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━━ chapter fourteen
two alphas

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HICCUP was flat against Toothless's back. Valkyrie was on the edge of her toes, eyes wide and breath hitched━the air was cold; it bit at her skin and made her arms tremble. But she was warm with pride as the rider and his dragon shot towards the bellowing sea dragon twenty-times their size━more even━faster than an arrow.

"TAKE CONTROL OF IT!" shouted Drago, shaking his staff.

The Bewilderbeast flickered his gaze; narrowing his eyes into a hypnotic hymn. Hiccup just held his hands over Toothless's ears, keeping the frabric he had tied tight; fixed down. Without his hands even on his steering bars, Hiccup and Toothless kept to the same, sound-shattering speed.

"STOP THEM!"

Valkyrie was grinning to herself as she started to realise what Hiccup's plan might just be. She saw him shift in the saddle, unhooking himself from the straps, locking a certain lever, fixing his legs ready for a jump; crouched low onto the saddle. Come on, she prayed for them. Come on, you can do this, you guys can do this━

"NOW!"

Hiccup cranked the last lever and they shot up. At the same moment, the Bewilderbeast shot an entire wave of pure ice, missing them by just mere inches. Val could see him leap off Toothless in the cover of the ice, soaring over with his Dragon Blade canister in his hand. He dipped his arms down as Drago broke out into laughter. Valkyrie's heart raced━if only he knew...

His laughter stopped; immediately in seeing no rider on the Night Fury's back. Toothless glanced down with a cheeky grin.

Just as he turned around, there was Hiccup. Wings out, at a dive━he shot straight towards Drago through the maze of ice, twisting his body at the exact right moment to avoid his staff. He jetted past, letting loose his entire cassister of Zippleback gas. The noxious cloud obscured Drago from Val's view.

Hiccup kept the gas going for as long as he dared━far enough away, he flipped the cannister around, pressed his thumb on the trigger━

BOOM!

The gas lit up in a tidal explosion of fire, and Drago was knocked right off his feet. Valkyrie cheered with the rest of Berk, laughing in her delight as Bludvist fell. He fell right to the ground, skidding along the snow-covered beach. His spear landed a few paces away from him, out of his reach.

His dragon threw his head, the explosion nothing but a mere annoyance for him. He bellowed with frustration, trying to see through the smoke that followed. Valkyrie saw a dot in the sky, rocketing down with Toothless in pursuit. They bypassed the embers, spun out of the way of the sea dragon's thrashing crown, diving lower and lower━

Toothless beated his wings harder than he's ever before, kicking is legs and screeching in determination━he was going to reach Hiccup this time. He will. Valkyrie had her heart in her throat, still clutching onto Astrid's arm beside her as they were both silent in waiting━

And then the Bewilderbeast's tail flung upwards. It emerged through the smoke, heading straight for Hiccup and Toothless.

Valkyrie couldn't see them. She heard a shout. But they were shrouded in behind, low against the tail. She didn't know whether they hit it, or whether they arched out of it. All she could do was wait━

The villagers had all travelled down at this point; they were rushing further, even. They had their weapons━axes, hammers, swords, even sturgeons━whatever they could find to fight for their home. They raced to the docks, and Valkyrie was with them, skidding down the wood and trying to see around the tail. It was only seconds, but it was always more than that.

She waited for a dot to appear over the tail as it fell down. Just one dot, and it'll all be okay━

And just as the ends tipped over, there they were. A full-vertical to the heavens; spinning into a halt amongst the sun-lit clouds.

"YES!" Valkyrie screamed, jumping up and down. "YES!"

Astrid clapped her hands. "That's right!" she pointed a finger up at her friend. "That's the Pride of Berk right there!"

She heard Hiccup's victorious shout over the wind. They dropped back down, spinning out of the dive and towards Drago's dazed figure on the snow-capped sand. They landed and before Bludvist could reach for his staff, Hiccup lit up Inferno with a click and threw it like a javelin. It struck just as his hand neared; and Drago shouted in pain, palm raw at the flames.

"Hold him there, Toothless!"

Valkyrie reached the edge of the dock walks, a bright and relieved smile upon her face. Chest heaving from the run all the way down from the Great Hall slope, she was ready for this to be over; once and for all. Hiccup marched his way up to Drago, dusting the leather wings off his arms to fold them back in. Chin high, he wanted this to done just as much, and he was leaving Drago no room to try and take this win they held just reachable by their fingers.

