Eret and Helga found taking care of their kid… doable. Especially in the warm, calm place that was berserker island (compared to the rest of the archipelago).
Right now, they had to deal with eleven children for a week, all the while keeping an entire longship afloat. Luckily, after about three days of travel, they would come into contact with the hidden world, and all of dragonkind, which would surely make their life easier.
The God Enrager's bow cut through the small waves in the light breeze of dawn. On the ship's aft was a large pile of food, meant as a thank you gift/apology/sacrifice to the dragons. The idea of using the most annoying children for this task had been… certainly appealing, seriously considered, but eventually rejected. Besides the pile, Eret, son of Eret (or, as the children now called him, big Eret) and Helga used the rare moment of calm to breathe. It was the morning after the third night onboard, and if they had navigated right, they would reach the hidden world today.
Big Eret gave a tired, drawn out sigh. "We might have overestimated ourselves.", he said quietly as he took in the sunrise, gently rising behind the longboat.
"Yeah. But at least they are having fun.", answered Helga just as quietly, as the children were still asleep, which neither of them wanted to change.
"If they are, it's all thanks to you.", he said softly. This was their one small victory.
It all began when Helga promised a small honey cake to the one who could row the hardest. After the ship's speed had been doubled for two hours, she proceeded to give a small honey cake to each of the eleven children, not even bothering to determine who it had been.
There were countless protests against this. And somehow, the viking woman managed to turn this into a logic lesson, explaining how the fact that the strongest rower would receive a cake didn't affect what the others would get. Even more surprisingly, the children listened.
In the following two days, they taught the children how to sail, how to cook sailor food, how to not get eaten when they encountered a dragon and how you should always listen to the captain since he will throw you overboard if you keep acting like that. The days ended with the children happy and tired, finally giving the two (equally tired) adults some peace.
The tall viking gently stroked Helga's dark brown hair. "Today is the big day. How are you feeling ?"
"I am… happy.", she finally answered. "Just think about all the progress we will be able to make with this trip!"
The viking woman's smile grew broader. "Also, we will have thirteen pairs of eyes instead of just one! We will gather so much information!"
Big Eret wished he could share his beloved's enthusiasm. But in truth, he didn't. To him, this was little more than an unnecessary risk. But for her, and for little Eret (Eret, son of Eret, son of Eret had been found to be a too long name), he would sail a ship to the edge of the world and back. Not metaphorically speaking.
It was now around noon, and Toothless was using some of his precious free time to stretch his wings, as well as spend some time with an old friend. He entered into the hidden world's main entrance and banked left, heading towards the King's Crystal. The monstrous nightmare behind him the same.
"I don't get it", said Hookfang. "We live for two hundred years and you just had to settle down this early."
With a snap of the tip of his wings and an elegant barrel roll, Toothless was flying beside Hookfang, as opposed to in front of him. "But have you ever seen Light?", he asked, not managing to hide his pride. "She is all I could hope for and just a bit more!"
"She lacks horns, claws on her wings and even the basic ability to light herself on fire!", said the monstrous nightmare. "How could that in any way be appealing?"
Toothless rolled his eyes. "Are you dumb or just faking?"
"I'm just saying. You're the alpha. With a flick of your tail, you could get yourself a new mate every night." The monstrous nightmare eyes went wide at this thought. "Oh, if I was the alpha… ", he said longingly. "But no, instead you keep yourself to just one. And like if that wasn't enough, you go ahead and have kids! Kids!" The blood red dragon sped up, seemingly trying to get away from the night fury. "You're so immature.", rumbled Hookfang without looking at him.
The night fury flared and made a graceful landing on King's Crystal. Hookfang, on the other hand, had somehow missed that they had arrived at their destination and had stubbornly continued in a straight line. How exactly the dragon had managed to miss the enormous, glowing rock, he didn't know.
"Will Mister Mature help me rule the hidden world or is he too busy thinking about my immature relationship?", he shouted. And without error, the red dragon turned around and landed quickly, rumbling some mockery that Toothless gladly ignored. He gave a knowing look to all of his advisors: Light, Stormfly, Hookfang and Rej.
"Report?", asked Toothless in a friendly tone.
