Sorry so much for the extremely long wait. I had a lot of work for a month, and then I got sick. On top of that, I wanted to finish this story, so this chapter is freaking 15k words. Fifteen thousands. 15,000 words. However you want to write it, it was huge. And I wrote around 10k of it today, working on it nonstop since I didn't know when I could've had the time in the next few days.

Hope you enjoy the end of the first movie!

Hiccup was smiling. As much as everyone still was in danger, he couldn't help the happy feeling growing in his chest. He'd lived up to his father's standards. Not in the Viking way, he doubted he'd ever be able to do anything the Viking way, but in his own way.

It was an exhilarating feeling.

"What do you mean, stubborn and boar-headed?!" Stoick inquired, glaring at Gobber, who chuckled slightly nervously.

"Well, it wasn't me who ignored the warnings of the only one who'd actually been at the Nest," the blacksmith replied candidly, for once grateful that there was a dragon between him and the scowling Chief.

"How could I have known-"

"That he was telling the truth?" Gobber looked incredulous. "Maybe by listening to him?"

"How was I supposed to know it wasn't just some lie to save his dragon friends?!" Stoick thundered, slamming a fist down on his knee.

"Yet you immediately believed him when he said only a dragon could find the Nest?" Fishlegs piped up shyly.

"That's not because I believed him, it was because his words inspired an idea," the Chief stubbornly replied, crossing his arms like an oversized child. Every teen plus Gobber stared blankly at him, but he wasn't the Chief for nothing and he didn't crack.

"Okay, can we just get back to this 'movie'?" Hookfang snorted, accidentally setting Snotlout's ass on fire again. 'Yeah, I can totally see this becoming my favourite hobby.'

"He's not wrong, we're kind of in the middle of a big fight," Toothless agreed with a nod.

"You're not off the hook yet, Stoick," Gobber reminded his friend, shaking his prosthetic hook.

"Whatever you say, Gobber," the Chief replied blandly, staring straight ahead.

Gobber rolled his eyes and shook his head with a sigh. Chief and Heir were both more stubborn than he was persistent, so it was really hard to actually get them to change their minds or even just listen to him. At least he knew that in this particular occasion, Stoick already knew he was right, and was just being, again, stubborn.

The teens, on their dragons, fly in a circle to keep within earshot of each other. "Fishlegs, break it down!" Hiccup orders.

"Okay!" Fishlegs is shown riding the Gronckle, panting slightly. "Heavily armoured skull and tail made for bashing and crushing. Steer clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils, relies on hearing and smell." While he's saying that, the Red Death picks up a boat in its jaws and throws it again a pillar of rock nearby, shattering the ship.

Near its feet, the Vikings are still running.

"Never thought I'd say this, but good job Fishface," Snotlout clapped the taller boy on the back, for once honestly impressed with the teen's dragon knowledge. It also helped that for once, it wasn't pointless blabbering about dragons they would fight under the supervision of one of Berk's best dragon killers and thus blabbering they might actually need. And the giant dragon was an extra that really tipped the scale.

"Th-Thanks…"

All the Ingermans, not just Fishlegs's direct relatives, smiled at the sight. It was good to see the kind-hearted boy finally being recognized for his talent, especially since it was Snotlout who had said it.

"Okay. 'Lout, 'Legs, hang in its blind spot, make some noise, keep it confused!" Hiccup orders the two teens as they circle around. Unable to ride his own dragon, Hiccup is riding on the Nadder with Astrid clinging to his waist. Smart choice, always have the most experienced drive.

Stormfly rolled her eyes. As if she needed a human to 'drive' her. Hiccup's timing with Toothless might've been extraordinary, but she'd literally been born with wings for a reason.

"Ruff, Tuff, try to find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad."

Ruff puffs out her chest in pride. "That's my specialty!" she claims happily, before frowning when her twin protests, "Since when, everyone knows I'm more irritating. See?" He then turns his head of the Zippleback upside down and starts blabbering and making weird noises.

"Just do what I told you!" Hiccup tells them, proving that at least, they managed to irritate him. "I'll be back as soon as I can!" He then peels off with the Nadder, Astrid giving one last salute (or maybe reminder to the teens to do as Hiccup said).

"Likely the latter," Snotlout commented, still munching on that Thor-damned mutton. "Not that we wouldn't have followed his orders otherwise, because frankly I'd much rather listen to the guy who knows a lot about dragons, rather than just go ahead and try to fight that thing, but she probably thought she needed to remind us constantly."

"Can you blame her, you guys weren't exactly the definition of friends to me before… well, ever." To tell the truth, they had been friends, great friends, back when they were little kids. They had just grown up and taken different roads. While he was stuck at the starting line due to his 'runtiness' or whatever other flaw his father would come up with that day.

"Easy, H, he didn't say she shouldn't have, he just said it was redundant," Ruffnut spoke up, surprisingly defending Snotlout.

"You know what else is redundant?" Magmascale asked, irritated. "Your chatter while we're trying to watch how the war ends without the Blood Tyrant devouring everyone!"

"Calm do-"

The poor blue Gronckle who had tried to soothe the Nightmare's was rudely interrupted when said Nightmare spat napalm fire at her.

"Don't worry, we got it covered!" Snotlout reassures him as Fishlegs agrees and whoops.

"Are you excited?" Astrid asked incredulously, turning to look at the husky teen. "Are you insane?"

Fishlegs tried to shrink as much as he could, which wasn't much anyway. "What? Sometimes I get caught in the moment…"

The teens fly off, behind the Red Death and then up its back to stay out of sight for as long as possible.

The twins go right while the others go left, and the Zippleback flies right in front of the monsters while the twins make the perfect commentary.

"Troll!"

"Butt-elf!"

"Bride of Grendel!"

The two cackle as they fly away and then yelp in alarm when the Red Death's angered blast missed them by mere feet as the Zippleback ducks.

"Butt-elf?" asked Snotlout. "And what's Grendel?"

"My dear Snotman, a butt-elf is exactly what its name implies, a tiny sprite that lives in the rectal apparatus of dragons and other large creatures," Tuffnut explained, gaining a posh accent out of nowhere and freaking out everyone sitting around him – aside his sister, obviously, who was looking as posh as he was. "And Grendel is a mythological monster from the relatively recent poem of Beowulf, a great warrior and later king, poem that sees Grendel take the role of the first of the three antagonists, followed by Grendel's own mother and, ironically fitting, a dragon."

Everyone stared at the twins in absolute shock while the two returned to watch the movie. Now that they thought about it, while it was obvious that the twins were idiots, there was the little detail that no one ever managed to fully stop them from playing pranks. Planning a prank required intelligence. Were the twins secretly genius?

Snotlout and Fishlegs fly beside the head of the Red Death, banging their hammers against their shields (where did they get those?!) to try and disorient it.

"Are you sure that's gonna work on something so big?" asked Meatlug, doubtful. "Its roars are far louder."

"Any dragon's roar is far louder," Gobber shrugged, not really seeing the point.

"Perhaps it's because of the vibrations and the high pitch of the metallic sound, rather than the actual volume of the noise?" Fishlegs hypothesised hesitantly.

"That's actually more likely than just the noise," Stormfly agreed. "When you live with dragons, metal banging over metal is basically quiet."

Irritated, the Red Death opens all of its eyes – three on each side of its head. Fishlegs takes note. "Uh… this thing doesn't have a blind spot!" he calls out, probably hoping for a safer change of plans.

"That's one ugly mother-" the Viking was cut off by her neighbour, who pointed at the kids in the room, who had been in silent awe thorough the entire movie. They basically had stars in their eyes by then. The Viking who had been about to cuss begrudgingly shut up, not wanting to corrupt the younger children already.

Meanwhile, Hiccup and Astrid are flying around on the Nadder. After a turn, Hiccup points down at the burning ships, spotting Toothless's wriggling form amidst the flames. "There!"

He steers the Nadder towards the ships while behind them, the Red Death is looking annoyed at the several teens (with dragons) surrounding it. Hiccup hands the 'reigns' (it's a rope) over to Astrid, who looks quite worried (about driving, maybe?) and stands up before jumping off, landing on the deck of the ship, right in front of Toothless.

Looking back up at his girl friend, Hiccup shouts a final order, "Go help the others!", before he turns to try and help his dragon. Astrid and Nadder fly off, disappearing from view.

Hiccup pulls on Toothless's leather mouth restraint and successfully removes it "Okay, hold on, hold on," he tries to reassure the dragon, grabbing a broken spear to try and pry him free.

"I don't think you can really break those chains, Hiccup," Fishlegs said nervously. "I mean, if Toothless, who is a Night Fury, couldn't, well…"

Hiccup shrugged. "Do you have any other idea?"

Meanwhile, the Red Death, with the remnants of a ship still stuck in its teeth, is swaying slightly, disoriented by the metallic banging. Fishlegs cheers, happy to be still alive against all odds. "Yes! It's working!"

The view pans down to show Meatlug, and then also Hookfang, being disoriented by the noise just as well, flying unsteadily.

"I should've thought about that!" Hiccup exclaimed, frustrated that he'd forgotten their dragons would get influenced just as much, if not even more than the gigantic Queen.

"Have I ever told you you're great at messing up?" Snotlout remarked with a grin.

"Thanks," the boy gritted out, glaring daggers at the stouter teen.

