Chapter Number: 5 / 9
Book Number: 1 (Lycanwing)
Planned at: 2 April 2022

Book Summary:
History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes with present. This rang true for inhabitants in Meridian of Misery. Stoick learned that keeping secrets would only hurt himself. Furious learned that future could never be set in stone. Wodensfang desperately grasping their long-forgotten past. Hiccup and Toothless came at the right time in the wrong place. It was not surprising that they played with their fate, as destiny claimed the very dragons they were meant to protect.

Pairing:
- Hiccup (Lycanwing Night Fury) x Toothless (Female Night Fury)

Warnings:
- AU and OOC characters with some movie/show canon aspects.
- Book HTTYD aspects and characters.
- Possible psychological horror.
- Female Toothless.

"What is this?" – Normal Speech
'What is this?' – Thought
"What is this?" – Telepathy / Reading / Flashback (Depends on context)
"What is this?" – Dragonese (Dragon speaking)
"What is this?" – Voiceover


Lycanwing – Suspicion


It was early in the morning. The 14-year-old Hiccup was writing a book in his room. The still lanky boy was sitting at his desk, focused on his work. There was a separate, smaller table on the side. It had the chemistry set to make Elixir of Power. There were books around the place, but it was far fewer than last year.

Hiccup was documenting what he was feeling on his journal. He noted that his father was getting more distant for some reason. Stoick often stared at him with sad and forlorn expression. The boy did not know why he would do anything like that. His father rarely showed that sort of expression when looking at him before. His father tried to hide it, but there were times where Hiccup caught him staring with that expression.

The Elixir of Power did not seem to work. Hiccup did feel slightly stronger, but he did not know if he grew stronger because he was growing up, or because of the potion. The boy planned to keep on drinking the potion until he was sure he became stronger because he grew up, not because of the potion. It was something that he needed to record and check back next year.

It had been a year since Camicazi and Thuggory visited him. Hiccup had been talking with them through mail since then. Apparently, Trader Johann would agree to deliver mails at a price. Hiccup had no problem sending mails back and forth. It felt nice to have someone to talk to other than Toothless, even if it was a long-range conversation through mail.

Another thing to note was that Hiccup had finished all the books he had bought years ago. He had also finished reading the journals of previous Hooligan chiefs. The boy learned a lot about what chiefs of the past did. It made him wiser on his judgement; at least that was what Stoick had told him.

"Hiccup."

The boy looked up. His father was standing at the doorway. He looked somewhat stern. That was expected. Yesterday, he had to clean up a contraption that had exploded at the village. Unfortunately, it was something that happened from time to time. He did not want to stop experimenting and discovering new things around him.

"Dad?" Hiccup spoke as he tilted his head. "What is it?"

"It's time for your dragon theories." Stoick reminded him. It was something that they did on routine after he discovered that he had finished his books. Hiccup was getting tutored on everything about dragons from Stoick and Gobber. It was his rights as heir of a Dragon Hunter, as they put it. They typically start early in the morning, so it would not interfere with their daily lives.

Hiccup closed the book. "Okay, dad."


The Mead Hall was empty. That was to be expected. Hiccup was sitting at the table on the corner. Stoick and Gobber were also there, speaking and talking to Hiccup. There was a hardcover leather book on the table. It had dragon insignia on it. This was the Book of Dragons; or Dragon Manual, as most Vikings called it.

Next to that book was a larger, thicker book. It did not have any information on the cover. It was technically the Dragon Manual as well for every dragon that they had ever seen. They were not written in the actual Book of Dragons to make things simpler for Viking to read, reserving them for dragons that they commonly found.

"… what about Gronckle, lass?" Gobber questioned the boy. He had his arms leaning on the table.

"Gronckle have six shots." Hiccup reiterated what he had read before. "They can recharge their shots by eating rocks."

"Shot limit of a Skrill?" Stoick grumbled, staring at his son.

"Four on clear sky." Hiccup answered. "Unlimited in storm clouds."

"Speed Stinger?"

"They don't have fire." Hiccup answered the question.

"Terrible Terror?"

"Five shots of gas fire."

"Monstrous Nightmare?"

"Ten shots. Five minutes of continuous fire."

Stoick peeked under the large book. He looked at one of the entries, before looking at Hiccup. "And… Night Fury?"

Hiccup hesitated. There was no information about Night Fury at all on the books. He was reminded of Toothless. "There's no information on Night Fury."

The chief stared at his son for a moment. His eyes softened, before speaking. "Night Fury…" he whispered. "Have ten shots of plasma charges."

The place fell silent. Hiccup and Stoick were staring at each other. The boy had wide eyes, surprised that his father knew of this information. Gobber was not quite sure if they should continue. He was thankful that there was nobody else there but them.

"Abilities of Night Furies." Stoick whispered, staring at his son. "Dive bombing to power their charge. Retractable teeth. Echolocation like bats. Night camouflage through their black scales…"

"Stoick." Gobber interrupted, but the man seemed lost in thought.

"Dragon description." The chief moved closer to his son. He was staring at him with sad smile. "Cat-like eyes, ear-like appendages, nubs behind their heads, fins at the base of their tail, and… the most important of all… tail fins."

"It's… nowhere in the books." Hiccup commented, staring at his own father. "How did you know?"

Stoick was silent. It was a mystery that Hiccup had never known before. His father seemed to know a lot about Night Furies. He was glad that his father approved of his friendship with Toothless. However, he did not understand why his father – a renowned Dragon Hunter in the entire Barbaric Archipelago – seemed to approve their friendship.

'If he have a Night Fury friend like me.' Hiccup thought, pondering. 'He would not become a Dragon Hunter.'

"A long time ago." Stoick whispered, still staring at his son. "I saw them. Night Furies. It was long before you were born."

Hiccup widened his eyes. "You saw one?"

"Yes." Stoick nodded. He closed his eyes. "That's how I know."

"Stoick." The blacksmith pressed further, getting his attention. "We should move on to the traps."

Stoick blinked. He remembered what they had been doing. He realised that he had gotten himself lost in memory. His son reminded him of someone. "Aye." He rumbled, before peeking into the large book. "Let's start with the harmless one. We have bolas, and we have traditional. What about trapping the whole dragon without hurting them?"


Toothless was resting inside her cave. The dragoness was laying down on the rocky ground, resting her body. She had grown bigger since last year. That was expected; despite her being an adult dragon, she was still a growing dragon. There was one notable thing, however. Her belly was considerably larger.

'Given how much we had fun together…' Toothless purred as she thought about Charcoal. 'I wouldn't be surprised if he made me pregnant.'

"Hrr…" The thought of Charcoal made Toothless purr. After showing her what he could do with lightning, she had been trying to learn how to use them. It was extremely exhausting for her to use them, and she could not contain as much charge as he could. That was fine, however, considering it had allowed her to turn herself invisible for roughly half an hour. That was good enough for her.

It also reminded her of their time together. Charcoal had learned everything that Toothless had taught him about mind arts. It meant that she had fulfilled the favour that he called upon her. Simultaneously, Toothless had been experimenting with magic. She had copied and read everything about magic from Charcoal.

It seemed that they had finally ran out of books about magic in Barbaric Archipelago. Given how rare those were at the region, it was expected. That did not mean the end of her study, however. She had to experiment things on her own.

"Toothless?" the dragoness heard Charcoal outside the cave. "I'm coming in."

Toothless fired a plasma blast at the centre of the clearing. Instead of exploding, the plasma splashed onto the ground. It began burning with bright fire, illuminating the cave. It was something that she could do with magic. While she preferred to stay in the dark, she wanted to see more of her mate.

Charcoal walked into the cave clearing. Toothless noted his appearance and compared them from last year. He was roughly half times bigger than before, making him one and a quarter bigger than her. The edges of his wings and tails were tattered, revealing how much he had taken them to fly. His nubs behind his head were bigger and longer.

The male dragon was far stronger than before. At least, physically. Nothing seemed to daunt that dragon, just as she preferred. Everything about him smelled strength and dominance, and considering his job and willingness to do them, she was not surprised. His scales were tough, and his body was rock solid.

"Hey." Charcoal purred as he walked towards her.

Toothless purred. "Hey."

Charcoal leaned forward and laid down next to her. He wrapped his wings around her, rubbing his head against her large belly. "How's our hatchlings?"

"We should expect two eggs." Toothless whispered, feeling protected under his wings.

"I heard from the others about the Rookery." Charcoal informed the dragoness. "It's a tropical island. Perfect for our hatchlings. Others would be there too. Do you want to hatch our eggs there?"

Toothless pondered for some time. While the idea was sound, she did not like the fact that there were other dragons there. If there were other dragons present, Charcoal would be busy doing his duty instead of tending her. As much as he wanted to tend her, Furious made sure that his duty was the top priority. Otherwise, it would be punishment for them both.

It saddened her that she was a second priority for him. However, there was nothing they could do. Despite that, Charcoal was doing his best to tend her. There were times where he mentally burned himself out for hopping between his duty and tending her. She could see it in his eyes. It distressed her that she could not do anything as his consort, since Furious wanted Charcoal alone to do the job.

There was also the fact that she was pregnant. Most male dragons did not give that much attention to their mate, unless they were truly in love with each other. Charcoal truly loved her, just as she loved him back. She felt blessed to have someone like Charcoal tending her, even if he was always busy with something else.

"I think…" Toothless started, answering his question. "I want my own privacy. I want to birth and raise our hatchlings here."

Charcoal snuggled closer to her. He exhaled his breath as he wrapped his neck against hers. "I will be here to watch them hatch, then." He whispered.

Toothless thought for some time. 'Our hatchling would have something that not many dragons have.' She decided. 'A loving father. I wonder if Amber ever gotten herself a true mate of her own.'

"Hrrk!" The sound of Charcoal choking snapped her from her thoughts. The male dragon moved his head back and forth, before belching a large fish. Charcoal had regurgitated a fish he had eaten before. It was covered in saliva, but it was mostly intact. He pushed the fish towards her.

Toothless snapped her teeth and ate the fish. She gulped down the fish in one go, licking and smacking her lips in doing so. After eating the fish, the dragoness let out a purr. "Thank you."

Charcoal was about to answer when he noticed something. There were a lot of Mail Chunk sent into his mind. The male dragon checked them. They were filled with complaints about the Rookery. It seemed to be an emergency. "Oh, come on."

Toothless heard him groan. "Duty calls?" She spoke with sarcastic tone.

"Yep." Charcoal let out a grunt. He was not pleased to be pulled away from her. "The Rookery is currently occupied by two large flocks of Deadly Nadders and Monstrous Nightmares. Apparently, those two flocks agreed not to share them with anyone but their own. The worst of all, they have their own alphas; Titan Wing dragons."

Toothless was a bit concerned. It meant that they were dealing with dragons several times bigger than them. "That sounds bad."

"This is something that Furious should know about." Charcoal muttered as he stood from the ground. He sat on his hindlegs as he formed a Chunk in his mindscape. He filled them with information of the situation. When that was done, he mentally sent them to Furious.

Not long after, he felt Furious' presence in his mindscape. It was a direct telepathic conversation. "Throw those Mail Chunks away."

"What about the dragons?" Charcoal sent back through telepathy. "Where do they lay their eggs?"

"They could lay them at Dragon Island." Furious replied to Charcoal.

Charcoal was not quite sure if he heard him right. Dragon Island was not a good place to lay their eggs. At least for most dragon eggs. The place was too hot for them to hatch or survive. The place had a high risk of stillborn eggs. No mother dragon would ever risk something like that.

"But most eggs can't survive there." Charcoal argued.

"I don't care." Furious dismissed him as he began leaving from his mindscape. "They need to deal with it."

Charcoal paused as he felt Furious' presence disappear from his mindscape. He was not quite sure what to tell the dragons that sent the complaint to him. Deciding to take the leap of faith, he created a Chunk to tell them to birth and tend the eggs elsewhere.

That was proven to be a mistake, however. More complaints Mail Chunks flooded in. Dragons were begging him for a place to lay eggs. There was also a protest happening at Dragon Island.

"Harr…" The male Night Fury let out a loud groan. He sent the concerned dragoness an apologetic look. "Sorry. I have to go. This looks messier than I thought."

"Alright. Take care."

Charcoal nodded, before standing up from the ground. He took one last glance at his mate, before walking out from the cave clearing, leaving her alone inside.

