Chapter Twenty Six

Five years had passed since she left.

Five long and boring years.

Toothless and Cybele remained together, but Cybele was not herself since she left. She had changed dramatically with her behavior, by sometimes snapping at those who she wasn't familiar with. More importantly, she snapped at Zena whenever she got too close. Cybele blamed her for her Rider's disappearance. She would never forgive her.

Speaking of Zena, she had found the Skrill she so desperately wanted to train. The two of them had become best friends, and she named him Shockwave for a good reason. When he lost his temper he would often fire unexpectedly at passing Vikings, usually those he didn't like to begin with. For five years she had learned how to ride a dragon and find a way to conduct his electricity in a way that it wouldn't harm her. In the end, Zena had become part of the group of teens who were now adults. They fought together and learned how to become some of the best dragon Riders of the archipelago.

Hiccup had never really recovered from the fact that Aniu was gone. Her disappearance left a hole in his heart. Even Astrid couldn't change what had happened between them, much as she tried. In the end, Hiccup spent most of his free-time working on a flight suit he came up with a few months ago. The first test had ended miserably, with him almost crashing into a rock until Toothless rushed in to help him. The second time was when the teens had been watching, and Astrid and Stormfly came in to help him. Eventually Hiccup was able to master the flight suit, and spent his time practicing with Toothless and discovering new islands beyond Dragon Island.

In all, life on Berk was peaceful. About a year ago a new sport was created to help relieve some pent up competition. The Dragon Races. The Viking teens had their own teams and would catch a certain amount of sheep, and the black sheep was the main prize. Usually Hiccup was the one who took first place, but now Astrid was taking the lead.

Today found him searching the archipelago for new islands to map. Toothless glided smoothly against the wind currents alongside Cybele. While she hadn't been herself since Aniu left the island of Berk, that didn't mean she had lost her relationship with Toothless.

Hiccup pushed down on the stirrup that was connected to Toothless' tail-fin, prompting Toothless to climb into the clouds and perform barrel rolls as well as dive through them. Cybele kept a close distance, often performing her own tricks to prove just how much stronger she was.

Finally, Toothless leveled out as they flew beside a herd of Timberjacks enjoying the warm sunshine that shown through the clouds.

"What do you think, bud? You want to give this another shot?" Hiccup asked. Toothless only roared in protest, having already dealt with Hiccup's many failed attempts at getting the flight suit to work. He'd lost track of which number the suit was. However, Hiccup was able to understand what Toothless was saying, sort of. "Toothless, it'll be fine," he reassured his best friend.

"This isn't going to end well," Cybele warbled, noting that Hiccup had already fallen off twice the day before.

Toothless simply nodded in agreement, not looking all too happy as Hiccup leaned backwards and slipped off his saddle, until plummeting down. Toothless dove after his Rider, who was screaming in excitement as though this was something they had done numerous times. Soon they looked at each other and Toothless smiled a gummy, toothless smiled and his tongue flapped in the wind.

"Hiccup, you are the craziest human I've ever met," Toothless said truthfully.

Soon the two of them could see the ocean through the clouds, telling Hiccup and Toothless that it was time to deploy their secret weapons. Hiccup grabbed two hoops that were connected to his feet. Once he pulled them a pair of leather wings were revealed, and he began to glide almost perfectly alongside Toothless. Toothless had pulled out his wings almost at the same time and began to glide above him, Cybele flying alongside him.

"Yep, he's definitely crazy," she added.

Hiccup then flipped a switch on his chest, opening up a fin on his back that gave him the chance to level out. Hiccup looked at Toothless with an expression that said it all. He'd finally accomplished his ultimate goal: To fly like a Night Fury. Toothless and Cybele looked just as amazed watching him, clearly shocked that he could accomplish such a task. Toothless and Cybele fired plasma blasts to celebrate his latest achievements.

"This is amazing!" he shouted with excitement. Then as they flew through a cloud, they came face-to-face with a series of rocks jutting from the sea. That was when Hiccup realized that the sea stacks were coming in too fast. "No longer amazing. Toothless!" he cried out in alarm.

"Hold on, I've got you!" Toothless roared until realizing that his tail-fin was locked.

Out of frustration, he fired a plasma blast at one of the sea stacks, causing them to collapse upon impact. This brought Hiccup close enough for him to catch. Toothless wrapped his wings around Hiccup protectively and crashed through a rocky peak hard. The impact sent Toothless rolling down uneven terrain, coming to rest on a small plateau. Once they had finally stopped rolling, Toothless unwrapped his wings and Hiccup routed his Riding Leg back to his Walking Leg. Of course Cybele chose that moment to join them and landed beside Toothless.

