Our Unbreakable Bond

Pairing; HiccupXToothless

Rated; M for Mature

Disclaimer; I do not own anything HTTYD affiliated!

~Author's Note; Hey, my awesome readers. I'm back with another Normal HTTYD setting story, and yes; it will be a Toothcup pairing! Hiccup will remain all human and male, as Toothless is staying all dragon and male. Figured I'd mention it now before you all start asking me if I'm changing genders, forms, or species. Oh, and this takes place during Race To The Edge years, so Hiccup is about eighteen/nineteen-years-old and the teens are living back on Berk because of the whole volcano destroying The Edge thing. Just assumed to give everyone a heads up on that information. All that aside; I do hope you'll enjoy the story! With that wrapped up, here's the first chapter!

Search & Rescue

{Hiccup's POV}

Berk's four-hundredth-year celebration must have been a crazier party than I first thought. My head was throbbing as I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked to wake up a bit more. I smiled as I went to greet Toothless, but I didn't see him. Suddenly, I realized that I wasn't even in my bedroom; I was in a cell with one window. I felt that my arms were tied behind my back, so I struggled with sitting up to get a better look. I glanced outside to see nothing but open sea. Was I on a ship?!

"Oh, look! He's finally come," I heard a voice as my eyes instinctively narrow. Two guards walked by while I glared.

"Where am I?" I demanded.

"Shut up," one man ordered.

"Who are you?" I tried again.

"I said to shut up!" the guard steadily became angrier. I forced myself to stand and get to the cell door.

"And I said to tell me where I am and who you are! What do you want with me? Where's Toothless? Where are my frie-," I started but was shoved back against the wall. I groaned a bit and looked at the male.

"We don't want anything with you except the money promised for bringing you in. Your friends and dragon are back on Berk; we don't care about them," the guard spat out. The money promised for bringing me in?

"What money?" I asked.

"There's a bounty on the head of the teenage boy with auburn hair and green eyes that rides a Night Fury," the man explained. I scoffed.

"Take me back to Berk! You're not going to like what happens when my friends and father come for me!" I warned.

"Does this kid ever shut up?" the other man finally spoke.

"Doesn't appear that way," the first man sighed.

"You're gonna regret this," I said.

"They'll never find you; we took while the party was still going on. It's morning now, and we're miles ahead," the man chuckled. Not long after, they walked away. I sat against the wall with a sigh. How did they take me with all that celebrating in swing? Had I walked away and got knocked out? That would explain the throbbing spot on the back of my head right now. It didn't matter. I wasn't there, and Toothless was; everyone would know right away that something was wrong. No, they would find me, but until then I should keep an ear out for any information. No one else got taken, just me. It had to because of the dragon riding, and it made sense to take the person who rode a Night Fury; the most feared dragon known to man and likened the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Not Toothless, though; that dragon was harmless. Well, until people hurt me he was.

I knew things like this could happen when there were Vikings on the backs of dragons; it was an unpopular opinion. All of this started when I was fifteen-years-old; the day I shot down a Night Fury. I had the chance to prove to everyone in my Tribe, the Hairy Hooligans, that I was like them. And then when faced with killing a dragon; I wouldn't do it. I stared at Toothless, who is the Night Fury I shot out of the sky with a bola, and saw myself. I knew what it was like to be wounded, weak, and helpless. I saw Toothless close his eyes to resign to his fate, and I suddenly realized how wrong it felt to do this. I did something that no other human had ever done; I let Toothless go. The tables turned; Toothless had the chance to kill me, but instead; he roared in my face and took off. The bottom line; we let the other one live. Toothless became my best friend, and together, we ended the Viking and Dragon war that was about three-hundred-years-old by defeating Red Death; a monstrous dragon who controlled smaller ones and forced them to raid.

