Chapter 13:

Now the battle for Berk!

It took a while, but Mortem, Feral, and Rex made it to Berk. The island was being frozen by Tyranno's ice breath. "Split up," Feral said to the other dragons, "Buy time until we can get close." Glowwyrm and Albino split from the group and flew towards the evil Alpha. "I'll get the madman," Glowwyrm snarled, charging up her paralyzing breath. "And I'll distract Tyranno," Albino growled.

Tyranno took no notice of them at first, as he was trying to keep his hypnotic powers on Toothless. But even a Bewilderbeast would feel a Screaming Death's spines shoot into its rear. Despite the pain, however, he kept his hypnotic stare on the Night Fury. Glowwyrm flew high above the Alpha, keeping her eyes on her target. She was momentarily distracted by the sight of Hiccup on the back of one of the baby Scuttleclaws, trying to talk to Toothless, but she was able to turn her attention back to Drago. She went into a dive, accelerating quickly, not taking her eyes off of the madman. Just before she could reach him, however, Toothless suddenly threw him off. Glowwyrm shrieked in surprise before hastily pulling up out of the dive, just barely missing the Night Fury. "Keep Tyranno busy!" she said to Albino, who was firing his fireballs at the Alpha. He gave a slight nod before shooting his spines into the dark Bewilderbeast's hide. Tyranno found it hard to ignore the pain. He turned to Albino, and was about to use his ice breath when a concussive sound wave hit him in the head. Thornado soon joined Albino.

"Strike and retreat! He hates that!"

All the dragons took turns firing shots at Tyranno, who thrashed wildly, trying to attack them. But they were moving too quickly to give him a chance to counter their attacks. He roared in anger.

Glowwyrm, meanwhile, had used her paralyzing breath on Drago, and was able to grab his stick while he was paralyzed. But she momentarily forgot that the effects of her breath were only temporary, as she was knocked away by a recovered Drago before she could destroy the stick. Drago pointed his stick at Glowwyrm, signaling Tyranno to blast her with his ice breath. But before Tyranno could take a breath, Feral rammed into his side, causing him to stumble a bit.

Again and again the dragons fired shots at Tyranno, trying to drive him off. They were supposed to protect the island until Feral and Mortem were able to drive him away for good. But their attacks were endured by the Alpha, as he fired his ice breath in every direction possible. At one point, he was able to clip one of Albino's wings, causing the mutated dragon to crash land on Berk.

Mortem watched the battle unfold from behind a giant piece of ice. Hidden behind his head were Hiccup and Toothless. The giant dragon warbled quietly. Hiccup patted Mortem's skin. "We're okay, Big Guy." Toothless, now free from Tyranno's control, snorted in agreement. Mortem's expression changed to determination, and he glanced at Tyranno. Now it was his turn to challenge the Alpha. With one mighty flap of his wings, he was in the air, and Hiccup quickly mounted Toothless, and the Night Fury took off.

Tyranno heard the sound of beating wings, and turned just in time to see a clubbed tail hit him in the head. There was a loud splash, and Mortem landed in the water next to him, letting out a mighty roar before turning to face his rival.

"You don't know when to give up, do you?" Tyranno asked with a glare. "You can say anything you want," Mortem growled, "But you're not going to make me change my mind. Benignus died trying to protect his family. If I have to do the same, then so be it. If you want to take Berk, you'll have to get through me!"

Tyranno's glare intensified, and he took a deep breath before shooting ice at Mortem. But Mortem was ready. Without hesitating, he shot flames at Tyranno's icy breath, the two attacks meeting and canceling each other out. At first, it looked even, but Mortem's flames gradually began to overpower Tyranno's ice. Seeing that he had a disadvantage, Tyranno quickly redirected his icy breath towards Berk, freezing the land over.

As the two goliaths clashed, the other dragons played keep-away with Drago's staff. The Lead Stinger zipped to and fro, the staff in his jaws, before passing it to the Smokebreaths, who proceeded to temporarily blind Drago with their fog breath.

Feral soon joined the battle by ramming into Tyranno, turning his attention to her instead of Mortem. Tyranno proceeded to smack Mortem with his tail. But the Red Death wasn't finished yet. He let out a loud roar, signaling Hiccup and Toothless. The two friends proceeded to blast Tyranno with multiple plasma blasts, before landing on Berk in front of Drago. The dragons momentarily stopped passing the staff to each other and waited to see what would occur.

Mortem could barely hear what they were saying, as he was trying to subdue Tyranno. But what the Alpha did made him literally freeze in his tracks, as the evil dragon suddenly fired his icy breath at Hiccup and Toothless. The Night Fury lunged forward to protect his friend before the two of them were encased in an icy prison. Mortem stared in horror at what had just occurred. His father was gone. Breathing heavily, the Red Death shut his eyes. When he opened them, they were no longer the gentle, caring eyes that he had looked upon Hiccup with on the day of his birth. They were overflowing with rage and anger. And only one word crossed through Mortem's head as he glared at Tyranno.

