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.*･｡CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.*･｡

——

   Having only met him once, it was quite a terrible notion that Vega was now able to recognise Eret's voice from anywhere.

    "Keep your eyes peeled, lads! With this wind, we'll reach Drago by daybreak." He shouted to his crewmen who manned the ship, sorting out their weapons and nets in order to catch the next dragon they found. "So, best we fill this ship up with dragons, and quick!"

   Vega peered down at the ship curiously as they flew over top of it, scowling at the sight of the ropes and coils. She didn't like that they were about to pay a visit to the dragon trappers that had captured Atlas only hours earlier, and who had showed her little respect due to the fact that she was a woman with good looks. They were demeaning, apart from Eret supposedly (something that still shocked her), and she didn't really feel like meeting them again. But, Hiccup had insisted.

   He was sure that they would lead him to Drago.

    "It's no time to be picky! Not if we want to keep our-"

   At the sound of a familiar whistling, one member of the crew looked up into the sky with a skeptical look, fear then permeating his face as he processed the two dragons that were headed towards them, "Uh- Eret?"

    "-heads..." Eret trailed off, squinting his eyes to see what his men were. He grinned, "Off the port-quarter! Net them, lads! Take them down!"

   Immediately the men rushed to their stations and Eret took his place at the cannon, watching intently at the two dragons came closer into view. Atlas whined at the sight of the ship and Vega cooed, patting her head gently and giving her a scratch behind the ear. It didn't ease the animal much but she appreciated it anyway, Toothless then looking at Vega with an expectant look. Scoffing, Vega muttered a promise about 'scratching his chin' later when he moaned, not finding it quite an appropriate conversation for the situation. They were racing towards a ship of angry dragon trappers, and the Night Fury wanted a belly-rub? Hiccup rolled his eyes.

    "There's two of them! Up on the left!"

    "Fire!"

Vega growled when the nets were thrusted towards them, narrowly dodging each and every one of them. She knew that Hiccup had told her to stay calm and not fight them unless it came to it, but she was finding it very hard to not go in, guns blazing.

"Reload!" Eret shouted, clearly irritated that he was yet to shoot them down from the sky. "Come on, reload!"

   Before he had the chance to take a fifth shot, Vega and Hiccup were already swooping low. The whistle of the Night Fury echoed through the air and some of the men cowered, covering their heads in fear of being snatched by the creatures above them. This was something that Vega found amusing but Eret very clearly did not, in the way that he groaned and pushed one of them to the ground.

Turning to face one another, Hiccup and Vega both nodded their heads and prepared their dragons to land on the ship. The men scattered as they pulled down to the deck, "Incoming!"

Vega rolled her eyes as Atlas touched the wooden slats of the boat, flapping her wings a few extra times and hissing for the crewmen to stay back, and watched a couple of the men cry out in fear of the Grim Gnasher that they had caught hours beforehand. Atlas was a kind dragon, but could be an awful hothead when she wanted to be — just like her human — and she would never forget if you were to ever do her wrong. Tuffnut had learnt that firsthand, when he had tried to Loki the dragon one year.

Atlas had proceeded to set his clothes alight for weeks. She was good at holding a grudge.

"And here I was-" Eret drawled, walking towards the dragon riders and raising his sword in the air. He pointed it at them directly, squinting one eye and making Vega growl under her breath, "-worried we might turn up empty handed."

Before Vega had the chance to launch herself at the man and show him what a real sword looked like, Hiccup had dragged her back and shrugged. "Nope. It's your lucky day."

Vega frowned, what?

"We give up!" Hiccup chimed, hopping off of Toothless as his girlfriend mimicked his actions. She followed behind him slowly as he signalled to both animals, counting off the prizes on his fingers. He placed a hand in the small of Vega's back and ushered her foreword a little bit, smiling at her as if to insinuate that this was the plan. "That's one Night Fury, uh- one Grim Gnasher, and-"

   The brunette scowled when he reached down and threw a net over her head. She stumbled back and glowered at him but he ignored it, "-two of the finest Dragon Riders west of Luk Tuk. That 'ought to make the boss happy, right?"

Vega ripped the netting from her as he guided them forewords, huffing and shoving the woven ropes into his chest. Hiccup let out a puff of air at the contact but quickly recovered and dropped the item with a clatter. "Excuse us," he smiled at the crewmen dashingly and ignored Eret's confusion, whistling lightly.

"What are you doing?" The girl whispered to him angrily as he snatched her sword and placed it on the deck, opening the hatch and stepping in. "Hiccup-"

"It's okay." He whispered back, softer than she had, and extended a hand to her as he held the hatch open.

Rolling her eyes in defeat, Vega pushed his hand away and clambered into the cell on her own accord. She had thought that they were just going to sweet talk the men, act nice and then follow them to Drago, but apparently Hiccup had different ideas. If it were down to her, she would have just ambushed them with sword and snatched Eret Son of Eret from his pretentious throne, and forced him to take her to Drago's lair. Who could have said no to that?

Then again, Vega didn't get to make the plans often.

Toothless whined at the sight of his human closing the gate without him, peering through the cracks and clawing at the metal. Atlas squawked.

