Chapter Text
It’s Fishlegs who suggests it.
“Hey, Hiccup, we should start keeping track of what dragons live on which islands,” he says one day. They’re in the Great Hall for lunch, and Hiccup has just sat down.
He doesn’t think it’s a bad idea, he just doesn’t know what the point is. “What for?” He hopes he doesn’t sound judgmental - just curious.
“Mostly for data - I mean, think about how fascinating it would be to see how the species interact, and to track migration patterns, and-”
Hiccup nods. “That makes sense. How should we do it?”
+++
Now, Hiccup is on Toothless, carrying a bag of paint balls. They’ve split everyone up in groups - Hiccup and Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout, and the twins. (Hiccup’s thought was that putting the twins together would keep the screwing around to one group instead of two.)
Two Nadders perch on a sea stack near him and Toothless, and he throws a paintball at the nearest one, hitting him in the neck. He shrieks in surprise, and both of them fly off.
“Okay,” he calls to Astrid. “These Nadders get tagged yellow. That’s how we know they belong on Sorrow Island.”
“Like this?” She swings her own sack of paint a few times, and when she releases it, it hits the second Nadder, who squawks and flies faster. She looks around for another, and narrows her eyes when she finds a target. Stormfly dives after him, and he gets hit too. “Feel free to join in any time!” Astrid calls back to him, and Hiccup rolls his eyes but takes off after her on Toothless.
She throws a paintball at another Nadder, but they’ve started to catch on, and she swerves out of the way. Astrid huffs, and Hiccup laughs. “How about now?”
Toothless flies under the Nadder until they’re ahead, then flaps up so that they’re right in her path. Hiccup loads another paintball into his shield-crossbow, and when the Nadder rears back he hits her in the stomach.
“Alright,” Astrid says once she and Stormfly catch up. “I have to admit: the shield is pretty cool.”
“Why thank you, I quite like it too!”
Toothless huff’s at him. ‘notfunny, sillydumb-showoff.’
Hiccup lightly kicks his side in retaliation. “Toothless and I should go check on the twins,” he tells Astrid. “They’re supposed to be marking the Crescent Island dragons, but Thor knows what they’re up to.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’ll be going great,” Astrid says, and they both head for Crescent Island.
+++
They arrive to find the twins covered in purple paint and hurling more at each other. He has to duck out of the way of one of Tuffnut’s throws that goes wide.
He slides off of Toothless. “You’re supposed to be tagging the dragons, not each other,” he tells them.
“You know, if you think it through, Hiccup, this is pretty much your fault,” Tuffnut says.
Hiccup can’t argue - he had a feeling that something like this would happen.
“Yeah,” Ruffnut agrees. “You armed us with paint; where did you think that was gonna go?” She looks at Tuff. “And we’re the stupid ones.”
“How many of these do we have to do, anyway?” Tuff asks.
Hiccup shrugs. “As many as we can. The more dragons we tag on each island, the better we can track where they tend to live and where they migrate to.”
“Wow,” Ruff says. “That was…”
“Fascinating?” Hiccup suggests hopelessly.
“What’s the opposite of fascinating?” Tuff asks. “Uh, asking for a friend.”
“Hiccup!” Astrid calls as Stormfly lands nearby. “Isn’t it supposed to be one dragon color per island?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I see two colors down there!” She points, and sure enough, there are two Gronckles - one purple, and one green. “Have we been using the wrong ones?”
Hiccup frowns. “I don’t think so.” He looks at the twins, but they should’ve only gotten one color.
“Don’t look at us,” Tuff says. “If we had green paint, you know where it would be.”
“I better ask Fishlegs - this was his idea.”
“You’re gonna fly all the way back to Berk?” Astrid asks.
“Nope! I don’t have to!” He pulls a piece of paper out of his satchel, which he’s strapped to Toothless for today, and starts writing a note to Fishlegs.
“What’s he talking about?” He hears Ruffnut ask Tuffnut.
“He must have some of that magic paper we’ve been looking for,” he says.
“He always gets the good stuff,” she complains.
Hiccup snorts. “It’s not magic paper. Fishlegs and I have been working on something new.” He holds up a Terror, who’s been sitting happily in the same satchel as the paper. “We call it Air Mail.”
The twins laugh. “Stupid name,” Tuff says.
“Right?” Ruff agrees.
