He groaned for the umpteenth time that night. Just the intruding urge to start banging his head against the table in hopes this headache would finally recede into the cursed crevasses of his mind was insatiable. Even more insatiable than the last remaining brain cells he held on to so dearly.

He says last remaining, because there was no way in Hell it was this hard to find someone especially when you're doing it on a dragon of all things. He'd gone everywhere! He flew for hours on Artemis, even Valka was starting to tease him for how long he was gone.

"Oh there you are! Thought you'd flown off the world for a moment there!"

He groaned louder, and this time actually did let his head meet the table, once but he could do it again.

Artemis made a worried sound in the back of her throat. He sighed, "You're right, it's been a year, if they wanted to be found they would have popped up by now,"

It hurt to think that maybe the whole reason he just couldn't for the life of him find out where these boomers were hiding was because they were avoiding him.

But it wouldn't be the first time, he reminded himself.

He took a shaky breath, slow and then exhaled. It may hurt, but the thought that the reason he can't find them could be because they physically can't reach out is worse. So much worse.

He turned his gaze to the paper again and Atremis whined at him to get some sleep. He sighed again, "yeah, okay, we'll continue in the morning," he yawned, putting the parchment down so he could get ready for bed.

But not before he took one more glance, It's important, I know it, why else would someone put so many arrows? He shook his head at the thought before turning away.

°•○●○●○●○●○●○● ◇ ●○●○●○●○●○●○•°

It's that time of the month again, no not that time, that time. The time when Jack is reminded just how much humanity sucks.

He made it further today, in a shorter time as well, the sun was still out. Then again, he's been living in the 'no I mean north, north' for a year now, he should be used to the sun being out longer. Not the point.

Jack and Artemis winced when one of the 'Auxiliary Riders' got struck with lightning. But these guys were Dragon Enslavers, kind of deserved it when you're forcing dragons to do your bidding right?

Oddly enough whenever he encountered these groups of people there was a tiny voice in the back of his head telling him his assumptions were wrong, and that no, these people were actually just really friendly with dragons. Like him and Val.

But Valka had assured him with the most conviction ever that they were the only ones in the entire Archipelago who were like this. He believed her because she's his mentor. Still, that doesn't mean she controlled his thoughts.

"Dad!"

He snapped his head to the call, it was the Dragon Hunters he had seen a month ago, and if that was one of their parents…

Jack had found their island. He'd found a Dragon Hunter's home island!

Another day, another round of chaosolizing a situation, that's a word right?

Didn't matter because before Jack even knew what was happening, he and Artemis were shooting out of their hiding spot in the rocks, and catching someone who was falling out of the sky.

There really was no explanation for why he did it, maybe because they seemed about the same age as him? But he caught him.

He didn't think about it, he just did it, it was one of those things where one moment he was on the ground watching the scene above, then he blinked and he was in the air with a stranger being held up by Atri.

He looked down to see if he had actually just done that. He did.

Artemis was indeed holding a brunette with far less armor than should be required when you're constantly sitting on top of an open-air 90 mile per hour rocket with wings.

The kid sputtered, failing to form words.

"Hi," the brunette managed, Jack chuckled out of disbelief before letting out a dazed, "Hi," because honestly, Jack was just as, if not more, taken aback by his actions than the stranger probably was.

He looked around for a moment, the Skrill was gone, he'd have to find it again, he almost groaned out loud.

He dropped the brunette from a survivable height to the ground before slipping into a cloud of fire and speeding off, invisible.

°•○●○●○●○●○●○● ◇ ●○●○●○●○●○●○•°

"Cover the downed Riders!" He shouted over the fighting, thankfully everyone heard him, everyone but Toothless.

"Toothless? No– what are you doing?" He asked, because he really wanted to know why his dragon wasn't listening to him. Especially why he was trying to take the Skrill head on.

He managed one more shout of protest before Toothless's 'brilliant' battle plan failed and Hiccup was quite literally thrown from his dragon.

Fear was all he felt as he plummeted towards the ground. If he didn't die from this he'd definitely never move again.

He could've used the flight suit. He would have too but the universe had other plans.

