Author's Note: Ok so I've started watching Race to the Edge on Netflix and it's given me so many ideas about my fem Hiccup Universe, this one connects to my story What If. This is set before that story though. There will be quite a few original characters here plus the mention of some from the books. I own nothing.
Over The Edge
Of the Archipelago
A small herd of dragons flew slowly towards the constant line of fog that surrounded the archipelago. There were five dragons in total each with a figure astride it. In the lead was a black dragon barely visible in the night sky. Its rider wore mostly black scaled armor with several other colors of scale mixing in. Her helm was in the likeness of a dragon, complete with spines running along the top seam. She held a map in her hands and was studying it intently. A slightly larger silver dragon flew up to be level with them. Its ridder pulled down her face mask.
"Hiccup are you sure about this?" Hiccup tilted up her helmet so she could see Heather's face.
"Heather when I am ever completely sure about anything?" Heather nodded contemplatively.
"Look all I know is what Camicazi told me and what I learned from the Dragon Eye. There's other dragons out there, whole new species that we've never seen before. You can't tell me you don't want to know about that, cause you'd be lying." Heather smiled slightly and nodded as a yellow thornridge pulled up level with them.
"So are we doing this or are we going back to Dragon Island?" His voice shook slightly as he wobbled on his dragon. His reins were in his left hand and his dragon was listing slightly to the left. Hiccup rolled up her map.
"Ease up on those reins Daret, he's a dragon not a yak. You've only been in the air a few weeks, he's been up here his whole life, he knows more about flying than you do. Let him take the lead." Daret nodded and eased up on the reins. There was a deep chuckle from behind them and Hiccup glared over her shoulder shaking her head at the slightly bulky Viking riding on the back of a snafflefang.
"Leave the kid alone Arget. He's still new." Arget smiled wide, his muddy brown hair blowing in the breeze, his hazel eyes sparkling.
"Wasn't laughing at him, was remembering when I was still that much of a green wing." There was a bark of laughter from Arget's left. A teal and black shovelhelm glided there, his rider laughing loudly. This one was female with long wheat colored hair and deep brown eyes.
"Keep laughing Danni, I still remember when you got started. Hammernose dragged you around by your foot for an hour." That shut the girl up rather quickly. She cleared her throat and patted Hammernose on the back.
"So are we really trusting Camicazi? Didn't she try to kill you once? And where did she even get that Dragon Eye thing?" Hiccup smiled slightly remembering the first time she had met the slightly insane pirate girl.
"Yes we're trusting Camicazi, she's the only person we know who's actually been outside the archipelago. Yes, she did try once to kill me but it was over a misunderstanding and we worked it out eventually and I tend not to ask where she gets things, better if I just don't know." Hiccup patted Toothless on the head.
"Ready to go bud?" Toothless warbled a yes and they sped off into the fog followed by their fellow riders and dragons.
It had been about three years since Hiccup had left Berk during her disaster of a final exam. She'd wandered the islands with Toothless and the dragons she'd freed from Berk for a year before going to confront the Red Death. She'd won the fight but lost a leg. The dragons had taken her to a nearby island where they had cared for her until she could leave again and she'd repaid them by showing them the truth about dragons. That was how she'd originally met Heather. Their second meeting had been far less happy since Hiccup had been just in time to save her from Dagur's troops as they destroyed her island. They had wandered around the archipelago for another year together finding others who were like them, alone or outcast by their people for their differences. They had formed the dragon riders together and lived on Dragon Island for about a year now before Hiccup's friend Camicazi had brought this interesting artifact to her attention. Several dragon riders had elected to stay behind in case there wasn't anything out there, Hiccup would send word to them if they found anything.
Rain beat down on Hiccup as they flew through the clouds into the unknown. They'd been flying for about an hour now and Hiccup was glad that the others weren't complaining. They were all soaked to the bone and freezing but if Camicazi's information was right then they would get out of this fog bank soon. Heather spotted it first and whistled at Hiccup pointing at a slightly brighter patch in the clouds. Hiccup nodded and swung her arm up to get everyone's attention as lightning flashed behind them. She moved her arm forward and pointed to the brighter patch Heather had spotted. There were roars as the dragons acknowledged the signal and headed for the bright patch. In moments they had finally broken out of the patch of clouds and into a crystal clear night sky. There was a small island below them. The others let out loud cheers. Hiccup smiled over at Heather.
"We did it! It's real!" Heather grinned back at her friend. Hiccup had been getting restless over the past year staying on Dragon Island. Even with the other riders living there most of the time she had never really seen it as home. Heather knew she missed Berk, even if she would never admit it. She missed having family, a place to call her own that wasn't a cave full of dragon bone. Though the other riders weren't aware of their plan Hiccup and Heather had spoken at great length about building a community of riders, a village to call their own if they found islands outside the archipelago. Hiccup had her helmet pushed up and raised an eyebrow at Heather, her unofficial second in command.
"Shall we set down there for the rest of the night?" Heather nodded and the riders headed towards the small island that rested just beyond the wall of fog. They landed and quickly set up camp. It didn't take long for most of them to fall asleep but Hiccup sat away from the fire Arget and his dragon, Stonefang, had lit. Toothless was curled around his rider fast asleep but Hiccup sat awake watching the full moon set. There was the sound of footsteps from her left and Hiccup glanced up to see Heather sitting down next to her. She smiled slightly as her friend sat beside her just watching the moon set. Hiccup looked back at the sky wondering just what they would find out her in the great beyond. She heard a rustling from beside her and frowned slightly.
"You know you can stare at that thing forever but it's never gonna answer your questions." Heather smiled sadly as she glanced up from the horn in her hands, the only relic she had left from her birth parents. It was quite a mystery, especially because Hiccup had been able to identify the chiefs crest imprinted on the horn as her father's. She had never seen the horn before though and Heather had very few memories of her younger years. The conclusion they had jumped to was that it was likely that Heather was Stoic's illegitimate daughter, the product of a brief love affair he would have had after Hiccup's mother had been carried off by dragons. Heather was just the right age for this to be true, only a year and a half younger than Hiccup. However, Hiccup had no memory of any other woman in their house but Stoic was a chief, he traveled quite a bit. Hiccup had no problem telling Heather that she could go to Berk to find out the truth if she wanted but Hiccup couldn't bring herself to return there. Heather had heard enough storied about Berk to know that she would not enjoy it if she went and, though she would never tell Hiccup this, she was scared that she wouldn't be related to her friend. So the two girls left the mystery just that, at least for now. Heather put the horn away and smiled at her friend who was staring off into the sky again.
"What are you thinking about cloud brain?" Hiccup laughed slightly at the playful insult.
"Not much. Just wondering if maybe we can all finally have a place to belong, you know?" Heather nodded. Though her village had accepted her for who she was Hiccup's had never done that for her, to the point where it had taken her almost two years to actually get close to the older girl. Hiccup smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder.
"Let's get some sleep Heather. We've got exploring to do tomorrow." With that Hiccup curled up under Toothless' wing and fell asleep. Heather grinned running a finger over the chief seal carved into the horn at her side. Even if Stoic the Vast hadn't been proud to call Hiccup family Heather was proud that it was even possible that she was related to the amazing woman at her side.