"Toothless, stay." Hiccup pointed a finger, "The dragons don't really care for cramped spaces, so they'll just hang out with you. That cool?" He didn't wait for a response as he ducked down from between the holes in the gate. "They won't be any trouble."

Growling, the Night Fury arched his back and hissed as the crewmen pointed their weapons at him. Hiccup smiled and stuck his head out once again, holding up the gate and shrugging his shoulders.

"Unless you do that. You know- wooden boats, big ocean..." he drawled out, "H-how is your swimming?"

"Not good."

Eret cursed when the shortest crewman pouted in worry, scrunching up his face in a mixture of humiliation and annoyance. It went silent for a few seconds until Hiccup made a noise of remembrance, poking his inferno out from one of the gaps and turning it on with a click. The men gasped at the sight of the fire sword and he laughed at nothing in particular, switching it off and holding it out for them to take.

"Oops. Almost forgot-" they took the weapon, "-can't have armed prisoners!"

So now they had no sword, or inferno? Had Hiccup gone insane? Vega couldn't help but groan at him in as hushed a tone as she could, "How is this a plan?"

He ignored her, once again, and she felt the unstoppable urge to smack him. And that, she did. The boy whined and narrowed his eyes in a way that has never threatened her, instead making her glare back even harder. He rubbed the spot on his side and turned back to the situation, hearing the sound of gas release from the contraption.

"Just what every dragon trapper needs." Hiccup began to explain as the two idiots watched the green substance float around, "One end coats the blade in monstrous nightmare saliva. The other sprays hideous Zippleback gas. All it takes is a spark, and-"

He ducked when the explosion commenced, hiding his grin as he peered back through the crates. "Oh- yeah! There you go."

Climbing back up the few steps, Vega watched over his shoulder as Atlas squawked happily at the embers floating around her, Toothless swatting one with his paw.

"Once they see you as one of their own, even the testiest dragons can be trained. Right, bud?" The son of the chief directed to the Night Fury, laughing a little when the black dragon stumbled as he played.

Eret's cheeks grew warm as he snatched the inferno from the two men, "Give me that!"

He proceeded to launch the weapon over the edge of the boat and into the ocean, though Atlas shot foreword and caught it before it reached the water. Vega snickered as her dragon dropped the object at Eret's feet and looked at him expectantly, wishing to play fetch like the animals often did with Hiccup's peg-leg. Eret looked down in bemusement and fumed again, grabbing it and throwing it in the other direction. Atlas followed.

"What game are you playing?" He snapped at the two dragon riders as they pushed themselves out of the make-shift prison cell, pointing his sword to which Vega scoffed.

"Uh, no game." Hiccup spoke his words earnestly, "We just want to meet Drago."

Eret grew even more confused, "Why?"

"Because I'm going to change his mind about dragons."

When the crew looked at the brave male with a round of disbelieving eyes and open mouths, Vega shrugged and peered over his shoulder with a lop-sided smile, "He can be pretty persuasive."

   "Once you've earned his loyalty, there is nothing a dragon won't do for you." When Vega coughed and sent a shove to his side, Hiccup cursed himself and corrected what he had said with what she had been recently teaching him about pronouns, "Or she." He paused, "Or they-"

   His little tangent was cut off as Eret scoffed, folding him arms and glaring at the pair. Vega simply glared right back, as she was utterly unfazed by his actions. Eret Son of Eret didn't scare her — not one bit. It took very certain things to take scare Vega Storm, or at least intimidate her, everyone in Berk had learnt that. It was an aspect she got from her father. It took a lot to scare that man.

     "You won't be changing any minds around here." The trapper snarled, rather adamant in the fact. She had been adamant once, too.

"I can change yours, right here, right now." Hiccup spoke his words confidently, reaching over and cranking the lever for Toothless' tail-wing. Eret watched in wonder, brows furrowed, as the mechanics shifted and the red boning extended. He turned to face the trapper and smiled softly, "Uh, may I?"

Though, no answer had time to be given as one of the crewmen dived to the ground. "Watch it!"

With that, Hiccup was swiped into the air with a yell. It only confused Vega for a moment until she had heard the familiar laugh of Snoutlout echo above them, then she simply rolled her eyes as the men on the boat screamed.

"Dragon Riders!"

Instead of rushing after her boyfriend as his dragon had, climbing up the sails of the boat and growling until he realised what was going on, Vega simply marched passed the men and grabbed her sword from the deck, sliding it into her sheath. The sound of a Deadly Nader echoed and it was followed by a fearful scream, and a joyous laugh that she was able to recognise anywhere. She didn't turn, simply let the blue dragon trot over to her with its human in tow.

"Stormfly," she scratched the dragon's chin and then smiled deviously, turning on her heel. "Astrid. About time you two showed up."

The two girls had only gotten closer over the years. It seemed that growing up with a new love for dragons and a new life style in Berk had been good to the pair, and they no longer liked to be mean and blunt all of the time. While Astrid was still Astrid, and liked to be bossy and be the best, the blonde smiled much more than she ever did when they were children. The pair were still two of the best fighters that Berk had to offer, as well as strong and very independent females, but they didn't feel the need to put that person on anymore. Now, they could be themselves.

