A/N: Been what, nearly a year? I haven't forgotten and I still plan to finish my story. I can't promise consistent updates, but I can promise it'll be finished. I expect this to be over by Chapter 100; that's my goal.

I'm not sure what I expected when Astrid and I returned to Berk to tell the others what we had seen. An excited Fishlegs questioning how the Lightfury could be different than a Nightfury. An always irritable Snotlout pointing out the dangers and risks with a new and powerful dragon. The twins with their own ridiculous ideas. Fishlegs had already gone to work on creating a new entry in the Book of Dragons and his own personal collection of Dragon Cards while Snotlout tried figuring out how a dragon could just vanish into thin air and I'll admit, I was just as curious. If a Lightfury could vanish into thin air, could Toothless do the same thing? What other abilities are hiding beneath dragonkind that we haven't discovered yet? It almost suggests a common ancestry to Changewings or Dramillions.

Meanwhile, Toothless was over-excited at the idea of another one of his kind being alive. As Astrid pointed out, Toothless was in-love. If Dragons could feel love in the same way we can, and I'm not sure they can't. Astrid's theory seemed solid, as Toothless longingly watched a pair of Nadders as they preformed a mating dance. Even practicing one… I claimed Astrid wasn't the romantic but maybe I wasn't. I couldn't see the signs that she saw in him; just goes to show we still have a lot to learn about Dragons. At the insistence of everyone, Toothless and I, plus Tuffnut went out in search of the Lightfury.

"Don't you think it's unfair for Toothless. He has to watch you and Astrid all googley-eyed over each other and he doesn't have anyone." Tuffnut expresses as we enter the forest

"Well, no, it isn't fair." I stumbled while Tuffnut knowingly stroked his hair-beard.

"Right! And what do you think when, Thor forbid, you and Astrid get married" Tuffnut exclaims

"Uh! What? Married? I-uh, I don't know what you're talking about." Okay, so I wasn't ready for Tuffnut and his insipid comments… or how shockingly aware of his surroundings he was considering how dumb he always played. Like when the twins went on and on about a mole in our group and it turned out to be Johann, with their ability to make sense of a mystery without actually solving it.

"Hiccup, Hiccup! What would Toothless think?" Tuff asks, opening his arms towards the forest.

"Uh, I think he's more concerned with finding the Light Fury." I answer and Tuff shakes his head.

"No, no, no. My dear Hiccup, it is so much more than that! Toothless is the dragon-you! But he doesn't have a Dragon-Astrid. Imagine what he would do if he did!" Tuff states, holding up his hands and expanding them out with a subtle *boom*

"So, you're saying Toothless is acting this way because of my relationship with Astrid?" I turn and look at him and he smiles

"Exactly! I knew he could be taught! Thor would be proud. Now, comes the most important part. Marriage." Tuffnut says again and I nearly trip my foot on a root, though he catches my tumble

"What is this thing with you about marriage? It's barely even come up." I answer sheepishly, trying to push past him.

"So, you want to get married?" Tuffnut asks and I can barely say no before he continues. "Good news. I've been to two weddings and crashed them both though none as high profile as this one. Lots of pressure, judgement… not just by me."

"Uh, yeah. Wasn't the first wedding the one you thought you did between Ruff and Fishlegs? Oh, and I was at the second one with Dagur and Mala.. incase you forgot. Look, we talked about it and we're not getting married." I explain and he does what Tuffnut does best, interrupts.

"Cold Feet! I've seen it before! Don't worry little hicky, I'm here." Tuffnut says and immediately walks off. I can only blink; did he just call me hicky? That's a nickname even Astrid hasn't used and now it's one I'll make sure she never uses. Of course, this conversation just continued to go downhill from there. All this talk of disappointment, of being worthy. Of Naysayers? I have to admit I wasn't listening to any of it, or rather, I was trying to ignore all of it. It was all I could do to not overtly roll my eyes at my supposed best man and spirit guide, Tuffnut Thorston.

