They had found a small island for themselves to currently relax. Koi and Hero went hunting for fish while Hiccup and Toothless made a small campfire to cook some of the food. Once both things were set up (+ Toothless and Koi having a pile of fish) Hero fell asleep next to Hiccup, arms crossed and head to the side. Koi finished most of her fish and laid her head on Hero's thigh, falling asleep as well.
Toothless was still eating his fish (occasionally stealing some from Koi's pile) and Hiccup was in the middle of eating his own food. Suddenly Koi and Hero wake up with a jolt, hearing something come closer to them.
Four Terrible Terrors fly down to them and Hero slowly reaches to grab their spear as Toothless and Koi growl at the smaller dragons. One of them ties to snatch one of the fish but flinches when Toothless snaps at it. Another one successfully takes a smaller fish and starts eating it. Another runs up on it, trying to snatch it but the same one spews fire at it, making it run away.
Toothless glares at the dragons before looking at his pile in shock when one of the fishes mysteriously stands up and starts walking away. Koi walks over to the fish and snatches it, revealing another terrible terror. Koi eats the fish and laughs at it.
The terrible terror glares at Koi and starts readying its fire. Toothless stares at it with a deadpan expression and blast fire into the Terrible Terror's body when it opens its mouth, making it deflate and faceplant into the ground. It drunkenly gets back up and starts to walk away as Hiccup chuckles and Hero puts their spear back, no longer feeling threatened.
"Huh. Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" Hiccup comments, throwing his half eaten fish at the dragon. "Here you go."
The dragon perks in excitement and swallows the fish hole before looking up at HIccup and Hero. It slowly makes its way towards them and moves Hiccup's arm, laying in between the two. Hiccup gently lays his hand on the small dragon as Hero moves its tail.
"Everything we know about you guys..." Hiccup breathes. "...Is wrong!"
-----
Hero walked into their house expecting to be alone and go straight to sleep, but instead they were met with their mom and sister sitting in the living room, talking to each other. They turn their heads to the door immediately when they hear it open and Freya jumps up from her spot, running towards Hero with her arms open.
Hero, not having much time to take in the situation, lets it happen but is too frozen to hug back. "Mom...Freya...? When did you two get here?" They ask.
Their mom stands up from her spot and goes to put a hand on Hero's head.
"We got here earlier today. You weren't here. Where were you?"
"With Hiccup." Hero answers and Freya gasps, backing away from Hero.
"Hiccup!? Since when did you become friends with Hiccup?" She asks.
"Like...rrriiiggghhhhttt after you two left. Turns out we have more in common than I thought." Hero says with a shrug and ducks under Freya's arm, going to lean on the couch. "Did you guys find the nest?"
"Sadly, no."
Hero nods in response and looks down at their fidgeting hands. "So...did you hear about how good Hiccup was doing at Dragon Training."
"Oh yeah, it's weird as hell." Freya chimes in, putting a hand on her hip. "But we also heard that you were doing good as well."
"Really?"
"Yes. Guess it proves that I can trust you to be by yourself." Their mom sighs with a tired smile. "The last class is tomorrow, right?"
"No, it's going to be HIccup and Astrid fighting over who gets to kill their first dragon. But me and the other students will be watching from inside the ring with Gobber. Sorry I didn't make it to the top two."
Their mom's smile turns softer and she puts her hands on Hero's shoulders. "Hero, I didn't put you in Dragon Training so you would be better than the others, I put you in there so you would learn how to defend yourself."
"But Astrid got ahead of me..."
"Damn, guess I am disappointed then."
"Wha-Mom!"
"Joking, joking!"
Hero shakes their head with a smile and sighs a bit, smiling at their small family. But then their smile turns into a small frown as they think of something and lightly pats their mother's shoulder. "Is it okay if I skip the competition and go for a stroll around berk? I don't really think I'll have fun watching people fight dragons." They say.
Their mother tilts her head in confusion. "Where exactly are you going?"
"I don't know. Just around berk."
"Then let Freya come with."
Hero quickly disagrees. "No! It's fine! Didn't I already prove that I don't need protection anymore? You can trust me, Mom."
"They're right." Freya agrees with a small nod. "They placed 3rd in dragon training, do you truly think they'll die or something?"
