Chapter 9

Reconnecting

There are some things that can't be fixed merely by putting it past you. Throughout life you're confronted by situations that require sitting down and talking it out. I never thought that one of those would be sitting in the ice nest relaying the story of my life to my mother, or hers to me, but nevertheless that's what happened.

~Hiccup

Thorn glided down to the edge of the cove and warbled in curiosity and concern. Astrid slid off and patted the Nadder on the neck. "It's alright," she reassured, "I just need to go find Hawken, girl. I'll be back soon, hopefully."

She turned and slipped through the portal, getting a little disoriented when she found the sun setting lower than it did back at home (after all, Berk was at much higher latitudes) before she shook off the odd feeling that had become somewhat commonplace and headed for the house.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Hawken did not answer the door right away as Astrid hoped, and instead the only sound she was greeted by were the two dogs barking inside, spilling out the dog door to see who the trespasser was. When they found only Astrid, they calmed down.

"Hi Panda, hi Barney," Astrid greeted, smiling a little at the two canines' innocent reactions. "Hawken home?" The only answer she got was Panda whining squeakily and wiggling to try and get attention. Astrid groaned, knowing she wouldn't actually get an answer from the heeler, and slumped into one of the deck chairs, absentmindedly petting the dog as she waited.

When Hawken (or anyone else in his family, for that matter) failed to appear for over a half hour, Astrid decided she'd had enough. Standing up and pulling out a piece of parchment from her pocket (a habit she'd picked up from Hiccup), she scribbled out a note and stuck it into the crack of the door before heading back through the portal. If Hawken wasn't there, she could at least warn Stoick, even if it was too late for anything but a Night Fury to reach the island Hiccup was taken to. Astrid huffed in worry; tonight was going to be a long one.

I didn't find the note that Astrid had left until the next day after I'd gotten off of work. The night before I had visited my family, as they were out camping in the grasslands, and I'd gotten home at nearly ten o' clock. Then, immediately the next morning I went straight to work, not even glancing out the back door.

Around noon I finally returned home, and spotted the paper fluttering in the breeze in the door. As soon as I saw it, a sinking feeling settled in me. I immediately slid open the pane and grabbed the paper, reading over the rough handwriting.

Hawken, when you get this come immediately to the chief's house. Hiccup was taken by the rider on the Stormcutter and we will certainly need your help. ~Astrid

My heart seemed to both stop and speed up at the same time. That note could have meant one of two things: A, the movie was true, and Hiccup's joke two days before had actually occurred (we would come to laugh about the irony later, but at that moment it wasn't funny at all), or B, we already had a major fight coming. After making sure the dogs had both food and water (my family wouldn't be back until late that evening), I bolted out the back door, changing to Wind Fury and soaring right through the portal.

The second I landed in front of Stoick's house, said chief and Astrid both came bursting out the front door. "Where have ye been?!" Stoick yelled.

"I have a life of my own back home that requires tending to as well," I retorted. "If you're going to lecture me on the issue of time right now, save it .We both know that there are two main ways this could end, so I need to keep a low profile and I only want one person to go with me." I turned to the side and knelt down, looking straight at the chief. "Stoick, I think you should come." He nodded, and immediately moved to climb on.

"And what about me, or the rest of the gang?" Astrid asked warningly. "Keep an eye out for danger until we get back," Stoick ordered. I nodded in agreement and then looked up at my new rider. "I suggest you hold on tight," I warned. Stoick sighed. "Yes, I know, but I want to AAAAHHHHH!"

Stoick didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as I launched up and curved northward. He was leaning back for a moment, forced back by the pressure of the wind the takeoff had generated, before I felt his arms wrap around my neck. Tightly.

"Ack! Stoick, can't breathe!" I gasped. "If I loosen up any I'll fall at this speed!" came his anxious reply. I slowed down slightly in response, and Stoick loosened his death grip enough that I could take in air once more.

