I stumbled my way down the stairs, using the vague light of the candle in the living room to guide me. Sighing, I watched as Hiccup frantically scanned over some notes, laid out on a map. I'd gone to bed quite a few hours ago, but he'd never taken a moment to settle down. Something told me he was taking what Eret had said earlier a little more seriously than he had led on.

"All right. All right, come on, give me a clue here. Give me a clue, Dad." I sighed.

"Hiccup?" He turned around for a second, acknowledging me before getting back to his work. "You need to take a break, love." I made my way closer and sat down beside him.

"I'm surprised you didn't tell me to stop and sleep." I shook my head and reached out, running my left fingers through his hair.

"I know there's no stopping you when you have your mind set on something. But you at least need to take a break. Working non-stop like this isn't good for you." He didn't respond, instead bending further over the books and maps, completely ignoring my warning. Boards creaked above us as I sighed. "Babe, I'm serious." He'd completely tuned me out at this point.

Careful not to move anything around, I leaned over and kissed his temple. I saw his eyes briefly flash in my direction, but nothing else changed. So I kissed just beneath where I had before, then his cheek, then a little lower, then just along his jaw.

He let out a sigh—I wasn't sure whether it was frustrated or not—and turned toward me. He dropped his writing utensil and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. My hands rested on the nape of his neck as I kissed him, glad I'd at last finally distracted him. Maybe I could get him to stand and get something to drink...

"What're you doing?" he smirked as he asked his question, leaning his forehead against mine.

"Distracting you." He chuckled before leaning back in again. I let out a content sigh, savoring the rare moment we had together. I loved my daughters, but sometimes it was nice to just get to be with Hiccup.

"Well, you're certainly doing a great job at that."

My heart jumped suddenly as something tapped behind us. Suspicious, I pushed away from Hiccup and placed a finger over his lips, waiting to hear it again. This time, instead, there was the sound of liquid pouring. My head whipped around to see a figure in the darkness, just watching us while he poured himself a drink. Who knows how long they'd been in here, or how they got in. Cautiously, I peeled myself from Hiccup, and the two of us stood, staring down an old man in dark clothes.

"Oh, thank you. I was beginning to think I'd have to physically rip the two of you apart. Young love... Disgusting," he gagged. He had a strong accent, his facial expressions completely unaffected by the fact he'd just broken into someone's house and was now acting like he was a friend. "This is, mmm, quite good." Hiccup yanked his sword from the sheath and ignited it. "That is impressive. But let me finish my drink."

I glanced over in Toothless' direction, making sure he was still safe. Unfortunately, that tipped the person off to his presence, and he whipped out a crossbow, firing a small dart right into Toothless' neck. It started to dawn on me just who he was as Hiccup called back to his dragon.

"Toothless!" Hiccup rushed over to check on him as I stood my ground, prepared to lunge at him should things get out of hand. "What did you do to him?"

"Eh. Nothing he won't sleep off." I straightened up slightly, resting one hand on Hiccup's free arm. The man made his way over to what had been Stoick's chair and sat down in it casually, causing my blood to boil. "May I? Chief Hiccup, hmm? Do I say Chief..." He pretended to hiccup. "Or do I call you Hiccup? What do you prefer?" Neither of us said a word. "You must be Chieftess Reign." Hiccup and I kept our mouths shut, waiting for him to move on. "You two have no idea who I am, do you?" He chuckled. "Well, your father knew of me." Hiccup's face faded into sadness for a moment, before he stiffened again. "Now, there was a chief. One of the greatest dragon hunters to have ever lived. What would he think of you?" He laughed to himself again, as though the death of a great man were so amusing. "He had it right, you know. Making it his mission to destroy the beasts, so that you could grow up in a better world."

"He changed his mind."

"And look where that got him." My fists clenched. How dare he? "So, let's get to the point. I am the Night Fury killer. I've hunted every last one but yours. You are going to give me that dragon, or I will— "

"I will never give him up." He laughed and stood up from the chair, pushing Hiccup's sword aside as though it weren't on fire.

