Thanks to my beta, this story is free from grammar mistakes and typos!

The cover was made by me, this and other drawings like Camicazi and her dragons are in my DA account, the link is in my profile.

And on with the chap! Enjoy and Review! :D

Chapter 3

Mysteries to solve

Stoick sat at the table and began eating his dinner. He sighed heavily to the empty house. He could only hear the sound of the fire snapping and the wood burning.

The chief knew Gobber was indeed right. Quests for the nest, quests for this Night Fury, all of them only made him and the people lose time and a few lives. It was all just useless. All for nothing.

He drank the mead from his mug and put it down again, the sound of it making contact with the wooden table seemed louder because of the infinite silence of the house. The house was just so silent, so empty, so... lonely. It was in times like this that his anger grew stronger. How could he ever think about not doing something even if it was useless? The dragons, those horrible beasts took everything away from him. His beloved wife, his precious son, and even his peace of mind. He knew he was about to go insane as well, so they would even take his sanity from him.

It was hard for him to stay inside that empty house for much longer, but it was getting a bit more bearable over the years. It had been so much harder at the beginning, and in the first days he actually hoped that his son would come home, sneaking in through the back door like he had done many times before. But Stoick knew he wouldn't this time. And it only made him angrier. It didn't matter how, but he was going to kill that Night Fury, no matter what.

"Dragons!" Some voices came from the outside. Stoick tossed his mostly empty plate to the side and stood up, grabbing his axe on the way out the door.

"How many dragons do we have tonight?" Stoick asked a villager.

"Actually, sir, it's not that many. Just about half a dozen or so…"

"What? You're kidding me, they've never raided us with that few before." The chief was confused by it, and even unconcerned.

Usually, there were about fifty or so per raid. So half a dozen was nothing compared to that. Well, fifty dragons and sometimes a Night Fury, though that one hadn't showed up again in five years. In fact, it had been years since a real raid happened. Sometimes some dragons would come and steal food, but it was nothing like before, when Hiccup was alive, and sometimes he wondered if his son caused as much damage to the village as the dragons. Even so, Stoick would give anything to have his son back, even damaging the village as before.

"Just about six? We can take care of them with an arm tied to our backs!" Gobber said, approaching the chief.

"No" The villager said, worried. "It's different this time. It's like they've gone mad, they're just attacking, they're not raiding. They're not after the food and they're strong and scary, actually. I've never seen them like that, Chief."

"They're just dragons."

Stoick replied going after a Monstrous Nightmare that had a random villager in its claws. The red bearded man slammed the dragon in the face, and the Nightmare turned to face him, pure fury turning its eyes red. The slits in them were so narrow that it could have frightened the chief if he wasn't Stoick the Vast.

He knew dragons would only go for the kill; they were merciless beasts, after all. But this one really had something different. It wasn't just defending itself and stealing food. It wanted blood, and lots of it. Stoick knew he could have died just then if it wasn't for his brother in arms helping him by advancing at the beast and slaying it. Or more accurately, trying to slay it, because, at the moment, the dragon dodged the blade of the axe, attached to his prosthetic.

The rage seemed to make the dragon stronger and madder, but it also made it more reckless. Astrid, one of the best shield-maidens on Berk soon came running to help them. She had never been scared by a dragon before, but the immense rage it was showing made her body shiver. It tried to bite her arms off and might have, if Stoick hadn't push her away in time.

Snotlout, another great warrior and now the heir to Berk's throne, threw a net over the mad dragon to try and stop him, but it was pointless, since the beast set himself on fire to get rid of all the ropes.

"Odin! If they were always like this, we wouldn't have lived here for seven generations!" Gobber muttered to himself, and then he noticed something odd.

The dragon's red scaled body had many scars. Some were old, others were new, but he had never seen so many on one dragon before, even the ones that they kept for training. It was like the poor creature had been tortured. Usually, Vikings would only kill or keep dragons for training, not torture, since it was beyond belief, and it was insane. Maybe the dragon just fought a lot with other dragons, that was all, it could happen, Gobber himself had seen some fighting before and causing scars on each other. All of the dragons attacking that night had scars; they could all be part of some kind of wild rebel pack or something.

Hours later, the village was torn upside down like after any other raid. Some buildings were on fire. The attack ended up with about twenty villagers hurt, but thankfully most of them had just light bruises on them. Two of the dragons had been killed while the other four managed to escape. Stoick wondered with a bit of fear if they might attack like that again, and he hoped that the mad dragons wouldn't raid Berk, or else the village might not survive.

