Warning. Corny shit ahead.

[Heather's P.O.V]

What the hell just happened?

Night Fury just spun around, and in that time, countered my shot, disarmed Kai and Maisie, and trapped Astrid. I see Astrid, frozen, her eyes trained at Night Fury's feet. And so were Kai and Maisie. What are they looking at?

I guess I have to take this matter to my own hands.

Loading a bullet in the chamber, I cocked back the rifle and readjusted the barrel. I jumped out of the boulder I was hiding behind and aimed directly at Night Fury's head. Without even giving a second thought, I pulled the trigger. The .90 caliber bullet pierced through the air like an arrow, flying straight towards Night Fury.

Then, Night Fury's cat-like instincts stood up. He turned around just in time to catch the bullet within his forefinger and middle finger. His sharp eyes focused on me like a hunter circling his prey. Fortunately, that snapped the rest out of their shock. Kai and Maisie were the first to move. Unarmed, they flung themselves at Night Fury, trying to at least tackle him. But Night Fury wasn't having it. He raised his leg-

What the fu-

Why does he have a metallic skeletal foot?!

Whatever it is, he used it to swat the two away like flies. Maisie fell to the ground, her head hitting one of the roots of a tree, knocking her unconscious. Kai actually took more of the impact to protect Maisie. He laid on the ground, a large bruise on his head. His creased forehead and his groan of pain meant he is still alive. But he is in no condition to fight.

Astrid made the next move. I followed swiftly. Raising her axe, she stomped her way towards Night Fury. Distracted by Astrid, this gave me an opportunity. An opening...

I slid across the ground, not caring about the shards of rocks and wood hitting my skin. One even scraped my skin, but I paid no attention to it. My mind was focused a man clad in black armor. I stopped about 3 feet away from Night Fury and aimed my rifle at his head, who was unaware of my presence. I reloaded another round in the chamber, cocked it, and without a second thought, pulled the trigger.

BANG!

A sudden burst of heat suddenly burned my skin and a wave of force threw me off balance. My rifle flew off my hands, as I fell to the ground with a searing pain on my arm. I struggled to get up on my feet, the last attack leaving my muscles sore. I suddenly hear the crackling of fire, a faint light reflecting on the ground. I look up, only to find Night Fury gripping Astrid's axe on mid-swing, while on the other hand, is his flaming sword.

He must've knocked my rifle from my hands and burnt me at the same time. I gritted my teeth. We're losing time. And I'm not the only one frustrated.

Astrid herself is struggling to maintain her attack. I could see her gritted teeth and flexed muscles on her forearms. She's probably angry that Night Fury is still holding back against us. He could just use his sword to not only disarm Astrid, but completely incapacitate her as well. But he didn't.

We need to regroup. We need to figure out another plan. With the last of my strength, I get on my feet. As soon as I was up, I ran. Towards Astrid's direction.

[Astrid's P.O.V]

"What the hell, Heather?! I had that!" I say to Heather.

To be honest, I there's no way I had that. Night Fury was about to absolutely destroy me. I could already see it. But fortunately, Heather swooped in and ran away while grabbing my arm.

We ran for about three minutes before stopping after we thought we lost him. We hid behind a bunch of large trees, dropping to the ground the second we reached it. Catching my breath, I placed Stormfly down on the ground.

"Like hell you do! He had you wrapped in his finger!" Heather retorted.

I rolled my eyes. "I know, I know. I just... hate being weak." I sighed out. "Anyway, thanks for the save."

Heather nodded in response and scanned our surrounding for any rogue Night Furies. My hand unconsciously rubbed my right palm. It was burning red and filled with scratches. Small droplets of blood were seeping out of the scratches. I must've gripped my axe too hard...

"We need a plan, Astrid." Heather announced.

"I know that. But there are certain things that we can't overcome." I muttered.

Heather frowned at me, "What's that suppose to mean? Just because Finn's plan failed, doesn't mean that everything is hopeless."

"But Finn's plan was a good one! Then he single-handedly took us all down in a blink of an eye. How do you expect us to win now?" I snapped. "Did you see how he stopped all of my attacks. I trained for two years, Heather. And I'm not even close to him. And what's with that foot?! When did he have that? Did he just decided to cut off his foot and replace it?! I mean, props to you for cutting your own leg. But who in their-"

Suddenly, I felt Heather's fist hit my shoulder. I slightly winced at the force but it wasn't that painful but what was that for? I glared at the raven-haired girl. But I was surprised to see Heather glaring back. A scowl was plastered across her face, which made me wonder why. Knowing what I was about to ask, she beats me to it.

