Key:

Normal speech

Thoughts/emphasis

Dragonese

Telepathic communication

Chapter Three: Three Years Later

CLUNK!

"And that's one more bulls-eye to add to the count," Kyra counted as Astrid's axe impaled another target. "Seriously, Astrid – you're gonna be a tough contender to beat for this year's Thawfest."

"Hey, you're not doing to bad yourself," Astrid panted, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes and wiping sweat from her brow. "What's the score so far?"

"Still deadlocked," Kyra shrugged. "That last one of yours just matched my score again."

Three years had passed since the giant sea dragon had attacked Berk and Hiccup had gone missing beneath the waves. Most of the village believed the boy to be dead but a select few still hadn't given up hope that he would one day return. Astrid and Kyra were two of those people – Astrid had refused point-blank to call off the engagement and her ring had remained on her finger for three years and Kyra wasn't about to believe that she'd lost the brother she'd been reunited with merely months before he'd gone missing.

The girls had changed quite a bit during the past three years. Both had grown by at least a head and had grown as young women of seventeen. Astrid was looking more like a warrior every day and Kyra looked every part of a chief's daughter ready to take over the village should her brother not return – the only problem was that she wanted anything but that.

"At least...at least he can come back knowing this place will be safe with you around," Kyra joked nervously as she and her best friend sat down on a nearby bench. Astrid sighed.

"Do you think he'll ever come back?" she asked.

"You don't anymore?"

"Course I do!" Astrid protested. "It's just...it's been three years, Kyra. How long does he expect us to wait?"

"Astrid, I've tried to contact the sea-dragons, I really have!" Kyra huffed. "You know that ever since that...thing attacked I haven't been able to contact any of the dragons apart from our own." She glanced at a dragon shaped burn mark on her right hand. Since it had appeared, none of her powers had been working – she couldn't even fly decently with her glider and had been forced to travel everywhere in the skies on dragon-back. "They're the only voices I hear now. Even the Song of the Adriatic isn't reaching the sea."

Astrid bit her lip. Kyra was almost helpless stripped her powers – apparently the only way for her to get them back was for Hiccup to return. It was as if the giant dragon had planned the entire thing...okay, now she was over thinking things.

"He has to come back," Astrid muttered, staring at the sapphire and diamond studded gold band around her finger. "He has to..." The girls sat in silence for a moment before Astrid got up to help the seamstress, Runa, out for the afternoon. Kyra also headed off back home to help her aging father with chief duties despite her hate for them being greater than that of smoked eel.

Seriously, though, if she had to sort out one more flipping domestic dispute she would find some other way to wreak havoc on the docks without using her Shifter magic.

/\

Hiccup propelled himself through the murky green water during his gatherings. It was custom for members of the Weedsnake school to collect objects that had sunk to the seafloor but Hiccup bent the rules slightly by only collecting objects that reminded him of home and keeping them in his own collection. The downside was that his exploits had earned him a scolding on multiple occasions so he'd been touching up on his stealth skills over the past three years.

Hiccup looped around a hot water vent to inspect a pile of sand. Brushing it away, Hiccup was mildly surprised to see a familiar axe blade poking out of the sand. It was a double-bladed axe with one blade having a major crack and chip in the metal. It was the axe Hiccup had accidentally chipped when Astrid gave it to him to sharpen before he'd discovered anything about dragons. He'd replaced it at the time but he guessed that Astrid would find out sooner or later. It had been her mother's and the fact that it was now lying at the bottom of the ocean suggested that she had passed away recently, although from what was anyone's guess. Instead of taking it, Hiccup left it in the sand and bowed his head in respect before swimming off to do some more hunting.

Eventually, all Hiccup managed to pick up this time round were a few armlets, some chain mail and what appeared to be part of a ship's bow decoration – a dragon head. Stuffing the items into his woven-seaweed satchel, Hiccup swam back to the caves where he'd resided for three years. It was no surprise that the sea around the area was relatively empty – most of the Weedsnakes and a few Coralflames (relatives of the Weedsnakes who came and went as they pleased) were elsewhere doing other school traditions – so Hiccup slipped inside the caves and began heading for what could be called his room, but was really referred to as a 'nest' in the deeps. Despite his best efforts to head in unnoticed, however, Hiccup was still greeted by a familiar voice.

