I should probably tell you that this story is broken down into three big chunks that are their own smaller self contained stories, each twelve chapters long. So the second chunk is nearly done. And when this one ends, I'm going to write all the chapters for the third chunk before I upload any, so heads up, there will be a wait.

After Drago's army left, there was a lot to tend to. Fires, deaths, and lots of damaged AI lying left and right. In the next few days of cleanup, no one noticed the absence of a certain person and his AI friend. Until everything was caught up. After it was realized who was dead and who was not, everyone was found, either dead or alive.

Except Hiccup and Toothless.

I paced back and forth, worried sick. We had searched for Hiccup and Toothless for days now. There was no sign of them, and this was creating a sinking feeling in my stomach. Valka walked in, holding a plate of chicken.

"Richard, you need to eat. You've been all over, and you haven't spared a thought for your stomach." She said, holding out the plate.

I put a hand to my head. "No no no. I can't eat now." My stomach was cramping, but more from worry than hunger. "Hiccup-"

"Doesn't need a hungry friend, or a half starved collapsed man. C'mon, eat it." She handed me a chicken leg. I loved chicken, but as I looked at this, I had never seen something so unappetizing in my life. I shoved it back onto the plate.

"Sorry, ma'am, no offence, but I can't. I'm not hungry." I croaked. "I just want to know if Hiccup is alright."

Weeks went by.

Months.

There was no sign of them. Nothing.

So... Stoick began to train me for chiefing. And...

Hiccup and Toothless were proclaimed dead.

"Now, a Chief's first duty is to his people."

I stared up at Stoick, who was talking about the first rules of 'chief'in'. My mind was so bored, it was scattering all over my head, looking for distractions, and begging me to leave. It kept reminding me that Hiccup was out there. There was no way he could be dead. I had to go find him.

"-now, can you repeat anything I just said?" Stoick asked.

My mind froze, and I stared up at Stoick with the blankest of looks. I didn't dare open my mouth, move or even blink. I had just tuned out the chief. I winced inwardly. He stared, unamused. He raised one thick eyebrow at me.

"...and you can't, can you?" He said, crossing his arms. He placed a hand over his face and let out an exasperated sigh. "Rich, you know this is important. With Hiccup gone, you need to focus. I was going to make you my successor anyway, and now... it's just even more important. Now. Can you remember anything from the last fifteen minutes?"

"Uh... this is important?" I said.

He scowled. This was like the fifth time we had tried this, but I was so distracted and itchy to go find my lost friend that I just didn't have the attention span to soak in 'how to chief'. He looked about to start going over it again, but stopped. He noticed my dejected look.

"Richard. Maybe some other way of learning will help you." I looked up at him, cautiously curious.

"Time to be chief for a day."

And... not what I had in mind.

- 1.4 years since the disappearance of Hiccup and Toothless -

I stared down at the papers I was documenting. I had been doing fine for a while, but as I stared at it, the words and numbers just looked like mindless three year old toddler scribbles bunched together. With a frustrated grunt, I brushed the papers aside and buried my face in my hands.

"Oh, why did you have to disappear, Hiccup! This was supposed to be your job! You're supposed to be here!"

I missed him. And to think, five or six years ago I would have thrown a party, and only been a little disappointed that my punching bag was gone. I really had changed. After a few months of being Stoick's chief in training, I was doing well, and he kept saying it would only be a couple years until I was ready. I didn't feel ready at all.

I grabbed one of the papers that had numbers for how well our crops had been doing this year and crumpled it up into a little ball, throwing it at the fireplace in front of me. It landed in the flames and burned down to ashes in seconds. I repeated this until I reached the bottom of the stack of documents, and grabbed a picture I had brought with me for a while now. It was a drawing Hiccup had made for me of him, Toothless and me together, happy. I was practically his brother. His father and mother were treating me as such. So I missed my family.

I hugged the drawing against my chest, crying. Where was a one-legged man and his dragon AI when you needed them the most?

A spoiler from the next epic adventure:

I stared at the monster before me. He held a large blaster which was apparently his arm to my head. What had once been my best friend was now a hybrid of human and machine. Hiccup.

His half metallic face held a wicked, taunting grin. A fake voice came from his mouth. "Any last words?"

And that's the end of number two for now! Hope you enjoyed!

Please review!