"Hey it's true." Hiccup huffed. Toothless pressed his snout into Hiccup's chest.

"I know the feeling." Toothless smiled. Hiccup beamed at him then moved to his side and hopped on the dragon's back.

"Let's go meet up with my dad." Hiccup pointed to the group of humans circling Stoick. "Were you able to get any information on the scouts?" Hiccup asked along the way.

"There happened to a check in from a few of the high flyers who are still on look out. They'd said that they believed they saw a couple in the distance. If they were at the edge of the high flyer's sight they should be here before sunset. Then we'll finally know what's going on." Hiccup agreed and was relieved that at least one of their scouts was returning. He hoped that the others would be making their ways back as well. But in the meantime he has something else to work on that was a lot more fun than worrying at the moment. The pair had grouped up with Stoick and Skullcrusher.

"You know it's one thing to sit on one but you still have to fly." Hiccup said loudly over the crowd.

"Hiccup." Stoick grumbled.

"What? How do you think you're getting anywhere on that if it isn't flying? He's not a Speed Stinger." He patted the back of Toothless' head, wanting to get into the air. Without hesitation Toothless jumped and began to rapidly pump his wings. "You better hold onto something." Hiccup called to his dad. Stoicks eyes bulged out of his head as he felt the giant green mountain readying himself for take off.

"Wait! Hiccup!" Stoick started to panic "What if I fall off? Can this thing even carry me? I'm pretty heavy you know."

"You'll probably be fine." Hiccup chuckled.

"Hiccup this isn't funny."

"Skull, would you get into the air already, you're going to give him a panic attack." The huge dragon rumbled a deep laugh before his wings flapped and legs pushed and suddenly they were in the air as well and gaining height quickly. Just about everyone on or near the ground was laughing at Stoick, who was screaming his head off. Hiccup looked down at the other humans.

"If you'd like, you may go get one to ride as well. But you better be quick cause I'm about to let them all out so they can stretch their wings. I'll have those who are willing meet you at the top shelf just inside." The humans in question scrambled to find a way inside. "Alright bud, let's get to the big hole and tell everyone to get ready. Toothless sped off and in a matter of seconds they entered through the giant hole the Red Death had made. Hiccup whistled loudly and the mountain went quiet. "The humans are looking for dragons willing to give them a ride. If you want to do that, meet them at the top shelf. For those who don't, I'm temporarily lifting the grounding so that you can stretch out. "Let's go find my dad." Hiccup patted Toothless' neck. The pair flew out, and were followed by a flood of dragons.

The pair spotted Skullcrusher slowly gaining height while doing lazy circles. Toothless easily caught up to the pair and held a formation with Skullcrusher.

"So how is it?" Hiccup called out to his father.

"I swear to the gods if I fall Hiccup." The large man uneasily yelled.

"You'll be fine. The chance you fall isn't as much as you think. And even if you do, Skullcrusher is faster than he looks, and if he can't get to you Toothless can without a doubt. You just have to trust him not to drop you, or do anything that could cause that. And at the same time he has to trust that you aren't going to do something stupid to cause yourself to fall. It comes with time, then what you can do expands a bit. Now what you should do is sit there and let them do their thing. But…" Hiccup got to his knees, then feet and slowly stood up. "Once you're in tune with your dragon, you can do more." He took a step forward, placing his foot onto Toothless' head, and leaned out in front of them. He closed his eyes and took a second to enjoy himself. Then he started to walk along Toothless' back. The dragon in turn flew a little forward as to keep Hiccup and Stoick parallel to each other. Stoick watched in horror as his son kept walking further and further until he was balancing half way down Toothless' tail. "It's all about the bond you make. The trust you put in, and maybe a little bit about knowing your limits." Hiccup walked forward again and sat back down in his usual spot and patted his dragon's head. "These creatures, these people. They're amazing. Some of the stuff that these guys can do is nothing short of magic. There's so much to learn about them that I'm going to spend my whole life learning about these guys. I could probably spend the rest of my life just learning about one or two species." Hiccup gave his dad a big smile. "I mean no wonder I didn't fit in on Berk. I just wasn't meant to be there. I was meant to be here." He gestured back towards his home, towards his people, and Stoick, finally able to not focus on falling off his mount, looked out, not even realizing how far out they'd gone, saw what Hiccup meant when he said that you'd never want to get off once you're on.

The huge man could barely process the beauty of what he was seeing. Helheim's gate, a place where good men went to die, was now a sight that could bring the most calloused over, scarred, broken warriors to tears.

Then a nice silence sat in the air while all four of them looked back on Helheim's gate, and the slowly dissipating cloud of dragons happily flying around.

"I'm sorry about Snotlout. I didn't want to do that to him." Hiccup looked at his dad. Stoick's eyes hardened.

"His mouth was bigger than his brain. You weren't the same person who'd been run out of Berk. You weren't even human anymore. Even I underestimated you and got Horrace killed. Even then, you were too much to handle. It's why I swallowed my pride and stopped going after you. And good thing I did. I fear for the man who picks a fight with you and yours."

"And yet we still fear those who are coming for us right now."

"Only because you don't know why. But from the little you've told us and what I've seen all you have to do is focus on what's in front of you. It's not easy convincing people to fight for you. So that your entire village, or whatever you call it, are prepared to fight for you speaks volumes of your leadership."

"You should be saying that to Toothless. We do run this together after all."

"Yes I know. Good leaders never lead alone Hiccup. You think I would have made it as far as I have without your mother? Gods save my soul if she hadn't been there. Even though she's gone now, don't think for a second she doesn't influence every decision I make."

"Hmm. I definitely understand that."