As he petted the tiny Terrible Terror, Hiccup leaned back into Toothless's body and thought about the day he had, the epiphany of how everything the Vikings had known about the dragons was wrong taking the forefront of his mind.

If dragons were as misunderstood as he was coming to suspect, then why did they raid the numerous tribes and villages of the Barbaric Archipelago?

That question reverberated around Hiccups' mind. Something was wrong with the dragons. He couldn't imagine what it was that made them want to take the Viking's food, but as he looked at the Terrible Terror sleeping placidly on his lap and at Toothless, Hiccup knew the answer to his question lay in one place.

The Dragons' Nest.

The same Dragons' nest Vikings had been seeking for centuries, the same nest that was wreathed in thick fog and which the dragons defended zealously. The same Dragon's nest no human had ever been able to reach, but the dragons' could. Hiccup glanced between the dragons - the tiny Terrors and the sleek, black Night Fury, and he realised that only dragons could safely reach the nest.

Hiccup knew this type of flight was not going to be easy. He wasn't sure if Toothless would even want to take him to the nest or if he would need to find a way of persuading the Night Fury to take him, but the question of what the dragons were doing when they didn't need the Vikings to feed, so there was no need for the raids.

While he was curious, Hiccup was unsure of what he would do then; after sneaking down to the village after Gobber in the aftermath of the last raid, Hiccup had suffered from a broken heart, listening to how his father had used him as motivation for launching the hunts. Hiccup knew his father needed to protect Berk and its people, but to go that far….

It might be selfish and immature, but Hiccup did not like being used as motivation for the endless hunts. After he had gone into the forest to find the Night Fury he'd shot down by chance, Hiccup had come to terms with the truth; he had no place on Berk, his father could and never would be proud of him. When he had gone into the forest, he had done so with more determination and he had decided to kill the Night Fury, not for the Hairy Hooligans, not for the mother he had never even known, not for his damn father, and not for Astrid, who'd proven she had a terrible personality and cared only for number one. He was going to do it all for himself.

Only to find he couldn't do it. He could not kill the Night Fury.

After training ended each day, Hiccup went out into the woods as carefully as he could and he began training the Night Fury and learning from it, and the dragons in general. And he had found the dragon training to be lacking. The Book of Dragons wasn't exactly comprehensive. The training sessions were spent with Hiccup just keeping out of the way and performing at the barest minimum. He didn't care what Gobber or anyone else said, not anymore. But he had a good comeback.

Hiccup looked up into the sky. Sunset was already here, and while he was tempted to go out and look for the nest himself, he didn't want to push Toothless. This test flight was one step 1, as far as he was concerned. He still needed to practice taking the Night Fury out, he still needed to do some more work on the prosthetic tail-fin and make sure it was working fine, and besides he didn't know how long he had left before the hunt was over; his father was likely due back soon with the rest of the warriors from the hunt.

Those that had survived, by any rate, and one of the benefits to most of them being gone and leaving only a handful left to protect the village from any more attacks, was he could come and go as he pleased. He wanted to know if he still had that window. But his father should be due back soon. Hiccup wasn't looking forwards to Stoick's return, especially with his recent failings in Dragon Training despite using one or two tricks he'd picked up from Toothless to keep the dragons from roasting him alive and giving them a reason to trust him.

Hiccup puffed up his cheeks and stood up. "C'mon, bud, it's time to go."

Toothless grumbled, but he did as he was told. In a moment he was back on his Night Fury's back and they were back in the sky.

Xxxxx

Hiccup was right. Stoick and the other warriors had come back. Stoick and the other warriors had not found the nest. And….Stoick was not best pleased he was not doing well in dragon training, but Hiccup couldn't care less. Hiccup was spending his free time in the forge, doing the backlog of work with Gobber. The recent hunt had brought back damaged weapons and equipment and he and Gobber needed to deal with it. As he worked, Hiccup was wondering about other things.

The preparations to head for the nest were underway; he had already tested out the newer adjustments to the tail-fin, and he had been testing it out whenever he could, but his absences from the village were beginning to attract attention. But it couldn't be helped.

If dragons were misunderstood….then what happened to his mother? Was she still alive? And then a thought struck him, what if she was still out there, what if she was still alive, stranded on some island somewhere? Hiccup…was not sure what to think about that, since it left so many thoughts and doubts in his mind, but he was sure there was more to what happened to his mother than what he knew from what Stoick told him….

Hiccup grimaced at the thought of Stoick; now the chief had returned, he had forced everyone in the arena to redouble their efforts. No goofing off. Hiccup had to be careful now. And more than once, Hiccup had noticed that Stoick seemed more suspicious about where he was going off.

And then, it happened.

