Finally finished!

Broken record time: sorry about how long it took me to update and reply to all of your reviews! But I'm sure I got every single one of them from the last two chapters that I could. It took a while, but totally worth it.

I would like to thank all anonymous guests, Atem's Sister Atea, xObsessivegeekx, Bookworm 210, Miles-tails-prowler, Shadow Erk, Amrein Marco, AuditoresGirl, .girlfriend1, antonm1107, Inkweaver22, Ixxack, georgelucasisawesome, Justanotheranon, Claire, ErinHunterfan101, DraeEva00, blendercraft1, fireclaw239, Hrothgar Heavenlight, darkoc3an, Lenle.G, The Somebody of Nobody, Sci-Fi fan, Cryptic Message, lloyd garmadon snake king, Tzapporah, Mystic's Echo, Mango Supreme, RatchetsGirl, LemonGoldenTree, SuperSaiyanTeemo, powermachine79, Missile the Pegasus, Cybergod79, LtSolarFlare, Teen Nightfury, SunShark, purplemistpepper, Shemmi, SouthPark1997, titanicdragon, yoru nekozawa-sensei, Kit, SpiritSong-A.K.A-Katie, Lady Gryphonlnia, The Gray Dragon, Azawrath the Dusk, Mimi011, horse28lover, Who needs a name, 2amBer, SwiftslashxLeafstorm, Hunter 117, johnnyfireballs, Every1's Beta, RavenHalloween, Tagesh, Tanon, Don'tDoIt, The Darkness Hides Me, soulslayer32, 23HTTYD FAN, FanFictionLover13, That-is-illogical, Ghostdragon101, cerebralconfinement, OneWhoChandles, RamenKnight, TheWhisperingWarrior, Lashblade, Jack, Alti'uin, Kimco96, Darlene10104, GoldenGriffiness, saphira and shruikan, BYoshi1993, Kiomori, Adrian, Roamerfromaofw, and Aytheria for all of your amazing and thoughtful reviews. I appreciate all of your support so much! Group hug!

As for a possible hiatus—it is still just that. As you can all probably tell by now, I only work on this in my free time and don't really have a lot of it. But we are still working on this! I've got the next chapter nearly halfway done, too, so hopefully it'll be up much faster than this one.

Sorry if there are multiple line breaks or none at all. Some of them aren't showing up for some reason.

That's all for now! Enjoy!


"Astrid, can you please bring me some rye?"

I slammed the butt of my favorite knife down on the grain I'd been grinding with a little more force than necessary. With a huff, I pushed it all up in a pile and brought the wooden plate over to my mentor. She scrutinized the inconsistencies, the uneven grains and occasional twig, and accepted my 'hard work' with a sigh. "…alright, dear. Thank you," the overweight brunette said, accepting it and scooping the rye into a shallow bowl with a blunt pestle to fix my mistakes. I fumed, flicking my bangs back, and turned around to go check on the bread in the oven.

The smoke made it impossible to see, so I took the flat pan out to get a look at the dough. It hadn't browned a bit. With a dragonlike growl I shoved the pan back into the oven and slammed the protective metal railing shut (courtesy of Gobber; he'd meant it as a good-natured joke to cheer me up, since none of the other ovens in the village had such a thing. I was just insulted by it.). Bergthora let out a heavy breath of air again at the abuse of her cooking utensil. I ignored her.

A baker. Of all things, I was chosen to be the local bread-making Viking's apprentice. Even Ruffnut had it better, selected to work the Elder's farm since her husband had passed away and she needed an extra hand. At least she got to do more than one thing. At least she was actually staying fit, not being cooped up in a tiny space all day long. Already, just two days after my banishment from dragon-fighting, I felt that my aim was off, my strength lowered. I had tried sneaking out with my beloved axe, but my father had intercepted and had a good go at me about minding my punishment.

The boys were so lucky. All of them were being apprenticed in fishing, hunting, sailing, battle training for raids and defense—'men' stuff. Things that I obviously could not do, was not worthy of. I made me furious that someone like Snotlout got the better end of the deal. But, then again, I guess I really did deserve the worst job, and he the best. He had told the truth, after all.

I checked the dough again. It still wasn't changing—it was still that disgusting pale color. Smoke poured out into the bakery when I messed around with it too much, so I just assumed that I was failing at the mind-dullingly simple task somehow and pulled it out. "Bergthora, can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?!" I snapped in frustration, glaring at the lump of slightly-charred…stuff. I knew what ingredients should be in it, but I could never remember how much of each. In my last 'batch', I'd completely forgotten the flour. That hadn't worked too well.

"Did you put both flours in it?" She asked, looking over her shoulders at me. Her brown eyes were shielded, her tone contained. At first, Bergthora had been just as happy about having the local dragon-conspirer work with her as I was. She'd seemed to have gotten over it very fast, though, and wasn't treating me with the nearly as much ice as the rest of Berk was. If I didn't pay attention to her body posture or tone at all, I might even be able to convince myself that she didn't care.

There are two types of flour?! I thought in disbelief. Why two? That's so stupid! "No. I forgot." I rubbed my forehead in frustration.

"Well, dear," Bergthora began, approaching the failed batter and poking it. "There's wheat flour and barley flour that you put in that." She smiled a little, picking up the superheated blob with her bare hands and tearing it open. I stared in disbelief, only half-listening as she continued, "And you also put the oat grains inside of it. They usually go on top, when the baking has almost finished. That way they don't burn and make it unpleasantly crunchy."

"So I failed every single part I could," I summed it up, disappointment coloring my voice. I turned away, picking up my knife to grind some more grains. My knuckles turned white, I was gripping it so hard. I couldn't do this. I wasn't meant to do this. If anything, my Hiccup-esque screwups were proof of that!

The baker must have read my mind, because she put a hand on my shoulder and turned me round. "Now, Astrid," she began, holding me by both my upper arms and leaning down to eyelevel. I hesitated, biting back a "leave me alone"; she'd never spoken to me like this before. And I knew that, no matter how much I hated this, it was a punishment for a reason; I deserved it.

Bergthora offered me a little smile. "I know that things have been rough for you lately. But you can't shelve all your weaponry in a moment's notice. Both you and I know you're meant for greater things." She gave me an encouraging squeeze and withdrew.

I stared at the dough, skeptical. "Hopefully it isn't bread-making."

I was rewarded with a thundering laugh. "Hopefully!" Bergthora agreed whole-heartedly, giving me a whop on the shoulder hard enough to make me flinch. She was starting to begin a (probably blunt) statement when the door suddenly slammed open, bounced against the wall, and a torrent of cold air rushed in. I tried to block the fire from it with my body, but it was no use—it died out. Annoyed, I began looking around for the flint stones while my new mentor rushed to meet her customer.

She greeted them heartily, and a male voice responded, "Yes, you too! I just needed some bread."

Where was that dumb flint? I'd just had it not even an hour ago, when the same exact scenario had played when Bergthora's young daughter rushed in to ask for a knife to play with. I pushed around random pans and cutting boards, looking for the magical little stones.

"Oh, how's your wife?" Bergthora asked after listing off the prices for the various loafs of bread we had available.

The man grunted, a solemn overtone slicing through his voice. "Better. When the Night Furies shot that hole in the roof, a piece of metal came down and burned her something bad. She'll be slow in that arm for the rest of her life."

My mentor gave an empathetic hiss. I slammed a pan down with more force than necessary.

So many people had been injured that day. A child almost died when a spare flame caught him and lit him up as if he were made of dry bramble. His mother had ripped off her coat to smolder the flames the second it happened, but the damage had been done. Another man that had been holding onto Hiccup had hit his head on the cage when the traitor flew through the hole, and had not regained consciousness since. His wife was refusing to make the proper arrangements, but if he did not return to us soon, she would have no choice. Countless people had been hit by shrapnel that had cut inches deep. In one case, as of last night, lethally.

A fog of grief had descended on Berk and refused to disperse under the sun.

"Most of my patients are expected to make a full recovery," the man continued hopefully as I dug through a drawer and finally found the dumb stones squeezed in the back, under a mace. I raised an eyebrow at the random weapon and carefully pulled the flintstones out from under it, closing the drawer much more gently than usual.

My family had not been affected by the escape. Besides my horrendous punishment, that is. Even my parents were upset about it, despite their constant reinforcements of it.

Honestly, I wouldn't have been so bitter if Hiccup hadn't been freed himself. I had given in to help the village and to capture the traitor, making my loss feel like it was justified in some twisted way. But now the dragons were gone and I was left with an empty pocket where I used to hold mypride. There was no point in saying that I had tried to help the village, even before everyone knew, because now both Night Furies were gone and all my friend and mine's efforts had gone to waste.

There was no point in saying that we had tried to keep Hiccup from becoming a traitor in the beginning, even going so far as to give him a second chance. We probably would have given him a third one, if given the opportunity. Nobody would believe us anymore.

I still couldn't believe how synchronized the other dragons had been. All of them, attacking Hiccup's cage…it was like being pinned down and watching a rival clan member strike down your loved one. We had figured it out, worked to fix the damage, and nearly succeeded. But we had severely underestimated Hiccup's strength.

An image of the metal door flinging open with an ear-grinding squeal and flying through the air, snapping into the wall like a brittle bone, flitted into my mind. I shuddered, remembering how close to death Spitelout had been in that moment, just inches away from decapitation. I couldn't help but imagine myself in the place of that door, or Ruffnut, or Tuffnut, or Fishlegs or Snotlout. All too easily, we could have been that broken pile crumpled up in the corner.

Hiccup clearly had given up on siding with Berk. He certainly used to in the beginning, but now he was nothing but the enemy. He had been the enemy since he first stole, but I was too blind to see that. Snotlout hadn't shared my handicap.

I could only hope that he had tired out and fallen into the ocean, sinking like the dragon he was to the bottom. Everyone knew that flying dragons could not swim well.

Bergthora said something to the doctor, but I wasn't paying any attention anymore. I started the fire in a haze, unable to stop myself from replaying Hiccup and the Night Fury's escape in my mind's eye, wondering what could have been done, how we could have stopped it. Why hadn't they halted the tournament when it became clear the dragons were helping Hiccup? Why didn't we just pull him out first?

Chief Stoick's expression when Hiccup broke free was the answer my subconscious pushed to mind. He had frozen, eyes wide, hand clenched around his sword, and done nothing but stare once his former son had escaped from his cage, even as the Kill Ring was torn apart.

Did the Chief want Hiccup to survive? I tried to put myself in his place, but couldn't; I was too wrapped up in my own mistakes, my own problems that had defined the rest of my life—all of them starting from that fateful morning when I'd decided to follow Hiccup into the forest to console him. To make sure he didn't die for something that wasn't his fault, despite my Chief's claims.

What a terrible mistake that had been, I decided, watching the coals flicker to life with a weak, deep orange flame that promised to grow into an inferno. What a horrible error it was to trust him when it became clear that he had formed a bond with the Night Fury. Right then was when I should have done what Snotlout had done, once Hiccup had fled from the storage shed—

No, I realized, halting in my movements. Hiccup had turned far before that. I should have noticed the day Tuffnut nearly fell into the cove and Hiccup managed to convince the Night Fury to hold off, if only for a second. Instead I waited, telling myself lies until I could no longer hide beneath them. They had shifted from comforting to crushing, and now I was struggling under the weight.

The door opened again, bringing in some frigid air that promised either rain or hail. The winter was approaching rapidly with the assurance of hard times. The fire went out again.

Bergthora returned to the kitchen, rekindled the fire, and threw out the failed dough. Apparently it had only been her daughter again, asking for another weapon. When I asked which, Bergthora simply waved it off and began giving me instructions on how to properly cook bread as I gathered all the ingredients together.

We worked in silence for hours, with the occasional customer coming in to buy something. I couldn't help but wonder if my fate had sealed.


It was at sundown that the others came into visit. Ruffnut was covered in mud and her brother trailed behind, dead on his feet. Fishlegs' hands were calloused and sore and Snotlout slunk in the back of their pod. I smiled when they walked in, all grins to finally have the gang back together. At least I had my friends.

"Hey," I greeted, moving over to the front counter where the day's goods were presented in little cubbies behind it.

"Can I have that?!" Ruffnut exclaimed, pointing at a large loaf of bread that was among the few that didn't look burnt.

