Thank you EchoMoonstone for betaing this!

Hiccup didn't like learning to fight in the cove. The cove was were he and Toothless became friends, and he hated holding a sword there. The cove was safe. So he and Toothless went out and found a small clearing on the far side of the island, which was a long walk but a short flight. It gave them privacy, but didn't take away from the magic of the cove. Toothless still wasn't happy about it. The Night Fury would pace and whine the entire time. The first time they went to the clearing and Astrid drew her sword, Toothless actually curled his lip and snarled at her. Then Stormfly hissed back and it came pretty close to a dragon flight before the riders got them settled down again. Hiccup knew why Toothless wasn't happy, and it wasn't because he thought Astrid was a threat. Hiccup always left the practice stiff and covered in bruises, since Astrid didn't go easy on him. Toothless was forced to just sit and watch as Hiccup was thrown to the ground, as Astrid pressed the dull blade to his throat, as she threw punches and struck Hiccup with the hilt of her sword. It had only been a couple of weeks since the fight against the Red Death, since Hiccup lost his leg. Toothless was still worried about him, and didn't like watching even practice fights. Hiccup didn't like it much more. The fights were humiliating. It didn't come naturally to him, and he had never so much as landed a blow on Astrid. He had taken his basic self-defense classes as a kid, since the only son of Howard Stark was a prime kidnapping target, but they were basically useless against Vikings. Americans aren't usually trained in hand-to-hand combat. The Americans that were taught to fight for whatever reason were taught to use ranged weapons like guns, or tools like a tazer. But Vikings were raised fighting up close and personal. So Astrid had no problem deflecting his attempts to jab soft spots. And his work with a sword was truly pathetic. But Astrid took no excuses and never let him quit.

The part Hiccup always enjoyed was the time they spent following the practice fights. They would spend some time just sitting, catching their breath and leaning against their respective dragons, and just talk. Astrid wasn't afraid of asking him about the South, but didn't constantly bring it up either, so he found it was much easier to talk to her about it than any of the other Vikings. He was always highly aware of what he said about the South to any of the other Vikings, including - maybe even more so - Stoick. But Astrid just wanted to know about who Hiccup was when he was still Tony Stark, and where he came from. So he told her. He told her about electricity, about the differences in flying in a plane versus flying on a dragon. He told her about Jarvis, and his parents. That subject was raw. He knew now, after months of living with Vikings and never having a hand laid on him, that his father slapping him around wasn't normal. He had always thought that since Howard never broke bones or put him in the hospital, that it wasn't that bad. But if Vikings thought Howard's behavior was barbaric, how could Hiccup argue with that? But the even after all the time that had passed, sometimes he would smell the lavenders that grew around Berk and remember his mother's perfume, or look at his invention and wonder what his father would have thought, and the grief would appear out of nowhere to strangle him. Because yeah, Howard was out of line and his mother was mostly absent, but it wasn't all bad. When he was younger, he remembered his mother singing silly little songs to him, and the grand piano she loved to play. Before she started drinking, she had been present in at least a little of his life, and it was nice. His father used to let him occasionally sit in the front seat of one of his cars while he worked on the engine, and Howard would talk about what he was doing and what each part of the engine did. That stopped when he got older, but it was a nice memory.

Astrid didn't comment much about his parents. Hiccup was glad. He didn't want to hear what he knew all the Vikings thought of his family. But she asked a lot about Jarvis, and Hiccup loved talking about him. He always had to be careful when speaking of Jarvis when he lived in America, because someone of his status couldn't be known to care too much about the help. But there was no concern about that here. So he talk and talked. He told Astrid about the ballgame Jarvis had taken him to for his birthday, which lead to him having to explain what the game was. Maybe they could try playing baseball on dragons. Now there was an idea. He told her about the toy shield Jarvis had hand-painted to look like Captain America's shield. Hiccup was telling her about Jarvis's disastrous attempt teaching him to cook pancakes when he realized.

Toothless could fly him South.

Toothless was a Night Fury, the fastest flier. It would still take at least a few days, maybe a week, but Toothless could take him there. It would be a rough journey, and they would have to be careful to avoid people, but it was easy to catch food on a dragon so they could hunt, and thanks to Toothless building fires was easy.

"Hiccup?"

He looked up and realized that he had stopped talking in the middle of a sentence. Toothless warbled in concern and nudged Hiccup's temple with his nose. The wing that Hiccup was leaning on shifted. Hiccup reached back to scratch under the Night Fury's wing joint to calm him.

No, he couldn't go South now. The peace with the dragons was still too unstable, and the Berserkers would be coming soon. Even a visit - because there was no way Hiccup would give up his life on Berk for good - would take too long. He had too much to do here. Hiccup let out a shuddering breath. Yes. He had to stay. Guilt stirred, because now he was choosing to leave Jarvis in the dark. But he had been 'dead' for almost a year. Jarvis would have healed and moved on. Maybe someday, when things were more stable, he could go and see Jarvis. Get a sample of his scent to use to train a Terror to send letters. But for now, he had to stay put. It wasn't an excuse. It wasn't. The idea of going South was daunting, and yeah, Hiccup didn't want to leave Berk even for a little while, but he had legitimate reasons for staying put.

