth. The fire seemed warmer today, pouring out through the entire first floor. The floor creaked as she made her way over to her husband.

Stoick looked behind him, “Oh, Val, how was he?”

Valka sat down in the smaller chair next to his. She watched the flames flicker, the way the yellows and oranges grew and would fall once more - even the bright blues at the very base of the fire. “He’s scared. He yelled when I tried to get close to him.”Stoick sighed, “Same with me.” He looked at her with a sad smile, “Seems like he’s not much of a people person.”Valka laughed, but it was hollow, there was very little joy at the moment, “So it seems.”There was a heavy lull in the conversation, the only sounds were that of the fire once more. It crackled, spittled and blew in the distant breeze. The flames looked as though they were dancing, spinning around each other, joining and stepping apart. The flames continued to grow smaller and smaller as the minutes dragged on.

“Do you think he’ll like it here?” That was Valka’s worst fear, that all the work they put in would be for nothing, that all those years of pain were going to be even worse if their son hated them. Valka didn’t know what she would do with herself then. At least when Hiccup was away she didn’t know that he was actually still alive, but now she did. If Hiccup hated her now she wouldn’t be able to ignore it - everything would be right in front of her.

Stoick continued to stare off into the hearth, “I think so. It was where he was meant to be after all.” He paused, “I’ve never seen anything like this before, there haven’t been any stories like this from traders or other vikings.”

The flames popped, “I wish I could understand him more, to find out what his life was like before he turned up here.”

“We’ll find out, one day.”

“I hope you’re right.”

The fire continued to die out; the shadows grew in the room until there was only darkness to be had.

*****

Toothless paced around the cell; the rocks felt colder than before; even when they were in the sanctuary, which was a world of ice, life had never been this cold. He was a drako, and drako rarely ever got cold - unless they were ice types but that was a different matter. He was a Night Fury, his internal flame made him capable of surviving the cold, now it was biting into him though, harsh and bitter.

Hiccup had been gone for days now, and there was nothing he could do to fix it. There was no way out of the cell, the guards had gotten stricter; he hadn’t seen Astrid since she had shown up after Hiccup had been taken.

He had taken a liking to the vík, which was surprising because he hated vík more than anything in the entire world. She had tried to help, in small ways, she hadn’t meant to hurt the two drako, and that was a nice change. He hadn’t wanted to trust her - that was the last thing that he wanted - but Toothless couldn’t stop the fondness from building inside of him. Now he hadn’t seen her in days and it was driving him mad.

Toothless looked out to the sky, so close yet so far, and felt his insides bend and break. He should be out there with Hiccup, the two bondmates flying away through the days and nights - pulling off all their impossible tasks. He knew he could do it now, his tail was practically healed, he would be able to make it back to the sanctuary - back home where he and Hiccup were meant to be.

But Hiccup was trapped in some place that Toothless couldn’t get to.

He huffed, burning a patch into the ground - it annoyed the guards to no end which only made Toothless do it more. The drako patted out the flames and layed down to rest. Staring up at the moon in the sky he hoped that something would happen that could fix this entire mess.

Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Chapter Text

Astrid was furious.

Was it the smartest idea to be angry at the chief of the village and his wife? No, that didn’t stop Astrid from feeling such emotion though; what was happening should not be, they were going to cause much more harm than anything else. Hiccup didn’t know how humans worked, not really, and she doubted that he was fine with being around them for so long. She didn’t know his past history with people, but there was obviously something there. Hel, he had been hurt by the people already in the past couple weeks, he had ample reason to be angry and frightened.

Astrid had never seen something like this before, it was insane to think that the man had been raised by dragons and had developed so differently than any of the other vikings on Berk - any viking that she had ever met. All the way from the way he “walked” to the way he spoke was so unlike any human way of life.

She felt for him - it wasn’t the best to feel sympathy for him, but she did. Astrid would never be able to empathize with him, she doubted that anyone would ever be able to do so, but she knew what it was like to feel different. Astrid’s family had a bit of a mark on it ever since her uncle was ostracized years ago, and it had stuck with her. She had worked harder than anything to make sure she was in good standing again, and sometimes there would still be remarks about it.

Now Hiccup was trapped up in the chief’s home, being kept like it was something to be okay with.

She hadn’t seen him in more than a week. Originally she had suspected that Hiccup had escaped, but then she saw that the Night Fury was still there, and there was no way that he would have left the dragon on Berk even if he was injured. Then it dawned on her - Stoick must have the man. It made her blood boil, anger surged through her body as she realized what was going on. Valka and Stoick wanted their family back, she knew that, the entire village knew that, but this wasn’t the way to go about it. They were going to destroy Hiccup from the inside out even if the two parents didn’t realize that. They were just trying to get back what they lost, but Hiccup wasn’t something to gain: he was a person, a living being just like she was, like Valka, Stoick, Gobber, the villagers. The man wasn’t a prize to win or something to hold onto like he was an object - the entire situation was making Astrid furious.

That was what got her stalking off into the Great Hall again, this time she wasn’t going to wait in that dastardly line, she was going to march to the front - not caring about what the rest of the village thought about her because she had a bone to pick with the chief. She didn’t know how Stoick went about getting Hiccup into that house, but it couldn’t have been through any good means. The guards had been switched out, none of the other young adults were the ones watching, they must have been in on whatever plan Stoick had come up with to get the man.

The worst part of it all was that somehow - maybe the gods were messing with her - she felt bad for the Night Fury, yes, the dragon. That was something that Astrid never thought would happen, it seemed impossible.

Astrid was quickly learning that even the things that should have been impossible weren’t. That was truly messing with her mind.

The dragon had been sullen ever since Hiccup had been taken, but there was another thing as well, like he had been through this experience before. That was painful; it was obvious that there were hundreds of stories behind those eyes that shined the same colour as Hiccup’s, but Astrid wouldn’t know what they were because she didn’t know the language that the two spoke to each other.

She wished she did, it was the first time she had ever thought about it. Nobody knew how dragons communicated, but now because of Hiccup they had a little insight, and she wanted to hear all the things that they whispered to each other. There were adventures, tragedies, tales that she was missing out on. And more stories that were to be had but wouldn’t if Hiccup was trapped away in that house.

The doors to the Great Hall were as heavy as ever, making Astrid strain a little. There was a crowd forming, as there always was, but Astrid couldn’t even care. She needed to get to the front - to show Stoick a piece of her mind. The crowd continued to speak with each other in booming voices; there were a few heads that turned as Astrid walked by, shoulders drawn back and a scowl on her face, but nobody tried to stop her. Apparently there were a few perks about being the heir to the village that she hadn’t thought about before. It worked perfectly fine for her now though, she was going to relish in this moment.

Gobber was the first person to realize that she was there, ironically enough. Valka seemed distant and Stoick was caught up with some villager. “Astrid! It’s great to see you, lass,” his smile fell as she grumbled out a reply and walked in front of the chief and his wife. “Or not.”

Astrid stood firmly in front of two older vikings, glaring up at them. She had been told from a young age that her anger was quite the symbol of power, and she needed all the power she could harness right now. “I need to speak with you both, immediately.” Valka snapped back to attention and Stoick had to stop his conversation with the other villager, “It’s regarding Hiccup.”

Stoick was the first to regain his composure, “Our son is doing quite fine.”

Astrid didn’t like the way he said that word: son. They were Hiccup’s parents, that much was true, but Hiccup didn’t seem to be their son in the typical way. They all shared the same blood, a family name, but there were harsh differences between parent and child - differences that broke that bond that Astrid had with her own parents.

She wished that Hiccup was still their son, that all of this went down in a much simpler manner, but that didn’t seem like it was feasible now. Hiccup wasn’t human - not in the ways that mattered - but Stoick and Valka were painfully so. They lived like proper vikings and Hiccup lived like a dragon, and everybody knew just how horrible those two groups got along. “I don’t think that’s the case, Stoick.”

“Astrid, dear, maybe we should take this conversation -”

“Somewhere private? No, I think I’m alright having it right where we are.”

The crowd was beginning to hush, all tuning into the conversation that was happening in front of them. Astrid knew this was going to cause a scene, that was the point - if it didn’t then it was highly unlikely that any change was going to come, and she needed change. She couldn’t have Hiccup trapped in that house like a prisoner because his parents were too scared of letting him go. There had to be some kind of alternate way. That other way had yet to show itself, but Astrid was sure that it existed.

Stoick’s gaze harshed for a moment before he was able to quell his rising nerves. “Alright, you want to talk? We’ll talk.”

“Stoick-”

“No, the girl has spoken her terms.” He placed a hand on top of Valka’s, “And we’ll agree to them.”

Astrid bowed her head slightly, showing the most miniscule amount of respect; Stoick was still the chief after all. “Thank you.”Stoick shifted in his seat, “So this is to discuss Hiccup? What do you want to know about the boy?”

Her mind suddenly went blank; Astrid hadn’t expected that this would actually work, usually Stoick was so well, stoic, that seeing him act somewhat pleasant was off putting. She crossed her arms, feeling a heart beat painfully against her chest, “I would like to know why he’s not in the arena like we had originally discussed.”

She knew she was putting the chief in a rough spot, he had yet to formally announce that the man they had locked up in the arena was actually his son - that could have caused a public outrage if not taken care of properly - but here she was, about to release the secret for all. He huffed, “You know full well why he’s in my home.”

“Do I? Maybe I want to clear up the details.”

“Astrid.” The way he spoke her name sent chills down her spine. That voice came from a man who killed dragons before he had turned thirteen, the voice of a man who had fought in seamlessly endless battles and still came out without a scratch. “I never thought that you would be one to want to cause a scene.”

“Is that what I’m doing?” The woman challenged, “I’m just asking what’s one everyones’ mind. A man from a place that we know nothing about, with a Night Fury that seems to be his companion, is living in your home without much of a second thought. I believe its more than reasonable to wonder why that could possibly be.” Her voice sounded confident and collected even if she was anything but. Defying the chief like this was a horrible idea, one of the worst she had ever had, but it needed to be said. She needed Berk to know the truth about what was happening on the island - hiding things from them would only cause even more of an uproar later when it inevitably came out. If she wanted to get Hiccup out? Well, she wouldn’t say that now, Stoick was already roused and probably wouldn’t calm down for a long while.

Stoick glared down at her, Valka frantic at his side. Gobber seemed a bit awestruck at the shiedmaiden’s act: Astrid never acted like this. “He’s a traveler, it's best that I keep a good eye on him.” The crowd hummed a response, they easily bought the lie. “Having him and that dragon together can pose a problem, it was best that we separated them.” Stoick looked down at her, challenging the woman to utter something more. It would be his words against hers. Even if she had worked hard to gain the respect of her tribe, even if she was next in line for chief hood, they wouldn’t believe Astrid over Stoick, and the man knew it.

