"You're right. I apologize." Queen sighed. "Can you tell I'm not used to stress like this?"

"No, no it's okay." Hiccup said nervously. "I'm sure a lot of people are kinda thinking, or feeling the same way as you." He tried to smooth the situation over. The Fireworm Queen looked the hybrid then to Toothless.

"He's not very good at being mean when he needs to be, is he?" She asked. Toothless smiled.

"Never has, never will. But I don't mind having to be the forceful one if I need to be. Comes with the territory of being Hiccup's mate." Toothless pressed himself against Hiccup, threatening to push him over.

"Wait what? Are you two just okay now? He just threatened to take your fireworms away. Aren't you mad? Or scared or anything?"

"Of course I am. I'm not going to tell you which, but yes, I am." She was about to continue when Hiccup interrupted.

"Toothless!" Hiccup whisper yelled. "You see what you did? You made her mad, or scared of you. We can't be losing friends at a time like this. Now apologize." Hiccup ordered.

"I'm not going to do that." Toothless said bluntly.

"Toothless." Hiccup was tight lipped.

"He doesn't need to apologize, Hiccup." Queen said.

"What he said was horrible to you."

"But perfectly in his right. Sometimes you need people to fall in line Hiccup. And threatening something like that is perfectly reasonable. You may not like it. I surely don't like it since it's against me. But I understand. If I was to run away and not fight when needed, then I will be punished for it. Potentially worse than if I had fought. And in this situation the worst possible thing to happen would be my death if I fight. But on the other side if I don't, my Fireworms will be taken from me with no way for me to regain them. And it takes a long time to amass as many as I have. So if they're taken from me I might as well be dead. So unless I do have to fight and use them then I only lose as many as needed to defend myself and the others and I'll live to gain more."

"But you could just start over. You may have to anyway." Hiccup countered.

"While true, it isn't as simple as that. If I am banished, I would have to find somewhere to live. Somewhere I'm left to be and allowed to cultivate my hoard. But it has to be in a place where we could survive and thrive. Stress kills fireworms quickly, and there are a thousand things that I have to think about when choosing a spot to live.

So while I live here I don't have to worry about those things. Because now that you two lead us I can make deals and more or less live exactly where I want to. That's how I got my cave. When you two took over and allowed everyone to figure out what worked best for everyone I simply asked the ones who lived there if they wanted to trade spots and now we're both happy.

Plus if this place falls I know that I have two alphas that will accommodate everyone the best they can. That includes me. So right now it doesn't matter what I say, do, think, or feel about the situation I'm put in. The best chance of my survival and my Fireworm's survival is to do as I'm told right now."

A head poked down under into the hull and called for them. The group of four looked to where it was from and saw the Gronckle from before looking at them upside down.

"We believe that everyone is accounted for, so we're ready to leave." She said cheerfully. Hiccup turned back around.

"Okay we'll be leaving now." He looked at both of the brightly colored dragons. "We'll see you after this is all done." He smiled. "If you'd like to stay with us after this is over we'd be happy to have you with us." He told the Deathsong. Turning around again Hiccup patted Toothless on the flank and followed the beast out to the top deck.

Once the two had left, the Deathson looked over to Queen, who'd laid her head down.

"What he said to you was wrong, you shouldn't have taken that."

"Taken what?" She asked tirely.

"What he said. About taking your Fireworms from you. You could easily take him down." The Deathsong said angrily. "I know I would have attacked him if he said something like that to me."

"And you would have died for it." Queen snuggled her head against a hatchling that had rolled over towards her.

"What? He's just a Night Fury."

"Just a Night…? Obviously you've never fought one. Nor seen one fight. And even if you have, somehow, you wouldn't stand a chance against that one.

I'm guessing you thought you'd just sing and put him to sleep and kill him while he's like that. But I highly doubt that it would work on him. He's got two voices in his head. And yours would have no chance to get through to him. That voice broke the Red Death's influence over him, the Old Queen here. If Hiccup's voice could break him from that, you'd stand no chance."

"Then it's just as easy to go after Hiccup right. Hiccup's the human? Right?"

"He's not human, and don't let him hear you say that. Mostly because he becomes sad about it. He takes it on the chin, but it still gets to him."

"Okay so you just attack him then right? If you take him out, no voice, no way for the Night Fury to resist me."

"I wouldn't get too confident about that. Hiccup wouldn't be affected by your singing in the first place. And while he may be small, don't underestimate his strength, talent, and especially his ability to adapt and learn. On top of what he already knows about you.

Trust me. Hiccup regularly trains against not only his mate, the Night Fury, but also against Changewings, Nadders, Nightmares, even Whispering Death on occasion."

"But nothing like me." The Deathsong said proudly.

"Gods you're dense."

"What?"

"You just don't get it do you?" Queen opened one eye. "Those two are monsters. And not the kind you hear in the stories that the nest mothers tell the hatchlings.

The only weakness those two have is if you did the impossible and killed one." Queen raised her head and looked the Deathsong dead in the eye. "And you wouldn't make it a hundred feet before the other one got to you and skinned you alive from nose tip to tail tip. You have to realize that those two got to where they are because of their strength. They've had to defend their spot from those thinking they could win and take over. It's ugly." Queen laid her head back down. "But even if you could take their spot, why would you? Leading sounds fun until you have to actually do it. But if you ask me, and most of the others, I'd say their fantastic alphas to have. Kind to a fault most of the time. Stern when they need to be, and down right unfair if they have to. This place has come a long way since they took over and I don't think anyone wants it to go back to the way before. Having people who simply want to help everyone they can sounds nice to me. And the enthusiasm that Hiccup has for learning about all of us is quite admirable. The more he knows about each species the better your living situation gets. And if he gets to know you personally, even better.

All they want is a family. People they can trust. So why not give that to them?"