The Dragon Master Part III: End of an era (A Httyd Fanfiction)

Chapter 33: War on the horizon

(Normal pov)

"Hiccup!! You need to calm—"

"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!!" Hiccup roared out to Astrid, who flinched at his tone, his anger faded and he shook his head as he realized he lashed out at his wife. "I'm sorry Astrid. I'm just..." The Hooligan chieftain ran a hand through his hair and growled out in anger. "...without our dragons? We're stuck up here with no way of getting down off this island and helpless to send messages to our allies because Grimmel forced our King of Dragons to follow him!!"

While the chief and chieftess were engaged in conversation, the rest of Berks people gathered and had weapons in hand. Gobber pushes through the crowds and approached Hiccup. "Eh, lad. The people would like to know what we're going to do." Turning to his people, Hiccup turned back Gobber and then looked back down to see the Cabal armada beginning to sail away.

"We have no choice but to wait for my Mom and Eret to return with reinforcements." Was Hiccup's response, he then sighed in complete disbelief of how Grimmel had once again managed to best him and treat him as if he were a child. Gobber nodded and informed the people of their chief's decision, while Astrid and the rest of the gang approached their friend.

"Hiccup? Talk to us, are you alright?" Heather asked, turning back to the ebony haired rider, Hiccup scoffed at her question and shook his head. "We shouldn't have gone to the Hidden World, Toothless wouldn't have had to have flown us back and that Light Fury wouldn't have followed us!!" Hiccup listed off and then let out an enraged cry as he grabbed a rock and hurled it across the edge of the cliff, turning back to his wife and friends, Hiccup continued. "Its because of me that the Hidden World is now without a king or queen and now the Cabal is heading there right now to kick the hornets nest. But when the dragons there see their rulers held captive? They'll have no choice but to stand down and become nothing more than slaves of war to the Cabal!! Because of me!!"

Hiccup then began to cry in anger, frustration, sadness and hopelessness. He had really screwed up this time, and now millions of dragons will suffer a fate far worse than death.

"Hiccup..."

"No, Astrid. This is my fault. We'll just... wait until my mother and Eret return with our Sami and Inuit reinforcements."

Sighing, Astrid turns to the others and lightly speaks to them. "Give is a minute?" They all nod in understanding, Fishlegs and Heather walk side by side, Asbjorn sighs lightly and takes his leave and the twins soon leave as well, with the intent of Tuffnut taking care of his sister after what she had gone through.

Astrid then stands side by side her husband and the two watch as the Cabal fleet continues to head toward the Hidden World. Their numbers in both man and ships are vast, their numbers will increase tenfold if they succeed at the Hidden World. So Astrid does what any good woman is supposed to do for her man: Be there for him when he falls down, comfort him with kind words and remind him of who he is and what he can do.

"Hiccup, you know you can talk to me right? I'm not just your wife and chieftess, but I'm also your best friend, that is human that is." Astrid then moved to stand in front of her husband. "Talk to me." She pleaded softly while caressing his cheek, he closed his eyes and leaned into her loving touch and sniffled lightly while tears still slid down his cheeks. "I don't... I don't know if I can defeat Grimmel. You've seen what he's capable of Astrid. He's... so much like me it scares me." Hiccup wipes his tears away and continued. "He relies on his intelligence as I do. I hate to admit it but... Grimmel and I are two sides of the same coin. We're both cerebral and both of us play this mind game where we try to anticipate each other's moves and countermoves. And so far? He has bested me on every turn."