Hey,

So I don't own anything that isn't mine! Thanks for reading and a huge thanks to my beta Alekazam6 for fixing my mistakes. (Of which there is many to come.)

Chapter 1

In the sweet breeze of the ending spring, it was easy to put everything behind you. Flying on the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself it was even easier. The smooth scales that rubbed against his wrist and the worn leather saddle between his legs felt uncannily natural. He could care less about the men who rode behind him.

Below him stretched an endless and rhythmic rolling ocean. The horizon above him obscured by a single cloud, the huge faded blue sky itself dotted with only a few. The sun had peaked hours ago and was making a quick descent. Hiccup couldn't have asked for a better day to go flying.
But he certainly could have asked for a better day for this.

The horizon became blemished with something other than a cloud, several black bodies formed where the sky had melted away. His peaceful flight was coming to an end. Behind him the harsh wing beats of a dragon grew louder and Hiccup slowed to ride beside them.

"Major Haddock?" The man on the dragon beside him asked. Though he was obviously several years older than the major he had addressed, he did it with respect. He was one of the few who did.
"Yes Staff Commander Lufin?" Hiccup asked. He had a feeling that those black bodies weren't birds. They grew in size and moved ever closer and they defiantly weren't birds. But they could be.

Lufin shifted, unlike Hiccup who was turned towards him and rode his dragon without a control bridle, he had to make sure he had a firm grip on his. After he had rearranged the grip he turned back to his major. Hiccup was frowning at him now, like he had just been offended. "We are being approached by several enemy riders."

Hiccup sighed and with a comfortable simplicity, turned backwards on his dragon. Lufin watched the now common display. The man before him was not normal. A 19 year-old major was almost unheard of, but one who moved with such ease on the back of a killer beast was plain terrifying.

The man who was hardly more than a boy ruffled through a saddle bag that rested on his dragon's back. The dragon itself seemed unconcerned with what its master was doing. The sleek black beast was the embodiment of the team it leads. A team of Striker dragons, lead by a skilled man backed by a terrifying dragon. Dragons built for speed and known for their ability to kill. Hiccups' dragon didn't wear its armor, Hiccup always claimed it was too bulky and slowed them down. Though it was obvious that when leading his group, he never got anywhere close to top speed anyway.

Hiccup, however, did wear armor. A specialized set that too closely resembled a dragon. His helmet was a matte steel, decorated with three rows of horns. Some said it was actual dragon teeth but Hiccup had crafted them from a clay like stone. He had a metal breastplate and shoulder guards the same steel as the helmet. A large buckle was strapped on the breastplate, and underneath the metal buckle was his units emblem in red.

Under that was brown padding and two black belts wrapped, one around his waist, and the other a little higher. He had two almost identical bracers, the only difference was that one held a small dagger. They were steel but they had brown leather padding wrapped on the outside as well. His pants were green and had brown leather straps wrapping around them. He only had one boot, the other foot was replaced by a gleaming metal prosthetic.

It was almost comical when you looked at the two of them. So calm and young they looked more like bright eyed cadets then equal opponents to the enemy. Even now as Hiccup fumbled for his telescope his youth showed. The gold plated telescope that he had crafted himself slipped from his hand.

"Oops, ha-ha. Toothless fetch." It was another strange thing about the boy to, he had named his dragon, a creature made for killing, Toothless.

Hiccup was still facing backwards as the dragon plummeted towards the ocean. As they fell he buckled his knees and locked his fingers into the saddle. He lay his back down on the dragon as it fell through the sky, watching the black masses blur at the speed. It ended too fast as the dragon flew past the telescope and leveled out again. The telescope landed on Hiccup's stomach with a solid thump.

"Thank you for that, bud." Hiccup muttered sarcastically, now they were skimming the ocean, above them his team of five flew. He sat up and turned around, mindlessly rubbing the dragon's head as he unfolded his scope.

A group of seven enemy dragon riders with determined expressions flew towards them. They rode a wide array of dragons. A Monstrous Nightmare led the group. They were Unkonst soldiers, clothed in tattered black armor, riders of Drago's army. He coaxed Toothless up, taking position in front of the other dragons.

