2) Our welcome party is to be sent to the arena

To say Toothless was angry at Hiccup was an understatement. He was furious over his friend going along on this deal in exchange for their life and their freedom. So on the flight back to Berk Toothless ignored Hiccup while Hiccup apologized again and again for doing so. Toothless understood why he did it, but couldn't possibly understand why Hiccup wanted to return to Berk just to ensure their life and safety. His friend avoided Berk like a plague for five years, so why would he even go along with it know. They could always have escaped from the Viking tribe; he was fast enough to get rid of them in matter of seconds. So why would he do as the crazy chief Viking demanded from him? Hiccup must have known what was son his mind when he said quietly:

"I did it because if we just escaped from Dagur and the Berserkers, we would never be free from the constant worrying and fear from being caught and killed. Neither you nor I would like to live that way, especially since we left for that reason. So if I have to make a deal with a deranged monster for our life and freedom, then I will do it without hesitation."

Toothless didn't make a sound, but he understood Hiccup's motives. He would have probably done the same if he was a human of course, but since he was a dragon he would have killed the Vikings when he had the chance. Those Vikings are only lucky that he listened to his friend instead of listening to his instincts to kill them, and he wouldn't promise that he wouldn't try to harm them if they ever touched one single hair on his friend.

Hiccup patted on Toothless side while giving a reassuring smile, but they both knew that it was all just a ruse from showing how scared he was about returning home. The home he had left behind five years ago.

He looked behind him to see if the Berserker ship was still following them, and his assumption was correct when he saw the ship farther behind. They were far enough to not get spotted by any watchers from other tribes, but close enough to intervene in case the duo would try to escape. Hiccup took a deep sigh and turned his back on the skip, and looked on the road ahead and saw the isle of Berk. He hoped for Toothless and his own sake that people of Berk wasn't looking too closely at the sky, because they were bound to notice a midnight black dragon flying over Berk. They would probably kill them on sight, which was the first rule of dragon killing. No, they had to be careful and not draw attention to themselves. So they would need to find a place that no one else on Berk would be and search. But where could that be?

"Toothless lets land inside our cove," Hiccup said while looking carefully down on the ground beneath them to see if that no one was noticing them. No one seemed to look up, but that was probably because they were so high in the air making it was hard to see. "No one knows about it and wouldn't find us there."

Toothless purred in agreement and they glided down to their secret cove, where they first became best friends.

"It looks like nothing has been disturbed here since we left Berk," Hiccup looked around the cove. The rocks, the green moss and the small lake that was filled with fish was exactly the same as they left it five years ago. Hiccup was kind of glad that his dad or anyone else hadn't found this place, especially if they noticed the black dragons scales all over the cove. They would probably have thought a dragon killed him. Well, they probably thought he was dead by now and most likely killed by a dragon anyway, so he shouldn't feel hurt by the assumption. He told himself that thousand times in his mind, but knowing that his dad and everyone else didn't believe he could do something without disaster following him around and end up getting himself killed. No one believed in him and wouldn't even try to see who he really was, except for Toothless of course, and they would never see it if he had any say in it. "Are you even listening to me? Or are you just ignoring me because you are still mad at me."

Toothless was lying on the ground with no intention of standing up anytime soon, he was tired from flying and just wanted to rest. Hiccup understood his friend's wish for resting, so he said while trying act casual: "How about you get some rest and I'll go to the village to look around and maybe get some fish. What do you say Bud?"

When Toothless heard that suggestion he reacted defensive and certainly didn't want to let Hiccup enter that village that treated him terribly alone. He growled in protest and rose in attempt to keep Hiccup from leaving. Hiccup laughed at Toothless, mostly because he had his protective and possessive look on his face and also because his attention turned once he made the suggestion. Its funny how quick Toothless would change his mind, and Hiccup found the whole thing as sort of a game for him to play on Toothless.

"Come on Toothless, it's going to be fine," Hiccup reassured. "I'm just going to take look around and establish a better view of Berk's village life."

Toothless gave me the Look like he was telling him, "Do you think I'm stupid?"

"No-no I don't believe you are stupid, but I can't exactly take you with me into the village since Vikings tend to hate and kill dragons on sight. So I don't want to take any risks."

Toothless continued to give him the Look before his eyes dilated with pure concern over his friend, but this time didn't try to refuse him because he knew he wouldn't listen and it was the right thing to do. If Hiccup was determined to go to the village alone at least he could was to take some safety measures, so Toothless purred towards Hiccup's mask. Hiccup picked up the helmet and put it on along with the mask covering his face, this way no one would recognize him.

