*pulls out computer and chokes on dust cloud.* uhhh sorry for the wait guys! Didn't mean for the gap between this chapter and the last! The title of the fic has changed in case any one hasn't noticed. I thought the old one lacked imagination.

-o0o-

After spending some time with the demon, Toothless came to one solid conclusion about him. And that was that he was totally different from the rest of his kin.

Barring the fact that he controlled the Blue Fire and had the appearance of a possessed one, the boy didn't smell like the powerful demon he was supposed to be. Yes, he had the almost overpowering aura of the demon royalty but he didn't have the smell of a possessed one, like their cousins the salamanders do.

Salamanders were often mistaken for dragons at first glance. Big, reptilian, burning fiery breath, all features that one would use to define a dragon except there was one difference that set them apart; dragons were born dragons. Salamanders were the product of demons crossing over from their terrible realm, possessing lesser reptilians and taking the poor creature's body for their own. They were parasites and thus the body they inhabited would eventually come to reject them being there. It wasn't unusual for the host body to start rotting from the inside out or for organs to start to shut down due to the sudden influx or introduction of power that wasn't usually there.

Though there were also times where the demon and its host were so compatible that they would fuse and eventually become one, those was few and far between. Those cases often went on to become the start of a new species of creatures that would start to become indigenous to Midgard as opposed to Muspelheim. If he wasn't mistaken that was how dragons actually originated back in the beginning but that was ancient history and dragons no longer associated themselves with the filth that was demons.

Looking at the grumbling demon walking slightly off to his side, Toothless couldn't help but notice that he didn't have the smell of rot or fresh blood that normally accompanied a Possessed One. Which was odd because the teen had the blue flames of hell so he was definitely demon royalty. Toothless narrowed his eyes. Why was one of the royal family even here? And how was this Rin related to them.

"Stop glaring holes into my back," Rin muttered, "If you have a problem with me then come out and say it instead of trying to set me alight with your eyes."

Toothless bared his teeth, "Who are you? You are too childish to be a demon of high stature and that body seems to be yours, which should be impossible, so that further rules out your being royalty. So who exactly are you?"

"Well he's obviously Rin." the hatchling said as he fluttered above the demon's head. Toothless wrinkled his nose as he settled on said demon's shoulders. Honestly, how can he stand that awful aura? It made his scales feel tight and his claws itch yet that hatchling felt nothing!

"I know his name, little Grapple Grounder," Toothless rolled his eyes, "I want to know were he stands in relation with the demons' lord."

Rin startled for a moment, his eyes wide and his tail stiff, before he composed himself. "That old fart is my father," he spat, "I'm half demon."

Toothless nearly dropped Hiccup the way he jerked his head to quickly to the side, "Father! Your father is Satan and he let you out of the realm on your own? I would've thought that one of the princes would be watched like a hawk!"

Flames sparked in Rin's eyes and he turned to bare his teeth at Toothless; a not-so-subtle warning.

Honestly Toothless found himself shell shocked for a moment. This entire time he had gotten so used to the odd demon and his even odder docile personality that the change to semi-threatening demon heir to the throne was quite the shock. Toothless felt his own anger rise at the blatant threat and a growled slipped past his lips. Rin flinched and sucked in a breath, his fire evaporating. Toothless continued to growl and the demon backed away.

"I will not retaliate to your insolence this time because you helped with the Coal Tar," Toothless said in a lowly voice, "But be warned. I won't be so forgiving next time."

Rin nodded, looking absolutely horrified. The colour had drained from his face and his tail stilled. When Toothless snapped at him to make way he offered no resistance and readily made space for the dragon to pass by him.

Normally Toothless would've burned at whatever insolent creature try challenge a Night Fury but this was a demon that the demon god himself sired and he was not to be underestimated. His fire could burn through anything, that included the normally fireproof scales of a dragon. Even if Toothless was sure that he would come out victorious if they ever were to do battle, he wouldn't get off unharmed.

Never mind the fact that if the rest of the demon realm found out about the great disrespect done to one of their princes no one in the archipelago would be safe from their collective wrath...

Rin walked a respectable wing's breadth away from them and breathed a heavy sigh, his shoulders drooped heavily and his head hung slightly. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to snap at you."

Toothless scanned the teen's body language for any signs of betrayal and was happy that the demon was at least being truthful about that when he couldn't see anything amiss.

