Key:

Normal speech

Thoughts/emphasis

Dragonese

Telepathic communication

Chapter Two: Engagement Party Gone Wrong

Hiccup and Astrid emerged from the forest well within the half hour time limit Hiccup had set Kyra so no major panic had ensued. Kyra smiled and shook her head as the two teens walked out of the woods and into the late autumn sunlight that was gracing the Isle of Berk and glanced at Heather who shrugged in reply to the girl's 'Well, he should have guessed' face.

"I take it you've sorted things out, then?" Heather called to Hiccup who sheepishly made a face. Astrid marched over triumphantly.

"Yeah – a word to the whole village!" she announced. "Brush up on your acting skills the next time you try to hide something from me because I will find it out."

"Astrid, we're Vikings," Kyra pointed out. "Our acting skills aren't exactly stellar." Kyra was the only Viking teen who could contradict Astrid and get away with it – all the other teens would get punched in the arm, chest or face if they tried but no one really wanted to get on Kyra's bad side. If that happened, there'd be trouble for the entire village for at least a week as Kyra entered a state where her dragon instincts would completely take over until someone (usually Hiccup) calmed her down. Okay, normally she was only in that state for a few minutes at most but the damage caused could take a few days to fix.

"Well, at least we can now be happy in the knowledge that things will be okay from now on with you two," Stoick chuckled, at which Hiccup flushed furiously. Kyra's eyes suddenly went wide.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Hiccup, didn't you say the other day that you and Astrid needed to take care of something on the Rookery?" she asked. Hiccup frowned – no, he couldn't remember saying that. "Just that I would go and get on with whatever it was that you needed to do now before it gets too dark. And, uh, take Windwalker with you – she's wanted to go to the Rookery for ages."

Astrid grinned and pulled Hiccup towards Toothless and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly. Hiccup sighed and smiled – well, at least he and Astrid could get some time away from the chaos that often consumed Berk on a daily basis. Windwalker followed the couple and their dragons into the air and cooed slightly at Toothless who cringed visibly, causing his rider to chuckle. Toothless and Windwalker had become incredibly close over the last few months and Hiccup was starting to believe that his best friend had finally found that 'special someone' in his life. To be honest, he wouldn't be surprised if Windwalker flew off with the other dragons next Snoggletog and came back with a group of baby Night Furies.

Reaching the Rookery, Hiccup let Toothless race around the island with Windwalker whilst he sat with Astrid by Stormfly's side as the sun sank lower in the late autumn sky. At one point, he smiled and closed his eyes as he took in the beauty of the scenery.

"Don't go dozing off now," Astrid joked, elbowing her fiancé. "We need to get back sooner or later."

"Yeah, I know," Hiccup replied, still blissfully happy with it just being him, Astrid and their dragons. He snorted as Windwalker did a double take on Toothless, causing the one-tail-fin Night Fury to fall headfirst into a hot spring before coming up spluttering. "Well, they look happy."

"Reckon we'll be seeing any mini-Furies running around next winter?" Astrid smiled. Hiccup laughed along with her. It was true that Toothless and Windwalker were incredibly close and Hiccup couldn't help but think what baby Night Furies would look like – if the Gronkles had been cute then there was no doubt that a miniature Night Fury would destroy anyone's cuteness-factor scale.

"Who knows?" he chuckled. He sighed. "A year and a half to go, huh?"

"Yeah," Astrid nodded. "Crazy, isn't it? To think this time last year you were one of the most hopeless Vikings around."

"Thank you for summing that up."

"Look, you know it's true," Astrid smiled. "And, like I said before, even then there is no one else on the entire island I'd rather be with, okay?" Hiccup smiled sheepishly. Astrid had admitted that she'd liked Hiccup for ages six months ago – the only reason she'd acted so coldly towards him was due to her pride as a Hofferson. "How do you think it'll go?"

"Knowing me?" Hiccup grimaced. "Who knows? I'm not looking forward to the new 'trust' ceremony, at any rate." Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Dad came up with the idea. If the couple have dragons, then the wife has to fly up to a high altitude and jump off her dragon while the husband has to catch her."

