Well the creative juices wouldn't stop flowing this week, so here's Chapter 11
...
It was yet another cloudy day the following morning. Both Hiccup and Draven woke up in their homes bright and relaxed, yet at the same time knew that their troubles weren't over. Even with the threat of the northern waters Wraith now gone, the problem of the war was still their biggest concern, especially with all the attention Hiccup had drawn to herself during dragon training.
Violet was still sound asleep when Draven left the cottage with his hood and mask on and made his way to the village. He knew that with Stoick back, and Hiccup so close to achieving the final exam in the arena that he had to come up with something.
Making his way to the village was also a risk for him due to the fight the previous day. Him being so lost in both his memory of when the Wraith infected him as well as his burning hatred towards the now deceased fear dragon led to his subconscious probably giving away his secret. It was a risk he had to take.
When he reached the village, he acted casual and tried to stroll through as if he knew nothing. He received a few greetings from some of the villagers as he passed them which was at least comforting to him that they might not know.
Reaching the plaza, he saw a large blackened burn mark on the ground made by when the Wraith had dissolved. Soon after he saw Gobber emerge from the forge heading towards arena. Looking around the village, Draven saw most people were headed that way.
"Morning Hood. Came to see Hiccup in training today?" Gobber cheerfully asked him. Gobber's tone of voice was enough of a reassurance that his cover was still intact. That and the fact that Gobber didn't know he could revert back and forth between his two forms and while in human form, kept his left hand ungloved. Also coupled with how even his voice got deeper and rougher whenever he changed.
"Uh, yeah. What happened here? I heard screams and explosions all the way from my home yesterday afternoon." Draven asked Gobber, trying to sound as curious as possible as not to blow his cover.
Looking to the burn mark, Gobber answered "The Wraith that we see every raid fought and killed a bigger Wraith that was last here five years ago. Iv'e never seen anyone fight with that kind of rage before."
Seeing the surrounding damage from the fight, Draven commented "Must have been a hell of a fight." Looking at the damage as well, Gobber replied "Aye. Though after yesterday, I'm not sure what to think of the smaller Wraith anymore."
With that, Draven left the plaza and slowly made his way towards the arena looking for Hiccup along the way. About half way there, it wasn't he who found her , but she who found him. As he passed one of the homes, an arm reached out of an ally way and pulled him in.
Looking to who it was, he immediately saw those two emerald eyes of the one he loved. "Hiccup?!" he said as he noticed her nervous form. Hiccup didn't answer as she let go of him and paced back and forth in the shadows.
She eventually broke the silence. "Draven. I've been up half the night trying to think on my options now that my father is back. Maybe I shouldn't have progressed so far in dragon training but I wasn't thinking this far ahead."
Checking over his shoulder to make sure nobody would see them, Draven stepped closer and replied "Well to be fair, it's my fault as well, but that's why we live with the consequences of our choices. Just look at me in my quest to be better looking." Draven said, referring to the veins on the right side of his neck, his red eyes and the scar on the left side of his face.
Hiccup snickered slightly at how Draven always seemed to find a joke on a serious situation. Quickly returning to her serious side, she paced again while she thought aloud. "I can't simply forfeit without good reason and I have none. Injury won't help, my dad will just postpone the training until I get better. Basically whatever I do, my dad won't allow me to drop out."
After a moment of silence, Draven unhesitatingly said to Hiccup "Throw the match."
Hiccup looked back to Draven with a blank expression. Draven said again "Throw the match. Be present but don't try incapacitate the dragons. Just avoid them and let Andor get his glory."
Hiccup stared at the ground for a moment before replied "Okay. But what if something happens and that doesn't work."
Draven then paced for a moment until he let out a heavy sigh and answered "Honestly, I don't know. I'm fast running out of ideas with these people but most especially with Stoick." After another moment of silence, Hiccup willingly suggested "Then we leave."
Turning to face Hiccup again, Hiccup could tell Draven had wide eyes and raised eyebrows under his mask.
