The update you've all been waiting for! This chapter is where I start taking a few liberties in order to not fully copy the sequel, so if you notice anything different, please don't think I've neglected it. And the last scene is purely from my imagination, having nothing to do with any leaks given. Please read/review/enjoy/criticize. Please, please review!

Chapter 10

Valka stared at her son, wanting to hold him, to tell him that she loved him, but how could she as long as he looked at her like that? The hurt, disappointment, and loss in his face couldn't be described.

"Mom," he said again, almost painfully. "Where were you?"

Valka didn't know what to say. Maybe the truth would be the best thing, though she knew her son would explode in anger. "I was here. I was freeing dragons."

Hiccup nodded, strangely in the same way his dad did when he was angry. "So…" he sniffled and brushed away a few tears. "You leave me behind to help dragons when I clearly needed you more!" He started pacing around, angry. "For thirteen years? You leave me for thirteen years! Valka…I…I…"

"Hiccup…"

"Stop talking!" Hiccup shouted. He sniffled again. "I just...I…don't know how to react to this, I…" Belatedly, he realized that was still holding the shell. He stared at it, letting the memory return. He sat on a rock, keeping his eyes on the shell. He smiled. "You…you kept this?"

Valka nodded, loving her son's crooked smile. "I did. I always kept it."

Hiccup chuckled, fingering the shell. "I remember the day I found this. Dad came back from a search on Dragon Island. I was so excited to see him. What was I, three?"

Valka nodded and sat by her son. "Yes, you were three."

Hiccup laughed. "I was so excited to see Dad that I ran to him before the ship came by the dock, while he was still out at sea…"

"…and you forgot to stop. You fell into the water and gave me a heart attack," Valka finished.

Hiccup never stopped smiling. "All I remember was sinking, opening my eyes and seeing this at the bottom of the sea. I swam, well, as best as I could, and grabbed it. Then I was hoisted up by Dad. You tore me from his arms and hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. Then, I gave you the shell. What did I say exactly?"

"You said that you were sorry you scared me. You thought the shell was so pretty that you wanted to give it to me."

Hiccup softly caressed the ridged sides of the shell. He tried to hold back tears. "I had no idea that this meant that much to you."

Valka draped her arm across her son's shoulders, not knowing if she should. "It was from my son. Why wouldn't it be precious?"

Hiccup kept smiling, looked to who he knew now as his mother. He couldn't believe it. This was his mother! It was the joy of seeing her that somehow buried all the doubts, worries, and loneliness of his childhood.

Hiccup saw Valka in new eyes. She was his mom.

"Come here," he said, wrapping his arms around her.

Valka laughed, hugging her son just as tightly as when he almost drowned.

"Mom," Hiccup sputtered, "Mom, I can't breathe."

Valka laughed again. She released him from the embrace, grasped his face and kissed it. She then hugged his neck. "Oh, you're so big! You're so handsome!"

Hiccup hugged her again, ignoring the choking hold his mother gave.

Valka kissed his cheek again. She held his face and joyously cried, "I'm so proud of you! You trained a Night Fury!"

Hiccup laughed. "Well, at least I know where the talent came from now! You-you trained countless dragons! I've never seen even half of them!" He leapt up, unable to contain his excitement. "You-You…Ha ha! I can't believe this! Mom! You're…you…Can you show me?"

Valka was thrilled at her son's excitement, but was still troubled. "But your friends…they said that you had to go back to Berk as quickly as possible. Your dad…"

"I don't care!" Hiccup hugged her again. "I'm spending some time with my mother. Don't leave me again, and don't force me to leave you."

Valka hugged her son even tighter. "I won't Hiccup. I promise you I won't. Never again."

"I don't believe it!" Hiccup exclaimed. He laughed excitedly and looked to his mother in admiration.

Mom had taken him deeper into the cave, and what awaited them was the most amazing thing Hiccup had ever seen.

He kept rambling on. "There's so many dragons! They're all playing together and…did you train them to do that?"

"If you calm them I believe there's an inner playful child in every dragon."