Her brother pushed her aside. "Gimme!" He cried, clearing the counter in one smooth leap and bolting towards said item.

"No!" I snapped, grabbing his arm and yanking him away just before his grubby fingers got hold of it. "You have to pay for that," I placed my hands on my hips and leaned in as if I were telling him a secret. "And just for that? You gotta pay double."

Tuffnut's eyes widened. "B-but," he stammered, looking back up at the bread. By the adoration in his eyes, it seemed he was under the impression that it was glowing with the light of the gods. "It's beautiful!"

"Alright." I smirked and flipped my hair. "Triple."

Ruffnut and Snotlout both burst out laughing as the male twin dropped to his knees in mock agony, reaching towards the cubby hole as if it were the only thing between him and death.

A slight creaking of wood signaled Bergthora approaching, expecting customers. She frowned at the group of dirty teenagers standing in her shop and then narrowed her eyes at Tuffnut. "Mind tellin' me why exactly you're back there?" She deadpanned.

Tuffnut paled and scrambled back over the counter with much less grace than the first time around. I turned to her and said, "He just wants that loaf of bread real bad."

She studied him and smirked. "Make sure you make him pay double." With that, she turned and went back to cleaning the kitchen up.

"You know, there's something ethically wrong with that," Fishlegs commented, earning a snicker from Ruffnut. Tuffnut grudgingly began digging through his pocket for some coins.

Snotlout stepped out from behind the other three. "Hey, make him pay quadruple," he said with an easy grin. Tuffnut gaped at him in horror and wildly shook his head, but was given no attention. For a brief moment, Snotlout and I held eye contact, and his easy-going façade fell apart as easily as loose snow tumbling down a mountain. His worried green eyes begged the question: Are we okay?

I forced a smile and turned to Tuffnut. "You heard him. Quadruple."

Tuffnut threw his head back and moaned. I held a hand out until he gave me the ridiculously high amount (which was actually even higher than quadruple, since he assumed the loaf was worth a price it wasn't) and then tossed the coins up and down in my palm to admire them. As slow as possible, I turned and retrieved the bread, only making it halfway to the counter before my friend lost his patience and snatched it from me.

It made my stomach clench at how fast he scarfed the entire damn thing down. From the expressions of the others, I wasn't alone.

Ruffnut shook the disgust off and handed me a silver coin. She pointed at a little burnt piece of bread about the size of my palm. It was in the 'reject' pile, which I had been about to throw out moments before. "Mind if I have that?" A sly grin slid across her face.

"It's on the house!" I exclaimed, tossing her both her money and dinner. She waved it mockingly at her flabbergasted brother and leaned against the counter.

"So…how's breadmaking?" She asked with a small frown.

I groaned and hung my head. "Horrible. I messed up almost everything I tried to bake."

"Well, statistically speaking," Fishlegs piped, "beginners always have a harder time…" he trailed off at my glare. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "It's fine. I just…" With a frustrated grunt, I slammed my fist on the table. "None of us were meant for this!"

Ruffnut hoisted herself up onto the counter and crossed her arms, slumping with a huff. "Tell me about it," she growled. "You think it's permanent?" She put her hand on her cheek, eyes downcast. She'd meant to sound casual and uninterested, but the slight tremor in her voice betrayed her fear.

Nobody said anything. Tuffnut held his elbow with his other hand and shifted back and forth. Fishlegs tapped his fingers together. Ruffnut and I remained statue-still, and Snotlout hung his head. Five warriors, pushed down by one mistake by a single person in their group.

This was not fair.

"I'm not sure," I said, fist clenching. "But I'm going to find out."


"Astrid, you know your punishment."

I stood my ground. "I know, Chief," I said. "But it was my fault that nobody said anything. I was the one who stopped them." I stepped into his house at his signal and held my head high. I had to look confident in my reasoning. If I seemed indecisive and unsure of myself, then he would see me as nothing more than a whiny teenager complaining in hopes of having things 'fixed' to her way.

Chief Stoick stopped pacing in his living room and held his forehead in his palm, shaking his head. But he didn't deny it; Snotlout had informed me earlier that he had told the Chief that it had been a "group decision" to not tell him about Hiccup. Which meant that I really did have a chance.

"If anything…I should be the only one punished," I confessed. "They just did as I said."

My leader turned around and gave me a hard stare. "They're not sheep," he said. "They had every reason to come to me and decided on their own not to. My decision stands."

Clenching my fists, I protested, "At first we thought Hiccup was still on our side, and for a while he was. But—"

"No 'but's!" He interrupted. "You had no reason to keep the Night Furies hidden away like that. I understand the need to hide him in the beginning. But when he turned back when you and Snotlout went to that shed, you still did nothing. And you did that because of your pride instead of thinking of the safety of Berk. Had you told us when you discovered them, then they would have not had the chance to grow strong enough to escape! We would have avoided this entire mess!" He took in another breath to continue speaking, but then stopped and turned away.

I ducked my head, gritting my teeth. "It's not our fault that they escaped."

"No, it isn't. You aren't being punished for that," Chief Stoick said. "You and your friends betrayed our village when you let Hiccup steal without saying anything. You betrayed our village again when you let him deceive you and stole food for him." I cringed with every word. "And you betrayed our village when you knew that the Night Fury had a weakness that we could exploit, but instead decided to say nothing even as we sent hunting party after hunting party after them. Do you know how we captured them?"

I shook my head, having lost the ability to speak. Never before had I seen him so angry at anyone but…Hiccup.

"We trapped them," Chief Stoick said. "We drove them to an edge and then forced them into a cave. And we did that because Snotlout told us their weaknesses. Had we not known that the Night Fury couldn't fly, then we would have surrounded them and charged him. Do you know how many people would have been killed if we'd done that!? Do you have any idea how devastating that would have been!?"

I couldn't find my voice. So I stood there like an idiot, mouth slightly parted, eyes bulging, shrinking away.

His face filled with anger and pain, and he advanced on me far closer than I felt comfortable with. "Answer me!"

I was shaking, overwhelmed. But I forced it back. "…A lot," I said, my voice tiny and coming out as a hoarse croak. I wanted to punch something; a warrior does not cry! Especially when their leader is speaking to them! It didn't matter how harsh he was; he was right.

"You're right," he said, his voice much more composed after his outburst. "It is true that many people were injured when those two escaped. But far more would have lost their lives if Snotlout hadn't come to me!" Chief Stoick continued. "That is why all of you are being punished, even him. All of you held out on us so you could prove yourselves as warriors, or because it made your pride swell. And in doing so, you could have killed someone!"

Our Chief rubbed his head again, huffing. "I am sorry that you lost your warrior apprenticeship, Astrid. I know how much it meant to you. But I can't let something like that go unpunished. Do you understand?" He looked me in the eye, seeming for all the world like he just wanted to lie down and never get up again.

I hung my head and whispered, "Yes."


Compared to waking up on a cart or in a cage, coming to soaking wet on a cliff was almost…welcoming.

I didn't wake with a start, as Toothless often did. Instead, consciousness drifted over me in a soothing caress, like a gentle mother waking her ill child in the night. I was cold and my open wounds were stinging in the sea-salt wind and spray, but it was so easy to push aside. I could just lay there in that half-dream haze, cushioned by grass and the warm body of Toothless next to me, for the entire day.

I took a deep breath, wading back into reality as slow as possible.

That was when Toothless decided that sleep was for wimps.

"Hiccup, I know you're awake!" I moaned, flipping on my side and covering my face with a wing. He grabbed an ear that was sticking out with sheathed teeth and began yanking at it. "I thought we broke this lazy habit a long time ago!" He growled, voice muffled. I tried my best not to laugh.

"No!" I whined, curling up into an even tighter ball. "I'm sleeping in today!"

The insistent tugging stopped. I peeked an eye out over a wing to see Toothless standing beside me, his expression unreadable. Unlike me, his injuries had all scabbed over, although he still was breathing unevenly. He gave me a small smile and said, "…alright. I'm going to go hunting—why don't you make a bed of coals to keep you warm?" He pushed the very wet ground with one leg for emphasis, forcing water to leak out of the grass below his paw.

I scrunched my face up, unknotting my limbs and shakily getting to my feet. "Wait, I'll go with you." How I would help I didn't know, but we didn't know for sure if this island was as uninhabited as we thought it was.

Toothless shook his head, eyes narrowing. "No. Those scrapes aren't going to heal if you keep stretching them and tearing them open. If I can't find anything by midday then I'll come back. You need to rest."

I glanced at the eastern sky and scowled. The sun was just drifting over the horizon! "But—"

Toothless lowered his head so that he was at my eye level. "Please, Hiccup."

Oh gods, those eyes were so huge and adorable and ugh! I held my glare for an extra second and then hung my head in disappointment, huffing. "Fine."

Toothless butted me in the forehead, which would have been slightly nicer if I'd been expecting it. "Thank you." He crouched and launched himself towards the forest, legs pounding on the ground in a lethal blur. "I'll be back soon!" He looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Probably!"

I beamed. "I'll be here! Maybe!"

Toothless stumbled and was within earshot just long enough to hear me laugh and throw a dirty look my way. I continued smiling, even as he disappeared within the underbrush.

I really didn't want to just lay here, though. I looked up and down the cliffside beach of the island and found nothing but shrubs, stones, and wildgrasses. I spotted a particular species that I recognized from one of the many outings that Dad and I had gone on…

Dad.

Shaking my head, I growled to myself, "Don't think about it. Don't think about it."

Gods, I could still hear the screams

The distraction I so desperately needed came in the form of a gust of ocean-borne wind nearly knocking me off my feet. I turned towards the salty air with a grimace, taking in the endless expanse of blue. It looked so calm, and yet, hours ago, the danger of falling in and drowning had been nauseatinglyreal. My heart skipped a beat looking out over it; I had no doubt that, the next time I took flight over the sea, I would be more than a little nervous.

Alright, scratch that. This was not a distraction. Thinking about drowning because I was running away from boats that were probably sent out to kill me wasn't the most relaxing activity in the world.

I slumped, but then perked up. "Ugh, why didn't I think of this earlier?" Getting back to my feet, I hobbled on stiff legs over to the cliff and stood a short distance from the edge. I wasn't exactly facing Berk, but I could still scan a very large distance.

I heard an echoed howl, a recreation from my mind; another dragon being killed in the Ring.

On that happy note, I began my watch for my father. And, gods damn me, after everything that he had done and allowed…I still hoped to see the sails of his ships on the horizon. I knew it would mean death and torture—especially for Toothless—but a tiny, naïve part of me was still convinced that if I tried hard enough, then maybe…

Sitting down with a sigh, I hunched over and draped my wings around my body for warmth. "Who am I kidding?" I mumbled, pressing my cheek into the upper joint of my left wing as if it were a hand. "He was going to kill me." The thought sent a shiver down my spine. I felt a yawning pit deep in my chest, the sting of abandonment still fresh. Not for the first time, I wondered why in the world it was so easy for him to just push me away like rotten meat.

I suppose an entire lifetime of being the Worst Viking Ever, son of the Best Chief Ever, would do that.

I never would have guessed that my mistakes would cost the lives of dozens. So many innocent dragons—sentient, thoughtful creatures—wrapped up in a war that they had no choice of participating in were murdered. I had played a massive role in all of their deaths. I knew that it wasn't completely my fault; Toothless had gotten through my thick skull on that topic long ago. But that didn't stop the guilt.

For a while I stared out at the ocean, my mind simply replaying the events of the previous day. This time yesterday, I was trapped and coming to a gradual acceptance of my death. It was almost surreal, like Toothless and I had always lived on this island and that I'd dreamed everything—my human life, my human family, my human murderers—inside my head, a horrible nightmare that had been whisked away by reality's harsh wakeup call.

I looked down at my chest, legs, and wings, where my scales had been rubbed raw by my bindings, and closed my eyes.

Some time later—I can't be too sure, since I dozed on and off—my thoughts drifted onto the others: Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut. I had seen a glimpse of the first two when Toothless and I were escaping, with the former looking so full of rage she was sickened, and the latter almost thankful. At least I could understand Astrid's anger—I had betrayed her trust, after all—but with Snotlout I was completely lost.