Flashback 3

"Hey, bud, I'm back!" Hiccup said as he reached the spot he left Toothless. The black dragon was relaxing on the ground and as soon as he heard his human approaching, he stood up and went to find him. "Up for some night flying after dinner?"

With a sigh, he left the heavy basket on the ground, opening it so the dragon could feed himself. Hiccup didn't leave Toothless in a cove this time, the dragon was hiding inside a cavern they found, and the boy didn't worry anymore if the dragon would leave him, not only because he was flightless without his rider, but also because of the strong bond between them.

Toothless gave his signature goofy smile and started eagerly eating the fish on the ground. The dragon started moving his ears as he heard something approaching, it was the sound of steps. He immediately stopped eating to stare in the direction of the noise, growling menacingly.

"Oh my Gods, Ric, watch out, I think it is a Night Fury! Wait… were you just talking to it?" That was Camicazi's unmistakable voice. Hiccup turned to see the messy haired girl in total shock, staring at Toothless.

"Look, Camicazi, it's okay. He's not gonna hurt you."

She was too scared to stay there for any longer, so she turned around and broke into a run. He quickly told Toothless to stop her and the dragon obeyed as he jumped in front of the girl, who yelped in surprise. Surprise, not fear, because Bog Burglars never felt fear. She stepped back from the black-scaled dragon, who tried not to be scary when he realized she was not a threat.

"Camicazi, please, just listen to me, Toothless is not mean. He's my friend."

"But, Ric, it's a dragon! For Thor's sake!"

"He's just an overgrown cat when you get to know him." Hiccup got closer to Toothless to start scratching him, watching the dragon close his eyes with pleasure. She looked the dragon up and down a few times before she started to relax a bit.

"Okay, I admit he might not be as scary as he seemed at first."

"Camicazi, I need to tell you the truth about the dragons. I mean, I wasn't going to do that, but now since you've found out, I don't really any have other choice."

"The truth about dragons? What do you mean?"

"Dragons aren't what we think they are. They're kind, amazing creatures that can be really gentle once you get to know them. Once you gain their loyalty, there's nothing a dragon wouldn't do for you. Toothless has saved me countless times already."

"By the way, Toothless? Really? You named a Night Fury, Toothless? Or at least that's what I think his species is, since I've never seen a dragon like this before."

"Yes, he is. And the name is actually kind of a pun, show her, bud." The dragon opened his mouth and retracted his teeth.

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"That's not all. Come with me, I'm gonna show you the world from a dragon's perspective." He said, mounting Toothless and reaching his hand out for her. She carefully looked at both of them. She had barely accepted the idea of dragons not being murderous beasts and now he wanted her to ride one? With him?

"You know what?" She asked frowning, "I think you're totally crazy, and you might have hit your head. But maybe, I did too because it seems totally thrilling!"

So, she jumped on Toothless, behind Hiccup, and the dragon was soon airborne. Camicazi was a little tense, holding the boy's waist tightly as they ascended. Then, she started to relax as she glanced at the world's beauty, mesmerized.

"It's all so wonderful." She said softly. "But, I don't understand, if they're not vicious, murdering creatures, why do they attack and raid us?"

"They defend themselves. They don't have any alternative, they have to raid and bring food to their island."

"You mean the nest? I know some tribes are desperate to find it. We're not raided as much because we're further away from Helheim's gate, how did you find it?"

"It was Toothless. There's something on their island, it's a dragon, huge as a mountain, and if the dragons don't bring enough food, it will eat them alive. I call it the Red Death. It's awful. I want to free the dragons from that horrible monster, though I don't yet know how."

"Ric, come on, a dragon the size of a mountain? It doesn't exist. And if all we need to do is kill a dragon, I could do it myself."

"I'll show you how easy it's gonna be in a moment…" he said sarcastically as he petted Toothless and told the dragon to go to the nest.

Camicazi had never been as scared in her life as in that brief moment she saw the Red Death's eyes. She could only stare at the creature that was big enough to give her nightmares. Really, she could never imagine something could be that immensely huge. She also couldn't get rid of the image of a poor Nadder being eaten by that dragon. No, that was not a dragon, it was a monster.

"That's horrible…" She trailed off, finally being able to breathe when they were far away from the nest. Her hands weren't shaking, but she had a tight grip on the boy's sleeves.

"Are you okay?" He asked, almost regretting showing her the truth, and a little scared himself, because they almost didn't get out of there alive. He was feeling guilty, if something had happened, it would have been his entirely his fault for not thinking it through beforehand. He should have known better, he had already almost died there, after all.

