Chapter 32: Chaos in Blue

AN: Another MONSTER chapter coming in hot. (Double pun intended) I honestly think this one is a little too long but I didn't know where to cut it. That is why it unfortunately took me forever to post. I'll start trying to keep them at 7,000 words or less from now on. Anyway, sorry for the break. Enjoy chapter 32.

It was 3 hours before anything happened.

Hiccup was hidden behind several large trees near the mouth of the river- and he was bored out of his mind. Toothless had gone back to sleep beneath him, but Hiccup simply let him be. There was no use in both of them being tired. The time seemed to slip by so slowly. No one was around him to provide any sort of conversation and the only visitors he got as he sat had been the occasional squirrel or rabbit going about their business. The young Viking fought hard to keep his eyes open as they began to droop, looking for any sign of the Flightmare they could catch.

Just as Hiccup was about to let the exhaustion win, he saw it: a faint blue dot gliding across the water at the edge of the horizon. He quickly shook Toothless awake as he tracked it over the open sea. There was no mistake to make. It was definitely the Flightmare. If it weren't so dangerous, Hiccup almost would have considered himself lucky to see it, rare as the event was. The light glow that emanated from the dragon was oddly mesmerizing, and the tendrils that gracefully flowed behind its wings when they flapped could put anyone in a trance.

Not wanting to startle it, Hiccup and Toothless quietly reversed themselves a little further into the forest. Perhaps if it were left alone, the Flightmare would simply continue to follow its path and pass on through. Hoping this was the case, the boy's heart rate picked up as the luminous dragon spread its wings to slow down, eventually coming to rest on the opposite bank of the river near the spot where it met the ocean. The creature was almost completely silent, uttering not even a peep as it took several strides further onto the island before lightly testing the river water with its front right paw, sharp talons at the ready.

Satisfied with whatever it had found, the dragon dipped its head down to meet the water, beginning to…eat? Hiccup was not expecting this, but the Flightmare began to feast upon portions of whatever glowing material invaded the river, continuing to walk as it did so. He supposed it made sense, however, that the dragon achieved its trademark glow from whatever it consumed. Certainly no fish had the same effect.

The creature suddenly froze and removed its head from the water, craning its neck upwards as it balanced on 3 limbs, looking around defensively. It now stood directly across the river from Toothless, who narrowed his eyes with skepticism. Sniffing the air, the Flightmare set its last leg down and crouched on the opposing riverbank, growling and narrowing its eyes as they came to lock on the Haddock's position, sending a chill down his spine. It knew something was wrong. It knew that it was being watched. It was no sooner than Hiccup had figured this out that it attacked.

The Flightmare cleared the stream with a single impressive leap and bounded on foot towards Toothless and his rider. "We gotta get outta here, bud!" Hiccup yelled, and Toothless immediately fired a distress call as high as he could before launching himself into the air. They'd escaped just in time to avoid a blast of the dragon's paralyzing mist, which engulfed their former location immediately after they'd taken off. The Flightmare shot into the sky after them, and try as he might to mask Toothless in the darkness of the night, Hiccup couldn't shake the aggressor from his tail. They zipped around the treetops near the edge of the island only briefly before a banshee scream from the glowing monster threw Toothless for a loop, invading his senses and forcing him to go down for a hard landing in the forest below. Hiccup immediately detached his riding tether, clambering off the dragon's back and trying to coax him skyward once again, but a growl behind him made him spin on his heels.

It was the Flightmare.

They were cornered.

Arkyn adjusted the straps on his gloves for about the 15th time that night, looking for anything to do to distract himself from the boredom of waiting. He wasn't exactly tired. The adrenaline of the situation had woken him up a great deal, but the sudden burst of energy he was feeling seemed wasted at the present moment. There was so little he could do other than simply wait for the Flightmare to show up.

The good news was that he felt relatively safe. With Hiccup to his right, Astrid down the river to his left, and Stinger…well…beneath him, Arkyn was likely in the best company. His Triplestryke stood patiently at the ready, causing the boy to move up and down at steady intervals due to his quiet breathing. Arkyn patted him on the side apologetically and made a mental note to feed him an extra meal when this was all said and done. The reptile had been such a trooper as of recent.

The evening calm began to shift rapidly.

The teen's eyes grew wide as a beautiful, yet sickening purple flash of plasma radiated throughout the sky up the river- meaning only one thing: Hiccup was in trouble. Snapping Stinger out of his state of content, Arkyn immediately put himself in the air and shot northward in the direction the distress call had come from. He finally had a job to do. For better or for worse, things were about to get interesting.

Hiccup faced the glowing beast, holding up his shield as he began to shuffle backwards with what little space remained between himself and the line of trees behind him. Toothless was no help at all. The dragon pawed helplessly at his ears as if the previous scream had lodged itself in his head. It must have an increased effect on dragons. Hiccup thought, not at all experiencing the same symptoms, but he couldn't get distracted by that now. The Flightmare was focused on him, and it rose up off its front legs in preparation for an attack.

