Chapter 17: The Crimson Fury

Pain.

That was the first thing he remembered as he woke up. It wasn't the pain of fire licking away at his flesh and bones. His armor and suit had reduced that to only an irritating sting.

No, this pain was internal. It felt like his body was rebuilding itself. Bones shattered, broke themselves into splinters, then repaired themselves in seconds. It had been so excruciating it had knocked him unconscious.

Even before he opened his eyes, his body felt... strange. When he searched for something familiar, it was replaced with something new.

His vision went from black to blurry. He took in a breath and was assaulted by an army of odors for his trouble. The air was filled with slowly dissipating smoke and the stench of burnt flesh. He could make out figures, but his eyes couldn't focus.

He blinked a few times, then he could see. There was a mist everywhere, and the dormant volcano of Dragon Island towered over him. He glanced over the large crowd of Vikings and dragons standing in the background to see a black form laying to his right.

"Twilight?" He almost didn't recognize his own voice. It sounded much deeper than it should have been, but still carried his concern.

"I'm here," she replied. His sister must have just woken up, too, since she half-rolled, half-crawled to him. The dragoness nuzzled against her brother. "Don't worry, we're safe."

He managed to figure out how to work the muscles in his neck. Javelin looked at his new form. He had the body of a Night Fury, but he was larger, and guessed he was about eleven meters long. His tailfins were a little bit wider than Toothless' or Twilight's, and sported blotches of maroon.

His whole body was crimson with black and maroon spots here and there. His right foreleg, however, blended into a bright silver only a quarter of the way down. He flexed his claws, and found out they were extremely dexterous, almost more than his human fingers.

Javelin looked left to see Stoick and Gobber standing before an unconscious Toothless and Hiccup. Carefully, the chief handed his son to the blacksmith and approached the dragon. "I suppose you are that crimson demon?" he asked.

He nodded, a feeling of dizziness rushing through him. Stoick knelt down in front of him. "Thank you, then, for helping Hiccup." Javelin nodded again in response, then closed his eyes to sleep.

When he woke up again, he didn't feel tired or sore. He felt rejuvenated.

He stretched and looked around. Toothless and Twilight were resting beside each other next to a makeshift tent. The crowd had dispersed, though some were with dragons, interests in one another apparent. Javelin shifted his vision upwards to see Hookfang land next to him.

"You're finally up," he said, grinning.

"What happened?"

"Well, I just came back from helping those Vikings get some of their vessels together. We should be leaving soon."

"What about Hiccup?" Javelin asked, shifting his gaze towards the Night Furies.

"From what I heard, he lost his leg when Toothless saved him. I think he'll be okay."

The Crimson Fury looked at his right foreleg. He could feel the servos and motors hidden beneath the silver scales. A memory of a training accident flashed past, beginning and ending almost simultaneously. "I don't know what's worse: losing an arm or losing a leg."

"Losing a wing," the Nightmare responded solemnly. He did his best to change the topic. "I see Twilight and Toothless have gotten closer."

Javelin knew what Hookfang was trying to do, but he went along with it anyways and smiled. "Well, I do plan to be AN UNCLE SOON!" He shouted the last three words loud enough for Twilight to hear.

And she did. She got up and walked towards the two male dragons, an angry look in her eyes.

Hookfang saw it. "Uh oh. Sorry, man, but when it comes to angered females, its every dragon for himself." He took off in fright while Javelin just sat down and counted.

"One, two, three, four, fi-" His counting was interrupted when the Nightmare came smashing down into the ash shore, Twilight landing gracefully next to him.

"Which one of you boys started it?" she asked, her voice laced with 'lie and die.'

Javelin gestured a paw to the recovering dragon next to him. "He did."

"You went on and said it, pal, not me."

"Enough," Twilight stated. "You can go, Hookfang. I need to have a few words with my brother."

He quickly nodded and flew off, only to land close by to see what would happen. Barf and Belch joined him.

The Night Fury dragoness glared at her brother. "You said you wouldn't tease our relationship anymore."

"To be fair, I was a human at that time. I learned my lesson as such. I'm a dragon now, so it's different."

She chuckled evilly. "Well, seems I need to teach the HATCHLING his lesson, dragon-style." Twilight smiled, then pounced on Javelin.

Toothless was doing his best to stay calm and keep his worries away. To tell the truth, he was scared. Scared that Hiccup wouldn't wake back up, scared that he would lose his closest friend. Fortunately, Twilight laid down next to him to keep him company.

When the Crimson Fury yelled, "AN UNCLE SOON!" he groaned and covered his head in embarrassment. They all knew what he had meant. But only he and Twilight knew how far their relationship went.

He watched as she jumped Javelin, knocking him onto his back. The dragon didn't even try to defend himself against his sister's onslaught. Eventually, he was on his back with Twilight's paw pressing down on his chest. "Okay! Okay! I won't make fun of your relationship from now on!" She pressed harder. "As a human or dragon!"

