YES, FOR ONCE I HAVE A LONG CHAPTER WITH ALMOST NO BS IN IT AT ALL! I hope the frequent POV change doesn't confuse anyone. I know there's a lot of it in this chapter but... it was needed for the effect that I wanted.

This chapter got out so quickly because this chapter is the original oneshot that I wrote for this title and I edited it to better fit the story. Because the way Jack and Hiccup first "meet" per se is exactly the same. I don't have much else to say other than it is 1 AM and I stayed up even though I'm tired because I wanted to get this done so that I can cry over how I'm stuck on my other ongoing fic~! Yay!

I'll start doing that now while you get reading... thanks again for the reviews and stuff that you guys do for this story. I love it all. :)

Pitch looked on from the spectator's seating of the now closed fighting arena, watching in enjoyment and the chubby blond Viking's fear. Though small in source, his stimulated nerves brought a sense of strength that had become almost foreign to the Nightmare King in his approximate year in pitiful exile. The sad thing, though, was that Pitch had barely tried anything on this child. After all, he was merely a first taste of these scared-of-nothing Vikings. That first sample didn't exactly appeal to the being of fear at all. Hopefully, the rest of the tribe would be harder to prey on than the boy whose dragon made a habit of licking his feet while he slept. Despite how revoltingly easy it was to gain this small spike of power, he relished it as it took hold of him and made his amber eyes glow a little brighter. It was amusing how he felt just as energized in the middle of the day as he now did in the light. Pitch peered over the group of concerned and flustered teenagers, wondering if this collection of minds would be the best candidates for him to become even more powerful.

The island of Berk was bustling with excitement and joy all throughout the next day. The Great Hall was busily prepped for the celebrations that were only hours away from taking place, every capable member of the tribe pitching in. Inside the Great Hall, Hiccup and Toothless were on fire duty. Since the black dragon was the fastest way to light the large fire pit inside the building, the two were placed to gather enough kindling and logs to keep the blazes going into the wee hours of the morning, when the last stragglers finally left the party out of exhaustion. Hiccup was used to doing busy work, so he really didn't mind too much. After all, he wasn't special anymore until the dragons came back with their hatchlings.

They returned from foraging about two hours before the party officially started, and yet half the village was still inside already. The freckled Viking rolled his eyes in a lack of surprise and he and his dragon lugged the last load of wood over the pile. Hiccup set up the first feed for the fire and Toothless ignited it effortlessly. Hiccup took a seat not far from the warmth of the fire and looked about the scene, smiling at everyone coming together for the evening. He missed the dragons roaming around, but it was nice to remember what Berk looked like before the dragons called the frozen island home as well. The last dragon on Berk curled up next to him and Hiccup, for once, couldn't feel more relaxed.

Hiccup remained at peace for the rest of those two hours, for the most part. The occasional conversation he stroke up did bring him back to reality, but every face he met was welcomed openly. At least people were still talking to him. Maybe he was wrong, after all. He might have respect on his own, now that people accepted him.

Not long after the festival officially started, Astrid and Fishlegs were the first ones to arrive.

Hiccup finally noticed when they sat at his table and greeted them. "Fishlegs, did you bring the book?" He asked

"Right here." Fishlegs took a large book with a beat up leather cover out from under his arm and handed it to his smaller companion.

"Perfect." Hiccup smiled at his friend "I knew I could count on you."

"No problem." Fishlegs replied. Though he seemed calmer than the day before, the book worm was obviously still nervous about the nightmare he'd had the night before. He wouldn't say too much about what he saw within it, but everyone could tell that whatever it was terrified him. Hiccup decided to ignore it. After all, he knew better than anyone that everyone has nightmares from time to time.

Snotlout arrived fashionably late, finding the three that were actually interested in this story telling thing with their noses buried in the old village story book. "You're already looking through that?" He interrogated "We still have hours before we have to read anything to them."

