A/N- So long time no see. I do apologize that this took so long for me to finish. The old writers block came up with a vengeance. I will try to do better in the future. Anyways, on to the chapter!

Chapter 38- Old Enemies, New Friends

Hiccup's POV

If I was honest with myself, the Berkians betrayal was almost welcome. The Vikings almost calm acceptance had been too strange, too surreal. In all my dreams and nightmares of returning to Berk, not once had I imagined that they would accept dragons. I never could afford such fantasies. I had been floundering in the dark while my father and the rest of Berk had been "accepting" of the dragons, I wasn't prepared for it. Now that they had shown their true colors I could plan and prepare, I could begin the war.

I was startled that the idea of war with Berk was so easy, I normally wasn't so nonchalant about the idea of fighting… but Berk… Berk hurt. They had ridiculed me, berated me, and ignored me for years. I wasn't ready to forgive them, I wasn't sure I ever would. I had hoped to forget them, to put them in my past and to keep my distance.

That wasn't an option anymore now that Toothless and I had returned.

The smell of smoke continued to amass and billow down into the cavern as the oil burned. Starrah started to fidget as the air became thick. Toothless stood ready for whatever plan I would concoct.

"Ok, first things first, we need to find a way to protect us from the smoke. Starrah, you are better versed in the Ancient tongue than I. Do know any words of power that could help us out?"

"Yes, but I don't have the strength to use them."

"Don't worry about that. Toothless and I can lend you our strength. You just say the word and we will get the ball rolling."

Starrah looked at me in a bit off disbelief before facing the wall of smoke and speaking.

"Wuld."

I linked Toothless, Starrah, and I and let our combined power flow through the word.

Instantly, a whirlwind bellowed forth and cleared the air ahead of us.

"Let's go before they figure out what is going on."

I leapt on Toothless's back as the two dragons hurtled down the cave, as fast as the close quarters would allow. As we breached the surface we found the Vikings in a disorganized array as a low cloud of smoke permeated the air. Had I given the word Toothless and Starrah could have killed the dozen or so Vikings in mere moments. I could feel the two of them straining, waiting for me to give the word. For the dragons it was simple, we had been attacked, so now we should defend ourselves.

But, as much as I thought I hated the Berkians, I couldn't find it within myself to order their execution. It felt wrong, dirty somehow.

"Let's go. Starrah take us to your people."

With Starrah leading the way we raced through the forest. Unfortunately, Toothless's tailfin was still damaged so we had to remain on foot but we made good time nonetheless. It wasn't but a half hour before Starrah said we would be coming up on the nest and we should expect to be challenged by a guard shortly. She was actually surprised that her people hadn't already located them, until I informed her that Toothless and I had been shielding us so that we could catch her people by surprise.

Once we were a little closer, Toothless and I let our mental wall slip slightly to let the Kruziik know we were here. It didn't take but a few moments for one of the Kruziik to come crashing down through the forest roof and impose himself before us. Toothless noted that it was one of the ones that had assaulted him earlier. It was the gold and copper colored one. Starrah told us through our mental link that his name was Falth and he was one of the leaders among the nest.

Falth appeared confused, I could imagine seeing a dragon he had sent to die, a human, and the Kulas together would be… different.

However, I could feel my anger rising. This dragon had left Toothless to die. I gave Toothless a moment's heads up before mounting a rapid mental assault on Falth. He was mentally powerful but he was a mere candle to the queen. Against the two of us he didn't stand a chance. In seconds we had breached all of his mental defenses.

"Surprised to see me?" Toothless mocked.

Falth staggered to the ground under the weight of our mental attack. I could feel Starrah's uneasiness. It must be difficult for her to see one of her own in this manner, but at the moment all I could think about was how this dragon had tried to kill Toothless, even if it was indirectly.

"Who… are you?" Falth questioned.

"I am the Kaal Dov, Champion of the Dragons, and this Toothless, my defender and my best friend, who you tried to kill."

