??? POV

Groaning, I dragged myself out of one of the emergency submarines and onto the damp sand. Cold water oozed from where I stepped, but I was too tired to care. I fell to a crawl, struggling to move my limbs further up the beach. My hands ached, muscles straining.

Just a little further...

Finally giving way, my arms collapsed from under me. Laying on the soft shore, I twisted, facing the stars. Fresh, salty air stroked my skin and ruffled through my dirty clothes. The only sounds were the tumbling of waves and the quiet hum of crickets. It was so calm.

But the after effects of the hypnosis were taking their toll on me: I was exhausted and a strong migraine was making it hard to relax. The constant pain in my head ruined the atmopshere. Rubbing my temples, I sat up, watching the waves glow in the moonlight.

Time whizzed passed as I gazed upon the picturesque scene. Slowly, my eyes drooped shut. As I fell asleep, I realised I had no plan for what to do when the sun rose. I was alone, seperate from the Dragon Hunters, from Boss.

My eyes snapped open and a massive grin was plastered on my face.

I was finally free.

**

Freya's POV

Warm light shone on my eyes. Yawning, I stirred awake, slowly processing my surroundings. There was a faint snoring from beside me. I glanced across, seeing Gustav sleeping on his back. Surprised, I sat up, trying to remember where I was.

The rescue, the fight, Ryker...

Wait - we were in the arena on Berk, not on Ryker's ship. So we... we won?

Relief flooded me as if it were a lake I fell into. Smiling from ear to ear, I leapt up.

We escaped! We were free! We won!

Hopping from foot to foot in excitement, I ran through the gate. I checked for Swiftstrike, searching the open space around me.

"Swiftstrike?" I called, a playful smirk pulling on my lips.

There was a pause before a loud changewing roar echoed my call. To my surprise, it came from the training arena. Hurrying back, I found Swiftstrike stretching in the gateway of one of the paddocks.

I grinned. "Well hello there, sleepy."

Her eyes locked onto mine. Before I could speak again, she darted forwards, pinning me onto the floor.

"Hey!"

Eyes shining, she cooed, nuzzling my neck. I stroked the soft scales by her ear horns, earning a slight purr. Twisting like a cat, she lay on her back and covered me with one of her wings. Not paying attention, she swiveled her tail, hitting Gustav on the chest.

I resisted the urge to laugh as he groaned and sat up. As he moved, Swiftstrike altered her position until she was sitting beside me.

"I- what?" Gustav croaked, voice hoarse.

I rolled my eyes. "No 'good morning'? Not even a 'hello'?"

"Ugh. It's too early."

"Well, actually it's -" I glanced up at the mid-morning sun - "a perfectly reasonable time to get up."

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah whatever. You do you - I have no intentions to do anything until tomorrow." For emphasis, he yawned and stretched out before settling back down again.

Snorting, Swiftstrike walked towards Gustav. At the sound of her footsteps, he opened an eye. She approached steadily, before stopping directly next to him. I raised an eyebrow but Swiftstrike took no notice.

"Well hi," Gustav said, awkwardly switching eye contact between me and the dragon looming over him. Without warning, she turned, wrapped her tail around his leg and took off.

"Hey!" he yelled, upside down. I gasped as Swifstrike hovered, a mischeivious dragonic smirk on her face. Screeching happily, she dove slightly. Gustav thrashed, clawing at her tail, but she merely sped up.

"Let me go!"

Backwinging, she came to a sudden stop, sending Gustav flying forwards. He screamed as she pulling him backwards just as quickly.

"Get me down," he ordered.

Trying not to laugh, I crossed my arms. "Put him down."

Unimpressed, Swifstrike shook herself slightly. I groaned.

"Don't make this difficult," I urged. Reluctantly, she slowly lowered Gustav towards the ground. He sent me an unimpressed glare and Swiftstrike released her grasp of his leg.

"I blame you for that," Gustav muttured.

I shrugged. "Good luck going back to sleep now."

Looking betrayed, Gustav turned towards a sheepish Swiftstrike. "I will get you back for that, lizard!"

Laughing, I petted Swifstrike.

"Should we get something to eat?" Gustav asked. I nodded. Previously, I'd forgotten my hunger, but now that I'd been reminded, it was all I could think about. It wasn't as if Ryker was keeping us on a nutritionous diet.

Gustav began walking towards the gate. "Come on, let's get to the Great Hall."

Suddenly I wasn't so sure. "Are... are you sure that I'll, well, be, welcomed?"

Stopping, he turned towards me. "I don't think anyone has any doubts at this point. After all, you were in a cage with Ryker promising to kill you. Yeah, we're pretty certain you're not with the Dragon Hunters."

"Even Astrid?"

"Well... she never really stops having doubts. But that's just her nature. You should've seen her when Heather showed up the first time!"

