Their flight home was quiet and lazy. The sea underneath them a sheet of blue glass. When they were inside they informed everyone that they'd returned and were resuming their duties. Only a couple minutes later were they getting reports from scouts, information on their food stock, new fishing and hunting locations, and potential threats.
Over the next weeks Hiccup and Toothless caught up on everything that needed to be done.
One day while Toothless and Hiccup were taking a small break a pair of close range scouts ran up to them.
"Sir!" One squawked. Which surprised Hiccup out of his doze. He took a second to comprise himself.
"What?" He asked calmly.
"There's a ship." The other scout informed.
"Ships pass around here all the time, are you two new?" Hiccup chuckled.
"No, sir. It's not passing by it's coming at us."
"Okay, I'll bite. Have we confirmed who they are, whose flags are they flying?"
"They're Berk flags sir."
"You hear that Toothless? Looks like my dad took me up on my offer." Toothless hummed then got up.
"I suppose we should go meet them before someone else does." Toothless stretched. Hiccup followed suit.
"You two gather a few others and follow us."
Soon Toothless and Hiccup had a small group in front of them. One of the people included what Color, and another was Care.
"Okay everyone please listen carefully, I don't want any misunderstandings. We are going to do a flyby of the Berk ship. What we are looking for is two flags flown at once. One is their regular Berk flag, and the other is a white flag. If we see both we are not to attack. Toothless and I will land on the boat. If everything is okay we'll signal for you to land as well. The group flew out to meet the boat.
"Alright." Hiccup yelled out to everyone. "Stay here and watch for us. If anything goes wrong, you know what to do." Hiccup leaned forward on Toothless. "Okay bud, nice and slow, don't freak everyone on the boat out. Please." He added. Toothless laughed in his throat before slowly gliding down towards their target. Toothless made a few circles around the ship, looking for anything suspicious and both flags. When both Toothless and Hiccup decided that nothing was out of the ordinary they circled around to the front of the ship and landed. They looked around at the people on the boat. They all stood motionless waiting for something to happen when Stoick began to approach the pair.
Hiccup slid off Toothless and waited for his father to close the distance. As he approached Hiccup saw the sword at his hip.
"No weapons." Hiccup called out to him. Stoick stopped for a second to untie his sword and hand it to one of the others. Quickly Stoick was in speaking distance. "I see you took my offer."
"It's been every viking's dream to get into Helhiem's gate. To see what's in there. It just so happens that I got an invitation and don't have to fight and fail to get in. This time." Stoick crossed his arms. Hiccup chuckled. Hiccup turned to Toothless.
"Would you signal the others please." Toothless nodded and turned to fire a plasma blast. The others flew down and landed all over the ship.
"Hiccup what the?" Hiccup held up his hands.
"It's okay, it's okay. They're just my." He paused for a second. "Greeting party, I guess you'd say. They were there just in case." Color and Care perched near Toothless and Hiccup.
"So this is your father?" Care asked.
"Yes, it is." Hiccup respond.
"He's the one who have me most of these scars." That was news to Hiccup.
"That isn't going to be a problem is it?" Hiccup asked the old Nightmare. He laughed.
"No, but now I know why your mate considers you so dangerous."
"Is there a problem Hiccup?" Stoick asked.
"No, no. I was just being informed that you and this Nightmare have met before."
"Oh? I'm uh, sorry?"
"It's fine." Hiccup laughed. "Well you've done what I've asked of you so there's no reason not to let you in."
"And how are you going to do that? There's no way to sail a ship through that damned fog, and I assure you that I will not ride one of these beasts." Stoick frowned. Hiccup thought for a moment.
"Well if this is the ship that I think it is, we could get all the rope from below deck and fly the ship to our beach. That would probably work." Stoick didn't know what to say as Hiccup passed him. He grabbed and heaved the cover to the hull open and went below deck. Hiccup began to haul up rope normally used for fish nets and dragon traps. When he had a good portion of the total amount he came back up.
"Okay." Hiccup huffed. He counted the number of dragons with him. "You." He pointed at a nadder. "Go get some of our strongest flyers and bring them here." She nodded and headed back. "Alright now, what I want from the rest of you is to pair up and come grab some of this rope. Then one of you needs to go under and come out the other side. I don't care how you decide, just don't start the ship on fire." As Hiccup was cutting and handing out rope, Stoick grouped the people who were with him, calming them down and answering any questions they had. Meanwhile many dragons had streamed in taking the place and grabbing on to help. Hiccup walked over to the group standing on the deck.
"We're ready to go if you are." Hiccup asked. Stoick nodded. "Then grab onto something. You're about to fly for the first time." Hiccup raced to the front of the ship. "Everyone ready?" Hiccup yelled. He got a bunch of muffled grunts and growls. "Alright then. We're bringing them to the nearest beach. On three, lift.
One. Two. Three!" The rope snapped against the side of the ship and the wood groaned unhappily. But the ship slowly rose into the air, and slowly they made their way towards Helhiem's gate. The men and women that Stoick had brought to help were looking down at the sea far below them, then the jagged spikes and fog below them. But Stoick was watching his son as he directed and lead his flock. And before he knew it, his ship was moored on the black rocked beach, barely half of it even in the water.
Hiccup jumped off the side of the ship and called down those who helped.
"Thank you all for helping." He smiled. "If any of you aren't completely exhausted please tell others that we have guests, and that I will have zero tolerance for aggression against them. You're all dismissed, and thank you again."
Most of the group quickly left. All except Toothless, Color, and Care.