I noticed the recognition of the ancient words and the implications of what I had said began to sink in. Falth was terrified.

"I'm sorry, we didn't know! Please, I beg of you spare me and forgive my transgressions against you."

Falth was cowering into the ground at this point, and not because of the mental pressure we had arrayed against him. His body quivered in terror. His eyes darted amongst us, searching for any hope of mercy. I looked in his eyes… and saw a dragon bound by bolas fearing for his life as a Viking stood over him, knife ready to gouge out his heart.

I staggered back as the realization crashed over me. Toothless watched me, concern etched on his face. When had it happened? When did I suddenly take pleasure from forcing my will on others? Even if they had pushed me first, I had pushed back just as much, to the point of breaking.

"This isn't me…" I whispered to myself.

Toothless crooned wordlessly, worried. Falth's deep, labored breath filled the silence. I gathered myself and stepped forward till I stood next to Falth's head which he had kept in the mud in his fear, trying to appear as small and non-threatening as possible. I crouched down so that we were eye level, the one eye he could see me with on this side of his head darted, searching.

"Falth, I forgive you." I released my mental hold over him and returned to a standing position. Hesitantly Falth began to stand until he was towering over me. It was now apparent that Starrah was young compared to Falth as he stood twenty feet taller than me. These Kruziik were massive.

"I… thank you for your mercy, Kaal Dov." This time Falth willingly bowed before me.

I nodded before returning to Toothless's side. "Well we better get going, I need to meet with whoever leads the Kruziik…"

The sudden overwhelming stress that I felt from Falth, Starrah, and Toothless threw me off guard. Suddenly Starrah jumped over us and shouted to the sky.

"Spaan!" the familiar sheen of an ancient shield wove around us just as a stream of fire doused the area.

Starrah was shielding us both physically and magically. After a few seconds the incoming fire stopped and a trio of massive Kruziik dragons landed around us. The center dragon spoke first.

"Starrah! What are you doing? How are you here?"

"I am protecting my Vahriin! He freed me." Starrah stood tall over us.

I felt the mental probe of the three Kruziik before us as they tried to search Starrah's memories. Their blatant disrespect for her privacy astounded me, so I quickly raised mental barriers around her. The trio were confused before realizing I was blocking them, which morphed their confusion to anger. They then tried to lash out mentally at me.

I will admit, they were strong and well versed in mental combat. However, I bound together Starrah's, Toothless's, and my own mental defenses and watched as their assault washed over our combined shield, leaving us completely unscathed. I decided I had done enough damage today so allowed them to continue unabated. They continued for a good five minutes before they stopped, whether that was from exhaustion or a coming to terms with the situation, I didn't know.

"Are you quite done yet?" I inquired.

"Who are you?" the left most Kruziik demanded, anger lacing his words.

Time to be diplomatic seeing as I needed the Kruziik to be my allies. I gave a small nod of the head in respect before speaking, but I spoke with power.

"I am the Kaal Dov, slayer of Red Death, emancipator of Dagur's dragon slaves, brother of Toothless. I have come to make peace with the Kruziik in hopes of bringing peace between dragon and man."

As each word dropped from my tongue, the Kruziik became more and more wary. The air had become electrified with power and I worried what would happen should it erupt.

"And how would you support this claim?" the middle dragon inquired cautiously.

I decided it was time to try something inspired. "Can you speak for your people?"

"I can. I am Tulath, Alpha of the last of the Kruziik."

I took a deep breath as I stepped forward. All the dragons watched with bated breath to see what I was going to do.

"I would trust you, Tulath." I said as I closed my eyes, lowered my head, and raised my marked hand before me.

I stood, for what seemed to me like hours, but what couldn't have been more than a minute before I felt Tulath lower his head to my hand. His warm breath sung with magic, so was his power. It was at that moment that I knew that he could destroy me, should he choose to do so. My mental prowess wouldn't save me at this distance. I could feel his magic searching me trying to discern who I might be. I allowed him access to my mind. Old memories of my life on Berk flashed before my eyes as he quickly evaluated my growth. Then he moved to when I first met Toothless and the time I had spent since then. Here the memories slowed as he took his time looking through what I had experienced. Once more I felt his breath wash over me. Then, his voice reverberated through my mind.