When I had apologized, he'd been so confused. Then he had gone back to hating even more than Dad, it seemed. But for that briefest moment he'd been concerned for me, almost afraid.

I dug my claw around in the dirt around me, all but giving up on my sentry duty. I drew little swirls and zigzags. Tipping my head to the side, I tried to channel magic into my claw, as I had done with my legs to push the cage doors open.

Nothing happened. For some reason I couldn't understand, I could only strengthen my entire body with my magic, not single parts.

Slumping, I brushed the patterns away with the back of my paw and stood up. Taking in a deep breath and filtering gas into my mouth (which still felt weird to me), I circled around with a stream of fire until there was a big enough bed for me to lie on. I settled down onto it, holding my wings and tail close for warmth, and looked out to sea again.

Gods…I could still hear the screams…


I awoke some time later to a gentle prodding in my side. Toothless asked me if I was awake and then quickly once he found that I'd already been asleep in the first place. He padded around my side in an attempt to shield me from the ocean spray and then lied down next to me. I remembered when he would have rather been captured than do that. Back then, everything wasn't so confusing and screwed up; Toothless was the evil dragon that had turned me into a dragon, and I…

…I was the one who'd shot him down. The elusive Night Fury, the dragon that preferred to attack buildings instead of people to protect the brainwashed dragons around him. The offspring of lightning and death itself, a species I was now a member of. My chest tightened, and I buried my head into the crook of his neck.

He was shaking all over.


We were eating in general silence when it finally occurred to me.

I gasped around my hunk of flesh, eyes widening and leaping to my feet. Toothless' reaction was about the same. "Woah!" I cried, staring at my friend as if he'd just grown two heads. He looked around wildly and then scrunched his face up in confusion as I stammered, "How—how—where—!?"

Toothless stared at me for the longest time. "…What?"

I pointed at his tail. "Your tailfin!"

He lifted his tail and wiggled the two perfect rudders on the end and gave me a sideways glance. "Wait," he began, "are you saying this is the first time you've noticed?" A wide grin grew across his face as I struggled to find coherent sentences, feeling my cheeks warm up in a fierce blush. It didn't help that the stupid dragon burst out into such loud laughter that he upset the birds into flying away.

"You…didn't notice…even when we were…flying!?" Toothless shrieked, rolling on the ground.

Oh, great. I was about 200% sure he would never let me get over this. "I was busy surviving," I grumbled into a piece of meat, chewing sullenly with drooped ears and frills. Which was true; I'd been too focused on getting away from our deaths to ask my best friend how he'd overcome his handicap all the sudden. This only seemed to make Toothless even more amused, to the point that he started choking on his portion of the deer.

"Great Dragon of the Sun," he wheezed, rolling back onto his paws and standing up shakily. "Sometimes I worry about you," he snorted, shaking his head. His eyes met mine—

—and for the first time since we were captured, the link came up. A torrent of happiness and relief bowled me over, surprise quick on their heels, all pining for attention like toddlers trying to impress their parents.

I heard Toothless' voice, so faint I might as well have been listening to the tail end of a long echo. I couldn't quite make out the words, though, but the emotion behind them—bafflement and worry—was as clear as if he'd just gone straight out and told me how he felt.

My face wrinkled up in confusion, mirroring Toothless', and it fell away. "Huh," I summed our general thoughts up.

Toothless gave a wry smile, shrugging. "I may know a lot more about magic than you, but that I can't explain. I've never heard your complex thoughts before in that connection, although I have come rather close when it is stronger." He tipped his head to the side, eyes narrowed. "There's something about that—it's not the kind of magic that I use. I've never seen it before, but it's…familiar." He continued staring at me, almost expectantly, and I flushed.

"Well, don't expect me to know!" I cried. "I didn't even know magic until yesterday."

"And look how far you've come. Maybe today you'll figure out you have four functional legs!" Toothless applauded with an eyeroll. I threw a piece of entrails at him, which he promptly snapped out of the air and allowed to dangle out of his mouth for an unnecessarily long time.

Ugh, ew.

Ignoring my very obvious repulsion, Toothless licked his bloody paws and explained, "There was a Flame-Skin in my cage. He knew I couldn't fly without my tailfin, so he sacrificed himself by using all of his strength to regrow it." He dropped his paw, his gaze becoming distant, staring at nothing. "His eyes were…"

He grew very still.

I understood all too well. I began to get up to comfort him, but he shook his head and gave me a thin smile. "He wanted me to make sure the both of us survived, and so I've done my best to honor his wish…" his fake expression crumbled and he hunched over, trying to hide a forlorn expression I hadn't seen since he'd thought I'd left him. "It…it wasn't fair."

This was like his version of my Snotlout. He looked so broken, like he felt he'd done this dragon a great wrong. I walked over to him and butted my head against his neck. "I know. But like you said, you honored him. I'm sure he'd be happy." I looked over at his healed appendage. "So it's permanent?" I asked, my limbs stiffening at the thought that it wasn't.

Toothless' smile grew. "Yes," he said, and a little bit louder, "it is."

Oh, thank the gods! "Yes!" I began bouncing around him in a happy dance, careful not to smash the deer in my celebration. "Something awesome finally happened to us! It worked out!" I cheered, loud enough to make a flock of birds fly away…again. Toothless might have laughed or even given a half-hearted "woo!", but I was too busy initiating an interpretive dance to notice. We weren't stuck again!

"You seem more excited than I am!" Toothless gasped through laughter that I was just now noticing.

I faced him, bouncing giddily. "Well, yeah! The whole reason that mess with the Ring happened was because you couldn't fly…now we don't have to worry about it happening again anymore! And you can fly now!"

Of course, out of thoughtless, impulsive afterthought, I added, "And now we can do something about the Queen!"

Toothless' grin faded, and I mentally slapped myself. We'd just had this conversation hours ago, and it had ended up in a massive argument that had left both of us feeling less than okay. Staring at the ground, I said, "…sorry. It's just…I hate being…"

"I know." I jerked my head up to see the Night Fury smiling, albeit a little strained. "I understand how you felt, and yesterday I acted very…defensively. While I was out hunting this deer, though," he gestured at the slain stag, "I couldn't help but put myself in his scales. Even without flight, I was a gigantic, overpowered creature that this deer was defenseless against, and killing it was such a simple task that I'm convinced you could have done it." I pouted, and he chuckled. "The others are just like this deer. They don't know what's happening, and they fall prey just as easily as this fragile creature." To accentuate this, he placed a paw on one of the deer's legs and pushed down. A piece of bone snapped out of its skin.

He looked up at me, eyes glinting in malice that I had not seen in a long time. "We have to kill her."

Anxiety began to well up in my chest. Planning the assassination of a near-god was no happy task…and yet, I still smiled. "Okay…cool. How do you think we should do it?"

Toothless closed his eyes in brief concentration and then shrugged. "I'm not sure. But right now, we need to wait for my wing to heal," he extended his right wing, showcasing a gigantic hole in the membrane that nearly stretched all the way between the two fingers it was nestled in, "and for you to, as well." This time he broadly circled his paw in the air, making me painfully aware of the numerous wounds I had sustained.

Nodding, I said, "Alright. How many days will it take?" I couldn't keep my gaze from flickering to his wing. It looked…awful. There was something nauseating about how there was a hole in his body. I cringed, averting my eyes to the gutted deer.

Okay, that didn't help.

"I'll give it a day or two," Toothless said, either oblivious to my wandering eyes or just not in the mood to call me out on my constant worrying. In a much more cheerful tone, he said, "Alright, let's finish this deer before the crows try to pounce it!"

We finished the deer in about a half hour and, for the first time in what felt like forever, were faced with the vulgar fiend most commonly known as boredom. I started a game of tag, but without a cove to bounce around on and the advantage of being able to fly, it was laughably easy for Toothless to catch up with me on his longer legs. Afterwards he suggested that we take a nap and then began a monologue on why exactly it wasn't a waste of time when I asked.

After sleeping for an hour or two, I can't say that it was as glorious as Toothless described it to be.

We sat around discussing random subjects for a little while before I suddenly realized: why don't we explore the island? Toothless, as starved for entertainment as I was, had agreed immediately, and we'd set off into the forest together.

Which led us to this.

"Ugh," Toothless groaned, staring down the cliffside that we'd come across, where the ocean scraping away at the break in the island looked like a little creek on all sides. The island was big enough to make the drop heart-stopping while also blocking out any view of the sea, making it appear as though an underground river had been exposed by the strike of Mjölnir. "I really don't want to strain my wing any more than it already is." He extended it and observed the scabbing puncture, shaking his head with finality.

I so did not want to stop here and go and sit on the coast again. "Maybe there's another way around…?" I leaned over the edge and searched in both directions, but even my super-dragon-eyes couldn't find a bridge. Not that Toothless would want to walk on one after his last experience with them.

Unfurling my wings, I said, "Here, let me fly around and see if it connects somewhere."

Toothless snorted, showing just how much he doubted that that would happen. "Don't take too long." I leaped into the gorge, allowing myself to fall into it, and then caught its updraft in my wings to take me above the treeline. "And be careful!" Toothless shouted, his exasperating tone daring me to go ahead and do something stupid.

From above, the trees were just thin enough to see through, which finally made me realize just how impressively huge the gap in the island was. The trees looked almost like mountains and spread far, and yet the large majority of the cut in the island was clearly visible. It dawned on me that finding a spot Toothless could glide over—even from the top of a tree—would be no easy task.

Keeping just out of reach of the tallest branches, I scanned the environment for a lull, a natural bridge, a taller-than-ordinary tree. There was an imperfection in the forest cover a little ways from the border: a lack of pines centered in one spot. While I knew it was too far away to be of any help, it drew me in; it was strange how there was just a random absence of foliage. Tucking my wings in, I dove through the stinging needles and thumped onto the ground.

The cause of the gap was a small clearing, where trees had been cut clean through at the base and eroded so much that their rings had begun to fade into a smooth off-white. Rooted in between all of them was a cottage.

It was so old that all the windows were covered in grime, impossible to see through. Vines had hiked all the way up one wall and were straining to engulf the entire roof, making it appear as though a house had been built into a hill of leaves. Moss had taken over every crack in the exterior, and the wooden door had rotted away so much that it was leaning against the doorframe. Pieces of stone were scattered about, fallen from a chimney that was blackened on the top—lightning had struck it, maybe?

My body refused to move; even though I knew it was uninhabited, the trickling suspicion that someone was in there about to attack me screamed for me to get out of here. I tipped my head to the side, taking a step closer to try to get a better look at the house. Something was wrong, but I couldn't quite put any words to it.

Then it hit me. This lonely, abandoned house looked exactly like the ones on Berk.

I fled.


In the end, Toothless and I couldn't find a way across the island's slash and returned to the shore that we had landed on. The walk was longer than usual; Toothless seemed distracted and lagged, his eyes glossy, ears and frills pinned against his head. He wasn't so much stumbling after me as he was blindly wobbling behind the little brown thing in front of him, unaware of his surroundings. When I asked him what was wrong, he shook it off and returned to normal, although there seemed to be a buffer between him and the real world. He was quiet and unresponsive.

The sun had set when we returned and the stars seemed brighter than normal. Toothless tried to burn a coal bed and then made a show of changing his mind. I lied down next to him and watched him as he fell away, quivering with an internal earthquake that refused to secede as the moon rolled its lethargic path across the sky.


I woke up by myself.

The sun's rays pierced my eyelids to the point that it almost felt blinding. I opened my eyes to an impossibly bright sky swathed in swollen clouds and a sun that was already past noon.

Toothless had curled up against me, burrowing his head underneath mine and shuddering as if he'd been scared senseless. My stomach dropped at how warm he was.

"Toothless," I called, poking him in the forehead with my nose. I shook my legs a little, making his head bob up and down. A little louder, "Toothless?"

The Night Fury did not stir. His scent was overshadowed by a sour, omnipresent musk that I had caught whiffs of earlier but given no thought to. Staring my comatose best friend, I wished I'd at least asked.

I shook him some more, yelled his name, upset the birds again—no response. When that failed I stood up and jumped around him, pushing his limp sides and head, as if disturbing his position would fix him. He didn't even twitch.

