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.*･｡CHAPTER ELEVEN.*･｡

——

The group of teenagers traipsed into the arena for the second time that day, despite their training being over once and for all. Vega grimaced at the burn marks that scattered the walls as she recalled the way in which Hiccup had nearly died only a few hours earlier.

She had told him to do something crazy, but was this a little too crazy?

"What are we doing here?" Astrid frowned, eyes landing on Vega whom continued to stare ahead. The rest of the teens nodded in agreement.

"If you're planning on getting eaten-" Fishlegs noted, looking around the arena in fear. The boys legs began to shake as he watched out for any surprise attack. "-I'd definitely go with the Gronckle."

Tuffnut rolled his eyes and grinned, staring at Vega with shining teeth and smouldering stare. "You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon."

She rose a brow.

"It's me." He said as though it were obvious.

"So, what are we doing here?" Astrid got back to the point and repeated her initial words, crossing her arms across her chest with narrowed eyes. Her axe swung at the side of her casually, in a very Astrid way. "What is the plan? Vega-"

"This."

All of them watched in shock as Hiccup slowly shuffled out from the gates, hand outstretched calmly, as though he wasn't guiding five dragons into the arena with nothing to defend himself if they snapped. Snotlout backed away with a pale face and the twins glanced at one another sceptically, Fishlegs cringed and began to shake and Astrid took a deep breath to compose herself. Vega only watched, her face statuesque. Inside, however, she was still terrified. Even after having ridden Toothless, the girl couldn't help but clench her fists at her sides — what if Toothless was the only one that was different?

The Grim Gnasher stared her down while the rest remained transfixed on Hiccup, eyes flickering up and down as it took her in. She calmed ever so slightly. There was something about its eyes.

As the dragons drew closer, Snotlout bent down and grabbed a broken arrow from the ground, holding it tightly in his hand. Vega pushed his shoulder and shook her head as Astrid snatched the arrow and threw it back down, the actions forcing the boy to stand with shaky knees. When Vega had raised her axe at Toothless, he had nearly killed her on the spot. Weaponry seemed like a big no in this situation.

Hiccup continued towards the wolf pack bravely, his face smothered in concentration. He eventually made it to Snotlout and tried to grab his hand, only to have the other boy snatched it away.

"Hey!" He cried out in panic, "What are you-"

"It's okay," Hiccup reassured and took his wrist again, gently guiding it towards the Monstrous Nightmare with no hesitation. "It's okay."

Snotlout squeezed his eyes shut as his hand touched the dragons nose, only to have them snap open when there was no pain or death. He peered at the animal and laughed happily when it nuzzled into his palm, snorting out a soft breeze of air and sending Snotlout's hair back. The boy grinned and looked at Vega, as if to show her how he was able to tame a dragon, and for once she nodded. He grew confident. She was impressed.

Hiccup smiled and took off to the next person in line, ignoring Snotlout when he panicked. Vega rolled her eyes this time, not surprised or impressed anymore. "What- where are you going? Hiccup! Hey!"

The boy gently nudged the twins foreword and ushered them towards the Zipple Back, to which they put on matching brave faces and nodded firmly. Each with a hand out in the air, they walked half way towards the animal and awaited it to make the rest of distance to them. And it did just that, either head pressing to either twins.

The pair grinned and leapt foreword, no longer fearful in the slightest, clutching the heads and pulling them to their chests. The heads clicked in joy and pushed themselves further into the humans, evidently enjoying the touch and wanting more. Ruffnut snickered when Tuffnut tripped back at the movement and her head let out a snort, and Tuffnut snickered when his head squawked at the other one in return. They quickly began discussing names such as vomit and tears, before changing their minds and pitching several more.

Ruffnut hit her brother over the head and turned to Hiccup with twinkling eyes, "You're crazy-" she smiled sweetly and fluttered her eyelashes, "I like that."

Vega huffed. She looked away from the pair as the boy laughed awkwardly. Shaking his head, Hiccup walked towards Astrid who was making cautious eye contact with the Deadly Nadder metres away from her.

He went to usher her forwards but she quickly shook him off with a glare, "I can do it."

Astrid sucked in a breath and strutted through the arena on her own, in the most Astrid way she ever could have, raising a confident hand up to the blue dragon as a peace offering. The Nadder immediately crooned.

