Chapter One

A/N: Here are again! :D Sorry it took so long to get this posted, the planning process was very...complex for some reason and the outline is pretty massive. The story won't be terribly long though and I'll try to keep you updated on our progress through the story as we go... Anyway, I hope you guys like it!

In response to... (from the last chapter of Venomous)

The Galloping Cupcake: Well I'm glad I saved you from death-by-boredom! XD And LOL, I'm glad you enjoyed the ending XDDD

Snowflake: Thanks! :D

GuardianDragon98: I'm glad the ending made you happy :D And sorry for the near-heart-attack...

fictionreader16: Eh, endings are hard. -_- But hey, thanks! XD

Anonymous: Well I'm glad you liked the ending (even though I thought it was weird) XD

Cottonmouth25: Lol, WHAT? XDDD And thanks!

Blue - The First Traveller: Why thank you, my good sir! :D

OinkyThePiggy: I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D

dancingRAINBOWS: Thank you again! :D It's always so nice to get reviews like that and just... ahdsfsfjwrg THANKS! XD

ChigauBakemono: Sorry about your feels... XD But at least you liked the story! Thanks! :D

Nightfury101: Lol, well the general consensus seems to agree with you that the ending wasn't as bad as I'd feared it was. *sighs in relief* So thank you :D

Breyannia: Haha, yeah...Toothless. XD I had a bit too much fun writing that scene after it popped into my head.

Foxlight The Dragon Trainer: Thank you! :D

Mozart's Fantasy: Yayz! Thanks :)

HitTheKillSwitch: Yup, poor kid. XD Hopefully he'll fair better in this story...hopefully.

apocalypsefantas: I'm glad you liked the ending! :D And yeah, Toothless is more of a character than a lot of people portray him (although I have been guilty for sometimes focusing more on human relationships but I guess that's just natural.) I do try to put effort into his point of view as well so I'm glad you liked it! :)

Forever Me: Lol, thanks! And yeah, that entire soundtrack is just... anfdlsgvdj. I can't wait for the movie... And it's also really epic when music just perfectly times itself with what you're reading so BONUS POINTS! XD

(Wow, tons of reviews! Thank you guys so much!)

Now, onto the story~

Sand crunches below his boots as he staggers toward the black water before him. The man's eyes are closed, as if he were asleep, and he mutters nonsense below his breath. Behind him, the village of Berk is as dark as the sky above it. No one is awake to see him stumbling along the shore as if in a trance, lured by the hypnotic voice in his ears.

"Come." It seems to sing. "Come to me." And so he obeys, even smiling a little in his dreamy state at the visions of otherworldly beauty that fill his mind.

Icy water washes over his feet, soaking them to the bone, but the man doesn't feel the biting pain of the cold. Or, if he does, he doesn't show it. Instead, he simply wades further and further into the darkness, jumping only slightly at the feeling of something long and slim wrapping around his waist.

And in the next instant, he's gone. Yanked below the roiling waves so quickly it's as if he was never even there. The only evidence of his existence being a slight wisp in the dense fog that covers the beach, it having been disturbed by the suddenness of his disappearance...

"What are we going to do, Stoick?!"

"He was my husband!"

"This is the third person to go missing!"

"It's getting out of control!"

Everyone in the furious crowd seems to be yelling all at once, struggling to be heard above the rest. Their angry fists shake in the air, not at all deterred by the fact that they're speaking to their chief. They want answers. Now!

And Stoick wants to give them their answers. Except...he hasn't got any to give. The Hooligan Tribe's chief holds up his hands, motioning for everyone to settle down. "I can promise you I'll get this under control as soon as-"

"It's a Siren, isn't it?!"

"It must be a Siren!"

"That's the only thing that makes sense!"

Stoick groans wearily and lowers his hands. "EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" He barks, managing to quiet the furious throng for a few moments. "All this talk of Sirens and sea witches is getting us nowhere! They don't exist!"

"Actually, Stoick." Gobber chimes in from where he's seated beside his friend at the circular table. "They do exist! I've 'em with my own eyes!"

"Not helping Gobber...!" The chief growls, only to wince as the crowd suddenly starts up again.

"Hear that?!"

"Gobber's even seen one!"

"A Siren is what's been takin' our people!"

The desperate Vikings all start shouting at once again, their fear and anger beginning to cause a stir among the dragons as well. The large reptiles, who had been asleep against the wall while they wait for their humans to finish the meeting, lift their heads and start growling, only adding to the noise.

This is quickly getting out of hand. Stoick decides with a frown. Then, with a disgruntled snarl, he slams his fist heavily down onto the table with such force it creates a sligh crack in the thick surface.

BAM!

Everyone flinches at the huge sound it makes and turns their attention back to Stoick.

