Disclaimer: Dream Works and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.

The ancient looked at us dispassionately, gaze half curious and half dead to the world. He didn't stir from his slumber, but he clearly wasn't pleased I was interrupting him… again.

I approached cautiously, bowing my head in surrender. I didn't want to anger him further.

Massive eyes that I could stand on slowly blinked towards my heartbeats and I knew the ancient was slowly going to awaken from his nap. "You are here," he said with a voice that rattled me to the core.

I never understood how dragons so large could be, yet I did not dare question. I bowed my head again. "Yes. I have returned. But I must go." I told him. I've only really known the creature for days, but he had my respect and my gratitude. I didn't know how often I would come back here.

He raised one of his massive eyes in questioning and I could feel the sheer weight of his being against me "Is that all?"

I shook my head with the human gesture. "No. Another must speak." I turned to the dragon behind me to inform her.

Mother eyed her Alpha with a look of worry and confusion. She had known and served under him for most of my life and now this might have been the first time they would speak. "Alpha. Do you recognize me?" she asked, sounding tense.

The massive dragon's head rose from the beach, massive eyes loomed over the smaller dragon in close examination.

I held my breath and shuffled out of the way. Close enough to mother, but I was not the focus of attention.

"I know you," said the ancient. "Tell me. Why are you here? Where are your charges?"

Mother winced, submitting and fearful. I reassured her with a beat of my wings signaling her attention. "Some are coming. Resting their wounds. Others… may never come back. Wounds that will not heal. They remain."

The ancient dragon's gaze turned sour and gusts of frigid air burst from massive nostrils. He was disappointed, I was sure. "Too aggressive attacks," said the dragon.

"For a young one. An important young one," defended my mother. "I saw the egg."

The great wyrm simply let out a low rumbling groan. I don't know what that was about, maybe annoyance, anger… just being too tired to care? "You were too aggressive," he said. "Like always."

"I protected dragons," said my mother. "Protected and brought them here. All to the Sanctuary. For safety."

"You did well. All other times." replied the ancient. "Too costly. This time."

Mother's head laid down low in apology. "I did not know…"

I wonder if maybe… I could have avoided that last conflict with my Alpha if I simply didn't hesitate and turned my mother when I remembered. Maybe then we could have had a discussion about how to handle things diplomatically. Then again, maybe… things would have been worse. My Alpha would have gotten the young Bewilderbeast for sure. He was in safe paws right now. It wasn't worth interfering with that.

The large dragon then rubbed his head against a sharpish looking rock, scratching an itch as though he didn't feel the need to give the matter all the attention he had. He must have decided to move on. "Where is the Stormcutter?" he said. "I need him."

"Here," said a voice from behind, approaching us. The Stormcutter approached. "I will be ready."

Mother let out a whimper, though it took me a while to understand what it is that bothered her. It didn't seem like she was under threat, but it took me a while to realize something about the Sanctuary. The Bewilderbeast may have been the Alpha… but he wasn't in control. No, that was the job of the Stormcutter; he was more than just an enforcer, but a leader in of his own right. And in a very real way, mother, despite having been human for all that time was one as well.

"You are leaving," said the great dragon. "Sanctuary not for humans."

Mother whimpered some more. "I can stay. I am a dragon," she replied.

The great dragon looked to me then and… I felt a fuzzy feeling in my head. I blinked a few times and it subsided but I knew something weird happened. "Your child needs you. He has waited long enough," said the great dragon. "Is that not right?"

I found myself reflexively doing that human gesture, the nod of confirmation. My body was moving on its own, yet at the same time, I didn't… mind it since it was true. So strange.

"You are human," agreed the beast. "Time to return."

"You should leave," said the Stormcutter, he bowed towards my mother in apology. "I am sorry. Alpha has spoken."

"I… I want to stay." Mother tilted her head down to the floor and I realize that she was finding it hard to accept. I would have thought that maybe she would have been overjoyed. I knew she would have wanted to go home to see father again, but here she wasn't willing. Maybe it was because she was still… too dragon on the inside to focus on her human things. I know that was something I struggled with early on.

It was then when I realized what really bothered mother. She was scared of having to give up her friendship with the Stormcutter, the dragon she had spent the most time with. The Alpha was no doubt going to need his subordinate and the Sanctuary was a quite a fair distance away from our home; not a whole day's worth of constant flight, but enough to make daily visits impractical. She may not see much of him without going out of her way to do so. I rubbed my side against hers. "Do not worry. He can visit. Home is not too far. He can come. Now and again." I tried to reassure her.

The Stormcutter nodded. We didn't see eye to eye very much and he clearly didn't believe me when I said my mother was my mother since I was a dragon and she was not. Now she was a dragon and now she as being told to leave because she was human: so strange. "I can escort you home. I can visit other times. I will remember the way."

Mother bowed her head and did a very human nod. She understood. But it was going to be a bit of a painful goodbye.

