A/N: Very sorry for the delay, it's been a really busy week. So the first chapter received more reviews, follows, and favorites than I anticipated since I thought it'd only get two. But thank you for the lovely feedback! Hopefully, since it's summer, I can stick to updating on a regular or at least, weekly basis (Sundays). So anyways, here's the next chapter of SYAS. Enjoy!

Trained

"Hiccup!"

The young chief caught his wife in his arms as she leapt into them and held her close. By the worried and fearful looks on his people's faces, he knew all the yelling and roaring had been heard from the forest. He set Astrid back down and pressed his lips against hers in a passionate kiss. When they broke apart, she ran her fingers across the new cuts on his face, making him wince a bit.

"Sorry," she said softly and looked up into his green eyes. "What happened out there? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hiccup began and then craned his neck to look at the dragon behind him. "But I'm not sure he is."

"Is that the Sword Stealer?" Astrid asked as she looked over Hiccup's shoulder.

He turned back to look at her with a confused look. "Sword Stealer? Is that what its called?"

Astrid nodded. "I think your mom knows more about them."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah, she's in the great hall," she answered and jut her thumb back behind her shoulder.

"Okay," he breathed and then quickly looked around with a confused expression. "Where's Arden?"

"I left her with Gothi and a few other women who offered to look after the children. Everyone else was running around and helping those who were injured," Astrid explained and then she looked up at him with concern. "We heard someone yell your name and there was so much yelling and roars–we were thinking about sending out the Speed Stingers–"

Hiccup froze and glared at her. "You were going to do what?" Astrid only cowered a bit under his glare. "You out of all people know those dragons aren't ready to go out because they're not trained yet. The last time that happened, they nearly ripped Silent Sven to pieces!"

Astrid sighed. "We were scared, Hiccup. It would have been a big risk, I know that. We know that, but we thought something might have happened to you."

"Astrid, listen to me, you are to never release them, no matter what unless I give the order," he said sternly. "Do you understand?" Astrid looked away from him and Hiccup grabbed her hands and gently pulled on them. "Do you understand?"

She looked up at him and nodded. "Yes."

Hiccup nodded. "Okay, good. Now I'm going to go talk to my mom and see if she knows what's going on, in the meantime, can you take the dragon to the arena and keep an eye on him for me?"

"Yeah, sure," she said and looked over at the still-scared dragon that stood next to Toothless. Hiccup smiled and kissed her cheek before letting her go and making his way up the steps to the great hall.

When he entered, he saw that nearly the entire village was bustling around the place, trying their best to help in any way they could. He saw Arden seated by Gothi and other children and a few women at a table near the back of the room. At least he knew his daughter was safe. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on the older woman whose eyes seemed to reflect his own and made his way towards her. She turned in time to see him making his way to her and let out a sigh of relief.

"Hiccup, you're alright," she breathed and embraced him.

He let out a soft chuckle. "What made you think I wasn't?"

Valka pulled back, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "We heard the yelling and roars, and everyone froze when we heard your name being called."

Hiccup shook his head. "I'm alright, the dragon we were dealing with, the Sword Stealer, I'm guessing, knocked me against a tree with his tail."

"Is he here?" Valka asked.

"Yeah, he's outside with Astrid and a few others. Astrid mentioned that you knew more about his kind than any of us do, I suppose."

She nodded and said nothing for a few moments, a questioning look on her face until she finally spoke. "It's just strange–although these dragons are rare. From what I know of this species, they aren't the type to harm anything or anyone, and they're extremely gentle despite their appearance. They've never been the type to just attack people out of nowhere, and considering Berk isn't its island, it couldn't have been for territory. Which makes me wonder what happened."

"I think something was wrong with him," Hiccup said, catching Valka's attention, and he began to explain. "When we faced the Sword Stealer, the first thing he did was look at me and then hit me against a tree with his tail. Then he stabbed one of our best warriors, Danik, when all he had been doing was standing there. But the part that got me worried was that he didn't stand down to Toothless, even after knowing he was an alpha. So they ended up putting a fight until Toothless won the fight and something in the dragon's eyes changed. I don't know what it was, but it looked as if he wasn't even in control of his own body when he was attacking us, until after."

