A/N: So this is my first HTTYD fanfiction, though I have written other stories on this site from a different account. So the basic info of this story is it takes place five years after the battle with Drago and the Bewilderbeast and Stoick's death. So Hiccup and the gang are roughly twenty-four/five in this story.

Now I'm just going to say this disclaimer once because I think we all know I don't own HTTYD or Hiccup or Toothless as much as I really want too. Also, this first scene is inspired by the video "Tucked In" by axonmanage, so I take no credit besides the added in details.

Nightmares

He had fallen asleep at his desk when Valka walked into the room where he had drawings of new inventions, books he had collected over the years, and tools he had picked up from the forge. She smiled softly at her grown son before she picked up the fur that had been in a messy heap on the ground beside the door, and gently placed it over him. She leaned down and placed a soft kiss to his forehead before she quietly walked out and shut the door softly.

Not long after Valka had left and the candles that rested on the desk had blown out, a soft murmur came from outside the open window of the room. A dark head peeked into the room and bright emerald eyes scanned the room before landing on the sleeping man. Trying as hard as he could, Toothless quietly hopped into the room, only to make a loud thud as his feet touched the ground. Seeing that Hiccup had not been disturbed by the sound, Toothless walked over to his desk until his tail accidentally knocked over the axe that was rested against the wall, causing it to fall onto the wooden floor with a loud clank. Toothless froze as he heard his master grunt and shift in his sleep.

Toothless purred softly as his face came next to Hiccup's and watched as he began to move and shift uncomfortably. He began to breathe heavily and in one quick movement, he pushed himself back from the desk with his hands and his chair tipped backwards.

"Toothless! No!" Hiccup yelled with his eyes still closed.

The black Night Fury tried to catch Hiccup from falling, but failed to do so and resulted in Hiccup hitting the floor with a loud thud. He laid there on the fallen fur as Toothless gently nudged him in the hopes of waking him up. Hiccup turned onto his stomach with his elbows supporting his weight before he got onto his knees and clutched the fur in his hands tightly.

"Dad!" he yelled in a pained and rasped voice.

Toothless gave him a concerned look, already understanding the situation. He placed the side of his head against Hiccup's cheek, only to have Hiccup push him away with great force.

"No! Get away from him!" he exclaimed as he kept pushing Toothless away from him. "Go on! Get out of here!"

The dragon looked away with a pained expression as he felt his best friend's hands push him away. As he was pushing the dragon away, Hiccup's prosthetic caused him to slip on the fur and fall backwards as he gasped, but Toothless caught him with his tailfin. Hiccup slowly opened his eyes and tried to look at Toothless as the dragon inched his face closer.

"Witness true strength–the strength of will over others."

Drago's voice echoed throughout his head as he looked at Toothless.

"In the face of it, you are nothing."

Then, Hiccup saw Toothless's eyes turn into sharp slits and his teeth bared at him. Soon, it was as though he was under the dragon's menacing shadow and he gasped, scooting backwards, away from him.

"No!"

Suddenly, his back and his head collided with the wall behind him and everything went black for a moment before he blinked. He looked up at Toothless, who stood across the room with a frightened look and then the realization came to him as he placed his head in his hands shamefully.

It had been a nightmare.

Hiccup gasped softly and then sighed as he clutched his tunic tightly. He had let it happen again. He heard soft cooing and he slowly looked up into Toothless's emerald eyes–the ones that seemed to reflect his own. Hiccup looked down again in shame as tears began to build up in his eyes before he managed to look back up at his best friend.

"Bud...I did it again, didn't I?" Toothless crooned in response with a sad look and Hiccup held out his hand to him, just like the way he had when they first bonded.

Ever since the aftermath of the war with Drago and the Bewilderbeast and his father's death that took place five years ago, nothing had been the same, especially for Hiccup. There wasn't a night where his nightmares and memories of what happened haunted him and he couldn't get rid of them. Though it was nights like these that he hated–when he was so lost in his nightmare that he managed to harm his best friend, not even realizing it. That broke Hiccup the most.

"I'm so sorry, Toothless," the young man rasped as Toothless met his hand with his nose. Hiccup then leaned forward and hugged the dragon's head as the tears fell and his sobs racked his body. Toothless pulled away and his master reached out his hands for him.