The creature then slammed its front paws back into the ground, lowering its stance to come level with the boy's head, and much to Hiccup's surprise, fired a steam of the supposedly 'rare' green acid in his direction. The teen quickly moved to block it with his shield, terrified at the realization that the protective device was now actively melting in his outstretched hand. He threw it down in a panic, watching the mass of wood and steel as it was reduced to ash before his very eyes.

Hiccup's back was fully pressed against a large tree now, the Flightmare roaring at him a mere 10 paces away. It started to advance slowly, and with its teeth bared, it was easy to deduce that it was preparing to paralyze him. He tried to shield his eyes from the blast but it would be no use anyway with his exposed skin.

Fate was soon to be accepted as the dragon recoiled with a deep breath, but just before the mist made it to Hiccup himself, an unmistakable figure in a black suit jumped off of an incoming Triplestryke and landed between their respective positions, taking the full brunt of the attack in the process. Stinger skidded to a stop on the ground before whipping around to face the scene, finding the Flightmare stunned to learn its prey was still moving after the mist had enveloped it so fully.

Arkyn took advantage of the tiny distraction and whistled to Stinger, who roared impossibly loudly as the boy drew his sword, taking several swipes at the aggressive dragon but missing on purpose due to Fishlegs' instructions from before. The combined confusion and intimidation they caused were enough to run the Flightmare off, and the blue streak took to the skies hurriedly, bolting over the forest on the opposite side of the river and away from the mayhem.

Arkyn spun around to face Hiccup as he sheathed his sword, finally flipping his protective visor up before removing his helmet. "Are you ok?!" He asked, his voice backed by adrenaline and quick pants from the recent exertion.

Hiccup looked himself up and down. Miraculously, not a single drop of the Flightmare's mist had managed to land anywhere near him as a result of Arkyn's quick thinking. "Y- you got here just in time." The boy replied with a shaky voice. "Fishlegs needs to add 'impeccable sense of smell' and 'crazy banshee scream' to his list of fun facts." Hiccup vamped sarcastically, slightly annoyed.

"Oh come on, Hiccup. How was he supposed to know?" Arkyn defended their mutual friend but still used a sympathetic tone, only imagining what the boy must have just been through. "What the hell happened to Toothless?" He'd only now noticed how strange the Night Fury was acting.

"Like I said- banshee scream. It must have some crazy effect on our dragons." It was just then Hiccup regained awareness enough to figure out what was different about the situation. "Arkyn, your suit…"

"What about it?"

"It's glowing…just like the Flightmare."

Arkyn stared down at himself, turning his gloves over for an inspection, and sure enough, he glowed head to toe with a strange blue tint, evidently given to him by the recent attack. "Whoah." He sighed. "Thank Thor for dragon armor…speaking of which, where did your shield go anyway? You were the one who told us to grab them."

"You're standing on it." Hiccup said flatly, gesturing towards the ground.

"Goodness…" Arkyn bent down and picked up a shriveled piece of melted iron, tossing it to the side with a stunned look. His own shield hung loosely on Stinger's saddle. There hadn't been time to grab it before he jumped off. "At least it did its job…"

Arkyn trailed off as his words remained in the air, and Hiccup finally realized that the other boy was genuinely concerned for his safety. For a brief moment, the Haddock forgot all about his situation with Astrid and simply appreciated the help he'd just received, no strings attached. For a brief moment, the two were real friends once again, not a bad thing to say about the other, only relief that they'd both been unharmed.

"Well, thank you…" Hiccup breathed at last, still trying to slow his heart rate.

Arkyn smiled knowingly, nodding in understanding. "Don't mention it. You'd do the same for me."

"Hey, I noticed something earlier. Before you showed up." Said Hiccup, abruptly changing the subject. He unfortunately allowed the moment to pass them by.

"Something that could help us?"

"I think so. Before Toothless and I got attacked, the Flightmare started eating whatever that glowing stuff in the river was. I think it's algae, and it must be what gives the dragon its color."

"I think I follow." Arkyn replied, seeing where Hiccup was trying to go. "So what you're saying is that the reason the Flightmare is always so aggressive is because it thinks we're threatening its food source."

"Exactly. The river keeps it alive, and we're in its way. More specifically, Berk is in its way. That's why it always goes after the village."

"So what now? I don't know that we have the energy or the numbers to defend against it all night. It's too high risk. I mean, you almost got cooked in the first 10 minutes. We need another solution."

"A new river." Hiccup started, his mind running overdrive to try and form his idea. "What we need is a new river. One that doesn't go near Berk. One that takes the Flightmare far out of the way of hurting anyone or feeling threatened."

