A/N: Heeeeey! Thanks to anyone who reviewed, alert'd, or favorite'd this story! Means SOOO much, you have no idea how good I feel when I hear other people like it! So, here would be chapter two! Hope you enjoy!

Thanks Toothless-the-nightfury for betaing! : ) It's awesome!

Disclaimer: *sniffle*

Chapter 2

Loyalty

"Hiccup. . ." Astrid's voice trembled, "w-we have a problem."

"I know we do," I said with no emotion, "but I don't know what to do," I admitted, sighing heavily.

Toothless looked smug, "No doubt I'll have to assist eventually. There are reasons I came along, Hiccup, reasons that were along the lines of this!" he growled, still mad. It was his pride getting in the way, so he wouldn't drop the subject.

I sighed, trying to keep my composure (which was getting unbelievably hard). "Don't get cocky," I retorted, feeling his glare pierce through my back.

I never liked fighting with Toothless, Astrid, my Dad, or anybody for that matter. It broke my heart, in fact - I never liked yelling, especially when I was yelling insults at the people I cared about. If I ever did fight with someone, it felt like something caught in my throat every time I went to scream something at them. You know, like when you have the perfect come-back, and you don't want to yell it cause you know you don't mean it, but yet you overcome the lump in your throat and spit it out anyway. It feels like there's a stone-wall you have to knock down every time you go to say something hurtful. I don't know what came over me that day, I really don't. But—I just kept yelling and getting angrier by the second. It—scared me.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, master. Please have mercy on my poor soul!" he said sarcastically, giving the most pathetic look I've seen so far.

I rolled my eyes. "There's the cockiness, AGAIN."

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled, "FOCUS! There are sharkworms nearby, and look at the time! They seem hungry!" she said as a matter-o-factly, "We need to do something. Now."

I took a deep breath; I didn't want to start yelling at Astrid because I was mad at Toothless. "Astrid. . .I'm really at a loss. I have no idea what to do!" I sighed again, slamming my palm to my face, "I'll come up with something," I added, reassuring myself more than her.

"Don't go risking your life now!" Toothless said, almost sarcastically.

I whipped around to face him. "Geez, thanks!" I shot back.

He rolled his eyes, giving an angered snort, "Don't act like that, now. I was being serious," he said a little more calmly.

"Of course you were," I said sarcastically, regretting it as it left my mouth.

He scoffed, "Well fine, do whatever you want, it's your funeral!"

I shook my head, feeling my face flush with anger, "Oh please, Toothless, don't get all drama-y."

"What? Drama-y? Drama-y! Did you seriously just say that!" he growled.

I smiled victoriously. Oh yeah, even he knows nobody can beat me in a challenge of words! HA! I know him like the back of my hand!

The corners of my mouth turned up into a sly grin. "Yes I did, drama queen," I mocked.

His nostrils were literally smoking with anger, the occasional flicker of blue fire sneaking its way into life, only to stop short of anything at all. I could see the rage seeping out all sides him! Unfortunately for him, I knew he wouldn't hurt me. "Stupid HUMAN! I'm only acting this way 'cause I care whether you die or not, Hiccup!" Toothless defended.

"Yeah I can tell!"

The dragon nearly blew-up with fury, swishing around in the water with rage and anger. "For the love of the GODS! NONE, and I mean NONE of you HUMANS understand just how important a rider is to their dragon, do you? All of us dragons agree! You are too RECKLESS! ALL OF YOU! If the other dragons and I had a say in ANYTHING we'd tie you to chairs, lock you in your rooms, and guard the door! Please, I'm begging! I promised the other dragons I'd watch over you guys today because they couldn't swim, and now I have to deal with my own hot-headed human as well. Will you and the others please just be CAREFUL?" he spat, looking at me like I was stupid.

I pinched my nose, trying not to go off. You have to believe me when I say I really was touched when he just wanted to protect me, really! But—I don't know. The hot-headed thing was a little harsh. Toothless just kept pushing and pushing, I couldn't take it anymore!

"Toothless. . ." I eased, "I'm sorry we worry you. Really. But we're Vikings! These kinda things are what our lives revolve around! We need the bit of danger in our lives; you have to understand bud!" I reasoned, getting desperate.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes to the sky, "Of course you would use that excuse, just like your Father... 'We're Vikings!' " he mimicked in a high pitched voice, trying to copy my nasally tone.

"I don't sound like that!"

