It was on these days that Stoick knew the origin of the wrinkles in his skin. The irritation, the disbelief, it all added up to a feeling of astonishment as he watched the two specks disappear in the distance. He sighed deeply, Gobber slowly walking over to him.

"What do you want to do Chief?" The blacksmith asked with a soft tone, he had a good guess of the answer, but he wanted to hear it from the chief himself before he did anything.

"Mount the dragons." Stoick said sternly. "Get the riders ready to fly out."

Astrid and Heather, who were already near their dragons, quickly guided them towards the open hatch. "Wait!" Stoick yelled. "They'll soon be out of our view, we can't track them by sight" He said as he walked towards the stairs. "I'll get something for Skullcrusher. Gobber, get him and Grump ready."

He ran up the stairs quickly, taking two steps at a time to make sure he was at the top as soon as he could. Luckily his house wasn't too far away from the entrance to the stairs. He only had to walk a short distance to get to his house, where he could surely find some item that would have Hiccup's scent on it. He swung the door open, inside the living room he didn't see much, so he would probably be better off heading upstairs to his own room.

The stairs squeaked lightly under his weight, and upstairs he quickly found plenty items that belonged to Hiccup. There were a few drawings, but they would probably smell more of charcoal. He kept searching. He couldn't walk through the village carrying the entire blanket, that would just be silly, they also couldn't take it with them that easily. So he had to settle for something smaller.

A knife? He would have held it in his hand, but without a sheath it may be dangerous to take it with him. Perhaps a book? It was possible, but Stoick didn't want to snoop around in Hiccup collections of sketchbooks and journals, since they were rather private.

He kneeled down, looking underneath the wooden bed. There lay a leather satchel, one that could be connected to Toothless' saddle. That would work, something like that would rub against the dragon's skin all day long, and would definitely hold some kind of scent on it.

He pulled it from underneath the bed, noticing it was quite heavy. He calmly opened it on the desk, he only needed the satchel after all. It was filled with all sorts of things, a few whetstones, an extra blade for those strange retractable knife things he had strapped to his arms, a piece of stale bread that felt so hard that you could launch it from a catapult it you could crumble city walls with it.

Why did Hiccup keep so much mess in his bags, he should have thrown the bread away days, if not weeks, ago. It didn't surprise Stoick though. Hiccup was exceptionally clean when it came to his drawings, straight and clear lines, and details drawn with expert precision. He was also like this in the forge, his tools would always be near perfection, and they were easy and balanced as always.

But that was only his work, the tools and things he used for his work would be a mess, as well as the location where he worked. The forge was filled with scattered tools and small pieces of metal. His desk would be littered with crumpled drawings of all sorts of things.

It was probably a bad habit he had taken over from Gobber. The smith would usually leave his stuff lying around, hoping that Hiccup would clean it up. But he soon learned that Hiccup was even better at making a mess than him.

Not really something that came as a surprise.

He dug deeper in the bag, carefully putting everything he had found on his bed. The last item he got from the bag was a crunched up piece of paper. Probably a drawing of some sort.

Stoick knew Hiccup liked to draw, he had done it for as long as he could remember, and through the years his skills had grown significantly. Stoick liked this progress of skill, it showed him how his son slowly became better at everything. However, it wasn't so graduate for him. Seven years ago his son could do almost nothing, and now he could draw like an artist, forge weapons like master blacksmith, and he was a feared fighter.

Stoick examined the piece of paper in his hand, perhaps it was a drawing form when his son was in the southern parts of the world. Perhaps this drawing could give him insight on how his son had been while he was there, and how the world looked there.

He carefully unfolded the piece of paper, not wanting to tear it or damage it. The paper seemed similar to that that they used. Which surprised Stoick, he had heard that the southern parts of the world used more refined paper, more clean and white. Perhaps it was just dirty after being in a bag for so long.

