Stoick stayed with his hands gripping the wooden cross until the sun rose on the horizon. The rain had stopped and his mind and body had enough time to process what had just happened. He could feel Gobber's feet walking to him. Stoick took a deep breath and waited for him to say something.
"Stoick, I . . . I just . . . I'm so sorry." Is all Gobber can say. Seems Stoick isn't the only one mourning. But everyone knows that nothing can match his pain. Nothing will.
"I know. But we can't stop now." Stoick says in a steady voice as he rises from the ground, and finally releasing his rigid grip on the cross. Tiny bee sting-like splinters making their home in his palm. "We need to get back to the village and warn the other Vikings. Losing Hiccup will not be in vain, I'm going to make sure of that."
Without another word or question, Stoick mounts Thornado and the others follow. But Toothless doesn't budge. He stays near the grave, and coos in sorrow. "What about Toothless?" Astrid asks.
Stoick looks to him, and his heart wrenches. He dismounts and walks over to Toothless. Placing his hand on Toothless shoulder, he rubs back and forth. "Take your time. Come back when you're ready."
Toothless turns and nuzzles Stoick's hand. He coos, and it sounds like a cry, and Stoick strokes the Night Fury's head. Sometime last night, Gobber had restored Toothless' tail, but he hadn't made any attempts to fly. Not that anyone would blame him for not trying. With one final stroke, Stoick left Toothless' side and mounted Thornado. The teens fly off toward the village, and Astrid takes one final look behind her and watches as the clouds soon overlap the ridge and obscure Toothless and the grave from sight.
Tears sting her eyes, and she grips the handle on her duel-bladed axe. She looks up and sees an oncoming pine branch. She grips her axe and slices at the branch, letting out a blood-curdling screech. Fishlegs and the others look to her in shock and concern.
"I'm going to murder that son of a half-toll, rat-eating, munch bucket!" she snarls through her grit teeth.
"I don't care what you do to the others, I'll even let you have Alvin." Stoick suddenly interjects. "But Hadrian is mine."
Astrid loosens her grip and keeps her head down as she sees the village come into sight. They land in the Town's Square and Stoick hops off of Thornado and walks in the direction of the Great Hall.
He stops for a moment. "Gobber,"
"Yes, Stoick?" Gobber answers.
"Round the villagers to the Great Hall. We need to tell them the news, and the plan."
"Of course." Gobber says without another word.
"I'll join you shortly."
But before they could, they heard a soft voice call to them. Everyone turns and finds Heather running toward them with her parents not far behind. She's waving and a smile on her face, pleased to see them unharmed.
"Heather!" Fishlegs calls over.
Astrid tries to hide her scowl as she approaches. When she reaches the Vikings, she doubles over and tries to catch her breath.
"I'm so glad you're all okay." She says before she realizes. "Wait, where's Hiccup?"
Everyone looks down and Astrid's grip on her axe tightens.
"Let's all just meet into the hall." Gobber says as he leaves the kids away from Stoick, and Heather couldn't help but take a wild guess, and her heart wrenches.
Back in the woods, the Outcasts hid out in secret grottos within the caves of Berk. Hadrian had been training in the woods, and the soldiers were taking a breather after Hiccup's death. One soldier sitting on a rock on the outside of the cave nudges Alvin as he sharpens his hand-held scythe. He looks and the soldier gestures him to talk to Hadrian. Alvin annoyingly sight, but gets up and walks over to Hadrian just as he shot three arrows at a sloppily painted target on the tree. Each arrow hit the target exactly, splitting one after the other down the middle.
"You had better have a good reason for interrupting my training." Hadrian says, not even sparring a look at Alvin.
"Well, seeing as how the boy's dead, what good is it that we stay here? After all, the whole point in coming here was to search and destroy the boy."
Hadrian coldly snickers. "Oh Alvin. You really do have a small brain. Or rather no brain. You see, killing Hiccup was only part one of my plan. And since that was taken care of rather smoothly, we now move on to faze two. And that's, taking over Berk."
"Oh, ho, ho really? And how do you suppose we do that?" Alvin challenges.
"One at a time. We take out the main characters of the village. Stoick, Gobber, and those annoying children. After that, the village is ours." Hadrian explains as he removes the arrows from the bark.
"What makes you so sure that the village will surrender after that?" Alvin asks.
"Alvin, if there's one thing you should know, it's to never question my authority." Hadrian says, and in an instant, Hadrian whirls around and brings the tip of his dagger directly under Alvin's chin. "Understand?"
Alvin swallows a thick lump in his throat. "Yes sir."
"Good," Hadrian says, retracting his knife. "Now go play with the others."
Stoick mounts the steps to the Great Hall as Gobber ushers in the villagers. Stoick makes his way, blindly to the head of the fire pit. As he came to the head, he reached out and rests his hands flat on the outer border and breathes. He watches as the Hall fills, and Gobber and the kids come in and stand behind him. Stoick takes a deep breath and raises his head to face the crowd of Vikings.
