Weren't all those moments of Hiccup and Toothless spending time and playing with their families in these last couple of chapters just cute? Sadly in the words of Flynn Ryder in Disney's Tangled, "And for that one moment, everything was perfect. But then that moment ended."

Chapter 14: An Intelligent, Gentle Creature

Berk

July 12

No matter how hard she tried, Valka just couldn't get to sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about the wonderful day she had just spent with Hiccup and Stoick. Every time she closed her eyes, she would find herself floating in the sea water, the flying fish gliding above her and her family. Then she would find herself in the meadow dancing with her two boys. Then she would find herself catching fireflies and sliding down the Northern Lights in the night sky.

Finally around four in the morning, she slid out of bed and made her way down the stairs and into the entrance hall. Opening the front door a crack, she peaked outside. All was quiet in their village. The sky was still dark although there was just a touch of lightness to it signaling the approaching daybreak.

Closing the door as quietly as she could, Valka turned towards the small wooden cradle sitting near the fireplace. The cradle was decorated with green-and-orange dragons and matching dots. And lying in it was Hiccup. Tiptoeing over, Valka knelt in front of the cradle just to check on her little one.

Hiccup was still sound asleep looking absolutely peaceful and Valka could hear her son's quiet inhales and exhales. Resting at Hiccup's feet was the small dragon toy she had made for him months ago. Now it had his name stitched onto its side making it look complete.

Valka smiled softly as she gingerly ran her fingers through her baby's beautiful auburn hair. Hiccup leaned his head against her hand but didn't wake up.

"I certainly hope you're dreaming of flying as I instructed you to," Valka whispered.

"Everything all right, Val?"

Valka looked up from Hiccup to see Stoick descending down the stairs.

"Oh, yes, dear. Couldn't sleep so I decided to check on Hiccup."

"And how is he?" Stoick asked as he approached.

"Sleeping ever so peacefully," Valka answered looking back down at Hiccup.

Stoick knelt down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Aye. Ever so peacefully."

"And it won't be long before our son wakes up along with the sun," Valka said, leaning against her husband.

Stoick chuckled softly at her pun.

"Do you suppose once the sun does start coming up, I could wake him up and we can all watch the sunrise together?" Valka asked.

Stoick started to open his mouth to answer when suddenly the sound of horns blaring from outside broke the silence. Stoick and Valka's heads snapped up in alarm at the unexpected sound and stood up at the same time.

"What's going on?" Valka asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Stoick replied, his expression turning grave.

Then came another sound: The sound of people shouting, "DRAGONS! DRAGONS! THE DRAGONS ARE BACK!"

"Dragons?" Stoick and Valka said in unison, looking at each other with stunned looks.

Stoick hurried to the front door and opened it, Valka following close behind. Looking up at the dark sky, they could make out the silhouetted figures of the winged creatures.

"It is the dragons!" Valka cried astonished.

"Oh, no!" Stoick said exasperatedly. "I knew they'd come back to resume their raiding on us sooner or later!"

Hurrying back into the house, Stoick grabbed his axe and donned his helmet. "Sorry, Val, but I have to go help our people."

"Stoick, wait!" Valka cried, grabbing hold of his arm.

"Valka, I don't have time to bicker right now," Stoick said, a little annoyed. "We can bicker after the dragons leave."

"Actually, I wasn't going to bicker with you," Valka said.

"You weren't?" Stoick said, surprised.

Even Valka felt a bit surprised that she didn't want to bicker with Stoick about fighting the dragons like she usually did whenever there was a raid but this time she had something different to say.

"What I was about to say was…please promise me you'll be careful out there. I want our son growing up knowing his father."

Stoick's surprised look changed into a look combined with sadness, guilt and regret. Valka knew exactly why he was looking that way. It was because there was very little chance he'd be able to keep that promise.

Putting a hand on her shoulder he said softly, "I'll do my best."

Valka put her hand on top of his and caressed his calloused knuckles.

Then Stoick looked over towards Hiccup's cradle and back to her. "In the meantime, you be just as careful."

"I'll do my best," Valka responded.

Releasing his grip on her shoulder, he slid his hand underneath her chin and kissed her on the lips. Then he knelt down beside the cradle, leaned forward and kissed Hiccup's cheek.

"Daddy loves you very much, son," Stoick whispered into the baby's ear. "Always remember that."

