The vikings clenched their weapons. The dragons readied their fire. The Red Death laughed humorlessly, and then charged.
"I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL."
...
Everything was noise. The Red Death, the opposing dragons, and the tide of vikings all roared as they charged forward, their war cries blending together into one cacophonous symphony. And in the next instant, the cries ceased suddenly, replaced and overshadowed by the sounds of war. Spears met scales; claws met shields; fire met fire, and chaos bloomed across the battlefield like blood-red roses in the spring.
The night fury and the blue Nadder flew high above the fight together, narrowly avoiding spears and catapults and columns of fire. Cautiously, they tried to stay out of the battle, and instead kept their eyes trained on the little viking elder, who was watching the chaos with a grim expression. The vikings near her were rapidly being drawn into the battle, running off to aid their fellow tribesmen. And then, after a few tense minutes of dodging and surveillance, the two dragons saw their chance.
"She's alone!" the Nadder shouted above the din, a small note of triumph in her voice. "Let's go!" Wasting no time, the night fury dived with the Nadder just behind him, and they aimed determinedly for the viking elder. The night fury honestly didn't know what he was going to do when he got there, but nevertheless it was the only thing running through his mind. Get to the elder. Hiccup had left him for good, and so the only place he would be able to get advice from was the viking elder. She was, he figured, his only shot. If he was going to stop this universe from collapsing-
The night fury was forced out of his worried thoughts as a particularly loud viking's yell reached his ears. It was one of the vikings near the elder, and he had called out fiercely, "Gothi, look out!" Turning to the source of the noise, the night fury watched as the viking picked up a nearby spear and threw it, hard. The viking next to him lent his help, too, and tossed a wide, heavy net in the night fury's direction. Swerving smoothly and efficiently, the night fury dodged both with ease, and felt suddenly lighter; the way to the elder was now utterly clear, and fiery relief coursed through his veins for the briefest of moments, only to be cut off almost immediately. A cry of pain from directly behind him shattered his concentration, driving every single thought out of the night fury's head. Whirling around in midair, the night fury watched in unadulterated horror as the blue Nadder dropped heavily to the stony earth below amidst a sudden, sickening spray of red. Both the spear and the net had found their mark.
Diving down to the battlefield below, the night fury landed at the Nadder's side, feeling his world start to crumble around him. The spear had gotten her in the neck, and a spray of bright, arterial red was steadily darkening the rope net that remained tangled around her. She was thrashing around, mouth open in a silent scream, unable to make noise. The night fury moved quickly around to try to make eye contact with her - to comfort her, help her, anything. Speech abandoned the black dragon as he looked into the Nadder's eyes and saw... nothing. No recognition of him whatsoever. No recognition of the battle around her. Only fear and pain shone at him through her sparkling eyes, which seemed to be growing dimmer and dimmer. She was jerking frantically now, and the night fury swallowed thickly as he realized that she was not trying to get out of the net. She was not trying to get the spear out, nor attempting to stand. In fact, all rational thought seemed to have left her, and only primal fear remained. Her body thrashed in its death throes, caught undignified in the net, and the night fury could do nothing but stare. Unable to watch and yet unable to look away. And then, quite suddenly, she was gone. Dead.
The war still raging around him was only background noise now. It faded into a cold, insignificant gray as a stifling disbelief immobilized the night fury. The Nadder that had stuck with him through all of this craziness, the friend that had been a constant source of warmth and hope... She was gone forever. Had he saved her all those days ago just for her to die anyway? The disbelief ebbed away slowly as the truth of what he was seeing finally reached his uncomprehending mind. And in its place, a furious anger sparked into existence. How could this have happened? The killing blow of the spear was bad enough, but the net had added insult to injury. The image of her flailing helplessly in its confines was burned into his mind. This wasn't fair. This wasn't right. This wasn't acceptable. The anger within him swelled into a manic fury, and as the noise of the battle entered his awareness once more, the black dragon could see only red. Enraged, he tore his eyes away from the dreadful sight before him.
