Last updated: Jul. 21

It's currently: Aug. 15

...wow that's not too bad.

So hey.

Remember when I said this'll be the last chapter before I take off on hiatus? Weeeeeeell it got too long. So ONE MORE CHAPTER, I SWEAR!

Read & Relax...if you can.


Hiccup

Eventually, we descended into the area where the cave was hidden away. By this time, the sky was almost completely dark.

"So the Stormcutter," Astrid finally began.

"A friend."

"Since when?"

Toothless carefully started coming in for a landing while Dragon broke away and left our group. I had to guess that he was heading back to the cove.

I shrugged. "Since Toothless turned into…this." I gestured to him.

Toothless turned his sharp eyes to me. As soon as Astrid climbed off his back, he threw me off. I landed on my back with a hard oomf! I could already feel an ache as I sat up.

"Really, bud?" I asked as he huffed. I rolled my eyes. "You know I don't mean it like that—"

"Hiccup, listen to me." Astrid's tone became severe. "This…dragon is incredible and all…" She sounded like a parent trying to explain to her kid why trolls aren't real. "But…you need to realize that this dragon's not—"

"My brother?" I asked sharply. She bit her lip but glared. I sighed. "Astrid—"

"Look, I know you miss him," she said quickly, sitting down next to me, "but what you did was dangerous. What if this dragon had really been hostile?"

"Astrid."

"You could have died!"

My expression remained flat. "Astrid."

"Your mother already lost one son. I can't believe you'd risk—"

"Astrid!"

"What!?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I know this is Toothless. There's no doubt in my mind—never has been."

"Hiccup—"

"No, please listen." I crossed my arms and leaned next to Toothless. "When he got sick…"

The memory of his arms, covered in scales, flashed in my mind.

"He was already turning. I realize that now. By the time I found him, it was too late."

Toothless crooned and nudged my shoulder. I gave him a brief smile before elbowing him back. Astrid then looked up at Toothless who returned her gaze. At least he didn't seem angry anymore—just weary.

Ignoring this, I continued explaining. "I've looked everywhere for an answer. Something scientific, or supernatural, or magical, but I've got nothing!"

"Have you asked Gothi?"

I shook my head. "Can't. There are too many ears in the village—too many dragon-killers." Toothless placed his chin on my head, and I reached up to pat his face. "It's not worth the risk."

Astrid didn't reply. I don't know if she necessarily believed me, but after a pause, she nodded anyway. She didn't challenge me, so I didn't feel the need to prove it to her anymore. Instead, I stood up and walked over to Toothless's saddle.

"Look, I understand if you still think I'm crazy."

My fingers fiddled with the straps. Tying up my extra supplies wasn't gonna be easy. I didn't have an extra set of reigns for Dragon.

"But I'm leaving."

"What!?"

"Just for a while," I reassured her. I stopped playing with the straps and faced Astrid. Leaning against Toothless, I crossed my arms. "I need answers, and they're just—" I shrugged and gestured to the forest around us. "—not here."

"But—"

Suddenly Toothless stiffened. His ears were perked, and a growl rumbled out of his chest. If he'd been a cat, I was sure his hackles would have been rising. As it was, his slitted eyes were glaring at the sky and his lips curled back to show off his sharp teeth.

There wasn't even a wisp of wind, but a chill still slithered down my spine. I looked around as I felt my muscles tense.

"Toothless?" I asked, my voice low.

Astrid was soon back to back with me. "What's going on?" she whispered.

"I dunno." From my peripheral, I saw Toothless prepping to launch, legs bent and body low. I quickly grabbed Astrid's hand. "Let's find out!"

She climbed back onto Toothless's back without a fuss. He didn't move as we climbed on, and he barely shifted as we settled our weight on him. I could feel every coiled muscle beneath me as he slowly lowered into a crouch.

He burst into a run. Astrid and I held on tight. Then he launched into the air, wings spread like a second cloak of the nighttime sky. My hold on the saddle tightened.

Oh yeah, this'll be fine, I told myself. What could possibly go wrong?


Toothless

Famous last words, Hiccup…


Hiccup

One disaster after another followed our exit from the cave.