Arkyn raised an eyebrow. "And how do you suppose we get a new river? Why don't I just go down to the market and buy a spare?" He said sarcastically.

Hiccup rolled his eyes in response. "We blast a new channel and divert the one we have now."

"That would take everybody."

"So let's go get everybody. We have to get to them before the Flightmare comes back. I need you to go wait with Astrid in case it went down river. The two of you can start blocking the flow of water once you're in a position to defend each other. Since Toothless is faster in a straight line I'll be able to reach Fishlegs as quickly as possible. I'll start sending the other riders your way one by one when I get to them." Hiccup was surprised at his own self control. He'd made the most tactical decision he could in spite of his wishes that he could be the one to wait with Astrid. Perhaps it was only the adrenaline.

"Is Toothless ok to fly?" Arkyn asked, concerned. As he said this, however, the Night Fury huffed and shook its head, regaining control of its senses and bounding up to Hiccup energetically.

"I think we'll be ok. We need to go now though. The faster the new river starts flowing, the faster we can get the Flightmare away from the village and off of the island."

Arkyn nodded in agreement and put his still glowing helmet back on before heading towards Stinger. "We'll catch up later!" He called over his shoulder, finally mounting his dragon. "Send another distress call if you need anything."

"Will do!" Hiccup replied, settling into his own saddle.

The two were soon airborne once again, each heading to their respective destinations as fast as their dragons could carry them, speed being imperative to their operation.

Astrid squinted as she looked towards the sky, confused to see a translucent blue figure approaching her position. It looked like the Flightmare, but it was far too small, and she eventually discovered it to be Arkyn on the back of his faithful companion.

"What happened to you? Did ya fall in the river?" She laughed as she called out to him, but after the boy landed and removed his helmet, even in the dim light Astrid could see that things were a little more serious than what she'd guessed.

"I got sprayed." He replied calmly, flashing a half smile in return.

"Huh? You mean you saw it?"

Arkyn nodded. "Sure did. The Flightmare is…one hell of a thing, that's for certain. By the way, have you seen Hiccup?"

Astrid looked puzzled. "Well, yeah. He and Toothless flew straight over me headed down river a few minutes ago. Didn't even stop. I just figured he was patrolling. What's going on?"

The boy quickly told her how he'd seen Hiccup's distress call and gotten sprayed by the mist, adding that his suit had luckily protected him. "Hiccup will be sending everyone our way shortly. Snotlout will get here first." He then briefed Astrid on the plan to divert the river, informing her of Hiccup's discovery that the algae in the water was likely the Flightmare's main source of food.

"Wait, so I get what we have to do, but where exactly is the Flightmare right now…?" Astrid tilted her head as Stormfly shifted beneath her.

"Somewhere on the other side of the river. It flew over there after I scared it off, but trust me, it's coming, and it's only a matter of time before it's right on top of us again."

"Then we should start getting boulders." Astrid suggested. Her partner agreed, but before they broke away from one another to go find some, the girl turned to him once more. "Arkyn?"

"Astrid?"

"I'm just…glad you're ok…that's all. That suit of yours is a real lifesaver."

Arkyn winked back at her, smiling lightheartedly, although he felt slightly more tired now than he had before. "The night is young, Astrid. Don't jinx me."

And with that they flew off to start collecting nearby boulders to block the river with, something that would eventually prove more difficult than they'd imagined.

It wasn't long after the pair had started that Snotlout and Hookfang came into view.

"How's it hangin', lovebirds? I heard you two could use some extra muscle." He said arrogantly, landing on the riverbank.

Astrid rolled her eyes and looked at Arkyn. "Remind me to kick him for that one later, will you?"

The blueish figure saluted her in reply before turning to Snotlout himself. "You and I need to keep collecting rocks to block this part of the river. Now that you're here, though, Astrid and Stormfly can start forming the new trench. The Nadder's magnesium blast is best suited for that job."

The girl nodded and flew off to follow this new instruction, aiming to fire just before where they were stopping the flow in order to get the water going in a direction away from Berk.

Snotlout spoke up again. "So why is your suit glowing? Did you fall in the river or something?"

"Oh for fucks sake..." Arkyn muttered under his breath. He recounted the experience to the other Viking as hurriedly as he could. "I swear to Thor, if someone asks me that one more time…come on, let's get to work."

The two boys began continuing the collection of stones amid the occasional bright flash from Stormfly's powerful flames. Unfortunately, it soon became clear to them that their efforts were not as effective as they needed to be. No matter how many boulders they managed to pile along the original route of the river, the water still seemed to somehow flow straight on through.

This was still a fresh discovery when the twins showed up on Barf and Belch.

"What can we do?" Tuff asked, thankfully getting straight to the point.