But as the smoke subsided, Valkyrie's heart dropped. Amongst the dust and embers and shards of ice, Hiccup didn't see. How could have he seen? But Valkyrie saw━moments too late; she saw the rough grey scales, the tusks, the narrowed eyes and the ginormous, reef crown━

"Wait━" she wanted to shout the words, but her voice was nothing but a brittle croak, "No━!"

The Bewilderbeast reared back his head; Hiccup was trapped━he wouldn't survive. There was no way he'd get out of this. He was stuck with nowhere to run, no time to fly━

He yelled and dived down. Toothless launched himself in front━

"NO!" Valkyrie finally managed to scream. She pushed forward, stumbling but Ruff tugged her back, gasping at the ice that exploded out━encasing everything in it's path ... a small fortress; a small cage━one that was solid in colour ... completely solid ... and inside ...

She shook her head; she stumbled━something had dropped within in her, making her knees weak. "No," she struggled in Ruffnut's hold, trying to grasp free her arms, but Hott helped her, and she was stuck. "No, no, no━" that would have frozen Hiccup right inside. That would've frozen the both of them ... that would have killed them. Killed him.

Drago chuckled━perhaps a mix of disbelief, or amusement at his luck, but Valkyrie paid him no mind at all. Soon, Astrid had to hold her back, too, and in the end, she crumpled. She wilted like a picked flower━like those flowers falling down into the water. Three wilted flowers, drifting away and breaking apart. She felt like she was down in the water with them, being pulled apart by the current as she watched Valka drop to her knees at the ice, slamming her fists against the crystal stone, "No! NO!"

Valkyrie felt her tears. She shook them away, but they wouldn't stop. He couldn't be gone ... She had told herself that she was going to make their future true━give everything she had to have everything she wanted. This ... this wasn't it. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. Valkyrie had been scared, on that deck about to die, thinking that she would never get to live the life she and Hiccup were supposed to. Never grow old with him, never have kids ... she thought that that was the worst thought possible, to die and never say goodbye.

She didn't even consider that maybe the gods had prepared it the other way around.

That she'll be the one to grow old without him. She'll be the one to mourn, and to grieve, and to realise that everything she had been scared of would never happen, and she'd have to live with it. Live with the horrible realisation that she could have had it, but never did. And never will again.

Valkyrie couldn't control her quiet sob; tears welled up in her eyes until her vision was blurry. She wanted to fight and to shake her head and to scream this isn't right! She wanted to believe that Hiccup survived; that he was fighting his way out. That he'll break through the ice with a plast of purple and everything will be okay.

But after Stoick just hours before, Valkyrie understood that that would never happen. The gods were cruel that way. They'd take a father, and they'd take a son, and they'd hand over no mercy in return. They just left them dry, brittle crops in a drought; slowly dying, and fading away. Valkyrie already felt herself fade━Hiccup was gone ...

Her vision was so blurry, the ice started to morph together to glow a blue━every colour merging together ... she furiously blinked them away.

The colour was still there.

"What?" muttered Hott and Valkyrie realised they saw the same thing.

Valkyrie's chest rose, eyes widening and heart lifting━a miraculous hope as the midnight blue from inside the ice grew and grew and grew. It grew until it was blinding, but she dared not look away. There was a sound; high pitch in their ears; so high it hurt. Valka stumbled back. Drago frowned, and only just moved out of the way before━

Valkyrie Haddock gasped.

Cracks splintered all the way up and around the ice mound; from the centre, to the edges, up the jagged pieces━and out of it, burst forth rays of pure blue and purple light. Everyone ducked away, hiding theire eys, but not Valkyrie. She clung on, heart pounding as she hoped━she begged━

But she had no choice but to turn away as it exploded. The blast shook the earth and trembled the wood thresholds above until snow showered down.

When she glanced back up, her breath was taken away.

The ice had shattered completely, and in the middle, stood Toothless over Hiccup. His skin had turned luminescent in bright midnight blue━the fins all along his back were parted into two, bright in colour and radiating with a power none knew he held. He roared, startling the king of dragons despite his small size.

