Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's a "half human, half dragon" fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD. Dreamworks does. I only own my OC.

Hiccup sighed heavily as he and his fellow Dragon Riders approached Dragon Island. They (him, Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs) had been told to go investigate Dragon Island because of some "weird, pained screeching" Mulch and Bucket, two Viking fishermen, had heard last night while hauling in the last catch of fish before winter. It was now approximately two weeks until the first snow set in and from there it would only get worse for Berk, Hiccup's home. Blizzards, hail, treacherous ice... It made the young Viking shiver just to think about it. Already it was starting to get chilly out and he was wishing now that he'd worn his extra thick fur vest like his father, Stoick the Vast (and Chief of the tribe) had told him to. Oh well. The screeching was probably nothing, anyway. Mulch and Bucket could've easily confused the pained screech with a regular dragon screeching.

"I'm bored," proclaimed Snotlout, Hiccup's cousin. Not again, he thought. He's been complaining since we left.

"We're almost there," he said, trying to pacify Snotlout. And they were, anyway. Hiccup could see the rocky land mass they had dubbed Dragon Island (for its many species of dragons, obviously) on the horizon. Soon, the teens had landed and dismounted their dragons (or dragon, in Ruff and Tuff's case; they rode a two-headed Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch); Ruffnut and Tuffnut were bickering again, but Hiccup tuned them out and scanned the beach. Just as he had expected, there were no signs of any injured dragons. If there had been a fight between two dragons, there would have been signs of a struggle, such as broken trees and scorch marks on the ground. But the shore was pristine.

Hiccup was about to tell the group not to bother going further inland to search for the injured dragon since there probably wasn't one when the twins started at it again.

"Did you just tell me to shut up?" asked Ruffnut angrily, her eyes flashing.

"So what if I did?" Tuffnut asked, leaning towards her with his arms crossed menacingly.

His answer was a punch to the nose, which started to bleed heavily. Tuffnut clutched his nose while jumping up and down in pain and crying out, "Oh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" over and over again. Snotlout and Ruffnut laughed while Fishlegs looked nervously at Astrid, who was frowning disapprovingly at them.

Suddenly, Toothless perked up and ran straight inland. "Toothless! Where are you going, bud?" Hiccup asked his dragon. Toothless just ignored his rider and continued to sprint away from the teens and their dragons, seemingly following a scent.

Why would he just leave? Hiccup thought. But his musings about Toothless were interrupted by Toothless himself, for the next thing Hiccup knew, Toothless had come running back to the shore, panting heavily. However, upon noticing Hiccup staring, bewildered, at him, the Night Fury galloped over to his rider, bit his sleeve and dragged Hiccup away from the group. "Woah! Toothless! Where are we going?" Hiccup asked, pulling back. But Toothless just crooned and pulled on his sleeve harder, nearly causing Hiccup to fall flat on his face. Catching himself, Hiccup looked back at his friends, who simply shrugged and made to follow. It's not like they were busy or anything.

So Hiccup allowed his dragon to drag him further and further away, retracing Toothless' path from when he'd run away earlier. Finally, they arrived at a big, black rock. "Your dragon's an idiot," said Tuffnut, gloating. "There's nothing here."

Toothless just snapped his tail fin at the arrogant boy while leading Hiccup around the rock to the back. What Hiccup saw made his stomach drop.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD; Dreamworks does. I only own my OC.

Hiccup couldn't believe his eyes. At his feet, half covered in leaves and dirt, was a white Night Fury! He saw the others immediately stop in their tracks out of shock out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored them. A Night Fury! A real, live Night Fury!

Hiccup had thought that Toothless was the last of his kind, but now he wasn't so sure. He bent down and reached to touch it, but the white dragon's eyes suddenly opened and it growled at him threateningly. However, Hiccup didn't stop reaching for the dragon because of the growling; he stopped because of how odd the Night Fury's eyes were. They were red with a round pupil and surrounded by white, like a human's eyes. However, the eyes were still the same size as Toothless'. Looking into those eyes, Hiccup couldn't help but feel like there was someone staring back at him. Not just a dragon, but something more.

Glancing back at his friends, the young Viking could see that they were feeling weirded out too. However, the dragons were all drawing closer, sniffing the white dragon curiously. The new dragon snarled at them and they drew back. "Hey, it's ok," Hiccup told the dragon soothingly, coming to his senses and trying to calm the dragon down. It obviously felt threatened, but it stayed lying down. If it really felt threatened, it would've sprung up by now and probably attacked or flown away. Finally, Hiccup came to a conclusion: the dragon was injured.

At first glance, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the white Night Fury. But, as Hiccup brushed off the leaves and dirt (despite the increase in menacing growls), he saw a fairly deep gash on the dragon's side. It looked like a large claw had made the gash, so Hiccup presumed that this dragon had gotten into a fight (probably with a Monstrous Nightmare, by the size of the gash) and had crash landed here.

Seeing the gash, Hiccup realized that they had to somehow get this dragon back to Berk for healing, or the wound would bleed out or get infected. He told Astrid quietly to fly back to Berk and bring a boat and Gothi, the village elder and healer. Astrid nodded, understanding that this dragon needed help right away, and took off on Stormfly.

When Astrid had left, Hiccup turned back to the white Night Fury, hoping to train it before the boat got here. Gesturing for the others to stand back, which they did, to Hiccup's surprise, he held out one hand a few inches from the dragon's face, closed his eyes and turned his head the other way. He was trusting the dragon with his life in the hope that the dragon would trust him with his. Or hers. If it wanted, the Night Fury could hit him with a plasma blast and he'd be torched on the spot. But instead of being rewarded with a snout to the palm like he usually was when a dragon showed that it trusted him, Hiccup felt someone sniffing at his hand curiously. He didn't turn his head, but he knew that it was the Night Fury getting used to his scent. Finally, the white dragon pressed its head into the palm of his hand. Hiccup sighed with relief and turned back to the white dragon. The dragon stared back, then started scanning the others with its odd eyes. When it seemed that it had deemed Hiccup's friends and dragons harmless, it turned back to Hiccup. Hiccup scratched the dragon's big head absentmindedly, trying to come up with a good name for it. Oh! He'd call it Whitewash, after its pure white scales. He didn't know where the name Whitewash had come from, but it just seemed right.

"Hey, how about I name you Whitewash?" he asked the dragon. The dragon snorted, but didn't refuse the name, so Whitewash it was. A few minutes later, they heard the flapping of wings overhead and saw Astrid arriving on Stormfly with Gothi behind her. The pair landed and Astrid led the elder to the injured dragon. Hiccup drew Astrid aside as Gothi began disinfecting the gash.

