Sorath sat there outside of the Great Hall, his eyes having been wet with tears for a while. His father had just disowned him after accidentally revealing the Dragon's Nest while trying to defend Brooklyn too.
Stoick had even called him a gargoyle sympathizer just because he sided with Brooklyn. His mind recalled back to that:
"You dare defend those monsters?! They're as worse as dragons! Even though gargoyles speak like us and are intelligent, I see them as nothing but the spawns of Loki!"
Sorath's eyes widened in horror and disbelief from that. "No, dad! He protected me many times! Would a spawn of Loki even do something like that?!"
Stoick glares. "This only proves that you've thrown your lot in with both the gargoyles and dragons. You're not Viking."
It made Sorath stare, his eyes full of fear at what his father would say next. "You're not my son." Stoick soon finishes, going out and slamming the door. "Ready the ships!" Sorath flushed in sorrow, hoping somehow he could get Brooklyn out of that prison along with Voltwing while he watched everyone get the boats ready, having Toothless be muzzled and chained on the boat as well.
Back in the present, Sorath wiped his eyes again, staring out onto the ocean distance, wondering what they were doing to Toothless right now and if Brooklyn was getting any food at all in his prison cell.
Astrid at that moment had found Hiccup there, knowing she had to give him a little pep talk. "It's a mess. You must feel horrible. You've lost everything: Your father, your tribe, your best friends..."
Sorath huffs. "Thank you for summing that up." He looked away from Astrid. "Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods? It would've been better... for everyone..."
It wound up having Astrid interrupt again. "Yep, the rest of us would have done it. So why didn't you?" Sorath didn't answer at first so she asks again. "Why didn't you?"
The teen shrugs again. "I dunno. I couldn't."
Astrid raised her brow. "That's not an answer." Sorath turns around sharply. "Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?!"
The blonde wouldn't give up. "Because I want to remember what you say, right now."
That was when Sorath pretty much lost his whole cool, mostly over the fact that the one who had given him his new name was now locked up like a rabid animal. "Oh, for the love of, I was a coward, I was weak! I wouldn't kill a dragon!" He stormed.
"You said wouldn't that time." Astrid argues.
Sorath's face burned. "Well, whatever! I wouldn't! 300 years and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon!"
He turned away again, his heart thumping from his anger until Astrid mentioned something snapping him lightly out of it. "First to ride one though." That caused him to look surprised back at Astrid. "So..."
Taking a steady breath, trying to calm down. "I wouldn't kill him, because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him, and saw myself. And with Brooklyn... even though he's not really a human, I saw intelligence and kindness. He was protective. Besides, he gave me my new name... Sorath."
Astrid felt her heart flutter from hearing that from the one that used to be not so important. He had really stepped up since the night he accidentally shot down Toothless. "I bet he is really frightened now. What are you going to do about it?"
Sorath shrugs. "Eh, probably something stupid."
"Good, but you've already done that." Astrid said in a teasing way, making Sorath grin at her. "Then something crazy. First, we gotta free Brooklyn."
The blonde smiles once again. "That's more like it."
...
Brooklyn kept lying there in the cage, feeling like his life had been flashing before his eyes, mostly a lot of the failures. One he still had nightmares about was pretty much when Coldsteel possessed his body. The gargoyle turned human shivered from that, rubbing his human arms, causing Voltwing to open his eyes, giving a soft coo, nuzzling him.
He looked at him with a soft smile, but his eyes were sad. "I don't know what's gonna happen, but I'm glad I am with you." Brooklyn said in a weak tone, stroking his Skrill's scales which made him purr softly, wondering when Stoick was to sentence him to death.
That was when he heard the lock on his cell clicking, Brooklyn tensing up out of his fear, afraid of facing those angry Vikings again. Voltwing was sparking lightly, hissing, baring his teeth. When the gate opened, to his surprise, he saw Sorath standing there with Astrid, worry on his face.
"Brooklyn! You alright?" Sorath asked instantly after opening it, seeing how deprived Brooklyn was. The former gargoyle shakily stood up on his feet, using Voltwing for support. He nods softly. "I guess so. Where's your father? Wasn't he gonna kill me?"
Sorath shook his head. "No, he's gone to destroy the dragon's nest and use Toothless to find it. We are gonna need your help and Voltwing to get over there, as well as the other teens and dragons." He turns around, seeing Astrid bringing the rest of the Viking teens down to the arena, all of them folding their arms at the sight of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn flinched up from their expressions but then knew he had to say something. Voltwing had come out, glaring hard at them all, making mostly Fishlegs and Snotlout falter a little.
Sighing deeply, Brooklyn knew he had to say something to end this rivalry. "Look, I know you all don't have any reason to trust me right now. But I promise I don't want to hurt anybody. I've lived among you for months now and hadn't done anything. Sorath here trusts me, and that is more than enough on my account if none of you are in."
