Hero and Hiccup soared through the sky in a tense silence, both of them glaring at the sky ahead. Hero then glances at their boyfriend before going back to the sky. "You okay?" They ask.
Hiccup jumps at their words and lets out a sigh before screaming and punching the air.
"Guess not."
He then falls back onto Toothless. The dragon rumbles in confusion and Hero awkwardly smiles at him.
"If it makes you feel better, I was mainly worried about the possibility of you dying." Hero says, leaning on Koi. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"I'm sorry I basically forced you to come with me." Hiccup apologizes, turning to look at Hero. "That...was wrong of me."
"Yeah, it was. But again, I mainly came so you didn't die."
"You don't have to worry about me, I promise nothing will happen to me or our dragons." Hiccup says, patting Toothless on the back.
"Don't make false promises." Hero mutters, looking over at Hiccup with a sorrowful expression. "It'll just make it worse if something does happen."
Hiccup frowns back and sighs, looking at the sky above them.
"Hiccup..." Hero suddenly whispers, making their boyfriend look back at them in confusion, noticing the panicked look on their face.. He turns around to the other side and gasps as well.
There was a masked stranger flying next to them. They then disappear into the clouds, staring directly at them.
HIccup sits back up and nervously looks around. Next to him, Hero grips onto Koi's saddle as tightly as possible. "Okay...no sudden movements." Hiccup says.
Koi then shrieks, making Toothless pause in his spot as something suddenly bursts out of the cloud and in front of them. It was the masked stranger riding on a large dragon that started to circle around them. The person points their two-sided weapon at Hero and Hiccup and flies in front of them.
"Hold on, hold on." Hiccup says, noticing the dragon had two sets of wings.
"What the fuck..." Hero mutters before yelping when something suddenly grabs them by the shoulders and forces them off of Koi who immediately tries to chase after them but is stopped by the stranger's dragon.
"Hero!" Hiccup shouts before also being snatches up by another dragon, making Toothless plummet to the ground below. "Toothless!!!"
Koi growls at the dragon in front of her and is about to spew hot water when another dragon, swiftly knocks them out with a kick to the head.
"Let me go!! Let my boyfriend go, let my dragon go!!!" Hero shouts, struggling against the dragon. "At least bring Toothless with us! Don't just let him drown!"
"He can't fly on his own!" Hiccup adds.
The stranger just ignored them as they continue to towards a place made of nothing but ice. The ice itself was jagged and wild, making Hero confused.
"Are they going to execute us with the ice?" Hero wonders out loud. But thankfully Hiccup was too worried about their dragons for him to fully process their question.
The dragons fly inside the ice and drop the two in a dark room surrounded by nothing but dragons. The other dragons keep holding onto Koi who was still unconscious.
"We have to head back for my dragon!" Hiccup cries as Hero takes their retracted spear out, noticing the dragons getting closer to them. Hiccup pulls out his sword and activates it, lighting up the room a little bit. He makes slow and gentle movements with it, making the dragon's in front of him mesmerized by the action.
Hero notices they were going the gentle route (they always do) so they press a button on their spear, activating the bubble blower and spins the cylinder around. Bubbles come out of it and above the dragons as they also become mesmerized and start to pop the bubbles.
Hiccup then reaches a hand out to one of the dragon's forehead, moving to tame it before jumping when the masked stranger suddenly walks towards them.
Hero pushes Hiccup behind them and fully activates their spear.
"Who are you?" Hiccup asks. "The dragon theft...? Uh, Drago Bloody-fist?
"Bludvist." Hero quickly corrects.
"Right, Bludvist."
The stranger doesn't answer their question and continues to walk around them.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying!?" Hiccup suddenly exclaims. The stranger then spins their weapon around and slams it onto the ground. Four dragons fly into the place, two of them holding Toothless and two of them holding a still unconscious Koi. They drop the two dragons in front of Hiccup and Hero and fly away.
"Koi!" Hero shouts, running towards their dragon and shaking them awake. "How hard did that dragon hit you!?"
Koi wakes up with a jolt and immediately stands up, turning to Hiccup who ran towards Toothless and quickly calmed him down.
As those two interactions were happening, the masked stranger gently shook their weapon and all the dragons around them opened up their mouths and created torches with their fire. The four in the middle of everything look around in confusion.
The stranger then starts to walk towards them, dropping their weapons and crawling towards Toothless and Koi who stood in front of their riders, growling at the stranger. They don't falter though and keep moving closer. They then lift their hands in front of the two dragons. In their left hand, they close it before opening it in front of Toothless, making him collapse immediately and in the right hand they scratch Koi's horn, making them collapse as well.
Hiccup pulls Hero behind him and looks at the stranger in fear and confusion as they got closer.
"Hiccup why are you-" Hero starts before pauses when Hiccup shushes them, still staring at the masked stranger as they then reach towards Hiccup's face. They then gasp and back away.
"Hiccup?" They mumble.
"Uh..."
The stranger takes off their helmet, revealing dark brown hair, green eyes and feminine features.. "Could it be, after all these years...how is this possible?"
"Uh, should I know....you?" Hiccup questions.
