When they were flying, they mainly stayed above the clouds to avoid detection during the day. At night, however, they could go as low and high as they liked, as Toothless blended into the darkness so well. It wasn't until the second night of flying that they came upon a village which was being attacked by dragons.
They stopped on a nearby sea stack and studied the fight. The dragons were raiding the village and the Vikings were fighting them off. After a while, they couldn't just sit around and no do anything. "Okay, Toothless, aim for that watchtower. That'll get the attention of the dragons."
The telltale whistle of the Night Fury dive was the only indication that it gave of its presence at the raid. Stoick the Vast, the Chief of Berk was surprised that the dragon was there in the first place. They hadn't had a Night Fury attack in years. In the next second, however, the northern watchtower was destroyed in a blast of purple rings and yellow fire. The loudest, most ear-splitting roar Stoick had ever heard his life sounded over Berk. Most Vikings covered their ears, attempting to drown the sound out. In the next few moments, all the dragons and Vikings in the area stopped and stared. Then, the dragons, seemingly all at once took off into the night, leaving the village as if they had been called away.
Which in fact they had. The blast from the Night Fury had caught their attention, and then Toothless roared, "Get out of there! Leave now!" Most dragons knew that to disobey a Night Fury usually meant death. So they all left, taking whatever kill they had managed for that raid. Although they could get eaten by the Red Death Queen, they knew not to cross the black dragon. Dragons that didn't have many kills moved to grab fish from the ocean or some wild livestock.
Toothless and Hiccup hovered for a while to ensure that the dragons did not come back. And then he watched. He saw his father for the first time in twelve years. The man was the same. Gobber tried to say something to him that he didn't want to hear, so he shook his head and dismissed him. Hiccup could remember Stoick doing the same thing to him because he never wanted to hear about Hiccup's interests. The Chief was always more concerns about being a Chief than being a father. The pain tugged at Hiccup's heart, and Toothless felt it. He began to whine. "I'm okay, bud."
But the dragon knew he wasn't okay at all. He could feel the pain Hiccup felt through their bond. Toothless knew they had to land for some rest, so he picked a cove on Berk, one that afforded them some privacy, a small pond with some fish for Toothless. The wall was high and made of rock, which also meant they would be aware of any unwanted guests in the area. They didn't make a fire because they didn't want to alert anyone to their presence on the island, meaning Hiccup curled up next to his brother for warmth.
The next morning, Hiccup and Toothless discussed what they were going to do. Hiccup wanted to try to find the nest as soon as possible, but Toothless wanted to remain here of Berk for a bit. He used the cover of wanting to free the dragons in the kill arena, but really, he wanted Hiccup to face his village. He also wanted Hiccup to convince the tribe that humans and dragons didn't have to be enemies. Hiccup was very wary about both of those ideas.
"But Toothless, if you want to get them to be friends, you have to stop the raids first. That'll be your biggest issue. And to do that, you have to kill the Queen. So my plan works out better."
Toothless growled in annoyance, hating that his brother was punching holes in his argument. So instead of dragging out this conversation, he came out with it. "We aren't leaving, Hiccup, until you face your issues here on this island."
Hiccup's eyes widened in surprise. "Wha- What are you talking about, Toothless?"
Toothless rolled his eyes. "You know exactly what I mean. This is where you come from, and I know one of these Vikings is your father." He paused. "Hiccup, you are in pain. I hate it. You need to get closure so you can let it go." He felt the rage building inside his brother at his words, but he kept going, needing him to understand. "You are my brother, Hiccup, but you weren't born it. You need to acknowledge and love all parts of yourself before you can be the best you can. The King would expect nothing less of his princes if we were to ever lead the nest."
For a while, the human said nothing. Hiccup stared into the eyes of the black dragon and slowly felt the anger fade away. He wasn't angry at his brother anyway, not really. He was angry that his brother was right. But even so, how could he go back into that village? How could he, in good conscience, go to see the people that had neglected and rejected him, constantly putting him through physical, emotional and mental pain?
Toothless felt his internal turmoil and nudged him, rubbing his head against his arm. "You don't have to go alone, you know. I'll be with you."
