Hi, all! :D So that's right! I'm updating a second time today! :D I hope you all enjoy this chapter...and I apologize in advance for the cliffhanger...oh man you guys are going to hate me...*bites nails*

But anyways, I have an ANNOUNCEMENT (oh boy...)

So, I've been receiving a few questions (via. PM and Reviews) as to how I'm going to end the series, and if I'm going to change anything major that would place this completely out of the canon plot of Race to the Edge.

AND HERE IS THE ANSWER:

NO.

"Race to the Edge Season 2b" (my fanfiction "season") is geared to end similarly to the way Race to the Edge Season 2 ended, so that this fanfiction "season" won't drift from canon too much.

So, yes. It's like a miniature season taking place between seasons 1 and 2 of RttE. I hope that answers all of your questions! :D Shout-outs:

TomBoyBookGirl: Haha, thanks! :D Yeah, I really want a RttE episode completely inspired by the books in the future (like the episode plays along nearly if not exactly how it did in the books), so I'm glad you like it so far! :D Book fans unite! *fist bump* XD

Galaxy-Mitsuko-Pegasus: Yeah, I don't think anyone was fully prepared for that cliffhanger, even though I warned you all. ;)

ShadowSpirit020: Yeah, I just totally did that...I evil. :/

Guest (#1): Thanks! :D

wikelia: I did warn you there was a cliffhanger! XD But I don't think it helped either way...yeah, I totally just did that...sorry, Toothless...:(

HappyPup1: Yeah, I just did that...sorry.

LunarCatNinja: It is (or, um, was) the cure, after all. I think everyone felt sort of fixated on the potato. :)

bella: Cliffhanger! XD I warned everyone at the beginning of the chapter. ;) And thanks! Yeah, the migraines are a nuisance, but I haven't one today, so that's good. :)

Forever Me: Thanks! :D I'm glad you like this episode, and the previous episodes, too! :D Yeah, I'm evil, of course, but I don't know if I'll kill off Toothless just yet...yeah, it'd be horrible to kill him off. I don't know if I would have the heart. XD Thanks for the review! :D

Iris Patton: It's fine! Don't worry about not reviewing. Life is crazy sometimes. ;) And thanks! Yeah, the migraines are bad, but usually I can sleep them off or caffeine them away with coffee. :) Awwww, thank you so much! :D I'm glad you like my stories so much! :D Thanks for the review! :D

Charr2003: Umm...yeah...I just did that...there's an outrage! Everyone's upset because of what I did in that last chapter's ending...yeah...sorry, Toothy. :( Let's see what happens! I did promise Hiccstrid, after all, and there'll be a lot more to come in the last few chapters! :D Thanks for the review!

Dimentional Phaser: I accidentally posted the same chapter twice. There is no chapter 6 (well, there is now, but there wasn't when you reviewed :D). Sorry about that. Yeah, I explained that in an author's note on Chapter 5 when I realized my mistake. :D

SnivyDragon: GET. THE. PO. TA. TO. RIGHT. NOW. GANG. Let's see how this all ends up! :D *fist bumps* Hufflepuffs unite! :D :D :D

HTTYD Lover: Good question! A brilliant question, actually. :) The Dragon Eye will return, as I mentioned in "The Trainer and the Hunter", but I will not be bringing in any brand new never-before-seen information about the Dragon Eye, unfortunately. I'm going to leave that part to Dreamworks. ;) This series of fanfiction episodes (I've called it "Race to the Edge Season 2b") is geared to end similarly to the way season 2 ended, so that season 3 can pick up where it left off. :) Thanks for the question! :D

"NO!" Hiccup shouted, staring in horror. No...that couldn't have just happened. That DID NOT just happen. He wasn't going to believe that what he had seen was reality. It was a trick of the light...it had to be, it had to be...no...it couldn't be over, it couldn't be, it couldn't be, it couldn't, it couldn't, he refused to believe it…

The Doomfang swallowed, and its eyes went from being sad and droopy to suddenly perky. It turned and bowed its head at Hiccup and Astrid respectfully - Hiccup, who was on his knees, hands braced against the ground, and Astrid, who, like Hiccup, seemed unable to grasp reality.

