Chapter 10 - An Unexpected Encounter

VALKA

Valka thought they had defeated them. She had just recently hit her staff at a dragon trapper, causing him to slump into unconsciousness. They didn't want to kill them - she didn't want to kill them - mostly because she was fighting with children (son of deities who murdered when they got mad, no doubt, but still), and she didn't want to set an example for them becoming killers.

Her son and his dragon had left the fray, along with Percy Jackson and his pegasus (the name of a winged horse, he had said), to rescue their sweethearts, along with Leo Valdez. They hadn't reappeared yet.

"So… please tell me we're done," panted Snotlout.

"Aw, that was fun!" sighed Tuffnut (or was it Ruffnut? Valka could never tell with the two Thorston twins, especially after she'd only met them for about a month, ever since she returned to Berk).

"No. Not fun," said Piper, clenching the handle of her knife cautiously.

"That's right," agreed Valka, patting Cloudjumper's head. "We are not finished yet. Hiccup and Percy still have to come out with the others. This is the only reason we're here, after all."

Credit to the pegasus, thought Valka, he'd smelled the demigod scents of Annabeth and Leo. Apparently, their scents are strong.

She had seen dragons in cages before, and Valka had freed them just before. It horrified her that people would enslave dragons for the benefit of mankind.

"Hold on," said Frank, holding up a bow and an arrow. "I feel like this isn't over yet, man."

Jason frowned. Valka suspected they were partially disappointed that they couldn't use their demigod powers yet; the riders of Hiccup's gang had been briefly told of the Seven's true identities. "When are they coming back?"

"Don't worry," said a voice behind them. "They'll be fine. They're strong. Lemme deal with you."

Valka, the Vikings and the demigods turned their heads. Was that Drago?

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HICCUP

Note to self: angry Vikings with dragons and a winged horse, plus dangerous demigods equals mayhem on the battlefield.

Leo had burst into fire. Literally. His whole body seemed to be made of flames itself. He had grabbed a mallet from his magical tool belt and fought like a wild dragon. He scared some trappers, but they had recovered quickly and continued their attempt to mow them down.

Annabeth was a good fighter too. Her sword looked like it was made of bone, but it was extremely strong. She seemed pretty experienced, taking down several people with her boyfriend Percy. He couldn't control the water, for the sea wasn't close enough, but he still was a pretty good fighter.

Hiccup turned, and noticed with horror that a pair of dragon trappers were about to leap onto him, swords pointed, but luckily Toothless roared for his master and his best friend, and blocked the attack.

"Gee, thanks, bud," Hiccup grinned, and the Night Fury made the wholesome attempt to smile back. But their smiles quickly vanished from their faces, as Percy ran towards another trapper, who quickly retaliated with a swipe of his sword, leaving a large gash on Percy's arm that instantly began bleeding.

"PERCY!" Hiccup and Annabeth yelled in unison, as Percy gave a howl of pain. Leo growled, "Don't worry, Aquaman. I'll avenge you!" and set the trapper's tunic on fire.

"AH!" the trapper yelled, and dropping his mace, retreated from the field of battle. Hiccup resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Go help Percy!" Hiccup yelled to Annabeth, and the grey-eyed blonde nodded, tears streaming down her face, and pulling out a small flask. Nectar, Hiccup remembered what the demigods had told him previously. Drink of the gods. Can be given to demigods in small amounts… but completely dangerous to normal mortals.

Hiccup brought out the Zippleback gas from Inferno and ignited it, and the trappers yelled as their faces turned black with ash and smoke. "It's him!" Hiccup heard a cry from the group of trapper. "It's the Dragon Conqueror!"

"Get 'im! He's the guy on the Night Fury with the flaming sword and the Zippleback gas!"

"Whoa, you're famous!" Leo managed a grin and a thumbs up.

So they know about it, Hiccup thought.

"Oh no, you don't," Astrid licked her lips and clenched her axe in one hand. In the other, she reached out and squeezed Hiccup's palm. "I'll deal with them. Go help Leo."