"Don't panic…don't panic…," I chanted to myself, pacing around Toothless and scrutinizing every single visible wound on his body. None of them looked infected. I couldn't tell which one, if any, was the culprit. I poked him again, even tried licking his forehead. All that did was remind just how much he was burning up, making my tongue feel as if I'd eaten fire.

He needed to be cooled down, now!

I sprinted to a nearby bush with large, bushy leaves and snatched half of the branches in my teeth. With a soft grunt I launched myself into the air, spun, and dove right off the cliff, narrowly avoiding smacking into a jagged rock sticking out of the ocean like a watch tower. I skimmed over the water and dipped the plant into the frigid water. A strong gust nearly toppled me over and I yelped, struggling to pull myself back up. I flapped my wings hard, sending the tips underneath the waves, and fought the horrible raking winds all the way back up to the coast.

By the time I landed I was out of breath, but I still placed the cool leaves on Toothless' head and neck. I sat down and rested until my legs were able to hold my body weight, then repeated the process twice.

My body did not appreciate the sudden exertion, and when I tried to take flight the third time, pain laced down my spine and limbs faster than a viper. I crashed and limped back over to the ill dragon, slumping into the ground like a warrior whose friend had just been slaughtered in front of him. I extended my wing over Toothless' back and curled my tail around him, sleeping only when it became unbearable to watch him any longer.


The next morning Toothless was no better. I'd changed my lousy attempts to cool him down several times and flown around the island to see if there were any snow or ice deposits, but his body temperature never dropped. For a while I sat next to him, wracking my brain for better ideas, and wondered how strange it was, how this would happen now of all times, and how warmth could be both comforting and terrifying, but never at the same time. Eventually I picked myself up and got back to work.

Even though the sun was just rising, I still trotted along the edge of the forest in search of bigger leaves that I could maybe cup water in. After just two days, I was starting to feel dehydrated; I could only imagine what a lack of water would do to a severely ill dragon. A rather large bush caught my attention and I drew closer to inspect it, only to droop in disappointment when it became clear that its leaves would not hold water when being carried by flying dragon. No leaves would, I realized, but I still had to try. I wasn't going to just lie down and give up.

With a soft snort I returned to my patrol of the border. The emeralds and blue-greens hidden beneath a thick coat of shadow provided no solution or comfort, only accentuating my complete lack of knowledge on what to do. I was completely helpless—again. In frustration I kicked a stone and watched it sail through the air.

It passed right through the head of an extremely large canine as if it wasn't even there. I stopped in my tracks, unable to comprehend what had just happened. How had it even gotten there without me noticing? I had been hyper-focusing on the forest for hours, and I hadn't even heard a twig snap or a rustling of foliage.

The dog tipped its head to the side, crimson fur dulled. It receded one step into the forest, black eyes locked on me. I took a hesitant step towards it; if it thought it could make easy prey of Toothless, I would give it a run for its money. I lowered my body into an unsteady crouch, my ears and frills flattening against my head as a low rumble rose from my throat.

The dog barked once and twisted, darting away from the forest. Seconds later another one burst from the undergrowth, much smaller but swifter.

They were heading for Toothless.

"No!" I demanded, giving chase. My feet pounded the earth in steady thunderbeats, but no matter how fast I sprinted, they always seemed to be a step ahead of me. Toothless came into view, lookingexactly like a tiny black pebble washed ashore, and I was certain that it was over, that the animals were going to get to him, tear his neck out and leave me desolately stranded and alone.

Right as they reached him, I let loose a roar of outrage and horror. They ran right through him—right freaking through him—and continued on their merry way. I faltered, stopping beside the unconscious form of my friend, mouth agape. The creatures did not look back, smears of blood against the distant western horizon. I squinted, sniffing at the air and confirming that there had been no scent left behind.

"…Fenrir and…?" I wondered aloud, and then shook my head. Toothless would have been dead if my suspicions were correct. "Spirits, then?" I asked nobody in particular.

Toothless did not respond. The apparitions were little dots now, finally ending their flight and facing towards us. I couldn't help but glance down at Toothless in hope that he could provide some input, but instead was met with his shaking, his uneven breathing, and the heat radiating off of him like a volcano.

Craning my neck, I glanced up at where the spirits had—and still—stood. Then back down at Toothless.

And then opened my wings and stormed into the air. The fake dogs waited for me to get close enough to make out their individual differences before setting out perpendicular to the coast. Without a second thought, I swerved midair to chase after them.

They ran faster than me again—which, considering I was flying through a dense forest, was not very fast at all, but was still impressive nonetheless. As we raced, the forest became a blur of deep green interrupted only by the bloodied fur of the ghosts, the only sounds being their feet hitting the ground in time with my wingbeats. At some point we came upon the ridge and I drew up short, a strange panic flooding into me. The spirits did not stop, though—they didn't even pause at the enormous gap that even an experienced Night Fury couldn't glide over—and jumped across as if it were nothing.

I flung myself after them, the unending fear still a very strong presence, and forced myself to catch up.

They stopped at the little clearing with the little house. The smaller one bolted through a bush and faded away, and a few seconds later the larger shared the same fate.

I crouched just inside the cover of the forest, shaking. The building stared back at me in condescension.

"Okay," I whispered to myself, bouncing on my feet. "Okay." I took one step into the clearing and grimaced, and then another, and another, each movement more painful than the last. The walk to the bush felt longer than it should have as I trudged towards the abandoned cottage. When I got to the bush I squeezed my eyes shut, sending a prayer that I hadn't just followed two hallucinations for nothing, and opened my eyes.

Little blue flowers were sprouting within the leaves of the bush. I sniffed them and flinched away at the horrible smell. It was like sweat and dead things mixed together and multiplied by twelve!

"Ugh!" I cried, clenching my eyes and wildly swinging my head to dislodge the horrible scent from my nose. "That smells bad enough to wake the dead!"

My eyes snapped open.


Carrying the flowers back to Toothless was, in one word, unpleasant. Halfway back I had to pause to hold down vomit, taking in slow, deep breaths and thinking of pleasant-smelling things, like rain and roasted meat and Astrid…

Nonetheless, I was up and moving a short time later.

When I finally returned to the coast, the sun was about a fifth of the way into the sky, casting faint warmth onto the island. I galloped over to Toothless and all but shoved the water-blue flowers up his nose. His eyebrows creased and he shifted a little, flexing his claws and scrunching his face. I called out to him as loud as my voice would allow (and somehow not startling the birds), shaking his shoulder so violently that it probably did more harm than good.

Toothless mumbled and his eyes flickered open, yellowed in the weak light. His eyes drifted back and forth before finally settling on me, half-lidded and fluttering. He sat up on shaking legs, bringing his head to about my height, and blinked several times. "Huh?"

Yes! Yes! "Toothless!" I screamed, leaping into the air and wrapping my arms around his neck. Which turned out to be quite an enormous mistake and sendt both of us toppling to the ground. I squeaked in surprise and got off of him before I crushed his throat, but still couldn't contain myself as I pranced around the dazed Night Fury in childish glee. "You're awake! Thank gods!"

Toothless made a noise that was about ninety percent confusion and ten percent annoyance. "Since when are you an early riser?" He grumbled, slightly out of breath as he rolled onto his side and rose to his feet unsteadily. His legs wobbled and he quickly sat down, something akin to shame crossing his face for a split second, and then glanced east. "Not that…I'm complaining," he wheezed.

Instead of responding I opted for rearing up to feel his temperature, pressing my cheek against his. He felt like a furnace.

"Hiccup?" Toothless began, wary. "What are you doing?"

I sat down in front of him. "Toothless, you've been unconscious for an entire day." He balked, eyes growing as wide as the moon. "I, uh…I found these flowers," I said, gesturing at the nasty things lying on the ground, "and I put them on your nose to wake you up."

Impossibly, Toothless' eyes got even wider. He scrambled to his feet and arched his back, hissing, "Eel flowers!"

"Eel flowers?" I asked flatly, raising an eyebrow.

Toothless nodded vigorously, extending a wing and forcing me away from them. "Yes. Like eels, they're extremely toxic and smell terrible."

"Well, I'm glad they smell bad, or you wouldn't—wait, what?"


Despite still being sick, Toothless wasted no time in lecturing me on "the dangers of putting strange plants in your mouth, you stupid fishbone". After a good few minutes, I interrupted to tell him that I should probably wash my mouth out, and spent a lovely time looking for a source of water that wasn't thousands of meters below the coast. Eventually I came upon a small creek and guided Toothless to it, wrapping my wing around him and supporting his weight as best as I could. Even though I was still horribly sore and pain laced down my limbs in random intervals, I knew he had it worse.

We walked in silence for quite a while. I kept on glancing over at Toothless, but his eyes were locked on the ground in front of him, wary of unexpected dips and upturned roots and the like.

Eventually, though, he spoke up. "Hiccup?" He asked, as if we were sleeping and he wanted to know if I was still awake. I raised my ears and frills to show I was listening, and he seemed to pause to collect himself. "I'm so sorry."

I stopped, giving him an odd look. "For what?" I said with an upturned eyebrow.

Toothless hung his head. "I thought I was fine, but it turned out my strength wasn't enough. You needed me and had no idea what to do, and I just slept all day…"

"Toothless!" I exclaimed. "It's not your fault you got sick!" I nudged him playfully, but he shook his head. With a grunt he started walking again, refusing to look anywhere but his feet, ears and wings drooped.

"Had you not lucked out onto those eel flowers," he whispered, "I could have died, and right after…" he didn't finish the sentence, but I knew anyways. And right after your father and his tribe murdered thirty-one dragons almost killed us both.

We finished the rest of the walk without speaking. Toothless couldn't hold back a sigh of relief when we came upon the creek and dunked his head into it, gulping down a very large, most-likely-unhealthy amount of water. He still looked like a child that had broken their great-great-grandfather's emerald-encrusted and very expensive sword.

"I'm not mad," I finally said. It felt like such a useless thing to say.

Toothless raised his head and shook it to dislodge random droplets of water. "I know," he smiled at me, "but I still feel guilty."

"You dumb lizard," I teased, slapping him with my tail on his ear. He bit me. I let loose a scream that was totally manly.

While I nursed my nonexistent injury, Toothless headbanged his way back into the creek. I shook my head, wondering if he would inflate and pop if he drank too much. But at least he was up, and seemed to feel better with each passing moment. When he eventually finished, I said, "Hey, why stop now when you can drink all of it?"

Grinning, the dragon pushed his paw into the water, flinging it out towards me. I yelped and narrowed my eyes, lowering myself to the creek and filling my mouth until my cheeks extended. Then I got up and started walking towards Toothless.

"No!" He cried, but he was too late! I sprayed all of it right into his face, smirking at the resulting unamused expression. "Yes, that is exactly where I was going with that," he huffed.

I shrugged. "You asked for it."

"Yes—and speaking of not asking for things," Toothless perked up suddenly, "how did you know to use those flowers?"

I frowned. "Well…it's just…" I sighed, shaking my head. "Don't laugh, but two spirits that looked like dogs led me to them."

Toothless blinked several times. "That's…unexpected," was the only response he could seem to think of. "Care to elaborate?"

I did. I retold how I'd first seen the bigger one, how their eyes looked like pitch black holes, and how they'd run faster than a dragon and gone straight through him as if he were the spirit. I tried my best to describe their peculiar bloodstained fur that seemed to glint in the darkest shadows, how they ran over thin air and vanished without even a little puff of smoke to mark their presence. The entire time Toothless leaned towards me intently, soaking in all the information. It made me think of how such a story would have been completely dismissed in Berk.

When I had finished, Toothless scanned our surroundings as if he expected our benevolent onlookers to be standing right there waiting for an introduction. He looked spooked. "Spirits are not to be troubled with," he said, much quieter than normal. "They probably want us off their island. If we overstay their welcome…" he shook his head. "It is uncanny how they seemed to have resembled the ones we saw before we were captured."

I nodded. I was all for leaving the island of creepy abandoned cottages and spirits. "But where will we go?"

Toothless cringed. "I know you disagree but—don't give me that look! I may be awake, but some eel flowers and water aren't going to heal my illness, and definitely not this." He pulled his wing around and opened it, staring at me through the ever-increasing hole that nearly touched both of the bones it was housed between. "If this stretches any more, I won't be able to fly. Neither of us have enough magic to heal it without staying here for a good week or two, and that gives the humans more time to find us and the spirits more reason to be annoyed with us. And the nest isn't too far from here as it is."

