So I introduce the use of sign language in this chapter, it will be in Bold with no quotation marks around it. Just a note to you guys so you don't have to figure it out once it starts. Now due to how sign language, particularly ASL, works I am writing the English translation instead of the actual meaning of what is being signed. If anybody wants to know more about it, just drop me a PM and I will explain it to you. Warning, this is exposition-heavy so make sure to read it thoroughly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Zahnlos, how long will it take for us to arrive at the Sanctuary?" Hiccup asked once they had left not only the ground but Berk behind as well. Flying low over the trees to avoid being spotted in the light of the rising sun, not that the Vikings would be able to take them down, but Zahnlos didn't want to risk them knowing the direction the pair was going and try to follow them.

"About six hours flying time. I suggest getting some sleep on the way." The response came reverberating through Hiccup's mind. Hiccup nodded as he laid down further on Zahnlos, getting a better grip for the long flight ahead of him. Flying as steady as he could, which for a Night Fury is incredibly smooth and steady, Zahnlos made sure that Hiccup wouldn't fall off once he had fallen asleep. Having been up since early in the morning due to the raid and having been knocked out, Hiccup was drowsy and soon fell asleep. The rhythmic beating of Zahnlos's heart and the heat radiating off the dragon helping him to fall asleep.

"Hiccup, wake up. We are nearing the Sanctuary," Zahnlos said to the boy, gently hitting Hiccup's head with his ear flaps to wake him. Groaning, Hiccup sat up as much as he could without losing his grip on Zahnlos. Since he was laying close to the dragon, the heat radiating of Zahnlos was keeping him warm so when Hiccup sat up the cold air hit him square in the face, fully waking him up.

"I'm up, I'm up. Now, what sort of welcoming party should we be expecting?" Hiccup asked.

"Well considering I am one of the last Night Fury's in existence, I have you with me and they don't know we are coming? I have no idea how we will be received. I'll do my best to protect you, but I need you to not try and bond or talk with any other dragon yet. I'm not sure how your mind with handle the strain." Came the response and Hiccup thought he felt some fear behind the last part, but he wasn't sure so he just brushed it off. Shifting slighting on the dragon's back, Hiccup got a better grip onto Zahnlos in case they needed to make a quick exit once there. After flying for a few more minutes, the Sanctuary soon came into view over the horizon. Both man and dragon were astounded by what they saw; a large bluish-white structure that appeared to be made entirely of ice. As they continued to fly towards the structure, staring at it in awe, Zahnlos noticed a hole in the side that looked like it was an entrance inside the massive structure.

Aiming for the hole, they flew through it, and after a short amount of time, the air started to warm up. It confused the pair as they couldn't see how or why the air was seeming to warm up as they flew past more snow and ice. They didn't have to ponder long as they soon exited the tunnel into the heart of the Sanctuary. Instead of more ice, rock, and a hundred or so dragons as they had thought it would be, there was green grass, vegetation, hundreds of dragons, and what looked like a small iceberg floating in the center. It wasn't till the small iceberg started to move did they realize that it was actually a massive dragon, the largest either had ever seen. Coming to land on a ledge near where the head of the dragon seemed to be, Hiccup slide off Zahnlos's back and stretched out.

"Now who do we have here?" A new voice resonated through Hiccup's head as the eyes of the big dragon fell upon the pair. They just stood there and stared at him incredulously, mouths hanging slightly ajar. "Must I repeat myself?"

"No Majesty, my name is Zahnlos and this is my rider, Hiccup," Zahnlos said to the massive dragon while spreading his wings in a bow.

"Majesty? What do you mean Majesty?" Hiccup asked, causing the giant dragon to stand and look at him with a look of pride and regality.

"What he means, is that I am the King of Dragons. Every nest may have its Queen, but I am the King. Sadly, however, I am one of the last Bewilderbeasts in existence though." Came the response from the Bewilderbeast.

"How can he hear me Zahnlos?" Hiccup asked with a hint of fear, for he thought that his mental link meant he could only talk with Zahnlos and not other dragons unless he had connected with them. Before the Night Fury could answer, the King spoke once again.

"Your fears are unfounded but you are correct, you can communicate him because of your mental link. Any other dragon would not be able to talk with you like this unless a similar link was to be established or you were to open your mind."

"But we never established that link." Hiccup interrupted, at this point extremely confused.

"I do not need one, for you see I am an Alpha Dragon; and as the Alpha, I do not need to establish such a link to be in the mind of any dragon within range of my mind." Came the response.

"Then how are you in my mind?" Hiccup said, freaking out about having the King in his mind and potentially having access to his thoughts and memories. "I am not a dragon!"