Valka gave him a shocked look and nodded in understanding. "That is strange, Hiccup. Can you take us to where the dragon is?" He nodded and they began to walk out of the great hall. "I've never heard of that happening, I mean, there's only one time I can ever recall that happening..."

Hiccup looked back at her when she stopped walking and stared at the ground. He sighed, shaking the memory from his head. "I know, Mom, I know." But he saw the worry in her eyes when she looked up and his breath hitched. "No, no. I know what you're thinking, but that could never be possible."

"You don't know that, Hiccup," she said softly. "Whether you want to think it or not, you know that's the only way why the Sword Stealer could have acted the way it did in the forest."

"I really don't want to think about that being the reason, because it can't be possible. But I also can't rule it out until we get a good look at that dragon," he said and with a small nod from his mother, he wrapped an arm around her and they walked to where the dragon was.

They walked into the arena and found Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut around the Sword Stealer, trying to console it. By the looks of it, it still seemed frightened and kept backing away from the group and towards the wall. Hiccup heard bits and pieces of what they were saying as they neared them.

"...maybe he doesn't like fish!"

"...or he just doesn't like you...well, no one does."

"...you're so mean, Astrid."

Hiccup had to chuckle at the offense Snotlout took, causing Valka to do the same. Before anyone could open their mouths to continue the argument, Hiccup cleared his throat and smiled.

"Or maybe you guys are scaring him."

The group glared at him and parted so that he and Valka could pass through, a few feet away from the Sword Stealer. Valka reached her hand out carefully, and hesitantly, the Sword Stealer pressed his nose against it, although his eyes seemed to remain on Hiccup. The young chief shifted on his feet, a bit uncomfortable with the way the dragon was eyeing him, but moved forward. As he did, almost immediately the dragon broke away from Valka and pushed his head into Hiccup's chest, causing him to stumble backwards. It seemed as if the dragon was mad at him by the way he pushed Hiccup, but he picked him back up and nuzzled his face into the man's chest.

"Thanks for pushing me," Hiccup said sarcastically, making the dragon look up at him with sorry eyes. "Alright, alright. I know you probably didn't mean it."

Valka smiled and slowly began to walk around the dragon. "Just hold him there, Hiccup, while I take a look at him."

Hiccup nodded and stroked the dragon's head as Valka examined him. She could see the dents in his armored skin and multiple scratches–some from weapons, and others from dragons, though one in particular caught her attention. It wasn't a scratch, but more of a symbol that had been clearly drawn onto the dragon's armor. The design was simply two angles intersecting each other, or more so, one 'x' on top of another, creating a small diamond in the middle. The symbol was simple, but Valka still feared its meaning, and she had a very good idea on who it came from.

She sighed and decided she'd keep the thought about it to herself until otherwise, and continued to look around. She saw the bite marks of Toothless' teeth on its hide, going straight through the armor itself and into the Sword Stealer's skin. They would have to get that treated and healed soon.

"Well," Valka began and forced a smile as she looked at everyone. "He seems fine to me, besides the injury from Toothless."

Hiccup smiled and turned to the dragon. "See? You're going to be okay." The Sword Stealer cooed in response and nuzzled into his chest.

Astrid smiled. "He seems to like you a lot."

He shrugged. "I guess so, but I'm not so sure that the way he eyes me or pushes into me makes it seem like he likes me. It's like he wants to eat me and make me feel less scared about it or something." Everyone laughed as the dragon gave what seemed to be a smile at Hiccup, causing him to laugh as well for the first time that night. Every worry he had about what Valka had been trying to talk to him about vanished.

"Daddy! Daddy!" the little girl yelled as she spotted her father walking out the door.

Hiccup turned to his daughter and smiled. "What is it?"

Arden looked down at her feet, her hands linked behind her back. "Can I come and help you around today? Please?"

Hiccup bent down so that he was at her eye level. "Well, my chiefly duties today sort of revolve more around the dragons, especially training with the Speed Stingers and the Sword Stealer. I don't want you near them in case you get hurt–"

"I won't get hurt! I'll be very careful," Arden said and stood up straight, causing Hiccup to grin.

Hiccup looked behind her and saw Astrid smiling from her spot at the table. "If you're sure you won't get hurt, then I don't see the harm in it."

