Author's Note:
Hello and welcome to the next chapter everyone. This one actually has very few alterations from its original form or indeed the movie itself but I think it works best as it is. Thank you everyone who has been supporting this story and I hope you'll enjoy the chapter.
I own nothing.
Red Death and Saviours
It took far less time for them to reach the nest then they'd thought.
It actually made a lot of sense for the nest to be so close to Berk but the ships were always gone for weeks on a search for it. However it seemed that most of that time was spent finding a way back out of the fog that surrounded the island. As it was they reached the nest in time to see the monster they would be facing.
Huge didn't cover it and even though Hiccup had tried to describe it on the way there Snotlout didn't think there was a way for anyone to do the beast justice. Excluding the mountain it was by far the largest thing on the island and even with dragons on their side defeating it seemed an impossibility. Its mouth alone was large enough to swallow most of the village and its skin looked tough enough to shrug off any weapon thrown at it.
As they dived towards it Snotlout could see two figures running on the ground in front of the monster obviously distracting it. Despite the distance he could easily recognise them as his uncle and Gobber, Hiccup had obviously recognised them as well and managed to speed Astrid's Nadder up calling back as he did so, "Everyone follow closely. We're going to draw its attention away from the people on the ground."
They soon closed formation behind him and as they continued their dive he could see the creature preparing to breathe fire, just before it did Astrid's Nadder blasted it with its own flame. The creature was instantly distracted and watched as they flew past it's head with Hiccup calling instructions, "Ruff, Tuff, watch your backs! Move Fishlegs!"
The twins yelled excitedly to the people below as the dragons began to ascend again, "Look at us, we're on a dragon! We're on dragons, all of us!"
Reaching a suitable height they circled above the beast.
"Fishlegs, break it down."
At Hiccup's command the knowledgeable teen began to quickly categorize their foe.
"Okay. Heavily armoured skull and tail made for bashing and crushing. Steer clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils. Relies on hearing and smell."
Satisfied with the teen's information Hiccup began giving orders, "Okay. Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spot. Make some noise, keep it confused. Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad."
Ruffnut grinned, "That's my specialty."
Tuffnut quickly spoke up, "Since when? Everyone knows I'm more irritating. See."
He then turned his dragon's head upside down and making annoying noises but Hiccup cut across him the exasperation plain in his voice.
"Will you just do as I told you! I'll be back as soon as I can."
He and Astrid broke away to head for the boats while Snotlout led the rest towards the huge dragon. He and Fishlegs split up to take each side of the head while the twins flew in front of its nose yelling insults as they did so.
"Troll!"
"Butt Elf!"
"Bride of Grendal!"
The twins sniggered before barely dodging a fire blast from the dragon. Snotlout and Hookfang hovered behind the eye and the teen hammered away at his shield, another two eyes opened and glared at him just as he heard Fishlegs call from the other side.
"Uh, this thing doesn't have a blind spot."
Snotlout quickly glanced towards the now burning ships and he saw the Nadder swoop down briefly before returning to the sky and heading back towards them. Still hammering away at his shield he saw the three eyes before him start blinking and the beast shaking its head dazedly, he called out triumphantly, "Its working!"
He heard Fishlegs call something similar then Hookfang suddenly seemed to lose his own bearings and collided with the huge dragon's head. The collision threw Snotlout off the Nightmare and he lost his grip on his mace and shield and they both tumbled to the beach below. He landed hard on the big dragon's head and nearly bounced off the other side but he managed to get a hand hold on the scales beneath him just before he did. He recovered in time to see Fishlegs' Gronckle begin to spin drunkenly with the large teen struggling to stay on its back.
"I've lost power on the Gronckle." Fishlegs tossed his hammer to Snotlout as his dragon began to effectively fall out of the sky, "Snotlout! Do something!"
There was a thud as the Gronckle roughly landed followed by Fishlegs calling up, "I'm okay!" There was another thunk followed by a more muffled, "Less okay!"
Snotlout looked at the dragon beneath him before grinning and bringing his hammer down, "I can't miss!" He then began indiscriminately whacking the beast's eyes causing it to roar in pain, "What's wrong buddy, got something in your eye?"
"Yeah! You're the Viking!"