Arkyn once again took charge of the delegation. "Well…your Zippleback can carry more than Stinger, so we need you on rock duty. It's not really working though. I think who we really need is Fishlegs. Meatlug's lava should be able to seal up all of the space that's still left in between these boulders. Until he and Hiccup get back we'll just have to do our best."

Ruffnut piped up. "What will you do then?"

"I'm going to start helping Astrid dig the new channel. We've got a long way to go on that front."

The other girl nodded and the respective riders split off once again.

Thankfully, Astrid and Stormfly hadn't been slacking, and Arkyn found himself with more distance between them and the new arrivals than he'd expected. Small wisps of smoke rose from the edges of the dirt trench that she'd burned away, and water had slowly begun filling up within the basin. The smell of the charred organics hung in the night air.

"You made it far!" The boy exclaimed, trying not to let the stress get to him.

"I pull my weight." Astrid quipped.

Arkyn briefly lifted his face guard and smiled encouragingly. "That you do. I'm here to take some of the load off though. The twins are covering for me in the rock department."

"Still no sign of the Flightmare?"

He shook his head. "No signs of the Flightmare, Hiccup, or Fishlegs yet."

Astrid grimaced. Things were a little too quiet at the moment, and she didn't like the idea of their group still being separated now that they knew the illusive creature was out there somewhere.

Arkyn noticed her worry and resented the fact that they could only stick to the plan for now. He assumed no news was good news, and as long as there were no distress calls from the missing pair, they were at least safe on their trip back. Guiding Stinger to face the path of the new river, Arkyn made sure Astrid was clear before he commanded his dragon to fire. An impressive stream of heat shot from the Triplestryke's mouth, burning brightly and turning the darkness of the night into a world of color once again. The blast was so intense that Arkyn could even feel himself getting warmer from where he sat on his saddle, despite this technically being behind the attack's origin.

"I'm not quite used to that yet." He called nervously, realizing that this was the first time he'd actually been riding Stinger when the creature had used its concentrated flame attack.

"You will be." Astrid replied, giggling. She remembered a similar feeling from her first experience with Stormfly. The girl then took her turn and continued the trench a little further with her own dragon's fire.

The two began making steady progress, but it was clear they needed more firepower. They just weren't going fast enough. Arkyn eventually gestured for Astrid to stop and moved closer so they could talk. "Listen- it's been too long. If I fly back to the others to see if Hiccup and Fishlegs are here yet, will you be ok on your own for a little while? If they're not, I'll send someone downriver again to go and look for them and I'll come back to help you more."

"Wouldn't that mean that someone was left alone by the boulders?"

"Not if both the twins stayed-"

"I'd rather it be me than those mutton heads. Just go and make sure everyone's ok and stay there until you're all together. I can always call someone if I need help." Astrid said this very adamantly. It was obvious that the pressure was getting to both of them. "Come on, you know we talked about this." She pleaded.

Arkyn sighed. Just a normal day my ass. He thought, but he could tell this was unfortunately something that he shouldn't try to dispute and simply nodded cordially. "I'll see you soon. Stay safe for me."

Astrid nodded back and quickly returned to work, allowing Arkyn to leave. The boy rushed away towards Snotlout and the twins, hoping he'd find 2 more riders with them when he arrived.

Alas, a Monstrous Nightmare and a Zippleback were the only dragons present at the blockade.

"Where the hell are they?!" Arkyn demanded, jumping off of Stinger when he landed.

The other three gave him a blank stare.

Tuff spoke. "We haven't seen them."

"We figured they went straight to you." Added Ruff.

"Well they didn't!" Arkyn shot back. "Those two should have been here by now."

"Don't look at us, dude." Snotlout protested. "The last time we each saw Hiccup was when he told us to come here."

The Nomanisan's expression turned into something more apologetic. "Sorry, I- I guess I'm just a little high-strung. I had to leave Astrid alone for a bit."

Ruffnut reassured him. "She'll be fine. We've all been by ourselves most of the night anyway."

This was true, but it didn't make him feel any better. Arkyn was deep in thought about it when, as if on cue, a sickening sound met his ears and snapped him back to reality. A Nadder's unmistakable distress call rose high over the trees separating the two parties and sparkled where it hung in the sky with a sharp crack.

Everything was going to hell all at once.

Arkyn quickly clambered back onto Stinger, all sense of composure lost in an instant. He began screaming orders at his friends. "Snotlout!? Fly back down river and find those two missing half trolls! Ruff, Tuff, you're with me!"

Not a single moment was wasted as each of the 4 riders sprung into action, taking off as fast as they could before heading in their respective directions.

A short flight later, Arkyn and the twins found Astrid and the Flightmare separated by a line of fire that Stormfly had evidently laid upon the ground. Unfortunately, the flames danced so high that it meant they couldn't actually reach the girl and were forced to remain on the side of the aggressor. The trees of the thick forest acted like a prison along with the fire, trapping Astrid and her dragon where they stood. No one could go in or out.

