Couldn't find a good place to split this. SO SUPER LONG CHAPTER GOOOOO!

Also, this is the second-last chapter of this story. Expect the final chapter Monday-Wednesday.

Chapter 47

The dust settled. The arch hadn't been that high above their heads, but it was rock, and there had been a lot of it. It had fallen in pieces that now laid around them like a crude attempt at an above-ground burial. There plenty of gaps that we could see the Bewilderbeasts through. And what we saw was that neither dragon was moving. One of the tyrant's tusks stuck out of the pile like a tooth from a gum. His tail, beyond the wreckage, lay limp. Between him and the rocks, I couldn't get a good look at the king. But there was a red pool rapidly spreading outward from the place I had last seen him.

Of the king's loyal subjects, Cloudjumper alone had remained to bear witness to his majesty's passing. His howls were filled with grief. I think Toothless was in shock. He kept staring blankly in that direction, mouth wide-open. I didn't know what I was feeling . . . no, I did. I wanted to curl up into a ball and cry; I wanted to cuddle with Toothless and forget how to think; I wanted Dad to hold me and tell it was all going to be okay . . .

The rubble shifted.

I had no idea how to feel about that.

It took him a couple of minutes, but the tyrant finally freed himself. He threw his head up and gasped like a drowning man breaking the water's surface. Blood coated the upper half of his tusks, and was smeared across his chest and chin from where he had laid in the king's blood. Most of it, I think, wasn't his. But there were definitely some scrapes and wounds from the avalanche. He moaned, and a voice rose to answer him.

You had to be kidding me.

Pale, sweating, cloth held up to his broken nose, Drago had returned. He had a simple, wooden staff that was much less impressive than his old bullhook. He called out to the tyrant who limped . . . no . . . he wasn't even doing that. He was . . . he was crawling and . . . legs shouldn't bend that way. It was broken. That front leg was definitely broken a little above the elbow. Drago and the tyrant reached each other, and the tyrant collapsed in a heap. He whimpered, raising his head weakly –

"Come on," Drago demanded. "It's time to finish this."

Silence. The tyrant worked himself up into a sitting position. He lifted his broken leg; the bottom half flopped sickeningly –

"Later," Drago said. "Let's finish this."

No one moved. Even my heart stilled. The tyrant took a moment, and then raised his broken leg higher, as if he thought Drago hadn't seen it.

"We'll deal with that later!" Drago repeated. He pointed his staff to the cluster of Vikings by the ships. "Get them!"

"Retreat!" I heard Dad and Chief Hagan cry. The tyrant took a deep breath, and then his ice encased the beach. It started at the edges of the beach, and grew inward, slow enough that nobody froze to death. The Vikings were herded toward the Hysterics, who were leaping upon ships and desperately preparing them for launch. Drago's men all ran behind the tyrant, relieved.

"Hiccup! Hiccup!" That was Astrid. I looked in her direction. Didn't see her, but spotted Stormfly flying alone –

"NO!" I cried. I spun around and reached for Toothless, but he was already gone, having joined the dragons flying around the tyrant's head. The king had bought time for his flock to flee – and it looked like Drago's dragons had slipped away during the fight after all - so only Cloudjumper and Berk's dragons had fallen under the tyrant's thrall. It looked like only Berk's teens had brought their dragons, and I was willing to bet that the king had arranged that just in case this happened. He'd probably tried to persuade the teens to leave their dragons, too, but their bonds had been too strong to be denied.

Toothless swooped to the forefront of the tiny flock. I should have known better, but I reached out for him with my mind. Night Furies didn't have telepathy, but we were all connected by the same Bewilderbeast, and there must have been, had to be a way . . .

I grazed the tyrant's mind instead. Hiccup.

You killed him! My mental voice was shrill and choked with tears. You did it. You killed him.

. . . I am alpha.

Oh, CONGRATULATIONS! Never in my life had any of my words dripped with so much sarcasm. Was it worth it? Was it? Did that make you happy? Did it?!