I still say the funniest thing is that when I shot Toothless down, I took his left tail fin; I did invent a rig that allowed him to fly again, by me riding him, which is where the dragon riding started. But in the fight with Red Death, Toothless ended up biting off my left leg to save my life. I was the first Viking ever to befriend a dragon; Toothless and I bonded with a mutual understanding of one another, and regardless that he's a dragon; Toothless is my best friend. Yeah, I have Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Heather, and even Dagur, but I wouldn't have them if it weren't for Toothless. I've never had an easy life before that fateful day. My mother was taken by a dragon when I was a baby, and my father had to raise me alone. I ended up with Gobber as my mentor, and he taught everything he knows about blacksmithing. Before Toothless; I was invisible to everyone, even my dad. I was regarded as the village trouble-maker because I was different. I love to invent, and most if not all of them failed, resulting in damages. I didn't have friends, but I was regularly picked on and teased for being a screw-up, and my unusually slim figure. I'm not like the other Vikings; I'm a hiccup, a runt because of being born early. I've been told that I almost didn't survive my birth, but I guess I pulled through in the end. I was fifteen, born before the others, but still the shortest. Currently, I'm about eighteen and a half-years-old and the tallest, but still ridiculously skinny. It may not appear it to others, but I am strong from all the forge work and dragon riding.

Oh, and I've always known Dagur, but he isn't a Hooligan of Berk. Dagur is the son of the late Chief of Berserker Island. Dagur is also older than me by about three years. Dagur loved to pick on me too, always called me his brother, and I hated it. At first, Dagur wanted war because of the dragon riding, but he's come around to being a rider himself, and entirely different from learning that Heather is his sister. The others and I met Heather when I was sixteen; she washed up on Berk's shores to get information for Alvin the Treacherous; Chief of the Outcasts, about dragons. I guess Alvin had kidnapped her adoptive parents. We saved them, and didn't see Heather again until after the gang, and I moved to Dragon's Edge, an island beyond the boundaries of the Archipelago and about a full day's flight Northeast of Berk. Heather was on the search for Dagur because he killed her adoptive family, and then it came out later on with help from my dad that Heather is Dagur's little sister. Heather found a baby Razorwhip dragon, and named it Windshear; then she taught herself to be a dragon rider. For Dagur and Heather learning they were siblings; it wasn't a great reunion, but the two came around to accepting one another as a family in a battle with Viggo and Ryker Grimborn; Dragon Hunters, a whole Tribe of them too. There was this object called the Dragon Eye, or that's what I called it. It could show us all these different dragons, where to find them, it was a map of the dragon world! It was Viggo's, and there was a war over it. Viggo used it to capture, enslave, and sell dragons. We used it to protect them. Eventually, it was destroyed. Overall, though, Dagur saved Heather, twice and now both were living on Berserker Island and allied with Berk. Dagur is a dragon rider too; he has a Triple Stryke named Sleuther; another dragon we saved from the hunters.

So, yeah. That's my life. Once again; I know being allied with dragons isn't a favorite concept to many, but it's way better than having a war between us. I don't see why others wouldn't want peace, and I guess it's something I'd never fully understand. When Viggo, Ryker, and the other enemies had been dealt with; my friends and I returned to Berk because of the volcanic eruption and lava destroying everything. I know Ryker went underwater, don't know if he lived. Never found out what happened to Viggo; we thought he'd been killed in the volcano since he fell in, but that was proved to be wrong later. Viggo survived, and was seen by Astrid with another guy named Krogan. There was a battle, but we have no idea what happened to them. We safely relocated all the dragons from The Edge, and decided it was time to go home. After all, I am the next Chief of Berk, and it's coming up to the point where my dad will start my training, and then I'll take over. At the moment; I didn't know where I was headed and who wanted me, but I was going to find out. It was morning now, so I knew that Toothless was awake and probably had alerted the entire village of my sudden disappearance. I'd be saved soon; I knew they would come for me.

…

{Normal POV}

=The Night Before=

Berk was celebrating its four-hundred-year anniversary, and it was a huge event. The other island's Chiefs and Heirs had come out, but only allied ones. Not all the Archipelago Tribes liked the peace with dragons, but they would respect the decision and leave it to the dragon riders if there was a problem. It was expected, not everyone was required to change. Hiccup had been with his friends; Dagur and Heather too, enjoying some weaker mead since they were over eighteen and could drink. Toothless was never far from his rider; that was just their bond, and everyone knew it. Anyone who ever tried to hurt Hiccup found out pretty quickly that it wouldn't be tolerated by his Night Fury. Also, just about everyone knew that regardless of being a dragon; Hiccup's best friend is Toothless hands down.

"This is some party," Heather remarked gently while standing between Astrid and Dagur.

"I know right? And it's great to be home," Astrid agreed with her friend.