"The wolves…were probably my imagination," I began weakly. "I thought the ones we saw before could have been spirits too, and I was getting really stressed. Toothless, what if the Queen eats us?"

I was grasping at straws, and he knew it. "She needs us for our speed and fire. She wouldn't dare eat us when an expendable Hum-Wing is nearby." His eyes widened, ears and wings literally dropping, aghast. "I…I didn't mean that."

I wrinkled my nose at him, but shook my head. He was just as desperate for a way into the nest as I was out. "It's just…she did all those terrible things. I don't want to help her."

"But we need her help," Toothless responded gently. "You're just starting to scab over, and we're both dangerously low on magic. Healers can fix us up entirely in a single day rather than waiting weeks." He poked my arm. "And I won't let her eat you."

"Can we sneak out once we're better?" I wondered. Toothless thought about this for a moment, started to shake his head, and then nodded firmly. I smiled. "I guess…I can deal with that."

Toothless butted my forehead. "Good. Let's drink some more and leave before night falls." He dove right back into the creek.

How the hell can a dragon drink so much water?!


It looked like a giant claw rising from the ocean, surrounded by an army of fog-soaked pillars that refused to let me see anything past the mountain. It sounded like a thousand crickets chirping at once, with an underlying ever-present hum that wracked deep into my bones. It smelled of coal and fire.

My body buzzed in tune with an unknown source. I wasn't literally shaking, like Toothless was. But I felt it inside my body, a creeping monster that crouched so low that I couldn't pinpoint its exact location, only that it had spread from the tip of my nose to my tail. I felt exposed, insecure, and dirty, like a prisoner of war at the mercy of his captors, raped and beaten. I glanced over at Toothless, but he was too busy concentrating on not straining his injured wing to notice my unease.

"Hiccup," Toothless said, as if he had become aware that I had been watching him. "There are things you should and shouldn't do. You must address the Queen with utmost respect and as a Queen. If she tells you to do something, don't question it. It won't seem out of place to start up a conversation with someone, but if it becomes too thoughtful then she'll notice, so I would just stay quiet and use yes or no responses. Don't complain about anything, and NEVER enter the nest without food if you leave. In fact," he began to search the ocean below, "we should probably get some fish, just in case."

"Wow," I breathed, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Anxiety began to hook itself to my chest. In an attempt to shake it off I searched the water not too far below us for hints of life. I squinted when I thought I saw a flickering, and—

Toothless fired a blue-white blast of fire right into the water, and in the massive spray, a fish easily the size of my leg flailed midair. With an expertly-crafted dive Toothless had it in his claws, and again shot into the ocean, bringing up another fish about the same size. I caught it and nearly dropped it, the darn thing was wiggling so much!

"Alright," my friend smirked in triumph, and was beginning to speak when he cut himself off. "Look over there!"

Emerging from the mist were about a dozen silhouettes that took notice of us at just about the same time that we did and changed course immediately. I bristled, claws tightening on my cod or trout or whatever I was holding.

Toothless pulled down closer to me. "It's okay," he soothed, and then we were being circled. Toothless began to hover, glancing at his worsening wing in worry, and I struggled to copy him. It took an embarrassingly long time for me to get the correct base-fin and tail-fin angles, all of which every single dragon had their eyes locked on me. Including Toothless, who looked more than a little nervous by now.

"Shadow-Blender!" A Nightmare gasped in joy. "You've returned! And with a brother!"

"Yes," Toothless nodded. "I—"

"Who is he? And how are you even alive?! I thought you'd been downed!" The Nightmare that had spoken drew close enough to sniff at me. I did my best to look smaller. The last time one of these dragons had been this close, he'd been trying to turn me into a midnight snack.

The orange dragon chuckled. "This one's a little…skittish, I suppose, to be your kin, Shadow-Blender."

Annoyance crossed my friend's face for a second before he smoothed it back down into one of calm. "Correct. I found him after running into the forest to hide from the Vikings. My tail was injured, and we've just managed to get back now."

A Gronckle shook its head. "Only a Shadow-Blender like you could manage to keep the two of you alive when grounded on a human island. I am truly envious of your skill!"

Toothless flinched and looked at the hole, now much bigger, again. "Neither of us came out unscathed."

The dragons surrounding us finally seemed to realize that we were, you know, injured. The Nadder that seemed to be their leader gasped and apologized, "Oh my! Please, get back to the Queen. She'll help you." She angled herself away, and the others began to follow. "Take care!"

As they were departing, I finally found my voice. "Don't go near Berk!" I cried, but if any of them heard me, they showed no indication. They probably didn't even know what the word "Berk" was. Toothless hadn't until I'd told him.

With a powerful flap said dragon righted himself. I was less graceful, writhing around for a second before getting out of 'hover mode' and back into 'flying mode'. "That went better than expected," He told me with an encouraging smile. "You did very well."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but they all think I'm afraid of them now or something."

"Well, that isn't necessarily false," Toothless pretended to mumble to himself. I snorted. "Alright, here we go!"

I'd barely processed what he meant when he suddenly dipped towards a massive hole in the side of the mountain. With a small squeak I flew directly behind him, praying I wouldn't lose sight of him in the darkness and smack into a wall. We swerved, the cricket-chirping becoming deafening, and then everything was red.

It took everything I had in me to not stop and stare at the massive interior of the mountain, only now realizing that it was nothing but a giant shell. Holes and tunnels were everywhere, fire spurting up in random places, and a fog radiating with the red light drifted near the bottom of the cavern. Toothless banked out into its center and dropped his fish. I was quick to mimic him, although I felt a little silly dropping the food down a giant hole. Where was this almighty Queen, anyways?

Toothless settled down on a large, vacant platform, and I sort of plopped onto it next to him. In seconds that outcropping was overflowing with dragons, all of the yapping and spouting questions and sniffing and poking and prodding and AAAH! I turned around and hissed at a dragon that had figured that licking my wing was a good idea, parting my lips to show teeth. Both the dragon and Toothless halted in shock, and Toothless quickly draped a wing over me and told her that I'd had a long day.

Drawing close, he whispered in my ear, "What was that?!"

I just shook my head. "I...I was telling her to back off." If I was completely honest, I would have told him that I had just reacted, and that my actions had felt normal and appropriate until just now. But I was having more than a small problem with that, and kept quiet.

"More like you were telling her that you were going to launch her into the pit! Calm down!" Toothless scolded, and I nodded once and pressed into his side.

A low, omnipresent rumble rose from this bottom of hole we'd dropped the fish in. The noise died down a lot, but not completely. The guttural growl emerged again, much louder, and a few dragons actually began to hide.

"This is it," Toothless whispered, and that was all the warning I got before the mountain erupted. Lava and fog followed it as it rose to its great height above us and slowly dripped off its scales, falling back down into the cavern below us. All I could do was gawp and think: Don't faint.

This beast before us was godlike in size and sheer power. Her eyes were easily as big as I was when I had been a human, her jaw big enough to be filled with several helpings of Nightmares. I had assumed that she would be larger than a house from what Toothless had described about her eating dragons, but this was just ridiculous! Her spines were brushing the open hole in the ceiling, and yet only her neck and head were in view! Berk was nothing but a pebble to her!

The Queen lowered her head so she was at our eye level, and all the dragons standing next to us scurried away. I couldn't get over just how unfair this was. I could crawl up her nose and she probably wouldn't even notice!

My Shadow-Blender, welcome home!

Her jaw moved and I felt air come out, but it was almost as if her voice was booming in my head and not in reality. The feeling of invasion returned at full throttle and I flinched away, almost as if I thought I could crawl under Toothless.

Toothless nodded and discreetly nudged me, forcing me to stand up again. "I am sorry that I was gone for so long, my Queen!" He shouted, looking and sounding like an ant in comparison. "My tail was injured, and I was unable to fly out of the island!"

Wonderful, wonderful! It brings us much joy to see that you are healed! The Queen replied with as much warmth as the magma below her. But even I see that you are not completely unburdened. Allow me. The behemoth leaned down right towards us and I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting the inevitable. I felt something warm press up against my entire front.

A horribly distorted version of Toothless' and mine link appeared in my mind. It crept like a shadow, silent and unnoticeable unless you were paying attention to it. A sensation of flooding, ice-cold water bowled me over, and I snapped my eyes open—!

I was standing in a perfect arch, my wings splayed out (and one pushing against Toothless' cheek), my feet planted, and my head and tail close to the ground. My spines were bristling like a petrified cat, which is exactly what I looked like. The Queen chuckled, her horrifying maw lifting up into a demented smile, and the surrounding dragons mimicked her. Blushing, I straightened out and took in as many deep breaths as the heat would allow.

"Our humblest gratitudes, our Queen!" Toothless thanked her, shooting me a look that was completely "pull yourself together or I swear I'll sit on you". "Please forgive him…he was not expecting you to be so great."

Yes, yes, very understandable, The Queen dismissed. But what great fortune that you have stumbled upon this Shadow-Blender! Don't worry, little one, you are perfectly safe here. She said, showing her glistening Viking-sized teeth in an attempt to be comforting or something. It will be a great advantage to us to have two of your kind out during raids. Perhaps you would like to help with tonight's?

My eyes widened, and Toothless requested, "If you would allow, could we have a day to find food and help him adjust?" He wrapped his wing around me and adopted a "poor-thing" tone of voice. "Neither of us have eaten much in the past weeks, and my friend needs to learn how to function in civilized society." I glared at him, and he simply smiled in a way that told me that this was payback for acting "uncivilized".

The Queen was silent for a moment. And why exactly have you been unable to eat? Surely game is on the island you were on?

"Y-You don't know?!" I gaped in disbelief at her, hot anger flashing through me.

She had the audacity to deflate and actually look depressed! Ducking her head low, she moaned, I see what you are hinting at. I am afraid that a group of dragons has been lost, captured by the vile creatures that inhabit they were near. Were the two of you taken as well?

Toothless nodded, his expression truly solemn, unlike the Queen's. "I am afraid that…we were the only survivors," he informed her unsteadily. The massive dragon reeled—literally reeled—in shock. I stared around us to see that plenty of dragons were staring up at her with adoration in their eyes; look at the poor Queen, so upset over such a small loss, so loving. Ugh.

Very well, she broke the short silence. You are given a day of rest. But by tomorrow at noon, both of you are expected to begin normal nest duties.

Toothless lowered his head and spread his wings in a strange sort of bow. I did the same on much more hesitant ground.

Without another word, The Queen withdrew and was gone. The dragons all seemed to hesitate as one, and then slowly got back to milling about. They began moving at the same exact time: those who took flight leaped and flapped in unison, those who rested all sat down in identical positions as if they were mirrored images, and the few who walked around looked as if they were perfectly trained soldiers moving as a single unit. I watched them openmouthed, but Toothless just got up like it was no big deal and smacked me upside the head.

"Ow! Again with the slapping!" I groaned.

Toothless was not amused. "You almost got us wing-deep in trouble just now," he told me, so quietly that we were the only ones who could possibly hear. His hard expression softened. "Please, try to be more careful. I know it's hard."

Rubbing my cheek, I sighed. "Sorry. What do we do now?" I looked down at myself and then at Toothless (more specifically, his wing). We both looked like we'd never been hurt in the first place, and all the exhaustion I felt had dispersed. "Do you still feel sick?" I asked in worry.

"No, thank the gods," Toothless said. "But I'd like to rebuild my magic more. It seems that the Queen focused more on the physical." He rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Wonder why," I said sarcastically. I'd been here for less than an hour and I was already hating it, and now we were expected to stay overnight? Joy.

Toothless shushed me with an understanding smile and then leaped into the air, snapping his newly-healed wings open and taking the updraft somewhere. It occurred to me that this was the first time he'd flown with completely healed wings and tail since I'd shot him down. How bittersweet that it was here of all places that he was finally able to be free.

I did the same and jumped of the cliff, circling lazily and allowing the heat to lift me up to the outcropping Toothless had landed on. He walked into a little cave, stepping over some cute baby Nightmares and Terrors chewing on stones, and called out if anybody was inside.

