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

Landing on the balcony, I looked around. Hiccup had already dismounted Toothless, and he was running to an open door that led to a torture chamber.

Inside were the riders.

The twins were bound up with heavy chains while Hazer's men held swords to their necks. Fishlegs was pinned to the ground; he was watching helplessly as Meatlug's scales were ripped off, one by one, and the Gronckle was crying out for her master in pain. Snotlout was fighting young dragons in a cage against his will.

Hiccup charged in, ignoring the call of alarm a pirate blew into a shell and Mist's desperate pleas for him to stop, to make a plan. Suddenly, Mist screamed. I whipped around and saw Hazer holding Mist by the wing, his sword hooked through the silvery membrane.

"Hiccup! Help!," Mist cried. Hazer yanked harder on the sword, ripping a bigger hole in the wing. Mist yelped in pain as he did so.

"One more move and she loses BOTH wings!," Hazer warned evilly.

Hiccup lowered his sword, backing down a little. "Hazer," he growled. "If you hurt her anymore..."

"You'll what? You can't touch me while I hold her and the...other one captive."

My mind instantly went to Astrid. So she is alive......Hiccup, you're gonna have a hard time between these two...

"What do you want from me?!," Hiccup demanded.

"Well," Hazer said. "Until now I wanted control of the dragons on my island. They can be very aggressive. But now that I have this girl..." He yanked on Mist's wing again, and Mist screamed.

"No!," Hiccup shouted. "Stop! I'll teach you how to train dragons! Just, just don't hurt her!"

Hazer scratched at his stubble. "Hmm, tempting offer, but I'll have to refuse. Who needs a dragon trainer when you have a girl who can talk to dragons?" Hiccup started. "Yes," Hazer grinned. "I know about her little 'ability'. Now just back away, and leave. I'm feeling generous, so I'll even let you take your little rider friends with you...including the stubborn one."

A door opened and a pirate kicked someone forward.

It was Astrid.

Her once-unscathed, almost perfect face was bloodied and bruised, and her hands were shackled. Her long gold braids were messy and dirty and bloodstained, and her bangs hung low over her eyes as she stared at the ground. Her legs shook; she was weak from the countless beatings Hazer and his men had given her.

Hiccup was speechless. He ran to Astrid. She looked up at him, and her dull, scared blue eyes brightened at his appearance.

"Hiccup!"

"Astrid!," Hiccup shouted happily. "You're alive!" He cut through her chains with his firesword (it was very hot, being covered in Monstrous Nightmare saliva, so it melted the metal) and wrapped his arms around Astrid, holding her to his chest tightly. "Thank Thor!," Hiccup whispered. "I thought I'd never see you again." Then he whipped around as Mist began to sob. I growled.

Hazer now had Mist on the ground with his sword raised, about to chop off her wings. "It's nothing personal," Hazer shrugged. "But I can't let you escape..." But then, Mist laughed, smiling breezily as if for all the world she was sitting on a hill enjoying the summer sun instead of facing death.

"Neither can I," she grinned. "You don't know all my tricks, pirate." Mist lifted her arms; the chains holding the riders broke, and, as soon as the riders had gotten over the shock of the magic, they turned on their captors, taking their weapons. Then they ran to Hiccup, chattering excitedly about how Astrid was still alive.

Ruffnut groaned. "Hey, GUUUUUUUUYS," she said. "We still have to help Mist..."

Hiccup looked down at Astrid hesitantly before escaping the hug with reluctance.

I eyed him, slightly confused.

Astrid gave Hiccup a slightly sad, yet somehow quizzical, look. "Hiccup," she said slowly, "what are you doing? Who's Mist? How do you all know her?"

"Astrid," Hiccup stammered, "I promise, I'll explain everything later, but now I have to help my girl--ugh, uh, Mist..."

Astrid glanced at Hiccup suspiciously, but nodded in understanding.

"We'll take care of Astrid," Snotlout volunteered. "Hiccup, you go help Mist."

"Thanks, Snotlout."

Hiccup turned around, but then stopped, staring upward in awe. Every single pirate hung in the air as if they were tethered to the sky with an invisible rope.