And Hiccup, who was crouched beneath him, looked up━Valkyrie's hands flew to her mouth amongst her relieved smile and tears. He was alive. Oh, thank Thor, he was alive!

Toothless scambered up the broken shards, clinging onto the largest to let loose a mighty cry at the Alpha. The colour pulsing from his scales brightened, and the Bewilderbeast growled in a livid answer.

Astrid's eyes widened. Her breath hitched, "Is Toothless doing what I think he's doing?"

Hiccup pushed himself to his feet, "He's challenging the Alpha!" he exclaimed, meeting his mother who had her hands immediately at his cheeks to check whether he was okay.

"To protect you!" she chuckled with awe.

Hott's hands flew up to his helmet as he━much like everyone else━watched in pure amazement as Toothless battled the Alpha. A twig in comparison, it didn't hold in back, not when the rider behind him━agape and still━fuelled him with glowing power. Each blast rocked the ground, exploding at the Bewilderbeast's tusks in showes of sonic purple before the Alpha could even open his mouth to get a hit.

He flung his tusks but Toothless just leapt from the spike and onto the next as it smashed, continuing his fire. Up above, the dragons under Drago's curse started to shake their heads and beat their wings. Valkyrie's eyes shot to the flock, fixing right on Zephyr━for she could catch her best friend in any crowd━as he started to twitch his head in search of her down below.

Hiccup stepped forwards and Toothless jumped back. He stood his ground in front of him, back arched and teeth bared before letting out a rallying cry that all the dragons above listened to. Every single one.

The flock of dragons dived closer to Berk. They hovered above, but no longer on the side of the Bewilderbeast. They backed up Toothless; ranks and ranks and ranks of dragons━hundreds roaring in thunderous bellows that rattled Valkyrie's very bones. She couldn't believe her eyes. Toothless didn't control them━he didn't gather their loyalty by force. All of these dragons, they chose him as their new Alpha. They chose to stand behind him. And they have chosen to fight with him.

(Perhaps one can cheat a dragon's curse; they don't have to accept the hand that fate has dealt them. They chose it).

"No, no, no, NO!" Drago rushed to his Bewilderbeast. He ducked Toothless's blasts, scrambling along. "Fight back!" he hooked his staff and climbed up onto the dragon's tusk, shaking it into his eyes. "FIGHT BACK! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!"

Valkyrie gained feeling in her legs and rushed the rest of the way down to the docks, jumping as far as she could to reach the same ground as Hiccup and Toothless. She joined Valka's side, and so did the rest of Berk, and so did the rest of Berk. They chose their chief, too. Five years ago, they may have never even thought to stand behind Hiccup and Toothless━to even want to. But that boy who had stood up to Valkyrie in the forest when they were fifteen now stood before an entire dragon and Viking empire; as a man and as a Chief.

And his father would be so proud.

Hiccup leapt onto Toothless's saddle and they launched into the air together. Landing on a tall shard of ice, they stood there, flocked amongst the herds and herds and herds of dragons. Amongst the Vikings below. Amongst their home. Their village. Their empire. "Now do you get it?!" Hiccup shouted over the growls to Drago who stared, struck with shock. The chief held out a hand to the dragons behind them. "This is what it is to earn a dragon's loyalty. Let this end now!"

Drago clenched his teeth. "NEVER!" he pointed his staff at them. "Come on!"

Toothless narrowed his eyes as the Bewilderbeast roared. With a snarl over his shoulder, Valkyrie grinned as each and every dragon drew deep into their lungs with maws glowing with fire. Toothless fired and immediately, the entire herd followed suit. Hiccup looked over his shoulder, in awe. Soon, the Bewilderbeast's face was clouded in smoke and fire, and Drago disappeared within it.

The Bewilderbeast reared back, bellowing. Toothless arched his back━his jaw opened. And his usual purple gas glowed with the blue from within his scales━the blast that he let go was far stronger than those before. The exposion sent the sea dragon staggering, screeching as his left tusk splittered and snapped━

It fell down.

A tidal wave of dust breeched into the air as it hit the ground. Valkyrie covered her face. She heard Toothless scream in defiance ... and when she looked back up, the Bewilderbeast had retreated back into the water, Drago with him.

And they did not return.