The raid was over. The fight had gone well for the Vikings; the damage was minimal. Stoick could find no comfort in that though; he had almost had the beast before the cursed thing retreated. Stoick had been winning and the cowardly reptile had known it.

"Hoark! I want the docks repaired before the tower. We need to get out there to fish."

Hoark nodded at his chief and started preparations for the repairs. Stoick didn't bother overseeing the preparations; his own thoughts quickly taking over his mind. Stoick had been so close to putting an end to the beast. He would have been able to get Hiccup home then. Stoick noticed his brother hauling some wood down to the docks.

"Spitelout, those sheep secured?" Several of the animals had ended up in the woods during the raid and Stoick had sent his brother to get them back first thing.

"All accounted for, Stoick."

Stoick nodded and moved on. The only blessing of the aftermath of a raid was that there was plenty to do.

It had been about a week. Hiccup was losing count of the days because each one was the same. Get up, go to the river, food, nothing much, supper, bed. It was easier to go to sleep at night, but Hiccup still missed his dad especially at bedtime.

The dragons lazed about under the twilight sky as the first stars appeared amongst the waning light. Hiccup climbed up onto the Nightmare. She didn't even flinch as he clambered over her.

"Where do thtarth come from?" Hiccup asked. The Drake groaned and shifted with a sigh. The Nightmare rolled her eyes. No one knew or needed to know where stars came from. They lit up the night sky and that was all they needed to know. The hatchling scooted between her shoulder blades and she felt him crawling down her neck to lie across her head,

"Do dragonth know?"

The drake shook his head.

"Huh. Vikingth don't either."

The Nightmare yawned and stood with the hatchling still on her head. It was bedtime.

"Woah, what are you doing?" Hiccup said grasping at her horns to steady himself.

The Nightmare snort chirped bedtime like she did every night.

"I don't want to go to bed. I want to thtay out here and watch the thtarth."

She grunted and entered the cave.

"I'm not thleepy I don't want to go to bed." He turned and started crawling along her neck. Once he reached her back the Nightmare turned and caught him by his vest that her mate had given back to him.

"Hey," Hiccup whined as she brought him around and put him down next to his nest. The hatchling sat where she put him with his arms crossed. "I'm not going to bed. I'm not thleepy."

The Nightmare growled low and pointed her snout at his nest and snort chirped bedtime again.

"No."

Oh he was stubborn. She growled again and pushed him toward his nest but he stood up and dug his heels in.

"I don't wanna go to bed."

Patience wearing thin the Nightmare grabbed his vest, dropped him onto his nest, and gave the harsh bark telling him to stay. The hatchling narrowed his eyes and huffed.

"I'm not going to sleep."

Fine the Nightmare thought. As long as he stayed in the nest. She gave the command to stay again and left the cave to sit outside with her mate again, pointedly ignoring his amused chuckling. The night was silent and peaceful; small night sounds from the woods and the crackling snapping of the fire inside the cave. She almost didn't hear the pebbles roll across the ground. She growled and snapped at her mate when he gave an amused look. She was going to put her hatchling to bed and he was going to stay there even if she had to sit on him.

She pushed herself up and turned back to the cave; sure enough her hatchling was up and out of his nest. Why couldn't he be a proper hatchling and do as he was told? The Nightmare stalked up to him and growled. Hiccup's eyes went wide and he backed up a bit but still avoided his nest. Flustered, the Nightmare grabbed him by his vest none too gently and put him back in his nest. Then she harsh bark stay rather loudly. The hatchling cowered down,

"Okay." He whispered. The Nightmare snorted. Good. She turned and stalked out to her mate. The night was too mild and nice to be spent in the cave. She didn't hear from her hatchling again and so settled into sleep.

Inside the cave Hiccup curled up tighter in his nest by the fire. His toes were cold. He wished he had his boots; there were already two holes in one sock and one in the other. The night sounds coming from outside were somewhat frightening and Hiccup felt very much alone. What was taking his dad so long? Was he having trouble finding Hiccup? Or was he too busy to? Dragon raids had started and the warmer seasons were busy, maybe his dad couldn't find the time to look for Hiccup. Maybe he wasn't going to bother. Snotlout was always saying that Hiccup was a terrible heir, that he was too small and no good at Viking things. Hiccup lay in his nest and watched the fire eat away at the branches feeling small and alone. He sniffed; no one was coming for him. Hiccup would have to get home by himself.

The branch hit Hiccup in the face just below his eye as he ran. It hurt, but in a distant way and Hiccup kept running. He could hear the crashing of large creatures behind him. They were gaining on him. Hiccup could do this, he was a Viking, he could do this. The trees slowed the nightmares enough that Hiccup would have a chance. He tripped on a root and sprawled on the ground. They were closer; Hiccup could hear them growling. He scrambled up and kept running, his knee hurt but he didn't let himself slow down. There was a bright spot ahead; an end to the trees and possibly Berk, his dad, and safety.

Hiccup burst out of the trees only to find he was in a clearing. Not Berk. A clearing where two frost giants sat. They turned their ugly heads to look down at Hiccup.

"What have we here?" One said.

"A little morsel." The other said. With a grin that showed missing and rotten teeth it reached for Hiccup. He backed up ad turned to bolt back into the trees but the dragons had caught up with him and glared down with blood red eyes.

"A little bite-sized morsel." The first giant said getting up. Hiccup was caught between two frost giants and two monstrous nightmares and both wanted to eat him. The nightmares eyed up the now standing giants. The larger dragon gave a low growl.

"Back off lizards." One of the giants said, stepping forward. Hiccup had nowhere to run and was trapped. The nightmares both lit themselves and Hiccup saw the smaller one take a deep breath. With nowhere to go Hiccup crouched low and covered his head with his arms. He felt the heat a second before all was pain and angry red light.

"Dad!"

Hiccup shot up breathing heavily. Disoriented he pushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes, "Dad?" It had all been a dream but his dad wasn't here. Hiccup was still in the cave. Both the nightmares had woken up with his cry and were nuzzling him.

"I wanna go home. Pleathe, I wanna go home."

Surprisingly there were no growls or snarls only gentle croons and rumbles. The female nightmare curled around him and both kept nudging and nuzzling him.

"No. I wanna go home." Hiccup said pushing them off him. He turned away from the Nightmare and crossed his arms. He was crying but they were just as much tears of frustration as of fear. The dragons didn't back off though and Hiccup stopped pushing them away, he would just have to put up with it. For now.

A/N: Hiatus begins next week. I will have more time starting next week to get back on track. I'm moving back to a less stressful department at work with more time off so more time to write. I know where I'm going with all the stories; much of the planning is done, it's just the writing and editing I've had no motivation for.