It has been 2 months since Hiccup and Toothless have defeated the Red Death and things haven't been the same.

Toothless never left Hiccup's side. Mala arranged for Hiccup to rest in her room and no one dared to question her, 'cause they knew she wanted to keep a close eye on her brother.

Jason was kind enough to make a prophetic leg for Hiccup to walk with for when he woke up.

As for Hiccup, he was still resting for the battle against the Red Death. Mala checked on him from time to time and every time they did, they always knew that Toothless was his brother and Heather seemed to be his friend so it made sense why they were always by his side.

Heather and Toothless even had their meals only to be with Hiccup. The Night Fury refused to eat at first, but after a little convincing from Mala and Heather, Toothless understood Hiccup wouldn't want him to starve himself.

Aside from sleep and meals, the only times she left his side for any length of time were the nights was when she had to meet Savage and report to him. When her first week was up, he demanded to see the boy himself.

"He was badly injured in battle," Heather told him. "He's in a coma in his father's house."

Savage assumed now she was bluffing. "Show him to me," he demanded.

"All right," Heather agreed, "but I suggest you walk quietly." She led him through the dark, quiet streets at midnight and brought him to Mala's house. "He's in here, in the bed against the back wall, on the left," she whispered as she opened the door.

Savage stepped up to the door but stopped dead in his tracks as the doorway was suddenly filled with a huge scaly black head.

Toothless sniffed him once and let out a quiet but deadly-sounding snarl. Savage's eyes went wide, and he turned and ran back to his ship so fast, he could give Speed Stingers a chase.

Heather patted Toothless on the nose. "I guess I forgot to warn him about the Night Fury," she whispered with a shrug and grin. "Silly me."

"I'm beginning to like you." Toothless tells Heather, knowing she can't understand him.

Halfway through the fifth week, she had run upstairs to change her clothes when she heard murmuring. Toothless sounded excited as usual, and suddenly, she heard Hiccup cry out...and Hiccup was sitting up in bed.

For a moment, she was stunned into speechlessness. Then she screamed his name and launched herself at him. She forced herself to not knock him flat he was sure to be even weaker than usual from his long ordeal. He allowed her to fling her arms around him, but he seemed confused.

"Heather, it's nice to see you, too, but...what's all the excitement about?" Hiccup asked, confused with no idea what happened.

She couldn't talk. She couldn't think straight. She was hyperventilating. All she could do was cling to him. At last she regained some of her composure and partially let go of him.

"We were so afraid for you! We didn't think you were coming back!" Heather finally said.

"Come back?" Hiccup wondered. "From where? What's going on? Excuse me a second, I've got an itch like you wouldn't believe." He pulled the covers back...

...and stared. Just stared.

Toothless joined them by the side of the bed. Heather felt like she shouldn't say anything; she let him decide how this scene would play out. She sat on his right, Toothless stood by his left, and together, they let him begin to come to terms with his loss.

He looked at his leg, then at Toothless, then back to the leg, then at her. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. Finally, he asked, "What happened?"

"Sorry, that's my fault. I had to grab you somehow to shield you from the flames." Toothless says and feels ashamed of himself.

"That's okay, bud. I'm not mad at you," Hiccup promised and looked at his brother. "Okay, let's try this new leg then."

Hiccup let go of his dragon and sat up on the bed and stood up with help from Heather. He made a few steps before tripping, but Toothless caught him right on time. Hiccup smiled at him and they both made their way to the door and opens it.

Within minutes, everyone sees him and cheers him on for his bravery and sacrifice he made along with Mala and Throk. They even have been toying with the idea of letting Hiccup and Heather go out and rescue dragons from hunters like this after he was fully rested and healed.

Hiccup soon saddled his brother and they leaped into the air, where he was quickly joined by Heather and Windshear. They raced all over the town and soared high into the clouds, exulting in the freedom of flying and getting used to his new prosthetic.

On the fourth morning after he awoke, Heather helped him unsaddle Toothless and feed him his daily meal.

Suddenly Hiccup caught her by the hand. "Heather, I was talking to my sister last night," he began. "She told me about how you took care of me when I was out of it. I wanted to thank you."

"You're welcome." Heather said, a bit surprised.

"I don't want to embarrass you or anything." Hiccup went on. "I know there are other things you could have been doing, maybe things you'd rather have been doing."

"Like what?" Heather asked.

"Trying to do something to get your parents set free." Hiccup said.

"I...I couldn't do anything about that," she stammered. "All the Outcasts want is you, and you were kind of unavailable."

"I'm available now," he smiled. "Let's get them out of there."

It was well past midnight on Outcast island. Alvin was waiting impatiently at the ramshackle pier when Savage's little ship finally docked.

"No boy?" he demanded.

"No boy, and no girl, either!" Savage snapped back. "She never showed."

Alvin grunted. "I thought she cared more about her parents than that. That shows you even I can be wrong sometimes, eh, Savage?" He slapped the smaller man on the back, which nearly knocked him off his feet. "What do you think? Should we kill them ourselves, set them adrift, or feed them to the dragons?"

"You won't do any of those things!" Came a young-sounding voice from over their heads. The black dragon was hard to see at night, even when it landed right in front of them. "You wanted the boy who trains dragons? Here I am. But I won't work for you unless Heather and her parents go free."

Alvin stared suspiciously at him. "You don't look big enough to train a dog, boy!"

Hiccup slid off the dragon. "Aren't you the one who used to say, 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog'?" He asked, remembering what Heather said would help keep him distracted; bloat his ego. "I can handle dragons well enough. See? I handle this one just fine." He patted Toothless.

"I did say that," Alvin nodded. "Back in the days when dogfights were enough to amuse me. I'm seeing a rigged fight, right here and now. Why are you joining me?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Let's just say my sister and I aren't getting along, and I'd like to try something different with my life. Something with a little less 'yes sir, no sir,' and a little more 'I ride the dragon, so I make the rules'." He quickly lied.

"If you work for us, then Alvin makes the rules," Savage interjected.

"I expect that," Hiccup nodded. "But I have a feeling Alvin can find better uses for dragons than my father could have."

"Can you teach my men to ride dragons?" Alvin demanded.

"Sure, if they're willing to do it my way," Hiccup said casually, hoping Heather is getting her part done. "It's not that hard, once you know what you're doing."

"What are your terms?" Alvin asked through narrowed eyes.

"I want a free hand with the dragons," he answered, counting on his fingers. "Heather and her parents go free. I want to report directly to you – no underlings between me and the big boss. I want an equal share of any plunder we take."

Alvin chuckled in a low, menacing way. "I think I can work with someone like you. But first, you've got to prove that you can keep your promises. I want to see you train a dragon!"

"Deal," Hiccup shrugged.

While they were distracted, Heather flew into where they were keeping her parents with Windshear to get them free while Hiccup keeps them distracted.

She easily found them guarded but Windshear scared the guards off and they opened the door to get them free.

One they were far enough away, Windshear shrieks for Hiccup to hear and he understands that Heather and her parents are safe.

Alvin told Hiccup to demonstrate what he could do.

What he didn't expect was for him to use Toothless against him and taking off.

Heather had her parents back, and they were heading back home where they can be safe.