I am sorry if this Chapter will break you. Trust me, it broke me while I was writing this :'"(
Note: I do NOT own anything.
Chapter 13: No…
"Look out, Auntie Valka!" I screamed as Cloudjumper narrowly avoided getting turned into a frozen Stormcutter by the Dark Bewilderbeast's ice blast! But then his tail got frozen and Valka was thrown off of his back! Hiccup and I looked at each other and nodded. We needed to end this, now.
As we flew to where Drago was, I managed to catch a glimpse of Stoick saving Valka and the two of them running to avoid being attacked. I silently murmured a prayer to the gods that they'll both be safe. The situation was getting dire. More and more dragons were now being pulled into the Dark Bewilderbeast's control, including Skullcrusher, Cloudjumper and Grump. Toothless and Stryka were okay though, I guess Drago hadn't thought of getting his dragon to control them…
"STOP!"
At our yells, Drago looked up to see us coming in for a landing. "Stop!" Hiccup repeated, removing his helmet. "This madness ends now!" I said, standing firmly by his side. Drago at once began to laugh. He'd seen me, but not Hiccup. I guess we weren't really the opponents he had expected to meet.
"These are the two great Dragon Masters? The son of Stoick the Vast and the Dragon Doctor of Berk?" Drago chuckled darkly at us before adding snidely, "What shame he and his tribe must feel." To make us annoyed. Good thing Hiccup and I kept our cool. But, honestly, I wanted to spear that madman with Ember for payment of what he had done to Eret.
"All of this loss and for what? To become unstoppable? To rule the world?" Hiccup asked him, trying to reason with him. I knew now that Drago Bludvist was anything but reasonable but my loyalty to Hiccup persuaded me to try and be a diplomat as well. "Drago, this battle has been nothing but been in vain. The blood of men, your men, and dragons, either from your army or from the Sanctuary, will continue to be spilled if you don't call this crazy war off." I told him. "Dragons, they are kind, amazing creatures that can bring people together." Hiccup added.
Drago seemed to listen…but then…
"Or tear them apart." He growled and, then, unhooked his prosthetic left arm! Hiccup and I could only gape at the stump of what probably used to be Drago's left arm in shock. How long had Drago been…armless?
"Well, Dragon Doctor, where were you when I needed your care?" Drago maliciously sneered at me, making my blood run cold with fear. Hiccup glared at Drago and stepped out in front of me, protecting me from this psychopath.
"You see, I know what it is to live in fear. To see my village burnt, my family taken. But even as a boy left with nothing I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons, and liberate the people of this world." Drago told us as he casually walked in a circle. Sometimes I saw him look at me hungrily…almost as if he wanted to snatch me away and do whatever he pleased with me. I made sure to keep one hand on one of my battle sticks just in case. No way was I going to let this son of a bitch lay one finger on me.
"Then why a dragon army?" Hiccup demanded, going into protective mode as well. "Well, you need dragons to conquer other dragons." Drago replied. "You think that just because your Bewilderbeast defeated the Alpha, both dragons and men will listen to your command?" I asked, my one violet eye flashing in anger. "Or maybe you need dragons to conquer people, to control those who follow you and get rid of those who don't." Hiccup said, his face set with determination.
"You use fear to control those who follow you…and to enslave those who don't wish to join you at first. And if they still refuse, you kill them in cold blood…Stoick was right…You are a madman, without conscience or mercy." I said coldly, fully hating Drago Bludvist now more than ever.
Drago just chuckled darkly, "Clever boy and girl."
But Hiccup was still determined to reason with Drago. I wanted to tell him that it was hopeless trying to be diplomatic with Drago, but I…I couldn't just leave Hiccup to face this alone so I held my tongue and stayed by his side.
"The world wants peace, and we have the answer back on Berk. Just let us show you-" he managed to say before Drago's face hardened. "No! Let me show you two!" he roared, before swinging his bull hook over his head while screaming like the madman he truly was. Hiccup and I backed away from him along with Toothless and Stryka, realizing that Drago was summoning his Dark Bewilderbeast. Once the Bewilderbeast arrived, Drago slammed his bull hook into the ground. The Bewilderbeast immediately bowed to him in submission. Another proof that Drago was an abusive and mad madman.
