Stoick watched his son caudal the dangerous beast between his legs.

"Tell me Hiccup. What draws you to these beasts over your own kind? And why this one in particular? I know it's the Night Fury but is there any other reason than that?"

Hiccup sat up and looked out over the ocean in front of him, and smiled a bit.

"Well the thing is, I'm not supposed to be human." He looked over to his father. "I've… Been, told, that. Uhm… How do I say this? Toothless and I are connected. We're soulmates. There's a lot I don't think I'm allowed to tell you. But I think it's safe to say that I wasn't ever meant to be human in the first place. This, me. This way I look. I'm stuck halfway. And then Toothless and I. Well we were always going to be together, always going to find each other. We're naturally drawn towards each other.

Even if what happened didn't. One day there would have been some force inside me that would have forced me to go searching. And this love between us has been going on for a long time. Potentially thousands and thousands of years. Apparently this isn't our first, third, eighth, or even tenth time being born. And hopefully it won't be our last.

It's kinda odd to think that we didn't really fall in love. Of course we did. But in the grand scheme that's been us, this is just a continuation of what we started the very first time we fell for each other."

"Hiccup you sound like a crazy person."

"Yes well, like I said there's a lot I can't say. Just know that there are things that people believe but can't prove, exist. There's a sorta magic in this world. It's why I look like this. This isn't some costume." Hiccup reached behind himself and pulled on his tail. "This thing doesn't come off. My scales don't peel away and my regular skin is underneath it. I was never meant to be human. From what we've been told, this is my first time being human. But I'm complaining about that. Having hands is quite nice.

So what draws me to them is that I am one of them."

"That's a lot to take in Hiccup."

"Yes well I'm guessing you're pretty good at it by now."

"Seems I'll have to be, when it comes to you." Stoick chuckled.

Okay well, I'm going to let Toothless fly around a bit faster so he can really stretch his wings. Feel free to bond with Skullcrusher some more. There aren't many his size he can bond with here." Hiccup laughed as Toothless quickly pulled away from the other two.

Stoick watched as Toothless and Hiccup took a dive and sped their way into the spires and fog protecting Helheim. From his spot he could just barely make out the shadow weaving through the rocks.

"Let's go meet up with the others. See how they're doing." Stoick said to Skullcrusher. But he quickly came to the conclusion that his mount didn't understand his commands and Hiccup never taught him how to control where he wanted to go. He started to struggle and flail around and just barely caught himself slipping off before catching himself. That sobered him up a bit as he now realized what Hiccup meant by doing something that causes you to fall off. And as much as he had to trust his mount to catch him, he didn't want to test that. He rethought his strategy to figure out how to get his dragon to turn. Which led to an only slightly more controlled flailing around until something worked. And when he found out what did he rolled his eyes. A few simple pats on either side of the dragon turned him in the direction he wanted. And soon he was grouped up with the other humans.

As he approached, Skullcrusher began to slow down and the other humans began to clap for him. He took the ribbing in stride and he joined the group officially.

"Yes, yes get your kicks out now." He chuckled.

"Like son, like father, aye Stoick?" One of the men said.

"Oh no. Hiccup and I couldn't be any more opposites if we tried. All this." He looked around at the flock of happily flying dragons and to Helheim's gates. "I couldn't have done this. Equally if not greater men then I have tried to conquer this place. Break those spires and ford that fog. But these people, and this land was never meant to be taken over like that. No, it took someone much smarter and much more kind than I to take this place."

"You act as though you never influenced him. He was still your son until a couple of summers ago." One of the women reminded him.

"Yes, but it wouldn't feel right to say that I influenced him well. My son hasn't really ever been the type to learn the way I teach. He's always been better when thrown into the fire. And dragons tend to have a lot of that." Stoick laughed to himself.

"Boo!"

"Boo!"

"Boo!"

"Boo!"

"That was bad Stoick."

"What? Oh come on. That was great." He looked around at the other vikings, who were all actively looking away from him. "Whatever. So then." Stoick's tone changed. "We have to make a decision." His people looked back to him. "As you probably know, this place is to be attacked soon. Likely within a few days. Hiccup wants us to stay and help, but doesn't need us to be here. So I'm letting you make your own decision. This isn't our fight. So you don't have to stay. This could cost you your life. So leave if you wish. I won't stop you, or think any less. Just point your mount in the right direction and they'll take you there. I just ask that you don't land in Berk. We don't need the others knowing about what we saw here yet. I'll be the one to inform the village of the situation involving Hiccup and Helheim's gate. Feel free to leave at your convenience, or stay if you wish."