This was originally just an idea I posted on Tumblr, but I was never sure if I should even turn it into a fic because so many people have already written for the 'Hiccup runs away' trope. So this story pretty much came into existence thanks to coneygoil, renkocchi, softhairstark, daglout, just-call-me-emrys, let-the-wind-carry-us and only-girl-on-a-dragon on Tumblr, who motivated me to go ahead and turn this idea into a fic. Seriously, thank you guys!

EDIT: Edited this chapter a little.

Lost No More: Chapter 1 - A Malicious Plan

He didn't want to leave.

Even after packing a basket with what he thought were the bare essentials, even after exclaiming to his dragon that they should 'take a vacation... forever!', and even after climbing on Toothless' back and taking off, Hiccup found that they couldn't leave.

They had been flying for well over an hour now after their smooth departure from the cove, the place where their friendship had first blossomed, and the sun was already gradually setting. But instead of choosing a direction and flying off into the distance to then desperately keep from looking back, they had been widely circling the island of Berk.

Occasionally they even soared over the Viking settlement itself and each time Hiccup gazed down at the people going about their day, many still celebrating their heir's winning of the honour to kill a Monstrous Nightmare in the Kill Ring tomorrow, and at the house he grew up in.

Though he doubted it, Hiccup wondered if his father was already home. He wondered if the man was waiting for him and looked forward to seeing his son again.

It made a stabbing pain form in his chest and he began to question his want to leave.

He knew his father loved him. Gods, no matter how strained their relationship was or how little they understood eachother, that was something Hiccup knew for certain. That man would die for him, has even jumped in front of the hot flames of a dragon to protect him, and here he was about to leave.

About to leave Berk and the people who trusted he one day step up as chief to lead them through an uncertain future. His mentor who taught him everything he knew in blacksmithing and was like an uncle to him. The new friends, those who had finally come to see him as more than just the 'troublemaking runt' and who were now seeing and liking him for who he was. And his father, who's heart he'd break by doing something as callous as fleeing from his problems without so much as leaving a note.

Not even the rush of the wind, though usually so soothing even as it caused adrenaline to course through his veins, could do nothing to wash away the guilt he felt.

Hiccup's hold on the saddle he had created with his very own two hands tightened as that awful feeling in his chest grew and suffocated the very life out of him.

That was why he realized he couldn't leave.

The Night Fury he rode gave a warble in question as he looked at his scrawny rider from over his shoulder, wondering why it is that Hiccup insisted they keep flying above the Viking island.

Though night was approaching, a black dragon with wings as big as Toothless' still tended to stand out for now. So it was why, even though he wanted to give Hiccup the time he needed to say goodbye to his human home, the longer they spend flying around Berk all the easier it'll become for them to be spotted.

To fly or to stay, the boy on his back needed to make a decision now.

"I'm sorry, Toothless." And a decision was exactly what had been made.

This had all been to keep the dragon safe. Whatever Hiccup was so afraid would happen tomorrow, Toothless' understanding of the human language wasn't all that great yet, it had something to do with him. Something about their cover being blown, about secrets and lies being exposed. Whatever it was, it scared the Viking boy.

"I know we should go, I really do, but I can't." Hiccup wasn't expecting the dragon to forgive him or to even listen to him, but he still pressed on.

"Can... Can we go back, Bud? Back to the cove?" He asked almost timidly, a strange sound to hear from someone he'd come to know as so straightforward and... sarcastic?

Whatever that scared him so tomorrow, it apparently couldn't win against his want to stay home. For Toothless, who had known only the Dragon Queen's volcano for the longest time prior to ending up on Berk with this peculiar human fledgling, could respect that decision.

Hiccup was smart. He had helped him reach for the high skies again with his surprisingly clever hands. Toothless could trust the boy would find a solution to his problem aswell.

When the dragon gave him an affirming growl, the Viking released a sigh and rubbed the top of his head, laying down carefully.

"Thanks for understanding, Bud. Really!" Toothless warbled again, as if telling him that he needn't to worry.

Changing course, the unlikely human and dragon duo turned to head back to the cove, something that took quite a bit of energy out of Hiccup's sore body. His muscles were rapidly growing stronger with the several attempted and realized flights, but they had been mostly short.

This was the longest Hiccup had ever been in the air. As much as he was quickly coming to enjoy the sky, he was now longing to stand on his own two feet.

But it was while returning to Berk, honestly the boy already felt like he'd been gone for far too long, that one half of the pair noticed something was off.

Toothless, as he veered to the right to find the cove between the tall trees, suddenly stopped mid-flight. It caused Hiccup to change the position of the tailfin in a blind panic, for a moment believing they were about to crash once more.

Some runaway he was.

"Toothless? What's wrong, Bud?" Boy asked dragon, who gestured with his snout that Hiccup better look down there. He figured this was something an inhabitant of this island would want to see.

Said Viking did as he was told and gazed down at the shores of a beach almost completely on the other side of Berk, just out of sight from their farthest watchtowers. He had to somewhat stand in order to have a proper look.

When he spotted what Toothless believed must be important for him to know, bright forest green eyes narrowed in suspicion.

There was a ship down there, two in fact. And there was one that Hiccup had known his entire life.

"Trader Johann? But he isn't supposed to be on Berk for another couple of weeks. And that other ship, I don't recognize that sail from up here." Though his Norse wasn't the best yet, Toothless had gleaned enough to realize that something was not right. Whatever these strangers had come to do on Hiccup's island could hardly be any good.

"Come on, Bud." Without as much as discussing it first did the two decide to go down low enough to get a better look at the uninvited guests, using rock formations and vegetation as cover.

It wasn't long before Hiccup knew he was right. That crest on the sail was indeed one he had never seen before as it was shaped to look like a fist, a red and bloodied fist. As heir, he was expected to know at least a sail or two. It was hard not to with all of the treaties that needed to be signed annually with allied tribes. But this one did not even look in the slightest bit familiar.

As for the people that ship had brought, they were dressed in clothing Hiccup had never seen before. It was almost like a uniform, worn in the different colours that helped him identify the material as dragon hides even from up here. Some of them were such bright colours.

Because meeting Toothless taught him of the true nature of these fire breathing beasts, Hiccup felt a new kind of anger he had never experienced before well up inside him. An anger and a fear. Both were difficult to swallow.

Diverting his attention, Hiccup searched for the trader he'd known for as long as he could remember, a traveler by the name of Johann who once amused him with wild tales about his adventures in faraway lands. Squinting his eyes, he found him eventually and he seemed to be talking to a balding man.

"I should've brought a spyglass with me." He muttered before directing the tailfin to have Toothless land. He needed to get closer, hear what they were saying, and find out if Berk was about to be in trouble or not.

A small part of him nagged him in the back of his mind, telling him how this might be an excellent opportunity to change his father's mind about dragons.

It was a thought quickly rejected.

Change the mind of Stoick the Vast? Sure.

Folding his wings, Toothless swiftly disappeared within the trees and landed on his four paws with barely a sound. He understood his rider's desire to find out more. With stealth only a Night Fury could have, even with a prosthetic tailfin and a human boy on his back, Toothless crept closer to the two ships and the Vikings on the beach.

To a dragon it was easy to listen in, so Toothless had to remind himself that humans couldn't hear as well as most dragons could, the rare exception being the Thunderdrum. He could only guess it was probably because of all the yelling they could do.

With the sun setting there were plenty of shadows to hide in while amongst the plantlife. Though Hiccup would still make him stand out, Toothless used them to stalk closer. He gave a soft grunt, which his rider thankfully correctly took that he might want to lay down as flat as he could.

It was growing darker and the shadows became longer, but soon enough the Night Fury ran out of space to lurk in. Fortunately, it was just close enough for Hiccup to hear aswell.

Johann, as the boy had called him, was a scrawny man with a thick kind of fur on his chin and jawline. His clothing was also of the sort he hadn't seen any of the Vikings of Berk wear before. It helped him deduce this must be a foreigner. So it wasn't just his ship that told the dragon he wasn't even from the Archipelago.

He was talking to a large, bald man with a differently shaped kind of short dark fur on his face. With his broad shoulders he would've already been an intimidating sight, but there was a worringly dangerous sword on his back, tinted green due to a strange metal. To make matters worse Toothles could see, and smell, that he was wearing the skin of a dragon.

He would've snarled malociously if he wasn't in hiding and protecting that feeble boy on his back.

"Looks like that's the leader, Bud." Hiccup whispered as softly as he could, speaking next to the dragon's left earfin. Both of their gazes were locked on the two arguing men. Johann was angry. The angriest he had ever seen him.

Hiccup strained his hearing to try and catch anything from the conversation, but failed to grasp little besides a few meaningless words.

Stoick, his father.

Runty heir, Hiccup felt a terrible ache clench around his heart. He knew with certainty that they were refering to him now.

And... some kind of king? Of dragons?

A King of Dragons.

"I've worked much too hard to get this far, Ryker... Dragon's Nest... So close... Stoick will find it for us... Runty heir no problem to deal with..." They were only parts of a rant Trader Johann was apparently giving the stranger, seemingly called Ryker, but it was enough for fear to wrap its cold embrace around Hiccup's heart.

They wanted something from his father, something to do with a king of sorts in the Dragon's Nest. Stoick was supposedly the one to get them there. And after getting it, something would lead to them 'taking care' of his runt of a son. Hiccup knew his life was suddenly in jeopardy and this time not because of dragons or dangerous situations he put himself in.

Toothless sensed the fear as the Viking boy shrunk and half curled up on the saddle with widened eyes. A want to get him out of here sparked within the Night Fury. He could hear his breathing growing ragged, could pretty much smell the fear coming from him in waves, could feel Hiccup's want to just disappear altogether.

This was much different than the time when Hiccup kept his cool as they plummeted out of the sky and almost met a crushing death. Toothless didn't quite understand why, but he at least understood that whatever was happening was greater than just the two of them.

But whilst they were so caught up in Johann's traitorous ways, boy and dragon failed to notice the predator lurking in the shadows from behind. Knocking an arrow with a suspiciously greenish tip on his bow, the hunter took aim and chose the bigger of the two targets.

"Toothless, we need to go now. My dad needs to know. I'll figure out something to say, but we gotta get out of here." Tapping his dragon's head as he finally managed to somewhat snap out of it, Hiccup spoke and Toothless was more than happy to oblige.

He wasn't all too comfortable with the idea that these two men meant harm to his rider. And he had heard a lot more of the shady conversation than Hiccup did.

But the decision to return was made too late.

As Hiccup positioned the tailfin and Toothless moved to search for a clearing to spread his wings in, the man with the bow let his arrow fly.

The village of Berk was quiet and peaceful while another day came to an end. As the sun slowly set and the moon grew brighter, the celebratory feast in the Great Hall came to an end.

Their heir, Chief Stoick the Vast's only son, had always been an odd boy, much like his late-mother, Valka Haddock. Many might say he had taken after her the most and rightfully so. He was her in both looks and personality.

Yet that same strange and scrawny boy had entered Dragon Training, had excelled in a way they never could've thought possible, and he had become that year's champion. Reason enough to celebrate. The heir finally showed some promise.

The village's only blacksmith was drunkenly laughing amongst friends and boasting about his deceptively frail apprentice. A husky boy read through the Book of Dragons for the eighth or ninth time, eager to see Hiccup again later and ask him if they could study the dragons in the manual together. One pair of twins were recounting their time in training in utter glee, colourfully describing the more violent parts.

A broad shouldered boy, though he did not mention it out loud, felt glad his cousin was acting more like a Viking. Meanwhile a young girl, hoping to one day become a shieldmaiden to fight for her family's reputation, sat seething on her seat at a table with her food untouched. And a father made his way home to his house on a hill, a wide smile of pride present as he looked forward to instill his son with encouraging words and wisdom.

No one had any idea their lives were about to be turned upside down with the disappearance of one young boy.