Happy first of May and enjoy this new chapter... or cry because of it. Both are successes for me.

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Comments:

erikatyusharon: So far the internship has been good. I love working from home and even got to borrow a big monitor for better ergonomy. (The work laptop is horribly small.)

Dragonrider's Fury: Anxious? But I am just getting started.

DrgnReader: Did the story delay your going to sleep or distract from studies or anything like that? Not that I would have any experience of such with good fanfics.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

It was rare for Hiccup to not enjoy flying. This flight was one of those times. The sun was just going down as the flock left their island, the most beautiful time to fly, but on this day the red and orange colours only reminded him of fire and blood. His hands shook as they squeezed the saddle. He was seriously heading to where the Hunters were to fight them, heading where Ryker was. His missing leg hurt more than it had in months.

'Hiccup.'

With his brother's mental call everything else became secondary as Hiccup looked down and placed a still shaking hand on Toothless' head.

'Breathe,' Toothless told him. 'You can't go to battle if you cannot even control your own limbs.'

'How are you so calm?'

'This will not be my first bloodshed. When we left Berk I wished you would never have to witness one.'

'Maybe it won't become one, but I think we're well past not seeing bloodshed,' Hiccup said.

'You have seen it, but you haven't actively gotten into or fought through one. It is nothing like the training you've had.

'I know. I couldn't do it alone. We may have practiced separation, but if I ever needed your strength, it's today. I hope it has grown as much as it seems.'

'You will have it, as always, but you still have to keep control over yourself to lead the flock.' Toothless tilted his head to look at Hiccup and cooed in a comforting way.

'I will,' Hiccup responded, 'but I might need to cry under your wing all of tomorrow.'

'That can be arranged. If anyone tries to disturb you, should I kill them or is maiming enough?'

'Toothless,' Hiccup thought, acting disappointed, but his face rested in a calm smile. It didn't hold up too long once he caught sight of the island of Fjoll. They approached the island from behind relative to the village and Hunter camp. As they arrived over land Hiccup turned around on the saddle to face the flock.

'Everyone,' he addressed them, 'last chance to turn around if you want to change your mind.'

None of them responded in any way.

'Okay. Please, survive.'

With that goodbye Toothless swung his wings harder and began ascending while the flock quietly glided closer to the ground. As the human-dragon duo ascended, the village and Hunter camp finally came into sight.

'It's go time,' Hiccup thought. His breathing started getting faster until Toothless' thoughts mentally slapped him. Hiccup drew a deep breath and focused on the camp through Toothless' eyes. They were especially focused on the numerous dragon cages spread across the camp and around the major defensive emplacements.

'I need to use many small blasts,' Toothless commented.

'We still need to start with a big one so it works as a distraction. The main gate doesn't have dragons too close to it. Aim right inside it. Ready?'

'Ready,' Toothless responded, drawing a deep breath and turning into a dive. Unlike he usually did, he didn't let out his famous screech and even adjusted his wings to be quieter up until the moment he released his fire. The blue blast swished through the air. That was the first time anyone could have noticed the attack and as Toothless once said, when they could hear him, it was already too late.

The whole camp and the sky over it were briefly lit up by a blue flash. Despite Toothless turning to ascend again Hiccup could feel the shockwave shake his body. He turned to look back and saw a large cloud of smoke and dust rising, shaped a bit like a mushroom as it billowed upwards. A quick motion at the edge of his vision made Toothless quickly spin to the side, barely avoiding a ballista bolt.

'How did they react so quickly?"

The sudden move shook Hiccup, but he was used to it. Toothless twisted in the opposite direction and kept ascending. With proper night they would have already been safe in the darkness, but the summer night didn't even get dark enough for any significant amount of time. They were out of archer range, but ballista bolts got uncomfortably close. Roars and the glow of fires outside the camp told that the rest of the flock was doing their job separating it from the village.

'Did you see where those bolts came from?'

'Yes,' Toothless responded and turned to another attack dive. This time he made as much noise as he could to scare the Hunters. Surely even hardened dragon hunters had to fear the Night Fury. They flew across the edge of the camp and Toothless fired five small rapid-fire blasts at hunter weapons and archers. The blue blasts were soon replaced by red flames, and something else red that made Hiccup sick even looking from high above. It didn't help that Toothless had already gone into full battle mode, bloodlust and all.

They spun to the side and dove away from a wave or arrows. Toothless fired off another blast.

'How are you holding up?' Hiccup asked.

'I still have plenty of fire left.'

Toothless' wings beat harder as he ascended again, but even as he dodged arrows Hiccup's head snapped toward a different direction, toward a different sensation. He got a cold sweat and shook from the sheer sensation of pain and fear.

'How?... Toothless!'

The dragon turned around and sped away from the camp to where their flockmates were in trouble. They were just supposed to make sure no one got from the Hunter camp to the village and help in the village if needed. There shouldn't have been anything more than a few patrols attacking them this soon. Even as he thought about that he could feel Stormfly's pain as she was hit, and her mind started getting foggy. As soon as Toothless got away from the Hunter camp Hiccup could also see the flailing dragons in the light of fires they had set. Arrows, ballista bolts and chains were flying from every direction across almost the whole distance between the camp and the village. Even Toothless could barely get forward as he had to constantly change directions to avoid arrows. He barely had time to gain a little bit of altitude.

All that did was give Hiccup a better view of his flock being downed and captured.

'They knew we were coming,' Hiccup thought the obvious. 'I've doomed us.'

'No,' Toothless said and turned to an attack dive, 'we can still…'

Toothless' thoughts cut off and his signature screech was replaced with a high-pitched scream and his mind was filled with pain. His thoughts began quickly turning fuzzier as they lost altitude.

'Toothless!' "Toothless!" Hiccup shouted both in his thoughts and out loud. It nudged something in the dragon's thoughts and his wings changed position. Their dive straightened and its speed carried them forward just barely above the nearby treetops and into the forest. Within moments the flight became unsteady and Toothless started swaying from side to side.

'No no no, Toothless! Talk to me!'

'Ho… hold on. You can't… hurt.'

Toothless tilted his wing and slid almost sideways onto a small gap in the tree cover. He bumped against the ground hard enough to jump a little off the ground. Hiccup was first pressed against the saddle then thrown off over Toothless' head with enough force to roll on the ground and hit a tree. The initial impact knocked the breath out of him so he didn't and couldn't shout from the initial pain. Instead he just groaned after coming to a stop on the ground. Hiccup held his side and slowly pushed himself to his knees. As soon as he caught his breath his head snapped up.

"Toothless!"

In an instant he was on his feet and running. At least he hadn't broken any bones. He dropped back on his knees next to Toothless' head, cradling it in his arms. He had just enough time to see the shaft of a ballista bolt under his brother's wing before the world turned blurry from his tears that soon dropped on the black scales.

'Toothless talk to me! You have to be okay, you have to!' Hiccup's thoughts screamed as the pushed deeper into Toothless' mind that was so messed up the mere sensation made Hiccup feel ill. Toothless could barely tilt his head and struggled to half-open one eye.

'Ca… n't think. Leave. They ar… are coming.'

'You are going to be okay,' Hiccup said, 'I just have to check the wound. There's no way they could kill you this easily. You are a Night Fury the Night Fury, the strongest dragon I've ever known. They couldn't have hurt you that much.'

'Yes… and… poison… can't' move. You mu… st run. Get away.'

'I can't leave you. Maybe I can help you move, get past the poison.'

'No time. Can… hear them. Go!'

The thought hit Hiccup unlike anything he had ever experienced with Toothless. Despite his complete refusal to leave Toothless, he felt compelled to do just that. He still couldn't leave and tightened his hold of their bond. Feeling increasingly ill he probably wouldn't have gotten ten steps without falling.

'No, GO!'

Toothless' mind was a mess but with last of his willpower and one mighty yank the dragon tore their bond and slumped completely that last mental support gone. Hiccup was left breathing hard next to Toothless' head, his mind clearing, no longer bonded to Toothless' poisoned thoughts. He stared at the unconscious and bleeding Toothless for what felt like an eternity, vision blurred and hands shaking. Then he heard shouts from the distance, hunters. Sobbing the whole time Hiccup took his spear, shield and a saddlebag with some basic equipment. He stopped to place a hand on Toothless' head for a moment.

And then he ran.

Even in the not so dark summer night he kept stumbling with his blurred vision. He was barely out of sight from Toothless when he heard the Hunters' exited shouts at finding the dragon.

"They aren't going to kill him. They capture dragons. They aren't going to kill him. They capture dragons. They aren't going to kill him. They capture dragons," Hiccup kept repeating to himself as he ran.

And ran.

And ran.

He ran until his leg hit something, sending him face-first to the ground. He pushed with his sore arms against the ground and crawled to the root of a large tree before curling into a fetal position. Everything was gone. For once in his life, he had had friends, family, a place to be, and it was all ripped away from him. He thought he could be something, but now there was nothing he could do.

He thought he had become something, but he was still as useless as ever, just a Hiccup, a failure. Worst of all he had brought everyone else down with him. He should have just told the flock to scatter and live their lives without him messing them up. Now they all were doomed. Even Toothless was gone, their bond broken. Hiccup could barely feel the dragon in the distance as he stretched his thoughts out and the feeling made him shiver. Whatever the Hunters' poison did it went for the mind. Hiccup pulled away from the feeling and scanned the forest with his thoughts, not that it was of any use. He could sense dragons, not humans. The forest could as well have been void of all life as far as his ability was concerned… except.

"Sharpshot?"

Hiccup's head snapped to the side where he could sense the little dragon. He pushed himself back to his feet and started walking towards the little dragon that had become like a little brother, the last of the terrors that had raised Toothless. Hiccup failed to save the others. He couldn't fail the little dragon.

'Sharpshot!' Hiccup threw his thoughts forward and felt the little dragon stop and change direction. A few moments later the little dragon burst out between the tree branches and slammed against his chest.

'Nice Viking, others hurt. Bad Vikings hurt others… Where Night Fury?'

Hiccup hugged the little dragon tightly and burst into tears again.