AN- fudge, I can't believe it's already been over a week since I last updated! So sorry for the delay. I was caught up in other things and was very busy. I lost track of the time. It doesn't help that my sleep pattern is all over the place. I slept for 19 hours one day and since then I've been sleeping from times like 4pm to 11pm, 2pm-6pm, 7am – 3pm... I barely know which day is what any more. Seriously need to sort that out. At least my migraine's finally gone. Just a headache some days now.

so, sorry again.

Anyway, after this chapter I'll be doing a few filler chaps. It was originally going to be just a time skip, but I came up with some fun adventure ideas to fill in the gap. So look forward to those.

I hope you enjoy :)

Thanks GodofGreed for Beta-ing.

Chapter 15

They had been flying for a good hour now. The moon was full in the night sky and the northern lights were making a beautiful show among the twinkling stars. They were flying above the clouds, which although usually invisible to see from the ground, were illuminated in shades of blue from the natural lights above them. It was truly breathtaking.

Ruffnut enjoyed touching the clouds for the first time. She never imagined she'd get to feel them. From their appearance on the ground, she thought they would be fluffy like sheep's wool; but they felt more like cold steam or fog, gently wetting her hands as they drifted by.

After leaving their island, they weren't sure where they were heading. She figured they'd just land on the next island when they grew tired and if it was nice they could settle down for a bit before moving on. Now she'd seen one island away from her village she wanted to see more, as did Hiccup. Who knew how much world was out there to explore? It picked at their adventurous curiosity.

They were taken from their thoughts though as a strange clicking vibrating sound was heard. This was all Ruffnut could hear anyway as she glanced down as Toothless whose ear frills were moving erratically. Glancing over to Hiccup showed the same thing. Whatever was happening, she had a bad feeling about it.

"Come to me." The voice beckoned in his head. Hiccup didn't know whom this voice belonged to only that it was strangely enticing.

"Come to me." The voice repeated over and over as it reverberated in his skull. He felt nerved by the calling, but for some reason he couldn't deny it. He fell into a light trance as he soon found himself following it, Toothless following beside him. It was clear they had both fallen into this trap.

They dove down into a swarm of many more dragons, also following the call. These ones however had sheep and fish in their clutches from a raid.

Ruffnut didn't know what was going on. She tried to snap the two night furies out of it but they wouldn't listen. All she could do was match the prosthetic tail with Toothless' movements and duck for cover when the dragons appeared.

They flew further down into a fog, swerving side to side to avoid pillars of rocks. Soon they came upon a volcano, which they promptly flew into.

Ruffnut was amazed by what she saw. It was the dragon's nest.

She watched the other dragons drop their loot into the middle of the volcanic cavern. Ruffnut was wondering why they weren't eating any of it.

They landed on a nearby ledge. Toothless and Hiccup suddenly snapped out of the trance and started looking around panicked. Hiccup had no idea how they'd gotten there and where there even was. Toothless started whining in fear and cowering. He knew exactly what this place was and hoped to never come back to it.

"Toothless, what's wrong? Where are we?" Hiccup asked worriedly. He hadn't seen Toothless act so scared before.

"We shouldn't be here, we need to leave!" Toothless snapped.

Before they could actually get to that though, they watched as a lone Gronckle spat out some fish, looking quite pleased with itself before a gigantic head game up from the fiery pit and ate him.

Hiccup and Ruffnut stared in shock.

"What was that?!" Cried Ruffnut.

It caught sight of them and spoke in its trance inducing speech, "Night Fury, you have returned. I grew restless with your delay and yet even though you have finally come back, I see you have not brought an offering with you. Why have you shown such dishonor to your queen?"

"I-I'm sorry for my late return your highness, I became wounded and could not return straight away. I'm sorry for the lack of offering, I've only just regained my flight. I will catch something exemplary next time."

"Hmm, I see. For any other dragon I would not be so understanding. If you fail me again you shall be punished."

