𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter thirty-six; hiccup
❝ dragon master! ❞

     HICCUP COULD FEEL his heart pounding. It burst against his ribcage, making him breathe heavily as he tightened his grip around the handle-bars of Toothless's saddle. He settled properly, twisting his boot against the stirrup━he tested the joint of his prosthetic. He was nervous; he could feel it. As he brought Toothless up higher above the village of Berk, manacled to almost nothing but a town of ice, the reality of the situation started to hit him. 

     He wasn't just protecting this village as Hiccup, the dragon trainer ... he was protecting them as their chief. And they all cheered as they saw him rise up with Toothless, all put their faith in him to get them out of this. To win. 

     He had to win. 

     He imagined what his father would tell him right now: A chief protects his own, son.

      (And that was exactly what he had to do).

      "Come on, Toothless," he whispered, veering his body to the side and they swooped around through the mazes of ice shards. Even from this distance, Hiccup could feel the breath of the mighty Bewilderbeast tickle the stubble of his beard. Those hypnotising eyes followed him, and as soon as they fixed their contact, Toothless whined, thrashing his head. 

      Hiccup kept a hand on his head, telling Toothless he was here as he examined the dragon. Hard of hearing, small eyes, small nostrils━a Bewilderbeast relied on its tusks for damage, but its dragons for defence. But if he ever got into range of that icy blast, or those eyes, Hiccup knew they'd be gone in a matter of seconds. 

      What was more dangerous, however, was the man standing on the king's tusks, striking the creature with his staff, "DO SOMETHING!" he bellowed. 

      Hiccup set his jaw. He leaned in closer to his saddle, setting himself ready for a high-speed flight. He locked his elbows. "We need to get those two apart," he told Toothless who huffed, agreeing. 

      But how could he get Toothless close without the risk of him being taken under the Bewilderbeast's control again?

      They were passing the arena. The stands were a shattered mess of wood, splinters and ice. The flag-poles from the recent race still stood; some were knocked down, others broken in half, but Hiccup saw a red Haddock flag, stripped, but still flying━it was almost symbolic. 

      He had an idea. 

      Hiccup locked Toothless's tail in and they spun down into a dive. With a grunt, the new chief stretched his fingers dangerously close to the jagged flag-pole edge. He grasped the torn fabric and ripped it off. 

      They darted out of there for the cover of Gothi's mountain. Hiccup dived Toothless in between homes, missing the crystal ice following them like a deadly wave by just inches. The edges of Hiccup's hair froze. But they made it, jetting around the rock fissures and weakened staircase; enough cover for Hiccup to do what he needed to do. He slowed Toothless down and sat up, untwisting and continuing to rip the flag into what he needed. He stared at the Night Fury emblem sewn into it and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes for a second, Hiccup prayed to his father. Give me strength, Dad, he whispered. Give me all the strength you have. 

     Toothless bellowed, shaking his head. He clenched his eyes shut, the quivers of his ears and fins starting to tremble.

      Hiccup had to act fast. "I know, bud, I know." He spread out the red fabric. "We gotta block him out, Toothless." Hiccup held out the fabric for Toothless to see. His dragon slowed to a soar, gazing up at him, unsure. "I know," he murmured. "Do you trust me, bud?"

      Toothless didn't hesitate. Hiccup's heart ached for a second to hear him coo. That no matter what had happened. Even if he sent him away, even when he shot him down, even when he got him into trouble after trouble, Toothless always trusted him to get him out of it. 

       Hiccup trusted him, too.

     "Okay, we can do this..." with a final deep breath, Hiccup gently draped the red flag over Toothless's eyes and brought it up back to cover his ears. He tied the fabric together at the nape of his neck as tight as he dared. "You ... and me ..." he leant forward to set the palm of his hand against his dragon's snout. Toothless let out a soft purr. "As one..."

      Gentle and slow at first, Hiccup pressed back his right foot, and Toothless's tail snapped out. They staggered in the wind a little━but Hiccup balanced them. He set his position, locking his knees and his arms until Toothless got used to the strange feeling. Hiccup had become his eyes and ears. "That's it," he reassured his dragon. "Now, let's try this one more time!"

     Hiccup dipped them down and then up, meeting the wind that rushed past his cheeks like a fresh awakening. 

     He felt like he was flying Toothless for the first time━scared, a little unsure, trying to learn the ropes until he had no choice but to trust his instincts. The only way they got out of that sea stack maze was to have trust in each other, and that was the only way they were going to get out of this, too. 

