~Hey guys, any possible, better names you guys can think of for Hadrian's dragon, let me know. I know it seems pretty vague for now, so give me some better suggestions! Hope you enjoy the chapter! Xxx~

Hadrian runs through the trees as the lights of the village come into sights. The sun was up, by now it was probably eight o'clock in the morning. Hiccup and Stoick have probably already eaten breakfast, and if memory serves, Hiccup was at the Academy with the dragons practicing defenses against Outcast/Beserker attacks.

The quickest way would be to sneak through Silence Sffin's sheep yard. The man so old he has hair growing out of the sores on his liver spots. And one can bet he doesn't like people wrestling sheep from his farm.

Vaulting over the wooden bars of the fence, Hadrian tries to move swiftly while trying not to alert the sheep. He makes it to the other end and flattens on his belly to slide underneath. From there it's a straight shot for him to the Academy.

Hiccup had the dragons start at a single defense or attack weapon the Beserkers will use, each team gets a certain amount of time to dodge, attack or deactivate it. Then they circuit over to the next weapon.

"Okay everybody, switch to your next-"

Suddenly a sound of multiple giggling catches their attention. Hiccup looks up and sees a gathering of girls sitting and watching on the outer rims of the arena. They converse and talk normal while giving occasional glances at the teens.

Snotlout snorts. "Ladies," he walks towards them with a smirk on his face "ladies, I appreciate the company, but I need the silence to focus on my training. But I can assure you there will plenty of Snotlout to go around."

The girls looks to him and giggle at him.

"There not here for you, you Muttonhead, they're here for Hadrian." Astrid spits.

Hiccup rolls his eyes and approaches the girls. "Girls, girls I'm sorry but, Hadrian's not here to day."

They awe in sync.

"Is he coming later?" A curly-haired brunette asks.

"Uh, that's hard to say but-"

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup sighs and drops his last saying. "Nevermind."

"Hiccup!" Hadrian calls as he approaches the arena. The girls perk up and squeal as Hadrian slides down the ramp lading into the arena, nearly tripping as he stops. "Hiccup, you will not believe what I just saw. I was hunting, when this pack of wolves came out and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Hadrian slow down." Hiccup calms as the words spill from Hadrian's mouth like a waterfall. "What, what is this on your face? You've got blood all over you." Hiccup says as he tries to inspect Hadrian's cheek.

"Hiccup, I'm fine, but you won't believe this." Hadrian tries to say as Fishlegs brings over a wet rag. Hiccup then pulls up a stool and tells Hadrian to sit.

"Just hold on, let me help you with this." Hadrian sighs, sits and allows himself to be inspected and treated. Giving him a chance to organize his thoughts.

"So what happened?" Astrid asks.

"This rabid pack of wolves attacked me. They were foaming at the mouth."

"That's a sign of rabbis." Hiccup concludes. "We need to do something before they ever decide to bite a dragon."

As Hiccup dabs his cheek, Hadrian finally says. "And, on top of that, I saw a Skrill."

Hiccup goes rigid, but a look of shock and surprise chisel his features. "A what?"

"A Skrill, I swear it was right there in front of me." Hadrian says.

"What did it look like?" Fishlegs asks.

"It was big, and black, with red stripes along its torso."

"Sounds amazing!" Fishlegs jitters with excitement.

"Where did you see it, Hadrian?" Stoick asks as he approaches the two.

"Uh, I don't remember where I saw it but it was there."

"Did you see a rainbow chicken too?" Snotlout sasses.

"Somebody ask you opinion?" Hadrian bites back. He looks to Hadrian. "Hiccup I saw it. I swear."

"I believe you." Hiccup replies. He smiles and continues to clean Hadrian's cheek.

"Yeah well, you probably won't believe this but, I think I found my dragon." Hadrian says. Hiccup immediately stops. He looks Hadrian in the eyes with a look that tells Hadrian he thinks he's crazy. Nevertheless, Hadrian goes on. "I want to bring it in."

