Astrid dressed and emerged from her house. Now she could see the dragons in the firelight. More encouraging, she could see her fellow Vikings waving eels around more than swords.
She ran down to the supply warehouse to collect an eel for her own, only once there, she was disappointed to find they were all gone, taken by vikings one step ahead of her.
Well, maybe there were some at the docks!
A flaming Nightmare screamed over her head, colliding manically into the warehouse, and predictably igniting it. The Nightmare shook off its collision and flew off.
"Come on, man," Astrid chastised the beast, long after it was gone. At that point, she began the water brigade, grabbing a bucket and getting to work putting out fires. That's what she was supposed to do, anyways. What all the teens her age were supposed to do. Anyone that hadn't passed dragon training was on water duty.
She held the bucket in her off hand, because with her right, she still couldn't form a fist to hold the handle.
A grim reminder of what was lost.
But it didn't matter. She had Stormfly now, and soon, Stormfly would be living among them. Stormfly, Toothless, Cloudjumper, and Valka. They could all have a home in the village.
Once three houses were out, Astrid could see a lot of the dragons retreating. The raid was coming to its close, with a lot more smoke and fire in the air than ever before. Astrid decided it was time to get Stormfly and rendezvous with Hiccup, even if he had never asked for it.
"Astrid! Lass!" Phlegma ran towards her, just as she was turning towards the woods. "Your house is on fire!"
"Oh come on!" Astrid threw her arms up in defeat, and went to go get the bucket again.
—
Valka had Cloudjumper perch on the hill by the Great Hall. There was so much chaos going on in the square, she doubted anyone could see her.
Especially with all this smoke!
She moved again, landing her dragon behind her old home. She doubted it, but hoped that Stoick was still there. And as luck would have it, he was just leaving the front as she entered the back.
"Stoick!" She stopped him.
"Val? What are you doing here?!"
"Hiccup and Toothless have gone to look for the Alpha. He asked me to come here and shoo the other dragons away."
Stoick barked a laugh. "Well, you can certainly try. Looks like this time, the beasts are out for revenge rather than loot."
"Revenge?" She tilted her head.
"Aye, haven't seen them taking things, just destroying it. The eels are working, but only just. Can Cloudjumper put out fires?"
"Aye."
"Then that will have to be enough. Just…try not to be seen."
Like divine providence, Gobber chose that moment to burst in the door. "Chief! There you are! Have you seen Hiccup? I need him in the forge! I need—" he trailed off. "Oh dear Thor."
"Hello Gobber," Valka greeted weakly, wiggling her fingers.
He opened his mouth, shook his head and stated plainly. "Later." Then he turned to Stoick. "I need Hiccup."
"'E's not here. We'll talk about it all later."
Gobber nodded heavily, looking back and forth between the chief and previously late wife. "Aye, later later…when this developing headache goes away."
—
Hiccup flew over Berk, wincing at the destruction already unfolding underneath him. People were screaming, houses were on fire, and dragons were flying out of control, making the skies a nightmare to navigate.
"Alright bud, keep it steady. Let's see who's heading back and follow."
A Nadder and Gronkle emerged from the smoke and started heading away from the village. Hiccup picked his targets, and had Toothless stealthily tail them. The farther away they got from the village, the quieter it became. The sounds of war slowly faded, a stray shout, an echoing roar, and then silence.
Soon, he became attuned to this new environment. The open ocean, roiling with an impending storm. The squawks of the two dragons he was following, and then slowly more and more. A Nightmare appeared beside him, the very same from the arena. He'd know it anywhere. And then the Gronckle, and then the Zippleback. They all flew beside him, sparing glances at him, but mostly focusing on flying forward.
"Hey guys," he called weakly. "H-h-how's it going?"
They didn't even respond. Like they were pretending he wasn't there.
And then he heard it. A strange, alien sound. A constant trilling, a low note, but constant and pulsing. Toothless grumbled, shaking his head.