“Do you really think that that Terrible Terror is going to fly straight to Berk?” Astrid asks, leaning forward on Stormfly.
Hiccup nods, typing his message to the Terror’s leg. “Yup. And right to the academy. Terrors are especially territorial, so it’s a natural instinct for them to return to their home from wherever they get released.”
The Terror flies off, biting Ruff and Tuff on his way.
“And how will we know if he makes it?” Astrid asks.
Hiccup climbs onto Toothless. “When Fishlegs and Snotlout meet us at Dragon Island.”
Astrid scoffs, crossing her arms. “If that happens, I’ll kiss Snotlout on the lips.”
Hiccup just smiles.
+++
They get to Dragon Island, and sure enough, Fishlegs, Meatlug, Snotlout, and Hookfang are already there.
Hiccup looks up at Astrid. “Well look who it is! Fishlegs and Snotlout! Both right here on Dragon island.”
Snotlout snores loud enough to wake himself up.
“Astrid was just talking about you,” Hiccup tells him.
Snotlout reclines farther back against the rock he’s sitting against. “Of course she was.”
Hiccup turns back to Astrid and makes a kissy face at her. They both hop off of their dragons.
“Say it, and those will be the last words you ever speak,” she says lowly.
Hiccup raises his hands in surrender, and they turn to talk to Fishlegs.
“Hiccup, I got your message! I knew Air Mail would work! So, what’s the emergency?”
“We saw dragons painted green on Crescent Island,” Hiccup says.
“That’s your emergency?” Snotlout scoffs. “I was in the middle of something very important!”
“You were sound asleep,” Fishlegs says, rolling his eyes.
“Beauty rest! D’you think this,” he gestures at his face. “Just happens?”
They all stare at him for a few seconds. He gestures again. They ignore him.
“Fishlegs, does it make any sense to you that those dragons would be there?”
Fishlegs leads them over to where a map is laid out. “No - they shouldn’t be. Crescent Island is clearly marked as purple.”
“So what were the green dragons doing there?” Astrid asks.
“First of all,” Fishlegs says. “It’s not ‘green’. It’s pistachio.”
Astrid rolls her eyes.
“Second of all, they belong on Tall Tree Island; that’s where I tagged them.” He taps the island farthest West, which is colored in green.
Astrid rolls her eyes again - there’s been a lot of that today. “Yeah, well your ‘pistachio’ dragons aren’t where they’re supposed to be.” She pushes his hand several islands East, to Crescent Island.
Fishlegs frowns. “That’s weird…”
Hiccup nods. “We need to figure this out. Let’s check out Tall Tree Island.”
“Sounds awesome!” Snotlout says, and Hiccup raises an eyebrow. “I was wondering what I was gonna do with the rest of my day.”
It’s not until they’re on their dragons and in the air that he says, “see you back on Berk, suckers!”
There it is.
+++
They fly for a long while, and they still don’t see the island.
“I don’t understand,” Hiccup says. “We should be there by now!”
“Maybe we’re off course,” Astrid suggests.
“I don’t do ‘off course’, Astrid.” Fishlegs unrolls his map. “According to my map it should be right…” He looks around.
There’s nothing but water.
“You were saying?”
“Even if we were off course, we’d still be able to see it from here,” Hiccup says.
“An island can’t just disappear,” Astrid argues.
Fishlegs shrugs. “Earthquake, maybe?”
“Volcano?” Hiccup suggests.
“Wrath of Thor? Wrath of Odin?” Fishlegs says.
Hiccup and Astrid stare blankly, and he flusters.
“What! I’m just throwing out possible explanations!”
“None of that explains this!” Astrid points, and Hiccup looks to see three Monstrous Nightmares flying right at them. They dodge out of the way, and Hiccup looks back to see that they’re-
“Orange?” Astrid says.
“Burnt Apricot, actually.”
“Ugh. What island are they from?”
Hiccup pulls out the color coded map. “According to this, they’re from Sunstone Island.”
Fishlegs sighs dreamily. “Sunstone Island: pristine beaches, a veritable smorgasbord of fine mineral deposits for Meatlug.”
It’s as good a place to go as any. “Sunstone Island it is,” he says.
+++
“Huh,” Fishlegs says. “I thought it was bigger.”
“You think?” Astrid snarks.
The island is currently nothing more than a large rock with a pine tree on it. Meatlug is perched on top of it, and there isn’t room for much else, so Toothless and Stormfly are clinging to each side.