"But that bastard is not my father." he said in a monotonous voice, "He may be my biological father but my dad died protecting me from him. I will never accept him as my father so don't go around calling that man my parent."

Rin clenched his fists and picked up speed soon after. With the muscles in his shoulders so tight and his tail lashing this way and that it was clear to Toothless that he was upset. The hatchling rushed after him and hovered close to his side muttering quick soothing words in attempt to calm him down. Toothless didn't mind being left behind to walk at his own pace. He actually preferred walking in the rear end, it gave him an opportunity to examine the demon and make a quick escape if need be.

Rin was a true son of Satan, a rightful heir to a throne and potential candidate to become one of the demon kings. And he had just denied that the demon god was his father, forsaking all the things he would've gotten as his birthright. Toothless couldn't understand. What kind of idiot wouldn't want to be an alpha?

Sighing, he adjusted Hiccup on his back and followed after the demon and hatchling. The Grapple Grounder had spoken of a cave they can retreat to and settle down while they wait for Hiccup to wake up. Toothless couldn't decide if he was happy that his rider wasn't awake for that slightly unsettling scene of an agitated demon or irritated that he was still unconscious and thus unable to fly them away from the prince and those irritating little gnats called Coal Tar.

-o0o-

The walk back to the cave was a tense and awkward. Normally Rin would've cracked a joke or gone off to look at anything interesting that caught his eye or even irritate one of the other exwires but this wasn't True Cross nor was it an official exorcist mission. Not by a long shot. He couldn't exactly back track and apologize to the dragon he tried to intimidate him into submission. Yukio had told him time and time again to get rid of that particular habit because one day it was going to come back to bite him in the butt. Truthfully, he felt awful that he actually let loose that much that he growled at the dragon.

Rin knocked a fisted hand to his forehead. Growling! Since when did he do that so readily? Sure he did it once or twice when he was really mad or a particularly irritating demon kept on pestering him. A show of power was a sure way to get low level demons to leave you alone but that didn't change the fact that exorcists don't growl at demons!

People had called him a demon for as long as he could remember and for an equally long time Rin remembered trying to show them that they were wrong. He tried everything from helping out grannies that were stuck in their yard to getting down kids balloons from trees. Nothing he did ever worked and eventually Rin stopped trying.

Finding out that all those terrible ladies at the daycare had always been right had hurt. A lot. So Rin started up his efforts to show people that they were wrong. This time he aimed to show them that even if he was a demon he could still be a good guy and an exorcist.

And it worked for a while. It worked right up to the point were he became totally comfortable with his demon heritage in public. It was then that the problems started.

As it turns out people, exorcists in particular, didn't take well to him having his tail out. Or him speaking to their familiars. Or when his old temper would rear its ugly head and he would snarl at a particularly irritating demon. They especially didn't like it when he would use his fire.

It wasn't like he could help the, sometimes quite overwhelming, instincts that screamed to him at times. Most of the time he could ignore them but sometimes it was nice to just let loose.

Getting that distrustful dragon to back off was really satisfying at the moment but now? Now he just felt bad for shouting at the guy. He didn't know and if he was in his shoes he probably would've done the same. Or maybe not...

"Hey Rin!" Thor jumped onto his head and sent his arms wind milling as he tried to regain his balance, "What're you thinking so hard about?"

"Maybe I was wondering why you insist on ramming my head every time you get bored." Rin muttered. He had meant it as a joke but the little dragon seemed to take it as a serious question.

"Hmm," Thor hummed, "I don't think that was really what you were thinking about."

Rin rolled his eyes, "I wasn't but it doesn't really matter. Why don't you go on ahead and make sure there's a spot where we can lay Hiccup down on. A really smooth area with no sharp pointy rocks. Can you do that? Because if you can't I'm sure there's some bigger better dragons out there that could help."

"Of course I can do it!" Thor puffed his chest out, apparently quite insulted. "Who are you to doubt me?" He then proceeded to use Rin's head as a spring board and launch himself into the air.

Rin shouted out in alarm as he was suddenly thrown backwards and onto his back. He laid there in a daze for a moment before deciding that when he finally caught up to the little nuisance, he'd turn him into a purse. A soft snort broke into his plotting and Rin lifted his chin to see an upside down Night Fury.