He let his eyes scan the unfolder paper, discovering that it wasn't a drawing, but a letter. Stoick turned his face away, he shouldn't read this, this was private terrain he was threading on. He couldn't just read his sons letters, that was just impolite.

However, Hiccup had lied to them a few times now, and especially with the danger of Drago Bludvist on the loom, he didn't truly think that it would be such a terrible thing to quickly read the letter.

"Dear Companion,"

Stoick let his eyes roll across the words, which were luckily written in Nordic runes. He was surprised to find something like this in Hiccup's possession, it felt old enough to be from Roma, but it felt like it was straight from the archipelago.

"I hereby inform you that we have found substantial evidence that the object is indeed in the archipelago, we only need proof that it is located where we think it is."

Stoick furrowed his brow, he didn't feel like this was a letter that was meant for Hiccup. Perhaps it was something they had intercepted. He let his eyes glance over the paper, noticing a faint cross on the bottom right corner, the emblem of Templars. Stoick knew these people well know, since they had tried to attack his village twice now. And he didn't share any sympathy with them anymore.

But since they had attack Berk, information in this letter could be of vital importance to the village. Stoick told himself that to make him feel better about reading Hiccup's letter, well, Hiccup's stolen letter.

"The hammer, 'Mjölnir', as our people call it, indeed holds the power we are searching for. The experts that you have send over have confirmed it as one of the artefacts. Sadly enough they haven't survived their encounter with the local wildlife."

Stoick started to doubt the letter as he read. Mjölnir? The hammer of Thor himself? That wasn't possible. Who were these experts? Stoick slowly began to put the pieces together. Perhaps the paper felt Norse because it was, this letter was send from the archipelago. And probably arrived at Roma, where Hiccup and Ragnar must have intercepted it.

"The legendary hammer will be within our grasp in a matter of months, which is when the full extent of our deal will come into play."

A matter of months? With the age of this letter that would have been half a year ago. Perhaps this was what Hiccup and Ragnar had been up to all the time, preventing the evil Templars from gaining access to a powerful and ancient weapon, Thor's hammer itself. But whoever had send this had made some sort of deal with the Templars, some sort of pact, a mutual understanding written on paper.

"The archipelago will be off limits for the Roman armies and I shall gain free reign over it and its people as I wish. In return, we shall keep the artefact safe."

Now this didn't sound like something Stoick or the people of Berk would be a fan off. Sure, the archipelago being off limits for Roman armies was a welcome change, then they could go from fighting the Romans to fighting each other again. But granting someone free reign over it and its people sounded a bit more, sinister.

He calmly read the last collection of runes on the letter.

"Greetings, D.B."

D.B., Drago Bludvist. An associate of a worldwide group that aimed for world domination, a group who wished to destroy everything and anyone who stands in its way. A group who granted a madman free reign after basically handing him the keys to a powerful weapon. Stoick felt angry, betrayed, but most of all, he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time, fear.

Drago was a madman, and now he was aiming to destroy the archipelago with an army of dragons and a large group of thugs. Along with the power of Thor's hammer itself. It was a scary thought.

He steadies himself reading the entire letter again, he hadn't missed anything, he hadn't misread anything. It was all true as it stood there.

No wonder Hiccup had hid this from him, he had a half guess how he would react, but it would reach far beyond his expectation. He would have any trip outside of Berks line of sight banned. Anyone who would try to leave would be shot or hunted down, thrown in the cells as punishment for jeopardising the safety of the island. If Hiccup had told him, he would have taken his and Toothless' prosthetic personally, just to make sure he couldn't go anywhere.

And then Drago would have nothing to stop him.

But now, his son was heading towards the base of a dangerous lunatic, probably without a good plan and with only one person as backup.

"This is awful." Eret sighed as he tied a coil of rope tight, throwing it further down the deck. "We're dead men."

"You don't know that." One of his fellow trappers commented, trying to lighten the mood of their boss.