"Hiccup? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he mumbled back. "Yeah. What were we talking about?"

She shrugged. "I don't remember. We need to head back anyway."

He nodded, still quiet. They collected the practice swords and mounted their dragons. Toothless was still pretty clearly worried, glancing back at Hiccup every few seconds. The night was quiet, and the moon was close to being full. The Northern Lights were out. It was gorgeous. Once they reached the village, Hiccup waved to Astrid as they split up to go to their own houses. But rather than heading back, Hiccup flew over his house and directed Toothless up. They flew high, high enough that the light from the fires in the watchtowers couldn't reach them.

"He thinks I'm dead," Hiccup murmured to Toothless. The dragon looked back and warbled softly. "Is it cruel for me to keep letting him think that? I've got you now. We could fly down, find him, let him know I'm alive." They hit a rough patch of air, and Toothless pumped his wings to push them higher. "But that would mean leaving Berk for weeks. Maybe even a month. I'm not sure how far we really are from America. And that would leave Mildew plenty of opportunity to drive the Vikings and the dragons apart." They were really high now. Hiccup had to be careful to breath deeply and evenly so he didn't get dizzy. Toothless noticed and evened out into a glide, rather than climbing higher. He wasn't the least bit bothered by this height. Hiccup wondered how high he could go if he didn't have Hiccup to worry about. "No. Not yet. Besides, the freeze is coming soon. Maybe next year we can see about going South." Toothless crooned.

"I want to try something," Hiccup announced. "You remember our first flight?" Toothless rolled an eye back to give Hiccup a flat, suspicious look. Hiccup grinned at him, and pushed thoughts of Jarvis back. "Come on, bud! It'll be fine! We're high enough!" Toothless groaned, but didn't actively protest so Hiccup knew he was just being contradictory. He grinned and unfastened his safety belt. Toothless huffed but his ear plates perked up a little and Hiccup knew he was as excited as he was.

"Ready?" Hiccup asked. Toothless grunted and Hiccup felt his muscles tense. He took a deep breath, and let himself slide sideways, out of the saddle.

And he fell.

He whooped as the air whipped past. All thoughts of Jarvis and America were pushed back, and there was only the rushing air, the bite of the wind, and the excited barks of his dragon. Toothless appeared next to him, wings folded tightly to his back and his legs tucked into his trunk. Hiccup grinned at him, and the Night Fury grinned right back, tongue flapping in the wind. Hiccup laughed, pure and joyful. How could he have ever lived without this? The rush of adrenaline as they approached the water, the wind tugging at his hair? But more, so much more, how could he have made it this far in life without Toothless? His sweet, loyal dragon who chased sparks that flew from fires and pounced on shadows?

Toothless apparently decided they were getting too close to the water, because he twisted sharply. Hiccup pulled himself back into the saddle and fastened his safety straps before opening the tailfin. Toothless's wings snapped out and they pulled up sharply. The wind tried to drag them down, but they just flew on it. The water whipped up to spray Hiccup's face from the force of the Night Fury's flight. Hiccup didn't realize they were that close to it. Maybe it was a bad idea to try this at night. But he couldn't regret it. Besides, he trusted Toothless. He had learned that maybe he needed to practice listening to his dragon a little more after the whole mess with Torch a couple of days ago. But he learned his lesson. And he has been listening, and just as it did that night, it always paid off.

They flew back to Berk and landed lightly in front of the house. Hiccup dismounted and scratched Toothless's chin in thanks for the flight. Toothless's eyes rolled back slightly and his tongue lolled out. Hiccup grinned and opened the front door. There was a single candle still lit on the kitchen table for him, next to a plate that held a roasted fish and a scoop of potatoes. There was a basket of fish on the floor next to the table. Hiccup opened the basket for Toothless, and the dragon dove in. Hiccup took a bite of his potatoes and smiled at Toothless. It was nice. Hiccup, Stoick, and Toothless. It was a strange family, but a family all the same.

Stoick had banished the dragons.

Hiccup couldn't believe his ears when Stoick announced that the Academy would have to take the dragons to a nearby island and leave them there. Hiccup knew, he just knew, that Mildew was behind all the destruction and he had framed the dragons. But he had no proof. He would find it. He would. Because he wasn't leaving Toothless. Not for good. He was standing on the island, hand on Toothless's nose, and staring into his dragon's heartbroken eyes when he promised Toothless that he would fix this. And he would. He would.

