Part 1 ~ Chapter 5

About a week later, Dragon Training was coming to a close and the semi-final was upon them. The remaining ones in the fight were Hiccup and Astrid, who hid side by side behind a barricade as the Gronckle searched for them in the arena.

Astrid tightened her grip on her axe as she peeked around the barricade, then looked at Hiccup.

"I'll win this thing. Try not to get caught." She said, knowing full well that Luna was helping him learn how to tame dragons or at least show them he was one of them.

"Good. Please, by all means." Hiccup said as he nodded as his way of agreeing to try his hardest to not get caught.

She nodded back then rushed to another hiding spot.

"You got it Astrid!" A Viking in the crowd shouted.

She took a deep breath as she prepared herself, but as she was rushing to knock out the Gronckle, she stopped and lowered her axe with wide eyes. Before her was a knocked out Gronckle with a nervous Hiccup standing over it. Astrid gave him a deadpanned look which he returned with one of fear as the realization of his actions sunk in.

Astrid sighed and rubbed between her eyes as Hiccup slowly started to back away to the entrance.

Stoick took notice of his son backing away and stood. "Wait! Wait!"
"So, later." Hiccup said as he went to bolt out the arena.

Gobber noticed this and grabbed him by the back of his tunic. "Not so fast!"

"I'm kinda late for–" Hiccup tried to explain as Gobber dragged him to the center of the ring and released him, but before he could get out another word, Astrid covered his mouth with her hand and gave him a glare that screamed 'If you keep talking, you are going to spill everything about your daughter. Zip it!'.

Hiccup stiffened up and nodded slightly as she removed her hand from his mouth and he swallowed and looked up at his father.

Stoick gestured for the tribe to quiet down as he and Elder Gothi stood near the dome. "Okay, quiet down. The Elder has decided."

Gobber motioned to Astrid, but Gothi shook her head. He then motioned to Hiccup and she smiled and nodded in approval. The boy deflated as his fears were set in stone and Astrid gave him a sympathetic look as the tribe cheered and Gobber began shaking the poor lad.

"You've done it! You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" The blacksmith exclaimed.

"Ha, ha! That's my boy!" Stoick cheered, very proud of his son.

"Heh. Oh, yeah! Yes! I can't wait. I am so…" Hiccup said sarcastically, trailing off as he was able to get out of Gobber's hold and make his way out of the arena.