Snotlout raised his brow. "Wait... isn't his name Hiccup?" He demanded, a little too harshly. Brooklyn glared at the stocky kid. "Not anymore."
Sorath nods. "I'm Sorath, and you gotta deal with that." He snapped, making Snotlout tense up but looked a little impressed. "And also, we have to let the Monstrous Nightmare out of its enclosure first." Sorath adds, giving a little grin in Snotlout's direction who blanched, worried about what was going to happen.
Brooklyn went to lift the cage lock on the Nightmare's cage, the large red dragon slowly stepping out while Sorath stood in front of him, holding out his hand gently, the other teens watching in disbelief, Astrid flipping her hair, smiling in admiration. Brooklyn grins too while having a hand on his dragon's neck.
Snotlout at first tries picking up a broken spear head but Brooklyn glares, shaking his head no. "Don't even think about it." He snarled, making the stocky boy swallow, putting it back down, whimpering as Sorath had the Nightmare come even closer. "W-wait, what're you—?!" Snotlout yelped after Sorath put his hand on the Nightmare's snout.
"Easy, relax. It's ok, it's ok." Sorath encourages, taking Snotlout's hand who had tensed up at first, putting it on the Nightmare's nose now. The Nightmare instantly began purring from Snotlout's touch, making Brooklyn know now that Snotlout had found his own dragon. The boy was laughing until Sorath went to one end of the arena. "Where are you goin'?"
Sorath pulls out a rope with a grin. "You're going to need something to help you hold on." He said, as he also opens up the other cages, letting the rest of the dragons out.
Voltwing froze up when they all made eye contact with him but instead of attacking, the other dragons acknowledged him, the Nadder giving out a little squawk sound. Soon Voltwing relaxed while Brooklyn stroked his muzzle, watching the other teens going up and picking which dragon they wanted the most. Astrid had chosen the Nadder, Fishlegs chose the Gronckle, and the twins went with the Zippleback, both of them sitting on top of each head.
Soon the entire dragon rider group gathered up together. Sorath was sitting on top of Voltwing with Brooklyn as Brooklyn guided his dragon into the air, gesturing with his head to the others to follow, glad to feel the wind in his face again while Voltwing soared through the sky, Sorath holding onto him as tight as he could.
"I hope Toothless is ok." Sorath said in worry while they flew to Dragon Island, wanting to catch up to Stoick's crew on time. Brooklyn looks back at him with a smile but his own eyes looked a little worried too. "We'll make sure nothing happens to him."
It was pretty much almost an hour flight across the ocean, the other teens were still stunned about the fact that they were really flying on dragons. Brooklyn saw Astrid looking excited, sometimes doing little twirls in the air with her Nadder, the twins sometimes practicing how they shot fire.
"And what is the plan when we get there, 'Sorath'?" Snotlout yelled out while holding onto the horns of the Monstrous Nightmare.
Sorath rolls his eyes, still not enjoying Snotlout being around him for this long. "We gotta keep the Queen Dragon distracted from eating my dad and his crew, and save Toothless."
Snotlout grumbled under his breath about it not being an actual plan but kept on flying until Brooklyn could smell the familiar fumes of a volcano, spotting Dragon Island in the smoky clouds. "There!" He shouted, hearing a loud roar of a giant dragon ahead.
They all stared in fear at the sight of the behemoth Queen, who had emerged from her nest, wrecking havoc on the entire tribe of Berkians, shooting her fire at the ships. Brooklyn noticed her about to blast Stoick to pieces. Before he could do anything, Snotlout had somehow taken the shot, hitting the Queen Dragon square on her head, making her bellow in fury.
Stoick looked upward at the sight of all the dragons from Berk including the Skrill flying in formation around the large beast. "Ruff, Tuff, watch our backs! Move, Fishlegs!" Sorath had shouted, Brooklyn. Tuffnut pumped his fist into the air. "Look at us! We're on dragons! We're on dragons, all of us!"
Continuing to stare, Gobber bumps Stoick on the arm. "Every bit of the boar headed stubborn Viking you ever were!" He said teasingly, making Stoick nod silently in awe.
Brooklyn kept Voltwing flying out of reach of what he now called the Red Death while Sorath shouted commands. "Ok, Fishlegs, break it down!" Sorath shouted.
Fishlegs nods. "Heavily armored skull, and tail made for bashing and crushing! Steer clear of both! Small eyes, large nostrils, relies on hearing and smell!" He analyzed, Brooklyn now relieved for the buff boy's extended dragon knowledge.
"Ok, Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spot, make some noise, keep it confused. Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit; make it mad!" Sorath orders with a light grin.
