It had been a year since he'd taken over as Chief, and in that time he had been through many trials that had tested his leadership. There had been plenty of problems to deal with before, but since becoming chief it seemed these problems had nearly tripled. Luckily he had people around to lighten the load.

His mother was always there for him of course, offering helpful advice to any dragon related problems. Valka knew dozens of secrets about dragons that made dealing with them far easier than before. Astrid, his soon to be wife, offered him any help she could. He was still convinced she would have made a better chief than he was, though she told him otherwise.

Fishlegs had become his advisor, there was no one else on the island who was more suited for the job than he was. Snotlout had become his second in command. When it came to battle tactics, or just battle in general, he couldn't really seem to think of anyone else who fit the roll.

Since most of the gang was pretty busy with their new rolls, the twins were typically the ones left with training the new recruits at the academy with his mother. They were… surprisingly good at it. Hiccup had even considered letting them work there full time. Even Eret had volunteered to help out. Mostly by smoothing over relations with neighboring tribes.

Oh, and of course he couldn't forget his best friend Toothless. The new Alpha had been with him every step of the way. With Hiccup being chief, and Toothless being the one who led the dragons, it was as if they walked through every trial together.

Even the people of Berk had done their best to give him their support. Because of everyone's help, the job went from completely overwhelming, to tough but doable. Slowly but surely he was able to start getting into the swing of things. But, that still didn't mean he didn't have his fair share of trouble to deal with.

"Hiccup, some of the younger riders need saddles."

"I'll have Gobber start working on them as soon as he can." Hiccup said as he made his way towards the academy.

"Chief, there's a Whispering Death digging tunnels west of the village."

"Send Gustav to deal with it. He's had enough experience with boulder class dragons be able to handle something like this." Hiccup instructed.

"Hiccup, there have been Berserker ships spotted nearby. What should we do?"

"Let's not jump to any conclusions. As far as we know the alliance still holds. But tell Snotlout to be weary, just in case."

By the time he actually made it to the academy, he'd just about handled seven or eight complaints and problems. As he walked inside he saw a group of kids sitting down and looking towards Valka who was scratching a Deadly Nadder under the chin.

"Every dragon has their 'Sweet spot' as I like to call it. The Nadder's is right under the chin. Isn't it sweetie?" She asked as the Nadder purred softly. "It's good to know your dragon's sweet spot as well. Even the grumpiest dragons will melt in your hands with a good scratch."

One girl raised her hand. "What's Cloud Hopper's sweet spot?"

"That would be the back of the neck." The kids all ran over towards the Stormcutter who had been sleeping off to the side. He opened one eye when he heard the kids coming. He tried to run, but the kids had jumped all over him. The girls scratched him in the back of the neck, and he immediately softened.

Hiccup laughed as he approached his mother. "Glad to see the kids getting so into the lesson. You really are a great teacher mom. You make it look so easy."

She chuckled and looked towards the students. "I wish it was easy. Those kids really know how to wear someone down. If it weren't for the twins I'd be completely overrun." She said wiping her forehead. "So, I assume you're here looking for the bride to be?"

"Is she here?" Hiccup asked.

Valka pointed over towards the dens where the baby dragons were. Astrid was tossing fish into the middle of the groups, watching as the babies snapped and tore apart their meals. "You're a lucky one to find that girl Hiccup."

"I know." He said heading towards her.

Astrid sighed and reached down picking up a baby Nightmare. "If you don't stop picking on the others you're going into time out, got it?" The dragon snorted and tried to wiggle from her grasp. "Little troublemaker."

"Practicing your mothering skills I see." Hiccup said smirking.

She turned towards him and then smiled. "I figure I might as well get head start. By this time next week we'll be up to some baby making." She said winking at him.

Hiccup felt his cheeks turn red. Whether it was all the work he had around the village, or just plain ignorance, he hadn't really thought about any of the things that would happen after the wedding. Now his thoughts were in overdrive.

What if he wasn't any good at it? What if Astrid got pregnant? He wasn't ready to become a dad! He already had enough on his plate. "Hiccup!" Astrid said snapping her finger. "Take a deep breath and calm down, it was just a joke." She assured.

He laughed nervously. "I… I knew that."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure you did. Look, you've been holding it together pretty well lately, but I can tell you're still nervous. You shouldn't be though, things have been going great lately. We've made peace with most of the tribes, we have peace with the dragons, and we're going to be married soon."

