Warning: Mention of violence and blood

"[Name]..." I gasped in awe. "What are you doing?"

[Name] rose an eyebrow. "I'm helping. What else am I doing?" She continued to haul in the dragons gently with the skills I taught her to befriend a dragon.

I shook my head. "No, I mean, what are you doing here? You should be at home where it's safe."

She stopped petting the Nadder to face me with her hands on her hips. "Are you saying I can't help?"

I shook my head and frowned. "I don't want to see you get hurt." I took steps towards her and stopped enough for my hand to reach her shoulder. "It's dangerous."

"And you don't think I'm not worried about you either? You don't think I can't help you?" she challenged. "I know how to handle myself and I'm going to help."

"[Name], please, listen-" I was cut off.

"No, Hiccup," she shook her head but smiled to me and said, "Don't stop me."

My heart raced when I saw her smile but I was aggravated. Couldn't she see I was trying to help her? I didn't know what I would do if I saw her get hurt, let alone, die. Because of the small argument we had, my pride and my anger got the best of me. I didn't talk to her and ignored her until we got to the nest. I felt bad when she tried talking to me but I ignored her anyways. The only time I was able to talk to her was when I had to rescue her from a fall. I was worried, yes, but I was also childish.

~.~.~

I was currently on a mission. One, that might even be a little dangerous for me but I couldn't risk Dagur finding something that was a "game changer". The dragon riders and I have not a clue what it could be or if Dagur has it already. All we knew was it was on near islands where our base was. It didn't help that we didn't know what it was but our plan was to locate the idem and get it in our grasp and away from Dagur's.

I was surprised when I saw Gobber approaching us with even more news about this so called "game changer". Apparently, it was on the island where our base was and Dagur was already there.

"Alright, gang," I called, "Let's saddle up and face Dagur head on before we lose our base."

"Yes, we need to meet [Name] over there quick." Gobber hopped on his dragon.

"Wait," I narrowed my eyes and turned to Gobber, "[Name] is where?!"

"She's at your guys' fort." Gobber said calmly.

"You left her there, let alone, bringing her here?!" I shouted in frustration. I felt a headache coming on and gripped the sides of my head.

Gobber shrugged. "The lass wanted adventure and she wanted to see the fortress, so I brought her with me." He ignored the part where he possibly put my best friend in danger.

Without any more words exchanged, I hopped on Toothless and sped towards the fort. Please be okay, please be okay. I repeated in my head. I couldn't afford to loose my childhood friend. Especially, when I have yet to confess to her.

Please tell me that I'm not too late.

I arrived first at the base and I saw nothing but a ghost town. It didn't look like they have yet to discover our territory yet. There wasn't a single thing out of place.

Then, where is [Name]?

"Hiccup," I heard Fishlegs stutter a call. I turned towards him in anticipation. By the way he called me, it didn't sound good. "You might want to take a look at this."

I approached the ledge on the cliff and look towards Fishlegs's line of sight was. I saw what I feared. There were two ships docked already and it seems the men has already set up camp.

I nodded. "That's Dagur alright, but where is [Name]?"

"Hiccup," I heard my name being called again but this time by Astrid. "I see Dagur's fleet."

"I know," I said in a low voice.

"That's the thing," she added, "I only see two ships here but there is more hiding out in the sea."

I hummed trying to think. I was having a hard time focusing though because I was still worried for [Name] and where she might be. The problem was though, I already have an idea of where she might be. I had to act and think fast. "They're waiting for an ambush. They might not know that we are here. Where are the rest of the ships, Astrid?"

"On the other side of the island. They're hiding behind the island."

"Maybe they do know we're here." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "No matter. We have to act quick. I have a feeling that [Name] acted on her own and is already there."

"Why would she go there on her own?" Snotlout asked.

"I have a feeling she thought we were captured." I shook my head.

"Oh, no, then, we better get going quick." Astrid said. "Let's move out."

We all flew with me in front.

"What's the plan, Hiccup?" Fishlegs called.

"We need to get [Name] out of here. Gobber, Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, and I will create a distraction. Astrid, you're the stealthiest, find [Name] and get her out of there. If we need help, we'll call. Are we clear?"