Arden squealed and turned to Astrid. "Mommy, Mommy! I'm going to help Daddy with his chief duties today!"

"That's great! Just make sure you don't get too close to those dragons, especially the Speed Stingers," Astrid said with a raised brow. "We all know about what almost happened to Silent Sven."

"I know, but I'll be careful!"

Astrid laughed. "Alright, I believe you. Hiccup, make sure a dragon doesn't eat her, okay?"

Hiccup scoffed. "Well, what type of father would I be if I let a dragon eat my own daughter?" Almost immediately, Toothless came up right behind Hiccup as he picked up Arden and dangled her above the Night Fury's open mouth in a teasing manner.

The little girl squealed and began to laugh. "A fun one!"

It was Hiccup and Astrid's turn to burst out laughing. The chief lowered his daughter back down and walked over to Astrid, placing a kiss on her lips, and grabbing his dragon blade. Arden kissed her mother's cheek and grabbed her little Nadder toy before the two walked out of the house, with Toothless in tow.

It was warm and sunny outside and the village was bustling with people. Hiccup picked up Arden and placed her on his shoulders, holding her gently at her shins. He felt the little girl play with his hair and he chuckled; she definitely took after her mother. Surprisingly, Arden had inherited equal traits of the two parents with long copper brown locks, fair skin, and small faint freckles across her cheeks and nose. But her most famous trait were her rich, blue-green-colored eyes. An obvious trait from Hiccup and Astrid's eye-colors merging together and creating a beautiful sea-like color. All in all, Arden was stunning for her age, and the two proud parents weren't afraid to show her off once in a while, not only for her beauty, but for the personality and attitude she carried. She was much like Astrid when it came to being competitive and being the best, and maybe on the violent side as well, but her kind and compassionate side for everyone and everything definitely came from Hiccup.

"Mornin' Hiccup!"

"Good morning, chief!"

"Beautiful day, isn't it?"

Hiccup's days were usually like this where the villagers would greet him and ask for help, or assist him in anything he needed. Since he became chief five years ago, Hiccup had been more involved with the village and everything to do with the island than he did before. Sometimes it did tire him because he rarely got a break and an actual good night's sleep since he always had to be on high alert if something were to ever occur on Berk. He hadn't been flying with Toothless as much lately, though when he could, he would take him on a long flight in the middle of the night till the early hours of the morning. As much as he enjoyed helping his people and Berk, he did miss the freedom he had before becoming chief.

"What do you say we hop on Toothless and go to the Speed Stingers?" Hiccup asked as he looked up at the little girl on his shoulders, who nodded eagerly in response. "Okay, hold on. Toothless!"

The Night Fury, who had been stuffing his face in a basket of fish, looked up and bounded over to the two Haddocks. He bent down just enough for Hiccup to mount onto him and placed Arden in front of him. He clicked his prosthetic in place and flipped out the tailfin before Toothless launched into the air. Arden looked down at the ground and smiled. Just like her mother and father, she loved the feeling of flying and couldn't wait till she grew up and had a dragon of her own. Her sea-colored eyes looked down at Hiccup's prosthetic and stared at it for a moment. She had always wondered why her father didn't have his left foot anymore, but she had always been too scared to ask, thinking it would be rude. She thought about asking him right then and there, but decided not to and left the subject alone.

They flew over to the small beach just outside the village and towards the large opening in the rocks. Hiccup and Fishlegs had found what had turned out to be an enormous cave two years ago when they were tracking down Snotlout and Hookfang, who had decided to go and run off (only to be found in the great hall later on). At the time, they didn't know what to make of the place or what use it would do for them. That was until they encountered the Speed Stingers.

Still on Toothless' back, Hiccup guided the three of them through the tunnel until they reached a bright opening. They stood on a ledge and down below them was a cave like no other–as if it was straight out of a book. There was plant life and small trees growing from the dirt on the cave ground and the cave itself resembled a bigger version of the cove. Towards the back of the cave was an underground lake that was as clear as the sky and the cave itself was almost the size of the village, with its ceiling towering above. There were small openings in the ground above, giving the cave a bright view, though they had torches around for when it got dark. There were tunnels going in all directions underneath the island, mostly used for warrior use in case there were any raids or wars. But the biggest detail about the cave was the large sanctuary in the center of it.