"We're seeing which line-up we want now so we don't have to flip through the whole thing while we're up there." Astrid answered "That way, we have more room for more stories because we didn't waste time flipping through the book for one that they didn't hear last year." At that, Snotlout sat next to Hiccup and started filtering through the pages with them.

After they had selected about four legends, Hiccup averted his attention from the pages. "Has anyone seen Tuffnut and Ruffnut?"

The other three shook their heads.

"Not since we left the meeting yesterday." Astrid admitted.

"Same here." Snotlout added, after an obnoxious burp from chugging down another mug of yak nog. He looked down at the cup with a grimace "They said they're running out of the stuff."

"I wonder why." Hiccup drawled. Snotlout shot him a glare, which went ignored by his cousin.

Finally, minutes before the teens were set to tell their selected tales, the missing Thorston twins slipped into the Great Hall and tried to place themselves at the table without any suspicions arousing. This, however, did not go very successfully as their friends had been waiting and worried for hours by then.

"Guys, what happened?" Astrid jumped at them first "You're really late."

"It's not our fault." Tuffnut muttered.

"Then where were you?" Hiccup inquired.

"In our soggy place… hiding." Ruffnut shrugged.

"From who?" Snotlout scoffed. "We're Vikings, for Thor's sake; we don't hide from anything… unless you're Hiccup." Hiccup swatted his shoulder, which clearly didn't hurt him at all.

"It was only a dream…" Tuffnut mused "but it felt so real."

"A dream?" Fishlegs squeaked.

"Yeah." Ruffnut sighed "It sounds really stupid but that nightmare was so real…"

"Mind explaining what it was about?" Astrid nudged.

"There was nothing…" Ruffnut muttered, barely audible "I was alone."

"So was I." Tuffnut interjected.

"It was all… black." Ruffnut narrated "And it surrounded me, closed me in. And then… before I woke up… there were these… yellow things in the distance." Fishlegs tensed after hearing that "I think they were-"

"Eyes?" Fishlegs finally stuttered out. All eyes turned to him.

"How'd you know?" Tuffnut leaned forward, clearly interested.

"Because I saw those eyes too…" Fishlegs whispered, his voice cracking "in my nightmare."

The eyes that were all on Fishlegs glanced from one to another, only widening with time. They carried on in this state of confusion until Hiccup's distracted gaze caught the group of children gathering by the fire.

"Ok, listen." Hiccup ordered sternly, gaining everyone's attention "I think we need to sort this out later, as creepy as it is, because we have a job to do." He stood, books in his hands "Let's just push this aside for now, until we get this out of the way. We don't want to scare them, do we?" He gestured to the kids.

The group of teens all nodded in agreement and rose from their places at the table. They slowly made their way over to the group of children on the opposite end of the fire pit, who were anxiously waiting for the stories to start being told. As the teens sat before the kids, they all began to cheer.

"What stories are you guys gonna read us?" One little girl squealed.

"Is one a dragon story? Those are awesome!" A boy shouted.

"Alright, alright, settle down." Hiccup calmly said as he opened the leather book. The kids slowly grew silent and inched closer to the boy with the book.

Another day of patrolling the islands around the one he and his companions had been calling home led Jack outside North's set perimeter of searching. The winter sprite had already searched his assigned direction fully and decided to expand upon it a little. This bit of rule bending seemed to pay off when he heard distant noise make its way into his ears. He followed the sound until he came across a small village on the island he was floating over. Looking around, Jack saw no one from the air. And there was no difference when he descended and let his bare feet welcome the frozen ground with a smile. Bunny may have hated this weather but Jack felt right at home in this place.

Where is that sound coming from? Jack pondered. It looks like no one's home. He turned toward the largest structure that the village's inhabitants had built and noticed a dull light emitting out of the windows. I wonder what's going on in there… Jack hovered over the large staircase leading up the structure. He poked around the gigantic wooden door and decided that finding a different way inside would be easier than waiting for this behemoth to be opened. So, he wandered the perimeter until, to his surprise, found a window that was cracked open and slipped inside.

