The pine forest rises over what otherwise would be a bare rain-washed rocky scree, creating an artwork of untold beauty on a canvas that requires the hand of Jörð. Beneath the slopes of slate ran a crystal clear river blanketed in thick morning fog. A rare day for the early days of summer on Berk.

Perched on the cliff overlooking his island stood a young man of around twenty. His tousled golden brown hair whipped about his face in the early morning breeze. The sunlight glinted of his eyes making them sparkled the brightest shade of emerald known to earth. Even the ancient ever-greens couldn't reach the natural beauty held in his irises.

"Hiccup?"

The boy raised his head at the intrusion but kept his eyes on the horizon. A beautiful young maiden appeared next to him, blonde hair weaved into plaits. She placed her hand over his, squeezing lightly to provide some sort of comfort.

"Are you okay?"

How was he supposed to answer that? Only a few hours had passed since his life had changed so drastically. His world had been torn apart for him to build back up with the few remaining pieces still intact.

"I can't begin to imagine what you are feeling. But I am here if you need to talk."

"I appreciate that Astrid. But I need to be alone."

Hiccup made an almost invisible gesture and a shadow bounced to his side. The dragon gurgled softly nudging his rider to his feet. Astrid watched as the newly appointed chief mounted his dragon and flew out to sea. Stopping him would be foolish, joining him even more so.

Astrid whistled for her dragon and flew back down to the village to help with repairs after their latest attack. Spears of ice mixed with splinters of wood dotted the once lively village and although work was well under way to restore their island to its former beauty, there was still weeks maybe months of work ahead of them.

Hiccup brought Toothless to a halt on a distant sea stack. From where he sat Berk was no more than a speck on the horizon. It was here Hiccup felt comfortable enough to let out his frustration. A yell so powerful that it could compare to that of a thunderdrum echoed of the crumbling tower of stone.

Toothless whimpered at his friends heartache unable to quite understand the cause. But dragons are empathetic creatures, they feel every emotion you display. So Toothless answered his call with an equally pained roar followed by deep purr. Hiccup slumped against his dragon, wrapping his arms around his neck as he cried.

The young chief cried for what felt like hours. His father was dead, there was no getting him back. The constant reminder of his presence was plastered all over the island to the point of it being overwhelming. Hiccup couldn't cope.

Suddenly Toothless jumped up knocking his master to the floor. He let out a threatening growl, swiping his tail back and forth menacingly. Hiccup wiped away the tears from his puffy eyes and stared into the tiny pocket of forest bundled on the sea stack. Through the trees he could make out two crystal blue eyes glowing in the shadows.

"Show yourself." Hiccup ordered, hand on his sword.

The bushes rustled and from the trees crept a boy no older than Hiccup. His hair was snow white fading out to blue at the tips. He was rather tall with clad in a faded leather tunic sporting several rips and stains. Much like Hiccup the boy had tear stains down his cheeks making Hiccup drop his defensive stance immediately.

Sensing the shift in atmosphere Toothless sat back on his hind legs and cocked his head in curiosity. The dragon was rather confused why everyone seemed to be crying yet immediately set out to help the boy.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked approaching slowly.

"Who are you?"

"I asked first." When the boy refused to answer Hiccup sighed, wringing his hands together. "My name is Hiccup Haddock, chief of Berk. Since you are within our borders I would like to know who you are."

If anything that seemed to scare the boy further. Realizing his mistake Hiccup held up his hands as a sign of surrender.

"That wasn't a threat..I realize how that sounded...sorry-" A smile tugged at the boys lips as Hiccup rambled nervously.

"Jack. My name is Jack."

"What are you doing out here alone Jack? How did you even get up here, there are no boats for miles."

"I was left here little over a day ago. Drago will kill me if he found out I was talking to you."

"Drago?" Hiccup asked with a little too much malice in his voice. He couldn't help the response; that name brought out a burning fury within him.

"Y-yes. Do you know him?"