   Vega rose an eyebrow at Astrid's sudden change of heart and watched as the Gronckle swooped towards Fishlegs and nudged him to the side, purring as the podgy boy pet him. It seemed to be going much better than Vega had expected it to go, considering that they had all been raised to fear and kill the creatures their whole lives. Though, the teens were getting on with the dragon's perfectly fine.

   After inspecting the bunch, the brunette turned her attention back to the Grim Gnasher as it peered around in a similar manner to how she had done. Vega pursed her lips. It was the only dragon left out of the group, and in a weird, twisted way she was glad. She clearly recalled when she had been knocked to her feet by the animal and expected death to hit her in the face, but it hadn't killed her when it had the perfect chance to. It hadn't done anything to hurt her at all. That had to have meant something, right?

    "You don't have to be scared, you know."

   She frowned as the boy took stance next to her, "I'm not scared, Hiccup."

    "Then why haven't you gone over to it, yet?" He queried with the tone of his voice knowing. The Grim Gnasher took a step forward which Vega mirrored with a step back, she cursed when her hands started to shake.

"I'm not scared." Vega repeated her words once again and bit down on her lower lip, "Just cautious."

   And it was true. She was cautious. Her mother and father had been murdered by dragons, and it was only natural that she feared the same would happen to her. She had ridden Toothless but Hiccup had been visiting him for a while; he was used to humans. Even though he hadn't liked her at the start, feelings which were reciprocated, he was still different to the animal she had tried to fight in the arena.

   Vega had set out to defeat the Gnasher. She had wanted to kill it. Frankly - if it was - she thought that it had every right to be pissed. She wasn't going to force it.

    "It's not going to hurt you," Hiccup assured, causing Vega to look away from the dragon and to him. She wondered how he could have been so calm around the creatures they were supposed to murder in sight, and for a moment, she envied him.

   Vega didn't want to be scared, but she was.

    "How do you know that?" She glared.

   He only smiled back at her, "Because I saw how it acted in the ring. It didn't want to hurt you, Vega, it was like it knew you."

   She wouldn't never admit it, but he was right. The Grim Gnasher hadn't tried to hurt her in that ring. It had looked at her as though it had recognised her, almost as if they were distance friends or relatives being united once again. The dragon had shown sheer curiosity, not ferocity. Vega had felt as though the dragon knew her, and she felt the exact same way. Her stomach churned.

    "Would it be weird to say I felt like I knew it, too?" The young Viking queried as she looked back at the dragon whom sat on its hind legs, waiting. It looked around at the other dragon's with their humans and whined, stamping its feet.

    "Not to me." Hiccup watched her face grow softer, less rigid and sour than before. She smiled at him sheepishly, making his heart race in a way it never had before.

   With a blush on his cheeks, the boy beckoned the dragon with a whistle and a wave of his hand. "Come on, girl!"

   The dragon snarled a bit, causing Vega to take a step back, but it began towards them nonetheless. Hiccup was totally calm as the creature drew closer, eyes narrowed in what appeared to be judgment, sniffing his hand before nudging it away from him. He rose a brow.

    "Guess she doesn't like me, much." He muttered with a small laugh, watching as the dragon stared at Vega rather expectantly. The girl looked as though she'd gotten how to breathe, "Seems to like you, though."

   Vega felt her skin pale as the dragon edged foreword, her heart slowing to a point she wasn't sure if it was beating, "I don't think this is a good idea-"

    "It's okay," Hiccup interrupted, gently grabbing her hand in his own. Her eyes widened and he pretended not to notice, hoping that she wouldn't him him later on for doing such a thing. Carefully, he raised her arm up in the air and held it there so that she couldn't pull it back, glancing at her with a pointed gaze. When Vega kept her arm in the air without any sign of retreat, he slowly let go. "It's okay. Just let her come to you."

The Grim Gnasher crept foreword and Vega gasped, pushing her head down and slamming her eyes shut. She kept her arm outstretched and didn't even try to hide the way that her palm shook, too worried of being eaten. She waited, heart in her throat.

When the dragon nuzzled it's face into her hand, Vega thought she was going to faint.

"See!" Hiccup grinned as the Gnasher purred happily and nudged the girl to stroke it, who did so with a dazed expression upon her face. "I told you she likes you."

    "Yeah," Vega nodded slowly, "I guess."