     So, Hiccup pulled Toothless back. He stretched his wings and down they dipped into a sharp, direct nose dive. 

     Hiccup was pressed flat against the saddle. He felt Toothless's shriek vibrate through his ears and his body. His cheeks stung from the cold wind and ice that nicked away at them. His hair billowed out of his eyes. They got faster and faster━Hiccup will never not love the feeling of the entire world falling with him, turning into nothing but a brilliant blur. 

      He waited until the very last moment, gathering enough speed to pull out at an ear-splitting bolt. 

      They shot past Vikings gathered in crowds, cheering his name. They spun around the Twins and Snotlout, who all held up targeted sheep in encouragement. Hiccup's mother wished him good luck from the back of the baby Scuttleclaw. Fishlegs was helped to a stance by the edge of the stairs to the Great Hall by Eret's and Astrid's hands, surrounded by the vikings of Berk that cried out in victory━they all believed that they had now won. Just the sight of Hiccup on the back of Toothless was a vision of hope. 

      And standing at the docks edge, on the tips of her toes was the very last to shout his name. Yrsa Olofsdotter laughed, jumping up with a cheer that Hiccup heard the loudest: "TAKE HIM DOWN, BABE!"

      Toothless shrieked at her words, hefting them up with a pride in his chest. 

     Hiccup focused on the Bewilderbeast. Chest bursting with courage, he locked Toothless's tail in. The King of Dragons nested his beady eyes on their figures striking towards them, and his master climbed up to the tops of his forehead, watching them close in with a breath of confusion.

      He was unsure on what Hiccup was doing━good. He had to keep it that way.

      Hiccup pulled back his legs. He rested them against the muscle of Toothless's wings. He counted under his breath as they got closer, and closer━

      "Take control of it!"

      He wouldn't let the Bewilderbeast do it this time. Hiccup wasn't going to leave his best bud. He placed his hands against the quivering ears of his dragon, keeping the fabric pressed. "Shut it out, Toothless," he told him. 

      Closer and closer...

     He listened for the sound of the Bewilderbeast drawing a long, icy breath ...

     "STOP THEM!"

     Hiccup gritted his teeth. "NOW!"

     He tugged up his lever. The shower of ice was let loose. Hiccup got into a crouch. He pulled the saddle up and Toothless followed━they soared upwards and Hiccup leapt off. 

      Drago didn't see him. His eyes trailed up with laughter at the sight of Toothless getting farther and farther away, not even realising the young man stopping his fall with a jolt to his stomach, tugging out leather wings he fabricated himself. 

      Drago realised too late. Hiccup was diving towards him. He pulled out his canister, flicking off the top. 

      He twisted his body just in time, dodging the swing of Drago's staff as he let loose a trail of Zippleback gas. Drago was lost within the noxious cloud. Hiccup pulled himself up, flipping the canister around. He pressed his thumb on the trigger━

      The explosion rocked Hiccup in his crazed flight. The wind of the blast━a firestorm that sent the Bewilderbeast fuming━made him stumble to the right. Hiccup tried to ride the wind, positioning his arms just right to let himself jet upwards. He heard Drago's shouts as he fell, hitting the ground by the shore of Berk. His metal arm rolled across the earth. His spear impaled itself in the dirt out of his reach. 

      Hiccup glanced back to see whether Toothless was following. The Night Fury folded his wings, diving out of the way of the explosion, heading straight for him.

      Okay, thought Hiccup as he set his gaze back in front of him, just a few more━

      His stomach dropped. "Oh, not again..."

      The Bewilderbeast's tail towered over him. A trunk that made him minuscule in comparison, filled the the brim with coral-red spikes and battered fins. It curled back in━folding down and down, and he'd be enveloped in it.

      Hiccup's heart started to race again, and not in a good way. "Okay, Toothless!" he shouted, desperate. "It's now or never!"

      He was descending at a quick angle━the tail was coming closer even quicker. Hiccup heard Toothless cry out━he felt the wind change, and the world around him turned into a sky of grey and coral-red scales. 

      A shadow passed beneath him. Hiccup acted fast. The jolt of the saddle hitting him almost knocked the wind out of his chest, but he held his breath. He fastened his feet, he locked his fingers around the bars. With a shout that matched Toothless's fearsome screech that rattled his bones with defiance, Hiccup pulled. "HOLD ON!"

      At the slimmest distance━so close Hiccup felt the ice of the scales, heard the wind rush in his ears: like a ferocious whistle━he and Toothless shot up past the edges of the Bewilderbeast's tail. They spiralled into the clouds, alive.

