A.N. Alrighty, so I'm back at it again with the next chapter but no one reviewed! No one said anything about a deal with the devil, take it, don't take it, nothing! Come on guys. Also, this chapter has some revelation about other characters, and Gobber is not quite what you'd think. Just warning you now. I tried to finish this chapter before finals, but that didn't happen, and then with everything that happened to prepare for the next semester really made it hard to update. Sorry. Anyway, please read and review.

Loki followed the twins up the mountain with a shield slung over his back. The twins each had a shield as well. "What are we doing with these up here?" he asked. "Honestly, can't you just tell me?"

"Not yet," Ruffnut laughed. "It'll ruin the surprise!" Tuffnut laughed along with her as they climbed. Loki looked back over his shoulder to see how high they were and was amazed that they were so high. They had been walking for a while, but the mountain still stretched up above them. Loki sighed and continued walking up the mountain. Finally, they came to a flat area near the top and the twins each knelt in the snow, holding their shields.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked.

"Just do what we're doing," Tuff answered. Loki complied as he rolled his eyes. "Now, we'll see you at the bottom!" Tuffnut shouted as he jumped forwards, placing the shield under himself, sitting on it as he skidded down the mountain, Ruffnut right after him.

Their shrieks of laughter snapped Loki out of his thoughts. "So you want to play? Think I can't do this?" He laughed. "You're so absolutely wrong!" He then jumped forwards and landed on the shield in a crouch as he skidded down the mountain too, his laughter cutting through the winter air.

Erik watched the horizon as the ships set sail. This would be the last chance to find the nest and take it out. Already the snows had begun and ice floats had started forming in the calmer bays. "How's it looking, Fishlegs?" Erik asked.

"It's going to be close," Fishlegs answered. "If we take too long, we'll run out of food and likely freeze to death."

"What are the odds of that?" Erik asked.

"Eehhhh, five to one?" Fishlegs said unsurely.

"I'll take those odds," Stoick said as he walked up. "We're vikings. We'll go out by dragons. Not by starvation and cold."

"If we do this right, we're not going out at all," Snotlout chipped in. "We're gonna win."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Erik said. "We haven't seen the Rider in a while. That's something that may mean something is coming."

"The trader hasn't been back either," Fishlegs answered. "Not since you sent him away Chief."

"Isn't that also around the time when we got that food?" Snotlout asked.

"You don't think the trader gave us all that food do you?" Erik asked. "Why would he do that and where would he get it?"

"No, it does make some sense," Fishlegs answered. "I mean, it was a massive stockpile, and most of it was able to be long term storage, so it's likely that he gave us a large amount of his stores."

"He gave us his food?" Stoick mused. "Why would he do that?"

Erik shrugged. "It's the only explanation I can think of, but I wouldn't know why unless we ask him."

"Well it's too late now," Snotlout said. "We'll just find him and ask when we get back."

"That's only if he's around when we get back," Fishlegs answered. "No one has seen him outside the village even though he always heads into the forest."

"Either way, we need to focus," Stoick cut in. "We have a headwind right now, so it's going to take much longer to get to helheim's gate."

"Then I'm going to take the time to sleep," Snotlout answered. "A great warrior needs to be fresh and ready for battle."

Erik rolled his eyes at the other young man and walked to the front of the ship, watching the horizon. Gobber's peg leg thumped on the planks as he walked up behind him. "Lad," he said quietly. "You're not tellin' us everythin'. Why?"

"What makes you think that?" Erik asked.

"Laddie, Hiccup also hid things from everyone," Gobber answered. "I knew and I didn't ask about it because he was already gettin' lots o' flak from everyone else." He sighed. "Now, I don't know if I coulda helped him with whatever he was gettin into if I had asked."

Erik contemplated it. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he finally said. The voice of Ares then chose to speak inside his mind.

"Watch yourself soldier boy. You can tell people if you want, but you had better be sure about who you tell," the voice growled. Erik winced.

"Try me laddie," Gobber countered. "I've seen lots in my time."

"Have you seen a god?" Erik argued.

Gobber hesitated. "Most won't believe me, but I have."

"Really," Erik drawled. "I'm being serious. Don't try to pander."

"I'm not Laddie," Gobber answered. "I met Thor once. He's not like everyone thinks. That's all I'm going to say."

Erik finally sighed. "Fine. But no telling the others. They'll just think I'm insane."

"Of course, Laddie," Gobber answered. "Won't tell a soul."

Erik didn't speak for a moment, considering what to say. "I met a god. Not one of ours though."

Gobber's eyebrows raised in shock so that if he still had hair on his head, they would have disappeared. "What do you mean?"

"I can't tell you everything," Erik answered. "But there are way more gods than we thought. Ours are only a fraction of the gods in this world. And one of them took an interest in me specifically. The gods are all looking at this war and each of them has something they want from it. Almost all of them want us to win."

"Almost?" Gobber asked.

"They all have different ideas, so I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them want the dragons to win," Erik drawled. "But the one that talks to me. His name is Ares, he wants the Rider dead."

"How do you know?" Gobber asked.

"He stated it specifically," Erik answered. "And because of it, he's given me a blessing."

"Blessings or a contract," Gobber drawled. Immediately Erik was alert and Ares was very interested.

"I wish to speak to him," Ares stated in his mind. Erik was confused.

"Ares wants to talk to you," Erik said. "I don't know how-" suddenly his eyes glowed with the fires of war and he turned to Gobber with a very different visage, though his face was the same, the emotion and mentality was completely different. Stronger. More wild.

"What do you know of contracts?" Eriks' voice spoke, but it wasn't quite right. "You are no mage."

Gobber stayed silent, eyeing Erik with concern and now distrust. He then spoke, but carefully, speaking clearly and without his usual accent. "A blessing does not include possession, that I know." He thought about his next words carefully. "I knew a woman who was likely a Mage, as that's what she called herself sometimes. She never told me much, but one thing that I remember very clearly, is she said to never make a contract without an escape clause."

"You don't even know what that means," Ares drawled while using Erik's voice. "And for your information, a blessing is a contract. Just some don't hold a price. I do not give anything for free however. A war is cost for all. That is a simple truth."

Gobber looked back to make sure no one was hearing them. "And your contract with the lad?"

"He accepted my blessing. In return, he will kill the Dragon Master, or as you call him, the Rider. The Rider is attempting to bring back the Dragoness, the Goddess of Dragons. I assume you don't want a dragon god released back into the world."

Gobber wasn't sure how to answer. "I may not be familiar with magic, but I do know that dragons are a problem for us. If you are actively seeking to help, then there is something to benefit you as well."

"Your voice is different," Ares said, changing the subject.

"I do understand that careful pronunciation and wordage is necessary for speaking with a god," Gobber spoke, though he noticed the non answer to his question.

Ares considered Gobber. "Well, at least you know the simpler rules. You aren't as foolish as most would think." He looked off into the distance. "Your little soldier boy is in good hands, as long as he keeps his end of the deal. You shouldn't worry, though I know you will. Tread carefully, Blacksmith."

With that, Erik's eyes returned to normal and he stumbled. "Ouch," he muttered. "That's a headache…"

Gobber sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing Laddie," he mused as he slipped back into his standard accent. "What is it that he asked you to do?"

"To kill the Rider," Erik said. "I would have done that anyway."

"We've seen the Rider's power," Gobber said. "I hope that you have the power ta defeat him."

"Don't worry," Erik answered. "We have a plan." Gobber was a little more concerned by the use of "We". He remembered the woman and the one piece of advice she had given him. It was one that had not been told to Stoick due to his disbelief in magic. She had stopped using her magic as a consequence of her love for him, but he wondered if her fate had been the result of a contract.

Returning his thoughts to the matters at hand, he patted Erik's shoulder and watched the horizon with him.

Hiccup looked at the offered hand with uncertainty as he ran the contract through his head. It seemed completely safe. No random misinterpretation of rules, no possible pitfalls, it was even very beneficial towards him instead of to Samael. All these things just made him more confused and concerned. Samael was usually very upfront about what he wanted, and while he was completely shameless in his dealings, he was honest about what he planned when directly asked, which made this deal all the more confusing. What was his angle here?

"Well?" Samael asked. "Do we have a deal?" His face was neutral, keeping any emotion carefully concealed. "Honestly, while other Demons might have an ulterior motive, you know that's not how I work." When Hiccup didn't answer he sighed. "My arm's getting tired here. Accept or don't."

Hiccup finally grasped his hand in a handshake. "Alright. This contract is acceptable." A blazing gold ring surrounded their hands, but it was tinged with a blood red script of symbols that were not like Hiccup's runes. The ring split, the red sliding up the demon's wrist while the gold to Hiccup's. The rings then contracted onto their skin, making another ring of runes on Hiccup's wrist and a deep red set of symbols on the demon's.

"Good choice," Samael spoke before he began to shrink. As he shrank, he began to glow, becoming a dark red fire that shrank until it was a ball of the blood red fire that fit in Hiccup's palm. The world then returned to normal, the sky back to its standard blue and the rings collapsed in on themselves, destroying the stones with a burst of air that radiated outwards a foot.

As the magic all settled down, all the others suddenly started clamoring with questions, each interrupting the others. Hiccup winced. "HOLD UP!" he shouted. They finally quieted. "I need to put Sam in the shell first. Hold up please."

He then walked to the shell and opened the shell's door on it's chest. Carefully placing the fireball into the chest cavity, he then shut the door and stepped back. The shell then began to emit a blood red light from the joints, eyes, and mouth. The shell let out a horrible groan and began to stand up, stretching the joints before settling down into a standing position.

"Ah, that's better," Samael rumbled in his voice through the mouth that opened, revealing the blood read energy glowing in his head. "This dimension is much better than Hell. The hosting shell could be better, but not much. This is fine work."

"Now as for your duty," Hiccup said simply. "On this island is the fountain of youth. Your duty is to protect it. None are to abuse its power, and you may tell no one of it other than those who are directly trying to access it. This means you cannot 'accidentally' tell anyone." He drawled. Samael rolled his eyes but nodded.

"Alright," Samael answered finally. "If those are my orders, then I'll obey them." He stretched his metal joints. "You aren't going to just leave me by myself here alone, are you?"

"We're gonna have to come back," Hiccup answered truthfully.

"You couldn't give me anything to pass the time?" Samael complained.

"Like what?" Hiccup asked. Samael then shook his fist up and down quickly in front of his midsection. Hiccup froze for a second. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Hiccup asked loudly. "And I know you're a demon, so if you think that's a reasonable excuse, then I'm gonna dent your head." Samael had opened his mouth, but then closed it with an audible snap. "Anything else you want to complain about?" Hiccup asked.

Samael shrugged. "Can I at least talk to others?"

"Not about your job, nor can you bring them here," Hiccup answered. "However, you can talk to them."

"Perfect," Samael said as he walked over to a nearby rock and sat down. Hiccup rolled his eyes as Samael raised his hand, a glowing circle of symbols appearing in his hand. He then began speaking in a quiet tone that seemed to be in a different language.

"Alright. Now we need to get back," Hiccup said as they walked towards a large rock face.

"Wait, what was that?" Nyte asked.

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked.

"That! Who the hell is he? Is that all that it takes to be a contract? How could you put your soul on the line?" Nyte asked angrily.

"He's Samael, the demon," Hiccup answered. "The first step to understanding contracts is understanding how to contact other beings. I contacted him the first time while we were back at the island. He wasn't too happy, but he was only under contract to speak to me, nothing else."

"And what was the cost?" Nyte asked.

"Demons use currency like mortals do," Hiccup answered. "How do you think they get the funds for people that sell their souls for money?" He shrugged. "I simply paid him a gold piece for five minutes of his time."

"You can do that?" Eira asked.

"Yes, but I wouldn't recommend expecting that to work all the time," Hiccup explained. "They can't ask for much using that kind of summoning, but you can't get much from it either. It's a low risk for a low reward kind of deal."

"But you still put your soul on the line!" Nyte cried. "Why would you do that?"

"We needed his help," Hiccup answered. "And besides. I have no intention of dying anytime soon."

Nyte didn't argue with him as she understood that he wouldn't see anything wrong with his statement. "So now what is the plan?" She asked.

"We attach a tether here, and then head back home," Hiccup answered. "There's still several available stones that we can use to create a gate."

"Did you already do that?" Astrid asked. "And it broke…"

"That's because I forced the gate, instead of opening it from both ends," Hiccup answered. "Because it's already been forced, I'll be able to just reopen it, as it will be more stable, and establish the tethers."

"Why didn't you do that the first time?" Eira asked.

"Because the tethers would break if I relied on forcing the gate. Reopening the gate isn't nearly as strenuous and I can attach the tethers," Hiccup answered. "I just had to wait for a bit to He walked up to a very large stone face and carefully pulled out a stone that with a quick word was replaced with a heavy knife. Hiccup then carefully cut into the stone, the knife going into the rock with only a slight resistance.

"That's a strong knife," Astrid muttered.

"I've seen him use it before," Ravyn stated. "He called it a runic carving knife. It'll cut into anything, but it's very hard to make."

"You don't seem to have been all too concerned about the demon," Astrid said to Ravyn.

"Of course not," Ravyn said. "Samael's a demon, but he's got a soft spot for Hiccup for some reason."

"What do you mean by that?" Astrid asked.

"He just seems to like Hiccup," Ravyn answered. "Like an annoying brother or something."

"So he's not going to do anything to Hiccup?" Astrid asked.

"I doubt it," Ravyn answered. "He's rather straightforward with his dealings. He has no reasons to find a way to fuck Hiccup over."

"How do you know him?" Astrid asked. "Did he do the contract with you nearby?"

Ravyn shook her head. "I wasn't there, and I don't understand magic at all enough to really give my opinion on any of the spells. However, I do know that Hiccup is rather good at knowing who he can trust and has taken a lot of time to research the rules of contracts."

Astrid nodded, accepting the explanation though she wasn't too happy with it. Everything she learned about Hiccup only created more questions and made him more of an enigma.

"Alright guys. Step on through," Hiccup said as the gate formed and through the gate they could see the ground inside the ring of stones. As the group stepped through, Astrid noticed Hiccup had sweat beading on his forehead. He was putting on a front, but she could see that he was definitely tired.

Hiccup took in the snow that was covering the ground with grim satisfaction. "Perfect," he said. "With winter here, Berk won't send any more suicide missions."

"Hiccup!" A voice called. The group turned to see Darkfur stumbling out of the woods, deep dark bags under her eyes. "Thank god you're here!"

"What's wrong?" Hiccup asked worriedly as he placed his hand on one of the many stones on his belt.

"Those thrice damned twins!" Darkfur cried. "Always getting into trouble! I haven't been able to sleep because of them and now I can't find them!"

Hiccup blinked at her in confusion. "Did you just say twins?" He asked.

Whooping and shouting began to be heard from the forest, starting quiet and getting louder constantly as whatever was making the sound got closer. Hiccup could pick out a set of long blonde dreadlocks and a few long blonde braids. Hiccup squinted as he spoke. "Wait, is that…?"

"The twins?" Astrid finished. The twins shot by, skidding across the snow covered ground, skipping off rocks and logs, each riding on a shield to the group's disbelief. "Are they riding shields?" Astrid asked.

A third set of whooping soon followed after the twins. "Hi Hiccup!" Hiccup recognised Loki on the third shield, skillfully leaning from a crouched position so that he could maneuver the shield where he wanted it to go. As the three continued into the forest, sliding over a knoll and out of view.

"Well, we found them," Hiccup drawled.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut slid down the hill, laughing and whooping. "Did you see their faces?" Tuffnut cackled.

"Whose?" Ruffnut asked. "Astrid or the dude that looks like a hot Hiccup?"

"Hot Hiccup?" Tuffnut asked. "Astrid? Holy shit!" He turned to Ruffnut. "Didn't Loki say Hiccup was still alive?"

"Yeah, he did!" Ruffnut answered, turning to face her twin. "So what's he doing here?"

"I dunno," Tuffnut answered. "But we need to-" he was cut off as the two of them slammed into something big, green, and scaly. They groaned in pain as they rolled on ground, unheeding the dragon they had slammed into.

"What'd we hit?" Ruffnut moaned as she sat up, holding her head. Her eyes focused on a long green neck and a round green head. And there were two of them. "Wow," she muttered. "I must have hit my head really hard. I'm seeing double."

Tuffnut groaned in response and shakily stood up. He shook his head and placed his hand against something nearby to steady himself. The thing was warm, and scaly. "The hell is this?" He muttered as he looked up to see a zippleback. He peered up in slight fear, still confused. The head in front of him looked at him with curiosity while it's twin peered at Ruffnut who had noticed the dragon.

"Why didn't you kill us?" He wondered. He remembered that Gobber had said that dragons always went for the kill, but this one didn't. "No weapons, no armor, just these shields, and we even crashed into you. But you're just standing here." He trailed off, just looking up at the dragon head in wonder. He had always admired a dragon's ability to cause destruction, but now, while he and his sister were at their most vulnerable to the dragon, it simply watched them.

"Woohoo!" The voice of Loki shouted, drawing their attention to the god of Mischief as he skipped off a rock, flying through the air as he flipped and landed on a high branch. "You were right! That was fun!" He laughed. He then noticed the zippleback. "I see you found a dragon."

"Uh, found is a really loose term for it," Tuffnut countered. "We kinda crashed into it."

"Nice," Loki snickered. "Anyway, we need to head back."

"Why is that?" Ruffnut asked.

"You'll see," Loki smiled widely. "But you've got a message to deliver, remember?"

"Why can't you just do it?" Tuffnut asked. "You're already here."

"Cause I said so," Loki answered. "And I'm a god, so what I say goes."

Tuffnut glared at him. "That's low. Real low."

Hiccup sighed as he rubbed his forehead with his hand while Nyte listened to Darkfur rant about the twins and how they were so impossible to deal with. "Darkfur," Hiccup said placing a hand on her shoulder. "How about you get some sleep." Darkfur deflated as her indignation and anger dissipated in favor of her getting some sleep. She nodded mutely and walked off into the forest.

Hiccup and the group turned as they heard the crunching sounds of snow under boots. The sight of the twins greeted them as they turned. "What the hell are you two doing here?" Hiccup asked.

"We could ask you the same thing," Tuffnut countered. "Honestly, who are you? The Rider? Hiccup? Some demon possessing his body?"

"How did you get here?" Hiccup asked, rolling his eyes at Tuffnut's antics.

"Loki brought us," Ruffnut answered. "Now are you Hiccup or not?"

"I am," Hiccup answered, on guard now that Loki was mentioned. "Now why did Loki bring you here?"

"He wanted us to tell you that Berk's going after the nest again," Tuffnut replied.

"And apparently, this time they'll make it," Ruffnut continued.

Hiccup froze. "What?" he asked with fear. "Shit!" He immediately ran to the gate to Berk and opened it. "Ravyn, come on!" He called. Ravyn bounded over to him and through the gate Nyte and Little Chief followed close after, just as Hiccup let the gate close and stepped through. Astrid was left behind with Eira, Stormfly, and Mistwing as she hadn't moved due to Hiccup's abruptness.

Hiccup leaped into the saddle as he donned his mask and the pair took off into the sunlight, Nyte and Little Chief following, but unable to keep up with their superior speed. As the pair flew toward Berk, Hiccup noticed how few people were still in the village. Just a few to protect the children and the elderly. As some of them noticed the pair flying around there were shouts and screams. Villagers grabbed their children and ran for the great hall, the warriors banding together, shouting at him to get his attention, but moving back, covering the retreat. As Hiccup peered closer, he noticed that most of them were still rather old, or young. These were barely guards for children. "Down we go."

"Are you sure about this?" Ravyn asked.

"We need to know," Hiccup replied.

Ravyn nodded and the two dove down. Calls of "Night Fury!", "The Rider!", and "Get down!" Were heard as the two pulled up, Ravyn spreading her wings to stop as Hiccup dropped down to the ground and stepped forward.

"Where are they?" he growled. A young warrior, he recognised as Gustav swung a sword that was clearly too big for him, causing the swing to be sloppier than normal. Hiccup easily sidestepped the blow and with a gloved hand, struck Gustav's hand, causing him to drop the weapon. "Where is everyone else?" He asked. "Did they go after the nest?" Gustav didn't answer, staring at Hiccup with stubborn courage. "Answer me!" He grabbed Gustav by his tunic and shook him. "Did they go after the nest?!"

"Yes!" A different viking answered finally. "They left for the nest. Just don't kill him."

"Those fucking idiots!" he growled. He dropped Gustav and jumped back on Ravyn. "They're going to get themselves killed!" They took off into the sky. "Those fucking morons!" As they shot through the sky, Hiccup saw Nyte and Little Chief. "Nyte!" he called. "I need you to get back to the island. Then bring me three vials filled from the mana well." He tossed her a stone. "This will get you through the gate. I'll meet you at the nest." With that, Hiccup and Ravyn shot off into the distance, not waiting for an answer from Nyte.

"Hiccup, we're not ready for this. You're exhausted," Ravyn pleaded.

"I know," Hiccup answered. "But we can't wait. They're all going to die. I can't let that happen."

Ravyn gave Hiccup a small smile. "You mean we can't let that happen."

A.N. Holy shit, this took way too long to update. I'm so sorry that I took so long to put this chapter up. With classes and everything, I got really busy. I'm so sorry, but hey, here's a chapter that's been a long time coming. Anyway, please review, and don't kill me for taking so long to update.