Hey guys! Look who's updated! Now, this chapter is a bit shorter than what I usually like, but I think it's okay and that it can work for right now. I know it's been a while, and I hope you like what I've got.

Ch. 7
A Family United

Breakfast that morning had been a little quiet, or as quiet as it could be when there were hundreds of dragons flying around you. My mom was still as happy and excited as she had been the other day, still talking about all we could do now that she and I were together again. I remained mostly quiet through the whole thing. I was not paying that much attention to her, and paying more attention to other important things.

I have not told Toothless about the magical essence that could change my age. Reason one; he was already asleep by the time I went back. Reason two; I still wasn't sure what to do with it. I was sure that Toothless would instantly volunteer to take it instead of me, but I wasn't sure if I wanted him to do that. I mean… 800 years is a very long life. How could anyone want to give that away? There was so much to do and experience with a lifeline like that, and I didn't want Toothless giving it up because of me. I'm just going to keep the essence safe with me until I've figured out what to do.

The other thing on my mind was Berk. Whether I wanted to be chief or not, that place was my home, and it always will be my home. And if there was anyway to save it, I was going to do it. Talking to Drago might be a risky task, and maybe it even work. But, if there was any chance that it would, then I had to try.

After breakfast I told mom that Toothless and I wanted to go check out the nest ourselves, and do our own exploring. I don't know if she really believed me, but she did say that it was okay and to be back in time for lunch. Of course, Toothless could tell that that wasn't what was on my mind, and he made that very clear later.

'You're a terrible lair,' he said to me as I tightened the straps my flying suit.

"Only to you," I said, not looking at him. "And right now, that's okay."

As I fixed up my suit, I looked out into the icy haven. Waking up and seeing dragons in a place like this was definitely something I would love to get used to. Ever since I discovered my love for dragons I always thought the idea of seeing them constantly like this would be wonderful. But, right now, I had to take care of some bigger things before all of that.

"Well, bud, we can't wait around for Drago to attack this place," I said as I finished fixing my flying suit. "We've gotta find him first."

'Are you sure it's a good idea not to tell your mom about this?' Toothless asked. 'I'm just saying, you could've at least told her where we're going."

"If I had, she'd never have let me go," I told him seriously. "She's just like my dad, they don't even want to try talking."

"Well, with Drago's history you can't really blame- Oh, would you all stop it!"

I turned around and giggled. For the past 10 minutes a small herd of Nadder babies had been bugging the crap out of Toothless; jumping on him, biting his ears, squalling in his face, and all of it was annoying the Night Fury to no end.

"Would you relax?" I said, half laughing. "Seriously. I'm starting to think you don't like kids."

"Of course I like kids," Toothless defended. "You've seen me play with the children in the village. I just don't like these kids."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. C'mon, let's go."

But before I could even move, I felt a large, beefy hand come up and cup over my mouth. I gasped and let out a muffled yell. Toothless whipped around, growling and teeth bared, and then quickly relaxed.

'Stoick?'

"Easy now," I heard a low voice say.

I grumbled into the large hand before grabbing it and yanking it off. I stepped back and turned around. It was my dad.

"Are you kidding me?!" I hissed at him. "First of all, don't ever do that! Second of all, how the hell did you even get in here?"

"Same way we're gettin' you out," he said as he shoved my helmet into my hands. I only just realized that I had lost it before.

"'We?'"

"All clear," said another voice, and I looked up to see Gobber poking his head out of the rocky entrance that we had come through before.

"Gobber?"

"Let's go," my dad said firmly as he grabbed my arm. "Toothless, you too."

My dad started dragging me against my will towards the entrance. I looked back at Toothless, who quickly started to follow.

"Uh, dad, hold on! J-Just wait a second," I said urgently, trying to keep up with how much he was dragging me. "There's, uh, there's something you need to know."

"Yeah yeah, tell me on the way," he said as he released me.

"No offense dad, but this isn't an on the way kind of update."

"I've heard enough, Hicca."

"You have to listen to her, Stoick," said Toothless, who had suddenly changed into his human form so he could move around the rocks more easily. "This isn't something you can ignore, you need to hear it now."