He knew his people like the back of his hand and was playing them like pawns against Astrid. She had to forfeit for now, “I see.” She turned to leave, but she looked back at the last moment before walking off, “A strange man in the house of the chief, sounds like a recipe for disaster.” She didn’t let the man say anymore, instead Astrid walked through the grand doors and never spared another look behind her.

There was fire building up inside her, not unlike a dragon even. She couldn’t believe that Stoick would just lie to the villagers like that, feed them some sort of half truth. Sure, he was well within his rights to make sure that there wasn’t any uproar in the tribe, but this didn’t seem like the way to go about it. Once one person let something through about who Hiccup actually was, it would be all over. Astrid didn’t know if she had the guts to do it though - if she did that she would risk being outcast.

The entire situation made her sick.

She stomped off to the arena, clutching her axe with a white knuckles grip: she would have to make sure that the Night Fury was still alright, at least that would make one of them.

*****

The four walls began to be very boring after he stared at them for days on end.

The wood grains weren’t all that interesting, and even the vík bed was beginning to grow uncomfortable. Hiccup would much rather be curled up in the cell with Toothless, even if that meant being locked behind bars again.

Sitting in this room wasn’t much less of a cell though. The two vík that kept him here just pretended that it was better; they must have known that Hiccup despised this place, more than any other place he had ever been trapped. At least Viggo’s chamber had interesting maps and pictures - these walls were practically barren. The two rooms were both completely devoid of any outside life though, not a window or a door that he could get through. There was the entrance, bolted shut for most of the day.

If Stoick’s plan was to make Hiccup like this place - to make him believe that this was supposed to be a home - then he was doing a shoddy job at showing it.

There was a bowl of food on the desk next to the door, it had been steaming when it was brought to Hiccup, but now it was ice cold. Hiccup wasn’t about to eat vík food; he didn’t exactly trust what the two were bringing him either ever since the entire incident with the cloth and him passing out.Hiccup scowled, if only he had been more alert, if he fought back harder, he would have never been in this situation: he and Toothless would have been together. That seemed to be a recurring theme in his life; Hiccup wished he would learn better from his mistakes instead of making the same ones over and over again.

He had been told throughout his life that he was too trusting, that he was always looking for the best in others. They weren’t wrong when they said that, but Hiccup didn’t think that that was truly a bad trait - it just so happened that the figures around him constantly tried to hurt him; Hiccup couldn’t have predicted that any of that would happen.

Hiccup paced the room for the millionth time, scratching at the door frame and pawing at the wooden floor. This room felt like it was made to drive him insane. There were only a few objects, and all of them reminded Hiccup of the humanity that he didn’t have, the kind that Stoick and Valka wanted him to have. It wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t want to be human - he wanted to be a drako because that was what he was meant to be.

Very few humans recognized that, Astrid seemed like she understood on a surface level, but even that was better than the horrible box that his “parents” were pushing him into. They wanted their son back, Hiccup could understand that, if he had a fledgling that went missing and suddenly showed up he would want to protect them with his life too, but this wasn’t protecting and if it was it was taking the idea to the maximum level.

Caging a drako took away its will to live, its drive and passion. The skies, the open world, the vast expanse of the universe was where drako were meant to be, not in a dingy, desolate, and completely dark room with the same amount of joy as a funeral. Hiccup wanted to touch the clouds again, to feel the mist of the ocean against his skin, the wooden boards were digging into his paws like spurs, the smell of the hearth continuously blowing down below was making him sick - which was quite the statement coming from someone who was raised around more than a little bit of flame.

There was the knocking on the door again - Hiccup’s days revolved around that knock since there was no sunlight to tell him when day and night was. He could tell in smaller ways though, like when there would be the door below opening and then closing, heavy footsteps walking through - that happened in the mornings and nights, or at least that was what he assumed. Stoick must have been going off to do whatever it was that the chief did.

Valka’s steps were typically lighter, though when she tried to sneak around they were heavier - she wasn’t the best at that. She would come around three times a day to bring Hiccup food that he would never touch. There was fear in that food, there was also fear in the woman’s eyes as she came through the door. It wasn’t fair.

Hiccup didn’t enjoy being feared by this woman, maybe he would have if she had done something terrible - besides keeping him trapped away - but as it was Hiccup didn’t find joy from seeing her eyes flit around the room.

Valka seemed different now, a bit more high strung than she usually was if that was even possible. Hiccup didn’t think it was at least. Her shoulders were a bit more raised than normal, her jaw clenched and arms tight to her side. Something had happened. Hiccup sniffed the air: Astrid; he could smell Astrid in the air. Was she going to come?

He wanted her to come; that woman had sense, she would be able to get him out of here. Valka shut the door behind her though - so, no Astrid then. Great. Hiccup curled up against the wall like he typically did; he didn’t enjoy these visits at all. He abhorred the way that Valka would look at him with the sadness in her eyes, like she felt sorry for him even though she was the reason he was stuck in here. It was dramatically ironic - practically painful.

By the end of her visits she would get teary eyed, sometimes taking whatever bowl of food Hiccup hadn’t touched and trying to get him to each. Every time he would flinch back, not wanting whatever poisonous substance was in the “food”. He hadn’t been poisoned physically from vík food before, but he didn’t like the hand that fed him - he would bite it if he so pleased.

Valka had once eaten it in front of him to show that it was safe, but that made things worse. It was vík food, not drako food, so therefore Hiccup had no reason to eat it. The bowl, the thing that Valka held in her hand that dripped with whatever substance she was attempting to feed him today - everything shouted human. Hiccup hated being human, the way his body looked like the humans and how the vík thought he wanted to be one of them.

That was the last thing he wanted.

Why would he want to be a part of the group that killed his friends, his family, that was like asking if he wanted to be the bad queen, the one that murdered her nest. Of course he wouldn’t want to be, that would be simply preposterous, but the vík acted like that was the only possible outcome. How wrong they were.

Valka sat down on the floor in front of Hiccup. Her eyes weren’t ringed with red like they normally were when she saw him - after all these visits it must have been getting easier to see her not son. If anything she looked a bit annoyed today, like someone had stolen her fish. Hiccup doubted that was what happened though. Was it something Astrid did? The scent of the woman was drifting through the room. That would make sense, the two women seemed to have two very different views on how to handle Hiccup’s stay on Berk.

Personally, Hiccup approved of Astrid’s notion to let him go, to be a drako again, but he was biased.

Valka placed something down in front of her, it looked like a book. “I thought I would bring you something, it's quite boring in here I’ve noticed, but since it's best if you stay here until Stoick settles everything with the rest of the village, I wanted to have something to keep you occupied.”

Hiccup looked between the book and the woman. Was she mad? If that book contained vík words, and it must have because drako didn’t have a written language, then Hiccup wouldn’t be able to read any of it - this would all be useless.

His expression must have shown his confusion because Valka laughed a little; the sound caught Hiccup off guard from how sudden and off putting it was. “Oh dear, don’t worry, there’s lots of pictures since I doubt you can read Norse.”

Hiccup couldn’t tell what she was saying, but he watched intently as she began to sift through the pages. He looked, awestruck at the images that danced across the pages.

Drako.

There were nearly hundreds of drako documented on these pages. He assumed the writing was about the different species, where they lived, descriptions of their appearances, fire types, but he couldn’t tell since the chicken scratch symbols meant nothing to him. The drawing though - oh gods those were wonderful.

They were so detailed, more detailed than he would have ever been able to do with just his burned sticks. They sprawled across the pages, spanning from page to page. There were Gronkles, Zipplebacks, Nadders, every single type that he would have ever been able to think of. There weren’t all of them, which went to show how little vík knew about drako, but there were more than he would have ever anticipated. As Hiccup flipped through the pages, being careful as to not tear any of them, a small appeared on his face. That was the first time that had happened while he was in this house. Finally, as Hiccup flipped another page, he saw the most beautiful image of them all: a Night Fury.

He traced the lines as gently as he could; he didn’t want to ruin the perfection of the page. There wasn’t as much writing on these pages as the others, that was probably because there were so few Night Furies left, the only one that Hiccup knew of was his own bondmate. In all their years of travel, all the hunters they’d encountered, never once had there been another Night Fury out there. It was heartbreaking every time, but Toothless kept a smile about it all. That just made him all the more special after all.

Hiccup clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth and let out a “ss” sound. Toothless. He wanted Toothless back; he needed to make sure that his bondmate was still safe, that he hadn’t been hurt by the vík - yet. Always yet because there would always come a day when they tried to hurt the drako and Hiccup couldn’t let that happen. He would lay down his life a thousand times before somebody hurt Toothless.

Valka looked at him with surprise, usually he kept fairly silent, “That’s right, that’s a Night Fury.”Hiccup scowled. Valka and Stoick, most of the vík out in the world really, always treated him like a fledgling because they couldn’t understand their words. Just because he didn’t speak their language didn’t mean he couldn’t understand in other ways, ways that mattered much more in his humble opinion. “*click*-ss.* Toothless, Toothless, Toothless. The drako’s name repeated through his thoughts like a mantra. He needed to be safe, the other surely wouldn’t be happy, but as long as he was safe everything would be okay.

The realization must have finally dawned on Valka, “That’s its name isn’t it? That’s the Night Fury’s name?”Hiccup nodded, even though he hated when the vík referred to Toothless like he was an object, as if he wasn’t the most important thing in Hiccup’s entire life. “Mhm.”

“My gods-” She gasped, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. Whatever tension she had before was slipping away now as the two had one of the most broken conversations in the history of conversations. It seemed to be working though. The woman tried to repeat the sound again, though it was completely wrong - that made Hiccup laugh some - even though he didn’t want Valka to think he was enjoying himself at all because he very much wasn’t.

This wasn’t a happy place, it wasn’t supposed to be a place where joy prospered. Maybe in another life it was. Maybe, and that was one of the biggest maybes that Hiccup had ever thought of, there was a life where he lived here and he was happy. Toothless would need to be with him of course, because there would never be a life where he was truly happy without his bondmate. That life was impossible now, too many things had been set in motion to go back and change everything, so Hiccup didn’t want to dwell too much on it. What he needed to do now was come up with a plan for how he was going to get his life back - some way that he would escape and put this all behind him.

Berk wasn’t home, no matter how many books with gorgeous drawings of drako Valka tried to give him or however many times Stoick was going to lock him away in some kind of cage. Hiccup’s life was with Toothless in the nest, with Cloudjumper and Frostbreath and Torch and all the other drako that he had formed a bond with over the years. These vík could try all they wanted, for as long as they wanted, but Hiccup wasn’t going to fold to their ways of life, to the notions they tried to throw at him.

He pushed the book back towards Valka, shutting the cover as he did so.

Life became somewhat less drab after that; Valka had tried giving him more books, making sure they had lots of pictures, and Hiccup would flip through them before he got saddened again and pushed them away. There were a million things floating in his head, and a million things that weren’t happening how he wanted them to.

