CHSHiccstrid: Thanks, this one will introduce some extra plot points as well.

Thanks to all those who favored or followed.

Again, huge thanks to Deer Flower for helping me.


"Dragonspeak"


Hiccup POV

Toothless was skeptical once I told him my plan, but I couldn't blame him since I wasn't convinced about this as well. "You're gonna try to get through to them?" Sighing, I answered, "I don't have any other option."

He snorted and walked up to me, seeming to do his best to keep his posture low and not tower over me. "You can run away with me. We can fly off now and put a lot of distance between us and them" For a moment, I could only stare at my friend as his words sunk in. Dropping everything I know, leaving my father and Tribe behind, spending countless time in the sky without worrying about returning at a reasonable time. A life free of expectations and a sky full of freedom.

But if I left now, then no one would know where I went. They won't know about Toothless and I. They may even assume a dragon took me away and just fuel their distrust more. I could only shake my head at his response as I finished gathering my thoughts. "As much as I want to, I can't abandon them. Not while I have a chance to change their mind about dragons."

Toothless didn't look too convinced at my reasoning, but I didn't have time to elaborate. "Well, I should get going, can't be late."

I barely turned away from the Night Fury when the reptile suddenly crouched down, his eyes constricting into slits as he let out a low growl. A second later, shouts from above the cove caught my attention. Very loud, angry, battle-like shouts.

No-no-no-no! ran through my mind as Vikings began pouring into the cove, weapons and shields raised and flying wildly. Spinning around as the masses got closer, I caught sight of Spitelout leading them, snarling at the sight of the Night Fury.

Toothless roared and prepared to rain fire upon them. As he began drawing in a breath I called out, "Toothless, no!" To my shock, he actually stopped, looking back to me confused and with eyes of fury as the Vikings surrounded us. "They're going to kill us, Hiccup!" I pushed the likely scenario to the back of my mind, backing closer to Toothless while my thoughts spun around to come up with a plan.

"Hiccup!" a voice boomed out, halting the Vikings' advance and freezing my movements as recognition set in. My dad stepped through the crowd of Vikings, everyone parting as they caught his eyes flashing pure fury. Of all the people to be leading them, it would be my dad, the one whose mind I seriously doubted I could change. I lowered my eyes as he stepped within the circle of silent Vikings, unable to handle the look he was giving me. Stoick the Vast may have been a terrible father lately, but he was still my father.

"What do you think you're doing with that devil?" he demanded, voice laced with venom and his eyes a mix of sadness and fury.

I guess the choice was made for me and no matter what happened, there was no going back. Mustering up as much courage and confidence as I could, I met his gaze and stated, "This is my friend." I gestured to Toothless, still on high alert, ready to fire his plasma at a moment's notice. Great job warming them up to you, bud.

Stoick's features saddened quietly as he looked between Toothless and me, so minor I doubt any of the others noticed. "Friend? It's a demon seeking to tear us apart, Hiccup!" He pointed to Toothless in rage, his ax already in his hand.

"It was my choice to become a friend to him!" I growled out, the tone partially surprising me, "Because they are not mindless beasts out to kill us!" Spitelout and the other Vikings began taking steps forward, bows, bolas, and swords at the ready. Toothless snarled and began charging a shot, "Take another step, filth!"

His choice of words made me look over to him for a second, some Vikings stepping back a bit at his posture, my father and Spitelout not intimidated at all. My father took a step forward, a fury blazing in his eyes I only see during raids. "They cannot be reasoned with, Hiccup! Why are you doing this?!" The voice was laced with rage and frustration, his eyes slightly softer than his tone portraying.

"Because I just wanted to be noticed, to be something other than useless in the village! Dragons are living, breathing creatures! Just like us, and at least they understand me!" I was on the verge of tears trying to get through his stubbornness, keeping my composition through sheer force of will.

Stoick stood stoic and unmoving, the Vikings unsure what to do next as they stared between their strong Chief and his calamity-prone son. After an eternity of shakey silence, he drew in a breath and stated,"If you have chosen to throw your lot with them, then so be it." There was a hint of somberness in his voice, nearly drowned out by frustration as he continued, "From this day forward, you aren't a Viking. You aren't my son."

All the air left my lungs as his declaration settled over us, the finality and Chiefly delivery burrowing the slight cracking in his voice as we continued locking eyes. The quiet murmurings of the other Vikings were blocked out of awareness, my mind only able to process Toothless and my dad. My vision darkened as he slowly raised his axe to be seen over the crowd.