"Yes, of course my queen." replied Toothless. He was not under her control any more, but he didn't want to upset her and get them all killed. As soon as they got out of here they'd fly far far away.

"And who is it you have brought with you? Is that another night fury I see? And a Viking child?!"

"Ah yes, I found this hatchling shortly after my last leave. He had grown fond of the Viking so she came along to. I could not separate them."

"Then allow me," She grinned. "Kill her now."

It was then that she threw her controlling mind waves more strongly at him and he began shaking his head in pain. He'd hoped she wouldn't notice the control had been lost, but with how much force she was putting behind her power, she clearly knew. He couldn't resist. Her power was too strong.

As he was fighting against it, she turned her attention to Hiccup.

"Greetings young one. Welcome to your new home."

"Home? Ah no I don't plan on staying. And what are you doing to Toothless? Please stop, you're hurting him." He cried worriedly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that young one. I'm the queen and he is my underling. I must make sure he obeys me. It is only natural for him to fight for his freedom."

"His freedom?! You can't do that, he's not your slave."

"But he was young one and will be again, just like you." she laughed as she focused on gaining control of him as well.

The queen's control allowed her to peer into a dragons mind and force them to submit through their memories. What she saw inside Hiccup's head surprised her greatly as she had never heard of a dragon having human memories. The power of this witchcraft she saw inside his mind scared her normally unwavering mind at first, but she saw inside Toothless' mind that the witch who had cast it was no longer a problem.

She doubted there was any other human around with the same level of magic, so she saw no threat to her life. She'd send search parties out later though to make sure.

Hiccup felt blinding pain as she probed his mind, he tried shaking her off but it wasn't working. Ruffnut was currently holding him, asking him what was wrong. Tears were pouring down her cheeks from fear of what was happening.

They were stuck in a volcanic cavern with a mountain-sized dragon and now both her night fury brothers were shaking their heads in pain. She didn't know what to do. They didn't respond to her voice or her actions. She shook them, slapped them and shouted at them to snap out of it but it just didn't work.

Then she heard a growling behind her and saw Toothless. His pupils were mere slits and he was slowly coming towards her.

"Toothless what's wrong, why are you looking at me like that?" She quivered. Before she knew it, she was at the edge of the ledge and he charged at her, knocking her off.

Hiccup was still struggling to keep control.

"I see you had a torturous past at the hands of your fellow Vikings."

"Shut up."

"Don't you want revenge? Don't you want to hurt them like they hurt you? You can now you know. You're a dragon."

"Shut up! I don't want revenge."

"You're lying, I can tell. You despised how they treated you. You always wished you could get your own back. And what about your father? All those years you tried to impress him only for him to see you as an embarrassment."

"That doesn't bother me any more, he said he's proud of me."

"Yes, but only now that you are a fierce dragon. Do you think he would have ever noticed your hard work and efforts in the forge and your drive to become stronger otherwise? If you hadn't turned into a dragon, the villagers would still be treating you like dirt and your father would still never acknowledge you."

Something snapped in his head and she managed to worm her way in deeper. She was finally breaking him down.

"And what about that Astrid girl you fancied? She would have never loved you back. She may not have beaten you up like the other teens, but she didn't stop them either. I bet she just enjoyed the show from the sidelines, not wanting to get your filthy blood on her hands."

"N-no, I'm sure that wasn't it. She's not like that."

"How do you know that? You know I can bet that even if she did know it was you behind that dragon flesh, she'd only see it as the perfect excuse to get rid of you."

The queen kept climbing deeper into his mind, gaining more control. The human mind inside him was far tougher to penetrate than any dragon she'd brainwashed before. She was almost done and broken down his barriers when all of a sudden she was pushed back.

Hiccup snapped out of it as soon as he heard a scream. He glanced over the edge and saw Ruffnut falling! He dived over straight away to catch her. When he did however, the queen snapped her jaws over them.

The queen had tired herself trying to take over Hiccups defiant mind; she didn't have the reserves to attempt it again so soon. So instead, she'd kill him. If he got away then he may try to take her down. Night Furies were powerful and she was lucky to get one of them under her control. If this youngling hadn't had a human mind, she'd have also gained control of him by now too.