"He attacked my village and tried to steal our dragons. He is gone now, you don't need to be afraid of him anymore." Jack's face lit up at that.

"He's dead?" Hiccup nodded and Jack sighed in relief. The breeze played with his hair giving as if summoned by his laugh of disbelief. "What happened to the bewilderbeast?"

"Bewilderbeast, nice name." Hiccup said almost to himself. "It vanished into the sea. We haven't seen a trace of it since the battle. It looked pretty banged up, lost a tusk."

"At least he escaped."

Hiccup's burning curiosity got the better of him. He called Toothless over and mounted his dragon before turning back to Jack. "Would you like to come back to Berk? I can't in good conscious leave you out here alone."

"I would love to Hiccup...but I can't." Doubt clouded his crystalline eyes only making Hiccup more persistent.

"I insist." Hiccup held out his hand for Jack and after a few moments he took it. Hiccup waited until Jack had seated himself comfortably before patting Toothless' side and launching into the air.

Jack lent his head back, closing his eyes as the salty air caressed his face. Hiccup watched in curiosity out the corner of his eye. Jack didn't seem phased in the slightest to be in the presence of a nightfury, never mind on the back of one. Questions flooded his mind as they navigated the choppy sea back to Berk. Why did Drago have him in the first place, and what had he done to him? Where was he from? Did he have a family to get back to?

No matter how many questions played on his tongue he couldn't bring himself to ask them. Not when Jack looked so at peace. So surrendering his need for knowledge, Hiccup stayed silent and allowed Jack to enjoy these minutes of serenity.

Their arrival kicked up quite a fuss amoungst the villagers. Of course none were brave enough to ask Hiccup who this strange boy was so they simply strode through the half destroyed village to Hiccup's hut. Well they made it half way before they were approached by the dragon riders. Ill timing on their part.

"Hiccup I have been meaning to ask you- who is this?" Fishlegs interrupted himself when Jack appeared from behind the chief.

"Oh this is Jack." Hiccup stated supplying no further information as that was all he had to offer.

"Okay. And what is he doing here?" Snotlout seconded in his usual sarcastic tone.

"He...had no where to go. A victim of Drago."

The riders nodded in a mix of sympathy and understanding. The twins went to greet Jack but their quick movements startled him. He backed himself up against a wall of ice and to everyone's surprise it glowed a deep blue before melting completely, freeing the building trapped within.

"What the-?"

"How did you do that?"

"I...um," Jack stuttered becoming even more overwhelmed by the attention he was receiving.

"Guys back of." Hiccup exclaimed but it was too late. In a burst of anxiety Jack swiped his hand out sending identical stalactites of ice from his palm to the ones dotted around the island. Albeit these ones were significantly smaller but in every other way they matched the bewilderbeast's.

The riders instantly shut up, backing far away from the boy in fear. Only Hiccup and Fishlegs remained, ironically, frozen to the spot.

"Jack what was that?"

"You can create ice?"

Jack remained silent breathing heavily. He rose his hand to shoot a second time but Hiccup gently grabbed his hands to stop him.

"It's okay. I promise we will not harm you. We are not like Drago."

"Promise?" Jack's voice cracked letting the fear spill out. Hiccup nodded comfortingly spurring Jack to explain. However just as he opened his mouth to reply a deafening roar shook the island.

A hurt explosion of water shot high into the sky drenching the southern side of the village. A single tusk protruded above the cliffs and the dark bewilderbeast came into view.

"Mount up!" Hiccup yelled to any rider in the vicinity. Hundreds of vikings shot into the air ready to defend their home for the second time that day. Jack remained on the ground staring at the alpha dragon in panic. He never thought he would see the beast again. Oh how wrong he was.

Toothless roared between plasma blasts that exploded against the dragon's barbed head. Other dragons followed suit sending a rainbow of flames through the air. Hiccup tried his best to steer the blasts away from fatal areas but it was near enough impossible. Toothless was hard to control when he felt Hiccup was in any sort of danger. Much to Hiccup's relief Drago was nowhere in sight leading him to believe that this dragon was here on it's own accord.

