"Come on, I'm here with you. We can tell him," Toothless said enthusiastically. Hiccup shifted uncomfortably next to his companion as they walked along the trail towards Stoick's home. Even from where they were, they could here the loud shouts from inside the home. Words tossed about and screamed into the foggy morning air. Anger filled the atmosphere and made Hiccup even more uneasy.

"Maybe we should come back, when they aren't arguing," Hiccup said, turning around. Toothless quickly stepped in front of him and looked at him lovingly. The larger dragon looked up at the house not too far away and the loud sounds emanating from it.

"From the sounds of it, they seem to be having a difficult time. Why not some good news to cheer them up?" Toothless said sweetly with a smile on his face. Hiccup found it hard to look at Toothless and focused on his feet instead, watching as they shifted his weight. The young dragon felt a paw on his shoulder. It wasn't firm or commanding, but gentle and soft. Hiccup looked up slowly, looking into his dragon's eyes.

"If you don't want to tell him," Toothless said carefully, "then let me know. I don't want to force you or rush you into anything." Hiccup nodded slowly and looked back down, a little angry with himself that he didn't have the guts to tell his father.

"Hiccup, I can see you're angry with yourself. Don't be, okay? You're not hurting my feelings, you're not hurting our relationship," Toothless said quietly, "Anyway it was wrong of me to force you like this, even after everything that happened yesterday." Hiccup shook his head and looked into Toothless' eyes, a strong glow of determination radiating from his eyes.

"No, I want to tell him," Hiccup said, turning back around, "I want this Toothless, I want this for us." Hiccup took several more steps towards the door with Toothless by his side. The pair stopped when the house suddenly went quiet. It almost seemed as if no one was really home, but the sharp creaking of wood would tell otherwise. A female voice rang out frantically, pushing the others into an uproar. This continued on for several more minutes, leaving the dragons to wait outside, not wanting to interrupt whatever was going on inside. The chiefs burst from the home and ran towards the village, past the two confused and worried dragons. Stoick was the last out and stopped short when he saw his son and his dragon. He composed himself quickly and walked calmly to the dragons. Hiccup's heart sank a little, but he still had the determination to tell him.

"Dad I-"

"Hiccup, Toothless listen," Stoick interrupted, "Destin is missing along with several pages of important documents, Iona's book, and my book of defense strategies has been tampered with and likely copied. We're confident he took them and ran."

"What?" Toothless said, his pupils turning to slits in anger and surprise, "Are you sure it was him?" Stoick nodded his head and walked passed the two, motioning for them to follow.

"He's the only one who could've," Stoick said angrily, "Iona pieced it together when she noticed her book missing and Destin. She said it all made since, a plan to kill his father knowing he'd be sent to Berk. I'm guessing either his mother found out somehow, or killing her was all part of the plan. Kill her and hope that he could get into my home." Hiccup and Toothless followed closely behind the viking as he entered the already mobilized village. Vikings were rushing past the trio with their own destinations. Five tribes working in unison with such fluidity and precision that it almost seemed as if they were always one giant tribe.

"What's going on?" Astrid yelled suddenly from behind Hiccup. The young viking quickly caught up to the trio and fell into place next to Hiccup.

"Destin, that Stein kid, is missing along with many of our important documents," Stoick said loudly, picking up his pace as they neared Gobber's shop. Astrid looked completely dumbfounded, wondering how a child could pull something as difficult as that off.

"He's joking right?" Astrid whispered to Hiccup who swiftly shook his head, jogging a little to catch up to his father. Stoick suddenly stopped and turned to the two dragons and Astrid.

"You two, get to the skies and look for him, he could be anywhere," Stoick said, pointing to the two before redirecting his finger to Astrid, "You and Stormfly get up there as well. I need my best eyes in the sky." With that, the chief walked off to give orders to vikings and find Gobber. The three were left alone with vikings swirling all around them quickly, each with their own mission to carry out. Toothless nudged Hiccup and motioned to the skies.

"I guess it'll have to wait," he said with a hint of despair, "Stoick needs us." Hiccup nodded reluctantly and spread his wings apart, stretching them for flight. A hard punch landed on Hiccup's shoulder, prompting him to look at the source of the sudden pain.

"As soon as I find Stormfly, I'll be with you two," she said with a smile, "Go." With that, the pair took to the skies, quickly scanning through the village before flying into the wilderness of Berk.


