Chapter 1

The Red Death had been killed. These are the moments after. How the village, the chief, and the dragons respond to the costs of the battle.

It was dark out now, the sun had just seemed to disappear from the sky without warning. It just left, leaving the battlefield in shadows. It felt as if dusk was wrapping itself around Dragon Island as a whole, but no, that was not the case. Ash still fell from the sky, from the Red Death's body being destroyed from the inside, and Stoick's tribe was starting to recollect. The vikings were searching for each other, making sure that the people who were just a their side seconds ago still existed in this new scene. The sense of panic from the battle seemed to have abandoned all the Vikings, except for one father. The dragons around them too were also retaining themselves. There was a calm over the winged lizards, the need to defend their bodies against the humans among them was no longer existent in this world. The war among man and beast had come to an end, just now.

Stoick started to call out for someone, his son. "Hiccup!" The large man called out once, his voice was just stern, no feeling of somber on it. He failed to show worry, even in this moment he refused weakness. He was chief to the hundreds of eyes upon him, Stoick could not show any signs of being what may be considered deficient. He continued to call out for his son, but never received an answer in return to his pleas. He could not stay strong forever, there was a fear starting to overwhelm him. He eventually came upon Toothless' motionless body. It was corpse like, a lack of life to anyone's eyes. Stoick felt faint as he saw the black dragon lying there without movement, and what was even worse is that there was no human body near it. His body dejected the motion that the black dragon and his son were dead. He rushed over to the night fury after letting his son's name out from his throat quietly a once more.

As Stoick knelt near Toothless, there was a dismay starting to control his body and his emotions. He did not care about the hard ground he heavily let his knees rest on. He had not sustained any blows from fighting the massive dragon just minutes ago, but dropping his knees on the rocks had scraped hard into his skin, but the pang from it did nothing to the man. The air around them still seemed to be falling with ash, it was like being in a fireplace without the fire and just the left over embers of the wood that was once burning. Smelled like it as well. The temperature all around them had been very warm, but it was eerily growing cooler, as if all the life just abandoned this region. It was also as if all the anger was dissipating as well, but a new mood was coming into control. Stoick finally moved a hand onto the dragon, he shut his eyes solemnly as he rested his hand there. His first thoughts consisted of pure angst, he was cursing himself to the gods knowing that this was his fault. It really had not been Stoick's fault, he was not the one that attempted to crush Hiccup and his dragon in his jaws or set them afire with his breath. The village chieftain did not see it as that way though. He looked at his large hand upon the black scales. Stoick's thought then came to what his hand was resting on. Toothless, a night fury, his sworn enemy, the dragon superior to all compared. A dragon that had just killed a Red Death. But Toothless had other titles. Toothless, a night fury, friend to his son, savior of the Hooligan Tribe. Stoick could not hate this beast for a second longer, Toothless was a much different person in Stoick's viewpoint now. This was the dragon that risked it all, that his son had befriended, and saved Berk. The stubborn chief lost his bullheadedness towards the dragon's kind. He would never be rigid knowing the duty the beasts did for his village without asking for anything in return. Stoick shut his eyes and let out a soft set of words, "Thank you, Dragon." His voice did not have its booming presence, it sounded rather frail.

Toothless eventually started to move after he felt the hand resting upon him for some time. A soft grumble came from his gullet too as he started to move. The dragon turned his head in the direction of the person in contact with him and slowly let his eyelids rise. The way he did so showed he was in pain, that he was hurting. Toothless has several lacerations among his black hide, most of the hidden at the moment, since they were on where he was laying. He lacked any cuts among his head, but his body was beaten. The black dragon was just lucky that the wire hanging from the saddle on him did not pierce his flesh at all. It could have easily, but he was spared of being stabbed by Hiccup's contraption that allowed him the skill of flight again. His eyes were finally open and slowly glancing around his surroundings; his green eyes spoke that he was going through a storm of misery now, though none of his injuries were fatal or permanent. He could not communicate his pain with words to Stoick, but his eyes alone spoke the fact that he was with perfect fluency to the chief. Stoick's eyes widened at the sight of Toothless moving, their eyes were soon locked in with each other.

