58. It's over
"Fly straight, WILL YA?!" Ruffnut shouted.
They finally got onto the baby dragons, but being on them and riding them didn't mean that the babies listened. The dragons didn't care about the riders and flew how they wanted. Shadow was in the lead this time, the babies liked following the older dragon, that made it easier to direct the unruly Scuttleclaws.
"I don't want to die!" Fishlegs cried as his dragon took a sudden dive through a snow pile.
They were almost out of the nest. Getting on the dragons did take about two hours and they wanted to get back to Berk as soon as possible so they got in the air as soon as they could.
"We can't fly these things!" Tuffnut complained as he steered his dragon forwards.
"Yeah, no kidding!" Snotlout agreed as he nearly missed hitting a wall.
"Are you sure the Bewilderbeast won't be able to take control of them?" Astrid asked.
"They're babies. They don't listen to anyone!" Hiccup smirked as they got outside.
"Yeah, just like us!" Tuffnut shouted from behind him.
Storm slowed Shadow down and fell into pace with Hiccup. Stoick sat behind her, he had a death grip on the saddle, because he was terrified. Flying alone was safer in his opinion, he could actually control the speed and direction the dragon went in, but sitting behind the girl who had been doing this for years made him terrified. She already had elbowed him in the stomach when he had been moving around too much, so he just sat there, tense.
"What is the plan?" Stoick asked through his teeth while looking at Hiccup.
"Get Toothless back and kick Drago's – "Hiccup yelped as his dragon dived towards the ocean below, he managed to get the dragon back into the air in seconds, but his heart was still racing, " – and kick Drago's ass," he finished with a growl.
"That's not much of a plan!" Eret exclaimed with wide panicked eyes.
"Actually, this is the most detailed plan I heard him have!" Storm told him without turning to look at him.
The ground seemed to shake people awake. There were dragon roaring and screeching outside. It was like the dragon raids all that time ago. Gobber rolled out of bed and peaked through his window. He saw the approaching ships and had to push down his panic. Stoick had left him in charge, he needed to stay calm and get everyone together, because those approaching ships were not friendly.
He got outside and ran as fast as he could to blow the raid horn, which hadn't been used in a very long time. The horn woke up everyone and many confused vikings left their homes to see the approaching fleet. Gobber went down to the tribe and started giving orders.
"Take the children and women somewhere safe," he had told Spitelout's wife when the dragons who had been on the island rose to the air to join the Alpha's hoard, Gobber looked around in panic, their escape plan was out not going to be possible, "Quickly."
"The 'demons' played us!" Spitelout shouted from beside him, "We should attack at once!"
"Shut up," Gobber growled as he turned to look at him, "Hiccup wouldn't do this, neither would Storm. We will defend, not attack."
"That's a stupid decision!"
"It doesn't matter! Stoick left me in charge, you will do as I say."
Gobber left the man behind as he went to the forge to hand out all of the available weapons. He didn't understand why the dragons left, when Berk had been under attack from Arrald, they had stayed and fought with the tribe against the enemy.
Gobber saw Spitelout's wife leading away the children and women who couldn't fight into the Meade hall. That was their safest building and they would barricade themselves inside, if needed, the women knew a passage that would lead them to the outside and to safety.
Gobber never felt as helpless when he understood that their weapons would do nothing against the giant beast of a dragon that emerged from the depts of the ocean. The thing was massive and very hostile from the looks of things. The Bewilderbeast climbed onto the island and roared to get the tribes attention. A man was on the dragons head, the man, Gobber knew, was Drago Bludvist. He was unmistakable from the times Stoick had talked about the mad man.
"Your chief is dead," The madman simply stated with a sadistic smile, much to the horror of the tribe.
"Stoick?" someone from the crowd asked.
"S'not possible," came a disbelieving voice.
"No one can protect you now," Drago growled and ordered the Alpha to freeze Berk.
The tribe was panicked. The fact that Stoick was death weighted on their minds, but the few who were in the way, managed to dodge the ice. They could do nothing more but watch from the ground, but as soon as any of Drago's soldiers stepped foot on the island they were struck down by the vikings, who were not only defending their island, they were out for revenge.
