Days went by and life continued. Toothless went on with his duties as usual. However, he couldn't help but spot others giving suspicious looks at him more and more. The Night Fury knew it was because his scent that had gotten stronger in a past few days and Cloudjumper's scent couldn't hide it all. He tried to relax but sometimes couldn't help but be nervous.
Toothless hadn't thought about telling any other dragons in the pack yet. He just didn't know how and should he told them at all in the first place. He had no experience about this. If he wasn't an Alpha he wouldn't be concerned about this matter. But now he was, and he wasn't sure how much of his personal life should be made public. Well, if this pregnancy was still his personal life.
The Night Fury groaned in nervousness while he made a tight turn around the coastline. Now he and Hiccup were patrolling Berk, even with his mind at the other matters.
"Are you okay bud?"
Hiccup asked him and Toothless just cooed. The young chief already had his responsibility to his people. His concern shouldn't be Hiccup's.
They made the final turn and the village appeared into their sight. Many dragons were less active in these past few days. Most of them spent their time with eating and sleeping, especially the females. Toothless knew they're preparing for their journey to the Hot Spring Island. Even he who was now a temporary female also felt the need to just eat and sleep all day too.
Stormfly and Astrid greeted them when they reached the village. The blond had just finished her light exercises with Stormfly. The blue Deadly Nadder looked slightly like she had gained weight. Astrid was wondering how many eggs Stormfly would lay this time.
Toothless landed softly and watched Hiccup slide down from his back to greet Astrid with a kiss. He then turned to talk to Stormfly.
"How is your day?"
"Very good" Stormfly replied with glittering eyes. "Can't wait to go to Hot Spring, though. I hope my mate would be able to get me that same spot as the last time again. It's a perfect place to sunbathe at the dawn and on the less windy side of the island. By the way, did your scent change? I might be wrong but I think your scent is like…"
"A female, I know." Toothless blurred out before he could stop himself. Stormfly looked shocked and he knew there was no way of taking it back. The Night Fury took a deep breath and decided that if he wanted someone more than Cloudjumper to know about this pregnancy, it would be Stormfly. "I… I mated with Cloudjumper."
"Well, that's expectable. And I'm not against cross-breed or same sex mating. So you have nothing to fear." Stormfly replied after she recovered from the news Toothless just told her. "But that does not explain why you have female scent."
"I just learnt that my kind has an ability to change their gender in case there is only the same gender around. This is both a gift and a curse." Toothless sighed, so relieved that Stormfly accepted him. "And I'm still a temporary female because, well, I'm pregnant."
"Oh," Stormfly's eyes widened. And she nearly shouted with joy "That's amazing! I can't wait to see your children. Will they be hybrids or little Night Furies? I wonder what their scales would be like. Oh, this is wonderful! Should I go tell others?"
"No!" Toothless groaned "Not yet. I want to tell them myself. And I'm not sure with the pack's reaction though. I know you guys will support me but some dragons here believed that only the absolute dominant dragons can be the Alpha. And they also conclude the mating in their 'Absolute Dominance Standard'."
"Don't worry about them." Stormfly shook her head. Her voice was a bit harder when she continued. "I promise I will tear their tongues out if they dare to question you. We will always support you Toothless, no matter what."
"Thank you" Toothless nodded. He knew Stormfly always took her promise seriously. "This means a lot to me."
"Don't mention it." Stormfly smiled. "It's what friends do."
"I still have to thank you." Toothless replied. "I think I will go talk with Meatlug, then Hookfang, Barf and Belch. Guess it's time to tell them. Maybe Skullcrusher and Grump too."
"Want company?" Stormfly offered kindly, "I'm free until dinner. And it seems that our riders will still be talking with each other when we come back."
"That would be great." Toothless nodded and together they made their way to Fishlegs' house.
Meatlug was chilling in front of the door when they arrived. The Gronckle was surprised to know Toothless was pregnant. She was so excited like Stormfly. And as same as the blue Deadly Nadder, the gentle Gronckle promised she would support Toothless in every way possible.
Hookfang surprised them when Toothless and Stormfly told him the news. The Monstrous Nightmare had been suspecting that Toothless was a female and pregnant for a few days, but he just didn't know how and why. And Hookfang, unlike his rider, was more calm and preferred to keep things to himself. That's why he hadn't voice any of his suspicion to anyone, making Toothless glad for it.
