Okay, so I know there are a lot of these "what if Hiccup ran away" fics, but this one is different. I hope. This is basically a retake of my first story, 'Night Fury Island', but you don't have to know that one. This is no sequel or prequel. It's completely on it's own, not connected to the series I have been writing. Just an idea I had to work out.

Enjoy!

Return of the Dragon Rider

Chapter 1 I am so...

'...Leaving. We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and I are taking a little vacation. Forever.'

Hiccup put down the basket with fish and sighed. Toothless bounded over, excited, but crooning concerned when he sensed the sadness of his friend. He nudged the boy, rubbing his nose against his chest.

'It's okay bud. I'm okay. Now eat the fish, we have a long journey ahead of us.'

Toothless gave him a lick across his face, then bounded of towards the basket of fish.

'Toothless! That's disgusting!'

Hiccup ducked his hands in the lake to wash the dragonsaliva from his face and watched as the dragon ate the fish.

He checked the saddle and the tailfin a thousand times. He made sure he had everything he needed, or wanted, to take. He looked around the cove, the place where he and Toothless had become friends. He sighed and mounted the dragon. Toothless flew up, towards the sea.

He didn't leave immediately though, he flew around the island all day. And when the night fell and the sun began to set, he watched the sunset from one of the rocks perched high above the village. He could hear the raw viking voices coming from the Great Hall. Drunk viking voices.

It was deep in the night when he finally left, steering the dragon south. He had no idea what he would find, but if it was a place where he and Toothless could live together without being hunted or killed, he would be happy.

The moon was high in the sky, illuminating the ocean as Berk quickly disappeared in the distance, the voices fading with every beat of the dragons mighty wings, until they were gone, and the only thing he could hear was the rush of the ocean and the wind in his ears.

0-0-0-0-0-0

The day had begun so good. Stoick had awoken to the happy thought that today his son would finally become a man. Today Hiccup would kill the dragon. But his good mood quickly vanished went he went to wake the boy. The room was empty, the bed had not been slept in. He frowned. The Great Hall. Maybe Hiccup was in the Great Hall.

But there was no sign of the boy in the Great Hall either. The other teens were there, talking excitedly about dragontraining, except for Astrid. She was sitting to the side, staring into her cup with a sour face.

His next stop was the forge, where Hiccup had the back room. The room was filled with paper. The walls were covered in Hiccup's sketches and designs and ideas, papers scattered all over the table and even the floor. But again, no sign of the boy.

Had he been angry before, now that anger quickly turned to worry. He went to find Gobber. The blacksmith was in the arena, setting up the board with weapons.

'Gobber, have you seen Hiccup?'

'No, not since yesterday. Why?'

'He wasn't in his room this morning.'

'Oh don't you worry. The lad is probably gettin' ready for his big moment! He'll be back, you'll see.'

Stoick frowned, he was worried. He cared more about the boy than he showed or even cared to admit. He had already lost his wife to dragons, surely he would not lose his son the same way? But maybe Gobber was right. Maybe Hiccup was just preparing for the Final Exam and would show up when it was time.

But Hiccup didn't come. Not when they were preparing the arena. Not when all of Berk took a seat around the outside of the arena. Not when it was time to release the dragon.

Now, it was chaos in Berk. Stoick had called a meeting in the Great Hall and send out search parties all over the island. He was even preparing some ships to sail out, to look for the boy along the rocky shores and cliffs Berk had so many of.

It was Astrid who found the tracks. Footprints of a small boy with a heavy burden leading into the woods. She was following them, trailed by Stoick, Gobber, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins. They lead to the place she had seen him some days ago, then further.

But suddenly, the tracks just... stopped. Like who ever made them just... flew away. Stoick froze upon seeing this, and Gobber quickly shooed the teens back to Berk. They did not need to see their chief cry.

But even the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that Stoick kept sending men out into the woods and onto the water, looking for anything, anything, that could tell them where Hiccup was. But even after weeks of searching, there was still no sign of the boy.

Hiccup was gone.

He had just... vanished.