Bloom's furiously concentrating on her open, empty hands, trying to get the Zippelback boots and claw-staff Mildew had back from wherever it is she sent them. Brightfire always knew how to help. She'd say the right thing, and then it'd just click for me. Brightfire… A rush of fiery anger courses through her, setting another scrap of paper on fire.
Hiccup says "Hey, Bloom, easy there. That's the fifth time in the past hour you've set something on fire."
"I…I can't explain it, Hiccup. But…my powers…they're easier to control and use when dragons are around. Of course, I'm also not usually this absolutely furious either - and I doubt that helps."
"Ok, so what would help?"
"Mildew's head on his stick, that's what. Or getting the boots and staff he used to frame the dragons." She concentrates again, trying to visualize the boots and staff in her hands. But every time she thinks of them, she pictures Mildew wearing them and using it to destroy the hall and frame the dragons - that's when it falls apart, she's pretty sure of it. "If I could just get these stupid things back, we could prove Mildew did it!"
After another minute, Hiccup swears he sees a flash or orange and the hint of green leather, but nothing appears. "Come on! I just want my dragon back! Is that really too much to ask for?!"
Hiccup lets out a sigh as a sixth piece of paper ignites, and wraps Bloom in a hug. "We'll get them back, Bloom. I promise. Just calm down for a minute, maybe I can talk you through it."
She gives him a skeptical look, but says "Okay. Worth a shot. Brightfire talked me through getting them gone."
Hiccup raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn't question Bloom. They sit on their beds, and Hiccup asks "Alright, so what'd you do to get them…wherever they are?"
"I just concentrated on them, thought of a space that only I could access…and then, poof! No more boots or staff."
"Alright, so try focusing on that space again. Try, I don't know, reaching into it."
She reaches out, actually reaches out her hand, but it's obvious that doesn't work.
"Bloom, how do you do this stuff usually?"
"Usually, Brightfire's there to talk me through it! Usually, I'm not boiling mad and feeling like I want to throttle Mildew! And, usually, I'm just throwing fireballs around or leaving a trail of orange from my hand! Not…trying to retrieve items I sent off to who-knows-where."
She looks embarrassed, but Hiccup says "Well, first time for everything. Try reaching out with your magic."
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, starts glowing orange, and her hair starts floating above her head. She reaches out with a glowing orange hand, and then…Zippelback boots and a staff with a claw at the top.
The glow suddenly shuts down, leaving the boots to crash to the floor and the staff to follow the same fate.
"Bloom, you did it! You got the boots and staff back!"
She looks overjoyed, and says "No…we did it! Hiccup, I never would've gotten them back without you!" She jumps up and crushes him in a hug, which he eagerly returns - they can get their dragons back!
They run downstairs, Bloom carrying the staff and Hiccup carrying the boots, only to find Stoick's not there. He's at the smithy with Gobber, who's remaking all their weapons. "Dad, we've got proof that the dragons didn't do this stuff! Steal the boots, tear up the hall, any of it!"
He gets a very skeptical look at them, and Bloom says "I found these in Mildew's house. He's the one that pointed out the 'tracks' that led to the boots, he's the one that blamed the dragons at every turn. And when Brightfire and I were getting back to the village? He was walking back to his house and saying how Toothless was framed for the fire."
Gobber asks "Wasn't he headed home when the fire started?"
Hiccup nods, and says "Dad, the dragons were framed! I could've made those tracks, Barf and Belch make tracks I could lie in. It was all Mildew!"
Bloom adds "You can freaking smell him on these things! I-!" She suddenly claps a hand to her head, stumbling and nearly crashing into Gobber.
Stoick catches her, saying "Bloom! What's wrong? Say something!"
"Ngh…there's a man coming. Black beard, rusty armor, they call him Alvin. And he's headed for Berk."
Stoick and Gobber's expressions turn to utter shock, and Hiccup asks "Who's Alvin? Dad? Gobber?"
Stoick says "Get your dragons, fast as you can."
Bloom nods, and says "They're here for whoever they think is the 'dragon conqueror' - either Hiccup or me. Maybe both. Hiccup, I'll get the dragons. I can get there without a ship." She doesn't wait for an answer, running outside and changing into the form she took on during the fight with the Red Death.
She flies up into the sky fast, and Hiccup says "Well, she's gone. Dad, we can't let Mildew get away with this. You heard him saying he'd throw a party at his house over the dragons getting banished!"
"I know, son. And he won't get away with it. But right now, we need to prepare for battle. Hiccup, help Gobber in the smithy. Two people can make axes faster than one."
