I said nothing as Astrid looked me up and down. Her wide blue eyes scanned me as I wiped the blood off the cut on my arm. I shrugged a bit and bent to pick up my swords, then slid the curved bladed back in their sheaths easily.

I pulled up my hood and smiled. "That's more like it. That mask is quite cumbersome." I kicked it the offending metal object, and it spun into the bushes. "The sentiment wore off a while ago." I looked over at Astrid. She and the others all had looks of shock on their faces, as if I was Thor himself. Well, most of them did. Fish just fainted.

"So I guess I was right then," I mumbled. "You Vikings have no faith in anything that isn't the size of a bear and waves around a hammer. Sorry, but no change in me there," I grabbed the bloody flachette on the ground and hastily wiped the unsavory red from its blade. Astrid flinched and put a land to the bleeding thigh wound, and I shook my head.

"H-how are you-" Snoulout began, but I cut him off. "Still alive?" I finished my task and shoved the small weapon back in its pouch. "Wouldn't you like to know, Snot?"

"Yes," he answered stupidly. I shook my head and pressed the tip of my bow to my forehead. Thor give me strength, it'll be a miracle if I don't shoot Snotlout in a non-essential for survival place by the end of the year.

I turned towards the Shield Maiden who I had fought mere moments before. I still took a little satisfaction in her expression

"Nice moves, by the way. I know your inexperienced with a Falcata blade, but you did surprisingly excellent for your first time wielding one," I complimented truthfully with a small smirk. It was true, I was much sloppier my first time wielding the sword... I nearly impaled both myself and Cami.

She blinked a bit, then her face turned a bit red. It might have been a blush... Or it might have been anger. Kinda hard to tell with her, she's always been hard to read. I tugged my sleeves down and readjusted my clothes. "Haven't had a fight like that in a long time. Thought I was getting a bit rusty. Anyway," I said, "I would say its nice to see you all... But then I'd be lying. But it is nice to see a boat that doesn't look like I made it."

I turned and went to walk deeper into the forest. Astrid wasn't far behind me, crashing through the the foliage and clutching her bloodied hand to her side. "W-Wait," she called, stuttering from shock. "Get back here!"

"Didn't work before, why would it now," I yelled back, chucking at the sounds of her crashing footfalls hitting the ground as she stumbled across roots and large rocks. I was being a bit smug, yes... But there was something satisfying about the concept that I, the guy who was once so clumsy he tripped without even taking a step, was walking perfectly while she, the most graceful teen on Berk, was bumbling around like an intoxicated yak over unfamiliar ground.

Overhead, the sky was becoming dark and starry, and my blood ran cold as the last of the sun dipped into the horizon. I bit my lips and readied my bow, my fingers nervously drumming across the string in anticipation. They saw my look of fear and became slightly confused. "Dude," Tuffnut commented. "You just took on the scariest female viking on Berk without hesitating, and your afraid of the dark?"

I rolled my eyes. Stupid Tuff, he couldn't connect the dots in any way, or even try to understand things. Here, night is synonymous with one thing, something I've been fighting for five straight years. My greatest, most bitter enemy.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," I admitted, and eyed the sky suspiciously. "Come on, you scaly bastard, I know your up there. I know we're not alone, but don't let that stop you. Shall we continue our game?"

The Vikings looked at me like I was insane (and I was, just a little) and edged away from me nervously. Ruff and Tuff looked at each other and shrugged, a Tuff making the standard 'he's lost it,' gesture of twirling his finger by his head. Fish looked a little concerned, Snotlout amused, and Astrid embarassed, as if mortified that she had tied to a guy who's marble count was beginning to be a little low.

"And three..." I looked up at the sky, readying an arrow in my bow. Sure enough, the white dots in the sky blinked in and out of existance occasionally. "Two..." A loud roar suddenly rolled across the land, exciting over the trees. It was punctuated by a shrill, high pitched whine echoing throgh the air, the sound building up over time. The blackness in the sky got bigger and bigger.

