Chapter 2

It took them another day and night to reach Berk. It was the second sunset when they reached the island. Re let out a roar to announce their arrival. They spotted Hiccup on the cliff over the training arena, waving at them. The dragons turned and flew towards the cliff. Most of the dragons landed gracefully, except Stormfly. She stumbled from exhaustion, almost dislodging Astrid. She jumped down as Toothless went up to Stormfly.

"You're tired," he said. "I want you to feed yourself at the feeding trey, then go get some rest."

"I'm fine Toothless," Stormfly panted. "I just need..."

"You're body tells me otherwise," Toothless interrupted. "You need rest. I'll not tell you again, go." Stormfly spread her wings and took off. Re turned to Toothless.

"It seems you've been doing well as an alpha," he said.

"An alpha protects them all," Toothless said, valiantly. "Takes care of all the dragons." Re snorted in agreement.

"I knew he'd make a great alpha," said Serenity, as she slid off Re's back. She stroked Toothless's neck, making him purr. She was amazed at how big he'd grown since she'd last seen him. He was almost as tall as the Draconian dragons, and much taller than her.

"I missed you," said Toothless, nuzzling her shoulder.

"I missed you," said Serenity. She scratched his ears. Aurora turned to Hiccup.

"You need our help yes?" she asked.

"Yes," said Hiccup. "And now that you're here, we should talk behind closed doors. Everyone's waiting for you in the great hall." Without waisting another minuet; Astrid and Hiccup got on Toothless, and Serenity mounted Re. They took off and headed for the great hall.

Serenity hadn't seen the place in many years. She was quite surprised at how much had changed. She saw the water tower, the windmill, the weather vane, the feeding stations, the dragon washes, and the hanger.

"Wow," she said. "I hardly recognize it."

"It's amazing what you can do without war," said Re. They turned and headed for the door of the great hall. The three riders dismounted and went inside. The other riders were there waiting. Serenity didn't recognize the two new additions. They all came up to great the Draconians. Serenity stayed close to her king.

"So, you're Serenity," said Valka. "The famous dragon healer my son talked about. I'm Valka, Hiccup's mother. It's nice to meet you." Serenity smiled politely.

"I'm not that famous," she said modestly. "But it's nice to meet you too." Then she was approached by a dark haired man, about her age.

"So, this is Serenity in the flesh," he said. "You're far prettier in person." He grasped her hand and kissed it. Serenity blushed, pulling her hand back.

"And who exactly are you?" she asked.

"I'm Eret son of Eret," said Eret. Serenity murmured, with false interest. Tenor cleared his throat.

"Now, that we've got the introductions out of the way," he said. "Why don't we talk about this problem you face." Serenity shot him a grateful look.

"Yes, you're right," said Aurora. She turned to Hiccup again. "What did you have in mind?" They all gathered around a table. Serenity was still staying close to her dragons, she didn't trust Eret.

"Everyone around this table will go after the mysterious rider and his dragon," said Hiccup. "We'll talk to him, ask him why the map is so valuable, and why he needed to raid Berk to get it." Serenity felt her heart beat faster, nervously.

"Won't he just attack us again?" asked Tuffnut.

"Again, the only reason he raided Berk was to get the map," said Hiccup.

"Then why are you going to ask him why he raided Berk?" asked Ruffnut, confused. "If you already know the answer."

"If someone attacks my village, I will find out why they chose to do so," said Hiccup, with determination. "All I'm saying is, I didn't like the guy's tone when he confronted us. There's more to him than meets the eye." Serenity took a deep breath.

"And what will you do after you talk to him?" she asked. The last thing she wanted was a fight between her new friends and her old one.

"Nothing, I don't want to hurt the guy just talk to him," said Hiccup. He must have seen the nervous look on her face. "Why?"

"I, I just don't want anyone getting hurt," she said. "That's all." She stroked Re's neck.

"Won't he just attack us again?" asked Fishlegs. "He could, especially since we said we wouldn't follow him."

"You all know how stubborn I can be," said Hiccup. "You really think I'll just let the guy walk away?" They all murmured in agreement. Serenity was a bit scared. She hoped her friend was not in danger.

"Right," said Hiccup. "We leave tomorrow morning. I want everyone to pack their things and get a good night sleep. I don't know how long we'll be gone, so pack all the necessities like food, clothing, etc. We'll meet in the plaza just before sunrise. Dismissed." They all left the great hall.

Outside the Draconians gathered in a circle to talk quietly. Serenity was nervous, more questions ran through mind than she'd ever had in her life. She turned to Re.

"Do you think it could be him?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's him," said Re. "He's the only human in the world, beside you, who speaks our language. The only thing that's different, is that he's grown now." Serenity gave a small smile, hoping that that was the only thing that had changed about him.

