(A/N) Welcome back to the final chapter of this side adventure. This is the longest chapter of this story so far and I hope you enjoy it.

Guest Reviews

Guest: No problem and I will definitely continue. I'm having too much fun with this to quit.

PlaidOtaku: It was easy to miss so np. Actually you questioning it made me think about it more. As a result I now have another idea for a chapter that I'm exited for. As for Hiccup and Alvin, if I separate the two you'll definitely know.

Have fun reading everyone :)

Chapter 10

It didn't take long for the Berkians to unload their supplies and follow Hiccup to the grave yard on the other side of the island. At first the group had resisted leaving the ship unguarded, But Hiccup had assured them the dragons would pay it no attention.

"Why did you make us anchor so far away?" Astrid asked as she dragged some of their camping supplies behind her on a sled. Not that she minded the physical work she was being forced to do.

"Because there's too many rocks the around the North side of the island. You wouldn't far before being dashed to pieces. Then what would you do? Being shipwrecked at the Nest isn't the way I think you guys want this to go. And I'm not ferrying you all back to Berk on Toothless." Hiccup replied.

"How long do ya think we'll be here before tha dragon shows up?" Gobber asked as Phil tried for the 16th time to hide under his master's legs. Gobber kicked him away so it wouldn't trip him up. The sheep really wasn't liking it here.

"Depends, a day, a week, a month. Who knows. And that's if the dragon even exists."

"The Boneknapper exists!" Gobber persisted. "And he wont leave me alone."

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." Hiccup replied."

Snotlout glanced to the sky and noticed that in the waning daylight dragons had started to congregate in the skies above them. "W-what's going on up there?" He asked.

Hiccup took a glance upwards, "Looks like they're getting ready to raid. It's a shame I can't join them really, I could use some more metal.

'Oh how the mighty have fallen.' Gobber thought to himself. Just a few months ago this boy had been part of the richest family on Berk, was heir to the Chiefdom and had been able to use anything in the forge to his hearts content. Sure, Hiccup wasn't the happiest, but he had been provided for. Now he was being reduced to thievery.

More and more dragons started to fill the air and the tension throughout the group rose.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Astrid asked. "Last time we were here not even Toothless could withstand the Queen's calls."

"Relax Astrid, it wouldn't be much of a raid if you were raiding your own shores. Were perfectly safe-"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

"PHIL!" Gobber called out as a dragon swooped down and grabbed the sheep.

"Oh, safe like Phil?" Snotlout asked.

"What can I say, dragons are dragons. They're forced to obey the call of the Queen and the Queen is saying bring her food. In all my time here I've never actually seen a human delivered to her so we should be fine. Dragon's themselves actually despise red meat. They prefer fish. I'm sorry about Phil, Gobber." Hiccup said as he put a hand on the blacksmith's shoulder. "But in all honesty, was bringing a sheep on a dragon hunt really a good idea?"

Gobber didn't even look up to his former apprentice, "I guess not."

They continued on for a while until they rounded a cliff face, only to be met with the sight of thousands of gleaming white bones in front of them.

"Welcome to the dragon graveyard." Hiccup called out. "Smells lovely, peace and quiet, lots of quiet company… What else could you ask for when choosing a camping spot?"

The group groaned at the dry humor.

"Best of all," Hiccup called out, "The dragon's here on the island tend to avoid this area. They don't like to disturb the dead."

"Well that's a relief." Ruffnutt answered as she kicked at a bone.

Hiccup started to make his way over to Toothless, who had all the food aboard the ship packed onto him. "I'll let you guys unpack while I cook supper… how does that sound?"

"Sounds fine to me." Gobber answered, "What're you makin?"

"Lamb chops."

o~0~O~0~o

Though a little nervous from being so close to the Nest, the group managed to sleep somewhat soundly in lean-tos made of dragon bones that night. All that is except for Hiccup, He slept in the warm embrace of his dragon.

