Author's Note: *Screams* I'm in SUCH a good mood today! =D Why? Because next week is my LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! *Dances around like a maniac* I didn't think this time would EVER come! Next week Friday shall be the beginning of my summer break! =D Eeeeeeeeee, I'm so excited! =DDD

...Maybe a little over excited...It's not even next week Monday but here I am. All excited for summer, ahaha. X)

Hey everyone! =D Welcome back to another chapter of "Sleepless Nights on Dragon's Edge!" =D We only have three more chapters to go until this story is finished, and, wow, I just can't believe this story is almost over already...X) I'm also super glad that a lot of you guys have been enjoying it so far. =D And I hope ya stick around until the end! =D

Anyway, right down below is chapter number nineeeee. =D It's a short one, but it was intentional. =D Sometimes, the short stuff is pretty important to a plot. X) I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! =D

Chapter Nine: Retreating and Replanning

He knew retreating didn't mean you lost, but he couldn't help but feel as if he'd failed.

Shortly after Hiccup and the Dragon Riders landed on Dragon's Edge, the Dragon Hunters ships had sailed off in the opposite direction, carrying Midnight with them. Hiccup felt horrible that he had left the Dreamcatcher behind. She was injured, scared, and had no idea where she was…Not only that, but she was separated from her eggs, which could hatch at any moment. Hiccup hoped that Midnight's eggs wouldn't hatch until they were reunited with their mother. To have the baby dragons emerge into the world with no mother in sight was something that Hiccup didn't want the baby dragons to go through. Hiccup couldn't imagine how terrified Midnight must be, and that only made his inclination to save her even stronger.

But the question was, how? How were he and the Dragon Riders going to fly in and save her before the Hunters disappeared from the oceans? Hiccup couldn't imagine how terrified Midnight must be, and that only made his inclination to save her even stronger. But the Riders were exhausted and completely winded, and Hiccup knew that even he needed to refresh before he could fly out and save Midnight, even though he really wanted to right then.

The Dragon Riders and their dragons trudged to the Clubhouse, moving as if their legs were stuck in thick, adhesive mud. Each of them were exhausted and burned out, and the very thought of flying back into battle made them want to collapse. Once inside, the dragons huddled into small heaps on the floor, their heads tucked in their paws. The Dragon Riders toppled into chairs and let out long, weary sighs in unison. The room stayed silent, as the Riders felt too tired to speak. Hookfang, Barf and Belch, and Meatlug had promptly fallen asleep once they had hit the ground. Toothless, however, stayed wide awake, keeping a close eye on his rider.

Hiccup had been running on adrenaline the entire battle. Then, he felt like he could save Midnight and defeat the Hunters in one go, but now his fatigue had caught up with him, and he was more tired than ever. He had been awake since the night the Dragon Riders had first attempted to catch Midnight, and he hadn't had a wink of sleep since. Hiccup ran a hand across his forehead, quickly withdrawing it when pain flashed across his head. The sword slash that he had received from the Dragon Hunter in the woods was still there, clear as day. The wound hadn't stopped bleeding either.

Astrid noticed this and she stood up, wincing slightly due to the pain in her leg. "I'll get some gauze to patch that up," she said.

Hiccup shook his head. "Your leg is hurt. I'll get it myself."

"It's just a scratch," Astrid said bluntly.

"No, it's not," argued Hiccup. He nodded toward Astrid's leg. "You're barely putting any pressure on it."

Astrid shifted her leg out of Hiccup's sight and she crossed her arms, irritation written across her face. "Do you want my help or not?"

"I'd appreciate it," Hiccup admitted. "But you need to rest."

"My gods, I'll get the stupid gauze!" Snotlout burst out in exasperation. He stomped toward the storage room muttering, "Hiccstrid, get a room for Thor's sake!"

When Snotlout left, the room settled down. Hiccup couldn't help but let his thoughts drift back to Midnight and what condition she could be in. What were the Dragon Hunters going to do to her? Did Viggo or Ryker have any part in this plan? Hiccup closed his eyes and let out a weary sigh; things weren't going very well.

Snotlout returned and he tossed the roll of gauze in Astrid's direction. She caught it with ease and stood up, hobbling over to Hiccup's chair so she could wrap his head. The young viking stayed as still as he could as Astrid wrapped the soft gauze around his head, and once she was done, Astrid began to wrap her own leg with gauze to stop the bleeding.

