Ok so this will be the full story from my oneshot Return of a Demon. I have changed a few things in this story from what I'd set up in the onsehot but nothing too major. I'm going to rate this M as there will be violence later on and I'll probably forget to change the rating if I have it lower now...

All feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated :)

And heads up that updates are going to be very slow which I apologise for.

"Can't you see I have bigger problems to deal with?"

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly."

"You're many things, Hiccup, but a dragon killer is not one of them."

"Stop being all of you."

"It's what's inside that he can't stand."

"You're small and weak so they'll see you as sick or insane."

"You're not a Viking, you're not my son."

"Figure out which side you're on."

They were right, Stoick did have bigger problems to deal with; the Red Death which he was dwarfed by. He had also messed up pretty badly, he should have just left with Toothless when he had the chance. He certainly wasn't a dragon killer. He couldn't stop being all of him nor help that he was small and weak, what he was about to do probably proved that he was insane. He didn't want to be a Viking and he didn't know what to feel about being disowned, he was still processing that part.

But one thing was for sure: he'd figured out which side he was on.

Once he'd sorted out what was going on inside of his own head, he peered over the edge of the ledge they were perched on from Toothless's back, the four dragons from the arena waiting loyally beside him and the terrible terror perched on top of the gronkle's back. He'd released the arena dragons who had in turn brought him to the nest and helped him release Toothless. It now seemed like they were going to stay with him, whether that be to flee or to stay and fight the Red Death.

He would stay and fight the Red Death; he didn't want to stand by as the Berkians were slaughtered when he could do something, but he also wanted to release the dragons from the Red Death's control. He scanned the scene below him trying to come up with a plan that would not result in his and Toothless's death, but seeing his mentor about to be burnt alive, any and all thoughts about making a plan were dismissed. He quickly urged Toothless into the air and straight towards the Red Death, the five dragons following closely behind. He would end this war, here and now.

-o0o-

He was falling, straight into the inferno below with Toothless diving towards him. His dragon wouldn't be able to reach him in time, and besides, Toothless couldn't fly. But at least the Red Death was gone. He was rapidly losing consciousness from the intensity of the heat but his thoughts still returned to the last interaction he'd had with Astrid.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"Probably something stupid..."

"Good, but you've already done that."

"Then something crazy."

He'd certainly done something crazy, he thought before he blacked out.

Astrid stood overlooking the docks as the significantly reduced fleet docked, her eyes searching for a black dragon and small auburn haired boy. The rest of the teens stood beside her, whether they were looking for Hiccup and Toothless or their families, she didn't know. She watched and waited as the returning Berkians trudged up to the village but she never saw what she was looking for. Finally, Stoick came past with his face devoid of all emotion but a certain air of anger and dare she say, sadness, swirling around her Chief. He refused to make eye contact with anyone as he passed, making a beeline for his house on the hill. She turned back to the boats in hopes that Hiccup and Toothless would appear, but they were completely empty.

"Lassie," she heard behind her in a sombre tone. Turning, she saw it was Gobber with an openly miserable expression, the usual light in his eyes dimmed. "Come with me, you lot," he said before turning and heading to the arena.

"What happened, Gobber?" Astrid asked immediately as the teens hurried after the blacksmith. Astrid was taken aback when Gobber stopped in his tracks in the middle of the village and turned to face them with tears brimming in his eyes. "Gobber-...?" she prompted before he sighed, his whole body deflating with his lungs.

"He saved us, saved us all, he an' tha' night fury...bu' he didn' make it. We saw him fall from the sky into the giant explosion they caused, tha' dragon of his going straight after him. Couldn' find a body either, his nor the dragon's," Gobber said as quietly as a viking could before turning and heading to the forge, clearly unable to cope with the loss of his apprentice. Astrid herself was standing in shock, unable to process what Gobber had just told them. There was no way that Hiccup was dead, he couldn't be. Toothless would never allow it. But then again, Toothless hadn't survived either...

"Astrid?" she heard Fishlegs call softly. "Are- are you ok?" he asked rather hesitantly.

Of course she wasn't ok, she was in shock and still processing everything. She had been best friends with Hiccup as a small child but they had grown apart over the years as Astrid had seen less and less reason to maintain the friendship. What a mistake that had been, she thought. Not even a day back being friends with Berk's heir had reminded her why she'd been friends with him in the first place, but it had also made his loss so much more painful. But she was Astrid Hofferson, she would be ok eventually.