He looked up to see Astrid flying past and he grinned at her uncharacteristic compliment. The dragon suddenly jerked its head flinging him in the air and he just managed to grab one of the creature's spines in time and was now hanging at least a couple of hundred feet above the ground. He began hauling himself up despite the constant motion of the dragon and got back on the dragon's head just in time to see Hiccup and Toothless take to the sky. He saw Astrid send the twins in to get him and he ran down the dragon's head to meet them. He made a flying leap off the beast's nose, landed squarely where the two necks joined the body and hauled himself onto the Zippleback's back.
As the Zippleback descended to the ground he saw the huge dragon inhale catching Astrid and her Nadder in the suction, he was about to get the twins to turn and help her when a familiar screech was heard. There was a sudden explosion throwing Astrid off her dragon, Toothless wheeled sharply and dived moving almost to quickly for the eye to follow and snatched her out of the air. Toothless and Hiccup dropped her off safely and returned to reengage their foe. The Zippleback landed right in the centre of the Viking crowd and Snotlout jumped off in ran forward in time to see Toothless fire and strike the monster right in the head causing it to crash over. The tremors through the earth nearly caused him to fall over and a huge cloud of dust rose into the air. A giant wing emerged from the cloud and they all looked on in awe and fear as the mighty beast slowly lifted itself into the air.
Their foe now airborne Toothless and Hiccup began to weave between the towering rock formations around the island and he and the other teens hollered in support as they powered past.
"Wahoo! Yeah! You show him Hiccup!"
Their calls died as the great dragon simply smashed through the pillars completely unbothered by them and Hiccup and Toothless began to fly rapidly up with the other dragon closing the gap fast. The monster inhaled and blasted its fire which the two friends narrowly avoided and then vanished into the dark clouds.
A hush fell over the Vikings as they stared up into the sky hearing the dim roars of the huge dragon. Suddenly the sky lit up with a quick purple flash and they saw a silhouette of the huge beast briefly in the clouds, then another and another and they clearly heard the frustrated bellows of the monster. There was then a bright orange glow as the creature released its own fire all around it and the onlookers watched this firestorm horrified by its sheer power. Just when they thought it was over Hiccup and Toothless burst from the clouds diving sharply with the beast following, tension built rapidly as the Night Fury rapidly approached the ground. Snotlout could see the plume of smoke coming from Toothless' tail and he knew that the fake tailfin must have been hit. The beast opened its mouth ready to incinerate its target once and for all when Toothless spun in the air, fired into the monster's open mouth and opened his wings sharply arresting his rapid dive. The huge dragon snapped its wings open only for them to tear from several burning holes covering the surface. With its wings useless and its body burning from the inside the mighty beast crashed into the beach, exploding in a huge melee of flames and causing a mighty shockwave causing everyone present to stumble back. As Snotlout recovered he saw something he would never forget.
Hiccup falling back into the inferno with Toothless frantically trying to reach him as they were both swallowed by the fire.
Silence hung heavily in the ash white air only broken by the sound of Stoick calling to his son.
"Hiccup? Hiccup!? Son!?"
He saw Toothless curled up on the scorched ground and hurried to the dragon's side. As the rest of the Vikings approached Snotlout broke away from the crowd and ran to Toothless in hope…only to stop dead as his uncle fell to his knees revealing the empty saddle. Everyone else kept a respectable distance leaving Snotlout standing halfway between them and his uncle alone. He stood frozen in place then, without any conscious decision, he slowly walked to his uncle's side and knelt next to him. Without even looking Stoick wrapped his arm around him nephew and pulled him close to his side and stared into the eyes of Toothless and said three words.
"I'm so sorry…"
Toothless' gaze softened and he unfurled his wings to reveal his precious burden. Stoick stared in shock.
"Hiccup."
He then scooped Hiccup into his heart and pressed his ear to his son's chest listening for the sound he so desperately wanted to hear as Snotlout waited in tense hope.
"He's alive! You brought him back alive!"
Snotlout's heart leapt for joy at his uncle's words and he heard the cheers and roars of jubilation from the crowd behind him as he pounced on Toothless and gave him a thankful hug. The dragon rumbled quietly in response and Stoick placed a gentle hand on Toothless' head.
"Thank you…for saving my son."
Gobber had come up behind him and added his own comment that almost ruined the joyful atmosphere.
"Well, you know…most of him."
PS-Well there we go and the next chapter will most likely have a lot more changes from the original. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.