How to Train Your Dragon 1. New York, Old Memories

**The sequel to Guardian Night Fury everybody. Let's get this thing started. Mikowmer, halobeast, Silverwolves, jlrdsr, I hope to see you all here as you were the most reliable readers in GNF to always leave a review when you started showing up. Here it is.**

**FOR ALL YOU NEW PEOPLE, GO READ GUARDIAN NIGHT FURY FIRST, OR YOU WILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON**

**Also, ple****ase no flame. If you have criticism, that is fine, but don't blatantly outright say "this part sucks," or "this idea is stupid," because it does not help my writing. I'm looking at you, Foxmorgorth. You could have at least said the things you liked about the final GNF chapter instead of just giving me ideas and commenting negatively on one part.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own HTTYD. I do, however, own the idea. That's all me. Mine. Don't take it, I'll fight you. **

**Ok, that's enough rambling.**

**LET'S SEE WHERE THIS GOES, SHALL WE?**

**_Astrid_**

I _loved_ my life. It was pretty much perfect. Nothing like five years ago, when I first arrived on Berk. Back then I was this poor, lonely girl who thought her life was just gonna be one rejection after another until one day, ultimately, she would take her own life. That was the path I was headed on. The only path I could see in my life.

And then I came to Berk. This metropolis of a island-nation was amazing, probably because of the resident unique fauna. Some places could boast that they have bears in the woods, or wolves. The swamps have their alligators and the mountains have their eagles.

Berk has something _a little _different.

We have a dragon!

Well... A Night Fury. Same thing. Specific breed of dragon, one of the deadliest. Though our resident Night Fury is too sweet to go on a wild rampage.

Or at least, we thought he was. And we thought that our happiness would last forever, after the Red Death was killed off. After N.E.S.T. was overthrown, and nearly every dragon vanished off the face of the Earth without a trace. We thought that it was a happy ending for all, and that that was the closing of the book.

But we didn't know there was another noteworthy adventure was coming up in our lives did we? That everything we had built in the past five years would be blown to bits one day.

We didn't know how this would happen. We didn't know why this would happen. We didn't know this would happen at all. We didn't know...

And there was no way we could.

I thought I was gonna be safe with Hiccup forever, and there was no way I could have been more wrong. Because we were not safe. We were never safe. Not one second in that entire five years were we safe. _Not. One. Second. _

And Hiccup knew it too. He had secrets he carried those five years, things he didn't want to tell me. He had ghosts and demons that haunted his soul and made him hate his very own existence. They tore him apart from the inside out while he suffered silently under a smiling mask he had developed for years.

Not all secrets stay buried. Not all ghosts stay dead. And not everything Hiccup cared about survived. He was a Night Fury, but even dragons can fail. And even someone like Hiccup can make mistakes. Monumental ones. Mistakes that costed _lives_.

And this is the story of how everything the Guardian buried came back into the haunt him. This is how his ghosts followed him to the present.

* * *

I ran for my life through the arctic landscape, and I cursed my lack of wings. My flightlessness might very well be the death of me right now.

I glanced behind me, at the black shape moving through the snow, and terror coursed through me, lighting up every single nerve in me like a bonfire. I ran faster and faster, and prayed dearly that my prosthetic wouldn't freeze up in the cold.

_Please, please, please, please_, I thought. _Don't freeze up, don't freeze up, don't freeze up, don't freeze up. _

_"ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!" _The creature behind me bellowed, and I bit my lip, trying to hold back tears as the black shape moved through the snow.

"I'm sorry!" I cried, and spun around. Taking a deep breath, I lit the fire in my belly back up, putting as much intensity into it as I could, and blew the fire out in a long stream of burning magnesium, the wicked hot line shooting straight at my attacker with deadly accuracy.

The attack landed straight on the side of his head and pushed up to the side with a deafening roar. His wings splayed out in odd angles and the momentum of his jump carried him as he tumbled through the air, into a snow pile, landing on it with a splay of white icy cold going everywhere.

I took a moment to catch my breath as he moaned and onto his side. I winced in sympathy, putting a hand to my mouth and hugging myself with the other arm. "I'm sorry Babe," I called. "I-I love you."

He got up, growling and shaking snow off his head, acid green eyes glinting in the dim moonlight. A dangerous rumble came from inside his chest, deep and warning.

"I love you," I whispered again and turned to run, but there was the distinctive sound of a plasma blast being let loose. The red light flew towards me, and I was to slow to outrun or dodge it.

BANG! My prosthetic exploded into a thousand pieces, and I flew five feet away from him, landing on the ice with a hard thump.

I groaned and rolled on my back. The stinging cold air became very apparent to me as the see remains of my mechanical leg fell of my stump, painted blue metal landing on the ground with little clinks as it made impact. I hissed through my teeth and clutched it as pain coursed through the aching shortened limb. Could you get frostbite on an amputation stump? I didn't want to find out, but with out sensitive the shortened limb was, it sure felt like I was gonna find out very soon.

"Ow," I muttered, taking one hand and wiping the still falling snow out of my eyes. I had lost sight of my peruser, and now I grimaced with pain. There was a gash in my back. Three gashes, actually. Two above my shoulder blades, and one on the back of my waist. My blood dyed the snow red beneath me, and energy ebbed out of my veins as the rush of terror was gone. "Ow, ow!" I but my lip then looked up. "AHHHH!"

That last bit was because my enemy's enormous black form appeared over my head with a loud sonic boom. He flew through the air towards me. I couldn't crawl or walk away, so I was helpless to watch as his leathery form descended with a loud crash, cracking the ice underneath us with the impact of his landing.

I looked up into toxic green orbs with black abysses for pupils and panted with fear. No, no no no! No! This isn't how the story's supposed to end! Please no! Not like this. I wasn't sure how I actually _did_ want it to end, but not like this!

"Hiccup..." I whispered as he planted one large paw on my throat with a low growl. "...please."

I winced as Hiccup roared loudly in at me, retractable pointed teeth right in my face, wing splayed out to his sides, his skin glowing with eerie blue light and his spines split. He put just enough pressure on my windpipe to cut off oxygen. His roar was bellowing, primal, terrifying. It sounded as if the very air itself was screaming at the force of his fury.

My Hiccup reared backwards, letting me suck in some air.

"Hic-" I was cut off as he snarled again, then lunged, teeth out and plasma in his throat, a loud, savage bark of aggression flying from his throat and I screamed.

"HICCUP!"

* * *

**2 Weeks Previously**

I leaned in on Hiccup's back as we sped over the sea. He had grown larger in the past five years, significantly so. Now when I laid out on his back there was a good two inches between me and his enormous wings that had grown to nearly fifty two feet from tip to tip.

As for his color, the grey patches in his scales had faded away, leaving his natural color to be a solid uniform black, but he had gotten creative recently, adorning his dragon form with some paint as to feel "Less monochromatic," he put it. He had a red V on his head and a large red stripes painted on the arms of his wings and large stripes across the membrane, as well as on his secondary fins. He had somehow managed to paint two large stripes running from his forelegs, across his back, and right down to his tail, running along the spines. He had painted every single nub on his tail bright red with it as well, and put scarlet wrappings around his forelegs. Both tail fins had been coated in bright red paint, and, the left one graffitied with the Berk Viking Skull, a proud national symbol.

I smiled broadly through the helmet he had made me. It was a simple metal case for my head like a mix between a pilot's helmet and a racer's, with a bright green visor that could be pulled up and replaced with a simple tinted one. Hiccup had added six ridges in the back to resemble the protrusions on the head of his Night Fury form. Kind of narcissistic if you ask me, but it's such a cool helmet, I'm not complaining.

He pumped his wings, pouring on the speed and sending sea-spray flying in our wake. I hugged his spine with my leg and prosthetic, the blue-painted machine at rest as I enjoyed flying with my beloved boyfriend. Most boys take their girls for rides in their cars, mine takes me flying. How freaking awesome is that?!

I held tightly to the lower protrusions on his jaw, strapped in tightly by ropes around his forearms tied securely around my waist. We wrapping up a long flight from Berk to the mainland, the coast just beginning to come into sight.

"Ok, Babe," I said, and rubbed the top of his head. "Enough of this straight line flying crap. Let's have some fun!"

**"You got it!"** He growled in joy, and before I knew it, he had thrust into an upwards arc shooting into the sky with great force. He approached the cloud and I whooped with joy, as we ascended.

We rammed right through the cloud with great force, the air making a old _whoom_ as he tilted his wings to slow himself. The momentum carried my up a bit, but the ropes stopped me from going anywhere and I pulled myself back down to his back. I grabbed hold of his ear head protrusions again, and he started to fly forewords once more, his tail skimming the fluffy clouds, leaving little trails in our wake.

I pulled on his head and sent us into a barrel roll, his wigs tucking into his sides and his left tail fin pulled closed. We spun once, twice, three times before the force of the gravity made me dizzy and I lost count. When he leveled out, he spread his black-with-red-paint wings open and leveled out easily.

I pulled my legs up to his back to crouch, the metal leg bending easily in symmetry with its flesh and blood counterpart, reacting to movements in the muscles of my stump. I grinned and untied the ropes around my waist.

"I want to try this again." I had to grip one of his spines behind me as to not loose balance as he rumbled in disapproval under me, his broad scaly back vibrating with the force of the grumble.

**"I don't. You know I don't like it when you-"**

Not waiting to hear the end of the sentence, I stood up and turned, running across his back. He opened his spines, trying to trip me up, but I jumped over them, getting to the base of his tail and sprinting nimbly across it to the red painted fins and leapt off, plunging straight down out of the air.

**"-do that,"** I heard him finish irritably.

I pinned my arms to my sides as I plummet ed through the air, my face protected by the helmet. I tilted my fall to go forwards a bit, the angle getting flatter and flatter as my altitude got lower and lower.

I heard the beat of Hiccup's ginormous wings in the background, so I knew he was following me. Of course he was, he'd never let me fall. He'd never let me get hurt. I twisted in the air to look at the dragon, finding him with folded wings in a straight dive ten feet away, with a purely unamused expression plastered on his dragon-y face.

I stuck my tongue out at him, and he barked dryly raising an eye ridge as if to day 'really'.

I found that even though you could barely get him to shut up in human form, he was a dragon of few words. I swear, in the longest conversation we had during flying time, he literally said less than fifty words.

I just crossed my arms and smirked at him from under the helmet. It was more for my benefit than his, so I did it, twirling a bit in the air. I laughed in pleasure as the air ripped at my clothes and exposed skin, adrenaline rushing through my veins.

This was the most magical feeling in the world. The weightlessness, the rush as I fell through the air unaided, unsupported, where I go being completely my own will. It was something I would never get used to and never get tired of.

I smiled and took a deep breath through my nose, spreading my arms out to my sides and opened my palms. At this altitude, I should be freezing cold, shivering in my red fur parka. But I didn't... Not even a chill.

When I was up there with Hiccup, I didn't even feel the cold... I just felt free. Free as a bird. Free as a Night Fury. Free as a dragon, with my loved one right beside me. It was the best feeling in the world.

I let out a peel of laughter that echoed through the air like a bell. Hiccup's ear plates shivered as they brought in the sound, and he crossed his paws over his chest crossly.

**"This isn't funny Astrid. Someday I'm not gonna be around to catch you, and then I'll be wiping your smear off the Tarmac. Think about how poor Gobber will feel with you doing this to him,"** Hiccup called, and I just snickered.

"Are you kidding me, this is amazing!" As those last words left my mouth, the ground came into view. I was no longer above water. In fact, I was quickly approaching one of the skyscrapers of New York.

I'll admit, my bad on this point. Completely. But... Yeah, I got no excuse. My bad, my bad, sorry.

Hiccup roared in panic and started flapping his wings to get closer to me, wind resistance slowing him down significantly. His wings pumped in large circular motions and he whipped his tail in the air like a paddle.

"NO LONGER AMAZING," I cried, panic rushing in and upstaging the adrenaline. The top of the building came closer with each passing second, the cruel looking concrete comeing nearer and nearer to making Hiccup's prediction a reality. "HIIIIIICCCC!"

Without warning, I felt Hiccup's claws seize me by the hood, pulling me up and out of danger. The velocity nearly snapped my neck, but this was one of the few times I was grateful N.E.S.T. had messed with my insides, and given me greater durability to shock.

The tip of my boot scraped the edge of the building, but our decent was terminal. Hiccup had too much momentum and too much of speed to pull up, so he angled us to a lower building so he could do as much as he could.

By the time he got there, he was flying at an acute angle and ungraciously dropped my on the roof.

"Oomh," I cried as I landed, rolling to shake of the velocity. I tumbled a few feet, my leg and prosthetic tangling and banging against one of the vents on the roof. I sighed and pushed myself up against the structure, sitting against it. My entire body ached from a mixture of dragon-lag (like jet leg, but, you know, from a dragon), the effects of gravity, and the absence of adrenaline or fear in my veins. I was wiped out. I tugged off my helmet and cast it to the side with a loud sigh. I had changed over the five years since I came to Berk. I had gotten taller, and lost most of my baby fat. My face was roundish, though my eyes were still enormous, and had darkened to a deep oceanic blue.

I wore a worn red fur parka that I had had for three years, a red shirt with a dragon on it (I didn't really know what type of dragon it was, it looked like a hissing serpent, but with an identical silhouette connected to a wing. Possibly a Zippleback? I dunno, I just saw thedesign in Hiccup's book and asked him to put it on a shirt for me)" a black skirt, red leggings and fur boots. Fingerless gloves covered my hands, and I had a small bag attached to my belt.

I shook my head, recovering from the free fall and checked my hood for claw marks. As usual, none. Did he even sharpen those things?!

Hiccup landed in front of me, transforming during the transition from air-to-ground. He landed with a soft bang as his sudden loss of speed caused the air to pop a bit. I have to admit, Hiccup did get better with age.

His once roundish face had sharpened and angled into a jaw so sharp it could cut glass cleanly. His eyes had darkened from grass to a deeper green, like the color of evergreen trees. His russet hair was shaggy like a wild animal's, and sported a pair of braids that I myself put in as a joke. I don't think he even noticed they were there yet, but I certainly wasn't going to tell him. His shoulders were much broader and his arms now sported a small amount of muscle that mirrored his dragon form. Unfortunately, he had grown to stand over six feet tall, while I never even reached six myself, so it was a long time ago that I had to drop the affectionate nickname of 'Shorty' to him.

His dragon-y parts retained the decorative detailing his dragon form had. The wings joined right above his shoulder blades, and the tail perfectly centered at the back of his waist. His left elf was like my right-an amputation. While mine was blue with a bit of detailing in yellow, his was dark red with a bit of wear and tear on the paint, the ankle joint sporting the Berk viking Skull, and I was pretty sure that's why he painted it on his left fin.

He was wearing a loose leather shirts with zippers for his wings. A white symbol of his Night Fury form curled up was emblazoned on the left shoulder, and red stripes on the right arm. He had regular jeans on that were cut right below the rim of his prosthetic. His left arm sported a wristwatch of his own design. The thing gauged many things besides time. It did altitude, temperature, time zone, climate, weather, even had a reminders screen and a little keyboard hidden by a cover on the underside. He wore a dirty mountain boot on his right foot and left the prosthetic to bear proudly.

And why wouldn't he? I mean, I'm the only one who ever sees him like this. Me and our dads are the only ones who know he can do this, turn semi-human. To the rest of the world, he was just a dragon. They do know he's intelligent, he pretty much blew the roof on his 'beast of burden' cover when he accidentally went shopping on his own.

"I'm serious Astrid," he said, dusting off his jeans. His knelt down and started to re calibrate his leg to set it from Berk's uneven terrain to New York's uniform surface. "One day I'm not going to be able to catch you if you keep going to keep jumping off without giving me time to get ready," he scowled at me, fluttering his wings behind him and letting his tail go limp against the ground, curving behind him.

"Aw come on," I said. "You have too little faith in me."

"It's not faith in _you_, Ast," he said. "It's faith in _me_. I'm the have the wings in this relationship, and you-"

"Wear the pants?" I interrupted with a smug grin, extracting a snort from both of us.

He shook his head and got up to walk over and help me re calibrate my prosthetic. "I'm serious,next time I'm just gonna drop you somewhere without telling you, see how you like-"

He was cut off as I snatched a fistful of his hair and pulled him closer to press his lips to mine in a soft kiss.

When we pulled away, I just simpered at him sympathetically. "Sorry for worrying you Babe. But it's too fun to stop." I let go of him, then pressed my forehead to his, grinning.

"Well," he sighed. "At least try to restrain yourself. Now come on. Let's get you to NYU. Your fist collage semester starts soon, after all."

Yup, that's right. I'm going to collage, NYU in fact. Hiccup had forced me to apply (and to study my rear of... The jackass), and by some miracle, I had gotten in. I shook my head and leaned against the vent again, trying to get my body to calm down from the excitement of the fall.

"Can't we wait here for a few more minuets," I groaned, my tucking my prosthetic back under the leggings and into its boot. Hiccup may be comfortable going around bare-legged, but I don't want people looking at the bit of me that looks like it used to be part of Iron Man.

"Hey, I'm the lazy one. Your miss athlete," he commented. "The only reason I'm not as fat as Dad or Gobber is because you threaten to drag me out by the tail if I don't exercise... That, and my body apparently refuses to gain mass, so" he muttered the last part while looking at himself bitterly.

"Not true," I claimed. "Your body gladly gained some _very_ alluring muscles," I purred, crossing my arms and smiling, looking him up and down.

"Very funny Astrid. You don't have to humor me, I know I look like a starved yak, you don't have to spare my feelings."

"Ha," I laughed. "Like I'd ever do that. I speak the truth Haddock. Your hot now."

"Yeah right," he muttered, sitting down next to me and curling his tail around my waist, pulling me a bit closer to him. In response, I pulled back my fist and struck him in the Night Fury symbol, making him wince horribly.

"Ow! Why?!" He cried out, giving me a pretend wounded gaze as he dramatically rubbed his arm.

I giggled and punched him on the arm, only lightly this time as he didn't actually do anything to deserve a second punishment punch. "For doubting yourself. And _me_!" I put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a quick squeeze. "Besides," I said, giving him a playfully scolding look. "I told you a long time ago, denying the truth and self depreciation would not be tolerated. Your not ugly, your not a monster, and you don't deserve to die. Honestly, have some confidence man!"

"Well," he threw his hands up and push them back down, smiling bitterly. "I think I'm starting to get a little bit. Just a little. Tiny little bit." He held up his finger and thumb an inch apart in front of his eye.

"So," I said, resting my head against the vent. "Where will you be staying while I go?"

"Dad bought a wearhouse near the campus," he answered, mirroring my action. "It's got all the stuff I need in it. Lots of space and hiding places, multiple levels, some cans of paint and things to distract myself with."

"Ah."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna get bored and go after you. Pushing your buttons is the highest form of entertainment there is."

"Of course." I nodded sarcastically.

He was silent for long time after that, and it was worrying me a bit. He was a chatterbox in human form, this wasn't like him. Usually he would be talking my ear off about something he was building, or making, or a new island he'd found while flying, or just something. He was never quiet as a human, not even when he was sleeping.

Now that I thought about it, he hadn't been exactly happy during the whole trip. His tone hadn't once been joking or amused, he'd just been fussing over me like a mother hen.

Surprising as it was, he didn't normally do that, instead being an adrenaline junkie like me. Something was very, very wrong with my Dragon Boy.

I glanced at him and quickly did a double take. His expression... It was more than pained, it was agonized. He had tears welling him his eyes and his tail was stiff around my waist. I eased it off me and looked at him.

"Hiccup?" I said, growing very concerned and cupped his cheek. "Babe, what's wrong?" He didn't respond to me, instead just continuing to stare into space like a zombie.

"Hic? Hic!" I waved my hand in front of his eyes, and when that didn't work, I punched him in the gut. He snapped out of it quickly and looked at me, holding his midriff for a moment and looked at me with an unreadable face. Before I knew it, I was trapped in a tight hug from him.

He pressed his nose into my hair, taking in a long, slow breath. I could feel wet, hot tears escaping him. "Babe," I asked. This was not normal. "Is something wrong?" He stopped crying instantly and took in a deep, shuddering breath.

I tried to look up at him, but the way he was holding me had my head steadfastly locked in a level position, so all I could do was point my eyes upward to look at the side of his head. "What's wrong Hiccup?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "I-I've had some-some things on my mind recently. Not nice things. Really, really not nice things that just refuse to go away, no matter how much I want them to Astrid. And trust me, I really, really want them to go away. But they don't so... I'm just glad your here. I'm so, so glad your here, and that your with me, and that N.E.S.T. is dead an buried. The Queen is long gone. She-she can't hurt anyone anymore."

During his long rant there, I had started to become really uncomfortable in the position we were in. I was getting cramped up, and felt a bit squished.

"Yeeeeaahh." I said a bit awkwardly, "Could you, um, possibly let me go now?"

He seemed to realized what he was doing and released me, looking away in mortification. He pretended to study the paint of his left wing in an attempt not to look at me.

"Erm, sorry. Just a but of stress on my mind. I'll deal with it later, let's get you to NYU, shall we. I'm sure they'll just be groveling to meet you!" He looked at me with a sheepish smile on his face, letting the wing fold back up behind him.

I shook my head as he slipped into Night Fury form, the black-with-red-paint dragon leaning to one side, offering me a seat on the bare patch of his neck and back. I clambered on, swinging my genuine leg over his neck and pulling myself up by holding into the ridges on his head.

"Oh, come on. That's not true."

**"Of course it is, we're freaking superheroes." **

"No we're not!"

**"Astrid, we save the world and have superpowers. How are we _not _superheroes?"**

"We only saved the world once. And it was more like-millions of people, so..."

**"Ah, but we still saved them. **

"Shut up and fly, Night Fury."

**"****As you wish, Milady."**

I laid down on his back, my head resting against one of his spines. I failed to note the pained expression on the Night Fury's face, though. As if something precious, irreplaceable had been lost and left a gaping hole in him that left him very much not all right for years.

But right as soon as he had taken off, he was fine again, flapping his wings and soaring through the air flawlessly, a black and red blur against the blue sky. I yawned and let my feet fall to his sides.

"Have you ever been to New York before Hiccup?" I asked, closing my eyes.

**"Yes."**

"How was it?"

The answer did not come for a long time. For at least five minuets, there was only the sound of wings buffeting the air and his deep, heavy breathing. I was begging to wonder if he even heard my question, before he finally said something.

**"It was the worst experience of my life."**

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I glided around the Empire State Building, looking for Astrid's new collage. I really couldn't find it, since I had no real sense of navigation.

Astrid's meager weight on my back helped to distract me from the bad memories connected to this place. I really hated it here, but it was good that I came. Maybe spending time in the place where it happened will help me get over it.

I shook my head. I'm not here to cry over the past, I'm here to be with Astrid while she got an education. I'm pretty sure I had killed my issues dead a long time ago.

Apparently not.

We flew over a graveyard. The place had the most grass I had seen here yet, but it was littered with gravestones and tombs of all shapes and sizes. The place had a dewy smell to it, not at all like death, more like a meadow after rain. The sun was shining brightly down on it, and there was no creepy mist in it like in horror movies. It almost seemed cheerful, if you didn't read the stones or know the purpose of the place.

I recognized the place.

A pang went into my chest as I looked down.

_"HEATHER!"_

_Guns fired at me as I flapped into the air, propelling myself forward, into the sky. _

_"No, no please don't!"_

_"I **hate** you!"_

_I sat in front of the grave, luminous green eyes staring at the stone and freshly put down soil, the coffin inside making my heart fall into a million pieces. _

No, I thought. I can't see that grave. I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna be weak and give in. I'm not going down memory lane! I'm not Henrik anymore, I'm Hiccup!

Or, to the rest of the world, Night Fury. That's the way I liked it. I didn't want to be part of their world again when all their world has done was make me miserable for fourteen years! Never again!

I shook my head and roared violently, and split my spines. As the one she was using as a pillow was opened, Astrid was jolted from her dozing. "WOA," she yelled, nearly falling off. "Hiccup?! What is _wrong_ with you?! Are we under attack or something?!"

I didn't feel like answering. I just kept flying. I just needed to keep moving, as if I could outfly the memories and pain that happened her. If I could fly fast enough, then I would forget. If I could fly fast enough, then I would leave it all behind and be happy again.

But some things don't stay buried. Not everything stays in the past, as we were about to find out. I tilted my flight to go into one of the underground car tunnels, vanishing into the dark, even with my painted colors. I began going as fast as I could under their, and my passenger yelped in surprise. I felt her lean forward and grab the lower protrusions on my head.

The pressure was good. It helped my focus on the present.

I burst out of the car tunnel at top speed, going under one of the train bridges and making a sharp turn around the corner. People oohed and ahed below us, and there was the flashing of camera phones. People taking pictures of the famous Astrid and her Night Fury companion.

I shook my head and kept flying, searching for anything that looked, erm...college-y on the ground. Buildings went by under us like a river, and I growled a little. I shook my head violently, trying to focus on the here and now.

The cars, loud and honking, just like Berk. This place was just like Berk. There was nothing to be afraid of, it's just like Ber-

_Gunshots sounding, a loud scream ringing in my ears._

The buildings, numbering in the thousands. Times Square had so many screens, so many lights, so many colors-

_"I-I didn't tell say anything. I-I kept my promise!"_

The air in my wings, cool and stinging in the evening air, tickling the nerves in the membrane-

_Green eyes looking at me with deep care, coming closer, and closer-_

**_NO!_**

Not that! I will not remember that! Never. That. Stays. In. The. Past!

I glided towards a building and banged my head against one of the surface of it. Pain shot into my skull like a spear tip. But it helped, it really did help. It helped so much. The memories were banished with the pain of the collision and the wight of Astrid and her grip on my head protrusions tugging be back into the present and making me focus on the here and now.

I bellowed out a roar and dived in-between the cars, zipping around and through them with maximum speed. The world around us was a blur and my veins were cold and felt like pins and needles as harsh adrenaline coursed through me, not like the form of it. I had grown to love along with Astrid's crazy stunts, but the kind that accompanied fear. It was cold as ice and sent pins and needles rushing down my veins like a flood.

I shook it off and finally leveled out, gliding over the city in a controlled flight, fifty-two foot wingspan fully extended. An air current carried me along as I breathed in, and out. In, and out. My fins and wings were trembling, and I could feel my passenger shaking in shock on my mouth.

I released a deep sigh as my heart slowed, the pace returning to a normal rate as I calmed myself down. The accursed graveyard was nowhere in sight, and brother was anywhere remotely familiar to me. Nothing to induce anything I didn't want to relive.

Astrid was still pissed from my little freakout, though, and tugged on my head protrusions. She wasn't going to let this go without a stern grilling and a thorough explanation. And that meant bad stuff being dredged up. Things I want to stay five years ago.

"Hiccup, what _the hell_ was that?! Why did you suddenly start acting like you were hazing a mid flight seizure?!" She said angrily, and I grumbled loudly. **"It's nothing. I don't like New York is all. I have issues here. It-It's fine now. I promise."**

"I'll hold you to that," she said moodily. I heard the friction of cloth rubbing cloth, and. I imagined she had just crossed her arms angrily, before collapsing back against one of my rubbery spines. I resisted the urge to teasingly split them open as a joke, but emotions were already high, so... Yeah.

**"Sorry if I scared you," **I muttered, and she snorted, offended.

"Please, scared of falling off form this hight? Do you not remember what I just did?"

"Vividly," I remarked dryly, passing over Times Square. I tilted my wings, the wind carying me and Astrid to the left. I could hear her tugging a map out of her bag and I rolled my eyes. We settled back into a comfortable silence as the sun dipped into the sea in the distance.

**"W-w don't need a map. We're not even following the streets, we're flying," **I called. She responded with a loud "Meh," of contempt for my opinion. I pursed my lips, or as much pursing of whatever I excuse for lips I had a dragon.

"Head west."

**"I don't know which way that is. I'm a dragon, not a freakin' compass."**

"Well, which way does the sun set in?"

**"It set's in the west."**

"Yeah, well, the sun's over there, so head that way."

**"How can you even tell which cardinal point we are headed in right now relative to NYU?"**

We bickered casually for a few more minuets. We often argued like this, no real fire in our words. We liked poking each other's buttons, but we stopped being annoying to each other a long time ago. Bickering was just how we talked to each other now. We did eventually find the school.

It was an arch, very decorative one, in front of a large mass of greenery and small usage buildings. The main building was near the green field, a street away. Behind the arch was a large circle of concrete with a fountain in the middle.

People were gathered down there, going about their daily lives. Well, they were until my shadow passed over them. My wings beat in a steady rhythm, the gusts from them stirring up leaves on the ground. People yelped and moved out of the way as I landed.

The problem was, though. Well, let's just say, if jets were living, they'd get jet lag. Unpon touchdown, I stumbled from dragon-lag. How pathetic is that. I mowed over a few people, knocking them to the ground with my wings.

They fell on their buttocks, and I shook my head, grumbling with embarrassment. **"Sorry, sorry. My fault, sorry,"** I apologized, even though they couldn't understand me, and Astrid patted my head consolingly.

The people looked at us in shock, muttering amongst themselves. A few shied away from us, but more moved forward curiously, and I greeted them with a gummy smile, tilting my head and dilating my pupils in an attempt to look cute and inviting. Blergh!

Astrid swung herself off of my back and planted both feet on the ground firmly, a sight that warmed my heart after seeing all she went through to walk again. All the suffering and all the hardship before her steps were steady and assured again, before she could climb stairs without worry and walk without fear of falling down.

I folded my wings against my sides, putting one on Astrid's shoulder, before looking around.

"So," she said, brushing her bangs out of her face, "We're here!"

**I don't know how I feel about this. This is just one idea for the sequel, give me feedback on what you think of this. **


	2. The Not So Friendly Welcome Wagon

**Second chapter of Ghosts of the Night Fury. Sorry for the typos last chapter. I'll fix them... Maybe. Anyway, REVIEW REPLIES:**

**Penguin Lord0029: Thanks for being the first follower and reviewer for Ghosts **

**Guest(1):Thanks!**

**jlrdsr: I want to see how this plays out too. **

**Butter-Cup-Cuddle-Cob: thank you!**

**One Bright Light: your review made me laugh, ha! And don't worry the gang will definitely have a part in the story, Stoick and Gobbe****r too. I'm still working on writing a large cast.**

**halobeast:sorry! Sorry!**

**Guest. (Nótt Heift?): I will!**

**DragonDreamer: all in good time**

**SharKohen: Thank you**

**Shepherd: that's what I intent to do! :D**

**Silverwolves: wow. That was... Enthusiastic :D. Glad you enjoyed. It's what I write for.**

**a random person: thanks so much. That put a lot of inspiration in me! Can I use that quote?**

**crashandy:I'll work on that, thank you for telling me. **

**Thanks for all who read, followed, favorited and especially reviewed. Also, any of you who have ideas or suggestions or just plain want to talk, send a PM my way, and if I'm awake and free, I'll happily respond!**

**B****EING A NIGHT FURY HAS OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS**

**Hiccup**

Things went bad a few minuets after touchdown. Maybe it would have been better if I had gone to my new warehouse and let Ast walk the rest of the way. But I'm a dumb-dumb, so I didn't. I landed directly in a crowd of my worst fear.

People.

I was barely keeping from trembling and freaking out. The comforting presence of a loved one was what was keeping be from bolting to the nearest tropical island and cleansing myself in nature, or straight back to Berk and hiding in my room.

God, I hated New York, not just because of its populace, but because of what I'd done here. But that is nether here nor there. I'm going to forget about it, all of it. It doesn't matter anymore, I'm with Astrid, and my life is ok. I'm not the same person who I was when I wandered these streets. That person was an idiot who didn't know what he was doing.

Astrid looked around at the people in the around the fountain, all staring at us in numb shock. Their expressions were quite funny actually. To be fair, they had probably never seen a black dragon sporting red racing paint escorting a girl to collage. Admittedly, not an every day sight, even for Berk. I was usually to fast for anyone to see.

I looked at the place. It was quite pretty and nature-y, if you just ignored the smell, the high-rises, the hotdog vendor, the food truck, the baseball court, the fountain and circle. Ok, yeah, not so nature-y after all. Hmn.

It would take some getting used to, not like my caverns and forests in Berk's nature preserves. But all in all, not a bad hangout place. A few trees looked good enough to nap in. The sky above was clear enough for flying stunts, and I had enough space on the ground to stretch my legs. There were a few flocks of pigeons that I would no doubt be forced to extract revenge on at one point or another, but that would only give me some target practice.

It was adequate enough to suit my needs for a place to hang out in when Astrid was not available.

Not great, but adequate.

I settled down on the ground, folding my legs under me and laying my head down on the pebbly ground, looking up at the everyone surrounding us with one ovular eye, the pupil half thinned half dilated as I looked about, no doubt looking ominous as heck. People in Berk wouldn't even stare at this nowadays, and I would often find myself resting wherever after a long flight, but this was a completely new thing to them. It was probably something that would be implanted in their brains for a long time. A dragon landing in their midst and dropping someone off, before laying down for a nice long rest.

Astrid sat against me, arms folded. She brushed her braid behind her shoulder and smirked at everyone, crossing her legs and tilting her head. I made a lough huff, blowing a smoke ring out of my nose, right into the face of one of the people I knocked over. I winced in sympathy and nudged them away with my nose, cooing apologetically.

The person stumbled backwards in shock, bumping into his peers. Huh, watching an idiot bumble around _was_ funny. I don't condone laughing at it, but his face was kinda comical. His eyes looked like they were bugging out of his head!

Actually, looking closely, he was scared of me. He was afraid of me. I really didn't like it when people were afraid of me. It-it made me feel dirty. And disgusting, like a plague carrier. Alienated and feared for something that wasn't remotely my fault.

I tilted my head at him, and he disappeared back into the crowd.

I flapped my wings a bit at my sides, bumping Astrid off of me, and looked around, letting my pupils go down to normal size. I took in all the smells around there. The fresh(ish) scent if oak trees and grass and fast food in the laps of some of the students having lunch. The way it covered up the revolting scent of smog, pollution and trash. (Well, I live in Berk, one of the world's biggest metropolises, so...yeah, I'm kinda used to it)

For a second, I thought I smelled three someone's. But... Nah, impossible. It couldn't be. One couldn't be that fast, and the other two... No, there's no way. No way at all. None. Nada, zero, zippo, zilch. No way in hell... Right?

**"Did you smell that?"** I asked Astrid as she sat against my neck.

"Smell what," she whispered under her breath.

**"... It's nothing. It's really nothing. Forget it. I'm a wacko."**

"Ok."

**"Hey!"**

She snickered into her hand, and I scowled at nobody in lenticular. Unfortunately the people located perpendicular to my face thought the aggressive expression was for them and flinched.

Wielding this powerful form... It was incredible, especially after nine years of living in a weak, powerless state that let the world push me around. But I wasn't the kind of person to get strong and beat up my tormenters. It just not my nature I guess.

I snorted another smoke ring into the air, watching as is dissipated. The world around me seemed to burn away as I was suddenly consumed in another flashback, the blue sky, buildings and trees replaced by a dark room. Light flooded in through a window, but it also cast a deep shadow around the door. I was sitting in the middle, in dragon form.

_I snorted out a smoke ring from my new nose and watched it dissipate. _

_"Finally figured that trick out, eh?" I looked over across the room and saw Jack. He was leaning against the wall, his coat off, replaced by a blue ice-encrusted hoodie. It seemed counterproductive to have an ice-encrusted hoodie, but hey, if that's how he rolls. Elsa sure seems to like it._

_"I-I can't do that myself." He chuckled with a smile. Somehow it sent an even deeper chill into me, and I got up, backing away from him a bit. "I'm ice powered," No smoke for me. But your plasma powered. You shouldn't really have smoke ether. Maybe it's just it exploding in you, making smoke from that. Or it could be your new digestive track. I heard it involves fire."_

_**"Is that why I always feel so warm?" **I asked curiously, sitting on my rump and looking at him. He didn't bother to take off his hood, and stayed half in half out of the shadows. Ice crept up the wall behind him, spreading like water. His piercing blue eyes made me shiver from his gaze, and I looked away as quickly as I could, snorting another smoke ring._

_"__Most likely."_

_I could practically feel his smirk. My heart beat faster and aster out of fear. I was afraid of him, yes. I was bumbling around in a lizard-y body. _

_**"Ah."**_

I shook my head out of the memory. I was having a lot of flashbacks lately, I'd have to stop.

Then I spotted someone in the crowd. He was tall and muscular, with a bit of an athletic build to him. He was was wearing a full outdoorsy outfit, with a big fur coat that made him look even bulkier, cargo pants, and heavy boots. Thick gloves covered his hands and there was an owl face pin on his coat. His raven hair was slicked back out of his face, and he had dark amber eyes, and a bit of a small head.

But his most distinguishing feature was on his chin. There was a dark blue tattoo there, one bit of it a vertical line, with two L shapes on ether side, pointing away from each other, and two lines on ether side of the tattoo. It was almost like a beard, or a tribal marking, or something.

I instantly felt a deep mistrust of the man, and opened my teeth in a silent snarl at him. To my surprise, his only response to a hostile look from the terrible Night Fury was to put a hand on his hip and smirk at me superiorly.

"Well, looking forwards to meeting some new people, how 'bout you, bud?" She rubbed my head and I made an agreeable noise and thumped my tail against the ground, scattering a few more people. She chuckled, and put an arm around my neck, and I curled my tail in front of her legs.

I loved her so much. And the great thing was, she loved me back just as much. But unfortunately, not everybody did that. Not everybody knew what I was really like, so some of them didn't understand, or got the wrong idea.

I heard people muttering around us, and I perked my ears up.

"Is that Astrid and the Night Fury?!" "Duh, you idiot, what do you think that black lizard was?"

"I thought the whole dragons attacking Berk things was a hoax... And that the Night Fury was one of the smaller ones."

"Wow, the Night Fury! That thing is badass, dude!"

"Is that dragon wearing _war paint_?!"

"How the heck did she even manage to get that thing to listen to her, let alone get it to let her ride it?! That thing outweighs her by like three times!"

"What the hell is it doing here?!"

"A dragon man, an actual dragon!"

"That thing should leave. It's dangerous. Better yet, it should be put down. I bet it only killed the bigger dragon to get its fat ass out of the way."

"How awesome is this? Astrid and the Night Fury, both at NYU with us!"

"Who knows what kind of things are going on under that monster's hood."

"It'll kill us all, first chance it gets."

"Look at the design on his tail!"

"I bet that paint is blood."

I swung my head around, looking at them all. They had admiration, and fear on their faces as I looked at them, and I made a loud noise in my chest, trying to signify friendliness as I laid on the ground. It worked on some, but not all. A few even came forward curiously, and I edged away from them.

Some of their words stung like heck, but others were full of hero worship, giving me mixed feelings about this place. Part of me wanted to blow it up. The bigger part of me just wanted them to shut the hell up.

I knew not all of the world would like the Night Fury, but come on. I didn't ask to be like this... And this is why I didn't want to be part of their world anymore, except when I was underneath the scales.

They were a mixed lot, and I didn't like it. I didn't like how some would hate me and some would love me. Part of me thought I only deserved the hate. I struggled to keep calm and stay down, but it became harder and harder as the words kept on.

I opened my eyes and dilating them, giving them my best toothless smile in an attempt to look friendly and charming. Turns out it was _too much_ charm. Way too much. Far to much. Way, way, way too much.

A few of the girlish girls in the crowd squealed in joy when I did that, and one even fainted. Astrid smirked at me when the did, and my eyes widened and the girls squealed even louder.

"He's so cute!" One of them screamed, and I made a sound of shock. CUTE?! Ok, it's all right for Astrid to say that, I love her, but I am a dragon. The Night Fury! I am in no way cute, cuddly or adorable!

That did not stop the incessant squealing and screaming from them, though, and the sounds were loud in my ears. I grumbled and put my paws over my years, extracting more noises of admiration.

I winced and covered my head with my wings. What was wrong with them! I am not cute, I'm a dragon! I am a weapon of the night, decorated in racing paint, (not war paint, thank you very much random student) and a magnificent, mighty creature that will not tolerate-oh crap!

One rushed forward, intending to hug or pet me like some kind of animal, and that opened the floodgates for both hostility and enthusiasm. Before I knew it, they were upon me.

Some greeted me like a celebrity, others like a dangerous animal, shouting at me harshly to fly off. There were too many people, too many voices calling for my attention, and just too much.

The cries and yells overwhelmed my ears and I groaned in pain. Gritting my gums together, my teeth trying to fight their way out of their sockets. It took all my willpower not to let them out.

I shot to my paws and snapped my wings open, forcing a few of them back. I roared loudly, the sound echoing in the air and shaking the trees with the force of it. Finally, my teeth unleashed, ripping their way out into the open and cutting my gums as they did. Blood dripped out of my mouth, and I shook it away, my wings beating in a scary movement. I beat my tail on the ground, scattering rocks and pebbles from the stone and I stood haunched on my hand legs, forelegs hanging in front of me with claws in a hooked pose. I split my spines and charged myself up, the blue light shooting across my sclaes. I gave another roar, this one quieter and shorter, but with a clear message:_ get away from me!_

The people backed away, tripping over themselves as they tried to get away. I snapped my jaws at the, rasping snarls and growls flooding out of my throat. I shook my head, trying to get the blood out of my mouth. Everyone screamed and scattered, eyes still trained on me.

I reared onto my full height and roared as loud as I could. "Woa, woa, woa, woa, bud." Astrid yelled, holding her hands up. I lowered myself to eye level and took a deep breath in and out.

Astrid put her hands on my head and pushed me down. With the enhancements made to her muscle strength and her bizarre need to exercise, she was more than strong enough to force my head down, despite not looking like it.

I calmed at her touch and she forced me to lay back down, gently lowering my head to the ground. I blinked and my pupils, which had gone as thin as twigs, dilated back to a calm state and she eased the pressure on my head. I let the rest of my body fall back down, my tail making a heavy slapping noise against the concrete.

"Sorry," Astrid called, leaving her hand on my head. "Sorry, crowds, they-they freak him out. You just scared him."

"_We_ scared _him_?" One of them said, one of the hostile ones, and I glared at him with a quiet growl. "How can we scare your pet, he could tear us all apart if he wanted."

"Yes," she said placatingly. "But he's not going to. He's actually a pacifist," she tried her best winning smile, but the student wouldn't have it. He laughed bitterly, sneering at me.

"Well, then, a pacifist dragon eh? What about the other one, the big one he killed?"

Astrid bit her lip. "Um, well, that was... Complicated. H-he's not _exactly_ a pacifist. He avoids confrontation when possible, but he'll readily fight. But he's not going to go on some kind of genocidal murder spree. He's way, way to soft for tha-"

"Oh really?" One of the other hostile people said. "Then where are the other dragons, eh? Why is _he_ the only one left?"

I bared my teeth at him in a snarl, the sound rising and falling rhythmically. He spat on the ground in front of me, and I raised a leg to get up, but Astrid quickly whipped her hand under my neck and found the sweet spot that instantly fried my will to move or even stand. As soon as her nails dragged across my scales, I was back down.

I wasn't angry at her, but I was angry at the student.

How dare he suggest I did that?! He wasn't there, he was nowhere near Berk that day. Astrid sat on my neck, and crossed her arms at him.

"This dragon is my friend, my best one. My very best one. So if you keep insulting him, I might decide not to calm him down. He won't kill, but he'll borderline it if you piss him off."

And I hated that I would do that. But she was just using a scare tactic to get him to shut up. And it seemed to work, he stopped talking, just paled in fear and backed away from me.

Latter that grim scene, everybody dispersed from around me. As soon as I could move again, I pushed myself up and nuzzled her side with the top of my head, cooing with gratitude. **"Thanks for not letting me do anything I'd regret," **I said. **"I love you."**

"Love you too," she said under her breath, stroking my head. Suddenly a voice shouted out at us from under the arch.

"ASTRID!" Both our eyes shot open, and we whipped our heads towards the sound of the voice. My jaw dropped open, she gapped in shock.

"Fishlegs?!"

**"Fishlegs?!" **

I blinked as our chubby friend waddled forwards, pushing through the crowd towards us. Fishlegs was quite big fellow that I would never allow on my back for fear of needing a dragon chiropractor for weeks afterwards. He had very small, ironic legs that moved quickly as he walked. He as very roundly built, which it the nicest way I could say incredibly fat. He had little stubs for fingers on his arms, which I couldn't tell if they were made of muscle or fat. It was probably both, as he had no problem carrying the massive bag on his back. He had a chock of straw like hair on top of his head, and a shadow of blond stubble on his multiple chins. His watery blue eyes glinted with excitement. He was wearing an extra large purple NYU shirt and unfortunately small pants. A winged hat was panted on top of his head, defying physics by staying still no matter how much his head moved.

I shook my head and and closed my eyes. F-Fishlegs?! How in the heck was he here?! Sure, he got into NYU as well, but how was he here right now. We flew here at high speeds! This shouldn't be possible it should not be possible in any way. No way. Not at all. No-uh, nine. I mean, he had waved us off at the docks. The man weighs, likes five hundred pounds, not to mention he's _flightless_! No way he should have been her even remotely the same time as us!

Well, sure... There was that one night we stopped off at an island to do stuff. And the other night. And the other night. And the other one. Ok, we delayed a lot.

And so it made sense that Fishlegs would beat us here.

Especially if he took a plane.

Which he did.

Meh.

Astrid's look of shock soon turned to a warm smile as she greeted one of her closest friends in the world. After me, of course. She ran up, me following behind, people backing out of our way after the scene they had just witnessed.

"Hey Fish," she called, walking up to him. I stomped up behind him and gave him. I gave him a curious nudge, and he laughed. "Hey Hiccup."

About that, I well, um. Fishlegs knows who I am. It was kinda an accident. He caught me a few years ago. Well, he caught me and Astrid... Making out... Behind her shool. Yeah, not my shining moment. Anyway, um so, he caught us, and he saw me, his old study buddy, sporting Night Fury parts. And then things went downhill from there, so. Yup. I had actually tried to fly away as soon as I noticed Fish, but Astrid had grabbed me by the tail and refused to let me make her explain alone.

He had been annoying at first, poking around when I was in dragon from, measuring my wings, fins and claws, the size of my head and trying to find out how my spines molded together when I didn't want them to be v shaped. I actually had to punch him a few times to get him to stop, but the guy still persisted till I picked him up with my claws and flew him to the (slightly broken, thanks to me) top of Berk's mountain. He had been freaking out for a bit and trying desperately to claw his way to my back, and by the time I let him down, he didn't bother me again. (Oh come on, I wouldn't really have dropped him... From a fatal hight).

I nudged Fish with my head again, my version of a 'Hello,' to him. He smiled and nodded at me, and I warbled in a friendly way.

"So," he said. "Did you guys just get here?"

"Yeah," Astrid said. "We stopped off a bit at a few islands, for a couple of dates... And because Hiccup had some bad fish. And we had a little trouble upon landing."

"I heard the roars," he said, and I looked down with an embarrassed sound, covering my head with one wing. Astrid grabbed it and moved it out of the way for her to plant her elbow on top of my skull. "Yeah. He just got a little freaked out, nothing to worry about, right Babe?"

I nodded, causing her to fall a bit and land on my head. "I figured," Fishlegs said.

We chatted aimlessly for a bit, my contribution majorly consisting of nods, warbles, coos, and growls that all meant absolutely nothing, but were meant to commune emotions. It was nice, talking to Fishlegs.

Before my... Change of face, Fishlegs was the only one who ever regarded me as anything more than a failure. He helped me study for school, and even hung out with me a few times. That's why I didn't knock him out and make him think he's a nutso. Because he is my friend.

"Where's your dorm," he asked Astrid when she started to get restless.

"I dunno. But I think they have someone for that, don't they? Hic, why don't you head home. I'll visit you later, ok?"

I looked around and took a deep sniff. Ok, the Fish was the person. I didn't think would be here yet, but... The other two. Underground. No, there was no way they could be here. I hadn't seen ether of them in five years, and in both instances, we didn't part on friendly terms.

**"I think I'll look around a bit first, I want to see some things. How's eight?"**

"Fine," she said, giving my neck an affectionate squeeze with her arm, before walking away with Fish waddling beside her. I watched them go and then felt a chill beside me. I looked and saw the dude with the freaky tattoo on his chin. His eyes seemed to be scanning me up and down, and he nodded in thought, putting a hand on his chin.

**"What are you looking at, chump," **I snarled, opening one side of my mouth to bear my teeth. He merely smirked at me agin.

"Oh nothing," he said, waving me off, before turning on a heel and disappearing back into the crowd.

I snorted, puffing out a contemptuous ring of smoke, and giving a little growl for good measure, and thumped my tail on the ground.** "'Oh nothing,' he says,**" I grumbled. **"What an idiot. What does he take me for. Giving me that smug look. Hey, wait a second-" **

I looked back in the direction he had been**. "Did he just-just understand dragonsese?" **

I couldn't find him though. I tucked Tattoo-chin in the back of my head as a 'later' problem and turned back to the smell I thought I detected.

* * *

**_Astrid_**

I did eventually get to my new dorm. The place was a bare room with only the two beds in it, but I guess I would get some stuff to decorate it with. But was was actually shocking was my roommate.

After I had left Hiccup in the gathering square, Fish had guided me to the dorms section, and the dean had given me my dorm room. My orientation would be tomorrow, as I had arrived late in the day.

I took the key and nodded politely. I had left Fish by the door, so I looked for my room alone. As I strode down the halls, I tried to ignore the cold feeling in my spine. It had started when I had left Hiccup behind. It was like ice, creeping down my bones. No, not ice. When I thought about the feeling, frost came to mind. A cold, thin layer of frost, crackling as it spread.

That had never happened before.

It wasn't because I was away from Hic. I'm not that pathetic, as to get uncomfortable without his presence. One Christmas, he had inexplicably flown away from Berk and been gone for a few days, and I didn't have this feeling. I was confused and a bit worried yes, but I didn't have this chill.

I shrugged it off and tugged my parka closer to myself. I clenched my eyes shut and took a deep breath, lighting the fire in my belly in an attempt to make myself warm. Hopefully I wouldn't forget and spit it at someone on accident, like the incident that had costed Gobber his mustache for a year.

