Too many years had passed since Hiccup had visited the little clearing in the woods. He strained for a memory as his boots crunched over the dead leaves—the clearing was hidden and quite off the beaten path. Much like himself, Hiccup thought with some amusement. Amusement was a good thing to feel especially when he finally did recall when he had last visited the clearing.

Sometimes a boy like Hiccup just needed a place to go when things were too hard. And Hiccup was a boy who knew quite a lot about things going wrong.

He pushed aside the thick branches of pine which covered the easiest way into the clearing and inhaled their clean scent. Pine. One of the official scents of Berk, the other being manly sweat. His mother had loved pine. She had said so the last time they had come here together—the last time Hiccup had been there—only a few hours before she died. The day that had left a hole in Hiccup's heart roughly the same size as the clearing.

That hole was beginning to heal, slowly but surely. Recent events had jumpstarted a healing process years in waiting. Hiccup felt no sadness in the clearing, merely peace. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Yes, there it was. The smell, taste, feeling of all that was good. Pine, warm earth, wildflowers. He opened his eyes and stared at the clearing.

It was as beautiful as he remembered. A perfect circle cut out of a blanket of pine with the sharpest knife the gods had. The trees' roots popped boisterously from the ground as if daring to challenge anyone who thought they should respect that circle. Just beyond them began the grass, far enough way to avoid the roots but closed enough to taunt them. Once sure of itself the grass grew thick and green as it did on the hillsides. Flowers as blue as the morning sky scattered themselves among it.

Hiccup sat himself down in the middle, legs crossed (his left ever so favored), and took in another deep breath. Yes, this place was more than peaceful. It made him feel happy. It had been his mother's favorite place on the island and Hiccup was ashamed he had not followed n that preference. No one knew of this place. No one. It had been their secret, he and his mother's.

He missed her so much. If he imagined hard enough, he could picture her sitting right next to him, laughing and listening as he told her everything that had happened over the past few months. He would expect her not to believe any of it, but she would without the slightest hint of pretense. Of course Hiccup had managed to take down a giant dragon and alter the path of the tribe. No one else could do it. Such a happy thought and he knew it would be true, but it made him miss her even more.

A single tear rolled down his cheek and he furiously brushed it away. Hiccup knew that Vikings didn't cry. Whatever pain he felt inside it would not be shown. His father had taught him that lesson, he thought bitterly. No matter what happened, no matter what was wrong, a Viking did not shed a tear.

Hiccup had not even dared cry that tragic day his mother had died. He had done as he was expected and put on the bravest face imaginable even as his heart crumbled into the dust of misery.

No. This was supposed to be a happy place, not a place of sad memories. It was not where his mother had died, no sir. That last memory should have been a happy one. He could not think sad thoughts of her, he could not think angry thoughts of his father no matter what the past suggested.

Hiccup sighed deeply and pushed that sudden anger away. Deep down Hiccup loved his father. Deep down he knew he cared. Stoick the Vast only did what was needed, and there was nothing wrong with that.

If only… well, there was no time for if onlys.

A friendly growl shook Hiccup from his thoughts and caused him to look up. He smiled. Yes, this was a happy spot. For bounding from the gate of pine branches came his very best friend in the world, Toothless. It was impossible to be anything but happy when Toothless was around. His dark scales shown in the sun like the ocean under night and moonlight. His eyes, the same color as Hiccup's, sparkled with delight at seeing Hiccup. His tail whipped frantically with delight, prosthetic tail and harness threatening to be ripped away.

"Hey buddy!" Hiccup hopped to his feet, his left foot wincing in pain, and ran to his dragon companion. His hand gently brushed the scales. They were as hard as the iron bubbling in the forge, only harder. Hiccup knew these scales could repel anything: sticks, stones, boulders, fire, arrows, teeth. Dragonscales were the hardest thing known to Vikings, but Hiccup loved the warmth he could feel beneath them.

Toothless did not reply in sound, but his eyes were response enough. Such a strange aura they held, those glowing orbs. At once so strangely human and something foreign entirely. Sometimes Hiccup swore he could see into Toothless' soul, yet other times they held a mist so thick Hiccup could not begin to guess at the dark secrets they protected. Such times were frustrating. There was something in Toothless, some knowledge he possessed but would not or could not share and the dragon-taming boy only wished he knew of it. Toothless was only a dragon, but somehow so much more than a dragon.

