Hello! I am so sorry this is late! I stayed up until 2am writing it last night, and must have completely forgotten to post it haha.You guys because your support on the last chapter was absolutely AMAZING and I am mind blown, so thank you all so much. Just a warning: as this was written at such an ungodly hour last night, there will almost definitely be a few typos and errors, so my deepest apologies in advance.
Anyways, here is the part a lot of you have been desperately waiting for, so I hope you enjoy, and I shall see yo all later for the final 12 Days of Snoggletog story! *Cries internally*
.oOo.
The shock jolted through Astrid's body like a bolt of electricity hitting every nerve. She let out an audible gasp as she continued to stare cautiously at the vast arena in front of her, where Hiccup was standing, looking as vulnerable as ever.
She wanted nothing more than to lash out, and fly down their to strangle Viggo herself, but she knew it would be no good. The most she could do was watch, and pray the others found them quickly.
And so she watched, as Hiccup was thrown into battle once more with danger and death.
.oOo.
"Okay, Hiccup. Stay calm," His little pep-talk to himself made not a blind bit of difference as he stood, arms braced out in front of him, prepared to encounter all forms of possible mortality suckers.
The jaws of the Snow Wraith's cage we're beginning to open slowly as the hunters above excitedly pulled the thick wooden bar holding the doors in place up towards the ceiling.
a ground-breaking, earth-shattering roar came from within, and he felt himself flinch involuntarily, much to the amusement of the men above.
And that was when it burst free.
Wings with a span of at least two viking longships filled the entire arena. Jaws three times as thick as the ice which Hiccup had been trapped under just days before, and razor sharp teeth snarling down at him as he growled. His burly scales were as white as the deep snow surrounding them, fitting with it's breed. And it's bright red eyes, flaming with anger from captivity, pierced through Hiccup's soul, as he momentarily stood helpless in front of it.
The Snow Wraith. Bigger and mightier than ever, and most definitely ready for a fight.
Without a further moment's hesitation, Hiccup sprung into action, leaping over to the one stray shield he had notice discarded at one of the blocked-off exits. It was flimsier and weaker than he had anticipated, which he presumed must have been his father's thoughts when he had been born, but it would do the trick nonetheless.
If only he had still been conscious immediately after the ice trap incident. The Snow Wraith tracks body heat, and with absolutely none of it back then, this fight would have been made ten times easier. Then again, if he had been conscious immediately afterwards, he probably would have caught Viggo in time to get the true dragon eye and the Snow Wraith.
They dragon was swerving around and around in circles in attempts to locate his prey.
Let's get this over and done with, shall we? Hiccup thought, wincing to himself as he did.
In one quick, fluid motion, he whipped off his peg leg and began hammering it off of the middle of the shield.
"Hey you! Over here!"
The noise aught to draw his attention, He thought. Then we'll go from there.
The dragon's head spun around like a spinning top as he finally locked eyes on Hiccup. The young Viking felt himself begin to sweat slightly, which did not help him in the slightest as the last thing he needed wa another thing for the creature to be attracted to.
It had definitely grown since Hiccup had last seen it, perhaps a late bloomer by a few underfed years, having just reached adolescence, or maybe the toxic treatment from the Grimborn brothers has just made him reach his breaking point.
Suddenly, the battle was in full swing, as the Snow Wraith charged at Hiccup, teeth bared and claws outstretched.
And Hiccup had just moments to contemplate his next move.
.oOo.
"Doesn't look like much training to me," Ryker remarked and nudged his brother's arm, as he sat, fascinated by Hiccup's every move.
"No matter. My only use for it is it's teeth. Perhaps it'll kindly leave one impaling Hiccup's dead body for us."
"Are you really going t let it kill him?" Ryker asked, shock that Viggo was actually staying true to his statement. "I mean, don't you have any further use for him?"
"As I said dear brother, he is a worthy opponent. Key word- opponent. He will never abide by us for as long as we kill dragons. It's business. He may be a smart man, but he's smart enough not to do any of our bidding if not forced into doing so. So, it's his choice here. He can either train the Snow Wraith and live another day, or he can die protecting what he loves. Yes, I may have possibly had further use for him in the future," He turned to look Ryker dead in the eye. "But life is like a game of Maces and Talons. If you have the opportunity to win, you take it. It doesn't matter what collateral damage occurs along the way."