"I must say that I've missed living here," Fishlegs smiled.

"Same," Ruffnut and Tuffnut banged their heads together. Snotlout just took another drink while Hiccup was relaxing against Toothless. It wasn't late, perhaps a little after 10 pm. Astrid noticed that Hiccup hadn't said much since they returned to Berk, which happened two weeks ago. Hiccup had been the one most against leaving since they knew Viggo was still alive, but with some convincing that the hunters were dispersed or too afraid plus the Dragon Eye being destroyed; the friends got Hiccup to agree to return home. Astrid moved next to Hiccup and nudged him a bit.

"Hey, you alright?" Astrid inquired.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm okay, Astrid," Hiccup replied with a nod.

"This is Berk's four-hundredth anniversary. You're the future Chief, but you look miserable to be here," Astrid pointed out.

"Just got a lot on my mind," Hiccup informed.

"Look. We know you didn't want to leave, but what choice did we have?" Snotlout remarked.

"As much as I hate to agree with Snotlout; he's right, Hiccup," Fishlegs interjected softly.

"We did what we could to stay on The Edge as long as possible," Astrid put her hand on his shoulder. "But we can't stop the volcano," she reminded.

"That's not what's bothering me; I know there's nothing we could do," Hiccup muttered.

"What's wrong, brother?" Dagur asked now. Hiccup used to hate Dagur calling him that, but it was when Dagur was Deranged; he still was, just not nearly as bad as before. With how far Dagur had come; Hiccup could see him as an older brother type figure.

"Viggo is still out there," Hiccup looked at him.

"He's got nothing, Hiccup. The hunters are gone and refuse to keep fighting us; the Dragon Eye is destroyed. Viggo is no threat, dead or alive," Heather pointed out.

"But what if the Dragon Eye isn't gone? I threw it in the volcano, Viggo fell in. It erupted moments later, and Viggo survived," Hiccup stated. "All I'm saying is that the possibility exists, and we might not have seen the last of Viggo or the Dragon Eye," he finished his mead before getting off Toothless and stretching.

"If what you say comes to pass, then we'll deal with it. For now, we're home, and things are peaceful. Why not enjoy it?" Astrid suggested.

"I just can't ignore it, Astrid. Not when there's a chance Viggo is using the Dragon Eye to find and sell or kill dragons for business," Hiccup sighed as he started walking away.

"Where are you going? You're the Heir; you have to stay," Astrid wondered.

"I'm only going to the bathroom," Hiccup rolled his eyes. Toothless got up to go with him. "You can stay, bud. I'll be right back," Hiccup rubbed the top of his friend's head with a smile, then Hiccup walked out of sight. Toothless sat back down, but his eyes never strayed from the path Hiccup took. It was him being protective like always. The friends went back to talking, enjoying the celebration, but Toothless felt like something was off; he couldn't shake the feeling either.

…

Hours went by, and Hiccup didn't return. What was worse; the friends hadn't even noticed the disappearance of their fearless leader. Hiccup was the first dragon rider, and taught them, plus he was head trainer for Berk's Dragon Training Academy, so it made sense to name him the leader. Toothless didn't like it, and growled lowly. This got the attention of the riders.

"What's the matter with him?" Dagur wondered.

"No clue," Snotlout shrugged. Toothless darted away from them, following the track Hiccup took before. Toothless knew that Hiccup would have spent the extra time to relieve himself in the outhouse outside his father's home. Toothless reached Stoick's place, and sniffed around. Hiccup wasn't here, and hadn't been for a while. Where was his human?! Toothless began trying to track Hiccup, but it only showed that he'd been at the house and never came back to the group, so where would he have gone? Toothless didn't like this; something was wrong. From where Toothless was, he roared out loudly. In the village square where the celebration was happening, Stoick looked at Toothless and wondered what would make him do that.

"Astrid," Stoick called her over to him as Astrid came. "Where's my son?"

"I have no idea. Hiccup said he went to use the bathroom hours ago but never came back," Astrid informed. Stoick made his way to Toothless.

"What is it, boy?" Stoick asked the Night Fury. "Is Hiccup okay?" Toothless gave a head tilt; signaling that he didn't know. "Where is he?" Toothless warbled low, and Stoick could tell that Toothless seemed anxious, and worried. "Dragon Riders! Sky patrol; find Hiccup!" Stoick ordered.

