"Where the hell is he?" Merida screamed. Pictures flashed through her mind a mile a minute, all bloody, and dark, and of Hiccup. Stoick was pale, his hands trembling. He stumbled into a chair, the poor piece of furniture nearly collapsing under the enormous man's weight. He let his face fall into his hands.

"He-he's out there somewhere," he said, his whisper barely audible.

"Oh, he'll be fine," Gobber said. But even his reassuring cheerfulness seemed especially fake at that moment. "Probably going out for a walk, or something silly, eh Fergus?"

Fergus looked grave. "I'm not sure your optimism is entirely rational at this moment."

Gobber sobered, his eyes falling away from Merida's face.

"He can't be dead," Merida said. She began to pace, back and forth, back and forth. Astrid glanced at Snotlout worriedly. "He was just there, I saw him. He can't be dead... He can't. We are going to be married someday soon, right?" She let out a bark of hysterical laughter. "He's fine."

Elinor hurried over to her, wrapping an arm around he shoulders. "Merida, honey, we're not sure if he's alright. But we'll find out, I promise." She looked at Fergus, her brown eyes so terrified and worried for the Viking boy that it made everyone in the room immediately realize the seriousness of the situtation.

Hiccup had not returned from the battle field.

...

Hiccup stood up quickly, eyes instantly scanning the trees and undergrowth for a dragon. Of course, he knew that if the dragon wanted to be invisible, it would, therefore rendering his eyes useless in the search.

Which meant he'd have to use his ears.

He sat down, trying to steady his breathing and his pulse. The beat of his heart was roaring in his ears.

Calm down, he told himself. You're not dead. Not yet.

He carefully watched Toothless, knowing that he would be the first to hear anything.

"Okay, Toothless," he said shakily. "We have to get out, okay? Let's get out-" His eyes landed on Toothless' tail flap. Or the lack of.

"Where is it?" He asked frantically. He looked at Toothless, and then back at his tail. "Where's the flap? We can't fly without that!"

Toothless obviously understood. He pointed his nose at an area of the forest, to the right of the pair. It was obvious what happened. An enemy dragon had hit them, causing Hiccup to fall unconcious and let go of his weapons, and jarring the tailflap loose. From then on it had gone down would have been screeching and flapping his wings, but the action would do little. They had, Hiccup decided, a crash landing, judging by the trees behind him that were snapped in half. The flap had been tossed to their right, as Toothless had just gestured.

"Alright, bud," Hiccup said nervously. "I guess we should go find it." He took a step, testing out his legs and making sure nothing was damaged. An idea formed in his mind, no, a memory. Astrid slipping a dagger into his shoe, a large one. He reached in, and, sure enough, there it was, snug and tight against his leg. He gripped it as if his life depended on it, which was not unlikely, and stepped forward again.

Toothless was very empathetic, as most dragons are. He sensed his master's nervousness and fear, and stepped infront of him, leading the way and shielding Hiccup.

"Thanks," Hiccup said, smiling a little. Boy and Reptile crept through the forest, both looking intently at the ground. Toothless seemed to know where the tail flap was, or at least, the general area, and led the way. Night was starting to fall, the crickets and frogs that signalled twilight's beginning singing together and forming a harmonious roar. The sun went lower and lower, the sky growing pink.

Finally, just as the last of the sunlight was disappearing, Toothless lunged forward, screeching in happiness. He pounced on the tail flap, grinning.

"Good job, boy!" Hiccup laughed. He picked it up, inspecting it for damage. It was fine. The buckle had come undone when they were hit.

"Lay your tail down, Toothless," Hiccup commanded. And then he paused.

Something was very wrong.

The roar of the crickets and frogs was gone. Silence, complete and utter silence. Toothless let out a low growl, wrapping his wings around Hiccup.

Hiccup realized what this meant. A dragon, large and invisible and firebreathing, was stalking them. Their only escape would be by flight. That meant he had to make that possible.

