twenty three

"I TRIED TELLING YOU GUYS, BUT NO ONE WOULD LISTEN TO ME!" ALORA EXCLAIMED. "SO I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU GUYS DO AFTERWARDS, BUT THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM, I'M SHOOTING LASERS RIGHT THROUGH HIS CHEST!"

"I love that idea!" Tuffnut said, excitedly.

"At ease, soldier!" Astrid told her. "You need to clear your head right now!"

Alora pouted and flew towards Toothless, sitting behind Hiccup.

"Fine. . ."

"We need to tell your dad Hiccup," Astrid told him. "The sooner we tell him and let him calm down, the better for us."

"You're right Astrid," Hiccup said. "I mean, he knows everything that happens in the Archipelago, right? Maybe he already knows and he's cooled down."

I was dead wrong.

The teens stood outside of the Great Hall as they heard the Chief angrily yell inside of the building.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is the first the Chief's hearing of it."

The door slammed open and Stoick exclaimed, "I want all the food gathered from Johann's last shipment. NOW!"

Hiccup stood behind him, almost looking dazed.

And within the next few hours, the Chief set fire and threw out everything Johann had gotten them. The Chief was running around angrily, not looking at any of the new traders and decided to go off on his own.

"I'm going to go with my dad to get more Willow Bark," Hiccup told her. "You stay here and protect Berk."

"Does that mean. . .?"

"Yes Aly, use any means necessary but no killing."

She nodded her head and watched as the two went off. Alora went around observing the area. Meanwhile, everyone else was helping Gobber pick out a trader.

A few moments later, she saw everyone gather towards the Great Hall.

"Astrid, what's happening?" Alora asked running towards her best friend.

"Well, the traders decided to host a cooking competition and gathered everyone in the hall."

Alora narrowed her eyes but followed them inside. She saw Ruffnut and Tuffnut sitting behind the long table. The three traders presented their food to them and the twins tasted it.

"Oh Rao," Alora muttered.

But she started to notice that there were some people around her moving very carefully.

"Astrid," she whispered.

"What?"

Just as the twins announced a tie, the three traders suddenly pulled out weapons and Hunters burst through the double doors.

"ALY!"

Alora and Astrid charged out. They walked out of the door and saw chaos. Berk was set on fire by Singetails, dragons were placed under nets, Berkians were cornered. It was horrible. Alora wanted to set off, but Astrid shook her head.

"You can't do it. Not alone. You'll lose your strength!"

"But Hiccup—!"

"I know!"

Alora gritted her teeth as Hunters surrounded them. She allowed herself to be tied up away from Astrid back in the Great Hall. But Alora wasn't going to go down. She wasn't going to let Hiccup's village burn down.

Astrid and Alora shared a look as she watched all her friends get tied down.

Astrid nodded her head and waved her eyebrows up and down. That was the signal. She watched as Gobber took out a blade. . . From his peg leg?

. . . He took out a blade from his peg leg and Astrid helped him not get caught. Meanwhile, Alora was slowly waiting for the right moment to bust out of the ropes. She watched as the blade was being passed around (thanks to Tuffnut who distracted them with his talking).

Alora burst out of the ropes and before they could hurt him, she grabbed both of them and slammed them into the ground. Then, as the other Hunters charged she used her breath to blow them away and froze them in place.

"Anyone want to do the honors?" she asked.

Gobber knocked the first one unconscious and everyone followed suit.

"Lass, have you remembered yet?"

"I have," she told him. "I'm from Krypton."

"Can everyone from Krypton do what you do?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"I'm really glad you're on our side," Gobber said.

Fishlegs tried to open the door but it was locked.

"I can break through the door!" Alora said.

"Do it!" Snotlout yelled.

"Wait! We don't know what's on the other side!"

Alora closed her eyes as Astrid signaled everyone to stay quiet. She listened in and heard Stoick and Krogan's voices.

"I hear Stoick and Krogan. Stoick's plan was to get Krogan to fire so that we could get out."

She used her x-ray vision.

"They've stacked a bunch of items in front of the door."

"How does she do that?" Gobber whispered.

"Aly, you need to get out of here. You need to help them."

"But I can't do it alone," Alora said. "I have a plan."

Alora made sure that everyone was behind her.

"Are you sure about this lass?" Gobber asked.

"Nope! But when has that ever stopped me?"

She used her brute strength to try and break down the door.

It didn't budge.

So she did it again, and again, and again. And she heard Stoick from the other side yell, "Who said it was just one more of us?!"

"AHH!!"

With all her might, Alora Danvers used her brute strength to knock down both double doors. The first thing she saw was Hiccup and the dragons. Stoick on the ground and Krogan hovering above him. The rest behind her charged. She started Krogan in the eye as she flew towards Hiccup, hovering beside him.

Krogan wore a look of disbelief.

"Impossible!"

She blew her breath causing the red Singetail to fly back until they were out of the island. She flew in front of him until she landed on the rooftop of a house. The Berkians watched the girl. She looked up and straight into his eyes.

"I don't give a shit what your plan is! You tell Johann, if he wants to go near my friends he'll have to go through me first!" she yelled, letting out all of her channeled anger.

She pounded her chest at the last few words. She pounded her fist with her hand, causing a BOOM sound, almost as if she was showing dominance.

I was so proud that day.

Aw, thanks Astrid.

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that.

. . .

And he wonders why we never tell him anything.

As the Singetails retreated, Alora looked back at her friends who were on the ground watching her.

"Is everyone okay?" Hiccup asked.

Alora settled down and landed beside Astrid.

"Johann has no idea what he has started," Stoick said.

Everyone looked at the door and Alora gave them a sheepish smile.

"I'll fix that," she said in a small voice.

∾

And she did. She redid the doors and made sure they worked before she did anything else.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Snotlout said.

Alora laughed.

"At least you didn't shoot any laser beams out of your eyes this time," Astrid said, causing Stoick and Gobber to look their way.

"Well, I did what you said. Learned to manage my anger and this time, I channeled it towards my strength."

"Thank you Aly," Hiccup said.

"Hiccup I'm so sorry," Alora said. "I should've seen it coming."

"Don't be. You were there when it mattered most. Besides you couldn't have known unless you could read their minds," he paused. "Can you read minds?"

Alora bit her lip, looked into his eyes and said, "You are desperately in love with me."

Hiccup scoffed.

"Yeah we can scratch that off the list," he said.

She shrugged her shoulders and watched as he helped his dad put the supplies in the hall. Toothless nudged her from behind.

"Oh, I know you're desperately in love with me," she said, giving him a belly rub. "You love me more than Hiccup, right bud?"

The dragon purred and made everyone around her laugh.

Meanwhile, Hiccup glanced down at the Kryptonian.

And that's when he knew, something inside him had changed.