"No one knows what it's like

To be the bad man,

To be the sad man

Behind blue eyes."

-The Who, "Behind Blue Eyes"


Author's Notes: Behold, the beginning of Riders of Berk!

Okay, so I apologize profusely for the super-late update. I got caught up in other things (like other stories and school), and I wasn't sure how to begin this chapter. But I'm BACK! WOOT WOOT!

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MMM – A very evil thing is after her, one that also appears in some of my other fics. I've got quite the plot going regarding Deorca and my OC's, and Lucia, as well. As for Astrid, well, let's just say that she's definitely not gonna make it easy for those two ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD, blah blah blah, only my OC's are mine. Yeah, I'm getting just as tired of this as you.

Key:

Bold: Translated Benydeyh

Italic: Frostwave's translated lines (when from Addie's POV); human language (when Frostwave's POV); emphasis during normal speech

Italic Bold: Translated Benydeyh (when Frostwave's POV)

Normal: normal Norse; emphasis during flashbacks or when Frostwave is speaking


Hiccup, narrating

This is Berk. For generations, it was Viking against dragon for generations. The battles were ferocious... then one day, everything changed. I met Toothless, and together we showed people here that instead of fighting dragons, we can ride them, live with them, even train them.

Adeline's POV

Icy rain beat down on my skin, soaking me to the bone, and flashes of harsh light illuminated the blackness. I heard a moan behind me and helplessly turned to see the source. My father was reaching out to me, a gleaming silver sword sticking out of his chest, a woman lying on the ground behind him like a rag doll. Mom... Dad...

"Adeline..." he groaned before slumping to the ground. Behind him was Gale, a new, shining blade in his hand. But that wasn't right. Gale hadn't been there.

"Listening to Lucia will only bring heartache and pain to you, Guardian. Give up on her guidance, and you won't have to face this," a woman crooned coldly, her voice oily and dark. I couldn't see anyone else but the Blackstone pirate before me. Where had her voice come from?

Hiccup appeared by my side and tried fighting Gale, but the older man threw a knife at him and hit him in the side, right where his blade had cut him before. I tried reaching out for him, but he turned as pale as death and collapsed, turning into a pile of dust that was wiped away by the rain even as his slim body slumped to the deck. I growled in desperate fury and glared at Gale, only to see him turn into something else. A monster like a wolf, a bear, and a dragon, combined into one horrifying being. It snarled viciously, raising one clawed paw in preparation to pounce.

Frostwave and Toothless leaped out from behind me, spreading their wings wide in a show of protection, only to be cut down by something horrifying. It looked like me from when I first came to Berk, only shadowy with glowing purple eyes. There was nothing but malice in those haunting orbs, and as she dove to cut me down, I screamed in fear.

"ADDIE!"

I jerked awake and hit my head against Hiccup's forehead. We both recoiled from the sudden pain, and as I held my hand to the spot, I could see Frostwave and Stoick both looking at me in concern, and Hiccup had an arm lightly wrapped around my shoulder.

"W-what are you guys doing in here?" I said, still shaking from it. That dream had been so real... and somehow I knew it wasn't just my head. That woman was proof. My gut told me that was Lady Deorca, like the golden lady had warned me about. But why was she telling me not to listen to Lucia, whoever that was?

"We... we heard you scream," Hiccup admitted, fidgeting a bit. I looked from him to Frostwave, and then to Stoick. That part of the dream when the shadow me had attacked... I had actually screamed?

"It was very quiet, but Hiccup said he couldn't sleep, and so he heard you cry out," Stoick explained. I stared at my hands. What could I tell them? That it was just a nightmare? That would only be telling part of the truth, and even I didn't know what the rest was.

"Are you alright, Addie?" Hiccup asked. I nodded and let Frostwave wrap her head around me.

"Do not cry, Addie. You have good people around you," she hummed gently, letting little puffs of cold air hit my back as she breathed. I just held onto her, trying to calm down. What was that dream about? Was it a warning that those I loved would die if I kept listening to someone called Lucia? Why now?

Oh, this was too much for my head. I needed to calm down and get my act together again.

"I'm fine. Just give me a few minutes, okay?" I replied finally, taking a few deep breaths. They still seemed concerned, but a simple growl from Frostwave got them to leave.