Come morning, Hiccup was the first to wake up. He stretched his limbs and gazed out into the perpetual fog as the first signs of daylight made itself known.

"What do ya say we going flying bud?" Hiccup asked his best friend. Toothless needed no encouraging and the two of them made off without another sound.

A half hour later Hiccup was back and standing over burly Viking teen.

"Fishlegs." He whispered while giving the boy a gentle kick. The boy groaned a little. Hiccup leaned don and whispered "Fishlegs." again while cupping his hand over the boy's mouth.

Fishlegs started awake and made to defend himself against his attacker.

"Easy there Fishlegs," Hiccup quietly said, "We don't want to wake the others."

"And why wouldn't we want to do that?"

"Because I have a special job for you to do."

"And what is that?"

"I need your advice, but they wont like you helping me. Is that clear?"

"And why would I help you?"

"Because I said I'd get you guys here… I Never said I'd get you out." Hiccup let the threat sink in. The boy's eye's widened in shock.

"You wouldn't dare, would you?" A hint of uncertainty was clearly present in the boy's face.

"Why wouldn't I? The lot of you made my life miserable for 15 years! What's keeping me from leaving you to the dragons."

Fishlegs shrunk back as he weighed his options, he meekly nodded his assent. "I'll do whatever you want. What is it?"

"I want you to hop on Toothless' back."

Fishlegs gulped.

Soon the trio were up in the air. Hiccup and Toothless loving every moment. Fishlegs was just trying not to throw up.

"Can you slow down?" Fishlegs asked.

"What, don't say you couldn't get used to this."

"Maybe on a Gronkle, but I could do with a little less fury."

Toothless grunted.

"No offense!"

Hiccup laughed, "We'll slow down in a minute, but whatever you do, keep silent until were safe."

"Until What!"

With that Hiccup changed the tail position and Toothless folded his wings. It was all Fishlegs could do to hold on and keep from screaming his head off as Hiccup made for an opening in the Nest. He tried to make his large frame as small as possible as they flew threw the tiny opening. He could hear snoring dragons as the trio swiftly twisted through the dark maze with the grace of a swan and the speed of an eagle.

In mere moments, Fishlegs found himself at the center of the volcano. The large crater in the center spewing gas from below and hiding anything that may be down there. 'Isn't this the place Hiccup said it wasn't safe?' He thought to himself as he visibly gulped once again.

"Here, put this on." Hiccup softly called out as he reached back to give Fishlegs a soaked bandana before putting on one of his own. "Make sure it's covering your mouth and nose, It's the best way I've found to filter out the gas."

No sooner were the bandana's in place than Hiccup called out. "Don't worry, she's sleeping, I checked."

Fishlegs barely managed to get out an "Who is she?" before his eyes widened in realization. The glimpse of the giant dragon in Gothi's vision was made famous by the two Thorsten Twins who had managed to eavesdrop in on Astrid and the Chief's meeting with the elder and had spread the story around the town before sundown, much to Astrid's embarrassment. Before he was able to protest Hiccup had them diving down into the glowing hole.

Fishlegs did his best not to make any noise as the trio descended down trough the billowing gas. It smelled disgusting, but he was relieved to find that the bandana over his face was doing a fairly decent job. In mere seconds, he found himself out of the gas and inside a furnace. Or at least that was what the cavern felt like. It was huge. Easily bigger than five great halls put together. The floor was made of a lake of molten lava that belched steam and gas which slowly funneled itself to the hole in the rocky ceiling. The walls were covered in huge claw marks from the beast that had dug the cavern out.

The heat was unbearable, the air felt like it was searing his lungs. He was struggling to breath, until his breath was taken away when he caught sight of the beast. The frightening creature that dozed half submerged in the glowing lava lay sleeping in ignorant bliss of the trio of intruders flying around above it.

This dragon was easily 400 feet long. It had teeth the size of trees in a curved mouth and a giant horn on it's ugly face. A frill adorned its head and six bumps on the face indicated a lack of a blind spot. Red spines were visible all down the beast's back and its tail ended in a giant spiked mace. Though sleeping, the creature was still terrifying and Fishlegs was secretly glad no one had ever succeeded in finding this place before.