He nodded. "Yeah. I just can't shake the feeling that something bad might happen. The calm before the storm and all that." He said rubbing the back of his head. "You know what, forget about it. I didn't come here to mope, I came here to see my fiancée."

Astrid wrapped her arms around his neck. "Just to see little ole me?"

"Of course milady." He said giving her a kiss. The kiss deepened and soon the two seemed to be in their own little world.

Valka who was standing nearby smiled sweetly. "Oh, that's just so romantic. You two remind me of your father and me when we were that age." She said snapping the two back to reality.

Hiccup took a step back. He had forgotten that not only his mother, but a group of children were also present. "Ahem, yeah. I also came by to see if-"

He was interrupted when a large black figure pounced on him from behind. He struggled to push Toothless off of him as the dragon began licking him all over. "Ah! Toothless, c'mon! You're gonna ruin my new flight suit!" He said laughing.

Toothless jumped off and then stood over him excitedly. "He was helping me get a wrangle on these little devils." Astrid explained as the Nightmare from earlier tried to snap at her hair. "You got one more time to snap at me!"

"We should call him Snapper." Hiccup joked.

"Not a bad name actually."

"Chief Hiccup!" They turned towards the gate and saw Gustav rushing in on Fanghook. He looked around until he spotted Hiccup. "Hiccup! Hiccup there's an emergency!"

Hiccup raised his eyebrow. "Gustav, aren't you supposed to be dealing with-"

"I was, I swear! But this is more important! You need to get to the docks now! Snotlout says this could be real trouble!" Gustav said worriedly.

Hiccup's face grew serious. As second in command Snotlout took his job protecting the village pretty seriously, but he was usually to prideful to come to Hiccup for help. Unless it was an absolutely dire situation, he usually handled it himself. "C'mon bud."

He jumped on Toothless' back and the two quickly made their way to the docks. Astrid, Valka, and Gustav quickly made their way after him. It only took half a minute for him to get to the docks to see Snotlout standing there and looking out towards the sea. "What's wrong?!"

Snotlout scowled. "There's a ship out there…"

"Snotlout, you called me for a ship? A single ship? You didn't even call me when there were five Berserker ships lurking around last week." Hiccup said a little irked.

"It's not a Berserker ship." Snotlout said narrowing his eyes. "It's not a ship from any tribe I've ever seen. The scouts said it was… it was made of metal. All metal."

Hiccup looked confused. "A ship made completely out of of metal? That's impossible." Putting aside the fact that something like that might not even float, how in the world someone would be able to gather all that metal and shape it into a ship was beyond him.

"Well we're gonna find out soon. It's heading this way."

Hiccup looked worried. A random ship made of metal heading towards them? This probably wouldn't bode well. He knew he couldn't jumped to conclusions however. He needed to find out if these new… whoever they were, were friend or foe.

"I'll be right back."

Snotlout grabbed his shoulder. "Hold on a second! You're the chief, someone else should go check it out! Let me go instead."

"Yeah, not gonna do that." He reached over and raised his hand above the Nightmare's snout. The dragon grew wide eyed for a second, before falling on the ground unconscious.

"Hey!" Snotlout said angrily.

Toothless flew up and sped into the air. Snotlout growled, and then turned around just time to see Astrid and Valka approaching. "Where is he going?" Astrid asked.

Snotlout grunted. "First of all, aunt Valka, you need to teach me that thing where you knock out dragons without touching them! And second, he's heading out towards that mystery ship!" He said pointing towards the speck in the far distance. "And yes, I tried to stop him!" He said pointing down to the unconscious Hookfang.

"We'll get him." Astrid said speeding after him. Valka was right behind her.

Hiccup made his way towards the ship and was astonished at the shear size of the thing. It was massive. There seemed to be some kind of metal weapons mounted on it as well. And just as Snotlout had said, it was completely made of metal. "Odin's beard…"

He could see people on the ship, all dressed in strange clothing. They were looking up at him with a mixture of shock and amazement… and a bit of fear. "Hiccup!" Valka and Astrid made their way towards him, anger written all over their faces.

"Astrid, mom, stay back. We don't know if-"

"That's exactly why we're here! You're the chief, you of all people shouldn't be wandering towards some mysterious ship! At least not alone! What if they had just decided to shoot you out of the sky?!" Astrid said angrily.

