A/N:
Thanks for sticking around, and thank you Deadly-Bagel for all your help in smoothing out the wrinkles.

BTW, I'm totally breaking the canon rule about dragons being unable to light their fire when their head is wet. I dunno about you, but my flint sparks in the rain. Besides, the inside of my mouth is always wet and I never have any issue lighting my fire.

Dragonrider's Fury, Thank you for the kind words! You put a big smile on my face when you mentioned your sympathy for the Skrill. Skrill lives matter too!

RSegovia, thanks for dropping a line! Yep, a bit of magic. I figured I'd let Hiccup discover in the heat of the moment what the Light Fury did in Hidden World… except I didn't realize that the Light Fury went invisible as her special ability. Personally, I think a blink spell complements Toothless' build a lot better than invisibility since he already has a natural sneak buff in low-light conditions. Ya know, don't wanna min-max so much that you have no versatility, especially for a character with a lone wolf bio.


The Alphas Protect Them All

Astrid stared at Hiccup, mouth agape, blinking at the driving rain. She felt light-headed and unstable, as if in a dream, and it wasn't just because of the blood loss. Hiccup was in a proper fit of rage, the kind where his pupils narrowed to twitchy, demonic slits. She knew it was still Hiccup in there, that he was still at the helm… or was he really?

She shook herself back to reality.

Focus. Objectify. Act.

One Skrill had what appeared to be a sprained wing, and Toothless had somehow drained it of all its lightning with that lightning rod gemstone stick of his, but that was lost somewhere in the ferns. The other Skrill still had some lighting left, and it was fairly uninjured, so it was the most demanding threat, but Astrid could not find an opening to strike. She danced around the trio of dragons, looking for an opportunity to help out, but the Skrills were fast and Hiccup was a blur of fury. It didn't help that the ground was muddy and, unlike the dragons, she had no claws.

Hiccup dug his claws into one Skrill and bit down on a wing – one of the few parts of the Skrill not covered in deadly spikes – breaking the main bone with a jerk of his neck. It was the one that was sprained already, but any minor victory was still a victory. He was about to lunge forward for a killing bite when he noticed the other Skrill taking off. If it was allowed to fly up to the clouds to gather more lightning, things would only get worse, but before Astrid could even begin to shift her grip to throw her ax, the dragon's tail was in Hiccup's maw. A bolt of lightning made him yelp and flop bonelessly to the ground so that the Skrill could fly up unhindered, but it was a weak strike, and he continued his motion to roll back onto all fours – and inadvertently blocking an ax throw.

Just in case he had any reservations, Astrid yelled, "Go!" and Hiccup turned and launched himself into the air. She could handle one crippled dragon so that he could take care of the other.

Said dragon, which had retreated into the forest, leaped out into the clearing and Astrid ran at it with a battle cry. She feinted left and then rolled right to clear the snap of those vicious teeth, rounding the dragon along the side of its broken wing. It spun around and swiped its good wing, forcing Astrid to jump back, and the dragon continued pressing towards her, forcing her to roll to the side and sprint a few strides to create some space.

As she continued to dance around it, she began to realize that this battle was not so cut-and-dry. This was not the first time she wished she had a more appropriate weapon, like a spear. Her trusty ax was great when she could get in close, but with spikes protruding from almost every surface, and with how quick this dragon was, it wasn't the best option. A thrown ax might take it down, or maybe not, but either outcome would rob her of her main weapon. A quick glance at Toothless, who was holding the dagger that she had handed him earlier in the fight, confirmed that he also knew to keep his distance.

A stream of white-hot fire shot past her, the only available contribution from Stormfly until her wings and legs stopped spasming from the lightning strike she'd taken earlier. The fire glanced off the Skrill's flank and caused it to shriek in pain, but it wasn't anything debilitating.

An explosion cracked the sky above with a flash of purple light, and Astrid looked up to see Hiccup way up there, attacking the other Skrill. It was hard to tell, but assuming Hiccup was the speck that overtook the other one, it looked like he was doing just fine considering he was weary before he even took flight.

"RAAA!"

Toothless' battle cry snapped Astrid's attention back to the ground where he was running in from the side toward the Skrill, who was running at her. In that instant, as Astrid jumped aside from a snapping maw, she realized that her lapse in concentration would cost her dearly. A claw from the Skrill's wing punched into her thigh and sent her spinning midair, and the blow made her scream in pain, but that was quickly cut off when a tail slammed into her stomach to send her flying across the ground. She braced for impact and tumbled until she slammed into the base of a tree.

