Alllllriiiiiight. So I couldn't wait for tomorrow to arrive. I guess you're stuck with another chapter, darn.

But I didn't do it just for you! (I mean, mostly for you. But also for me! You guys, I'm writing Chapter 50 right now. It's so painful for me to have to wait for you all to read what glorious things I have in store for our friends on Berk... and soon to be arriving on Berk.) But I am determined to hold out and be strong, despite my overwhelming desire to post everything I have at once. It's worth it!

Reviews!

Little Did You Know (Fine, torture me. You probably won't like what I will do to retaliate, though...)

Vvarden (Oh, yes, I'm sure we would all be happier, but it's so much more fun if they take an agonizingly long time to get to that point and lots of dramatic things take place before and afterwards. Right?)

Sousuke Tenki

The Lightning Phoenix

Sag1ttar1us

canadasam101 (The workload required to produce as much material as I have in the last week has indeed been immense. But soooo worth it.)

QuiteARandomFan

Colinou

Spartan10007

Ciara11 (Very good questions on your review of Chapter 38. I won't say a lot, because I don't want to spoil anything, but there's a chance that we will be seeing all of those elements come back into play before the end of the story. Also, how to start a fanfic. Well, I just opened up my word processor and started writing Of the Night. No planning, very few ideas. Fortunately, it worked out well, but for anyone else I'd recommend having a plan of action, an antagonist or two, and more concrete ideas than (using myself as an example) "I wish Toothless had a mate.")

Man, most of you are all ready to read about Toothless getting what he deserves for yelling at the hatchlings. Sorry, I sort of gloss over that part, but I hope you'll appreciate what ends up happening this chapter instead ;)

A few days later, Toothless was walking back from the Academy, where a few of the younger dragons had gotten into a scuffle during one of the classes that Erik was teaching. Earlier, Storm had come running, breathlessly telling him that one of the Viking kids had punched another, and that then their dragons had gotten involved, then the entire class. Grabbing Hiccup, he'd flown over and together they'd sorted it out, and now Hiccup was busy talking to the aggressive instigator, so Toothless sent the other dragons back to the village along with their humans.

It was only mid-afternoon, but he felt exhausted. Maybe he and Lightning could sneak off…

"Dad."

He turned, a bit startled, to see Shade landing a few yards away. Lightning had given him the lecture of a lifetime the other day after he had shouted at the hatchlings, so he knew better than to ignore his eldest child. Toothless was aware that he had been rather pigheaded, and reasoned that it couldn't hurt to listen. He sat down heavily on his haunches and waited. "Yes?"

His son seemed slightly nervous, but approached anyways. "I… I know you're upset with me. I understand, believe me, I do. I don't expect things to go back to the way they were before, or to be handed anything. I just… I just don't want you to be eternally angry. I know that's not who you are, and I would do just about anything to make it right. Again," he stopped Toothless when he moved to respond. "I don't believe that one thing will change three years of pain. I have no idea if you even ever will want to forgive me. But I'm back, and because Aeri isn't going anywhere, I won't be leaving either. Basically, you're going to have to deal with me sometime, and I'd rather it be sooner than later, at the very least so Mom doesn't have to feel so messed up about it."

Toothless didn't say anything. He closed his eyes, letting his son's speech sink in. Shade was right, he wasn't the type to hold on to anger. And for what? His son had come back. He would never have to wonder whether or not his oldest hatchling was alive or safe again, because he had come home. And it was unfair of Toothless to hold a rash decision that his son had made as a teenager against him, when he was clearly much more mature and careful now. He opened one eye, taking in his son's serious face and stiff posture. It was smart of him to bring his mother into this. Toothless's greatest weakness, besides his hatchlings.

Isn't Shade your hatchling, too? The voice in the back of his mind finally spoke up, bringing with it seventeen years of memories and moments. Bringing with it anew the devastation that he had suppressed with anger when his son had vanished. Allowing himself to feel the joy that should rightfully have come up at the first glimpse of Shade upon his return.

Finally, he opened his other eye, and sighed. "Shade—"

"Soren is gone!" The both turned to see a clearly frantic Lightning running towards them.

"What do you mean, he's gone?" Toothless asked her calmly, putting aside for a moment the matter of his oldest child at the mention of his youngest.

"I mean he's not in the village!" she almost shrieked at him.

"When and where did you see him last?" His calm was rapidly fading, and Shade glanced between his parents, concerned.

"I let him run off with a bunch of the other hatchlings this morning," she said quickly, "he's never really gotten into any trouble with them so when he asked I figured, why not? But Ash said she found them all a ways into the forest, and she herded them all back, but Soren wasn't with them…" she broke off, trembling. Berk wasn't an enormous island but it was big enough, and Shade now knew from experience how quickly his little brother could move. He could be anywhere by now.

