The fight for Berk begins, and the end of this story nears, get ready for the longest chapter of the story!

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Snotlout smiled at the fire in the distance, he still couldn't believe that Hiccup, who was supposed to be smarter than him had fallen for the bait, despite having had visual confirmation ten minutes prior (aka last chapter). The bait? You ask. Snotlout had put a few prisoners on some of the boats disguised as Outcasts, and had even given them weapons with which to defend themselves.

Partly to help with the illusion of bona fide soldiers fighting for their lives, but mostly in the hopes that one of them shot down that annoying pest that he called a cousin.

Still, he was glad that they probably hadn't, he'd been craving the pleasure of being the one to deliver the final blow for what felt like an eternity by now, but had, in actuality, been two decades… and a bit.

He would make Hiccup pay, pay for everything. For the girl that should've been his, for half of his village and, most importantly, and Snotlout grit his teeth and bit back tears about it, for his son, whom he wished to see, safe and unharmed but he realized that that was unlikely.

The second that the first ship of the fleet touched the shores of the Dragon Rider islands, war had begun.

There was no attack, and all was oddly quiet. Snotlout held back his men. It didn't seem right.

A pause before a roar erupted from one side of the island. Snotlout held his ground. Even if that was a dragon, he and his men had on them a weapon that could destroy the dragons. A weapon that would have the dragon riders crawling to their knees.

And, as though from nowhere, a hundred Dragon Rider soldiers came charging from the woods, they were, of course, led by Astrid.

She smiled to herself as she dodged an Outcast's blow. She'd been praying that it'd be her group that ran into Snotlout's men. Hearing this, one might think: 'Crazy bitch,' or 'Suicidal much' but no. The reason she wished it was simple enough. Her team had no one under the age of twenty. It was the last place they'd expected anyone to attack. Her team may suffer to win but the kids were safe. Her kids were safe.

Unfortunately, Astrid's good luck was not long lived. Several Outcast members ganged up on her. They grabbed her and disarmed her. And then, from the sky. Was it a bird? Was it a plane? Nah, it was Stormfly.

Stormfly barrel rolled and sent ten men to their feet, before blinking her large, beautiful eyes. She flicked her tail towards the men, and spikes began to fly. Astrid smiled as each man ran away, leaving her standing in her previous spot.

She hopped on her dragon's back and sounded the horn around her neck. Immediately an army of over two hundred dragons approached.

From where he was, near the ships, Snotlout smiled, before sounding his own shell, and indicating with his arms.

Heavy footsteps as twenty men began to carry out some giant, enormous, wooden contraption.

The rest of the men from Snotlout's side began to retreat. Astrid frowned, confused, yelling at her side to advance, because advancing was probably a good idea to kill them, when the unthinkable happened.

A large hissing sound erupted, Snotlout barked out orders for all the people on his side to cover their noses and close their eyes and mouths.

It was as though death had settled upon the land, for the minute that the large, barely visible, blue cloud begun to disperse, the dragons and humans began to drop. Astrid, who had covered her nose and shut her eyes as soon as she had seen Snotlout (along with a few others) opened her eyes and screamed to the heavens at the sight of Stormfly, her dragon, her best friend, lying there, all the life faded from the two, beautiful orbs of yellow.

She turned back ready to fight with a new agenda. Murder, blood, justice, REVENGE!

She hacked away at the opposing side, all she could see was red. Unfortunately, she was a little too late to notice the arrow aimed at her until it had been fired and hit home. She barely felt it at first, didn't even notice it, but when fighting a larger man howled in pain at the pressure his strength put on it.

She crumbled to the floor, defeated, and men began to surround the girl, carrying her back to the ship and throwing her into a cell.

Snotlout smiled. Phase one complete. Now, for phase two. He drew his sword. Revenge. Revenge for himself, revenge for his son.

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Jari stroked his dragon's head, smiling. When his father came, he'd be ready. When his father came he'd show him the truth.

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Kailee (I feel like her name was supposed to be something else) snuck through the woods on her own. She knew that she was supposed to stay on ship, that her father could not bear to lose anymore children on one trip- but she had to know.

Unlike the rest of the party, she was not fooled by her brother's disappearance. She knew he hated their father as chief, thought he was unfair, unjust, and would seize the first opportunity to kill him, and she would not allow that.

