A/N: I suck and I need to learn to update more often, but what's new? Also, school is giving me five heart attacks per day and I'm doing all I can to have a social life, get school work done, get the right amount of sleep, and write. It's not really working out for me. And I have a new idea for a fic in mind, so keep your eyes open for it...

Chapter 5: Adagio

Toothless tore threw the skies day and night. He only stopped when sleep became necessary or hunger settled in his stomach. He visited islands that the others never checked, the ones that only him and Hiccup had explored. He landed on other dragon colonies when he wanted to stray as far as possible from tribes of hostile humans, then searched those villages at night when all were asleep and wouldn't see his form. Anything to find his rider, to catch her scent, to make sure she was safe.

And so far, nothing.

The Fury had never ventured out this far—he had always stayed in the archipelago, where the Queen's Nest was, where Berk was, where his island of birth was. But he scoured every square inch of the area to find nothing, not a single hint or clue to where Hiccup could be. He had no other choice, the only other hope he had was that she was beyond the small clump of islands.

There were large civilizations that had never even heard of dragons, some that spoke in tongues he's never heard before, some that had customs he couldn't wrap his head around. And despite all the new lifestyles he saw, all the new questions that he should have been asking about the world beyond, all Toothless could think of was that Hiccup was nowhere to be seen. He was so tired, so full of weariness and doubt, that maybe he should just give up.

But he felt it. He felt her. She wasn't dead. She was alive out there, somewhere.

That gave him all the strength he needed to keep looking.

Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk, and one of the bravest men to ever grace the vikings, had definitely seen better days.

The village was gathered in the Hall, squished close together as they all waited in anticipation for their Chief to speak. The older vikings—the shield maidens and warriors and fighters—stood closer in the front, with Gobber and Spitelout being the closest to Stoick. The remaining villagers were in the back, the teens and dragon riders, leaning against the wall and wondering what, exactly, was happening. Everyone else, the nursing mothers and children, stayed back at their homes.

The Chief kept upright at the head of it all. Dark shadows were under his eyes, green irises laced with concern and hesitance. Amongst the crowd, people were noticeably shifting, drinking in the appearance of the usually—well, stoic—leader and warrior. Whatever he had to say, whatever caused him to round up the whole tribe, couldn't be good.

"What do you think this is gonna be about?" Ruffnut asked, her small attempt at conversation to block out the silence that hung in the air around the small, normally tight group.

"I don't know. Important enough to call a meeting right after dinner, apparently," Snotlout muttered.

"He looks pretty worried," Astrin observed, nodding towards Stoick. "Whatever he has to say is probably nothing good."

"Maybe the Outcasts are going to attack us?" Tuffnut suggested.

"We made our peace with them, Tuff. They're not going to attack us," Astrin sighed. The normal bite in his argument was absent, replace with exhaustion and fatigue. When was the last time this guy slept?

"You don't think this could be about...you know..." Fishlegs trailed off. Everyone picked up immediately.

Ruffnut blinked. "You don't think he's, like, going to declare a new heir...do you?"

She expected to be met with a long pause of contemplative—and most likely depressed—silence. However, Astrin's response was quick.

"Of course not. Stoick wouldn't do that."

The Thortson girl inwardly groaned. She missed Hiccup as much as everyone else, but she saw no point in denying that life had to move on. Maybe not now, maybe not in a year, but someday. She opened her mouth, but Fishleg cut her off.

"He's right. You know how much the Chief pushed the position on Hiccup. The only way he'll name a new heir is—" he abruptly stopped, but the missing words still surrounded them.

If she's dead.

No. Ruffnut was not going to think about that.

The Chief's voice boomed in the Hall.

"Thank you all for gathering here today," he announced. Everyone's voices hushed immediately. "We have received a recent threat from an unknown source early this morning."

Ruffnut blinked. She had a small suspicion that those around her did too.

No more than a small line of greeting, then cutting straight to the point, a declaration of the village's troubles.

First Hiccup, now this... It was no wonder that the normally tall, proud, mighty Stoick looked like he could topple over at any moment.

"Unknown source?" Spitelout asked, concern etched onto his features, much like every other villager standing about.

"No name, no seal of any sort. It came with the rest of the mail Joan brought from the neighboring tribes," Stoick explained. His voice was grave and deep, missing the normal conflict-ready edge he almost always had.

"Wha' did it say?" Gobber asked.

The Chief fished out a folded letter from his vest and passed it over to the blacksmith. The latter unfolded it, blinked and squinted at the words, then held it farther back, then pushed it close enough for his nose to touch the paper. His face noticeably drained of all color.

Ruffnut glanced over to her brother, his gaze already trained on her. They had seen Gobber face down a Monstrous Nightmare before without an ounce of fear and a gleam of excitement in his eyes. But a mere slip of a leaf had his face pale and eyes wide. Whatever that letter contained could not be good.

Stoick went on, announcing how he wanted double the night guards, no ships leaving the harbor, and a thorough investigation of any foreign ship that came, whether it be from a belligerent tribe or not. No one could leave the island, even by dragon, until the Chief absolutely knew that no danger would come. Then, everyone was dismissed, left with more questions than answers.

"What was that all about?" Snotlout was the first to speak when they all left together, his voice a tiny bit higher than normal.

"Nothing good, if the Chief told us absolutely nothing about it," Astrin muttered.

"Do you think if we hound Gobber, he'll give us answers?" Tuffnut asked.

"Highly doubtful," Fighlegs sighed, "not unless we want to accidentally land him in trouble."

Ruffnut pouted. "Damn, I really want to know."

"Get in line," her brother said.

