Hey guys this is Deadpool! Supersandman can't be here right now as he has done something incredibly stupid, he's taken on night shift at his job, so here I am doing his posting, sorting out his mail, feeding his cats playing his games and eating all his food, what the hell is a jaffa cake?! Weird Brits. Anyway He says sorry for the delay, apparently he's been suffering with a few bouts of wondering minds, to be honest, I think the dude needs to get laid. Anyway here we go and a little fair warning, this is mainly a flashback chapter but somehow ties in with the last chapter.

Chapter 12 Trail and Terror

"Another raid" sighed Hiccup as he knelt on top of the nearest hill near the village, from this vantage point he could see the chaos of yet another dragon raid.

From his side a certain NightFury grumbled in agreement not liking his fellow dragons feeding that monstrous beast of a queen, using her song to control them.

And yet Toothless himself doesn't seemed to be drawn to her song like he used to.

And it seemed to do with his bond with his human companion, it seems to stop him from being possessed by the demon.

Hiccup meanwhile was watching with a serious expression on his face at the dragons and his fellow humans try to mercilessly kill each other.

'Try' being the main word thanks to Hiccup.

He remembers how it all started on his twelfth birthday...

Flashback

"oh come-fucking on!" was all Hiccup could yell as he spotted a Zippleback leave the scene of the explosion and what was the destroy remains of his goods.

Hiccup stood there deadpanned at the whole thing.

It took him all day to gather that lot so understandable that he would be pissed.

But before he could react any further, he hears the sound of the raid horn can be heard and as usual, every able bodied Viking, was at arms ready to attack the enemy.

Hiccup was dragged from his senses by all the commotion as he pulled along by Astrid away from the centre towards the forge as dragon and Viking alike attacked each other.

Most were angry.

Some were scared.

Hiccup however was confused.

He knew there were dragons raiding but after witnessing their actions when they're not raiding, how peaceful and calm they seemed even when a stranger such he is watching them, but here right now this didn't seem right to him now.

Even for what they were raiding. Sheep, yak, boar, chicken, even fruit and veg.

Hiccup had observed their diet closely for a while, they loved to hunt for fish out in the sea, away from any ships.

So why raid for stuff they don't usually eat?

Hiccup decided to think more about it later on and head on into the forge to help Gobber with weapon preparations, hoping no deaths occur tonight on either side.

But before he could open the door, he suddenly had the urge to feel his sides as if he'd lost something.

Then it suddenly came to him.

The dagger was missing!

The one Astrid gave him.

Usually for him if he misplaced any weapon he wouldn't worry too much about it but this one was personally given to him by Astrid and holds sentimental value towards it.

Hiccup rattled his brain trying to think where he would have left it, or where it dropped out.

He then remembered the explosion, it could've fallen there.

Hiccup, without a second thought, ran towards the square where the party had been.

His path wouldn't take long to get to but because of the fighting, he had to take several detours as well as avoiding any of the adults seeing him as all they'll do is drag him back towards the forge, wouldn't have been the first time.

He watched out for any flames coming his way or stray dragon that might think of getting lucky.

So far he'd gotten lucky himself as he didn't encounter anything, it seemed the main fighting was where any food or livestock was stored, even more luckier, as he got closer to the square he saw a glint of something on the floor.

The dagger!

All he had to do was grab it, head back the way he came and into the forge, no one would be any of the wiser. What could possibly go wrong?

He really had to say that didn't he?

Unfortunately that's where his luck ran out as he just picked up the dagger, a young Deadly Nadder lands right behind him.

Hiccup slowly turns around as he comes face to face with them, green eyes meeting amber as he froze on the spot.

'No sudden moves Hiccup' he said in his head as he took the whole dragon in.

With the fires as the only source of light, Hiccup could clearly see, this dragon was young, their light blue scales topped off with a white underbelly, the lighter colours indicated this Nadder was a girl, as what his mother told him about how to tell genders apart without lifting a leg.

But what Hiccup noticed more was the eyes, there were barely any pupils, which was odd in his case, he knew that dragons pupils can dilate when relaxed and can slit when concentrating, but this was something new, it was like they were possessed by something.

As he watched closely he thought of an idea after remembering some about Toothless.

'Was he the same before he met me?' he thought to himself

'I wonder...'