The Vikings shouted a warcry that I could feel through my bones, breaking the last bit of hope I had that I could change things. Nothing would ever change with them. My hope and plans were nothing but useless daydreams, just as weak and insignificant as me.

Something harshly grabbed me by my shoulders, and with clouded vision I saw my father and Tribe shrinking away as my body was being lifted into the air. A sharp pain startled me from my shock as arrows, bolas, and even some axes were thrown at us. A few were dangerously close to hitting us, but it was only a light graze from an axe that managed to hit us. Was toothless carrying me? I couldn't tell as everything went numb and then black.

Through the dark fog claiming my mind as we were finally out of range of the weapons, I thought, Guess we're flying away after all, Toothless. Darkness claimed me a second later.


Toothless POV

Hiccup fell unconscious as I picked him up and flew off, dodging the metal and wooden objects being hurled at us; A few were closer than I wanted, and all the shouting was throwing some of my perception off, but we eventually made it to the clear sky.

Not casting a single glance back, I flew us away from the cove, past the forest, over the rocks, and settling out to the sea before I dared slow down. I knew I should have taken it slower for Hiccup's sake, but I didn't want to take any chances. Adjusting my grip on his limp body, I scouted out for a place to land. There were a few secluded islands with plenty of cover, uninhabited by humans, and with some places for water and food.

It took me a while to find a suitable island, still conscious of my fragile cargo and weary of passing dragons. However, I did find one and set Hiccup down gently in a secluded place. Casting a glance over his body to make sure he wasn't injured, all I could find was a cut on his leg.

Satisfied, I sniffed his face and noticed some form of liquid leaking from his still closed eyes. It gave off a slight ocean scent, but that was about it.

Was that normal for humans in pain? I never took care of a human before, so I have no idea how to even care for him. I know he doesn't like his fish raw, which is weird since fresh fish is the best kind of fish.

For now, I'll have to 'cook' by heating them up the way he likes. At least Hiccup didn't need to eat much, unlike that blob of a 'father' he had. I've seen the Vikings a lot, but never paid close attention to them. How could they walk so fast with all that weight? They weren't quadrupedal like us, so they were already much slower than us, and with that much fat? It's a wonder they've even managed to kill us.

Shaking my head to refocus on getting food, I made sure Hiccup was comfortable and hidden before taking off. I saw a few Scauldron's on the way. They are usually not friendly, but I was flying low enough to hear one greet me, so maybe she would be kind enough to scrounge up some extra fish for Hiccup.


Hiccup POV

The first thing I felt waking up to was pain, scaring me enough that I shot fully awake. Half-expecting to be missing a leg, or arm, I looked down at the source of my pain and saw my leg was covered in red. I yelped a bit in surprise at seeing it and looked up, confusion quickly taking over.

Settled not too far away was Toothless, a small pile of fish next to him. He carefully drugged one in front of him and began charging up a very low blast. When he was satisfied, he fired down and the fish went flying, smacking itself onto the ground in front of me. He let out a deep growl, murmuring to himself, "What?! How is this even supposed to be cooked!?"

Blinking, I finally realized he was trying to 'cook' fish, and failing pretty spectacularly at it. And despite the pain in my leg, shock of being disowned by my father, and forced away from the only home I knew without the chance to grab any supplies, I couldn't help but chuckle at my reptilian friend's antics.

Toothless shot up at the noise, his eyes were narrowed, and irritation clear through every scale of his body. His eyes softened though as he looked over me, stating "You're awake! Are you okay?" He sounded extremely concerned, leaping over to further inspect me. Whether it was after-effects of shock or actual reality, I couldn't help but feel his concern was genuine.

"Y-Yeah... I'll be f-fine." I gritted out, holding back a hiss of pain. My leg was hurting like it was stuck in Hel itself. Toothless was not convinced and narrowed his eyes at the hurt limb, "You don't look 'fine.' In fact, you look terrible."

I did my best to force a smile, not wanting Toothless to worry about me. But I don't think it came out as good as I hoped, since Toothless sighed and gazed down at my leg "Hiccup, it's alright, you don't need to pretend around me. Honestly, I'm not sure how to treat a wound for a human. Usually, we would spit flames on them to seal th-"

I held up my hand to make him stop, "Yeah, I'm n-not sure that's a go-good, idea..." He just stared at me, taking note of my posture and shaking body, "Yeah. It probably wouldn't work as well for you humans..." Not pressing any further, he took a step back, a squelching sound freezing him in place. He looked down to see the fish squished under his paw. The small blast hadn't completely obliterated the fish, but it did unevenly burn the body and his weight had pressed it almost flat into the ground.