Toothless could only stare as he left the place. She felt helpless for her mate, since she was pregnant with eggs, and Furious always wanted him to deal with problems. There were times where he would be away on his duty for days, and he would come back utterly exhausted. She did not really know what to do in the situation. It was something out of her control.

'As long he's still serving in Dragon Rebellion.' Toothless lamented in her thoughts. 'This will keep on happening. How long are you going to do this, Charcoal?'


The Dragon Island were packed with dragons. There were a lot of dragons there, protesting and shouting their demands. Charcoal was not quite sure what to make of it. He had just arrived at the place and entered through the top. He could hear them shouting down to Furious' chamber.

"Give us the Rookery!" One Gronckle shouted.

"I want my hatchling to survive!" A Deadly Nadder screamed.

Charcoal landed on top of the elevated platform. It had the view over the chambers inside the volcano, and it was located at the front centre inside the volcano. There were stone balconies at the corner. He noticed that there were a lot of dragons shouting and chanting, begging for the Rookery to be available to them.

"KRAAAAAAAAA!" Charcoal let out a long, loud roar. It was far louder than everyone. That silenced the dragons. "Okay! Be quiet!"

"How can we be quiet?" A Monstrous Nightmare shouted back. "My mate is about to birth our hatchling!"

"We need a place for our eggs! The Rookery is taken over!"

Charcoal was about to speak when they heard telepathic message from Furious. It was an announcement to everyone at Dragon Island. "Next dragon raid will start in 10 minutes. Briefing Chunks are in my mindscape."

Charcoal held back a groan. Furious was not helping on the whole matter. He felt like the world was against him.

"We're not going to dragon raid!" the dragons began to roar. "We want a place for our hatchlings!"

"I want my hatchlings to live!" Charcoal heard one dragon shouting amongst the protesting dragons. "I don't want to do dragon raid anymore!"

"Life for our hatchlings!"

"We want our eggs to hatch right!"

"Rights for hatchlings to born!"

"This is ridiculous! Help us take over the Rookery!"

Charcoal winced as he heard the dragons roaring and shouting. Those were directed at him, because they knew that he was Furious' second in command. He was the one that plan out dragon raid missions for Furious, and the greater alpha liked to give him credit whenever possible. It was most likely why those dragons were going after him of this problem.

The male Night Fury was somewhat distressed. He was already exhausted from the work that Furious made him do hours ago. Dragons chanting at him about the Rookery did not help the matter. The unfortunate side was the fact that he could relate to them. Toothless was pregnant with eggs. Except, she wanted to birth and hatch them at their nest instead of the Rookery.

"Give us place to hatch our egg!" The dragons chanted together. "Give us place to hatch our egg! Give us place to hatch our egg!"

Charcoal had enough. He wanted to get away before he snapped. The male dragon jumped down into the volcano. He spread his wings and glide around the place. He slowed himself down further and landed right in front of Furious' lair entrance. After that, the black dragon sent a mental ping. It informed the greater alpha that he was at the front of his lair.

The giant, yellow slit eyes appeared from the massive cave entrance. "What is it, son?"

"Did you not see what's happening up there?" Charcoal questioned. He was annoyed and irritated by the action of the alpha dragon. "The dragons are protesting! It's turning into a riot!"

"Of course, I know what's happening." Furious replied. He was dismissal for some reason. "Just use your alpha dominance to make them submit. Get them back to work. You have my permission."

Charcoal spluttered at that suggestion. "Dad, I can't force those dragons if they don't want to do it!"

"Yes you can."

"It's not right to force them." The black dragon insisted. "They've volunteered to fight for Dragon Rebellion. I can't just force them to forget their family!"

"Charcoal." Furious' telepathic message was sharp. That made Charcoal pause. "Why do you think I gave you the power of alpha dominance?"

"… because I would be leading Dragon Rebellion one day." The Night Fury answered. "I'm your second in command. You told me I need them."

"Yes, and that's why I gave you that power in the first place." Furious explained to the black dragon. "You've been training mind arts with your consort. What do you think alpha dominance does?"

It was then Charcoal realised the reasoning behind it. With alpha dominance, after breaching their mind, he could make dragons submit to him, even if they were not bonded with him. It was a dangerous power to play with.

Normally, once dragons entered others' minds, they could read their mind and force them to do things. They could gain complete control over them, but the victim would be aware of what was happening. They could not alter their thoughts, because those were influenced by memories, experience and information Blocks inside their mind.

Blocks could not be altered – their mind simply did not acknowledge the alteration and would immediately revert the changes. They could only suppress them to reduce their influence. Even then, it depends on how strong the Blocks were. The stronger they were, the harder it was to suppress.

With alpha dominance, however, he could. It was something that he had discovered together with Toothless. Those with alpha dominance could fabricate and change their Blocks, thus altering their thoughts and memories. Those changes could be made permanent. He could make dragons feverishly loyal to him or attack and kill their own loved ones.

Dragons bonded with him could never break their bond by itself, no matter how strong their willpower was. They would follow his orders no matter what, unless they had alpha dominance themselves.

There was also the time where he managed to enter a human mind. It was something that dragons with alpha dominance could do. Interesting enough, they did not have actual mindscape. Their minds were completely incomprehensible to them but given enough time to study and learn their mind, Charcoal believed they could control and manipulate humans with their power. It was something that Charcoal wanted, as it could make humans submit. It could end the Dragon Rebellion altogether, with dragons as the winner of the war.

To use that power on dragons was a terrifying thought. He could see them being used on unruly or enemy dragons but using them on volunteering allied dragon soldiers sickened him. It meant that they were not doing it on their free will. It meant that he had drafted them to participate in the war.

Furious did not wait for Charcoal to answer. He knew that Charcoal already knows. "This is why I allowed you to learn about mind arts."

"You want me…" Charcoal slowly spoke, trying to make it as obvious as possible. "… to take away their thoughts and serve the Dragon Rebellion."

"Yes." Furious answered, confirming it. "That's why I choose you. You are a Night Fury. Your species were renowned for their prowess in mind arts. With the power of alpha dominance, you have potential to become even greater. You could change their very thought and memories. It would be shame if that potential was never fully exploited."

"… but to force these dragons…" Charcoal pleaded, trying to reach him through empathetic angle. "They fought for the Dragon Rebellion. They fought for our cause. After what they've done for the war, is this how you're going to treat them?"

Furious fell silent. The male Night Fury wondered what the greater alpha dragon was thinking about. He hoped Furious authorised an attack to take over the Rookery. He remembered dragons sending him that request through Mail Chunk. He had forwarded them to Furious before flying to Dragon Island.

"… Make the females birth their eggs here in Dragon Island." Furious decided to speak. His voice was stern and left no argument. "Get the males do the dragon raid. Use your alpha dominance. Force them, or else."

With that, Furious disappeared. Charcoal was dejected at the decision. He turned around and looked up to the night sky above. He did not want to force those dragons, but Furious had ordered him to do so. It was a matter of doing what was right and what was easy. It would be easy to dominate their mind and change their thoughts and memories. However, it would not be right for him to do so.

Charcoal briefly thought about defying that order. He remembered why he fought in Dragon Rebellion in the first place. He was doing it for the dragon, because he wanted a place for dragons to live in peace. It was not right that those dragons took over the Rookery for themselves. It was something that he had to do. It was something that the male Night Fury would be doing.

It was decided. For the first time in his life, Charcoal would be defying an order from his greater alpha. He was doing it for the dragons; not Furious or anyone else. It was why he participated in Dragon Rebellion willingly. It was why he was there in the first place.

After deciding the case, Charcoal mentally made a Chunk informing the dragons about their plans to liberate the Rookery. After sending the message to the dragons, he took off into the sky, heading off to plan everything with the dragons.

He would have to make public space in his mindscape, since dragons would be guesting in his mind during the operation. They did not have Furious' blessing for them. It was something that they had to do themselves.


"How many dragons?"

"Roughly one thousand splits between Deadly Nadders and Monstrous Nightmares."

"How long they've been at the Rookery?"

"About 4 years."

"Okay. Alpha dragons?"

"One Deadly Nadder and one Monstrous Nightmare. Titan wings."

Charcoal was at a large cavern clearing, standing alongside several other dragons. There was a large pathway down onto the volcano, which was where lights came from to illuminate the place. There were a lot of dragons around the cavern, busy preparing themselves for incursion. They were still at the Dragon Island.

"Right." The Night Fury nodded as he turned to look at the other dragon. "So, we have 10 flocks with us. Roughly 700 dragons. Are all the alphas here?"

There was a chorus. "Yes."

Charcoal remembered that he had made a quick public section for his mindscape. "Everyone guesting in my mindscape?"

"Hold on. I missed the memo." A Terrible Terror alpha called out. The dragon was larger than average, which made it obvious why it was an alpha. "We're coordinating in your mindscape?"

"You don't need to bond with me. Just guest in my mindscape and we'll communicate from there." Charcoal explained to the dragon.

"Oh, okay."

Charcoal felt the alpha Terrible Terror entered his mindscape through Furious. He took note that the other alpha dragons were guesting in his public area; just as he intended. "There's a Chunk in my mindscape. That's the plan. Copy and read them. Tell me if you have complaints. We'll set off in-"

"Charcoal."

The Night Fury winced. The alpha dragons noticed this. They realised that Furious had entered his mindscape. "Dad."

"Why are the dragons not attending the raids?" Furious demanded.

Charcoal took a deep breath. He would be punished for this. "I am organising an incursion to liberate the Rookery."

The Night Fury felt pain in his head. "Karr… hrk…" Charcoal flinched as Furious induced pain and obedience in his mind. The dragons guesting in his mind could sense what he had done to the black dragon. They felt dread as they realised what was going to happen to Charcoal.

After it was over, Furious sounded angry. "Charcoal. My lair. Now."

"… be right back." Charcoal squeaked his voice to the dragons, before running to jump down into Furious' lair.


Charcoal landed on the balcony. The giant yellow slitted eye was already there. "How dare you defy my orders?"

The black dragon straightened himself. He looked at Furious with equally unrelenting gaze. "The dragons need the Rookery. The morale of our dragons is already low. We can't let it go lower!"

"The morale of the dragons had always been like this for decades! They always ask for them every year!" Furious angrily explained to the black dragon. "Charcoal, this is not Greater Archipelago! You may raid Dragon Hunters with feverish glee together with Merciless and his dragons, but that's not how it works here!"

"Then tell me." Charcoal levelled his gaze to the giant eye. "How does it work here? Because clearly my 4 years of serving with you doesn't make me understand!"

"Dragons here are lazy and selfish." Furious simply spoke to him. "If we don't put them on a leash, they'd slack off on their raids. Don't you think I tried doing what Merciless was doing? It would never work here!"

Charcoal was about to speak but stopped himself. He realised something. "Dragons had been asking for the Rookery… for decades?"

"The Rookery is a highly contested territory." Furious explained to him. "This was not the first-time large flocks of dragons went to occupy the place. Two dragon flocks don't just join up together to occupy an island. There were other larger, bigger dragon flocks before them!"

Charcoal was stunned. It was something that he had never heard before. "How did I never hear about this? Why did they come to me now?"

The whole mountain rumbled. Furious snorted. "They always ask for the Rookery. They always come to me. You just never questioned it." He informed him. "But since you're my second in command, after trying their luck with me, they came after you instead."

"Because you don't want to do anything about it."

"And that is exactly what I am going to do." Furious simply spoke to him. "Nothing."

"… then." Charcoal started, glaring at the giant eye. "I will do something about it."

The black dragon flinched as Furious induced pain and obedience to his mind. "Kree…" Charcoal let out pitiful whine as he slowly collapsed to the ground.

After few seconds, the effect disappeared. Furious did not wait for Charcoal to recover. "Do you still want to take over the Rookery?"

"Yes."

Furious inflicted another pain and obedience into his mind. It was much stronger than before. Charcoal let out a silent whine as his body limped on the ground. He felt pain all over his body. The male dragon was being punished.

After a long, agonising minute, Furious lifted the effect. "Do you still want to take over the Rookery?'

"… Yes!"

And so, it happened again. The scenario repeated for some time. Furious would inflict pain and obedience into his mind, and then ask the question. Charcoal would give the same answer, regardless of being punished for giving said answer. Every time it happened, Furious would make them longer and even more painful. The giant dragon wanted to break Charcoal. However, the Night Fury was far more stubborn than him.

However, even with his high level of tolerance and stubbornness, Charcoal had a limit. After the twentieth scenario, the male dragon was twitching on the ground. Something had snapped inside his mind. His eyes were closed, feeling pain all over his body.