"Toothless, let me out!" He hissed. He pushed the wings aside and dived for the tail, wrapping the strap around. Too late. Toothless leaped to the side, dodging a cloud of flame and still growling. Hiccup's eyes widened, the situation slowly growing worse and worse. He again dived for Toothless' tail, and again Toothless leaped to the side. Hiccup began to panicm wondering if they would ever escape. Once more, he jumped on Toothless' tail, this time straddling it and looping the strap through the buckle. He yaned it tight and slipped it into the hole, and then hurried to Toothless' saddle. A leather line was hanging loose. All he had to do was connect it to the tail flap, and he'd be finished. He grapped the line, and then froze. A familiar headache was waving over him, enveloping his senses.
'Today is the day you lose an arm.'
A

nd then a stream of fire errupted from an invisible mouth, too fast for even Toothless to block. The flame clothed Hiccup's right arm, the arm he was using to connect the flap to the saddle. He cried out, but if anything, the pain drove him on. He made one last twist, yanking the line into place, and then jumped into the saddle. Toothless began to beat his wings, giving Hiccup just enough time to pull out the dagger, aim, and throw at where he knew the dragon would be.

"No," he yelled. "Today is the day you lose an eye!"

And with that he rose with Toothless into the night sky, the cool night air embracing the pair and healing Hiccup's arm, or at least numbing the pain. He thought the temperature would help him, but the jostling of flying against the air currents to get back to the castle proved too much for the drastic injury, and Hiccup had to land Toothless.

"I'm sorry," He gasped, rolling off and stumbling to a nearby stream. He ripped off his sleeve, revealing pink, bubbling flesh, a burn that encased his entire arm and hand, as well as part of his shoulder. A burn deeper than even Merida's.

Toothless rushed over, staring fearfully at the wound. His enormous green-blue eyes flitted from the injury to Hiccup's eyes, back and forth.

Hiccup plunged his arm into the water, gasping at the pain, and then sighing at the relief it brought.

Toothless nudged his head gently, reminding him that they had to get back before precious energy was wasted for a search pary.

"I know," Hiccup said drowsily, "I.. I know, it's okay..." His voice drifted off as sleep overtook him.
Toothless let him. He knew that the boy was exhausted, and injured. The others would just have to wait.

...

Merida sat and watched as Fergus and Elinor and Stoick discussed the idea of a search party. The debate? Energy would be wasted looking for the boy, and time. There would be a risk of other's being hurt or killed on the way. The argument was that Hicucp was the most valuable of all, and losing him would be a drastic loss.

Finally, They all looked at Merida, and then walked over to her. She sat up, eagerly awaiting the evrdict.

"We..." Elinor looked sad. "We can't, Merida. We can't risk it, it's too dangerous."

Merida felt a dangerous anger begin to rise. "What do you mean?" She asked in a controlled voice. "Hiccup is OUT there somewhere. He could be dead, he could be bleeding, he could be hurt, and you're worried about wasting energy and time? Who do you think you are?"

"I am the Queen of Scotland," Elinor snapped. "You know that Hiccup has Toothless with him, you know that he is the most likely out of all of us to survive something like this. And you know that if we sent out a party, people would die. Now tell me, are you willing to risk that?"

Merida stared at her, ashamed at what she was about to say. "Yes."

Before Elinor could say anything, Fergus surprised both of them. "Too bad."

He walked away, leaving Merida horrified and shocked and surprised. Elinor made as if to touch Merida's shoulders, but thought better of it and walked after him. Stoick stared at her sadly.

"I voted that we don't send out a party," he whispered, voice hoarse with emotion. "Your mother voted yes."

He turned and slowly walked away, his head so low that he looked like a horse that had gone lame. Merida sat in her armchair, holding back tears.

...

At the very first light, the scouts arrived back from their shift. Fishlegs and Tuffnut both stumbled in, shouting that the dragons had recuperated for the night, and were coming.

"Let's do this," Fergus said grimly. He grabbed his sword and headed out into the courtyard, prepared to give his soldiers a speech. Merida, mind only full of revenge, grabbed her bow and stalked out to the stables, where Angus waited anxiously for her. Everyone else got ready, all prepared for the harrowing day that would probably decide the winner of the battle, of this short war that could change Scotland's future.
...

The gold of the sunrise shocking him out of his sleep.

