Hey my li'l embers! Before the chapter starts, I just wanted to point out the references in the previous chapter. The first one I assumed was rather obvious. It was when Stoick and Gobber gave Hiccup encouraging smiles with thumbs up. This was a reference to the third movie when Hiccup is trying to help Toothless win over the Light Fury. The second reference, I will admit, was very obscure. It was when Stoick motioned/mouthed to Hiccup to breathe. This was a reference to one of my all time favorite Disney movies, Big Hero 6, when Tadashi tells Hiro to breathe when he is presenting in the showcase at SFIT.
Anywho! Onto the angst train we go!
~~~HTLANF~~~
Once outside the nest, we ran into Valka looking down upon the beach. I glanced at Valka as my dad and Gobber caught up to us, then down towards the beach, my eyes widening in horror as I took in the armada that Drago had brought.
"Oh no..." I breathed out, my hand automatically grasping Kala's to make sure she was close by.
"H-how is this even possible..?" Kala asked fearfully as she took in the amount of traps and trappers that Drago had under his command.
Beside Kala and I, I could feel the worry and fear radiating off my mother, her scent being overtaken by those emotions. My dad rested his hand on her shoulder and gave her a soft smile once she was looking at him.
"It'll be alright, Val. We're a team now. Now what do you want to do?" He asked.
Valka steeled herself as she looked between all of us with determination clear in her eyes. "We have to save the dragons."
"Aye, you got it!" Stoick said with a confident smile, then he, Valka and Gobber rushed back into the sanctuary to get their dragons.
Kala transformed out of sight of the enemy before coming back to my side. I smiled and mounted her back as I adorned my flight helmet and secured myself to the saddle.
"Alright, milady. Let's show these guys you don't mess with what's ours." I said as I gripped the handles, then we were speeding into the battle in no time.
As Kala and I sped into the heat of it all, I took notice of who all was fighting. Our entire team was here fighting the trappers and releasing the dragons from the traps. Eret was even riding Stormfly with Nanna, which was quite shocking. Right as I noticed who was steering Stormfly, I saw that there was a large icicle falling towards them, but before I said anything Kala had already sent a plasma blast toward the icicle, destroying it as soon as it made contact with the surface. I smiled under my helmet and scratched behind her left earplate as we sped over to the trio. I just barely noticed that we sped past Drago, hardly registering that he said something.
"Dragon Master."
I spared a glance back at the man as I heard it, but then shook my head and focused on making sure the others were alright. Once Kala and I made it into earshot of the trio, I lifted my flight helmet with a smile.
"Welcome aboard, Dragon Rider!" I joked, taking notice of how nervous Eret was trying to take his mind off falling off Stormfly's back.
"Thanks. I think." He said timidly as the grip he had on Stormfly just barely loosened.
"Where have you been?" Nanna asked worriedly as she looked Kala and I over for any injuries, being the worried sister-like friend she was as always.
"Oh, y'know. Catching up with my mother." I said with a shrug.
Our attention was caught when Valka emerged from the nest on Cloudjumper's back, her staff in hand. She then shook said staff and the Alpha broke his way out of the sanctuary and roared to make his presence known.
"Whoa..." Eret breathed out in awe.
"That's your mother?!" Nanna asked with wide eyes. "How?!"
"It's a long story, but now you know where I get my dramatic flair." I said with a smirk, then I flicked down my flight helmet as Kala and I broke right from where the five of us conversed in mid-air.
I surveyed the area to find where we could contribute to the fight, taking notice of a Zippleback getting caught in a trap. I growled under my breath and nudged Kala.
"Let's help some dragons get free."
Kala nodded and sped towards the traps, firing plasma blasts at the traps we passed and releasing the dragons who were caught within each of them. I looked back as they all flew away to safety and smiled, rubbing Kala's head. Just as we were heading to release more dragons, the both of us froze when we saw a larger Bewilderbeast emerge from the ocean. It was darker in color compared to my mother's and had shackles connected to its tusks. Many ships that Drago had brought with him were knocked over as the chained dragon rose from the icy depths below.
"Another one?" I whispered worriedly as Kala whined a bit.
"Not good..."
Our heads then snapped in the direction of Fishlegs as we heard him yell.
"I WAS WAY OFF! THAT IS A CLASS TEN! CLASS TEN!" He shouted as he steered Meatlug further away from the larger Bewilderbeast.
Once we were out of our shocked states from the new predicament, Kala and I put our focus back on releasing all the trapped dragons. I tried the best I could to keep my focus from being broken from all the chaos going on around us, but it was proving to be difficult the further the battle got.
Our attention was drawn away from our task when we heard a pained roar. Kala and I froze at the sight of the Alpha being impaled by the tusks of the other Bewilderbeast in the stomach.
"No..."
Kala whimpered as tears welled up in her eyes. "This can't be happening..."
The new Alpha stood over the corpse of the fallen king and roared loudly as he took control of all the dragons present. I growled a bit as I felt the pull, trying the best I could to ignore it. I looked at Kala with worry and saw that she was shaking her head as she fought the pull herself.
I rested my hand on her head as my grip on the saddle tightened. "You can fight it, love. You're alright."
After a couple seconds, Kala had stopped shaking her head, control over her body still hers as she went back to releasing dragons with plasma blasts. I smiled a bit, then put my focus back on pinpointing filled traps and directing her to them.