Somehow, even though it had been terrible and probably more dangerous, Hiccup wished he was back at Viggo’s camp. At least when he was there he knew what to do, he was able to come up with a proper plan, but now there was nothing. He didn’t know if Toothless was healed yet, so what would happen if he did escape only to find Toothless still injured, or even worse killed. Viggo had made it fairly clear that he wasn’t going to kill the other drako because Toothless was special, he didn’t think these vík had the same qualms.

If they hurt Toothless in any way, even if it was a scratch, Hiccup wouldn’t be able to live with himself - knowing that his bondmate had been injured because of his stupidity that began this entire mess would eat him from the inside out until there was nothing left of him. No amount of picture books in the world would help fix that.

Astrid hadn’t been around either, she seemed to not be on talking terms anymore with Stoick and Valka if the scent getting fainter and fainter was any clue. That was odd though, Astrid seemed like she was important to the village, like she was going to be their leader one day; she should be with Stoick all the time. That wasn’t the case though. Hiccup had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what caused that falling out.

Hiccup forced himself to eat something, the fish out of whatever other strange food he was presented with. No matter how much he didn’t want to, he didn’t want to starve either. If he wanted to get out of here one day - he reasoned - then he couldn’t be a weak pile of bones. And if he died then Toothless would be completely distraught, and he didn’t want that either. Hiccup wanted Toothless to be happy, to get out of here and feel the wind on his wings, the salty breeze of the ocean on his snout, but he wouldn’t do any of that if he found out that Hiccup had died. He would fall into the worst of depressions - nearly all bondmates did when they learned their other half had died.

Hiccup couldn’t let that happen, he would do just about anything in his power to make sure that it never came to that.

Today was a different sort of day, after all the time he was in this house he was finally going to be leaving this room. There would finally be more than just four wooden walls and a bed that didn’t feel like a real bed. Valka had stepped inside to get him, a nervous smile on his face. He wasn’t sure if this would be a good idea - usually it wasn’t - but he needed to get out of here before he actually lost his mind. Hiccup wouldn’t be able to have the life he wanted after this if his mind was all scattered.

Valka tried to get him to stand like a vík, which hadn’t gone well. He wasn’t meant to stand on his hind legs, no matter how much his biology tried to convince him differently. After all those years of walking on all fours he wasn’t going to be able to go back to walking on two again. It felt wrong, like he was completely off balance. It probably looked a bit funny, him walking down the stairs - which were terrifying by the way - as Valka stepped down with him. It was slow going to say the least.

The fire smell was stronger now that it wasn’t blocked out by the heavy door. If Hiccup paid close enough attention he could feel the heat radiating back to him. When he saw the scene in front of him he almost wanted to hurry back into the room, it would have been much more agreeable that way. Stoick was there, and he didn’t look happy in the slightest. Something was going on that was throwing this entire village off balance.

Hiccup knew it was his fault, if he wasn’t here then everything would have continued. It should have been a clear sign that he needed to go, but neither Valka or Stoick seemed to catch up on that. They wanted their son back, which he could understand, but he didn’t need to be here, he needed to be as far from here as he could possibly be.

Stoick looked at him, not in a threatening way, but it still managed to get a shiver to run down Hiccup’s spine. In all his fights, all the battles he had been through, Hel even the foe he had gone up against - none of them made him more scared than when he looked up at the beast that was his father. Or what should have been his father.

When Hiccup looked between the man and himself he couldn’t believe that they were related at all, it didn’t seem possible. The man was built like a boar and just as stubborn; he was strong and sturdy, the very opposite of Hiccup’s own appearance. Though their eyes were similar, which made Hiccup sick - for as long as he could remember his eyes were like Toothless’, all bright emeralds and vibrant olive tones. There was an otherworldliness about their eyes that made them perfect for each other.

And now, after meeting Stoick, he was meant to believe that he shared his eyes with that vík? No, Hiccup didn’t want to think about it - he didn’t want to think about much these days really. He would rather be anywhere else than standing in front of this man at this moment.

“Hiccup.” Stoick’s voice was wavering, unlike his expression. It was simple to mask one’s physical emotions when they learned how, but the voice? That could give away things in an instant if you weren’t careful. Hiccup was practiced in picking up the little signs, those of which Stoick was showing many of - probably without him even realizing.

He paced forward, making miniscule movements; it took all of Hiccup’s restraint to now bolt up the stairs, but Valka was standing there. No matter what he wanted to do, there was going to be someone blocking him from reaching his goal - even if that goal was to trap himself again.

He shook his head in displeasure. “Nuh, bad, bad, bad!” He yelled out. Hiccup wanted to be with Toothless again, he would even take being with Astrid - even if she was a vík - then being with Stoick and Valka.

Valka extended her hands, trying to show that there was no harm coming, perhaps to show that neither of them were a threat - but Hiccup felt quite threatened right now. He was panting, eyes darting across the room. Usually he could keep his composure in less than ideal situations; this situation seemed to be an outlier though.

He tried to back up, to get far from the grasp of either of the vík, but there weren’t many places he could go. After all, it was just a house, with a mostly barren floor plan - if Hiccup wanted a place to hide he wasn’t going to find it here.

“Stoick,” Valka stepped towards her husband, “How about we stand back for a moment, to let Hiccup acclimate to everything. He’s probably scared now that he’s in a new environment after all.”

Hiccup didn’t know her words, but whatever they were seemed to halt the man from coming any closer, which was really the best that he could hope for. The man still looked down at him with that dark expression, but it seemed to be lightening ever so slightly. Hiccup didn’t know if that was a good sign or not. He would be glad to know that he was safe once more, but he didn’t want these vík to think that they were breaking through his exterior - that would never happen. He swallowed hard, heart still racing its quick speed.

Everything seemed to be put on pause for a moment as the three figured out what they were going to do next. Stoick still looked threatening, Valka seemed to be trying to look caring, and Hiccup was still terrified of the two vík before him.

Scared, Valka had said he was scared, and that much was true. Vík were a scary group of beings that he would never fully understand, but at least the woman was conscious of the fact that Hiccup couldn’t be around these people without feeling dread settle in his stomach.

He wanted to run, but his paws seemed glued to the floor, claws digging into the wooden planks. Looking around, the only exit in sight was the front door, he assumed it would lead to freedom at least, this could be like Viggo’s camp where most of the doors seemed to lead into a whole lot of nothing. There were a few windows as well, but those would be far too small for him to get through - his best bet was the door - whenever the opportunity came at least.

There was a large table as well, that was probably where they had meals, there were also those chairs that were in front of the hearth. It seemed like a very plain house, unlike what he would have expected from the chief of a vík tribe. Viggo’s chambers had been filled with shiny things, a sign of status, Stoick didn’t seem to like many shiny things.

There was a picture on the wall though that truly caught his attention. There was a man on it, with red hair that Hiccup assumed was Stoick, next to him was Valka, much smaller and with long auburn locks cascading down her shoulders. It was really the figure between them that made Hiccup curious. It was him, but it wasn’t him. He guessed that the family had wanted a picture done of the three of them, but this image of him seemed much older than a hatchling, instead he was similar to how old Hiccup was now, grown, and broadwing.

It wasn’t Hiccup though, this man was more filled out, not as lanky as Hiccup was. His eyes seemed colder, even though they were the same green as his own. The clothing also made Hiccup reel back, they were obviously for battle - and not the type of battles that he had been through. In his hands was an axe, sharp and deadly. Hiccup wouldn’t pick up something like that in a million years. Those weapons killed drako, slaughtered them without remorse.

Was this the man his biological parents had wanted him to be? A killer? Hiccup couldn’t deny that he had indeed killed before, like the bad queen and some hunter vík who hadn’t been able to swim from their sunken ships, but that was a very different picture than murdering innocent drako who were only trying to survive.

He growled at the picture, gaining the attention of the two vík. “Oh, yes,” Valka walked over to the picture, pointing at the man between her and Stoick with a smile on her face, “That’s you.” She looked at it a bit more intently, “Though, I guess we should have another done now that we know what you actually look like. What do you think about that? The three of us can have a proper family portrait.”Hiccup wanted to gag at the idea of being seen with the two. They were not his family no matter how much they wanted to pretend they were. They had not raised him; they did not understand him, and for that they would never be his family. Hiccup had one - back in the nest - and he wouldn’t give them up for anything.

He looked towards Valka - she seemed like she was clinging on for dear life - but it wasn’t worth it in the end. She was holding onto something completely unobtainable, wasn’t that obvious. He knew that vík could be a bit stupid, he’d met his fair share of idiot, but he didn’t think that they would be completely oblivious to the apparent things in front of them. Turning to Stoick he saw a very similar expression on the man’s face.

Oh.

They didn’t think this was unobtainable. The two vík were hurting so deeply, for so long, that they thought this could happen; Stoick and Valka genuinely thought that they would be able to repair the “family” and move along like nothing had ever happened. But that wasn’t fair. That wasn’t fair in the slightest. Hiccup wasn’t going to live here, and he most certainly wasn’t going to pretend like the last twenty years of his life hadn’t been important, that they hadn’t been real.

He had a life, didn’t they see that, or did their own naiveness cloud every thought that they had? That must have been the case. The worst part was that Hiccup couldn’t fully blame them. Yes, they had went about this entire thing in the worst way possible, trapping Hiccup away from Toothless - from everyone in general - was never going to win them him affections, but he knew that they were doing what they thought was best.

There went his fatal flaw again, making him stupidly sympthasize with his captors yet again. This seemed to be a recurring theme in Hiccup’s life. He didn’t like it all that much when he really thought about it.

He shook his head, looking from the painting to Valka and Stoick, “Nuh, nuh me.” Hiccup couldn’t be that, he was never going to be a drako killer - he would be killing his own kind, even if he wasn’t biologically the same as the drako he most certainly was one - and he wasn’t going to be a vík. He had made that promise a year ago and he was going to keep it for as long as he lived.

Valka kneeled down to his level, “Oh, Hiccup, it is. I promise, we can get this all sorted out and we can be happy together.”Happy together? Them? What was happiness if he didn’t have Toothless, or any of the other family in his life? He couldn’t feel happiness if they weren’t by his side. The past few weeks - however long he had been here because the days were really starting to blend together - had been some of the worst in his entire life. Hiccup felt so empty more alone than he had ever felt. At least in Viggo’s camp he had been brought around the other drako, in here there were no others - the only other drako on the island was Toothless and he was expressly forbidden from seeing him. Bondmate or not.

Hiccup wanted to cry, but he didn’t want the vík to see that they were hurting him emotionally; he needed to stay strong, to put on a brave face. “Nuh. Want *click*-ss want mp-*hiss*” He knew that Valka and Stoick wouldn’t have a single clue what those words meant, but Hiccup needed to say their names aloud, to feel that they were still with him in the smallest of ways. “We,” he looked from himself to Valka, “Nuh family.”

