Waning: This fic contains spoilers for the second movie, so I would not suggest continuing if you have not seen it. Also I've seen the movies, but I have not read the books nor seen most of the series. That being said, don't be suspired if I include something random from the tv series and don't include something else.

Oh, almost forgot to say that Toothless is going to be introduced into the story a little later on, so don't freak out when he isn't here right away. Also this will be a little bit of a dark fic, so character death haters be warned.

Please do tell me if you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or anything within its franchise. And I do not wish I did, because if I owned it, it wouldn't be the same movie we all know and love.

Dragon's Hope, Part 1

Chapter 1:

The End of what We Know

-o0o-

"Hiccup, dear, it's time to get out of bed."

I moaned, turning over in my recently-interrupted slumber, waving the woman away with a groggy flap of my hand. "Five minutes, mom," I muttered, barely registering her presence. "'Sup late flying."

Snuggling deeper into my blanket, I tried to drift back into sleep, but sleep can be hard-coming when your mother is determined to spare you the mercy.

"Hiccup, ya need to get up. Pease now, Hiccup. Get up."

"Not now," I groaned, hugging my pillow over my head. Why choose today to try and wake me up? Mom knew I was out late last night dealing with that rouge nightmare. Somehow the dragon had managed to use the natural oils pools along the north islands to his advantage, making his fire-coat one of the hottest and brightest I had ever seen. Yet that little stunt was more deadly than the nightmare had anticipated, and it had nearly taken Grayheart and me until dawn to put out a fire that neither water nor snow could easily extinguish.

"Hiccup!"

The panicked yell snapped me from my stupor, echoing with a strange, far-away quality. Opening my eyes wide, I jerked upright, all thoughts of sleep forgotten. The air was thick and gray, yet it was not smoke, nor any kind of mist that I could tell. It was as if the sun had vanished, replaced by a dawn so gray and hopeless that it felt like I had slept straight into the netherworld.

"M-mom? Mom! Where are you?" I tried hurriedly to get out of my hammock, but my feet became tangled in blankets, and I plummeted to the floor with a thud. Everything was blurred and disorganized, swimming before me as if I were underwater.

A scream sounded throughout the cave, making my heart freeze up in my chest. It was the most painful thing I had ever felt – hearing that sound – and for a single moment the only thing I could do was lie there in horror. The world shifted from a dismal gray to a blood red at the cry, and my blood hammered in my ears like war-drums.

"Mom! Grayheart, help me!" I called, but no one responded. It was as if I were alone.

I stumbled out the door and into the room that doubled as our living room and kitchen. Where was she?! I looked around desperately, but my vision was growing redder and darker – everything a nearly unrecognizable blur.

"I-I can't see..." I said desperately, pleading to whatever gods would listen. "Where are you?!"

"Hiccup…"

This time it wasn't a yell, but more a horrified whisper. I turned slowly, dreading what I might see. The dark silhouette of a woman stood near the entrance to the cave, looking out into darkness – hands covering her mouth. "…Mom?" I asked, walking toward her cautiously. "…What's wrong?"

She turned to look at me, and somehow I was able to see her face with chilling clarity. "Hiccup… Hiccup, I'm so sorry…" she whispered, her voice breaking, tears marring her beautiful features. "I didn't…"

Something beneath the cave floor rumbled. Something huge and very, very much alive. It sounded like a roar, yet no dragon I knew made a sound like that.

Suddenly a shadow passed over the cave entrance, and I could do nothing but freeze and watch in horror.

Whatever the monster could be, it was not a dragon.

Claws longer then my arm reached in through the hole, ripping away at the sides of the entrance. My mother turned slowly, shaking like a leaf as she saw the beast trying to tear our home apart. "Mom!" I screamed, sprinting as fast as I could toward her. The earth all around rumbled, making the red mist that blurred everything tremble.

Then I saw its head, and though I my vision was blurred and distorted, no words could possibly describe the horror I saw. It was a terrible, black mass, with red eyes devoid of mercy or remorse. It roared, immense maw open before my mother, and I was flung back. "Mom!" I screamed again, reaching out to her, begging – pleading. Stop! Oh gods, please stop!

The monster filled its massive lungs, and then everything – my entire world – was encased in a torrent of fire.

NO!

-o0o-

THUD.

I opened my eyes, squinting when the bright mourning light forced its way into my skull. It took several moments, but finally I was able to adjust to the brightness, and I looked around. I was on the bedroom's cave floor instead of my hammock, blankets half twisted around me. The sounds of dragons roaring and playing reached my ears, making me relax.

Everything was normal, then.

Well, almost everything, I thought, wondering where in the world Grayheart could be. Just as I was about to try untangling myself, the dragon in question stuck her head through the large hole in the roof that I had dubbed as my window. Birds and other pests didn't dare to come within a mile of this place, so I hardly had to worry about those. The only thing that came through that way was Grayheart, and perhaps, with her permission, other dragons.