"That could have gone better," she crooned as Toothless glared at Hiccup. "How many times must we endure this before you finally realize that flying is out of your element?" Toothless merely nodded in agreement.

"We've really gotta work on your solo flying there, bud," Hiccup said as he folded up his flight-suit, putting the wings and fin back in place. "That, uh, locked up tail makes for some sloppy rescue maneuvers, hey?"

With that thought in mind, Hiccup pulled off his helmet and gazed out at the new island they landed on. Beyond his sight lay tall sea stacks, rocky arch formations and golden birch trees swaying in a warm afternoon breeze.

"Oh, looks like we've found another one, bud," he said while not realizing both Cybele and Toothless were glaring at him. Toothless got the idea of throwing a small pebble at the back of his head, and looked away innocently when Hiccup glared at him. "Oh, you want an apology? Is that why you're pouting, big baby-boo?" Hiccup asked mockingly. He got up and tossed his helmet to the ground in an attempt to intimidate Toothless, which of course didn't work. "Well try this on for size!"

"Like you could really have the strength to take on a Night Fury," Cybele growled with a roll of her eyes. She was amused however when Hiccup tried wrestling with Toothless, only to fail miserably as Toothless just ignored him.

"Oh, you feeling it yet, huh? Picking up on all of my heartfelt remorse?" Toothless wasn't impressed and started walking over to the ledge, Hiccup still dangling under him. "Oh, come on, come on." Hiccup's eyes widened when he realized too late what Toothless was doing. "Uh, you wouldn't hurt a one-legged—" Panic washed over him when he peered over the ledge, clinging onto Toothless tightly as the male Night Fury warbled with laughter.

"I knew you couldn't last long," he snorted and fell backwards, rolling over so that he was now on top of Hiccup.

"He's down! Oh, and it's ugly!" Hiccup started playing with Toothless now as he pretended this was a fight, swinging his fists and acting as if this was a real battle. "Dragons and Vikings enemies again! Locked in combat battle until the bitter—" Hiccup wasn't able to finish when Toothless pinned him down by pressing his head against his stomach. As Hiccup groaned with pain, Toothless suddenly started washing him with licks, and Hiccup grunted in disgust.

"Oh, you two are so mature," Cybele scoffed at the sight as Hiccup managed to free himself from Toothless.

"You know that doesn't wash out!" he complained. Toothless only warbled with laughter again.

"You deserved it," he retorted just as Hiccup threw some of his own spit at his face.

Hiccup pulled out the notebook from his flight suit and opened up a neatly folded map with islands they had already discovered. Pulling out an extra sheet of paper, he handed it to Toothless who promptly licked it and stuck the extra sheet to the map. He then pulled out a dagger and began to sharpen his charcoal pencil with it, lining up a compass he'd pulled out with the two twin mountain peaks in the distance.

"So… what should we name it?" he asked, looking at Toothless who was chewing his armpit while Cybele's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Itchy Armpit it is." He began to drawl an image of the island on the map while Toothless watched him curiously.

They had been at this for months now, finding island after island. Hiccup did this as a way to keep himself distracted from life on Berk, and it was just a good way to fly for Toothless and Cybele. Stoick and the others had begun to notice his odd behavior and were getting worried, but only Astrid seemed to understand what was really going on in his mind.

"What do you think, bud? Think we might find a few Timberjacks out there? The odd Whispering Death or two in the rocks? Who knows… maybe we'd even find other Riders," Hiccup said thoughtfully. He sat up and eyed the island almost longingly. "Wouldn't that be something?"

"I doubt we will find anything significant," Cybele warbled, her voice soft as she thought of exactly what Hiccup had been thinking. Or more specifically, who. She longed to see her best friend/sister as much as Hiccup did, if not more.

"So… what do you say? Just keep going?" he asked Toothless.

"No, I'd rather do anything than keep going!" Toothless protested, sounding annoyed.

Toothless let out a sigh of relief at the sound of a Deadly Nadder greeting them. Hiccup looked up in time to see Astrid joining them on Stormfly. The blue-green Deadly Nadder let out another squawk as she landed beside Cybele and Astrid jumped off.

"Afternoon, Astrid," Hiccup greeted her as she joined him. "Where've you been all day?"

Astrid smiled and patted Stormfly on the snout. Since Aniu had left, she hadn't really tried pursuing a relationship with Hiccup. Honestly, after everything that had happened between them, it felt wrong to do that. Astrid knew that he was still recovering from her leaving.