And then, just like that, the Doomfang turned and dove beneath the water once again, no doubt heading to the ocean, where it would live out the rest of his life, happy and carefree and definitely not infected with Venomous Vorpent venom.

Unlike someone else Hiccup knew.

For the longest moment, neither Hiccup nor Astrid did anything. Hiccup felt hot, salty tears of loss and desperation run down his face, and he made no move to stop them. He didn't have the heart.

It was as though the world had ended.

It might as well have ended for Hiccup.

It was over.

OVER.

Astrid's hand found his shoulder, and Hiccup stiffened. Only then did he try to maintain some kind of control over his tears, and even then, he did little to stop them.

"Hiccup, we have to go," said Astrid. "I'm...I'm sorry."

I'm sorry didn't even begin to tell the story of how Hiccup felt. Hiccup felt as though he had been stabbed in the gut.

Toothless was going to die. Soon. It was night right now, which meant that by noon the next day, there would be no more Night Furies; Hiccup's best friend would be dead.

And there was no way around it.

"We have to look for something else," Hiccup finally managed to choke out, his voice thick. "There has to be some other cure, something that can save Toothless…"

His voice broke.

He couldn't do this.

"There's nothing we can do, Hiccup," Astrid said heavily. "We have to go back. We only have a few hours before…"

She didn't need to finish her sentence; the silence was louder than any word she could have said, or shouted, or screamed.

The silence was deafening.

Because silence was the thing heard from the losing side. Victors cheered; those who had suffered a loss did not.

Which was why the silence spoke more than anything Astrid could have said, anything Hiccup could have added.

The silence meant they had failed.

As Hiccup already knew they had.

He stood, and together, he and Astrid squeezed themselves back through the narrow tunnel. Hiccup said nothing, his brain too clogged by depressed fug to think clearly. When they made it out of the narrow tunnel, Astrid following the Xs she had carved on the wall, they headed up the steep, icy slope, towards the front of the caves once again.

They met up with Stormfly somewhere in between, and Snotlout and Hookfang were still waiting patiently by the door. Snotlout looked up eagerly when they approached, his face splitting into a grin.

"Guys!" he shouted, racing towards them. "We were wondering when you would show! What happened? Did you get it?"

He caught sight of Hiccup and Astrid's expressions and froze. His smile wavered.

"Tell me you got it," he said, and this time, he was, oddly enough, pleading.

Hiccup swallowed thickly. Hearing it a second time made the realization even worse. Astrid shook her head.

Snotlout's smile vanished. "No," he said. "But...but we were so close! We almost did it, we almost got it! We almost had it…"

Keyword: almost.

They almost got the cure.

They almost saved Toothless' life.

But the truth of the matter was that they didn't.

Which meant that any use whatsoever of the word "almost" was entirely unnecessary, because no amount of almosts or wishful thinkings could change what had happened.

Hiccup knew this.

He feared this.

Snotlout looked up at the ice sealing the cave shut and raised a hand to it. "Um...Hookfang and I will lure the Snow Wraiths away and meet up with you guys in the sky."

Astrid nodded. "Thanks, Snotlout," she said.

Hookfang and Stormfly melted the ice, Astrid and Hiccup mounted Stormfly, and they shot into the air. Meanwhile, Snotlout mounted his own dragon and shot after the Snow Wraiths, taunting them long enough for Astrid, Hiccup, and Stormfly to begin the course back to Dragon's Edge.

He met up with them shortly, but Hiccup could barely bring himself to care. It was too late. Morning had dawned. They had no cure.

No cure.

No hope.

Gone.

Just like that.

But now that it was gone, Hiccup's only true focus was to get back to Dragon's Edge as fast as he possibly could. He didn't care about anything else. Astrid was pushing Stormfly as fast as she would go, and Snotlout was fighting to catch up.

They soared over the ocean as the sun rose higher in the sky. Soon, the sun was swallowed up by thick clouds, and a heavy wind began to blow, but Stormfly's wings pounded on towards their destination. She must have sensed the urgency of the situation.

The wind picked up. Snow flurried around them like miniature tornadoes. The dragons flew on, soared on, faster and faster than ever, until finally, the outline of Dragon's Edge could be seen in the horizon, and the dragons flew faster than they had ever flown before.

