A/N

Okay, I have a monster of a chapter for you today! See it as a apology for letting you waiting for it. I'm sorry to tell you, but this story too, is nearing it's end. Like I'd said before, it isn't as long as BlackHollow. But I hope you all liked it!

My thanks to Doomsday BeamXD, Phoenixofmyth and Daughter of Thor for reviewing, and thanks to everyone else who's followed, favorited and/or read this story so far!

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD nor its characters.

Mulch was trying his hardest to make the raft, but sometimes, when it didn't went as planned, his inner Viking stepped up, and he would get irritated. Just like now.

'You stupid excuse of a raft! Why won't you work with me?' Mulch muttered. But it was enough for Hiccup to hear him. He walked over towards his side, and tried to figure out what the problem was. It didn't take long for Hiccup to see what was wrong; his experiences with building rafts in his childhood was really helping him out to make a pretty good one, which worked really well too.

'Wait Mulch. Look, there's nothing to worry about,' he said, and he took the vine -which they used as rope- they'd found on the island. 'If you put this like this around the poles, or whatever you may call them, they'll fit.' Hiccup said, while he tied the vine around the poles, just like he'd said. Mulch paid a lot of attention towards what Hiccup was doing, and he soon realized what he did wrong.

'Thanks Hiccup,' he said, and he really meant it. Mulch was getting sick of the island, and he just wanted to leave. So when tried to tie the rope to make the raft secure, and it wouldn't work, he got upset. Hiccup nodded and left Mulch alone, probably to think of how to train one of the Scauldrons. Valhallarama was working on the other side of the raft, and Bucket insisted that he'd get some food. They tried to prevent him from that, but he was being stubborn. And because they just weren't in the mood to keep an eye on him all the time, they let him go. But they told him not to go too far, or they would leave without him. Of course, they would never do that, but it got Bucket's attention, and he promised to stay near.

'Hey Mulch,' Valhallarama said. Mulch looked up, and wondered what she wanted from him.

'Could you tell me what had happened on Outcast Island? I asked Hiccup, but he said he didn't want to talk about it,' she asked. Mulch looked at her, and was wondering if he should tell her. But the look in her eyes told him that she was ready for whatever he was going to tell her. So he took a breath, and while they continued to build the raft, he spoke. Valhallarama was shocked to hear what Hiccup's been through, and she understood more of him. While Mulch told Hiccup's story, the raft neared it's perfect state. The timing couldn't be any better, because when Mulch was finished, the raft was too.

Valhallarama looked behind her to see Hiccup staring at the sea. She found it unfair that Hiccup had to go through such things while he still was so young. When she was his age, the only thing she needed to worry about was dragon training. And because she was one of the best in the class, she didn't even have to pay lots of focus. She could easily live her life, with no worries at all. Those came when she reached adulthood.

When she looked at her son, she couldn't help but to see Stoick in his features. Sure, he wasn't the big, bulky man his father was, but they still shared some similarities. The way he was standing there, just like his father when he was younger. And those emerald green eyes, the same as Stoick's. She noticed that he even talked a little like him. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice Hiccup turning around. He'd felt like he was being watched, and to see his mother's gaze towards him, his feelings were confirmed.

'Mom? Is something wrong?' Valhallarama was pulled out of her thought, and shook her head a little, as if she was trying to shake her mind into focus.

'No… Nothing's wrong, dear,' she finally responded. Hiccup just shrugged his shoulders. After all, he sometimes spaced out a little too.

'I'm sorry!' The three Vikings looked up in the direction the sound came from, and they saw Bucket walking out of the foliage. 'I couldn't find any food!' he said, and he threw his hands up in the air.

'Don't worry Bucket,' Mulch said. 'It's no big deal. We still have enough from yesterday, see?' he pointed towards the bucket Valhallarama brought with her, filled with all sorts of berries, and another bucket filled with fish. It took them a while to gather the food, but when they did, they had more than enough. Bucket nodded when he took a look at it, and smiled.

'Yeah… You're right. But I just wanted to do something helpful, and I thought this was the perfect thing for me to do, since we do this at home too. You know, getting food for everyone, and that sort of stuff.' Mulch smiled at that comment. His friend never changed a bit.

'I know. And thank you for that, Bucket,' he finally responded. It was then that they noticed the sun had set, and everyone knew they needed to rest now, in order to have enough energy to sail who-knows how long. So without saying a word, everyone lay down, and made themselves comfortable. It didn't take long for everyone to enter the blissful realm of dreams.