"Do you still want to take over the Rookery?"

Charcoal snapped open his eyes. His pupils were fully slitted. Alpha dominance power extruded from his body as his appendages began to glow blue. He slowly stood from the ground as he angrily glared at the giant eye. After reaching a full height, Charcoal let out a loud, ear-splitting roar.

"KRAAAAAA!"

Charcoal roared for defiance. It was heard across the Dragon Island. The black dragon was challenging Furious' authority as the Greater Alpha. The giant dragon narrowed his eyes. Charcoal had snapped, but the way he snapped pleased him.

Suddenly, arcs of lightning came out from the giant eye. It struck Charcoal, electrocuting the black dragon. The pain immediately stopped the alpha dominance. "KRAAAAAAAA!" The black dragon screeched in pain.

Furious let his lightning loose on Charcoal for a solid five minutes. When that was over, the black dragon was emitting black smoke from his scales. He was left weak and twitching on the ground. "Do you still want to take over the Rookery?"

Charcoal let out a groan. He slowly opened his eyes. It was filled with determination. "Yes."

The Dragon Island rumbled. Furious realised that the typical method would not work on him. Charcoal was too resilient to break. The black dragon would not just submit to him. "… Why?"

"Because." Charcoal whispered as he shakily stood from the ground. "It's for the dragons."

"Why do you care for dragons that you don't even know the name of?"

"Because we're soldiers. We're all fighting for Dragon Rebellion." The black dragon reasoned. His voice was hoarse from the pain he had endured. "We fight humans because we wanted our place in this world! How can we fight for that if we can't even fight other dragons for our own place?"

Charcoal took some breath, before explaining his reasoning. "I don't want to lose this war, and I don't want them to think we're going to lose this war!" He roared to the giant dragon. "I've been fighting this war for 11 years, and skies forbid I would ever give up on this! I can't do this all by myself!"

Furious looked angry. The giant eye narrowed further. Giant blue scales appeared as eyelids. Furious was squinting his eyes at him. "… VERY WELL!" He boomed in his mind. "I authorised this operation of yours to take over that accursed island!"

Charcoal felt extremely relieved. Furious was not finished. "If you fail this." He promised the black dragon. "You will be banished to the Hidden World. Dishonourable discharge! You will never take part in Dragon Rebellion ever again!"

"Yes!" Charcoal bowed down to his alpha. "Thank you."

"Now go."

After getting Furious' approval, the black dragon took off into the air, heading to the alpha meeting for the incursion.


Charcoal came back to the cavern clearing. The alpha dragons were staring at him with stunned expression. "I'm back. Furious just approved of this operation."

The alpha dragons were guesting in his mind when the interaction happened. They could not see or hear what happened. However, they could sense when something went wrong with it. Charcoal had come back limping to the place. It did not take them long to realise what had happened.

"Charcoal?" The alpha Deadly Nadder hesitantly called him out. "Did you just…"

"Don't worry about me." The Night Fury gave him a weak smile. "We need to get ready for the incursion. Did everyone read the Chunk?"

"I just- I mean-" A different alpha dragon spluttered. Nobody knew what to respond to it. "We did. We think it's a good plan, but kid, what happened to you?!"

Unlike raid leaders or Dragon Rebellion organisers, alpha dragons were equivalent to chief and chiefess of a dragon flock. They had submitted their flock to Furious the Greater Alpha, because they wanted protection against humans. It was at the cost of putting themselves in danger, at the form of participating in Dragon Rebellion. It was something that they simply had to deal with.

Furious fulfilled that obligation. However, up until few years ago, a lot of things changed for Furious. He stopped caring about their wellbeing. It made them wonder what made that dragon change so much that he would disregard their needs. It was a bizarre change that had no explanation for them.

Those who had bonded with Furious could never leave the bond. They did not dare to defy him. Those who do were forced to mentally submit – their alpha killed, and their dragons pushed to participate in the war. It was obvious that they needed to update their news about Furious, as the greater alpha dragon now were vastly different than 4 years ago.

It came as a shock when Charcoal, a Night Fury several decades younger than them, had went on to defy the Greater Alpha dragon. The shocking part for them was the fact that he had defied Furious for their operation. They had heard the roar of challenge. They were stunned that the adolescent dragon – decades younger than them! – had dared to defy the Greater Alpha dragon for them.

"I…" Charcoal stretched his body a bit. He was slowly recovering from the punishment. "Furious didn't like our operation but approved it. We have his approval. We can continue."

"We all agreed to do it in one hour." The alpha Deadly Nadder spoke. He looked determined, but still in shock and pity for the black dragon in front of them. "We've informed our dragons of this operation."

"Right. Get ready in one hour." Charcoal mumbled as he began walking away. The other dragons went off elsewhere, heading to prepare the others about it.

"Hold on there, kid."

Charcoal stopped. He turned to look at the remaining alpha dragons. An alpha Terrible Terror, and Gronckle had approached him. "We can't let you go on operation like that. You need help."

The black dragon stared at to the two alpha dragons. The alpha Gronckle was bigger than him. "I'm fine."

The alpha Gronckle snorted. "My hatchling always says that, but they're clearly not fine." He replied, staring down at the black dragon with concerned expression. "We need to get you a medic."

The alpha Terrible Terror turned around. He was shouting at another dragon. "Icebreath, get your tail here!"

"I'm on it. I'm on it."

Charcoal looked at the newcomer. It was a small, bipedal green dragon with tiny paws. It looked like a tiny velociraptor. It had two pairs of twisted horns, long fin that runs down their back, and a large tail fin that covered the whole tail. It also had one pair of wings. The dragon was as big as a regular sized Terrible Terror.

Arriving to the place, the dragon landed in front of them. "Alpha Prickleboggle here. Anyone need a medic?"

"The kid here need one."

The Prickleboggle – now known as Icebreath – looked at the black dragon. His eyes widened. "Wow, that's one strong dragon." He commented as he approached. "Look at that! He look like he can take on a Bewilderbeast with those claws!"

The alpha Gronckle looked stern. "Save your breath. We're on a tight schedule."

"Alrighty." Icebreath shrugged his wings. He prepared himself as he looked at the black dragon in front of him. "Let's get this over with."

The small green dragon took a deep breath, before sending a stream of purple particles to Charcoal. The particles hit his legs and spread all over his body. Charcoal felt comfortably cold. He felt the exhaustion and tiredness leaving him. After some time, the process stopped. However, it did not seem enough to heal the black dragon.

Icebreath blinked as he came closer to the black dragon. He flew up and landed on top of him. "Sheesh." He whistled as he tried to dig his paws onto his scales. "You could actually kill a Bewilderbeast by yourself like this!"

"Icebreath."

"Fine, fine." The Prickleboggle rolled his eyes at the Gronckle. He looked down to the Night Fury. He seemed a bit concerned of his condition. "Look, normal dose is not enough. We'll be spending a whole hour getting you back up. Now lay down."

Charcoal rested his body. He laid down on the ground. Icebreath moved and landed right in front of him at his belly. "Right, uh… just hold still."

Icebreath went to heal the black dragon once again. The process was slow, but it was better than nothing. While healing the dragon, the Prickleboggle decided to ask. "How come you got so many nerve injuries? I'd get your mindscape checked after this, if I were you."

"Greater Alpha tortured him because he didn't like our operation to take over the Rookery." The alpha Terrible Terror answered.

"The Rookery?!" Icebreath stumbled a bit. He paused on healing the dragon in front of him. "I heard about the island. After 4 years, Furious finally allowed that?"

"He did. All thanks to the kid." The Gronckle grunted. "He stood up for us when he questioned it."

"Huh." Icebreath blinked as he looked back to Charcoal. "How old are you?"

"14 years old." Charcoal answered, staring at the green dragon.

"Wow. So young and already this strong?" Icebreath whistled. He seemed to be admiring the black dragon in front of him. "No wonder Greater Alpha picked you to become his second in command. You'd be Arch Alpha by the time you're in your 50s!"

"Dogsbreath." The Gronckle sounded threatening.

"Fine, fine." The Prickleboggle rolled his eyes. He took a deep breath and continued breathing purple particles to him.

"You know the Arch Alpha?" Charcoal questioned.

Icebreath paused for a moment. "Oh, I know that old geezer. The one ruling Meridian of Misery, at least." He spoke, before breathing another purple particle to heal him. "… My flock used to live with him at the Hidden World. That was… what, 9 years ago? A Deadly Nadder had to take care of his daughter, since he's so busy with his duties."

The mention of 'daughter' made Charcoal blink. "Is it… Toothless?"

"Not sure about the name now, but she didn't have adult name yet back then." The Prickleboggle shrugged, before breathing another purple particle to him. "I think her name is Kirin. She have a Light Fury blood sister, last time I check."

"Was her blood sister name Amber?"

"Ah! That's her name." Icebreath nodded approvingly. "Amber played with my daughter a lot. She stayed with her back at Hidden World. Sometimes, we send Mail Chunks with the whole how-you-do how-do-you-do kind of thing, but they're doing alright there."

After some time, Icebreath stopped healing him. He moved to get some distance from the black dragon. "Alright. That's done."

Charcoal stood from the ground. He felt much better than before. "Thanks, Icebreath."

"No problem." The Prickleboggle nodded. "By the way, how did you know Kirin's blood sister name?"

"I know Kirin. Her name is Toothless now." Charcoal answered the small dragon.

"Ah! Toothless!" Icebreath awkwardly chuckled. "Not the best name, but you can't really choose your adult name. At least, that's my tradition. Anyway, how is she?"

Charcoal let out a wry smile. "Toothless is my mate."

The dragons choked upon hearing it. There were some that was eavesdropping the conversation. Everyone was shocked to hear that news. Icebreath was staring at him with shock. "Toothless is your mate?"

"Yup." Charcoal nodded. "We're expecting hatchlings this month."

"Holy moly of everything holy." Icebreath breathed out. "How did you nail her? Last time I check, she despised Dragon Rebellion."

"We… fell in love 4 years ago and went on courtship for two years." Charcoal answered, remembering his time together with Toothless. "She's the most beautiful dragon I've ever seen. I couldn't imagine living without her."

The Prickleboggle let out a hearty laugh. "I knew she'd fall in love one day. She'd get someone that truly loved her back." He commented, remembering his own time back in Hidden World. "Take care of her, will ya? Her dad didn't treat her right. She needs someone to care for her."

"I've been taking care of her, but I wish I could do more." Charcoal let out a sigh. "Furious just keeps on pulling me away."

"Well, you can't do worse than his dad, that's for sure." Icebreath spoke as he inspected the dragon in front of him. "Say hello to her for me. Tell her that Amber and Noisy came to visit us last year. She'll know what that mean."

Charcoal nodded. "I will."

"Charcoal."

The said dragon turned around. Several other alpha dragons were approaching him. The alpha Gronckle was at the front. "It's time."

"Alright. Let's hope this works." Charcoal mumbled as he moved to fly to the balcony.

"And Charcoal!"

Charcoal paused and looked back to the Prickleboggle. "Yeah?"

"Tell Toothless that Wodensfang the Desperate is looking for her." Icebreath called out. "But Furious is blocking him out. If she wants to see him, she'd have to get to Greater Archipelago."

Charcoal blinked. "I'll tell her."

"Good. Take care now!"

The black dragon nodded. He spread his wings and jumped to the volcano. The dragons went to follow him behind. They flew up through the top, heading out from the Dragon Island.


The dragons arrived at the Rookery at night. It was a large island with circular lake in the middle, surrounded by pristine golden sand. There were rocky mountains and steep cliffs around the lake, and many hot water pools with underground water in it. One notable thing was that there were a lot of Monstrous Nightmares and Deadly Nadders there.

There were two massive dragons standing at the highest mountain. The first one was a male, Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare. The huge dragon was roughly 100 meters long, with very impressive wingspan. He was red, with black stripes around his body, and beard-like appendages under his chin. He had a lot of spikes on his back. Compared to regular, adult Monstrous Nightmare, this one looked like he could destroy an island with one blast.

The second one was a male, Titan Wing Deadly Nadder. He was somewhat smaller than the giant dragon next to him, roughly 90 meters long. He was black and purple, with more spikes on his head, back and feet. Compared to regular, adult Deadly Nadder, this dragon was huge and extremely strong.