Then he stood up, looked at Valka again and said, "I'll be right back. I promise."

And with that, he fled out the door.

Valka stood where she was staring at the doorway her husband just went through. Her attention to the door was drawn away to the sound of Hiccup's whimpers. She saw that Hiccup was now fully awake and he looked a bit frightened. No doubt the horns and shouts from outside had woken him up.

Kneeling beside the cradle again, Valka stroked Hiccup's hair and whispered, "Shh, shh. It's okay, sweetheart. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's only the dragons."

Hiccup stopped whimpering and looked up at his mother, still somewhat frightened but also curious.

"Remember all the flying fish we saw yesterday?" Valka continued. "And the butterflies and the birds? The bees and the fireflies? Remember how they can all fly? Well, the dragons can fly too. They are very good creatures." Then she frowned, unsure of what she had just said. "At least, I think they're good creatures."

As she said this last part, she looked up at the doorway again and decided to take a peek outside again. Standing up, she walked away from Hiccup's cradle and opened the door a crack big enough for her to peek her head out.

The large torches in the village square had just been lighted and lifted up for the villagers to see better. The large dancing flames from the torches gave some light to the still-dark sky. And Valka was able to fully see the swarming dragon herds in the sky from Deadly Nadders to Gronckles to Monstrous Nightmares. Then she looked down towards the village where people were running about, some fearfully, others ready to attack.

The very sight of it broke Valka's heart. She just couldn't understand why two sides would hate each other so much. For as long as she could remember, she believed that there was more to the dragons than just breathing fire and biting off limbs. She believed they only attacked humans out of self-defense, not out of bloodlust. She believed that just like humans, dragons had emotions and families to care for as well.

And as for the dragons stealing their food, she declared that dragons didn't mean to be thieves but only because they were just trying to survive as much as people did. But nobody believed her, no nobody listened.

If only she could find a bit of proof that her theories on the dragons were true, then maybe everyone would finally believe her and stop the fighting. But where and when was she ever going to find that proof? Probably never, she decided sadly. She had come to learn over the years that people are not capable of change.

From her place, she looked back up at the dragon herds and kept her eyes on some of the Monstrous Nightmares. Looking at the Monstrous Nightmares made her think about the night Hiccup was born – the same night that a small group of Monstrous Nightmares had landed near Hrungnir's Slope. She thought about how she had received the news that Spitelout had successfully killed one while the rest of its friends and/or family got away. Then she thought about how Gobber and Rockhands had returned an unconscious, bruised Stoick to the house and told her that her husband had been very close to being killed by one of them.

Then as if by coincidence, she watched as one Monstrous Nightmare became disoriented from its flying and crash land in the village square. And now a man with an axe was charging right towards it!

(Quick Note: I suggest you turn on "Losing Mom" from the HTTYD 2 soundtrack and listen to it at the same time you read the rest of this chapter.)

Before Valka could stop herself, she found herself running out the door and down the steps as fast as she could. She just couldn't bear to let that Monstrous Nightmare suffer the same fate as the one Spitelout had killed months ago. Luckily, she arrived just in time to grab hold of the man's arm just as he was about to strike the fallen dragon.

"Stop! You'll only make it worse!"

This gave the Monstrous Nightmare just enough time to regain its strength and fly away. The man released his arm from Valka's grip and glared at her, obviously irked that she had ruined his chances of making a kill and then he walked away.

Valka watched him walk away feeling somewhat bad for stopping him but she just couldn't help herself.

An unfamiliar roar snapped her back to reality. Looking back towards the direction of her house, she watched in horror as a large, enormous creature sliced its way through the house's rooftop.

And Hiccup was still inside!

"Hiccup!" Valka gasped.

As she ran back up the steps and towards the house as fast as her legs could carry her, Valka cursed herself for leaving her own helpless baby unsupervised to help a strong, fully-grown dragon that could easily take care of itself.

Flinging open the door, she grabbed the nearest weapon from the wall which was a sword and hurried towards the strange dragon that was hovering over Hiccup's cradle. She had a feeling she was going to regret hurting the dragon later on. After all, this was something that she was strongly against. But as much as she cared for all living things – even dragons, she cared for her family even more. And it was her job to protect them.

She raised her sword ready to strike the dragon, but before she could do that, she saw something that made her pause as well as making her heart almost stop.