The two had flown for a good few minutes when Toothless spotted a figure on the beach. The fog kept its identity a secret until they came closer. Landing softly and a distance away, the two made out a small boat and watched it with anticipation, listening for any small sounds that may echo through the forest. After a few more minutes of no sound, Toothless slunk down from their hiding place.

"Toothless," Hiccup whispered worriedly, "be careful!" Toothless flicked his ear in response, noting that he heard the other dragon. The Night Fury slowly drew close to the boat, keeping himself low and hidden in the shadows. Hiccup could hardly see his companion through the fog, only the faint black outline of where he was hiding. After a few moments, Toothless fired a blast at the boat, effectively destroying it and momentarily created a hole in the fog. The sudden ball of fire reverberated around the forest, shaking the ground a little even from where Hiccup was situated. Toothless carefully flew to Hiccup, an indecipherable look on the bigger dragon's face. Hiccup knew Toothless, but this was one of the times where he just couldn't figure the dragon out, and he usually wears his emotions on his sleeve.

"Let's go," he said quietly, "If he's nearby, he either saw or heard that. He might be on the move." Hiccup nodded in agreement and the two took off, flying into the foggy air. The younger dragon had a pit in his stomach, though he couldn't really figure out where it had come from. Maybe he was nervous? It could be the whole situation, or maybe even the idea of telling his father.

"Hiccup," Toothless whispered. Hiccup looked over, seeing those green eyes shine through the fog. The Night Fury was pointing towards the forest with anticipation.

"Do you see it?" he said softly, "There's someone moving down there." Hiccup looked down curiously and searched for the figure. At first he didn't see anything and was about to ask Toothless for more help when he noticed a dark figure sweeping below the trees as if trying to conceal himself from the skies.

"Let's circle back and land near him," Toothless said softly. Hiccup agreed and the two circled for a moment before landing softly where they last saw the figure. Chills ran up the young dragon's spine when heard nothing. The forest was completely still, not a single sound, not a single bird chirping, not a single rodent scurrying about. The trees around them were dead.

"Toothless," he said with an detectable tremble in his voice, "I really don't like this...we should wait for Astrid." The Night Fury ahead shook his head slowly and moved his wing lightly over the smaller dragons mouth. Hiccup was almost about to tell him off when he saw the look in his eyes. That look the hunter gets when he sees his prey. Following his gaze, Hiccup sees a shadowy figure with a large contraption.

"Is that a bola sling?" Hiccup thought to himself, "How could he have managed to sneak one of those out? On top of that, get it into the forest. What does he plan on using it for?" The two dragon's slowly sneaked into the cover of the shadows, taking careful steps as to not alert the frantic shadow. At this point, it was very clear it was the small figure of Destin as he tried to work the contraption. Toothless suddenly burst from their hiding place, rushing the small boy with incredible speed. Hiccup's breath caught in his throat seeing his love suddenly thrust himself into danger.

"Thank you," Destin said with a smile, firing off the contraption. As if the world went in slow, Hiccup's heart beat nearly out of his chest. It was a regular sling being fired out of the sling, it was a bola made up of chains and maces. Hiccup jumped from his hiding place quickly and raced after his dragon. Toothless quickly stopped short and jumped to the side, trying to dodge the flying sling. The Night Fury felt a hot jolt of pain fly through his wing as a spike from one of the mace's found its place in the joint of Toothless' wing. The bola flew through the air, spraying what blood it had picked up over Hiccup as it wrapped itself around a tree.

Hiccup stopped and looked down at himself, a small amount of blood splatter up his chest and down the center of his face. Looking up, he saw Toothless slump in pain and a bad gash in his wing joint. Hiccup gasped and quickly rushed to his companion, examining the wound closely.

"Can you move it?" Hiccup asked quickly, worry filling his voice. Toothless shook his head and looked away from Hiccup and at the bola sling, seeing that Destin had run off.

"Toothless, this is a bad gash, we need to get it treated quickly," Hiccup said, helping Toothless to his feet. Toothless shook his head and moved forward.

"We need to catch him," Toothless said. Hiccup grabbed Toothless' paw and looked into his eyes.

"Just...be careful," Hiccup said quietly, "I don't want to see you get hurt again." Toothless smiled gently and nodded his head.

"Of course," he said sweetly, licking Hiccup's head gently, "We need to go now."

Toothless and Hiccup ran as fast they could considering Toothless' condition. It wasn't too hard to catch up to him, they simply hard to follow the footsteps pressed into the dirt and the sounds of feet rapidly moving ahead of them. After a while though, the footsteps seemed to fade away and finally disappeared altogether along with the footprints in the dirt.