Valka gasped, a hand coming over her mouth - Stoick stood in shocked silence. That was probably the most vík thing he had said, the language was difficult for him to pronounce, but he tried his best to get his point across in a way that the two would understand.

Even if he resented speaking the vík language.

There were tears forming in the woman’s eyes that made Hiccup feel a bit bad, a put forming in his stomach. He knew that it was going to hurt the vík; he knew that and still decided to say it because it was the truth and they needed to understand that. There wasn’t a family in this house - not a real one anyway - they just pretended to play their little game and hoped that Hiccup would play along too. Well, he was sick of playing, he wanted out. There wasn’t an out though, no matter how much he tried they didn’t listen. Hopefully speaking their words would make them listen a little more, even if they didn’t like what they heard.

“Stoick, he…”

“I know Val; I know.” His voice was cold as ice, but there was something else that Hiccup hadn’t heard in it before. Remorse. Desperation. Now wasn’t that just the best thing ever, it wasn’t like that made him feel horrible for saying the truth or anything.

Stoick walked over to his chair again, with heavy footfalls. He seemed so… Defeated. Hiccup doubted that that was an emotion he felt very often - damn this was harder than Hiccup thought. He shook his head, looking down to the floor. No. He was allowed to be angry at them, to hate them even, they had trapped him here and taken him away from the most important figure in Hiccup’s life. Just because they were his biological parents didn’t mean they magically got a pass.

The house became terribly silent - he had sat in silence in this house before, but now it felt completely different. There was a haze over the house, a blanket that stifled them all. Hiccup wanted to be angry; he wanted to lash out, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t hurt these vík more than he already had, it felt like putting salt in a wound. That wouldn’t be fair either.

Hiccup might be going through the worst pain of his life - the greatest emotional turmoil he had faced - yet that didn’t feel like it gave him the right to hurt them anymore. He felt as though he had gotten the revenge that others spoke of. He ducked his head in shame.

At least now it seemed like he would be going home.

*****

Astrid took a deep breath, letting the wind brush past her cheeks.

She needed a moment of calm, just a few seconds where everything would feel alright - normal and happy. Happiness on Berk was a strange thing, it was most definitely there, but there was the fair share of turmoil and distress. It was hard to live on this island, that much was true, that didn’t mean there wasn’t happiness to be found here though. Her family had lived here for generations, she had a place here and for the past twenty years she had thought the same as the rest of the village. Astrid fit in, it was obvious. She was strong, a warrior; when she had been offered to slay the dragon at the end of training she had taken it up without a second thought.

That was back then.

But here in front of her, she couldn’t find a monster. The Night Fury was greatly saddened, ever since Hiccup was taken away he had been suffering. Astrid never thought that dragons could feel emotions - they seemed like they were simply beasts of killing - but here was one, one of the deadliest in the world, and he had been trying to protect Hiccup. A dragon taking care of a person, how peculiar.

Astrid had spent a lot of time with the dragon over the past few weeks, as she tried to come up with a plan. Hiccup needed to get off of Berk, Astrid knew that. He wasn’t meant to be here no matter how much Stoick and Valka wanted it. He wasn’t a viking, not in the slightest, he was a dragon in everything but body. He could speak their language and live with them - he probably had other dragons out there that were looking for him.

It broke Astrid’s heart to think that he was missing his family; when members of her family died she had mourned for months. Did the dragons think Hiccup was dead? She hoped not, even if it would have been difficult to think he was alive they needed to hold their hope.

Tonight she was visiting the dragon for what should have been the last time, or at least she hoped. Not that she hated seeing the dragon, if anything he had become a bit of comfort - oddly enough - over the past few weeks. It was strange being friendly with a dragon, but there were stranger things in the world than this. Like a man speaking with dragons, that was surely strange.

Astrid sat on the stone floor in the arena, she had sent the guards away for a few hours, bribing them with some mead. The dragon awoke when she came, probably smelling her or something like that. They typically sat in silence with one another, soaking in each other’s company. They didn’t speak all that often.

Tonight she had to speak though, she had to break the silence, “I’m going to get him back. You guys are going to go to whatever home you came from.”

The Night Fury locked eyes with her; those eyes didn’t seem that terrifying anymore. They were full of emotion, seemingly just as emotional as humans. At first it had scared her with how much the dragon was like a person, the way he looked at her and how he seemed to try to communicate with her made it seem like she was trying to be somewhat human, or at last seem human enough to have a companionship with Astrid.

The dragon warbled, crooning almost at the sound of Hiccup’s name, “I know, it’s been taking a while, but I’m going to talk to Valka and Stoick again, see what I can do.” She inched closer - her heart beating harshly in her chest. Her hand began to raise slightly, “I’ll get Hiccup back to you.”

Astrid reached out further, her hand sliding through the bars, “I promise you that.”

The Night Fury looked her up and down, she swallowed hard. With one more deep breath she looked aside and felt something incredibly.

It was warm, smooth to a point where she thought she was touching a salamander. She turned back hesitantly, the Night Fury opened his eyes once more, locking them with Astrid’s. There was the sound of boots hitting the ground behind her. Both the dragon and Astrid jumped back at the sight of the guards coming back. She stood up, trying to seem like everything was perfectly normal.

She stalked out of the arena with her shoulders drawn back.

Tomorrow. Astrid was going to make sure her promise was kept.

Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Chapter Text

Astrid had taken multiple tracks around the island already, hoping that the nervous energy would leave her body, but of course it hadn’t done so yet. There was nothing she could do to make herself calm down. She had trained for a while, destroying a few tree trunks in her wake. The forest had echoed with the sound of her axe swings and yells.

Today she was truly going to confront Stoick and Valka about what they were doing to their son. This was no way to treat anyone, especially not someone they supposedly loved so much. If they loved their son then they would know they had to let him go, leave the nest or something like that. Hiccup had a life that was different from Berk, it was different than anything Astrid had ever seen before but it seemed important to him, and that was what mattered.

She swore that she was going to keep her promise to the Night Fury - as crazy as that sounded - and now her heart was racing now that the time had come. Astrid had woken with the sun, earlier than she usually did. As she got ready and walked around the village it seemed like she was the only one awake.

Astrid found herself in the cove that she had found Hiccup and the dragon. It was such a serene sight that for a few minutes she could ignore the panic rising in her chest and soak in the warm sunrise. Birds tweeted in the branches, fish swam through the pound, and the trees and foliage looked wonderful. This place looked so untouched by the village despite how close it was from the bustling of the vikings. Maybe that was why Hiccup had chosen this place to stay, hoping that the vikings wouldn’t come to it.

She wished that they hadn’t.

If she hadn’t followed Stoick’s order and gone after the man then they wouldn’t be in this mess. This problem seemed like just as much her fault as it was the chief’s. She had free will, she should have used it to its potential. Though she never could have intimated that there would have been a man - and Hel Astrid really couldn’t have guessed that the man would have been the long lost son of the chief and his wife. Stoick and Valka had been searching for years; they finally had to come to the conclusion that Hiccup was dead.

She didn’t know what she would have done if she was in their situation. Astrid would have been distraught, hoping that the probable wasn’t the truth. But would she have locked him away from the rest of the world? Most likely no. Hiccup didn’t deserve that, they didn’t even treat prisoners like this so why were they treating Hiccup this way? The entire situation was horrifying.

Astrid placed her axe in its holder, scaling down the rocky wall of the cove. In her adrenaline last time she hadn’t realized how difficult it actually was to scale; it was a lot easier with other people to assist that was for sure. She landed with a huff, turning back to face the water and internal structure of the environment.

In another world, she most likely would have been here again, maybe stumbling upon it by accident, maybe she would have been told to come here. Astrid wondered if Hiccup and the Night Fury were in that other world too, if the man had never been taken away. A million what if scenarios ran through her head - the biggest involving the two.

Would they have still found each other if Hiccup hadn’t been stolen away that night?

It didn’t seem likely, but at the same time the thought of Hiccup and the Night Fury not being together seemed impossible. There was no way that the world could keep them apart: the two looked as though they would fight against the gods themselves to be with each other. It was beautiful, in a tragic sort of way, the way that the two of them would always find each other in whatever world they were in.

There was a calming breeze that fluttered through the trees, making leaves dance in the air; it was such a perfect sight. This was the calm before the inevitable storm, when everything was going to turn sour. There was no avoiding it - that much was true - there was going to be something wrong that happened. Trying to tell Stoick and Valka that their son needed to leave wasn’t going to be easy, and they weren’t going to take it well at all.

They wanted to keep him hauled up in that house, away from anything that could steal him away again. Astrid was already in hot water with Stoick from her little scene in front of the villagers in the mead hall. If that was bad, this was going to be ten times worse. Part of her wanted to do it out in the open, to make sure that Hiccup got the help that he deserved, but Astrid’s heart wasn’t in that plan. This was a private matter so she was going to handle it privately.

Astrid sat in silence for a few more minutes, letting the sun kiss her cheeks and the wind brush away all the troubles that were bubbling up in her mind. It was the only thing that she could do right now. The day was anew, and hopefully that was a sign that something was going to go well for once.

Astrid didn’t go to the chief’s house at the first moment she could, if anything she had to waste the day doing minor tasks to get him and Valka alone after the day’s duties were finished. Every time she spoke with another person her heart raced faster and faster, knowing that soon enough she would be facing Stoick to tell him something that he never wanted to hear.

It was a gut wrenching day, a day full of suffering.

Astrid did everything she possible could to distract herself, she even helped out doing some tasks that were most definitely stupid, but were enough to turn her attention to something else even if it was only a few minutes.

But the inevitable came, as the sun was starting to set in the sky, reaching out towards the west. She trekked up the stairs again, counting each one as she did. One, two, three, four. If this went horribly, horribly wrong then she could be outcast. She would be forced to leave her family and friends, everything that she had worked so hard to create would be gone. Five, six, seven, eight. It was hard to believe that so much had happened in such a short amount of time, if a few months was really that short. Sadly for most of that time Hiccup had been trapped in the bedroom that was acting much more like a prison than a bedroom these days.

There were only a few steps left, but Astrid paused in her movements.What was she doing? Was she really about to go through with this? It seemed like such a stupid thing to do; there was so much that could be lost and she was risking it all for a man she barely knew and a dragon, a dragon of all things? Astrid must have been going mad, that was the only explanation of why she was doing such a stupid thing.

“Astrid! Dear, I’m glad to see you again, it's been a while since you’ve been around here.” Valka was carrying something at her side, a smile on her face. She looked much more tired than the last time she had seen the woman, there were dark circles forming under her eyes.

She took a deep breath as she stood for a moment, letting Valka walk up to her side. “It’s good to see you too.” There was a knot in her stomach as they walked to the door. Stoick was going to be in that house, before Astrid could even turn she would be facing the man she had criticized a few weeks prior. She tried to calm herself a bit more before opening the door. Valka walked in first, without hesitancy, but Astrid paused a few moments before following behind. The older woman tried to pretend that this was alright, that everything was going as normal - but they both knew that there was something darker lurking beneath the surface. She had been there when Astrid had gone off at Stoick - both times; at least Valka didn’t hate her though. If she did she didn’t show it very well. That was nice enough, Astrid needed someone in the Haddock household that could actually tolerate her.

