HELLO! :D So, this is THE LAST CHAPTER IN THE FANFIC and I just want to tell you all how HONORED I am to be writing for such incredible people! All of you are beautiful and amazing and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! :) So, I'm going to be away from my computer all day (doctor's appointments, blerg), so unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to do shout-outs this chapter...

BUT I LOVE YOU ALL! I HONESTLY LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT ON THIS STORY I GRIN LIKE AN IDIOT WHENEVER I GET A REVIEW AND I LOVE THE IDEAS YOU GUYS GAVE ME WHEN I ASKED FOR THEM LAST CHAPTER AND THERE WILL BE MORE HICCSTRID IN THIS FIC AND MORE IN THE NEXT SEASON OF RACE TO THE EDGE AND I'VE PROBABLY BROKEN EVERY GRAMMAR RULE POSSIBLE IN THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND THERE ARE NO PUNCTUATION MARKS WHATSOEVER BUT THAT'S OKAY FOR NOW BECAUSE I CAN NEVER STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU GUYS GGGAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

Okay, rant done! :D And if you have anymore ideas for more episodes (even if you've already left a request in the previous chapter), go ahead and ask away! Like I said, FINAL CHAPTER, Total War Part 2 coming SOON! :D Enjoy! :D Love ya! :D

Viggo instantly leapt out of the way, into the hut; an axe swung, triggered by a rope cleverly tied to the door, right where his head had been moments before. Viggo examined it and chuckled, almost darkly.

"You have a brilliant mind, Hiccup Haddock the Third!" Viggo called into the silent house. "But unfortunately, that alone cannot save you in the end…"

Viggo stepped on a loose board, and another axe was triggered, this time from below swinging upwards. Viggo ducked expertly and ran into another boobytrap, which he also expertly ducked.

"Hiccup Haddock, you are a coward if you hide!" called Viggo. "Show yourself, so that we may once again see eye-to-eye!"

"We'll never see eye-to-eye," snarled a voice, and when Viggo turned, he saw Hiccup standing there, Toothless standing vigil by his side, shield clutched tightly in Hiccup's grip.

"Ah, Hiccup," said Viggo, spreading his hands. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"You tell me," said Hiccup. "You're the one attacking us."

Viggo shook his head. "Why do you still fight, Hiccup?" he said. "Why haven't you given up?"

"Because every time you have the chance to kill me," said Hiccup, "you postpone my death by asking me philosophical questions."

Viggo frowned. "You fail to realize what you have done," said Viggo slowly, and he rounded Hiccup, and Hiccup rounded him, like two wolves waiting for the right moment to pounce. "You defeated me, Hiccup Haddock, and no one has ever done that before. You attacked us. You fought us."

"You literally abducted me!" said Hiccup, and he sounded offended. "When you kidnap someone, you have to expect they're going to fight back!"

"Perhaps," said Viggo, and he stepped forward. "But you have too many weaknesses, Hiccup Haddock, and I know every one of them. Let us begin with your first weakness, but before we do, I am going to tell you something."

"What?" Hiccup spat.

"I am going to disarm you," said Viggo, looking at Hiccup's shield. "I need you disarmed, or we will never be able to continue in this manner. So, let's disarm you, shall we?"

Viggo pulled a dagger out of nowhere and threw it at Toothless, and Hiccup reacted without thinking. He threw his shield in front of the dagger, and the weapon bounced back off the shield.

"Good, good!" said Viggo. "You have very fast reflexes, Hiccup. Well, you have to, I suppose, dealing with dragons, you and I both know this…"

He threw two bolas, once again, out of nowhere, and the bolas captured Toothless' legs, muzzle, and wings all at once, just as Toothless prepared to pounce. The dragon thrashed and roared; Hiccup wanted to run to him and free him, but the look on Viggo's face said it all: if he moved towards Toothless, Viggo would throw another dagger, and Hiccup didn't have another shield to block the blow.

So, he took it upon himself to give Viggo the dirtiest, coldest look he had ever given a person before. It was so horrible that, if glares could kill, Hiccup would have been a murderer.

"You see, Hiccup?" said Viggo. "I told you I was going to disarm you. Even though you knew you were about to be disarmed, you still allowed yourself to be disarmed. You disarmed yourself. I didn't even have to try."