"Thanks Bud. I will be back before you know it, with huge basket filled with fish too," Hiccup smiled at his friend before leaving the cove. The shield he had used years ago was still in place making it difficult for anyone to enter or leave the cove, so Hiccup had to crawl under it in order to leave and then he disappeared from Toothless sight. Toothless lay down and looked into nothing. He was worried about leaving Hiccup alone in the village, but there was nothing he could do without exposing himself or Hiccup. Not that he cared if he exposed himself, but he knew Hiccup would like to keep a low profile about him being back here on Berk. Toothless hoped Hiccup for once wouldn't get himself in trouble and come back without any scratches or bruises on him. But what Toothless didn't know was that Hiccup would be caught in middle of the biggest trouble yet to come.

Walking towards the village began to seem more like a walk towards his doom, but strangely enough he was relaxed when he entered the village. Berk hadn't really changed the last five years with the exception of the new houses that was rebuilt because the dragon raids. The village was still sturdy and colorless, but what Hiccup found most strange was that there was almost no one in the village. Where could everyone be? Has dragons or an illness killed them all? Hiccup thought, but quickly pushed those thoughts away. There was no way they all were dead after all Vikings have stubbornness issues, they wouldn't die without a fight. That was when he heard voices and cheers from the arena. Hiccup wondered what was going on, so naturally he walked towards the arena. He had been glad that the ones in the village didn't take much notice to him as he walked in the village and towards the arena, but they were busy with whatever work they were doing.

When Hiccup reached the arena, he saw almost everyone in the village sitting on tribune cheering on what looked like a fight between Vikings to determine who was the strongest. He saw Hoark the Haggard, Burnthair the Broad, Phlegma the Fierce and the other Vikings, all-cheering on the on-going champion. He glanced over to see his father Stoick the Vast sitting on a small throne, overlooking the tournament. What surprised Hiccup was that his father looked so different after five years with his absence. His father had aged a lot despite being fifty years old; he had traces of gray hair and wrinkles like he was older. It was strange to see his father so different, it was like seeing a total different person instead of his father, but then again he never understood his father in the first place. Also even if he did he knew it wouldn't matter anyway since no matter what scenario was placed his father would never understand him. The sad part was that Hiccup didn't do much help for his father to understand him either when it certainly mattered, now look at how estranged their relationship was.

"Are you here for the tournament?" a voice asked, interrupting Hiccup's thoughts. Hiccup stiffened by the voice because he was far too aware who's voice it was and that could be considered a problem. It was Gobber the Belch, his mentor and his father's closest friend. "No-no," Hiccup stammered nervously, hoping for his own sake that Gobber would believe him and let him be. Unfortunately the gods must hate him at the moment since Gobber didn't believe him.

"Huh, since I don't believe you," Gobber looked at him suspiciously, almost certain there was something strange about him. Hiccup started to feel sweat running down from his forehead, but luckily he had his mask on so Gobber couldn't see him. "And the fact that you are dressed for a fight, I'll let you enter the tournament."

"No please, I'm not here to fight," Hiccup tried to protest, but it went in vain when Gobber opened up the hatch into the arena.

"You'll be fine, our champion fighter will see you as sick or weak and will probably go for the more Viking like fighters," Gobber smiled in good humor as he led Hiccup into the arena. "At first." Gobber gave him a slight push and went out of the arena and closed the hatch to the arena.

"Thank you for summing that up," Hiccup said sarcastically, as the hatch closed leaving him alone in the arena. Gobber stopped once he heard those words and turned around to look at the stranger. He was pretty sure he had those words before, but the question was where?

Gobber shrugged and left to go and meet Stoick, meanwhile Hiccup looked nervously around to see the whole tribune staring at his with curiosity and uncertainty. No one on Berk recognized this stranger, but they didn't think much of it since it didn't matter now. If he were an enemy of Berk, then he wouldn't be able to do any harm as long as their champion had something to say about it.

When Hiccup finally took his attention away from the tribune and looked at the person he was supposed to fight, he was shocked beyond recognition. This person was his own age and probably the one of the best fighters on Berk yet, but the worst thing was that he used to have certain feelings about her. The person in front of him with a sharp and dangerous axe was no one other than Astrid Hofferson, his former crush and probably one of the best dragon slayers on Berk.

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Here's the new chapter, so I hope you like it. I find this story somehow difficult to right unless I put my full focus on it and I have many times considered of not completing this, but since you all have been so supportive about this story I will continue to try writing this and hopefully complete this for you guys. Thank you for the reviews, favorite/followings, and please continue reviewing or whatever.

xXrebelgirl07Xx