After making a few circles of the beast Hiccup finally started to climb and the three of them made their way silently back to camp.

Astrid prided herself in being an early riser. She was usually up and about training or preparing for the day well before anybody else. So she was surprised when she got up to find Hiccup and Toothless had left before she got up. She was even more surprised when she found Fishlegs was missing too. Not knowing what Hiccup was capable of she wondered briefly if Hiccup had done something to Fishlegs. She brushed the notion off with the thought that if Hiccup was going to do something, it would most likely be to Snotlout or the twins and not the burly teen. She couldn't help but worry for him though.

She was only up for about 15 minutes before Hiccup and Toothless landed in the camp with a small gust of wind. She sighed in relief when she saw Fishlegs sitting behind Hiccup. She smiled when she saw Fishlegs' pale face, remembering her first wild ride with the Night Fury and his ridder.

"How in the world did you get Fishlegs to go on a ride with you? Did you kidnap him too?" She greeted.

"Kidnapped!" Fishlegs shrieked as he hurriedly jumped off the dragon.

Hiccup smiled as he dismounted as well before turning to Astrid, "Not this time. I just threatened to leave you all at the Nest." Truthfully, he was hoping Astrid was still asleep, but she had kept enough of his secrets already that he didn't think another one could hurt. He watched as Toothless blew plasma in a circle and lay down to go to sleep while the humans talked.

"I hope you didn't give him too much of a hard time. The poor boy looks like he's seen a ghost." Astrid gestured over to Fishlegs.

"I was just hoping I wasn't going to become one." Fishlegs defended.

"Oh come on Fishlegs, flying isn't that bad." Astrid replied, "After Toothless decides he likes you and stops throwing you into the ocean it's actually kind of fun." She said gesturing to the two soaked teens.

"That's not water, it's sweat; and the flying I could deal with… The Queen I wish I didn't have to see."

Astrid turned to Hiccup who was dismounting and quietly whistling at this point. "YOU TOOK HIM TO THE QUEEN!" Their sleeping comrades restlessly stirred at this outburst.

"Shhhhh, you'll wake the others. If I'm going to take out the Queen I needed some info about her, and Fishlegs is the best there is when it comes to dragon stats." Hiccup answered.

Astrid rolled her eyes, she didn't need dragon stats to recognize the Queen was something you couldn't beat.

"Is that it's name?" Fishlegs asked. "The Queen?"

"That's more like her role, she controls them. I've been referring to her as the Red Death."

"Sounds scary." Tuffnutt who had woken up at Astrid's outburst, and who was dressed in nothing but his underwear and helmet, intruded into the conversation and startled the three.

Hiccup face palmed, "Is there anybody else we want to include in this conversation." He dryly asked.

"I don't know, lets ask. HEY EVERYBODY! DO YOU WANT TO JOIN IN ON A CONVERSATION ABOUT A RED DEATH?" Tuffnutt yelled. Hiccup groaned.

Fully awake the group got up and joined in.

"A Red what?" Snotlout asked.

"A Red Death." Tuffnutt answered, "What one is I have no idea."

"Sounds like fun, lets try it." Ruffnutt jeered.

"Ya!" The twins butted helmets.

"Oh for the love of- It's not a thing you do, it's a dragon." Hiccup told the twins.

"What type of dragon, it sounds powerful and deadly. Can I kill it?" Snotlout asked, "Will it bring glory and honor to the name of Snotlout Jorgenson?"

"No you can't Snotlout." Fishlegs answered.

"And why not?"

"Because this dragon is over 400 feet long with teeth alone that are thicker than you precious muscles."

"You've seen tha Queen?" Gobber asked.

Fishlegs glanced over at Hiccup who was giving him a threatening glare and gestured over to Toothless, "Hiccup may have… ummm… convinced me to go on a ride on Toothless this morning. That's when I saw it."