"Sure I don't." Eret sighed. "We've got no dragons, no home, and no heads to call our own."

"Well, what should we do?" Another trapper asked as he stepped down from the poop deck. "We could also just, not go."

Eret was silent for a second, fleeing from Drago, sailing off and hiding in some village until the whole thing was going to blow over, it did sound nice, but it wasn't something they could do.

"And then what?" He asked. "Delay our deaths by a month, a season, a year?" He paced around the deck nervously. "When Drago will scour every village and town with his army? What if, no when, he finds us?"

"Maybe he'll forgive us." A crewmember suggested. "After all, it has been a long time, and we have always been loyal."

"Sure thing, I can imagine it happening." Eret said with a sarcastic tone. He turned his voice to a raspy and low tone, trying to impersonate Drago. "Oh, I'll forgive you all for running away and not listening to me, I've always been understanding, remember that time you didn't bring back enough dragons?"

"Okay, so maybe he won't forgive us." Another fellow trapper suggested. "But what if he doesn't find us?"

"This just keeps getting more and more stupid." A crewmember shouted. ""He has an army, no one can stop him."

"The assassins can!" A trapper said as he folded some netting. "They've been able to undermine his actions pretty well so far."

"Sure, two assassins will prevent an entire army from taking over the world." Eret cut in, tired of the conversation. "Stop dreaming and get back to work, we still have a ship to fill."

Just as Eret finished a crewmember shouted loudly. "Dragons, port-side!" He looked up to his left, and saw a pair of dots flying high above them, descending.

"Do you even have a plan?" Ragnar shouted over the whistling wind, they were going faster and father because of their dive, and it was getting difficult to communicate.

"Well," Hiccup began and he steered Toothless aside to doge an incoming net. "Just follow my lead."

"Great!" Ragnar exclaimed sarcastically. "No plan at all."

They landed on the deck with a loud thud, the ship rocking softly as the dragons landed on it. The two dismounted swiftly, Ragnar pulling his axe to get ready for an attack. However, Hiccup didn't pull a weapon.

"Back again, are we?" Eret asked confused as he looked at the two assassins. "Why are you here?"

"You're going to take us to Drago." Hiccup stated simply, rubbing his hands together calmly. "West, right?"

Eret has his mouth open, shocked by the sudden statement. "And why would we do that?" He asked confused.

"I can think of one reason." Hiccup said as Toothless growled behind him. "Wooden boat, big ocean. How good is your swimming?"

"Not very good." One of the trappers muttered softly.

"What are you planning?" Eret asked cautiously as he looked at the assassin.

"Tell me when you find out." Ragnar calmly said, earning an annoyed look from Hiccup.

"Don't you have dragons to break or something?" Eret asked as he looked at Toothless who had taken a calm sitting position since his rider wasn't appearing to be in any kind of trouble.

"Break?" Hiccup asked confused. "You don't break dragons, you befriend them."

"Befriend?" Eret asked confused, imagining trying to befriend a wild beast, like a bear, or a dragon.

"Yes, befriend." Hiccup said, giving Toothless a quick rub on the chin. "Give them a bit of time, and a lot of love, and you'll have yourself the most loyal friend you could ever ask for."

"Right, because spiny fire-breathing giant lizards are cuddly and nice." Eret said sarcastically. "I've got scars that convince me otherwise."

"I can convince you," Hiccup began, switching the lever on Toothless' saddle to lock the fin in a fixed position. "Right here, right now."

Eret looked at the dragon, thinking about the words of the assassin. It couldn't really harm, what if it was possible. If they could befriend dragons it would be a lot easier to capture them, but then, if they could befriend and ride their own dragons, they wouldn't need to head to Drago. They could flee, they could go as far as their dragon's wings could carry them.

Perhaps in another life.

"Well, since Drago won't care if I deliver you dead or alive," Eret began. "I'll take as long as it takes to remove that loud oversized head of yours."