Their mom sighs deeply before softly smiling at Hero. "Okay, fine. You can go out and explore for however long you would like to, even past midnight." She responds. "But! You have until I wake up to still be out there which would be around 7am, okay?"
Hero gasps in excitement and their eyes sparkle. "Really!?"
"Yes. Don't make me regret this decision."
"I won't, Mom! I promise you I won't!"
-----
A Gronckle flies around the arena Hiccup and Astrid were competing in. The winner was the first one to take the dragon down.
Hiccup hides behind a wooden cover, cautiously watching the dragon. Astrid rolls over to his side and glares at him. "Stay out of my way." She demands. "I'm winning this thing."
"Good!" Hiccup says as Astrid sprints away. "Please, by all means!" He then stands up and turns to his father who gives him a thumbs up. Hiccup tries to look happy but his facade quickly fades away into an annoyed frown.
Astrid watches the Gronckle, quickly getting closer to it by moving from one wooden cover to another. She places her back on one and huffs. "This time, this time for sure!" She then jumps over the wooden covers in front of her with a yell while holding her ax in the air. But she quickly stops when she sees Hiccup standing next to a collapsed Gronckle.
He tries to motion for her to finish the job but he technically already won, angering Astrid.
"No!" She shouts, swinging her ax from side to side out of annoyance. "No! Son of a- half troll- rat eating...munge bucket!"
"Wait! Wait!" Stoick's voice boomed through the arena as Hiccup tried to flee.
"So...later."
"Oh-Oh, not so fast!" Gobbler interrupts, grabbing Hiccup by the back of his vest.
"I-I'm kinda late for-"
"What!?" Astrid demands, holding her ax to Hiccup's neck. "Late for what, exactly?"
"Okay, quiet down!" Stoick says. "The elder has decided."
Gobber points to Astrid and the elder shakes her head. But when he points to Hiccup...She nods and everybody starts to cheer.
"Oh, you've done it!" Gobber shouts. "You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!"
The rest of the students that came to watch him cheer as well with Fishlegs putting Hiccup on his shoulder. Hiccup however, wasn't as happy but he didn't want to be questioned so he just faked everything.
"Yeah. Yes. I can't wait, I am so..."
-----
"Leaving. We're leaving."
Hiccup was in the clearing with his flight clothes on and a basket of fish on his back.
"Hero! Wherever you are, you need to pack up. Looks like the four of us are taking a vacation. Forever." He sets the basket down and adjusts his gear before perking up at the sound of something next to him. When he turns around and sees Astrid, he jumps away with a loud yelp. "What the!? What are you doing here?"
"I wanna know what's going on." Astrid says simply, throwing away the rock she was using to sharpen her ax and moving closer to Hiccup who started backing away. "No one gets as good as you do. ESPECIALLY you. Start talking!"
"Uh, I-uh..."
"Are you training with Hero? Where are they?" She pulls on his flight clothes. "It better not involve this!"
"I-I know this looks really bad, but you see this is uh...WOAH!"
Astrid pulls him by his clothes but quickly pushes him to the ground when she hears something. Hiccup quickly gets up and in front of her, blocking her vision.
"Ah! You're right, you're right! I-I-I'm through with the lies! Me and Hero have been making...outfits! So, you got me." He puts Astrid's hand on his chest. "It's time everyone knew. Drag me back, go ahead, let's go. I'll find Hero there-"
Astrid grabs Hiccup's hand and twists it, making him collapse to the ground.
"Ow! Why would you do that!?" He winces.
"That's for the lies." Astrid says, kicking Hiccup back down. She then drops the back of her ax on Hiccup's stomach. "And that's...! For everything else."
"Hiccup!?" Hero shouts, their voice muffled by them wiping their face with the bottom of their cloak. "I thought I heard you..." they trail off when they see Astrid with Hiccup laying on the ground in pain. "Son of a..."
Toothless was right behind them and started to charge towards Astrid.
"Get down!" Astrid shouts to Hiccup, tackling the boy to the ground right when he was about to get back up.
"Toothless, stop!" Hero tries to shout.
"Run! Run!" Astrid demands, standing back up with her ax winded back. Hiccup quickly tackles her to the ground before either her or Toothless get hurt. He then throws the ax away and stands between the two calming Toothless down.
Hero runs towards them before gasping when something nudges at their side. Koi stops being invisible and tilts her head at Astrid who was modified by what she was seeing.