A odd shudder went through the tyrant's body.

Leave me alone.

He shut off our mental connection.

"No . . ." I whispered. It was over. Drago had won. There was nothing anyone could do. No Viking weapon could slay a Bewilderbeast. No dragon could resist its will. No one could stand up to the tyrant. No one except me, but I couldn't do anything. I was so young and small, and he was so big, and I wasn't strong enough –

But . . .

But what if . . .

What if . . .

What if I could be?

What if I could make myself strong?

I turned my head.

There was no choice.

I closed my eyes. "I'm so sorry, everyone."

On the roof's edge, still warm from when it had been in my stomach, Drago's rune stared back at me. It was dangerous. Drago wanted me to consume that. But it had increased my firepower. Somehow, that rune had interacted with the magic inside me and made me stronger.

As the tyrant trudged toward the boxed-in Vikings, I approached the rune. I took a moment to ease my racing heart, and then I swallowed it whole.

Step One, check. Now, I needed time. I had no idea how much or when things would start getting risky, but I certainly needed to give the stone space to work. Until then, I had to stop the tyrant from crushing the huddled Vikings.

I planted my feet, and roared.

Drago turned. The tyrant did not. The tyrant was busy freezing the water behind the Vikings, leaving them with nowhere to go but towards him. Drago's eyes scanned the roofs for me. I don't know if he found me, but he smiled as he side-eyed the trapped members of the Barbaric Archipelago.

"Perfect." Drago shouted at the tyrant to grab his attention. "Get him! Find Hiccup!"

The tyrant turned slowly. His mental fingers brushed over the island until he located me. Then, he faced me fully. The dragons around him stopped in mid-air and hovered, also facing me.

You're going to do this.

I . . . I am familiar with that magic, the tyrant said. I will ensure your survival. That, I promise.

But you're still going through with it. I stared into the tyrant's dull eyes. Do you really hate me that much?

A moment of silence.

. . . Even now, you don't understand.

The dragons came after me.

I ran. I ran back into the ruins of the camp. Toothless would reach me first – I didn't have much time. Then Stormfly, then Barf and Belch, and then Meatlug. Cloudjumper would be somewhere in the middle. I only had one advantage:

I was small.

And he was there. Toothless slammed down on the rooftop I had vacated and less than a second later, the ground in front of me exploded. I ducked sideways, and wriggled underneath a rafter that opened up a small tunnel in the rubble. Toothless's paw caught my tail, but I whipped it free. He snarled. His claws carved deep grooves into the wood nearby as he reached for me.

I crawled further. The rubble shifted as someone landed on top of it. I flattened myself to the ground as pebbles fell around me. Toothless's scratching seemed to be coming from right behind me. Okay. I was okay. Nothing had fallen on me yet. The way ahead was dark, and I used my wings and tail as feelers. There was a small passage at one point that had fresh air passing through it, and I followed that through to the end.

I listened. Part of me had hoped that Toothless and the others had given up, but I could still hear him trying to dig through that tunnel. He wouldn't give up. He couldn't. The tyrant had given him a direct order, and that made it impossible for him to think of anything else. As far as his world was concerned, catching me was all that mattered.

I checked in front of me. Didn't sound like anyone was waiting for me there. Here went nothing.

I blasted my way out. It took a couple of seconds for Stormfly to see me and for the rest to give chase. I turned sharply, vertical as I veered into a small alleyway, tilting diagonally to ride the air currents through it. The other dragons had to fly up; the alley wasn't big enough for their wingspans. Meatlug didn't bother. She tucked her wings in and ran down the alley; she'd always been faster on four legs than none. I flew out of the alleyway, turned – no, not there! Cloudjumper was – that was Barf and Belch's gas. Toothless was too close – alright, use the gas to hide, avoid the heads . . . the window!

I dove inside.

Crash.