"Cool!" The twins chanted at the same time. "Can we have a ride?"

"NO!" Was the quick answer.

"Oh come on." Tuffnutt replied, "Why do Fishlegs and Astrid get a ride but we don't?"

"Because I said so."

"Party pooper."

"Anyways," Hiccup redirected, "I took Fishlegs to the nest so I can know what to avoid when I do try and kill it."

"You, kill a dragon?" Snotlout laughed, "You couldn't even kill a Night Fury who was tied up and helpless. How are you, Hiccup the Useless, going to take out a 400-foot dragon?"

"By not holding back like I have every single time you've opened your mouth this whole trip." Hiccup coldly retorted.

"YOU WANT TO GO? RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! I'LL POUND YOU SO HARD YOUR NIGHT FURY WONT EVEN BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE YOU!"

"Umm guys?" Fishlegs tried to interrupt.

Hiccup unsheathed his sword and roared "BRING IT"

"Guys?" Fishlegs tried to interrupt again but the whole group was focused on the squabbling pair in front of them.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight." The twins chanted.

"Hiccup, your better than this, show them you're not the monster they think you are." Astrid interjected.

"Snotlout, now's not the time or the place." Gobber tried to hold the teen back.

"GUYS!" Fishlegs yelled in a voice that surprised everyone.

"WHAT!" They all yelled at once. Fishlegs nervously pointed behind the group.

"The Boneknapper is right behind us, isn't it?" Hiccup asked as his shoulders sagged a little.

The group turned to see a huge dragon had creeped up on them while they all fought. Unprepared, the unarmed, except for Hiccup, teens froze at the sight of it. It was green underneath the gleaming polished bones and the walking graveyard stared menacingly at them, especially Gobber. The dragon rose up and made like it was going to roar, the group froze in anticipation. But what came out was more of a silent gurgle.

"Well what do you know, no roar." Fishlegs noted before they all started to run with the exception of Hiccup who stood resolute in the face of this new dragon.

Hiccup tried his best to keep the dragon's attention from the fleeing teens, all he needed was a few moments with it he figured.

The group found cover behind a rather large ribcage and watched from a safe distance.

"What's he doing?" Astrid nervously asked as Hiccup dropped his sword and started talking to it.

"Looks like he's trying to get eaten." Snotlout smirked.

"I hope not, that would be a good waste of some pretty awesome battle scars." Ruffnutt mused.

Suddenly the dragon tried to walk around Hiccup. Annoyed at the dragon's loss of interest he made to grab at it. Wrong move he thought as he took hold of one of the dragon's bones.

Furious the dragon turned toward him and Hiccup knew he was in trouble. He desperately looked around for the sword he discarded but knew he wouldn't have enough time to defend himself. He brought up his hood and attempted to cover his face as the dragon quickly drew gas into it's mouth.

"HICCUP!" Astrid and Gobber both yelled as the flames engulfed the boy. Toothless frantically jumped to his feet and tackled the Boneknapper when he realized what was going on and a small fight started.

Astrid covered her face and Gobber lowered their head when they saw the blackened figure that had been Hiccup moments ago, frozen in its place. His clothes had been burned away to reveal that he had a chainmail vest on underneath that now glowed red, searing into the boy's charred chest.

"Hah, I knew the fishbone would get himself killed." Snotlout triumphantly declared over the sound of fighting dragons.

"That was cool!" Tuffnutt said.

"The scars!" Ruffnutt cried out.

"Snotlout, you know what this means don't you?" Tuffnutt asked.

"What?"

"You'll never get to prove your better than Hiccup now."

"Hahaha." Ruffnutt cackled, "Your forever second."

"Am not! I could have easily beat him!"

"You'll never know."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Astrid happily declared as the figure slowly moved his arms and grasped the chainmail to pull it off. The molten metal easily peeled off the boy's chest and fell to the ground. Astrid ran towards Hiccup, though she was happy he was still alive, she feared the worst. 'How long will he survive? What will this do to his mental faculties now? How bad is the damage?'