"Wha-" He saw the sun, he saw his arm, still in the water, and he saw Toothless. "You... You let me sleep?" He jumped to his feet, the burn instantly beginning to tingle as it was pulled from the cool water.

Toothless bowed his head apologetically. Hiccup just gave him a pat as he passed by his head, leaped onto the saddle, and desperately tried to shake off his dreams and the mind-scrambling pain of his burn. He was ready to fight.

The rose into the sky, flying into the clouds, encased in complete silence.

...

The battle was not going well. Fergus waded into battle, stepping around soldiers, both alive and dead, swinging his sword this way and that, slashing at dragons as they swooped over. Twice, he was picked up, and twice he cut off the beast's talons, freeing himself. Above, the Vikings flew this way and that, diving at the enemy dragons and sending them to the ground.

But it still wasn't going well.

So many on Scotland's side had died. Fergus had heard word that one of the Viking had been seriously hurt, but he wasn't sure who. More and more dragons emerged from the forest.
Finally, there was a lull in the battle. He met up with Merida, who was bleeding from a gash on her arm. Stoick stood with them also, his huge hammer coated in blood. They watched the fighting, all silent.

"We need a miracle," Fergus finally said. "To even think about winning."

And then it came.

A high whistling sound echoed over the battle field. Everyone's head snapped up, and sure enough, there it was. A blue green light in the clouds, the silhouette of a boy crouched over a dragon, going faster than anyone had ever seen anything go. A ball of light shot out of the clouds and smacked into an enemy dragon, engulfing it in flames. Toothless followed, Hiccup crouched over his neck with murder in his eyes.

Everything went well from there. The Scots pressed forward, slashing at the dragons and making there way to Loch Ness. Hiccup was just a blur, a black blur, just his presence changing the attitude of the battle. The Vikings were an unbeatable force, swooping and diving and stabbing and shouting and slicing.

And then, just when they thought they could win, just when the enemy dragons were dwindling by the second, it came.

The biggest dragon of them all, the biggest ever. The Red Death was only slightly smaller, but it was this dragon's colour that made it seem larger. Pure black.

Hiccup rounded up his friends, and all of them hovered in the air, watching the thing approach. It's wings looked like they would give out any second, which they did. It collapsed to the droung, but it was till deadly. One step took out five men, who were unfortunate enough to not have the speed to get out of the way.

"Okay guys," he said breathlessly. "We've done this before. And-" He paused. ''Where's Snotlout."
One look at Astrid's teary face told it all.

"For Snotlout," He whispered. And then, louder, "For Snotlout!" He led the procession into the clouds, where they seperated and dive-bombed the enormous reptile. It opened its mouth, revealing teeth the size of doors.

To the onlookers below, they couldn't see much. But all they could think was the the teenagers above were perhaps the bravest they had ever known.

And then there was Merida, flashing into sight, weaving her way around the beast's legs, shooting arrow after arrow. It was doing little, but it was something. She switched tactics after a minute, and started aiming for its eyes. One hit home, lodiging its way through the ornea and severing the iris. A roar so loud that it shattered windows escaped the dragon's mouth. With this new advantage, the Vikings were doing even better. The twins, though, really changed the course of the battle. Both armed with swords, they flew right through the side of its mouth, slashing its tongue with swords on the way. As they flew out, Toothless took their place. One energy shot into its mouth sent the dragon into a pain so deep and serious that it nearly droped it dead at that moment. It rocked onto its heels, exposing its chest. Astrid took the chance, flying straight at the exposed flesh and driving her sword straight in. It made its way past the scales and pierced the dragon's heart.

The battle was lost, and the battle was won. With their leader gone, the other dragons promptly turned around and left, leaderless and ashamed. They disappeared then, forever, perhaps going back to sleep in their hidden caves and caverns, or perhaps they fled to a new world or island or country to begin a new reign of terror.

Fergus smiled, and then, for the first time in a while, pulled his wife into a dazzling, beautiful kiss.

Alright. Two more chapters to go! Wrote this just now, took about an hour. Phew! Deadlines, deadlines :D I kind of abandoned that update day.

Hope you liked it! Doing one more real chapter, and then perhaps an epilogue...?