The fight had moved away from them, leaving the night fury and the Nadder's body alone in a sea of debris and death. Several dragons had already been killed, and lifeless vikings littered the island ground. Random outcroppings of rock were sprayed with red and scorched with black. The death and destruction weighed the night fury down until he was suffocating in tragedy. Taking a deep, unsteady breath, the dragon closed his eyes and shot off a plasma blast randomly, letting off his emotions in that one powerful shot. He needed to pull himself together; he needed to-
"Oof!" It was the smallest huff of air that reached his sensitive ears, the sound tinged with surprise and pain. The dragon's heart skipped a beat as he realized that the sound had come from the direction he had fired his plasma blast. Cold fear drenched him once more, dousing his fiery anger like a candle in a hurricane. That plasma blast was just a way to let off his feelings... He hadn't actually hit anything... had he?
Carefully, the night fury stepped over the debris of the battle and made his way toward the unknown sound to investigate. It had come from behind an outcrop of rock that stood fairly close by. Low to the ground, the dragon edged forward until he could see behind it, keeping a safe distance. And there, behind the rocks, was a human, clothed in black and facing away from the dragon. The figure was bent over with one hand against the rock in a feeble attempt to stay upright.
"Guess I shouldn't have snuck onto that boat," the human muttered ruefully to himself, an undeniable note of pain lacing itself into his tone. "Shoulda... st-stayed..." A thrill of terror like nothing he had ever felt before ran through the night fury like an electric shock. That voice... Oh, gods, that voice...
Perhaps sensing the dragon's presence, the figure turned suddenly in his direction, hand slipping off the rock. The viking fell hard onto the ground as a result, and the black cloak that was too big for its wearer slipped cleanly off. The sight beneath stole the breath from the night fury's lungs. It was a small, thin viking boy with reddish-brown hair and bright, emerald green eyes. His face was smudged with black, features screwed up in agony. And there, on his torso, were the sickeningly familiar injuries. The horribly grotesque burn mark. The blood. All the blood.
The wounded viking used his right hand to prop himself up off the ground, while wrapping the other tightly around his middle, hissing in pain. Then he looked up and met eyes with the staring dragon. The night fury saw his own terror reflected back.
"Hiccup?" the dragon questioned fearfully, voice cracking. "N- no. No, no. What are you doing here?" he breathed, the words tumbling out almost without conscious thought. Frantically, the night fury stumbled forward, hurrying towards his human friend.
But Hiccup recoiled, shrank back in fear, and the night fury could see confusion behind the terror in the boy's eyes. And in a flash, the dragon realized - this Hiccup could not understand him. Sadly and cautiously, the night fury moved slowly forward instead, hoping to convey in his body language that he meant no harm. Hiccup's eyes tracked the dragon's movements carefully, but he didn't back away this time; in fact, the night fury could see curiosity filling the viking's expression. But then, the boy blanched, his face suddenly going as white as the clouds on a blue sky day. His eyelids drooped, his features slackened, and the arm he was using to hold himself up abruptly gave way beneath him.
Heart racing, the night fury closed the distance between himself and the collapsed viking, who used his remaining strength to roll himself onto his back. This allowed the boy to look right up into the face of the night fury. Some of the pain seemed to have left Hiccup, a tired kind of weakness taking its place upon his features. He was bleeding out, the dragon knew, and he could do nothing but watch as the blood continued to flow freely, darkening Hiccup's clothes and drenching the sleeve of the arm still cradled carefully around his middle. A glint of metal attracted the dragon's attention, and the night fury noticed that the hand covering the wound held something else - a small silver dagger. The very same one he had seen many times before. Hiccup's own blood flowed over the clean blade, and it dripped a terrifying scarlet. There was a swooping sensation in the night fury's stomach; the menacing-looking dagger was never menacing at all. It gleamed with the viking's own blood. Hiccup had probably never harmed a thing in his life. Tearing his eyes away from the sight, the dragon looked again into Hiccup's eyes, and saw that the boy had been following his gaze. Hiccup blinked slowly, then, with effort, turned his head to look meaningfully in another direction. The night fury followed his gaze, and saw that Hiccup was staring pointedly at the body of the Deadly Nadder, still wrapped unforgivingly in the net. The night fury swallowed and looked back at Hiccup, who wore a meaningful expression; he was trying to explain something.
