Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD.

Night and Day

Chapter 15

Previously:

Tender Scales and the Keeper silently gazed into the fire as the other elders discussed things around them. "She is much like her mother, old friend." The keeper finally mumbled so that only Tender Scales could hear. "Not even the spirits know which path she'll take."

The elder night fury chuckled and gently bumped at the Keeper with his tail fins. "Whatever happens will happen. I am just thankful to your spirits that my daughter is alive and well."

"I told you she would be." Although the Keeper did not have the gift foresight, the spirits did whisper things to him on occasion. "What say you oh great rumblehorn?" The Keeper asked as he brought his voice to its normal volume once more. "What do you think of the young one?"

Stagger contemplated the other elders for a moment. "She is not the one I worry about." He grunted softly as he shifted to make himself more comfortable. "This Toothless that she mentions...Havardr believed the two shared a deep connection." It was the rumblehorn's duty to keep the island safe; even from itself at times. "Reports from the outer guards tell me that strange ships being pulled by strange dragons will arrive on the morrow. One of the strange dragons is a night fury with an odd tail." It was Stagger's belief that this strange dragon was the Toothless that Star was so desperate to get back to. It was also his belief that if the two really did share a deep connection then this Toothless would likely be in a rage when he arrived.

"Give Star a tour of the city tomorrow." Eir suggested. "That way if the strangers do arrive tomorrow and one of them is this Toothless then at least he will be calmed by Morning Star's presence." She breathed her healing breath along Wildfire's back to help ease the pain. "Just maybe have someone other then Havardr guide her around. I worry about his safety."

The elders came to an agreement that Morning Star would be given a tour of the city in the morning and that one of the other guards would show her around. Shade would be by her side, but he didn't have a human partner to help him.

Life on the island of Night and Day was about to get even more interesting.

"Time to wake up lazy lizard."

Morning Star grumbled from where she was curled up in a tight ball in the corner of the cave she'd been 'given'. It was a nice cave, if you liked caves, but it wasn't anywhere near as cozy as the room she'd shared with Toothless back on Berk. Even the speckling of crystals along the walls and cave ceiling did nothing to make Star feel better.

The normally bubbly morning dragon just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. Night furies were normally nocturnal, a fact that Toothless tended to remind her of constantly, and Star was willing to give in to that stereotype for once.

"I slept horribly last night." Her eyes were still closed even as she responded to Shade's voice at the entrance to her little cave.

Shade smiled in sympathy. He took the fact that Star was at least talking to him as a good sign and he wandered closer. "Sorry about that, if this cave isn't to your liking I'm sure we can find someplace better for you for tonight."

"It's not the cave." Star mumbled to herself as she finally gave in and uncurled. Her wings unfurled from around her body and she looked at Shade with tired eyes. She hadn't been able to sleep because of the strangeness of her surroundings. All night she'd heard the whispers of strange dragons, noises of a foreign place, and she had felt the unnerving sensation of being watched. This place was just too strange and unfamiliar.

The male night fury waited patiently as the younger female stretched out and stood up to join him. "Would you rather stay at your mother's cottage?" Even though the elders wanted Morning Star within the nest, for her protection, Shade didn't like seeing the young white so uncomfortable. He knew what it was like to be separated from his mother; he knew the pain

"Yeah I'd like that."

"The elders said I could give you a tour of the human town." Shade grinned at Star as he told her the news. "The fishermen are out and the rest of the villagers are either busy gathering supplies or working." With so many of the humans and dragons out of the village it would definitely be pretty deserted. The reason so many were out and busy was because they were preparing for the feast meant to welcome Star back to the island.

Star nodded silently. She did and she didn't want to see the village. It'd be interesting to see how these people lived in harmony with the dragons around them as compared to the people of Berk. Then again Star didn't want to get attached in any way to the island; she just wanted to go home to Toothless.

The white night fury was so lost in thought by the time they made it to one of the launch ledges that it took Shade bumping his head against her shoulder to get her attention.

"You're going to walk right off the edge if you keep spacing out like that." There was laughter in Shade's voice as he finally got Star's attention.

Star cracked a small smile for Shade and shrugged. What could she tell him? She missed home and Toothless so much that it hurt.

"Come on lazy lizard," Shade spread his wings and used the up draft to lift himself into the air a few feet. "I'll take you to your mother's cottage first and we'll go to the village from there."

