Acceptance

Author: Nightstar Fury from Nightstar Productions.

Rated: M for Mature.

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD.

Chapter 7: Planning.

Hiccup and Toothless were only a few hours from reaching the sanctuary, and Toothless was worried for his friend because since they left the cove on Berk, he'd barely said anything for the last 5 days of flying. "Hiccup?" Toothless asked now.

"What's up bud?" Hiccup said in response. Toothless could hear his tone, it was low and sad.

"Are you okay?" Toothless asked now, concern in his voice.

"I'm not sure...I can't get what Astrid said out of my mind..." Hiccup sighed now.

"I assumed as much. Are you worried about her?" Toothless asked softly.

"I thought...she would of gotten over me by now. Its been 3 years...I wonder if she always goes there or if that night was different because of us flying over." Hiccup wondered now.

"You should of at least showed her you were okay..." Toothless insisted looking forward.

"I couldn't bud. Any sign at all, she never would of been able to hide it. She would of...gotten all excited and happy to see me, she'd try and convince me to come back, or beg me to take her with us...No...just no. Even if I showed her I was okay...She'd be in the village all excited after being upset this long, people would of questioned my dad would be searching again...It's better to keep my distance like before...its for the best." Hiccup looked down closing his eyes now.

"What are we going to do about your dad? And the nest situation..." Toothless asked him curiously.

"I don't know. I'll talk to mom about it...I don't know if there is anything we can do without being seen..." Hiccup shrugged.

"So you're just going to let him find the nest? Hiccup you saw that dragon, they will never be able to take her on..." Toothless stated firmly.

"I know bud...We've got a month, I'll figure something out." Hiccup replied softly.

"The last time you said that, I ended up in the kill ring saving you from a Monstrous Nightmare and we left Berk forever." Toothless chuckled.

"Hahaha Toothless...Not funny. I would of been just fine if my dad hadn't slammed his hammer down and made it mad." Hiccup groaned sarcastically.

"So that's what happened...You never told me." Toothless stated.

"And you never told me how you came to be in the ring that day." Hiccup pointed out.

"I'll tell you if you tell me?" Toothless chuckled.

"Fair enough. That day I was wearing the helmet dad gave me, saying it was half my mother's breast plate armor...I had a shield and a dagger in the ring. They let the Nightmare loose and it saw me, it moved towards me slowly as I backed up dropping the shield and the dagger down. I put my hands up slowly to show I meant no harm, it growled at me. I told it that it was okay. Finally I took off my helmet and looked at my dad, I had almost whispered an apology to him because I knew what this was going to do. My secret finally out. I looked at the Nightmare and threw my helmet across the ring. The Nightmare stopped growing as I had my hand out to him, like I did with you that day...I said, 'I'm not one of them'. My father had said to stop the fight and I yelled back 'No, you have to see this. They aren't what we think they are...We don't have to kill them.' The Nightmare was calm and sniffing my hand. The crowd gasped and my dad slammed his hammer down on the metal ring, saying again I said stop the fight. It made the Nightmare mad, it snapped at me. I pulled my hand back and yelled out when it shot its fire blast at me." Hiccup closed his eyes again.

"That's when I knew you were in trouble. I heard you yell from the cove. I clawed my way out and ran towards the sound of the yelling." Toothless stated quickly.

"You heard me, from that far away? Well Astrid came in to the ring to help me. My father raised the gate himself and pulled Astrid out, the Nightmare blasted and made me have to run the other away. It pinned me and that's when you showed up." Hiccup said.

"Yeah I heard you yell, I found a way out of the cove and ran towards the sound of your voice. I didn't even have to look, I knew you were in trouble. I jumped, blasted the ring and flew in. You know the rest about fighting the Nightmare off and what not." Toothless said as they were approaching the sanctuary and flew inside.

"Mom! We're back!" Hiccup yelled out. Valka came running and hugged him tightly.

"Thank Thor son, I was getting ready to leave and find you...What happened? I expected you back days ago." Valka said quickly and with a deep concern in her tone.

"I'm okay...There were some complications." Hiccup shrugged a bit with a smile.

"Come, tell me." Valka insisted as they sat down inside the small home had, it was expanded now to house Toothless and Hiccup there. They had their own little room and work area. There was a room for Valka and Cloud Jumper, then a larger room, being the main with a spot to over see the sanctuary and make sure the dragons were okay.