"No please, Toothless don't go...don't leave..."

Though the dragon never meant to leave, he had only been changing the position to wrap himself around Hiccup. He wrapped a paw around Hiccup's waist and pulled him close as Hiccup draped himself over the dragon's head and began to scratch and smooth his hand over it.

He gently inhaled the clean scent of Toothless's ears and chuckled softly. "Your ears always smell so nice bud."

It wasn't too soon after that Hiccup had fallen asleep again and Toothless purred softly. The Night Fury twisted Hiccup around so that he was carrying him in his arms and stood up on his hind legs and walked them to Hiccup's bedroom.

"Toothless..." sigh. "...what are you doing..." grunt. "...watch the leg bud..."

He placed the young man on his bed, only to have him nearly fall off the side, though Toothless quickly grabbed him by his green tunic as he grunted.

"What did you do that for, bud..." he mumbled with his eyes still closed.

Toothless reached over to the other side of the bed and pulled the furs over Hiccup until they were around him. Hiccup looked up at Toothless and smiled softly before he leaned over to hug him, and Toothless wrapped his paws over his rider. Despite the events that took place when he was having a nightmare and not knowing what was happening as he was asleep, Hiccup knew that even as they worsened every time, Toothless would be there and would never leave his side.

That, he knew.

Hiccup awoke the next morning with a heavy weight upon him, but when he saw that Toothless was nowhere to be found in his bedroom, he realized it was guilt and sadness weighing down on him. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, which were still warm and swollen from his crying last night. Hiccup sat up and swung his legs over the bed and stood–nearly tripping on his prosthetic–and shook out his hair. He put on his right boot and his leather vest before he walked downstairs. Hiccup no longer lived in his old house–after he and Astrid married, they had moved into their own home with their four-year-old daughter, Arden. Though for his mother, he visited and slept over when he could.

He saw his mother sitting down at the family table with Toothless at her side. He gave her shoulder a squeeze when he passed by her and she looked up and smiled at him.

"Mornin'," she greeted.

"Morning," he repeated back and took a seat next to her.

Valka gave him a sad look and grabbed his hand between her own. "I heard you last night..."

Hiccup looked down and nodded. "I figured you did."

She sighed. "I wish I could do something for you. But I know you don't like it when I try to help–"

"I don't because I know I'm going to hurt you and anyone who comes near me. I already hurt Toothless enough when it happens," he said softly and at that, Toothless cooed and pressed his nose against his rider's cheek. "I know you understand why, bud, but I hate knowing it happens."

"Is that why you spend more time here than with Astrid and Arden at night? Because you're afraid something will happen to them?"

Hiccup nodded. "And because I don't want Arden to see me like that if she ever were to." Valka nodded in understanding. "She...she would be scared of me, and that's something I never want her to feel."

"She would never be scared of you, you know she looks up to you and Astrid," his mother said.

"What if I hurt her? I'm not even conscious during these things. I don't even know what I do to Toothless because when I wake up, he's standing across the room with a worried and hurt look on his face, yet I don't remember what I did."

"That, I can understand. Have you tried talking to Gothi about this?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, but even she doesn't know what to do."

Valka sighed and then looked into his eyes. "We'll find a way to at least reduce these nightmares because these things don't go away completely. Most of them are just bad memories of what happened, and whether they're good or bad, memories stay."

"I know," he breathed and gave her bottom hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at her. "I'm really glad you're here, Mom. And thank you for letting me stay here–"

Out of nowhere, Hiccup felt one of Valka's hand release from his hold and slapped him on the back of the head. He muttered an 'ow' and rubbed the spot.

"Don't start with that, Hiccup. This is as much as your home as it is mine."

"I know, sorry."

She smiled and shook her head. "It's alright, now I think you should get back to your family and then to your chiefly duties."

"Yeah," he said as they both stood. "I'll see you later, Mom." They embraced each other before Hiccup walked out the door with Toothless right behind him.

The village was already seemingly busy with people walking and running about the area. Some were carrying around vegetables and fruits, while others were making renovations on some burned houses. A few days ago, Ruffnut and Tuffnut had been arguing while they were on their dragon and ended up setting a few houses on fire in the midst of all their yelling and attacking each other.

