One week had passed since he returned to the village, and in that one week he could already see a change. Though that change was limited to one person, it was probably the best one it could affect. His dad actually listened to him. Not with his usual disappointed scowl, or committing the barest of attention to him, but with his actual attention. It was… strange but it was a great thing to finally be acknowledged by his father. He was even able to get his idea approved for a better fire extinguishing system. They'd have to fill the troughs after each use, but over each house would be a trough of water that had a rope that someone could pull to dump it on a flaming house. It would also automatically dump itself if the rope was burned off.

His dad was skeptical, and they wouldn't be able to test it until the next raid, which wouldn't happen until winter was over, but he agreed to have one house near the center be the test building. Honestly, he didn't care if it didn't work how he wanted it to, his dad actually listened to him and followed one of his ideas. It was probably the happiest moment he's ever experienced.

His rumination was interrupted by a jovial voice belonging to someone he'd consider his good uncle. Or second dad, had things continue prior to Z. Perhaps he could call him uncad? Dunckle? He'll stick with Gobber.

"Yer smilin more of'en, what's got ye in a good mood?" The large man asked as he switched his interchangeable hand from, well, a hand, to a pair of tongs.

"Nothing, Gobber, just feeling a bit happy is all."

Gobber nodded his head as he picked up a nearly broken sword and shoved it into the hearth. "That's good, lad. I'll take that as meanin yer happy to help me fix all these weapons today." At his groan, Gobber continued with a chuckle. "Ye been slackin the past few days, and they're pilin up. Be happy I don't make ya do em alone" Well, at least he had help. It could be worse.

"Hey pipsqueak, the fuck you at!?" And worse it got. It was at this moment that he decided that his head needed to make contact with the wall. Repeatedly. All the while muttering, "I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life." Over and over.

Gobber gave him an odd look, but before he could say anything, the Loki incarnate continued his shouting. "I'll start breaking doors down, fuck, I'll start eating the shits. You know what wood tastes like? Fucking horrible. If you make me eat wood, imma kick yo're tiny ass from here to the mountain and back!" There was a loud thump somewhere nearby followed by a scream, also followed by a slightly deeper pitched scream.

"Fuck lady! God. Fuckin, shit, that's my ears you just screamed in! Fuck. Ever hear of common decency?" He felt like that was a statement that shouldn't be coming from the very familiar voice, but he was going to keep his mouth shut. "Damnit. Why do you humans have such dreaded lungs." There were a few shouts and angry yelling shortly after that statement. He could only hope that his… friend? Could make it out alive.

There was a faint thud, followed by silence. For a moment, he thought his friend was killed, and was nearly out of the forge when his voice spoke up. "Is he dead? Poke. Poke poke poke." There was an even more faint groan, one that was getting louder as Hiccup decided to exit the forge and follow the voice… if only to get the chaos to cease quicker.

"Nope, he's alive." There was a sudden menacing aura that blasted him as he rounded a house and stumbled into… something. Z was standing in the center of a ring of armed and angry Viking's, one of his forepaws resting on a downed Viking, Hoark, it looked like, and a crooked grin on his lips. Snout? Muzzle? "Ever play catch?" The dragon's eyes scanned over each Viking surrounding him, almost daring one of them to attack. Until Z's eyes met his, then, very suddenly, he was in front of him.

All Hiccup did was blink and apparently that was enough time for the large dragon to move from the center of the ring, to not even a foot in front of him. "Short stuff! There you are!" The dragon bent his head down and rubbed it against his, then leaned back and grinned at him. "Get this. I was flying around, avoiding big bitch, blowing up some fuckers calling themselves outcasts, and just being an all around swell guy, when I spotted an unusual island." The dragon looked expectantly at him, his guess being that Z wanted him to ask what was special, but that was hard to concentrate on when said dragon was effortlessly batting away bolas, axes, swords, and vikings with his tail. Just his tail. WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING!

Z must have caught on to his bewilderment since he turned his head to look at the scene behind him. "Oh that? I just know what to listen out for." He paused, turning his head back around to observe Hiccup again. "Don't worry, I won't kill any of them."

There was a sudden release of tension in his chest that he didn't know was building up. "Thanks." He half whispered.

"Don't mention it. Now, as I was saying, unusual island."

Hiccup rolled his eyes but decided to humor the dragon. "What's so special about this island?"

Z crouched low and spread is front two wings in a wide sweeping manner. "Lightning."

"Lightning?" He wasn't really all that impressed. A lot of the islands have severe storms that could wreath them in lightning for a few days. Sure it was out of season, but it wasn't anything special.