"And you're scared you're gonna miss?" Astrid finished.

"Well...I..."

"Hiccup, you need to stop worrying," Astrid chided. "You've managed to catch me when I've fallen off Stormfly countless times in the past and I've done the same for you on a few occasions. If there's anyone that I would trust with my life, it's you." Hiccup blushed slightly but thankfully the light was low enough so that Astrid couldn't see it. The sun was getting low on the horizon so Hiccup suggested that they headed back to Berk. He never did know why Kyra had said that he and Astrid had something to take care of at the Rookery – most likely that she knew that the soon-to-be-officially-engaged couple needed some time to themselves. Hiccup smiled in the knowledge that he had a sibling looking out for him no matter what.

"Where'd everybody go?" Astrid frowned when they landed back on Berk. Hiccup shared the grimace – the entire village was empty. Lights had just started being lit in houses and the setting sun cast a pink-orange glow over the island but it was so quiet it was slightly worrying. Toothless and Windwalker suddenly perked their ears up in the direction of the Great Hall and Hiccup could faintly hear the sound of a familiar tune floating through the doors – the Song of the Adriatic.

"Well, at least we know where one person is," he shrugged, jogging over, his prosthetic leg barely giving him any trouble at all. Pushing the massive doors open, Hiccup searched around the Hall for his sister when he glanced upwards and nearly fell over in shock.

The Hall was covered with decorations from top to bottom. To be fair, it was nicely done – not too over the top and not too sparse either. Hiccup realised that a celebration of some kind must have been planned...and he had a good idea of what celebration it was.

"I told him...I told him..." he groaned before the singing caught his attention again.

"Far, far away is my pearly Adriatic," Kyra's clear voice floated down from the ceiling. Hiccup and Astrid cast their gazes upwards to see Kyra flying around the rafters – not with her usual Night Fury wings but hummingbird-like Gronkle ones – putting up and fixing more decorations. "Far, far away...my pretty island home..."

"Kyra?" Astrid called. Kyra stopped singing and glanced downwards towards the floor. Upon seeing her brother and best friend, along with the dragons who'd decided to poke their heads through the door, she hopped down and landed lightly on her feet as the wings vanished from her back.

"Hiccup! Astrid!" she greeted cheerfully. "I wasn't expecting you back for at least another hour." She began ushering them both out of the Great Hall. "Why don't you two head off hunting or something? I've got some things I need to..."

"Kyra, what were you doing in there?" Hiccup groaned as his older sister shoved him and Astrid outside and shut the doors. Kyra avoided eye contact.

"Just sorting some things out for tonight," she replied offhandedly. "Dad asked. Come on – I want this to be a surprise for everyone..."

"Kyra! I said a billion times that I didn't want this to go public!" Hiccup snapped hysterically. Astrid rolled her eyes – just like Hiccup to not want things to be in the limelight every once in a while. Kyra's face changed from uncharacteristically cheery to smug as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Listen, Hiccup," she huffed. "You can hardly expect people to celebrate the heir to their tribe getting engaged when there isn't an occasion to notify them."

"They were notified..." Hiccup grumbled, earning himself nothing but a punch in the arm from Astrid.

"Come on, even Heather and her family are attending," Kyra sighed. Hiccup winced – great. Now he just needed the whole of the Barbaric Archipelago to turn up. "Besides, I've got everything planned out. It's gonna be great – trust me!"

"It's not that I don't trust you, Kyra," Hiccup protested. "I'm just saying..."

"Aw, you're no fun," Astrid smirked, taking Kyra's side. Hiccup cried out in exasperation at this. "Really, Hiccup, there's nothing wrong with an engagement party. Kyra's right – it'll be fine."

"Anyhow, you don't really have a choice in the matter," Kyra cut in, folding her arms smugly. "I, as your older sister, am forcing you to attend your own engagement party." Hiccup glared at her.

"Or you'll do what?" he glowered. Kyra remained unfazed as she answered.

"I'll tell Windwalker to rearrange your other leg."