Stepping closer to him so they were mere inches apart, Hiccup said again "We leave. Tonight we ride out on our dragons and we find a new home far away from here." Placing her hands on the sides of his face inside his hood, she continued "Let's leave with each other. Together we can find a way to end the war."
"Hiccup." Draven said with a soft, tender whisper as he placed his hands over hers. She had changed so much over the past few days that it astounded him. She was no longer that fragile tentative girl from the previous week. "Okay." he acknowledged. With that, the duo made their way to the arena.
...
Nearly a third of the village was gathered at the arena to watch the last match before the finals. They along with Stoick and Gothi who were standing above the main entrance watched the two finalists, Hiccup and Andor eagerly. It was them verses the Gronckle again with several sets of cover scattered around the arena.
Draven also watched eagerly from the opposite said of the ring to Stoick. He kept to the shadows to remain discrete.
"Stay out of my way! I'm winning this thing." Andor coldly said to Hiccup as the Gronckle came out of her pen. With Hiccup doing to well in the ring and doing better than he was, his crush on her was turning into a loathing. How she always made him, the most talented fighter of the teenagers' look like a fool didn't seem at all possible to him.
"Good. Please, by all means." Hiccup plainly replied to the blonde viking with a gesture to the dragon.
The Gronckle was flying about aimlessly as she circled the arena. Hiccup was staying close to the edge ready to hide behind cover if she had to. Andor however was rolling in and out of cover to try and get close to the Gronckle so he could take her down
"You got it Andor!" some vikings cheered to the boy as he slowly got closer to the boulder dragon.
Rolling behind one of the last pieces of cover, he planned to make his move. "This time! This time, for sure!"
However as fate would have it, the Gronckle spotted Hiccup on the side of the ring. The girl with the dragon-nip. With a wide smile of joy, the Gronckle flew over to Hiccup as fast as she could, knowing the teenage viking girl was not a threat.
Meanwhile back on the other side of the arena, Andor was ready to strike. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" he cried as he ran to the dragon with axe in hand, jumping over cover that was in his way.
However when he got close enough, he saw it was all already over. The dragon was lying on her side with her leg twitching in the air, almost like a passive playful dog. The fight was over and the dragon rolled over by herself because of Hiccup, who's curled up position seemingly went unnoticed by everyone.
"NO! NO! SON OF HALF-TROLL, RAT-EATING MUNGE BUCKET!" Andor cursed as he violently swung his axe from side to side. How could she have beat him again? How could Hiccup, the runt of the group, be better at dragon training then him? It just did not seem at all plausible.
Draven too was less than pleased. "Oh for fuck sake!" he quietly cursed to himself when he saw the Gronckle roll over. Turning away from the ring, he made his way back to his home in the woods to get his things.
"Wait! Wait!" Stoick said with arms raised to quieten down the cheering crowds.
"So, later." Hiccup muttered as she tried to sneak away, but was caught by Gobber who was walking over to she and Andor. "Not so fast." the smith said as he picked her up by the back of her shirt to put her next to Andor.
"I'm kinda late for-" Hiccup pleaded and protested to get away from the ring, but as Gobber put her down, she was interrupted by Andor who was holding his axe up to her throat. "What?! Late for what, exactly?!" the blonde teenager scolded the other.
Seeing where Andor's axe was, Stoick quickly intervened. "ANDOR! Calm yourself!" Stoick ordered.
"Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided." Stoick spoke again as the crowd awaited the decision of Gothi.
Gobber raised his one hand over Andor, to which Gothi frowned and shook her head. Gobber then raised his other hand over Hiccup, where Gothi smiled, pointed and gave an encouraging nod.
The mere sight made Hiccup cringe, made worse by everyone beginning to cheer. "You've done it! You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber bellowed in excitement.
"Ha, ha! That's my girl!" Stoick cheered.
Hiccup was lifted up in the air by the other teens who carried her out the ring, cheering her name as they marched.
"Heh. Oh, yeah! Yes! I can't wait. I am so...
...
... LEAVING!"
Hiccup could still barely believe what she saw. No matter what, she couldn't throw the match no matter how much she wanted to. If that wasn't bad enough, trying to slip away from the village was even more difficult.
