Lost and Found: Family

Meeting Mother

Hiccup blinked open his eyes. He was in what looked like a rocky cave. An eerie light seeped through cracks in the walls. The air smelled crisp and clear, with a hint of salt. He was near the ocean.

He shivered under the yak hide blanket.

"To-Toothless?" he called into the space.

A pair of green eyes peered over the edge of the wooden bed he was on. Then, the eyes' owner leapt over the end of the bed and enveloped Hiccup in a fury of licks. Toothless warbled, then slid off the bed.

Hiccup slid out from under the yak hide and placed his feet on the floor. He then stood up.

However, that didn't work. He found himself leaning over on top of Toothless' head. The dragon warbled while gazing at Hiccup from his place below him.

"Sorry, bud," he said. He tried to stand again, but found himself back on the bed.

"What?" He asked himself in surprise. He looked down at his feet. Except, there was only one. He looked down at his foot. The left one was completely gone.

Hiccup almost fainted from shock. "What happened, bud?" he asked his dragon, "And where are we?"

Toothless nodded towards the saddle. Hiccup got the message and clambered onto the Night Fury's neck.

Toothless walked through a small hole in the wall and entered what looked like a long stone tunnel. Except it wasn't flat. There were rises and falls in the ceiling and floor, and the tunnel would narrow and widen. After a while of Toothless clambering over and under rocks, they emerged into what looked like a giant ice cave.

Hiccup gasped. Dragon's of all shapes, sizes, and colors were swooping in and out of openings in the giant dome of ice. A large stone pillar reached all the way to the top, and moss, vines, and plants sprouted from the cracks. Hiccup looked over the edge of the mossy stone cliff and gazed into a large, clear lake that was settled at the bottom.

Basking in the deep lake like it was the shallows at a tropical island was by far the largest dragon Hiccup had ever seen. It had a large white head with Tusks the size of the great hall, and hundreds of long, thin horns that stuck up from the top. A great, webbed tail stuck out of the water, waving lazily.

Hiccup watched as a couple of baby Nadders landed and started to squawk on the dragon's tusks. The dragon lifted it's head, and gently blew from its mouth a puff of snow. The Nadders left and started to play with a baby Zippleback.

"Wow," Hiccup breathed.

"You like it?" a voice came from the edge of the rocky wall.

Toothless whipped around. A low growl escaped his throat. Sure, this lady was Hiccup's mother, and she had helped them, but he would still protect Hiccup at any cost.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked the woman who was descending from the many wings of a Stormcutter.

"You - you don't know me?"

"Should I know you?"

"I suppose not, but a mother - never forgets."

The entire ice cave seemed to grow still. Silence gripped them with it's clinging fingers.

"Yo - you're my mother?" Hiccup asked. Toothless' tail curled protectively around him.

The lady, who had reached the rocky floor nodded.

"What? But - but you're supposed to be dead! The whole village thinks you were eaten by -"

Hiccup was interrupted by the Stormcutter, who raised it's wings and snarled in his face.

The lady quickly stepped in front of the dragon. She growled, and the dragon backed down.

"Sorry, he's a bit touchy about that subject. He thinks it insulting for people to think he would have eaten me," the lady explained.

"Whoa, did you just talk to that dragon?" Hiccup asked in awe.

"Yes, I learned after Cloudjumper took me here, I call it Dragonese. I can teach you it, if you want," she offered.

"Yes! I would love - I would finally be able to talk to Toothless!" Hiccup rubbed his dragon's head.

Toothless warbled.

"Toothless? How-," the woman started.

"No, before I tell you our story, you have to answer our questions," Hiccup suddenly realized he was standing in front of a complete stranger who had a really random and probably false identity.

"Alright," the woman agreed. She sat down on the Stormcutter's wing.

"What happened? How did I get here? And where is here?"

"I'm not exactly sure what happened, the black dragon won't tell me. All I know is we found you and that dragon on an ice flow out at sea. Cloudjumper and I were flying, looking for injured dragons, and he caught your sent. We saw the dragon, and we tried to get closer, but he was very worked up and protective of something. When I finally got to talk to him, he realized I was your mother, and together we took you here. You had lost a leg somehow, and that dragon and I cleaned it up. After I gave you a place to stay, that dragon never let me near you. He's very protective."

Hiccup rubbed Toothless' head and Toothless smiled a gummy smile.

"Thanks," Hiccup said, "Where are we?"

"This? This is the Dragon Sanctuary!" Hiccup's mother cried, raising her arms.

"Wow," he breathed.

"This is a small rocky island with many tunnels and small caves embedded in it. The Bewilderbeast," she motioned to the giant tusked dragon, "made this icy cavern for all types of dragons to live. He expanded on the small island."

"And what's a Bewilderbeast?" Hiccup asked.

"The Bewilderbeast is truly the king of all dragons. The alpha species. He cares for all of us, and we all listen to him," Valka explained. The group of Nadders swooped down and circled the Bewilderbeast's head before continuing their game of chase. "All except the babies, of course!" she chuckled.

"So this is where you've been for fifteen years?"

"Yes. I've been learning about them. Studying them. I could teach you everything I know!" Valka answered.

"Wait, I'm not done. How did you get here? Why didn't you come back?" Hiccup was still full of questions.

Well, it was a couple months after you were born. A dragon raid was happening. I didn't like the fact that Berk was a land of kill or be killed. I was running around the village in hopes of keeping Vikings from only making our war with the dragons worse, when I saw a dragon break into our house. I rushed to protect you, but when I got to the house, the dragon was - playing with you," Valka paused as the memories rushed back, "I was so entranced with the sight that I didn't hear Stoick enter. He threw an ax at the wall, and the dragon turned. The dragon swooped low and scooped me up, before flying away. I tried to get loose as I watched you and your father slowly fade behind.

"The dragon, Cloudjumper," she nodded to the Stormcutter, "seemed to know I needed to get something, so he let me down in this large dip in the ground, surrounded by rock cliffs and with a gorgeous pond in the middle-"

"The cove!" Hiccup exclaimed happily. He rubbed Toothless' head as the dragon warbled happily.

Valka shot him a puzzled look.

"I met Toothless there!" Hiccup said, "Now, continue."

"Alright, well, Cloudjumper set me down in the cove and I raced to the small cut in the wall. I returned holding Hanna Jay Haddock, your twin sister."

"I - I have a sister?" Hiccup almost fell off of Toothless. "Is she here?"

"Not right now, she's out riding Stonescale, her Hobblegrunt."

"Oh, then what happened?"

"Well, then Cloudjumper took me here, and I've been living here ever since."

Suddenly, looking around the sanctuary, with all of the dragons and his mother, Hiccup knew this was where he belonged.