"ONE!" I screamed and loosed my arrow. At the same time a burst of blue-purple light emitted from the blackness in the sky. I dove to the side, knocking the others out of the way as the plasma blast obliterated the ground where we had been standing.

The blackness veered away from my arrow and roared as it banked. I could feel the cool rush of air as it flew in front of me, the downward flap of its wings grazing me.

"Night Fury!" Fishlegs screamed, and the Vikings, even Astrid, threw themselves to the ground, hands over their heads. But instead of the typical, panicked "Get Down!" I said something different.

"Come and get me, you waste of bones and scales," I yelled and drew back the bowstring and shot at the absence of light in the sky. The lack of any reaction from it told me I missed, though, and I cursed, before shooting another and another. They each missed their mark, the black shape in the sky zig-zagging away from each shot.

So long fighting this thing had given me expert skill on tracking it in the sky, and I never lost sight of it for a second. I growled and dashed backwards, toward my camp in the forest. It was the remains of the Haddock's Tale, thrown inland by a hurricane. It wasn't much but a wrecked hull with a bed and a case inside it.

I ran to the case and threw my bow to Astrid. "Here, your acceptable with a bow, take some potshots at it," I said frantically, trying to undo the locks on the thing that kept my backup weapon from me. She caught it and looked like I had just told her to go have a fisticuffs match with Thor.

She fumbled with it, and grabbed at the arrows scattered on the ground of the camp. Above us, the Night Fury was coming back around for another go. She drew back the shot and released it.

The projectile flew out and up at its black target, but missed horrendously. "Yup," I called, "definitely an old fashioned 'lop its head off with an axe,' kind of girl," I yelled critically at her, and she flinched. "Got a problem with that, Fishbone?"

"While fighting a dragon that doesn't land and battle you head to head, yes, yes I do Axe-brain!" I yelled back. Ok, a little rude, but I was panicking. The Night Fury had nearly killed me every night for five years, and I wasn't going to let it end because she was axe-addicted and didn't bother to practice with archery.

I growled, and finally unlocked the case. Inside was a bow of my own make. Fashioned form a metal alloy I had discovered while on the island, it was composed of several movable parts that only served to make it more flexible, thus giving it more power. At each end was a pulley system attaching the strings, starving the same purpose as the unconventional design of the weapon. It was shaped a bit like a recurve bow, but with the modifications I had made, it was far superior to the wooden one I had tossed to my female acquaintance[1].

"Yes," I hissed, and seized the bow. The others, Fish in particular, gaped at it in amazement. I reached back and pulled out one of the 'special' arrows in my quiver. After quickly scraping the tip against the ground, causing a flurry of sparks. One hit a fuse attached to the arrowhead, and fire slowly crawled along its length, I shot it out, the arrow, going farther and faster than any shot I had ever made with the older weapon. The new one a was poorly forged, due to there not being a conventional forge available, but it was still better than the other one. Ether way, I could easily make a better one when I got back to Berk.

Anyway, my shot flew out at the black blur in the night sky, but instead of merely spinning off uselessly, it exploded. The orange starburst erupted mere feet from the Night Fury, knocking the dragon off course. It stumbled in the air, but I saw its silhouette against the trees as it striaghtened itself in the air.

By now, their jaws were practically detached from their skulls as the watched me engage in an all out fire fight with the dragon they feared the most. I let loose fire arrows, coated in Monstrous Nightmare saliva (don't ask how I got it. People are happier not knowing) explosive arrows made from a black powder a visitor to the island had shown me how to make[2].

I exchanged shot after shot while it pummeled with multiple plasma blasts, leaving lots of craters in the jungle landscape. I drew a regular arrow from my quiver and sat behind a rock. The Vikings had taken cover inside my shelter, Astrid still holding my regular use bow.

She was staring at me with enormous blue eyes, even bigger and filled with more shock than when I revealed my identity. I don't blame her. The last time she saw me. I was a twig-thin kid walking miserably into the hull of a ship with twelve other heirs to Viking thrones, completely inept with any kind of weapon and defenseless against anything with more fighting prowess than Phil, Gobber's pet sheep.