And the Monstrous Nightmare, like Meatlug and Stormfly, also gave a promise to support him in every situations. And Toothless made his journey to Barf and Belch's house with relief.
Barf and Belch were easier to deal with than they had thought. The two-headed dragon knew when they had to be serious. And even with them being one of the most uncaring dragon on Berk, they both promised they would stand on Toothless' side no matter what.
Skullcrusher was another story. Of course they weren't against Toothless with his choice of mating. But Skullcrusher, liked Stoick, was a protective type. Not romance-protective but fatherly protective. The Rumblehorn was determinate to 'have a talk' -which probably would contain a head-butt- with Cloudjumper about this but he would still support Toothless nonetheless.
And Grump, a lazy dragon he was - but a protective type nonetheless - also promised to support him. The Hotburple also promised to give Cloudjumper a lecture for knocking Toothless up. Toothless thought he would fall asleep before finishing the lecture though, but he said nothing.
"Like I said, we all will support you." Stormfly said after they got back to her house. And Astrid just finished her conversation with Hiccup. "There is no need to worry now."
"I agree." The Night Fury smiled and gave his friend a happy coo. "By the way, when will you leave for the Hot Springs Island?"
"I'm not sure," The Deadly Nadder replied "might be in the middle of winter or before that. You will know when the times come. You will feel that the urge to travel there gets stronger. And when it's at its peak, your wings will move automatically. I still feel bad about last time, leaving Astrid without telling her anything."
"I don't feel an urge as you say." Toothless said and that made Stormfly squeaked in surprised.
"You don't?" She asked, confusing. "I feel it 2 days after mating. Well, maybe it might not starts at the same time for every dragons."
"I guess so."
Toothless smiled and they made their way to the Meade Hall with their riders. The Night Fury wondered if Cloudjumper was back yet. The Stormcutter had gone out with Valka this morning, checking dragons on other islands.
The Night Fury didn't know that it's his imagination or not. But Cloudjumper seemed to be more protective than usual. But Toothless had nothing against that, as long as Cloudjumper didn't do something too obvious about their relationship. He still wasn't comfortable with telling the public about their relationship.
It appeared that Cloudjumper wasn't back from the patrolling yet. So Toothless sat with Stormfly and Hookfang. They ate in silence and Toothless felt at peace. He still felt suspicious glares on him but that could be dealt with later. Right now he was thinking about Cloudjumper and waited for him to return.
Toothless was eating his last fish when he smelled Cloudjumper. The Night Fury perked up and smiled when he saw Cloudjumper and Valka walked into the hall. Toothless felt like getting up and went to greet his mate but he told himself it's not time to make it obvious, not yet.
The Stormcutter made his way through the hall with Valka. He was as calm and collected as ever. Toothless saw how other dragons looked at Cloudjumper with respect. And he knew the older dragon deserved it.
"How is your day?"
Cloudjumper asked when he finally reached Toothless. The Night Fury was laying alone at the corner near the feeder. Stormfly and Hookfang had gone to their mates not so long ago. At first they're reluctant to leave Toothless alone but the Night Fury assured them that he would be fine.
"Nothing special," Toothless answered, feeling happy that Hookfang and Stormfly left to go see their mates so he could have sometimes alone too. The Night Fury looked at Cloudjumper and felt an urge to cuddle but restrained himself from doing so "how is yours?"
"Nothing special either," the older dragon replied before he went to the feeder and came back with tons of fish "most of them are preparing to leave for the Hot Spring Island after first month of winter."
"Should I go with them?" Toothless asked nervously. He did not have an urge to go there but he didn't know if he should be there. "And Stormfly has told me about an urge to leave for the Hot Springs Island but I don't feel any. Is it normal for a Night Fury to not feel it?"
"It's normal." Cloudjumper replied, chuckled a little bit. "Not every type of dragons need warm weather to hatch the egg. For example, us."
"Us?"
"Yes," Cloudjumper nodded before he explained softly, "Stormcutter's eggs need windy and a little cold. The metabolism of the eggs are very high, so the eggs will be very hot compare to others. And if they're not present with some wind or cold, the heat from metabolism itself will slow the growth of the youngling inside. Winter's wind with no snow was perfect for them, so our nests are all build on cliffs that have roof to shelter us from snow but let the wind passes easily."
"And for Night Fury," the larger dragon continued "their eggs are hot too, but not as hot as ours. They don't need wind but still need cool weather. I've saw they build their nests deep in caves along the wall of the valley."