     "AH━HA!" cheered Hiccup in victorious relief. "YES! We did it!"

     Glancing over his shoulder, he dropped them back down, and he laughed at Toothless's cry of delight. 

     They spun out of the dive, skidding to a halt just by the slope of Drago's fall. Hiccup tugged Toothless to a hover and he leapt off his saddle. Hitting the ground running, he spun out Inferno's in a flash of fire, and struck the earth right before Drago's fingers could snatch his staff from the dirt. 

     The fire burnt his fingertips and he growled in pain, holding his hand to his chest.

      Hiccup breathed heavily, glowering down at Drago, "Hold him there, Toothless." Catching his stance, Hiccup dusted off the leather loops of his flight suit, approaching the man that killed his father with a bitter taste on his tongue. "It's all over now," he stated.

      Even as he had him cowered on the ground, defenceless and away from his sea dragon, Drago didn't have the respect to stare Hiccup in the eye. He didn't have the humility. It made Hiccup's chest flare with fury to see his gaze fix on something else behind him ... and then laugh. 

      With no breath of defeat, Drago smirked back at him, like despite where he stood, Hiccup was the one that still lost. "Or is it?" 

      It was then he noticed the chill on the back of his neck; saw the shadow cross over the two of them ... a gigantic monster with a gigantic crown. 

     Hiccup spun around, and his heart leapt up to his throat. The Bewilderbeast heaved a breath, his maw dropped and Hiccup screamed as the ice exploded out. He had no time to run, no time to duck for cover. In seconds, a cold chill burnt to his bones, and the world turned black. 

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►yrsa

     THEY TRIED to stop her, but no one could hold Yrsa back when the ice hit. 

     Her scream was raw━she felt it in her throat, tearing up through her like her heart learnt how to speak; learnt how to cry, and took everything else with it. She didn't know whether it was her mother, or Gobber or even Spitelout that tried to keep her from running, but Yrsa didn't care. She pushed them aside without a second thought, stumbling down the docks with tears already forming in her eyes.

     "Hiccup!" she cried, not sure whether it had completely struck her, yet.

     She saw the ice━a burst of crystal right where Hiccup and Toothless had been. It covered them, encased them so thickly she couldn't even see inside. She couldn't see where they were, and she didn't know whether it was a gift or a curse. Because she knew that no one could survive that. She knew that wherever they were amongst that wave, they were dead.

      "No, no, no━" Yrsa was sobbing, almost falling down to the ground as she reached the bottom of the docks. She didn't care about the beast looming over her, she didn't care about Drago chuckling a few feet away. All she cared about was reaching the ice━was finding any way to get to them. To get to Hiccup. To get to man she loved. "Hiccup!"

      Valka had already touched the ground, staggering off the Scuttleclaw to drop to her knees at the mound of ice. Yrsa didn't want to push her aside, she didn't want to shout to get away, but there was also a part of her that did. There was a part of her that wanted to sob, no! I knew him longer! In an anguished way that reminded her that the boy who saw her as something more when they were fifteen in the Cove, the kid who made her feel special and loved, the young man that believed in a side of her that was good, and gentle, and kind━who loved her and she loved him: her best friend, her partner, the person she's stood by the side of for five years, was now gone ... just in the matter of seconds.

      But she didn't. Of course, she didn't. Yrsa reached the ice and broke, hands clutching the shards and her knees hitting the earth. She slammed her fists on it, sobbing a prayer to the gods that somehow, no matter what she was seeing━no matter how impossible it was, that Hiccup was alive. That he and Toothless were fighting their way out of it. That she could reach him. 

      Just hours before, they lost his father, and now, Yrsa felt the gut-wrenching pain inside her chest to realise she had lost Hiccup, too. 

      She had been upset; she had been scared. She had seen him smile at his mother back at the sanctuary, told that he belonged out there with the dragons, and prepared to leave him there because she loved him. Because she could never leave the home she had on Berk, and expect him to pick between his mother and her. But now, Yrsa realised, her home wasn't an island, it wasn't a place to live or a place to run to. Yrsa had found her home in Hiccup. She had found her home in wherever he was: whether they were here, at Berk, in the Cove, searching islands or at Dragon's Edge. She had been home with him.

     And now her home was gone. 

     "Please," she sobbed. "Please ..."

     Yrsa felt Valka's hand on her shoulder. "No," she shoved her off, eyes clenched against the ice as if she expected to feel Hiccup's embrace through it. "N━no, Hiccup..."