I pressed myself against the opposite wall as Meatlug snapped and struggled in front of me. Foam-flecked drool dripped from her mouth. I shook myself; I was feeling dizzy, all of a sudden. Meatlug growled. Her paws flailed. Her hips were firmly caught by the window pane I had leapt through. If she had calmed down, if she had thought for a second, she would been able to free herself.

But she couldn't. She – not the time to be dizzy! The tyrant had made it so none of them could think.

"Sorry, Meatlug," I said as I crossed her off my mental list.

There was no time to say anything more. Cloudjumper was ramming the door. I went up, blasted a hole in the rooftop, and slipped through it just as the door broke into splinters. I scrambled down the roof and peered over the edge. Stormfly's tail was just disappearing inside; Cloudjumper and Toothless must have already been in. Barf and Belch were waiting their turn. I don't think any of them noticed Meatlug struggling a metre away.

I opened my mouth, and the fire built up. They couldn't think. They couldn't think of anything beyond catching me, and while they all wanted the same thing, they weren't working together. They wouldn't coordinate. They wouldn't communicate. They wouldn't warn each other.

As I opened my wings and leapt off the roof, I flamed Barf.

The Zippleback took off after me. It was only a matter of time before the other dragons followed my scent, but for now, it was just us. I stayed low, and watched the shadows on the scenery around us to keep track of him.

I turned. I caught a glimpse of Toothless rocketing toward us. Cloudjumper and Stormfly lingered behind. Not good. Not good -!

I tucked my wings in, hit the ground, and rolled across it. Barf and Belched swooped low. They trailed me with necks extended, even as my roll took me under a heavy cart.

The Zippleback, half under the cart, snapped to a stop as his wings hit the cart's wheels. I flamed it – once, twice – burned each wheel until the cart's body fell on top of the dragon.

That should hold him.

Shaking off another bout of dizziness, I ran into another alleyway. Toothless hit the wall nearby, and landed on all fours. He charged. Teeth slid out and he was jumping, claws extended.

Dragons were fireproof on the outside, but that didn't mean a plasma blast couldn't stun them. Heat blazed through my body as I fired. Toothless shut his eyes naturally; I dodged his paws and he hit the ground chin-first. The heat stayed with me, making my skin itch.

I went up. He leapt after me, hitting a nearby wall with a fleshy thunk. I popped up on top . . . where Stormfly and Cloudjumper waited for me. In their enthusiasm, they both launched at the same time and smacked their heads together.

They cut off my escape into the island, and forced me back toward the beach. Toothless swiftly caught up with the other two; if I was any dragon other than a Night Fury, I would have been unable to dodge his flame. I turned sharp – Toothless couldn't do sharp, but with my size, it wasn't too bad for me. There was a tower, half-destroyed. The roof, and one side of the upper half was down, but the lower half was still standing. I passed through a hole in that wall, making the too-large Cloudjumper back up.

It was dark. I could hear Stormfly tracking my scent. I bounded through the rooms, and down the stairs, looking for anything useful . . .

I paused, studying what was before me. This would work.

I jumped up, and clung to the ceiling like a spider. I waited until Stormfly tromped down the stairs. She immediately searched the place, and I waited until she was in the right spot . . .

I swooped down. I flamed the cell door, and the force pushed it closed. As I had hoped, the door was designed to lock automatically, and the loud click gave me such a rush of relief. Stormfly ran right into the door. She didn't even seem to register the pain as she got right back up and tried to squeeze through the bars.

"I'll come back for you," I told her, even though I knew she couldn't hear me.

Someone was making a racket upstairs. Toothless. I don't think Cloudjumper was small enough to get in here. I was about to run upstairs when my stomach lurched. I gagged. I hunched over, expecting to spit something up. But what I did spit up . . . it wasn't normal. Near-liquid fire leaked out of my throat and sizzled on the ground. I spat up more of it. More. This time deliberately to try to get rid of the inferno in my body. I felt hot all over, hot enough that my brain was misinterpreting the pinpricks along my limbs being painfully cold.