Much to everyone's horror, the Flightmare emitted a stream of mist aimed at the base of the hot flames, extinguishing all of them instantly before beginning to advance. Astrid commanded Stormfly to fire again, but the Nadder sputtered and spewed out only a few weak embers, falling short of providing any real defense.

Shit. Astrid thought. Shot limit. She'd used everything she had trying to dig the new trench.

"ARKYN?!" The girl screamed, panic in her voice. "ARKYN!"

Without hesitation, Arkyn put Stinger in the dirt and whipped the dragon's head around to face the scene, commanding him to fire at will. It all happened in a split second. Stinger mustered all of his strength and fired a blast directly in between the two other dragons.

At first it looked like the shot had missed entirely, but Arkyn was too smart for that, and instead it struck a large nearby tree just beyond their position. The tree exploded due to the immense force of the blast, splintering near the lower end of the trunk and crashing to earth in a mesmerizing display of flaming debris. Its smoldering carcass lay glowing orange on the ground, and Astrid had to put an arm across her eyes to avoid being blinded by the bright flash that caused it all.

Most importantly, however, it had stopped the Flightmare in its tracks, which would have been cause for more celebration if it hadn't meant that the beast was now looking directly at Arkyn and the twins. Arkyn prepared to go toe to toe with it once more, lowering the eye guard inside his helmet and grabbing his shield to make sure he would be protected from its mist.

He never even got a chance to dismount.

A quiet whistling noise could be heard piercing through the stale wind, growing louder as its source flew ever closer. Arkyn smirked beneath his helmet, knowing exactly what was about to happen. The real help had finally arrived.

An incredible purple flash illuminated the forest as Toothless planted a plasma blast mere feet in front of the Flightmare's snout. The spooked creature immediately bolted, bounding away on foot through the web of trees on the other side of the fresh trench, leaving the riders in peace for a brief moment and allowing them to regroup.

Hiccup brought his Night Fury in for a landing while Stormfly carried Astrid over the burning log they'd been taking cover behind so that all 4 present dragons stood facing one another.

"Is everyone ok?" Hiccup asked, looking around at his friends.

Arkyn turned his helmet towards Hiccup but kept his hidden gaze trained on Astrid, waiting for her response. Things had gotten a little too real in the last few minutes.

"We are now." The girl replied, trying her best not to show how shaken up she was. It only worked halfway, however. She pushed the thought of what would've happened if Arkyn had stayed with the others like she'd suggested all the way out of her mind.

Arkyn then spoke to Hiccup. "Where's Fishlegs? I sent Snotlout to go looking for you two."

"Yes, Snotlout found us and told us that Astrid may have been in trouble. Fishlegs and I spent some extra time rounding up a few wild Gronckles to help us just in case, so I sent the two of them back to the end of the original river and told them I'd handle this."

"Fair enough." Arkyn nodded, stowing his shield on Stinger's saddle once more.

"Well, Stormfly is pretty much tapped out for the time being." It was Astrid speaking now. "I suppose all we're good for now is a little intimidation."

"There's nothing wrong with that." Hiccup said. "You can go meet up with the others who are at the blockade. I think the rest of us can finish the job on this new channel since our dragons still have some juice left. At least this way, we'll have 3 dragons with riders at each location for when the Flightmare inevitably comes back."

The girl looked slightly discouraged that she couldn't be of much use anymore but still obliged and took off in the opposite direction.

After she'd left, Hiccup turned to his remaining friends, which included the twins and Arkyn. "How'd everyone make out over here?"

Tuff fielded his question. "Well we're all still alive and have the ability to move our limbs, so I'd say pretty nicely." There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"What he's trying to say is that everyone expected you and Fishlegs to be back sooner." Ruffnut translated for her brother. "You really stressed us out, man."

The Haddock's face fell slightly. "Sorry…hopefully the wild Gronckles end up paying off. I trust Legs to be able to get them to do what we need them to do."

"I'm sure it will make things go faster." Arkyn replied quickly, not wanting to waste their limited amount of time on talking. "Now speaking of going faster, we have a river to finish, and we're almost at the other end of the island."

"Let's get it done." Ruff affirmed.

And they got to work.

Astrid and Stormfly stood guard quietly as the team of Gronckles, led by Fishlegs, worked to seal the blockade behind her. Snotlout waited with the girl on the opposite bank of the river, his Monstrous Nightmare's flames useless to the aforementioned task. It had been about 30 minutes since they'd posted themselves on watch duty, and luckily by this time, water had begun to flow down the new river at a much healthier pace, leading the Flightmare's food source away from the village.

It was so dark that the two teenagers could barely see one another from where they sat. The only light came from the algae's gentle glow, which persisted as the seconds ticked by. The lack of light didn't make a difference, however, when the Flightmare finally presented itself again. The beast was slowly lumbering beside the water once more, its head beneath the surface as it fed.