"You were on the dragon that was getting disoriented, and you didn't even notice?" Astrid retorted, shutting the Jorgenson up. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Soon, Hookfang loses control and bumps into the Red Death's head, sending Snotlout flying. The boy lands on the head of the monsters and stops just short of falling off, but loses shield and mace, that tumble off onto the ground over a hundred feet below.

Everyone sighed in relief, especially Snotlout, who started to check himself for injuries and then, realizing it had only happened on the screen, started to check his onscreen self for injuries – he couldn't afford having his beautiful face ruined, after all!

"Well, that doesn't look too safe," Hookfang commented, seemingly unconcerned. Inwardly, he was slightly relieved he hadn't lost his rider before he even got one, but he had a reputation to uphold!

"Thank you, useless reptile," Snotlout grumbled, repeating almost word-by-word what Hiccup told Toothless.

Likewise, Meatlug starts to spin uncontrollably and flies down, swaying heavily. "Uh-oh, I've lost power on the Gronckle!" Fishlegs yells, worried, before throwing his hammer at Snotlout, who manages to catch it – though it does push him back against the Red Death's scales. "Snotlout, do something!"

"'I've lost power on the Gronckle'?" Snotlout repeated, incredulous, after he finished checking his onscreen self for injuries. "Seriously, Fishface?"

"What?" he defended himself. "I was under stress!"

"Technically, you will be under stress, since this hasn't happened yet," Tuffnut pointed out with a flourish before he adopted a serious expression. "Or has it?"

"Are you implying what I think you're implying, my dear brother Nut?" Ruff inquired, sharing a glance and a grin with her twin. "Could Fishlegs…"

"…not be from our time…"

"But be from the future?" they both finished at the same time, wearing matching cheeky grins.

Everyone else just either ignored them or rolled their eyes.

The Gronckle spins and spins before crashing onto the black sand of the ground. Fishlegs cheers, waving his hands in relief. "I'm okay!" he calls out just before the momentum turns the Gronckle upside-down, which ends up with Fishlegs underneath. "…less okay…"

Several snickers were heard, making him blush, although his parents looked worried. Their boy wasn't a fighter yet he was trying his hardest. They just hoped he wouldn't get hurt.

The Red Death, noticing boy and Gronckle on the ground, growls and raises a gigantic paw to crush them. Seeing this, Fishlegs yelps in terror and tries to crawl away.

"I can't miss!" Snotlout yells in… self-encouragement?… as he whacks the monster's eyes with the hammer, forcing it to wince and close them. "What's wrong, buddy, got something in your eye?"

"Thank you so much, Snotlout," Fishlegs's mother praised him, going as far as to bow down. Not enough to be kneeling, but still more than enough to stoke Snotlout's ego.

"Nice joke, too," Hiccup nodded smiling. "Especially considering how much stress you must be in, with being on its head and in the middle of a battle."

"That was a gutsy move, Snotlout," Astrid complimented him as well, her respect from him going from zero to at least two or three. Out of infinity, that is.

All the praise were almost making his head spin. Snotlout flashed everyone a cocky grin and a thumbs-up, but inwardly he was reeling. True, his future self had pulled off a badass move with a badass comment to go with it, but this particular kind of praise was unfamiliar to him. It was kinda like how he felt whenever his dad was happy he won the Thawfest games.

Was that how it felt to be honestly appreciated? That was new, but he couldn't say it wasn't welcome. It was definitely welcome at any time! And if making smart or at least sarcastic comments like that one earned him bonus points, then great! He'd start working on it as soon as possible!

Irritated by the hits, the Red Death roars and stomps down, missing Fishlegs by mere feet.

Everyone sighed in relief again, especially Fishlegs, who had just seen his life flash before his eyes.

If that kept up, and considering how dangerous flying even near that thing was that was likely to happen again, everyone in Berk would get white hair before even hitting fifty (and few had reached as far as fifty, with the war and all).

Astrid flies in on her Nadder and sees Snotlout still hammering away at the monster's eyes. "Yeah, you're the Viking!"

"What does even mean?" Stormfly asked, confused.

"You try to give him an actual compliment," the Shieldmaiden-to-be replied, rolling her eyes. "Besides, I told him what he wanted to hear, no?"

"Hey!"

Snotlout looks up at her with a semi-incredulous smile, not expecting the praise, and missing the fact that the eye he was stepping on was looking right at him. He hammers the middle eye of the row, not even watching where he was hitting. Annoyed and now with a target, the Red Death shakes its head, dislodging the boy and almost tossing him off.

"Whoa!" Snotlout loses the hammer, which tumbles down, but he manages to hold onto one of the monster's neck ridges with his right hand, looking down at the ground far below.

"That was way too close for comfort!" Snotlout exclaimed, scared for himself for the second time in less than five minutes. "Where are you guys! We're supposed to be fighting this together!"

"They're probably trying, Snotlout, but none of your dragons' flames is doing any damage against the Queen," Hiccup reminded him. He almost put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but then he thought better. "Honestly I'm not even sure if Toothless can do anything against it."

Toothless thought about it, and eventually shrugged. "No idea."

Snotlout, meanwhile, was having the oddest inner conflict. It was odd because it shouldn't have been there in the first place! But he did feel the slightest bit disappointed when Hiccup retracted his hand. Not that he wanted to be comforted by him of all people, but at least it would've been something. His future self was the one risking his life the most at the moment, and he would've really even if not outwardly appreciated some support.

Of course, he didn't need it, because the only support Vikings needed were the support beams for the houses, or at least so his dad always said…

…

Perhaps he and Hiccup had more in common than anyone would think.

Distracted by the teens and their dragons, the Red Death turns around, possibly following Astrid, and smashes its tail on the burning ships, destroying a good bunch of them.

As he's working on freeing Toothless, with no success so far to be precise, Hiccup is surprised as a charred mast crashes on the deck right in front of them, throwing him aside.

The Red Death then stomps down, hitting their ship and trashing it completely, throwing boy and dragon in the water, surrounded by a bajillion bubbles.

"Hiccup!" shouted Stoick, deafening the teens and the Night Fury, who had had the misfortune of sitting near him. Or well, to be honest, he had sat beside them not too long prior, so it wasn't really their fault.

"Dad, I'm here and I'm safe and sound, although I can't say the same for my eardrums," the boy piped up from right beside him. It was a small miracle all by itself that he hadn't already gone deaf after living with the man for fifteen years.

Stoick looked at his left, then looked down, meeting his son's deadpan stare. The mighty Chief of course hid a cough into his beard. "Right. Well, you may be safe, but if this is the future, then it's bound to happen, and if you get hurt…"

Hiccup wanted to roll his eyes -if death was his future, well he'd just have to change it- but he suppressed the urge for his father's sake. He knew he was worried about the others, so he couldn't fault people for being worried about him. "Dad, I'll be fine," he stressed before reaching out with a hand to pet Toothless from over Astrid's shoulders. The dragon purred lightly – Toothless was actually really glad he could still make dragon noises even with his newfound voice – and the boy relaxed ever so slightly. "I'm more worried about Toothless…"

Said dragon immediately stopped purring and glared at him. "Of course you are," he grumbled, shaking his hand off. "Stop putting me before you!"

"Sure, when you stop putting me before you."

"…You win this round, but it's not over, Hiccup."

Toothless, still bound by chains and metal hoops, tries to roar in distress as he realizes what just happened, but almost no sound comes out. Dramatic music begins to play.

Hiccup determinedly swims down towards his dragon, both quickly sinking to the bottom.

"Wait a second, weren't the ships basically on the shore?" Fishlegs asked, confused.

"Yeah, and I remember one of the ships scraping against something in the water earlier," Snotlout added, frowning slightly in thought.

"The shore may look like it's just a gentle slope, but it goes almost straight down as soon as you get in the water," a Scauldron explained. A few Vikings were startled, since Scauldrons weren't known for staying at the Nest but swimming freely. "Trust me, I could easily swim right up to the shore with no problem at all. And the ship must've scraped against a seastack – they have spike-like protrusions both over and under the water. It's actually pretty deep for a shore, though not ocean-deep or anything. Like, the length of one of your ships, maybe two."

Hiccup reaches his dragon on the bottom, stopping in front of him. Toothless shakes his head, whether to try and free himself or to send him away is unknown. The boy lays a hand on his snout to tell him he's there and he's staying before grabbing one of the chains.

"You know, for a little twig, you actually swim pretty well," Tuffnut commented, eyeing the underwater heir with a critical eye… his good critical eye.

"What does my impressive physique have to do with swimming well?" Hiccup replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes for good measure. He wasn't sure why people thought being small meant being able to do literally nothing at all, but it was annoying. Really annoying.

"Well you still need strength in your legs to do that," Ruffnut countered, pointing at the boy's skinny limbs. "Sorry Hiccup but little birds have more mass than you."

Hiccup rubbed his forehead in irritation. Another really annoying thing was that everyone always pointed out his lack of body mass, but no one ever mentioned the fact that the twins and Astrid were just slightly taller than him, and no less scrawny. "Thanks a lot, Ruff."

"We're here to serve!"

Hiccup vainly tries to pull the chain, with Toothless squirming to help him out, but it's futile.

"Hiccup, I know this will probably be useless to you considering your… ehm-ehm, raw Vikingness," Stoick's little jab gathered a few chuckles from Vikings and dragons alike. Much to Hiccup's chagrin, teens and Toothless were amongst those. "But pulling on the chain is pretty much useless. You'd need a lot of strength even in normal conditions. Being underwater basically reduces your strength to zero. And not being able to breath doesn't help, really. You should've tried to break the hinges of Toothless's wooden restraint, to which the chains were attached."