They shake their head. "No, you were only a babe. But a mother...never forgets."
Hiccup inhales sharply, taking a step back into Hero who quickly holds him back up.
"You're Valka?" Hero asks the woman, looking over Hiccup's shoulder.
Valka nods and smiles at the both of them. "Come." She calls and walks away. She lead them through the icy place, swiftly moving through narrow tunnels and leaving Hero and Hiccup in the dust. Well, just Hiccup. Hero was going through the tunnels just fine.
"H-Hold on, wait just a minute!" Hiccup shouts, trying not to crash into the walls.
"Go faster!"
"You can't just say you're my mom and then run off! Let's talk about this first!"
"Come!"
"Please slow down! Hiccup's not as fast as us." Hero says, trying to make light of the situation. The two of them then easily climb over a tall stone wall, not seeing Hiccup struggle to get up. Koi gently pushes him up to the top as she and Toothless follow from behind.
"I have questions!" Hiccup continues to shout. "Where have you been all this time? What have you been doing? They said you were dead! Everyone thinks you were eaten by..." He yelps when he runs into Hero's backside, breaking them out of their trance. Hiccup gently grabs Hero's arms as an apology and looks over their head, seeing dragons freely flying around an open space within the icy fort. Some were flying around a piece of ice covered in greenery, others were randomly flying and others were just resting on the ledges around them.
The two walk towards the main opening of the place, moving around baby dragons and looking up at adult ones flying through the air. Toothless then suddenly growls at something above them, making Hiccup follow his gaze and gasp when he sees Valka leaning on top of her dragon.
Hero looks up at the woman in awe as Koi glares at Valka as well.
"This is where you've been for 20 years?" Hiccup asks his mother who nods in response. "Y-You've been rescuing them."
"For 20 years." Hero mutters, watching Koi and Toothless get surrounded by random dragons. "Explains how big this place is."
"Neither of you are upset?" Valka questions.
"What-no! I-I don't know!" Hiccup stammers, glancing at Hero who shrugged their shoulders. "It's a bit much to get our heads around to be frank. It's not everyday you find out your mother is some kind of crazy, feral, vigilante, dragon lady."
Valka chuckles at his response as her dragon gently helps her get down. "Well at least I'm not boring, right?"
A Snafflefang suddenly starts nudging Hero's shoulder, making them scratch their cheek. They then notice their missing foot and frown a bit.
"I guess there is that one...specific thing." Hiccup mutters.
"D-Do you like it?" Valka asks Hiccup, moving closer to him as the dragon that nudged Hero is now laying on its back, forcing Hero to rub their belly.
"I don't have the words..."
Hero nods in agreement and looks up at Valka. "So...do you know Saga?" They suddenly asks, earning a gasp from the woman.
"Yes! We were close friends even if she was violent and cruel. I miss her." Valka answers as she walks over to the adult. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm Hero. I was born a few months before Hiccup"
Valka gasps once more and covers her mouth. "You're Saga's babe! Aw, that makes so much sense, you look just like her. How's she and Freya doing? Are they healthy and well?"
Hero nods. "Yes, honestly everyone in Berk has been doing well. It's beautiful to see."
"And you two are..." Valka trails off, pointing to both Hero and Hiccup.
"Yes."
"I'm sure Saga was happy for you two." Valka says, both her and Hero looking over at Toothless and Koi who were overwhelmed by random dragons. Toothless then roars, causing all the dragons to back away from them as Valka chuckles. "Can I?" She asks, gesturing to the two dragons.
"Of course." Hiccup responds, letting Valka drop her weapon and walk over to the two dragons, letting them sniff her hand before letting.
"They're beautiful." She coos as Toothless rubs his nose against her cheek and Koi sniffs her side. "And this Night Fury might very well be the last of his kind." Koi suddenly plops onto the woman's lap and Toothless purrs as she scratches under his neck. "Oh, he's your age, Hiccup!" Valka notices, nudging the small scales underneath Toothless's neck. She then looks at Koi's horns and counts the growth rings. "And she's one year younger. No wonder you all get along so well!"
Hero smiles as Koi watches Valka and Toothless playfully mimicking each other. Toothless then retracts his teeth and Valka gasps, opening his mouth to examine it.
"Retractable teeth!" She says and looks down at Koi who turns invisible. "And this one can turn invisible! How did you two manage?"
"We found them in the woods." Hiccup explains as Koi walks over to him and nudges his arm with her nose. He gently pets her head. "They were shot down and wounded."
Valka's eyes narrowed at his words and she turned to him for a second before walking over to the Snafflefang Hero was still petting. "This Snafflefang lost his leg on one of Drago Bludvist iron traps." She says, gently petting the dragon before turning around to another dragon behind Hiccup who was looking down at them in curiosity. "This Raincutter had her wing sliced by razor netting." She uses her weapon to softly show the wing and then walks over to a Hobblegrunt who was walking towards them. "This poor Hobblegrunt was blinded by a tree snare." She raises her hand in front of it, gaining its attention. It purrs and rubs its head against Valka, its color changing yellow. "And then left to die alone and scared."
