a/n; Forgive me as I'm a bit out of the loop here. Exams took up much of my time these past few weeks (cram studying along with terrible study packets rEQUIRED to be done by a certain time, etc etc) and I apologise. I will try to update the epilogue sometime soon. Most likely this week as I kept you all waiting a bit. I'll try lol.

As they neared the island, Astrid mulled over their plan. She'd hoped that she wasn't being too obsessive, but judging by how the twins and Snotlout were acting, she was one of the two who remembered what the plan even was.

And the other person in the scenario who actually knew what he was doing was Hiccup.

The Alpha's large, grey backside came into view as it unleashed its below-zero fury upon the houses. She winced as she spotted a few Vikings flung off of the cliff and into the water to spare themselves from the impact of the jagged ice.

Hiccup, however, was only focused on one thing-- and that was getting his best friend back. They still had a chance. Getting Toothless back and distracting the Alpha's enough to break off some control may just be enough for them to even the odds a bit.

He looked to Astrid and the others and nodded, a look of determination washing over his features. He uneasily turned the Scuttleclaw to circle the battlefield widely, waiting for the right moment to flutter over where Drago was overlooking the carnage on the back of a dragon that wasn't rightfully his to command.

He took the chance as soon as he saw one, the only sound being the flapping of Toothless' and the Scuttleclaw's wings as the two opponents appeared to size each other up. Drago admittedly looked surprised to see Hiccup alive and well, and challenging him once more no less.

"You've no place here, boy," Drago snarled. "Can't you see? You've lost everything. And you're stupid enough to add your life to the pile, aren't you?" Hiccup simply ignored the man, edging closer to Toothless.

The Night Fury snarled, hissed, and even snapped slightly as his rider attempted to reach out to him. The dragon was fully under the control of the Alpha.

"Bud," he spoke, voice barely above the rising wind. "Bud, it's me. Hiccup. Toothless." Flashes of recognition sparked in the dragon's eyes, and Toothless' pupils dilated slightly and quivered before reverting back to their razor-thin trance.

Hiccup sighed, tilting his head before stretching out his hand once more, ignoring the growls of warning. "Toothless, you'd never hurt me. I know you; you can fight this." Once more, the flickers of humanity swam in Toothless' eyes and the pupils began dilating. This time, however, they stayed slightly less slivered.

It was working. Hiccup almost hollered in the excitement that one of his ideas was working for once.

Drago noticed this as well. The man's face crumpled into one of rage, and he would have lashed out at the younger male had he not been about to fall of the dragon while sitting perfectly still. He growled out, "It's no use. The Alpha controls all."

Ignoring him once more, and all in all just pissing Drago off even more, Hiccup kept muttering things to Toothless in attempts to bring the real him back. He was becoming more and more successful, slowly making progress until the dragon had almost returned.

"You're my best friend, bud. My best friend."

His pupils dilated, and he crooned, leaning into Hiccup's outstretched hands and giving the Vikings a gummy smile. Hiccup never thought he'd be so happy to see it again. He couldn't help but cheer slightly as the Night Fury he knew and loved was back for good. Drago let out a loud snarl of rage as he swung his staff to strike Toothless.

When he swung it for a second hit, the staff never made contact. Toothless grasped it in his teeth, using it as a lever to yank the warlord from his back and send him flying to land with a thud on the Alpha.

Toothless looked back at Hiccup, but before anything else could happen he began plummeting;  both had completely forgotten the fact he couldn't fly without help. Hiccup immediately leapt off of the Scuttleclaw and dove after his best friend, his 'Bud.'

"Almost there, Toothless, almost there!" His hand was within brushing distance of the saddle's handle, but they were falling at such a fast pace it was difficult to get any closer. But, of course, they managed it and flew right before they would have made impact with the water.

Looping around the jagged and steep mountain on the upper portion of the island, they flew just past their frosty demise as the Alpha unleashed its ice breath in their direction in an attempt to stop them. He overheard Vikings cheering and even a 'take 'em down, babe' from Astrid as the duo dashed through the sky.