Stoick was at the table, looking through a few papers. Valka didn’t falter as she put her basket down, trying to make light conversation. Astrid looked throughout the house - Hiccup was nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t any sign that he was here at all, or that he had been here. It was strange, painful even. If Stoick and Valka hadn’t wanted Hiccup to be included they were doing a horrible job of showing it.

She knew she was going to have to say something, they couldn’t stay in this awkward state for forever. Astrid knew that it was going to be a terrible time, but she was doing this for Hiccup, for the promise she had to the Night Fury. Which was still one of the most strangest things that had ever happened to her. “Stoick?”The man looked up from his papers. He didn’t look as cold this time, something had softened within him, those eyes were as deadly as before. There were a million things that she wanted to ask, but that could just start another argument - one bigger than the one that was inevitable. “Astrid,” he set the papers now, “I’m happy you’re here again, it's been a shame without you.”

The young woman hesitantly moved forward, “It’s been a difficult few weeks.” Another pause, “I think we both know why I’m here.”

Stoick sighed, rubbing his temples. “We do. I-” His voice cut off. Astrid couldn’t do anything to help, she felt horrible. This was the worst experience of her life. “He’s upstairs. We tried to bring him down, but he didn’t like the room.”

Astrid wanted to scoff at that, they way the man couldn’t say Hiccup’s name, it was sickening. At the same time, she couldn’t, she didn’t dare. There was still compassion within the man’s heart, regardless of how covered it may seem. She didn’t want him to feel any worse than he already did: he didn’t deserve that.

For a majority of Astrid’s life Stoick had been one of the stronger figures in her life. He was there through everything. When her uncle had been through the wringer because of the Flightmare, and then threw his banishment and death. Astrid had been through everything after that, the taunts from the other children, and even the remarks from the adults of the tribe. Stoick had been there to bring her back to her fearless self, the confidence that she had was back after the man had helped her get back on her feet.

When she had killed the dragon in the arena, Stoick had given her the title of heir - something that everyone knew was coming but there was still a huge celebration because of it. She had loved every moment she lived with that man. Stoick had helped her through so much that she couldn’t hate him, even if he was doing the most heinous thing Astrid could think of.

She wanted to go up those stairs and see Hiccup, she actually missed the man even though she didn’t know him all that well, but Astrid knew that she had to have this conversation now. There was no more postponing it. She walked the few steps it took to reach the table, sitting down in the chair opposite of Stoick. “Hiccup can’t stay here, you know that,” she pleaded.

Stoick ducked his head, “We can’t let him leave, after all these years we’re going to give him up?” He swallowed hard, “We can’t do that.”

Astrid couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “Stoick. You know you can’t do that.” Valka paused in her movements; she stood like a statue. It was like the entire house had gone silent, a fog put over the place that kept them still as the dead.

Valka turned to look at the two, “Astrid, my son… How am I supposed to give him away?”

Stoick wiped his eye, slowly, “Its been too long, imagine if someone you loved so dearly showed up on your doorstep, after you thought they were dead for so long. You wouldn’t want to ever let them go. You must understand that.”

“I do.” Astrid couldn’t reach his eyes, “If this happened to me… I can’t say that I’d be completely sure of what I would, its a difficult situation and I know that.” Valka looked like she was going to add something, but Astrid continued, “But, Hiccup has a family out there that love him.”Valka sat down as well, “We know that he hasn’t been around any people, Astrid, he can’t speak any human language.”

“Have you met with the Night Fury? The dragon?”

The room went silent once more. She knew she had caught them in a net that they couldn’t break out of. Astrid had met with the dragon many times over the past few weeks and she had never seen Stoick or Valka there. They refused to see that that dragon was Hiccup’s family, and it was highly likely that there were other dragons out there that wanted him back. The man may not speak any sort of human language but he knew the one of the dragon’s which was much more important to the man than any sort of tongue that a viking could teach him.

“Astrid-”

“Stoick listen.” The elders silenced themselves. Astrid knew that she was walking a slippery slope, there was a high chance that she was going to fall off and feel the pain of the rocks below. “I know its hard to believe that dragons can hold any sort of love, we’ve only ever seen them destroy and kill - but Hiccup loves that dragon and the Night Fury loves him too. I have no idea what they were saying to each other, and yet I can see how protective they are of each other.”

“I’ve seen them curled up next to one another, lulled into the most peaceful sleep I’ve ever witnessed. The Night Fury covers Hiccup when there’s any sort of danger, even if its the smallest of things. Hiccup will risk everything for that dragon as well. It’s impossible to believe that dragons can be loving, that they can care about humans, but I’ve seen it.”

She sighed, placing her head in her hands for a moment. Sometimes he felt like she was the older one, and she hated having to play that role. For once she wanted to have that childhood innocence back and didn’t have to deal with all of these adult problems, especially all the responsibilities that she had. These past weeks had taken a toll on her, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Astrid wanted to shut her eyes and sleep for days, to forget everything that was going on.

She took a deep breath, but she had a promise to keep - and she wasn’t going to let that go. There was a man that needed help, someone that was innocent and needed protecting. Astrid looked at Valka and Stoick, they were gripping onto each other’s hands like it was the only thing keeping them grounded, it probably was. They were going through Hel as well, they had Hiccup in their house and must have realized that he was far from human. “You need to let him go.”

Valka wiped a tear from her eye that had yet to fall, most likely wanting to stop it from doing so. “You know Hiccup loves books? He can’t seem to read for the life of him, but the way his eyes light up when he sees that I’ve brought him one… That is one of the best feelings in the entire world.”

Astrid wanted to interject, fearing where the woman was going with her words, “He doesn’t seem to like most foods; he’ll pick out the fish and all of it. Though he likes fruits, always excited when the sweetness hits his tongue.” There was a smile forming on her face, scared, but still there despite it all. “He’s finding a place here.”

Stoick looked back behind him, over to a picture on the wall. Valka didn’t continue with her train of thought, but Astrid could see the gears turning in her head, trying to come up with things that would make it seem like Hiccup was happy here. Astrid didn’t doubt that there were small things that the man did like, even in the darkest of places there was always light, and he had just happened to find those bright spots. That didn’t equate to happiness though.

Stoick’s baritone voice broke through the quietness, “You’re right.” He looked at his wife, eyes glassy, “Val, he’s not happy here. Remember what happened when he saw that painting of him - or - well, what we thought he would look like?” It seemed like Valka wanted to retort, but her voice died in her throat.

She ducked her head, “Yes, I- I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Astrid wanted to ask more questions, but she felt like this wasn’t her story to hear. This was something that was between Stoick and Valka, a family matter - one that didn’t include her. She swallowed, feeling her mouth grow more and more dry. “We’re in agreement?”

Both of the elders nodded, “Just one more night, please Astrid?” Stoick pleaded.

She wanted to say something back - to retort that it would have been a bad idea and that it was best to let Hiccup go off back to his home as soon as possible. Astrid didn’t say anything like that though. This was the last time Stoick and Valka would be seeing their son. Ever. They deserved a few more hours with him, even if it did make Astrid’s heart twist in a strange way. “One more night.”

*****

Hiccup could smell Astrid, it was faint, so very faint, but it was there. He wanted to yell something out, but then he heard the other vík speaking. The voices were all muffled because of the door and because he was a whole floor above him, but if Hiccup stayed as quiet as he could and listened as hard as he could, then the voices became a bit more clear.

The words were all a jumbled mess to him, but there were some things that he could pick out. A few words here and there. He wished he was down there so he could see their bodies move, the way that they would express the things that Hiccup couldn’t get from their words, but at least their tones and inflections gave away a little more. It was going to have to be the little things that counted.

Astrid seemed nervous, her voice was choppy almost - which was very strange. She seemed like a person that was very sure of herself. Then again, it wasn’t like Hiccup had seen her a while, and there definitely were things happening in the village that he didn’t know about that could be taking a toll on her.

He could also make out the tears in the older víks’ voices, the way they seemed like they wanted to cry, but they wouldn’t allow themselves to do so. It must have been like drako, they never wanted to cry in front of others because they were scared that they were going to seem weak. Hiccup himself had only cried in front of a select group, and that was because they were oh so close. Vík must have been similar in that way. As strange of a thing that was to think.

There seemed to be many of those thoughts as he stayed on the island, he would rather not have them, but they always seemed to creep up in his mind. From the books he could tell that vík had a thirst for knowledge as well. Though many drako would say that was a very Hiccup trait to have and that it wasn’t all that common. He always ignored them, Toothless was very similar in that aspect and he was very much a drako in mind and nobody. Nobody could argue against that.

There was also the way families seemed to work, the way that parents cared for their kin. Stoick and Valka only knew that he was their son biologically, but the two of them were ready to accept him wholeheartedly. If only he was able to do the same.

Hiccup would never be able to though, there was a life he had outside of these walls, away from this island, that he loved more than anything. There were drako that were waiting for him. He had to admit, there was a very small soft spot he had for the two vík - despite everything that they had done to him.

He knew that they were doing it out of love, it was just a very twisted way to go about all of it. Never would he think that this was the best way to go about that, but it wasn’t like he could just tell them everything that he was thinking. That would have just made things far too simple.

But Astrid was here, that had to be a good sign. The woman seemed to be a bit protective of him despite not knowing Hiccup all that well. He wasn’t going to comment negatively on it though, it would be quite hypocritical of him to do so as well. There were plenty of drako that he hadn’t known well at all, sometimes only meeting them once, but would trust them with everything that he had. It was a slippery slope to walk, but Hiccup did it time and time again and compassion had never failed him yet.

Hiccup had his ear pressed up against the door, straining to hear everything that he possibly could. The room had gone so quiet that the only things he could hear was the crackling of the fire and the noises coming from outside of the home.Then there was a creaking, like someone was making their way up the steps. Hiccup jumped back, not wanting Stoick or Valka to know that he had tried to listen in on what seemed to be a very important conversation. These footsteps were lighter though, not as heavy as Stoick’s and surely not as fretful of Valka’s. They were very calculated as they made their way up the stairs, a steady rhythm.

Astrid, it must have been here. From the smell to the speaking to the footsteps. She must have been coming to visit him. Hiccup let himself breathe again, not realizing that he had been holding it back. Astrid wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, surely she wouldn’t. He would be safe if she came up here. That didn’t stop Hiccup’s heart from pounding in his chest though.

There were other things that could go wrong of course, he had always known that was simply a fact of life. It was quite possible that Astrid wasn’t going to do anything about the situation. It wasn’t like he could tell exactly what she had been saying down below. He tried to sit as confidently as he could, waiting for the woman to open the door. The knob turned slowly, hesitantly, like Astrid was regretting coming here.