"I would trust you, Kaal Dov."

Surprised I tentatively reached out and began to look through Tulath's mind. What I witnessed… terrified me, yet it was incredible as well. I saw, in a few moments, the history of the Kruiziik. From their birth at the start of time to the war with the gods. I felt power, responsibility, love and loss, I felt the raw undercurrent of emotion that bound them together. It was awe inspiring.

Tulath pulled away and the connection broke. I found myself panting desperate for breath, my head was pounding. I wiped my hand across my nose and found that it was bleeding. My vision blurred as I tried to focus.

"Hiccup! Are you okay!?" Toothless leapt to my side and started inspecting me, "What did you do to him?!" Toothless yelled at Tulath.

"Toothless… It's… I'm okay…."

Tulath bowed his head. "I am sorry. I had thought he would be able to withstand the weight of the Dov Sil, the Dragon Soul, but he isn't ready… not yet anyways. He should be fine in a few moments…" he cocked his head as if thinking about something. "Nevertheless." He blew his breath over my body and instantly I felt my strength return to me. "Again you have my apologies."

"Don't worry about it." I replied. I could still feel traces of the power that was contained within the Dov Sil. It was at this moment I came to understand that I wasn't nearly as invincible as I had thought I was. The past few months had almost seem surreal. Between Toothless, my magic, my mental abilities, and the other dragons, I had come to think of myself as nearly unstoppable. It was humbling to see that there was still things out there that could surprise me.

"So would you be willing to leave Berk? Even after their betrayal I have to hope that peace is still possible." I curiously asked.

Tulath looked me over and I could sense his mental questioning of his peers.

"No."

I must admit, I was surprised. I tried to find understanding.

"But why? What does war with Berk gain you?"

"Answers. And hope. Starrah told you of our dilemma. Our offspring die as they leave the shell. Our magic weakens as time and age takes its toll on our elders. The youngest in our group is well over five hundred years old. Berk is our last hope."

I could feel the undercurrent of emotion that carried his words. He was afraid. His people were dying and he didn't know what to do. He was holding onto one last hope.

"I… understand. If I may, I would like to help you in any way I can."

"Thank you, Kaal Dov. Now that Starrah has returned to us and her life is no longer in danger we would attack the village with our full power. It is our hope to scare the Vikings of this island so that we can find what secrets may be hidden here."

I was about to tell Tulah that mass slaughter was out of the question when Toothless suddenly straightened up and looked to the bushes behind us. Before I could ask what he was doing he leapt into the bushes and a brief struggle could be heard followed by a muffled blast of one of Toothless's plasma shots. A few seconds later, Astrid came tumbling out of the bushes, the top of her sword missing and the cross guard melted to slag. She threw down the sword as it became too hot to hold and spun to face us all. Toothless came marching out of the bushes, snarling. I could see the fear in Astrid's eyes, though she would never admit it. She was surrounded by powerful dragons and was without a proper weapon.

Tulah watched with mild interest. "It appears the Vikings were actually trying to spy on us. Interesting. Well I guess we will have to kill her. We can't risk her warning the others of our impending attack."

"No! You can't harm her. She is my prisoner."

"What! I am no one's prisoner!" Astrid spat.

I turned to face. "Astrid, if you care about seeing tomorrow and if you ever had an ounce of respect for me, you will shut up and do as I say." The intensity of my words surprised even me. My speech must have surprised Astrid too as she stared at me in disbelief. After a moment's hesitation her shoulders slumped and she quietly spoke.

"I surrender."

"Astrid, your knives please."

Astrid sneered a little but gingerly removed a pair of knives from hidden scabbards on her torso. She tossed them to the ground where Toothless melted them with a well-placed plasma shot.