"Sure, milady," Hiccup smirked and, beckoning Toothless, He joined the fiery demigod's side. But Leo was getting tired, and the trappers were already getting used to some flaming weirdo teenage kid, which kind of made Hiccup nervous. Why would you be already so used to Leo's powers?

The son of the fire god looked at him, and mouthed, Retreat?

Hiccup nodded. Let's make this hasty… he mouthed back. He cursed loudly as he dodged more soldiers, that soon met Toothless's plasma blast. He heard Blackjack the pegasus, neighing loudly, flying around and letting his hooves land on the trapper's heads, one by one.

"Go Blackjack!" Percy grinned, but as he reached for his pen, Hiccup shook his head. "Don't. You're hurt."

"I'm fine!" protested Percy with great indignance. "I'm fine! Annabeth gave me ambrosia and nectar! And if I head back to the water, this wound'll heal - OH, HADES! HICCUP, LOOK OUT!"

Hiccup turned round, and parried the trapper's lunge. Toothless threatened him with a warning shot, then the trapper slumped into unconsciousness.

"Done?" asked Annabeth anxiously.

Hiccup wiped the sweat off his forehead, and said, "Done." I hope, Hiccup mentally added to the sentence in his head.

Toothless cooed softly, and Hiccup grinned and patted his head. "Yup, bud, you did great! Thanks." He turned round to Leo, who was back to normal again, but the sleeves of his jacket were steaming. "Uh, Leo-"

"Darn, it's fine, H-Meister," Leo smirked. "It'll go away soon."

Hiccup nodded and headed over to Astrid, who, despite looking exhausted, looked fine. She pat her boyfriend twice on the shoulder and said, "You okay, Chief?"

"Yup, we're okay." Then he remembered the Vikings and demigods outside. And his mother was out there too. "Come on, we're headed out. Mom and the others should've already dealt with the trappers out there with the dragons. Good job, guys. Let's go. I want to go home."

"I can't wait to go back to Berk," Leo agreed. The others smiled and nodded. Blackjack neighed, and Percy laughed.

"What?"

"He wants to know if he gets any credit too."

Hiccup grinned, then held out his hand for Blackjack. He nuzzled it gently, to Percy's large surprise. "Thanks for all the help you've given us, Blackjack. Now, come on, we're leaving."

Hiccup, Astrid, Annabeth, Percy and Leo made their way out of the prison, and Hiccup was pleased and relieved to have entered back into the light…

… For about three seconds. Until he saw his friends, the whole gang (excluding Astrid), along with his mother, and the other demigods - Frank, Hazel, Jason, and Piper, kneeling reverently.

Kneeling? Why the heck were they kneeling?

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"Guys?" Hiccup asked anxiously, ignoring the dead or unconscious trappers around him, and Jason made a sign with his head that meant You kneel too. He looked back at Percy, who made a sign of distaste as they joined the rest of the group.

"Don't worry," a voice said, low, suave and coolly. "They're okay. Just payin' respect to me."

The guy standing in front of them was about ten feet tall (was it possible for a human to be that freaking tall?), dressed in strange clothing Hiccup figured was clothing from Rome - a soldier's tunic and armour, and a spear in one hand, his helmet in the other, and a sword in his scabbard. His black hair was cut in a flat-topped wedge - like Frank's, Hiccup thought in his head. The only thing un-Roman (besides his freakish height) were a pair of things Leo had, which he and the demigods called 'sunglasses' or 'shades'.

Hiccup didn't kneel, despite Annabeth, Leo and Astrid doing it. Percy didn't seem interested in kneeling to the guy either. He raised an eyebrow at the tall man. "You're Ares, aren't you?"

"No," said Jason, "it's Roman attire, so it's Mars."

"You said Mars was the god of war," Hiccup said.

"Yeah." Frank had a mix of expressions - surprise, confusion, shock, and partial awe. "Hi, Dad."

"Wait." Tuffnut looked at him. "That super-tall giant - is your dad?"

"He's bigger than Stoick ever was," said Ruffnut.

