Well, I had some free time today… and I couldn't resist.
"You know," the author said conversationally, "I'd probably update even more quickly if there were more reviews."
(Tempting fate here, but it was worth a shot haha)
Cinder roared as loudly as he could to catch Toothless's attention. He couldn't let him face Brann and his minions alone.
Behind him, led by Stormfly, was a flock of extremely determined and energized dragons. Each of them was filled with rage at the one responsible for causing their Alpha so much distress, not to mention the fact that it was Brann responsible for the devastation of the Serpent's attack earlier in the year, and Cinder's "distraction" before that. That evil Night Fury had crossed too many lines, so when Cinder had summoned them, they willingly followed.
Those who flew with him were the fastest dragons on Berk, either males or unmated females, who were not expecting eggs soon. There was no telling how long this journey would take. The dragons knew that the expecting females would and could make the journey to the nesting island on their own, if need be. Fortunately, they would be accompanied by the older, more experienced dragons and the Vikings who each year followed the migration with several ships to bring back the new hatchlings.
Finally Toothless turned, beating his wings to hold himself aloft, seemingly surprised to see so many dragons in the distance behind him. Cinder was able to catch up, and breathlessly he told Toothless that there was no way he was going to let him go to the colony to face Brann alone.
Toothless didn't want to wait for them all to catch up. He wanted to find Lightning as quickly as he could. But Cinder was right, he couldn't hope to take on Brann's little army by himself. He nodded grimly to Cinder, and once the flock was closer, he and the smaller Night Fury turned back to their course.
Hold on, Lightning. Hold on.
The Serpents roughly threw her to the ground at the top of the canyon, overlooking the sea. It would have been a beautiful sight, the sun reflecting off the deep blue waters, if not for the snarling dragons around her.
They had rendered her unconscious with a powerful blow to the back of her skull, and every time she woke up and began struggling, they would knock her out again. When she finally came to the last time, she was too weak to move much, and they let her stay awake, hissing evil and terrifying things at her. The only thing keeping her from breaking down was the certainty that Toothless would come for her and take her home, home to their egg.
So, even though the Serpents' treatment had left her dizzy and nauseous, she wouldn't allow their presence to ruin the view for her.
She had always loved this part of the island best. She and Shade would come sit up here and discuss life, as they had done since they were young. So she loved the ocean, for it reminded her of her brother.
For at some point, one of those blows to her head had unlocked the part of her mind that had been hidden from her, and her memories had come flooding back. She remembered her childhood. Remembered her parents. Remembered Shade and Stella, who had been just like an older sister to her. Remembered their senseless deaths, and Brann's subsequent capture of her, intending to make her his mate and use her to control the other dragons. Remembered being brutally beaten, remembered her escape that night, remembered fighting her way past the Serpents guarding her cave, sustaining further injury, remembered flying blindly through the storm, desperate to get as far away from that island and Brann as possible. Remembered the flash of light, then- nothing.
All her memories, vivid and tangible, beautiful and terrible. Then Toothless. All of her life with Toothless was present and spiraling through her head, keeping her sane.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A familiar voice said snidely.
Lightning forced herself to look at Flame. "You bastard," she hissed. "Toothless will come for me, and when he does, you're going to be sorry."
"No," he snapped. "You're going to be sorry!" He turned his head and where his right eye should be there was only a terrible scar. She resisted the urge to smile darkly. "I would gladly make you suffer as I have, but I believe Brann has far more exciting things in store for you."
She heard wings flapping and a loud thump. "Oh yes," a rough voice said coldly. "I believe I do."
Hiccup knew that Lightning was in dire straits if so many dragons had followed Toothless to go after her. Running down to the docks, he spied Eret, Son of Eret unloading his ship along with several other Vikings.
"Hiccup!" he called out. "Did you see all those dragons flying off? Where are they going?"
"Hi, Eret," Hiccup said a little breathlessly, skidding to a stop on the icy planks of the dock. "I need your help."
"What can I do for you?"
"I know you oversaw the construction of those new ships… How fast are they?"
"The very fastest, even without help."
"How would you and Skullcrusher feel about going out again?"
Eret looked at Hiccup, seeing the desperation in the Chief's eyes. "I'd be happy to."
"I'll get the dragons, can you get the crew?"
"Consider it done."
Lightning wanted to close her eyes and shut him out, but instead she slowly lifted herself onto her feet, swaying slightly as she glared at Brann. His eyes had always been disturbing, but now they were dramatically bloodshot, to the point where from a distance they simply appeared red.
"Ugh," Brann spat. "What has happened to your hide? You're hideous, you've been maimed! Of course only a cripple would take you for a mate!" he laughed, a harsh, maniacal sound.
"Oh yes," he continued, seeing the rage in her eyes. "I've heard about your mate, the Alpha. I think once I've finished with you, I'll take care of him as well, and then I will be the Alpha, and all of your little friends back on Berk will bow to me.
"Disgusting, dragons allowing humans to ride them, to call them theirs. And now you're one of them! And look how weak you are. You barely put up a fight. You're not fit to be in my presence, you aren't fit to call yourself a Night Fury. You aren't fit to live." With that final declaration, he stepped back and wordlessly gestured at her with his head, signaling the Serpents to attack.
The island came into sight, and all of the dragons renewed their efforts, flying hard to keep up with their Alpha, who had raced ahead of them once again.
"Cinder!" Toothless called out to the young Night Fury. "Go to the caves with the others and gather the Night Furies. I'll find Lightning."
