Wow! The response I received from the last chapter was astounding! I was so inspired by all of your kind feedback! After reading it all, I immediately started writing chapiter VI, which I assure you is almost finished now! If I get lots of fantastic reviews from my amazing readers, you can expect to see it posted by next thursday!

Thank you to SirNick, who edited this chapter with wild abandon and provided some fantastic feedback. He's also ill right now so send good vibes his way!

And without further ado, a milestone chapter on the adventures of Hiccup and Toothless.

HORIZONS

Arc 2: Verðandi and the End of All Things

Chapter V

The snow storms that had blown in from the north had effectively stopped both dragon and rider from taking off during the night, thus forcing them to postpone their travel plans. Unfortunately, Hiccup knew from experience that the dragon, who was currently pouting furiously to his right, didn't particularly approve of flying during the daytime. But despite the sulking dragon's resentment, they needed to get off the island at some point and Hiccup didn't want to let the present opportunity go to waste.

The brilliant pink and cyan sky of early morning filled his vision as Hiccup fished his riding gloves from his pack and pulled them onto his partially frozen fingers. He wiggled them around in some half-hopeless attempt to get the blood flowing back to his glacial appendages, and ended up just shoving them beneath his arm pits for warmth. He paced their makeshift camp a few times over, multitasking as he tried to regain some of the feeling in his legs. Even with the fire on one side and his dragon on the other, it had been an unbearably frigid night.

Whipping his hands free from their confines, Hiccup bent down and closed the clasp of the wicker basket. He hoisted it closer to the sitting dragon, who was none too pleased about their current situation, and patted the woven lid one last time in assurance. Toothless grunted and rose to his feet begrudgingly; why his hatchling was so eager to leave was beyond his comprehension. They could have easily stayed until nightfall where they would be safely hidden from unwanted eyes. The human didn't seem to understand the urgency of his request; there were things far worse than Vikings within the depths of the sea.

Hiccup slung the basket over his shoulders and took a quick look around camp to assure himself that he hadn't left anything behind. He had half-heartedly scrubbed away the signs of their encampment without really knowing why he was doing it. It wasn't like they were running from anyone; he could have been the first human ever to step foot on the little island for all he knew. But Hiccup knew better than most that it was better to be safe than sorry, especially when it came to the nuances of staying alive.

The young explorer hoisted himself onto the back of the brooding dragon and settled himself into the leather saddle. He clipped himself in and was just starting to attach his metal prosthetic when Toothless suddenly stiffened beneath him. Hiccup froze and bolted upright from his stooped position, letting his gaze wander in the distance where the dragon was staring with his chartreuse green eyes.

"Toothless?" Hiccup instinctively lowered himself closer to the dragon's broad shank, preparing for the inevitable vertical lift-off. He clung onto the handles built into the saddle as he tried to follow the Night Fury's urgent gaze; the dragon was staring intently towards the south, his eyes trained near the coast.

And that's when he started to hear it. It was faint at first, the whispers of what sounded like the hiss of water on molten steel coming faintly to his ears on the wind. But then it started to swell, the sizzling clamour unexpectedly growing in both volume and intensity. Toothless' head turned suddenly and with it moved Hiccup, his eyes finally catching a glimpse of where the noise was coming from.

"Come on Toothless," Hiccup urged, prodding the dragon with his good foot, "Let's get out of here."

The dragon moved slightly, his indication of a nod, and then launched himself up into the sky with the kind of rigidity Hiccup knew he rarely used unless the dragon felt he was in serious danger. Hiccup plastered himself as tightly as he could to the dragon's thick neck and fought to keep his eyes open against the rush of cold winter air, hoping to finally get a look at whatever was causing the unearthly noise.