Hiccup didn't say anything.

"Don't be a spoiled sport, Hiccup," said Viggo. "You and I both knew this was going to end with me triumphing over you. I must say, you played your hand unmistakably well. I was a bit taken back by your ability to think and use your knowledge against me…but unfortunately, my victory made it all for naught…"

"You haven't won anything," said Hiccup. "You haven't triumphed over me, you haven't triumphed over my friends...you have won nothing."

"But I have pointed out your biggest, greatest weakness," said Viggo. "You care too much. Do you know the difference between you and me, Hiccup?" he asked. "I'm not afraid to give up my men for the good of the game...you, on the other hand, will risk your entire hand for the sake of...a few dragon riders." He chuckled pulled a silver dagger from his belt; it was about the length of Hiccup's forearm and as sharp as a Razorwhip's tail spines.

"The dragon riders are my friends," said Hiccup lowly.

"That is your problem," said Viggo, running his thumb along the edge of the blade. "Sentiment is never a good trait, Hiccup...especially in a soldier…"

"Or maybe it's because I'm not like you," said Hiccup, glaring. "I wouldn't leave a man behind even if they weren't my friends. That's definitely what the difference between us is, Viggo...I'm not a barbarian."

"Perhaps," said Viggo, "but you must understand, neither am I. Black and white can become gray so easily...in war, and often as in life, the path between good and evil is often unclear...tell me this, Hiccup...do you think a sword is evil?"

"Of course I don't," said Hiccup.

"Some might say they were," said Viggo. "Think of all the deaths these weapons have caused...all the destruction...it only feels right to blame it on the weapon...but you, as do I, know that the evil lies not in the sword, but the one wielding it…"

He tilted the blade towards the window, and when the moonlight hit the metal, the dagger sparkled.

"I am like the sword," said Viggo. "The tool the archipelago is using to right the wrongs done to us by dragons and vikings alike. I am neither good nor evil."

"No," Hiccup said, shaking his head. "You're evil. You are pure evil, Viggo. I've seen what you do to dragons. Injuring that Changewing, just for the sake of injuring it? Oooh, yes, Viggo...you're much more evil than you think. You're more evil than you believe, and do you know why? Do you know why you deny it, Viggo? Because I sure as heck do."

Viggo stepped forward, blade in hand; behind him, Toothless thrashed and thrashed and threw himself to and fro, trying desperately to free himself from his bonds, but to no avail. He was powerless, helpless, watching without being able to move…

"You're afraid," said Hiccup, right to Viggo's face. "You're afraid that if you accept who you are, you'll want to change. You force yourself to be cruel, to be evil, because if you don't, you won't be able to live with the guilt your actions have brought upon you. You wouldn't be able to live with yourself."

Viggo's face was inches from Hiccup's, and the two opponents glared at each other, and for the longest moment, neither said anything.

"Perhaps you are right," said Viggo coldly. "Perhaps I am cruel. Perhaps I would feel guilty. But I am not going to fall victim to that guilt. I am not going to regret my actions, I am not going to reconsider, and I am not going to change."

Hiccup hardened his gaze. "Then you're as good as dead," he said.

Viggo grit his teeth. "And so are you."

And he plunged the blade forward, right into Hiccup's stomach.

Hiccup opened his mouth in a silent scream; he couldn't feel anything. Everything was suddenly numb, and he shut his eyes tightly, as if somehow the darkness would take away the numbness, but it didn't, it didn't help.

Viggo grabbed his shoulder and forced Hiccup to remain standing when Hiccup wanted to collapse. Viggo looked dead into his eyes and tutted, almost as if he were disappointed.

"It's a shame, really," said Viggo calmly. "All your cleverness, all your intelligence...wasted. But you were my favorite opponent, Hiccup...you lasted longer than most." He yanked the blade back, and Hiccup finally crumpled to the ground, hissing through his teeth in pain, wrapping his arms around his stomach tightly.

Toothless was absolutely mad. He thrashed even harder against the ropes binding him, and when he thrashed as hard as he could, he forced himself to try harder. Hiccup coughed and moaned; Viggo stood over him, gloating in sick, silent victory. He knelt down to Hiccup's level and sighed.

"Honestly, Hiccup, I came here tonight," said Viggo, "to murder you. The Changewings were nothing but a distraction to keep your attention drawn elsewhere, where you couldn't listen to logic. You tried to fit the Changewings into my plan, I'm sure, tried to make the Changewings make sense, but they didn't. It was a rabbit trail, something to lead you away from the original threat...and it worked."

He straightened up again and sighed once more.

"Pity you couldn't have lasted longer as an opponent," said Viggo.

He glanced over at the table behind Hiccup. Sitting there, once again as if fate had desired it to be there, was Hiccup's game piece, the game piece Viggo had given him upon their first meeting. Viggo took the game piece and smiled.

"The game," said Viggo, "is over."

He snapped the game piece in half and let the pieces slip off his fingertips to the ground, lying right in front of where Hiccup laid. Then, he turned, slammed the door behind him, and headed back towards the docks.

If his men didn't make it, he didn't care.

He had finished what he had started, and that was all that mattered. If his men were killed by the hands of Hiccup's riders, what was that to him?

At Hiccup's hut, Toothless still thrashed beyond belief against his bonds. He thrashed like mad, and then, he thrashed harder, and then, finally, blessedly, the ropes holding him prisoner snapped.

Toothless wrestled himself free from his bonds and charged over to where his rider laid motionless on the ground. Toothless could smell the blood; it horrified him. Toothless nudged Hiccup's head, and when Hiccup didn't move, he did it again, this time more persistently. Hiccup still didn't move; still didn't wake up, and Toothless roared at him in desperation.

Nothing.

Toothless looked around desperately. Help, yes, he had to find help, somehow, somewhere - yes! The other dragon riders! But how would he signal them -

It didn't matter how he signaled them as long as they got here before it was too late. He opened his mouth, breathed in deeply, and released the biggest plasma blast he had ever released before. The blast blew the front door off its hinges and, when it was outside, exploded. The booming sound was like that of a firework.

No one within fifty miles wouldn't hear it.

Including the Berkian ships, about to come into shore, about to discover that Viggo had stabbed their heir and left him to die.

Including Astrid, who had just managed to knock the second soldier of Viggo's out. She saw the blast; it exploded into a shower of purple ash which sprinkled the Edge and the ocean.

It was in that moment Astrid knew something was horribly wrong.

It was in that moment Astrid realized what she should have realized all along. The real reason Viggo had come to the Edge in the first place.

"Hiccup…" she whispered, and without another word, she dropped her axe, and broke into a run. She leapt over the gap separating one bridge from another and ran, straight to Hiccup's residence, and straight inside.

The moment her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she let out an inhuman scream.

"HICCUP!" Astrid screamed, and she charged to where he laid, instantly taking him into her arms, searching desperately for any sign of life she could find, anything that told her that Hiccup wasn't gone, anything that denied the signs in front of her. "Hiccup...Hiccup! HICCUP!"

Anything…

No, please no, please, please, no...

Hiccup opened his eyes and looked up blearily. "I'm sorry, Astrid…" Hiccup whispered. "I couldn't...I couldn't...wasn't...smart enough…"

"No, no, you did great, Hiccup," said Astrid, trying not to cry herself. "You were terrific, you really were…"

"I tried…" Hiccup whispered. "I tried…" He exhaled heavily...

"Hiccup...HICCUP!" Astrid screamed.

...and shut his eyes.

…

Viggo pulled his ship back into the docks of his base and stepped off of it, sheathing his bloody dagger back at his belt as he went. Ryker was awaiting him at the shores, and as soon as Viggo stepped off the ship, Ryker ran towards him excitedly.

"Well?" said Ryker.

Viggo smiled. "It's game over for Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," he said smugly.

Ryker's smile only grew. "Does this mean…?"

"Yes," said Viggo. "It does. The men are ready? Load them onto the ships. Total war has broken out...and I can't wait to get started."

Author's Notes:

I bet I don't even have to ASK whether or not you guys want a sequel for this, right? I know you do.

Which is why TOTAL WAR PART 2 will be out soon enough, don't you worry, amazing Dragonites! :D Give me a week (or probably less) and I'll be posting the new story before you even know it! :D

Let me know what you thought of TWP1, and I'll see you all at the sequel! :D :D :D

Cheers!

-BeyondTheClouds777