"Scarnose is just gorgeous.", said Stormfly excitedly. "And yesterday, we started flying and kept going for hours. He likes me. I know it."
"Report that is not about Stormfly's relationship status?", asked Toothless in a slightly less friendly tone.
"Some light furies from 'that pack' complained about an invasion of their cavern. They said that three dragons entered and started roaring and disturbing the peace.", stated Rej. "I'm wondering who those dragons may be.", she added.
Whoever those three dragons were, they reminded Toothless of someone… Regardless. "Well, it's not 'their cavern'. Others have the full right to go there. If they ask kindly, those dragons might leave or be quiet. But rivers are public property. Anyone wants to tell it to them?", said the alpha. 'That pack' had grown a bit arrogant in the last few years, and he would have to deal with them soon.
"I will.", said his mate confidently. "And I will try to tell them in a way that does not make them hate you.", she added, her voice making the night fury's heart just a little bit lighter.
"Thank you, my little moon stone.", he said lovingly as he walked over to his mate and pressed his side against the light fury's. His wing gently patted the white dragon's head, and he could feel a tail touching his underside…
The dragons who were watching them synchronously groaned rolled their eyes.
"Ahem.", said Toothless as he pulled apart from his mate and recomposed himself. "I mean good job, Light. Anything else?"
"The dragons want more, better fish. Especially at the lower levels.", explained Stormfly casually, repeating the same eternal problem that had plagued the hidden world since he started ruling.
"And the alpha can just make more fish appear out of thin air if you complain hard enough, right?", he said, annoyed. It wasn't a new problem, but it was almost impossible to solve. "We have tried to make the upper levels restrain on the good stuff, so that some of it reaches further down.", he said. "But even then the total amount of fish won't change, and suspiciously many good fish are eaten as soon as we aren't watching."
Or in other words, "I don't know how to solve this.", he stated. "Any ideas?"
After ten seconds of heavy silence, Toothless resigned, at least for now. "Any other problems?"
There was no answer this time either. But he could feel that there was something more. "Well…", started Rej carefully.
"Feel free to say whatever you want.", reassured Toothless, though mildly worried himself. If Rey was insecure about telling him, it might be a tense problem. Then again, Rej was insecure about everything, so it might just be normal.
"I'm not going to get mad at you just because you tell me the truth.", he added soothingly. For some reason, that wouldn't have felt like a good way to rule.
Rej seemed really nervous. "It's probably an unnecessary question, but…"
At this point, Hookfang decided to step up and clarify things. "What will we do if humans return? It's been on everyone's mind ever since we left them go.", he said bluntly.
"Yeah.", confirmed rej. "That."
The alpha smiled awkwardly. "Yeah…" He hoped it wouldn't happen. But if he understood humans correctly, their curiosity and/or greed made this a very real danger.
"I just don't get why we didn't take the safe route and just removed the problem?", asked Hookfang while dragging his claws across the rocky floor.
"Have I ever told you that you're a coward?", asked Toothless mockingly. Mindless murder was not, and was never going to be an option.
"So are you, my beloved alpha", replied the red dragon while respectfully bowing down his head. This was supposed to be a formal meeting, but the two couldn't help but chuckle at each other's antics. "But what's the real reason?"
Really? His friend Hookfang could not see any reason to keep humans alive? Well then.
"We might anger them.", said Rej.
"They might be able to track the entrance anyway.", said Light. "Others will know that a ship has disappeared."
"I don't want to kill people.", explained Stormfly. "It's much more fun to play fetch with someone who is alive."
Not killing was a good decision. And the alpha had people who would support him through it. "And lastly, do you remember when we left Berk? What was the final promise?", he asked. Ever from the day he had left Berk and Hiccup, Toothless had had a dream.
"The Berkians will guard our secret until the time comes when we can return, in peace.", recited the monstrous nightmare with all the enthusiasm of Ruffrunner waking up.
Toothless was taken down by this lack of vision. "Don't you believe in that anymore?"
Hookfang rolled his eyes. "How much time will it take? A thousand years?"
Toothless rolled his eyes at the absurd suggestion. "Hilarious.", he replied.
The alpha then explained the correct way to see this. "Dragons and humans will meet again. It is inevitable. Sure, it will be a slow, complex process full of suspicion and wariness by both sides, but it is bound to succeed… no matter how much time it may take."
