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We stood at the hangar opening, the wind buffeting us and almost knocking us over. The rain pelted my scales, and it hit so hard it stung like a bee.

"Sooooo," I said slowly. "How are we gonna do this? Are you both gonna ride on me, or....?"

"No," Mist said. "We'll both be on Toothless, since he can't fly for long by himself and will fall out of the sky if he does. I'll fly him and carry Hiccup. I'm just worried; I haven't flown Toothless far before, and I'm afraid I might mess up." I looked down. The ocean swirled beneath us, ravenous and wild. It roared out its hunger, bellowing above the equally loud wind, its thirst for blood unsatisfied. If Mist were to lose control of Toothless, it'd be all over......

Mist secured Hiccup onto Toothless; the chief was still unconscious, and Kohora's medicine hadn't done anything to help. We had both asked her about Hiccup's condition, Mist and I.

"He's in a coma," Kohora replied gruffly, rather irritable when we asked her.

"Will he wake up?," Mist had asked.

"It is clouded from my vision, so I don't know," Kohora snapped. "Now get out!" Mist left, but I had stayed, sensing trouble with my aunt.

"What did you see?," I said probingly. Kohora looked at me, and sighed.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you, Paintsplash," she said. "But, I've had another vision, and, it was really cloudy, foggy, I couldn't see what it was. All I knew was something big, horrible, was there. I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you." I nodded, hoping I'd be able to see it later, and bounded out of the cave after Mist.

We now sat on the hangar launch pad, Toothless explaining to Mist how to work the tail.

"Ok," Toothless concluded. "So do you think you get it? And if there's an emergency, just lock the fin open, got it?"

"Yeah," Mist said. "Thanks, Toothless."

Toothless looked over his shoulder. "How is he?," he asked, even more anxious than Mist. "Awake yet?"

Mist sighed. "Not any change, but he isn't worse. The fever went down a bit and his stitches are holding well. I don't expect anything to go wrong."

"We're lucky you took that apprenticeship with Gobber," Toothless said, looking forward. "I'm glad you're okay, Mist. I never got to tell you that, but now I can." He laughed, though he sounded as if he was trying to suppress a sad sigh.

Mist finished hooking Hiccup's safety harness to Toothless's saddle and mounted the jet black Night Fury. "Ready," she said. "You sure you're gonna be okay, Paint?"

I grinned at the new nickname. Toothless and Stormfly would call me Paintface, Splashy, Splash, Kid, Hey-You-With-The-Face, any of those.

"Yeah," I replied. "Let's go!"

Mist checked all the things that needed to be checked, grabbed the handles of Toothless's saddle, and we were off, speeding through the gale-force winds.

----

After about three hours, we came across Berk. We shot through the trees and settled on a large boulder on a hill to catch our breath. I looked up, and instantly felt sick.

Berk was on fire.

Huts, sheep pens, yak farms, all were alight and fiery.

"No...Berk!," I heard Mist whisper, horrified.

Villagers were scrambling around the village, most riding their dragons and pouring water onto buildings (if you didn't have a dragon you were now in the minority).

"Toothless!," Mist shouted. "Fly down there!" Toothless snorted and tossed his head, and within a few seconds we were standing in front of the Great Hall.

"What could've done this?," Mist and I said in unison.

"Mist," Toothless said, his growl dark and angry. "Over there..."

It was Hazer, who, despite the fact that he had been locked in a deep underground dungeon, was lighting another house on fire. I growled; my hackles rose, and I felt the glowing blue plasma coursing through my veins. My pupils slit, my teeth popped out of my gums.

I looked up, and Mist vaulted off Toothless's back, her sword drawn. She landed running, and charged Hazer. At the last second, he whipped around and threw Mist to the ground before pulling her up by the hair. She yelped in pain. I immediately ran to her side, closely pursued by Toothless.

"Oh, I do believe we have reverted back to previous events," Hazer hissed. "Hello, Mist."

Mist gritted her teeth. "Hello Hazer," she said, a sarcastic tone to her voice. "Let's just hope our entire encounter is repeated and I get to kick your butt like last time."

"Oh," Hazer snarled. "But there is one problem. It looks like your friend...Hiccup, wasn't it?...isn't doing too well....."

Mist kicked at Hazer's legs, sweeping him off his feet and onto the ground. Mist then held Hazer down and pressed the point of her sword to Hazer's neck, drawing a little blood.

"Well, look at that," Mist smirked. "I guess history does repeat itself. Now tell me: how did you escape and why are you burning Berk?! If you wanna train dragons, burning their riders' homes is NOT a good start." Hazer laughed dryly.

"Escaping isn't as hard as you think, weakling," he smirked. "Burning this bog-pit wasn't my intention, I was trying to flush the dragons out of those underground tunnels I used to escape. There must be an entire colony down there!"

I made a noise that sounded like a cross between a gasp and the roar of a strangled bear.

"He," I whispered dangerously, angry tears streaming down my cheeks. "He.....he burned my home?!" I roared so fiercely a passing seagull died of fright right then and there, and I lunged at Hazer, ready to rip his head off. Toothless jumped in the way and held me down.

"Paintsplash, please!," he said desperately, fear for me showing in his normally confident green eyes. "Let Mist handle this; she's dealt with him before. And we'll get our justice, sure as fish eggs are fish eggs. Don't worry about the others. If I know your family, they're regrouping right now to make a plan."

"But what if they think the Vikings attacked them?," I sobbed.

Toothless and I looked at Mist; her eyes widened and she glared down at Hazer.

"Oh no...," she said, anger rising. "That WAS your plan! Flush out the dragons so they'd think WE did it! Then you could escape in the chaos! That must be where the extra fire is coming from; they're already here!"

I heard the unmistakable roars of Asla and Thrae, their voices terrified and angry; this supported Mist's theory.

"Well, aren't YOU the bright one!," Hazer grinned evilly. "But, you forgot one important part: the one where I hold the other riders hostage and take them with me on my ship! Since Hiccup clearly won't be cooperating, the others shall suffice. I'd take you, but...okay, you're too strong for me. But I also know you can't and won't kill me, which means you can't let me out of your sight. Eventually, the riders will come searching for you, and, when they do, I'll signal my men and they'll take your friends. Or...I can just do THIS!"

Hazer grabbed a rock, Toothless barked "Watch out!", and it was too late. The rock connected with Mist's left eyebrow, and she collapsed. She didn't look like she could move, but she was still conscious. I snarled, and Toothless and I crept closer as Hazer held his sword to Mist's throat. He saw us, and pressed the point of his sword into Mist's chest above her heart.

"One more move, and she dies!"

Toothless and I backed away slightly.

"Don't worry, Mist!," Toothless called, reassuring the girl. "You don't know this, but you being my friend isn't the only reason I protect you. After the first incident with Hazer, I promised I wouldn't let anything like that happen to you again. I heard Hiccup making a similar vow. He loves you, Mist, and I'm not gonna let you two get separated again!"

I had to admit, this statement was true, and I just had to accept the fact that Astrid was never coming back to Hiccup.

"Mist," I said, glancing sideways at Toothless. "I don't care if I barely know you, I'm gonna protect you as best I can! I can see you'll be a great friend, and Toothless's loyalty to you only strengthens that! I'm gonna follow you to the bitter end, even if this is it! You're not getting rid of me! That's a promise, and, there's one thing you should know: the promise of a dragon is never broken."

Mist smiled, and it made me happy, despite the current situation. Mist sat up slowly, Hazer looking from us to her with an astounded expression. Mist grabbed her sword and backed Hazer against the nearest flaming wall. She threw her sword, and Hazer uselessly covered his face. I stood at Mist's left and Toothless at her right as the sword sliced through the air. It gouged a huge hole out of the battle-worn villain's cheek before landing with a THUNK! into the wood behind the man. He cried out in pain and staggered, holding his face as his hands turned red. Then Mist punched him, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Mist smirked.

"And THAT," she said, stepping on Hazer. "Was for Nighthaven!"

Toothless ran inside Gobber's shop (or what was left of it) and found a section of rope that hadn't been incinerated yet, and used it to tie up Hazer. I flew off to find Asla and Thrae.

----

"So, it wasn't the humans?," Asla said, cradling a terrified Astradh in her arms.

"No, it wasn't," I replied. "It was just that wretched devil Hazer, who's currently being handled by Mist and Toothless." Asla sighed, relieved. Thrae looked forlorn, though.

"We didn't get through without any casualties," he said grimly. "Askr got killed, as well as several Snafflefangs, five Hobblegrunts, Stonemover got injured, and, I'm sorry, Paintsplash, but.......Keiran got killed as well." I began to cry. Keiran was a young Nadder that I had befriended. She had come into the sanctuary about two months ago, with a broken leg. She was about fifteen, and we had bonded quickly, as she reminded me of Stormfly. To hear that Keiran got killed, though, broke my heart, and so I cried.

Asla put a paw on my shoulder and I looked up miserably. That's when I noticed it.

And by "noticed it", I mean I noticed what wasn't there.

Asla's beautiful, perfect silver necklace inlaid with the richest purple gems that anyone could find, was gone.

"Asla!," I exclaimed. "Your necklace! It's gone!" Asla looked down and yelped. Astradh looked at her mother and nudged her tiny forehead against the larger one's.

Asla looked up, tears in her eyes. She then looked at her mate. "Oh, Thrae," she sobbed. "It's gone! That beautiful dragonstone necklace you gave to me for our wedding is gone!" Thrae wrapped his wings around his mate, the left one bending sharply in between the shoulder and the elbow where a large pink scar sliced across the dark blue hide. I could see my cousin's crying face through the gaping hole in Thrae's wing.

I thought for a minute. "I'll bet you my wing Hazer has it!," I said after a moment. Thrae nodded.

"Go find him. I'll stay here with Asla."

I flew off, back towards the clearing where Mist, Toothless, and Hazer last were.

When I landed, though, everyone was gone. Hazer's ropes lay on the ground, cut from him. There was a small amount of blood on the ground. I sniffed it.

"Mist..."

I looked around frantically, but saw no sign of anyone, anywhere. Panic crept up inside me, and I looked everywhere.

Finally, I sat on the ledge as the moon showed itself, and cried. My new friend was gone. And Toothless.

Crying, sobbing. I had done a lot of that lately. And every time, I ended up crying myself to sleep.

Nothing changed this time.