The battle is over, but there are still a few things that need clearing up. Where's Toothless? How is Nags doing? Find out now!

Hiccupisnotuseless: you're about to find out how everyone got on! Thanks for your kind words.

dracologistmaster: look no further! Enjoy!

The mound rose tall on the hillside, and yet, it felt too small to hold the character, the bravery and wonder of the one inside it. A carpet of soft, pink flowers danced in the breeze atop it and a couple of small, fluttering birds twittered and sang in the air above it. A salty breeze blew across the high ground, bringing the tang of the water with it. Nags let her head fall to her chest, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. Finally, she could be alone with Gramps.

She wanted to talk to him, to tell him what she and her boyfriend had done, to show him how she had fulfilled her destiny. She wanted to hug him one last time, to ask for his help, but she knew it was impossible. Her grandfather was gone. There was nothing to do now but submit to her mourning. Only then could she begin to heal the terrible wound that Carron's knife had torn within her, that awful pain throbbing in her heart.

"Hey, Nags?" She turned around. She had heard Jax's footsteps coming towards her but for the first time she didn't feel remotely embarrassed.

"Hey..."

"I thought I might find you up here." He smiled as he approached. She hadn't passed out for long. In fact, her friends were still down there, sorting the village out, doing repairs and other boring stuff. She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes.

"It's not big enough." She whispered. Jax laughed as he sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer.

"Somehow, I thought you'd say that." Jax gave her shoulder a squeeze (The good one, luckily, she thought to herself), then gazed out across the ocean. "I'm sorry it had to end like this. His life, I mean."

Nags took a shaky breath and nodded. "He was all I had left. Mum left after my little brother was murdered, my sister went off to fight for Drago and then father copped it... Gramps was really the only sane one of us."

"And he wasn't all that sane, eh?"

"Usually, I'd bash you for a comment like that, but luckily, I like you too much." She scowled threateningly. "No, that was all a front. He put it on to protect me, so that I could become chief, like he always thought I should be. So he acted like a mad man so that, when Dad died, it would be me who succeeded him. Didn't work, did it?" She sighed gently, looking out to sea.

"I thought I knew you. Now... I'm not so sure." Jax shrugged.

"Yeah? Does it matter?" Nags folded her arms.

"Of course it doesn't. I like you better like this. You're more... open, I guess. At least you'll tell me how you feel now."

Nags remained silent for a while, her gaze traveling down towards the town, to where the entirety of the residents had turned out to make repairs. The Berkian's dragons were hard at work lifting and carrying and transporting. The whole operation was a lot more organized than it had been when they had just started. Nags hadn't been able to concentrate on organization with the weight of past events stifling her. She quickly made the decision to hand over responsibility to Hiccup.

Now, she was up here. She thought being alone might help, or seeing her Gramps' grave, but really, Jax was the only reason she could think straight again. She sighed.

"Thanks for the chat. I think the town needs me now." As she got up, a thought struck her, and she let out a surprised cry, unable to fathom how she had missed such a huge point.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Jax panicked, thinking she was still suffering from her wound.

"The dragon! His dragon! The black one, it's still in the dragon-hold under the prisons! Hiccup needs his dragon back!" With that, she started off down the hill at an alarming pace, Jax following on behind.

Toothless growled again. Still, no-one came for him. He couldn't understand how it was taking his rider so long to reach him. Surely, Hiccup should be here by now? He pawed at his eyes to make sure he wasn't asleep and then shook his head to clear it. Hiccup or not, he was getting out if here.

With a scream of rage, he flung himself against the feeble metal bars. They buckled, but refused to let him through, so he tried again. Still nothing. Toothless gazed longingly out into the labyrinth beyond, listening carefully to a hurried patter that was making itself clear in the still air. He could hear shouts from voices he didn't recognise and the clatter of cage bars as whoever it was checked every cage before his. His heart gave a flutter. The great, black dragon leapt up onto the dented bars in his excitement; roared as loudly as he could, so that he felt it through the earth and listened to it rattling off the walls beyond him.

"Hey! Quiet down, we can hear you!" He heard a voice hush him. They may hear him, he thought, but they didn't fear him. He didn't want any more forced-sleep. It made him sick. Deep in his gut, a furnace was burning. It made his tongue tingle and his paws shake with it's empowering fire. His tail swished as he watched a figure stumble into range. The dragon growled, hungry for revenge on those who had hurt him and his master.