A black and white dragon who flared at the very last moment all but crashed into the crystal, small shards of it cracking beneath her claws. The dragon was panting heavily as she leapt towards him. "A ship full of vikings is sailing straight towards us!", reported Dart, sounding happy for some strange reason.
Toothless heart rate doubled as all eyes on the crystal focused on him. "How? Who? Where? Why?", he asked, desperate to get more information. But there was one more question. "When?!"
Dart answered calmly and joyously, completely neglecting her father's panic. "About twenty kilometres away, east. A single ship, though bigger than last time. Doesn't seem armed. It's moving faster too."
"Thank you. It's good that we could spot them when they were this far out.", said Toothless thoughtfully. A sudden realization then occurred to him. If his daughter knew all of this…
"How do you know this Dart?" Dart yelped at the sudden question, and started breathing quickly. A few tense moments of silence passed. "A friend told me.", she said nervously.
Toothless examined his daughter to find out if this was a lie. The nightlight, on the other hand, seemed to have become thoroughly interested in her own paws.
Right now though, they had more pressing matters. Including a particular red dragon that would soon start to literally press his snout into Toothless if the alpha didn't let him speak. "Hookfang, what do you want to say?", he asked.
"They must know where we are.", he stated. "And we can't be sure who else knows. They might be coming here in masses, just to slaughter us!" Rej shuddered at these words.
Despite the chaos, the alpha took a few seconds to think. And there was a solution. The hidden world was a safe haven for all of dragonkind for a reason. "The entrance to this cavern is a hole. Even if some evil humans jumped into this place with the intention to kill us…" He explained. "For us, the only difference would be a pretty red tint on the rocks at the bottom of the cavern. We can defend this place, and we can defend it well.", concluded the night fury with a proud smile.
"So… what will we do now?", asked Light.
Toothless thought about it. The ultimate goal, humans and dragons reuniting in peace… didn't seem feasible right now. "Not killing, not letting them in. We will drive them away.", he decided.
"What?!", roared Dart, who had previously only been busy with catching her breath.
As Dart roared "Are you really determined to make everyone's life as boring as possible?!" straight to the alpha's face, his advisors looked strangely entertained.
The night fury sighed. "If boring means safe, yes."
Dart spotted her brothers lazily basking in a ray of sunlight that had made its way into the cavern. The two seemed really relaxed, calm smiles painted on their faces. It looked so peaceful…
She then proceeded to violently shake the poor dragons until she had gathered their full attention.
"I need your help. Now.", she said urgently.
Ruffrunner stared at her blankly. Pouncer stared instead at the distance, a bittersweet look on his face. "I had a wonderful dream. About Laura.", he said melancholically. "We were… "
"I don't want to know what you were doing.", she answered, disgusted. Gosh, wasn't there anything useful in those two?
Pouncer shook his head, determined. "You don't even want to know about my dream. Why should I help you?", he said. The white nightlight's attention then shifted to the great expanse that was the world around them, like an old bewilderbeast pondering on a stim of fish. "Oh, if I only could meet you again…"
There were some things that Dart held dear. Her pride, her dreams and her desire to improve the world (note that her brothers weren't among these). But when those got in contradiction with one another, she was ready to give up on the first. "I'm sorry. You can tell me all you want about your dream, about Laura and about everything else.", she said, swallowing her pride. "But I need your help to save the day, and I need it quickly. Please. This is the most important event of my life."
Pouncer would have answered that she had said the same thing about a race they had done two months ago, but his sister really really did seem desperate this time. "I will help you.", said the white nightlight as he shook his wings and readied for takeoff. Dart would've let out a small tear of joy if she had had lacrimal glands.
Only one dragon left to convince. "My beloved little brother.", she said at Ruffrunner with the sweetest voice she could manage.
Her beloved little brother (whom she considered a jerk) was looking at her with completely uncompassionate eyes. "You will fish for me for a month. And don't call me 'little' anymore.", he said. Like a jerk.
She didn't have a choice. "Fine. Hurry up now."
She leapt into the air, and for once was happy to hear her two brothers right behind her. Within two minutes, they were outside and speeding towards the viking ship.