Valka pauses and turns to Hero who looks back at her in confusion.
"And there's someone else I think you'd want to see." She says and whistles loudly.
Hero and Hiccup turn to each other before jumping when a certain dragon roars and starts to make their way towards them, jumping off of Ice ledges and fellow dragons to get to where Valka is.
"Holy shit that's..." Hero mutters as Koi jumps up and sprint towards the dragon with a goofy smile on her face.
"There's more?" Hiccup questions.
Valka pets the green StormStriker's head and smiles gently at Hero. "Yes. There is. She's the only one who lives at the nest but I've encountered a few more. Her name is Brightlight. She's one of the first dragons I got close to, but sadly..." She trails off and turns Brightlight to the other side, letting Hero and Hiccup see the missing wing on the dragon's left side.
"Oh..."
Valka stops petting Brightlight's head and lets her play with Koi who immediately pounded on her.
"Her wing had been gone since she was a babe. I don't know what caused it." Valka says sadly before walking over to Toothless' prosthetic tail fin and lifting it up. "And what about this? Did Drago and his hunters do this?"
Hiccup awkwardly laughs as Hero pats his back and walks towards Koi and Brightlight who we're still playfighting.
"Well...crazy thing is..." Hiccup started. "I'm actually the one who shot him down...h-hey it's okay though! He got me back!"
Valka looks at the two in both confusion and wonder as Hiccup starts scratching Toothless head and chin.
"You couldn't save all of me, could you? You just had to make it even." Hiccup jokes. "So...peg leg!" He leans on Toothless and raises his leg, revealing to his mother the prosthetic leg he had on.
Toothless rumbles at him and ducks under his legs, raising him onto his back. Hiccup laughs and scratches Toothless' chin with a big grin.
Valka smiles and starts to rub Toothless' face as he purrs. "What did your parents think of your dragon friends?"
"Eh, they didn't take it too well." Hiccup starts.
"At all!" Hero shouts from behind them as Brightlight starts licking their cheek. "I got locked in my room for an hour!"
"But then...they changed." Hiccup continued, glancing at Hero with a smirk. "Pretty soon everyone back home had dragons of their own."
Valka chuckles. "If only it were possible."
"No really-"
"Believe me, I tried as well but people are not capable of change, Hiccup. Some of us...were just born different. Berk was a land of kill or be killed but I believed peace was possible. It was a very unpopular opinion. Then one night, a dragon broke into our house, finding you in the cradle. I rushed to protect you but what I was proof of everything I believed. My dragon, Cloudjumper, was gently playing with you, letting you mess with and grab him."
"Guess you were born to befriend dragons." Hero jokes, walking over to Hiccup and wiping off all the saliva on their hands onto his armor, ignoring the playful glare he was giving them.
Valka continued her story, "He then noticed me, accidentally leaving a cut on the bottom of your mouth as he turned towards me. As I looked into his eyes I noticed he wasn't some sort of vicious beast but an intelligent, gentle creature whose soul reflected my own. That peace was quickly broken when your father rushed in the house, trying to save us both. He scared Cloudjumper and I quickly tried to deescalate the situation but as your father grabbed you, Cloudjumper grabbed me and took me away from Berk. You and your father nearly died that night...all because I couldn't kill a dragon."
"Yeah, well it runs in the family." Hiccup replied with a small smile.
"It broke my heart to stay away, but I believed you'd be safer if I did."
"How did you survive?" Hero asked.
"Oh, Cloudjumper never meant to harm me." Valka explains, leading Hero and Hiccup to the edge of the platform they were on. "He must've thought I belonged here...in the home of the great bewilderbeast!"
Below them was a massive white dragon with spikes on it, resting in the water.
"The alpha species. One of the very few that still exist. Every nest has its queen but this is the king of all dragons! With his icy breath, this graceful giant built our nest. A safe haven for dragons everywhere."
"Oh. So he's the one who destroyed those trappers' forts!" Hero realizes as Valka leads them deeper into the nest. Koi runs up next to Hero and moves under their cloak, letting Hero pat them on the head. "What do you think, Koi?" Hero asks. "Think we can melt the ice?"
"It's almost impossible to melt the ice." Valka says. "But you can definitely break it with enough force."
Baby dragons fly above them and down to the Bewilderbeast, moving all around his face, waking him up. The massive dragon lightly huffs and stands up, causing all the babies to run off.
"Isn't that disrespectful?" Hero questions.
"Yes, but they're babies. Who's going to yell at them for acting their age?" Valka laughs before bowing at the Bewilderbeast as it moves up to stare at Hero and Hiccup. Hero follows Valka and bows, so do the other dragons. Hiccup stands there in disbelief before flinching when the massive dragon gently blows snow on his face.
Valka and Hero laugh as both Hiccup's hair and eyebrows turn white. Hiccup shakes and ruffles his hair, getting most of the snow out and looking at the Bewilderbeast in awe.
"He likes you." Valka comments before putting a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "So, you two must be hungry."
"Uh, yeah we could eat." Hiccup says, closing his eyes as Hero goes to get the rest of the snow out of his hair.
"Good. It's feeding time. Let's go, you two."