A/N: Annnddd I'm back with a new chapter. Just another note on the Speed Stingers since it was pointed out: Speed Stingers measure at 7'1" in height, making them exactly a foot taller than Hiccup in where he measures at 6'1". In the show or episode when they first appeared, they seemed much smaller, even the leader, but it was most likely due to the animation. It can also be noted that they've never been seen standing next to any of the characters at their full height (since they're constantly in a stance where they have to be prepared to run or attack). If you've seen Race To The Edge already, you can see that they are much bigger than in the previous season, especially the leader. So yes, they are much taller than Hiccup in reality. Even if that's not the case, in this story, they are going to measure at 7'1" at their full height and probably around Hiccup's eye level in their usual crouched stance.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, there isn't much to say, other than that this is where our main storyline begins. Don't hate me for the ending of this chapter, please and thank you.

Away

Hiccup woke up to a strong pain in his left side. He let out a pained groan as he tried to sit up, only to fall back onto what seemed to be his and Astrid's bed. Once the pain subsided, from his laying position, he looked around and noticed that he was in fact in his current house and bedroom. It looked as if it was late afternoon from outside the open window. His mind suddenly went back to the last thing he remembered–he had been riding Blade until the dragon got out of control. There had been a fight between Blade and Toothless. Something sharp had struck him and he was carried off somewhere.

"Hello?" he managed to call out in a hoarse voice. When he heard nothing for a few moments, he sighed and stretched his arm out and with all his strength, knocked loudly on the wooden wall behind the bed in a rhythm only his little family knew of.

He smiled widely when he heard a little hand knock the rhythm back from the other side of the wall and chuckled when he heard a loud, "Mommy! He's awake!"

The creaking of the stairs and the thudding of little feet could be heard from outside the door as Astrid and Arden came into the room. Arden squealed when she saw her father wide awake and bounded over to him.

"Daddy!" she squeaked and gave him a gentle hug.

"Hey," Hiccup laughed as he embraced her. He turned to Astrid who held a cup of water and had a wet cloth thrown over her shoulder. She smiled at him and sat down at the edge of the bed and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead.

"How are you feeling?" Astrid asked as she set down the cup of water.

Hiccup shrugged. "I'm feeling good and not good at the same time."

She nodded and helped him sit help before handing him the cup of water. "Do you remember anything that happened before you were unconscious?"

"Um, I remember that I was riding Blade and things got out of control," he paused and frowned, trying to remember what happened. "Then...Toothless got into a fight with him and I tried to stop them, I think. And after that, I felt something sharp hit me and I just remember being carried off or something."

"Well," she said as he brought the cup to his lips and drank the water. "You're right about all of that."

"How long have I been out for?" he asked quietly.

"Almost a week, five days to be exact. Not a lot has happened since..." she said before she trailed off.

"Since what? Wait, where's Toothless? Where's Blade?" he asked and his face filled with concern when Astrid looked down at her feet. "Astrid? Are they okay?"

She sighed and held his hand. "Toothless is alright, just a few minor scars."

"And Blade?" he asked softly.

Astrid looked at him and shook her head. "The reason you were hurt was because Blade stabbed you with his tail, and when Ruffnut and I carried you off, all Hel broke loose. Toothless went mad and they got into a serious fight, and let's just say that an alpha's rage is really shown when you hurt someone they love."

Hiccup stayed silent before he spoke quietly. "Toothless killed Blade, didn't he?" Astrid nodded sadly in response and he sighed, his face going slack. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have gotten on that dragon when Toothless didn't want me to. He obviously knew that something was bound to happen and I chose a dragon I barely knew, over my best friend. None of this would have happened if I just trusted Toothless–"

"Hey, hey," Astrid said in a soothing voice and scooted more onto the bed, so that she could wrap her arms around the hurting chief. "It's not your fault. You didn't know, and even if you did, Blade probably would have been in that state either way if you left him in the arena. This just had a different outcome on his part."