Then the figure did something she hadn't expected. She slowed as Hiccup grabbed the top of his head and started pulling at his skin. The black substance easily pulled away to reveal an undamaged face looking at her.

"YES! IT WORKS!" The boy laughed.

"What, how did you… Why are you not dead?" Astrid asked.

"No time to explain." He answered as he scooped up his sword and started running.

Still hiding behind the ribcage, Tuffnutt gawked on, "WOW, he rides a Night Fury, beat Snotlout, died to a Scauldron attack and came back to life, stole all the Lava Lout's gold and he's fire proof! Is there nothing this guy can't do? He's like invincible or something like that. Don't get on his bad side."

"And jus where do ya think you all are?" Gobber asked.

The teens paled at this suggestion.

"An here he comes." Gobber pointed out as Hiccup started running over towards the group with Astrid in tow.

"Hiccup. How did y-" Snotlout started.

"Gobber!"

"What?"

"Take off your pants!"

"WHAT!" Everyone cried out at once.

"Never mind." He said as he swiped his sword at the blacksmith, skillfully cutting through the bottom of his shirt and the top of his pants without cutting him. "It will take to long to explain." He cryptically replied as he gabbed the fallen belt buckle and took off towards the fight.

"HEY!" Gobber called out as he hobbled after the boy while attempting to keep his pants from falling down. "That's my treasure, not yours! Bring it back."

Hiccup ignored him as he neared the fight and called out, "Toothless! Get back!"

Obediently the dragon retreated, covered in a few cuts from the Boneknapper but nothing too serious. The Boneknapper itself was only missing a few patches of it's armour, the bones snapped in two, but the bare patches of skin were bleeding profusely.

Hiccup put himself between the two circling dragons and addressed the Boneknapper. "I think this is what you want? Isn't it?" as he held out the buckle.

The dragon paused and narrowed its eyes as the human that should be dead walked slowly closer to him with his hand outstretched, the prize held out towards him. He allowed the human to get closer but remained on guard.

Gobber finally caught up but before he could intervene Toothless began growling at him. Gobber threw up his hands and his pants fell to the ground. The Teens turned away quickly and shielded their eyes.

"That was something I could have lived without seeing." Tuffnutt cried out.

"Ya, I think that was something we all could have!" Snotlout yelled.

Hiccup began calmly talking to the dragon, trying to sooth him and soon found himself in front of the dragon's chest. He tentatively reached up and placed the bone in the hole he had seen in the dragon's armour just before he was barbequed.

A golden glow spread out from the bone when it clicked in place. The dragon stood up tall and triumphantly roared into the sky. Hiccup smiled when the dragon turned from gleefully calling out to the world that he had a voice to the small boy.

Hiccup held out a hand and the Boneknapper graciously accepted. The group turned in shock as the giant, bleeding dragon turned into the equivalent of a loyal puppy dog and literally rolled over in enjoyment as Hiccup scratched it and laughed.

"See, there's nothing to be afraid of." Hiccup called out to the group.

"That may work for you, but I'm not getting anywhere close to a dragon if I'm not there to kill it." Snotlout called out.

Hiccup let out one sharp whistle.

Snotlout, confused went to open his mouth but then felt a sharp pain in his right arm. Suddenly he found that he couldn't move the right side of his body as he caught Speedy racing away. He tried to yell out 'Hiccup!" But all that came out was "Hic-mph!" The teens laughed at his uncomfort.

"So, is tha it?" Gobber called out.

"This guy wont be bothering you again Gobber. I'll make sure of that." Hiccup replied.

Gobber glanced at his mace lying inside his lean-to. "Well I guess tha's that." He replied, not wanting to anger Hiccup now that he had three legendary dragons by his side.

"Hiccup?" Astrid called out.

"Yes."