"You okay, bud?" Hiccup rested a hand on his head.
Toothless merely warbled, a familiar sound of affirmation. That would have to be enough.
They flew for so long. Too long it seemed. Then again, the trips the fleet had gone on often took days.
Then the day began to break. No beautiful bursting sunrise came, no lovely pinks and oranges. The gray sky merely became lighter, and the ominous fog ahead became visible.
"Helhiem's Gate," Hiccup breathed.
They had been right all along. There was something here, but no ship could get to it. He'd heard the stories of the vicious attacks in the fog.
Would he be any safer? Of course! Toothless was here to protect him! Though…that didn't really make him feel any less anxious.
He looked around, gauging the amount of dragons around him, and that feeling of disgusting dread only slithered further into his gut. Everywhere he looked, up, down, side to side, and behind, he was surrounded. All manner and types of dragons, all singularly focused and moving like a hive.
All under the spell of the tyrant.
"This was a mistake," he whispered.
They hit the fog. Not being able to see the dragons only made it worse. He could hear them all around, fluttering and growling. But were they onto him? Did they care? Would he be attacked as an interloper?
Or was he so insignificant they wouldn't notice?
There was a mountain in all this fog. A fortress for a king, and they were intruding. Toothless flew into a cavern, expertly weaving through the snaking tunnels.
And then they were in the throne room.
A volcano. A large, open cavern, with red glowing smoke concealing the lava from sight. But he could definitely feel the heat.
Toothless landed on a ledge, one that granted cover to peer behind. And then he just watched. Because that's all he was supposed to do.
Watch.
He watched as the dragons dropped offerings into the volcano and took their place in court. He watched as one lone Gronkle puttered over and regurgitated a single fish as its tithe.
And he watched as a behemoth of a dragon rose from the smoke and snatched the dragon up in its massive jaws like the crack of a whip.
One bite. It didn't need to chew. One second there, gone the next.
Hiccup felt all the blood drain from his face as his mouth became very very dry.
"We…we need to go." He whispered to Toothless.
Hiccup felt Toothless tense underneath him, preparing to take off, when all of a sudden, he froze, his ears perking up.
The Queen was looking right at them.
—
Toothless had a feeling this would happen if he ever returned. He trusted Hiccup implicitly at this point, but he did have his worries, and it seemed it was not unfounded.
He knew they were going to fail when the Queen emerged. He knew they were detected when it took a deep breath and its nostrils flared. And he knew they were doomed when those three sets of eyes swiveled to narrow right at them.
Its voice drilled into his skull, casting its spell he had an answer for now.
There you are, traitor.
—
Toothless scrambled desperately up the rock, just trying to get enough space to take off. The other dragons in the cavern started swarming, some even blocking their route. Toothless merely used them as stepping stones, setting his claws into them and moving forward.
Hiccup leaned forward, keeping his head down as he helped Toothless navigate the perilous cavern. All the while, he could hear the Queen sucking in a big breath.
They cleared the lip of the volcano just as a giant plume of fire rushed out.
"Okay, that was way too close," Hiccup breathed. "Nice escape, bud."
Toothless warbled, but did not stop his frantic movements. His wings pumped rapidly, not even effectively.
Hiccup realized why only a moment later. The ground rumbled, rocks rolling and crashing behind them. Hiccup turned and watched the Queen in all its gluttonous girth break through the side of the volcano, and start stretching its wings.
It was going to chase them.
"Oh shit," Hiccup laughed incredulously, because of course it would. The gods hated him so much, of course an angry, hungry dragon the size of a mountain would try to chase him down. "Don't stop, bud! He's coming!"
Toothless squealed, flailing his legs in an attempt to move faster.
"Toothless," Hiccup said calmly, but firmly. He rested his hand on the dragon's head. "We're faster than this thing. We can outrun it. But you have to focus. We can do it!"
