A/N:The response to the cliff hanger has gone pretty much how I expected, I'm glad you guys have enjoyed the story so far!
The three figures tensed, none daring to move, Hiccup's hand rested on the hilt of his knife loosely as Toothless growled at the grey Nightfury, it's eyes were similar to Toothless only a brilliant blue, in contrasted well with its scales, he could do without the tooth filled snarl though.
"Who are you and why do you keep coming to my territory." The dragon snarled at Toothless, said black dragon met her eyes flatly.
"Unsurprisingly, my friend here gained an interest in you when you attacked us." Toothless snarled back.
Hiccup remained quiet as the two dragons warbled and snarled at each other, he assumed they could make sense of the noises.
"A dragon, friends with a human?" The grey dragon scoffed "Maybe in fantasy."
Toothless let out a sharp growl "I did not stutter, this boy is my friend, threaten him and I will give you a fight you won't believe."
"Hah! What is a flightless Nightfury going to do, in your current state I could crush you easily," The grey fury spat "What's stopping me?"
"In your current state the boy could take you on his own," Toothless retorted flatly "What's stopping you is quite simple, have you been flying with any other Nightfury's recently?"
The grey dragon eyed the boy dangerously, Hiccup only narrowed his eyes in response and gripped the hilt of his knife "He is fearless, I'll give him that much."
"He has a better understanding on animals than most." Toothless visibly calmed, now reassured this new dragon had decided against attacking them for now.
Hiccup hadn't relaxed, the grey Nightfury had yet to stop eying him like he was lunch, Hiccup inched towards Toothless slightly as he watched the dragon in front of them.
The grey Nightfury tilted it's head "What is your name? You care to explain why you let a human ride you so comfortably?"
"Toothless," The black dragon answered simply "It may not be my original name, but I wear this name with pride, with this boys mind and my fire we undid the Red Death."
The grey Nightfury eyed Toothless in surprise, even she was aware of the Red Death, one of the most feared Alpha's of all time, ruthless and massive, that dragon had ruled it's nest through power and fear alone.
"You, A crippled Nightfury and an equally crippled boy?" She laughed, even if she could not sense the lie in the other dragon, she just couldn't believe it.
"This 'crippled' Nightfury had no issue chasing you," Toothless countered "You fled into the cave first remember."
"I used the natural advantages of my home, which I have been flying in since I was a hatchling!" The dragon shot back vehemently, defending her movement.
"Why don't you explain why you ran me to ground and give me your name, 'Grey one' is getting on my minds nerves." Toothless lifted his head simply
The grey dragon paused a moment "I didn't miss intentionally if that's what you were asking." There was a stagnant paused in the air for a few seconds before she spoke "The name most know me by is Ghost."
Toothless let out an amused warble, when hostility seemed to die down in the two dragons Hiccup finally relaxed, he stood straight and moved to the side of Toothless's saddle, he removed a small set of items, a hunk of metal and pulled the severed connecting rod from the saddle.
"What is the human doing now?" Ghost asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Taking the necessary steps to get me back in the air, milady." Toothless replied, he had heard the boy call that blonde female that often enough.
Ghost eyed the black Nightfury cautiously while Hiccup moved to gather a stack of rocks, to build a make shift forge "You never told me how you ended up with a human rider."
"You were threatening myself and my friend," Toothless shot at her flatly "I see no reason so explain myself to you."
"True, but I am threatening you no longer, I am even allowing the human to move freely," She gestured at the boys back, Toothless gave her a look "You are in my land, Toothless, you will do well to remember that."
Toothless let a rueful warble escape his throat "You seem to think you present a threat to either of us, it is, quite cute."
Ghost bristled, spines snapping up angrily as she growled at him.
"This is why I don't wish to tell you anything, you are easily angered and I can't trust you not to lead dragons back to us." Toothless ignored her growl completely, fixing her with a flat stare.
Hiccup finished build the stack of rocks, he placed the ingot of metal on top of them and gestured for Toothless to help him out, Ghost frowned then the Nightfury moved his attention away from her and placed his mouth near the rocks, fire building in his throat and projecting outwards, the metal heated and melted around the rock, falling into a small metal bucket Hiccup had, he moved to a lake a small distance and cooled it slightly, he grabbed his hammer and began working.
"You lend your fire to humans?" Ghost asked curiously, finally relaxing completely.
"I lend it to this human, when he needs it," Toothless replied "In this case, if I don't I won't be leaving this island."
"How long will he take? To make the repair?" Ghost asked, peering down at the boy who was gritting his teeth in annoyance when the metal became misshapen, he glared at the rocks before he started again.
"Usually he has a flat surface that won't hinder him," Toothless explained "It may take a few days."
Hiccup smirked up at the dragon "Sorry bud, I'll do what I can." Toothless just warbled down at him understandingly.
Ghost felt a pang of very distinctive jealously rush through her system, how dare a human have a closer relationship to the only other Nightfury she had ever met, her teeth descended and she shook her head slightly, pulling herself out of her mind 'Why do I even care? They'll be gone in a few days.'
"Well, if you won't explain yourself to me I am going hunting." Ghost got up and stretched out her wings.
"In broad daylight?" Toothless asked inquisitively, Nightfury's were known to hunt at night, the word was in the name.
"Hah, you know so little about the females of your own kind, I can hunt whenever I wish." Ghost boasted
"Well, I can to, I just choose you hunt when it will be most effective." Toothless titled his head at the other dragon curiously.
Ghost just took off without retorting, she'd never admit he wasn't wrong, 'it isn't like just because he has really pretty black scales he could only hunt in the….PRETTY BLACK SCALES?!' She let out a groan and shook her head violently 'I'm just confused because it's the first time I've seen another Nightfury, around my age, his age doesn't matter!' She chided herself as she looked around, looking for anything she could take some anger out on 'And he has a human rider! Even though he won't tell me anything about it, what's with that? I'm not that threatening, besides I'm just on my own, talking to myself in the sky,' She noted as she looked around 'Maybe loneliness has finally driven me crazy and I am hallucination and Nightfury and his human rider, yes, that has to be it, I'll get something to eat and then wake up from this strange nightmare.'
Hiccup continued to relentlessly bend the steel, slowly manipulating the curve of the rocks to his advantage as he spun it, he fell into a methodical rhythm, turn the rod, hammer, turn, hammer, he didn't notice it was nighttime until he looked up to wipe his brow, his stomach growled angrily, demanding food.
Hiccup got to his feet, retrieving the pile of firewood he had already gathered he stacked it in front of Toothless, the dragon let out a quick puff of fire, igniting the wood, before looking back to the sky.
Hiccup gave his dragon a light pat on the nose "Don't worry bud, I'm sure she's fine."
'Worry?! I'm not worried about that, angry, demanding lizard, no matter how strikingly beautiful her eyes are…damn it.' Toothless thought to himself, Hiccup just received a warble that was somewhere between a whine and a growl.
Hiccup chuckled almost knowingly as he retrieved a small stick of bread from his pack and broke it, he tossed one of the three fish he had brought for Toothless and gave it to him, Toothless ate it quickly and Hiccup sat down, leaning his back against Toothless's chest, the dragon peered down at him.
"We found another Nightfury bud," Hiccup grinned rubbing at Toothless chin "I'm just going to call her Ghost, I think she likes you."
Toothless gave the boy a flat look, Hiccup just laughed "I'll work hard to finish the repairs tomorrow."
Toothless flicked the top of the boys head with his tongue as Hiccup settled back, Toothless pulled his wing over the boy's body and settled in.
It was a few hours after that, Toothless heard a pair of quick wing beats and a thud as something landed near them, Toothless knew who it was from scent alone.
"How fared the hunt?" He asked quietly
A groan and a loud thud was his answer.
Toothless lifted his head, in the dying light of the fire he could make out the other Nightfury, her face downturned in annoyance, whether it was at him or herself he didn't know.
Toothless snuffled into the pouch on his back, removing one of the other fish Hiccup had brought he tossed it to her, she lifted her brow in question.
"Eat, it won't do anyone any good if you are weak." Toothless snorted flatly.
"Do you really know so little about your own species?" Ghost hissed.
Toothless gave her a questioning look "I know only what I am sure of myself, I never met my parents, I was taught to fly by a Nadder in the nest, I have no understanding of my species habits or rituals."