"Look, I get why you're mad and you can nag me later, but this could get messy, so just stay up here while I-"

"You're not going anywhere without me!" She said glaring at him. Hiccup knew that look. It was the look that she always gave him when he tried to leave her out of things. He knew Astrid was a capable warrior, but he still worried about her. There were times when he'd wish she'd just hang back and let him handle it.

But, it just wasn't in her nature. And honestly it was one of the reasons he loved her so much. Still, he wasn't willing to take any chances on this. "Okay, hate to pull the Chief rank, but I'm ordering you to-"

Astrid grew wide eyed. "Finish that sentence, I dare you." She said dangerously.

Valka snorted. "Chief or not, you don't get to pull rank on your mother. And you most certainly don't get to pull it on your wife." She said crossing her arms.

Hiccup looked back and forth between the two. Why was it that Haddock men seemed to have a thing for stubborn women? "Okay, Astrid, come with me. We'll go down, slowly, and see if their friendly or not. Mom, please just stay here and keep a look out. If they try anything with those weapons, take them out."

"Got it." Astrid said nodding.

"Be careful." His mother warned.

Hiccup and Astrid flew downwards towards the ship, and while the men on board seemed nervous and weary, they didn't make a move. As they landed down some of the men began crowding around them. Astrid instinctively grabbed her axe. "Astrid, don't. Peaceful, remember?"

Astrid grunted. She could see them with their hands on some kind of weird looking weapons on their waist. "I drop mines when they drop theirs." She muttered.

"They haven't attacked us, I don't think-"

"They still might." She said simply.

Before he could whisper for her to stop being so stubborn, one of the men stepped forward. He was wearing all black fabric, had strange looking black lens covering his eyes. He had shaggy black hair, and looked like he was in his mid-twenties. The thing that stood out the most to Hiccup however, was the Terrible Terror on his shoulder. "For god's sake, stand down you idiots. Can't you see you're making them nervous?" The man said.

The men around him all looked back and forth at one another before taking their hands off their weapons. The man walked up to Hiccup, seemingly unintimidated by Toothless growl. "Wow, so this is the… the Nightfury, right? Supposedly one of the baddest dragons there is." He said smiling. "Which would make you, Hiccup Haddock."

Hiccup raised his eyebrow. He knew that he had a bit of a reputation, but these people clearly weren't from around here. It was unclear just how much this person should know about him. "I am. And you are?"

"My name is Ned Reach, and I must say it's an honor to meet you." He said holding out his hand. Hiccup looked at him cautiously, but then shook his hand. Ned then turned to Astrid. "I guess that would make you Astrid, the bride to be."

Hiccup gripped his hand tighter. "How much do you know?"

Ned chuckled. "Just rumors I've heard among the others tribes I've visited today. Your friends in the alliance have some pretty gossipy soldiers." He said smiling. "Seriously though, they speak as if you're a legend. I had to meet you myself." He pointed to Toothless. "May I?"

Hiccup looked suspicious, but then patted Toothless on the head. The dragon growled but allowed the man to run a hand across his skin. "Man, he was cool from a distance, but he looks even more awesome up close." Toothless seemed to soften a bit at the praise.

He turned to Stormfly and reached to touch her, but Astrid grabbed his wrist. "Don't touch my dragon." She deadpanned.

The terror on his shoulder hissed at her. "Bile, behave yourself." Ned scolded.

"Who are you?" Astrid asked frankly.

Hiccup gave her a look, but Ned held his hand up. "No, it's fine. Straight to the point, I respect that. Let me just make it clear right now that I am not your enemy. In fact, I've been sent here to ensure that we don't get off on the wrong foot."

"And who is we?" Hiccup asked.

"The people that I work for. As you may have already guessed, I'm not from around here. I come from a land far from here, called America." He explained. "I'd love to go into detail somewhere more… private. Would your island be fine?"

Hiccup glanced back towards the island and then back at him. "Just you?"

Ned took off the plastic from over his eyes showing a pair of brown eyes. He removed his jacket revealing a white shirt and a piece of cloth tied around his neck. He pulled out two silver items that looked like weapons, and then dropped them on the ground. "Just me, unarmed."