"I didn't realize that the hatchling used you as a perch." Toothless said, pausing his trotting for a moment to sneer at Rin before moving along.

"Yeah well I didn't either until you pointed it out." he got up and dusted himself off. Pulling some sticks out of his hair Rin watched as Toothless hopped over a small rock, forgetting that his rider wasn't seated firmly in his saddle.

Hiccup's arm lolled off the side of Toothless' back and he started to tilt. The dragon growled in annoyance and tried to angle his shoulders to keep his rider in the right position but every time he slanted one shoulder Hiccup would just roll over onto the next. Rin watched this go on for about five minutes before he couldn't take it any more.

"Here," he lifted his arms to catch the other teen, "lemme help you."

Rin managed to get about a meter away from Toothless before the dragon's wings snapped open and a soft growl halted him. Rin stilled and held up his hands.

"That is far enough demon." Toothless growled, his eyes almost glowing a toxic green. Rin was sure the sight would've terrified most but thankfully he had seen much scarier things (take Satan for example) in his life so a big lizard glaring at you wasn't so bad.

"All right, all right. I'll stay away." Rin grumbled. He had hoped that during the time that they were going to be spending with each other they could have at least gotten onto better terms with each other. Unfortunately, he had ruined any chances of that when he snapped at the dragon. "I won't come any closer so you can relax."

"You better not." Toothless growled and carried on walking away before muttering softly, "Anyone relaxing in the presence of a demon should be fed to a pack of hungry Speed Stingers. Idiocy is contagious after all."

"I heard that, you know." Rin muttered and shot the dragon a withering glare.

Toothless huffed, "It's not like I was trying to make sure you didn't."

Rin was silent for a moment and stared at the dragon, his mood suddenly somber. "I know demons aren't the most trust worthy guys out there but I'd like to think I'm different. I might have inherited that bastard's flames but that doesn't mean I go around burning every town or village I come across to the ground. It's not my fault that nobody believes me when I say that."

Rin shook his head and continued on, leaving the dragon behind. The cave he and Thor had stayed in the previous night came into sight and with it a small dragon that fluttered near the entrance to the cave.

"Rin!" Thor thrummed as the exwire approached, "I cleared a spot just like I said I would and it's in the best spot in the whole cave!"

And it was. The little dragon had cleared a spot near the center of the cave and made sure to push all the small pebbles that had previously been there aside and into a neat pile. The cleared area was actually in a pretty good spot. It was out of reach of the mouth of the cave if the weather turned sour and rained during the night and it wasn't too far back so the cold that the cave naturally gave off wasn't so biting.

Crouching down Rin touched his hand to the floor. Hmm. They'd have to get something for Hiccup to lay on. If they let him lay down on the icy floor of the cave while he was still recovering he might get sick. Rin looked outside and craned his neck to peer up at the sky. The sun was still up but it wasn't terribly high any more, in a few hours the sun would reach the horizon and then the temperature would drop as night time took over. They would need some wood for a fire too, Rin belatedly realized.

The past night he slept in the cave was awful. The temperature of the damn cave dropped so drastically during the night Rin found that it was warmer outside on the flat boulder he found and even then he'd had to use his flames to keep himself warm. A few leaves to cover the ground won't keep the unconscious viking warm but it was better than sleeping on cold damp rock.

"Oi! Thor, c'mon! We're going out to collect some stuff!" he called to the hatchling then turned to the larger dragon who had just slunk in, "I'm going to go get some wood for fire. Make sure Hiccup doesn't lay directly on the floor for a while. I'll send Thor with some leaves for him to lay on in a bit."

Toothless didn't say anything but he did nod so Rin took that as his sign to set off and start the tedious task of collecting dry fire wood. It might take a while since it had rained the previous night but it was a while until nightfall so it didn't bother Rin too much. A soft gurgle interrupted his thoughts and Rin put a hand on his stomach. Maybe he could get something to eat while he was at it too.

God, he really wished he hadn't been transported back into practically the stone age... a hamburger or even some cup ramen would really go down right now.

-o0o-

The first thing Hiccup realized when he came to was that he was falling. He was falling from a terrifyingly dizzy height and there was no one there to catch him.

His breath caught in his throat and his limbs suddenly had minds of their own. His arms flailed helplessly and his bones felt as if they had been turned to jelly. Even with his hair slapping almost painfully against his skin Hiccup could not distract himself from the horror of the image of the distant ground coming up to meet him. At this angle Hiccup was sure that he was going to hit the ground head first and all that was going to be left of him was a sickening red splatter on the ground. Hiccup's head whipped side to side. Where was Toothless?