"You wish dragons to live free among us like equals?" He circled the two of us—his prey in this twisted narrative. "A toxic notion, my boy. History has shown that we are the superior species. What if word of your misguided ideas were to spread? It would be the undoing of civilization as we know it." His eyes wandered down to Toothless' tail, and as a suspicious look crossed his face. He kicked it, causing Fishlegs to sit up in his disguise, dazed.

"Did we get him?" he slurred before collapsing back down again.

Hiccup lunged forward, using his sword to remove the crossbow from Grimmel's hand.

"Now!" Astrid, Valka, and Gobber jumped down from the rafters, and Astrid tossed me my sword. I gripped it firmly, staring down the man before us. The twins were safe with Eret once again, and although we had to reveal ourselves earlier than expected, things still didn't look too dire.

"Sorry to barge in." Hiccup suddenly pushed his sword into Grimmel's face.

"You think you can come into my home, sit in my father's chair, and threaten my dragon?" He took another step closer, pushing the flames nearly an inch from Grimmel's face. "This is Berk. And we have defended our way of life from far worse than you." The towering man in front of us smirked, as though some inside joke bounced around in his brain.

"Ooh. A fighting spirit. I love it, only..." His expression suddenly dropped, staring the two of us down with poison eyes. "I'm afraid you are mistaken. You have never seen anything like me."

With those chilling words, he turned around and whistled to the ceiling. A green, smoldering liquid began to drip through the cracks in the boards, causing them to completely come apart and allow two large, snapping dragons to fall down. Their roars were closer to screams as the house lit ablaze, embers and smoke enveloping us. The moment I saw the pieces of wood began to split, I dove toward Hiccup, knocking him to the ground and shielding his body from the falling splinters. My head immediately shot up again, only to see one of those dragons heading right for Astrid.

"Astrid, look out!" I cried.

The dragon revealed a poisoned spike on the end of its tail and brought it down, barely missing her body. Another one opened its mouth and spat out a sickeningly green acid. Valka stuck up her shield to defend Hiccup and I.

"Have my dragon ready when I return, or I will destroy everything you love." A piece of the house's foundation suddenly collapsed, forcing us to run. It was a good thing I'd passed the twins off after dinner.

Outside looked no better, however. Yellow and orange consumed nearly every wooden structure in sight, save for the Great Hall in the distance. People's shouts and commotion rang loud and clear as they scrambled to get to the one place still safe. I felt Hiccup's hand slip into mine, and I gave him an affirming squeeze before looking to the others. Everyone appeared to make it out okay, or at least alive. Fishlegs didn't really seem all that with it, but that was understandable. We all made our way toward the Great Hall, organizing ourselves around the table to call a meeting. I already knew what Hiccup was thinking, and whether I liked it or not, I was going to support him.

A strange sense of security came over me as Eret placed my daughters' sling around my neck, not uttering a word. Those far from the conflicts seemed confused, whispering to each other and complaining about the late hour. Thunder rumbled in the distance, bringing bright flashes of lightning that illuminated each cloud in the night sky. The rain had already begun to douse flames, keeping them from enveloping the entire island.

"All right. All right, everybody. Settle down, please." Conversations died down slightly, but a few confused and protesting whispers managed to slip through. "Fishlegs." The sturdy Viking groaned quietly in response, still out of sorts from the tranquilizer. "Have you ever seen that species of dragon before?" He sat up and attempted to speak, but after a few pathetic whimpers, fell backwards and went right to sleep.

"Let me at him!" Spitelout shouted from the crowd.

"I'll give him a piece of my mind!" another Viking challenged. "And by mind, I mean fists!" A few people around him cheered.

"Did you miss the part where we almost died?" Hiccup scoffed. He seemed shocked at what these people were focusing on, but I'd gotten to know their habits over the years. "Have you seen my house?" People finally fell silent. "This is a new kind of enemy. And I underestimated him. Now that's on me. But I will not do that again." Snotlout slammed his hands down on the table.

"We're Vikings! We don't run from a fight. At least, I don't. You might." He tapped Eret, clearly trying to demean him for some reason.