He was a friend, a brother, all that Hiccup needed.

But it was not the time to think of such things. It was a happy time. The disabled boy scratched his pet dragon in his favorite place just about the snout and Toothless purred joyfully with pleasure like a cat.

"You're my best friend, Toothless," Hiccup said. "I hope that never changes."

Toothless looked at him as if he understood every word his human friend said.

"But let's not talk about mushy stuff," said Hiccup, "or Astrid will expect me to say it all to her and I really don't think I'm all that eloquent. How about we go for a ride, buddy?"

The Night Fury nodded happily and the dragon rider swung his good leg over the dragon's back. The dragon then stretched forth his wings, a span that nearly covered the diameter of the clearing, beat them toward the ground, and they lifted into the air.

Nothing beat the feel of wind against his face. Hiccup breathed in the air, so different from the earthy air of his mother's clearing. Toothless flew so fast that Hiccup was sure if he spread out his arms enough they would transform into wings and both boy and dragon could fly as one but separate. Far beneath them lay Berk, growing smaller with every inch Toothless rose into the air. The shrinking Berk was a beautiful sight, a perfect blend of green and brown and grey. An idealistic little island that did not reveal the pain and prejudice that existed on it.

Even with all that had happened, Hiccup still did not feel accepted on the island. Perhaps he was cursed always to be an outsider, misunderstood. He might have friends now, but so few that understood them.

"Hiccup!"

Another sound the teen was glad to hear.

Coming up behind him fast was his girlfriend Astrid on her pet Deadly Nadder. The past few months had proved Astrid to be a fine flyer. She had the natural talent and the affinity for dragons that one would not have expected from her former warlike ways. Then again, was it so strange for a warrior to merely alter skill from one category to another? Whatever the answer, the fact was that dragons loved Astrid and she grudgingly liked them.

She also looked incredibly sexy astride a dragon. Her big blue eyes were made the sky look pale, and her golden braid flew behind her.

Hiccup loved her so much. But even as close as they had grown, he was afraid that she still did not fully understand him and he was not sure what else he could do but wait and hope that one day she would fully open her eyes and see the real him. Not the dragon hero, not the pathetic and scrawny teen of before, not even the chief's son. But the real him.

The dragon-riding boy knew that somewhere out there was someone who would take one look at him and really truly know him. He still continued to hope it was Astrid. One day, their relationship would be perfect.

Hiccup laughed and waved at his lovely girlfriend. It might still be flawed, but he did love Astrid and she was a pretty amazing girlfriend. She was smart, hot, talented. He loved having fun with her, talking with her, fighting with her. When they made love, it was wild, hot, yet full of beautiful and ethereal emotions that had surprised and frightened Hiccup—he had not known he could feel such love.

Of course, flying on dragons in the sky above Berk was not a passionate time. It was a fun time, a time for enjoying the youth they still had, just being young and carefree.

"I'll race you, Astrid!" Hiccup called. He then lowered his head and whispered to his Night Fury companion "we can't let her win. Not this time. She'll never let me live it down."

Toothless sniffed loudly as if he understood. Nothing was faster than a Night Fury. At least, nothing that was faster was faster for long. A true Night Fury was too proud to allow that.

Though sometimes Toothless felt that speed and racing were not all there was.

"Wait!" Astrid screamed behind him. "If we are going to race, I need to know where we are racing to. That's how races work! Where are we racing to?"

The redhaired teen pointed ahead to an island on the horizon, about half a day's ship journey away. "There! The island of the Bog Burglars!"

Barely were the words out of Hiccup's mouth than he regretted them. Could he have chosen a worse destination for a race? Hardly. The island of the Bog Burglars was the home of his childhood friend Camicazi. Though he had not seen the small blonde girl in years, he had made the mistake of mentioning their childhood mischief together too many times to Astrid and now Astrid was convinced he and Camicazi were still in love. Even though Hiccup had tried to prove to her he had not even liked girls like that at the time.