Hiccup's mouth is slightly agape as Hadrian watches the words squeeze into his head. His mouth then shuts and he blinks. "Uh, I don't know about that, Hadrian."

"But those wolves could take down a dragon." Hadrian counters.

"Hadrian. . ." Hiccup starts.

"Please Hiccup. You're the one who wanted me to find my own dragon. And I think this is the one." Hadrian looks to him. "I can probably find him again."

Hiccup ponders, looking to Stoick and the others. Turning back to Hadrian he sighs. "It won't be easy, Hadrian. We've tried to train a Skrill in the past, things weren't to promising."

"I at least want to try." Hadrian retorts.

"Well, this dragon must be worth checking out if it got you suddenly so interested." Hiccup smirks.

"Boys," Stoick suddenly intervenes. "not so fast." Hadrian rises up from his seat, Hiccup tossing aside the rag. "Now Hadrian, I know what it's like to have that feeling when you know you've found a dragon, but as Hiccup said, we've dealt with Skrill's in the past, they bring nothing but trouble."

"Everyone used to say the same about me." Hadrian quickly projects.

"I don't want you boys bringing that thing in so soon." Stoick declares.

"Dad come on, we brought Thornado in after the first beat down you gave him"

"That's different."

"I fail to see the difference." Hiccup snaps back.

"Thornado proved his heart true when we found him defending a friend. A Skrill has only shown its wildness."

"Every dragon is wild, Stoick." Hadrian interjects. "Some would argue they're independent."

"I will not have the beast ravaging my village, until I know that it's at least worth training." Stoick finalizes.

Hadrian huffs in aggravation. Hiccup steps in. "How about this, Hadrian and I will go tomorrow, try and find it and check it out."

Stoick looks to Hiccup, the starkness of his eyes soften. "Alright. You both can go an inspect it. Hadrian, if Hiccup doesn't trust it, no going out on your own. Understand?"

Hadrian sighs. "Yes sir."

"Alright. I assume that concludes our training." Stoick says.

Hiccup nods. "Class dismissed."

Later that day, Hadrian went to Heather's cabin for a haircut.

Her home now has that feeling of being blended in, officially part of the village instead of that feeling of having new neighbors. Along the side of her house she had a lovely yard with several of her mother's flower and vegetable beds. The wild spring flowers already in bloom.

After tossing aside his dirt-stained clothes, Hadrian sits on an old stool in the grass, wearing a bucket of water beside them as Heather snips his hair free of small flower buds and those pesky burr seeds.

"A trim." He states. "That's it."

"Come on Hadrian, just a few inches for the summer." Heather complains.

"No."

"Would you stop it? I get better reasoned arguments from the chickens." He says.

"Too short of hair and I look like a coconut head."

"No, that would be impossible. You're the charm of the town." She states. "Every girl practically breaking down your door just to be in the same room with you."

Hadrian sighs and rolls his eyes.

"So, this brings up an interesting point, how's your hunt for that special someone? How do the village girls look to you?" She smiles.

"Shallow, vain." Heather laughs. "What else." Hadrian mocks.

"Since when?"

"Since Smashley. Or was it Orchid, I've lost track."

"Well you never know what'll happen." Heather softly says. "People can surprise you."

Hadrian was about to reply, when suddenly Heather dumps the bucket of water atop his head.

"Hey!" he screams, laughing.

Heather laughs and squeals as Hadrian gets up and chases her around the yard. They break off into the Square as Hadrian calls claiming she's going to get it. As they pass Gobber's shop, Hadrian snatches her by the waist, her back to his chest. She giggles and they yelps as Hadrian hefts her over his shoulder. The laughs but smacks his muscled back to put her down. Laughing, Hadrian carries her all the way back to the yard.

Thanks to Heather's strangely calming haircut, Hadrian and Hiccup took off on Toothless towards the woods to look for the Skrill. They land by the Cove where Hadrian last remembers, and lets him navigate from there. They trek up hills and down into a valley. The entire trip already consuming nearly two hours.

As Hadrian comes staggering up a steep hill, he just about peeked over the top when he froze. He digs his fingers into the dirt.

"Hiccup," he whispers. "Hiccup."

Hiccup looks up and Hadrian signals him to come up and move slow. Hiccup climbs up the hill and levels with Hadrian, making sure to stay low.

"Look," Hadrian points. "there he is."

The Skrill lifts its head shaking it slightly as flies buzz around its head. The wild flowers surround it and the sunlight casting a glorious shine along its red and black scales.

"Oh my gods." Hiccup whispers.

"Isn't he fantastic?"

"He's even more beautiful than you said." Hiccup agrees. "But I don't know Hadrian, this one looks pretty wild."

"I've looked into its eyes Hiccup, there's spirit under the wildness. Not viciousness. I know I can tame him." Hadrian assures.

Hadrian then climbs over the hilltop and starts to sled down. "Hadrian no!" Hiccup hisses.

But he was already at the bottom and trotting towards the Skrill. The dragon raises its head and makes eye contact with Hadrian. Hadrian steadies himself as he approaches.

"Hey there boy. Remember me?" he softly speaks. The dragon snorts and shifts. "It's okay, I won't hurt you."

Hadrian takes cautious steps closer. The dragon suddenly does a guttural growl and Hadrian stops. It roars and Toothless perks his head over the hill. The Skrill raises its wings and hisses.

"Hadrian!" Hiccup calls.

"It's okay." Hadrian says.

The Skrill slams the ground with his wings and roars, he crawls toward Hadrian.

"Hadrian!" Hiccup calls as he swoops in on Toothless. He reaches out a hand and Hadrian snatches it. Using his momentum, Hadrian swings up in Toothless. "Okay, that went well."

"Not a bad ice breaker." Says Hadrian.

"I don't know, he seems not too social." Hiccup says.

"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts." Hiccup's quiet. "You went through all that convincing just to turn your back on me?!"

"I never said that." Hiccup retaliates.

"Then what is it?"

"I just . . . don't want you to get hurt."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, Hadrian I'm not. I don't want you to dive in head first into this. Just take baby steps. I know you're excited, but just promise me, you'll take it slow, and be patient."

Hadrian scoffs at the word, knowing Hiccup's using it against him, but he subsides. "Fine, that's fair enough."

"Good. Now let's get back. We'll come back later for more inspections." Hiccup says as they head back to the village. Hadrian looks back as he watches the field disappear from view.

As the day carried on, around noon Hadrian was given a break from working in Gobber's shop. Hadrian sneaks out towards the back where he packed Hiccup's satchel with a thick rope he braided from smaller ropes to capture the Skrill. He managed to make a new knife from the Gronckle Iron.

He jogs off to the Academy again and creeps down through the gateway. Peering inside, he spots Hiccup and Toothless learning how to disable dragon traps.

Only after Hiccup and Toothless disable a snapper trap does Hadrian whisper. "Psst, Hookfang."

The Nightmare's ears twitch and he turns his head. Hadrian motions his hand for him to come over. Hookfang looks then back at Snotlout, who just got him trapped in a netter trap.

"Hookfang, you gonna get me out of this?" he asks.

Hadrian chuckles as Hookfang comes over. Slipping under his shadow the two walk out of the arena. Behind him, Hadrian can hear, "Anytime."

Hadrian mounts the Nightmare's neck and grasps his horns. "Alright big fellow. Let's go get my dragon."

Astrid turns around as Hiccup helps disable the net trap. She manages to catch Hadrian and Hookfang, just as they take off. "What is he thinking?" she mumbles to herself.

Hookfang flies back over to the woods near the valley Hadrian last saw the Skrill. Good thing Hadrian actually decided to pay attention that one time when Hiccup was lecturing him on how to ride each different available species of dragon. It actually paid off.

