Hey guys, here's chapter 8! Hope you enjoy !

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD!

In the late hours of the night, I dreamt.

I knew somewhere in my subconscious that the dragon I was seeing right now was the same dragon I'd seen every time I'd had this dream. It was the same dragon whose face I could never seem to remember as soon as I woke up.

I was in someone's arms. I realized I must have been small in the dream…a baby most likely. After all, I could hear crying, but I couldn't be totally sure if it was coming from me. Their arms were warm and they were holding me firmly to their chest. I could even feel a slight tremor running through my holder. I could see that they were actually only holding me with one arm. The other was holding a sword, pointed at the dragon.

The dragon I'd seen in my dreams so many times before was looking above me at whoever was holding me. Involuntarily, I made a noise that sounded like a baby's giggle and reached up to try and touch the dragon.

The dragon seemed curious of the person. Their eyes wide and searching. I could faintly hear the low gurgling coming from its throat. When I finally looked up at who had the dragon so entranced, I saw a woman. The image was blurry, but I could clearly see the beautiful blue-green of her eyes. I could also see a shimmering around her neck, which I assumed was a necklace. She was watching the dragon with an anxious expression, which soon changed to cautious curiosity.

Before I could take another breath, a large axe was forced between us and the dragon. In a heartbeat, the dragon's demeanor changed from curious to violent.

Soon, all I saw was fire. Great flames that torched everything around us. I heard shouting from a man who I assume was the one who threw the axe. The woman clutched me tighter and I started to cry.

"Valka!"

I jolted awake with a gasp, and frantically looked around my room. Nova had picked her head up from her sleeping area and was looking at me with a concerned look. I didn't realize I was crying until I felt a teardrop on my arm. I hastily wiped it away and brought my knees to my chest.

Nova walked over and placed her head on the edge of my bed, looking up at me with her gorgeous eyes. I placed my hand on her head and tried to calm my racing heart.

For the first time, I was able to recollect the dragon's face. I remembered the woman's eyes and the way she held me. I remember a man shouting her name.

"Valka…" I said aloud. It was my mother's name. It didn't take me long to discern that the woman who'd been holding me was my mother. That dream was actually a memory…of the night we were both taken from our family.

Nova's head perked up when a soft knock came from my door.

"Come in." I spoke just loud enough so they could hear me.

When the door opened, Hiccup walked in with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Hey are you okay? It sounded like you were having a nightmare."

I nodded and wiped my face one more time.

"I did have a nightmare but I'm okay." My voice probably sounded really unconvincing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked reassuringly. I nodded and he gave me a half smile.

"Well come on, let's go in my room so Nova can get back to sleep." He said with a small chuckle.

When I looked down at her, her eyelids were half closed and still drooping. Smiling, I scratched her head.

"You can go back to sleep, Nova. I'll be right across the hall." She stuck out her tongue very slightly and then lumbered back over to her platform and laid her body back down.

I let out a deep sigh and swung my legs over the edge of my bed. I stood up and followed Hiccup quietly into his room. He had a candle lit near his desk, and I could tell he'd been up all night. As he sat down in the chair in front of his desk, I observed what he was working on.

"Still making changes on your flying suit?" I asked with a slight smile. He chuckled and nodded.

"Eventually it'll work right. But I'm also working on this." He uncovered a blueprint for something that looked like the hilt of a sword.

"What's that?" I picked up the blueprint and examined it.

"Well it can be used as a weapon, but it can also be used to gain a dragon's trust." He said proudly. I raised an eyebrow.

"Usually weapons and a dragon's trust don't really mix." I handed him the blueprints and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Well inside of it is going to be a blade. The blade can be coated with saliva from a Monstrous Nightmare. So when you spark a flame, it'll be a flaming blade. As you know, dragons love fire. So this could make them curious instead of violent. The other side can spray the gas from a Hideous Zippleback, so again, when sparked, it can cause an explosion. You never know when something like this might come in handy." He chuckled.

I nodded with a smile. "How'd you get to be so smart, Hiccup?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Dad says I always got it from Mom."

The statement didn't seem to affect him the way it did me. I was brought back to the reason I was even awake right now. My face lowered and occupied myself with watching Toothless, who was sound asleep.