After a few more near-deaths with that godsforsaken ice breath of the Alpha's, they finally got onto the ground. Hiccup had just thrown Inferno with surprisingly good accuracy, stopping Drago from reaching his staff and burning his hand in the process. Ignoring the man's brief scream of pain from the fire singing his hand's flesh, Hiccup took a step forward.

"Hold him, Toothless! It's all over now." In his heavily breathing, emotionally tired state and feeling slightly smug and victorious, Hiccup didn't notice the Alpha rising behind him. Neither did Toothless; but Drago did.

"Or is it?" The tyrant smirked. A sudden chill went up Hiccup's spine as he heard  the Alpha behind him and he turned just in time to see the beast preparing a freezing blast. At that moment, Toothless jumped and wrapped himself protectively around Hiccup as the Alpha let its ice envelop the duo.

"NO!" The crowd of Vikings that had begun to form when Drago was first taken down was burst apart as Valka rushed down and began scratching with all her might at the frozen mound. She heard the footfalls of her husband approach as he knelt by her, a comforting hand on her back as she rested her forehead helplessly against the ice.

Astrid covered her mouth with her hands as tears welled up in her eyes. The Vikings began bowing their heads, assuming the worst.

"No.." Valka's voice cracked. Her eyes widened in surprise, though, when the ice began to glow. A shrill sound echoed through the air and she followed her instincts, taking her Stoick's arm and leading him quickly away from the immediate vicinity of the mound of jagged ice.

Low and behold, no more than a few moments later the prison of Hiccup and Toothless exploded, chunks of ice flying everywhere and revealing the two perfectly alive and well, if not a bit out of breath. Hiccup crawled backward a bit after glancing at Toothless, who look absolutely pissed.

You don't mess with him, and most of all you don't mess with his Hiccup. This bitch had the audacity to do both, and Toothless doesn't let things like this go unpunished. Certain areas on his body began to glow, and he let out a ferocious roar that made even Stoick shiver.

He leapt mightily upon an ice spike, challenging the Alpha. He began blasting fireballs at the larger beast's face, going much beyond his shot limit. Dragons begin flying over to his side and launching their own flame. Toothless even saw Cloudjumper. Eventually, they had overpowered both the Alpha and Drago together. Toothless released one last plasma blast, breaking one of the dragon's tusks clean off.

As the Bewilderbeast slunk into the ocean after casting a shameful glance at Berk once more, the Night Fury released one last powerful roar for good measure, and glided down to greet a surprised Hiccup.

"You never cease to amaze me, Bud. Thank you." He rested his forehead on his dragon's snout, and Toothless immediately everted to his playful nature and began licking Hiccup's face, drawing laughs from the crowd. The dragons landed, and the Berkians looked at them uneasily before a little girl rushed forward to leap on a Gronkle, who responded by running around to elicit giggles from the girl.

The villagers looked at each other, wary, before they began 'socialising' with the dragons. Hiccup looked on, wiping dragon spit from his face. Stoick and Valka approached.

"Son..." the chief started slowly. "Thank you. I-I couldn't be prouder. I'm sorry for never being the father you needed--"

"It's fine, Dad. Thank you." At Hiccup's reply, his father smiled slightly. Valka rushed forward and hugged her son. They stood for a moment, Stoick joining in, in a giant family embrace.

He noticed Astrid absentmindedly scratching Stormfly's chin as she watched the others, and excused himself from his parents to wander over to her. He tapper her shoulder, causing her to turn and look at him. A smile immediately broke out upon her face.

"'Take 'em down, babe'?" was all he asked, an eyebrow raised. She rolled her eyes, punching his arm.

"Don't make fun of me, asshole," She grabbed his shoulders and planted her lips on his. "That's for... everything." He smiled, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

"So you're going to lead us in cleaning up this mess, too, alright?" His face fell.

"Do I have to?"

"You didn't have a choice." She ruffled his hair, ignoring the fact she had to significantly raise her arm to do so.

a/n; The epilogue is next. :,) Then I'll probably update my oneshot book (that I revived) a good few times before I get around to working on PtN [Painting the Night abbrev.]

a/n 2; Also SHIT this was long compared to the last chapter and had a really sucky outcome. I'd fix it, but I can't really descriptively write action, fighting, or war scenes as I'd like to. Apologies, ha.