Landing just past the treeline, Hookfang and Hadrian wander for at least forty minutes until Hadrian finds the dragon laying in a bed of wild petunias.

"There he is." He whispers.

As the dragon looks in their direction, Hookfang breaks out in a snarl.

"Whoa, whoa. Down boy." Hadrian eases. The Skrill roars and takes off in flight. Hadrian and Hookfang follow. "Come on let's get him!"

They fly off after the Skrill, Hookfang catching up after a few flaps of his wings. The Skrill roars and a ripple of electricity across its body, but there's not thunderclouds here. Hookfang roars as they come in close. The Skrill electrifies itself again and Hookfang jerks back.

"Whoa, easy boy. He can't shoot at us without risking losing his fire. We've got him."

The Skrill roars and takes a sudden tight turn. Hadrian follows and tries to swing the rope. "Come on Hookfang, get me in close."

The Nightmare descends and fires at the Skrill. The dragon swerves out of the way and sharply turns up high. Suddenly it wraps itself in its wings and dives down spinning.

"Hookfang move!" Hadrian yells, and the dragon jerks to the right, nearly knocking Hadrian off. He manages to grip one of Hookfang's horn and pull himself up.

The Skrill roars and suddenly shoots at them. Hadrian yanks on Hookfang's horns and they flip backward. Returning fire, Hadrian pulls out the rope and begins to swing it in a circle to make the opening bigger. The Skrill takes off and they chase it to the sea stacks.

Hadrian pulls out a homemade smoke bomb from the Zippleback gas of Barf and loads it in his bow. Shooting the arrow, it hits the dragon and bursts in a cloud of green gas. Hadrian then swoops into the cloud and follows the shadow. He stands on Hookfang's neck, steading himself and leaps off, roping it around the Skrill's neck.

The dragon roars in anger, hissing and whipping its head back and forth. Hadrian's dangling and swinging left and right until he yanks down and wraps his legs around Hookfang's neck. The Skrill yowls in irritation.

"Come on big boy, work with me." Hadrian mumbles to the Skrill.

Then, Hadrian's yanked off and the Skrill flies off. Hookfang follows, roaring and breathing his fire to try and knock down the dragon. Hadrian's eye widen as the village comes into sight.

"Oh no."

In the Square, the dragons were all lining up outside of Gobber's shop for a dental checkup. The riders all conversing while the twins try and sneak a couple apples from a wheelbarrow. Silence Sfinn herding his sheep along the side of the road.

"Hey, anybody see Hookfang?" Snotlout asks.

"Not since he ditched you in that trap." Astrid smiles.

"Oh, ho, ho, ho. Very funny. I like funny girls." He retorts, waggling his eyebrows.

Astrid rolls her eyes as Hiccup chuckles. Hiccup looks over and sees Toothless' ears twitch. The Night Fury suddenly snarls a looks around.

"Something's wrong." Hiccup says and Astrid looks to Stormfly.

She's nervously alternating padding the ground with her feet, her tail spikes prickling. "What could it be?"

"Maybe they're just nervous about their checkup, I know Meatlug is, last time we were here, she had a cavity." The Gronckle belches. "Shhh, it's okay Meatlug. You're okay." Fishlegs says.

Hiccup strokes Toothless who continues to stare off in one direction. "What is it bud?" Toothless squints and coos.

Hadrian climbs up the rope and bangs into the side of a thin mountain as they near the village. He looks down and sees Hookfang flying below, he looks up and coos. Looking ahead, Grandmamma's cabin and mountain come into view. Hadrian fumbles for his knife and starts to saw at the rope.

The Skrill grimaces and snap dives towards the water. Hadrian gasps and holds his breath, still trying to saw through the thick layers. Surfacing again, but not stopping, he gulps down air and coughs up water.