"No dragon can resist the Alpha's command. So he, who controls the Alpha, controls them all." Drago said in a low voice, pointing his bull hook at Toothless and Stryka.
That's when everything went bad.
Hiccup and I were alerted to Toothless and Stryka, who were now growling and whining uncomfortably. And they were constantly shaking their heads as if they were trying to shake something off. "Toothless? You okay, bud? What's going on?" Hiccup asked fearfully as our two Night Furies began to grind their heads against the ice, moaning in agony. "What are you doing to them?" I asked, whipping my head to face Drago.
"Witness true strength. The strength of will over others."
That's when I saw the Dark Bewilderbeast's pupils flickering as it hissed, maintaining eye contact on Toothless and Stryka. The realization of what was happening hit me like an ice-cold wall.
Drago was commanding his Dark Bewilderbeast to take control over Toothless and Stryka…
Drago then pointed his bull hook at our dragons saying, "In the face of it…you two are nothing." Before pointing it…at us.
I already thought that that was scary. But when Toothless and Stryka turned to face us, I got a true look at real terror. Both Toothless and Stryka were now under the Dark Bewilderbeast's control. And Stryka, oh gods…her one emerald green eye was completely void of any emotion and her pupil had turned into a mere slit…
"Uh, what did he just tell you and Stryka?" Hiccup asked nervously, seeing Toothless' empty eyes. "Stryka, what's with the face…?" I squeaked, trying really hard to deny the fact along with my brother that our two best dragon friends in the whole world were now mindless slaves to Drago and his Dark Bewilderbeast.
Our two Night Furies began to advance towards us menacingly. And with nowhere to go but back, Hiccup and I found ourselves slowly being backed up into a wall of ice! My heart started hammering in my chest. This was sheer madness! Stryka, my dear draconian sister, was now trying to kill me!
"Toothless, what's the matter with you? What're you doing?" Hiccup frantically asked, hoping that his voice would snap Toothless out of the trance. "Stryka, this isn't funny! Knock it off!" I yelped, hoping against all hope that a miracle would happen and that my one-eyed dragoness would come back to me.
"Knock it off!" Hiccup echoed my last plea as our two Night Furies opened their mouths. I could hear the gas building up inside of them. Any minute now, their plasma blasts would blast out and hit me and Hiccup dead centers. "Please come back to us!" I pleaded, my voice shaking as we were forced further back.
"Stop! Snap out of it!" Hiccup and I both shouted, now both completely overcome with fear. But it was futile. Toothless and Stryka…they wouldn't listen to either of us. It was the end for me and Hiccup…
"Toothless! No! Toothless! Don't!" "Stryka! No! Stryka! Please, no!" Hiccup and I weren't even sure if we should keep on begging or anything. It was all too frightening. Rational thinking, logic…basically, anything that made sense was going out the window as our two Night Furies prepared to fire!
That's when I heard Stoick yelling his son's name.
"Hiccup!"
Odin, no! No! Stoick was gonna try rescuing us!
"STOP!" Hiccup yelled at the top of his lungs as Toothless and Stryka readied their plasma blasts.
"SON!" Stoick yelled as I saw him running towards us. "STOICK, DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" I shrieked in alarm as Hiccup and I spotted him. "DAD!" Hiccup yelled, holding one arm out to his side to try and stop his father from taking another step closer.
That's when the plasma shot out of Toothless and Stryka's mouths.
"NO!" Hiccup and I both screamed as Stoick rammed into us, pushing us out of the blast zone!
The silence that followed was almost deafening…
Reeling from the shock of the blast we heard, Hiccup and I panted heavily before glancing at our two Night Furies. Still under the Dark Bewilderbeast's controlling trance, Toothless and Stryka were panting, their chests heaving from the huge amount of firepower they both let out. I realized that Hiccup had pretty much shielded me with his body and was hovering protectively over me. But I had little time to dwell on my brother's protective instincts.