Once all the traps on our side of the beach were empty, we set our minds on heading to the other side to try and free the other dragons, but as we were heading that way I noticed that my mother was falling from Cloudjumper's back. It was as though time had slowed as I watched her fall, my heart skipping a beat in fear of her not making it, but relief settled in when my dad caught her not a moment later. I then caught Drago in my sight and growled. Kala glanced at me, then where I was looking and nodded, already knowing what was running through my mind. She took off in his direction and landed not too far away.
"DRAGO!" I growled out as I dismounted my mate's back and made my way over to him after removing my helmet, unsheathing my sword as I did.
Drago turned his attention to me and smirked. "This...is the Dragon Master? The son of Stoick the Vast? What shame he must feel." He said as he stalked towards me, trying to intimidate me.
"All of this loss, and for what? To become unstoppable? To rule the world? Dragons are kind, amazing creatures that can bring people together!" I said through gritted teeth, fighting hard with my instincts and the anger I felt because of the cruel man in front of me.
"Or tear them apart." Drago said venomously as he unhooked his prosthetic arm, showing me his stump in an attempt to falter me, but I stood there unfazed as I took in the prosthetic he held in front of me.
'Did he really think showing me a prosthetic arm would make me waver from fear? Wow. Kinda lame.'
"You see, I know what it is to live in fear. To see my village burned, my family taken. But even as a boy, left with nothing, I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons and liberate the people of this world." He continued, circling around me slowly.
"Then why a dragon army?" I asked with crossed arms as I kept my eyes on him as he circled me.
"Well, you need dragons to conquer other dragons." Drago reasoned as he came to a stop in front of me.
I glared at him, a growl forming in the back of my throat. "Or maybe, you need dragons to conquer people. To control those who follow you...and to get rid of those who won't."
Drago laughed and smirked at me. "Clever boy."
"The world wants peace. And we have the answer, back on Berk. Just let me show you." I explained as I lowered my sword, showing that I didn't want to fight.
"NO! Let ME show YOU." Drago growled out, then he began to bang his staff against the deck below us, yelling wildly as he summoned the new Alpha to him once more.
I felt the pull again and gritted my teeth as I resisted the urge to transform and follow his orders. I saw Kala whine and scratch at her head as the Alpha closed in on us.
"No dragon can resist the Alpha's command. So he who controls the Alpha, controls them all." Drago said with a sadistic grin as the Alpha stood behind him.
Drago then began to yell wildly once again as he commanded the Alpha to do something, and from Kala's reaction I noticed it was to put her under his control. She screeched and thrashed in pain as she fought the control of the Alpha. I could feel the pull on myself get stronger as well as the Alpha's intense stare bore down on the both of us. I tried the best I could to reach out to her and snap her out of it, but with how painful the pull was getting I could barely move.
"Witness true strength. The strength of will over others. In the face of it, you are nothing!" Drago shouted, seeming as though he thought I was frozen from fear.
As Drago was talking, the Alpha was able to gain control of Kala. I saw her pupils shrink down to slits that were frighteningly narrow in size. She slowly turned fully toward me, growling as she slowly approached. I gritted my teeth as my eyes closed tightly. I knew full well that I wouldn't be able to say a word with how difficult it was to fight against the Alpha's pull.
"Hiccup!" I heard, and I was able to catch a glimpse of my dad as he ran at full speed toward Kala and I. I gave him what I assumed was a look that told him to back off, but it didn't seem to register with him in the slightest as Kala prepared a plasma blast pointed my way. "SON!"
My dad then jumped in front of me, pushing me to the ground as he did and getting hit square in the chest by Kala's blast. I watched in fear as he hit a wall of ice hard, being knocked out from not only the plasma blast, but the impact against the ice. I tried to get up to get to him, but right as I got to a sitting position, a large piece of ice broke off the wall and fell on top of my dad in pieces. If the blast hadn't killed him, the ice surely did.
"DAD!" I yelled as tears began to stream down my face as I was finally able to move properly.
I rushed over to his side and moved the ice off his body as Valka rushed over to us and knelt down by Dad's side. She checked for his heartbeat as I cleared off as much ice as I could, but I could tell there was nothing to be heard as she looked up with tears in her eyes.
"No..." I breathed out, not wanting to believe the truth in front of me.
My father was dead.
I fell to my knees next to him as I felt the Alpha back down on controlling me as he turned away from us.
"No, no, no. No..!" I cried out as I clutched my father's chest, burying my face in the furs of his cloak. I heard Kala approach and whimper.
"Stoick..?"
My head snapped up and I glared daggers at her, not thinking straight as I did. "No! Get away from him!" I shouted at her, my sight blurred by the tears flowing freely down my face.
Kala froze in place, her earplates folding back as she shrunk down. "H-Hiccup I–"
"GO ON! GET OUT OF HERE! GET AWAY!" I screeched at her, not wanting to hear any excuses.
She whined as tears welled up in her eyes, then she turned and bolted away. As she ran, the Alpha took control of all the dragons once more and they all began to fly away from the sanctuary. I just barely noticed Drago mount Kala's back, forcing her to take to the skies as I turned my attention back to my father's limp body in front of me, tears flowing down my face like a waterfall.
~~~HTLANF~~~