"What are we going to do when we meet him?" Tenor asked. "It's been ten years Re, do you think he's forgotten about us?"

"Don't say such a thing Tenor," Aurora snapped. "We're the ones who raised him, ever since we found him in that destroyed village."

"The only thing I worry about, is how's he going to react when he meets us," said Re. "Will he be mad?"

"We'll find out when we meet him," said Serenity. She could tell the others were as nervous as she was.

"It's a lot to take in," said Tenor, voicing everyone's mind.

"Come on you guys," said Serenity gently. "We have a long trip a head of us, we should all get some sleep."

The Draconians disbursed. Serenity set up her two man tent and went inside. She crawled into her sleeping bag. She heard her dragons making themselves comfortable around the tent. She lay there, deep in thought. Her friend was alive. She couldn't wait to see him again. She hoped he still was her friend, and that he would be just as happy to see her as she was to see him. She turned over on her side. She could see the dark outline of a dragon's back and wings on the wall of the tent. She closed her eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Serenity took down her tent with some help from the dragons. She rolled it up and put it on Re's saddle. Then she took her medical bag off and set it on a bench. She combed through it, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She didn't have to worry about running out of supplies, the bag had been enchanted to restock itself on remedies and bandages whenever it threatened to run low. She checked to make sure she had her silver stethoscope. Once she was satisfied she closed the bag and put back on Re's saddle. She was ready at the same time as the other riders. She mounted Re and joined the others in the middle of the plaza.

"Right, is everyone ready?" asked Hiccup. They all confirmed. "Good. Now since they left Berk three days ago, their sent will be faint. But Skullcrusher can follow any sent, not matter how faint it may be."

"How's he going to lead us to anything if he has nothing to go on?" asked Fishlegs.

"Good question," said Hiccup. "I put the map in a chest, and in order to get the map the man had to touch the chest. Skullcrusher has already picked up the sent. I want us to fly in a V formation, with Skullcrusher at the front and Re and Aurora at the ends." They all nodded in understanding. Then they all took off, and headed out over the sea following Skullcrusher.

They flew southeast over the vast ocean. Serenity was anxious about this meeting. She wondered when Re was going to tell them that they knew the man. The Berkians needed to know. They flew for a bit longer in silence, then Valka spoke.

"What troubles you mind Re?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Re innocently.

"Something is," said Astrid. "You've all had that nervous look on your faces since we left Draconia." The Draconians exchanged a glance.

"They might as well know," said Aurora.

"Know what?" asked Hiccup. Serenity took a deep breath.

"We, know attacked your village Hiccup," she said, solemnly. They all looked surprised and a bit annoyed, hearing this.

"And you decided to tell us this now, because?" Hiccup asked.

"Because he's my son," said Re, roughly. "My son, who up until now, we all thought was dead." No one spoke after this announcement.

"How can you guys have a human son when you're dragons?" asked Snotlout.

"He's obviously adopted Snotlout," said Hiccup. They all quieted down to hear the story.

"Back when Re was crowned king and I the Queen," began Aurora. "One of our priorities was to scout out foreign islands close to our boarders, checking to see if the humans were of potential threat. We came across one village that was completely destroyed. There were no signs of life anywhere. Suddenly we heard a faint cry coming from the ruins. We flew down to investigate and followed the sound to a burnt down house. There we found a baby boy in a basket, alone, defenseless, and unharmed. How he survived, we'll never know."

"We decided we couldn't leave him there to die," said Re. "So, we tried to find a home for him. Unfortunately all the villages we tried were either too hostile and barbaric, or saw us as a threat and shot at us. We couldn't abandon the baby, so we had no choice but to take him back to Draconia and raise him as our own." A still silence followed this story. Everyone took a minuet to absorb it all.

"What did you name him?" asked Valka.

"We didn't know what to call him at first," said Re. "We wanted to call him something unique, since he was going to be different from the other humans. After some discussion, we decided to call him Chris."

"Chris," said Eret. "And I thought Eret son of Eret was odd."

"You would not believe the reaction Draconia had to this kid," said Tenor. "Many of them thought he would be cruel like the rest of his kind. Re, Aurora, and I sought to prove them wrong. Though I was a segregate uncle, he gave me grey scales. That kid could get into trouble. I mean, Re and I were never good with kids, so you could imagine the struggle we had with raising him especially when he wasn't our own species. He was always pulling on my sonar flaps." He shook his head and snorted.

"Anyway," said Re. "We care for him as our own hatchling. It was a challenge. We taught him to walk, talk, and many other things young humans and young dragons needed to know. Though we knew very little about humans, we somehow pulled it off. It was incredible. The rest of the country was quite impressed when they saw how different he was from the other humans." He beamed, clearly proud of himself.