Now I was using a bow and arrows no one had ever seen before to battle THE MOST POWERFUL dragon in the book of dragons, attempting to knock it out of the sky and giving it a pretty decent run for its money. "I've been fighting this demon for five years," I called out to her. "Kinda showcases why I'm so anxious to leave, doesn't it?"

I heard the Night Fury's attack shriek and dove away from my hiding place, loosing my arrow mid-roll so that it flew upwards and into the black form of the Night Fury. It wailed in pain as the projectile hit its mark, but kept on flying, the injury not felling the dragon.

I did a silent fist pump of victory as my lucky shot deterred the beast from trying again. I watched its near formless black essence turn and fly away towards the volcano in the distance.

Arrow's Trust

Chapter 2:

The Five-Year Demon in the Sky

Five Years Ago, The Forests of Helgrind

I trembled in fear as the man in the mask loomed over us a few trees away, his sword still impaled in the bark half an inch to my left as I hid behind Thuggory. The large viking patted me on the head.

"Do not worry, my undersized companion," he said. "I will make sure you and. I both make it out of here alive. This man is small and thin, he should not be much of a challenge."

I frowned. Meatheads were not the sharpest axes in the armory, and thus, were prone to underestimating an opponent due to size alone. While Thuggory was practically a Rumblehorn in human form, there was something about the masked man that made him feel... Dangerous. While Thug outsized him like a Nightmare does a Gronckle, the unknown party seemed to give off an air of lethality that my friend lacked.

"RAAAARGH!" He roared and swung his wooden branch down at the intruder. He barely even showed any sign of alarm, leaning calmly to the side as the makeshift bludgeon arched mast his head. He used his remaining sword to slice a deep cut into Thug's leg.

The larger Viking roared in pain, taking another swing at his opponent, before receiving a gash down his back and a kick to the rear. Thuggory's face met the trunk of an opposing tree, and he grunted in anger, gripping the branch in his hands so hard his knuckles turned white.

Another thing you don't really want to do: make a Meathead mad. They are like raging bores when their mad: brutal, dangerous, rabid, and a bit smelly. Well, that last bit is all the time, but they almost seem to get smellier when they're mad. I watched as Thug went in for another attack, only for the newcomer to spin, duck under the swing, and smam the hilt of his sword between Thug's eyes with a louche crack.

The Meathead Prince groaned in pain, dropping his weapon and weakly clutched at his face. His knees became wobbly and steps uncertain, until he went down head first into the dirt with a thump.

"Uh-oh," I whispered as the man's head snapped up towards me. He began striding over, and I looked at the weapon in the tree beside me. I desperately began to try and yank it free, but it was no use.

When he finally got to me, I thought. I was done for sure, but he just pushed me aside and pulled his sword out of the bark like it was nothing. I scowled a little at his display of superiority. It was completely unnessisary, I'm obviously as dangerous as a noodle.

To my surprise, he tossed the sword at me casually. "Pick it up," he growled. His voice was horse and extremely gravely, as if he had spent a lot of time smoking a pipe. It was inflected with an odd accent I couldn't place. I would have asked if he were joking, if his tone wasn't deadly serious.

Trembling, I bend and gripped the sword hilt, and pointed the tip of the blade at him. I'm an instant he struck, slashing down with the falcata. I yelped and raised the borrowed weapon in defense. The strike that followed felt like it had nearly dislocated my arm.

I yelled again as he took another few slashes at me. "Your small, weak," he mumbled as he took a stab at my side that I barely managed to parry away. "Afraid. You let your guard down so low it might as well not exist."

I rolled my eyes, but my sass was quickly punished by a punch to my inner elbow. Pain exploded in my arm like an angry flood, and I dropped the sword to clutch at the spot.