And yet, something told me that wasn't the last time I would hear from Deorca.

A few hours later...

Frostwave and I joined the others on a sea stack overlooking the vast ocean. Astrid glared at me, but it was just the usual story. I was used to her by now. Really, I was used to everyone, even Snotlout's ego and the Twins' comical stupidity. Hiccup smiled at me comfortingly, then looked at everyone else.

"Okay, guys. Best Trick Competition. Who's up first?" he asked cheerfully, oblivious to the looks Astrid was giving me. Ah, ignorance truly is bliss.

I wasn't really sure how to act around Astrid anymore. At first, she had been hostile toward me – for understandable reasons – and now she was just being weird. Whenever all of us were together, she would always give Hiccup and I a hard time, and sometimes I would see her just smiling smugly. People were weird. Hence my preference for dragon company.

"Uh..." Fishlegs began confidently, drawing me back to the competition. As usual, Snotlout cut him off.

"Me!" he said eagerly. I shook my head subtly and folded my arms across my chest. Here they go again.

"Actually, I think it's-" Fishlegs tried again.

"Me!" Snotlout said, a little more firmly than before. At this rate, we'd be here all day. Or maybe that's just me being pessimistic again.

"Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm, GO!" Astrid shouted at him, gesturing to the open sky. I grinned at this. If Snotlout ever got out of hand, at least we could count on Astrid to put him in his place. And if she didn't work, then we had the Monstrous Nightmare the burly boy was straddling. It was so nice seeing other dragons on a regular basis. I love Frostwave to death, but sometimes a girl just needs some variety in her life.

"Oh, don't worry, we'll go. And when we go, Hookfang and I are gonna light the sky on-"

The Monstrous Nightmare chose that moment to dive off of the sea stack, making Snotlout clutch his horns desperately.

"FIRE! Oh, no!" he screamed. I had to hold back a laugh at the sight. This was almost as funny as that time Simon had eaten some of my cooking when I was ten. Poor guy looked like a fish, mainly because of how sour it was. Hey, I may not be the world's greatest cook, but at least I didn't burn the water, like some of those kids were doing. It's just that the food I make isn't usually fit for human consumption. Anyways, back to the stunts.

At one point, Hookfang flew sideways, and Snotlout's helmet was scraping against the stone, sending off sparks as they went. After that, I had to look away. It was too painful to watch Hookfang teach his rider a lesson.

When the Monstrous Nightmare finally landed, Snotlout panting desperately, I had to put a hand up to cover the smirk on my face. I'm sorry, but this was too funny not to laugh at. The boy looked at himself, stunned, and we looked at him blankly.

"I'm alive...? I'm alive!" he cheered, just before remembering we were all here. Snotlout composed himself and cleared his throat.

"Of course I am," he amended, shaking his arms for emphasis. I rolled my eyes, and I'm pretty sure Frostwave was laughing. Otherwise, there was no way to explain her soft shaking.

"It's my turn! Ready, Meatlug? Here we go!" Fishlegs said cheerfully. The Gronckle panted excitedly, hovered off the ground, and started flying slowly forward. The two of them turned left and kept turning until they had gone in a circle, looping around the Twins. When they landed in their original spot, the meaty boy cheered.

"Yes! New personal best!" he said cheerfully. I nearly fell off of Frostwave. That was a personal best? I know Gronckles aren't the best stunt dragons, but still. That was very sad.

Apparently, the Twins wanted to go next, judging by the way they were arguing now. Zipplebacks were a bit weird to me (the thought of a dragon with two heads has always freaked me out; I mean, how do they even work?), but having Ruffnut and Tuffnut ride one made sense, in a twisted sort of way. Each got a head, but still remained together. It was kinda creepy how much they were together, though. I guess that's 'cause I've never had any real siblings. Simon was kinda my brother, but not really, and even then we hadn't been joined at the hip like these two were.

"My turn!" Ruff shouted. Tuffnut rolled his eyes.

"No, MY turn!" he countered. They probably would have started fighting if Hiccup hadn't intervened.

"Guys, same dragon," he reminded them. The two of them stopped and looked at the heads of their dragon.

"Oh, right," Tuff said. Barf and Belch flew up into the air, and at first, everything seemed to be going fine. Since this was the Twins, I wasn't very surprised when it went downhill.