"Disregard your fears young one, I mean you no harm and will only be connected long enough to your mind to allow the exchange of speech. I have no interest in anything else." The King said in response to Hiccups unspoken fear. "I can be in your mind because unlike other humans, your mind still has the part that allows you to talk to dragons telepathically. You have the mind and soul of a Dragon, yet the body and heart of a Viking."

"What do you mean? Am I the only person who has this ability?" Hiccup asked the large dragon, now confused about what was just said and how it applied to him. "I can't be the only one like this."

"Yes, you are. All humans are born with a small section of the brain that allows them to bond with dragons, as well as hear Alpha class dragons. Sadly, in most human's brains that portion of the brain for hearing by the time they are one year old due to lack of use. I can only guess that the reason you still have that section of your brain is that you were born deaf. Your brain used neither, but your hearing didn't override as it was used so what I think happened was a reversal. What normally would get overwritten for hearing instead overwrote the part of your brain that would be used for hearing, making you stronger mentally." The King explained. Hiccup understood what was said, but it was still slightly confusing to him. By this time there was a crowd of dragons that had gathered to look at the newcomers.

"Stronger? How exactly am I strong?" Hiccup asked him, unaware of the gathering crowd due to him not be able to hear them.

"Normally a human doesn't have any powers and if they do, it's limited to only being able to hear and maybe feel from one bonded dragon as that's all their mind can handle. You on the other hand; the raw potential that you have is vast, almost as much power as an Alpha and defiantly more than any other dragon I've ever felt, including your bonded who is quite strong as well in his own right." The King explained though Hiccup didn't hear the very last part about Zahnlos being stronger than the normal dragon, as he stopped listening when he heard just how powerful he was.

"So practically, what does that mean? Can I broadcast my mind to other dragons I haven't bonded with?" Hiccup asked slightly in shock as more dragons started landing around them to look at the newcomers.

"No you cannot Little One, I did say raw strength. You have the potential for that and so much more once you have been fully trained, which is what I suspect is the reason you are here." Came the response from the Bewilderbeast as he shifted his gaze to Zahnlos, who nodded in confirmation. It was at that moment that there was a commotion amongst the assembled crowd of dragons. A Stormcutter was bullying its way through the crowd, shoving any dragon that didn't move from in front of it of the way. Of course, Hiccup couldn't hear any of the commotion happening behind him and was thus unaware till Zahnlos looked back at it. Hiccup felt anxiety come through their bond as well as feeling that he should turn around.

Hiccup turned in enough time to see the dragon break through the closest ring of dragons that had surrounded them. He didn't know what type of dragon he was looking at till a name, Stormcutter, seemed to appear in his head; most likely the work of the King Hiccup thought. Hiccup had no idea that so many different dragons had landed around them and was taken by surprise by the crowd, but he was caught even more off guard by the women who slide down off the back of the Stormcutter. She was wearing armor that looked to be made from a mix of leather, discarded dragon scales, and fur. For some reason, he felt like he should know the both of them from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place it.

The woman carefully walked forward, as if she was thinking the same thing and couldn't make up her mind. This set Zahnlos slightly on edge and he scooted even closer to his rider and a low growl escaped his throat. The Stormcutter let out a growl of his own and then they started to talk in their language of growls, hisses, and barks. Hiccup couldn't hear them and he could tell the women couldn't understand them by her looking back at her dragon as if silently asking a question once they finished talking.

"What is it?" Hiccup asked the Night Fury who was standing next to him, keeping his eyes on the pair in front of him.

"The Stormcutter, Cloudjumper, says his rider thinks she knows you. I told him that nobody is coming close to you yet." Zahnlos simply stated.

"You overprotective lizard, both of them look familiar as well but I can't place it. Plus, what's the worst that could happen?" Hiccup tried reasoning with his dragon.

"Fine, but I'm making it known now that I don't like this."

"If she is somebody from my past then she might know some of the sign language that Gobber and I created. I do remember him saying he based our system on an existing sign system that Gothi sometimes used." Hiccup told him, trying to reassure the Night Fury. He saw Zahnlos back down slightly, at least enough that he wasn't being openly aggressive but enough that he could jump in to save his rider in the blink of an eye.

Who are you? Hiccup signed to the lady. He knew that she saw it as her face showed surprise and a bit of confusion as if she was thinking hard about what she just saw, so Hiccup signed again. Who are you?

My name is Valka and you are Hiccup. She signed back at him, though he could tell she was a little rusty by how rough her motions were. Her name sparked something in him, he couldn't remember and it was driving him crazy about why he couldn't remember.

How do you know my name? He signed back at her, confusion quite evident on his face as to how she knew his name.