He kicked my in the gut, followed by a slash across the arm and a blow with the side of his hand to the base of my neck. Almost my entire body was in pain now, and I staggered to the side as the hits stopped. Less than a second later, his gloved hands grabbed my head and chin, putting me into a headlock with the threat of snapping my neck.

"To say you fight like a girl would be a compliment," he snarled, and let go of my chin. His hand was quickly replaced, though, by the cool edge of a falcata sword pressed harshly into my throat.

Present Day

I sat near the back of the boat, pressing my back into the wall of the boat. It was Astrid's familys' boat, the Flightmare's Fate. A big ship, but a rather slow one, built for outlasting enemies rather than outrunning them.

That was a problem. This thing would be about as protective as a sheet of paper, should the Night Fury decide to give it another go. Unlikely, I thought as I watched the sun rise from under the horizon, the Night Fury never attacks after the sun rises.

Unlikeyly, though not impossible. It had pulled quite a few fast ones over our time together, he could very well change his sleeping pattern to try an dgst the jump on me. I took out an arrow and began to sharpen it with the small knife I had salvaged from one of the many ships to wreck on the shores of Helgrind.

Astrid noticed me and began to walk in my direction a bit hesitantly. Idly I adjusted the angle of my arrow to point the tip at her. "If you want to talk, you can do it from over there," I growled, and tugged the hem of my hood lower over my face. "I don't like people getting to close."

She blinked, but shook her head. The Sheild Maiden was limping, due to the injury she sustained when we fought, but she still managed to look proud and stubborn as she made her way over to me, her hand fluttering slightly over her wounded thigh.

I rolled my eyes and continued sharpening until her shadow fell over me. At that point I groaned and stuck the knife back in its sheath, then slid the arrow back into the quiver. "What is it," I groaned, and glanced up to see her with hand on her hips and a demanding glare looking down at me. Before I left I would have been wetting my pants at that glare. Now I met it with one of matched contempt.

"I want to know how your still alive," she said simply. "And how in Helheim have you managed to go from an idiotic bumbling oaf to..." She glanced me up and and down, then crossed her arms. "This."

"You just indicated all of me," I snarked, and she narrowed her eyes. "You know what I mean," she snapped. "Before you couldn't lift a hammer, you couldn't swing an axe, you couldn't even throw a bola. Now you exchanging potshots with a Night Fury!" Her face was like a rock, declaring she wasn't going to give any ground until she had her answers.

But I'm paranoid. "Everything up here," I tapped the side of my head with my metal bow, "is need to know. And unfortunatly for you, Axehead," I could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears when I called her that, "You don't need to know. So I suggest you just leave it."

"Not gonna happen," she snapped, and I rolled my eyes. I leaned to look behind her to see Snotlout standing there with a face like he had just been offended.

"Anything you want to say, Snot," I yelled and looked at him cooly. Astrid twisted to see the young Jorgenson behind her and took a step backwards to get out of his way as he approached me.

"Yeah," he said. "Where have you been for the past five years, huh?" He said arrogantly. "Come to think of it, where are the other heirs, and how are you the last one standing?! You were weaker than Tantrum when the Haddock's Tale left the dock, you should have been the first to die-"

I flinched and closed my eyes. The immage of the boat sinking flashed behind my eyes. The crashing waves , the broken boat, struggling desperately to cling to what little remained of the mast, the sail cocooned around me to try and conserve warmth. A limp, feminine body floated face down a ways away in the water. It was taller that Cami or Heather, so thee was only one other female heir.

I looked up, and saw something in the sky, a black shape with enormous wings. It banked in the sky and began to dive towards me, a pricing shriek filling the storm filled air. I began to paddle frantically with my hand as the dragon got closer, closer, closer-

I forced my eyes to open and I was back in the present, Snotlout and Astrid looking down at me scepticaly. In an instant I was on my feet and gripping my unique weapon so hard it would have snapped it it was made of wood. "I told you, you don't need to know, and you won't know. All you need to know is that I got on the boat with the others. There was a storm, and I ended up on that island. Then I learned the skills, throgh ways you also don't need to know, that I needed to fight that black monster! And that is all either of you are getting!"