As if summoned by his thoughts a familiar roar, faint over the sound of rushing wind but still there, reached his ears. Hope blossomed in Hiccup's chest and he struggled against the wind to look above him. There just above his feet was Toothless. The black dragon was hovering just out of reach, his draconian features pulled into an awful sneer as he watched his best friend fall.

Hiccup screamed for help but no word came out of his mouth. Gripping his throat with two hands Hiccup felt his heart sink even further as Toothless laughed, a terrible cold sound that Hiccup often used to hear during the dragon raids and a particularly large dragon found him alone, and pointed towards the ground. On reflex Hiccup turned to see what Toothless was pointing at and the world turned cold as the gaping maw of the Green Death awaited him, fire already rushing up from its mouth to meet him. Hiccup tore his gaze away from the impossibly large figure and turned to plea with Toothless to hurry up and save him! Toothless didn't move though. Instead with one last laugh he burst into many tiny creatures that hovered in the air before darting towards him and pulling him down.

Thrashing Hiccup tried to swat the tiny black things with large eyes and tiny pointed tails but it didn't work. They laughed at him as the heat of the fire brushed his back and engulfed him.

-o0o-

"AHHHHHHH!" Hiccup woke with a scream and shot up right. His heart was pumping and his hair was plastered flat against his forehead. There was the sound of something falling to the ground somewhere off to his side and his head to face the sound. A pair of eerily glowing blue eyes hanging in the middle of the darkness awaited him and Hiccup started the screaming afresh. The eyes took on a surprised shape and started screaming too.

"GAHHHHHHH!"

"BWAAAHHHHHHH!"

Their screaming was cut short when an might roar echoed through the room and the eyes were suddenly blocked from view. Huge meaty arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders and drew Hiccup against a warm body and for a moment he was content to just hanging there in their embrace as he struggled to regain his breath and calm his frantically beating heart. His lungs clenched painfully for a moment but it was only a momentary thing and was gone in a matter of seconds. From within the darkness Hiccup heard a muffled conversation go on.

"Will you shut up?" an angry voice seethed, "You're scaring him!"

"Well so-rry! He was the one that scared the shit out of me!" another unfamiliar voice shot back, "How was I supposed to know he was going to start screaming?"

"Well what do you expect? I'd also scream if I woke to that." the second voice hissed and the arms holding Hiccup tightened.

"Are you calling me ugly? Because that would be rich coming from you!"

"Ha! I can think of Gronckles better looking than you!"

Hiccup's eyebrows knit in confusion as he listened to the two voices outside the darkness. Looking around and upwards Hiccup was surprised to see Toothless' head above his. Why Toothless was holding Hiccup within his wings the young viking didn't know but he was going to find out.

"What's going on?" he muttered before he could stop himself and immediately the dragons wings snapped open and light blinded Hiccup for a moment. Hiccup slowly opened his eyes as Toothless placed him on the ground again and then started his examination of his body. Toothless sniffed at a rapid rate along his body. Frantically mother henning as his clothes were poked and prodded followed by a brief search through his hair.

A small huff drew the viking's attention away from the fussing dragon and Hiccup found the owner of the blue eyes that had scared him so in the first place. There, sitting on the other end of a brightly burning fire, was Rin. The demon looked far from pleased as he glared at Toothless but then he noticed that he was being watched and caught Hiccup's eye. For a moment Hiccup felt his stomach twist in awful anticipation. The other voice...

There was no way that he heard Rin speaking right? He must have hit his head really hard in that fall. Maybe he was still asleep? Hiccup's fingers twitched as he considered pinching himself but the demon's piercing gaze held him in place. The air was steadily becoming thicker and Hiccup wondered how much more he could take before the pressure got too much but then the Rin's eyes abruptly lost their sharp quality and he smiled.

"Hey, good to see you awake." he said conversationally.

Hiccup was floored, that was perfect Norse!

"I can understand you..." Hiccup said in disbelief as Rin jolted. The young viking put a hand to his head and checked for any injuries, "This can't be happening. I'm still dreaming. First Toothless now Rin. What's next? Elder Gothi breaking her vow of silence?"