     The ice was growing warm. It made her cry even more━she imagined his warmth; begged for it so much that she was making it all up. What cruelty was this from the gods? 

     "Yrsa," croaked Hiccup's mother. 

      The warmth started to pulse. Yrsa's heartbreaking sobs hitched. Against her palms, the ice seemed to be shaking. 

     She opened her eyes, and they widened with a gasp. 

      She hadn't been imagining the warmth. 

      Yrsa let herself be pulled back this time, clutching onto Valka's arm as she watched the inside of the ice start to glow━a luminous blue grew and grew, pulsed and vibrated against the crystal shell. Something inside was moving, something inside was growing, something inside was shaking with power. 

      She ducked for cover as it exploded. 

      Shards of ice cascaded over her head, shattering at impact on the ground and against the cliffs. Momentarily, the entire Berk morning was lit up in a magnificent midnight blue. Yrsa coughed, spinning around to see what had happened, and as the light and mist faded, her chest began to rise. 

      Amongst the broken ice, illuminated in blue scales all long his spine, Toothless let out an ear-shattering roar. He stood over Hiccup, shivering and hunched, but alive. 

      Yrsa was frozen in her shock━her amazement. She eyed the pulsing light underneath Toothless's scales, never once seen anything like it. It was like it was made of storm, of lightning━of the thunder, and the vibrating sonic blasts he formed within his chest. And she started to smile━she laughed, surprised and proud of her dragon.

      Toothless never stopped amazing her.

     As soon as she got the feeling in her legs again, Yrsa was on her feet. She ran through the ice and in seconds, was at Hiccup's side. Toothless glanced back, and the glower in his eyes softened for a moment to coo at Yrsa. She bit back tears to see him, to know he was okay━to have him back as himself. To see that they were alive. 

      Hiccup heaved a long breath, ice-cold to the touch, but he was okay. Yrsa turned to him and wrapped her arms gently around him, hiding her face in his shoulder. She felt better when his cheek fell into the crook of her neck, sighing in relief. 

      Yrsa glanced back up when she heard Toothless growl. He turned back to the Alpha, claws marking the ground and body hunching up━he leapt up onto the edge of the ice, screaming a roar that set everyone's hairs on end. 

      "What's he doing?" asked Yrsa, eyes fixed on the Night Fury that stood before them against the Great Bewilderbeast. Her hair flew off her face when the Alpha bellowed back, but Toothless did not flinch.

      Yrsa helped Hiccup to his feet and they shuffled back, met with Valka's hands as she checked whether her son was okay. 

      "He's challenging the Alpha!" said Hiccup in shock. 

      "To protect you!" added Valka. 

     Yrsa's face brightened. Clutching Hiccup around the waist to help him stand, she watched a lonely Night Fury━the last of his kind, probably━stand at the edge of a single shard of ice. Small, in comparison, very small, even, against the  Great Bewilderbeast, a sea dragon twenty times the size of the great blue whale under the cover of his thousand-dragon-army. But that didn't stop him, didn't made him flinch, didn't make him back down.

      Her eyes found Helrose amongst it, and her heart began to thunder in her chest. 

     "Come on, bud," she whispered under her breath, biting back a smile.

      Toothless's maw was filled with blue smoke as he configured up enough power to send the Bewilderbeast into a minor shock his first blast. Yrsa jumped a little at the viciousness━she's never seen Toothless so violent and aggressive, not even when his mind wasn't his own. This wasn't something that could be controlled about him: this was his passion, his fierce loyalty, his bravery. 

     Before the Bewilderbeast could get even a breath of icy mist in, Toothless fired. He aimed into the crevices of his tusks, sending smoke into the creatures eyes and making him bellow in fury. He fired two shots at his left tusk, then another two at his right. He saved his last shot, jumping away from the Bewilderbeast's mighty swing that shattered the ice Toothless had been on just moments before. He landed onto a second geyser below. 

      The three Vikings watching right below couldn't utter a word in their anticipation and amazement. The rest of Berk had come to gather in flocks, watching and cheering on Toothless at each hit he gathered, each strike that took the great alpha off guard, each bellow that made the ground at their feet quake and shudder. 

      Yrsa glanced up at the thousands of dragons under the alpha's control. Her gasp was quiet as she noticed some of their heads shake, their flight stagger. Her eyes fixed in on Helrose and her hand flew to her mouth in glorious relief to see the Devilish Dervish beat her wings and falter in confusion━the control was starting to break. 