Hiccup felt his irritation grow at the chuckles, but he sighed and nodded in acknowledgement to his father's advice. As embarrassing as the jab had been, it was also true. Hiccup may not have been useless but he wouldn't win strength contests anytime soon… probably never. "Thanks, Dad, for your undying support."

Stoick flinched, wondering if he'd gone too far already, but then he saw Hiccup's annoyance and relaxed, realizing it was just teenage angst over what he looked like. 'Gobber was right, it's not what you look like, son. And now it's not even what's inside.'

"You should've tried to use a knife," Astrid added, nudging him slightly to get his attention. "Makes for better leverage than your hands, even though you can't cut through metal that easily."

Hiccup keeps pulling the chain, but soon he runs out of air. Eyes closing, he is then grabbed by a large hand, Toothless roaring in surprise and fear as he's left behind.

Stoick emerges from the water, soaked and without his helmet, with a big intake of breath. He lays Hiccup down on a rock near the shore, where the boy sits up, coughing from the water he's accidentally breathed in. "Dad?" he calls out incredulously upon seeing the giant of a man in front of him.

Not answering, Stoick dives back into the water with another large breath.

Stoick sighed in relief before seeing his son's worried expression. He rolled his eyes, already knowing what his future self was going to do, though seeing that his son didn't believe he would even after seeing the teens riding dragons against the Queen did hurt a little bit. It was pain he deserved, of course, for being such a dumb father for years, but it was still there.

Gobber, not too far away, glanced at his Chief, knowing what was going through his head at the moment. He felt really sorry for the man. He'd tried his best, but between a village full of whiny Vikings and the war, there was little patience left for his son's disastrous attempts at being a Viking. The two of them actually kind of got along whenever battle wasn't mentioned, but ever since Hiccup got it in his head that he needed to kill a dragon so that his dad would finally be proud of him, even the usually non-violent boy had become all but obsessed with the war.

It was truly a sad thing to think about… so, in a true Gobber fashion, he just stopped thinking about it.

"You do know he's going to go back to get your dragon, right?" Snotlout asked the heir, knowing fully well the answer was going to be a negative one. He knew his father wouldn't, but Uncle Stoick was different. He was better. Snotlout was actually kinda jealous of Hiccup. Spitelout loved him for sure, but he was really strict and demanding. He would've liked if his father stopped being so much like… well, Snotlout himself… and showed him some affection from time to time. At least Stoick wasn't afraid of showing affection toward Hiccup.

"I do. Me in the future? Not so sure."

Underwater, Toothless is starting to feel the lack of oxygen, his head lolling down, disoriented. He perks up, alarmed, when Stoick swims up to him.

Viking and dragon stare at each other for a second, trying to get a read on the other, before Stoick surges forward, gripping the wooden hoop around Toothless's neck. The dragon, unaware of his true intentions, shrinks back, afraid.

He knew he shouldn't have felt that way, but he was really proud that he could scare even a Night Fury! Granted, a tired, caged, drowning Night Fury already scared by the Queen, but still!

Then he remembered his son had actually shot down said Night Fury when he was perfectly healthy, and how the dragon had been scared and accepted death when his son went to kill him, and his ego deflated.

He strains for a second before the metal hinges break off from the wood, freeing the dragon.

"Yes!" Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and Stoick all shouted excitedly before exchanging glances and bursting out laughing at each other's stunned faces.

"Thank you, Dad," said Hiccup, laughter receding and for once without an ounce of sarcasm in his voice.

"You're welcome, son."

Viking and dragon stare at each other for another second, trying to get another read on each other, since the first had obviously been wrong. Then Toothless surges forwards, grabbing Stoick on the way.

The two of them burst from the water and the Night Fury drops the Viking on the shore with a small growl.

"Those were some deep parallels," Ruffnut noted, in awe.

"Yeah, it really showed how both of them misjudged the other," Tuffnut replied, nodding in understanding. "It's probably a symbolic parallel that doesn't address them alone, but covers the whole meaning behind the war, Vikings and Dragons misjudging each other. It's really touching if you think about it."

Everyone else rolled their eyes. It had just been a staredown or two. Nothing to get so excited about. The fact they were still alive was what mattered. Hiccup ignored the twins to pat Toothless on the head. "Thank you too, bud."

Khor, meanwhile, was staring at the twins in shock. He hadn't thought about it that way right up until the moment the twidiots said it. How could he have overlooked it?! He was supposed to be a fan of their story, dammit!

The dragon flies up to a rock nearby, from where he looks at the Red Death, growling and snarling at the empty air in front of it. Not the brightest dragon, it seems. The Night Fury flicks his head toward it, signalling Hiccup to get on and get going.

"It's relatively smart, to be honest, much smarter than Terrible Terrors and lots of other dragons, but far dumber than me right now," Toothless informed everyone with a little frown. Not that anyone could tell, considering that as expressive as his snout was, he still was a dragon.

"What do you mean, right now?" Fishlegs inquired, eager to find out more about the Night Fury and dragons in general. That was stuff not even the Book of Dragons could help with!

"Well, spending time with Hiccup really helped… I guess that being in close contact with a human also helped me… develop a more human personality, I suppose?" He did the dragon equivalent of a shrug, shaking his head, and continued, "I've always been more intelligent and more… complex… than other dragons, but now the gap is much greater."

He glanced at the Nadder sitting not too far from them, the one who will soon be named Stormfly. "Look at her. At first she didn't care about anything, now she's actually given a few compliments to me and Hiccup, and she's actually managed to remember our names, instead of calling us 'the hatchling' and 'the Night Fury'. All because of what? An hour or so of being in close contact with humans?"

"I guess we've never thought about it that way before," Stormfly admitted reluctantly. Not that she minded being called intelligent, of course, but to go as far as to say that she was becoming more human… that was maybe going a little too far.

"Well, I guess it's the same for Vikings," Hiccup commented, earning himself everyone's attention. "Oh come on, don't tell me that normal people run around roaring and screaming battle cries and waving sharp objects against everything that moves, including me, apparently." The Viking that had roared in his face chuckled sheepishly. "We've been fighting the dragons for so long that they have learned where we keep the food and how we usually fight, and we've learned the same as well as increasing our… uh…"

"Savagery?" Astrid suggested helpfully. "Anger issues? Violent personality?"

"Yes, all of the above. As I was saying, it's not really that surprising to see that both species learn from one another."

Khor started to bang his head against the floor, disappointed in himself for not realizing that sooner as well. Thankfully everyone was too engrossed with the future to notice him.

"You got it, bud," Hiccup nods as he runs up to his dragon, jumping onto the saddle, hooking himself onto the harness and putting his foot on the pedal.

"Hiccup!" Stoick grabs his arm, stopping him. Hiccup gives him a wary look, not knowing what to expect.

The Chief takes a second to choose his words before he speaks, "I'm sorry. For… for everything."

Stoick secretly took notes. He'd need to get used to talking with his son, not to his son or at his son. The first required both of their input, the second required Hiccup to listen and the third (which was what he had been doing since forever or so it felt) was just him talking and no one listening. That needed to change. The first was acceptable. The second was ill-advised, but could still work from time to time. The third was unacceptable, completely unacceptable.

Slightly taken aback, Hiccup nods. "Yeah, me too."

"You don't have to go up there," the Chief reminds him, glancing behind his son's shoulders at the gigantic dragon rampaging on the beach.

"We're Vikings," Hiccup reminds him, slightly amused. "It's an occupational hazard."

A lot of laughter broke out, Snotlout and the twins first and foremost. Stoick and Hiccup, highly offended, glared at the three of them with identical scowls.

"I'm sorry!" the stocky boy shouted, trying to catch his breath. "It's just… you two are so alike and you don't even realize it!"

"Yeah, and the parallels just keep coming!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

Stoick rubbed his forehead and sighed, shaking his head in disappointment at the three of them.

Hiccup sighed and rubbed his forehead, shaking his head in disappointment at the three of them.

Both unaware the other had done the exact same thing.

Taking his hands into both of his (which is really unneeded since one is enough to completely engulf Hiccup's), Stoick continues, "I'm proud, to call you my son." He then releases his hand.

Hiccup smiled, emotions piling up. "Thanks, Dad."

Hiccup nods, emotions piling up. "Thanks, Dad," he says breathlessly.

The boy then crouches down on the dragon, who crouches down on the ground before taking off in a blast. Stoick is left looking after them, wondering how things will go.

Hiccup and Toothless take to the skies. Astrid, seeing the two flying up, shouts to the others, "He's up!"

A few Vikings warriors are seen still there, looking at the giant monster, when Astrid flies overhead, the twins close behind her.

"Get Snotlout out of there!" she orders them.

"I'm on it!" exclaims Ruffnut.

"I'm on it!" Tuffnut says half a second later.

Immediately they start to squabble, with Tuffnut saying he's on it first (even though they're on the same dragon) and Ruffnut telling him to let her drive (even though they're on the same dragon), to which he replies with a 'don't push me'.

The other teens shot the twins unimpressed looks. "Can't you stop your arguing, at least for a few minutes?" Hiccup asked, exasperated. Was that something he'd have to put up with, after being accepted by the rest of the teens? He dreaded to find out.