But she'd made an error with trying to kill the youngling with the protective adult Night Fury as witness.

Toothless snapped out of her control just as the queen snapped her jaws. He gave a shriek of alarm and fired some blasts at her.

He could not fly on his own so he paced back and forth on the ledge, launching his attacks. They did little to harm her though as her hide was extremely thick and fireproof to the point she could bathe in molten lava.

Inside her mouth, another battle was commencing. Hiccup flapped and hovered around the queen's mouth. He avoided the giant tongue the best he could as it tried to push him to the back of her throat. He wasn't going to die here! Not like this!

The tongue got a lucky swipe at his side, covering him in sticky saliva. He hurtled to the side of her mouth and clawed into the gums around her teeth desperately. He did his best to ignore the bits of dragon; sheep and fish carcasses caught between her fangs and started to bite down hard into her gums. He bit and scratched, trying to get her to open up her jaws, but it just wouldn't work.

Ruff climbed on top of him. The were grounded on the gums for now and she took the opportunity to get a better grounding and stabbed into the gums with her bone knife. There was plenty of blood spilling out now from both of their attacks, but still she would not open her jaws. Her tongue kept brushing over them to remove them, but they held firm.

"Hold onto my leg and grip with your claws, I'm gonna try out my bow," Ruffnut yelled.

She hadn't had much practice yet but this was a life or death situation. She couldn't afford to miss.

She prepared the arrow as the tongue washed over her again. She could barely see in their current lighting, it was amazing there was any light at all. It seemed to come up from her throat, her inner fire, which was good because that's where she was aiming. Her target was the uvula. Her experimentation with her and Tuffnut's bodies let her know that just touching that thing made you wretch and maybe even hurl. It was the only choice they had.

She pulled the arrow back as far as she could... aimed... then let go. It hit! It had almost missed but it hit it just on the side.

The queen gave out a pained shriek and opened her jaws as she wretched and shook her head back and forth to dislodge the arrow.

Hiccup took the opportunity to pull Ruff off his back by her ankle he still had in his mouth and fly out of there. He flew up to the ledge Toothless was on and threw her down. Hiccup could see Toothless was luckily not under the queen's control, his eyes weren't glassy and he was worried about both of them.

Ruffnut quickly got to her feet, limping slightly since Hiccup had accidentally bit into her ankle during the get away. She got onto Toothless and they flew out the top of the volcano, not yet noticing Hiccup had stayed behind.

When the queen finally got rid of the arrow, she gave a mighty bellow of a roar, causing dragons to flee after Toothless in a swarm. Then her focus came to Hiccup who was still on the ledge.

"Shall you not flee like your partners?" she questioned.

"I'll be leaving shortly, but first I'd like to make a promise to you."

This picked at the queen's interest. The youngling was looking straight into her eyes defiantly.

"I may not be strong enough yet, but one day I will be. When that day comes, I'll come back... and I'll kill you."

"HAHAHAHA," she laughed, "You?! Kill Me? You're getting ahead of yourself. I am far to mighty for you to even leave a scratch in my hide. You'll be returning to a death sentence."

"You'll see, because no matter what, I can't let you keep enslaving dragons like this. Even if it does kill me, I'll be taking you down with me. The dragons only attack villages because you order them to. If I get rid of you, the war between dragons and Vikings will be over. They will be able to live in relative peace with one another."

"Oh? Is that your goal? Peace. There will never be true peace. There shall always be war. Whether that is between Vikings and dragons or Vikings against other Vikings."

"There may still be wars between Viking clans to deal with, however far less shall die from the corruption you have brought upon Archipelago. Enjoy your life while you can, I'll be back for your head." He seethed, before then flying though the swarm of dragons to the top.

"I'll be waiting," The queen chuckled, jumping up for one last attempted grab at him as he departed. It would be a long while before he saw her hideous form again.

