FYI: The chaps are divided in two parts, the first is in the present (five years into the future since the prologue) and the second part is going to explain the stuff that happened in those five years since Hiccup left Berk.

I made drawings of Camicazi as she appears in this story and her dragons, it's on my DA page, the link is on my profile.

It used to have a lo of grammar mistakes and typos, but luckily, my wonderful beta ladipretender fixed it up for me! Thanks, girl! :D

Thanks so much for the reviews! They're highly appreciated!

Enjoy and Review! :)

Chapter 2

Coming Back Home

Hiccup woke up rather early the next day tucked under Toothless's right wing, where the morning light didn't reach. He had slept so well through the night even though he wasn't in a proper bed. Staying under Toothless's wing was warm, cozy, peaceful and dark, perfect for relaxing. So since he was thoroughly rested, he just got out of his improvised bed and stretched his arms and legs.

Toothless stirred and got more comfortable, still not opening his eyes. They had chosen quite a good spot for sleeping last night, it was well covered by trees, and a large rock blocked the wind that was so cold and strong that it felt like it could cut through one's skin.

"Lazy lizard," Hiccup mumbled jokingly to himself.

He began walking around to get a better look at the island on which they had landed. It was beautiful, reminding him of the other side of the Island of Berk, empty and greenish.

His stomach growled in hunger, but he'd wait for his friend to wake up to get his breakfast from a compartment of the saddle, and Toothless would get a few fish for himself before they started the long flight back to their island. They'd probably get there two or three hours after noon if they started flying in about an hour, Hiccup calculated.

It was when Hiccup was blithely looking at the endless horizon that he heard an unusual noise for a deserted island. Frowning, his eyebrows confused and curious, he followed the source of the noise. His blood went cold in surprise and shock as he saw what was going on. He hid behind a tree, praying to whatever God that would listen that he hadn't been spotted.

After a few seconds, Hiccup found the courage to look again. Down the beach, there were a few ships with men walking around. He had seen those men before, and he had recognized the crest on the ships as soon as he saw it. It was the Berserkers. Carefully, he walked closer to them with a desperate need to know why they were there. He hid behind each tree as he passed until he finally within earshot.

"You heard Dagur." A less dumb Berserker explained to a dumber one. "We're here to wait for the fleet to come back from the north."

"They were exploring new places for us to rule, right?" the dumber man asked, and Hiccup felt the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yeah. They'll be coming back shortly, so we'll gather up and go destroy those stupids once and for all. They might have dragons, but they'll never be able to win against the entire armada, we're over a hundred ships!"

Hiccup's eyes widened, he knew that there were a lot of them, and he knew there were more than the ones they had fought the last time, but that number was something he was definitely not expecting. He wanted to know more, he wanted to know when they'd be coming, however the worry overtook him. He tried to silently walk away, where he'd left Toothless, in order to get back to the place they call home as fast as possible and warn everyone about the coming threat.

But Hiccup was clumsy and, not being careful enough in his hurried worry, he stepped on a twig that broke with a clean sound that called the attention of the two men talking nearby. "Look what we have here", the less dumb one said. "Dagur will be pleased to see this."

With a quick movement, Hiccup withdrew his sword; luckily, he hadn't left it on Toothless's saddle like his helmet that had stayed by his best friend's side. They did the same and both started attacking. Over the years, Hiccup had gotten really good at sword fighting. He had trained extensively for almost five years and he discovered he was quite gifted in wielding a the sword once he realized what he'd been doing wrong in the first place.

The less dumb Berserker was swinging non-stop, fury boiling in his blood as he saw he wasn't able to scratch the skinny man. Hiccup was defending each assault perfectly. His mistake came in concentrating on only the more active Berserker and forgetting the other one. And when he realized that, it was a bit too late. Hiccup only survived by being an agile dodger. When the other blade was flying ferociously in his direction, he managed to jump to the left just in the last moment, swinging his own sword to help block the attack. He didn't get out of it unscathed, though. The sharp metal cut through the clothes and skin on his right side with ease, opening up a gash on his abdomen.

Hiccup didn't have time to notice the blood coming out of the cut, he had to keep dodging and swinging to stay alive. Thanks to the adrenaline, he barely felt the effects of the injury at that moment. He kept trying to defend himself from the two experienced Berserkers, when help finally came his way as a purplish blow hit the enemy sword, sending it far away. The two Berserkers looked at the blow's source to find a very angry Night Fury, who probably heard the clanging of the fight and came running to find his human.

Swiftly, Hiccup managed to get away from the two Berserkers to mount Toothless so they could take off. The dragon saw his human was injured, immediately got concerned and considered flying to safety, however, he felt his neck being petted, and knew Hiccup was calling his attention.

"Not yet, bud. We need to make a mess around here first." The dragon nodded in understanding and turned his body to make a tight spin.

The Berserkers yelled in surprise and fear to see the mighty Night Fury in broad day light approach their direction at such an impossible speed. The fame of the dragon's aim had a reason: he never missed. It wasn't different now as he precisely blasted the ship directly in the meddles Some sank, others didn't, but they all turned out to be in no condition to be used.

The Berserkers were stranded on that island. Hiccup could only hope it would at least delay them for a few days. Toothless didn't attack anyone directly, for he didn't like to kill people anymore, and would only do that if there were no other choice.

As they flew out of peril, the adrenaline slowly vanished from Hiccup's system and he started to feel the effects of the bloody gash. It wasn't as deep as it looked, thankfully, but it wasn't just a paper cut either. The pain was increasing and it was getting harder and harder to concentrate on keeping the flight steady. They could have landed, Toothless actually wanted to, so his human could take care of that, but Hiccup decided not to. He wanted, no, needed, to warn their friends. An armada with 100 ships – even if they did blow up a few of them – was not something to take lightly.

Toothless was a fast dragon, actually, the fastest they knew of, he sped as quickly as he could to return to the place they now call home, so Hiccup could be taken care of, before it was too late. The dragon's worry pushed him to his limits as he flapped his wings rapidly, and both he and his rider felt immense relief when the island and the shape of the houses finally came into sight. It was already noon and the sun was shining brightly.

"Hey, you're already back! I thought for sure I'd get here before you!" A very well-known voice came from behind Hiccup. He looked back for a second to see Camicazi on her dragon approaching them, making the flight rather unsteady for a second as he twisted his head to see her.

"Hey…" His voice came out rusty and low, she could barely hear him with the wind blowing in her ears.

"Slow down a bit, it's not a competition, a Changewing can't keep up to a Night Fury, no need to show off, you know." She joked, flying closer to the black dragon from the left side. "Toothless seems tired…" She noticed. "Are you okay, Hiccup? You look like a mess." Her question came after looking more carefully at him; it took a few seconds for her to understand something was really wrong.

"I'm… fine…" He was panting, she was sure of it. Camicazi looked more intently as her Changewing approached as close as it could get to the Night Fury. Only then, could she see his right hand holding the side of his belly.

"Hiccup, I know you're not fine, what's going on… Oh my Gods, is that blood?"

"Yeah…" He said in a guilty tone of voice.

"Hiccup! What the hell have you been doing! What happened to you? Where were you?"

"I don't have time for that now." They were finally landing, and Hiccup knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake for much longer, he didn't come all this way to weaken now, he had to tell someone what he just discovered. "The Berserkers, they are planning to strike again!"

"What? But that's not a problem, we can take care of them, we kicked Dagur's butt the last time he tried something!" The young strawberry blond woman replied, "I'm worried about you, Hiccup, you look pale!"

People spotted them from the ground and waved in greeting, unaware of the problems or their conversation. Soon, the black dragon landed on the green forest floor. Hiccup dismounted and stood up to face Camicazi who practically jumped off of her Changewing to run in his direction as soon as they landed. The young man inhaled deeply, feeling difficulty breathing. Toothless was behind him, ready to help to break his human's imminent fall.

"No! Pay attention!" Hiccup grabbed her right arm with his clean left hand, the other one was bloody and still holding the gash to prevent the red liquid from coming out. Part of his gesture was because he could barely stand still and part of it was to make sure she'd listen to him. "I heard them. Last time wasn't for real, I think they were only testing or fooling us! They're coming with an entire armada of over a 100 ships! I don't know if we can take them down with that many and we need to get ready! We need to… do something…"

And then he just couldn't take it anymore, his body gave up and he felt his knees weakening as he started to fall on the ground. She held him as best as she could to help make his fall smooth, she wished she could stop him from hitting the ground, but even though he was thin, he was taller than her and at least as heavy. Toothless did what he could to help her hold him with his snout.

Hiccup fainted and the last thing he heard before losing consciousness completely was Camicazi's voice yelling for help.

Meanwhile, back on the island where the Berserkers were stranded, their leader shouted insults and hit everyone that crossed his path in order to let out his frustrations. How could a single dragon cause so much destruction in merely a few seconds while all of his warriors looked like sitting ducks, unable to do anything? How could they take on them and their dragons if just one could make such a mess?

"Dagur, we need to speak to you, sir."

"YOU. You are the idiots that let them escape in the first place! Tell me why I shouldn't just chop your heads off!"

