Found again (HTTYD FF)

★39★

Hiccup joined the others on the edge of the cliff, Toothless in tow.

"Where's Astrid? Don't tell me she got away without you dealing with... you know what! She can't tell anyone!" Toothless fixed Hiccup with a glare. "If she starts giving you trouble, I swear I'll get rid of her."

"What!? No!" Hiccup exclaimed instantly, horrified.

Hookfang stepped closer, his head bent level with Toothless'. "No one is going to hurt our riders," he growled menacingly, "no matter which one it is. I like the blonde least of all, but she's part of our... new flock. If I hear you threaten my-"

"You're in our nest," Toothless interrupted. "Astrid is in our nest. If she poses a threat, I will treat her accordingly! There's nothing you can do about it!"

Hookfang bared his sharp teeth, straightened to his full height as if he were about to start shooting, and burst into flames. Toothless crouched in response, but they were both interrupted by Hiccup, who stood between them, his own eyes narrowed into slits and his ears pressed tightly against his head.

"Hey! Stop it! No need to tear each other's scales off over this!" He tried to keep both angry dragons in his line of sight to make sure they didn't attack each other at an unguarded moment. He wasn't worried about Toothless. He was worried about Hookfang. He didn't stand a chance against the Night Fury. "Everything's fine!"

"Hiccup's right, let it go."

"I'm sure Astrid is fine. Ever since she and Stormfly became close, they're both always out early in the morning."

"She won't be back until breakfast."

"Are we really the only ones who've ever noticed?"

Hiccup looked at the two Zippleback's heads in surprise and nodded gratefully. Their alternate explanations for Astrid's absence partially reassured the Nightmare, who let his flames die down and stopped baring his teeth. Whereas Toothless remained in his position for a moment longer before he, too, hesitantly backed away.

"Anyone going to tell us what's going on here?" Snotlout looked offendedly at the dragons and Hiccup. "I'm tired of this!"

"Yeah, it's not fair!" The twins agreed in unison. "You never include us in the conversation!"

Hiccup almost forgot they were here. He was immediately determined not to tell them the real reason for the dragons' agitation, even though doing so forced him to create another unnecessary lie. It would be better to leave them in ignorance. For their own safety. He wasn't sure how the Vikings would react.

But what should he tell them? That it was nothing? They knew their dragons too well for that in the relatively short time they had known them, they would know something was wrong. Fortunately, he was quickly rescued from his brief dilemma by Cloudjumper, who came flying in their direction, and Hiccup shifted much of his attention to him for a moment.

"You're late for breakfast. The Bewilderbeast is about to leave, hurry up!" He called to them as he flew past.

Hiccup hadn't even realized what time of day it was until this moment. Was it his imagination, or was time slipping through his fingers more than ever lately?

"Wow! It's a Stromcutter! I knew they were big, but I never thought they'd be this huge!" Fishlegs blurted out, his face lighting up with excitement. "Are there more of them? Can you introduce us?"

Hiccup didn't have time to answer. A group of dragons swept over their heads, each one urging them to fly and passing the message on.

"Feeding time!"

"Feeding time!"

"Be quick, stragglers are missing out on the best catches!" This was a female Snifflehunche, colored in brown-green with yellow, rounded horns and all sorts of growths all over her body. She liked to take care of the other dragons, but once she got attached to one, she never left it alone. She always looked upon it as one of her many young ones, and constantly tended to it at every opportunity. No matter if the dragon was older than her or not. Everyone was just a hatchling in her eyes, needing her careful supervision. "And don't forget to bring your new friends with you!"

The dragoness had no name. Lots of dragons didn't have them, and most of them didn't want them. They didn't need them.

"What's going on this time? And where is everyone going?" Snotlout demanded his answers. "If someone doesn't tell me what the hell is going on, and fast, I'm going to have to force them to! And I'm still starving!" He stomped angrily and folded his arms across his chest.

"Your human is a rude one," Toothless remarked, before turning away from the Monstrous Nightamre with one last hostile glare and joining the leaving group of dragons.

Hiccup sighed. "Come on, or we'll be late and there'll be nothing left for us."

"Hey, wait! What about Astrid?" Fishlegs asked.

"We'll probably find her somewhere along the way." Hiccup looked over his shoulder impatiently, no sign of the departing dragons. It didn't seem like a good idea to continue the conversation about Astrid now, he had to somehow avoid their endless questions, at least until Astrid showes up.

He was beginning to regret his decision. Why had he brought the Vikings here in the first place? Who would willingly go to all that trouble? They hadn't even been here for twenty-four hours!

"On the way to where?"

"You'll see, just follow me," he replied curtly. He didn't want to linger any longer. He didn't want to stay put any longer, the nest wasn't waiting for them. They were already late!

He waited no longer, spread his wings and took off after the others, leaving the Vikings no choice but to climb into their saddles and follow him. The only one who didn't complain about his quick and sudden flight away was Fishlegs. He could hear all the others behind him grumbling protests - despite the distance that separated them at the time.

He made his way through the long tunnels out of the ice-protected area and into the fresh, icy air, where he caught up with the rest of the flock and made sure the complaining Vikings were still behind him.

"Hiccup, what's going on?" asked Fishlegs this time.

It was unclear whether the unanswered question was getting on the Vikings' nerves more or Hiccup's, who didn't know how to answer it at any of the three times it was asked.

"Time to eat...?" He tried. It came out more like a question.

He wasn't sure if they understood what he had just said by their blank expressions.

They had no idea what was to come.