Not the time. My stomach complained once, but I forced myself to move onward. I pictured Toothless; I pictured Astrid, Dad, I pictured all the others that were counting on me. With the pressure came adrenaline, and it beat my body into submission.

I went up the stairs. I flamed Toothless, and it threw him back. I knew I shouldn't have been able to do that to him, and that I should have run out of shots by now, but I still felt okay. If anything, there was too much fire in my body. I swear smoke was coming out of my nostrils.

I broke my way outside. Cloudjumper was waiting. We skimmed over Drago's army, who leapt out of the way of the big Stormcutter. I needed to get rid of him, and then it would just be me and Toothless.

Cloudjumper was close behind me. I wouldn't have much time.

I set my course.

The metal trap was essentially a modified mousetrap. Right now, it lay in an innocent circle on the beach, with a small tongue reaching into the air. But should that tongue be touched, the metal would snap up and encage whatever had disturbed it. That's what I aimed toward. At the calculated moment, I folded my wings in, dropping into the space between tongue and ground. I emerged on the other side, snapped my wings open as Cloudjumper grazed the tongue, and pumped –

SNAP!

Cloudjumper's head slammed into the metal. I looked back. The Stormcutter was throwing himself against his new cage, but it wasn't budging. Another down, one to go –

Screk!

This time, he hit true.

"Hiccup!"

Sand poured into my nose. Something cold lay against my forehead, and whatever it was, it was leaving my skin damp. I looked up. I had crashed into the thick, icy wall that trapped the Vikings. Dad stood on the other side, open hand on the wall.

"Go! Finish this!" Drago was crying. He seemed to be leaning on his staff, but was still upright.

I growled at his voice. Toothless's shadow passed over me.

With how much I was overheating, it was easy to burn a tunnel into the ice and hide inside. I used my soft, orange flames – didn't want to break through the entire thing and hit Dad on the other side. His clear shot gone, Toothless landed where I had been and brought his paws down on the wall. Spider-web cracks grew outward from them, but the ice didn't give.

"Hey! Get out of there!" The ice vibrated as Drago banged his fists against it, glowering at me.

"Uh, are you crazy?"

"Leave him alone!" Dad was shouting.

"Then we'll make you come out." Drago took a step back. He swung the staff over his head, shouting.

He pointed straight at Dad.

The tyrant didn't move, but Toothless did. He backed away from the ice, pupils like pinpricks. I stiffened, realizing what Drago had planned.

"You don't work with us, then I get rid of them one by one," Drago said.

"No!"

My gut twisted. I burst out of the tunnel, but Drago didn't call off the attack. Toothless ignored my shout and took off. His neck rolled like it was boneless, until his eyes came to a rest on Dad. He was watching Toothless, shield raised. I could hear the Viking preparing themselves, but it would be no use. Night Furies never missed.

"Toothless . . ."

He began to level out. His tail straightened to catch the air, and the tailfins opened . . .

I did the only thing I could.

I flamed it.

The resulting burst of light and fire clouded his view. Toothless shook his head, hovering in place as he blinked embers out of his eyes. His gaze locked onto Dad again –

And his tail slipped through the air. He had less than a second to prepare before everything gave way. Snarling, wings beating furiously, Toothless tumbled through the sky. Not far away, the scorched, black scraps of his artificial tailfin fluttered to the ground. It had been designed to survive heat, rough treatment, and water, but not a super-charged plasma blast from a Night Fury. Toothless snarled once more, and then hit the ground and stopped moving.

"Toothless!" He was all I could think about. The sound of him hitting the ground played in my mind over and over. What had I done? Stupid! How could I have done that? There must have been another way to save them. I ran as fast as I could; my blood howled in my ears –

Toothless roared. He rose in an eruption of black fury, and before I could remember that this was not my Toothless, his claws were in my flesh and drawing blood. I shrieked. He bowled me over onto my back. His paws pinned my wings. His mouth was open to display his teeth.