The large frilled-face dragon was indeed hovering over the cradle and gazing at Hiccup with large golden-yellow eyes. But Valka saw no hunger or lust for blood in its gaze but rather…curiosity, astonishment and even an urge to protect this tiny baby. As for Hiccup himself, he was not looking up at the dragon fearfully but rather cheerfully as though he had just found himself a playmate. The tiny baby giggled with delight and waved his arms playfully before grabbing hold of the dragon's talon.

Valka almost refused to believe what she was witnessing: A dragon and a Viking getting along instead of fighting. Up until now, she had almost given up finding proof that everything she believed in was true and now here it was right in front of her. She continued to watch as Hiccup continued to grasp the dragon's talon and the dragon continued to look down upon him.

In the midst of the bonding between Hiccup and the dragon, the cradle rocked a little, causing the dragon's talon to slip and scratch against Hiccup's chin, creating a tiny, red cut in the process. Hiccup's cheerful expression instantly scrunched up in pain and he began to cry.

The dragon now made its way from Hiccup to Valka. Backing up slightly, Valka held up the sword towards the creature just in case it made any moves to attack her. But it didn't. Instead, it looked at her just as curiously as well.

This gave Valka a chance to have a better look at the dragon. It was tan in color with some red and blue highlights. It tilted its frilled head and blinked its yellow eyes in an owl-like manner. And Valka could see that it had four wings instead of two – something rare that she saw in most dragons. She also had seen earlier that it was strong as a storm - strong enough to cut through rooftops.

Stormcutter. Yes, that's what she decided to name this newly discovered species of dragon.

All her life, Valka had seen spike-headed Deadly Nadders, flaming Monstrous Nightmares, bulbous Gronckles and two-headed Hideous Zipplebacks. But never in all her life had she seen anything like this one before. She just couldn't stop staring into the Stormcutter's yellow eyes and the Stormcutter couldn't stop staring into her aqua-green eyes. Her figure was reflected against the Stormcutter's eyes and it was then that Valka realized that their souls were reflected against each other. They were the same!

Suddenly, without warning, an axe came between her and the Stormcutter. And Valka was no longer looking at her reflection in the dragon's eyes but in the axe's metallic blade. The Stormcutter let out a surprised, frightened and angry roar.

Finally looking up, Valka had seen that Stoick had returned. He had been the one to throw the axe because he thought the dragon was trying to hurt her.

"VALKA, RUN!" Stoick called out as he ducked for cover just as the Stormcutter released a stream of golden flames from its mouth.

"No, don't!" Valka cried, pulling on the dragon's wing.

The Stormcutter turned its attention from Stoick to Valka. And once again, Valka found herself staring into the dragon's inescapable gaze.

"HOLD ON!" Stoick shouted as he emerged from his hiding place.

With all his strength, Stoick took a great leap over the wall of flames and landed at the foot of Hiccup's cradle. He scooped up the frightened baby and cradled him closely in the left arm while he grabbed his axe in his right hand, ready to take another strike at the dragon who had a lot of nerve breaking into his house and attacking his family.

But from the moment Stoick turned around, he was greeted to the most horrible sight he had ever seen in his life: The dragon was making its escape through the opening it made in the rooftop and Valka was clutched in his claws!

IT WAS TAKING HER AWAY!

"NO! AH! STOICK!" Valka exclaimed.

"VALKA!" Stoick called as he hurried towards the newly made opening and stopping in front of it.

"STOICK!" Valka called out again as the dragon carried her higher and higher into the sky until the both of them were out of sight.

"Valka," Stoick said again, but this time, he said it more quietly and more sadly for his beautiful wife had just been taken away from him forever.

Cradled safely in his father's arm, Hiccup watched as the monster that had just hovered him earlier carried his mother away into the sky. As he did, he whimpered quietly and a tiny tear trickled down his soft cheek.

….

Try not to feel so sad about Valka because we all know she turns out all right. As I mentioned in Chapter 2, there's a fellow pre-HTTYD fanfic called "Flightless Bird" by eyeslikethecosmos. It follows the adventures of Valka before AND after her kidnapping. And even fellow fanfic author benderjam has written a few fanfics focusing on Valka's adventures. But my fanfic here follows the adventures of Hiccup and Toothless before their meeting. In the next chapter, you'll see them as five-year-olds.

P.S. Prepare yourselves for you will soon experience a tragedy that's almost twice as heartbreaking as Valka's disappearance and Stoick's sacrifice.