"I know we need to get there fast, as he's been gone for three quarters of a day already, but it won't do us any good if I don't make it there alive," Stoick grumbled. I nodded. "Sorry, I know. Just not used to riders." "I figured."

I was still going faster than your average Night Fury as we traveled however, and within an hour the island appeared ahead, and within it the massive bay bearing a large, ice coated peninsula that jutted into the center. I veered toward the unnatural construction and, after taking a quick once-over to ensure nothing had seen our approach or heard us (at the speed I was going, the air whistled all the way up to our final approach), I spotted a small opening in the ice where it met the rock, and landed just inside the entrance.

Stoick stepped off and grabbed his sword, but I swung my tail forward and blocked him. "Look, I know what you're thinking," I placated, seeing him readying a snappy protest, "but they won't suspect another dragon in there to be anything odd, especially if no one can see me." I glanced around at our landing site. "And, no offense, but I can move a lot faster than you. I'll go in, see if I can find Hiccup and Toothless, and then either bring the both of them out or lead you to them, okay?"

Stoick frowned, mulling it over before nodding and reluctantly sheathing his sword. "You make a good point," he admitted. "I will stay here and keep watch then, in case they come out somewhere else." I nodded, and focused back on the entrance leading deeper into the mountain. A quick morph to Shadow, and I melted away. If there was one thing I was good at, it was hiding from view even in plain sight and observing unseen, and if there was one thing Stoick was good at, it was being ready for threats, or watching for his son (ironically once one and the same).

"So, I can't believe I haven't yet asked, but, how did you two come to find each other?"

Hiccup had ended up spending nearly an entire day straight with his mother, and already they were beginning to mend the bond that had never gotten the chance to form. But up to that point, Valka had yet to learn much about Hiccup's relationship with Toothless, or his other friends. Hiccup shrugged in response to the question, chuckling a bit as Toothless squirmed in delight when Valka gave him a scratch under the chin while looking the dragon over.

"It was a while ago," he began, "almost four years ago actually. Toothless was shot down, and couldn't fly, so I helped patch him up and, well, we earned each other's trust over the years." Valka smiled as she examined the scale pattern around Toothless' eyes. "Well, I'm certainly not surprised ye two learned to like each other," she mused. "The oculars here tell me he's about your age actually, maybe a month or two difference." She smiled wider as she thought about it. "Yes, he was born in late winter, like you were!" Toothless sat upright at that knowledge again and smiled widely, before bounding over to Hiccup. Valka frowned then as his wings and tail flexed, showing no scars.

"I have to ask, why was he not able to fly though?" she queried. "I don't see any wing injuries, and those scars are usually life-long."

Hiccup shrugged again awkwardly. "Well, uh, funny story actually. I was, uh, actually the one who shot him down, and he lost a tailfin." He turned and grabbed Toothless by the mouth playfully, grinning. "But, it's all good, he got me back when we took down the monster that was causing the war, didn't you bud? Took my foot, so we were even!"

The proclamation made Toothless freeze and looked up at Hiccup, surprised and shameful. ::I…I thought we were sticking to the story about, you know,:: he rumbled anxiously. Hiccup only shook it off and gestured to his foot, and then Toothless' tail. "Well, doesn't really matter at this point anymore, now does it?" he asked. "Besides, we don't hold each other accountable anyway." Hiccup chuckled and playfully pushed Toothless away as the dragon tried to lick him, before glancing back at his mother. Unsurprisingly, she still had a look of pure confusion, and Hiccup realized very quickly why his story wasn't connecting for her.

"But, his tail is fine, and last I knew those don't grow back," she pointed out, moving closer and picking up Hiccup's foot (Toothless came up behind the boy as he stumbled and lost his balance). "And last I checked we don't regrow body parts either." Behind her, Cloudjumper looked up, his curiosity sparked as well. ::This ought to be an interesting explanation,:: he mused. Hiccup sent him a glare, before he spoke.