"Pssst, Astrid." Snotlout whispered sharply to get her attention.

"I see it." She replied, eyes focused on the terrifying creature.

"We need to back up. Quietly. It may just keep following the new path."

"But it's not finished yet." Astrid argued. "We'd be sending it straight to the others before they're clear." She couldn't let this happen. Not when Arkyn, Hiccup, and her best friend were part of that group.

"They're better suited to defend against it." Snotlout tried to reason with her. "We've got a Nadder who can't flame and a bunch of bone headed Gronckles who will scatter at the first sign of danger. They'll probably be finished by the time it gets to them anyway."

"We don't know that, and besides, Stormfly still has her tail spikes." She reminded him.

The Flightmare was getting very close now.

"What good are those if we're not allowed to directly attack it?"

"We'll figure it out." Astrid stood her ground, very annoyed with the boy's plan to back down. That's not what Vikings did. "We have to stall it as long as we can- at least until they give us the signal."

Snotlout groaned. "I really hate you sometimes, ya know that? If anyone gets frozen I'm pointing fingers."

"Oh c'mon." Astrid rolled her eyes. "You'll never not love me, in your weird, icky way, and you can keep your fingers away from me, thank you."

This was the line that got the Flightmare's attention. Its head emerged from the algae and it roared angrily upon finding the other dragons staring it down.

"Oh this is so on you!" Snotlout yelled defiantly, making sure Hookfang was ready to move.

"Shield up and shut up, Snotlout!" Astrid yelled back, just as loudly. She grabbed her own shield and commanded Stormfly to release a line of spikes between the two sides.

This startled the Flightmare, and unfortunately only served to piss it off more. The creature hopped over the Nadder's spines, which had lodged themselves in the loose dirt, and continued to close the distance between itself and the teenagers. All of a sudden, Hookfang burst into flames and spread his wings in order to make himself look as huge as possible, but even this left the glowing beast unfazed.

The Flightmare countered this move with another banshee scream, causing Hookfang to extinguish his flames and buck wildly, sending Snotlout from the dragon's saddle. He dangled loosely from his riding tether by the waist, quickly dropping his shield so he could pull out a knife and cut himself free. The Viking fell to the ground with a thud and hauled himself to his feet, watching Hookfang and the Flightmare grapple talon-on-talon.

Stormfly was also affected by the scream, and Astrid had to jump from her saddle to prevent herself from being carried off too far into the forest. Her Nadder disappeared behind some brush, running in some random direction after being spooked by the noise. Things were not exactly going as smoothly as she had intended. By the time she looked up, the Flightmare had Hookfang pinned against the ground, allowing it to divert its attention back to Snotlout. The boy tried to run, but the Flightmare was too fast. It sprayed him with its paralyzing mist and stopped him where he stood instantly. He was frozen.

Astrid screamed and picked up a stone, launching it at the beast and hitting it square in the side of the head. This distracted it long enough for Hookfang to break free from the other dragon's hold, and the Monstrous Nightmare itself then ran away sloppily, still too impaired to use its wings. Great. Astrid thought. What a big help our dragons were.

She quickly glanced behind her, and noticing how frantically Fishlegs and the Gronckles were moving to try and finish their work, decided to try and stall by herself just a little bit longer. The girl found the strength within her needed to clear a skinny part of the river with an impressive jump, rushing to Snotlout's side as the Flightmare walked towards him. Luckily, Astrid still had her shield, and she held it out in front of her as she grabbed one of Snotlout's arms, which was in mid air due to his state of suspended animation. She pulled with all her might, blocking another mist attack as she drug Snotlout into the forest, stuffing him behind a large tree.

"I'll be back for you later." Astrid whispered apologetically. It looked like Snotlout was trying to say something to her in return, but his speech was lost with his paralysis.

The girl didn't have time to hear him out, however, and darted into the forest, getting the Flightmare to chase her as she made her way towards the pack of Gronckles. The large dragon on her tail couldn't fit through the tight spacing of the trees and was forced to go back to the clearing cut by the original river, leading it straight to Fishlegs.

Astrid ran as fast as she could and beat the translucent creature to her friend, quickly emerging from the trees to get his attention. "Fishlegs! Get Meatlug in here now!"

The large boy immediately sent the wild Gronckles away and flew his own dragon towards the girl, hiding with her in the thick vegetation. The Flightmare spun around in the clearing near the blockade, confused as to where everyone had just escaped to.

"Did you sort it out?" Astrid asked Fishlegs in a low voice.

"Just finishing up." Fishlegs replied. "It'll hold just fine. All the water should be going down the new channel now."

Astrid let out a sigh of relief. All that needed to happen next was for the new river to exit the other side of the island, which would be any minute now, and not a moment too soon.

