Disclaimer: Seriously, I don't own it. I'm used to it. . . really.
AN: Just a quick warning, everyone. Updates will be slow, as I'm suffering from some writer's block. I'm hoping to get the logjam undone, but it may take more time than any of us are comfortable with. See you guys next chapter!
The speed of their flight bent the water below them as they soared over the water. Hiccup was stretched full-length along his back to reduce their drag, clutching the handles to keep her in place. Even through her helmet, she could hear the familiar screeching of a speeding Night Fury. A group of Thunderdrums swam below them, and the pair flew over the backs of surfacing dragons. With a delighted chuckle, she sat up and settled into the saddle. A quick flick of the pedals had them doing a barrel roll under a raised wing. With a whoop, she and Toothless headed straight up, looping and diving with abandon, before heading back up, corkscrewing once they reached the clouds. The exhilaration and simple happiness of being together flowed between them as they ascended higher and higher, the dizzying sensation of spinning only making things that much better.
Toothless let out a happy groan as he let them fall, letting gravity pull them down for a bit before flipping over. A click from the tailfin and a quick shift in weight on his back and they were soaring, dodging unseen obstacles. He took them through a wide roll and he felt Hiccup let go and hold on with only her legs as she stretched her arms out to the side, feeling utterly weightless. As they leveled out, they spotted a small flight of Timberjacks above them, flying for the pure joy of it much as the pair below them.
The squeak of the handles Hiccup had installed on the saddle warned him that she was up to something. "What do you say, bud?" she asked, leaning forward to put a hand on his neck. "You ready to give this another shot?"
Not after what happened last time, he told her with a snort and shake of his whole body at the reminder. If they hadn't been over open water at the time, his fragile nest-mate would probably have lost her life. This latest invention of hers was going to make him eat an eel on purpose one of these days, he just knew it. It was the only way he'd keep his sanity if she kept insisting on doing this.
"Toothless," she somehow both scolded and soothed at the same time, a talent he wasn't aware she'd picked up and he closed his eyes briefly in resignation. He was going to let her do this, but he could only hope that she was ready for the consequences that might occur. "It'll be fine."
Whatever you say, Hiccup, he groused, steeling himself for the coming test. They were high enough that she'd have plenty of room to glide and he would be close if anything happened. He felt the tailfin lock and heard the loops she used to keep herself tethered to him come loose. She shook herself, probably to get rid of the nerves he could feel through the bond. He did the same just as she leaned to her right and allowed herself to fall.
Keeping her arms down at her sides, she kept herself relaxed, allowing gravity to do all the work. Behind her, Toothless tucked his wings back and dove after her. Within moments, they were face to face and gently circling each other. She couldn't hold back the excited whoop when he grinned at her, his tongue hanging from one side of his mouth. A subtle shift had them both facing the ground so very far below, and Hiccup counted down in her head, waiting for the exact moment. Hauling up her legs and thrusting her arms through the loops on her sides, she took a deep breath and flung her arms out to the sides as she straightened her legs again.
The leather flaps that had been rolled up in pockets on her legs flared open, catching the wind with a jerk. Barely a heartbeat later, Toothless opened his wings and settled behind her. This time, she kept her body taut and glided almost as smoothly as Toothless. She quickly hit a small device on her left side, activating a dorsal fin that smoothed her flight considerably. A glance over her shoulder showed Toothless' concerned but curious gaze. He still wasn't used to seeing a human fly without a dragon, but he knew if anyone could, it would be his Hiccup.
The pair soared, gravity pulling them down but their sheer joy at flying together making them feel completely weightless. As they drifted down, Toothless fired a plasma bolt under Hiccup. It detonated in front of her and lifted her like an updraft. Hearing her happy cry at the sudden lift, he did it again, then a third time just to make her laugh. "This is amazing!" she shouted back to him, glancing over her shoulder at him. Suddenly, the clouds thinned ahead and revealed a large tower of rock. "No longer amazing. Toothless!" Behind her, Toothless growled and flapped hard, trying to catch up to her.
I'm coming, Hiccup!
"Oh, no!" Hiccup could see herself coming to a sudden, rather messy end on those rocks and couldn't seem to steer away from them. "Oh, gods!" A fire blast came from behind and suddenly her world went dark as Toothless wrapped her in his wings and clutched her close to his body. The pair tumbled, neither knowing which way was up as they rolled across uneven ground before finally coming to a stop. Toothless relaxed and opened his wings, letting her sit up and adjust her prosthetic from flight to walking. His ingenious human came up with the design about a year after she'd gotten used to the first one. It simply hadn't been practical with the uneven ground around the village. The drifts of snow and patches of ice that lingered for weeks before finally melting had made walking dangerous, and Toothless would rather not think about how many accidents could have been averted if she'd had the one she used now instead of the other one. "That really came out of nowhere," she said as she got to her feet, pushing the loops free and reattaching them to their places on her legs.