"Trust me, bud," Hiccup murmured. Toothless whimpered, eyes begging Hiccup not to leave. It felt like Hiccup's heart was being shredded. He took a deep breath and pulled his hand back, hitching the saddle higher under his arm. He walked over to a log to hide the flight rig in, then started back towards the ship waiting for him that already held the other riders. Toothless barked anxiously, and Hiccup could hear the dragon following him. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"It won't be long, bud," Hiccup promised. "I'm going to fix this. I promise." Toothless whined, but stayed put as Hiccup climbed onto the ship. The other dragons were standing on the beach too, watching their riders sail away with confused, hurt eyes. But they stayed on the beach, obeying their riders even in this.

It was the first time Hiccup had been on a ship since The Seeker, the only exception being when he had rescued Toothless during the battle with the Red Death. But he had had other things on his mind then, and the ship had been stationary. But now, he barely lasted until the island was out of sight before the terror overwhelmed him. Suddenly he was certain that this ship was going down, and he and the other teens would go down with it, and he would never get to fulfill his promise to Toothless. He managed to dash behind a stack of crates so he was out of sight of the other teens, who were still standing at the rail staring in the direction of their dragons. He crouched there and crammed his wrist into his mouth to keep from making any noise as his body tried to shake itself apart. He rocked back and forth, eyes squeezed shut. He wanted Toothless. He wanted his sweet, playful dragon. He wanted to feel the burning heat that could only belong to his Night Fury by his side. He wanted Toothless to take him off this fucking ship, to take him into the clear sky where there was no horrible rocking, no cold water trying to drag him under. But Toothless wasn't there, because Hiccup had failed. He failed at proving the dragons' innocence, he failed at protecting Toothless the way his Night Fury had always protected him.

Ships were much slower than dragons. It took almost four hours to make a return trip on what had been a thirty minute flight. Thankfully, the other teens let Hiccup be. Vikings don't respect fear, and if they saw Hiccup falling apart over a simple boat ride, it would destroy all of the respect Hiccup had gained recently. Astrid and Fishlegs would probably be fairly understanding, but Snotlout and the twins … wouldn't be. They probably thought he was just grieving the loss of Toothless, and left him alone.

As soon as he felt the ship bump up against the dock and heard the greetings of the Vikings working there, he bolted. He ran off the ship and straight to the forge, ignoring the calls of the teens. He blew past a startled Gobber and darted into his workroom, slamming the door behind him. He leaned against it and sunk to the ground. His leg throbbed faintly. It was almost completely healed at this point. Just another thing he had to thank Toothless for. He sometimes got the severe stabbing pain in his missing foot that he knew was phantom pain, but Gobber had showed him a way to massage the stump that helped ease the pain, and had showed him how to breathe and relax enough to let the pain fade away. But the pain was far less common at this point then it had been during the first couple weeks after losing the leg. And now it was just sore from his crouch on the ship. Good. It should hurt. Hiccup deserved it.

A knock at the door. "Laddie!" Gobber called.

"Go away!" Hiccup shouted back, sounding just like a sulky child. He had just been forced to leave his best friend alone on an island, he figured he was allowed a little time to himself.

A loud sigh answered him, and he heard the soft click-thump of Gobber hobbling away. The door to the shop opened and closed, and the forge was quiet.

Now that he was alone, he let out a ragged sob and let the tears fall. He banged his head back against the door once, the again, harder.

"I'm sorry, Toothless," he whispered. He sniffed and rubbed his nose, then let out another ragged sob.

He wasn't sure how long he sat on the floor crying, but after some time he heard the door to the forge open again. He sniffed and shuddered, forcing himself quiet.

Heavy footsteps approached the door. Too even to be Gobber, whose limping gait was a dead giveaway.

The footsteps stopped, then a heavy hand pounded twice on the door.

Hiccup didn't move.

"Hiccup." Stoick's voice was abnormally soft. Fucking Gobber, that tattletail. Hiccup still didn't move.

A deep sigh. "Lad, either open the door or I'm breakin' it." Stoick's voice was low but firm. He was serious. Hiccup sniffed and quickly rubbed his hands over his face to clear the tears, although there was nothing he could do about the redness he knew his eyes held.

He stood up and opened the door, but didn't meet Stoick's eyes.

A large hand gripped his chin and gently lifted his face. Hiccup stared at a scratch on the wall over Stoick's shoulder. Stoick sighed.

"I miss him too, Hiccup." Suddenly the Chief's huge arms wrapped around Hiccup, pulling him into a tight embrace. Hiccup gasped a little in shock. It was the first time Stoick had ever given him a real, full-on hug. He hesitantly raised his arms around the Chief.

"You made me send him away."

Stoick's grip tightened a little. "It's only for the moment. I can't convict a man of high treason without solid proof, Hiccup. Find me that proof, and we'll get yer dragons back and kick that old man off this island."

Now Stoick grasped Hiccup's shoulder, gently pushed him back. "Find me the proof, Hiccup. We'll get Toothless back. I promise."

Hiccup took a shuddering breath, and nodded.

Toothless always protected Hiccup. Now it was Hiccup's turn to protect Toothless.