Pain shot up and down her back, almost intense enough to cover up the searing gash in her hip. She forced herself to her hands and knees, and it wasn't until then that she realized she must have dropped her ax. Toothless stood in front of her with her ax in his hands, facing the Skrill that was sprinting at them.

The sky lit up white and Astrid looked up, but her heart sank. Lightning could mean only one thing. The Skrill had managed to reach the storm clouds and refill. Even if the strike didn't kill Hiccup, it would have stunned him, and that would still be deadly so high up.

But it was worse than that. It wasn't just one flash of lightning, but a sustained crackling in the clouds, and though Astrid could not see any detail from so far away, she knew who was at the center of it all. The entire sky lit up and pulsated bright white as lightning danced all around Hiccup, all of it being absorbed by him. The Skrill was literally cooking him alive!

Whatever fighting spirit that had remained in Astrid suddenly whiffed away.

"Hiccup!" she cried out in despair. It was all over. He was dead. There was no question about it. Just like that, taken away. "HICCUP!"

There was no more will to survive, not that there was any hope of surviving this. She could only stare in shock, expecting that, before the Skrill on the ground would maul and eviscerate her, she would have a moment to see Hiccup's lifeless body tumbling in the winds, dragging a trail of smoke, plummeting to–

A deafening crack of thunder rattled her. Purple fire and smoke flashed in front of her. It took her a moment to realize that the Skrill that was about to eviscerate her and Toothless had been slammed to the side mid-leap. It took her another moment to realize that the intercepting projectile that had just saved her life was a black dragon, and that it was Hiccup, and that he was not dead.

Indeed, he was as alive as ever, thrashing and biting at the Skrill before they even slammed into the ground. An ethereal blue glow seeped out from between his scales and along the spines on his back, just like a year ago when Toothless occupied that body and literally blasted Drago's Bewilderbeast into submission.

"How…" was all she could say. She saw the lightning up in the clouds. She heard the thunder. Even if Hiccup had somehow survived that, there was no way he cleared that distance in an instant of time.

"Yes!" Toothless shouted exuberantly. "I not know how, but bite him! Tear him up! Ha!"

The fight was not as one-sided as it was before, though. Hiccup was faltering, his strength was failing, and Astrid had no doubt that he was overheated – a common problem with creatures that could not sweat.

It didn't matter. Astrid saw her opportunity, and she was a woman of action. She yelled through the pain as she stood and grabbed the ax from Toothless' hands. Hiccup had his teeth on the Skrill's good wing, trying to stay along its backside, and the Skrill was thrashing around, trying to get at Hiccup.

"Hold!" Astrid commanded as she stepped forward and threw her ax. It sailed through the air and sank into the Skrill's neck. The dragon gurgled as it flopped and thrashed around, and Hiccup gladly let it go to flop on the ground.

She turned to face the other Skrill, which was just arriving to join the fight. It slammed into the ground with an enraged screech and a crackle of lightning, feeling out the situation, not entirely sure if it should rush them or wait.

Astrid's heart plummeted. Even three against one, there was no chance of them beating this Skrill as it showed no signs of weariness, and if that wasn't bad enough, Toothless was nowhere to be seen. Astrid knew that she would go down fighting, but unless her ax suddenly flew into her hands, Stormfly stopped spasming, and Hiccup's vitality was instantly rejuvenated, their fate was sealed.

"Uhhh," she said uncertainly. She met Hiccup's eyes, and the sight was not promising. He was clearly fighting just to stay awake. Astrid wanted to say something encouraging about how they had this in the bag, or that they would be fine, but she never was one for platitudes and empty affirmations. All she could do was force a smile and say, "I love you, Babe."

Hiccup warbled as he stood a little straighter, his legs shaking.

Astrid idly flipped her bush knife in her hand as she stared down the Skrill. "You don't scare me." That was a lie. "I will kill you, Skrill. I'll cut your throat open and–"

"No you not!" came the voice of Toothless. He strode towards the Skrill with his dagger held out in one hand, shouting with absolute confidence, "You hate black dragon, huh? You want kill black dragon? Kill Night Fury?" He stopped and squared off. "I am Night Fury! I am black dragon!"

Astrid and Hiccup groaned in unison.

The Skrill prowled around them, but Toothless faced it down with a look of confidence and boredom. "I am Night Fury," he said again. "I am your enemy." He flicked a glance at Hiccup. "Tell her, Firefly. Show her."

Hiccup whined.

"SHOW HER!" Toothless roared.

Astrid finally found her tongue. "Wha– what in Thor's name do you think–"

He cut her off with a stern look and a hand held up, which she noticed held the strange gemstone that had started all this trouble.

