Merida turned corner after corner, following the screeching. She turned another corner and Astrid joined her.

"What is that?"

"A don' know, but A'm gonna find out!" Merida yelled as she and Astrid found their way into the courtyard in front of the castle. Everyone else was already outside when they burst through the doors.

"What es this?" Merida yelled to her mother. The screeching was much louder outside the castle and it made everyone's ears ring painfully. Hiccup made his way to the princess and put his mouth to her ear so she could hear him better, and it didn't go unnoticed by a long haired Lord in waiting.

"Fishlegs says it's the dragons he found. He said that they did this as a warning when he got too close to their nest, but it was nothing like this. We're going to go look into it."

"A'm goin' with yah." Merida demanded.

"No, you've got to stay here."

"Ef the two of you think A'm stayin' here yer not as smart as A thought yah were."

"We'll be fine."

"Nae yah won't. A know these woods better than anyone, and now that et's dark you'll need mah help." Merida put her hands on her hips and Hiccup knew he'd lost this argument.

"Fine." He sighed and Merida smirked at him. She turned to her mother and whispered in her ear.

"A need yah ta keep the lords busy. Hiccup, Fishlegs, and A are goin' ta check out the screeching. Et might be a dragon." Elinor nodded her head as she pursed her lips.

"Please be careful!" Elinor res[ponded, her eyes blazing in the torchlight.

"A always am, mum!" Elinor's jaw clenched. "Okay, okay! A will be. A love yah mum."

"A love yah too." Merida gave her mother a quick hug before the three adults made their way to the stables, not noticing that they were being followed.

They reached the stables quickly, opening the to get their dragons.

"What do you think you're doing?" Merida groaned, throwing her head back and making claws with her hands.

"Alistair, now es not the time!"

"You can't seriously be going somewhere with them." He spat.

"Yes, A am. And yer goin' back ta yer da'." Merida looked around nerviously, Hiccup and Fishlegs were already inside letting the dragons loose. She heard the thumping of dragon tails on the walls of the stables.

"Like hell I am! What's going on in there?" The doors burst open and Cyhiraeth came rishing out the door.

"Damn." She sighed as she turned to Alistair. "Please don't freak out." She barely got out before Alistair yelled falling to his bum and scrambling backwards. Cyhiraeth just twisted her head and let out a squawk of confusion.

"Why do you have a-a-a dragon in your stables? What is going on?"

"This es mah dragon, Cyhiraeth. Merida hopped onto the saddle. "A can't let yah go ta yer da' an' tell him all about our secret, are yah coming or not?"

"Well of course I'm going." Alistair stood up and dusted himself off. "Someone has to protect you." Merida rolled her eyes and turned to Hiccup, who was shaking his head vigorously. They both turned to Fishlegs, who was too busy crooning over Meatlug to even notice the two smirks.

Alistair gripped the saddle as he shook uncontrollably on the back of Meatlug. It didn't take too long to find a clearing in the woods big enough for the three dragons. Fishlegs pulled out a map and Hiccup pulled out his sword.

"How are we supposed to see the map, it's the middle of the night." Alistair jabbed. Hiccup held the sword up like it was obvious.

"How is a sword sup-" Hiccup ignited the blade. "-oh." He crossed his arms. Merida took in her surroundings. She saw a small target littered with arrows and walked to it. She yanked it from its spot on the tree and looked at the back.

"56. Guys, A know where we are." She walked to Fishlegs and traced her finger across the map. "We're riiiiigh…. Here." She tapped the clearing on the map and Fishlegs bent closer to the map.

"That's good, because the dragons den will be over the next hill." The three of them nodded and Fishlegs rolled up the map and tucked it away.

"Wait, you mean we're going after dragons? Fire breathing death creatures?"

"Don't forget screeching, because this noise is the dragons."

"You guys are going to be killed!"

"Ehh," Merida shrugged her shoulders, "occupational hazard." She remarked before she walked off, Hiccup and Fishlegs on either side of her. It didn't take but a minute for Alistair to scurry up the hill behind them.

"Guys, don't forget me!"

Meanwhile, the screeching at the castle was growing louder and louder every passing minute. Archibald scoured the group for his son.

"Queen Elinor, A can't find Alistair anywhere!" Elinor and Valka shared matching looks of worry. They didn't. They couldn't have possibly thought it'd be a good idea. But here they were with a missing child.

"Archibald, there's something we have ta tell yah." She chewed her lip and sighed. This was going to be one hell of a night.

Merida was jerked back by her arm. She turned and looked at Fishlegs, the screeching was at the loudest it'd been.

"Oi! What was that fer?"

"We're here." Fishlegs pointed to the grove of trees. Merida crouched behind a bush and waiting for any sign of dragons. A flicker of movement caught her eyes and she shot backward, barreling into Fishlegs and Hiccup, seconds before the bush burst into flames. They tumbled down a hill, taking Alistair with them.