I turned to the Alpha Bewilderbeast one more time. "Can he?" I said to the ancient.

The Bewilderbeast huffed out a gust of icy wind. "Very well. Go now." It's very likely that he took a very lax approach to managing his domain, where the mostly let the place organize itself. For a few days, he was going to have to deal with the issues more directly than usual.

I shone my teeth in an awkward grin. Well, I hope he would come of that fine. "Good." I then turned to mother.

She nodded, still looking a little heartbroken, but a little more functional. I really hope that it's just her not fully used to being a dragon that's made her so… sensitive.

Taking wing, we exited the Sanctuary one final time. I did not see many ways our future would involve the frigid island roofed carefully constructed and assembled ice. Maybe I would come and visit again; maybe I could learn a thing or two from the great one. Maybe I could learn a little more from the Stormcutter.

We flew off into the distance into a rising sun for a time until we came upon the island that had held us captive for the past few days. But now it was time for us to leave.

I touched down over at the far edge, looking at a group of humans and dragons, my friends along with… newer friends. They were readying to go leave. The last few days here were better than the previous ones. The humans did not have to worry about any more attacks and most of the dragons who could flee were free to leave. Others meanwhile were forced to stay, but my friends had made sure that they wouldn't cause a distraction. Besides, the humans's Alpha would get them sorted out.

My best friend was with my mate, impatiently stamping his feet onto the ground, anxious to be free. When he saw me, he tried to free himself out of his binding and ran. I knew he wanted to fly in the skies with me, but I wanted to save that for another time.

I however had one more thing that I needed to do and that required that I speak to nondragons. I left my mother and the Stormcutter at the landing site and then found a secret place that I could turn human again.

My friends were all too busy to notice me. Fish was off dealing a lecture to some kids over various body parts dragons have but humans don't. Snotlout was off trying to make himself look smarter by answering all those questions. And Ruff and Tuff were doing their best to sabotage it.

My Mom and the Stormcutter tried to sniff me in greeting and I responded to that by gently rubbing the ridges of their snouts.

Toothless let out a whine, almost disappointed to see me without wings and scales.

"Sorry, Toothless," I called to my dragon, gently rubbing at his ears. "I promise we can fly later."

Toothless groaned, disappointed by me yet again.

Astrid slapped Toothless on the shoulder. "Hey, I wish I could tell you how much of a big baby you are," she teasted.

"Well… I can help with that," I pointed at her.

"What? No!" Astrid nearly laughed. She shook her head. "Isn't there something you should be doing?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll ask him again." I then promptly walked off and into one of the nearby buildings, the one that I knew had the one person I needed to speak to.

When I stepped inside, I decided to speak in the most deadpan expression I could pull. "Are you sure you really did the right thing?"

Eret winced and tried to pretend like he wasn't breaking apart on the inside. "Oh, nothing, just uh worried… if you would be angry if I didn't give you everything you owned back…" An obvious lie.

I decided to ignore that and ask another question. "You do realize that Drago's going to be mad at you once he realizes that you've left him and you're still on Skullrock island not as a prisoner right? Especially if he figures out that you're the one who kept on to a weapon of mine for me..."

Eret twiddled his thumbs. "Oh, I don't think he'll know."

"He'll come looking for you either way, either way."

Eret raised his index finger in protest but then promptly lowered it with an unsure expression on his face. "I am… sure my parents are probably going to kill me before he does."

I gave him a wry smile. "You can come with us, you know… I keep telling you. Hey, who knows, maybe you'll find a dragon of your own on Berk."

He shrugged. "Tempting… Eh, maybe I'll visit. I'm not sure I'm cut out to ride a dragon. I trap 'em, you know."

I shook my head. "Well, if you ever stop by, let us know. Okay?"

Eret nodded.

I exited the room and then decided that we had overstayed our welcome. As I left Eret, I turned my gaze towards the Skullrock Chief. Beside him, the young Bewilderbeast. It had been a pain to go through this adventure, but I had to say, things probably turned out for the best. At least, the best I could make it. Maybe in the next five years, I could look back on this day and say that things would have been a whole lot worse if I hadn't shown up...

Night had fallen by the time we had flown over to Berk, the dragons tiring from an extended flight. We might have gotten home sooner if the winds had been favorable and had I remember our directions, but we arrived home that's all that matter.

As we flew overhead, the few villagers below turned to point at us, letting out surprised yelps and welcoming shouts.

My friends all turned to me, giving me sleepy eyed looks. They had enough for a while.

"Man, that was a blast!" said Tuffnut. "We should do that again!" Almost everyone. Everyone, including his own sister gave him a hard look. Ruffnut delivered a punch to her brother's face. "Ow!" he complained.

"We'll see you later…" she drawled, directing Barf and Belch downwards.