Toothless twitched sharply to the left and Hiccup complied automatically, keeping the direction of the fin steady until the Night Fury finally levelled off. Hiccup opened his eyes and gagged violently before he could even get a chance to catch his breath, the smell of something acrid tainting the ocean air. The young explorer wrinkled his nose and let go of the saddle for a moment so he could wrench his woollen scarf up over the lower half of his face. He tried to breathe through his mouth but only ended up gagging as a cloud of crimson fumes began to blow their way, making his eyes tear up in revulsion. He guided Toothless up and out of the cloud, only to be assaulted with more of the acidic, noxious vapours. Toothless coughed violently beneath the choking Viking and dipped sideways, dropping them down a hundred feet or so towards the ocean. Once they were close enough to the foaming waves, they were finally able to see the true source of the noise.

On the south side of the island, the skeletal remains of the huge beached whale were…dripping? The thing was steaming like a heavy pot of water, scarlet gasses billowing in a thick smoke that rose up and away into the treacherous currents of the wind. Hiccup retched in horror as the upper ribcage completely liquefied into ebony slime and sloshed down onto the sand and into the ocean, hissing and etherizing at everything it came into contact with. Hiccup reeled and fought to keep his nausea under control as he steered the dragon away from the gaseous fumes, hoping to leave the poisonous clouds far behind.

Toothless regained his senses and rose up into the air, his previous qualms about leaving the island prematurely forgotten. His body was still tired from the immense amount of flying they had been doing but his instincts told him to get as far away as possible. The corpse stunk like the venomous eels he and his hatch mates had fought in their youths, but never had they reeked as bad as this.

Hiccup tried to shake the image of the putrefying skeleton out of his mind, but found it to be next to impossible. What in the name of Thor could have done that? He had seen plenty of bodies in his lifetime but never, never had he seen anything even remarkably close as to what had just transpired. It just…melted. Hard, strong bone, completely liquefied. Hiccup dry retched and pulled the scarf off of his nose as quickly as he could manage, taking in a gulp of fresh, salty air.

Hours passed as they flew overseas with nothing but the endless ocean greeting them in the distance. Hiccup could already feel the dragon beneath him begin to tire, and he began to scan the horizon anxiously, not knowing when the next small island would appear. The cold was proving to be a hindrance to the Night Fury, lethargy being an unfortunate side effect of the bitter chill that refused to let up as they made their way south west. Hiccup had hoped that maybe it would get a little warmer out here but the winds that were being tossed up by the currents of Jörmungand did nothing to ease the biting cold.

The skies were clear, and even at their altitude Hiccup had a clear view of the ocean beneath him. He peered past the dragon's wings and watched in earnest as a school of humpbacks leapt out from beneath the waves and crashed back into the ocean, their great tails waving playfully on their way down. Hiccup smiled as another one followed suite in a mischievous game of tag, splashing the whale beside it with its massive upper body. He sat back and imagined what it would be like to be a creature of the sea, free to roam the watery depths of Midgard forever. He wondered what kinds of things lurked beneath the dark sea waves; what kind of treasures did they hold?

He pictured himself as a pirate captain presiding over a hulking ship as huge as Berk itself. He would sail the seas and discover new lands and document the animals that resided there. He would discover new breeds of dragons and befriend them alongside Toothless. He would become the chief of all of the new places he located, and name his new kingdom after himself: Hiccupopia.

Hiccup smirked and shook his head; who was he kidding?

If he was going to discover a new world, he would have to name it something amazing. He would be the first to admit that he wasn't particularly good at naming things, the creature he was riding on being a prime example. With his track record, he knew he'd end up calling it something ridiculous like 'new-found-island' or something of the like.

But that wouldn't stop him from trying to think up a cool one as he passed the time.

Gradually, something far in the distance began to catch his eye. Toothless saw it too if the way he was bobbing lower and lower was any indication, and Hiccup tried to narrow his eyes in order to clear his vision. The reflection of the sun made the distant object seem like a coin of gold floating on the ocean, tossing and turning in the foaming seas.

"What is it bud? Can you see it?"

Toothless turned his head slightly and nodded in a kind of affirmative, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in anticipation. The dragon seemed to think it was a patch of land as well and made a small motion to drop in altitude, a direction in which Hiccup eagerly complied. He moved his foot in acquiescence to their joint desires, and Toothless, tired and sluggish, made a gentle descent towards the shiny remote island.