And with that, the two sat backwards, amused at the idea of Hiccup's potential downfall.
.oOo.
It was coming for him. Racing. Charging like a bill towards a sheet of red cloth that it will never catch. Hiccup was frozen as he watched it do so. And then, just moments before it hit him, he dropped off of his one remaining leg and slid across the had stone ground, right through the legs of the beast, and it glanced around in furious confusion.
He'd bought himself a few seconds.
He used this time to rip off any layers of clothing which weren't completely necessary. His fur, his armour, his belt... It left him far more exposed to the danger than he had been before- not only the danger of the Snow Wraith, but the danger of frostbite too. Yet, the colder he got, the less danger he may have needed to face, as long as he stayed in control.
His discarded clothes lay in a heap on the ground, and he dive into a somersault, just in time for the Snow Wraith to snap its gaping jaws at him.
He had to move, and quickly.
The dance they were doing continued on for a while, and Hiccup found himself gasping for air and shivering violently from the cold.
And then it came. The true moment of adrenaline.
The rope which had been securing the log to the door was still hanging limply from the bars creating the ceiling and Hiccup decided to use it to his advantage.
Rapidly tying the string to secure his prosthetic, he ran for it, straight towards the wall where the rope was.
He was travelling at what seemed like the speed of lightning, though it felt like once again the world was thrust into slow motion.
Charging towards it, he knew there was no stopping now, not even when his face was almost making contact with the wall.
His feet were raised behind him, one by one as he sprinted, sheer determination being the only thing on his face. In his mind.
And then he jumped.
Flying through the air as he did when he was atop Toothless' back, he soared into the sky, and grasped the rope in his left hand.
Then using his leg, he pushed away from the wall, spun himself around and leapt once again.
He was gliding, his legs flailing around slightly as he prepared the for landing...
...right onto the Snow Wraith's back.
The creature roared, and pranced about, shaking it's head violently in attempts to throw the heir of Berk off of him.
But Hiccup, being as stubborn as ever, was not for budging and took absolutely every hit the Snow Wraith thrust upon him.
He was being battered/thrown up and down and having his back crushed up against walls, and yet he held on strong.
And when the creature slowed for a moment, that's when Hiccup did it.
Thrusting hi hand under the dragon's nostrils, it inhaled his scent and froze for a moment. A split second of agony where every set of building eyes was upon them, Viggo's as raging as ever.
"Let's go, shall we?" Hiccup whispered into the Snow Wraith's ear, and it let out the loudest cry you would ever have heard before it propelled itself upwards, and burst straight through the bars enclosing them in the arena.
It stretched high into the air, before swooping back downwards to the ground where a shadowy black creature was charging at them.
Hiccup leapt off of the Snow Wraith in an instant, despite still being mid-air, and raced towards the creature, immediately mounting it, and clicking it's tail fin into place.
"Toothless!" He cried out in tired, freezing joy. "Boy am I glad to se you. Let's go, and quickly."
And the dragon and rider, along with the early free Snow Wraith took off into the air, meeting halfway an extremely shocked crowd of dragon riders, who quickly caught on and commenced the flight alongside them.
Screams and shouts of fury were raging below them, and arrows were being shot awkwardly here, there and everywhere, but Hiccup continued on, cold but unfazed.
He knew he had won against Viggo once again.
.oOo.
There was silence for a while. Complete silence which nobody dared break.
The flight home was tense and hollow, as if well-needed answers were not being given.
It was Astrid who finally broke the quiet.
"Hiccup, what in Thor's name was tha- oh my, are you okay? Hiccup, you're blue!" The boy had turned a terrifyingly pale colour, far paler than usual, and looked just as he had when he had emerged from the ice.
"I-I-I-I-I'm fine," He stammered, shivering like anything. "I'm just a bit c-c-c-c-cold."
"Here," Astrid nervously whipped off her jacked at handed it to Hiccup, who protested at first, before taking it gratefully. Toothless warbled with concern.