“I have to say, the beaches are a bit of a disappointment,” Hiccup says, clinging to Toothless as he scrabbles for a better hold.
“One island is missing, and one island’s been sunk,” Fishlegs muses.
“I guess an entire island can disappear,” Astrid concedes.
“Well, if the islands are gone, then where do the dragons go?”
“Good question,” Hiccup says. Dragons live in specific islands for specific reasons - if they don’t find a conducive island to live on, then they could endanger their whole species, or another one. “We need to figure out what’s going on. Now. Let’s head back to Dragon Island.”
“If it’s still there,” Astrid mutters.
And with that, they head out.
+++
By the time they get back to Dragon Island, it’s swarmed with dragons.
“Check their colors!” Astrid tells Fishlegs.
“I- I see pistachio… burnt apricot…”
“Look!” She says. “There’s a new one - red.”
“Technically, it’s vermilion.”
Astrid shoots him a glare.
“What! It is!”
Hiccup shakes his head, joining them and pulling out the map. “Look - the dragons that have shown up are from islands that form a line,” he pulls a charcoal stick from his vest and connects the islands on the map - green, red, purple. “There are more islands in danger: Boarhead Island, Thor Rock Island.” He stares at the map, thinking hard.
They can’t just leave this alone and hope for the best - Fishlegs doesn’t have enough data for them to successfully relocate these dragons, and Dragon Island is only so big.
“Toothless, we’re going back out there.”
“I’m coming with you,” Astrid says, running after him to where the dragons are sitting. “This could be dangerous.”
Hiccup throws a leg over Toothless. “What makes you think that?”
“Oh, I don’t know - islands disappearing mysteriously, dragons fleeing in terror? Call it a hunch.”
He wants to refuse, but the look in her eyes and the hands on her hips tell him it would be useless.
‘notalone, helpfriend-good. watchhelpsave,’ Toothless says.
“Fine,” he relents. “Fishlegs, you and Meatlug stay here in case any more dragons show up.”
He nods. “Got it. New dragons. Meatlug and I are on the case!”
Meatlug licks him.
“Let’s just go.”
+++
“Boarhead should be down there!” Hiccup calls to Astrid. There’s nothing - not even a rock with a tree.
“Yeah, well, it isn’t. What do we do now?”
They keep flying.
+++
“Wow. Is this really-?”
“Thor Rock?” Hiccup finishes. “Yup. What’s left of it, at least.”
It’s a ring of rock spires that look like teeth surfacing from the ocean.
“Maybe Fishlegs’s ‘wrath of gods’ theory isn’t so crazy,” Astrid says.
Hiccup disagrees. “Let’s get a closer look.”
Toothless and Stormfly take them down to examine what’s left of the island.
Hiccup peers at the gashes in the dirt, but they’re high enough that it’s hard to see. “These markings look familiar, but something’s off.”
“Off how?”
It hits him. “Off… bigger. Oh gods-”
He’s interrupted by a crashing sound coming from some of the spires, and what remains of Thor Rock Islands start to shake. Big chunks of rock crumble apart, and Toothless and Stormfly move higher up.
“That sounds like-” Astrid starts, but before she can finish, the Screaming Death bursts out of the ground beneath them.
The dragons swerve out of the way, and Hiccup curses. “Someone’s been eating his vegetables!”
He screams - Tuffnut really hit the nail on the head with that name - and Hiccup hunches his shoulders, holding onto Toothless when he paws at his ears. He’d almost forgotten how the sound eats up his spine.
While they’re distracted, the Screaming Death dives back into the ground.
“It must be tunneling through the mountains and causing them to collapse in on themselves!” Hiccup says.
The island keeps shaking.
“But why?” Astrid asks.
Hiccup can only shrug. “No idea. Let’s get a closer look.”
Astrid narrows her eyes, and he narrows his right back.
“You wanted dangerous.”
They have to move to another spot if they want any hope of getting closer without being smashed by wayward boulders, but the Screaming Death has other ideas; he chases after them, and it’s only Astrid’s shouted warning that lets him know how close he is. Toothless whirls around, and they come face to face with the Screaming Death.
He’s bigger than before - almost as big as the Red Death. (And Hiccup never realized before, but they really liked to give dragons names with ‘death’ in them.)