They both turned back to look at the tower when a sharp retort of breaking rock caught their attention. Neither could stop the instinctive wince that often followed causing havoc in the village as the tower collapsed into the sea. "We've got to work on your solo gliding, there, bud," she went on as she rolled the leather flaps back into their pockets before reaching for the device just under her ribs on her left side. Giving it a few turns, she waited for the light click that would tell her that the dorsal fin was back in place. "That locked up tail makes for some pretty sloppy rescue maneuvers, yeah?"
That's not my fault! Toothless griped as she took off her helmet, specially designed naturally, and settled her hair around her face. She ignored his grumbles as she looked out over where they'd landed. Golden trees and cliffs of various heights spread to the snow-capped mountains in the distance, the afternoon sun setting the forest below them ablaze. In their travels, she'd never seen this one before and couldn't wait to add it to their growing map. She and Toothless spent as much time as possible scouting out new lands, hoping to find dragons no one had ever seen before, each hoping that each one would bring them one step closer to finding more Night Furies. Toothless only had vague memories of what his home looked like, and it wasn't much to go on, but the pair kept looking.
"Looks like we found another one, bud." A pebble hit her in the back of the head, and she raised a hand to it with a shocked "ouch!" before turning to face her nest-mate. He turned his back on her with an irritated huff, shooting her reproving glances over his shoulder. "Oh, do you want an apology?" He grumbled, but didn't answer. "Is that why you're pouting, big baby boo?"
I'm not pouting, he complained, still not looking at her. She tossed her helmet aside and locked her arms around his neck.
"Well, try this on!" She hugged him, attempting to shove him back but he held steady against her weaker strength. "You feeling it, yet? Picking up on my heartfelt remorse?" She even went so far as to wrap her legs around him too, trying to get him to react. Hiccup didn't expect him to stand up on his hind legs and waddle to the edge of the cliff. "Come on, you wouldn't hurt a one-legged-?" She cut herself off with a shriek when she realized she was dangling over the cliff and clutched Toothless tighter even as he laughed at her. "You're right, you're right, you win!" Toothless fell backward, staying under her so she didn't get hurt on the rocks, and then turning so she ended up under him. "Oh, and she's down!" Hiccup laughed as she tried to shove him off. "And it's ugly!" They playfully batted at each other, each letting the relief of knowing the other was safe to wash over them. "Dragons and Vikings, enemies again. Locked in combat to the bitter-" Toothless went limp and collapsed on her, driving the air from her lungs with a groan.
Got you! He started licking her face and she sputtered, trying to shove him away, knowing she was going to need a bath once they got home to get rid of all his saliva.
"You know that doesn't wash out!" she griped as she rolled out from under him and to her feet, swiping her hands down her flight suit. He laughed and she flicked her hands at him, shooting him a smug grin when the saliva flew off and caught him in the face. As he worked on getting it off, she took the map they'd been working on out from under the leather strapped across her chest and spread it out on the ground. The first paper hadn't been big enough to hold everything, so they'd added bits and pieces where needed to make it work. She promised herself that one day she'd do something to make it look better. For right now, this worked as she could take it anywhere she went, unlike the larger papers usually used for maps. As it stood, this island's position required another sheet of paper be added to the map, so she drew a sheet out of another compartment on her right arm, had Toothless give it a quick lick so it would stick- who knew Night Fury saliva made a great glue in a pinch?- and drew out her charcoal stick to draw the borders she'd already seen from the air.
After giving her stick a quick sharpening with the small dagger she had strapped to her left forearm and a quick check of her compass, she turned to Toothless. "So, what should we name it?" He bent and started grooming under his front leg. "Itchy Armpit it is." She set charcoal to paper and started drawing. "What do you reckon, bud? Think we might find a few Timberjacks in those woods? The odd Whispering Death or two in the rocks?" She looked up with a slightly hopeful, but fairly nervous look on her face, and tried to shrug casually. "Who knows? Maybe we'll finally track down another Night Fury."
Maybe, Toothless said, not really believing there were any here. He didn't smell any of his own species, new scents or old ones, so he didn't hold out much hope. His nest-mate, though, held out the fading hope that there were more out there . . .somewhere. They'd been looking pretty much since they'd both recovered from facing the Red Death, but so far had had no luck.