The Skrill clawed at the ground and screeched at Toothless. Apparently, Hiccup had complied. The cat was out of the bag. Between dragons, it would have taken hardly the blink of an eye to share every detail of the soul swap, and dragons were incapable of lying. Dragons saw the mind more than the body, so when the Skrill turned its full attention on Toothless, Astrid wasn't surprised in the least bit. Instead, she was simply terrified.

Toothless flicked a glance back at Astrid and said, "Hide, trust." Turning to the Skrill, he shouted, "Yes, I am black dragon! And I! Will! Kill! You!"

In the same moment that Toothless started charging forward with his dagger held out, the Skrill ran at him with an angry hiss. Astrid cringed at the macabre sight she knew she was about to witness–

At the last moment, Toothless dropped his dagger and slid down on his knees as he kicked off to the side. Astrid barely caught sight of something sailing into the Skrill's open maw. Toothless barely ducked away from a snap of the teeth and under a swipe of a wing as he tumbled away and scrambled up to his feet.

Hiccup ran up, panting deeply, and Toothless frantically jumped into the saddle. "Fly, Firefly! Fly!"

Hiccup cast a quick glance at Astrid to make sure that she was alright, but there was no need to worry. The Skrill completely ignored her in its blind haste to rush at the mind of a Night Fury riding the body of one. Hiccup was already taking off, yowling through the cramps as he hastily fled upward. Astrid managed to throw her knife and stick it in below the Skrill's wing, but the dragon ignored it entirely.

Astrid had no clue what was going through that rider's mind, or how making his exhausted Night Fury fly could have possibly been a good idea, but it was out of her hands now, so she turned her attention to the other Skrill sprawled out nearby. It was wheezing and gurgling, still alive, but soon to be dead, not a threat at all.

Its eyes met hers, and they stared at each other for a while.

"You have my ax," she said coldly.

Stomfly's cawing caught her attention and she turned to see her dragon unsteadily trying to get her talons under her. Astrid picked up and sheathed the dagger that Toothless had dropped and turned to limp toward her dragon, thankful that her injuries hadn't become stiff and tender yet.

Over her shoulder, she said, "Keep it. You've earned it."

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Hiccup forced himself to take deep breaths instead of shallow panting as he powered up through the pelting rain. He had been entirely drained of any strength, but seeing his rider almost die had given him a little kick, as did the pain from a twisted sensor lobe. Toothless was not cruel, but he knew what would work.

{What were you thinking, Toothless, when you threw that gemstone into the Skrill's mouth? Were you hoping she would choke on it?}

Toothless responded with a cheerful voice, "Hope? Yes. Believe? No."

Hiccup heard the crackling of lightning from behind as the female Skrill absorbed it all to prepare a blast. Without their gemstone lightning rod, though, they were doomed. Hiccup sighed. At least they distracted the Skrill for a little bit. Maybe, Stormfly had already shaken off the effects of the lightning bolt and was flying Astrid to safety.

A frustrated hiss sounded out behind him when no lightning bolt reached out to smite them. Hiccup could sense the Skrill's frustration that her enemies were not dead. Apparently, she was having trouble shooting them with her lightning.

"Ha!" Toothless cheered.

Hiccup was encouraged when he looked back at his rider's wolfish grin. {You were expecting this? How are we not dead?}

"I not tell you. Skrill will hear." He turned back to the Skrill in hot pursuit and shouted, "Hey, Skrill, I kill you!

Again, lighting crackled around the Skrill that was now flying close to their side, but there was no lighting bolt of death.

{Are you sure that it's a good idea to make her even angrier?}

The Skrill swooped at them as sparks lanced all across her body. Hiccup frantically summoned the strength to twist around so that Toothless was out of harm's way, and the Skrill managed to rake his flank. He welcomed the pain, though, as it gave him a little more strength.

However, there was still no lightning.

"Ha! You a worm!" Toothless roared at the Skrill.

{I'm so confused! I saw her swallow the gemstone, but how is that saving us?}

The Skrill rushed him again, but Hiccup managed to present a toothy maw and his claws, forcing her to veer around.

"Not now!" he hissed. "I smash your eggs and eat them!" he shouted to the Skrill.

The Skrill shot forward and they clawed at each other's bellies for a moment. Lightning crackled along her scales, but, again, there was no bolt of death.

As they separated, Toothless leaned down low over his dragon's head. "Tell her of time you kill that one Skrill." Hiccup whined. "Do it! Trust me, Firefly, as I did always trust you!"