His entire being lurched, his blood rushed to his head so fast it made him feel dizzy. All he registered at the moment was that he was no longer falling. He grunted as he gained his bearings expecting to see one of the Riders when he opened his eyes but nope.

What he got instead was Vorder. The exact person he'd been trying to find for the last month! Thankfully some part of his brain was still working, but apparently not the words part because all he managed to say in that moment was an almost breathless, "hi,"

Great job Hiccup, ever the poet huh?

The stranger just chuckled like he could hear his sarcastic thoughts and muttered a deep and relaxed, "Hi," the mask muffled his voice, probably making it sound deeper than it actually was.

Once again Hiccup found himself gaping like a fish, what was it about this guy that made Hiccup's words disappear?

Why was he the only one who could stump Hiccup so bad all his usual sarcastic remarks finally left him?

He's even done it twice now and this is the first time he's uttered a word to Hiccup.

Then he was falling again, he doesn't remember if he screamed or not but he landed with minimal bruising and that's what mattered he supposed.

Hiccup just sat there for a moment staring into the very blank blue sky. He needed to figure out how Vorder did that.

There were rumors that Vorder had magic and that's how he did what he did but Hiccup was never one to believe in the supernatural. That and Vorder had yet to show off his fabled ice powers.

Now that was far fetched.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when a gruff voice that could scare off your average bear asked, or more like shouted, "Who in the Thor was that?"

Hiccup stumbled to his feet, "him? Oh, yes. Uh, I'll tell you later. Right now, I have to get my dragon," he felt slightly ashamed he'd almost forgotten about Toothless. He made sure to apologize as soon as he met said dragon halfway.

"Interesting strategy, going nose to nose with the Skrill," Stoick commented, however Hiccup knew that in reality, it was a question that spoke, "that was the stupidest, most reckless thing I've seen you do in a while, explain please?"

"Yeah, that wasn't my strategy," he told his dad, hoping no sarcasm wiggled its way into his voice.

Thankfully he was saved from ever finding out, by none other than Spitelout, another person he never expected to come to his aid at that moment.

"Snotlout, is he okay?" Astrid asked, Hiccup was too enthralled with the last few moments to really listen in, all he vaguely caught was the tail end of, "...Dad! I'm proud of you, too,"

Other than that his thoughts were mainly centered around how close he'd been, the Light Fury was holding him for Thor's sake and yet all he said was a pathetic 'hi' and then stared at them.

Why had Vorder saved him anyway?

Before he could dwell to much on that thought he was interrupted by–

"My house!"

Oh right, the Skirll is mad at Hiccup specifically. Talk about a way to spend the afternoon.

°•○●○●○●○●○●○● ◇ ●○●○●○●○●○●○•°

Jack was forced to race between sea stacks and maneuver around lighting, all because some guy on a Night Fury tried to be daring, wow. Jack hopes he never runs into them again.

The Skrill roared and jumped from its previous chosen air current and into the clouds above, Jack followed suit and hoped he wouldn't lose track of the sparky dragon.

The scenery around them cracked with lightning, giving the dark angry clouds a blueish purple glow.

The Skrill was waiting for them. They probably felt safer up here, which made sense. Jack knew that if he wanted to get the Skrill somewhere actually safe he'd have to play by their rules first.

He already had a Sage Fruit in his hand. A fruit that could calm even the most aggressive dragons, and stood up slowly on Artemis with the Sage Fruit held out for the Skrill to take.

Jack maintained eye contact throughout, trying his best not to look anywhere else, and hoping that the Skrill would eventually decide to trust him.

Artemis carefully inched closer and closer with each flap of her wings. So far the Skrill hadn't moved which was good, or at least, the Skrill hadn't moved until Jack's hand was so close that if he wanted to, he could have felt the electric scales, in fact he was so close he could feel static electricity brush against his hand.

The Skrill's pupils dilated, that's it, come on now.

Then it was over.

Jack wanted to scream in frustration. He was so close and yet, when the Skrill was centimeters away, their eyes darted to something below them and with a swift dive they exited the clouds and took the fruit with them.

The Sage Fruit was in the ocean by the time Jack caught sight of what had distracted the Skrill like that. "Son of a bitch,"

He could feel the vibrations of Arti's frustrated growl.

Me too Arti, me too.

Jack and Atremis raced through the air in order to keep pace with the dark duo.

The brunette did a double take at them, "so you are after the Skrill!" He exclaimed over the wind, and Jack was far too annoyed to respond with anything.

"Well, sorry but you can't have it, the last time–

They were separated by a bolt of lightning shot by you know who and a couple of sea stacks.

This gave Jack the perfect opportunity to spot none other than the same island he found the Skrill sealed in in the first place. Realization and anger hit him like they had a vendetta.

"You guys were the ones who trapped it in that damn hole?!" He shouted as he and the rider met in the air once again.

"You freed it?!" The brunette shook his head before continuing, "Of course you freed it, what am I thinking?" He told himself before speeding off towards the island, of course, the Skrill followed.

°•○●○●○●○●○●○● ◇ ●○●○●○●○●○●○•°

"Okay, this trench is definitely deeper than the last one. Hopefully, it will hold the Skrill this time," Fishlegs informed them, which was a relief, Astrid was really getting tired of this.

"You mean after the Jorgensons exact their revenge, right?" Snotlout asked, "We should at least be the ones to melt him into that hole," he reasoned and Astrid had to resist the urge to scoff, "Snotlout, we don't have time for the Jorgenson nonsense," she told him.

When Spitelout tried saying something she raised an eyebrow and said, "if you have something to say, say it," basically a good way to say 'shut up' in her opinion.

"Real funny, Astrid," Snotlout drawled, and she rolled her eyes deciding to ignore when Snotlout said, "...and she's in love with me,"

"Here he comes!" Fishlegs shouted and they all snapped to attention, "okay, as soon as it's inside and Hiccup and Toothless are clear, we seal it up," she reminded them.

Astrid watched as Hiccup and Toothless shot for the tunnel, part A done, now for part B…

They were so close, all they had to do was seal the hole. But then the Skrill stopped, full on, hard, stop.

"Uh-oh," which was an understatement. Snotlout voiced the question resting on the tip of her tongue, "What's going on? Why did it stop?"

"Call me crazy, but I think he knows it's a trap,"

What? That can't be right.

Yet it was, clearly it was because it had stopped. Then a high pitched whistle filled the air and Astrid knew exactly who it was, Vorder.

She watched, jumping on to her dragon immediately as the white vigilante sped across the sky on his Light Fury, "it's Vorder! Saddle up!" She called but no one was fast enough.

"It's trying to seal Hiccup and Toothless inside!" She shouted as they finally got up into the air, all just in time to see the Skrill hit the mountain causing it to collapse, sealing Hiccup and Toothless inside. Astrid would never admit it, but that scared her.

She had to move on with the plan, they could free Hiccup later.

Or he could free himself apparently, and get a hit on the Skrill while he's at it.

"That's for trapping us in an ice tunnel!" He shouted in victory, as she watched him and his Night Fury curve in the sky, taunting the Skrill.

"Hey, how come he gets revenge?"

Shut up Snotlout.

Then for some reason Hiccup turned around to be chased by both Vorder and the Skrill. Astrid was going to have words when this was all over.

°•○●○●○●○●○●○● ◇ ●○●○●○●○●○●○•°

Hiccup thinks he's never fought so hard for a dragon's attention in his life.

They both wanted the dragon, both for very different reasons and sadly Vorder's reasons just weren't acceptable.

It's not that Hiccup didn't expect a fight, he expected a fight alright, what he didn't expect however is that Vorder would just give up. Especially after all the trouble he went through to free the Skrill in the first place.

That was exactly how Hiccup could tell he was planning something, especially when Vǫrðr and his Light Fury faded into the clouds and out of sight. A place where Hiccup wouldn't be able to see them until it was too late.

The Skrill kept shooting and Toothless kept dodging. Still no sign of Vorder, the lack of knowledge on his enemy's whereabouts had Hiccup's heart racing, a sensation he'd normally welcome but not when it was accompanied by a strong sense of anxiety.