His nostrils look big enough for Hiccup to fit inside them, and his eyes are twice as big - still a bright red that burns right through him.
“Easy, Bud,” he soothes Toothless. “Maybe he wants to be friends.” Even as he says it, he knows it isn’t true.
Sure enough, the Screaming Death growls out a threat, and Hiccup can hear the sound of him gearing up to shoot fire.
“Or maybe not.”
Toothless wheels around just in time to dodge behind a rock spire, which is smashed apart by the Screaming Death seconds later.
Hiccup trusts Toothless to keep them away from the Screaming Death, so he takes a moment to look around for Astrid and Stormfly. He doesn’t see them, so they’ve probably hidden somewhere nearby, because Odin knows that Astrid is too stubborn to take this chance to get the hell out of here.
The Screaming Death continues to chase them through sea stacks, smashing through them as if they aren’t even there. Hiccup hears him roar, looking back to see green paint splattered across his nose and in his eyes.
“I hope you like pistachio!” He hears Astrid yell, and he grins despite himself.
Toothless flies up next to Stormfly, and they watch the Screaming Death shake himself, then scream again. He still hasn’t moved when the screaming stops, so Toothless and Stormfly both send shots at him, and he flies off.
“How’s that for accuracy?” Astrid says, but Hiccup only smiles for a moment.
This is worse than he thought.
+++
Fishlegs comes running up to them as soon as they land on Dragon Island. “Periwinkle blue! There are periwinkle blue marked dragons here now!”
Hiccup nods. “We know. Boarhead Island.”
“And look! There’s eggshell white!” He sounds like he’s about to have a breakdown.
“Yup,” Astrid says. “From Thor Rock Island.”
“What happened to them?”
Hiccup unrolls the map once again and a charcoal stick with it. “The same thing that happened to the other islands.” He puts an X through the next island in the line. “The Screaming Death.”
Fishlegs gapes. “The Screaming Death is back?”
Hiccup shakes his head. “I don’t think it ever really left.”
“It just got bigger,” Astrid says. “And nastier.”
“Um, how much bigger?”
“Chomp chomp, there goes your island, bigger.” Astrid says.
Hiccup doesn’t look up from the map. He continues the line from before through the newly-destroyed islands. “It’s just like I thought - the Screaming Death is following an imaginary line, and it’s destroying anything in its path.” He draws the line farther.
Fishlegs leans in to get a better look. “It’s coming right at us,” he realizes.
“That’s not even the worst part.” He continues the line to the edge of the map - right to Berk.
“It’s headed straight to Berk.” Astrid’s eyes widen.
Fishlegs clutches at his helmet. “We have to go and warn Stoick! We have to- we should-”
“No,” Hiccup says. “We have to head it off. Make our stand here. There’s no other land between here and Berk! If it gets to our village…”
“Look, I’m all about danger,” Astrid says. “But did you see the size of that thing?”
“It won’t just be us, I’ll send for reinforcements.” He jogs over to Toothless for some paper and the Terrible Terror.
“Snotlout and the twins? Oh, I feel so much better!”
Hiccup deflates. “Look. I know this is a lot to ask. If you and Fishlegs want to head to Berk so that you can warn everyone and set up defenses, I understand, but I can’t just wait for the Screaming Death to come and destroy Berk. Besides,” he sends a half-smile toward Astrid. “Toothless and I defeated the Red Death - how hard can this one be?”
Astrid sighs. “Well, when you put it like that, if I leave you’ll probably lose another limb. I know you were Gobber’s apprentice, but I don’t think that you two need to have that much in common.”
Hiccup laughs. “Thanks.”
He scribbles a quick note, ties it to the Terror, and sends him on his way.
It’ll be okay.
+++
“Hiccup!” Fishlegs calls. “The yellow-marked dragons from Sorrow Island just started showing up!”
“Which means the Screaming Death is only one island away,” Astrid adds, pointing at the map. She doesn’t need to - Hiccup will be seeing those islands in his sleep for days after how much he’s stared at them.
“I haven’t seen the others, so as of now, help isn’t coming,” Hiccup says. “We’ll have to set up defenses with what we have here.”
“Maybe we should fall back and head for home,” Astrid suggests.
“We can’t. If the Screaming Death destroys Dragon Island, then all of these dragons will overwhelm Berk.”
“And the Screaming Death won’t be far behind,” Fishlegs says.