"Did you bring a boat?" Hiccup asked urgently. Even with Gothi's care, Whitewash still needed a place to stay out of the elements and away from wild dragons.

He sighed with relief when Astrid nodded. "Gobber and your dad are on their way too," she commented. Hiccup felt even more relieved. His father, the Chief of Berk, and Gobber, who had a large amount of dragon knowledge, were perfect for this job. Hiccup was still kind of in a state of shock from finding a Night Fury; a white one, at that.

A few minutes later, Gothi had finished with disinfecting the wound and wrapping in in bandages. A horn sounded the arrival of a ship on the shore of Dragon Island. Stoick and Gobber had arrived. Hiccup went to Whitewash and asked the dragon softly, "Can you stand up? We need to get you on our ship so we can take you back home with us and take care of you." Whitewash nodded and slowly got up on his (or her) paws and shakily started walking towards the shore. Toothless crooned and let Whitewash support his or her weight on him, making Hiccup smile. Toothless seemed to be warming up the new dragon.

Finally, the group reached the Berkian ship and helped Whitewash on board, no thanks to Stoick and Gobber, who were standing there staring at the white dragon with mouths agape in shock and wonder. When the white dragon had been secured on deck, Hiccup and Toothless stayed with Whitewash on the boat instead of flying back to Berk like the other riders so he could comfort and assure Whitewash on their way home.

Chapter Text

Btw, this is from the POV of Whitewash. As usual, I do not own HTTYD; I just own my OC.

I really hate Monstrous Nightmares. They're so easily provoked. I was minding my own business on Dragon Island when I apparently got too close to a Nightmare's nest for her liking. Why she was nesting this close to winter, I have no idea.

One moment I'm flying over the volcano, trying to come up with a plan on how I'll get fish when the ocean freezes over this winter, the next I'm narrowly avoiding a blast of fire from that crazy Monstrous Nightmare. It put me off balance and I nearly crash landed into the damn crater. Okay, now I was pissed off. I growled at the purple Nightmare, who had just come out of her "nest" (a bunch of rocks) and told her to chill. She apparently didn't take that retort too well, as she lit herself on fire. Doesn't look very much like chilling to me, I sarcastically noted. By then, I knew I had to get out of there. I flew away as fast as I could, which is pretty fast, considering I'm a Night Fury (a lousy one, since I'm white as snow, but still a Night Fury). However, that stupid Nightmare had somehow circled around and was now blocking my path. I shot a plasma blast her, but she fired at me at the same time, so I got distracted and missed. I had barely dodged her shot when suddenly, the Nightmare knocked (or should I say clawed) me out of the sky. Ouch.

I hit a few trees on the way down, which luckily broke my fall, but it didn't soften the impact with hard, rocky ground. By the time I could think straight, I was covered in dirt and leaves and I had a pretty bad gash in my side. I looked to the sky for that idiotic dragon, but the Nightmare had left. Hmph.

Well, I wasn't going anywhere for the moment and it was nighttime anyway, so I fell asleep. I was enjoying my peaceful slumber until something touched my side. Something horribly familiar.

A human hand.

I immediately woke up and growled threateningly at however it was. I was expecting a big, burly Viking to club me on the head and be done with it, but to my surprise there was only a small, stick-thin boy and a handful of other teenagers along with a green Hideous Zippleback, a blue Deadly Nadder, a brown Gronkle, a red Monstrous Nightmare (not one of those again!) and a...

Oh.

My.

Gods.

A Night Fury! Just like me! Well, except this one was black as the night. It (he, I noted) crooned at me, asking if I was okay. The other dragons started to come closer, sniffing curiously, but I growled at them to back off and they did. The stick-thin boy said, "Hey, it's ok," obviously trying to calm me down. Hmph. He was acting as if I'd blow up at any second if he so much as looked at me wrong. Well, I'm not that wild. 

Suddenly, I felt one of his hands brushing aside the dirt and leaves on top of my gash. I growled out of pain and threat because they were still Vikings, after all, and liable to attack. However, those other dragons seemed comfortable around the teens. The thin boy saw my wound, gasped and turned to a blonde Valkyrie with a spiky skirt. He told her, "It's injured, bad. Astrid, you need to go straight to Berk and bring back Gothi and a boat big enough for it." I had no idea what he was talking about, but it seemed he was sending one of his friends away because the blonde girl got on the Nadder (wait, on?) and flew off.

Vikings riding on dragons. And I'd thought I'd seen everything. Once the girl had disappeared, the small boy in front of me held out a hand to the other teens behind him to keep them back and they complied. Then, to my utter shock, he reached out a hand to my snout, closed his eyes and turned his head away. What was he doing? Didn't he know that I could kill him right then and there?

Oh wait. That was the point. He was trusting me with his life so I would trust him with mine. Interesting. I saw the other teens and dragons watching expectantly, so something was probably supposed to happen. I sniffed at his open palm and instead of smelling dirt and blood like you'd expect of a Viking warrior, I smelled the Night Fury sitting next to the boy, leather, charcoal and burnt metal. Put that together, and this boy was a smith's apprentice and an inventor. Who happened to ride dragons, as I noticed the saddle on the Night Fury. Finally, sort of trusting him now and not knowing what else to do, I bumped his hand with my snout. Immediately, the boy's frame relaxed visibly and he turned to me, smiling. Okay, so that was supposed to happen. I took a closer look at the other teenagers and the dragons. Two of them, who looked alike (twins, probably), were punching each other in the face. I snuck a glance back at the thin boy and was surprised and amused that he hadn't even noticed.

Continuing my scan of these newcomers, I saw a well-muscled dark-haired boy who was telling the Nightmare to wake up (to my great amusement, the red dragon just ignored the arrogant boy) and a husky blonde boy with tiny legs scribbling furiously in a notebook while glancing up at me every so often. Definitely harmless.

I looked back to the small boy in front of me and watched as he sat down and started to scratch my head, which felt really good, I have to admit. Seemingly out of the blue, he asked me, "Hey! How about I name you Whitewash?" He seemed really excited about naming me. I snorted at the weird name. It wasn't my real name, but I obviously couldn't tell him that, so I didn't object.