Xxxxx

"Dad, listen to me," Hiccup was still taken by surprise by the presence of Stoick, the teens, Spitelout and several of the other warriors. Everything had happened so fast; one minute Hiccup and Toothless had come into the cove, shaken by the horrifying nightmare in the Nest, and the next he and Toothless had been wrestled to the ground with the dragon being threatened with an axe and a spear. "We've been to the dragons' nest!"

That halted everyone.

"Wha-?"

"He's been to the nest?!"

"How did that fishbone get there!"

"Toothless - the Night Fury- took me there," Hiccup knew what he was doing if he could just buy his dragon some more time, and then he saw the look on Stoick's face. "Don't go there. You don't know what's inside!"

"You don't get to tell me what to do, traitor. You're not my son," Stoick growled. "You've thrown in your lot with them! I should have seen the signs."

Hiccup's jaw twisted in a feral way. "Fine."

Xxxxx

Hiccup sneered in disdain as he watched the Hairy Hooligans preparing for the journey. The sight of his beloved Night Fury being cruelly chained up angered him. The Night Fury's fearsome reputation made the Vikings take fewer chances this time around, but Hiccup knew his former father had done it mostly out of spite more than anything else, to get back at the dragon who'd brainwashed his son, or some nonsense like that. Hiccup didn't care.

Hiccup shook his head when he saw how many Vikings were boarding the ships, it looked like the entire village was getting into the ships. Of course, they would; the ending of the war was a great chance for glory and honour, and everyone would want it. The only people not going were the children and the elders.

For a moment Hiccup was ashamed he hadn't left when he'd had the chance. He and Toothless should have gone as soon as they could, but he'd stuck around for a bit longer. That decision could cost Toothless his life. He didn't care about the Hooligans barring Gobber, although he didn't know what kind of relationship he had with the triple amputee blacksmith anymore.

But then he realised he had to get out there and save his dragon. And fast. Hiccup was about to head for the Kill Ring, knowing he'd get to the nest quickly and have a way of reaching it with the help of another dragon, but then he remembered he needed one or two new bits and pieces. He went to the forge and picked out some tools before heading for the Kill Ring. When he got inside he had problems picking out which dragon to get, all of them in some way had somebody weapon that could help, but in the end, he decided to release the Monstrous Nightmare, which was thankfully still alive since the new hunt cancelled Astrid's chances of killing it. But it was one of the strongest dragons there was.

Taming it and getting it to trust him didn't take long, and out of spite he released the other dragons, and soon he was flying out of Berk. He had persuaded the Zippleback and the Nadder to come with him for extra muscle. If he was lucky he would never see it again.

By the time Hiccup managed to persuade the Nightmare to take him through the fog and to the nest, already he could see things were not going the way the Hooligans wanted. The Queen was out, roaring with rage. Hiccup watched in the distance as the massive female dragon fired a stream of, well, fire against the Hooligans' ships.

"Faster," Hiccup urged the Nightmare on, not seeing that some of the Hooligans had spotted him already, "we have got to get to Toothless. I'm sorry, but he is my dragon."

Fortunately, the Nightmare accepted it.

Finding Toothless in the flames was easy, the Nightmare heard the Night Fury whimpering as the ship began sinking. Jumping off, Hiccup directed the other dragons to grab hold of the massive belts holding Toothless to the deck.

"Quick, get them off and you will be free at last," Hiccup called, watching the belts closely. Already he could see them beginning to strain as the dragons took to flight; under the combined strength of the Monstrous Nightmare, the Deadly Nadder, and the Hideous Zippleback, the belts were torn off and Toothless was free.

"Toothless!" Hiccup grinned and he leapt onto his Night Fury and waved at the other dragons. "Thank you! Good luck!"

Hiccup and Toothless leapt into the air, Hiccup instantly took control of the prosthetic, and kicked it into gear. "Okay, bud. Give her a little whistle!" He smirked.

Toothless obliged and as he soared through the air, Hiccup flinched a little as the Night Fury let out his piercing, chilling whistle through the air; out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Hairy Hooligans fall to the ground, but Hiccup didn't pay them any mind as Toothless went for the Queen Dragon, who seemed to be looking around for the source of the whistle, only to get a plasma bolt to the face, and another close to her eyes.

The Queen roared with rage and after she took flight Hiccup took her up into the clouds and attacked her again and again until she finally lost her temper Hiccup grinned when he saw the fire's building in her mouth.

"NOW, BUD!"

Toothless fired another plasma burst, straight into the Queen's mouth. The Dragon Queen shut her mouth with a jolt, realising something was wrong as her mouth lit alight beyond her ability to control. Toothless had just set her internal gas on fire, and it was getting out of control. The Queen roared a gurgling roar of pain and fear, and Hiccup could see her many eyes widening in panic before Hiccup urged Toothless to fly in front of her before heading downwards.

The Queen followed, and glancing over his shoulder, Hiccup could see the damage to her insides was beginning to tear her already tattered wings up. The Queen roared in panic and fear as she tried desperately to regain control of her flight, but she couldn't. She crashed into the ground and exploded in a ball of fire, showering the beach with ash, burnt remains and an awful stench.