Two heads slithered out and wrapped around the two of us. "We are here," one half of the female Zippleback greeted.

"And we can see nor smell any injuries," the last one concluded. Both of them untangled and brought one head in front of each of us.

"What is your business?!" Both barked at once, squinting at us. I blinked in shock and confusion and was more than a little upset to realize that I missed the spunky Zippleback from Berk. He was so much kinder and better than this one.

Toothless seemed just as annoyed as I was. "We need our magic healed. But it seems you don't know how to do that," he turned away from the flabbergasted, deeply insulted dragon and looked at me. "Let's go find someone else."

We both turned around when the two necks twisted around us and intertwined, locking us in. The Zippleback was forced to look at us from the corner of her eyes, but she did pull off the "mystical old lady" look quite well. "We can heal you," one head snapped.

"In return for protection in any raid we are together in," the other finished.

I raised an eyebrow. "But we'll be busy knocking down…uh…things," I said lamely, realizing that I should have just kept quiet about halfway through the first syllable.

"You will still be bound to protect us," she replied, unimpressed. I looked at Toothless, who just shrugged, and then nodded. "Excellent!" The heads retracted for a second before then wrapping all the way around Toothless and meeting up with each head on one side of his. Poor Toothless' pupils retracted in surprise and a whole lot of discomfort.

"Should I leave you three alone?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and an ear. The Zippleback head closest to me shot a stream of gas in my face that sent me into a coughing fit. "Augh, sorry! Jeez!" I wiped at my nose and coughed, trying to get the foreign, heavy-tasting stuff out of my system.

None of them responded. Instead, the Zippleback said something about opening Toothless' "magic channels" and all three closed their eyes, brows furrowed in deep concentration. They held completely still for several long, awkward, boring minutes. Eventually both heads opened their eyes and retreated, turning into the little cavern and pulling out some sort of spiny leaves.

"Eat this to bind the spell," the left head ordered, and Toothless did what he was told. He looked a bit queasy at the taste.

"How does a leaf do that?" I said. It made no sense!

Both heads turned to me. "It is infused with magical properties," the right head snapped. "Just as those hatchlings play with the unbreakable stones, medicines can be enchanted as well."

The left head broke her "wise old one" character for a moment and explained, "Well, it actually is just infused with so much power that the spell cannot wear off…but…" she trailed off when her twin gave her a dirty look, and cleared her throat. "It is something that a lowly adolescent like yourself would not understand." She restated, lifting her chin. I gave her a flat look.

"Your turn," both heads decided after a moment, and wrapped themselves around me in the same way they did to Toothless.

"Wait!" I cried. "How do I—"

Toothless interrupted me. "Just activate you magic without focusing on it. That way it won't hurt you."

I scrunched my eyes, gritting my teeth in concentration. Hidden away in my mind was a little orb of energy—I imagined that it glowed—that I could just barely grasp with my claws. I huffed in effort, forcing the orb to expand throughout my whole mind, encompassing it. The humming and cricket sounds began to fade away on a wave of calm, and I noticed right away that the shadow that I had felt earlier was wriggling about, fighting at the light that was diminishing it. It eventually gave up and fled, and my chest convulsed as if someone had smacked it like a wardrum. The Zippleback let out a whoosh of air from each head, as if it felt the same.

A new entity—the Zippleback, I knew—crept into my mind like a wary rabbit on high alert. It tiptoed along the edges, never fully immersing, and slowly began building at it. I watched it in my eye's mind as it took excruciatingly long to complete, at least twice as long than with Toothless. My mind began to wander, settling down on why this didn't hurt like the last time Toothless had used magic on me, but I supposed it was because he had been healing a wound and not replenishing something that was already there.

At last, the two-headed elder cut herself away and I snapped myself back to reality. The buzzing and humming almost overcame me, and once again the shadow flung itself at me and burrowed beneath my thoughts, where it could not be reached. The Zippleback seemed to feel the same, shakily giving me some leaves. She seemed off-put, gazing around her like she'd never seen the nest until just now. "How did…" the left began.

"…you do that?" The right completed. I tipped my head to the side as I munched on the bitter, dry plant, and the Zippleback shook her heads.

"We need to think," she said, and without waiting for a response turned and trotted back into the cave.

I frowned. "What was that all about?" I asked Toothless. The Night Fury walked up to me and sniffed around for a second, one eyebrow reaching for the sky.

"I'm…not sure. I think…maybe your magic was different to her, and she was disorientated. Remember when you tried to heal me when we were being chased but you knocked me out instead?" He pointed out.

I slumped a little. "Yeah, that was the opposite of helping."

"It was!" Toothless confirmed. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. She seemed like her spines had been pushed too deeply into her head anyways. What kind of dragon wraps around another one like that?" He shuddered.

"You?" I recalled, remembering the numerous times he'd lay down next to me and put some appendage around me. This comment of mine led to a rather remarkably stunned dragon, and for the first time, I saw what Toothless looked like when he was so embarrassed he was speechless. The dragon gaped several times, ears standing straight up, and then eventually settled for giving me a dirty look and pouting off in a random direction. I laughed. "So what now, Cuddles?"

Toothless bristled. "How about I teach you how to get out of a neck-hold, Freckles?" He grinned impishly, settling into a low crouch. I jumped to my feet, turned—

—and sprinted headlong into a Gronckle that had landed right behind me. He squeaked in surprise and lay low to the ground while I rubbed my nose. I pretended not to notice when Toothless walked to my side and made a plethora of clumsy jokes in rapid-fire; mine were way better, anyways. I informed Toothless of this, and thus a debate was started.

"Um, excuse me?" The Gronckle whimpered in the middle of our conversation, eyes locked on his feet. "The Queen wishes to see you."

That stopped us both in our tracks. Toothless and I both glanced at each other in worry and confusion, and said, "What?"

He started to shake at our agitation. "Please forgive me for interrupting, Shadow-Blenders…but the Queen said that if the brown one does not come to her soon, and alone, she will be upset. Please…" he whimpered, eyes begging for me, apparently, to hurry up and get my ass down there.

"Um…alright," I said, and the Gronckle flopped to the ground, smiling. He thanked me profusely before taking off, his flight halting and unsteady.

Toothless grabbed my arm. "Are you sure?" He asked me, concerned. "She doesn't usually call dragons down like that. We can run right now…"

I considered this. But looking around, at all the dragons moving so mechanically, I knew I would never forgive myself if I just left these dragons here, helpless and alone, even in their own minds. That Zippleback must have been shaken not because she was tired, but because she got a glimpse of what true freedom was like when she touched my magic and was deeply connected with me. It must have been a cumulative effect, from both Toothless' and mine free magic clashing with her captive magic.

Well, it made sense to me.

"No," I finally said. "I want to see what she wants." I got up and looked down the deep hole, feeling a wave of nausea hit me. I swayed unsteadily and Toothless caught me, holding me upright and purring in a vain attempt to be comforting.

He pointed down at an outcropping just above the fog, where a few dragons were lying down and soaking up the warmth. "I'll be right there if you need me." He smiled. "I'm sure she just wants to learn more about you."

"What should I say?"

Toothless grinned. "Lie your scales off. Say you're from some island like this one and that you got kicked out of your own tribe, or maybe that you just set off on a self-actualization quest." He suggested.

"Only a self-actualization quest," I mocked, but I couldn't help but return Toothless' smile. I opened my wings and leaned down, letting myself dive before the heat flung me right back up. A moment later I heard Toothless take off, and for just a few seconds we were flying together. But then Toothless broke off and landed with a soft thump somewhere off to my right, and I dove through the surprisingly hot fog.

It was like unlike anything I'd seen before. The entire floor was roiling lava, and when I opened my wings as wide as I could in fright I was launched right back up into the fog. Gritting my teeth, I angled myself back down and hugged the edge of the mountain until I came across a small cliff that I could sit on. Landing was tricking; it required opening my wings again, but whenever I did I was buffeted back. I had to settle for just closing them directly over the landing and falling several feet (and facefirst) onto it.

The stone was searing hot. I yelped and scrambled to stand on my feet, which wasn't much better but much more preferable to having my face on it. I could handle the heat on my feet, but for how long I was unsure of.

"Hello?" I called out, coughing as the ambient heat thrust itself into my lungs and mademe feel as though I'd inhaled fire instead of exhaling it. Remembering how Toothless had spoken earlier, I amended, "Your Majesty?"

The lake of liquid fire shifted. It began to inflate for just a second, and then the massive head of the Queen burst out. She opened her eyes and glanced to and fro, sniffing the air animatedly. Suddenly she swiveled towards me and her eyes focused right onto mine. I shrank back, watching as little streams of bright orange trailed down her face and back to its source with sparks and hisses.

Hello, young Shadow-Blender, the Queen began. I offer much gratitude for your swift response. Very true to your kind. She turned her head and studied me carefully, and I found myself nodding with a smile that even felt fake. For whatever reason, this seemed to satisfy for her. Tell me, from where do you hail?

"A mountain!" I blurted, Toothless' suggestion being the first thing that came to mind. "I mean, I lived at the base of it, near a forest." Which wasn't even a slight lie at all, really.

The Queen nodded. A mountain, and all by yourself?

I thought about lying about having a family. Dad's furious, disappointed scowl filled my vision, and I squeezed my eyes shut, lowering my head a little. "Yeah," I said, so quiet I doubt she heard me. "I was alone."

Again. Not a lie.

The Queen hummed in sympathy. What happened to your family? Or is that not a topic you are comfortable with? She revised, her voice sympathetic and gentle.

Gods, for all the world, she seemed like a kind, caring leader. And yet Toothless had said that she'd fed on dragons, lured them into traps so she could catch prey, and even forced the dragons to hunt solely for her, to hell with their own food supply. I found myself trapped in her gaze, wondering if Toothless had…over-exaggerated? Maybe he disliked her way of leadership and so saw malevolence where it wasn't.

I ripped my eyes away from the godlike creature's. No. Toothless wasn't the over-exaggerating type, and he certainly wouldn't have imagined it up on his own. I was falling into the same trap as the other dragons.

With a shrug, I said, "I left our nest once I was old enough to. I always wanted adventure." A memory of when I was young and traveled off into the forest, somehow managing to come out of a battle with a ferocious rabbit unharmed, flitted into my mind. A fond smile formed on my lips. How simple everything had been back then.

Ah, all young dragons do, the Queen said, and your adventure concluded on your island? I nodded. The Queen turned her head to look at me again. Would you leave to perform rituals?

Rituals? What?! I didn't know dragons did rituals!

"N-no," I said, forcing myself to look straight into her eyes. Quick, pretend to be anything but nervous! I ducked my head again in mock shame, adding on mournfully, "But I wish I could have."

Sadly. What of the human island that your friend fell upon? He was downed by a mighty warrior, I heard, and could not fly. Why were you there?

It took a lot to not laugh at the "mighty warrior" bit. The ground was hurting me! But at least this was something I was familiar with! "I was hungry. There's this shed that the humans keep their food in, and I was rummaging through it when we sort of came upon each other." The Queen narrowed her eye critically and turned to have her nose facing me, a grin plastered on her face. My heart hammered. Did I say something wrong?!

So you two decided to hide until he could leave, but were captured instead? The Queen went on as if nothing had happened.

"Yes," I said. Once again, anger flashed through me. She had a knowing look in her eyes. "There were dozens of other dragons there, and all of them but us were murdered." My claws dug into the dirt. I took a deep, painfully hot breath and reminded myself that pissing this dragon off was probably not going to help me very much.

The superheated stones below me seemed to build in intensity. I switched to standing on my toes.

For some reason, the Queen seemed lost in thought. Then, I am sorry. I know that your experience must have been very traumatic. Why don't we speak of something else?

She fell silent, expectant. I shifted on my feet a little. "Uh…nice weather we're having?"

The Queen threw her head back and laughed; it was a wheezy, reedlike sound that sent shivers prickling through my entire body. I weakly chuckled along with her, almost certain that she would figure out that I was spouting lies.

Shaking her head, the Queen chortled, I like you, young Shadow-Blender. You show great potential and a sharp mind.

I reared my head back for a moment and bowed, spreading my wings out both for balance and to look more regal. "Thanks, Your Majesty," I said, eyes on the obsidian stones below me. I swayed back and forth in an effort to keep my paws from burning, but it was no use; the heat was getting to me. Stinging pain was rising up from the ground like a slow fire.