As he came into the fresh air, Toothless flew over to him bombarding him with questions.

"I'm fine Toothless, I just wanted to tell the queen something before we left."

"What did you tell her?"

"Well to shorten it down, I basically said I'd come back one day to kill her."

"And how do you expect to do that?!" Even as powerful as Toothless was, even he knew he couldn't take on the mighty queen.

"I don't know yet, it may take years. But one day I'll be strong enough and have the knowledge to defeat her. She may have brawn on her side, but I have my brains. I'll come up with something eventually." He grinned.

"Well okay, but no hard feelings if you don't come up with anything. We don't ever have to return."

"No! I will come up with something. I can't let her tyranny go on any longer. I'll give myself some years to prepare, but I won't go past a decade. Who knows how many would have died by her hand then?" He shot back.

Toothless gave a sigh. "Okay then. So where should we head to first?"

Hiccup looked across the horizon, the sun was starting to come up.

"Let's find a place to rest first, then I'd like to head south. I hear the further you go the warmer it gets and I've always wanted to experience hot weather. It's always so cold on Berk."

So off they flew. Their long adventure of preparation was just beginning.

Back at Berk, the training wasn't going too well.

The Terror was behaving like a bossy spoiled house cat. It bit and scratched the teens in their efforts to study methods of training it and only warmed up when it felt like it. Food would be it's main motivation.

Snotlout was having the worst of it.

The Terror saw him as just one giant chew toy. It would bite him every time he approached it, even if he had food. Even if he minding his own business elsewhere in the ring, it would sneak up on him and give him a nasty surprise. He had bruises in several places from its strong little gums.

Astrid looked a mess. Her hair was no longer in its neat braid but had stray stands hanging down and up from the terror nesting and chewing on her head. There were also some singed pieces when she hadn't removed it in time for it to start making its nest warm and cozy. The rest of the mess was from her pulling at it herself from the stress.

Tuffnut had taken to ignoring the Terror. His nose was red and swollen since it liked to attack his face when he got near. He didn't mind the pain, he was a bit of a machinist. It was the looks and giggles he got from the villagers over his big red clown nose that annoyed him.

Fishlegs also wasn't having much luck despite being the one to initially tame it. Sure it didn't attack him, but it clearly saw Fishlegs as a food source. He was always giving it food. Sometimes it would snatch it out of his hands though and his fingers were sore from the careless grabbing.

The only positive thing they found out would be that dragons don't like eels. It wouldn't be too good to scare the dragons with them though since they wanted to earn the dragons trust, not terrify them.

When a couple more terrors were brought in, their problems only grew more stressful as the new ones followed the lead of the first one.

"That's it, we're moving onto something bigger," yelled Tuffnut.

"You're not serious are you?! We haven't even tamed the terrors properly yet." Replied Astrid.

"I just think the bigger ones may actually be easier. Maybe the Terrors just aren't as tameable as the other species."

"Well count me out, I'll be watching from the stands," Said Fishlegs, as he hobbled off to do just that.

"Come on Snotlout lets join Fishlegs. Let the reckless idiot get him killed. He's not dragging me down with him."

"Sure thing babe. I mean I could totally tame one of the larger ones straight away, but I'll enjoy watching Tuffnut fail and get mauled to death first." He boasted.

Astrid just let out a disgusted sound and followed after Fishlegs.

"Hmm, which one to try?" Wondered Tuffnut.

Gobber had fallen asleep in the stands, not wanting to get bit by the terrors. He was oblivious to what was going on below him.

"Eeny mini miny moe, I chooooose...you!" He yelled, pointing to the Zippleback door.

He walked up and pulled the lever, immediately backing away afterwards. A heavy fog of green drifted out of the cage, engulfing the arena. Tuffnut couldn't see anything.

"Hmm, maybe this wasn't the best choice. Damn you eeny mini moe, you failed me!" he cried to the sky.

He started walking around, keeping an eye out for the dragon, while Fishlegs was talking to the others about how Zipplebacks preferred ambush attacks and had venom for pre-digestion in their long serrated fangs.

