Last Updated Aug. 15

It's Oct. 3

Sorry, this one took so long. I just really wanted to go out with a bang.

Toothless

I was frantic. Astrid didn't get the chance to climb back onto my saddle before I shot after the other dragon. Dragon let out a furious roar the moment he'd caught on too. His size let him plow through the crowd, and Astrid and I followed behind him. The dragon with my brother was fast, and it slithered through the drove before slipping completely out of my sight.

Shit. Shit! Shit! Shit! Godsdammit! Sh—

"Hey, uh…Toothless," Astrid whispered.

Her hand stretched into my peripheral. She was pointing to a deep hole along the volcano's slope. The dragons were all streaming into it like some waterfall moving in reverse. I narrowed my eyes while I followed her moving finger. I pushed on into the current, searching for what she could see but I couldn't, and we entered into the mouth of the Nest.

Astrid gasped but I kept my eyes trained on Dragon's tail. The dark walls, the stench of decay, and the dragon's musk were about as much as I needed to know about this dump. Once the throat opened up to the Nest's stomach, the glowing lava's heat was breathing underneath my scales. The smoke made my eyes water.

Dragon dropped at the end of the neck, barely toeing along the cave's edge.

"What's he doing?" Astrid asked.

As soon as I broke out of the current, I turned around and barked, What are you doing? I jerked my head back. Get over here!

Dragon looked at me before giving the Nest's heart a weary growl.

I don't like it here.

What the hell's that supposed to mean?

I opened my mouth to try again, but Astrid started tapping my head. "Toothless, look at that."

She motioned towards the line of dragons gathered around the Nest's center where a massive hole swallowed up most of the floor level. I squinted. They all carried game in their talons, and one by one, they…were dropping it… into the hole.

What a waste! I thought, indignant.

"They're not eating any of it."

Why those little—

INTRUDER.

A dark pit suddenly opened my stomach. A strange press against the back of my head suddenly expanded, and I heard a buzzing in my ears.

In the distance, a little Gronckle buzzed towards the hole without any game in its talons. My stomach churned. My eyes followed its journey. My muscles tightened.

FAILURE.

The Gronckle trundled onward. That pit filled with ink.

NIGHT FURY.

A shiver crawled down my spine.

SEE.

It hovered over the hole. The Gronckle started hacking. A presence filled that press in my head like smoke and ash.

LEARN.

It vomited a single fish which fell in without a sound.

The dragon looked quite pleased with itself. The presence was suddenly a hammering headache. I was about to whine when the buzzing suddenly stopped.

That can't be good.

The dragon seemed to notice this too—they all did! It stiffened, eyes darting to and fro, and then…

A deep powerful growl, like an ancient giant's groan, rumbled to life. The ground vibrated.

Instinct told me to law low. Hide Astrid.

Do.

Not.

Move.

I stretched a wing over her head and tried to lead her closer to my dark form. She got the hint and ducked down.

Horror stole my breath as the poor Gronckle tried to buzz away. Something colossal and ugly reared its head out of the lava. The head split open as a blast of hot rot hit my nostrils. My nose curled.

The retreating dragon was caught up into the mouth. It snapped shut, and the sound of the creature's crushed bones rang in my ears.

I flinched, and Astrid gasped. She and I looked at one another.

Oh. My gods.

LISTEN The Presence demanded. OBEY.

…Shit.

Hiccup

I saw the whole thing. My view was great guys. It's not like I wanted to miss a-a dragon being crushed to death. No, I live to see gleaming teeth clamp into a rock hard boulder of a dragon. Just imagine what that could do to my tough viking hide. Great imagery.

Totally not gonna haunt my nightmares.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

I wasn't terrified at all, nope!

I struggled against my captor, wriggling, and squirming, and kicking uselessly. My wrists refused to twist right. I wasn't even strong enough to break them. My finger nails couldn't dig into the little scales that speckled the dragon's feet.

I couldn't see Dragon, or Toothless, or Astrid.

I wanted to retch.

Like the Gr—

NOT GOING THERE!

My heart was hammering while the surrounding army of dragons cowered. My hands tingled as I started to lose feeling in them. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods!

My writhing while surrounded by a sea of stones didn't go unnoticed. I knew when Toothless saw me because I heard him roar. He shot towards me faster than ever before while, in the distance, Astrid shouted his name. I think he'd left her behind.

This caught the colossal dragon head's attention.

Dear gods, no.

It LUNGED after Toothless, snapping at his tail.

"TOOTHLESS!"

There was barely a breath of air between Toothless and the monster's maw.

Dragon roared and blasted out of his hiding place. He zipped towards the monster, swooping and roaring and making as much noise as he could. It terrified every creature in the volcano. Shrieking rose from every direction.

Toothless tackled the Nadder that was holding me.

Thankfully, its hold had loosened before it could slam us both into a nearby wall of rock. I slipped out of its hold.

Down, down, down I fell.

I screamed.

I was just lucky enough to have been grabbed again. Toothless had me this time, much to my relief.