"Soooo…" Tuffnut started slowly. "What are we gonna do now that Midnight's gone?"

"We all saw the direction the Hunters were headed in," said Snotlout as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "We can easily go after them! And they came in a large fleet. That can't be hard to spot."

"But we can't fly in without a plan," Fishlegs said. And to be frank, none of the Dragon Riders wanted to fly out to see to track down the Dragon Hunters. They were all too whipped.

"We'll rest first," said Hiccup. "And while we do, we can come up with a plan to save Midnight and stop the Dragon Hunters."

Ruffnut shook her head. "Hiccup…Do you even know what resting is? If we're still thinking, then we're not resting."

Hiccup blinked in bemusement, and Astrid surprisingly agreed with Ruffnut.

"She's right," Astrid said, earning baffled looks from the Dragon Riders, including Ruffnut. "The way Ruffnut worded it was absurd, but we should take a break, meaning that we won't think about the Dragon Hunters until we're all nice and refreshed. Let's get our dragons something to eat and drink and turn into our huts. We'll meet up later in the afternoon once we're fully rested."

As much as Hiccup didn't want to, he nodded in agreement. He wanted to save Midnight—he really, really did—but he allowed his tiredness to gain the best of him. And Astrid would've dragged him to his bed anyway if he had said no.

The Dragon Riders headed over to the Dragon Stables and gave their dragons their usual servings of fish and a cool bucket of water to top off the meal. Once the dragons were tucked inside, the Riders departed for their own huts. Astrid followed Hiccup as he walked to his hut; she sensed that he would probably want some extra company. The Hofferson limped slightly due to her injured leg, but she had no trouble in keeping up with Hiccup, who was still rather wobbly on his feet. Hiccup hadn't fully recovered from his head injuries, but he was determined to walk to his hut on his own. Astrid and Toothless steadied Hiccup whenever he nearly fell over, and the three gradually made it to Hiccup's hut. The young viking, Astrid, and Toothless slipped inside and headed up the stairs into Hiccup's room. Astrid and Hiccup sat on the bed while Toothless curled up on his stone slab in the corner, watching the young couple with his bright green eyes.

Hiccup sat next to Astrid, shoulders slumped. He sighed deeply. "This…This isn't good."

"It isn't," said Astrid. "Midnight's out there injured and alone, and her eggs are here with us. They could hatch at any moment, and without a proper dragon parent to raise them…They may not last very long."

Hiccup ran a hand over his face. "I should've done something…"

"What could you have done?" asked Astrid. She placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up. The Dragon Hunters overwhelmed you, Toothless, and Midnight. You did the best you could."

"Then why do I feel like this is all my fault?" asked Hiccup, turning to Astrid. His green eyes flashed with emotion. "I was the one who suggested that we go after the Dreamcatcher, and if it wasn't for me, Midnight wouldn't have gotten hurt, she would still be with her eggs, and she wouldn't be out Thor knows where!"

Astrid was surprised. Usually, Hiccup stayed calm whenever these types of situations arose. But there were times where he would feel as if he wasn't good enough. It was the price that came with being shunned by your own village for so long. For years, Hiccup had been told that he was worthless. Good for nothing. Useless. And he believed all of it. So much in fact that he had grown desperate to gain the village's attention and created several inventions that could've hurt him, someone else, or a dragon. But since Hiccup had brought peace between vikings and dragons, he was accepted and wasn't pushed away anymore. Astrid had thought that those old negative thoughts had faded away as time went on; she was proven wrong when Hiccup buried his head in his hands.

"This is all my fault…" murmured Hiccup. "We should've left that dragon alone…None of this would've happened…"

"Hiccup, stop it," said Astrid. Hiccup lifted his head. "Look, you were right to go after the Dreamcatcher. If it wasn't for you, Midnight probably would've been captured by those Hunters in the woods sooner. If it wasn't for you, none of us would've realized that she was in danger of being captured and had eggs that needed to be moved to a safer environment." Astrid turned Hiccup's chin to face her. "So stop moping around and pick yourself up. Sure, Midnight got captured, but the real question isn't what you could've done, but what you're going to do now to save her."

Hiccup sat there, his thoughts running through his mind. Astrid was right; they needed to save Midnight. And that wasn't going to happen if he sat around drowning in his own guilt. If they were going to save that Dreamcatcher and reunite her with her eggs, they needed to do something, and they needed to do it right then.