"Go left!" he shouted.

"No, right!" she countered.

"N-no, right!" he corrected.

"No, left!" she yelled.

The confusing orders of Ruffnut and Tuffnut alternating directions made them narrowly dodge one sea stack that loomed up in front of them. The Zippleback got fed up with it and flung them off their backs, sending the teenagers high, high, high into the sky. Frostwave tensed beneath me, ready to help them, but I put a hand to her head. Barf and Belch wouldn't just kill their riders, frustrating though they may be.

"OH, NO! WHOA! THIS IS AWESOME AND SCARY!" Tuff screamed as they fell toward the ocean. Just before they hit the salty waves and ended up as grease spots on the surface, Barf and Belch caught them in their mouths and gently tossed them back up into the saddles. The Zippleback flew up to rejoin us, their riders breathing raggedly as they tried to recover from the near-death experience, and landed heavily.

"We almost died!" Ruff exclaimed, panting to regain her breath.

"Yeah, I know... go again?" her brother replied eagerly. They both sat up, and I was just about ready to slap my face. This was going to get old real quick, enjoyable as it had been. Thankfully, Astrid stepped in.

"Hey! It's my turn," she interjected. The young woman twisted to look at Hiccup and I. "You might wanna take notes. Let's go! Yah!"

Stormfly reacted with admirable speed to her rider's exclamations and quickly flew into the air, off the stack we were perched on, then descended toward the sea.

"Okay, Stormfly, tail flip!" I heard her command. The Nadder obliged by dipping her tail into the water as they flew, creating a path of waves and foam along their movement. They went higher, and Astrid shouted, "Now twirl!"

Her dragon partner rolled like a barrel down a hill (I've been in one of those, once. It was both the most fun I've had with other people on Blackstone and the most terrifying ten minutes of my life). They jetted forward, the move giving them a quick burst of momentum, and Astrid gave one more command.

"Quick, upwards spiral!"

They spun up even higher, and I had to admit, they were a great team. Astrid and Stormfly were perfect partners. Come to think of it, nearly everyone seemed well-matched in their dragon friends, especially when it came to attitudes. Huh. That couldn't have been a coincidence.

"All right, Stormfly!" Astrid praised her dragon brightly. When they landed, it seemed only appropriate that we clap. That had definitely been more impressive than Snotlout's failure, Fishlegs' circle, and the Twins' mishap. Of course, a certain Jorgenson didn't take it too well.

"Yeah, but can you do it without the dragon?" he asked petulantly. Astrid's reply was a nice punch in the shoulder. I grinned. Yup. She could definitely keep Snotlout in his place, going by his pained yelp.

Finally, it was my turn. I had been looking forward to showing off a couple of Frostwave's stunts since we got out, and now was my chance.

"You ready, girl?" I asked Frostwave.

"Always," she growled in agreement and dove off of the sea stack. I held on tight, letting Frostwave do her thing. When we were a few yards from the water, Frostwave spat out some ice. It froze the ocean, and we pulled up just enough to skid across the ice and create a swirly design using her claws and tail. At the edge of the frozen patch of sea she beat her wings once, powerfully, and we rocketed into the air.

My best friend then took a deep breath once we were high enough, looked back the way we had come, and released a cloud of ice. It drifted down like snow, and that was when I let go of her horns.

"Now, just like we practiced," I whispered. She grumbled, but allowed me to slip off the edge of her neck and fall toward the cloud. I passed through the stinging ice crystals quickly to see all the other riders were watching in horror. Just moments from impact with the salty sea, Frostwave burst past the ice, making it spread across the area like a snow flurry, and slipped underneath to catch me with her back. I sat up, shimmied up her neck, and grabbed her horns again. We landed with a soft thud to see everyone watching us silently.

"What? I had a lot of time to work on that when I was twelve. Blackstone didn't really offer much in the ways of games for its kids," I said defensively. It was true. Once basic lessons and work were done, all the kids were given a few hours of free time to do whatever before dinner. I had spent my time flying with my dragon and getting away from the other pirates for a short while, and that meant learning as much as I could. Even if it hadn't been much, I still knew things about her that I'm pretty sure were in no human books, not even the Book of Dragons. When I saw the deplorable amount of information on Silver Horrors in there, I had agreed with Hiccup and Fishlegs to help them with more on that entry, and to help with the new drawings. While the images were... interesting, the actual artwork was a bit shabby and dark.