"I've got to be going too…" Fishlegs rubbed Meatlug's head to let her know to descend."Come on Meatlug, maybe we can get you some nice juicy steak while I go over my notes."

"Pft, like I have anything better to do!" Snotlout said smugly… only to change his tune once we heard a voice shouting his name from down below. "Uh… cooommingg Dad!" he yelped and had Hookfang go down.

I waved them all good bye and turned one last look at my girlfriend. Astrid shot me an amused look. "So?" she said, expecting something.

I gave her an awkward little grin. "Sorry for all the… distractions." And thank you for not killing me, was the unsaid part of that.

Astrid let out a laugh, as if she knew exactly how lucky I considered myself right now. She then had Stormfly nudge over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I only had a few moments to blink the surprise from out of my eyes before she was already on her way home. I smiled at her, despite my girlfriend being long gone.

I turned towards the dragons beside me. Toothless who flew right next to me shot me an almost knowing look. "What're you looking at?" I said.

Toothless didn't say anything, only descended to the ground.

I turned towards Cloudjumper who eyed the dragon I was riding on with interest. Mother let out a whimpering cry, saddened, but I think I knew what was going on. She had told him goodbye.

Cloudjumper left us to return home.

I urged my mother the Typhoomerang downwards, it was almost depressing how easy it was.

I arrived in front of my door, Toothless standing right outside. The lights inside were brightly lit, my father inside, probably making a meal for himself.

As I got off my mother, I turned a look around to see if no one was looking; I didn't want to have to explain what I learned during my time away, that would ruin the moment. At this hour, there didn't seem to be anyone left on the streets. Perfect.

Mother whimpered uncomfortably as I eyed her.

"Don't worry," I told her, gently stroking her neck. I've gotten used to treating my mother… like a dragon, but hopefully, I wouldn't have to in the future. I took a large animal skin coat and drapped her body. The thing was small on the Typhoomerang frame, but it wasn't going to be like that for too long.

"Human," I spoke the words softly, letting the power course through my hands once more.

In where there was a dragon, a woman's body appeared. She looked dizzy, disoriented, and otherwise… confused. Yet at the same time, her hand moved over to the door knob with a tremble, as if she was afraid to turn it.

I didn't wait for her. I opened the door. "Hey Dad! We're home!" I shouted.

"Oh! Hiccup!" shouted my father, back still turned towards a soup pot. "You're finally back! I was about to wonder if I should have sent the fleet out to look for you! And just in time for dinner too!" he declared. He sounded very mellow about it, like he was kind of not worried about us being gone for so long. Maybe he figured we'd be fine.

"Yeah, I'm starved," I said, approaching. "But there's something you should come see first."

"Oh?" father sounded curious. He slowly lifted his gaze away from the cooking soup and then slowly turned his gaze over to what was behind him. "What's so importan that- Val...?" My father's face lit up with extreme disbelief. He had the compulsion to rub his eyes several times just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

But mother had her own ideas. She went over to my father and got a hold of me. "It's me, Stoick…" she almost seemed like she was going to pass out saying those words. "... I'm here…"

Dad stopped blinking and could only stare. "But… how?"

Mother frowned. "It's… a long story…" she sighed. I think she knew she was going to have to explain things eventually. "But does it really matter right now?"

"Uh… no?" my father tried to reply. He shook his head as if to realign himself. "Uh, will you be staying?"

Mother gave a shy smile. "I think… I will…"

Mom and Dad then walked over to the central fireplace.

I laughed a little bit inside. Never before had I ever seen either of my parents get like that and I had a very good idea that I was going to see more of it in the future. I was pretty sure they didn't know I existed right at that very moment, too...

I felt Toothless's tail smack my rear, which was a signal of his to get my attention. "Oh, right…" I patted my dragon on the back and let out a yawn. "Tomorrow, for sure. Promise."

I think Toothless might have understood that as he went and did a whimper. Probably because I used this excuse before back when I was supposed to give him his daily flying sessions but couldn't.

I gave my dragon an exasperated sigh. "Alright, in a minute. We can go flying… together…" I then directed my dragon outside whilst I put away my things in my room.

"Selfish lizard…" I groaned, putting away my peg leg. Hopefully I can get Gobber to help me with the replacement. Mom and Dad were still busy with each other downstairs, probably forgetting I even existed for now. Which I guess was fine for me.

As I slowly got ready for my little outing with my dragon…. I thought about the person who gave me this power in the first place.

Drago said he was a Night Fury and that in truth, his human form was a disguise. Now, I didn't believe him at that time… but I had to wonder, what if he was really speaking the truth? And if so… did that mean I could really turn dragons into humans? Dragons like...

Toothless scratched the door from the outside, his impatience pretty obvious in that moment.

I sighed. I was being silly. I couldn't turn Toothless human! I probably had a look where I was laughing at myself for my own ridiculousness.

I ran out the door, taking wing.