"Ash and Cinder are already out looking, and I sent Stormfly, and I told Storm, Soturi and Skali to stay together and not leave this half of the island… but Toothless, what if someone took him?"

Alarmed, Shade looked at his father, who appeared thoughtful. "I doubt that's what happened. None of the patrols have reported anything coming or leaving the island, so he's most likely somewhere in the forest."

"But what else is in the forest?"

His father grimaced. "Alright. I'll get Cloudjumper and the others and we'll spread out. If you see a blast, one of us has found him. Lightning, you have to stay here."

"But—"

"No buts. You have to stay here in case he comes back before one of us finds him."

"I'll go, too."

Toothless looked with some surprise at his oldest son, but Lightning was nodding. "Go, Shade," she said, seeming to gather herself. Without another word their son took off, gaining altitude before blasting away over the forest. His parents watched him fly off, Toothless realizing that he had never responded to his son's apology.

He looked at his mate, beautiful in spite of her distress, and he quickly leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers, hearing her shaky sigh. "We'll find him," he promised, backing up and spreading his wings.

"What were you talking about with Shade?"

Toothless paused, unsure of how to answer. "We were… I guess he was apologizing."

"Really? What did you say?"

"I didn't. But I will, I promise."

"Thank you, Toothless."

"Anything for you, love."

Lightning gave him a small smile, feeling hopeful despite her anxiety, and he leapt into the air, flying back to the village to find Hookfang, Barf and Belch, and Meatlug.

Shade hoped that maybe he had made some sense to his father. He knew it would take time, but he also knew that they couldn't stay at odds forever. Shade doubted his father would ever again consider him as his successor, and he found he didn't care terribly. He didn't deserve to be Alpha.

Hearing a faint roar, he banked to the right, realizing that he was over the complete opposite side of Berk now, as far from the village as one could get. What were the chances of Soren being out here? Listening carefully, he heard the roar again, louder, followed by a different roar. That sounds like… His eyes widened and he swooped low with a roar of his own, scanning the forest as it flashed by him in a blur. Something flashed up among the tree tops and he headed for it. Hold on.

Ash was between the Typhoomerang and Soren, doing her best to discourage the aggressive dragon from coming any closer. "Stay back!" she shouted, shaking her wings. Fortunately, it wasn't a fully grown dragon. Unfortunately, it was particularly ill-tempered, and clearly looking for a fight.

"Why are you attacking a hatchling? Don't you have bigger fish to fry?" She stood up on her hind legs and spread her wings. "Why don't you just—" she was cut off when the Typhoomerang struck her down with one of its massive wings, smashing her head violently against the ground. Blinking, she looked up into its bone white face, and got to her feet, growling. It swiped at her again but she was too fast, even with the splitting pain in her skull, as she ducked around it and bit into the thicker supporting bone of its wing, causing it to shriek in pain. Immediately it swept around with its other wing, catching her with its razor-sharp hook and leaving a deep gash along her entire left side, before leaning down and grabbing her front leg in its jaws, lifting her up by it. Caught on its sharp teeth, she screeched in pain, clawing at its face, and it threw her all the way back down to the ground, where she hit the dirt hard, her leg and side bleeding heavily. Forcing herself to open her eyes, she looked straight and saw Soren cowering inside a fallen log, staring at her with horror.

The Typhoomerang smirked, inhaling as though preparing to strike, and Ash got to her feet as quickly as she could to shield the hidden hatchling when she heard a building whistle. Neither she nor the Typhoomerang had time to make sense of it before a bright purple light blasted into the larger dragon's back, sending it stumbling forward in a ball of flame until its chest hit the ground.

Ash swayed on her feet, watching as the other Night Fury crashed into the Typhoomerang's back, biting hard into its shoulder. The large dragon shrieked and pushed itself back onto its feet, reaching around with its long neck to bite into the Fury's wing. She gasped as the Typhoomerang swung the black dragon over its shoulder by its wing, throwing it onto the ground. The Night Fury bounced once on its back, flipping over onto its feet and launching itself right back at the Typhoomerang, clawing and biting wherever it made contact. The large dragon was once again knocked off its feet, unable to rid itself of the black blur savaging it.

The Typhoomerang, seeming to realize that it was outmatched, forced itself to its feet, the black dragon clinging to its back, before leaping straight into the air, smashing through the tree tops as it gained momentum.

Oh, no… Ash watched in horror as the Typhoomerang began its distinctive spiral, tucking in its wings and bursting into flame as it spun in the sky. It blasted away, and the Night Fury on its back was thrown roughly off, crashing through the trees to land hard on its back.

"No!" she cried out, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.

