How to train your vessel - Book one

A mother never forgets

"NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE-"

"Toothless, it's fine, everything's fine, we're just going to talk some sense into them."

They landed on the deck of some very confused hunter's boats, at least what was left of them after some ice-spitter dragon wrecked their fort before their first encounter with the group, who were way too open about their affiliation with Drago. The face Toothless didn't expect to be so grateful to see was Stoick's, after he easily shoved the alpha hunter to the ground he argued with Hiccup while the other dragons whispered some words of encouragement. That 'Eret' person kept insisting they were friends with a duo of dragon riders atop a Storm Cutter and Night Fury who'd raided their encampment and stole their caught dragons, as if the dragons belonged to them to begin with.

Now they were flying through the air Hiccup was punching. 

"If only he could understand me, then I could tell him about Drago." 

Oddly enough the only humans who understood him at all were Stoick and Gobber, they clearly knew something about Drago and Gobber had caught onto how uneasy he was around the name. 

Toothless was snapped out of his thoughts when his antennae warned him about something to his right. He saw someone flying, an armored and masked human with a staff standing on the clouds. Hiccup turned expecting to see his dad trying to nag him again only to be surprised by the same unsettling image. The figure dove beneath the clouds and reappeared riding a Storm Cutter in front of them. 

Out of nowhere a Night Fury snatched Hiccup from his saddle and carried him away, the strange rider didn't seem to expect his kidnapping to be met with such aggression. Another perk of being born of god and void was not relying on physical matter, Night Fury's could easily regrow limbs with their void, regenerating limbs and heads required a lot of void but it was quick and easy and left only a thin silver scar around the spot the limb was severed. A Night Fury's void refilled daily, non-magical weapons could spill the void they needed to heal, but it took a magical weapon to deal damage. That's why he healed his tail fin so easily when Hiccup first met him, not to mention surviving the crash before it, all that remained of that day was the silver band around the base of his tail fin. In other words, this dragon had nothing on him. Fuck the anxiety, fuck the doubt, fuck this idiot, nobody touches Hiccup. What the last thing Toothless expected was the shadow that saved him to jump in front of him, the eyes on the black ornament on its mantle to glow, and to pass out.

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Hiccup was dropped into a cave within a giant ice structure with no light. After frantically asking his captor and looking for Toothless after a living shadow seemed to one shot him, the dragons surrounding him began to close in. Hiccup looked around and locked eyes with the strange creature that incapacitated his best friend so easily. It stood far away, opposite side of the room to the masked human, though this thing was most certainly not human and with a white eyed Night Fury at its side. 

He grabbed and ignited inferno, the second the light filled the room dozens of monstrosities were revealed. They had perfectly circular eyes and horns alike but different from the dark figure staring him down, they all hissed at the light and disappeared into the darkness again, their tendrils looking like strange cloaks masking their movements. 'How long have those been there? And what were they?' were about the last thoughts to enter his mind when he began waving the fire around the dragons, the moment he looked back to the spot the inhuman thing stood, he found the animal to be standing just a few feet in front of him. Not having time for terror, Hiccup continued his dance, even making a ring of fire around himself, getting the dragons to stand down. This small victory was cut short as the dark humanoid snapped its fingers, a black dust came into existence around its fingers and three shadows eventually appeared, these ones larger and with more tendrils then the ones Hiccup scared away with light. Taking the time to stare at the shadows who seemed less vulnerable to the light wasn't on Hiccups mind. 

"Who are you? The dragon thief? Drago Bludvist? Do you even understand what i'm saying?"

At that the other kidnapper slammed their staff on the ground, another dragon came with Toothless in its claws. Being dropped on the ground woke him from his nap in time to see Hiccup coming for him. 

"It's okay, it's okay, yeah, I missed you to bud, you really had me worried there." 

The figure shook the staff again, the stones inside rattling a command to the dragons. They lit the cavern with their fire, thankfully no more of the dark creatures were in the room, but nobody cared where they went while Hiccup and Toothless were the center of attention. The masked one approached them, dropping their staff and shield,  Toothless growled and the person made some hand signs at him. For a second Hiccup thought he was never going to get to know what they were expecting to happen when Toothless unsheathed his teeth and tried to bite the hand right off, only to freeze in place. Black fluid flooded Toothless's eyes, nostrils, and especially his mouth. The rider quickly withdrew their hand and stared at the dark figure, seeming to give a silent thanks. 

Hiccup bent down, concerned about his one real friend, then looked back at the figure; its hand was outstretched at Toothless, a fire made of shadow seeming to be emitting from its hand, eyes, and mantle ornament. The aberration snapped its fingers and Toothless collapsed to the ground in sudden exhaustion, Hiccup would've been mad if not for the lack of sleep Toothless normally got. They both stared back at the thankfully two handed rider and the Pale Wanderer lowered its arm to pet its own Night Fury. The approaching rider looked at the scar Hiccup had below his lip since he was a child and backed away gasping,

 "...Hiccup?"

After some confusion, the rider lifted her helmet while the dark figure stepped closer, analyzing them. 

"c-could it be? After all these years, how's this possible?"

"Uh... Should I... Should I know you?"

"No... you were only a babe... But a mother never forgets."

She turned to the living shadow, "It's alright, it's better than alright!" 

Getting the hint, it waved its hand and the three other shadows curled into balls and disappeared into the ground.

"...I have something to show you."