"Good. Now hold him." Drago was coming closer. Drago was coming closer, and I still had that stupid rune inside me. I could spit it up – I could – but that good would that be. I wasn't strong enough yet. Something in my blood was telling me I could still become more. Become what I needed to be. I needed more time.

I swallowed hard. I would have to ask Toothless for his forgiveness yet again.

I flamed inside his mouth. It was my biggest fireball yet, and the light left white spots dancing in my vision. The fireball knocked Toothless up and over onto his back, freeing me. More liquid fire threatened to bubble up into my mouth; I forced it down with pure will. Toothless jumped up. His claws flashed and scored deep in the sand by my head before he brought his weight down on me. I fought. I squirmed. My claws couldn't break his grip, or his scales.

Toothless shifted, and I saw the three gashes left by Drago.

Toothless . . . I'm so sorry.

I reached inside one of the gashes, and sunk my claws in. The flesh there jumped; might have been muscle. I pulled; but wasn't enough. So I lurched forward and bit the inside of the wound until fresh blood splattered my snout. Finally, between his previous wounds and the ones I was adding, Toothless's injured shoulder caved. He toppled over onto his side, reaching for me even as I rolled out of reach.

It hurt to see him like acting this. Like a mindless beast. He tried multiple times to stand, but seemed unable to comprehend that his right leg could no longer support his weight. His eyes never left me the entire time. Nor did he stop snarling.

"Toothless." I choked back a whine.

"Impressive," Drago said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of dragons the rest of your Vikings become."

I turned. Slowly. Put myself between him and Toothless. I . . . I couldn't do anything else; my legs were shaking. "Stay away from them. All of them."

Drago understood what I was saying well enough. He laughed. "There's no point, Hiccup. I own him. Soon, I'll own all of them. No dragon can resist the alpha."

The alpha. My eyes were drawn to the tyrant. He was lying on his side, eyes turned downward. His broken leg lay at an impossible angle. I knew that was his majesty's blood soaking his body, but with how slow and laboured his breathing was, I could be fooled into thinking it was his own. He . . . he didn't look anything like an alpha at the moment. Hardly even looked like a threat.

I looked up at Drago. "I don't accept that."

I turned to Toothless. My back was to Drago, but the slow, purposeful way I approached Toothless gave him pause. I flicked my ears forward, narrowed my focus. I erased Drago, the tyrant, everything else from the world. This was about me and Toothless, nothing else.

"Toothless, bud? Hey, it's me: Hiccup."

Toothless growled. His claws were an inch from my nose.

"Shh . . . It's okay. It's just me. Just me."

Toothless suddenly found his footing. He lunged, and I fought not to scream as his teeth dug in. Drago was laughing, Toothless's teeth had broken through my scales, and the violence made everything hurt worse and I felt like my chest was going to explode . . .

I dug all my claws in, and clung close to him. Not to hurt, but to bring him close. Toothless didn't shake, but his teeth sunk deeper. I kept a tight hold, and whispered into his ears.

"It's okay. It's alright, Toothless. It's not your fault. They're making you do this. You wouldn't –" I whined. "Toothless, please."

I closed my eyes from the pain.

"It's okay. I forgive you. You know you're my best friend, right? I'm not giving up on you. I'm not letting them take you from me again."

Blood fell from both of us. The gash on Toothless's head had stopped bleeding, but not those on his shoulders. The scales around them were caked with dry blood, but there was plenty of fresh blood to go around. My shoulder was bleeding too; that's where he'd caught me. However, the pressure of the bite kept most of my blood inside me.

"Toothless . . . Toothless, please . . ."

I buried my snout into his body, and forced out a raspy purr.

I love you.

A gush of blood washed over my shoulder. Drago wasn't laughing anymore. I could smell him, and he smelled tense. The pressure loosened even more, until I was unceremoniously dropped from Toothless's jaws.

Hiccup . . . what are you doing? asked the tyrant. I could feel his attention upon us, but ignored him.

"Toothless, bud?"

"What . . .?" asked Drago. He turned back to the tyrant, and shouted at him. "You! The Night Fury, take control of it!"