"Wouldn't that be something?" She sat back on her heel, trying not to let the idea that he might just be the last of his kind get her down too much, and heaved a sigh. "What do say, bud? Just keep going?"
It would be nice, my Hiccup, he conceded, giving a curious croon at all the unexplored territory out there, but they both had responsibilities back on Berk. A bird-like screech got their attention and they both looked over their shoulders at the pair making their way to them.
Hey, Hiccup! Stormfly called as she came in for a landing, squawking as she settled. Toothless bounded over to the newly arrived pair like a playful puppy, eager to greet his friend.
"Afternoon, milord,"Hiccup greeted Anstred as he swung down from Stormfly. Good to see you, Stormfly. "Where have you been?"
"Oh," Anstred started, trying and failing to sound casual as he pushed his hood back off his head. He greeted Toothless with a friendly stroke under his chin, making him grin, as he passed by. The two dragons started some complicated greeting ritual that neither cared to explain but made them extremely happy. "Winning races, what else?" He walked over to Hiccup, ignoring the pair behind him. "The real question is, where have you been?"
"Avoiding my dad," she replied, more than a little exasperated with the situation at home.
"Oh, no," Anstred said, his voice completely flat as he settled on the ground beside his girlfriend. "What happened now?" It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him to have to track Hiccup down after some kind of disagreement between her and her father, and it had become almost routine for him to act as a go-between to get them talking to each other again.
"You're going to love this," she replied, laughing a little when she turned to him. Anstred gestured to the charcoal stick and she handed it over without thinking about it. "I wake up. The sun is shining, Terrible Terrors are singing on the rooftops. I saunter down to breakfast, thinking all's right with the world." She got up and dropped her voice as much as she could. "'Hiccup, we need to talk.'" She held up her hand and opened her mouth to continue, but stopped in shock at what happened next.
"'Not now, Dad,'" Anstred interrupted, sending his voice into the upper register to impersonate Hiccup and shrugging his shoulders. "'I've got a whole day of goofing off to get started.'"
"First of all, I don't sound like that," she pointed out, trying not to laugh. "What is this character? And second, what is that thing you're doing with my shoulders?" Anstred smiled and shrugged like his arms weren't connected to his body for a second. Hiccup chuckled, but quickly sobered. "A truly flattering impersonation. Anyway, he says, 'You're the pride of Berk, my daughter, and I couldn't be prouder.'"
"'Aw, thanks, Dad, I'm pretty impressed with myself, too!'" Anstred gestured wildly with his hands as he spoke, making Hiccup giggle a little.
"When have I ever done that with my hands?"
"You just did!" Anstred pointed out with a laugh, waving his hand at her as she used almost the exact same gestures he did. Hiccup was too serious sometimes, and he was more than happy to act the fool, in private at least, just to hear her laugh. She came closer and crouched in front him, taking his hands in hers as he kept exaggerating Hiccup's usual quirks.
"This is serious," she told him, the look in her eyes proving it. Anstred let it drop and kept his eyes on her as she got back to her feet. "He says, 'You're all grown up now, and since no Chief could ask for a better successor, I've decided-'"
"To make you Chief," Anstred finished for her, jumping to his feet in shock. "Oh, my gods. Hiccup, that's amazing!" He gave the device on her a light punch, making the fin on her back pop out and laughing at her expression.
"You're going to wear out the spring coil," she complained as she turned it, getting it back where it belonged. "The calibration is very sensitive." Anstred nodded, trying hard not smile at her annoyed expression but she was just so cute. Neither noticed the dragons until they came running passed, knocking them both down. Anstred got to his feet and held his hand out as Hiccup rolled over and sat up. She took his hand and let him haul her to her feet. "So, this is what I'm dealing with."
"What did you tell him?" he asked as he helped Hiccup settle her flight suit over her shoulders.
"I didn't," she admitted, looking around to make sure the dragons weren't coming by again. Anstred sighed and bent to gather the map. "By the time he turned around, I was gone."
"Well, it's a lot of responsibility," Anstred pointed out, trying to look ahead to the future and not really noticing that Hiccup was looking more than a little depressed by the same prospects. "The map will have to wait, for sure." He handed Hiccup the map absently. "I'll need to fly Toothless since you'll be too busy, but-" Turning to face her now, he saw the dejected and worried look on her face.
"It's not me, Anstred," Hiccup said, the map forgotten in her hand for a moment. "All those speeches and planning and running the village. That's his thing."
"I think you're missing the point." Anstred hoped that Hiccup could come to terms with this before it was thrust upon her in the worst way possible, and maybe if he pointed out the positives instead of the negatives, he could help her with that. "I mean, chief. What an honor. I'd be pretty excited."