The offer to be taken to her mother's cottage was enough of an incentive for Star to pull herself out of her gloomy state and jump from the outcropping of rock. "You're not going to keep calling me that are you?" Star asked as she joined Shade in the air. "Lazy lizard I mean."

Shade gave a throaty laugh unique to night furies. "It's a good nickname! Prove to me you're not and I'll give you a different one." His red eyes twinkled in mirth as he led Star away from the nest and towards one of the small buildings between the nest and the village.

Morning had come and the vikings of Berk were anxious to get to the large island just before their fleet. One dragon aboard the flagship was especially eager. Toothless pawed at the deck of the ship and small streams of smoke filtered out of his mouth as he waited anxiously for his partner to reattach the artificial tail fin.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Hiccup asked Mason as he carried the tail fin over to his friend. "We won't be shot out the sky or anything?" The Berkian chief was being completely serious.

The prisoner shook his head to the question. "As long as you're not aggressive you won't be attacked." Mason looked over at the island and his eyes narrowed as he tried to spot any patrols. "One of the guards might approach you. If that happens land and introduce yourself."

Hiccup tapped at the railing of his ship in thought. "Astrid." Quickly his wife came up to his side to hear what he had to say. "I want you, the twins, and Gustav to stay with the ships. I'll fly in with my mother and Eret." Having the primary dragon whispers flying together to an unknown island full of dragons was probably the safest thing they could do. "Mason will ride with Eret on Skullcrusher."

"Alpha."

Toothless turned his attention away from the island he had been glaring at with sharp eyes to look at Skullcrusher questioningly.

"Morning Star's scent is very strong on the wind." Skullcrusher lifted his snout a bit and took a deep breath. With how strong the smell of Star was Skullcrusher figured she had to be fairly close to the ocean.

Toothless nodded and swung his head around to look back at the island. "Good to know." He nudged at Hiccup with his tail to hurry his rider up. If the chief didn't get a move on soon Toothless would just have to swim to the island.

With his dragon's insistence Hiccup quickly attached the artificial tailfin and tested it to make sure it was alright. "Remember bud, we're going in slow and easy. We don't want them to do anything to Star because we're hostile."

A snort from the black night fury was enough of a promise for Hiccup to climb up into the saddle.

"Be careful Hiccup." Astrid told her husband quickly. Her axe was in her hand as she readied herself for anything to happen after the three dragons took off. "If anything happens here we'll send up Barf and Belch's distress signal."

"And if anything happens with us Cloudjumper will send up his." Valka put a hand against the Stormcutter's neck before using her hooked staff to pull herself up into his back.

When everyone was ready Hiccup waved for the three dragons to lift up into the air. "Easy bud." Hiccup cooed gently when Toothless pushed off with a little too much force. "We're being careful for Star's sake." He reminded the anger night fury.

"For Star I'd lay down my life." For Star Toothless would do just about anything. For the time being if that meant holding back and doing as his rider instructed then that's what Toothless would do.

His decision to obey Hiccup changed when they made close enough to the village to see Star walking the streets with what looked like another night fury by her side. Toothless was seeing red when the dragon walking next to his Star swiped a paw at her and she dodged out of the way. He couldn't tell if it had been done in malice or not, but he would find out soon enough.

After a trip to her mother's cottage and a breakfast of fish Morning Star and Shade were making their way through the mostly deserted village. Star's first impression, now that she was actually seeing it and not just flying over it quickly, was that the village was a heck of a lot bigger then the one back on Berk. If anything Star felt like the place was more like a city then a town! It was just that big.

"I wish mother could have come with us." Morning Star said wistfully as Shade led the way to one of the larger town squares where a lot the trading went on.

"Maye next time," Shade offered up hopefully. "She did look really tired though. It's understandable why she'd turn down a walk through the village."

Star nodded sadly. Her mother was old and the trip from the island to Berk and back and left the elderly human weakened and tired. The healer that had been visiting her mother's cottage had made a point to make sure Star understood that her mother needed bed rest for a few days at the least.

"Hey! Cheer up!" Shade bumped at Star with his wing and he smirked at her when she looked up at him. "There's going to be a huge feast tonight with tons of fish! Fish you've never had before!" He licked his lips and pranced a bit. "A lot of them are really colorful and juicy!" There were even fruits on the island that were especially delicious to dragons that he knew couldn't grow in the colder climates of the north.

The thought of eating exotic fish did cheer Star up a little. That and she knew her mother would probably be there to join her.