"Hey, she didn't want to let me drive, of course I'd defend my rights," Tuffnut protested.

"Me? You're the one hogging all the space, I want to drive!"

"Nevermind…" Hiccup shook his head and glanced at Astrid, who just shrugged, indicating it was indeed something pretty common for the twins and thus crushing all his remaining hope. At least he could look forward to being friends with Astrid… and maybe… something more? Later? Possibly?

The twins continue to argue as they approach the Red Death's head. Snotlout, seeing them come, gets up and runs up its head, using its stump of a horn as a stepping stone to jump off of. He disappears from view for a second before he's seen hanging between the Zippleback's necks.

"Hey, I can't believe that worked!"

Astrid follows them, but the Red Death turns its head, as if only now noticing (it's old and senile, give it a break) the bothersome teens. It starts to breathe in, sucking in the Nadder and her rider.

"ASTRID!" Half the village shouted, some louder than the others, amongst which her parents and the other teens. Astrid herself sat rigidly against Toothless's scales, staring straight ahead.

She might've been Fearless Astrid Hofferson, but that didn't mean she wanted to die. Especially, that didn't mean she wasn't affected by seeing herself so helpless. If she lost her grip, or if someone didn't distract the Red Death soon, she'd be eaten in a heartbeat.

When Hiccup's hand suddenly appeared in hers, she didn't complain. She felt him squeeze her hand slightly, and squeezed back, but just barely. She didn't need comfort, or at least she didn't want anyone to know that she would appreciate it. It wasn't that she actually needed comfort, but it was much better with it. Everything was better with comfort and support.

Meanwhile, in Hiccup's head, all thoughts about the others disappeared. 'I have to save her. Me, or anyone! Just save her!' he said to himself, rigid with worry and fear. 'Khor said the war would end in a way no one could've predicted, which is pretty much too vague for guesses… but does this unexpected end result in Astrid's death?' He shut his eyes, preventing tears from forming in the first place. 'No, it can't be. She's the reason why I stayed, in the future… and I suppose now too. I can't let her die. What I said earlier is true for her too – if her future is one of death, then we'll change it. Sacrifices may have to be made, but that's a sacrifice I am not willing to make. She can't die. She won't die.'

The whistle of a Night Fury cuts through the air as the dragon's silhouette races through the cloudy sky.

"Night Fury!" a voice, presumably Spitelout, calls out as everyone crouches underneath their shields.

Gobber covers his head with his hand. "Get down!"

Astrid's Nadder is now just a few metres away from the monster's gaping maw, and the girl is clinging onto the saddle like a lifeline to avoid being sucked in. A dot in the sky appears as the whistle increases, until the Night Fury comes into view, getting closer.

Just as the monster is about to eat Nadder and rider whole, the dragon fires a plasma blast that hits its lower jaw, causing an explosion that pushes it away, but also knocks Astrid off the saddle. The girl starts to fall, screaming.

Many, who had started to relax upon hearing the Night Fury's signature whistle, tensed up again. While some Vikings could survive falling from a great height, Astrid was just a teen, and a thin one too – no offence meant to her, of course. A fall from that high was almost guaranteed to be fatal.

Hiccup was the only one who allowed himself to relax more. Toothless would catch her. No, he and Toothless would catch her. In the air, there was no difference between the two. They both flew and they were both flightless without the other.

Toothless flies up, spins around and inverts his vertical speed, racing back down.

The Nadder flies away as Astrid continues to fall. However, before she can actually hit the ground, a black shape (of obvious origins) bolts by the screen, taking her with it. The dark shape is revealed to be Toothless and Hiccup, the latter of which turns back to check if the girl was still falling or not. "Did you get her?"

Toothless looks down at the girl he's holding by the boots, who smiles up at him. He smiles back in his own way, crooning.

"Were you answering me or greeting her?" Hiccup wondered as everyone relaxed once again. Beside him, Astrid patted Toothless's neck.

Toothless shamelessly enjoyed the neck rubs he was getting from both teens. "Yes."

'What are you, American?' Khor snorted to himself.

Toothless tosses her up and catches her by the arm before using his back paws to set her straight as he gently drops her on the shore. She breaks into a short run to slow herself down without faceplanting into the sand, watching as boy and dragon fly off to fight the giant Queen.

"Go," she tells him breathlessly, even though he cannot hear her.

Astrid smiled. Perhaps Hiccup and Toothless on their own wouldn't be enough to defeat the Red Death, but if she had any money to bet, she'd bet they could and would kill that tyrant.

"Aww, she has so much fate in her mate, that's adorable!" Zippy and Zappy, an electric yellow Hideous Zippleback, commented cheerfully.

Astrid sent him a glare and rolled her eyes, having long since given up on correcting people. They turned a deaf ear every time she tried anyway, so why even bother?

Astrid's parents, and of course Stoick and Gobber, all exchanged smiling glances. Their babies were growing up! Gobber even had to wipe a tear from his eye. 'My little bundle-of-clumsiness apprentice finally got himself a girlfriend!' he thought, touched.

Unbeknownst to him, he wasn't the only one. 'My little murder-happy Shieldmaiden got herself a boyfriend!' Astrid's father thought, smiling tearfully.

Aside from those five, everyone else didn't really react to the onscreen Astrid's single-word sentence. It wasn't of any particular importance to them.

Flying back up, Hiccup looks down at the Red Death, coming to the unbelievable realization that… "That thing has wings…"

"Such an amazing eye for details," Snotlout drawled sarcastically. "Now we know that it's a dragon and not some overgrown ugly fire-breathing lizard."

"Why, thank you," Hiccup smiled thinly. "I'm grateful you appreciate my incredible skills."

"Okay, let's see if it can use them!" the two of them climb higher into the sky before Toothless turns around and races back down, pressing his wings together to reduce the air's resistance and increase their speed.

The Night Fury's whistle starts, growing louder as the two pierce through the clouds and see the Red Death, closing in fast until they finally blast it, pulling up immediately afterwards.

"Bullseye!" cheered Toothless, grinning like crazy.

"Don't get too excited," Meatlug replied, worried out of her mind. "One blast won't be enough to kill the Blood Tyrant…"

The Night Fury pouted and huffed. "Oh come on, let me have my fun!"

"You can have your fun when we're out of danger," retorted Hookfang.

"You're just a scaredy-cat," Stormfly teased him, grinning smugly or at least trying to considering her draconic features, leaving the Nightmare to sulk.

The explosions knocks down the Queen, that roars in pain as it is brought down, kicking up a huge cloud of dirt.

"Yeah! I rule!"

Several Viking creep closer to see if it's dead, with Gobber, Astrid and Stoick being first and foremost, swiping at the dirt cloud to clear their vision.

In front of them, the Red Death's enormous wing opens with an ominous music playing in the background.

"Okay, maybe I don't rule," Toothless admitted, slightly cowed by the sight paired with the music. "Though that might just be the music."

"It's okay, Toothless, we'll find a way," Hiccup reassured him. He already had a couple of plans that his future self should try out. The first was to try and injure it using the sea stacks – while the Night Fury would be able to easily avoid them, the Red Death wouldn't. If that failed, then they could fly high up into the sky and hide within the clouds, wearing it down and poking holes in its wings before leading it down and using what he'd learned from the Terrible Terror to set it on fire from within and letting it smash onto the ground. The second plan was a bit more complex than he'd like, considering just how dangerous it was to stay near that thing for even just one second, but there weren't many other options.

Viking support wouldn't help since weapons and artillery wouldn't do anything. Even Toothless's blast hadn't killed it, though hopefully it had injured it.

The scene changes to Hiccup and Toothless flying over the seastacks. "You think that did it?" asks the boy, turning back to check.

Behind them, the Red Death rises into view, beating its gigantic wings and roaring in defiance and anger at them.

A few Vikings and dragons fainted at seeing the giant bulk of the Queen flying after the two. Stoick was clenching his fist so tightly, he was almost compressing air particles.

Turning back to Toothless, who's looking at him expectantly, Hiccup confirms, "Well, it can fly." Snorting, the Night Fury speeds up, heading into the sea stacks surrounded by fog.

They avoid the Red Death's jaws and start to slalom through the sea stacks with the monster following. The Queen smashes right through a huge arc of rock even bigger itself.

Hiccup winced. So no on Plan A, and onto Plan B, the very dangerous one. His father would be unbearably overprotective for months after this. Perhaps even years.

Stoick gritted his teeth in frustration. Just how tough was that dragon?! True, Fishlegs had -probably correctly- classified it as a Boulder Class, literally the dragons with the toughest skin, but that monster shouldn't have been able to break through dozens of thousands of tons of solid rock like it was nothing!

Astrid was feeling frustrated as well, though for a similar but different reason. While she knew that, as an inexperienced rider, she would only get in the way if she tried to hop onto the Nadder again and help, it still didn't sit right with her to just be useless as Hiccup risked his life to save them. But that frustration soon turned into determination. Once Hiccup ended the war, she'd train with her dragon as hard as she trained with her axe, so that she'd never leave him to fight alone.

The Vikings watch as Hiccup and Toothless races past, with the remaining teens amongst them. Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout and Fishlegs start to cheer him on, followed by the other Vikings. All but Stoick, Gobber and Astrid, who knows it's far from safe.

"Oh, cheer up you three sad yaks!" Snotlout exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "What's wrong with being happy?!"