They didn't seem entirely convinced, but Astrid turned away and motioned to Hiccup. It was his turn to impress the judges. And by judges, I mean us.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us there, bud," he murmured to Toothless, leaning forward to pat the Night Fury on the head. He warbled curiously, then spread his ample wings.

With one quick beat, they shot straight up, then let gravity do the rest as they dove just inches from the sea stack's side. I craned my neck, almost afraid to see what would happen. Right before they made contact with the watery death below, they pulled up and sped forward faster than I had ever seen. Their leveling out made the waves part in a few foamy crests in their wake, and as they swerved between the other piles of rock sticking out of the ocean like spikes, I whistled appreciatively. For a boy with a metal leg and a dragon with a replacement fin, they could really control their movements.

Eventually, I saw them heading towards two stacks linked at the top by some sort of natural bridge. What were they doing?

My question was soon answered when I saw Hiccup unhook his leg mere moments from the bridge and jump onto it, leaving Toothless to glide beneath it. He ran forward, moving pretty fast, thanks to momentum, and jumped off the other end right when Toothless was beneath him. With practiced ease, he slipped his leg back into the stirrup and shot up toward the sky. That was incredible.

Toothless let out a few plasma blasts in triumph, which exploded above us like one of the things from the East that Johann had brought to Blackstone when I was younger. They had patrols and spies in nearly every town nearby, making sure no one would be around to see the fireworks, as he had called them, blow up in pretty, colorful spheres. That's what his blasts were like just then.

"They're still the best," Astrid admitted, though not as reluctantly as I would have thought. From what I've seen of her, she's pretty competitive. That she would so quickly admit defeat was... weird. But nice.

"For now," Frostwave grumbled, but it wasn't malevolently. She's always liked a challenge, and beating Hiccup and Toothless was just her style. And mine. Never let it be said that Adeline the Agile isn't up for a little competition.

Hiccup and Toothless flew over us, heading back toward the village, and we followed quickly. Stoick may have been chief, but Hiccup was our little group's leader, whether someone (I'm looking at you, Snotlout) liked it or not.

Hiccup, narrating

Yep, dragons. Most people on Berk would say life is better since we made peace with them. Unfortunately, dragons are still, well, dragons.

3rd Person POV: Hiccup

Hiccup and Toothless landed in the middle of Berk to chaos incarnate. A Gronckle chased a yak through the streets. Terrible Terrors stole some chicken from a woman who kept scolding the reptiles and yelling at them to let go of her food, although in the end she had to settle for a huffy "Dragons!" when they emerged victorious in the struggle for food. A Nadder was happily sitting on top of one man's house, ignoring his cries to "get off my roof, you pest!" Another Viking man and a Monstrous Nightmare were fighting over a burlap sack of apples (the dragon came out on top), despite the man's shouts to let go. Finally, another Deadly Nadder was in pursuit of a flock of chickens, disregarding the clothesline that held a Viking woman's underwear that caught on its folded wings.

"Give me back my dainties, dragon!" she yelled indignantly. Moments later, the people who were out in the open ran for the safety of their houses and the covered areas. Hiccup watched it with confusion and dread. This was definitely not good.

"Incoming!"

"Look out!"

"Dragon poo!"

The shouts of the villagers alerted him to the danger, and Hiccup looked up hopelessly to see dozens of dragons flying by overhead. Glowing green chunks were falling: dragon feces, fresh from the beasts themselves.

"Ew, gross, gross, gross, gross! Oh, poop! Oh, that's disgusting!" he cried out, backing away and avoiding any of the chunks that got near him. His steps took him under the shield umbrellas of Mulch and Bucket, kindhearted fishermen who weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.

"Hey, Mulch. Hey, Bucket. Sorry about the, uh..." he trailed off, pointing up at the subject in question.

"Every day at three. They're regular, at least. A tip of the cap," Bucket replied amiably, putting his hook up to the metal bucket that was always on his head. Mulch nodded.