"Lad, when a man says he's heard enough, he's heard enough," my dad told him sternly.

"But, Toothless is right, dad," I said breathlessly, trying to catch up to him. "This isn't something pointless that can be ignored. Actually, it's, uh, more of the earth-shattering development variety."

My dad scoffed. "Yeah, just add it to the pile."

"O-oh boy, uh… Dad, u-unlike most surprises I spring on you, this is one you're gonna like. I promise!"

"You just have to me calm," Toothless grunted as he squeezed through a particularly tight spot between two rocks.

"Exactly!" I said. "You just have to handle it… err, delicately. Yes! So, whatever you do, don't…"

But my words trailed off as my dad stopped walking, and I stopped too. I looked forward to see Gobber standing at the edge of the exit, completely still.

"Gobber?" asked Toothless.

Gobber slowly turned around, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide as dinner plates. He walked towards my dad, patting his shoulder as he passed him.

"Ehh… you might want to take this one…" he flopped back onto the wall and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Oh boy…"

I smiled. I knew that Gobber was acting like this because he had seen my mom. Then my dad pulled out his sword and started marching towards the exit. I gasped.

"Uh, d-dad! Could you put the sword away? Please?!"

But he didn't listen to me, and went through the exit. He took two steps out before letting out a sharp gasp and stopping dead in his tracks. I slowly walked forward behind him and then leaned my head to the side. My mom was standing just 10 feet away, and was staring at my dad with fear in her eyes.

There was a loud clang, and I looked around to see that my dad had dropped his sword. I stared. Dad never dropped his sword for anyone or anything. He reached up and took his helmet off of his head and lowered his arms to the ground. I looked at him for a moment before looking back up at my mom. There was a few moments of silence between them.

"I know what you're gonna say, Stoick," my mom said finally. "How could I have done this? Stayed away all of these years and why didn't I come back to you? To our daughter?"

My dad didn't say anything. He dropped his helmet, and slowly started to walk towards my mom.

"Well… what sign did I have that you could change, Stoick? That anyone on Berk could? I pleaded so many times to stop the fighting- to find another answer, but did any of you listen?"

"This is why I never married," said Gobber. "This, and one other reason…"

"Not the time," Toothless whispered.

"I know that I left you to raise Hicca alone," my mom said, and this time there was fear in her voice as she slowly started to step back. "But I thought she'd be better off without me. And I was wrong, I see that now, but…"

My dad still said nothing. He was only a foot away from her now. My mom looked terrified as she stepped back until her back was against the giant wall of ice.

"Oh, stop being so stoic, Stoick!" she snapped. "Go on! Shout, scream- say something!"

My dad slowly lifted his hand and cupped the side of my mom's face. She froze, staring at him. There was a pause.

"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you…"

I inhaled sharply. I've never heard my dad say something so wonderful in all of my life. Then, he did something I had never seen before; he grabbed my mom's chin, gently pulled her face up, and kissed her. It lasted about a second before he pulled away. My mom stared up at him, eyes wide and watering. I sighed as I smiled. I felt something warm and scaly enclose around my hand, and I turned to see Toothless smiling down at me. I grinned up at him as we both turned back to look at my parents.

Austen's P.O.V.

"Ugh! Could this day get any worse?" Snotlout groaned.

"Uhh, lemme see," said Tuffnut. "We're gonna jump into freezing cold water, and then die from drowning."

I rolled my eyes. Leave to the idiot twins to make everything better. I leaned my head over the edge of the ship to look down at the black, rushing water below. Even if I could stay afloat, I would still freeze to death. I looked over and saw Eret looking down as well.

"Looks refreshing," he turned around and walked back towards me. "Please, you first."

I growled and fought against the two guards holding my arms. I was sure I had bruises on my arms and legs from when they separated me from Stormfly.

"How can you stand there and smile at me?" I hissed lowly at him. "My dragon- my girlfriend is gone and is probably gonna be killed because she saved you from getting skewered back there! You are a steaming heap of dragon sh-"

"Duck!"