"No..." Hiccup and Stoick gasped at the same time as they took in the damage Berk had sustained. It was almost completely frozen over by the Alpha's blasts and most of the buildings were destroyed.
"He took all the dragons!" Fishlegs gasped.
Storm pulled Shadow to a stop, they were hovering just out of the Alpha's vision. She could see Hiccup's brain working, finally he turned to them all.
"Distract the Alpha. Try to keep his focus off of Toothless," he told them and started to steadily fly towards the Bewilderbeast.
"Uh... how?" Tuffnut asked looking at the others.
"I have an idea," Storm told them.
"Of course she does," Snotlout mumbled with a roll of his eyes, only to receive smacks to his head from Astrid and Eret.
"Stoick," she called getting the man's attention, he hummed to show he was listening, "I'm going to take you down next to your tribe, be ready to jump because I'm not stopping or the Alpha will take Shadow."
Stoick nodded as Storm turned to the others.
"You come up with something to distract the Alpha until I get back," she told them and sped off, ignoring the questions the other threw at her.
She flew by close to the island itself, startling the people who noticed her. Stoick's heart was in his stomach, but he managed to jump off of the moving dragon right in front of Gobber. Storm sped off into the clouds and disappeared.
"Stoick!" the smith exclaimed, relief and disbelief clouding his voice. Gobber's shout gained the attention of nearby people and an excited cheer rang out.
"What?" Drago asked as his gaze jumped from Stoick to Hiccup who was sneaked towards Toothless. Thunder rang out as the sky darkened, lightning raged in the clouds.
On the ground the gang had landed and joined the ones fighting against the soldiers. An idea came to Astrid as she took down one of Drago's men, she threw the soldiers weapon at the Alpha with all her strength and gained the dragons attention.
The Alpha roared and inhaled in preparation to blast her with ice, but at the same time Fishlegs blew the raid horn, stopping the Alpha in its tracks. Eret and the others saw what Astrid had done and were quick to do the same, keeping the Alpha's attention on the ground. Every time the Bewilderbeast inhaled or roared in preparation, Fishlegs blew the horn and giggled, until the Alpha noticed where the noise was coming from and blasted the horn with ice.
"I'm okay!" Fishlegs yelled to assure the others.
The Bewilderbeast was about to finally blast the people on the ground when he was once again interrupted, this time by a blast of lightning to the face. Storm and Shadow were now flying around the Bewilderbeast's head, blasting an almost continues blast of lightning. Shadow had created a storm inside the clouds, the storm was big enough so he could take lightning without needing to enter the clouds again, he kept taking and releasing without a pause. The disorientation after every blast kept him from being taken over.
Hiccup was close now. He was almost within arm's reach of Toothless, who was being ridden by Drago. Drago didn't let the fact that his plan didn't go as planned dither him.
"You certainly are hard to get rid of. I'll say that," Drago mocked.
"Toothless? It's me, bud. It's me. I'm right here. Come back to me," Hiccup pleaded as he slowly raised his hand and started to extend it towards the hypnotized dragon, he saw the dragon's eyes dilate for a second before they narrowed again.
"He is not yours anymore. He belongs to the Alpha!" Drago mocked as he looked at Hiccup with disgust, "But, please, oh great Dragon Master, try to take him. He will not miss a second time."
"It wasn't your fault, bud. They made you do it. You'd never hurt him, you would never hurt her," tears began to gather in his eyes, even then he couldn't stop a smile when he heard Storm's voice.
"TAKE THAT YOU UGLY FUCKER!" She screamed as Shadow landed another hit on the angry Bewilderbeast.
"You'd never hurt me!" Hiccup kept talking to Toothless.
Hiccup placed his palm on Toothless' snout. The Night Fury's eyes widened and narrowed repeatedly as he struggled to get the Alpha out of his head. Even when the Bewilderbeast wasn't concentrated on Toothless, it was hard to shake off his hold.
"How are you doing that?" Drago asked intrigued, he leaned forward a bit so he could better see what Hiccup was doing.
"Please. You are my best friend, bud. Even if I haven't been around recently – " Hiccup cut himself off and swallowed his tears, "But you're still my best friend. My best friend."