I didn't question the outright stupidity of our decision until Berk's shores were faaaaar behind us. The sea stacks around us gradually became more and more unfamiliar. The wind nipped us and taunted us with quiet whispers.

Toothless's eyes flicked and shifted around in the dark, and he jumped every time Astrid or I would move around. His ears would twitch from every rustle of fabric and every puff of air.

Then the fog rolled in. Suddenly, we were blind.

After a few minutes of seemingly aimless flying, Astrid tensed and tugged on the back of my shirt. She pointed to a silhouette in the distance behind us. My heart thumped.

"Toothless," I whispered.

His head snapped in my direction, and I pointed. His eyes went wide and then narrowed. He growled.

The silhouette came closer. Then it got bigger. Astrid's hold around my waist tightened.

Finally, the form behind the silhouette burst through the clouds!

Toothless jerked away on instinct, and I nearly fell off his back.

So you can imagine our collective outrage when we quickly recognized the dragon. Owlish eyes from a friendly, smiling face greeted us, as Dragon cocked his head at us innocently. He chirped hello.

"What the—DRAGON!"

"What the hel!?"

Toothless screeched indignantly.

Dragon chuckled at our expense while Toothless continued to shriek. He was probably cursing out Dragon from head to toe. That had always been his specialty in pirate training…

The light moment was killed immediately when both dragons tensed again. Toothless's ears flicked up, and Dragon's laughing died off. The latter dragon suddenly looked back, and Astrid gasped.

The tension returned like a rumble of thunder. More dragons entered into the fog. And when I say more, I mean enough dragons to overrun Berk in a single raid. Long ones, and short ones, and thin ones, and multiple-headed ones flew together in a massive drove. I could pick out the five common dragons alongside others I couldn't easily name. Their eyes reflected the moonlight.

Something squirming in my gut twisted and churned. Dragon barked and tried to push us out of the way, but the drove was faster than they appeared. We were swept up in the crowd in an instant. Soon I could feel glowing eyes blinking at me while Dragon flew close to us.

"More friends of yours?" Astrid asked, in disbelief.

I swallowed and shook my head. "No." I leaned close to my brother's ear. "Toothless, we have to get outta here."

Toothless nodded. Dragon growled at the surrounding dragons while Toothless tried to break away from them. We'd barely moved a foot away from them before one of them swooped at us. I shouted as the chilling tailwind swept through my hair. Astrid and I pressed close to Toothless's back as another dragon joined the first. Toothless shrieked at the offenders who growled right back at him.

A heavy dragon next to us rammed into Toothless's side. The dragon smashed my left leg in between them, and I yelped. My leg buzzed with a stinging pain, but nothing felt broken. I couldn't exactly check on it.

I tried to stifle a hiss that Toothless definitely heard.

"Hiccup!" Astrid exclaimed. She looked at my leg, which I had proceeded to curl inward. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I replied, my voice strained. "I'm fine."

Toothless narrowed his eyes. He growled and snapped at the offending dragon who only pushed him back into the drove again. After that, he didn't try to escape.

…Well sh—


Toothless

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit!

Shit became my new mantra as I tried to find another escape.

Slitted eyes were on us from every side, boxing us in. The buzzing was still knocking around in my ears, and the claustrophobia on top of that was setting me on edge. I wanted to fly away as fast as possible, but I couldn't. One wrong move and we would have been dead meat.

Shit.

Dragon's eyes were also darting from place to place. He took in the same roadblocks I was seeing. I watched and growled every time a dragon would get closer. My eyes lingered on one Zippleback in front of me that was bearing something large in its talons. My nose twitched as I singled out the lump's fusty, thick stench.

Meanwhile, I tried to tune out the droning hum. I let my eyes roam from every other dragon around us.

They were all toting something in their talons, I stupidly realized.

"What are they carrying?" I heard Astrid ask.

Good question.

I struggled to make out more than the general shape of the Zippleback's…possession. My eyes widened after they adjusted well enough, and I could register what the lump was. It was some kind of animal, dead and dangling in the Zippleback's claws. It was fresh too—not a hint of rot tainted its musty odor.