   The dragon stared at her the same way it had done in the arena, Vega's eyebrows furrowing together as she looked at it in the exact same way. It was as though the dragon was trying to figure her out once again, and Vega wondered how this animal seemed so sure that staring into her eyes would let it discover who she was and how it recognised her, how it seemed to already know her. She wasn't sure if that was even possible.

   Vega looked into her eyes and pouted her lips, thinking intently. They were so familiar. Where had she seen them before? For a moment, they held recognition. She squinted at the animal in confusion.

   A scream passed her lips as the dragon jumped onto her, pinning her to the ground playfully. The group let our gasps is shock and darted towards the scene, all convinced that their friend would be dead in a matter of second, but halted in their step when she let out a laugh. Vega laughed.

   Vega never laughed.

    "Hey!" The brunette pushed the dragon gently with one hand, using the other to try and wipe the spit off of her face as it licked her incessantly. "Get off, you big lug!"

   As she crawled out from underneath the animal, it began to ran in circles. She let out a series of happy squawks and panted her tongue, flapping her wings back and forth in what looked like pure excitement. Vega had no idea where the sudden joy has come from but she had grinned anyway, looking up at the purple beauty in awe.

   They had been so wrong about them, this whole time.

• • •

    "Ruff, Tuff! Watch your backs!"

   The twins dodged a shot from the Queen dragon as they swooped over the burning ships, not needing to be told, laughing maniacally as they soared through the sky. Vega shook her head at them and clung onto Hiccup tighter as her dragon titled to the left, avoiding debris that shot up into the air.

    "Move, Fishlegs!" Hiccup threw out another command to which the podgy boy listened.

    "Look at us!" The twins shouted out to the crowd of Vikings that looked up at them, a few fainting at the sight and making Vega cringe. "We're on a dragon!"

   Snotlout let our a holler, "We're on dragons! All of us!"

   The group of teenagers flew around the sky in formation, passing the burning boats once again and watching as the wooden frames started to go down. Vega couldn't help but squirm at the sight, finding it more than unsettling. Hiccup cursed as he looked around, eyes darting back and forth in hopes of finding his dragon, only to come up empty handed. Vega didn't find much more.

    "I can't see him anywhere!" She called out over the blaze of fire and heaps of smoke, "What do we do now?"

   Hiccup pursed his lips and turned his body to face the others as they continued to soar through the sky, not chancing a single second to stop. Stopping would only lead to an even bigger mess than this already was, "Fishlegs, break it down!"

    "Okay-" the boy nodded from his place onto of his Gronckle, furrowing his eyebrows as he thought. "Heavily armored skull and tail that are made for bashing and crushing! Steer clear of both."

   He continued as the dragon chewed a boat in its mouth and threw it to the side, "Small eyes, large nostrils! Relies on hearing and smell!"

    "Okay," Hiccup breathed with a nod, circling the wolf pack confidently. He waved an arm at the pair and then to the beast, speaking quickly but somewhat calmly. For once, he felt as though he knew what he was going. "Astrid, Lout, Legs- hang in its blind spot, make noise, keep it confused!"

   Vega turned to the twins, "Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit! Make it mad."

    "That's my specialty!" Ruffnut grinned in pride from her seat on top of the Zippleback head, only to frown when her brother pushed her helmet with his fist. She glared up at him and adjusted the hat, teeth grit in annoyance.

   For once, Vega didn't roll her eyes at their fight. It was comforting to know that they would be able to do as they were told, this time.

   "Since when?" Tuffnut fumed, "Everyone knows I'm more irritating, see!" He proceeded to swing upside down as the dragon head rotated, sticking his tongue out and making obnoxious sounds at his twin. She groaned and smacked him in the face, causing him to groan and nearly fall right off.

    "Just do what we told you!" Hiccup sighed, steering the Grim Gnasher to the left and heading towards the boats for a closer look. "We'll be back as soon as we can!"

    "Don't worry!" Snotlout called out, letting out a cheer as they headed for the beast. "We got it covered!"

    "Troll!"

    "Butt-elf!"

    "Bride of Grendel!"

   Both twins snickered, letting out panicked cries when the dragon shot at them. They dodged each shot and managed to fly away, looping round to follow behind Snotlout and Fishlegs who slammed on their shields noisily.

   Fishlegs cried out as he and his Gronckle backed away ever so slightly from it's beast eyes, "This thing doesn't have a blind spot!"