Grayheart was a typhoomerang, meaning her head and neck were the only things able to fit through the small entrance. That said, her neck was long enough so as to seem as if the entire dragon were in my room, and she didn't hesitate to use that ability now – looping her neck around and glaring down at me with a stern eye.

"Oh, hey, girl," I said, blinking up at the dragon. Despite her name, Grayheart was more purple then gray, but I liked the identity better than Purpleheart.

She snorted, blowing smoke in my face. "Hey!" I coughed, fanning the air. "What was that for?"

She gave me a look like, "take a guess."

I glanced around, remembering that I was lying on the cold floor. "Oh, yeah," I said, frowning. "I think I had a nightmare, but I can't seem to remember what is was about…"

Strange, I could have sworn it was there just a minute ago. Ah well, nothing to do about it now. Yet still, I was unable to shake the feeling off. It was like a lingering…despair, perhaps, though I hadn't the slightest idea about what.

My feet completely tangled in bed-sheets, I grabbed onto one of Grayheart's horns and she set me on a stone slab so that it would be easier to unravel myself. Man, I must have tossed around a lot last night to get this wrapped up, I thought, pulling at the blankets. My boots still remained on my feet, testimony to just how tired I had been the previous night.

"Hiccup!" my mother called from her place in the kitchen. "Time to get out of bed, ya sleepyhead!"

"Already on it!" I called back, standing up. Suddenly my stomach growled, and I grinned sheepishly at Grayheart. The dragon looked as if she wanted to blow smoke at me a second time, giving me her mildly exasperated look. "Guess it's been a while since I ate," I said. "You're probably hungry too, huh girl?"

Grayheart snorted in my face again. Ok, great. The day had just started and already I smelled like smoke. "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the ice this morning," I huffed. At least I had the foresight to hold my breath this time. "You didn't have to wait for me to get up."

The dragon just glared at me, then snaked her head back out of the cave and climbed down to the dragon shelf. Despite saying that, I knew Grayheart would never leave in the middle of night when I was having a nightmare. She was just that kind of dragon.

Yawning expansively and stretching, I wandering out of my room and into the next where my mother was sharpening a knife. "Saved ya some breakfast," she said, gesturing at a plate of something I assumed to be fish on a wooden slab.

"Um," I said, eyeing the so called "breakfast". "Yeah, you know, I promised Grayheart that we could go fishing together this morning, so…yeah. I'm just gunna eat out."

"Oh, it's far past morning, dear," Valka said, examining the knife. "Nearly noon now, I imagine."

"Really?" I stepped onto the dragon shelf, gazing out at the hordes of dragons flying through the air, swimming, or playing with one another on the nesting shelves. A mob of colors greeted my eyes, making me feel awed and alive. The sun was just peaking over one of the ice walls, flooding half the cavern in intense light. Grayheart was curled up on the ledge, pretending to be asleep, but I knew she was watching me with her other senses.

Quickly I ran inside, grabbed my pack, then sprinted back out.

"Ready to go?" I asked her, and immediately she opened her eyes and uncurled – her head towering above me on a neck that stretched toward the sky. I took a moment to wonder at her, admiring just how beautiful the large dragon was. Wings nearly twice the size of my home stretched out, blotting out the colorful view behind her. "Good enough for me," I said, smiling and climbing onto her back. "Mom! We're going now!"

Valka walked out onto the ledge and tossed me something. It was my dragon mask. "Take this with ya, dear. Just in case."

I caught the mask, looking at its slim eyeholes and the two spiraling, twisted horns at the top. The cover was painted with streaks of gray and purple, matching my dragon's scales. "It's just a fishing trip," I protested. "Do I really need this?"

"Just in case," she repeated, leaving little room to ague.

I sighed and looped it around my neck, letting the mask rest against my back. "We're off then."

"Come back soon, alright? I don't want ya home a week later, claiming ya lost track of time. Nearly gave me a heart attack on that last little escapade of yers."

"I'll be back," I said, grinning toothily at her. "Probably."

Then Grayheart stepped off the ledge and we fell, though it didn't last long. It only took a moment before the air caught the dragon's massive wings and we soared upward with a jerk. My breath caught like it did every time Grayheart took to the sky, and my heart leaped within me. We soared upward though groups of dragons, flying around and over the Great Alpha, who was lounging in his pool like he always was.

Soon we were free of the ice cavern and soared into bright, open sky. "Woohoo!" I called – fists in the air. Grayheart let out a roar of delight and freedom. Normally typhoomerangs didn't live permanently in the Alpha's nest because of their massive wingspan and love for soaring – nearly impossible to do the large cavern – but Grayheart was a rare exception. After saving me from falling off Cloudjumper's back when I was four, she had made her home under the Bewilderbeast's rule along with the rest of us. That was twelve years ago now, and Grayheart had hardly left my side since.