Tuffnut glanced all around him. The gas was making him feel a bit sick and he was getting a headache but he made sure to stay sharp.

Then he heard something behind him. He turned around to be met with one of the heads.

"Nice dragon, I won't hurt you. Please don't hurt me." He said as he held his hands in front of himself.

His heart was pounding as he reached behind him and pulled out a fish. He put his arm out to the dragon to take it when the next head appeared. Both of their pupils grew wide at the smell of the fish. The only problem was that he'd only armed himself with that one fish.

The second head glanced away from it for a moment to have a sniff at him. He'd been hanging around the terrors and handling fish a lot so he smelt safe to them.

Each of the heads took an end of the fish from his hands, careful not to bite off the safe humans fingers. They tore it in half and gulped it up greedily.

"Okay, so far so good," He muttered to himself.

They started sniffing him again as the gas around them started to thin. Then one of them picked him up by the back of his tunic.

"Woah-woah-woah, I'm off the ground, I'm off the ground, just stay calm."

Then he was tossed to the other head and back again as they started playing catch with him.

"Hey, this is kinda fun. Faster, throw me higher. Woo."

Then the gas head didn't catch him fast enough and he dropped. The spark head found it funny so ended up laughing. This ended up causing him to spark though and the gas in the air ignited.

The loud explosion was heard all through the village and promptly woke Gobber up from his nap.

"Wha', huh? What's going on?" He muttered, still half asleep. Until he saw what was happening in the ring that is.

Tuffnut had been blown across the ring into a wall. He was covered in soot and had some burns. He was moaning from the force he hit the wall.

"Beard of Thor, wha' is going on down there? Who le' the dragon ou'?" he cried.

The teens all pointed to Tuffnut.

"Did none of you think to stop 'im?!"

"Well, he seemed pretty determined about it so we just got out of the way."

Gobber gave a sigh at their stupidity and clear lack of care for the well being of their team-mate. He rushed his way down to the pit.

"Ouch, that hurt a lot. But it was so awesome." Tuffnut commented.

He hulled himself up, cringing from the second-degree burn on his side as he walked over to the Zippleback.

It had a guilty expression on its face. It hadn't meant to hurt the safe human they were playing with.

"Don't worry I'm fine. Takes more than this to knock me down," he laughed. "But that was fun, do it again."

The Zippleback heads looked at him like he was crazy but then gave a grin. They had a new playmate.

It ran over to him and one of the heads latched its jaws over his head so only his lower torso and arms were visible. It picked him up and shook him side to side.

"DROP 'IM YOU OVER GROWN LIZARD," Yelled Gobber as he charged with his axe.

The Zippleback gave a screech and fanned out its wings at the approaching Viking. It backed up with Tuffnut still in one of the mouths. They were careful not to bite down though.

"Wait Gobber! It's fine. We're just playing." Shouted Tuffnut, but it was muffled by the dragon's mouth he was in.

Gobber halted. "Are you trying to tell me it's no' currently eating you?"

"No really, it's just playing. Watch." He put his hand on the dragon's neck.

"Drop." He commanded. It didn't listen. "Drop me or Gobber will chop off your head."

That got it to drop.

He reached out and gave it a pet as thank you.

"See Gobber, I trained it." He said smugly.

"If you call tha' training it. You're badly burned and it was using you as a chew toy jus' then."

"Just some rough play, the way I like it," he grinned.

Gobber gave a sigh, "whatever you say lad, bu' still, pu' it away and we'll ge' those wounds treated."

Tuff did as he said, the Zippleback willingly going into its cage without any effort.

"We'll play again later okay. I'll bring you more fish."

The other teens were staring down at him dumbfounded. His plan had actually worked, for now anyway. Hopefully it wouldn't end up like with the terrible terrors.