"Shut the fuck up!"

I was shocked. Not that she told me to shut up, but the fact that I actually listened. My mouth immediately clamped shut, and my glare faded.

"I'm not good in giving pep talks so don't expect much from me. Sure, your two-year training was useless. But compared to Night Fury, you're not the only one who feels like garbage! I could barely stand in front of the guy without pissing myself!" I raised an eyebrow at that but she immediately dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "I'm pretty sure the other top agents in Drakos could barely touch Night Fury's level! Even the Alpha himself thinks that Night Fury is a fearful guy. And before you ask, my brother told me. So put down your hand."

I put down my hand.

"You're not alone, Astrid. You never are. So, get your ass up and help me beat the living hell out of that emo bastard!"

Upon hearing those words, I froze up. I sensed a hint of familiarity in them. Yes, I heard them before. I remember him telling me. Over and over again...

'Just remember, Mi'lady. You're not alone. We can do this, you and me, as one. Now, jump off the damn plane, Astrid!'

Unconsciously, a smile reached my lips. He always makes a chance to sneak into my life and change it for the better, even if I didn't ask for it. I don't know why, but whenever he talks to me, or hear his words in my head, I immediately feel calm. Maybe it's just him. Maybe his presence or the mere thought of him relaxes me. Except maybe for that time we went skydiving, then he pushed me off. Fuck you, Hayden.

Heather's face creased into a frown, "You're the first person I gave a pep-talk to. And you smiled. Is that a good thing?"

I glanced up at Heather, and shrugged. "Not bad. I know someone who's a lot better, but for your first try? Good enough."

"Great to know that I sucked." She replied with a sarcastic smile. "So what do we do now?"

"Let's go beat the shit out of Night Fury." I announce with a grin, Heather reciprocating it with more genuine one.

"Good luck with that." A familiar dark voice intervened.

The trees we were hiding in suddenly exploded. Chunks of bark and wood flew everywhere. We were forced to separate to avoid the incoming debris. Heather rolled to the left, while I grabbed Stormfly and darted across the forest. I ran slowly to conserve my energy but at the same time, ran fast enough to get away from Night Fury.

While I was running, a shadow began growing beneath my feet, followed by the sound of snapping wood and crunching branches. And it gradually got bigger. I jump out of the way before the tree's trunk fell crashing down to the ground, followed by two others. Dust puffed up from the crash, blocking my ray of vision.

"You think you can just run away?"

The voice sent chills down my spine. I can't seem to get use to it. Night Fury emerged from the dust, with his sword raised. He landed right in front of me, his blade pointed at my face. Luckily, the flames were off or my face would've been burnt off. But that doesn't change the fact that he had me cornered, once again. His hood was pull back down, freeing his disheveled auburn hair. Strands of his red-brown locks fell over his seething eyes.

"Why do you struggle to win against me? You know you'll never win." Night Fury said with no trace of smugness or pride, as if he was just stating a fact. This only made my anger grow.

"Who's to say I can't? Pretty smug of you to think of yourself to be all high and mighty!" I taunted as a poor way to get in his head.

Naturally, it didn't work.

He let out a dark chuckle in his throat but the lifelessness in his eyes remained the same, "I don't think myself as that good. I'm just saying that you're just too weak."

I don't know if it was because it was true or the way he just said it so straightforwardly, but that really struck a cord. I let out a growl and swung my axe as hard as I could. The strain made the tendons in my shoulder snap. I bit my lip to stop my scream. It felt like someone stabbed a knife in my shoulder. But once again, he grabbed the head of my axe as if it was nothing.

The pulsating purple glows burned stronger as he gripped my axe. I could already hear the metal cracking as Night Fury continued to press down his fingers against my axe. He sheathed back his sword, and let out a exasperated sigh.

"Why do you do this, Hofferson? Why do you torture yourself?!" Night Fury suddenly growled out. "I'm tired of this useless shit. You know full well that I want to fail you. That I absolutely despise you. Yet, you don't give up. This is more than just joining Drakos. You want something, and you need us to get it. So tell me, so I can tell you how worthless that goal is." He seethed out each word like venom. Normal me would've told him to fuck off like usual. But the adrenaline in me was sick and tired of Night Fury belittling me.

"You wanna know, Fury?!" And even with my injured shoulder, I pulled my axe away from his grip. My shoulder once again screamed in pain but right now, the adrenaline in me was covering it up. I raised my axe once again and brought it down on Night Fury. He raised both his arms, forming a cross to block my attack with his gauntlets. Sure enough, it stopped my attack, sparks flying everywhere as the iron axe met the scale gauntlets.