The twins both looked at one another in almost sadistic glee. "That's our specialty!" Ruffnut says with a chuckle, Tuffnut rolling his eyes. "Who cares, everyone knows I'm more irritating, see?" He rolls the other Zippleback's head upside down, making dopey sounds.
Brooklyn couldn't help but groan from their foolishness. "Just do what he tells you!" He shouted, guiding Voltwing over to the flaming ships since that's where Toothless could possibly be. Brooklyn coughs slightly from the smoke getting in his face until they heard the roar of a Night Fury.
Sorath points down to the biggest ship where Toothless was in his muzzle and chains. "There!" They both soared down above the boat, Voltwing hissing from the flames nearly singing his scales. A Red Death's flames could easily penetrate any strong dragon's scales. Sorath jumped off of Voltwing right onto the ship. "Go on, go help the others!"
Brooklyn felt helplessness overtake him. "No, I-I can't leave you in this!" He exclaimed but Sorath shook his head, having no time to argue.
Giving a sigh of sadness, Brooklyn nods, guiding Voltwing out of there who was more than happy to leave the flames, heading back on time to see Astrid attempting to have the Nadder shoot spines at the Red Death, but it hardly penetrated her scales.
Snotlout and Fishlegs were still trying to distract her with their shield banging but all Brooklyn could see was that it was disorienting the Gronckle and Nightmare to the point where the Nightmare got dizzy and Snotlout fell off, right onto the Red Death's back.
Fishlegs's dragon began falling. "I've lost power on the Gronckle! Snotlout, do something!" He screamed, throwing his hammer, Snotlout catching it. Fishlegs screamed, Brooklyn shutting his eyes, readying himself to hear the splat. But he somehow survived. "I'm ok!" However the Gronckle tipped over on its back, pinning Fishlegs to the ground. "...less ok."
The Red Death roared, preparing to stomp on Fishlegs but Brooklyn took action, having Voltwing fire his lightning flames at the Red Death, just barely missing Snotlout. The Red Death bellowed, only looking angry as Snotlout stared up at them, terrified. "Hey! Watch it!"
Brooklyn flinched from that, quickly flying out of the way of the Red Death's talons as Snotlout began using the hammer to hit the Red Death's eyes. "I can't miss, what's wrong, buddy? Got something in your eye?" To Brooklyn's fear the dragon now looked like it had six deadly looking eyes than just two like he saw before.
The Queen let out its loudest bellow as Astrid flew by, a smile on her face. "Yeah, you're the Viking!" She cheered Snotlout until the Red Death nudged her head, making him yelp out in fear but then managed to grab onto one of her horns.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn's was doing his best to distract the Queen without hurting Snotlout in the process. But then he saw the club tail of the Red Death swiping against one of the burning boats that just happened to be the one Sorath was on, making him gasp. Next the Queen's foot slammed onto the ship. He landed Voltwing, going towards the shore, staring in fear at the sight of what looked like Toothless and Sorath both sinking down to the bottom of the sea.
He was about to dive in to rescue them until a large hand pushed him aside. "No." Brooklyn turned to see Stoick there. "I'll get my son." Brooklyn stared in awe as the one who wanted to kill him simply dived into the water.
Brooklyn held his breath, holding onto Voltwing tightly who was itching to get back into battle, growling hard up at the Red Death. He petted her. "Easy, we'll be in the fight soon." He also prayed to any god up there to bring his friends back to the surface.
As if his prayers were answered right away; Brooklyn breathed a sigh of relief after spotting Stoick bringing Sorath back up, Sorath coughing as Brooklyn went to help. Blinking water out of his eyes, Sorath saw his father going to dive back down. "Dad...?"
"I-I think he's gonna get Toothless." Brooklyn croaked when realizing their Night Fury friend was still down there. It was a horrible 3 minute wait until to their relief, Toothless broke the surface, Stoick in his talons, placing him gently onto the beach and shaking water off of himself, roaring lightly, wanting to get back into the air.
Sorath nods with a determined smile. "You got it, bud." He climbed up onto the Night Fury's back while Brooklyn got onto Voltwing but Stoick stops them for a brief moment.
"Wait! Son... I-I'm sorry. For everything." Stoick says, his voice sounding rather sincere to Brooklyn but the former second folded his arms, looking away. Sorath looks ready to apologize too but then had something else to say. "Make sure to apologize to Brooklyn, too."
Stoick couldn't help the smile on his face under his beard, before agreeing. "Brooklyn. I now know your kind aren't the devil. You've helped my son better than I could have. And for that, I thank you and apologize, if you're willing to give me another chance."
Brooklyn tensed, realizing now how much Stoick sounded like Goliath with his deep voice. Some tears began forming as he soon softly nods his head. "Ok." He said weakly, making Stoick smile a little bigger. He turns back to Sorath. "You don't have to go up there." Stoick pleaded with his son.
