Chapter 13: Back to Berk
After sometime, at a keel grinds against the shoreline pebbles as a listing, a battered ship is pushed into the still iceberg-filled lagoon. The ship wasn't worthy of the fallen man boarded on it, but it was all the Dragon Riders had to use.
Gobber then performs a viking ritual for his fallen friend. "May the Valkyries welcome you, and lead you through Odin's great battlefield. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the heights of Valhalla... and know that you've taken your rightful place at the table of kings." He said solemnly.
Bows and pitch-dipped arrows are gathered from the battlefield. Gobber hands two sets to Hiccup and Hicca, meeting their eyes with sympathetic glance.
"For a great man has fallen. A warrior. A chieftain. A father. A friend." Gobber finished with tears in his eyes.
The Night Furies cubs, who are the one of the only dragons who aren't affected by Drago's Alpha, light up a chuck of wreckages with their plasma blasts for the Haddock twins to tips their arrowheads in the smoldering chunk of wreckage, igniting the pitch that coats the tip.
The Haddock twins released their arrows, which sailed through the air and landed on the deck of the ship.
The other Riders then follow the Haddock twin's lead. They draw their arrows back and then in unison fire them into the sky as flaming streaks, with the Night Fury cubs firing some low level plasma blasts to the ship itself.
They arc over the lagoon and set the ship alight where under a white Tarp, Stoick's body is laid out on a pyre, with his ax upon his chest with his helmet layed on top of it.
The Haddock twins looked at the flaming ship, fighting back emotions and losing the battle of the loss of their father.
"We're sorry, Dad." Hicca said in a sad voice.
The others stood silently, unsure of what to say or if there was anything to say at all as they grieved for their fallen chief, "I'm not the chief that you wanted me to be. And me and Hicca are not the peacekeepers we thought we were." Hiccup stated solemnly.
"We don't know…" Hicca stated as she and her brother looked at the engulfing ship of their deceased father. The Night Furies cubs came forth to the Haddock twins, nuzzling them for comfort. Hiccup and Hicca patted them, a little better but still feel down on what just happened.
Valka watches them, her heart breaking. She steps forward. "You two came early into this world. You both were such a couple of wee things. So frail, so fragile. I feared you two wouldn't make it." she said to them calmly.
Hiccup and Hicca lowered their eyes, but their mother lifted their chins to look them in each other's eyes.
"But your father... he never doubted." Valka continued. "He always said you two would become the strongest of them all. And he was right. You two have the hearts of a chief and the souls of a dragon. Only you two can bring our worlds together. That is who you both are, my children." She finished with a good smile.
Hiccup and Hicca both meet their mother's bolstering stare. They turn to the ship and watch it in silence, silhouetted in its glow. The Haddock twins looked at each other before looking back at the ship.
"We were so afraid of becoming my dad. Mostly because we thought we never could. How do you become someone that great? That's brave? That selfless?" Hiccup questioned.
"I guess we can only try." Hicca said to her brother as they both smiled to each other and then they turned to the others as the Night Furies cub nuzzles their legs as Hicca patted Starlight on the head.
"A chief protects his own. We're going back." Hiccup said with a determined face.
"And we're stopping Drago." Hicca finished.
The others were confused about that. "Uh, with what?" Tuffnut asked.
"He took all the dragons except for Toothless and Midnight's kids." Ruffnut pointed out
"Not only them." Hiccup pointed out with a smile.
"It's true. Based on what we learned, there are three kinds of dragons that can't be controlled. Other Alphas, Queens or hatchlings, which is why the Night Furies cubs weren't affected by Drago's Alpha when he took the other dragons." Hicca explained to them as the others looked at one another and realized what they said while looking at the night furies younglings.
"She's right. Because if the cubs were controlled, then the dragon would've had a squadron of Night Furies by now." Henry stated.
"So if we find whatever hatchlings are able to fly, then we might have a ride back home and stop Drago!" Raeda declared with a smile.
"Come one gang, we got a mad man to stop and a home and friends to save. Dragon riders, let's ride!" Hicca declared as the riders went to the caves to find the other hatchlings.
(Linebreak)
Moments later, The riders manage to find whatever hatchlings they find. The Haddock twins lead their friends hurtle through the narrow ice as the baby hatchlings fly as fast as their young bodies they could. The Night Furies kids, Nightshade, Shadow, Starlight, Blaze with Darkie hanging on to Shadow's back, stay close to the riders as they could to make sure they would not be left behind, since the other hatchlings were as immature then the Night Furies ones, they could barley listen to their riders.
"Fly straight!" Ruffnut called out to her hatchling dragon.
"I don't want to die!" Fishlegs yelled in fear while hanging on.
"Stay still, baby!" Valerie called out.
"Good dragon! Listen to me!" Ragnar called out while clutching tight.
"We can't fly these things!" Snotlout pointed out.
"Yeah, no kidding!" Fishlegs agreed as he barrels into a snowbank, sending several chunks right into Eret's face as rides inverted and hollering.
"Are you sure that Drago's Bewilderbeast won't just take control of these guys, too?" Astrid asked her boyfriend and his sister.
"They're kids. They don't listen to anyone!" Hiccup called out.
"Yeah, just like us!" Tuffnut said with a wide smile.
"They got a point. Since when do we ever do as we're told?" Raeda pointed out.
"Good point!" Astrid stated.
Gobber follows up the rear clumsily, struggling to control his dragon youngling. "This... is... very dangerous!" he stated as he pulled alongside Hiccup, Hicca and Valka. "Some might suggest this is poorly conceived." He pointed out.
"Well, it's a good thing that we never listen." Hiccup replied to him and on behalf of his sister.
"True that." Hicca agreed.
And then, a sharp ridge rushes up at them. They're going to crash. The Haddock twins round one side of it, and Gobber flies down the other side. They shout through gaps in the iceberg.
"So what IS your plan, Sibs!?" Dagur questioned the Haddock twins.
"Get Toothless and Midnight back…" Hiccup started.
"And kicks Drago's-" Hicca tried to finish but was interrupted by another closure in the gaps of ice.
"Heads up!" Gobber called out as they flew out of the other side. They split to avoid another peak and then reconvene, only to find another icy outcropping directly in their path.
"Ice Berg!" Henry warned.
"And that thing." Hiccup said as Gobber hits the icy outcropping with a thud and yelp. He recovered and flew with the others.
The Night Furies kids flew close to them. Then they thought about their parents.
"Do you guys think we would save mom and dad?" Nightshade warbled.
"Knowing them, there is still a glimpse of them fighting Drago's control." Darkie roared to his siblings.
"Let's hope we're not too late, we will get our parents back, we waited too long to see them again, and we won't stop until we do! Right guys!?" Starlight roared at them.
"Right!" The other four night furies roared out as they flew faster, except for Darkie becouse of his tail, with hope that their parents will be safe again. The other riders saw the Night Furies' energy and were impressed by them.
"Looks like they're willing to stop Drago." Heather pointed out.
"Well, since their parents are in trouble, they will do anything to save their family." Hicca added with a smile.
"Family gotta stick together. And Drago made it personal!" Henry spoke next with a fierce determined expression.
"Just like we're gonna do. Now let's pick up the speed gang!" Hiccup announced as the riders and the dragons flew back to Berk to stop Drago and rescue their dragons and their tribe as they flew straight towards the horizon.