Punishment: no dragon riding for a week.

Hiccup chuckled at the memory as made his way through the village–being greeted along the way by the villagers–to his house. When he reached it, Astrid was already outside grooming Stormfly with their four-year-old daughter, Arden. The little girl was the first one to notice her father, dropping the wet cloth in her hand, and ran towards him.

"Daddy!" she squealed and jumped into his awaiting arms.

Hiccup laughed and kissed his daughter's cheek. "Hey little rider."

Arden giggled and reached her arms out towards Toothless when she saw him. "Toothless!"

The dragon gave her a gummy smile and Hiccup placed her on Toothless's saddle before walking over to Astrid. He came up behind her and wrapped his lean arms around her petite waist. He rested his chin on her shoulder, causing her to lean back into him and smile.

"Milady," he said softly.

There was a moment of silence before the blonde let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm still thinking of a name for you."

Hiccup laughed and then smirked at her. "I think 'handsome chief' sounds nice, don't you think?"

She slipped out of his hold and punched him in the arm. "Don't get so full of yourself."

"Ow!" he yelped and rubbed the aching spot. "I was kidding!"

Astrid shook her head with a grin before grabbing him by his tunic and pressing her lips against his. "I know." Hiccup smiled, but it faltered when he saw a sad look on his wife's face. "Did anything happen last night?"

He sighed and nodded. "I hurt Toothless again and it was just...bad, Astrid."

She watched as his mind went somewhere else and cupped his cheek with her hand, to which he leaned into. "We don't have to talk about it right now if you don't want to."

"I'll talk about it soon," he began. "I just need time to think about what happened and how I'm going to prevent it from happening again," he said as he looked back at Toothless, who was jumping around with Arden. "I never want to hurt him or anyone that I love, and I'm afraid of letting that happen."

"Hey," Astrid said softly. "You won't and never will. You're Hiccup Haddock–the kindest, bravest, most selfless man out there. Everyone says how you're like your father, and they're right because you took after all of his qualities that made him a good man and a great chief."

The young chief smiled. "Thank you, Astrid," he said and then pressed another kiss to her lips. "Now speaking of being like my father, I am the chief. And as much as I would like to stay here and spend time with my family, I have some chiefly duties to attend to."

The blonde nodded. "Do you need Toothless or do you want him to stay here?"

"I think he needs a well deserved break for today at least," he said as he looked over at the Night Fury, who was smiling happily at the little giggling girl on his back.

"Alright, I think I'll just let him play with Arden for most of the time."

"Yeah. So I'll see you later today, okay?" Hiccup began as he placed one last kiss on his wife's lips.

"Okay," she said as they pulled away. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said and finally let her go.

He rubbed Stormfly's chin and smiled at her before he made his way to Toothless and Arden. The little girl reached her arms towards her father and was instantly picked up. Hiccup kissed the top of his daughter's head and looked at her.

"Daddy's going to work now and I'm leaving Toothless here, think you can look after him for me while I'm gone?" Arden nodded. "Okay, take good care of him, and the same goes for you, bud."

Toothless gave Hiccup a questioning look as Hiccup placed Arden back on his saddle. "You deserve a break from helping me around, so think of this as your day off," and with that, Hiccup smiled as he patted his dragon's head and walked away.

Hiccup walked about the village, helping around and tending to his people till late afternoon when he spotted Snotlout running towards him. The smile the young chief had plastered on his face quickly vanished when he saw the small cuts and wounds on the viking's face and arms. But what had worried him the most were more vikings coming into the village, limping and helping each other reach the great hall–some sporting some type of injury.

"Snotlout, what's–"

"There's a wild dragon near the forest heading towards the village and some vikings were hurt and–"

"Whoa, whoa, now just wait a second," Hiccup said with raised hands and then turned to some of the villagers who stopped when they noticed the scene. "We need as much help as we can get to the injured vikings and get them healed!"

Soon enough, most of the villagers were gathering around those who were hurt and lead them to the great hall. Hiccup turned to Snotlout and the remaining vikings who gathered around him and nodded his head towards the forest.

