Wow, it's been a long time since I last published a story! My bursts of inspiration are as intense as they are short, that's for sure. I just finished watching Race to the Edge Season 6, and while enjoying some free time, I had the sudden urge to continue this story, which has been hanging on my phone for AGES. So short story short, I didn't stop writing until it was finished at 3 AM, so if you notice a sudden change of style in the story, now you know why ;) (ahhh how I missed you inspiration, never giving me a break). But indeed, I missed writing and this website a lot. This story is for you guys, and I hope you enjoy it. Cheers!

We were submerged in an ocean of smoke. Hot, putrid, suffocating smoke.

The stuff was everywhere: in the air, in the ground, in my eyes and in my mouth. Clogged my olfactory sense particularly well. Even Vikings with their pathetic little snouts should've been disoriented by that smell.

A last unpleasant reminder of our dead Queen alright.

But there were other smells too. Beneath the smoke's thick layer, there was an underlying smell of sweat, humidity and a big variety of viking and dragon scents.

Vikings. Feisty, small, untrustworthy creatures that only stuck to each other who had the power to craft their own powerful weapons out of anything the Earth had to offer, compensated by lack of talons and teeth. They were all huddling in a single patch of land. Weaponless, for once.

Where was the black dragon and his kind rider?

I creeped towards the group, the other dragons close behind. So many of them would've normally alarmed me, but this time was different. They were all staring as their Alpha, a particularly big Viking, knelt upon a dark shape lying on the ground. I realized who the dark shape was as I got closer.

Yes, most alarming was the fallen black dragon and the smell of burnt flesh coming his way.

The dark silhouette lay awkwardly on the rocky sand with his large wings sprawled lifelessly besides him. It was difficult to tell if he was alive.

The soft croak that made its way out of me was filled with lament. The black dragon had saved us. He had beaten the unbeatable Queen who had enslaved us for generations all on his own while we fluttered around like moths.

I had always known of his power and rareness, and because of it, I had always wanted to get to know him. Would he be gentle like a short rock dragon? Or temperamental like a large flaming one? Would he make a good playmate?

At least I knew one thing about him: he was respectable, not just due to his might.

But his rider was missing.

That Viking, Hiccup, had started to smell funny the more I fought against him back in the viking's Nest. His scent had begun to mix with one of a dragon, and he had also avoided hurting me. He was much more trustworthy than the others, and kind.

Was he dead? After freeing and leading us to battle our Queen? The prospect saddened me. Just when he had proven to me that Vikings could be trusted, and even loved… Have we won at the expense of his life?

The black dragon groaned, and opened slightly his green eyes. He stared weakly at the Alpha, who just stared back with regret. I remembered how ruthlessly the big viking had always killed us, and sincerely, I accepted it. After all, we were the ones intruding in their Nest and stealing all their food. I would've done the same thing in his position.

However, now that we had also proven our trustworthiness and that one of us had saved him and his people, he was a lot calmer. He didn't try to harm the black dragon the Vikings called 'Night Fury'. He was just sad.

My wings fell in defeat. All the other dragons that had assisted me made noises of lament. Not the little viking. He's gone. We failed him.

I watched with a heavy stomach as the black dragon stared at the mourning viking next to him. There was a strange glint in his eyes. He closed his eyes with effort, and slowly, tiredly, spread his wings apart.

I had never been easily surprised. However, at that moment, it was only natural to shake my head and gape, wondering if my eyesight wasn't playing any tricks on me, as it sometimes did.

There, sprawled in the dragon's gentle paws, was a tiny viking. A familiar tiny viking.

"Hiccup!" The viking's Alpha bellowed as he gathered the small shape in his arms. Ignoring the smoke, I inhaled a big chunk of air until my eyes watered, hoping to divide it into thousands of coherent and identifiable scents which would even allow me to smell a boar's breath more than five islands away. Smells, see, were a lot more reliable than sight.

There it was. The boy's scent. So the black dragon had shielded the small viking from the mighty flames with his own sturdy body. What a protective spirit, the dragon's! Even more of a guardian than some mothers taking care of their offspring! The Alpha inspected the little boy with desperate tenderness, and suddenly, he let out a cry of utter relief. "He's alive! You brought him back alive!"

The whole viking community erupted in cheers. They raised their fists to the air, clanked their weapons together and wound their arms around each other, all the while yelling in joy.

