Oh, Misty eye of the mountains below,

Strange music filled the Hall as the Vikings watched the youth prepare for what was obviously the battle against the Red Death. As he donned his version of armor, light for flight but still durable, the Vikings were surprised by the somber mood. They were used to seeing battle as a glory and a sort of privilege, a way in which to fight and perhaps die that would bring glory to your name. But from the grim expression on Hiccup's face, he saw things quite differently.

If this is to end in fire, then we shall all burn together. The song sounded through the Hall as Hiccup, surrounded by his dragon forces, made his way towards the mountain where the Red Death lazed. It was a magnificent sight, all those multicolored beasts flying together, just flying. Even if it was into battle. Especially since it was into battle.

Then, for a moment, they were thrown into the perspective of a dragon, one of the nadders. Humming filled its ears and images of the Red Death flashed before its eyes. Then Hiccup called out to it, commanding it to resist. Then the Vikings understood that the sound and images were the call of the monster inside the mountain, and that Hiccup had trained the dragons to resist, the clever boy.

As the view narrowed once again to just Hiccup and Toothless, the Vikings again had the chance to admire their movement as they dodged stalactites, made the hairpin turns in the tunnel, and in a few places tucked in their wings and shot like a bullet forward. To watch them move together was a hymn to the god Tyr, god of the skies and everything that flies in them. Perhaps that was where the night fury's origins lay, instead of with lightning and death. It was certainly a good enough flier for the parentage.

When Toothless emerged from the tunnel right next to the monstrosity's head, the crowd again gasped. With the intervening scenes and accompanying emotional roller coaster, many had forgotten just how big the beast was. But they were reminded quite brutally as the image showed the different entry points of the various species. This dragon was almost bigger than Berk! How on earth was a measly fire blast down the throat going to take this thing out?! But the size of the beast didn't seem to bother Hiccup, as he whistled the command for the gronkles to start spewing the molten rock.

Now that the mood of the scene had lifted slightly, a faster pace due to the nature of the action, the Vikings let loose their fighting spirit. War whoops, waving hands and various weapons, and stamping feet filled the hall with noise and motion.

Then it opened its other four eyes.

Not good.

"Oh for Thor's sake! That's just overkill!" someone in the Hall yelled, to the general consensus of the crowd. Then someone else yelled "Get in there, you nadders!" as Hiccup gave the signal and none of the expected dragons answered. People began yelling more abuse at the dragons, calling them idiots and lardbrains for not following orders, but were struck silent when the nightmares swooped in and dropped their flaming saliva beneath the monster's lids. The liquid nature of the fire made it nearly impossible to remove, causing a great deal of pain and destruction beneath the thick skins of the creatures eyelids. Now why hadn't the dragon boy thought of that sooner? They laughed at Hiccup's answer. Probably because he didn't think the Nightmares did anything but show off. Guess he learned something every day.

The dragon, in agony from its eyes, staggered around the cave, bashing its head against the walls. Astrid bit her lip as one smash came perilously close to nicking Toothless' tail. If any of the rig got hit, Hiccup and Toothless would be trapped on the island with the beast and wouldn't be able to carry out the plan without getting caught in the crossfire! That could not happen!

A few more slams of the giant head and Fishlegs heard the same hiss that came from the terrible terror what seemed like ages ago. It was gassing up. So Hiccup had been right. The Red Death did use gas, just like a zippleback and terror. The big blonde noticed how the dragons retreated down into their entrance tunnels without an obvious command from Hiccup. Was it instinct to get away when a dragon heard that sound? Or was the reaction specific to the Red Death? Whatever it was, it seemed to work, because none of the dragons got hurt when the gigantic beast unleashed an unheard of amount of flames. Fishlegs couldn't believe Hiccup had been able to calculate the gap when a possible death by fire had been just inches away. But he had. The gap was big enough.

This would work.

Now Stoic saw how all the actions to this point were building this situation. It was blinded, grounded, angry, and a big blazing target. Just how they wanted the beast. When Hiccup whistled the command for his friends to get out of danger, he again smiled with pride. That was the actions of a leader, to get everyone you could to safety and leave the dangerous task to the most capable. For him, that had meant letting the other Vikings take care of a dragon's legs while he battled the business end. For Hiccup, it meant taking out the beast completely by himself. There was no doubt his son was brave, even by Vikings standards.

But still, that decision had a flaw. He'd also sent away the nadder backup shots he'd stationed above the Red Death's head. That meant that, if he and Toothless missed and the beast hit them, both would go down and the enormous dragon would eventually break free and wreak havoc once again. Yep, Hiccup was clever, but there was still a thing or two he could learn.

"This is it, bud."

The Vikings watched with loud cheers of encouragement as Hiccup wove around the huge beast aggravating it even further.

"There's no way you're gonna get Hiccup, you blasted behemoth!" just as the dragon made a grab for him with its mouth and missed.

"You're headed for the wall! Move to the left!" right before he made a hairpin turn and evaded the side of the mountain.

Then the whistling sound came again, and the crowd saw Toothless change direction. The cheering died in the moments before the strike. This was it. The shot went home and Gobber leapt onto the top of the table, waving his hands and shouting, "That's my apprentice!" The noise in the Hall was so great that they almost missed the commentary that brought all of them back down to earth with a great crash.

But there was one thing Hiccup didn't account for. Such a massive explosion wouldn't just funnel out of the mountain through the tunnels and cracks, like he'd hoped. Instead, the pressure reached a volcanic level, and the whole mountain exploded.

Nerves jangled again as the pair wove and dived to avoid rock shards and other fragments. But just as they avoided a piece of mountain bigger than a Viking house, Hiccup screamed. You could have heard a hair drop in the silence that reigned as Toothless flew to the closest island suitable for the pair and Hiccup, after unhooking himself, looked at his leg.

Gobber put down his waving hands and stared at the severely injured boy. Stoic grew very still at the sight of his fifteen year old son with a wound that could kill bigger men. Then he fell, limp and unconscious.

Astrid screamed. "NO!"

And we have his finest hour and his worst moments, complete with reactions. I should never have let you guys bully me into this, it's too painful. But you can ease my suffering by reviewing, if you wish.