"No, but I'll be. Thanks." He raised an eyebrow, confused, and tried to turn behind him to look at her.

"For what?"

"For opening my eyes. I always wanted to be a good warrior, to kill dragons, but now I see things differently, suddenly, that's not enough anymore. Does it make sense to you?"

"I guess so. Yeah." He once wanted those things too. The glory of slaying a dragon. He hadn't wanted that since he befriended Toothless.

"I'm sorry for them, they have no choice. Either way they get killed, it's not fair."

He noticed her voice trembling a little, like she was about to cry, albeit she'd never admit she shed a tear.

"Yeah… Let's get back to the Bog Burglars' island, shall we?"

"Yes, please. By the way, Ric, you told me you wanted to get rid of that monster, how do you plan on doing that?"

"I'm not sure yet, I've been thinking about it and I've also searched for weak spots that monster might have, but I still don't have any idea."

"You're a clever boy, I know you will think of something. Let's tell my mother about it!"

"No!" He almost yelled, her island was coming into sight. "Look, I'm very thankful for everything, but I'm not ready for this, yet. What if she doesn't believe me? What if she wants to kill Toothless before I can convince her of the truth? He's my best friend, I'm not gonna put him in any kind of danger."

"Okay, then. If you insist, I'll keep it a secret, but just for a while."

"Thanks…" He said with relief. "Oh, and by the way, there's one more thing I need to tell you…" They landed on the same place they had taken off to the skies. Both humans dismounted and Hiccup petted Toothless behind his ears before the dragon went to eat the rest of the fish.

"There's more?"

"Yeah, well, I think you might as well know everything. My real name's not Ric Smith. I just told it was because I didn't want to be recognized. I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, son of Stoick the Vast, chief of the Hooligan Tribe. I'm sorry for hiding who I really am…"

"That is unexpected… Did you run away because of Toothless? Were you scared of what they could do to him?"

"That too, but that's not the only reason I left. I like Berk, but that place is not right for me anymore, I'm trying to find where that is. I dreamed of a place where dragons and humans can live together, in peace. That's where I'd like to live and I'm still gonna find that place, somehow. Besides, we can't get separated, Toothless can't fly without me."

"What do you mean by that?"

The dragon showed her the tail with the prosthetic. "I shot him down when we met and he lost part of his tail fin in the process, so I built one for him, though it will only work when I'm controlling it. He needs me, and I need him. So we need a safe place to live together, and I'm gonna find it." Camicazi nodded.

"That place could be here, someday."

"Maybe. But let's take it one step at a time, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah… Well, it's getting late, I shall go back now. Oh, and I almost forgot, my mother said that you don't have to hurry to go away, she said that if you keep doing your great work at the forge, you can stay for as long as you want. Isn't it great, Hiccup?"

"Yes. Thank you, but please keep calling me Ric, I don't want people to find out who I am, I just told you because you're special and already found out the rest of it." He ran his hands nervously through his auburn hair. "I'm gonna sleep around here with Toothless, so if you need me, you know where to find me."

"Good night, Ric." She corrected herself and kissed him lightly on the cheek before turning and running away with her messy hair flowing from side to side in her ponytail.

Hiccup turned to his friend happily eating, thinking on how tired he was and how he'd just eat one of the fish he brought for himself, heating it on a bonfire he'd ask Toothless to light up for him. That is until he heard Camicazi's voice again.

"Hiccup, I mean, Ric, I think you should see this." He sighed heavily and followed her. Not far from where they were, there was a small purple dragon, a terrible terror, to be exact.

The little dragon growled and backed away, reaching a tree behind him, or better, her, it was a female terrible terror. She was scared and trying to get away from them. Hiccup kneeled down and tried to soothe the frightened dragon. When he got closer, he noticed why she didn't fly away as he expected: she was hurt. Her right wing was bent in a weird and painful looking angle.

"The wing is broken, she probably fell around here." Camicazi wondered and he nodded.

"Hey girl, don't be afraid, we're not gonna hurt you." He said gently as he pulled a fish out of his sack, he was going to eat it, but he could always grab another one later, and he wasn't that hungry anyway. "You must be hungry, right? Here, eat this." The tiny dragon smelled it and began eating quickly; it had been days that she was wandering around, hurt and hungry.

"What are we gonna do about her wing?"

"We're gonna fix it. Stay with her for a minute, I'm gonna go get some stuff to make it right." He had bought first aid supplies earlier that week, if he or Toothless needed it, so he got them and went back.