      Toothless jumped from his pedestal, taking a stand in front of Hiccup, Yrsa and Valka. He spread his wings, not one inch of them left uncovered from his protection. He roared and Yrsa watched in awe as each and every single dragon in that sky turned to his direction. 

      Hiccup glanced at Yrsa and she nodded. She let go of him and stepped back, heart in her throat as he ran forward and took his place on Toothless's saddle. As he settled in, dragons flocked down towards them; they dived, they spun, they dipped around the broken shards of Berk with deafening roars and cries━not one stayed with their old master. They chose to leave, to swarm someone else. They formed ranks━lines and lines and lines of dragons: hundreds of species, ages, classes ... all coming together under the power of one single dragon that they chose. None forced under the control, but instead elected the protection of one single Night Fury. 

     Yrsa strained her neck to count them all, mouth-agape. 

     "No!" cried Drago Bludvist. He grasped his spear and staggered to his Bewilderbeast. "No, no, no, no, NO!" He leapt up onto the sea dragon's tusk. "FIGHT BACK!" he yelled. "FIGHT! FIGHT! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!"

     He turned around, and was silenced by what he saw. 

     An army of dragons hovered above the island of Berk. At the shores edge, Vikings of all ages and sizes skidded to ranks by the shards of their broken home. They brought spears, axes, swords and shields. Yrsa set her jaw, holding it up high as she clenched her hands, standing in front of them all with the team of Dragon Riders at her side. Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, even Eret son of Eret came to join her━each and every one of them ready to fight for their home under the command of their new chief. Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. 

      And he wasn't just chief of the Useless━the sick, the young, the elderly and the weak; the forgotten. He became the chief of something far more than that. He wasn't a boy unsure on how to impress his father, small and thin, and not at all the Viking anyone in Berk wanted. He wasn't the boy who needed protecting, who many of Berk joked and demeaned. He wasn't a boy that some of them sympathised━sometimes even pitied━. He wasn't a boy anymore, that boy had become a man. And that man earned the respect, and the pride of chief they all chose to give him. The boy his father had believed would become the strongest of them all (and he was right). 

     Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third held on tight to his saddle as Toothless climbed up the geysers of ice to stand before the entire army━of dragons and Vikings alike. "Now do you get it?" He hollered towards Drago Bludvist, voice echoing across the hundreds of bellows of dragons behind him. He gestured behind him at the flock. "This is what it is to earn a dragon's loyalty. Let this end now!"

     Even outnumbered. Even when everyone knew he had lost, even him, Drago couldn't face it. He reached the base of the Bewilderbeast's tusk, "NEVER!" he howled. He turned to his dragon, "COME ON!"

      Drago's Bewilderbeast chuffed at the smack of his spear. He let loose a thundering roar. 

      Toothless snarled back at the hundreds of dragons behind him, like a general commanding his battalion. He fired a shot right by the Bewilderbeasts crown, and one by one, each dragon above followed. One shot, two shots, three━a hundred different blazes lit up the sky: magnesium blasts from Deadly Nadders, the smokey rings of the Whispering Death, the icy fire of a Snow Wraith, even the searing acid of Changewings. It was a light show of fire and smoke. Yrsa covered her face, peering from the cover of her arm to see the Bewilderbeast stagger back, completely covered in a wall of smoke and ash. 

     As the sea creature reared back, Toothless followed. Yrsa could hear her heart beating in her ears, watching the Night Fury's breath rattle with a shriek louder than any before. 

     The blast that followed was a shriek of blue and purple━it erupted at the base of the Bewilderbeast's tusk. Fractures expanded, climbing and climbing━they splintered, they travelled as the sea dragon screeched in pain. There was a bone-chilling snap━

      His tusk broke off. It fell down in a storm of dust and ice, hitting the base of the shore like thunder had cracked from the depths of the world instead of the clouds. 

     The Vikings of Berk coughed the dust from their lungs. Yrsa emerged from the cover of her arms to stare as with one final scream of defiance from Toothless, the Bewilderbeast cowered. He slumped back into the depths of the water, disappearing into the grey of the morning, taking Drago with him. 

     Hiccup watched them go. They didn't resurface, and there was no remorse on his face. He set his jaw, and Yrsa wondered whether he held a breath of satisfaction to see Drago drown. "The Alpha protects them all," he said amongst everyone's cheers. 

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

      a/n: this chapter is ew and I'm sorry about that. one more chapter left of act two, tho! isn't that exciting???

     here's a game: take a shot every time I used the word 'roared' or 'bellowed' in this chapter istg.

     (not edited).