"Have you listened to yourself lately? Good Gods boy, hit puberty already!"

He brought the fact I haven't hit puberty yet into this? Seriously?

"That was low," I replied bleakly.

"Yeah, well your voice isn't!" he shot back.

"And you're calling me hot-headed? You're the one who won't leave me alone for an hour!" I retorted.

"Do I need to write it down for you? I just told you why! You are my rider. You are my best friend. I made a promise to the other dragons. I don't care how much I would like to set your clothes on fire right now. I'm. Not. Leaving!" he said sternly, glaring hard.

I narrowed my eyes, feeling the angered flush come whooshing back. My teeth sunk themselves down into my lip, an attempt to not scream it at him. "For the love of Odin himself, Toothless! I'm fine! Gods, you're just like my Dad!"

"I'm more of family to you than your Dad. . ." I heard him mutter, knowing for a fact he didn't want me to hear it.

Oh, but I forgot… I did hear it!

"How dare you say that about my Dad!" I spat, knowing my rage was about to fully reveal itself.

At first he was surprised; he didn't know I had heard him. But then his surprise shifted into anger, but the thing was—I'm not sure if it was at me.

"I swear; your sire is anything but a Father figure! I was there for you every time he said anything hurtful to you, which was more often than it should have been! GODS, he disowned you! What Father disowns his son for being different?" he said, asking himself more than me.

I was left speechless then—what was I supposed to do? Tell him my Father had all the rights to disown me? 'Cause honestly I'm not sure if he did or not. I opened my mouth to shout something at him, but it snapped shut when I thought twice.

"Yeah," he smirked, "that's what I thought."

"You went too far, Toothless," I finally resorted to.

He practically burst into laughter. "I don't care! It needed to be said!"

I clenched my fists, grinding my teeth hard against each other. He should've never come. He shouldn't of! It made me so angry! And then he's gotta go and insult my Dad like that—I just—I don't—ARGH! How the heck I am supposed to react in this situation!

"Well maybe you should just stop speaking in the first place!"

"I'll speak all I want!"

Then an idea popped in my head.

"Oh yeah?" I challenged.

"Hmmm, let me think," he pointed to himself and I could see his almighty 'nothing can beat a Night Fury' speech coming. "Night Fury," then he pointed to me "Scrawny weak child that can't hold an axe. Hmm. Yeah, I'll take my chances."

I snickered. "We'll see about that."

With little words of confusion from him, I slowly drew the Dragon Stone from beneath my tunic. Toothless's eyes gleamed when he realized what I was doing.

"Hiccup! I swear by the Gods NAMES-!"

I didn't even let him finish. With a triumphant smirk, I took the Stone off my neck, pinching it with my thumb and middle finger. Toothless growled in rage, all I did was taunt him a bit by dangling it above the deep water. When he saw this, the growling ceased. Toothless's sharp green eyes reduced to glaring knives, as if that would do much. Dropping my face into a serious frown, I dropped the necklace on board of the small ship, not intending to put it back on for a while.

"Oooops," I mocked, "it slipped."

Astrid stared in disbelief.

But not just at me.

"Hiccup! Hiccup, look!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down like a child.

"What?"

The girl pulled on my elbow, seemingly oblivious to the fight Toothless and I had. "It's a ship! Look, see? Just in the fog!" she exclaimed, pointing towards the brown moving mass.

It was a ship. It looked rather ghastly, protruding from the fog like magma erupting from a volcano. It was giant, huge, colossal in fact! But that's exactly what worried me; peaceable fishing boats were never that large.

"Astrid. . . ."

"Look, Hiccup! Maybe they can help us, we've got to do something; or else we're fish food!"

"I know Astrid," I reasoned, putting a hand on her shoulder, "but, that boat's awfully large to be just a fishing boat. We don't know who could be on that ship," I warned.

Toothless snorted behind me. I shot a slight glare in his direction.

Astrid whipped around to look me hard in the eyes. "Does it matter, Hiccup? It's either deal with the people on that boat—or face the sharkworms! I'd rather take my chances with Toothless in a fight over cod than have to face sharkworms!"

Ignoring another snort from the Night Fury, I cautiously studied the approaching ship. That's when I realized that it wasn't actually approaching us, we were approaching it. The current had started back up, and ever so slowly we were being reeled towards the giant mass at a steady rate. And then just like that, the current stopped; right when we were just a mere foot—if that—away from the ship. It was almost chilling how it all worked out.