"By the way, what are we going to do?", asked Pouncer as he noticed that they had left the cavern.
Dart didn't look at her brother when answering, her eyes strictly locked onto the quickly approaching viking ship. "We will stop the humans from being sent away and instead let them visit the hidden world. Even if we have to disobey dad and use force to achieve it."
Ruffrunner and Pouncer exchanged a more than worried look.
There was a dragon head carved in front of the God Enrager, coloured in blue, red and white,
representing either a terrible terror or a monstrous nightmare. The artist who had carved it wasn't too familiar with the beasts.
There were a dozen dragon heads in front of the God Enrager, coloured in black, white and red and heading at high speed towards the vessel, their expressions varying from dislike to sheer anger.
It is important to note that the dragon heads did indeed have attached bodies.
"Oh, dear Thor.", whispered Helga at the sight, not managing to make any louder noise.
Big Eret frowned. "Don't tell me you are afraid now!"
Sadly, the viking woman couldn't help herself. "But… What if they hate us? What if they are angry at us for returning? I don't want to die!"
Big Eret wasn't anywhere near feeling safe either. But unlike Helga, he had a lifetime of dealing with danger behind him.
Which of course meant he had to stand in front of the danger, with his wife and eleven children behind his back.
The ship rocked as the night fury landed onto the ship's front, facing straight towards him. The other dragons circled the ship, in a way that big Eret considered was far too similar to vultures circling a corpse. The black dragon didn't seem friendly either, his eyes angry and posture ready to fight.
This reminded big Eret of the times he had met Drago. Afraid, tense and struggling to breathe.
"Hello alpha. We come in peace, and offer gifts.", he said respectfully, even bowing down. In the year that he had lived with Toothless, big Eret had considered the night fury a friend, and believed that the dragon thought the same. At the very least, he was treated better than Snotlout. But whatever bond they had built over that year, the twenty years which had passed and the unappreciated visit to his reign meant that Toothless didn't seem happy in the least. He growled, displaying a row of sharp teeth. Big Eret gulped.
Only the unholy offspring of a dragon trapper and a scientist itself could save them.
"Hi big guy! Looking sharp!", said little Eret as he jumped forwards and gave an as big hug as he could manage to the night fury's head. His arms did not manage to reach all the way around, but successfully shut the night fury's jaws. "Fish?", offered little Eret as he took a salmon half as big as himself and offered it to the alpha.
This interaction left Helga mortified. Big Eret was left mortified. Toothless was left mortified.
Little Eret was left happier than ever.
Toothless didn't want to drive them away. He wanted to let humans and dragons live in peace, and learn from each other. It was solely his position as an alpha that forced him to take this decision.
But… he couldn't just chase away this tiny little kid who had only wanted to be kind!
He had tried his best to appear angry and determined. But how exactly was he supposed to keep that up when a little kid hugged him?!
He knew that his advisors were watching him, judging him. They were likely expecting him to neatly solve this situation. "I am trying to chase you away, little one. You shouldn't be doing this.", he rumbled with an as soothing voice as possible.
The little kid said something in an equally soothing voice, and gently petted the scales on his nose. Right. They couldn't understand each other. And no matter what he said, if it was said in a friendly tone it would be perceived as such.
He looked at the fish. A normal, certainly tasty, raw salmon. Tempting.
He then looked beyond that, at the ten other children, who had decided to mimic this one and were now offering various fish and other meats. Behind that was… apparently Eret? Also, an adult woman. Their eyes still wide open. And behind that… Toothless eyes widened in awe. A literal pile of good nourishment taller than even himself.
"Alpha! Did you fall asleep?", chirped Stormfly from the sky, the annoyment clearly present.
"I am thinking!", he barked back, equally annoyed. He had come here to chase these humans away. But if they could provide some more food that his realm wanted… It wouldn't be so bad, would it?
But the pile wasn't that much for thousands of dragons, and it would be difficult to transport it to the lower levels, where it was needed the most. Lastly, he doubted that the fish was poisoned, but he couldn't be sure. He nudged the little child away. "Sorry, but you have to…"
A piercing roar filled the air, and made the alpha's neck snap towards the newcomer.
From the distance, three majestic creatures were approaching, their scales glittering in black and white in the warm afternoon sun.
