1 year later…

Hiccup hates fighting. Hates fighting over pointless things. Not that the Dragon Eye is pointless per say, but why does battle have to be so full of anger?

He guessed that sure without anger battle might not have actually existed in the first place but it wasn't his fault that Ryker left his very important relic on a random ship.

The thing is, apparently Ryker is so angry and desperate for the Dragon Eye he hired a mercenary to do the job for him because why else would there be a white armored figure decked out in scales in the cave with the Snow Wraiths? Conveniently the one place they needed to be?

"What do we do?"

Right, figure this out first, he reminded himself. Analyze the situation.

White-Scaled Mercenary Guy was currently facing them with his weapon out, not aggressively, just to his side, ready. The Snow Wraiths snarled. Hiccup was way too tired for this.

"Maybe we can put one of them back to sleep and it'll distract the others," he said, running forward to grab a stray arrow that had found its mark in Tuffnut's helmet.

He skid across the ice on his knees pulling back on the string attached to his shield like a crossbow. Technically it was a crossbow, he'd taken great pride in the idea when he thought of it.

The figure spun his staff in a swift arch, and Hiccup had absolutely no time to register what was happening before his arm was suddenly thrown back.

Hiccup fell, slipping on the ice as Toothless was forced to save him from the Snow Wraith's blast of ice. He glanced behind him where the projectile had been rebounded to. There was an arrow. There was the arrow.

Just who is this guy?

Any other time Hiccup would go for the talking it out option, but the 'talk' he'd had with Ryker tired out his wit to the point of no return. At least not until he collapsed into a bed.

"Okay, so that didn't work," he muttered as one if the Snow Wraiths picked up the mysterious figure and disappeared into the ground. "Burrowing! That's new," he said. He could feel each one of the dragons underneath them creating a maze of tunnels and causing the cavern around the Riders to shake.

"I know, and I don't think I like it," Fishlegs was practically vibrating next to Meatlug, who wasn't much better.

"Oh, I know I don't like it," Snotlout yelped, watching the ground in fear as he sat on a stressed out Hookfang. That dragon looked like he was about to pop a vein.

Speaking of popping, the Snow Wraiths could pop up anywhere and ambush them with the position they were currently in, but there were more of the Riders than there were of the armored figure and his Snow Wraiths, therefore they'll probably try to pick them off one by one.

"Quick! Defensive formation! Everybody take an angle, fire as soon as you see them," he called, immediately everyone was on a dragon and had formed in a tight circle. The rumbling continued.

"Feels like they're going left. No, right. Left. Which one's which?" Snotlout shouted, trying to be helpful. It wasn't. "Forget that, just cover your zone!" He shouted at him.

Two Snow Wraiths popped up from the ground, and in response two of his team fired, both missed. But at least the Snow Wraiths were scared back into their burrows.

A new rumbling caught his attention, one that was right below him and Toothless, "Just stun 'em, bud," he whispered, he didn't want to accidentally kill someone.

The final Snow Wraith shot up and out of the tunnel right into Toothless's firing zone. There should've been no possible way for them to miss and yet…

Toothless shot. Hiccup watched, and the mercenary…

Dodged it.

He dodged it.

He–

"Anybody feel anything?"

They had left. If Ryker gets his hands on that tooth…

"Just a profound sense of relief," Tuffnut commented.

"And perhaps a tinge of sadness?" Ruffnut added, "Oh, exactly sister," Tuffnut agreed as they both turned to look at Hiccup. He did a double take.

Wait What?

"I think they're gone," Fishlegs said, ignoring the twins, "maybe they tunneled all the way out. If they did…"

"That could be our way out too," Astrid finished for him. Time to find those Snow Wraiths.

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Of course this was how Jack's afternoon was going. Fan-fucking-tastic. A year into the Archipelago and he's already speeding through ice tunnels on frantic animals. At least North would be proud.

What he wouldn't be proud of was how hard Jack slammed into the- and he kids you not -barf-green cage. Jack cursed as pain bloomed in his head. This is fine, he thought to himself half hysterical, mostly annoyed, It's not like the Sun's out or anything!

If he could speak his sarcasm out loud he would've but none other than Ryker himself was stumbling through the snow towards him. Fun.

He had to walk beside Jack in order to keep pace with the cage. He assumed they were heading towards the ships. Artemis could burn it by then he just needed to be patient and wait this out.

"You know, I was wondering when you'd show yourself," Ryker smirked, Jack wanted to punch that smirk right off his face. It'd be so satisfying too.

Steep-Glacier snarled behind him and in response, Ryker hit the cage aggressively, making the young dragon shrink back in fear. Jack glared at him. "When we get to those ships I'm ripping that mask off yer face," he threatened.

"Why are you so obsessed with my face? Got something to tell me Ryker?" He smiled sweetly, and if the big guy couldn't see it he could definitely hear it. Not one of his best one liners but it'd have to do.

Apparently the glacier above them hated Ryker as much as he did because in the next moment the ground shook with the roar of the ice falling and hitting the ground about ten gigantic CRACKs at a time.

