***
"Dad?" Hiccup attempted to bring his father out of his trance. The chief could no longer bear the thought of his children being in imminent danger and raced to find them. "Will you say something?"
"Oh, stop being so Stoic, Stoick!" Valka muttered as he approached her with the same vacant expression. "Go on. Scream, shout, say something!"
The chief brought his hand up to his wife's cheek and gently stroked with his thumb. She flinched at the contact until he spoke.
"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."
Hiccup couldn't help but smile as he turned towards his sister, only to find that she had disappeared.
"Oak?!" he called, grasping everyone's attention, all except Astrid who was also missing suddenly. "Oh, not again."
***
"Don't even think about it!" Astrid scowled as she caught up to Oakley mounting her dragon by the edge of the island.
"Yeah, I didn't think I was gonna get away with that." The brunette sighed.
"Oak, I can still read your mind." Astrid reminded. "You go after Drago, you'll get yourself killed."
"And if I don't, I'm putting all of you in danger instead," Oakley explained as she hopped off of StarGazer.
"That's not your choice to make." Astrid scowled.
"You just don't get it do you?!" Oakley snapped, spinning towards her girlfriend.
"Get what?!" Astrid responded. "Oak, what are you so afraid of?!"
"EVERYTHING!" She screamed. "Okay?! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"
"Oak..." Astrid finally calmed down, speaking softly. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm afraid of everything." She repeated. "I'm afraid of people. I'm afraid of being alone. I'm afraid of the dark. I'm afraid of being trapped. But most of all, I'm afraid of you."
"Me?!" Astrid gasped in disbelief. "You're afraid of me?"
"I'm afraid of hurting you. Or of losing you. Or..." Oakley hesitated, taking a deep breath.
"Oak?"
"Or of loving you." She admitted. "Astrid, if something happened to you, I don't think I could handle that."
"Oak, I'm fine." She assured, taking a step closer. "Nothing's gonna happen to me."
"You don't know that. I almost lost you once and I jumped off a seastack." She backed away as tears formed in her eyes. "Astrid, I am scared all the time."
"Oak, it's okay to be afraid." The blonde reassured.
"Easy for you to say, you're not afraid of anything." She rolled her eyes with a huff.
"Actually, that's not true." Heather interrupted as Windshear landed close by.
"What are you talking about?" Oakley wondered as Astrid glanced down at a peculiar-looking rock on the ground, avoiding eye contact with anyone.
"Astrid..." Heather waited.
"I just-" She paused. "It frightens me how powerful you're getting."
"It frightens you?" Oakley thought. "I frighten you?"
"That's not what I meant."
"D-Don't you trust me?" Oak worried. She didn't exactly trust herself but knowing that Astrid did always kept her grounded.
"With my life." The blonde insisted.
"That's not what I mean." She frowned. "What is it about me that you don't trust?"
"It's not that." Astrid took a nervous step forwards only to have Oakley back away. "I just- I worry, sometimes." She admitted. "You're changing so much, so fast. I don't- It's just hard to keep up. I don't know where I'm gonna fit in your life when this is all over."
"If the world hasn't been blown to pieces by then." Snotlout retorted from the sidelines, receiving a side glare from everyone. "What? You were all thinking it."
"Snotlout, shut up." Astrid scowled as her hair lit up in flames, taking Oakley's with her
"Shutting up." He threw his hands up defensively and their hair returned to normal.
"Astrid, you are my life. When are you going to see that?" The brunette sighed. "And he's not wrong." Oakley agreed. "Astrid, this Drago guy is tough and with his own Class ten Alpha... Our chances are slim at best."
"But at least there's a chance." Astrid thought. "Oak, if you go after him by yourself, you will die. It's a suicide mission."
"I think that's the point." Miss Hofferson quipped as she noticed the solemn expression on the brunette's face. "You're gonna give yourself up?" She realized. "To protect us." Oakley didn't respond as Astrid approached her slowly.
"It's all I know." She shrugged. "It's instinct." Astrid finally backed Oakley to the edge of the island so she could no longer back away. "Astrid, if you're gonna punch me, can you make it fast?" Astrid just pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Um, guys," Hiccup called. "You know I hate to ruin a beautiful moment. But I don't think much of this is gonna matter." He gestured out to sea where Drago's armada was sailing closer and closer.
"Looks like you get your wish." Oakley sighed. "Mount up guys." She ordered. "And don't die!"
"Oak..." Astrid whined. Oakley turned to see the panicked look on her face.
"I'll be okay." She assured, planting a quick kiss on Astrid's lips, intentionally letting a few purple petals fall. She reached for her necklace pulling it over her head and placing it in Astrid's hand. The blonde looked up at her in confusion. "Give it back to me after the world doesn't end." She smiled before racing towards her Stormcutter. "Let's go, SG."
"Oakley!" Her father's voice echoed as it always did. Why did he have to be so loud when he spoke? "Take your brother back to Berk." He ordered. "This is not the battle for you."
"Sorry, Stoick. But that's not gonna happen." She declined.
"Dad, the eclipse is coming." Hiccup pointed towards the sky. "A night within a day. This is it."
"Do you still have that letter?" Stoick wondered.
"The prophecy? Yeah." The brunette pulled the roll from her saddlebag.
"Who sent it?" The chief questioned.
"Hiccup," Oakley stated.
"What?" Hiccup gasped.
"I can read thoughts Hiccup. I've known the whole time." She told him. "You're a great actor, but from the second you told me I had a terror mail, I knew it was from you." She explained. "You thought I deserved to know, but you were worried about how I would react. Which wasn't wrong. I did kind of lose it."
"He never told you about the fine print, did he?" Stoick wondered.
"Fine print?" Oakley and Hiccup muttered in unison.
Stoick pulled a second scroll from his tunic and handed it to his daughter as she dismounted her dragon.
When darkness falls the kingdoms shall arise and the princess shall die.
Though not in vain.
As it is written so shall it be.
"So, I'm pretty much gonna die either way?" Oakley thought, shaking the information off. "I'll take those odds."
"You are not fighting Drago Bludvist!" Her father bellowed.
"And you'll be stopping me, how?" She wondered as she tucked the scrolls into her satchel.
"As Chief of Berk, I forbid it!" He scowled. Oakley let out a snicker, more like a puff of air, partnered with a smirk.
"You may be the Chief of Berk." She thought as she mounted StarGazer, staring straight out to sea. "But this is the home of the dragons." She turned towards her father. "You're in my Kingdom here."
And with that, she took to the skies.
***