Chapter 1

The Land Just Beyond the Mist

A/N- Heya! I guess this means I've branched again in term of the types of fan fiction I usually write (I've written some YW, SW and now HTTYD starting with this fic). For those of you who haven't ever read my work or visited my profile I'll give a brief introduction.

My name is Don "QuixoticQuest" (no, Don isn't my real name but it's my FFN nickname) and I'm primarily a SW writer and I've written some YW fics on the side as well. I am a college student and I'm a huge sci-fi and fantasy nerd. I am also not ashamed of my nerdiness so feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk about nerdy things. =)

I can't say how good or bad this fic will be, but I will say that I am going to try to keep the characters as canon as possible and that I will be receptive to critique as long as it's constructive.

Cool? =)

Alrighty then! Just some quick notes that I think are important to know before I start the first chappie:

1. This story takes place about a year after the movie ends.

2. There will be some OCs in this story and I might do some tweaking here and there with the storyline (if there are any gaps the film didn't fill in).

3. I do not write slash fiction. My stories (although they are typically AU) will always contain canon pairings and if I do use non-canon pairings, will not be slash. I have nothing against slash, I am just not a slash writer.

4. All of my stories are rated one rating up from what they should be for safety. My stories have warnings for when there is a fair amount of violence or language content-so please read the A/Ns beforehand so you don't read anything that you might find objectionable.

5. This story is going to contain many chapters so keep that in mind for the pacing (I have other fics as well as college work to keep up with so I'll update when I can).

6. I will usually give advance warning if I think there will be a large gap between updates, but I don't make any guarantees- because as the saying goes "s*** happens."

fic is officially rated M but that might change if I decide that the content doesn't warrant such a high rating. Though I do tend to lean on the more mature end of the spectrum so I'm playing it safe here.

Okay! So that about covers all the notes for the first chapter. I'll fill in the gaps about the story's details as the series continues.

Enjoy!

Best,

Don ^_^

Note: This chapter has been revised as of 5/3/10. A special thanks to GeffyB for the idea about the dream.

Hiccup sat up with a groan, it had been another restless night.

Hiccup had been having the same dream every other day for the past few weeks.

He had dreams of images that he couldn't directly understand. The first was of a large island hidden in the mist and images of black dragons flying around in circles in perfect alignment across their island home and then images of a ship hovering in the distance and flames as the dragons fought unseen figures marched through the mist and then a jet of bluish purple fire usually broke the dream to wake Hiccup up.

Hiccup had only now realized he had just seen something personal from Toothless' past. How he had dreamed about it, Hiccup wasn't entirely sure. All he knew was that the dream was more or less a sign of something Hiccup should have known was on his best friend's mind.

Even if Toothless was a dragon, he wasn't by any means emotionless. Hiccup looked around his bedroom. It was the early morning and Hiccup noticed that his scaly friend was absent from the room. Hiccup sighed as he got up. He needed to talk to Toothless.

The early morning sun warmed the grass laden hills as the rays struck the trees, creating shadows on the grass that vaguely resembled monsters of some sort. Though these barely had any resemblance to the dragon that was sitting on the hill nearby, his slanted yellow eyes staring out at the water below the cliff he perched on.

The wind rippled through the trees and the black dragon let out a low moan that cast a sorrowful pitch onto the wind. He flicked his tail to the side before his longing eyes tore from their gaze on the land that was beyond the horizon line of the water, hidden by the mist that lingered above it.

"Toothless?"

The dragon turned and let out a playful growl before tackling the approaching gangly form of his rider and friend. "What are you doing way out here, Bud?" The boy asked, rubbing his hand under the dragon's head. The dragon let out a satisfied purr before giving a growl for a response.

Though Hiccup couldn't directly understand what Toothless was saying, he knew a lame answer when he heard one. "Come on, Toothless." Hiccup said in a dubious tone. The dragon let out a grunt and rolled over to indicate that he was done talking and wanted a belly rub.

"Toothless," Hiccup said in a low voice, "I'm not rubbing your belly until you give me a good answer."

Toothless let out an indignant growl. "Nope." Hiccup replied. "I'm not changing my mind."

Finally Toothless let out a soft moan before coming over to his rider's side and placed his head under Hiccup's hand. For a second Hiccup though about moving his hand but then noticed that something was different about the way Toothless was standing and Hiccup remained still.