"It's the sorcerer and his ice powers!" He heard someone shout just in time for the real chaos to commence.

Steep-Glacier graciously covered Jack with his wing as a particularly large block of ice dented the roof of their cage. By the time he recovered Ryker was gone and Jack couldn't seem to catch sight of him.

What he did catch sight of was the fern-leaf green belonging to a familiar Zippelback flying away from the glacier above them. Oh right, how could I forget? Jack was caught in a feud between two rival Dragon Hunter groups. Amazing.

Then he was going up. Astrid- he remembered from her and Heather's little talk earlier -and her Deadly Nadder were flying away with the cage. Unluckily for all of them the huge chunk of ice was still lodged into the roof, splitting the bars wider as they flew upwards.

Jack was forced to press himself against whatever floor the cage had, which, mind you, was now a killable height from the ground, as the ice block broke the roof more and more, causing it to creek under its weight.

Then, for some ungodly reason, Astrid left. She just bailed on him to be held by a rider with a Gronkle which, while strong, can't possibly hold the weight of a both Jack and a Snow Wraith.

Okay. Just go with it. This is fine, you're fine, he tried to tell himself. Much easier said than done when you're hanging in a cage thousands of feet in the air.

Luckily for him- yet unluckily for his soul -the loss of weight to one side of the cage caused the entire thing to swing on its axis. Jack could only watch as the ice now fell and broke as it hit the ground below him, breaking into a million pieces.

"How did you do that?" Jack asked, as he watched Artemis of all dragons roll around on the ground like a puppy.

Valka just chuckled lightly, "there is an ancient language used to communicate with dragons. Most believe it is entirely made up, others not so much. Over time the words have been lost. But not the hand gestures…" she trailed off mysteriously.

"And?" He pushed, but Valka just left him hanging there. He learned them later, but never got a name to the language.

Jack let out a short whistle, grabbing the Gronkle's attention, then, keeping eye contact, Jack lifted his hand and rolled it to the right.

The Gronckle followed his hand and they fell. Okay, maybe that wasn't the best decision! He panicked as he maneuvered to the large gap in the newly bent bars, trying his best not to injure himself too much. This was impossible but one could hope. He was definitely going to wake up with bruises tomorrow.

Shouting came from above him as he fell, something like, "catch him!" Or whatever, but Jack wasn't listening to them. In fact he was listening to a familiar high pitched whistle.

He pushed away from the cage bars, launching himself downwards. He reached out as Artemis bled into the sky, grabbing onto the saddle like a lifeline. He pulled himself up right, straining to fight the air resistance of his fall and spun out the momentum.

They flung upwards to catch the cage before it hit the ground. Jack chased his breath, "that worked better than I thought it would," he said, earning a threatening growl from Atri, "Yeah, yeah, sorry, just keep the cage away from them," he commanded as they spun away from a Monstrous Nightmare.

Jack turned to his saddle bag and grabbed out three keys, "I'll free the rest," he said, and promptly dropped down to stand on the bars of the cage Artemis was holding, quickly inserting the key and pulling the door open.

One of the dragons fired and both Jack and Steep-Glacier fell. He wasn't worried though, Steep-Glacier caught him and sped towards the other cages. Seriously, why do these people need to be so loud, I can hear them over the wind, he thought as he swung open another cage.

They worked like a team, Jack opened the cage and Steep-Glacier attacked the Zippelback riders. Honestly, who was Jack to stop his revenge?

Both Steep Glacier and another Snow Wraith caught the last cage as it fell, Artemis catching Jack as he jumped from the open cage.

He flew by and unlocked it. "That's one for the Sanctuary," he said to no one in particular, Artemis made an indignant sound, "Oh shut up you! I'll... get you some fish when we get back," he promised, "now lets blow this popsicle stand," he said as they sped away towards the sea.

Then a blast shot past them, making them turn. Night Fury.

Surprisingly- or unsurprisingly -the stranger on said Night Fury was looking more shocked at Artemis than the fact he was riding a Night Fury. Probably the last one alive too.

The last Night Fury and it was being enslaved by Dragon Hunters. He wanted to blast them out of the sky right then and there. "Where'd you get 'em?" He asked, and the Rider snapped up to meet his eyes.

He looked furious. "I could ask you the same thing," he growled, before launching at him, causing Jack to dodge out of the way. They nose dived towards the sea below them, the Night Fury and his rider not far behind. Just before they hit the water, Atremis shot her signature blast and they disappeared without even making a ripple.

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"Astrid! Look out!" He shouted as he almost hit her. He pulled Toothless up just in time, causing him to miss. What was it with the failed attempts to blast someone today? Okay, calm down, you sound like a sadist.

Then he registered what she just said, "Heather's with us!" he looked at her, wide eyed.

"What did you just say?" He needed clarification because that wasn't right, it couldn't be. She'd betrayed us. But before he could ask any more questions Astrid continued, "we have a situation with the Snow Wraith cages," she said quickly.

He looked at her for a moment, "You, me, when we get back, I want a full explanation," he told her, then sped off towards the shore.