The seemed startled by my sudden intensity, but I didn't care. I pushed passed them, bumping the both with a shoulder as a sign of subtle agression. I shot the Twins a look of warning before slinging the metal bow across my chest to free my hands, and took a running start at the mast, pushing up with my foot to help climb it. I alternated between stepping and pulling myself up with the sail until I reached the top.

Once at the top, I settled, crossing my legs and balending on the thin but tall log of wood. "At least they can't bother me up here," I thought to myself. "Though if the Night Fury attacks... Or if it rains," I looked at the rising sun in the distance. "I'll be the first to know."

I glanced down at the occupants of the Flightmare's Fate. Astrid looked troubled, leaning on her axe and biting her lip in agitation. Snotlout was miffed. He crossed his arms and flared up at my new perch, before looking away amd muttering bitterly. Fishlegs looked uneasy as he shifted on his seat of a little wooden crate. The only ones who seemed to not be bothered by the situation was the twins. They were looking up at me as if I was a god from Asgard... Or a puppy that had done tricks. The hold relitivly same weight in the eyes of the Thorsten Psychopath Duo.

I rolled my eyes and laid my metal bow across my lap, before taking out one of my explosive arrows. I pinched the tip with my index finger and thumb. The black powder rubbed onto my fingers and stained them with if sufuric smell. I took a large supply of sulfur with me, but once on perk I's have to use these arrows sparingly until I found another source of sulfur.

With a flick, I dismissed the powder distainfuly. It was gonna be a long, long voyage home with these incompetent bozos, if I didn't kill one of them first. Took a glance backwards at the island that had been my prison for so long, my transformation, my damnation, my home, my escape, my punishment, my origin, my Helheim.

I was finally leaving it forever. I was never gonna have to come back here. I let myself smile at the thought of never seeing that place again, never having to hunt the odd birds with the chicken-like bodies, long necks, and enormous beaks[3]. I haunched back over, but the smile was still plastered on my face. I was leaving Helgrind, and never coming back.

But my mood was spoiled by my next thought: what would follow me out of there? So many things had occurred in the past five years, things that hadn't necessarily been resolved and that I didn't want to face again. So again, what from that damned island might follow me back to Berk?

I remained on my perch, contented to stay there until we hit Berk. Until I got home. And after a few days, that little island was finally in my line of sight. I was on top of the mast again as the little land mass came into view, Gothi's house sitting proudly on top of the mountain, the village sprawling below. It was a little bigger than I remember it, but I was immediately worried when I saw that the crop fields were completely bare.

I frowned and pulled my hood low over my face. I didn't know how the village would react to seeing the Useless aboard an approaching ship. They might be angry, might try to stop me once we made port. Not that they could, but I would rather avoid the confrontation.

As soon as the Flightmare's Fate made contact with the docks, the largest of them walked up. He was huge... Though not as huge as my memory of him. He was a big viking, but he no longer seemed like the unstoppable behemoth I looked up to when I left. His enormous orange beard, which dwarfed his entire head, was now half white, though his dark green eyes were as clear and proud as ever. His helmet, which inexplicably stayed on his head no matter what, was dented and battle scared, the left horn snapped at the bend.

I tilted my head and crouched over the edge of the mast, hands on my knees. My metal bow was slung over my chest, not at the ready, but definitely available if it became needed.

"Astrid," Stoick said, greeting the Shield Maiden with a viking-sized comradely hug. She grunted in protest, but was helpless to the chief's greeting. "I'm glad to see your back safe... Though with an interesting newcomer," He glanced up at me, and I reflexively twitched, just stopping myself from having my own father at arrow point.

"Yes sir," she agreed, swallowing. She folded her hands behind her back and looked up at me nervously, then looking back to her leader with unsure eyes. "Very... Very interesting."

"Did you find anything of interest on the surrounding islands," he asked, tilting his head. Astrid looked at her boots, unsure how to answer. She shifted a bit, moving her weight from foot to foot. The motion caused Stoick to notice the red-stained bandage wrapped around her thigh.