Toothless snorted. He tucked his wings in, and they dove a few feet, before he spread them wide again. Then he started pumping in earnest, each flap propelling them onward.
"That's it bud!"
The Queen roared in anger, and Toothless faltered slightly.
"Ignore it!" Hiccup demanded. "Just keep going, Toothless. Just listen to me! You got this! We got this!"
But Hiccup kept taking glances behind them, seeing how far they had gotten. The Queen had not given up, but it was falling away quickly.
"We got this, we got this," he kept chanting. Hiccup wasn't even sure where they were going. 'Away' he supposed. They could figure the rest out later.
Just when true escape looked likely, other dragons started colliding with them, or getting in their way. These dragons seemed dazed, bumbling around.
"He's trying to slow us down," Hiccup realized, just as they recovered from a particularly nasty impact from a Gronckle. "You okay, bud?"
Toothless didn't respond, just continued onward.
—
What's wrong, little Fury? Don't you want to reunite with your hatchlings? They're waiting for you in my gullet!
—
It started drizzling. The rain felt like little needle pricks at the speed they were going, but they simply couldn't slow down. Any inch lost could be the end.
Toothless just flew, spinning and dropping to avoid the Queen's minions that hindered them.
Then Hiccup saw Berk.
"We're almost home, Bud! We're almost—!"
No wait, that was stupid! They were leading this monster right to Berk! It would swallow the village whole!
"We have to fight it."
Toothless let out a sound that could only mean, 'are you out of your mind?!'
"We don't have a choice!" He cried. "Berk doesn't stand a chance! Maybe…maybe we can frighten it enough to leave us alone?" He was spitballing at this point, but even then, it sounded far fetched.
Hiccup turned back to gauge just how much time they had.
About 30 seconds, it seemed.
"Dammitdammitdammit!" He cursed.
Without thinking it through, he steered Toothless toward the sea stacks instead of directly at the island. "This is where we'll make our last stand. Somehow. I hope."
—
Astrid was now covered in soot, but her house was out. As was most of the village, thanks to the light rain and 'mysterious spontaneous waterfalls' that opened up when it was still dark out.
Astrid went to find the chief, who was already issuing orders for repairs.
When they had a moment alone, she stated, "Hiccup left right when it started. I was going to go catch up with him…but our house caught fire."
"I know," Stoick nodded.
Astrid gave him a questioning look. Hiccup wouldn't have made a detour across the village, would he?
"The 'mysterious spontaneous waterfalls' told me."
"Oh, so that was…" she pointed towards the woods.
Stoick nodded. "Don't know where she is now though. Probably retreated when the sun started coming up."
They didn't have time to ponder it more, as a horn sounded. Another raid? But there weren't any dragons visible!
"Dragon! Dragon!" The watch guard shouted, nearly tripping over himself to get to Stoick. "Look!" He pointed East, over the Arena.
Indeed, a large figure with wings was flying over the ocean towards Berk.
Gobber joined the group, eye glass in hand. "What in the beard of Thor—?"
Stoick snatched the eyeglass and looked, trying to get a view of the creature.
And boy, did he ever get a glimpse of it. "The Alpha…" He breathed.
"What are you on about?" Gobber asked.
Astrid took the eyeglass when Stoick went slack in shock. She gasped, "Hiccup's out there too!"
"What?" Stoick took the glass back. "Where?!"
"Up in front of that thing, on Toothless!"
"Toothless?" Gobber asked, lost in this development. "The strange friend Hiccup made in the woods?"
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Hiccup trained the Nightfury he shot down. He named him Toothless, and this morning, he went on a scouting mission to find out where the raiding dragons were coming from. It looks like he found the Alpha dragon, and now it's following him!"
"While this sounds like something Hiccup would do, I'm completely gobsmacked," Gobber started. "Wait, does this have anything to do with that ghost of Valka I saw?"
"Don't worry about all that now!" Stoick shouted. "We need to worry about that–that thing!"