"Fine." Hiccup said, unsheathing his blades and motioning Ragnar to wait this one out. "Is my head really oversized?"

"The hair counts for most of it," Ragnar defended him. "But he did nail the part about you being loud."

"Hilarious." Hiccup responded as he noticed Eret was climbing on the edge of the ship. "So you trap dragons and ship them North? To Drago?"

"Indeed." Eret answered, swinging around a rope and jumping towards Hiccup. "Except when they are stolen."

"Stolen?" Hiccup asked confused as he cut a rope that was keeping a stack of barrels still. "By who?"

The barrels rolled down, Eret landing and trying to keep his balance on one of them.

"Don't worry about it." Eret said as he balanced himself on the barrel, taking a swing at Hiccup. "Drago had found the ice-spitter's cave. Soon, all those dragons will be in his dragon army."

"Right, the dragon army." Hiccup said as he ducked underneath Eret's sword. "How exactly did he pull that off? Dragons aren't exactly the easiest to train."

Eret jumped off the barrel and kicked it towards Hiccup, who easily jumped over it. But he still het himself get cornered.

Eret grabbed him by the collar, pushing him against the edge of the ship. "Even dragons know better than to cross Drago Bludvist." He said as he had the perfect change at attacking Hiccup. "Is this part of changing my mind?"

"That part is coming." Hiccup said as he grabbed a piece of rope that kept the curved sails down. Cutting it with one of his blades, launching himself upward. He landed gracefully on the other sail, acting like he lost his balance and dropping down on it.

Eret climbed the mast with speed, he was an experienced sailor after all. "Come now," he said as he used to ropes to quickly reach the top of the mast. "Drago will soon take over the world, you're either with him, or against him. And the way I see it, against is a losing proposition."

He corner Hiccup again, this time catching him between the end of the beam and himself. Eret quickly moved closer, the tip of his sword now awfully close to Hiccup's neck.

"Any last words to change my mind?" He asked as he towed over him.

"No, just this." Hiccup said as he turned around, using one of his blades to also cut the rope that was holding down this beam. It released with an incredible amount of force, launching the two away from the ship.

Ragnar, Bolt and Toothless looked with horror, Toothless quickly jumping in the air to go after his rider. Some of Eret's men were crying out his name.

"You idiot!" He shouted at Hiccup, who was casually being flung through the air besides him.

He looked in front of him, noticing they were heading straight for the icy spikes that covered their fortress. He swung his arms and legs to try to change his course, but it didn't help.

Suddenly he felt claws wrap around his arms, and some sort of mechanical shifting sound. He was being carried by a dragon, pulled away from the spikes and returned to the ship with a large loop.

Toothless landed gracefully, but not before releasing Eret with a bit more force than neccisairy. The trapper rolled across the deck a few times before coming to a halt. Quickly climbing back on his feet, and surprised to discover he was unharmed.

"So?" Hiccup asked as he scratched his dragon, thanking him for the rescue.

"So what?!" Eret exclaimed. "You didn't do anything, your dragon did it all."

"Exactly." Hiccup said as calm and friendly as he could. "Once you've earned a dragons loyalty, there is nothing they won't do for you."

"Oh, they've done enough for us." Eret began, turning to his crew. "Am I right lads?" He asked, hoping to gain supporters, but they were all looking at a scene behind him.

He turned around, seeing Hiccup rubbing and cooing Toothless as the dragons rolled over the deck, tongue out of its mouth. Enjoying the attention that it got.

He looked at it, and he felt something, perhaps he was right.

Hiccup looked up, straightening himself and looking at Eret.

A sudden forced yanked him sideways, and he could quickly see the ship disappearing beneath his feet as the sea replaced it, rapidly getting further and further from him. He looked up, noticing the large claw of a Monstrous Nightmare that had grabbed him.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup yelled annoyed. "What are you doing?"