Not really certain, I didn't move. The floor seemed so interesting right now.

Gustav beckoned me over. "Don't worry. I'll be with you, okay?"

I gulped, looking up.

"Let's just gradually wander over, and if at any point you change your mind, we can always just go back and fish ourselves, yeah?"

"Y-yeah. That sounds like a plan."

*

As we walked through the village, I wanted to disappear. Gustav kept up a constant chatter about the most random things but no matter how hard I tried all I could think of was the way we drew attention. To be fair, Swifstrike probably wasn't helping.

"Who's that?" a child asked, only to get shushed by his mother. I lowered my head.

"That's rude," she scolded. "She's helping us with the Dragon Hunters."

I couldn't hear what they said next. Somewhat relieved, I straightened. I held my chin a little higher.

"See? They don't think you're evil," Gustav assured.

"Maybe," I whispered back.

All too quickly, we reached the doors of the Great Hall. Several dragons lay by the entrance. Giving Swiftstrike a quick hug, I asked her to stay here. To Gustav's surprise, she obeyed.

But now I had no reason to wait. Biting my tongue, I followed Gustav as the doors swung open. Instantly, I was hit by the pure volume in the room. Everywhere people were cheering, eating, dancing, singing and just celebrating. A small smile pulled at the corners of my mouth.

Navigating through the crowd was difficult. When we reached the food stations, I murmured a quiet 'thank you' to the viking that served me some stew, hoping to not stand out. The viking didn't react, giving me a quick nod before continueing his singing.

"Oh I've got my axe and I've got my mace..."

Gustav and I sat down by the edge of the room.

"It's not so bad, once you get used to the shouting," he joked, starting to eat. I forced a smile.

"Yeah, I guess."

By the time we finished eating, a lot of the vikings had left. I could just see the Dragon Riders at one of the main tables. Trying to remember their names, I noticed the largest one staring at me.

Fishlegs, was it?

He said something to Hiccup and all of a sudden I had twelve eyes on me. I felt my face heat up as Gustav prodded me.

"Let's go say hi, they're waving us over," he suggested.

I took a deep breath and stood up. "Sure."

As we approached, their chatter quietened.

I knew this was a bad idea -

"Hey Freya," Hiccup began. "How's your head?"

"Um. I mean, okay. Doesn't hurt too much."

"That's good. How much... do you remember much of the battle?"

Taken by surprise, I flinched. "Yeah, a little. You snuck onto the ship and released us -" I jestured to Gustav and me - "and then gave me my cloak and we busted Swiftstrike out." Pausing, I tried to remember the details other than 'pain'. "Then we had to get through the wall of dragons. So I, I was sent to Ryker and that's were it gets blurry," I confessed quickly.

It wasn't blurry. I remembered Ryker's threats, his jeers, his blows. I didn't want to focus on it.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, that's right. After we sent multiple riders to Ryker and we managed to get him to call off the dragon wall. I'm really sorry, but we lost your cloak in the process."

Snotlout cut in, "But don't worry about that."

Fishlegs sighed. "We released all the hynotised people and dragons on the ship, but there may be scouts that Ryker had sent out. So, we need to be careful," he aimed the last one at Snotlout.

"But the real question, Freya," Hiccup continued, "is what do you want to do?"

I opened and closed my mouth like a goldfish. My hands were sweaty and I struggled to speak. "I'm not - I don't, I mean I er... I don't know. Not really."

Tuffnut suggested casually, "Why don't you go back to the Dragon Hunters?"

Fishlegs whacked the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for? I'm just saying as she is the next in line to the throne, and actually has family there -"

"Only my mother. She barely spoke to me before but now... now she wouldn't want me," I realised, my voice barely a whisper. But everyone heard. Too late to back out now. "I befriended a dragon. I worked with the Dragon Riders, their sworn enemies. I attacked Ryker. I- I- I'm a traitor."

There was a deafening silence but I didn't care. It was too much.

The word 'traitor' swamped my mind.

The walls were shrinking. I couldn't go home. I didn't have a home. I was trapped, alone. And it was my fault.

I couldn't focus. There was shouting behind me. Hiccup's voice. Gustav's voice. Other voices, I couldn't tell whose. They're behind me, hard to hear. I was walking. When did I start walking?

Fresh air slapped my face. I was out.

A traitor, that's what I was.

I walked faster, faster, faster.

I tripped, I got up, I fell again.

Steps forwards, steps backwards, where am I going?

Traitor.

No...

Traitor, traitor.

A familiar voice.

Traitor!

Viggo?

You're a traitor!

I hit the hard ground. My face was wet and red.

The world was spinning, slowly, hypnotisingly.

"I'm a traitor," I echoed, closing in on myself. "I'm sorry, Viggo."

What have I done?

***

Port Freya! She's been through a lot these past few weeks.