They had taken her to the great hall where everyone was celebrating the victor who would have the opportunity to kill the Monstrous Nightmare.
Sneaking away from the celebration alone was also an almost insurmountable task. She even had to use one of the submission moves Draven taught her to cripple Snotlout when he grabbed her shoulder trying to flirt with her in order to get away from him.
Making her way further into the cove, she called out to Toothless. "We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation, forever."
Placing her basket on the ground to double check if she had everything she needed, she spotted something out the corner of her eye.
Looking up, she saw a well built blonde Viking boy sharpening his axe as he sat on a boulder. "Aggh! What the- What are you doing here Andor?" Hiccup said in surprise and panic.
"I want to know what's going on." Andor dryly said as he got off the rock and began walking towards Hiccup. Out of common reaction, Hiccup slowly backed away.
"No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?" Andor said in a hostile interrogating tone.
"Uh... training?" Hiccup stuttered.
"Is it that 'Hood' guy?!" Andor asked, saying Hood's name as if it were something evil or forbidden.
"Uh...Um...Uh." Hiccup continually stuttered. She just couldn't think of a good excuse quick enough to answer Andor's questions.
"Is it something to do with this?!" Andor questioned, tugging on Hiccup's riding harness
"I know this looks really bad, but you see...this is, uh..." Hiccup stuttered out, waving her arms in the air.
Grabbing one of her wrists tightly, Andor pulled Hiccup back towards him to stop her from backing away. Seeing that between her outfit and the basket full of supplies, Andor began to wonder. "Are you going somewhere Hiccup?" he asked.
Hiccup kept trying to pull her hand back which was now beginning to sting from how tight Andor's grip was. "Andor please let go of me!" she pleaded.
"You're abandoning your village?" he asked again, tugger her closer to him.
"Andor let go of me!" Hiccup pleaded again but this time she was raising her voice.
The idea of her leaving began to stir his emotions for her again he couldn't allow that. "You could have just asked for help Hiccup! You could have just asked me!" Andor firmly said with frustration on his voice.
At this point, Hiccup realised Andor wouldn't let go by himself. Using one of the moves Draven taught her, she grabbed Andor's hand with her free one and twisted his arm whilst sidestepping. Andor was forced to let go and stumbled but was able to keep his footing.
"Oh sure, like you were always there for me or helped me when I needed it!" Hiccup sarcastically scolded to the blonde viking.
Toothless began to hear the commotion. He could hear Hiccup arguing with a male, and heard that the make voice didn't belong to Draven. Coming out of the rocks where he was resting, he spotted Hiccup arguing with someone that clearly had a hostile demeanor about him. Growling loudly, he began stalking the male who was threatening his rider and friend.
Hiccup and Andor heard the growl as well as a twig snap. "Oh man." Hiccup whispered to herself as she grew more nervous with every passing second. Andor stepped around her despite her efforts to stop him and that's when he spotted a large black winged shadowy figure. It was a dragon.
"Get down!" Andor said as he tackled Hiccup to the ground. Getting back up, he raised his axe as he watched a Night Fury roar out and run towards them. "RUN! RUN!" He yelled to Hiccup.
As Toothless leapt in the air to attack Andor, Hiccup stepped in the way and grabbed Andor's axe before he could attack. In one swift motion, she pulled it from his hand and tossed it aside.
"No. It's okay! It's okay... he's a friend. It's okay." Hiccup said as she tried to calm Toothless down, whispering gently to him and stroking his snout.
Andor tried to crawl towards his axe but as he was about to place his hand on the handle, a sword came down and pegged on the ground in front of him, preventing him from getting his axe. Slowly looking up, his eyes saw that not only was Hood standing over him, but Hood had the sword the Wraith used as well as his right hand and forearm being exposed. It was Wraith-like. Beside him was the Skrill.
Shaking his head as well as his finger, Draven pulled his blade out the ground and used it to push the axe further away from Andor.
Andor staggered up and backed away slightly. He was completely redefining the idea of confused. Hiccup was calming a Night Fury, and Hood had the Wraith's weapon and right arm. He was the Wraith.