He pressed his lips into a straight line and looked down at the cup in his hands. "I still can't shake the feeling off. Blade was doing so well and finally working up to getting better and for what? For him to die because he went out of control again? I just...I don't want to think about it right now."

Astrid nodded and was about to say something before Arden, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up. "Toothless is outside if you are wondering. He has been sleeping since you fell...un-con-chus?"

"Unconscious, sweetie," Astrid said softly, smiling.

Arden's face lit up when she finally remembered the word. "Oh right! Yeah, when you fell unconscious. So he's outside."

Hiccup smiled at his daughter and he nodded. "I'll be sure to go check up on him." He suddenly yawned, feeling his eyelids become heavy.

"You should probably sleep," Astrid said and he nodded as she took the cup of water out of his hands and helped him lie down. She pulled the furs over him and before she knew it, Hiccup was fast asleep.

The loud closing of the front door caused a pair of black ears to perk up and move around. The sleek black dragon jumped onto his feet immediately when he saw the young man walking towards him.

"Toothless!"

The Night Fury jumped onto his rider and started licking his face all over, causing the man to groan. Toothless moved off of him and gave him a concerned look before gently nudging his nose against his torso. Hiccup visibly winced and pushed the dragon's head away, softly.

"Sorry bud, I'm still really sore," he said as he rubbed Toothless' head. He cooed in response and leaned into his best friend's touch until he sat up on his hind legs, and brought Hiccup into what seemed like a hug. Hiccup chuckled and wrapped his arms around Toothless' neck. "I know, I missed you too."

After they broke apart, they began to walk around the village. It was early in the afternoon and the village seemed a lot calmer than the usual bustling around and loud voices. The fight between Toothless and Blade seemed to have caused a shock to the village, especially the dragons. They weren't scared of Toothless, but the fact he had won a rather brutal fight, resulting in another dragon's death. It reminded them just how powerful the Night Fury really was–especially when he was angered. They had always kept a note to themselves to never get on the alpha's bad side, even though Toothless acted like an overgrown house cat most of the time. As for the villagers, it shocked them since there had not been a death on Berk since the battle with Drago over five years ago. So the fight had been the first with the poor outcome.

Hiccup had decided to go and see Blade's body, much to Toothless's discomfort. The dragon's body was still under the fallen tree, giving him an ashen look. Hiccup sighed before he knelt down and stroked the dragon's head in guilt and sorrow. Although he had been told that it had not been his fault, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was. After what seemed like hours, he finally stood and walked back to Toothless, who had been waiting patiently, and continued to walk around the village again. As they were walking, they spotted Eret and Skullcrusher making their way towards them.

"Hiccup!" he called as he waved his hand at him.

"Hey Eret," Hiccup said as they came face-to-face with each other.

Eret smiled at him and wrapped an arm around the chief's shoulders. "I heard about what happened while I was out hunting with some other men. How are you doing?"

Hiccup shrugged and they began to walk along with their dragons. "I don't know in all honesty." They started walking outside of the village and onto the grassy field just outside where the livestock's fences were. It was peaceful, just enough for Hiccup to relax a little.

"Elaborate on that," he said as he clasped his hands behind his back, like he usually did while walking.

"It's..." he sighed and rubbed a hand over his tired face. "It's just all so messed up. I never wanted anything bad to happen to anyone, but here I am, hearing that Blade ended up losing not only the fight, but his life too."

"And do you blame Toothless for that?"

"What? No!" he said quickly, before slowing down. "No, of course not. If anything, I blame myself. Toothless was trying to warn me and I was too caught up in trying to train Blade. Sometimes I wonder if everything I do with dragons ends up being more of a bad thing..."

Eret stopped and stepped in front of Hiccup with a stern look. "Nonsense! Everything you do with dragons is anything but bad, Hiccup."

"Eret, I spend more time contemplating what I should be doing for the dragons more than I should be for the village. I mean, as a chief, that says a lot about me, doesn't it? I know for a fact that I care more about Toothless than anyone, well, besides from Astrid and Arden."