"Better than the days when it was 'kill or be killed.' Hey, we've got some fish for that father of yours. Bucket, give the boy the cod," Mulch added gently, giving his friend a pointed look. The blond man nodded and held up a sack, but it was empty. A hole in the bottom answered his question as to where it went. After all, fish can't chew holes in canvas sacks. Certain reptiles which shall remain anonymous, however, can.

"I ate it already? Did I enjoy it?" Bucket asked, confused by the nonexistent state of the cod. Hiccup shook his head nervously.

"Um, no, uh, actually, Bucket, I'm afraid the, uh..." he said, looking behind them. A Terrible Terror had the cod in its mouth, and it hissed warningly at them before dragging it behind a house. More Terrors flew to join it, and soon tiny bits of fish could be seen flying out from their spot.

Hiccup, narrating (again)

Most of us here on Berk are willing to take the good with the bad. But there are those who will never accept the dragons and will do anything to drive them away.

Adeline's POV

Watching people store food for the winter was kinda interesting. It reminded me of the game Simon and I would make out of stacking our things in the small cubbies we got during training. We'd try to see who could make the most neat, completely filled rows in them with all of our pieces of equipment and books and toys and whatnot. Usually he won. I'm good at sorting things out. I'm not good at putting them away.

"Stand the elk up in the back. The fishing boats just came in with a big catch," I overheard Stoick order. From my cozy spot on an empty barrel, I could see the baskets of fish being schlepped up from the docks to the storehouse. Yeah, I'd say that was a pretty big catch, all right.

"Stoick!" the voice of the most crotchety, irritatingly stubborn old man rang out over the plaza before the storehouse, and I sighed. Here he comes, as usual. I pushed off of the barrel and walked over to Hiccup and Gobber, taking refuge there from any attacks Mildew might make. Verbal, not physical, that is. In a fight, I'm pretty sure I would come out the victor against that old geezer.

"Ah, here's Mildew with the complaint of the day," Gobber said drily, already tired of seeing one of the oldest people on the island. Who could blame him? He's almost as bad as the people on Blackstone. Almost.

"You picked a bad time, Mildew. I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming," Stoick sighed. My eyes widened. It got colder? As in, freezing cold? Oh, great. Time to start grabbing as many furs as I could for my hammock. Thank the gods I didn't sleep outside.

"It's the dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live among civilized men," he grumbled, his sheep, Fungus, by his side. The man alone was bad, but his sheep was just plain weird. There are no words to describe it.

"Neither are you, Mildew. Why do you think we built your house so far outside of town?" Gobber retorted sardonically. I smirked, but made sure to hide it behind a hand. Best to not give Mildew another reason to dislike me. Well, any more than he already did.

"Ah, very well, make your jokes. Meanwhile, these dragons upend our village carts! Turn people's houses into piles of rubble!" Mildew complained. The crowd started agreeing with him, much to my and Hiccup's dismay. I guess living with dragon poop showers and stolen food was starting to get to them.

"They even disturb an old man's rest! Can't you see these bags under me eyes?" I tried not to look too closely at his face. I was already having nightmares. Couldn't he leave well enough alone and not add to the problem?

"He's right, he's hideous," the blacksmith admitted with a shrug. Mildew shot him a glare, then turned to look at the crowd.

"These are wild and unpredictable beasts!" he shouted. The old man swung his staff to point at Bucket. "They even cracked this man's skull like an egg!"

"Eggs? I like eggs! Scrambled, over easy, poached!" Bucket said enthusiastically. Oh. That explained a few things. Pity rose up, but I forced it down. Too often, I had seen people on Blackstone do this. They would try to rile the crowd up with their words, get them to obey a different mindset than theirs. Most of the time, it had been by the other kids, and directed at me. That was part of the reason why I was starting to get ticked off at Mildew.

"You need to put those dragons in cages!" he demanded. My eyes narrowed. Where had I heard that before? Oh, yes, right before Frostwave and I were locked up in gaol for three years.

But no matter my reasons for disagreeing with him, the crowd had begun to throw its weight behind him with cries of agreement.

"If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village!"

The Viking mob's yelling got louder, and I glanced at Hiccup. He seemed just as worried as I did.

"They don't mean any harm. They're just dragons being dragons," he did his best to calm down the Vikings. I nodded.

