fight till the end, h. haddock

19, it ends today.

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The thick, familiar fog trapped the Viking's ships as they sailed through the waters. Stoick stood at the front with Magnus, keeping an eye out for danger. "Sound your positions. Stay within earshot."

Viking's shouted distances to each other, letting everyone know where they were.

"One length to your stern," one of them said.

"On your starboard flank," said another.

"Haven't a clue," said a third.

Gobber glanced back at the last one, his brows furrowed. He stood by Stoick and cleared his throat. "Listen...Stoick...I was overhearing some of the men just now and, well, some of them are wondering what it is we're up to here." Stoick kept his gaze on the fog. "Not me of course, I know you're always the man with the plan, but some-not me-are wondering if there is in fact a plan at all, what it might be?"

"Find the nest and take it," Stoick growled.

Magnus looked back at Starthorne, noticing her ears twitching from side to side.

"Ah. Of course. Send them running. The old Viking fallback. Nice and simple," Gobber continued rambling, not noticing the Fury acting weird.

"Shhh," Magnus interrupted, as Toothless began chittering, his senses heightened. Starthorne's ears were standing straight up as she looked from side to side. "Step aside."

The Captain shooed a man away from the steering and took control, moving the ship from left to right, depending on which way Starthorne turned her head.

"Hard to port," one of the Viking's whispered, the others echoing the phrase as they prepared for a sharp turn.

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Drifa shuddered at the sight of the arena again. Her hand was still wrapped in bandages from the Monstrous Nightmare, but she couldn't blame it.

Hiccup squeezed her other hand, sending her a small smile of reassurance.

"If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle," Fishlegs said, making Drifa turn to face him.

Tuffnut shoved past everyone, getting super close to Drifa's face and grabbing her shoulders. "You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon. That's me."

"Uh..." Hiccup said, trying to intervene, only to be pushed away by Snotlout.

"I love this plan, babe!" he smiled, taking her hand in his.

Drifa cringed, leaning away and looking to Hiccup for help. She definitely didn't want Snotlout being the one to call her babe.

"You're crazy!" Ruffnut said, elbowing Snotlout out of the way. She glanced Drifa up and down, as if she were tempted to do something. "I like that..."

Astrid sighed, yanking one of the horns on Ruffnut's helmet and moving her out of the way. "So? What is the plan?" she asked, looking between Drifa and Hiccup.

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The Vikings looked around nervously in the fog, not sure what to expect. Stoick gasped at the sight of a familiar ship, yet it was broken and cracked into a million pieces.

"Ah," Gobber said, trying to fill the silent tension. "I was wondering where that went."

Starthorne started rumbling, her ears flickering back and forth again. She pulled against the restraints, thinking of eating them, but decided against it when she figured out how it tasted.