Hiccup excitedly jumped up and down. "They're all happy, together…this space is so big! It's like a giant cave within a cave! And you have an opening so you can get light in…well, right now it's snow but these guys have internal heating systems. At least it stopped snowing."

Valka laughed. "I'm glad you like it."

"Like it? Mom, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!"

The only thing Hiccup neglected to notice was that all of his mother's dragons were staring at him with utter surprise and…mocking disbelief.

Valka knew it though. When her son stopped to breathe, she put her arm around him and announced, "He's my only young. And he likes dragons."

To Hiccup's amazement, the dragons smiled, like they understood what she said. What stunned him more was that it seemed his mom talked to the dragons like she would another human being. Was her connection that strong?

It seemed to be. Valka immediately knelt down to some Terrible Terrors and looked back to Hiccup with an evil gleam in her eye. She made her fist look like a jaw and pretended to bite them with it. Then she swung her arm around to Hiccup.

"What are you…?"

Every single Terrible Terror leapt past his mother and onto him.

"Oh no!" he cried. He fell to the floor. The Terrors all nipped at his chest and tummy. Hiccup tried not to laugh, but couldn't help it. It tickled. He chuckled as the dragons licked and bit him unmercifully. "Stop it!" he demanded, knowing that they wouldn't. "Stop it! Stop it!"

Suddenly, he felt another feeling that wasn't dragon teeth. Another thing, more nimble, was tickling him.

"Mom!"

She started laughing and continued her attack. Hiccup threw the dragons off of him, slapping at his mother's hands.

"You're still ticklish?" she asked. "Terrors! Get him!"

Toothless saw this fun from across the floor and bounded over. Overly excited, literally jumping up and down, he licked his rider's face and nipped at his chest.

Hiccup screamed. He was laughing too hard to tell them to stop. He kicked his legs and slapped away his mother's hands. She decided to stop after that and sat down not far away, but she still laughed. But Toothless still wasn't done.

He licked and bit his rider until he jumped up in annoyed rage. "Toothless, stop!" he demanded, though still smiling.

Toothless just laughed and flew away.

Hiccup turned to Valka. "I blame you for that."

She beamed. "Fine. I'll take it."

Hiccup laughed once more and sat by his mom, watching the dragons play. Toothless had found a rather annoying batch of little dragons Hiccup had never seen before. They leapt on top of him. Toothless roared in defense and tried to shake them off his body.

Hiccup laughed. "Yes, avenge me small dragons!"

As his mother laughed, Hiccup looked to her. He had accepted that she was his mother, but there were still so many unanswered questions.

"Mom?" he started, not knowing any other way.

"What is it?" her tone held some sadness. Both of them knew that the next conversation would not be an easy one to get through.

"Why…Why….Why-when did you know it was me? When you guys kidnapped me? When did you know I was your son?" Relief washed through Hiccup. He couldn't ask why she left. Not yet. They had too much fun together. They couldn't…he couldn't demand that of her now.

"I knew that you were my son when you were born. You made birthing hurt too."

"Mom," he slurred. "At least I see where I got my sense of humor from. But, when did you know it was me?"

"Well, let's see. Uh, I grabbed you, held the knife against your throat and said to be careful. Then Drago got you and…I guess I knew it when you spoke. Your face was lighted a bit by the moonlight, and when I looked at you I saw your dad with my hair."

Hiccup started and looked down to his body. "I don't look anything like Dad."

"You have his nose." She pinched it. "It's just like his."

Hiccup shook himself out of her grasp. "Well, that's comforting, a bit."

He and his mom let silence linger for a few moments.

Valka was about to talk, but Hiccup quickly said, "I like the stuffed dragon you made me!" He didn't want to get to the painful memory of her leaving him; at least not yet.

Valka eyed her son, suspicious. "Stuffed dragon?"

"Yeah, the one you made for me as a kid. Remember? I opened it, got really scared and threw it into the ocean? Dad told me that I wouldn't sleep for a week."

