Hanna looked around, trying to comprehend what had just happened.  She had met Darius.  He knew her name now.  Hanna didn't know wether to feel jubilent or scared.

Hiccup had told her not to go back, and she had promised she wouldn't, but she wanted one last drawing of him, to remember him. 

And now, well, she had to go back.  Darius knew she existed now.  Thor, he had even found her drawing of the two of them.  Hanna didn't even realize she had lost it.

When Stonescale had called for her, she knew she had to leave, and so she ran off.  Darius had followed her, calling her name, until she finally lost him.  She found it so sweet that he cared about her, but at the same time, she almost wished he didn't.  It would've made it easier to avoid that place.

"Stonescale-"

Her Dragon interupted her.  "Hanna, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

The red-head teen buried her face in her dragon's neck as they soared towards the Sanctuary.

➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰

Three days later, Hanna woke with a jolt.  Her dreams had once again been haunted by Darius.  Each time she dreamt about him, the dream would start out amazing.  They would be running together, enjoying sunsets on the beaches, typical romantic things, and then Hiccup's warning would creep into her head.  The dream would turn dark.  Darius would spot Stonescale, draw a sword, and suddenly the entire village would be there.  They would always slaughter her poor Dragon in less than a minute before turning their weapons on her.

Hanna felt tears beginning to slip out from beneath her eyelids.  She slide out of bed and walked to the pile of reeds that was the Hobblegrunt's bed.  It wasn't morning yet; her room was still pitch black.

In the dark, she knelt on his bed and hugged his neck.  Stonescale let out a huff, before slipping back into sleep.  She pulled him closer, trying to banish the picture of his head and long neck separated from his body.

More tears poured out as she sat there, eventually falling asleep to the sound of her dragon's breathing.

➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰

"Hanna?"

The teenager opened her eyes.  Her room was a lot brighter than it was the last time she woke up.

"Are you okay?"  She recognized her brother's voice.

"Oh, uh, yeah," she told him, groggily.  Stonescale shifted beside her.

"Well, it's almost noon.  Aren't you hungry?"

"What?  I guess," Hanna sat up.  Her Dragon raised his head.

"Food?" he asked.

Hanna chuckled.  "Yes, Stonester, food.  Alright, Hiccup, I get it.  I'll come and make breakfast - I mean lunch," She stood up and stretched.

"Good, because I'm starving!" Stonescale exclaimed.

Hanna, Hiccup, and Stonescale walked to the kitchen, where they met Toothless, Blade, Meatlug, Hookfang, and Stormfly.

"Where's Barf and Belch?" Hiccup asked.

"No idea," Hookfang said from his place in the ledge.

"I don't really want to-"

"Waaaahoooooo!"  Something flaming flew past the ledge that led to the Sanctuary.  Hookfang jumped back and screeched at it.

"Hey!"

Hiccup and his sister ran to the ledge just as the flaming ball crashed into the water below.  The King glared at the Zippleback that had just disturbed him.

"That was awesome!" Belch roared.

"Again?"

"What?  No!  Not again!" Hiccup had flown down on Toothless.

"Awww, why not?"

"Because, you're disturbing the other dragons!"

"So?"

"So, you share the Sanctuary with them! You need to be more respectful!"

"And how do you know we're disturbing them?" Barf asked.

Hiccup and Toothless just stared at the Dragon.

"Fine," he finally agreed, "Just take all the fun out of it, why don't you," Belch muttered as they flew back up to the kitchen.

"Oh, gods.  Bud, what did I do to deserve them?"

"Only Thor knows," the Night Fury warbled sympathetically.

They flew back up to the kitchen and Hiccup began to play with his new shield while Hanna cooked a meal.

The shield was made with wood, and then covered in sheets of Gronkle Iron.  Imprinted on it was their insignia in black. 

Hiccup held up his new toy and then pressed a button on the back of it.  The cap in the middle sprang off and a grapple came flying out.  It wrapped around one of the posts of his forge, before beginning to wind back up, pulling him into post.

The gathered dragons and Hanna snickered as he struggled to find the release switch.  Finally, he found it, and the rope slackened.

As he unwraveled himself, Hanna announced that lunch would have to simmer for about an hour.

"Okay, how about we go for a fly?" Hiccup asked, free from the post and his shield back to normal.

"What, in this weather?  It's going to storm!"

"Duh, it's going to storm, the sky's been getting dark for hours!" Belch exclaimed.

Hiccup spoke before the Dragon could start fighting again.  "All the more reason to go for a flight now, before we can't.  C'mon, it'll be fun!"

➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰

The six dragons flew out of the tunnel and into the open sky.  Slaps of cold air met their faces as they flew out over the sea.

"See?  Dark sky."

Hiccup looked up.  The clouds were getting pretty dark, and by the current temperature, it wouldn't just be a storm.  A blizzard was coming.

"Yeah, we should make this flight as short as possible."

"Good idea."

They continued flying, hoping to get all their energy out before the storm hit.

As the wind got stronger, Hanna flew over to her brother.  "Hiccup, what about mom?  She's out with some of the dragons!"

Valka hadn't returned from her exploring trip yet.

"She'll be fine! She's probably already built a camp to wait out the storm!"  Hiccup roared over the wind.

After a few more minutes, snow began to fall, thick and fast.  "Alright, gang," Hiccup called, "Time to start heading back!"

He soared over the dragons and began to fly in what looked like the direction of their home.

"Hiccup!" a roar reached his ears.  He turned and spotted Hanna. 

"Yeah?" 

She pointed into the gloom.  Hiccup squinted and could just about make out the silhouette of a few ships, and one rather large Dragon.

He roared to his companies to follow, before leading the charge to save the poor creature.

As they got closer, Hiccup realized the Dragon was a Stormcutter.  Fear engulfed him as he saw bolas being launched right at it.

"Hiccup?" Hanna cried.

He nodded.  Their mother was in trouble.

"Engage!" He roared over the wind and snow.

The dragons behind him shot down and began to blast the ships.  Hiccup soared down after them, and noticed once again who was attacking his mother.

"Do they ever quit?" he asked Toothless, refering to the Bloody Barbarians as they began to shoot grapples at Valka and Cloudjumper.

The Night Fury shot one of the ships with a plasma blast, before pulling up again.  Hiccup noticed that Hanna was hesitating to engage.  She was still hovering above the ships.

"Hanna!" He roared up at her.  She looked at him, before diving down and joining the fray.

They continued to fight, but the tribe had learned to travel with more than one ship.  Six ships were still activly fighting the dragons and two riders.

Hanna flew over to her brother and roared his name.  He turned.

"That's not mom!" she exclaimed.

Hiccup peered at the massive Dragon through the thick snow.  She was right; this Stormcutter was black and yellow, not orange, brown, and red.

"You're right," he cried back at her, "but it does have a rider."
He was just able to make out a small figure standing on the back of the Stormcutter.

Just as he said that, a net entwined its self around the dragon, and they fell out of the sky into the choppy water.

Hiccup looked back at Stormfly and Meatlug, who were busy attacking the last of the three ships they had decide to take.

"Go help them! We've got this!" Stormfly called.

Hiccup nodded before soaring over to the last two ships.  Barf and Belch and Hookfang had finished off one, and were now working on setting fire to the one that wasn't hauling the Stormcutter onto the deck.

"Alright, bud, let's do what we do!"

Toothless roared in agreement, before they flew into a dive.  They we're soon falling with the snow and wind.

"Toothless, down there!"

"I see it!"

Toothless soared down to the water, picking something up before leveling off and beginning to fly back up to the sky.

"Did you get it?"

"Yup, he's here."

Hiccup looked over the side of his Dragon and saw a young boy dressed in black, clutching a black staff and clinging to Toothless's leg.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked in Norse.

The boy looked at him, and then nodded.

"Okay, we're going to get you up here.  Just stay calm. You ready, bud?"

"Yes," Toothless nodded.  The Night Fury stopped, flung the young boy into the air, and then swooped under him.  The boy landed on the saddle behind Hiccup.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

The boy nodded, then spoke, "Do you speak the language of the dragons?"

"Dragonese?  You speak it too?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah.  And speaking of dragons, mine needs me!"

Hiccup looked to the deck of the ship where the Stormcutter was being restrained.

"Alright, hold on.  Toothless?"

The Night Fury roared before going into a steep dive.  Hiccup could feel the young boy clinging to him, he could imagine this ride was much different than a Stormcutter, but he couldn't dwell on that right now.

"Toothless, NOW!"  Hiccup pat his dragon's scales right above his cheek.  The Night Fury let out a plasma plast, disintegrating a corner of the net.  The Stormcutter roared at the prospect of freedom.  It thrashed around. Searching for the new exit.  It found it, and roared threateningly.  It ripped a bigger hole in the net as the Vikings scattered.

It roared again, now halfway out of the net.  "Lightening!"

