This is it, the last chapter! More like an epilogue at this point. Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following this story!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"My idea? It's something that I think might work," Hiccup said, gathering the cracked pieces of the dragon egg into a sack that normally hung by his bed, "Come on, everyone. We've got to get to the forge as fast as possible!"

"What about the baby dragon?" Snotlout asked, pointing in the general direction of Toothless' mouth.

"What about it?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, what do we do with it?"

"I'm sure Toothless has that covered," Hiccup smiled, "The baby is probably too young to come out very much. But we can't tell anyone about the baby night fury. And we also can't tell anyone that I'm alive. At least, not yet."

It took the better part of the day. Toothless had walked carefully to join them, and watched them as the forge sparked with the fruits of their labor.

"Someone get that crack!"

"I got it!" Stoick shouted, pounding heavily with his hammer.

"Careful, Dad!"

"I am bein' careful!"

"Fishlegs, get that-"

"Done!"

"Snotlout! How are things looking?"

"All clear s'far! Astrid must be holding up the Outcasts in the mountains. They haven't got near the town yet."

"Good," said Hiccup, turning his attention away from the Viking seated on the roof, "We're almost ready to go. Fishlegs?"

"Everything is ready, Hiccup sir," Fishlegs said, "I finished putting on Meatlug's saddle. I just hope the battle can hold out long enough."

"If Astrid is leading, they should be fine," Hiccup responded, "How's the egg?"

"Like a brand new one straight from the dragon!" Stoick responded, holding up the egg.

Hiccup took the egg from his father. It was really just the eggshells over a real stone, held together by dragon fire and hammer-work. It looked a little out of shape, but Hiccup figured that Alvin wouldn't look closely enough to notice.

"Right," he said, "Good job, Dad. Are you sure this is your first time at the forge? Fishlegs, catch!"

Fishlegs caught the stone and climbed onto his dragon.

"Right," he said, "When will you and Toothless-?"

"When the time is right," Hiccup answered, "Now get going!"

"Right, going, got it," Fishlegs said, "Meatlug, up!"

Within a few minutes-Meatlug was slow-Fishlegs and his dragon disappeared out of sight.

"Right, he's gone," Stoick said.

"Now is it time for part two?" Snotlout asked, sliding down the roof to the ground.

"Phase two," Hiccup corrected, "And almost. Just wait a little longer..."

They all stared impatiently in the direction of the battle for what seemed like forever, although in reality it could have been only ten minutes. Finally, Hiccup gave the signal.

"Everyone, to your dragons!" he said.

Snotlout and Stoick called out, and the beating of wings assured them that their dragons were on their way.

"Hiccup, what about Toothless?" Stoick asked, "Will he even want to fly with that-that dragon in his mouth?"

"We might have to," Hiccup said, watching Toothless' disgusted reaction, "It's the only way, Bud," he told the dragon, "Just make sure to keep your mouth closed, and avoid fancy flying."

The three of them quickly mounted their dragons, and took to the sky. Stoick and Snotlout headed to the battle, while Hiccup and Toothless separated from them and headed for the nearest look-out point.

"This is going to go a lot better if no one realizes that I'm still alive," Hiccup told Toothless as they settled on the caveside lookout. They could see the battle down below them, and Hiccup winced. Astrid had been fighting hard, but it looked like they had been fighting at the same location for a while. She was probably wearing down. He hoped so. It would make the plan that much easier to implement.

"Here we go," he said, leaning forward, "It looks like Fishlegs already got here with the egg-er, the stone. The fighting is centered around Astrid now, so she probably has it, and from the way the Outcasts are fighting, Alvin knows that she has it."

Toothless humphed.

"Let's see," Hiccup said, leaning forwards, "Dad should be there any min-there he is! Alright, Dad's protecting Astrid. And Snotlout's in position. Great. Now we just have to wait..."

From up on their perch, Hiccup and Toothless watched the battle. Fishlegs was now in position. All they needed now was for the enemy to stand-there! Everything was ready!

Hiccup grabbed his prosthetic limb and waved it over his head, letting the sun shine off of the metal. Fishlegs saw it, and gave the signal to Snotlout. Snotlout raced up to Astrid unhindered by Stoick, and grabbed something out of her hands. He threw it to Fishlegs, and just as Hiccup predicted, the stone was intercepted by one of the Outcasts.

Instantly, the battle changed. The Outcasts poured back into the ships with their treasure, and at the same time Astrid's opinion of Snotlout was so loud that Hiccup could just barely make out her voice from where he was with Toothless.

"Alright," Hiccup said, leaning forward, "This is where we have to watch out, Toothless."

The dragon nodded his head in agreement, and crouched into his take-off position.

The Outcasts, who had just entered their ships, suddenly began pouring out of them again. Astrid's shoulders sagged, and the remaining Viking defenders grimly raised their weapons again.

"Now!" Hiccup cried out, and Toothless jumped off the ledge.

The two of them glided down the mountain, flying low. Hiccup wasn't sure who spotted him first, but suddenly people were pointing and shouting. The Berkians gave a cheer and so did the Outcasts, but the Outcast cheer sounded more like a frightened yell. The Outcast men made their way back to their ships, slowly at first, but then as Toothless flew over them they dropped their weapons and began running through the sand and the serf. Some of the ships, startled that the dead Hiccup was back to life, began to take off without waiting for all the men who were supposed to man them.