Then the Red Death rushes by, smashing all the sea stacks to dust, and the crowd is silenced.

"Is that enough of a reason for you?" Astrid retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Snotlout opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. Then he frowned and grumbled, "Shut up, Astrid."

As they're being chased, Hiccup looks up, ignoring the Red Death smashing another sea stack, and sees the dark clouds overhead. "Okay, Toothless, time to disappear!"

"What?! Now you can make yourself invisible?!" complained Tuffnut. "Why does he always get the cool stuff?! I only have you as a sister!" he added, kicking Ruffnut, who then punched him back, offended.

"Come on, bud!" The two of them fly up with a change of the tailfin, leaving the Vikings to gasp in surprise. The Red Death tries to bite them, but misses horribly. Then it decides to go for another method and opens its mouth, filling it with gas.

"Here it comes!" Hiccup calls out before the Queen ignites the gas, sending a huge pillar of fire towards them. The two evade it before the Queen flies through it, spreading the smoke.

The three of them, two dragons and one monster, fly through the clouds, disappearing from the Vikings' view.

Toothless smirked smugly when even the narrator called Hiccup a dragon. Beside him, Stormfly rolled her eyes.

The Red Death makes another attempt at eating the two, but only bites air. Beating its wings to still itself, it looks around, trying to pinpoint their location in the clouds.

The very empty clouds are all it sees.

Down below, the Vikings watch as its roars and growls can be heard from within the layer of fog, all of them apprehensive, especially Stoick and Astrid, at the front.

Back within the clouds, the Red Death looks around, when a black shape races across the screen with a whistle. Music builds up before a plasma blast pierces the fog, hitting the monster in the right wing, where it attaches to the body.

The Queen roars in pain as it slowly turns around, but the Night Fury never shows itself, and never misses.

Hiccup and Toothless both smirked, one because he said those very same things when he was narrating the beginning, and the second because he was damn proud of his stealth skills… though his actions back at the village might've not been exactly stealthy, especially throwing that bucket so carelessly.

"Will that be enough to kill that thing?" Snotlout spoke up, doubtful. "I mean, it's huge! Plus Toothless was terrified of it." She shrank away from Astrid's glare. "Just saying, of course."

"That thing can't see Toothless, plus those blasts are totally awesomely destructive," Ruffnut waved off his concerns, as if there was no doubt it'd work. "As long as they stay in the clouds, the only thing that can harm them is a lucky shot."

"Or would it be an unlucky shot?" Tuffnut added, rubbing his chin in thought. "You know, because for Hiccup, it would be pretty unlucky. So should we consider Hiccup's perception of lucky, or the Red Death's perception of it?"

"Oh, shut up, you two!" Snotlout exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation. "Muttonheads," he muttered, almost as an afterthoughts.

"Though Ruffnut is right, Toothless does have the advantage there," Fishlegs shyly pointed out, indicating the clouds. "There's no way the Red Death can aim if it can't see them."

Toothless rushes by and the Queen tries to turn around to follow him, but he's gone again. Above it, Hiccup and Toothless watch it for a split second before diving again, blasting the same spot and disappearing again.

They dive again and blast the other wing's base, racing by before the Red Death can catch them.

Several shots are shown, with each of them the Night Fury and his Rider injure the Red Death's wings further and further without being caught.

"Five, six…" Fishlegs muttered, trying to keep count of how many shots could a Night Fury fire before he ran out.

Hiccup glanced at him, and rolled his eyes, knowing fully well the answer. "Toothless's shot limit is six, Fishlegs," he explained, petting the dragon's head. "But he recharges them very quickly. By now, the shots he fired to save Astrid and to get it into the air probably don't even count any more."

'Lucky bastard,' some of the dragons thought. Even though there were dragons with more than six shots, like the Monstrous Nightmares, recharging it quickly was actually very useful. And besides, with how powerful a Night Fury's plasma blasts were, even six would usually kill all but the toughest dragons.

Down below, the Vikings watch in awe as the blasts illuminate the huge silhouette of the Red Death within the clouds.

Back to said monster, it roars in fury and gathers the gas in its mouth to fire again, breathing flames and death in every direction as it twists its body and neck.

"You were saying?" Snotlout glared at Ruffnut and Fishlegs for jinxing it. "It couldn't hit them? It couldn't aim? Check again, muttonheads!"

"Hey, how was I supposed to know it could do that?!" Ruffnut protested, feeling attacked… which she was.

Hiccup, flying through the clouds with his dragon, looks back to see the oncoming wall of flaming demise and warns his friend, "Watch out!"

The two manage to escape the fire, but Toothless's leather tailfin is damaged and the burning embers are threatening to destroy it entirely.

"Oh no, Hiccup!"

Astrid slammed a fist on her knee, feeling utterly useless. "Damn it, that's not fair!"

"How did it even catch fire, it would need a Nightmare's liquid fire to stick to things, or at least a Gronckle's lava! Gaseous fire like that can't just stick to things and it needs to hit directly to burn!" Fishlegs ranted, feeling cheated by the universe and by the Gods… although he wouldn't risk Odin's wrath and mention that second one. "Fire takes time to burn, and if it was hot enough to burn instantly, then Hiccup would-"

He stopped when Snotlout elbowed him in the side, pointing at the very worried and very easily angered Stoick and Astrid, both of which were watching the screen attentively, as if they could catch Hiccup if he fell. "Not the time to mention it could've gone worse, Fishface."

"Right… sorry…"

Even the twins were silent. Destruction for the win, but as Tuffnut had stated while watching the training session with the Nadder, they preferred their near-death experiences without the death part actually happening. Sure, they were dumb so they often almost got themselves killed, but they didn't do it on purpose. And even they knew that without a tailfin, both their friends would plummet to their deaths… not to mention fail to kill the Red Death, which would then kill everyone else.

"Okay, time's up," Hiccup realizes with a note of fear in his voice. The tailfin is no more on fire, but the embers are feeding on the wind and keep burning the leather. "Let's see if this works."

The music picks up immediately as they roll through the air and come back down towards the Queen, avoiding its flailing wings. "Come on, is this the best you can do?!" Toothless roars as well, determinedly flying downwards with its tail still burning and smoking.

Hiccup frowned, turning to Toothless, while all the dragons burst out laughing. "Wait, isn't that the same thing you said to Ruffnut a while back?"

Toothless grinned and nodded, biting back his own laughter. "Exactly that one. Good ears."

"What does it mean again?" Fishlegs asked, desperately trying to find some dragon knowledge Hiccup didn't already figure out on his own. No offence to Hiccup, of course, but the beefy blonde really wanted to study the dragons until he could say he knew more than Hiccup Haddock.

Toothless didn't lose his grin. "It's hard to explain, but basically… it means I just called the Blood Tyrant a crossbreed between an eel and a bat, and I questioned its level of intelligence."

A few Vikings chuckled at the offensive meaning of the word -or well, growl- but Fishlegs was ecstatic. Eels and bats were obviously disliked by dragons, if they were used in their worst insult. And they took pride in their intelligence, even though it couldn't even compare to a Viking's…

A random Viking in the crowd farted loudly.

…okay, maybe couldn't compare to the intelligence of some Vikings.

The Red Death opens all its eyes, as if deeply offended, and tries to eat the two, who dodge it again and fly downwards, leading the monster down with them.

Human and dragon burst from the clouds, closely followed by the titanic Queen, that roars in anger at them. Poor little thing probably wanted to go back to lazying off for centuries.

A lot of people and dragons snorted at the jab.

As it closes the distance, Toothless is shown, utterly terrified and with its pupils narrowed into slits. "Stay with me bud, we're good," Hiccup tries to reassure him, twisting his foot to keep the tail in position. "Just a little bit longer."

Through the clouds, the Red Death narrows its eyes as a brief opening in the fog allows it to see the two clearly. It opens its mouth to fire, filling it with gas.

"Hold, Toothless," Hiccup orders his dragon, hearing the hiss of the gas. He closes his eyes and relies on his hearing alone, counting a few seconds. Then he opens them and shouts, "Now!"

Toothless turns around, unsteadily trying to right himself in the air but unable to do so, to face the Red Death. The monster tries to ignite the gas and fire, but the Night Fury shoots a plasma blast into its mouth, rebounding the shot right back into its throat and creating a true fireball in its mouth.

"Yeah!" the teens screamed in triumph, seeing the monster defeated by its own fire. True, it still hadn't been defeated, but it soon would.

"You rule indeed," Stormfly praised the Night Fury, who nodded smugly, before she bluntly destroyed his ego. "I was talking to Hiccup."

"I'm the one who fired!"

"He's the one who told you when, and wasn't on the verge of fainting," Astrid remarked, nudging the dragon teasingly.

"I wasn't about to faint!"

The ground comes into view, and the Red Death is surprised. It tries to spread its wings, but the damage done by Toothless comes into play and rips the membranes, not slowing it down in the slightest.

Righting themselves up, Hiccup and Toothless allow the air's resistance to pull them upwards, beside the monster's gaping jaws and up behind its neck.

The Vikings watch in awe as the Queen crashes against the ground, exploding into a gigantic fireball that knocks them all back that creates a mushroom flaming cloud above the fog.

"Get bent, fucker!" Magmascale shouted gleefully before Meatlug tail-bludgeoned his family jewels, reducing him to a whimpering mess.