'We'll look for them tomorrow. It's getting late, and we need our rest,' Gobber stated. It was true. They had been searching for the rest of the day in the area where the found the piece of the fishing boat. But the longer they searched, the more it pointed towards the fact that they weren't near, and that the piece was just here by coincidence.

Stoick looked at his best friend. He didn't want to stop, he didn't want to give up on his son, only for something as stupid as sleep. But deep down he knew he was right. Not only did they get their rest, it would also be better for them to search in the day-light. In the dark, it was easy to overlook something, and maybe that was the place where Hiccup, Bucket and Mulch were. But because they might not see it in the dark, they could leave the place, thinking that they'd searched there, and that the three missing Vikings weren't there. He muttered an apology to his son, and returned towards Berk with the others.

The next day was no success. No sign of Hiccup, Mulch and/or Bucket had been found. Some were even starting to lose hope. It wasn't until the next day that Stoick and Gobber decided to re-plan the whole search party. So now Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Tuffnut were at the plaza. Ruffnut hated to wait, so she went to feed Barf and Belch. Everyone hoped that they would find Mulch, Bucket and Hiccup soon, but without a plan, they weren't sure if they were able to succeed. And now they did nothing but waiting at the plaza for their chief and blacksmith to return with a new plan. But even that wasn't succeeding.

Tuffnut had tried to cheer everyone up a little, but nothing worked. He hated it when people just did nothing. He had to do something.

'Ugh, why are you all so boring? I mean, it's not like someone died, right?' he asked. Astrid and Snotlout looked at him as if they would attack him this instant, and Fishlegs backed up when he too saw those glares directed towards Tuffnut.

'Are you serious?' Astrid yelled. 'Our best friend is missing! He might be hurt, or even dead!' The thought of Hiccup being dead became almost too much for her. So she turned around, hoping no one would see the tears that were threatening to fall. Snotlout looked at her with a sorrowful expression before he turned towards Tuffnut.

'Look, I'm sorry that we're not acting like we use to before all this happened. But we're just worried. You're worried too, right?' he asked.

Of course Tuffnut was worried. But he couldn't understand why everyone was acting so depressive. It wasn't like that would help to find Hiccup, Bucket and Mulch. He hoped that he could distract everyone, even for a little while. But it seemed like that wouldn't happen.

Tuffnut looked at the others one more time. 'Fine,' he then said, and he walked away at a quick pace.

He walked past the forge, towards his house. When he rounded the corner of his house, he found Ruffnut still feeding their dragon.

Hearing someone, Ruffnut turned around. 'Hey, what's up?' she asked when she saw his expression.

When he didn't respond, she walked towards the shack where they kept the saddles of Barf and Belch.

'Let's go flying, and then you'll tell me what happened.' Tuffnut nodded, and took Belch's saddle. His sister always knew what was best for him, and was always able to cheer him up when needed. Just like right now. Sometimes he felt bad, because he couldn't do the same for her. Whenever he tried to, he would eventually say something not-helpful, and she wouldn't feel any better. Maybe even worse.

Ruffnut had a feeling why her brother was upset. He wasn't someone who'd be sad or down for long. And sometimes he just didn't understand it when someone else was feeling down about something longer than he was. He just wanted to have fun, even in hard times.

So Ruffnut was guessing that was what had happened with the others before he came to her and their dragon.

'Can we go now?' Tuffnut asked. Belch's saddle was secured, and he was ready to leave the island for a little while. Ruffnut nodded, and after they'd mounted their dragon, they took off.

'Now, what happened?' Ruffnut asked when they'd flown for a pretty long time, because the sun was almost setting.

Tuffnut looked at her confused. 'What? Something has happened?' he asked. Because of the flying, he'd forgotten why or when he was upset.

'You never change, do you?' Ruffnut responded, while she shook her head. Tuffnut only looked at her more confused.

And that's why you are my brother, Ruffnut thought.

'Are we there yet?' Bucket asked for the fourth time.

'No Bucket, I don't know if we're there yet,' Mulch responded. They were lucky that the wind went in the direction Bucket, Mulch and Hiccup had come from. Valhallarama had remembered that she had a bear skin in her little house, and now it'd become a make-shift sail. And it proved to be a good sail, but it still to a lot of time for them to gain some distance from the island. Hiccup still lay unconscious at the center of the raft, with Valhallarama keeping an eye on him. She was so scared for him when he tried to tame that Scauldron. Thinking of it made her shudder. What if it was all too late?