"Take me to where this dragon is and explain to me what happened on our way there."

Snotlout nodded and began to explain as they started to walk towards the forest. "We were just out on our hunt for food–some of us went looking for deer and others went to go fish by the river. I was with the group looking for deers and then we starting hearing weird noises and then out of nowhere, this huge dragon comes out of the dense trees. We tried doing the protocol you taught us and we put down all of our weapons and when we tried to approach the dragon slowly, it just began to attack us. Some of us got hurt and we fled with them back to the village as quickly as possible and it's still out there–"

Hiccup stopped abruptly. "Are the fishers still out?"

Snotlout sighed and nodded. "Yeah, we tried to go and tell them, but that dragon kept us from doing so."

"We need to get to them first before nightfall," he said and starting walking again. "Could you tell what kind it was?"

"Hiccup," Snotlout began in a worried voice as he grabbed his arm. "This dragon is like nothing we've ever seen before. Its big and black and has this type of armor around its body, like a Boneknapper. The reason why some of us got hurt was because it hit us with its tail–it has this spear-like end to it. We were lucky that none of us got penetrated with it."

The green-eyed man shook his head. "We'll just have to try to avoid it then. Snotlout, I want you and a few others to go to the river and get the fishers out of there and lead them back to the village before it gets dark."

"What are you going to do?" Snotlout asked.

"I'm going to figure what type of dragon this is and try to capture it," he said and then turned to the other vikings. "The rest of you, will you be willing to stand by me no matter how bad it gets out there?"

They nodded and one spoke up. "Always."

"Okay," he breathed. "Then let's go."

Snotlout took his group just outside the perimeter of the forest until they found the path leading to the river. Hiccup knew night would fall as they were in the forest, and because of the dense trees, it would be harder to see without the moonlight. He grabbed a few spare torches and lit them with his dragon blade, Inferno, and gave them to his vikings.

They were just outside the forest when they heard a terrifying roar come from deep within it. A few vikings gave terrified looks to each other until they focused back on their chief's unfazed and strong look, and shook out of their fright. They knew that if Hiccup had nothing to fear, as young as he was, then they had nothing to fear as well. They watched as Hiccup slowly raised his arm up and then clamped it down into a fist, giving the signal to move.

They ran into the forest quietly and just as Hiccup had suspected, night was falling and darkness was engulfing them quicker due to the dense trees. Suddenly, another roar was heard from across the forest, causing some birds to fly out of the trees–though this time, the roar was louder, closer. In the distance, Hiccup could see the silhouette of a dragon and he held up his hand to halt everyone. Slowly, they began to inch closer to the beast and they assembled into a spread out half-circle, covering as much ground needed.

When they reached to the spot where the dragon's figure had been, it was completely gone.

"Is it g-gone?" one viking stuttered.

Hiccup looked around for a moment before he bent down and touched his fingertips to the earth. He closed his eyes and drowned out all the noise before he felt the earth move under his fingertips.

"No," he said. "Its still here."

Right at that very moment, a spear-like tail swept out from under one of the viking's feet, causing him to fall. Everyone took a step back and Hiccup stood as he took out Inferno. Lighting it up, Hiccup flashed it around until a large, black dragon's body came into view. He looked up and realized that it was looking straight at him.

"We need more bandages over here! Someone get water for that viking over there as well!" Astrid called out in the great hall as she tended to the injured hunters.

The great hall was filled with injured vikings being tended to by others. Bandages upon bandages, she heard the agonizing moans coming from them and flinched at the sounds. She hated seeing and hearing her people in pain–when Hiccup wasn't there to tend to them, she knew she had to take charge in place of him. Being the wife of the chief didn't just mean having the luxury of having a title or being known, it also came with the responsibility as acting chief herself when Hiccup wasn't there.

She spotted Valka coming into the great hall with a shocked expression soon replaced with concern. Valka made eye contact with Astrid and ran over to her and helped her with the injured viking.

"What happened? Where's Hiccup?"

"The vikings got attacked by a wild dragon while hunting and Hiccup went out with a few other vikings to go look for it," Astrid replied as she placed a wet rag over the man's forehead. "I'm worried because it's getting dark out."