Then somehow his day got worse. The Skrill shot expertly aimed and nailed Toothless in the very flammable tail. "Woah! Hold on Toothless!" He shouted, half to comfort himself and half to comfort his dragon. But he couldn't think, this was exactly like–

Then a force slammed into them and both he and Toothless were thrown out of the sky for the second time that day.

He groaned as he slowly regained his vision. They had landed on a shipwreck.

Hiccup had an easy enough time getting up but he was definitely going to feel it in the morning.

"Well, that could've hurt more. I suppose. But only slightly," he joked, hoping the world would brighten up a bit for once, it never did.

Then another person lying just to his right groaned, and Toothless was immediately on his feet and growling. Vorder, he realized. It was Vorder who'd pushed him out of the sky, but at the same time it was Vorder who'd saved him and Toothless from a direct hit. Is he trying to kill us or not?

'Fʌk,' he grunted in pain as he struggled to stand, and Hiccup had absolutely no idea what that meant.

He glanced at Toothless's tail, it was completely destroyed, and he couldn't check to see if he had a spare, not when those two were so close.

The Light Fury got up and shook itself before facing to growl at him and Toothless, while Vorder unsheathed his weapon, a staff, and held it at the ready.

Hiccup realized how exhausted he was, it was as if he blinked and now both him, his dragon, Vorder, and Vorder's dragon were in a face off.

He really did not have the energy to fight at the moment, he'd probably lose pretty quickly considering Vorder had the advantage of the sky as well.

Then two blasts of electricity broke the tension and both men remembered, oh yeah, there's a Skrill trying to kill us. Vorder started getting onto his dragon ready to fly into the air when an ominous 'creeeeeeaaaack' filled the air.

The mast! It's gonna crush him!

Without thinking, even for a second, Hiccup tackled Vorder as the mast fell behind them, breaking the wood and falling to the lower deck with a loud crash.

°•○●○●○●○●○●○● ◇ ●○●○●○●○●○●○•°

Good news, Hiccup saved a life, bad news, both him and Vorder had broken through the old-as-dirt railing and were holding on for dear life so as to not be dropped into the sea.

"Can I just not fall off of things for once?" Vorder asked, "relatable," Hiccup grunted as he tried and failed to pull himself up. He only failed because the Skrill had landed on the ship and caused the entire thing to lean heavily to the right.

"God 'dæmɪt'," Vorder muttered, and cleverly used the momentum to hook his staff to what was left of the railing, his dragon did the rest, pulling him up onto the deck.

Hiccup tried to follow suit now that the extra weight was off but a blast from the Skrill had him hanging on by one hand.

Vorder was just staring at him, because of course he was, "I'm flattered you find my struggle amusing but could you at least not stare at me?" He huffed, annoyed.

Vorder just tilted his head to the side like a bird, and Hiccup found himself wondering what he did for Vorder to be staring at him like that.

It was slightly intimidating.

After pausing for a moment he got up and disappeared, leaving Hiccup to pull himself back up onto the deck on his own.

Once he made it up he was surprisingly met by utter silence.

Toothless was still there, checking on him to make sure he was alright. Vorder was still there as well, in fact he had something in his hand, but no Skrill.

"Where did the Skrill go?" He asked, "Why did you save me just now?" Vorder asked instead of answering, meeting Hiccup's gaze with the icy stare his mask provided.

Hiccup swallowed, "why did you save me earlier?" He shot back, and received more silence in return.

Vorder seemed to contemplate something, this gave Hiccup enough time to reach Toothless' saddle bag, "I'll get your spare," he whispered quietly, "Oh, apparently, that was the spare," he paused before turning around to be met with a… flag?

He fumbled to catch it before it hit the deck. It was the flag of the mast, the Dragon Hunter insignia printed clearly in its center.

He looked up at Vorder, the one who'd thrown it at him he assumed, but there was no one there.

He was alone.

°•○●○●○●○●○●○● ◇ ●○●○●○●○●○●○•°

Jack had led the Skrill back to the Sanctuary, mission success. Or at least it should feel like a success.

Yet the whole flight back all he could really think about was the green-eyed brunette he'd saved, and why said brunette would return the favor.