Charcoal glared down at the Rookery. The enemy dragons were sleeping. It was the right time to strike. "Alright, just as planned."

"Yes, Charcoal." The alpha dragons chorused, along with the dragons behind them.

The black dragon took a deep breath. He would be signalling the others. It was time to attack. "LET US LIBERATE THE ROOKERY!" Charcoal roared, both vocal and telepathic. "FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN! FOR THE TEARS OF OUR MOTHERS! FOR THE VENGEANCE OF OUR FATHERS!"

"GROAAAA!" Dragons roared with fiery passion. Everyone swooped down onto the Rookery, with intention to kick the dragons out from the place. Other groups of dragons were moving in from different direction as well. It was going just as planned.

Enemy dragons were rudely awakened when Dragon Rebellion troops invaded the place. The alpha dragons woke up to coordinate everyone, but given how spread out everything was, it was difficult to coordinate them. They did not expect to be attacked from several different directions at once.

Charcoal watched as the troops were fighting. The dragons were fighting with tooth and claws. They were vicious in their attacks, and the opposing dragons did not seem to expect the attack. The Night Fury narrowed his eyes as the two enemy alphas rose from the ground. He would have to deal with one of them first.

The giant Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare swooped in to get the left side of the island. Before it could do anything else there, Charcoal appeared.

"KRAAA!" BOOM!

"GROAAAAA!" The giant dragon roared in pain. He glared at the Night Fury in the air. Charcoal had flown away after blasting his back with a powerful plasma blast. The titan wing dragon swooped down to attack the Night Fury, intending to kill him in one go. He was enraged from the attack.

Charcoal used his charge to boost himself. The Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare was close on his tail. He dove down to the pillars, hoping to slow him down.

CRASH! BOOM!

That did not seem to work, because the Monstrous Nightmare simply crashed and destroyed the rocks with one swoop. The giant dragon took a deep breath and let loose a huge, powerful stream of flame at him.

GRAAAAAA!

The Night Fury went on a tailspin. He rolled around the liquid flame just as they flew right to the crowds of fighting dragons. The flame from the alpha dragon swiftly incinerated and killed everything on its path. The flame was so hot, it left nothing but charred remains of their comrades.

Charcoal realised that the flame they had was hotter than normal. He pulled up high and boosted himself using his lightning charge. The giant Monstrous Nightmare followed, going up high into the sky. The giant dragon easily kept up with him, due to his sheer size. He started to struggle after reaching certain altitude, since he had his own height ceiling to deal with. Charcoal did not seem to slow down from his climb.

After going up high in the sky, Charcoal suddenly loop around and fired a plasma blast to his back. The Monstrous Nightmare roared in pain, but Charcoal was not finished. Instead of finishing the loop, he rolled around and levelled himself. Before the Monstrous Nightmare could react, the black dragon made a sharp turn and fired a plasma blast right onto his stomach.

"GROAAAA!" The giant Monstrous Nightmare roared in pain. "You little runt! You'll pay for-"

BOOM!

Charcoal had looped around and fired plasma blast right at his jaw. The black dragon went diving down to the ground, and the giant dragon followed. The Monstrous Nightmare opened his maw to charge the most powerful attack he could muster. Gas built up inside his maw. He opened, and-

BOOM!

Charcoal had turned around and fired plasma blast into his mouth. The giant dragon was disoriented from the attack. The flame had prematurely triggered inside his furnace. Charcoal saw this as an opportunity. He spread his wings to slow himself down. Just as he did, however, he had reached his claw distance. The giant dragon swiped his claws, which collided with his stomach.

"KRAAA!" Charcoal roared in pain. He ignored the pain and latched himself onto his head. The giant dragon was still disoriented. He used the opportunity to enter his mind by breaching through his mental defences.

The giant dragon did not stand a chance. It was injured and disoriented. Charcoal induced pain and obedience into his mind, making him roar in pain. "SUBMIT!"

"GROAAAAAA!" the Monstrous Nightmare roared. He felt his nerves burning under the mental strain. "Get off!"

Charcoal used his wings to balance himself. He let loose of his alpha dominance power, using them to induce control upon the giant dragon. His appendages began to glow blue. The said Monstrous Nightmare saw this and paled. He did not realise that he had the power of alpha dominance within the black dragon. They were typically seen in Hidden World!

"SUBMIT!" This time, the giant dragon felt like he wanted to submit. He resisted, which made Charcoal intensify his power. "SUBMIT! OBEY!"

"No…" His eyes began to glaze over. He was slowly losing his own thought.

"SUBMIT!"

"I…" His eyes were completely slitted. His own thoughts had quieted, replaced by the eagerness to submit to the black dragon holding onto him.

"SUBMIT!"

"Yes… alpha…" The alpha dragon finally submitted. He allowed himself to bond with Charcoal, giving him full control over him. Charcoal stopped his alpha dominance power. His appendages stopped glowing blue. The giant dragon finally regained his own thought. Upon realising what had happened, he was terrified of the black dragon.

Charcoal moved to climb onto his head. The giant dragon was big enough for him to latch and rest on top of his head. "Move and take that alpha Deadly Nadder high up in the sky."

"Yes, Alpha." The alpha dragon quivered his voice. He continued his dive as he went after the giant Deadly Nadder.

The giant Deadly Nadder was busy dealing with invading dragons. He snapped his tail and thousands of spine shot darts went flying down. It struck several dragons, felling them down from the sky. He moved to work on the rest when he was suddenly grabbed and lifted high into the sky. "What the-"

"GROAAA!" the giant Monstrous Nightmare roared as he began slashing him. The giant Deadly Nadder did not expect this. He screeched in pain as claws and talons dug into his scales. They were going up high into the sky.

"GRAAAAA!" The giant Deadly Nadder screamed. He was already exhausted from the barrages of attacks from before. That made the pain excruciatingly painful. He felt himself blacking out from the attack. "Gerra, what are you doing?!"

It was then the Deadly Nadder saw the black dragon on top of him. His appendages were glowing blue as he glared at the other giant dragon. His eyes widened as he felt his mind breached. He could not defend his own mind due to his wounds and exhaustion. "Oh… bother."

"SUBMIT!"

The alpha Deadly Nadder knew that was it for him. He limped his body as he submitted to the black dragon, bonding himself to him. Charcoal took control of the giant Titan Wing Deadly Nadder, before stopping the alpha dominance power. His appendages stopped glowing blue. After the Deadly Nadder submitted, the Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare let go of him.

"Call off the defenders and land on the top." Charcoal ordered. "Make them surrender."

"Yes, alpha." The two dragons obeyed. They could not defy his order. The giant dragons sent out order to stop and surrender to their dragons. That made the fighting stop, as the dragons below quickly showed submission to the invading dragons.

The two giant alpha dragons landed on the highest mountain. Charcoal jumped down from the head. He looked over the Rookery and let out a loud, ear-splitting roar. "KRAAAAAAA!"

It was the roar of victory. The invading dragons soon followed. The giant alpha dragons flew down to meet their own dragons, who were cornered in front of the highest rock. There were a lot more of them than the invading dragons, and they were completely shocked that their alpha had surrendered.

They simply stared as the two alpha dragons looked at them with resigned and fearful expression. They were surrounded by the invading dragons, who were snarling at their direction, but did not attack. The two giant dragons turned around, before deeply bowing down to their new alpha. They showed submission to him. "Alpha."

Charcoal glared down to the dragons below. There were a lot of confusion within them. "I have defeated your alphas and won!" He roared. "Submit or die!"

The enemy dragons looked at their alpha with confusion. The two giant dragons sent command to submit to the black dragon, as well as a Chunk containing the memory of the fight. Upon seeing them, the enemy dragons looked up to the black dragon with fear. They bowed down to him, submitting themselves to the alpha Night Fury. "Alpha."

Charcoal pulled the dragons out from the two alphas, making them bonded with him instead of them. That rendered the two giant alpha dragons as regular giant dragons. After that was done, the black dragon sent a message to the invading dragons. "We won! They've submitted!"

GRAAAAAAAA!

The invading dragons let out victorious roar once more. They left their mental presence from Charcoal's mindscape. Most quickly took off into the air, heading back to Dragon Island to get their mates. The invading alpha dragons moved to fly and land where Charcoal was. They were awed that Charcoal managed to defeat the two alphas. "Wow…"

"You actually made them submit." The alpha Gronckle commented, awed at what he had seen. "I didn't see the whole fight, but I saw you blowing them up."

"You might want to get that checked up." The alpha Terrible Terror commented as he looked at his belly. "That looks really bad."

Charcoal looked at the large wound on his belly. It was a huge gash that should've disembowelled him in one go. He was dripping blood from the wound. The black dragon looked to the other alpha dragons. They were injured and wounded as well, but not as bad as him. "I'll manage. I need to deal with these guys first."

"Why didn't you order them to commit suicide?" The other alpha dragon asked. This one was a Deadly Nadder.

Charcoal looked down to the two giant dragons below. They were being tended by their own dragons for their injuries. "There's no reason why I should kill them. This was their territory. They've been here for years."

"We should make them fly away." The alpha Terrible Terror suggested. "Get rid of them from here."

"And who's going to defend this place when other flocks went invading in?" Charcoal questioned, glancing at the small alpha dragon. "Furious told me this is a highly contested island. It's best to keep them here to defend the place. They shouldn't be a problem to us anymore."

"Then, what are you going to do with them?"

The black dragon looked down to the giant dragons. He suddenly remembered that most Dragon Rebellion troops would be out of service to tend their own mates. "… I think I have some ideas."

Charcoal jumped and flew down onto the two wounded giant dragons. The former enemy dragons immediately stopped what they were doing and cowered at the sight of him. The black dragon bored his eyes to them. He looked at the two dragons. "I've decided to allow everyone to stay here."

That statement confused them. Charcoal continued speaking. "You are interfering with a place that's meant to be publicly available to everyone. As such, you will be punished."

The dragons were fearful once more, afraid of his punishment. Charcoal continued speaking. "From now on, this place will be your place to live." He declared. "You will defend this place from intruders. You will allow dragons bonded with Furious to come and lay their eggs here. Finally, you will take part in Dragon Rebellion."

The dragons looked utterly relieved. However, there was some confusion. "That's it?" The giant Deadly Nadder blurted out, utterly shocked at that decision.

"That, as you put it, is it." Charcoal explained to them. He looked at the two alpha dragons. "I am giving your dragons back. From now on, I am your alpha. All of you are serving under me. I'll drop a Chunk to brief you on the whole thing later."

With that said, Charcoal pushed the dragon bonds over to the two giant dragons, making them alpha once more. After that was done, the two alpha dragons bowed down to Charcoal. "Thank you, Greater Alpha."

Charcoal blinked. "I'm not a Greater Alpha."

"An alpha with other alpha bonded to them is called Greater Alpha." The giant alpha Monstrous Nightmare rumbled his voice. "Thank you, for sparing us."

Charcoal was about to argue when he remembered something. The alpha hierarchy was merely technicalities, schematics and formality. It was then that he decided not to care about being called Greater Alpha. However, he needed to set things straight. "The Barbaric Archipelago is ruled by Furious the Greater Alpha. I am his second-in-command. I am bonded with him. Don't call me Greater Alpha."

"Yes, alpha."

Seeing that was done, Charcoal took off into the air, heading back to Toothless' nest. Furious' report could wait. He wanted to see Toothless to tell her of the good news. He might need to heal his wound with something before going there.

After Charcoal flew away, the giant alpha Deadly Nadder let out a relieved sigh. "At least he didn't make us leave."


"Toothless, I'm back."

Toothless looked up from her rest. Her eyes widened upon seeing Charcoal's condition. He was pale and utterly exhausted. There was a large gash that went from his chest to underbelly. The male black dragon had his pupils slitted, but he looked happy. He was trying to hide the pain, but his eyes gave them away. There was also the fact that blood was dripping off from his wound.

"Charcoal!" The dragoness screeched in panic. She quickly stood and waddled to the male black dragon. This was the first time she had seen him at this condition. "Skies above, what happened to you?!"

"I…" Whatever Charcoal about to say died in his throat. He finally collapsed after taking some steps.

"Charcoal, you idiot!" Toothless screeched as she quickly worked to heal her mate. She pressed her paws onto the wound. The dragon sorceress casted her magic. Her paws began to glow green. Green aura danced around her paws, slowly healing the male black dragon in front of her. That stopped the bleeding, but she needed to completely shut the wound.