"Alright! I'll do it!" Hiccup replied quickly. Kyra and Astrid shared a secret high-five. The dragons would do anything for Kyra – she was the human embodiment of their Goddess, after all – and Hiccup would do anything to keep his right leg intact. He'd had too many close shaves to risk another. "You've no idea how much I hate you right now," he growled.

"Hiccup, it's really not that bad," Kyra insisted. "It'll be fine."

Hiccup could see that he had no reason to worry earlier. The engagement party was in full swing by the time the sun went down and everything was going perfectly. Heck, even the music was pretty good by Viking standards. Kyra had made a note to stay off the dance floor though – she may have the best voice in the Archipelago but she was clumsier than her brother when it came to dancing (something which Hiccup was secretly smug about). Heather, Ruffnut and Astrid, on the other hand, were amusing themselves and others around them by having a dance-off during a particularly fast jig that was being played. Ruffnut tripped over her own feet and Astrid ran out of steam after a while so it was fair to say that Heather had won that one.

"Remind me not to enter the Archipelago Dance Contest if you're competing," Astrid panted as she and the others sat down for a mug of mead. Heather laughed and wiped a stray lock of black hair from her glistening forehead – dancing for three minutes straight at that pace was a workout in itself.

"Thanks for inviting us, by the way," she smiled kindly. "It's not often we get to come to occasions like this."

"Hey, it's Kyra to thank," Fishlegs shrugged. Kyra was busying herself with keeping the food from getting cold at that moment. "Gotta say she's good at this."

"Just remind her that it's the arm-wrestling rematch next Freya's Day!" Snotlout said loudly.

"Heard that!" Kyra yelled from the other side of the Hall. Hiccup snorted into his mead. Snotlout insisted on having arm-wrestling matches with Kyra even though it was clear who was the stronger of the two. Even so, he still kept trying to have a rematch. Kyra always won, though, so there was really no point to them apart from being pre-weekend entertainment for the rest of the teens.

"Gods, I can't believe you guys are engaged!" Heather grinned. "I mean, that's pretty amazing."

"Speaking of which, Hiccup!" Kyra called as she readjusted a wonky stag antler on the wall. She shot over, still using Gronkle's wings for convenience reasons than anything else, and pushed Hiccup and Astrid onto the dance floor where everyone cleared a space. "You're forgetting the whole point of tonight."

Hiccup flushed a bright red as all eyes turned on him and Astrid in the centre of the hall. All he could say was thank the gods for the flames so that his red face went largely unnoticed. His hand drifted to his pocket where the ring he'd so carefully crafted for Astrid over the past six months remained safe this time. Astrid took a deep breath and turned to face him – Hiccup figured he might as well get it over and done with.

"Okay, I...uh...know that I don't have much choice in this..." he began sheepishly. Astrid playfully punched his shoulder. "But...um... Astrid, I get that it's been...complicated between us..."

"That's for sure," Ruffnut snickered from the sidelines. She was met with a punch from her brother and a slap round the head from Gobber.

"Yeah...uh..." Hiccup stammered. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the ring. It truly was a delicate masterpiece – a simple gold band studded with alternating diamonds and sapphires around the top half of it. On the inside was the most intricate and delicate etching of a dragon that had been done with such precision Hiccup himself had been amazed that it had turned out so well. "Astrid Hofferson, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife when we turn sixteen?" he asked with as much grace as he could muster. Astrid beamed from ear to ear.

"You already know my answer, silly," she smiled, holding out her right hand. "Yes." Hiccup took her hand and gently slipped the ring onto her ring finger where it fit like a glove. As soon as he withdrew his hand, Astrid threw he arms around his neck and kissed him, earning hoots, whistles and cheers from the crowd. Hiccup was silently happy that his sister had arranged the party now – at least he had something to remember the engagement by. Astrid broke the kiss and Hiccup reached into his own pocket for his own ring – it was a lot simpler than Astrid's, being a plain gold band with only an etching of a dragon inside to match Astrid's but it was still a piece of expert metalwork that anyone would be proud of. As soon as it was on, Astrid and Hiccup shared another hug to the response of a lot of 'awws' from the crowd.