   Vega and Hiccup continued to search for Toothless as quickly as they could, looking back every few seconds to assure that their friends weren't dead. The girl cursed to herself and bit down on her lower lip, realising that they were losing valuable time. If they didn't find the Night Fury quick enough he was sure to be dead, just as they were. But Vega couldn't find it in herself to tell Hiccup to turn away from the flaming ships that they now veered towards, dangerously close, as the thought made her gut ache.

   As much as she yearned to save herself and Hiccup in hopes of not being two men down, Vega couldn't bare the thought of leaving Toothless to die. For the first time ever, she didn't want to kill a dragon; she wanted to save it. What has Hiccup done to her?

   A helpless moan echoed through the air amongst them and caught their attention, eyes widening at the sight of a black blur on one of the ships as is struggled away from the flames. Hiccup pointed towards the exact boat and turned the Gnasher around, not fazed by the tight movement and with no intention of falling off. "There!"

   As the Gnasher pushed onwards, Vega manoeuvred her way around Hiccup and clutched onto the reigns, allowing him to crawl behind her and bring himself to a crouch.

   She grimaced when he launched himself onto the boat, landing in front of Toothless with pin-point accuracy. She released a breath when he avoided the flames, incredibly glad that he wasn't dead. She wasn't sure what she would have done, if he was.

    "Go help the others!" Hiccup instructed the girl as she lingered above the boat, blocking her eyes from the smoke that stung at them. Vega hesitated for a second, unsure of whether leaving him would have been something she would soon regret ever doing, but that doubt had melted when he sent her a reassuring nod. He waved his arm in encouragement, "I'll be fine, go."

   Vega nodded and guided her dragon to circle back around and towards the others, looking back only once.

He smiled, "I'll catch up with you, milady."

   She never usually looked back.

    "It's working!" Snotlout cheered in the distance as he merrily smacked his shield, clearly proud of what he had achieved. Fishlegs grinned and echoed his words while Astrid rolled her eyes but continued, both unaware of how their dragon's trembled, "Yeah, it's working!"

   The Monstrous Nightmare swung to the side as it's body gave way, sending Snotlout flying. He landed on the back of the Queen and cried out when he nearly slipped off of the edge, watching fearfully as his mace and shield fell to the ground. Astrid managed to gain control of her Nadder before anything could have happened, reassuring the animal that it was okay and quickly moving away from the scene. Vega narrowed her eyes to see closer and urged her dragon to go faster, patting her head softly when the animal growled in approval.

    "I've lost power on the Gronckle!" Fishlegs called out as it span and tumbled towards the floor, "Snotlout, do something!"

   He hit the ground with a thud, "I'm okay!"

   The Gronckle rolled on top of him with a cry and he let out a groan, "Less okay!"

   Vega flew past the beasts head with Astrid close behind her and let out a snort at the way Snotlout seemed to be handling the problem, vague amusement creeping up her veins despite the seriousness of the situation. Perhaps it was because he hadn't landed a pick up like on her in a whole day, but he seemed much more likeable, now.

    "I can't miss!" The boy laughed as he perched over the dragon's eyelid, smacking it in each iris with a hammer he had managed to save from the fall. "What's wrong, buddy? Got something in your eye?"

   Throwing its body up in the air and letting out a roar, the dragon landed back on the ground angrily, nearly squashing Fishlegs in the process.

     "Yeah!" Astrid hollered as she flew next to Vega, both girls watching as Snotlout drooled up at them. How had they gotten even hotter when riding dragons?

    Vega laughed, "You're the Viking!"

   In the moment of distraction, Snotlout was flung off of the dragon's head and gripped onto one of its spikes, holding on for dear life. He looked down at his dangling feet and cried out in fear, squeezing his eyes shut as the animals swung him about. "Woah!"

    "Snotlout!" Astrid called for him, pushing her Nadder to fly around the beast and figure out how to save the boy that bugged her endlessly. Vega tightened her grip on the rope in her hands, ready to follow, but her attention was stolen when the beast's tail crashed into the boats in the shore, sending pieces of wood into the air and over her head.

   She immediately rose an arm to shield her face, a scream passing her lips when her Gnasher dipped to the left and raised a wing for protection. Vega gasped heavily as she clung to the animal's neck, terrified of letting go. She was protecting her.

   Though, the surreal feeling swimming inside of her stomach was soon gone when she saw which boat had been hit. Her heart sank.

    "Hiccup!"

——