"He might have escaped, sir, but we have a good news." The less dumb Berserker said, "We managed to hurt him."

"Very badly," the other one added, "I cut him right on the abdomen, he was bleeding a lot, it was a very nasty cut."

It wasn't totally true, Hiccup was hurt, but it was not that serious, though the two desperate Berserkers would do anything to be somehow rewarded after letting him escape.

"Really?" Dagur asked and they nodded fiercely. "Well, there might be hope for us yet if their leader is injured, it will be harder for them to defend themselves…" And then, Dagur grinned evilly before laughing hysterically.

Flashback 2

Hiccup thought it should have been easier to run away. It wasn't about missing his family and the place he called home for over 15 years. It was about doing what he had to do to survive. Hiccup had to learn to hunt, fish and cook his own food. And it wasn't easy. Sure, he had Toothless's help, but it was definitely not the same as before.

He didn't regret his decision, though, for he felt less lonely the past few months than any day he was on Berk, being bullied and laughed at around every corner he turned. Because he took empty journals with him, Hiccup started to study the dragons. They were always a bit withdrawn at first, but seeing how gentle the boy was and how protective the Night Fury was towards the human, the dragons soon accepted his presence and eventually, his touch. Soon, any dragon that would come near the pair would already know the human boy was not a threat and would approach peacefully.

Over the months, he discovered tons of new things about each dragon, and even though the same species had similar personality traits, each one was a little different from the others, they were all different in some way and it amazed him. The more he got to know about them, the more eager to learn he'd been.

However, no discovery would be more impressive and scary than the one he had the night he left Berk. He almost turned around to tell his father and the villagers, but then, he remembered that he'd not be heard. It was the truth about the Dragons' nest. There was an indescribably huge monster; its eyes were probably as big as Hiccup's body, though he couldn't be sure because he didn't stay there long enough to look at it. He could just remember the horror of almost being swallowed whole; the same fate that befell an unfortunate Gronckle.

Hiccup and Toothless went back there once more because the boy wanted to see if that thing had any weaknesses, he wanted to destroy the queen to free the dragons and he knew he had the Night Fury's support and approval. He just didn't know how, yet. He supposed that maybe its insides wouldn't be fire proof, like he had discovered days before in a quarrel between Toothless and a terrible terror. But what could he do with this, really? That monster was the size of a mountain, for Thor's sake!

He decided to call that monstrosity of a dragon queen the "Red Death", because of the red spikes that covered the monster from head to tail. Besides, it kinda suited the queen, anyway. And the second time they visited the Red Death, they barely escaped. A few stones fell in their path, because of the huge queen, stirring on that tiny spot, eager to reach them with her massive jaws. And she almost did, if Toothless had been any slower, they would have turned into her supper. One of her sharp teeth managed to cut through the black dragon's scaly tail, the stones that fell hit Hiccup, and it was only a stroke of luck that he didn't fall unconscious.

After that, he decided to study the other dragons again until he could try to explore the Red Death a bit more safely. If that was even possible.

During the months in the wild, he also had non-dragon related problems, a few people spotted them once or twice. And they obviously were revolted at seeing the boy by the dragon's side, so they attacked. Luckily, a Night Fury was always faster than any human, so when Hiccup mounted the dragon, they took off and disappeared in a heartbeat, leaving the men wondering if they even saw what they thought they had.

And soon, Hiccup began to feel the need for humans around him. Not just humans, he needed people to talk to, he missed working in a forge, and he missed a proper bed, even though he liked sleeping under Toothless's wing. Besides, he came up with new ideas for Toothless's saddle and tailfin that he just needed to try out.

That's when he made a decision to stop at a nearby village. On a cold, dark night, he stole a small, rarely used boat from Berk and Toothless pulled it to the village of the Bog Burglars.

Hiccup knew that they weren't completely merciless Vikings and they weren't unwelcoming to lonely travelers. Moreover, they were a tribe that wasn't really close to Berk. Not geographically speaking, but politically. Therefore, the possibility of being recognized wasn't very high, since the last time they saw a Bog Burglar was at least five years before, back then, he was only ten and they had stayed on Berk for such a short time. That tribe also didn't seem to attend the meetings of the tribes of the archipelago, or so he remembered Stoick saying.

He and Toothless found a small beach on the other side of the island so they could have a safe place to keep the dragon during the day, then, he entered the boat alone and turned it around the island to reach the docks.

"Hi. Good afternoon." His voice was a little nervous, but he managed to hide it, "I'm a traveler and I was wondering if I could speak to the chief for a moment…" Hiccup trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

"That'd be me." A tall, massive woman said getting closer. She was as wide as any other Viking and intimidating to the small teenage boy, who cleared his throat before continuing.