"Besides, they're probably just not used to being around humans so much. They need to be acclimated into the village before they stop being like this," I added. The memory of my meetings with Frostwave flashed briefly in my mind's eye. She had been pretty suspicious of me, and hadn't been afraid to show it in growls and displays of her natural weapons, but once she knew me and was used to my presence, I was able to touch her, and eventually fly on her back.

Mildew gave me the evil eye at this, but Stoick intervened before he could add me to his list of grievances.

"Look, Mildew, if there's a problem, I'll deal with it," he assured the elderly man.

"Oh, there is a problem, Stoick. And I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it," Mildew said, his threat barely veiled by the tone of his voice. He turned and left, taking Fungus with him, and when his back was turned, I stuck out my tongue and pulled down one eyelid.

"Yeah, right. Go back to your distant home, you buecuh-cilgehk umt pycdynt," I growled under my breath. Hiccup rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"I don't get it. Why's he so against the dragons?" he asked. Gobber was already gone, off to work in the forge on something, and I shrugged.

"It's not just the dragons. I think he's got a vendetta against anything that isn't like the old days. When I first met him, you know what he said to me? He said, 'Great. First the dragons, and now a pirate girl. Mark my words, Stoick, she'll rob us blind and slit our throats when we least expect it,'" I informed him bitterly. The teenage boy's eyes widened.

"Really? That's, uh... not very nice of him." I snorted.

"No kidding. I told him that I wouldn't do that, but he didn't listen, of course. Stupid old coot," came my reply, more of a mutter than an outright statement. He still heard, and gently patted my right shoulder.

"Don't worry, Addie. I'm sure we'll be able to do something," he replied comfortingly. I nodded, and we walked back to the chief's house.

After Hiccup tries to do something...

Poor, poor Hiccup. I had seen everything from my spot up on the catapult with the other teens. That wouldn't have been enjoyable, even for a masochist.

I was sitting near the fire, sketching out my plans for a better version of my spear-chain, when Astrid came in. I looked up and waved shortly, and she nodded back.

"Oh, uh, hey, Astrid," I said, uncertain how to act around her. That little thing on my birthday had been quite confusing, and so I was at a disadvantage when I spoke with the blonde girl.

"Hi, Addie. Is Hiccup here?" she asked, looking up at the second floor. I shrugged.

"Probably. I didn't see him in the plaza after that little incident, so he's most likely licking his wounds up there. Wanna go see him, give him a little support?" I asked warily. She nodded, and I stood up. We climbed up the stairs to see our favorite dragon trainer standing by his bed.

"Hey, Astrid, Addie. What a nice surprise!" Hiccup said brightly. Too brightly. He was definitely suffering.

"So, how was your day?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Uh, uneventful. Hung around the plaza. You know..." the son of our chief trailed off painfully. I could see him wince when he moved. He must still have been sore.

"Yeah, I do know. We saw you out there. It's hard to believe you're still standing," Astrid replied. I nodded.

"Do you need some juniper oil? It'll help with the muscle pain if you dilute it and rub it on your skin," I offered. Hiccup groaned and flopped back onto his bed.

"Ugh... I might just take you up on that, Addie," he grumbled. "Ah, I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month."

The irreverent part of me pictured that and tried to giggle, but the sound of Stoick calling his son's name stifled it. The big man soon joined us in the attic room, taking note of our presences, then focusing on his son on the bed.

"Hiccup, what's going on out there? The plaza looks like a war zone," he demanded answers, not noticing the looks I was shooting Astrid. It might be better if we weren't here when all Hel broke loose.

Hiccup sat up and sighed.

"I know it looks bad..." he began, rubbing the hair at the back of his head. I smirked.

"Really bad," I corrected in a whisper. He rolled his eyes and looked at his father.

"Yeah, but this is only Phase One of my master plan," he continued.

"Oh, so you do have a plan?" Stoick asked interestedly. Hiccup paled a little, but nodded.

"I do... of course I do! It's very complex. Lots of drawings, several moving parts. Yeah, it's, uh, pretty wild," he said lamely. I rolled my eyes. Come on, Hiccup. Surely you can come up with a better excuse than that. And I wasn't the only one to be skeptical.

"Uh-huh. Well, this better be real, because Mildew's stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads," his father replied grimly before leaving the room. At this, Toothless looked up at us worriedly.

"Don't worry, bud. Your head's not going anywhere," Hiccup reassured him.

