52. Family matters

"Mom?" Hiccup asked again after receiving no answer. The woman looked at him, then gave a small smile and turned to walk away.

"Come, come," she urged motioning for him to follow her.

"Wait!" Hiccup yelped as he followed her through finding tunnels made of rock, "You're my mother!?"

"This way," she called back not answering his question, partially crawling over a rock in the tunnel, a rock that Hiccup had problems with as he slid down from it, trying to find some perch to get over it.

"Come back here!" he called again as Toothless used his head to lift him up the rock, Hiccup ran after his mother without looking back, "You can't just say something like that and run off! You're my mother?! I mean, what the - do you grasp how insane it sounds?!"

"Come. Quickly!" she urged him with a glance back at him, she disappeared behind a wall.

"I have questions! Where have you been all this time?" Hiccup asked as he followed her behind the wall, "What've you been doing?! They said you were dead! Everyone thinks you were eaten by..." he trailed off.

Hiccup was amazed by what greeted him. Dragons of all shapes and sizes, flying in unison. It was so colorful when compared to the icy landscape outside. He couldn't believe that this place existed. The dragons living together, thriving together, it was something Hiccup always dreamed of. Hiccup looked around, he jumped as he noticed his mother and the Stormcutter hanging off a wall.

"This is where you've been for twenty years?" he asked her softly, he didn't want to disturb the serenity he stumbled in to. His mother – Valka – nodded. "You've been rescuing them," he stated and watched as she nodded again, this time a smile gracing her face, "Unbelievable."

"You're not upset?" Valka cautiously asked as the Stormcutter lowered her down on the ground.

"Yes, yes I am," Hiccup answered her with a frown, "I may not be showing it, but I am upset. It's not every day you find out your mother is some kind of crazy, feral, vigilante dragon lady," he said as he gestured to her.

"I'm sorry, Hiccup," Valka apologized, her voice full of hurt and guilt, "At least I'm not boring... right?"

"I suppose there is that... one... specific... thing..." Hiccup mumbled as the same dragon that snatched him from Toothless nudged him to get his attention. Hiccup petted his snout, not wanting the dragon to feel bad just because he felt bad.

"Do you like it?" his mother asked as she gestured to the vast nest.

"I don't have the words," Hiccup admitted as he once again looked at the gorgeous scenery in front of him.

Toothless' roar gained his attention as the Night Fury scared off some dragons that had taken upon themselves to sniff him out. Toothless also gained Valka's attention as she took a step towards him, before she touched the Night Fury she looked at Hiccup.

"Can I...?" she hesitantly asked him, he nodded as he crossed his arms. He might have been upset, but he didn't want to be an asshole just because he could, giving people second chances is what he was good at, his mother deserved a second chance too.

"He's beautiful! Incredible! And he might very well be the last of his kind," she said as she scratched Toothless' chin, the dragon preening under her attention, "And look, he's your age! No wonder you get along so well. And retractable teeth! Ah! How did you manage to – " she cut herself off as she looked at Hiccup expectantly.

"I found him in the woods. He was shot down and wounded," Hiccup awkwardly explained, he rubbed the back of his neck as Valka stood up and went over to one of the gathered dragons.

"This Snafflefang lost his leg to one of Drago Bludvist's iron traps," she told him as she gestured to the wounded dragon with her staff, "This Raincutter had her wing sliced by razor netting. And poor Gruff was blinded by a tree snare... then left to die alone and scared," she went back to Toothless and lifted his prosthetic with her staff, "And what of this? Did Drago or his trappers do this, too?" she questioned and Hiccup let out an awkward laugh.

"Well, crazy thing is... I'm actually the one who shot him down," he explained, Valka looked at him in shock and curiosity, Hiccup was quick to explain, "It's okay though, he got me back. Right, bud? You couldn't save all of me, could you? You just had to make it even. So… peg leg!" he said as he went over to Toothless, he showed his mother his leg which she looked horrified to see.

"What did your father think of your Night Fury friend?" she asked instead of saying anything about his prosthetic.

"We… we got into a fight because of him," he said as Toothless lifted Hiccup on himself with his head, Hiccup happily scratched the dragons chin as Toothless let out a happy groan, "But he's changing now, at least I'm pretty sure he is," he told her with a small smile.

"If only it were possible," Valka said as she looked over the nest.

"No, really – " Hiccup tried to explain, but she wasn't listening.

"Believe me, I tried, as well. But people are not capable of change, Hiccup. Some of us... were just born different," she told him as she got lost in thought, "I believed peace was possible, it was a very unpopular opinion," she looked at him with sadness, "During a raid, I saw that I was right. A dragon had broken into the house, I ran inside to protect you, but he didn't hurt you. I looked into the dragon's eyes and saw an intelligent, gentle creature, whose soul reflected my own."

Hiccup smiled at the words, thinking back to his own meeting with Toothless.

