Chapter 2

The night Toothless left

The Night Fury flew over the shores of Dragon Island. He had not been there since he and Hiccup killed the Red Death years ago. It was still just as erie and foggy, but was now completely deserted. Since all the dragons were not enslaved, they all left to either live on Berk or enjoy their freedom somewhere else. On the rocky beach was the burned bone remains of the horrible monster.

Toothless flew past the massive skeleton and into the volcano. The mountain no longer smoked and burned due to the lack of a huge fire breathing dragon living inside. The volcano was very dark but Toothless could see enough to know where he was going. He landed on a high ledge inside that was once his home. No other dragon ever tried to sleep or even land on the spot. The ledge was where Toothless had hatched and cared for by his parents. The three of them were the only Night Furies to ever live on the island.

When Toothless was still quite young his mother and father were killed by the Red Death for feeding their son before him. It was horrible for Toothless but he was still too young at the time to leave on his own. He had no choice but to continue living there but once he was old enough to fly he refused to steal food for his parents' killer. He was going to leave the island forever before the Red Death found out, but the other dragons begged him to stay. Feeding their master was so difficult that they often had to steal from vikings and needed Toothless' fire power and accuracy in raids. Not wanting to abandon them he agreed but still got away with never taking food. This went on for years until the day Hiccup shot him down and everything changed.

Toothless went to a corner of the ledge that was against the side of the mountain. When he found the small stone he was looking for he pushed it aside with his paw. Underneath was a single Night Fury scale. His mother had given her shed scale to him because it was shaped like a heart. He bent down and sniffed his precious gift one more time before pushing the stone back on top of it. He was not planning on returning to this place so he wanted closure.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he visited his limited memories of his parents. He remembered his father telling him that his kind came from caves up North. Toothless never had a chance to seek out other Night Furies until now and that was what he was planning to do. Most other humans still did not take kindly to dragons so if he wanted a new family he had to find them. Toothless opened his eyes and took one last look at the place he was born before flying out of the volcano.

The next morning

Supplies were packed and hooked to every dragon. They had food and tools to gather more if they ran out. Stormfly was fitted with a saddle that was more comfortable for two riders since Hiccup refused to fly another dragon himself. Everyone on Berk was told to listen to Valka while their chief was gone.

The search team flew North over the larger islands of the archipelago and by sunset Hiccup ordered everyone to land in a forest clearing for the night. Once camp was set up Hiccup told everyone the plan. "In the morning we will split up and search for the entire day. Make sure you and your dragon know how to get back to this place and return at sunset. If we find nothing we will fly together the next morning to set up a new camp and search the new area after that."

Everyone nodded before Hiccup continued. "Look everywhere you find, caves, mountains, forests, anywhere. If you find any signs of Toothless or another Night Fury you will follow it and report to me at the end of the day."

Tuffnut then raised his hand, "Uhh does that include over seas?"

Hiccup sighed and said sarcastically, "I'm pretty sure that is part of everywhere. If Toothless damages his tail, he will be grounded the moment it happens."

"Great that's like twice as much area to search," Snotlout complained but was quiet once Hiccup glared at him.

Hours later almost everyone was asleep lying against their dragons. Hiccup and Astrid were against the sleeping Nadder and speaking quietly to each other.

"I never thought Toothless would want to leave me…Even when he was gone for days that one Snoggletog I assumed he would be back eventually," said Hiccup.

Astrid sighed, "I don't think he wanted to Hiccup. Maybe he thought it would be better for you."

A part of Hiccup agreed with her but he still did not like it. "How could he even think that? He knows how much I care about him and that I don't blame him for what happened with my dad."

"I know but maybe he wasn't entirely sure you did," said Astrid.

She mentally slapped herself after she said that since Hiccup was already blaming himself for his dragon leaving. So quickly she continued, "But…we all know that is a mistake so once we find him you two can make things right."

Hiccup sighed, "Well we better get some sleep or we won't be alert for tomorrow."

Astrid kissed his cheek as a goodnight and the two went to sleep as well.