"Toothless . . ." His eyes were flashing. His pupils dilated and narrowed in turn, completely unfocused. I approached fearlessly. "Toothless, I'm here. I'm not leaving you. You got to resist him, okay, bud?"

I reared up, and put my paw on his snout. He shied away, but did not break contact.

"You know me. You got to fight it, Toothless. Don't let him control you anymore."

Toothless whimpered. He shook his head as if to say 'no', but again, he never broke contact.

"Toothless , just calm down. Listen to me. You're my best friend in the entire world. Toothless, plea se . . . just look at me." I put my other paw on his cheek, as if I could hold his head in place, and looked straight into his eyes.

Slowly, ever so slowly, they dilated into their natural shape.

"That's not . . . How? That's not possible!" Drago shouted. He picked up his staff, and charged –

I spun around, wings flared. "Stay back!"

Drago stopped cold.

He took a step back.

". . . What is this?" he demanded. But my attention wasn't on his strange reaction, but the tyrant's.

No . . . no no no . . . You can't. Not now. No no NO NOT NOW!

"What . . .?" I looked back. Even Toothless had taken a step away from me. I didn't understand. What -?

I stared at my reflection in the ice. It wasn't just glossy black scales I saw. It wasn't even blood-splattered scales. A bright blue light lit up my back, branching out in irregular forks like lightning. And I knew – I choked up the rune and spat it out – this was what I had been waiting for.

I met the tyrant's petrified stare. I am alpha here.

Drago got over his shock. He rushed me. Toothless screeched, but it wasn't necessary. My flame was stronger than his now. I blasted Drago, and he hit the ice. The tyrant struggled to his feet, but he didn't even spare his master a glance. His eyes were on me, wide and frightened and desperately avoiding my stare.

You can't you can't you can't –

Stand down. My mental voice was as sharp and cold as a blade.

I flicked my ears in Cloudjumper's direction. Toothless immediately flamed the trap and set the Stormcutter free. Not long after, I heard Barf and Belch call on the wind. They flew up over the rooftops, accompanied by Meatlug. Unfortunately, Stormfly wouldn't appear without a Viking's help.

A wave of pressure rolled through the air as the tyrant tried to enforce his will. I am your alpha. I am the alpha!

I roared. The tyrant flinched. Meatlug, Cloudjumper, Barf and Belch shook themselves free of the tyrant's influence again.

They won't follow you. Not anymore, I told the tyrant.

I am alpha! I AM! His voice rattled my mind.

No, you're not, I told him. You will never be, because you don't understand how to earn a dragon's loyalty. You don't understand what it means to be an alpha.

No no no no no no no . . .

I walked forward. The tyrant, in his haste to keep the same distance between us, stumbled. He fell onto his stomach and stayed there, shaking his head.

A true alpha doesn't need to rule through fear. They rule with compassion, and wisdom. Not like you. Why do you think they left you when the king appeared? Why do you think they choose me now? You're no alpha. You never were.

. . . don't take this from me too.

The tyrant continued shaking his head. I felt a pang of pity. If the tyrant had been human, he would have been crying. I glanced at Drago, who was watching his trained killer with nothing less than pure disbelief, and reminded myself who was really at fault.

Let me show you, I said to the tyrant. If this is truly what you want, if you really think this is your destiny. . . then let me show you. Let me show what it means to be an alpha.

I reached out with my memories; with all those memories of me and Toothless; memories of Berk and our symbiotic relationship with our once-greatest foes. I felt his trembling, mental fingers extend, and I gave him everything. Every triumph and hardship; every failure and dream. I gave him visions of a Chief who fought endlessly to protect his home; of an outcast that gave up everything for what she knew to be right; of a king who made the ultimate sacrifice to save his own. I gave him everything.

The tyrant stilled. His eyes were glassy as he absorbed my gift. Toothless nuzzled me, nervous. Meatlug, Cloudjumper and Barf and Belch chittered to each other behind us. I looked back and all three turned their eyes away and dipped their heads in reverence.