"Lass?" He questioned. "What happened?" Her eyes flicked up at me for half a second, but it was all the indication that he needed. He looked up at me and smashed a fist into his palm with an angry growl.

Wow, he never defended me like that. Any happiness I had to see my parental figure was draining by the minuet. Seeing him act more like a father to my complete and utter opposite than he ever, ever had to me left me thoroughly disenchanted with any thoughts of a happy reunion between us. "You!" He roared, but after hearing the Night Fury screech at me every night, it wasn't so scary anymore. "Get down here NOW!"

I stood up and gave a mock salute, bowing as Slade had taught me too five years ago, bending my waist with my arms straight at my sides with such exaggeration I was practically sarcasm in physical form. The action was one of severe mockery for his authority. His face turned beet red with anger.

I jumped off from my place at the mast. I wondered how I must have looked to them, armed to the teeth and wearing outlandish clothes, managing to have wounded one of their best warriors. Certainly not what they expected for their village fool.

I rolled my neck and looked at Stoick. The hood kept my face well shaded, but wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. Luckily, the Viking Chief was too angry for scrutiny. "Explain yourself," he snarled in a deadly calm voice. "Explain why you show up like a specter on my heir's ship-" I flinched inwardly. He had replaced me as heir...? That sent a bit of a shock through me. I had at least thought that he would... He would try and hope I was still alive, that I would come back to him.

All these years I had been strong so that I would once day return home, show him who and what. I'd become. I wasn't the conventional warrior, but I could cross swords with the best of them.

But he had just replaced me with Astrid.

...

Fine then, Astrid could have the job. I wasn't gonna be stuck waiting on whiny villagers all day anyway. I would NEVER be like that. As far as I was concerned, he had failed our family by giving up on me.

"-With her wounded, apparently by you," he finished. To anyone without my experience, the look he was giving me right now would have made many grown Vikings wither and cry for mommy.

Not me though.

Not anymore.

I sneered up at the large chief. "Didn't know you were such a disloyal father," I rasped in the not-mine voice, and his eyes widened.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," I said slowly and clearly, as if speaking to a child. "That you had a child of your own, that he did every thing in is power to please you, to make you proud and each time he failed you scolded him as if he were the Twins, as if he were trying to wreak havoc. And five years ago he banished, and you couldn't be bothered to find him, and just replaced him with the Trophy Viking... Vikingete."

If he was angry before, he was enraged now. His face had turned a slight purplish color our of fury and he periodically clenched and unclench end his fists as if he wanted it strangle me but couldn't bring himself too. "And what could you possibly know about. Hiccup," he snarled, and I rolled my eyes.

"I might as well know all about him, considering I AM him," I snarled, and pulled back my hood. The surrounding villagers had a similar reaction to the Viking Young Adults, a large collective gasp and various states of consciousness, a few taking a step or two back while others simply fainted from shock.

Stoick himself was priceless. His eyes widened to bigger than I had ever seen them, his bushy eyebrows making an escape attempt. The purplish color gave way to snow white. He stumbled backwards a bit, as if he had seen a Dragur[4], which I guess he had. I looked up, eye to eye with my father for the first time in five years. I was almost as tall as him now. I looked at him with a cool, steady gaze and narrow eyes. "So tell me, Dad," I spat.

"Miss me?"

Five Years Ago

I swallowed hard as the edge of the blade was pressed into my throat. The attacker's deep, heavy breaths echoed inside his mask. I twisted to look into the black eyeholes of the red and black mask.

I waited for death, screwing my eyes shut. I screwed my eyes shut, waiting for pain in my throat then for Helheim. I had done nothing worthy of Valhalla in my life, I was going to suffer eternity in a pit of damnation-

Instead of the queen of the dead, I met with a face full of dirt as the sword was retracted and he shoved my head downwards.

I was frozen for a moment in shock. I-I was alive? I was alive. I was alive! I WAS ALIVE! I laughed a moment in relief, before the attacker's heavy boot landed on the center of my spine and pinned me.