Torment is a word that could not accurately describe both of their emotions as they stared into each other. Stoick did not know that Toothless had Hiccup in his grasp, but Toothless did not know the well-being of the boy in his grasp. They just sat there for moments though, watching and waiting, their looks telling a complete different tale then that of the past. Their eyes had met several times in the past, but this time that both lacked rancor in their expressions. They had been enemies, they could still be enemies, but that was no longer the way. Stoick actually had forgotten the name of Toothless, the name he still had for the night fury was Dragon. Nothing less; though he had referred to the beast as Devil a few hours ago, a name that Stoick would never give Toothless again. It had been an unfitting name, it was an inappropriate name. The name Dragon would have to do for now, even though this was not Hiccup's name for the black dragon. Their eyes were still locked in on each other. Peace was among the two, and not just among the two, it was a universal peace for the dragons and Stoick's tribe. Toothless was the first one to look away, but Stoick's eyes followed where Toothless' eyes were going, towards the night fury's chest.

Toothless started to slowly open his wings, and once Stoick saw what was there, he felt the discomfort leave his body in a flash. Stoick grabbed Hiccup quickly and tried to see if there was the same life in him that was in the Dragon, Toothless. Stoick quickly threw his helmet off and moved the boy's chest to his ear, he leaned in mostly so that his son would not be at an immense disposition, but there was no sound, no movement, no anything. He listened for moments, minutes, but the seconds dragged on without any signs of life. He began to silently pray to the gods that there would still be life in his boy, that Hiccup was still here in this worlds with them, but still, there was no response from his son. ... This was no longer his son, but his son's corpse. All the pain and agony returned in a single second, it struck like an angry dragon protecting her eggs. Stoick's head just fell and he loosened his grip on Hiccup's body, but still had his son locked in his bearlike arms. The chief did not want to believe that his son was gone, in his mind this was he was the last thing he truly had. No gold, no army, no weapon had the value that Hiccup had. Stoick never said it, he never showed it, but it was a truth he wish Hiccup was aware of, but the opportunity to make it known had passed. What Stoick did have with him was not that great, but at least it was something. That something was now gone and Stoick just let his head fall with deep lament and malady. He was alone now, though he had his entire village behind him and a legendary dragon in front of him, he was all alone. This was the last thing he had of his wife, of course he had a helmet made from her armor, but the piece a steel and horns from an animal would not and could not compare to his own flesh and blood. One would never think that a man like Stoick could feel anything other than fury and pride, but this was beginning to start to tear away at the person he was. He was being ripped apart on the inside like a thin piece of parchment.

Toothless just watched as Stoick held his rider, his friend. He was too weak to come in closer to inspect Hiccup for himself, but just by the large man's expression in front of him, he knew something had gone amiss. Toothless refused to listen to what his body was telling him, he rose up on his four paws in an agony of pain. Soft grumbles, some speaking that he was in pain, came from him as he stood. He took one step, the nerves in his right paw telling him to cease immediately, but he ignored. He took another step, this time he could feel that pain surging around his right wing and his left paw, but he ignored his body once more. With every little movement Toothless made, a griping sound came from him as well. With the final step he next to the chieftain and Hiccup, his eyes were locked on his rider every single arduous step he took. He fell back slowly onto the ground, with a thud. Dust and ash rose into the air around the night fury and slowly fell back to the ground and onto the dragon. He began inch his left paw towards Hiccup, caring not of the man holding him had had him imprisoned just hours ago. The paw came over slowly and shakily, it continued to speak Toothless' state, and what agonizing actions he would go through, just to be there with his rider, his friend. He eventually rested his paw on Hiccup's chest, eyes still watching, but got no response. Stoick was still just kneeling there, head hanging down, eyes locked onto Hiccup's small, lifeless body. Stoick did not look up at the dragon when he saw the black paw come onto his son. He just let his head drape, his mind not knowing how to react. Toothless did not feel or see any life in this boy either, as he held his paw there. He began to move his paw a bit, he expected a reaction from the young Viking, but nothing came from Hiccup. Toothless began to see and feel the lifelessness that Stoick had experienced. Stoick knew that his son had departed this world, he detested the idea, but denial was not something he could indulge in. Stoick recognized the truth, but Toothless' was more stubborn to the evidence. A single roar came escaped Toothless, he was trying to wake Hiccup.