"He looks weird," said Snotlout, and the demigods began shaking their heads, most likely a warning not to show any disrespect towards the divine figure in front of them,

"Don't insult him," Hiccup scolded his cousin, and looked at the god Mars. A god. A ROMAN GOD. THE GOD OF WAR, HERE, IN FRONT OF HIM.

Hiccup had no idea what to think but: Oh my gods…

Mars grinned. "Hey, kid. You're right. Don't worry about the kneeling anymore - you can all stand now. Usually, I'd zap you for not kneeling to me, but you just met me, but yeah, I'm Mars Ultor, Mars the Avenger, second-most important god of Rome!" He looked at Percy. "Hey, Jackson kid." He frowned. "You didn't kneel to me. I thought I said during the quest for Thanatos you were gonna give me some respect next time you saw me."

"You still remind me of Ares," said Percy angrily. "I don't like that guy."

Mars put a hand to his forehead, as if he had received a sudden headache. "Kid, don' say that name. I'm still schizo."

Jason began to speak. "Talking of the subject, Lord Mars, aren't the Greek and Roman aspects of the Olympians fighting, because of the two camps?"

"Yeah," Mars said. "But the Romans had influence here long ago. They conquered this place a couple hundred years ago. And besides," he added, taking off his shades, and Hiccup tried not to wince, for instead of eyeballs, were burning flames inside the eye sockets. "You had a large war with the leader of these trappers, didn't ya? During war, my presence is invoked, no matter when you believed in me, or summoned me or not, whatever. Kid," he turned to Hiccup.

"I'm twenty… sir," Hiccup added the last word as an afterthought.

"Don't care. Anyway, you fought well. A warrior worthy of Rome! Though the best friend feels with your dragon weren't given five out of five in my Yelp review."

Toothless growled, and Hiccup made a gesture towards him for the Night Fury to calm down. He's probably insulted, Hiccup thought in his head, while a tiny voice said, Maybe he doesn't like Yelp reviews. What is Yelp, anyway?

"And your dad…"

"Please don't remind me of him," Hiccup said, hints of sadness in his voice. Valka looked as equally distraught as him.

"He made a good and great sacrifice for you," Mars said."Your old man couldn't bear for you to leave this world yet, so he took the death that was meant to be yours. You know why you won the war? The sacrifice he made was because. I granted you strength to keep going, didn't I? Feel proud, kid, for your father dines with Odin in Valhalla, though Odin is a bit annoying with his PowerPoints."

"Thanks." Hiccup had mixed feelings gathering in his throat. Pride for his father, happiness that he had found peace. Guilt, for when Mars had said he took the death that was meant to be yours, he had felt at fault. Sadness and grief came back. Longing and nostalgia about and for the father that was now gone.

"Now…" Mars tapped his forehead and grunted. "Ah. Holy me, my Greek aspect is starting to fight me again. He can't come here, since this place has nothing to do with the Greeks-" (Hiccup noticed Percy do a silent raspberry) "- and I snuck out of Jupiter's sight while he was fighting Zeus. Anyways, I'm off."

"How about Drago, Mr Mars?" Fishlegs asked anxiously. "Is he dead?"

"Drago?" Mars grunted. "Well… I can't say whether he's dead or not - that interferes with Fate. You can't interfere with Fate, idiots. Besides, I can't say, even if I wanted to. I'm not Pluto. I don't control the dead, like your papa, hey, Hazel?"

Hazel winced, and Frank said, "Dad - Lord Mars - please."

Mars nodded. "Anyways, I'm off. See ya, Frank. Bye, demigods and Vikings and dragons. The time to fight Gaia draws near - so does the battle between the two camps - AH! FINE! I'M GOING!" Mars yelled to the sky.

"He's nuts," Hiccup swore that Tuffnut said those two words under his breath. "And I'm Tuffnut."

Battle between the two camps? And what does he mean by the Greek and Roman aspects fighting? Hiccup thought.

Mars snapped his fingers, then winked out.

Everyone got to their feet. Valka asked, "Were they - was he really-"

"Yup," said Frank. "My dad, Mars Ultor, Avenger of Rome, god of war."