Hiccup complied and projected a burst, a memory of a time four years ago when a Skrill attacked him and Toothless. Toothless, then a dragon as usual, was struck by lightning and unable to even crawl, and the Skrill grabbed Hiccup in her maw. She knew that he was precious to Toothless and so planned to keep him alive, play with him and torture him to torture the Night Fury, but she never anticipated a knife through the roof of her mouth and right into her brain. It broke Hiccup a little on the inside to do it, but the thought of the trauma Toothless would have endured, let alone the realization that she would have killed him too, forced his hand.

A screech sounded out their adversary's murderous intent, and the entire sky lit up with a nonstop crackling of uncountable arcs of lightning, all converging on the Skrill. She flew above them and swooped in, heedless of any retaliatory threat.

And then, she was entirely silent. The world seemed to become instantly still and quiet, even though the wind still howled and the rain still pelted his scales. The passive mental hum of all living creatures was something Hiccup had become accustomed to, always there and providing information but not claiming his concentration, like how various sounds of a grinding wheel would sing a hundred details about the blade he was sharpening. The hum of the female Skrill was whisked away and silenced, and it was with a stab of regret that Hiccup sensed her mind instantly dissolve into nothing.

A limp and lifeless body brushed against him as it began to plummet.

{You killed her!} He did not restrain his disappointment.

"I did say I would!" Toothless howled. When he saw his dragon's sad eyes looking back at him, he shrunk in on himself. Suddenly, he sat up and pointed down. "Catch it!" he shouted. "Make sure it land on island! We need get stone out of belly."

Hiccup forced himself to comply, shaking away the feeling of loss. He would have certain words with Toothless… later, when he could follow the appropriate protocol of heavy dragon rump on rider.

"I know how feel," Toothless said as they plummeted downwards. "It affect me first time, but I get used to it."

Hiccup keened. This was not his way to solve problems. It went against everything he stood for, starting with the time he released the greatest enemy to his people.

"You do good, Firefly. Act now, think later."

They caught up to and bumped into the plummeting Skrill, and Hiccup distractedly clawed at the body to grab onto it and steer its descent towards the island. He aimed for the clearing near where Astrid was standing by Stormfly.

{I don't like this at all.}

"Eyes on prey."

{My prey is in my paws, and I hate myself for that!}

He looked back at Toothless, who licked his lips. "I sorry, Firefly. We talk later? Just land now."

Hiccup gladly relinquished his burden and channeled all his effort into avoiding slamming into the ground. He spread his wings wide and managed to hold them steady long enough to brake against the wind in a circle around the field before flopping to the ground and sliding to a stop on the slick grass.

Astrid was on one knee, leaning against the leg of Stormfly, who was now standing. She was a muddy and bloody mess, but she found the energy to let out a cheer and pump her fist in victory. Toothless was whooping with joy. Hiccup, though, forced his eyes to remain open as he looked at the dead female Skrill, crumpled from the impact, then at the almost dead male. While he could not see any other course, he did not like his destination. However, with a mind adept at logic and memory but void of imagination, he was helpless to have plotted an alternate course.

The male Skrill, though still alive, wasn't making any attempts to project anything. His passive hum was only melancholy loss.

Hiccup sluggishly turned his head to face the Skrill, his chest heaving through deep breaths. {I did not want any harm to come to you or your mate, Skrill. I wish I could show Skrills and Night Furies that you only hurt yourself by hunting down the other.}

He wasn't expecting a reply, so he yelped in surprise when he got one. {Your land-strider thinking is foolish. We hunt black dragons because they hunt us. They are the cause of the problem.}

Hiccup shook his head, but he regretted doing so as it sent the world spinning. {It does not matter how a problem is created, only how it is resolved. The damage has been done and both types of dragons are nearly extinct.}

{Then the problem is nearly resolved.}

Hiccup whined at that. Toothless gave a pat on his neck. "Not your fault, Firefly. You do good. Not blame yourself when you not know how do better. Rest now."

The pull of sleep was irresistible, and with the only potential threat currently choking on his own blood, he knew that he could finally give in to it.

He took a moment to press his snout into Toothless' hand. {Please, at least put that male Skrill out of his misery. We have caused enough suffering already.}

Toothless turned to give him a surprised look, not that he knew as he was already asleep.

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Toothless felt... He didn't know how he felt.

Before this day, he had thought that the world was rid of the abominable Skrill. When he discovered the pair in this storm, he thought that there was a certain justice to the last known Night Fury taking out the last known Skrills. Both species of dragons were doomed to extinction eventually, he realized this now, but he would end them before they could end him.

