This took a bit longer than expected, but I hope it is worth the wait.


In the months that it took for Hiccup's arm to heal, news had spread about how Berk was defenseless, and when there was no sign of the demon that preyed upon pirates in the area, they became bolder again.

#

It didn't take long for the news of Berk's precarious position to make its way to Alvin the Treacherous either. He began gathering every Outcast under his command and preparing ships for an invasion.

#

When Hiccup's arm had finally healed, he spent the following weeks improving his armor. He silently thanked Stoick for breaking his arm and showing him the greatest flaws.

He rebuilt the armor from the ground up, forging everything but the joints from solid pieces of night steel, molding and shaping them to be strong enough to take a swing from an axe and increasing the padding inside to cushion impacts from hammers. He changed the armor on the joints from chainmail to overlapping plates to retain flexibility while increasing the strength. He added a fine chainmail to his leather gloves to protect them from blades. The only vulnerability now was the slits in his mask that let him see, but there was nothing he could do for that.

With the metal base done, he began building a leather sheath for it to cover the metal and stop it from showing and to provide him insulation. Then he covered it in a layer of scales to help protect it from fire. When he was done and fully equipped, he was glad to note that he could still move silently in it and that it was light enough for him to maintain his agility. It didn't restrict his movement either. He was ready to fight.

As Toothless watched Hiccup improving his armor, he felt a growing sense of pride. It is nice to see the boy finally growing into himself. He no longer looked like the weak and clumsy boy that he had met a year and a half ago. He looked like a warrior that could handle himself, someone that exuded a calm confidence.

#

As Hiccup resumed his patrols, he took note of the abysmal state of Berk's defences and began to scare off the pirates again.

It seemed that he had built quite a reputation for himself.

After several weeks of boring nighttime patrols, Hiccup saw something that made his blood run cold. He saw a fleet of dozens of Outcast ships sailing straight towards Berk.

After his initial moment of panic, he began to think about what he could do. The Outcasts didn't appear to have much heavy weaponry, only a few catapults. It seemed that they knew the state of Berk's defenses.

He needed to do something.

#

Alvin stood impatiently on the lead ship, itching to finally have a chance to take over Berk. He had grown confident after having gone unopposed so far, but that changed when he heard a rising shriek, a sound that every viking was taught to fear from a young age.

It was the shriek of a Night Fury.

He barely had time to shout, "Night Fury, get down!" before he saw a bolt of blue and saw one of his ships go up in flames.

Men were screaming as the fire spread and he could hear the splashes of men jumping overboard.

He heard another shriek and saw another one of his ships catch fire.

He yelled at his men to grab whatever weapons they could and try to shoot down the Night Fury, but they had nothing to target in the dark.

A third ship was struck and the fleet fell into disarray.

Another two ships went up in flames and with them, the last of the catapults.

There was a pause and a heavy silence hung in the air.

As the men began to relax, thinking the attack was done, a shadow landed on the bow of Alvin's ship.

As the men on the nearby ships recovered from their shock, they picked up their bows.

It was the wrong move.

The moment that they began to aim their bows, a bolt of fire raced towards them, destroying part of the ship and throwing the men back, some of them dead from the impact, others burned.

Alvin watched in horror as the fleet around him collapsed, men dying and ships burning.

He saw a figure slide off the back of the dragon on his ship.

The first thing he noticed was its size. It was smaller than he was expecting.

Gathering their courage, the men on his ship charged towards the stranger.

Faster than they could react, the figure pulled out twin blades that seemed to be made of the shadows themselves.

They sliced through flesh and bone like butter as men fell, nobody seeming to land a blow.

Alvin saw that one of his men had crept up behind the warrior, ready to stab it in the back, but when the blade struck, the sound of metal upon metal rang out.

The figure twirled and the man's blade fell, hand still attached. A scream rang out, only to be abruptly silenced by a blade through the heart.

More men fell to the figure's blades until only Alvin remained.

Alvin looked at the figure before him, the one who had sunk his ships and killed his men. He pulled out his sword, only to feel his wrist explode in agony as it was separated by the blade.

Then the stranger spoke in a voice that sent chills down the Outcast's spine, "You are never to return to the waters around Berk. You will lose more than just your hand if you do." And with that, the figure mounted the dragon and the two vanished into the night.

#

As Hiccup relived the battle he had just fought, he felt a weight upon him. The magnitude of what he had done chilled him. He had killed dozens of men and he thought about how much he had changed, from the boy who refused to kill to the man who was responsible for a slaughter.

He tried to rationalize it, convincing himself that he had only done what he had to, but the guilt wouldn't seem to leave him.

Toothless could feel the guilt that his rider was carrying, and when they landed and Hiccup dismounted, he drew Hiccup in with his tail and curled around him, providing the warmth and comfort that the boy needed.

As Hiccup drifted off to sleep, he was glad that it was all over.

Little did he know, this was only the beginning.


I am working on the next one already, I am just unsure of how exactly to put what I want on paper.