With that said, she let him get up. Javelin muttered something under his breath that got his sister's attention again, since she growled in anger, turned around, and jumped him with more force than last time. He managed to roll over and try to crawl away, but Twilight grabbed Javelin's tail and pulled him back. Toothless couldn't tell whether his face of terror was real or not.

The Nightmare, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch the Zippleback were laughing their heads off. The siblings' scuffle ended up gathering quite a few spectators, Vikings included. Some of them laughed as others looked on, eyes wide in surprise.

Twilight pinned her brother on the ground and paused for a few seconds. Then she smiled. "Hey, Stormfly! I need your help!"

A female Deadly Nadder landed next to the duo and talked with Twilight. Of course, the onlookers couldn't hear what was being said, but from the look on Crimson's face, it was not good (for him). Hookfang, Barf and Belch erupted into even more laughter.

Stormfly and Twilight grabbed his body and flew straight up. They stopped when the ground could barely be seen, then dropped Javelin.

Javelin screamed as he tumbled through the air, trying to get his wings to work. He leveled out halfway down and visibly breathed a sigh of relief. Keeping his wings and tail straight, he slowly descended.

Then Twilight dropped onto his back, the sudden impact shooting him down a few meters. He readjusted for the extra weight. They were just above the ground when Stormfly dropped onto him, joining Twilight.

There was no way to account for that. One second, Crimson was hovering above the shore, the next he was crushed into the rocks. The two females were laughing and jumped off while he groaned in pain.

Twilight stayed next to her brother as he got back onto his feet. She must have whispered something shocking to Crimson because his ear flaps went straight up.

"WHAT?!" he yelled, moving his head away. She smiled, and the larger dragon groaned. Javelin buried his head underneath his paws while Twilight walked back to Toothless.

"What was that about?" Toothless asked.

The female Night Fury smirked and sat down next to her love. Then she whispered in his ear.

Javelin just wanted to go to sleep now. Why did she have to tell him that? It wasn't enough for her to beat him up like he deserved, now she had to haunt his dreams for the next few days or weeks. But he knew his sister. What she said wasn't true.

At least, he hoped it wasn't.

He raised a paw from his eyes to see Toothless in a state of shock, ear flaps up and black pupils wide. The Night Fury followed Javelin's example and buried his face under his paws.

Hookfang, Barf and Belch walked over to him. "I warned you, Crimson."

"That was a-"

"Really nice show," Barf finished.

"Add insult to injury, why don't you?" Javelin complained.

The Zippleback merely chuckled as he walked off. His place was taken over by Meatlug.

"Are you alright?" the Gronckle asked in concern.

"I'm fine. I deserved everything that came to me."

"Yes, you did. Now you know what will happen next time," she said, swinging her tail for emphasis.

Javelin got the implication and groaned. "Why is it that all the females want to kill me?"

"Welcome to the flight, Crim," Hookfang sympathized.

"Shut up, Hookfang."

"Do you mind leaving for a while? I need to talk with the youngling here," Meatlug said to the Nightmare.

"No. See you later." With that, he flew off.

Javelin had a sense of dejá vu and backed a few inches away from Meatlug. "You know you shouldn't make fun of Twilight's and Toothless' relationship, even-"

"If I am promoting it, I know. I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." As if she knew what the Fury was going to say, she continued. "If you're worried about her safety, just remember that she is as much our family as you are hers."

He relaxed and nodded. "Thank you, buir." The pronunciation felt strange on his tongue.

"Excuse me?"

"It's a word from my culture's tongue. It means mother or father. I-I won't say it again if you don't like it."

"It's okay. In fact, I must say I feel like one to my rider."

"Fishlegs? Hmm, yes I can definitely see that. From what I have seen, he makes a very compassionate rider and friend." He noticed the Viking crowd moving around, two of them walking to the tent.

They went in, then came back out with an unconscious Hiccup. Upon seeing them leave, Toothless got up and walked next to the group, Twilight quickly following.

Meatlug noticed it too. "You should join them. I know they'll need the support."

"You're right. But what about you?"

"We'll head back soon. Now go."

Javelin nodded and dashed towards the boats. The combined efforts of man and dragon yielded two ships from wreckage. The two Night Furies followed Hiccup onto one of them. Toothless seemed reluctant, but his bond with his rider overruled the fear.

Since that boat was already full, he decided to get some flying practice in. The Crimson Fury ascended above the shore and waves, then made his way next to the vessel carrying the bond-family. At Stoick's command, the boats set sail back to home.

He stayed next to the ship for the entire journey, doing his best to not move an inch away from his brother and sister.

(AN) - There you are, guys. This has been one of my most favorite chapters to write... well, rewrite. So now, we're nearing the end of this story, but I won't say anything other than it ends when it ends.

Adipose, thank you as always. If this appeases you, I have quite a few things planned for the commandos.

Remember, readers, do feel free to review and leave your comments. I appreciate hearing what you have to say. Keep on keepin' on, everyone.