"V formation," he shouted out. Behind him Staff Commander repeated the order. "There are seven enemy soldiers approaching from the north. They are lead by a Monstrous Nightmare, they don't seem to be a hit team but they have seen us and have not changed direction. This may have started as a patrol mission, men, but we're going to have to fight. These men are either stupid or skilled so watch yourself. Keep the dragons alive, they can be retrained. Understood?"

His voice carried above the rumble of the waves below them and the thrum of their dragons wings. Two years of commanding had perfected his pitch. His men, in unison, called out.

"Yes, Sir!" They were itching for something other than border patrol.

Hiccup leaned forward and pulled his sword from his belt. He thrust it downward so it ran the length of his leg; the blade was licked by bright flames. He brought his body close too Toothless and streamlined himself. Then he thrust his sword in the air and cried out.
"For Vitikean!"

The battle was fought with such intensity that not even the splash from a fallen comrade would break the soldier's concentration. There were a lot of splashes.

By the end of the battle Hiccup had lost more men than he ever thought he would. Only he and Staff Commander Lufin were left. Below them the sea was littered with bodies of dragons and humans. The battle so dire his men disregarded their orders to keep the dragons alive. One dragon was still alive though, the leader's dragon. Its wings had been locked up as soon as their rider had fallen off. The mechanism that help riders control their dragons was known to malfunction and hold down a dragon's wings. But right now it was killing him.

"Let's go major, nothing we can salvage here, " Staff Commander mumbled.

"It's drowning Lufin." Hiccup said, ignoring his last comment and instead looking down at the dragon thrashing in the water.

"Just one less enemy dragon to worry about. We should get our fallen soldiers and return to the base." Hiccup didn't respond, he just continued to watch the dragon.

"Sorry," Hiccup said, and then he and Toothless dove towards the sea. "Toothless you stay up here, drop me off there and I'll release it." Toothless obeyed and Hiccup slid from his saddle. Above them Lufin was shouting for him to come back but Hiccup was already under the water. The dragon was thrashing and wild with fear. Hiccup swam over to the red beast; the dragon's legs were a flurry of activity.

"It's okay. I'm going to help you now." He tried to calm the beast in his head, it obviously didn't work. The Nightmare didn't stop thrashing and Hiccup had to swim away a little to avoid its claws. He tried to cut the rope from above the dragon but he couldn't get close. Seeing that he wouldn't be able to free the dragon like this he took a deep breath.

Under water everything was quieter, even the violent kicking from the dragons seemed somehow subdued. He swam closer, trying his best to avoid the gleaming claws. The pull the dragons kicking made forced him to hold onto the beasts wing. The frenzied animal didn't even notice the extra weight. He pulled out his dagger and started to saw away at the rope locking around its wings.

He moved quickly, wanting to free the dragon as soon as he can. As he worked it's paddling slowed. He had one wing free! The dragon noticed the sudden lack of restriction and started to flap viciously. The wing came down hard, and even with the water breaking its stride it hit hard.

It clipped Hiccup's head throwing him backwards; the sudden movement knocked his breath out of him. He struggled to get back to the surface. The dragon struggled to get the clasp off. With one side broken the mechanism started to slid ride off. The dragon kicked one more time.

Hiccup in his blind struggle for air had put himself in a bad position. The dragon's talon had dug deep into his side, suddenly the water around him was dyed red. His struggle to break surface became all the more important.

He saw red, then everything started to turn black. Then he saw black. With the little strength he had left he stretched his arm out, the black mass took hold of it gently. Soon it was pulling him upwards, and seconds later his lungs were filling themselves with salty air.

Toothless gave him a worried look as he struggled to get on the dragon's back. Toothless had done his job much better than Hiccup. Though his job had certainly been easier. The saddle was now soaking wet yet Hiccup clung desperately to the brown leather. When he had managed to clamber onto Toothless, the Staff Commander had flown down close to them. He had a serious scowl on his face.

