============

Skullcrusher roared, catching the scent of other dragons. Eret rubbed the dragon's head.

"What is it, boy? Where are they?" Skullcrusher looked around, growled, then appeared to perk up as the dragons he smelled came closer. Eret looked up, and saw the silhouette of a four-winged creature looming in the fog. A smaller figure sat astride it, wearing what looked like a spiked helmet. Eret sighed, relieved, as this was Valka. She and the other riders surrounded Eret, and Ruffnut yipped gleefully at the sight of her crush. Valka, standing atop Cloudjumper's neck with no saddle and perfect, synchronized balance, took off her helmet and grinned at Eret.

"Well," she said breezily. "Where were you, Eret?"

Eret grinned sheepishly. "Ah, well, I was simply scouting the Archipelago, and kinda got lost in a storm," he said. Valka suddenly looked stern and worried.

"Are Hiccup and Astrid with you?," she asked hopefully. "Behind you, following you, perhaps?" Eret looked at the swirling gray-blue ocean below, downcast.

"Hiccup told me to head home, to leave them there," he said. "They're not with me, no."

Valka eyed Eret. "Well, where's 'there'?"

Eret looked up. "You're looking for them?," he said. Everyone nodded in unison, serious-faced. "Well, 'there' is about twenty miles to the north of Berk, twelve to the east of Nighthaven.....or what's left of it. I wanna call it 'Isle of H--'" Valka cut him off.

"Nevermind what you wanna call it," she said bluntly. "Take us there. I came out to find my son, and that's what I intend to do."

============

We walked along, Hiccup wanting to explore the island despite its dangers. I kept worrying that a huge Stormcutter with one yellow eye and one green one would randomly appear and carry off Astrid, but it never happened, and that was both relief and torture, for I knew it would happen at one point. I jumped at every noise, but no one seemed to notice.

We stopped at a cliff, one opposite of the collapsed one as it was on the other side of the island. Hiccup looked over it, and drew in a deep breath, taking in the crisp winter air into his lungs. "Well," he said breezily, the wind ruffling his mid-length auburn hair, and for the first time I noticed the bandage that encircled his crown. It worried me. "What do you think, Astrid?," Hiccup continued.

Astrid stood with a bored expression, arms folded sullenly. "I think I wanna go home now," she said bluntly. Hiccup laughed and circled her.

"Aw, come on," he grinned, stopping behind Astrid and putting his arms around her playfully. "Why can't you have at least a little fun?"

Astrid smiled up at Hiccup falsely and put her arms around his before twisting one of them. " 'Cause we are probably being stalked by a bloodthirsty monster and I wanna get away from here so she doesn't rip our heads off," Astrid said darkly as Hiccup grimaced and shook out his hand.

"Gods, Astrid," Hiccup cursed as he looked at his hand. "You don't have to kill my poor wrist." Astrid simply gave Hiccup a sweet, innocent grin and peered over the cliff edge. That's when my fears came true, exploding out of nowhere like an uppercut of reality.

A huge Stormcutter shot up the cliffside, roaring at the top of her lungs. Hiccup gasped and ran to Toothless, hopping on the dragon's back. Astrid ran after him, and it all played out as I had prophesied. Every moment was exactly as I had envisioned it, and I couldn't stop it, for Fate wouldn't let me. Hiccup held his hand out to Astrid, reaching for her so she could hop on, when the Stormcutter showed herself again. She scooped Astrid up in her talons and flew off, carrying her by the arms.

"HICCUP!!!," Astrid cried as the dragoness carried her off.

"NO!!!," Hiccup shouted. I ran to Toothless, but he growled and I saw genuine fear for Astrid, for Stormfly, for Hiccup, for ME, in his determined green eyes.

"Stay with Stormfly," he ordered.

"But-"

"STAY!," Toothless commanded, but it was more of a desperate plea. "I don't want you getting hurt!" I obeyed and stayed with the injured Nadder as Toothless and Hiccup shot after the rogue Stormcutter.

----

(A/N: This is now from a third person point of view, and Paintsplash is no longer telling this part of the story, like in the earlier scenes with Hiccup and Astrid, or Cinderpaw, or Valka and the riders)

Toothless sped after the dragon, his eyes narrowed.

"Come on, Toothless," Hiccup whispered desperately. "Come on, you can fly faster!!" Toothless whinnied and sped up, pumping his wings as hard as possible.

Astrid got a look of glee when she saw Hiccup shooting towards her, valiant and desperate. All of a sudden, the Stormcutter whipped around and shot a torrent of flame at Astrid's rescuer. Toothless yelped and dove under the fire just in time. Hiccup looked up at the dragoness, and realized what had to be done.

"Okay, bud," he whispered to Toothless. "You've gotta fly on your own now. You can do it; you've done it before. Remember fighting Drago; remember flying by yourself. Trust me." Hiccup locked the fin open, and Toothless opened his spines to increase his chances of staying aloft. Hiccup balanced on Toothless's back, then ran forward and leaped off his head. Once he began to fall, Hiccup shot open his flight suit and sped towards the Stormcutter. He latched onto her leg and whipped out his dagger; a dull rod with fire on it wasn't going to hurt a thick-skinned, FIREPROOF dragon. The dagger had almost gone into the scaly hide of the dragoness when she barrel rolled and flung Hiccup off her leg.

"Hiccup!," Astrid shouted. Hiccup caught hold of the Stormcutter's tail and pulled himself up. Lightning flashed in the clouds, and the Stormcutter was flying closer to the storm. Hiccup waved his arms as he tried to stay on the Stormcutter's back. He looked up at the dangerously close lightning, then down at all the metal that adorned him.

Just perfect, he thought blackly. More lightning. Thor, you never tortured me with lightning till I lost my leg! Why do you have to do it ALL THE TIME now that I'm covered in METAL?!!!! Apparently, Thor was enjoying himself immensely, for right as Hiccup thought that, a huge boom of thunder echoed around the clouds, and it sounded disturbingly similar to laughter.

Hiccup looked back at Toothless. He was beginning to struggle, and wouldn't stay aloft much longer. Hiccup was having a hard time, too, trying to stay on the dragon's back. Then, as everything started to go downhill, Hiccup lost balance and slid onto the tip of the Stormcutter's tail. Hiccup's hands were numb, and he felt like they would let go at any moment. Toothless was rapidly losing altitude. Hiccup looked up at the Stormcutter, who, with her owl-like abilities, was looking backwards at him over her shoulder. Her evil, bicolored eyes pierced Hiccup's, and he felt as if she was sucking away his soul. Then the Stormcutter grinned and whipped her tail. Hiccup fell.

"NO!!!," Astrid cried, tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched Toothless plummet after his master. He wrapped his wings around Hiccup; Hiccup and Astrid both reached out for each other, though they knew they could never touch the other. Hiccup pulled his hand back, and let Toothless fully wrap himself around him. Then, the black dragon crashed into the ocean, and didn't surface while Astrid could still see the area.

Astrid closed her eyes and cried silently as the huge dragoness carried her off to places unknown.

============

A jet black dragoness with a blue swirl over her right eye looked at the unconscious drake and Viking. She knew them both, and her farseeing eyes had witnessed the entire event. A larger, dark greyish-blue drake with a navy blue lightning bolt on his forehead came up next to her and eyed the prone pair worriedly. The two dragons' daughter, a light grey creature with a feather over her left eye, joined them in their concerned expressions. Then they all looked at each other, nodded, and carried the Viking and his dragon into their cave.