"You took your time. Where've you been all afternoon?"

"Gathering and swimming. What else?" Hiccup replied dryly. Ever since becoming a half-dragon, Hiccup had been able to communicate telepathically with the sea-dragons, much like Kyra could. He was interested to notice how this method was communication only and that his own private thoughts stayed on a different mind-set or mind-stream depending on how you wanted to put it. "Yourself?"

"Research and trying to keep the younglings under control. What else?" Wavewing replied from a few caves down in an equally sarcastic manner. "You're not usually out this long."

"Needed to take my mind off some things," Hiccup excused himself, dumping his satchel on his...bed...type...thing... Well, if you count tossing out of your hand and having the thing slowly float down can be classed as 'dumping'. Bang on que, Wavewing poked his majestic head through the entrance to Hiccup's room.

"You've been doing that a lot recently, Hiccup," he growled softly. "What's wrong?" Seeing as the dragon was in the room, Hiccup settled for normal speech. He still wasn't able to speak Dragonese, despite everything.

"It's been three years, Wavewing," he sighed, following the stream of bubbles that erupted from his mouth out of sheer boredom. "Aren't you any closer to finding a way to get me out of this?" he asked, gesturing to his scaled, finned and winged self. Only his hair had remained its usual brown and his eyes were as green as they'd ever been. The rest of Hiccup, however, was completely different. He hadn't changed much since first becoming a 'Halfling' as some of the crueller dragons called him, apart from that he'd had a growth spurt, he was slightly more muscular than before (not by much but it was noticable) and was as fast, if not faster, than most dragons and fish in the sea, a fact that he was mildly proud of.

"I gave you my word that I would get you home," Wavewing reminded him. "If I had discovered something, you would be the first to know." Hiccup groaned.

"I just wish that I could at least give them a sign that I'm still alive," he huffed. "Three years is a long time to be missing by my standards."

"Would they really believe that someone with your appearance could truly be their lost Heir?" Wavewing pointed out as kindly as he could but it still came out sounding harsh. Hiccup's face informed the Weedsnake of this. "I apologise. I shouldn't be so brash."

"No, it's fine. You're right," Hiccup sighed. Something suddenly sounded in his head and he clutched his temple in shock and pain. The pain soon subsided to be replaced by a warbled sound of some kind. It was faint and unclear but Hiccup could tell it was part of a song of some kind. "Do you guys practise singing down here, by any chance?"

"Singing is not a refined Weedsnake art," Wavewing replied simply. "Why?"

"Nothing," Hiccup frowned. Wavewing hadn't heard it? "I thought I heard something, that's all." He glanced out of the hole in the wall that he called a window and asked to be let alone to sleep. Wavewing nodded his understanding and swam away. As soon as the Weedsnake was gone, Hiccup squeezed through the gap and raced to the surface. He was really breaking the rules with this move – none of the school of Weedsnakes was allowed to break the surface of the waves but Hiccup figured that he should get a free pass on this one given that he was only a Halfling. He sprung from the waves into the dazzling sunset and swam over to a nearby rocky outcrop to take in the view.

It wasn't the first time Hiccup had completely broken the rules - he'd come up to this same outcrop about three months after he'd arrived at the Weedsnake school and had been astonished by how close he actually was to Berk – he could see his home island just on the horizon. Wavewing certainly hadn't been lying when he said that Hiccup had ended up far from home. But given how big the island looked from here, it couldn't have been as far as Wavewing had said. Hiccup had asked about it at the time but Wavewing never really told him why they were closer to Berk than he first thought. It had also been that first time when he found out that his gills had closed up in the open air, allowing him to breathe normally above the waves. Must be something else sea dragons can do, he'd assumed.

Hiccup rested his head in his hands for a while. The number of times he'd come up here without telling anyone had been more than he cared to count - the first time it had happened, Wavewing had given him a serious scolding, telling him that someone could have seen him and mistaken him for a fish - maybe even killed him. Since then, Hiccup's Viking stubborness had taken over and he'd persisted, this time not mentioning his trips above the waves to anyone.

