Upon the forest floor lie trees of yesteryear, fallen in storms long forgotten. The seasons have been harsh, stripping away the bark and outer layers, yet rendering them all the more beautiful. They have the appearance of driftwood, twisting in patterns that remind Jack of seaside waves; even the colour of the moss is kelp-like. They are soft, damp, yet his fingers come away dry. 

Jack tilts his head upward, feeling his silver hair catch in the midnight breeze. Birdsong comes in lulls and bursts, the silence and the singing working together as well as any improvised melody. A new smile paints itself upon his porcelain face, rose-pink lips semi-illuminated by the dappled moonlight. 

His wings hang down his back like a scaled cloak of royalty, brushing delicately against the pine-needles. Jack leant against the trunk letting his legs dangled of the branch he was perched in, eyes closed in complete peace.

"Jack?"

Jack nearly fell out of the tree at the interruption. Despite being on the island for a month he still hadn't grown used to the idea people want to be around him. Most of the time he could be seen taking himself of into the forest alone to keep out of the way of the workers.

"Up here."

The tree was bent backwards as Toothless landed on a branch way to flimsy for his weight. Hiccup was relieved to have finally found his friend after almost an two hours of searching.

"What you doing up here alone?"

"Didn't want to bother anyone." Jack replied closing his eyes once more. Hiccup shook his head fondly. He gave an imperceivable signal to Toothless who grabbed Jack in his paws and took of into the night sky.

"Hiccup! Put me down!"

"Sorry no can do." Hiccup teased with a smirk.

"You know what Haddock!" Jack spread his wings freeing himself from Toothless' grasp. He flew above the dragon, briefly checking to make sure his tail was out before picking Hiccup by his armpits.

"For the love of thor!"

"What's the matter Hiccup? Something bothering you?" Toothless gurgled as if laughing at his rider who was flailing pathetically in Jack's arms. He glided down to the forest floor as Jack began to climb.

A mischievous grin spread across the shifter's face and he barrel rolled through the clouds. Hiccup gripped on to Jack's arm for dear life, burying his face in the crook of Jack's elbow. When they broke the clouds Jack slowed down gliding gracefully with Hiccup dangling beneath him.

Hiccup slowly looked forward a smile gracing his features at the scenery. Stars splattered the sky as if painted by the gods, the full moon much larger from this perspective. Billowing clouds stood apart from the navy blue canvas curling around the men as they soared by.

"Okay Jack you can return me to solid ground now." Hiccup whispered. Jack complied and started his decent back to the forest. 

Toothless greeted them back on Berk licking Hiccup fondly. Hiccup groaned shaking of the saliva from his hands. Jack chuckled at the disgust on his face so being the petty person he is, Hiccup flicked dragon saliva at Jack.

"Ew!" Jack exclaimed rubbing his cheek furiously. Now it was Hiccup's turn to laugh.

"We should probably get back to the village now. I came out here to bring you back, there is a meeting we would like you to attend." Hiccup mounted toothless and shot back up into the sky, Jack hot on their heels. 

They raced back to the village, curiosity burning in Jack's stomach. He had never been asked to attend a meeting before, especially one that seemed so important from the way Hiccup was talking about it. Before entering the great hall Jack cloaked his wings not wanting to draw anymore attention to himself than there undoubtedly will be.

Hiccup pushed open the ornate doors to reveal a full hall. Upon their entrance they fell silence, Hiccup's mere presence demanding the upmost respect that left Jack in awe. They made their way to the platform at the far end of the hall upon which stood the dragon riders, Valka and Gobber.

"So you finally decided to show up then." Gobber exclaimed giving Hiccup a look.

"Took longer than expected sorry." Hiccup half apologized. He positioned Jack before the table then walked around to take his place at the head of the table. By this point Jack was overcome with anxiety struggling to keep a hand on his powers which thrived of his emotions.

"Jack you have been living among us for a month now. You protected our village despite having no debt to us whatsoever. After a completely unanimous vote, if you should so desire, we welcome you to the Hooligan Tribe."

Jack's jaw dropped to the floor unable to form a simple sentence. Hiccup had to bite his tongue to stop himself laughing, desperately trying to hold onto that stoic facade all chieftains must display.

"Jack." Valka coaxed making Jack shake out of his daze and break out into a beaming smile.

"I- I don't know what to say."