"That was cool! A god of war?!" Ruffnut smirked.

"Yeah! Way cooler than Barf and Belch! I want a god of war!" said Tuffnut.

"Tuff, you can't-" began Hiccup, but Astrid put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't go there."

The young twenty-year-old Viking still had some questions to ask the demigods. What did he mean, can't interfere with Fate? What about Odin and his PowerPoints (well, that wasn't a necessary question, especially when Hiccup had no idea what PowerPoints were)? But most importantly, what did he mean about 'war with the two camps' and 'Greek and Roman aspects'? But then, when Hiccup first flew the demigods from their ship into the Great Hall, he had heard Jason mutter, "Or maybe Jupiter was still fighting Zeus."

They'd said Jupiter was the Roman form of the god of lightning and the skies. The Greek form was Zeus. But they were all one and the same. How could they -

No, Hiccup slapped the top of his head. Don't overthink yourself, Hiccup. You'll have a headache trying to think about all of this stuff at once.

His world had expanded tenfold when the secrets of demigods were revealed to him, just as the world grew larger as he explored new lands and dragons beyond the Archipelago.

"You set yourself on fire?" said Snotlout and Fishlegs, gaping in unison, which brought Hiccup back to reality.

"Yuh-huh! Wanna see?" smirked Leo.

"I don't believe it, elf man," grunted Snotlout.

"Oh, yeah? I'll show you then, man!"

"Valdez, no," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Fine." Leo counted on his fingers. "We haven't got that much time. Very little time before the Queen of Potty Sludge wakes up."

"Leo, how long before the ship is finished repairs?" asked Piper, storing her dagger away.

"One or two more days," he replied. "And I added a few upgrades to the Argo II. You'll love it. We'll be leaving Berk in no time."

We'll be leaving Berk in no time. That made Hiccup frown a little, despite the happiness and buzz of the return of three friends, and the defeat of dragon trappers. One or two more days, and the demigods will be gone. We'll probably never see them again… even if they defeat Gaia, and the world gets destroyed, or if Drago comes back and he takes over the whole world…

Hiccup was going to miss those seven demigods. Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque. Toothless must've noticed his sadness, even though he did his best to hide it. He purred, and licked Hiccup's cheeks. "Thanks, bud," he smiled.

"So, where to now, son?" Valka asked.

Hiccup got on Toothless. "Saddle up, gang. We're going home."

A/N: Someone PM me and asked if I was going to include Drago in this. Well… no. Not really, no. Why? DRAGO IS RESERVED FOR HTTYD 3. Not that I don't want him in the story, but I won't include him here now, because I don't want the story to be too long (I wanted it to have an average of 12-15 chapters as the length of the story), and that I don't want anything to happen in the story that'll interfere with the third movie.

Review Replies:

Vanishonko (guest): Greetings from Australia! Ha ha, thanks for the review. Sorry for the stuff that Percy and the others did that they wouldn't do in the normal storyline. :D Don't worry, I'll continue it! Sadly, as Leo says, they will be leaving the Isle of Berk soon, taking us to the end of the story. Please continue to support the story, and thank you for the review! Yours really made my day! :D (PS - When you said 'Dam' instead of 'damn', I thought of the Hoover Dam joke from the Titan's Curse. Remember that?)

OceanaJackson (guest): The cliffhangers? Ha ha, as we're reaching almost the end of the story, I'd say there'll be no more cliffies, but I can't promise you XD. Sorry about the dragon rider POVs. I really just wanted to focus more on just Hiccup and the demigods when I started this story. Thanks for the review, and please keep supporting the story!

Gerald (guest): Thank you for the review! I will continue this story til the end (which sadly, is coming soon).

Allonships: CLIFFIES GALORE MWAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm not evil. Anyways, THANK YOU for the review, please continue to support the story, and please read to the end!

Everyone, thank you for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following Demigods and Dragons! Please continue to do this, and please keep supporting the story - it helps our young demigod heroes, our great dragon riders and their best friends to keep going with the adventures to come!