Fishlegs leaned down from Meatlug and tapped Astrid on the shoulder. "Hey, do you smell gas?"

"Huh? Gas?"

"It smells like Zippleback gas."

Just after these words left his mouth, a loud boom could be heard and the pair looked up to find the Flightmare surrounded by a bright flash of ignited smoke, courtesy of Ruff and Tuff. The new river had evidently been completed. The bailout was here.

"Force it down the new path!"

Astrid could hear Arkyn's voice giving orders from her crouched position, craning her neck to get a view of the sky, smiling as she noticed a Night Fury, Triplestryke, and Zippleback all circling above.

The 3 dragons fell into formation and positioned themselves so that the Flightmare was then trapped in between their line of defense and the river they'd just built. Using their combined firepower, the riders launched attack after attack in the direction of the Flightmare, each one pushing it backwards a little further. It tried to fight them, but it simply didn't have the ability to fend off an organized movement of 3 dragons at once. Finally, after several hours of combat and intense labor over the course of one of the longest nights the teens had ever remembered experiencing, the Flightmare turned and flew off in the direction of the diverted flow of water, chasing the food source that would now lead it away from Berk and back onto its original journey around the archipelago. They had done it.

Arkyn watched it go, eventually moving his hands all the way forward on Stinger's harness before leaning over and resting his head on his forearms, closing his eyes as if he were asleep. To say he was exhausted would have been an understatement. The boy was completely drained of energy, not only from the fighting and hard work, but also from the emotional rollercoaster he'd just been through. Suspense, adrenaline, fear, love, stress, success…for all of their achievements, there had been too many close calls that night. He wasn't sure how many more times he could walk into situations such as this one and still walk out ok, returning as the same person he had been before. It wasn't a number he wanted to figure out when it was already too late.

He found the will power to sit up again, dismounting when he saw Astrid walking towards him. They met beside his dragon, saying nothing at first as they embraced one another tightly. By this time the mist on Arkyn's suit had evaporated, turning the outfit back into its normal black and luckily no longer threatening the movements of those who touched him.

Unspoken affections passed between the two Vikings before Arkyn finally spoke, a more topical question on his mind. "Where are the others?"

They let go of each other and Astrid took a step back so they could talk. "Fishlegs and Meatlug were with me." She pointed to where they were now coming out of the forest after her. "Hookfang and Stormfly got spooked by some crazy noise the Flightmare made, and Snotlout, well…why don't you just follow me. I have a surprise for you." She giggled.

Arkyn took off his helmet and tied it to Stinger's saddle, smirking at the girl. "Oh boy, a surprise…it must be good."

"Oh it is." Astrid replied, leading him through the forest to the tree she'd hidden Snotlout behind several minutes ago.

Arkyn let out an audible chuckle when he discovered the frozen Viking, still exactly where Astrid had left him. "Well well well…you've shattered my expectations, Hofferson. Would now be a good time to remind you that you were going to kick him?"

Snotlout made muffled noises of protest in his throat causing Astrid to clasp a hand over his mouth to silence them. "Actually this was…sort of my fault." She sighed, the corners of her mouth still curled up in a smile she couldn't hide. "I think I'm going to have to let him go on this one. Even I'm not that cold."

"How honorable of you." Arkyn laughed, impressed by the girl's restraint and unwillingness to beat a man while he was down. "Come on, I'll help you get him in the clearing. Fishlegs and Meatlug can fly him straight to Gothi's hut."

It took the rest of the riders only a short while to round up the two scattered dragons, and they were all soon on their way to the Great Hall to release the villagers from their lockdown. Hiccup was the one to knock on the door while the twins, Astrid, and Arkyn stayed back at the bottom of the steps. Muted voices could be heard inside but it was the Chief who ultimately answered, greeting his son at the large entrance.

"It's done." Hiccup informed him, a relieved expression on his face. "The Flightmare is gone, and no one should ever have to fight it here again."

"Odin's beard. Ye killed it?" His father exclaimed, unaware of the discussions they'd had regarding its required safety.

"No, not at all. We redirected it."

"Well as long as it's off my island." The Chief sighed, pushing the door the rest of the way open before facing the people inside. "Everyone! Berk's dragon riders 'ave once again ensured tha village 's protected! You may all return te yer homes as ye please!" A roaring cheer came from the structure as hundreds of Vikings began piling out through the front doors.

Astrid turned to Arkyn. "I'm going to go find my parents. Thanks for…you know-"

He squeezed her hand. "Yes, I know. You don't have to say anything. Now go…they need to see that you're ok."

She smiled and jaunted up the stairs, fighting her way through the stampede of other Vikings to look for her mother and father.

Ruff and Tuff fist bumped him on their way by as well. "We're going, too." They said together. "Nice flying tonight." Tuff called back. And the two of them also disappeared into the crowds.