Sorath shrugs with a playful grin. "We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard."
Stoick took Sorath's hand. "I'm proud... to call you my son, Sorath." He said, using Hiccup's new name. Sorath soon as well felt his eyes watering. "Thanks dad."
Brooklyn coaxed Voltwing back into the sky who was more than happy to do so, Sorath and Toothless following. Astrid spotted them both. "They're up!" She exclaimed, flying over to the twins. "Get Snotlout out of there!"
Ruffnut nods. "I'm on it!" Her brother shoved her at that moment. "Hey, I'm on it first!" Tuffnut argued back, making the twins bicker more until Snotlout had enough, running along the Red Death's back until jumping in between the Zippleback heads. "Can't believe that worked!"
As Astrid attempted to fly out of the way too, the Red Death opened her great maw, inhaling which sucked in both air and Astrid. Brooklyn saw this, pointing, which led Sorath to have Toothless soar up into the sky, making the Vikings all duck down, Toothless firing a plasma blast, striking the Red Death hard in her side.
Astrid screamed when falling down after having fallen off her dragon but with a swift move Toothless managed to snatch her up, Brooklyn sighing in relief again, knowing he needed some big time rest after all this madness, wishing his stone sleep was back.
Once putting Astrid back down on the ground safely, Sorath flew Toothless over to Brooklyn and Voltwing, The two friends nodding their heads in determination as they both zipped upward into the skies, Voltwing having his lightning charged up, letting out his banshee screech, Toothless doing the same, both of their blasts knocking the behemoth to the ground. For they realized the Queen had wings and wanted to test her with them.
The Red Death bellowed, stumbling to the dirt, looking dazed for a brief moment until her wings, bigger than Brooklyn had expected, raised themselves open, somehow lifting it's massive body into the air, roaring furiously at her enemies.
"Well, she can fly!" Sorath proclaims, making Brooklyn chuckle nervously, like that had made their situation any better. The two friends almost brothers soared through the seastacks, the Red Death continuing to roar relentlessly at them, smashing the stacks to rubble.
When they flew past the entire crowd, the Vikings all cheered at the sight of Sorath on the Night Fury and Brooklyn on the Skrill until the Red Death crashed by, making them all duck.
Sorath turned to Brooklyn, an idea in his head. "Hey Brook, can you make a storm for us? We gotta disappear into some clouds."
Brooklyn gave a brave grin, having looked forward to this. "With pleasure." He petted Voltwing's head who screeched in eagerness, lightning sometimes coming out of his mouth, soaring upwards towards some of the clouds there in the sky. "Make the biggest, blackest storm clouds you've ever made in your life!" Brooklyn roared, feeling like his gargoyle voice had returned. Voltwing screeched his biggest, flapping his wings which had lightning bouncing off of them. He flew around really fast on the lightning making Brooklyn relieved for his lightning proof saddle and jacket, shielding his eyes while the lightning danced around them, the clouds growing blacker and blacker enough for Sorath and Toothless to both be able to lure the Red Death up into there.
The two riders hid in the clouds for a while after Voltwing settled down, hearing the Red Death roaring furiously, trying to make them come out. Brook nods his head to Voltwing, the Skrill diving down, delivering their enemy a lightning bolt to the head just as Sorath had Toothless shoot a plasma blast.
They kept up their barrage of blasts against the Red Death, Stoick and the others watching in fear from above.
Things eventually got worse as the Red Death eventually shot its flames everywhere; catching Toothless' tail fin on fire! Brooklyn spotted that, his face paling. "Ah, oops! I think our time's up." Sorath yelped before shouting towards the Red Death. "Come on! Is that the best you can do?!" Toothless had also screeched his distaste and challenge, the Red Death trying to snap at the two Strike Class dragons.
Toothless and Voltwing both dived down toward the ground, Brooklyn feeling like his heart was in his throat from his fear, wanting this monster to be dead now. "Hold on Volt, we'll get through this... I hope...!" Brooklyn said in a shaky way, Voltwing cooing up at him in assurance. When they got really close to the ground, Sorath had Toothless turn around. "NOW" He roared, Toothless shooting a plasma blast right into the Red Death's mouth.
Brooklyn recalled that time with the Terrible Terror.Not so fireproof on the inside...
He also had Voltwing shoot his white lightning fire into the Red Death's mouth as well which caused it to blow up the large beast's insides and rip its wings. Voltwing shrieked when feeling himself go out of balance, Brooklyn crying out, seeing the wing talon of the Red Death getting too close for comfort, blinding pain exploding in his left eye, and everything fading away as the Red Death fell to the ground, exploding in a giant inferno.
The former gargoyle vaguely felt Voltwing grab him in his talons as soon his senses turned off, too tired to keep up the fight any longer.