Now for the escaping part.

Toothless

REBEL! TRAITOR! OBEY! OBEY!

SCREW THAT!

I hadn't even given it a thought before I'd gone after Hiccup.

The entire Nest quickly devolved into bedlam. A million flapping wings thundered in my ears. Their screams were deafening. Every dragon of every species was joining in the collective madness.

TRAITOR! DESERTER!

I felt the saddle on my back tilt as Hiccup attempted to grasp it. He couldn't climb on, and I wouldn't let him. I held on to him while I made sure Dragon had Astrid.

COWARD!

She was clinging to his back as he followed the fleeing masses upwards. The volcano's cap was wide open. I joined the stampede in a heartbeat.

RUN AWAY, COWARD! RUN AWAY!

Sonofa—

I looked back. A Zippleback had been trailing behind me. However, the colossal head shot up again, and it clamped down on the dragon's tail. The creature's eyes widened in terror. It shrieked out Help! before it was pulled back down.

It disappeared into the smoke like a sick magic trick.

The rest of the escape was a blur. The dragons dispersed in many different directions. Dragon and I quickly put a margin of distance between us and the Nest. I could still see the grand exodus still going strong when I looked back.

If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought the volcano was letting out a thick plume of smoke.

But I did know better.

DESERTER! DESERTER!

And I felt sick.

The screaming became garbled noise.

Hiccup kept looking back. I didn't blame him. The thought of that colossal head poking out of the volcano any second now set my pulse skyrocketing.

The pressure on my head lifted as I kept flying away, and the presence disappeared.

The incoherent screaming was fading, so I continued onward.

The flight back to Berk was intense and quiet.

Hiccup

The cold wind swept right under my clothes, and I shivered. Looking up at Dragon, I could barely make out Astrid's hunched form. She appeared to be struggling to maintain her balance on his back. Toothless still had a solid grip on my arms, so there wasn't much I could do to help her.

Ultimately, we were all left to the mercy of our private thoughts. Recent events churned around in my head, but I couldn't voice any of it.

I was limp with relief when I saw Berk again. We flew over the warm, illuminated village and into the calm forest. The gleaming waters inside the cove were soon in sight, and Toothless let me down carefully while Astrid jumped off of Dragon's back.

"What! Was! That!?" Astrid cried.

I wasn't even on my feet for a minute before my legs gave out. I fell to my knees as I waited out the spinning in my head. Toothless shrieked, alarmed.

"Hiccup!" Astrid ran to my side, and she was soon kneeling at my side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I replied. "I just…"

Toothless's face was in mine in a flash, and warm puffs of air tickled my face as he sniffed me over.

"Just lost feeling in my legs—Toothless, ow!" He'd pressed his nose against my left leg, which was definitely sprained. That had stung. "Gimme a minute, bud."

After a few seconds, Astrid asked, "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Without warning, she then punched me in the shoulder.

"OW!" I grabbed my now-throbbing arm while Astrid glared me down. "What was THAT for!?"

"For being an idiot!" she growled back. "Now what the hel did we just see?"

"I don't know! The Nest!?"

"Not that part, mutton head! I'm talking about that…that THING!"

"Hel if I know!" I flung my hands into the air. "I've never been there before!"

"Oh, well, that's helpful!"

"Why do you expect me to know!?"

"You tell me, Dragon Boy!" She gestured to Dragon and Toothless.

From there, the bickering snowballed down the Hill of Panicking Nerves which, admittedly, was oddly therapeutic.

Dragon and Toothless had decided to stay on the sidelines while Astrid and I expelled our energy. Somewhere along the way, we ended up on our feet, pacing and gesturing and flailing our nervous agitation away.

Dragon eventually wandered off to gather the babies, but Toothless remained by my side. His eyes continued to bounce between us. He opened his mouth a few times, almost as though he'd wanted to butt in, but he closed it every time.

As soon as we ran out of steam, we settled for a quick glare before sitting and turning back to back. Toothless gave me a flat look which I tried to ignore. Eventually, Astrid broke the silence with a loud groan. She buried her face in her hands.

"Gods, it makes perfect sense," she muttered.

I rose an eyebrow.

"The dragons, Hiccup," she said. "The Nest is like some giant beehive. If the dragons are the workers, IT has got to be their queen. She controls them." Astrid's hand rested over her mouth as she seemed to grapple with the thought. "I can't believe it."

"What a mess."

Astrid was soon on her feet. "We need to tell your dad."

"What!? No." I stood up and stopped her before she could go any further.

She was incredulous. "No? What do you mean no?"

"We can't tell him. We can't tell anyone—"

"And why not?" she demanded.

"They'll kill Toothless!" I exclaimed. "They'll find out! We'd have to tell them!" I was at Toothless's side quickly. "We need a better plan."

She hesitated. "You…really believe that this dragon is Toothless, don't you?"

I looked her in the eyes and said, "Without a doubt."

There was a pause before she shook her head. She tried a new angle. "Hiccup, we just found the dragons' Nest! Our ancestors have been looking for it since they first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret? To protect a dragon who you think is Toothless?"

"He is Toothless." I crossed my arms. "And even if there was a chance I was wrong…" I looked at Toothless who held my gaze. "I'll still take that risk."

Astrid didn't reply.

A few meters away from us, Dragon was herding the little ones into the extra basket I'd left out earlier. Toothless barked at one of them when the little Terror, Accomplice, tried to run into the supply bag instead. Dragon snatched the little one by the tail and carefully dragged him back to the right basket.

Finally, Astrid broke the silence. "So what's the plan?"

I took in a deep breath. "It hasn't changed. I'm still going with Dragon."

"Where?"

"No clue." I laughed. "Toothless's birthplace, hopefully. If I can turn him back and he's safe, we can deal with the Nest." A new thought occurred to me. "I can…tell them I found it on my journey or something. I dunno. It's still risky."

Astrid nodded. "That thing's too big."

"True."

"We can't fight it as we are."

"No, we can't," I agreed. "We'll come up with something. Promise you'll say nothing."

"I promise."

"Swear it on your uncle's life?"

Astrid took in a sharp breath. Her uncle, Fearless Finn Hofferson, had died years ago when Astrid had been a little girl. Mom had dragged a frantic little Astrid into our house that night when the village broke out into a fight for Finn's corpse. I remember that we'd never been able to recover it, and her family had been shamed for his dishonorable demise.

In hindsight, I wanted to take back my words, but she screwed up her face, clenched her fists and said, "Okay, I swear."

I nodded. "Thank you."

I spent the rest of our time together in the cove putting everything in place. I hooked up the supplies to Dragon's back, and I made sure the babies were comfortable in their basket. By the time Toothless's saddle was secured, I'd realized that Astrid had stayed by my side the whole time. Her presence had been comfortable to be honest. I didn't mind.

I finally climbed back onto Toothless's back and secured myself into the saddle.

"Well," I said. "This is goodbye for now."

Astrid took a second to answer. "When will you be back?"

I shrugged. "When Toothless is human again."

She frowned and her eyes flicked from my head to my feet. "Are you armed?"

"Uhhhh…" I smiled nervously. "Kinda?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Well, that's comforting."

"I have two dragons with me," I deadpanned. Toothless puffed up at this while Dragon let out a pleased hum. "I'll be fine."

Astrid nodded, and after an awkward moment, she reached up to slug me in the shoulder again! Ouch! "That's for the kidnapping," she stated.

Okay, I deserved that. That didn't make the building bruise I could feel along my arm any less painful though.

Then she grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me in close to her face. I was unprepared for the quick action, but I felt her lips, lighter than air, brush against my cheek. A hot flare of energy blossomed from my chest until my fingertips buzzed with warmth. My face felt like a hearth when she pulled away.

She brushed a strand of hair out of her face, and she said, "That…was for everything else."

Toothless's eyes burned into the back of my head, but Dragon's breathy chuckles broke me and Astrid out of our stupor.

"So, uh, don't die. Okay, Dragon Boy?"

"Y-Yeah, sure. That-that's uh…yeah, that's—"

Toothless grunted. 'Any day now, stupid.'

I subtly flicked his ear.

"Uhhh are we ready to go, guys?"

Once I got confirmation from both of them, we were off. Astrid stood aside watching my two friends launch themselves into the air. I looked back while her shining eyes continued to follow us, but Berk quickly became a rise in the distance.

We left Berk that night for the first time in my life. But it was most certainly not the last.

HECK YEAH!

I am so thrilled to call this part one a done deal! So here's the plan: I will come back to work on this in December, and hopefully, I will have an idea of how many chapters I've got to shoot for. I should have part two up and running by January or early February.

I'm toying with the idea of working with a beta so my updates will be less sporadic, so I am very open to any recommendations if you know any!

Until then, I think I'm gonna take it easy and work on some short oneshots and side stories related to this universe.

Now for some reviews:

thearizona: I don't remember if I answered you yet, so here we go! Yeah, it was just fire and brimstone for these poor saps! Their writer is such a jerk, eh? Thank you so much for following me for this long. You are amazing and so patient! I really appreciate you, my friend.

Particia Louise A. Pena: Thank you for the review! So to answer your comments: (1) [insert devilish smirk here], (2) my fingers are vibrating with my desire to tell you, and it's killing me here, and (3) yeah someone's gotta dig up these skeletons in his history's closet, and it's probably gonna be our traveling hobos. Let's see how that works out. And as to that Friendly Suggestion™, I'll keep it in mind when I start working out part 2. Who knows? Maybe it's in the game plan, maaaybe it's not.

Again, many thanks to readers and reviewers who have come and gone in and out of my inbox! Y'all are fantastic! I always get butterflies and heart attacks every time my email tells me that there is a reader out there who had something to say about my work. It's an amazing feeling.

To keep up with me and any changes I may make to my Dragon Boy plans, you can find me on tumblr at tenchikotheauthor!

—Tenchiko