"Right."
Alvin's got everyone cornered, Stoick and the other warriors are busy fighting a dozen Outcasts easily - and then they hear the familiar sound that always heralds a Night Fury attack.
Toothless is near-invisible in the night, and Brightfire can simply make herself disappear with Bloom on her back - which comes in useful, as they sneak-attack the Outcasts. Toothless grabs one Outcast and drops them in the ocean, Hookfang lands on the cliff wall and bursts into flames, and Stormfly shoots her spines so that the Outcasts' weapons get knocked out of their hands.
That'd be when Bloom makes her own appearance, riding Brightfire and changed back into her usual Viking attire. She has Brightfire let out a roar, getting everyone's attention, and calls down "Looking for someone, Alvin the Treacherous? Your 'Dragon Conqueror' for instance?"
He breathes out "It's true…the Dragon Conqueror!"
Hiccup takes a running start, and jumps off the cliff just in time for Toothless to catch him, saying "It's not 'Dragon Conqueror' Alvin…its Dragon Trainer! Toothless, now!"
They get the Outcasts driven off Berk, the others getting on their own dragons and giving them some extra incentive. By way of Stormfly's spines, some fire from Hookfang, and a few plasma blasts from Toothless and Brightfire.
After the Outcasts leave, most of the villagers start cheering the dragons - all but Mildew, but that's no surprise. What is a surprise to almost everyone is when Bloom angrily pushes her way through the crowd and decks Mildew hard enough for the old man to get a nosebleed.
Stoick, Gobber, and Astrid run over to keep Bloom from throttling the old man, Gobber and Astrid literally pulling her off him while most of the other villagers form a circle and watch. "Mildew, you wretched old man! You can't just keep to yourself, you have to go and try to frame the dragons for things you did, don't you?"
Mildew's look of shock isn't quite covered up, and he asks "What are you talkin about, girl? The dragons took the boots, destroyed the great hall, and our armory, remember?"
"Liar! And I've got the boots and staff to prove it! With your stink all over them!"
Brightfire flies to the house, and brings back the boots in question. Mildew's face turns to shock, and then fury, and then fear as Gobber picks one of them up and holds it to his face. "Yeah, that's Mildew alright. Anybody want to try and say otherwise?"
Everybody backs away from the boots the smith is holding out - there's a few reasons why they built Mildew's house as far away as possible, one of them being his stink.
And now, everybody's starting to glare at Mildew, saying he had them defenseless when the Outcasts invaded. And Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the Twins helpfully add that he tried to give up Hiccup and Bloom as the people Alvin was looking for.
Which is, altogether, grounds for becoming an Outcast himself.
He tries to weasel himself out of trouble, pointing out the fact that they can't prove he did this stuff, but Stoick backs him into a metaphorical corner by saying that it at least proves someone framed the dragons. And if they ever find out who it was, they'll be extremely sorry they did it - not at all satisfying to Bloom, who wanted Mildew's head on a plaque on the wall, but it'll have to do. She picks him up by the front of his shirt, and says "You ever try to mess with my dragon ever again I swear I'll become an Outcast if it means your through. That's a promise, Mildew."
She throws him to the ground, and Brightfire nuzzles her in the side. "Yeah, let's go flying. For a long time." She doesn't come back until that night, having spent from maybe an hour after sunrise until sunset flying around on her dragon and having the time of her life - and promising she'll never let them be banished ever again.
AN: Hey, everyone. I know, another long wait. I'm very sorry, really. This isn't like me. But, seeing as its my b-day tomorrow, i thought I'd do a chapter for each of my current fanfics.
You'll never believe this, but while I was writing a chapter an idea hit me out of the blue - another HTTYD/Winx Crossover, but one where Bloom's an only child of Stoick's. Either because Valka and Stoick hadn't conceived yet when Bloom was adopted, and Cloudjumper took Valka then, or because Hiccup just hadn't been born yet when that happened. Either way, Bloom grows up alone. Basically, she takes Hiccup's place. Things change from the movie from there. Any potential? Anybody want to read about a vigilante dragon tamer that most nobody knows a thing about? Because, fair warning, that's what Hiccup could've easily turned into had Astrid not stopped them from leaving, and that's absolutely how I see Bloom turning out. No more spoilers, though.
Anyway, enjoy! I swear, I haven't abandoned the story, its just...taking a backseat to 'The Girl Who Survived' - if I really lost interest in the story, I'd put it up for adoption, I swear.