Everyone agreed to the plan and Astrid split herself from us. Let's hope this works. We arrived to the beach area. Men had already warned others about our arrival and got their canons ready. They started firing at us but we avoided with ease. I have yet to see Astrid flying off with a girl behind her.

I heard a voice that I didn't want to hear in my current panic state. "Well, if it isn't my dear ol' brother. How have you been?" Dagur stood there on deck with his men that were holding their fire.

I was in no mood to give back a sarcastic comeback. I just wanted [Name]. "Cut to the chase, Dagur. I'm not your brother and where is she?"

Dagur just closed his eyes, shook his head and waggled his finger towards me. "Ah, ah, ah, that's not how you greet an old friend. Besides, you're in no position to make demands." He held out his hand towards two huge men holding Astrid by her arm with her wrists tied together on a heavy hammer and her mouth was gagged.

"Astrid," I gasped. I feared this would happened. I was too caught up in not realizing I put a teammate in danger. "Let her go!"

Dagur gushed and spazzed his hands near his head showing mockery. "Isn't this cute? Hiccup wants to save his girlfriend." He squished Astrid's cheeks. Astrid pulled away and tried to scream at Dagur through the cloth around her jaw but failed. "Too bad a pretty face has gone wasted. Throw her over." The men started moving Astrid towards the plank while she struggled in their grasp.

"No!" I shouted.

"Stop!"

Everything happened so quickly. When hearing a new voice, the men stopped, even Astrid stopped struggling to get out of the bonds and looked towards where the familiar voice came from. In an instant, my sight flashed towards where Dagur was standing. There, [Name] shoved a sword towards Dagur neck from behind in a flash. Her eyes were narrowed and her eyes became darker. Her voice was hard to recognized at first because it was lower than her usual light toned voice. Even her facial emotions were different. She showed no sign of any emotion. It's as if she has killed before.

[Name]...

I should be relieved that I manged to find her, but I wasn't. It wasn't the fact she was right next to my enemy, no, it was the fact that she is a totally different person than I thought I knew of.

"Let her go and I'll think about not slicing your head clean off your shoulders." She threatened. I shivered slightly in fear even when I knew she was on our side.

Dagur's eyes flashed fear in a split second but then he composed himself. He chuckled. "Who is this?" Only his eyes moved towards the girl behind him. "[Name], is that you?" he mocked, "My, have you beautifully grown!"

She narrowed her eyes more. "Flattery will get you no where. I'll repeat one more time: let her go and I might not slice your head off." Her tone went even scarier.

He chuckled again. "Knowing you, you wouldn't."

In another instant and almost too quick for my eyes, [Name] kicked his knees so he was knocked down bending on his knees and still held the sword to his neck. My eyes widen when I saw something reflected in between Dagur and [Name] and when Dagur grunted in pain. I was shocked when I saw [Name] had used Dagur's dagger against him by using it to stab his thigh.

"I wouldn't?" [Name] mocked.

"That's enough, [Name]!" I finally shouted. I went out of shock when I saw my best friend crossed the line.

She didn't even looked up towards me when she answered and neither did her tone changed. If anything, it got even scarier. "Sorry, Hiccup, but this has to be done." She never looked away from Dagur. "Release her now if you value your life."

Dagur growled and rolled his eyes. "Release her." That simple command made the two men cut Astrid loose. Astrid called her dragon and hopped on her and flew up with the rest of the riders. I flew low and landed on deck to retrieve [Name]. She had yet to move a single muscle even with Astrid safely back on her dragon.

"[Name], let's go. Astrid is safe." I called.

She didn't move or said anything. It was silent and the tensions were high. It felt as if it weighed me down.

"[Name]!" I shouted.

She finally moved, but not in a way I expected. As if a threat or a warning, [Name] sliced Dagur neck with a graze of her blade only enough to draw blood. [Name] released him and Dagur went to grab his neck in hissing pain. [Name] took this chance and sprinted towards me and hopped on. I commanded Toothless to fly. Dagur coughed.

"Get them!"

Word Count: 1732

Status: Unedited