"We're rescuing you!" Snotlout replied from atop his dragon. He felt the pressure of the claws release, and suddenly was dropping down towards the sea. He wanted to stick his arms down the loops of his wings, but he felt a new claw close around his leg. He looked up, hanging upside-down from the claws of a blue Nadder, with an irritated rider.

Ragnar watched with a cocked eyebrow as he saw everything happening. Toothless had jumped up and ran to the side of the ship to watch carefully as his rider was tossed around in the air. Ragnar turned around, just in time to duck away from the claws of a Zippleback.

He turned around, seeing two annoyed twins fly off on their Zippleback. "You missed!" He yelled loudly. But he swallowed other words ad he saw their annoyed faces turn into smirks. He quickly turned around, just on time to be grabbed by the claws of a calm and obedient Shockjaw, a gentle shock going through him. He hissed softly at the shock, seeing a hand of the riders go down to pat the dragon.

"Good girl." Heather said softly, scratching the dragons before returning to her flight.

Meanwhile the trappers were busy with other things. Their instincts had kicked in, and everyone was rushing busily to defend themselves. Eret stood on the deck, running over to one of the launchers. But before he could reach it he was flattened against the deck by the weight of a Hotburple.

"Atta boy Grump." Gobber said with a smile. Patting the dragon which was effectively pinning down the leader of the trappers.

Hiccup meanwhile managed to wriggle himself loose from Stormfly's grasp. And quickly used his wingsuit to glide towards the boats, using the sail to slowly glide down to the deck.

Ragnar landed less gracefully, dropped by Shimmer from a height which was just too low to properly prepare a landing, and just high enough to hurt.

"Alright, what is going on here?" Hiccup asked as he looked at the riders who were circling around the boat, Grump lying calmly on Eret, and for some reason Ruffnut lying next to him, pinching his arm.

"Again," Gobber began. "We're are here to rescue you."

"We don't need any rescuing." Hiccup said annoyed, he felt like a child that needed protection, which he clearly wasn't.

"You might." Ragnar said as he noticed an angry Astrid walking over towards Hiccup. He looked at her and wanted to help his friend, but she gave him her signature 'intervene and I'll kill you first' look, so he decided Hiccup was on his own. He turned away as he saw her pull her arm back, and he could hear how hard and precise her hit was.

"Ouch, Astrid, I," Hiccup began, but was cut short by yet another blow, this time to his other shoulder. They weren't the quick, soft, annoyed blows an angry teenager would give you, they were full, harsh and well-aimed blows which would surely leave marks. He tried to protect himself by grabbing her wrist, but it would only leave him open for a punch from her other hand.

Her punches were thrown off when Stoick landed on the ship, rocking it back and forth. He slid of the saddle and walked towards the two assassins.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked loudly, not really expecting an answer. "You may not listen to me as a father, but when I say that the island is locked down I don't care who you are. As long as you're on the island you listen to me as chief."

"Dad, I know, and I respect you authority, but we really need to get after Drago." Hiccup pleaded, slowly growing more and more annoyed. "We have a plan."

"What plan?" Stoick asked. "What is that so called plan? Please share it with us, because to me this looks like the impulsive actions of two boys who don't know what they're up to."

Ragnar looked at Hiccup, they really didn't have a plan. He wanted to say something, but Hiccup beat him to it.

"We find Drago, and we stop him." Hiccup said sternly.

"That's not a plan!" Stoick shouted. "That is a goal Hiccup, you need to plan these things."

"I agree with your dad on this one," Gobber began from atop Grump. "This sounds more like a death wish to me."

"Drago Bludvist is a madman." Stoick yelled, sighing softly as he finished.

"Years ago there was a great gathering of chieftains to discuss the dragon scourge that we all faced." He began, Hiccup automatically rolling his eyes, but still listening closely. "In our midst came a stranger from a strange land." Stoick explained. "Covered in scars and draped in a cloak of dragon skin. He carried no weapons, and spoke softly." He continued. "Claiming that he, Drago Bludvist, was a man of the people. Devoted to freeing mankind of the tyranny of dragons." Stoick told. "He claimed that he alone could control the dragons and he alone could keep us save, if we would bow down and follow him."