"You're really bad at pep talks" I simply state as we reach the clearing where we first encountered the Light Fury and Tuffnut just kept on talking. Toothless on the other hand went from his love-crazed attitude to his attentive, dragon rider attitude as he skirts around the center of the clearing slowly. This piqued my interest more than anything Tuffnut was trying to say.

Then I saw it, something new. Not a dragonroot arrow, not a bola or even a simple net. A dart with a purple toxin inside of it. But why. Why in this clearing, what else was here? It was all too familiar to the Hunters and they way they laid traps for dragons, or Drago. Toothless almost walked straight into the trap, fortunately we saw it first and sprung it. A large dragon trap with metal wires, braces and pullies. Designed to catch a dragon of nearly any size and hold it in a tight, compression net. This was a new type of trap, and what's worse… it was on Berk. How did it get on Berk?

There was no time to waste and after a quick flight on Toothless back to Berk, I gathered the others at the workshop. "Someone is here. Someone managed to slip past our scouts and lay a trap in the woods." I explain while Tuffnut almost takes out Eret with the dart. "We need to get boots on the ground and sentries in the air. I'll fly the coast with Toothless." I begin as Eret stops us.

"Yeah, I wouldn't advise taking Toothless anywhere, Chief. I know this handywork. Grimmel the Grisley. Famous back where I'm from. Infamous really, best hunter I've ever met, well, next to me. Nothing is accidental with him, he lives for the hunt, to get inside the mind of his prey, control their very actions before they make them. It's all a game to him." Eret explains while Astrid moves just a little closer to me.

"Well, he doesn't know who he's playing with." Astrid states.

"Yeah, we've dealt with his kind before. Many times." I reinforce and he just nods along.

"Don't underestimate him, Hiccup, mark my words, he'll be back." Eret says slowly, holding up his hands. I could see it, Eret was genuinely worried, like he was about Drago. Another Drago? How are there so many evil men out there that just want to use something as amazing as dragons, to treat them like a sport.

" Then we'll be waiting for him." I answer and feel Astrid's hand cup mine as she nods along.

"Well, if you're dead set on taking on ol' Grimmel, then we better have a raging good plan." Eret states and the others all nod and move closer to me with the same smiles they had when we took out Johann and Viggo. Never could I have asked for a better crew of Dragon Riders.

"Astrid, get the A-team and tell them to keep a low profile but to be ready. Fishlegs, send a Terror Mail to Dagur. Eret, go find my mother. Meet back here in half an hour, we've got some planning to do.

"What about us, hicky?" Tuffnut asks and I literally wince as everyone stops dead in their tracks and turn back to look at me. All of them, almost in unison, ask the same question.

"Hicky?"

"Yeah, I mean, look at our illustrious leader. He builds all sorts of magical gadgets that defy the Thor-given laws of the world but doesn't take himself too seriously. He has reddish marks as though he's constantly being bitten and always acts fine. His name is Hiccup! So, Hicky!" Tuffnut explains, painfully, as I can only stand there in a perpetual wince. When I peek my eyes open, it was like the fuse that lit the cannon as they all, even Astrid, burst out laughing.

"Thanks, Tuff. For that." I mutter through a groan while Astrid walks over to me and throws her arm over my slumped shoulders.

"Oh, don't worry, Hicky. I'm sure those red marks will go away eventually." Astrid says through a barely stifled laugh. She was enjoying this a little too much when all I wanted to do was tell everyone She was the one giving me red marks. I gave her some marks too, but she was better at hiding them apparently.

"That's so not becoming a thing." I plead, glancing to her as she just shrugs.

"I guess you'll have to convince me later." Astrid whispers, moving past me and the others as I sigh. That part I was looking forward too, trying to get everyone to forget that dumb name was what I wasn't.

While Astrid and the others left, I moved over to Gobber who stayed behind. "Hey, uh, Gobber. Got a minute?"

"Sure thing, Chief Hicky."