"They're bringing in their kill," Hiccup answered, "I think."

"Um…what does that make us?"

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

The noise had gradually become overwhelming. My clenched teeth were vibrating as we were nearing the source of the drone. From the front of the drove, I saw the dragons begin to swoop downward as a group. Oh shit.

Hiccup and Astrid screamed as soon as the wave finally reached us, and I was swept into the current of dragons.

From behind us, more dragons were joining our already immense parade. They were pooling in from all over.

Shit, shit, shit! Godsdammit! Shit!

Dragon snuffed. He nodded upward which was my only warning before he opened his jaw. It started to fill up with ignition gas. The sulfurous stench swept past my nose, and a foreboding wave of trepidation rippled under my scales.

Now, what I would like to say is that I flew out of the way, Dragon shot a stream of hurricane fire through the drove, and we escaped through the created opening without anything other than a brief dogfight or an epic chase following us.

But then I'd be lying.

Here's what really happened:

I flew out of the way, but in order to shoot upward, I had to slow down. Because of that, I slammed right into a dragon that had been right behind me. To add insult to injury, this dragon…was a Gronckle.

Admittedly, the dragon had also been flying slowly. The impact's force hadn't been crushing, but I was still sent into a disoriented loop. I momentarily started falling while Hiccup and Astrid started screaming.

I struggled to flap hard enough to regain my balance. Eventually, my equilibrium returned, but by then, I looked down and saw Hiccup and Astrid.

Underneath me.

Falling.

To their deaths.

SHIT!

I shrieked out a slew of curses and took a sharp dive. Little did I know that another dragon had spotted my fallen cargo. I plucked one of them in my talons, but the other dragon swooped in and snatched up my second charge!

After a quick look at the retreating beast, I knew that it hadn't been Dragon. It was too skinny.

Looking down, I realized that the human in my talons was too blonde to be Hiccup.

Shit!

"Hiccup!"

"HICCUP!"

"GUYS!"


Hiccup

Why the hel do dragons like to carry off twig boys? I probably don't even taste that good.

My captor was a Deadly Nadder. Red Tip or Screech quickly came to mind, but then I took note of this Nadder's colors. The fog hindered the light quality, but I was certain that the dragon was some sort of cool color. Blue maybe? Purple? The hue was too dark to say for certain.

The dragon ignored my kicking and screaming, and it carried me into a gaping hole that led into a volcano. Yes, you heard me. A volcano.

Oh, crap.

I couldn't see Toothless, or Astrid, or Dragon, and the Nadder powered through the drove to get inside the soonest. It followed the steep drop off before it could ascend into the core. I screamed as my stomach did acrobatics inside my body.

Once the terrifying entrance was over with, the interior's size left me speechless. This place was old. Thick stalactites and stalagmites littered the cavern, and the rocks and boulders were worn with age. Long, elaborate cracks climbed up the walls like ancient spider webs.

The thick, smoldering air scorched my throat.

"What my dad wouldn't give to see this…" I murmured in awe.

Hordes of dragons were perched along the cliffside walls. Some flew over my head and others flew in behind us. The center of the volcano had big maw that glowed from a heat source I couldn't see. Lava, I assumed.

Okay, sightseeing time is over.

I struggled in the dragon's grip, but I was trapped by both arms. Getting away was impossible.

The dragon entered a long single-file line that led to the aforementioned center. The waves of heat from the glowing core burned against my skin, and cold sweat was starting to accumulate at my brow. I struggled to make out what was at the heart of the glow. Once I did, my heart dropped down to my stomach.

What. The hel.

"…Shit."


Congratulations! You have unlocked: The Nest!

Give the boys some cookies.

EDIT: *INHALES DEEPLY* I'm so sorry, Twilight, I keep forgetting to write my answer for your reviews. Lo siento, mi amiga. Soooo uh thank you for the review, and yeah, my user name is Tenchiko just like on here. Again, I will never use Wattpad, but I don't mind if you follow me anyway. Just know that what you see is what you get. Yeaaaah hopefully a few secrets will be revealed NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BOY! Thank you again for the review!

—Tenchiko