Oh, maybe he just wanted to kill me in a more amusing way. Instead, the figure slid both swords easily back into the sheathes, the sound of metal on casing rasping as it slid in. "Your not cut out for survival kid," he said with his odd accent. "And neither is he." He kicked Thuggory's unconscious form and shrugged.

"But your stuck here like me, ain't ya?"

I nodded frantically and he took his boot off of my spine. I scrambled back up, trying to gain as much distance between me and this... This beast of a man as possible. "What's your name, kid?" The man asked, and I swallowed.

"H-Hiccup. Hiccup Haddock."

To my surprise, he actually laughed at this. Not a cruel, mocking laugh, more like one that someone would give after hearing a joke they didn't realize they were being told. "Ha, now that's a unique name. Never heard it applied to a man before. Undersized sheep and yaks, yes. But not anyone with two legs and a brain."

"Thank you for summing that up," I muttered under my breath. The man shook his head and pulled back his hood. Then, he lifted off his odd helmet, revealing tannish skin and course black hair, along with a thick black beard on his cheeks and chin. His face was worn and weathered, showing off a lot of hard years.

"Sorry for roughing you and your friend up, there," he said, placing the helmet-mask on the ground. "I had to make sure you weren't here intentionally to attack me. And now I know." He raised a skeptical eye at me. "My enemies wouldn't send anyone with that much incompetence."

I scowled, but he offered a gloved hand for a shake. "Well, Hiccup Haddock, my name's Slade Wilson."

Present Day

I sat on the roof of my... Stoick's home, not quite understanding myself at present. I always thought that getting back here would finally let me be at peace, or something... But I still felt as caged and alone as I ever did on Helgrind.

Dad had tried to say something after I asked if he missed me at all, but I did t have the patience to listen to it. He had tossed me aside like a spare hammer and I was done trying to please him. Like I said, I never meant to destroy anything but I received no support from him, or anyone else for that matter.

The sun was setting in the distance as I adjusted my new metal bow. It was in better working contortions than the one I made on the island, making it stronger and more reliable.

I adjusted the the pulleys at each end a bit, getting it closer to my habits and preferences. I plucked the string a bit, making it sound a bit like a musical instrument and smiled.

Finding the right material, forging and crafting this thing was one of the very few things that kept me sane during my period of isolation, the reason why I'm not a compleat blithering savage with a spear. I settled my new work on my lap and nodded satisfied.

Without warning, a roar filled the half red-half black sky as the sun had its final second for a few hours. I looked up and saw the approaching form of a Monstrous Nightmare in the sky. It was soon followed by a cluster of other dragons.

I bolted straight up to my feet and pulled up my hood. I still didn't change out of the clothes I had worn on Helgrind, and I doubted that the hood was ever going away (at least I had an excuse for the hood. This place was freaking freezing!)

I snarled and roared out to the villagers below. No matter if this was still my home or not, which I still couldn't decide on, a dragon attack was a dragon attack, and where there were dragon attacks, the Night Fury never failed to show up.

"DRAGONS!" I yelled, and the villagers looked up in time to see me loose the arrow. I had knocked. It stared through the calm night air, towards the flapping beast in the sit acne, before sinking deep into the lead Nightmare's shoulder.

The thing roared and shock and pain, plummeting toward the ground, and then all Hel broke loose. The dragons began to dive in, rushing us from all angles. A purple Nadder flew at me, letting loose its magnesium flame.

I leaped to the hose nearest to Stoick's and the dragon tried to follow. However, I spun and used the thick edge of my new bow to smack it across the nose. It screeched and flapped backwards in pain, and before the thing could recover, I whipped out a flechette and tossed it into the monster's leg.

It screeched before I let loose an exploding arrow in its face. The thing was tossed backwards and fell into the streets below. I nodded in satisfaction and scanned the sky pies above where the stars were slowly appearing.

