The StormStriker and the Night Fury

7. Ready the Dragons!!!

Where did Hero go?

That's all Astrid could think about when she saw Saga drag them away. Now suddenly she's at the docks with the rest of the Vikings getting ready to find the Dragon's Nest. That worried Astrid.

She runs towards her friend's house and bangs on the door hoping for some answer, thankfully Freya opens the door with a panicked look on her face.

"What do you want?" She asks.

"Do you know where Hero is? I've been looking-"

Freya slams the door in Astrid's face, making her jump back in shock.

"What the...?" She mutters, taking her ax out and swinging through the wood. She hears a scream from the other side and silently prays she didn't just hit her friend's sister as she continued to tear the door down.

"Ugh! You couldn't just jump through the window or something!?" Freda shouts. "Get out!"

"No! Where's Hero!?"

"Not here, now get out!"

"Astrid!!!!" Hero calls from upstairs. "Help me, please! Mom locked my door shut and Freya has the key somewhere on her. Please get it!"

"Right!" Astrid responds, throwing her ax to the ground.

"And don't hurt her! She's still my sister!"

"I know!" Astrid stays still and takes a deep breath. "Freya, you need to trust your sibling."

"Shit, I should've known you were helping..." Freya mutters. "I'm not letting Hero out, I promised mom I wouldn't."

"Aren't you supposed to believe in your family though? Trust them, right? That's something I've always heard from you and your mother so please...just trust Hero."

"I don't want mom to die and I know you don't either." Hero adds, tears running down their face. "I just want to save the people close to me and I-" They bang on the door. "-can't do that from in here! Please, Freya! Please! If you don't let me out mom. Will. Die. Please help me..."

Freya stands there, hands to her chest. She doesn't know what to feel right now or what to believe but hearing her sibling break down into tears...she never wanted to see that. Never again. "Here..." She mutters, tossing the key to Astrid who swiftly catches it and runs upstairs to Hero's bedroom. Freya could hear the sounds of the door unlocking and Astrid pulling Hero into a hug, letting her friend cry into her shoulder.

"We need to find Hiccup..." Hero says, rubbing their eyes. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's okay, Hero, he's okay. Well...physically." Astrid mutters.

"Astrid..."

"Sorry. He's above the docks. He's been there since the ships took off. He looked miserable."

"Then I'll talk some sense into him. Come on."

The two run down the stairs and out of the house as Freya stands there, hugging herself, trying to process everything.

Hero suddenly runs back into the house and tackles Freya into a hug, sending the two of them crashing onto the ground. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I-I'm going to save our mom, I'm going to figure out how to get back to the Dragon's Nest, you can trust me I promise." Hero states.

"I know I can..." Freya whispers, cupping her sibling's cheek. "But that means you should probably go now..."

"Right...right." Hero gets off their sibling and runs back out.

Freya sits up and looks at the open door with a sigh, tears going down her face.

-----

Hiccup stared at the ocean in sadness. He felt terrible. Everything went wrong in the span of four to six minutes and it was all his fault. He could've just killed that dragon, but he didn't. He could've left Hero alone, but he didn't. Why wouldn't he just...do the right thing? For once?

"It's so fucked up, isn't it?"

Hiccup turns around in shock to see Hero stand next to him. "Where did you go?" He asks, frowning.

"I was locked in my room like a wild boar."

"What!?"

"But I'm fine now. I got out with Astrid's help."

Hiccup nods in understanding and the conversation went absolutely quiet.

"So...how do you feel?" Hero suddenly asks.

"Terrible."

"Same."

"Why couldn't I have just killed that dragon when I saw it?"

"He's not an it and his name is Toothless." Hero states, glaring at Hiccup. "Don't call our dragons "its" it's disrespectful."

"Stop acting like we're their best friends!" Hiccup snaps.

"Stop acting like we didn't just spend an entire entire month with those dragons, feeding and taking care of them!" Hero shouts back, before letting out a soft sigh and cupping Hiccup's cheek, forcing him to face them. "Hiccup, I know how frustrated you are and I know you wished you could be like every other Viking on Berk but the truth is that you aren't. You're not like other Vikings here and that's not a bad thing. You're Hiccup and you have empathy! One of the greatest gifts the gods could give you and you showed it through making an entire tail fin for Toothless and helping him fly again. Do you regret all that?"

"Yes."

"Tell the truth."

"..."

"See?" Hero says with a small smile as Hiccup places his hand over Hero's. "So...dragons are about to die. What are we going to do about it because with a heart as big as yours, I doubt you'd just let them die."

"Like you'd let me."

"You know me so well. So...?"

-----

Hero and Hiccup stood in front of the cage where all the dragons were. Standing in the arena again brought up some pretty bad memories but there wasn't any time to truly think about them when their worst nightmares were about to become reality.

"If you two are planning to get eaten, I'd go for the Gronckle." Fishlegs suddenly said from behind them, making the two turn around to see their classmates stand behind them, arms crossed.

Tiffnut shoves his sister to the side and stands in front of the two.

"You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon." He points to himself. "It's me."

Snotlout pushes him to the side and grabs Hero's hands. "I love this plan!"

"Thanks...?" Hero mutters as Ruffnut pushes him to the side and leans closer to Hiccup who looked visibly uncomfortable and leaned away.

"You're crazy." She says before her voice turns into a whisper. "I like that..."

Astrid pulls the woman by her hair and smiles at both Hero and Hiccup. "So, what is the plan?"

"You'll see." Hero smirks as Hiccup walks back to the gate and starts to open it. Inside were all the dragons they fought before. Hiccup focuses on the Monstrous Nightmare and leads it out to the other as they watch in awe.

Except for Snotlout. He tried to pick up a broken spear but Astrid caught him and forced him to put it back down.

Hiccup backs up to Snotlout and grabs his arm and moving it towards the dragon.

"Wait, what are you-!?" Snotlout exclaims, yelping and pulling his arm back then the dragons huffs at him.

"Relax, it's okay." Hiccup reassures, grabbing Snotlout's arm once again and replacing his own hand with Snotlout's.

Snotlout laughs in disbelief when the Monstrous Nightmare purrs into his hand. Hiccup smiles at him before walking away.

"Wh-Where are you going!?" Snotlout asks, slightly panicked.

Hiccup digs through a pile of equipment and pulls a rope out. "You're going to need something to hold on to..." He then motions to something in front of everybody and they turn to see Hero with all the other dragons they had encountered through their training.