"Was gonna... cut... f-free..." he finally managed, with difficulty. A wave of immense sorrow crashed over the night fury and threatened to drown him in its shadowy depths, as he realized what must have happened. Hiccup had been sneaking over to them, dagger in hand, in an attempt to cut the rope off of the Nadder, to let her die with dignity. But the boy had been too late, and when the night fury fired off a plasma blast in his anger at her passing, he had been standing in exactly the wrong spot...
A sharp hiss of pain brought the night fury back to the present. Hiccup had scrunched his eyes closed, tears leaking out of the sides. His fists were clenched tightly, knuckles white, and his whole body was rigid with tension. Wanting to provide comfort, the night fury moved his head closer until his hot breath was on Hiccup's face, blowing Hiccup's bangs out of his eyes. Then he ducked his head and nudged the viking boy with it. At this, Hiccup opened his eyes again, and - inexplicably - smiled. Though pained and weak and losing life fast, his smile was completely genuine. Wanting to keep up the positivity, the dragon quickly studied the human's smile and then carefully imitated it, retracting his teeth to show the boy that he meant no harm. To his delight, Hiccup's smile widened further in response. And then Hiccup laughed, high-pitched and a little insane, but happy nonetheless. The laughter broke off into a weak cough that brought blood out onto his lips, but Hiccup was still smiling, staring at the night fury's mouth with slightly unfocused eyes.
"You're... T-tooth... less..." And then the smile faded slowly from his features. His emerald eyes glazed over. There was a light in them that was not the light of life; it was a reflection - a reflection of the fires raging from the battle all around them. Numbly, the night fury turned and looked around.
There was more death here than he had ever seen before. The bodies of dragons and vikings alike lay strewn across the cold ground, while the others continued fighting to the death. The Red Death towered above them all, still undefeated, and everywhere the night fury looked, vikings were falling dead. Dragons, too, were falling out of the sky to crash into the earth below. Innocent lives were being lost every second. The blue Nadder was dead. And now, Hiccup. This is how the world ends, the night fury thought. This is how the universe comes crashing down, and I did nothing to prevent it.
The dragon closed his eyes in shame, and searched through his memories for comfort. Races with the blue Nadder. Flights to Berk. Conversations with Hiccup.
Do you believe in time travel?
The night fury snapped his eyes open, a fire igniting suddenly within him. It was the question that had started it all. And - it was the question that could end it all. The night fury thought back to the lessons from the viking elder, the conversations with the wise old Gronckle. The odd sight of balls of light that predicted future movements.
I can do anything, Hiccup had told him once. And so can you. For the third time, the night fury felt that weird sort of power begin to escalate within him, until the blood was rushing through his veins and his heart was racing faster than ever. But this time, he didn't question it. Didn't stop it. Didn't fear it. He embraced the strange power, let it burn within him as he remembered the very last talk he'd had with Hiccup.
You have everything you need, the viking had said. And indeed, he did.
Do you believe in time travel?
The end of the world was here, and the night fury had done nothing to prevent it. But maybe prevention had never been the point. From the very moment the universe had skewed off tangent, the events drove them inexorably toward the end of the world. The dragon could not stop it.
But he could rewrite it.
He could travel back to the exact moment in which the universe had skewed. He could make sure none of this ever happened. No dragon lives lost, nor human lives. The blue Nadder would live. And Hiccup... Hiccup would live. The feeling of power reached a peak inside the night fury, and he knew, beyond a doubt, that he could re-do the moment that ruined everything. He could set the universe back on its intended path. He could do anything.
The dragon turned to look one last time at Hiccup's body, his empty eyes that reflected the destruction all around them, and the sight stiffened his resolve. He would fix this.
And so the night fury closed his eyes...