The sanctuary itself was made of strong wood, making a shape of two diamonds put together and walks on the top of the wood. There were three wooden bridges connecting with the walks, going over the opening of the sanctuary and wooden railings on either side of them along with the walks. In the center were six Speed Stingers.

It had been two years ago when the village had been raided by a pack of Speed Stingers during the winter, taking everything they could find and paralyzing anyone that got in their way. At the time, Hiccup had been away at a meeting with all the chiefs in the archipelago and when he came back, the village was a disaster. Because Speed Stingers were so aggressive and hostile, it had led to a battle between them and the village, ultimately overpowering Berk with their speed and paralyzing tails. Though Hiccup and Toothless had managed to chase them out of the village by capturing their leader and cutting them off at the ice bridge. It had been at least a week afterwards when the same occurrences started and Hiccup had taken some of Berk's best warriors and looked around the island. They had found six Speed Stingers, two of them being fully grown, three still in their adolescence stage, and one who was still young and a lot different than the other five.

Not being the one to catch dragons, Hiccup caught them in nets and brought them back to the village. He knew Speed Stingers were too aggressive to train, but he set it upon himself to earn their trust and train them. At first, he had no idea where to place the poor dragons until he remembered the cave he and Fishlegs had found. From there, they had built the sanctuary for the Speed Stingers and they also made it their evacuation place for if a war or raid were to ever occur. Here, they also built small houses and stables for the warriors and their dragons, and for the sake if anything were to happen on Berk, they had places to stay.

Toothless flew down towards the sanctuary and landed right next to it, bending down so that Hiccup and Arden could dismount him. Holding her hand, Hiccup helped Arden walk up the steps until they reached the walk secured on top of the wood. Arden looked down over the railing and gasped. She saw six Speed Stingers in the pit, each doing something–two were huddled up in the corner sleeping, while three others were chasing each other around at great speeds, and one, that was strangely colored in comparison to the other dragons, was off by himself away from the other Speed Stingers.

She turned her head when she heard Hiccup call her over and walked over to him. He bent down so that he was at her level and smiled. "So, I'm going to go in and work with these guys. I want you to stay here and just watch, okay?"

Arden nodded. "Okay." When Hiccup stood, Arden quickly grabbed his hand. "Wait! What are their names?"

Hiccup picked her up and placed her on his hip and began to point out each dragon to her. "See those two sleeping in the corner? That's Flame and Fisk, they're the oldest. Flame has a red stripe going across her back and Fisk has a scar across his right eye, you see?" Arden nodded when she noticed the traits on the two dragons. "The three that are chasing each other are Sulpher, Sinder, and Spark. They're all siblings and you can tell who is who by looking at the coloring of their sail-like fin on their heads. Sulpher has a dark green sail, while Sinder has a mint green sail, and Spark has a light green sail. And that one over there is Flash," Hiccup said and pointed to the lone Speed Stinger. "It's pretty easy to point him out."

Flash, the youngest out of all the six, was a lot different in looks and personality. While the other Speed Stingers were varying in different green shades, Flash was all gray. His sail-like fin, wings, stripes, and even his paralyzing tail, were all black, and the only real color trait he had were his red eyes. But his looks weren't the only thing that made him stand out from the other Speed Stingers, his personality was quite different as well. Flash was a lot calmer and more docile than the other dragons, though there were times where his inner Speed Stinger would come out, and he would start hissing and roaring at anyone who came near him. Although his personality and odd coloring were unique, the other Speed Stingers often left him out and he was, in a way, an outcast.

"He's so pretty!" Arden gasped.

Hiccup chuckled. "Yes he is. Now, stay here while I go work with them, okay?"

"Okay," she said and leaned over the railing, watching him go over to one of the bridges and made a call, much like a Speed Stinger.

The six dragons looked around until their eyes landed on Hiccup, and they began to gather beneath the bridge he stood on. Hiccup smiled in satisfaction at getting their attention so quickly, and walked back down the steps and to the bars just outside the pit. He unlocked it and stepped inside, cautiously making his way towards the dragons who began to hiss at him.

One of them, Fisk, snarled at Hiccup and got in a stance that seemed as if he was going to attack. Hiccup held up his hands and backed away. "Fisk, stand down," The dragon stopped and gave him a questioning look until he began snarling again when Flame began to do the same thing. Soon all six dragons were cornering the young chief.

"Stop that! Stand down!" he tried, but the dragons kept stepping forward, hissing and snarling even louder. Hiccup widened his eyes for a brief moment before a grave look etched his face. He straightened his posture and stepped forward, and although the dragons were at least a foot taller than him, they backed away from the man.

"I said stand down," he warned in a low voice, then he said it in a stronger and louder tone when the dragons tried moving forward. "Stand. Down."

Seeing the serious look on the man's face, the six Speed Stingers ceased their hissing and snarling, and backed away. Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief and walked up closer to them. He held his hand out to Sulpher, to which the dragon eyed for a moment. Hiccup saw the look in the dragon's eye and pulled his hand back, just in time when Sulpher shot out to bite it.

He glared at the dragon. "Hey!"

Sulpher hissed at him and let out an annoyed grunt. Hiccup then knew that the dragons were hungry and decided to put off training with them for the day, considering that they hadn't even tried to work with him for the past fifteen minutes. He sighed and walked out of the pit and closed the gate before nodding at one of the vikings. They threw in a big chunk of meat into the sanctuary and the Speed Stingers began to consume it.

Hiccup waved his hand to Arden, and she trotted down the steps towards her father. He picked her up and walked them over to Toothless and mounted on him and flew out of the cave. They flew over Berk and then towards the village before stopping at the plaza where they found Astrid talking to Gobber.

"Glad ye' finally decided to show up," Gobber said. "That dragon ye' found is gettin' restless."

Hiccup sighed as he walked over to them, Arden holding his hand. "I'll go calm him down. It's only been a week, and you have to admit, he's doing pretty good."

The blacksmith waved his hammer. "He won't be doin' good if he keeps being so stubborn."

Astrid slapped his arm with the back of her hand with a laugh. "Don't hurt the poor thing!"

"Eh, I won't. Not yet at least," Gobber teased with a smile, causing them to laugh.

"Okay okay," Hiccup said with an amused smile. "I'm going to go check up on him and see if I can get some training in."

Astrid nodded and then kneeled down to Arden's height. "I'm going to go train some new recruits just outside the forest, want to come help me boss them around?" The little Haddock beamed and nodded eagerly, causing Astrid to chuckle. "Alright, we'll catch up with your father later, okay?" She received a nod from her daughter and stood before turning to Hiccup. He grabbed her by the waist and pressed his lips against hers. They broke apart and smiled at each other before he spoke in a low voice.

"Thanks, I just don't really trust that dragon being around her."

Astrid nodded. "I know that, since I don't either."

"I'll see you back at the house later," he said before placing another kiss on her lips and turned and walked away with Toothless following closely behind.

"Good boy, Blade!" Hiccup exclaimed with a grin as the dragon fired perfect shots at the targets.

He had walked over to the arena with Toothless, in the hopes of getting to train more with the Sword Stealer. He found the dragon curled up in the corner sleeping, only to watch him shoot up from his spot and nuzzle himself into Hiccup's chest. After managing to pry him off, they had worked on defenses, aiming and firing for the past three hours.

Though it had just been a little over a week since the incident with the Sword Stealer had occurred, Berk had come to accept the dragon as one of its own. It had taken the Sword Stealer a couple days to get used to the people and dragons of Berk and for his wound to heal, but so far, he had been doing very well. He was still cautious around other people and dragons considering that he wasn't accustomed to being around people and dragons in the same place, in peace. Though, the dragon had taken a huge liking to the chief himself. Hiccup had named the dragon Blade considering the sword it had attached to its tail and it just well...suited him. The villagers had gotten used to the extraordinary beast, though it mostly spent its time in the arena, which was odd because no one understood why it preferred to spend its time in a place that was used to kill dragons, and was now used for training.

Through the week, Hiccup had grown to love the dragon and spent his time training him and figuring out what his likes and dislikes were. All in all, he was bonding with the dragon more as it got more comfortable around him. Just like Hiccup, everyone was fond of Blade.

With the exception of one individual.

Toothless was not fond of Blade–it wasn't as though he hated the poor thing, he just wasn't fond. He couldn't quite understand why his rider spent time training a dragon that injured him, stabbed one of his warriors, and picked a fight against him, an alpha. Toothless was smart, he knew Hiccup and the others had found something was wrong with Blade, but he was a lot more intelligent than he would let on. With that intelligence came a new sense of suspicion whenever he was near the Sword Stealer. He just knew something was off about the dragon. But he also knew Hiccup and his soft spot for shy dragons, he just didn't like the idea of Hiccup ever being alone with Blade, so every time his rider went to go see the Sword Stealer, he would always tag along.

From his spot, Toothless watched with half-lidded eyes as Blade practiced firing properly with accuracy; making a sound that would have sounded like a scoff if he were human whenever Blade missed and hit the wall. The Night Fury closed his eyes again and wrapped his tail around himself.

After a few more shots, Hiccup decided to call it a day for the firing and thought of something.

"I don't think you've ever been ridden, now have you?"

At that, Toothless' head shot up and he narrowed his eyes and ears at Hiccup, who looked back at him and gave him a stern look. "C'mon Toothless, he hasn't flown with someone on his back and I'm right here."

Toothless growled as if saying, "I don't care if it's because you're here or not."

Hiccup sighed. "Can you just cooperate with me? Don't think I don't know that you don't like Blade."

By the look on Toothless' face, it seemed as though he was saying, "Oh really? Glad you acted like you noticed."

"Toothless, I'm just going to fly him around for a bit, if he lets me, just so he can get used to the feel."

The dragon's expression stayed the same, making Hiccup groan in annoyance. "Whatever. I'm going to fly him whether you like it or not."

This time, Toothless stood and stalked out of the arena with an upset look on his black features. Hiccup was debating on whether or not to go after him and to try and at least reason with the dragon, but he knew it would be no use. He turned to Blade and smiled at him.

"So, you ready to fly?"

After training and leaving Arden with Valka for a bit, Astrid walked into the great hall and spotted Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut at a table near the center and walked over to them. She took a seat next to Ruffnut with Fishlgs on the other side of her, and across from Snotlout and Tuffnut. Apparently she had walked into an conversation that was somewhat...weird.

"...mine's bigger than yours!" she caught Tuffnut say.

"Um, are we talking about what I think we're talking about?" Astrid whispered to Ruffnut who nodded with a smirk.

"Yup. Imagine Hiccup being here and listening to this, though," she said and Astrid laughed.

"That would have been amazing."

They turned back to the conversation when Snotlout leaned back in his chair and had a smug look plastered on his face. "Well, I think it's safe to say mine has a lot in common with the sun."

Astrid smirked. "Because no one likes looking directly at it?"

Snotlout shook his head. "No–"

"It gives people diseases?" Tuffnut jumped in.

"No it doesn't–" but before he could finish, the whole group had joined in.

"It rises at the crack of dawn?"

"It disappears at night?"

"Direct exposure often leads to a nasty case of sunburn?"

"It needs to stay about a million miles away from me?"

"Nobody will ever touch it?"

The viking slouched in his chair in defeat, mumbling on how rude they were being, causing everyone to laugh. They were in the middle of another conversation when they heard the doors of the great hall open and saw Toothless walking in with a sullen look on his face. They exchanged worried glances at each other before Astrid stood up and walked over to the gloomy dragon.

"Hey," she said softly as she stroked the dragon's head. "What's wrong?"

Toothless murmured in response walked over to the table where everyone else was and placed his head on the table. Astrid gave him a confused look and sat down next to him. "Where's Hiccup?" she asked and at that, Toothless growled and turned his head away.

"I think he's mad at Hiccup," Fishlegs said. "I'm guessing it has something to do with that Sword Stealer."

The Night Fury let out a low growl and his ears lay flat against his head. Astrid sighed and patted the dragon's head. "It's okay, Toothless. Everyone knows you're Hiccup's number one–you guys are best friends, so don't forget that."

Toothless made a noise that would have sounded like an annoyed groan if he were human. He wasn't mad at Hiccup because he was jealous, he was mad because Hiccup failed to see or even sense that the Sword Stealer wasn't to be trusted. There was something off about that dragon and knowing Hiccup better than anyone, Toothless knew he was too naive when it came to dragons and seeing how they really were.

And Toothless knew something bad would come out of it, sooner or later. As if his mind had predicted it, a loud cry was heard from outside the village. His ears perked up and he heard it again, this time louder–and Toothless knew that voice anywhere by heart.

Riding on the back of a dragon he barely knew felt strange to Hiccup–even more on a dragon that had never been ridden before. It took him awhile to actually get Blade to adjust to the idea of having someone ride him, but he eventually came around to it. Because he had not made a saddle for a Sword Stealer before–let alone know that there was such a species of dragon–, Hiccup had to hang on to the metal plates of Blade's neck as they flew.

Hiccup couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for riding Blade when his own dragon wasn't okay with the idea. Toothless had seemed so hurt and angry when he had said he was going to ride a dragon that wasn't him. Part of Hiccup knew Toothless wasn't fond of Blade, but he couldn't pinpoint why. Blade had been nice to Toothless since he arrived into the village–well, minus the incident in the forest when they fought.

"Okay Blade, we're going to land back on the island nice and easy," Hiccup said and patted the dragon's armored skull. Blade wailed in response and began to slowly descend when they saw Berk in the distance.

They were nearing the island when suddenly, Blade began to shake his head and wailed in pain, stopping mid-flight. Hiccup frowned his brows in concern, gently rubbing the Sword Stealer's head, only to have him shake him off.

"Blade, what's–" but before he could even finish, he watched as Blade's pupils narrow into slits, nearly disappearing. He roared and sped towards Berk, flying out of control.

Hiccup clung onto the dragon for dear life and cried out in fear when the dragon blew fire. Something was wrong and he knew it. His mind began to go back to the night they had found Blade and he then realized that the same thing was happening. It was as though the dragon was no longer in control of his own mind or body, and just for a split second, he thought his mother had been right, but quickly shook the thought away.

"Blade! Stop!" he cried as the dragon continued to blast fire, still racing towards Berk.

As they were nearing the island, he could see the village looking up at the two in confusion, before realization set in. They began to scream and get out of the way, while some vikings stood by in case the Sword Stealer tried to wreck havoc. Suddenly, Hiccup felt Blade's forge-like mouth bite down on his side and flung him off of his back. Hiccup collided with the hard ground with a loud cry, feeling one or two of his ribs crack. He realized how quickly this had all gone down–just last week Blade was in this state, gradually getting better and better until today.

The young chief soon realized why Toothless had not wanted him to ride Blade earlier–he had known something would happen. He suddenly regretted not trusting his own dragon enough to see what would have happened when he decided to climb onto the Sword Stealer's back.

He watched from his position on the ground as Blade blasted fire at the vikings below, nearly catching them, and that's when he saw her. She was looking up at the dragon in fear, too scared to move, with the little Nadder dangling in her small hand.

"Arden!" Hiccup managed to yell. "Get out of the way!"

Hiccup struggled to move, his ribs and his whole body almost yelling in protest. He got up onto his feet and began to sprint towards his daughter as the dragon's mouth began to glow.

"No!" he cried, when suddenly, a blue and purple blast struck the dragon in the face, causing him to fall onto the ground. Hiccup looked to his left and saw Toothless standing not too far behind Arden, smoke falling away from his mouth. His pupils were narrowed, ears against his head, and teeth bared at the Sword Stealer. Everyone knew that the Night Fury was not to be reckoned with when he was angry, and by the looks of it, Toothless was pissed.

Blade stood up and roared at Toothless as he charged at him. Toothless jumped in front of Arden and fired another plasma blast at him, making him stumble backwards. Toothless jumped onto the dragon and pinned him to the ground as he tried to bite at him. Blade's tail suddenly swiped at Toothless, cutting him across his side. The Night Fury roared in pain and in time, the armored dragon flipped them so that Toothless was now pinned. He dodged the sharp tip of Blade's tail, letting it hit the ground next to his head, repeating the movement another several times.