"You just scared him." Hiccup reassured Andor as Toothless calmed.
"I scared him?! Who is "him"?" Andor questioned, staring back and forty at the Night Fury and Hood with the Skrill.
Gesturing to her group, Hiccup answered "Andor, Toothless, Violet and Draven. Toothless and Violet, Andor."
Did Andor hear that right? DRAVEN? Draven was dead, this couldn't be him. Not saying a word, he slowly backed away before turning and running for the path out of the cove.
"Da, da, da! We're dead." Hiccup muttered as she rolled her eyes. Turning to Toothless, she saw him walking the other direction. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you're going?!"
...
Running as fast as he could, Andor tried to get back to the village to tell everyone about Hiccup's little secret. About how she was friends with the Wraith and a Night Fury.
While running, there was a log in his path. He tried to leap over it but his feet never found the ground as he felt a large scaly paw grab his arm. "Oh, Great Odin's ghost! Oh, this is it!" Andor screamed in terror as he went higher and higher above the treeline. Looking up, he saw he was in the clutches of the Night Fury.
"Boy's got some lungs on him doesn't he?" Violet said to her rider as the two watched from one of the trees.
After grabbing Andor, Hiccup doubled back to the cove, where Toothless dropped Andor on the top branch of a large tree. To make sure he couldn't simply climb down to get away, Toothless landed on the tree as well, causing it to bend over the cove for a forty meter drop.
Andor tried to gain his bearings as he clung to the branch and noticed the Skrill perched on an adjacent tree with a black cloaked, white haired person on its back. It truly was Draven.
Seeing Andor's eyes go as wide as they did, Draven simply said to him "Oh don't look so surprised Andor. I was resilient at age 11 when I took on the Wraith and I'm still resilient today at age 16. It takes more than a Wraith to kill me."
Andor turned his attention back to Hiccup and fearfully shouted to her "Hiccup, get me down from here!"
"You have to give me a chance to explain." Hiccup calmly asked him. She had to try and convince Andor that dragons were not the enemy.
"I am not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!" Andor snapped back.
"Then I won't speak. Just let me show you." Hiccup calmly said as she offered her hand out. "Please, Andor."
Seeing no other alternative, Andor pulled himself up the branches and climbed onto Toothless with Hiccup. A sight Draven didn't exactly enjoy very much.
"Now, get me down." the blonde viking said tentatively.
"Toothless, down. Gently." Hiccup said to her dragon with a tap on his side.
Slowly, Toothless extended his wings, catching the air and allowing the tree to return to its vertical shape.
"See? Nothing to be afraid of." Hiccup said to Andor over her shoulder.
Meanwhile, Toothless' eyes turned left towards Draven and Violet. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Toothless devilishly said to the Skrill and Wraith. "What you asking me for? I would have done it already." Draven replied.
Hiccup heard him speaking in dragonese and wondered what he and Toothless were saying. "We'd like to apologise in advance for this." Draven stated to his female rider companion.
"For what?" Hiccup hesitantly asked.
Barely half a second later, Toothless shot into the air like a missile with Draven and Violet close behind. "WHOA! TOOTHLESS! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! BAD DRAGON!" Hiccup pleaded to Toothless to calm down. Andor meanwhile was screaming his lungs out in sheer terror and was barely holding on.
Toothless eventually leveled out and allowed Andor to try adjust himself so he wouldn't fall off. "He's not usually like this. Oh, no..." Hiccup said as Toothless went into a steep nosedive.
The Night Fairy reached ocean level in seconds, and repeatedly flew into the waves to try and soak Andor, but also soaked Hiccup as well.
"Toothless, what are you doing?! We need him to like us!" Hiccup pleaded for her dragon to stop. "Not until he apologises." Toothless replied as he pulled up again sharply and started spinning while he ascended.
What made it worse for Hiccup was that Draven was simply following behind on Violet and did absolutely nothing but follow. To be more precise, he wasn't making any attempt to help Hiccup. He was however helping Toothless to scare the hell out of Andor. "And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptiles." Hiccup whined out at how her three dragon friends were only making their situation worse.
