CHAPTER 28

The weeks dragged on and still, Hiccup didn't wake. He lay unmoving on his bed, the rise and fall of his chest the only indication that he was alive at all. In the evenings Stoick would sit by his bed, staring grimly, longing for his son to awaken. Eventually, he would drag himself up and head off to bed, nodding silently to the dark figure that barely glanced up from the bed.

Nraseri did not leave Hiccup's side. He would sit at the end of the bed in silent vigil, his hand clasping his amulet, and waiting. Stoick had fashioned a sort of bed for him out of furs near the bed after he had refused to leave Hiccup's side and he had been more comfortable there than in the forge.

He said little while human, which was not often, but it was in those short hours that Stoick learned of his past and of his name. Nraseri recalled his memories and journey from his home to Berk, telling him of the fear the dragons felt in the face of Vikings and how the Queen had forced many of his kin to raid the villages in order to feed her insatiable appetite. Stoick listened intently to his story, thoroughly surprised to find how similar their two worlds were. What he didn't know was that that was the same thought that had run through his son's mind weeks before. It had taken some time for the chief to get used to coming down to find the unholy offspring in his home, but after seeing the dragon's dedication to his son, he felt an overwhelming sense of compassion. It wasn't long before he made up his mind.

Stoick opened the front door quietly and a beam of sunlight lit up the darkened room. Nraseri blinked at him, his eyes unaccustomed to the light outside. He gave Stoick a weary smile and he returned it.

"Thought you'd be hungry." Stoick waved a plate of food and the boy's eyes lit up. Nraseri took it gratefully, shifting to a more comfortable position, and dug in. His wounds had healed enough for Gothi to allow him to remove the bandages. They left little scarring where there should have been more. Even the jagged rip across his left tail fin was healing slowly over an older scar. The boy had explained it away as something to do with the amulet around his neck.

They sat in comfortable silence, as they had done so many times in the past weeks, listening to the slow breathing of the figure in the bed. Nraseri set the plate down and glanced at Hiccup.

"He said something, you know," he said softly. "Started muttering about dimensions from the forge."

Stoick felt a smile tug on his lips. He took a deep breath, wondering why he felt so nervous. A chief didn't get nervous, so why was he? He'd thought about this for days. Hel, this was the least of the things to be nervous about. he was talking to one of his sworn enemies in his own house.

"Back on the ship, when we were setting out for the Nest, you said something. You said the Night Furies protected us. What did you mean by that?"

Nraseri exhaled slowly. "It is a story our elders told every hatchling. The one story they made certain that we knew even before we learned to fly. Your people may know of it. It is the tale of the Grimsavage Tribe and the clan that was their undoing."

Stoick listened as Nraseri wove a tale of two clans. Of an Isle that was wreathed in fog and of dark forests and grey cliffs. Of the Night Furies who ruled the sky and knew all the secrets of the earth. He spoke of the Grimsavages, the monstrous tribe that had tormented the other tribes of the Barbaric Archipelago, and of the pact made with the Night Furies to rid them of the monsters. How, to protect the Archipelago from their reign, the ancient dragons drove the Grimsavage tribe back to the cold island from which they came and remained there to ensure that the monsters would no longer turn their eye toward the people they had once tormented.

How trapped, the clans had warred, and the Grimsavages, enraged at their imprisonment, hunted them, killing any Night Fury they could find. How, on one fateful night, they had laid waste to the last of the ancient dragons, save for one hatchling who had escaped into the forest.

"In the end, my clan won. Sickness spread through the island not long after the Grimsavages killed them. There is nothing but bones left. I am the last survivor. The last of my kind." Nraseri trailed off. He looked down at his hands. "I am alone."

Stoick released a slow, pent-up breath. It seemed like they owed the dragons far more than they could have ever realized. The Night Furies had sacrificed themselves for humans. For a short time, they had brought peace. It was time they did the same.

"I would like your help," Stoick said. Nraseri looked up at him, question written across his face. "The dragons and Vikings have always been enemies. That is what we believed. But I now know that that is not the case. the Red Death is dead. The war is over. You brought us peace." His gaze moved to Hiccup. "Both of you. You showed me that it is time for us to change." He met Nraseri's green gaze. "I want to bring the dragons to Berk."

Nraseri stared at him, bewildered. He blinked a few times before looking down at his hands. He didn't say anything for a long time. From where he was sitting, Stoick could see his jaw moving as he thought, and he wondered for a moment if he had offended him.