"You're right," said Hiccup with newfound determination. Astrid smiled, glad to see that her Hiccup was returning to his old self. "Thanks, Astrid."

Astrid gave Hiccup a small kiss on his cheek. "You're welcome," she said. "Now, get some rest and then we'll head back to the Clubhouse to discuss a plan."

Toothless warbled enthusiastically from the corner and bounded up to the two. He licked Hiccup's cheek and the young viking smiled, feeling much more confident than he had been before.

…

The Dragon Riders regrouped in the Clubhouse later that day, each of them renewed and refreshed. Now that everyone was well rested and ready, Hiccup opened the door to ideas and suggestions that would help the Dragon Riders find a way to save Midnight.

"I think we should use the clouds for over," Fishlegs suggested. "The element of surprise never fails."

"I saw the Dragon Hunters sailing North," said Snotlout. "We should probably fly in that direction to search for them."

"What are we going to do with Midnight's eggs?" asked Ruffnut.

"We'll leave them on the Edge," answered Hiccup. "Bringing them with us is too dangerous."

"But won't the eggs get lonely?" Tuffnut brought up. He crossed his arms. "No egg deserves to live alone."

"He…has a point," said Fishlegs. "Shouldn't someone stay here and watch Midnight's eggs in case they hatch?"

"But it'll take all of us to defeat the Dragon Hunters," Astrid said. "If one of us stays, that decreases our chance of beating them. We all saw how many ships they have. This mission has to be done with all of us."

Hiccup chewed his lower lip. "Agh…but we don't have any dragon babysitters…" The young viking's eyes widened when a sudden idea crashed into his mind like a Gronckle running into a tree. "Heather."

"Heather?" Snotlout repeated, bemused. "What about Heather?"

"Oh, oh, is she here?" exclaimed Tuffnut, searching around the room. "I want her to make more of her delicious yak chops!"

Hiccup pulled out a small piece of paper and picked up a stick of charcoal that was lying on the table. "No, Heather's not here. Not yet anyway. I'm going to send her a t-mail to ask if she can come and watch the eggs while we're gone…Hopefully she has time to."

"Good idea," said Astrid, watching as Hiccup scribbled across the parchment. "It'll be nice to see Heather again."

"Yeah, it's been a while," agreed Hiccup. He folded up the piece of paper and let out a Terrible Terror call. Sharpshot came barreling into the room at the speed of a lighting bolt, immediately perching himself on Hiccup's open shoulder. The young viking smiled and scratched the little dragon under his chin. Sharpshot cooed in delight. Toothless rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Buddy," said Hiccup. He picked Sharpshot off of his shoulder and tied piece of paper to the Terror's leg. "Do you mind delivering this to Heather? She's on Berserker Island. Try to be as fast as you can."

Sharpshot nodded and he trilled before exiting the room, flying into the sky and toward the direction of Berserker island as fast as a Terrible Terror could.

After a little bit of talking, the Dragon Riders agreed to using the clouds as cover before launching their attack. Once they were close enough to the ships, Snotlout, Fishlegs, the twins, and Astrid would fire at the ships while Hiccup and Toothless went to rescue Midnight. She was more likely to follow them than the other Riders since she fully trusted the two of them.

Hiccup didn't know what the Dragon Riders would come to face when they flew toward the ship fleet. Weapons? Most likely. Catapults? Probably. Chains? Bludgeons? Perhaps. Hiccup hoped that they would catch the Dragon Hunters while they were still recovering from their attack on the Edge, as that would give them a higher advantage in defeating them. Sharpshot dived back into the room a couple moments later; a new note was attached to his leg. Hiccup picked it up and read it over. He smiled in satisfaction.

"What does it say?" asked Fishlegs.

"Heather's agreed to watch the eggs," replied Hiccup. He rolled up the piece of paper. "We're good to go."

Author's Note: As I was scrolling through my past RTTE fanfictions, I realized that NONE of them had Heather in it! *Screams into pillow* I nearly gave myself a good slap across the face. =') What's Race to the Edge without Heather? She's such an amazing character, so as I was plotting out these last few chapters, I decided to give her an appearance. =D I think I wrote her pretty well too...And perhaps I should start thinking about ways to include her in my future RTTE fanfictions. =)

Phew, just wanted to get that off my chest. *Nods* Now I'm satisfied. XD I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one! =D

Until the next chapter!

~BeyondTheMoon1203