"All of them, Astrid." I continued with a small smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied with an air of aloofness.

"Really? Then you wouldn't mind Toothless here searching your boot?" Toothless snarled to reinforce my point.

Astrid appeared startled, if only for a moment, before slowly reaching down and tossing the hidden knife to the ground where yet again, Toothless destroyed it.

"How did you even know about the knives?" Astrid asked, genuinely curious.

"Because I built them. Now, will you swear on your honor as a shield maiden that you won't try and escape or am I going to have to find a way to bind you?"

"I swear I won't try to escape." Astrid replied, a little dejectedly.

"Good, Tulath, I think we should retreat deeper into the forest so that we can talk about the coming days in more detail.

Tulath, who had been watching the encounter with barely concealed interest now turned his attention back to me.

"So it would seem… I will summon the council and we will discuss what is to be done with Berk!"

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(A few hours later.)

Diplomacy apparently has a completely different meaning for the Kruziik. If it has one at all. The Kruziik were determined that the Vikings on Berk had to go, one way or another. They had tried to scare them off, but that hadn't worked so now they planned on leveling Berk. I knew that if the Kruziik burned Berk to the ground that the other Viking tribes were certain to retaliate against all the dragons, and right now, I couldn't afford that.

Tulath had just finished giving another speech about how they "had a duty to fulfill" and that "there was no other way".

"It is clear that we aren't getting anywhere and the hour is growing late. I call that we call it a night and resume this discussion in the morning." I declared.

"So be it…"

I stood up and began walking to the edge of where the Kruziik had nested. Astrid was laying against a fallen tree and Toothless was keeping an eye on her. I sat down with an exasperated sigh.

"I'm sure you will eventually convince them to see reason." Toothless reassured.

"I wish I shared your confidence." I huffed. "They are dead set that this is the only solution."

Over the course of the evening Astrid had gone from a surly quiet to mild interest in on going proceedings. She may not be able to understand dragonese but the Kruziik had chosen to converse with me in Norse as if to taunt her.

"Why don't you just let them destroy Berk?" She suddenly asked. I looked at her in surprise.

"Not that I'm not glad that you seem to be holding them back, but as far as I can tell there is no love lost between you and the rest of Berk." She continued.

I leant back against Toothless as I gathered my thoughts. "Why shouldn't I try and save them?" I countered. "Look, this war between dragon and man has been going on for over three hundred years! Thousands have died on both sides, and for what? Nothing!"

I turned to face her.

"Oh sure, we might argue that it is for supremacy or for survival, but it's nothing but lies. The whole war is just a misunderstanding, or a lack of understanding to be more precise. The dragons fear the humans because humanity can build and create things and so often that talent is used to kill and destroy. The humans fear the dragons because the dragons can fly and breathe fire, abilities far outside the realm of human understanding, and abilities that humans can only see as destructive. Fear builds on fear, anger builds on anger, and hatred builds on hatred, until all that is left… is pain."

I settled back against Toothless again and closed my eyes, ready to drift off to sleep.

"The Kruziik could easily destroy Berk, which was never the question. But what happens when the other tribes find out? They will retaliate in kind, and so the cycle will continue."

With that I allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

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Toothless's POV

Hiccup was safely snoring away against my side. The Kruziik had all hunkered down for the night, except for a few scouts who took up flight. The Viking though, Astrid, stayed awake, deep in thought. Hiccup believed she would stick to her word and wouldn't try anything. I wasn't going to be so trusting however. I wouldn't put it past her to consider her promise invalid with 'demons' as she was wont to call us. So I stayed awake to keep an eye on her.

Eventually, she seemed to notice that I was watching her. She met my gaze. I could see her determination and her loyalty, what I also so though was a thoughtfulness and certain uncertainty that surprised me.

"He means it, doesn't he? He actually believes peace is possible." She asked quietly.

I hesitated. What could she be after? Hiccup didn't talk about her much, or anything from his past really, but I knew that at one point he had liked this particular female. Hiccup seemed to trust her, at least a little, and he took her at her word alone. Maybe she was a little different from the rest of the Vikings.