Finally, Nraseri spoke. "My uncle told me something the night he was killed. He said that long ago there was a human who befriended a dragon and tried to unite our worlds. No one knows what happened to him or his dragon, but my uncle liked to believe that they left the Archipelago and found some other land to call their own. That man raised me. He gave me the amulet and told me that I was what the dragons call the Vinr Sætta. Peace-Bringer. I was to protect a human who had the heart of a chief and the soul of a dragon because he would be the one to return unity to our worlds."

He looked up at Stoick and smiled fully for the first time in weeks. "When do we begin?"

The darkness was welcoming. It held him close, lulling him into a soft state of being amidst the void of nothing. He wasn't afraid of it, not like when he was younger, no. The nearness of the dark was comforting as if it had always been there, watching over him. Had it? He didn't know. But he wanted nothing more than to stay there, away from the pain of the world of the living.

Sometimes he would float to the edge of the darkness and brush his hand along its seam, the light beyond shining through his fingers. He could sometimes hear voices that sounded painfully like his father. His bellowing laugh, his ever-present sigh. There was another voice too, one that was soft and assuring. Even when his father's voice faded, this one remained, whispering in a language he didn't understand. When that happened, he would sit at the edge of the darkness and listen to the ever-present hum and soft murmurs.

Sometimes, the murmurs would turn into words just beyond his hearing he would push against the barrier to try and catch their meaning. In those moments his leg would ache painfully. But the darkness would always draw him back and hold him until the pain faded. The darkness, too, had a voice. She spoke in the same lilting tongue, soft and soothing. He understood her words.

"It is almost time, little one. Just a little longer."

Time for what?

The darkness never answered.

So, Hiccup waited. And as he did, he dreamed.

Hiccup soared over the ocean, laughing in delight as the wind rushed through his hair and clothes. His outstretched fingers brushed against the clear water below him and sent droplets of water dancing in the air. He closed his eyes, and breathed in the cool salty wind, a grin spread across his face. It smelled like Berk, like home.

A soft rumble sounded behind him and he turned his head to look. Dark leathery wings churned the air, creating a thin stream of waves in his wake. Large green eyes narrowed fondly at him, and the dragon flew higher. Hiccup followed it, angling himself next to it and smiled.

This was his Night Fury. His friend. And he finally knew its name.

"Toothless."

They flew for what seemed like hours before the shadow of an island appeared up ahead. Hiccup landed easily and the Night Fury dropped next to him, the grass barely shifting. The dragon snorted and Hiccup placed a hand on his head. He leaned in happily before sitting on the grassy land, rumbling at the touch. Hiccup sat next to him, running his hand over the cool scales, lost in thought. He sighed, looking over the ocean.

His memories were strange and jumbled. He remembered the fiery cavern of the Nest. His father had been there, so had Astrid and Camicazi. And Nraseri. Hiccup had flown on the back of the Night Fury and had defeated both Thornridge and the Red Death.

He looked over to the dragon that lay next to him, the revelation still unsettling, and yet so right. Nraseri was the Night Fury. The Night Fury that he had seen throughout his childhood. The trading port, the forest, the Nest.

He stood, stretching his aching muscles. The dragon made a questioning noise and he put up a comforting hand to quieten it. He sighed and started forward, but his left leg gave out under him. He bit back a cry, clutching his leg as white-hot pain lanced through it. He squeezed his eyes shut, taking deep shaky breaths as the pain ebbed. He opened his eyes and the edge of his vision dimmed slightly. He waited for the darkness to once again take him away from the pain.

But it didn't come.

He heard the shuffling of feet and felt the dragon nudge his shoulder. He turned but he frowned when he looked into its eyes. They were not the bright green that he had come to know, instead, dark green orbs stared into his own.

The Night Fury took a step back. It was smaller than Toothless with a thinner, more pointed face and eyes that slanted up ever so slightly. A long, jagged scar ran down its throat, white in the setting sun.

"It is a necessary pain." She spoke with the voice of the darkness. "But one that will heal with time."

Hiccup pushed himself up, wincing at the pain that pounded in his head. "Who are you? Where's Toothless?"

"He is not here. He waits for you," the Night Fury said. "I am Nira of the Nraseri Clan. My clan has watched this world from the skies since our passing. Our connection to the amulet of the Vinr Sætta allowed me to speak with you one last time before we must return to the skies. We wish to thank you. You have done what many thought impossible and you have protected Taelos when we could not."

"What do you mean?"

"You will know soon enough. Now come. It is time for you to return home." Nira bowed her head. Hiccup's hands moved of their own accord. Somehow, he knew what he had to do. He reached out and placed his hand on the dragon's head. There was a rush of warm wind and the world faded.