"I'm not like you." Hiccup sighed and tucked the map away. "You know exactly who you are, you always have." She turned to the cliff, bending to pick up her discarded helmet. "I'm still looking. I know that I'm not my father, and I never met my mother, so what does that make me?" Hiccup sat down near the edge of the cliff, looking off into the distance as if the answer to her question was somewhere out there. Anstred sighed and sat down next to her.
"What you're searching for isn't out there, Hiccup," he said, twisting a strand of hair that had come loose from her braid around his fingers, "it's in here." He put a hand on her chest over her heart and gave it a pat. "Maybe you just don't see it, yet." Leaning in, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and pulled back with a disgusted groan. Night Fury spit, yuck! He wiped his mouth, trying to get the taste off his lips.
"Maybe," Hiccup replied distractedly, slowly getting to her knees to get a better look at something in the distance, "but, you know, there is something out there."
"Oh, Hiccup." Anstred shook his head, not seeing what she did until she took his chin in her hand and pointed out the dark column of smoke rising between the mountains.
"Let's go, bud," she called, the urgency in her voice bringing both Toothless and Stormfly running to them, ready to go. Quickly mounting their dragons, they headed out over the forest, the trees a golden blur under them. Before long, the trees were suddenly black and still smoking as if the fire that burned them had just gone out. They flew low to the ground to take in the devastation around them, weaving through what was left of the forest and stirring up ash in their wake.
Up ahead, the trees abruptly ended and quickly dodging around two columns of rock, they spotted an enormous formation of sea-green ice. They hovered for a minute to study it, seeing bits of wood sticking out of it at odd angles, telling them that whatever had done this was more than likely big and powerful, like nothing they'd ever seen before. Hiccup looked over her shoulder at Anstred, and he shook his head, urging her with his eyes that they should leave and come back later. Hiccup nodded in response, knowing that there might be people they could help, though she knew better than to just dive in without getting more information first. "Stay close," she urged, guiding Toothless closer to the strange ice.
They circled it, looking for any signs of what might have caused the destruction they were seeing and for signs of life. "What happened here?" Hiccup wondered aloud, asking Toothless the same, but he had no answer for her. He'd never seen anything like this, either. Two footprints became visible, the sheer size of them telling them that the dragon that had done this was massive, probably even larger than the Red Death. Toothless suddenly felt uneasy about this whole situation, and shook himself with a growl. "Easy, bud." Hiccup put a soothing hand on his neck and he settled, a little, but he remained wary, ready to take Hiccup back home at a moment's notice.
"Hiccup!" Anstred called, his voice soft but urgent as he pointed downward, toward the ice. Through a gap, he spotted something he hadn't seen in some time. Hiccup looked back up at him and missed the weapon that was pointed at them.
"Fire!" a voice shouted from below them. Toothless flapped quickly, throwing them backward and out of the line of fire, but Stormfly wasn't so lucky.
"Anstred, look out!" The net, much like the bola that had brought Toothless down, wrapped around Stormfly, pinning her wings and she began to fall, Anstred tossed from the saddle.
"Hiccup!" he shouted as he fell, spinning from the force of the impact of the net, only to be caught seconds later by Toothless. They circled quickly, looking for where Stormfly landed. The Vikings had her down, legs tied and another rope holding her mouth closed.
"Stop!" Hiccup hollered, directing Toothless to drop Anstred as close to the ground as they could so he could go to Stormfly's aid as they landed. They heard Anstred call her name as Hiccup dismounted, the gathered Vikings staring in shock at a saddled Night Fury. With a flick of her wrist, Hiccup had Inferno, the tube on her hip, in her hand and the 'blade' extended. The Monstrous Nightmare saliva it was coated with caught fire as soon as it touched the open air, making them ooh as she waved it around to keep their attention on her. Behind her, Toothless growled at seeing his friend pinned to the ground, and his nest-mate once again diving headfirst into trouble.
"What are you doing?" Anstred demanded, grabbing a piece of debris and brandishing it like a weapon. In his hands, it was a weapon, and he'd do whatever it took to get Stormfly back, even take on these idiots single-handed if he had to.