Jack, expectantly, went unnoticed in his entry. Of course no one could see him; Jack wasn't even born yet in this time. Hell, he didn't think America had been discovered yet in this time period. Though, somehow, the scene inside felt familiar to Jack. The massive space was packed with people; the whole village must have been contained within these walls. Lanterns were hung overhead, booths selling food, drink and other assorted things were set up along the far walls and a huge fire was burning in the center. It kind of reminded the invisible boy of the festivals he attended in the Colonies, before and after he became Jack Frost.

He strolled through the area for a few moments, taking in the adults' drunken antics and overhearing a few conversations relating to one common topic: a thing called Snoggletog, if Jack heard that right. He strode past a man with a long blond moustache, with reindeer antlers on his head and a large amount of bells glued onto a wooden plank that was where his hand was supposed to be, calling out to someone whose name Jack didn't catch.

Then, something else caught Jack's eye. He saw a massive form of black and a splash of red resting by the fire and a group of kids. The winter spirit cautiously inched forward and saw that, in fact, this form was a dragon! A real, live dragon! … At least, Jack hoped it was alive. He sighed with relief when it let out a grumble and shifted position. He couldn't believe this; he'd been all over the islands around this place and he didn't find a single dragon until he stumbled into a party packed to the rim with people. What was a dragon doing around so many humans? Jack was told that they would kill even the Guardians in an instant, as animals can see them undoubtedly. He stared in awe at this beautiful creature before him, admiring the giant retile's scales and wings, before something else gained his attention. This dragon was equipped with some serious gear. He had a saddle strapped on him and wires that trailed his body and back to a red tail fin that stood out against its black host. That's when it hit Jack: it only had one real tailfin. It couldn't fly without this equipment. That's why it was with people; because it needed them in order to survive. This thing couldn't fly, let alone go hunting or anything else dragons normally do by themselves or with a few friends.

Then, Jack turned his attention to the kids sitting nearby. It looked like they were waiting for something. What, was someone going to come over and see the future in the fire? Then, they all quickly turned their heads to a group of teenage Vikings coming over to them with a really large, heavy-looking book. Jack couldn't care less what they were saying to each other; he was focused on the shortest teen of the bunch. He had brown hair that seemed orange against the flames and he was coated in freckles. He took a seat on a table not far from the fire pit, next to a girl with a blonde braid and pale blue eyes and opened the book.

Upon getting closer to that particular pair, out of pure curiosity, Jack noticed the cover of the book the short, brown-haired kid was holding and smiled at the child-like drawing on the cover. "Fairy Tales, huh?" Jack chuckled "These I got to hear." Jack rested his staff against the table next to theirs and got comfortable on top of it.

Jack got a little more excited when the dropped his staff and sent a small chill throughout the immediate area. It even made the fire move with the breeze a little bit. The boy holding the book peered up at the sudden chill. He rolled his eyes and mumbled "Curse you, Jokul Frosti…" Upon hearing one of his aliases, Jack paid even closer attention to the conversation about to start.

"Why don't we tell them that one first?" A blonde girl sitting next to him questioned.

"What one?" The freckled boy continued flipping through the book.

"Jokul Frosti; that was your favorite when we were kids."

He gave the girl a confused look "You sure? That one's not in the book."

"I'm sure, with all of us, we can piece it together."

The book was closed. "Alright." The boy sighed "How about you start then, Astrid?"

"This is going to be good." Jack muttered with a smile.

"Alright." Astrid stood. "Have you kids ever wondered what brings Berk all of this snow every year?" She pointed to the windows and the kids turned to see a very light snow falling outside before turning back to her, nodding. "Well, it's not a what… it's a who. His name is Jokul Frosti-"

"I thought it was Old Man Winter?" a lanky blond boy interrupted.