The other teens chucked softly at this idea, proposing Vikings to bow down before something, you had to be an idiot to think that would work.

"Aye, we laughed too" Stoick said, continuing his story "Untill he wrapped himself in his cloak and cried out, then see how well you all do without me." Stoick explained, his voice growing grave. "The rooftop then suddenly burst into flames, and from it, armoured dragons descended, burning the hall to the ground." Stoick finished. "I, was the only one to escape."

Stoick broke himself from the memory, turning back to Hiccup. "Drago Bludvist is dangerous, more so then you've ever faced."

"Look, we can handle this." Hiccup said, looking over at Ragnar. "Right?"

"Not to choose sides." Ragnar began softly. "But a plan would be a nice change."

"Ah no, not you too." Hiccup sighed. "We can do this without fancy planning and stuff, we've always done."

"Hiccup, let's just do this calmly." Ragnar tried to negotiate. "We don't exactly know what we're up against."

"A madman with a bunch of dragons." Hiccup stated plainly, walking over to Toothless. "I'm pretty sure I've had worse."

"Hiccup think." Ragnar pleased, growing annoyed at the stubbornness of his partner. "Let's let them help, let them think with us."

"I'm not pulling others into this." Hiccup said as he mounted Toothless. "This is what we do."

"Hiccup, this can't be how you were trained." Stoick pleaded, trying to play in on Hiccup's guilt. "Is this what Marcus would have wanted?"

"Don't you say that name like you know him!" Hiccup suddenly yelled. "Don't you say that name like it holds any kind of honour."

Stoick was surprised, shocked even. "But he trained you, he was like a father right?"

"Hiccup, calm down!" Ragnar interrupted Stoick. "We'll do this together, just later."

"We do this now." Hiccup said. "I'll do this now."

"In your haste to save the world, always take care you don't destroy it." Ragnar quoted softly, only for Hiccup to turn his head away and guide Toothless to take off.

"Damn the gods." He muttered, watching Hiccup fly away. He turned on his heels and headed to Bolt, but walk was stopped when he felt a cold hand grip the back of his collar.

"You're staying." Heather said sternly. "You've got some explaining to do."

He looked out towards the horizon, flying just above the clouds. He could see so far, yet so little. How was he supposed to find anything with these thick clouds? The wind was cold and the sun was bright. It was perfect weather to fly.

Why did he had to bring up Marcus? Why? He had enough supressed memories as it was, and he didn't need those added to the fire. How did he know about him anyway? And while they were at it, why doesn't Ragnar quote their old Master, sure, that would really calm him down.

He felt like he could drop himself into the sea and he'd boil it. He was furious, furious at Ragnar, furious at his father, furious at himself. They were probably right, how was he even going to find Drago with these clouds. Secret bases don't just appear out of nowhere.

He threw himself back on Toothless' saddle, lying flat and just relaxing. He would return to Berk in a while maybe, amend things with everyone and it would all be fine and dandy. But while he was out here, he might as well just fly and rest a bit.

Toothless let out a worried moan, his rider was troubled, he could sense it.

"Don't worry bud," Hiccup began. "I won't do anything tremendously stupid."

Toothless warbled softly, gently flying in a straight line. Hiccup lay calmly on his back, looking up at the blue sky.

But then Toothless suddenly turned his head to his side, growling a soft warning at an approaching person.

She had observed the two for long enough now, flying just a bit lower in the clouds. It must have been her lucky day, only one of the mysterious foreign warriors. Far away from Berk, and apparently deep in thought.

He didn't notice her until she was already halfway above the clouds, standing firmly on the back of her dragon.