Arkyn suddenly found himself standing at the bottom of the stairs alone, engulfed by the large swaths of villagers walking around him into the town below. They had been out so long that the sun was already preparing to peep over the horizon, and the far out skies held dark hues of orange and yellow, replacing the blackness that had carried them through the ordeal. He faced the ocean, watching the color slowly overtake more of the world around him.

He barely noticed when the Chief sidled up next to him. A large hand came to rest on his right shoulder, although he was too deep in thought to look up at the towering figure. His gaze remained on the villagers, the sea, and the sky beyond.

"I herd ye executed quite the performance tonight." Said the Chief, also looking towards the village.

Arkyn sighed, a look of mild frustration taking over his features. "It was no different from anyone else's. We do what is necessary." He said in a monotone voice, his mind elsewhere.

"Lad, when are you going to accept that what is necessary is also extraordinary?"

"When I stop being the one that has to do it all the time."

Stoick raised an eyebrow. "What's tha' supposed to mean?"

"It means that it's only extraordinary from the outside perspective. For the 7 of us who were flying tonight, it's becoming the new normal. We had a tough night tonight, Chief. There were times…well there were times when it looked like we wouldn't win, that someone would get seriously hurt, or that any number of other things might go wrong. It's not so fun when the risk is consistently on you…or the people you care about."

There was a long pause as the Chief tried to process his words and how best to respond to them, but he didn't get a chance to speak again before Arkyn finally continued.

"I just…don't know how much longer I can do it." He was briefly haunted by the sound of Astrid screaming his name. She'd sounded so terrified…that wasn't the life that he wanted to share with her. "Now that my life is here, I've found certain…things…I'd like to protect. The way I'm living now, I'm on borrowed time, sir, and one day…time will run out on me."

"I see…" was all Stoick could say. He remembered the time he'd spent in his own dragon battles, back before the raids had ceased. Everything Arkyn was saying was true. A few of his sentences sounded like exact thoughts the Chief had had himself. The older man decided to offer Arkyn the only wisdom he could. Wisdom that came from his own experiences, even the traumatic ones, such as losing Valka.

"You won't hang up that saddle though." He said. "And I know that because I never did, either…figuratively speaking. You remind me a lot of my younger self, my boy. Born to be a fighter. I know you may not want to hear this, but you would have figured it out on your own sooner or later anyway: this is your life now. Every threat this island or its inhabitants face that can be mitigated with dragons, you will participate in defending against. Because unfortunately…souls like us are driven by guilt. We could have chosen the quiet path, the one that gets us the closest to that happy ending we both know we've always wanted, but if we'd done that and people were hurt along the way that we had the option to save, we'd never be able to live with ourselves. Great selflessness combined with great courage makes great soldiers. More than soldiers, really- saviors- and all 7 o' you have both of those things."

He paused and took a deep breath before moving on. "I know we haven't had much opportunity to engage in conversation, but there's something you need to understand, and I hope it means something coming from your Chief. Every smiling face that left this hall tonight was able to leave safely because of a fight you helped to win. The service you've done us so far, and hopefully will continue to do, is appreciated beyond measure. You must always remember this. It's…it's part of what kept me going after I lost Valka. The people that still need you will always be worth taking off for, because you're a strong-willed man, and I trust you'll find it in yourself to be the savior you were destined to be." The Chief finally concluded.

Arkyn was very surprised by how open Stoick had just been with him. He hadn't heard words anywhere close to these since his father was taken from him. He considered them both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand they reassured him, but on the other they also placed more weight on his shoulders. One thing was for certain, however: Arkyn was needed. Quitting wasn't an option anymore. It hadn't been since the very first day he flew Stinger. The Chief was right. This was his life now, like it or not, and that meant it was Astrid's, too, for better or for worse…

At last he looked up at the mountain of a man, trying to find his face behind the bushy beard and eyebrows. Arkyn still wasn't smiling, but his expression was no longer so sour when he stretched a gloved hand out, eventually meeting Stoick's much larger one.

"I think I need a break." Arkyn finally said, and the Chief nodded. "A few days at least. Just to sort some things out."

"Of course." Stoick affirmed. "Time to yourself is important."

They broke their handshake and Arkyn began to slowly walk towards Stinger, who had been patiently waiting several paces away. "You guessed right though, sir." The boy called back. "I'm not going to hang up that saddle."

The larger man smiled as Arkyn took off, watching him get smaller as the Triplestryke whisked him away.

It was not long after this that Arkyn arrived home, nearly kicked his door in, and promptly collapsed on his bed, too tired to be bothered by the sunlight that was now trying to creep its way between the slats in the window covers.

At this point he had been awake for almost 26 straight hours and it was time for a well deserved rest. He fell asleep thinking about too many things at once, and just before he slipped into the dream world, Arkyn made up his mind about the most important one.