"How could we have lost him?" Toothless whispered angrily.

"I don't know, he couldn't have outran us," Hiccup said, "There's no way."

"He must've taken another route," Toothless said softly, looking at their surroundings, "I think there's a cliff farther up that overlooks the forest. There's no way he'd go up there." As if Destin were waiting for that specific cue, a loud crashing came from ahead of them. The two dragon's stared at eachother for a moment, internally debating whether they should go or wait for help to arrive. Considering the fog only seemed to have intensified, the two highly doubted anyone would be able to find them. Cautiously, the two made their way forward, keeping silent and keeping low. They two came upon an open area, free of trees that served as a platform that looked over the entire foggy forest. At the center of that platform was a small figure waiting for the two. Creeping out from the treeline, the pair kept their wits and looked about them to make sure no traps were already set.

"I feel like you two might be looking for me," Destin said in a mocking tone, passing back in forth on the cliff side, a large dagger in his hand that was coated with dried blood. Toothless growled slightly, holding himself back from jump pouncing on the kid.

"Why corner yourself up here, no, why even do all of this?" Toothless growled out. Destin smiled as if waiting his whole life for that question to be asked. This 'kid' had such a menacing smile, one that just cut through the fog.

"If you insist," the boy said sharply, "One day not too long ago, Mr. Dagur came to our humble little island to talk business. I snuck out at night and promised him I would steal some important stuff for him. He said I could do whatever I needed too to get them, so I killed his mother and father." The child had a wicked smile, fiddling with the dagger in his hand, cutting into his thumb lightly, but just enough to draw blood. Hiccup could feel that pit in his stomach grow even more so.

"You killed Iona's mother and father?" Hiccup asked, staring at the boy with surprise. Destin looked confused. He seemed to over act every emotion he had, especially when he figured out the question.

"Oh no, no, no," he said in a sadistic voice, "I killed that brat Destin's parents. It was a joy really." Both the dragon's stared at the boy, not really sure what to think of his words. The boy noticed their confusion and stuck a tongue out.

"Aw, are the tough little dragon's all confused," Destin mocked loudly, his words echoing through the forest. Toothless took a step forward, growling menacingly. The boy raised a finger in an 'oops' fashion and began pacing again, keeping an eye on the dragons.

"You see, every has a soul and sometimes they get confused and lost and end up in a body with another soul in one body," Destin said, breaking for a short laugh, "I'm just like that, a poor lost soul who found a host for me to feed upon. I can kill all I want and this little boy is the perfect cover. Not a single memory of what I did. He thinks Ljuga is just the boogieman who haunts his dreams, that little brat." While Destin...or Ljuga, whoever was talking to the two dragons, was off babbling about souls and other ramblings, Toothless lunged for the boy, aiming to swat the dagger away and pin the boy down. The boy quickly stepped out of the way and watched the dragon land and the ground around him give out.

Toothless yelled in surprise, grasping on to any stable land he could. The dragon hung on for dear life as the earth below him was a long way down. He tried to get himself up but the dirt in the cliff face was too damp and kept giving away. Hiccup jumped over and grabbed onto Toothless' paw.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Hiccup yelled, trying to pull Toothless up. It was no use, he was just too heavy for the scrawny dragon.

"Well, would you look at the time," the boy said sarcastically, "I've gotta get going, it was nice meeting you." With that, the boy walked away, content with his job and the suffering he could bring for the time being. He could've just killed both of them right there, or at least one of them, but that boy wanted to keep them alive. He knew the two weren't his to kill, no, that was Dagur's quarry.

"Hiccup! Hiccup! I'm slipping!" Toothless said frantically, scrapping at the soft dirt below him. The two struggled to get him back up, but it was to no avail.

"Try harder Toothless! Push yourself up, I can't do this on my own!" yelled Hiccup in fright, "Please! Push! Push!" Toothless growled loudly trying to pull himself up, hurting his wing in the process, causing the progress they made to be lost as the dragon quickly slumped back over the edge. Hiccup's eyes filled with tears, scared that in a split second, he could lose his whole world. The ground around him started to shift under the weight of the two, scaring Hiccup even more.

"Hiccup, the ground, the ground is giving away," Toothless said quickly. Hiccup tried to think under the pressure, but very few things came to his mind.