I nodded in confirmation.

She leaned back and hummed to herself for a moment as if putting together the pieces of a puzzle. "He always was a little… a lot different." She admitted. "You know, when we were younger, we used to be good friends. We would spend our evenings when our chores were done chasing each other through the village exploring the beach and caves of the island, or pretending we were fighting dragons together." She stopped for a moment. "He was really bad at the dragon fighting, even in pretend. He kept making up goofy scenarios where the dragons would just… fly away and leave us alone eventually. I guess he hasn't changed much."

She suddenly looked back at me and glanced over Hiccup. I guess she was worried he might actually be awake. I brought my head around and sniffed through his hair, ruffling it up a bit. Hiccup mumbled something incoherent before rolling across my side to put himself out of my reach, something he had become quite competent at in his sleep.

Satisfied that he was still asleep Astrid leaned back against the tree trunk again. "How did the two of you meet anyhow?"

I brought my broken tailfin around for her to see. Astrid gasped quietly in surprise. "He actually did it!" She said in murmured awe. "When claimed he had shot down a Night Fury none of us had believed him. We all thought he was trying to deflect attention away from his mistakes. But wait, have you been stuck on this island the whole time? Hiccup hinted that he left and that seems to imply you were with him the way you to hang on to each other."

I blew a small plasma shot past her and knocked away a leaf pile. What was left of the flight gear was piled underneath. One of the Kruziik had brought it here sometime earlier in the evening. Astrid turned and inspected the mangled wreck of equipment.

"Hiccup built this… didn't he? He built you a prosthetic tail fin. He made you fly again!" Astrid exclaimed in disbelief.

I nodded in confirmation.

"So that's why you follow him like a lost puppy. You need him." She finished believing she finally understood. How wrong she was.

I snarled and snapped at her without jostling Hiccup. Astrid flinched back.

"No, that's not it. Is it?"

I snarled again as I slowly and deliberately shook my head in negation.

"So why?"

"Because they care about each other, they helped each other when no one else would, because they are brothers." A quite voice said from behind me. I quickly swiveled my head around to find out who had joined our conversation. Starrah was settling herself to the ground. "My apologies Toothless. I didn't mean to interrupt, but I am sworn to the Kaal Dov. I have to keep an eye on him."

I merely grunted in acceptance. I guess I was finally getting used to dragons latching on to us.

"Why do you keep calling Hiccup that anyways? What is a Kaal Dov?" Astrid inquired. She appeared more and more comfortable with her precarious situation as figuring out Hiccup's activities over the past several months engrossed her.

"Who, not what. Kaal Dov loosely translates to Champion of Dragons. More precisely it means he is meant to guide and protect dragon kind. The Kaal Dov is the leader of all dragons."

"You're trying to say that Hiccup is your god?" Astrid deadpanned. I snorted in amusement and Starrah actually laughed. I deep and hearty laugh that shook the ground, even if only a little.

"God, no, demigod… maybe." Starrah smirked in return, the twinkle in her eye a testament to her playful honesty.

"But… but… HE'S HICCUP!"

"He is the Kaal Dov."

"How? Who decides this? And why?"

"Fate. Destiny." Starrah shrugged. "Who knows? However, when the Kaal Dov reaches out on the mental weave that all dragons share, we feel him and recognize him. His power and authority is immediately felt, dancing over the surface of our minds. It feels like… well I can't really explain it to you… You don't have the reference of the Dov Sil."

"What?!" Astrid seemed to be losing control. It was apparent that most of what Starrah was saying was going over her head.

"It really doesn't matter where you're concerned. All you really need to get is that Hiccup is very important to dragon kind, and extremely powerful, though he seems to still be growing into most of his potential power still." Starrah finished, mostly to herself. "You should get some rest, Astrid. One way or another, tomorrow is going to be a long day."

A/N- So? Thoughts? Opinions? Please leave a review and have an amazing day!