He looks up to the Skrill and it looks at him, then electrifies himself. It travels down the moisten rope and Hadrian screeches as he feels his very tissues jolt at the sensation. He bites the inside of his lip, so hard he soon tastes blood. His hands still sawing, they suddenly spasm and it falls. Hookfang fires at the Skirll and it stops to block the attack. Hadrian in that second snaps the rope with his hands and falls.

Hookfang manages to catch Hadrian on his neck, the boy a little stunned. Hadrian forces himself to push up and find the Skrill. It's direction still near the village. "No." he whispers.

Back in the Square, Gobber was just about to call toothless, when some villager shouts. "Skrill!"

Shouts of fear and terror ring through the Square as the dragon roars and swoops in. the dragons and villagers scatter as it glides over the houses.

Gobber looks to the dragon. "Odin's beard."

"Let it through!" Hiccup shouts. His eyes snap when he sees a thick rope encircling it's neck.

The dragon roars and spots the sheep. They start to run and Silence Sfinn readies a spear, but the Skrill strikes and the bolt travels up his weapon, shocking him. He drops with charred marks on his arms.

"Sffin!" Hiccup calls.

"Hiccup!" Astrid calls, now mounted on Stormfly. "He's taking the herd!"

Hiccup looks ahead and sees the shadow of the Skrill keeping the sheep in and line and guiding it out near the village border. Hiccup mounts on Toothless and they barrel after it. "Let's move!"

"Uh, hello? I have no dragon!" Snotlout yells.

Leaving him behind, Fishlegs, Hiccup and Astrid go after the Skirll. Snatching a rope from Gobber's shop, they follow the Skirll near a yak farm.

"We can't let it take the yaks!" Hiccup yells. "Astrid!"

"On it!" she swoops down and fires at the Skrill, making swerve to the side and scattering the sheep.

Hiccup readies the rope and draws Toothless in close. Toothless roars and fires a plasma blast. The shot lands true and fumbles the Skrill. It roars and hisses. Hovering, the two dragons sneer. Hiccup readies the rope and just as the Skrill was about to strike, a deafening barrel of sound knocks it low.

"Dad!" Hiccup calls in joy.

"Let's give this boy a welcoming, eh?" Thornado bellows again and the Skrill it pounded to the ground.

Hiccup swoops down and lassos the dragon. Still mounted to Toothless, his father helps tug at the ropes as the dragon ascends again. They keep it hovering as Fishlegs follows them, herding the sheep back to town. The Skrill roars and yowls in hatred. Astrid comes in and dismounts as Gobber exits the shop, the villagers and dragons herded out.

Hiccup and Toothless land in the center of the Square, separate ends of the ropes with Stoick and him. "Gobber, help us get ahold of this thing!" Stoick orders.

"Snotlout, help Fishlegs with the herd." Hiccup adds.

He releases his line to Gobber and dismounts, Toothless coos and Hiccup looks to see Hadrian riding Hookfang.

"Hadrian!" He call. Everyone's heads turn to him.

"Hookfang?!" Snotlout says, even aggravated.

Hadrian lands and dismounts, jogging over to the Skrill, but he stumbles and hiccup manages to catch him before plowing to the ground. "Easy, easy." Hiccup says.

Hadrian's eyes keep to the Skrill, and Hiccup keeps him steady. Hiccup swallows thickly when he sees small thin billows of steam streaming form his arms, as if he was leaking, losing air like a balloon.

"Hadrian." Hiccup says, and he looks to him. "Are you okay?" He asks.

Hadrian nods and helps Hiccup look for any overall injury. But they both go rigid as a large shadow falls over them. Stoick hovers over them, anger fixed in his eyes, causing them to burn an unnaturally bright, like two supernovas ready to explode. He doesn't say anything, waiting for Hadrian to talk first.

Hadrian swallows, pushing off of Hiccup to stand on his own, then speaks. "I didn't want to wolves to get my dragon."

"You're dragon." Stoick repeats, nearly mocking Hadrian checking to see if he heard him right. His mouth trying to keep from screaming. "That animal doesn't belong to you or anyone else h. I can see what it did to you and frankly, I'm surprised you're still alive."