Valka gasped, as if the memory suddenly rekindled. "I remember, but how did you find it after you threw it into the ocean?"

"A fisherman fished it up. It eventually came back to me. I'm glad it did. I didn't have much to remember you by."

Valka sucked in her lips and breathed deeply. Tears threatened to escape, but she didn't let them. "I know. I know son. I'm sorry."

Hiccup didn't want to talk about this, but decided that this was the perfect way to ease into it. "You're sorry you left me?"

Valka nodded, blinking to hide her tears. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there. I'm sorry that you didn't have a mother when other kids did. Was it bad? Your childhood?"

Hiccup felt blank for a moment, wondering how he would answer that. For a moment, he was happy that she said she couldn't be there for him, not wouldn't. She didn't leave without an extremely good reason. To answer her question, he shrugged. "A few of the kids teased me or just left me alone. I was accident prone as a kid. I lit a building or two on fire by accident. Since I couldn't lift an axe or a sword or throw a bola people thought I was useless. Even told me so; Hiccup the Useless they called me. Toothless was my first friend."

Valka opened up her mouth to speak, but Hiccup kept talking.

"That's why I don't want to be chief. Dad's been pressuring me lately, but I don't want it. How can I serve people, lead them, when all they've done for most of my life was doubt me? They only trust me and look up to me because of Toothless. What happens if Toothless is gone? Only a chief with muscles and height can lead. I've got neither of those things. The only reason anyone wants me to be chief was because I tamed a Night Fury. They don't see anything else in me. But they still expect me to do it, because I'm the chief's son, as if I had any control of which family I was brought into! They expect me to be just like Dad, to be this big strong chief, but how can I when all they've ever done is hate me, doubt me, and tell me over and over again that I can't do it? Like I said, the one thing I've got to be worthy of the chieftain is Toothless, nothing else."

Valka listened to her son's speech, hating what he was saying. This wasn't her son. Hiccup's description of himself was wrong. The things Hiccup saw, she didn't see. She saw a handsome, brave, loving, compassionate, even-minded man; she had seen it during these last few days. Her son was not Hiccup the Useless. If she had been there, maybe she could've been a different voice, the voice that told Hiccup over and over again that he was worth something, able to lead and do whatever he wanted to do. But she wasn't there, and he never heard that voice in his early years.

His mother hugged him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be there."

"Why did you leave?" Hiccup asked, still in his mother's arms. He hated the words the minute they came out.

She let him go abruptly, afraid. She hated that question as much as he did. Unable to look into his eyes, she said, "I…Hiccup, I…your Dad didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Hiccup asked, the fear growing in his stomach.

"That…"

"No!" Hiccup shouted. "No! No, don't tell me. I don't want to know."

When he saw his mother's confused face, Hiccup knelt beside her and looked up into her eyes. "I forgive you for leaving me, no matter what the reason was. I just want to start over and put the last twenty years behind me. I want you to, too. Just forget about it. Just let us start over. Please. Please. I don't want to know why you left, just forget about it." The phrase I don't want to know why you left, was a blunt lie and Hiccup knew it. He wanted more than anything to know just why he didn't have a mom for thirteen years. He was just too scared. He was terrified of knowing, so he made that speech.

Whether or not his mom believed him, she didn't show it, she just nodded. "Okay. Let's put it all behind and move on."

Hiccup was beyond relieved she understood. Then, an idea hit him. It was such a great idea that he immediately smiled and imagined all the wonderful things that could happen, that would be fixed. Mom would be safe and they could all be together! In a wave of exhilaration, Hiccup said, "Come home with me. Come back to Berk."

Valka gasped and backed away. "What?"

Hiccup grabbed her hands. "Don't worry. It'll be great! You can come home with me, meet Dad and all of your old friends! You can come back for your dragons. Please Mom! Please come home!"

Valka breathed hard and shook, but Hiccup didn't notice. "Your Dad, I mean I left, why would he want to see me? Will he be happy to see me?"

"Of course he will!" Hiccup urged. "He's been so depressed since you left. We thought you died, he'll be thrilled to know you're still alive!"

