In Dragons We Trust

As you fly through life it's always good to know who you can trust, and who you can't. I know I can always count on Toothless. And it's important for him to know that, no matter what, he can always count on me. There is one man, however, who neither of us can ever trust. Mildew. Mildew's fooled everyone! I'm probably getting ahead of myself though. I guess I should start from the beginning…

000

Hiccup was free falling flatly through the air, enjoying the wind just rushing passed her when she heard Toothless's signal. She opened her eyes, and when he was underneath her she moved to a sitting position, landing onto the saddle.

"Nice catch bud. Little close, but…"

They returned to the group flying a little ways above, and Hiccup turned to Fishlegs. "Alright, it's your turn. Jump!"

"I don't want to jump!"

"You have to believe she's gonna catch you. It's a trust exercise."

"I like to do my trusting on the ground thank you very much."

"You'll be fine. It's easy."

"Easy for you to say. You've got wings!"

"Like this chicken-legs", Snotlout butted in. "WHOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!" He shouted out, raising his arms into the air, and then sliding off of Hookfang with no fear at all. Hookfang didn't seem to notice his absence.

"So, should we mention something to Hookfang?" Tuffnut asked his sister.

"Let me sleep on it", she replied.

"Uh…Hookfang…?" Stormfly squawked.

"Hookfang get him!" Astrid shouted over.

"What?!"

"Your rider!" Toothless said with urgency.

"My rider?"

Suddenly feeling lighter, Hookfang looked down and saw Snotlout tumbling through the air.

"Not feeling the trust!"

Hookfang quickly dived down to catch him, and although he did, he couldn't stop.

"AH! COMING IN TOO HOT! AHH!"

They crashed through a roof to someone's house. It was quiet, very quiet, and there was nothing but axes covering the walls as far as Snotlout could see. He looked around a little more, when he spotted, "Mildew."

The next thing the group knew, Snotlout and Hookfang crashed through the roof again, upwards, and screaming.

"You'll pay for this!" they then heard Mildew shout up at them.

"Oh, something tells me we're gonna hear about this", Hiccup said, already dreading her father's reaction.

000

That night, Hiccup got the reaction she was dreading. Her father roughly smacked down a shingle in front of her as she sat at the table, knowing she knew what it meant.

"Shingle again? Didn't we have roofing material for dinner last night? Heh…" she joked trying to lighten the mood. He only gave her a hard look, clearly not in the mood for jokes. "It was an accident dad. I'm sure Mildew's making it sound a lot worse than it is."

"A dragon and a huge, obnoxious boy crashed through his roof. Twice!"

"Well sure…it sounds bad if you're gonna…stick to the facts.

"Of all the houses on the island, a dragon had to crash through Mildews. You know he hates dragons more than anyone else."

"Believe me, I know. You might want to talk to him about his attitude."

"Listen to me, Hiccup. I gave you the responsibility of training those dragons. Everyone knows that. All eyes are upon you. Whatever those beasts do reflects on you, and whatever you do reflects on me!"

"I'm sorry dad, you're right", she replied, getting up from her seat.

"You and your friends are going to go back to Mildew's, and fix that roof! Without your dragons!"

"Gotta a break there, bud."

"Ah! Not so fast!" her father called, when they were about to go upstairs. "Aren't you forgetting something?" He took his boots off and held them up. "It's boot night. They need to be aired out."

He stuck them way too close to her face, and Hiccup nearly gagged. "Yugh!" she exclaimed as she quickly held her nose, took them with her other hand, and held them out as far away as possible.

Toothless got a whiff too, and even he thought they smelled awful. "Ugh!"

"I think it's going to take more than air."

Hiccup walked out, still holding the boots as far away as possible, now with one hand on each boot, and then placed them outside the door. She grimaced and wiped her hands on her dress, quickly rushing inside soon after, able to still smell the awful odor. Boot night was defiantly the worst night, and during these times enhanced senses weren't so great. They might have not been as strong as a dragon's, but they were stronger than a human's, and that meant the stench was 5x stronger for her. On the bright side, her father's boots didn't smell as horrid as her uncle's; she could just see Snotlout trying to hold in his dinner.