"I'll get this straightened out!" He yells. "And I'll put a stop to whatever has been abducting our people! But for now, panicking is not what we need to do!" With that, he sits back and lowers his voice to a more suitable level. "Right now, I want everyone to go about your business. You have my promise as your chief that I'll get this figured out."

And so, with frustrated and fearful grumbles, the Vikings disperse and leave the Great Hall, unhappily leaving the search to their chief. While all of them want to go out and look for their missing loved ones themselves, they're a bit unsettled by all this talk of Sirens. Frankly, they'd rather leave it to Stoick than face off against a sea witch.

It's while the Great Hall doors are closing for the last of the dispersing crowd that Hiccup and Toothless slip in, being closely followed by the other Riders. The teens exchange disturbed when they realize what this means.

"Oh no..." Astrid moans in despair. "It must have happened again."

"I wonder who it was this time..." Hiccup mumbles in agreement. He notices the worried look in Toothless's eyes and reaches down to stroke his dragon's head. "It's okay, bud." He whispers. "We're just concerned is all."

So his Night Fury nods slightly and licks Hiccup's hand, hoping to cheer his human up. It earns him a half-hearted smirk but that doesn't last long, and soon, the Riders are hurrying over to get the news from Stoick directly.

"Dad." Hiccup says, getting his father's attention as they close in on his table. "What's going on?" He asks as he reaches down into the bucket of ice being kept on the floor beneath the table. He hands a block to his father, who takes it gratefully and presses it to his head.

"It was Cowlick this time." Stoick replies drearily. "He disappeared last night. Vanished into thin air, like all the others."

"Well, all of them but Dagfinn..." Tuffnut absently points out as he picks his teeth with the point of a hunting knife.

"Speaking of who," Hiccup says as he's suddenly reminded. "Have you spoken to Dagfinn yet?"

"Yes," His father sighs. "And he doesn't remember a thing."

"What about his wife?" Astrid asks. "She's the one who saved him, right?"

Stoick nods. "I spoke with her, yes. Says he'd been going on late night walks recently and she was suspicious...so she followed him the night of his near-disappearance and narrowly stopped him from walking off the edge of a cliff."

The teens glance at each other worriedly. That doesn't sound good.

"He doesn't remember anything?" Hiccup asks.

"All he can say is he went to bed without going for a walk that night because his leg had been bothering him. Next thing he knows, his wife is yanking him back over the edge of that cliff down by the beach and 'all he can hear is singing'." Stoick grumbles, making air-quotes with his fingers at the singing part. "Though I wish he'd just kept that part to himself. Now he's got the whole island riled up, thinking it's a Siren who's been taking our people."

Hiccup frowns at he looks back at his friends. They've all heard the rumors about this alleged Siren and, as usual, Hiccup is the only one who's being logical about this. "But even if it is a Siren-"

"It's not a Siren!" His father insists.

"-it doesn't make sense that one would be on Berk! The only time anyone has ever claimed to see one, they were far out at sea. Nowhere near the island."

"That's not quite true, lad!" Gobber pipes up again as he leans over the table, a knowing glint in his eyes. He waves his hooked hand excitedly as he says, "I saw one once when I was yer' age! Right off the beach at Raven Point!"

"That is the same beach everyone's been going missing from..." Fishlegs offers quietly, although it only earns him a dirty look from Stoick.

"Thank you, Gobber." Hiccup's father grumbles.

"No problem, Stoick." The blacksmith chuckles as he sits back again.

Stoick exhales in irritation and shakes his head. "Siren or no Siren, something is taking our people and we need to put a stop to it...!"

Suddenly, Astrid wacks Hiccup's over the shoulder to remind him of his promise from earlier. He glares at her and rubs his arm, mouth 'OW!' before turning back to his dad and forcing an innocent smile.

"Well...you know, Dad...um...the search would go a lot faster if you'd let us Riders help ou-"

"Absolutely not." He cuts in, strictly.

"But Dad-"

"I said no, son!" Stoick barks. "It's much too dangerous for you and your friends to handle." At the look of annoyance that crosses Hiccup's face, Stoick places a hand on his son's shoulder. "This...whatever it is, has been targeting mostly men." He points out. "And while most of those who disappeared have been almost my age, there was still Vilfred. And he's only a year older than you and your Riders."

Hiccup groans and looks over to his friends. Astrid seems mostly irritated that Stoick won't let them help but the others just mostly seem relieved. Understandable. He's not too crazy about the idea of tangling with a Siren, either. The only reason he's pushing it this hard is because Astrid asked him to. Well...that and he doesn't want anyone else being kidnapped.

Hiccup is about to continue his argument when Stoick suddenly releases his shoulder and steps back, folding his arms over his chest. "Now, you kids head back to the Academy. I've got a lot to do and I'm not in the mood for 'negotiations'."