The purple dragon kept sniffing both humans, finding the scent of a dragon, but not of dragon's blood, so she relaxed a little.

"Okay, girl, this might sting a little, but I swear in a few days your wing will be fine and you'll be able to fly again."

"Why do you keep talking to her? She's an animal."

"I know, but they can understand us, somehow. I've spent some months around them and I don't really know how to explain it, but they do understand. It's different than when we try to talk to a sheep or other animal. They're intelligent creatures."

"If you say so…" Camicazi mumbled as she observed him put the wing in the right place as carefully as he could, and then wrap a splint around it to keep it in place. He barely winced when the small dragon bit his hands because of the pain. It wasn't because the dragon wanted to hurt him, he knew it. She just did it as a reflex, an instinct. She was hurt, and therefore more vulnerable, right now, so everything seemed like a threat to her.

"Okay, little girl. You are going to be just fine." He said as he left her on the forest floor, rubbing the sore spot where she bit him. "I think you should take her home."

"What? You're kidding right? My mom will kill her on sight."

"Not if she doesn't see her."

"Why doesn't she stay with Toothless?"

"Toothless is a lonely dragon, he doesn't really relate that well at first, so she might get startled and she needs to rest a lot for her wing to heal properly. She needs a quiet, cozy place where she can relax and where she can be watched, so we can monitor her recovery and take the splint off at the right moment."

"Fine. I'll do it. But if my mom sees her, I'll blame you."

Camicazi grabbed the small dragon, that cuddled in her arms, and walked back home. It was going to be a long night, but she actually found herself pretty cheerful with the situation, liking the feeling of having that warm, cute creature in her arms.

Fifteen days passed since then. Camicazi managed to hide the purple dragon, and they introduced her to Toothless, who wasn't really open to her at first. But then he grew used to having her around. During the day, the dragon stayed with Camicazi and Toothless, in the afternoon, Hiccup joined them and both he and the girl trained at sword fighting, which he got much better once he started using his left hand. And during the night, the tiny dragon hid under Camicazi's bed.

Soon, the dragon's wing was healed.

"There. Let me see." Hiccup said taking the splint off. Slowly, the purple wing flapped up and down until she was airborne.

"But are you sure it's healed already? I mean, it's only been fifteen days."

"Sure. Dragons heal rather quickly. I remember one day I saw a nasty gash on a Gronckle, probably from an axe or sword. I helped him and within only five or six days, it was like he had never been cut at all."

"Oh…" She whispered softly.

Camicazi was getting used to the tiny dragon and didn't want her to leave. The purple terrible terror flew away and the girl sighed sadly, thinking she'd never see the dragon again, until, suddenly, she felt scaly skin touching her hand, nudging to call her attention. The dragon didn't want to leave her, either.

"Stormcloud, you came back for me!" the blond hugged the purple dragon happily.

"Stormcloud?" Hiccup asked, confused.

"Yes. It's the name I decided to give her. It's a strong name and it's better than Toothless." The black dragon glared at her, not liking that, before turning back to eat his fish. She turned to the black-scaled friend "You heard me, Night Fury. But it's not your fault, it's Hiccup's. I still like you, nonetheless."

"Thanks…" The boy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I was talking to the dragon." She said simply as he crossed his arms and sighed.

"Anyway, you're gonna keep her?"

"Yeah. I like her. She's my friend now, I can't just abandon her, you know. I just don't know yet how I'm going to tell my mother. Do you have a plan?"

"Maybe, but I don't know if it will work. For a while, let's just keep it the way it is."

She nodded in agreement, then, they began to train again.

Later that evening, Hiccup found Bertha looking at the teenagers around his age, training to fight against dragons. It was a slippery, angry Whispering Death, and Hiccup could barely stand looking at the dragon being hurt, however, there was not much he could do at the moment.

"Hello, Chief. Good evening."

"Hi, Ric. Want to see some young warriors in action?"

"Sorry, but actually, no. I'm not really fond of violence." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, turning his eyes to look away from the scene. The teens weren't killing the dragon, they were defending themselves, but the more they attacked, the angrier the dragon got. "In fact, I wanted to talk to you."

"Really? About what?"

"I wanted to thank you for the hospitality, so I made you this."

He handed her the sword he'd been working on. The mighty woman grabbed it and looked at the fine craftsmanship with awe. It was the finest well-made sword she had ever seen. Sharpened enough to cut a finger just by touching it, perfectly balanced and with beautiful yet strong details on the handhold.