Astrid placed her hand on the ship, readying herself to scale up the planks.

"Astrid, don't!" I whispered urgently, as if anyone would hear me.

She turned her head to me, a confused glint dancing in her eyes. "Why, Hiccup? What's the worst that could happen!" she whispered back. She gave me the 'don't be stupid!' look and then started to scale the planks.

"I've heard that before. . . ." I muttered.

I stared longingly at Astrid as she climbed the planks with ease, no effort at all it seemed. Something in my gut was telling me—screaming at me—that this was a bad idea. Even though I didn't want to even speak to the dragon, I looked at Toothless. He still had the angered expression, but his eyes said different. They were, concerned and—fearful?

My lips parted a bit at this. I was confused; why did he care? He was mad at me; the only real reason he would care at this point is if. . . .

Taking a deep breath, I kneeled down and gingerly searched the bottom of the boat for the Dragon Stone. When my fingers felt the cool jewel and metal framing, I swiftly stood back up and slipped it on my neck, and under my tunic. Toothless squinted his eyes; confused with my actions. He cocked his head, not talking, but his face said it all.

'You feel it too, don't you?'

I took another deep breath. "What's wrong?" I asked cautiously.

His face turned into rock, showing no hint of emotion. "Don't go up there."

A singe of anger reverberated through me at his over-protectiveness again. But right now I wanted answers, so I didn't show any signs of hostility or rage towards him. "Why?" my voice trembled.

His whole face just collapsed, he was sorrow-filled and looked almost helpless. "I don't want you too, why do you think!"

"I need a reason!" I demanded, squeezing my hands into tight fists at my sides.

I saw his whole body shake with effort to not blow-up, but he composed himself none the less. "Please listen to me, there's—something's—please," he begged pitifully. My heart fell at his concern; something was really wrong. Really really wrong.

And then it was confirmed when Astrid's screams cut through the fog like a dagger.

"Astrid!" I yelled, immediately whipping around and looking up at the commotion on the ship.

I turned back to Toothless, who was looking up at the boat with the same concern as me. His jade orbs met my gaze, and his face narrowed sternly. "Stay down here, don't even think about going up there!" he commanded.

My breath caught, and ever so slowly my eyes narrowed into a fierce glare, my jaw setting tight. "Toothless, now's not the time to get protective. Astrid needs me!" I retorted, gesturing to the boat.

He snarled with frustration. "I don't care! You getting caught too is not going to help her one bit!"

"I'm sorry Toothless, I am, but I'm going on that boat!" I shouted.

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Right now Hiccup I am not talking to you as a friend – not in the slightest! Right now I'm being your dragon and I'm supposed to keep you, my human, out of harm's way! And by GOD if that means pulling you in this water and swimming home with you in my mouth, you better believe I'll do it!"He screeched, his pupils turning into the signature slits.

"I don't care what you say Toothless! Astrid's up there, in trouble," my voice drifted, "she needs me!" I pleaded.

His eyes were piercing through my body; it hurt to see him so mad towards me, but I didn't care. Astrid needed me! I couldn't just leave her! "Hiccup, for once in your life, just listen to me!"

"No!" I interrupted, "I'm going up there! Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm going up there, beast!"

And with one simple word, the whole world stopped.

My breath caught. Toothless was frozen in the water.

I just called Toothless a beast. . . . .

My hand flung to my mouth. I was ashamed. Pitifully and pathetically ashamed. Toothless looked like he had just been shot with an arrow, his face twisted into disbelief and eyes full of pain and hurt. I opened my mouth to apologize, but all that came out were stutters. My body couldn't form the words to apologize for some reason—but I needed too! Why couldn't I?

I sighed heavily, slumping my shoulders in shame. I met his eyes, trying to say my apology through my own eyes, but I'm not sure if he got the message. I turned my back to him, too mortified to look him straight in the eye. I didn't mean to call him a beast. . . . it was just—Astrid was in trouble, I needed to help her, and he wasn't letting me. I don't know what was wrong with me. I just wanted to reverse time and never go to training in the first place.

I punched the larger ship, hard, biting my lip at the stings that ran up my arm. I peered up at the mocking, looming vessel, listening to the commotion above with fear and anger. Breathing deeply, I pinched my fingers in between the planks, and heaved myself up. I shoved my prosthetic in between another crack between the lower planks, the thin piece of metal barely fitting and resting my foot on another plank, I heard the satisfying spring of the prosthetic coming to a rest. It was the only sound throughout the dense fog, and honestly probably the worst. I looked to Toothless—not a beast—again, begging for forgiveness.