"Toothless…" The male dragon whispered, staring at his mate. He winced, before giving her a weak smile. "I'm glad you're fine. How's the hatchling?"

Toothless wanted to let out a sarcastic laugh but held herself back. She was in disbelief. "You came here bleeding all over, and you're asking for our hatchling?!"

"I just wanted to know if you changed your mind about the Rookery." Charcoal mumbled. He rested his head onto the rocky surface. "You should've seen it, Toothless. It's beautiful. And it's ours."

"Beautiful or not, it doesn't matter if you die on my claws!" The dragoness cried out. She focused on healing the wound, which was slowly closing. There would be a large scar on his scales. "Skies above, Charcoal. Why are you so selfless? Think about me and our hatchlings!"

"I am…" Charcoal mumbled as he closed his eyes. He felt comfortable while his mate was healing him with her magic. "I want to… make a better world for our hatchlings." He let out a wry smile. "Or at least have good stories to tell them."

"Of all things above, how did you get this wound?" Toothless interrogated, still focused on healing him. The internal injuries were healed. She just needed to close the gash. The blood loss was something that would heal itself overtime. She thanked her past self for bothering to read Charcoal's medical knowledge. It helped her know what sort of magic to use when needed.

"I've made two titan wings alpha dragons submit to me." The male dragon whispered as he remembered the fight. "I used mind arts on them. They're my dragons now, just as they are yours. You can summon them for protection."

"As much as I'd praise you for that, I prefer to have you fully intact when coming here in our nest." Toothless mumbled under her breath. "Skies above, Charcoal. What were you thinking?!"

"Dragons, obviously."

"You and your selfless acts." The dragoness commented as she finished healing him. "There. Don't move too much. That flesh is still new."

Charcoal looked down to his wound. The place where the large gash was replaced with thin layer of scales. "Thank you." He muttered as he slowly sat onto the ground. "And… I'm sorry for worrying you."

Toothless rested her body right next to him. "This is your first time coming in with that condition." She commented, concerned. "Why didn't you… wait, are these kinds of wounds common for you?"

"Well…" The male dragon looked uncomfortable. "Merciless have a pretty good medical dragons at his nest when I was serving at Greater Archipelago. Now, it's just my dad that patch me up."

"And you didn't bother going there first?"

Charcoal shifted his paws. "I asked if he could hours ago, but he told me he wouldn't be healing me anymore." He confessed to the dragon sorceress. "He said it's my consort's job."

"By the moon, stars and everything above." The dragoness let out a shuddering breath. "You're going to be the death of me."

"I'm sorry for worrying you." Charcoal mumbled as he moved down to nuzzle his mate. The male dragon nudged his snout onto her large belly. "Now, how's our hatchlings?"

Toothless let out a long, concerned sigh. "I should be ready to birth them in a moment." She spoke as she sat up on the ground. "I have enough medical knowledge for this, all thanks to you. But…" She paused as her eyes widened.

Charcoal tilted his head. Toothless had gone completely silent with her eyes wide. "… Toothless?"

"Shush." Toothless hushed him. She sounded strained. "It's time."

The male dragon waited for some time. The magical plasma fire was still roaring at the centre of the cave. He could see her belly began to shrink. Roughly half an hour later, Toothless stood from the ground. She moved over, revealing two, pitch-black eggs. Charcoal stared at them with his wide, forest green eyes.

"Wow…" Charcoal breathed out. He slowly approached the eggs. "They're beautiful."

Toothless moved to sit next to him. She bent down to sniff the pair of eggs. The dragoness scrunched up her expression, concern adorning her face. "That's not good."

That made Charcoal concerned. "What's wrong?"

"The eggs… one of them doesn't smell right." Toothless explained to her mate. "I think one of them is weak…"

Charcoal took a deep, shuddering breath. "Is there anything we can do about it?"

The mother dragon looked at her mate with sad expression. "I don't know." She confessed. She felt helpless and confused. "Amber told me we need to make them comfortable."

"How are we going to do that?"

Toothless went to grab her eggs with her gums. She placed the eggs close to the roaring plasma fire. The dragoness moved to lay herself down next to them, before pulling them closer. The father dragon moved to lay down behind her. He wrapped his wings around them.

"… this should make our eggs comfortable." The dragoness spoke, staring down at the eggs. "I hope they pull this through."

Charcoal moved his head and rested it against hers. "I believe in them. They will pull this through." He whispered to her ears.

Toothless let out an amused chuckle. "You're going to spoil our hatchlings, aren't you?"

"Isn't that what a father should do to their own hatchlings?"

"At least you truly care about them." The dragoness let out a sigh. "Usually, the males would leave everything for their mate, while they're off gathering food and defending the nest."

"Hrr…" Charcoal purred at that thought. "Do you want me to do that? Or do you want to share the responsibility?"

Toothless paused for a moment, thinking of the suggestion. "I think it's best if we share." She decided. "I can't let myself rusty on my work."

"Then we'll do our responsibilities in rotation." The male dragon purred.

The two dragons rested in silence. They stared at the yellow plasma fire that gave them warmth. The eggs rested close to Toothless' belly. They were comfortable at their position. However, there was a small anxious thought about that one egg. It was weaker than the other. They were afraid that they might not hatch.

Toothless decided that it was best to distract herself. She glanced back to her mate. "Hey… I've been wondering?"

"Hrr?"

"What does human egg look like?"

Charcoal spluttered at that question. "Oh! Uh…" He did not know how to explain that to his mate. "Humans don't lay eggs."

That confused the mother dragon. "… they don't?"

Charcoal was embarrassed by the topic. "No. There's no egg."

"Wait, how does human have hatchlings then?" Toothless asked. The dragoness was morbidly curious.

"W- Well… instead of birthing an egg, they birth the whole hatchling instead." The male dragon explained as best as he could.

Toothless scrunched up her expression. "How does that work?"

"Please don't ask me that question." Charcoal groaned as he pressed his paws on his eyes. "Just look in my memories. I don't want to see them again."

The two dragons fell silent. The male dragon could feel her mate inside his mindscape, checking his memories. Several minutes later, he felt her confusion through their bond together. The dragoness was utterly confused and morbidly fascinated by what she had seen.

"Did that female just…"

"Yep."

"… Humans are weird." Toothless finally decided.

"They are. Yes." Charcoal agreed.

"… I can't believe I just watched that."

"You're the curious one." Charcoal grumbled under his breath.

"Oh shush." Toothless hushed the male dragon. "The eggs are resting."

Charcoal did not bother applying logic to that statement. "Okay. Sorry."


Few hours passed. Charcoal suddenly remembered something. "I uh… I have something to ask…"

Toothless rolled her eyes. She wanted quiet time, both vocal and mental. "What is it?"

"Do you know a Prickleboggle named Icebreath?"

The dragoness froze at that question. "… yeah, I know him. I met him and his daughter back when I was a fledgling. They moved away from Hidden World when I was 5."

"They're here, serving the Dragon Rebellion at medics." Charcoal informed her. "They asked me to pass a message. Do you want to hear it?"

Toothless fell silent. The male dragon wondered what she was thinking about. "… Toothless?"

"… Show me the conversation."

Charcoal duplicated the memory into a Chunk. He sent them over to Toothless through their bond. The male black dragon gauged her reaction. The first feeling he noticed was relief. Then, that feeling turned into anger, before transforming into concern. After some time, she let out an exasperated sigh. "I see…"

"Toothless?" Charcoal hesitantly asked. He was whispering to her ears. "Who's Wodensfang the Desperate?"

Toothless paused for some time. "… He's my father." She answered. The dragoness sounded bitter. "The Arch Alpha of the Meridian of Misery."

"You didn't sound like you like him very much."

Toothless did not say anything. She simply sent some Chunks to his mind. Charcoal moved to check them, before realising that those were diary entries. Toothless did write diary in Chunks as a method of mental therapy. It seemed that it could be used to share her life experience without showing her memories.

Toothless simply watched the egg as Charcoal went to read the diary. She was silent as she pondered what she had learned. Her father was looking for her, but Furious was blocking him. It meant that she could not leave Barbaric Archipelago, or she would risk meeting her father. This was the first time he went off looking for her. It was concerning for her to know that.

"… I'm sorry." Charcoal finally spoke. He felt guilty. "I didn't realise how your father-"

"Don't." Toothless sharply spoke, stopping him from continuing that sentence.

"Hrr…" The dragoness let out a sigh, before speaking with soft voice. "He's not here. As long I'm living under you and Furious, he could never come here."

Charcoal let out a low growl. "Krr…" He moved his paws around her. "I promise you. I'll protect you from harm, no matter what."

"Well…" Toothless whispered, pondering for some time. "I do have you to care for me. That's all that matters."


"Why is he called Wodensfang the Desperate?"

Toothless opened her eyes. She nearly fell asleep. The dragoness checked the eggs. They were still there, and there was no change on their condition. The dragon sorceress glanced up to her mate. "My dad have that nickname way before I was born."

"What's the story behind it?" Charcoal asked, curious.

"Ho boy…" Toothless nearly groaned. "… where do I start?"

The dragoness paused, thinking over it. "My dad was best friend with the heir of the last Primordial Alpha, 1500 years ago. They're both Night Furies." She told the story. "Somehow, the heir got himself turned into a human. The human named himself Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the First."

Charcoal widened his eyes but did not say anything. Toothless continued telling the tale. "They both formed a village together. It was the first-time humans and dragons were really at peace. But then, dragons killed his best friend, and that ends the peace. Since then, he's been trying to make peace with the humans by forcing dragons to submit to them."

"He's using his authority as Arch Alpha to force dragons to follow humans." Charcoal mumbled, assuming from the story she had given him.

"With some success." The mother dragon commented. "He made some dragon species docile to humans. Dragons despised him for it."

Toothless paused, before continued speaking. "I remember back when I lived with him. There's not a single day where dragons wouldn't challenge his position. There's always a fight for me to watch." She admitted, remembering her time at Hidden World. "That's how he got the name. Wodensfang the Desperate. He was desperate to bring back peace that was broken a long time ago."

"This Night Fury…" Charcoal mumbled, deep in thought. "… could he be related to your Precious Thing?"

Toothless froze, as if she had realised something. "… maybe." She admitted. "But it happened 1500 years ago. It probably doesn't matter now, anyway."

"Yeah…" The male dragon muttered. He felt like he missed something. "Maybe…"


It was early in the morning at the Isle of Berk. Hiccup was sleeping on his bed. The boy slowly opened his eyes. The sun was shining down to his eyes from the open window. He slowly sat up from the bed. He felt tired, despite having just woken up.

"Ow!" Hiccup hissed. He looked down to his clothes, which had blood stains over it. "What the…"

He pulled up his clothes, revealing a lot of open wounds on his body. The boy gasped, before letting out a scream. "AAAAAAAHH!"

There was a loud thumping noise, before the door flew open. Stoick immediately came rushing up with his axe ready. He quickly dropped his axe upon seeing the bloodstain on his clothes. "Hiccup!"

"Dad!" the boy cried out. "I don't know what happened!"

The chief quickly rushed to his son. He pulled up Hiccup's shirt, revealing wounds all over his body. The wounds mostly went from his chest to underbelly. Stoick did not question it. He quickly lifted him up and went rushing out from the room. Hiccup needed to get to Gothi, and fast.


Later that evening, Hiccup was resting at Gothi's place.

The boy was laying down on the bed. His body was wrapped with bandages. Stoick was also there, carrying a pile of clothes that he had taken from Hiccup's wardrobe. Gothi was checking the boy.

After some time, she gave an approving nod. She grabbed her staff and began writing something on the dusty floor. Stoick looked down to read them. Hiccup could not see what was being written. Few moments later, Stoick looked at the elder and nodded. He placed the clothes on top of him. "Here."

Hiccup moved to grab the clothes. Stoick continued speaking. "Did you do anything before bed?"

The boy shook his head. "No. I went to sleep after going to the outhouse." He answered.

The chief was confused but did not respond to that answer. Stoick shook his head, before turning around to leave the place, leaving him with the elder alone.

Hiccup was silent when Gothi went off to grab something. He pondered on what might have caused the injury to happen. He was dreaming about liberating the Rookery. That left him with a wound. Toothless had fixed them for him but told him not to move too much. After that, he fell asleep together with her, and then waking up on the bed with wounds on his body.

There was also that time when he dreamt about destroying Lava-Lout Tribe as a dragon together with Toothless. After dreaming about that, Toothless came to him with a crate full of Lava-Louts' pure gold ingots. It was also revealed that Lava-Louts was destroyed, and Toothless had taken part in destroying it.

