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Ingrid's POV
Hiccup and I watched as all the adults load up the ship with supplies. I watched as some men tied Night Lily to a platform. Hiccup places his hand on my shoulder in a way to comfort me. I didn't respond, just continued watching the scene with a glare. The platform began to raise to the ship as Night Lily thrashed around trying to get free. Stoick started yelling about something that I couldn't pick up on or care about. He then turned his head in our direction. Stoick shook his head and turned away. I glared at his back and made an obscene gesture at him.
The ships started to set forth to Dragon Island. Hiccup and I stood at the docs until the ships disappeared into the horizon. My brother and I stood there in silence, not knowing what to say. I heard footsteps next to us but didn't bother turning to the person. We already knew who it was.
"It's a mess," Astrid spoke. "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything; your father, your tribe, one of your best friends."
I let out an annoyed sigh, "Thank you so much for reminding us. We needed the refresher. If you got nothing else good to say, can you please go away?" Hiccup and Astrid looked at me shocked at my rude response. I wasn't in the mood to care about how I spoke or how I sounded. "Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when we found him in the woods? Would have been better for everyone." Hiccup wondered.
"Yep. The rest of us would've done it. So, why didn't you?" Astrid asked. Hiccup and I looked at each other not knowing how to answer. I think I knew the answer just didn't know how to explain it to her.
"Why didn't you?" Astrid asked again.
"I don't know. I couldn't," Hiccup answered.
"That's not an answer," Astrid stated.
"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?!" Hiccup snapped also getting annoyed.
"Because I wanna remember what you both say right now."
"Oh, for the love of...We were cowards. We were weak. We wouldn't kill a dragon," Hiccup said.
"You said wouldn't that time," Astrid observed.
"Whatever! We wouldn't! Three hundred years, and Ingrid and I are the first Vikings who wouldn't kill a dragon," Hiccup said. Astrid didn't say anything as she stared into our eyes. Hiccup and I looked away from her.
"First one to ride one, though," Astrid corrected making our eyes widen, "So?" Hiccup didn't say anything to her.
She sighed, "Okay. Ingrid, why didn't you kill it?" I drew a breath as I thought of how to answer her. "I couldn't be because Toothless was just as scared as we were. I mean, I couldn't kill a downed animal. That's just wrong. I know this is gonna sound weird, but despite everything they did, I could never hate them for what they've been doing to them for the past hundreds of years. I mean they survive the only way they know to survive. Like, we see a bear hunting for food and say to ourselves 'it's only doing that to survive.' Dragons take our food so they can survive. We kill them to survive. When I looked down on Toothless, I thought that he had every right to live just as much as I did. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think we saw a bit ourselves in both of them," I explained.
Astrid nodded her head satisfied with my answer. "I bet she is frightened right now. So what are going to do about it?" Astrid asks.
"Eh, probably something stupid," Hiccup answers.
"You already did a stupid plan, and look how well that turned out," I said.
"Okay. Then something crazy," Hiccup stated as he started running.
"That's more like it," we started following him.
"You girls get to the arena. I need to get Toothless," Hiccup ordered as he ran to the forest.
"Alright, so what do we do?" Astrid asks.
"Well, we need all the help we can get. I want you to get the others at the arena," I said.
"And what makes you think they're going to get on those dragons?" she asks.
"I'll let you handle that part," I shrugged smiling.
"All right," Astrid laughed as she ran.
"Wait, Astrid," I called out making her stop, "Thanks a lot. For your help."
She smiled softly, "Let's go get our parents and your dragon back."
I nodded and ran to the arena.
I got into the empty arena and stood in front of the Monstrous Nightmare cell. I placed my hand on the wooden lock. "If you're planning on getting eaten, I'll go with the Gronkle," Fishlegs's voice broke me out of my trance. I turned to see all of the teenagers in the arena. Wow, they came.
"You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon. That's me," Ruffnut said walking up to me.
Snoutlout pulled Ruffnut away, "I love this plan."
"That's great," I answered.
"You're crazy. I like that," Tuffnut stated, getting close to my face.
Astrid moved Tuff away from me, "So what is the plan?"
I smiled, "Well, who wants the Monstrous Nightmare?" I asked. The teenagers looked at each other waiting for someone to answer. Then, Snotlout nervously raised his hand. "Okay! Open the gate," I ordered. Astrid ran over to the lever and the wooden lock began to move. When the lock was fully removed, I opened the doors and placed my hand forward. The red dragon cautiously forward, I tried my best not to break eye contact with the dragon as I led him towards Snotlout. When I was right next to him, I gently grabbed his hand and brought it to me. "Wait, what are you?!" Snotlout exclaimed. I shushed him, "Shh, it's okay." The dragon snorted making Snotlout flinch his arm away from my grip. I grabbed his hand again
"You're okay, you're okay. Just place you're hand here and don't yell. You don't wanna agitate him," I reassured him. I placed his hand on the dragon's snout and left his hand there. The dragon began to purr against Snotlout's hand. He began to laugh excitedly at the new bond. Then, I made my way to the weapon's crate. "Where are you going?!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"You're gonna need something to hold on to," I said grabbing a rope, and gestured towards the other dragons that were now out of their pens. The other teens looked at the dragons then back at me.