Seeing the young white female's spirits lift made Shade smirk and he crouched down as if he were about to pounce. "Oh! And only two of the elders will be there! So you won't have to deal with those old scales!"

"You'll be there though?" Star asked as she batted a paw at Shade. Even though she'd barely known the night fury for day she liked him. He wasn't Toothless, but she could at least see a possible friendship with him."Will my suffering ever end?"

That elicited a response from Shade in the form of a tackle. Star playfully jumped out of the way and swung her tail around to bat Shade away.

Before either night fury could continue the playing there was a loud and rage filled roar from an alpha that filled the sky. Any sound in the village was gone and the few dragons and humans that had been walking around quickly retreated from the square.

"I know that roar!" Star was the only dragon not effected by the call for submission and she looked up quickly. There, in the air and quickly descending, flew Toothless his scales a brilliant blue and the pupils of his eyes mere slits. "Toothless!" Star called out happily and she stood on her hind legs to wave her paws at him. Her wings flared out and she would have jumped into the air had Toothless not already been racing to the ground.

"Shit!" There was only one alpha on the island currently and he was too elderly to really enforce his position, but Shade could recognize an enraged male when he saw him. Quickly the bigger night fury dove out of the way as Toothless smashed into the ground where he had once been standing. "This isn't what it looks like!" Shade said quickly as he tried to show submission the one called Toothless only to have to jump out of the way of a plasma blast.

"Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup cried as he tried to sooth his dragon. "Star is fine! Look she's over there!" He cursed as Toothless tried to flip Hiccup out of the saddle and he had to hang on tighter.

"T-Toothless?" Star had never seen the older night fury like this. Even the times when he'd had to go full alpha to take control of the dragons around them Toothless had never acted like this. "Toothless please stop! Shade's a friend!" Without even caring about her own safety Star darted forward to put herself between Shade and Toothless. Star heard the protests from Shade and the guards that had landed not to far away, but she ignored them.

The shining white scales of his mate pulled at Toothless' senses and he paused in his attack of the night fury that had been attacking Star. His legs shook as he dug his claws into the stone road he stood on and he panted hard as he tried to keep his plasma blast from releasing. Still his gaze was hazy and he could barely understand what the voices around him were saying.

Through the haze of his vision the white form before him slowly came closer until he felt a gentle nuzzle from the smaller night fury.

Slowly, so very slowly, Toothless regained his senses. The pupils of his eyes became round again and the red haze that had filled his gaze lifted. Toothless closed his eyes and when he felt Hiccup climb off his back he returned the comforting nuzzles Star had been giving him. He brought one of his forelegs up to give Star a hug around her neck.

Star felt tears in her eyes and the fell when she felt Toothless regain himself. She sobbed into Toothless' shoulder, letting out the relief she felt to be with Toothless again and the fear that she would never see again. Star gave in when Toothless pulled her closer and curled around her protectively. His wing draped over her effectively blocking out the rest of the world and it soothed Star.

"You're never going anywhere without me ever again!" Star declared once she had her voice back.

With his head tucked under his wing to comfort his shaking and sobbing mate Toothless didn't see Cloudjumper and Skullcrusher land. He didn't pay any attention when his human spoke to the strangers that had landed with their own dragons. Toothless' focus was completely and utterly on Morning Star.

"I'm never leaving you again Star. Never." Toothless nuzzled and licked the top of Star's head and then her cheeks to clean off the tears. "I swear on my life."

"Hiccup..." Once everyone had calmed down Valka had slowly looked around at the village around them. "These symbols...I know these symbols."

Hiccup paused in his greeting of the guards and looked over at one of the signs hanging over a doorway. His eyes widened and he realized what his mother was talking about. "Those are the symbols from the dragon eye!"

A/N: Hey! Look! I'm not dead!

Thanks everyone who left comments. They're what helped me to write this chapter despite how close I was to just giving up on it. I was seriously thinking about just discontinuing this story, but after reading all your wonderful comments over and over I decided not to.

Next time in Night and Day: I have no fricken idea! :: runs around laughing hysterically:: It'll have something to do with Hiccup and Toothless meeting the elders. Possibly more explanation as to how important Star is. And Haldar getting a good sound beating. Definitely that.

Also after watching all of the episodes from Race to the Edge I have a pretty good idea on how to incorporate several of my earlier ideas into the story that I had originally given up on.