"How are you still alive?" She asked as she pointed to Hiccup's still smoking black body.

"Well when you live with dragons you pick up a thing or two. Dragons are mystical beings imbued with magic. I've learned some of it." He smiled, that wasn't even close to the truth. Actually Hiccup had just made a suit from dragon skin and rubbed it with charcoal to make it black instead of red. He had wondered what made dragons fire proof on the outside and the only solution he could come up with was dragon scales weren't very good heat exchangers. When something hot, like dragon flame, hit the scales, they insulated the flesh underneath it from getting burned, thus he was fireproof. He'd never been able to try it before his accounter with the Boneknapper, but he was satisfied with the results. He was still standing, wasn't he?

"How did you do that?"

"Sorry mi' lady, that's all you'll get out of me." And with that he turned and walked away. He had several wounds to tend to on the dragons.

o~0~O~0~o

It didn't take long for the group to pack their things and make it back to the ship, especially with the two larger dragons acting as pack mules. As promised by Hiccup, the ship was undamaged. It appeared some dragons had ben a little curious as some items had been knocked around but it didn't take much to clean up. In no time at all the ship was underway again, bow pointed back towards berk.

Hiccup, once again on the bow with Toothless, called out to Gobber, "Just follow the Boneknapper Gobber. He'll lead us out."

The blacksmith glanced up at his past tormentor who was gleefully roaring to no end. "Alrighty Hiccup." The blacksmith called out and gave a Thumbs up.

With that Hiccup turned towards Fishlegs. "So, Fishlegs, what can you tell me about the Red Death?"

"You're really going after that thing?" Fishlegs asked.

"Yes I am."

"Your Funeral. The Red Death has a heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing. You'll need to steer clear of both. It had small eyes and large nostrils. Relies on hearing and smell."

"Good, anything else I might need?"

"It would appear under close examination to have either six eyes or strange lumps above it's eyes. It may not have a blind spot."

"Interesting. I'll take that into consideration." Hiccup answered.

A dull thud was heard and they all turned to look at its origin. Snotlout had lost control of his half paralysed body again and had fallen over.

"Hicmph, hi aei ugh." Snotlout tried to shout.

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"Umm, I think he said 'Hiccup, I hate you?'" Tuffnutt suggested.

"You can understand him?" Astrid asked.

"What, sometimes when me and Ruffnutt are done hitting each other with hammers one of us can't talk straight. Were masters at talking Gibberish."

"It's true." Ruffnutt acknowledged.

"Well, then…" Hiccup shrugged, "I hate you too Snotlout, but for your sake I'm doing my best to keep from killing you."

"Can you?" Ruffnutt asked.

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Ugh ont a I nuh ugh."

"He says 'You don't have it in you.'" Tuffnutt translated.

Hiccup smiled. "Whatever floats your boat Snotlout."

The Boneknapper roared again as finally, they made it out of Helheim's gate.

"Ugh, is he ever going to stop?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, legend does say the Boneknapper's roar is its mating call." Fishlegs answered.

At that moment similar roars could be heard in sky. The group looked up to see five more Boneknappers join the group.

Hiccup groaned, "Great, more baby dragons to look after." He deadpanned.

The group laughed.

"So what now?" Astrid asked.

"I leave, you all go back to Berk, everybody is happy." Hiccup replied.

"Well, not everybody ya know." Gobber mentioned. "Your father still misses you."

"And I wish I could slice his throat with my sword. He's not my father, just my sire. Now if you excuse me I'll be leaving." Hiccup felt a hint of anger flare up inside him. 'Why couldn't they leave his father out of this?"

"Now Hiccup, Stoick is trying ta make amends, give him a chance."

"A GAVE HIM A CHANCE FOR 15 YEARS! I'M DONE WITH HIM! SPEEDY! TIME TO GO!"

With that Hiccup mounted Toothless as the Speed Stinger closed in behind him and jumped on behind him. "By the way, looks like a nasty storm is coming, you al better hurry. Happy sailing." He called out as the trio took off before anyone could stop him.