Then, the girl came back on the Nadder with a small, old woman behind her. The old woman was carrying a satchel that absolutely stank of medecine, but I resisted crawling away since I knew now that the Vikings were trying to help me. I tolerated the disinfecting while the boy walked to the girl and asked her something, but I didn't hear what they were saying since I was getting tired again. Finally, the healer had finished with the gash and the boy came back over to see if I could get up and walk. I nodded in answer to his question and unsteadily rose to my feet. It took us a while, but we finally arrived at the shore of Dragon Island, where a boat with two big, burly men were waiting. As soon as they saw me, their mouths fell open in shock and I smirked at them as I got on board. I was getting more fatigued by the second, so as soon as I saw a reasonably comfortable-looking stretch of wood, I plopped down and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

I felt a lurching motion and opened my eyes. We had reached an island bustling with Vikings, big and small, though mostly big. I snapped my head up and growled dangerously when I felt a hand on my white head, but then the small, skinny boy came into view, whispering comforting nonsense in the hope of calming me down. Well, I can tell you right now, that is not going to happen, not when I'm surrounded by 7-foot-tall Vikings. However, the black Night Fury cooed calmingly to me and I felt more relaxed. Someone placed a ramp on the side of the boat and placed the other end on the dock, so the Vikings aboard the boat could come down, I guess. The small Viking led me gently down the ramp, closely followed by the black Night Fury. He's like an overgrown puppy, the way he follows the boy around like that, I thought.

As soon as I stepped onto land, I was surrounded by Vikings, peering at me and talking excitedly. Surprisingly, I resisted the urge to blast them all with a plasma blast and simply settled for snarling threateningly at them and hoping they'd get the message to back off. I hate being crowded and looked at like I'm some rare piece of art. At my snarl and a warning from the boy, they all backed away. I heard a flapping sound in the sky and looked up. The teen Vikings I had met on Dragon Island and their dragons were arriving. The Nightmare flew down in a steep dive, effectively throwing off the screaming bulky boy on his back, much to the red dragon's delight, apparently. The Gronckle circled down slowly and when they finally landed, the big blonde boy hugged the Gronckle, who returned the hug with a huge lick. Disgusting. The Zippleback crash landed on a house and the two similar looking teens on its back bounced off and hit the ground. However, they must've been fine because they both got up and started arguing about who could fly their dragon better. When they started punching each other, I turned away. I glanced upwards again and the blue Nadder and the spiky looking blonde girl landed gracefully, the Nadder preening herself (Vain creatures, I thought) while the girl jumped off her back and rushed over to me, the skinny boy and the other Night Fury.

"Hiccup, we need to get her to the Academy," the girl told the boy breathlessly. The boy (Hiccup? I thought) nodded and tugged on my left wing to get my attention. I looked at him and he beckoned with his hand to follow him. Having no other choice, I did so. A few minutes of walking through the Viking village later, we reached a large arena with a symbol of a Night Fury with a red tail over the entrance. Odd, I thought.

We all walked in and immediately, the stench of past dead and injured dragons hit me like a hammer. Why were they taking me into such a place? I reared back and shook my head frantically. I spotted cages around the circumference of the arena and backed away more. I will not allow myself to be locked up. I've been locked up way too many times in my life for me to let it happen again. The other dragons didn't freak out about the smell, but they must be used to it, I supposed.

Hiccup saw my panic, I guess, because he immediately stopped tugging me into the arena and knelt down. He started scratching my head and under my chin (which felt so good) and whispered, "Hey. It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to help."

I took comfort in his soothing words and let myself be led into the round arena. It had chains criss-crossing overhead, forming a sort of roof through which you could still see the sky grey with clouds. I heard the other dragons and their riders arrive and walk in behind me. I sensed another presence and turned to see the short, elderly woman from before who had disinfected and wrapped my wound back on Dragon Island standing there with a staff, holding more bandages, a large blanket and a bowl of something awfully smelly. Medicine? Or some kind of sedative? I wondered.

Hiccup and the Night Fury stepped back to give the old woman room and she approached me slowly with her arms full. She bent down and placed the bowl of green liquid on the cold stone floor and when she straightened, she unfolded the big woolly blanket and tossed it over me. I lied down, enjoying the warmth of the sheep fur. I was already feeling drowsy again before the elder had even fed me the sedative. For some reason, the fact that they were forcefully putting me to sleep in a dragon killing arena didn't worry me. Maybe it was Hiccup's comforting words. Or maybe it was the sedative talking. Speaking of sedative, the last thing I saw before falling into a deep sleep was the old woman standing back and starting to scratch something in the sand she threw down from a satchel at her hip with her staff.

Chapter Text

There is no HiccupxOC pairing in this fanfic. This chapter is from Hiccup's POV. It'll alternate with 2 chapters from Hiccup's POV, then 2 chapters from Whitewash's POV, then Hiccup again, and so on. 

Gothi stepped back from a drugged Whitewash and took out some sand from her pouch to draw in and threw it onto the floor. She then took her staff and made some complicated drawings that I have no idea what they mean. Thank the Gods for Fishlegs, who stepped up and began to interpret the drawings.

"Apparently, we should keep her warm and change her bandages every two days." Fishlegs proclaimed to all who were listening, which was limited to me, Astrid and Toothless. Gothi had silently left after leaving behind her medical advice, Snotlout was stuck upside down in a barrel after having gotten himself thrown in there by Hookfang and the twins were hanging from Barf and Belch's fangs so that they didn't hurt each other, although Tuffnut was still trying to punch Ruffnut and Ruffnut was still trying to kick Tuffnut. Honestly. They never listen.

"Well, that's good news," I replied, motioning for Toothless to go help Snotlout out of the barrel. Toothless huffed and shot a weak plasma blast at the barrel, effectively blasting it a few good feet into the air and shooting a screaming Snotlout out of it and onto Hookfang's back. "Is there a chance of infection?"

Fishlegs peered at the sand on the floor again. "Nope. She said she disinfected the wound pretty thoroughly and that it wasn't too deep, so it should heal within the week. She just lost a lot of blood, is all, so Gothi put her to sleep so she can recover."

I was surprised at Fishlegs' choice of words. "She?" I asked. "It's a female?"

"Yup," Fishlegs replied confidently. "Gothi said she checked."

"Oh. Okay then. Well, it's getting late and we should all go home. Let's leave Whitewash here for the night so she can sleep off the blood loss and we'll meet here again in the morning," I said, speaking the last sentence a bit louder so the rest of my friends could hear me clearly.

They heard, all right. As soon as the words left my lips, the twins rushed out, eager to cause some "ultimate destruction", as they called it. Hmph. The only times they ever listen to me is when I say they can leave. Then Snotlout left on Hookfang, though I heard him crash a few seconds later onto a nearby house. Typical. Hookfang just didn't seem to like Snotlout. It was almost funny.

That left me, Astrid, Stormfly, Toothless, Fishlegs and Meatlug. I knew someone had to stay overnight at the Academy to watch over Whitewash to make sure she didn't wake up early and escape, so I was about to volunteer when surprisingly, Fishlegs did so before me. "Um, Hiccup? Can I stay here tonight to watch Whitewash? I could study her more." I chuckled. Of course Fishlegs' motive was to study the new, white Night Fury.