Suddenly I slammed into someone else. We both took a tumble to the ground, and I quickly extinguished the fire. We took both hit the ground, hard. A spike of pain went through the back of my head. "Ow," I muttered, getting up and rubbing the back of my hair.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn't believe what I saw. It was _Tuffnut_, with a box lying next to him, the contents scattered about. "Ow... Can we do that again?" He muttered in a daze. I got up and planted a boot on his throat.

"Ow, ow, hey!" He cried.

"Tuff, you creeper," I yelled. "This is a girls' dorm. What are you doing here?!"

"Jeez, get off me woman!" He yelled, trying to pry my boot off. I was too shocked to see him here, though, and a bit angry for the fall, and yes, a bit creeped out to find him in a girls' dorm, so I just pressed harder. It was my prosthetic, though, and I prayed he didn't hear the quiet whirs or clicks of its inner workings.

"Tuff," I growled warningly. "Talk. Now!"

"In the name of all that is good and explosive, Astrid, I'm just helping my sister-gah, oxygen, female! Oxygen! Let me breath! I'm helpingmysistermovein! I'mhelpingmysistermovein! There, I told you!"

I lifted my boot off of him a little. "What?!"

He clutched his throat and sat up, gasping in air. His blond dreadlocks fell over his shoulder in heaps as he did, and his NYU hat fell of, landing at his side. "I... Am... Helping...Ruff...move... In."

"Oh," I said, putting my hands behind my back. I took my foot off him and looked away. My face flushed, embarrassed. "Um, sorry then, Tuff. You freaked me out a little."

He waved me off. "It's all good, 'Strid. It's all good. Besides, I saw some really cool black shapes for a moment there. There still here now. It's... Awesome."

Aaaaaaand there's the annoying Tuff I know and want to drown. I rolled my eyes and lifted him up by the arm, and he leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. "What took you guys... So long? I thought your Night Fury could break the sound barrier."

"We... Got distracted."

"What, did he see a fish and throw you off a few times."

I smacked him over the head. "No, you moron. And what we did is none of your business." I grabbed his shirt and raised a fist, and he put his hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok, yeah. None if my business. None. Not at all. I'll forget it. Already did. What are we talking about?"

I sighed in exasperation and let him go. He backed away a bit, and bent down to start picking Ruff's things up and place them back in the box. I knelt to help him, wobbling a bit on the fake leg.

"So," I said after a period of uncomfortable silence. "Which dorm is she staying in?"

"317," he answered simply, putting something I'd rather not mention in Ruffnut's things. I looked at it in distaste, biting my lips. "Ew."

"I know right. My sis is seriously messed up in some ways. Then again, so am I," he shrugged, "So, I really can't talk, I guess."

Then something dawned on me. I dug into the pocket of my parka, looking for my dorm key. I took it out and looked at it. Shock filled me, and so did disgust and horror. I barely managed to keep from going on an axe crusade around the twins. How in the hell would I manage this!? Oh man. Oh no. Oh god no.

"You didn't say she's in 317" did you?"

"Nope, I did. I definitely did. Certainly," Tuff answered, stuffing a plush chibi viking into his sister's box of things. "Why?"

"Because I'm in 317!" I cried in horror. "I'm rooming with Ruffnut!"

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I sniffed around the circle, trying to pinpoint the smells. One was similar to ozone, and reminded me of the time I somehow thought it was a bright idea to go fly in a thunderstorm.

The other one was earthy, lots of dirt and rocks were on the scent. I could smell soil, grass, stone, roots, plants, underground water... And a bit of blood, as if one of them or both were bleeding.

I knew exactly who these smells belonged too. I snapped my wings open, scattering a few people away from me and launched myself into the air at lightning speed. My wings were blurs as I tried to track the smell, breathing deeply through my nose. It was a bit hard to keep track of them through the dirty smell of smoke, exhaust and extremely cheep hot dogs and burgers, but. I did it.

I dove into the subway station looking for them. It was a dirty little entrance in what was most likely a bad part of town. I don't know, I was flying too fast for anything to be anything but a multi colored blur as I sped through the city, though I was pretty sure it was somewhere in China Town, because at one point I found myself getting whacked in the face with a few of those logic-defying paper lanterns.

When I shot underground, I instantly felt cramped. There was a sense of pressure on my chest, making me feel like I was being crushed into a Night Fury pancake. I shook myself from nose to tail-tip. No need to think like that. It would be ridiculous for a dragon to have claustrophobia. R-right?

Ok fine, I admit it, I was afraid of closed spaces. But seriously, they're like my kryptonite. I mean, not a lot of spaces can comfortably accommodate fifty two feet of wings, and I can't fly up and out. My only options: run forward or the way I came. And I can't really fight in them ether, my tail would get in the way as I tried to spin of dodge, and my ears would pick up on all the bouncing sounds way too much.

So yes, I have claustrophobia, but with good reason. Very good reason. Excellent reason. _Superb_ reason.

I folded my wings as I went into the tunnel,going past the ticket booths and crows of people, my claws skimming their heads. I went straight down into the train tracks, planting my paws on the gravel and metal with care. I didn't know if the third rail thing was real or not, but I wasn't going to find out.

I kept my tail up very carefully, trying to tiptoe (tipclaw?) around the rails for the trains, putting my paws down carefully. I went deep into the tunnel, the dim LEDs the only source of light down there.

I tried my best not to get freaked out under there. I really, really did. I swallowed the stress down and kept my tail from shaking, but the little fingers in my fins were trembling violently. I pinned my ears back and looked around the tunnel mistrustfully, as if something was about to bust out of the walls and rip me limb from limb.

I took a deep breath in and out through my nose, and a flood of smoke billowed out of my nostrils. That seemed to happen a lot lately. The only other time smoke came about this much was five years ago, for a month after my transformation.

I was pretty sure it meant something when my body started to produce this much smoke. Like, some kind of alert. It was definitely an alert, for sure. Without a doubt. But for the life of me, I couldn't remember what that alert was. Danger alert? Was it some kind of spidey-sense? No, then I would have smoke billowing out of me the every second of every day.

Arrrrgggg! What was it, what was it, what was it, what was it?!

I scowled and snorted another puff of smoke, blinking it out of my eyes. This was frustrating sometimes. Even though I had my full memory back, it was still fuzzy on some places. I couldn't remember any pictures of my mother, or even what her name was. Everything before my sixth birthday, gone forever.

I opened my wings a bit to test if. I could even fly mediocrely inside these tunnels. Nope, didn't even go open halfway. Ok, if I'm attacked, I'm screwed. Then why would those two be down here?

Suddenly there was a crackling noise echoing throughout the tunnel. It sounded like a generator in there, and it wasn't getting any better as time went on. In fact, it just got louder. I whined and shut my ear flaps, trying to block it out.

Then, I froze up in shock as the source came around the corner behind me. Light flooded from it, a flickering, uneven light that cast creepy shadows on the curved brick wall. I tensed up and supercharged, my spines popping into their v shapes. The energy under my scales whined and hummed like a reactor, and heat flooded my throat as I readied a plasma blast for launch.

From around the bend came one of my oldest enemies, and the only one who had a chance of out flying me, ever. He was crazy, sadistic, cruel even. You might even call him... Deranged.

Dagur, AKA the Skrill, came at me, crawling on his wings like a Monstrous Nightmare. One of only three Strike Class dragons, he was a major powerhouse. Complete and utter immunity to electric charges, he fired a unique blast: lightning. He even looked a bit like me.

I let loose the plasma blast. It flew towards its target with a whine as it passed through the air, coming right at him. He jumped over it, and it hit the wall with a bang, exploding loudly. What had once been a smooth underground wall was now a charred, uneven black hole.

**"Wrong target!" **Dagur cried, and, to my surprise, rushed right past me in an attempt to get away from... Something. His tail hooked around my wing and dragged me forwards.

A low, uneven hissing filled the space, and it started to shake, the rails clinking. There was a loud rumbling, and the sound of something huge tearing through the bricks.

I remembered what the smoke was. It was a proximity alert to certain dragons. Certain... Special dragons. Individual ones. The chips in our brains signaled each other with a unique frequency and made our bodies over-produce smoke.

and. I had a bed feeling I knew who it was. She probably wouldn't have any qualms about killing me dead. She never liked me anyway. In fact, I'm pretty sure she hated me. After all, I did give her the nickname 'Dearie.' That would make anyone hate you.

The jaws of a Whispering Death were in hot pursuit of Dagur, the razor sharp teeth whirring like a chainsaw. The long, serpentine, spike-covered body winded behind her. Her milky white eyes stared with unguarded prejudice for both Strike Class dragons in front of her.

I quickly turned around and started running with Dagur, who was crawling along as fast as his legs and cramped wings would carrying him.

Behind us, the Whispering Death shrieked and tore up the tunnel. Brick, railing, gravel, all shredded to nothing as she came after us.

**"Ok,"** I growled. **"She's definitely bigger than five years ago."**

**"She?" **Dagur said.** "You know this witch?"**

**"Yeah. Her name's Merida. She hates my guts."** I answered simply. I didn't feel like making small talk with my long time enemy while another one was behind me, acting like a paper shredder for rocks. I began bounding forwards, now not caring about the third rail.

**"Oh, same here!"** Dagur lived up to his title of deranged by sounding creepily enthusiastic about the fact, as if Merida's hate was a good thing. He was actually giving me a dragon grin as he said that, his small yellow eyes lighting up in excitement. His back was crackling with electricity, casting light all around us.

**"Run?"**

**"RUN!"**

**Hey, guys. So, this might be my last post for a while. They may or may not be yanking out my wisdom teeth in a few hours, so yeah. There's that. I'll be out of it for a while. Special thanks for supersandman86 and PersniKety, the two people who read my writing before hand to see if its crap or something worth reading. Don't forget to review!**


	3. Pained Body, Pained Heart

**Wazzup?! Ok, that is a word I have never used before and hopefully never will again. So, my wisdom teeth are still in, they couldn't do the surgury because. I had recently been held up with the flu. So, Im still in!**

**Wow, you guys responded to last chapter. Here's my replies:**

**JediKnightMarina: the picture would make me very happy, thanks, and that's right. Merida is Toothless's rival.**

**One Bright Light: as for what your implying, maybe they did, maybe they didn't. I might reveal Hiccup's opinions on that sort of thing at a later date.**

**SharKohen: it will come in time**

**dwafakins: happy to see a new reader loving the story. I'm glad this is one of the few modern AUs you like, means a lot to me.**

**Guest(1): thank you**

**LoneHawk: I made Merida a Whispering Death because it shoots spines like her arrows. I decided on not making her fire themed because her movie has very little to do with fire at all.**

**DragonDreamer: thank you**

**Checkingdude: you have no idea how much that means to me.**

**Silverwolvesarecool: thank you yet again.**

**Guest(2): I'll work on that**

**Little Did You Know: yes, yes it is.**

**a random person: WOW that was a long one, and full of great ideas I'll certainly take into consideration!**

**crashandy: thank you, and glad you are enjoying.**

**AlphaMiner: thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed GNF, and I will do my best not to get writers block or depression while writing this. As for the typos... I'll work on it. The thing is... None of my writing programs actually have a spellcheck. I just can't seem to work out how to make Microsoft Word work, so I'm stuck with Wordpad and the Fanfiction Writing Program, and the spellcheck her is MIA for me, and I have no beta reader. Also, I'm interested. If mine is the second best cake, what's the first best? Because I'd like to read it. **

**One more thing: I intend to make this one nice and long, no less than 6600+ words each, and my goal is to break 100k for this story, so don't worry about it going anywhere. Also, you guy's reviews mean so, so much to me. I can't tell you how much. So keep on going! ****Anyway, let's go guys!**

**HICCUP &amp; DAGUR VS MERIDA! DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DID YOU?!**

**_Hiccup_**

I was having a thoroughly bad day. Part one: mental breakdown over Times Square. Part two: demonized upon landing in NYU. Part three: meeting up with my old enemy Dagur and getting chased by my older enemy, Merida the Whispering Death girl. What's next, someone gonna put me under a guillotine?

I ran through the subway tunnels of New York, Merida ripping up the bricks and railing behind me like something out of a video game, eating up matter like some kind of Demon Yoshi. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, well women scorned hath no fury like Merida period.

**"So, what is she to you? Sister, old acquaintance,"** Dagur asked as we ran. **"Ex girlfriend?"**

**"What,"** I barked, pulling to the left on a Y in the tracks. Dagur followed, and Merida did too. **"NO!"**

**"Good, then I would seriously have to question your taste in women."**

**"Dude, w-were not friends," **I scolded him, narrowing my eyes and pupils, a feline growl underlaying the Dragonese,** "but I'm more scared of her than I am of you, so right now, let's not talk and just focus on outpacing the flying, serpentine, Scottish meat grinder behind us, ok?"** I growled angrily. I smacked up upside the head with my wings.

Merida twisted behind us and a whizzing rang through the air. A spike landed between us and we both yelped, startled.

**"Ok!"** Dagur yelled and picked up his pace, crawling as fast as he could. His claws and feet tore across the gravel at amazing speeds, keeping pace with me in the short tunnel. I had completely forgotten about my claustrophobia as the fearful energy rush coursed through me, and I was breaking my all time land speed records. Ok, I didn't know that for sure, but it felt like it, certainly.

Merida roared behind us and sent out a large stream of fire rings, smoke billowing from their nostrils like mine. Yep, she was the one that set off my proximity alert. She was a command dragon, just like me.

I quickened my pace with a burst if energy, and leapt into the air kicking off the wall and whirling in the air, my tail nearly catching in the brick. Merida slammed right into me, and I nearly went splat between her eyes, like a bug on a windshield. I groaned a bit, but Merida tried to put on the breaks.

She was going to fast, however, and as soon as she stopped shredding, she tumbled through the tunnel over herself, her scales scrapping against the hard packed gravel on the ground. She skidded to a halt in one of those mass intersections, were the platform could turn to point the train through one of them. It was a large area, a where I could comfortably fight. What a stroke of luck, huh!

She picked her large head off of the ground. I got on one side of her and Dagur got on the other. She swung her head around, hateful milky eyes seething at us. She went human, the ripple effect spreading from her tail tip.

When the transformation was finished, she was a girl, crouched and haunched on the grounds, slowly rising.

Her head was a wild mess of curly red hair, falling over her shoulders in untamed droves. Her face had sharpened, loosing the baby faced roundish quality it had when we had known each other years ago. She had grown almost to my height, and had gotten a lean, thin build that looked as limber as her Whispering Death look. She was hearing a bright green hunting shirt and black pants, with mountain boots on. Her smallish wings were folded at her back, still proportionally large enough to carry her through the air, but only just. Her tail was extremely long and spiky, almost twice her body length.

Dagur and I followed suit. The Skrill's human form hadn't changed much in the past five years, except for hardening out his face and growing a long mop and thick mustache and beard. He looked almost completely different with it, but the triple slash purple tattoo on his left eye was a clear feature. He had grown slightly more muscular, and wore ragged clothes. Something told me that life had been hard for the other dragon boy recently.

"This do'se nah concern ye, Night Fury!" Merida snarled viciously, whipping her tail behind her, the spikes on it lengthening a bit.

I don't know why, but talking to Merida always seemed to bring out the ultimate smartass in me. Just something about her made me want to make her pull out her over-large hair and scream in anger. Maybe I got infected with Thorsten-idis or something.

I smirked at her with one side of my mouth. "Well, I have a liking for fighting dragons. It's a bad habit, I really should stop, but I really, really don't want to. I mean, it impresses the girlfriend, but she took down Alvin, all on her own. Impressive, eh dearie?"

She hissed at my nickname for her, her eyes turning milky white like her dragon form. I haunches my back and half opened my wings, giving myself a menacing look and made my teeth pointed. I hissed back at her and made my hands hooked and clawed,waiting one at her in a threat to slash if she got closer.

Across from me Dagur crouched on his hands, electricity ran along his back and fully played wings. The crown of spikes his Skrill form possessed poked their way out of his straw like locks. His tail whipped behind him, thorns quivering.

Merida looked between us with ire and her wings fluttered. "I'm he're for th'e Skreel," she said. "But ah'll be back for ye at a later date. Our boss still wants to see ye. He wants ye to be brough before him, so he can-"

"Don't know, don't want to know, shut up. Ya can't have him. I'll be taking sparky-"

"Oi!" Dagur yelled.

"-in for questioning myself," I finished as if he hadn't spoken.

"I'm on your side right now," he said indignantly, raising a questioning eyebrow at me. I rolled my eyes and put my hand down, giving him a deadpan glare so judging it was withering.

"Yeah, until we deal with the Queen of Stab-y things here."

"Hey," Merida yelled, but it was her turn to be ignored.

"Hey, you don't know me anymore," Dagur complained. "The past five years had been hard. I'm a changed man. I'm trying to do good here, dude!"

"Said the sadistic madman that tortured innocent dragons."

"I was mentally ill! I-I got a therapist to meet me over the phone. I'm better now. Your girl, the one with the Nadder powers, she told me the truth and knocked some sense into me!"

"Yeah. She does that. But you were ready to blast down a plane full of people."

"I thought people murdered my sister!"

"Well, they didn't."

"I know. It was-"

"Excuse me," Merdia said shortly. "If you two are done fighting for dominance, I've got a dragon to bring in, and a brawl to finish. Can we get on with it?"

I rolled my eyes, but lunged suddenly, going straight for the despicable redhead in front of me, snarling with a passion. She opened her wings and flew out so the way, kicking Dagur in the face as she flew. The Skrill was flipped backwards, face first into a wall.

She kicked away from a wall and came straight for me. She raised her fist and I put up my wing. Hand hit bone with a dull thump, and a small, insignificant pain shot through the place she had his.

I lowered my wing and grabbed her arm, slamming her down into the ground. She groaned, but spun and lashed her spiky tail towards my face, the thorns coating it standing straight up. I ducked under it, but she kicked me in the face.

I landed in the gravel and tried to get up kicked my side and knocked the wind from my lungs. I wheezed on the ground and couldn't get up. She looked at me in contempt, and reached behind her, grabbing one of her tail spikes and pulling it off. The weapon was a foot and a half in length and sharp as a spear.

The Whispering Death woman raised it above her head and snarled. "Sorry Henrik," she said. "Bu' ah can' let ye get in the way. Dagoor needs to beh brough' in. He needs-"

She was cut off as discharge sounded in the chamber. Dagur had regained his footing and fired a blast of lighting right at Merda. She hissed and ducked out of the way of the arching streaks of light and spun.

Three spikes flew through the air towards his face. He changed into his dragon form and flew above him, hissing and snarling with all he could give. In the light of his electricity I could see the three clawed scar on his left eye I had given him during our first fight a long time ago.

Regaining air in my lungs, I jumped to my feet and decked Merida in the back of the head.

She cried it in pain and fell. I went to plunge my claws into her ribs, to give her a non-fatal but crippling wound, but she rolled out of the way and hooked my right leg with her tail, tripping me up.

This she got to her feet and was about to slam her tail on top of me, but she was caught in the side by the large purple dragon.

I rose back up as a Night Fury, growling with aggression. Ohhhhhhh this was the kind of thing I was missing for the past five years. Fighting an actual equal. A battle of monsters, the excitement flooded my veins like a tidal wave. My vision was sharpened and all I could think about was how best to bring the Scottish dragon down.

I ran at her, paws tearing across the ground. My Dagur shot out of my way and I slammed my tail down on her with a heavy thump.

She cried out, but the room was suddenly filled with a snaky mass. The spikes grew in length and the dark green body uppercutted me, sending me flying backwards. Dagur lunged in behind her and landed on between her wings, then sank his teeth down into the Whispering Death's flesh.

She screeched in pain and flapped her wings. She backed up towards the wall, and slammed the electric dragon into it. The wall crumbled with the force of the blow and Dagur fell to the ground, moaning. The bricks fell on top of him, and the bat-like reptile laid half buried on the ground.

Merida reared back and prepared to take him in her teeth, but I leapt forwards and sunk my teeth into her tail. She howled in agony, and turned, but I strained my neck and swung her around she slammed right into the very placed Dagur had just been, but this time the surface fell apart like a house of cards. The snakelike dragon laid half unconscious on the ground, a bleeding wound on her tail.

Her blood dripped from my teeth, and I shook my head, trying to get it out of my mouth. I panted, and sheathed my teeth with a pop.

The lights flickered and buzzed weakly, and Dagur got up and shook himself. He went human and walked towards me with a grin on his now-hairy face.

"Good teamwork out there, my friend," he said praisingly. "And nice war paint by the way, very intimidating. Red and black. Good colors. Good colors. Now, let's get out of here, huh?" He turned to leave, waking away with a steady stride.

"Yeah," I panted turning human. "Let's." I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and I pulled back my fist and slammed it into his jaw with all my remaining strength.

He spun around in a full 360 circle, then fell to the ground limply on his face with a groan. I rubbed my throbbing knuckles, and breathed heavily. I swallowed hard, mositening my dry throat and shook my head, blinking dust and rubble out do my eyes.

"Thanks, but. I don't trust you," I panted. "And also... It's racing paint. There's a difference. I'm not a warrior. I'll leave that sort of spirit... To Astrid." I grabbed his tail and started to drag him out, my burning muscles screaming in pain.

"I really hate New York," I grumbled under my breath. "Sure it's got the freaking Statue of Liberty, but the populace is waaaaay to aggressive. It's all thorny, spitfire monsters all out to make heads roll. And there's Merida too."

I continued muttering under my breath and dragging Dagur through the subway. Like I said. I was having a thoroughly bad day.

* * *

**_Astrid_**

Things were _not_ going well at NYU. Not at all. Things were progressively getting worse and worse and worse. First Hiccup started suffering mental breakdowns, then the scene at the fountain. I know what your thinking, it couldn't possibly get worse from there, right? Right?

_WRONG!_

I was feeling pretty bitter about what happened earlier. I had thought about it more and more after I helped Tuff with Ruff's things.

The issue had begun as a nagging little suggestion in the corner of my brain, and had refused to go away, eating at me like an evil little seed in my abdomen. It soon turned to irritation, then to anger. By the time I had finished helping Tuff with Ruff's stuff I was scowling at his sister's belongings like they had spit on the graves of my ancestors, and was filled with a storm of outrage.

It was like a dam in my chest, trying to burst, making me feel like screaming and throwing up at the same time. What happened next to the fountain was cruel and sickening, there was nothing else too it.

I thought I had understood why Hiccup was afraid of the public before, too afraid to reveal he was still human. He had been afraid of rejection,mid hate. But but now I really got it. I knew how deeply he feared that hatred ran.

They looked at the Night Fury and saw a bloodthirsty beast before he even got the chance to get his bearings. They had crowded him, treating him like a circus animal. It was a disgusting display if bigotry that I couldn't shake.

If Hiccup showed himself as, well, Hiccup, I was certain he would only be met with fear and prejudice. He never wanted to be this way, he never asked. The choice had been made for him without consent.

The idea that they could accuse my Hiccup of murmuring his kind, painting himself in blood, and then going on a gruesome crusade? That's just _wrong_. And it's where he's most venerable.

He _hates_ the fact he doesn't have full control of mis mental facilities sometimes.

He's _scared_ that one day he'll blank out and come back to reality with scarlet claws and teeth.

It was appalling! My anger just brewed as I said goodbye to Tuff and made my way back to my dorm

I wanted to kill something when I stomped into my new room, but I was pretty sure that a nice shower and a meal before going to find Fishlegs and hang out would calm me right down. Yes, that would be nice.

Unfortunately that's not how it worked. I didn't get my shower or my meal for one simple, infuriating reason called Ruffnut.

As I slammed the door behind me, I turned and nearly jumped out of my skin. "WAH," I shrieked and stumbled backwards, nearly falling over my prosthetic. Sitting on the bed on the left was Ruffnut. I hadn't even seen her when I came in. What was she, some kind of ninja?

I forced my heart to calm down, the day's events still leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I regained my composure and looked at her. She regarded me hatefully. There was an air of unguarded hostility in the room, and I had a feeling she was even more upset about the arrangement than I was.

You can stop living in the dorms, right? I could go set up a nice cot in Hiccup's warehouse. It would be just like the old days when we we're hiding from N.E.S.T.

"What are you doing here, Ruff?" I blurted out, still startled out of my wits. The words left my mouth before I had time to consider them, and I felt like an idiot as soon as they were in the air.

"Um," she said, raising an eyebrow at me. There was a look of hostility on the female Thorsten, as if I had done something offensive. Her voice was a snarling undertone, like a dog. "I... Live here now. And so do you, apparently."

My face flushed with embarrassment at my verbal blunder, and I mentally kicked myself. She sneered at me distastefully, and I had the urge to do an extremely rude gesture with my hands at her. In reality, I just rolled my eyes and disregarded her.

I stomped to my own bed, unhooking the little bag on my belt and setting it on the nightstand. It contained money, my map, some wound medicines in case we found some trouble, a bag of M&amp;M's, and a picture of me and Hiccup on Raven Point, Hiccup dangling me of the cliff with his tail.

I dug inside and found the little picture, stuffing it in my pocket before Ruffnut could see. Right now I needed a reminder of something good in this ugly, disgusting world. Berk had treated Hic kindly, if a little condescendingly, but kindly. But out here, I saw how the rest of the world really saw my boyfriend... A monster. A beast. Something he was very, _very_ far from.

I grimaced into the air, and Ruff tilted her head. "Sheesh, what crawled up your arse and died?"

"Nothing," I snarled a little to aggressively. To her credit, she didn't even flinch. I guess life with Tuff was a battlefield, so she wasn't a stranger to aggression. "Just... Stuff pissing me off. People can be such... Such..." I clenched my fists and beat them into my lap with a loud, "RAGH," of rage. I wanted nothing more right now than to go find Hiccup or Fish, sit down, take of my prosthetic and relax. Unfortunately I had a boar-headed stubborn excuse for a person to deal with before I could get the thunderstorm of emotions in me to quiet.

"Assholes," she suggested flatly, given the impression that she was less than impressed with me.

"More or less, but aid have said it less crude," I muttered miserably. I was poking a bear, yes, but I didn't care at that point. To my surprise, the female Thorsten snorted indignantly, and I whipped my head up at her. "What?!"

"Look at you on your high horse," she said. "When we first met, you nearly swore my ears off for that fire prank you nearly got trapped in. I remember some choice words beginning with 'S', and 'F' from that day, don't you? You got soft in since then. Why's that?"

I pursed my lips and stared at my lap, putting my hands on my knees and scowling. "Maybe I found someone who showed me I don't have to be an absolute jerk to everyone."

"Says the girl who nearly crushed my brother's throat for bumping into her." Her voice had a hint of patronizing sarcasm to it.

I gave her a glare from the top of my eyes. "I was stressed, and tired and startled. Plus I've been training with Night Fury for the past five years, I have reflexes to respond on kind when attacked."

"Ah," Ruff said, sounding unconvinced. "You just like throwing your weight around, don't you, Hofferson? Your all big and bad, with your dragon, and your 'saving the world thing,' but you didn't notice what the Battle of Berk took from the rest of us! You spent the last five years in a cushy mayor's house with the most badass pet-"

"HE'S NOT A PET!" I shouted, getting to my feet. Reflexively, the fire in my belly lit, and oh boy, did it light. It was like a raging bonfire in my gut, large and out of control. It pushed its way to the top of my throat, but I managed to swallow it.

I could barely stand people treating Hiccup like an animal, or a monster. But not a pet. Never a pet. That went to far. Even lying about it made it feel like I was spitting on our relationship, which was built on mutual respect. We could tease each other, mock each other, bicker. But we would never ever try to put one of us lower than the other. To call Hiccup a pet... To call him my pet was the worst thing I could imagine, short of him killing me!

Ruff hot to her own feet and stomped up to me. "Well you seem to have that thing on a tight enough leash to call it your pet!"

"Him. He's a he!" I yelled. He's certainly not an it!

"Checked under the carriage did you?"

"No! That's-that's completely disgusting Ruff! Just-just disgusting, why would you even say that?!"

"Well, you somehow know 'His' gender."

"He told me!"

"You speak dragon now, do you?" Crap. Another secret: people didn't know what had been done to me in N.E.S.T.'s headquarters. Hiccup insisted, saying I would be called out as a freak or something. So as far as she was concerned, all I should hear of dragonese was dragon sounds.

"N-no!" Come on Astrid. Your a master liar. You can do better than a cliché stuttering no, I thought, and balled my fists. "But he's intelligent. He-he wrote it for me. We made a deal with each other five years ago we're friends, companions, allies, equals-"

"Yeah right. That thing is five times your size and has three limbs on you, not to mention fire and a set of metal-ripping teeth. If he's intelligent, than _your_ probably the pet here!" She sneered, crossing her arms and giving me a scowl.

The fire in my gut screamed to be let loose into her face, but I kept it in check, as well as the spikes fighting to manifest in my fingernails. I shook with barely controlled anger. "He would never do that you-"

"What Hofferson? What is it you want to say. Come on, you've gone soft. I know exactly what you want to say to me, but your too nice to say it! All those mean nasty words and that mean, nasty spirit chomping at the bit to get out. Come on Hofferson, say it! Say it! Tell me exactly what you think of me! No matter how nice you act your still the same mean spirited person that stepped off the boat to Berk that didn't give a shit about anyone or anything, until that dragon came along!"

I was angry now. I opened my mouth, but it wasn't words that were about to come out. It was magnesium flame. I would burn this witch's face clean off for saying those things. I wasn't that girl that landed in Berk five years ago, and Hiccup wasn't the dragon that flew out of a N.E.S.T. outlet, alone and afraid. We made each other better people!

Then I realized something. She was right. I never once helped the rest of Berk recover from the Battle. I had never once gone to anyone and seen how they weredoing. All I had done was hole up with Hiccup, safe and snug in that mansion. I dint go to anybody and help. I didn't clean up the mess of the Red Death, I just helped make it. How many people didn't make it through that battle. Was a Thorsten among them? Was that why Ruff was being hostile? I let the fire die out in my throat, and my face fell in shock. Wow. I really was a jerk. I wanted to be noticed for years, and when I was in the spotlight, I didn't even notice everyone suffering but for only a moment.

I pointed my head down and looked at the little picture in my hand. It had turned bittersweet. The moment it had been taken was the moment we began playing again, when I finally regained locomotion, and the moment he asked me to be his girlfriend. Looking at it had always made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and so proud of the change that had come over me.

But how many people had been mourning or suffering homeless when this was taken? How many were in pain when me and Hiccup had fun? It wasn't the Dragon Boy's fault. I was the one taking up his attention when he could have been helping people.

When he could have been getting the recognition he deserved, and proved himself not an animal, not a monster, not a bloodthirsty killer.

I felt like I had been stripped bare for all to see. I'm selfish. I'm so, so selfish. I took Hic all to myself, but was that really the best for him. I thought I was boosting his confidence, but now look at him. Hiding in the shadows, still afraid of his former species five years later. Land what kind of a future was I making for us. I couldn't marry a Night Fury in public. I couldn't show him affection in front of anyone but our family and Fishlegs.

What had I done?

Without another word to my bitter room mate, I grabbed my bag and turned to leave, practically feeling the smug look of Ruff's face. She'd won. She'd shown me my soul. And I hated what I saw.

I knew exactly where to go right now. There was only one person who could make this better. Because if I didn't get help soon, I would accept the feeling that was coursing through me forever.

Self-loathing. I just didn't like what I saw in the mirror anymore. Not after what Ruffnut had done.

I felt disgusting as I trudged to the warehouse district. I needed to talk to Hic, and I needed to do it now.

When I got to Hiccups place, I forced the door open with my hands and stepped inside.

"Hiiiiicccc," I called, turning in a circle. "You home Babe? I really hope you are. I need to work out some issues, please. And possibly relive some stress too. By the way, nice place you got here."

It wasn't a bad place, actually. Warm orange lights lit the ceiling, and made the place have a homey feel. The concrete floor had a large fake fur rug strewn across it, and four iron support beams stood strong around the room, covered in hooks for hanging things.

A second level was held up by the rear support beans and attached to the rear wall, and had a desk covered in Hiccup's machines and projects, as well as a large chalk board and a cushy office chair. Under the platform was what appeared to be his 'living room' a cushy green couch and a large TV parallel to it.

A kitchen was set up in the corner, and there was a stall that I suspected was the bathroom.

A dragon-sized bed was on a platform held up by the frontal support beams, and I smiled at it. It looked very comfortable.

"I'm up here," he called, and I looked are the rear platform. Hiccup had somehow hidden himself behind a stack of machinery, but now stepped out. He was wearing his undershirt and his arms were fully exposed. They were nice arms, long and thin, but hard with firm muscle, and sturdy like his front legs as a dragon.

He turned to make one last adjustment to the machine, and I saw how his wings joined into his back. There were slits in the undershirt for his wings, yes, but the tops of them were free. The black limb and membrane melded into the pale flesh, the black slowly turning to Caucasian where dragon met human. There was a thick layer if scar tissue around the wings too. There had to have been. The skin had been torn apart when those wings had grown. He had told me there had been a lot of blood when that had happened, and I always felt a pang of sympathy when I saw it. I was to grateful for how hard he fought to keep that from me.

Then. I felt another pang in my gut: guilt. I was a selfish pig. I didn't deserve him at all. Unfortunately, he needed me. He needed me because I was his last tie to the world. Without me, because I was his last reason to join the world.

Without me, he would crawl back inside the mayor's house and hide away forever. I loved him too much to let him do that.

And even more unfortunately, I was too selfish to let him go ether.

He turned around and with a beat of his wings, flew down to the ground. He walked over to me and I sighed, rubbing my eyed as he put his hands on my shoulders, and looked at me with his wonderful smile with those jacked up teeth I loved with a passion.

I leaned against him and he wrapped his arms around me. "What's wrong, 'Strid," he murmured into my hair, and I grunted in displeasure, letting myself just lean against him. He wasn't that much bigger than me. I liked that too. It helped the idea that there wasn't any dominance between us. We treated each other like equals. No crap between us. None at all.

"I..." I said, but I couldn't make myself say the words. In the morning. I'd talk about it in the morning. Right now-

"Mrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhh," an unfamiliar voice groaned from somewhere, and I looked up at Hiccup, raising an eyebrow. He went beat red and buried his face into the top of my head.

"The universe hates me," he muttered. "He's had hours to wake up, and he chooses _now_ to do it?"

I smiled and chuckled at his frustration. "Later Haddock," I said, pushing him away. "That's a promise. But now, you have some explaining to do." I settled back into our old coy games, letting the demons plaguing me fall back into the shadows of my mind. I walked to where the voice came from and saw Dagur chained up to a support beams. His arms were heavily restricted, and there was a one around his neck.

He stirred, his head moving deftly.

"Dagur?" I questioned, tilting my head.

"Yeah. It's been kind of a long day..." He groaned, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. I noticed multiple bloodstains on his undershirt and bruises on his skin. I groaned. The night I wanted to spend making him feel loved was now going to be spent helping this incompetent boy fix his battle wounds. Curse the fact he couldn't each between his wings!

"I love you, you know that right," Hiccup said sheepishly. "Don't be mad?"

"No Babe," I sighed. "Just disappointed. And curious. And a little annoyed. But not mad. I don't think I could ever be mad at you anymore."

Then, I pulled my fist back and slugged him in the arm, hard.

"OW," he cried, and flinched away. "Why would you _do_ that," he cried, rubbing where I had hit. I simpered at him and grabbed his arm. "I thought you weren't mad at me."

"I'm annoyed. And frustrated. And I need to take it out somehow. And you did manage to ruin tonight by poking your nose into things."

"But good things usually come out of me doing that," he protested, and I chuckled, looking down and crossing my arms with a small grin on my face. See, this is why I loved him. I could never stay down around this dork. He always managed to make me feel better, whether he knew it or not.

"I know. But," I put a finger under his chin. "I can still be frustrated, Hotcup." He turned beet red and stuttered, backing away from me a bit and shaking his head.

"I told you not to call me that!" He cried, and I laughed. "But it's true! It's so, so the, why don't you believe me on that?!"

"Because it's not! It's really, really not!" He yelled and grabbed his hair in exasperation. Dagur groaned on the ground beside him, and he looked down at the Skrill, then to me. He repeated this a couple of times, and his ears folded downwards, his face a deadpan fixture of un-amusement.

"Oh be quiet you," he growled, and shook his head. "We continue this later, understand?"

"Certainly," I said, crossing my arms and flicking my bangs out of my face. "But first, your wounds, then. I interrogate you, then we both interrogate Dagur, then we find something to do with the rest of tonight because. I cannot go back to my dorm tonight."

I was selfish, but sometimes I felt like caring for this boy was one of my redeeming qualities. I'd like to think that. I'm selfish, headstrong, say what I think and don't take crap from people. But I care. I do care about people.

Maybe I could fix how selfish I was.

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I flapped my wings and flew around the ice sanctuary. The place was beautiful. Icy blue wall rose up around us, insulating the inside and making it warm. The mountain it was partially melted, lush greenery growling on the platforms and cliff sides. A large lake resided below us, crystal blue waters peacefully still as dragons flew about it in a large stream, like foot traffic.

My secondary wings were folded at my sides as I glided over an ice spire, kicking off of it with my claws. I flew over the lake, my finned tail skimming the waters, until. I got to the shore of it, and settled down.

My lieutenant of the Dragon Sanctuary, Odysseus the Wooly Howl, was there to meet me. The dragon's unique fur-like scales had grown white over his time in the north, his eyes and tongue converting from dark purple to bright blue. He had told me of a black dragon called 'Hiccup' who had stayed behind to kill the Red Death. I certainly hoped he succeeded, but I had little hope in that, considering I couldn't find him anywhere in the Sanctuary.

The Wooly Howl was loyal to a fault, and did whatever I required of him. I suspected he'd been a military officer in his past life, but I didn't pry. No one wanted to talk about their past lives here. It was considered a sign of great trust to talk about your human life here.

I certainly didn't talk about mine.

Twenty years ago, I was Valka. I was the wife of Mayor Stoick, a man I had tried to kill in the Exodus, when I was under the Red Death's control.

We were having problems in the later portion of our relationship. I did love the man, I really did, but we disagreed so, so much I was afraid that he had lost any feeling for me other than bitterness and disappointment.

And then I got pregnant, and Stoick had just gotten more and more frustrated with me, increasing his time at work and away from me. And when the baby finally came.. Well, I don't know. I couldn't really remember birthing it, but I do remember them telling me it had died, just before I was taken and turned.

I could never go back. I could never face Stoick. And I could never be Valka again. I was Cloudjumper now, leader of the Dragon Sanctuary, the White King's last gift to our kind. I was never, ever going to be ok with it, but I couldn't make dwell on it ether.

**"Odysseus," **I said, and he bowed his head.** "Anything to report?"**

**"No ma'm,"** he replied, looking up at me. I was still May times his size, no matter how much he had grown since we'd met. I was one of the biggest dragons here in fact.

I sighed and growled at the news, lashing my tail behind me in an irritated sweep, I fluttered my primary wings a bit and grimaced.** "So," **I snarled.** "No new news. Drago is still missing. That's almost a year since the he disappeared from Dragon Society. I can't help but wonder what has happened to him."**

**Don't know if I like this chapter. Ah well, let's see how it goes over, shall we?**


	4. Interrogation

**Hello! I'm back once again, and I bring you the next chapter of Ghosts!**

**Review Replies:**

**jlrdsr: technically, Nadders don't exist in this story. Astrid was meant to be the first Nadder, but she freed herself before they could get that far.**

**Sheppard: thank you. That means so much to me. It really does.**

**Mr. K.W.C.: thanks for the suggestions. And I really appreciate what you said.**

**SharKohen: yeah. If you look in Riders/Defenders if Berk, she really doesn't seem to care for Ruff and Tuff's company, so, yeah.**

**Mark251002: they are "In name" characters only. They are dragons because they were also victims of N.E.S.T., but special ones like Hiccup.**

**HvislaNott: you'll see.**

**Silverwolves: thanks **

**a random person: She didn't recognize it because she never got to name him. She doesn't remember the brith and only remembers people telling her that her baby died before she was carted off and turned into a dragon. **

**Cherrybunnyboop: thank you. And Astrid wouldn't really need Hiccup to help her. She has a Nadder's strength.**

**One Bright Light: don't worry. I have a plan already. And it is epic. **

**On with the story. Also, GO LOOK AT SUPERSANDMAN86'S PROFILE, HE AND I ARE CO-WRITING A STORY CALLED IRON FURY! IF YOU ARE ALSO A MARVEL FAN, GO CHECK IT OUT!**

**THIS HAS TAKEN FAR TOO MANY TRIES **

**Hiccup**

I looked at Dagur as he stirred in his sleep. So far he hadn't actually woken up yet, he was just stirring in whatever dark dreams were going on in his extremely messed up head.

I didn't trust the guy as far as I could fly, but he did save my life in the fight against Merida. That was more than enough reason to let him explain himself when he woke up. I grimace and rubbed my eyes from the stress of the day. Everything hurt... Even my prosthetic. Right now I wished I could just curl up in bed with Astrid and sleep. That would be nice, but unfortunately, I had a captive to interrogate, if he'd stop hogging all the sleep time.

I yawned and blinked weary tears out of my eyes, and I suddenly felt arms wrap around my waist and a chin on my shoulder. I looked and saw Ast's face out of the corner of my eye. "Sleepy Babe," she asked, sounding a little worn herself. "Makes sense. You lost a lot of blood. Seriously, why didn't you tend to those yourself."

"Well, I thought my advanced healing would actually do its job and, well, heal me."

"And it did. They're weeks ahed in the healing process. But they still could have bled you dry if left untreated, how many times have I told you this?!"

"Almost every time I almost bled out," I answered sarcastically, and she punched me in the shoulder. I winced and rubbed the spot. "You need to learn how to hold back, woman."

"Nope," she said, and smirked at me. She leaned against me, our prosthetics clinking as they touched. She rested her head on my shoulder and put her arm around me, hand on my waist. She blinked lazily. I couldn't blame her. The warehouse was quite warm, and the homey-ness and softness of the place was very lulling. I was having a hard time staying awake myself.

I shook myself out of it and looked down at Dagur. She followed my gaze, and peered curiously at the Skrill.

"Why'd you chain up his neck," she wondered aloud, and looked back to me with a raised eyebrow and tilted head, her eyes tugging at me for an answer.

"So that he doesn't just go dragon and escape," I answered. "You see, other than clothing, anything wrapped around the body gets pushed outside the transformation. If he tries to go Skrill, he'll end up getting strangled by the chain. His mind will be too panicked without oxygen to melt or break it."

She looked at me incredulously, jaw agape, and stepped away from me. "You-you have to be bluffing, Hiccup," she gasped. "You hate killing. You were beating yourself up for a while about a monster like Excellinor, and this is Dagur, he used to be your friend, you can't just-"

"Clam down Ast," I said, putting my hands up placatingly. "Of course I am. If he's stupid enough to try it, I'll just cut the chains and use that sweet spot trick you do to stop me from going wild in crowds."

"Yeah, but what if that only applies to you, and not all dragons," she said.

"Then it's you and me inside a highly conductive metal warehouse agains an electricity wielding purple death machine with lots of pointy bits," I said with a cheery smile, to which she scowled at.

"I really hate you sometimes." She scowled and pushed away from me. "What about if he tried to melt his way through the chains with his electricity?"

"Not a lot I can do about that. I don't have some kind of sci-fi power dampening chamber or anything. I can make some pretty next level stuff like our prosthetics, but I'm not that good," he said with a sigh.

She sauntered over to the kitchen counter with arms crossed. "So, what happened anyway?" Her voice was filled with idle curiosity, as if she was asking how my day was.

"You had some nasty cuts and bruises, but no stab marks like I'd expect from Dag's claws."

"It wasn't Dagur. And no, Alvin hasn't dredged back up. I don't think he's ever going to be causing trouble again, really. Your venom didn't kill him, but it messed up his head pretty badly. He's been in a padded cell for years, so don't worry about that."

"So, it wasn't him," she pointed to the prisoner, then hoisted herself up to sit on the counter, "and it wasn't Alvin. Who was it?"

I gulped.

Maybe I didn't think this through. Merida was a secret, A secret Astrid couldn't know. She's better off ignorant of all the nasty, icky crap I got myself involved in a long time ago, and Merida was a part of that. I needed to figure out a way out of this and fast. Maybe I could keep conking him out until Astrid leaves, then interrogate him. Or maybe I could-

"Oh look," she chirped. "He's waking up. What do you say, good cop bad cop. Good cop Dagon? What kind of interrogation technique do you wanna use on him?"

"Ok, maybe we could just try talking it him. He claims he's on my side now. If he really is, he's not gonna hide anything. He's gonna bear his soul, because he's fully aware that that is what it's gonna take to gain my trust after he nearly shot down a whole plane of innocent people."

She nodded, and Dagur moaned and shifted in his chains. His eyes began to flutter open, and I began to walk over to him. I began to prepare myself to act cool and stern. I needed to sell the act that if he tried to go dragon I would let the chains choke him to death. Otherwise, if he was lying, he'd try to weasel his way out.

* * *

**_Dagur_**

I shook my head. There was a horrible ache in my jaw. I tried to remember what had hit me, then I remembered. Flying into New York while looking for Drago, then suddenly BAM, a Whispering Death is suddenly feeling like Skrill Fries for lunch.

Then I find my old enemy, Hiccup the Night Fury while running for my life. In hindsight, running as a dragon was not the smartest thing to do, but it had been quite some time since I had been human. I had almost forgotten how to walk or run on two leg, instead of two legs and a pair of wings.

But I had thought about things after I saw Hiccup. With my new lease on life, maybe he and I could be friends again, like before I was turned into a dragon. I mean thanks to my boss, I was a better person. I would like to use my powers to help.

That was why I tried to prove myself when we fought that crazy dragon. Then I had noticed something in her tail while we were fighting.

A large bite mark, multiple teeth and fangs evident in the scar... And judging by the shape of it, made by a fourteen year old Night Fury. So ether Hiccup had a clone... Or this grudge went back to when he was first transformed.

I finally remembered why I was unconscious. Hiccup had knocked me out! That was rude. I save his life and he conks me out? How's that for gratitude?! Aaaaaand, I thought as I looked down at myself, all covered in chains and restrained, apparently the ingratitude went even further than I thought.

"Hiccup," I said, looking up at him. He was staring down at me with a serious expression on his face. With his ears pinned back and curved to resemble horns, red painted wings half unfolded behind him, and tail half raised behind him, he looked almost like some kind of displeased warlord. "What the hell is this?!" I asked, looking at him pleadingly. "I'm not gonna try and kill you anymore, I helped you fight that insane Whispering!"

"She was trying to kill you too. The enemy of my enemy is my friend right," he said dryly. "Unless, until said friend is also your enemy. After the primary threat is out of commission, then all bets are off, right?"

I looked at him open mouthed. "Ok, since when have I ever been that devious and low? Come on, Harrison, you know me. I'm not clever, that was always your thing. I'm just the runner up."

"I'm not clever," he countered. "I'm not smart in any useful sense. And since I became a Night Fury, I can build stuff, and I can break stuff. That's really all I'm good at. But you, your a slippery little eel. You can figure your way out of situations most people would break down in."

"You know that's not true Hiccup," a voice said from over beside us. I looked and saw an extremely pretty blond girl. She wasn't delicate looking in amy sense of the word, more of a 'warrior princess' kind of beautiful. "Your one of the cleverest people I know, Fishlegs included."

"Who are you," I asked, tilting my head.

"Dagur, that's Astrid," Hiccup said. "She's the girl N.E.S.T. programmed both of us to track down years ago. Remember that? You wanted to convert her so the three of us could go all 'conquer the world,' on everyone."

"Oh, really?" I looked at her and smiled. "Glad to finally meet you. And don't worry, I let go of all that stuff a long time ago, I'm not gonna try and turn you into a dragon."

"Good."

Then I took a closer look at her, squinting and studying her face as hard as I could. She began to shift, uncomfortable with my attention, and began to shift towards Hiccup. "What are, you, um, doing," she asked nervously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Don't I know you from somewhere else?" I asked, and then I remembered. The N.E.S.T. base, the fight with Hiccup in there, the intervention.

"You shot me in the face!"

"You were trying to kill my friend!"

"With fire!"

"I'm not going to say sorry!"

"Shot in the face. With fire. Into a wall. After telling me I was working with the people who murdered my baby sister. That..." I gave her a dirty look. "Was a dirty trick. That was low."

"I was telling the truth-"

"I know that."

"-and you were trying to kill Hiccup. I was just helping him stay alive. I'm not sorry."

"Shot in the face," I muttered, and Hiccup groaned and put his face in his hands. His ears dropped from their aggressive position into a defeated droop, and his wings folded against his back, nearly disappearing. His tail curled around his legs, and he sighed audibly.

I shook my head too. I was here on an important task. I needed to get it done, and unfortunately, I couldn't tell Hiccup why I was here. As far as I could tell, he's aligned himself with human kind, and that meant he couldn't be trusted with my secret. I began shifting my hands under the chains, letting out short, periodic blasts of electricity to start and melt the chains behind my back. The metal steamed a little, and I shortened the intensity.

"So, Dagur," Hiccup said, crouching in front of me. "Why was Merida trying to kill you, eh? How'd you piss her off?"

"Heck if I know," I responded. I quickly made a lie up I'm my head. Something short, sweet and believable. "I mean, I'm just wandering the skies, looking for a nice lightning storm to recharge on, then all of a sudden, BAM, the paper shredder from hell wants to capture me."

"Really," Hiccup said. I was halfway through the chains and I prayed that they didn't smell or notice the smoke coming from them. Too late, as I saw the Astrid girl sniffing and glaring at me. "Hic," she said. "Do you smell something burning?"

He looked at me. "Yeah. Yeah I do."

He went Night Fury, and now the big black with red painted dragon was glaring at me, wings half spread to look more intimidating. It worked. If I was some random person, I'd be crapping my pants at the sight of him. He looked like a war creature, something made to kill and rip apart. Well, he was, but he sure did look the part.

**"What are you doing Dagur,"** he growled.

"Sorry, Hiccup," I said, and began to strain my arms. The chains snapped and I pushed them off of me. I sent an intense jolt to the one around my neck, and it went soft like butter. I pulled it apart easily.

In no time at all Hiccup pounced, but I sent a lightning blast from my fingertips. He flapped his wings to go over it, but unfortunately for him that meant missing me completely. As he passed over me, I grabbed his tail and slammed him into the ground.

The black dragon landed with a groan, and Astrid snarled. Her fingernails lengthened into inch long blue and yellow spikes. Wow. Freaky.

She swept her hand and they shot out like darts. I yelped and ducked, the spikes stabbing into the steel beams and metal walls like they were made of cardboard. "Good Gob woman, what was that?!"

"Things happened at N.E.S.T." She said dryly. "You'd think that my shooting you in the face with fire would tip you off that I'm not normal."

"Eh, good point," I said, and was suddenly hit between the wings with Hiccup's paw. I flew forwards and into the soft carpeted ground, and Astrid leapt from her seat, spikes out and eyes set in a determined look.

I pushed myself off of the ground before she could get to me and hit her away with my tail, then jumped backwards as Hiccup's jaws closed around the spot I had just occupied. Before I could do anything else, however, he drove the arching joint of his right wing into my stomach, forcing all air out of me.

I backed up a few feet, and Astrid came at me, yelling a battle cry a fist clenched behind her. I jumped backwards, flapping my wings to distance myself from her, but she stomped on my tail.

She was obviously experienced in fighting dragons. Hiccup was probably training her how to fight out kind, both the half humans and regular dragons. I knew he had aligned himself with humankind. I understood his choice, but he just proved that I couldn't tell him where I had been.

Hiccup tackled me from the side, and we rolled, hitting the ground hard. When we landed, I was in Skrill form, and snapping at his face. He snarled and planted a paw on my neck, the other on my left wing. I raised my other one to slash hum with the claw, but he thrust his own limb down onto it, slamming it onto the ground.

Last option: the tail. I raised it up and slammed the spikes into his leg, tearing into the flesh. He roared in pain and reared back, flapping his wings. I sent a lightning blast out, but Astrid tackled him to the side. The arching energy went into the roof and dissapear ted, but shorted out a light. The falling glass clinked as it his the ground, and now things were significantly darker in the warehouse.

I rolled onto my feet and wings, and snarled at them. Astrid got to her feet and growled angrily at me, her throat gaining a subtle glow as her fire welled behind her mouth. "Your gonna pay for that!" She said, and took a deep breath. Hiccup got up, holding his wounded leg in the air, blood dripping into the carpet.

He snarled at me with unsheathed teeth, and I took the chance to peer at them curiously, comparing the image with the memory of Merida's scar. Yup, definitely the same teeth, if a little bigger than when the mark had been made.

I began crawling for the door, but I heard Hiccup fly through the air and before I knew it, he hand crashed down on top of me. I strained under her as he pinned me again, but this time he planted his unfounded leg firmly on my tail.

**"Give it up, Dagur, I'm not letting you go until you tell me where you've been. I'm sorry, but deranged murderers don't just become saints after five years missing, ok, usually that just means more people end up dead!"**

**"I know I was... Questionable in the past-"**

**"You tried to shoot down a plane."**

**"Would you please let that go!?" **

**"No!"**

I kicked him in the gut, and sunk my teeth into his shoulder. He roared and retaliated in kind, pointed ivory sinking deep into my flesh. We rolled, but Astrid's fire hit me in the side of the dead.

I flew sideways, and banged into the wall, leaving a dragon-sized dent in it. Blood leaked from the bite on my shoulder, and I groaned as I pushed myself up with a wing. I bared my teeth at them, the spikes on my head quivering, and Hiccup roared in response, his attack shriek sounding lightly in the air.

I growled back, them leapt into the air with a beat of my wings, rising above them. Hiccup leapt backwards and snapped his teeth at me. I pulled my leg out of the way of his teeth, but he took another snap at me, biting down on my tail with hard force.

I cried out in pain and he throes me to the ground again, but I didn't stop going this time. I rolled and changed into human form mid-motion, and kept running. I wrenched open the door as Hiccup limped forward. Astrid dashed in front of him, and I slammed the door behind me. By the time she had reached the door I had pumped my wings a few times and was a foot off the ground.

I was rising and rising when suddenly I was pulled downwards as Astrid jumped and grabbed my leg.

"Let go of me! He have to find-"

I yelled before I could stop myself, but in bit my lip to keep anything else from escaping. "Find who," she said, still gripping my leg. She was heavier than she looked, as well as stronger, and I was beating my wings hard to keep up. I was handling nearly write the weight I usually carried with my wings, and it was not helping, and I didn't want to electrify myself and kill her, then Hiccup would never trust me when I came back to try and win him over.

"I can't tell you," I called down. "I told-never mind, just let go of me!" I yelled and swung my leg, kicking her in the face.

"Ugh," she yelled and let go, falling eight feet to the ground with a cut on her face. Instantly, I shot into the air like I had been thrown from a slingshot, rocketing towards the clouds as fast as I could.

My target's scent had been in the city, but after all the excitement, I couldn't find him anymore. Now all I could smell was the smog and smoke and humans. My target had moved out of the city. He was heading north, heading for the Dragon Sanctuary.

And so was I. I flapped my wings as hard as I could, nearly flying as fast as Hiccup when he was determined enough. I was determined enough to. I had a goal and I was sticking to it. Nothing could sway me in my course.

I flew north, following the scent of Drago Bludvist.

* * *

**_Astrid_**

I groaned in pain as I got up, wiping blood off my cheek. My head spun from the impact, and I saw Dagur turning into an itty-bitty dot in the distance. I shook my head and put a hand to the back of my head, and hissed as I got up. My spine was aching and so was my rear and the back of my head, and my pulse pounded in my brain like a drumbeat, and I winced every time it did.

"Astrid!"

I looked around and saw Hiccup in human form. The leg wound he sustained in dragon form was on his left one, and luckily it didn't translate into his prosthetic, so he was still free to walk about.

There was still an alarming amount of blood coming out of the bite wound on his shoulder, and I wasn't feeling up to helping with it. Here's hoping he's not _completely_ hopeless at dressing a wound without me.

I got to my feet and he looked in the direction Dagur had gone off in. "Where do you think he's going?"

"He's looking for someone. Wouldn't say who though."

"Hm. Maybe he's looking for his sister's murderer," He rubbed the back of his head with the hand that wasn't trying to stem the blood flow. He stumbled a bit and scowled, blinking as if his vision was I helped him stand up.

I was kind of worried. He had already had significant blood loss before, and now it was leaking out in a slow, steady stream. I guess dragon bites are the worst kind, worse than animal bites. The rows of pointed teeth had cut deep into his flesh, and had probably cut multiple veins.

"You ok, Babe," I asked, grimacing as I helped him inside.

"Yeah, just a little... Sleepy," he said.

"Sorry," I said. "We can't go to bed yet. We need to-"

"We need to get going after him. Whoever he's looking for could be in deep trouble!" He spread open his wings, but almost instantaneously flinched, and nearly screamed in pain, kneeling on the ground. His tail curled like a cat's, and his wings were shivering severely.

"Oh no you don't," I said, pulling him back to his feet and towards the warehouse. "Your in any condition for any more action. We have to get your wound treated."

"But-"

"No buts. We need to get you inside and get you patched up, and get something in you so you can regain some strength. And some energy and some clarity of mind, because your an idiot for even thinking of engaging in high stoped pursuit in your condition!l

He sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I get it. I'm kinda running on empty, huh?" With that, I opened the door to the warehouse, pulling him inside.

"And when I say 'we' I mean it. My skull feels like it was smashed by Thor. I hit my head pretty hard there. Dagur's no joke is he?"

"No. And evidentially, he's become a better fighter since N.E.S.T., if he could take us both at the same time, even if it was on defense, and his main purpose was escape."

I sat him on the couch and he sighed. "Bandages... Are in the... Under the counter," he winced again as he held his wound. "Second cabinet."

"Got it," I sighed, and stumbled over to the kitchen, clutching my head. I fumbled around for the handle and groaned. My vision was hazy, but not double. I didn't think I had a concussion, probably just a nasty knock to the head.

It was a trail, but I got the bandages and came back over to my bleeding boyfriend. He sighed and looked at me. "I don't think ether of us can sleep tonight. When does... When does your school start again?"

"Day after tomorrow," I answered as he and I cleaned the wound with some rags, clearing out the blood. The bleeding had stopped, but it was still pretty messy and ugly and quite frankly stank to high hell.

"Good, that gives you time to recover before you go."

"Don't be ridiculous Babe," I said. "I'm gonna stay here, look after you, help you recover. I'm not leaving you-"

"I'm serious Astrid," he interrupted. "You don't get to school, you get kicked out. I'll be fine in here. I'm not completely helpless, I can take care of this wound on my own."

"I keep telling you, I don't need school," I snapped, and intentionally pulled a bandage too tight, making him wince, before immediately regretting it and loosening the fabric. He sighed. He pulled one over his shoulder himself and gave me a pointed glare.

"Yes you do, Dad wants you to go into politics with him, maybe even succeed him as the mayor of Berk. That's how the government works there, it's a passed down title, not an election thing."

"Well, that's stupid."

"Not the point."

I stopped what I was doing for a second and threw up my hands. "Well why can't you do it. Your his son, your clever, your a good leader... I'm COMPLIMENTING you here. Hiccup. Doesn't that demonstrate how much I'd rather not do this?"

"Seriously," he deadpanned, "You think I could be a mayor? I would just end up flying away in terror whenever things got too overwhelming."

"And I would force you to fly me away when things were overwhelming," I countered. "I'm not fit to lead, Hiccup, it's just," I screwed my eyes shut. "It's just not me. I never met ether of my parents, and I grew up without a role model for me to look up too. I didn't have someone like Gobber to support me, or someone like your Dad to idolize."

"Your competent enough to do it. Like I said earlier, I'm not a leader. I can build stuff, I can break stuff, and_ that's it_. I'm a dragon now, no going back from this. Who in their right minds would ever willingly follow a dragon?"

"Me," I didn't hesitate to respond.

"Yeah, but your kinda biased."

I smacked him upside the head and tied the last bandage over his now clean wound, and he leaned back against the couch cushions. I got up and sat on his lap, tapping my prosthetic to take it off. The metal leg released with a hiss and clattered to the ground as I settled against Hiccup. "I'm still not ready Hiccup," I said.

"Of course your not," he answered. "But you will be. You got everything you wanted, a family. And I do too, I have my Dad's pride, and someone who loves me as much as I love her, but..." he trailed off, his eyes going glassy.

"But I still have issues to work out. Things that happened that I would have been able to burry, stuff that I'm not really over."

"Before or after becoming a dragon," I questioned, putting my head on his shoulder and taking a bit of rest.

"I'd rather not talk about it Ast," he moaned, and shivered. He pushed me off of his lap and hobbled over to the wardrobe, searching for a jacket. "Can we save this talk for a time when you haven't hit your head and I don't have a bite wound from a dragon that's going to ground me for at least a week and leave you with no outlet or way to fly?"

"Sure," I groaned, and collapsed against the couch.

"I wonder what secret Dagur was hiding," I said wondered aloud into the air. "Or what kind of company he's been keeping for the past five years. Where's he been that there's now an actual possibility that he's a good guy?"

"Dunno. But why can't you go back to your dorm tonight. Might need to go to the nurse, or the school doctor, or whatever this place has. Get your head looked at."

"Shut up Haddock," I said, putting my hands to my forehead. "And I just had a disagreement with Ruff, that's all. No more no less. I just... Need to be away from her. At least till tonight. I'll see if I can get out of the dorms and move in with you. If I can, everything' perfect. If I can't.. Well, I'll cope."

"Ok then," he said, slipping on the jacket he'd found. "Let's order some dinner, and then well get ready to start the new era in our lives. Getting you through collage. Because God knows that's going to be a challenge." He giggled and. I tossed a pillow at him.

"You rude little newt," I spat without venom.

"Love you too."

He ducked under the counter and began searching for a phone, and I glanced out the window. For a split second, I could have sworn I saw something move behind one of the buildings. Bit I quickly dismissed the thought. After all, no dragon except Hiccup had been seen for five years, and I had hit my head pretty badly, so I was probably seeing things. How else can you explain the long, green, clubbed tail I thought that I glimpsed disappearing around the corner?"

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I sat against a rock in human form. My four enormous wings were folded around me, and I curled my tail around myself. I was worried.

I sent Dagur out to look for Drago months ago, but there was still no word from him. I know it was ridiculous to worry about the Skrill, he was one of my best warriors, as both a Strike Class as his species, and Assassin Class for his dragon rank. But I still did.

I cared for every single one of these dragons as if they were my own children. I guess it was a way to make up for loosing my own baby in childbirth, as if this were some way to make it up to Stoick.

I snorted at the thought. Why would the big guy ever love me like this. I have five extra limbs, and an alternate body big enough to smash whole houses buy myself. I almost killed him against my will in the battle of Berk. If he knew I was the Stormcutter who tried to burn his house down with him inside it, he'd never forgive me.

I shook myself out of my rumination and stood up. I balanced myself with my secondary wings, as I had been locked up so long I had forgotten how to use two locomotion limbs. I walked towards the edge of the cliff I was sitting on that overlooked the lake.

It seemed so empty without the White King in it. The big Bewilderbeast had been the unquestioned lord of the sanctuary, the undisputed ruler. I... I was just some dragon who managed to keep the rest in line.

And things were getting worse. People, as in humans, were poking around the area, looking for something.

It was almost as if they knew were here. Like they were coming for us. All of us. Every last dragon in the sanctuary.

I shook my head, trying to dispel the thoughts. How could I know that? For all know, they cold be here for completely innocent reasons, like some arctic expeditions. A few dragons flapping about in a snowstorm should scare them away from our home. And if not... Well, I would handle it.

I would handle everything.

Sometimes I wondered why I did this. Why I made myself do all of these Things, why I put myself in this position of responsibility.

And then I decided that it didn't matter. These dragons... These people needed my help, and I'd be damned before I didn't give it. I was their leader, I wouldn't leave them.

My old friend, the Gronckle, Meatlug, settled down beside me. She was one of the few dragons like me who could change to human form.

"Good morning Cloudjumper," she said politely. The pudgy woman had a cheerful look on her face as usual, her Gronckle wings still in a post-flight buzz behind her.

"Good morning," I said back politely.

She saw stood next to me and looked at the lake. "It's quite lonely without him down there isn't it? Can you belive it, almost a year since he was gone?" She said, her voice and face loosing it's cheerful edge.

I nodded and clasped my hands. There were very few dragons about today. Most were sleeping, and the icy compound was peacfully quiet. A flock of baby Scuttleclaws flew over the lake, nearly falling in the water as they tried to land. A few Nightmares were in a race, Hookfang at the lead.

I could see Thornado resting at the bottom of the water, and Stokehead flying about with his hatchlings and wife. Barf and Belch were arguing again, getting their heads twisted together as they argued. Odysseud was out on a border patrol at my command.

It was a nice, quiet life out here in the Dragon Sanctuary, somewhere that was calm, safe, protected and happy. But I could never shake the feeling I was needed somewhere else.

It was a silly feeling, though. I wasn't needed anywhere else but here.

"Yeah," I agreed with Meatlug. "A little quieter. Without his breathing, you know."

"Yeah. He was really lound. But he was kind. And he brought us fish. And protected us from invasion. And let the hatchlings play on his tusks. Basically the exact opposite of the Red Death."

"Yup," I ageed.

Then, after a pause: "Do you-That warrior, the Night Fury, Hiccup. Do you think he survived. Do you think he survived the fight with Excellinor?"

She smiled at me. "That kid was so stubborn he probobly survived out of pure spite for the Queen, still trying to get the last word in. And with his attitude, there was no scaring him away. He had too much to protect."

"Sounds like my husband," I laughed, and she smiled.

Suddenly the sanctuary shook. I've fell from the roof, and ripples spread across the usually still water as debris fell from the top of the roof. I held my arms out to the sides to steady myself.

"Woa," I gasped when the rumbling stopped. "What was that?!"

I quickly changed into dragon form and headed for the exit. I wasn't a fast dragon, but I was a quick one when I wanted to be, and at that moment, I pumped my wings for all they were worth, even using my tail as a paddle for the air by beating it up and down a few times.

Meatlug and Hookfang followed behind me as an honor guard. My tail swished back and forth behind me as we neared the enterance to the ice cave. I tucked my wings in a bit to fit throgh, and as we exited our home, I was immediately blinded by a snowstorm.

**"Aagggg!"** I groaned. **"Where's Odesseus? This is what he is made for, blizzard flying. I can't see a thing out here!"**

Hookfang roared in agreement and flared up, flying in front of me to act as a torch. Meatlug and I followed him, wind howling in our ears.

Snow and ice flew about, blinding us and almost making us crash into more than a few ice spiked. Artic waters rippled below us, the dark sea splashing against the shores and the walls of the sanctuary. I growled and sent out a torrent of Fire in front of me.

Hookfang had to flap to get out of the way, but it flew onwards into the Storm, dissapearing into the all consuming whiteness.

Then, without warning, a metal waved net flew out of nowhere and entrapped my Monstrous Nightmare friend. He shriked and thrashed in his bonds, but it did nothing for him as he fell downwards, still on fire. He was like a burning, horrifying falling becon untill he splashed down into the water.

Finally we got to the other side of the storm and I was horrorified at what I saw. Dozens and dozens of navy battleships. They stretched in an almost infinite ammount across the sea, prominent against the near-white sky behind them.

**"Go get Hookfang!"** I called to Meatlug. **"I'll warn the Sanctuary!"**

I flapped as hard as I could back the way I came, but I was scared. Because, for the first time in living memory, the sanctuary was under attack.

**Sorry for how horrible this chapter was. I just couldn't seem to make a good version of it. This was the best I could do. Next one will be better, I promise!**


	5. The Things That Follow Us

**Hola. Rumbling Night Cutter back for Ghosts of the Night Fury. Thank you all for reviewing. You guys didn't seem to think the last chapter was so bad. I did, but that's desire the point. **

**Review replies:**

**jlrdsr: I love taking the time to write. I just posted Time Fury for you guys too, hope you enjoy that. **

**One Bright Light: yes, they are**

**sheppard: Thales for saying that. And I love cliffhangers. I don't know when I'll be bringing Hiccup and Valka together, but I definitely have a plan, yes. **

**DragonDreamer: it goes deeper **

**silverwolves: thanks**

**halobeast: welcome back! I've been missing your supportive reviews, friend!**

**a random person: hope you like iron fury. And plus, even if she had named him, his name is Harrison, not Hiccup. He didn't get the nickname till later in life. **

**JediKnightMarina: welcome back to you too. And yes, yes you will. **

**HvislaNott: I will, thank you**

**Mark25: wow. Thank you. That means a lot. **

**Tiger W: interesting. I never thought of that.**

**A quick message to a guest reviewer on last story called Shadowhawk. Imknow the dragons were doomed from the start, but four thousand wasn't all the dragons they had. That's just how many were on Berk. And she did have a few loyal dragons who managed the other outposts. As for the stuff about guns and all that, I know it was unrealistic, but they needed to seem like an actual threat. I'm sorry, and I'll try to get a beta. But that's for the review. Also, any artists? JediKnightMarina is working on the GNF cover, but any of you want to try to make a cover for Ghosts?**

**And on with the chapter! Let us go, my friends, and see if I can organize my chaotic ideas into something worth reading! **

**ASTRID'S FIRST DAY OF COLLAGE **

**Six Years Ago (two weeks post transformation)**

_A fourteen year old Hiccup sat on a bench in New York. He had his old uniform on, the black trench coat, green shirt, and brown vest. His finned tail shivered under the fabric of the coat, and so did his wings, making him appear like he was vibrating slightly. _

_He appeared to be alone, as there was only the occasional passing taxi or bus. He was sitting next to an abandoned newspaper stand, the paper fluttering in the wind. Under his beanie, his long ears twitched, listening for something._

_He breathed into his gloved hands, and rubbed them in an attempt to wam himself. It didn't work, and he whimpered from the cold, drawing his coat closer. _

_If there was one thing Hiccup hated, it was the cold. He was a plasma-shooting dragon after all, heat was his element. It was unfortunate that he was a native of a place that boasted the kind of balmy, fun-in-the-sun climate that gave you frostbite on your spleen. _

_The poor boy hadn't really slept since he had transformed. He seemed to have an infinite amount if energy, and didn't even feel tired, despite having less than twelve hours sleep within the past two weeks. _

_His... Friends had said that it was a side affect of being transformed. You felt like you could run, or fly, forever. Every second was maximized, every hour of the day and the night stretched out an unimaginable length. Because of that, if felt more like a year since his draconic gifts had emerged. He had learned how to fly, how to run, and most importantly, how to fight as a dragon, in a remarkable amount of time._

_And that girl... The pretty blond one he had seen in the picture. She was on his mind a lot. The Night Fury boy had kept it to himself in case the others thought he was crazy, but her face kept poking into his thoughts whenever his brain was inactive, invading his mind when he tied to sleep or relax. _

_But now was not one of those times. Now he was waiting for someone. Someone very important to him. He had only known her a few days, but he already felt closer to her than any of his so called friends. Jack and Merida seemed to have their own agendas going on behind their eyes, plans beyond the people they worked for. As for Rapunzel, she didn't seem quite right in the head. _

_But this girl, she was a good friend. _

_There was only one problem. She was human. Completely and utterly human. Not a trace of dragon mutation anywhere inside her. And he was sitting here, in the quiet part of town nobody gave a crap about, waiting for her. _

_And it appeared his wait was not fruitless, as a slender girl in a white fur coat sat next to him. She had raven hair and bright green eyes like him, and a sharp, angular face that could make it onto the covers of most glamor magazines. She smiled at him, and brushed her hair out of her face. _

_"Hey, Henrik," she said, and gave him a quick hug. "How are you doing?"_

_"I'm fine Heather," he said, a small smile growing on his lips. "Of course I'm fine. I'm always fine. I'm the king of fine." Then he snorted and buried his face in his hands. "Actually, forget I said that. That was pretty bad. Just stick to calling me 'Henrik the Night Fury,' that's a much better title."_

_He was cut off from his rambling as Heather leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Slow down, Henrik. I just got off of school, I can barely keep up with you right now."_

_"Sorry Heath," he said, and patted her on the shoulder. "Come on."_

_He got up, careful to keep his tail well hidden. Heather couldn't know he was a dragon. The results would be disastrous._

_**Astrid**_

I woke up on Monday before Hiccup. Today was the day. I was attending my first day off collage, while Hiccup stayed here and rested up, which was fine. I wasn't going to be flying him into school anytime soon, and put him at the merciless jaws of the public. Not for a while, at least.

I pushed the covers off of me and got up, stretching, then leaned over the side of the bed to look for my prosthetic. It took a few tries, but I finally found it, the metal leg resting against the dragon-sized bed. I threw the covers off and attached the limb to my shortened leg.

It clicked and hissed as it closed around the stump, and a groaned as it ached a bit from the new tightness around it. I got up, leaving Hiccup there, still snoring. His wing unconsciously founded over his head like a bat, now that he wasn't holding anything with it.

I smiled at him. He was still recovering from the bite wound, but would likely be better by Thursday.

Dim morning light flooded in through windows of the warehouse, illuminating his little home in a dull yellow glow. The bloodstains from the fight the other night had been cleaned away, so the only evidence of the battle with Dagur was the dent in the wall. Hiccup said he'd get to work fixing that eventually.

I climbed down by using the support beam. My head was still a little sore, but not that bad. All in all, a fight with an electrically powered dragon could have gone a lot worse than it did.

When I got to the bottom, I decided to start scrounging up breakfast. I couldn't cook, because every time I did, Hiccup nearly smashed it with his tail, calling it 'a foul concoction of villainy that should never see the light of day.' And when I tasted my own cooking myself, I couldn't really disagree with him.

But he did hade other things in his mini kitchen that didn't require any sort of cooking talent. I yawned and padded across the carpeted floor, bare foot and metal limb making an odd sound as I walked. _Thump-clank, thump-clank, thump-clank_, the sound resounded across the warehouse as I moved.

I took a deep sniff of the air around me. Inside N.E.S.T, I had almost been turned into a Deadly Nadder, a Tracker Class dragon. That meant I had a_ great _sense of smell, better than a bloodhound. It was an unfortunate trait around skunks, garbage and flat ulnar people, but, it could also be incredibly useful. I could detect the smell of Hiccup, still asleep on the bed, and Dagur's ozonish smell was lingering all over the floor and walls. But there was also another scent. I couldn't describe or identify it. It was kinda musky, and a little bit like smoke.

I shook my head, my upbraided hair flying about, and bit my lip. I'm not going to peruse it. I want a wuiet morning with the one I love, and then I would deal with all the weird stuff that was going on.

Hiccup moaned from atop the platform the bed was on. "Astrid?"

"Down here," I called, and he raised a his tail in acknowledgement, opening and closing the fins a few times.

"Getup, lazybones." I called. "I'm making breakfast."

"I'll call the morgue," he said dully, and I gave him a pointless glare. He wouldn't see it when he was staring up at the ceiling. I shook my head and pulled out a packet of pop tarts. "I'm using the preprepared stuff, you twit," I yelled. "Stop being so pessimistic about the food I give you. I kept you alive when you were hiding out in your little hole, didn't I?"

"On fish-sticks and crackers."

"Irrelevant."

I shook my head as I heard him roll over onto his belly. His wings opened up and he groaned in pain as the left one aggravated his bite wound. He flapped his unimpeded wing as he pushed himself up. He crossed his leg and three quarters, his mangy hair hanging in his eyes, one ear perked up like a dog, and haunches over, his wings

"How do you feel Babe," I asked, and he sighed.

"Like crap," he said and rubbed his shoulder his wing shuddering behind him. "Can't wait to get these bandages off. They feel like sandpaper." I rolled my eyes. A wounded Hiccup was a pouty Hiccup. A pouty Hiccup complained a lot.

"Stop whining. At least your alive."

"But I can't fly. And somehow Dagur can." He commented, irked. He swished his tail behind him, and growled. "That's a bit confusing, yeah," I said, and put the pop tarts in the toaster, then looked at the time on the clock. My eyes shot open. I was late! "But I gotta get going soon, Babe. Sorry."

"It's fine, it's fine," he waved me off. "I'm just gonna stay here... Bored out of my mind all day." His time was sarcastic. Extremely sarcastic. _Dripping_ sarcastic.

"Don't do that. When you get bored, bad, bad things happen. Really bad things. Like, monumentally bad-"

"I get it," he said. I walked to the bag of stuff I had placed against one of the support beams and dug through it, searching for my day clothes. I pulled them out and began changing, while Hiccup gradually woke up. As I pulled on my jacket and straightened my shirt, Hiccup flapped down to the floor, shaking his head. He straightened, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"You sure? You barely know how to treat wounds, Hiccup. I'm the one who's taking medical courses."

"I'll be fine here. Now go," he said, patting me on the head. "Get outta here, Shorty." I glared at him, using my old pet name from when we first met and I was taller than him. He had gotten_ so_ smug about his hight when he hit his long-overdue growth spurt. I punched him in the uninjured shoulder and he yelped.

"That's for being a smartass," I scolded, and he rubbed his arm.

Then I grabbed his head and pulled him down for a quick kiss. "And that was for everything else," I finished, clipping the small bag to my belt and padding out the door, leaving him with a stupid, sedated grin on face.

As soon as I left his warehouse, I took a deep sniff. The musky, smoky sent was still around. It was fresh, and very, very new. It was the same one I detected when I saw that clubbed tail after Dagur escaped.

I glanced at my watch. I wasn't that late, I had a few minuets to memorize the scent so I could look out for it as school. If there was a dragon in this city, he or she had to have some kind of human cover. The thing I saw was in no way stealthy, so maybe it was somewhere in NYU.

I walked towards where I had seen the tail disappearing. Yup, it was definitely strong there. I wafted the scent towards me, trying to absorb its quality, how one part of it was stronger than the other. Once I was done, I took one last deep sniff, then was on my way, making a mental note to inform Hiccup about it.

I walked out of the warehouse yard, looking out for the scent. I had it, a bit. The problem was, there were so many people that it was hard to actually single it out. As far as I could tell, it could be anyone from the woman who just passed me to a hobo in an alley, muttering to himself.

I shook my head and continued on my way to school, my brain buzzing about all the things happening now that it was out of its dreary, domestic state. Dagur had been looking for somebody. Somebody was tailing ether me or Hiccup or both of us. And whoever they are, they knew Hiccup's secret.

They knew he was able to turn partially human. They knew who he was. They were a danger to every aspect of Hiccup's life. The little world we built, where he was safe, where he was happy, it could all be torn apart.

I didn't like that Hiccup couldn't trust the world to look at what he'd done, not what he'd become, but I would do anything to protect his secret. I would kill to protect my Hiccup. And I meant it. If this person threatened Hiccup's safety in any way, there were going to die.

* * *

**_Cloudjumper _**

I flapped my wings and I weaves in between the nets that were sent flying at me. I was a more thickly armored dragon, so their bullets didn't do much more than bruise the skin under my scales, and as far as I could tell, they weren't really armed any higher than that.

This wasn't any navy of any nation, this was more like a private army. That, or their intent was capture, not kill. They only shot nets at the other dragons, while all their ballistics seemed to be concentrated on the ice fortress behind us.

They'd shoot a net over the dragons and table them up, making them fall into the water where the boats would fish them out. I still had no word on Hookfang's fate, and there was no word from Odysseus.

A net came right at me and I seized it with my claws, spinning and hurling it out of the way. It hit one of the smaller boats and almost capsized it. I looked at the offenders, who yelped and flinched away.

I flapped at them and they scattered on the deck of their ship. I opened my mouth and a stream of fire poured out,landing a direct hit on them. Their artillery exploded, and the boat was nothing but a smoking heap behind me.

I barrel rolled under another net and rejoined Thornado as he burst out of the sea.

**"What's their number,"** I asked him, and he shook the water off of himself before answering.

**"Too many to say. But I have some bad news. I saw a few aircraft carriers heading in over the sea," **he said, before sonic blasting a net away from him. **"I couldn't tell what they were carrying, exactly, but I can tell you there's gonna be some trouble soon."**

I growled in anger and flew under a cannon shot heading for the Sanctuary**. "What are they doing to catch the Tidal Classes?"**

"Fishing nets and harpoons," he answered, blasting apart one of the boats. **"They already got Scauldy, and they stuck me in the leg with one of the harpoons. I pulled it out but-" he winced. "It's bothering me pretty badly.**" I looked down and saw his left side was coated in blood. In fact, the water all around us was tinged scarlet.

**"Find a medic, and tell some Timberjacks to get to work freeing the captured dragons,"** I ordered him. He nodded, and flapped away. All around me, the battle raged, a storm of nets and bullets and . Many, many ships were gradually sinking in burning heaps, but more and more dragons were shot out of the sky.

Right beside me, a blue and red Rumblehorn got hit by a net. He moaned in horror as his wings were tangled up. He quickly went from anyone tank to a two ton falling hazard in less than a second. He tumbled downwards into one of the larger boats, crashing straight though the deck, leaving a large hole in the middle.

There was nothing I could do for him, so I flew onwards a few bullets hit me in the side of the neck and sparked as my scales took the hit. I flinched away from the hits, through, and roared loudly. Dove towards the shooters and snatched them from the deck with my claws.

They began screaming in terror, and I snarled at them, showing each one of my long, pointed teeth. They screamed even louder, if possible, making me flinch. I grumbled and slammed them together, before dropping them.

A purple Stormcutter, much smaller than myself, glided by, and landed on one of the boats. She tore into the thing with her claws, ripping through the metal with her claws, and batting the men overboard with her tail. That is, until she was shot in the face with a net. She flinched and tried to fly away, but another net tangled up her tail fins. No matter how hard she flapped her wings after that, she just couldn't keep herself in the air. She was weighed down by her tail.

She splashed into the water with a loud, terrified roar.

I snarled and dove to rescue her, but was soon blocked by a net tangling my own tail. I flapped my wings as hard as I could, but. I was only delaying the inevitable as I began to glide downwards significantly.

I tried to raise my tail to a point where I could untangle my burden, but it was way too heavy and my tail didn't really bend like that. I began to move my secondary wings in a circular motion, my primary ones held parallel to the ground. Trying to push air into them so I could stay upwards a little longer.

Too late, another net flew from the side and hit me, trapping my right wings.

I plummeted downwards, right towards... Oh, surprise, the one of the aircraft carriers. I smashed into its deck with a loud thud, and I pushed myself up with my free set of wings. I curled my tail around and bit the net off, flinging it away and onto one of the crew members.

A few cocked tranquil guns at me, but I reared backwards and roared, a torus of flame at them. They screamed and ran away, and I spread the fire over the deck in a circle around me, giving me a line of safety. I quickly used the time I had bought to lean to my side and bite away the nets that bound my wings. I tossed it away, into the raging inferno around me.

I flapped my newly freed limbs once and roared, shaking my head rapidly as smoke got in my eyes. I snorted once, and crouched on my wings and legs. I sniffed at the air. There was something familiar here. I was no Tracker Class, but I got along when it came to smelling out things.

Panda what. I smelled now... Impossible.

"Valka," a deep, Persian accented voice said behind me. I whirled around and snarled, baring my teeth at him. But as soon as I saw who it was, my eyes dilated in shock. My primary wings dropped to the ground, and I backed away slowly half in, half out of the fire.

**"D-Drago?"**

The man smiled as I said his name. He had changed since I had known him. The left side of his face was marred and scarred so that his lips were in a permanent sneer. His hair was long and braided in overgrown dreadlocks. He was wearing what looked like... Dragon skin as he marched through my fire. He wielded a long hook in his right hand, and his left arm was now missing, replaced with a modified Haddock prosthetic, a custom hand that had claws at the end of the fingers.

He walked right through the line of flames around me and smirked. "So, you're still running this antiquated establishment," he said patronizingly, and I snarled, before shrinking down to human form.

I glared at him with half folded wings and a tail held up, one hand on the ground, ready to pounce and attack with all my ferocity. He merely chuckled and held up his hook. "You really should have considered having the other dragons take up nomadism," he said. "It would have served the old king of the Sanctuary well. After all, he did have to swim out to sea to distract that exploration expedition. And to think... He hasn't been seen since."

"You swam out there with him," I snarled. "We've been looking for you, I sent Dagur out to search for you!"

"Yeah," he said. "I know. The poor boy isn't very good at aerial dodging. Or at least, not when he has a gaping Night Fury bite."

"The Night Fury lives," I whispered in shock. I personally had thought he had perished fighting the queen. She was, essentially, a flying Godzilla. How could any one being kill her?

"And he has come to blows once more with your Skrill," he finished. "He had probably aligned himself with humans."

"So have you!" I snapped.

"No. Not the humans," he said. "Look around. Look at the labels on the ships, the insignia's on my men's uniforms. Really, Cloudjumper, I thought you were smarter than this. Your a Stormcutter after all."

I glanced around, looking at what the large Bewilderbeast man had pointed out. Shock and horror creeped through me like deadly ice. I swallowed hard and started panting, my wings quivering in fear. "H-how-"

"With some dragons," he said. "They don't die when you cut off the head." His face was now a genuine, victorious sneer as he stood, tall and proud at his his place as the commander of legions. How could I not have seen this before. Their tactics were custom fitted to captures dragons, and to outmaneuver them. They knew precisely how to take down a Stormcutter. They knew how to flush us out of out hidey hole.

All around us were the ships of N.E.S.T.

Tears of fear welled in my eyes before I wiped them away. My teeth became pointed, and the crown of horns and ridges that adorned my head as a dragon manifested on top of my skull, and crooked spines sprouted from my back. My fingernails converted into long talons, and my vision became yellow tinged as the whites of my eyes were filled with eerie yellow and my pupils thinned into a reptilian shape.

A savage, feral roar ripped from my throat as I launched myself at Drago, ready to kill.

* * *

**_Astrid_**

I shook myself as I entered the NYU buildings bag over my shoulder, ready for class. I was still on the lookout for our mystery follower. Or the smellout. Whatever.

I kept my eyes out for anyone... Draconian. They were the people who always seemed like they had something to hide, something to protect, that was in the place where you don't look but were afraid you might. They were the kind of people whose eyes begged you to look away. To look anywhere else but them.

I didn't see anyone like that in the crowd of head bobbing through the expensive school's halls. But one person did meet my eyes. He was the person Hiccup told me to be suspicious of, Tattoo-Chin man who understood dragonese.

He wasn't wearing anything to conceal wings or a tail, but the musky-smokey scent that I detected outside Hiccup's warehouse. I tried not to sniff so I wouldn't look like a weirdo, but the Nadder in me fought the rationality in my brain. A Nadder, like all Tracker Class dragons would have had a deep desire to find their targets, and right now, I deeply wanted to find this person.

And Tattoo-Chin was top of the list on suspects who matched his scent. I pushed through the crowd towards him, and he smirked as I approached, one side of his mouth turning up to give him an arrogant look that made me want to like the fire in my belly and melt his face clean off.

I cursed the fact that my skirt didn't have pockets to hide my clenching fists. I hid them behind my back and gave my most convincing fake smile, the one that almost, _almost_ reached my eyes.

"Hello," I said, holding my hand out for a shake. He clasped it, his own hand greatly eclipsing my own. I scowled internally. Everyone seemed to be bigger than me after Hiccup got an inch on my hight.

"'Ey," he responded in a smooth British accent. I raised an eyebrow and pretended to breath through my nose, trying to see if he matched the scent I had found outside Hiccup's home.

He was a one hundred percent match. He was the one who was following me and Hiccup meh knew out secret. And most of all, he was a dragon himself, but somehow managed to hide the dragon-y bits. All the dragon people, from Hiccup to Stokehead, had dragon features. They all had wings, even though Meatlug had no visible tail.

Unless... No, no, I scolded myself internally. That was a stupid idea. But. I couldn't tip off this guy was onto him.

"So, I'm uh, Astrid. I can tell your probably new around here too," I said kindly, brushing my hair behind my ear and pulling my braid behind my shoulder. He smiled down at me. "Eh, not really. Third year here," he said. "I'm taking wilderness survival class here, you?"

"Medical courses," I answered truthfully.

"Oh, why's that? You don't seem like the doctoring type. More like the athlete scholarship type."

I laughed. "Ok, now I'm wondering if I should take offense to that."

"No, no," he said, sneaking his head and holding up his hands. "None meant."

"It's alright," I answered. "It was my boyfriend, actually, who got me interested. He gets into a lot of fights, and during our relationship, I learned my way around a first aid kit. When I got to collage, I didn't really have a plan, so this seemed like the best option."

"Ah," he said. "Makes sense. So, you still with him?"

"Most definitely," I said. I was doing good playing casual so far, and even being partially honest. My interest in med school did stem from constantly patching up Hiccup after every crash, fight or blunder he got into.

I pretended to get alarmed after looking at my watch. "Oh, sorry, I, I gotta go. I'm almost late for class. Oh, by the way, do you know if you can move out of the dorms?" I asked with pursed lips. This was an honest question. I needed to get out of the dorm with Ruff, or one of us wouldn't survive the year. I'd ether kill her, or myself, or get so worked up Hiccup would go and do something stupid or crazy on his own.

"I think so," he said, shouldering his own bag, and beginning to turn away. Oh man, that was a huge, huge relief. I didn't have to spend the entire year trying to prevent premature death or murder. I watched the possibly dragon man go, walking down the hall like he owned the world. He was the exact opposite of Hiccup. Arrogant, cocky, full of himself and seemingly a womanizer, from that seductive look he had been looking at me with. I hated men like him who thought I was that easy to win, that a charming voice and a few good deeds would make me love them.

No, to even gain my friendship, it had to be earned. You had to prove that you were a good person before I even considered liking you. It was a harsh policy, but growing up alone in the world gave me trust issues.

Huh, I guess I do understand why Hiccup didn't trust the world. It was full of backstabbing liars.

Then I remembered something. I needed his name to keep tabs on him."Oi!" I called over to him. "What do I call you? I'm case I ever bother talking to you again?"

He turned and smiled.

"Eret. My name's Eret."

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I wandered about my warehouse, bored out of my mind. The place was making me stir crazy, and it had barely been more than a few hours since Astrid left. I tried everything, reading some of the books, playing Halo on the Xbox One I had installed in the TV, drawing, taking a nap.

And that was just in the first hour. It was like after I was transformed. Every second of every minuet of every hour was maximized. And right one, that wasn't a good thing. I wasn't learning the ropes of a new body, or making sure Astrid was safe.

She wasn't in any danger from the ghosts I had here. They would come after me, not her. But I did need to keep a watch on her when this damn shoulder wound was healed. I climbed back into the unmade bed and collapsed onto the black sheets, briefly wondering why everything I owned was ether black or red, or if that was a serious phycological problem, when a chill came into the room.

I whipped around. Standing in the middle of the warehouse, freezing my carpet stiff, was Jack. He didn't have his uniform on, but instead wore his ice encrusted hoodie and brown pants. His ice-like tail and wings were free behind him as he smirked up at me.

"Nice place you got here, Hiccup, he said.

"It's my Dad's" I said dryly, unamused by his casual greeting. I regarded him we an ironically cool gaze, narrowing my eyes and letting my ears drop.

"Oh," he said, sauntering around. "I thought you hated him. Said you were the 'bane of his existence,' and all that." His tone was light and jovial, but there was something to the way he spoke that said he wasn't joking around.

"I never hated him," I said, shaking my head. "Just myself. That's how the transformation worked. You had to hate yourself, or your life. You had to have next to nothing to leave behind of when you were human, or the process would ether not work or turn you into a rabid animal, is that correct?"

He shook his head. "That used to be how it worked. Before you blew everything up."

"It made some pretty satisfying fireworks," I admitted.

"I'm sure it did. But that was over half a century of research and genetic innovation going up in smoke that day."

"Oh, and I'm sure you would have liked to put it in cold storage, or something," I said sarcastically, and crossed my arms, tail in my lap. He chucked at the joke, lacing his hands behind him.

Launder his bare feet, frost spread across the carpet in little snowflake patterns. "Merida informed me over your little tussle in the subway over that Skrill. Funny, I don't see him around here." He glanced at the dent in the wall. "I'm guessing that didn't go too well for you after you beat her, eh?"

"No, no not really," I responded, flapping down from my platform. "So, how ya been the past five years, Jack. Merida looks a little more mature now, and I can only imagine how Punzie looks now, but you? You don't look a day older than when we met five years ago. I wonder why that is, eh? Am I not the only one with a secret to keep?"

"You want to talk about secrets, do you," Jack said, not flinching at my prod to any seemingly sensitive issues. I knew exactly what I was talking about when I said that, but he didn't react at all to the jab. "Your girlfriend doesn't seem to know what happened here five years ago, does she? The things, you did, the lives you ruined, the way you abused and misused your newfound powers to help yourself stay alive. She sees you as the valiant, fearless hero, doesn't she? Wonder what she'd think of what you did out of pure terror for your own life after it finally started meaning something to you. After you finally got a little power."

"She knows I'm terrified every single day. And that's all she needs to know. Now get out of here, Jack. I'm bitten, but plasma still trumps ice, if you know what I mean."

"I do," he answered. "But I will let you know, you haven't been safe the past five years. We've watched. We've waited for you to be out of the public eye. And with you all cozied up in this little warehouse, it's the perfect time to strike. So watch your back if you know what I mean, ok?"

"Yeah," I said.

He turned to leave, shoving his hands in the pockets of his trousers, ice spreading in his wake. "You always did like to leave a mess, Jack," I muttered, and shook my head at the ground. Soon enough, as the arctic powered dragon boy left, the ice began to recede, melting away into the red carpet. I strolled over to the couch and collapsed against it, sighing.

"Well," I remarked to myself, my voice bouncing around the empty room. "That was interesting. A visit from a ghost. A literal one. Considering I watched him die all the way back then."

I sighed and laid my head against the armrest of my seat, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I threw myself at Drago, flapping my wings as I flew through the air. I tackled him by the right shoulder, and stabbed my talons into his flesh. He growled in pain, and his prosthetic whirred as he reached up with the mechanical arm to grab me and throw me.

Before he did, I wrapped my tail around one of his legs, tripping him up as I was sent tumbling backwards. I landed on the edge of the flames, and rolled before getting up. I crouched, but he made the first move this time, charging forward with his bull hook.

I moved to the side of his thrust and grabbed the handle, pulling it towards me.

He had superior strength, but the moment of shock I got was enough time for me to pull the handle forwards, then hues the end of it to bash him in the eye.

He flinched away and wrenched the weapon away from me, clutching his face.

He shook his head and growled at me in an almost feral way. I did the same, baring my teeth and giving my primary wings a long, slow flap, before I ran on all fours towards him, and slashed him in the leg.

He yelled, and swung town wards with his hook, but I was already gone, climbing onto his back and stabbing into his flesh with all four wing claws. He cried out in pain as I clutched his head and drove the spikes in deeper.

"Do you know how many dragons died today, how many drowned?!" I yelled at him. "How they perished in fear because of you?!"

"No," he snarled through the pain, then reached back with his genuine hand and grabbed me by the back of the neck. He slammed me down into the deck of the ship. Pain shot into my skull and I reeled from the shock. "And personally, I don't care. I went to China in my search for the other N.E.S.T. outposts. They have so many dragons there. Thousands upon thousands converted, from all over the world. You didn't think they were going to wipe out the world with just four thousand, did you? And Excellinor was certainly the biggest, but they all had Death Dragons."

"I don't believe you," I yelled, and kicked him in the face as I jumped up. There was no way that was true. If it was, then why didn't he come back. Why didn't he free our brethren?

He stumbled backwards, the metal of his weapon dipping into the inferno behind him. He pulled it out, red hot. "It's true," he said pointing it at me.

"Then why are you working for these monsters?" I growled, and he snickered, shaking his head.

"You, my dear," he scoffed, "have the wrong idea of the chain of command around here." With that, he leapt forward, swinging his bull hook and clawed prosthetic at me. I jumped around the strikes and flew over him, smacking him in the face with my tail,

He grabbed my leg and slammed me to the ground before I could get away, though, and stomped on my back, right between my wing and spines.

I struggled under his weight, but he was heavier than Stoick! I gritted my teeth in frustration and beat the ground with my palms. "Let me go, Drago!"

"No," he said, laying an arm on the knee that pinned me to the ground. I writhed up uselessly. If turned into a dragon, that would provoke him to do the same, and then there was no beating him. "No, I don't think that's how it works. You see, you don't give the orders around here. Your not the Alpha. Your the substitute. The _real_ Alpha is out there, somewhere. "

He grabbed me by the arms and hoisted me up, dragging me towards the flames. I was captured. Completely and utterly captured. The skies were clear of dragons, and the ice fortress that had protected my people for five long years was crumbling behind me.

I watched it fall to pieces, and turned away, fighting back tears in my eyes.

"And your gonna help me find him," he growled.

**This chapter actually came really easily to me.**


	6. The King's Gift to the Night Fury

**Credit for this chapter's plot goes to Foxmorgorth. Thank you so much, and I hope you comment on this chapter! Now, not a lot of comments last chapter? Why, was it that bad? Urgh. Sorry. Anyways, review replies:**

**Guest(1): yes it was. **

**Silverwolves: I will**

**H****alobeast: thanks.**

**a random person: Drago thinks the White King is still the Alpha**

**HvislaNott: N.E.S.T. never went away. It's always been there, watching. It sees you. It knows you. It _owns _you****. (Creepy laugh). Just kidding. But thanks for calling my work extraordinary.**

**jlrdsr: thanks**

**JediKightMarina:Thanks**

**Mark251002: thanks**

**Anyway, lets get this ball rolling, shall we? Oh, by the way, new character this chapter. If you don't get his description, imagine him being played by Peter Capaldi. **

**HICCUP IS IN TROUBLE**

**_Six Years Ago (Three Weeks Post Transformation)_**

_Heather stood in the street, shifting on the balls of her feet, trying to keep herself warm by moving around a little. She fiddled with her braid and bit her lip. Her patience was being tried severely._

_She knew Hiccup had something with Hiro today, but he said he would be done by now. He That did scare Heather a bit. She honestly wasn't usually one to go back on his word, but now she was beginning to doubt her friends's integrity. _

_What if he'd abandoned her?_

_What if he'd just been playing with her this whole time? She was pretty sure he liked her, but he'd always been running in from something, looking flustered and a little worn out, and bruised, as if he'd come fresh from a fight. _

_She shook her head out of these thoughts. The poor kid was probably being abused at home, given that he almost always flinched away from her hand. She couldn't call the police without proof, but she didn't know where he lived or when he went home. _

_Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder, and she jumped and yelped, spinning around. Her braid smacked the one who approached her in the face, and it was his turn to cry out in surprise. _

_He flinched away, and Heather clenched her fists like a true New Yorker, ready to defend herself from robbery. The guilty party held his face and hissed in air through his teeth. "Gah, what was that?! Do you have metal hair or something, sheesh that hurt! Ow!"_

_Heather pulled away and smiled. Her expression quickly turned guilty, though, when she say who it was. "Oh, Henrik, I'm so sorry about that! I didn't even mean to do that, man I'm sorry!"_

_Hiccup scowled and rubbed his cheek, his wings shifting a bit underneath the coat he had. Heather noticed movement in the fabric and looked behind him, almost noticing the inconsistencies in the fabric. _

_"Do you have something on under that coat I should know about?" She asked, reaching for his collar. He jerked away from her touch and went back a few steps, trying to keep his tail well hidden. _

_"No!" He said. "Why would you even think that?! I have- I have a muscle deformity back there. It's slight, but it's not nice, and I don't like to talk about it! Jeez, why are you so poky?!" _

_"Ok, ok, I'll leave it alone," she relented, looking abashed. "Wow, has any girl ever told you your overly sensitive before?"_

_He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "No-Not really," he answered, calming down from his fear a bit. "Not a lot of people talked to me back... Wherever I was before I got this stupid amnesia. But, I do remember that those that did usually weren't commenting on my personality. More like my physique, my lack of talents, and generally all of this," he gestured around at his general body. _

_"You just gestured to all of you."_

_"Exactly."_

_She just looked at him in shock and shook her head disparagingly. "Wow. I-I suspected you were mistreated at home, but this-this is worrying Henrik. Do you need help, because. I'm honestly worried about you." She said. She looked at Hiccup's hand her one went out to hold it, but like always, he flinched away from touching. _

_That honestly scared her a bit. She really, really liked him and wanted to help him so, so badly. But he just seemed to... Run away from everything that could help OR harm him. And all she wanted was to help, she honestly did. _

_"Henrik, stop!" She commanded in her harshest tone. He shied away from her again and she noticed a definite shift in the fabric of his back. "Henrik, stop it right now, stop running away from me! I may have only known you for three weeks, but I just want to help you, so why won't you let me?!"_

_Then she noticed something. A dab of red on his chin. A dot of blood. "What's this," she asked and before Hiccup could get away, she grabbed him by the coat collar and scraped it off his skin with her finger. "Is this... Blood?"_

_"No," he lied, obviously, and tried to pull away, but her grip on his coat was vice like. "Your not hurt or scratched up in any way, so this isn't your blood..."_

_Her look became horrified, and she released him, backing away a little. She put her hands to her mouth and tears welled in her grass green eyes. "Henrik... What did you do?"_

_"Heather, please I-I can explain, just give me a second to-"_

_"Hands in the air!" They whirled around. A ratty man was glaring at them. His clothes were worn and tattered and he looked like a street thug, complete with the large pistol he was aiming at the pair. _

_Heather froze, terrified, and Hiccup's eyes turned dragonish behind her, the whites turning acidic green and pupils becoming long slits. _

_The mugger growled. "Ok, both of you- wait a second," he lowered the gun and squinted at __Hiccup. "Kid, what the hell is wrong with your eyes?" Heather turned to look and screamed at Hiccup's reptilian eyes. He growled and crouched, slowly opening his enormous wings, pushing the coat between them. _

_Heather was shaking as Hiccup bared his pointed teeth, tail swishing behind him, and lunged at the mugger with a vicious roar. Both humans screamed as he picked up the man by the collar, wings flapping like a black tempest. _

_He slammed the robber into a brick wall, fracturing it slightly. He roared in the man's face and raised his now clawed hand. His hat had fallen off, exposing his pinned back ears as he plunged the scarp claws into the man's shoulder. _

_He picked the man back on and slammed him back into the wall, his tail thrashing behind him and spread his wings intimidatingly. With a final roar, he punched the man in the gut. The mugger sank to the ground, unconscious. _

_Hiccup huffed and folded his wings back down, readjusting the coat over them. He picked up his beanie over his head. He turned to Heather. She had gone pale and was quivering like a leaf in the wind. _

_"Heather," he said, then advanced in the girl, grabbing her shoulders. "Heather listen to me. Heather? Heather, are you listening to me?!"_

_She nodded, holding back terrified tears. "Ok," he said. "You don't speak of this. You don't tell anybody what just happened, ok. You don't know what I am, got it. As far as your concerned, I don't have any of the abilities you just saw, ok?" _

_She nodded again. _

_"Ok, Heath, I'll be back for you, I promise. Then we're going to leave. We're going to run away, ok, I just have to take care of something. Ok? Ok?" She gave a final nod, and she cupped her cheek. _

_"It's going to be ok, Heather. I promise. You have to trust me, though. Everything will be all right." He turned away and started running. Heather watched him go with fear, looking from him to the mugger, and gulped in fear._

_**Astrid**_

I swallowed as I went back into my dorm, the bottom of my stomach twisting and churning and boiling at the mere presence of the place. I had settled it with the dean, I was moving out of here this Friday.

But it really couldn't be any sooner. My hatred for Ruffnut had grown quite a bit during my stay here. She never missed a chance to heckle me for my shortcomings, my flaws, my failures. She had almost found out about my missing leg multiple times.

Thankfully she was absent at the moment, so I just shoved my way inside and plopped down on the bed, ready to go to sleep. I glanced at the window, and I could see Hiccup silhouetted against the moon on his nighttime flight.

I frowned as I looked at his dark form, only visible because of the moon. He had recovered from the bite of Dagur, and was fully mobile again, but during that week he was trapped inside the warehouse, he'd become... Unhinged, slightly.

He was a nervous wreck in the mornings when I came to visit before class, jumping horribly and screaming if he didn't know I was there before I touched him. During the nights we spent together, he had more nightmares than usual. Whenever I finally managed to wake him up, he'd retreat to the rafters, disappearing into the shadows for the rest of the night.

I think he only really feels safe when he can't be seen or touched. And I won't deny, it kind of hurt that after five years of love and trust, that includes that he can't be seen or touched by me.

I frowned and pulled the covers over my body, not even bothering with changing. I didn't dare take off my prosthetic, in case Ruff came in during the middle of the night and saw it. Too bad my stump was throbbing painfully inside it, the blood pulse stinging as it did.

I reached a hand under the covers and pressed the release button on it, hissing in relief as my shortened leg was fully released from confinement. I rubbed it tenderly, and laid my head on the pillow.

I felt sick.

I mean, sick to my stomach. People had said some things this week. They... They were cursing me. Calling me a satanist and other things for working with Hiccup. They called him a black devil, or some ridiculous nonsense. But people telling you that every day does tend to get to a person.

But I could take blows to my own reputation. Hiccup's... He prevented countless deaths, saved as many as he could put so many people before his own self. All he got in return was people ether vying to get a picture with the famous Night Fury, put up on show as some kind of novelty animal... Or called a beast from hell itself.

He's not a devil. He's made of flesh and blood and bone, he was born naturally. He was not made by any satanic creature, just brilliant but despicable people. They altered his body and bent his mind borderline snapping.

I told them this, but they didn't listen. He's not a monster... He's not a demon, or a devil or a cultist. He was made by science, not the arcane. But they were to afraid of him to listen to me, to afraid to see he would never hurt them, to afraid to see he was still... Still human inside, even if the outside was altered beyond recognition.

But I couldn't really blame them for that last part. Wait, yes I could. He was beyond terrified of them, that was the reason he couldn't show his human side. But I wanted desperately to show them who he was. What he was.

But both parties were only making it worse. But there was a pressure in my head. A big pressure. Something I hadn't felt the likes of in five years.

When we fought the Red Death five years ago, she tried to access a chip that was supposed to be wired into my nervous system. The technology and stuff was in there, all ready for it to be inserted, but the actual chip was yet to be installed when I freed myself. It had made my head hurt during the battle, and it was one of the reasons I passed out when she was dying.

The pressure in my head was lighter, not as if something was trying to reach into my head and grasp what wasn't there, but something... Pushing around, looking for something. Searching. Scanning.

But it came too late. My eyes closed before I could make the connection to the pressure and the Red Death, and I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**_Albert King_**

I stepped off the boat, onto the shore. I could have come onto land by swimming, but I didn't dare. My dragon form would have their sonars going off like a fanfare.

If you looked at me, you wouldn't see much.

An old, old man, a shock of silver hair standing on top of his head. My eyes were bliss green, and lines were deeply etched into my face. I was very pale, and almost skeletal. My hands were bony, fingers thin, and I was tall and arching. I had a thick Scottish accent to my voice in a way that was almost naturally theatric.

I was old, very old. And no one would ever expect what lied beneath the time-weathered skin and ancient brown eyes. You couldn't see the titanic white dragon underlying the old man on the surface.

My name was Albert King, and I am the Bewilderbeast of the Sanctuary, the hearalded 'White King' as they called me. They bowed to me.

That was disturbing. The young black dragon had freed us from one cage, I did not want to become another.

The young man had returned our souls, yes, but our race had lost something. Our humanity. We were a new form of life on the planet, yes. But we were human at our very center. We could love, and hate, be as racist and prejudiced as them.

But when they looked to each other, they saw brethren. Their own kind. They saw neighbors and friends and people they enjoyed seeing each and every single day. If we were once human, were they not capable of the same?

But they wouldn't listen to me. They submitted to my rule, not to my reason. There was one person they would listen to though. The alleged Night Fury, the dragon who we owed our freedom to.

And he was here, in New York City.

Being an Alpha Class dragon, I could find him easily. Just poke my mind around for any dragon chips within the city. They would be like beacons to me, bright and shining. I was meant to be a general, after all. A general had to keep track of his troops... And his equals.

The Night Fury was very much my equal. Small he may be, but that only means he's used to beating things bigger than he is. He was an Alpha class, like me, but also part of the Red Death's former honor guard.

I found him, his signal emanating from a warehouse district. I made mu way over there from the docks. The Night Fury's residence was close to the local collage, where I had picked up... Something. A blank spot. A part of my radar that was just... Not there.

I couldn't focus on it, though. I needed to win the Night Fury over if there was any chance of saving my people from the monsters they could become on their own if they kept fearing their former race.

Upon locating the Night Fury's den, I was underwhelmed by the outside. A simple grey metal warehouse was not the place one would think would house the deadliest dragon of all. But then again, that was the point, wasn't it.

Entering this place uninvited would be a very foolish thing to do, if I were not me. Hut aI was me, so it was less of a foolish thing to do. The door creaked open rustily as I pushed it with a weathered hand, and inside I saw the young dragon resting on the carpet, wings splayed out at his sides.

"Night Fury?" I asked, making my presence known, and his head shot up, ears perking straight towards the ceiling like a dog. He whipped his head around to me, and his round pupils dilated. His mouth opened and his teeth emerged from their rather clever hiding spot with a pop.

"I mean no harm to you... Hiccup," I said, remembering the name the Wooly Howl had told me. I held my hands up in a show of peace, walking in slowly. Hiccup got up, to his paws. His back as arched like a cat's when it's angry, wings folded tightly at his sides. His ears were no longer puppy like, put pinned back and sharp looking, and his tail was held up ready to swing at me if I made a wrong move.

He was an impressive one.

**"Who are you?"** He snarled shortly, the sentence taking up only a single aggressive bark in dragonese. I backed away from his ebony maw and kept my hands in the air.

"A friend," I answered shortly. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to online this conversation with a human face to talk to. It's been so long since. I had one of those."

He snarled louder, pacing a bit on bounding paws, before sharing his head with a vibrating hiss and snorting loudly to indicate he minded very much. He wanted to hold all the cards, be the one in power.

"I mean no harm to you," I tried to placate him.

"Just because you mean no harm doesn't mean your not a threat," he growled back. Smart lad.

"My boy, I'm not here to talk to the Night Fury. I'm here to talk to a person called Hiccup. Now you and I both know that those two are very different entities," I began.

**"How so?"**

"Because Hiccup was a person who had no say on a big change in his life. He's a lost soul, like most dragons are. But the Night Fury? That's the design of a cold blooded killer. The Red Death's second in command and assassin."

My words seemed to have a profound effect on the boy. His enormous acidic eyes shot open to as far as they could go. His wings went from poised and intimidating to dropping to the ground in shock. His rear landed with a heavy thump.

I folded my arms behind my back and smiled a bit. "So, are you listening now. If so, go back to human form, if you would. I have something of a gift for you."

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

Drago had won.

Dozens of men were constantly on guard, ready to blow me to pieces should I try and change form. Multiple chains were attached to cuffs around my arms, wrists, ankles, waist and neck. Clamps immobilized my tail to the ship's deck tightly, and my wings were attached to the ground by their claws.

Drago spared no expense in making sure I was contained for sure. The big man himself was behind me, no doubt smirking in his victory. I had never liked him back when he was one of us. He seemed to out himself above us, above the King. As if any of us would ever willingly follow that Persian nut.

I snorted out a puff of white smoke, shaking my head a bit. My chain rattled loudly with each movement, and I heard Drago shift behind me. "So," I said scaldingly. "Are you going to tell my _why_ I'm needed to find Albert. Given that you swam out there with him, I'd think that you would be the one who knew where he was."

The Bewilderbeast man only chuckled. "No, no. That was something of an accident." His heavy footsteps thudding in the pavement till he was in front if me, his enormous form blocking out the sun so it was hard to see his face.

"You see," he drawled. "When we went out to lure those ships away, it wasn't a simple arctic expedition. It was N.E.S.T, back once again to take us back to the cages." His voice was a low growl as he circled me.

I kept in my kneeling position, but bowed my head, shutting my eyes, trying to preserve my dignity. The sheer coldness of his presence was like ice in my spine. But I wasn't going to let him see me shiver.

"When we discovered the invader's true identities, I urged Albert to destroy them. Battleships and cannons are like houses of cards and spitballs to a Bewilderbeast. And two Bewilderbeasts could have easily crushed them."

"So what went wrong?" I muttered.

"Well that's just it," he responded. "He didn't attack. He didn't attack the N.E.S.T. ships. He just kept swimming. Went right under them, not even bothering to try and take them. Away he went, into the deep blue beyond. I haven't seen him since." I scowled, my eyes still closed.

"No," I said, my voice hard and determined, but admittedly inflected with worry. "That's just another lie. You are almost incapable of doing anything else anymore, aren't you? You say that the King just ran away? Then what about you?"

"Oh, Valka," he growled, amused, and I flinched at the use of my real name. My wings shivered and I gritted my teeth. My tail twitched in its bindings and I shifted. He noticed my discomfort and smirked. Probably. He was behind me, so I couldn't really say for sure.

"So," he said. "Still uncomfortable about that name, Cloudjumper? Or maybe you don't like the life that woman was supposed to create."

"So what if I had a stillborn child!" I snapped. "I never got a chance to mourn him! I was knocked out and turned into a mindless drone before I even got to shed a tear for my son!"

"You believed the nonsense they told you?!" Drago asked incredulously, and this time O moved to actively turn and face him.

I looked at him with a scowl of supreme and utter hatred on my face, my lips pulled back in a snarl of rage and aggression. "It was the doctors who told me he was stillborn, you slimy, stinking disgusting pile of fu-"

"Don't you know that the old N.E.S.T. had their fingers in almost everything in the city. They were in the business firms, the restaurants, the political offices, schools, oh lots of them in schools. But they were in the hospitals as well."

I looked at him, wondering where he was going with this.

"Every agent was on the lookout for a conversion candidate," he continued. "Always looking for someone miserable enough that they would be converted easily." He began walking around again, then knelt next to me, and whispered in my ear.

"What if I told you... Your son is still alive."

My body froze. I knew I shouldn't be listening to him. He was a lying, backstabbing pile of dung and he would say anything to get what he wanted. I had always known that, but it had at least hoped he wouldn't betray his own people.

But... I could say I hadn't been hoping for something like this. That I hadn't been whisking he were somewhere out there in the human world, living his life... God, he would be twenty by now, wouldn't he? If he had lived, he would be dating, possibly even married. And by being irresponsible, I had taken that away from him.

And it made me hope Drago was doing something he'd never done before: telling the truth.

"I'm listening," I said.

"Good," he growled. "Now, the Alpha loves you like his sister. When he figures out your in danger, he'll come running... With your son in tow."

* * *

Hiccup

I Looked at the skeletal Scotsman in front of me. He knew my name, he knew I was human, he knew everything about me, apparently. He smelled like ice and seawater, very North Atlantic-y. He was very pale and had silvery hair, and spoke with a Scottish accent.

But his face. Man, his face was intensely angry. The eyes just seemed to to almost stick out of the sockets. His slightly wrinkled face was pinched in a permanently cross expression, and... And his eyebrows!

Seriously, they were angrier than the rest if his face. They were freaking attack eyebrows. They just seemed to make the entire texture of his face that much more angry, and made him always seem to be glaring, as if I had done something to offend him.

I stopped looking at his comically cross face and regarded him with suspicion. I padded around, wings held up, ready for take off if needed. I kept scales manifested around the essential bits, and a suspicious look on my face, letting him know full well my guard wasn't down, and I would rip him apart if he tried anything.

The old man trodden over to me.

"Albert King, Alpha Class, Tidal Class, Bewilderbeast. Rank, King, and a whole bunch of other impressive titles you probably do not care about," he said, holding up his hand for a shake.

I flicked a contemptuous ear at him in response and lashed my tail. "Harrison Haddock, Strike Class, Night Fury, no rank," I responded like a good little soldier, a sarcastic bite in my tone at the last two words.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "So, King," I said, making my voice as casually sarcastic as I could.

He raised an attack eyebrow and gave me a dry look.

"...why are you here?"

"Like I said," he continued. "Something of a gift for you. Also, I seem to be smelling an awful lot of girl in here. For someone who's afraid of humans, you seem to have had a lot of one in here."

"And why would that interest you," I snarled with pointed teeth, and the old man rolled his eyes, then scoffed, before turning back to me with a passive glare.

"It matters, because there's still hope for you. You at least trust someone who's fully human, you don't irrationally hide away from anything that doesn't have scales or roar." He sighed and wrung his hands together. "The other, the other dragons," he stated in a deflated voice. "They're afraid too. They think that if they return to humanity, they'd be hated and feared."

"And they're not wrong. Some people are calling me a devil. A monster. A beast."

"But your not," he said simply. "You know that. Your human. Your human where it matters. So what if you have big wings, or you can shoot big explode-y fire out of your mouth. So what if you are modeled after things demonized in religious works?"

My mouth pressed into a thin line.

"All that matters is what you do yourself," he continued, narrowing his eyes. "There is no species wide generalization for dragons. We're not all aggressive. We're not all kind hearted. Some of us are jerks, or fools, or headstrong-"

"Or theatric old men," I interrupted. He responded with a 'really?' Look.

"... Or sarcastic young twits," he finished dryly. "Look, the point is, we're just like them. You can't define 'normal human behavior,' and you can't define 'normal dragon behavior. You got yourself a girlfriend who is human, so why can't the others get along fine with humans and vice versa?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well, for starters-"

"Rhetorical question, fury. But the point is, your not acknowledging your still human, so," he walked closer, and I barked out a snarl.

"Oh, shut up," he groaned. "Your not designed for what I'm about to do. Humans were supposed to be extinct by the time everything was over, so there was no need for a fully human form. But, as an Alpha class, I can activate your emergency protocol."

"Emergency protocaaaaaaaahhh," I said. He had pressed a finger to the back of my neck while he was taking, and rain ripped into my back like an army of knives. A ringing sang in my ears, worse than Sharpshot in the mornings.

I writhed, and fell to my knees of the ground. The clicking sound that accompanied my transformation sounded, but I didn't get paws, or grow many times my size. I didn't change into a Night Fury this time, though my veins tingled like they did when I changed shape.

"It's designed for when you need to go deep, deep undercover," he said calmy, hands folded behind him as the chip in my neck burned. "Very deep, to where hiding your draconic features under hats and coats just won't cut it. It makes your human form, well..."

I lifted my head, and noticed something I couldn't feel my wings or my tail. I wished my arm behind me, and felt around. Instead of a massive mass of muscle tissue, membrane and bone, my hand met clean air.

"More human." He finished, and I looked up at him incredulously. "Hybrid is still default for you," he said, in the options a teacher would use to explain something to his student. "But I figured you'd want this to be an option. It takes some effort to stay this way, and it does have a time limit between uses. But..."

"I-I," I looked at him in shock. I blinked at the man, trying to find my voice, but it seemed to have deserted me.

Then the beautiful realization came to me. I was human again. I could-I could go out in public. I didn't have to hide away, or go out as a humongous black thingy. I-I had free roam of the entire city without Astrid as an escort.

And even better, my relationship with her would improve too. I could take her out on actual dates instead of just romantic flights above the clouds. We could go to dinners instead of ordering out. We could... Even marry now!

"Now listen here, I can take this back from you just as easily, do you understand?" He said, and I nodded. "My conditions are that you have to go rejoin the world, ok?"

Another nod. Anything. Anything to keep this freedom. When I was wounded, the... The week in here was awful. It was like being in the cage. It wasn't so much that I had somewhere to be, but the knowledge that I couldn't leave.

And and my nightmares had only intensified because of it. I began seeing moments from my time here all the time. But the worst was yet to come. I couldn't... I couldn't relive that again.

It might just kill me.

But for now I reveled in what he had done for me. This gift. I could walk outside without fear again. I still feared what they would do to me if they found out. But still... I just smiled up at him. "Thank you. Thank you so, so much."

"it's nothing. If this works out, it'll be a way to lead our people out of hiding." He offered a hand to help me up, and I took it. "Now, you won't be able to use your powers for a bit, not until your time limit expires. It takes time for your body to... Calibrate to the new option. But once it does, you'll snap back to hybrid form."

I nodded. "And what if I'm in public when that happens?"

"Like I said, people are individuals. They can have their own opinions. And as long as you don't believe the ones that say you are a monster, then there's no need to fear them at all. Ok?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He patted me on the shoulder. "Oh, and also," he said. "In a week, if this works out for you, you have to return with me to convince the others to give humankind a chance too. Or else it's back to 24/7 hybrid for you, got it?"

I nodded again.

He turned to leave, but before he did, I called out. "Hey!"

He turned and tilted his head questioningly. Seriously, even that expression was intimidating. This guy was one badass old man. "Thanks, Albert."

"Your welcome," he answered. "Though, to be honest, I never liked that name, it doesn't suit me. I'm thinking about changing my name to Peter. What do you think?"

"Nah," I shook my head. He shook his head, showing at the thought. "Anyway," he said. "I'll be in Central Park for a bit if you want to talk. I've always wanted to go to New York. All the bright lights, the food, Broadway. It's going to be a fun week for me too."

He shrugged and turned back around to leave. I ran to my mirror and looked at myself in it. Instead of long black ear flaps, I had two normal human ones. The space behind me contained only air, and it grinned at it.

I was human again. I could go outside. I was free. And maybe... I could finally move past what N.E.S.T. did to me all those years ago. I lifted my hand to brush my human ears and laughed. "Oh," I said. "Oh, man. Oh man I can't wait to show this to Astrid."

I began to get excited and ran to the wardrobe. The only thing without wing holes was one of Astrid's sweatshirts, but since it was solid blue and I wasn't a lot bigger than she was, it was suitable. I pulled it on and slipped it over my head.

I ran to the door. I hope Astrid's done with class, because I can't wait to share the news!

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I kept my head bowed long after Drago left. I was still conflicted on wether or not he was telling the truth about my son, or if he was just trying to get me to cooperate.

It didn't matter.

I wasn't going to help him find the King. Not on my life!

But I didn't need to, did I? I was basically shark bait. Spill a little blood, dangle where the prey could see and smell it and... Vola. Instantly, they come running. And apparently, so would my may-or-may-not-exist son.

I didn't know if I was going to bite, but I sure wasn't letting Albert.

I needed to get out of here.

I had kept my position of looking at the ground for hours, refusing to acknowledge my captor's existence. I shifted my wings a bit from time to time, but that was the only movement I made... That they could see. I was blowing heated air into the chain bound to the collar around my neck. It had gone a little red, but wasn't anywhere near ready to be snapped.

And when it did, I could make my escape without fear of the mechanical collar clamping down on my neck and strangling me till I passed out. No, as soon as I got this chain off, I was getting myself out of here.

Because Drago didn't know how strong I really was if he thought he could keep these chains on me. He would never see me bent or broken, and he would never, ever steal my dignity. If anything, I would steal his. I would humiliate him in front of his troops.

And then I'd take a page from the Night Fury's book. I would free he other dragons. All of them. And then we would head North, back home. Once I was sure every single one of my dragons were safe, I'd be headed to where this ship's course was currently set.

I would be going to New York, the temporary home of the Night Fury.


	7. Night's Fall

**Hi guys. Rumbling Night Cutter here. **** Review Replies:**

**halobeast: yes he will be **

**HvislaNott: yup. She will!**

**silverwolves: as enthusiastic as ever. Thank you. :)**

**jlrdsr: thank you**

**JediKnightMarina: can't wait to see what you come up with. **

**One Bright Light: wow. That was one of the longest reviews you've ever given me. :). Thank you so much. **

**mark251002: he was fine with being a Night Fury, just afraid to walk among humans as a night fury hybrid **

**Shepard: here it is **

**a random person: yup. Imagine him played by Peter Capaldi. **

**SharKohen: thank you**

**Foxmorgorth: Valka. Will. Be. Epic. Like. Uncle. Iroh. I promise. **

**ElvisRules: 4TH AND ROMANA!**

**O.O**

**_Five Years Ago (Three Weeks Post Transformation)_**

_Hiccup shifted on his paws nervously. He was in dragon form, seated upright on his tail, not quite knowing what to do with himself. It was three hours after he defended Heather from the mugger. _

_Three hours since she discovered he was really a dragon. _

_Three hours of torture on his mind. _

_What if they found out? Did they find out? Did they have some freaky live feed of what he was doing via the chips in his brains? Man this was nerve wracking._

_ He needed to get out of there. _

_Unfortunately for him, they had called a... Meeting of sorts. After he had fought against the transformation, he had been placed in N.E.S.T.'s equivalent to the black ops. The strongest and smartest gathered and converted. _

_The other trainees were in a row on either side of him. Merida was too his right. Her scales were bright and shiny, her eyes bright and clear. The Whispering Death was considerably smaller and happier looking than she would be in the future, fighting he Night Fury and the Skrill under New York. _

_Punzie was to his left. The Fireworm Queen fiddled with her first few sets of paws. She was clearly longing to be in human form, but meetings like this required everyone to be in dragon form. _

_There were others in the row of powerhouse young dragons. Jack, Groncicle, top of the class, ice spreading wherever he went and personally, he scared the pee out of Hiccup. Their spars were chaotic and terrifying._

_A clean, young, Dagur. Only on the outer reaches of the insanity that would come. _

_Elsa, Jack's girlfriend. Hiccup hadn't taken much interest in what she was, but he knew she was some type of powerful ice dragon. She always seemed to be in the verge of some kind of emotional breakdown, though._

_And others. Lots and lots of others. The strongest dragons of the N.E.S.T. And their master was before them. _

_One of the Queen's lackeys, a minor Death dragon. Furious, the Crimson Death. He looked down the row of recruits in front of him in human form, a young man with spikes orange hair, vibrant blue eyes, and an air of dangerous instability to him. _

_"So," he said, his voice sending shivers down the assembled dragons' spines."I bet your all wondering why your here today, aren't you?" Some nodded, others let out little trills, grunts or roars of affirmation. _

_All avoided eye contact with Furious._

_Their commander was anything but kind and caring. He took great pleasure in punishing the trainees, as Hiccup had learned upon failing to fly three times in a row. _

_The Death dragon was also perfectly willing to kill anyone that made him angry. There used to be a few more, but they were stupid, showed too much back talk for their own good. To be fair, their example was probably the only reason why Hiccup was still alive. _

_He had learned quickly. In most of nest, all were kept. But in the elite dragon world, only the strong can belong, or survive for that matter. Hiccup watched the man with slitted pupils as he strolled by, acting the part of the good little puppet. _

_He didn't want to be a part of N.E.S.T. anymore, he didn't want to be there. He had been here for three incredibly maximized weeks, and he still didn't know what was going on. He had no clue why he kept having the urge to find this blond girl, he didn't know why his role had been transferred so quickly when he transformed from drone dragon to elite dragon, and he didn't know who he was. He just had the name Henrik to go on, and it didn't seem familiar at all. _

_Thats why he was going to run with Heather. He cared about her, and he didn't want to know what would happen to any human who found him out. He had met her earlier after apprehending a candidate for conversion, Hiro Hamada. Things had gotten a little messy, however, resulting in Hiro getting slightly hurt. _

_That was why he had blood on him when he met up with Heather. _

_But he had revealed his secret to Heather, then immediately got called into a meeting of recruits. _

_"It's a good question," Furious said. "Very... Objective. But you don't have to wonder any longer. I'll tell you." He got to the end of end of the row and rounded on his heel, coming back to pass the dragons again. _

_"One of you has failed our species. One of you has made a very grave mistake. A very, very grave mistake indeed." He passed Hiccup again, soul-piercing eyes cutting into the Night Fury worse than any blade or gun._

_"You have made our existence privy to the species that stabbed us all in the back. The ones that gave Merida no choice in her life," Merida hissed and narrowed her eyes. _

_"The ones that took Rapunel away from her parents to be raised by a psychopath."_

_The Fireworm Queen lowered her head in sadness. If she had tear ducts in this form, her eyes would have been watering with grief. _

_"That left Jack alone in the world, Elsa in fear for her life, all of you, suffering!" He said, and the dragons started to grow restless, some nervous and some angry. "The people that made our young Henrik here nearly commit suicide. The species that every dragon fears." _

_He stopped pacing. __That's right, someone let a human know of us. Now,__ I know who the sinner is. I really should kill him," Hiccup sucked in a smoke ring by accident and coughed, drawing a few people's attention to him, but most of the reptiles in the room were focused on Furious. _

_Humans had been demonized in their minds, way beyond rationality. Hiccup himself had a clearer mind than most, so he gave most of his former species the benefit of the doubt. But that benefit might have just gotten him killed. _

_He fought the panic in his throat, the urge to run, quelled the trembling in his wings and tail and forced himself to stay calm until he saw a way out. He was surrounded by N.E.S.T. loyalists. _

_They were his friends, but they wouldn't take his side. _

_"But," Furious continued. "I'll give him a chance at redemption he can fess up to his crime, and I might not give him the death penalty. But..." He looked at the assembled. "If he doesn't, he will die," he said in a matter of fact tone. _

_Hiccup was trembling now. "Oh, but I bet your wondering why he wouldn't just fess up," he said like a lecturer teaching a class. "Well, maybe this little human is is 'friend'." He made air quotes, then shrugged mockingly. "Maybe he has a hero complex. But he doesn't know what well do to her if he fesses up, now does he?!" His voice got angry, and all the male dragons flinched, the females relived by the 'he' meaning they weren't under suspicion. _

_Hiccup looked around at his fellows. He was trapped, completely and utterly trapped. Not even a Night Fury could take on a dozen if the best and brightest young dragons. if he clammed up, he would die... But what would they do to Heather if he fessed up about it?_

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I was still kneeling, but now my legs were pressed against my belly as I waited and waited for a chance to make my move. It was only a matter of time now. All around me, there were armed guards. They hoisted guns that would pierce the hide of my dragon form as if it were made of water.

They didn't stand a chance.

My wings shuddered and my chains rattled, and that caught some of the guards' attention. He edged forward, the barrel of his gun pointed straight at my head. My hair had fallen over my face, so they couldn't see my skin. They didn't see what I had done.

Years ago, I discovered how to consciously grow my scales in human form. It was very similar to transforming, but it was like using only a little of it at one. Time. And I also discovered that I could layer them, grow them one on top of the other.

It was a very painful, excruciating process, like pulls out massive fingernails from all over my body. I had been there over a week, choking on whispered and screams of pain that threatened to betray what I was doing.

But I endured. I was doing this as both a mother, and a leader. I needed to get out of this. I needed to find the Night Fury. My hopes that any of the dragons may have escaped or survived was dashed this past week, as each and every dragon on the other boats had been brought to my attention.

Thornado was in a net with a badly mangled wing. Hookfang was tied and trussed up, hanging from the deck of a smaller ship like a trophy, barely alive. Barf and Belch were missing, and quite possibly dead. Odysseus was trapped in a cage and couldn't get out, the same kind of cage they used to contain the Night Fury.

What chance did a Woolly Howl have against a containment unit not even that dragon could escape from?

Non at all. Meanwhile, I was here, shackled and useless... Fro the time being. I would get out of here, I would find the Night Fury... And I would kick Drago in the crotch for doing this, then put him in a cage!

"What are you doing?" The guard asked,poking me with his gun. My wings shivered, not in pain this time, but in anger as I was demented to a prisoner to be poked and prodded at will.

"I'm... Hungry," I grunted, trying to think of an excuse. My scale armor was almost done, and the chain was nearly melted. I just needed a little more time to finish this, I needed some time to finish up.

"There's food in front of you," the guard grunted, gesturing to the bowl of... Whatever in front of me. I snarled in reply and blasted it with a small torus of fire, knocking it away and off the deck. A few seconds passed, and there was a small plop as it hit the water below.

"You don't get to choose your food," he said dryly. "Not until you agree to help he Drago's lure. You know this."

"And I also know this," I growled. "I'm never helping Drago, and I'm never betraying the King. And Drago made his biggest mistake ever when he told me my baby was still alive, do you know why you ignorant man?" He shook his head. "Because before he said that, I was just obligated to escape as a leader, to leave and find a way to free my people. But now I have another reason to get out of here, and that's because I'm apparently still a mother... I'm fighting to get back to my child and make up for twenty years of absence while he suffered and was changed, just like I was."

I finally looked up at him through a curtain of my chocolate hair. My eyes were yellow and slit pupiled, and he flinched backward. I suddenly raised my primary wings and thrust them forwards as hard as my could, the chains stopping the hooked claws on the top joints just short of the guard's helmet.

He screamed a bit and backed up as I strained against the chains. "I'm going to throw you and every one of your coworkers, do you understand me?" I asked in a perfectly clam voice. He shook and nodded, but leveled his gun at my face, which was still hidden by a curtain of my hair.

"Mr. Bludvist said to kill you of you cause trouble," he said, and I growled.

"And I'd like to see you try," I snarled, and continued straining my wings against the bonds. I was ready. I was ready to get out of here. The chain was paper thin and my scales were sufficient enough to keep my skin from behind burst open by their ballistics.

It was really heavy, but I only needed a few minuets to escape. "We have you out numbered, twenty men to one," he said, and I scoffed. My wings were almost thought the chains. They groaned in protest to the strain on them. Apparently Drago underestimated how strong I was.

His mistake.

"Since when does that matter to a leader and a mother determined to make things right," I hissed. "I don't care if there's one hundred of you on this ship and I need to fight every one of you to get out of her, I'l take each and every singe one of you on!"

With that the bolts connecting my wing chains to the ground snapped out of the concrete of the deck. I looked down at the one connecting to the collar around my neck and sent a small fire blast at it, melting through the last of it in an instant.

I stood and hooked my free wings into the cuffs of my secondary wings and snapped them easily. The gun raise his gun to fire and shot me in the head. The ballistics penetrated my first set of scales, but stopped short of the second one.

I roared and sent a blast of fire at him, hitting the unfortunate guard square in the chest. He flew backwards, tumbling over the edge like the bowl of slop they had tried to feed me.

His fellows opened fire and I put another ring of fire around myself, snarling and growling like a mad animal as I did so, and they all were disorientated by my sudden burst from inactivity to this.

Using my bough time, I hooked the claws of both sets of wings into the cuffs on my arms and wrists. With little effort, I snapped them with the large claws like they were nothing.i rubbed my now free wrists and looked at my ankles.

With a short puff of breath, I sent another scarlet tornado at the restroants and softened them to the point where I they were easier to break. I crouched down and began to tug at them with fevered force. They were softened, but still very much strong. Stronger than the ones on my arms for some reason.

Before I could, a shot landed next to me and I looked up. The guards had recovered from my disorientation tactic, and were now trying to shoot me through the fire. I snarled and tugged harder at the cuffs.

Panther bullet bounced off the ground near me, and then another. Finally one landed in the back of my hand, shattering the first layer of scales on it and making me hiss in pain, and I whipped my hand from side to side a few times to numb the pain.

With a shake of my head, I twisted my body to plunge the claws of my secondary wings into the cuffs. They broke with a loud snap, and I popped my stiff joints. Man, staking still for a week left you pretty stiff. But it didn't matter, the only thing left. To take care if before I could change form was the collar, and to get the guards out of the way.

I dashed to the border of my ring of fire and leapt through it on all fours, barreling into two of the men. I plunged the claws of my primary wings into their shoulders and slammed them against each other, then yelled loudly as I heard another one behind me.

I picked up one of the fallen warriors' guns and turned, smacking the newcomer across the face with it. It cracked his teeth and sent him into the ground like a rag doll. I tossed the weapon aside and tugged at my collar. No sense of having it on.

A gunshot exploded against the scales of my back, makeing me stagger forward and flinch a bit. My tail swished across the ground and I turned, spreading my wings open with a savage yell.

The man who shot my backed up as I ran forward, but it was to no avail as I grabbed him by the back of the shirt and slammed him into the ground with a loud thud. I heard cartilage crack the man groaned. I tossed him to the sides, and he landed on one of the gunning platforms under the deck.

More and more soldiers continued to flood onto the deck, and I finally got the collar off with a loud snap, using my hands and all four claws to tug it away. With that much working at it, the thing crumbled like aluminum.

I roared now completely free of my bonds, and I ran straight through the fire, taking up and battle stance as more enemies joined my on deck, weapons aimed straight for me, the red dots of their aiming lasers flitting over my clothes and scales.

I snarled once again, and growled, "Send how ever many you want at me," I yelled at the non-present Drago, more for my own sake than anything. I regrew my crown of horns and my spine popped as the spikes of my dragon from pushed their way out of my back, some crooked and uneven from the forced growth.

Here I was, an amalgam of woman and dragon, a partially shattered layer of scales and no backup, no plan. But there was something else I didn't have: the willingness to give up. I was going to get out of here... Or die, simple as that.

If the Night Fury could take on the Red Death, then I could defeat these simple men!

I roared again, fire in my eyes as I yelled, "I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!" And with that, I rushed the line of men I front of me as they opened fire.

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I was in quite pleasant spirits as I entered the warehouse. I had just returned from a few hours as a normal human being.

Maybe Albert had a point in all of this... Maybe it was a good thing to be human again. But five years of fear and anger doesn't go away in an instant, I was still resentful towards the human race... But I was ready to start forgiving them.

I was ready to start retrying to rejoin the world, if only a little bit at a time. And I would do it with the girl I loved right beside me, as it should be. I smiled to myself a bit as I shrugged of her blue hoodie and hung it on one of the support beams as I walked past it, my prosthetic thumping against the soft carpet as I moved and I looked at myself in the mirror.

Definitely a bit smaller looking without the wings and tail, but my back was a little relived to be rid of the constant burden for a bit. And I was glad of my use of the time this new... Stealth mode, I guess I could call it, had given me.

I reached back for the hoodie and retrieved the item inside its pocket. A small velvet box. I smiled and opened it. The little container revealed its contents with a little pop. Inside was a small black ring, intricately designed on the sides with little patterns on the side, with little lines of gold laced inside the carvings, and a large dark blue clutched on the top of it.

An engagement ring.

I smiled wryly and closed it with a pop. Pond of the perks to this 'Human' thing, was that when I went outside it didn't have to be as a big black dragon that has sworn to protect her with his life, I could go outside as a doting boyfriend who could take her out to actual dinners and dates and stuff, instead of the romantic flights we had always done before and the picnics in beautiful but hard to reach places that I could reach easily with my, um 'privileged mobility.'

I hoped that this integration process would run its course soon, though. I wanted nothing more than to take Astrid on a flight tonight after I proposed to her.

And then it hit me: I was proposing to Astrid. I could... I could be with her forever now. With this wing situation out of the way, I could be her husband in public, bit just her ride/bodyguard. It was a surreal thought.

But one I would be happy to accept as real. I climbed one of the support beams to get to the invention platform where I kept most of my work. It looked like an average machinery laboratory up there, a computer of my own design on a metal table surrounded by ragged limbs of machinery.

I hauled myself to the top. Getting up there was a lot harder without my wings, but they would be back soon. I smiled as I made my way up to the top and plopped the ring box on the table and leaned against the beam I had climbed up.

Life was good at that point. There wasn't a lot else I could ask for. Superpowers, a loving girlfriend, my father back at home proud of me, with three little dragons that looked at me like a father who was so proud of me he referred to me as the 'pride of Berk.'

How did I get so lucky? And how could I get any luckier? I let my had roll backwards, just enjoying how good I felt at that moment, how unstoppable I was feeling, how much I thought the world had stopped screwing me over and started giving me something back.

And I was such a fool.

At that, something broke through the window and stabbed into my shoulder. I yelled in pain, and fell off the platform, landing on the couch under it with a loud thump.

"Gah!" I yelled, and looked a my arm. There was a large black and green spike sticking out it, and I hissed in pain as I tried to pull it out, only succeeding in making pain shoot up my nerves.

"What the-what is this?" I yelled, and clutched at the penetrating would with a vice like grip, trying to tug it out as hard as I could. I don't know why I persisted, because each tug was like thousands of spears racing through my bloodstream.

The roof above me groaned, and I looked up to see a gain set of claws tearing it open. It succeeded with easy ripping away the roof like it was made of a child's play-dough. The dragon attacking me hopped inside with a loud thump.

"How is that-" I groaned, trying to get up, but the pain in my shoulder crippled me from moving very far. I hissed and fell back against my couch,nursing time dull it. "How's this possible?"

Before me was a large, birdlike dragon. Astrid had drawn it for me once, she said it was the dragon she was supposed to be turned into. She was supposed to be the first and best of its kind. A Deadly Nadder. But instead if the beautiful blue and yellow she would have been reborn with, this Nadder was predominantly black with purple splotches in her wings and a violet underbelly. The tips of her spikes were acidic green, the same as the projectile impaled in my upper arm.

"Nadders aren't supposed to exist... The first one escaped before being converted!" The Nadder squawked indignantly, her tail spikes rising and falling a bit, before she did something that really surprised me.

She started to transform, shrinking down into a semi-human hybrid form, like I usually was. She had a very feminine body, with a long spiky tail stretching behind her and curling a bit. A pair of large Nadder wings stretched from her back. She wore a large black shirt and green jacket, hood pulled low over her eyes.

I groaned in pain, clutching my arm. "Look at this," she purred, her silky voice thick with sadistic amusement. "The Night Fury, in pain and dumbstruck by the sight of a Nadder."

Her lips turned up in a said tic smile and I but back a yell of pain as she flicked her tail and sent another spike into my prosthetic, making the feedback from the sudden break in the circuitry shoot up into my shortened limb.

"Hiccup Haddock," she said with a solemn tone. "You have proven yourself contradictory to N.E.S.T.'s goal. And thus," she raised her tail for another spike shot, and I pushed myself up with my uninsured arm, the black scales surfacing on my skin. My throat glowed brightly as I readied a plasma blast.

But she reached up and pulled back her hood. The plasma died in my throat, and I let out a little gasp of shock, the icy feeling shooting into my veins and freezing me up. The pain in my shoulder and leg were forgotten as I openly gapped at the intruder.

My wings and tail were returning, I could feel them busing in my back and waist, but I was too dumbstruck to care. I shook my head and blinked. The Nadder was one thing, but this... This was too much. I was dreaming, or hallucinating.

It wasn't possible.

"You are a loose end," she continued, and I felt sick to my stomach as her spikes quivered. "And of no further use. You have lived your last day on Earth." And which that, she shot another spike, straight into my gut with a loud squelch.

As soon as the spike entered, pain seared through me. I clenched my teeth as a rush of images flooded my eyes. I saw my dad when I was little, looking at me somewhat kindly while I begged him to play with me. I saw Snotlout pinning me down and giving me my first scar on my back. I saw my Dad taking a picture of me when we first went it Egypt, my time running from N.E.S.T., my leg being sawed off, my first meeting of Astrid when I saved her form the fire, her laughing at me for being two inches shorter than her, her saving me during our first flight together, then again when I battled Alvin the Screaming Death.

I saw Dad's socked face when he found me in Astrdi's room after a year of thinking I was deceased.

I saw Myself playing with Sharpshot, Nightmare and Veil.

I saw myself waking up after Astrid was kidnapped and then going after her. I relived our battle with the Red Death, finding Jack, Merida and Punzie in her room, our first Christmas together when Astrid officially claimed me as her boyfriend in front of Gobber and Dad, much to their amusement.

And I relived all our adventures over the five years we had together. I was proud of my life, yet scared of what had just happened, so very terrified of the here and now. I choked, and clutched at the spike now impaled in my belly, and looked at my attacker.

She smirked at me. It was like seeing a ghost that smirk. She was supposed to be very, very dead that woman. I watched her die. I buried her in the New York cemetery with tears. Yet here she was, a Nadder, and killing me.

With that I hissed in pain and blacked out.

* * *

**_Albert King_**

I reclined against the Central Park bench, hands folded across my stomach. My scales itched to be free, but that, that would be a disaster of epic proportions. A Bewilderbeast stoking across the grey slopes of New York was a bit to 'Godzilla' for me, don't you think.

Hopefully Hiccup would find the human world more hospitable than he ever expected. After all, all dragon kind depended in his depiction. His defeat if the Red Death had made him almost a biblical figure in their eyes.

He could do no wrong to them. He was like a hero. And if the hero said it was ok to rejoin the humans, then who were they to disagree. If he was the public voice of my opinion, anything could happen.

It was like politics for dragons. All I needed was a compelling argument, and a convincing face behind my cause. After that, I'd have the masses eating out of my hand, and I know that it might seem a little cruel and manipulative, but it was really for their own good

It was an overcast day in New York, making the already grey city even grayer. I found it hard to relax, as if something very very wrong had just happened. It wasn't just a feeling, it was like a pain in my chest.

I got up from my place on the park bend and took a deep breath, and sent out my reader again. On it was the partial dragon girl, the blond one with the temper. Then there was that fool Eret, who worked for Drago.

The British Rumblehorn had recently tried to abandon life as Drago's personal track-and-smash, and was doing it quite well-until I had found him. I put him under the false impression that his master was mine, and thus, flooded the almighty fear of God into the man.

He spilled everything, including some stuff I was a happier dragon king not to know. But he apparently noticed something off about Astrid (aside from the fact she arrived Astrid a black dragon with red racing paint and a disk like for crowds), and had been keeping tabs on them. A little more fear earned me directions to where to find Hiccup's home in exchange for me not telling Drago where he was. The first dragon to embrace human life, even like it.

But Hiccup's signal... Hiccup's was right coinciding with the blank spot in my radar. He was right on top of the nothing, the place were me reader just couldn't see. That was worrying. I got to my feet and looked around, taking a deep intake of the air around me.

I could smell the scent of a Partial Nadder, a Rumblehorn, the Night Fury, and... Oh no! I began taking off, sprinting as fast as I could. This was not good. Not good at all. If that was here... Then my entire plan was about to go up in smoke.

I ran out of Central Park towards the warehouse district where Hiccup lived his lonesome existence... Or lived, praying all the while that I was wrong, that I was horribly incorrect and my reader was broken, because Hiccup wouldn't have a chance if I was right.

* * *

**_Astrid_**

I leaned against the desk of my lecture class, yawning boredly. It was waaaaaay to late for this, but it's not like I could leave just because I was bored. I had just settled it with the dean that I was gonna move out today, but it seemed like the classes had decided to be extra long so I had to wait to tell Hiccup the good news.

The teacher droned on and on, and I couldn't stand how long it was taking. I couldn't stand how quiet it was with only the teacher talking, and the other students' pencils scribbling or keyboards typing.

I bit my lip and looked at my paper. It was a hybrid if notes and doodles. Some were of my pet, Stormfly, a Great Grey. Owl Hiccup had gotten me for our first Christmas together. She wasn't very affectionate, but she lived around the Haddock House and made frequent enough visits to her cage in my room that she was definitely a pet.

Some of the other doodles were of Hiccup's Night Fury form in different positions. Flying, fighting, lunging, snarling, giving me his puppy dog eyes, or sleeping with his tail in front of his face.

I tuned out the teacher once again and focused on another doodle, Hiccup's pet snake, Toothless. He and I didn't always get along, differing greatly from the other obsidian reptile in my life by sometimes going out of her slithery little way to push my buttons or piss me off.

I added him to a little family portrait I had been drawing. Hiccup was in dragon form, laying down, head facing the viewer with big, kind eyes. Stoick was behind him, looking at his son with proud, shining eyes. I had drawn Gobber poking out from behind Hiccup's partially unfolded wing wing, giving the viewer a large thumbs up with his fake-toothed smile. Sharpshot was curled in a ball on Hiccup's neck, while his little sisters Nightmare and Veil sat on his wings.

And me? I had out myself sitting cross-legged next to him, leaning against his side, a satisfied smile on my face. I didn't immagine myself like this five years ago, with this big a family, or this odd of one ether.

But I sure am glad I got it

I swept the paper into my bag as class ended, and pulled out my phone.

**1 Text From HHH3NF**, the screen read when I pushed the on button, and I unlocked my phone. I smiled to myself. Just the guy I was wanting to hear from. I pressed the Text app icon and the screen loaded up.

My heart went cold when I saw the message, though. It read "Come home now, very serious, very urgent." Dread pooled inside of me at that.

He never sent that kind if text unless he was in danger.

He never outright told me to come home unless something was very wrong, and even then, he would usually just fly out here and tell me himself. He would just snatch me from the ground, disregarding whatever I was doing because he needed my help.

Land if he wasn't... That meant he was in trouble. With wide, scared eyes I shouldered my bag and dashed for the door. Tuffnut nearly got in my way, but I shoved him out of it, the male Thorsten being thrown to the side with a loud yell as I sprinted out of the collage campus.

What had happened? Was he all right? Was he in trouble? The questions raced through my mind as I practically flew across the pavement, barreling over strangers who yelled and cleared a path for me, a few shouting angrily at me for knocking them over.

I sprinted towards the warehouse district and forced my way inside, going right for Hiccup's home. My forehead was coated in sweat by the time I got there, and my breasting burned in my chest. I hadn't even stopped running on my way over here.

Something just told me that there was something very very wrong, and that I needed to be there. My breath caught as I saw that the window was shattered into a million peices form the outside, and the roof was bend and cut open.

What the hell had happened? The door was already unlocked, looking like it had been forced open, so I rammed my way inside, and looked around. "Hiccup?" I called. "I got your text. Wh-" I stopped to gulp down breath. "What's wrong, Babe?"

I looked around. The couch was vacant, but drenched in blood, the remains of his red prosthetic laying splintered all over the carpet. I bit my lip. Prosthetic destroyed: bad sign.

Blood-soaked furniture? Worse sign.

"Are you hurt," I called. "Don't worry, I'll-I'll help you get patched up."

"No," a thick Scottish accent said from Hiccup's work platform. I looked up. Amid the machinery was an old man with cross eyebrows and a shock of white hair. He was wearing a white suit that made him look oddly snow themed, and he was holding something in his hand.

Something that smelled a lot like Hiccup's blood. The smell of blood and plasma, I had caught it so many times when fixing him up that I knew it anywhere. My chest felt a sudden hard pressure, and my throat felt clogged.

In his had was a bloody Nadder spike. Not like the ones I fired, though. This one was barbed, as if meant to cause pain instead of just being a weapon. "I'm sorry, Astrid," he said. "But I don't think you'll ever be fixing Hiccup back up again."