“Okay. How long do we have until it gets here, then?” Astrid asks.
Hiccup looks at Fishlegs, who shrugs. “I don’t know. I mean, it can’t be long - Sorrow Island isn’t that far away, and if the yellow dragons are already here…” He says.
In the distance, they hear the Screaming Death roaring.
Hiccup squares his shoulders. “Definitely not long, then. Okay, here’s the plan - Toothless and I will try to distract the Screaming Death, and that’ll buy you two some time to set up some kind of defense until Snotlout and the twins get here.” He scoops up his shield, and Toothless trots over to him.
“I’m going with you!” Astrid says.
“No, I need you and Fishlegs to stay here. Help each other make a plan. There’s gotta be something I’m not thinking of. You’re a safety net, in case Toothless and I can’t keep the Screaming Death busy.”
Astrid grips her axe, seething. “So you’re leaving me here by myself?”
Fishlegs clears his throat. “Hello? Man on dragon here, right behind you!”
Astrid huffs. “You know what I meant, Fishlegs.” She sounds sorry, though.
“I do! And I’d like to go on record saying that we don’t appreciate it, do we girl?”
Meatlug snorts her agreement.
Astrid seems to realize that she won’t change Hiccup’s mind. “Ugh. Just go.”
“We’ll be fine,” Hiccup assures her. He doesn’t really believe it.
+++
He can see the Screaming Death almost as soon as they get up in the air, and he’s getting closer fast.
“Alright, Toothless,” Hiccup says. “Any ideas?”
Toothless turns his head enough to glare at him. You brought me up here without a plan?
“I mean, my plan was mostly hit and run, but if you want to go with that…”
‘stupiddumb-TwoLegs. reckless-dumbidiot,’ Toothless grumbles.
“I resent that,” Hiccup says, even as Toothless flies them straight at the Screaming Death. “Hit and run it is.”
So that’s exactly what they do - they blast at the Screaming Death, then fly far enough out of range for his screams to not hurt as bad, then they fly back in again.
“Maybe he’ll fall for the shiny shield again?” Hiccup suggests.
Toothless doesn’t respond.
“Really? The silent treatment? You’re ridiculous.”
Nothing.
“Fine, you big baby. I’m still gonna try it.”
Toothless huffs, and Hiccup laughs and aims his shield’s reflection into the Screaming Death’s eyes.
It certainly seems to work - he blasts fire at them, and he chases them away from dragon island. But after a few moments, he stops and looks back, turning to make a beeline for Dragon Island.
“Okay, not so much.”
Toothless chases after him, and they fly right up alongside the Screaming Death’s head.
“Okay, so you don’t like shiny stuff anymore,” Hiccup yells at him. “You have to have some sort of weakness!”
‘not-stupiddumb. not-TwoLegs. hidesecret weaksoft.’ Toothless lectures.
“Well what else should I do, O Wise One?”
‘watchlook. learncopy-see.’
Toothless pulls ahead, turning to fire straight into the Screaming Death’s mouth.
He stops and falls a few meters, coughing smoke, and Hiccup’s about to be really impressed, but then he shoots fire at them.
“See, Smart Guy? It’s not that easy!”
Toothless whacks him with an ear flap.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, I need to focus.” The problem is, Hiccup doesn’t think that they can do much. The Screaming Death is just like the Flightmare - he has one goal in mind, and anything between him and that goal is in the way and needs to be destroyed. The Screaming Death wants Berk, and unless Hiccup can pose a serious threat to his safety, he won’t stop until he gets there.
They go back to their hit and run strategy - Hiccup keeps track of the Screaming Death, calling out warnings when necessary, and Toothless finds openings to shoot plasma blasts. But they aren’t even making a dent - he just seems annoyed.
Astrid and Stormfly choose that moment to join in. Then, behind her, are Fishlegs and Meatlug.
“Turn around, you overgrown earthworm!” Astrid yells while Stormfly blasts at the Screaming Death.
The twins and Snotlout are nowhere to be seen.
He’s about to yell at them - they were supposed to stay on the island, where Hiccup could at least pretend that they were safe - but behind Fishlegs are dozens of Gronckles.
“Oh my gods…” Hiccup breathes. He can’t believe he didn’t think of this.