She snuck further and further into the territory, she knew it was dangerous, but she could not risk harm befalling their father.

She continued, her heart beating as fast as her legs were running, until finally she came to a clearing and paused. She needed to catch her breath. And this was the perfect place to hide.

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Remember how I told you that the one with the power to change the story was Jari? Well, currently our champion is donning his helmet and looking quite like a knight in the kind of armor he is wearing, even though it's more flexible and obviously of better design.

He has his sword with him too. A silver sword which fits the look completely, given to him by his father, an heirloom to the chiefs of Berk. If anyone deserves this, he figures, it's probably Brant, seeing as how technically he is rightful heir to Berk, but for now and up until the battle ends, he shall watch over the sword.

He flew out with Leaf towards the south coast of the island. He got lost so he had to stop and check his map.

He was at Flander's point and would reach Vertigo in six minutes if he'd calculated the distance on dragon back correctly.

And so, he flew out, west, to an area already finished with its fight, but where ships were docked nonetheless, intent on cutting his father off before he could harm anymore people.

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From up in the sky that weird girl with the brown hair was watching. She had popcorn and sod- oh wait, wrong century… she contemplated getting something else to eat… nah, she refused to give up her food!

A man sat down beside her.

"You do know how it ends, right?" he asked rhetorically, "So then why must you insist in wasting your time here, watching this?"

The girl smiled, "Oh dear, but the ending is only part of the story. The biggest part, the most exiting, is how people got from the beginning to the end."

He sighed, shaking his head. The girl had always been a nut, he smiled fondly, maybe that's why he liked her so much…

"Well," he sighed dramatically, "I suppose if you must waste your time here it is only fitting if I join."

She turned towards him, about to say something, but the words died on her lips and instead she shook her head, smiling. Skadi, that guy could be a down right pain in the- yeah, no, she couldn't afford to lose anymore of her good graces.

She smiled, but yeah, aside from that he could be a real pain in the butt… maybe that's why she liked him…

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The Outsider-Berk army took their torches and set fire to the trees before re-retreating to the beaches, that would draw out the other people, and when it did, his last gas cloud would be ready for them…

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The sound of Toothless's wings beating fast was barely heard over the sound of his own heart beating like crazy in his own chest. He had to make sure that his island was OK, that his family was OK.

He urged Toothless on faster, even though he knew it was impossible. Toothless was already going as fast as he could.

They were nearing the island, in about a minute they would reach it. In about a minute, he'd have visual confirmation of whether or not his family was dead.

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Kailee smiled as she watched the large dragon leave. She would follow it and, she had her crossbow, forged in the most brutal forge in the world, Mordenger on Berserker Island.

It had been a present from uncle Dagur for her tenth birthday, and she'd become quite the expert huntress. Especially with their new blacksmith, Boar, creating the deadliest arrows known to man and dragonkind alike.

Blue-Oleander-eel-juice tipped. These babies would surely do the trick if- no, when it came to taking down her older brother. It was so on.

She moved stealthily to the West Bank. It was time her brother learned why not to mess with the Hairy Hooligan tribe…

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Hiccup dismounted Toothless on the South Shore, but there was no one there. Toothless let out a distressed noise and pointed to the far east of the island. Barely visible, Hiccup could see a bit of yellow higher than yellow should be.

He hopped on Toothless and urged the dragon on.

They reached the area in a matter of minutes. Every inch closer they had gotten, Hiccup's heart skipped a few more beats. His suspicions had been confirmed.

Fire.

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Jari flew closer and closer to the west coast when he realized that the trees beneath Leaf had begun to combust.

He wasn't like the other villagers, he didn't speak dragonese. Still, he clutched on to Leaf tight, and hoped beyond hope that the mighty beast knew what he was thinking, after all, he had been around dragons a lot the past few days and if there was one thing he had picked up about them, it was that they were intelligent.

Sure enough, Leaf reared up and flapped his mighty wings. The flames on the trees died instantly for about a mile around.

He smiled and pumped the air in victory. Success!

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Kailee had lost sight of the dragon, but she figured she knew where it was going. It seemed to be going west, towards where their boats were, she smiled. If it was an ambush it wanted then it was an ambush it would get.