"What's going on," I said, willing my voice not to tremble. It's a battle I won easily, my voice sounding angry instead of frightened. "What are you doing in Hiccup's house?!" I clenched my fists, listing my spikes manifest easily. My belly burned as magnisium flame lit inside me.

"I came here becuse I felt something that shouldn't have happened." He looked at the spike in his hand. "Did you know that N.E.S.T. used two class system. One was Tidal, Strike, Stoker, all that. But there were also classes that determined what they were best at, and they were slightly modified to fit that purpose, each draogn a little bit custom."

He fingered the bloody tip of the spike. "Hiccup said he had no Rank Class, but he was wrong. He was an Speartip class. He was meant to be the one in the army that led the charge, braking their ranks with a big plasma blast."

He sighed and put the spike down. "But you my dear, you were almost a Valkyrie Class Nadder, the one who chits specific targets on the battlefield, the one who decided who lived and who died."

I glared. "What does this have to do with anything?!" I snapped. "Where is Hiccup?!"

"This spike," he continued. "It's from an Assassin Class Nadder." He placed the spike on the table, next to Hiccup's inventions. "It's an Assassin Class tendancy that, if they use a weapon to kill something, they leave it behind to signify that their target had fallen. And then," he sighed. "They... Take the body with them, to give the victim a funeral in their own right instead of letting it rot like most of their targets do."

Dread burned at my insides, and my eyes widened. "Don't say it," I warned. "I'll kill you if you say it. Because you'd just be lying. Nothing can hurt him. I mean, he's a Night Fury."

"He wasn't a few hours ago," the old man replied. "I tried to convince him that human life was safe," he looked at the spike, looking extremly guilty. "He was," he sucked in a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, biting his lip. "He was supposed to convince the other dragons back up North that it was ok to come back, that they didn't have to be afraid anymore but I swear to you, I never, _never_ saw this coming. I didn't even know Nadder's existed yet, much less there being an Assassin class one nearby and locked on him."

I looked from him, to the spike, to the bloody couch. "I'm sorry," the old man sighed.

"But Hiccup Haddock... Is dead."

**See you all soon, maybe **


	8. Post-Mortem

**Hi! RNC here! And did Hiccup actually just... Die? Of assassination?! He survived N.E.S.T., the Red Death, Alvin, Dagur, and everything just to end like that?!**

**Maybe.**

**Review replies:**

**Dragondreamer:I will survive!**

**a random person: You'll see**

**HvislaNott: YESSSSSSSS**

**Silverwolves: calm down!**

**One Bright Light: he might be**

**SharKohen: how do you know?**

**JediKnightMarina: :)**

**supersandman: I am the sneakiest!**

**Halobeast: agreed.**

**Sheppard: (troll face)**

**Guest(1): that could have been a night fury she only thought was Hiccup**

**Jlrdsr: hehe**

**FUN FACT FOR THIS FIC: HICCUP IS BILINGUAL. HIS OTHER LANGUAGE IS KOREAN!**

**_Five Years Ago (Three Weeks Post Transformation)_**

_Hiccup trembled a bit as he looked at Furious. The Death Dragon was smiling like the Joker, as if he was about to hand us out free candy, not kill one of his students for one of the highest sins known to N.E.S.T.- revealing your presance to a human and not bringing them. _

_Hiro was an accident. The guy had become like a brother to him during the past three weeks. They were joking around in his lab... He was teasing Hiro for the crush the boy genius had on Ethel, the genius kid's co workers. They had been messing around, and Hiro had stepped on Hiccup's coat. And accidentaly pulled it off, revealing the giant black wings and powerful tail it hid._

_Hiccup really didn't want to do it. He didn't want to hurt Hiro, but it he had been thinking clearer then when he had rescued Heather, and he had reasoned that it was the lesser of two evils- if he delivered Hiro to N.E.S.T., he could find a way to get him back, rescue him after he made his escape- at least that's what he told himself as he clamped his enormous jaws onyo Hiro's shoulders and left him for N.E.S.T. to find. It was the most shame hesad ever felt, before or after becomeing a dragon._

_And now here he was, about to be executed because he couldn't do it twice in a row, injure Heather too and leave her to the prision cells of the sadistic cult. He didn't want to die. He really didn't want to die._

_"It's simple," Furious said. "If you confess you live. If you don't, you die, but the human you told gets to live. I give you my word. " He held up his hands to show sincerity, a serious look on his face._

_The only good thing that could be said about Furious- he always kept his word. The hellish dragon man had a twisted, perverted and crule code of honor, but even the oldest trainees could vouch for the fact that he kept his promises. _

_Hiccup was silent. EVERYONE in the room was silent, waiting for Furious to go right out and kill somebody. The black dragon tried not to quiver, splitting and unsplitting his spines with a chorus of wet pops as they seperated and merged. Merida hissed at him, and he flicked a contemptuous and preoccupied ear at her. _

_"What?" Furious whined. "No takers? Come on, just open your wings to signify you claim responsibility. Open your wings, Guilty Party, and you get to live!I didn't comply, and the rest were giving him blank looks. _

_His wings shivered, and his blood pounded in his brain, a dramatic sctucco of pulses that sounded like a hunting drum. Every step of Furious's boots was a painful sound to the poor young dragon_

_Furious walked over to his desk. On it was a tray with a syringe, a sloshy blue liquid inside. "As you all know, the Blue solander is a design flaw for us," he said, his voice like a snake's hiss. "Reacts with our system. Kills us over time. But this, Liquid Oliander," he flicked the syringe fondly. "Kills you in ten hours." His grin was sadistic. "Ten hours of agony."_

_The poor Night Fury was terrified. As much as he liked to think he would DIE for Heather, he didn't know if he could do it. It wasn't as simple as just not opening his wings. It felt like his self preservation instict was on overdrive, survival blockingoyt everything else. _

_"What's wrong, Henrik?" Furious asked innocently. "You look cold." He grinned and began approaching the trembling strike class dragon. Hiccup more as teach tap of Furious's shoes against the shiney tile floor was like a cannon shot to his head. _

_He clenched his eyes shut and beached himself for the needle, and this shivering emptiness that came with the blue oleander. That damned thing made dragons feel as if their souls had been sucked out, and that was just proximity to it. What would having it injected directly into his bloodstream do?! _

_Tap- furious got closer. Hiccup clenched hus wings to his sides. _

_'I will die for her,' he prayed to himself. _

_Tap- closer!_

_'I will! I'm loyal! I won't betray Heather! He knows, but she'll be spared if I don't betray her!_

_Tap- now the noise sounded like a boom to him. He could feel the heat from the Death Dragon's body near his large head, and he swallowed, waiting for the painful pinch and the agony of the flower, and then- _

_"Good Job, Henrik." Furious'a hand reseted on the Night Fury's shoulder. Hiccup opened his eyes and glanced around. His wings were splayed wide open. _

_He had confessed. He had saved himself- and thrown Heather to the wolves. He looked at Furious with big, pleading eyes that only a Night Fury could give. _

_Suddenly the door opened, abd Heather was lead inside. When she saw the dragons inside, she gasped. Her eyes widened in shock and fear, abd backed up with the intention of running away. Before she could, though, a pair of guards held her by the shoulders. _

_Hiccup's heart dropped, and he got up. **"Furious,"** he said.** "Don't-DON'T do this."**_

_"Since when do you give the orders?" Furious hissed, and pulled his hand off the scared young dragon. Heather looked at her captors in fear. "If this is about what Henrik did, I-I didn't say anything! I didn't! I promise!" Her voice wasn't fearfully or shrill, no she was a brave girl. But her voice did shake from nerves a bit, as well as confusion _

_One of the guards cocked his gun and began to walk towards her. Hiccup began to bolt towards her, but Furious flicked a hand. "Restrain him!" _

_Before he could get anywhere, Jack tackled him. The Groncicle hit the less experienced dragon __from the side and rammed him into the wall. The Night Fury pushed him off, but the strike class was pinned by all the colective elites fighting to keep him down as the guard approached Heather. _

_He roared in protest as the gun barrel was leveled at her. Hiccup managed to free a paw and tried to claw his way forwards, but it was too late as a series of loud 'BANG's rang through the air. _

_The front of Heather's green top began to turn red, the scarlet spreading in pools across the fabric. She choked, and slowly stopped struggling in the guard's grip. _

_Hiccup went still, and he felt like he might as well have been exposed to the hated flower. _

_Because Heather was dead. And it was because Hiccup Haddock had been too much of a coward to just die like he should have. Furious gestured again, and the dragons released me. I didn't go anywhere, though. I laid on the ground, wings splayed around me. _

_Furious kneeled so he was at eye level with my head and shook his head. "This is what should have been you, pretty boy." He growled with amusement. _

_A low snarl escaped my throat, and I shifted, drawing my wings up to my side and unsheathing my teeth and slitting my pupils. I gave him a look of I barred hatred.** "You will die,"** I said almost calmly. **"You will die very, VERY painfully!"**_

_"Oh, Henrik," he patted my head. "We will all die... Someday." With that the evil dragon man pushed himself up and towards the door. I pushed myself up and flattened my ears like a rabid dog. My claws clenched in anger and. I padded towards Heather's corpse and sniffed it sadly. _

_"**I'm sorry," **I murmured. **"I'm so, so sorry." **I puffed out a ring of smoke and snarled. _

_I would honor my word. I was gonna kill Furious. But I needed to be smart about it. I need to make sure he couldn't kill me to. And I knew just how to start. _

* * *

**_Astrid_**

It was a bleak day on Berk.

Yeeeaaaaahhhhh... Not really. It was a normal day on Berk. The sun was shining, the evergreens were green, people were freezing their asses off, and, oh yeah.

Hiccup was dead. And we didn't even have a body to bury.

It was two days after Hiccup had gone. A lot had happened in that time. I had taken a few weeks leave of NYU due to a 'death in the family.' Well, I wasn't lying. Hiccup was my family. I almost was legitimately family with him, if the ring I found on his table was anything to go by.

I had almost cried when I saw it. I would have said yes. God, I would have said yes. I would have fought bitterly to make sure it went well, even if we couldn't be married in public, but I would have said yes. And according to Old Man Dum-Dum, he was able to turn fully human again. (And couldn't use his powers to defend himself. Great call, Albert!)

Figures. The only time life stopped screwing him over was when it WAS over. He would probably find that ironically funny or something. But I didn't. Because I had to be the one to look at his empty grave earlier that very day, the tool of death in my hands as they put down the tombstone. I held it as they read his eulogy, gripped it as they preformed his funeral.

His secret was out now. Everyone on Berk knew that the famous Night Fury they had been pressing and owing their lives to for the past five years was the scrawny kid who barely got a footnote in the paper when he was presumed dead.

There were well-wishing cards and flowers sent and all that stuff. Snotlout tried to hit on me, saying that now that my boyfriend is dead there's room for 'us.'

Snotlout is no longer walking for the foreseeable future, and the likelihood of parenthood for him had dropped severely. Ruffnut held no sympathy. Her parents had died in the battle of Berk, and she had just smirked at me when they put down the gravestone.

I nearly ran her through with the spike.

Tuffnut tried to be a friend, though. He had given me some poorly worded, but well meaning wishes and even promised to try and get his sister to come around. When I asked him why he didn't blame me for his parents' death, his answer was: "I, uh, I saw Hiccup during the battle," he had said, rubbing his neck. "I mean, they were cool and all, but it was pretty scary, all those fiery reptiles vying to rip me to pieces. One of the straggler dragons was still trying to kill me after the others left, but then, there was the black one. When he made that cool noise he does when he dived, the thing backed off. Even though my mom and da didn't get through it, I'm only talking right now because of him, even if he didn't mean to do it."

I had smiled at him and sent him on his way. Next came Fishlegs. The big guy was tears and sad and depressed all over, everything I would be. He was a crying mess, but he and Hiccup had only been good friends at best. So why wasn't I a sobbing mess over the death of my dragon boy?

I don't know.

And I couldn't think about that for what I was going to do next.

Currently I was standing in the Haddock Household entryway. Toothless's glass enclosure was agape, but the impudent reptile it housed was still inside, curled around one f the thick branches and hissing sadly.

I had my legs crossed in front of Thornado the Sting Ray's tank. The big aquatic life form floated serenely in front me in his tank, the aqua light bathing over me. I twisted the spike in my hands over and over, considering it.

Suddenly I heard the sound if footsteps behind me. I twisted around to see Albert striding in. "Nice hair," he commented. After the funeral, I couldn't bring myself to look in the mirror. I didn't like what I saw in there. I didn't see the strong, confident Astrid I thought I was. I only saw the scared girl that had arrived on Berk five years ago. So, I thought at least not looking like me would help, dying my hair an inky black with a red streak running down my braid. It helped, a little. Gaining distance, and at the same time, keeping him with me in spirit.

I lifted my hand to brush the now short and inky locks behind my ears. "Yeah," I responded in a flat voice. "Blond wasn't working for me anymore... Plus it's kinda appropriate. Black and red was his color scheme. Kinda... Keeps him close a bit."

I sighed and bowed my head, shaking a bit. Albert took long, slow strides behind me, his fancy shoes clopping on the hardwood floors. A fire from the decorative brassier crackled, and Toothless had not ceased hissing. In a house full of noise, why did it still feel so quiet?

"Are you sure he's dead?" I asked, my voice now hoarse and cracking a bit. I wasn't about to cry, but I felt like all the moisture in my throat had been sucked out, leaving me barely able to talk or swallow.

"Yes," he responded, still pacing. "It is custom, for Assassin Class dragons to leave behind only the weapon of death to signify that the warrior had fallen. They... They take he bodies of their victims with them, and cremate them personally. Ensure that there are no survivors. You can't save a pile of ashes."

I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut in. "No, he's not fireproof in human form. So there's no chance he's still alive because of that. Plus, this," he held nodded to the spike in my lap. "It means that the victim was already dead or close to that way when the Assassin removed the body from the warehouse."

He sat next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know that this is hard to hear, but there is little to no possibility other than Hiccup Haddock... Is dead." He looked as if the words pained him to.

I didn't wince. I didn't cry. I didn't throw a fit. I just balled a fist and looked at the spike in my lap. "Astrid?" He asked. "Astrid, are you ok? Astrid?"

"Get out," I muttered. The old man had clearly not been expecting this answer. His cross looking eyebrows shot upwards and his mouth dropped a bit and he looked at me with shock in his eyes. "What?"

"I said," I growled, gripping the spike in my hands. "Get out, before I fillet you like a fish." He spluttered uncomprehendingly, and I stood. "It's your fault he couldn't defend himself!" My voice was deep and growling with rage. "If you hadn't been so focused on returning the dragons to the humans, none of this would have happened!"

I got up, looming over him. "You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you. You just had to try and reunite the species." My tone was dripping with anger and sarcasm. "What the hell do you think this is anyway, some kind of movie? Dragons come home, people accept them and look past the scales and teeth and wings and various built in organic weapons, everybody sings la dee da into the sunset?"

He got up, but I wasn't finished yet. "NO! Because people will be afraid of them. And the natural response to fear is to KILL what your afraid of! If the dragons reveal themselves, then I can tell you what it will be all. Out. War!"

He became angry again, but I shot a burst of flame at his feet to silence him. He jumped away from the sudden display of power, not scared, but... Bewildered. Yes, yes I just used that pun. Don't like? Deal with it.

"But you couldn't let it go could you?! You-you're the reason he's dead. And that wasn't how it was supposed to end for Hiccup. It was NOT what he deserved. He deserved a long, long life. He should have had it, and he probably would have too if not for your meddling."

Suddenly Albert reached out and grabbed me by the arm. "Despite what you seem to believe, the Night Fury was not all powerful. The Nadder would have found a way to kill him, probably my shooting him in his sleep!"

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do," he answered. "And your not the only one cut up about his death, I-"

"Barely knew him," I interrupted. "And I know I'm not the only one upset. Stoick drinking himself into a bottle, and Gobber's not far behind. Even the dumb snake is wallowing, he hasn't eaten since he first smelled this," I thrust the spike out.

"But you know what?" I narrowed my eyes. "I'm not gonna drink my problems away. I'm a woman of action, not pity. I am gonna find out who did this," I glared at the taller, skeletal man. "And then I'm gonna use this to impale them."

His eyes widened again, and I rolled my eyes as he seized me by the shoulders. "Astrid, look at me," I refused, so he grabbed my head and twisted it to face me. "Look at me, Astrid. Killing is not something you want to do. It a line you never come back fro-"

"I've heard it before. Killing kills a part of yourself, blah, blah, blah. But you know what?" Ice blue eyes met aqua ones. "I don't think that part is even alive right now. The way I see it, it's justice, it's icky. And if you don't like it, if you try to stop me, I will put you down!"

His tone was dangerous as his eyes narrowed. "I'd like to see you try."

"Don't make me follow through." I snarled, pushing past him.

He looked at my retreating form with a scowl. "Oh come on you little twit, where are you even going!" I slammed the door as the last syllable was uttered. I still had the spike clenched in my fist, but I stuffed it in my pocket.

Once I slammed the door, I began shaking a bit. I wasn't going to cry, or mope, or wallow in sadness. I was going to take revenge and avenge the death of the one I loved. But... That didn't stop me from feeling like my insides were crumbling to dust and like there was a dam in my chest fighting bitterly to burst.

With a shuddering breath, I rubbed my dry eyes and strolled away from the house. One way or another, I was gonna see Hiccup again... But not before the assassin did.

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I dropped the last guard on the ground, flicking my tail dismissively. Over three quarters of my armor was gone, but ALL of the soldiers had fallen. I let the rest of the armor crumble off and rolled my shoulder, popping my sore muscles and bones.

Multiple bruises peppered my skin and I was hurting all over. I glanced down at myself. Tail: a bit scrapped, a tiny hole in the top fin. Leg: a bit sprained. Wings: in surprisingly good condition. I was all good.

The boat around me was on fire and half demolished. The demolished parts were because if some barrels of fuel I found on board. That fuel had an unfortunate encounter with my fire, and, well... Boom time!

Soldiers were scattered about, in varying conditions of health, and most badly beaten. "Nest," I scoffed, letting my crown and spine spikes sink back under my skin. My teeth changed from dangerous triangular ivory weapons to human rectangular teeth. "They always fail to measure up."

I folded my wings tighter against my back and looked up. There was a tiny dot in the sky, and it was moving in a way that way that suggested that it wasn't a plane or something. But it wasn't a dragon I recognized.

I transformed, my tail now dangling from the edge of the boat as I looked up. I crouched on my secondary and pushed myself into the air, four enormous wings beating the air around me fervently.

Soon enough I broke the cloud cover and unleashed my secondary wings for stabilization as I looked around for the source of interest. I saw nothing until-There! A black and purple bird like dragon, flying at impressive speeds. And clutched in her claws was-wait, was that-was that a body?

Since when did we murder and take the corpses?! I roared and dove, folding all my wings back a bit and putting them in an X position. The air was cut around me as I sped towards my target. I am not a fast dragon, but my dive was quicker than any other I knew of. I got nearer and nearer to the new dragon, and readied my claws to grab at her wings.

Suddenly she squawked and whirled around, and a large burst of magnesium fire burst out out of her mouth. I made a small roar and beat my wings to fly over it, banking as she sent another one.

I growled, and made a beeline for the parrot-like reptile, and she narrowed her eyes and her tail erupted into a thicket of spikes. Before she launched her attack, however, I saw what was in her claws.

A body, definitely a body. Male, slightly built-with an enormous hole in the middle of his torso. He was cold looking and pale, his skin nearly as white as a sheet-and he had two enormous black wings hanging from his back.

I snapped my wings open to hover, and stared at her in shock. I didn't want to consider the possibility of what I was saying. Black dragons were few and far between, and most of them had relatively small wingspans.

But the Night Fury... He's supposed to be pitch black and equipped with enormous wings, isn't he? I swallowed a lump in my throat. The Night Fury... Dead? There was little to know doubt that what was clutched in the claws of this dragon was post-mortem.

But if it was the Night Fury... If it was _Hiccup_... I had lost my baby before I had even met him a second time over! The possibility boiled like a lake of magma in my belly, and little fire leaked out from between my teeth. I snarled, and began to charge, but the new dragon had taken advantage of my moment of hesitation.

A spike ripped through the membrane of my left secondary wing, and pain exploded into the limb like a virus. I roared in pain, and began spinning out of control as the dragon rammed me with the horn on her nose.

I spun out of control, before I managed to fold my secondary wings in. I regained stability, but lost a lot of manuverability. With my senses also workin in full gear, I opened my moth and sent out a burst of fire that his her center chest.

She squawked and was thrown backwards by the blast, tumbling a few feet down before flapping her wings hard enough to get lift.

She was hindered by her burden though. Her claws slipped a few times, trying not to let the deceased boy fall and go splat against the ground. I used hat to my advantage, going in for a strike during one such fumble. The new dragon shriked in shock as I rammed full force into her, my claws tearing into her back.

She twisted and sank her long, jagged teeth into my upper right leg. I roared in surprise and pain, before shaking her off and slamming her away with my tail. She spiraled down waste, before I rammed her again. She was ready this time thou, her tail spikes making a reappearence as the tore into my side, right unde the membrane of my uninsured secondary wing.

She shifted her ghoulish burden to one law and slashed at the air with the other. I released another bust of fire and it hit her in the side of the head.

I smirked. I had to her right where I wanted her. There was now way she could escape as I went for her in a steep dive, mpth smoking and claws read for mutilation- until we broke the cloud cover.

Because as soon as the fluffy white layer parted, I saw something I didn't expect or want to see ever again. A gigantic island, a sprawling city spread across it, as well as multiple forested areas. A mountain jutted up from the middle, the top slightly broken.

It was Berk.

I gave a loud sound of surprise and, due to the distraction, compleatly overshot the other dragon. I tried to swivel in the air, but without my secondaries to aid me it sent me into a panicked spin.

Attempt at control was useless. I managed to catch a glimpse of the dragon flying away as fast as she seemingly could go. I flailed, trying to persue, but the air wouldn't catch in my wings, I was too disoriented, too unbalanced to get into the air effectively.

When I finally managed to level out by snapping y wings open right before I hit the water, she was long gone. My wounded wing and flesh were bleeding badly, and it was getting hard to stay aloft on only two wings. How the heck do other dragons manage it? It's miserable!

I managed to angle what had now decayed from a flight to a glide and manuver towards Berk. Bad history there or not, it was either there or join the fishes soon. I landed on Berk's dock roughly, tearing up a bit of it when my claws were snagged. I stumbled, my wounded secondary stil clenched tightly to my side, so I had no frontal support.

My head it the ground with an enormous thud. My entire body was tingling with a post-adreniline ache, and my pulse was rather loud in my ear. "Wha-" I heard someone say, and glanced up.

In front of me was a girl with a spike from the dragon I had just fought clenched tightly in her hand.

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I coughed and spluttered as I returned from a seemingly endless, dreamless sleep. I felt like I had been inpaled through the-oh, oh wait a minute, I was. I was inpaled. Bummer.

I was laying on a metal table in a laboratory. There was medical equipment and operating tools on the counters lining the rectangular room. There was an automatic door in front of me with the Japanese symbol for Immortal on it. He table under me was covered in dried blood, the place reeked of it.

I bolted upright. My wings had returned, and fluttered behind me as my breath came out in long, raggedy gasps. My torso burned like a thousand fire ants had previously been present there. My skin was slick with sweat and my ribs ached. "Oh, woah," I gasped, my hand flying to where I had been stabbed. "Ohhhhhhhh my God."

I glanced down. Over my wound was a shiny metal brace, a blue light aglow above the wound that should have ensured my death. I poked it a few times and blinked. "Oh, what is this and what was I drinking last night?" My tone wasn't panicked, just confused. The panic would come later.

"_Mu_," a voice answered behind me. "_Dangsin-eun eotteon sul-eul haji anh-assda. Dangsin eun jug-eum-e kal-e jjil lyeossda." _I whirrled around, my eyes wide and surprised. I-I knew that voice. Behind me was a short Korean-American woman with raven hair, a purple streak dyed in the front. Her eyes were hazel brown, and she looked a bit like a cross between a biker and a scientist. She wore a leather jacket, and dark blue pants, a white shirt underneath.

She was speaking Korean. She had said, 'No. You did not have any alcohol. You were stabbed to death." Her tone was snarky and arrogent, not unlike mine when I was ticked off. But this was different, like I was a bug on her windshield.

I scrambled backwards. "Ethal?!"

She smirked as I nearly fell off the table. "_Ildan_," she said, putting her hands on her hips and giving me a contemptuous look. "_Ij__e nae ileum-eun gogol lag ibnida_."

I returned her glare with a deadpan expression. "Really? How is that any better than Ethel? And I know you speak English, why are you still talking in Korean?"

She decided not to answer me, instead leaning to look past me and cupping a fingerless-gloved hand over her mouth. "He's awake!"

I blinked at her, until I heard footsteps behind me as the door opened and closed. I froze, not wanting to move, until a voice said. "Look who finally decided to wake up." I trembled as I turned, curling my tail around me for comfort.

When I was fully facing the speaker, I was faced with a man around my age. He had a large mess of unruly black hair on his head, and Asian features to his face, as well as some American ones. He wore a large blue hoodie and jeans. Following close behind him was... Balloon Man? The thing was large, white, kinda plush looking, with a flat ovular head. It's 'face' consisted of two dots with a line connecting them.

"What the-um, what," I gasped, ignoring the balloon thingy and concentrating on the man. "But you... You're dead." My heart was racing. How many more people were still alive that I thought had perished?! What, was Mom gonna suddenly appear and say that her death had been a big misunderstanding?!

He looked at himself, as if checking for wounds, before shaking his head. "Nah, nah I feel pretty alive if you ask me. GoGo, am I alive," he called to the woman behind me.

"Sure," she said in a way that suggested that she didn't care, fiddling with one of the machines on the counter. The man shrugged, then smirked. "As you can see," he faced me. "She hasn't changed much. And as for you," he paused.

Then, he laid a hand on my shoulder. "Welcome to the Immortals, my friend. Say hello buddy," he told the Ballon Man.

The thing stood at attention, and made a circular waving motion, his limbs making whirs and clicks as the moved. Ah, robot. Wait a second... ROBOT?! "Hello," he said in a even voice. "I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."

* * *

**_Five Years Ago (Four Hours Post-Heather's-Murder_**)

_Hiccup padded down the halls of N.E.S.T.'s prison section. His wings were not held in their usual proud position, instead held at his sides in an intimidating posture. His tail swished behind him, and the hood of his cloak was drawn up, giving him the look of an anti-angel._

_The corridor around him wasn't the usual cult-prison. The walls were white and shiny, so were the floors. In fact, the only dirty part was the floor as he tracked mud in with his boots._

_Hiccup arrived at a steel door that slid open easily. After all, it was designed for only elites to access the inside. Specifically THIS elite. It was... Well, each portion of the prison had a section dedicated to who brought the prisoners in._

_And this was his section._

_Once inside, Hiccup's insides shivered. He hated this place. Instead of regular concrete and bars, there were clear cases with nothing inside but the prisoners. The walls were white and almost glowed._

_It was almost like putting humans on display. It was sick and disgusting, and made Hiccup's gut clench with disgust, and he wanted nothing more than to shatter each and every cell in here... Except then they would be shot within minuets of leaving._

_One of the first cells he passed had a dark haired woman in it. She was left with nothing but a tank top and pants, and it was very cold in there. She was huddled into the corner of her cell, shivering, her hands and feet red from the cold._

_Hiccup crouched and touched the glass lightly, getting her attention. A young woman, only looking about seventeen, looked up at him. She had Korean features, and her head was covered by a mass of scruffy raven hair, a purple streak in front of her forehead. Her hazel eyes were blazing in absolute hatred and fury._

_She didn't get up though, still trying to huddle for warmth. It nearly broke him to see her like this. To think, just days before she had been proud and strong, intimidating all around her._

_He... He had done this. He had made her this way._

_"Jeongmal, jeongmal mianhae," he whispered to her, rubbing the back of his head, trying to make his tone as apologetic and sincere as possible. "Naneun naleul miwo geugeos-eul wihae."_

_She gave me a death glare, her once pink now chapped and turning blue lips shaking as she managed to spit out a spiteful, "B-b-b-bil-eo meog-eul dwe jyeola!" Her tone made him feel like she wanted to lop his head off. She probably did. And he deserved it._

_He sighed and looked at the ground. "I can't," he muttered. "Already there." He got up, trying not to look behind him as she got up and started pounding on the clear material trapping her inside. She scowled, as if she couldn't believe he had the gall to get up and walk away from her._

_"Ibwa!" She yelled. "Ibwa, apeun goemul , na jom haja!" He continued on, pinning his ears back to try and avoid hearing more. It was useless as her screams, alternating from Korean to English, drilled into the poor Night Fury's ears. He passed more prisoners, broken because of him._

_A large African American man huddled up, looking scared for his life, a tall, lanky blond woman who was curled into a ball at the floor of her cell trying to sleep, bun having no success. A guy who looked like a vagabond leaning against the wall of his cell, his face very pale and tired looking. A thing at looked like a red suitcase was in the second to last cell, just standing there in isolation._

_And he finally came to the last one. Inside was a boy with enormous fluffy looking black hair and Asian features on his face. There were bandages wrapped tightly around his torso, and they were bright red. "Hello, Hiro," Hiccup murmured, and the boy looked up._

_The auburn haired fourteen year old took a deep breath before looking into the eyes of the captive in front of him. "I... I need your help."_

**Ok, so I saw the movie last weekend, and I thought I might try my hand at using that cast since I suck at Snot, Fishlegs and the Twins. This isn't going. To go completely Si-Fi. I'm just using the characters. I don't know what elements from BH6 I'll use. Baymax is most likely the limit on the techno Si-Fi. **

**Have an excellent whatever-point-in-time-you-read-this everyone. **

**-RNC**


	9. Haddock VS Hamada, Part One

**I! AM! STILL! ALIVE! Sorry for not updating in a while, been kinda knocked out of the loop by school (A Tale of Two cities somehow managed to kill all my writing inspiration just by reading it), but it's fine now, and here is the next Ghosts chapter. Now here's the ghost part!**

**Review replies:**

**Little Did You Know: BAYMAX!**

**Silverwolves: thanks**

**HvislaNott: I will**

**One Bright Light: yup**

**SharKohen: it's her actual cannon name. It's on the wiki.**

**JediKnightMarina: thanks**

**Persnickety: thank you. I will never stop torturing you with cliffhangers and suspenseful endings, just so you know. **

**a random person: you'll see**

**Madhuntr: evidentially, I complied to your request. :)**

**lso, please comment on what aspects of Big Hero 6 should I include. I'm hesitant to use the super suits, even though Wasabi and GoGo's were just plain awesome. What do you guy's think?**

**WELCOME TO THE GHOSTS OF THE NIGHT FURY FOUR PART SPECIAL, HAMADA VS HADDOCK! (Don't worry, this is not the end of the story, it's just a celebration on such a major amount of characters added to the cast)**

_**Five Years Ago (Four Weeks Post Transformation)**_

_Hiccup padded into the prison where the five captives were contained. Unlike a week ago, when he had simply shown up and told Hiro he needed help, they were all standing this time, they were pale from the cold, and each and every one of thems' lips were blue. Guilt welled in him as he passed Ethel. The Korean-American gave him a look that would have made Furious _wither_ and_ die_. _

_The next case he went by contained Honey Lemon. The tall, blond, lanky nerd woman gave him a look that made him feel like she was stabbing his soul with a rusty knife. Her enormous pink rimmed glasses were cracked, and her twig-like limbs trembled, but her scowl would make Gehngis Khan wet his undies (did they have undies back then?). Like all prisoners, she had nothing but an undershirt and pants, but they hung off her like sheets on a wire. _

_After her was Wasabi. The large African-American man's usually pulled back dreadlocks were strewn in wild heaps over his head. His own uniform was slightly dusty, as if his cell had been vacant for a long period of time when he was thrown in. _

_Then there was Fred. Fred, the mascot idiot, the harmless one. He now gave Hiccup a cool glare as he passed, the uneducated millionaire's arms crossed across his chest. The dragon boy cringed under the gaze, but kept walking. _

_Finally, he made it to the final prisoner in the room. A young boy, the same age as himself. He had a mass of fluffy looking black hair on his head, and Asian shaped eyes. They were brown, and usually they glinted with excitement. But now they were cold with fury. _

_"So, you here to tell us you need help again," Hiro Hamada asked with venom in his voice. "Or are you just gonna stand there and laugh at us you sick freak?" Hiccup shivered at the words. _

_"No. I don't like this anymore than you do," he tried to placate, but the young robotics prodigy wasn't having it. _

_"No, no, no," he said. "You don't get to sympathize until you spend a week in here, in these cold cells were every inch of you can be seen at any given time, were your lucky if they feed you the lunch shift's leftovers. After you've been betrayed by a friend, you can sympathize, you traitor!" _

_He pounded a fist against the glass. He gritted his teeth and looked at the Night Fury as if he had crawled out of hell itself. Hiccup's ears pinned back like a scolded dog, and his wings drooped down. He shrunk back into himself and gulped. _

_"I'm-"_

_"Don't say your sorry," Wasabi snapped. "You put us in cages!" _

_"Why don't you let us out, so you can apologize to us face to face," Ethel said aggressively, clenching her fists so hard they turned white. He edged away from her cell fearfully, and gulped. They started yelling at him, pounding on the walls of their imprisonment. _

_"You betrayed us!" _

_"Let us out of here!"_

_"You sick freak!"_

_"We should never have trusted you!" _

_Hiccup's ears, wings, and tail trembled, his body seemed to make itself smaller. He looked around at the angry young adults and began breathing rapidly. The noise reverberated in his ears, and he groaned, biting his lip. "Enough," he said weakly. _

_They didn't listen, hurling accusations at the young half dragons. The fear in his chest was starting to turn hotter and more bitter. With each insult, the conversion grew. He started getting angry _

_They didn't know how hard it was to turn them in, to attack the people who had welcomed me with open arms for weeks. It was almost excruciating to bite his friend, to wreck their lab and call in his 'handlers'. _

_"You're a monster!" _

_"Why are you doing this?!"_

_Hiro snarled, and glared at his trembling former friend. "Why are even here Henrik, to gloat over your what you did to us?!" And that was it. Hiccup hadn't been having the best week. His friends hated him, and his crush was murdered in front of his eyes, but for someone to claim he was _proud_ of what he'd done to think he liked being this... This animal that he had become. _

_That was the final straw. Hiccup's eyes became slit pupiled, the whites filled with a acidic green as if the color was poured into them. His wings shuddered, and a rippling affect spread at the tip of his nose, the form of a dragon overtaking his human one as he screamed, "I said ENOUGH!" The end of the final word blended in with the howling roar of the Night Fury's anger. _

_He slammed back down onto his front paws, making dents in the floor. His back was arched like an angry feline, and his spines were split. His scales hummed lightly, a tiny amount of blue pulsating under the surface, barely enough to notice. He panted wings spread out around him and teeth unsheathed to show off the row of canines that had so easily torn into their friend. His tail curled slightly, and his fins splayed out. He roared again, trying to gain order as the occupants of the cells scrambled backwards in fear. _

_Hiro tripped and fell on his back, looking at the dragon in horror. Ethel's moth dropped open in shock. Wasabi nearly fainted and had to support himself against the wall of his cell. Honey Lemon took a few frightened steps back, and Fred screamed, pressing himself into the back of his cage. "Wah," he yelled. "This is both awesome... And terrifying!" _

_Hiccup growled one more time, turning in a full circle to look at them all. He flapped his wings a few times and beat his tail into the grounds before transforming back, an angry look sketched into his features. _

_"None of you understand," he snarled. "I couldn't leave you all alone. The people who made me... No one can know what I am, or this happens. I HAD to report you all in, or something much worse would have happened!"_

_"Like what," Ethel challenged. She was still in shock from what had just occurred in front of her eyes. No matter all of Fred's pleas to give him the power to turn into a fire breathing reptile at will, they had all thought it impossible. Yet this boy had just done it in front of them because they had pushed him over the edge._

_"You want an example," Hiccup yelled. "Directly after I... I betrayed all of you," he flinched at his own words, "I had to reveal my secret to someone I had feelings for to save her life. The mugger didn't intend to let us call the cops, I could see it in his eyes. So..." He swallowed thickly. "I attacked him first, in front of her. And I didn't turn her in, didn't draw any of her blood. I told her not to tell a soul, I was gonna come back for her and we would rescue you guys and leave." _

_He choked. "But somehow, some way, they found out. And you know where she is now," he growled. "She's dead. Shot in the chest, multiple times." He shook his head. He needed their help, if not from kindness than from fear. Heather's murderer _would not_ go unpunished, he promised that. If he had to intimidate them into helping him, so be it. But the Night Fury's head was so full of grief and despair that there wasn't a lot of room left for little things like morals._

_"So tell me, would you rather wallow in your hurt feelings or help me take down the son of a bitch who did this to me, who FORCED me to do this to you? Because I'm not gonna let him go unpunished."_

_He looked at the group around him. They all wore a mixture of shock and hesitance on their faces. "But I need your help to make sure that happens," he continued, the snarl leaving his voice and his ears trooping again. The inhumanly green started to drain from his eyes, and he abandoned his feral, attack-ready stance. "I need you. Please."_

_There was a long silence for a while, the five some looking at their captor. His anger had deflated, but they couldn't stop seeing an outline if what had occupied the same space as him moments before, the black monster that could tear people apart._

_He looked around at them with a pleading expression, almost begging for help. But each face he turned to was now cold and pitiless. "Your not serious, right," Hiro scoffed. "It's got to be a trick. I mean, how can anyone force you to do anything?"_

_Hiccup's eyes widened. "Y-your not serious," he stuttered. "I just spilled my guts out to you, and you call me a liar?!"_

_"Says the guy who incarcerated the people he practically lived with for a month," Ethel remarked dryly, crossing her arms and glaring. She looked at him with such a heated gaze he thought she would melt through the cage._

_He looked at them all, ears drooping and wings dropping to the ground. Then, the anger returned. He couldn't remember anything before a month ago, but he was pretty sure he was helpless before all this. For the first time in his like, he was powerful, strong, something to be worthy of FEAR. _

_And he was done asking for things. He had asked for Hiro to help him, begged Furious to spare Heather's life. He wasn't going to ask for things any more. He was gonna _take_!_

_ He sighed and padded over to the wall, where the release buttons were. He pressed them, and the panels slid open, letting all five prisoners (and suitcase thingy) free to roam._

_They walked out, and looked at the object of their hatred. A low growl started in his chest and he gazed at each of them. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he murmured. He started to transform, scales surfacing on his skin._

_"I will NOT let Heather's death go!" He snarled. "My friends kept telling me that she isn't really gone if I remember her, but guess what? It still hurts! And if I get hurt for doing the right thing, then he should be hurt worse for doing the wrong!"_

_Hiro froze. The fourteen year old inventor had said the exact same thing just months ago about his brother, Tadashi. The rage in Hiccup's eyes, the way he was willing to go the full nine yards... There couldn't be any faking that._

_"This... Heather, she must have been pretty important to you," he muttered, and Hiccup stopped mid transformation. His scales were covering most of his skin, and his fingernails were claws._

_"I don't know what she was," he admitted. "I do know she didn't deserve what she got. And that I'm gonna make it right. I don't have a lot of memories, but I have the feeling that for the first time in my life I'm one of the strongest things around, and she was my friend. I'm a monster, but I don't want to sink any lower than I already am by letting her story just end like that."_

_"So what are you gonna do now," Hiro questioned quietly._

_"Whatever it takes to make you help me. If threatening you is what it takes, if damaging you is what it takes, I'll do it. I don't want to, but I owe it to Heather." With that, the transformation re-overtook him completely._

_The Night Fury growled, and began to pad forward. His growl was now like a chainsaw, resonating and menacing. He roared, and bared his teeth, rearing back onto his hind legs and flailing his wings. Wasabi screamed at the impressive display of intimidation and fell backwards onto his butt._

_Hiro flinched at the sight of the fangs filling the black dragon's mouth, his brown eyes growing enormous at the sight of them. When he finished his show of rage, Hiccup leapt forwards._

_They scrambled to get out of the way as the obsidian reptile landed with a lound thud on the spot where they had been moments before. He lashed his tail and caught Ethel in the stomach as she tried to run, the thick limb slamming straight into her belly._

_She gasped in pain and was sent fling backwards into a wall. She groaned in pain, and looked up to see Hiccup slam the solid top joint of his wing onto Wasabi's head. The largest of their number fell to the ground like a limp doll._

_He sung his head around, the acid green orbs locking in on Honey as his next target. She edged around the cages, but their attacker merely lept on top of one ands slashed his claws at her. The tall blonde screamed and ran, and Hiccup's class hit the transparent casing, leaving gashes in it._

_He looked at the chemist with a cold fire in his eyes as he lept from cage to cage, until he landed on top of her heavily, a paw on the center of her back. She groaned in pain, and he looked over to Fred and Hiro. Fred was pulling at the door furiously, while Hiro dragged Wasabi over to them. In an instant, the Night fury was upon them._

_He backhanded (backpawed?) the millionaire away and looked at Hiro with zero emotion other than raw pain! The same pain Hiro had felt at Tadashi's death. And he knew how dangerous that pain could make a person._

_That pain could make people blow themselves up, and take an entire classroom of children with them. It could make them decend into the dark, gritty underworld and drown themselves in alcohol and violence._

_Right now, it wasn't a question of what the Night Fury would do to avenge the person he lost. It was more like a question of what wouldn't he do? Hiro backed away from the dragon nervously._

_The shadow-colored creature melted back into human form and glared. "I don't want to hurt you Hiro. But I need your help. I'm not gonna see the end of the week, but I need you and the others to make sure Furious sees Heather before I do!" He looked the dragon boy up and down, shaking._

_"Henrik," he said. "I-I can't trust you anymore, I don't know if I can-"_

_"I'M NOT ASKING FOR YOUR TRUST," Hiccup yelled, slamming his tail into the ground for emphisis. "Or... Or your freindship. I don't deserve either. What am asking for is your brains." He snorted a ring of smoke out of his nose._

_"I need you to find a way to make Furious human again."_

* * *

**_HADDOCK VS HAMADA_**

**_PART 1_**

**_THE DEAD DON'T STAY BURIED_**

* * *

**_Astrid_**

I stood, looking at the crashed dragon in front of me with shock. While this wasn't the first dragon to wash up at my feet, it was certainly unique. Four wings sure was interesting to look at, and to think about how they worked.

But I was still pretty shocked. The dragon seemed surprised too. It just stared at me, and I stared back, blue eyes meeting yellow, both as big as dinner plates.

I opened my mouth, but couldn't seem to make myself say anything. I just stammered. I mean, I wasn't supposed to expect a dragon as big as a dump truck to fall out of the sky. I just managed, "Uh... Uhhhhhhhhhh," I licked my lips and took a deep breath through my nose. This was weird.

We continued to look at each other, neither party moving.

I blinked.

It blinked.

I finally managed to regain the ability of speech and shook my head with enormous eyes. "What the hell?!" I stepped a little closer, and that seemed to spur her into action too. She got up, using her top set of wings to gain her footing and jumped backwards with a small shriek.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah," I held up my hands. Then I took a glance at my right one to remember the bloodstained spike clenched in it, and sheepishly put it in the pocket of my pocket. "Heh, sorry." I took another tentative step forwards and she shielded herself with her lower right wing.

"It's ok... Uh, girl? I'm pretty sure your female. I'm right, um, aren't I?" She nodded, and I edged closer, prompting a reverse response from the reptile. I rolled my eyes and simply drafted forward to grab the wing she used to shield herself.

I swear, she nearly jumped out of her scales the exact same way Hiccup did when I accidentally stepped on his tail while he was sleeping. I nearly laughed at the thought, but almost instantly my smile turned into a severe frown.

I didn't realize I had shifted into a depressed look until I felt the dragon's head nuzzling me, a questioning look in her large yellow eyes. I took a deep breath and rubbed her horns like I would a horse's muzzle. "It's, uh, it's ok. Just thinking about someone I lost recently. I was gonna settle things, actually, when you kinda fell out of the sky."

Then I cleared my throat.** "I can speak Dragonese," **I rasped. **"So feel free to speak up at any time."**

Her eyes widened, and she blinked at me again. The surprise on her face was palpable, but there was a potent amount of relief in there too. I guess the language was something if a friendly call sign to them.

Guess she didn't know the Nadder that killed Hiccup, then. He probably spoke dragonese. The last thing my Hiccup ever heard was probably that bastard's voice growling, hissing and roaring. I shook my thoughts away from the deceased, and turned them back to the mass of scales and nerves.

**"Oh,"** she whispered, settling down a bit. She used her lower right wing to walk, but the upper left one to balance herself. I got the feeling that isn't how it was supposed to be.

"Are you ok?" I murmured, and she shook her head.

**"Got into a fight. There-there's a hole in my wing. Should heal on its own, but it hurts," **she admitted soundly, and I winced. Hiccup had the membrane in his wings ripped and shot through before (admittedly, a few times it was me in an angry spike tossing rampage... But those were accidents. And I made it up to him in the best way possible each time!) and he had said it was excruciating, and even worse to look at for him.

I gingerly pushed the limb covering it out of the way and grimaced, swallowing at the still bleeding and already drying blood partially shadowed by the translucent skin above it. "That's bad all right," I bit my lip. "I'll need to get you to a place where I can treat you."

Then I looked her up and down. "Oooooook, maybe not. Your... Quite a big dragon. The one I'm used to stitching up is... Erm, was, he was a lot smaller than you. And more mobile, since he had four legs to rely on when his wings were out for the count."

She looked at me with a deadpan glare that was so familiar it put a pang in my chest so hard that I nearly cried. Why was it that after someone so close to me perished, I had to find someone so similar to him. It almost felt like I was replacing him. The dragon snorted once and crouched. I heard a crackling sound at the end of her tail, and I looked to see a ripple effect spreading across it, slowly moving up towards her head.

I gasped and stepped back as the transformation overtook her. When it was finished, there was no longer a bus-sized dragon standing in the rubble, but a woman sitting cross legged in the trench the big reptile had left behind. She was quite beautiful, her face hardly betraying age. She had enormous, forest green eyes, and long brown hair that hung in an unbraided waterfall over her shoulders. She had a slight figure, and even with the baggy animal skin and dragon scale clothes you cold tell that she was almost as twiggy as Hiccup had been.

She had four enormous wings, one set between her shoulder blades, and the smaller set directly behind and below her arms so that, when folded, they almost seemed like swords sheathed as at her sides while the primary pair resembled swords strapped to her back. Her long tail swished from under the hem of her shirt, and curled around her legs.

She was so much like Hiccup, but obviously much, much older. She just carried herself more tiredly, as if she was not quite as carefree as she was in times past. Hiccup was like that sometimes, but he still had a 'lazy teen' posture most of the time.

I shook my head. 'Stop thinking about him!' I mentally scolded myself. 'She needs my help right now, that's all that matters, and that once she's well again, I could possibly convince her to lent me her wings so I can find the Nadder!

I made my way over to her and helped her up. She took my hand and hauled herself to her feet. The ragged and gory hole in her wing wasn't any better in human form (and the smell certainly wasn't either...), but it seemed more tolerable, as she only winced occasionally when moving.

"You can transform?" I questioned, and she nodded, swallowing.

"My-my name," she said. Her human voice was inflected with a thick Scottish burr. "My name... Well, the original doesn't matter any more. I go by Cloudjumper now."

"Ok," I said hesitantly. "Um, whatcha call yourself that for?"

She shrugged, her primary wings rising and falling with her shoulders. I shook my head and offered her my arm for support. The stab wound was already effectively impending her movement, as she stumbled a few times before letting her weight (thankfully the non-gore-covered side of her body) fall onto my. I slung her primary wing and arm over my shoulder and hauled her along.

"Man," I frowned. "And after I made that dramatic exit with Albert. Things are gonna be a bit awkward." I tugged Cloudjumper, who seemed to be running on low battery, and began to try to carry her back to the house

Before we could actually go anywhere, though, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps, followed be the _thump-clunk_ of foot and bare prosthetic. I froze, and Cloudjumper hissed. The crazy, feral, wounded dragon lady seemed to get herself battle ready, her eyes flooding with eerie yellow and pupils turning to black voided slits.

The approaching party, however, appeared to be Stoick and Gobber, both of the out-of-shape men huffing and puffing from fatigue. They were dressed less than smartly, their funeral suits unbuttoned a bit and the jackets haphazardly put on. Stoick's beard looked like it had been recently introduced to Dagur, and Dad's hand was on backwards so that it looked like the limb had ben twisted completely upside down. The both lookecd a bit panicked as they searched for me. "Lass," Gobber called. "Lass, Albert told us what you said. Don' doo anythen' stoopid!" Cloudjumper seemed to freeze up against me, every muscle in her body going as tense as petrified wood.

The men caught sight of us and hurried over. Then, they caught sight of my new freind, and gasped. Stoick's eyes couldn't possibly have gotten any bigger, and Gob looked like was in danger of fainting.

Cloudjumper eased herself off of me and stumbled backwards. Nerves appeared to get the better of the poor half reptile, though, as she tripped over her own tail and onto her butt. She looked at the mayor of Berk with fear and terror.

"Impossible," the shocked redhead muttered and took a step forwards, his hand outstretched to touch her. At this point, I gathered that Stoick, my almost-father-in-law, and 'Cloudjumper' knew each other.

However, when he moved, she shrieked and shipped her wings in front of herself as if to act as sheild. I was struck by a memory five years old, of the first time I'd seen Hiccup and his father interact. He'd been so scared of his own father he almost seemed to have a mental breakdown. And he had done the exact same thing she had done.

"S-Stoick," she stammered nervously. "I-I know what your gonna say. Why didn't I come back five years ago, after the Night Fury freed us, why did I leave you in the first place," she swalloed and pushed herself back to her feet, hissing in pain and holding her wounded wing. "I-I just-I don't-" she began breathing hevily, and looked like she was about to transform.