Out of sheer boredom, Hiccup stretched his wings out to have a good look at them – in three years, hehadn't really paid much attention to his newly acquired wings given that they'd really only served as an extra speed booster when he was swimming. Now that he was really paying attention to them, he was able to take in their appearance more.

Over the last three years, the wings had grown in size and were no longer translucent but opaque and looked like they could easily be used for flying as well as swimming, rather a like an albatross or any other type of sea-bird. They were also slightly darker than the rest of Hiccup's scaled body now, no longer being a pearly green but a dark turquoise colour – double checking his hands, feet and tail, Hiccup noticed that the thin skin that webbed his hands and feet and his tail fins were the same colour and thickness. In the dark, murky water of the sea along with the minimal sunlight at the depth they were at, it had been hard for Hiccup to take any real notice of the changes but now it scared Hiccup how much he'd changed. No wonder it would be hard for him to go back to Berk like this.

"I'll be back someday, guys," Hiccup murmured towards Berk. He glanced at his ring, still looped around his finger. "I promise..." Something suddenly sounded in his head again – it was the warbled music again. Shaking his head clear, Hiccup tuned into his telepathic communication mind-set to see if that helped. Miraculously, it did and a familiar song rang through his head.

Far, far away is my pearly Adriatic.

Far, far away...my pretty island home.

The first two lines of the song were all Hiccup needed to hear to know that his sister was still trying to reach the dragons of the sea, despite her loss in power from the Darkwing's attack. He listened for a while until the song ended before trying to send his thoughts back.

"I'm here," he thought as hard as he could. "Don't stop trying – I'll get back somehow." No reply came. Hiccup sighed before ducking beneath the waves again and feeling the gills on his neck open up to allow him to breathe underwater once more.

"I'm here. Don't stop trying – I'll get back somehow."

/\

Kyra almost froze when the voice sounded in her head. The voice had been so disconnected and distorted that she couldn't quite figure out who it belonged to but she couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, Hiccup was trying to contact her. But...how could he? Hiccup could only understand Dragonese after she'd given him that scratch three and a half years ago. He'd never been able to communicate telepathically like she could. Either way, she smiled in triumph that she'd finally been able to get some contact to the sea.

"Where are you?" she muttered sadly. "Why won't you come home?"

Hiccup swam back into his room and settled down on his bed. Thoughts were whirring through his head – why didn't Wavewing tell him that they were closer to Berk than he thought they were? Why was he only able to hear Kyra's song now after three years? How much longer was he going to have to wait before he could go home?

Home. Hiccup couldn't help but wonder what would have changed since he vanished. The team would all be or coming up to seventeen now – if he remembered correctly, only the twins were still sixteen at this moment in time – and Kyra would be eighteen. By tradition, she should be married off to another tribe by now – like Hiccup and Astrid, she should have been paired with someone by the time she was sixteen – but Hiccup guessed that his father was allowing his daughter time to get used to being a Viking and being with her family given how long she'd been away from them. Not to mention she would be the only true heir left if Hiccup never returned.

"How can I miss so much?" Hiccup wondered aloud. Those were three years that he couldn't have back, He'd missed his sister's coming of age birthday...he'd missed everyone's, come to think of it...and he should have been married to Astrid a year ago. To think that he was worried about the Trust Ceremony that day the Darkwing attacked. Now he was worried that it will never take place at all. "What if Astrid...? No," Hiccup shook his head clear of the thought. So what if Astrid found someone else? It was her choice if she did. Still, she said that Hiccup was the only person she wanted to be with, so why would she? Hiccup's thoughts were interrupted when Wavewing poked his head into the underwater room.

"Hiccup, a word, please," he growled softly. Given that he was speaking in Dragonese Hiccup assumed that this was important so he swam after the Weedsnake as fast as he could through the tunnels and into the main chamber of the caves where the Weedsnakes usually had their meetings. Hiccup was astonished at the amount of Weedsnakes and Coralflames that were in the chamber – more than he could count. What were they doing here?

