Dark Despair (Book 2: Together Forever)

Alive

Toothless's POV

I woke up to darkness.

Where am I? 

Then the memories came. They flooded my vision until it was hard to see. The memory of the fight. Then Hiccup yelling at me. Then hearing that Hiccup had flown back to Berk. Hiccup investigating the ship. Nets wrapping around me. Hiccup shouting. Me shouting back. Then a splash as something hit the water. And finally black.

Well, now I know where I am. I'm dead. In Helheim by the looks of it. Probably because I was selfish.

Dragons were in cages near me. They were talking.

"Woah! A Night Fury? I thought they were all gone." I heard a Terrible Terror ask.

"Sh sh sh. He's awake." A Scuttleclaw said.

The silence was immediate.

"How are you holding up?" A Fireworm asked.

"Well, I'm dead so fine I guess."

"You're not dead." The Fireworm responded.

"Of course, I am. I was captured by the Dragon Conqueror who has now teamed up with the Fury Killer and the Fury Killer always kills every Fury he sees."

"Wait! They've teamed up?!"

"No!"

"We've lost!"

"We're all going to die." 

"...Quick, Night Fury. Pretend to be asleep!" What? Why?

Then I heard the footsteps. Uh-oh!

I quickly followed the Scuttleclaw's warning.

"Well. You all are quite a noisy bunch." He approached my cage. "Tsk. He's still out. I was hoping to see if he was..." He didn't finish his sentence because a man came running into the room.

"Sir! I'm sorry to interrupt. But more of the dragons are escaping. This is the third time this week. There's also said to be a Night Fury out there!" I almost opened my eyes in shock but forced them to stay closed.

Hiccup, you idiot! What, in the name of all the Viking gods are you doing?

I heard the footsteps run out. I heard them linger and then continue. I sensed that all of the people had left because everyone started talking again.

"I wonder how they all got out?" The Scuttleclaw asked.

"Hiccup."

"Excuse me?" They all asked and stared at me.

"Hiccup, my brother. He let them out."

"Pardon me for asking, but how did a dragon open the cages." The Fireworm asked.

"Hiccup is special. He is the dragon prince and my brother."

The Terrible Terror scoffed, "There's no such thing as 'the dragon prince'! It's a myth!"

"Whatever, I won't waste my time trying to convince you otherwise. I already tried with my father. You all are one and the same."

"Oh, look who's trying to be the mighty king around here!" The Terrible Terror said.

"Actually... He was the King, but I think he gave it to someone else when he was captured." I looked at the Scuttleclaw confused. How did she know that?

"No, he's not! Why would he be the King?"

"I am. I gave it to my mate right as I was captured. My name is Toothless. Also, how did you know?"

They gaped at me.

The Scuttleclaw looked at her talons. "I felt something, but it was so faint that I didn't give it a second thought until Sharpshot pointed out that you were acting as the king. Also, my name is Budbite. The Terrible Terror is Sharpshot, the Fireworm is Flashfright, and the sulky Scauldron is Scauldy. How did you of all dragons get captured? I assume that most if not all dragons would've saved you because you seem like someone who is relatively friendly and nice."

I shifted about as much as possible. It was kind of sad for the King of dragons to be captured so easily.

"Well... I did it for my brother." I got some confused looks. "I saw him get attacked by the Dragon Conqueror's men and... I knocked him out of the way of a net."

They stared at me. "Why did you do it?" Sharpshot asked. I felt my fury building.

Why did I do it? Why? Is he seriously asking me that? "You want to know why?" My voice was deadly calm. "I did it because he is my brother. Because I love him. Because he has saved me from these exact situations many times. Because I felt bad for what I had put him through recently. BECAUSE that is what brothers do. SO you want to know why I did it. Because it is what any sane dragon would do!" A dead silence followed.

"He didn't mean it like that," Budbite said.

"Oh really? Then please tell me what he meant." The dragons coward away from me. Good, I've had enough of this attitude for the rest of my life. 

I let my eyes close. I was done. Done with these dragons. Done with the Fury Killer. Done with the Dragon Conqueror. Done with war. I was done with it all.

I let myself drift back to sleep.

Hiccup's POV

UGH!!!!! Still no sign of him. I asked the dragons every time I rescued them if they'd seen him and every time they told me that Furies would never survive here.

Three boats down. Hundreds to go.

This is going to take awhile. I'll never find him.

My ears perked and I dropped just in time to avoid being slashed by a Death Gripper. What, in Thor's name, are they doing? I just... No. No, I didn't there weren't any Death Grippers on any of the ships. Nevermind! 

I was flying away from them when I heard that whistling noise. I did a barrel roll just in time. Then someone gave a sharp whistle and more Death Grippers came after me. Arrows volleyed into the air. Okay, time for plan B.

I dove straight down into the water and roared.

I was in luck. There was a group of Scauldrons heading under the ships.

"Night Fury, why do you call us?"

"I need your help. I'm being attacked by the Fury Killer can you help me get away from here?"

They shared a glance, "I don't see why not?"

After five minutes of swimming, I headed for the surface. As they swam off I called after them, "Thank you."

It was a few minutes later that I realized I wouldn't be able to pull off another rescue mission. I had failed.

With those final thoughts I started the long flight back to The Hidden World.