YAY! Second chapter!

Oh my I feel so loved by the reviews! Thank you all!

-Mitti

- - § - -

The Storm, the White, the Blizzard

Chapter II

"What do you think, bud?"

Toothless, who had been sleepily listening to his rider, grunted in a tired manner. Hiccup was sitting down on the wood floor, next to the fireplace, while Toothless curled up beside him, obviously exhausted and not wanting to hear Hiccup's confusion.

"That doesn't really help," Hiccup said, looking back at the Book of Dragons. He had scoured the whole book once more in hope of finding a dragon that could be connected to the UnderIce dragon; however, he had only found the dragons that breathed water entirely. He found a few that only lived in water while breathing air; these, however, had no connection to ice whatsoever. Besides, they all had much different names.

The inky book had noted a connection to Night Furies, but Hiccup had read with disappointment that it was a long-distance relationship, and that the only thing honestly connecting them was a possible look-alike. This book was written before Hiccup had befriended Toothless, so it could not even sketch a Night Fury for comparison to the shy dragon.

Groaning, Hiccup turned to the latest page in the Book of Dragons. He had written in at the top "UNDERICE", while adding any information he could find or conclude. He hated guessing, but at this point there really wasn't another option. He had also put a crude drawing of a Night Fury, but then added as notes, "May look slightly different" and "Has white scales, and can turn tan-colored". He also put at the bottom, "Has silver eyes". Hiccup himself did not quite know why he added that, but since the book had stressed over it so much he decided to jot it in.

"Bud, do you think if we found an UnderIce dragon, you might be friends with it?" To which the freckled boy got an annoyed growl from his dragon, who was trying to drift off into sleep, despite being rather warm by the fire.

"Okay, okay, I'll let you sleep," Hiccup murmured, going back to his reading. That UnderIce book had stated, "This dragon is known to live within the ocean and fog, where it is less capable of being seen". Hiccup had mulled over that in his mind dozens of times, each time coming to the conclusion that "an UnderIce dragon would live in the north part of the ocean". The north part, at least on Berk maps, was where the great fog stayed year round and where the Dragon's Nest had been. This conclusion had led to another question, one that was keeping Hiccup up at this late hour annoyed and confused.

Where in the fog?

The book had given no hints. It had only said "the fog". That was not very descriptive, in Hiccup's mind. He wanted to find this new dragon for two reasons; one, because he's Hiccup, and he loves dragons; and two, because this might be one of the very few relatives Toothless might ever have. Despite his dragon's nonchalance about the whole discovery, Hiccup had wanted to find this dragon to make his dragon feel less alone.

Hiccup, feeling a prick of guilt, had not yet told his friends about the possibility of finding a new dragon. With the way this book was written, it was clear that finding an UnderIce dragon would most likely take many days, searching within the fog, minus however much time would be spent getting lost within the misty-white façade.

The brown-haired boy had put the book back into his armful of dragon-nip, after wiping all the ink off so it would not pull down the grass-like plant again, and exited the cave, reporting that nothing was wrong, and that he only had sweaty hands from being inside the slightly humid cave. The Viking teens had not suspected a thing, except for maybe Astrid. She had eyed Hiccup several times on their walk back (the dragons were far too woozy to fly, thanks to the piles of dragon-nip they and their riders were carrying), but had not spoken to him or questioned him in any unusual way.

They had also found Snotlout, drilling Hookfang hard in the forest. When Snotlout had realized the others had caught the thief, he had followed them, sulking and occasionally commenting on how he would have done it much faster. He was ignored, except by the twins, who kept teasing him, as the eleven (including dragons; Barf and Belch being one) made their way back to the academy. It had been a few hours after noon, so the gang had eaten lunch before doing some practice flying to train and learn how to control the dragons with blasting winds out on the ocean. Afterwards, dragons and riders worn out, they had all bid each other goodnight and set off toward their homes. Of course, they had to take the dragon-nip back down to the field that was full of it, but that was not a very difficult task. And now, after a full-day of investigating, thinking, and riding, Hiccup was sitting down on a hard wood floor, nearly falling over in exhaustion.

Toothless was now breathing slowly and gently; he had, as a relief to him, dozed off. Hiccup felt distracted by Toothless's sleep, for he, too, wanted to fall asleep. The only thing that kept him awake was the questions swarming his head.

Where in the fog could an UnderIce dragon be?

Resorting back to the ink-covered book, Hiccup once again tried to pry open the other pages with little success. There were many more pages, but the ink was like superglue the way it stuck. Hiccup had managed to get one page open, but it was blank, to his bitter disappointment.