"Okay, seriously, can that not be a thing. I'll make it an order if, uh, that's how it works." I state, still, to this day, not being comfortable with being the Chief.

"Whatever you say, Hiccup. Anyways, what's got your leg on backwards that yer trippin' over yer words?" Gobber asks

"It's this whole marriage thing. Everyone is becoming more openly adamant about it. Well, my friends anyways. I. You haven't heard of anyone against my relationship with Astrid, have you?" I ask, Tuffnut's comments about naysayers really sticking to me.

"I can tell you one thing for sure, Hiccup. No one, and I mean no one's opinion matters about that except hers. Astrid'll throw 'er axe at anyone who tries to get in the way between you two. You know she was even protective of you back when you really were the hiccup of Berk. She beat up Snotlout more times than I can count after each one of his dumb comments about yer inventions. Trust me, you'll be fine." Gobber explains and I let loose a deep sigh. It was one thing to be told how someone felt by the person, it was another to be told about it from a different perspective with the same message.

"Thanks, Gobber. Just, do me a favor too and keep an ear out for anything like that. I don't want anything to fall back on her or her House." I explain and he nods along, switching his cleaver attachment for his mallet.

"You got it, Chief! I'll beat any naysayer over the head myself and string 'em up on Stoic's statue!" Gobber says, holding his hand up and then dropping it slightly and glancing at me. My father was rarely mentioned around me anymore. Still fresh, I guess.

"Thanks, Gobber. Anyways, time to get ready with that plan. We've got a Hunter to catch." I say and he bellows in agreement. I was looking forward to putting my days of hunting the hunters being behind me, though I'm not sure that'll ever happen. Eh, I could live with the responsibility. Now, I needed the others back here.

I had really wanted to give Chief Hicky another red mark on his neck just to emphasize how much I found that nickname endearing. Leave it to Tuffnut or Ruffnut to come up with a random name that Hiccup hates that everyone else loves. Even I like that one, and I hardly like anything the twins say or do. It certainly helped to make light of a horrible situation. As much as I wanted to playfully tease Hiccup, or better, steal him behind the workshop; we had a Hunter on the loose on our island.

A Hunter that was able to slip past the B-Team's sentries, the countless roaming dragons, and our own dragons. A hunter that placed an elaborate trap with some type of poison no one, except Eret, had ever seen before. It begs the question of how many other Hunter types like this Grimmel exists. Berk and the Dragons had been through so much.

How much more would we all have to go through before there was some semblance of peace? Why couldn't the rest of the world just live and let live with dragons instead of treating them like weapons that need to be controlled or killed. Stormfly was the best friend I've ever had; she wasn't a weapon or a tool; she wasn't a thing to be discarded. Even the most stubborn Berkians changed their tunes about dragons thanks to Hiccup. But these Hunters that hailed from beyond the Archipelago, where did they hail from and why? Could we ever find peace? Questions, questions I'll never have the answers too. I'm not sure I could live with peace, to be honest, fighting for the dragons had been a part of my life since that fateful night. It was a fight I would never give up.

"Alright, A-Team, listen up. We've got a skilled Hunter who managed to get within our city and lay a trap that almost got Toothless and Hiccup." I begin, but before I can even continue, the A team is up in arms.

"Oi! Who dares think they can set foot on our island! I'll show 'em a thing or two!" Spitelout said as he patted Kingstail. "We'll show 'em what happens when they mess with the Chief o' Berk." Spitelout adds.

"Yeah, they mess with Hiccup, they mess with all of us." Gustov adds, bucking up. The kid sure has grown into the role of A-Team leader. I'm surprised Spitelout never challenged Gustov for that role, but I think Spitelout, despite all his antics, likes being a follower. He's grown fonder of Hiccup, in his own way, anyways. Especially since, well, it's been almost sweet to see.