The buffer man sighed as his face softened. "Hiccup, there is nothing wrong with caring for the dragons. When it comes to being chief, you know exactly when and how to step in to help your people. The same goes for dragons, and even Toothless. You don't think he thinks or cares about you and your family more than his own kind? It's not bad, because you know when to even it out when the time comes. We're vikings, we can manage on our own, considering we have extreme stubbornness issues. You care about Toothless more than anything, and there's no shame in that."

Hiccup looked at the man and smiled. Since the aftermath from five years ago, Hiccup and Eret had grown closer more than anyone could have imagined and had begun to form a strong friendship. Asides from Astrid and Valka, Hiccup found himself confiding and finding comfort with Eret, who was feeling the same. When Hiccup was away, Eret was put in command after Astrid, and most of their battle strategies came from Eret and his way of thinking along with Hiccup's made them an unstoppable team.

"You're right, but I think I just have to convince myself that," he said honestly. Eret nodded in understanding and said no more and they walked in comfortable silence. The ex-trapper was about to speak when they heard a loud roar and they looked above them just in time to see a silver dragon zip past them. They looked at each other in confusion before turning their attention back to the dragon when they realized it was headed towards the village.

Hiccup was about to go into chief-mode to go protect his village when he saw a familiar figure on the dragon's back and he beamed. "Looks like we have company."

Eret gave him a puzzled look, but didn't have the chance to ask any questions because Hiccup had already mounted Toothless and began to take off. He climbed onto Skullcrusher's saddle and they took off after Hiccup and towards the village. Upon arriving at the village, he saw that the silver dragon had landed in the plaza and someone was climbing off its back. Toothless landed a few feet away from it and Hiccup jumped off before jogging over to the figure, Toothless following after him, and embraced her tightly. Eret raised a brow in questioning as he got off Skullcrusher and went over to them. He saw that Astrid and Stormfly were already standing next to Hiccup and Toothless and Astrid was hugging the figure as well. He couldn't make out the rider's face given that they were wearing a brown, leather hood, and a mask that covered their mouth and nose. Though, he did take notice that they were female by the feminine figure.

He came up next to Hiccup and right when he was about to say something, the rider removed her hood and mask, leaving him speechless. She had a soft angled face, with big green eyes, and long black hair that went over her left shoulder in a braid. She was by far the most beautiful woman he had set his eyes on.

He was taken out of his thoughts when Hiccup spoke. "Oh! My bad! Eret, Heather. Heather, Eret," he said and gestured between the two of them.

Heather looked over at the man next to Hiccup and she felt her heart flutter at the sight of the buff man. She wasn't the one to let men distract her, but this one was different in her mind and definitely her eyes. She met his eyes and they both blushed a little before she looked down at her feet and then back at Hiccup. The young chief seemed to have noticed the little interaction between the two and decided, in his mind, that this was something he make time for to help progress. He cleared his throat and looked back at his long-time friend with a smile.

"So what are you doing here?" he asked.

Heather shrugged and smiled. "I was flying around the archipelago and I decided that I could pay a visit to my favorite group of vikings."

Hiccup chuckled. "How very sweet of you. Do you–" before he could finish, the sound of little feet running towards him caught his attention. He turned just in time to catch the little girl in his arms and he laughed. "Hey little rider!"

"Daddy!" Arden squealed and took the time to play with his cheeks in her small hands, causing everyone who had been watching the reunion, laugh. There wasn't a time where the chief's fatherly interaction with his daughter touched their hearts. For most of the vikings, the way Hiccup interacted with his daughter, reminded them of the way Stoick had interacted with Hiccup when he was young. It caused a warm yet broken feeling in their hearts at the thought of the chief's late father.

"Ar...den. Dis is ow fend Hedder," he tried to say through his squished cheeks.

Arden laughed and squished his cheeks more. "You should be called Chief Chubby Cheeks! Because you're cheeks are chubby!"

At this, Astrid, Heather, Eret, and the dragons burst out laughing at the name. Astrid put a hand on her husband's shoulder, still shaking with laughter. "C-Chief Chubby C-Cheeks?! Oh, I'm in love."