At last they had made it somewhere near what they hoped would be an island, and at last they figured out what their supposed shelter really was. The sun was setting and they were both exhausted, almost too exhausted to truly comprehend what in Midgard they were preparing to land on. Not even the cracking ice beneath them could deter them from setting foot on what they were quickly realizing to be a gigantic, floating iceberg.

With a definitive thunk, Toothless landed and effectively froze in his tracks, his lidded eyes opening suddenly as he realized he hadn't landed on solid ground. The heaving mass creaked and undulated back and forth as the tide rocked them back and forth in whatever underwater crevice it had managed to get wedged in.

Hiccup took a moment to stare around him as he realized what exactly they had just landed upon. He swallowed uncomfortably and tried, despite his weariness, to think through their options. Hiccup was no stranger to the destruction one lone iceberg could cause; he had watched a Bog Burglar's ship disappear under a turning iceberg without any warning, and never return to the surface. He knew how unpredictable the chunks of ice could be, especially in the middle of the ocean where they were so close to the turbulent currents of Jörmungand.

And yet the berg seemed to be stationary; the grating crunchy noises emanating from all around them seemed to be evidence of that, and they weren't lolling back and forth by any means. It was as if they had simply landed on a very flat islet, albeit one that was completely bare of trees and wildlife. It occurred to him then that there would be no means of making a fire that night, meaning that he was likely to freeze his fingers off if he didn't drown himself in a sea of furs.

A lethargic groan from his dragon abruptly inspired him to make his descent, and Hiccup promptly reached down to unstrap his prosthetic. Without really paying attention to what he was doing, the young explorer had managed to free all but one of the components of the stirrup when he went to jerk it from its metal confines. The worn device creaked and buckled from the force in which Hiccup had put behind the motion and one of the crucial bolts ruptured in the spring system, causing half the prosthetic's intricate parts to burst out across the flat surface of ice.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

Hiccup slumped over with a groan and slid dejectedly down the dragon's weary side, staring at the bits and pieces of the traitorous prosthetic that speckled the icy vista around them. If he had had the energy, Hiccup might have dragged his gloved fingers through his windblown hair in order to placate himself, but he was tired, hungry and defeated in every aspect he could think of. The nuts and screws continued to roll away due to the lull of the undertow, forcing the hulking iceberg to tremble, if only slightly. But the undulating shudder was just enough that each time the waves crashed upon the ice, parts of his fake leg seemed to move in the opposite direction Hiccup wanted them to roll in. He figured he had better act soon before they completely fell off into the ocean depths where they would be no use to him, but by the gods he was exhausted and sore. All of the riding was causing him to develop a pretty raw looking rash, not that he ever got the chance to properly look at it. Cold or not, it didn't matter; he ached and stung all over, and the less he had to rub his legs together the better.

With his good foot already planted on the unsteady ground, Hiccup chanced pressing the broken prosthetic in hopes that it would hold. Miraculously the thing held, although it felt as if he were walking on a wooden peg instead of a spring loaded appendage. He let go of the saddle and shuffled slightly to one side, tactfully ignoring the exasperated expression on the dragon's scaly features.

He picked up the pieces one by one but the progress was slow, having had slipped more than once on the ice with the inflexible piece of metal strapped to his calf. Half of him knew that he would have been finished already if he had just gotten down on his hands and knees and crawled the whole way, but the other half, his Viking half, wouldn't allow it.

With the last bolt finally within his grasps, Hiccup flung the basket off of his back and heaved it heavily onto the ice. He caught a glimpse of the Night Fury over his shoulder and beckoned him over with a tactfully seasoned glare, the exertion of the day finally catching up with the boy. Struggling, the dragon hobbled over to his hatchling and deposited his thick body down beside him, crooning quietly before closing his eyes wearily and falling asleep.

Though the dragon barely brought any warmth, the presence at his side was undoubtedly comforting. Hiccup sighed and fished the set of drivers and tools from inside his basket, grasping them within his covered fingers. He frowned as he placed the little package onto his lap alongside of the pile of parts and resigned himself to taking off his gloves so that he could work.