"Is Toothless with him?"

Astrid shook her head. "Hiccup told him to stay here because he felt like he needed a break. He's over there," she said and gestured over to the Night Fury who was running back and forth between vikings, helping as well.

"What type of dragon was it?" Valka asked.

Before Astrid could answer, the viking she was helping, answered. "We're not sure, but it was big and black with some type of armor around it, but that wasn't the scary part. It had a spear-like end to its tail and to its wings and a sword attached to its tail. That's how most of us got injured."

Valka thought for a moment before she spoke. "That's strange, they don't normally attack people out of the blue..."

Astrid gave her a confused look. "Wait, what are you talking about? Do you know what kind of dragon it is?"

"It's a Sword Stealer," Valka began. "Although they seem menacing and scary, they're just big sweethearts. So the fact that this one attacked these vikings makes it odd, because they don't normally attack people out of nowhere."

"So what do we do?" the blonde asked with worry filling her voice.

"There's something wrong, and we need to find Hiccup and–" before Valka could finish, a loud rasped roar resounded throughout the forest and the village causing everyone to go still.

"You've got to be kidding me," Astrid breathed and she heard Toothless let out a low growl. "Easy, Toothless."

Suddenly, loud screams and yells could be heard from the forest, but the loud call of the chief's name from the forest had everyone's blood run cold.

"Hiccup!"

Before anyone could react, Toothless was already bolting out of the great hall and running towards the forest at a high speed. Astrid called after him, but with no luck and turned to Valka who gave her the same horrified look.

"Hiccup!" one of the vikings yelled as the Sword Stealer swiped at the young chief with his tail, causing him to collide into a nearby tree.

Hiccup groaned in pain and when he regained his strength back, he watched with horror as the dragon stabbed one of the vikings with his spear-like tail.

"No!" he yelled as he scrambled onto his feet and ran by the fallen viking's side. He looked down in sorrow as he saw that it was one of his best warriors, Danik, who had been stabbed. Hiccup called over two vikings who quickly lifted Danik out of harm's way by a far tree and placed a piece of cloth over his wound.

The Sword Stealer looked down at everyone with fiery eyes before landing on Hiccup. It let out a low growl at the young man and Hiccup soon came to the realization of why it was here.

"It wants me," he said quietly, and repeated it again, louder, when the vikings gave him confused looks. "It wants me."

"Hiccup–" one of the vikings began, but Hiccup cut him off.

"Everyone, stand down. I'll handle this dragon alone."

"But–"

"You follow my orders," Hiccup said in a low voice and the vikings backed away.

He turned to the dragon and inched towards him. "Is it me that you want?" The dragon gave out a low growl in response. "Well here I am, but I'm not going to hurt you."

Before Hiccup could reach for the Sword Stealer, the dragon's forge-like mouth began to glow, and Hiccup's eyes widened. "Everyone, get clear!"

The vikings jumped out of the way as the dragon blew a blast of fire around them, nearly catching Hiccup's boot. The dragon roared again and walked over to Hiccup until he was towering over him. It was nearly as tall as the Bonenapper, maybe even taller. The green-eyed man soon realized that his dragon blade had been left by the tree he struck and silently cursed himself for leaving it there. He watched as the dragon prepared to fire again until there was a loud charging sound and a bright blue and purple blast struck the Sword Stealer. The dragon stumbled backwards and groaned in pain before glaring back at the attacker.

There stood the great Night Fury, with a lethal stare in his bright green eyes, and pupils slit. It took the Sword Stealer a moment before it began to back away, realizing Toothless's status as an alpha. Toothless made a loud grunt noise that echoed throughout the forest before he trotted over to Hiccup and nuzzled his nose into his rider's chest.

"It's good to see you too, bud," Hiccup said and wrapped his arms around his dragon. He stood up and looked at the Sword Stealer and then back to his vikings. "I think this guy got the message–" But suddenly, the dragon blasted fire at the vikings near him. "Take it back! I completely take it back!" Hiccup yelled. "Everyone, back away!"

"I thought dragons stood down when they're in the presence of an alpha!" one viking yelled as he dodged another blast.