"Wavewing, what's going on?" he asked nervously. "What's with the entire school turnout?"

"Hiccup, the Weedsnakes and Coralflames offered to help me and they claim to have found a way to get you back," Wavewing explained. Hiccup's eyes widened and lit up – he could go home? If that were the case, why did Wavewing sound so worried? "However, they are saying that in order to return you to your original form, we may need to take another step forward."

"Uh...meaning?" Hiccup frowned. What in Valhalla was that supposed to mean?

"Half-transformations are the most difficult to undo," Wavewing explained with worry plastered into his amber gaze. "The others feel that in order to change back to the way you were, your current form needs to be complete."

"So...wait," Hiccup cut in. "I need to be a full dragon in order for this to work? Because I'm not too keen on that idea. In fact, I veto that one!" Wavewing turned to the other Weedsnakes.

"You see?" he roared. "There must be some other way! You know that to turn into a complete dragon he has to completely give in to his instincts! There has to be a way we can simply reverse what has already been done!" Hiccup felt even more worried – give into his instincts? That didn't sound too good.

"What other option is there?" another Weedsnake hissed from the school. "The Halfling has no place in either the Human world or in ours. He has proven himself a relatively useful addition to the school – why? Would you rather lose such a promising dragon, Wavewing?"

"I would rather have him returned home safely than have him lose what he holds closest to his heart!" Wavewing snapped back. "His memories of home are all he has left to keep his hope alive!" It was true. Hiccup's memories of home were the only things that kept him going...that kept him hoping that he will one day return. "But at the same time, I will not have him go back to be ridiculed for his appearance. They wouldn't even know it was him the way he is now."

"Have you forgotten the laws of our school?" another Weedsnake wondered. "The laws that you yourself wrote?"

"I am all too familiar with our laws," Wavewing growled. "But perhaps you have forgotten by which the means Hiccup came here."

"The Darkwing's magic is too powerful to reverse. You know that yourself! Now, do you give us permission to go ahead with this or will we have to do this the hard way?" Hiccup began nervously backing up against the wall of the chamber as the Weedsnakes began cornering him. Wavewing cut in front of them, shielding the boy.

"I will not allow this," he hissed. He turned his great head to face Hiccup "Little One, I would have preferred this to have been different but they leave me with no choice."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup muttered anxiously. Wavewing gave a subtle nod upwards – Hiccup cast his gaze towards the ceiling of the chamber and spotted what he supposed could be called an underground skylight.

"Stay hidden," Wavewing ordered. "I will find you. But whatever you do, stay away from Berk! I will not have you put in more danger there." Hiccup nodded, although he'd already made up his mind. He wasn't exactly one for listening, anyway. That was the one piece of traditional Viking in him that he'd had since he was born.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you all," he recited at top speed. "See ya!" With that, he shot upwards towards the skylight, beating his wings, kicking his legs, waving his tail and pushing through the water with all the strength he could muster to gain as much speed as he could. He swam through the skylight and the Weedsnakes and Coralflames congested the small hole in the struggle to catch him but Hiccup was already headed for the surface of the waves.

He broke through them into the light of the setting sun but nearly fell back into the water – he hadn't exactly tested whether his wings could be used for flying but Gobber's teaching method of 'learning on the job' had rubbed off on him. Flapping the darn things furiously, he eventually gained enough height and speed to start gliding and, eventually, fly. He flew to an altitude that was out of the sea-dragons' reach and smirked at them as he hovered for a while in the air above.

"You guys have the experience in the water," he snickered. "Me – I'm the one with the extra fins and the wings." He crowed with happiness as he embraced his new freedom and began heading towards the horizon where Berk lay in wait for its heir to come home.

Sorry it's been a while - exams and revision are taking up a lot of my time right now but I'll try to update whenever I can. Hope you're enjoying the story so far!

EDIT: Thank you to Ferdoos - you're right, it didn't make sense for Hiccup to have not gone above the waves at least once before now. I've made a few changes so hopefully it works a bit better now. Thanks!