His expression looked hurt, and in a monotone voice he muttered three mere words. "Just be careful."

I felt tears of shame weld in my eyes at the mumbled sentence. I banged my head against the damp wood, simply nodding back and continuing my venture up the ship's wall. It didn't take long, but I eventually made it. And immediately wished I hadn't.

What I saw at the top made my heart come to a jolting stop, my face hot and stinging with fear.

Romans.

This was a Roman ship, that's why it was so big! Now I was raged, digging my nails into the soft wood to conceal my anger. The Romans had Astrid. MY Astrid! I quickly dove back down, just standing up high enough to peer over the edge with sharp eyes.

Romans and Vikings are pure enemies; we despise each other with a passion! Us Vikings would not think twice about fighting on the same side as another tribe, even if we hated them, as long as we were fighting Romans. It's the only thing Vikings could ever agree upon. Romans were the enemy, let's burn their city down.

But what I saw behind the Romans is what terrified me.

Dragons. By the hundreds. All held in cages and whimpering. There were kinds I've never even seen before; spotted ones, large ones, small ones, I can't even name all the different characteristics. These people were Roman Dragon-rustlers. Romans loved the shiny, smooth skin of dragons. To my horror, Romans constantly made togas, shoes, even hand-bags out of their delicate skins. And obviously, they liked to use them for other reasons, too.

They had dragons that seemed to be glowing in lamps, used to light up the ship in the dense fog. Other dragons were being held in war-balloons, where the dragon would breathe fire and the balloon would slowly rise. Some were pulling stuff; some were being whipped and ordered around the ship. It was a sickening sight, I almost wanted to vomit. And kill them all for what they had done to these magnificent creatures.

But there would be no time for that.

Romans started dragging a kicking and struggling Astrid into a near-by tent. I hefted myself onto the boat as quickly and quietly as possible.

With as little noise as physically plausible, I darted my way over to the off-white tent, steadily peering inside at the inner argument.

"Well what do we do with the girl!" One shouted.

"Hmph," one moped, crossing his hairy, burly arms, "just toss her over-board, who needs Vikings anyway!" I bit my lip, narrowing my eyes at the man with hatred.

"Ohhh, but wait," a thin man drawled, standing up from the lounging he had been laying on and stepping closer to Astrid with a wicked smile.

I let myself look farther into the room, studying it with confusion and a child's curiosity.

Drapes hung from the ceiling, making the room look rich and elegant. Guards and servants lined the walls, and of course the few guards in the middle. There were two elegant white lounging couches nearly side by side each other, the only thing separated them was a table in between; on top the table seemed to be a dish full of food on top. What the food was, I couldn't tell. But the man relaxing on the couch to the right seemed to be enjoying whatever they were.

He was very plump. And by very plump, I mean if he sat on me I would most likely die. He had a tuft of blonde hair on top his head, a leafed crown hiding most of it, and proclaiming his authority in the room. His cheeks were extremely rosy, and chubby. The man was eating what was in the dish at a vast rate, as if they would disappear any moment.

"What, prefect?" the chubby man inquired, pinching whatever he was horking down between two fingers, and examining it like you would something new.

And that's what I saw what it was.

It was a dragon. Still alive!

The dragon was no bigger than my eye, a fiery red blanket of scales illuminating his tiny body. The tiny thing struggled and squeaked, though could not fly or get away. Then I saw why. It was coated in honey. The sticky-substance seemed to slow down the poor creature, and prevented it from escaping. The large man smiled at it, then with a sickening snap popped the thing in his mouth. I flinched at the final squeal it let out, words that I could barely pick up, but did and have no intention on repeating. Who in their right mind would eat a dragon, still alive for that matter! It was just disgusting.

The thinner man that he had called 'prefect' stood tall with his gangly legs, bending down and examining Astrid as if she was a new species. Astrid burned a glare at the man, but said no words. The prefect cackled in delight.

The prefect was honestly quite spooky looking. He always had one hand hiding beneath a cloak he wore, and his eyes and nose were hidden by a helmet that sat atop his head. His veiny-fingers tapped his chin playfully, like he was thinking.