And it didn't. The following days, Tuffnut played and fed it. He ended up with plenty of bruises and burns but he was laughing all the while. The Zippleback seemed to love his company and enjoyed playing with him. They even started sleeping together. Tuffnut started staying in the dragon's cage overnight, saying it was far warmer than his bed. He didn't admit though that he also enjoyed the company. After Ruffnut left, he hadn't slept too well in the quiet room they used to share since birth. It didn't feel right sleeping alone.

The other teens didn't get too close to the Zippleback like he had. The dragon liked playing rough and they just weren't up for being mauled. They'd had enough of that with the terrors.

So they decided to take on their own dragons.

Fishlegs didn't have too much trouble. He tried out the Gronckle. He made sure to carry a shield so he wouldn't get hurt. From their previous training experiences, the dragons always seemed to attack them before they calmed down.

He was shot at six times before the Gronckle came to it's shot limit and calmed down. It had only really aimed at the shield since it had been captive the longest and understood how these lessons went. Kids come at her with shields and she shoots the shields. Shooting the kids got her a hook in the mouth. But now she was out of shots and hadn't been put away, so she didn't know what to do.

Fishlegs approached her and offered her a fish. She was confused at first and hesitantly came closer. She growled and eyed the shield, which Fishlegs understood. Maybe even shields were seen as a weapon. So he threw it aside.

She came in close and grabbed it out his hands.

"That a boy."

Oh great, the Viking thought she was a male. She guessed it didn't matter for now though.

Fishlegs reached out his hand to pet her. Her pupils grew wide as she sniffed his palm. Then she nuzzled her snout into it. Fishlegs was surprised at the gesture but it felt nice. He felt a wave of joy over come him, he swore he felt some kind of strange connection to the dragon. Their hearts beat as one.

"I-I did it." He remarked. He moved his hands down her sides and gave her a scratch, which she seemed to enjoy. Then his hands rubbed a particular spot that caused her to collapse and roll onto her side, hind leg twitching.

"Whoa! How did I do that?"

"Way to go Fishlegs, now we both have dragons," Smirked Tuff.

It didn't go as well for Astrid and Snotlout though. Snotlout tried the monstrous nightmare, saying he would be chief one day and should have the strongest dragon under his command. It clearly didn't like him though and was very disobedient. He ended up with many burns, while the dragon laughed in mocking humor at this failure.

At some point he lost his temper and tried to beat the poor dragon into submission, even going so far as tying it down so it couldn't defend itself. But he only ended up getting a tail slap across the face like a whip. He gave up after that. None of the other dragons would warm up to him either.

The same went for Astrid. It was like they could smell the pent up anger on her. It also didn't help that she always smelt of metal. She refused to stop her daily axe throwing practice.

The tipping point was when the Deadly-Nadder got a hit on her with one of its spines. It lodged deep into her right calf and she swore to it she'd make it pay for that. She gave up trying to make friends with them.

It was the next day after the two gave up that Stoic came back.

There was only one ship that looked rather plain without any painting on the wooden sides. It wasn't a ship that had set off.

The lack of men and the solemn expression showed their terrible failure of finding the nest. Ruffnut wasn't with them either, so finding her was also a failure it seemed.

The ten of them got off the boat as a female villager came over to Stoic to ask him what happened and where her husband was. It was a rhetorical question though as if your loved one didn't return, they were most definitely dead.

Stoic looked down and shook his head as the women broke into tears.

"The trip was a disaster. We lost a lot of men in search of the nest but your husband wasn't one of them. On the way back we were hit by a terrible storm. I'm afraid he was lost during that. We were shipwrecked for a several days as we made a boat to bring us home. There's the slight chance that those who didn't wash up dead with us are still alive on another island, but it's unlikely. It's lucky that any of us returned at all. I also lost my brother." He replied sadly.

The villagers at the docks looked upon Stoic with pity and anger as he made his way to the healers cabin. Many had died because of his persistence to find the nest. Many doubted his leadership and whether they should continue to follow his commands. He was walking on thin ice, they were sure to rebel if he tried to voyage on that suicidal mission again. Their trust in him was waning.