"Hey there girl" Hiccup said softly as he slowly approached the young Nadder so as not to alarm her.

The dragon tilted her head from side to side as Hiccup caught the change in her pupils going from non-existent to dilate and back again as he carried on.

"My you're a beautiful girl"

The Nadder seems disgruntled, as if fighting inside her head as her eyes go back and for.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm not here to hurt you" he moved closer, but saw beyond her head that her tail was up, spines up ready to fire, so ended up changing tactics as he dodge the projectiles and heading behind her towards her tail remembering what his mother taught him about Nadders.

"Smooth out their spines it helps them calm" Hiccup repeated to himself over and over again as he reached her tail and started stroking.

He kept looking at the Nadders eyes as they still seemed to change from one to another, he was prepared for the worse outcome if this didn't work and considering the day he's had, he wasn't taking any chances.

But for once the God's seem to have given him a break as the Nadders pupils dilate into round black orbs as she looked back at the boy stroking her tail.

She's known about how humans can be dangerous and kill on sight, this fear doubled after she was forced into the raids. But never has she seen one who didn't want to fight her, she wondered if there was some hope at peace.

But her thoughts were shattered as several nets were thrown over her as well as several large Vikings jumped her, wrestling her to the ground as other bound her legs and wings so she couldn't escape.

Looking up, all she could see was a mountain with a big red beard looking down at her with hate in his eyes as he lifted his large axe above his head.

He never said a single word. She shut her eyes as he prepared to deal the killing blow...

"Stop!"

Several seconds went by until the Nadder opened her eyes to see that she wasn't dead, but only to see this same boy standing between her and her executioner.

"Hiccup! Get out of the way! This beast need to dealt with!"

Hiccup however didn't move.

"No dad wait! Just listen for once what I have to say" he said keeping eye contact with his father as the others look on.

Sighing, Stoick can be stubborn in his ways, but so can his son, double that thanks to Valkas share.

"I'm listening"

Hiccup, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he always hate speaking out in public for fear of ridicule, starts to speak.

"Okay I know we have a 'kill on sight' motto when it comes to dragons, but we also need to learn how to fight them for future generations"

His father looks on in interest "Go on?"

"Well seeing as we don't exactly have a Nadder anymore in the arena, it might be time for a new younger one to take up the role"

"The lads right Stoick, the last one escaped during the last raid and never been seen since" Gobber butted in to confirm what Hiccup was suggesting is true causing several Vikings to nod and agree.

Stoick looked from his son to the crowd and finally to the pinned Nadder as he pinched the bridge of his nose, something he did when thinking or annoyed about something.

He finally sighed in defeat, he knew his son was right, he knew Gobber and the others were right, even if he wanted to kill every single dragon he came across, he knew the next generation of Vikings need to learn.

"Very well, seeing as its your birthday, I'll let you have this one request" he says as to orders the ones who have pinned the Nadder down to take her to the arena to be locked up before walking away to access the damage the raid has caused among the village.

Hiccup however looked at the Nadder in sorrow, he didn't want to have her locked up, but he didn't want to see her die either, to his surprise though, the Nadder understood the dilemma and gave him a slow wink, indicating she didn't blame him.

The crowd dispersed to start up the clean up duties, all except Hiccup and Gobber who decided to smack the boy around the head with his hook.

"What were ye thinking lad running off like that?! Ya had me worried! I thought ye'd been killed!" Gobber yelled at him making Hiccup feeling guilty, he knew Gobber wasn't angry at him but scared for him, sort of that father son relationship they shared, he didn't want Gobber to feel scared.

"Sorry Gobber, I..I didn't mean to run off like that but" he finished off by showing the dagger Astrid gave him to which Gobber recognised from his younger days when her grandmother used to bring it to the shop for cleaning and sharpening. He was quite surprised to see it in Hiccups possession even after explaining it was a gift from Astrid.

That's when the old smithy grinned, he knew how much that blade meant to the young lass and thought of the ways to tease the young Haddock about it.

"Guessin' that lass got a little thing about ye"

Those simple words made the young boy blush.

"Wh-what?! Don't be silly Gobber! Sh-she sees me more as a friend!" Hiccup spluttered, not convincing Gobber at all that it's anything but a simple gift as he carried on "I mean, yeah I like her but she's way out of my league, she's smart, strong, a bright future ahead of her, she could get anyone she wanted, why would she settle for...this?!" he finished off by gesturing to himself to which Gobber pointed out.