Valka gaped. "You thought I died?"

"When you didn't come back that's what we thought. But, please Mom! Dad misses you! Come on, he even gave me your breast hat! He loves you and wants you back!"

Valka missed the last sentence. "He gave you my what?"

"Your breast hat." Hiccup replied. "Oh! No, that's just what I call it. He, uh, he converted your breast…uh, chest armor into hats."

There was a moment of complete, stunned silence. Then, Valka burst out laughing. She collapsed onto the ground and laughed even harder.

Hiccup nervously laughed with her. "Well, this obviously means that you're in a good mood, so will you come?"

Valka's attitude soured, even though she was still laughing. "Come back with you?" She stopped laughing and sat up. "Honey, I don't know, I…"

"Dad's been dying every day since we thought you died. He misses you more than I can say. Mom, come back. If not for Dad, then do it for me. Please."

Valka couldn't resist him. The pleading look in those adorable green eyes was too much for her to bear. "Alright Hiccup. Alright, let me find a dragon to ride and I'll go back with you."

Hiccup cheered, threw up his arms, and hugged his mom. "Oh thanks Mom! You won't regret this, I promise!"

Valka hugged her son back. She was afraid, but gods forbid that she show it. "Okay. Now, get into bed. We'll start once it's light out."

"Get to bed?" Hiccup asked, surprised. "Aw, can't I stay up for five more minutes?"

"No."

"Four more minutes?"

"No."

"Three more minutes?"

Valka laughed. "Go on. Hurry, or I'll spank you."

Hiccup mocked fear and raced away, treasuring the sound of his mother laughing behind him. "Toothless!" he called. "Are you ready to quit yet?"

Out of the darkness stomped a Night Fury on his hind legs. His expression proclaimed boredom as the small dragons clung to him, somehow using him as a rest stop. Each one was fast asleep.

Hiccup couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, you don't want to be a mommy?"

Toothless growled. I am not amused by this Hiccup the Dragon Trainer.

The only sympathy Toothless got from Hiccup was uncontrollable laughter.

Through his laughs, Hiccup called to Valka. "Mom! Mom, help me get these things off him."

Mom? Toothless cried. That's your mother? No wonder your scents smelled the same! Oh, I'm awesome!

Soon, all the small dragons were pulled off of Toothless and were resting with other sleeping dragons. And in fifteen minutes, Hiccup was curled up against Toothless, in the same position as when escaping the Green Death's explosion, and Toothless's wings draped over him. It only took a few seconds for Hiccup to fall fast asleep.

Valka smiled at this scene. Unable to stop herself, she knelt down to her son's partially showing head and kissed it. "I love you."

Toothless gurgled and smiled at Valka. When she stroked Toothless's snout, she asked, "Promise me that you'll take care of him, even when I'm not there."

Toothless smiled wider. Mother of Hiccup, I've never stopped.

It was noon when Stoick, Gobber, and Spitelout landed back on Berk. They had covered most of the area East of them and had concluded that Hiccup was nowhere in that direction. Besides, they needed to regroup and decide what to do about the strange discovery they made.

Spitelout collapsed off of Valor right after they landed. "I've never thought dragon riding could be so exhausting."

Valor grunted and smacked his rider with the soft side of his wing, lest he slice his rider in half. You think you're tire? I carried you.

Stoick and Gobber dismounted with little difficulty. While Spitelout retreated for ale, the two lead Valor, Thornado, and Belt Buckle to the stables a short distance away from the Dragon Academy. Some villagers conversed just a short distance away.

"We'll have to call a meeting in the Great Hall," Stoick murmured, stating the obvious to hide the disappointment of not finding Hiccup. "We'll eat, get reports from the teens, and then assemble everyone."

"Sure Stoick," Gobber said. "Don't worry. We'll find the lad."

Stoick sighed deeply. "What if something happened? What if he fell and he's hurt and can't ride Toothless? What if…"

"We'll find him," Gobber reassured.