"Whoa, whoa! Don't shoot, you idiot! I'm on your side!" Nags yelled, her good arm held above her head. "I'm here to get you for Hiccup!"

Toothless grunted at the sound of his rider's name. This girl was a friend of Hiccup's? He looked closer. In fact, he did recognise her. She was the one who had tried to stop the men who shot him the first time.

"Come on! Jump down so I can unlock the door! The black dragon slid back onto the floor, yowling. He missed his master greatly. Toothless paced impatiently as Nags fumbled with the lock on the door and dragged the ruined iron out of the way. She took hold of the leather strap at his shoulder and carefully led him out of his prison.

"Go help with the roof over there," Hiccup instructed the group of sparky, blonde-haired youths. Brothers and sisters, they were hindering more than helping the adults who were ferrying supplies between houses and sheds, preparing for the next wave of storms to hit. They were massing in a circle of large buildings in the centre of town: five in all, all of them large eating houses with great, blackened hearths in the centre and plenty of room for the entire village and all their food. One was even being put aside for the animals, who were beginning to arrive from the hill pastures. Compacted snow and ice covered the streets, making them treacherous to walk over, which was why Astrid had led the dragon riders off on an ice-clearing mission. They swooped overhead, fire streaming from their maws, clearing the frozen deposits and making it safe once again.

Hiccup looked up. He watched as Cloudjumper and his mother went racing by and the twins bickered in mid-air. He could almost hear the cries of his own dragon up there, somewhere, calling for him to jump on and fly off. In fact, as he listened, it became louder. He squinted into the air. He missed Toothless a lot, but enough to make him go quite this mad? He rubbed his head and looked away, but it came again: Toothless was calling for him. He closed his eyes. There was a certain pain in his head that was making him feel dizzy.

Hiccup heard a screech: definitely not Toothless. When he looked up, he found Stormfly descending towards him. Good; Astrid was here. The chief felt like he needed her presence right now.

"Hiccup, are you okay?" She asked, sliding off Stormfly's back.

"No, I'm not. I don't know why, but I keep hearing Toothless. I don't feel well, Astrid: I wanna go home."

"Okay. You know what? I have something I think might make you feel better. Come on, come with me!" Hiccup let her take hold of his arm and help him jump up onto her dragon's back. He watched the ground fall away below him as Stormfly beat up into the air above the houses and put a hand on Astrid's shoulder for comfort as they gained altitude.

All of a sudden, something caught his eye. What kind of animal was that? He peered down at the shape emerging from the caves under the cells, led by someone who had to be Nags. A little flutter ran through his chest. It couldn't be, could it? Astrid giggled, and when he looked up, he found her looking back at him.

"Feel better yet?" She asked joyfully.

A grin spread across his face, and he breathed a single word: "Toothless..." As Stormfly dipped closer, the breath became a shout. "Toothless!" Hiccup jumped off the cyan Nadder's back, hitting the ground with a clunk of his metal leg and crying out again: "Toothless!"

The Night Fury responded with a howl, pulling away from the girl who was leading him and breaking into the fastest gallop of his life. At the other end of the street, Hiccup sprinted as fast as his leg would allow towards the dragon he had been missing more than anything else in the world. The great, black beast kicked up water and ice and muck, for this was a street that had not yet been cleared by dragons, and that was why at the point Hiccup began to slow down, he found that he couldn't stop, and instead, the chief slipped and slid and tumbled into the waiting pounce of his dragon.

Toothless pinned him to the floor as though he might just carry on running and pressed his hard chin into the man's chest. His tongue smothered his rider's face like it had a mind of it's own, and the chief just didn't care anymore. The rising joy in his chest made him feel almost like he was floating, happiness flushing his pale cheeks. He just couldn't stop the bubbles of laughter from escaping his throat. There was nothing better than having his best friend back again.

Toothless was a squirming mess of joyous black hide, like a dog that had been left too long alone. When he finally let his rider stand up, he circled him and jumped up at him so that he fell over again. He had his Hiccup back, and he couldn't be happier.

Hiccup turned to find Nags staring at him, laughing heartily and slapping her stomach. Tears listened on her cheeks: not tears of sadness this time, but tears of joy. The Berkians chief grinned: The girl's happiness had returned.

One chapter to go! Time for Eret to return!