Their words were clear. Alpha, you.

The tyrant gasped. A cloud of hot air rose from his open mouth like smoke. Eyes closed, chin pointed toward the heavens, he breathed heavy and slow. Bit by bit, those eyelids opened. In one long, miserable moan, all the fight drained from his body. The sound's pitch jumped a few times, as if the tyrant had been fighting back sobs. He lowered his chin. With one, good look at his face, I knew.

I had finally reached him.

But all Drago saw was that his Bewilderbeast was no longer cowering. He staggered over to his dragon, skin smeared with blood from his nose, face alight with pure fury.

"You've caused enough trouble, Hiccup." Drago's voice was like teeth grinding together. "I'm tired of you. Nothing is worth this."

I extended my wings, making myself big as the dragons gathered behind me. I coughed up some of that excess fire too, but successfully passed it off as being on purpose.

Drago laid a hand on the tyrant's tusk, catching his attention. "There's been a change in plans. We don't need Hiccup anymore. Kill him!"

The tyrant looked from Drago to me, then back to Drago. He rumbled, confused.

"He's done too much damage," Drago said. "I don't want him around anymore. He needs to die . . why are you shaking your head?"

And he was. The tyrant answered every sound that came out of Drago's mouth with a shake of his head. His eyes darted from me to Drago and back so quickly I wondered if he was dizzy.

"Fight him! I said fight!" Drago was shouting right in the tyrant's face, and the tyrant was trying to crawl away backwards. "What's the matter with you? Kill him! FIGHT!"

In his rage, Drago slammed the staff into the tyrant's broken leg. He yelped.

"Don't just sit there. Kill him! He's a stupid dragon. How hard can it be?" With every word, he rammed the butt of his into that same leg. The tyrant whined, trying to shield it. "Stop complaining! I don't care what you think! Do as I say, and kill him! I order you to kill Hiccup-!"

Drago nearly fell over as he threw his weight into the strike, and missed. The leg had been moved above his reach. Very above his reach. Everyone, absolutely everyone present watched in horror-struck amazement as the tyrant reared up to his full height and roared –

And just like that, it was over. It happened that fast.

Drago Bludvist was dead.

The tyrant shakily nosed at what remained of his former master. He seemed to be in shock from his actions. But whatever trance he was in was broke when the first of Drago's men tried to get a closer look. The tyrant's head snapped up. Ice spewed from his mouth freely, and the soldiers scattered. The tyrant chased them. The rest of us watched fearfully as his shadow haunted the crooked ruins, hunting down who knows how many. Finally, he disappeared from view, and there was a humongous splash. The tyrant had fled to the sea, and this time, I don't think he was planning to return.

I checked the tower where I had locked up Stormfly. Good. Still standing.

"Hiccup!"

I found myself in Astrid's arms, and squirmed until I was facing her. I didn't waste any time; I rubbed my head against whatever part of her face I could reach, and couldn't resist the urge to lick her cheek. She laughed, taking it all in stride as the others swarmed us. Dad had teared up from relief, and Gobber was sniffling openly.

"It's over," Dad said. "I don't know how, but you did it, Hiccup."

"Yeah. I seem to be good at that." I think I deserved to stroke my ego a little.

As Astrid held me and Vikings jostled for a closer look, I let my thoughts drift. It was over, but I didn't feel so great about how it ended. I knew that Drago had to die, and it had been . . . it had been optimistic to think that I could have reformed the tyrant. But his majesty was dead, and Dad still didn't know about Skullcrusher . . .

"Hiccup, where's Stormfly?" Astrid asked.

. . . Mom was dead, too.

My stomach lurched. I pushed away from Astrid, and landed on the ground. Red-orange liquid spewed out of my throat, sizzling.

There was a wide circle around me now. Small flames rose from the surface of my sick, until the puddle burned itself up.

"Hiccup?" Dad said.