Hiccup didn’t want that; he didn’t want her to be scared of him or hate him in any way - which was quite the thought to have about a vík of all things. He could hear her taking deep breaths through the door, trying to get a grasp on everything.

Hiccup’s breath hitched as she made her way through.

Astrid looked drained, in a way that he never thought she could. Her hair was still braided in the way it always was when he saw her, but it seemed more matted then it normally did. Her eyes seemed to have a fog over them as she looked down at him, a wobbly smile on her face. There were dastardly bags under her eyes that shined brighter than anything else. Yet, despite all of that, she still held herself in a way that dignified fight and grace. A strange combination, but she used it perfectly.

But there was something else on her skin, beaten into her clothes. A smell that made Hiccup’s heart pause in its beating. Toothless.

Astrid had been around Toothless, and from the looks of it not to harm him in any kind of way. There wasn’t the stench of drako’s blood, he would have been able to smell that for miles. They way it seeped into everything that it possibly could, the way it clung. Drako didn’t bleed often, it was hard to truly kill one, so whenever there was blood Hiccup knew that he was going to be smelling it for weeks. There was nothing though, it was just the smell of Toothless, of his bondmate.

It was a wondrous smell, like the night sky, staying out past curfew, and sneaking away: it smelled like home.

Hiccup pawed forward, letting Astrid come to him as well. The two moved ever so slowly. From an outside perspective it may have even seemed like two friends meeting for the first time in years. It surely felt like years - Hiccup didn’t know how long he could stay in this house until he truly and absolutely went mad.

Astrid smiled stronger now, “Hi, Hiccup. I’m so, so happy I can finally see you again.” It was obvious she wanted to do something more, but neither of them were actually ready for that; it was highly unlikely they ever would be.

“Astrid.” The name felt odd when he said it, like every other vík name he said, but it came somewhat naturally, like he was always meant to say it. “*click*-ss.”

The woman laughed lightly as she too sat on the ground, “I’m not going to act like I know what that means, but I think I’ve heard you call the dragon that before, the Night Fury?”Hiccup smiled as well, eyes lighting up like emeralds, “Drako! *click*-ss where?”She didn’t respond for a moment and Hiccup was almost convinced that she actually had killed his bondmate. His throat felt like it was clogging up, the world was spinning. No, Toothless couldn’t be dead. Bondmates didn’t die alone, that was the truth and always would; Hiccup would never allow the drako to die alone on a vík island somewhere far from home.

There was something grabbing onto his shoulder, “Hiccup!” Everything suddenly clicked back into place, like a puzzle being completed. “He’s alright, a bit lonely without you,” She grabbed onto his paws, looking him in the eye. “The Night Fury is safe; I’ve made sure of that.”

The room stopped spinning and Hiccup could finally breathe again, the air filling his lungs to the brim, “Safe?”“Safe.”

Hiccup trusted her, despite all the things that he had heard from other drako, even despite the things that Cloudjumper had said about vík and their ways, he couldn’t stop himself from trusting this one. He knew that she had done bad things in the past, but they all had, and she was trying to rectify those things now in the present by protecting him. By saving Toothless from what could have been Hel.

“*click*-ss safe, fly away, go home.” Astrid looked at him in awe as he spoke her language. He had been picking up quite a few more words and even some sentences as he stayed with the vík. These things would help him later, he knew that. It wasn’t like he was going to stay completely out of trouble, that would have been impossible for Hiccup. At least if he had a bit of the vík spoken tongue in his mind then some of those hunter vík wouldn’t mess with him as much.

Look, there was a plus side to all of this.

But even though that was a light in the tunnel of darkness, Hiccup still wanted to go home. Everyone wanted to at some point. Even the times when he and Toothless would run off in the middle of the night because they were angry or bored of their current environment, they always found their way back to the nest. Even when there was a new nest.

Home was something that Hiccup never wanted to give up. He had heard of some drako leaving their old homes, scorning them, promising that they would never go back to those awful places. They did keep their promises. The Skrill that Hiccup knew so well for example never went back to the place that was full of suffering and pain. They always found a new home though, one that was filled with happiness and joy and all things good.

Maybe there was a world out there, a life similar to his but different, where he saw this vík island as a new home. He could admire the sea stacks and the forests all he wanted and race Toothless through the mountains, but this was not that world. Now, in this life, all Hiccup wanted was to get back to his nest with his bond mate and his family and rest.

Truly rest, not just laying down for a nap because his body couldn’t take staying awake anymore. He wanted time to just be, to soak up the sun’s rays and bask in the warmth of a place where he belonged.

Astrid looked over to him with a sad expression. He didn’t want to hear any bad news right now. Hiccup’s life had been a hurricane of bad news and bad situations at the moment; he didn’t need another one to add to that. The woman scooted closer, outstretching her hand slightly, gesturing to his own front paw, “You are going home.”Tears started to form in his eyes, not like he would have been able to get them to stop. Hearing those words, knowing that he was going home - that was one of the best feelings in the entire world. After all this pain, suffering, and dreadful days, he was going to paradise again, back to where he belonged.

Hiccup knew that the vík wanted him to stay, even in the way Astrid held herself it looked as though she wanted him to stay as well, but at least she was strong enough to let him go. He didn’t know if he could say that much about the two vík that were still downstairs, burning their fire and creating their paintings of falsehood. Hiccup stretched his paw out, placing it into Astrid’s hand.

It felt strange.

Touch from vík usually meant pain, that there was going to be a punishment for getting near them. It always had - that was the problem when Hiccup had been hurt by so many vík before in his childhood and beyond. Astrid’s hands were rough, that much was true. They had calluses from holding her axe, and likely from all the hard work that she did around the village, but she was gentle with him as well. She let Hiccup guide the situation, not trying to reach out any further incase that might disturb him. The woman was thoughtful, a trait not that common around vík.

She sighed heavily as Hiccup traced her fingers, “One more night, that’s what Stoick and Valka wanted. I wanted to try to sway them but…” She didn’t need to finish her sentence; Hiccup could tell there was a solemn nature in her words. He pulled his hand back slowly, taking in a deep breath. One more night, he could do one more. It was hard enough to make it through all these other days and nights, one more couldn’t kill him.

He smiled up at her, hoping that she would be able to calm down some. She was still a young woman, it was far too early for her to be going grey from stress. “Okay.”

Astrid smirked back, “Thank you.” There was a knocking on the door that disrupted the two of them. She turned to stand up, but stole one more look at Hiccup as she went, “I’ll miss you Hiccup. You really are something.”

Hiccup watched her go without saying a word. He could tell that the other two vík were saying their own goodbyes behind the door. Not caring much for what was going on, he returned to the bed, his not bed. Over the course of his time here he had grown used to it. It still would never be as lush as the furs that Viggo had, but it would never bring the safety and true warmth that sleeping next to Toothless had.

Toothless.

Hiccup was finally going to get to see him again; his nestmate, his bondmate, his other half. After all this time separated they were going to see each other again. The drako’a tail should be healed by now, it wasn’t a complete break and other drako did seem to heal a lot faster than Hiccup ever could. He envied them sometimes for that, but getting to experience Toothless fretting over him while he healed was all worth it.

There weren’t nightmares that plagued his sleep this time, he was sure that he didn’t even yell out as he slumbered. The only thoughts rolling in his head were those of clear night skies, getting to fly with Toothless using his own wings. Those times were pure ecstasy. It was likely that he wouldn’t be able to fly on his own for a while because his wings were still torn and tattered; they were going to take a while to sew back together. Hiccup was already making plans in his head for where he was going to get the leather and other supplies in order to make these wings even better than his last.

The dreams continued. There were memories sprinkled in, times he wanted to go back to because they were peaceful and pure. Hiccup couldn’t remember as far back from when he was a hatchling with Toothless, but he had heard many stories of all the troubles that they would get into. It seemed that the two of them growing had only served to make that mischievous nature fester between them.

Hiccup couldn’t wait to see Torch and Frostbreath again. He desperately hoped that they hadn’t grown too much when he was gone, he adored how much smaller they were than their full grown brethren. Both drako were still much bigger than Hiccup himself - and yes he still got teased for that sometimes in the nest - but that didn’t matter much to him. It was a constant in his life.

Dreams of riding on Cloudjumper’s back filtered through his mind. That was back when Toothless had not yet been strong enough to carry him - which was proven time and time again when he plundered to the ground after trying to pick Hiccup up. They would always laugh it off though, never hating each other in the slightest.

There were the icy blue walls of the new sanctuary, the lush forests, and the spiraling ivy and foliage that peeked out through the cracks. Hiccup’s imagination could never fully render the beauty of the sanctuary, but thinking about these small things brought him into the most calming slumber he had had since falling onto Berk.

A smile bloomed on his face as he continued to fall through the land of dreams. He was going back there - Hiccup was finally going home.

The moon was high in the sky, a full moon that made the entire village light up with its rays. This was going to go well, Hiccup could feel it in his bones. More than anything else though, it was going to go well because he needed it to. He couldn’t stay here any longer or else he was going to lose it, he was already feeling the grips of sadness as he hauled up in the room. Hiccup’s breaths leveled out as a deep sleep pulled him under.

*****

Astrid said one final goodbye to Stoick and Valka as she left their home, the weight that had been fighting in her stomach seemed to subside now. It was easier to think now that she didn’t have to wonder what was going to happen to Hiccup. He was going to be alright, safe, safer than he would ever be here.There were a million what ifs swirling in her mind that Astrid had no control over though; she tried her best to swat them away. It wasn’t like they had had any visitors to Berk in the past few months that would have outed Hiccup’s position on the island, or that there was a Night Fury there. No, the two of them were going to go back to where they belonged. Just like how it was always meant to be.

Astrid took one final walk down to the arena.

It was so much different there with the Night Fury practically living in the space. To think about the dragons that had been killed here no longer brought her pride, but an odd sense of shame. She absently wondered if the Night Fury could tell that there had been dragon blood spilled on those rocks, if it clung to the surfaces and refused to leave. Worst of all, she wondered if Hiccup could tell. He was already weary of vikings so it was highly likely that he knew what they did.

Astrid could barely comprehend her own thoughts. Only a few months ago she had prided herself in her ruthlessness towards those beasts, the way she could kill a dragon without remorse, but now it felt horribly wrong. It wasn’t as though the Night Fury had done anything to hurt her, and he had protected Hiccup for all these years when no other vikings could. That was something to be proud of, not her own actions.

But vikings - especially those one Berk - were born into a war they couldn’t fully grasp. Her parents had killed dragons, and their parents, and theirs too. To ever think that one of them wouldn’t would be blasphemous. Any of the villagers would have killed the Night Fury as soon as they saw him, that would have been the smart thing, but in that moment, seeing Hiccup by the dragon’s side - Astrid had hesitated. It was her hesitation that had brought on this whole mess, but even though there had been more than a few bad decisions, she wouldn’t have killed the Night Fury back then either. She surely wasn’t going to do it now.