"I doing it for him..." I said, my voice barely a whisper. But Night Fury heard it. His eyes widened, shock and confusion filling them. Yup, I'm saying this right here, right now!

"This will be corny as shit but fuck it. I'm doing this for my best friend. You probably don't care about him but I do. He's an amazing human being and I probably don't deserve him as my best friend. He saved me countless times and when he disappeared, I was helpless. I thought, I thought that I had no longer the will to live. But somehow, something inside me is telling me that he's still alive. That he will still come back to me. I tried everything, the police, his dad, I even reached to the CIA. The Drakos is my last chance. If I fail, then I promise you, I'll give up. But..."

I gripped the handle of my axe tighter. Tears began brimming in my eyes. My bottom lip quivered as I try to hold back my tears. But I couldn't... Tears rolled down my cheeks like a river. My breathy gasps reverberating through the simulated forest. I could feel my heart tighten up, as if it were telling me to stop. I used the last bit of my remaining strength to push my axe down further, forcing Night Fury to his knees. I stared down at Night Fury but it shocked me to see that he wasn't even trying to fight back. His eyes were shaking, almost as if he were afraid. Nevertheless, I continued, "But I love him. I love that idiot. I want to hold him, kiss him, tell him that I love him over and over again. He showed me the real me, and he was always there for me. I wanted to show how grateful I am. How much he changed my life. I've wanted to do that for years but I was scared. Scared of rejection. When he disappeared was the only time I realized my mistake. I won't allow that to happen ever again."

"Then what if he's gone!" Night Fury suddenly yelled out. It wasn't mockery, or pity. It was a legitimate question. "What if he's no longer the same guy he used to be? What if he's dead? There a lot of risks in your goal, Hofferson. What makes you think he's even alive?"

"I don't think! I know!" I replied through clenched teeth. "Something in me is telling me he's alive. When my parents died, I felt an empty hole in my heart. Something that he filled back in when I met him. But when he went missing, I never felt anything leave. But instead I felt something pulling me, telling me, that he's alive, that he's waiting for me to come back to him. So I did, and I'll never stop trying to find him because I know, he's waiting for me. And not even you, can stop me..."

A small flicker suddenly burst in Night Fury's eyes that locked with mine. I felt the strength in his grip loosen, and that's when I know that an opening was finally exposed.

"NOW!"

Kai flung himself forward and grabbed Night Fury's leg, then he anchored his feet to the ground, not daring to let go. Night Fury himself was shocked, but he quickly recovered. He removed his left arm from blocking me to reach for his sword. I was about to yell at Night Fury to sit still and let us beat his ass when I see two hands grab Night Fury's arm.

Zythid, his face filled with bruises and scratches, continued to hold down Night Fury's arm. His forearms were already broken yet he didn't let go. I could hear his bones cracking each time his arms moved. It was so painful to hear.

"Don't worry about me, blondie! Just keep holding him down!" He shouted at me when he saw my worried face.

"This is cute."

All three of us immediately looked at Night Fury. Both his hands and his prosthetic foot was trapped. But he wasn't struggling or doing anything to fight back. As if he was... holding back? What else could he possibly have?

"You think this is enough to hold me down?" He said, amusement hinted in his tone. I fail to see how anything here is amusing. This guy is really fucking annoying. "You must be jo-"

A pair of muscular arms suddenly held Night Fury in a choke hold. Whatever plan he had in his sleeves, it has been crushed. Literally. And those arms belong to Thuggory, the knife Night Fury embedded into him still there. Judging from his animal-like growls, I bet he's not conscious and only acting through instincts alone. But that didn't matter, because he could be the final push!

"Heather... GO!" Thuggory growled out.

All of a sudden, Heather came out of nowhere with her sniper rifle in her hand. With a triumphant grin plastered on her face, she aimed her rifle at Night Fury's face. She loaded an R.I.P bullet right into the chamber and cocked it. And with one press on the trigger, it flew, piercing through the air like an inbound missile.

The bullet connected to Night Fury's mask with a loud clink, followed by a small explosion. We were forced to let go and drop to the ground as Night Fury's head snapped to the left, the impact of the explosion causing his body to fling backward and landing on the rocky ground.

He let out a pained groan, his hand holding the side of his face. He slowly got up, kneeling. A crack emitted from his mask. Followed by another. And another. Until his mask came crumbling down. Shards of his scale mask fell to the ground in almost slow motion.

Night Fury froze up, and glanced at us. We glanced at him, our expression matching his. In that moment, we realized what happened.

His mask was gone.