"What just happened?"

"These dragons are fast."

"Really fast, at least level six or seven."

"We know they shoot fire, we need to know how many shots they have."

"Or how long it can stream fire."

"It's a good thing we have dragons."

"But bringing another dragon on their terf might end up in a fight, and we don't have time for that."

"Fishlegs, did you get a look at one?"

"No, sorry Hic."

"It's okay, we just need to figure out a way to get them to stop screaming."

"But we don't know where they're at." Alistair sighed and crept away from the bickering trio. Quietly he snuck into the grove. Small animals flew around the grove, squawking and chirping as the circled the area, a barrage of wings and tails. There was a small cave where the screeching echoed from. He zipped into the cave, covering his ears. There was a faint glow at the end of the tunnel he was in. When he got to the end, what he saw ripped at his heart.

A dragon, about the size of a hound, lay behind a pile of crished eggs, the remains of the tiny dragons on the floor. The dragon was screaming, a few eggs curled in its tail. The dragon turned to him, and he took a few steps forward and paused. The dragon eyed the sword on his hip and he quickly took it off and threw it to the opposite side of the cave. He fell to his knees and inched toward the scared dragon. He stopped a foot away and reached out. The dragon eyed him suspiciously and Alistair closed his eyes. The dragon stopped screaming. Alistair thought he was going to die, imagining the dragon sucking in air, preparing to roast him alive.

HE got a pleasant surprise when he felt a cool, scaly surface in the palm of his hand. His eyes shot open in surprise at the contact.

"You're not scary, you're scared." He spotted a piece of leather-like material hanging from its mouth. As he picked it out of its teeth, he noticed the large footprints around the smashed eggs.

"You put up one hell of a fight, didn't you?" Alistair asked the dragon, getting a chirp in response.

"Alistair! Alistair, are you in here?" Hiccup's voice bounced off the walls and the dragon growled.

"It's okay, no one's going to hurt you." He soothed the trembling reptile. "Yeah, I'm down here. You guys really need to see this!"

Hiccup was the first one into the cave, but he stopped at the mouth of the enterance.

"Hiccup, yah can't just-" Merida's hands flew to her mouth and tears stung her eyes, but that reaction only lasted a few seconds before fury took over and her face turned red. She lunged at him, but Hiccup held her arms behind her, struggling to keep her in place.

"WHAT DID YAH DAE?" She screamed.

"I didn't do anything! This is how I found it!"

"A DAENAE BELIEVE YAH!"

"Alistair," Hiccup's voice was calm and collected, a nice comparison to Merida's, "is this really how you found them?"

"Yes! You've got to believe me!"

"I do." Hiccup affirmed.

"Yah what?" Merida whipped around to him.

"I know this is terrible, but if he says he didn't do it, then I believe him," Hiccup placed his hands on her shoulders, "and so should you." Alistair could see her shoulders relax, and he felt the atmosphere in the room change. In that moment he realized an unspoken truth; the princess they came her to impress was already impressed with a dragon riding Viking.

Hiccup walked over to the dragon that shook behind Alistair and took out his sketch book and charcoal. This dragon didn't have any legs, and resembled a viper. It had a heart shaped head with emerald eyes on either side that complemented its body, that looked black but shimmered deep purple in the glowing lights. Two pairs of wings that resembled the surrounding flora, were thin and feather like. Hiccup noticed how it clutched the eggs protectively.

"I think this is a queen. These have to be her eggs." Hiccup said, putting his sketchbook back where it belonged.

"Would tha' explain why et looks so different than the other ones?"

"Yeah, the ones outside are probably all male."

"Well, we know a little more about the dragons, I got a really good drawing of them." Fishlegs said, finally entering the cave. "Woah, what happened in here?"

"We're not too sure, but it looks like someone was here." Alistair remembered the cloth he'd found.

"Hiccup, I found this in her teeth." He handed it to Hiccup. He took the cloth and horror etched itself on his features.

"We need to get back to the castle, now !"

"What es et Hiccup?" Hiccup ignored Merida's question and gripped her hand pulling her out of the cave and to their dragons.

"This is a piece of Drago's cloak." The color drained from Fishlegs' face.

"But I thought he drowned!" They mounted the dragons.

"I did too, but I guess he's more resourceful than we thought."

They raced back to the castle, landing in the courtyard. Finlay drew his sword.

"Wha' are those?"

"They're dragons, obviously." Echann scoffed, pushing past his father and pushing his sword down to take a look at Toothless.

"Echann, get away from tha', thing." Toothless turned to Lord Finlay, teeth bared.

"Alistair, get off that beast!" He turned to Elinor and Valka, "I thought yah said they were takin' care of the stable animals!"