"Your family's out there, huh?" Hiccup said and Toothless purred an affirmative. After a few minutes of silence Hiccup sighed. He had thought many times about whether or not Toothless still had a family of dragons out there someplace and if they still lived, would they come looking for Toothless? Hiccup feared the day when his best friend would be taken away for reasons Hiccup couldn't and because of his heart, wouldn't, stop. Hiccup already knew what it was like to lose part of his family and he wouldn't let the same thing happen to Toothless. He turned as Toothless prodded Hiccup in the side with his snout.

"Alright, let's go," Hiccup agreed and soon the two were cruising through the clouds, the air and water soaking through Hiccup's rich brown hair and into his tunic.

Hiccup had to make a choice and it wouldn't be long before he had to make it.

Hiccup continued his long internal debate long into the night, avoiding contact with everyone and managing, despite the pain that kept shooting through his leg, to escape out of sight at every chance he got.

With night falling, Hiccup made his way to the small area where he he'd first met Toothless and sat down on his favorite rock, pulling his knees up to his chest as he thought over his options.

He was sure that Astrid was suspicious since he'd made an effort not to look her in the eye all day long and he knew it was only a matter of time before she brought down the entire forest to find out where he was. Hiccup smiled at the thought, as painfully destructive as it sounded.

After Hiccup had returned from his battle against the Green Death, Astrid had constantly kept an eye on Hiccup, despite his protests that he was fine. She was always there to make sure he didn't do anything too reckless, though in the past year she'd lightened up more since Hiccup had begun to get used to using his metal limb with ease. It still burned on occasion when he walked around too much, but it was much better than the first month after he woke up to find he only had one leg left.

Then there was the other part of Astrid that Hiccup didn't quite understand: her on and off anger and affection drove Hiccup crazy to no end and he wondered what her real feelings were sometimes. She could be yelling at Hiccup and beating the pulp out of him one second and the next second she was patching him up and telling him not to get into trouble again. Hiccup's mouth twitched into a smile. She certainly did know how to make it up to him though. Hiccup never complained when Astrid kissed him. After all, she was good at it.

"And just what are you smiling about?"

Hiccup fell off the rock and landed unceremoniously on his back, his legs flopped over his head. He sat up, rubbing his head, "What was that for?"

Astrid's golden haired head appeared out of the darkness, "That," She said in her usual stern tone, "Was for ignoring me all day," She crossed over to where Hiccup was and kissed him. "That was for your cute smile."

"My what?" Hiccup questioned. Astrid waved her hand, indicating that he wouldn't understand. She then sat down next to Hiccup, leaning back with her hands on the ground beside her legs.

"So what's going on? You've been acting strangely all day," Astrid pointed out and Hiccup averted his green eyes for a second before looking out at the lake in front of them.

"It's Toothless," Hiccup said finally. Astrid looked at Hiccup with concern in her eyes, but waited for him to elaborate before she responded. "I think he wants to go home."

"But, Hiccup, we don't even know where Toothless is from," Astrid said and then stopped when she noticed the look in Hiccup's eyes.

"We don't, but Toothless does," Hiccup said in his serious tone. It was the same one that he had used when he had told Astrid he wasn't going to let the other Vikings kill Toothless no matter what it cost Hiccup.

"So what do you plan to do?" Astrid asked. Hiccup shrugged.

"As of right now?" He paused before shaking his head, "I don't know," He said and then looked up at the starry sky. The small dots formed constellations and after digging around Hiccup had found out that one of them was an old formation of a dragon. It certainly didn't look like any of the dragons that Hiccup knew, but then again he didn't know every type of dragon.

"Hiccup," Astrid said slowly, "If you do go to find Toothless' family, you might come back," She looked at him as his own green eyes almost shut out of the pain he felt at the thought he knew they shared, "Alone."

Hiccup abruptly stood up and started away, though not quickly because of his leg, "I've got to go." He said and limped away. Out of respectful for his thoughts and feelings on the subject, Astrid left the small lake area.

Hiccup stood still, staring down at the ground, his eyes scrunched up as he tried to stop the inevitable pain that came as he made his decision. He squared his shoulders after a second and then turned his head to face the small dragon that he had already heard approaching.

"Hey, Bud," Hiccup said, "Ready to go home?" The dragon let out a low purr of affirmation before Hiccup returned his gaze to the dragon installation in the sky.

A/N- Thanks for reading. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. =) No guarantees about timing since I think this week will be a busy one.