000

As the village slept that night all was quiet and peaceful. The only disturbance was a light snowfall beginning to descend. But then, someone appeared in the village walking to one person's home with boots lying on the steps. With a quick swipe, they took the boots. One by one they swiped every single boot in sight, including the chief's.

000

The next morning, as Stoick went to grab his boots he found them missing. "Where are my boots?"

"Where are your boots?" He then asked noticing Gobber, Mulch, and Bucket had none on their feet as they walked up to him.

"They've all been stolen! Every last one!" Gobber answered.

"Oh that explains why my feet are so cold", Bucket commented.

"Who could have done such a thing?" Mulch asked.

"All I know is they left a mighty big foot print", Mildew butted in pointing to a dragon's foot print in the snow.

"Oh, those are Zippleback tracks", Fishlegs stated. "You can tell by the half-moon shaped arches. Well that's dragon 101 guys, I don't gotta fill you in on that."

"So a dragon walked through here. A Zippleback according to my friend, Fishlegs. But that doesn't mean he took everyone's boots", Hiccup tried to defend.

"Well there's just one way to find out. Follow the foot prints", Mildew said.

They did so, and when the prints stopped, they were brought to the academy where Barf and Belch slept with a pile of boots surrounding them.

"So there's a pile of boots piled around a Zippleback. That doesn't mean…" Hiccup stopped when her dad held a shredded boot to her. "Okay, fine, he… took the boots", she said accepting defeat.

"How are we supposed to do any work in this weather without our boots!" one Viking shouted.

"This is outrageous!" yelled another.

"How long before something is done about these creatures, Stoick? How much more can we stand?!" Mildew added in, setting off every Viking to shout with anger.

"Listen to yourselves. My feet are cold", Gobber said mocking the whining sorry excuse for Vikings. "You're Vikings! Everything is cold! I'll fix your boots for you, you'll be back to work in no time."

"You all heard Gobber! You'll be getting your boots back as good as new!" Stoick yelled out to the crowd. It calmed them down immediately, but Mildew just wouldn't quit.

"That's it?" he asked. "No consequence for these dragons?"

"They took our boots Mildew; the world isn't coming to an end."

"Oh, don't be so sure. Dragons are wild beasts. There's no telling what else they'll do behind our sleeping backs."

At that point Hiccup had just about enough. "They don't destroy things on purpose!" she said wanting to shut him up. She paused though realizing, once again, that Mildew was right about one thing.

As much as she hated to admit it dragons were still animals. They may be intelligent, have their own complex language, and practically be as human as anyone else, but that was only a part of them. The other part was instinct, and that was a part of them that was hard to change. Hiccup had spent years learning to control certain instincts and urges that would surface within her. Of course, at the time, it was to stifle her dragon half, but she could admit learning to control her dragonish instincts was actually a good thing at times. No doubt the instincts of dragons were 10x stronger, being animals. And animals, more often than not, ran on instinct. The other issue was that dragons didn't quite understand human culture, and what they could and could not do. Taking things was certainly top on the list of things they couldn't understand was wrong— it certainly took her a while to explain it to Toothless. In the wild, if a dragon's property was left out, quite like the Vikings boots were, it was up for grabs and who ever claimed it first claimed it. No questions asked. She couldn't understand why Barf and Belch would want to take them, but she could understand why they would.

"But, you do have a point, Mildew.

"Uh-wha?" he said unable to believe she said those words.

"They are wild animals. And they need us to keep an eye on them. And rest assured we will do just that!" She finished in exclamation and determination.

She was standing by Barf and Belch still sleeping by the boots when the two headed dragon woke up.

"You bring all these boots here?"