Hiccup looked back at the dragon with a confused look. "They're supposed to."

Toothless let out a low growl at the dragon before he fired another plasma blast at him. It struck the dragon again causing it to fall backwards this time with a loud thud. Everyone inched towards it, but the Sword Stealer lifted its tail up and flung it around in defense. It rose back up onto its feet–obviously angry that it had been brought down. Why it wasn't standing down to an alpha species like Toothless had Hiccup questioning what type of dragon it was and why it was here. In the five years Toothless had been alpha, no dragon had ever stood up or even challenged him, so this dragon was a first.

Hiccup gave the signal for the vikings to create a wide circle around the Sword Stealer, but not too close in case they scared it–although it was probably already scared. Trying once more, Hiccup held up his hands as he inched towards the dragon in the hopes of making it trust them.

"We're not here to hurt you," he began as he slowly walked closer. "We just want to keep everyone safe here, and it'd be a big help if you could try to do the same."

The Sword Stealer gave out a low growl in response and bared its sharp teeth when Hiccup's hand was near his face. "Easy there, big guy. I'm not going to hurt you."

When the dragon went quiet, Hiccup reached his hand closer, but just as he was about to rest it on its nose, the dragon roared and jumped up from its spot on the ground. The sudden movement had the young man on his back in a matter of seconds, giving the Sword Stealer the opportunity to trap Hiccup between the ground and its sharp talons. Its large mouth began to glow and Hiccup braced himself until he felt the dragon's heavy weight lift off of him. He looked up and saw Toothless and the Sword Stealer battling and firing at each other.

"Toothless!"

The two dragons wrestled each other to the ground, ramming each other into the trees and firing. Everyone stood back and watched in fear as the two battled. They watched as the Sword Stealer pinned Toothless down and prepared to blast fire, when Toothless clamped his teeth down on its hide. The dragon roared in pain and Toothless swept out from under him and pushed him down, hitting its head against a boulder. He pressed his paw down on its neck, trapping it–the whole scene seemed to resemble Hiccup's first encounter with the Night fury after freeing him from the ropes.

There was a moment of silence until Toothless opened his mouth and let out a terrifying and menacing roar into the Sword Stealer's face, as if to give him a final warning of who was in charge. The roar echoed throughout the forest and everything went quiet again. Hiccup watched closely as he saw something change in the dragon's eyes–its pupils dilated and it looked around the area as if it had no idea what had just occurred. Then, the large dragon looked back at Toothless and let out a small murmur as if giving Toothless his respects. Toothless let go of the dragon and stood tall as the Sword Stealer got up and slowly bowed to him. As it stood again, it looked at Hiccup and the vikings with sorrowful eyes, as if it had realized what it had done.

The Sword Stealer walked over to Hiccup slowly and this time when Hiccup reached his hand out, the dragon met his touch. Though Hiccup wasn't expecting the dragon to immediately nuzzle itself into his chest, but he wrapped his arms around it either way. He realized the dragon was shaking and had a look in his wide eyes that even Hiccup couldn't explain–guilt? Remorse? Fear? He didn't know, but what he did know was that the dragon was safe now.

"Let's all get back to the village and tend those who are injured, and this guy over here," Hiccup said, receiving nods from the vikings as they began to walk back to the village. He looked back at the dragon in his arms and then to Toothless who came up beside them. "Thank you," Hiccup said softly to him.

Toothless crooned in response before looking at the Sword Stealer and then back at Hiccup, who nodded. "We'll take him back with us and fix him up. Then we're going to figure out what happened to him."

A/N: Well, there's the first chapter of SYAS! I actually didn't expect it to be as long as it turned out to be, whoops. Just a few quick notes: since Hiccup and the gang are roughly twenty-four/five in this story, I'm deciding to make them a bit more mature, but I'm still sticking to their goofiness and well-known personalities. Also, for those who know the HTTYD franchise's game, Rise of Berk, the Sword Stealer is based from the game. There's not a lot of information on the dragon itself, but I'm guessing that despite its scary looks, it's probably just a big sweetheart. Next chapter you'll find out what happened to the poor guy and why he acted the way he did in the forest, so stick around for that.

See you later, dragon riders!