“Meatlug, spew!” Fishlegs yells, and Meatlug does. The rest of the Gronckles follow suit, all of them shooting magma at the Screaming Death, who wilts under the assault. He tries to escape, but the Gronckles seem to be everywhere. When the aren’t shooting magma, they’re swooping in with their tails to smack the Screaming Death.
“It’s like Gronckle-fest out here! How’d he do that?” Astrid asks.
Hiccup can’t wipe the grin off of his face. “Gronckles are territorial too - they’ll defend their homes at any cost. GREAT IDEA, FISHLEGS!”
“I know, right!”
“How’s that for stupid humans,” Hiccup mutters at Toothless.
He huffs, but Hiccup can tell he’s amused.
The Screaming Death retreats - which would be a good thing if they weren’t close enough to Dragon Island for the retreat to be underground.
“Uh oh,” Hiccup says as the island starts to shake. “Astrid! Fishlegs! Gather as many wild dragons as you can! Toothless, ready to play chase?”
In answer, Toothless dives into the tunnel the Screaming Death made. He hears rocks crashing behind them, but he can’t see a thing until the tunnel opens up into an underground cavern. There’s water at the bottom, and it’s rising.
He’s trying to sink the island.
Hiccup doesn’t have more than a second to process that, because they’ve found the Screaming Death.
Toothless does a 180 when he shoots flames at them, going back up the tunnel. He uses his flightsoundreturn to navigate, and Hiccup tries not to scream when they do a quick turn that he doesn’t remember from the way down. He can’t stop a flinch when he hears a thud from behind them - probably the Screaming Death hitting whatever wall Toothless avoided. They resurface in time to see Snotlout and the twins arrive on Hookfang and Barf and Belch.
“We got your message,” Tuff says with gravitas.
“Well, one of us did,” Snotlout says.
The Screaming Death flies up out of the ground.
“Whoah,” Snotlout says. “Did that thing get bigger?”
“Yeah!” Tuff says. “And awesomer!”
The two dragons blast the Screaming death, one after the other, and then Stormfly comes flying in with a dozen Nadders behind her.
“Alright dragons! Let’s get territorial!” Astrid shouts. Which - not her best battle cry, but she is under a lot of stress right now, so he’ll cut her some slack.
They shoot spines and fire at the Screaming Death, forcing him up away from the ground. Meatlug dives back in with the Gronckles to whack him some more, and it really feels like things are turning around. Barf and Belch join in, and under the constant barrage of attacks, the Screaming Death flies away.
This, of course, is when things go crashing down around them. Literally. Dragon island starts to sink, water rising up from the tunnels that the Screaming Death made.
Fishlegs comes along to save the day yet again. “Lava blast!” He says excitedly, urging Meatlug over to one of the holes. She starts spewing magma into it, and the rest of the Gronckles catch on quickly, five or so circling each hole, filling them up.
Hiccup holds his breath as the sinking slows and, eventually, stops.
“Fishlegs, Meatlug - that was amazing!” He says.
“Aw, come on, you’re making us blush,” Fishlegs says, falling forward to hug Meatlug.
+++
Back at Berk, Hiccup scours Bork’s notes - and everything else he can find - for mentions of the Screaming Death. He’s frustrated with himself for not doing it earlier, but so much has been going on, and he just thought they had more time.
He won’t make that mistake again.
Everyone’s at the academy, joking and laughing, but Hiccup’s still reading and rereading the one scroll he could find.
“Everybody saw how that Screaming Death turned tail and ran as soon as Hookfang and I showed up, right?” Snotlout’s saying.
“Uh huh. And all those wild dragons had nothing to do with it,” Astrid deadpans.
“Cor-rect!”
“As long as we never have to see the Screaming Death again.” Fishlegs shudders. “It’s giving Meatlug gas.”
Astrid makes a face. “Hey, Hiccup! Did you find anything else about the Screaming Death?”
Hiccup nods, fidgeting with the scroll. “The good news is they only hatch one every hundred years or so.” So I won’t have to deal with the next one.
“That’s the good news?” Astrid asks.
Snotlout sits up from where he’s lounging against Hookfang. “What’s the bad news?”
“Let me guess!” Tuffnut says. “What’s it gonna be? The end of the world?”
He’s clearly joking, but he isn’t far off. “Close. The bad news is it’s still out there, and eventually it’ll come back to Berk.”
Dragons like that one don’t just disappear - but they’ll be ready for it when it shows back up.