Hiccup could feel so many eyes on him just then.

There was the King, massive and regal, gazing down calmly. There was Valka, the mother who had abandoned him, watching him closely from his side. There was that four-winged dragon who seemed so fond of her, staring and listening. There were so many other dragons too, of so many shapes and sizes and colors, in the air as well as on the ground.

And then there was Toothless, his best bud, sleeping and dreaming away. He shuffled every so often, purring and occasionally snoring. It would have been adorable in other circumstances, but right now…

Hiccup swallowed. "Could you wake him up? Please?"

The King looked to Toothless and then back to Hiccup, sighing slowly. The scorch mark on his face remained way too visible, and Hiccup couldn't help but to stare at it.

Hiccup threw out his arms. "Look, I'm sorry he attacked you, okay? I mean, he wouldn't have even done it if you hadn't…well, done whatever you did. Besides, he just wanted to protect me. He's scared of alphas, I think, and…"

Hiccup trailed off, suddenly aware that he was talking to a wild dragon — a dragon who, for all he knew, had no understanding of human words. But even as Hiccup thought that, the King gave a slow nod. He looked to Valka, letting out a rapid series of chirps.

"He wants to know why, son," Valka said. "Why would a dragon fear an alpha?"

Hiccup blinked, looking her way. "He…understood that?"

"Yes," Valka said quietly. "He knows a lot of Norse. I taught him myself. And if he doesn't understand something, Cloudjumper knows even more than him." She gestured to her own dragon, who straightened and puffed out his chest.

"Uhh, right," Hiccup said. "Right."

It shouldn't have been all that surprising, he supposed. Toothless understood Norse, after all — as did Stormfly, as did many of the dragons who made their home on Berk. Even so, he had questions once things were sorted out — lots of questions.

He moved over to his sleeping friend, sitting down against his side. Toothless shuffled slightly, and Hiccup idly patted his scales.

"Before he met me, Toothless…lived in the nest," Hiccup said. "You know, the nest. The one that was raiding Berk."

Valka sat down silently, her eyes full of concern and focus. Cloudjumper settled down next to her, his head just slightly tilted. Even the King drew slightly closer to the cliff, his almost pensive in his expression.

"That nest was led by a giant queen," Hiccup said. "On Berk, we call her the Red Death."

Valka opened her mouth as though to say something, only to seemingly change her mind. "Go on, son," she said.

"The Red Death…was a monster," Hiccup said. "She was enormous, almost as big as the king. She had six eyes, and a clubbed tail, and the biggest mouth I've ever seen."

He went quiet for a moment, that fight feeling fresh even years on. He'd nearly died that day; Toothless had nearly died that day.

"She made the dragons raid us," he said. "And she made all of them feed her. And the ones who failed her: they'd get eaten themselves. They were terrified of her, but something kept them from flying away."

He laid his hand on Toothless' scales, taking comfort in his friend's presence. Gods, Toothless must have been so scared back then. How long had he been in that terrible place, forced to serve that tyrant's whims?

"And Toothless…Toothless was part of that," Hiccup said. "He never stole food. He never showed himself. But he was up there, blasting our towers and buildings, blasting…us. And he never missed."

That last thought gave Hiccup pause, just like always, and he quickly shook it away. Berkians had been killed by Night Furies before, and Toothless had surely been part of that. But Berk had long ago forgiven him for it, just as Toothless had forgiven Berk.

"And then, one night…I shot him down," Hiccup said.

Hiccup expected the usual stab of guilt, but for once he felt nothing of the sort. Things had been horrible before that night — for him, for Berk, for Toothless, for so many dragons — and shooting down Toothless had changed all of it.

"I found him in the woods the next day: wrapped in bolas, wounded." He swallowed. "I'd…been planning to kill him: present his heart to my father, show my dad I was a true viking, finally get a date."

That made him feel guilty, and he found himself needing to pause. Several wild dragons drew a little close; some sniffed at the air, and none were acting threatening. Cloudjumper crooned, the king chuffed, and Valka nodded his way. "It's okay, son. You didn't do it," she said.

Hiccup shook his head. "No, I didn't. I…couldn't. I wouldn't. Because…because when I looked into his eyes, I saw he was as scared as me." He looked to Toothless — still sleeping, still purring — and then he straightened himself. "So I cut him loose. I spared him. And then he spared me."

