"I've had enough of your crap Snotlout!" Hiccup said as he circled the ring with his cousin.

"What crap?" He tried to brush off the problem.

Charging, Hiccup released his fire sword, getting gasps from the crowd. Snotlout just barely blocked it with his axe. "You know what crap I'm talking about Snotface. Flirting with my wife." He leaned down in his ear and whispered, "Even after knowing we were married, and had a child."

He pushed the angry alpha off of him, and ran. "I didn't!"

Hiccup charged again. "Don't lie to me! Why would Astrid have any reason to say that you were doing what you always do! What reason would she have to falsely…" They clanged blades again. "accuse you."

"Because she wants this."

"WHAT?"

"Duh, she wants me and doesn't want anyone to suspect, so she fakes hating me."

When looking up into his cousin's eyes, Snotlout could now see why people called him the Death Rider. What other title could explain the dark, terrifying look in his eyes. Knocked out his thoughts by a punch, he fell to the ground, barely rolling out of the way when the sword was embedded into the ground where he once lay.

Suddenly upon him, the Death Rider said, "I just want you to know Snotlout, if you die, it was all. Your. Fault."

Alvin groaned, waking up in a frozen wasteland. Just being aware of his mysterious surroundings, he bolted up, and yelled, "WHAT!?" Rage building up, he felt a bump on the back of his head. "Oh, yeah."

After following Eret's ship throughout cold water for a day, the man told him, "I'll see you in a little bit to meet my boss. In the meantime, here's where you're looking for."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, but was knocked unconscious by a clonk to the back of the head. The last thing he saw was Gabe being thrown next to him.

"That traitorous…" A stream of curses followed with insulting names to the trapper. "Now where is that little boy?" He walked around, calling the boy's name.

But he was nowhere to be found. The only thing in the area that wasn't flat snow, or water was a giant ice fortress. Gabe couldn't have gone there. Alvin thought. The only entrances are up high by more than 100 feet. He couldn't possibly have gotten in there.

"This place is awesome." Gabriel said, and looked at the spiraling motions of the dragons flying around the center, above the alpha. The one he was riding looked up at him and crooned. "I knew dragons existed." I can't wait to tell daddy about this. I told him! He's going to be so surprised, and soon we'll have a dragon of our own like Billy's dog, but a dragon will be better to brag about in school. This'll shut his little mouth up….

"No scorching sun, nor freezing cold…" His thoughts were interrupted by a faint voice, echoing throughout the tunnels behind him.

"What is that?" He looked down at the Hobblegrunt with all white eyes, it's pupils gone and scratches around them. Blind. "You can hear good, right?"

The dragon cocked his head, and looked upwards where the entrance to a large cave was. "Up there?" A croon in response. "Can fly me inside boy? I wanna know who's doing that." It just looked at him with a questioning look. "What? Is there like a code or something to make you fly? You took me in here, so…"

After being thrown on the ground next to Alvin, Gabe sat there, waiting for him to wake. Observing the fortress in front of him, something flew out. "No way." He whispered, the cold air revealing his breath of astonishment.

A dragon. And it flew up right next to him. His first instinct was to run, because from all the stories he's heard dragons were known to kill people, kidnap princesses and be slain by the good guys.

But, gaping and standing there like a fool, Gabe let the dragon land in front of him, approach him, observe him, and nuzzle him. "What the heck are you doing?" The beast looked at him with blind eyes, the scars on his face showing sadness and fear. "Can you see?" Croon. "Poor thing. Hey, that's a cool place you got there." Gabe said and rubbed the Snafflefang's muzzle.

The feeling felt wonderful as he rubbed the neck, then the stomach, then felt the wings. The scales were warming in the cold air, and as he got on his back, the dragon licked his hand, comforting the young boy. "Could you take me inside the fortress?"

Seeming to understand, he took off in the air, careful not to bump off the child on his back.

A realization hit Gabe, and he said, "Are you a girl? Fortress?" She seemed to brighten up, and chirped while getting ready to take off. "Well, let's go then!" He smiled, and smoothly they flew into the air. It wasn't a long flight, of course, and they reached it in no time.

