The 'Dragon Defender'

What If

"I can't believe him," I grumble as we all mount the dragons an hour later. Just as I predicted, Hiccup took off almost immediately after we all went to bed. I swear I'm going to kill that man.

"He couldn't have gotten too far, right?" Adriana frowns, but I shrug. "Depends when exactly he left. He rides a Night Fury, their speed and endurance are pretty good. Not to mention they're difficult to spot in the dark and if we don't miraculously fly straight towards them, they'll have even more time to get away from us."

"We'll split up," Astrid decides. "Artemis, you and Adriana can take Stormfly. Search the south. Heather, Windshear and I will check north. Ruff, Tuff, go west. Snotlout and Fishlegs can head east."

"On it," I agree, helping Adriana up onto Stormfly's back before we fly off south. Hopefully Hiccup went towards the north-east, safely away from the Morphwing's island. Hopefully he didn't somehow find any Morphwings.

"Do you think he found them?" Adriana asks me warily, sharing my concerns. "Probably not," I assure her. "Plasma knew Hiccup tried to follow him the first time, I doubt he'd have risked anything. He either went straight home before Hiccup could go anywhere or he found somewhere to lay low just to be sure he wasn't followed."

"Well where should we look?" Adriana wonders, glancing down at the island. "It's gonna be hard to spot him out here."

"I think the best option is to take advantage of the fact that we've got Stormfly with us," I state, patting the Nadder's side. "Tracker class, technically. She can help us track the boys. Right, girl?"

"Astrid already got me on the scent," Stormfly confirms, making me chuckle. "I figured there would be a reason she let us go with you. Do your thing."

Stormfly sniffs the air and adjusts her course, heading off of the island. "They got far," she notes. "But I can still track Toothless. He took some chicken with him when he left, by the smell of it."

"Almost like he wanted to be caught," Adriana notes. "Oh, she is another Morphwing," Stormfly notes upon confirming that Adriana can understand her. "I was wondering if it was just the time spent with Indigo that caused her scent."

"My brother's a Morphwing, too," I reveal. "They're mates." "Ah, well good for the both of you," Stormfly nods. "Astrid did check in on him before. I don't think Gothi worked anything out about him aside from how to take care of him."

"Perfect, thank you," I nod, relieved. "I was a little worried she might notice something or he'd morph by accident or whatever."

"He's been good," Stormfly assures. "He should be okay in good time. I'm more concerned as to how all three of you plan to leave without a single dragon between you, unless you plan to morph or you have a boat."

"We'll head off when nobody's looking," I shrug it off. "We'll work something out."

"Good luck with that," Stormfly hums, effectively ending the conversation in favour of focusing on tracking the boys. Since she's busy, I look to Adriana, who still appears nervous.

"You don't think he found Plasma, do you?" Adriana asks me. "Hard to be sure," I sigh. "I mean... we're headed in the right direction, for sure, but I'd have hoped Plasma would have a good enough lead."

"That's what I keep telling myself... what's the worst-case scenario here?"

"Hiccup wouldn't harm any Morphwings, so I'd assume the worst outcome would be he finds the caverns and gets himself killed. As for Toothless... hard to say, but he'd put up a fight. Smartest move would be to send in the hatchlings to subdue him, I doubt he'd hurt them."

"They wouldn't do that. They don't know Toothless wouldn't harm them."

"I know they wouldn't. I'd never expect them to. So we should probably hurry and find them before they do something stupid."

"Should we go there now? Just to be sure he's not found them?"

"Maybe... Stormfly, let's head into the clouds. We don't wanna be followed."

"On it," Stormfly agrees, ascending into the clouds. It's harder to see, sure, but it's also harder for us to be seen, which makes it worth the navigation struggle.

"Addie," I say, turning to look the girl in the eyes. "We're gonna keep everyone safe, okay? I don't want you worrying."

~•~

"There!"

Stormfly blasts a fireball towards Toothless's direction when we finally spot him and Hiccup. They found an island scarily close to the Morphwing Island, but thankfully not quite the right place. The fireball lands near them, gaining their full attention just as it was supposed to do.

"Oh heyyyyyyy! Artemis, uh, fancy seeing you here!"

I pinch the bridge of my nose as Stormfly lands. "I am finding it so difficult to keep justifying your actions, Hiccup," I warn, not bothering with a formal greeting. "Did you track the Morphwing here?"

"We lost it a little while ago, we've been scouting the area," Hiccup explains. Either he's completely oblivious to my anger or he believes that the fact that he's no longer on Plasma's trail will make everything okay somehow.

"You've got Stormfly, you help me out. We need to search the forest and-"

"What makes you think we'll help you?" It was Addie that spoke against him this time. "I'm sorry, but ever since I met you the other day, all you seem to care about is finding these dragons no matter what anybody else says. You hardly act like what little good I've heard about you."

"Neither of you get it," Hiccup shakes his head. "You don't... I need to do this."

"Give me one good reason why," I demand, my eyes narrowing.

"Someone's gotta carry the plot."

"Huh?"

"Someone's gotta find out what they're capable of!" Hiccup repeats. "Look, I wasn't going to tell you, but... Atali once told us about Morphwings being related to Changewings and that they have their own way of blending in with humans."

"... Go on," I encourage, wanting to know where he's going with this. I have my theories, none of them good.

"Atali also said they trade with humans," Hiccup continues. "That they can hide in plain sight while they do this. And that the key is in their name."

"Hiccup, what are you saying?" Adriana asks worriedly, stepping a little closer to me. I'm too focused on Hiccup to take much notice.

"Morph means to shapeshift. I know I must sound crazy, but what if... what if Morphwings can shapeshift into humans?"