"Back again?" the voice that had called for them to be fired upon asked in disbelief as he looked past Hiccup to see Toothless behind her. He was tall, broad shouldered with dark hair pulled back in a low tail. Five blue marks came down from his lower lip, the two on the outside the shortest, the middle one going straight down his chin, but it was his eyes that assured Hiccup that he wasn't as good looking on the inside as he was on the outside. A heavy brow shaded his dark brown eyes and he was unfortunately in possession of an overly large nose. His bearing, though, marked him as the leader of this particular band of Vikings. "Soil my britches." Hiccup noticed that he stood on Stormfly's head, keeping her down and proving just what kind of man he was. "That is a Night Fury." He reached down and gave the man next to him a pat on the back with a slightly sinister grin. "Thought they were all gone for good. Looks like our luck has had a turn for the better, lads. Don't think Drago has one of those in his dragon army."
"Dragon army?" Anstred wondered, glancing at Hiccup as if she had an answer, but she just waved her hand a little, needing him to relax a bit.
"Look, we don't want any trouble," she said, lowering Inferno slightly to prove it but not retracting the blade just yet. The leader chuckled, the sound sending a shiver down Hiccup's spine. Pure greed and arrogance radiated in it, making her worried for Toothless as she took a better stance in front of him.
"You should have thought of that before you stole all of our dragons," he said, bending to grab Stormfly's horn and giving it a shake before gesturing to the ice behind him, "and blasting our fort to bits." The Vikings with him rumbled in agreement as they looked up to take in the destruction from this angle. Aside from the few weapons they had, it was obvious none of the buildings had survived the attack.
"What are you talking about?" Anstred demanded, frustrated that he couldn't get to Stormfly and that they weren't getting answers they needed.
"You think we did this?" Hiccup asked, shocked that they could think such a thing. They might not always get the warmest of welcomes in some of the places they went, but this was a new one for her.
"Dragon trapping is hard enough without do-gooder dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them."
"What do-gooder-" Hiccup began but stopped as what he said sank in. She retracted the blade on the sword and took a small step closer to the leader. "There are other dragon riders?" She'd been sure that she was the first, but this news had the potential to be huge.
"You mean other than your thieving friend from last night? You tell me." He kept his gaze locked on the trio in front of him as he went on. "You may have an ice spitting dragon on your side," he said, stepping off Stormfly, "but we still have a quota to fill. How do you expect we explain this mess to Drago Bludvist?"
"Drago What-fist?" Hiccup asked, shaking her head a little in confusion. Nothing this guy was saying was adding up. It seemed they'd get an incomplete answer before he was off on a tangent about something else they knew nothing about. "Does anything you say make sense?"
"He's expecting a new shipment for his army, by tomorrow," one of the other Vikings put in, obviously interrupting, but the leader said nothing about it.
"And Drago don't take well to excuses," said another, making the leader nod. He reached for the top of his tunic and pulled it down, showing a dragon shaped scar drawn onto his chest just above his heart.
"This is what he gave me the last time we showed up empty handed," he told them as he let go of his tunic and covered the scar back up. "He promised to be far less understanding in the future."
"Look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief, or an ice spitting dragon, or your crazy, lunatic boss." Hiccup watched a sneer come and go across his face as she spoke, but pushed on anyway, not realizing it was a signal to the weapon behind them. Maybe there was a tiny speck of decency left in him, and if she could appeal to it and get them out without bloodshed, then she'd do it. "Just give us back our dragon and we'll go. Strange, hostile person who we've never met."
"Where are my manners?" he asked, as if he'd forgotten that he hadn't introduced himself before. He bowed, one hand behind his back as the other gestured expansively in front of him. "I am Eret, son of Eret." The scrape of steel against leather was loud in the silence that had fallen, and he pointed a rather large dagger at them. "The finest dragon trapper alive." The Vikings behind him laughed in agreement with that statement. "After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury."
You haven't caught me yet! Toothless growled in Hiccup's mind, roaring aloud and flaring his wings.
"And this is Toothless," Hiccup said, waving a hand at him. "He says we're going, now."
"They all say that," Eret told her, a fake look of sympathy on his face before his expression hardened. "Rush them, lads." Hiccup and Anstred jumped out of the way when Toothless opened his mouth and sent a fire blast at a spear of ice above them, bringing it down. The attacking Vikings scattered, ducking for cover as it shattered. Running for Stormfly, Hiccup used her flaming 'sword' to quickly slice through the ropes holding her down as Anstred threw the net off her.
"Come on, Stormfly," he called as he and Hiccup started running for Toothless. "Go, go." With a running leap, both riders were mounted and winging their way away from the Vikings, dodging arrows from behind them as they went.
"You will never hold on to those dragons, do you hear me?" Eret shouted, pointing his dagger at them. Hiccup looked over her shoulder at him as Toothless carried her away. "Drago is coming for them all!"
AN: Whoo, that was fun, wasn't it? Sorry I'm not sorry about the cliffhanger.