"You chose an injured dragon over your fallen comrades." The man growled.

"The dragon was still alive; I gave that priority over collecting the dead!" Hiccup defended. The man's scowl deepened.

"Of course. I'll tell that to their families when they ask for the bodies then. You are a traitor Haddock, dragons should never take priority." Hiccup's eyes narrowed, he silently praised himself for lasting this long without getting caught.

"I'm sorry Lufin."

"It's Staff Commander Lufin." He growled pulling his sword from his sheath. Hiccup just watched, kind of blankly, pushing his mind away from what was happening. Vacantly he pulled his sword from its clutch. Then he used his unfair advantage.

There was a sharp noise, then Toothless opened his mouth and shot an intense flaming ball at the man. Lufin screamed, throwing his arms up in a futile attempt to protect himself. Hiccup steeled himself as the flames enveloped the man, throwing him from his Deadly Nadder and dropping him into the sea. He joined the bodies of the dragons that still rested in the ocean below.

"What should we do?" Hiccup said, though he knew what he was going to do. He kind of hated himself for it. Toothless knew to as he had already started to turn, leaving Staff Commander Lufin to finds his grave with the other fallen men. He turned and gave a silent salute.

"I think it would be best if you just dropped me in the ocean near shore, I could say I swam for awhile and then I passed out." Toothless just looked at him and tilted his head, then let out a short churl.

After leaving the area Toothless had lead the Monstrous Nightmare and the Deadly Nadder to a small Island nearby. He thought he knew the name of it but he was unsure. They had settled on an unpopulated beach. Hiccup sat on a log, shivering from the cold. He had used his undershirt to wrap his wound, the rest of his clothes was still soaking wet. His wound had started to smart something horrible but the Nightmare beside him seemed so sorry that he didn't want to complain in front of it.

"It has to be believable bud. If you drop me off on the shore I won't be half drowned and the army will think I ran away." The dragon looked even more confused. "You won't be able to come with me but you can stay nearby. After the army comes and gets me I can pretend to find you again." The dragon perked up at the idea of hide and seek. Which would have made Hiccup laugh if it wasn't for the fact that he was completely underestimating his body's ability to pump blood out.

Beside him the Nightmare let out a throaty noise, it sounded apologetic. Hiccup rubbed its snout, which the beast had laid across his lap. Lufin's Deadly Nadder just watched from aside, unsure of what was happening. Hiccup realised that getting these dragons somewhere else should be a priority.

"Toothless will take you back to a safe island, there is a tribe there that will take care of you. I'm one of them. Actually I'm supposed to be the leader. But they've got this brilliant mind out here doing grunt work. If I could I would take you myself but I have to clean up the mess I've made." Hiccup gave it another affectionate and, he hopped, forgiving pat before looking at Toothless. He stared back at him with worried green eyes.

"Don't trust me bud?" The dragon chuffed, then stretched. Hiccup climbed up onto his back. As soon as they were out of sight of the dragon Hiccup started to groan, clutching his side. He didn't bother to tell Toothless anything, as the dragon slowed and flew steady so as not to jostle him about.

The trip passed in a haze, he wasn't quite sure what shore Toothless had taken him to but the city lights that dotted the large mountain at least promised people. Toothless had been as gentle as he could, but as Hiccups groaning had grown louder and closer to screams he couldn't help but want to rush. Leaving the boy in the water was something the dragon was reluctant to do. But he trusted Hiccup so that was exactly what he did.

The sun had set long ago, both had been too goal oriented to even throw a glance at what must have been a beautiful sunset. Instead they only saw the faint light at the rim of the world and the night that seemed to spill out across the sky.

The water felt warm when Hiccup lowered himself into it. He knew that it probably wasn't that warm though. Toothless gave him one last worried look before flying up himself. Then he stopped, hovering above Hiccup.

"Go away you Toothless. I'll be okay. Go help the other dragons." The dragon just looked at him, though it felt mocking, Hiccup might have just been reading too much into it, and chuffed before flying a little higher.

Hiccup ignored him and stared the distant shore; this had been a bad idea.