"Ye just Gestured to all of ye?" this caused Hiccup to roll his eyes in the irony, usually everyone gestured to him and he'd be the one remarking them.

Hiccup took a quick glance up at the sky seeing the retreating dragons going in one direction, he had an idea about something, but needed Toothless for it.

But first he needed to get back to the cove.

"Yeah anyway.." he faked a yawn and started walking towards the forest "I'm getting tired, long day and all, I'll see you around Gobber!" after that he ran of leaving a confused Gobber behind as to Hiccups sudden departure but still stood in the same spot until Hiccup was out of sight before sighing.

"I know ya have feelings for him lass, and I know you won't express em or follow em" he said as he turned around watching a nearby house only for Astrid to step out of the shadows looking shocked and confused.

"H-how did you..."

"When ya known 'iccup for as long as I have ya can pick up on when he wants ta be not seen" he walks away but stops before leaving the young Hofferson by herself "and I'm right what I said, just think abou' how ye want te approach it, kinda like yer mother in many ways" he finally walks away leaving Astrid to ponder over his and Hiccups conversation and what Gobber told her with one thought in her head.

"Do I like Hiccup?"

Meanwhile

Hiccup makes it back to the cove in half the time it usually takes him, he doesn't want the trail to go cold, he's got to find out what's possessing the dragons to raid for stuff they don't need.

Luckily for him as he reached the cove, Toothless was there waiting for him, he seemed disturbed as he looked up at the sky knowing about the raids.

"Maybe whatever controlling the others their range hasn't made it this far" Hiccup thought to himself as he runs the final lengths to reach Toothless, giving himself a few seconds to catch his breath.

Toothless croons and yaps at Hiccup as if asking what's the matter before Hiccup answers him after letting his breath catch up with him.

"Bud, can you take me to where the other dragons go after the raids?" Hiccup saw the fear in his ebony friends eyes, he can sense Toothless doesn't want to go back there until Hiccup placed his hand upon his snout and rubbing it to calm the Night Fury down.

"Easy bud, I know you don't want to but I need to know, you're not going it alone, I'm here for you bud"

This was enough for Toothless to calm down, he knew if he went back there alone, it'll try to take control again, but maybe Hiccup can keep it from doing that, after all, he broke the control once.

With that Toothless agreed as he positioned himself to take of as soon as Hiccup had set up the saddle and was comfortable upon him, as soon as he was given the go he shot up in the air and heading north towards their destination.

Despite their mission upon discovering the cause of the raids, the duo still enjoyed the night sky to fly up as high as they could go, why waste the opportunity when they might face a danger beyond them.

Hiccup loved the feeling of flying, what it feels like to be a dragon, the feeling of freedom.

"Now I know why mom never wanted to return bud, why miss this to be something you're not" he said patting Toothless on the side of his neck earning him a croon as they carried on.

For several long minutes it felt like the trail had indeed gone cold until Toothless' ears perked up getting Hiccups attention. Before he could ask what was up, several dragon came into view at the side of them followed by more until a whole raiding party of dragons surrounded them.

Hiccup stayed as low as he could to avoid being spotted, but it didn't matter as the dragons focus was in front of them as they entered a large veil of fog surrounded by mass towers of rocks and remains of ships.

"Helheims gate" Hiccup whispered as they weaved around the large stacks and obstacle until they came out of the fog and onto an island with a large mountain in the centre surrounded by dragons.

"The nest" he said in awe as they flew up into the top revealing a magma core inside "boy what dad would give to find this place bud" he finished off as they land in a shadowy area, watching as the raiding parties dropped their kill into the bottom.

"Well so nice to know our food isn't going to waste" he said sarcastically until he kept thinking if they're not eating it, then who is.

His thoughts we're interrupted by a Terrible Terror dropping a small fish out of its talons with it to follow the rest of the other stuff.

Suddenly a grow was heard below which put the fear into not only Hiccup but all the dragons as a giant head rushes upwards towards the Terror and biting down upon it before it could escape.

Hiccup didn't like this one bit as he jumped onto Toothless as the large head started to sniff around.