"Oh, I see." Toothless nodded. They stayed silent for minutes, enjoyed each other's company. Toothless thought about what he had just known again and again before another question stuck him.
"Cloudjumper"
"Hm?"
"What about our… um... eggs?" Toothless asked shyly. He saw his mate's golden eyes widened at the question and quickly continued before he would be too embarrassed to ask. "Which weather will they need? Cold and windy or just cold?"
Cloudjumper was silent for a while. He seemed to be deep in thought. Toothless waited for the answer patiently.
"To be honest, I do not know." The Stormcutter finally answered. "But I'm sure we will find out. Stormcutter eggs can survive without wind, it will just delay the hatching time. No need to worry."
"Okay, and um…." Toothless nodded and gulped, remembered he had to tell Cloudjumper about his decision. "Cloudjumper, I have told some of dragons I… I'm pregnant and you're my mate."
That caught the larger dragon off guard. Cloudjumper turned to look at him and blink. But he said nothing and that worried Toothless.
"I'm sorry I haven't asked you first." Toothless quickly continued, afraid that Cloudjumper might be angry. "I just, I don't know. Stormfly said something about my scent changing and I blurred out."
"Who have you told?"
Cloudjumper asked calmly, no anger in his voice. And that made Toothless felt a little bit better.
"Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Grump, Skullcrusher, Barf and Belch." He answered and watched Cloudjumper for any signs of anger. "I'm so sorry I haven't asked if you okay with this."
"It's okay Toothless. I'm not upset or anything." Cloudjumper replied softly and with a smile. "I trust you and your friends. They're good and I know they will support you in everything."
"They will support you too." Toothless corrected the word with a smile. Relief washed over his mind. "But Skullcrusher and Grump might want to have some talks with you. They acted like protective fathers more and more."
"Hmm, I can handle them." Cloudjumper chuckled. "BY the way, I have something to tell you too and I'm sorry I haven't told you before. Sandstorm knows we have mated. I told him after he noticed the scent changing."
"It's okay." Toothless smiled. "I know he can be trusted."
"Thank you," Cloudjumper replied and nuzzled him, an action that made Toothless purring like a cat.
"Keep going and you will forget about your dinner." Toothless chuckled. "Go and eat, you need food after your patrolling."
"As you wish."
Cloudjumper cooed and continued his meal. His mocking saluting voice had Toothless giggled a little.
"Good."
Toothless sunk himself down at Cloudjumper's side, enjoying the closeness between them. Cloudjumper hummed in his throat and continued eating. They didn't say anything after that. Sometimes just a physical contact was enough for dragons.
Toothless watched other in the hall and stayed laying down like that. He dozed off a bit and woke up when Cloudjumper had finished his meal and rearranged his wings so Toothless could lean on him comfortably. The Stormcutter observed the hall while Toothless finally decided to take a nap. And that's all they did while waiting for Valka and Hiccup to go home.
However, the peaceful life on Berk didn't last long.
Toothless was helping Hiccup and the villagers with the enlarging of the wood stack when they heard quickly flipping wings and an urgent shout.
"Hiccup! You've got to see this!"
It's Astrid with Stormfly, followed by the twins with their dragon. Toothless remembered today was their shift to patrol the boarder of his territory, to see it the trader ships would come here or if there're enemy ships coming. Hiccup in the past wouldn't think that anyone would want to harm Berk, but after Drago he changed. Of course Hiccup didn't focus on war but he still had the patrol schedule out to make sure Drago would not take them by surprise.
"What?"
Hiccup and Toothless looked at her. Astrid looked very serious.
"There're ships coming." The blond said. "And they're not friendly."
"Are them Drago's ships?"
"No," she shook her head. "They're the Berserkers'. I remember their flag."
"This is not good." Hiccup said and Toothless growled at the name. He still remembered Dagur and his evil plans. The Night Fury had sworn he would tear Dagur's body apart if he dares to show up again. And this seemed to be his chance to do so. "Go get the others, I will tell Gobber and my mother."
Toothless made his way to the blacksmith after Hiccup finished. If Valka wasn't out patrolling, she would be at Gobber's blacksmith or the dragon academy, helping the villagers with their dragons. Cloudjumper was there too, and the older dragon could tell something was wrong the minute Toothless appeared.
"What happened?" the second in command asked and got up while Hiccup went to talk to Gobber and Valka. His eyes showed concern.