"Of course, Fishlegs," I said, and me and Astrid left with our dragons to leave Fishlegs curled up next to Meatlug, writing in a notebook.

Me and Astrid parted ways outside the Academy, promising to see each other tomorrow morning. Then, me and Toothless raced back to my house at the top of the hill. Toothless, of course, won.

I entered my house quietly and started up the stairs to take off my riding vest so I could eat dinner. I saw my father brooding by the fire, whittling a duck from some extra wood, on my way in. He didn't even seem to notice me.

I got back downstairs and grabbed a bowl of mutton soup from the counter and sat down at the table. "So, how was your day, Dad?" I asked my father.

Dad just put down his knife and leaned back into his chair, sighing deeply. He looked tired. "Long," he replied. "Once you and your friends had gone into the arena with the white Night Fury, all the other villagers came running over and they wouldn't stop asking me questions, like where we found the dragon and did this mean there were other Night Furies. It took me quite a while to get them to calm down enough for them to listen to me, and then I get Mildew complaining that this new Night Fury seems strange to him and that we should get rid of it as soon as possible."

I tutted, annoyed. "Well, of course the dragon seems strange, Dad! It's an albino Night Fury!" I exclaimed, thoroughly exasperated with Mildew and his hatred of dragons.

"I know, son, that's what I told him! Anyway," he said with a sigh, seeing that I'd finished my bowl of soup already. "You'd best be getting to bed. Tomorrow, you have a brand new dragon to train," Dad said with a teasing smile, knowing how much I love training dragons.

I yawned then, realizing how tired I was getting. "Okay, see you tomorrow, Dad."

"Good night, Hiccup," I heard as I trudged up the steep stairs. I sleepily crawled into bed and feel asleep almost right away, too tired to notice that Toothless hadn't followed me upstairs.

Chapter Text

When I woke up the next morning, I sensed that something was wrong. It took my groggy brain a few seconds to realize what it was, and then I knew: Toothless wasn't there. He usually woke me up with a slobbery lick to the face (eww!) and wiggled around my room impatiently, waiting for me to get dressed so we could go for an early morning flight. But today, Toothless was gone, and I remembered that he hadn't even followed me upstairs last night when I went to bed. Hmm...

I hastily got dressed and tripped down the stairs, nearly falling flat on my face at the bottom of the stairs before Dad caught me by the shoulders. "Woah, slow down there, son! What's the rush?"

I regained my balance and stood up, scanning the house for my dragon. He wasn't here either. "Um, Dad, have you seen Toothless?" I asked my father, wondering if maybe Toothless had gone outside to play with Stormfly or something (he was a social dragon).

"No, I haven't. I thought he was upstairs with you," my father replied. "Why? Where is he?"

"That's what I'd like to know," I said, concerned about where Toothless could have gone. "I'll skip breakfast today, Dad. I'm going to go look for him," I continued, already edging towards the door.

"Okay," Dad said reluctantly. He was all about me gaining some weight; I weighed less than 100 pounds. "But be back for lunch."

"Sure!" I yelled as I ran outside into the chilly air. Winter was coming soon, I could tell. I scanned what I could see of the village from the hill where my house was located; however, my dragon's familiar black shape was nowhere to be seen. I headed down the steps carefully, thinking of the first place I should look. The Dragon Academy! Maybe Toothless had gone there to say hi to the new Night Fury.

I rushed to the arena as fast as I could and was met by a groggy-looking Fishlegs and Meatlug, having just woken up and were heading out of the arena to get breakfast. "Oh, hey Hiccup! 'Bout time you got here. Toothless has been here all night, just staring at the white Night Fury. I tried to get him to go home because I knew you'd worry about him, but he refused. I guess he wanted to keep the new dragon company," Fishlegs greeted me. I sighed in relief and told him thanks and that he should go get something to eat. Fishlegs smiled, looking grateful, then wrote something in his notebook and continued on his way to the Great Hall.

I sauntered into the Academy, ready to give Toothless a mock-lecture for scaring me like that. But when I got inside the arena, the first thing I noticed was that the blanket that Gothi had laid out over Whitewash yesterday didn't have a big lump under it; it had a smaller lump instead. Toothless was curled up in a corner of the arena, sleeping peacefully. I ran over to the now nearly flat blanket, waking up Toothless in the process, who jumped up and nudged me apologetically for staying overnight in the arena. "It's okay, bud," I said without looking at him; my focus was more on the blanket in front of me. Obviously, Whitewash had escaped somehow without Fishlegs and Meatlug noticing and now there was something else under the blanket. A Terrible Terror, maybe? But this lump looked too big to be a Terror. I heard Toothless give a questioning grunt and I knew that he had noticed that Whitewash wasn't under the blanket.

Carefully, I picked up a corner of the blanket, getting ready to surprise whoever was under there, while Toothless got into his battle stance, ready to protect me from whatever was under the blanket. Honestly, Toothless is so overprotective of me...

When I had peeled up half of the blanket, I got to what was under the blanket. And to my great surprise, it was a teenaged girl who I'd never seen before in my life.

Chapter Text

I felt cold air hitting me and I moaned something incoherent, wanting the nice warm blanket back. But I felt eyes on me, like someone was staring intently at me, and I shifted uncomfortably. I had had enough of people staring at me in my life. I opened my eyes.

I saw Hiccup standing over me, holding the blanket with his eyes wide. The other Night Fury had his eyes wide open too and his pupils were slit in warning, as if he didn't know me. I wondered why they were acting so weird and then I noticed that, lying here on the floor, they looked taller than usual, especially the black dragon. And then I looked down at myself.

I had hands. And feet. And peachy, soft skin, not white, hard scales. Damn it! It had happened again!

For the first few years, it seemed to be random. I would go to sleep as a dragon and wake up as a human, then stay human for a period of time, be it two weeks or two months, and then I went back to being a dragon for some time. But lately, I had been able to shift form at will, though an overnight shift like this still happened every now and then. Then I remembered Hiccup and the other Night Fury and I glanced back up at them, trying to gauge their reaction. Whatever would happen after this, it all depended on their first reaction.

I locked eyes with Hiccup and his eyes grew impossibly wider. Great. He had seen my eyes. When I was in dragon form, they looked like oversized, red human eyes. But when I was in human form, they looked like small, red dragon eyes, with cat-like pupils and all. I was brought back to the present by Hiccup himself, who dropped the blanket he was holding (thank the Gods, because it had been barely covering my naked body when he was holding it-one disadvantage of shifting forms) and took a hasty step backwards, taking his dragon with him.

"Who... who are you?" he asked hesitantly. Hold on, did he not know who I was? Did he think that I was just a regular human and he hadn't made the connection between me and "Whitewash" yet? Apparently not, for he wasn't calling for the other villagers to come and lock me up, the evil, dangerous beast.