And the silence re-occurred.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, it just wouldn't have worked as well-"
"Worked as well?! Hiccup, you mean almost getting yourself killed was your plan?!" Astrid was basically yelling, her voice raised and angry.
"I didn't- I mean- I-" Hiccup's voice was hoarse, and he spoke nervously. Finally, he sighed, and caved, spilling the truth to all of the riders. "Okay, fine. It was my plan. I had to talk you out of going straight to attack Viggo by enhancing my 'lack of planning' whilst also alerting you to my later whereabouts in case something went wrong. The plan was to go to the Grimborn's island, which we already knew was extremely heavily fortified, and get myself captured, looking like a fool. With the Snow Wraith and no other means to get it's tooth than going near it, which we all know is nearly impossible, I knew Viggo would attempt to make me do it, by training it in the arena. So I used that to my advantage, and played straight into his hands, before using my previous friendship with the Snow Wraith to escape alongside it."
"But what previous friendship? Hiccup, the last time I checked, it almost killed us," Snotlout butted in, questioningly.
Hiccup sighed again.
"Do you remember the day of the ice incident, when I said I was going out on a flight to clear my head?" Everyone nodded.
"No... so that meant you have went to tame the Snow Wraith?!" Fishlegs sounded terrified whilst he was fangirling at the same time. "And yo must have succeeded to pull that off?!!"
"Yip," He winced in momentary thought. "And I can tell you it was not the easiest of tasks." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a large scratch cutting right down the centre of his arm.
Astrid hissed through her teeth in shock.
"Nice scratch, my man!" Tuffnut exclaimed, and head butted Ruffnut when Hiccup left him hanging for a high-five.
"Of course you managed to train the untrainable, vicious, people-eating dragon," Snotlout signalled to where the Snow Wraith was gliding gently beside them.
Hiccup laughed. "As I said, it wasn't exactly easy. I was still cold from being trapped under the ice, so once I'd fully formed the plan, I set of for Glacier Island immediately. We flew around for a bit, scanning for danger, before Toothless and I found it atop a mountain. It was constantly attempting to kill us, until it blasted me off of Toothless' back, and we fell to the ground in a heap. The Snow Wraith approached us, and I could have sworn he was going to kill us, until it simply sniffed. I stood up, did the 'hand thing', as you call it, and that was that. It just had to know that even when it didn't have the high-ground, we didn't want to harm it, just like we didn't want to take it down when it did."
"Awesome! Maybe that would work for all untrainable dragons!"
"I'm not sure about you, Fishlegs, but I don't fancy lying down in front of a group of Speedstingers!"
Everyone laughed, and split into their own separate conversations, leaving Hiccup and Astrid alone on the flight.
"Hiccup, what you did back there was amazing, and we have the Snow Wraith, but what about the Dragon Eye? Now Viggo has it, he's just going to try to take the dragon again, isn't he?"
"Nope, because he doesn't have the Dragon Eye," Hiccup fumbled about, before pulling a perfectly polished, unscathed Dragon Eye out of Toothless' saddle bag.
"But what- How did you- How on earth-"
"Once I got captured, and the hunters wee distracted, Toothless ran off, to where they presumed as safety, but we presumed as finding and stealing the Dragon Eye. Since almost all of the hunters, plus Viggo and Ryker, were at the arena, watching me 'train' the Snow Wraih, Toothless easily took out the few guarding it, and stole it for us, just as we had planned. Isn't that right, Bud?" He scratched under the Nightfury's chin, and he warbled back in delight. "I know it wasn't easy leaving me with them, but you were amazing. My best Bud."
There was silence again for a little while, before Astrid reached over and punched Hiccup in the arm.
"Ow! Okay, you don't need to tell me what that one was for, I can already guess."
And Astrid smiled, leapt onto Toothless' back and pulled him into a kiss.
"And that's for being the smartest, most perfect boyfriend, viking and future chief ever."
The flight home through the snow had finally been made perfect, with their safety finally intact, and their romance as strong as ever.
"I know it's a few days late, but Happy Snoggletog, M'lady."
"Happy Snoggletog, Dragon Boy."