Toothless, as if smarter than Hiccup, slowed down and reversed the flight. He zoomed past Astrid and her Nadder. Astrid's face was red as she fought back fury.

"I mean, uh, uh, thrice around the island!" Hiccup said with a nervous laugh.

"Okay." Astrid forced a smile and Hiccup hoped she would forgive him soon. Sometimes she had such a temper.

Toothless proudly regained his speed, and the race was on. The two teens and their dragons created almost a wind storm with their speed and they would not have been surprised if a tornado had attacked the little island of Berk.

Fortunately, racing around the island was something with which Hiccup and Toothless were quite well practiced. They knew every pocket of air, every thermal rise, the play of air patterns against each other. And they knew each other, how to read each other muscles, each other's heart beat. As they flew, it was as if they were one.

Just before the endpoint, though, Toothless became distracted.

Hiccup had not expected that. "Toothless!" he shouted. Why was the dragon acting this way? It was as if something had startled him..

What would that have been? Hiccup searched around wildly, desperate to find what was not only costing him this win but making him doubt the relationship he had with his dragon.

Then he saw it. A dark shape like a meteor falling plummeting through the air. Giant bat-like wings grasped for flight, but Hiccup's trained eye spotted that one was badly torn.

A dragon unlike one he had ever seen, tumbling injured right toward the ocean.

"Astrid! Help!" Hiccup called as he regained his synergy with Toothless. Hiccup had already caused the death of one dragon, he would not refrain from saving another. They flew until the could touch the dragon. Toothless extended his claws to grab those of the falling dragon.

"That dragon!" Astrid cried. "He's hurt! Look at his wing! Rips like that affect his flight, you know!"

Astrid was learning so much about dragons and it did impress Hiccup. But now was not the time. The Nadder was too light to help carry, but Toothless was able to summon deep strength. Astrid and her Nadder guided them down through the air to an empty beach where the water peacefully lapped at the sand.

It was only when the dragon was moaning sadly on the beach that Hiccup noticed something else.

A girl about his own age had her arms wrapped around the dragon's neck.

The dragon was a strange beast. Of course, all the dragons in the dragon manual were all unique, but Hiccup practically had the book memorized and he had seen no sketches of such a creature. It was definitely a dragon, but different from all the dragons he had seen. Clearly it did not belong to this area. It was blue, but not like the blue of a Deadly Nadder.

"We need to get her some help!" Astrid declared as she ran a hand over the unconscious girl's head. "I'll go for it! Stay here and wait for her to wake up!" Astrid darted toward the village.

The Viking teen studied the girl more closely. Her hair was blonde, so blonde it was nearly white, and curly. Very curly. He had never seen hair so curly. Her face was strangely familiar though he was certain he had never seen her before. She wore black clothes, a curved knife at her belt.

"Hey," Hiccup said gently as Toothless sniffed her.

The girl blinked open her eyes. They were a startling green, like two emeralds or jades. "Where… where am I?"

"You're in Berk," Hiccup said gently. "You and your dragon… it's hurt."

"Zephyr!" the girl cried. She peeled herself away from Zephyr's neck and began stroking his wing. "What happened? Oh, no… only they could have done this… I'm so sorry… this never should have happened… I wanted so badly to protect you."

"It's all right," Hiccup said assuringly. "The cut is in an okay place. He won't be able to fly for a few weeks, but this will certainly heal."

"Weeks?" The girl's face crumpled in despair. "I don't have a few weeks, neither does Zephyr. If we don't get far away, they'll find us."

"Don't worry. I don't know who they are, but this is Berk. No one messes with the Vikings here. No one. We will protect you."

She smiled with relief. "Thank-you… I didn't catch your name."

That was because Hiccup had not yet introduced himself. "My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III".

The girl's beautiful eyes widened. "Hiccup? Camicazi's friend?"

"You know her?"

The girl laughed as if Hiccup had made a joke. "Of course I know her! I'm her twin sister, Sunami."

"I never knew she had a sister!" How could this be? Hiccup wondered. As children he and Camicazi had been inseperable.

"It's a long story… our father… he left for traveling and he took me… that was before…"

But before she could continue her story, Sunami sunk to her knees in a faint.