Astrid grew worried and rushed after her best friend, knowing he was about to make a huge mistake.

~~~HTRYNF~~~

"...LEAVING! We're leaving." Hiccup said heatedly as he was able to finally finish his sentence as he set down the basket of his belongings to pick up his daughter as she rushed to him excitedly when he entered the cove.

Luna came up to the two of them as he kissed his daughter's head with a curious yet worried look. "What do you mean by that young one? What happened that has made you so upset to want to leave your home like this?"

Toothless came over and tilted his head to the side, curious about what Hiccup would say.

Hiccup sighed and glared at the ground as he adjusted his hold on Kala. "I accidentally won the semi-final and I'd much rather leave than deal with my dad when I don't do what he and the rest of the tribe thinks I will in the final tomorrow. So I wanna leave."

All four of them then looked at the entrance to the cove as they heard Astrid enter and Luna began to growl as she pulled Hiccup and Toothless behind her.

Astrid held her hands up to show she was unarmed and stayed where she was. "Hiccup..why is she growling at me..?"

Hiccup sighed. "This is the first time she's seen you, Astrid. Need another reason for why she's growling at you? Luna's a wild dragon and is very protective of who she considers family."

"Is that why she pulled all three of you behind her..?"

Hiccup nodded as he let Kala down as she began to squirm and chirp impatiently to go over to her aunt. Astrid smiled and scooped the baby dragon up the second she was close enough to her and held her close. Luna noticed this and stopped growling at the young Viking, tilting her head to the side as she folded in her wings.

"How come you allowed your hatchling to go to this human? Is she not one of the humans who harms our kind? Why is your daughter so content within her arms?" Luna asked as she looked at Hiccup.

Hiccup smiled and crossed his arms. "Luna, this is Astrid. She's the friend I told you about. Astrid, this is Luna."

Astrid waved at Luna the best she could as Kala situated herself within her arms and purred happily. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Luna crooned as a greeting and gave Astrid a smile, which the girl returned.

Astrid then looked at Toothless and smiled sweetly. "And this must be Kala's brother. What's his name?"

Hiccup stifled a laugh as Toothless gave her a gummy smile as his way of telling her. "His name's Toothless. Don't ask me why, they still haven't told me how he got the name."

"Oh how adorable." Astrid said as she crouched down and reached a hand out to Toothless, putting Kala into her lap halfway as she did.

Toothless looked at Hiccup for permission to go over to the girl and Hiccup nodded with a smile.

"She's friendly. Go ahead." He said as he ushered Toothless over to her.

Toothless shyly went over to Astrid and sniffed at her offered hand then purred and nuzzled against it. Astrid giggled and gave him scratches.

"He's so cute. And you said he was seven, right?"

Hiccup nodded as he took Kala from Astrid as said baby dragon became annoyed at the absence of attention from her aunt. "Yeah, he's gonna be eight around Snoggletog."

"He's so small for that age. Did he hatch early like Kala or something?" She asked, very curious as to why the male hatchling was so tiny for being almost eight years old.

"He did. But he wasn't treated like my little flower was when he hatched. He was just abandoned. They didn't try to kill him like that adult Night Fury did with Kala." Hiccup explained as he let Kala play with his hand without looking.

Astrid stopped scratching Toothless and sighed. "I'm not gonna be able to stop you from leaving am I?"

Hiccup looked away and sighed. "No. I can't stay here Astrid. It's not safe for any of us here anymore. And it's just going to become even more dangerous when my transformation finishes. We have to leave."

"I'm going with you."

Hiccup looked at her in shock. "What? But Astrid!"
"No. You're not changing my mind. I am going with you Hiccup. You'll need my help and you know it. Luna won't be able to protect the three of you on her own. Especially if you need to go into a market for supplies." Astrid explained with her hands on her hips. "I am going with you."

Hiccup huffed then smiled. "Alright, fine. You wanna get anything from the village before we go or?"

"Nope. I can manage. Let's go." Astrid said as she made her way over to him and Kala, Toothless following right behind.

"I like this human Hiccup. Why haven't you brought her to see us before?" Toothless asked happily.

Hiccup chuckled and shook his head as he placed Kala on Luna's back, then mounted himself. He then held out his hand to Astrid, who took it hesitantly and allowed him to help her onto Luna's back. She held onto Hiccup tightly as Luna took to the skies and Hiccup shook his head with a smile as he held Kala close with one arm and held onto Luna with the other.

Toothless flew beside his caretaker and smiled at his little sister as she chirped at him happily.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked as he looked back at Astrid.

She had her face hidden in Hiccup's vest, her hands in tight fists as they held onto his tunic. "T-totally fine! Just peachy!"

Kala peeked over her father's shoulder at her and chirped encouragingly, her tail swaying back and forth happily. That got Astrid to look up and her eyes widened as she took in their surroundings.

They were flying above the clouds now, a huge grouping of them below as though they were flying over a fluffy white sea.

"Whoa…" Astrid breathed out as her grip on her best friend loosened as she looked around them in awe. "This is…this is amazing."

"I know, right? It feels…" Hiccup said, then they locked eyes.

"Free." They said in unison.

They flew in calm silence for a few minutes, but that calm was then broken as Luna sped up and flew down into a fog bank. Kala whined and cuddled closer to Hiccup for comfort and Toothless became nervous and stayed close to the dragoness as they flew through the fog, his earplates moving every which way from nerves.

"Luna, what's happening?" Hiccup asked nervously as he held Kala tightly, but not tight enough to hurt her.

Luna ignored him as she flew, not seeming to register anything around her. It was as though she had been put on autopilot.

Hiccup looked around them then his eyes widened when he saw a flock of dragons surround them. "Get down!" He whispered as he lay closer to Luna, being very mindful of his daughter as he did, ushering for Astrid to as well.

Astrid did without question, her grip on him tightening slightly. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." Hiccup admitted and he looked at Luna. "Luna, we gotta get out of here. Please."

Luna ignored him and he huffed and looked around them again, his eyes widened slightly as he took notice of what the flock around them had in their claws.

"It looks like they're hauling in their kill."

"Uh, what does that make us?" Astrid asked, a bit terrified.

Kala whimpered and buried her face further into Hiccup's chest. Toothless whimpered as well and got as close to Luna as he could, trying his hardest to hide from the flock as they flew through the fog bank.

After what felt like ages, they broke out of the fog and saw that they were heading towards a mountain. It finally clicked for the young Vikings that this was the Dragons' Nest that their tribe had been looking for long before they were even born.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup said as they looked at the mountain in awe.

Luna and Toothless followed the flock into the mountain, which turned out to be an inactive volcano, and landed on a ledge once they were in the main chamber. Luna shook her head as she was released from the trance she was put under and looked around.

"Where in Akatosh's name..?" She crooned out of confusion.

They all watched as the flock dropped the livestock and fish they gathered into the lava pit in the center of the chamber.

"It's satisfying to know all of our food has been dumped down a hole." Hiccup said sarcastically.

"They're not eating any of it." Astrid said, rather confused.

They then watched an old Gronckle slowly make its way over to the lava pit then regurgitate a single tiny fish. It began to fly away seeming proud of itself, but a roar was heard from the pit and the Gronckle screeched in fear as it tried to get away. Its efforts were for naught, though as something gigantic came up from the lava and ate it whole.

"What…is that?" Astrid asked, her fear very clear in her words.

What had emerged from the pit was a colossal dragon. All the other dragons in the nest cower in terror before the giant creature. Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless and Luna froze as the dragon spotted them and began to growl.

"Alright, Luna. We gotta go. Now!" Hiccup exclaimed as he held Kala closer to him.

Luna and Toothless quickly took off as all the dragons in the nest began to flee from the giant dragon. The dragon lunged at Luna and Toothless, but a Zippleback got in the way and was grabbed instead.

