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.*･｡CHAPTER TWENTY.*･｡

——

   Vega had began drawing as they flew across the seas.

   Hiccup has always scolded her for drawing and driving at the same time; it was a habit that she had gotten into when her trust in Atlas had reached its highest, and it had never dwindled since. She would simply scoff at the boy and push him away when he drew closer to her, telling him that he was ruining the light and ignoring his reprimands.

   She trusted Atlas enough to not lead then into troubled waters while they were flying. The dragon was very self-aware and would never dream of letting anything happen to Vega, so the girl had taken this to her advantage. Vega often pulled out her notebook and charcoal pencils when they were on a trip to almost anywhere — it was her thing, really. Just as Hiccup took his map along and added to it wherever they went, Vega did the same with her drawings and sketches. The only difference was that Vega couldn't wait until they landed; if she had inspiration, she had to draw it then and there.

   Most of the drawings she created at times like these were of Hiccup, or Toothless and Atlas. They were her main source of inspiration nowadays. Occasionally she would sketch Astrid, but the blonde would tell her to quit it and fly away most times before they were finished, and there were a few of the rest of the group. Vega still drew images of father sometimes, finding a sense of comfort when he was on the page looking back up at her. She missed him often, though she would never admit it.

   Over the last five years, she had found that her mother's human form had stop appearing in her art altogether when she had finally accepted that her spirit was now in Atlas — or, so she liked to think. Her mother was always with her.

   Now, however, Vega was drawing Drago Bludvist. Or, at least, what her father had made him out to be.

Vega had begun connecting the dots, the bits and pieces she had learnt over the years about this man without really knowing it. She could remember the sketches her father had produced clearly and used that as her reference point, humming in wonder as she pondered whether this man would really be how she pictured. How did she know that her father hadn't changed everything about him during his stories, if he hadn't even told her that they were real? She didn't. Really, Vega didn't know anything.

"So, tell me about this Bloody-fist, guy." She spoke absentmindedly down to Eret, whom still remained in Atlas' claws, tapping her pencil upon her cheek.

   He huffed but complied, clearly not in the mood for being dropped for the second time that day. Eret pursed his lips and groaned, unsure of what she wanted to know — they already knew the basics. "He's starting a dragon army, I already told you-"

    "No," Vega shook her head, "Tell me about him."

   Eret was confused by her words. Had the story she'd heard not been enough? He wasn't sure what she could have possibly wanted to know about him, other than what she already did. Chances were that she'd meet the guy, and he would kill each and everyone of them on the spot. With no hesitation. Why on earth would this woman want to know about him? Eret didn't understand.

   Upon glancing at the blonde girl for some sort of help or reasoning, she merely narrowed her eyes at him in an unspoken command for him speak, and to make it fast. He sighed and proceeded.

    "Drago is ruthless." He began, all ears listening in on to what he had to say, all intrigued about this unknown enemy. "The man's cruel, actually. I haven't been working for him for long, but me and my men try to make our visits snappy. In and out, dragon's off-board and us back on. It's not a place you're welcome to stay."

   Vega tilted her head to left a fraction as she stared down at the image, rubbing out his eyebrows and redrawing them at an angle that tilted much further down.

    "Last time I disappointed him, he left me something not so nice in return." When he said this, the brunette cringed and shook the sight of his scar out of her head. She didn't want to think about how much it must have hurt, "He's the darkest man I've ever met. Scars, cloak, crooked nose." He thought carefully as he listed off each aspect of the man he worked for, "That sort of thing."

    "Right..." Nodding to herself, the brunette puckered her lips and changed his nose to more of a beak-like structure.

   She recalled her father having said a couple of things about the man covering his left side with a cloak of dragon skin at some point in the childhood stories, almost as though he were hiding something under it. So Vega had decided to follow that format and keep the left of his torso hidden with dark shading and smudges, trying to make his demeanour as threatening as the inside. It wasn't often that she drew terrible people, but she faintly remember the style of drawings that her father had done, thinking carefully about what men were etched into her walls. She clicked her tongue and scribbled his hair in tight knots.

    "He doesn't go anywhere without his staff, either. Said something about it controlling the dragons," Eret explained to the best of his ability, then frowned. He kicked his legs and tried to look up at her, "Look, why did you even want to know all of-"

   Humming in delight when she was happy with what she saw, Vega leaned over the side of Atlas, hanging upside and shoving the paper in his face as to shut up him. "Something like this?"

   Eret squinted at the sketch and nodded slowly.

    "Yeah, actually..." the man's gaped as he looked from the image to her, then to the image again. His mouth hung wide open, "How did you-"

    "She's got a gift." Astrid informed him with a shrug, to which the rest of the team nodded and mumbled.