Hiccup laughed humourlessly. "They'll murder you on sight, Toothless." Toothless made a noise that almost sounds like a scoff. "They really would, bud. Don't underestimate the power of an angry, out of control, stubborn Viking."
Toothless laid down, placing his head on his front paws and ignored Hiccup's concerns. They sat in silence for a while, Hiccup deep in thought about how he would even get into the village and introduce himself, and Toothless gradually falling asleep in the sun. As night fell, however, they started hearing noise coming from the direction of the village. Another dragon raid.
They took off. This group of raiding dragons mainly consisted on Nightmares, Nadders and Gronkles. Toothless flew silently, ensuring to blend himself into the night sky. Hiccup and Toothless studied the raid again. This time, it was a bit more brutal, more fires being started because of the increase in the number of Nightmares. But then the Vikings got one of the Nightmares caught in chains and bolas. "Toothless, dive!"
The dragon did exactly that, not needing instruction on where to. The whistle he made through the air alerted the Vikings once again. He managed to shoot a blast that freed the wings of the Nightmare, allowing it to get free. They rose into the night again, camouflaging their whereabouts so the Vikings didn't get any ideas about catching a Night Fury. Eventually, the dragon raid finished and they left. As the Vikings started with their clean up of the village, Hiccup decided, "Toothless, put me down near the kill arena. While they're busy, I can get the dragons out."
Toothless set his brother down a little bit away from the arena and then flew higher into the cliff side to hide. Slowly, Hiccup crept into the arena and was suddenly hit by a memory.
"But Dad, why can't I start learning to fight like the other kids?" It was normal for boys to start learning on Berk at the age of five. Hiccup had followed his father into the kill arena to try and convince him to let him learn. He was smaller than most other kids, so if he could learn to defend himself. It might also make his dad proud of him for the first time.
Stoick the Vast just chuckled and shook his head. "No, son. You can't fight. You're too small and clumsy. You'll just get in the way of training the other kids. Go find Gobber. He might be able to give you something to do." Little Hiccup had listened to his dad but had felt hurt, especially when he saw his cousin Snotlout in the arena, ready to learn. Stoick had ruffled Snotlouts hair in affection. He had never once done that for Hiccup.
Hiccup shook his head to get rid of the bad memory, but the pain still lingered. A small amount of sympathy entered his mind, letting him know that Toothless had felt his pain and responded in kind. He walked towards one of the cells and cranked the lever. A Nadder jumped out as soon as she could, having hated the cell that she was kept in. She prepared to attack Hiccup when he just stood there.
She had never encountered a human that had just stood there before. Her curiosity got the better of her and she squawked, "What are you doing?" She obviously didn't expect him to understand her.
"Getting you out of here. You should go before some of the Vikings come around," Hiccup informed her.
"You- You're letting me…go?" The Nadder's surprise at being understood and then being let go outweighed the desperate need to fly. "Are you helping the others?"
"Yes, I am." Hiccup then proceeded to open the other cage doors, but the Ladder never flew away. She waited and watched this human open let the dragons go, not expecting anything in return. The Nadder informed the other dragons that the human meant no harm, but all of them were still wary. Then one by one, they flew out of the arena, Hiccup running out lastly behind them. He made sure to close the cages again, so the Vikings wouldn't be alerted to the dragons' escape immediately.
Before Hiccup had a chance to leave, though, he heard a male voice call, "Hey, who are you?"
He turned and saw a stocky teen, probably around his age, with a brown fur tunic, fur armbands, and shoulder coverings. He looked familiar but he couldn't place him. Hiccup was thankful for the helmet he wore, not that he believed anyone would recognize him anyway. Nevertheless, he ran towards the cliff, where Toothless was waiting.
Fishlegs had no idea who this stranger was, but when he followed the man to the cliffs he vanished without a trace. He hurried down to the ill arena, but nothing seemed out of place or taken, so Fishlegs continued to make his rounds and didn't think to mention the man when Gobber asked if the arena was affected in the raid.
Hiccup and Toothless took off back to their cove after the Viking left the arena, and didn't make a sound as they went.