"I've called you all here today, because I have an important announcement." Stoick rubs his hands together and nervously clears his throat. "Last night, Hadrian and the Outcasts infiltrated the village. They, attacked Hiccup, in our own home. Hiccup had tracked him to the ridge." Stoick stops to chuckle, and his eyes glisten with water. "You've should've seen him. He put up such a fight. But in the end, Hiccup," Stoick swallows. "in the end, he gave his life to save us. To save me."
Stoick lowers his head and stokes his lips and beard. He waits as the gasps and sudden whispers waves through the crowd, and soon turns to sniffles and choked sobs. Heather, being one of them. She brings a hand to her mouth to mask the sobs. Stoick raises a hand to silence them and everyone hushes one another and turns their attention to Stoick.
"Now I know we suffered a, great loss, but that's precisely why we need to stay strong, no become stronger. And avenge my son's death." Stoick preaches.
And the room immediately floods with cheers and roars. Fists punch to the air, and cheers echo across the Hall. And Stoick can feel that they have a martyr. And Hadrian will pay.
Back at the cave, the dragons all gather as Hadrian stands near the shore. The Scauldron submerges from the sea water, the Whispering Death bursts from the dirt, and the new Changewing materializes from trunk of a pine tree.
Hadrian walks in a circle, inspecting the dragons. Once he finishes, he goes back into the center of the circle they created.
"Listen up. The men on this island do not trust you. These men want nothing to do with you. They just automatically assume since you're on my side, your no good. Un-trainable. Useless. If you lower your guard for one moment, they will turn on you. Imprison you."
The dragons roar in reply. "Seizing power today, is a matter of life and death. You must be swift and decisive. Stoick and each of the Viking children must be taken out simultaneously. The men have been placed in my command while we overthrow the village. And most importantly, don't hesitate to give them everything you've got."
Each of the dragons hiss and roar in answer to his speech. Hadrian smiles at the dragons as he hears oncoming footsteps. He looks in between the Whispering Death and the Changewing, to find Savage running toward them. Hadrian leaves the circle of dragons and meets Savage halfway.
"Sir, we scouted the village, and it seems that Stoick's gathered everyone in the Great Hall. No doubt informing them about Hiccup's demise." Savage reports.
"Excellent. That'll give us plenty of time to fan out and set the traps." Hadrian says with a smile as he turns back to the dragons. "Ready the men. Get them into their formations and wait on my signal."
Savage nods and hustles back to the cave. Hadrian traces his fingers along the Whispering Death's nose, and the dragon snorts. Huffing through his nose.
"Everything is under control, and soon, I will have vengeance."
Later that evening, the kids were in the arena, practicing for any attack Hadrian will be planning. They've been practicing with shields, knives, hammers, swords and axes for three hours. After Stoick dismissed everyone in the meeting, they've been preparing ever since. Meanwhile, Stoick has secluded himself in his home, sitting in his chair, huddled by the fire. He originally was going to do his woodwork, but nothing would come to him. It would calm him, but he seems to have lost the will to do anything. All that keeps him going is avenging Hiccup's name. That Hadrian will pay, and they will finally be rid of this demon forever.
Heather went home with her parents to process the information and Toothless still hasn't come back, and Stoick knows why. He probably needs space. Away from the village since everything connects to Hiccup in some way for him. Toothless knows how to find his way back, even on foot. He might even be out looking for Hiccup. Guess he and Stoick have that in common. It really doesn't feel like he's gone, course it could just be denial. Either way, sitting around moping won't help. They needed to be ready.
Stoick decides to get up and go and join Gobber in the shop. He needed to get out of the house. He walks through the village, looking around to see everyone prepping for any move, and the hammering in Gobber's shop helps to guide him to the shop.
"Hello Gobber." He says.
"Oh, Stoick. I didn't hear you come in. Need anything?" Gobber asks as he wipes his sweaty forehead.
"Actually, I needed to get out of the house. I came to see you and how you're doing." Stoick says as he picks up a freshly sharpened axe.
"How are you, really?" Gobber asks as he interchanges his hand into tweezers.
Stoick takes a seat on a barrel and sighs heavily. "I can't seem to wrap my head around it. How could this have happened? Who loses a wife and his son?!"
"There, there old friend. I'm sure he's watching us. And he needs you to be the proud, strong chief that you are." Gobber says with a comfort hand on his shoulder. "I'm not saying you can't mourn over him, you can, just not now. Hiccup would want you to focus and avenge his name."
"I know." Stoick painfully agrees.
Suddenly, a guard is running through the village, calling to Stoick. He's waving his hands, and there's a frantic look in his eyes. Stoick runs out of the shop and comes to meet the Viking.
