He continued to watch. Every moment that passed Stoick grew more and more concerned that none of them had done anything so that they didn't slam into the water. He turned his gaze to Toothless and Hiccup who'd been the furthest down and watched as Hiccup pressed himself against his dragon. Then at the very last second Toothless' wings extended their full length and suddenly the pair were racing across the water. Stoick's eyes were wide open, he couldn't believe how fast they were moving, like nothing he'd ever seen before. He wondered how much Hiccup's weight was slowing the Night Fury down.

His thoughts stopped as he returned his gaze to the huge group of dragons who'd just hit the same point their leaders had. And yet again he witnessed something insane. He watched as dragons at the bottoms of the group flew out and continued to stream out until the huge group was flying around freely again.

In the meantime Stoick hadn't noticed that Skull Crusher had slowly been losing height. And once the spectacle was over was slowly flying towards the reforming group. And now that he was getting proper air again he could focus on what was happening around him. He could hear Hiccup. But hadn't seen them rejoin the rest of the group. But as Skull Crusher pushed his way through he saw Toothless and Hiccup at the center. He listened and watched his son speak, then Toothless translate for the ones who couldn't understand him.

"And as long as we fight as one. Stand together, and look to our future, we'll make it through." Hiccup yelled, and Toothless translated. The flock began to cheer and shoot fire. Hiccup waves his arms above his head to get everyone to settle down. "And before I let you go. We've been informed that one of the scouts was seen way far off. But it's been a while since we've been informed. I'll like for Color and a small group to head out towards where the Bewilderbeast is coming from and meet them halfway and help if they need it. Bring food and water, and land somewhere if you can. If they're in need of help, have them relay the information to one of you and bring it to me as fast as you can."

Color swooped down, and called on her team before swiftly leaving.

"As for the rest of you. You're free to do as you wish until further notice. Those of you who normally leave to scout, I ask that you help out where you can. We have a lot of hungry mouths to feed, and a food stock that needs filling for the freeze. You're all free to leave, have fun, but try not to hurt each other, we need as many as we can. Tomorrow we live as usual until further notice. Thank you everyone." The huge group quickly dispersed. Leaving Toothless and Hiccup alone for the most part. The other humans and their current mounts hadn't left yet.

Hiccup layed forward, resting his cheek on Toothless' head.

"I hope that scout's okay. They've been out there for a long time now. And where are the others? We only know of the one. I hope nothing happened to the rest of them."

"Don't worry Hiccup, they're tough."

"Tough has nothing to do with this. We sent them out to just look but if they got ambushed or something. And if we got that one was seen they couldn't have been that far away. They should have been here by now. The high flyers around here should have seen them at least." Hiccup grit his teeth in thought. "Why aren't you freaking out? You should be just as worried as I am."

"Don't worry, I am. But both of us can't be freaking out about this. One of us has to be level headed right now."

"You can show emotion for your people you know." Hiccup whispered. Toothless rolled his eyes and shot off towards the mountain. "Toothless? What are you doing?"

"Just hold on." Toothless dipped into the mist and found a spot for them to land. "Here get off." Toothless shook himself. Hiccup slipped off his mount and moved to sit in front of him. When he sat Toothless pressed his snout into his hair and huffed, making Hiccup giggle. The dragon leaned down to look at Hiccup better. "Look Hiccup, I am worried about the scouts we sent out. You're right they should be here by now, and it is odd that a high flyer hasn't seen them either. But we also haven't seen scale or spike of that Bewilder beasts group either. So we have to wonder if our initial report of the Bewilderbeast was off. But by now if our first report was accurate we'd be in the middle of a fight right now. So we have to assume they were farther away than we thought, or not headed straight at us. Maybe there's a spot that it was too deep for it to walk along, and had to find a way around.

And yes, you should be worrying. What we've been told and are preparing for is no joke. But one of us has to be the cold one in these situations. And something tells me that you don't want to be that one."

"I could." Hiccup interrupted.

"No you couldn't." Toothless spoke over him. "It's not who you are. It's not who you'll ever be. I've realized that you may be too nice. And that comes with its own merits. But that's isn't as bad as being too mean.

So while I've been reluctant to sit and lead by your side. I've sat and watched enough to realize that the growth I thought you'd have leading on your own isn't happening the way I thought it would. I was hoping that you'd grow more independent of me, but I see now that the likelihood of that was nearly nothing. We rely on each other so much that something like that would have never happened. So from today on, I'll be taking my role as alpha more seriously. Take a more active role in leading our people. While trying not to step on your toes."

"Please don't, it hurts when you do that, you're heavy."

"If I didn't think you'd get hurt, you'd be in the water right now." Toothless chuckled and Hiccup laughed.

"You should have known I wasn't going to become more independent of you. How could I? I need you just to get around this place most of the time. Then I need you to translate for me, and to break up fights sometimes, and get everyone's attention. If anything you should be the one leading, not me. You're a natural."

"There are a few things that made me want to take a more passive role. You may not completely realize it but I've done a lot of damage to our people. I was a weapon to her, and I was used like one. Even on my own kind.

If I came to take alpha, and succeeded, there still would have been a lot of mistrust. I don't think I would ever gain their trust like you have. You were a new face, and the second you took alpha, things changed for the better. They can trust you without having to weigh on what you did to them before. I'm just lucky enough that I'm the one you're mated to. Which has helped a ton in getting them to trust me as well. And for the most part, at this point I think I've made amends with our people. But it's all thanks to you. I wouldn't be anywhere near what I am today without you."