"Hiccup?" Rin broke into his muttering, "Are you okay? Maybe you should lay down?"

Hiccup scoffed, "No thank you. I'd really like to find out if I'm dreaming or not."

Rin sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes became impossibly wide, breaking into a sharp toothed grin he shouted out in an awe filled voice, "Hey! You can speak now!"

"He's always been able to speak, you insufferable monkey." Toothless muttered. The young viking looked towards the dragon and frowned at the unfamiliar snarl on the face of his normally friendly friend.

"Shuddup!" Rin snapped back in equal irritation, all previous friendliness gone, "How was I supposed to know he was going to reply? I thought I was just being friendly!"

Toothless growled and Hiccup instinctively put a hand on his side to calm him. He wasn't sure why Toothless was being so hostile towards Rin, in his mind he had already filed it under the ever growing list of 'things that exist to make Hiccup's life difficult'.

"Hey easy there bud." Toothless settled but he didn't look happy about it. Turning Hiccup met the gaze of the highly amused Rin. The demon shook his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Nice lap dog you got there, you trained him well." he commented, "Almost roasted me alive when I tried to help out with those Coal Tar."

"Lapdog?! I am no mangy pet." Toothless bristled but Hiccup ignored him. His mind was reeling.

"Coal Tar?" he echoed and then remembered with a shudder the sneering faces of the tiny black things that attacked him both in his dream and in real life. His face must have showed his discomfort because Rin stopped smiling.

"Hey," he called, "you all right there? I really think you should lay down. You're looking seriously pale."

Hiccup shook his head and tried to take deep calming breaths... only to start coughing as his chest started to hurt. Putting a hand to his mouth Hiccup doubled over as something wet hit the inside of his palm. Pulling his hand away from his mouth Hiccup was horrified to see little specks of black on the inside of his hand.

"Shit!" Rin swore and rushed around the fire. He didn't get far though as Toothless rushed to intercept him. The dragon stood like an iron wall between the coughing human and the demon. His large wing blocking out the majority of light of the fire.

"Stay where you are!" Toothless growled but then turned to whine helplessly at his human, "Hiccup? Hiccup what's happening? Why are you hacking? Let's go to the village now, yes? Well get your Old One to heal you."

"There's no time!" Rin shouted and tried to skirt around the dragon but there was just not enough space in the cave, "Move aside so I can help him, you retarded lizard! I helped out the last time didn't I?"

Toothless visibly hesitated, clearly unsure. Hiccup wasn't sure what they were talking about but his chest was starting to feel as if people were knocking nails into them. If Rin had any way of making the almost unbearable pain stop then who was he to argue? Putting a hand on Toothless' side Hiccup pleaded with his eyes and the dragon crumbled under his stare.

Toothless retracted his wing and Rin wasted no time in dashing forward. With hands that were surprisingly gentle he eased Hiccup onto a lush bed of leaves that he didn't notice were there before. Rin reached over and pulled his rolled up vest thing under Hiccup's head and then got to work. His hands ignited in soft flames and Hiccup stared in horror and he lowered them to his face. He reeled backwards and Rin paused before sighing.

"I know this is looks like I'm going to melt your face off but just trust me on this I know what I'm doing." when Hiccup didn't look convinced he picked up one of the leaves and showed it to the viking. Hiccup's eyes widened as the blue flames coating Rin's fingers curled around the leaf but didn't burn it. "See? I won't burn you. I'm just going to purify the air in your lungs. All I need you to do is breathe."

"Your hands are on fire." Hiccup choked out, "How is that supposed to help?"

"It will!" Rin's eyes flickered red and Hiccup was violently reminded that the person in front of him was a demon, "Look I've been working on this all year with my brother. He's a doctor and he was the one that pushed for me to learn this to help out. So are you going to let me help you or not?"

Another painful hacking cough racked Hiccup's body and he caved. Nodding to Rin to proceed, Hiccup flinched when the blue fire came close but didn't object. The flame covered hands came to rest just above his face, cupping his mouth and nose but never touching. Hiccup was surprised to find that the flames didn't hurt. They were actually quite warm and gave off a comforting feeling.

"Breathe." Rin ordered and Hiccup hastily let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Almost immediately the pain eased. Acting like a soothing balm on a burn, Hiccup found that each time he breathed in the pain in his chest lessened. Eventually the pain ceased to exist and Rin's hands lifted. After a brief examination Rin's eyebrows took a dip.