Hiccup surveyed the scene for a moment before he realised numbly that it was over.

The Dragon War was over.

The Queen was dead! With the Queen gone, that meant there would be no more raids. No more raids, no more needless and brutal deaths. But what did that mean for him now? What was going to happen to him and Toothless now? And then, he looked out over the bay as far as he could see it, and he realised he had no more ties to Berk now Stoick had disowned him. But now, he had a dragon. He had the whole world and he could go out there, and make discoveries. Everywhere was open to him.

And he could find out what happened to his mother.

"HICCUP! HICCUP, WHERE ARE YOU, SON!?"

Hiccup jolted in his saddle when he heard the distant bellows. It was Stoick.

"C'mon, bud, we'd better go," Hiccup did want to go down and reunite with his father, but he didn't like what his father was doing. Besides, he wanted to do his own thing and he had done it for a while.

If he went back, he would never leave.

And besides, he didn't think his new status as a hero would last. And for what? So then Stoick would love him one day and ignore him the next.

No way.

Toothless warbled at him curiously.

"C'mon, bud," Hiccup whispered and he pulled Toothless away and they flew off. He barely heard his father's voice as it drowned out the distance he put between them, the same distance they'd always had.

Xxxxx

Two Years later…

"It looks like we've found another one, Bud," Hiccup said breathlessly as he and Toothless landed on an island. Okay, so they had destroyed a sea stack by accident thanks to his last attempt to use the flight suit he was wearing.

Toothless warbled.

Hiccup flinched when he felt a small pebble hit him, and he turned back with a chuckle, shaking his head when he saw Toothless looking away innocently.

"Oh, come on," Hiccup laughed. "Are you still sore about the stacks?"

Toothless rumbled.

"Do you want an apology, you big baby?" Hiccup laughed as he grabbed Toothless playfully around the neck. "Are you feeling it now? You feel the raw non-Viking-ness?" Suddenly Hiccup yelped when he realised Toothless had stood on his hind legs and walked over to the edge of the cliff.

Toothless laughed when he wrapped his arms around the dragon's thick neck for dear life.

"Ah-Okay, you win!" Hiccup stuttered and Toothless rolled onto his back, but Hiccup playfully grappled with the Night Fury. "AH! Hiccup the Dragon Rider and Toothless the Mighty Night Fury, once best friends, are now locked in a battle to the death!" Hiccup said playfully while Toothless growled mock and frighteningly before they wrestled.

"AHHH!" Hiccup called dramatically when Toothless dropped his head and neck on his chest. Suddenly he yelped and leapt to his feet when Toothless licked him.

"No, you know that does not wash out!" Hiccup protested before he flicked some of Toothless's saliva back at the laughing Night Fury.

Hiccup sat down and he began studying the map he'd just pulled out of his pocket and he checked it out with some satisfaction. Two years. He had been exploring beyond the Archipelago for the last two years since he had killed the Queen Dragon with Toothless's help, and he had spent that time travelling around the archipelago's islands and visiting those Vikings had charted but never visited because the walls were too high, too steep, but easy for a dragon to reach.

While he had a rule to keep away from Vikings in general, Hiccup had visited some of the tribes and he had freed whatever dragons he had encountered, and he'd conducted raids on trappers and let the dragons go free. It was what he'd hoped; once the dragons were freed and when the raids stopped, the dragons lacked any interest in going on with the war. Now, they seemed content to leave the Vikings alone, beyond one or two wanting revenge. Hiccup hadn't bothered to stop them.

In the meantime, Hiccup had decided to busy himself with drawing out a map of the islands. Hiccup had collected a few maps from traders, pirates, and other Vikings and he had begun work from there. There were even a few maps from beyond the Archipelago, and Hiccup had been exploring as many as he could. Occasionally he had sold his skills as a blacksmith and he'd gotten enough work to take care of the prosthetic and get clothes and occasionally he bartered here and there. It allowed him to exchange stories and find new maps so then he could travel to the different islands and make the map he was making more detailed.

Some Vikings like Alvin the Treacherous had tried to find him; the story and the rumour the disgraced Heir of Berk, him, had ended the war on the back of a dragon he'd trained. The Outcasts and several others had tried to find him, but they were easy enough to avoid.

As he drew the island, making idle calculations on how large the islands were, Hiccup wondered how long it would be before he and Toothless left the Barbaric Archipelago behind, despite the rumours they'd heard about some insane warlord out there. Ordinarily, Hiccup would have ignored such rumours, but since it was claimed this one had control over dragons, Hiccup was interested.

But so far he had found nothing. He hadn't found any trace of his mother, on any of the islands he and Toothless had visited.

Maybe he would never find out for sure, but it was only a side project.

One day…