Z squinted at Hiccup's lackluster response. "Yeah, lightning. A whole fucking lot of it."

"Yeah, that tends to happen sometimes. They're called storms. The islands go through them often enough." The dragon invaded his village just to tell him about an island going through a storm? He really didn't know what to think about that.

"Oh, right." Z started, as he returned to his normal standing position. "No, there weren't any storms. Not a cloud in sight, but the damned island itself was shooting off lightning." He turned his body a bit to reveal a few scorch marks along his scaly side. "Even got hit by a few stray bolts."

Now that was unusual. An island spouting off lightning without a storm? He didn't want to admit it to the dragon, but he was very curious. "What do you think is causing it?"

"I have a guess, but-" He suddenly jumped a couple feet in the air while turning and shouting, "Ow! Fuck, who's the asshole…" the dragon paused when he took notice of Stoick standing in front of the other vikings. "How the fuck did I not hear you? You're fucking huge!"

Stoick seemed to not know what to think, if the sudden raise of his eyebrows was any indication to go off of. But that confusion lasted only a moment before he pulled his shield in front of him and began to advance.

"Straight to fighting. Typical." Hiccup could hear the dragon's eyes rolling. "I'd entertain you if I had the time." He glanced back towards him, a smirk plastered across his draconic face. "But me and pipsqueak here have an adventure to go on. So, later!" With that, he quickly turned around, grabbed a hold of his arms, and suddenly found themselves above the clouds. The surprised look on his father's face replaying in his head.

"Again!?" He shouted, upset barely scratching the surface of his emotions at the moment.

"Oh calm down would you? It's not like I'm taking you to your death." Hiccup wanted too, truly, but there were better ways to get someone to go with you besides kidnapping.

"Yes, but you could at least ask if I wanted to go!" He wasn't paying attention last time, due to his constant fear, but the wind was incredibly loud. Good thing he was a viking, shouting was the normal level of speech. "And what if I had things to take care of?"

"Excuse me then. Here, did you have anything better to do?" The dragon drawled as he slowly banked to the left.

"Yes, actually. I had work to do at the forge." That got him a four eyed stare from his friend/kidnapper.

"The fuck's a forge?"

Hiccup simply deadpanned, then let out the manliest, definitely manliest, scream he could muster when he was suddenly tossed further up into the air. His sudden airtime didn't last as he landed on something very solid. Looking down revealed that he was on the dragon's back, right above his top wings.

"Count yourself lucky, I know of only two others that have ever been granted permission to ride a dragon's back. Now, explain to me what a forge is." He said while looking at him with a single pair of eyes. Once the final command was given, he returned his head forward.

"You… it's basically the building where we make things." He stated, taking the time to look at the wispy clouds. They looked different from above. Thicker, more developed. The ones in the distance looked darker though, as if a storm was brewing.

"What kind of things?" There was a barely hidden curiosity in his voice.

"Eehh, weapons, tools, metal parts for buildings. Really, anything that requires metal, of any sort, in its design." He received a hum, one that he could feel through the dragon's scales, as a response.

"What about your structures? Houses you call them." He angled his head just enough that his back left eye could see him.

"That job goes to the carpenter. They handle most things wood and construction." Hiccup paused for a bit before asking, "If you've lived for so long, and can speak our language, fluently even, how do you not know what these things are?" It was certainly odd, all things considered.

"There's no translation for them." There was a slight growl, which caused him to hold off his immediate next question. "If you haven't figured it out, I can't actually speak your language. I use magic to translate what I say so you can understand. Works the other way too." Z slowed his flight and fully turned his head towards Hiccup. "If there isn't a word we dragons have, the word will still go through, but what it means does not."

"Oh." Was his almost immediate response. "Wait, magic?"

"Another time, short stack." He grumbled at the name, but didn't press. At his continued silence, Z continued his flight as normal. "We'll be there in a couple hours. Get comfortable."

Get comfortable translated to 'sit exactly where you are because any other position comes with the very high risk of falling off'. Which wasn't the end of the world. Seeing everything from so high up, while cold, was beautiful. Everything being the sun. Because the clouds were still below them and he couldn't exactly see beyond white fluffy and grey angry. Which, after about an hour, gave him enough time to think.

"So if your magic translates things, what does fuck mean?" Z turned his head and gave him the biggest grin he could.

"I don't have a fucking clue!" What?! "I just know when and where to use it. Same goes with shit and damn. Apparently bastard means a child born from parents that aren't married, and bitch means female dog."