The four Vikings had woken up when the sun was already rising. The birds were already up and were constantly whistling.

'All right. We should leave as soon as possible. That way we have most of the day to reach Berk or whatever island we may reach,' Hiccup said when everyone had woken up.

'Are you sure you want to do this, Hiccup? I mean, what if something goes wrong?' Valhallarama asked.

'I promise you it won't go wrong. You just have to trust me, mom.' Hiccup gave her a reassuring smile, before he took a long vine. One end he wound around his waist, the other he gave to Valhallarama.

'I want you to hold this when I'm in the water. If something goes wrong, I'll tug at it twice. Then you'll have to pull me up. If I don't tug, don't pull.' Valhallarama looked from the vine in her hand towards her son. He really wanted to do this. She felt like she couldn't take it any longer. Without a warning, she took one step towards her son and hugged him tightly.

'I'm so proud of you,' she whispered. When she let go, she could see the faint smile that was on his lips.

'Thanks, mom.' After he'd said that, he walked over towards the raft. 'Well… Let's go, shall we?' Everyone nodded, and after they'd pushed to raft off of the beach, they stepped up on it. Hiccup waited for them to be far enough from the island, before he turned around to look at the others.

'Well… Here goes nothing.' Then he jumped into the water. Valhallarama gripped her end of the vine unconsciously tighter, and waited for him to tug at the rope. The only thing she could do now was wait and hope everything would go like they'd planned.

When Hiccup broke the surface of the sea, he couldn't help the chills that went up his spine. The water was colder than he'd expected, and he had to clear his mind a bit to calm down from the surprise. He felt a déjà vu from his dream he had before he was stranded on the island.

Once he was calm, he looked around. He didn't see any Scauldrons. Hiccup sighed in his mind. What now? He looked once more before his hand reached to tug at the rope. But then he felt a presence behind him. And Hiccup knew exactly what it was. He turned around and found himself standing, well… floating, eye in eye with a Scauldron. It was green, with some specks of blue. His eyes were a dull grey, and Hiccup could see that the Scauldron wasn't really pleased with them leaving their island. They looked at each other for a while, and then Hiccup raised his arm slowly.

The Scauldron didn't understand what was happening. Every time it had faced a human, it would be attacked. But this human didn't. Maybe because he was so tiny? Maybe he knew that he didn't stand a chance against the leader of the Scauldrons in this territory? Did the human even know that he was the leader?

When Hiccup turned his gaze away from the Scauldron, it became even more confused. Somehow, he felt himself moving slowly towards the inviting palm of the hand the human held in front of him. But when he could almost touch is with his snout, his two companions appeared. They were furious. They spat boiling water towards Hiccup, and because Hiccup had his gaze turned away, he didn't see it.

Suddenly, Hiccup felt himself being pushed away. And by the force of surprise, he let go of the oxygen that remained in his lungs.

Nothing had happened for a while. Valhallarama, Bucket and Mulch were trying to see something in the water, but all they could see was the blue water.

'How long will it be before he needs air?' Mulch wondered. Although he could easily last this long under water without fresh air, Hiccup was smaller, and probably had smaller lungs. So Mulch knew he had to run out of oxygen soon.

Then, out of nowhere, something tugged the vine. Not expecting such force, the vine was drawn out of Valhallarama's grip.

'Hiccup!' she shouted. It took a second to realize what must've happened. And when Valhallarama did, she jumped into the water to get the vine that was floating a few feet away from her. She had to get it, and then pull Hiccup out of the water. Valhallarama wanted to get the vine as quick as possible, hoping that she wouldn't be too late.

Hiccup looked around to see what had pushed him, when he saw the Scauldron he was trying to befriend floating in front of him. Protecting him. Hiccup smiled inwardly. He did it! But soon panic settled in. He needed air, right now! He tugged at the rope, but nothing happened. He tugged again, and again nothing happened. Knowing that there wasn't another option, he swam towards the surface. But it was farther than he'd expected.