"I'm attached to you stupid. How could I?"

"Just asking."

"Oh would you two just… get out of there", she butted in, batting them away from the stolen and shredded boots.

Although, what they said did make her question. 'Zipplebacks aren't exactly the smartest of dragons, but they wouldn't just forget taking the village's boots. Would they? Maybe they did it in their sleep?' That thought seemed unlikely though. Her gaze traveled to where the dragon had just made a foot print, and it made her do a double take. She looked at the ones they had been following, then back to the freshly made one.

'Their depths are different! But, that doesn't make sense? Were they… framed?'

There was no real evidence for it, but that last thought did make more sense than anything else. And she had a pretty good idea of who would want to frame them too. But she couldn't dwell on it. She had to gather her friends with a plan of how to keep the dragons in line, and maybe even catch the supposed framer.

She caught each of her friends quickly telling them all to meet her up at the abandoned catapult after lunch. After said meal Hiccup raced to the catapult to tell her friends her newly made plan. It was a little bit before everyone arrived, and the only person they were missing now was Snotlout.

"Alright, what did you drag us all up here for now?" he said rather impatiently as he finally made his way up.

"We're going on night patrol", she stated in answer to him and the rest of the gang.

"Night patrol?! I love it! What is it?" Tuffnut then asked having just realized he had no idea what night patrol was.

"It's where we patrol. At night. To keep an eye on the dragons and make sure they don't get blamed for anything else."

"Blamed?" Aric asked.

"I have a hard time believing the twins' Zippleback actually took everyone's boots. For one thing, why would they take the time to take every single pair of boots in the village? That's not exactly something a dragon would do", she answered.

"Alright."

"Second, the dragon didn't even remember taking them. When they woke up, they had no clue where the boots came from. I asked them some more questions about it just to make sure, but they were absolutely clueless."

"Huh, that is strange. And you want us to keep tabs on all the dragons while also looking for any suspicious activity I'm guessing", Astrid said.

"That pretty much sums it up", Hiccup confirmed.

"Um…" Fishlegs squeaked. "Have you cleared this with our parents? Because some of us might not be allowed out after a certain hour."

"Not allowed? Or afraid?" Snotlout teased.

"Hey. Things happen after dark."

"Guys, we have to do this. You heard Mildew. He wants the dragons banished", Hiccup intervened.

"Permission to shoot first and ask questions later", Ruffnut asked military style.

"Permission to skip the question", Tuffnut added.

"We're just patrolling! Nobody is shooting anyone!" She exclaimed.

"I have a question", Tuffnut said. "What's fun about that?"

"It's not supposed to be fun", Aric said slowly. "It's a Hiccup idea."

"Exactly", Hiccup agreed, until she realized what he said. "What?"

000

Aric stepped up to his first house of the night wearing the stupid sash with the even dumber name. Hiccup had to be one of the worst people at coming up with names. Well, maybe not as bad as the twins, but close. He knocked on the door and only a moment later it was answered by a large Viking.

"Hello sir. Uh-um Ma'am", he corrected, seeing she was in fact a woman. To be fair it wasn't exactly clear with her size and mannerisms.

"My name is Aric and I'm with the Dragon United Monitoring Brigade."

"Dumb?" the woman clarified pointing down with the chicken leg in her hand.

"Yes, that is correct. Not. My idea. But it is easy to remember", he said quickly recovering. "If you have any dragon related problems contact us. Just cup a hand on either side of your mouth and at the top of your lungs yell—"

The door was slammed in his face. "Dumb", he finished, less than cheerful. 'Hopefully Astrid is having better luck.'

000

Astrid was having anything but better luck. Left and right, doors were being slammed in her face. Some people didn't even open the door. They just saw the ridiculous sash and dejected her completely. It was increasingly frustrating, and she couldn't help but to just kick a bucket, which just happened to be nearby, as far as possible.