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Brant frowned. Either his father had single-handedly managed to wipe out all of the fleets, and while he certainly had faith in his father's abilities, he highly doubted it- or the boats were delayed, which he also highly doubted.

They could, of course, just not be attacking this coast, but then surely someone would've flown in to declare victory.

… it was when the first flickers of flame approached their area that he knew something was wrong.

He told the villagers with him to help try and put out the fire. Immediately people began calling the water for Scauldrons to help them, and got the big-winged dragons to flap at the flames to help them disappear.

In a matter of minutes the flames were gone, but, Brant realized with a heavy heart, the damage they had created, that wouldn't go away for a long time.

It was then that the true gravity of the situation weighed down on him. There was enough malice in his uncle's heart that he would stop at nothing- nothing, until his father and family were dead.

To most people this revelation would come with shock and likely fear, but to Brant it only came with one emotion. Anger.

Pure, white, hot, anger!

Gritting his teeth he urged his side on. They would find his uncle. They would kill his uncle.

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Hiccup flew to the West Coast to check if anyone was there and potentially aid in a fight. No one. There were, however, dents in the beach which suggested that ships had docked there, but those ships were long gone.

He hopped off of Toothless. Something just felt so wrong about this place, and when he saw what, his heart stopped for a moment and he let out a wail of pure agony.

It was the necklace. Astrid had been here.

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Snotlout smiled. Cutting his way through a dead forest was so much easier. They'd spotted to changewings earlier, but without anything to disguise themselves with, they had soon perished under the blades of his men.

They still hadn't run into anymore dragon riders, and that was odd. He shrugged, they'd find some soon.

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The people at the midpoints of the West and North and West and South points had fled- well, the ones not killed by the fire or the gas had anyways.

Things were looking bad for Dragon Rider Island, she needed a miracle now more than she ever had.

Over 300 of her soldiers were dead, as well as over a hundred dragons. That left her with less than 700 soldiers and less than 200 dragons, up against an army of now about 4900 men.

The future did not seem bright for her.

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Snotlout's men had, by now, taken the entire west island, and had also branched down to the south of it.

Snotlout led a group of around a thousand men. It was time to take the center village.

There were people and dragons defending it, of course, but it didn't take long, and not many men died… well, from their side anyways…

Snotlout's men then proceeded to set fire to the houses before Snotlout put his hand in the opened skull of a dead Dragon Rider Islander, and walked over to an enormous rock.

His men crowded around to read what he had written.

Enough of these foolish games, Hiccup, how many more men will you continue to let die in your place?

He barked out orders to continue North. He assumed that there would be some form of guard along that coast, and the more of Hiccup's men that fell, the better.

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Brant flew on, revenge in his heart. Beside him was his sister. His oldest younger sibling, not his second oldest youngest- he needed to find better terms for them.

Sure their new dragons were nothing like their old, but they weren't bad, they were just not so used to each other.

They flew on.

Noël interrupted his mid-flight musings.

"Brant!" she said, pointing downwards, "Look, there."

He frowned, asking Bloodwart to hover. Sure enough there was an army of about two hundred men headed North- where they had come from.

Noël looked to her brother, not quite sure of what to do.

If they didn't attack, the men would simply go on their merry way and attack the rest of their men, but if they did attack, well, they were severely outnumbered, it was a sure guarantee that they would lose the fight.

Brant paused as well, before shaking his head. No. It wasn't worth it. They should simply continue their flight towards the West.

She nodded back at him.

And so they continued onwards.

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Snotlout was waiting in the village square. He figured at some point Hiccup would come back here, this was after all, meant to be the Chief's biggest priority. He had over seven-hundred men with him, ready to lay claim to the island with him once this was all over, when Hiccup had lost… Not that there was really much to fight for, the land was mainly ash and rubble at this point.

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Hiccup was still their, on his knees, on the cold, sandy beach, holding the necklace, tears lining his eyes. What now?

Toothless had left his human some room to mourn, he himself mourning over the unmistakable stench of death in the air… he wasn't a fool, he knew he was smelling dragons as well as people.

Hiccup felt a hand on his back and whirled around. It was his nephew.

"I'm sorry, uncle." He said, soothingly.

"You've nothing to be sorry for," he said, wiping the tears from his eyes, "Your father did this, not you."