Staring back up to me, his features blanking as he deadpanned. "Why do you humans even cook fish anyway? It's much better raw" Shrugging, I let out a grin and stated, "Just a human quirk I can't shake off." He snorted at my answer, walking over to his pile of fish to no doubt 'cook' another one for me.

Taking a deep breath, I looked down to my wound and gave it a gentle prob with my finger. When a major wave of pain didn't overwhelm me, I inspected closer and realized the red spots were dried blood. This meant several hours have passed since 'it' happened, and the wound wasn't anything too major since the flow had stopped and I could still feel my leg. However, treating it as soon as possible is definitely recommended if I wanted to avoid making anything worse. Well, worse than what I've already done.

The problem was how I was going even to treat it? I had nothing with me except the clothes off my back and a dragon who didn't always pick up on human clues. If I was lucky, maybe I could make it a week before I really messed up and accidently chop off my arm. Or maybe I would lose the leg. Hel, a feral dragon could pop up from the ground and devour me now!

Taking a deep breath, I thought, One thing at a time. Just take things one by one. Washing the wound with some water will help clean it up, and surely there was something in my tunic that could be used to cover it, "Hey, Toothless?" He looked over to me, mouth full of fish. "Can you find a river or lake by any chance?"

He swallowed the fish, "Yeah, why?"


Stoick POV

Several hours have passed since the dragon had taken Hiccup, the time marked by the crackling of the fire while I sat in my chair. The other Vikings had left me alone once we left the cove, Spitelout and the others already spreading the news about what had happened around the Village. Once I was fully alone, I fell into my chair and have barely moved since, my thoughts racing in my mind as I attempted to figure out when everything had gone wrong.

That demon stole Hiccup from me, tainting his mind and filling it with lies. The question was when did it start and could I have stopped it? How was I so blind? Our dinner conversation from last night played through my mind. Looking back, it was obvious Hiccup had been speaking that Night Fury. He never expressed a notion of humans and dragons being civil to each other until then.

Thinking more about it, my mind flashed to Valka, a familiar ache settling in my heart. She had the same thoughts about humans and dragons living peacefully, even friendly, with one another. Seeing Hiccup standing next to that beast sprouting that same rhetoric, it was like staring at Valka once again. How was it possible that Hiccup and her were so much alike, despite him never knowing her? Could she have been tainted so much by the dragons that it passed on to Hiccup? The same beasts that killed her as she tried to protect Hiccup, even through her stubborn talk of them being fellow creatures of ration and compassion.

The shock of what happened was still setting into me, giving me a headache so reminiscent of dealing with Valka's talks and her tragic death. I pushed those thoughts away, hoping some solution would come to me. Per the Village laws, I had banished and disowned Hiccup based on his traitorous actions, even if all I wanted to do was rip him away from that Night Fury and convince him not to make the same mistake as his mother. At this point, it would take an act of Odin to convince the rest of them that Hiccup wasn't at fault. That he would never have betrayed us if that dragon had not tainted his mind. That killing that Night Fury would break Hiccup out of whatever power that devil had cast on him.

Suddenly, an idea came to my mind. There was someone who could help me take Hiccup back, and deal with that Nightfury. Once he hears it was a Nightfury that took Hiccup away, he will instantly accept.

Not sparing another second, I went to my desk and pulled out a piece of parchment and writing tool. Keeping my hand as steady as I could, I wrote:

"If you are reading this, then I am requesting your help with a certain matter. A dragon has tainted my son's heart and stole him from me. You may choose to ignore this at first, but the dragon is one that you know very well. A Nightfury. I will reward you handsomely if you kill this demon, and bring my son back to me. Come to Berk, and we shall further discuss our terms. - Regards, Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk."


Hiccup POV

After a light trek further to the island's center, my ears perked up at the sound of moving water and I let out a relieved sigh when my eyes confirmed the presence of a river. I carefully scooted to the bank and thanked Thor the water appeared clear, and would be clean enough to wash the dried blood off.

While I cleaned off my wound. Toothless stared through the water and thrust his head in, popping back up with a mouth full of fish. He placed them on a nearby rock, swallowing a few while staring at the rest in concentration. I was halfway through my rinsing when he asked, "How do you… 'cook' fish?"