Hiccup thought some more but could not find any connection to it. He wondered if there was ever any connection. Dream was something that people get when they were asleep. They could not come true, because they were not real in the first place.

… was it?


"Hrmm…"

Toothless was resting alone in her nest. She had replenished the magical plasma fire to warm her eggs. The dragoness had been trying to contact Charcoal, since he had disappeared sometime after she fell asleep. She was getting tired of his disappearing act, especially since she could not contact him at all.

There were times when she could contact him through their mental bond together. As his consort, Toothless had access to almost everything in his mind. It allowed her to help him organise and manage his duties. Charcoal also had access to her mind, but there was not much he would do, other than checking her condition and things she remembered.

Because they had access to each other's minds, they could also read each other's thoughts. Mind synchronization was a benefit of this, and it allowed them to synchronise their thoughts and actions. That allowed them to do interesting things together, such as doing complex aerial acrobatics in the air. Other than that, having full access meant that they could know wherever they went off to.

Which was the problem that Toothless was currently facing.

There were times where she could sense where Charcoal went off to. He was typically at the Dragon Island, doing his duty. There were times when she found him roaming around, presumably on a patrol or heading for a mission. There was also that one instance where she sensed him at Greater Archipelago during long trips. However, one curious thing was when he suddenly, completely went off the grid.

It happened several times already. He would be gone off somewhere, and she could not read his thoughts or even know his location. His mindscape was still accessible, but nothing was recorded. It was as if the dragon was unconscious. She did not understand what was going on with her mate. It should not be possible for him to do that, unless Furious was actively doing it for him.

She could not find any record of him asking Furious anything, which meant that it was done against his will. That made her scales crawl, because it meant that Furious had something to do with Charcoal disappearing. Charcoal did not know about any of this.

"Hrr…" Toothless let out a displeased growl. She softened her expression as she stared at the eggs. The weak egg was getting weaker. That was not a good sign. It seemed gradual on its progress. She hoped the egg would pull through the issue. It should take a few days until they finally hatch. She hoped things would be fine.


Things were not fine for them.

Several days later, Toothless was utterly distressed. The eggs were dying, and they did not know what to do. The weak egg was slowly dying, and the healthy one had somehow started dying fast. The dragoness had done all sorts of magic to keep them at right temperature. However, whatever she did, it did not seem to help at all. It looked like the eggs were giving up.

"Toothless?"

The mother dragon whipped around. Charcoal was standing there, carrying a large tuna on his mouth. "Charcoal!"

The male dragon approached and sat in front of her. He dropped the tuna on the ground. "Here. You need something to eat."

"Charcoal, I…" Toothless had tears in her eyes. She was distressed. "I'm trying my best! I don't know why, but they're not getting better!"

Charcoal moved forward and sniffed the eggs. The once healthy egg was dying fast, and there was no change of pace for the already weak one. It saddened him that their first clutch was dying. They did not even have the chance to born into the world. Charcoal let out a shuddering breath. "You'll pull through this." He whispered to the eggs. "Please. I believe in you."

Charcoal looked back to his mate. "Can you check again?" He pleaded, hoping that Toothless could do something about it.

Toothless hesitantly approached and sat in front of their eggs. She leaned down and sniffed them both. The dragoness let out a gasp as tears poured from her eyes. She moved to hug her mate as she let out a loud, grieving wail. "Kraee…"

Charcoal closed his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks. He knew that it meant. One of the eggs had died. It did not make it. The male black dragon pulled his mate closer. He wrapped his neck against hers and rested his head on her back. His paws wrapped around her, comforting her. The father dragon felt grief from their unborn hatchlings. It was the worst nightmare a parent could ever have.

The two dragons grieved for hours. They were terrified for the condition of their eggs, and now, the worst had happened. The once healthy egg had died. The weak one would follow soon after. They did not want to check, afraid to face the truth presented to them. Everything was going so well for them so far. It felt unfair for them that they had to lose their first clutch of eggs.

"I'm sorry…" Charcoal whispered. Toothless sniffed under his embrace. The male Night Fury let go of her. He held her shoulder as he stared at her tearful, grieving eyes. It broke his heart to face the reality of the situation. "I… I'm going to bury the egg."

Charcoal moved away from Toothless. The dragoness watched as Charcoal sniffed the eggs. The male dragon could know which one had died. One of them smelt death. The male dragon grabbed the dead egg with his gums. He slowly walked out from the nest. He needed to bury it somewhere outside their nest.

Toothless was still grieving when she sensed something. It was a magical pulse. The dragoness opened her eyes as she looked down to the weak egg. She leaned down to sniff the egg. Her eyes widened. It was gaining life and magic so rapidly. It was going to hatch! "CHARCOAL!"

The male dragon quickly placed the dead egg down. He rushed to his mate. "What is it? Did something happen?"

"Charcoal, look!" Toothless called him out. She felt utterly relieved and happy to see the once weak egg becoming stronger than ever! "The egg! It's about to hatch!"

The male dragon watched as the egg started wobbling. It was shimmering red with fire, and he could feel the energy radiating from it. It was powerful. The egg was pushing through. Charcoal choked his breath. Everything was forgotten. The once weak egg had pulled through. It was going to hatch!

BOOM!

During their excitement, they completely forgot that dragon eggs explode upon hatching. Toothless and Charcoal yelped as they were sent backward from the explosion. Fire, magic and lightning went flying all over the place. The hatchling finally hatched from its egg. "Ow…"

"Hrr?"

Charcoal gasped upon hearing a tiny, high-pitched purr. He opened his eyes. The father dragon was laying on his back, looking down to his stomach. There was a small male Night Fury hatchling there. He was the size of a Terrible Terror. His head was bigger than his body, and the eyes were vibrant, forest green eyes. Charcoal simply stared at the hatchling on top of him. It took him some time to realise that it was their hatchling.

"Oh…" Charcoal breathed out. He felt utter relief seeing the hatchling in front of him. It was a male. They had a male hatchling. The hatchling looked like him.

"Here. Here."

The hatchling looked to the side. Toothless had eaten parts of the tuna that Charcoal had brought in. She regurgitated the food as the hatchling opened his toothless maw. The dragoness dumped the food into his mouth, filling the new-born with food. After that was done, the hatchling smacked his lips. He looked pleased that he was finally filled with food.

It took Charcoal some time to gather his thoughts. "He's beautiful." He breathed out as he took note of his appearance. "He… he looks like me…"

"He's going to be a strong hatchling." Toothless purred as she stared at their new-born son.

The hatchling sniffed something in the air. He reared as he caught some dust in his nose. "Hrr…" He opened his gums, rearing to sneeze. "Ka-CHOO!"

The sneeze was surprisingly spectacular for a new-born hatchling. A powerful lightning went flying to the wall and splashed harmlessly. It was coupled with a large magic pulse that went past the plasma fire. The combination of lightning and magic killed the plasma fire, plunging the whole place into darkness.

Toothless and Charcoal could see well in the dark. They were both staring at their hatchling. "… he have your magic."

"And your lightning." Toothless muttered, staring at him with wide eyes.

"He used them without even knowing it." Charcoal muttered, staring at their new-born hatchling. He felt proud for his son. It was most likely that his son had gained his lightning trait. His son was generating electric charges on his own, and he just hatched from the egg!

"He used pure raw magic on his own." Toothless whispered. She was excited. "He's a powerful hatchling!"

Charcoal let out a relieved sigh. "O- Of course he's powerful. He pulled through as an egg." He whispered as he looked at the hatchling. He was slowly moving towards him. "Come here. Here…"

The male black dragon reached his paws to his hatchling. The small dragon squinted his eyes, before pouncing onto it. "Karr…" Charcoal watched with adoration as the hatchling played with his claws. It was the best thing he had ever experienced. It was a feeling that he did not feel often.

"I- I'll get smaller fish!" Toothless hurriedly spoke as she went out from the place. The dragoness paused for a moment, before firing a plasma blast to the centre of the cave. It splashed onto the ground. Fire sprung up from the splash of plasma, illuminating the place once more. Satisfied, the dragon sorceress went out from the cave, heading to get some smaller fish for their new hatchling.

Charcoal was staring down at the hatchling. He was playing with his claws, wrestling them around. The adult dragon was careful with him, fearing that he might injure his new-born son during his play time. He did not want to hurt him, especially after the death of the other egg. He glanced back at the dead egg not far behind him. It saddened him that the other one did not make it.

'I need to get that checked.' He decided, remembering his time with Icebreath. 'I need to know why.'

Toothless came back. She was carrying fishes in her maw. The dragoness dropped them right next to the hatchling. The said small dragon looked up from his playtime. He looked at the fishes and approached them. The new-born hatchling sniffed them, before grabbing and swallowing them whole.

After the hatchling was fed once more, Toothless moved to rest near the fire. Charcoal simply rolled over from where he was. The hatchling bounced off from him. He snuggled close to his body, before curling up to sleep. The parents watched their son fall asleep. They were exhausted from the coaster of emotion for the past few days.

"What are you going to name him?"

Charcoal looked at Toothless, who had just sent him telepathic message. They did not want to disturb his sleep. He pondered on what to name their hatchling. He needed a name that summarised their nearly lost hope. The male dragon absentmindedly licked his hatchling, making the sleeping hatchling squirm under the affection.

"Calian." Charcoal decided as he looked down to his hatchling. "His name is Calian."

"What does it mean?"

"Warrior of life." Charcoal answered, looking down to the sleeping hatchling. "He fought his way to hatch, despite all odds against him. He survived, where others could not."

Toothless looked down, remembering the egg that did not survive. She did not say anything, still grieving for the stillborn egg. It meant that their hatchling – Calian – would grow up alone with them. He would not have any siblings to play with. It reminded her that their job was not done yet. They had to take care of Calian.

"It's a good name." Toothless spoke with sad expression. "… for his hatchling name."

Charcoal did not answer. He unfurled his wings and wrapped them around his hatchling. After that was done, he closed his eyes, going to sleep. Toothless soon fell asleep afterwards.


"Was the temperature stable?"

"Yes."

"Did it touch any water before it happened?"

"No."

Charcoal and Toothless were at their nest. Calian was sitting on top of Charcoal's head. Apparently, it was normal for Night Fury hatchlings to latch on top of their parent's head until they could fly on their own. They were not expecting him able to fly until he was at least one year old.

That was not the current concern, however. Charcoal had brought Icebreath into the nest for autopsy. The alpha Prickleboggle had brought his flock, which revealed several other Prickleboggle as big as a Fireworm, and another Prickleboggle of his size – presumably his mate. There were roughly 8 of them in total. The tiny dragons were observing and analysing the dead egg near the fire.

"Did it touch the plasma fire?" The female Prickleboggle asked, looking up to Toothless.

"No. I always kept the egg close to me." Toothless answered, staring at the egg with sad expression.

"Hmm…" The small green dragon frowned. "… there's no reason an egg to just… die like that. The temperature and condition here is fine for an egg. You said Calian was dying before suddenly hatched?"

"Yes."

"Then… I don't know what to say." The female Prickleboggle shrugged her wings. She was staring at the dead egg with concern. "There doesn't seem to be any egg-related diseases around. There's no report about Egg Parasite anywhere, and there's no smell on the egg…"

"So… you don't know either." Charcoal tried to summarize them.

"Krr…" The female Prickleboggle frowned. "It could be something unknown. I'm not fully qualified on egg autopsy, considering this is an unusual case, we might need to bring some dragons from Caldera."

"No." Toothless tightly spoke. She was firm on her decision. "I will not have dragons from there coming here."

The female Prickleboggle blinked at that decision. "Alternatively, we can take some samples and send them over there to check. You can bury the egg after that."

Charcoal looked at his mate. She looked conflicted. The male dragon brushed her mind, reading what she was thinking. After some thought, Charcoal looked back to the Prickleboggle. "We'll take the alternative."

The female Prickleboggle nodded. Several tiny Prickleboggles moved to collect eggshells from the nest. Those were the remains of Calian after he hatched. They also picked up some shed scales from Toothless and Charcoal. When that was done, they scraped the dead egg, getting some eggshells from it. The scrape simply took the outer layer, but the inner layer was still intact.

After everything was done, the Prickleboggles moved to fly out from the place, heading back to their own nest. The female Prickleboggle looked back to the two black dragons. "I'll keep you updated through Mail Chunks."