Ghost watched him for a moment and sighed "If I accept food handed to me by a male, it's the same as me accepting him, I am accepting his charity, his protection, his warmth, it's the first and most important part of a Nightfury's mating ritual, whether they will accept the food or not, if I eat this, whether I like it or not I'm bound to you, we'd become m-mates." Ghost had really tried to keep her tone level, making sure to hide any excitement or worry she had, the stutter at the end irritated her, but it didn't matter.
"It's a cod." Toothless replied flatly as if not seeing the point.
Ghost rolled her eyes "It's what the cod symbolizes, don't mock your own species!"
"Our species is nearing extinction, perhaps it is best to change." Toothless countered boredly
"It's not like we can change instinct," Ghost retorted "You know what. fine, prepare to have me by your side for the rest of your life since you know so much better." Ghost snapped at him, flicking the fish into the air and swallowing it quickly.
Toothless watched the female curiously, she held a straight face for a moment before her pupils narrowed and her spines clapped together silently, her whole body felt like her fire was trying to escape from it, as soon as the feeling had come it died, leaving her in confusion, she peered around.
"Interesting." Toothless droned, head hitting the ground as he went to sleep.
Ghost stared at the other Nightfury for a moment, she had really dug her own grave at this point, she could already feel the need to be closer to the dragon in front of her, just because she had to prove a point, now she's stuck with this, even if his scales were pretty he was annoyance, sarcastic and he was crippled! He couldn't fly without a human, but now she would have to follow him back, which would mean interacting with humans, she mentally shuddered at the image of a large sweaty Viking on her back.
But something still struck her as odd, had it really had no effect on Toothless at all? She had felt like her scales were on fire, even if they were fire breathing lizards that kind of heat had been completely foreign to her, she shook her head and took off into the air, she moved over the ocean and dived, this time managing to snag a few fish in her maw, she didn't eat them, she had an idea as she returned to the small camp, she dropped the pile of fish on the ground, Toothless nose perked up and he lifted his head.
"Impressive catch for a thirty second hunt." He praised flatly, looking at the pile of around eight fish on the rocks.
Ghost couldn't deny the feeling of elation his praise brought her, her dragon face changed to about as close to a grin as it could have as she laid down, now it was simple, get Toothless to eat one of the fish she had caught, considering the human had only brought three, they wouldn't have a choice, 'I'd like to him stay straight faced after that!' She thought with a slight shake of her head.
The next morning she awoke to the sound of scratching, her eye cracked open, observing the human curiously, he would glance at her occasionally before looking back down at an odd smelling square, he seemed to be satisfied, he set the thing down and stoked the fire back to life, he removed the second piece of his biscuit and tossed it in his mouth, digging around in the bag for a moment before he stepped back.
"Toothless, you ate all the fish in one night?" He complained in his nasally, tone, Ghost got to her feet, ignoring the human as she walked over to peer at what he was doing.
It was Toothless, no, the spines on the back, it was her, he had been scratching her into the strange thing, she sniffed a the thing carefully, it smelled like an old fire, charcoal, she tilted her head.
"He calls it drawing," Toothless called to her, she started jumping away from the brick "He draws many thing in that book of his."
She glanced down at it carefully "Like what?"
"Dragons, his mate, designs for my fin, even just random ideas, it's quite interesting to watch." Toothless explained with a yawn
Hiccup was still chastising the dragon for eating the food, when something hit the back of his foot, he turned around to see Ghost pushing half of the catch she made last night towards them, Toothless glanced at her "My apology, for being…curt, when we ran into each other for the first time, I am not used to seeing other Nightfury's or humans for that matter." She sounded sincere, Toothless glanced at Hiccup who just looked confused, Ghost sat on her hind legs calmly, Toothless shrugged pushing a fish to Hiccup as he snapped one of them up.
Hiccup had already moved away from his dragon with a shrug as he skewered the fish, when Toothless growled in discomfort, Hiccup glanced over at him, Toothless teeth were out and he looked like he was huffing as his entire body moved with his breaths, spines, very similar to the dorsal spikes on Ghost's back clicked along his back and then suddenly the burning sensation he was feeling was gone, he frowned, looking at his back, the spikes stared at him and he eyed them in surprise before clapping them together.