"I-I-I-I could let go and catch you and we could glide in-"

"Hiccup, I'm too heavy for that, I'd just pull you down," Toothless said quickly. The ground shifted again, moving the damp ground closer to the edge. Hiccup squealed in fright and tried to pull harder on Toothless' paw and arm, getting him up a few more inches.

"Hiccup, if I don't make it," Toothless said with tears filling his eyes, "I love you so much, Hiccup. I'll always be with you." Hiccup pulled even harder, but another shift of the ground forced him down on his stomach at an awkward and horrible angle to pull him up with.

"Don't talk like that! You're going to make it, damnit!" Hiccup yelled, tears flowing down his cheeks.

Like that, the ground between them gave away and Toothless fell.

Hiccup's own life flashed before his eyes. The horror, the guilt, the scares, the emotions, but the laughs, the happiness, the trust, and the love he shared with this dragon. Seeing the absolute horror in his eyes that suddenly changed to an unwilling acceptance, Hiccup watched as his dragon closed his eyes.

"No," Hiccup whispered.

The smaller dragon lunged off the cliff, clinging to Toothless as strongly as he could and flapped his wings harder than he ever had before. Toothless' eyes shot open, seeing Hiccup trying his hardest to save his life. With a sorrowful smile, Toothless tried flapping his one good wing. Their decent slowed enough, but Toothless' single flapping wing force the two into a spiral as they went into the foggy forest below at an angle. Toothless grabbed onto Hiccup and braced for impact, feeling the soft earth hit him.


He couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes, but to him, the world around him seemed to have shifted completely. Toothless looked around in a daze for Hiccup, trying to find his love in the slowly lifting fog. His eyes came to a shadowy figure laying on the ground not to far from him. Getting up and regaining his senses, he felt sore all over and his prosthetic was jammed up. Shaking his head lightly, Toothless walked over to Hiccup and nudged him gently. No response.

"Hiccup...Hiccup, wake up," he whispered, "Please, wake up." He started to panic, thinking that something could be seriously wrong. Toothless calmed himself slightly and leaned in to hear for a heartbeat and was relieved when the steady rhythm of the smaller dragon's breathing.

"Just...unconscious," Toothless thought to himself. The Night Fury scanned over the smaller dragon's body, noting a few scrapes here and there until he came to his tail. One of his tailfins had been ripped off.

"Oh Hiccup," Toothless said to himself with sorrow. First he lost a foot, now he lost a tailfin needing another prosthetic. Putting a paw along the smaller dragon's shoulder, Toothless shook the dragon lightly, calling his name.

"He's been unconscious for a while," Toothless thought with panic starting to set in again. He tried to calm his breathing, but the adrenaline from the fall still was circulating through his veins, adding more to each emotion he felt. A voice shouted out through the fog, one that was far off and echoed.

"Hello?" Toothless shouted, wincing a bit from yelling. There was silence, then the voice echoed again, this time closer. Toothless started to think of all the people it could be.

"I don't care if it's that kid," Toothless thought, "but if Dagur is here, or whoever that kid was giving those documents too." The voice rang out again, this time he could make out it was female and that the voice was definitely distressed.

"Astrid! Over here!" Toothless said, firing off a blast into the sky. In doing so, Toothless coughed from the expenditure of energy and quickly sat down. Looking over his shoulder, he looked at Hiccup and his calm expression. Astrid's voice rang out again, this time much closer, nearly on top of them almost. With that, the dragon and the girl faded through the fog into sight.

"Oh my gods!" Astrid said, jumping off of Stormfly, "What happened?" Toothless was quiet for a moment.

"Where were you?" Toothless said, suddenly angry with them. Granted he wasn't even sure why, he knew they would have much difficulty catching up to them and helping with the heavy fog, but, that didn't seem to matter.

"Where were you?" Toothless shouted, a few tears making their way down his cheeks, "We almost died...Hiccup's hurt, I'm hurt..." He trailed off, regretting ever even talking. He clearly wasn't in the condition to be doing much of anything. Stormfly approached the Night Fury and rubbed her muzzle against him.

"Toothless, everything's going to be okay," she whispered, "You're both strong." Toothless nodded his head and got to his feet slowly. Looking over Hiccup's body, he started biting his tongue seeing his love in such a condition again.

"I failed you again," Toothless thought to himself with guilt and sorrow.

"Can you fly him back to the village?" Toothless asked softly, looking towards the Nadder. Stormfly nodded her head and motioned towards Hiccup.