The Scauldron that had protected him didn't notice him swimming away, but the two others did. They didn't wait a second to fire more boiling water towards Hiccup. Lucky for him, they missed just by an inch. But the force was enough to shake him like a rag doll through the water. Hiccup's lungs screamed for air, and he swam again. One of the two Scauldrons prepared another shot, and the Scauldron that had protected Hiccup tried to reach him in time. But the Scauldron fired, and hit Hiccup. He screamed, he couldn't stop it. The water around him was so hot. But it wasn't as bad as he'd expected. Maybe it was because of the cold seawater? The leader of the Scauldrons hissed, and floated again protectively around Hiccup. When he was sure he'd convinced the two Scauldrons to leave them alone, he took Hiccup towards the surface. Hiccup, in the meantime, was losing consciousness, and the last thing he felt was the fresh air blowing against his skin.

The leader of the Scauldrons had pulled them away from the island, after he'd met Bucket and Mulch. He was still a bit offensive against Valhallarama, but he let it be. After Bucket gave him some of their fish, he soon trusted them enough to let them leave their territory. He trusted them to not let other people know of their place. Because that was why they didn't let anyone who'd entered it leave. They were afraid people might attack them and their island.

And then the Scauldron left them, because they'd reached the end of their territory. And now, they had to peddle and rely on the wind to get home.

Valhallarama stoked Hiccup's hair subconsciously. She couldn't help but smile at the way it resembled hers so good. Everyone who'd seen him when he was little, told them he had his mother's hair, and his father's eyes. And Valhallarama was proud of that.

Because it proved that Hiccup was theirs. And she was even more proud of him, because he'd fought for his life when he was first born. Seven weeks to soon. It was a hard time for them all. First of all, people thought Hiccup was a runt. That he wouldn't make it. But he had proven them all wrong. When he'd smiled for the first time, weeks after he was born, Valhallarama knew he would be a strong and smart Viking.

And when she looked at him now, she was glad that she'd been right. Before her lay a smart boy. And maybe he wasn't strong on the outside, she knew he was on the inside.

Slowly, Hiccup's eyes opened, and he smiled when he saw his mother's face above his. 'Mom,' he said softly, and Valhallarama couldn't help the tears of relief that made their way down her cheeks.

'Hiccup. Never, ever scare me like that again,' she said while she hugged him tightly.

'I can't promise you that one. We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard,' Hiccup responded.

Bucket and Mulch chuckled at that comment, because it remembered them of the past. Valhallarama smiled too, knowing that her son was okay. However, said person was looking past her, an expression of disbelief on his face. Valhallarama noticed Hiccup's sudden change of behavior, and immediately grew worried. 'Hiccup?' she asked.

'Zippleback…' he muttered.

This only confused he more. 'Zippleback? What are you talking about?' She didn't get a response, though.

Hiccup couldn't believe what he was seeing. 'No way…' he muttered. If that was the Zippleback Hiccup thought it was, then they were saved! But he couldn't be sure, because the Zippleback was too far away to recognize. However, when Hiccup saw the dragon head-butt their heads, his thought were confirmed.

Although he still felt weak, Hiccup stood up, and leaned on the mast for support. He then cupped his hands in front of his mouth and let out a Zippleback call.

'Hiccup! What are you doing?' Valhallarama asked, irritated that she wasn't given an answer.

But Mulch and Bucket understood what was happening, and stood up as well.

Hiccup didn't see the Barf and Belch coming towards them, so he called again. This time the Zippleback turned, and flew in their direction.

'Oh my gods! Yes! Finally!' Hiccup yelled.

'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third! I want an explanation now!' Valhallarama demanded. Hiccup turned around to face her, and was surprised that she didn't understand what was happening. But then he mentally slapped himself. Of course she wouldn't, she doesn't know who the Zippleback was, and who were riding him, Hiccup thought.

'Mom, that dragon is Barf and Belch. That's the dragon that had bonded with Ruffnut and Tuffnut,' he explained.

'Ruffnut and Tuffnut? Tell me, who are they exactly?' Valhallarama asked. 'I haven't seen anyone from Berk in twelve years, so don't expect me to know everybody,' she said with a little smile.

'Ruffnut and Tuffnut are the Thorston twins, remember? A passion for destruction, wreaking havoc, most of the time irresponsible…' Now Valhallarama remembered. Once, they managed to get her axe stuck in the top of a tree. It took a lot of effort to retrieve it. She smiled at the memory. She'd always been fond of children, and just couldn't stay mad at them. She was curious of how they'd turned out to be. And it seemed like she would get her answer really soon, because the Zippleback came closer and closer towards them.

A/N

Like I said in the Author's Note above, I hope you liked it!