Holding back a chuckle, I answered, "Normally we set some wood on fire, put the fish on something, and then hold it over the flames. It can take a while, but you also can't leave it too long because it will burn the food." Toothless stared back at me, a bit confused. "If you don't want it burned, why use fire at all?" "Because humans don't have built in fireplaces in our stomachs."

Toothless still didn't look convinced, but he dragged some wood over anyway as I finished washing my leg. With the dried blood gone, I inspected the long, thin line running down my leg. It was a pretty clean-cut for having been thrown at me through the sky, and it didn't look like it would get infected easily. However, I still felt the need to wrap it with something, just to be on the safe side.

I dug around my pockets, but came up empty on anything that could be used as a wrap. My vest seemed to be the best answer right now, so I took it off and wrapped it around my leg. The material didn't hold down easily and I didn't have anything to tie it with, but at least I had something over the wound. I'll just have to rearrange it later.

A pleased purr caught my attention, and I looked up to see Toothless standing with a proud smirk at his pile of decently cooked fish, one still hanging from his mouth over a small fire. He threw one over to me, and I barely managed to catch it before it hit the ground. He kept one for himself, gulping his work whole while I took a cautious bite.

Licking his lips, he stared off for a second and then stared at me in discontent. "This tastes like literal dirt. You humans have bad taste."

For about an hour we ate through the fish pile, me picking away burnt and raw sections while Toothless happily devoured them uncooked. I wondered what our next plan would be. Becoming a nomad that roams isles scavenging for food would become boring fast. Not to mention impractical since I doubted I would survive long without better clothes or a decent weapon. Seeking help from the other Tribes was out, since I was now technically a traitor to our allies and still a decent bargaining chip for our enemies.

I could try to do something about the dragons. But what to do is the real question. Do I try to stop Berk from killing dragons? Talk with some wild dragons and ask them to be nice to other humans? Have both sides sit down and write down what they have in common?

I scoffed at that, knowing my Tribe and other humans would never change their ways in a hundred years. They lived to kill dragons, either for survival or sheer boredom. Maybe dad was right; people won't change their ways, especially if it involves playing nice with generational enemies.

I looked over to Toothless at that thought, who was laying a few feet in front of me, sleeping peacefully. Sighing, I thought to myself, 'That can't be right. Surely there's someone else out there who knows that dragons aren't as evil as most believe them to be'.

Stifling a yawn, I decided I would hold off making any more future plans until after a good rest. It would be a good way to wait for my leg to heal and help me regain some strength. I closed my eyes and settled into a more comfortable position facing Toothless and began to fade into the realm of sleep.

As I drifted off, I swore I heard some rustling close to me, but chalked it up to Toothless moving in his sleep.


Toothless POV

I cracked open an eye as I felt Hiccup settling into sleep, not daring to move until his whole body relaxed. I stood up and silently stretched out my wings before I went to scout out the area. There probably wouldn't have been any harm in telling him what I was planning, but I didn't want to bother him with something minor. I would be done in an hour or less, and scouting solo will allow me to see if there are any dragons that could be hostile to Hiccup. There weren't any recent dragon scents, the ones still lingering months old, so this wasn't a common spot for dragons to come to.

I sure don't want to come back to Hiccup being dead or injured, more dead than injured really. At least if he's injured, then he would still be alive... Although I recall Hiccup saying that it was bad either way. Still doesn't make much sense to me because even being injured meant one survives their fight and can seek revenge another day. Maybe this was another weird human thing?

I carefully took a step away from my sleeping, accidently causing a rustling sound when I swept a pile of fish parts and branches.. I froze and looked back to Hiccup, who didn't wake up and only shifted at the small interruption, Good.

I slowly began to head to the edge of the clearing, making sure to watch my steps so I wouldn't wake Hiccup up. When I arrived at the edge, I worriedly looked back to him and wondered if it really was a good idea to leave him alone. Out in this clearing, he was easy prey for any predator, dragon or otherwise.

But I needed to make sure there wasn't anything dangerous on the island, otherwise, we would be caught surprised by something we didn't know. This way, I would figure out an escape route if something did turn up.

First things first, I scouted around the edges of the clearing, making sure nothing was hiding itself and could pop out once I was gone. Satisfied that nothing appeared to be stalking Hiccup, I still remained alert as I shuffled away from the clearing.

It only took me about a 'minute', as Hiccup likes to call them, for me to finish investigating the clearing. The human's concept of time is a strange thing, but it seems Hiccup relies on it like I do my wings. I guess I'll try to learn it for Hiccup's sake since he is decent with explanations and is one of the few human's that are nice. Unlike him.

Shaking the thought of him out of my head, I headed off to a spot that I could take off from so I could begin an air search. Finding a good clearing wasn't that difficult, since this wasn't a very thick forest and taking off was as easy as breathing to me flatting out above the trees, I took in the scenery and felt some of my tension ease. There didn't seem to be much on this island, appearing pretty small compared to others I've been to. There were not many important landmarks on the island, comprised mostly of forest. The chances of anything catching the other humans' attention was slim and since no dragon had yet to announce a territorial growl, this place isn't worth claiming.

With nothing else to gather, I landed down in a nearby clearing for another casual ground sweep. Something caught my attention in my peripheral vision, compelling me to assume a defensive stance as my eyes scoured the area. Nothing happened for a few long moments, but I refused to relax my stance.

A burst of white rushed through the trees, and I pounced over to the spot in time to see it rush out of sight through the foliage. Something was definitely stalking me, and I intended to find out why.

I leapt after the white blur intently, but whatever it was, it was clever and knew how to evade me. However, I recognized its path was heading toward a cliff I saw from above, so I just needed to corner it. From there, it would have no way of escaping and I could find out what it was.

Our game of chase came to a close as I saw it disappear through the foliage, exactly where the cliff was. I burst out of the bushes, a shot already prepared in my throat, to find nothing in front of me. Swallowing my blast, I cautiously crept further from cover and forced my senses on high alert. The only thing in my vision was the cliff, a view of the ocean, and a lack of places for the mysterious thing to hide. 'I followed it right here?! How did it escape? There's nowhere for it to even go!' I grumbled at the thought of something escaping me. It shouldn't be possible.

I looked down at the ground to see tracks pressed into the ground. They looked human, yet no way could a human have escaped me. The tracks were also suspicious, but I couldn't exactly place why.

Growling, I thought about investigating further but decided against it. I have no idea what exactly this thing is, andI needed to get back to Hiccup before he wakes up or that thing finds him first. Maybe I would be able to intercept it if it tried to attack my friend or Hiccup would have an idea what it was. He always seemed to have something new or interesting to contribute, even if it wasn't always relevant.

My journey back was uneventful and nothing new or dangerous caught my attention. If I hadn't seen that white blur multiple times and those tracks, I would be willing to admit I was going crazy. But I still had a weird feeling about something racing through my scales from my snout to my tail.

My slight paranoia eased slightly as I slowly walked into the clearing and saw Hiccup beginning to wake up, no traces of the other creature or anything new catching my how to explain all of this to my human…


Hiccup POV

Stretching my arms up, I tensed when I heard something rustling close to me. I relaxed, though, when I saw it was just Toothless approaching me from the treeline.

"Hey, Toothless. Find anything interesting?" Toothless's posture immediately went rigid, much to my confusion. "What happened, Toothless? Is everything okay?"

He didn't say anything at first, but he slowly relaxed and answered, "It's nothing to worry about right now. My main worry is: Are you okay?"

Mentally telling myself to bring this up later, I did my best to smile while a shiver of pain coursed through my leg. "Yeah, I'll be f-fine..." Toothless only narrowed his eyes at me, declaring, "You are not fine... You need to rest for a while longer."

I sighed at his statement and looked back down to my leg, moving my tunic a bit and finding the wound not bleeding at all. "I've gotten all the rest I can get this time. Now, I need to figure out our next step."

Toothless avoided my gaze by looking over to the pile of leftover fish parts. "Fine, we can do that. Though we can't stay here for too long. I thought I saw something earlier, and it hasn't shown itself since. "

"Something is following us?" Great, so far my day has consisted of my dad exiling me, becoming a human target, stranded with no supplies, and being barely able to walk due to a wound in my leg. Now it turns out there's something out there able to outsmart a Night Fury and enjoying a fun game of hide-and-seek.

Well, at least this day can't get any worse...


Unknown POV

Watching him interact with the dragon made me crack a small smile, reminding me of myself when I was young and full of energy. Before I learned the true cruelties of the world and what real monsters were...

I'm still shocked he had a Nightfury with him. A very rare dragon... One so rare, that he was possibly the last of his kind. Sadness for the Nightfury coursed through me at the thought. He was special, both of them were. Far more special than I could ever hope to be.

My narrow escape from the Nightfury- 'Toothless? An odd name for a dragon, but fitting if the sight of retracted teeth is anything to go by'- still had me on edge, but I needed to see what I was dealing with.

I sighed and brought my hand up to my head, studying these unexpected creatures and formulating a plan.