Stoick smiled, thanked his friend, and exited the stables. He climbed back up to the house, wanting nothing more than to gulp down a heavy serving of beer and slouch in his chair. He knew this was unlikely. Five minutes later, a helpless villager was bound to come racing into his house demanding satisfaction to whatever problem they had. It was the duty of a chief. But for the sake of his headache he pleaded for five seconds of quiet as he sat in his chair.

One second later, a large bam hit the roof and fell behind the house.

Stoick growled, "I swear if it's kids who stole the catapults again…"

He leapt up and was ready to storm out of the house, but two voices he recognized stopped him.

They came from behind the house, muffled by the walls blocking them.

"I can't fly very well! This dragon is new to me! Stop laughing."

That voice was so painfully familiar, Stoick stepped back as if he'd been struck.

"Don't worry," said the new voice between laughs. "I'm sure this dragon likes you even if you crashed him into my house."

Stoick's heart jumped for joy. That was Hiccup. The second voice was Hiccup!

Forgetting the other voice and all caution, just relieved that his only child was alive and alright, he raced outside, almost tearing off the back door.

"Hiccup!" he cried joyfully. But the one standing next to Hiccup stole Stoick's attention.

It was her. Granted, she had changed a bit but it was her!

Words ran dry for Stoick. How…what could he say? The woman stood stalk still, apparently frozen in time by seeing him as well. Everything around them, save a bird chirping, was dead silent.

Hiccup waltzed his way between his parents, exchanging glances between the two of them. Awkwardly, being the only one not frozen, he cleared his throat and said, "Dad, this is Mom. Mom, this is Dad."

"We know," Mom said. She took a deep breath and rubbed her bare arms. "H-hello Stoick."

He curtly nodded. "Valhallarama." He rocked back and forth on his feet. "Have you lost weight?"

"Okay," Hiccup chided. "That was awkward for everyone, Dad. Uh, hey I know. Why don't you two go inside like long lost lovers…I just made this more awkward. Uh go inside and talk things over. Please." He ushered his parents inside, and to his surprise they didn't retaliate. "That's it. Have fun. Oh, I just made it worse!" He slowly backed out of the house. "I'm just going to leave, clear up a few things, let Astrid use me as a punching bag…yeah, I'm going now. Bye."

He slammed the door, leaving his parents alone in the house.

Stoick sighed, amused by his son's ranting. He didn't realize that he didn't even say hello to his son; he was so focused on his wife, but he supposed that it was only natural.

When he turned his head, he found her brushing her fingers across the furniture, like she was reliving their early years as a couple together. He couldn't deny her beauty, one of the reasons he fell in love with her.

Stoick awkwardly clapped his hands. "Well, I hope you like the place."

She smiled a bit. "Yes, all the old memories here. Is Hiccup gone?"

Stoick glanced outside. "Yes, he flew away on Toothless."

"Good. I didn't want him to see me do this."

She slapped him. Hard.

Stoick cried out in pain and looked to his wife. The timid, scared woman he had met moments ago had morphed into an angry beast. He briefly remembered her as the only one who could match him in temper.

"Val…"

"Stop talking Stoick!" she cried. "You don't have the right to talk to me!"

"Why are you so mad?"

Valka looked dumbfounded for a moment, then she started laughing. "Don't tell me you've forgotten. If I never forgot, then you certainly couldn't have!"

"I know you're upset…"

"Upset!" she yelled. "Upset is not a strong enough word, Stoick! I'm infuriated!"

"Why? Just tell me what's wrong!"

Valka brought her hands up to her hair. She pulled at the whitening strands, her anger seething out of her teeth. "You didn't tell him! You didn't tell him why I had to leave!"

Stoick gaped. "That's what this is about? That I couldn't tell my son the real reason why you left? I was trying to protect him!"

"Good! At least you had that much decency! Protect my son from the man who told me he never wanted to see me again!"

Boring legal stuff:

If by any chance there is anything in this story that is exactly like the movie, I only have the information given to us by the trailer and other information posted on Berksgrapevine. Any other similarities are by pure coincidence.