The Terror flew off his shoulder and hovered in front of Toothless. The two seemed to be going back and forth with one another, and then Toothless looked up at Hiccup and snorted. "Well, Toothless seemed to vouch for you…" Hiccup said. "I've never been one to turn down peace treaties, so I'm willing to listen to what you have to say."

"Wonderful. Would you mind giving me a ride back, or should I take a boat?" He asked.

Stormfly stepped forward. "You can ride with us." Astrid said. She didn't want him riding with Hiccup, just in case he was concealing any other weapons on him.

"Thank you." He said climbing onto Stormfly's back. The terror on his shoulder crawled forward and began snapping at Astrid's hair. She sighed as Ned looked panicked. He quickly grabbed the dragon and pulled him back. Astrid seemed irritated enough of him already. "Bile! I am so sorry about that!"

Astrid just sighed. "It's fine. Not the first dragon that's been snapping at me today…" She muttered. "Let's just go."

Hiccup and the rest of the group sat in the middle of the great hall. Ned seemed fairly relaxed for a guy who was surrounded by total strangers. He seemed even more comfortable around the dragons. His Terror, Bile, was sitting in his lap laying peacefully.

The group all regarded Ned in different ways. Fishlegs seemed interested in the stranger. He was dressed so radically different, he wondered just what type of place this person came from. Ruff and Tuff eyed him curiously. The stranger was relaxed, but they could sense something about him was off. Like even without weapons, he was still dangerous.

Snotlout didn't even bother trying to hide his irritation with the stranger. The only thing he was concerned about was that huge battleship out there. Valka seemed to be a little laid back around him. Her women's intuition told her this stranger was telling the truth.

"I gotta say, this really is something. The Burglars told me about you all. The legendary six riders who slayed the Red Death. And of course the mother of dragons herself." He complimented.

"Yeah, we are pretty awesome aren't we?" Tuff said flexing his arm.

"Alright Mystery man. Start talking." Snotlout said.

Hiccup sighed. "What my cousin means to ask is, how did you find this place?"

"I guess I should start from the beginning." Ned said leaning back in his chair. "A few months ago a member of the Bog Burglar tribe was stranded at sea. She survived long enough to be picked up by cruise ship, and was rushed to the closest hospital, that's a place where we tend to peoples wounds and sicknesses."

Hiccup and Astrid shared a glance. They would have to ask Camicazi about this to confirm his story. "Unfortunately by the end of the week she ended up succumbing to her wounds."

Snotlout narrowed his eyes at him. "How do we know that you didn't just kill her?"

"Because this is the woman's, Vomit's, dragon." Ned said. They all looked surprised, and Bile whimpered and looked saddened. "My job usually doesn't let me get sentimentally involved with anyone, but she knew she wasn't going to be around much longer and asked me to take care of him. I'm not cold enough to deny someone a dying wish." He said petting his snout.

"Vomit? That was Camiczai's second in command wasn't it?" Tuffnut said. "Aw man, that sucks. She was a great drinking buddy."

"We'll have to send our condolences." Hiccup said sadly. "Please, go on."

Ned sighed. "Needless to say we didn't believe her when she started going on about dragons, but when Bile as well as another dragon from a separate incident appeared, well, we really couldn't deny it. She asked that her body be brought back as well, and told us where to find this place. I'm amazed she was able to point us in the right direction, given her poor state."

"When we came here we were amazed that there were Vikings still around. Of course around here they seem to be plentiful, but in our part of the world they're practically myths. And dragons, well, no one even imagined they ever existed, let alone still lived to this day."

Hiccup smirked. "Well, here we are."

"History is filled with bloodbaths caused by different cultures clashing, and I'm quite ashamed to say that my country has had a large part in many of those clashes. But as I said earlier, the goal here is peace. So we're trying to approach this matter as delicately as possible."

Hiccup rubbed his chin. Ned seemed sincere enough. New lands would mean new allies, trades, and resources. And it wasn't as if he wanted a bloodbath on his hands, that wouldn't work out for either side. "What is it that I can do to help?" He asked.

"Well, aside from a few high ranking officials, no one really knows about your existence. Our plan to introduce you to our people and show them you're no threat, and want peace just as equally as we do. Do you have an ambassador or anyone of high rank that would be willing to come back home with us, and represent your people?"

Astrid cut in. "We don't really have any official ambassadors. We have people who help with relations between other tribes. But I don't think just sending any one of them will do. It would have to be someone that all of the tribe leaders will agree on."