"What are you going to do with him?" Hadrian asks.

"I don't have to do a damn thing with the psycho dragon. Not worth the price of a herd of sheep."

Stoick then turns away and as Gobber hands him the ropes, he leans in and says. "Isn't that dragon the symbol of the Beserkers?"

Stoick doesn't answer, knowing the boys overheard him. "Let's get in into a cage!"

Hiccup turns to Hadrian, his head down, hair covering his eyes. "Hey, it'll be okay, Hadrian." Hiccup says. Hadrian keeps his head down.

Heather had just put away the ropes and small weapons when she sees the dragons coming in. "Welcome home." She teases. After the twins enter the arena, Astrid follows behind. "Hey Astrid, where're Hiccup and Stoick at?"

"Don't ask." She replies.

"Something Hadrian did?"

"You guessed it."

Snotlout and Fishlegs enter as Astrid dismounts. "So, how bad?" Heather asks. "Give me a category."

Astrid huffs. "I don't think he made a category for this one." He whispers.

"Open the cage!" Stoick shouts as he and Hiccup, Hadrian riding behind Hiccup, enter with the Skrill.

Gobber opens the cage at the very back of the arena. The Skrill dragon still screaming and bucking as he drags it along. "Ah, come on! Hold still! Come on."

As he leads him in through the arena to the cage, the dragon roars.

"He's scared to go through." Gobber says. He ushers him in, the dragon hissing.

Hiccup and Toothless walk up, Hadrian hopping off and running to the cage. "That's the wild Skrill! Isn't he amazing?"

"Well, he's something, that's for sure." Astrid says.

Stoick hurries out of the cage as Gobber pries the lever for the cage doors. "That's a dangerous animal."

"He's just scared." Hadrian defends. But he's not hiding the smile on his face.

Hiccup walks up. "I'd say he's about two years old."

"Yeah, two year of wild." Fishlegs adds. "And I'll bet most of it alone."

"He'll calm down. Once we start training him." Hiccup looks to him with a 'What are you thinking?' look.

"No one's riding that crazy thing." Stoick states. "I'm contacting the Beserkers after dinner."

"What? What for?" Fishlegs asks.

"Well now that we have a Skrill, it is possible we could trade it to the Beserkers for their allegiance." Gobber explains.

"No!" Hadrian argues. "I can ride him."

"No you can't! And you won't!" Stoick asserted. "I won't tolerate it, Hadrian. Not after that stunt you pulled today. If you're going to live under my roof, you follow my rules!"

Hadrian roll his eyes and presses his lips into a tight line.

"Look at me!" Stoick barks. Hadrian stares him down, defiance burning through his eyes; making his emerald gaze sharp. "No one, goes in there without my permission."

Then he tugs at Thornado's rope harness and he flies out of the arena.

Hadrian turns back to the Skrill, banging and thrashing inside the cage. He constantly paces around, roaring and hissing, snarling and clawing.

"Calm down, Lightning." Hiccup hears him whisper.

He snaps his head to looks at him. "You named him?"

"Lightning." Hadrian repeats, looking to Hiccup. Hiccup sighs and drops his head on his forearms.

At dinner, the dragon's roaring could be heard all throughout the village. The table however inside the house was dead silent. Making his roars more concentrated. The silence mimicked a turkey on Snoggletog. So absolute and thick, stuffed with so many emotions and issues it overflowed at the seams. Hadrian sighs as he hears the dragon bellows out a long agonizing howl.

Toothless wined and nibbled on his fish. Gobber had joined them for supper, but not even he was swilling to break the eerie silence. One wrong word and the entire roof of the house would blow to bits. Hadrian looked around the table, avoiding Stock, but mentally pleading with Hiccup to help him revise Stoick's already made decision.

"How much is a dragon worth, Gobber?" Stoick finally asks.