He saw Snotlout run up to him.

"Uncle Stoic you're back. Where's dad?" He questioned, looking over the nine men following him.

"Um, Snotlout. I'm afraid I have some bad news. I hoped not to break it to you so soon but, Spitelout didn't make it." He said, not looking his nephew in the eye.

"Huh? W-what are you talking about. My dad is far to strong to...to."

Stoic put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"No! He can't be dead. You're lying."

"I'm not lying, I saw his body for myself and gave him a proper funeral. I know you're upset. I am too. He was my brother."

"How then? Tell me how he died. Was it at least heroically in battle?" He pleaded. As much as he hated to admit it, tears were pouring down his cheeks.

"We were on our way back from our failed voyage to the nest when a storm hit. We were shipwrecked on an island. He was killed while battling a dragon."

It wasn't entirely true. He had been battling one, but it wasn't an honorable death. He'd been tripped up and had his throat torn out. He hadn't been able to put up much of a fight. He certainly couldn't tell Snotlout it was Hiccup who delivered the killing blow.

Snotlout wiped his tears. "At least he went out like a true Viking. Did you kill the dragon that ended him?"

"Um no, I'm afraid not. It was a very powerful dragon, we only just got it to leave us alone."

"What species was it?"

Stoic hesitated. Should he lie? He'd already sugar coated the truth. No, as long as he didn't say it was Hiccup it would be fine.

"It was a Night Fury."

Snotlout looked up in shock. Night Furies were rare so it was likely one of the dragons that had escaped Berk. Most likely the larger one. His father was too strong to be taken down by the runt.

"I'll go with you the next time you go looking for it. I need to revenge my father. It's taken two of your family so we're on the same page here now right?"

"S-sure, but it will have to be much later. I lost a lot of men on the last voyage, winter is coming and we have no clue where they could have gone besides the nest which we have never been able to reach."

In all honesty, Stoic wanted to delay it as much as possible. He hoped Hiccup, Ruffnut and the older Night Fury would fly far far away, so he wouldn't be forced to watch his son get taken down by his men or even himself if it came to that.

Dragons were still the enemy. They killed his people and stole their food. Unless they stopped, the war would never end. The only way he could possibly think of ending it would be to wipe out all the dragons or at least scare them off. Ruffnut may have seemed to have trained the older one, but it was uncertain whether it would eventually turn on her. He didn't of course know that that had indeed happened a couple days before at the nest, even if it was okay now.

"Now lets say once I get healed up we throw a feast in honor of those who didn't make it, like always. I'm sure they wouldn't want us getting all depressed over their valiant deaths." Stoic suggested with a smile.

"Sure thing chief. I'll go let the other villagers know." Snotlout replied, trying to cheer himself up. Vikings always celebrated the lives of the deceased with a party and a feast.

After Stoic was done getting his wounds treated, he decided to go talk to Tuffnut. He had to tell him about his sister's fate at some point. The sooner the better.

He found him down at the fishing docks, gathering a basket of fish. Why he was doing this he didn't know but he didn't think too much about it.

"Hey there Tuffnut, how are you holding up?"

"Chief! Your back. Did you find Ruffnut at all?" He pleaded.

"Yes, we did find her."

"Really?! Then where is she?" He asked looking around. She's not hurt is she? Or..."

"Ah no, she's fine. But she's not with us." He gave a sigh before continuing. "Your sisters a traitor Tuffnut. She's sided with the dragons and won't be returning to Berk. I'm sorry."

"So she really did tame one then?" He asked excitedly, which shocked Stoic. How was he not upset that his sister was a traitor and he'd never see her again?

"Don't you understand you'll never see your sister again?"

"Well if she isn't dead then there is always the chance right? Besides I think it would be way cooler to be on the run with dragons than stuck in the village all the time. Just wish she'd invited me along."

"You'd rather be a traitor, an outcast, than remain in the company and safety of your own people?!" He asked aghast.