Even if he did it in a land-strider's body, and it was only now that he realized that this was why he felt…

He still didn't know how he felt.

He looked down at his hands, the same hands that had reached up to pluck a Night Fury from the sky and then reached down to put him back up there again. These same hands, guided by his land-strider imagination, had stolen the lightning from one Skrill and then killed the other by turning her own lightning against herself.

When he had formed his hasty plan to make her so enraged that she would unthinkingly swallow the gemstone he tossed into her mouth, he had a suspicion that it would still absorb her lightning. He had no clue how long that would last, or what would happen if it stopped, so he figured that if he kept her angry and continually zapping the stone… something would happen. It was very fortunate that this something involved cooking her from the inside out with her own lightning.

Astrid crouched down next to Firefly, who was fast asleep, sprawled out on his side on the rain-sodden grass, then briefly glanced up at Toothless. "Judging by the fact that you're not freaking out, I guess he's alright?"

Toothless nodded. Firefly could rest for now, but food was what he really needed. He would get that soon enough.

Astrid then stood and flung her arms around Toothless, squeezing him in a hug, but then she winced at the pain. "Ugh, I think I broke a rib, thank the gods it's not stiff and sore yet." She held his shoulders at arms-length. "But I can't believe it! I thought we were all toast, but you did it!" She paused in thought for a moment. "What did you do up there?"

"Gemstone," Toothless said with a smile. "Lightning hate it more than iron. Make Skrill angry, make her swallow it. Lightning hit it, so it stay in her. Then, I guess it not take any more, so lightning burn her from inside. Not think of that if I dragon."

Stormfly shakily walked over to them, hissing at her frustration of having been taken out of the fight so early on and chittering her praise for Toothless and his Firefly.

A question suddenly came to Toothless. "Why you here? How you know we need help? It long flight to here, so how you know yesterday?"

Astrid smiled as she knelt by Firefly's head and gently stroked his snout. "I couldn't get to sleep last night, and I just felt… I felt… I needed to be somewhere, to do something. Suiting up and grabbing my ax made me feel better." She kissed Firefly's snout. "Call it a gut feeling. The thought of flying off to find you two just–"

"Just felt right," Toothless said through a chuckle. "You know how much I hear Firefly say that? I feel like I shed all my scales each time." He looked over at the male Skrill, which still wasn't dead yet, and started to walk towards it. "We kill him now."

"Leave it," Astrid said dismissively with a wave of her hand. "It'll be dead soon. Why take any risk to end its suffering?" She noticed Toothless looking at his Firefly and scowled. "Of course, Hiccup, right. He's out cold, though, so it doesn't matter."

Toothless paused to stare at her for a moment before continuing. "He want it. I want it."

"You're hopeless, both of you," she said, but she limped on to catch up, pressing the handle of a dagger into his hand. "I suppose it's only right that you claim the kill anyway, you offspring of lightning and death. Those who I care about are safe, now, that is all that matters to me."

Toothless smiled at her. "Same."

The Skrill was laid out on his side. His torso barely swelled at all with each shallow, gurgling breath. He was feebly stretching out towards the dead female on the other side of the clearing, but then his eyes landed on the approaching figures and his body went completely limp. He knew he was about to die, and he accepted it. That, at least, Toothless could respect.

Everything else, though...

"If you let us go, your mate would be alive now," Toothless said coldly. "You did this to yourself."

With that, he braced his hand holding the dagger against his hip and thrust it into the back of the dragon's neck, between where he could see two vertebrae were joined. The blade skipped to the side, but he bent down and jerked it up with all his strength, and it bit into the soft spot between the vertebrae. He hauled up on the handle again, driving it in deeper, and one more heave drove the blade all the way through.

The deed was done, and the Skrill was dead.

As he wearily turned to walk away, Astrid limped along with him, and Stormfly offered a snout as support for both of them.

"Considering the history between Night Furies and Skrills," Astrid said over the snout, "I bet you found that to be quite satisfying."

Toothless stole a glance at his unconscious Firefly. Firefly always saw death as nothing other than a mistake that could never be fixed, a lazy solution for the incompetent. Somehow, time after time, when he could do things his way, he would make his enemies love him as loyal allies, starting with the dragon he shot down but could not bring himself to finish off. Were he in his land-strider body, with his land-strider imagination, he would have found a way to make the Skrills love him so he wouldn't have to kill them, somehow. It was the Firefly way to do things, and though Toothless could not see any acceptable alternative, he realized that he had taken this possibility away.

He still didn't know how he felt.

"No, actually, I not."