For the next thing we both saw…made both of our hearts stop.
Stoick, covered in shards of ice, lying on the ground…completely still.
"No…" Hiccup breathed out as we both scrambled to our feet and rushed over to his Dad. "Dad!" Hiccup cried out as we struggled to clear the ice off of his father. I couldn't speak. Shock had made me mute. But my doctor training kicked in and I started to perform CPR on Stoick. Mentally counting the rhythm of compressions, I pumped and pumped and pumped and pumped my Chief's chest, praying to all the gods and goddesses in Valhalla as well as Eli's spirit that I could restart his heart and get him to breathe…
Save his life…like any doctor should do…
'Come on, Stoick! Don't die on us, Chief!' I thought desperately as I kept on pumping even as Auntie Valka arrived. "Stoick…" she gasped in horror. "Dad…no, you…" Hiccup said, his voice trembling greatly as I continued doing CPR. But my arms soon tired and I couldn't pump anymore. I only had enough energy left in me to shakily take out my stethoscope so I could press it to Stoick's chest, like Auntie Valka was doing right now, and listen for a heartbeat…
But there wasn't a heartbeat…
My own heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second when I realized that it was too late. Not even my most advanced healing methods could do anything now. As I doctor, I could try to stop death…but I cannot give back life to the ones who had already died. I looked at Hiccup, along with Valka, and shook my head.
Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk…the man I now had the permission to call 'Uncle'…was dead.
Hiccup...he…I just couldn't…I just…couldn't bear to see his distraught face. "No…" he choked out. "I-I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" I whispered, tears slipping out of my eye. "No, no, no…" Hiccup sobbed out, burying his face into his father's cold, lifeless hand as Astrid went to comfort him along with his Mom. My heart cried out for him as I watched my best friend, my brother, cry into his father's hand. That's when I heard the shuffling of dragon feet and turned.
Toothless and Stryka had snapped out of their trance…and they were walking over to us.
I let out an involuntary yelp as Stryka neared me and backed away as she came closer to me with her mate. "Zewnwa…?" Stryka warbled to me, confused, staring at me with her one green eye. I didn't know what I was thinking…Was I…actually afraid of my own dragon now?
"J-just…leave us alone for a while, girl…Please…just leave us alone…" I said fearfully, looking away. Holy Shields, what was I doing?! I was pushing Stryka away! All because of what Drago and his Dark Bewilderbeast had told her to do!
Stryka then crooned and approached Stoick's body along with Toothless. They had both realized what they had done. And they were so distraught as they gently nudged their snouts into his hand. But then Hiccup harshly pushed them away. "No! Get away from him!" he shouted, grief and rage evident in both his face and tone.
Poor Toothless and Stryka…they both looked like innocent pups that had been kicked and left out in the rain…
"Go on, get out of here! Go away!" Hiccup yelled, tears streaming down his face. Whimpering, our two Night Furies left. I wanted to go chase after them, tell them that Hiccup didn't mean it…But I just didn't know what to do…
Hiccup then fell to his knees, crying silently. "It's not their fault…You know that…" Valka told him softly as the Dark Bewilderbeast unleashed its hypnotic spell once again, taking control of all of the dragons. I heard my friends call out to their dragons and turned around. Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf and Belch…they were all going away…
"Good dragons under the control of bad people…do bad things…" Valka said sadly as we watched all the dragons leave.
That's when the truth dawned on me.
Toothless and Stryka weren't the ones responsible for Stoick's death.
It was Drago. He was the true murderer!
I immediately switched my battle sticks' flame spears on, slapped the cuff to turn them into my Fire Staff, Ember, and turned around to go and find that madman.
'He will pay…He will pay for this! Of that I will make sure!' I thought, furious as I ran until I spotted him. There he was, looming proud and victorious over this madness he had caused. Toothless, who was now under the control of the Alpha once again along with Stryka, was trying to fly with his locked tail fin but was failing. Until Drago pushed him down with his bull hook and mounted him.