"That's not what I wanted to ask," he said, trying for an assuring tone, but his voice still came out as shocked. "Valka-" VALKA?! My eyes widened. That was the name of Hiccup's mom! She-she was dead! "Dear, I just want to-"

"Want to what!?" She snapped suddenly, her voice edging on panic. Forget that, it was full blown terrified. She was shaking, scales budding over her pale skin like flowers in the spring. "To remind me of how difficult I am to deal with?! To yell at me for leaving you to raise our son alone, Stoick!" Her voice cracked. "Because I tried and tried to be the wife you wanted, Stoick, but I couldnt! I couldn't just stay home, wash the dishes, and make babies! That isn't me! That was never me!"

Stoick, for his credit, looked equal parts terrified and ashamed of himself. "Because it wasn't N.E.S.T. that made me... This," she gestured to herself. "It was YOU! I wanted to make you happy, but when we talked, it was always this... Dissapointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in your sandwich." She swallowed heavily. "And when I thought the baby died, I was so... Alone, that I was a package wrapped opportunity for the butchers that gave me wings and scales. But you did the wrapping!"

The mayor of Berk moved to reach out to her, but as soon as his enormous hand met her narrow shoulder, she jerked backwards. "Don't _touch_ me!" She snarled. I got a little edgy. That was Hiccup's tone when he was about to transform due to emotion. She still sounded angry and afraid, but there was a hint of a growl underlaying her human voice. When a dragon made that sound, you let whatever their issue was go.

I bit my lip. Valka couldn't take it. She wasn't coping at all, worse than Hiccup's bad reconciliation. This... She was about to loose control, the part of her that was no longer remotely human was takin command, because the part that was not all right with things.

"Stoick," I called. "Maybe you should, um, back off a bit. She doesn't seem like she's doing too good." He ignored me. The big, stupid man didn't get it, and tried again. This time she Scarlet's and snapped at his hand, flailing her primary wings. "I told you not to touch me!" She hissed, but the big man just wasn't getting the point. "Valka-"

"I'm not Valka," she said, fear and anger in her voice. She seemed so afraid... And so angry. "Valka has been dead for twenty years. My name is CLOUDJUMPER!" As soon as the name left her mouth I could see she was gone. Valka wasn't home, Cloudjumper had complete command. Exactly like the Toothless persona Hiccup had adopted. Just as he moved to try to make contact with his wife again, Stoick found himself pinned to the ground by Cloudjuper's intact secondary wing, the claws of both her primaries pointed at his face. She was in dragon form again, the the prodigiously sized reptile towered over him with a snarl.

**"I am CLOUDJUMPER,"** she roared, even though he couldn't understand her anymore. **"And I HATE humankind!"**

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I looked at... Baymax, apparently, with a bit of interest, scrutinizing him. "Well... I'll admit it, Hiro," I muttered, leaning slightly to look into the inflatable automaton's farmers eyes. He blinked, the lenses clicking as the shutters went down.

I poked him twice in the belly, then looked at Hiro. "Vinyl?" He nodded. "Yeah. My brother designed him before he died. He was going for a no threatening, huggable thing."

I tikted my head. "Why?"

"He's a medical bot," the Asian-American inventor explained. Behind him... GoGo (I was never gonna get used to calling her that... Or being taller than her. Yeesh, she was intimidating when I was fourteen) was looking at me like I had done something scummy- I had, of course, but it was a long time ago. "He's designed to heal the sick and injured. Someone in pain isn't going to relax when something that looks like Optimus Prime took med school comes at them, they're gonna freak out."

"And a walking pillow with a face won't?" I glanced at the boy scepticaly. It's responde was to lean forwards slightly and say, "You have been a _good_ boy," he said, as if speaking to a small child. "Have a lollipop," he produced said sweet with a genuinely cheerful voice. I looked at it and shrugged, taking the candy.

Hiro looked at the machine proudly. "Tadashi built him to help people. Now he's stuck here with us, though. He's useful, but he's not the impact on modern medicine Dashi hoped he could be."

I swallowed, and adjusted my wings, refilling them to be more comfortable. GoGo's lips pressed into a thin line as she picked up a yellow disk with a red light in the center, turning it between her fingers.

"I-" I stopped. He wouldn't want to hear any I'm sorries. "I wish I knew the guy. He sounded like a good person, if his life's work was to make sure everyone was well cared for."

The young inventor nodded, and I tried to get up off the table. As soon as I pushed away from it, two things happened. One: I remembered that my prosthetic was destroyed. Two: a jolt of pain shot through my entire upper body.

My face began to plummet towards the ground. Before I got there, though, I was rescued by an enormous white blow-up hans. Baymax lifted me back to my previous place, then, once I was situated, patted my head.

I snorted, letting out a les-than-amused puff of smoke. "Your cardiovascular system has been temporarily incapacitated," he stated. "I sugest using your alternate biological makeup until you Homo Sapient form has been fully healed."

I blinked. "I'm a mechanist, not a biologist."

"He thinks you should youse big scary lizard form until your all fixed up from being inpaled," GoGo stated dryly, crossing her arms. I nodded, groaned, fingering the device. It beeped shrilly and I flinched, my hands going up to my ears. "Ow! Ok, that hurt," I muttered, and rubbed the side of my head gingerly.

"That wasn't smart," Hiro said with a smug smile, and even GoGo cracked a smirk. He pointed to the device. "That thing is super complicated, so I'm not gonna bother explaining it to you," (in other words, he didn't make it and has no clue exactly how it does what it does,) "But long story short, it's the only reason, besides the Night Fury design including a healing coma for when your close to death. It's repairing your body."

I winced as another jolt of pain stabbed through me. "Yeah, I'm really feeling the healing going on here," I muttered sarcastically. "I feel soooooo grea-OW!" The last bit was because GoGo had snuck up behind me and whacked me upside the head with a wrench. I looked up at her, bewildered, and in return she just blew a bubble from the gum on her mouth and let it go off with a loud pop.

"Stop whining," she growled. "Woman up."

I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Hiro for an explanation. He shrugged, the kind of gesture that said 'I don't get it either, man, just go with it.' I looked back up at her stern expression. "A wrench? Really?"

"I've studied the Night Fury's designs. Your head has thicker density than concrete." At this, Hiro burst out laughing. I simmered in the fact that it was physically true and an implied insult. I snarled at her, but to her credit, she didn't even flinch. A stark contrast to five years ago.

Then I became aware of a presence behind me. One that squeaked and whirred when it moved. "Um, guys," I asked. "What's with Inflate-A-Nurse?" I jabbed my thumb behind me, accidentally ramming it into the ballon-like belly of Baymax the Medical Automaton.

"He can't deactivate until you tell him your satisfied with your care. I'm Patient Alpha to him, but he's programmed to heal anything in pain," Hiro explained. I rolled my eyes, and turned to see Baymax's innocent looking face staring at me.

"Well, Baymax, uh," I said. "I guess I'm, satisfied with my care and all that." As soon as the words left my mouth, the chubby machine began waddling off out of the room towards the door.

"Where's he going?"

"To find his charging station."

"Ah." I looked at Hiro for a second. GoGo was still in the room, but was now more focused on something on a computer terminal than us, the wrench she used to abuse my pun-prone skull laying forgotten on the counter.

"So, looks like you've changed a lot. Hiro. GoGo's almost a head shorter now," I tried to make small talk. The attempt was wasted, however, because a few seconds later the doors to the lab burst open. Men in armors rushed in, wielding catch poles and guns.

Out of instinct, I launched myself off the table, landing on the floor with a thug, standing on enormous black paws. I assumed an attack position, but before I could do anything, they had lopped a catch pole around my neck.

I suddenly found my air severely cut off. I heard Hiro yelling behind me, and GoGo shouting. I saw Wasabi being pulled out of another room out of the corner of my eye. I choked as the catch pole was tightened, and then glared at my handler.

Enough of this nonsense! I am a Night Fury, and I submit to no simple animal control tool. I twisted and unsheathed my teeth with a loud shink. Then, I bit down hard on the pole.

To my surprise, the tool did _not_ break, instead all I got was a jarring sensation through my skull. I groaned and retracted my teeth, shaking my head. I was cut off from air once again, and I felt more restraints loop around my wings, my legs, and my tail. I tried to resist, but after two more catch poles were attached to my neck, my body simply had too little oxygen to resist.

The restraints tightened, but the choking loops around my airway were loosened. I growled, and opened my mouth to shoot out a plasma blast, before two enormous humans rushed in and placed a muzzle over my head. I roared in indignation, and thrashed. There was too much adrenaline in my veins to change back, so I was stuck until I could calm down.

Accepting my fate, I went limp on the ground, black scales meeting smelly waxed tile with a thunk. I groaned, and took a glance at the men. Every single one of them was as burly as a Sasquatch, and were wearing some kind of semi-mechanical semi-Kevlar armor that seemed to provide performance enhancements. I heard that the US was making some kind of Iron Man thing, was this it? Was I in the U.S. Military's clutches?

No, I realized as I looked at the shoulder plate of one of the people pinning my neck to the ground. No, being a prisoner of Uncle Sam would be a dream compared to this nightmare. My eyes went slit pupiled, and my veins ran icy cold. Right on the metal shoulder plate was four black words surrounded by a red circle.

N.E.S.T.

I began flailing again, but the modernized humans rushed forward, the motorized exoskeletons aiding in pinning me to the ground. Actually, they might have had the same muscle enhancements dragon-human hybrids do, as this felt way stronger than just man aided by machine.

Whatever the case, I couldn't move. I heard the sound of heavy boots clunking as I tried to raise my head, and a long tail being dragged whine their owner's body. They were followed by smaller, daintier footsteps, as if those of a woman's.

"Come on then," a sickeningly familiar voice said. I hadn't heard it since... Since the very first ten minuets I spent as a Night Fury. "Let him see, let him lift his head." The pressure on my skull eased up, and I twisted my aching neck to see the speaker.

Looming above me was the badly scared face of Alvin, the Screaming Death dragon. He had nearly killed me after my first encounter with him when we were both dragons, only Astrid's quick thinking had saved me, and there had always been an unspoken assumption that Astrid's spikes were poison and that she had killed him before the battle of Berk, but here he was alive and...

Um, hairless? His beard, the top of his head, even his eyebrows, gone. Poof. Bye-bye. No more hairs for Al... Ok then, that didn't stop me from snarling at him. I bared my teeth in a threatening manner, or it would have been if I hadn't just had my ass handed to me by the Dragon Busters here.

But then. I looked beside him, and flinched. Staring at me with a superior smirk, dressed in a casual green shirt and skinny jeans with her big black wings and long, spiky tail sticking out, her emerald eyes watching me with amusement and a pitiless expression, was the Assassin that stabbed me.

**"He-ther," **I croaked, my voice still raw from being strangled. Her smirk grew even more smug as she flicked her eyes to Alvin, then back at me. "Look at this," she practically gushed. "Hiccup, the guy who got me shot, now at my mercy." I looked at her without understanding.

Why was she doing this?! Did she know what I had done, what I did because of her death, how much agony it put me in?! No, she couldn't, or she wouldn't be doing this! She wouldn't be... This.

I struggled again, only to once again be subdued.

"Hello, Hiccup," Alvin said in a highly rehearsed voice, yet keeping his mocking edge. He folded his tree-trunk arms behind his back and his relatively small white wings fluttered. behind him, while his long, thick, spike covered tail thumped heavily on the ground behind him, like an alligator's. "Welcome to your new life. You have been selected to join the team known as the Immortals, the people unwillingly in charge of the technological advancement of the New Earth Selection Team. You have been presumed dead by your peers, so don't count on a rescue."

I let out a low, rumbling growl. I understood. They had taken me down to easily because they were designed and equipped to kick my scaly ass specifically. Of course they'd have weapons to fight their own creations, if they needed to defend themselves before their 'ultimate goal' was done.

Taking another glance about the room, a cold hard ball of determination solidified in my ribs. Hiro, GoGo, Wasabi, Fred, and Honey Lemon were on their knees, on the ground, while guns were pointed at their heads. From the groups' submissive posture,, I could tell this wasn't the first time they had been assaulted like this.

That made me mad. I had failed them once before, I would NOT do it again. I stretched my jaw once again, but this time managed to find enough room in the muzzle to spit out, **"If you fooled Astrid into thinking I'm dead... You have my sympathies."** I hissed.


	10. Haddock VS Hamada, Part Two

**Hi! RNC is back for another chapter of Guardian Night Fury!**

**Here are the review replies:**

**JediKnightMarina: yes ma'm! I won't, ma'm!**

**jlrdsr: yup **

**supersandman: hi buddy!**

**silverwolves: thanks**

**One Bright Light: correct**

**SharKohen: exactly**

**Hivislanott: if hiccup can't save himself, what makes you think you can? And thank you!**

**Also guys, this'll probably be a lighter chapter, one to take away from all the heavy drama going on last chapter. Enjoy**

**I'M GONNA TEAR YOU APPART... FROM THE INSIDE **

**_Five Years Ago (Four a Weeks Post Transformation)_**

_Hiccup paced inside the jail room, now partially damaged thanks to his freak out Hours before. He didn't have his coat or hood anymore, leaving him with just a black undershirt and dark jeans. Hiro sat from atop one of the jail cells, stuffing his face with a pizza Hiccup had managed to smuggle in. _

_The rest of the team were in the makeshift lab in the corner. Hiccup had taken up residence in the jail house, claiming to Furious that he needed time to process the fact that they weren't his friends anymore, and that he couldn't bring himself to room with Jack at the moment. _

_Only one of those statements was true, though. He and Hiro were back on speaking(ish) terms, and could hold a casual conversation, more than could be said with his relationship with Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and GoGo. _

_"Due," Hiro said, taking a bit of a bite out of the slice he was holding. "Do you ever not wear black?" He asked skeptically, his legs dangling over what used to be his cage, which was now filled with blankets, and the door lying a few feet away. _

_Hiccup was so lucky that he was the only one allowed in here. "It's not my fault," he shrugged. "I mean, N.E.S.T. bought all my clothes, so no matter what, I'm always wearing black. I think they have some kind of the,ring going on for me. They would probably make me a stereotypical goth if they could. _

_They both took a moment to picture the dragon boy in spiky leather, with white face paint, piercings and black make up. The image was so funny, both young geniuses were snorting in seconds, Hiccup's tail shivering with pent up laughter._

_Hiro still didn't trust the half reptile in front of him, but he could at least talk to him. After all, if he never gave him a chance, how would he ever know if Hiccup was telling the truth, and Hiro, being the kind to never let things rest until he was satisfied, would have gone mad trying to figure out if he was on the up-and-up or not. _

_"So," he took another bite of the pizza. "About this turning Furious human thing... It might take a while without the blueprints of how he was altered." _

_"I can get you those. He's going away on a business for a week, and the muscle around here are mutton heads, and they aren't properly equipped to take me down by sheer force."_

_"That sounds a little pretentious," the Asian-American observed, and Hiccup shrugged. _

_"So what, I'm their leader's pipe dream, I'm sure I can take out the hired help if I need to." He looked up and saw Hiro's face turn into a small, suspicious frown. The dragon boy looked over what he had said and waved his hands in protest. "I mean out as in incapacitate them," he explained hurriedly. "I don't mean take me out as in, like 'out' out."_

_He didn't look convinced, though, and frowned, closing the pizza box and hopping down. "I'm agreeing to help you for Heather's sake, you know that right?" Hiccup nodded. "I mean, I know your in a lot of pain over her death, and I know how it feels when a person close to you dies for no reason. But... I'm out if your gonna kill anyone."_

_Hiccup sighed, his ears drooping and his tail falling limp on the ground. A few of the other collage students, namely Wasabi and Ethel, were looking at the pair with interest. He young dragon bit his lip and slumped his shoulders. _

_"Hiro, there are people in the world who deal in extremes, and it's naive to think there's any other way to counter that than to be extreme ourselves," he said in a flat, regretful voice. Hiro scowled and was about to protest, but Hiccup held up a hand for silence. _

_The dragon boy sat on the ground, legs crossed with a sad expression on his face. His tail swished behind him, the fins fluttering weakly and his wings cupped his shoulders as if he was trying to comfort himself. He closed his eyes and thought back to his very first memories. _

_"The first thing I remember, after I became a dragon a month ago... I mauled the man that made me. I bit him and clawed him, I even shot a plasma blast into his face. When I finally managed to control myself again, there was so much blood..." He swallows and looked at his hands, the image of black, bloodstained talons flashing in front of his eyes. "I'm already pretty far past the line. But I haven't gone to the point of killing yet. I'm not that much of a monster at the moment. So I swear, no killing."_

_That seemed to placate the young inventor a bit, even though he still looked a bit green, (as did everyone) from his description of the mauling. Hiccup felt sick too. The ironish taste and the choking smell of the Shouty Man's blood were fresh in his memory, and his stomach churned. The buttery, garlicky smell of the pizza now made him want to hurl the contents of his stomach on the floor. He managed to keep it down, though. _

_"So I'm not doing this for me, either," the black dragon boy murmured. "I'm just looking to do one last good thing before I go out," he let out a long, loud breath through his nose. "My last hurrah. The final good deed of Henrik the Night Fury."_

_Hiro looked at his friends with a bit of worry, but not that much. They didn't have a lot of sympathy for the dragon boy, not after what he had put them through, but none of them knew what his words meant. They all thought that he was expecting to die trying to do this. _

_No, Hiccup had no intention to let Furious to unpunished before he died. He would give the Death dragon EXACTLY what he deserved, then he would give himself what he deserved. _

_Suicide. After all, in the dragon boy's mind, there wasn't a lot of boy, just a lot of dragon. And that dragon wouldn't be able to stop once it started killing. It would just keep going and going, leaving nothing but a trial of blood in its wake. _

_And Hiccup needed to stop that nightmare before it started._

* * *

**_HADDOCK VS HAMADA_**

**_Part 2:_**

**_A SPIKE, A BULLET, AND A KNIFE_**

* * *

**_Astrid_**

I sat on one of the cushy chairs in my bedroom. Cloudjumper was pacing back and forth, her long finned tail swishing like an angry cat behind her while her wings quivered irritably. She might as well have been a female version of Hiccup for the way she acted when she was upset. So many times I watched this go down with my Night Fury boy when he was angry with something or other.

"Hiccup was definitely his mother's son," I said with a bittersweet smile, but the irritated dragon lady was too mad to hear me. "He thinks... He thinks just cause I loved him that I would come running back?!" She muttered under her breath. "I tried everything to compromise with him, everything! But no, he wanted me to be a good little housewife, not make things complicated for him!"

I watched her go back and forth as she continued to rant. Yup, definitely a mamma's boy, I decided. "I mean, he's never just 'talk' to me. And-and when he did, there was always this disappointed scowl on his face, like someone gave him the wrong lunch at a diner!" She made her voice lower and exaggerated her Scottish accent a bit as she muttered "Excuse me, waiter" she grumbled in a mocking imitation of her estranged husband, "I'm afraid ye brought me the wrong spouse! I ordered an extra timid housewife, one who will cook and clean and sew and get pregnant on command and build me a white picket fence life! This here, this is a wild-child in the form of a thirty year old woman!"

She huffed and folded her arms, and I sighed. I almost had to fire on her to get her off of Stoick when she was freaking out, and had barely managed to talk her into staying a while. My only viable argument was the gore crusted at her side. That was the only reason we were having this 'conversation'.

I rolled my eyes and shifted in the chair. "You rant a lot like your son," I commented, raising my voice a bit to make sure she would hear me. The mission was accomplished, as her head twitched when I mentioned him.

She looked at me, and her bright yellow dragon eyes drained back into human green ones. "You knew him," she whispered, her face turning from severely ticked to remorseful.

"Yeah. He's... He was my boyfriend," I muttered, and drew my knees up to my chest. My prosthetic hummed and whirred a bit at the movement, and I felt my insides clench a little from a fresh bout of rage. I had yet another reminder of the wonderful dragon boy, one that I depended on to walk. I literally couldn't go anywhere without being reminded of him.

"Oh," Cloudjumper whispered, and sat on the bed. Her long tail swished behind her, and she blinked. I could see the glint of tears in them though. I couldn't blame her, the dragon lady had been through a lot in the past few days. "I'm... I'm very sorry. You must be very tolerant to listen to an old woman rant about her love life."

I snorted. "Not really. Like I said, Hiccup had a penchant for ranting too. I got used to it a long time ago," I said. "Besides, I need a distraction. It's not been too long since I was curled up with him on the couch, enjoying a quiet night in together. Now he's... Just not here anymore." The last words came out as a quiet whisper.

"It hurts to think about him, but I can't not think about him. People say that he's not gone, as long as we keep his memory alive... But even his memory hurts, almost worse than the fact that he's gone." I said, letting my tinkers trace the little carving in the metal of my leg that Hiccup had put there as a prank, a little H+A carved into the cold metal limb. So cheesy, but he had laughed his head off when I found it that I knew he was just joking and wasn't actually trying to go sappy on me. He was just having fun.

I swallowed dryly. I still wasn't crying. I still wasn't sad. I was still just angry. I wanted to be sad, to mourn him like I should, so I don't know why I wasn't. I was _convinced_ he was dead... Wasn't I?

Cloudjumper made a sympathetic cop in her throat... Again, just like Hiccup. Seriously. Did Stoick contribute anything to Hiccup's genetics other than a Y-chromosome? She got up and laid a hand on my shoulder. "You really did love him, didn't you?"

"More than I thought possible," I muttered miserably with a small scowl on my face. She looked at me a long time, and I wondered what was going on behind those green orbs. They were like Hiccup when he was under the persona of Toothless, his eyes were a cold mask that no one could see though, glassy. Like the dragons before Hiccup had restored their minds. The Valka that Stoick hand come to see while she was in labor wasn't what was talking to me right now. This was an amalgam of Cloudjumper and Valka, a truly half dragon half human in not only the body but the mind.

"Do you think... If we had met, what would his reaction have been, to see his mother again?"

"Honestly? He would have tackled you as a Night Fury and sat on you until you promised not to leave him again. I'm not kidding, the kid had abandonment issues," I said. "And with Stoick-"

She held up her tail, splaying her fins in a 'cease talking' gesture that made my lips go motionless. Clearly talking about Hiccup was one thing, but talking about her relationship with Stoick was another. She wasn't ready to face that issue yet.

"You were... Violated by the same people who did... This," she opened her wings a bit to indicate them, "to me right? N.E.S.T.?" I nodded, biting my lip. Her tone was deathly serious, a tone that only a mother could do, the kind that could chill children, teens, and adults alike into submission.

"I have another thing to tell you," she said. "While I was in Drago's... Care, I discovered something disturbing, something that I'm sure you don't want to hear." She stood and gripped my shoulders, a serious look in her eye.

"N.E.S.T. is back," she said bluntly, and ice shot into my veins. The scar on my belly where they had cut me open, violated me, altered me, made me not quite human anymore, tingled anxiously at the statement. Fire lit inside me, and my fingernails grew into ready-to-fire spikes.

"A-are you sure," I whispered. "I mean, we _killed_ the _Red Death_. We _blew her up_. And the humans who followed her were taken into custody-"

"Astrid," she interrupted shaking her head. Her long, mangy brown hair fell over her shoulders and eyes, giving her an almost feral appearance. The firmness of ver voice was the only thing that convinced me that she wasn't bat-shit crazy... er than me. "Did you really think that something like N.E.S.T. would be contained only to Berk? This was the main HQ, the head of the dragon, Red Skull's fortress so to speak. But a head is just that, a head. It has to have a full body to be any good. There were and are N.E.S.T. Outposts all over the world, each with numerous dragons. Hong Kong, India, Germany, Russia, Hungary, even New York City."

I swallowed, and looked up at her with a bit of fear. Only a few minuets ago we had been reminiscing Hiccup's memory. Now she's telling me that blowing up the biggest living thing on Earth was completely and utterly pointless, that her life's work had continued on without her.

That I had lost my leg for nothing. I blinked and looked at her. "But... That means..."

"Drago has ten times the army of dragons that Excellinor ever did," she confirmed. "Maybe more. He's not using them yet, he must be... Reprogramming them right now, or something," she theorized.

I felt sick to my stomach, an acidic feeling mixing in with the comforting warmth of the fire. I shook my head and looked at her in horror. "That shouldn't... But they didn't-"

"You never defeated them," she assured me sadly. "They regrouped. That's all you ever did. They are a world spread organization, more deeply rooted in society than the McDonald's franchise." I scowled.

"Luckily, I know where they are set up," she said, and I perked up a bit. The proverbial dragon may have grown a new head, but if we new where it was we could find Drago, dispose of him, and this time make sure that N.E.S.T. stays down!

I stood straight up and grabbed her shoulders. She jumped a little at my sudden movement, or at the fact that my fingernails were still at-the-ready spikes, and were now digging into her shoulders. "Ok then," I said. "Dragon up, Cloudjumper," I told her with a new passion in my voice. I could feel the fire in my belly getting hotter with my new drive.

She blinked, not expecting my sudden burst of initiative. "What-"

"Like you said, you know where they are. Hiccup and I, we battled Excellinor and came out on top. Now we can do the same to Drago, and find the Nadder that snuffed him. Two issues solved in one! We protect the world from N.E.S.T. by getting rid of him, and making sure N.E.S.T. doesn't gain any new leaders this time by taking them out! At the same time, we avenge Hiccup's demise, and I gain some peace and closure!"

The Stormcutter woman seemed swayed by my logic, as she slowly nodded her head. "Dress warm, Astrid," she said. "We're going to the Arctic." I sighed, but hurried to my closet to grab a thicker coat.

I know what your thinking. I was being rash. I was being hasty, I was acting out if grief for my boyfriend's death. Well, I wasn't. I was being opportunistic. I needed Cloudjumper's help to win this fight.

_Cloudjumper_'s help. Not Valka's.

Hiccup had never been as fierce after I rescued him from being Toothless. He had been more hesitant to draw blood, waited for the enemy to attack first instead of charging in or attacking from the shadows. I didn't doubt that when Valka resurfaced from whatever dark corner of Cloudjumper's head, she would be the same. Less dragon, more human.

Land that's not what I needed for the upcoming fight. I didn't need a good person with superpowers. I didn't need a hero on my side to win this fight. A hero couldn't win, Hiccup never did. So instead of relying on what she could be, I focused on what was just beneath Cloudjumper's skin.

It was what I was starting to feel like for using her like this. It's what every dragon had the potential to be when pushed over the edge. Hiccup, being so sweet tempered, had hardly ever gotten close to that point. But there were times I'd see it. The dark part of him. The one that he never let free, because if he let it out, it would tear him apart from the inside.

I didn't need a hero. I needed a monster.

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I growled as Alvin looked down at me, and wiggled in my restraints. The catch poles tightened around my limbs, and I winced, letting a small hiss of pain escape my unsheathed teeth and muzzle.

Hiro looked angry for my sake, and glared at my restrainers. For my part, I glanced at their suits with interest, the cogs in my skull turning as ideas were born, and I allowed a small dragon smile behind the muzzle. "Don't you think he's had enough," he said angrily, but the guard behind him kicked him rather roughly. Hiro grunted in pain, and the man responsible received a dirty look from GoGo.

I managed to lift my head and growled at them. The catch hole rope around my neck tightened, and I whined in pain, but I didn't let my glare up. I heard footsteps from in one of the labs.

I looked that way, and my eyes narrowed again. Jack stepped out of one of the lab's rooms, playing with a little black thing in his hands. Jack was different from anyone else here. I didn't see him as evil. He wasn't a villain, or a hero or anything but an enemy. Our grudge was personal. He wasn't a demon, he just happened to work for demons.

"Not really," the ice dragon said, giving me a smile that hid a universe of hate. "After all, the only thing worse than an enemy is a traitor. Don't you know that, little guy?" Hiro simmered at being called 'little' but wisely kept quiet.

"Are you sure you want to resist," Jack said, stepping close to me. "I mean, I'm the one who taught you how to be a dragon." I glared at him, then my nose alerted me to something at his waist. I glanced and my eyes widened. An enormous hunting knife was strapped to his belt. The bottom of the handle had a wood attachment. It was curved like a shepherd's crook. I knew from experience that the blade was long and this, with a curved tip.

My eyes widened at the sight of the weapon, a flashback seizing me for a second. I was sitting on the edge of my bunk in my room with Jack, opening the trunk they'd given me. It was my first day of being able to turn half human.

Jack came up from behind me and put a hand on my shoulder with a friendly smile. I shivered at his touch, but didn't protest. I reached inside the trunk and pulled out a long knife.

"Nice," Jack commented, ruffling my hair a bit. I ran my finger along the blade's edge with a concerned frown. "Well,what do they expect me to do with this," I complained. "We're in New York, it's not like a hunting knife is gonna do my much good."

"That thing's not meant for hunting," Jack warned, and clapped me on the shoulder. His frown matched my own, and I grew very worried indeed.

I snapped back to the present to see the ice dragon looking at me with a smug look, as if the sight of me being shocked was extremely satisfying to him. He had followed my eyes, and now his hand rested casually on the handle of the weapon, fingering the curved attachment.

"Oh, so the Night Fury remembers that," he said, and crouched next to me. I was looking at an image that would soon haunt my nightmares. Alvin and Heather towering in the background, with Jack right in front of me as he drew the hunting knife. His tail curled around himself so it was also in my line of sight. The tip exploded into a mess of icy spikes, and I growled as he traced the leather straps of my muzzle with the knife.

"Leave him alone," Honey Lemon yelled, only to be given the same treatment as Hiro. "Shut up, girly," the arctic reptile snarled and drew back the blade. "Do you remember this? Five years ago, we were like brothers."

He leaned in closer to my face, and his blue eyes met my green orbs. "I had. Your. Back," he snarled. "Then, you put this knife in me. As far as I am concerned, you killed any history we had before that when you left me to die."

Alvin chuckled, his small wings fluttering from mirth. "My, my Hiccup. Didn't make a lot of friends in the old days, did you?" I gave him a deadpan glare, then gave the others a quick glance. I may have messed up badly, but I counted Hiro, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred as my friends.

Better friends than Jack ever was. Or Merida. Or Punzie. I snarled and wiggled in my restraints again, this time managing to thump my tail loudly against the ground. I roared as much as I could through the muzzle, but that only caused Alvin to shake his head with laughter.

Heather raised her eyebrow. "So I wasn't the only one you got killed back then, Hiccup," she said, her voice suddenly ice cold. I looked away from her. She was the first in my list of mistakes. I wanted to apologizes, but I couldn't.

"I'm only alive because of Jack's plea that I would be useful," she said. "They dug me back up and mutated my body, in the long shot that the stuff they use would kickstart my altered carcass. As you can see, they were right."

Now that was just sick. N.E.S.T. had sunk to a new low. Reanimating the dead? That wasn't right, no matter how you spin it. If they're dead, they're dead. You shouldn't be bringing them back.

May be that's why Heather was so different from the harmless, gentle friend I knew back then. This wasn't her. This was some ghoul with the face of a girl I once liked. She should be long dead, but by some twisted means they brought her back. But only the bad bits. The Heather I knew, the one that only wanted to help and nothing more, was gone forever, and all the bad bits, her bitterness and anger, was all that was left in the soulless body that was looking at me.

"As for me," Jack said. "They only just managed to save me. I was actually dead for a while. But they managed to bring me back too, through a lot of icky stuff they didn't bother sharing." He put the tip of the knife between my eyes and my pupils narrowed into slits. I released a low, hissing growl at him.

I snarled at him, the sound a low rumble deep in my chest. "I guess that's all the questions we anticipated from you. The only one we have: are you gonna be a good little plasma-spitting newt and work, or are you gonna be difficult," Alvin said.

I wasn't proud of the time I spent as Henrik. I always knew I was gonna have to own up for those sins, and apparently that time is now. I opened my claws then dragged them back closed, scratching the shiny tile floor.

"I'll take that as a sign that your not gonna comply," Alvin said, grossing his beefy arms. No duh, baldy, I thought, and charged myself up. My skin and scales began to glow a bright blue, the ropes of the catch poles smoking a bit.

And suddenly they were released. My restrains were withdrawn, leaving stinging circles on my limbs, but I was free to move again. I got up and shook off my muzzle, pawing it away. I looked as Alvin lumbered out the door, closely followed by Heather and Jack.

Jack slid the knife back in its sheath, looking at me out of the corner of his eye with a scowl. Heather glanced backwards with a sky smirk and flicker her tail, the spikes erupting from the long limb like a deadly forest.

I flattened my ears close to my head and snarled with only one corner of my mouth.

Without warning, I leapt forward and spun, my tail catching Jack in the chest. The Groncicle boy flew backwards, smashing into the wall. Alvin and Heather tensed, but I didn't respond, just sat on my haunches and gave them a cool glare.

**"That was just a preview of the hell I'm going to give you,"** I growled, and the Screaming Death looked at me with anger in his eyes. Not just anger-a bit of fear too. He was probably thinking of when I mauled him- another thing I wasn't proud of, but I wasn't eaten up too terribly by it.

Jack got up, and dusted himself up, wincing a little. "So you got a little faster over the years," he breathed supporting himself with a table. "Nice." I raised an eye ridge at him, and he shrugged, and followed his co-workers out the door, the last to go being Jack.

He drew the knife once more, it's curved crook like wood handle a stark contrast to the high-tech surroundings.

The other Immortals got up. Wasabi gave me a worried look, and Hiro ran right up to me. I leaned down and slowly, carefully, changed forms, wincing as the ripple effect created the stab wound for me again. I used my tail to support my left side, you know, the one with out a leg.

"That was awkward," Fred stated simply, stating the obvious as always. I sighed and shook my head a bit.

"I really hate those guys," GoGo stated dryly, crossing her arms. She blew a bright pink bubble of gum from her mouth and popped it between her teeth. I smiled bitterly, and hobbled over to a seat in the corner.

"Glad you don't have any sentimental attachment to it, my thrill-addicted friend," I said, supporting my head with one hand, my elbow on the arm rest. I looked at them all. "Because we won't be staying much longer."

Fred grinned. Hiro raised an eyebrow. Wasabi cocked his head, Honey Lemon looked interested, and GoGo just popped her gum with her usual passive expression on her face. I sighed and leaned back in the chair.

"You don't happen to be the inventors of their suits, do you guys," I asked, relived beyond all measure when Hiro nodded his head head in a yes. I grinned. "Could you guys show me your personal projects, please," I asked simply.

"Why?"

"I think I have a plan," I smiled, and lifted my head up. "I have no plans on staying, and neither should you. I can personally assure you guys, we'll be out of here soon. I promise."

And little did I know that that promise would entail. I would not stop fighting until my friends we're free, until I was back with Astrid, where I belonged. but what I didnt know was within the next few days, I would fall deeper and darker than I ever had as Henrik or Toothless.

* * *

**_Five Years Ago (Four Weeks Post Transformation)_**

_Hiccup lay curled around himself in dragon form, tail in front if his face while he snored soundly. The people he was tasking to help him with his vengeance crusade were in their cells. _

_However, all of them were asleep too. They now had bedding and their doors were wide open, their work spread haphazardly around the room. The place had a new atmosphere. _

_Before it had been like some creepy display room for people, with the puppet-case like cages and shiny, spotless walls and floors and blindingly white lights. The empty pizza boxes, scattered machinery and other various items made it evident four collage geniuses and a science enthusiast lived here. _

_Hiccup yawned, his large jaws showing off his currently toothless gums. He pushed himself to his paws and looked at he five surrounding them, and the red suitcase thingy. _

_For the first time since Heather's death, he felt... Clean. Like he was going the right thing. Avenging her death. _

_The obsidian dragon turned half-human again, stretching a bit to expel the stiffness of sleeping in a ball. He looked around and glanced at his forearms, running his finger over the place where smooth, armored scales would appear when his emotions ran strongly. _

_He considered the promise he had made earlier that day, about taking Furious down, not _out_. That had honestly been the original plan, when he's scared them into helping him. _

_But now he wasn't so sure. The feeling of being clean again vanished, and he once again felt like the beast he saw when he looked in the mirror. He let his tail skim the ground softly as he padded forward, towards the door. _

_Furious had to pay. _

_But did he have to die?_

_Could he actually do it? Kill Furious? After all, he'd refrained from murdering the Shouty Man, just damaged him... A lot. But still, actual killing? _

_He didn't know if he could murder someone in cold blood. The internal battle raged inside the half-reptile's head as he ruffled the back of his head and made to exit, ready to go get a late night flight in. _

_And as he opened the door, Hiccup gasped in shock. "Holy mother-" he yelped. Standing before him, arms crosse with suspicion, was jack. His tail flicked like an angry cat's, and his feet were bare, spreading frost across the floor with each passing second. _

_Hiccup was caught like a deer in the headlights as the only dragon he feared stood looking at him with the five prisoners perfectly free, and evidence of a conspiracy that could get him and the others shot dead like Heather behind him. _

**HEY GUYS! Not sure how much I like this chapter but still, here it is. Part two of Hiro VS Hiccup, a big ol' battle coming up soon. But in the meantime, here's a trailer, because I am an enormous troller.**

**(note, this preview is from multiple POV's so don't bother trying to figure out who it is)**

**"You don't know what he is, do you?" Jack said incredulously. "Hiccup is not a hero. He's not a guardian angle, and he's certainly no Boy Scout. He's a liar. A monster. A traitor."**

**Hiccup roared and thrashed around as the clamped chains around him. One of the soldiers rushed forwards and plunged a syringe into his neck, pumping his veins full of adrenaline and blocking out his human form.**

**The heart rate monitors sped up to an exponential rate, and the Night Fury's roar of pain filled the air.**

**"STOP THIS," Hiro yelled. "Stop it right now!" He was livid, unable to contain the fury inside him. Too bad it wasn't enough.**

**"Put that in me and I'll kill you!" "No, Hiccup. You'll kill for me."**

**I slammed Hearher into the wall, trying to choke her. Heather coughed, the lack of oxegen preventing her from raising the spikes of her tail. My spikes exploded out of my fingernails as my grip tightened. **

**Hiccup was slumped on the ground, motionless. He-he wasn't breathing. His big black body was as still as roadkill. There were missing scales and charred skin all over his body, as well as blood... Especially under his eyes.**

**Baymax landed, his armor making a heavy clang upon landing. He looked around, fists ready, when suddenly Hiccup slammed into him from the side with a savage bellow. The robot was thrown far off to the side.**

**I flinched as Hiccup lunged, but Baymax intercepted him. The robot's eyes were glowing bright red, like the terminator's as he grabbed Hiccup by the head and slammed him into the ground as he flew, dragging him a few seconds. Peices of terrain flew everywhere, until Hicvup threw his entire lower half up and kicked the bot away. They skidded a few feet, oth struggling to regain their footing. Unfortunatly for Baymax, Hiccup regained control first. As the nurse-bot-turned-battle-bot looked up, Hiccup lunged, plasma glowing brightly in his throat.**

**Astrid whimpered a little in fear as the dragged her by her wrists. I sat, motionless to her plight, looking directly at her as her back and waist bled steadily and she was led towards her fate. **


	11. Haddock VS Hamada, Part Three

**HELLO! RNC is back. I know this story has been a little dull lately, but it promise things will be kicking back up. Also, why have there been so little reviews lately?**

**Ah, whatever. Review Replies:**

**JediKnightMarina: it will**

**silverwolves: I just did **

**supersandman: thanks**

**Guest(1): it's not named Haddock VS Hamada for that reason. It just means by the end of the arc, they'll fight. And thank you.**

**SharKohen: thank you, and I know, right?**

**This chapter will be very, very action packed. WARNING: this chapter may contain some graphic content. Trigger warnings: blood, torture. You have been warned, do not flame me. Flames will be sat on by a dragon and snuffed. **

**DO NOT, AND I MEAN DO NOT PISS ASTRID OFF.**

**_Five Years Ago (Five Weeks Post Transformation) _**

_Jack stared at the mess that was supposed to hold the four prisoners that Hicup had captured. The dragon boy himself was frozen in fear, his fingers at the door panel. _

_Jack pushed past him, looking at the free-to-go prisoners around the room. "Henrik," he gasped, "what is this?" _

_Hiccup quickly pushed him out of the room to avoid waking the others up. His tail flicked nervously as he pushed the ice dragon boy out dot he room. "Shhhh," he said. He door closed behind them, and Jack looked around._

_"Henrik, what are you doing? Helping humans, again? That's what got you in trouble the last time!" _

_"And it's how I'm making up for it too, Jack," Hiccup responded, a hard look on his face. To anyone who knew him well, his face showed off how his mental state was: not good. If Baymax were around, he would diagnose the dragon boy with depression and slight psychosis. He was controlling it pretty well, but the breaking point was near. _

_"What do you mean?"_

_"I mean, it was all my fault. I screwed up, and a person I cared about got murdered. Not hurt or scared, _killed_. And I'm not gonna let that stand," he growled. Jack was looking at him wide eyed. He didn't understand how his friend could not see the implications of what he was doing. _

_"Dude, you've read the rules, you know what happens to dragons who actually cross Furious!"_

_"And what do I care. I didn't sign up for this! You didn't sign up for this! No one in this damn program actually signed up for this!" Hiccup growled. "We didn't sign up at all. We were made, turned, Frankensteined, whatever. But the point it, all of this, this is wrong!"_

_Jack scowled at the shorter boy. "What the hell are you thinking?"_

_"That I'm gonna stop all this!"_

_He looked at boy like he had said that he was gonna fight a mountain. He might as well have. He was talking about taking out a whole origination single handedly. He Shook his head and ran his hands through his snowy hair. "Oh, dude, oh, what did you do?"_

_"Like I said, I'm fixing my mistake. I'm gonna make Furious human, and then, I'm gonna make him pay. I'm gonna make it so that he never, EVER, takes anyone away from anyone else ever agin." Hiccups face was utterly serious. He didn't look like much, but Jack knew better. The black dragon was one of the most powerful N.E.S.T. had ever created. Fast, agile, durable, strong. He didn't know if that meant he could take on a Death Dragon. _

_They stood in awkward silence for a minuet, before Hiccup asked. "What are you gonna do now? Are you gonna tell them what I'm doing?"_

_"I don't know dude," Jack said. "Maybe. Probably. I don't know. I just... If I'm caught aiding in this, I'm also on the chopping block."_

_Hiccup looked at the floor sadly, and blinked tears out of his eyes. "I'm sorry then. This isn't personal. I hope you know that. It's for Heather. And it's to stop this, all of this, before it goes too far. I mean, killing all of humanity? That's just wrong..."_

_"Do what?" Jack twisted to look at the other dragon boy. Hiccup didn't respond. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."_**[1]**

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

"I'm serious," he growled. I had just caught the poor guy staring at GoGo, and now he was a brighter red than Hookfang's dragon form. "Does she even know," I gasped, still trying to contain myself.

He just gave me another death glare and I bit my lip, smiling. And then, I couldn't contain myself any longer. I burst out into a long stream of chortles and howls. He clenched his fists and shook his head.

"Can we please just get back to work here," he yelled, and kicked my seat. I tried to catch my breath from my bout of laughing.

"Well," I asked. "Does she know your _infatuated _with her," I emphasized 'infatuated' with a teasing tone. Hey, he teased me when I was brainwashed so I couldn't get Astrid's picture outta my head, I'm gonna mock him for having a crush.

"Shut it, Haddock," he muttered under his breath and kneeled down to the suit in front of him. It was one of the guards' mechanized exoskeletons, But we had made a few tweaks. The arms were now equipped with a pair of Wasabi's plasma-induced laser (and in case your wondering where he got the plasma, my throat is now very sore) emitters. We were working to alter the suit to make it fit Wasabi's rather large and bulky frame. I swear, that guy could be a pro football lawyer from how big he is, or a wrestler!

"We are working on your idea, here!" He snarled, and I just gasped for air, supporting myself with the arm rest. Suddenly the door slid open, revealing none other than Heather walking into the room.

The change was immediate. Usually, the lab had a comfortable air in which one could easily do something constructive, but as soon as that ghoul entered, it turned back into a prison. I stood from my seat and slipped into my other skin of a dragon.

I growled, arching my back and half-splaying my wings in a menacing posture. Heather looked at me with disdain out of the corner of her eye, which I responded to by baring my teeth. Hiro stood from his place beside the suit, dropping the tool he was using.

"What are you two doing," the black haired Nadder girl said, raising an eyebrow. "**Plotting rebellion,"** I snapped sarcastically. I was disregarded as she turned towards Hiro with a questioning look in her eye.

"New suit for the human troops," he answered. "I would tell you what it does, but it's too early to tell if it works," he said, and she gave him a look like he was a rat that had just squeaked at her.

Without warning, I slammed my tail into her side and sent her flying across the lab. Honey Lemon and Wasabi yelped and scrambled to dodge the flying Nadder Girl, the inventor of the lasers tripping over his own feet as he ran.

She landed on Honey Lemon's table, and one of the blond scientists' chem balls exploded under her. A messy pink form billowed out from under her, and she snarled, black Nadder scales spreading over her exposed arms.

"Haddock," she said, her tail spiking up as she stood, extracting herself from the foam and baring the spikes of her tail and fingers menacingly. She arched her back and splayed her wings, and in turn I flapped my own and roared.

I crouched low to the ground, my eyes narrowed. She jumped from her place on the table and I pounced to intercept her, roaring up a storm. We had done this almost every time she entered over the last few days.

My former crush and I met mid air. Her long spiky tail whipped into my tail, and in turn I cuffed her with my paw. We came back down to the ground, my side bleeding and her jaw bruised. As she went thud against the cold metal floor, she transformed, becoming twice her size and three times her night.

Heather the Assassin-class Nadder stood in front of me, screeching in anger. I roared and pounced. She might have been bigger, but I had better again ity. I landed under her and jumped again, ramming my hard skull into her neck. She squawked in pain and stomped her clawed foot, before snapping her jaw at me.

I snarled, readying a plasma blast to send straight at her face. However, before I could fire it off, the guards came in, leveling their guns at me. I looked from them to Heather, considering my options. On one hand, I could take the shot, piss off Heather and wound her... then get shot. Or...

Begrudgingly, I let the plasma blast die in my throat, and settled back down onto my paws. Heather twittered angrily, flicking her tail so that the spikes would lay down. I gave her a dirty look, then sat down.

Hearher and I both morphed back to human form. "Really," she commented sarcastically. "That's the fifth time you've attacked us." She crossed her arms and glared at me.

"I told you I was gonna give you all hell. Not my fault if you didn't believe me," I smirked, and crossed my arms. I didn't look so superior, though, considering I was one legged and on my butt, having to crane my neck to look up at her.

She narrowed her eyes and snarled at me, rubbing the bruise on her chin. "Your getting off with a warning," she snarled. "This time. One more, and I can assure you, that this is going to seem like a pleasant daydream by the time I'm done with you," she turned to level and I snarled at her, scales popping up on my skin.

GoGo knelt next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. _"Ji__njeong . G__eugeos-ui gachiga eobs-seubnida. Jeug bin wihyeob haji anhseubnida,"_ She said, her voice deadly serious. Translation: calm down. It's not worth it. That was not an empty threat.

I gritted my teeth, but did nothing. Hiro helped me up onto my foot and glared at Heather and the guards as they left the room. I scowled and watched them go, and didn't stop till the door had closed completely.

"Come on," I said. "Let's get to work." And I turned towards the suit still lying on the ground. Behind it were several other suits, as well as a large red and purple gauntlet and a set of wings. The playful mood I was in earlier when I was teasing Hiro was gone, my demeanor now completely serious. "We're almost ready to get out of here, weather they like it or not."

* * *

**_HADDOCK VS HAMADA _**

**_Part 2:_**

**_THE BREAKING POINT_**

* * *

**_Cloudjumper (Present)_**

Astrid sat on my back as I flew north. She was gripping one of my spines and crouching. I could feel her small feet on my scales.

It's baffling, sometimes, when I change form. Everything changes size so suddenly. I don't feel like I get bigger, everything else just seems to get so much smaller than it was before. Astrid, who wasn't that much smaller than I was in human form, now became almost the same size as a chihuahua to me.

I felt her suddenly move around a bit, and grimaced. Was she this squirmy on Hiccup? How did he stand it?** "Could you please, um, stop,"** I called back to her. **"That's a little uncomfortable."**

"Sorry," she said. "Hiccup used to let me take a bit if a walk when we went flying. I guess it kind of demonstrated how much I trusted him. I mean, I stood on the tip of his tail while my hair was skimming the clouds. How much faith can you have in someone?"

I snorted. Flying seemed to be having an odd affect on the young woman. It both seemed to calm and agitate her, occasionally going from being nearly asleep to as restless as a child. I pumped my primary wings once and rumbled, hoping the vibrations would slightly make her feel better.

I felt her settle on my back a bit easier, sitting down fully but with one arm still wrapped securely around my spine. Over a few hours we gradually passed from the relitivly warm pacific climate to the frigid temperatures of the north, and following a few stops, we finally made it to the frozen land I had called home for five years.

The shore was decimated. Drago's ships dug into the icy surface, budging up against what little remained of the Sanctuary. Dragon hung in cages from the boats, the ice spikes. Some looked tired and exhausted, others... Others looked like they had gone mad. The scales under their eyes were red, and they were chained up so tightly they couldn't move.

Others were dead, hanging limply out of the cages with no life in them, husks of scales and bone that would never move again. I grit my teeth together so tightly my gums bled slightly. My people... Gone. And it was because of that bastard, Drago!

I banked and glided. I flew pretty silently, one of my gifts as a Stormcutter. There was a snowstorm all around us, not bad but enough to that we couldn't see well over far distances.

I landed on an ice spike and Astrid hopped off my back. She was wearing a thick winter coat with black jeans, the large hood pulled over her head. The Assassin's Spike was in a belt loop of her pants, and she rubbed her hands together, blowing a little fire into the cupped space to warm them.

I saw the look in her eyes, like glass about to break. She was damaged, yes I knew that, but I didn't know just how bad until now.

Whatever the reason, she was attached to my son so deeply that she refused to believe he was gone deep down. But after so many people telling her that he's dead, that he was assassinated, his life cut down and ended, she was starting to believe it too.

I morphed back to human form and looked at her. "Can you smell anything?"

"Blood," she said simply, her face going to damaged to hard as stone. Her eyes narrowed in hate and revenge. If she was full blown dragon, the girl would be a roaring nightmare, charging in there, fires blazing, ready to tear anything and everything to bits until her lust for vengeance was sated. As it was, she had curled her hands into small white fists.

"Lots, and lots of dragon blood. So much blood here," she murmured. "What the hell is wrong with these people." She knelt and looked at the dragon in the cage under us. It's eyes had a trail of red under them, like scarlet tear stains. It struggled in its bonds, snarling and snapping madly. It opened it's mouth, and instead of normal fire, a burst of bright red flame roared from its mouth.

I jumped back and looked at the dragon in shock. No dragon had red fires. And I don't mean red like you normally think if it. This was _red_. As in a child's crayon red, or blood red.

"That's... Weird," Astrid whispered. We looked at the dragon as it struggled about some more, then she sniffed again. "I'm getting something... I think... I smell Hiccup on that boat!" She exclaimed. "The Assassin must be on it! That would be the only creature that would have his smell, the last thing to touch him!" This time, the look on her face was beyond scary.

It was wild, determined, boundless.. Hungry. Nothing would be able to stop this girl short of death. I looked at her with a bit of concern, before my own rage boiled over it. They had taken me from my home and killed my baby, put me though the agony of loosing a child not once, but twice.

They would all pay. I allowed my dragon form to overtake my human one, and felt Astrid haul herself up onto my neck. She was in just as much pain, if not more, than I was. She loved him with all her heart and soul, and they had taken him from her. Time for their retribution!

I silently flew, under the cover of the snowstorm, down to the boat that was soon to become a graveyard for these miserable excuses for human beings. If the first thing a girl with the smelling skills of a tracker class dragon picks up in your presence is the smell of blood, something's very very wrong.

She jumped from the top of my head to the metal ground with a thud, and I melted back to human form. A guard emerged from the Aircraft Carrier's tower, and before he knew it. I was upon him, slamming his head into the wall.

He groaned and went down, skull bleeding. I sneered and ran inside, trying to make as little noise as possible as Astrid followed. She was remarkably light on her feet, and very quick. I ducked into the halls, pressing my wings to my sides as we ran through them.

* * *

_**Hiccup (Two Days Previously)**_

I looked at our completed work with satisfaction, flicking my tail and nodding. I was in human form, and was just well enough to stand without feeling like Thor had become displeased with me and taken a lightning bolt to my torso.

I smiled and looked at the others. "Ready to see if they work?" I asked them. Ey nodded and grinned, and I reflected on how our relationship entirely different form five years ago. I would _never_ abandon them now.

I wasn't Henrik anymore. Not now, not ever again!

"Yeah!" Fred cheered. "We're bustin' out! All right!" A sense of joy filled me. I was finally going to get out of here after four agonizingly long days. To think it was only two puny weeks ago I was flying into New York City with Astrid, taking her to school. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

I was never gonna leave her again when I found her. I was gonna see her again, and when I did I was gonna make sure she knew I wasn't gonna go anywhere for a long time, because I didn't intend to.

My optimistic mood was cut short when the door slid open behind us. My blood went icy cold, and my eyes flew open, vision becomeing tinted green as my eyes changed from human to dragon in an instant.

I heard a chuckle behind me, and looked to see Jack standing there. I backed up and immediately shifted to dragon form, as I did with Heather, though I didn't attack, just like GoGo had suggested. It would be suicide.

Jack walked past me, his bare feet freezing the ground under him. I snarled, opening my mouth and letting plasma glow bright blue in my mouth. He was I phases Ashe walked by.

"I can get what these are for," the Groncicle General said, running a finger over the altered exoskeleton designed for Hiro. It was purple, with magnets in the gauntlets and boots, and a few weapons installed in the wrists. "Very well built too," he continued, passing Honey Lemon and GoGo's armors.

He picked up Wasabi's new helmet and turned it around in his hands. "A bit color coded," he admitted. "And too 'Power Rangers' for my taste," he continued and set it back down on the table.

He smirked at me and placed his hands in the table. "Very good, though, Hiccup," he said. "I knew there was a reason they recruited you to be part of the Immortals." I clenched my fists. He was getting a bit too close to Baymax's armor for my liking.

He sees that, and we're all toast. Operation over. Done. Down the pooper. I watched with a pounding heart as his footsteps came closer and closer to the red and purple behemoth armor on the ground to the side.

He was getting closer and I played the scenarios in my head mid he found it, we're dead. Well, not really, but any chance of seeing Astrid again of getting Hiro and his friends to safety was gone.

Closer.

I was sweating slightly, and I swallowed, my throat feeling raw and my chest pressured, as if the dragon inside me was trying to burst out of my ribcage. I dug my long claws, into my paw, wincing at the pain. However, the pain helped me focus.

Focus on my options. Do nothing, and be trapped here forever... Or attack him and take what came after, risk the punishment, and give the Immortals at least a sliver of a chance at survival.

When one put logic to it, it was quite simple.

I opened my mouth and released a plasma blast at him, one that grazed the Groncicle Boy's side, leaving a small burn before it exploded behind him. I was sure... Pretty sure... Um, confident that there was nothing that we needed was in the area of destruction.

It had the desired, effect though, and Jack winced away from where Baymax's armor was hidden. He looked at me with a glare. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, I lunged forwards and roared at him.

His eyes widened and he stepped a bit, trying to avoid being chomped. I missed, barely, and he drew his knife, the knife that held the history of the one crucial moment between us, and slashed into my side.

I hissed and bared my teeth at him, subtly heading him away from the precious cargo he couldn't discover. I snapped and hissed and roared. The ice dragon boy didn't transform, instead oping to slam his tail into my neck.

I tumbled to the side and groaned. The tail looked like ice, but felt like concrete. I popped my neck and growled. He grinned maniacally, and then, to my surprise, lowered the knife. "I'm surprised at you, Hiccup. I didn't think you were this stupid."

I looked at him with a confused warble, until I felt something stab into my side. I roared as I was hit with one of their Dragon Nip darts. Regular tranquilizers didn't work on Dragons, it they did.

My vision became woozy, and I groaned, blinking sleepily. Vaguely, I was aware of the others trying to rush to my aid, but being restrained by the guards. I stumbled on my paws, before collapsing on my side.

"The threat from Heather wasn't idle," he growled. "You should have listened to her. But now you proved that you're not worth the effort to keep as a scientist. So... We'll trade you in for the Night Fury instead."

And with that, the world went black.

* * *

**_Astrid (Present)_**

I separated from Cloudjumper at the entrance to the ship. The place was so small I had to press my arms close to me to move fluidly, and I'm not very big, so that's saying something. I gritted my staten and pulled down my hood. Was it suddenly getting warm in here?

I followed the scent of blood mixed with Hiccup... I was getting so close to the breaking point I didn't know if I would last the mission. I was gonna loose it soon, and I wanted to make sure that I would loose it around the assassin.

I was pretty sure I wouldn't loose any sleep over whatever I ended up doing to her. I narrowed my eyes and stepped through one of the grated into a room that looked like one of the troop lounges...

...except only two people were in it.

One was a boy who looked around fifteen. He had snowy white hair, and was wearing a night blue trench coat. He was sitting cross-legged, and had a deck of cards on his hand. Across from him was a girl with acid green eyes and braided black hair. She looked almost supermodel good. She had a black leather trench coat slung over her shoulders.

Great, dragons. N.E.S.T. + Trench coats= almost definitely hiding wings and a tail. I clenched my fists and sucked in a breath. The fire in my belly was already so intense I was surprised my abdomen wasn't glowing.

As silently as I could, I turned the corner and released the fire, the magnesium flame roaring out in a deadly beeline for the two of them. The girl, however, looked up, and saw it coming. She leapt to the side, and the boy, who hadn't seem or heard me coming, turned to see my attack nearing his face.

A wing whipped out from under his coat. It was white and ice-like, almost as if it were living ice. My fire slammed into the patagia of the wing. Being part of a dragon, the fire glanced off it easily.

Icy scales spread over his skin, but the girl held out her hand to stop him. "Wait a second," she said, and I raised an eyebrow. Seriously, I just opened fore on her and she wants to talk?

I didn't listen, thought and made my fingernails turn into spikes. They flew through the air and stabbed into the walls after just barely missing the girl's head. I she looked at me with eyes wide, but I didn't give her time to recover as I let loose another stream of fire, hitting the boy in the gut.

He groaned, and haunched over in pain. I rushed forwards, bit before I could do any damage, the girl suddenly transformed. The human form was engulfed in a bird-like form with black and purple scales.

I gasped as the Assassin Class Nadder stood in front of me, wings splayed and teeth bared in a menacing snarl.

* * *

**_Hiccup (One Day Previously)_**

I... Was in pain. Just like at the start of all of this. All I knew right now was pain. They had locked my up somewhere deep... Somewhere dark that I could barely see. I was missing... Missing scales. They... They'd been torturing me.

I had been taking quite a few blows to the head, too, so it was getting pretty hard to... Um... Pretty hard to think... Ow.

I was having trouble... Remembering things. I kept my focus on Astrid and my Father... Astrid... Astrid... Her beautiful smile, her love of flying with me above the clouds, how much I loved her.

My Dad, the way he always greeted me with a giant hug, no matter what form I was in when he came through the door. The way he had gone a little nuts after I talked him into having a pet and he ended up with two giant mantas and a rhino.

I was snapped out of my daydreams as I heard someone come in and I groaned. I lifted my head and growled, managing to make my skin and scales glow weakly. It wasn't good though. The glow was like a damaged light, flickering on and off unreliably.

The person approaching me was... I recognized him. It was... Ow, oh man, what did they do to my head, it was so hard to think, but the person approaching me definitely meant NOT GOOD, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember his name.

He was holding a syringe with a clear liquid in it. Well, at least it wasn't some menacing color like red or black, or something corny like that. I moaned and struggled weakly against the chains. They had pumped my so full of adrenaline that I couldn't possibly calm down enough to get back to human form. And even if I did, I was too damaged to do anything in human form.

**"You...**" I slurred. **"You stick that in me and... And I'll kill you."**

A smirk played across his lips, and I gritted my teeth. He stopped next to me, and put his cold hand on my neck, making me flinch. He lifted the syringe. "No, Hiccup," he said, his laugh almost making me sick. "You'll kill _for_ me."

And with that, he plunged the needle into my neck, injecting it into my bloodstream. I roared in pain, both physical and mental. It flooded through my veins, like a million firewoms were invading me. It also burned my mind, fire burning behind my eyes.

I screamed in pain and reared back, the fatigue from earlier forgotten. My skin glowed so brightly that she flinched and thew her arm in front of her face. The syringe flew out of her hand and smashed against the ground.

The chains groaned and snapped as I strained. That wasn't right. Those were... Those were _MADE_ to contain me. I roared in pain and at tainted around, my tail slamming against something squishy-probably the man that injected me. I didn't find out though, and I screamed. Something hot and wet rolled under my eyes.

I clawed at my own head, trying to keep focus. I needed to survive. For Dad! For Astrid! I needed to see them again, I wasn't going to leave them, not again! Never again! I needed to keep thinking of them!

Astrid... Glaring... Glaring at me... Afraid of me when I was defending her from the first pack of thugs that tried to take her... Oh God it hurt so much! I couldn't think... All I could see was Astrid backing away from me in fear as I was trying to be good! I was not a monster!

Then there was Dad. I couldn't see the man he was now. I the memories were burning up like there was an inferno invading my mind, ripping up the foundations and destroying the whole thing. I remembered the things he said to me when I left- I couldn't do anything right! I was worthless! Ok, he was drunk when he said that, he was in a bad place, but that's when people say the things they usually don't, right?

GAHHHHH! I snarled, clawing at my the air, at something, at anything. My heart felt like it was gonna explode, ALL of me felt like I was gonna explode... And then, I slumped, my body falling to the side and going thump against the metal floor as cold enveloped me.

* * *

**_Astrid_**

My chest felt heavy, and I blinked. The Assassin... The Assassin that killed my Hiccup was standing right in front of me. She squawked once then, noticing my shock and stillness, shrank back to human form.

The boy groaned, and she put a hand on his shoulder. I just looked at them, wide eyed. I... I had actually found the Assassin. Sure, she was a girl, and looked younger than me, but the spike on my belt loop was exactly like the ones coating her tail.

I swallowed. "You smell like the Night Fury," she commented, and I clenched my fists. "He has a name," I snarled. "Well, _had_, anyway. That's your fault."

"And it was a job well done too," she commented, and it felt like the dam in my chest was about to burst, the seams swelling with my anger and threatening to overload me.

"How can you even think of saying that. He didn't deserve to die like that. He deserved a long like, he deserved to be happen, and because of something that happened to him here, he's been suffering nightmares for five years!"

"That's good," the boy said, crossing his arms. "The guy deserved to suffer!" My eyes widened in outrage, and I grit my teeth. Without another word, I blew another bout of fire at him, but this time the girl pulled him out of the way of the orange blast. The boy blew some kind of icy breath at the resulting inferno, extinguishing it.

"That's not true!" I yelled at him, clenching my fists.

"You really don't know what he is, do you," the boy said. Clutching the burn on his chest, he struggled up, and the girl leant him some support to lean on. He accepted, and looked at me. "Hiccup is not a hero. He's not a guardian angel, and he's certainly no Boy Scout. He's a liar. A monster. A traitor."

The blood roared in my ears. I was too angry to notice that he was using the present tense, not the past. "Said the guy who works with a professional underage assassin," I crossed my arms. "But just answer me one question. Did you kill Hiccup?" I wanted to confirm my target before taking action.

I was about to burst.

To loose it.

To loose all control. And I wasn't even gonna try and regain that control, because she didn't give him any mercy. Why should I give her that courtesy? For some meaningless moral high ground that wouldn't make a difference, wouldn't give me closure? Because it's what Hiccup would have wanted?

No, and No! I wasn't gonna accept that! I didn't even truly know if he was really gone, everyone said he was gone, all because if some stupid old man and a bloody Nadder spike! He was a Night Fury, one of the most powerful individuals on planet earth.

But all my hopes that he might still be alive vanished when she nodded seriously. That was all it took. One small, silent dip of her head, and I reached my breaking point. The dam burst in full power.

I rushed forwards and grabbed her by the throat, throwing the boy to the side. I slammed her into the wall. She choked and clawed at my arms, her tail unable to spike up due to the lack of oxegen getting to her.

"HE WAS NOT A MONSTER," I screamed ather, and she flinched at how loud I was yelling. I was about ready to mutilate her when I heard a deep, bellowing roar, echoing through the ship.

It was the roar of a Night Fury.

* * *

**_With Hiccup (Present)_**

Hiccup was slumped against a wall in dragon form. He was in a cell made of some kind of black metal, a grate beneath him. The grate made a void below visible, surrounded by a roaring waterfall. There was barely any light in the dim cell, and there was a broken syringe on the ground.

Hiccup himself was a horrifying sight. Broken chains were still wrapped around his neck and paws, dangling limply off of his limbs.

Patches of scales were missing, and the skin left by it was charred and blackened. Dried blood was coated in spots over his once beautiful obsidian hide. His wings were full of holes, and the edges were ragged. One of his ears was partially missing. He was defeated, utterly.

Perhaps the most alarming thing about him was that his eyes had scarlet tear streaks under them, as if he had cried blood. He was motionless, not even breathing. He looked... Dead. Really, really dead.

The chamber was silent, except for the roar of the waterfall and the occasional squeaking of vermin. He was in a part of the ship that was used to dispose of waste... And prisoners. The chamber was, in reality, a cage, over a disposal system that would make his demise once hundred percent assured if the cage were to be released.

Suddenly the dragon's eyes shot open with a loud, rasping grunt, life flooding back into his body. There was something very very wrong, though. His pupils were minuscule, almost nonexistent. Their normal intense acid green was replaced by a pale grass green instead.

He started spasming, his body racked with jerks and shakes. He choked on roars and screams, his back arching, claws scratching at the floor, and the wing he wasn't laying on splaying in haphazard angles.

Suddenly something started happening to the distressed half reptile.

The burnt skin became smooth and pink before black-as-night armored scales covered the patches once more. The membrane of his wings repaired itself, and the wave affect normally occurring during transformation happened on his damaged ear, replacing it.

Finally Hiccup managed to stand on his paws and let out a bellowing, agonized roar that echoed in the chamber. His eyes didn't change though, they remained pale and just... Just wrong.  
He fell back onto his front paws and sniffed, sneezing as if he had something up his nose. He readjusted his newly-regenerated wings, and growled, letting his teeth show. The bloodstains remained all over him, giving him a gruesome look.  
And then the Night Fury gave one more snarl, before muttering one thing in Dragonese, his hiss laced with ire. He slammed his paw down on the metal grate as the word drew out, and the dragon's limb went through the grate DESIGNED to contained him like it was made of paper.

**"Asssssssstrid."** His body began to glow, but it wasn't the normal electric blue. It was bright red, like the fire of the feral dragons outside that Valka and Astrid had observed with horror.

He lumbered forwards, his vision blurry but accurate, and mind addled. He was not the Hiccup that was devoted to Astrid, that had forgiven his Father, befriended Toothless the snake and learned under Gobber.

Hiccup was now stripped bare of all humanity. He was the Night Fury, nothing more, nothing less. He had no limit to his fire, his power, his stamina, his strength. He was deeper into the darkness than ever before.

Land there was no certainty if he could ever come out of it again.

**[1] I'll let you decide what happened next. The end result was Jack hating Hiccup, and it involves the knife (which is the GNF counterpart of his staff, of the crook on the hilt didn't tip you off). I couldn't do a betrayal scene with Hiccup, so let's just leave it in the dark, ok?**

**And about what I just did to Hiccup, to be clear, this is partially a reference to the Eel Effect, when Toothless ate an eel and got Dragon Super Powers, but went completely loco and tried to kill Hiccup. The red tears are a reference to one of my favorite shows, Arrow, in particular, the Mirakuru, a super drug that makes the evictions cry tears of blood before making them basically Deadpool without the crazy. Well, a different type of crazy.**

**See you next time, and have an awesome whatever-point-in-time-you-read-this. **

**-RNC**


	12. Snap

**Hi! Another chapter of Ghosts. Review Replies:**

**Bookwork: dude, that was a flashback of the event that caused Jack to hate him. **

**Silverwolves: that was a flash forward. But thanks!**

**EuphoricalMusicalTyeDyeRainbow: :)**

**Dreamshade: thank you**

**a random person: maybe. You'll see. **

**JediKnightMarina: I swear, Mockingjay was the furthest thing from my mind when I wrote that!**

**Tiger W: thank you**

**Anyway, on with Ghosts of the Night Fury!**

**_Five Years Ago(Six Weeks Post Transformation)_**

_It had been a while, but Hiro finally came up with a way to make Furious human. A nerve gas that temporarily flatlined the part of his brain that made him change from human to dragon. It was low, sneaky, and underhanded... But it was the only way to avenge Heather's death. _

_Jack had been... Dealt with. Hiccup doubted he would ever really come to terms with what he had done. He felt dirty, he felt sneaky... He felt like a traitor. _

_But now was the time to avenge Heather. To do justice. Hiccup watched as Furious strode down the hall of the N.E.S.T. facility, looking like he owned the world. Well, that was all about to change in a minute. _

_Hiccup held up the can of nerve gas that would permanently lock the Death Dragon in human form and scowled. He didn't like what he was about to do. He was essentially about to cut this being off from his other half. Being a dragon... Once you embraced it fully, there was no real coming back from it. It was a part of you. The power, the confidence, the sheer feeling that you were finally in the right skin after living your life in the wrong one. Who was he to rip that away from another living being?_

_Later he would suppose that this was the last little bit of him that was still 'Hiccup,' the kind, considerate boy who couldn't work up the conviction to kill himself when he was depressed._

_But the past month had changed Hiccup from that boy. He wasn't that kind or considerate anymore, and he was about to make the decision that would drive the last bit of 'Hiccup' out of him for months, until that fateful day with Astrid to bring him back to his senses. _

_The man... Monster in front of him had thoughtlessly written off the raven-haired girl's life like it was nothing at all, like she was something to be tossed away. He looked behind him at Hiro, who crossed his arms and looked at him stubbornly. _

_"So we make him human, and then we take him in, right?" The young Asian-American inventor. That's what the dragon boy had told him. But guess what?_

_He'd lied. He had lied so convincingly, like he had learned from Merida. She and Rapunzel were currently flanking the Death Dragon as a personal guard. Hiccup looked at the team behind him and sighed. _

_"Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Take him in," he said with fake sincerity. "Just be ready to restroants the other two. This stuff will only temporarily knock out their powers, yeah?"_

_"Uh-huh. It's designed for him, not them. They'll get their abilities back within, like five minuets. It's a very specific formula that-" Hiccup didn't wait to listen. He grabbed the cap of the can and began to twist it. _

_As he did, he considered what he was doing. Could he do this? _Would _he do this? Would the person he had been before the wings and the scales do this to another living being? He hesitated, half a twist away from releasing it. _

_Then, _Henrik _gritted his teeth and twisted it the rest of the way. A whitish mist started to boil out of the container, but before he could breath any in, he threw it from their hiding place of around the corner and straight into the waiting three dragons in front of him, who immediately began breaking down coughing._

_"Hey guys," Henrik said calmly, walking into view. Rapunzel and Merida finished coughing first, and glared at him. "You ok, you seem a little... I dunno, flustered, is that the right word? Eh," he shoved his hands in his pockets. He swished his tail back and forth a bit, clearing the gas away from him with the fins of his tail. _

_"Henrik, what are you doing?" Merida asked, and swished her own tail to try and clear the air around her. "Is this some kind of a joke? And have you seen Jack, lately, we've been looking everywhere for him."_

_"Not in a very numerous mood," he said, looking thoughtful. "And as for Jack..." He suddenly frowned, the last bit of his conscious stirring, before he quelled it back down. "Can we, just, not talk about him? Please?"_

_Rapunzel looked up. "What have you done?" She asked carefully, and Henrik's face morphed into stone. "I haven't done anything he wouldn't do. You held me down while my best friend was shot full of holes, you Merida, Jack, all our fellow trainees. You prevented me from helping her! I could have saved her," he shook his head and swallowed. "But you stopped me, because of him," he pointed at the still recovering Furious. _

_"What was that stuff?" The Death Dragon-sorry, _former_ Death Dragon asked, holding his hand in front of his mouth. Hiro and Ethel had come our of hiding during his little monologue, and were looking at him with concern. _

_"It just something my fre-" he looked at them. "My associates cooked up. We... Had an understanding after I let them out of their cells. But you don't care about that, and I don't care to spend the time reiterating what they and I already know. So I'm gonna get to the point." He clenched his fists inside the pockets, then relaxed them, before black scales spread across them and his fingernails turned into grayish claws. He flexed them a few times, before drawing them out and letting scales spread across the rest of his body. _

_"I am here to make things right. Letting you go, alive, after Heather died for no reason other than she knew a secret," he shook his head. "That wasn't right. Not in the least." Henrik growled and let his teeth become tarantulas and pointed. He looked like a human dragon right now. _

_"What?" Furious asked. _

_Henrik snarled, the noise resonating deep in his throat. He pinned his long ears back and let his wings splay out a bit to give himself a more intimidating look, narrowing his now dragon eyes to look at them with a cold, animalistic glare. _

_"Let me spell it out for you. I. Am going. To kill you." _

* * *

**_HADDOCK VS HAMAMDA_**

**_Part 4:_**

**_Snap_**

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

Do you know what it's like to loose your mind? It's not fun. You can't remember a thing, and you can't SEE a thing. Your just... Aware. You can feel your body, and there's _so many_ thoughts running through your head it's like a traffic highway...

So much noise, and yet it's so silent...

I guess you can see some things, but it's all a blur. And you don't even realize your doing anything, or if your saying anything. Like I said, all your truly aware of are the thoughts running through your head.

Like mine, for instance. When I woke up, everything just sort of... retreated behind my eyes. I could almost see my own thoughts.

_'Afraid. They're afraid of me. I didn't. Do anything wrong, but they fear me. I've always done the best I can, why can't I get any credit for that. It's like a hole... A hole... A hole. I'm trying to escape, but I keep slipping when I try to climb out, and they're burying me in! _

_Can't trust them. Can't trust anyone. Don't like anyone. They hurt, everyone hurts, they always have. Astrid... Afraid of me... Did she actually love me or was she just trying to placate the beast under my skin... And Dad got all nicey-nice as soon as black scales showed up. _

_Coincidence?_

_NO!_

_I didn't ask for these powers, and I never wanted them. I just wanted Dad not to look at me like I was gum under his boot... For Snotlout to leave me in piece... For something to finally, for once in my damn life, go right!_

_I can't trust them... I hate them... I hate them... I hate them. _

And every singe thought was like a thread of fire in my skull, searing into my consciousness and burning there like a bonfire. I couldn't scream, I had no conscious control of my own body anymore. I was vaguely aware of moving my legs and such, but my frontal lobe had no friggin clue what I was doing.

So really, the ironic thing about loosing your mind: sometimes your mind is actually the only thing you can feel anymore, even if it's painful.

* * *

**_Astrid _**

My jaw dropped open at the roar. I dropped Heather, he went to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and swallowed. I could have been crazy, I could have been just really, really wanting to hear that sound. But no, that roar was angry. Enraged. Furious.

And I hated it when he was angry. So... I couldn't have imagined it. If I had then it would have been the roar he gave when he was proud and happy, or the sound of his voice. Not the roar he did when he was angry and out of control.

I took a couple of deep breaths, and looked at the dragon duo behind me. They had gone pale, as if they were afraid... As if they had heard it too. I swallowed and then took a deep breath. I lit the fire in my belly back up, and blew as hard as I could. Fire shot out of my mouth, and spread across the floor.

With the assurance that they wouldn't be after me behind me, I ran. I ran to where I had heard the noise. And I caught his scent. But something was wrong with it. It was mixed heavily with some kind of... I don't know, I couldn't really recognize or describe anything about the smell, only that it was weird and disgusting in every aspect.

I dashed through the halls, knocking aside anyone who got in my way. I got lower and lower into the belly of the ship, trying my best to keep control of myself. He was mad, I already knew that. There wouldn't be a happy reunion, not immediately. I would need to calm him down first, get him back in his right state of mind-

_DONG!_

The metallic noise rang in my ears as I slammed right into someone, and we both went tumbling down. A robin's egg started to swell on my forehead as I looked up. Some young Asian-American dude was looking down at me with both shock and concern. He was wearing purple and red exoskeleton, with some kind of emitter on the right gauntlet, and a wrist mounted gun on the left. Behind him were four people.

There was a really, really tall girl in a pink armor (ugh, pink). A large tank was mounted on her back, with two tubes stretching from it to her wrists, with a pair of triggers on her palms. She was staring at me with an open jaw and wide green eyes.

Then, there was some large African American man with green armor and a yellow visor. Both his gauntlets had emitters, but they looked more powerful than the one on the younger boy's armor. He blinked at me like he couldn't believe I existed.

Then there was a short Korean-American girl in less armor than her fellows. She had more of a skintight suit, with yellow armor on her upper torso and arms and an aerodynamic helmet. Disks were mounted on her ankles and wrists, acting as both wheels and blades, I guessed. She looked less shocked than the others, but still regarded me with surprise.

The last guy was just plain American, with blue armor that had flamethrowers mounted on his forearms and the sides of his helmet, orange flame highlights decorating the chestplate. He was _more_ shocked than the others, looking at me like I had two heads or something.

I took a moment to take in their... Presence. They were a very... Colorful group, and they made quite the immediate impression on me. I looked at each of them individually, momentarily forgetting what I was doing due to the sheer unexpectedness of them. "What the..." I mouthed.

"Ohhhh my God," The Asian-American said. "Your her. Your... Astrid, Hiccup's girlfriend, the girl in his dreams, the reason that we all thought he was a bit..." He shrugged, then made a swirling gesture next to his head. "You know, nuts."

I narrowed my eyes at him, and pushed myself to my feet. "How do you know him?" I asked, growling. The African-American held up his hands and got in front of me, looking like he was trying to placate me. "Woah, woah, woah," he said, pushing me back a bit. "Chill out, it's all good. We're his friends. In fact, we're trying to rescue him."

I raised an eyebrow. "And I should believe the wacko's dressed in color-coded armor on an enemy ship are here to rescue someone who I thought was dead, who now sounds-" I was cut off by another roar that shook the ship and preorder my eardrums.

"Ow," I winced, and shook my head. "And who now sounds very much alive and very, very much angry. So, before I melt you all, you better give me a very good reason why I should believe you!"

They were too busy looking at the direction where the noise had come from to answer me. Now that I was listening, I heard noises coming down that way. Heavy thumps and loud bands, wet snarls and the sound of plasma pblasts.

Normally I would just put it down to Hiccup kickin' ass and blowing off some steam, but the way the violence slounded, it was brutal. Far more brutal than usual, even more than when he had the Toothless persona in control.

My eyes narrowed as two of the guards came running through the hall, only for a new being to follow them. This one was huge and black, it radiated power and fury. It was none other than Hiccup Haddock, and he stood in the corridor with me and what appeared to be the Multi-Ethnic Power Rangers.

I beamed, but the smile was not returned, not by a cute Night Fury toothless smile, nor with him shifting back to his proper face to greet us. Instead, he braced his paws on the ground and roared as loud as he could, the noise ringing in my ears and scalding my face with hot air.

I grimmaced and whipped up my hands to shield my face as Hiccup roared. When it faded, he just growled. And his snarl was a resonating word in dragonese that was filled with venom, ire and hatred.

**"Aaaasssssssssttrrrrrriiiiiiidddd!"**

* * *

**_Eret_**

I unlocked the door to my apartment. It had been a long day at NYU, and I was just ready to go hem and sleep. Unfortunately, it seemed like the universe had different plans.

As I neared my apartment, I noticed someone was tailing me. Afraid it was one of Drago's men, I glanced back at him, and my eyes widened.

It was the old man that wanted to know where the Night Fury had been staying! What was his name.. Waldo... Aldo... Albert! Yeah, that's it. The tall, Scottish old man with the intimidating eyebrows and appearance that somehow scared the crap out of me, even though he was practically made of wires.

He strode up next to me, and suddenly grabbed my arm. "You and me, my dear fellow. We're going for a flight. I have some very important business in the North," he whispered, dragging me along.

Mentally I sighed. This was gonna be interesting.

* * *

**_Hiro_**

The first thought as Hiccup hit us with a super roar- his breath stinks. Then, that was immediately followed by sheer terror and lots of nightmares about him _frealkin' biting me when we were fifteen_ resurfaced.

I flinched away from the dragon, who gulped down air. His ears twitched randomly, like a dog trying to listen to something. Hd snarled at us, deep and low, and I felt the vibrations from where I stood inside my armor.

Then, slowly, his form morphed back to semi-human. Someone had given him a shiny new black leg, and his healing brace was gone. He was wearing a black overcoat like the one he wore while serving N.E.S.T.,to hide his wings and tail, Bbut this one leg those traits show clearly. On his left shoulder was a red Strike Class symbol emblazoned on the coat. But it was his face that made me uneasy.

His skin was milky pale, and cracked with black scales like he was about to change again. There were scarlet trails under his eyes, as if he had cried blood, but in actuallity his skin had changed color due to what was done to him. His eyes themselves were bloodshot, the iris's only half their usual size.

"Oohhhhhhh, that's not good," Wasabi whimpered. The conflict-adverse neatnik started backing away a bit in fear. Fred inched away nervously, Honey Lemon following suit. Even GoGo was wary, skating backwards a little and swallowing.

The guards that had preceded him ran straight past us in terror, and I could understand why. "What's wrong with him?" Astrid asked nervously as the growl in his chest continued to rumble. He eyed us like a lion would its prey.

"It's called R.E.D. The Reptillian Enhancement Drug. They use these eels they found on a deserted island to make it. It has a weird effect on dragons. They're stronger, faster, their fire is ten times more powerful and never runs out. But..."

She looked at me in alarm. "But?"

"It destroys the dragon's mind completely. Right now, that's not Hiccup, or even a rational person," I paused to look at the blond almost-dragon with a bit of regret. She came all the way to a barren frozen wasteland to avenge his death. She must love him a lot, which made what was about to happen all the more painful. "He-it, is no more than a mindless animal."

Wasabi whined in distress. "Um, I'd like to point out that that mindless animal was ranked right alongside the Red Death and the Bewilderbeasts _before_ he got dragon steroids!" I glared at the laser expert. That was _not_ helping!

"He's got a point," Honey Lemon said nervously as Hic-The Night Fury walked up. Astrid already looked equal parts heartbroken, confused, angry and terrified. Fred moved to intercept him. The comic book addict approached calmly, hands held out in front of him and flamethrowers disarmed.

"Hey, Hiccup, buddy, it's me, Fred. Remember, we're friends... Well, we have a sorta complicated relationship, but I like to think of us as friends."

He was met by another, shorter snarl than before. His lips curled up to reveal dragon teeth, which made Fred back away a bit. "Calm down dude, no one's gonna hurt ya. I mean, look who's here!"

He pointed an armored finger at Astrid, who smiled a bit hopefully. "It's the love of your life, man!" He said almost happily. "The one you spent so long dreaming about in the old days? I mean-HURK!" Before the former rich boy could continue, Hiccup's hand shot out and gripped him buy the chest plate. With a squeeze, the metal warped and groaned, and he lifted the boy in the air with one hand with seemingly no effort. The rest of his skin was taken over by black scales, and his ears stood straight up so they looked a bit like Batman ears.

He hissed something in dragonese before throwing Fred across the room. He slammed into the wall and slumped against the wall, limp and unconscious. He groaned, and we turned back to the Night Fury, who roared. I lifted the gun on my left arm and began to open fire.

Apparently R.E.D. enhanced his scale density too. That gun was meant to kick dragon ass, in case some loyalists got in our way when we were trying to escape. But the shots just bounced off his black scales.

He opened his mouth and readied a plasma blast to fire at me, but both GoGo and Wasabi rushed him at once. The emitters on Wasabi's armor reupted to life, the plasma induced lasers. Hiccup himself had helped make springing to life in the form of flame-shaped swords. GoGo's wrist disks began spinning at deadly speeds.

They started to take slashes at him, but the dragon boy twisted to avoid each cut. He ducked under Wasabi's blade, and lifted his leg to avoid GoGo's know cut, his foot catching her in the gut. She slid backwards, clutching her stomach in pain. Wasabi went for a stab, but this was again avoided. The Night Fury spun and used his tail as a bludgeon to smack the big man across the face. He spun, stumbling backwards as GoGo returned for the attack. This time, though. hiccup batted her away with one wing and snarled at them.

Honey Lemon decided to join in. The tank on her back mixed chemical reactions, which she was an expert at, and fired them through the tubes connected to her arms. What ended up firing at the R.E.D. victim was a series of chem balls that exploded against his back and swelled into multicolored foam that hardened immediately. The stuff was high density, and would probably be as hard to break as expensive concrete.

So immagine my shock when it shattered like styrofoam. Pieces flew everywhere, as well as dust from the material that I had to peer through my visor too see. But when I could, I saw Hiccup flying low, dragging Honey Lemon by the head and bashed her into the wall where she slumped, defeated over Fred.

He looked and saw Wasabi and GoGo charging at him, but as they got within striking range, he grabbed both their arms and swung them into each other. Korean-American slammed headfirst into African-American, and their marks make a terrible screeching sound as they were forced together violently.

I scowled. Ok, that was it. He was kinda my friend, but that didn't mean he could knock my friends silly like that! But before I could make another move, Astrid ran in front of me. She dashed to what used to be her boyfriend, and took a deep breath.

A line of magnesium flame hit the Night Fury in the face, forcing his head back like he'd been punched. She kept up the beam, strength ing it with each second. Bu the time it stopped, the scales were charred and burned, smoke curling off of him.

Then to my surprise, the wounded scales started to reform, slowly healing until there was no visible sign of damage. Astrid's face dropped to a deadpan look. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she muttered flatly, and the Night Fury took a swing at her. Before the blow could land, I rushed in and grabbed his arm.

The Night Fury looked at me nearly incredulously, and I cocked back my fist and slammed it into his face. He reeled backwards, before grabbing my shoulder and kneeing me in the gut, denting the armor I had there.

I lifted my other fist to hit him again, but he caught it. Running out of options, I hurts my head forwards, slamming the forehead of my helmet into his skull. The result was a dull thump and the Night Fury was forced back a few steps, blinking like a dog that was bopped on the nose. Then he copied me, but his head but caused a sizable dent. The helmet and sent my flying back.

I hit the ground and looked up at him. The young dragon man had apparently lost interest on me altogether, instead looking at Astrid. His body morphed back into a dragons, and he began padding towards her.

"Um, Astrid," I groaned. "I think now would be a good time to _RUN_!"

She took a look at me, then the approaching dragon. And then... She followed my orders, but not before the Night Fury gave a savage roar and lunged out with one of his paws. His claws raked into the blond almost-dragon's back and a little on her wast, drawing blood. She stumbled from the new injury, sliding on the floor and slamming into the wall, before quickly regaining her footing.

Land the black dragon followed quickly behind, not missing a single moment. As they disappeared,

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

After some time went on... I still felt nothing. I could almost hear dim, murky voices through the pain and confusion in my mind, but I just couldn't focus on them. I couldn't make them... I couldn't make them real.

And I tried to remember the good parts or my life, but I couldn't. I just saw the bad. Every disappointed, embarrassed look I'd ever caused my dad, every fight I'd ever had with Astrid. I saw my leg being sawed off again and again.

And rage bubbled in me like a volcano. I hated them. I hated them all. They had better run, I was coming after them! There was no way out for them. I could feel my paws thudding against the metal ground, I could feel the adrenaline of a chase through the fog of my mental instability.

But for whatever, or whomever I was chasing, there was no way out. Not this time. This chase would end in a death-theirs or mine!

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I could hear the sounds of a dragon fighting in the decks below us. Maybe it was Astrid, maybe the girl had a lot more dragon in her than she'd thought. And if she found the murderer that killed my son, God help them.

I looked around the ship distastefully... Leaving behind a trail of I despised soldiers behind me. I flicked my tail bordly and yawned as I waked along, letting my scale armor surface on my skin, as well as my crown of horns and spines in my spine.

I finally found what I was looking for.

The machine. The kind that made... Well... Us. Dragons. Well, one of the last, anyway. It was set up in the belly of the ship. I snarled and looked around, smelling something. There was something not quite right in here, but I couldn't quite place it.

The machine was shrouded behind a large red cloth, shielding most of its structure from view. I couldn't tell you what it looked like, since I hardly remembered my transformation, due to both the passage of time and the severe mental distress it put me through.

"Nice, isn't it," a gravely voice said behind me. I turned it see Drago across the room, standing calmly, hands folded behind his back. "A machine, able to rewrite DNA. To make one of the most majestic beasts in any mythos: dragons."

He chuckled, and lifted his artificial hand. "Is quite fortunate that the damage to human form does not extend to the dragon form, no? Otherwise mine would be quite unwieldy." I said nothing, just looked at him silently.

"Why did you do this, Drago?" I finally asked. "All this, the dragons, prepping for a war on humans, what ever the hell you did to those dragons outside, it all has to have some kind of end!"

The bigger man leaned against the stretcher, meaty arms planted firmly in front of him. "Do you remember what you told me Valka?" I flinched at the use of my real name. It sent a spike of pain through my head when he said it. "You said you were so devoted to you husband, you loved him so very much... But you rarely saw it ever returned. Your life became more isolated, and no one helped you when you couldn't help yourself, not even the man who promised to stay with you for the rest of his life."

I growled, and lit my own fire. "I don't see what that has to do with my question!"

"it has everything to do, Cloudjumper," he retorted. The stetcher under him began to get coated in frost, and his artificial hand started to freeze up. "There is one reason, and only one, why every dragon exists. We are the lost, we are the alone, the freaks, weaklings and those deemed useless by the word. And we now number in the millions. So tell me.." He growled. "Why shouldn't we declare war? They deserve what's coming to them!"

I looked the Iranian dragon man in the eye. I made a decision. If I did, I would have to do it fast. There were no do-overs, no retries here. Just the one shot.

I lightly lifted my left sub wing, then with speed faster than I'd ever used before, I lunged at him, the long claw of the limb ready to dive in and put a quick end to the corrupt dragon who had made his army into living weapons.

I thrust my claw forward, squeezing my eyes shut. This.., would be my first human kill. This would be my driest sapient kill. The first life I'd ever taken that I knew was my own species.

But the fact that it was Drago made it ok... Didn't it?

I never got to find out-because suddenly I found my wing held in a vice by the larger man. My eyes widened in surprise, and I attempted to pull my restrained limb free, but to no avail. "Cheap shots aren't your thing, Cloudjumper," he chided. "Leave that to smaller dragons, like the Night Fury... Or the Woolly Howl."

I heard a growl above me, and my breath caught in my throat. Perched on the wall above us was my once loyal second in command, Odysseus... But there were red tear tracks under his eyes.

* * *

Astrid

I managed to make it out of the ship, Hiccup right behind me. I was terrified. I had seen Hiccup at his deepest, darkest moments and he was nothing to joke won't then. And according to the Asian kid, he was lower than ever before. I ran down the gangplank and onto the icy landscape below. I had no clue where the hell I was going, but I just knew I needed to be a way from here!

A snowstorm had started, blocking almost everything from view. I ran for my life through the arctic landscape, and I cursed my lack of wings. My flightlessness might very well be the death of me right now.

I glanced behind me, at the black shape moving through the snow, and terror coursed through me, lighting up every single nerve in me like a bonfire. I ran faster and faster, and prayed dearly that my prosthetic wouldn't freeze up in the cold.

_Please, please, please, please_, I thought. _Don't freeze up, don't freeze up, don't freeze up, don't freeze up. _

_"ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!" _The creature that was once the sweet, kind and brave Hiccup bellowed behind me, and I bit my lip, trying to hold back tears as the black shape moved through the snow. It wasn't dragonese. Sometimes a roar is just a roar.

"I'm sorry!" I cried, and spun around. Taking a deep breath, I lit the fire in my belly back up, putting as much intensity into it as I could, and blew the fire out in a long stream of burning magnesium, the wicked hot line shooting straight at him with deadly accuracy.

The attack landed straight on the side of his head and pushed up to the side with a deafening roar. His wings splayed out in odd angles and the momentum of his jump carried him as he tumbled through the air, into a snow pile, landing on it with a splay of white icy cold going everywhere.

I took a moment to catch my breath as he moaned and onto his side. I winced in sympathy, putting a hand to my mouth and hugging myself with the other arm. "I'm sorry Babe," I called. "I-I love you." _I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to save you,_ I mentally added.

He got up, growling and shaking snow off his head, acid green eyes glinting in the dim moonlight. A dangerous rumble came from inside his chest, deep and warning.

"I love you," I whispered again and turned to run, but there was the distinctive sound of a plasma blast being let loose. The red light flew towards me, and I was to slow to outrun or dodge it.

BANG! My prosthetic exploded into a thousand pieces, and I flew five feet away from him, landing on the ice with a hard thump.

I groaned and rolled on my back. The stinging cold air became very apparent to me as the see remains of my mechanical leg fell of my stump, painted blue metal landing on the ground with little clinks as it made impact. I hissed through my teeth and clutched it as pain coursed through the aching shortened limb. Could you get frostbite on an amputation stump? I didn't want to find out, but with how sensitive the shortened limb was, it sure felt like I was gonna find out very soon.

"Ow," I muttered, taking one hand and wiping the still falling snow out of my eyes. I had lost sight of my peruser, and now I grimaced with pain. There was a gash in my back. Three gashes, actually. Two above my shoulder blades, and one on the back of my waist. My blood dyed the snow red beneath me, and energy ebbed out of my veins as the rush of terror was gone. "Ow, ow!" I but my lip then looked up. "AHHHH!"

That last bit was because Hiccup's enormous black form appeared over my head with a loud sonic boom. He dove through the air towards me. I couldn't crawl or walk away, so I was helpless to watch as his leathery form descended with a loud crash, cracking the ice underneath us with the impact of his landing.

I looked up into toxic green orbs with black abysses for pupils and panted with fear. No, no no no! No! This isn't how the story's supposed to end! Please no! Not like this. I wasn't sure how I actually _did_ want it to end, but not like this!

"Hiccup..." I whispered as he planted one large paw on my throat with a low growl. "...please."

I winced as Hiccup roared loudly in at me, retractable pointed teeth right in my face, wing splayed out to his sides, his skin glowing with eerie blue light and his spines split. He put just enough pressure on my windpipe to cut off oxygen. His roar was bellowing, primal, terrifying. It sounded as if the very air itself was screaming at the force of his fury.

My Hiccup reared backwards, letting me suck in some air.

"Hic-" I was cut off as he snarled again, then lunged, teeth out and plasma in his throat, a loud, savage bark of aggression flying from his throat and I screamed.

"HICCUP!"


	13. Die a Hero, or Live a Villain

**Hi! **

**Review responses:**

**Silver wolves: thank you **

**Guest(1): thanks **

**sheppard: yes. Yes I did. HAHAHAHA: sorry not sorry. :p**

**JediKnightMarina: there it was again, yup. **

**supersandman: thanks **

**Foxmorgorth: I think she'd probably shoot him for that. **

**A random person: we'll see **

**Guardian of Azarath: thanks. Glad you are enjoying them. **

**DarkKingM: well, you did say please... Request denied. **

**Tiger W: actually, that's how they said it in the movie**

**The Amber Fury: thanks. **

**Well, I'm currently focused on another story, How to Be a Hero, indulging the inner superhero/httyd fan in me. Has characters from DC, themes and two characters from the X-Men, and follows along the same theme of anti racism most X-men franchises do. **

**Anyway, let's go on!**

**I HAVE NOT DONE THIS IN A WHILE. HUH. **

**_Hiccup_**

It was LOUD inside my head now. Astrid's scent was closer. Every version of me; Toothless, Henrik, the pre-transformation me, all raging around. The pre-transformation me wanted to run and hide like the coward I used to be. Henrik wanted to find Alvin and maul him for a second time. Toothless wasn't thinking much, he wanted to rip the nearest thing in front of him to tiny pieces, leaving the dripping remains in my big black maw.

Ew.

Lots. And lots. Of ew.

Ironically, being trapped up here made me consider some things while the me created by the R.E.D. drug was driving the body-that one, you really didn't want to know what he was thinking. Did I have MPD? Meh, possibly. I don't know. Maybe all these versions of me in my messed up skull were a side effect of my initial transformation. I didn't know. I probably wouldn't ever know.

But I had calmed down since sorting out which thoughts were truly me and which were the one's that were born of twisted parts of my life. But I still couldn't see. I could feel the banging of my paws on the hard-packed ice, the exertion of my wings as hey launched me into the air, and the force of impact jostling my entire reptilian body as I slammed down in the ground.

Then, suddenly, I heard something. Something I couldn't bear to hear.

Pas the roar I couldn't feel, directed at an entity I couldn't see ripped out of my chest teeth extending out of their sockets to maximum length and plasma warming my trachea and the back of my mouth. A voice, so full of shock and fear so unlike her that it cause every single part of me, Pre-Transformation, Toothless, Henrik and even R.E.D., to go still.

"HICCUP!"Astrid's scream ripped into my head.

* * *

**_HADDOCK VS HAMADA_**

**_PART 5_**

**_You Either Die a Hero..._**

**_Or Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become the Villain_**

* * *

**_Hiro_**

I groaned and pushed myself up. Man, that R.E.D. stuff was nothing to mess around with. Five years if weapon technology readership and development, culminated into six suits, and we were utterly curbstomped by one dragon with that stuff.

Suddenly a large shadow loomed over me. "You seem to have suffered blunt truma to multiple areas of your body, and there appears to be minor brain damage. Diagnosis: you have lost a fight."

I groaned. "Thank you Baymax," I said as the nurse-bot in armor hauled me to my feet. Around us, my team was slowly recovering. Fred was still knocked out of the loop... Well, more so than he usually was anyway. GoGo looked mad, but dazed, and Wasabi was clutching his torso like his ribs were broken. Honey lemon was limping, and there was a bloody bruise on her head from here she had been hit.

"We were lucky he didn't kill us," I whispered. "We weren't his prey... Astrid was. The personality created by the R.E.D. must have locked on to the people he feels the strongest for, and turned whatever he felt into hate.

Wasabi whistled. "Man, from the way he would get when someone mentioned her, that's a whole lot of hate going on," he said, and GoGo nodded in agreement, retrieving her arm disks and locking them into the port on her back.

I looked at Baymax next to us in his bright red armor. "We need to stop him. Hiccup wouldn't want his body to be used to slaughter people." Like I had said before, there was nothing left of Hiccup in there. There was just the R.E.D. He was a mad dog now.

And there is but one way to deal with a mad dog.

I tapped the access port on Baymax's chest. The cylinder slid out, and two code cards popped out of the insert holes. One was green, and had a emoticon of a slimey face wearing a stethoscope and head mirror, like a stereotypical doctor.

The other was red and had a skull and crossbones on it. The green was his healthcare chip. It contained everything that made him the Baymax that had kept us company as prisoners. The other was his combat chip, programmed to make him a skilled and deadly combatant. However, the green chip made him unable to kill.

Maybe I had some issues over how he had treated us, but this wasn't why I was gonna do this. Hiccup was dangerous. He was feral. He was a threat to everyone he loved, and he wouldn't want that. He needed to be stopped, and with his level of power, there was only one way to do that.

I bit my lip. "I'm sorry, Tadashi," I whispered, before I pulled the green chip. The cases port slid smoothly back into the robot, and his eyes went from friendly to terminator red. It was a subtle shift, but a significant one. His overall aura had just changed from teddy bear in armor to something that made you run for what comes_ after_ the hills. "Baymax, find the Night Fury. Then... Destroy him."

* * *

**_ Astrid_**

I screamed as the Night Fury lunged for my face, throwing my hands up. My now exposed stump hurt like madness and my ears were filled with his R.E.D.-induced roar, and I almost trembled as I felt his hot breath on my face. I closed me eyes tightly, not wanting to see one of the faces of the person I loved and trusted for five years be the killer I saw in my last moments.

Then, suddenly, it stopped. The roar, the absolute undiluted fury and hate coming off of him, it stopped. The whine of the glow of his skin, it stopped, and I could feel his hot snorts puffing out.

I worked up the bravery to open my eyes, and looked. Hiccup was looking over me, his black snout an inch away from my head. I let out a breath, then laughed, slightly out of fear.