"There are little ones here!" she scolded, furious. Almost all the males in the room whimpered and covered their crotches. A normal hit hurt like hell, but a tail-bludgeon from a Gronckle was the Gods forsaking mankind.

"You did it, Hiccup, you did it!" Astrid exclaimed joyfully, hugging the boy tightly. He chuckled nervously and just as nervously returned the hug before both of them were swept up in a giant bear hug by Stoick himself. Toothless shrugged off the other teens and stood up on two legs before joining the hug too, although a bit clumsily considering he'd never done that before.

"Yeah!" Snotlout shouted, waving both arms wildly. "We won! We won the war! Snotlout, Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!"

"What did you even do?" Tuffnut asked, frowning at the boy's victory call.

"The war is over!" "We won!" "The Blood Tyrant is dead!" "Wait, who is dead?" That one was Bucket. "They've done it!" "I can finally sleep at night!" That was Gobber.

Hiccup and Toothless fly up the monster's back, dodging the bone spikes as the try to outrun the fire. The boy looks back, keeping an eye on both the fireball and the tailfin.

He keeps twisting the pedal, trying to keep the tailfin steady, but the damage is too much and the already skeletal tailfin finally breaks off. Just as it looks like they're still going to make it without the tailfin and will just crash-land a little, the monster's huge tail-bludgeon comes into view, swinging right into their path.

"No…" Unable to turn efficiently, boy and dragon smash into the tail at full speed. "No!"

Hiccup is thrown off the saddle, knocked out by the impact. Toothless twists in the air, roaring in distress as the boy falls down towards the giant explosion.

Righting himself in the air, the dragon beats his wings to try and reach his rider before the fire, but before he can, the flames swallow them both, cutting them off from view.

"NO!"

All the joy from seeing the Red Death's explosive demise immediately left, replaced with a deep and cold sense of dread. Khor winced, having expected such a negative reaction.

"Hiccup!" Stoick thundered, dropping both the boy and Astrid as he took a few steps toward the screen, before he turned around and glared at Khor, beyond furious. "So this is the future, you say?!"

Khor, who looked like a deer caught in a dragon's sight, immediately put up his hands in surrender. "Whoa, why are you looking at me like that? I didn't choose how it'd go, I'm just the narrator!"

"Wait, so you're the one who came up with all those comments and little quips?!" roared the Nightmare whom Stoick had effortlessly beaten at the beginning of the movie.

"It doesn't matter!" Stoick roared even louder, scaring the Nightmare into submission, although he did silently take note of it for later. The Chief then turned to glare at Khor. "If this is the future, then I swear, I will change it."

"Sure, do as you wish," Khor nodded submissively. Not that he was particularly intimidated by Stoick -he was just an extension of someone's will, so he couldn't be worried about his safety-, but he did acknowledge the fact that they would all be worried. "In fact, why don't you make note of it, and start to think of ways you can change this?"

The Chief narrowed his eyes at him. "Are you trying to trick me? Everyone knows the Gods do not want the future they've set for us to change. And you insist on being sent by the Gods."

Khor just shrugged. "The Gods also favour the strong, whatever kind of strength that may be. If you're strong enough to change your future, it's up to you whether to do it, or not." He shooed the giant man away and back to his seat. "Besides, you'll need to see what else happens if you want to change it so badly. Then you ca-Hey!"

Their host frowned at Astrid, who had just tried to punch him in the face. She glared at him when her hand just stopped short of making contact, and sat back down with a frustrated huff. She hadn't even gotten revenge for all that mockery and making fun of her facial expressions.

Strangely enough, Hiccup wasn't feeling very worried. For one, he still had Toothless. And two, well as his Dad had just said, he just needed to change a few things. Although, part of him wondered if that was the right thing to do. His friends had bonded with dragons because they needed to, not because they'd seen him around one for so long that they got used to the idea. And also… okay, a big part of his reluctance in changing that future was the fact that he hadn't gotten to go on a romantic flight with Astrid or anything.

But still, who knew what could change if this future didn't go like it was meant to? He didn't mind having Astrid being close to him, but… which way would end with the best relationship? (and not just romantically, also platonically) What about his friendship with the other teens?

And, a perhaps very selfish reason, would he still receive any respect if their village changed their ways because of this future-viewing session? Or would everyone get a dragon and he would be forgotten about, left to go back to being useless? Would the other teens even be his friends any more? Or would they just get dragon and go back to being cool?

He loved Toothless like a brother, but he was without his tailfin and crippled. A downed dragon was a dead dragon. Would he be considered worthless too? Or even worse, would he be forced to take another dragon, either to give the Night Fury to someone who deserved him, or to get a healthy dragon, with him being the heir and all?

He didn't want to sound selfish, but would he even be given credit for what he did? Or would it just be written off as the Vikings realizing that the war was a misunderstanding and then smartly joining forces with dragons to defeat the Red Death?

Would it even work? Or would they just get so irritated with the dragons that they would then just attack them out of anger?

Plus there was Mildew to think about, him and his annoying ability to rile up the village and cause riots for the smallest things. He would surely try to sabotage the peace and probably succeed, considering how he had successfully riled up people about much dumber things prior. Peace without the end of the war having already happened was an impossible dream, and even then it would be hard.

So, would it be worth to change the future, if the new future risked ending up even bleaker than this? Besides, apart from him and Toothless falling into flames (Toothless was fireproof and could still protect him), the rest of that future looked incredibly non-violent and very bright.

Not to mention the fact that if he wasn't the one to kill the Red Death… would the other teens still listen to him as their leader? Perhaps for a while, but then? He wasn't one to brag, he'd never been, but he couldn't see anyone else leading the riders. Snotlout was an idiot, Fishlegs had no backbone, the twins… were the twins, and even Astrid had an attitude problem and had zero respect for most people. She'd said it herself, she didn't care what people did, how could she be a good permanent leader?

And that was without thinking about who would have to handle the dragons. Him? Yeah, for a while, until everyone remembered he was the useless runt who had destroyed the village even without the dragons' direct help. And for the same reasons he listed before, he couldn't entrust it on anyone else.

If he survived that fall, then this was the future he needed to make true. The alternative held too many risks of going wrong. Ironic. Things risked going wrong from good intentions, while in that future they seemed to go well due to bad choices and desperate actions. He may have loved sarcasm, but the Gods truly loved irony.

The flames turn white, giving way for a cloud of ashes floating in the breeze.

Stoick comes into view, coughing as he looks around. "Hiccup!" he calls out, and then again, "Hiccup! Son!"

He stops, seeing Toothless laying on the scorched sand not too far away, the ashes thinning enough to allow him to see. "Hiccup…"

Stoick turned to briefly glare at Khor. 'If he's dead, you know what's coming.'

Khor just checked his nails. He knew how it ended anyway.

He unsteadily runs towards the dragon, who's laying on a bed of glassified sand. He stops as he sees Hiccup's empty and scorched saddle, as well as the ruined tail mechanism once the dragon rolls on one side.

Hiccup and Toothless both relaxed. If Toothless was fine, then Hiccup was fine. In fact, if they had to make an educate guess, they'd guess Toothless had protected Hiccup from the flames by wrapping his wings around the two of them and using his body to shield him from the brunt of the explosion.

Stoick gasps, falling on his knees, as realization hits him. "Oh, son…" he laments, bowing his head in shame. "I did this…"

"Aren't those the exact same words Hiccup said when he was about to free Toothless?" Tuffnut wondered, tilting his head to the side and letting his dreadlocks brush against the floor – not that he washed his hair anyway.

"Yeah, you're right," his sister nodded in agreement, tilting her head the opposite way, so that their helmets were touching. "It's some nice parallels here."

Snotlout wordlessly grabbed their helmets and slammed them together before wiping a tear from his eyes. Who could blame him? He disliked Hiccup (most of it was still due to upbringing, weight or just envy) but he'd never wanted him dead or even hurt.

Astrid bit her lip. She didn't even try to look away from the screen, knowing she'd never be able to. But past the pain, she was also suspicious as to why Toothless didn't seem to be very sad… or at all. In fact, the dragon seemed slightly bored. What was with that?

The rest of the Vikings slowly approach, though they stop at a respectable distance. The twins, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Spitelout are at the front. After a few seconds, Astrid and Gobber elbow their way through the crowd to see what's going on.

Upon seeing the bowed shape of the Chief, Astrid stops, eyes widening in loss and grief.

Hiccup forced himself to look. While he knew that Toothless had saved him -or the dragon wouldn't just lay there, injured or not, he'd be looking for him-, he was aware he and Toothless were the only ones who had figured it out.

He forced himself to look because he needed to see what their reactions would be. Not because he wanted to see if they'd grieve for him or not, he knew they would, but because he knew that he was going to put himself in danger in the future, and he needed to see how badly his death would hurt people. So that even at his most reckless, he could see that self-sacrifice would hurt his people so much.

To most, it wouldn't have made sense, but to him, it did. He was aware of how reckless we was with his inventions and now with Toothless too. If he didn't find a way to contain his recklessness, he'd get himself killed. Reminding himself that dying or being hurt would hurt those he cared for would be a good way to keep himself in check.

That is, if Astrid wasn't going to, which she most probably would.

The dragons peek out from behind the crowd, and no one seems to even notice them, too caught up in their mourning.

Toothless croons as he opens his eyes and raises his head, looking at the Chief.

The two stare at each other for a second, before the sniffling Chief speaks through his tears, "I'm so… I'm so sorry…"

Toothless's eyes widen before he closes them… and opens his wings.