"You could start with yes." Ruffnut punched her twin in the side for his ill-timed joke but it was just the prompt Jack needed.

"Yes. Thank you so much."

"Welcome to the village boy." Eret said slapping Jack on the back in celebration. 

Somewhere in the hall a viking rose a their glass in the air prompting a village wide celebration. Soon everyone was downing pint after pint of ale digging into the delicious food laid out down the tables. Jack had been invited to sit at the chief's table placed between Astrid and Hiccup.

"If this is how all meetings are then I am attending each and everyone." Jack said through a mouthful of chicken.

Of course the cheerfulness didn't last long, when did it ever? Not soon after the feast had begun the doors burst open and two figures stumbled in, bloodied and soaked. Weapons were pointed at them instantly but Jack flew above the crowd, his wings formed a barrier between them and the Berkians. 

Hiccup and the riders stood up studying the strangers. Only to Jack they were not strangers. 

"Jack?" The girl whispered in disbelief, her violet eyes wide. 

"Thiana?" The young girl ran forward and threw herself into his arms weeping at the reunion. The older male standing by her side looked equally moved, joining the hug quickly.

"How did you escape?"

"With much difficulty." Thiana said, her voice layered with pain.

"Jack I have missed you so much." The man said in a thick accent unlike anything the Berkians had ever heard.

"I missed you to Aster."

"Jack who are they?" Hiccup asked appearing from behind once again adopting his chiefly expression.

"Hiccup this is Aster and Thiana. They're like me." Jack said with a smile too overcome with emotion to go into any further detail.

"Are you okay?" Astrid asked gesturing to a particularly nasty gash in Aster's leg. Thiana nodded tiredly leaning all her weight against Jack who held her up effortlessly.

"What happened to you? How did you escape?"

"That's a long story."

"We have time." Hiccup said. 

Glancing around the hall realizing all eyes were on the new comers Hiccup thought it best to direct Jack and his friends to his hut. The village didn't need to know all the details. Following them were Valka, Gobber, Eret and the riders as they were all high members of the council - who just happened to be extremely close to the chief.

Jack sat Thiana down on the bench quickly moving to help Aster down as well. Thiana rest her head against Aster's shoulder clearly struggling to stay awake.

"How did you escape Thia?"

"They lost their leader and their operation fell apart. No one was paying attention to us so we managed to free the cadets and escape. But then-" Thiana couldn't finish her sentence before bursting into tears.

"-they noticed we were gone and sent a fleet after us. North and some of the cadets were captured. We barely escaped with our lives and were separated from the rest of the cadets."

Jack covered his mouth holding back tears of his own. Despite his confusion Hiccup went out of his way to try and comfort Thiana as Aster continued.

"We have been flying for days trying to hunt down the cadets before someone else did. That's when we stumbled across this island."

"Cadets?" Fishlegs questioned.

"I'm sure you know by now that Jack is a dragon-shifter. Well so are we. The younger, inexperienced shifters are called cadets. They earn their titled of shifter after their first successful transformation. Jack here is the youngest shifter for generations."

Jack blushed at the unnecessary mention of his achievement. Hiccup couldn't mask his impressed smile glancing over at Jack who looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

"Who lead the attack?" Jack asked changing the subject completely.

"Pitch." Thiana spat with such ferocity it shocked all but Aster and Jack. In fact Jack's eyes darkened at the name. Hiccup didn't even need to ask for Jack to explain.

"We called him the boogie man. He kidnapped cadets from their families to train as a part of Drago's dragon army. Only when he realized that we couldn't be controlled like the other dragons he left Pitch in charge of us. Since I was Drago's prized possession I never left the fleet, but they did." 

Hiccup winced when Jack referred to himself as a prized possession. That phrase only made his hatred for Drago run deeper. The dragon army scheme was far more complex than Hiccup had ever imagined. This news was even new to Eret who worked for the warlord.

"Well we need to rescue them. All of them." Hiccup concluded. Aster studied Hiccup for a minute as if trying to deduce his true intentions.

"Really? You will help us?" Thiana whispered wiping away her tears.

"Of course. Jack is one of us now, anyone important to him is important to each and every one of us."

Thiana launched herself into Hiccup's arms hugging him tightly. Hiccup stumbled back not expecting that reaction. He glanced at Jack who mouthed a small thank you to which he nodded. A chief protects their own, and that is exactly what Hiccup intends to do.