"Well, I'm a traveler, as I just said, and I need a place to stay for a few days, maybe weeks. I also need to use the forge a few times; my weaponry is in terrible state. I could do some blacksmithing works as a payment, I can craft some wonderful swords and axes."

"Well, we are in need of some assistance at the forge…" Bertha said thoughtfully, "Our blacksmith died in a raid a few months earlier and her apprentice is struggling to keep up with all the work. You can stay for as long as you need, boy but first, what is your name?"

"My name is Hic-Ric." He corrected himself with the first thing that crossed his mind. He couldn't say his name; it might blow everything up. "Ric Smith." And she raised an eyebrow as he gulped, wondering if his lying abilities got even worse during the months without much human contact.

"Ric Smith, the traveler blacksmith." She teased.

"Yeah… I know… Not really creative…" Hiccup mentally slapped himself.

"And where are you parents, Ric? You are a young boy, I don't think your parents just let you get on a boat and go."

"They used to travel with me, but they got killed, so I'm alone now." It's not totally a lie. He thought, trying to feel better at it, but failing miserably, it's not easy to try to earn people's trust when he was lying all the time. I mean, my mother did die, my father, on the other hand is alive and well as far as I'm concerned, he just probably hates me for running away, but that's not the point.

"Oh…" She mumbled sadly, that was why he had said that; he knew people would stop asking questions about them, or, at least, the normal people.

"What a shame, what happened with them?" Asked a messy strawberry blond girl around his age, her big blue eyes filled with curiosity. Hiccup guessed she was fourteen, just a year younger than him.

"I'd rather not talk about it…"

"Camicazi, my daughter, don't be rude." Bertha scolded impatiently. "Now, Ric, come with me, I'll show you around."

"Ric? Is that your name? It that really a name or just a nickname? How long have you been traveling? Where did you learn blacksmithing?"

She kept asking questions Hiccup definitely didn't want to answer. He sighed heavily as he walked behind Bertha, being followed by a very curious messy haired girl.

Hiccup was rather annoyed by the girl. She just wouldn't leave him alone! And she kept asking questions after question! But at the same time, he kinda liked the girl's presence, it was weird and maybe even masochistic, but he did nonetheless.

She was fun and full of energy, and she actually didn't look down at him, like everybody else his age on Berk, with the exception of the time he was doing good at dragon training. Camicazi didn't bully him, or laugh at him and Hiccup found himself pleased with that kind of change. It was just difficult to take Toothless food when he was being followed almost everywhere. But he managed somehow during that busy week.

Hiccup usually worked at the forge in the mornings, while the other apprentice, took the afternoon shift. She was about five years older than him, and she was not an apprentice anymore, since the other blacksmith died, but she wasn't nearly as good as Hiccup, and when she discovered that, out of pride or shame, she started avoiding him. By then, Hiccup didn't know why she was doing it, and honestly, he didn't care or put much thought into it, since he actually liked to stay alone in there.

"Hey, Ric, what you're doing?" The already well-known voice of Camicazi echoed in the forge. He stopped to look at her with a confused expression.

"Working." It was his simple answer as he raised his hands in an unbelievable reaction. Isn't it obvious? Hiccup thought ironically.

"Yeah, I know." She rolled her big blue eyes, "I meant what are you making?"

"It's a sword. For you mother, actually. Just thanking her for everything you've been doing for me."

"Are you planning on staying a bit longer?"

He stopped pounding the hot metal and shoved it under the cold water with the typical hissing sound before taking it out, then, he looked at her. There was something different in her voice, something unusual. It was almost like she asked that with sadness, but it couldn't be, could it? Did she want him to stay?

"Maybe, I don't really know yet where I'm going from here anyway, so I might stay for a few weeks, but that depends on your mother."

"Okay then." There was an awkward silence and he turned back to his job, heating the metal. "Ric, I already know you're good at making weapons, but are you also good at using them?"

He sighed. "Actually no. Not really." I think I could kill myself if I try to swing a blind sword, but that's beside the point. He thought sarcastically.

"Would you want to learn?"

"What?"

"I could teach you a bit of sword fighting, if you want to."

"I guess it would be nice." He wondered.

"Great. Then, meet me in the forest right behind my house, it's quiet and well-spaced. Come right after your lunch. Don't be late."

She said as she walked right out of the door. Hiccup shrugged and returned to his work. He did exactly as he was told; at noon, his shift ended, he ate his lunch quickly and made his way to the spot she said. Camicazi was already waiting for him.

"You're not too late, so I'll forgive you. Now, take this." She handed him a wooden sword.

"But it's not a real one."

"Obviously. I don't want you to get hurt too much during your first class."

"By the way, how do you know so much if you're just 14?"

"I'm 15, thank you very much. Even though I turned 15 like, three weeks ago. Anyway, I've been training since I was around five, and I'm one of the best sword fighters under 20 on this island. Believe me, you couldn't ask for a better teacher."

"Okay…"

He said reaching for the wooden object. Camicazi soon noticed that he was holding it in a weird way, like it didn't fit or that it was something weird in his hand. They started the lessons, Hiccup could dodge, that was alright, the problem was when he started swinging. He just couldn't coordinate his hand to do what he wanted or needed it to do.

After hours training under the shadow of the trees, he finally sat down, exhausted. He had been hit countless times by Camicazi's wooden sword he was hurt and panting, not knowing what was wrong with him, and the girl wasn't even sweating! As he sat, his sketchbook fell out of his furry vest, opening as it hit the floor.

"What is this?" She asked, curiously picking it up.

"Nothing." His cheeks got red from embarrassment as he tried to take it from her.

"Is it a Nadder? It's beautiful. You're a good drawer. And it's so detailed, how close you were to the beast? Didn't it attack you or something?"

"No, I guess it didn't see me…" It was a lie, but he hoped she wouldn't notice, after all, he got close enough to scratch the dragon and for it to nudge him once or twice, but he couldn't say that.

"There are other dragon drawings here as well, I see a Gronckle, a Nightmare, is that a Changewing?" She kept turning the pages curiously and he stood up again nervously.

"Yes, it is."

He said grabbing the sketchbook away from her before she got to the part of Toothless's drawings. How could he explain how he had survived seeing and getting close to the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself'? He looked at the page and noticed it was unfinished, just a few more strokes to make it perfect. Not resisting the impulse to finish it, he sat down again and pulled a pencil out of his vest. Camicazi sat beside him, watching the lines carefully appear in all the right places. Until, she suddenly realized something important.

"You're using the left hand now."

"Yeah. I always do. When I use the right one, the drawing looks like it was made by a three year old kid who was trying to make the worst thing it ever could have dreamed of…"

"No, what I meant is that you were using the right hand on the training."

"So were you."

"Gee, are you stupid or what? You're left handed! You should have used the left one! Why didn't you?" Then the obvious truth hit him like a rock thrown by a Gronckle.

"I don't know. It's weird, I guess. I haven't seen anyone using the left hand…"

"Well, I did. There's this warrior, Hilda, she used to use the right one, though when a dragon took it off in a raid, she started using the left one. It was hard at first, really, she almost gave up a few times, but then she got better. The thing is, you're supposed to be better with your dominant hand, but you can actually try to use both. Tomorrow we'll train with you using the left. Now, I gotta go."

So she stood up and ran to wherever she had to do. Hiccup stayed there for a while, he finished the drawing and slowly walked to the market place to buy some fish for Toothless, feeling all his muscles starting to hurt from the exercise.

Later that evening, Camicazi entered her house and found her mother relaxing by the fire. As always, the weather was cold and the wind was blowing outside, but inside it was warm and cozy.

"You know, mom, that Ric guy seems to be a nice boy." Camicazi told Bertha, it'd been about a week since his arrival.

"Yes, indeed." The woman said drinking mead from the mug in her hands "I think he is a good hearted boy, however, there's something about him that bugs me that I just can't put my fingers on…"

"What do you mean, mom?" Camicazi asked, confused.

She agreed that there was something about him, though it probably was not the same thing her mother was saying. It was something that made the girl's heart skip a beat. She didn't know what it was, though. It could be the freckles on his cheeks, or maybe the flowing auburn hair he always had to push away from his dazzling green eyes.

"Well, he's a good boy, he's polite and kind, which is really rare for a Viking or someone who lives around Vikings. He also works very well at the forge. But I feel like he's hiding something." And all that mystery only made the boy even more appealing in the young girl's eyes.

"I don't know about that, but he's been here for a week already, right? Would you let him stay a little longer?"

Bertha stopped drinking to notice the sparkles in her daughter's eyes. How could she say no?

"If he keeps doing a wonderful job, he can stay for as long as he wants."

"Thanks! He'll be pleased to know! I think I shall tell him right away!"

And the girl ran out of the warm house, searching for him, her blond hair swinging from side to side in her ponytail. She was a bit confused about what he mother told her, and as she curiously followed him carrying a big basket smelling like fish, she'd have never guessed that she was about to discover just how much he was hiding.

Please don't forget to leave a review on you way out, I'! :D

Itban Fuyu