There were way too many thoughts blowing through him to really form a coherent one, but if he had to guess they'd all be something along the lines of, what in the helheim? or maybe, oh my gods, one thing for sure, this person was almost as insane, if not more, than Hiccup. Which was definitely saying something.

He watched in frozen awe and horror as the armored figure from earlier fell- still inside the cage - then pushed his way out like he wasn't spinning in midair. As far as Hiccup could tell there was nothing but unforgiving ice to catch him. Then he heard a familiar whistle. But Toothless is–

A white Night Fury snatched him out of the sky and Hiccup's brain broke. He just watched, gaping like a fish as they performed stunts in the air like they were born flying. He barely noticed.

They're going to leave! Some panicked part of his brain told him.

He flipped the pedal on Toothless's saddle and they shot towards the duo. Toothless, for his part, out of desperation, shot a plasma blast at them, not to harm them, just to grab their attention.

They met eye to eye. The dragon was beautiful; white with pink undertones, and it sparkled in the sunlight like snow. Its eyes were so blue…

The stranger whispered something Hiccup couldn't quite catch over the wind, they had white scales for armor…

He'd hate to think that–

If it was true, if this person had been abusing this dragon, Hiccup might've killed them. Okay, he didn't think he'd go that far, but its safe to say no one would be happy in that situation.

"Where'd you get 'em?" The question made Hiccup's blood boil. Where'd he get him?! He snapped his gaze over to the armored man's, boring into the holes in his helmet. "I could ask you the same thing," he shot back. He urged Toothless forward in an attempt to knock the Hunter off his dragon.

Then the two were speeding towards the ocean. Alarm bells rang in his head. They're going to hit the water–

Then they were gone. Just like that. They were gone, leaving Hiccup and his dragon- quite literally -in the dust. Or smoke.

It would be hours before they went home.

They did eventually. Go home that is. Though, not until the sun was starting to set. Hiccup wasn't particularly looking forward to that explanation Astrid owed him.

He was listening, but no matter how hard he tried, his mind wouldn't leave that dragon and its rider, nor that situation and what he would've, could have, done differently.

"Heather pretended to join Dagur to get close to him to avenge her family. When she found out about his alliance with the Dragon Hunters, she decided to get closer to him to find out more."

That was it. That was the entire explanation, it was a stupid one too, if Heather really hated Dagur that much she would've just killed him and left, "are you sure?" He asked, and he could see her break under his stare.

She sighed, "She also wanted to find out more about Vorder."

Hiccup snapped his gaze to her once more, "who?" He asked, "Vorder, he's the one you just saw riding the Light Fury. He's been destroying Hunter ships for the past year, he only now just apeared up north. At least that's what Heather says, but we don't know what he does with the dragons he saves so..." she explained.

So not only had she been hiding information about an important and potential ally to the whole team, but something as groundbreaking and as important as another possible species of Night Fury?

Hiccup was speechless, he felt betrayed. Astrid knew, she knew how important this was to not only him but to Toothless, and she didn't tell him? Why?

Hiccup couldn't help but think about how Astrid might not trust him, and he tried not to think that way, tried to say that it wasn't her fault but, he just couldn't find a reason as to why she would keep something so vital. What did she think he'd do? Kill someone?

"Hiccup, would you say something? Please?" Astrid begged, he felt angry and he honestly wanted to cry. "We're supposed to be a team, Astrid,"

"I know I-I should've told you. I wanted to. I really did," she said, she sounded pleading, like she wanted him to believe her, he still couldn't look at her.

When someone betrays you, all of the sudden, when they say things, even with the rawest emotion, it never sounds real. A new voice in the back of his head told him, warned him, She's faking it. Over and over again.

He knew it wasn't fair, or right, or even true, but– "But you didn't," he snapped, "I'm sorry. But without Heather, the Dragon Hunters would have a key to the Dragon Eye right now," she said.

"And if you had told me about Vorder, those Snow Wraiths could be safely hidden on another island right now!" He whirled on her, he almost regretted it too. The entire team was watching them.

"Not only that, but there's possibly the only other species of Night Fury under a possible abuser's care and the head of the Dragon Hunters is still out there!"

They paused for a moment, just glaring at each other, before Astrid tentatively said, "Hiccup, Ryker isn't the head of the Dragon Hunters. According to Heather, their real leader is somebody named Viggo Grimborn,"

Oh, so she kept that from him too? His anger and feelings of betrayal increased ten fold. He couldn't even scoff at the names of Gore Grimskull and Viggo Grimdeath, created by Ruff and Tuff. Probably an attempt to lighten the mood.

"He lives in the shadows. Everyone's afraid of him, even Ryker. Heather hasn't met him yet, but she's our best shot at drawing him out," she continued, and Hiccup hated how she always stuck to the business part of things, he got it, this was more important than infighting, but it still annoyed him to no end.

"Well, I hope she knows what she's doing. For all our sakes..." he said as he walked away to his hut, Toothless followed and he hoped that he'd feel better in the morning.