Reaching altitude again, Toothless went into yet another dive. This time, Violet pulled along side Toothless as he was falling for Draven to get Andor's attention. "Hey, Andor! Look, no hands! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" the hybrid screamed out mockingly as he let go of his saddle, only staying seated by his belt.
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Hiccup screamed out in annoyance to Draven. Then again, it actually didn't come as a surprise to her based on how well she knew him behave. "I KNOW! AAAAAHHHHH!" Draven jokingly continued.
Andor couldn't handle it. He was clinging to Hiccup out of fear and was afraid for his life. "Okay! I am sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!" he begged with his eyes shut.
"That was all I needed to hear." Toothless said as he opened his wings and leveled out. As if flicking a switch, the ride went from utterly terrifying, to calm and stable.
With his breathing slowing down, Andor slowly opened his eyes again to be exposed to the awe inspiring world of the sky. Gaining his bearings, Berk and the luminous golden sunset were directly ahead. Draven and Violet were also flying alongside he and Hiccup on Toothless.
Gently, Toothless ascended to just beneath the cloud bank. With the mist of the clouds only inches away, Andor reached out and felt the cooled moisture pass through his fingers. With the view, the warmth of the afternoon sun and the coolness of the wind and the clouds, Andor began to feel a strange feeling within. It was the feeling of being in the vast open space with no one around you. It was the feeling as though no one could bother you. Just like Hiccup and Draven, it was the feeling of freedom.
Ascending higher, Toothless and Violet along with their riders maneuvered in and out of the clouds, with everyone taking in the warmth and cool air. Draven however was still keeping an eye on Andor. The simple sight of him riding with Hiccup was enough to make his skin crawl.
For hours, Hiccup and Draven flew around the island again and again, flying above and below the clouds until the sun was completely gone. Like the previous day, the sky was replaced from a golden honey glow of the sun, to the dancing emeralds, violets and cyans of auroras.
The group eventually passed over the village which was almost enchanting as Andor saw it illuminated in the shadows of the night.
"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's... amazing. He's amazing." Andor friendly admitted, patting Toothless on his side.
"And there's only one way you can experience this, and that's from the back of a dragon." Draven added. Leaving the village, the group flew back out over the ocean.
"So, what now?" Andor asked as he looked back to Hiccup in front of him.
Hearing those words, Draven looked to Hiccup to hear what she might say. He and her did plan to leave after all. Hiccup didn't answer. She simply let out a deep sigh and lowered her head.
"Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow. You know you're going to have to kill a...kill a dragon." Andor said to Hiccup, whispering the last part as not to offend Toothless.
"Don't remind me." Hiccup dryly muttered.
Suddenly, Toothless, Violet and Draven began to hear a loud high pitched humming sound resonate through the night sky. "Gah!" Draven groaned as one hand clutched his head.
Hiccup and Andor turned to ask what was wrong but before they could, Toothless too had a reaction to the sound. The sound that he willingly obeyed like any soldier for years.
Diving sharply as well as flying from left to right erratically, Toothless began flying his own path. "Oh no, no! Not now! Not now!" Toothless repeatedly said to himself. If there was one thing he didn't want Hiccup to see, it was him.
"Toothless, what's happening? Whoa, what is it?" Hiccup asked, stroking his side and trying to get him to calm down.
Turning to Draven on her left, Hiccup asked the same thing. After a few seconds of dragonese, Draven replied "I don't know, I'm hearing some kind buzzing sound. Violet and Toothless hear it too but Toothless is the only one reacting to it. He just keeps saying 'I'm sorry' over and over."
The sound of beating wings is what brought them all to a state of silence as they suddenly found themselves right in the middle of a swarm. "Get down!" Hiccup whispered warningly.
The riders hugged their saddles as low as they could to blend with their dragons as they saw that they were completely surrounded on all sides by Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks and Nightmares.
"What's going on?" Andor nervously whispered to Hiccup.
"I don't know. Toothless. You've got to get us out of here, bud." she pleaded to her dragon, still trying to calm him down with a pat on his side. Toothless didn't break formation with the swarm and nudged her hand away.