"Why would he lead it towards Berk?" Astrid asked. "He's smarter than that…"
"Panic can cloud the mind. Get your Nadder and go see if you can help him."
"Your Nadder?" The voice of Axel Hofferson cut in.
Astrid whirled around to face her father. "D-dad!"
"I came here to get orders, but I'm hearing a lot of hogwash! Astrid, have you been keeping a dragon as a pet?!" His accusations started drawing a crowd.
"I knew it!" Someone else shouted.
"The both of them are dragon sympathizers! They're going to sacrifice the village!" Cried another.
Astrid threw her arms up in frustration. "I'm telling you people, that is not remotely what is happening right now!"
As people began to gossip and lament about the end of the world, Spitelout came running over. "Chief! Chief, the catapults are primed and ready! Once that devil gets in sight, we'll shoot!"
"No!" Cried three voices in unison. One Astrid, one Stoick, and one…
Valka shoved her way through the gathering crowd. "Don't you dare, Spitelout! My son is out there! You will not fire!"
The crowd became deadly silent as they all looked to Valka, and then to Spitelout, and then Stoick.
"Val, I told you to stay hidden," Stoick spoke calmly, but spared the briefest smile, knowing why she made herself known.
"You…you knew?" Spitelout breathed. "Knew that my sister was alive?"
Stoick rounded on him, puffing out his chest. "Aye! For a few months now, I knew! Hiccup and I found her on a scouting mission." He clenched his fists and looked at the tribe. "A scouting mission that we executed on dragon back."
More panicked whispering and scared glances.
"I don't expect any of you to accept this news right away. I will answer your questions later. But right now, this is what you need to know." He pointed out to the Queen which only seemed to get bigger, and it was still a few minutes away. "That creature is responsible for all the dragon raids upon our village. Hiccup figured that out. He left this morning to follow the retreating dragons on the back of his own. A Nightfury, nevertheless! It was supposed to be a scouting mission, but it appears something has gone wrong."
"What do we do, Stoick?!" Someone cried. "There's not enough time to run!"
"The catapults!" Said Spitelout again. "Hiccup's too small of a target! I'm sure he'll be fine!"
"No!" Said Valka again. "The catapults will only make the alpha more angry and turn its ire to us! Our weapons are not strong enough to kill it!"
The roar of the beast echoed over the ocean, proceeding its arrival in heartbeats.
Stoick gnawed on his tongue, and made the announcement he hoped to not regret. "We trust Hiccup, and we pray."
—-
"Alright, the sea stacks are close. They have to slow it down!" Hiccup declared. He kept turning around to look, only to find the beast singularly fixed on them.
Maybe it didn't even see Berk, but it certainly would once it killed them!
Hiccup turned around just in time to help Toothless weave around the sea stack, a nice tall, heavy one.
The Queen plowed through it like a rotten tree stump.
"Well, I was hoping that would do something…" Hiccup winced. "Come on, we have to make some sort of dent in this thing!"
His rapid thoughts stopped as he heard an explosion behind him. He looked, and to his surprise, the Zippleback from the arena was hovering just above the Queen's head, having just loosed a fireball. Another one came from the Nightmare, and yet another from the Gronkle.
The three dragons Astrid and he had saved from the arena were here to help!
While all of the Alpha's sounds appeared angry to Hiccup, the growl it let out caused a change in Toothless.
The Nightfury ducked and weaved through the air, before swooping to turn around.
It was time to face this thing.
Their three friends retreated just far enough away to be safe, circling Toothless and the Queen to watch the fight unfold.
Toothless inhaled and let loose a plasma blast when he got right up to it, then banked to dodge out of the way.
The Queen roared, sounding pained.
"Alright! We just need a few more of those, bud!"
Though, he spoke too soon, as the Queen reared up and unleashed a torrent of fire, blasting in an unpredictable wave to hit anyone it could.