"It's going to be more than that. All of your dragons are trained really well and have been with you for years. Now, I want you each to do something else. Find a Dragon on the island that doesn't have a rider and train them. Your own dragons can help. The more dragons we have trained properly, the better we can be prepared for this sort of thing in the future." I explain. Every one of the Riders have trained multiple dragons; even the twins. The same can't be said for the A-Team who has stayed solely with their dragons. "Keep it quiet for now. We don't know if the Hunter is still here. Your dragons can shadow each of you as you train a new dragon. Just in case. Listen for the horn and be ready. Hiccup and the rest of us are going to lay a trap for the Hunter, and we'll need you all on damage control." I finish and they all bellow and exclaim in agreement.

"Oi! I saw a noice Snafflefang I'd love to see trained. Just think of the power behind that beast!" Spitlout exclaims as his own Nadder clucks at him. "Don't you worry, Kingstail, you'll always be my dragon."

"Oh, you mean we could get off the Zippleback and finally get our own dragons!" Mulch expresses with a happy sigh

"My Own Dragon!? I, what if I can't do that!?" Bucket screeches as everyone shushes him immediately. "Sorry."

"It'll be okay, Bucket. I'll be right there with you." Mulch answers, patting the bucketed man on the back as he nods.

"Okay, good. You all have your task. Get to it, I'll expect you to have a dragon by tonight to start training tomorrow. Get to it. And remember, keep an eye out." I finish and with that, the A-team breaks off and I start back towards the workshop. In time to see Eret walking back with Skullcrusher close in tow. I had some questions for that former hunter, questions he must've expected as I landed in front of him.

"Ah, Astrid, what can I do for you? I already told Valka to meet us at the shop." Eret begins and I shake my head.

"Something else. Where are these Hunters coming from? Grimmel. Drago. They come from beyond the Archipelago. Drago came from up north, but what of this Grimmel. And how many more like him are there?" I ask in rapid succession.

"Grimmel, well, he's not really from anywhere I'd guess. Rumor has it Night Furies destroyed his original home, or so the story goes, somewhere on the mainland. After that, he became a Hunter. One of the most feared around the world. But he never hunted for power. He kills dragons. He'd honestly probably leave all of us alone and just go after the dragons if we didn't put up a fight; not that we wouldn't" Eret explains, holding up his hands defensively as I narrow my eyes at him

"How many more do you know about and from where?"

"Ah, well. Beyond the warlords and Grimmel… none really. Drago had done away with most of the competition during his rise, and Viggo always operated outside of Drago's purview until Johann and Krogan." Eret explains "Dragons are scarce on the mainland; they stay within a few hundred miles of the coast, so hunters never travel much further in. But if I had to make a wager, there will always be someone trying to use dragons for their own benefit." Eret finishes while I can only nod.

As suspected, this battle would likely last our entire lives. Not that I cared, I would protect the dragons and this way of life to the death if I had too. "Hmm, do me a favor and reach out to your contacts. See if any other big names are floating around. Not the grunts that'll quit when they stop getting paid. The ones fronting the gold." I state and he nods along.

"You got it. I, too have grown quite fond of this life-style. I can see why you fought so hard to protect it." Eret answers, now walking past me. "Now come on, let's go see what plan our good Chief has for Grimmel." Eret finishes, beckoning me to follow.

As expected, Valka, Gobber and most of the others were already there with Fishlegs being the late arrival this time. Though, when prodded his face became flush red and he avoided the question which meant he finished his letter and probably really missed Heather. But with us all here, now we just needed Hiccup to unveil his grand plan.

"Alright, Hiccup, what've you got?" I ask, leaning in as he unfolds a large piece of parchment that shows a map of Berk and his home. The home I was so accustomed to sharing at this point that I immediately recognized parts of it only the person living there would know.

"Alright, we're setting up an ambush. If this Grimmel is coming after Toothless, then we know where he'll be. We'll set the trap for tonight. Fishlegs and Meatlug, you'll be Toothless. Since Meatlug is immune to the poison effects, it should offset whatever surprise Grimmel thinks he has. The rest of you will be lying in wait to spring the trap." Hiccup begins explaining where each of us would be positioned to best hide form Grimmel, to be ready to ambush him.

