Author's Note: Formerly known as War For The World. Took it down, and did some rewriting. It is no ready to be reposted and enjoyed. At the end, please leave a review telling me what you thought. Knowing what you guys think, helps me become a better writer.
Hiccup stared at the approaching shoreline as the fog around them cleared. Laying atop the rocky shore was a familiar shape. He watched as the form moved its ears and stared back at him and his family. Next to the creature was another one, just like it, but only white instead of black. Then, as the boat got closer, three smaller creatures that like to be a mix of the two bigger ones popped up behind their parents.
The Haddock clan watched as the black creature stood up and stretched before leaping into the air. Hiccup stepped back from where he stood to shield his family, not taking his eyes off the creature as it landed on the mast.
"Hey," Hiccup spoke softly as he slowly reached his hand out toward the beast. "Hey there, Bud. Remember me?"
The creature climbed from the mast and slowly stepped toward Hiccup, rising to walk on its hind legs.
"It's okay," Astrid whispers to her children, holding them tight and praying to Odin that the creature remembers them and won't attack.
Hiccup raises his hand high, palm outstretched, and turns his head, closing his eyes. The creature sniffed his hand cautiously for a brief second before smiling with its tongue sticking out and pounced happily onto Hiccup. The beast begins to play wrestle with Hiccup, letting out happy roars. Behind the two old friends, Astrid laughs and reassures her kids that the creature is not going to hurt or eat their father.
As the creature pins Hiccup to the ground, the Viking asks him, "How's the tail holding up?" The creature replies by covering his old friend in saliva.
Hiccup sits and gestures for the kids to meet his friend. "Here."
"It's all right," Astrid encourages, leading the kids over the duo.
"Come," Hiccup said, continuing to wave them over. "He won't hurt you."
As the two children walk over, they hold on to each, not taking their eyes off the vast creature sporting a gummy smile as its tongue hung out the side.
Hiccup took one hand from each of them and showed them what to do. "Hold your hand out like this." He showed them how by holding his hand up to theirs and opening his palm. The children mimicked him. "That's it. Let him come to you."
The creature sniffed the children's hands before placing his snout on them. The kids smiled as they stared in shock and awe.
Hiccup stood up and walked over to his wife, pulling her into a side hug. "Kids, this is Toothless, a dragon known as a Night Fury. He is also my best friend."
"Wow," Zephyr exclaimed quietly. "Grandpa's journals were wrong. Dragons aren't evil at all."
"No," Hiccup agreed. "They're not. He wrote those journals during a time before we made peace."
The kids removed their hands and began walking around Toothless, studying every scale they could see. As they looked at the Night Fury, the smaller dragons flew away from the white dragon and over to the boat.
The trio of baby dragons landed and began running around, roughhousing with each other and knocking stuff over. Toothless let out a scolding roar as if to warn his kids to knock it off. The three listened and walked over to him, sitting at his feet.
"Wow, Bud," Hiccup stated, slightly amused, getting down lower to better look at the little ones. "You and the Light Fury had babies. That would make these little guys-"
"Night Lights," Astrid interrupted as she got down to the ground.
"I was going to say that," Hiccup grumbled under his breath.
Hiccup's reaction to his wife's interruption caused the kids to giggle and Toothless to chortle. All in all a perfect start to a perfect trip.
One hundred seventeen miles away on the now deserted Berserker Island, things were going perfectly for someone else. Deep inside a cave once covered in ice stood a man, frozen in place with a spear held above his head. At one point, guards surrounded him, ensuring that no one tried to come for his body. But shortly after the dragons disappeared from the skies and waters, the villagers gathered all they could carry and moved to an island that was better suited to sustain them.
The cave slowly became a giant puddle with no one left to guard him and no dragon to keep the ice from melting. Finally, the ice encasing the man was the last bit affected. It started with a few small cracks here and there, a drop of water hitting the cave floor every few days. It took what felt like years, but eventually, the ice cocoon had enough cracks and thinned out so that the man could break free.
As the remaining shards of ice crashed against the ground, the man stumbled backward away from the abyss he'd been staring at for several years. He dropped the spear as he fell to the ground, huddled in the fetal position to stop shivering from the cold. Every inch ached and felt weakened. His brain hurt as a million thoughts ran through it, none of them making sense. All he could make out from the addled thoughts were two names: Hiccup and Johann.
It took a few days for Johann to muster up enough strength to make his way out of the cave slowly. When he finally emerged, the sun was at the tail end of the setting, covering the island in darkness. He looked up at the stars as faint memory pulled to the forefront of his mind. "Dragons should be up there, but they're not. Where are they?"
He slowly stumbled through the woods, using the moonlit sky as his only light source. He didn't know where he was going; he just knew he needed shelter and something to eat. There had to be someone or something around here that could help him.
After walking for hours, Johann saw what looked like a small village in the distance. The closer he got, the less hope he had of someone being there. No lanterns were lit, no sound of voices. It appeared to be abandoned.
Eventually, he reached the village only to confirm it was abandoned. He went through a few of the huts, hoping to find some leftover food in the hopes that it had been around for a while. Unfortunately, the only food he could find was covered in mold and looked like it hadn't been touched in years. This was yet another indication that he had been frozen for a long time.
Thankfully, his search ended when he came across a vegetable garden that seemed to flourish without any human aid. He plucked several carrots up from the ground and began to eat. But, unfortunately, his appetite left him before he could start on his second carrot. Figuring it would be a while before he had a real appetite, he settled for gathering what he could and finding a place to sleep for the night. In the morning, he'd figure a way off this island and back to his Dragon Hunters.