"Well that's the most I can do for now but it should be hold until you get back to your village. I'd suggest either getting some medicine or something to help with the exorcism of the left over taint or maybe sitting with your head over a bowl of holy water. The steam'll help clean out the rest of the gunk. I haven't had much practice with purifying and I normally have a friend to help me out with this kind of thing."

Hiccup listened as the demon rambled not caring to a stop to it any time soon, he was too preoccupied with the total lack of pain in his chest. It was like he had munched on mint leaves; his airways were completely clear! Sitting up Hiccup opened his mouth to launch into the first of many questions that were bouncing around in his head when his back stiffened and his stomach suddenly revolted. Twisting to the side Hiccup lost all of his lunch. It was lucky that he had only had a piece of bread and cheese that morning because Hiccup wasn't sure what he would do if his stomach had any more stuff to splatter all over the floor.

"Thor!" Rin called out and Hiccup's ears rung, "Where's that water bag!"

It was then that Hiccup only noticed that the demon was at his side and holding him up as he dry heaved onto the cave floor. When the retching finally stopped Hiccup sagged and it was only Rin's grip on his shoulder that kept him from collapsing.

"Thor!" Rin called again and this time a small voice from the mouth of the cave shouted out in reply.

"But it's my roll-y thing!" the childish voice said, "You said I could have it."

"I never said that! Just get over here, will ya?"

"Bring it here, hatchling!" Toothless hissed and the baby immediately complied. A small red dragon the size of a Terror came into view and with it Hiccup's water container that was usually strapped to Toothless' saddle. Rin took the bag from the babe's mouth and uncapped it for him to drink. Hiccup took it and drank but his eyes never left the hatchling. Finally drinking his full, feeling a million times better already, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and addressed the Terror sized dragon.

"You're a Grapple Grounder." he stated and the hatchling tilted his head to the side. Its eyes suddenly going wide before he scrambled back and shot up a large boulder.

"Yes. What is it to you, human?" Hiccup was taken aback. A Grapple Grounder! He couldn't remember the last time Berk saw one of those reclusive dragons. They were said to be Eastern dragons and it wasn't often that their migratory patterns brought them so far north.

"Watch your tongue." Toothless scolded and the little dragon shook his scales in defiance.

"I don't have to listen to you Night's Fury. You are not my alpha or even flock." the tiny dragon's eyes flashed and Hiccup found himself surprised and, if he had to admit, a little impressed. There weren't many species that would go against Toothless. Unfortunately Toothless didn't share the same opinion, he tensed under and his chest rumbled.

"Oi, Sparky." Rin cut in as he stood up and settled back in his spot on the other side of the fire, "Stop messing with the dragon ten times bigger than you; it's stupid."

The Grapple Grounder, much to Hiccup's amazement, immediately eased out of his challenging pose and shot down the boulder to climb on Rin's shoulders. He curled excitedly around the demon's head and shoulders, chatting the entire time.

"You'll never guess what I found Rin! A Feather Prey's nest! And it had three blue eggs in it! Oooh, they tasted really good too but then the mother came and chased me out of the tree so I had to find something else to eat. That reminds me where's the food you were supposed to have? You said if I brought the leaves you would get the food."

Rin wilted slightly and laughed, though it sounded extremely fake, "Well about that. I was thinking about getting us a nice tasty boar but then something came up and I had to come back to the cave."

"Liar," Toothless hummed, "He found a boar but couldn't kill it. Could you, demon? Honestly, you steal one of our young but then you can't even provide for him."

"Steal one of their young?" Hiccup echoed and eyed Rin suspiciously, "Was that why you came to Berk? To steal a dragon hatchling?"

That would make sense after all. Dragons were much easier to train and bond to when they were young and impressionable. Not to mention the fact that if the demons ever decided that they wanted to attack Midgard then they would be practically unstoppable on the backs of dragons. Apparently that wasn't the case though as Rin's eyes narrowed and his mouth went thin.

"Hey, I'm just as much of a victim as you are! I didn't ask to get dumped on this rock! All I wanted to do was collect our damn pay cheque from Mephisto but noooo. What do I get instead? I get shit dumped onto my head, eaten by a clock and then attacked by a bunch of crazies on dragons for just being here." seeing as most of that went over his head Hiccup latched onto the only thing he caught.

