"It shouldn't come to that but I'll keep it in mind." Hiccup chuckled.

"Stoick, what's going on?" Gobber asked, panicked. "They tied me to that damned thing and let it fly off with me." He got to his feet. "We thought you were dead, you haven't come back, I thought it was just supposed to be a scouting thing." He looked around at the other humans and the dragons towering above them, until he spotted Hiccup. "Is that…?" He trailed off. "If that's… Then that means." The stunned man fell back on his butt when seeing the Night Fury. "What's going on, what's happening? Do you need help? Do they have you hostage?"

"Calm down Gobber." Stoick tried to soothe his friend's nerves. "No I'm not a hostage and no we don't need your help. Or well we do, kinda, you'll be caught up soon enough."

"But I didn't see your ship. Where are we, what is this place?"

"Given how tied up you were, I doubt you saw much more than the belly of the beast who brought you here."

"That doesn't answer my question, Stoick. What's going on?"

"Well we're currently on a hunting trip of sorts." Stoick explained. "This is one of the landings that Hiccup's dragon's use. This is one of their hunting grounds. And due to a situation back in Helheim's Gate we've broken off and come here for a few days. Needed some fresh air to think and to not worry for a few days."

"H-how did you get here?"

"Like you did. Just with less rope and a lot less screaming. Oh, and of course we were on top and not underneath our dragons."

"On top? You flew with them? You? Stoick The Vast rode a dragon? I must be asleep." Gobber assured himself. "I'll wake up in the morning and you'll be back on Berk, and I won't be here listening to you tell me lies."

"Gobber, a lot has changed since I left. We've learned a great many things in the weeks I've been gone, and I am not the same Stoick that left Berk." Stoick paused. "Once you've seen what we've seen, you'll have no choice but to accept it. Even if you don't like it." Stoick sighed.

"I don't know what to say." Gobber looked around, still confused.

"I recommend saying that you won't hurt them. Turns out trust is a big thing for them. Get them to trust you and you'll have a loyal friend for life. We've all started that journey."

"Friends with what? The dragons?"

"Yes." Stoick took a few steps over and grabbed Skullcrusher's horn gently. With his other hand he scratched under the Rumblehorn's chin. "If they trust you they'll let you take care of them, let you help them. In return they'll help you too. Fish, hunt, cut wood, smith, Gobber." He returned to his friend's side. "One of the species you can feed rocks with ore in them and it'll spit out metal. A special metal even. One that's stronger than what we can make ourselves and it's even lighter. Imagine what we could do with that." Stoick said excitedly.

"There really are two of you." Toothless grumbled. "God's, it might as well be you talking to the new human."

Hiccup covered his mouth and laughed quietly. "Oh hush. Gobber is his best friend and he just wants him to get excited about this. If Gobber is on board with us it'll make our alliance more likely to succeed."

"I'll take your word for it." They watched as Stoick tried to get his friend to touch Skullcrusher. "It's crazy to look at this and think about how much you didn't want to be like him. All that time fighting it just for both of you to end up being so alike. Must be hard seeing this now and wondering where it was when you were a kid." Toothless nudged Hiccup with his snout.

"It is a little, yeah." Hiccup whispered.

"I think it's actually pretty funny that what's bringing you two together is what split you apart in the first place. And all these other humans are being brought in too. Seeing all this. Must be hard to accept. All that hate and no understanding about us. To be shown this, shown Helheim. On top of having a human who's no longer truly human but something in between. I don't know if I could accept that, even if I was looking right at it." Toothless hummed to himself. "But I guess even if you couldn't accept it, you couldn't ignore it. You've seen it and know it's true."

"It is kinda hard to accept." Hiccup leaned himself against Toothless, his head resting alone the dragon's jaw. "It's been so long and so many nights I lost sleep thinking about this moment. Very few times I saw this going well." Hiccup paused while he watched his dad still trying to get Gobber to interact with Skullcrusher. "Thinking back, I don't know if I've ever seen this side of my dad. I knew it was there but never really got to see it.

He was always so strict with me. Always wondering how I ended up so small compared to everyone else. Tried to stick me somewhere where I couldn't hurt anyone with my mistakes. But it was a blessing in disguise. Being stuck in the forge was exactly where I needed to be. Between making new weapons or sharpening swords, I was able to draw and make the things I came up with.

I'm lucky that Gobber is the forge master on Berk. If it was anyone else I wouldn't have been allowed to make things and experiment. He'd even help me refine my designs from time to time. He even helped come up with the design that shot the bola that shot you down. Without him, I never meet you that night."

"Do you hate him? Your father. For the way he treated you?"

"No." Hiccup sighed. "But I can't say that I like him fully yet. I'm playing nice and being as open as I can. I think that he finally sees me and has realized how poorly he treated me."

"He's accepted you as his son again, but do you want to be his child anymore? Do you think that relationship will heal at all? Do you want it to?"

"I don't know… Yes actually. It would be nice to actually have one of my parents in my life again. I think I could love him again, in time. Since mom's long gone he's all I have left."

"You have me."

"Of course I have you. But you know what I mean."