"Y-You just scared them." Hiccup reassures Astrid who slowly starts to stand up.
"I scared them!?" She shouts, flinching at Toothless' growl. "Who is "them"!?"
"Uh...Astrid, Toothless and Koi. Toothless and Koi, Astrid." Hiccup introduces, trying his best to ignore the glare Hero was giving him.
Astrid shakes her head at Hiccup before quickly running off making Hero huff.
"Dah da dah, we're dead." Hiccup sarcastically sings as Toothless nods to himself and starts to walk away. Hiccup wasn't necessarily focused on him though, he was focused on Hero who looked annoyed. "I'm sorry." He apologized.
"It's fine." Hero assures with a small smile. "Me and Koi will deal with the witness."
"...what do you mean by that?"
"Uh. Depends on what happens." Hero shrugs, jumping on Koi. Toothless, who sat a few feet away, barked something at Koi who nodded in agreement. Her and Hero then fly away.
They soar through the sky, going towards Berk. As they look for Astrid, they find her jumping over logs and rocks. Koi puts her up by her arms as she screams and throws her onto a nearby branch before landing on the top of the tree bending it.
"Hero! Get me down from here!"
Hero wanted to fling Astrid off his branch so badly but thought Hiccup would be mad so they chose the passive route. "Let me explain, Astrid."
"Explain what!? This is pretty clear to see!"
"No it's not! Did you ever question why I'm riding a dragon!? Why me and Hiccup spent so much time away from you all!?"
"To side with the dragons! To...help them with the Dragon's Nest! If you're this friendly with the dragons I'm pretty sure you've been to the nest."
"No! No I haven't and neither has Hiccup!" Hero argues, the desperation clear to see. "Astrid please! Just let me show you what we're doing and how it feels to ride a dragon. It's not anything you've been thinking of, I promise you. I'll show you by bringing you back to the ground."
Astrid starts climbing up the tree and to where Koi and Hero were. Hero sighs in relief and waits for her to get one. Once she does, she looks awkward and doesn't want to touch anything.
"Now get me down." Astrid says.
"You heard, your majesty." Hero huffs. "Let's go, Koi."
Koi spreads her wings and rolls her shoulders before suddenly taking off into the sky, making Hero and Astrid scream.
"Koi, what in the gods names are you doing!?" Hero shouts, tightly holding onto the saddle. Astrid wraps her arms and legs around Hero, trying not to fall off. "You've never acted like this before!" Hero then turns to Astrid. "She's never like this!"
Koi then dives into the water as the two humans on top of her scream. She goes deeper and deeper into the water as Hero wacks her neck. She then goes back into the sky, spinning rapidly.
"Why!? Why are you spinning, you stupid lizard!"
"I'm sorry!!!" Astrid's voice boomed as she held on tighter to Hero, eyes closed shut. "I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!"
Koi stops frantically flying after hearing that and opens her wings, bringing them closer to the clouds. Astrid slowly opens her eyes and unravels herself off of Hero. She hesitates for a second before reaching up to touch the clouds with one hand, and then suddenly both hands.
Hero lets out a sigh of relief and smiles at Astrid before turning back to their dragon. "Did Toothless tell you to do all of this?" They ask and Koi nods. "Don't ever listen to Toothless again."
The minutes they were in the sky turned into hours with the night sky above them and the stars shining. The Northern lights decide to show up as well, making the sky whole as Astrid and Hero watches in awe.
The clouds they were above cleared, revealing Berk right below them. Astrid looks down at her village with a smile while Hero looks down at it in relief, remembering the promise their mom gave them.
"Alright, I admit it." Astrid says once they pass Berk. "This is pretty cool. It's...amazing! Your dragons are amazing."
"Told you." Hero responds with a teasing grin. "I'm happy to have satisfied you, Your Majesty."
"Shut up!" Astrid punches Hero's arm jokingly. "So what now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Hiccup won the tournament." Astrid informs. "He's going to have to-" Her voice turns into a whisper. "Kill a dragon."
"Oh gods, you're right." Hero sighs before they both yelp when Koi suddenly dives down into a cloud of fog. "Koi, what's wrong?"
Dragon's show up all around them and Hero quickly pulls Astrid down to hide with them. Koi moves out of the way of the dragon and finds her own spot to fly.