He and Hiccup had a bond like no other, and meeting with Hiccup tonight just made that even more apparent. They two weren’t to be separated, which caused a guilty pit to grow in Astrid’s stomach. They had been separated all this time. It was no wonder why they both seemed so downtrodden and downright depressed.

There were guards standing outside of the arena, they didn’t stand near the dragon’s gates anymore. After everything, it was pretty apparent that he wasn’t going anywhere. That tail injury had messed him up for a while; Astrid hoped that he was all healed up now, if the dragon couldn’t fly there was no way Hiccup would actually be able to get off this island without the help of vikings.And that was never going to happen.

Astrid didn’t want any viking, from Berk or not, to figure out where the home Hiccup was so desperate to go back to was. It would be destroyed, ransacked, the peaceful dragons that lived there would have their home destroyed. Call her stupid for thinking it, but Astrid didn’t want harm to come from them.

Hiccup had graciously shown her a side to dragons that she never thought was possible. It was difficult to think that the monsters that used to raid her village every night weren’t just doing it because they wanted to. They had a home, families, and ones that they cared about. The more Astrid learned, the more similar she thought people and dragons were. And to think, Hiccup had taught her all of that without speaking much Norse at all. He must have been a real genius.

The woman walked past the guards, head held high. She knew there was going to be some public scorn from her frequent visits to the Night Fury, but she had to put on a brave face, to show all the onlookers that she was stronger than they were.

The Night Fury was sitting back on his haunches, staring right into Astrid’s soul. His gaze was so similar to Hiccup’s, it was insane to witness. The dragon sniffed the air for a second and immediately broke out into joy, jumping around and showing more excitement than he had the entire time this had been going on. Astrid smiled as she got closer, “You smell Hiccup don’t you?”The dragon was already looking around the arena to see if the man was there; Astrid sighed. “He’s not here,” the dragon reeled back, “But don’t worry, tomorrow for sure.” She sat down on the ground, in front of the gates. Once she had tried to open them and had immediately been taken out by the guards. No matter how many times she tried to assure them that the Night Fury wasn’t going to do anything to harm them they wouldn’t listen.

Astrid had taken to getting as close as she could from the other side of the bars. “I spoke with Stoick and Valka,” he grumbled at the names, causing the woman to chuckle, “Not your favorite people in the world, I know.” She peered at his tale, curled in a way it most definitely wouldn’t have been able to do if it were still broken. “But tomorrow you’re going home, and Hiccup is going with you.”

The Night Fury purred whenever he heard Hiccup’s name, it was a strange sound to hear from a dragon that was supposed to be the most deadly in the world, but it also seemed to match him so well. The dragon could be like an overgrown cat: he hissed at things he didn’t like, was quite hellish sometimes, and of course there was the purring. He used to do that a lot more when Hiccup was around, hopefully bringing the man back would bring the dragon’s happiness as well.

Astrid didn’t know if she could live with herself if she knew she was responsible for ripping the joy from this creature.

She hesitantly put her hand through the bars once more, seeing if the dragon would respond in the same way as last time. He did, much quicker actually. He rubbed his snout on Astrid’s hand, being careful with her like she was glass. Astrid had witnessed him treating Hiccup in a similar way, especially when he was being quite protective of the other. “Home, I know. It’s been a long time coming, but tomorrow you and Hiccup are going to go off to whatever place you came from and…” Astrid’s voice died.

She was going to miss them, truly and deeply. She would miss these nights with the dragon when he showed that he was much more than a beast of utter horror, or when Hiccup would look her in the eyes with something other than fear. Astrid wished that she could see them again once they left, but that would be dangerous for everyone involved.

If Berk was seen as being friendly to a dragon it would completely ruin the island’s reputation, and if any hunters got word of where Astrid was visiting, they could tear Hiccup’s home down from the inside out. No, it was best for everyone to go their separate ways for good, even if she didn’t like the idea of it.

The dragon’s warm breath brushed against her skin - it was much warmer to human breath that was for sure. Her lips formed a thin line as she swallowed hard, “Keep protecting him, alright? He means a lot to me, and to Stoick and Valka even if they don’t show it in the best ways.” Astrid patted the side of the dragon’s face, “And make sure he protects you too. I have a feeling you guys get into a lot of trouble; this probably isn’t your first viking encounter.”

The Night Fury’s gaze softened, looking at her with a sense of wonder and love that she would have never thought was possible from such a being. It seemed like all the things that were once impossible weren’t impossible at all. Improbable was the best word for it. It wasn’t likely for these things to happen, and they were completely unexpected, but here they were happening right in front of her. Astrid couldn’t ignore what was happening before her very eyes.

She brought her hand back, the palm still warm from the dragon’s scales. “Everything is going to work out in the end, I know that now.”

*****

Hiccup woke with a start, his chest pounding. There was a pit in his stomach filled with nervous energy; it wasn’t that he was scared per se, but there was a ball in his gut that wouldn’t leave him alone no matter how much he tried to dispel it.

He couldn’t see outside, but the noises coming from the surrounding houses gave it away that the sun must have been shining. Hiccup yawned widely: this was the most sleep he had gotten in weeks, and to think it was going to be the last time he was sleeping on this island. He couldn’t wait to get back to the nest. Astrid had said that Toothless was okay, he was safe, no longer as injured as before. It filled his heart with joy.

Hopefully, and Hiccup prayed to the gods above, Stoick and Valka wouldn’t try to pull something, that would have been disastrous. If Astrid were to see that he could see something going even worse. He could tell that she had a relationship with them, that they had been there for her before and they seemed nearly as close as family, but ever since Hiccup had been taken by the vík that relationship seemed to be dying out some.

Hiccup felt guilty whenever he thought about it, even though he knew that it wasn’t directly his fault. He couldn’t have controlled the night he was taken from Toothless, he had been completely out of it. Astrid shouldn’t feel bad either, she was doing all she could to get him out and now it had worked. He wouldn’t pretend and say that he knew everything that was going on - and everything that had been said the night before - but he knew enough.

He knew that there had been difficulty, and now it was causing quite a stir in the house. Hiccup hoped that once he left that things would go back to normal - Astrid, Valka, Stoick, they all deserved that. They expected that he would stay here, Stoick and Valka did at least, so there was destined to be a period of near mourning, but they could move on. Hiccup may not know these vík very well, but he could tell that they were strong, most vík were.

There was a gentle knock on the door before it was unlocked and opened. Hiccup eyes shot over to the door as it slung open; Valka walked through the door. She had a bowl with her, filled with something quite good smelling. There was bread too - something that Hiccup had actually grown a taste for, one of the few vík foods that he enjoyed.

There was a smile on her face, though her eyes looked a bit red rimmed: Valka had been crying. That caused the guilt to fester a little more despite him knowing that he wasn’t in the wrong in this situation. “Good morning, Hiccup.” She said, walking over to the side of his bed and holding the bowl out for him. There was a moment of silence as she sighed and attempted to get herself composed. “Eat up, I wouldn’t want you getting hungry while you’re on your trip back home.” Her hand stayed close to him, as though she wanted to do something more.

Hiccup eyed the bowl; it was a fish stew, they must have known that this was one of the few things that he would eat. His eyes flitted over to the woman. She looked so tired now, but there was something in her eyes that told him it would be okay. This was going to hurt, it was going to hurt really bad, but she would power through it, just as Stoick would.

She brushed a strand of his hair behind his ear: he didn’t stop her.

It felt safe, the way she moved. All of it made Hiccup wonder if leaving was a bad idea, but he shook the thought from his mind. Leaving was the right thing to do, and he wanted to go back home much more than he wanted to stay here. It was going to be alright, everything was going to be okay.

He knew that it was going to be, everything was going to go back to the way it was. They would all learn from their past mistakes, the way that life was supposed to work. Stoick and Valka would see that their son wouldn’t have ever been truly happy if he had to live on an island without any dragons because he was one of them in all ways but biology.

It was also highly doubtful that he would ever be able to live like a normal person - as relative of a word normal was. Not vík though, he would never be a vík. The way he spoke would never be fluent vík tongue, that wasn’t his language. He spoke the language of the drako, it was natural and the best language he could ever think of. Hiccup also wouldn’t be able to compose himself like a person would, walking on his hind legs and living his days like them.

Living on Berk would mean giving up the life of adventure that he once had, the winds that he reached out for would be taken away from him. Hiccup couldn’t live like that, that wasn’t a life worth living. So, even if he could find these small moments of joy with the two vík, this wasn’t meant to be a forever place.

The two groups were simply two ships passing on the open sea. They would see each other for a few fleeting moments, another time that they could see each other and imagine situations where they both anchored down and stayed there forever, but in the end they would always drift apart. They would sail farther and farther from each other until the other was only a speck in the horizon.

For now, Hiccup would let Valka brush his hair, these were going to be the last few hours together; he would let her enjoy it as much as she could before it was taken away from her forever.

Valka sighed, standing up once more. “We can go downstairs later, then we’ll head off to the cove together. Astrid said that was where she found you both.” Her voice was pinched, but she wouldn’t allow herself to cry.

Hiccup swallowed down a bite of fish. He smiled lightly, “Thank you.”

The woman sniffled, “Always.”

Walking down those stairs later that day was difficult, as was seeing Stoick. Hiccup hadn’t expected that he would feel guilty for the man, but that same rock was in his stomach when he saw the vík. He tried to look forward to seeing Toothless again. It was going to be the best moment in recent months. He hoped that he would see Astrid as well, seeing her off one last time would be great as well.

Hiccup never went through the village - instead they went through a back way to get to the cove that Hiccup had been found in. On one hand he was thankful that he wouldn’t have to go through the village, he didn’t want to see the rest of the vík there, but he was also intrigued with the way that they lived, especially at seeing how Stoick and Valka lived.

There were complexities that he had never thought of before, the way the families were structured and the roles that they played with each other - and he would have wanted to walk through the town - nearly though. There would have been so many things he could have learned, even if they wouldn’t have truly helped him back at the nest. The thirst for knowledge would have to wait though. For now Hiccup was going back home, a place where he belonged more than anything.

The forest was dense, but it was familiar. Hiccup had a neat trick of remembering the places he had been to in great detail. His beating heart calmed some, at least he was being led through a place he somewhat knew. The trio passed the downed tree that Toothless had rammed into when they fell from the sky. The dirt was beaten down into a path - the path that Hiccup and Toothless had made when they tumbled through the woods.

The soft moss of the forest, the damp leaves, Hiccup took in all the sensations with a smile on his face. This was the happiest he had been in months. This was where he was meant to be, out in the wild, not hauled up in some vík house - because that house couldn’t be a home in the way the freedom of the world was.