"Okay bud time to go now!" Hiccup yelled as Toothless stood there unresponsive until Hiccup yelled again, knocking the Night Fury out of his trance just in time as the large dragon head was about to take a bite out of them but missed due to Toothless' speed.

Heading upwards and avoiding the oncoming rocks and dragons, the pair soon made it towards the top and back into the sky.

But their ordeal wasn't over yet as a dozen dragons, under the large dragons control no less, followed them. Hiccup knew at this point heading back to Berk would be a bad idea but then he had another one as he urged Toothless to head south as they avoided the fire and projectiles from their perusers.

For over an hour they carried on and the other dragons seemed to not be slowing down their pursuit.

"Come on bud a little further, we're almost there" Hiccup urged Toothless on, they knew what the other was thinking and the Night Fury knew what the plan was as he purposely slowed down to let the other dragons catch up until they finally made their destination.

The dragon sanctuary.

Hiccup hoped that with the other dragon so far away that the call would lessen enough for the Bewilderbeast to take control.

They flew into the open crack of the icy fortress, followed by the others as they made their way to the centre before coming to a halt in front of Valka.

"Hiccup? Toothless? What are you..."

"No time mom, we need the king!" Hiccup interrupted her as the possessed dragon land as well in front of them backing all three toward the edge.

Suddenly they we're overshadowed by the arrival of the alpha himself as the pursuing dragons look up in awe, their eyes going from thin slits to dilated within seconds before they bow gracefully. With that, the dragons were docile before flying off to join the others in the sanctuary.

Valka looked on in curiosity as to where the dragons came from before hearing the pair behind her laughing on the floor at the whole situation.

"Bud that was amazing! Terrifying but amazing! Now we know bud! We know!" Hiccup shouted as he laid upon the floor as Valka looked on in confusion.

"Err what did you find son?" she asked as Hiccup ceased his laughing before sitting up and looking at her.

"We found the nest mom and the reason the dragons raid the islands"

"The Queen?" Hiccup was taken aback by his mothers answer, how accurate she got to it.

"Y-you knew?" he simple put as she nodded slowly before he pressed on "then why didn't you tell me?!" he stood up flailing his arms in different directions as she looked down.

"I-I don't know what good it would do Hiccup"

"Mom we could stop the raids, stop the killing"

"But how Hiccup? I can't let the Bewilderbeast take her on! If he leaves then the sanctuary will be vulnerable! We can't take the dragons from here either! I'm not gonna fall into the same category as that mad man!"

Hiccup pondered over the situation, he knew his mother was right but he still wanted to try.

Then the idea hit him.

"Well what if I try?" Valka looked at him raising one of her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"I managed to lure a few dragons away from her, I managed to get Toothless out of her control, what if I can dwindle her raiding parties? Make her control weaker as she can't get her food supply?" Valka thought on as to what Hiccup was saying.

"But Hiccup, you can't keep going back to her nest, her strength is strongest there, the only way you'll be able to do it is during..."

"...raids" Hiccup finished what she said knowing the situation "a risky business I know mom, since I can't let the villagers know it's me, so I need to ask mom"

"What do you need son?" she asked as Hiccup looked at her and smiled.

"How many dragon scale would I need for a full suit?"

Valka stood there and smiled as well as to what Hiccup was implying.

"Dragons usually shed their scales once a week, for the amount you need I would gather about three months worth, dragon scales are tough so simply stitching them together would be difficult, maybe your smithing skills might come in handy, if you've worked with making chain mail" Hiccup simply nodded.

"With so many Viking and their ever growing stomachs, I'm constantly readjusting their armour to compensate" he chuckled as he saw more conflict in his mothers eyes.

"There's also the situation where the dragon may become too hostile for simply finding their weak spots you may need to handle them physically, not hurt them but for your own defence" she smiled again as she rushes to her cave before coming back with a bounded up item in her hands as she carried on.

"Maybe this might help, happy birthday son" she says handing the item to him.

He looks at it for a few seconds to admire his mothers gift before removing the packaging revealing two books, one with strange symbols and writing on the cover, the other seemed a mix of both that and Norse.

"It took me a while to find them but I have a few friends I've met outside of the archipelago who sell books from the oriental side of the world, basically where the design of your sword came from. The book with Norse and the native language of the first book is a translation guide while the other deals with handling the sword using what they call martial arts as my friend put it"

Hiccup looked inside the first book, it has the other language written inside but it also showed pictures of people in different positions, as he flicked through he saw some with weapons and some without, even some disarming with their bare hands.