"What's going on?" Astrid asks in a hushed whisper but Hero ignores her and examines the dragons around them.
"They're all holding dead animals...I think they're taking their kill somewhere."
"But where exactly?"
"I don't know."
Koi dives downward and continues to fly with the other dragons. A tall volcano shows up in front of them, worrying Hero and Astrid. They go inside it. Lava is the only thing at the bottom of the volcano while the drops start to drop their food in it.
"This is the nest..." Hero mutters. "This is a lot closer than we thought it would be."
Koi flies to a nearby platform and lands on top of it, purposely picking a spot where Hero and Astrid would be hidden.
"They're not eating any of that food." Astrid notices.
A dazed Gronckle flies above the lava and opens its mouth, letting a small and pathetic fish fall out into it. It then scratches its ear before hearing a rumble from below start to fly away. Suddenly a gigantic dragon head appears and eats the Gronckle in a single bite.
Hero and Astrid stare, eyes wide open as the dragons around them start to cower and try to hide themselves. "Koi, we need to get out of here." Hero says, seeing the dragon's eyes look directly at them. "Now!"
Koi flies away right before the dragon could eat them, sending the other dragons into a spiral as they all try to exit out the volcano through the top. The large dragon once again tries to bite them but a Hideous Zippleback takes their place, satisfying the dragon as the others escape.
"Shit, we need to tell Hiccup!" Hero shouts.
-----
"Oh, I'm so glad you didn't kill her." Hiccup says in relief when he spots Koi flying down towards him with Hero and Astrid on her back. Hiccup then notices their terrified expressions. "What's wrong?"
"We found the Dragon's Nest..." Hero mutters as both they and Astrid jump off Koi. "It was..."
"It was like a giant beehive!" Astrid explains as HIccup's eyes widen. "There was a gigantic dragon back there that acted as queen bee and all the other dragons followed her orders."
"A gigantic dragon?" Hiccup repeated.
"Yeah, it almost ate us, twice! Hiccup this is groundbreaking! We need to find your dad!"
"No!" Both Hiccup and Hero shouts, making Astrid pause.
"Astrid, they will kill our dragons." Hero explains. "We need to think of a different way to do this."
"What?" Astrid looks at Hero in confusion before turning to Hiccup who nods in agreement and starts to walk back to Toothless, pondering in thought. "You guys, we just found the Dragon's Nest. The thing we've been after since vikings first sailed here and you wanna keep it a secret? To protect your pet dragon's are you serious!?"
"Yes." Hiccup states and Astrid's glare sure into pure shock. She then turns to Hero
who looked at her with a saddened frown.
"I-Okay..." Astrid sighs. "Then what do we do?"
"Just...give me till tomorrow. I'll figure something out." Hiccup says as Hero puts their hood on and pulls it down to cover their face. It was clear that their little adventure from before scared them a lot more than it should have.
Astrid frowns at them and puts them into a gentle hug. "You okay?" She asks.
"Yeah. We just almost died." Hero then lets go of their hood, letting it bounce off. "And not even in a regular, 'oh, I got mauled by a Nadder or blown up by a Hideous Zippleback!' It was, 'I almost got eaten by the ruler of dragons.' Which is supposed to sound cool as hell, but it's not that cool when you experience it!"
Astrid laughs at their rant and pats their back. She then backs away from the hug and punches Hero in the arm. Hard.
"OW! What was that for!?"
"That was for kidnapping me." Asttrid says with a glare before it turns into a smile. "But the hug was for everything else."
Hero looks at her in shock and Astrid takes that as her cue to leave.
Hiccup, who was watching the conversation, grabs Hero by the hand, and leads them to their dragons. "You're truly okay, right?" He asks and Hero smiles at them.
"I'm fine, Hiccup. But now that we have time to properly think. What are you going to do tomorrow? You know, for your exam?"
"Probably the same stuff we've been doing this entire time. Taming them."
"You're going to tame a Monstrous Nightmare? Are you really sure you can do that?" Hero questions, tightening their grip on Hiccup's hand.
"I have to try."
"Then you better not die...oh my gods that rhymed." Hero realizes and Hiccup chuckles at their ridiculousness.
Now Hiccup just has to survive the next day because either that dragon's going to kill him or the village will.