Draven meanwhile was noticing something. The swarm was approaching Dragon Island. He had tried countless times in the past to get to Dragon Island and find out why these dragons always attacked Berk but to no avail. The fact that he and Violet were outsiders always led to he and her getting attacked by the entire swarm and getting chased out. Even trying to simply talk to these dragons was pointless as they always avoided the answer to what he'd ask with heavy fear in their voices.
Now however, they weren't being attacked. Could it be because they were flying with Toothless and that Violet had picked up on the Night Fury's scent as part of dragon bonding? One thing that was for sure was that this was the closest he had ever been to the volcanic island and he was still not being attacked.
Looking around to the scenery, the two humans and the hybrid noticed a massive assortment of animals dead and alive being carried by the dragons, from sheep to yak, from sharks to other animals.
"It looks like they're hauling in their kill." Hiccup dryly muttered.
"Uh, what does that make us?" Andor quietly asked.
The riders simply followed the swarm staying as close and as low to their saddles as possible to hide. In seconds, the swarm broke out of the cloud bank into a dive where the group found themselves weaving in and out of sea stacks with heavy fog. Moments after, the colossal ash spitting orange glow of the volcano came into sight where the swarm soon entered a large cave headed towards the islands core.
The core of the volcano was smouldering hot and black as night with the only light coming from the lava pit beneath. Across the walls were countless dragons huddling together as well as hiding behind whatever cover they could find.
"What my dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup said aloud to herself at the sight of the dragon's nest.
Toothless was staring down into the pit where he knew Dragon Island's tyrant leader kept. "Why of all times did it have to be now? I've gone and put Hiccup in danger." Toothless said to himself, hoping that the Red Death would remain in his pit and not show himself.
Draven however was looking down into the pit as well but with cautious curiosity. 'Something's very wrong here.' he thought to himself as he noticed how the dragons weren't eating their catch but throwing it down into the pit of lava. "Violet, stay with Toothless." the hybrid said as he rolled of the saddle and landed on one of the secluded platforms with some cover on it.
"It's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole." Hiccup sarcastically mentioned as she saw all the animals being thrown in. "They're not eating any of it." Andor wondered.
The stream of dragons eventually halted and one final tired Gronckle came to hover over the pit. Where as all the other dragons brought in full heads of sheep, yaks and other large animals, all the Gronckle unfortunately had was one measly salmon, regurgitating it into the pit.
Tired from his travels and feeling that he'd at least provided, the Gronckle scratched himself while calmly hovering in the air.
However before he could fly off, a deep, menacing and displeased growl was heard throughout the chamber. Seconds later, two monumental jaws rose from the mist of the pit, vanishing the Gronckle with one simple swallow.
"What is that?" Andor said with dilated eyes and horror.
Hiccup looked over to her side to Violet to ask Draven but found he was nowhere to be found.
Her attention was pulled back to the larger dragon when she saw he didn't recede into his pit but kept his head raised as he began to sniff the air. "Humans!? In my lair!?" the goliath hissed as he picked up on the scent.
Hiccup didn't need any kind of translation. She knew of found them. "Alright, buddy, we gotta get out of here. Now!" she whispered to Toothless, but with the Red Death's hearing, she may has well shouted it to the heavens.
Turning his massive head to the origin of the sound, h quickly spotted the Night Fury with two humans on his back and a female Skrill next to him. The same Skrill that had cause his soldiers so much hassle with that mutant Wraith. "Night Fury? I always knew you were weak! Time to die whelp." the Red Death growled as he prepared to strike. However, before his head could move a single inch towards the platform Hiccup, Toothless and Violet were on, he was struck on the side of his head by a high powered plasma bolt.
"OVER HERE YOU INBRED TURD!" Draven taunted in full Wraith form with wings extended. His arms were alight with a blue flame as he began charge his eleven remaining plasma shots. His evolution upped his shot limit of six shots like normal Wraiths to six shots per arm.