"HICCUP! WAIT!" Gobber called after the fleeing boy, but he was already gone.

"Gobber? Why aren't the Boneknappers leaving?" Astrid asked.

Gobber turned from the slowly shrinking figure to the six dragon starting to circle closer and closer to the ship. "I don't know… Get yer weapons."

The group hurriedly rose from their rowing positions and got ready to defend, all that is except Snotlout who was having enough trouble moving around on his own. The first dragon came close, but not close enough to hit, before unleashing a stream of fire into the sea beside the boat. Steam rose up out of the water as the other dragons joined in. The visibility around the ship was soon reduced to less than five feet. The flapping of many wings could be heard but nothing could be seen.

"I don't like this." Fishlegs nervously called to the others.

The group froze as a familiar high pitched screech made itself known. The small explosion was clearly heard and the flash visible to all, yet the ship was still intact.

"Hah! He missed." Tuffnutt triumphantly declared.

Suddenly a black shadow streaked toward the ship. A loud thud was heard and the ship pitched to the starboard side, throwing everyone off their feet. Before anyone could recover their footing it was gone.

Slowly the fog dissipated to reveal an empty sky.

"What was that all about?" Astrid asked.

Fishlegs looked around to find his seat blown apart. 'Oh no.' He thought. He raced over to inspect the damage. "He didn't miss. A Night Fury never misses." He exclaimed as he rummaged through his stuff that had been thrown about in the explosion.

Perplexed, Gobber and the other teens watched as Fishlegs tore through his belongings. "It's gone." He exclaimed.

"What's gone?" Gobber asked.

"The Book of Dragons."

"Stoick is not goin ta be happy."

o~0~O~0~o

There was no crowd to greet them except for the Chief and the parents of the teens as the boat made its way to the dock. Who could blame the village though with the blizzard that was striking Berk and reducing the temperature to -25.

"Did you have much success?" The Chief asked as Gobber stepped onto the dock, the teens were already hugging their parents.

"Ya, saw six Boneknappers in total." The blacksmith commented as the two turned to head to the warmth of the Great Hall.

"You actually saw several?" Stoick asked in disbelief. "Do you have any trophies?'

"No, just a different belt buckle and a need for a new pair-a-pants now."

Stoick raised his eyes.

"Ya see, we not only saw a flock of Boneknappers, we saw a Speed Stinger, a Night Fury, a certain AWOL boy and tha Nest."

As each item was listed off the Chief's eyes grew wider and wider and the look of shock grew.

"I… I think… You and I need to talk Gobber."

"Ya, we do. But yer not gonna like it."

o~0~O~0~o

An hour had passed before Gobber finally finished his tale. The two sat near the fire at the main table in the Great Hall. For once the chief sat speechless. He was angry at Gobber for putting the kids in such a dangerous position and for loosing the Book of Dragons, but he was also conflicted. What would he have done if he was the one who faced Hiccup. Would he have gone to the Nest too? Would have tried to kill on sight? Would he have made the same mistakes? The problem was, he didn't know.

"Well, what are ya thinkin?" Gobber asked.

"It's a lot to take in… That boy has done more in a few months than an entire Archipelago has done in 300 years."

"Ya, you should be proud of him."

"I am, but how am I going to fix this Gobber? How did this happen? In less than a year Hiccup went from being… well… Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training and proving himself as a worthy heir, finally. An now he's traitor, a thief and scourge of the Berkian tribe?"

"I think you've both made choices you regret. Ya need to find him, sit down with him and try and sort this whole thing out… An leave tha weapons by tha door."

"If he wont listen to you, how will he ever listen to me?"

"I have no idea Stoick." The blacksmith honestly admitted, "All you can do is keep trying. Whenever you see him in the next few years, if you see him, try and be the father ya never were."

Stoick met Gobber's gaze with hurt eyes, giving rarely seen emotion. The Chief shed a tear for the first time in 15 years.