000

Meanwhile, Snotlout and Hookfang were strolling through the village looking out for any suspicious activity, Dragon or Viking related. He heard a sound and immediately went into warden mode.

"Halt! Who goes there?!"

"Take a wild guess", Gobber responded walking up to the boy.

"I don't think I like your attitude."

"Right back at ya."

"Yeah… But I'm the one with the sash", Snotlout boasted, not noticing Hookfang wandering away.

"Let me take a closer look at that." Gobber hooked his hook-hand under the sash picking the boy up. "Dumb. Well that suits you."

"Okay, I think we're done here", Snotlout then said, his voice cracking slightly, wanting to be put back down on the ground unharmed.

000

Fishlegs and Meatlug were also strolling through the village, although careful and wary. He spotted a shadow and heard a sound, and stopped frightened.

"What was that?" he whispered.

Then another large shadow came into view and Fishlegs and Meatlug high tailed it out of there as fast as they possibly could, utterly terrified.

000

The twins were fascinated by how much they scared Fishlegs, unaware by the fact that the shadow that had the boy and dragon running was Hookfang's shadow when he came up behind them. Nevertheless, they ended up bickering and fighting on which one of them was the one that actually scared him and Meatlug.

000

Hiccup and Toothless were up above patrolling, and, just as everyone else, didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Well Mildew will be happy to know what dragons do at night. They sleep like everyone else."

"Great. Does this mean we can go to sleep?"

000

Unfortunately what all the teens and their dragons failed to realize was that something, or someone, was heading for the Great Hall. They kicked open the doors, the wind helping greatly, and with their claw scratched and tore the Hall apart.

The next morning the Great Hall was found that way. Tapestries were torn, and claw marks littered the walls and pillars. No one could believe the sight, and were in utter shock, the teens more so than anyone else.

"Who could have done such a thing?" Stoick asked.

"Oh, looks like a dragon to me", Fishlegs obliviously said.

"We don't know for sure Fish-legs", Hiccup said frustrated.

"Sure we do. Look at these claw marks", he said examining them. "It was obviously a Monstrous Nightmare. The spacing of the talons is dead on."

"Once again… thank you Fishlegs", she said sarcastically wishing the boy would shut up with his dragon knowledge.

"Oh stop its just basic stuff", he responded clearly not getting the hint.

"But how could this happen?" Astrid asked, her voice getting higher by the moment with nervousness. "We had every dragon accounted for at all times. Right guys?"

"When you say 'at all times' and 'every dragon' what exactly do you mean?" Snotlout asked.

Both Aric and Hiccup face palmed simultaneously.

"Okay, what happened, Snotlout?" Hiccup asked trying her hardest not to lose it.

"Well, I was detaining a suspect who wasn't showing sufficient respect to the sash—"

"I think I showed sufficient respect to a sash that says 'Dumb' ", Gobber defended.

"We've gotta change that name", Aric muttered.

"Anyways, as I was detaining said suspect Hookfang may have — and I'm not saying he did! But it is possible he wandered off for a few…"

"Seconds?" Ruffnut asked.

"Minutes?" Her twin followed.

"Hours", Snotlout answered.

Everyone groaned at that. The fact that he was gone for so long only made it look worse for him. Hookfang would never do such a thing as suddenly burst into the Hall and start scratching everything up, but so far all the evidence was pointing to him, and that was far from good.

The doors suddenly burst open, and the one man they really didn't need at that moment came. Mildew.

"Oh, no! It's true. The Great Hall, so many memories. My three weddings, their three funerals. Oh, the funerals", the old man reminisced. His shock and worry seemed fake, though, to Hiccup. She could smell the deceit emanating right off him in waves. Whether it was just his concern, knowing this 'tragedy' played into his case, or more, she couldn't be sure though.

"The dragon must have gone on a rampage", Gobber said, pulling her from her train of thought. "I hate to say it, Stoick, but you're gonna have to—"

"I know what has to be done", Stoick interrupted.