"Well, they did." Val said, gesturing to the dragons.

"Yah can't seriously let these, abominations, enta' the kingdom!"

"They killed yer husband!"

"They killed villagers!"
"They killed-"

"ENOUGH!" erupted Merida, marching toward the arrogant men. "This es not yer kingdom! These dragons," she gestured to the three reptiles, "aren't responsible fer anythin' tha' happened before. An' the ones who did destroy the kingdom will be forgiven. Yah forget that King Fergus wasn't just yer king, he was a husband, a father, and," Merida's voice cracked, "my best friend. Ef A can accept, an' love, these dragons, you can too, or yah can get out." Alistair walked to his father.

"There's something bigger going on, and these dragons are our only hope at surviving it." Finlay slowly put his sword away, both older lords hanging their heads low.

"Mom, Alistair found this in a dragon's teeth." He shoved the cloth in her hands. Her head shot up and she gripped his arm.

"But Drago-"

"Has been here, and probably still is."

"Everyone get inside." Valka pleaded.

"But-"

"Get. Inside." Elinor commanded, raising her head high and straightening her back. They closed the gates, the Gronkle Iron door sliding and locking in place.

"Your majesty, what's going on?" Hiccup's voice was low, and filled the room.

"It started a long time ago, before I was even thought of. There was a meeting of chieftains to decide what they were going to do about the dragon problem. A large man from a strange land, covered in scars and a dragon hide cloak stood in the middle of the room. He carried no weapons, and spoke softly, saying he was a man of the people, and that he was the only one that could control the dragons. The only stipulation was that they had to bow to him." The lords and their sons laughed, except for Grant.

"They laughed too. He wrapped himself in his cloak and cried out 'See how well you do without me!' The roof ignited in flames, and dragons poured from the sky. My father was the only chieftain to make it out, undenounced to Drago.

"The years passed, twenty of them, and Astrid and I went flying, expanding our maps and discovering new lands, when we came across a large stretch of scorched land that gave way to giant icebergs and large spikes of ice. One iceberg in particular was clinging to a cliff. A ship was caught in the mess, and as we flew closer it launched nets towards us. They were dragon trappers. That's where we met Eret, the best dragon trapper for Drago Bloodfist, the man with a dragon army. We flew back to Berk and told my father, and he immediately put Berk on lockdown. He said Drago wasn't a man that would listen to reason, that he wanted war.

"I didn't believe him and took off to reason with Drago. I didn't make it to Drago, because a dragon rider appeared on a dragon I'd only seen a few times in my life. A dragon snatched me off Toothless and took me to a cave full of dragons. I pleaded with them, Toothless can't do anything without me, and I thought he'd drown. She reunited me with Toothless, after I'd calmed the other dragons down first. When the mystery person saw me closely they took off their helmet. And that's how I met my mother.

"What I didn't know was that Drago was busy collecting dragons and dragon riders. My friends had been captured with their dragons and they watched as Drago called something from the depths of the coldest part of the ocean. While Drago was doing that, my mother was showing me a dragon haven, which was inside an iceberg made by a dragon of snow and ice, called a Bewilderbeast. It was massive, the biggest thing I'd ever seen.

"My father found us, and reunited with my mother after twenty years of being missing. But our reunion was short lived once Drago attacked the haven, trying to lure out the Bewilderbeast. He succeeded, but so did my friends, who had escaped Drago, saved their dragons, and joined us in a fight.

But Drago had an ace up his sleeve, his own Bewilderbeast. He used it to fight with the guardian of the haven. Drago ended up winning the fight, and no one disobeys the Alpha. Drago's Bewilderbeast took control of our dragons, and used Toothless for his own selfish agenda. Toothless ended up killing my father while under Drago's control. He took the dragons and headed for Berk to destroy all those who stood in his way of becoming the only one to control dragons.

"We flew on the backs of baby dragons to Berk, and together we fought Drago. I helped Toothless fight Drago, and together we thought we had defeated Drago until his Bewilderbeast encased us in ice. Toothless broke free, firing plasma blasts at the giant dragon, until it's tusks fell off. Toothless freed the dragons from the control of the Bewilderbeast, and together as a village we defeated Drago and the Bewilderbeast. Drago was dragged under the water, the only thing remaining was his prosthetic arm floating on the water's surface.

"We thought that was the last of Drago, but I guess we were wrong."

Outside the castle Drago stalked around the large walls, trying to find a way inside. He knew that he couldn't climb the walls with only one arm. He had lost his touch with dragons, the blood dripping from his shoulder was proof of that. He didn't need dragons to get his revenge on those brats, these mind games were a good start. He scraped a blade against the wall, etching words into the stone. His face twisted into an evil grin as he walked away.

'I'm back. Be ready for a real war.'