Eret swung around, and I instinctively ducked my head. I heard loud grunts and the guards holding me let go. I leaned up to see that they both had been knocked down. I turned around to look at Eret and saw that he had released himself from his bindings and was holding both of the guard's weapons in his hands.

"Stop him!"

"Warn the others!"

"Get 'em, you son of an Eret!" Ruffnut cheered, grinning at him.

Eret waved both weapons and knocked two men off of their feet. A third blew a red blow dart at him, but Eret ducked, and the dart hit another man behind him. Fishlegs then ran forward and leapt up, landing with a loud thump on top of the one who blew the dart. The dart pipe flew into the air, and Eret caught it. He whipped around, aimed at the guy who was running off to warn the crew, and blew. The red dart shot out and it the man in the back. He stopped running, stumbled for a minute, and then fell over.

"Okay, I love you again," Ruffnut said quickly, running over towards Eret.

Snotlout stared at her, looking crestfallen.

"Eh, pathetic," said Tuffnut, looking at Snotlout. "You can still jump."

Eret picked up his knives from the guard that had taken them, and he turned to face me, a large smirk on his face.

"So, we going to save your dragons and get out of here, or not?"

I gave him a sly smile as I raised in eyebrow. "Only if you can handle it, trapper."

Eret walked over to me and quickly cut the ropes holding my hands together.

"Check every trap," he said. "They're here somewhere."

Eret's P.O.V.

It was just my bad luck that once we split up to find the beasts that I got paired up with the one called Ruffnut. The last thing I needed was for her to be all over me, especially now. But, luckily, she seemed to be laying off due to the situation. Still, the looks she kept giving me were no less creepy. She looked like a wolf about to pounce its prey.

"Anyone coming?" I grunted as I started opening a trap.

"I don't know, you just keep doin' what you're doin'," she said, gazing at me. "Keep cranking…"

I rolled my eyes before I stopped cranking the switch. Looking around real quick to make sure no one was around, I climbed up the trap and hopped right in. I knew instantly that this was one of their dragons, because I recognized it best. It was Austen's dragon, the Deadly Nadder he called Stormfly. She was covered from head to claw in chains, all of which were keeping her trapped down on the floor.

The second my feet landed she opened her eyes and stared up at me, huffing wildly. It was almost like she was afraid.

'What do you want?' I heard a strong, female voice ask in my head.

"Don't worry," I said quickly. "I mean you no harm."

The dragon didn't say anything else, but just stared at me. I slowly and carefully walked forward towards her, kneeling in front of her when I was close enough to touch her. I gently reached my hand out toward her, almost touching her snout. I stopped when I was a few inches away from her, and I stared into her large, amber eyes. It was then that I noticed how beautiful they were.

"Thank you, for saving my life," I whispered.

Stormfly gazed up at me for a moment, as though considering me. Then, she reached her snout up and pressed it against my hand, letting out a soft, gurgling sound that vibrated against my palm. I couldn't help the smile that stretched on my face. How could I have ever though that this creature was a monster worth hunting?

"Now let me return the favor."

Stormfly opened her eyes to look up at me. 'You're going to help us?'

"Indeed," I petted her snout gently. "Before, Austen said that you were a mother. Is that true?"

Stormfly bowed her head. 'Yes,' she said lowly. 'I have 2 sons and 1 daughter. They… they don't have a father to take care of them, he died before they hatched. If I can't get home, I don't know what will happen to them.'

There was a crack in her voice as it shook slightly. I stared down at her in sympathy. Yes, this creature was a mother alright. I could see the motherly love and the instinct to protect in her large eyes. And like any mother, she'll do anything to save her children, no matter what. It was my fault that she was stuck here in the first place, now I had to help her.

"Stormfly," I said. "Have no fear, you'll be reunited with your little ones soon enough."

'I'm not afraid,' she said, rather stubbornly.

I chuckled. "Then you have nothing to worry about. I can see why Austen fancies you. Now, let's get you and your friends out of here."

Like I said, it was a short chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer to make up for it, but I hope you liked what I got. I'll see yah next time!