Sighing in failure, Hiccup set down the book. He had scraped off the ink on the cover with a few tools from Gobber's blacksmith, and had seen no words, no insignia, no nothing. This did not help him feel any better.

Deciding to call it a night, Hiccup set both the Book of Dragons and the Ink Book down, and was loud enough to make Toothless's green eyes open in slits. Lifting his black head, Toothless set his eyes on his rider, who said, "Alright, bud, let's get you outside."

Purring in relief, Toothless jumped up and scurried over to the door. Hiccup opened them, and with aching wings, Toothless jumped around a few times, spreading out his wings and tail-wings in joy of fresh air. The cool air bit into Hiccup's skin, so he quickly said goodnight to Toothless and shut the heavy wood door. After doing so, the green-eyed boy yawned and picked up the two books to carry to his upstairs room. Stumbling on the stairs, it took Hiccup an exasperatingly long time in his sleepy mind to actually crawl into his bed. Taking off his vest and hanging it over the bedpost, Hiccup rested his head against the pillow and fell asleep almost instantly, to dream about the day he met Toothless and somehow met an UnderIce dragon as well. He was to forget this dream by tomorrow morning.

- - § - -

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup snapped out of his gaze and turned back to his fellow dragon rider. "Sorry, what?" he apologized, knowing that Astrid's scathing stare was impatient and fed up with his distant behavior. He could not help it; he had been thinking about the UnderIce dragon all morning, and despite having cold air shoved down his lungs and pressed into his eyes, he was still slightly mystified by the mystery of the white-scaled dragon.

"I said, do you want to go flying this afternoon?" Astrid repeated herself. "You said yourself the winds've calmed down."

"Oh yeah, sure, that'd be great!" Hiccup said, turning back to the piles of dragon-nip that were outside the cave. Since the dragons had been handicapped because of it, the riders had taken the responsibility of moving all the dragon-nip back to it's field, albeit most of it was dead. However, since any dragon could stumble upon the cave and become stupefied by it's scent, Hiccup had decided that all dragon-nip should stay where the inhabitants of the island know where it is.

The small Terrible Terror was now the pet dragon of a little girl, her name which Hiccup could never remember for the life of him. It had "Suzy" in it, and he comforted himself with this little knowledge. It was still in swing of stealing, but the girl had found ways to straighten him out.

"Great," Astrid echoed, dropping her pile of dead grass-like nip. "Now will you tell me what's going on now, or while flying?"

Hiccup tensed up for a minute, but he ridiculed himself for a moment, feeling very unintelligent for not preparing a good excuse for his behavior to Astrid. The blonde seemed to notice everything.

Deciding that he might be able to confide his secret with her, he said, "You know how I stayed behind in the cave because something was in my dragon-nip?"

"Yes," Astrid said, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

"Well, I sorta found a book inside that wrote about a new dragon."

Astrid's blue eyes lit up in excitement. She, too, was just as enthusiastic about finding a new dragon as Hiccup was. "Really? Can we find it somewhere close?"

Laughing nervously for a moment, Hiccup said, "Well, yes . . . And no. This dragon lives in the ocean and in fog, so I'd assume -"

"Northward?"

Hiccup nodded in confirmation. "But, this dragon is supposed to be very rare and hardly shows itself. Based on the information, about no one really knowing much about it, I think it probably has a wilder nature."

Astrid scoffed, picking up an armful of dragon-nip once more. "Please. The Red Death had a 'wilder nature' but you defeated it, didn't you? Taming this kind of dragon should be no problem."

"I'm just wondering how the dragon could be found," Hiccup said, mimicking her action until they were both walking toward the dragon-nip field. "It might take days just to find hints of the dragon, and even then . . ." Trailing off, Hiccup wondered if he should tell her about his plan to go and find an UnderIce dragon. She would probably want to come with, and that would make all the others come as well. That would most likely end in a disastrous way.

Astrid nodded, clearly thinking Hiccup had only stopped talking because he was mulling over the difficulty of finding this dragon. "Do you know what it's called?"

"The dragon?" When the blonde Viking nodded, Hiccup said, "Yeah, it was at the top of the page. The dragon is called the 'UnderIce' dragon."

"UnderIce?" Astrid repeated. "What kinda name is that for a dragon?"

"Well, the dragon can swim underneath ice for a while; the book did say that it could hold its breath for a long time."

Astrid thought about the name once more, biting her lip as she did so. "I guess. At least it doesn't have a danger-foreseeing word in its name." Hiccup had to agree with her there. There was the Deadly Nadder, Hideous Zippleback, Monstrous Nightmare, the Terrible Terror (although the two latter's names had two "evil" words inside their names) and the Night Fury. With "Under" and "Ice", there wasn't too much of a negative vibe.