I climbed onto the dragon head of the dwelling I was currently on and peered at the reptile infested sky. "Come on, Blackie," I murmured, fingering another flaming arrow and the stone I used to light them with. "I know your up there."

Sure enough, the all to familiar skrrreeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE BOOM! Of my nemesis's presence filled the night air and I grit my teeth. "I knew you would be the first thing to follow me back," I whispered and looked at the starburst of blue and purple that was formerly the Vikings' catapults.

"Ok, you," I whispered. "This ends tonight!" I jumped off the roof, bow ready in hand with an arrow already at the ready. Villagers ran around me, battling dragons, but there was only one I had in kind right now.

I ducked under a Nightmare's snapping jaw and slammed it with my bow. The thing flinched, and was soon distracted by Bob the Sled. The trouble only continued from there, though, and I kept ducking and jumping over dragon strikes that were soon taken care of by various villagers.

SkrrrreeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BOOM! Another catapult blown to Helheim. I skinned the sky, and it's damned blur shot past the illuminated wrath age, fast as lighting. But I was right, tonight this would end, one way or the other!

I slid to avoid a Gronckle that tried to chomp me, heading past Gobber's forge. I allowed myself a little nostalgic smile at the memory of the place. I certainly never would have pictured this five years ago, I thought as I got to my feet and snatched a red sheild away from the smith with 2/4 limbs. "Sorry Gob, need this," I called, catching his slack jawed expression when he saw who had taken the shield.

I realized the defensive equipment over my head, using the same arm that I held the arrow with. Just in time, too, as a Nadder's fire slammed into it an instant later. I scowled at the now flaming shield, before tossing it away.

It spun like a flaming disk through the air and knocked out a red Nadder trying to claw its way into the food supplies. The spike reptile went limp after the shield went konk against its head.

A mass of Vikings quickly swarmed it, but I didn't stay to watch its fate as the Night Fury zoomed by overhead. I saw its black blur against the sky and scowled. "Come on, Fury, you too much of a salamander to face me? So much for the unholy offspring of lighting and death itself!"

There was a shrill roar overhead in response, but the blackness in the sky did not change corse, heading for the Vikings' last catapult. I followed it there, and dove over the hill, rolling and coming up searching for the dragon that I had played cat-and-mouse with for five years.

"Come on," I whispered, slowly reaching back, and grabbed two arrows from my quiver, an explosive arrow, and a regular one. "Gimme somethin' to shoot at, gimme somethin' to shoot at. I dropped the regular arrow on the ground and readied the special one, holding the lighter rock near the ground for split second use.

It seemed like forever before:

SkreeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BOOM! The catapult erupted from the force of a plasma blast, and for a split second, the fastest dragon alive was visible against the flames, a dark arrow jetting across the sky.

Reacting as fast as I could, I lit the fuse and fired at the point where the Night Fury would most likely go. A few second later the dragon became visible once again, but this time because of the explosion from my arrow knocking it off corse. The thing roared in surprise and staggered through the air. In an instant the other arrow was fired, and the squelch that sounded as it entered the black dragon's flesh was audible even down here.

It roared in agony and began to plummet to the far side of the island, losing all control of its flight capabilities. It was out of sight soon, but I was too busy wallowing in satisfaction to care. The demon that had hunted me for five years, I had finally brought it crashing down to Midguard.

I smirked and got up. I wasn't even sad about the lost arrow. I would recover it later when I went to get the Night Fury's body.

Footnotes:

[1] What Hiccup has is called a Compound Bow. I am fully aware of when it was developed, but if he can make things like Toothless's tail rig and the sheild, he can make a compound bow. As for the material... Let's just say he discovered aluminum ore on the island.

[2]The explosive arrow is a rock arrowhead coated and filled with an early form of gunpowder. The story is set in the tenth century, and the Chinese discovered it in the ninth. As for how Slade knew how to make gunpowder... You'll see

[3] just for kicks, I made Hiccup eat Dodo birds. :)

[4] A Dragur is a viking equivalent of a zombie or ghost

-RNC