Showing that he's holding Hiccup to his chest, safe from the flames.

A moment of silence reigned in the room as everyone realized that Hiccup was, in fact, safe and sound, and that Toothless had saved him.

Then, chaos erupted. It was impossible to tell who shouted the first cheer, nor who shouted the successive ones, because everyone was cheering. On the Viking's side, because Hiccup was alive. On the dragons' side, because Toothless didn't seem hurt and hadn't lost his beloved rider. And for that little strange group in the middle, because of both.

"He's okaaaa- Wait, why isn't Hiccup surprised?" Tuffnut suddenly asked, stopping mid-cheer, his expression turning from exultant to serious in a split second. "Did you already know about this… and you didn't tell us?!"

Suddenly all the teens (and his father) turned to look at him with suspicion. He chuckled sheepishly. "Kinda?" he offered. It didn't work. "I couldn't know for sure, but I know Toothless would never let me fall. And if he hadn't been able to save me, you would've found him frantically looking for me."

"I'm guessing you did the same," Stormfly commented coldly, glaring down at Toothless, who looked as smug as ever.

"Of course."

"Hiccup!" Stoick rushes to get his son. He takes him from the Night Fury and removes his helmet to check his heartbeat after moving his hair back to check for head injuries. After a few seconds, he breaks out in relieved sobs. "He's alive. You brought him back alive!"

Toothless looks at him as if to say 'duh, of course', as the crowd explodes in cheers.

Astrid gasps in relief, covering her mouth.

"Someone's really happy, huh, lass?" Gobber teased, successfully embarrassing the girl. Next was… "Well, at least Hiccup will like to know his girlfriend cares about him."

"Gobber!" Hiccup exclaimed, glaring at him out of embarrassment. "We're not… Why would even…"

Gobber laughed as he watched one of them sulk and the other sputter denials. Ah, young love.

The other teens are likewise relieved. Snotlout wipes a tear away and sighs in relief, Fishlegs cheers, the twins smile and behind them, the Nightmare and the Zippleback growl.

The other Vikings clap and cheer, laughing in relief, before the dragons lower their heads to cheer alongside them, causing the nearby Vikings to stop laughing and to look at them apprehensively.

The teens snickered at the Vikings' reactions. Of course they had forgotten about the large fire-breathing flying reptiles just behind them, too caught up in the moment.

Moved, Stoick places a grateful hand on Toothless's head. "Thank you," he says, "for saving my son."

Toothless croons and lays down, exhausted, accepting the man's gratitude.

Gobber walks up to them, staring at Hiccup, and shrugs. "Well, you know… Most of him."

Stoick glances at him.

"What do you mean, 'most of him'?" asked Snotlout, slightly afraid to know the answer.

Gobber winced and held up his hook. "Well, you know, not every injury is live or die. Some can leave more… permanent… effects."

Everyone in the hall winced. Losing a limb was horrible, especially at such young age.

Despite being happy to be alive, Hiccup winced. His arms had looked fine, thank Thor, but that meant his legs were the ones damaged. Would be still be able to walk? Perhaps he could come up with something to attach to the saddle and use Toothless to walk like he used him to fly. Turning the tailfin from foot-activated to hand-activated wouldn't be too hard…

The scene changes to Hiccup in bed, several small scratches on his face.

Toothless is also seen in the room, trying to wake him up by blowing on his face. The dragon leans back and lets out a low growl, which successfully awakens the boy from his slumber.

Hiccup starts to open his eyes, and Toothless croons, happy to see him awake. The dragon leans forward, nudging his face with his nose. "Hey Toothless. I'm happy to see you too, bud. Owww!" Hiccup weakly tells him before Toothless steps on his stomach, making him curl up in pain. He then realizes where he is as he looks around, holding his stomach. "Whaa… aahhh… I'm in my house? Uhh… you're in my house? Does my dad know you're here?"

Meanwhile, Toothless is jumping around out of happiness, knocking things over as he goes.

Stoick sighed. He would probably need to get used to that. Most probably Hiccup would force him to let Toothless sleep inside anyway.

Hiccup smiled, happy to see his dragon so at home inside… well, his home. It gave him hope that maybe adapting to the peace wouldn't be so impossible. Considering that he, Gobber, his dad and the other teens, as well as Toothless and the Nadder from the arena, were the only ones currently sitting with both species mixed, he needed all the hope he could get.

"Toothless…" The dragon eyes a wooden beam. "No, no… Toothless-" He jumps and lands on the beam before looking down at Hiccup, perched on the beam. "Toothless! Ah, come on…"

"And here is the great hero of the war, not even able to keep his dragon under control at home," Snotlout rolled his eyes before Hookfang set his behind on fire… again. "Aaagh! Why do you keep doing that?! I don't even know you!"

"I'm the one you ride in battle in the future," Hookfang proudly exclaimed, puffing his chest out.

"Well, stop setting me on fire!" the Jorgenson heir exclaimed, rubbing his smoking butt. How no one had realized Khor must've willingly allowed the fire to touch him, he would never find out. "I didn't even do anything to you!"

"I know. But it's funny."

Hiccup goes to get out of bed, but he stops after feeling something is wrong.

He removes the blanket with a sigh, preparing himself for whatever injury he might've sustained. Toothless jumps down from the wooden beam to support him if needed. Hiccup takes a few seconds to take in the discovery before he starts to get out of bed.

Hiccup tensed up slightly, both eager and slightly afraid to see the gravity of the injury.

His right boot touches the floor… followed by a metal prosthetic instead of his left foot.

Despite everything, Hiccup sighed in relief, as did many others. While having a prosthetic was still horrible and it could seriously destroy someone's life (despite many Berkians having one or more), the simple fact they had given him a prosthetic meant that his left leg was still usable and that he could still walk, albeit he'd need to learn how to now. It was far from the best option, but it was also far from the worst that could've happened.

Gobber patted Stoick's shoulder, knowing just how badly he must've been taking it. His son had lost his leg because of him, and now every time he looked at him, he would be reminded of just how deeply he had messed up.

But Stoick was happy, because that very same reminder would also show him how proud he was of his son, how great Hiccup really was, and would keep him in line in the future. Because even if he accidentally fell back into his old mistakes, one look at his son would show him what those mistakes had led to, and snap him out of it.

It was a painful mark of shame for him, Stoick the Vast, but it was one that would also help.

If only his son hadn't had to lose a leg and save the world for him to realize that.

The other teens were all relieved. They had grown up pretty much expecting to lose limbs in the future, considering that six out of ten people in Berk had some sort of prosthetic or crippling injury, sometimes both. But considering the immensity of what Hiccup had just done, a lost leg wasn't a huge price.

Plus the fact that the war was over also meant that no harm would befall on any of them anytime soon, right?

Toothless leans down to sniff the metal prosthetic before looking up at the boy, who lets out a breath heavy with worry and loss. A lost limb can never be replaced, and would never come back.

All the amputees of Berk rubbed their stumps, remembering how they lost them. They made do and complained little, but it still was a lifechanger… often for the worse. And now a fifteen-year-old boy would have to go through it.

Leaning on the bedpost, he stands up, putting all his weight on his right leg. Then he tries to make a step, and groans in pain as he shifts on his left. He stops to regain his breath and stands up straight, trying to look confident in his chances of making it to the door, but at his next step his prosthetic fails him and he almost falls with a cry of pain, if not for Toothless holding him up with his head.

Stoick winced. That was painful to watch. That was his son's reality now, and it was all his fault.

"Okay… Thanks, bud," he says as he hops to the door, leaning on Toothless's head to avoid putting too much weight on his prosthetic.

Now without a left tailfin and a left foot, the duo heads for the door.

"Any time, Hiccup," Toothless replied with a smile, lifting up his tail. "You helped me fly, it's only fair I helped you walk."

"Yes, but I was the one to hurt you in the first place."

"I hurt you too. I hurt you by not being able to save you like you instead saved me from the Queen."

"I still say the parallels are getting a little too much to be mere coincidence," Tuffnut interjected, changing the topic altogether. "It seems as if the Gods wanted to emphasize particular moments of the future to let us reflect on what has been and what has yet to be."

"Could it be that they want us to think of how we acted in the past, and give it a new meaning in the future?" Ruffnut continued. "So… what did we do in the past?"

"Mindlessly destroy people's stuff?" Tuffnut offered.

"How can we give it a new meaning?" Ruffnut wondered before both hers and her brother's eyes lit up. "We purposefully and specifically destroy people's stuff!" they exclaimed at the same time, as if they'd just had a genius idea.

"Muttonheads," Snotlout grunted, rolling his eyes.

Hiccup grabs the door and pulls it open with a grunt…

Only to see a Monstrous Nightmare roaring in his direction.

He immediately shuts it again.

"Wait, what's going on?" Hookfang exclaimed, recognizing himself. "That was me! And raids don't happen during the day, anyway! Why would I be there?"

Hiccup suddenly smiled. "I think I may have an idea…"

"I'm sure we're having the same idea," Astrid added with her own smile.

Stoick didn't say anything, but he suspected things weren't what they looked to be.

"Toothless?" he calls out as he re-opens the door. "Stay here."

"Why leave the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself behind and let the scrawny Viking hatchling go ahead?" Skyblaze asked, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Maybe because they're in a Viking village and if there's a raid and Toothless is seen, they might attack him?" Stormfly retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes at his stupidity. Seriously, it was really simple once one thought about it a little.