"It's a beautiful sword." She gasped.

"I'm glad you liked it."

"But why are you giving me this now? Are you planning on going away?" Weirdly, Bertha found herself a little sad at the thought of him going, she'd never guessed she'd get used to having him around and to actually want him on her island, maybe it was her daughter's influence on her.

"Not for now. Maybe someday, I just needed to give it to you, though."

She nodded and thanked him for the gift. There was an awkward silence for a moment. He dared to look in the arena and saw that they were throwing the Whispering Death inside a dungeon, it was quite like Berk, actually. The big looking woman was probably the teacher, and she was talking to the teenagers who fought bravely. He sighed sadly at the sight.

"Chief Bertha, May I ask you something odd?" The woman shrugged as if saying 'go ahead', so he continued. "What would you say if I told you dragons are not the ruthless, vicious, murdering creatures we think they are?"

She stared blankly at him for a moment before laughing out loud. He was afraid of that reaction. The people exited the arena and started to walk away.

"Oh, please boy, don't amuse me like that. Everybody knows they're mindless beasts who will kill you as soon as they can."

"What if I could prove to you it's not like that?"

"What do you mean, boy?"

Hiccup convinced Bertha to go down to the arena and open a cell, telling her that whatever happened, she could protect herself. She told him he was insane, that the dragon would kill him on the spot and he was so clumsy and skinny that he wouldn't be able to defend himself. But Hiccup was just too stubborn.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked one more time.

"Yes. Open the door, please."

As she opened it, the same Whispering Death came zooming out of his cell, ready to attack the humans that would hurt him. Instead, he only found a small, frail looking boy, with no weapons. The dragon looked at him from head to toe, waiting for a blow, for a trap, anything. However, the human didn't move. Slowly, Hiccup raised his hands showing the dragon he wasn't there to hurt him.

Cautiously, the Whispering Death got closer and closer, studying the human. Bertha tensed as she saw the beast coming in the direction of that tiny weaponless boy. She reached for her new sword, but stopped when she watched the dragon close its eyes and slowly let its snout reach the boy's hands. Hiccup made soothing noises, to calm the scared dragon.

"I see you're hurt…" Hiccup slowly petted the dragon and said in a low, calming tone of voice. "I'm going to put something on you, it might sting a bit, but it will help you get better, I promise."

He reached for the medication he had on his satchel and put it on the dragon's gash. The Whispering Death got startled and almost attacked, but noticed that whatever he was doing, was diminishing the pain, so he stopped to let the boy continue.

Bertha was mesmerized, looking at the scene but not believing her eyes. Her mouth was agape and soon more and more people were gathering up around the arena, wondering what was happening and how he was doing it. The chief of the Bog Burglars didn't know what to do.

"Look. Bertha, the dragon is not attacking. All you have to do is be gentle with them and they'll do the same."

It took some time for the chief to accept that. She asked if that was a trick, everyone who saw that was thinking the same, until Camicazi speak in his favor and show all of the people and her own mother that he was being honest. Slowly, the Bog Burglars understood what he was trying to say and show them, but it didn't stop the raids from happening.

"But, Hiccup, what are you planning to do now?" Camicazi asked later that night, when everyone in the village was still astonished, both youngsters went into the woods. "That doesn't stop the raids, unless that wicked queen is destroyed… And no one will believe us about that giant monster."

"Yes, I know, and the dragons don't even like to eat farm animals, they like fish, try explaining that after a raid… The thing is, if the queen is destroyed, the dragons won't have a reason for raiding anymore. All I have to do is kill the queen and free the dragons…" He trailed off, suddenly realizing that was not his plan and things were getting badly out of hand.

"You can't possibly be thinking on trying to attack that mountain of a monster."

"Well, no. Not alone, I guess. I just need to find some weakness. Everything has a strong and a weak spot. That thing must have one as well."

Camicazi crossed her arms and sighed.

"And you're planning on going there again to try and check it out, right?"

"Yeah. I did this before and I'm very much alive. We can do this again, Toothless and I. He's a Night Fury, for Thor's sake, the fastest dragon we know of. We'll be fine."

Hiccup reassured her. Stormcloud walked up Camicazi's body and stopped at her shoulder, the girl looked at the tiny purple dragon and petted her head, then she looked back at the boy who was scratching the Night Fury behind his ears. Both had no idea everything was about to change that night.

I really appreciate reviews, just so you know... So please leave one before you leave! I want to know your thoughts about the story!

Itban Fuyu