"My name's... Jenna," I replied. It was weird to say my old name out loud again. I had tried to run away from it a long time ago, when I first realized that I would never be accepted by anyone who knew the truth about me.

He looked surprised at how scratchy and hoarse my voice sounded. Well, what did he expect? I hadn't had a reason to use my human voice in quite a while.

"Okay...Jenna," Hiccup began, obviously not knowing what to say. "Um, where are you from? And what are you doing here? I haven't seen you around the village before." He said this while backing up to the arena exit/entrance, keeping his eyes trained on my odd eyes. He was nervous and pretty wary. Maybe he thought that I was from an enemy tribe, sent to attack? Well, I technically was, then, because the last time I checked, the Lava-Louts and the Hairy Hooligans hated each other.

I realized that in all my thoughtful contemplation, I had stayed quiet for too long and that Hiccup had left with his dragon. I gripped the blanket tighter, sighing. I couldn't go anywhere like this and I knew that I couldn't shift back into dragon form within two hours of waking up as a human, for some reason, and by the time two hours went by, I'd probably be in a cell, either out of fear of what I was or for me being a prisoner of war or something equally stupid. Either way, there was no escaping it, so I did the one thing that I thought might help my situation under the circumstances: I fell asleep. Hell, there was always the possibility that I would wake up as a dragon before they came back.

An indeterminable amount of time later, I woke up and heard voices, as if they were far away and lost in a fog. Have I been drugged again? I wondered. Then, figuring it was important, I clawed my way through unconsciousness and focused on the voices surrounding me without opening my eyes or giving any other sign that I was awake.

"But Dad, she looks harmless! She could've harmed me when we were alone in the arena, but she didn't!" It was Hiccup and he was speaking to someone rather indignantly.

"No, son! You weren't alone. You had Toothless with you. This, this... monster must've realized that and didn't attack you. But she has to be locked up and sent off the island, Hiccup! Thor knows what she'll do to us when she wakes up!" It was the voice of a man, deeper than Hiccup's with a thick Scottish accent, and he sounded angry. Strike one. Plus, he had called me a monster. Strike two.

Monster!

Freak...

You're just a beast!

She should be shipped off the island!

MONGREL!

I frantically pushed away the awful memories of my childhood and tried to focus on Hiccup and the man's conversation again.

"What do you mean, monster? And what is she going to do to us when she wakes up?" Hiccup asked the man desperately. I realized that he didn't really know my true nature. He just thought that I was from an enemy tribe or something and that was why the man was mad at me. But clearly, the man knew what I was, and I had to suppress a shiver at that realization.

"Lad, I'm going to tell you a story, and you have to promise not to interrupt," another voice, less deep but with the same Scottish accent, said kindly but seriously.

"O-Okay," Hiccup said, obviously a bit curious about the second man's serious tone of voice.

"So, it all began quite some time ago, a couple of generations back, in fact. There was a woman who was said to have been struck by lightning shortly after her daughter had been struck fatally as well, one of the strongest bolts Thor has ever made, and she changed. She went insane from the loss of her daughter. Once gentle and kind, she transformed into a dark witch, with a heart of stone. This woman was from Lava-Lout Island, where the people lived in fear of her until one terrible day, a brave man stood up to her. He tried to intimidate her into leaving their island alone, but she just laughed at him and cursed his wife so that their first-born daughter would be half Night Fury, half human," the second man said.

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself..." I heard Hiccup whisper.

"Aye. The witch had sworn revenge on Thor for hitting her daughter with his lightning, so she deemed it fit that this man's daughter should grow up in misery. Rather ironically, Thor chose that moment to hit her with another lightning bolt to the head, which incinerated her on the spot. But the man and his wife had a daughter, named Jenna, and when the lass was five years old... she changed. Overnight, in place of their little girl, the parents found a white Night Fury. They, of course, panicked, and looked all over the Barbaric Archipelago for anyone who could fix their daughter. But no one knew how. So, the girl would periodically change from girl to dragon and back again while growing up on Lava-Lout Island. The villagers didn't understand her and thought her to be a beast, someone dangerous that everyone should avoid. So, the girl grew up alone, without friends, hidden away from the world. The only way I know this story is through Johann the Trader, who visited Lava-Lout Island several times then and heard of the hybrid girl. Anyway, one day a few years ago, Jenna mysteriously disappeared from the island and many assumed that she had either run away or some brave soul had finally gotten rid of her. The rest of the Archipelago assumed that she was dead and forgot about the unfortunate girl. But, it seems, she actually did run away, and here she is now."

There were a few moments of a silence, moments where I dared not breathe. I could tell that the first man was already decided on his opinion about me, the second man seemed neutral but more leaning to me being dangerous and uncontrollable while Hiccup had just learned my story. On Dragon Island, he had seemed kind and caring, but what would he think of me once he knew what I was?

"I don't care," he said. Wait... what? "I just don't care, Gobber. Jenna had plenty of opportunities to attack me and the other riders, dragons or not, but she didn't. Doesn't that show that she's nice? That she's a good person?"

"Hiccup," the first man (Hiccup's father, I realized) sighed. "We may have found out that dragons are harmless, but a dragon-human hybrid that grew up in a world where everyone, even her parents, opposed and bullied her? If I were her, I'd vow to revenge-kill any human in sight."

"But Dad, that's you! I just have a feeling that Jenna is different somehow... more forgiving, maybe. You gave the dragons a chance, so why won't you give her a chance?" Hiccup asked his father.

I heard boots scrape the stone floor and more voices joined the conversation.

"What's going on?"

"Where's Whitewash?"

"Who's that girl on the ground?"

"All of you, calm down! One at a time. Apparently, Whitewash is a half human, half dragon hybrid. We've drugged her, and we we're going to ship her off the island, but now..." the second man (Gobber, I assumed) announced to the new arrivals.

There was some shocked silence, before they all started talking again.

"What?!"

"Gobber, you're not serious?"

"Is this one of your tall tales again?"

"But she looks so normal!"

"Awesome! Does she have a dragon tail coming out of her butt or something? That's would be so cool!"

I heard Hiccup sigh and tell them to wait outside the arena, which I guess they did because there were no more rapid-fire questions. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I won't let Jenna be exiled." I heard the other Night Fury give a supporting growl, as if to say that he agreed with Hiccup.

"But..." Hiccup's father said, and I felt eyes upon me once more. He was staring at me. Finally, as if reaching a decision, the man proclaimed, "Okay. Fine. The girl will be held in the prisoner cells until we figure out what to do with her."