"Ugh, dad, I told you I," Hiccup said as he looked up, only to be shocked when he saw that it wasn't his Dad flying beside him, but the mysterious rider they had encountered before.

The moment didn't last long, now that she had revealed herself she quickly retreated, lowering down into the clouds below. She could see the shadow of the Nightfury, and like a shark hunting for a fish above him she flew out, just in front of them.

It was entirely unneccisairy to do such tricks around them. If they fled they would probably win, they were at the same height and were both practically immobile. This 'assassin', as trappers had referred to him, would be just out of her reach. So she had to play it tactically.

He appeared to be curious, observing her as she flew a wide circle around him, his dragon however, was growing impatient. She flew another circle around him, she had to keep him busy. After all, the flock which she wanted to use to abduct him was still few seconds out, and a second was all a Nightfury needed to get away. She couldn't attack directly, since even with the wind that howled, they would hear the sound of beating wings approach them.

She could see the flock emerge behind him, without him even knowing. She calmly pointed her staff at the unsuspecting assassin, sending a few dragons to dive down towards him.

It was the second time that day that Hiccup had the surprise of suddenly being yanked away from whatever he was doing by dragon claws.

Only this time he wasn't standing safely on the ground, and so was Toothless. They were both a couple of thousand meters up in the air, and now he had nothing to support him.

Worse, Toothless had nothing to keep him flying. It didn't take long for the dragon to loose balance, the tailfin giving in and folding shut, causing the dragon to lose altitude rapidly.

He watched as the clouds swallowed him, only for the black blur to appear on the other side, flapping its wings and trying to fly, but to no avail. He hit the ice with immense force, shattering it and landing in the cold water. He felt relieve when he saw the black dot come up again, clawing away at the ice to try and follow Hiccup. Occasionally launching itself out of the water to take off, only to fall down again. He struggled busily, accidently causing Hiccup's helmet, which was strapped to the saddle, to loosen and float away in the water.

"Wait, my dragon!" Hiccup yelled loudly at the mysterious rider, trying to wriggle himself loose from the tight grip of the large dragon that was holding him. "He can't fly on his own."

The rider didn't care or didn't listen, for he slowly guided the flock of dragons away from the hole in the ice, Toothless watching powerless as he saw his rider disappear from sight. They only flew a short bit, and only now did Hiccup realise how close he had been to the location where they had previously encountered this strange rider. And only now did he realise how close he was to his base when he saw a large icy mountain in the middle of the sea.

He tried to break free again, but to no avail, and even if he did, they would surely catch him again. The only thing he could do was sit, or hang, and wait. They dove down, and it reminded Hiccup of the flight he had with Astrid, when Toothless took them to the nest. It was a relatively happy thought as he thought about what could happen to him. But he felt safe for some reason, he just worried for Toothless.

The dragons flew into a cave in the wall of the icy mountain, slowly being lead through darker and darker passages and caves, until he was finally released from the grasp of the dragon. He landed with a graceful roll, and quickly stood ready to defend himself.

He looked around, noticing that he was still in a cave. It had a stone floor and walls, but the ceiling was made of ice. Light blue and clear, sadly enough so thick no one was able to see through it, and sunlight was unable to reach through it.

The second thing he noticed was that there were dragons, a lot of dragons. Everywhere he looked he could see a few. Some he didn't recognise, others were easy to identify. But one thing was sure, this was a nest.

He calmly unclasped his sword, unsheathing and igniting it to calm the dragons. They always relaxed when you presented them with fire. The soft flickering of flames, it did wonders to a dragon's mood. It was almost like mead for Vikings. He could see the reflection in the large eyes of the beasts, who didn't focus on him, but on the fire.

He decided that it was time to really earn their trust, and to show them that he was as close as one of them as he was going to get. He grabbed a new cartridge from his leg, ejecting the previous, empty, one from his sword and inserting the new one. He let out a large cloud of green smoke, igniting it into a short burst of blue and orange fire, before it quickly turned into thick smoke.