"Well, I've been winning races," she said, shrugging as Toothless greeted her warmly and she brushed his snout playfully. Toothless chose that moment to chase after Stormfly while Cybele stayed with them. She didn't spend much time socializing nowadays. "The real question is, where have you been?" she asked curiously.

"I've been… avoiding my dad," he admitted sheepishly. Astrid frowned at the mention of his father.

"Oh, no. What happened this time?" was all she asked.

"Oh, you're going to – you're going to love this," Hiccup began while handing her the charcoal pencil, and she began to draw. "I wake up, the sun is shining, Terrible Terrors are singing on the rooftop, I saunter down for breakfast thinking all is right in the world and I get—" He then did his impersonation of Stoick, "—'Son, we need to talk'."

"Not now, dad. I've got a day of goofing off to do," Astrid said while shrugging her shoulders and trying not to laugh.

"Okay, first of all, I – I don't sound like that. Who – what is this character?" he asked. "And second, what is that thing you're doing with my shoulders?" Astrid then shrugged her shoulders, and Cybele was struggling to hold her own laughter. "A very flattering impersonation. Anyways, he goes—" He then imitated Stoick and made an almost perfect impersonation, "—'You're the pride of Berk, son. And I couldn't be prouder.'"

"Ah, thanks dad. I'm pretty impressed with myself too," Astrid said while imitating him again, waving her hands about.

"When have I ever done that with my hands?" Hiccup asked in disbelief, laughing and shaking his head.

"You just did!" Astrid pointed out.

"Ah – kay, just hold still. Very serious," Hiccup told her while grabbing her shoulder. Astrid eventually gave a mocking nod and let him continue. "'You're all grown up. And since no Chief could ask for a better successor, I've decided—"

"To make you Chief!" Astrid said in excitement. "Oh my gods, Hiccup, this is amazing!"

She then punched him in the chest, prompting the flight suit to suddenly open up. Astrid could only laugh at the sight as Hiccup rolled his eyes. Next second they were knocked over by Toothless and Stormfly as Cybele leaned back on her haunches.

"Yeah, so… this is what I'm dealing with," Hiccup sighed as Astrid helped him up.

"What'd you tell him?" Astrid asked, already having a good feeling where this had led. Knowing Hiccup, the first thing he did was run. After all, he didn't have the time to run through the duties of a Chief.

"I-I didn't," Hiccup replied with a shrug. "By the time he turned around, I was gone."

"Huh, well, it is a lot of responsibility," Astrid murmured thoughtfully. "I'd have to finish the map for sure with the others' help. And I'd have to fly Toothless… not to mention it would cut your search short." Astrid bit the bottom of her lip guiltily as she realized where she was going with that.

"I-It's not me, Astrid. All those speeches, and planning and running the village, that's his thing," Hiccup told her.

"I think you're missing the point. I mean, Chief? What an honor!" Astrid sighed, almost sounding as if she had dreamed of the position for herself. "I'd be pretty excited."

"Astrid, I'm not like you. You know exactly who you are, and you always have. Me? I'm still looking. I know I'm not my father, and I've never met my mother, so… what does that make me?" he asked, suddenly thinking of all the other reasons behind not wanting to be Chief.

Astrid held back a knowing sigh. Hiccup wouldn't stop searching for Aniu until he knew exactly what had happened to her. And Zena refused to say anything about the girl she once thought of as her sister. So that left them with very few choices as to what they could do about it.

"What you're looking for isn't out there, Hiccup," she began, hoping that would help him put aside the past. "It's in here. Maybe you just haven't seen it yet." She placed her hand on his chest for emphasis, and blushed at the contact.

"Maybe…" Hiccup started as he stood up and scanned the horizon, noticing that something wasn't right. "But… you know… something is out there." Astrid let out a sigh of frustration, having not seen what Hiccup, Cybele and Toothless were now staring at.

"Hiccup—" He stopped her and grabbed her chin gently, pointing her in the direction of the billowing clouds of smoke ahead of them.

AN: We're going straight into HTTYD 2. I know it seems fast, but since I didn't do Riders and Defenders of Berk, I wanted to get this posted. I think after this, I might take a month-long break to work on the sequel for this story. Yes, there will be a sequel. I just need to work out the plot and figure out where it will fit in with the HTTYD universe, and not clash with my other stories. Anywho, onto review replies!

MMM - Yep, They certainly do! And as for what will be happening next, I hope this chapter answered your question :)

dracologistmaster - Thanks, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter :)