"What do you say, girl?", Toothless heard her human ask, though she was still lost in time and space on the joy of flying. Please, let's not go home yet, she looked to her rider, pleading, though the human just continued "wanna go again?", but before she could roar in agreement, a blind Nadder nearly bumped on them mid-air.

That really never happened, dragons had a great location sense when flying, or I do, anyway, she thought, though they soon had to dodge again, and again, and again. As numerous different dragons were flying heading towards the opposite direction. Gotta get us out of this traffic, she thought, ignoring Hiccup's surprise screaming.

She saw many dragons familiar from Berk, some even were her friends, was that Meatlug? Yeah, but not only those, many wild dragons were following that way, none would stop to dodge her or explain what was happening. You okay there, Hic? But when the Night Fury looked up to her human friend, the two-horned hat in her head was off, loosen braids of brown-ish hair wild on the wind. Looking down, she saw it flying and dove in without a second's thought.

They were falling, yes, but not free-falling, no, Toothless had it in control, she was diving in, head down, limbs close, she'd get the hat and soar before they hit the ocean, but then Hiccup's yelling finally became verbal with a certain, authoritative "Stop!". And she did, opening her wings, flapping to keep them still.

"We'll get it later, girl", Hiccup said, voice and breathing steady, she's fine. "We need to get back and find out what's going on".

Toothless was still looking down, the helmet had just hit the sea. It'd hit bottom before they got home, but Hiccup pulled her to turn around, and she did, though the dragon had a very clear idea of what this whole motion was. Ugh, can't believe it's that time already.

And so she hurried home.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The organization and decorating for the holidays had soon turned straight into chaos, and Artichoke saw Stormfly looking to the sky, itching to leave, his eyes widened. "No, no, no, Stormfly, don't leave", but just as his hand turned her direction, the blue Nadder was just another hurrying dot amongst others, and he couldn't even differ from others.

He had grown rather close to her. Hiccup had been right all along, these were not beasts, not pets, these were intelligent, sensible creatures they could connect with, and he just wasn't ready to lose this new friend. What's going on? Is this—is it a calling or

"Arti!", he heard Hiccup's voice and turned her direction, she was running on ice, Toothless had just landed them.

"Hiccup", he ran back to her, at least they were safe, but everyone else- the dragons "what's going on? Where are they going?", but the blond boy was not the only one with questions.

Soon the whole village was surrounding Hiccup, just as desperate for answers.

"Why did they leave?".

"What's happening?".

"Will they ever be coming back?".

These were just the most common questions bubbling up on the crowd, Vikings and Vikings pushing Artichoke away to get their own questions asked but Hiccup looked as lost as they were.

"Give her a break to breathe!", their Chief passed through, making way across the bodies as if they were all made of paper. "Hiccup, where are all of our dragons going?", Stoick asked, slower and calmer than those around them.

A moment passed but Hiccup just managed to shake her head, dumbfounded. "Dad…", she started, "I don't know". And he knew it made sense, as much at it seemed ever since last autumn, she was not a walking Wikipedia of everything dragon-related, it made sense that she didn't know, but he still felt his heart sinking, thinking Stormfly had barely looked at him when she just took flight with the others. It wasn't as urgent as he could remember the Red Death's calling, but he knew next to nothing about dragons then, and had been rather terrified experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions, discovering Toothless, Hiccup's lies, thinking he'd die up in the air, touching the cloud's painted sunset, most amazing view in his life, then being dragged into a volcano. Yeah, was an eventful evening, that day.

A few roars called him up, Stormfly hadn't been gone yet, she was hesitating, not to him or to others, but to Toothless. Toothless was on the edge, not jumping in with the rest of them. Hiccup could probably tell what they were yelling to each other, but all he saw was his dragon leave Berk again.

Chaos went on for the rest of the day, they searched for any other dragon who had stuck around. Toothless was unaffected or did she just know she couldn't fly alone with them? Didn't make sense. And still, the stables were empty, any found dragon was making its way up to the same direction, but where to? Maps indicated only inhabitable islands near that area, and now they knew dragon's flying range, they couldn't just fly all the way to the continent and warmer blood or not, snow could fall again anytime soon.

Stoick settled them all to search for dragons all across the whole island, patrols for even the tiniest Terrible Terrors, he called in scholars to fill in the maps, whatever was in that direction, they might not know exactly where they were going, but the world wasn't a full mystery.

As soon as night fell, the Great Hall was flooded as never-before, it wasn't an open celebration nor a meeting for the next campaign. Maybe the last time Artichoke had ever seen this place this overcrowded was when Hiccup and Toothless' secret was discovered, back when the Night Fury had furiously broke in the previous Kill Rink to save her life from Hookfang's murderous claws. They really needed a new name for the arena, considering that killing dragons was no longer a part of their civilization… Or so was hoped.

The questions were the same, and the answers were just as inexistent. Amongst the fuss and buzzing of people, he saw his neighbor sigh high for them all to hear "Snoggletog is ruined". Was not the first time he'd hear it this day, no, it was the common thought amongst them. He couldn't remember ever being this hyped for the holidays, not even as a kid, no, they were all expecting it, hoping for it to be spent with their newfound friends.

"It is not ruined!", the stern, authoritative and loud voice of their Chief rose above all others. Granting him attention, a clear leader amongst them. "We're Vikings", he said, climbing higher, as if his two-meter height and native leadership were not enough. "We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations", he continued, walking through the center spot, making himself clear and tall, nobody would defy him. Not in this room, anyway. "And there's no reason we can't do it again".

Artichoke knew their Chief was right. It's true, so far, he celebrated fifteen perfectly happy Snoggletog holidays over his life and even if this was meant to be the firs one with no war, with peace, married with Hiccup and with Stormfly and Toothless in his life, with dragons. If last year he knew that he could spend the next Snoggletog with his family, healthy and with peace amongst the Archipelago, letting him free to explore on upcoming summer… He'd say wanting anything more would be a spoiled brat's whining… But Stormfly… She had become family, too.

Leaning against a cold Great Hall's wall, he kept his gaze on his feet, just taking in the Chief's words.

"Now we don't know where they're gone off to, but we gotta have faith that they'll be back soon". If anytime demanded faith from them, it was this, after all…

The blond teen looked at his friends around him. Hiccup stood beside him, arms crossed, deep in thoughts as usual. At his point, he knew better than interrupting her working mind. She might not know all about dragons, but she surely made an effort to get there. On his other side, Snotlout also had his arms crossed, though with a much different expression. The raven-haired shorter boy was sulking, looking ready to murder someone ever since Hookfang left him on a rooftop, holding himself to not fall. Not everyone could develop a bond as deep as Hiccup's with Toothless, and even with Snotlout being one of the most problematics on dragon training, it was known he had clicked with the Monstruous Nightmare since Hiccup guided his hand on the dragon's muzzle so many weeks ago. The twins were to follow, Ruffnut was standing still, arms flat on both sides of her body, eyes rolling at every word their Chief let out, maybe the village had their spirits up after his speech, but nothing could motivate the long-faced girl to smile without her Hideous Zippleback around. Her brother, Tuffnut, was the only one sitting, hands and chin resting on the chair column, a mix of Ruffnut's deep boredom and Snotlout's silent rage. Artichoke was sure Tuffnut had been muttering 'bullshit, bullshit, bullshit' ever since they got there. The Thorston twins fought over anything and everything, nothing was too far for their bickering, but Barf and Belch were the only thing the siblings could agree on and they both missed them equally. Fishlegs was also leaning back against a wall, hands behind his body. Artichoke couldn't see his expression, but no doubt it was any better.

"You're right!", a voice called up in the crowd. It was Gobber, deer's horns added on both his helmet's usual horns, evergreen ornaments decorating it and three colorful lanterns being held by his right and only hand "we are Vikings", he lifted his left peg-hand, whatever it was replacing his fist was surrounded by festive bells, jiggling with the movements. "We are tough!", some people coughed, and he saw the comical image, adding "most of the time".

So it had been settled. The festivities would continue without their new allies- no, their addition of habitants. They'd celebrate the holiday as if it was just another year. Artichoke could see the logic in it, actually, even if his chest was boiling with bitterness of crashed expectations.

Snotlout decided he was done with it, sighed loudly, and left, soon followed by Tuffnut, then Ruffnut, and Artichoke couldn't ever blame any of them, especially for he followed them as well as the rest of their group. What was decided was decided, but he didn't have to agree with it, to sit and pretend it was all okay.

The group of teens walked on the empty common space.

"Well, that was depressing", Ruffnut let out, head low, voice rusty with cold.

"I know", Artichoke had to agree to hell with it if it was childish, "I was looking forward to spending the holidays with Stormfly", and he knew everyone there felt the same. They all grunted with it, kept on walking until the only sounds were from their boots on the snow and of Fishlegs' whistling.

Stormfly was an expressive dragon, he could get along with her quite easily, she wasn't much loud and was considerably cautious, light-feet and was rather intelligent. She'd take him off of his thoughts and sense the mood, being rather energetic and really fast in the air. Hiccup had started fixing some saddle prototypes for each of them and he'd been helping, planning to work on his own, a gift to the Nadder, those ropes couldn't be so comfortable to have around her torso all the time. Besides, he was positively sure Hiccup, and he could find a way to get both dragons through the door with some effort, sleeping amongst them on the outside had became completely impossible as soon as snow started falling. Not to count he was rather curious, daydreaming how Stormfly and the other dragons would react to all the festivities then, it was truly a unique holiday, after all, and all traditions could become renewed with them…

"What got you so happy about?", Tuffnut asked, and Fishlegs' sounds suddenly stopped, making them all turn to them. "Don't you miss Meatlug?". Yeah, that was weird. Fishlegs turned out to be rather protective of his thickest-skin dragon.

"Wha- Me?!", he squealed on the last word, seeming surprised and suddenly faking a tearless cry, holding his hand to block his expressions, though it was pretty hard to hide at this point. "Okay, good night", and they saw the tallest of the group rush running home.

Okay. That was weirder.

But anyways…

"I've got an idea", Artichoke said, turning so he'd be facing his friends instead of being side by side. "Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions", he might not be able to lift the spirits of a great room full of hundreds of Vikings, but his friends were sort of his responsibility to help, right? "You know, to bury the sadness", he could feel the thin ice holding in his fake smile at that moment, making him nearly insane when his friends looked as he clearly had gone that way. Help me, please, he shot a glare to Hiccup, hoping she'd get the message.

She cleared her throat, forcing a smile of her own, one less homicidal, for that matter.

"Actually, I think Arti might be up to something", 'Arti', the short nickname his mother insisted on calling him until now and that his friends still brought up every now and then for a light tease. It was a name people wouldn't take him serious for, long gone the time when it was just a short affectionate calling, but he couldn't care less, hoping his friends would even focus on it rather than their own melancholy.

"Easy for you to say", Tuffnut shot right back to her, bitterly, not the slightest open to any distraction then. "Your dragon can't go anywhere without you", a low blow, but a truth they were all thinking. Toothless had flown her home safely, not engaging on whatever seem to call the dragons that way, though she'd been distracted since then, looking the direction they'd gone off to. And now she stared at the moon, like a lost, lonely wolf without its pack.

"Must be nice", Ruffnut added, same amount of venom, and they went on, each to gloom alone with their lost. No, it's not a lost, they'll be back, he corrected himself. But when?

Hiccup had stood still, looking at the only dragon in their whole island. A Night Fury itching to fly away, leave them, too… Artichoke couldn't even talk to Stormfly, she just went off, called her and she didn't look back… Did Toothless want the same?

He approached his wife, placing a hand light on her shoulder plate. "Are you okay?", he asked, expecting a lie and a mourning walk home to a quiet, but shared evening.

"Do you think she wants to go, too?", she asked, barely turning. Yes, clearly, he thought, regretting his failed attempt to get their minds out of it. He'd be feeding Stormfly and wishing her good night at the stables by now. And even if his dragon was as itching as Toothless, he'd love to keep her near, try to calm her with dragon nip or whatever… Not meaning to be as harsh as the twins, he just shrugged, offering a kind smile, and using his chin to point their way home.

She followed just after that.