"Aim for the second tusk. Do not land fatal blows, we don't want to kill this dragon." Hiccup shouted over the explosions.

A piercing whistle cut through the explosions followed by a brief boom. The riders turned to see a flash of white hurtling through the air aimed directly for the bewliderbeast's head. Whatever this was it had broken the sound barrier in a matter of seconds and was about to do a serious amount of damage to the dragon.

"Toothless you know what to do." Toothless charged up for a shot but as luck would have it the blur came to a stand still between Hiccup and the beast sending up plumes of dust and ice at the force of the halt. Hiccup was at a loss for words when the dust settled and he laid eyes on the 'blur'.

Floating in between them was Jack, unmistakable wings similar to that of a razorwhip only less metallic and more crystal like. Fitting for a man/dragon who can create ice. The wings must have ripped of his shirt - explaining the dozens of holes in the fabric Hiccup came to realize - as he was shirtless. That only drew attention to the pure white scales trailing across his back, gathering around the base of his wings and around his neck.

"Stop!" Jack roared and the firing ceased. The bewilderbeast snarled at the boy who snarled right back at it. "Leave. Leave and never come back."

The dragon screeched, charging up for a blast of ice. Jack was quicker. Daggers of ice shot through the air at high speeds cutting deep into the bewilderbeast's skin. Taken aback the dragon pushed of the cliff and dived back below the waves.

The villagers were too shocked to cheer making Jack become very self aware. Toothless flew to Jack's level, eyes wide and curious.

"You have...wings?"

"Yes."

"And you can create ice?"

"Evidently." Hiccup snorted at Jack's smart-ass comment.

"I take it this is what you were going to tell us before."

"Yeah. There's more to it than this," Hiccup raised his eyebrow at that encouraging a nervous ramble from Jack. "Not more. Well there is more but nothing bad more. A good more. That doesn't make sense, does it? I have more to disclose but it isn't anything bad. Yeah that makes more sense."

"Jack." Jack's head shot up to meet Hiccup's playful eyes. "Put a shirt on before you freeze to death."

As soon as it was mentioned Jack felt the chill blowing in from the ocean and shivered. He landed folding his wings back into his back. You wouldn't even know they were there if it wasn't for the remaining scales dotting his shoulder blades.

"Lets get you into the great hall. We'll talk there." Hiccup whispered as a crowd began to form around them. Jack nodded gratefully and followed Hiccup back up the hill. He nodded in awkward acknowledgement to the vikings who thanked him for dealing with the dragon.

The warmth of the great hall hit him like a brick wall and Jack instantly relaxed. Hiccup grabbed a blanket from a chest and draped it over Jack's shoulders. He lead him over to the chief's table and slid onto the bench.

"So..."

"So?" Jack jibed playfully.

"Why do you have wings?" Was the most logical way Hiccup could phrase his question although there were certainly a multitude of better ways to ask.

"I'm what you would call a dragon-shifter. I was born like this much to the disgust of my parents. They sold me to Drago when I was four, in return he promised to spare their island. He didn't keep that promise." Jack winced at the memory and Hiccup's hand found its way into Jack's.

"When I was ten Drago tortured me to the point where I fully transformed. I have never managed to do it since then. The furthest I can go is wings."

"Wait you can transform into a dragon? Like tail and all?"

Jack couldn't help but laugh at Hiccup's enthusiasm. "Yes. But as I said I haven't been able to do it since I was a child. I think it was something to do with emotional stress. Anyway Drago released me when he realized that the alpha had no effect on me due to my human genes. I was no longer any use to him. "

"So that's why you ended up here."

"Exactly." Jack smiled although truthfully it looked rather forced.

"Well you are welcome to stay as long as you like Jack. My people are grateful for your help."

"Thank you Hiccup."