"You do realize there are, like, a bazillion dragons out there and only one of you? I hope you really do have a plan," Astrid asked fatalistically. I shrugged.

"Why plan? Improvisation is much more fun," I replied, getting up from my perch on the wood at the foot of the bed and stretching.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. Something tells me we're gonna have to help with his plan tomorrow, and I prefer to work with a decent amount of sleep in my system," I yawned. My feet carried me downstairs to my room, where Frostwave was already curled up under the hammock. One eye flicked open at my approach, and she crooned gently.

"I, too, hope the Hiccup has a good plan. The elderly bigot is very tenacious in his goals. If he is not stopped, I fear I will also be forced into a cage," she growled softly, giving voice to the fear gnawing away at my heart. I didn't want to lose Frostwave. She was my sister, my family, my only light in the darkness of Blackstone. If I had to lock her away, then I'd rather leave, even if it meant giving up Hiccup. No, I'd knock him out, tie him up, and fly Toothless for him while we left together. Well, if Toothless would let me. And if Frostwave was okay with me riding the Night Fury. But even then, I'd rather not be here, where dragons are imprisoned, than somewhere else that was more accepting of my and Hiccup's view on the reptiles.

That cheery thought in mind, I climbed into my hammock and cocooned myself in the blankets, eager to get this over with.

The next day...

That morning, we gathered in the arena to hear Hiccup's big idea. Frostwave was very uncomfortable here, and it wasn't just the soft mews of distress coming from her throat that told me so. Her head was low, not its usual high position, and she seemed like she was trying to shrink, that's how tight her wings and legs were against her body.

"This place... it reeks of death," she hissed out plaintively, her eyes thin slits as she looked around the stony circle. By the way her fins were flattened against her head, it also sounded bad.

Sometimes, I wondered whether she could hear more than just physical sounds. When we had taken a short flight to this one small island covered in Iceland moss, she had said she could hear that there had been a great battle there. Moments later, I found the remains of humans and dragons, along with some rusty weapons and armor, overgrown with the valuable aid for bad coughs. It got me wondering whether her claiming to be a guardian of dragon history was more than just some reason to act all high and mighty, and was an actual purpose for her species. It would make some sense. I mean, if they had to defend something as precious as that, then of course they would have so many ways to protect themselves from those that wanted to kill them.

"That's your plan? Train dragons?" Ruffnut said incredulously.

"Here? Where we used to kill them?" Tuff added.

"Right... because we don't do that any more. That's why it's available," Hiccup sighed, trying to get his point across. I looked around and felt my mouth twist. Sure, the chain net over the top looked like fun to climb on, but I doubted the dragons that had been killed here thought the same.

"Actually, the dragons do seem a little nervous. Frostwave, especially," Astrid pointed out, glancing at my dragon. I couldn't even counter that. My dragon had lost her mate to humans, and being one of her species made her very attuned to the history of places.

"That's because they're very sensitive. Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here," Fishlegs replied, covering his dragon's ear fins. "We try not to talk about it."

"It's amazing your dad just gave us the arena," Astrid said, turning from the heavyset boy to the leader of our group. He smiled nervously.

"Well, it would be, if he did, yeah, but, he didn't, so that's another thing we should try not to talk about," he answered uncertainly, echoing Fishlegs' most recent comment. I perked up at this.

"Wait, so we're going behind your father's back? Now you have my attention," I interjected, my curiosity piqued. Hiccup flung his arms in the air.

"There you go, talking about it! Uh, all right. Everybody, here's the thing. The dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it, but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village, and we've gotta do something about that," he explained exasperatedly.

"Got it! Help dragons blow things up! We can totally do that," Tuffnut said determinedly. Hiccup's brow furrowed.

"No, I believe I said-" he began, but Ruff cut him off.

"Here's how we're gonna do it: first, we make them really, really angry," she started planning out their scheme. It would have been entertaining, if the topic wasn't so serious.

"No problem. We anger everybody," her brother replied calmly.

"No, you guys, this is serious! Mildew wants all of our dragons caged. And I don't know about you, but that's not okay with me," Hiccup said firmly. The twins looked at each other guiltily.

"You're right. She's sorry," Tuff said, earning a glare from his sister.