Hiccup really wanted to turn around and see Astrid's expression, but he knew he had a job to do.

"Hey Alvin!" He shouted as Toothless flew circles over the lead ship, "You really want to fight?"

"What?" Alvin responded, now close enough that Hiccup could hear him. The head Outcast also looked frightened to see him.

"Nay, lad! I already got what I came for!"

Alvin brandished the fake stone in his hand, and laughed as his ship began to move away from shore.

"You sure ya want ta follow me?" He asked Hiccup, already anticipating what Hiccup would do, "It looks like your army needs you, boy!"

Hiccup turned Toothless around and headed back for sure even as Alvin laughed behind him.

"Won't he be surprised," Hiccup chuckled to himself, wondering what Alvin would do when he found that the stone was a fake.

There was a crowd on the beach, most of them still holding their weapons. They all made room for Toothless to land, and as soon as he did, Hiccup dismounted. It hadn't been this easy to get off his dragon in a week.

Some of the villagers eyes Hiccup warily, as if they were worried that he was about to disappear on them.

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried as he landed, hugging him, "You're alive!"

"We did exactly as you said," Fishlegs told him, "And we gave Alvin the stone."

"Wait," Astrid said, "You gave him the stone? Hiccup, we fought so hard for that!"

Hiccup laughed. "And you all did great," he said, "We gave him a fake."

"A fake warstone?" Gobber shouted, stepping up close to Hiccup.

"Yup," Hiccup said, "Dad and Snotlout were in on it too."

"Hey, Hiccup," said Tuffnut, coming up to see what was going on, "Something looks different about you. Did you get a haircut?"

Ruffnut punched her brother in the stomach.

"So, there's a lot to explain," Hiccup said, rubbing the back of his neck, "But we finally found out what was so special about the stone."

"And it cured you?" Astrid asked.

"No," Hiccup said, "Toothless did."

"So, what does the warstone have anything to do with anything?" Ruffnut asked.

"Well, for starters, it was never actually a stone," Hiccup said.

Toothless moved to Hiccup and nuzzled his closed mouth in one of Hiccup's hands.

"Are you sure?" Hiccup asked, but Toothless only nuzzled again.

"Hiccup?" someone asked, but Hiccup ignored them.

He held out both of his hands together in front of him, palms up. Toothless cautiously opened his mouth, and something dark slipped into Hiccup's hands. Immediately, it moved itself around, lifted a wing, shuffled itself into a ball, and apparently fell back to sleep.

Hiccup suddenly had the very uncomfortable experience of the entire town trying to look over his shoulder.

"Hiccup," Astrid said.

"Is that a-" Gobber began.

"Yes," Hiccup said, "This little guy was in the egg."

Astrid stared at Hiccup, apparently furious.

"Hiccup Haddock," she said, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Snotlout chuckled. "Wouldn't want to be you, Hiccup. Busted!"

Hiccup sighed comfortably, leaning against the outer wall of the Great Hall.

"Son," said a voice, and Hiccup stood at attention.

"Yes Dad?" he asked.

"About the Poison," Stoick began.

Hiccup gulped. He knew this was coming. Even after everything had been explained on the beach, and after the big celebrations that had been going on for the last couple of days, he knew his dad was going to bring this up sooner or later.

"Yes?" He asked.

"It's just that...well...you didn't tell us." Stoick said.

"I did at first," Hiccup said.

"I know, I know," Stoick said, "But you should have told us later, after ya had proof."

"Dad-"

"The thing is, son," Stoick said, "You should have trusted us and come to us even when you thought there was no answer, because, well..."

Hiccup was silent.

"You're my son. And we're Vikings. We always stick by each other," Stoick said, "In victory or sorrow. You didn't have to go through that alone, Hiccup."

"I know," Hiccup said, shuffling his feet.

"Whew," Stoick said, wiping his brow, "Now that we've talked that out, let's go see the baby."

"The baby?"

"What, you forgot already?" Stoick said, patting his son on the back-which hurt. A lot.

"Oh. OH! You mean the baby night fury," Hiccup said.

"Yup. A real beut, that dragon," Stoick said, chuckling, "I hear Astrid took quite a liking to that one. You might have some competition if you're not careful."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but he knew it was true. Astrid had been spending all her spare time with the baby night fury.

"Speaking of Astrid, I have something for her," Hiccup said, pulling out something from behind his back.

"Is that one of those cliff flowers?" Stoick asked, raising an eyebrow, "The ones you couldn't reach last week?"

"Yup," Hiccup said, "I can't believe it was so easy this time. Toothless helped me while Ruffnut and Tuffnut were watching over the night fury."

"And who was watching over them?" Stoick asked.

"The rest of the village, apparently," Hiccup chuckled, "Snotlout has been doing surprisingly well with baby dragon, and Fishlegs is very excited to have one to study. I made sure Astrid wasn't there."

"So, you're going to give her the flower today?" Stoick asked, "Do you know what it means to give a girl that kind of flower?"

"Yes," Hiccup said, standing up even taller, "And I really hope she accepts it."

Stoick chuckled. "Something tells me you don't have much to worry about," he said, leading his son down the street, "You know, I gave one of those flowers to your mother once upon a time. Scaled that cliff with my own two hands. Of course, it was a lot larger back then. Gobber made it once, too. I think he used a rope..."

THE END