Hiccup was a blacksmith. He knew fire, and he knew burns, but the blast of heat that swallowed him and Toothless was indescribably hot. He only had time to tuck his head under his elbow as the burning orange rolled over them.
He felt pain, searing, screaming, agonizing pain! And then it was over.
He peered his eye open, thankful to see Toothless still up in the sky. The leather saddle had blackened and charred. His hands were red, but not too badly burned because they were protected by the flaps on Toothless' neck.
He could see the huge bludgeon of a tail starting to circle around, preparing to strike. He moved his foot, attempting to change direction, but there was no change, not even a click.
Hiccup turned in his seat, checking the status of the tail. Unfortunately, it was on fire, and halfways burned away. "So that's not good."
Then he looked down to his stirrup, expecting the line to be broken, but instead, it was gone. All of it was gone. The stirrup, the line, his boot, his pant leg…all that remained was a bit of charred flesh and bone under his knee, and blistering and blackened skin the rest of the way up.
"Oh, that's also not good," he chuckled weakly.
The mere sight of the gore made nausea rise and his sight went spotty. His head felt like it was swimming, and cotton filled his ears.
"N-no…not now…"
He looked up, staring in horror as the tail was right there! Swinging and falling and —!
Toothless' roar echoed through the sky as he spun rapidly, disoriented and sick. The ocean was up and then beneath, then to his side, and then he was looking at Toothless. Toothless was falling away, scrambling with his paws, calling out and crying with his big green eyes.
Hiccup didn't really process all of it. His blood roared in his ears, and everything felt hot.
And then he was cold, and the world was dark. The impact in the water hurt, but was just a pinprick compared to the rest of the pain. He wondered if he would drown. He wondered if Toothless was okay. He wondered if the Queen was turning to Berk and soon they'd all be gone.
Then something snagged his jacket and pulled him out of the water. He coughed and sputtered as he was dragged across the surface, and then he was set down on a rock.
Hiccup sat for a second, panting as his vision cleared. He watched the Nightmare fly away, staying close enough to help, but only just.
So he wouldn't drown. But would he be helpless to watch his home be destroyed?
The water crested over him, the salt stinging his burns.
The Queen was just before him, so close he could reach out and touch it. It's breath was acrid and rancid, and so so hot, it made his skin ache and sting and pulse.
Then, something stood above him. A dark shadow, shading him from the heat and protecting him from the teeth that were the size of a longship.
"Toothless…" Hiccup murmured, reaching up and touching his friend's belly.
Toothless' claws dug into the rock, hard, chipping the stone.
A blue light appeared from within the Nightfury, growing brighter and brighter and hotter and hotter. He opened his mouth and inhaled, the wind whistling through his nostrils.
The blast that Toothless released was violent, shredding teeth and scales from the Queen and knocking it backwards into the water.
Hiccup took the moment to climb back up on Toothless' back, which was a struggle with his foot.
The Queen slowly started to right itself, before another devastating blast gathered within Toothless.
Hiccup watched as a flood of dragons poured forward from the direction of Helhiem's gate. They were moving from the Queen's side to theirs, resting on the sea stacks or hovering nearby.
Toothless released his second blast, which tore a piece of the Queen's crown from its head. It shrieked in pain, its anguished roar echoing over the ocean.
Toothless roared right back, trembling with the might of his fury.
"Whoa," Hiccup breathed, petting Toothless' neck.
The Queen made a pathetic noise then, a whimper maybe. It rose, the water churning and sloshing against Toothless' side.
Then it was in front of them again, staring at Toothless, unmoving. Slowly, it leaned forward, and then bowed its head.
Toothless stood tall, before turning to roar at all the other dragons.
As a whole, they cried back, the sound deafening to Hiccup.
As Hiccup lowered his hands from his ears, he asked his best friend, "did…you just become the alpha?"
Toothless warbled and lolled his tongue out.