    "Vega's good at everything." Tuffnut exaggerated as he always did. He was still as bitter about her profound talents as he was since day one, but he had grown to accept that no one would be as good as Vega. "Literally."

   Snotlout pouted, "Apart from loving me."

   Vega rolled her eyes but chose to let the comments pass over as she sat back in her saddle, staring at the image she had drawn intently. So that was Drago. The thought made her feel queasy and sick, her gut twisting in an emotion that she couldn't quite comprehend. She didn't understand why her father had never told her the truth about these stories, or the fact that he had been Stoick right hand, but they were answers she would never get.

It wasn't long before they had reached Drago's lair. The trip had been a hazy mess of cold and complaints, as well as Ruff hitting on Eret at every chance she got. He had seemed much more interested in the other blonde, however, which had still only been noticed by Vega. She wondered what was going through his mind.

As they prepared to land on the icy structure, Atlas threw Eret towards Stormfly like a game they often played, the blue dragon catching him before he had a chance to hit the ground and escape.

"Okay- I got you here!" He groaned as Stormfly pushed him to the ground with her claws, burying her underneath him as though she protected a nest. Eret wheezed slightly and sneezed as snow hit him in the face. He pleaded for the help that he wasn't going to get, "Now get this thing off me."

"Never take a toy from a dragon," Vega scolded as she climbed off of Atlas and walked away, "Don't you know anything?"

"Why does this keep happening to me?"

She ignored his groans and grunts as she rushed ahead of the group, pushing her body up the snow and to the edge of the ice beneath them. Peering over the ledge, Vega found herself narrowing her eyes at the scene of many boats and Vikings, all crowded round one large hole in the ice. It seemed as though they were searching for something down there, in the dark, watery depths below, but she couldn't have been sure. She tore her constellation eyes away for a moment, searching around the rest of the lair, not finding a single sign of the Pride of Berk of his famous Night Fury anywhere. She frowned.

"What's down there?" Astrid questioned no one in particular, squinting to see if she could find anything amongst the abyss. "What are they looking at?"

Fishlegs hoisted himself up from the snow and reached down to his belt bag. He unclipped the middle pouch and pulled our a stack of cards, sifting through them for a short while and thinking intently. They were an improved version of the cards he had always had since they were young, but the pack had only grown as they encountered more and more dragons. He knew pretty much everything now, if he hadn't before.

"Large diameter bubbles, massive lungs, cold water deep dweller." The man listed, taking a moment to peer back down at the scene. He pursed his lips, looking back to his cards. "I'm thinking class five leviathan, maybe six."

Vega's head shot to stare at him incredulously, "Six?"

He hadn't had time to answer as a squawk sounded from behind them, pulling the group out of their bubble and back to reality. It took only seconds for Eret to stand on his feet as Stormfly fled the scene, pointing a knife at the masked figures that appeared behind rocks and from snow. Vega narrowed her eyes and unsheathed her sword, holding it up it in front of her protectively.

A serious of darts were fired at the dragons, Hookfang, Barf and Belch being the first ones to go down. The group pushed themselves down the slope and rushed towards their friends, only to he stopped in their tracks by the men in masks.

"Meatlug!" Fishlegs called out, "What's wrong, girl?"

"Atlas!" Vega shrieked as the purple dragon hit the ground with a thud, a red dart lodged in her neck.

The brunette charged forward with an angry shout, wielding her sword expertly, and taking down two of the men without even trying. Eret rose an eyebrow, rather impressed by her skill and also amused by her profound recklessness at the very same time. She was definitely a fighter, he had to give her that.

"Atlas!" She eventually reached the animal at question, holding her head as she moaned and hissed. Only a moment later was the girl being dragged away with no choice but to scream and yell as she watched her dragon close her eyes, "Hey! Get off me!"

Vega grunted as she was dumped on the cold floor and glare up at the masked figure. She kicked his knee like a bitter child and the group snickered when he collapsed to the ground.

"Don't move!" Another man demanded, holding his weapon towards the dragon riders. "Stand still!"

With a sigh passing her pink lips and defeat flashing across her starry eyes, Vega allowed herself to be hauled from the ground and away from Atlas, looking over her shoulder until she could see her friend no more.

• • •

"Drago!"

Vega glared at the man carting their dragons as icily as she could, occasionally also stomping on the foot of the man pushing her foreword when he held her wrists too tight. They weren't far behind the animals at question, but she still felt anxious at the idea of Atlas being vulnerable in their current state. She has hardly even noticed Eret trying to make amends.

"Get off me!" He snapped and pushed a guard away, brushing off his clothes and smiling at the man in question. "Always great to see you, my friend. Keeping warm, up here?"

He didn't respond.

"Well, as you can see, I am right on time with a new batch of dragons." Eret waved an arms at the cart as though he has caught them himself, flaunting the idea in a way that seemed prideful but also like he didn't want to find out if he didn't. "Just like I promised."