"Yeah, about that. You recall I mentioned that odd friend earlier, right?" Valka nodded. "The one not from the village? Or the archipelago for that matter?" Hiccup nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, that one. He's got some…interesting talents now, one of them being healing of sorts. There was an incident back early last year, and while fixing that he inadvertently gave Toothless and I our appendages back." He chuckled at the memory. "Took a lot out of him; he was unconscious for three days afterward while Toothless and I got used to ourselves again."

Valka's expression remained shocked and slightly unbelieving, and Hiccup chuckled sheepishly. "Okay, so it's a lot to take in, just that alone, but I'll admit it only gets weirder from there. I've been expecting him to show up here, actually, and it'd be easier to have a demonstration than explain, but…" he trailed off and looked around, trying to figure out how to word it. Finally, his eyes fell on Toothless and he sighed.

"He can turn into basically any dragon," he blurted, watching as the expected look of shock and disbelief grew stronger on his mother's face. "That's really the most simple way to put it. He said that because of that he had access to powers, like the healing, and other various things. Actually, he's also the reason you've probably noticed me talking with Toothless and some of the other dragons here, as he let me understand them." Hiccup looked to Toothless again, who narrowed his eyes, at what he knew was coming; he liked his secrets, but Hiccup was persistent. "And Toothless, well, our friend made it so he can communicate with us too, not too long ago."

He looked at Valka, expecting her to react like he was going insane. Instead, her eyes lit up as recognition crossed through her mind. "Oh, I understand now, I think!" she exclaimed, getting up. "Years ago I met a dragon that could do something like that, but in reverse." She took her staff and drew out a figure in the dust, a dragon with four wings and four legs. "Called herself the…uh…oh, what was her name?"

"The Mystique?" Toothless interjected. Valka started at hearing him actually talk like she did, but nodded. "Yes, yes that was it. So your friend can do something like that?"

Hiccup scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly as he leaned back against Toothless. "Actually, he got the gift from the Mystique," he explained. "She made him the new bearer of that particular skill"-

Hiccup's words were cut off as the air surrounding them suddenly seemed to darken. He glanced up, expecting some sort of large dragon to be hovering over them, but found light to still be pouring down through the greenish ice like normal, nothing blocking the way. Instead, the ledge they stood on seemed like it had simply been cast into deep shadows. Toothless and Cloudjumper noticed too, but while the Stormcutter growled in concern and got up to stand protectively over Valka, who grabbed her staff and aimed it away from her defensively, Toothless just smirked and stayed sitting calmly next to Hiccup; both of them knew there was only one thing that could cause this.

"Are you seeing the same thing I am?" Valka questioned. When Hiccup nodded she asked, "And you're not concerned? What on earth is this?" "Actually, I think that friend I was talking about may have just found us," Hiccup drawled nonchalantly. Valka only shot him a perplexed stare, before her attention shifted back toward the cave opening on the ledge as a black…something began to flow out of the cracks in the stone, coalescing into a smoke-like cloud before taking the shape of one of the most intimidating dragons the woman had ever seen.

Hiccup stood up straight and walked calmly over toward the dragon and smiled, all the while Valka protested for him to stay back. "Took you an entire day to get your butt over here?" he quipped. Valka blinked in shock as the dragon shrugged, and then began to seemingly melt, wings and tail folding up and disappearing as the body morphed to leave…nothing more than a boy that looked not too terribly different from her son!

"Well, you know I do have a life back home as well," the boy said, punching Hiccup jokingly before he turned and locked eyes with Valka. "And it looks like things worked out pretty okay considering what I was expecting, anyway." He smiled warmly and walked forward.

"Hello Valka," the boy greeted, extending a hand in welcome. "In case Hiccup hasn't filled you in already, my name is Hawken. I am so very glad to finally meet his mother at last!"

A/N-Well, there you go...and yes, Hiccup and Toothless had both made up the alternate explanation in the first book about how Hiccup originally lost his leg. After all, not the best thing for getting the village to trust dragons...

So what do you think? Make sure to review, and stick around; the family finally reunites next chapter...