Finally Toothless' eyes dilated, he broke the Alpha's control. The Night Fury smiled and let out a happy whimper. Hiccup's eyes widened and he smiled with joy.
"Atta boy, that's it! I'm here!" he exclaimed, fist bumping the air.
"Enough!" Drago growled and tried to hit Toothless with his bullhook, but the dragon fought back, catching the bullhook in his mouth and flinging the madman off of himself.
"Yeah!" Hiccup cheered as Toothless tilted and started falling without anyone to keep his tail fixed. Hiccup didn't stop to think as he jumped after the dragon.
"Hang on! Almost there buddy. Almost there!" Hiccup yelled as he slowly closed the distance between their falling bodies.
Hiccup mounted Toothless and they took off into the air. Storm saw them in the air and she pulled Shadow back from the Alpha just as the Bewilderbeast shot at them, Hiccup acted immediately and shot a plasma blast at the Alpha's ice, destroying the shot before it reached Shadow and Storm. The power of the blast made the pair crash, leaving Storm on the ground in serious pain.
"Do something!" Drago yelled from where he managed to land on the Bewilderbeast's head. The dragon shot at Hiccup, but the man managed to dodge it.
"We need to get those two apart," Hiccup stated and snatched a piece of an old celebratory flag from one of the houses fly behind the mountain where the Meade hall stood, "We gotta block him out, Toothless. Do you trust me, bud?"
Toothless warbled in agreement, showing that no matter what, the Night Fury would trust Hiccup with anything. Hiccup blindfolded Toothless and placed a hand on his snout.
"We can do this. You and me. As one. Now let's try this one more time!" Hiccup yelled, determination clear in his voice.
"Take him down, babe!" Astrid cheered as he flew by.
"Go get 'em!" Valka added just as Eret led a limping Storm to stand next to the two women.
"I can't wait to see Hiccup kick his ass," she growled, her teeth clenched in pain.
"Take control of it!" Drago shouted at the Alpha. The Bewilderbeast tried, but because of the blindfold he couldn't.
"Shut it out, Toothless!" Hiccup ordered before covering Toothless' 'ears'.
"STOP THEM!"
"NOW!" Hiccup shouted after locking Toothless' tail.
Toothless passed by Drago, seemingly missing his target. Drago laughed at the fact before gasping as he saw the dragon flying upside down, the blindfold falling away and his saddle empty. Hiccup came from behind Drago, clouding him in Zippleback gas and igniting it, blowing the madman away from the Bewilderbeast's head, his bullhook landing just out of reach.
Hiccup smiled as he saw that his plan worked, but as he turned to look straight his smile fell. The Alpha's tail was directly in his way and he had no way to dodge it.
"Not again. TOOTHLESS! IT'S NOW OR NEVER! Come on, bud!" Hiccup encouraged as Toothless sped up, using his split back fins to reach Hiccup just in time, "Hold on! Yeah!"
Hiccup cheered as they dodged the tail in the nick of time, Hiccup happily petted Toothless' head in excitement as they swooped down next to Drago, Hiccup ignited inferno and threw it in Drago's way, stopping the madman from reaching his bullhook.
"Hold him there Toothless! It's all over now," Hiccup growled with a glare.
"Or is it?" Drago asked as he was the Alpha rise behind Hiccup. Hiccup looked back just in time to see the Alpha fire a blast, before the ice could completely cover him, Toothless dived in. They were frozen solid, much to everyone's horror.
"No… No!" Valka yelled as she ran to the block incasing the pair.
Storm fell down next to the heart-broken Valka, Astrid stepping next to them with a horrified expression on her face. Valka futilely tried to break the ice, tears streaming down her face, she opened her eyes when she noticed a light coming from the ice, she quickly shuffled away. Astrid noticed the glow too and acted quickly, pulling the kneeling Storm to her feet and away from the ice.
The ice blew apart to show a very angry Toothless and an unharmed Hiccup. Toothless' forehead and back fins were glowing an electric blue as he roared a challenge to the Alpha, briefly looking at Hiccup to reassure him.
"He's challenging the Alpha!" Hiccup gasped.