"So do I!" Mildew cheerfully said.

Stoick turned to Hiccup. "Starting tonight and every night I want all the dragons put in the academy under lock and key."

"Wha-that's it? Look what they did?!" Mildew shouted getting frustrated.

"This just doesn't make sense!" Hiccup tried to defend. "A dragon wouldn't just come in here and destroy the place? I mean… none of the food was even touched!" She said gesturing to the pile of fish left completely unmoved.

"I don't know why dragons do what they do—"

"I do!"

"But I'm not gonna let them do any more damage", he simply continued ignoring her. He, Gobber, and Mildew all turned away from her and out the Great Hall.

The teens all came up to Hiccup as she turned to look at them, and they all looked to each other unsure of what to do.

000

That afternoon, as Stoick was walking through the village with Gobber, they spotted the teens and their dragons flying over the island all looking quite glum. Hiccup, especially, turning to her father with a look that clearly said she was upset, mad, and disappointed. He couldn't help but sigh.

"You had to cage the dragons, Stoick. You had no choice", he said.

"I know. But to Hiccup, when I punish them I'm punishing her."

"Yeah. That girl thinks the dragons can do no wrong."

"I just hope she understands that while a father does what's best for his child, a chief must do what's best for the village."

000

The gang was all in the academy that evening. They were to lock their dragons up first, and then Hiccup would gather all the other dragons on the island and take them to the academy to lock up as well.

"Sleep little Meatlug in your bed, where yummy little boulders dance in your head…"

Fishlegs was singing a lullaby to Meatlug in the academy trying to get her to calm down to go to sleep, but it wasn't working. She only moved away, upset.

"That usually works", Fishlegs said. "Her whole bedtime routine is upset! She won't even lick my feet! All thanks to…" he turned and glared at Snotlout.

"Watch it Fishlegs. At least my dragon doesn't need a lullaby and a blanky" he teased.

"This is all your fault", Hookfang said to Barf and Belch as their riders were talking.

"Actually, it's your fault that all our dragons have to sleep in jail", Ruffnut said.

"Yeah, this isn't our fault, it's yours!" Barf said.

"Yeah you don't see our dragon going on a rampage and wrecking stuff", Tuffnut followed his sister.

"I didn't wreck anything! You're the ones who took the boots!"

"We didn't take anything!" Belch responded, and the two moved forward in anger towards the Monstrous Nightmare accidentally destroying a box.

"Well, not any good stuff", Tuff amended.

"I don't think a dragon wrecked the Great Hall, or stole the boots", Hiccup stated as the two dragons kept bickering.

"None of us wants to believe it either, Hiccup, but you saw the proof", Aric told her.

"What proof?! You saw the foot prints too! They were supposed to be made by a Zippleback, but they were no deeper than mine. Look at these, I could lie down in them", she said gesturing to one of Barch's foot prints in a pile of snow.

"Well there could be a lot of explanations why a dragon made shallow foot prints", Fishlegs pointed out.

"Like, hello… he was trying to be sneaky", Ruffnut said.

"What about the fact that they didn't know what happened?! How can you explain that?!"

"They could be lying?" Astrid said.

"No. That doesn't make any sense", Hiccup said.

"Alright, well how do explain the Great Hall?" Aric questioned.

Meanwhile Hookfang and Barf and Belch were still fighting, and Hookfang became so angry with the Zippleback he lit himself on fire as he and the other dragon roared.

"Snotlout could you do something about him, we're trying to think over here", Hiccup said.

"Yeah, I gave up thinking. Never been happier", Tuffnut said, as Hookfang continued on his little rampage.

"Snotlout…" Hiccup said annoyed.

"I'm not the boss of him. He always does that when he gets angry."

That made Hiccup look to the angry Monstrous Nightmare, and she noticed the scorch marks he left behind.