A huge happiness overcame me. The boy had survived as well! After so much struggle, after so much despair… Victory was finally achieved! We dragons joined the celebration; beat our wings, shook our heads, roared in triuimph, until our cries mingled with the vikings' and became undistinguishable from each other.

I suddenly felt incredibly close to my old enemies. It was viking and dragon who won that day, not one without the other. I lowered my head at the two people in front of me and grinned. The pair did not shake me off, but watched with wonder.

"What do ya mean by bad Gobber?!"

The large blonde scratched his head with his talon, looking very uncomfortable. "Bad means bad of course! I've done as much as I could, but without proper supplies Hiccup won't last much longer!"

I was standing alongside my rider while she helped rebuild their floaters, but I could tell she was listening. Really, it was impossible not to. Vikings were still as loud as ever.

From what I could gather, our victory wasn't as easily earned as I expected. The black dragon was fine apparently, just exhausted with a few scratches here and there. However, the small boy, Hiccup, was heavily injured and there was nothing the rest of the vikings could do about it.

The Alpha was beyond himself with rage. "So you're telling me that he'll DIE?!"

Whispers spread among the builders. The black dragon, who was laying next to his rider, gurgle softly in sadness. I myself crooned and lashed my tail back and forth. At our stares, the Alpha growled, "Get back to work y'all!"

Everyone diverted their gazes, but the volume of their murmurs didn't diminish. The viking pair continued to speak in a lower tone, which wasn't saying much really. "I'm not saying he'll die Chief," the blonde pleaded, "I'm just sayin' that he'll die only if we don't hurry back, see?"

"How much time do we have?"

"Hard to say… two hours at most."

"Two HOURS?!"

I didn't know how much two hours were, but it seemed bad. If they were alarmed by that, it must've meant that there wasn't enough time to rebuild their floaters and head back to their Nest before Hiccup could be cured.

However… a floater wasn't the only available transportation in the area. I looked at the somber girl besides me, who was suddenly staring at me deep in thought. Despite the grey air, her eyes were still the same unforgiving blue. They reminded me of the open sky.

I didn't know how it was possible for us to reach an understanding. But in that moment, we seemed to reach the same conclusion. I did have a soft spot for her after all. So I stepped back and beat my wings to confirm my message.

The girl, Astrid, steeled her face with determination. She stood up and approached the discussing pair. "Chief! I have an idea."

They didn't take it very well at first. But Astrid stood her ground and convinced them of doing it. I had already carried those two to battle, who was to say I couldn't bring them back as well?

The big vikings tried to tie a rope around my neck, but I relented immediately. Even if they weren't enemies anymore, that didn't mean I had to trust them. I only allowed the girl to do this, with her I didn't mind. Meanwhile, the black dragon watched as the vikings wrapped Hiccup in a thick blanket. When they lifted him up, he wailed in protest and tried to stand up, but failed. "Easy there." The Alpha, or Chief said.

He was still very agitated. Astrid, ever a comforting presence, knelt down besides him and put a hand on his head. "He has to fly with me Toothless, if we don't take Hiccup back to Berk quickly he won't make it. You'll be able to see him later, I promise."

"What kind of name is Toothless anyway?" The blonde viking muttered.

"Not the time Gobber." He shut up at the Chief's command.

Toothless had such a pained look on his face, but he yielded after a small croon. With one last caress, Astrid made her way towards me and climbed on my back. I wasn't used to having a human on top of me, so I squirmed a little bit. She yelped, but recovered her balance before tying herself with the same rope around my neck so she wouldn't fall. Even though the vikings looked even more suspicious now, they carefully placed the mantle with Hiccup in front of the girl. I stumbled more to the added weight, and Astrid shifted the blanket until I was standing upright yet again. She tied the rope around Hiccup's waist as well.

"Are you sure about this?" The Chief inquired suspiciously.

"Yeah!" The girl seemed kind of breathless though. I could smell her doubt as clearly as the smoke. "We'll have reached Berk long before you get back."

The two adults exchanged a glance. For a moment, I believed they were going to prohibit our departure. "I don't know Stoick…"

I squawked indignantly. This was taking too long. I spread my wings and took a few steps back. Astrid gasped and adjusted her weight and Hiccup's to my movements. Before the vikings could do anything to stop me, I charged forward and beat my wings as hard as I could. The lack of air current along with the additional weight made it harder to lift off properly, but I gave it my best.

In a moment, we were airborne. Exclamations from the vikings followed us until we were far enough into the mist to hear them. I was just glad to get away from that volcano.