    "He's waking up!" One of the men yelled from behind them, grabbing the groups attention immediately.

   Hookfang bashed around wildly, throwing fire from his mouth and shrieking. The men around him panicked and rushed away, some trying to hold on and look good in front of Drago, but failing miserably.

    "Drop the ropes!"

    "Give me some backup here!"

   It was rather pitiful how none of them seemed able to tame the dragon. Vega was almost amused by it. If Drago was so infamously excellent, then why were all of his men and crew pure fools? She wondered whether anyone outside of Berk knew a single thing about dragons, and she went with the answer of probably not. A plethora of amateurs surround them and whilst prideful, it was also quite embarrassing to watch. These people really didn't know anything.

"Drop the ropes." A deep and gruff voice spoke, and the men didn't need to be asked twice. They dropped the ropes as a shadowy figure stepped forward and started towards them.

Vega squinted her brown eyes in attempt to see the man closer, to get a good look of the man in the shadows. But what she did see eventually, had her taken aback.

Drago looked exactly how she'd drawn him.

As he marched up the Hookfang and started yelling an old, ancient holler, she found herself seething. Her starry eyes no longer shone with curiosity as they usually did, instead they burned with anger. She was sure that these men would have to hold her back much together than they were in order to restrain her from punching Drago's ugly face, or doing something far worse that Hiccup would no doubt scold her for. Not only had this man tried to kill her father and their chief, but he now had the audacity to push his foot into the dragons face and pin him down, as though the animal was nothing but dirt.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout cried out, "What are you doing?"

Drago ignored their words and stared down at Hookfang, face statuesque. "You belong to me, now."

The dragon cowered and puffed out air, eyes falling in what could have been fear or obedience. It hurt Vega's heart to see the dragon in such a state, for it to be treated so cruelly. The group couldn't even imagine treating them as Drago did, and she now worried for Atlas. She didn't ever manage well with those who told her what to do.

"And as an added bonus, I also caught you their riders." Eret pitched in, almost awkwardly, and Vega found herself charging towards him. The men yanked her back, "No extra charge."

"What? Are you kidding me?" She spat.

Astrid's face contorted in a manner that only ever occurred when she was angry enough to murder someone with her bare hands, "I swear-"

"Aw!" Ruffnut whined and stomped her feet like a two year old. Vega didn't even bother looking at the twin, knowing fully well that we would probably say something she'd regret if she did, "But you were so perfect!"

    "Turns out there's a whole bunch of them out there." Eret threw a pointed finger into the distance, "They attacked-"

   Drago shot forward and grabbed the dragon trapper, his neck tightly within his large hands. He looked into Eret's soul with the darkest stare the group had ever seen, and Fishlegs had to shuffle back nervously. Vega, however, stood her ground and glared venomously. Drago may have been scary, but no one compared to Vega when she was pissed off. In fact, Berk had never seen anyone scarier.

    "How many?" Drago demanded gruffly.

   Vega raised a brow, both shocked and rather relieved that her original thoughts had been wrong, leaning in close to Astrid. "Drago doesn't have them, after all."

   The blonde turned to face her with realisation upon her features, though turned away and made her expression blank as quickly as she had looked at the brunette. Astrid knew not to make things obvious without Vega even having to tell her — she was smart, like that.

   If Hiccup wasn't here, nor Gobber or Stoick, Vega Storm couldn't help but wonder where her boyfriend actually was. Hiccup liked to explore, but it wasn't like him to set his mind upon something and then change his mind. He had been adamant to talk to Drago, he had left hours before the current situation at hand, and he certainly wasn't going to follow his father back to Berk without a fight. So, where was he?

    "How many?"

   Unable to hold her tongue and another plan plotting in her pretty head, Vega puffed out her chest and smiled in a way that only she could.

    "Hundreds." She informed him, "A whole island full."

    "I wouldn't worry about it." Eret tried, noticing how Drago's head had snapped towards the young woman, and how she'd barely even flinched. Drago squeezed tighter and Eret wheezed, "My men are hunting them down as we speak. They won't know where you're hiding. I promise you that-"

    "Oh- they will!" The brunette laughed sarcastically, wondering how far she could push but until Eret turned blue and stopped breathing altogether. "They know we're missing, and they have tracking dragons."

   She took a step foreword, despite the man trying to pull her back. The group of riders watched as the girl stepped up to play leader as she often did, not worried about her actions or motifs in the slightest. They trusted Vega — if anyone was going to get them out of this mess and scare Drago to his wits, it was her. "If you so much as touch us, Hiccup is going to kick your-"

    "Hiccup?" Drago echoed almost childishly.

    "He's not a problem! Really-" Eret breathed heavily, voice squeaky. "-trust me."