Hiccup murmured noncommittally. As the duo walked on, they met Fishlegs, who was walking back to carry more dragon-nip. He looked thoroughly exhausted.

"You okay there, Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked, while the teen gasped for air. "You look a little overworked. Maybe you should take a break."

Whether he had been overworking or not, Fishlegs shot him a grateful look. "Thank you," he said, before walking much more leisurely into another random direction, probably to call Meatlug away from the dragon-nip trail.

"He needs to get more exercise," Astrid muttered to herself, while Hiccup just ignored her comment. Changing the subject, he said, "So, where do you want to go flying?"

"Oh, I don't really care," Astrid waved off the question. "I do wanna know more about this UnderIce dragon. You up to instead going to tell me more about it?"

"Sure," Hiccup said almost automatically. Although maybe he couldn't find some of the puzzles attacking his brain, maybe Astrid could. Two minds working together was better than a sleepy mind working alone.

Astrid smiled. "Great. I'll come by you're house after dinner." With that, the two lapsed into a comfortable silence until they reached the dragon-nip field, where the emptied their armfuls and went back for another one.

- - § - -

"So the book won't open any more."

"Yes," Hiccup affirmed to his friend, handing her the book. The two were sitting on the floor of Hiccup's house. "It's been covered in ink for who-knows-how-long and I can't open it." He decided not to say that he knew he wasn't all that strong, but with a hint of embarrassment he understood that Astrid knew that. Her eyes were scanning the book closely, looking for any detail, and slip-up, any sliver of page that could possibly allow entrance. After looking it over several times, with Hiccup watching her, she sighed.

"There aren't any openings," Astrid said, but it was not said with defeat nor disappointment. Taking the front cover and the back cover in each of her hands, she said, "So I'll have to make one."

As she yanked the book apart, the normal opening flushed open, a few crinkling noises telling them that she had ripped a few pages somewhere. Taking the front half that was unopened from its ink seal, Astrid once again tried to pry open the book. She, being much stronger than the former attempter, was able to open it. The book made a snapping noise, then a few shimmers of dry pages were heard. Eyes shining with pride, the blue-eyed girl turned to Hiccup, whose eyes had alit with excitement. "How's that?"

Hiccup took the book into his hands. The page which Astrid had opened was near the front, and the page was brittle and crinkled at the edges. The first words that hit him were very strange ones indeed. "LINUM USITATISSIMUM" was written in bold wording across the top of the left page. Immediately thinking of "linen", due to the first word, Hiccup scoured the page, seeing a detailed sketch of a five-petaled plant with merging petals that was labeled as an "indigo-blue" color on the sidelines of the drawing. Seeing a brief description at the bottom, Hiccup guessed, "Is this about flax?"

Astrid had leaned over to see the page, and studied its blurred words. "I think so, but I can hardly read that," she remarked. "Can you?"

Hiccup squinted. This book had obviously been through a lot; some words were smeared, others wet, and a few covered in the abundant ink. Speaking slowly and processing every few letters that appeared, the brown-haired boy said, "Linum Usitatissimum, I think, there isn't another super long word that starts with a 'u', also . . . erm, flax, is a . . ." Scanning the page, Hiccup decided that Astrid could see as much as he could, and began reading it mentally, staring down at the abused page.

Linum us . . a . . . s . . . m, also kn . . . . a . flax, is a ve . . go . d ma . . . . . l . or maki . g cloth. Its cl . . h is scrat . hy and of . . n ir . . . . . . . s . in. The . lowers . r . a b . u . sh col . r, . . t th . stal . s are . . . t a . e wov . . to make lin . n.

Hiccup turned to Astrid, confusion dancing across both of their faces. They understood a few words, but it would obviously be no easy task to figure all of the mixed words out.

Astrid shook her head, loose bangs swaying. "Let's figure that out another day. Let me see if I can open to another page."

Obediently handing the old book over, Hiccup felt his head begin to ache slightly at all the questions swarming. If there was an article about a rare dragon, why would there be a page about flax, of all things? "Don't try opening before that," Hiccup said to his blonde friend. "The beginning is probably all about plants."

Agreeing silently with him, Astrid moved toward the middle of the book, between "flax" and "the UnderIce". Starting to crack the ink, Astrid smirked in pride as the book, once again, flew open in a shatter. This time, however, the book wasn't so strong.

Two thick pages, brittle from apparently being soaked then dried multiple times, broke into dozens of tiny pieces, words scattered on them. Groaning, Hiccup took a handful. One had the words, "the dark f" while another said, "intere". Whether they were connected whatsoever, Hiccup knew that these pages could not be fixed. Looking up, he saw Astrid shrug apologetically.