"Thank you." Charcoal softly spoke to her.

The female Prickleboggle stiffly nodded. She walked out from the nest, leaving three dragons alone there. Icebreath was still inside, staring at the two black dragons.

"I'd say congratulations on your new hatchling." Icebreath spoke to Charcoal. "But this one is more important. I'm sorry for your loss."

"We'll… get through this." Charcoal shrugged his wings. He glanced up at Calian, who was sitting on top of his head. "We just want to know what happened, so it doesn't happen again."

"I guess we better double time the delivery then." Icebreath exhaled. He shook his head. "It should be there in a few months. Considering Dragon Rebellion happening right now, we'd be lucky to hear anything back in a year or two."

"Any news is better than no news at all." Charcoal answered. He was smiling at Icebreath with sad expression. "Thanks for the help, Icebreath. We couldn't do this without you."

"No problem, lad. I'm glad I get to see Toothless again!" The Prickleboggle brightly smiled, glancing at Toothless for some time. "She's all grown up! By the way, did you got your mind checked?"

"We checked. There's no suppressed Block anywhere." Charcoal answered.

"Alright." Icebreath shrugged his wings. "I should be going now. 'gonna get those samples delivered and whatnot. You two have a good day."

Toothless and Charcoal simply watched Icebreath leaving the nest. After he left, Charcoal moved to approach the dead egg. Calian jumped off from Charcoal's head and landed close to the egg. He sniffed it, curious about the sibling that never came to be. The hatchling did not understand what was going on. He looked up at his father with curious expression.

Charcoal took a shuddering breath. "Calian." He started. "Why don't you get to your mother?"

"Har!" Calian yipped. He happily bounced off towards his mother, who had lowered her head. He climbed up onto her head and rested there. While they were busy, Charcoal went and grabbed the dead egg with his gums.

Charcoal went out from the cave. It was dark outside, which was expected. There was a hole that had been dug not far from the entrance. He walked towards the empty grave and placed the egg there. After the egg was inside, the black dragon pushed the dirt to bury the dead egg. When that was done, he took a step back and sat on his hindlegs, staring down at the grave.

Toothless had gone out from the cave to watch him bury the egg. After he buried it, she approached and sat next to him. The dragoness leaned her body against his, staring down at the buried egg with forlorn expression.

Charcoal wrapped his wings around her. "We thought they'd make it." He muttered. "I can't believe how wrong we were."

"We thought Calian wouldn't make it." Toothless whispered. "But he's here with us."

The male dragon let out a shuddering breath. "We'll get through this. We still have Calian." He whispered. "He made it this far. Let's not disappoint him."

"… yeah." Toothless muttered, staring down at the grave in front of them.

It was the darkest night for them both. The moon and stars shone upon them, taunting them for their grief. The cold wind brushed against their scales. It felt much colder than before. The two dragons felt like the world was against them, as they had taken away one of their hatchlings meant to born into the world.


Furious was grumbling in his lair.

It had been a few days since the Liberation of Rookery. It was made a historical event by the dragons of Dragon Rebellion. The dragons were happy to have the Rookery back under them once more. After years of occupation from rogue alpha dragons, it was finally liberated for them to use. Everyone was celebrating the victory, as it meant they finally had a place to hatch their eggs.

For Furious, this meant that the dragons would be out of commission. No one would be doing dragon raids for the Dragon Rebellion. There were reports of humans building up their defences during this down time, which meant future dragon raids would be harder for them. They had every opportunity to push forward and destroy some villages. Unfortunately, that was not happening, because they had completely stopped operating altogether.

It made Furious wonder if it was a good decision to allow the operation. As much as he despised the decision, he could not bring himself to hate Charcoal for it. His son cared too much for the dragons, so much more than what he initially thought. It made him wonder if he was too harsh on treating him. It was out of character for him to behave this way, but Furious thought it was necessary.

'For the greater good.' Furious firmly assured himself.

Something suddenly snapped him from his thoughts. 'What the…' Furious thought as he checked his mindscape.

There were roughly a thousand dragons guesting in his mindscape. Identification revealed that those were Monstrous Nightmares and Deadly Nadders. The dragons were copying mission briefing Chunks from the Chunk station. It was as if those dragons were moving to do dragon raid assignments. Tracking those dragons revealed that they came from his bond with Charcoal. Those dragons were Charcoal's dragons.

"Charcoal." Furious called through his telepathy. "Come to my lair."

Roughly half an hour later, Charcoal approached his lair. He stood on the balcony where the giant eye would appear. Not long after, Furious approached, revealing the giant eye to him. The black dragon bowed down to his greater alpha, before straightened himself in casual manner. "What's up?"

Furious sent a Chunk that logged the activity in his mindscape. "Who are these dragons?"

Charcoal mulled over what Furious sent into his mind. After checking the Chunk, the black dragon answered. "Those are the dragons that submitted to me."

"How?"

"During the Liberation of Rookery, I defeated and took control of two rogue alpha dragons occupying the island." Charcoal explained to him. "That led me taking control of roughly 1200 Deadly Nadders and Monstrous Nightmares. I've leased one thousand dragons to replace the ones out of commission. The rest would be defending the Rookery, in case other flock decide to attack."

"Okay." Furious seemed to approve. It seemed the decision was not all in naught, after all. "What of the two rogue alpha dragons?"

"I have given the dragons back to them." Charcoal answered. "I gave them instructions for what they need to do."

"Why?"

Charcoal straightened himself. "I have responsibility as your second-in-command." He explained himself. "It had taken up most of my time. I have ordered the two alpha dragons under me, and dragons under them, to serve you."

"Why did you not pass the bond over to me?"

"It… never came up in my mind." Charcoal admitted. "I can do that now, if you want."

"… No." Furious responded. He sounded happy at this development. "You can keep them, but make sure they participate in dragon raids."

"I'll make sure they do." Charcoal nodded.

"Because of this, I believe it is time to reward you." The giant dragon declared.

Charcoal was wary. "I'm going to eat more rocks, am I?"

As if on cue, several rocks came out from the hole. Unlike before, however, these ones were glowing and varied in colour. That made him wary, as he did not recognise any of them. The black dragon looked up to the giant eye, pleading in his expression.

"Eat." Furious commanded, using his control over him. Charcoal fell under his hypnosis and obeyed his order. The black dragon moved to eat the rocks once more, redirecting them into his furnace.

Unlike the time when he ate the rocks for the first one, this seemed to change him. It made his furnace glow brighter and stronger, which made it painful for him. He felt his scales burning, as he suddenly regenerating electricity at an alarming pace. It was eager for release. Charcoal ignored this feeling and kept on eating, as he did not have the will to do anything else.

Arcs of blue lightning began appearing around his scales. Furious was gleeful to see Charcoal becoming even more powerful. His electric charge was rapidly expanding to accommodate the regeneration rate. His furnace was getting more potent. After the black dragon finished that pile of rocks, more rocks were thrown towards him, prompting him to eat more of them.

"Yes… I will make you undefeatable. You will become the most powerful of them all." Furious purred at the sight. "It would be a shame to waste your talent on raiding villages. You should be doing something more."

"Dad… please…" Charcoal pleaded. He was holding onto Toothless' presence in his mind for comfort. While he did not have control over himself, he could feel what was happening around him. He could not communicate with Toothless, since Furious was somehow blocking their bond.

"From now on, you will be conquering dragons for our cause." Furious purred inside his mind. "Make them submit to you. Make them lick your paws. You will rule them all, and they will follow you, like a master over their slaves."

More rocks were thrown at his direction. Charcoal moved to eat them. Furious was elated when he noticed Charcoal started to grow. He began to burn, as blue fire jacketed his scales. The giant dragon was happy to see him change. Charcoal was becoming more powerful.

"Just for notice, we will be doing this every day." Furious informed the hypnotized dragon. "I will make you powerful. In turn, you will weave dragon's mind to join our cause."


"Hrr…" Toothless held back a groan. Instead, she let out a displeased purr. The dragoness was resting in her nest. Calian was asleep near the plasma fire.

Toothless had been trying to contact Charcoal. He had disappeared again for no reason. While she typically not dwell much into it, there was something unusual this time. Charcoal was holding onto her presence in his mind. It was strange and that made her concerned. It had been hours and there was no sign of anything changing.

Toothless let out a gasp as a flood of emotion rushed through the bond. It was as if a huge floodgate just suddenly went open. She reeled at the amount of desperation Charcoal radiated through the bond. "Charcoal! Are you okay?"

There was no answer. The dragoness stood from the ground and went out from the cave. It was night-time outside. Before she could process anything, the dragoness was suddenly tackled to the ground. She was enveloped by something large and pitch black in colour. She struggled under the grasp, but no avail. The scales were radiating heat and the scent screamed power.

It was a few moments later that Toothless recognised the scent. It was Charcoal. The dragoness was confused. "Charcoal, what-"

"I'm sorry." Charcoal muttered. His voice was deeper than usual. "I'm sorry, Toothless. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Charcoal, I'm here." Toothless called out. Her voice was muffled under his scales. The dragoness was confused and scared. Charcoal could never fully envelop her whole before. He had somehow grown and capable of holding her whole. She was 10 metres long!

"Toothless, please don't leave me." Charcoal whispered. He did not seem mentally stable. "I'm sorry, Toothless. Please don't leave me."

"Charcoal." Toothless soothed as she reached her mind to him. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

That seemed to relax the distressed dragon. The dragon sorceress crawled up to his head. She pressed her head against his neck, bathing under his scent. It should be enough to comfort her mate. Checking his mind, there were signs of mental stability issue. His mindscape was in disarray. Toothless wondered what happened when he was away.

"Toothless please…" Charcoal breathed out. He was slowly falling asleep. "Don't leave me…"

"Hrr…" Toothless purred as she shifted under his tight embrace. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

That seemed to work. Charcoal fell asleep. The dragoness was tired as well. Despite being held and unable to let go of herself, she felt comfortable under his embrace. Deciding that was it, Toothless closed her eyes. She soon fell asleep while being held under her mate.


Toothless woke up from the most comfortable sleep she ever had.

The dragoness opened her eyes. She blinked upon seeing nothing but darkness. She remembered that she had been sleeping under Charcoal's embrace. "Charcoal?"

The male dragon released her. Toothless moved away from him. She noticed that it was very early in the morning. They were both outside the nest. The dragoness stretched her body, before looking up to her mate. Her eyes widened upon seeing him.

Charcoal was bigger than she remembered. He was two times bigger than her. The dragoness had to look up to see his eyes. Observing his appearance, he obviously looked far more powerful than before. She could feel him radiating heat from few metres away. It was interesting to see him at that condition.

"Toothless…" Charcoal breathed out. He looked exhausted and somewhat in pain. "G- Good morning."

"What happened to you?" Toothless asked as she began circling him. Everything about him was bigger and tougher. However, it was obvious that Charcoal was straining to hold something back; like a balloon about to explode. "You're in pain!"

"Furious…" The large black dragon answered. He was heaving his breath. "He decided to reward me…"

"Reward you with what?" Toothless asked as she stopped right in front of him. "… Charcoal? Charcoal? Are you okay?"

"No…"

Toothless entered his mind. Charcoal did not resist. She pried to see what happened to him yesterday. Upon seeing what happened, including the new task he was assigned to, the dragoness was disgusted. "Furious did this?!"

"Toothless…" Charcoal pleaded. "Please don't be mad…"

The dragon sorceress was fuming. "Charcoal, look at you!" She screeched at him. "You look like you'd go on a rampage! He's turning you into a monster!"

"He wants me to recruit dragons for the cause…"

"He wants you to make dragons submit!" Toothless roared to his face. She sat on her hindlegs and began gesturing to his general direction. "Look at you! Look at your mindscape! You spent so much time on it, and now it's in ruins!"

Toothless was not wrong on that one. Charcoal's mindscape was a bit distorted. It was a sign of mental instability. The condition was slowly getting stable, however. It would not take long to repair.

"Toothless, it's okay…" Charcoal shuddered his breath. "I'm getting stronger…"

"This is not okay!" Toothless stomped her paws on the ground. She was glaring at her mate. "You may be stronger now, but that would never stop you from going insane from this! He wants you to do that every day?! Is he trying to break you?!"