"Aye, sir!" the riders nodded while gathering their dragons, Dagur and Heather too, then beginning an overhead patrol for their friend. As midnight fell upon Berk, the riders returned.

"Nothing, Chief. We've looked everywhere, and none of the dragons can pick up his scent. Wherever he is; he's hiding well," Snotlout reported. Toothless warbled with concern now. Stoick didn't like this; it wasn't like Hiccup to take off, especially without his dragon.

"We'll find him, Toothless. Don't worry. We'll get Skullcrusher and try to track his scent," Stoick patted the Night Fury's head. Moments later, Skullcrusher was next to Toothless while Stoick had gotten one of Hiccup's shirts from the day before. "Skullcrusher," Stoick said; the Rumblehorn sniffed the article of clothing then began sniffing the ground. The riders walked along with Stoick and Toothless as Skullcrusher continued to search. Finally, around the back of the island below the cove on Raven Point where there was a beach, Skullcrusher stopped at the edge of the water and looked out.

Why have you stopped, Skullcrusher? Toothless asked the Rumblehorn, though, the Vikings only heard growls, grunts, and warbles.

The scent disappears here, Toothless. Perhaps Hiccup took one of the smaller boats out? Skullcrusher replied.

No. If Hiccup wanted to go anywhere, he would have gone with me for a fly. Hiccup isn't a fan of being on boats; he gets sick. There's gotta be something else. Toothless insisted.

Well, I did catch two other scents mixed with Hiccups. And it looks like a boat was pushed out off the sand. It seems like there might have been people down here because of how the sand appears. No footprints to follow, slightly messy as if there were a struggle. Skullcrusher informed.

"Why do you think Skullcrusher stopped here? Why would Hiccup come all this way?" Heather questioned.

"Skullcrusher is a Tracker Class, and he was following Hiccup's scent based on a shirt from yesterday. If my dragon stops here, then he lost Hiccup's trail," Stoick stated. Toothless stared out at the water; there was nothing there, the ocean was calm as could be.

You think he got taken? Stormfly nudged Toothless with her face.

It's possible. Hiccup has a lot of enemies; all the riders do after the Dragon Hunter situation we just dealt with. And Viggo is still alive. Hiccup was talking about it earlier; worried that the man could return for revenge. Big party, anyone could have slipped in and waited for Hiccup to be alone. Toothless remarked with a snort.

"What do you suppose they're doing?" Dagur inquired.

"Communicating if I had to take a guess," Fishlegs responded.

How do we tell the humans of the suspicion? Hookfang joined the conversation now. Toothless rolled his eyes; that's right. There was a language problem between their species. Hiccup was always one to understand Toothless without talking. What nobody knew was that Toothless could make a connection that would allow the humans to hear him entirely, but Toothless wasn't doing that because Odin only knew it could be a problem. None of that mattered now; finding Hiccup did.

Barf. Belch. Grab my front paws and drag me to one of the boats. The rest of you help them get me in it. Skullcrusher; you push it out a little. That might get the message across. Toothless ordered. Barf and Belch charged at Toothless, knocking him onto his back.

"What's going on?" Snotlout arched a brow. The Zippleback heads bit down on Toothless's paws, not hard and pulled him to the boat docked there. The other dragons helped get Toothless in, then Skullcrusher pushed it out slightly, not that it went far with being tethered to the wooden post. Stoick's eyes widened when Toothless lifted his head and looked at Stoick with grave concern, then the Night Fury motioned his head out to sea. Stoick understood what happened.

"Hiccup was kidnapped. That's what the dragons are trying to tell us. The trail ends here, a ship is missing, and Hiccup hasn't been seen in hours," Stoick enlightened quickly. Gobber moved towards the edge and inspected everything.

"Hiccup had to have been knocked out; looks like he was dragged right around here," Gobber looked back to the Chief.

"Orders, Stoick?" Dagur said instantly.

"Find my son. I want all available hands and dragons looking!" Stoick demanded loudly. "This is officially a search and rescue!" Nobody argued, or wasted another moment. All dragon riders were ordered to the sky and Vikings to the ships. Stoick informed the entire island Hiccup was missing, and had been taken. Stoick made it very clear that he wanted Hiccup found immediately and brought home.