"Stoick intervened at that point," Valka continued, "He spooked the dragon, even with me trying to stop him. The scared dragon took me into his claws and flew away with me. You and your father nearly died that night, all because I couldn't kill a dragon." She finished.

"Yeah, it runs in the family," Hiccup agreed while looking down at Toothless.

"It broke my heart to stay away, but I believed you'd be safer if I did," she quietly explained.

"I wasn't," Hiccup told her, his smile falling from his face, "I wasn't safer."

"Oh, Hiccup," Valka cried, her voice full of sorrow, "Will you ever be able to forgive me?"

Hiccup looked at the ground. His mother was alive. A person who he had fully believed was dead, had been just hiding for the last twenty years. He was hurt and angry, but in a way, he had done the same thing. He left, leaving people to believe he was dead, but he had nothing to go back to when he left. It was all such a mess, but he knew one thing, everyone deserved a second chance, and he did want to learn more about his mother who he was so similar to.

"I'm willing to try," he promised and the smile that overtook her face warmed his heart, "So, how did you survive?"

"Oh, Cloudjumper never meant to harm me. He must've thought I belonged here..." she gestured to the nest, "In the home of the great Bewilderbeast! The Alpha species. One of very few that still exist. Every nest has its queen, but this is the king of all dragons." Hiccup followed to where she was gesturing and saw the largest dragon he had ever seen. It was white in color, with black markings all over and had huge tusks that were almost ten times the size of Toothless.

"With his icy breath, this graceful giant built our nest. A safe haven for dragons everywhere," Valka explained. Hiccup's mind blanked.

"Wait, that's the ice-spitter? He's responsible for all that destruction?" He asked thinking about the times he and Storm had come across destroyed Dragon trapper settlements covered in the blue ice.

"He protects us. We all live under his care. And his command. All but the babies, of course... who listen to no one!" she laughed as a group of hatchlings landed on the dragon's tusks, waking the Bewilderbeast who blew them away with a huff.

Hiccup followed his mother as she led him down a path that let them get closer to the huge dragon. Hiccup was in awe, he didn't know what to do or think. The Bewilderbeast noticed the two and turned to face them.

"Wow…" Hiccup gasped as he looked at the magnificent dragon.

"I've lived among them for twenty years, Hiccup, learning their ways, discovering their secrets..." she said as she bowed to the Alpha, the dragons around them did too, even Toothless. The only one not bowing was Hiccup. The Alpha noticed this and blew his icy breath at Hiccup, freezing over his hair.

"He likes you," Valka told him as Hiccup shook out the ice from his hair. He observed as the Bewilderbeast turned away from them and went back to resting on his water pool.

"You must be hungry," Valka said out of the blue bringing Hiccup's attention back to her.

"Uh, yeah. I could eat," Hiccup answered a little confused.

"Good. It's feeding time," Valka said as she walked off, Hiccup sent a look to Toothless who just tilted his head. Right, the Night Fury didn't know anything more than he did. Hiccup sighed and followed his mother, second chances, after all, meant both sides had to try.

"Where is he!?" Stoick shouted for what felt like the hundredth time. Storm sighed in annoyance as she pushed down her anger.

"For the last time Stoick," she growled, "I'm not answering that question. Where my brother went is of no importance to anyone but me."

"He is not your brother," the Chief barked and slammed his hand on the table.

They were in the Meade hall, half of the village was standing behind Stoick, literally, because Stoick was standing to his back to the hall's door. He had taken this stance in a way to cage Storm in, she knew, but the fact that the gang, and Gobber, had stood behind her had made her smile. They trusted her when it came to Hiccup and that was all that mattered to her.

"He is," Storm simply said. "He's my family, he's my brother."

"My wife did not give birth to you!" Stoick shouted, his face screwed in an angry frown.

"We are family," Storm told him as she mimicked his stance, "Not by blood, but by choice."

"He is my son, you have to tell me where he is."

"He's your son, but he ran to me. I'm not telling you anything," Storm smiled, she was angry, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of showing him that she was affected.

"Then take me to him!" he yelled. Storm rolled her eyes, she wasn't going to do that, not until he calmed down, because if he saw Hiccup when he was this angry, someone was going to get hurt.

"The only way I'll do that, is if you calm down," she told him with confidence, his scare tactics didn't scare her, she had seen too much to get scared by pointless yelling.

"Take me to him," the Chief ordered putting emphasis on every word. Storm cast a glance behind herself to the gang, they were either scared or annoyed, she even saw Gobber roll his eyes at Stoick's behavior.

"Nope," she said as she turned back to Stoick, she straightened and crossed her arms and smirked, "Try again."

[To the person who said 'Of course we should have seen the movies coming into The story. Still wonder how she will change things.' That's true. The end of this fic leans heavily on the second movie, it always has. A few things weren't planed in this fic, like the romance between Storm and Eret, or the long wait for the Hicstrid talk. The fic leaning on the second movie was always planned, because I'm not that creative. I did change a few things tho, so I still hope you enjoy this! And as we're nearing the ending, I want to say thank you for all of the nice comments!]