He nodded, still looking down. "I know." He said. "I meant that I am sorry for your loss. I know you love her."

Hiccup bit his lip. "I do. But I will find her again, and I will avenge her."

Jari smiled back up at him.

Just then Brant and Noël arrived.

"Father," said Brant. "The village center, we've lost it."

Hiccup's eyes widened. "We must head for it immediately."

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Kailee had given up on her mission for the dragon in favor of simply going to the village center, where her father was.

Did she get yelled at for disobeying him? You betcha.

Still, there was nothing he could do anymore since the boats had headed for the nearest island, so he was forced to let her stay.

And so it was that they waited, right by the stone steps that had once led to a beautiful garden, a garden now on fire.

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It took them minutes to reach the center. Hiccup noticed the message almost immediately and clenched his fists.

'oh, don't you worry, Snotlout,' he thought angrily, blinking back tears, 'you'll get your match.'

A voice suddenly echoed throughout the area, a voice with many years' practice of being loud.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, today you have shown great cowardice in letting over three hundred of your men die for you, there is no greater dishonor in the Viking code. I give you one last chance to prove your worth, fight me. Prove you're not the coward we know you are."

Brant grit his teeth, ready to step in and end his uncle.

Hiccup held up his hand, quietening him.

"I accept," he said, in an eerily calm voice, and Snotlout smiled.

Hiccup walked over to where his cousin was and drew his sword.

Brant, Noël and Jari followed to watch on the sidelines. Kailee smiled wickedly, now was her time to strike.

She discretely aimed her crossbow at him. Leaf saw and came to her rescue, only the Hooligans weren't going to let their princess die nearly that easily, and in a few moments the dragon lay dead at their feet.

Toothless and the other dragons were angry, but Brant told them not to do anything. They didn't want them to suffer the same fate.

The inside of Jari's suit was a combination of two main fluids, sweat and tears. He hoped his uncle won with all his heart, but hesitated. He hated his father, he was a bloody tyrant, but he wasn't sure it would be easy to watch him killed.

Snotlout clicked his fingers and all hell broke loose.

What was supposed to be a match solely fixating on Hiccup and Snotlout, turned into a full out war.

Brant and Noël fought their way to their dragons, dodging attacks on both sides and killing a good number of men. Jari, on the other hand, tried to do the same, but ended up in combat with his sister. One well-aimed kick from her had his helmet flying off.

"I knew it!" she spat, "I knew you betrayed us!"

"You betrayed yourself," he said, glaring right back at her and deflecting her sword with his.

Snotlout looked momentarily at the two, his heart stopping. His son was alive!? He dodged the blow from Hiccup- who was attacking like there was no tomorrow (you don't mess with someone's SO)- and threw in a few of his own.

His son, his heir, was fighting for the enemy. He growled. He would have to have him beheaded.

Meanwhile, Kailee nearly beheaded her brother herself before he dodged it. He didn't want to kill his sister, but knew that if the choice was that or death, he would have to.

She launched desperate, angry blows at him, and he realized, in the back of his mind, that she was getting tired.

He dodged, dodged thrust- she wasn't fast enough to dodge the last one, and it pierced her through her chest. She howled, and he watched in terrible guilt as his younger sister fell to the floor, bleeding out and dying. He closed his eyes and said an old Norse prayer, hoping his sister would have safe passage into Valhalla.

Snotlout's eyes widened as he watched his daughter fall to the ground. He turned back, angry beyond belief. He attacked Hiccup with newfound vigor and soon the man missed a dodge and ended up on the ground, sword slipped away.

He swung out with his legs and brought Snotlout down as well, his sword also skidded a bit.

He looked up at Jari, who'd ran back to the fight. Jari held his sword, ready to throw it at Hiccup. What was stopping him? Why wasn't his arm working. It was then that he realized he was crying, and at that moment, as Hiccup rolled out of the way of Snotlout's sword, he realized that it was too late anyways.

Hiccup attempted to jump back onto his knees, but Snotlout's newfound strength had him there before Hiccup was fully up.

Snotlout brought down his sword, plunging it through Hiccup's chest.

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Hiccup shot up gasping.

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O.o what ever shall happen next? :) tune in tomorrow for the last chapter and you'll see!

-Httyd4eva

peace out yo;P