Jack glared at the kid and snarled "Old man? Really? I'm only three hundred and seventeen!" Being immortal had its perks, including not aging. Sometimes, it made Jack forget that most people his age are long past dead. Then again, he kind of was too...

"That is another name for him…" A large boy with an almost timid voice added.

"What does he look like?" One of the little girls asked.

"You better not mess this up, kids." Jack mumbled.

"Oh, well…" the same boy stood before the group. "As his nickname implies, Jokul has the appearance of a rather old man. He has the ears of a troll that are barely visible due to his very long beard that matches his snow white hair."

Jack gave another confused look before sliding his hands down his chin. "I wish I had a beard..." Jack muttered. Next, he touched his ears. They weren't that big, were they? "What is this, my roasting?" Jack raised his voice, but was still unheard

"Don't forget my favorite part." The short one with freckles interjected "His paint brush and bucket, for painting the leaves brown."

"This has to be a joke." Jack stated "No wonder no one can see me around here; this is a bunch of crap. Painting leaves brown, that's almost as bad as that stupid nose nipping thing." Jack stood and walked over to the closest window, jumping up to rest on the windowsill. Upon his back touching part of the glass, frost ferns began to form.

Another blonde girl, who had been silent until now, glanced over her shoulder and noticed the ferns. Jack observed that she looked as thin as the boy next to her and dubbed them siblings. "I think he's listening, Hiccup."

"What?" Hiccup and everyone else turned to her.

"Aren't designs like that on windows a sign that Jokul's here?" Her brother implied.

"I think so…" Hiccup smiled as the window was completely encased in frost.

"Too bad he's evil." A pudgy boy with a nose similar to a pig's exclaimed.

Jack jumped down from the window to get close to the group again. "Evil...?"

"Why do you say that?" A young boy asked.

"Well, Gustav," he continued "He controls the snow. What happens if we get caught in the snow? We die." A sudden sternness emerged from the seemingly nonchalant Viking "The only time we're really safe from freezing to death is when Jokul hibernates three months of the year. The three months that we get hail instead of snow."

"What… no…" Jack stepped closer to the kids "I don't try to… I mean… winter's supposed to be fun."

"Alright, Snotlout," Hiccup spoke up "Stop making the kids afraid of winter. We have the strength to live through it ever year. Besides, just like the gods, he only behaves that way if he's mad. I think that he's pretty friendly and playful otherwise. I mean, he probably invented snowball fights."

"Something finally makes sense here!" Jack yelled in rejoice.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Snotlout leaned against a table. "But it's what he does; no changing it."

That was it. Jack had heard enough. He tightly gripped his staff and trudged over to the Snotlout kid, who clearly lived up to his name, and prepared to strike him with his staff. At the worst, it would phase through the kid and he would get his anger out. At the best, it would hit him and that would mean someone in this place could see him. He firmed his grip and stared the back of his obnoxious head down for a minute before preparing to strike.

That is, until the dragon, who had been sleeping soundly until now, awoke and growled in Jack's immediate direction. The kids and teenagers all turned to the dragon's targeted area. Jack got his hopes up… only for them to be let down. No one noted he was there; they all looked right through him. That agonizing feeling of being alone forever washed over Jack like a tidal wave. Panic rose in his system as the black beast sat up and his growl deepened. Without thinking, Jack whipped open the window he had frosted over and swooped as fast as he could away from the village and into the night.

Hiccup couldn't really explain what had just occurred before them. One minute, Snotlout was being…. Snotlout and then the next minute Toothless is awake, growling intensely at the wall. At least, that's what Hiccup would like to think. But he could have sworn that… he saw someone there, only for a second, before he threw open the window and jumped through like he was flying. He rubbed his eyes a few times and, when no one else mentioned the boy, Hiccup assumed it had been the nostalgia affect from the story. That happens, right? Of course it does. It was just his childhood imagination coming back to haunt him… again. He never did outgrow his belief in trolls, why not Jokul too?