Hiccup made a noise of protest, but Gobber interrupted him. "Just leave it for now, lad. We'll see what'll happen when the girl wakes up." Hiccup fell silent again and I felt strong arms gathering the blanket around me, bundling me in its warmth, then lifting me into the air. We walked for a while, then I heard the clink and squeak of rusty, iron doors and I knew that they had set me down in a cell. I shivered, not out of coldness, but out of fear, because being in cells brought back bad memories for me.

I heard the other two men walk way, one with an odd walking pattern, like he had a stump for a leg, but I didn't hear the clinking sound of Hiccup walking away as well (I had noticed earlier that the skinny boy had a metal leg with a spring that made a clinking sound whenever he put pressure on it).

"Are you okay?" he asked, and it took me a few moments to figure out that he was talking to me. He must have seen me shiver and knew now that I was awake. Since he knew that, I opened my eyes (no use in pretending to be asleep anymore) and looked at him. I was on a narrow stone bench in a dark, dank, grimy cell and Hiccup and his Night Fury were at the barred door, looking in on me with an expression of... sympathy?

Chapter Text

Hiccup looked abashed about me being in a cell. "I'm sorry that you have to be in there," he said softly. "My dad can be pretty stubborn sometimes."

For some reason, I found that I couldn't hold a grudge against him. "It's alright," I replied, my voice still raspy from hardly using it in five years.

He looked shocked that I had replied, and even more shocked that I didn't get mad at him or try to escape or even show fear. By now, I was used to being locked up because my parents would do so whenever I became a dragon and they would keep a close eye on me when I was in human form, in case I tried to shift into a dragon and kill everybody. I saw Hiccup's eyes widen and his eyebrows raise in surprise and I realized that I had been speaking out loud.

"Sorry," I said, ducking my head. I expected him to insult me and walk away, but when I looked up again, Hiccup was rooted to the spot.

He stared at me incredulously. "But what do you have to be sorry for?" he asked me.

I thought for a few moments, then concluded that I really had nothing to be sorry for. "Nothing, I guess," I replied, then decided to be more assertive. First matter, I needed some clothing. "Hey, could you get me some clothes?"

Hiccup started and looked away from my blanket-covered form and stuttered awkwardly, "Y-yes, of c-course."

He turned to leave but I called out, "Wait!" Hiccup and his dragon stopped and looked over their shoulders.

"Yeah?" Hiccup asked, not unkindly. He seemed like a kind, nice individual.

"Where am I?" I asked, for it was a valid question. No one had told me where I was when I had arrived here and I hadn't heard anyone mention it while I was "asleep". I guessed that it had to be somewhere near Dragon Island, because it hadn't taken us very long to get here by boat from there. I hadn't spent much time around any islands with Viking settlements since I had left Lava-Lout Island five years ago; I had mostly stayed on an island I liked to call the Isle of Night so I could pretend that I lived with other Night Furies so I didn't have to be alone. I had heard tell from a Deadly Nadder that a Viking boy had been captured by Alvin and the Outcasts on my island one day when I had been out fishing, but I hadn't believed it. Who would want to come to my island, anyway? It was uninhabited.

Anyway, Hiccup paused before answering, "You're on the Isle of Berk. I'm Hiccup, by the way. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Um, you know, in case you didn't know that." He was blushing furiously by now.

On the outside, I was smiling gently at his embarrassed expression, but on the inside, I was panicking. I was on the Isle of Berk?! That's where my dad, Chief Jarl the Bloodthirsty, had said that Chief Stoick the Vast lived. My father had told me once that Stoick was a brutal, cruel chieftain who had gotten his position through his reputation as a merciless killer. It was said that when he was a baby, Stoick had popped a dragon's head clean off its shoulders. And I believed it. I had also heard of his embarrassment of a son, Hiccup the Useless. Apparently, either my father had lied to me or things had changed since he had last been to Berk because the village had made peace with the dragons and Stoick hadn't seemed that bad, earlier. I realized now that he was just trying to protect his son.

My panic diminished, I nodded and thanked Hiccup, who walked quickly away, presumably to get some clothes for me to wear. A boring half an hour later, he returned with a red long-sleeved tunic, a pair of black leggings and a pair of fur boots. He pushed them between the bars of my cell carefully and I waited until he had backed away again to crawl forward and retrieve the clothing. I sent Hiccup a look and he jumped and turned his back, his face flushing again. Interestingly, Hiccup's Night Fury turned his back as well.

That settled, I stood up and put on the clothes that Hiccup had so nicely brought me. The leggings were a bit loose, but I didn't mention it, figuring that I could live with a pair of slightly loose leggings. The tunic and the boots fit perfectly, though. And they were thick to keep out the harsh, cold winter wind that one usually encountered this far north. That was nice of them.

Having finished, I gathered the blanket into my arms and started to fold it, saying over my shoulder, "I'm done," to Hiccup so he knew that it was okay to turn around now. He did and I continued to fold the blanket into a neat square, then I placed it carefully on the stone bench for later. I'd use it tonight when I slept; I already knew that winter was coming and obviously they didn't have a hearth for a fire in the prisoner cells.

I didn't have anything else to do, so I sat down on the bench and studied my fingernails while flicking my head to get rid of my snow white hair, which was in my eyes again. I heard someone clear their throat and I looked up, pleasantly surprised to see that Hiccup and his dragon were still there, Hiccup leaning against a wall across the hallway and the black Night Fury lying down in front of him, both watching me.

"Yeah? What is it?" I asked, wondering why they were still around. Don't get me wrong, I liked the fact that they were still here (it was always nice to have some company when you're at your worse), but I couldn't think of why they hadn't left yet. Hiccup had given me clothing and he had told me where I was; I didn't have anymore questions, obviously, and I was blatantly ignoring him, so why was he still here?

"Nothing, I guess. Well, I was just wondering," he began cautiously. "I was wondering why you don't seem upset."

Upset? Like how? I asked him so and he responded, "Well, you're just sitting there nonchalantly, like the fact that you're in a cell and that you're on an enemy island doesn't bother you."

I stopped and thought about it. Well, I certainly wasn't happy that I was on Berk, but it could've been worse, I realized. I could've ended up back on Lava-Lout Island. I shuddered at the mere thought and spoke up. "Well, my situation could be even worse," I admitted, and when Hiccup raised his eyebrows questioningly I continued. "I could have been returned to Lava-Lout Island. Then I would've been in real trouble."

"What do you mean, it would've been worse? You would've been home and I bet that your family has missed you since you left," Hiccup said innocently.

I chuckled darkly and spat, "My family? Missed me? HA!" Hiccup backed up and Toothless raised his head with narrow pupils, but I pressed on. "If my family ever thought about me in the last five years, it would be to wish I was dead!"