"Lab all yo want, Astwid," Hiccup tried to say, but only caused the blonde to laugh even more at his muffled voice. He rolled his eyes playfully before gently removing his daughter's hands from his cheeks. He kissed her cheek before passing her to Astrid and turned back to Heather. "Sorry about that. I think Astrid secretly teaches her how to tease and make fun of me."

Heather giggled. "It's quite alright, Hic. But oh my gods! The last time I saw her she was so small and now she's so big!"

"Yup, she just turned four a few months ago," Hiccup said, looking over to see Arden playing gently with Astrid's braid. "Aaanndd she's still being nicer to her mother than to her father. Go figure."

"Like mother, like daughter," Heather teased and Hiccup chuckled at that.

"Very much so," he said with a smile. "So, do you plan on staying?"

"Well, I don't know–"

"C'mon, Heather! It wouldn't hurt to stay for a few days, now would it?" Hiccup asked and bumped shoulders with her before nodding his head to Eret with a smirk. "It also wouldn't hurt to get to know some people."

Heather blushed and cleared her throat. "I suppose so..."

"Good, because you can stay with Eret–"

"Hiccup!"

"Kidding, kidding," he said and wrapped an arm around the brunette. "You can stay with me and Astrid."

Heather immediately backed away, shaking her head with wide eyes. "Oh no, no, no. I am not staying with you two."

Hiccup gave her a confused look. "Why not?"

"As much as I love you both with all my heart," she began and raised her eyebrows. "I am not risking my innocent ears to hear your not-so-innocent acts in your bedroom."

The young chief froze and a bright red coloring covered his cheeks. "I-I...Heather! WHY would you SAY that?!"

At his reaction, Heather began to laugh. "I only speak the truth, Hic."

"Sure you do," he mumbled, playfully rolling his eyes again at her before turning to Astrid. "So Heather's deciding to stay, it's just the matter of where she'll stay."

Astrid cocked her head to the side. "Why doesn't she stay with us?"

Hiccup darted his eyes around before leaning in to whisper what Heather had told him in her ear. Astrid turned a deep shade of red before glaring at her friend. "Heather!" The girl laughed and Astrid huffed in annoyance. "We would never do such a thing, especially with Arden around–"

"What thing, Mommy?" Arden asked, looking up at her mother with big sea-colored eyes.

Astrid blushed and cleared her throat. "Uh, nothing. There is no thing, hehe."

"Does the thing mean what I saw you and daddy doing that one time I walked into your room because I had a nightmare? You weren't wearing any clothes–" Astrid and Hiccup immediately covered Arden's mouth with their hands and gave an anxious smile.

Heather smirked and crossed her arms. "You were saying?"

"So, where shall Heather stay?" Astrid asked, changing the subject, making Heather laugh once again.

"Let's go flying."

The sapphire-eyed blonde looked at her husband with a confused look. "What?"

He looked over at her with a wide grin. "Let's. Go. Flying."

"But you're still injured," she pointed out.

"It doesn't really hurt anymore," he said honestly. "And besides, Astrid, we haven't gone flying in a while."

Astrid tilted her head to the side and frowned. "We fly over the island all the time, Hiccup."

"No, I meant we haven't gone flying for fun or with Arden as a family in a while," Hiccup explained.

"Oh," she said after understanding. "You're right, we haven't. But what about your duties–"

"I'm having Eret take care of that. He is in command after you anyways," he said with a smile. "C'mon, Astrid. We need time to ourselves and Arden."

Astrid smiled at the idea of being up in the clouds again, this time with her little family and their dragons. Finally, she nodded in agreement and went to go get Arden while Hiccup went outside to saddle up Toothless and Stormfly. It was still early in the afternoon and the idea of going flying had come to Hiccup after he had solved the ordeal with where Heather would stay which was with Valka for the time being. He had seen a few families fly over the village, laughing and being free in the air with their dragons and loved ones. Since he had become chief, he didn't have as much time to spend with his family like he would have wanted to. So when the idea came to him, he couldn't contain his excitement. This was what he needed.