"But what about-"
"Just go!"
Lightning did her best. She fired plasma blasts until she ran out of shots. She kicked and clawed and bit, but there were just too many of them. After she fell, they continued to rain blows upon her, until Brann stopped them.
"That's enough." Hissing, the Serpents backed away, frustrated at having their fun interrupted.
"Leave us," he motioned to them, and walked over to a bleeding, battered Lightning, breathing heavily on the ground.
When he was within reach, she suddenly lashed out with one paw, catching him in the face with her claws and barely missing his eye.
Brann snarled and kicked her, then gave a humorless laugh. "You'd like to maim me as you did Flame. Well, I'm not planning on giving you the opportunity. I hope you've enjoyed your time here, because it's all the time you had left."
Spying two black shapes at the upper edge of the canyon, Toothless dove, landing roughly and sprinting forward before stopping completely, as icy fear froze him in his tracks.
He saw Lightning on the ground, blood streaming from fresh wounds all over her body. Brann stood above her, about to deliver what would surely be a mortal blow. His eyes widened, and something snapped inside of him. In the place of Toothless was an Alpha, the Alpha who had defeated the Bewilderbeast in defense of the human he loved. Once again, someone he loved was threatened, once again, it was up to him to make it right.
Brann's face stung, blood dripping from the slash marks Lightning had delivered with her claws. He slowly raised himself up, about to deliver the killing blow to his broken, defeated prey. She stared up at him, hate in her eyes, and he grinned maniacally. Just as he was about to drive his sharp claws through her throat, a terrible sound erupted from across the stretch of flat rock they were on.
Toothless snarled, enraged. Brann looked up, caught off guard by his arrival, and the number of colorful dragons following him.
The evil Night Fury regained his composure quickly and spoke up, his voice dripping with disdain. "You must be the cripple. Toothless."
"How dare you speak to him that way!" someone hissed behind him, but Toothless wasn't paying much attention. Cripple? Toothless had never thought about himself that way. As far as he was concerned, if his missing tailfin didn't bother Lightning or Hiccup, it wouldn't bother him. Rather than undermine his confidence, it only made him more certain that he would enjoy destroying this twisted Night Fury as painfully as possible.
Brann continued. "Well, I hope you've had fun with little Skygge here, because the game is over for the both of you." He gestured over their shoulders, and looking back, they could see a number of Serpents approaching.
Distracted, Brann didn't notice Lightning raising her neck to clamp her jaws around his left foreleg. With a shriek of pain, he tried to free himself, to no avail. With a frustrated hiss he swiped down hard with his other foreleg, striking it against the side of her skull. Her head snapped back, leaving great bloody tears in his leg where her teeth had been, but she hit the ground hard, and didn't move again. Looking down, Brann saw bone through his shredded flesh, and his already questionable sanity took another blow. I will destroy her. But first… and he turned his crazed gaze upon Toothless and the dragons gathered behind him. The red-eyed Night Fury leapt over Lightning, left foreleg tucked up close to his body, and made his way closer to the dragons. "It must be nice to be the Alpha. I think I'd like to try it out," he said, opening his mouth to fire.
All rationality fled from Toothless's mind as he numbly stared at Lightning's still form. No… no… NO!
Gone was his sense of preservation, his sense of reason, his sense of mercy. In his rage, Toothless's spine began to glow blue with power, and Brann, noticing this, took a limping step back. "What- what are you doing?" Something akin to fear flashed in his eyes as Toothless began inhaling, blue light emanating from his mouth and nose. His pupils were barely visible slits, he was beyond reason now.
"You challenged the Alpha, now feel his wrath!" a voice screamed.
Brann didn't have time to look for the source of the voice, barely leaping out of the way in time as supercharged plasma exploded where he had been standing. The strength of the blast knocked him out of the air and he hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop. Unsteadily, the crazed Night Fury got to his feet, fear filling his heart. This was not like fighting Shade… Desperately he fired at Toothless, before taking to the air, holding his destroyed foreleg to his chest. Toothless allowed the weak shot to hit him in the shoulder. He didn't even feel it.
"Go, Toothless! We'll take care of Lightning!"
He barely heard Stormfly as he crouched down, spreading his wings and taking off. Brann was moving quickly, his speed carrying him across the canyon and far out over the ocean.
Behind him, the Serpents had closed in, their numbers greater than those of Berk's dragons. Gathering around Lightning's prone form, the dragons prepared to fend them off, to fight to the death if need be. Anything for the Alpha.
The first hissing Serpent leapt into the air towards Stormfly, and she crouched down, ready to meet it, when without warning a purple light flashed over her and exploded into it, killing it instantly. Blinking at the smoke and light, she turned to see Cinder coming over the edge of the canyon, followed by the rest of Berk's dragons and a tide of angry Night Furies, who with shrieks of rage jumped into the ranks of Serpents, slashing and savaging any within reach. Energized, the dragons of Berk joined them.
It was a slaughter, over in less than a minute. The remaining Serpents tried to flee, but the oppressed Night Furies showed them no mercy, taking out every last one of the snake-like dragons. But it was far from over. Gravely, the Night Furies and the dragons of Berk turned just in time to see Toothless catch up to Brann.
Guess who started a sequel!
Guess who has six chapters of it finished!
Guess who still has yet to finish posting this story!
Guess who kind of likes torturing her readers!
If you guessed me, you are correct. How did you figure it out?
PS: I love you guys haha, thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers.