Ch. 11
Long Live Berk

"I need you to try to work with me here, okay?" I asked the baby kindly.

'Fast! Fast! Wanna go fast!' a voice chirped in my head. 'Fast! Fly fast! Fly!'

"We can fly," I said, playing along. "You can fly as much as you want, as long as you fly where I ask. Okay?"

'Fly! Fly anywhere! Fly EVERYWHERE!' the voice hollered in celebration.

"Won't the Bewilderbeast just take control of these guys, too?" Austen asked loudly.

"They're babies!" I shouted. "They don't listen to anyone!"

"Yeah, just like us!" Tuffnut laughed.

"This is- AH! Very dangerous!"

Ignoring Gobber, I rolled my eyes and focused again. I held on as securely as I could to the baby dragon's head, hoping to turn it in the direction I wanted. It either knew where I wanted to go or was just flying for the sake of flying, because it twisted and turned in just the right ways and avoided any ice and snow that came across our path. I glanced down below to look at mom and see how well she was holding up. We had managed to secure dad onto the baby's back as best we could, and she seemed to be flying it carefully enough to keep him from falling off.

"Some might suggest," Gobber yelled across to me. "This is poorly conceived!"

"Well, it's a good thing I never listen," I said, smirking.

Gobber yelped again as his dragon suddenly moved sharply to the right to avoid a large wall of ice. He continued to yell over at me whenever there was space in the snow.

"So…! What is your… Plan?"

"Short and sweet," I replied, determination in my voice. "Get Toothless back, and kick Drago's sorry ass!"

"Heads up!"

I pushed on the dragon's head slightly and moved left to avoid another wall of ice.

"And that thing…"

I pulled up and managed to avoid the next wall. Gobber wasn't so lucky. It took him a few seconds to catch up with the rest of us after that. I tried as best I could to communicate with the baby I was with. She managed to stay focused enough to keep going, and that was the best I could hope for right now.

I kept my head up and eyes forward. I couldn't remember the last time I was this focused. Three things were on my mind at that moment. One: get to Berk in time to stop Drago and save our dragons. Two: get Dad to the best healer on the island and try to keep him alive. Three: apologize to Toothless and pray that he takes me back.

The sky was filled with thick, gray fog. The salt from the sea filled my nose and I could hear waves crashing below. I could tell by the breeze and the smell in the air that we were close. Everyone had been silent the entire journey here. Everyone was on edge and tense, but not nearly as much as I was. I realized that we had arrived as we came across the same familiar statues that guarded the island.

I felt it before I saw it. The deep rumble in the water that sent goosebumps all over my skin, and the screams that made my snap head up.

"No…"

The Bewilderbeast was perched on the very edge of the island, which was covered in patches of ice. A massive cluster of dragons flew above him, surrounding his head like a crown. It roared and continued to cover the land in ice, and I could see the village was in shambles.

"He took all the dragons!" Fishlegs gasped.

Tearing my eyes away from the Alpha, I looked around the crown of dragons to see if I could find Toothless. If Drago rode him here, he had to still be riding him. I spotted one black shape that wasn't flying around in circles like the other dragons. I saw a flash of red at the tail, and I realized it was Toothless. Drago was still riding him.

"Distract the Alpha," I ordered, anger in my voice. "Try to keep his focus off of Toothless."

"Uh, how?"

"Have you forgotten who you're riding with?" Eren hollered proudly. "There isn't a dragon alive that I can't wrangle!"

The baby dragon he was riding suddenly did a nose dive through the sky. Eren held on and yelled in fright.

"Except for this one!"

"Amateur," Snotlout chuckled.

Ignoring the antics for now, I pushed the baby forward as best as I could. As we got closer, I could see figures standing huddled in groups behind the ice. One person yelled.

"Look! It's Hicca!"

The whole village seemed to notice, and they started to clap and cheer. I gave them all a firm nod before flying past them and towards the Alpha. The clapping and cheering had gotten his attention and he was glaring down at us. Or, more specifically, at me. The dragon's piercing eyes were so focused on me that he hadn't noticed the others reach the ground below him. Suddenly, I saw a sheep shoot up into the air in front of the Alpha's face, bah loudly, and then fall back down. I glanced down to see the others using the catapult for dragon racing with all the sheep around them.

Though concerned for the sheep, the distraction seemed to be enough to take the Alpha's eyes off me. He reared his head back and roared, about to stomp down, when I heard the loud racing horn bellow out from elsewhere. They were trying to confuse it, and it was working. Not wanting to waste too much time, I guided the baby closer towards the distracted Alpha. I flew around him and saw that Drago and Toothless were flying right in front of him, almost as if they were leading him.

As I flew closer towards them, I saw the black sheep get launched up in the air and land right on the dragon's nose. I forced myself not to laugh. The dragon shook the sheep off and was about to stomp on the catapult again when the horn blasted out again. This time, the Alpha didn't hesitate. He opened his large jaws and spat out a huge mass of ice, destroying the horn.

"I'm okay!" Fishleg's voice rang out in the distance.

I flew closer and closer towards Toothless, patting the baby's head to calm her and get her to slow down.

When I say so, fly away somewhere safe, I said to the baby in my head. I'll come find you later.

'Fly away! Stay safe!'

I nodded and raised my head. Drago had his eyes locked onto me, but he didn't look angry. He almost looked impressed. I took a deep breath through my nose and exhaled through my mouth.

"You certainly are hard to get rid of, I'll say that."

I ignored him completely, my eyes falling onto Toothless. His eyes were wide and wild, his pupils formed into slits. His body wasn't even moving except for his wings. The looked almost lifeless.

"Toothless…" I called out hopefully. "It's me, bud… See? It's me, I'm right here, bud. Come back to me…"

Toothless didn't move. He didn't even flinch. He sat there in the air, eyes unblinking. Drago chuckled darkly.

"He's not yours anymore. He belongs to the Alpha. But, please, oh great dragon master," he bowed mockingly. "Try to take him. He will not miss a second time."

I saw movement from below and glanced down. The Alpha was standing beneath us, glaring up at all of us. His focus was completely on us now, no distractions. I raised my head and locked eyes with my dragon. I was going to have to put in all I could to bring him back to me. I ushered the baby forward slightly.

"Toothless, please… I know I said some terrible things," I began. "But, I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it."

I thought I saw one of his eyes twitch for a moment. I urged the baby to go forward more, and I slowly lifted my hand up.

"Hey… Dad's okay," I said quietly. "He's alive… he just lost an arm. You didn't kill him…"

Another twitch. Now I know for a fact I saw that one. I started to reach out with my hand, and now Toothless started to bare his teeth threateningly. I could feel my whole body shaking now.

"It wasn't your fault, bud," my voice cracked. "They made you do it… I know you feel terrible, but they forced you to do it."

Toothless let out a growling hiss, his pupils flickering slightly. I locked my jaw and reached forward more, my fingers slowly getting closer and closer to his snout. The closer I got, the more frustrated Toothless seemed. He started shaking his head around, his eyes blinking erratically. I continued to move in closer.

"You could never hurt him…"

Toothless shook his head one last time before looking up at me, his pupils flickering more. It was at that moment that I felt like crying, and I could hear it in my own voice.

"You could never hurt me…"

Finally, after what felt like ages apart, my fingers brushed against his scales, and my palm rested on his snout. He flinched slightly before looking up at me, his eyes blinking up at me. His pupils started to become dilated.

'Love…?'

"How are you doing that?!" Drago spat.

"Please, you are my best friend, bud," I whispered, leaning in close. "My best friend… and I love you more than anything."

Toothless let out a lout whine and shook my hand away from his head. I flinched back, worried that it hadn't worked after all. Toothless raised his head. His eyes were bright and his pupils were full, and he was showing off his signature gummy smile.

'Hicca!'

I gasped. "'Atta boy, that's it!" I beamed, reaching for him again. "That's it, I'm here!"

"ENOUGH!"

For a moment, I had completely forgotten that Drago was even there. He slammed his staff down on Toothless' face and I backed away carefully. He went for another swing, but Toothless caught the staff in his jaws. He whipped his head around and flung Drago right off his back. I stood up on the baby, throwing my fists up in triumph. Toothless beamed up at me before he slowly started to fall. Without a rider, there was no one to keep him in the air.

"Hang on!"

I immediately jumped off the baby, telling it to get out of here. I did a dive straight for Toothless just as we were heading down towards the Bewilderbeast. Ignoring him, I reached my hand out for Toothless.

"Almost here, buddy! Almost there!"

Toothless managed to turn himself around so that I could reach the saddle on his back. I pulled myself in, hooked in my foot, and opened the tail up. We instantly shot up into the sky, flying away from the dragon and around the outskirts of the island. I turned my head to glared at the Alpha, and I could just make out Drago running along one of its tusks.

'They are not good together,' Toothless said matter-of-factly.

"Agreed. We need to get those two apart."

'Any ideas?'

"Maybe…"

I looked up at a broken roof that was coming up and noticed a shredded flag poking outward. I turned Toothless go in that direction, and as we flew past, I reached out and grabbed the piece of cloth.

'What's that for?' he asked.

"We gotta block him out, Toothless," I held the cloth up. "Do you trust me, bud?"

Toothless lifted his head to look me in the eyes. 'I trust you with my life, love.'

I nodded. I leaned over and carefully wrapped the cloth around his eyes, tying it behind his head.

"We can do this," I placed a hand on his forehead. "You and me… as one."

I clicked the petal and made Toothless turn around slowly. We reared around the large mountain of rock before coming around the front of the village. The Alpha was still in the same spot it had been, perched on the edge.

"Alright then! Let's try this one more time!"

The whole of the village was out now. I could hear them clapping and cheering me on. I heard Austen's voice from the crowd, screaming something like 'Take 'em down, Hicca,' and I couldn't help but smirk with confidence. The Alpha raised his head to glare at me as I got closer. It seemed to stare right at Toothless, and suddenly, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. A soft, but constantly ringing sound echoed all around us. I could see Toothless' earflaps start to twitch slightly. I reached down to grab Inferno from my strap before I leaned forward and covered the ears up with my arms.

"Shut it out, Toothless," I told him. "When I say 'now', I'm gonna drop-"

"STOP THEM!" Drago shouted.

"NOW!"

I unbuckled myself from the saddle and released my hold from Toothless just as the Alpha opened his jaws. A large burst of ice blew out as I flung out my arms, my wingsuit fully opened. Drago had just enough time to look at me before I zoomed past him, and I released a large cloud of Zippleback gas. I clicked the other end to light the spark, and the whole cloud lit up.

I watched as Drago fell down to the ground below. I lifted my head to look for Toothless and found myself heading straight for the tail end of the Alpha.

"Not again…"

'Hicca!' I heard Toothless shout behind me.

"Toothless, it's now or never!"

I heard Toothless zoom up behind me before he quickly stopped below just in time to catch me. I hooked myself back into saddle and leaned forward, staying in close. The tail started rising higher and higher, getting closer towards us the further we avoided it.

"C'mon, bud!" I yelled. "Hold on!"

The end of the tail curved upward, as though attempting to block us. Toothless leaned back and shot up at the last minute, just enough for us to avoid getting hit. I yelled happily, leaning down to pat his head.

"Yeah! We did it!"

Toothless beamed up at me as he turned and dove straight down, back towards the island. We headed straight for the edge where I could see Drago laying in a heap on the ground. Toothless turned on his side as we closed in on him, kicking up dirt in a thick cloud. We landed right in front of him and I leapt off of his back, reaching down to pull out Inferno. Drago glared at me and reach out to grab his spear, but I opened the blade and threw it at him. It imbedded in the ground next to his spear, knocking his hand back.

"Hold him there, Toothless," I ordered as I began to put my wings back.

'No problem,' he said, letting out a threatening growl.

"There's no point in fighting anymore, Drago," I told him. "It's all over now."

Drago stayed on the ground, glaring up at me with evil eyes. His gaze then landed on something behind me, and his glare turned into a smirk.

"Or is it?"

I felt the ground rumble slightly and whipped around. The Alpha was standing behind me, looking much more massive now. My voice caught in my throat as I stared up at him. His eyes glared down at me as his jaw suddenly opened. I yelped and turned to run, but even then I knew it would be too late.

'HICCA!'

"NO…!"

Toothless leapt over and landed on top of me just as a large blast of ice shot towards me. The air suddenly became very cold and I felt uncomfortably claustrophobic. I did my best to steady my breathing, but the air was starting to become very thin. I could hear and feel Toothless gasping above me, and I opened my eyes as best I could.

"T-Toothless…?"

Suddenly, I could see a bright light start to shine against Toothless' scales. Blue, similar to his plasma blasts. It got brighter and brighter to the point of blinding. I ducked my head and covered my ears as a loud ringing sounded out, getting louder and louder by the second. Just when I thought my ears might burst, the space around us suddenly exploded. The ice fell away and I was finally able to breath properly again. I lifted my head and gasped. Toothless was standing over me protectively, and his entire body was glowing a very bright, very deep blue color. He raised his head to look at the Alpha. He opened his jaws and let out the loudest, mightiest roar I had ever heard him make. It was almost frightening.

I stared up at him, my jaw hanging open. What the hell was happening? He turned his head to look at me, and gave me a calm smile.

'Stay here for a moment.'

I smiled up at him as he whipped around and leapt up high in the air, landing on a piece of jagged ice. He perched himself up high, his wings expanding, and his voicing ringing out.

"Oh my gods…" I gasped. "He's challenging the Alpha!"

"To protect you!" my mom said.

Toothless fired once at one of the Alpha's tusks, knocking his face aside. Before the dragon could open his jaws Toothless fired again. And again. And again. He showed now mercy as he let his plasma blasts fly through the air, each one hitting their mark. The Alpha let out a loud roar and went to knock out the ice with his tusks. Toothless leapt up to avoid getting hit and floated back down to land beside me. He turned, looked up at the crown of dragons and started to yell out to them.

'Come, my friends!' he shouted at the dragons. 'Come back home!'

The first dragon to come to their senses was Stormfly. She let out a loud screech as she dove straight towards the island, landing on a rock near Toothless. A few other dragons followed after her. Then some more, and then some more. Pretty soon, all of the dragons were becoming sentient and returning to the island.

"NO, NO, NO!" Drago yelled. "Fight back! FIGHT BACK!"

The Bewilderbeast roared and thrashed its head, but it made no difference. Whatever power it had minutes ago did nothing to the dragons anymore. Everyone around me was completely in awe, even my own mother. But I understood. His power didn't work because he was no longer the Alpha. Toothless stepped down and ran over to me, nodded his head to himself. I nodded and hopped onto his back. He leapt up into the air and landed on another jagged piece of ice in front of all the other dragons. I could see Drago standing on one of the dragon's large tusks, a look of fury on his face.

"Now do you get it?!" I bellowed, gesturing to the hoard of dragons behind me. "This is what it means to earn a dragon's loyalty. Once you earn their trust, there's nothing they won't do for you! Let this end, now."

Drago reared his head back and roared, "NEVER…!"

'I was hoping he'd say that,' Toothless said lowly.

He turned his head back to the other dragons, half roaring and half yelling in dragonese. He turned back to glare at Drago, and he started to glow again. I braced myself as I watched him opened his mouth wide and shoot a big plasma blast at the Bewilderbeast, nearly hitting Drago. A moment later, another dragon fired another blast in the same spot as Toothless. Then another, and another. Pretty soon every dragon around us was shooting fire, blasts and acids at the same spot as Toothless. Drago was running around on the dragon's head, trying to stay hidden. The smoke got so big and intense that it was impossible to see anything for a moment.

Then, as the smoke cleared, the Bewilderbeast stood up on his hindlegs and reared his head up, opening its mouth. Toothless lowered himself in a defensive stance, I placed a protective hand on his head as I glared up at the monster in front of us. As it roared angrily, Toothless suddenly reared up, glowing brighter than ever. He opened his jaws wide and just as the dragon came down on us, he fired a massive plasma blast right into his face. It backed away and roared with agony, shaking its head around. A moment later there was a loud crack, and one of its massive tusks fell off. It landed with a loud thud, shaking the ground for a second. Toothless suddenly leapt forward and let out a mighty roar, long and loud enough for the whole island to hear. He wasn't even saying anything. He was just roaring. I leaned forward, placing both hands on his head.

"The Alpha protects them all…"

The Bewilderbeast seemed to cower at the sound. It gave us all an angry, dejected look before turning around and diving down towards the water. I thought I could hear a distant scream before I heard it hit the water with a huge splash.

As soon as it fell, a roar of cheering erupted from below. I looked down to see the entire village was yelling and celebrating in triumph. I grinned, feeling as though a weight had been lifted off my chest and I could finally breath again.

'He's gone…' Toothless said lowly.

I looked at him then glanced down at the water below. The Bewilder beast had disappeared beneath the surface… with Drago still on it. I gripped my saddle tightly. There's no way he could've survived that.

"Let's go."

Toothless nodded and turned, leaping off of the chunk of ice and landing in the center of the crowd. They cheered even louder as they approached me, and I felt myself start to beam at all of them. As soon as we landed, all the dragons above us started to fly back to the island and back towards their riders. I watched as grown ups laughed and children weeps when their dragons returned to them. But after a moment, they all seemed to turn away from their riders, and turned to face Toothless instead.

Toothless and I looked at each other, amazed and confused. Then, Cloudjumper floated down and landed in front of both of us. He took a few steps forward until he was directly in front of Toothless. He seemed to grin at him before he took a step back and bowed respectfully.

'Thank you… Alpha…'

Toothless gawked at him for a few seconds before he straightened up and lifted his head in the air. Soon, every dragon in the area lowered their heads and bowed to their new Alpha. I stared in amazement as I smile at Toothless. He raised his head even higher and let out a loud, might roar, and the other dragons imitated him. Several more cheers and yells were heard from the villagers, all looking happy and a bit confused. Toothless lowered his head and instantly turned to look at me. He said nothing as he took a few steps towards me, adoration in his big, beautiful green eyes. I smiled sweetly as I raised my hands to hold his chin.

"You never cease to amaze me, bud," I spoke softly. "Thank you."

Toothless purred slightly as he closed his eyes and leaned his head against mine.

'I love you so much…'

"I love you, too."

Before I could do anything else I suddenly felt something wet start to lap at my face. Oh, not again… I heard the villagers around me start to laugh as I fell backwards, unable to stop the oncoming licking.

"Blech! Toothless, you know that doesn't wash out!"

Toothless chortled. 'Sorry, not sorry love!

He probably kept me on the ground for about 30 more seconds before I had a chance to move and get to my feet. Once I had wiped most of the drool off, I looked around to see very one was already with their dragons, including all my friends. I saw my mom petting Cloudjumper lovingly, and he was nuzzling her face. I glanced around and saw Skullcrusher stomping towards me.

"Hey big guy," I said as I reached up to pet him. "You okay?"

'I'm fine now,' he muttered in his growling voice. 'Stoick… is he…?'

"He's alive," I said, my voice wavering slightly. "Just out cold. We're gonna get him to the healer as soon as possible."

He seemed to sigh with relief. 'That… makes me happy.'

"That was some pretty fine dragon wrangling back there," Eren said as he walked up to me. "You'd make a good trapper."

I raised eyebrow. "Really?"

"Hey, come on! That's a compliment!"

We both laughed. Skullcrusher stepped over and nudged Eren slightly, startling him. Then, I got an idea.

"You know… Skullcrusher's gonna need someone to look after him until my dad is well again," I said. "Think you'd be interested? You could get some practice flying."

Eren stared at me in shock, not saying a word. Skullcrusher nudged him again, now smiling.

'If Hicca trusts you, then so do I.'

"Me?"

Eren looked from Skullcrsuher, to me, then back again. He seemed lost for words. Then, he slowly raised his hands and placed them both on the dragon's snout

"I'd be honored."

I smiled gratefully at him. Out the corner of my eye, I saw my mom heading towards me, a look of pride on her face. I turned to face her, smiling at her. She beamed as she reached forward and grasped both of my hands.

"Just wait until your father gets better," she said happily. "When he hears about this, he'll be every bit as proud as I am."

"Thanks," I said sheepishly. "I'm… I'm so happy you're here with me, mom."

She raised a hand to touch my face. "And here I'll stay."

"Hey."

I rolled my eyes as I turned to look at Austen, who was marching up to me with confidence I hadn't seen in days. I folded my arms and he stood in front of me.

"See?" he pointed a finger to my chest. "I told you it was in here."

He smirked before suddenly jabbing a second on my suit, causing the flap on my back to pop out. He and the others all laughed, and I laughed with him.

"Yeah yeah, okay," I huffed. "Still as funny as the first time, I gotcha."

Austen glanced behind me for a moment before a mischievous look popped on his face. Before I could ask he pushed my shoulders, causing me to whip around and lose my balance. But just as I felt I felt a set of strong arms catch me halfway. I opened my eyes to see human Toothless hovering over me, his wings held above us. I chuckled.

"Pushing the one-legged girl? Real cool of you."

"Shut up."

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine, and I immediately kissed him back. I heard Ruff and Tuff making gagging sounds, and chuckles from everyone else. I could hear my mother giggling and didn't care. I raise my hand and cupped his face as I continued to kiss him. It had felt like so long since I had kissed him.

I felt something pulling on my wrist and we broke apart. I looked down to see the elder staring up at me patiently. Blushing slightly, I pushed Toothless away and straightened up.

"Yes?"

She gestured her staff over to a woman standing beside her. I instantly recognized her as our village healer.

"Mariam, what is it?"

"Sorry to trouble you so soon, Hicca," she said timidly. "But, it's about Stoick. I understand he's been badly injured?"

I felt Toothless' grip on my arm tightened slightly. I turned and saw his face had gone ghostly white, a look of fear on his face. I frowned sadly. No one else knew how my dad was injure except for us and the others who were on the island. It needed to stay that way, for now.

"Yes," I said, gripping Toothless' hand. "He lost his hand when we were attacked at the Dragon Haven."

"Then I'll need to see him immediately."

I nodded firmly.