I knew the way back to their island as well as my own claws. In spite of this, the trip through the misty rock pillars was complicated. The girl on my back kept fumbling with the rope and shifting Hiccup's weight throughout most of the journey. On various occasions, I almost ran into a pillar due to this lack of balance, which really wasn't helpful. I growled at her one time after she pulled on the rope too hard for my comfort, and she apologized quietly.

Fortunately, by the time I started to smell the ocean more clearly, both me and Astrid had found a somewhat comfortable balance between carrying an unconscious body and maneuvering across the rocky maze.

Something was off though. The smell wasn't as salty as it should be. It was moist, very moist and cold. There was only one explanation for it.

I broke through the layer of mist into the open ocean. Normally, I would've felt a sense of freedom after doing this, but the sight in front of me gave me dread instead. Astrid gasped, "Oh Thor."

There was a huge storm ahead of us. It was so big it completely covered the horizon. I generally didn't mind storms, but this one in particular was the worst I've ever seen.

Suddenly, the volcano wasn't such a bad place to be after all. I stopped in mid air and turned my back to the ocean, but the viking riding me pulled hard on the rope. "No no no, we have to go through it girl."

I squawked in protest. Was she crazy? There was no way we could do that. If the rain didn't throw me off balance, the winds would. And if they didn't, I'd be hit by lightning. And if that didn't happen, the effort to fly through that hell would tire me into falling to the ocean, where waves as tall and powerful as a thousand rock dragons would swallow us into their depths.

A hand caressed my cheek. "I know girl, I know. Our lives are at risk if we enter that storm, but there's no way around or over it. We have to do it for Hiccup's sake."

I was still hesitant. Astrid leaned closer to me and stared into my eyes. "Hiccup and Toothless saved us, remember? Not just us, but my entire tribe and the dragons as well. Think about how the others would feel if we go back now and he… dies. Think about how Toothless would feel. I know you can understand me, so please, take us through that storm."

The clouds expanded to infinity. There were no islands on sight. It was pure madness.

But so it was to stand up to our Queen, and Hiccup and the black dragon defeated her. Maybe it was time to defeat a Queen of our own.

I shook my head and initiated my struggles against the cold winds of the storm.

It was even worse on the inside.

The rain dropped unceasingly on my wings like unsharpened daggers. The wind buffeted me from all directions and threatened to knock me over at the most unexpected moments. Thunder and lightning both blinded me and left my ears ringing. Astrid lost her so hard-earned balance and strained against the odds to avoid losing her grip on Hiccup. It didn't even look as if I was advancing; if all water and air dragons in existence had gathered to rain down hell on us with their breaths, I wouldn't have been surprised.

I was hopeful at first that with time, the typhoon would lose some of its strength and allow us to go through. But no matter how much energy I invested in keeping us airborne, no matter how much time would pass, the storm only seemed to get worse.

I couldn't see straight ahead. My nose was filled with rainwater, making the ability to breath even more laborious. Cold seeped through my scales into my heart. Drenched, my wings felt even more and more heavy by each passing wing flap.

And before I knew it, I realized I had lost a considerable amount of height. I could now see the ocean, whose black waves rose monstrously to the skies.

That nightmare would never end. I was going to die in there.

My strength depleted, I started to glide downwards.

"No girl! Don't give up! We have to fight through this!"

I could barely hear Astrid's voice above the typhoon's mighty roars. Slowly, I continued falling down little by little.

The viking leaned closer to my ears. She wrapped her arms around my head and pressed Hiccup tightly between us. "Listen to me, okay?! I can feel you struggling, I can feel you giving it everything you got to keep Hiccup and me in the air! It's my fault that we're in this situation, and I'm sorry that I left you all the work! Just keep focusing on me and everything will be fine!"

"That's what I did whenever I jogged around Berk to practice you know?! I just blurred my exhaustion with whatever distraction I could find to keep on going! Sometimes it was the twins making an explosion in some poor viking's house, or the smell of the ocean near the docks, or…" She let out a bitter laugh, "or I admit, thinking of killing dragons! Because that was the greatest service to your tribe and I used to be such a moron thinking it was the right thing to do, when clearly it isn't!"

"I wanted to make my tribe proud of me! I was so bent into this goal that I only cared about becoming a tough and invincible warrior that was both cunning and fearless! In the end, I was just another obsessed idiot who was unable to see how she had become: violent, selfish and too competitive for her own good! I had no real friends, no one whom I could really speak to, all because I was afraid they'd consider me a loser! Actually, even if you can't speak, I think this is one of the most genuine conversations I've had with anyone about myself!"