He couldn't tell if he wanted to be angry or depressed with that answer. At least he knew what one new word meant, and one relatively new word. "So you've been using a word that you don't know the meaning of?" It was more of a statement than a question, but hopefully he'd still reply.

"Fuck yeah." Came the dragon's jovial response.

"But what if it's a curse?" If magic existed then curses should too.

"Nah. It's a human born word. Humans can't use magic. So, it's curse free." He was sure that wasn't sound logic, but he wasn't the one that uses magic, so he'll just have to leave that to trust.

The rest of the trip was covered in silence, mostly. The wind's constant whipping at his ears was definitely going to leave them ringing by the end of this little adventure. Something he'd have to fix if this was going to become regular. He released a small sigh at the rather large possibility, and was overjoyed that the clouds opened up enough to reveal a small island a few moments' flight away. He could almost taste the feeling of sweet dirt under his boots now. Though, the island was lacking a distinct amount of lightning. Something he was sure didn't escape his dragon companion's attention.

When they did land, Hiccup immediately jumped off and decided that the best way to return to the blessed dirt was to land on said dirt and proceed to faceplant. The fact that his legs buckled under his weight had nothing to do with that. He just wanted to make sure that he touched ground with all of him. He did not get to relish in stability for long, as he was picked up by the scruff and placed on his feet. He wobbled a bit, but he managed to steady himself and send a mild glare at Z.

Z was looking beyond him, most likely towards the forest, so he missed the glare. The dragon began a slow pace inland and he quickly trudged alongside him. As they walked, he tried to recall what he could of the small landmass. They landed on the southern edge of the island. There weren't any beaches, just a disproportionately large cliff face then oddly flat land and abundant forest. He remembered that the northern portion was a bit more elevated than the rest, but it was only enough to be noticable. There was also a pond to the west, but that was about it for special details. Just another island across the sea.

"So. Lightning." What a fantastic start to whatever conversation that was going to be.

"It was here, I assure you." Z responded with a quiet, but flat tone.

"Well, how long ago did you find this place? The lightning could have died down if it was too long." He offered.

"Couple of days. After the outcasts there was a group of hunters I tailed. They eventually grouped up with a small fleet. Twelve ships I think. Took a while to get rid of them." He stopped walking at that moment, tilting his from side to side in search of something. He must have picked up on something because he turned sharply to the right and continued walking.

That revelation brought a shiver down his back. It was one thing to think that as a dragon he might have to defend himself, it was another thing entirely to know that Z sought out and killed people.

"You don't kill everyone you meet, do you?"

"Pint size, you're the first human I've spared."A cold shiver raced across his body. He didn't have time to fully process that as Z said, "Here we are." and abruptly stopped. There wasn't anything unusual about their current location, just more trees and dirt. His confusion was cleared up when Z's tail glowed blue and swiped in front of them. It was an odd experience seeing magic at work, and even more odd watching blue eat nothing. The blue line in the air slowly spread in all directions in a similar fashion to that of burning parchment. What the burning blue revealed, however, was much more ominous.

A mere few feet in front of them was the lip of a large gaping hole easily big enough for Z to fly comfortably through. He couldn't see how far down it went, on account he wanted to be no closer to the pit than he was, but judging by the size of the entrance it probably went a long way down.

"Clever." At Z's remark, he jerked his head towards the dragon.

"What was that?" He gestured towards the air and hole frantically. "And why was there an invisible hole in the ground?"

Z turned his head around to properly observe him. There was something strange in the dragon's eyes that he couldn't quite place. "That, was illusion magic." He slowly replied. "And don't worry, you weren't in any danger." With that the dragon turned back around and approached the edge of the chasm.

Hiccup slowly paced himself towards his friend, stopping around the middle of his right two wings. "Looks pretty dangerous to me. I can't even see the bottom."

Z chuckled softly, tilting his head ever so slightly towards him. "Yes, it does go on for a while. Even turns at one point. But despite the name, illusions created by magic are quite real. Costly, but real." That was both terrifying and relieving to find out.

"Enough chatting, hop on. We're going exploring." Z lowered his body to the ground, allowing Hiccup an easier attempt at climbing him. Which was still a bit difficult. The dragon was large and he had to use his foreleg and feathers as support to actually climb into his back. Once secured he patted the dragon's neck to let him know he was ready. With a sudden burst of speed and a startled squeak, they were plummeting through dark, vast emptiness.

Hiccup almost fell off the first turn, but the next few were met with a death grip around the dragon's neck. Their dive down lasted a surprisingly long time. Easily a few minutes, which, in falling, is a very long time. When they did level out it was unexpected and he smacked his head on the dragon's neck. Thankfully there were feathers to help soften the blow. He was still going to have a bruise later.