Hunger almost forgotten, we sailed through the sky for nearly an hour, mesmerized by the feeling of freedom. Passing over small islands and endless ocean, it wasn't until we found a huge school of fish did we remember what we were supposed to be doing.

Grinning with excitement, I carefully crawled up Grayheart's neck and sat down directly behind her huge horns. Sitting on her shoulders was good for long flights, but everything was much more fun from her vantage-point. Plus, you know, it was easier to hold on.

Grayheart flapped three times, then she folded her wings into a cone and dived. "Yeah!" I called as the great dragon began to spin, but my voice was ripped away as I held on with everything I had. Gripping with my legs, I held her horns and tried not to be flung off by the force of her rotations. Suddenly, we crashed into the ocean, but it wasn't until her revolutions slowed did the water hit me in a rush. Flying through the ocean at top speed, Grayheart angled upward, and, in a great wush, we broke the surface, flinging a whole group of fish into the air.

Laughing, I held on while Grayheart snatched a mouthful of food as they fell floppily back to the sea. I hugged her neck, content to wait to eat until my dragon was full.

Hours later, we found ourselves sitting on a great outcropping of rock as we watch birds and clouds pass below us. We both lounged in the sun, soaking in the early autumn sunlight with comfortably full stomachs. I was leaning back against the rock, letting my legs dangle over the ocean so far below. Grayheart lay above me, stretched out over the entire top of the outcropping. Her head rested atop one spread-out wing as she dozed.

"Hey Grayheart," I said, gazing out over the horizon. "How long do you think this is going to last?" The dragon cracked open an eye and looked at me. It was hard to read the emotions on her face when she didn't want you to. "I mean," I continued, "it feels like the trappers are getting closer each week, and… well, you know what I mean, don't you girl?"

Grayheart snorted, as if amused. "Hey! Don't make fun of me!" I swatted playfully at her wing. "But yeah, I guess I'm being silly. Just a little."

I could have sworn the dragon rolled her eyes, but it must have been my imagination. With a contented sigh, I leaned back against the rock and closed my eyes. Perhaps it was just my own paranoia. Whatever the feeling, it seemed pretty impractical now.

-o0o-

I must have fallen asleep, for the next thing I knew Grayheart was growling me awake. I cracked open an eye, noticing that the shadow of our rock outcropping had become elongated over the water. The sun would be setting in only a matter of hours.

"What is it, girl?" I asked sleepily. Grayheart was awake and alert, her long neck stretched out above me. Rubbing my eyes, I looked toward the direction the dragon was focused on – tense and on alarm. Her large wing blocked my view, so carefully I crawled over it until I could look out over the vast ocean.

What I saw made me wish we had never left the Alpha's nest.

"We need to go, Grayheart!" I said, panic fluttering in my chest. "Now!"

The dragon snorted in agreement, and once I was situated between her shoulder-blades she was gone, jettisoning off the outcropping with startling speed. Typhoomerangs may have had large wings for soaring, but they could be downright fast when they wanted to be.

"Hurry!" I called, knowing that is was unnecessary. Already Grayheart's speed was so great that I was having trouble holding on as we sped toward the great column of pitch-black smoke spiraling from our home.

"Oh, Thor," I muttered to no one in particular. "Oh please don't let it them. Oh please…"

-o0o-

Astrid Hofferson was not a girl easily impressed.

If, in fact, she looked back upon her life - as she was doing now – she would find that very little had indeed impressed her. Snotlout certainly didn't, with his stupid antics and childish fantasies. Neither did any of the other members of her dragon slaying class, though Fishlegs sometimes drew close when it came to his intellect.

The last thing that had truly surprised her was the news of the Hairy Hooligans defeat against the Red Death, nearly two and a half years prior. At the time, having just started dragon training, she was of the option that nothing could stop their tribe, being one of the best groups of dragon slayers around. But when they returned – numbers dwindling in the teens and all nearly beaten to death –the reality of their weakness had hit her like a hammer.

That was also the time she found out her parents were not amongst the survivors.

After that day she had thrown everything into training, determined to become the best dragon fighter of their age. She came out first in her class, and when Stoic was forced to accept the offered help from one Drago Bludvist, she had become one of his top picked fighters, and even helped in the defeat of the Red Death.

No, Astrid Hofferson was not a girl easily impressed, though standing here, atop one of Drago Bludvist's great iron ships and watching two of the largest dragons she had even seen fight like battering rams, she thought she might have to revise that statement.

"Whoa…" said Ruffnut, coming to stand at her side. They were both dressed for battle – knives and other weaponry hanging at their belts. "Those are two really big freaking dragons."

For once Astrid was inclined to agree with the female twin. "I know," she said, clenching her axe in determination. "And once the Alpha is dead, then we strike."

"Yeah." Ruffnut grinned savagely and punched her fist into an open palm. "Then all our dragon problems will be over. Forever."

-o0o-

Tell me if you think I should continue! Thanks for reading!