And suddenly, Astrid buried her head into my neck. "All I mean is, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for not being able to see how incredible you guys can be, I'm sorry for becoming this nasty viking, and I'm sorry for all the things I did to you back at the arena! I treated you like dirt and you still went out of your way to help me and our tribe… I'm really really sorry!"

I was awestruck. She had seemed like such a hardened viking back then, but now she was pouring her feelings like she couldn't bear to keep them in any longer.

"And if we die here, I just don't want you to see me like that emotionless warrior anymore! I can do better, I know I can! So if by any chance we make it out of this alive, I swear to make it count! I'll be nicer, I'll stop worrying about people's opinion about me, I'll… Thor, I'd even make friends with dragons! None of us have to kill each other anymore! We can finally live in peace, all together! So please!"

The waves were almost grazing my talons now. I decided it was enough; if I had strength to breathe, I surely had strength to fly. Were we to fail in our mission, then so be it, but I'd fight that storm until my last breath. I couldn't let those vikings drown in the ocean, not if I had a say about it. With newfound strength, I roared and flew us farther and farther from the tall waves.

"And what would we do about the weapons I wonder?!" Astrid sounded excited. "We can use part of the metal to build sturdier houses or even dragon stables! If every viking had a dragon, we'll surely need a lot more space! But we can't just throw away all our weapons either, or we'd be undefended by other tribes! Maybe you could even help us?! I wonder what Gobber will think about all of this! Hiccup sure has his work cut out for him!"

Astrid kept talking and talking about the past, present and future of their tribe while I listened and struggled against the horrible typhoon. My eyes were still covered with water and my wings still ached with strain, but her words gave ma all the encouragement I needed to just keep going.

Time passed more rapidly. Was it just me or was the storm getting weaker? I didn't dare to guess until Astrid suddenly whooped joyously and pointed towards the horizon.

It was Berk. I had never been more happy to reach that place. During the night raids, arriving meant blood, blades, and very possibly death. But now, it meant rest, recovery, and very possibly a new home.

I collapsed the moment I landed. The rain was reduced to a mere drizzle by now. The few villagers that had stayed approached us with caution, but Astrid wasted no time consulting a healer. "Don't worry," she reassured them, "she won't harm you. She just needs a bit of rest."

When the healer arrived, she immediately took Hiccup's limp body away with the help of the other vikings. Astrid made a move to follow them, but I crooned loudly. I didn't want her to leave me. "It'll just be a moment." She comforted me before glaring at everyone else. "No one harms her, got it?! Or I'll chop off your head and toss it to the ocean!"

Everyone flinched. What happened with her promise to be nicer?

She followed the group into a triangular den not too far away (houses maybe?), but I was still distressed. The villagers and I eyed each other warily, but no one made a move against me. They either continued on their merry way or stared at me from afar.

It wasn't long before Astrid came back. She sat down next to me with a tired sigh. "It's done. Hiccup's good for now. I already explained what happened with the others, but I have the feeling they'll only believe me when the rest come back. I hope the storm doesn't complicate matters for them."

I let out a huff and looked around. It was so strange to be in the viking's Nest without fearing death or smelling fire wherever I went. I had the desire to explore their community and watch all the houses from the inside.

Then I looked at Astrid. She was so wet and cold, yet she didn't seem to realize. Her eyes were trained to the horizon, waiting for the floaters to come back. I moved shakily and wound my body around the girl so we could share our heat with each other. I would've lit a small fire if my head wasn't so wet.

She smiled at my gesture and cuddled further against my scales. "Thank you girl. For everything."

That's how we spent the rest of the afternoon until the floaters showed up: coiled around each other while staring at the horizon. During that time, I decided I wanted to stay with her permanently. She was a lot like me: tough, daring and loyal with a big heart. Some training was needed for the latter though, which I'd be more than happy to provide.

At one point, she even called me a name of my own: Stormfly. My chest swelled with pride. She brushed away some dirt off my body and I licked her tenderly. Astrid grinned softly and caressed me near my neck. I could get used to this.

Ahh, the feels. It's just that Toothless has been so used in Fanfiction lately that I felt it was time to give Stormfly the spotlight. And thus, this little piece was born. Now, back to my reading corner! And let's hope inspiration graces me with its presence once again. It's good to be back, at least for a while :)