"That... Was way to close," I heaved, laughing lightly and starting to ease myself up. He warbled slightly, and I reached my hand out to try and clam him down. His eyes were slowly dilating in random bursts, becoming bigger each time.

"That's it, babe... Your in control. You'd never hurt those people on the ship... You'd never hurt me..." I said, my fingers nearly connecting with his scales. Then, suddenly, his eyes became filled with red veins again, and he shuddered, from nose to tail tip.

"Hiccup?" I asked trepidatiously. He took a few steps backwards, and his head shook. He seemed to be having an internal battle of some kind. He was moaning and growling, dragging his head along the ground and shaking as if he was trying to get something out of his ear. It was horrible, watching him fight... Himself.

"Babe?" I asked, and he twitched, suddenly stilling. He straightened his neck, then looked at me. I got up, supporting myself against the cliff face of ice that we had ended up beside. With my free hand, I readied my spikes, and I prepared to blast another round of magnesium flame.

Dread coursed through me. He was a juggernaught right now, and I had no right leg. It was a hopeless fight. It wasn't just an up hill battle, it was straight up vertical. But I'd be damned if I didn't go out without a fight.

Suddenly he lunged, and I flinched, about to blow fire when a massive red-and-purple streak flew out of nowhere and grabbed him by the head. What seemed to be a massive robot flying Iron Man-style was now dragging him thought the icy ground.

Hiccup suddenly kicked up with his hind legs, sending the bot flying over him. The tumbled through the snow a bit, and the robot tried to get up first. However, though Hiccup was the smaller party, he was the most flexible and was on his paws before the bot could get his bearings. He lunched himself at his new adversary, red plasma glowing in his throat.

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

I was fighting him. The R.E.D. serum personified in my head. He was pure hate and anger. I had gotten better at untangling my thoughts from his, and I couldn't let him hurt my Astrid.

MINE! We made a promise to protect each other, I was about to become engaged to her. What kind of a guy would I be if I stood by and let this happen!

I didn't let up on my mental attack, battling him for control of my body. Toothless tired to help me, and Henrik had turned into a mass of wild emotions, generally no help at all. The pre-transformation me was silent, having disappeared into the recesses of my mind.

_They hate us!_ R.E.D. screamed. _They fear us, they want us in the ground! Dad disowned us in a drunken rage, Heather wants to see our rotting corpse and nearly brought it about herself! What makes this stupid bond any different from them!_

_She knows what it's like to be alone!_ I responded._ She helped us when_ Toothless_ was in charge!_

_Hey!_ Toothless interjected indignantly. _What's that supposed to mean?!_

_Not now, Toothless. Let's focus on the new guy! You know, the one that can compete with Kletus Kassady for world's most sadistic psycho!_

The struggle resumed. We nearly seemed to be winning, until we heard the sound of thrusters propelling us through the air.

* * *

**_Cloudjumper_**

I jumped backwards as Odysseus lunged from his place on the ceiling. He landed with a huge bang, the floor under his feet denting severely. He made a horrible, rasping roar and crouched like a cat.

"Odysseus... Oliver, it's me. Cloudjumper... _Valka_. We've been friends ever since we broke free from Excellinor, your the most loyal soldier I know, you-" I was cut off as he unleashed a volley of mini plasma blasts at me, and I sidestepped.

"... And your clearly not in the mood to have a conversation," I muttered, and tried to shift into dragon form. Before I could, though, he tackled me, pinning me under a paw. I gasped for air as he nearly crushed my windpipe.

I plunged the claw of my lower left wing into his midriff, and he roared in pain, backing off. I pulled it out with a sickening squelch, mad grimaced, shaking my wing to try and get the gore off.

Then, before my eyes the wound closed and healed itself, leaving no sign of its existence. My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped. I looked at Drago, who was still watching on the sidelines. "What did you do to him," I whispered in horror.

"Made him stronger. Made him better," he said, a smug smile on his scarred face. "He resisted my cause. All those who resist my command loose the privilege of having minds. They are turned into these..." He gestured to the bloodstained Wooly Howl. "Berserkers, of you will."

Odysseus growled, and slashed at me with his claws. I turned into dragon form and pinned him under my secondary wings. I growled, and prepared to fire a tornado of flame. Before I could, he pushed up with his legs, raising my wings against my will almost... Easily. "The R.E.D. Makes the subjects' strength, their speed, and their firepower ten times more powerful. But in the process, the mind is decimated, reduced to base instincts. Turns them into animals. But they can be trained remarkably well."

Odysseus growled. "You'll find that it makes even a smaller dragon like your fuzzy white friend a match for you." Drago said, a smug tone in his voice.

The white dragon jumped and hit me in the side of the neck. The force of it was like a wrecking ball, sending my tumbling backwards as he sank his fangs into my armored hide. "Just one of these creatures posses a legitimate threat to some small countries. And we have hundreds," Drago continued.

I blasted Odysseus off of me with fire. He hit the wall and slid to the floor, still ready to go. Suddenly a new dragon dropped from the ceiling. This one was a Skrill with a slash across his eye. He had the telltale red tear marks of the R.E.D. serum.

**"Dagur,"** I whispered in shock, before he opened up his mouth. The snarl that came next was accompanied by a burst of red lightning that I barely ducked it avoid. The wall behind me was now severely damaged as it exploded from the bolt.

I swung my tail and hit him in the chest, slamming him into the wall, but Odysseus jumped at me, snapping at my face. I pushed him away with my wing. "Subdue her. She's a powerhouse. Just think what she can be with the R.E.D." Drago smirked, and he strolled towards the door.

**"Drago!" **I roared, throwing Odysseus away, then stomping Dagur. More R.E.D. infected dragons began flooding from the ceiling as I tried to chase him. First was the Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. He jumped on my back, and stabbed his claws into my neck. I body slammed him into the ground, but was immediately met with a bout of bright red lava-flame in my eyes. Odysseus had pounced on my left top wing and was tearing into it, while Dagur soared overhead, blasting me.

"Quite impressive already. You've managed to hold your own against three Berserkers at the same time. Oh, what a monstrosity you will be when we are done with you," he smirked. The door with Drago in the other side sold closed as the Zippleback, Barf and Belch, and the Gronckle, Meatlug, joined both bombarding me with bright red versions of their attacks.

No! No, i wouldn't let this happen! I wouldn't let them change me, not again! Never again. I remembered every second of my transformation, every single ounce of pain and how much it hurt, thinking that no one was out there to care if I was screaming or not.

I was gonna survive this, I decided. I _would not surrender! _

I spun, using my tail to knock most of them around while simultaneously spurting flames. Thornado was next, nearly defeating me with a roar. Stokehead landed on top of me, trying to pin my wings to the ground.

I arched my back and stabbed into him with my spines. He roared in pain and I head butted him, throwing him off. Meatlug slammed into the side of my head and rammed my skull into the wall. I sunk my teeth into the Gronckle woman and threw her into Hookfang. Barf filled the room with gas, and I couldn't see or smell anything.

I roared, and stood, covered in blood as Dagur rammed into my neck and gripping a groove in my scales with his talons. He pulled and I screeched. I went to attach him, but Hookfang bit into one of my wings. Barf and belch took both if the left ones, while Meatlug held the bottom right. Thornado roared again, leaving my head pounding, and Odysseus pounced onto my head, ripping into my snout.

I shrieked and jumped, twisting and thrashing to throw all of them off. Dagur landed in front of me, and I pounded him into the ground repeatedly with my red-drenched wings.

BOOM! Belch ignited the gas and sent me flying backwards. I hit the wall and slumped, barely getting up as I saw double. I began blasting fire again, fending off Hookfang and Thornado before Meatlug headbutted me again.

They began piling on top of me, one my one, trying to pin me. Slowly, the adrenaline of battle faded, and was replaced by stinging pain. I fought back a bit more, thrashing and bashing them against the walls. But by the end of it, I was utterly exhausted.

But I wouldn't give up. I fought on and on as hard as I could. Until the last dragon joined. A flightmare, glowing red so it was almost impossible to see the tear marks. He flapped down from the hole on the roof and hovered parallel to me, until he released a burst of red light that hit me. Every nerve in my body froze, and I couldn't move. My muscles stopped supporting the burden of the dragons dogpileing me, and I crumpled under their weight, heaving and gasping for air, slowly bleeding out. The mass of reptiles atop me was crushing me, and my vision was hazy. But before I lost consciousness, the Flightmare returned to semi-human form.

He was tall and muscular, with a straight blond beware and skunken, bloodshot blue eyes. I recognized him from time as Valka as a little girl. **"Finn..."** I hissed.

* * *

**_Astrid_**

I watched as Hiccup was about to shoot the robot. It swung with its arm and clocked Hiccup in the side of the head, and his blast went Astrid exploding harmlessly on the barren terrain.

Hiccup rammed the bot into the side of the cliff, and roared in its face. The new combatant began flying again, tearing through the icy wall. Hiccup rode him on the way up, the claws of his back legs digging into the armor.

BANG! BANG! Hiccup rammed both front paws into the automaton, one after the other, not letting it up, until the robot grabbed him by the neck and flipped him so that the dragon was the one being dragged up the cliff.

Hiccup roared and slammed it away with his tail. They tumbled back down to the ground, both clearly struggling now. Hiccup got to his paws, and the robot got to its servos. They were silent for a long time, before the red-clad mech surged forwards, throwing a punch which Hiccup ducked under, and bit into his side.

The bot rammed his elbow into the black dragon's broad forehead, nearly toppling him, them delivered a devastating kick to the side of his skull.

Hiccup rolled, and flared his leathery wings. He bellowed out a roar, then jumped, flapping them to confuse the bot. He landed with paws on the red robots shoulders and gripped the combatant, before flipping him and slamming him down so hard the ice cracked.

Hiccup roared in his face, but the automaton clapped his hands on either side of the Night Fury's broad head, extracting a shriek of pain. The bot leapt up and tried to crush aHiccup with his weights but the dragon bounded out of the way,a and smacked the robot off corse with his tail.

I watched with horrified fascination, not sure which side to take. Hic was out of his mind, bit in knew he was still the same sweet atoner somewhere in that head of his. This wasn't his fault, none of it had been his fault.

He didn't deserve to die, and since when did big battle bots believe in mercy? I felt the fire welling behind my teeth and gripped the ice with my quickly numbing fingers. This was an overall bad situation.

Fire on Hiccup, give the robot the upper hands and witness a machine brutally murder my best friend and the love of my life, knowing all the time that it was my fault, and that I had basically taken any sliver of a chance he had, said 'screw it' and tossed him under the red and purple bus.

Fire on the robot, give Hic the upper hand, and let him win. But then, unleash what was basically Chuck Norris as a dragon with rabies on the world and it was quite possible I wouldn't be able to stop him. In that way, I would condemn whatever little part of Hiccup was still in there to a hellish existence as the thing he always feared he'd become.

I looked between the battlers, then shook my head. How the hell had I ever gotten here, freezing in the arctic with no right leg and by boyfriend having an all-out no holds barred beat down with something that looked like it had just strolled out of the _Hallo_ franchise. I bit my lip, then lashed out, expelling a stream of magnesium fire that ripped out and slammed right into the robot's side. Who was I kidding. I couldn't make myself turn on him, not even when he was like... This.

Its armor melted, and its attention was directed towards me. Its glowing red eyes seems to scan me, and it raised its fist. Around the elbow, little rockets rose up out of the armor. Hiccup lunged and bit into its arm. It shook the dragon around, trying to get him off. Hiccup braced his hind legs against its shoulder and began tearing. The metal warped and groaned, but the robot gripped him by the right wing.

It slammed its head into Hiccup's, sending him tumbling backwards head over tail, until he landed on his side in the snow. He breathed heavily for a few seconds, then...

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

As the external battle raged, the mental one for control transpired inside me as well. Like I said, we had almost won, Toothless and I had nearly defeated R.E.D. We had him cornered.

The malevolent persona lashed out at us, trying to get us to back off. We almost had it, we almost had control-

BANG! That stupid nurse bot Baymax head butted me, throwing us all out of wack. Henrik was disorientated, Pre-Transformation was tossed roughly out of hiding, and Toothless and I were knocked into dizziness.

R.E.D. however, wasn't affected at all. In an instant he was dominating our mental fight. A bad memory sprung to mind, his form of a mental attack. He recollections at hurt to remember, that caused me pain to think about,they were his weapons against us. They could be what destroyed us.

We had no defense. Anything we had on him was gone when Baymax had head butted us. We were at R.E.D.'s mercy. We saw the day I bit Hiro, mutilating his shoulder.

Pre-Transformation was torn apart by the ferocity of R.E.D., and sent into an abyss in the back of my head forever. _Oh, this isn't good_, Henrik remarked, and I shot him the mental equivalent of a scalding glare.

The memory of fighting the gangs as Toothless... So much blood flooding my mouth, the sound of their bones cracking as he slammed them into the ground without remorse, and the. The memory of our condition after fighting Dagur for the first time, the utter self-hatred that had consumed him.

Instantly Henrik was gone, down into the abyss and never to be seen again. I felt like pieces of me were disappearing, like the floor was crumbling beneath my feet, even though there was no actual floor... Ah never mind.

Toothless and I renewed our efforts, badly keeping ourselves afloat. I would not fall. I would not fade away, I wouldn't yield to some Angry Eel Juice and I would not give up, ever! I tried to repress R.E.D., to regain control of myself.

R.E.D. Conjured the immage of the day we killed Excellinor, seeing her swelling carcass, her panicked look in her yellow eyes, the final words: **_Damn You... Hiccup. _**Then, the fire-filled bang, the orange filled sky, and the fear that coursed through me as Astrid left my back.

That was it for Toothless he was gone into the void, lost. I was the last one standing, the last persona that wasn't utterly batshit insane... Ok, the only persona that didn't want to slaughter the world.

_No_, I thought as R.E.D. focused in me. The serum he spawned from was eati away at my mind. The fight with Dad... I began to slip way. _No, I'm Hiccup Haddock. My girlfriend is Astrid Hofferson, I am the Guardian Night Fury! _

Getting my leg sawed off... I slipped closer and closer to the void.

_I am Hiccup Haddock. My girlfriend is Astrid Hofferson. I am the Guardian Night Fury. _

The transformation.

_I am Hiccup Haddock. My girlfriend is Astrid Hofferson. I am... I am..._

Nearly dying to the Screaming Death.

_I am Hiccup Haddock. My girlfriend is Astrid Hofferson..._

Sharpshot bleeding in the water in my old workshop.

_I am Hiccup Haddock. My girlfriend is As... Astr... A..._

Drowning durning the battle of Berk.

_I am Hiccup... I am Hiccup... I am Hiccup..._

Coming so close to committing genocide on the dragons.

_I am... I am... I..._

R.E.D. Gave me the final push. The nightmares I had of being alone, and scared as everyone abandoned me again. My mind became cloudy, my awareness of the body slipping away as I tried desperately to not slip away...

* * *

**_Astrid_**

Hiccup looked almost dead for a moment, and then-

He was in his paws in an instant, his eyes no longer green but devilish red. The robot was about to lunge forward, before a red plasma blast ripped into his right arm with a loud bang. Hiccup revered on his hind paws.

BANG! BANG! BANG BANG! The plasma blasts were obliterating the combatant, bit by bit, the armor gone to reveal parts of burnt white fabric as the bot was slowly torn apart. When the smoke cleared, it was barely there. The red lights in his eyes were still glowing brightly.

Hiccup padded forwards on the ice, right to the robotic head. He scooped it up with his jaws, and in a few seconds, crushed it like a tin can. The remains fell to the ground in a bunch of metal pieces and shards of blackened fabric.

He sat on his haunches and morphed back to human form. The Hiccup I knew so well wasn't there. This thing looked more like a hungry animal. You know that its aware of you, you know that it knows what you are, but you also know that it doesn't care and that it sees you only as something to kill.

"Hiccup,"I said warningly.

He jumped at me, flapping his wings and I threw myself to the side. He crashed into the ice, then shook his head

I threw myself on top of him, landing between his wings. I wrapped me arms around his neck and squeezed. He struggled, flailing. "Hiccup, please!" I yelled in his ear. "You've never let anything control you, not Excelinor, not your father. You will not give up now, do you here me!? Remember when you gave the dragons back their souls? No matter what you do, Hiccup Haddock always finds a way to make it right!"

He was silent for a moment, and stopped struggling. His wings and tail were still, and his ears drooped. A low rumble came from his chest and then:

"Haddock... **_NO MORE_**!"

He threw me over his head so that I landed sprawling in the snow. "I am the Night Fury!" His voice was still the same nasally one I knew, but the tone behind it was soulless, something that truly lived up to his species designation.

He pounced on me, claws out. I kicked him in the gut with my leg, and grunted, wincing at the effort of it. I raised my hand and launched a volley of spikes at him. Some caught him in the thigh, and he stumbled.

I blew another stream of fire that hit him directly in the face. There were waves if indescribable emotions in me. Rage, disappointment, lose, grief. It was too much, and it felt like I was about to burst. This was worse than having him killed by assassination.

Puts a whole new meaning to 'either you die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,' huh? He was alive, yes. But look at what he's become.

I jumped on him again,only to find it was not the stick-thin body of Hiccup, but the broad scaly back of the Night Fury I had landed on. I yelped in brief surprise as he reared back and let me fall on the ground behind him.

He whipped around, and I launched more spikes into him. He screeched in pain, before launching into a series of pounds on the ground with his paws. I rolled out of the way of each strike, before he slapped me to the side with won paw. I flew several feet, then rolled, groaning.

When I looked up, he was back in semi-human form. "You will soon be complete," he said in an utterly calm and serious voice, and I groaned. I tried to get up, but the last thing I saw was his mechanical leg slamming downwards on my face.

* * *

I moaned as I woke up. I looked around, and saw the faces of two people I hadn't seen in a long, long time. Barf and Belch. They both had red tear streaks, like Hiccup, and were in human form. They held one of my arms each, and my hands were tired.

"Wha," I moaned. "What are you-" I looked around. In trout of my was a machine like a CAT scanner. But it was filled with needles. Lots and lots of needles. A shot of fear went into me.

"No," I whispered, and began to struggle. Belch slammed his fist on the back if my head, and I slumped, my pulse pounding in my brain. I looked around. There was evidence of a fight, a big one. Dents, burn marks, gashes in the wall. Something had gone down in here. But what, I wondered.

To the side of the machine stood semi-human Meatlug in her lab coat. I she seemed to be checking on something in the machine, before she nodded at the R.E.D.'d twins. The began dragging be forwards.

"No, No!" Said, struggling to get out. I was going to be fully converted into a big scaly beast, just like every other dragon. No one was comeing to bail me out, and I couldn't bail myself out this time. But you want to know the most horrifying part?

Hiccup was there. His cold, bloodshot eyes watched me emotionlessly. Actually, he looked barely restrained. He grabbed me as I walked past. "I would kill you... But Drago wants you alive for some reason." He pushed me forward. I resisted, but I knew it was useless.

I was about to be turned into one of them.

* * *

**_Drago_**

I smirked as the new Nadder was both to be transformed. I found it curious that the Night Fury had retained his sentience with a new R.E.D. persona. Some retained intelligence, like the Gronckle's skill with machines, but it was more like a monkey that knows tricks than actual intelligent life. But with the black dragon, it didn't break him down fully. It kind of reverses his morals. I would have to look into that.

But that did not dilute what I had just archived. With no more loose ends, and loyal, trained R.E.D.'s and dragons that followed my command, I was finally ready. I had legions of dragons, both converted from humans and grown from eggs. My loyal soldiers.

I was the king of all dragons, not that White Monarch they praised. Soon I would be the one that they praised, as I was the one who ended the dragons' bane.

Human kind.

* * *

Valka was sedated, and strapped to a table. Her wings and tail were chained won't military grade restrained and such. There would be no escape for her this time. The doctor smirked as he advanced, a syringe full of R.E.D. in hand.

He cleaned her arm and located a vein. "Time for one more Frankenstein's monster," he smirked.

* * *

**_Hiro_**

"Where is he?!" Wasabi yelled, hiding behind cover. An R.E.D. Skrill had shown up, and had them under fire from one end. On the other was Heather and Jack, only kept back by having to have cover from the blitz they were receiving from Fred and Honey Lemon.

GoGo was battling the guards that had managed of come in. Meanwhile, I was trying to locate Baymax. "I don't know, his signal's gone dead. It's as if he doesn't even exist anymore!" I gritted my teeth, then pulled out the Healthcare chip.

"Come on, Baymax," I muttered under my breath. "Where are you?!" I kept trying, but it was useless as the three dragons just kept gaining ground. It was like the battle of the Alamo. They had all the advantages, and we had nowhere to run. It was only a matter of time.

I have never been the desperate type, but I felt that way now as the only exits had some of the most lethal organisms on the planet. I gritted my teeth and pulled open a hatch on the gauntlet. Inside was a switch.

Hiccup had told me not to do it unless I had to. It could damage my brain, and that damage could be catastrophic and would define toy be irreparable. But if there was any time for a last resort weapon, well, this would be it.

* * *

**_In the Depths of the Night Fury's Mind_**

In the darkest depths of the Night Fury's consciousness, there was a sliver of thought. It was small and weak, though, buried in the rubble of a forgotten past.

_I am... I am... I am... I am..._

Man it was so hard to remember. But it was still, there. The consciousness tried to compleat its sentence. It just wanted to remember its name. What was its name, what was its name.

It strained under the rubble, trying to break free. The echo of the goings on of the outside were jostling it.

"I would kill you..." It heard the R.E.D. say, and the consciousness strained harder, trying to break free. It was like there was something on top of him, and he couldn't get up. He pounded in it, trying to get something.

And finally, he did.

_I am Hiccup... I am Hiccup Haddock._

That was right. All at once, memories came back. But not in a big burst of heroicness, no. More like little stream of water dripping through the cracks in the stone. Because that's where I was. Under the ruins of what was once my own mind, now wiped clean by the R.E.D.

_I am Hiccup Haddock. I was nearly erased from my own mind. I am not that easy to put down. Astrid wasn't exactly right earlier. I don't always find a way to make it right. _

_But it's a cold day in hell when I stop trying. An arctic one, actually. I am not gonna just sit by and let this happen. Because I'm done living in the past. My deeds as Henrik, my behavior as Toothless, my treatment as Pre-Transformstion, they do matter, yes. _

_But they only serve as fuel for my fire. More motivation to set things right. So Drago, you better watch your back. Because I'm going to regain control of my body, and when I do, you'll envy what I did to Alvin and Excellinor. _

_Theres no doubt in my mind._

**No regrets. :D. Bring on the angry mobs. I can take it! (but seriously, still no flaming) As for Baymax, Hiro still has the green chip. Baymax still lives, Hiccup just utterly obliterated his body and crushed his head sadistically like a tin can.**

**:) But anyway, that's the end of Haddock versus Hamada. The winner is Drago. But the real reason about the name was the conflict between him and Big Hero 6, and I guess Baymax kinda determines who was the winner of their personal conflict (holds up remnants of Baymax's head and grimaces) Sorry buddy. Better luck next time, when he's not doped up on the red stuff. **

**Have an excellent whatever-point-in-time-you-read-this.**

**-R.N.C.**


	14. Seeing Red

**Deadpool: Hey kiddies, I'm-**

**BLAM!**

**Sorry about that. Deadpool got into my account through How To Be A Hero, and I had to drive him out with a shotgun. It won't last long though, he's already getting up… Im going to be driving him out for some time. So, to clear up confusion, the personality that took over Hiccup's mind is called Red, but everyone calls him Night Fury except Hiccup because he hadn't bothered to tell anyone he has a name. Anyway, reviews:**

**Silverwolves: thank you.**

**Junkmail Hoffers: Never!**

**Foxmoegorth: thank you.**

**The Amber Fury: nope. Never read Shiver.**

**Sheppard: thank you so much. That means a lot.**

**Supersandman: hi buddy!**

**Guardian of Azarath: yes he is. And is your name from Teen Titans? I just remember Azarath as part of Raven's mantra**

**SharKohen: :)**

**Tiger W: thank you. Thank you so very much.**

**KingPlazma: NO!**

**DEADPOOL WILL NEVER TAKE OVER RNC! NEVER! WAIT, DEADPOOL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STAY AWAY, STAY AWA-**

**_…_**

It had been two weeks since that day.

The day Hiccup failed to defeat R.E.D. The day Hiro and the Immortals were overrun and brought down, beaten mercilessly and left in the brig of Drago's ships. Since Cloudjumper had been converted into an R.E.D.

Since Astrid had been converted into a Nadder. She now had the wings and spikes tail that the Red Death had wanted to give her all those years ago. Her mind had been destroyed, wiped clean by the process. She was the Nadder now.

And there wasn't even a good chance Hiccup could change that anymore.

In that time, the Deadly Nadder had gone through rigorous training. The accelerated learning process and her own natural affinity for adapting, learning and evolving her skills made learning her new body child's play.

And the Night Fury had watched all of it without emotion. Hiccup would have tried to tear her trainers to bits, to rip Drago limb from limb and obliterate the machine that made this possible. But what was once Hiccup was now a red-eyed monster.

For all intents and purposes, it was over. There was nothing he could do. He was jut a fragment of a personality inside his original skull. His friends were incapacitated, and he didn't even have a body to fight back with.

He might as well give up.

But it was a dark day on the sun and a cold day in hell when he would accept that.

* * *

**_Inside the Night Fury's head._**

_"Red."_ The voice echoed in the multi-occupied mind. The one currently in control who answered to said name, mentally scoffed in annoyance.

_"So, your still here."_

_"Yeah. I want my body back. I'm clingy like that."_ The voice of the body's former owner sounded annoyed, as if this whole situation was a minor inconvenience. But Red could feel the truth. He could feel Hiccup's fear and anger, the feeling of being trapped and voiceless while only being able to watch once again, just like most of his life had been before his conversion.

_"Well, you can't have it," _Red answered spitefully. _"I would erase you fully, but I think you've proven that that's not really going to happen any time soon."_

_"Nuh-uh."_

_"So your just going to have to sit back and watch."_ Red said. That made Hiccup actively mad. He began trying to mentally retake control, but as was said, currently he was just a fragment. Many memories were gone, including the ones of when the other now departed personas, Toothless and Henrik, had been in control. His pre-transformation life was foggy, but the last five years were still bright and shining in his mind. But that was about the only thing. He didn't have enough of himself left to resist Red.

The foreign persona subdued his predecessor.

_"Hush, tiny dragon."_ Red chided patronizingly. "Now, you just observe. This isn't your mind or body any longer, it's mine. And I serve Drago."

As Red's attention was turned back to the world, the fragment of Hiccup remained active. And planning. He wasn't putting it on the agenda to stay this way for much longer. In fact, if he had his way, Red would be out before the day was done.

* * *

**_Red_**

I lurked down the halls of Drago's ship, grumbling in annoyance as I had to press my draconic wings close to my back to get through the aircraft carrier's narrow corridors and hatches.

"_Curse_ these tiny spaces," I muttered growling. Hiccup was whispering in the back of my head. That stupid little brat had clinger to existence and wasn't letting go for anything. But he wasn't a threat any more. I finally got into the hanger of the blasted ship and flapped my wings out in relief, unfurling the cramped limbs and giving them a flap.

In the hanger of this ship, you wouldn't find any plans. Rather, you'd find R.E.D. cages. Ganging from the ceiling, the now feral once-people thrashed in their cages. The once closest to me was the Gronckle that answered to Meatlug. Then was Barf and Belch, followed by Hookfang, Thornado, Stokehead, Dagur, and ending at Cloudjumper. She had taken a more radical change than even the Night Fury had to the R.E.D.

Her scales were as red as the eel they were extracted from. Unlike most, her eyes weren't so bloodshot it blotted out the white, but rather her irises had become a demonic ruby red. One of her horns was chipped and the other cracked from the tip to above her eye. She was sporting a multitude of new battle scars, and one of her spines was missing.

I could feel Hiccup mourning this in the back of my head. This was our mother, or so I was told. She was in the same boat Hiccup had been, and he hadn't gotten to meet her before I came along. And she wasn't even lucky enough to get sentience like me. The Red that was inside Cloudjumper was no more than a feral beast looking for a meal and some blood.

He should know. That's how he spent his first few hours, screaming in terror as pain flooded his mind, fully aware he was a byproduct of poison. Wanting to tear down whatever this body's rightful owner had created, kill all he loved. It was his natural instinct, and he couldn't resist it.

Then he'd begun to start thinking rationally. He had stolen Toothless's calm under pressure and raided Pre-Transformation's intelligence. Cobbled together his own person instead of a beast.

And what he had come out with was an opportunist. Drago was the one in power here, he had an army, a dragon form that no creature could hope to match, loyalists unlike the Red Death, and a superior mind.

Screw morals, Red wanted to live. Once he saw a way out, he was booking it. Bye-bye, see you later tusk face. But for now, he'd serve the fat blowhard…

He was jolted from his thoughts as Heather began to approach him. "Hiccup," she said with a poisonously sweet tone and smile. I snarled, showing one side of my fangs and converting my fingernails into talons.

She backed off immediately. "Ok, then _Night Fury_," she said, exasperated. I didn't like that tone. Or that smile. She may have hated Hiccup almost as much as I did, but I could remember her almost killing this body. I could remember the sense of betrayal and shock and hate he felt when she grinned as the life leaked out of his body. And just like Hiccup, I took it personally.

I snarled, before saying in a low growl "Something you want to tell me?" I asked her in a dangerous tone, whipping my tail. The insolent little Nadder had the gall to smirk, as if I was some kid who did something cute.

"Yeah," she said. "Master Drago wants to see you. He looked angry. Then again, he always looks angry… He even looks pissed when his plans work flawlessly." She mused. Ok, yeah, I find that creepy too. Can't blame her on that end.

"Thanks." I nodded curtly, and departed, swishing my tail behind me. Hiccup was yammering away in the back of my head again, but I had run out of patience for him today. He was so annoying. He had almost twenty years with this body, was it really that much trouble to let a newborn consciousness have a turn?

I sighed and shook my head, as if that would somehow dislodge him from our shared skull. Existing like this was perplexing. Having memories when I was born of a personality that wasn't mine. A consciousness that wasn't mine. My first moments were spent being filled to the brim with each and every once of all the personas that were once in here. Pre-Trans's fear, Henrik's guilt, Toothless's resentment, and Hiccup's mistrust. I had been filled with those little negative thoughts that you get about people when your in one of those moods, even if it's the people you love. But that's all I had, apart from feral instincts.

I was starting to gain my own opinions now. Astrid hadn't been a bad girl, she'd just been in the way if a feral animal. That big robot… Meh. Drago! He's insane and deluded, but he has power and can kill me. He's also quite the wordsmith when he wants to be.

The sound of footsteps jogged me out of my inner musings. I looked up to see Deadly Nadder walking past me. The face that once belonged to Astrid was blank and expressionless, her tail and wings stiff, blond hair cut at her jawline and blue eyes narrowed in hate at something in her mind. She noticed me looking and scowled. "What are _you_ looking at, Blackie?" She hissed. So, the new girl already had her fangs, eh? Well, not surprising, considering who she used to be. "Something in your mind?"

I smirked and shrugged. "Nothin'." I flicked my tail at her as I continued walking. "It's just nice to see you went through the transformation smoothly. No… _Complications_?"

She snarled, lashing her tail. This one seemed to take everything as an insult. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? You thought I couldn't take it?!" She snapped angrily, and I rolled my eyes. I certainly hopped I wouldn't be assigned alongside her anytime soon.

Suddenly there was a loud buzzing in my brain. Hiccup was trying to take command. He was growing, the fragment of his consciousness was getting bigger.

'Oh no you don't!' I hissed in my mind, and closed my eyes, focusing. I tried to mentally strong-arm him into submission, but somehow the blond dragon was making him fight harder because she was near him.

"What the heck's wrong with you, Charcoal-Scales?" Deadly Nadder said insolently. I didn't respond, shifting forms and making a break for it, running on all fours as fast as I could to get away from her.

Hiccup had nearly overwhelmed me somehow. Huh, I guess the fragment wasn't so broken after all. He just needed the right… Incentive to fight back. And that blond seemed to provide it, even though his mate wasn't in there anymore.

'_You're__ wrong,'_ he told me, even as his will to fight back crumpled. Like I said, he wasn't as broken as I thought but he was still a long way from being all there again. _'She would never let some stupid machine destroy her mind.'_

_'Dramatic much?'_ I commented, shaking my head as I molded the body into semi-human form. I flexed my hands, trying to make sure Hiccup hasn't gotten control over anything. After confirming I was still in complete command of everything, I continued on my way to Drago's office.

* * *

**_Albert_**

The Rumblehorn known as Eret was hard to convince. As stubborn as his species was designed to be, I didn't expect anything less. He had yelled at me and complained to me for hours, listing all the reasons he shouldn't have to carry me all the way to the arctic.

I eventually just took control of him and made him sit down and shut up. Young people could be so annoying at times. I then looked to Stoick for help. The big human was more than enthusiastic to go, as well as Gobber too. Hiccup's 'Children' Sharpshot, Veil and Nightmare wouldn't let us go without them either.

I sat on the plane, pondering. Sharpshot was curled up on my shoulder, sleeping. His little bug-eyed face was distorted, as if he was having a bad dream. Nightmare was in the pocket of my coat, asleep as well. Veil had gone off to another part of the plane, and Stoick and Gobber sat across from me.

"Do ye think she's still alive," Gobber asked, startling me out of my musings. The man with missing limbs had a very concerned expression on his face. Of course he did, this was his adopted daughter we were trying to find. "She was angry when she left. Last time I had seen anger like that was with me, and it cost me half of me limbs when I ran into danger foolishly."

"I don't know," I answered him truthfully, and sighed, lacing my fingers together with elbows on the small table between us. "I haven't known her very long, but to me she seems headstrong, loyal, and will likely not think before she acts when she's in an intently distressed state."

Gobber shrugged, as if to say 'fair enough'.

Stoick looked like he wanted to ask something. I gave him a look that clearly said 'just ask me'. He sighed and shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. "Valka-"

"Cloudjumper." I interrupted. "She has your wife's memories and body, but Cloudjumpr is the identity she has assumed for the last five years. It's not like Hiccup's split personality, Cloudjumper is the person she remade herself into. But go on."

He looked a bit disgruntled at the assertion, but continued. "Cloudjumper," he sarcastically emphasized the name, "what about her. She already proved to this 'Bludvist' that she would rather die than be in his captivity."

I nodded. Cloudjumper was always adamant about her freedom. "I'm sorry about that." He said, looking down. They looked confused.

"They will likely turn her into a R.E.D." I said. Before they could ask what that was, I continued. "That's their answer if they won't follow, ever since your son destroyed the hive mind link that lobotomized the dragons on Berk. It makes them animals, with only one loyalty, to Drago. He could take remote control of the dragons, yes, but he'd have to micromanage them. The attack on Berk was severely flawed because of it."

Stoick looked horrified, likely imagining Cloudjumper with nothing left but instinct, the drive to kill. It was a terrible thought. I could see that he still loved her immensely, but unfortunately five years of resentment of him and fear of the humans' ability of prejudice and her own power were major obstacles between them.

I sighed, and leaned back in my seat. "If that's the case, I promise I will do everything in my power to find a cure for them. But it's a new science, and it's more than likely that… Well," I swallowed.

Stoick scowled. The man more than likely knew where this was going. Gobber wasn't as quick, but even he was begging to realize what I was saying. He shook his head, as if saying that the option was out if the question. The red bearded man apparently wanted it out in the open though. "Out with it," he commanded in a serious tone.

I looked at him sorrowfully. "I'm very, very sorry about this. But… We may have to put her, and everyone effected by that stuff, down."

* * *

**_Hiccup_**

Up side:

I could hear and see what Red heard and said. The Night Fury was slipping in keeping me subdued. I just prayed he didn't know that yet.

Down side:

Putting up a bigger fight when Ast-the Deadly Nadder was around probably clued him in that I wasn't as down as he thought.

But I couldn't help it. Seeing her like that, seeing that she had just endured the horrors of becoming a dragon and so full of anger, the old her scooped out and someone new inside, that made me so angry. It made me want to find the person who did this and rip them apart.

I was still pretty weak though. One didn't just save himself from the edge of being mentally erased and just come back at one hundred percent. I needed time to recover. But I was worried about what Red would do with my body while he had it.

As Red opened the doors to Drago's office, I felt more than a little enraged when I saw Drago's face. He was sitting in a chair, reading a rather large book. But obviously there was nothing I could really do about my anger, was there? "Sir?" He asked with my voice.

"Night Fury…" He put the book down. "I can never get tired of saying it. For all the ways Excellinor praised your power and perfection, I can never get over how anticlimactic your human form is." He and I both bristled like that, but he chuckled as if that were a joke.

"Your assassin said you wanted to see me?" Red asked in an unamused voice.

"Yes." He lifted himself from his seat, casting an intimidating shadow over me. Even with no draconic features to speak of, he still managed to give off the sense of danger of a dragon. Think kind you would probably get from being in the same room with a tiger, that it might attack. And that if it did, there wasn't a lot you could do to stop it.

"Are you loyal?" He asked. Red tilted my head, making a questioning sound. The question had interested both him and me. Why was this coming into question? Red hadn't done anything particularly troubling to worry Drago.

"Um, what do you mean?" He asked.

Drago looked down at him, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny. "What I mean is, your not about to betray us, are you? After our little… Talk, after you gave us Astrid, I'm confident in your goals, but…"

"But?" Red questioned.

Drago sighed. "Hiccup was an extraordinarily stubborn boy, from what I could tell. Are you sure he won't be a problem anymore?" Red tensed. He knew I was still active in here, and chomping at the bit to get control.

There was one flaw though. He was like me, to an extent. He and I had the same thinking process. We calculated the same plans, we payed attention to the same things… And we both thought we could solve our own problems without help. He didn't want Drago knowing I was in here, because that meant he had failed to subdue me completely. And the artificial personality was more perfectionist than I was.

"No, no sir." He said, keeping the same tone he had all conversation, while mentally pushing me down._ 'You better stay down,' _he mentally hissed to me. _'Because if you don't, I-'_

_'What?'_ I interrupted him. _'You'll do what? We've already established that you can't kill me. I'm to far integrated into the body. I'm the original, and you can never get rid of me.'_ If I had arms, I would have crossed them. As it was, I sent a smug attitude towards him.

_'No, but I can make what little piece of you is left miserable for the rest of your life!' _Drago's voice interrupted our argument.

"Good. Because there's something I need you to do for me." He walked around the desk and stopped in front of me. When he spoke, his voice was as flat and emotionless as a machine. "There is a plane heading here from the west. It's not one of ours."

He paused, before looking me straight in the eye. His next words were devoid of sympathy, hesitation, compassion, or anything to suggest Red had a choice in the matter. "I want you to shoot it down, and kill the occupants."

* * *

**_Five Years Ago(Six Weeks Post Transformation)_**

_Henrik groaned as he leaned against a wall. The blood from Furious was still on him. He felt… Sick. Tainted. He had…. Oh wait._

_He looked at the torn form of Furious on the ground. He was still alive. Severely injured, most likely traumatized, but alive. That made him breath a little easier. He would have felt bad for killing him, but Henrik had no qualms about hurting the guy, he was a despicable life form. _

_But his head was ringing, like a thousand bells inside his head. And not even normal bells, they were the big bells inside old cathedrals that hurt your ears all by themselves._

_Henrik shook his head. The connection Furious had on his brain… Ever since he had gotten here. The attack had severed it. It was what was making him so willing to hurt… To maim. To kill. It had been like an ever-present pressure that, up until now, he had been completely unaware of. But now that it was gone, he felt strange… Kind of off balance._

_With a flap of his wings, he started to take off, leaving the unconscious forms of Punzie and Merida and the bloodied Furious behind. However, as he soared his forehead began to gleam with sweat. He arched his claws and growled._

_Thoughts were becoming harder and harder to form as he continued. No, he had to find Hiro… He had to keep his promise and get him and the other people from the institute out of here. He could already smell N.E.S.T. members coming. They were just humans… No defense._

_He groaned and fell to the ground. He had heard about this. His mind, now that it wasn't connected to his minder (who was a pretty sucky minder at that, considering what had just happened to him), was starting to collapse. A sort of fail safe they put in Elite's to keep them from going rouge. No matter how powerful you were, you couldn't pose a threat while brain-dead._

_He flapped his wings, shifting forms. His mind clouded, thoughts murky, senses dulling. He could feel his consciousness fading. Sleep was calling him. It would feel so good to just stop and lie down. He wouldn't have to worry about anything ever again._

_Henrik growled, shaking his head to dispel the unwanted thoughts. That wasn't an option. He may not remember who he was before becoming a dragon, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't have gone down this easily. He would have fought to keep his mind, or at least the baseline of it. That's how Henrik had gotten here. So he wouldn't give in!_

_He gritted his currently toothless gums and fought to keep his eyes open as he began to mentally flatline. He shook his head, trying to keep any thought active. He thought of his promise to Hiro, how angry he was when Heather was killed. He thought of how much he wanted to bring down the bastards that had done this to him…_

_Suddenly he remembered something. That girl. The one with blond hair, in the picture he had seen after transforming. They were going to put her through this hell, make her a monster. No one, not even the most despicable person alive, deserved this._

_So he had no _right_ to give up now when he could stop this from happening. None at all. He kept focusing in that picture, of what he needed to do. It was for as main his own sake as hers. If he had a purpose, he had a reason to endure. To beat them. To make sure this never, ever happened again._

_He couldn't keep flapping his wings anymore though. Them were too tired. It was taking everything he had not to be deleted. He fell to the metal ground, skidding a bit, his scales making a squeaking sound as the ran over the smooth surface beneath him._

_He opened his eyes, looking at the wall. Next to him was a door that said 'Conversion'. He began to snarl. That was where they made dragons. He was sure of it._

_Well, first step in his mission: destroying that wretched place. He forced himself to his paws, fighting to keep his mind alive. He chanted his mission in his mind. Protect people from this, find out who he was, bring N.E.S.T. down._

_And the first thing he saw inside the room were three little dragons in cages._

* * *

**_Eret_**

Well, today was a fine day so far. I get kidnapped by an old lunatic dragon, who says that because I'm 'one of them' that I should participate in this battle. Honestly, can't a guy just escape from captivity and live out a semi-normal life? Apparently not.

I sat, unable to move, in the chair of the Haddocks' jet. While it wasn't particularly uncomfortable, I still didn't want to be there. I wanted to be back in New York… Or at this point, Kansas, just somewhere far away enough that I didn't have to get involved in this.

Suddenly I spotted the old dragon looking at me. It wasn't long after that I felt him poking around in my head. I frowned, letting my teeth sharpen a bit when I growled, "Stop that!"

"Stop what?" The old codger asked.

"Your in my skull. Don't think I didn't notice. I can tell you never got your doctorate in subtlety." He chuckled a bit at that, shifting to lean forwards in his seat and lacing his fingers together.

"Your not wrong there. So, I'm going to just come out and ask it; why are you hiding?" The question made me hesitate. I didn't want to sound like a coward, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw that there really wasn't any other way to think about it.

"Fear." I answered. "I spent time with Stoick's wife, in that cell. When we were lobotomized. She got turned into a huge tan Stormcutter. But sometimes I would hunk with Drago. He was always in human form, but he didn't need to be a dragon to be intimidating. He was scary, just by looking at you. Even when he only had one arm, he gave off this..." I swallowed. "This sense, that he could just choke the life out of you, that he could do it without really trying." I shook my head. "And that it would be so unmemorable he would likely forget it as soon as you died."

Alfred sighed, looking at his hands. The old man had look of sorrow about him. "I know." He nodded, his eyes showing off some deep thoughts. I might not have been the sharpest, but even I could tell there was some deep stuff going on in his mind.

"I suppose it's my fault. Leaving without a word, abandoning him to the ships. I honestly forgot he was following me. A poor excuse, but I couldn't just let the dragons hide. I needed to find a way to help them come out."

He looked up at me. "You're not a bad guy for being scared of him. I'm scared of him too, you know." I rolled my eyes. "But I can tell your not someone comfortable with letting people take the fall for stuff. I trust you'll do what's needed when you have to."

"Says the guy who basically kidnapped me and mind-jacked me onto this doomed plane." I quipped dryly.

That earned a bitter laugh from him. "Yes, well, true as that is-"

**_BOOM!_**

Anything he was going to say next was silenced when the back half of the plane exploded in a crimson blossom of plasma. My eyes widened, and I began shifting forms, claws growing over my body and growing a set of wings and a tail. Before long, I was a full-fledged Rumblehorn.

The old man and the two who owned the doomed aircraft moved behind me to get it cover as the plane began to fall from the sky. There was another explosion, detonating the front half. The plane was on auto-pilot.. Probably, but now it didn't matter, as there was no more cockpit and no way to save this thing.

I took a quick glance out the window, and saw a black and red blur zip past at dizzying speeds, followed by a loud shriek. The thing, whatever it was, must be orbiting the plane, trying to make sure nothing unexpected happened.

I snarled as the black and red blur whooshed past a window on the opposite side, before looking down to try and see how close we were to impact.

We were very, very close.

* * *

**_Red_**

When the plane hit the ice, the thing nearly went under. Fortunately for them, the ground here was thick enough to take the weight of the craft and able to endure the destruction the crash landing caused.

I flew around in circles for a bit, checking to see if anyone was trying to straggle away. After I was satisfied, I circled one or two more times, before coming in for a landing near the thing.

My scales were glowing red in almost the exact same pattern they had been as Hiccup's war paint. Funny, huh? They gave off an eerie crimson glow in the fading light of the sun as it set.

I tapped the ice a few times with a paw to check to see if it was safe to walk on. When that was confirmed, I started sniffing around for anything alive. At that point, I couldn't find anything, but my nose was clogged by ash and the scent of fire and burnt metal was thick in the air.

Suddenly, I heard debris shifting, and I perked my head up, transitioning my way into human form as I made my way over to the sound. As I drew closer, I saw a shard of the hull that had fallen on one of the seats shifting as something attempted to free itself. I had smelled dragons on this plane, so I was wary.

I slowly reached to lift the debris, cautious about what could be under there. Drago must have wanted this thing to go kablooey for a reason. I ripped the thing away and found-

A small green and brown Terrible Terror. Sharpshot. The little guy blinked and stared up at me for a second, sniffing. Then, his big buggy eyes narrowed in anger. He leapt up onto the top of the seat and began snarling at me.

**"Fight me, body snatcher!" **He hissed at me.

I had to laugh ere. The dragon no bigger than a toy breed dog was the one challenging me, one of the toughest dragons Drago created, to a fight. I snorted, and patted the little guy's head. "That's funny, little firefly."

Without warning , he lunged out and bit my arm. "OW! What the-get off of me!" I yelled as he sank his teeth farther into my arm. I began yelling and upping at his tail, flailing my arm, but nothing would get him to budge.

He was like a leech, not coming off no matter how hard I pulled on his tail. I even tried slamming him against the wall, but still nothing. The only things I got were little growls and muffled threats.

Out of nowhere, Veil shot out, blinding me with her smoke, I lashed my wings and tail around, trying to hit here as she bombarded me with head tuts and bites. Meanwhile the little brat on my arm still refused to let go!

"Get off me, you little freaks!" I yelled, as I tugged even more fiercely as Sharpshot. Veil went in for a straight up head-butt, going full force right against my face. For a little dragon, she could sure pack a punch. If felt like I was hit with a bulldozer (and from an unfortunate incident on a construction site in Berk two years back, I speak from Hiccup's experience).I flew backwards, landing in one of the seats.

I blinked, waving smoke out of my eyes as the other two disappeared, hiding in Veil's smokescreen. I gritted my teeth, ashamed of how early that thing had gotten the drop on me. Suddenly, I noticed something on my face. A faintly orange glowing something, as it crawled into my view. The teeny-tiny little fireworm, Nightmare, was perched on my forehead, looking at me with wide, innocent eyes.

"And what are you going to do?" I deadpanned. Suddenly she started to glow, hotter and brighter, until if felt like I was being branded. "Ow! Hot! Hot!" I cried, and flung her off. I'm pretty sure there were little paw prints seared into my head now. She landed on Sharpshot's back, and the tiny dragon trio began laughing at me.

Laughing. At me. That got me angry. I reared back and transformed, slamming my paws down on the loan floor and cracking it.** "SHUT UP, YOU BRATS!" **I yelled, scales glowing and teeth showing.

They scrambled off, and I shook my head in annoyance, the wounds from that little... Incident healing over. I quickly decided that I would _not_ share that with _anyone_ when I got back.

I sighed and began padding forwards, growling and sniffing, searching for the little buggers. I passed the unmoving form of a Rumblehorn, but decided to check later to see if he was dead or alive. He wouldn't be that hard to find. The small dragons had completely disappeared though.

My paws steps echoed through the plane. Hiccup was becoming more and more active in my head with each step. He was angry, distressed and... Amused at what had happened just now. Great, even the fragment of an obsolete personality was laughing at me. Under no circumstances was I to tell Heather or the Deadly Nadder about this...

Suddenly the smell of someone still very much alive reached my nose. I perked my head up and started following the smell to the back of the plane, a small draconic smirk creeping across my face. This would prove that I meant business, that I was_ not _a copy of that softie that owned this body previously. Killing whoever was in here would mark the end of Hiccup, and the start of Red.

I pushed open the door with my nose. There were two people in this part of the plane. The little dragons had clearly dragged them back here after the crash, judging by the ash smears on the ground. One of them was laying across the round, spread eagled. He had a blond braided mustache and prosthetic limbs. Gobber. Only I didn't pay much attention to him.

I was more focused on the person laying in the half-burned seat next to him. The one with the long, singed red beard, and blood flowing from a wound on his forehead. His head was lolled forwards in unconsciousness. My anger flared upon seeing him.

_'Please... No."_ I heard Hiccup say in my head.

I shifted into human form and snarled as I gazed at the unconscious, half dead form of Stoick Haddock, a plasma blast meant just for him rising in my throat.

* * *

**That is all. Have a good whatever-point-in-time-you-read-this. **

**-RNC**


End file.

How to Train Your Dragon, Adventure, Hurt-Comfort