"We aren't 'crazies'!" He said with an indignant shout and Rin's brow twitched irritably.

"Was that the only thing you caught?" Hiccup flushed and Rin threw his hands up in defeat, "Whatever. Now I'd appreciate it if you don't tell your chain happy friends back there about me. Id like to live to see myself getting home, if you don't mind."

The image of the villagers pulling the chains around Rin's neck flashed through his mind and he suddenly felt a wave of shame for their actions. Rin hadn't done anything wrong and they had very nearly choked him to death. Hiccup felt even worse after the realization that even after all that Rin had still decided to help him out with the tiny demons and clear his lungs of their taint.

"Listen-" Hiccup started but Rin held up his hand for him to stop.

"You don't have to apologize for your friends back there..." Hiccup felt some of the guilt lifting, "...I'm sort of used to this type of treatment, me being a half-demon and all."

Damn, now he felt ten times worse.

"Half demon?" Hiccup asked, his curiosity overtaking the shame he felt. Rin sighed.

"Yeah that's me but we don't have time for a story today," he gestured to the mouth of the cave, "It's already dark out. I'm sure people are starting to wonder where you are."

Hiccup's eyebrows knit in confusion and he hobbled over to the entrance, sure enough the sun had set and the stars were becoming clear. Had he really been gone this long?

"Oden... If Dad doesn't kill me, Astrid will." Hiccup moaned and rushed to climb onto Toothless. They didn't take flight immediately though, instead Hiccup stared at Rin for a moment. "Uhhh Thanks for- for umm"

"For not eating you? For not killing you and using your guts as a necklace? For putting up with your dragon's awful personality?" Rin supplied, looking exceedingly amused at Hiccups rising blush. Clearing his throat Hiccup busied himself with a piece of loose string on his saddle.

"Uhhh yeah... for all that. Is there anything I can do for you in return." Rin shook his head giving an amused huff.

"It's fine. I'm glad that you're okay." Rin paused and narrowed his eyes in thought, "Wait. You can actually do something for me."

-o0o-

"Are you sure he's okay, Sir Pheles? Was the mission that important that he couldn't come home before he left?" Yukio's worried voice said through the speaker.

"Of course Okumura-kun~! I apologize for not giving Rin-kun enough time to send a message back to you but really was quite urgent a mission and I assured him that I would pass on his farewell message in his stead."

"Well... okay then. Do you have any idea when he'll be returning?"

"At this point I am not sure but you shall be the very first person I call upon his arrival home."

"Right. Thank you again Sir Pheles. Good bye." The line went dead and Mephisto had to forcefully relax his fingers lest he crush the phone in his hands. Glaring at the thing he stiffly slammed it onto his desk.

This was ridiculous! What kind of idiot gets himself thrown into another time by a clock?!

A very distraught Yukio Okumura had already phoned his office a minimum of six times before he could ignore it no longer. While normally he would've had no trouble lying to the young dragoon this was another matter entirely. He had a search to conduct and Yukio was distracting him from getting their little half-demon back! He hadn't the time to make up a believable cover story!

Bringing his eyes back to the large collection of lower class demons Mephisto couldn't help the irritation that bubbled up and out of him. "Well?" he snapped, "What are you waiting for? Get back to work!"

The demons all flinched and rushed to either collect one of the identical pieces of paper or scrambled to take their place in line. Once Mephisto had found that Rin had been swallowed by his (very broken) clock, he had immediately set to work. Mephisto wasn't quite sure where to send his demon's but settled on the plan of giving each one a note and sending them into the clock at different time settings. The plan was that eventually he would find the correct setting when the demon's either returned to tell him the good news or were destroyed too often to be counted as a fluke. So far he had already sent about four hundred demons through the clock and it didn't look as if any of them were having any luck.

Hopefully they would find Rin before anything happened to the fool or Yukio got too suspicious and barged into his office.

-o0o-

Uhhh hi... long time no see. Its been what? Just over half a year? *winces* whoops. I guess I could tell you how i've been terribly busy but I doubt many of you would care much for my excuses seeing as they're just that. Excuses.

The reviews that came in really guilted me into writing after quite a few of you either asked me if I was dropping the story or shouted me for not updating.

Anyway! You guys still have to tell me what you think! Don't hesitate to drop a review!