Hey! Sorry it took longer than usual, I was planning the rest of the story and writer's block.

For those who don't know the dragons name is pronounced (Echo-tree)

OOC

Disclaimer~ I do not own HTTYD

Chapter 4 - The Return

Everyone is whispering.

Nobody can believe he's actually here. They all thought he was dead, but he's standing right there in front of them.

Astrid's trying to contain her smile. He kept his promise! He came home! But Stoick stands there frozen. His son is alive! Then he gets furious. His own son spoke to him completely disrespectful. Hiccup stands there, rubbing Toothless' head and looking at Astrid and Stoick, waiting for them to speak.

But no one says a word. They all stand there in silence. Then, Toothless roars at Hiccup. "What? No!" Hiccup whisper yells at the dragon. "Are you crazy? They were about to go hunt one!"

"Where have you been all these years, son?" He almost spits the word out, interrupting the little argument. Hiccup looks back to Stoick.

"Well, after you basically kicked me out, I was flying with Toothless and found a secluded island. We set up camp there only to find it was already inhabited, by dragons. I decided to stay, because I knew no one would think look there, it's not on any map. After a few months I figured if I was going to stay there, might as well learn the language, right? It was too easy. Then more dragons showed up, ones I recognized. Yours." He pauses. "They wouldn't leave my side, seeing as I was the only thing they knew. Everything was all fine until the Echotri escaped from the island somehow. Tried to stop it, but it was too fiesty. So I let it go. Then I get word saying it was headed for Berk. I didn't want to come back, it was his idea." He gestures to Toothless.

Astrid's heart sinks. He didn't come back because of his promise, he came for a dragon. A damned dragon. "So, you didn't come to save your people? You came for a damned dragon?" She says, anger present in her voice.

"The dragon is very dangerous." He nods. "But that about sums it up."

That's it. Astrid runs toward him, and tries to throw a punch directly at his face. But he catches her fist in record time and spins her around, arm twisted against her back. He laughs at her pathetic attempt. "You still think you can beat me up, milady?" He says into her ear, sending chills down her spine.

This is not the Hiccup she once knew, no. This person is much colder. What happened to her Hiccup? The kind one, full of warmth. This stranger's heart is ice.

He lets go of her, and she backs away, cradling her sore arm.

Stoick is angry about how Hiccup handled Astrid, he walks in front of Astrid, facing Hiccup. "If you're going to help us, there's going to be a few rules." Stoick says darkly. "Rule one, none of that." He gestures to Astrid who's still holding her arm. "Rule two, you are not to leave the island without telling me. Rule three, don't screw up. Got it?" Hiccup gulps, any confidence he had before now gone without a trace. "Y-yes sir." He stutters.

Astrid sees the old Hiccup in his eyes and almost smiles. Almost.

"Stoick, if we're going to catch this dragon, I'm gonna need to leave the island for a day or so." Hiccup says. Stoick glares down at the boy. "And why would you need to do that?" He questions.

"Why, to bring your dragons back of course."

Stoick let Hiccup go and get the dragons, threatening him if he didn't come back.

But sure enough, the next day they see figures in the distance. It's Hiccup and Toothless, Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf 'n' Belch, and a few other dragons. When they land, the once riders run to their dragons, hugging them. They were happy to see their dragons again. Hiccup landed and took off his mask, a goofy buck-toothed smile on his face.

He feels a tap on his shoulder and automatically has his dagger out, whipping around. When he sees it's Stoick, he puts the blade back. "Sorry, it's a habit."

Stoick nods. "Thank you for bringing the dragons back."

Hiccup smiles, "I brought one you might be interested in." He lets out a roar, and a Thunderdrum comes bounding over. It's Thornado! Thorando sees Stoick and nudges against him, happy to see his rider again.

"Where did you find him?" Stoick asks Hiccup, rubbing Thornado's head.

"He's been on the island since I got there." Hiccup says.

Astrid come up behind Hiccup and punches him in the arm. "Ow. Seriously?" He rubs the spot, glaring at her. "You nearly broke my arm, you deserve that." Astrid snaps.