"Or goes on a rampage… That's how I can explain the Great Hall! I've gotta tell my dad about this!" She climbed onto Toothless and they raced to the Hall where her father was overseeing the repairs.

000

Hiccup was inside explaining to her dad about her discovery with the Monstrous Nightmare and the lack of scorch marks while Toothless was outside sleeping. He would have followed her in if it wasn't for the fact that he should have been locked in the academy by now. He was sleeping peacefully by the doors when he heard something, having a feeling that something was wrong. A dragons' sixth sense was rarely ever wrong, and so he went to investigate.

It led him to the armory, and when he arrived the door swung open.

"That's odd…"

Carefully, he went inside. He looked around a little and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He was about to turn back, when he heard something coming from the back of the building. He saw the window open, and walked up to it, climbing a little to peak out. That's when he smelled it.

"Fire!"

A fuse was set and when the fire reached whatever was inside the barrel, an explosion was set off. Toothless narrowly escaped in time, but the armory was on fire, being destroyed. Vikings ran to put it out as he looked on from the sidelines.

"The Armory! Grab some buckets!" Stoick yelled and Hiccup ran to help as well.

The Vikings all dumped bucket after bucket onto the building when Stoick noticed him. "Toothless?"

"It was him! He set the armory on fire!" a Viking claimed.

"What?!" It wasn't him. How could they think that?

He saw Hiccup walk up with two buckets full of water in her hands and she stopped stunned, dropping the buckets. "Toothless?"

"Hiccup",Toothless said as he went over to the stunned girl.

"Bud, what happened? You would never…"

"I didn't. Hiccup, it wasn't me."

Hiccup bent down speaking frantically. "Then who? Did you see anyone? Was it Mildew?" Toothless knew she'd been suspecting him ever since this whole thing started.

"No. I didn't see anyone. But I did hear someone."

000

Hiccup couldn't believe this. Now Toothless was being framed! And it was the worst crime yet. The fire was finally out, but the armory was destroyed. And without weapons, her village was defenseless. And the worst part was everyone thought it was Toothless who did it.

"Every one of our weapons. Gone!" Her father said with anger.

"Prudence!" Gobber shouted with anguish at a sword bent and charred beyond repair. "My poor darling. I'm so sorry. You should have had a long blood-letting life."

"She didn't have to die Gobber. Hiccup's dragon left us utterly defenseless!" Mildew said causing Vikings to start muttering.

"Dad, you know Toothless wouldn't do this! I know he didn't do this!" Hiccup objected trying to defend her brother.

"Sure, listen to your dragon daughter, Stoick. That's what got us into this mess!" Mildew said as he circled around her and her father. He stopped behind her and whispered, "See what happens when you leave your dragon to wait outside?"

"What… did you say?"

The old man didn't answer her, instead ignoring the question and walking away. Her father sighed and turned to her. "These dragons have done too much damage. It's no longer safe to have them on Berk. I want them gone."

"What?" Hiccup said with horror.

"Finally!" Mildew cheered.

"Round them up and take them all to Dragon Island", he continued, then faced the villagers and shouted out, "By the end of the day tomorrow, there will be no more dragons on Berk!"

A few Vikings were happy, but others, typically the ones who had dragons of their own, were either shocked or upset.

"Oh, what a glorious day that will be", Mildew said, happier than anyone else. "Party at my house!"

"Dad, you can't do this. Toothless…"

"Destroyed the armory and left us with no weapons. The dragons are banished from the island. End of story."

Her eyes narrowed with anger at her father as he turned to walk away. He wasn't listening. Again. Well two could play at the stubborn game. "Then I'm banished too!" she exclaimed. There were a series of gasps at her statement, and her father turned back looking to have had enough.

"You're not banished. I said dragons. Not half dragons. You. Stay. Here. He", he pointed to Toothless who was watching them all. "Goes."

He turned away again, the argument over. There was nothing more she could say or do.

"Don't forget girl, right after you drop off your dragon you'll be fixing my roof", Mildew sneered at her, before leaving.

It was only her and her friends now. "This is wrong", Hiccup said at last.

"I know. It's horrible! It's the worst day of my life", Astrid said.

"No, Astrid. Something here doesn't add up."

"All I know is I'm losing my dragon", Fishlegs said sadly walking away.

"For now, yeah. Okay but I-I just need time to fix this."

"What are you talking about? It's over", Snotlout stated walking away as well.

"Forget it, it's over", Ruffnut repeated, following.

"Yeah, forget it", Tuffnut also repeated.

Her friends, one by one, walked away, hope lost.

000

The following morning was the worst one of all the teens' lives. Hiccup started by relocating all the wild dragons on the island to Dragon Island, followed by the trained ones that roamed the village or were part of households. Seeing the children have to part with their beloved friend — she refused to say pet — was heartbreaking for her, especially when they cried and their parents had to hold them back, but Hiccup had to do what her father and chief told her to. For now. She promised the families it wouldn't be forever; that she wouldn't rest until the dragons were home.

By late morning, the only remaining dragons left on the island were Toothless and her friends' dragons. A ship came with them as they flew their dragons to Dragon Island for the last time that day. When they landed on the rocky beach, it was time to say goodbye.

Astrid took Stormfly's saddle off and hugged the side of her face. "I'm gonna miss you", she told her.

"I'll miss you too."

The twins hugged their own head first and then switched places hugging the other one in their own form of a goodbye. One with no words.

Aric only gently pet Shadowstar. "You'll be alright girl. It's gonna be okay." It wasn't exactly clear if he was talking to his dragon or himself.

Fishlegs was piling rocks for Meatlug, and once that was done he took her saddle off as well, talking to her on the verge of tears. "Okay Meatlug, there's plenty of rocks if you get hungry. And don't eat any lime stone. You know it doesn't agree with you." He then left her, and Meatlug was so distraught that she fainted.

"Be strong buddy", Snotlout said as he hugged Hookfang.

"You too, kid."

"I know you're gonna miss me."

A bird then came rushing by, stealing Hookfang's attention, and he ran after it momentarily forgetting Snotlout and the situation.

"Okay. He's crying! He's crying on the inside!"

Hiccup slowly removed Toothless' saddle, and once it was off, she stood from her kneeling position. "I'll be back for you. I promise", she said to him, and then began to walk away.

Toothless began to follow her. "Hiccup…"

"No, bud!" She turned around and raised her hand out to him. "You've gotta stay here and take care of the other dragons."

"I don't want you to go."

"It's gonna be okay, Toothless. Trust me."

Toothless stayed silent for a moment then he began to croon and coo 'love' and 'trust' to her. Then, he moved his head forward to meet her hand, just like their first day together in the cove. That's when Hiccup caved. She placed the saddle down kneeling to hug his head tightly, a small sob escaping.

After a few moments they finally broke apart, Hiccup wiping the few tears that escaped her eyes, and then she went to place the saddle under some rocks where it would be safe; a silent promise that she'd be back. Hiccup turned to walk away, and Toothless silently followed, but didn't have her turn back around. She slowly walked back to the ship, preparing to take the long journey home. Once she got onto the boat, they began to set sail, and the teens watched as the island slowly became smaller and smaller.

Aric came up to the mast Hiccup's hand was laying against, leaning on the other side, and she followed suit, leaning onto the mast like he did. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts but one always seemed to come back to her.

"You know there's something Mildew said that I can't stop thinking about. He-he said 'see what happens when you leave your dragon to wait outside'. He knew Toothless wasn't with me just before the armory fire.

"So…" Aric said, not quite knowing where she was going.

"So… so he lives on the other side of the island. What was he doing in town? And how would he know where we were before the fire?!"

"You really think he set that fire?"

"I think he did all of it. And I think he did it so my dad would get rid of all the dragons."