A long stretch of silence followed. Wordlessly, they all eventually broke apart and found their ways back to their houses. Even the twins, who talked about basically anything, walked home in silence, lost in their own thoughts and unable to bring themselves to break the quiet around them.

Hopefully everything would turn out alright.

"It was a good thing I didn't tell them all, right?" Stoick asked, drinking out of his mug shortly after.

"Aye," Gobber hummed, "we've never received something like tha' before, not even from Oswald's lunatic son."

"I know," the Chief sighed, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes. Gods, he didn't have it in him to deal with all of...this. If Hiccup were still here, he wouldn't be so stressed, but without her, the stress was almost eating at him alive.

"We'll ge' out of this, we always 'ave," the blacksmith pat his friend on the back. "Once we figure out who the letter is from, things will only get easier."

"I certainly hope so, Gobber." Another long swig from his drink. "I hope so."

Months. It's been months and his daughter hasn't made a single appearance.

He suddenly wished the mead was stronger.

Astrin normally loved Snoggletog. All the colors, the villagers gathering together, laughing with all of his friends and picking out everyone's gifts. But with only a few weeks standing between him and the holiday, he wasn't exactly sure he was ready for it.

With the impromptu meeting only two weeks behind the village, the Chief' was true to his word, there were more night guards, and not a single person left the island, whether it on ship or dragon. All the riders had to stay and continue training their respective dragons and help some of the other vikings train theirs, but they didn't venture off to other islands to see what else was around. Since The Thing wasn't anytime soon, and since no tribes announced to visiting, little to no ships arrived. The only ones that did come consisted of Trader Joan and other trading ships. Every ship was searched through, with nothing amiss. Other than that, nothing changed too terribly. Some were still anxious about whatever that unknown letter held, but not too much was said about it.

People now focused their attention on Snoggletog. The decorating began, and gift-talking was whispered to one another. Astrin used to always participate with them, but now...

He just wasn't feeling in it this year. For the life of him, he couldn't feel the same excitement and giddiness he normally did.

It most likely was linked to Hiccup's disappearance. Although he had still loved the holiday before the two were even friends, he had enjoyed it more the year before, when they were all friends and he served Yaknogg and they all celebrated with their recently-mated dragons. But everyone didn't seem as excited as they normally were, and Stoick wasn't out and about merrily setting up the tree or talking to everyone. If anything, it felt like most of the hype was mainly placed on the thought of knowing the dragons would lay their eggs soon, since people were worriedly attending to their dragon's every needs and were patting the reptiles bellies with wonder.

Which was exactly what Fishlegs was doing at the moment.

"Oh, my little Meatlug," he squealed, rubbing her head fondly. "See, look guys! Her stomach's bigger, she must be pregnant. Oh my gods, I wonder who the dad is!"

"Do dragons even keep eggs in their stomachs?" Ruffnut asked aloud, curious gaze focused on her own dragon.

"How long do they even keep the eggs in them?" Snotlout wondered.

"How does the egg even grow around the baby?" Tuffnut's eyes widened.

"Oh my gods, I do not need this," Astrin sighed. Those questions would no doubt keep him up all night at some point or another.

"When do the dragons even, you know, meet up for there to be babies—"

Astrin threw a glare Tuffnut's way. The twin just shrugged, his face practically saying look, it's a good question!

"Come on, Astrin," Ruffnut sang, "aren't you excited for the eggs, too? I mean, image a bunch of little Stormflys flying about. Cute, right?"

"Of course I'm excited," he snapped back. "But I...I don't know. It'd be nice if Hiccup was here."

They hadn't mentioned her since the night of the meeting.

And as always, silence followed the sound of it.

"I have a question, Astrin," Fishlegs piped up after awhile. The Hofferson swore that if it had something related to that "moving on" shit, he would punch something. Or someone. Whatever came first, he wasn't too picky.

"Were you and Hiccup ever a...you know...a thing?"

Astrin blinked, all the anger he felt only a moment before slipping away. "A thing? Like what?"

"Oh my gods, he's asking if you two were dating," Ruffnut deadpanned. "You know, boyfriend-girlfriend, dates, kissing—"

"I get it, Ruff," he cut her off, an unamused look on his face. "No, I never courted Hiccup."

Everyone else blinked.

"Really?" Snotlout asked. "You're sure?"

Astrin glared at him. "Yes, I'm sure!" Jeez, why was it so hard to believe? After the whole fiasco with the Queen's Nest and discovering Toothless, Hiccup and Astrin did became rather close. Yes, some things took place between them, matters they had talked about once and never touched on since. But they were just close friends. Really close friends. Why was it so hard to believe?

"Well, it's just that you two talked to each other all the time—" Ruffnut.

"And you always took each other's sides when we all argued—" Snotlout.

"And if we all weren't hanging out, you two just spent time together—" Tuffnut.

"And uh, didn't you two kiss once? After she woke up with only one leg?" Fishlegs.

"Hiccup and I were friends, guys. Just friends," Astrin said. Sure, he kissed her...twice (but they didn't have to know of the first time, when he kissed her on the cheek following their flight on Toothless), but that was all that actually happened between them.

They all look unconvinced. "Sure, man, sure," Snotlout muttered under his breath.

Astrin didn't have the energy to hit him. All that talk accomplished was a new longing he had for his missing friend's presence.

A/N: Look, okay, I promise we'll touch up on the whole Hiccstrid thing and why they aren't a thing at this point. And the plot will start heating up soon (I think). And...yeah, that's all I got.

At this point, I'd like to think that about...five months have passed since Hiccup's disappearance. Maybe six. Now that I think about it, she might be gone for almost a year.

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