"He was my first human friend ever," said Serenity, all the memories she'd kept quiet so long were filling her mind. "We met when I first arrived at Draconia, we were both five yours old. We were best friends, we did everything together and it was fun. And er, I was actually the one who got him into all that trouble." She bit her lip nervously. This was something that only she and Chris knew about; not even the dragons knew.

"Really, how so?" Re asked, looking over his wing at her.

"Most of the ideas were, mine," Serenity said, sheepishly. "He said he didn't want be to get in trouble, so he would always take the blame for me. I tried to repay him, but he wouldn't let me. The least I could do was not abuse it or take it for granted." Everyone was surprised at this news. In all the years they had known Serenity, they would have never imagined she was a troublemaker. They always saw her as the obedient angel who never broke the rules. Serenity felt her cheeks go red with embarrassment. Re must have noticed this because he continued the story. Serenity zoned out for a few seconds. Her heart picked up the pace again, Re was about to come to the bad part. She knew it was going to cause him emotional pain again. But nevertheless he had to tell it.

"Then one day I, I," Re paused and swallowed hard. "I lost him." An intense silence followed. The sound of beating wings filled the air for several minuets.

"How did you lose him?" asked Astrid. Re sighed.

"We were out on a scouting mission," he said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "We were checking out more potentially dangerous villages. He wanted to tag along but I denied him. After constantly pleading with me, I caved in and let him come. He was twelve at the time. He said he could take care of himself, but I was still worried about him. At the island we had landed on we had to make camp, there was a storm coming over the ocean. In the middle of the night we were ambushed by the locals and I have no idea how they found us. We escaped and were forced to fly home through the storm. I had my armor on, so I had to fly low to avoid lightning. My main challenge was avoiding the big waves while balancing a human on my back." He paused and took a deep breath. Serenity stroked his neck encouragingly. This was the hard part.

"Then he, fell off my saddle," Re continued. He spoke like he was in agony. "The rain plus my hazardous flying must have caused it. All I remember that day was his screams, calling for me, as he fell into the ocean. I looked for hours, clear after the storm passed even, I couldn't find him. I flew back to Draconia as fast as I could, and gathered every dragon and rider I could find to search the ocean. We searched for weeks before we had to call off the search. But even after everyone else came to terms with the truth, I didn't. I kept searching, I didn't give up. But I eventually had to stop when it was taking a toll on my health." He paused again. His face was scrunched up from the pain of the memory. But then he seemed to relax as his mind came back to the present.

"Now, you call us up here to help you track down your attacker who is more than likely my son," Re said. "It's just hard to process, with all the overwhelming thoughts and emotions in my head." An even longer silence followed. Hiccup eventually broke it.

"Well, Re," he said. "I can assure you that no harm will come to your son from anyone from my village." Re smiled with relief.

"Thank you," he said.

With the story over they turned their attention back to flying. They flew over the ocean in silence. Serenity let her mind go back to the past again. She daydreamed about the golden years she had with Chris, now that she knew there wasn't going to be a fight between her old friend and her new ones. She was also wondering where he had been the whole time, if he wasn't dead. Where did he live now? Why hadn't he contacted them, to let them know he was alive? Why hadn't he come home? Was he in trouble? The closer they got to him, the more anxious she was to see him; the only human in the whole world whom she was not afraid of.

As the sun went down the squadron found a reasonable sized island to land on. They touched down and the riders dismounted. Serenity unloaded her bed roll and sleeping bag. Aurora watched her as she set them down on the grass.

"So you're the one who broke my antiques?" Aurora asked. Serenity looked her in the eye.

"And I'm so sorry your majesty," she said. "I would have told you, but he made me promise. He didn't want me to get in trouble."

"It's okay Serenity," said Aurora. "I had no idea he was that good of a friend to you, that's all."

"He was the best," said Serenity. "I don't think I would have ever survived loosing Ruby if it weren't for him." She placed a hand over her hidden locket. She felt the tears in her eyes.

"What're you crying for?" asked Aurora.

"He was my best friend, and I got him all that trouble," said Serenity, guilt flooded her head. "He got sent to his room because of me." Aurora nuzzled her shoulder.

"It's okay," she said. "It happened a long time ago. There's no use beating yourself about it now."

"You're right," said Serenity, wiping her eyes. "But now I know he's alive. Hopefully I'll get a chance to pay him back."

"That is for sure," said Aurora. "And now you should get some rest. We still have a long way to go, and I don't even know where we're going."

"Yes ma'am," said Serenity respectfully. Aurora went over to Re and Serenity crawled into her sleeping bag. Tenor laid beside her. They fell asleep in minuets.