"Come on guys, are you ready!" Snotlout is riding the Nightmare, shouting encouragements at a group of Vikings riding on their own dragons. "Here we go!"

"Hell yeah, I finally get to catch up with Hiccup in terms of riding skills!" Snotlout cheered.

"Actually it's just been a few days, you haven't improved all that much," Khor pointed out, unimpressed. While he did like Snotlout's character in RTTE, before that he had his head kind of too high up his own ass to be likeable. It was also why he was teased so much before RTTE.

Snotlout sulked.

Hiccup looks around at the village full of dragons, that is being rebuilt altogether to house the new inhabitants. "What…" New houses are being built and dragons fly and walk everywhere, mostly Nadders, but a few Zipplebacks, Gronckles and Nightmares can still be seen.

"I knew it… I'm dead."

Everyone burst out laughing.

"You wake up after killing the Dragon Queen and losing your leg, and that's what makes you realize you were dead?" Astrid teased him with a grin, nudging him with her elbow.

"Oh, give me a break, it's not like Berk has been eternally famous for hating dragons even more than they hated us," he retorted, though he was laughing. "Besides, who knows, this might all just be a dream that my thirteen-year-old self is having about some grand future or something."

"Sure, and I'm a Gronckle," snorted Toothless, unfazed by the glares of said species directed his way.

Stoick's laughter bubbles up as he walks to his son and pats his shoulder. "No, but you gave it your best shot." He leads him down the stairs, and suddenly Hiccup doesn't seem to care about his prosthetic any more. "So… what do you think?"

Before he can respond, a few villagers spot them. "Hey look, it's Hiccup!" they call out before running up to greet him with smiles, glad he's okay.

The poor boy looks understandably overwhelmed. He leans back into his father's arm and looks around like he's being surrounded.

The villagers who rushed up to him winced at the reminder that he had no reason to think they'd be glad to see him. Of course, even before all this future debacle, they'd be glad to hear he was alright (except Mildew, of course, but he wasn't glad about anything), but they would greet him like that or at all, really.

Stoick releases him and smiles down at him. "Turns out all we needed was a little more of… this."

Hiccup smiled, and for once the twins didn't point out the parallels from the beginning.

Hiccup stares back at him, incredulous. "You just gestured to all of me."

Stoick just nods with a smile.

"Well… most of you." Of course Gobber has to barge in and ruin the moment. The fat blacksmith limps into view, pointing at Hiccup's prosthetic. "That bit's my handiwork, with a little 'Hiccup' flair thrown in it… you think that'll do?"

"I think it'll do," Hiccup nodded, smiling, although he was actually already planning on improving that thing anyway. True, it was much better than the simple wooden stumps the other amputees had, but still that thing could be improved a little here and there.

His future self was more honest.

"I might make a few tweaks," he admits, glancing at the prosthetic. A few chuckles ring out from the crowd around them.

Then Astrid comes up behind him and socks him in the upper right arm, taking him by surprise. He turns around, annoying, holding his arm.

"That's for scaring me," she tells him as a motivation for the punch.

"Wh-What? Was- Is it always gonna be this way?" he asks, irritated by the violent way of getting punished for something he didn't really have a choice in. "'Cause I-"

Ignoring his rant, she reaches out, grabs him by the shirt, and kisses him straight on the lips.

Whistles and cheers immediately burst from the crowd, almost as loud as when the Red Death had died. The end of the war was great and all, but young love beat everything in their opinion.

Toothless was so smug he didn't even need to speak to get on the two teens' nerves, both of whom pushed him away, which only made him laugh.

Speaking of the teens, they couldn't really move away from each other thanks to Toothless's and Stoick's far superior weights, but they did their best to look away from each other, although Hiccup was really jealous of his counterpart. There was no way the Astrid beside him was gonna kiss him now.

The crowd awws at the sight.

As the two separate, Hiccup (still disoriented by the sudden kiss) continues his previous sentence, "…I could get used to it."

Astrid smiles shyly at him.

Then Gobber hands Hiccup a new tail and saddle with a smile. "Welcome home," he tells him.

Hiccup smiled. Gobber may be silly most of the time, but he did have his moments. That wasn't just a way to tell him he was glad he recovered, but a way to tell him that Berk was his home now. That Hiccup was 'one of them'.

He wiped away a tear he hadn't felt forming. 'Home feels great,' he thought, looking around. His Dad, Gobber, Toothless, Astrid, the other teens… they were home. He already was home.

Hiccup smiles back, and the sound of a door opening is heard before the cry of "Night Fury!" rings out.

"Oh, get down!"

Toothless jumps on the Vikings, knocking down a few of them in his excitement, including Spitelout, who gets stepped on with no care.

Snotlout snickered at seeing his dad knocked down by Toothless and patted the dragon's neck.

Spitelout rolled his eyes, but didn't complain. The Night Fury could be excused for a few things. Besides, he was tough – a little fall wouldn't hurt him.

Landing in front of the two teens, Toothless growls playfully.

The two exchange a sheepish smile and Astrid laughs.

"Let's just hope that doesn't become too common, mmh?" Stoick commented, glancing at his son, who laughed and nodded. "Good."

"I didn't say anything. I'll tell Toothless not to do it, but I make no promises he'll do what I say."

The music returns as Hiccup's prosthetic is shown locking into the new pedal, opening the bright red tailfin with a white horned skull on it.

Hiccup glances at it, now in his full flying harness, before looking at Astrid, who is on her Nadder right beside him. He looks down at his dragon and smiles. "You're ready?"

Toothless croons and shakes his head in confirmation.

Hiccup looks up in wonder, looking at the Vikings and dragons living together, as his voice returns to narrate the end.

"This, is Berk."

The Vikings smiled, realizing this was the end. It ended pretty well, if one asked them.

"It snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three."

Hiccup and Astrid take off as the voiceover continues. While the narrator speaks, Astrid surpasses Hiccup with a cry of joy, and Hiccup chases after her.

"Any food that grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so."

A few people stared at the boy, unimpressed. Tough and tasteless, huh? What, did he ever try to take a bite out of someone?

"You're competitive, huh?" Hiccup asked his girl black space friend, raising an eyebrow.

"You have no idea," she replied with a grin.

"Great. Now I know what we'll do for the rest of our childhood – play games to satisfy your endless thirst for victory," he sighed dramatically, making her snort.

The two zoom past a Viking drinking, who promptly chokes on his drink and glares at them.

They fly underneath a stone arc near the sea as Astrid laughs. They fly over the docks, and this time it's Hiccup who cheers loudly, enjoying the flight.

"The only upsides… are the pets. While some places have ponies or parrots…" The two fly under a bridge, where Fishlegs was passing by on his Gronckle. The blonde boy joins them, although he calls for them to wait when he bumps into a wall.

"We have…" The voiceover continues as the twins and Snotlout join them in the flight over Berk. Hiccup looks at the others before he and Toothless race forth and up into the sky, disappearing into the sunlight. "Dragons."

The screen darkened, and everyone understood the future was over.

Stoick turned to Khor, and suddenly felt a little sheepish about what he'd shouted earlier. Doubting the doing of the Gods wasn't a wise action on the best of days. When it came to important things like the end of the war, doubting the Gods could result in the complete destruction of his entire village. After all, that was how the Scourge of Odin was said to have appeared. Someone disrespected the Gods, and Odin sent a terrible disease to wipe out their village and many others.

"Uh… Khor, I-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, Stoick." Khor finally stopped feigning disinterest and stood up, stretching his sore muscles. He was still a full head shorter than Stoick. "You acted like any parent would've. In fact, I would've been surprised if you hadn't. Now, I believe you think it's time to go home, right?"

Stoick was a bit taken aback at how easily his offence was being forgiven, but he wasn't one to complain about miracles. "Yes. We should return home and make preparations. After all, I do wish for my son to avoid such a terrible injury."

"Actually-"

Khor cut off the heir, already knowing what he was going to say. "Actually, Chief Stoick, it's not over yet," he replied, smiling slightly. "I've shown you what the Gods have asked me to, true, but I do have the power and the permission to show you more, if so I wish. And I do. So please return to your seat, because we're going to see small pieces of a farther future, one where what happened now is history. Recent, but history nonetheless."

"How many years into the future will this be?" Astrid asked, secretly eager to see how she grew up. And how Hiccup grew up. What, can't she be curious about her secret crush's future looks? It wasn't like she was setting him any expectation or anything, she was just curious.

"Three to five or six years into the future," replied their host, plopping back down. "Though I may show you something from before than, but I don't think so. Well, get comfortable guys, because the first piece is going to blow your mind…"

I'm tired even just by having scrolled down to write the end AN.

So, as you can see this is not the last chapter. Next one will be the last chapter. Now you can go crazy with suggestions on what future to show. Keep in mind that it's unlikely I will do all of them if there are too many. Also, please keep them snippets under 3-5 minutes in length, since it takes a while to read and write from the movie.

Other than that, remember that spoilers aren't allowed (so sorry, but no Valka. I'll edit the wedding scene magically). And that Hiccstrid is more than welcome. Funny or touching scenes are also very welcome (oh shit, I just summed up 60% of all of RTTE!)

Until next time,

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh

PS: now I think I'm going to die down for a while. Yes, you read correctly, I'm going to die down. See you in my next life.