When he was able to focus on anything other than the pain he was awestruck. It was an enormous cave, cavern really, filled with a plethora of glowing crystals. Most of them were blue or green and they jutted out of the walls, ceiling, floor, anything that they could grow from they were. It was like the lights of the night sky were contained in this very room. There was a bright flash followed by a loud crack as an arc of lightning jumped from one blue crystal to another.

"Whoa." He was surprised that it wasn't him that spoke first, yet he couldn't help but agree anyway.

"It's beautiful."

"Shit. Hold on tight." He barely had time to catch on as Z suddenly jerked to the side. The deafening crack right after explained why. There was a series of sharp turns and near instant reverse direction maneuvers followed even more cracks before he managed to spot why there was so much lightning. Cast in a devilishly blue glow was a Skrill. It's enraged visage redirecting the crystal's arcs towards them with a violent fervor. There was one more jerk to the side before the Skrill was suddenly struck by a silver bolt of light. It let out a sharp screech before crumbling to ash.

His eyes widened in shock, his mind not comprehending what just happened. Everything came to a crawl for him. Sure he's seen dragons die before, he was part of a viking village in the middle of a war. Death happened, but that? Whatever that was should not exist. He didn't come out of his daze until he was slapped in the face with what he was guessing was Z's tail. When he looked towards his friend, he could see worry and regret swirling across his draconic features.

Z must have asked something because he was looking like he was expecting an answer, but he couldn't hear anything. Nothing more than a sharp ringing anyway. Z bowed his head, in what he guessed was a sigh, before raising it back up and pressed a glowing green claw to his forehead. Once he was touched, the ringing in his ears quickly faded away to be replaced with the occasional crack of lightning.

"You okay Hiccup?" Came the concerned voice of Zaerkrox.

He nodded dumbly before shaking his head and gesturing to where he thought the Skrill last stood. "What was that?" He asked in a subdued whisper.

He could hear the sigh this time. "That, Hiccup, was a lightning weaver."

"You killed it." Wasn't even a question. He knew what he saw. "How… why? Couldn't you have done something different?" He could hear the intake of breath signifying the dragon was about to speak but he continued on. "It was defending its home and you just killed it. You have magic, you can do a lot of things. Why didn't you just restrain it?" He was surprised with himself that he suddenly cared so much about a race he's supposed to hate.

Z Was silent for a while, taking his time formulating a response no doubt. "Little one, I know it's not easy seeing that, but you're my priority. Lightning Weavers are known to be needlessly aggressive."

"But-"

"No. Even restrained it can control lightning. It was us or it. This is the result. I won't apologize for choosing us." He was looking at him resolutely. His mind was made and he had no more say in the matter.

He was furious, but defeated, so he turned his attention to his surroundings and focused on them. They were on a platform growing from somewhere high up and along the wall. It had an excellent view of almost everything in the cavern, with all but below them revealed. He turned around to view the ledge itself and was hit by another surprise. A nest. Tucked into a crevice where the ledge met wall, was a small nest containing two eggs.

"They're still full of life, if you were wondering." That… was good to know.

"Where's the other one? Parent that is?" He asked. A feeling telling him he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Gone. Dead. Dunno. Dragons stay in pairs when raising eggs and hatchlings. If there was only one, then the other abandoned them or was already dead." Z gave a noncommittal shrug, ruffling his wings in the process, before slowly pacing towards the nest. "Most dragons, in regards to lightning weavers and a couple others, would crush the eggs." He chuckled at Hiccup's gasp. "Figured. But do you have the means to care for them?" He could see his companion's slitted gaze on him. "Can you give them the attention they'll need growing up? Feed them, sate their thirst, simply exist for them when they need it? If you can't say yes to all of those, then it's a mercy to crush them now." As he finished he moved a paw over and lightly rested it on one of the eggs.

Horror struck Hiccup again. They weren't even born yet and Zaerkrox was already prepared to kill them. "What about you? Couldn't you raise them?"

Z scoffed. "As a slave? I'll spare them that torment." A slave?

"What do you mean, 'as a slave'?" He didn't think dragons took other dragons as slaves. He didn't think they'd need to.

"Small fry, there's a dragon unlike anything you've seen at the nest. And while it can't cast magic, it can control the instincts of others." He snarled, a truly terrifying sound that made the primitive side of him scream. He held his mouth shut though. "If that fucking piece of shit wasn't immune to magic, I'd have killed that bitch a million times over." Z paused his snarl, breathed out in a huff, and refocused on him. "Sorry. Just pissed that it has lived as long as it has."