"That's exactly what the other tribe leaders told me. Well, it's what most of them told me anyway. I tried to get in contact with the leader of the Berserker tribe, but… it got very ugly very quickly. I can't see them speaking very highly of us in the future."

"Making a totally unprovoked attack against a group of people who you don't even know. That totally seems like something Dagur would do." Fishlegs said.

Hiccup stood up. "I have no doubt that there will be a meeting called tonight between the chiefs of the tribes. We'll go over your offer and make a decision, hopefully by tomorrow."

"Completely understandable."

"Until then, you and your men are welcomed to stay here." Hiccup offered.

"I'm flattered by your hospitality, but we wouldn't want to intrude. We have a lot of men and it wouldn't be polite to give you all those mouths to feed."

Hiccup nodded and then turned to Fishlegs. "You mind giving him a ride back to his ship?" The blonde nodded and began heading to the door.

"Also, would you mind moving that big metal ship a little further out? You're kind of scaring the crap out of the villagers, and they complain about it… to me." Snotlout said frowning.

"Will do." Ned followed him, but then stopped and turned back around. "Hold on a second. I nearly forgot the gifts." He said reaching up his shirt sleeve. Everyone seemed to grow tense, and Astrid began reaching for her axe. He held his hand up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, relax. It's just chocolate."

They watched as he pulled out six bars wrapped in paper. They looked at the items curiously. "Chocolate?" Hiccup said raising his eyebrow.

"It's a special type of food from my home. It's very sweet tasting. Also…" He unwrapped one of the bars and broke a piece off before eating it. "Thuggory was worried I poisoned them or something and made me take a bite. Just figured I'd save you some time… and I also love chocolate."

"Um… thanks." Hiccup said.

"Think of it also as an early wedding gift. And trust me, I'm not overselling it. It's worth it." He said before turning and walking out.

The second he left the twins walked over and broke one of the bars in half. "Seriously guys? After that whole conversation, one that could shape our very way of life, the first thing you're going to do is eat?" Astrid said shaking her head.

"Odin, this stuff is good!" Tuff said.

"This is serious!" Snotlout said annoyed.

"No, seriously, you gotta try this!" Ruff said turning towards him. She stuck some of the chocolate in his mouth before he could argue. He was about to spit it out, when suddenly his expression changed. "Good right?"

"It's… okay."

Hiccup turned towards Valka. "What do you think?"

Valka looked up in thought. "From what you told me, his men reacted very strangely to the dragons. But Ned himself seemed awfully comfortable with that Terror. I think his story is the truth. As to whether we can trust his claims of peace or not… I'm not sure."

"I think he's legit." Astrid said. "Why else would he risk walking right into enemy territory with no weapons or back up?"

"That ambassador story could be a trick though. To try and get a high ranking member to go along with them, and then have a hostage." Snotlout said. He turned back to the table. "Give me some more of that chocolate."

"No way! You said you didn't like it!" Ruff said frowning.

"I didn't say that! Give it here!" He said going after her.

Hiccup sighed. "Anyway, I think he's telling the truth as well. But we'll just have to see what the other tribes think of this. Then we'll see where it goes."

Astrid nodded in agreement. "Sounds like the wise decision." She took a piece of chocolate and then nibbled on it. "On my gods, this is good."

Valka raised her eyebrow. "Is it now?" She grabbed one and took a bite. "Wha- heavens! This is delicious! Hiccup, try this!"

Hiccup looked hesitant, but ate when Astrid held a piece towards him. He let the sweet flavor sink into his mouth for a moment and then smiled. "Mm. If they offer more of this stuff we might have to make peace whether the other tribes agree or not."

A/N: Hello readers! This is a very important AN, and I need to address both old and new readers. My new readers first. This story is set in the same AU as my other story, 'Fight for the Future'. But there's no need to go back and read it just to keep up with this one. At the most there may be hints and eater eggs, but it'll still be easy to understand.

To my old readers, good to see you again! I know it took a while to come out with this, but I had to readjust some things so it would fit along with Fight for The Future. This is the first story that connects with a past one, so I want to have as little continuity errors as possible.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. Remember to leave some reviews and tell me what you think!

And even though this is a crossover, the main focus will be one the HTTYD side of things. Merida will appear, but not right away... or will she? Mwuhahaha!