Gabriel ungracefully slid off Fortress's back, tripping while he ran to the cave. In front of him was a "bed," and something inside of it.

"That's odd. I thought I heard singing from someone." I guess they left. He thought. When he was about to turn and walk away, a rustling and moaning could be heard from the sheets. "What the…" Stalking closer, he saw a dragon resting next to the thing. Fortress walked toward them, brushing his shoulder on the way, and sweetly nuzzled the lump in the blankets. A small hand came out the bundle and rubbed her muzzle. "Hey girl. What're you doin' here?" It asked in a feminine voice.

"A girl?" He whispered so quietly that he thought nobody could hear. But, the resting figure sat up abruptly, and looked toward him. It was too dark to clearly see her face, and Gabe just stood there, frozen in place at getting caught. How could she, or anyone, have heard me?

"Who's there?" A harsh, groggled voice spoke.

He didn't reply, only stalked forward, squinting so his eyes could adjust to the cave's dimness. "I said, who's there?" The girl repeated, louder and clearer this time.

Finally he replied, "I-I'm Gabe. Who are you?" Still stalking closer, Fortress came back to him and crooned, as if reassuring the girl it was safe to answer.

"I-I…" After his pupils dilated, by what he could tell, she had a scarred eye, like the two dragons next to her. And her shirt, messed up by tossing and turning in her sleep, revealed a scarred shoulder. Gabe's eyes widened.

"What happened to you?" She paused and when he reached out to touch her, she leaned backwards. One thing was on his mind as he watched her movements. She's pretty, especally those green and blue eyes, like the ocean.

"I…"

"And, why…"

A blade was pressed to his throat, stopping the boy from advancing any further. "Y-you stop right there. What do you think you're doing here? Who do you think you are?" She asked.

"I found him outside the sanctuary. He's a good soul, so I brought him in." Fortress said.

"Is he bonded?" Pache asked.

"No. But he's good for me. I can tell."

"Why is he here?"

"I think he heard Valka's song and wanted to investigate. Curious little thing. A little like someone I know."

"What are you guys saying?" Gabe asked, frustrated at suddenly being left out.

"Let me get this straight, your name is Gabriel, Fortress let you in here because she thought you were good, and you heard singing so you came in here? Is that right?" She asked.

His mouth gaped. "How did you know that?"

Pache gestured toward the Hobblegrunt. "Fortress told me."

"You can talk to dragons?"

"Yeah." Slowly lowering the dagger, the little girl spoke, "My name is Apachexaterrascorpioarosalight by the way. Pache for short. I live here… temporarily."

"Awesome. As I told you already, I'm Gabe. I live farther away from here in a place called Ainstatia."

"I've never heard of it."

"Yeah, we're not exactly famous or anything."

"Have you ever heard of Berk, or Freyja."

"Na, we're not that close to Vikings and Dragons. In fact, dragons are a myth where we come from."

"Really?"

"Yup, that's why I came here on traveling. To find a dragon and prove they exist. Then everyone will have one and we can fly all day."

"It's amazing really, dragons. I could tell you all about them if you want."

"Seriously? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it'd be nice to have someone else my age to play with other than dragons. By the way, how did you get here? As in, away from your home?"

"I was a stowaway on a boat. The guy caught me, but let me stay anyway."

"He must be nice."

"Eh, no. H-he kind of hit me… with a stick… made of leather."

"I know how that feels."

"Yeah I could see it on your shoulder."

She looked at her bare skin, and immediately and bashfully pulled her collar over it. Cheeks red with embarrassment, Pache said, "I-I've had a hard time lately. What's the guy's name?"

"I'm not exactly sure but it went something like, Alan the Tremorous?" There was a slight pause in the air, completely silent. Then, she started shaking, and her skin became pale. "Pache, what's wrong."

Her once fearless blue-green eyes turned fearful. And dread was written on her face. "Pache?"

"No… no… NO.. NOOOOO!" Her screamed echoed throughout the sanctuary, and the next thing he knew, Gabriel was pinned to the ground by a four-winged dragon.

But the only fear he felt was for his new friend, who he found too beautiful for the scream coming out of her mouth, the distressed look on her face, and the burning look in her eyes as she fought back the tears.