"The time has come" boomed Stoick, his voice echoing through the village, "to defend what is rightfully ours. The Dracanoviks have been edging closer to our shores, pushing boundaries and stepping the line. They have taken a step too far. Alas, I am old. However, Hiccup, my son, is not. He has grown to be a large part of this community, so as my heir he will lead you to defend our pride and joy, our island."

Hiccup stared at the floor. He was scared. He couldn't deny it. Toothless, his dragon companion stood next to him. His eyes were thin slits and hot breath came out as snorts. Hiccup saw strength in the creature, but new that they both felt the same about the situation

The Dracanoviks were a tribe that had settles a couple of miles south east of the island of Berk. They moved there shortly before Hiccup met Toothless, fifteen years ago. Hiccup was in his twenties, he was at the peak of his physical health, apart from his leg of course. Toothless didn't look like he had aged at all. He was still the same, big eyed, slick black reptile that Hiccup had taken an instant liking to.

The two of them were inseparable. And to most of the island, they were unstoppable.

They were Berk's best hope.

A few hours later, the whole village was assembled by the port. The men were armed and heavy with equipment. The majority of the women were staying behind with children, embracing their husbands, brothers and sons.

Ships were lined across the shore, with hundreds of men in single file leading into each boat after their goodbyes.

Hiccup stood with Toothless. He was on his toes, and peering round heads, desperately searching through the crowd. He was stunned when a flow of blonde hair covered his view and his shoulder was hit with the tackle from Astrid.

"I love you" the woman managed to utter out

"I love you too, you're worrying over nothing! I'll be right back in a couple of hours!" Hiccup said, reassuringly.

"Don't do anything stupid…I will kill you" Astrid replied.

Hiccup laughed nervously. He kissed Astrid's forehead and whispered into her ear.

"Check the cupboard"

Hiccup filed in with the other men onto the boat, leading Toothless on board a ship. He needed his strength and rest, so he thought it best to allow the Night Fury to travel on board before taking to the skies above the Dracanoviks.

Hiccup turned to look up at the cliff. Astrid looked down, her shoulders shaking in sobs.

She disappeared from the mist

After a short while, whispers came down the boat

"Check your weapons, this is it. We're going right up to them and taking their boats!"

Hiccup nodded. He fastened the saddle on his friend, and hopped onto his back

"This is it bud!"

Toothless warbled in agreement, and slowly spread his wings out from the boat.

In a few short sweeps, the duo were in the air. They had a clear view over everything. The advantage was unbelievable. They soared for a few seconds before the ships came into view. They were not dissimilar to the Viking's, except they seemed to contain much smaller men. Hiccup was unsure.

Toothless swooped back down to the friendly boats.

"They have something going on. They're holding their position so we need to attack now. Full pace. We'll cover you."

The Vikings understood

Full speed ahead.

Hiccup adjusted the tail fin of the dragon as he controlled the turns straight for the enemy. They sweeped in a zigzag motion until three screeches burst through the atmosphere.

"And again Toothless!" screamed Hiccup as two boats burst into rolls of flames, one being hit twice.

Another sapphire ball of fire found its way into the mast of the same boat, destroying it completely.

Toothless made a gruff laughing sound as Hiccup patted his neck. They soared in between the two damaged ships, and as they did so, Hiccup turned, almost in slow motion at the two boats.

Men were flapping and drowning in rolls of orange and red, their skin being blackened by the second. Others threw themselves into the water in a desperate attempt to escape the heat.

Hiccups mouth dropped. Not just at the sight of the men being engulfed by fire, but at the sight of a line of boats behind. Hiccup swore under his breath.

"Archers…" he growled.

He heard them assembling. He saw them straining the bows. Toothless screamed a high pitched shriek.

"Up Toothless, up!"

The dragon didn't need to be told. He shot up into the air, the sound of continuous whizzing underneath followed. A sea of brown strips covered the blue of the ocean as Hiccup looked back. Luckily, they were both okay.

"Right. Payback buddy!" The dragon spun in mid-air, turning to face the sea below. The Vikings were nearly at the enemy ships…if they got there in one piece, the battle was thiers. They just needed one final distraction…

"One fireball at one of the archery ships Toothless." Shouted Hiccup

Toothless looked back, confused, but did as he was told. He went like a bullet towards the blue, turning up just before the sea level, and fired a ball of orange towards a boat, knocking it sideways and shooting huge balls of fire into the air. The other ships turned their aim from the Vikings once more.

"Toothless, we just got to keep them occupied for one minute!"

Hiccup glanced at the Vikings, urging them to hurry. As Toothless swooped around the enemy ships, Hiccup became more and more aware of the increasing closeness of the arrows. Hiccup thought of Astrid. Everything slowed down. Over his shoulder, there were twenty something archers, following his every move, arrows, flying through the air. Nobody else has ever caught a Night Fury, Hiccup kept saying…nobody.

The Vikings were meters away.

Hiccup turned on Toothless, to see the spectacle of the annihilation unfurl. A brown blur whizzed whizzed past, opening a tear in his dragon's wing. The screech was deafening. Toothless opened his mouth to shoot fire into every possible space he could, before another blur of brown was stopped in its tracks, the sharp edge poking out of the top of Toothless's blood smeared skull.

"Bastards! Shit!" Hiccup screamed, standing up on Toothless's back, pulling his dagger out, awaiting the contact from the enemy ships as he predicted Toothless's fall.

"I love you…always" a voice murmured "I'll always be here for you Astrid" It was his own voice. A lie.

His stomach felt as though it had imploded. The pain was excruciating. Hiccup looked down to see his tunic smeared in blood. An arrow passed straight through his body. His lifeless friend had fallen away from him, as they plummeted towards the sea. Hiccup was hit again. This time, his right chest transformed into red liquid as it flew away from him, revealing a metal arrowhead instead.

The pain went. His breathing stopped.

"Astri -"

Hiccup's last word was cut short as he hit the cold northern water.