Shade woke up in the shadows of late evening, wondering why he was in so much pain. He remembered falling, but why had he fallen? He started to move and realized that his entire body was mildly burned, and it all came back to him. A gods-damned Typhoomerang, and Ash was— Ash!

He leapt to his feet, hissing at the pain in his shoulder. Looking behind him, he could see that his right wing was slightly crooked, and he cursed the human gods again. Turning around, he called out, "Ash? Ash!"

"Shade?" A small, soft voice answered, and Shade hurried as quickly as he could to it. He came upon a smallish clearing littered with debris, and he looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Shade."

Shade lowered himself to peer into a fallen tree trunk, and was surprised to see two big green eyes staring out at him.

"Soren? Are you alright?"

"Mhm," the hatchling crawled out of the log, before turning his worried gaze back onto his older brother. "Ash," he said, darting past Shade, who turned around to see a motionless black form several yards away.

"Ash!" he yelled, following his brother. Reaching her, he saw that her eyes were closed, but that she was breathing shallowly. Looking down, he wondered why the dirt was a different color than the surrounding ground, so he sniffed it, immediately recoiling. It was blood. A lot of blood. Quickly he lifted her wing with his uninjured one, exposing a long, wicked-looking gash across her entire side. Her front leg looked like it was hurt, too, with deep teeth marks, but her side was what would kill her first.

Dropping to the ground next to her, Shade gently rolled her over onto her other side, noticing her expression tighten into a grimace. He recalled his mother always commenting about how "convenient" it was that dragon saliva had healing properties, so after a brief moment of hesitation he started licking her wound, ignoring the metallic taste of blood. Soren had curled up in front of them, watching nervously.

A slight groan escaped her, before she gasped, beginning to thrash around. "Ash, stop! Stop it!" Shade leaned forward and used his larger body to pin hers to the ground. "It's me, you're okay, you need to lay still!" Finally her eyes opened and she glanced up at him, looking more surprised than any dragon he had ever seen. He would have laughed if he wasn't so frightened by her loss of blood. "Lay still," he ordered her quietly, before moving off of her and starting to lick over the gash again.

Ash flinched at the first contact, but slowly her anxiety faded, to be replaced by sincere confusion. She had to be dreaming. Shade of all dragons was licking her wounds, patiently caring for her. Opening one eye slightly, she took in the sight of the bigger dragon at her side. He was surprisingly gentle; for some reason she would have figured him to be more rough with his treatment of injuries. The pain radiating from her side was abating, leaving two particularly sore spots, which she figured were broken ribs. Shade… did he care? He had saved her. Suddenly his gaze flickered over and met her eyes, as though he could read her mind, but she found she couldn't look away. He had saved her.

"Thought… you hated… me," she croaked, and a funny expression crossed his features.

"Why would I hate you?" he asked, before leaning in to lick her side again. The sensation of his tongue along her hide distracted her, and for a moment she was disconcerted by her strange reaction to it.

"Hm?" he prompted.

"You don't… want to be my friend," she whispered, and he closed his eyes, features tight.

"It's not because I hate you," he finally said, opening his eyes, but not looking at her.

"I… I'm sorry," she whispered, allowing her eyes to finally close and letting her head fall back to the ground.

For a few moments she wondered if he would leave, but then she felt his tongue slide slowly across her side, and she nearly sighed with relief.

"The only thing you need to be sorry about it trying to take on a Typhoomerang by yourself," he sounded halfway upset, which caused her to look up at him in surprise.

"I was trying to protect Soren," she said weakly, glancing over at the now sleeping young dragon.

"I know, but still," he said, sounding grumpy, before sighing and closing his eyes again. "I should have gotten here faster."

"No, you were just in time," she tried to reassure him, and forced herself to meet his gaze as his blue eyes opened again.

"Obviously not," he said, glancing at her side, before leaning in and licking her side again, frowning slightly.

She sighed audibly at the sensation, before freezing and shutting her eyes tight. That was not an appropriate response, dummy, the voice in the back of her mind informed her, and she did her best to relax. But he had stopped, and she forced herself to open her eyes, only to see his unreadable gaze trained on her face. It was so intense, yet there was something missing, and for some reason she felt saddened even though she didn't know why.

"Are you cold?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"A bit, yes," she replied, looking at the ground. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him get to his feet and walk away, and she closed her eyes, refusing to feel empty. But when his large, warm body settled next to hers and curved around her, it was all she could do not to sigh again.

She heard his gentle breaths as he sniffed at her side, apparently checking his handiwork, then felt his wing settle softly over her body. Now completely warm, she realized how tired she was, and the last thing she knew was the sound of her name as he whispered it before sleep overtook her, and though she would not remember them, her dreams were filled with the presence of her old friend, finally come home. Home, to her.

Aw.

Okay, fine. I'll see you tomorrow. But you'd better review! :P