Chapter Text
Hiccup couldn't catch a break lately. From the moment he took the Dragon Eye from the Ripper it seemed the archipelago had decided to come together against him. Dagur, Ryker, and now this Viggo person.
And including the weather apparently.
He and Toothless had been out on a flight on their own. Things had been going well, the sky was cloudy but not raining yet, until they ran into some hunters ships. One thing led to another and they had to escape in the opposite direction of the Edge. Now they were flying against the storm that seemingly came out of nowhere, trying to find somewhere to land and take cover.
“Come on bud, we got this.” He tried to sound reassuring but he could tell Toothless was worried too. They were both soaked to the bone and Hiccup’s teeth were chattering. Around them the storm raged on, lighting flashing too close for comfort. At some point, Hiccup swore he saw a dragon fly from afar. The only dragon who would be flying in this weather would be a Skrill and that stressed Hiccup out even more. They needed cover, stat.
Finally after seemingly forever they saw an island in front of them. And even better, Hiccup could see lights from it. So people lived there. Hiccup's shoulders staggered with relief. They were going to be okay.
Flying over the island he could see that there was only one building. Weird but it was large, even by vikings standards. And right now, they couldn't afford to be picky.
“Let's land Toothless.”
Hiccup stood in front of the large door, large enough for a dragon to fit in comfortably and took a deep breath before knocking. He really hoped this wouldn't go worse than it already had. He knocked again and this time someone answered. A woman stood in the doorway, early 40s it seemed, with long braided brown hair, going down to her waist. Her eyes got big when she saw them. “Oh dear, what happened to you two?” Before Hiccup could say anything she was already pushing him and Toothless inside.
And just like that, a few minutes later he found himself sitting in a chair by the fireplace, wearing borrowed clothes and holding a cup of herbal tea. Toothless was nearby, gulping down fish that the woman seemed to just have enough to feed a dragon. The woman, Helena, as she introduced herself, was sitting across from him. “Hope you're feeling better sweetheart. It's freezing outside.”
Hiccup nodded as he looked around. The house was big even though he couldn't see it all. But what really caught his attention were the amount of dragons just spread around the room. He could see a group of Terrible Terrors huddled together, a Deadly Nadder with its baby, a Changewing who wasn't camouflaged and a Rumblehorn just sleeping. The more impressive dragon though was the dragon sitting behind Helena. It was a species Hiccup didn't recognize, with fur-like scales, antlers and glowing purple eyes.
Helena caught his eye and smiled knowingly. “This is Zelda. I'm not sure if you have another name for her species but she is a Woolly Howl. A Titan wing"
Hiccup nodded, making a note to remember the name and check it in the Dragon Eye. “I've never seen anything like her.”
“I would be surprised if you did. There aren't many on the archipelago.” She ran a hand through Zelda's scales as she spoke. “Can I ask, Hiccup was it? The dragon with you, he's a Night Fury right?”
Hiccup blinked. He'd gotten lost into thinking about the new dragon. “Oh, uhh, yeah. This is Toothless. Because of the umm…”
“The retractable teeth?” Helena finished. She had already moved to kneel down to Toothless’s eye level, letting him sniff her. “He is gorgeous. I haven't seen one in decades.”
Hiccup's head snapped towards her at that. “You've seen Night Fury's?! Where? When?”
Helena shook her head sadly. “It's been almost twenty years dear. I'm surprised there is still one out there.”
Hiccup excitement fell. “Oh… we've been looking for another Night Fury for years now.”
“I wish you the best of luck with that.”
Hiccup ended up learning a lot about this strange woman. She wasn't from the archipelago, she had come here when she was around his age with Zelda. Apparently they had been together all their lives. At some point he ended up telling her what happened to them both that brought them to her house.
Her face darkened at that. “Oh those terrible people. Of course they would go out of their way to hurt children.”
Hiccup wanted to point out that he wasn't a child but he felt like that wouldn't matter much to her. He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject. “So you live alone here with the dragons? Your house is quite big.”
Helena waved a hand. “Oh no no. I live here with my kids. They're your age, you should get along.”
“And where are they?”
Helena looked towards the window where the storm was still going. Hiccup frowned. “Out there?”
“Oh you know how it is. They like to play with the lighting. We haven't had a storm like this in a while.”
Hiccup didn't believe what he was hearing. Play with the lighting? Who in Odin's name played with lighting? It seemed the gods were going to give him the answer because just then the main door opened. A girl his age walked in, soaked from the rain, hair plastered to her forehead but grinning ear to ear. “Mom you'll never believe what we-”. She paused when she saw him. Hiccup gave her an awkward wave. Then a Skrill poked his head in and Hiccup's blood ran cold.
Toothless growled at the Skrill, stepping p in front of Hiccup but the Skrill simply tilted his head, looking almost confused. Hiccup was at a loss for words. There was a tense silence until Helena broke it. “There you two are. These are our guest, Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup these are my children, Ursa and Magnus.”
The girl, Ursa, blinked before going red. She ran a hand through her wet hair trying to make it presentable. “Mom why didn't you say so?! I look like a- ahem.” She walked over to them, with the Skrill named Magnus following. “Pleasure to meet you two.”
Hiccup hesitated, glancing between Ursa, Magnus and Helena. Toothless was still tense, glaring at Magnus who was staring back at him with curiosity. Hiccup finally found his voice. “Uh, yeah. It's our pleasure. Sorry about Toothless, he's protective.”
“Ursa, dear, go get dressed. You're soaked and dripping water into the floor.”
“Oh right. Be right back!” Ursa quickly climbed the stairs, disappearing on one of the rooms. Magnus stayed there, nudging Toothless with his snout. Toothless smacked him away with his paw. He shook his head sadly and walked to Helena, putting his head on her lap.
Helena chuckled and patted Magnus. “Not everyone will like you on the first meeting.”
Hiccup just stared at them. He didn't know why he was so surprised. Of course she'd have a Skrill on top of all the other dragons here. Toothless was still tense. This was gonna be quite the night.
The storm wasn't letting up so Helena told him to spend the night there. He had no choice but to accept. The three of them were eating dinner, Ursa occasionally asking questions about him and Toothless. Overall it was a nice experience, one Hiccup couldn't complain about. After dinner Ursa led them to a spare room. “Good night you two! See you in the morning.” And like that she was gone.
Hiccup didn't really sleep that night. Not that he didn't trust them. Okay, maybe he was a bit wary but who could blame him. During the night he could hear talking between the mother and daughter though he couldn't understand it through the thick walls. It was too late into the night when he finally slept.