"Well it took us a week to get there, then as we neared Berk, they were in the middle of a raid which made it hard to fly over without being seen. Thankfully, the adjustments I made to Toothless's tail enabled him to fly faster with I put it the right position. We flew over in seconds, someone had spotted Toothless but I don't think anyone assumed it was us being Toothless's tail is different than the last time they saw him and I was wearing all black, bending down and leaning forward to give Toothless more speed. An hour later, we arrived at the nest. Its terrible mom. So many dragons are under that things control, she is huge. We got away obviously...Toothless was tired so we had to set down for the day...and of course the only place we could was..." Hiccup looked at her now.

"On Berk...I should of come with you." Valka sighed sadly.

"It's okay. No one saw us, we hid in the cove, there was a dark cave there where we ate and rested until nightfall. Just as we were about to leave, Astrid showed up. She was just sitting there, her back to us and couldn't see us...She was looking at the sky, crying softly. She just talked and talked as if she wanted to talk to me. It took everything I had not to comfort her mom...And...we waited until she left...but I got a lot of information from her that I wish I hadn't..." Hiccup looked down now.

"Tell me son." Valka said softly.

"Well...It started with her saying she wished I was there...that nothing was the same anymore. Dad barely came out of the house after I left. Then she said something I didn't expect...She said that after two months of being gone, dad...searched for me. He searched for 3 years, getting some hints that I'd been through other villagers, but was always gone by morning...Astrid said he assumed I was dead, and stopped the searches because he never wanted to see me like that..." Hiccup closed his eyes remembering how sad Astrid sounded.

"What else, Hiccup?" Valka said to him.

"She said the only fire she sees in him is during the dragon raids...But something strange happened that night, that after 3 years, they saw a Night Fury. They hadn't seen one since I left. She said she wished it had been me to stop the raid...or let them know I was okay or something at least. She said she could feel I wasn't dead..." Hiccup looked down sadly. "That hurt to hear..." Hiccup added in.

"I can imagine son. Did she say anything else?" Valka asked.

"Yeah, and it is what worries me most. She said that dad was getting ready to sail again, to find the nest and destroy it." Hiccup looked over at her, worry in his green eyes.

"T–the nest Toothless talked about? W–why would he go there! Doesn't he know how dangerous it is?!" Valka exclaimed.

"No he doesn't. I didn't even know until Toothless and I left Berk, and he told me about it. Dad has sailed towards it before but never make it there because the dragons fight them off. Toothless said he has seen dad's ships before...Astrid said dad was sailing in a month..." Hiccup closed his eyes now sadly.

"Was there anything else?" Valka asked him, concern lacing her tone more than before.

"Yeah. Dad is planning to sail with all of Berk's ships, and she wished I was there so that maybe I could stop him. She started to cry again saying she missed me, and wished I never left, or at least had taken her with me. She told me that she used what I taught her, and trained a Nadder, she calls it Stormfly and sits with her in secret. She showed dad how I trained Toothless, how I gained his trust, how I discovered they weren't dangerous and could end the war so there would be peace..." Hiccup kept his head down.

"What else son? I know there is more...it's in your eyes." Valka said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"She confirmed my fears about returning...My father said he wouldn't rest until he found and brought me home, and killed Toothless. She said that my father thinks Toothless brainwashed me and killing him was the only way to fix me...She and Gobber tried to convince him not to. But she said I know how my father is. Gobber was right, when I don't want to be found, I won't be..." Hiccup laughed a bit at that. "As she was leaving she said she just wanted to see me again, just once to know I'm okay. And would give anything to have that chance. She said she loved me...and then she left." Hiccup buried his face in his hands. "What do we do, what do I do, mom..." Hiccup said beginning to get worked.

"We have to go back. We can't let your dad go to the nest, we have to divert his ships, or make sure they can't leave Berk...They'll be killed if we don't." Valka said now.

"Mom I nearly got spotted, everything I avoided for 3 years was almost gone in that single second when I flew over..." Hiccup said getting up now and beginning to pace back and forth.

"Hiccup. Hiccup, look at me." Valka said standing in front of him with her hands on his shoulders to stop him.

"What?..." Hiccup asked with worry. Of course he didn't want to go back and risk being seen. What would he even do. Everyone but Astrid thought he was dead. They'd never let him leave if he showed up again, and his mom said they which meant she would go too. Hiccup for once in his life was truly scared about this situation. Valka cupped his cheek softly now and gave a soft smile.