Some half hour later Hiccup gazed upwards and saw that his daylight was fleeting. The last tongues of pink and orange light were just beginning to disappear and with it went the ability to finish repairing his fake leg. He pressed his tongue between his lips and began to screw twice as fast, his fingers absolutely frigid as they clasped the pinchers in one hand and the screwdriver in the other. He took a moment to breathe warm air onto his hands and leant down even further over the prosthetic in his lap, determined to finish.

He could barely see in front of him when the fake appendage was finally finished, and he gladly strapped it onto his leg before packing up the rest of his little tools. He pulled out all of the spare furs he could feel with his hands and wrapped them around his body before lounging back on Toothless, shivering all the while. The Night Fury hadn't budged an inch since he had fallen asleep only a few hours before, and Hiccup hoped he was simple catching up on his much needed sleep. After all, the last thing he needed was Toothless to have fallen into hibernation.

Hiccup sighed and buried himself as deeply as he could into the crook of the dragon's shoulder. He wondered if dragons hibernated at all, or if they simply migrated to a warmer area during the winter. There had to be some exception to the exodus, and he wondered vaguely if there were some dragons that never had to migrate at all. Were there dragons that lived in the desert places of the known world? Hiccup closed his eyes and snuggled into the furs around his body, wishing he could rub his legs together to generate some kind of friction and warmth. Gods, he hated saddles. He hated saddle rash. He hated everything about saddles. Hiccup frowned and relished in his brooding temper, wishing he had thought to bring some sort of salve to soothe the sting.

He felt sleep slowly take hold of the recesses of his mind and he dolefully fell victim to it, allowing the lethargy to take over his senses. He was tired and he desperately needed the rest.

After all, the whole world was waiting.

Hiccup had long woken up before the sun had begun its ascent, its brilliant rays of red and orange barely visible along the canvas of Northern sky. He held his breath and watched in silence, clutching his knees to his chest on the edge of the iceberg as he waited for the sun to rise. He stared absently, his mind utterly blank, as the ocean waves crashed against the steep slopes of the errant iceberg, irrevocably stuck in the underwater crags. He let out a soft breath, the mist quickly disappearing in a salty gust of wind that dissolved like a phantom into the waiflike clouds above.

Toothless was sitting a few feet behind him, green eyes vigilant as they scanned the brightening horizon. Nothing but the endless straights of water crossed his vision, no humans, no species of his own kind flying through the air. The Night Fury inwardly scolded himself at the thought; of course there weren't any of his kind flying though the cold northern air. Most of his brethren were probably basking in the warm sun in the southern regions, the brackish air of the tepid seas dulling their senses.

Toothless frowned and shifted in his position, uncomfortable as a series of memories from a distant past assaulted his thoughts. It had been a time before Hiccup, before humans, before her. A time before enslavement had completely taken over his system, his youthful way of life. To be the only one of his kind, depleted as they were, drawn in by her silky siren song; he never had a chance against her. He let his gaze fall silently over the boy, his reddish hair shining iridescently in the growing sunlight; if it hadn't been for him, he would have never been freed.

The situation he had found himself in still hadn't quite worn off its laughably ironic sheen. Centuries of fighting, only to end by the most unlikely of friendships to ever spring and blossom. Beast and man; elder and hatchling. Toothless scoffed at himself; he certainly wasn't an elder yet but he was definitely beginning to feel like one, what with the ache in his wings and side driving him to near insanity. Perhaps he was past his prime – it injured his already humbled pride to admit it. He turned his head to the left, craning his neck in an attempt to loosen the tightly wound muscles within. It cracked with a morbidly satisfying sound, and he let his wings stretch out behind him; aging or not, he still had one Hel of a life still left to lead.

He had witnessed many sunrises in his existence and this one didn't disappoint him in its beauty. A red sky at dawn usually meant bad weather, but he wasn't willing to dwell on what the day would bring. He had spent far too long thinking only about the future, what his life would bring. Would he ever see his brethren again? Would he ever return to his nesting grounds, find his mate again? He'd been enslaved for centuries and the thought of his home made him feel sick and itchy. He wished he could shed his outer scales and feel like a hatchling again – he wished he could simply take off in the direction of his homeland and never stop until he found them.