What they all needed.

Once he saddled up both dragons, Astrid came out of the house with Arden in her arms. Hiccup mounted Toothless before Astrid handed Arden to him, and she got on Stormfly. They both nodded and patted their dragons who then took to the skies. Arden squealed in delight at the feeling of being in the air, high above the ground and flying through the clouds. Hiccup was holding onto the saddle with both arms so that he was protecting Arden from falling as the little girl raised her hands and screamed as they dived down. Her father couldn't help but laugh at his daughter's attitude and it swelled his heart that she would grow up to love dragons and never see them as terrifying, and dangerous beasts.

Toothless dove down again to his left and went through a series of spins and barrel rolls. Hiccup and Arden laughed as they came back up next to Astrid and Stormfly. Both dragons flew up higher into the sky together, so that their bellies were facing each other. They flew up as they spiraled around each other and came to an abrupt stop when they were high enough before flipping over and they spun down with their backs to each other. Astrid whooped along with Arden, and Hiccup chuckled at their enthusiasm.

Toothless leveled out and Astrid came up next to them with Stormfly. She saw Hiccup grin and looked back and forth between her and Arden before understanding what he was thinking. Usually she would have been protesting, but she knew it was just for the fun of it and nodded, grinning back. She watched as Hiccup grabbed Arden by the waist and lifted her off the seat before throwing her across the Astrid, who had moved back a little to catch her. Arden screamed and clutched onto her mother before laughing.

"Again, again!"

Both parents laughed and they continued to throw their daughter back and forth between them. After a bit of throwing Arden around, they gripped the handles on their saddles tightly, and they zipped through the clouds, doing flips and tricks. At some point, Hiccup flew upside down above Astrid and she leaned up to catch his lips between hers in a kiss before sitting back down and laughed at her husband's baffled expression. A warm feeling tingled in their hearts as they remembered the first time Astrid had flown Stormfly with Hiccup and Toothless at night when they were just eighteen.

It had been dark outside, a little past midnight, when they had decided to go flying. At the time, she wasn't used to flying at night since most of the time she flew in the day and trained new recruits for dragon training. Though, it was the best flying experience she had ever had, and when they were flying through the clouds, Hiccup had decided to show off by flying upside down. She had looked at him in annoyance with his show-off demeanor, but it quickly dissipated when she saw him flying towards her again, upside down. She had taken the opportunity to sit up higher on her saddle and pull down his mask a bit, just above his lips, and pressed hers against his. The act nearly caused Hiccup to almost fall out of the saddle since he had been shocked by the daring kiss and nearly let go of the handles.

They looked at each other and smiled, knowing that they were both thinking back to the same memory. Astrid passed Arden to Hiccup and he looked down at his daughter with a mischievous look.

"What do you say we scare mommy a bit?" he asked.

Arden nodded eagerly and giggled. "It would be funny!"

"Alright, hold on tight," Hiccup said before unhooking himself from the saddle and securing Toothless's prosthetic so that it would stay open. Before she knew it, Arden felt her father's hold on her tighten and they fell off the saddle.

"OH MY GODS! HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" they heard Astrid scream from above, causing both of them to laugh as they fell. To make her go even more berserk, Hiccup released Arden from his hold so that she was falling with him on her own–it worked. Arden squealed in delight and looked at her father with her blue-green eyes and beamed at him.

"This is fun!" she yelled happily and smiled even more when Toothless came up beside them. "Toothless!"

The Night Fury gave her a gummy smile as his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Hiccup reached out and grabbed Arden before he turned around and grabbed onto Toothless's saddle and they flew up. He hooked himself back on and put his prosthetic back in place as they came up next to Astrid who was glaring at Hiccup.

"Hiccup I am going to kill–"

"In my defense, Arden loved it," the young chief said and put his hands up with raised brows.

Astrid huffed before she let out a small smile. "I will never understand how she's so fearless for her age."

Hiccup smirked. "Well, her mother is Astrid the Fearless."

"Still! She could jump off a dragon and not have any second thoughts!" she laughed. "Now, that she got from you–Hiccup the Dragon Master."