"She could be used awfully well in our plan, dear Consul," he explained, turning to the fat man he had referred to as 'Consul'.

Plan?

The Consul licked his fingers, finally looking at the prefect with questioning eyes. "How so?" he asked.

"Mmm, I cannot tell you," the thin man explained, once again looking at Astrid with a perking malicious smile, "but trust me, she will be used well."

That's when I began to panic. The way he had said it, so evilly, and almost mockingly, horrified me. What were they going to do? What plan? Was it against Vikings? I looked around the ship, searching frantically for a solution.

And then it hit me.

The lights!

Whatever dragon seemed to power those lights had an electrical glow to it. I crept my way over to one, standing on tip-toe to get a better look. I was right; each serpent-like dragon had waves of electricity protruding off them like whips. Only the tips of their tails had no source of light. Hesitantly, I carefully reached a hand in, automatically reeling it back when one of the dragons shocked me. I sucked on my finger for a moment to dull the pain, then trying to play it safer I took out a handkerchief out of my vest-pocket. With a quick movement, I plucked one of the dragons out of the light, holding it delicately and saying soothing words. It calmed a bit, realizing my intentions weren't to hurt it, and then I made my way back to the tent.

But what I heard inside stopped me.

"But we'll be in Berk in just a few days!"

"I understand, but this girl could end up playing a key role if we play our cards right," the prefect spat.

Berk?

Berk!

"What do you want to do with Berk!" I heard Astrid shout, outraged.

"HUSH, CHILD! You'll find out soon enough," the prefect mocked, smiling that evil wicked grin I've come accustomed to seeing.

Oh no. A million thoughts crossed my mind. Berk, they wanted to do something with Berk, therefore they wanted something to do with us! You have no idea how dreadfully bad I wanted to sprint back to our little boat and row back to warn Berk, but I couldn't.

They had Astrid.

I shoved all the bad thoughts to the back of my mind, no matter how much they protested. I had to get to Astrid before something even worse happened.

With a new found determination, I slyly slid into the room undetected. The draperies and commotion provided a good cover as I scaled along the wall, remaining unseen. So here was my plan: After I use this electrified-dragon as a, um, 'distraction', I was going to let all the dragons go. That should cause an up-rise big enough to get Astrid and me both out of there, and if we were really lucky we would get back in time to warn Berk.

I switched hiding behind delicate cloth to delicate cloth, finally coming close enough to the table that held the little-dragons coated in the sweet honey. There was only one left. I picked up the panicked dragon, carefully setting him down in my vest pocket. At least I could save one. While everyone seemed to be arguing over the prefect's secret plan, I knew it was time. I replaced the smaller dragon with the electrified one, and waited for the fat Consul to do his job.

And boy, did he do it.

Right as my hand was hidden back beneath the curtain, the Consul searched the dish of honey for the last dragon. He found it all right.

The Consul wrapped his chubby fingers around the electrified-dragon; right on contact the fat man had cried out in pain. Before I knew it he was on the floor shaking and twitched, spit oozing out of his mouth from the electric shocks.

Call it poetic justice.

I was ready to make my move.

But then again, as you all have come to learn, stupid fate'sgot to get in the way of everything!

"THIS IS THE WORK OF HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE III!" The prefect screeched, scanning the room.

I was frozen.

The prefect knew who I was. . .he knew it was me! How?

Panic welled inside me like a flower ready to bloom at any moment. This was not good. Not good at all. And if I only knew it would get ten-times worse.

I pretty much guessed it when the prefect smiled with a disgusting malicious gleam.

"Kill the girl."

Well thatwasn't part of the plan.

The guard smiled in glee. "As you wish, prefect."

He brandished a long, skinny sword from his belt, swinging it high above his head to make it reflect a glittering-spot throughout the room. My heart lurched into my throat when he smiled evilly, preparing to bring it down. On Astrid.

"!"

Only one thing to do in this situation!

"!"

Scream for your dragon.

A/N: Yup. Pretty intense, right? Just to let you guys know, my chapter lengths are going to be all over the place. Some may only be 2000 words, others can be up to 4000. Sorry if this bothers some of you, I know I'm not too fond of it either. : ( Anywho, review, please! Am I doing OK with morphing the books and movies? I really need to know, and if any of you guys have an idea about a book and movie morph (get what I mean?) let me know! I'm trying to make it a little bit older, but it's kinda hard. Advice is ADORED! : D

God Bless!