"Dad..." Hiccup starts anyway, but is stopped when Astrid taps his arm and shakes her head as if to say, 'we can try again later'. And so the Riders obediently turn away and head back in the direction of the Dragon Training Academy. It might be a no-go on the search for now, but that doesn't mean they can't come up with some kind of night-watch system or something to stop more people from vanishing.

So for now, that's all they can do. ...for now.

"So does everyone remember their positions for night watch?" Hiccup asks his friends as they begin heading for the exit of the Academy.

"Meatlug and I are patrolling the town square in case anyone leaves their house." Fishlegs announces proudly.

"Me and Stormfly are keeping an eye on the cliffs so no one tries to walk off like Dagfinn." Astrid says.

"Me and the Hookster are watching the Raven Point beach." Snotlout replies lazily from where he's laying on Hookfang's back.

The twins look at each other in confusion. "Uhh..."

Hiccup groans, knowing they've already forgotten what he asked them to do. "Ruff, Tuff, you're in charge of the northern beach in case the Siren tries to lure someone there instead." And they nod in understanding.

"And what are you and Toothless going to be doing?" Snotlout demands, causing his cousin to roll his eyes.

"We're going to circle the island in case anyone needs help." Hiccup says.

"Oh great! So everyone else has to sit on their butts and stare at the water while you and Toothless get to fly around and have fun? How's that fair?" The loud boy continues.

"Snotlout, I promise you we're going to be having just the same amount of 'fun' as you guys. The only reason we're flying is because Toothless is the fastest dragon and can be there to help sooner than anyone else's."

"A likely story..."

Hiccup growls in frustration and takes a small step forward, only to be stopped by Astrid once again.

"That's enough." She barks. "Snotlout, stop giving Hiccup such a hard time. Remember, while you're resting on the ground, he and Toothless have to stay completely alert all night because they're flying. They can't sleep in shifts like we can."

"Yeah, yeah..." He grumbles. "Whatever, just trying to make sure this plan is fair. That's all."

"Uh-huh." She mutters, clearly not convinced. "Well, good luck everyone." Astrid says, waving them off as they file out of the Academy together. Probably to go home and pack some things for their nights out.

As soon as everyone is gone, Hiccup growls in frustration again and even stomps his prosthetic foot on the ground. "Why does he have to question everything I do?" He demands.

Astrid shrugs as the two of them, plus their dragons, walk out as well. "He's just jealous because you're our leader and he's not."

Hiccup puffs out a sigh, knowing it's true that he's jealous. After all, Snotlout admitted it himself when they crashed on Outcast Island a few weeks back. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. "I wish he would just get over it." He grumbles. "It would make our lives so much easier."

Astrid nods in agreement. "It would. But this is Snotlout we're talking about."

By now, they've left the Arena behind and are climbing the hill that leads into the rest of the village. Toothless and Stormfly trail a bit behind, the two dragons chattering quietly as if in a conversation of their own.

For a while, the conversation trails off and the two teenagers simply talk about this and that. The day is fairly nice so they don't hurry to get home, even though it's getting dark. If anything, their steps are a bit slower than normal as both of them try to extend their walk together. What with all the intensity of the last few months -namely the Berserkers and Outcasts- and now the stress of people going missing, it's nice for them to just relax.

And it also doesn't hurt that they've been a bit...strapped for each other's company lately. So in all, even when they finally reach Astrid's front door, the two linger for a few moments as they slowly wrap up their conversation. But eventually, the sun goes down and the sky is pitch black. Time for night watches.

"Good luck tonight." Hiccup tells her as he hops into Toothless's saddle.

"You too." She says. "Don't do anything risky."

"When do I ever?" He chuckles, taking off into the air before she can answer him. Astrid watches her friend disappear into the night sky and she rolls her eyes, snickering quietly.

"He's crazy..." She tells Stormfly in an affectionate tone before heading inside to grab a few things they'll need tonight.

"Stupid Hiccup... Stupid Astrid..." Snotlout grumbles as he kicks a small stone and watches it skitter off into the overgrowth on the edge of the beach. "I'll keep watch... In fact, I'll stop this stupid Siren myself and then see what they'll say!" He turns to Hookfang for approval, only to scowl at the sight of his dragon snoozing away in the warm sand. "Stupid dragon..."

SPLASH!

The loudmouthed boy goes rigid at the sound. He turns once more to Hookfang, expecting him to have snapped awake, but finds him still asleep. The Rider swallows nervously as he creeps around the side of the boulder he'd been leaning against. His hands shake as he braces against it, carefully peeking out across the water.

And that's when he sees it.

"What the...?"

A/N: Oh, don't you just love cliffhangers? XD

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! :D