"That's it?" Eret asks out of the blue and Hiccup shrugs

"Yeah, that's it. Brilliant in its simplicity." Hiccup suggests and Eret seems to wince.

"I hope you're right. We'll only have one chance. Grimmel plays for keeps." Eret answers

"What do you know about him?" Hiccup asks and Eret glances to me with a wince and rolls his neck.

"He's doesn't hunt them for gold or power, he hunts dragons to kill them. He's not like Viggo or Drago who wanted to control and harness dragons. Grimmel just wants to see them extinct or caged." Eret offers

"I've never heard of this man, myself. But I have heard of rumors of the dragon killer, he never made it as far as the Bewilderbeasts lair." Valka interjects. "But I'm with you, son. If we can stop him we have to try, for the sake of all dragons." Valka finishes.

"Yeah, no one is gonna kill my dragon" Tuffnut states

"Our Dragon" Ruffnut corrects

"Yeah, that's what I said." Tuff dismisses and Ruff groans

"What about the Wingmaidens or Berserkers?" Snotlout asks out of the blue

"They aren't on his radar, too far out to open waters I'd wager. Plus, there are only a handful of dragons on either island, not like there is on Berk. More dragons than Vikings on this island." Eret suggests and I couldn't help but agree with him. Our other allies just weren't as big of a threat as we were. Berk had become to true power in the Archipelago after beating back every aggressor for the past decade. Even a few of our allies were former enemies and we were the ones who never broke. This Grimmel would break us either, not after all that we have endured.

"Is that all you know about him?" Hiccup asks and I was curious myself, Eret seemed like he was hiding something, I just couldn't explain it. It wasn't malicious, it seemed more like he was hiding a great deal of worry or fear. As much or more than he held for Drago, which says a lot.

"That's all I know for certain, yes. He's a bad man, Hiccup. If you end up capturing him and talking to him, don't listen. He will twist his words and get inside your head. Even Drago wanted nothing to do with him. The warlords bringing him in is a sign of desperation." Eret finishes explaining.

"So, he isn't even a leader, just a hired hand. Our main goal is to capture Grimmel and once we've done that, we turn our attention back to the warlords. If we can capture and detain them, the Trapper-Hunter leadership will be in complete disarray." Hiccup states and I step forward, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We always bet on that, but more bad guys keep coming to start something new and worse. We need to consider more long-term options, Hiccup." I state, trying to stir that intricate mind of his to think more outside the box.

"You're not wrong. If we knew where their shipyards were, we could take those out after the leadership falters?" Hiccup suggests

"That's one idea, sure." Snotlout interjects. "But there are like, millions of places to build ships. How do we stop The People. You know, the ones like Drago and this Grimmel?" Snotlout asks and neither Hiccup nor I have a real answer.

"You can't. Either they can see the beauty in the life available with dragons, or they live in fear of a life with power beyond their control. There are always people who lost control at some point in their life and never released control again." Valka answers, though that answer obviously wasn't the one Hiccup was hoping for.

"Well, we've got a couple hours til sunset. Everyone get ready but remember, keep this quiet, we don't want to tip off Grimmel." Hiccup states and everyone agrees.

"You got it, Hicky. The power of the Nutty Thorstons will always be ready. Just say when and we'll send another avalanche your way." Tuffnut exclaims

"Yeah, say when." Ruff agrees as I roll my eyes but smile anyways. Hiccup smiled too as everyone filtered out. Gobber glanced at Hiccup, now leaning against the forge table, and then to me and nods towards Hiccup as he hobbles out.

Walking up behind him, I snake my arms around his hips and hug him, resting my face on his back. "We'll be okay." I reassure him and he turns to look at me, pulling me into a real hug.

"Hearing it from you, I believe it." Hiccup answers and we just stand there for a while. Sometimes, it's just each other's presence that we need.