Charcoal moved to reach for her. "Toothless…"

The dragoness flinched back. That made him stop. He stared at her with hurt expression. It pained her that she was afraid of him. "Please…"

Toothless realised what she had done. She let out a sigh and pushed herself onto him. The dragoness hesitantly rubbed her body against his. Charcoal sat on his hindlegs and pulled her into a hug. She allowed him to do so, but the size difference allowed him to envelop her whole. She let out a sigh, feeling comfortable under his embrace.

"… I'm sorry." Toothless finally spoke. She was calmer than before. "But Charcoal, what your dad did to you – it's not right!"

"Toothless…"

"He's turning you into a monster to control all dragons." Toothless nearly snarled into his ears. "He wants everyone to submit to you. Why did you do this, Charcoal? Why didn't you just break away and refuse?"

"Toothless… it's necessary for the war effort…" Charcoal whispered. His voice was a bit hoarse.

Toothless wanted to laugh at that statement. "This war is breaking you." She firmly spoke. "We just had a mind healer come and heal our mind, and now you're breaking it again."

"We can fix it…"

"And then what?" Toothless demanded. "You'll do what he said and take over dragons for him?"

Charcoal did not answer. Toothless already know what the response would be. The dragoness pulled away from him. She jumped up and placed her paws onto his chest. That allowed her to see him at eye level. She softened her eyes upon seeing him. He looked like he was in pain. Furious had done something to him, and she was angry for it.

"Charcoal; answer me this." Toothless asked, concerned. "Furious wants you to take over dragon nests now, right?"

"He gave me that assignment…" Charcoal breathed out.

"Was it right to involve dragons that don't want anything to do with this?" The dragoness questioned.

"… No."

Toothless bared her teeth. "Then why did you let that happen?!" She snarled at him. "Why did you agree to this?! Why are you even in this war?!"

Charcoal looked away. "… I don't know." He confessed. He did not dare to look at his mate. "I just… I just want a place for us dragons. I…"

The male dragon suddenly lunged forward. He pinned her down and enveloped her with his body. "CHARCOAL!" Toothless screeched. "LET ME GO!"

"You're angry…"

"If you don't let me go now, I'll bite you!"

There was no response. Toothless expanded her teeth and bit into his scales. There was no response. "KRAAAAA!" the dragoness roared as she unsheathed her claws. She trashed around and scratched his body. Unfortunate for her, his scales were too thick for her claws or teeth to pierce through. His grasp on her was too strong. "Let go me! Get off! Get off! GET OFF! CHARCOAL!"

Charcoal did not respond. Toothless kept screeching, biting and scratching his body. She briefly considered using her magic against him, but she was afraid of actually hurting him. After nearly an hour of struggle, she was left exhausted. She limped her body, not really knowing what to do next.

"Charcoal." Toothless called him out. "Can you let me go?"

There was a pause. Few seconds later, Charcoal let her go. Toothless moved over to see what she had done to him. There was not even a scratch on his scales!

"There…" Charcoal breathed out. He looked like he was still in pain. "You're not angry anymore…"

Toothless wanted to snap at him, but she did not have the energy to do so. The dragoness resorted to glaring at him. "I should've used my magic on you."

"I probably deserved it…"

"Charcoal, stop being self-sacrificing dragon." Toothless retorted, feeling tired. "You've been in Dragon Rebellion for 11 years. No dragon should ever be serving for that long."

Charcoal did not respond. The mother dragon let out an exasperated sigh. "Why did you do this, Charcoal?" She pleaded. "I'm your mate, and we just got a hatchling. Furious made us your second priority, and you just accepted it. I've been enduring all this-" She gestured to everything. "-for you. Is this love you're talking about one-sided?"

"Toothless, I love you with all my heart." Charcoal pleaded.

"Then tell me." Toothless levelled her gaze to him. "Why did you do this?"

The male dragon took a shuddering breath. "… I want a place for us dragons." He confessed. "A place where we don't have to sleep with one eye open. A place where we don't have to worry about humans killing us. A place where all of us could leave in peace. I want freedom for all of us."

Toothless did not say anything. She was listening to him. Charcoal continued speaking. "I just want us to be left alone." He choked his breath. His eyes began to tear up. "I don't want our hatchling to experience this. Five years from now, he'll get his adult name. I don't want him to experience what we're going through right now. I don't want him in Dragon Rebellion."

The dragoness softened her expression. Charcoal continued speaking. "I just want this war to stop." He confessed to her. "But it just doesn't. Humans doesn't see us as intelligent being. They see us as animals. They're trying to wipe us out, harvest our body parts, selling them for weapons and vanity things that they wore on their body."

It was then Toothless realised the true extent of his hatred against humans. His experience with him truly scarred him. "You're hurting." She softly whispered. "Even after mind healer… you're still hurting…"

"I just don't want our hatchling to die." Charcoal whispered. He avoided her gaze. "I don't want to lose him. We almost lost him. I don't want to lose him again. I just want to raise him in peace."

Toothless pondered for some time. While they were no longer at the front line, they could see the situation and condition better than everyone else. it was one of the benefits they had, since Charcoal was Furious' second in command.

The Dragon Rebellion was currently at its height. Humans were invading dragon nests; dragons were killing humans and starving them. Their safe zones were slowly shrinking, changing from normal island to human occupied village. The dragons were losing. Humans were getting sophisticated on their attacks. Had Charcoal not come back from Greater Archipelago, things would've been worse for them.

"Then, come with me."

Charcoal looked down to her. "What?"

"Come with me." Toothless repeated. "To the Caldera."

"Toothless…"

"Leave the war behind." Toothless raised her voice. "For Calian. For me. Live in peace together. No human could ever find the place."

"Toothless…" Charcoal pleaded. "As much as I love to, I can't."

"Why not?"

"Humans could find the place." Charcoal explained to her. "This war will catch up to Caldera. When they found us there, all of us will die."

"Whose side are you on, Charcoal?" Toothless snarled. She was angry that Charcoal rebuffed her suggestion. "Is this what you want? Is this war something that you want?"

"No." Charcoal softly answered her. "No one is getting anything from this war. Not dragons, not humans. The only ones getting anything out of this war are those that made weapons and harvesting our bodies."

"That's not our problem. That's Merciless' problem!" Toothless cried out. "He's at the Greater Archipelago!"

"I know, but once Merciless dies, it's going to be our problem." Charcoal explained to her.

Toothless realised that she was stuck. Charcoal was too stubborn on his devotion for peace. "Is that all you want?" She asked. "Peace for us? For all dragons?"

Charcoal straightened his body. He looked at his mate in the eyes. "Yes."

"… Dragon Rebellion is not the answer to this." Toothless finally spoke. She was firm on her voice. "This war has been going on for 1500 years. It had broken billions of dragons, and nothing ever came out from this."

Charcoal listened to her. Toothless continued speaking. "If you want peace, you have to think of something else." She decided. "I don't want you to break. I swear, skies above witness me, if I see you starting to break, I'll destroy your bond with Furious and pull you to Caldera myself. Do you understand me?!"

Charcoal lowered his head, showing submission to his mate. "Yes, Toothless." He whispered. "I promise you. I'll figure out something else."

Toothless let out a relieved sigh. "Good." She replied. It felt nice to finally reach a resolution for the matter. "We should check on Calian now. He's probably awake. We need to get your mindscape fixed too."

The two dragons walked into the cave, heading to do their business of tending their hatchling.


It was late in the morning when Stoick walked out from the Mead Hall. The man had gotten himself a breakfast. There was nothing to do at the Isle of Berk at the moment, which meant that it was time for him to spend his time with Hiccup. Strange enough, he had not seen the boy all day outside the house.

The man made his way to the Haddock house. He opened the door and entered the living room. "Hiccup?" He called out.

There was no response. Stoick frowned. He closed the door behind him, before walking up the stairs. "Hiccup?" He called once more.

The man stopped right in front of the door. He slowly opened the door, revealing Hiccup sleeping on the bed. He entered his room and approached the boy. "Hiccup?"

"Mm…" The boy let out a moan, before turning himself in his sleep.

"Hiccup, wake up. It's morning." Stoick softly spoke as he grabbed his hand. The man widened his eyes upon touching him. His skin was too hot. He placed his hand on his head and found them hot as well. The boy was having a fever!

The chief lifted his son up from the bed. He needed to get to Gothi, and fast!


Hiccup was sitting on the chair inside Gothi's house. The boy was chewing something on his mouth. Stoick was sitting next to him, checking over his temperature. The fever quickly died down after eating the herbs that Gothi had given him. That was a relief for them both.

The elderly woman was standing in front of them. She was smiling as she stared at the boy. The elder was glad that the fever finally went down. The herb worked unusually well for him.

Hiccup gulped the herbs down his throat. "So, uh…" He spoke as he looked up to the elderly. "I just need to eat this again later?"

Gothi nodded. She grabbed more herbs from the side and offered it to the boy. Hiccup grabbed the herbs. "Thank you, elder Gothi!"

The elderly woman smiled. Hiccup stood from the chair and went out from house. He had things to do, experiments to try. He needed to continue his studies before evening.

Stoick stood from the chair. It revealed that he was holding a book. "Thank you, Gothi."

The elderly woman began writing something on the ground with her stick. The chief looked down to read the text.

DID YOU SEE SCALES?

Stoick softened his expression. "No." He whispered. "I did not."

Gothi frowned, before making dismissing gesture towards him. The chief walked out from the house. Getting out from the place, he noticed that Hiccup was more energetic for the day. That was unusual.

"Is he okay?"

Stoick glanced to the side. Gobber was standing next to him. The blacksmith had been waiting outside Gothi's hut. He was one of the Viking he came across when carrying Hiccup to her place.

"Aye." Stoick nodded. "He'll be fine."

"Was it related to… you know." Gobber gestured to the book he was holding.

The chief looked at the book. It looked like a journal. There was a title written on the book. 'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the First.'

"… I don't know." Stoick finally spoke, staring at the book. "But I will find out about this."


Author Note

Charcoal is too devoted in Dragon Rebellion.
Charcoal is the embodiment of an "ideal soldier". He's loyal and self-sacrificial. However, instead of fully loyal to his alpha, he's loyal to the dragons. He fought Dragon Rebellion for the dragons.

His willingness to defy Furious in favour of dragons showed this. He's more concerned about dragons because of what he believed in.

What happened to the dragon egg?
It will be covered in the next book. The autopsy dragons in Hidden World are working on it.

Some phrases like "ow" and "oh" are not translated to dragon equivalent.
Either I forgot about them, or I left them like that. Let's just say that I left them like that since I don't know what sort of equivalent noise to make.

It felt like lazy excuse, but I don't think it mattered that much. At least, I hope it doesn't matter that much.

Some thoughts and phrases that Furious said was alarming.
If you think of that, then you're right. What Furious said meant to be alarming. He's an advocate to wipe all humans from the face of the world. He wanted dragons to be the sole dominant species. He's a bloody speciest, and that's going to be his character.

What about Charcoal?
Charcoal just wanted the war to end. He knew that the loss was too great, and he was focused on protecting his family and the dragons. He's a soldier, and he have alive-or-dead mindset. He had some ideas on how to end the war, as you had probably guessed in the previous chapters.

Furious wanted Charcoal to be like him. He wanted Charcoal to hate because he had seen the future. While Charcoal hated humans, he hated them for different reason. Furious was filled with fear and vengeance against humans. Charcoal was solid in his belief. He just want the war to stop.

More of this will be brought up later in the next book.

When will Charcoal realise that he's Hiccup?
Next chapter. It should roughly follow HTTYD 1 until the end of the book, with a bit of a twist of my own. After that, the next book is for HTTYD RoB and DoB together, along with Cressida Cowell's How to Train Your Dragon book. There's 24 chapters for that one, and it's currently being worked on.


FFN Specific Author Note
Answering Your Reviews

Obiben27 – Furious actually stopped tampering with his mind after Charcoal gotten his alpha dominance. That's why he gave it to him. The job was already done. Although I felt like I should have this mentioned somewhere back then. Looking back, I completely forgotten to add that scene.

sandstorm25555 – Each scene is run in chronological order and time, unless stated otherwise. The lack of transformation scene is intentional. It's meant to show how distant Charcoal and Hiccup are, despite them being the same individual. There are only two transformation scenes in this story: one in Chapter 6 (dragon to human) and one in Chapter 7 (human to dragon). It was done in front of other people or dragons, and the scene itself is a bit disappointing.


End Note

Thank you for reading my story. Thank you for leaving reviews and comments.

Next chapter will be posted around 27-28 July 2022, depending on the time zone.