"Anybody want this last bowl of mutton?" Gobber asks.

"Gobber."

"Well it depends on your target market." He replies. "The blackmarket's really got a price no wild dragons."

Hiccup and Hadrian perk their eyes up at them.

"I feel we can either trade with the Beserkers for a price, or for their allegiance."

"What about both?" Gobber amuses. No one laughs.

"Now that Dagur's in command of both fleets, the risk of going to war is even higher." Stoick analyzes.

"Who's to say he won't use the dragon against us if we give it to him?" Hiccup jumps in. "Dagur's past regular-ass crazy, now he's crazy-as crazy. This whole thing can be huge waste of time."

Hadrian's body vibrates, tension coiling within him until he has to clamp his jaw tight to keep from shouting.

"Dagur's a danger we know that," Gobber starts.

"And with a Skrill, and the fleets, he'll devour Berk" Hiccup finishes.

"Hiccup, you never know what could happen, people can surprise you." Stoick repeats Heather's words, and anger hums beneath Hadrian's skin.

"We've already seen another Skrill, to which we froze in ice. Why not trade Hadrian that one?" Hiccup suggests. "He can, slightly provoke it."

"We're actually hoping Hadrian's can barbeque him instead." Gobber lamely whispers.

"Don't call the Beserkers!" Hadrian roars.

Stoick looks to him, the hope in Hadrian's eyes slowly turned to pleading. "I think I'll have bowl of mutton."

The pleading and hope finally subsided behind a cold wall of anger. Hadrian jumps to his feet, slamming back his chair to crash to the floor. Leaving the three in silence as he stomped his way to his room, his anger blazing.

It wasn't until darkness had stolen over the island that Hadrian heard footsteps up the stairs.

He was perched on the ledge of the skylight above Hiccup's bed. One foot on Hiccup's headboard, the other propped on the ledge, resting his elbow as he gazed out into the village. The village houses emanating a warm glow from the windows.

"Hey you." Hiccup purrs.

Hadrian looks down and finds him carrying a plate with a slice of blueberry pie. Hiccup smiles and lifts it slightly offering it to him. When Hadrian looks back out, Hiccup sighs and places it on the nightstand at his bedside.

Looking back, Hiccup has a sudden flashback to when Hadrian first appeared to him on that same ledge. Wearing all black and chains. A whole piece of his face missing, only bound together by infinite blackness. His eyes the cold shade of jade.

Now he's dressed in a simple night tunic and pants.

It seems so long ago. So much change.

"I don't care what he says." Hadrian speaks. "He's my dragon."

"Just calm down and give me a chance to talk to him." Hiccup says. Hadrian hops down from the ledge and strode over to the chair at Hiccup's desk.

"He doesn't listen when he's this mad."

Hiccup sits across from him, leaning on the edge of the bed. "You know what they say, anger is just fear on the way out."

"Nice try." Hadrian huffs. "He's not afraid of anything."

Hiccup gives a smirk. "I don't know, you sure scared the heck out of him today." Hiccup goes and gently smacks Hadrian's head. The two share a laugh while Toothless purrs against Hiccup's side.

"Listen, when I was three, we went fishing near a harsh riverbed. He found me walking across an unstable log. I slipped so many times, I could've fallen in, and I was laughing."

Hadrian chuckles and smiles.

Hiccup's voice dims down like the flicker of a candle. "I don't remember that, but he does. Parents have this kind of, selective memory. Sometimes I think he can't remember what he did yesterday, and then I swear he can remember every injury, every close call, and every, other injury that could've killed his son."

Hadrian softens his anger, resting his chin on his forearms crossed on the chair.

"Just try to understand, what it feels like to be responsible for something you love so much." Toothless purrs against Hiccups hand and he scratches the Night Fury's chin.

The corner of Hadrian's mouth perks into a smile. Then he gets up from the chair. "I'm going to get to bed. Goodnight." He says.

"Goodnight Hadrian."