The hive began to swarm as every dragon tried to vacate as fast as they could while the Red Death lunged at Draven. The hybrid however was too quick and effortlessly dodged while discharging multiple plasma bolts. The Red Death slammed into the wall of the cavern, where Draven took the opportunity to escape while the Death was in a daze, but not before firing four more plasma bolts to keep his foe down.
Meanwhile outside, Violet and Toothless managed to escape all with the swarm and were hovering outside the volcano's mouth waiting for Draven. After several straining seconds, Draven burst from the volcano glowing intensely as he flew into the cloud cover.
With all the strength he could, he gathered as much lightning as he could muster and fired a single colossal strike down the throat of the mountain. The bolt was powerful enough that it caused a severe cave in, in hopes it would keep the Red Death down long enough for them to escape.
Meeting up with Hiccup, he turned back to human form as he mounted Violet. "What in Helheim was that!?" Hiccup asked in shock to her hybrid companion.
"The Red Death. One of the biggest Stoker dragons alive. I've heard stories about the Death Dragons before but I didn't think they were true."
...
Minutes later, Toothless and Violet with their riders were back at the cove on Berk. Both dragons being the two fastest breeds alive made a point to redefine the phase 'Run like hell' as they raced away from Dragon Island. Their only objective was to get themselves and their friends away from Dragon Island as fast as their wings and the winds would carry them.
"No, it totally makes sense. It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers, and that's their queen. It controls them." Andor concluded as Toothless landed and he dismounted. "Red Death is a 'he'." Draven corrected.
"Let's find your dad." Andor eagerly suggested as he made his way to the cove's entrance.
"No, no! Not yet." Hiccup blurted out as she ran after Andor and grabbed his arm, stopping him. "They'll... kill Toothless and Violet. Andor, we have to think this through carefully." she begged. She knew that of all the teens, Andor would be the most willing to take this news to Stoick, but that wouldn't stop Hiccup.
"Hiccup, we just discovered the Dragons' Nest." Andor protested. "The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret?! To protect your pet dragons and...him?! Are you serious?!" he said with a gesture to Draven at the end. "No offence." he added apologetically.
"Some taken." Draven dryly replied.
Hiccup moved over to her hybrid companion and held his right hand with her left, interlocking her fingers with his. Looking back to Andor she answered him straight in the eyes, "Yes."
Andor looked at how close Hiccup and Draven were. Made sense. They were close as could be when they were younger, why wouldn't they be closer now.
Now he saw and knew why Hiccup was so happy over the past few days. She had gained her childhood friend back and their emotions clearly ran deeper than a simple friendship. That coupled with the fact that she was a dragon rider. Andor had to admit which he had that nothing in the world could compare to the feeling of freedom and the thrill of flying high in the sky.
"Okay." Andor answered. It was the least he could do for Hiccup. It would be pointless for him to pursue his crush feelings for Hiccup as she was already happy with Draven, and Andor knew that he'd never be able to make her smile the way Draven did. "Then what do we do?" he asked.
Quiet for a moment, Hiccup thought. "Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out." she answered with a shrug.
"Okay." Andor said with a nod. "And for the record Hiccup; I'm sorry for everything, and also, thanks."
Hiccup cracked a smile as Andor left the cove leaving her with Draven and their dragons. She trusted his word as he was always an honest person and his words were sincere.
Getting the feelings of being watched, Hiccup and Draven turned to see their dragons standing next to each other and staring at them. "What are you looking at?" Hiccup questioned Toothless and Violet.
The dragons simply snickered and turned away. It was still strange to them how it took so long for Hiccup and Draven to admit their feelings for each other, seeing how their fingers were interlocked as well as sensing their feelings for each other from their pheromones.
Saying her goodnight to Toothless, Hiccup, Draven and Violet left the cove. Violet went home while Draven escorted Hiccup to the village entrance. "So much for leaving." Draven commented as they stopped walking at the bridge to the village.
"We can't leave Berk knowing that that monster is practically right next door us." Hiccup said. "As much as life here hasn't been the smoothest, this is still home, Draven. It's our home."
With that, the two gave each other one final kiss for the day and returned to their homes, preparing themselves for the next day which would no doubt determine the entire outcome of the war.