But things had become remarkably more complicated than that.

He was part of a new brood now, bonded with a human hatchling of pathetically measly proportions. But he was his young now, the hatchling he had never stopped to have before his years of servitude. He had to take care of him, help show him the world his human had never gotten the opportunity to know. He remembered leaving the nest for the first time with his sire, soaring around the world, studying, seeing, feeling. His hatchling's sire sought to do nothing but shelter him; he had to learn somehow! He had to see the world, learn from it, fly! Toothless schooled his expression, his eyes staring determinedly at his hatchling's silhouette against the horizon. Perhaps their species are different, yes, but this was not the first time a dragon had brought a member of another kingdom into their brethren. Orphaned ones, the weak or sickly; their race was charitable and cared deeply for their young.

His own relationship with his adoptive hatchling was no exception. The dragon's molten core warmed him from the inside as he continued to watch his Hiccup, rivalled only by the brilliance of the sunrise.

The young explorer shivered and drew his knees in closer to his chest. A storm was coming, if the fishermen's rhyme was of any semblance of truth:

'Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.'

He wasn't looking forward to flying in a storm, especially one that would no doubt involve sub-freezing temperatures and icy hail the size of his knucklebones. He has been spoilt in the summertime, having flown on top of Toothless during the warm months on the dismal island of Berk. He didn't want to break his petulant languish by thinking something positive, but he couldn't help but acknowledge that it had been a pretty mind winter so far.

Hiccup wasn't exactly sure of the date anymore, but he assumed that it must have been somewhere near the winter solstice. After all, the days had gotten significantly shorter; it felt like they only received a few hours of sunlight each day. Hiccup rocked back slightly and resisted the urge to brace his hands behind him. Gods, this iceberg was so cold!

The sun had finally risen above the line of the horizon and the seas were beginning to get choppy. They crashed against the sides of the berg with a renewed fervour, their spray reaching so high that Hiccup could feel it speckle on his cheeks. Clouds were rolling in from the east, churning and darkening all the while as they rose past the skyline and continued ominously towards them. Hiccup licked his parched lips and frowned as he felt his tongue become coated in salt, bitter and tangy and entirely unwelcome. It only reminded him of the onslaught of rain and wind yet to come, driving into his back without even an inkling of mercy and—

'dragrsssssssssssssssssss…'

Hiccup became rigid as the atmosphere around him crackled with the echo of a sound he didn't seem to hear. He kept his eyes trained on the horizon and instinctively leaned away from the source of the noise, bracing himself stiffly with his palms. He shuffled backwards towards the dragon, his prosthetic leg scraping hoarsely against the ice as he dragged himself like a crab away from the precipice of the berg. He pushed himself onto his feet once he was far enough from the edge and made the rest of his journey on foot, eyes still locked on the ominous, darkening skies.

Hiccup reached out blindly with his hand, resting it against his companion's solid withers. He glanced sidelong at the dragon; the Night Fury's gait was impossibly tense and his pupils were narrowed into slits. Toothless had heard it too, the sound that seemed to reverberate in his bones rather that enter into his ears. Hiccup swallowed the lump in his throat uneasily and stepped closer to his steed, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"What the Hel was that?"

And as his words began to float away on the wind, the earth as they knew it began to tremble. It was subtle at first, just enough to startle them as Hiccup scampered over to retrieve his packed wicker backpack. The quaking worsened as he hoisted it up and flung the straps over his shoulders, the force of it knocking him backwards as the tremors grew more and more violent. Toothless skittered sideways as he scrabbled for some sort of grip, his rotund claws useless on the flat plane of ice. He scrambled to control himself as the vibrations forced him nearer to the boy, his lips pulled back in a helpless cry as he closed the gap between the two. Hiccup, finally unfreezing himself in the wake of the uncontrolled dragon hurtling towards him, steadied himself by stepping backwards in a crouch. He slid out of the way at the last moment and grabbed onto the saddle strap as the Night Fury passed, using the momentum garnered by the trembling iceberg to haul himself up and over the dragon's back. He landed just left of the saddle, and had to fight to pull himself into position, clipping his harness in first before bending down to fasten the stirrup.