"Hiccup. I know how you feel about it. Believe me, I do. I've feared the same for many years and I told myself I would never go back unless I absolutely had no choice. So far, I haven't. But...now I do, we do son. You know if we don't do something, everyone we care about is going to be dead..." Valka told him gently, she had tears in her eyes. Hiccup stared at her, she was right. As mad as he was at his father for everything he'd put him through those 15 years, he couldn't ignore this. He couldn't run this time.

"What do we do..." Hiccup asked her now.

"We have 3 weeks until he said he'd sail. It will take us a week to get there..." Valka began to think now. "How long did it take you to reach the nest after flying over Berk?" She asked him.

"About an hour." Hiccup replied.

"If I had to guess on that...Your father will reach the nest in a few hours by boat. That leaves us very little options for cover." Valka stated.

"Maybe not...The nest is inside of volcano mom, it's active but not enough to blow...The area is very foggy and ashy. It could be just enough..." Hiccup pointed out to her.

"It could work son...But you do know that we have to prepare for anything. The chance of being seen...is very high even with cover. With Toothless especially since he is one of the only Night Fury known about. They will recognize his sound, he's the only dragon who can create that whistling sound because of his speed." Valka stated.

"I know the chance of being seen. We know we're the only dragon riders around right now, they don't. We'll wear our armor, they won't recognize us. I've changed since 3 years...I'm taller, and Toothless, his whole set up is different from then. His tail blends in with the rest of him. They won't know it's a fake tail..." Hiccup said.

"Another thing to consider...What if we can't stop the ships from reaching the island?" Valka asked him.

"Then we fight her, the queen." Hiccup said firmly.

"We can't. Everything you've told me, we stand as little chance as they do." Valka said quickly.

"Toothless and I can...He's faster, he can out fly her and he's immune to her control..." Hiccup replied, a serious look in his eyes.

"Hiccup no. I don't care how immune Toothless is...I won't let you fight that dragon...I'm not losing my son." Valka said firmly.

"You won't lose me. And I said it was an if. We may must be able to divert the boats away to buy us more time..." Hiccup retorted softly.

"Very well son. It will take us a week to get there. We'll spend this week preparing. If we time it right, we can get there before them." Valka said to him. Hiccup nodded. They both spent that week getting ready. Packing for the trip, getting weapons, and getting their minds cleared for it. As soon as they were ready, they mounted up and set off back to Berk.

(Berk)

Astrid had taught herself to fly Stormfly, they flew at night when they couldn't be seen. It was the only way she felt even a little happy again was to fly. It reminded her of when she flew with Hiccup that night. Stoick spent two weeks preparing the ships for the journey, no one was looking forward to this because to them it ended the same way with them coming back hurt and with less boats than when they left. Astrid was out flying tonight, they were going farther than usual and ended up near the nest by accident. She saw the other dragons flying in and she followed them, she saw the queen. "Thor Almighty...Come on girl. We need to warn Stoick..." Astrid told her, Stormfly squawked and they were headed back to Berk, she landed only to find that the ships which had been docked were gone. She raced to find her friends and landed beside them on Stormfly.

"Astrid! What are you...doing?" Fishlegs asked seeing her on the dragon.

"What does it look like? She's riding a dragon." Tuffnut remarked.

"Where are all the boats!" Astrid asked right away.

"Gone. Stoick left early because of the winds being so good...Why? What's wrong?" Fishlegs asked her.

"I found the nest...And trust me...There is a reason those dragons raid us...To feed their queen, and get eaten if they don't. Stoick and the others are in trouble..." Astrid panted now.

"What can we do! We'll never reach them in time..." Ruffnut said now.

"Dragons. We can make it on dragons." Astrid said.

"You want us...to ride dragons? We don't know how to do that..." Snotlout said now.

"I do...Hiccup taught me and I can teach you. Follow me to the ring...There's other dragons there you can ride...Come on, we don't have time for this. Trust me!" Astrid pleaded them. "All of our parents are on those boats!" Astrid yelled.

"She's right! Let's go!" Snotlout said. Astrid smiled now as she led them to the ring. Once there Astrid showed them what they had to know, how to gain their trust and ride them. It was the quickest lesson ever but as soon as everyone understood the jist of it, they all headed towards the nest. No one knew what to expect but they would all soon find out.