The man darted forward, leaving Stoick and Valka to rush behind him to keep up; they probably didn’t expect him to move so easily through the dense trees and shrubs. Birds chirped in their nests, flies buzzed around him, everything felt absolutely right and perfect in a way it hadn’t during his time in the house - back in that room was a desolate wasteland, but out here Hiccup was completely and utterly free.

He was so excited that he almost tumbled off the edge of the cove, a few pebbles scattered down the side. Hiccup breath caught in his throat as he looked forward. Toothless. He was there, just like Astrid had promised, and the woman in question was by his side with a smile on her face. She looked much more comfortable around the drako then she did before; he would have to ask Toothless about all of that later.

Hiccup scampered down the side of the cove, it was more difficult without his claws, but it wasn’t like it was the first rock wall he had scaled in his entire life. Stoick and Valka were left in the dust as he rushed over to his bondmate as quickly as he could. He didn’t even care if this was some sort of elaborate trap - it most likely wasn’t - what mattered was that Toothless was in front of him, all healed up, and ready. The man looked into those eyes, forest green and pupils wide with excitement and joy.

Toothless ran forward as well, the two connecting in an embrace so tight it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began. Hiccup’s heart steadied as he sank in the feeling of Toothless’ scales; they were so warm, warmer than anything he had felt in the past days. A wing was brought around him, hiding him away from the world for a moment. It felt like heaven, bliss beyond any sort of imagination.

This was what coming home felt like, it wasn’t the fear Hiccup had encountered as Stoick rose over him or the guilt he felt when Valka’s eyes were red with tears - and it surely wasn’t a cold room devoid of his wild nature. Home was right here, by Toothless’ side with the entire world before them to explore.Toothless crooned at him, eek-up.

Hiccup laughed, an exuberant sound, *click*-ss. Oh how he loved the sound of their language, the sounds that no vík would ever be able to replicate properly. This was for them, for Hiccup’s family, and hearing those noises again, hearing his name from his bondmate, was one of the most wonderous sounds he could have ever imagined.

They had to pull apart though, even if neither of them wanted to have the other leave their sights for the rest of eternity. There would never be a place Hiccup went without Toothless being by his side, and the reverse was true as well.

Hiccup looked over his shoulder, seeing Stoick and Valka standing there with expressions of pure shock. He could imagine what was going through their heads, Astrid had been the same way. These vík couldn’t believe what they were seeing: a human befriending a drako? That was completely absurd! Yet, here they were, Hiccup and Toothless - two sides of the same coin, two twin flames.

He stepped back, taking a few paces towards the two who called him their son. Looking up at them he knew they understood, finally they saw the world that Hiccup could never leave and the one they could never join. Stoick kneeled down slightly, to get to Hiccup’s level and spoke softer than he ever had before, “You can go, I won’t try to stop you ever again.”Valka looked between Toothless and Hiccup a few times; she outstretched her hand and Hiccup put his own on top of it, clinging on softly, “That dragon needs you, doesn’t he?” Hiccup nodded, which caused Valka’s smile to waver, “And you need him too.”

Hiccup had a million words swirling in his head, but he couldn’t find any of the words in a language they would understand, instead he held both of their hands, looking at them intently. “Its okay. Happy now?”

Stoick chuckled, “Yes, Hiccup, we’ll all be happy now.”

The three let the moment drift for a while before parting. Hiccup patted the side of Toothless’ cheek as he clambered up to his usual spot on the drako’s back. He sighed, this felt right.

Astrid strolled over, arms crossed. She pointed at Toothless, “Remember what I said alright? You two better protect each other.” The last part was directed at Hiccup, as her blue eyes stared into his. “It’ll be alright, you two are strong - I can tell that more than anything.”

Hiccup could only smirk in response.

He couldn’t prolong it anymore, both he and Toothless were antsy to get back home, to feel the wind across their faces. Toothless roared out and in a split second they were taking off. Hiccup looked down, watching as the three vík - as Astrid, Stoick, and Valka - grew smaller and smaller until they became tiny specks on the world below.

Hiccup let out a deep breath, relaxing onto Toothless’ back. As he did so only one thought rang through his mind, we’re going back home.

Chapter 12: Epilogue: Three Years Later

Chapter Text

The sky was a brilliant blue colour, the clouds were soft and billowy. Overall, it was the perfect day to be flying.

Hiccup was poised on Toothless’ back, ready to jump out into the great expanse of open air below him. His new wings glittered with dragon scales, the leather even stronger and more complex than any other set of wings he had created before. They were his masterpiece. The man was clad in armor, something he had made over the years to ensure his safety in the skies; the best part was that it made him feel even closer to the drako.

He sure blended in a lot more when he was wearing it, and it intimidated any vík that happened to be coming his way. A double win some might say.

Toothless had gotten very used to Hiccup’s antics, the way that he would jump out without any warning sometimes and dart down into the clouds. Today seemed like it was going to be one of those days.

They had just gotten off a recon mission together, making sure that there weren’t any hunters anywhere near the nest, and decided to have a bit of fun before they returned to the icy place they called home. Hiccup stretched his arms out wide, making magnificent turns and spirals that he had improved upon over the last few years. Ever since the unfortunate - well it was somewhat fortunate - trip to Berk, he had made sure that there was never going to be an instance like that where he was left plummeting to his death.

Cloudjumper had scolded him for weeks after he found out what happened. Granted, the elder had all the right to be upset, it was a stupid thing to do and getting trapped by vík again wasn’t the greatest accomplishment in the world. Had Hiccup and Toothless still been fledglings they would have never left the nest again, but they were grown. When they got into trouble like that it was very much their fault which Hiccup couldn’t exactly argue against because he had been the one to say they should go out flying that day, and it was his armor that had failed and sent him plummeting.

That was all behind them now, even if Cloudjumper brought it up every once in a while to give warning that if they were to ever do anything like that again they were going to pay for it in the worst of ways. So far, no harm! It was almost insane that Hiccup and Toothless hadn’t gotten caught up in any horrible trouble these past three years. It wasn’t like them at all.

They still snuck out - although it wasn’t really sneaking anymore now that they could leave whenever they pleased - and got into different sorts of trouble, but there hadn’t been an instance of getting captured by vík at all. Hiccup was counting it as a win, Toothless was counting the days until the next disaster.

Sharp winds wiggled their ways into the gaps in Hiccup’s armor, ticking the skin there and making it cold as ice. He didn’t mind though, quite the opposite, this was the thrill that came with flying. If he had stayed on Berk he would have given this up completely - that wasn’t something that Hiccup would be able to do.

That island was far behind him.

He had mapped out where the land was and had told Cloudjumper never to allow and drako to go there, partially because Hiccup still feared that they would be killed, and also because he didn’t want them to find out the truth about Hiccup. They may know that he was human, but his past was his to keep, to guard as a secret close to his chest. It was terrifying sometimes knowing that the only drako that were privy to that secret were himself and Toothless, but it was better that way. Much more safe.

Hiccup ducked into the clouds, coming out on the other side beneath them. Toothless roared out as he did the same, sending a plasma shot just above Hiccup’s head. It was all fun and games, it wasn’t like Toothless would ever hurt him, nor would he hurt anyone that he held close to his heart.

They flew for what felt like hours, flying until Hiccup’s arms were sore and tired, so much so he feared he was going to fall out of the sky. The winds were freezing cold, but Hiccup couldn’t find it in himself to give up. He wanted to fly forever.

That was when he spotted it, merely a speck from how far up he and Toothless were, but noticeable nonetheless. *click*-ss he shouted, hoping that whoever was on that boat didn’t hear him. They probably wouldn’t, the wind would have carried Hiccup’s voice far away. Toothless responded in action, flying close below Hiccup so that the older could drop down onto his back - a maneuver they had truly perfected after a lot of trial and error.

Hiccup flattened against the other drako’s back, feeling the warmth that was so different from the chilled air. It was impossible that whoever was on that boat hadn’t seen them, it was quite obvious that a big, black drako was flying in the middle of the day. The recon had been in the early morning when the newly rising sun could still conceal them, but now it was nearing noon and they didn’t have the same cover they previously enjoyed.

Hiccup decided they should just go for it; the boat didn’t look like it was harboring any large weapons, not anything that could do much harm at least, and there were only a few vík onboard, most of which seemed to be arguing with each other.

Usually, neither of them would have bothered with a ship like this - which was really being generous to call this a ship - but there was a pulling in Hiccup’s stomach, something that told him he needed to check it out.

Toothless relented, grumbling that it was going to be a bad idea the entire way. They flew down as close as they could, immediately the vík onboard erupted in shouts when they saw the drako. One stayed still though, completely in shock. Hiccup had witnessed that before, fear so great that the person couldn’t even move, but this didn’t seem like shock. It was something else, something less terrified.

Suddenly a spear was being thrown at them, though the aim was far off and went tumbling into the ocean, sinking deep into the abyss. “Snotlout! I told you not to fire!” That voice, he knew that voice, it had come from the person that looked like they had just seen a ghost

They had long blonde hair, braided, and sitting on their shoulder - and bright blue eyes.

Astrid. That was Astrid. Toothless landed on the bow of the ship, trying to intimidate the entire crew, Hiccup wasn’t going about that route though. He clambered off of Toothless’ back, against the younger’s words. Toothless would have liked it if Hiccup stayed far from the fight, but this wasn’t a fight.

Hiccup stalked forward, moving right towards Astrid. She looked a bit older now, of course she did, time had passed after all. She seemed much more sure of herself then the last time Hiccup had seen her. That was good - he had hoped she would get her confidence back. “Hiccup.” Astrid said his name like a gasp; he was a bit surprised that she had recognized him, but then again why wouldn’t she.

They had only a fleeting moment together in the grand scheme of things, but those moments had been wonderful - after he looked past the dark film that was over it all. The vík surrounding her seemed vaguely familiar, their names were the things that alerted him. Truly vík had the worst names in the world. These were the young adults who had been around when it all started, who had guarded the arena. They looked properly scared now.

Astrid didn’t though, there was a smile on her face as she inched forward - Hiccup returning the gesture. She kneeled down, extending her hand for him to touch, “It’s great to see you again.”

Hiccup chirped out, face flushing a little as he forgot that Astrid couldn’t speak the language of the drako. Toothless sauntered over to his side, glaring at the other vík for a moment before his eyes turned wide and he peered over to Astrid. The woman brought her other hand over slowly, letting Toothless press his snout to her palm. She laughed at the sensation, “And you too, of course.”

Hiccup outstretched his hand, placing it on top of Astrid’s. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to say the vík words he had practiced for so long. It had taken a lot of studying to figure out how to move his mouth in the right ways. All the other drako looked at Hiccup like he was crazed when he spoke the vík tongue - they were well within their right to do so of course - hearing a drako speak vík couldn’t be all that comforting.

But Hiccup wanted to say vík words to her, even if it was just a few.

“Hi Astrid, I missed you too.”