"It's not a party without us," Astrid grinned in response, coolly pushing one of the men away from her without even looking, her palm right in his face. She greeted Atlas and looked up at the sky, hand shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked at the rest of the teens arguing about who was going to hand Hiccup in to his father. "Think they'll come down, soon?"

"Put me down, Snotlout!" Hiccup yelled out angrily as he was swung back and forth by Hookfang, "Hey-"

Vega shrugged. "Probably not."

Having noticed the crewmen all gathered in a circle and staring at the two beautiful women in the same way they had done earlier with Vega, Astrid frowned and rose a brow at the girl. "Uh-"

The brunette simply shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, cocking a hip and scowling at the men. It was starting to get old. Astrid nodded.

"Hey!" The tall blonde clapped her hands, allowing her attitude to shine through. Each of the crewmen jumped and cowered away from her, no longer drooling at her looks but intimidated by her spunk. She shooed them away, "Get out of my face, munge-buckets! Never seen a woman, before?"

Proud of her work, she wiped her hands on her pants and then placed them on her hips. Vega nodded in approval and the females went back to watching the scene above them.

"See how well I protect and provide?" Snotlout boasted loudly, to which Ruffnut groaned and turned herself and her brother away from him. The headed towards the ships but were forced to flap around wildly as multiple nets were launched towards them, Barf and Belch dodging each of them.

"What is with all the nets?" Tuffnut spoke in confusion, to which his twin nodded when a net hit her helmet.

"Hey, watch it! That was-" something distracted her as she grew silent and her eyes widened, sparkling in the distance as she saw what she liked. It reminded Vega of when she had proclaimed her love for Hiccup, the thought made her shiver. Ruffnut proceeded to open her arms wide and allowed the net to cover her, "-take me!"

Vega would have laughed had it not been for the harsh impact they made with the ground, the Zipplebacks hissing and Tuffnut scolding his sister. Instead, she watched as Hiccup propelled himself out of Hookfang's arms and sent himself towards the ground, arms outstretched and wings at his sides. She smiled, impressed with the progress he had made on his wings, and watched as he dodged a net sent towards him that had lost aim as Astrid tackled Eret to the ground. The man gaped at the blonde on top of him but she pushed herself up before he could say anything, proud of her quick thinking. 

   Vega frowned slightly as Eret's face seemed to soften and his big eyes followed Astrid as she strutted away. Though, her attention was directed back to Hiccup smoothly guided himself towards the hull of the ship, sliding down the sail, spinning past Toothless and landing with perfect execution.

   Well, almost perfect. Vega would work on the bent knees with him, later.

    "Um- what are you guys doing here?" He called out in a mix of alarm and genuine confusion, seeing Gobber land with Fishlegs and Snotlout not far behind.

   If Gobber was there, then there was no doubt in Hiccup's mind that his father would be somewhere near and that meant trouble. He had run away against his orders, after all. There was going to be some serious repercussions.

    "We're here to rescue you!" Gobber pointed at him with his hook as several crewmen ran away from Grump's heavy landing.

    "We don't need to be rescued!" Hiccup assured him, fiddling to put his wings back in his suit. Vega cringed at the shadow upon the sail behind him, "It's all fine-"

    "Enough!"

   Cursing under his breath, Hiccup turned slowly to watch his father climb off of Skullcrusher and land on the deck with a heavy thud. He strode towards his son with a strong scowl, and Vega took a step behind the pride of Berk with a sheepish grin. She knew that Stoick wouldn't go too hard on her, but she also knew that he was going to be rather angry with them both, nonetheless.

    "Well, didn't you just pick the wrong ship, eh?" Eret mocked the chief of Berk. Hiccup frowned when his father walked straight past him and towards the new male, "I am Eret, Son of-"

   Stoick shoved his face away and Eret fell into Grump, pushing himself back up with a scowl until Gobber reaches foreword and smacked him over the head with his hook. He fell to his knees in a daze, his body propelling forwards and his face hitting the ground. His next words were muffled as Grump placed a foot on top of him, causing him to wheeze and claw for a way out, "Get this thing off me-"

   Gobber looked at the rest of the crewmen as they huddled in the corner, "Anyone else?" Silence. "That's what I figured."

   With a firm nod at his right hand man, Stoick turned to face his son and future daughter-in-law, adjusting his belt as he spoke firmly. "You two, time to saddle up. We're going home."

    "No."

   Vega looked up at her boyfriend, noticing the way his eyebrows were knitted at the bridge of his nose and the way his jaw had tightened in defiance. He had been arguing with his father a lot lately, and she had a feeling it was down to more than just wanting to talk to Drago. She knew that it all had to do with being chief, as well.

    "Of all the irresponsible-" Stoick growl was cut off.

    "I'm trying to protect our dragons and stop a war!" His son battled, "How is that irresponsible?"

"Because war is what he wants, son!"

It was quiet until Stoick sighed, audible in its anguish. Vega pursed her lips as she analysed the forlorn look upon his face, and she couldn't help but wonder what had been the cause of it.

——