For a moment, Hiccup's eyes wandered down to the prosthetic red fin.

"We…got to know each other," Hiccup said. "He'd lost his fin, so I made him a new one. We learned to fly — together. He showed me the nest, but then he flew me away from it." He shrugged. "The Red Death's grip on him must have been broken, somehow. Back when I shot him down."

Valka gazed at him and Toothless in amazement. "Incredible…" she murmured. Cloudjumper quietly warbled beside her.

"In the end," Hiccup said, "we fought her. We fought the Red Death, up in the air."

Again, he remembered it vividly: the beat of her giant wings, her body smashing against sea stacks as she chased them, that aerial duel in the clouds. He remembered her body exploding, that clubbed tail hurtling towards him, Toothless unable to get out of its way and—

"We…won," Hiccup said. "We killed her. Together."

Valka gasped, and Cloudjumper's eyes widened. Even the King reacted: he rumbled loudly at Valka and let out a series of croons.

"Yes. Yes, of course," Valka said to him. She looked back at Hiccup. "He's asking if Toothless is an alpha, son."

For a moment, Hiccup could do nothing besides dumbly stare.

"He challenged an alpha and won," Valka explained. "By right, he should be the alpha of that nest."

"What, Toothless?" Hiccup went. He held up his hands, shaking his head. "No, no, that's…we don't have an alpha on Berk. Or anywhere, really. Not since…y'know, her." He looked behind at Toothless, patting his sleeping friend's side.

"But that…that can't be right. Every nest has its alpha, Hiccup."

Hiccup shook his head harder. "No. Not on Berk."

Valka blinked, looking almost…worried, Hiccup realized. She turned to her King, shaking her staff and letting out an almost dragon-like trill.

The King rumbled — in agreement with whatever she'd 'said', Hiccup decided — and his great head turned back towards Toothless. He purred, his pupils briefly becoming slits.

Toothless' eyes opened.

The Night Fury stretched and yawned. He stood up slowly, blinking away the vestiges of sleep, and Hiccup stood up right along with him. Toothless turned towards Hiccup, warbling a greeting with wide and happy eyes.

Hiccup could already feel himself smiling. "Hey bud." He moved over to Toothless, his hands cupping the dragon's head.

"You had me worried there, bud," he said, as Toothless gently nuzzled his face. "Good dreams?"

Toothless warbled in confirmation. But then he stiffened, as though having just remembered what had caused those dreams. He glared firmly up at the King and snorted, though he didn't show his teeth.

Hiccup rested a hand on Toothless' shoulder, as the two dragons stared each other down.

The King rumbled and then let out a collection of chirps. Toothless snarled in response, some other sounds mixed in that Hiccup barely caught.

Hiccup looked on in silent amazement. At times like this, watching dragons interact in this way, he could almost imagine they were talking…

The King chuffed, looking utterly unphased by Toothless' display. He made a few quick warbles, and Toothless responded with a quiet hiss.

The King stared at Toothless pointedly, with much of the flock looking on.

That was when it happened: Toothless lowered his head and averted his gaze, showing submission even as his posture screamed defiance. The King snorted, then he blew a gentle puff of ice over Toothless and Hiccup both.

And just like that, it was done.

Hiccup's shoulders loosened immediately; he hadn't even realized how tense he'd gotten. The King withdrew, going to lie down within the wide lake below, and the flock of dragons immediately dispersed. Toothless turned to walk away from the cliff, and Hiccup found himself walking at Toothless' side.

Valka hurried to catch up, with Cloudjumper right behind her. "You could be alpha, Toothless," Valka said, walking alongside them. "You should be alpha. You're—"

She froze and looked away, silenced by the Night Fury's sudden glare. Cloudjumper crooned at Toothless but was curtly ignored.

"I'll…take you to our cave," Valka said finally. "I have tools there. And equipment. You can fix his tail there. And then, I guess you'll want to…"

She trailed off, and Hiccup nodded.

"Yes, I'll be going," Hiccup said. "I'm looking for Drago. I want to change his mind."

Valka gasped, her eyes widening. "Oh, no, son," she said. "There's no changing Drago Bludvist. You and Toothless should stay well away from him."

Hiccup sighed, rubbing at his face. "Really? You too?" And then, at her questioning look: "My Dad said that, too. He told me not to go."

"Yes, he would," Valka said, suddenly pensive. "And not without reason, I daresay."