"To protect you," Valka said as she reached her son and helped him up.
Toothless glanced back at Hiccup again, Hiccup understood what the dragon wanted and mounted the Night Fury without a second thought. Toothless jumped up on a protruding ice spike and repeatedly fired at the Alpha, not letting the Bewilderbeast get a shot in.
The Bewilderbeast used his tusk to break the ice spike Toothless was using to perch, but the Night Fury just jumped away from the attack, firing at the Alpha again, making the huge dragon lose concentration on all of the dragons.
Stormfly was the first to fly over to Toothless' side, the other dragons following. It didn't matter if the dragons were from the Sanctuary or Drago's armored ones, every dragon flew to Toothless' side. Shadow joined the swarm too, after making sure Storm was alright where Astrid was holding her up.
"No, no, no, no! No! Fight back! Fight! FIGHT! What's the matter with you?" Drago raged as he hit the Alpha's tusk repeatedly.
"Now do you get it? You've lost. Let this end now." Hiccup said, giving the madman another chance to surrender.
"Never! Come on!" Drago shouted as he hooked himself atop the Bewilderbeast's head again, "FIGHT!"
Toothless directed all of the dragons to shoot at the Alpha, the Bewilderbeast was being plummeted by the barrage of dragon blasts. Drago's prosthetic arm was shot off by one of his own captive dragons. The Alpha, tired of being shot at, roared at Toothless, but the Night Fury let out another well placed plasma blast, blasting off one of the dragon's tusks, the force of Toothless' blast startled Drago from the Alpha's head and the madman landed on the island once again.
Toothless roared with all his strength, the roar made the Bewilderbeast finally retreat back to the ocean, away from the island and their lives. Drago wasn't done yet it seemed. The madman let out a furious shout and took his bullhook, aiming the weapon straight at Hiccup. But he wasn't able to take the shot as an axe went into his head.
Hiccup gaped at the, now dead, man as the body slumped to the ground. Hiccup recognized the axe, it was Astrid's, but as he followed the weapons trajectory he did find Astrid on the other end of it. But she wasn't the one who threw the axe, no. To no one's surprise, Storm still had her arm out straight, she was leaning heavily on Astrid and taking deep breaths. Astrid was staring at the girl in surprise, because when she felt Storm grip her axe that was on her back, she thought the girl was just looking to steady herself.
Hiccup locked eyes with Storm and slowly nodded at her. The girl smiled in relief and slumped onto Astrid, she was exhausted and hurt, and the spite had run out, for the moment at least. Gobber and Eret approached the girl's quickly and Astrid let Eret take Storm's weight from her.
Hiccup directed Toothless to the cheering crowd of vikings. He dismounted Toothless and stood in front of the dragon, placing his forehead against Toothless' snout Hiccup chuckled.
"You never cease to amaze me, bud. Thank you." He whispered. Toothless purred and licked Hiccup happily, "Toothless! You know that doesn't wash out." Hiccup complained.
The dragons started landing on Berk, the gang happily greeted them with exclamations of joy. Astrid hugged Stormfly with all of her might, Snotlout jumped onto Hookfang's head with a happy shout, Fishlegs let Meatlug sit on him in a hug without hesitation. Shadow landed next to Storm at the same time that Skullcrusher landed next to Eret, Shadow crooned in concern seeing Storm be held up only by the ex-trapper, but the girl quickly assured the dragon that she would be okay. Eret let Skullcrusher snuggle next to him while ignoring the glare Shadow sent his way when the Skrill understood who Storm was leaning on.
The twins snuggled with their respective heads, the vikings around them who had already started to bond with dragons happily greeted them back, while the rest of the tribe were too happy by the victory to care.
"I knew you could do it," Astrid laughed as she approached Hiccup.
"Well, I wasn't alone," he shrugged.
"And you will never be alone again," Astrid reassured him and brought him down for a kiss, a scandalized 'ooh' rang out amongst the crowd, much to the pair's amusement.
"This night, we celebrate!" Stoick's voice rang out, the crowd cheered once again.
"It's over…" Hiccup let out a breath as he looked down at Astrid's face with a smile.