You are most welcome. Rise. I did as I was told, and she bent uncomfortably close and sniffed me. I see that you have regained more magic. Have you coincided with a healer?

Leaning far back and trying not to stare up her nose, I said distractedly, "Yes, we went to see a Two-Neck."

Yes, yes, I know the one you speak of. A bit odd and overdramatic, but a good healer nonetheless. So tell me, what spells are you able to perform? She withdrew, much to my relief.

My mind flew back to the tunnel Toothless and I had been in, and my failed healing spell that had almost killed us both. "I'm…only able to strengthen my limbs and fire," I admitted.

Magic is a new subject to you?

Even I knew answering truthfully would have severe consequences. "I'm just not very good at it," was what I settled on. I stared into her eyes again, feeling a whole new sense of unease come over me.

The Queen gave a slow nod. I see. It is never too late to learn, however. You can always ask a fellow dragon to teach you, Shadow-Blender. Now, before I take up any more of your time, I would like to ask you one more question.

My ears stood straight and I raised my head. One more question! Finally!

The Queen drew in close and turned her head. My tiny reflection shimmered on her clouded eyeball. Would you show me a paw?

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, I lifting my left leg and held it out. It looked completely normal.

Turn it over, please.

Hesitating just a moment, I followed her instructions. And felt my stomach drop.

Burned. My paw was burned, blistering in the intense heat. But dragons were fireproof. It should have been as smooth as it was before I came down here. Damn it! I thought, my mind racing desperately for an explanation. What should I say?!

The Queen didn't speak and instead huffed, drawing back and turning her nose towards me again. The magma below her rippled like poisoned water, casting glimmering light onto her maw and spines. She sniffed at the air for the longest time.

You are very intelligent, she stated. Perhaps more than even your friend. But not intelligent enough to fool me, unfortunately.

Oh no. How much did she know just by looking at my feet?!

Allow me to explain to you your faults. Most dragons do not even know that the word 'shed' exists. While we dragons do hold rituals, it is not looked down on to do them alone or even miss them completely due to complications. And the species is called Two-Head, not Two-Neck. Not to mention Shadow-Blenders are well-known for their ability to withstand fire, or their own flames would incinerate them unless they were swift enough to fly out of range.

My eyes widened. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think. It was over. She'd been playing me all along.

You are the human the Shadow-Blender changed.

I jolted in horror. "N-no! I'm—"

He lips rose, revealing deathly sharp teeth. Silence. There is no need to lie to me any further, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. You are the descendent of Stoick the Vast, the leader of your tribe, the wager of wars, the executioner of countless dragons, yourself nearly included.

She lowered her head towards me again. I gritted my teeth, leaning back on my hind legs and unfurling my wings. How was I going to get away from her without her snapping at me? Was it even physically possible?

She snorted a puff of air that nearly sent me flying back against the mountain. I crouched down, sheathing my teeth filtering gas into my mouth in a vain attempt to ward her off—

I am sorry.

The Queen gave a sad little chuckle at my gobsmacked expression. It was not the Shadow-Blender's place to force this form upon you, wounded pride or not. You have suffered a great loss as a consequence of his actions. It seems that now, even as a human, your kind would have trouble allowing you into their midst again.

She paused as if to wait for me to reply, but I was too baffled, too overwhelmed. Most hybrids like you do not survive. Their systems go into shock or organs are half-formed. A misuse of magic can also catalyze the formation of tumors, suddenly revert on itself, or all but consume the organism affected. I would say that it is simply dumb luck that you are standing here in one piece and not several.

My shock died down at this revelation. "Wait—are you saying that there are more dragons like me?"

The Queen smiled. I am most sorry, young one. But almost all of them have perished, and those that remain are but shadows of their former selves. I can't help but wonder if the same fate will fall upon you…

"No." I raised my chin, meeting her gaze evenly. "I won't be like them. I'm still me." No matter how much I changed, I have always known who I was. The incident with the Nadder just moments ago sprung to my mind, and I threw it aside.

You have been a dragon for less than a full rotation of the seasons. How can you be so sure? She said. However, if it is your wish to remain who you are presently, as Hiccup the Slightly Human Dragon, then I may be able to help you stay true to yourself. I know it must be very hard to do so, having your own father demand that you be killed. She shook her head at this.

I lowered my eyes. As much as I hated it, she was right. What did I know of humans that had been turned to dragons? She'd even brought up how Dad…

I scrunched my nose up in thought. I didn't remember telling her about that.

The epiphany hit me in a wave of revulsion. "You knew!" I cried, snapping my head up and opening my wings. "You were so connected with those dragons that you could hear what my father was saying! You let all of them be murdered!" I pointed an accusing claw at her, demanding, "Why couldn't you have just sent help!?"

She seemed to change positions, raising her neck further into the air and disrupting the magma pool. Every Viking warrior was concentrated in that area. No matter how big of a group I sent, our losses would have been heavy, and the chances of us even succeeding in freeing the captives would have been very low. Please, try and imagine the bloodshed that would result from that.

"No!" I snarled, taking a step forward. "Dragons never attack in the day, and you know it! They would have been completely off-guard, and swarming in all at once would have rattled them enough to help the others escape! And you could have at least let them have their own minds in their last moments!" I clamped my mouth tightly shut after the last sentence, finally realizing that I had gone too far.

The Queen was taken aback as well. And rob them of their only comfort? Let them truly realize that their deaths were upon them? I am all that my children have. They would be distraught without me. She shook her head like it was a sad truth.

I took a small step forward. "It sounds like you would be distraught without them. Especially since you don't give them a choice."

How little you know, she mused. Listen closely, hybrid. You have a choice to make. You no longer have a place with the humans—the humans that you just plotted against, might I add—but you can rebuild your life among us dragons. As a Shadow-Blender you would enjoy a high status among the tribe and lifetime of friendship and family. She was nearly nose-to-nose with me. Which is something that I understand that you have never had. They will not care where your roots lie. I guarantee it. I will allow you your own mind, and perhaps your friend his own. You will be happy and accepted, just like you've always wanted.

It was tempting. So, so tempting. And I hated myself for admitting it.

But all I could do was stare at her in a blank daze.

She had Toothless…under her control?

No, my mind screamed. It pinned the very notion to the ground and tore its throat and heart out, ripped its corpse to shreds and hurled it into the ocean. No, Toothless couldn't be under her control. Not my Toothless, my best friend, the only creature that had ever taken the time to get to know me. Not the one who'd saved my life countless times and who had liked me for the person I was. Not Toothless. Not Toothless. No.

No.

"We need to go to the nest," Toothless told me. He was completely serious.

No.

"We need to rest somewhere safe," Toothless tried to persuade me. I gawked at him, remembering the hatred in his voice when he described the Queen, the stories of her ravenous hunger that crossed the edge of cannibalism.

…no…

"We need her help."

I sank to the unforgiving ground, waiting for the absent tears to come. Toothless was under her control. He had always been under her control. He must have had some inkling of freedom because of how clear-minded he was in comparison to the dragons, which was just enough for him to know that she was hurting him but never having the mind to pinpoint why. She had been ever-present in all of our conversations and our actions without either of us even knowing it.

My heart dropped when a thought occurred to me: had the Queen forced Toothless into our friendship to clean up the mess he made of me? Had she clamped her control on him after I'd shot him down?

Through all of this fruitless circling, the Queen watched me with her head to the side, eye locked onto me. I gave the Shadow-Blender a portion of his free will so that he would be cunning enough to take care of my children during our scavenging. But believe me when I say that I had no part in your transformation. I watched from afar for a short while until it became apparent that he needed my help. It was me edging him to befriend you and not kill you in blind hatred. It was me teaching you our ways. It was me giving him support to live through the Kill Ring. And it was me trying to send you both back here, where it is safe. The venomous words dripped with disgusting sympathy, as if I was too stupid to understand.

"And where were you when he was dying?!" I all but sobbed in sorrow and hatred. "Where were you when he needed you most?"

Where do you think that patrol you ran into was going earlier? She said gently, like a mother soothing her frightened children. I waited to see if the Shadow-Blender would make it through the night, and once I regained consciousness I instead sent them to go hunt. She observed me crumpled against the pitch-black cliff and then said, It is for the better that the dragons are under my control. The sooner you learn that, the less painful this will become.

The memories of the dragons sacrificing themselves for "the sake of the Queen" filled the forefront of my mind. The way the dragons above acted as one, stripped of all individuality. The way she had manipulated Toothless. I glowered at her, a tidal wave of rage building up inside my chest.

"NO!" I howled, rearing up on my hind legs and shooting the most powerful magic-aided fireball I could create at her! "YOU! ARE! WRONG!"

The plasma roared into her forehead, a sun-white ball of pure, sheer power. When it hit it sent a purple-blue light pulsating from it in a radiant wave. The Queen was flung back, gasping, and sunk back into the lava. For about two and a half seconds, I stood on the edge of the cliff and stared her down, claws gripping the edge and chest puffed out, feeling pretty damn proud of myself.

The Queen blinked once and rose, baring her putrid teeth and rotting gums in all of their hideous glory. My confidence wavered and then found a little corner to shrivel up and die in.

Despite everything, she smiled. She let out that windy laugh, sending torrents of rancid, carrion-smelling breath sailing over me. My, my, how spirited you are. I have not seen a dragon with your passion in quite some time.

That fond smile remained even as she turned her head to look at me. Such a shame that your fire needs to be whittled. But, as you know, one spark can ignite an entire forest. The grin fell from her face, replaced by something that looked almost grim.

"What?" I choked, eyes widening and ears and wings lowering. I backed up, leaning low to the ground as the beast rose to loom over me, staring relentlessly, never blinking.

Perhaps someday you will understand. I am sorry. Know that I am helping both of you, my child.

The shadow that had been lurking in the labyrinth of my mind suddenly launched forth like a starved animal having just found a meal. My head became compressed and heavy, as if it weighed as much as my body, and everything was spinning and—and—!

I clenched my eyes shut, forcing the light from before into existence. She wasn't going to get away with this! Groaning, I pushed back with all my might, trying to blind the monster and rip it apart until it was nothing but mist! It stumbled back, and I felt an alien emotion pound through my skull, something of shock, but there was no time to think of that, no time for anything! I had to fight and never stop! I had to warn Toothless!

The shadow seemed to compose itself and collected into a flame fed with intellect and willpower, seeking to consume. The wall I manifested held fast, and unstoppable force collided with unmovable barrier, deadlocked.

Until that wall crumbled.

There was a crack—a lingering doubt—and that was all the shadow needed. Like a cannon bursting through a ship it exploded inwards, shrapnel flung in every conceivable direction. I was dimly aware of my body smacking into the ground, hard, but all I could concentrate on was the invasion of my being, the virus of the mind that was flooding in like a thousand ravenous bloodhounds that had caught the scent of a fox.

no…

It was falling like heavy snow inside my consciousness, silent but lethal. Everything was becoming distant and subdued. My sight faded, my ears deafened. Even the sensation of the simmering rocks beneath me simmered down to nothing, and I was floating in a great nothingness that was overflowing with a thousand other presences that were trapped in their own personal niches. I tried to reach out to my body, but it was so far away. And I was so tired.

I was dimly aware of two figures swathed in heavenly light pulsing in the distance. But they, too, were covered by the comforting blanket of darkness, and all was still.


Shadow-Blender, you were found deserted on an island, injured and dying. You were brought here to this nest, where our greatest healers worked day and night to prevent the Dragoness of the Moon from taking you under her wing just yet. We are uncertain how you came to be on that shore, but consider yourself a very lucky dragon indeed. The hunting party that discovered you nearly flew right over you.

Do not worry. You have recovered. You will learn the magic you have forgotten and build the strength you have lost.

You are safe now, my child. Let your mind rest in peace…


Where in the Dragon of the Sun's name is Hiccup?!

I stared impatiently at the bloodred fog below me, clawing at the dirt in anxiety. They had been down there discussing something for an excruciatingly long time. I glanced up at the tiny slice of sky above, but was given no indicator to exactly how much time had passed.

Alright, this is just ridiculous. The Queen has never called a dragon down to speak with for so long. It was to be expected, of course. But the perpetual oddness hung in the air like a thick cloud of gas, and I was choking on it. I flew threw a thousand different scenarios of what was going on down there, and none of them ended in sunshine and rainbows.

Opening my healed wings, I leaned forward and dropped off the cliff. I began to think of an excuse to intervene: we want to get the Queen more food, we need the rest of the day to hunt, Hiccup needs to begin magic training.

I had chosen the first one when a pair of talons closed around my side, snapping my wings tightly against my body. I looked up to see a young Two-Walker of all dragons holding me in his powerful grip, fixing me with a patronizing look that he really did not have any right to wear.

"Put me down right now!" I screeched with as much authority as I could muster, flailing about and unsheathing my teeth. How dare he interrupt me! Hiccup could need me right this instant and this lowly dragon, barely old enough to know magic, was stopping me on a whim!

The ocean-blue dragon followed my orders, returning back to the crowded outcropping that I had just jumped off of. He set me down and I spun to face him, hissing, "Just who do you think you are?!"

He had the good sense to avoid eye contact, but spoke with quite an attitude. "The Queen does not like to be interrupted. Wait your turn."

I blinked in shock and advanced on him, curling my lip up to reveal just a hint of my teeth. "And what puts you above me?" I said quietly, rearing up on my hind legs so that I was equal in height with him. For added effect I unfurled my wings and raised them above us in a canopy, forcing both of us in my shadow and undoubtedly making my eyes appear as if they were cast in a wicked glow.

The Two-Walker, on the other hand, pressed his limbs close to his body and crouched low. "Would you rather be eaten, Shadow-Blender?" He growled in the way that only stupid, reckless children could, his eyes shooting up to meet mine for a moment and then darting away.

A small part of me realized that I was taking out my stress on him and that he was, actually, right on both levels. I ignored it; no dragon had any right to grab another one out of the air, risking injury to their wings! Especially to a Shadow-Blender! "I know what I am doing!" I snarled. "Know your place, Two-Walker! If I wish to speak with the Queen then I will."

He sneered up at me for a moment, spines sticking up in agitation. Then he turned with an aggravated huff and stalked away, muttering something about a superiority complex and some other such nonsense. The other dragons around me quieted, avoiding eye contact when I turned around to glare at them.

Now, to go help Hiccup, I thought, turning back to face the fog. I unfurled my wings, closing my eyes to concentrate on where the heat was rising the strongest. Once I'd found the best spot to flow down from, I opened them and crouched low.

The fog exploded!

Every dragon in the vicinity let out a universal gasp of shock. An adolescent Hum-Wing that had been standing near me, only a little bigger than a hatchling, screamed in terror and plummeted off the cliff. I leaped down after her, grabbing her in my arms almost like I was hugging her and letting the heat waves carry us back up. I could have sworn I heard a laugh from below, but it was most likely my imagination.

I set the little Hum-Wing down on solid ground. She clung to my leg and I awkwardly shook it in an attempt to dislodge her, drawing a few laughs from the dragons around me. Another Hum-Wing, a little bit older, finally came over and carried her away by her scruff.

"Shadow-Blender!"

I looked up to see a Flame-Skin, yellowed with age, land besides me. The dragon was old enough to have gray cracks in his scales. In response the dragons closest to him bowed low, heads nearly touching the ground. I did as well, but kept my eyes on his and my head only down to my chest.

The elder said nothing, merely waiting for us to rise, and then said calmly, "Was that you just now?"

I blinked, ears sticking straight up. He thought that I had done that?! "No! It was—"

It was Hiccup.

It occurred to me that Hiccup may very well be eaten at this moment, punished for his mindless action. I froze, my mouth moving up and down but no sound coming out.

I spun and took to the air. I had to get down there right now!

There was a golden flash. The Flame-Skin appeared before me, having used his superior magic abilities to push him forward faster than lightning. I just barely missed smashing right into him and swerved around him. We had no choice but to circle and slowly rise due to the air currents, and with each passing second dread weighed me down like a great burden.

"So it was the other Shadow-Blender. Best to stay up here, and take refuge inside the caves. And quickly!" By now we were at the height of the mountain, the opening mere wingbeats away. The elder angled himself downwards and swooped into a high cave. Its occupants scrambled out of the way to make room.

"Hiccup," I whispered, staring down at the fog below. Had the Queen given him a chance to react, we would have seen more fire. So he was either eaten, or she was toying with him before she ate him. If that were the case, he needed me.

I folded my wings and dove, sheathing my teeth and filing my mouth with as much gas as it would allow. Those that heard me all cried out in horror, a few even yelling for me to be stopped, but they were too late! If I didn't see Hiccup the second I breached the fog, then I would unleash all hellfire onto the Queen, fake servitude be damned!

The middle of the interior had just raced past me in a blur when I felt it. It was like a tailful of spines smacking me directly in the head, ripping so deep they came out the other side. It was like a Viking had lifted a massive stone and dropped it square on my forehead. It was like my entire mind had been set aflame, like it had been composed of dry, water-starved bramble and suddenly exploded in an intense heat.

I stumbled midair, my wings flailing and my tailfins unable to find purchase. I spun as my eyes went blind, as the numbing pain pulsed and ate away at my thoughts—it just made them stop

A sharp ringing filled my ears and was all I heard, all I could feel, as the heat of the magma below blew away as if shooed by the wind and the wind that was surely rushing past me turned from a howl to a whisper to nothing at all.

I would have wondered if I was dead if I could.

My world became darkness, and I was alone. So, so alone, and it was such a horrible place that I would have preferred taking a swim in the lava over it. I wanted to scream, but had no mouth to call out with. I wanted to look for something—a Cough?—but had no eyes to search with. Perhaps I could have opened my wings and flown out of the darkness, like swimming out of deep water, but I no longer had the necessary appendages to do so.

I hung there in eternity, unable.

Then the lonely absoluteness was washed away with something, with a thought that was not my own but felt as if it had originated from me.

It is alright, my child. Come to me.

I tried to turn towards the sound, blinking eyes that did not exist. Who was that? My mother?

"Mother?" I tried to say, but my words were mine to hear alone. Silent air passed through whatever I had tried to speak with.

There were two bright lights, too bright to discern a color. I floated closer in the nothingness. Mother?

No, my dear. You must not go there. Come to me.

I felt something nudge me. It wasn't physical, but it was a presence making itself known. I stared at the lights, the two beautiful irregularities in this terrifying darkness, and wondered what was so bad about them. Their light was bathing me in a great mass of emotions, happiness and excitement and fear and determination, so many things that seemed so impossible here.

Amenity deceives, little one. Come, where it is safe.

There it was again, that force that I couldn't pinpoint. It enveloped me in a wary cradle.

"But the lights," I tried again, but ended up with the same result as the last time. They seemed dimmer and more spontaneous in the embrace of the thing, violent and sharp like twin suns that had turned malevolent. My vision began to blur and sting. I could not feel it before, but now that the thought-voice was aiding me, I could easily tell that these two lights were not trying to help me.

Come.

I turned away and buried myself into the cool, endless darkness. Where it is safe.


I awoke into a hazy mess of colors and sounds and sensations that hurt. My head pounded.

"Oh, thank the Dragoness of the Moon," a female voice said above me. I turned on my side, blinking blearily up at the blue and white figure that was a little too close for comfort. "When you passed out, we all thought you'd fall to your death."

The world came into focus around me. I was in the nest, on some stones, and surrounded by dragons. "Huh?"

What had just happened? I remember flying. It was night, I believe. And then…

…and then…

I came upon a block, a great wall of ice and stone in my wind. When I tried to push against it a wave of nausea overtook me, and I quickly came to the conclusion that it was not worth it as I lost the contents of my stomach right there in front of everyone. A few dragons drew closer in worry, but the majority wisely backed away.

Groaning, I found my feet underneath me and stumbled upright, swaying back and forth. "I…fell?" I tried to confirm. The Two-Walker nodded exuberantly, which did nothing to make the situation make any more sense.

"I caught you." An elder Flame-Skin with magnificent sun-colored scales stepped up, his tone irate. "I told you to follow me for a reason." He huffed, the barest hint of flame licking out of his scales.

I did not remember ever meeting him, but I still bowed respectfully, stopping when my chin reached the middle of my feet. "I am sorry," I said. "I don't know what I was thinking."

He simply shook his head and turned away, his duties done. The other dragons mimicked his model, going back to their normal business. I simply stayed put, sitting down facing the pit and trying to find a solution to this strange puzzle I had found myself in. How long had passed since that night? Why couldn't I remember what was past it?

I shook my head, staring down at the fog below. Maybe the Queen would know. Whenever any dragon had questions, she was always abundant with answers.

I got up, shaking my body to try and get rid of any remaining stiffness that had been in it. Stepping to the edge, I tried to determine where exactly I should take off towards.

That was when I saw him.

A brown dragon burst out of the heat-born clouds and twirled around, looking almost as confused as I felt. I gaped at him, unable to believe what I was seeing. Deep, pine-green eyes met mine, and he tipped his head far to the side. Then, with an elegant twist, he glided towards me, landed with an unsteady wobble and jogging to guarantee that he didn't fall flat on his face.

My disbelief only grew at this. He was a Shadow-Blender! I hadn't seen another one in years!

And he had somehow managed to miscalculate his landing, even though newborn Shadow-Blenders were skilled fliers from birth…?

I raised an eyebrow as he sheepishly smiled at me. "Are you ill?" I squinted, trying to see for myself if he was. He was scrawny—a fishbone, really—and looked like he'd been starved for weeks. His face was adorned with freckles and his scales and eyes seemed dulled. He seemed a little younger than I was, and yet he was built so…differently. The more I looked, the more apparent it became that maybe he wasn't quite alright.

The Shadow-Blender seemed to consider this as well. "I have a headache. But I'm alright." He nodded once.

I returned the gesture. My head was still sending spikes of pain through my skull. "I'm sure you'll be alright, then. But eat something. You look like you're about to break in half." I turned, opening my wings, and shouted to the mass of dragons, "A hunting party is being formed here!"

Immediately dragons began to flock, chattering excitedly. The Shadow-Blender seemed to perk up. "Are you leading?" He asked unfurling his own wings.

I frowned at him. "You are new here?"

His smile faded again, a perplexed expression crossing his face for just a second. "…Yes. I am." He finally said.

Standing, I leaned down to his eye level. "I can tell. I always lead." Narrowing my eyes, I repeated, "Always."

He lowered his eyes and ears. "Alright." I grinned at him, pleased, and began to turn away when he gasped, "Wait!"

I gave him an annoyed look. All of the dragons who had volunteered were ready to go. Her Majesty must be hungry! If we wanted to get a large bounty, we needed to leave now, while the sun was just beginning to set.

He averted his eyes again, pawing at the ground. "I…the Queen told me I needed to find a mentor in magic. Would you be willing…?" He trailed off, his nerves getting the better of him.

I cocked my head. A Shadow-Blender this age, unable to use magic? How absurd!

"Why do you even need one?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

The Shadow-Blender stared at the ground. "I…don't know. I just…" He looked up at me, his eyes pained. "The Queen says I need to learn to use my magic so that I have an advantage against humans. Would you please help me?"

Well, if the Queen ordered it…, I thought.

"Of course. We Shadow-Blenders need to stick together, after all." I smiled and rose on my hind legs, gesturing broadly. "Welcome to the nest!"


I led us high above the clouds, towards the islands abundant with sea foliage and, more importantly, fish.

The further and further away we got from the nest, though, the more that Shadow-Blender's eyes filled my mind. With each mental reconstruction of them, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing, that something vitally important had been lost on me.

The moon and stars seemed to agree; for that night, they were absent.


As always, bundles of thanks to toothless-the-nightfury for getting the editing done so fast! You da man.

In other news, some of you may have noticed that I have a story up titled Unheard Whispers. If this is news to you, it's basically a collection of drabbles centered around the I Hear Him Scream universe. They are not all necessarily in Toothless, Hiccup, or Astrid's POV, although you can't really tell from the only chapter I have up. I will get on that!

Please feel free to leave questions or comments in the reviews, and I'll try my best to get back to you ASAP! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Have a wonderful day,

~ Rift-Raft