Hiccup shook his head at that, while Toothless let out a questioning warble. Hiccup had come this far; he couldn't give up now!

"Do you know where he is?" Hiccup said. "Drago, I mean. If I can just get to him, I can—"

"No, Hiccup!" She spun towards him and grabbed his shoulder plates, her fear plain on her face. "No," she said, she said more quietly. "Go back to Berk, son. Go back to your father. You'll be…safer, there."

She looked away, and Hiccup was sure she was going to say more. But then she backed away from him, as Toothless sounded a gentle croon.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get that fin fixed. Stoick'll be worried."

For just a moment, Hiccup balled his hands. Like he worried for you, he wanted to say. But then he relaxed, and the moment passed. "Yes. Let's do that," Hiccup said. And then, as they resumed their walk: "I wonder where Dad is right now…"

His father had been on a trapper's ship when Hiccup had last seen him, ordering Hiccup back to Berk — an order Hiccup had promptly ignored. Hiccup could only assume that his dad had then gone back to Berk. And hopefully, he wouldn't be too angry when Hiccup finally returned...


Stoick The Vast was having a bad day.

His immature, brave, reckless, selfless, scatterbrained genius of a son had flown off on Toothless — again! But just for once, Hiccup hadn't done it to goof off. No, he'd flown off to talk — talk! — to Drago Bludvist, the most dangerous and downright evil man that Stoick had ever met.

Hiccup thought he could change that madman's mind. And just for once, Stoick knew that Hiccup was wrong. Hiccup was flying straight into disaster, and Toothless was heading for disaster right along with him.

Thus did Stoick find himself flying further and further north on Skullcrusher's back, freezing his beard off, muttering to himself about Hiccup and Toothless both. When he finally found them, Stoick was going to give Hiccup a good long talking-to. And then he would give Toothless a good long talking-to, for going along with this madcap scheme. Toothless was not an animal, after all; he was a person, he was smart, and he knew better.

And then, once all that was done, Stoick would treat himself to an ice pack against his head. Because he already had a headache, and this was definitely going to be an ice pack day. It might even become a two ice pack day, if Astrid disobeyed his latest orders. But Astrid rarely disobeyed, so that at least seemed reasonably safe.

"Maybe we should turn back, Stoick!" Gobber called out, flying right next to him on Grump. "He and Toothless could be half way 'round the world by now!"

Stoick looked ahead determinedly, shivering in the cold's unrelenting bite.

"He'll be fine, Stoick!" Gobber shouted against the wind. "He has a Night Fury! He can look after 'imself! And you know 'e won't like it he finds out you followed him! Are ya sure you've thought this all the way through?"

Stoick paused to consider. Toothless was powerful, yes. And Hiccup was both clever and strong these days. And Stoick was the Chief, and so he should really have been on Berk to prepare for Drago's coming attack.

But Toothless was also disabled; he couldn't fly without Hiccup on his back. And Hiccup, for all his brains and brawn, was in way over his head when it came to Drago. And as for Berk…Spitelout was still there, and Spitelout was more than capable of organizing defenses in Stoick's stead. Besides, Hiccup was the Pride Of Berk; he and Toothless were needed there, for when Drago inevitably came.

"No! We continue," Stoick called back. "He's out there. We need to find him, quickly!"

That was when he spotted something, amongst the ice floes down below.

"There! Down there, Skullcrusher!"

Skullcrusher roared. Stoick gripped the saddle harder, anticipating his dragon's sudden dive. The Rumblehorn leveled out just above the churning ocean, before slowing to a steady hover above…Hiccup's helmet, Stoick realized with a start.

Stoick stiffened. Hiccup wasn't dead — somehow, Stoick just knew that right away — but something had clearly happened. Stoick needed to find him, and fast.

Stoick reached down from his dragon's side to grab the helmet. Then he clambered over to Skullcrusher's head, his son's helmet tightly in hand. "Find him, Skullcrusher!" he said, holding the helmet in front of his dragon's face.

Skrullcrusher got the scent and growled a quick affirmative, at which point Stoick clambered back into the saddle. And then they were off. Stoick gripped the saddle tightly, as Skullcrusher quickly picked up speed. Gobber and Grump followed, just a little bit behind.

Stoick's head throbbed as they flew. Today, he sensed, would be a two ice pack day.