"Get him on my back," she said quietly. Toothless carefully picked Hiccup up and situated him on the Nadder's back, making sure he was safe and secure.

"Please, make sure he's safe," Toothless said quietly. Stormfly nodded her head and slowly, but surely made her way back to the village. Watching as the dragon's figured disappeared into the fog, Toothless felt a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go, we've got a lot of ground to make," she said softly.


Toothless sat in Stoick's home along with a few others patiently awaiting for Svelta to come down from Hiccup's room. The Night Fury flinched from the sudden contact with his wound. Iona quickly pulled her hand back and applied less pressure to his wound.

"I don't know a lot about Night Fury anatomy," she said softly, "but I think you got lucky with this one. It doesn't look like anything is damaged to badly." Toothless breathed out sharply and looked at his feet.

"I wouldn't call any of his 'lucky,'" he said softly.

There was still no sign of Destin, even with the fog having lifted. The chief's came to a reluctant agreement he must've fled the island by now or hiding somewhere out in the wilderness. Boats patrolled the oceans surrounding the island, but he still might have managed to slip through. Either way, there was little chance to finding him or recovering any of the stolen documents. It was as if the Gods had punched the Night Fury in the face, punishing his love for trying.

"Why did I jump?" Toothless thought to himself with hate, "Why did I have to jump at him?"

The sudden creaking of wood attracted Toothless' attention towards the staircase. The wooden door of his room slowly opened as Svelta descended the stairs, looking over the few people who waited in the room. She walks to the group and takes a seat in front of them.

"He has a minor concussion and a few minor injuries. His left tail fin is missing, but I cleaned the wound and should be okay," Svelta said before pausing, looking towards the Night Fury, "If you weren't there Toothless, he would've died. Hiccup...I think he's slipped into a coma, not like the one he was in before, an actual coma. He's displayed all the signs for it and is showing no response." Toothless' breath caught in his throat and his heart pounded with fear and grief.

"This day in age, we don't have anything we can treat him with," Svelta said quietly, "We can only hope we wakes up. The next few days are touch or go, whether or not he wakes up or dies. He's strong though, maybe not in muscle, but in will. He'll pull through, I just know it." The healer got up from her seat and looked at the few people gathered together for this young dragon. With a slight nod of her had, she exited the home.

Toothless slowly made his way up the stairs, he wood creaking softly as he climbed the last few stairs. The door was open and Toothless could see Hiccup's unconscious form lying on his old bed. He definitely didn't fit on the small thing anymore, but it would have to do for now. Seeing him like this again, seeing him in such a condition because he couldn't protect him, it was all too much for Toothless to bear any longer. The Night Fury slumped over his love's body and silently cried for his love.

Stoick listened for a while, catching the occasionally weeping from Toothless until eventually the room above fell silent. The old chief slowly ascended the stairs and peeked into the room. He could see Toothless watching over his son as a silent guardian. Stoick opened the door with a soft creak, noticing Toothless' ear's flicked from the sound.

Toothless could hear the sounds of Stoick's footsteps as they walked towards the bed. He could hear the old chief getting worked up seeing his son, his only son, lying on a bed in such a condition. Stoick went to the side of the bed opposite of Toothless and pulled over a stool and sitting on it. Taking one of his paws, Stoick squeezed it gently, looking at his sleeping boy.

"Stoick," Toothless said softly, noticing when Stoick looked up, "I don't know if he's going to wake up, so I want to let you know." Stoick obviously didn't like hearing his son might not wake up, but he knew in his heart he would have to accept his possibility.

"Let me know what, son?" Stoick said. Toothless's heart trembled hearing Stoick call him son. That was a title he reserved only for Hiccup.

"This morning, Hiccup and I were coming to talk to you," Toothless said in a quiet voice, "We wanted to tell you...that...we wanted to 'get married' as he put it. I wanted him, I want him as my mate, sir." During this whole conversation, Toothless' eyes never left Hiccup. Stoick's heart lept for a few moments hearing the news. He really didn't know how to react, but in the end, he truly felt happy.

"I would have said yes...no I say yes," Stoick said quietly, putting a hand on Toothless' shoulder, "You've made my son the happiest boy in the world...and when he comes out of this, I know you two will be the happiest pair on Berk." Toothless smiled softly and nodded his head, relieved to no end Stoick had accepted it. That smile didn't last long, just seeing Hiccup like this was almost unbearable to believe. Stoick left the room quietly and left the two alone.

A boy and his guardian.