"I didn't mean it that way. I'd just like to explore what's out there. I'm sure it would be lots of fun. And exploring on dragon back would be awesome. Imagine how far you could travel." He replied in a daze.

"Well there won't be any dragon riding in this village. Dragons are the enemy, I see anyone siding with a dragon, and their banished too, got that? If you want to explore you'll do it by ship like a Viking."

"Y-yes sir." He'd have to let Fishlegs know. They'd both bonded with their dragons and were almost ready to try riding. But it would have to be kept secret. Perhaps they could hide the dragons in the woods so they wouldn't get slaughtered in the ring.

That night, the two teens did just that. They'd had Snotlout, Astrid and Gobber promise not to tell. They'd tell Stoic the Gronckle and the Zippleback had died during dragon training to cover up why they were missing.

Astrid and Snotlout were going to start the proper training from now on, but they understood the connection Tuffnut and Fishlegs had made. As long as the two dragons didn't wander into the village to steal food and attack the villagers, they'd leave them in peace. They also said that if Tuffnut and Fishlegs were found out, they'd play dumb. They weren't going to be dragged down with them.

Stoic kept the secret that Hiccup was the younger night fury from the rest of the villagers. Apart from the men who had been on the voyage with him, he also told Gobber. He was his best friend after all and he was also close to Hiccup. He felt he deserved to know. He was shocked of course, but was clearly very happy to find out his apprentice was alive.

Three years past after all this. Tuffnut and Fishlegs managed to keep their dragons a secret and enjoyed their daily flying. Fishlegs called his dragon Meatlug who he eventually found out was female when she laid eggs. Tuffnut called his dragon two names, one for each head. The one that spewed gas was named Barf and the one who let out sparks was called Belch.

They ventured out to many nearby islands but never left Archipelago.

Fishlegs became Gobber's new apprentice and also worked on a new book of dragons. Tuffnut spent his time exploring and making a map. He always left in a boat to a nearby island to meet his dragon that would fly over when he was told to prior to the departure.

Astrid and Snotlout became formidable dragon killers just like the rest of their village. Snotlout was also in training to be the next chief. He wasn't the best at the political stuff. He wasn't really the best material for chief, but with Hiccup gone, he was next in line. Stoic just had to try his best to improve his nephew.

The raids weren't as bad during those years. It was mainly thanks to the eel discovery. Eels were lined around the sheep hideouts and fish storage sheds to keep the dragons away. It didn't stop them from trying but it did minimize the losses.

The past three years however had been far more eventful for Toothless, Hiccup and Ruffnut. It all started with their flight to the South...

AN – So what did you think? I hope it didn't seem too rushed at the end there.

I included an idea from 'Skeek622' who PM'd me, about the possibility of how some of the Vikings on the voyage during the storm could have washed up elsewhere. Whether they did or not, who knows.

Reviews

CaleoForeva - not entirely sure. It ends when it ends. Also depends on chapter length. But it could reach 25-30 maybe.

a random person – go exploring for now, but I'll have him return eventually.

AtkiakFF – we'll see how long it can be. I won't milk it for more than it can give, but I have planned the extra adventure chaps in there so I hope you enjoy those. And thx for the PM, I would worry too if an author with short update time took longer than normal. ;)

Breyannia – As you just read, he will not be telling Snotlout. (not yet anyway hehe) And well done for figuring out they hadn't gone to the nest yet to face the green/red death. It didn't feel right having them fight it just yet though as Hiccup is still getting used to being a dragon. He hasn't learnt to fight yet. And Toothless and Ruffnut are still a bit wonky with the flying. I can only imagine the disaster that would befall them if they fought it straight away.

Now for the adventuring, I already have four locations planned with fun stuff to do in each of them, but I'd love to hear your ideas as well. If I can make it seem plausible they could fit it all into a three year time span, it fits along the path they will take, it's unique and I like it, I'll add it. :)

Of course I'll credit you for the idea.

I'm still rather busy so it might take a week again, we'll see. But after that I'll be back to the quick updates of 3 days.