"What's wrong?" He asks as the Viking tries to catch his breath.
Stoick recognizes him, he was a friend of the family.
"Sir, I saw a Whispering Death burrowing through the woods. It seemed to be rogue. Completely insane and destroying anything that came into its path." He explains.
"What?" Stoick questions as he feels Gobber walk up behind him.
"That's not all, my son said he saw a Scauldron in the waters near Mulch and Bucket's boat. Most likely trying to get a free meal with those fish. And on top of that, I heard another Viking say that while he was out hunting, a Changewing had fired its acid at him and nearly chopped his foot off."
"Three rogue dragons all attacking at once? This is too coincidental." Gobber comments.
"That's because their master is sending them out. No doubt it's a trap from Hadrian." Stoick says. "Finn, you go and ready the Vikings around the village. If Hadrian's trying to split us up, we need to be ready for an invasion. Gobber let's get the kids and the dragons."
"I thought you'd never ask." Gobber says.
Stoick and Gobber fly on Thornado to the arena and informed the kids.
"We'll need to split up. But at the same time, we need to be extra careful. No doubt Hadrian's got some plan up his sleeve. So be on the alert." Stoick informs and the kids nod. "It's already been decided that Gobber and I will handle the Whispering Death. So, how you propose we divide?"
"I can handle the Scauldron." Astrid starts.
"Very well, anyone else?" Stoick asks, and when no one offers, he then assigns with what's left. "Alright, Fishlegs and Snotlout, you can deal with the Changewing, and the twins, you can stay here and help guard the village."
And for once, the twins didn't argue. They simply nod their heads and join the others as they mount their dragons.
Stoick mounts Thornado with Gobber and tells the kids. "When you're finished, come back here and help to guard the village."
"Wait, sir?" Fishlegs says raising his hand.
"Yes Fishlegs?" Stoick says as he grabs Thornado's rope.
"How should we approach this, situation." He hesitantly asks.
Stoick pauses for a moment, and his arms relax, lowering the rope for a moment. "Try it Hiccup's way first. If that doesn't work, try a more, direct approach."
And that's all he says before he snaps Thornado's reins and takes off. Before flying off, each of the teens brushed up on their information for each dragon, copying notes and important facts. The teens then split up as they leave the arena, all wishing one another good luck.
Astrid and Stormfly fly off to the harbor and she can immediately spot the Scauldron. He's swimming around all of the docked ships. He swims and circles them, popping his head a couple times to spray his water, and to destroy the docks. Astrid keeps a key note on the venom in its teeth and tries to figure out a game plan as she swoops in.
The dragon immediately spots her and sprays its boiling water. She swoops out of the way, but catches another spray and she and Stormfly spiral down and into the docks. On the impact of the landing, Astrid was thrown off of Stormfly and sent skipping across the wood and dirt until she finally hits the grass. She pushes herself to her hands and knees and spits out blades of grass.
"Stormfly!" she cries as she runs over to her dragon. Stormfly raises her head and coos. "Oh thank Thor you're okay."
"I have to say, this was just way too easy." She hears behind her. She turns and sees Hadrian standing on the head of the Scauldron, just behind its horn. "I should've known your passion for dragons would lead you here, hook, line and sinker."
"Why did you send the thing here?" Astrid asks as she and Stormfly stand.
"I believe the term, decoy comes into play here." Hadrian says. "This was the only way you cowards would come out of hiding." The dragon lowers its head and Hadrian steps off.
"Well now you're going to regret it!" Astrid snaps as she charges forward.
Hadrian runs to her and Astrid blocks as he throws the first two punches, then grabbing his wrist, she yanks it down and raises her foot, kicking him straight in the face and sending him flying into the knee deep section of sea water. Hadrian breaks the surface immediately and scowls. He leaps out of the water, into the air and tackles Astrid. They roll back and Hadrian grabs her by the shirt and punches her left and right, the kicks her into a deeper portion of the water.
She had barely broken the surface when Hadrian's foot comes crashing into her face, sending her back under. Hadrian snickers as he grabs her braid and yanks her up. He was about to give her another punch when she fists her hand and sweeps Hadrian's feet out from under him and knocking him back. Astrid then tackles him while he's down, and pushes his head under the surface. She can just make out the outline of his face and expressions. He lets a mass of bubbles escape and just when she thought he was done, his feet suddenly come up out of the water and his ankles wrap around her neck and fling her back. Hadrian bursts through the surface, gasping for a big breath of air.
Behind them, back on the land, the Scauldron has crawled out of the water and Stormfly hisses and roars with despise. The Scauldron roars in return and belts up a harsh pressure of water at Stormfly. She flies out of the way and breathes her fire, and the Scauldron extinguishes it with more water. It then tackles Stormfly, and goes for a lethal bite on her neck to inject its venom. Stormfly kicks it off and roars.