Kill.

Before anyone could react, Mortem lunged at Tyranno, sinking his teeth into his neck and biting down hard. Tyranno roared in extreme pain, and tried to shake Mortem off. But the Red Death's grip was tight, and nothing could shake him off. Mortem noticed Drago jump onto one of Tyranno's tusks, and with one swing of his paw, he knocked the madman away. Drago slammed into a wall, and a large icicle broke loose and fell down toward him. Both people and dragons alike turned away from the sight of the sharp piece of ice impaling the villain.

Tyranno went limp. His master was gone. He was free now. But he was also in the jaws of a mad Red Death that wanted to kill him as revenge for killing Hiccup.

Hic was terrified of the sight of his dragon brother trying to end the life of the tyranical ruler. And he wasn't the only one that was worried. His brother, sister, and mother were all shocked at Mortem's strange behavior. "I've never seen Mortem so vicious," Astrid said to herself as she watched the assault.

Mortem ignored her voice as he clawed at Tyranno's limbs, drawing blood. Nothing could stop him.

After what seemed like hours of ruthless attacks, a strong blast of fire shot Tyranno near the mouth. The force of the blast blew Tyranno out of Mortem's jaws, and crashing into the water. Mortem turned to see Toothless, glowing with the same blue energy of his plasma blasts. And standing behind him was none other than Hiccup.

Mortem's eyes softened at the sight of his father. He had been alive the entire time. The dragon's rage quickly erased. All of that anger and fear, being driven to attack ruthlessly from the anguish and pain of possibly losing his parent...wasted. Mortem nearly fell over, but before he knew it, Feral was there, supporting him. His eyes fell on Tyranno, still alive, lying in the water. Regaining his footing, Mortem slowly walked toward the fallen Alpha.

Tyranno watched calmly as the Red Death approached him. He was free from Drago, but he wasn't free from the sins he had committed. He'd never be free from the burdens and the pain that he had experienced, he'd never be free from the image of his brother's lifeless body, and most importantly of all, he'd never be free from his guilt. Looking up into Mortem's eyes, he turned and dove into the deeper water and swam away to parts unknown.

Hiccup ran to meet Mortem, who stood watching as Tyranno's shape disappeared under the waves. "It's okay, Mortem," Hiccup said gently. "You protected us. You did what you could. Nothing will ever change who you are. You're still my son." He hugged the dragon's scales as best he could and stated in a clear voice, "I love you, Mortem."

All of the pain and guilt lifted away as Mortem realized that his father was right. Overjoyed, Mortem nuzzled Hiccup, nearly making him fall over. Hiccup laughed before Toothless bounded over to meet them. Hiccup smiled at the Night Fury. "You never cease to amaze me, bud." He then embraced his friend.

"Thank you."

Toothless crooned before pulling away and starting to lick his rider. Mortem rolled his eyes before leaning down to take in a mouthful of water. This time, Hiccup was expecting it. Raising his head above his father, Mortem dumped the water out of his mouth before igniting a fire and drying Hiccup off.

"Father!"

Mortem turned towards the sound of warbling to see Roan and Regina bounding toward him. Both dragonets were unharmed, and they were very happy to see him. Mortem gladly embraced them in his wings, crooning softly. There was a growl, and Mortem turned to see Cloudjumper looking up at him.

"I was wrong about you," the Stormcutter said, "You had every right to fight as we did, and you had every right to be given a chance to fit in. I'm sorry for the way I acted." Mortem shrugged. "I've been treated like that a lot in my life," he said. Before he could say anything else, Cloudjumper bowed to him. "It would be my honor to serve you,...my Alpha."

Mortem's eyes widened with realization. He was the Alpha now. He turned to Hiccup, wanting to tell him the news, but noticed that he was already reuniting with the rest of his family. Feral approached Mortem and nudged his side. "You'll make a good Alpha," she said. Mortem smiled.

"What are they doing?"

Mortem turned to see Roan, Regina, and Rex all staring at something. Following their gazes, Mortem noticed Hiccup and Astrid kissing. Eyes widening instantly, Mortem covered his children's eyes with his wing. "Dad!" they all whined. Mortem shook his head. "I'll explain when you're all older."

All the other dragons, having witnessed the events, all walked up behind Cloudjumper, their eyes fixed on Mortem. The Red Death, not caring if his parents were no longer kissing or not, lowered his wing and looked down at all of them. The dragons all hesitated before bowing down to Mortem. Feeling proud, Mortem held his head high. He could hear Gobber announce something, but it was soon drowned out by the dragons' roars of triumph.

"Long live the Alpha!"

Yeah, I know. I didn't really remember the movie much, so I had the previous chapters in the dragons' perspective, but the next chapter will be back on the human members of the Haddock family, I can promise you that. And just for future reference, I was never really on board with the idea of Hiccup being chief and everything. It just doesn't sound like him. Anyone else agree?

Anyway, you can go ahead and leave a review if you want.