Mist had her arms raised skyward and was bringing all the men into a giant bunch. Then, she clapped once, and the pirates fell to the ground, each getting knocked out on impact. Hazer, though, remained airborne, and Mist drew him closer; the old pirate whimpered as Mist stared him in the eyes defiantly.

"Wh-what are you gonna do to me?," Hazer stuttered. Mist looked thoughtful.

"I'm gonna let you go," she decided after a moment, "on ONE condition."

"Anything!," Hazer blubbered. "Anything you say!"

"I want you to take your men and leave," Mist commanded. "I don't ever wanna see you within thirty miles of Berk again. You will never harm another human or dragon, and you will go in peace. And if you do hurt anyone else? Well, let's just say I'll find you out. And next time I won't be as merciful. Got it?" Hazer began spluttering tearfully about Mist's graciousness. Mist simply rolled her eyes and pointed to the ladder impatiently. Hazer nodded vigorously and woke his men, saying "We gotta go" over and over again. Once all the men were awake, they hurriedly scurried down the ladder. Then Mist collapsed. Hiccup and I ran to her, and Hiccup helped her up.

"Wow," Mist panted. "That takes more out of me than I remember. Don't worry; I'll be fine in a few minutes. Go to Astrid, she needs you." Hiccup nodded after a moment and brought Mist to the riders. While they were celebrating, Hiccup pulled Astrid away from the others; they were out of human earshot, but a dragon can hear a mouse from a mile away, and so I could hear exactly what they were saying.

"I'm so glad you're okay!," Hiccup whispered, Astrid's hands in his. "I searched everywhere for you! I thought you were....we all thought you were....were..." Astrid hushed Hiccup by kissing him on the lips, but the look on his face saddened me. He looked conflicted, sad, as if this didn't feel as it should.

"I missed you too," Astrid said after pulling away. "But you have some explaining to do. When you were going to save that girl, Mist, you almost said 'girlfriend'." Astrid's eyes looked sad. "You changed it at the last second, Hiccup," Astrid said shakily, "but I know you. What, exactly, has been going on while I've been gone?"

Hiccup began trying to explain everything, talking very, very fast. "Astrid, you have to understand that you've been gone for five months, everyone thought you were dead. It was very hard and--" Astrid held a finger to his lips, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"Y-you two are...together?," she whispered.

Hiccup looked at the ground.

I was beginning to cry. Other when Astrid died in Hiccup's arms, this was the most painful thing I had ever witnessed, them having to talk like this. It's a talk that no couple should ever have to go through.

Hiccup sighed. "Y-yes, Astrid," he said. "We are. I have to figure this out, I don't know what to do. If I had known you were alive, I..." Hiccup sighed again.

"I understand, Hiccup," Astrid said, giving Hiccup a sad smile. "I probably would've done the same thing. But now I'm here. What's gonna happen?" Astrid's eyes locked with Hiccup's pleadingly before she added quietly, "Do you still love me?"

That's when I lost it. That was the most heart wrenching thing I had ever heard. I began to cry harder.

Hiccup took her hand. "Astrid, come on, you know the answer to that. Of course I still love you; I never stopped. But now, I think, I......might love her, too. Can you please try to understand?" Astrid looked at the ground and nodded. "Let's just enjoy having you back," Hiccup continued. "I'm gonna figure this out, Astrid. I promise."

Just then, Mist screamed.

"Mist!," Hiccup, Toothless and I shouted in unison. I took a step forward.

Then everything went black.

----

I blinked. Something smelled familiar. I looked down at the ground; it was asphalt.

Oh no.

Ha! Think there's more, do you? NO! This book ends right here! Mwahahahahah! Yesh, shoutout to my AMAZING cousin, rotbtdfanficgirl! She came up with these stories, and at first I had no part in them. However, when she included Paintsplash in them, a second series could not be avoided. Everything that was written in this story was by rotbtdfanficgirl, not me. I just embellished them. Her stories are a Big Four fanfic that, in the grand scheme of things, is a RotB fanfic. There will be another book with this, I just have to wait until my cousin writes two more books. The first one is in Merida's time, and the second is in Rapunzel's time. The next book that'll have Paintsplash in it...well...(cue evil grin).

So, yeah, that's it! Hope you enjoyed!