It was over. We had won. And I felt awful.

"Hiccup, are you hurt?" Dad said. He tried to crouch down and meet my eyes, but I stumbled backward into Astrid's legs.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

My heart hammered. I had spat the rune up, hadn't I? It was done. It was over.

Unless it wasn't. Could it have been too late? What had just happened. . . was it a warning? A crack in the foundation before it all gave way? Was I still playing right into Drago's hands? And what about the dragons? If it . . . if it was too late for me and I did explode with magic, would the spell hurt them, too?

My legs shook. It felt like there was a hard ball in my chest. And it was growing, expanding outwards and pushing on my body –

I gasped. I opened my wings and flew over the crowd. My friends called after me.

Cloudjumper barked.

I whirled around and growled, ending with a snap. STAY!

I heard Astrid screaming my name. Dad had jumped on Cloudjumper and was urging the Stormcutter to follow me, but he wouldn't dare disobey his alpha. The other dragons watched me uncertainly, cringing as their owners took up Dad's cry. None of them ignored my order, however.

None but Toothless.

He ran after me as best as he could, nearly tripping here and there due to his injured shoulder. His barks were sharp and frantic. Demanding. Had he acted like that toward any other alpha, they would have smacked him. I did my best to ignore him, but he spoke at a pitch seemingly designed to drill through to my brain.

Then, there was no more land and nothing but the open sea. Toothless didn't slow down. He ran, and leapt. His wings sliced through the air, a blur as he grew close enough to touch –

His tail slipped through the sky. With a cry, Toothless fell sideways into the sea. He surfaced. Water droplets flew from his wings as he took off again.

It was no use. He fell back into the water. When I looked, he was trying to swim after me.

He cried for me. I hardened my heart and shouldered onward.

It was a beautiful day. Clouds were drifting in the wind, hiding the sun behind them. It was . . . cold? I couldn't tell anymore. My body obeyed, but it no longer felt like a part of me. Pins and needles ran down my bones. The blue lights on my back tingled. Something too hard and big was inside my chest, and it was almost like I could feel my skin rupturing from the pressure.

I closed my eyes. I wanted to sleep. Sleep would be nice . . . I shook my head. There . . . there was an island up ahead. I had to make it there first. I should be safe there. Everyone should be safe when I was there.

Where . . . where did the island go? Oh. There it was. Right ahead of me. I flapped my wings. No, that wasn't right . . . I hadn't moved the way I should. I flapped them again to correct my path. But I . . . I couldn't tell if my wings were reaching in the right direction.

It was a beautiful day. I wish it wasn't so hot. There was an island up ahead. I could rest there. It would be nice to take things easy for a bit. They'd be upset if I didn't take care of myself. I hope Toothless wouldn't be too mad about this. We should go flying. Him and me. It would be fun. It would be good . . .

. . .

. . .

good . . .

I told my wings to start beating again. There was an island up ahead. I needed to go there. I . . . I . . .

Gravity flipped directions. The ground slipped out from under me. There wasn't supposed to be ground. I looked up. The sun peeked out at me. It was shrinking.

It was . . . it was a beau-

. . . beautiful

It

It was

The sun was small.

Dark. But the day was-

It

I . . .

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I'm sorry everyone

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. . . So cold.

Review Responses:

Tyten: Thanks for the rec, but I'm too busy at the moment to consider watching the show. To answer your questions:

2. Good catch! That was supposed to be Hiccup shooting there.

3. Stoick is a beast

6. Haha, he got a little too excited by every thing. At least he remembered at some point.

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Guest: Thank you! I certainly did not forget about Hiccup's alpha blood!

Snowflake: Then the feels must be absolutely killing you this chapter.

QuiteARandomFan: Hey! Long time no see! Great to see you again! As you obviously saw, the tyrant survived the rocks. At a cost. And now you know how the magical rune problem wraps up.

MidnightStar: I really enjoyed writing the Bewilderbeasts too. Both of them, actually. Almost as much as Toothless.