'...'

Toothless' nostrils flared and he reared up onto his hind legs in fright, his heart palpitating dangerously fast. Panic coursed through his veins as the stench of something so old, so foul, so disgustingly wretched flooded his senses like the fiercest torrents of the Northern seas. He heard his hatchling cry out and he fought to gain some sort of footing, begging wordlessly for Hiccup to fasten his prosthetic faster.

The boy's fingers weren't making any progress, what with the bone shaking tremors that sought to throw him clear from the dragon's scaly back. He managed to tighten three out of the four components before something caught his eyes in the distance.

Something that was moving very fast.

He folded himself in two with immeasurable urgency, fastening the last of the components on his fake leg. A colossal tidal wave was drawing nearer, closing in with unearthly speeds he had never seen before. He hollered out in alarm and jabbed Toothless in the ribs with his good foot, shaking the dragon out of his immobile reverie. Hiccup twisted his knee and the tailfin locked into place; all he needed was the wings to fly them.

"TOOTHLESS!" he screamed above the clamour that sought to take over and deafen them. The dragon twitched and he spread his wings faster than he had ever done before, launching himself into the air and shrieking like a banshee straight out of Helheim as the wave grew higher and higher.

"GO GO GO!" Hiccup howled at the top of his lungs, his body plastered to the Night Fury's agile neck. He moved with the dragon as each wingbeat brought them to new altitudes, adding to the momentum of their precarious climb. He could practically feel the droplets of sea water spray against their face as the wave sought to envelop them both, its apex drawing nearer and nearer. Hiccup couldn't stifle the cry of horror that escaped his lips as his doom drew nigh, his last breath rushing past his lips...

They burst into a layer of clouds and emerged above them, narrowly escaping the massive tidal wave that had threatened to extinguish their entire existence. Hiccup had barely taken a breath before Toothless banked sideways, flying with renewed vigour away from the source of the wave as it came crashing down beneath them. Hiccup pressed himself to his steed again and tried to calm his quailing heart, which was hammering inside his chest at irregular intervals. He was almost afraid to close his eyes, terrified that something else, something far worse was going to emerge from the clouds below them and seek to finish the job.

And that's when it started; it began quietly at first, a vibration in his bones Hiccup simply acquainted to air turbulence. But it continued to nurse itself into being, growing into a calamity so loud Hiccup swore the gods in Asgard could have heard it. The rasping laugh of something that neither dragon nor human could ignore rose from the depths of the ocean and spread through their bones, jarring them, grating them like wood shavings on a grater. Hiccup fought to catch his breath as the vibrations pushed his essence from his lungs, strangling him, turning his body against itself. Toothless was suffering the same excruciating fate as he began to falter, bobbing as his body tried to rob him of his breath. It was only when the hoarse laughing began to ebb into silence that the choking hold began to fade as well, leaving them panting and deprived of the essence they needed to live.

Toothless' exhaustion was evident, but Hiccup urged him to continue on despite the knowing fatigue that threatened to overtake him. Whatever had caused that giant wave was still down there, probably waiting.

Hiccup shivered, a combination of both frigidness, and fear.

The hunter had just become the hunted.

And for the first time since he had left his village, Hiccup wished he had never gone.

Finally! I've waited ten whole chapiters to delve into Toothless' psyche. How do you feel about having Toothless as an older, father-like figure? Does it skew your perspective of him, having often read him as a more youthful, brother of Hiccup? Do you like it? Hate it? Let me know!

Also, I've posted a poll in my profile regarding a genre that I've dabbled in before in my other fandom, but not yet here. It has to do with "M rated" fiction within HTTYD and whether you like it, hate it, and if you would read a one shot in the genre if I ever chose to write one. This is purely a hypothetical question, so please answer honestly!

Lastly, please review! When I get an onslought of reviews (like last week) I go into a keyboard frenzy. I just write and write and write and write and write... :D So review!

Love and fluff,

Brontë