Hiccup just barked an incredulous laugh.
The Queen, or former queen rather, dipped her head farther so that her hooked nose was right in front of Toothless. He leapt, jumping up onto her snout for a ride back to Berk.
Hiccup flopped forward, exhausted and in immense pain. But from where he laid, he watched Berk come closer and closer until the Queen placed her nose against the cliffs and Toothless could scramble off.
—
Astrid held her breath as the stream of fire filled the sky. Even from a mile out, she could feel the heat.
A black streak was now on fire, and falling from the sky.
"He's hit!" Gobber yelled, his voice full of fear.
Then the great dragon turned and smashed its hefty tale into Toothless and knocked him off course.
Astrid shouted Hiccup's name, too far away to see him, but knowing this could very well be the end.
The Queen swung it's head side to side, seemingly searching for its prey. Breathless minutes went by with no sight on Hiccup or Toothless.
"There!" Said Gobber, eyeglass in hand. "On that little rock! I have sight on the Nightfury!"
Stoick yanked the eyeglass for himself and looked where Gobber had pointed. "Oh gods, Hiccup's wounded. He's…oh gods…"
Astrid covered her face, too afraid to look.
But she moved her hands when she heard the telltale sound of a Nightfury preparing a blast.
Blue fire exploded over the Queen, knocking it over. Even without the eyeglass, everyone could see the blue glowing figure perched all alone on the rock.
Toothless blasted again, breaking off a piece of horn from the Queen's head. Then he roared, that oh so familiar roar that had brought her comfort for many months. In this context, it sounded haunting. It rumbled in her chest and brought a tear to her eye.
"He's challenging the alpha!" Valka cried.
Miraculously, the Queen got up again, but this time, it stayed low and then bowed. It was bowing to Toothless!
The other dragons, which she hadn't even seen in the chaos, roared in unison.
"He won!" Valka cried again. "Toothless! He won!"
"What does that mean?" Stoick asked.
"It means that the other alpha has sworn loyalty to Toothless! And to our son!"
Stoick stared wide eyed as the big brute allowed Toothless to climb on its face and escorted them to Berk.
Villagers backed away as it came closer, but it didn't roar or show aggression. It just walked through the waves until it arrived and presented the conquering heroes.
"Ugly bastard," Gobber commented, now he was up close and personal.
Toothless jumped down, his wings back and up to shield most of Hiccup from onlookers. Then he turned to look over his shoulder and barked an order at the previous queen.
That mountain of a dragon almost looked sheepish as it turned to retreat. It didn't go back towards Helheim's Gate though. Instead, it went towards the other side of the island and started to climb up the large mountain in the middle. The mountain Berk had known for ages.
Awestruck, the villagers witnessed the beast tear a cavern in the mountain, and slither inside.
"Has that mountain always been a volcano?" Someone asked.
"Hiccup!" Stoick was at Toothless' side, examining him. "Son, can you hear me?"
Hiccup was barely conscious as he fluttered his eyes. "Dad? I think we…I think we did it…"
"Oh, you did it alright!" Gobber said, coming up to the other side. "Scared us all to death, you did! You're lucky your mother was here, or Spitelout would have ordered the catapults to attack."
Hiccup weakly chuckled.
"Baby," Valka called, placing her hands on Toothless' snout. "You should be so proud. That was amazin'!"
Hiccup smiled through the praise, but asked, "Wh-where's my wife?"
Astrid pushed her way forward and reached for him. "I'm here! I'm here…are you okay?!"
He smiled, but shook his head no. "I think…I need to see Gothi." He patted Toothless' wing that concealed him.
Toothless warbled as he dropped the wing and revealed the gruesome remains.
Astrid let out a startled cry.
But Gobber just scoffed. "Oh it's not so bad. I've seen worse! You'll probably just lose below the knee. Might be a bit before the burns heal though."
Hiccup blinked blearily a few times before saying, "good to know," and then passing out.