Hiccup spent A few hours looking over the books as well as the plans for his armour and the dragon raid situation with his mother before it started to get too light and decided that they'd best head home to rest.

Hugging his mother and thanking her for the gifts, he and Toothless head off for home, contemplating on their future tasks.

The suit, the studying, the raids, the queen and finally peace between dragons and humans.

He could only sigh as he laughed as Toothless looks on in confusion.

"All our task at hand bud, gonna be a long while until we accomplish them may take a few years but with you by my side, we can show them. Right bud?" he received a bark from his dragonic companion in approval.

End of flashback

It had been several months since then, he waited patiently each scale was wielded together to form a kind flexible armour.

The result he found not disappointing at all the scales themselves we're as black as night which came in handy during the raid that happened at night. He also found out it was quite good against fire which was a plus considering dragons and their ability to breathe the stuff.

The only downside was it wasn't strong against physical attacks, but one hitch at a time he always kept telling himself.

He stands there for a few more minutes, waiting for the right moment as he fixes his mask over his face before climbing on Toothtless as their moment has come.

"Let's go bud, our first trial run, let's make it count!"

Toothless nods before heading up into the air as they start to head around the vast darkness of the night, waiting for the first attack.

Meanwhile on the ground, while the adults did their raiding duties of fighting and tending to the wounded, the teens start their first time as the fire prevention team, their duty being throwing buckets of water over anything that's caught fire.

Shame that only one of them is focused more upon the task at hand, that being Astrid.

Fishlegs just runs about screaming when a house near him explodes, Snotlout being the stupid one by throwing his whole bucket into the flaming building instead of just the water and the Twins, well, they're sat at the side of one of the fires roasting fish.

"Will you guys get your head in the game! We need to sort out these fires pronto!" Astrid shouts, getting annoyed at the other four wishing Hiccup was here, least he would have come up with some crazy way of putting out the fire.

Then she stopped as to why she thought about Hiccup like that out of the blue.

Her thoughts are halted as a building starts to collapse in front of her and worse still is about to crush her.

She realise she hasn't got time to escape, she's doomed for she thinks to herself as she closes her eyes waiting for the flames to take her.

But they never come as she forcefully knocked out of the way by a black figure just in the nick of time.

She looks at them for a second but before she could say a word, he runs off before flying away?

She didn't know what happened or who they were, she didn't even get a chance to thank them. Soon she saw around as less and less dragons were in the air but as some were heading in their usual direction, a handful were heading the complete opposite way.

"That's strange?" she said to herself.

"What's strange Astrid?" She turns around to see Hiccup standing there looking confused.

She wanted to say what she saw but it might sound crazy, even to Hiccup, but instead punched him in the arm before hugging him catching him off guard.

"Err Astrid, are you okay?"

"Of course I am you dork I'm just glad you're safe is all, I didn't see you all raid" she opened her eyes and realised what she said as she looked away so Hiccup didn't see her blush "err what I meant is I didn't want to explain to you dad that you got hurt is all" she said hoping he'd buy that.

"Yeah well I was in my house when I heard the horn, and you know what my dad would say 'stay in da forest Hiccup or they might mistake ye for a toothpick!'" he said with his fathers accent trying to lighten the mood which worked as Astrid tried not to laugh.

"Well now you're safe I can, inform the others as well, see you" she say as she runs off leaving a slightly amused Hiccup standing there.

He knew what she saw considering it was him that saved her.

He looks up into the air as some of the dragons head towards the sanctuary as they planned, lucky with not much conflict or hostilities.

He smiled as he whispers one final sentence before heading off to help with repairs.

"Trial run successful"

Trial run successful? That's what he's ending it on? Son of a bitch! Where's the creating the suit? The painstaking wait for Toothless to get a few scales off his butt? And the martial arts! Hasn't he got to that yet?! And why won't he just kiss Astrid already?! This is bullcrap! I will not stand for...

*Whack!*

...I'm a fairy princess and I like to go sleepy time goodnight zzzzzz...

Sigh finally something to shut him up! Hey lads and lasses sorry about wade, he can be a dick sometimes. Hopefully I can explain it more about the time skip in the next chapter but until then, laters.