Oh, no, thought Toothless.
Dart made a graceful landing onto the deck and immediately nuzzled with the child who had been offering him a salmon. "Step aside dad. We will take care of these, and make sure to give them a good time."
If Toothless had been acting calm before, he completely abandoned any attempt to it. "What in the burning deathgripper dung are your three eggshell heads doing here?!", he roared, not bothering about the worried stares of everyone around them.
The blue-eyed nightlight gave a confident smile. "Saving the day. What else?"
Dart reminded him of Hiccup. Their ability to come up with absolutely horrendous decisions was unmatched. "Who's idea was it?"
Dart chuckled. "Oh… it was a team effort.", she said, too humble to take all of the honour for herself. The fact that two brothers were pointing straight at her with their wings meant that her words rendered her humility somewhat pointless.
"What do you want to do, exactly?", asked Toothless, who was struggling to decide between being an alpha or a parent.
For the young nightlight, this was the moment of her life. She was in the center of attention, in an adventure, and could finally improve the world. Dart met the humans' terrified faces with a radiant smile, clarifying her good intentions. "We dragons want the food that you are offering. You humans want to peacefully visit the hidden world."
The nightlight took a big breath as she faced the circling dragons. "And we will make this possible!", she declared, raising awe from them.
"Their food might be poisoned. You will not give it to anyone.", explained Toothless while dwelling on what would be an appropriate punishment for Dart. Was it enough to rip off a tailfin, or should he just go with an entire wing?
Dart huffed. "It's not poisoned.", she said while swallowing the saumon, making Toothless heart skip a beat. "See?", she said, while nudging the kid who had offered it to thank him.
Sometimes, Toothless marveled on how his daughter had managed to survive for fifteen years.
The four circling dragons didn't know how to react. Toothless was supposed to chase away the viking ship. But instead, his fledglings had arrived, and now they would… bring the humans into the hidden world?
"Is your daughter often… like that?", asked Rej diplomatically, her head struggling to make sense of the scene beneath her.
"Ever since her egg hatched.", answered Light confidently.
"She's a stubborn bastard, just like her father.", commented Hookfang. He then noticed the angry glances of the other three dragons were casting at him."That's not a bad thing! It was just an objective remark, like saying that we are flying or that I am good-looking!" Stormfly chuckled at that. If there was a good looking dragon amongst them, it was her.
Having made her point, Dart made her way to the children, who found the blue eyed dragon docile and friendly. Eventually, even Helga stepped forwards and offered her some sheep meat. Darty had never eaten it before, but sure found it tasty. By now, she fully believed to have achieved her goals, and that no one would have anything to say against her.
Toothless found himself exchanging a shocked look with Eret, of all people. After a few seconds, they both looked away and shook their heads. "Dart! Tell me a good reason that you shouldn't be carried straight back home and grounded for the rest of eternity."
Toothless was then surprised at his two sons stepping forwards to stop him. "It is a good idea. You want humans and dragons to live in peace, don't you? We will let them fly around the hidden world, and you won't have to do anything.", said Pouncer.
"There's a cavern at the bottom of the hidden world where dragons struggle to find good fish. We will carry all of this food there.", said Ruffrunner.
The night fury looked at the two of them suspiciously. "Why are you helping her?"
"She is our sister, and there is nothing like love between siblings.", answered Pouncer confidently. Toothless gaze was anything but convinced, even after the white nighlight's awkward smile. "She will fish for me for a month while Pouncer can tell her all he wants about Laura to her.", said Ruffrunner bluntly.
"The same Laura that visited us about two weeks ago?", asked Toothless, his mind questioning the possibility of Pouncer wanting to mate.
"Exactly.", answered Pouncer. "Now, will you allow us to take care of these humans?"
Letting the humans visit the hidden world was not a terrible idea. And if his fledglings could take care of it, and maybe, just maybe, learn to be a little bit responsible… it would be a long stretch. But perhaps not an impossible one. "Fine. Let us see what you can do."
In the future, updates will still be on Sundays. But which sunday it arrives will vary, as I am sometimes too busy to give you a chapter in 2 weeks. And in 1 week… sadly not doable.
However, writing this fic, and reading reviews is fun. And I'll continue to write as best I can.