"Well you-" He suddenly stops, looking dizzy. He holds his head in his hands, face contorts in pain. "Hiccup?" The voice sounds far away to Hiccup. He falls to his knees, still holding his head. "Hiccup!" The voice is distorted. He tries to open his eyes, but he can't see anything. His head is swirling. "Hey! Hiccup! Hiccup, look at me!" Someone has their hands on his shoulders. He can't recognize the voice for it is so distorted. Pictures flash in his mind. The pain finally ceases and Hiccup manages to open his eyes. No one sees, but his eyes flash a pale blue. He shakes his head and they return back to their forest green.

He slowly stands up and takes a deep breath.

"Hiccup?" He can hear the voices clearly now. "Are you okay?" It's Astrid and Stoick.

He clears his throat. "Yeah, yeah. I'm-I'm fine."

"What happened?" Astrid asks. Hiccup shakes his head, "I don't know." Stoick is concerned, "Maybe we should take you to Gothi-" Hiccup interrupts, "No! No, I'm okay, seriously." They both look at him skeptically.

"If you say so…"

It looks at the human standing in front of it. It's a stupid viking. This will not do.

"You are too weak." The thing says in the human's mind. "Go back to your home and forget all of this." The human nods and walks off.

"Find me another." It sends out.

Astrid walks down the dirt road. She's not as happy that Hiccup's back as she thought she would be. She's more… afraid. She doesn't know what's happened to her Hiccup, the one who left, this Hiccup is almost completely different.

She doesn't know what to think of him anymore. One minute he's fine the other he's completely in pain, then he's just downright cold, then he's almost his normal self again. It's like he's four different people all at the same time.

Astrid wants to talk to him but…. She hates to admit it, even to herself.

She's scared.

She's scared of Hiccup.

But she brushes that thought away as she walks into the training academy. Hiccup's there, but doesn't see to notice her presence. He's mumbling something to himself, looking at the wall. She tries to get closer to hear what he's saying, not wanting him to notice her, but his words are jumbled together and she can't make them out.

He's talking to the wall. Okay, Astrid's getting creeped out.

"Hey, Hiccup." She says, deciding to talk to him.

He looks up, startled. "Oh, hey Astrid."

She walks over to Stormfly's cage and opens it, letting her dragon out. Stormfly roars and walks over to Toothless. "So, who were you talking to?" Astrid asks him, getting Stormfly's saddle out.

He looks at her confused. "What are you talking about?" She attempts to put the saddle on Stormfly, but the dragon jumps away. "You were talking to someone a minute ago. Or, more like talking to the wall."

"I wasn't talking to anyone, Astrid." Hiccup says.

She gives up trying to put the saddle on Stormfly, puts the saddle back, and looks at Hiccup. "Yeah, you were." She says to him.

"Astrid, I never said anything until you got here."

"Yes! You did! What, do you not remember or something?" She gets frustrated. Hiccup groans. "I think you're going crazy. Astrid, I did not say anything." She walks up to him, and slaps the back of his head. "You said." Slap. "Something." Slap. "Just remember." He catches her hand before she can slap him again.

He looks her straight in the eye. "Don't slap me." He growls. She tries to yank her hand out of his grip, but he won't let go. "Let me go, Hiccup." Astrid says calmly. She struggles to get out of his grip, "Hiccup!"

He suddenly pales, as if realizing what he's doing. He lets go quickly and backs away. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what-" He stops suddenly. His eyes are squeezed shut. His breaths are ragged. Toothless' eyes become slits and he backs away from Hiccup.

"Toothless, what's wrong?" Astrid says, she's never seen him act this way towards Hiccup. Ever. If Toothless was acting that way towards Hiccup, she backed away from him.

He suddenly looks up at Astrid, and he's completely fine. But something's…off.

"...Hiccup?"

He doesn't respond. He just stares blankly at her for a few seconds, then walks out of the training academy, leaving Astrid and Toothless behind.

What is going on with Hiccup?

Stoick and Thornado are flying around Berk, patrolling when Stoick sees something walking out of the forest. "Thornado, down." He says to his dragon. When they land, Stoick looks around for the figure. It walks out of the shadows.

"Gobber?"

A/N: I know, bad chapter. I'll probably re-write it. I'm not really proud of this chapter but.. yeah.

Review?