"ARGH!" a scream came. Astrid and Hiccup broke their embrace and whipped their heads around, as did everyone else in the room to see Kyra collapsed on the floor clutching her head with her eyes screwed shut.

"Not good..." Hiccup muttered, racing over. Kyra was trembling and Hiccup could see black Night Fury scales appearing on her hands – this often happened when Kyra was worried, scared, angry or a mixture of all three.

"What...what are you?" she mumbled. Hiccup nervously placed a hand on her shoulder – as long as she knew her brother was there, Kyra was less likely to suddenly go 'dragon' on everything so it was a noteworthy safety precaution. "What do you want?"

"Who's she talking to?" Heather gulped nervously.

"Telepathy," Hiccup explained quickly. "Sometimes she doesn't know she's doing it." Kyra cast a glance at Hiccup and he nodded but asked her to keep them informed when a roar sounded outside that made everyone wince and cower in terror. Ever since Kyra accidentally scratched Hiccup's arm during a small fight they had six months ago, Hiccup had been able to understand Dragonese, the language of the dragons, so he was easily able to interpret the roar and he didn't like what he heard.

"Nothing will stand in my way! Not even you. You will all fall!"

"DON'T THINK I'LL EVER LET THAT HAPPEN!" Kyra shrieked, startling everyone except Hiccup who could understand the sudden outburst. "I swear by the gods, if you put even one claw on this island, I shall..." She then screamed and clutched her head again as the Night Fury scales spread. Astrid turned her gaze towards the now open door to the Great Hall and her jaw dropped at what she saw.

"By the gods..." she whispered as she caught sight of a monstrous shadow towering over the village. The rest of the villagers also turned their eyes to face the monstrosity that now threatened their home. "Kyra...what in Niflheim is that?" Kyra just slowly and shakily picked herself up from the floor with a mixture of terror and anger filling her eyes. She shook Hiccup's hand from her shoulder and strode outside to face the beast, closely followed by her brother and friends. Hiccup couldn't help but recoil when he saw the thing.

It was almost as big, if not bigger, than the Red Death he had lost a leg fighting the previous year but looked like a cross between a Scauldron and a Monstrous Nightmare. It was a dark sea-green in colour with eyes of blood-red burning down on the village filled with pure malice and large leathery black wings that blocked the view of the horizon. It was very serpentine in appearance and was clearly a sea-dragon but when it roared and reared its head skyward, a column of green flame erupted from its mouth and with each flap of its wings it rose higher from the water. It had short legs for a dragon its size but its claws were easily the size of Night Fury, more than capable of tearing down a house or two. Its claws, horns and wings were all roped with seaweed and kelp, only adding to the terror it cast. Hiccup hadn't felt so scared looking at a dragon since he and Astrid had seen the Red Death for the first time.

"Kyra, what do we do?" he muttered but his sister hushed him with a short hiss. Clearly the conversation was now private until Kyra growled threateningly.

"Do not get the impression that we'll go down easily," she warned. "Every last one of us will fight to defend our home and if we go down fighting, we're taking you to Helhiem with us!"

Hiccup appreciated his sister's brave speech but he'd rather not die when he'd just gotten engaged. The sea dragon growled but this one was just for show as Hiccup couldn't understand what it meant before diving into the waves. Kyra glanced at her brother and nodded.

"Right," Hiccup noted before turning to face the others. "Vikings, grab your shields!" he ordered.

The village turned into a flurry of activity as Vikings without dragons raced to the forge to grab any weapon they could lay their hands on whilst the teens and Stoick raced for their own dragons. Heather broke away from her parents who were begging her not to fight to join her friends as the Riders of Berk soared into the sky. The entire team flew into formation: Hiccup led the teens on Toothless, followed by Astrid and Kyra on Stormfly and Windwalker, behind them were the twins on Barf-Belch and Snotlout with Hookfang, and at the back were Heather and Fishlegs with Newtsbreath and Meatlug. Stoick was with his Thunderdrum, Thornado, shouting orders to the Vikings on the ground. The team was just soaring over the ocean when the gigantic dragon leapt out of the water, showering them with a waterfall of saltwater, kelp and what appeared to be a fish or two (one of which narrowly missed Snotlout's head).

"Get to a higher altitude!" Hiccup yelled. If the dragons' heads got wet, they wouldn't be able to breathe fire so they had to dry off as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the heat from the sea-dragon's flames helped a bit with that and the team soon got high enough to avoid any more water attacks. "Okay, Fishlegs, give us the run down," Hiccup called as they dive bombed for an attack of their own whilst the sea-dragon was distracted by the ground team of villagers.

"Right," Fishlegs nodded. His expertise on dragons came in handy when analysing new ones and had helped on countless occasions. "Long tail, most likely used for swimming but can probably be used for mêlée attacks as well – stay well clear. Large wings – provides a blind spot. It's gonna be hard for it to see behind it. Big head with large eyes and small nostrils – can't see any ears from here – so I'm guessing it relies mostly on sight. Also be careful of those claws!"

"Got it," Hiccup nodded before switching to old-fashioned dragon fighting techniques. With any luck the team should still be alright despite the fact they hadn't exactly used them in a while. "Ruff, Tuff – get it annoyed and find out if it has a shot limit. Heather, Legs, Lout – you three concentrate your fire on the tail – if we can upset its balance we might stand a chance. Astrid, Kyra – you two and I will focus on the wings. Kyra – if that thing opens its mouth, whatever you do, don't miss!"

"Gotcha!" the teens chorused, flying off in the given directions. The reason why Hiccup had asked Kyra to fire into the dragon's mouth if it opened was because Kyra and Windwalker, as a team, could deal twice the amount of damage than the others given the fact that Kyra could also produce a flame thanks to her dragon-abilities. The twins got straight to work to annoying the beast, dodging flying catapults, spears and arrows as they did so and shouting out every curse they could think of.

"Ogre spawn!"

"Dwarf offspring!"

"Son of a half-troll!"

"Hey! That's mine!" Astrid yelled as she flew past on Stormfly whilst dodging a stream of green fire resulting from the sea-dragon's temper. Heather had successfully landed a hit on the monster's tail, causing it to rear up in pain and anger, giving Kyra her chance. Leaping off Windwalker and sprouting her Night Fury wings, she and her Star-Backed Night Fury raced towards the things head and were about to fire when the thing swung a claw in their direction.

"WHOA!" Kyra yelped and she swerved out of the way. "Hiccup! Now might be a good time to take care of those wings!"

Hiccup and Astrid were already bombarding the large wings with all the power their dragon's had but they were running out of fire as Toothless and Stormfly needed to recharge. Retreating for a while, Hiccup drew out his dagger from his belt and led Toothless forward for a full-out attack on the face. He knew it was risky but it was worth a shot and if it gave Kyra another chance to hit the non-fireproof insides of the beast, it was the best chance they had.

"Oi!" he shouted in his loudest voice – miraculously the sea-dragon heard him and turned its massive head in the boy's direction. All it saw was a scrawny Viking teen racing towards it at full pelt on the back of a Night Fury when it felt a searing pain through its left eye – Hiccup had slashed it right across the pupil, blinding it. The dragon roared in pain again and Hiccup yelled at his sister whilst he retreated. Kyra and Windwalker didn't hesitate and fired two shots of bright blue Night Fury flame. However, although the flames were on course for a perfect hit, they hit nothing but the scales surrounding the sea-dragon's mouth as if something were deflecting the flames.

"What?" Kyra frowned before going in for another try. However she yelped and had to dodge another column of green fire as the sea-dragon's good eye spotted her.

"It will take more than your pathetic followers to stop us," the dragon hissed. "Soon, the dragons' true goddess shall return and the dragons shall once again follow one that is of their own kind and not a defiled human girl like you!" Hiccup snarled when a shout from Snotlout caught his attention.

"Look out, hatchet-head!" Snotlout yelled and Hiccup led Toothless into a nosedive just in time to avoid the green fire. The flames caught Toothless' tail fin, however but instead of burning off, a coating of scales covered the fabric before immobilising it. Hiccup screeched for help which came, oddly enough, in a shot of Night Fury flame from Kyra. The flame connected with the tail fin and the scales vanished. Instead of bursting into flames, Hiccup was relieved when he found he could move the darn thing again.

"Okay, what just happened?" Astrid asked briefly.

"Something I've been working on," Kyra replied, getting back onto Windwalker for a breather. "Seriously – immobilisation's a cheap party trick compared to most magic dragons are capable of."

"Magic?" the twins chorused. Fishlegs came in to save Kyra from more explanations.

"Yeah – dragons are mythical creatures after all," he called. "Some of their magic is so powerful that it can't be broken by normal means – their curses are practically unbreakable!"

"Great to know," Hiccup grimaced. "Right, everyone – whatever you do make sure that fire doesn't touch you! We don't know what else it can do so better to be safe than sorry." The battle resumed as the dragons' shot limits recharged. Heather, Fishlegs and Snotlout all managed to get in some hits on the tail whilst the twins joined in with helping out on the wings on Hiccup's orders. Eventually, the sea-dragon opened its mouth so Kyra and Windwalker raced upwards for one more shot at the mouth but had to jolt upwards when the beast aimed in their direction. Instead, Kyra leapt onto the sea-dragon's head and rammed her own dagger – a silver one with a golden hilt that Stoick had given her six months ago before she even knew who she really was – between the sea-green scales on the monster's head. It roared in agony and anger, tossing its head in all directions whilst Kyra struggled to hang on.

"Dragons – get out of here!" she screamed in her head to the other dragons. "Make sure your riders are safe!"

Reluctantly, the dragons began heading back to shore but Hiccup and Astrid forced Toothless and Stormfly to hold back, wanting to help in any way that they could. Hiccup almost froze when he heard the dragon roar out something he'd just been hoping not to hear.

"Be powerless until the human you were taken from returns, Dragon Shifter!" the beast roared, spitting on the word 'human' and sending up a short stream of fire that curled over onto its head and engulfing Kyra. Kyra suddenly shrieked and her dagger came loose. She tumbled off the sea-dragon's head and began falling towards the waves. Astrid could see that she was trying to sprout her wings but nothing was happening. Thankfully Windwalker swooped in and rescued her rider from hitting the water before anyone had time to blink. Hiccup squinted – Kyra suddenly looked exhausted. The dragon's curse had left her without any dragon magic left, including those she had as the Dragon Shifter. "She shall return...she must..."

"You take that back!" he shouted in anger, leading Toothless into an attack. The dragon squinted its one good eye at him and snarled.

"The Limbless," it noted. "So it is you they speak of."

"Yeah? So what?" Hiccup glowered as Toothless shot one of the wings, adding another hole to the right one. "No one does that to my sister and gets away with it!" The dragon ignored him and reared up, ready to strike. Hiccup suddenly felt himself unable to move, despite Astrid's shrieks at him to get out of the way.

"Let the past return. Fly by your own strength until the imposter is removed. The fate of the gods shall be yours to live!"

The sea-dragon let loose a torrent of flame but just before they hit the paralysed Hiccup, Toothless roared a phrase of his own and fired a small blast of blue flame into Hiccup's face.

"Keep hold of your origins!"

Hiccup heard nothing else as the green flames engulfed him and sent him flying off Toothless' back. Astrid shot down on Stormfly to help him but the flames prevented her from getting any closer than she already was. Toothless, without his rider to keep his tail fin in place began falling from the sky when Kyra leapt onto his back and slotted her own foot into the stirrup to bring him back into the air. In the confusion she lost sight of Hiccup who was still getting closer to the waves.

"HICCUP!" Astrid screeched as the teenage Viking vanished under the surface of the water with a splash bigger than anyone thought possible coming from a teenager who weighed barely more than 90 pounds at a rough estimate. The sea-dragon flapped its wings with a mighty thunder-clap and vanished into the clouds whilst Astrid and Kyra, along with Stormfly, Windwalker and Toothless, retreated to land where the entire village gathered along the cliff top waiting for the freckled-faced auburn-haired boy to emerge from the water.

He never did.

Hiccup felt so heavy, despite the fact that he could feel solid ground beneath his feet. Everything was dark and fuzzy – he couldn't make out any clear shapes – but voices were coming from every direction. One voice, louder and more commanding than the others, silenced the crowd and Hiccup felt ground under his back. Groggily, he blinked so that his vision could clear up a bit but for some reason everything was bathed in a greenish tinge. Hiccup guessed that he'd hit his head or something and was still confused – to back this up his head was killing him and he groaned slightly...

Only to freak out as a stream of bubbled erupted from his nose.

Hiccup spluttered and jolted upwards to see a whole manner of sea-life: fishes, sea dragons and the like were all swimming around him although only the dragons seemed to show any interest in this bizarre intruder in their watery world. In his panic, Hiccup completely lost all of the air in his lungs and his chest was burning but when he inhaled to breath, no water seemed to enter his lungs and he was breathing perfectly normally. Clasping his hands to his neck, Hiccup could feel the distinct flaps of skin that formed gills before glancing down and freaking out once again.

His skin had turned a pearly green colour and was covered in scales. He still wore his green tunic but his leggings were gone and, embarrassingly enough, a long tail was poking out. Small wings, more suited to propulsion in the water than for flying, had sprung from Hiccup's back and were the same pearly green as the rest of his body but were thin and translucent, making them look rather spectral. His hands were webbed between the fingers and the gold ring which was his engagement ring pierced through the skin but no hole had been formed – it was as if the ring was a part of him. It was the same for his feet which had elongated into fins of some type and...

Feet?

Hiccup double checked and was stunned speechless when he saw that his left leg no longer sported a prosthetic and was instead a fully functioning limb. Hiccup thrashed around in the water trying to take in everything and his panic levels were through the roof until one sea dragon emerged from the rest.

"Relax, boy," it said calmly. Hiccup stopped moving around but was anything but calm. "Nothing will hurt you. I understand this must be a bit of a shock."

"You think?" Hiccup replied sarcastically before he could stop himself. He clutched his throat when he realised that he could talk underwater. "Who are you? Where am I? What am I doing here?"

"My name is Wavewing," the dragon replied. Hiccup calmed down enough to take in the beast's appearance. It was more serpentine in looks than most other dragons he'd seen with no wings and short legs looking almost like a dragon out of the Oriental scriptures Trader Johan had once brought to Berk (having obtained them from an old adventurer – Hiccup never really heard the full story). He was a deep blue in colour, reminding Hiccup of the sky during twilight hours before it turned completely black, and he had eyes of glowing amber that seemed to invite trust. His face had an aged look to it and his brow was furrowed almost with wisdom. "I am the Elder of a Weedsnake school here in these waters."

"Weedsnakes?" Hiccup repeated. That was the first time he'd ever heard of such a dragon.

"We prefer to keep ourselves to ourselves," Wavewing explained quickly. "I highly doubt anyone from the surface would know of our very existence. To answer you other two questions, I will need to know your name."

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," Hiccup replied. Something about the Weedsnake seemed to invite confidence around him. "The people back home call me the Dragon Trainer." A flash of recognition entered Wavewing's amber eyes.

"Ah, yes," he noted. "The Human who bonded with the Night Fury. The tale is famous among all dragons."

"So, why am I here?" Hiccup asked again. "What is this place?"

"An area of the seas far from your island, I'm afraid," Wavewing replied sadly. "Some of the younglings found you drifting through the waters across the Plain of Endless Darkness a few kilometres from here. They brought you to me not four hours ago."

"Four hours?!" Hiccup repeated in shock. Surely the village would be worried about him. "I have to get back! My village...my dad...my friends...they'll be worried. We were attacked by this dragon and then..."

"I know," Wavewing interrupted. "I recognised the Darkwing's mark as soon as I laid eyes on you."

"Darkwing?" Hiccup repeated. "Is that the name of the dragon that attacked Berk? And what do you mean by 'mark?"

"Indeed. The High-Diving Darkwing is one of the largest sea-dragons known in these waters," Wavewing replied. "It has forced us out of our territory multiple times. Its magic is also one of the strongest in our world – as far as I know only a small handful of dragons rival it. It leaves its mark on every victim – look at your left hand." Hiccup did so and recoiled at the sight of a burn mark singed onto the back of his hand. It bore a striking resemblance to the Darkwing but the design was streaked and the wings weren't in proportion or leathery – instead they appeared feathered.

"Is there any way I can get back to being...you know...me?" Hiccup asked anxiously. "Because I have to get back..."

"As of yet, I'm afraid such as feat is impossible," Wavewing replied sadly. At Hiccup's crestfallen face, he continued. "We have only been able to break minor jinxes laid by the Darkwing before. Something of this scale – combining a human with a dragon – is as of now beyond our abilities." Hiccup slowly sank to the sea floor.

"No..." he murmured. "Astrid..." Wavewing swam closer to comfort the teenager.

"This Astrid...who is she?" he asked gently.

"She..." Hiccup gulped. He could feel the tears welling up in his throat but he couldn't tell if they were flowing underwater. "She's my fiancée...my 'mate' as it were. Today was our engagement party. We're supposed to be..." He had to force the next bit out. "...married when we turn sixteen. That's in just over a year and a half now." Wavewing bowed his head sorrowfully.

"I am so sorry," he growled softly in Dragonese. "I know what it's like to be torn from someone so close to your heart." Hiccup knew that dragons mated for life so for one to have its mate taken away from them or to have lost them must be heartbreaking. "Who else is there?"

"There's my family," Hiccup replied. "Dad and Kyra... she's my older sister. Also there's the entire village anyway. I have to get back someday or else...they're gonna need to find another heir." Hiccup was surprised at his own words. He'd never really been that interested in being the future Chief of Berk but now that he out his mind to it, the village really needed him to continue his family's legacy. Not to mention Kyra had explicitly mentioned that being Chief was the last thing she wanted and Hiccup dreaded to even think about what would happen if Snotlout took over. That left Astrid who seemed the best option but seeing as she and Hiccup weren't actually married, only hand-fasted, there was a strong chance she'd be out of the question if the village thought Hiccup was dead.

"Kyra...the name is familiar," Wavewing pondered. Hiccup explained that his sister's full name was Valkyra and that she was this generation's Dragon Shifter. "Ah. Of course – the revered Goddess of Dragons in human form," the Weedsnake nodded.

"The Darkwing hit her with something too," Hiccup added sadly. He couldn't help but open up to this dragon. "She can't use her powers until..." He scrunched his face up trying to remember. "...'the human she was taken from is returned'," he recited, knowing that it probably wasn't word for word. Suddenly it hit him. "The Darkwing planned it! He knew it was me...he took her powers away and then got me knowing that..."

"Slow down, Hiccup!" Wavewing cut in. "What are you yapping on about?"

"My sister went missing when she was small," Hiccup spat out quickly. "She was in trouble and was taken to another world and time by some sort of defence mechanism, I think."

"So you are the one she was taken from," Wavewing deduced. "You must have missed her terribly."

"Well, it took her twelve years to get back," Hiccup replied sarcastically. "Course I did." Even more now that I know that I can't get back like this, he added in his head. Wavewing thought for a few moments before turning to Hiccup.

"You clearly long for nothing else than to return," he noted solemnly.

"You'll help?" Hiccup asked hopefully. He wasn't expecting the Weedsnake to say yes.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, I swear by the Goddess herself that I will do everything in my power to return you to your home," he promised. "You shall return some day. Of that I assure you." Hiccup was over the moon. "Until that day, you shall reside here with us. Follow me."

Hiccup swam alongside the dragon as he was led to the Weedsnakes' home. Despite knowing that he would have to call this place his 'home' for a while, he knew in his heart that it will never truly be home to him.

Updates on this story won't be too frequent seeing as I've got exams and I'm still in the process of completing the re-write but with any luck I should get this finished during the school break. Again, sorry the wait's been so long!