The wind in the cave was too strong for the smoke to linger though, and like morning mist disappearing from sight it slowly moved past the dragons and out towards another end of the cave.

After the last sparks had doused and Hiccup's eyes had gotten used to the darkness again, he noticed that the dragons were looking at him were kinder now, their eyes larger and calmer, more relaxed. He slowly approached one, his hand extended in front of his, and inched it closer to the snout of the dragon.

But something moved in his peripheral, this strange person who had brought him here. Who had kidnapped him and dragged him to this cave. He turned, ready for a fight, only to see that the rider was just observing him.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked. "Why am I here? And where is my dragon?"

The strange person didn't speak, just looked at him curiously, she shook her staff. Rattling the small bone balls that were inside the large hollow piece of bone. A large dragon flew over in the small cave, gently dropping a soaked Toothless next to Hiccup.

He quickly rushed to his dragon, giving him a strong hug and talking softly to the Nightfury, making sure he was alright. She looked at the couple, and was surprised as she saw the dragon lick the boy, there was affection between the two. A brotherhood of some sort. Different blood and body, but their souls felt connected.

She felt sorry to interrupt the reunion, and ordered her dragons to light the cave a bit. She calmly approached the two. The dragon was the first to react, snarling at her and wrapping its tail protectively around the assassin's legs. The assassin himself did almost similar, putting his head on the head of the dragon to calm it a bit, but unsheathing some kind of blade form his other hand.

She knew he wouldn't attack him, he knew too much about dragons, she could see that. He knew that if he attacked her he would get jumped on, and even his Nightfury wouldn't safe him then. It wasn't a threat, it was a warning.

She crouched low, trying to make herself seem less dangerous, and dropped her shield and staff. It may have been a bold and dangerous move, but if the boy was as curious as she though he was, it would work.

He did look at her funny, and he stopped backing up, she took this as a sign to continue, and slowly, walking on her hands and feet, she inched forwards, focussing on the dragon.

She could see how its nostrils flared, how angry, but also fearful, it was. She could see how it occasionally looked at its rider, making sure he was a safe distance from her. She didn't know much about Nightfuries, so she would have to try, luckily most strike class dragons were easily hypnotised, so she would try that first.

It was a simple trick once you knew it, a quick motion with the hand and a dragon would be purring softly on the ground, the assassin had appeared shocked, but he could see that no harm had come to his dragon, since he didn't intervene. She gently patted the dragon on the chin, moving down to his chest. Then, she focussed on the assassin.

He was quite a young man, and without his dragon he felt less secure of himself. The blade had retracted, but she was sure to watch out for it might it reoccur. She slowly inched forward, reaching out towards him with her hand. He was backing up, until his back hit the rocky wall of the cave, he was turning away from her, like her touch was contagious, and he didn't want to get sick.

But her breath caught in her throat, and she quickly backed up a bit when she revealed a piece of truth for herself. She knew the world was small, but she hadn't expected this. Possible scenarios went through her head. Leave, flee, scare him off, let him go. But she didn't have time to do anything. Just like his scar had betrayed him again, her voice betrayed her. As she softly said his name.

"Hiccup?"

AN:

I bet no one saw this coming, not the content, just the chapter. I managed to do it! Turns out with a bit of planning and more motivation, I'm perfectly able to create a chapter in a week. Now, if I'll plan a bit better next time I won't have to stay up until midnight to finish it and if I remember the special days for the cafeteria at school I'd have dinner. But those are details, aren't they? :P

Anyway, I hope this makes up for some of my sloppiness the last few chapters, They've been a bit short and usually rushed because I started way too late, expect change! (for maybe a couple weeks or so, then I'll get distracted again and fuck it all up again.)

Also, I'm looking for Beta Readers. Seems like that could be a good idea. If you know how it works or would like to be one, please PM me.

Take Care!

R4y