Stormfly and Hookfang touched down on the platform, and Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs dismounted. Hiccup raced for the door.

Fishlegs was standing outside, and he turned quickly when he saw the dragons land. "Hiccup!" he called, hurrying forward. "Wait, Hiccup, there's something I need to tell you-"

Hiccup ignored him. He ran faster than he had ever run before and threw open the doors, Astrid and Snotlout right on his tail.

Hiccup froze. Toothless was unmoving, eyes shut. From where they were, Hiccup couldn't see him breathing.

Hiccup's heart stopped. The blood drained from his face.

"No," Hiccup whispered.

But then, suddenly, it seemed a miracle happened, because at the sound of Hiccup's voice, Toothless' ears perked, and the dragon bounced up, eyes focused and happy. He growled excitedly when he saw Hiccup, looking very perky and happy…

And not dying.

"What…?" Hiccup whispered in shock, hardly daring himself to hope. "Toothless?"

Toothless growled at him happily.

And that said it all.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup shouted, and he threw himself at the dragon, wrapping his arms tightly around Toothless' neck and never wanting to let go. Toothless was alright; somehow, he was alright. Hiccup didn't know how.

But he didn't care about that, either. He felt tears sting his eyes, and one rolled down his cheek for an entirely different reason than before.

Toothless was alive.

It was going to be okay after all.

"What in the name of Thor?" Snotlout said in shock. "He's supposed to be...well, you know, dying!"

"Well…" Fishlegs said nervously, twiddling his fingers. "There is a slight chance I diagnosed Toothless wrong."

"WHAT!?" blurted Snotlout.

"As it turns out," said Gobber from across the room, stepping into the light, "Toothless had a cold. Nothing serious. Very common for dragons in this kind of weather."

"Are you telling me," said Snotlout slowly, "Astrid, Hiccup and I went out in the freezing cold weather, fought Snow Wraiths, found the clues that led us to the cure, for nothing!?"

"It was an honest mistake, Snotlout," said Fishlegs, shaking his head. "Anyone could have made it."

"We could have died!" snapped Snotlout. "And more importantly, I could have died, and all for some stupid, useless quest! For nothing!"

"Well, on the bright side," piped up Tuffnut, who was standing beside Ruffnut next to Gobber, "you would've had a good funeral."

"Snotlout!" Hiccup reprimanded, but he was laughing now, because he couldn't believe they had succeeded without actually having to succeed. "Why give Fishlegs a hard time when all's well that ends well? We didn't die, and everything's okay."

It certainly looked that way.

Hiccup finally stood up, and Toothless stood beside him, watching him eagerly. Hiccup figured the dragon was as happy to have his rider back as Hiccup was happy to have his dragon back.

He was about to thank Fishlegs for all his help, but then, something odd happened.

Funny how the tides can turn, turn, and then turn again, isn't it?

An unexplainable wave of dizziness swept through Hiccup's head, and he raised his hand to clutch his temple with a quiet moan. All eyes were instantly on him.

"Hiccup…?" Astrid said. "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Hiccup lied through his teeth. "Just give me a minute…" But the dizziness got worse, and this time, he stumbled backwards, just managing to catch himself on the edge of the table before he fell to the ground.

He really shouldn't have bothered with catching himself, in the end. "What…?" he whispered, and then, he crumpled to the ground anyway.

"HICCUP!" the others shouted in unison.

OKAY GUYS, I HAVE A QUESTION, SO LISTEN UP (Please? :D)

ALRIGHT! I've been thinking about this fanfiction season of Race to the Edge, right? And I'm kind of wondering...

DO YOU GUYS THINK I SHOULD WRITE 13 FANFICTION EPISODES WHENEVER ANOTHER RACE TO THE EDGE SEASON COMES OUT? Like, this fanfiction series is called "Race to the Edge Season 2b", and if I create another fanfiction series of "episodes" after season 3, I'd call it "Race to the Edge Season 3b."

So, let me know what you think! :D

Oh, and also: I put up a poll on my profile where you guys can let me know which episode in this fanfiction series is your favorite, so if you could go on over there and let me know, that'd be great! :D It'll help me decide what you guys like seeing the most and make my future fanfictions even better.

Thank you all! :D Sorry about the cliffhanger...XD