"Dragon Master?" he asked with a chuckle.

"It's catchy," she pointed out with a smile.

"I want to be a dragon master like you!" Arden said, beaming up at her father.

Hiccup laughed and ruffled her copper hair before leaning down to her ear. "Wanna know a secret?" Arden nodded and he smiled. "You already are." He beamed down at his daughter as she hugged him before he turned back to Astrid and looked down at the clouds before them and then back to her.

Astrid seemed to know what he was thinking and shook her head. "Oh, no. You are not making me free-fall with you, Haddock."

"Aren't you a Haddock too?" he asked amusingly.

"Don't try to distract me from your intentions."

He tilted his head and looked at her innocently. "What intentions, Milady?"

"You're trying to get me to fall off my dragon with you, but that's not–" before Astrid could finish, Hiccup had already unhooked himself from Toothless's saddle and stood up on it. He leapt across the space between the two dragons and wrapped his arms around Astrid, causing them to fall over Stormfly's saddle. Astrid screamed as they fell through the clouds as Hiccup laughed hysterically.

"Oh my gods! Hiccup!" Astrid cried and clutched onto her husband tightly.

"Astrid! Relax, it's not so bad!" he yelled over the wind, though he could clearly hear her protests and Arden's laughter from above.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Astrid opened her eyes and looked down through half-lidded eyes. She looked at Hiccup and let out a laugh and he laughed with her. He slowly let her out of his arms so that she was free-falling in front of him. They smiled at each other and he reached out and intertwined both their hands before he leaned in and kissed her. She let go of his hands to gently grab his face in hers as he placed his on her waist. Hiccup smiled against her lips and looked into her sapphire eyes.

"What couple gets to say that they kissed while falling mid-air?" he asked, jokingly.

She giggled. "We do."

Before Hiccup could respond a little voice from above interrupted them. "Can I come down too?"

Hiccup tilted his head so that his chin was almost touching his chest, and tried to look up at where Arden was. "Go ahead!"

Toothless flew down with Stormfly just enough so Arden could catch up with her parents. The little girl took a few breaths, muttering to herself that she could do it on her own. Finally, she closed her eyes, spread out her arms, and fell over the saddle with a joyful scream. She tucked her arms at her sides and dove down until she reached Astrid and Hiccup. The three of them held hands in a circle and they looked up to see that Toothless and Stormfly were now free-falling with them. They all laughed and Hiccup knew he had been right–this was exactly what they had needed.

It was dark. All around him was darkness aside from the light that dawned on him, giving the space a smoky type of effect. He looked around, but there was nothing but darkness.

"What shame he must feel."

He froze as the frightening voice echoed in the darkness. He could see a figure moving around and almost instantly knew who it was. As if hearing his own predictions, the figure stepped forward and he felt his blood run cold. The first thing he saw were the dark dreadlocks, then the scars on his face, and then his armor. His eyes shifted to the metal arm and he shuddered.

"Drago," he said firmly.

"Hiccup," he said back in a low growl. "A lot has happened to you lately, hasn't there?"

Hiccup set his jaw and spoke lowly. "I suppose...Drago, what do you want?"

"What do I want?" Drago laughed. "Oh, no, no, no. I'm just trying to help you."

"What have you done to help me?" the young chief snapped. "The last time I remember, you brought nothing but pain to me and everyone I know and care about. There is no way you can help me."

Drago began to circle him, letting his staff drag across the floor. "Oh, I remember that. But that's out of the discussion. Want to know how I'm helping you this time?" Hiccup stayed silent and he continued. "By giving you a warning."

The green-eyed man gave him a confused look. "A warning?" But suddenly, Drago had vanished and when Hiccup turned around, he came face-to-face with the man.

"I'm giving you a warning for what's coming," he said.

"What's coming?" Hiccup asked, backing away from Drago.