"Come on! Gather the men and meet me at Berk!" he commanded. Oh no way was I going to let him slip away. Not after everything he had done!
Just as he was about to force Toothless up, I charged with a furious battle cry and tackled him! He was stunned to see me again, to say the least but I didn't care. He had murdered Eret's father, he had murdered Hiccup's father…and I was going to make him pay for what he did to them!
"BASTARD!" I screamed at him, landing a good hit on his jaw. But Drago wanted to fight and used his bull hook as his weapon. I let out an onslaught of strikes and jabs, determined to land a hit on him and cause him as much pain as I could so that he would know the pain he had inflicted upon the two men who mattered the most to me in my life.
"You monster! You murderer! YOU! MURDERER!" I yelled at him, swinging Ember at his face and just barely giving him a good burn on his chin.
"ENOUGH!" Drago roared, suddenly knocking Ember out of my hands. I was about to go into hand-to-hand combat mode when he grabbed my throat! I let out an enraged growl that turned into a gasp for air as he lifted me up off the ground! "You are pathetic, Dragon Doctor. No one who challenges me…lives to tell the tale." He growled as he tightened his grip on my throat. I frantically clawed at his fingers as I desperately tried to breathe. But I was beginning to feel lightheaded. Oh Thor, if his grip tightened even more he will crush my neck…
"No! No! No! NO, DRAGO! LEAVE HER ALONE!"
I know that voice…It sounded like…
"LEAVE! ZENNA! ALONE!"
Eret…
That's when Drago flung me backward. I let out a small scream in pain as I collided with someone and just laid there, gasping for much-needed air and rubbing my sore neck. When I finally recovered from what could have been a near-death thing, I sat up only to see Drago riding on Toothless to join his Bewilderbeast in the siege to Berk…Stryka following right behind them!
"Stryka! Stryka! STRYKA!" I cried out hoarsely and tried to go after my best dragon friend but a pair of strong, muscular arms grabbed me and held me back. "No! No! No! No!" I screamed, thrashing against the arms. "Zenna, no! Please, no!" That's when I realized that Eret was the one holding me. I spun around to see him looking at me with worry. "But…but…Stryka…and…" I managed to say before I heard Hiccup cry out, "Toothless!"
I looked past Eret to see Hiccup trying to get to his Night Fury as well only to be held back by Valka. "No, don't…" she told him, her eyes tearing up.
Seeing that there was no use, Hiccup fell back on the ground and just sobbed as Astrid gently cradled him in her arms. Hiccup, my best human friend and brother not by blood but by bond, had been completely broken.
That did it. Losing Stoick, then Stryka and Toothless and, finally, seeing Hiccup broken was too much for me. I completely lost it and started sobbing like a baby.
Stoick was gone…Stryka and Toothless had been taken away…And Drago was going to invade Berk…
Everything had fallen apart…
"No…no…no…" I blubbered, sobbing into Eret's chest. I wasn't really sure on what our relationship status was now, but I was just relieved to have him there. As of now, he was my lifeline to what was left of my sanity…and I didn't want to lose anyone else…
Eret just gently wrapped his strong arms around me as I cried and didn't say anything. I gratefully stayed in his arms until I had cried myself out. When I pulled away from him, I saw Hiccup, Gobber, Valka, Astrid and the rest of my friends struggling to lift Stoick's body to prepare it for a funeral.
When Eret and I managed to catch up, Hiccup and I locked eyes at one point as we trudged through the icy terrain to salvage a ship we could use for the traditional Viking funeral.
And just like that…my already shattered heart shattered once more as I saw the intense sorrow and grief in Hiccup's emerald green eyes.
And I couldn't help but feel…that it was all MY fault.
I had failed to save Stoick's life…
I failed in my duty as a doctor…
And…I had failed Hiccup…
…I had failed my brother…
It's finally Christmas Break for me so I might have more time to update more. Okay, can't take it anymore…I'm just gonna go to a corner and try not to cry over this now…