    "He's only the son of Stoick the Vast, his heir to the throne of Berk, and the greatest Dragon Master this world has ever seen." Vega's voice was confident.

   "Dragon Master?" Drago seemed appalled at this claim and his face grew angry. He crouched to Vega's height and got up in her space threateningly, not she didn't seemed fazed in the slightest. Drago, although amused, couldn't understand why he didn't scare the girl, and why he felt nothing but pure anger radiating towards him. "I alone control the dragons."

Tuffnut shook his head pitifully, "Nope."

Ruffnut hummed in agreement and snickered.

"Sorry!"

"You wish."

Vega peered back at the group for a brief moment and then back to Drago, shrugging her shoulders with a tight smirk. "And unless you let us go right now, he will blast through here on his Night Fury and blow your entire fleet of ships to splinters."

"Then they'll be crying like babies!" Ruffnut laughed but groaned when Fishlegs swooned.

"Funny and beautiful." The podgy man sighed.

Snotlout nodded and elbowed her playfully, making her shuffle away from him as he spoke with a wink, "Good one, babe."

"Like babies!" Tuff laughed like a maniac, bobbing in agreement and finding his twin the smartest person on earth. He proceeded to shrug his shoulders cooly and send a smug gaze, "They always cry."

"Real tiny ones!"

Astrid rolled her eyes but continued to listen to the conversation. She felt proud that Vega was standing up to this man and trying her hardest for him to fear Berk and thus set them free. The girl had always been brave, willing to do anything for her friends to be okay. She didn't like to show emotion too often, neither did Astrid, but Vega tended to care more than most. Right now, she cared about getting them out of there safely and finding Hiccup, wherever he was. It was a priority of hers, and Vega always valued her priorities. Especially when it was at the top.

"First there was one rider, and now all of Berk?" Drago raged to Eret, who cowered away from him nervously. The man grit his teeth, "And you led them to me!"

"Drago-"

"Stop all preparations!" The man commanded, each member of his crew stopping in their tracks. This army seemed to work based upon fear, and Vega pitied each and every one of them. "We must attack the Dragon Riders' nest at once! We will take down their Alpha, then we will take Berk!"

As the men cheered, Vega cursed lowly. That wasn't what she had wanted to happen, in fact it was she complete opposite. She glanced around for another way out of this mess but found none.

Drago glanced at Eret, "And get rid of him."

"Drago!" Eret pleaded as he was shoved towards the group, "Drago, please, I-"

"You think you can take us down?" Snotlout laughed, bringing everyone to a standstill. The men no longer advanced with weapons and arrows, and instead looked at the man with frowns. Even Drago was listening, "Hiccup may be a dragon master, but that is Vega Storm."

He pointed at the brunette who had frowned, unsure of what he thought he was achieving. "Berks best fighter, Apple of Berks eye! She's the bravest warrior we've ever had. Only other person to fly a Night Fury, too!"

    "Storm?" Drago repeated as he raised a hand for him men to stop, to which they obliged. He peered at the girl curiosity, a flash of something in his eyes that Vega couldn't quite decipher straight away. Realisation? Maybe understanding? She wasn't sure, but she didn't let this affect her as he strode foreword and circled her several times, close and watching. "Little Storm?"

   Vega didn't know what Little Storm had meant, so she stayed silent, but held her head up higher. Snotlout scoffed an unhelpful laugh, finding it amusing that he had called her little. Sure, Vega wasn't the tallest around, but the brunette wasn't a small storm in the slightest — Vega was a hurricane.

    "Little?" He snorted, "My babe might look short and sweet, but she can kick some ass."

   She felt strangely complimented by his words. That was until Drago clicked fingers and pointed towards her, a heavy scowl on his face.

    "Take her."

   Immediately two men in masks grabbed her by either arm and tried to tug her away, which the girl responded to with a growl. She managed to swipe the guy on the left off of his feet by snagging his ankles from behind, using her boot to kick his heels and send him to the ground with a thump. The other wasn't too difficult to knock down, simply using her free arm to send him into Astrid who took no hesitation in head butting him, leaving his body to fall.

    "Vega!"

   The girl turned to see why Ruff had shouted a second too late. She was quickly restrained from behind and pushed to the found on her knees, hissing in pain when the ice began to gnaw at them.

   As another man went to launch his weapon at Eret, the first instructed to go, a flash of blue landed in front of him and deflected the blades with her wings. The group gasped at the sight of Stormfly protected the trapped, but the enthusiasm short lived when a small bullet hit her in the neck and she went down.

    "Stormfly!" Astrid cried out, "No!"

   All Vega heard as she was pulled away was Astrid's sniffles and the scared squawk of a Grim Gnasher. Her heart almost stopped.

——