"Okay, then. Next problem: the dragons are eating everything in sight. Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have, you can get him to drop it by giving him a little scratch just below the chin," he explained, letting Toothless take a loaf of bread from his hand and illustrating his point. I raised my hand.

"That's not such a good idea with Frostwave. I tried that, once, and I nearly lost my hand. Silver Horrors hate having their chins scratched. Plus, they have really strong jaws. It's nearly impossible to get her to drop something," I mentioned. My dragon dipped her head. Hiccup sighed and shrugged.

"Then what works for you?" he asked, just a little bit curious. I looked at Frostwave and smiled.

"Flicking her nose helps. The surprise of it gets her to loosen her jaws enough to let go of the object. I found that out when she was chewing on my boots a lot," I replied. She huffed a cloud of ice at my face and curled up into a tight ball, trying to block out the cries of death she must have been hearing.

"Ehneneneneh! Maybe that works for you and Toothless, or Addie and Frostwave with their nose-flicky thing, but Hookfang and me? We do things a little different," Snotlout butted into the conversation. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest. This would be fun.

Snotlout grabbed the bread and threw it at the Monstrous Nightmare. Hookfang caught it with his mouth, but he didn't eat it. Yet.

"When I want this big boy to do something, I just get right in his face and- DROP THAT RIGHT NOW! YOU HEAR ME?" he shouted at his dragon. This understandably irritated Hookfang, who spat out the bread and chose his rider as his next meal. All that was left was his legs dangling from the mouth of the Monstrous Nightmare. Snotlout's voice was muffled when he spoke. "See? He dropped it."

Tuffnut snickered, and so did Ruffnut and I. Astrid was just smirking, but Fishlegs and Hiccup seemed a bit annoyed.

"Should we help him?" Tuff asked. I shrugged. Not my problem if he and Hookfang had communication issues. That's all on him.

"Yeah, in a minute," Astrid answered, shifting her body weight from one leg to the other. Hiccup just sighed, giving up on this whole thing.

"All right. We've got a lot of training to do, but together, we can keep these dragons under control," he said enthusiastically. With that, we began leaving the arena to do our work. Snotlout was still in Hookfang's mouth, though.

"Uh, can somebody do that chin-scratchy thing? Hello? You guys still there?" he asked nervously. I let out a deep sigh and stood up.

"Fine, fine. Hookfang, let go of Snotlout, right now," I ordered, staring the dragon right in the eye. Something happened then, some sort of temporary weakening of my body, and then he obligingly opened his mouth and dumped Snotlout. Frostwave growled unsettlingly, but said nothing. Well, whatever had just happened, it wasn't important right now. We needed to get the dragons under control, before they were locked away for good.

Later that day...

We were walking through the village, which was strangely dragon-free. Either they heard us coming and decided to clear out before they were faced with the might of our awesome dragon training techniques, or there was something going on. My money was on the latter.

"Huh. No dragons," Fishlegs commented as we passed the upright houses. I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"That was easy," Ruff added. We all nodded, though I could tell Hiccup was a bit confused. Who wouldn't be? Normally, they swarmed this place like ants on honey.

"Lunch?" Snotlout suggested, clearly recovered from the Hookfang incident. Come to think of it, where were all our dragons? The only one that was still with us was Frostwave, and even she was acting odd. Every time I looked at her, she glanced away and studied the scenery or her claws, and then shot me strange looks. Was it something I said?

"That's weird. If the dragons aren't here..." Hiccup trailed off. My brow furrowed.

"Where are they?" I completed. Something was definitely up.

The sounds of an explosion and faint screams in the distance answered that. A cloud of smoke shaped like a mushroom slowly rose up from elsewhere in the village, in the same direction as the screaming.

"Something tells me, that way," Astrid answered nervously. This was definitely not good.


Author's Notes: Translations! WOOT!

buecuh-cilgehk umt pycdynt – poison-sucking old bastard (I'm trying to keep her insults PG, but it gets hard, sometimes)

I'm cutting this into two parts, mostly because I don't want a repeat of the 14K chapter incident. I might be doing that with a lot of chapters, so be forewarned! Again, I'm really sorry about the late update! I was busy with other things... which sounds like a really lame excuse, even if it is true.

As always, I'd love reviews! Anything is okay! No, seriously! A-NY-THING!

Wild Cat 214, out!