"Well, most of this book was bound to break anyway," she said, taking the book back in her hands. "But at least we can see what is on the pages on either side of them."

Hiccup, realizing this also, was relieved that they got at least something good out of the irking event that was bound to happen if they tried opening the stubborn book again. Leaning over to Astrid, who had spread out her legs straight due to her cramping feet, he saw that the two pages were not connected. The one on the left had a very detailed description and map of a constellation in the stars, something looking like a big and clumsy "W", while the other page was also a sketch, but one that made Astrid and Hiccup look at one another in confusion.

A teenage boy, maybe fifteen or so, was in the left side of the drawing. He was obviously not the brawny type; rather, he was someone with a stature like Hiccup. He was holding out a small flower, a rose, it looked like, to a girl with long hair sitting on a long wooden bench. The girl was blushing immensely, but seemed pleased at this small act of somewhat courtship. In the background of the romantic scene there was a rushing creek and several lushly-drawn trees. Overall, the drawing was very well-done and pretty.

"So, what does this have to do with anything?" Astrid asked Hiccup as he looked closely at the sketch, searching the page for anything hidden or out-of-the-ordinary. After an overall futile look, Hiccup said, "I have no clue. But then again, what does anything else have to do with the UnderIce dragon? There was a plant, a dragon, a star map, and a picture. It seems like this book is just full of completely random notes."

Astrid took the book out of Hiccup's hands and squinted at the picture, holding it a few inches away from her nose. "You know, if that boy was wearing different clothing and had freckles, he would look a lot like you," she commented, tilting the book so he could see. Hiccup looked at the peculiar picture, frowning when he realized Astrid was right. The boy wasn't that hard to compare to himself.

"That's only slightly unsettling," Hiccup commented, blinking a few times.

Astrid gazed at the picture for a minute longer, then said, "Yeah. Anyway, I think I can say that this book is full of weird things." To which after Hiccup nodded, the blonde set the book down, stood up, and stretched. "Well, I think I'll go home. It's almost sundown," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Hiccup, picking up the book and rose as well. "Okay, see you tomorrow," he said, and soon Astrid had walked toward the door of Hiccup's house, waved to him, and then exited, to go back to her own home.

Slumping back down to the ground in frustration, Hiccup said, "Why did this book have to be so confusing?" Annoyed with it, he tried to open to the next heavy-weighted page beyond the two-person sketch. When nothing happened, Hiccup pulled harder as he heard thumps on the roof. After seeing Astrid leave, Toothless had wondered if his rider would finally come out and play.

"Just a sec, bud," Hiccup called, receiving bored groaning and a big thump, indicating that Toothless had lain down on the roof. Looking back at the book, he closed it and gazed at the back cover.

Being covered in dried ink, he only saw lumps of black. Wishing suddenly for all of it to be off and gone, Hiccup took his fingernails and began scraping off the ink. Why he was doing this, he had only a faint clue; to get rid of it all, and to uncover its mind-twisting and annoying mysteries. He started in the top right corner, and after working for a few minutes he cleared a small space where he saw the leather covering.

But, looking closer, he saw something else.

Engraved in the leather with what seemed like a sharp knife, Hiccup ran his bleeding (from scraping the ink off) finger over the words. Written in stiff lines, no curves anywhere, were the two simple words:

TRUST INSTINCTS

Blinking in confusion, Hiccup said aloud, "Okay, so what are my instincts about this book?"

It was instantaneous, the way his mind worked. The answer came rushing upon him like a river that had been trapped behind a boulder, and the boulder was somehow removed. Looking rapidly up and down to the engraved words, Hiccup knew his instincts.

To drop everything and go find a new species of dragons.

The book's author, whoever that may be, was urging him to go look for this UnderIce dragon. Leave everything, minus his black-scaled friend, and go find this dragon.

Hiccup let the book drop to the floor as he stood up. "Alright then, I'm going on a journey," he said. The book had told him to trust his instincts, and his mind was telling him that was to find this dragon. Moral of the whole event, really.

Hiccup sighed. Was he really willing to leave his friends, his fellow villagers, his father, the Dragon Academy, just on a journey that could be unsuccessful overall? And have to deal with upset, scared, and angry faces when he returned? If he returned?

Yes.

The brown-haired boy, who, in a familiar blonde's mind, looked like the boy in the sketch, groaned. I hate the way my mind and instincts work.

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Hope the ending wasn't a total failure! xD

Tell me what you think, please!

-Mitti