~~~HTRYNF~~~

"No, it totally makes sense." Astrid said as she and Hiccup dismounted Luna's back once they were safe in the cove on Berk once again. "It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers, and that's their queen. It controls them. Let's find your dad."

Hiccup grabbed her arm as he adjusted Kala to be supported by a single arm. "No! Not yet. They'll…they'll kill all of us Astrid. We have to think this through carefully."

Astrid glared the slightest bit as she pulled her arm out of his grasp. "Hiccup, we just discovered the Dragons' Nest. The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret?! Are you serious?!"

Hiccup gave her a stern look as he held Kala close to him with both arms, being careful to not wake the sleeping hatchling as he did. "Yes."

Astrid sighed and ran a hand down her face, then crossed her arms. "Okay. Then what do we do?"

"Just..give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out." Hiccup decided.

"I could help." The young Vikings heard and their eyes widened as they looked towards where the voice came from.

What they saw was a little boy that looked very much like Hiccup, but with black hair and toxic green eyes. He wore a very loose tunic-like shirt that went down past his knees and was held to his body by a leather belt, but no shoes.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked as he crouched down to get a better look at the boy.
"Yes?" The boy, who they now knew was Toothless, asked with a tilt of the head.

"H-how do you look so much like Hiccup?" Astrid asked as she looked between the young dragon and her best friend, very shocked that they looked so similar to one another.

"Do I?" The little boy asked, not really getting why this was such a shock to the Viking girl.

"Yes. Yes you very much do. It's like you're his little brother, o-or his son!" Astrid exclaimed, still trying to wrap her head around this revelation.

Hiccup looked at Astrid with a raised brow, then looked at Toothless and his eyes widened ever so slightly as he realized she was right. In the time that he's gotten to know the young Night Fury he has grown very attached to him, dare he say protective of him too. Just like he had with Kala.

'Maybe..maybe he could be. I can't really see my life without either Kala or Toothless in it. And they make each other very happy. I don't want to tear them away from one another. That would be too cruel. And I just can't stand the thought of Toothless not being here. He's family.'

"You know..Astrid has a point." Hiccup said.

"She does?" Toothless asked, very confused.

"I do?" Astrid asked with a raised brow and her arms crossed.

"Yeah. I didn't see it until now, but over this past week I've grown very attached and protective of you." Hiccup said as he locked eyes with the little boy. "So, what do you say? Wanna be a Haddock bud?"

Toothless' eyes widened as a huge smile lit up his adorable face. "You mean it?"

Hiccup smiled and nodded. "Of course. You're family Toothless. And Kala and I need you just as much as you need us."

Toothless teared up and hugged Hiccup tightly, but was careful not to squish his baby sister between them as he did. "Thank you! Just, thank you."

Hiccup smiled and hugged the boy back with one arm. "You're welcome, bud."

~~~HTRYNF~~~