"Interesting, isn't it?" Ghost teased from across the clearing, and suddenly Toothless understood, he was now connected to the angry, demanding lizard with the beautiful eyes, he snorted distastefully and plopped down heavily.
"I've never seen someone shoot themselves in the foot for revenge before." Toothless responded
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ghost asked curiously, hopping towards him, Hiccup was eyeing the exchange carefully, Toothless seemed to half calmed down, the spikes along his back were new, but it might help them make tighter turns and they didn't seem to be causing him any other issues, especially after he began clapping them together excitedly.
Toothless wanted to laugh as he moved towards her "As far I know, I've never seen mated set of dragons where the female wasn't submissive." He growled, Ghost fell backwards, his head loomed over hers, his eyes narrowed to slits as the green glowed, her eyes widened in surprise when she realized she couldn't move her legs at all, her entire body had just gone stiff.
Toothless grinned tauntingly as he moved away.
"Y-You just took me by surprise!" Ghost defended angrily
"Keep telling yourself that milady." Toothless shot at her sarcastically.
Hiccup just watched the exchange in confusion.
Astrid stood on the edge of Berk, she was twirling a piece of grass on her finger, trying and failing to distract herself about worrying after Hiccup, Stoick had informed her that the boy had gone after a new dragon, but he hadn't returned, she couldn't explain how the whole thing felt off, what if had been knocked off Toothless? What if they were just floating in the ocean, slowly preparing to drown? What if this new dragon had been hostile?!
She shook her head violently, cutting off the train of thought, she had already resolved to search for him to the next day if he didn't return, she knew he'd be okay, she'd find him comfortably camped out of on a rock or beach somewhere, she knew it. She continued to reassure herself as she got to her feet and moved to where she kept Stormfly, the Nadder bobbed it's head excitedly and gave a squawk, Astrid smiled at the dragon as she opened a basket and tossed a fish into the air before petting Stomfly's beak, the dragon cooed quietly, meeting her eyes and seeming to understand her worry.
'If your that worried just go after him,' Stormfly attempted to will her human to understand, the girl just laughed and gave Stormfly a scratch under the chin 'Tch, humans.' The Nadder clicked to itself, Astrid took that as a sign of comfort and continued to scratch under the Nadder's neck, Stormfly squawked happily.
"Astrid!" The girl jumped a foot in the air at the sudden roar, whirling around to see Stoick jogging towards her worriedly, something she recognized in his hand.
Stoick slid to a stop in front of her "Mulch and Bucket pulled this up in a net towards the North-east."
Stoick handed the girl the helmet, she had already recognized it as Hiccup's, it even still had the scratch she had made over the eye, she traced it slowly, her worry taking on new levels of extreme.
"I'm sending you after him." Stoick spoke flatly
Astrid's head snapped up "Wha? I mean, Why me?"
"You know him better than most, you understand how he thinks, I just hope you aren't too late." Stoick clasped a hand over her a gentle smile on his face, his eyes gave away the urgency he was feeling.
"I'll find him, I promise." Astrid nodded resolutely.
Stoick nodded gratefully as Astrid pulled herself over her dragons back, Stormfly squawked and bobbed her head eagerly 'It's about time human, worrying here isn't going to protect your mate.' The dragon squawked again as they took off, immediately turning northeast, Astrid urged Stormfly to move faster as the wind pulled at her hair.
Hiccup continued to work on the control rod, he had finally gotten the technique down, so now it was just a matter of making it long enough, and thick enough, he continued working in silence, neither of the Nightfury's had made any noise since the incident where Toothless had stood over Ghost, Hiccup glanced up every so often, he made a mental note that the dragons were continually moving closer together.
A/N: Heh, What'd you think? Astrid's coming after him and she is not gonna be happy when she finds him, I debated having Toothless and Hiccup stuck on the island for longer and having Ghost progressively warm up to Toothless, but it sort of butted heads with my original plan for her personality, the result was the interaction you've seen! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, if you did, drop a follow, feel free to check out my other HTTYD story and I will see you guys next time, peace!