Aric leaned back onto the mast in thought. "That's a serious accusation. How are you gonna prove it?"

"I have to repair his roof this afternoon. When I do, I'm gonna do more than just fixing his house."

000

"Ah, the dragon girl has come at last", Mildew said with fake enthusiasm as Hiccup walked up to his house with the tools needed to repair his roof. She didn't even spare him a glance. Hiccup simply spread her wings and with a leap and a few good flaps was onto the roof and getting ready to do the job.

"You know when you offered yourself to be banished I must say I was hoping you'd stay with your precious dragon. That island's where you truly belong. A shame; ah, well, there's always next time."

Hiccup didn't answer, didn't even look up from her work. She knew the old man was just trying to get under her skin. Oh, it was working, but she didn't have to let him know that. The man finally left, and Hiccup was grateful. She didn't know how much more she could take. After a few minutes, and once Hiccup was sure Mildew wouldn't be back for a little while, she stopped hammering. She stood, spit out the nails she was holding in her mouth, and jumped down into Mildew's house.

She'd never been in the man's house before, and she could certainly say she was glad for it. The place wasn't exactly the most welcoming. It was dark, and most of the walls were barren spare some weapons, a mural of a man, she assumed must have been Mildew, defeating a Monstrous Nightmare, and four paintings of three ugly women and a sheep. She looked at them for a moment.

"Wife, wife, wife… hmmm…" She stopped at the sheep, which was no doubt Fungus. "Well Mildew defiantly has a type."

She shuddered, and then looked around some more stumbling onto a pot. She opened the lid wondering if Mildew would hide something in there, but regretted it when the smell entered her nostrils. It was a foul smell leaving her gagging as she quickly placed the lid back on. She wasn't sure what was in there, but knew for certain it wasn't what she was looking for.

She turned to see a curtain, and peeking out was a Zippleback foot. She moved the curtain away to find a small closet-like area with boots shaped to be like Zippleback feet.

"What the…?" She asked as she picked up the Zippleback shaped boot. Then she saw a staff with a claw attached. The claw was the same shape as a Monstrous Nightmare. Now, it made sense. The tracks were shallow because Mildew was the one who made them. There were claw marks in the Hall but there weren't any scorch marks or food missing because Mildew neglected those factors as well.

She suddenly heard footsteps and the click of a staff outside and she froze with fear of being caught for a moment. Then the door began to jiggle. Hiccup quickly placed the boots and staff back where they were and, just in the nick of time, she leaped up, flying back onto the roof.

"I'm home ladies!" Mildew called out to the portraits as he barged through the door. "Huh, what's that you say…? Nothing? Perfect."

Mildew then noticed the Zibbleback feet poking out from the curtain. He hummed in thought and Hiccup thought she might have been caught. She reared her head back away from the hole hoping that even if he looked up, he wouldn't see her watching. She couldn't let him know that she'd been snooping and that she knew he framed the dragons. If he did, there was no telling what he might do, or tell her father. He pulled the curtain back, as if expecting to find the perpetrator there, but when he didn't he shrugged it off, and Hiccup felt much better at the lack of suspicion now.

Mildew picked up the boots and staff, smiling. "Ah, these served us well didn't they Fungus."

His sheep baahed in response.

"Shame we have to get rid of them."

He started to move towards the door, and then to the cliff near his house. He stopped at the cliff and Hiccup watched as he threw the only evidence she had against him into the sea. At that moment she vowed she would find that evidence; it was either that, or she would have to somehow prove the dragons' innocence another way.

000

... So there you have it. Now all the dragons are banished, and it seems as if I'm the only one who cares enough to try and change that. But, you know what, there's an old Viking saying. When your friends are roasting on the spit you're the one who feels the fire. Mildew may have fooled everyone into thinking dragons are too wild to live in peace with us, but he's wrong. And no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, I'm going to prove it. I am going to prove what that retched man did. And I am going to make sure my brother comes home… one way or another.