Hadrian and Astrid battle in hand to hand combat and Hadrian slams Astrid in the jaw with an uppercut and she goes hurdling back, but on the first bounce she flips and she's back on her feet. Now that's she's out of the water, she has a better grip on the land. Hadrian reaches behind and sends ten daggers zipping her way, she dodges them, and then rushing to a nearby ship to snatch a shield off the side. She just blocks more oncoming projectiles, but they were actually Stormfly's spines.
"Hey, Stormfly! Watch where you fling those things!" she yells.
As Stormfly looks to her, the Scauldron swipes its tail and knocks her into two trees. Then it swoops back into the water and rises up behind Hadrian. Astrid rushes to Stormfly's aid and she helps the dragon onto her feet. The Scauldron gulps down mouthfuls of seawater and then blasts it toward Astrid and Stormfly. Stormfly flies out of the way and Astrid blocks it with her shield. Then Stormfly shoots at it with her spines, but Hadrian tosses some hand-made smoke bombs and an explosion blinds Astrid and Stormfly for a moment. Hadrian then back flips and lands on the Scauldron's head, and the two descend underwater.
Astrid and Stormfly rush to the shoreline and scan the water. They go about knee deep when suddenly the dragon yanks them both under. Both of them fight off the Scauldron's grip and break the surface. They cough and gag before they looks and see Hadrian rise from the water on top of the Scauldron's head, towering over the two.
Hadrian's tunic clings to his muscled body as it drips down his torso, and his hair sends streams scattering down his scared face. As much as Astrid hates to admit it, it did make him rather attractive.
"You know Astrid, Hiccup never liked you." Hadrian says.
"Don't even think that I'll fall for any of your lies." She snaps.
"I know everything Astrid. Remember?" Hadrian taunts.
"You may be a copy of Hiccup, but you two are completely different people!" Astrid states.
"Well, I can't argue with you there." Hadrian smiles and brushes some water off his shoulder as he speaks. "I mean he's smart, kind and compassionate. Too bad it's the very same thing that led to his demise-"
"Shut up!" Astrid yells and Stormfly breathes her fire in a beeline for Hadrian's head.
The Scauldron extinguishes it with its boiling water, and then it sprays again, knocking Stormfly back and crashing through several docks and ships before she slams into the stairs leading up to the village.
"Stormfly!" Astrid cries.
She looks to Hadrian and charges with her axe ready, but the Scauldron grabs her by the ankle with its tail and slaps her down into the water. She comes back up, her hair now down from the fight, and covering her face.
"You know Astrid, I actually feel sorry for you." Hadrian says as the Scauldron lowers its head and Hadrian walks down onto the water. "I mean, you and Hiccup had a budding relationship. Are you sad you didn't get a chance to say goodbye? To tell him how you truly felt about him?" Hadrian taunts as he crouches down to her level.
"Shut up!" she hisses.
"And you want to know a secret?" Hadrian leans in and whispers in her ear, "Hiccup actually believed you were the one."
And that was the nail in the coffin. Astrid's head jerks up and she has the most viscous snarl on her face. Like a wild animal on the rampage. She springs up and punches him in the face with a jab and harsh uppercut. Hadrian flips back and lands on his feet, smiling as he's finally cracked her like an egg.
"It's your fault he's dead!" She screams as she comes swinging her axe sloppily. Not even trying to focus on him. She's just so mad, her emotions are riding her like a wave of the ocean. No direct path or destination, just wanting to get there and worry about nothing else. "It's your fault he had no choice but to set you free! Everything you do only hurts him more! You're nothing but a selfish, evil little troll!"
Astrid is throwing punches and swinging her axe at him in every direction. Hadrian can't even strike back for as soon as one punch is over, an axe comes swinging by his head. He dodges left and right until he leap up and back landing on the Scauldron and as soon as he landed, the dragon raised its head and blasted Astrid with water.
Astrid is still standing, but slowly, the pressure of the Scauldron's water brings her to her knees and then he swoops in and grabs her by the ankle, careful to not grip her with his venomous front tooth, and pulls her deeper. She lost her grips on her axe, so she digs her fingers into the sand to no avail. It drags her out until there's no ground for her feet to touch. The Scauldron then blasts her and it pushes her under. She comes up gasping and choking and coughing up water.
Hadrian, still standing on the dragon's head smiles and pats the dragon's horn. "Finish her."
The Scauldron sprays her again and she's flung under the surface. But the pressure doesn't stop. She can't stop spinning. Can't break free of the dragon's pressure. Can't get to the surface. Astrid's lungs burn, and her body screams and begs her to take a breath. She kicks out, lash with her arms, and fight against the water, but she's spun so many times she doesn't know which way is up.
"Guess you're not as tough as you think you, were." Hadrian says as he watches the bubbles drift and pop to the surface.
And then it stops.