Everything was dark and every part of his body felt like lead, his left leg bothering him more than the rest of his battered figure as he returned to consciousness. Forcing his eyes open, he saw a wooden roof above. Shifting his pounding head to the side, he examined the room he was in. It was a simple wooden hut with just the bed he was in and a small bedside table with bandages and a few pots and jars of herbs. With a groan, he managed to sit up just as a man walked in. He had short brown hair, dull brown eyes and was wearing very worn out clothes. He looked to be middle aged, a few years older than Stoick maybe.

"Ah good, you're awake," the man said with a kind smile. "It's been nearly impossible to keep your dragons out of here, the night fury in particular."

It took much longer than normal for Hiccup to process the man's words. When everything finally clicked in his head, he immediately began to panic. "Toothless? Where is he? Is he ok?" he asked frantically.

"Calm down, son," the man soothed as he kept Hiccup from getting out of bed, "is Toothless one of your dragons?"

"He's the night fury. Wait, what do you mean by one of my dragons? Toothless is the only one I have."

"A pair of monstrous nightmares brought you and the night fury to this island where I found you. There was also a nadder, zippleback, gronckle and terrible terror with the two nightmares. And Toothless is fine apart from a missing tail fin but it looks like a much older wound," the man explained.

"Can I see him?" Hiccup asked, visibly relaxing once the man told him that his best and only friend was alright.

"Uh, yes but...well you need to stay put," the man said with obvious nervousness. Continuing when the battered up boy gave him a questioning look, he tried to explain delicately, "when you were brought to me, you were severely wounded with injuries that I could not fix."

Something clicked in Hiccup's head; the pain in his left leg and the man's anxious and pitiful demeanour. Pulling back the blanket, he just stared at the space where his leg should have been. "I'm so sorry, son, it was already missing when I found you," the man said quietly as Hiccup just stared in shock, trying to process the absence of the lower half of his left leg. After a few minutes, he managed to shake himself back to reality.

"Thank you. For everything," he croaked as he tore his eyes from his bandaged stump and looked up into the sad eyes of the man who nodded in return. It would take him time to adjust both mentally and physically to his injury, but he resolved to not let the missing leg hold him back.

At that moment a shadow burst through the door, bounding over to the bed and warbling whilst nuzzling his rider. "Toothless! Hey, bud," Hiccup said with a genuine smile that had only worked its way onto his face since he met the dragon. After the duo had greeted each other and Toothless had settled down, Hiccup turned back to the man beside the bed. "Who are you and where are we?" he finally asked.

"I go by Ragnar and I have no idea where we are," Ragnar said with a sad smile.

"What do you mean you don't know where we are?"

"I was shipwrecked here several years ago now and I haven't been able to leave."

"Oh...I'm sorry. And you're here alone?"

"Ay, that I am," Ragnar nodded.

"Were you a trader?" Hiccup asked curiously and thinking that he couldn't be from a Viking village because of his lack of hostility towards dragons.

"No...I was banished by my people. I refused to kill the raiding dragons so I was given the choice of killing one of the arena dragons in front of everyone to prove that I was a Viking, or I could take a boat and leave. I chose to leave," he explained, finishing in a low voice. "And who are you, young man?"

"Huh? Oh, Hiccup."

"Hiccup? And where are you from?"

"Berk, but they probably think I'm dead by now," he muttered.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened exactly?" Ragnar asked with hesitation.

After a pause, Hiccup finally opened his mouth to speak. He explained how he'd shot down Toothless and couldn't kill him, how he'd befriended the dragon instead and how he'd discovered the nest. He told Ragnar about dragon training and his father taking off with Toothless and how he'd taken the dragons from the arena and gone after them alone. With more hesitation, he spoke of the battle with the Red Death and how he'd been knocked off of Toothless and into unconsciousness.

"Odin...it's a miracle you survived. Will you go back? To Berk, I mean."

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I was disowned and cast out."

"I'm sure they would reverse that decision-"

"I'm not going back," Hiccup said with uncharacteristically cold firmness. "How long have I been here?" he asked in a neutral tone after a few moments of silence.

"Two weeks tomorrow. Speaking of which, you should really eat something more substantial than broth now that you're awake. I'll be right back." With that, Ragnar left the room and Hiccup slumped back against the headboard as he absently rubbed Toothless's head.

He wouldn't go back to Berk, he couldn't. He was not risking his only friend's life. Hopefully Ragnar would let him stay until he could heal and rebuild Toothless's tail. Who knows, maybe he could even teach Ragnar to ride a dragon so he could leave the island. He would work that out later, right now he was drifting back off to sleep.