Just as he was about to run over to Arden, Hiccup saw Astrid envelop the little girl in her arms. Astrid looked up at him and tilted her head towards the two dragons, as if trying to say to go help them. Hiccup nodded and took out his dragon blade, Inferno, and shook his head when some other vikings stepped forward to help him.

"I'll handle this one on my own," he said and moved forward, ignoring their protests.

Hiccup watched as the two dragons battled until they were both in a standoff. He noticed the few minor scars on Toothless' back and legs and the ones on Blade's armor as well. Before either dragon could strike again, Hiccup ran between them and held out his hands, pointing his dragon blade at the Sword Stealer.

He looked at Toothless with pleading eyes. "Toothless, stop."

The Night Fury growled and tried to inch around his rider and towards Blade, but Hiccup followed his every move. The two leaders looked at each other and held their intense gaze, neither one backing down. Hiccup stepped towards Toothless and the dragon's eyes softened.

"Bud, please. Fighting him isn't going to help," Hiccup said and placed his hand on Toothless' nose. Toothless murmured in response, but before he could do anything, he watched as the Sword Stealer's tail came out of Hiccup's left side, making him cry out in pain.

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried as she watched her husband get stabbed by the dragon's deadly tail.

The rider fell to his knees and slowly collapsed onto his stomach, gripping his side to stop the bleeding. Toothless looked back at Blade, his dark features forming into a menacing look. Everyone watched as the Night Fury's nostrils began to glow blue, the bright color soon following to the top of his head and down the open fins of his back. He stepped over his best friend, shielding him from harm, and roared loudly at the dragon. He could see Blade back away from the ferocity in the Night Fury's look, but stepped back forward and blasted fire at him. Toothless used his black wing to shield him and Hiccup from the fire and turned to Astrid.

Astrid nodded and quickly ran over with Ruffnut to grab Hiccup and take him away from the fight. They rested him on Astrid's lap, pulling off his leather vest, and lifting up his tunic to examine his wound. It had gone straight through his left side, though it seemed that nothing serious had been damaged. Ruffnut handed Astrid a cloth to to help stop the bleeding and looked back up to see Toothless fire a plasma blast at Blade.

The blast struck the dragon in the face, causing him to fall backwards. Toothless took this as an advantage and jumped on Blade, biting at his armored chest. Blade flung the alpha off of him and swiped at him with his tail again, but this time, the alpha was prepared. As the spear-like tail came at him, Toothless jumped back and caught it in his mouth, biting down hard on it. The Sword Stealer roared in pain and tried to shake Toothless off, but wasn't prepared when Toothless tripped him with his own tail. The quick movement caused the dragon to fall backwards, colliding into a large tree. Deciding to finish this fight once and for all, Toothless shot a plasma blast at the tree, causing it to fall straight onto Blade.

Silence fell throughout the village as everyone watched the smoke dissipate and saw the fallen dragon under the tree. It let out a groan and Toothless watched as Blade's pupils dilated, suddenly coming back to himself, and let out a small whimper. Toothless looked at the dragon's condition and noticed that part of the dragon's armor had come off and he had multiple gashes from the the battle and the tree's impact. Part of the Night Fury felt a pang of guilt for putting the dragon in his current position as he watched Blade's breathing slow down, but the other part knew he had to do something. So as he watched the Sword Stealer's eyes slowly close and his body go limp, he set it to himself that he had done it all for his best friend.

A/N: Annndddd there's chapter two for SYAS! It was pretty lengthy at almost 8,000 words, but there were a lot of things introduced here, and there was quite some action there too. Now, just a note on the Speed Stingers:

Their species is extremely hostile and aggressive, and are rarely trainable. Knowing Hiccup, he wants to understand every species of dragons, hence why he decided to make them stay on Berk. So because of their hostile demeanor, it has taken Hiccup quite a while to actually get them to follow basic commands and orders, one of them being to stand down. So expect his training with them to progress little by little as the story goes on.

Other than that, I apologize for not updating sooner, though expect another chapter sometime soon this week. I'm guessing some of you guys managed to catch on to some of the major plot points that will be explored later in the story in this chapter. There were quite a few. Next chapter you'll see what happens after the fight, and it's also where the main storyline starts to take place, so stay tuned for that. (;

See you later, dragon riders!