HTLANF AU: How to Raise Your Night Furies

Part 3 ~ Chapter 17

Hiccup's attention was torn from his drawing as he felt frantic tugs on his tunic, seeing that it was his son with the Night Fury journal in hand and a pleading look.

"What is it bud?" Hiccup asked as he closed his own journal with the charcoal stick between the pages, setting it aside as he put his full attention on his eldest.

"Can we read this now? I really wanna know what it says about our species, Dad." Toothless asked with puppy eyes.

Hiccup stifled a laugh and nodded. "Of course we can Toothless."

Toothless smiled joyously as he claimed the spot next to his father and placed the journal on the table, opening it to the first page.

"You want me to read it or do you want to bud?" Hiccup asked with a soft smile.

Toothless thought about the offer then shook his head. "No, I can do it."

Hiccup chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Alright, fire away."

Toothless laughed a bit as he pushed Hiccup's hand away then he looked down at the journal and began to read.

"Table of contents..chapter one: Night Fury Isles, chapter two: Aging, chapter three: Bonding Process, chapter four: Mating Process..gross.."

Hiccup stifled a laugh at his son's reaction. "Well that is definitely a big part of things bud. I mean how else do you think our species has survived this long?"

"Still gross.." Toothless mumbled then shook his head and finished reading off the chapter titles. "And last but not least, chapter five: Abilities. Huh. Why only five?"

"Maybe the author didn't see a reason for more than that. So, you wanna go in order or hop around in this? Although, I'm banning chapter four till you're older. You're way too young to be reading about that stuff." Hiccup said, finality in his words about said subject.

"Like I'd wanna read about that." Toothless said with a shudder. "May as well just read it in order though."

Toothless then flipped to the first chapter and began reading it over, being careful to not mess up any of the words as he did.

"'Night Fury Isles is the island specifically for our species. Unlike most islands, it does not stay stationary. It is sentient and moves location constantly to protect those who reside there. Not only does it move to protect us, but there is also a mist barrier that keeps any threat from entering. This barrier is very thick, to the point that you cannot see what the island looks like from the outside or see the world beyond it.' Cool.."

"Well that's interesting. Who would've thought, eh bud? A moving island." Hiccup said in fascination.

Toothless nodded in agreement then continued to read.

"'To find the island, though, is a difficult task. Since it is always on the move, there is no way to track it. The only advice I can give is to follow your instincts and trust that the island will reveal itself to you on its own accord.' Aw, bummer. But I guess it makes sense with the whole sentient moving island thing."

"Yeah, but hey. Maybe one day we can go look for it as a family. Who knows, maybe there's other Night Furies there." Hiccup said as he placed a hand on Toothless' shoulder.

The hatchling smiled and nodded. "That would be awesome."

Toothless then refocused and flipped to the next page, which was a set of drawings and more information on the Isles.

"'In addition to the island being the perfect hideaway from the dangers of the world, it also has the capability of bringing us back from the dead. But, the catch is that it will only bring us back if there are other Night Furies that miss us very deeply and wish for us to come back more than anything in the Nine Worlds.' Whoa..reincarnation? That's insane."