"Hiccup…I think our Mom was in my dream" I said quietly.

Hiccup had been organizing his blueprints when I spoke. He looked up and scrunched his eyebrows. I could tell I had his full attention now.

"I think it was the night we were taken. There was this dragon and it was staring right at us. Mom was holding me and I could hear you crying. But the dragon wasn't looking at her like it wanted to attack her. Hiccup…it was looking at her like the way Toothless looks at you, or Nova looks at me."

Hiccup looked over at Toothless like he was contemplating something. He looked back at me seconds later.

"What else happened?" He looked like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. Looking back to Toothless, I began retelling the story.

"I looked up and I saw her. It…it was blurry but I saw her eyes. They looked like the shallows of the ocean on a sunny day. When I looked back at the dragon…it had the same exact expression. And then someone threw an axe between us and the dragon. It didn't help matters because then he set everything on fire. I heard shouting and crying, and the last thing I heard before I woke up was someone saying her name."

I brought my eyes back to Hiccup's downturned ones.

"Dad." He said softly. I nodded and took a deep breath.

"Hiccup…the way that dragon was looking at her…it didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her. Could…could she be alive?" I asked hopefully. I saw him turn his eyes to the ground.

"I'd like to believe she is, Erin. But if she was…she would've come back right?" The sadness in his eyes was unbearable, and I knew that he was also thinking of our father.

Any hope I had quickly faded. I thought of how lonely our father must've been all these years. Hiccup's logic was sound. If our mother had survived, she would've come back.

But I still couldn't shake the feeling away that she was still alive. That dragon was looking at her like it respected her. It was the respect that could be seen in every dragon's eyes on Berk. They loved their owners, their friends, and we respected them as much as they respected us.

I reached up to finger my locket, which I often did when I was feeling overwhelmed or irritated. Taking a deep breath, I reached behind my neck and undid the clasp. After looking at it constantly, I figured that the letters could stand for our initials. I figured it was time I told someone about it.

When I held the small gold heart in the palm of my hand, I saw Hiccup's eyes flicker from the ground to look curiously at it.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, perplexed.

"Do you remember that day we went cliff diving?" He looked up to meet my eyes and he nodded.

"I found it underwater. That's why I was under for so long. But there's something else."

Holding the locket between my fingers, I gently pried it open to reveal its contents. The lullaby I'd listened to so many times by myself flitted through the air between Hiccup and I. As the song played out, I watched Hiccup's expression go from confusion to astonishment.

"I've heard this before…I just…don't know when." I could practically see the gears in his head turning trying to remember the song.

"There's one more thing. Look at this." I brought the locket a little closer to him, pointing to the side of the locket with the H and the I.

"It can't be just a coincidence, Hiccup. We both know the song and it has our initials." He looked up at me with knitted eyebrows.

"Do you think it could've been our mother's?" He asked, he was still in awe as he listened to the rest of the melody. At the end, I gently closed the locket and placed it around my neck once more.

"I think it's very possible. What other explanation could there be?" I asked, shaking my head slightly.

"I think we should ask Dad about it. If anyone would know, it'd be him." Hiccup stood about like he was ready to ask now. I grabbed his arm before he was able to start walking towards the door.

"We'll ask tomorrow. It's still the middle of the night you know." I told him teasingly.

With a smile, he rubbed the back of his head and sat down.

"I guess you're right. Now might be a good time to get some shut-eye." He chuckled. I nodded and stood up from my place on the edge of his bed.

"Goodnight…and hey. I want one of those once you figure it out." I nodded towards his blueprints. He rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Of course you do." He said sarcastically. I laughed and walked back into the hall. Closing the door behind me, I made my way back to my room.

After walking in and closing the door, I saw Nova pick her head up from her spot across the room. I smiled at her tiredly and made my way back to my bed.

I climbed in and settled among the sheets. After taking a few deep breaths, I felt my eyes grow heavy and I soon drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I realized drowsily that I hadn't had any dreams. I wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing.

My room was glowing from the early morning sunlight filtering in through my window. When I looked around my room, I saw that Nova wasn't there. I figured she must've gone down with Hiccup whenever he and Toothless decided to get up.