"I agree with Hiccup." He completely ignored Snotlout's hostility. "We haven't seen the last of Grimmel. He's a predator. Single-minded and patient. He won't stop until he gets what he wants." My eyes flickered over to my husband's form. I hoped, in all of this, he'd remembered what we'd talked about on the cliffs.

"I'm with Eret." Snotlout's chair scraped as he stood, staring at my mother-in-law with awe, as though appalled with the idea she could agree with anyone but him. "We have to take this threat seriously."

"Grimmel is just a sign of the times." I shook my head. "Our enemies are getting smarter, more determined. We're not just overcrowded, we're exposed and vulnerable. Short of full-blown war and risking everyone we love, I don't..." He paused for a moment, as though suddenly realizing the weight of what he'd be proposing. "I don't see how we can stay here."

Uproarious protests overtook the calm words uttered beforehand. People weren't afraid to voice their displeasure, despite the danger they would be in if they chose to continue living here.

"What would Stoick think of this?"

That was enough for me. Hiccup was their chief now, and whether they agreed with his decisions or not, they should at least listen. They certainly shouldn't compare him to his father, not when he had his own doubts. I yanked out my sword with my free arm and stabbed it into the wood of the table, startling everyone into silence.

"Hey! Hear him out!" Hiccup looked at me and offered a small nod of thanks—a gesture I returned with a wink.

"If we want to live in peace with our dragons, we need a better plan."

"So what are you saying, Chief?" The fact that Gobber couldn't see where this was going alarmed me slightly.

"I'm saying we have to disappear, off the map. Take the dragons to a place where no one will find them."

"And where might that be?"

"He's talking about a quest for the Hidden World," I sighed.

"The hidden what?"

"Out to lunch," Ruffnut mocked, spinning her fingers near her head.

"Yeah."

"My father was obsessed with it when I was a boy. He made notes and maps in search of the ancestral home of all dragons, tucked away somewhere beyond the edge of the world. It may be the solution we need." He paused for a moment, his eyes falling over his daughters and myself before addressing the crowd again. "We are dragon people. It's where we belong." Grumbles began to rise again. "Look, I know this is our home. My father left me to protect it. But I have more to protect now than just an island." As he looked at us again, his eyes grew slightly misty. "I have two daughters and a wife I need to make sure are safe. And I trust Reign whole-heartedly to help protect them and herself, but there's only so much I can do when we're under attack by someone far stronger than us. Besides, Berk is more than this place. We are Berk: the people, the dragons. I say Berk is wherever we go."

Silence fell over the room, no one daring to speak up. Hiccup's expression fell as he realized the people likely wouldn't agree with him, in favor of saving their home of seven generations. They weren't used to change, and clearly didn't want it.

"I'm with him!" Tuffnut suddenly shouted. "Who else?"

He certainly didn't receive the rousing agreement he probably expected, but enough people either nodded or mumbled a 'sure' for us to start packing up what little we had left and get going. The dragons were packed up, Hiccup had nearly forced me to ride on Toothless with him, insisting I should be able to sleep, and everyone else had already climbed onto their dragons. I placed one foot in the foothold to boost myself up, then suddenly hesitated and stepped back down.

"Babe? Is everything okay?" I shook my head, pulling my daughters tighter against me. Hiccup jumped down and made his way closer to me, placing his hands on my arms.

"Are they gonna be okay traveling that far?" His eyes flickered down to Alith and Kerrigan, awake but unaware of what was happening. "I mean, we don't even know if what we're looking for exists. I know I supported you back there, but that's because no one else was. I don't know if..." I trailed off, shaking my head.

"Hey, hey, they're going to be just fine," he assured me, leaning forward and resting his forehead on mine. "We're going to keep a very close eye on them, and I'll make sure we try and stop as often as possible so we can take care of them. Okay? I promise you they'll be safe. And once we find the Hidden World, we won't have to do this again." I sighed.

"Fine. Let's get going before Grimmel comes back." I took his hand, and once the four of us were secured on Toothless' back, we led the charge away. My eyes looked back at our home one last time before it became a speck, a piece of my life I'd remember, but never return to.