Oh. That changes everything. They were under the impression that dragons were evil beings hellbent on their destruction. Now that he knows they're being controlled… nothing changes actually. They're still at war and he honestly doesn't know how to bring it up to his dad without sounding like a traitor.

"Back to the problem at hand. The eggs, can you care for them?"

Honestly, no. He couldn't, but he didn't want to condemn them to death before they even got to live. There had to be something he could do. He could keep them in the forge while they're small. But, if they're noisy like most babies, they'd be found almost immediately. The woods? Too far, and the wildlife would get to them. Not to mention his dad's increased vigilance towards him. Escaping everyday to care for them would be impossible.

The reality of the situation finally dawned on him. "I… I can't." Z nodded his head, as if he already knew the answer.

"I'm sorry, little ones. This world is not meant for you." The elder dragon spoke as he positioned a paw over each egg. Just as he was about to crush them, Hiccup thought of something.

"Wait!" He reached out an arm, as if that would help prevent the eggs' destruction. His heart was beating a mile a minute as Zaerkrox turned his head to give him his full attention. "What about Ny? She doesn't live in the nest, she could help them."

Z tilted his head at that, his eyes glazed over in thought. Eventually his attention was dragged back towards Hiccup. "You want me to burden my friend with raising not one, but two of probably the most spiteful dragons known to exist?"

"Yes. A-and if they turn out as bad as you claim, or it's too much, then… I'll think of something then, but we can't just kill them." The iron glare he was receiving made him want to shrivel up and hide, but he would stand firm on this. They wouldn't die. Not today.

Z shrugged his shoulders and moved his paws away from the eggs. "Alright. I'll ask. But if she says no, and you still can't care for them, they're done."

He practically melted then and there, barely catching himself as he fell to his knees. He felt exhausted after that exchange, and it didn't help that his heart was beating like he just sprinted across the entire village. After a few moments of controlling his breathing and attempting to calm himself, he stood up and faced Z. Said dragon narrowed one of his eyes at him, but did nothing else from where he sat next to the nest.

"Okay, let's… let's go home." The dragon nodded, tapped both eggs with a blue claw, and watched them disappear from the world. "What was!?" He didn't go through that just for them to be un-existed, or whatever it was that just happened.

"Chill, short stack, I just… put them in my pocket. So to speak." He just stared at Z. Pocket? The dragon very obviously didn't wear clothes, and there weren't any satchels laying around for him to stuff then in, so either he was lying or…

"Magic."

"Ding, correct. Magic pocket. Preserves things in the state they go in. Since eggs don't classify as a living being, I can put them in there for as long as I like." Wait… as long as he liked…

"Couldn't you just keep the eggs in there until we find a safe spot to raise them?" The dragon opened his mouth to respond, but then quickly snapped it shut.

"Hadn't thought about that." Seriously? He went through all of that, just to figure out the damned dragon could hide the eggs in his 'pocket'?

"Let's just get home." He was entirely done with Z for the day. He wanted to lie down in his bed and sleep for the rest of the week.

"You don't want to explore this beautiful underground cavern?" He couldn't tell if that was mock or genuine hurt in the dragon's voice. Right now, he didn't care.

"Nope. Home, please." He requested, already walking over to the dragon.

"Lame. But, sure. I'll still talk to Ny about the eggs. They may not be living, yet, but they will and I don't know the effects the pocket has on things that are living." That was good, and he said as much while he climbed onto his friend's back. Once situated, he patted his neck, in similar fashion to last time, and prepared himself for takeoff. Z turned his head around and gave Hiccup a toothy grin. He was about to smile in return, but that was when he noticed they were standing in the middle of the village. Exactly where they were before this whole adventure began. And like last time, there was a loud scream. Followed, unsurprisingly, by another deeper scream.

"God fucking damnit lady!"

Hiccup could only think, 'Why him?'.

again, this chapter was posted via phone. if there are any blaring issues, please address them and I'll take care of it ASAP. also, I had very nearly written off those eggs. but then I remembered Ny. and the magic pocket. Hiccup wouldn't want to burden someone else, he'd rather do the thing himself. but, I'd imagine that if he didn't have much choice, he would pass the burden on to someone else. then figuring out that Z had an out the entire time, cut the adventure right out of him. oh, and, you know, the near killing of two not even babies yet. I wanted to do more work with the cavern, but that didn't go as planned.see ya next time, and I hope you enjoyed!