Chapter Text

"D-dead?" Hiccup asked, his expression unbelieving. Toothless had his head cocked to the side in bewilderment.

"Yes," I said and leaned my head against the cool stone wall, all my energy spent.

"But why?" he continued, curious.

I braced myself for the inevitable rejection. "Because I'm a monster," I said softly, but he heard me anyway, if his body stiffening was anything to by. "I'm a despicable demon who should just die and save everyone the trouble of having to protect themselves from me." There. I said it. I turned my head away and waited for the sounds of Hiccup sprinting away from me, screaming.

Nothing.

There was no sound.

Then, quietly, "Do you really believe that?"

I looked at Hiccup again and he had such an imploring expression on his face that I was forced to really think about it. Was I a monster? Had I ever killed anyone in cold blood? Well, to be honest, no. But that's what my family and pretty much everyone in my village had said, that I was a freak and a mongrel and not to be trusted. So, I had believed them.

"I... don't know," I answered, just as quiet. "It's what everyone always said about me."

"Well, I don't believe it. Not for a second. You haven't even attacked us in self defence since we brought you here," Hiccup said with an honest, open expression. Toothless nodded in agreement.

I contemplated it. I could've easily fought back at certain points, but I hadn't because I hadn't wanted to hurt anyone involuntarily. "So, what's your point?" I said tiredly.

"My point is that you're a good person." The statement surprised me out of my fatigue. No one had called me a person in a long time. Possibly never, in fact. "And that you're misunderstood. My village used to hate me too. They thought that I was a useless runt, that I messed everything up and that I wasn't god enough to be a Viking."

I nodded sympathetically. "It must've been hard to be considered worthless by your own people," I said.

"See? That right there!" Hiccup exclaimed, and I flinched at the loud noise. "Do you see? You're a nice person! I said that my village thought I was useless and you were sympathetic. A monster is not sympathetic."

I was struck dumb. Why was he bothering to make me feel better? I eyed him distrustfully. "What do you want?" I asked challengingly.

Hiccup looked surprised. "What do you mean, what do I want?"

"Why are you doing this? Trying to make me feel better. There must be a reason."

"I don't want anything. I just don't want you to go on thinking that everyone hates you and that you're a monster," Hiccup replied.

I searched his face. There was only genuine compassion. I had only ever seen that expression on other peoples' faces, and always directed towards the people they cared about. "But-but everyone does hate me," I protested, not ready to let go.

"No they don't," the thin boy countered, equally stubborn.

"Oh yeah? How do you even know?" I sneered, getting tired of this. Why couldn't he just not be confusing and be like the rest and leave me here to rot?

"Because I don't," he smirked.

I had had enough of this. "Oh, so you don't hate me then? What, do you despise me then, hmm? Is that it? Do you loathe me? Do you abhor me?" I laughed without humour.

He stared at me sadly. "No, I don't. I don't hate you in any way, shape or form. I like you."

By now I had been standing in front of the bars, gesticulating wildly in my adrenaline-fuelled passion, but at this I stopped short and a low buzz filled my ears. What did he just say? I couldn't dare to believe it. "What. Did. You. Say."

"I like you," Hiccup repeated shyly, the old timid boy reappearing after the brief flash of the confident boy I had seen whilst he had been trying to prove to me that I was a good person, or even a person at all.

"No one's ever said that to me..." I trailed off. I was still in a state of shock. Was it even possible to like someone like me?

"Well, I just did, and I'm sure more people will," Hiccup answered.

"Why would they say they liked me?" I asked, confused. Where was he going with this?

"Because I'm going to convince everyone, particularly my father, that you're not a monster and not our enemy," the teen responded, already heading out of the prison.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I yelled.

"I'll be back later!" was all I got in reply. Toothless looked back and reassuring green met red before he followed his rider.

I sat on the stone bench and waited. And waited.

And waited.

Chapter Text

I ran out of the jail with Toothless in tow, feeling confident and inspired to take on my father's judgement. Jenna had done nothing at all to deserve all the abuse and bullying she had received, and for the gods sake, I would make sure that she was never mistreated like that again, not on my watch. I looked to Toothless as I made this silent vow to myself and I saw the same determination in his green eyes, possibly containing even more of it than my own. I pushed on, panting, and rested against the doors to the Great Hall for a moment when I finally arrived. Having gotten my breath back, I quietly opened the heavy doors and searched for my father. We needed to talk.

It only took a second to find him, since he wasn't all that inconspicuous. He was currently talking with Gobber and Mildew, gesticulating wildly and declaring something loudly. I inched closer, my dragon blending into the shadows and listening carefully as well.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" my dad yelled. He was talking to Mildew, who looked equally furious. "I can't let her go because I don't know if I can trust her, and I can't kill her because I don't know if she's a threat!" He sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his forehead, looking thoroughly exasperated. "With all due respect, I'm doing all I can, Mildew."

Gobber spoke up, "Well, Stoick, ya can't jus' leave her there forever."

Feeling the need to insert his opinion, as always, Mildew drawled disrespectfully, "I know what you can do, Stoick! Jus' send her off the island! That way ya don' have ta kill 'er, if that's what yer so concerned about."

"Damn you, Mildew," my dad muttered under his breath, and raised his head to keep arguing with the old man but stopped himself when he spotted me eavesdropping. "Hiccup! What are you doing here?"

"Dad, we need to talk." He looked utterly shocked at my nearly silent yet foreboding greeting, but he still waved away Mildew's annoyed protests and got up to go to me. Gobber nodded understandingly and led a still-shouting Mildew out the doors. By the time that he hobbled back, my dad and me were already sitting down.

"Okay, son, you've got my attention. What is it? Is something wrong?" The last bit came out in a rush.

"Well, dad, you could say that something's wrong. What's wrong is that you're even considering Mildew's idea!" I yelled.

My father and Gobber looked taken aback. Gobber finally spoke, "But Hiccup, surely you know that your father would never - "

I cut him off, "Yes, he would! He is!" I turned back to my father, who was staring at me oddly. "I saw your face when Mildew was talking! You are seriously thinking about exiling her, aren't you!" It wasn't a question.

He sighed resignedly, then, without looking at me, replied quietly, "I'm sorry, Hiccup. I know how strongly you feel about this, but I'm afraid that this is my only possible course of action - "

I cut him off, completely frustrated now. "No, it's not!" I cried. "You can do better than this! You are better than this, better than to just turn someone away because they're different!" I paused, too emotional to go on, but continued softly, "Don't make the same mistake you made with me, Dad. Please."

Immediately, my father's face turned a bright red, like the colour of the sun when it sets, except nowhere near as pretty, I noted dryly. He started to speak, then stopped, then Gobber tried, but he failed too. Obviously, I had found their weak spot. I know that to this day, the way my father (and the whole village) had treated me for the first 15 years of my life still grates on him, and that given enough pressure...