The roar Toothless gave sounded shattered. The roar said something, it was purely just a beast's scream, but the dragons around and the Vikings too could understand Toothless' words. The roar started off soft but boomed into a large sound as it left the dragon's maw. Toothless saw no motion from Hiccup but the hair on his head moving gently from the roar's vast magnitude. The roar seemed to say that, "you cannot be gone!" But Hiccup was gone. It seemed to say, "wake up!" But the young Viking would never open his eyes again. It screamed, "no!" But it was. It was that Hiccup did not survive the finishing battle. The battle Toothless fought with the boy, the battle that they both needed each other to succeed, and they had! But ... there would be no hereafter for the two. Toothless held his paw there, and Stoick kept Hiccup in his arms. Another roar came out, and another, and another. Each more desperate and frantic than the last, Toothless just wanted to see the boy wake up, open his eyes. Toothless just wanted to be that he was just knocked out, that he was not dead. Toothless gave one more roar, but nothing. Stoick had trembled a little with each roar from Toothless, it let him know what really had been lost. This was not just his son, or a simple friend to the dragon. There was a bond between Toothless and Hiccup that no one person would ever truly understand. It was a bond deeper than brotherhood or blood, it was something that was indefinable by anyone but those who knew it. Stoick understood, but he still was in denial that this was reality now, that he was, alone. Hidden from the view of his tribe, Stoick's face. Only Toothless would see such a sight, a little drop of liquid running down the chieftain's face. A single droplet of water, nothing more, nothing less. It eventually got lost in his forest of a beard, but Toothless saw the man that was once a monster in his eyes cry. Crying, it such an unmanly thing to do, everyone would normally just see the person doing so as a lack of manhood. This was not the case, and everyone knew it too, his son was gone, a lack of emotion would just be an insult. He did not have to force himself to grieve so greatly, he was, alone. It was rarely a thing for two species to be able to read each other, but Toothless knew that the bond Hiccup shared with this large man was one that was greater than theirs, but at the same time, lesser. It did not mean that their relationship meant any less to the two.

Toothless slowly drew his paw off of Hiccup's body. The black dragon was demolished, smashed, crippled. Not on his body, but in his mind. He could never tell the humans among him why he cared so much for Hiccup, but his roars and body alone were showing how much he did. Toothless would never know that it was Hiccup that ruptured his back tail wing, but he did know that the boy let him live. Hiccup had been seconds away from slaying the black beast, but he did not. Toothless was bound, no chance of escape, but he was set free. At the same Toothless could have stolen Hiccup's life, but it had not occurred. A relationship that matched no other grew from this confrontation, where each foe let their sworn enemy continue on. Hiccup returned Toothless to the skies. The dragon had grown dependent on the boy. Hiccup would come and feed him every day, learn what Toothless enjoyed, and was the first human being a friend rather than attempting to slay him. Toothless forced himself to stand once more. His entire black body shook a bit as he struggled to fight the gravity of the Earth, he began to move again, taking a step. He slipped back to the ground and his head against the rocks below. Stoick did not flinch once to the dragon's movements, his eyes just rested on Hiccup. The night fury forced himself back up, he toiled against what his body commanded him to do. Each step he took meant pain, it was like walking across burning coals to his joints. He refused to stop, to listen what his body demanded him to do. The black dragon was slowly moving around Stoick. He eventually made it, and fell back to the ground with another huff, he meant to fall that time. His tail was wrapped around Stoick's right side and his head on Stoick's left. Toothless' head was on the side Hiccup's head was. He stared at the corpse, but was also watching Stoick now. To Toothless' surprise the large Viking was now watching him. The two had their eyes locked in together again. Stoick was beyond crestfallen, and so was Toothless. They seemed to share an unspoken dialogue as they stared at each other. Two warriors, a winged-one and a tribe leader, sat there for what seemed to be hours watching themselves and a body of the most important person in their lives. Hurt. Pure hurt. How could they go on? Hiccup was supposed to take over the village. Hiccup was supposed to be there to fly Toothless. Hiccup was supposed to help out Gobber in the workshop. Hiccup was supposed to be here to help Astrid along with all the other teens learn to train and ride dragons. ... Hiccup was not supposed to die. The two warriors that watched him, believing that this was their own fault. No one could tell their minds otherwise. Hiccup's departure was imprinted forever on them. The two were all alone now, and it was night fury's fault to Toothless, and it was chief's fault to Stoick. But it was neither.