It took a few minutes for me to stretch and throw on some decent clothes before finding my way downstairs.

From the top of the stairs I could hear voices. I wondered if Hiccup had already asked our father about the necklace.

I saw my father look up as I made my way down the step. A smile took over his features.

"Good morning my dear. Did you sleep well?"

I smiled at him and Hiccup.

"Yes I did. How did you both sleep?"

My father smiled again. "I slept like Grump usually does."

I laughed at that. Grump was Gobber's dragon and he was nothing if not lazy. Speaking of dragons, I noticed that Nova and Toothless were nowhere to be found.

"I've had better nights." Hiccup said a little groggily, bringing me from my thoughts. I surmised he probably didn't go to bed right away last night.

Taking my seat next to Hiccup at the table, I noticed that my father seemed to be in his usual mood. I figured that Hiccup hadn't asked him yet. There was food already at my seat and I immediately began to eat.

"So, Irina…" My father started. Since I'd found Berk, he'd had trouble calling me Erin. I'd told him that he should call me by my real name. He was the only person who called me that.

"Yes, Dad?" I looked up from my food to see his eyebrow slightly raised and his eyes looking from me to Hiccup.

"Hiccup says that you have something to ask me." Hiccup looked at both of us with a small smile.

I nodded with a miniscule smile and stood up from my seat. I walked over to my father on the other end of the table and undid my necklace. I held out in front of him, dangling it by the chain.

"I found this when we went cliff diving…" I said softly, my father threw a suspicious look at Hiccup and I realized that cliff diving wasn't on his list of approved activities.

Hiccup shrunk a little bit in his chair and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

When my father took a closer look at the necklace, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Unbelievable. You found this?" I nodded and handed him the necklace. He gently pried the locket open and we heard the melody of its song once again. My father closed his eyes as he listened and a sad smile pulled at his mouth.

"This necklace was your mother's. After the both of you were born, I had one made for her and the other for me. She lost hers one day in the ocean, so I gave her mine to wear after that. If you haven't already guessed, the letters on the inside are your initials." He ran his thumb over the engraved letters. I realized that she must've been wearing Dad's necklace the night we were taken.

"Dad, how do we both remember the song? What is it?" Hiccup asked.

He smiled another empty smile.

"It was our song. They played it for us at our wedding. But she used to sing the both of you to sleep when you were still newborns. That's probably why you remember the melody." He said softly.

I felt my heart clench as this sunk in. Even though I only remembered the slightest bit of her voice, and maybe the color of her eyes, I couldn't help but miss her. I missed the smiles I couldn't recall. I missed moments that never even happened. Hiccup and I taking our first steps, saying our first words. I missed her tucking us into bed and singing us to sleep. More than anything in this entire world, I wanted to know her.

A tiny tear ran down my cheek and I hastily wiped it away with the back of my hand. My father handed me back the necklace and I put it back around my neck.

"Your mother was a wonderful woman. I miss her every minute of every day. The both of you…you would've loved her. Now that I think about it, you two have more in common with her than you do me. She believed that peace could be brokered between the Vikings and the dragons." He looked at Hiccup and I recalled his story of not being able to kill Toothless like a 'true Viking' would've.

"Of course, it only made matters worse when that dragon took both of you from us. I searched for weeks on end but found nothing." He reached out to grasp my hand.

"But thank the gods that you've returned to us." He squeezed my hand and I wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug.

"I'm glad I'm home." I said quietly. Releasing my father from my hug, I looked towards Hiccup.

"Make sure to keep that safe. It's might not be the best thing I could give you of your mother's, but it is a piece of her." My father said. I nodded and smiled.

"Well on that note, I think Nova and I need a little quality time in the air. Do you have any clue where I can find her, Hiccup?" I asked, laughing. Hiccup still looked half asleep but he nodded.

"She and Toothless followed Destin to the workshop earlier this morning." He said, nodding towards the front door of our home.

With a smile of gratitude, I said my farewells and headed out the door towards the workshop.

Sorry it took me so long to update guys…I downloaded Windows 10 and I got a nasty virus on my computer. That'll teach me not to download stuff right away. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!