"Astrid and Stormfly spotted enemy ships." Toothless replied. "Years ago there was an arrogant evil human tribe's leader, called Dagur. He tried so many times to destroy us, both dragons and Berk. We fought him, he lost, and now he is back."
"An enemy" Cloudjumper growled. "I guess we're going to go scouting them then."
"Yes," Toothless nodded "I don't like this at all. Everything is going well and then there is these crazy bloodthirsty humans come. The last time they struck was the worse, they nearly killed Hiccup."
"Don't worry, Berk is better defended than before." Cloudjumper nuzzled his forehead. "Nothing bad is going to happen."
"I hope so."
Toothless nodded and saw Hiccup returned with Valka. Gobber and Gustav who was now Gobber's apprentice watched them left with worries in their eyes. And Cloudjumper gave Toothless one last nuzzle before they took off to meet others in the sky.
At first Toothless was afraid that they would not find those ships. But his fear was washed away when finally they saw them. The Night Fury counted with interest. There were around twenty ships with various types. Most of them were assault ships with dangerous weapons well equipped. He also saw dragons on the ship and in chains. It seemed that the Berserker also enslaved dragons to work for them and it made Toothless growl.
"Disgusting," he heard himself saying "enslaving dragons again? The world is changing for the worst."
"We still can make it better." Cloudjumper who was flying on his left replied back, calmly and collectively. "I hope our riders will cook up a plan to free them soon."
Cloudjumper was right. They followed the fleet of ships until it anchored near a small island unoccupied by dragons. They watched the Berserker made camp and light the fire. It seemed that the fleet had chosen to stay here just one night.
Toothless' group landed softly and quietly at the other side of the island. Cloudjumper and Stormfly landed beside him. Skullcrusher made a little grunt at the Stormcutter, he still hadn't had a talk with Cloudjumper yet but the Rumblehorn knew this was not the time. Around them, the riders slid off their back and gathered.
They decided to approach the camp stealthy and cautiously. Valka, being the most experienced from years of rescuing dragons, led the way. Cloudjumper flew quietly above them like what he always did when Valka went to rescue any dragons. Behind her were Eret and Hiccup. As a former dragon trapper, Eret was very skilful. He was not as good as Valka but he was better than most of the group's members nonetheless. And right now he wasn't so nervous or annoyed, because Astrid took pity on him and told the twins to stay at Berk, preparing backup weapons and leaving poor Fishlegs to make sure they didn't try their weapons on anything.
The camp came into their eyesight when they went closer. There were Berserkers walking around and talking. Most of them were relaxed enough and the patrolling was not so heavy. It looked like none of them thought this island would have any threats.
"They didn't let the dragon out of the ship." Astrid noted when they got closer and closer. "It seems like they have not established strong bonds yet."
"I know which ships are for carrying dragons." Eret said, moved a bit to get a better look. The sun was setting and it's good for them. Darkness would provide them great covers. "If you want to free them, waiting until the sun had set would be great."
"I haven't seen Dagur, just his men." Hiccup whispered. He was still looking for Dagur. "I'm sure he will make his appearance on the beach soon. His men are setting up a camp. And that large tent might be for him."
So they wait and Toothless stayed near the humans. He saw Cloudjumper flew high above them, looked like a large bird far away from the ground. Beside him Stormfly settled down with Hookfang. Skullcrusher kept watch and was ready to alert them.
The Night Fury moved back a bit so he was sitting side by side with the Rumblehorn. He had something he wanted to know and he knew Skullcrusher could find him an answer.
"How many dragons do they have?" he asked. "Can you smell the dragons that might be locked in the ships? How many kinds?"
"A lot," the Rumblehorn who had the greatest sense of smell in the team answer "mostly are Deadly Nadders and Snufflefangs. But there is a dangerous one here. A Skrill."
"That's bad."
Toothless growled low and it caught Hiccup's attention.
"What is it bud?"
He asked and Toothless gestured toward the Berserker's flag. They still used the Skrill as the symbol. Hiccup seemed to not fully understand, but Dagur chose that moment to appear from his ship with his minions following and listening to his boastful blabbing.
The arrogant boy had grown. He was taller, thicker and uglier. Toothless didn't know who suggest him to grow a beard and how he got a scar on his left cheek. Dagur was walking with confidence like what he had remembered. But now he looked even more intimidating than in the past.
And what surprised them most was a Skrill, a grey-dark blue Skrill proceeded down the ship to the beach after Dagur.