Toothless blasted the net again.  "Hookfang!  Barf and Belch!" Hiccup roared. 

"Yes?" They roared back as Hiccup and Toothless landed on the deck.

"Cover us!"  Hiccup leapt off of Toothless, ready to help the Stormcutter, but the young boy was already off.  He ran to the trapped dragon, drawing a duel bladed sword as he approached, and slashed the netting.  The Stormcutter roared, shaking off the remainder of the netting.

The boy used his black staff to climb onto the dragon's back, and they took flight into the storm.  Hiccup and Toothless followed them.

The Monsterous Nightmare and the Zippleback attempted to swoop down for another shot at the last ship, but Hiccup called them off.

"Let them use that ship to get away.  They are no where near land and in this storm they won't survive."

"Ugh, you take all the fun out of this," Barf said as they flew off.

➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰

Seven dragons flew back into the Sanctuary as the storm raged viciously outside.  One of them, a black and yellow Stormcutter, landed unsurely on a rocky ledge.

Hiccup had been able to convince the young boy and his Dragon to come to the Sanctuary with them.  They only agreed when Hiccup pointed out that they would never get anywhere in the storm.

Toothless, Stonescale, and the other dragons landed next to the Stormcutter.  Hiccup and Hanna dismounted and began to introduce themselves and the dragons.

Now that he could see better, Hiccup was able to absorb the boy's details in more accuracy.  He was tall and sleek with black hair and shockingly blue eyes.  He looked about thirteen or fourteen.  He wore all black, and held a sheath on his hip, which held his dual bladed sword.  He was barefoot, and carried a black staff with him that Hiccup guessed was made of Gronkle Iron.

"Welcome to the Sanctuary," Hiccup said as the boy dismounted.  "It is a home to all dragons.  My sister, mother, and I all live here.  This is Hookfang, Barf and Belch, Meatlug," Hiccup began to introduce the dragons, "Stormfly, Stonescale, and Toothless.  I'm Hiccup, and this is my sister, Hanna."

"Wow, this place is amazing.  I'm Lightening, and this is Thomas," he gestured to the Stormcutter.

"Thomas?  What kind of name is Thomas?" Belch said.

"What kind of name is Toothless?" the Stormcutter responded, his red eyes starring at the Zippleback.

"Really, guys?" The Night Fury growled at the two heads.

"It's nice to meet you.  We've never seen or heard of you before.  Where do you live?"

"A secluded island a ways from here. Thomas and I were taking a flight, and got lost.  We wandered around for a few days, and then the storm began to blow in and those ships came out of nowhere.  We were lucky you guys came along."

"You sure were," Stormfly sqwaked, "No one can last long in this storm, especially if you don't know where you are."

"Yeah, I can't thank you enough."

"It's what we're here for."

"We're happy to help."

"So, what kind of Dragon is this?"  Lightening walked towards Toothless, who sat up straighter and held his head high.

"He's a Night Fury."

Thomas raised his head.  "Wait, seriously?"

Hiccup, Hanna, Toothless, Stonescale, and the other dragons all nodded.

"Whoa!  I've heard heard about the species, but I've never actually seen one!  Do they all have tails like that?" Thomas asked, edging closer to Toothless.

"Ahh, no," Hiccup spoke, uncomfortably, "he lost his tailfin when I found him, so I built him a new one.  I control it with my leg," he motioned to his prosthetic.

"That is so cool!" Lightening exclaimed.

"So, what's you're story?" Stonescale asked.

"Story?"

"Yeah! Every lone dragon rider has a story.  What's yours?" Meatlug asked.

"Oh, well, I was born in an island full of Vikings.  When I was three, my village was destroyed, and two days later, Thomas found me and named me Lightening, for my eyes.  He flew me to a deserted island and we grew up there, together.  That's just about it," Lightening finished his story.

"Well, you must be hungry," Hanna spoke, "Follow us.  Lunch is simmering on the stove.  I'm sure we'll have enough to spare."

The two riders and dragons led the new-comers into the tunnel that led to the kitchen.  They disappeared down it, the prospect of a warm meal much more inviting than the storm outside.

➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰

Everyone!  I hope you enjoyed that longer chapter!  My three chapters are completed, and hopefully you will fogive me for waiting so long to update.  If you couldn't tell from the extra two chapters, I am sincerely sorry.

ALSO, many thanks to TheFabulousNightfury for the characters Lightening and Thomas! Be sure to thank them for these awesome characters!

I'll see you all later!

¤Cloverpool¤