Time continued to flow, even though it has stopped for the two with Hiccup's body. There was still an entire village behind the two, there were dragons as well. The wild dragons did not understand the degree of the loss, but they had all heard Toothless' dismal roars. The wild dragons knew that the night fury was in mourning, that is all though. They had not been through what Toothless had, the wild dragons standing there with the Hooligan villagers did not have a human being to help them in any way they needed, but times were changing. By now Stoick had moved to a sitting position to rest his scraped knees, and Toothless had moved his right wing around the man. They were still watching the dead boy in the purest of silences. Astrid had originally run to the front of the crowd, but now she was the furthest in the back. She could see Hiccup's legs and head from the distance, but Stoick had been blocking the rest. As Toothless started his cries of anguish is when she lost what she had tried to keep composed. She started to push the villagers and dragons in here way to escape the crowd. The blue deadly nadder that she had just trained followed her from a distance and not running through the Vikings. Astrid was behind everyone, sobbing. She did not want to believe in this reality either, she could not believe that Hiccup was dead. Her mind refused to accept the fact, she disavowed this truth as hard as she could. She was crying silently, but that did not mean anything. She just made sure that no one could see her in this stature, she prohibited everyone from seeing what she was going through. Astrid never really got to know Hiccup, but just in the past day, the past 24 hours, what had been an annoyance, what had grown to a hate, had become affection for the scrawny boy. What Hiccup showed to Astrid, that their most hated enemy should be their greatest ally, that Hiccup was not just a lanky Viking, but a headstrong fighter. That Hiccup could be respected, that his potential was beyond her understanding in the first moments when she saw Toothless obey Hiccup's direction. Astrid was mad at herself for how mean she had been to Hiccup in his past. That he had been treated differently among the rest of the teens. She knew Fishlegs fell into the same category as Hiccup, but her mind was not on Fishlegs. Her thoughts were rapidly interrupted with the blue deadly nadder that she had ridden pushing its head into her back gently. Astrid turned around instantly, and almost yelled ,"what?!" in a furious rage, but saw who it was. Her face was furrowed with anger, but it calmed promptly. She looked at the ground for just a second, but got a small trill from the deadly nadder in front of her. The dragon sounded sad with its light roar. Astrid looked back up to the nadder in front of her, she hated what she was about to do, but leaned in and wrapped her arms around the dragon's neck. She began to cry again, hiding it as best as she was capable of in this tragic scene.

Gobber had had his head lowered the entire time until a moment ago. He glanced around at the crowd he was in, his eyes looking at both Viking and dragon. He then looked back to Stoick and Toothless, the two still sitting together, with Hiccup. Gobber knew it was not his role to lead the village, but he needed to take lead. They could not be sitting on this beach any longer. Gobber was sad for the loss, there was no denying that, but the the truth had made itself known and they needed to leave the battleground. Being Stoick's second in command Gobber had seen more than his fair share of losses to the tribe. He began to take the first steps towards Stoick, leaving the crowd behind. A death was common thing, it was something they would all be the main act of one day. He knew that Hiccup had died for something though, he was not just lost at sea or killed by a hostile tribe or a raging dragon. Hiccup had given his life for the entire village, and Gobber could never express his full gratitude for the act. His steps were growing more audible to the two with Hiccup, but neither looked back to see who it was just yet. Gobber was still thinking of what to say, he could not just say, "Whelp, he gave his life for the greater good. Time to move on, Stoick." He began to think of Stoick's position though, that his chieftain had just lost his last family member. But again what was the priority on his mind, that they could not spend more hours here watching a body. Gobber's steps began to slow as he finally was just feet away from Stoick and the night fury. He stopped when he was right upon the two.

"Stoick.." Gobber began to speak, his voice sounding very delicate. "... I cannot begin to think..." He continued gently, "... of what y'er goin' through right now..."

Stoick showed no signs of replying to Gobber. Toothless only glanced for a second at the new man behind them before his eyes returned back to Hiccup.

"... But the village can't be sittin' here forever." Gobber finally spoke, his tone still careful. He tried his best of not making an offense.

Stoick let out a single, profound sigh. "You're right.. Gobber." He finally replied after about a minute of silence.

Stoick's eyes returned to Toohtless' for another time. "C'mon.. Dragon. We need to take Hiccup home." His voice cracked a bit with the final sentence, it was as if he was on the verge of tears once more.

The dust and ash all around the tribe, the night fury, and the chief, had settled by now. It was kicked up whenever someone moved their feet against the beach. As Gobber walked over to them there was an ash cloud on his heels the entire time. They could see the island all around and there was still no body of the Red Death to be seen. A gloomy feeling still dominated the entire island, the illness of sorrow was carried in the air around, infecting everyone.

Stoick began to rise to his feet slowly, Hiccup's body hanging in his arms. Toothless' wing slowly came off of around Stoick's massive body and the dragon rose to his feet too, this time without fault. Stoick finally turned back to face his village. Toothless looked up at the chief and turned around with him too. Stoick looked down at Hiccup once more time before clearing his head for just this one moment. He began to open his mouth to speak to his village.

"We're taking Hiccup home." Stoick announced, without flaw.

a/n: This story is going to be exploring the relationship between Stoick and Toothless if in fact Hiccup had died at the end of the first movie. As always, please leave a review and let me know what you think of the idea.