Finally, my dad found his voice. "This is different," he attempted, but I wouldn't have it.

"No, it's exactly the same," I asserted. "How is it different? Because Jenna is a hybrid?"

"A what?" Gobber demanded, brow furrowed.

"A hybrid is a mix of two things, like a mix of two species," I explained, eager for them to get my point.

"You know, Hiccup, using fancy words is not going to make your case. You need to learn to respect my decisions sometimes." Ah, I thought. There's the Stoick the Vast I know and don't like.

"Dad, you need to respect my opinions all the time, which you have never done," I replied heatedly, a blush of anger rising to my cheeks, but I paid it no heed. "It's not different at all, isn't it? Jenna was also persecuted by her people for something that she had no control over, let alone was her fault! She has been relentlessly bullied and abused, and for what? Because some crazy witch decided that she should suffer? And I was relentlessly bullied and abused, and for what? Because I'd rather read a book than clobber other people around the head for fun? Dad, if that is your definition of different, then I have no desire to talk to you anymore."

And with that, I turned and left, Toothless quickly following after hissing angrily at the two stricken men, standing there like statues.

Chapter Text

No one's POV

A pair of deranged, yet sharp, eyes watched the boy leave the Great Hall with the Night Fury from the shadows. The eyes narrowed upon catching sight of the black dragon. "Soon, you will be mine. Both of you." Chuckling, the owner of the voice retreated back into the woods.

Hiccup's POV

I grumbled to myself, rubbing the tears out of my eyes furiously as I speed-walked through the forest with Toothless. Oh, how I hate my father sometimes! Why did he have to be so incredibly bull-headed?

Huffing, I stopped trudging along and leaned against a tree, Toothless stopping also and sitting in front of me curiously. I glanced at him, then crossed my arms, breathing in the smell of pine trees and trying to figure out what to do next. Obviously, I had to come up with some sort of plan to help Jenna, since my father and Gobber weren't letting up. And fast, before they shipped her off the island, or, I shuddered, killed her.

"WHAT?"

I jumped three feet in the air and Toothless snarled, pupils narrowing as his head snapped towards the distant, yet livid voice. Liquid ice flowed through my veins and made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle when I realized that I recognized that deranged voice.

Dagur.

Stiffening, I made a silent signal to Toothless to follow me and started creeping through the undergrowth in the direction of where the enraged voice had echoed out. We were almost there when, of course, I stepped on a twig and the snap seemed to reverberate throughout the strangely deathly-silent woods. I winced and every muscle in me tensed as I heard Dagur shout in a sing-song voice, "Who's there, sneaking around in the bushes? Is that you, Hiccup?"

I swallowed thickly, but held my ground, and eventually Dagur moved on and got back to what he'd been yelling about, which seemed to be berating one of his minions. "What do you mean, there's a half-dragon hybrid on the island?" he growled. "Why wasn't I told this before?" Wait, they'd spotted Jenna? When? How?

"S-Sorry, Chief, but I only just heard the blacksmith discussing it with the dragon riders," the underling stuttered.

"Ugh!" Dagur exclaimed, throwing an axe at a tree and successfully embedding it deep into the wood.

I decided that I'd better get back to the village now, not wanting to be accidentally skewered by an airborne weapon thanks to Dagur. I motioned for Toothless to follow and we quietly turned around and rushed back to Berk.

When we were out of hearing range, I dropped to my knees and put my head in my hands, out of breath and trying to calm down after that adrenaline rush before having to face my father again. I groaned aloud at the mere thought of even talking to the man not an hour after our argument, but I had to warn the Chief about Dagur hiding in our forest with soldiers of his own. Especially since it looked like they'd been here long enough to spy on the goings-on of the village.

Something nudged me gently in the shoulder, and I looked up to meet Toothless' wide, concerned green eyes. He cocked his great black head to the side and crooned, then, without warning, licked me from my hip all the way to my freshly washed hair. I moaned, "Toothless! You know that doesn't wash out," and pushed him away, but regardless, the slimy dragon spit had done its job and now I felt a bit more cheered up, knowing that at least Toothless would always be on my side.

I got up with my dragon's help and he offered to let me ride him, on foot, back to the village. I thought about it. All that running had tired me out a bit and my prosthetic was chafing my stump (it seemed I needed more protective material in there to prevent that), so I was sorely tempted. And we couldn't fly out of here without risking being seen by Dagur and possibly shot down if he had bolas. Thinking that thought, I jumped up on Toothless' back and urged him on, suddenly worrying that any of the teens or my father or Gobber could be in the air right now on their dragon, not knowing that they're vulnerable to attack from the ground. Yes, I was worried about my father, even though he was being a pig-headed idiot right now, because hey, he's still my dad.

Toothless immediately got going, every bound and leap further distancing us from Dagur and his men. My mind raced with questions faster than even Toothless as we sped towards the village. Why was Dagur here? Well, that one was easily answered. He was after Toothless again, of course. I sighed deeply but kept contemplating. How did he sneak onto the island without anyone noticing, and how did his men get close enough to the village to overhear conversations? What else had they heard? What would Dagur do now that he knew Jenna was here, too? Would he want her and Toothless, or would the mystery of half-dragon hybrid finally be enough to overcome his bizarre obsession with my dragon?

These questions had to be put to rest, though, at least for now, because when we arrived, at last, at the village of Berk, there was chaos.

I stopped a passing screaming villager and asked him, in a rush since I was greatly confused and panicked at the disarray of everything, "What is it? What's happened? Where's the Chief?"

He brushed me off, exclaiming, "It's the Lava Louts! There's a bunch of their ships heading this way! And the hybrid girl has escaped! Your father's no where to be found!" Then he went off, still yelling.

I froze at his words, head snapping up and searching the horizon for confirmation. To my utter vexation, there were five warships sailing towards Berk, flying a flag bearing the crest of the Lava Louts. "Shit," I muttered. Okay, one fact confirmed. But Jenna had escaped? Or had she been set lose? And where was my father?

Inhaling sharply, I prepared Toothless for flight, and damn being shot down if Dagur spotted us; I needed to get a better vantage point and see just what the hell was going on and how all of these events tied in together. But my readying was interrupted by the near-silent flap of wings, now easily detectable to my ears since the screaming villagers from this street had long gone. Months spent training Toothless had, in turn, trained my ears to distinguish the almost hushed sound of Night Fury wings flapping in the air.

Glancing up, I spotted what had been making the sound and gulped.

An albino night fury with large, human-looking red eyes was soaring overhead. Jenna was gone, and Whitewash was back.