Because a mother never forgets. Hiccup didn't respond to her statement, how could he? He remembered everything now. How he had been told his mother, Valka, had been taken by a dragon during the same night that the rest of his generation had also been taken. Everyone has assumed she and the rest of the taken children were dead as why wouldn't the dragons eat them?

How? Hiccup asked her. She responded that it didn't matter as she seemed to just break down, starting to talk rapidly as she came rushing towards him to hug her boy. Hiccup sensed movement by his side and he knew it was Zahnlos moving to intercept her.

"Settle down bud, she is my mother." Hiccup told him, causing the dragon to stop advancing on her but he was still on guard as while his rider might know her, he did not. Hiccup understood the reason behind why the Night Fury was being so protective of him, but he didn't know how he knew it. Valka reached him just after Zahnlos backed down and snatched Hiccup up in a tight hug, still talking as if he could understand her. Hiccup hugged her back as he was glad he had found his mother who seemed ecstatic to see him again.

They stayed in the embrace for a few moments before her dragon, Cloudjumper grunted to get the two apart. Valka released her son but stayed near him as she was so excited he had somehow found her.

Is this your dragon? She asked him while gesturing towards Zahnlos. Hiccup nodded in the affirmative and she looked over at Zahnlos. It was then that there was more commotion from the crowd of dragons surrounding them as two men wearing armor similar to Valka's walked through the crowd of dragons, causing them to disperse. Zahnlos was instantly on edge but settled down slightly as Valka gave them a friendly greeting.

"Bud, I'm going to need you to be my ears." Hiccup said to his dragon as Valka and the two newcomers started talking amongst themselves.

"Ok, it seems as if they are reporting on a mission to your mother," Zahnlos said.

*General POV*

"How was the recon mission?" Valka asked the two men in front of her.

"It went well. The Queen didn't seem to notice us as a raid had just returned so she was distracted. She did however eat a Gronkle for no real reason." The one to the left with blue eyes told her.

"After the raid, I didn't see the Night Fury return with the group. He may have been shot down and that is why she is angry. If that's the case, then we should hurry back and hope the Berkians haven't found him yet." The man on the right with brown eyes said to Valka, neither of them noticing Hiccup and Zahnlos.

"I don't think we will have to worry about him." She said with a coy smile.

"Now why is that Valka; and why are you so happy? What do you know that we don't?" The brown-eyed man asked her.

"Because he wasn't shot down. Honestly, if you two would pay a bit more attention you would have noticed who was standing behind me." She said to them with her arms crossed and with a smile on her face as she stepped to the side so they could look past her to see a boy and the Night Fury standing there.

*Normal POV*

"Why are they looking at us?" Hiccup nervously asked.

"Valka just informed them that we are here, I guess they didn't notice earlier when they came in," Zahnlos told him. Valka and the two men started to walk towards the pair and the two men both waved hello to Hiccup, which he waved back. Hiccup could feel the uneasiness coming from Zahnlos but worried that much as he knew if his mother was friendly with them then they must be friendly. Valka introduced the two men to Hiccup and Zahnlos pointing to the larger man on the left before the smaller man on the right, forgetting she had to sign.

"The man on the left is Ivar and the man on the right is Unole." Zahnlos translated Valka for Hiccup. Hiccup smiled and shook their hands. Zahnlos sniffed the air to learn their scent, and smelt something else he hadn't in a long time. Before he could say anything his suspicions were true. Two Night Fury's landed behind the men, except one was white.

"Zahnlos?"

"It's...I...I can't believe it. Not only am I not the last Night Fury, but there is a White Fury as well!" Zahnlos said with happiness and glee obvious in his voice. The three of them started talking as Valka, Ivar, and Unole walked away with Unole bringing a map out of a pouch in his armor.

"The Night Fury's name is Specter and the White Fury's name is Penumbra. Specter is Ivar's dragon and Penumbra is Unole's." Zahnlos said with obvious glee from meeting more of his kind.

"If you want you can go play with them. I'm sure I can find my way around."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now go!" Hiccup confirmed to his dragon, who turned back to the other two Fury's and barked something before they ran off into the Sanctuary. Hiccup stood there for a few moments in silence before collapsing to the ground in a sitting position, letting the events of the past day flood over him.

"Hard day young one?" The King asked him.

"You don't know the half of it," Hiccup responded with sarcasm laced in his response.

"This is true." Came the response. "Now when shall we start your lessons?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holy cow, now who expected there to be so much exposition in one chapter? Oh, I hope this all makes sense to y'all. I tried to keep in line with what had been set up in earlier chapters, but I also needed certain things to happen and be a certain way in this chapter. So some finagling over words and we get this long chapter.

Also, I really don't like parts of this chapter but not much I can do about it so here ya go. I hope it's a bit better than the original at least.

Semper Fi,

Thearizona