"That," he snapped and pointed his staff to his right. Hiccup turned his head to look at what was there, but saw nothing. He was about to say something when he finally saw two menacing red dragon eyes–no, six menacing red dragon eyes looking at him. At first, he thought they belonged to three different dragons, but when he looked closely, he realized that they all belonged to one dragon. Hiccup gasped when he saw a large, dark mouth, with sharp teeth emerge from the shadows. He heard loud footsteps and his blood ran cold when he finally saw who the dragon was.

"I-It can't be..." he gasped as he looked up at the towering dragon. It wasn't the look of the dragon that terrified him the most, it was the sheer size of it that did–it was nearly the size of a Bewilderbeast.

Drago laughed at his reaction. "See? I came to give you a warning. This is what you will be up against, Hiccup. Unless, you join me."

"Join you?" Hiccup repeated incredulously. "I will never join you."

The older man's smile faded. "Imagine what we can do by controlling this beast together! We would be unstoppable."

"I train dragons for the good of both them, and the people. Not for causing destruction," he said before turning around.

"It's true, you have the heart of a chief, but do you really have the soul of a dragon?"

Hiccup froze when he heard his words and closed his eyes, finally realizing this was just a nightmare. "Get out of my head."

"You're weak, Hiccup."

"Stop," he growled.

"Does it ever bother you that your father died not knowing that he saved a useless boy?"

"Get out..." Hiccup muttered and his hands flew to his head. "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"What shame he must feel."

"Leave me alone!"

"Everything is going to change, Hiccup. And neither you, or your people, or even your dragons will be safe."

"Get out of my head!" he screamed loudly.

Hiccup jolted awake in his bed, sweat beading down his forehead and coating his body. He gasped as he looked around before his eyes landed on the sleeping blonde next to him. He sighed and closed his eyes before he put his head in his hands. He could feel Drago's words echo in his head and he couldn't help but wonder if it had all been true. Hiccup shook the thought away and right when he was about to go back to bed, he heard a loud thump and crash come from outside. He frowned before he got up and guided himself over to one of the windows without his prosthetic, and froze at what he saw.

He quickly slipped on his prosthetic and his right boot before he threw on his rider's vest over his green tunic, and quietly left the room, but not before placing a kiss on Astrid's head. He walked into Arden's room and saw that she had dropped the little toy Nadder he had given to her sometime during the night. He walked over and picked it up and placed it gently underneath her arm. He kissed her forehead and left the room and out the house. He saw that Toothless and Stormfly were still sleeping, so he quietly snuck past them, knowing they were worn out from their afternoon flight. Once out of sight, Hiccup ran to where the noise had come from and stopped dead in his tracks when he came to the fallen tree.

Blade's body was gone.

Hiccup looked around but didn't find any sign of where the dragon–or his body–had gone. Suddenly, he heard the sound of trees moving and he turned around to face the forest to his right. He saw them moving and before he knew it, he was running towards them. Hiccup stopped when he was halfway through the dense trees and he could make out a large dragon walking through them.

It can't be...he thought to himself as he followed the dragon.

Though as he followed the dragon, what he didn't know was that he was walking farther and farther away from his home. From the life he'd known since he was born. He didn't know that the farther he went, the more he wasn't going back. So when he heard rustling in the bushes next to him, and felt a heavy object collide with his head, causing him to fall to the ground, he knew he wasn't going to be able to go back.

And as he felt his hands being bound together while he was slowly falling unconscious, he heard Drago's voice echo in his head.

"Everything is going to change, Hiccup."

He felt himself being carried away from his home, but he was too weak to fight back. Yet he vowed to himself that he would return to his home. What he didn't know, was that when he did, nothing would be the same, and neither would he.

Then, the world went black.

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, folks. Anyways, our chief got himself into a bad situation–poor guy. And what about Heather and Eret? Guess you'll just have to wait and see what happens with those two. So, this story's finally taking shape and I'm pretty excited for what's in store for the next chapters. We'll be having a small time-jump next chapter so don't be surprised by it. Anyone figure out some major hints in this chapter so far? If not, I think I did my job at making them very well-hidden. (; Other than that, stay tuned for the next chapter.

See you later, dragon riders!