Chapter Text
There were dragons when I was a girl.
Don' believe me? Then let me tell you a story about 'em.
So, sit down an' get cozy, 'cause it's bound t' be a long one!
• • •
There were... a few words to describe Addison Agarson.
Hiccup never thought too hard about what words before, due to the fact he hadn't really batted her an eye for the majority of his life.
He knew she was two years younger than him, and lived in a hut on a more secluded part of the island near the beaches, under the care of two adoptive parents. The Agarsons were always reclusive, quiet folk, just a married pair of a fishermen and a farmer who did their part to provide for the village and their daughter while keeping to themselves over the years. And they were perfectly happy that way.
Ah, a loner. That was one word. Considering her environment growing up, that was a reasonable thing to label her as. It was a long walk to the main village from her house, so she never really had the motivation or interest to go hang out with other kids; although her parents didn't exactly discourage her from it, per say. She just found it more entertaining to play by herself on the shore, collecting seashells, building sand huts, making... crabs fight to the death, apparently? She was always in her own little world, and perfectly happy there.
Then there was that day Hiccup first met her, face-to-face. When he was eight, his father had taken him to fishing, only for him to wander off in pursuit of trolls. What he'd thought to be one hiding behind a rock, assaulting him with pebbles, turned out to be none other than six year old Addison herself- who'd simply saw him by chance and decided to use him for target practice. She then proceeded to try and bite his hand off when he went to tattle on her, but he'd rather forget that part. Yeah, he might've as well been right about finding a troll that day.
...So. Strange. That was another word, if not a bit blunt. He vividly remembered that head of untamed, red-brown curls that seemed to stick out in every direction; and those wide, sky-blue eyes that looked up at him with this... unnerving blankness behind them, like she was peering into his soul. She always wore this fuzzy wolf fur vest gifted to her by her one of her dads, that always looked like it was a size or two too large. She'd looked a lot more like a wild animal than a little kid sometimes. Hel, she even moved like one, too- he was pretty sure he recalled her running away on all fours after chomping down on his hand back then.
There was also that time during a dragon raid, where she'd broken out of the safety of her parents' home to try and aid in the fight. In the midst of the chaos, Hiccup had wound up on the beach near her home while trying to outrun a pack of ravenous Gronkles- where he'd come across her trying to pick a fight with a Scauldron barehanded, bouncing up and down and swinging her fists at it, while letting out a string of foul words no twelve-year-old should be allowed to know. Either her violent display worked, or the dragon just didn't find her worth the trouble, because the beast eventually dove back into the water and moved on.
...Reckless. That, without a doubt, was another good word for her. Every time her parents visited the Meade Hall for dinner, they'd go on and on about whatever new shenanigans she'd gotten up to as of late. Really, the only time those two would ever talk their mouths off. Hiccup had only ever heard some of it in passing, and even then it made him raise a brow a few times. How those humble men still talked so fondly of their daughter with big smiles on their faces, while retelling some of the most stress-inducing, hair-greying stories Hiccup had ever heard, he had no idea.
That was all Hiccup really had to go off, of when he'd learned Addison had been one of the six Viking kids selected to attend the newly constructed dragon riding school. So, all in all, it like definitely seemed like she'd end up being the rambunctious sort. Hiccup was okay with that- while a personality like that could prove troublesome, it also could mean there was potential for a dedicated, hardworking student there. Probably. I mean, he dealt with the twins and Snotlout on a daily basis, some rowdy fourteen-year-old couldn't be THAT bad, right?
Well, he'd find out soon enough. First class was in session- or at least was about to be, once all the students arrived. He waited patiently in the arena with Toothless and the other riders, eyes trained on the entrance gate while the others chatted amongst themselves.
His heart was racing a little, to be honest. While he tried to remain calm and professional on the outside, deep down he really was looking forward to personally training the next generation of Berk's dragon riders. It felt like a daunting task, for sure, one that put a lot of weight on his shoulders- these kids would be looking to him for guidance. Something he wasn't used to. Despite the nerves, though, that only made him more determined to help steer these future riders down the right path- as best he could, at least.
Toothless rumbled and shifted a bit underneath him. With a soft chuckle, he reached out to give the Night Fury's smooth head an affirming pat. "I know bud, I'm excited to meet 'em, too."
He looked to the others- noticing Fishlegs first, who seemed to be having harder time concealing his excitement than Hiccup was.
"Ohhh, isn't this amazing, girl?" he cooed excitedly to Meatlug, scratching under the Gronkle's bumpy chin, while she wriggled in place with her tongue lolling out like a big, drooling dog. "These kids are Berk's future- and we get to pass all of our dragon knowledge onto them!"
"Hip hip hooray," Snotlout scoffed, voice dripping with sarcasm, while leaning back inn his dragon's saddle with his arms crossed over his chest. Hookfang snuffed below him, the fiery orange Monstrous Nightmare carrying an annoyed grimace that matched his rider's. "We get to waste hours of the day babysitting a bunch of noobs. What's the big deal?" He ranted on, flipping his hand up in a frustrated gesture. "We're Berk's heroes; we should be having statues made in our honor- especially me and Hooky. Not running a freaking daycare!"
"We're training brand new riders, Snotlout-" Astrid sighed from her side of the arena, where she was brushing Stormfly's scales, getting her ready for the students' arrival. The pale blue Nadder chittered happily, her lip quivering as the brush scraped all the mud caked between her thick hide. "These guys are gonna fill our shoes someday in protecting Berk. This is a big deal."
"Psssh, as if these nobody knuckleheads could ever dream to live up to the name of Snotlout Jorgenson," the ornery young man boasted proudly, resting his feet between the base of his dragon's horns. "And besides, aren't they all like- what- two years younger than us? I'd hardly call that 'next generation'. We'll all still be going strong by the time they get their wimpy butts up in the air. Well, you guys might not be- but I will!"
"Well, yeah, but these are some of the most promising kids Gobber scouted," Hiccup pointed out with a shrug, already earning a glare from his cousin the moment he opened his mouth- though he didn't flinch away like the him from a year ago would have. "We decided that fourteen is a pretty reasonable age to begin dragon training, better to get them started now than later."
"I still don't see why that makes them our problem!" Snotlout whined on.
"Because we're the best and currently only dragon trainers Berk's got-" Astrid replied, before her eyes trailed over to where the twins were- trying to wrestle each other off their respective Zippleback heads while dangling upside down. "...For the most part. What I mean is, we're the most experienced riders on the island, so that makes us the most qualified."
"Hm," Fishlegs hummed thoughtfully while continuing to pet Meatlug, giving Snotlout a smug glare from over her back. "Maybe it's just that Snotlout here doesn't think he's cut out to be a teacher. No worries Snotlout, no one can be good at everything."
"Excuse me?!" Snotlout fumed, steam coming out his ears at the remark as he shot up and jabbed a finger in Fishlegs direction. "Fine, you know what, Fishface? I'm gonna drill so much knowledge into these twerps' heads, they're all gonna pick me as their favorite rider and forget all about whatever boring slop YOU try to teach them!"
The two boys continued to argue back and forth for a bit, prompting another eye roll from Astrid and a light snicker from Hiccup. It'd been a while since the gang had all been in one place- after the defeat of Dagur, Berk entered an era of peace, so they hadn't really had excuses to go flying around the archipelago together, or just do something as simple as hanging out. It was good to know things hadn't changed. Who knew, maybe this would be a good opportunity for them all to reconnect, too.
He heard voices approaching from outside the arena, though, and immediately straightened up. He quickly noticed Gobber through the barred dome ceiling, leading a small crowd of giddy young teens around the outer edges of the ring, all while blathering on to them about this historic Berk location.
"Guys, they're here," He whispered to the others as he slipped off Toothless, and everyone quickly shuffled into a line beside their respective dragons. Except Ruff and Tuff, who didn't seem to have heard a word he'd said, and continued their little wrestling match on the back of theirs. With an impatient sigh, Hiccup tapped a finger behind Toothless' ears, signaling the Night Fury to shoot a small flash of purple flame at Barf & Belch's feet. The twins froze in unison right before they were about to bring a mace and hammer down on each other's heads- before scrambling off their Zippleback's necks and into position.
Things REALLY haven't changed, Hiccup thought with a slight shake of his head, before facing the front gate as it began to lift open. It brought back memories of his first day of dragon training; Gobber leading the way in, presenting the arena where'd they'd follow in the footsteps of seven generations and learn how to become true Vikings- except this time, it'd be lessons on taming dragons, not fighting them.
"Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber announced after swinging the iron gate open with his hook, and that sense of deja vu hit Hiccup again. The old man lumbered inside with the kids in tow- each of them marveling at the open ring around them and murmuring excitedly to each other.
Hiccup gave the students a welcoming smile, noting each of their names as they walked in. First up was Speedifist, jogging into the arena with his chest puffed out and a pep in his step- made sense why he was in the lead, the kid always seemed to walk like he was in a hurry no matter where he went. He curled his fists in excitement and grinned like he still couldn't believe he was here, his black-brown eyes darting all over the arena as he chuckled in awe.
Trailing a few steps behind was Wartihog. Tough exterior, somehow even more of a brute than Snotlout. He had this permanent, firm scowl plastered on his face as he marched in after his classmate, wiping his nose with his arm bracer. He was astoundingly tall for a fourteen-year-old, towering over all his classmates by a good three inches or so. He stood firmly in the center of the room beside Speedifist with a huff, crossing his arms and seeming far less impressed than the smaller boy.
After him was Clueless, stumbling into the arena while scratching the back of his head with this unreadable, confused frown on his face. Hiccup... wasn't totally sure why this one was scouted? The kid wasn't exactly known for his wits, any information you'd try to relay to him often went in one ear and out the other. It was hard to make a proper evaluation of him. Oh well, Gobber had to have picked him for a reason- maybe he had some hidden talent no one knew about. Only time would tell.
Coming in after him was a girl named Rayne, clad in spiked, leather armor pieces tailored for her by her own parents and likely modified by herself. She had this self-assured air radiating around her, calmly striding into the arena with her head held high like she was ready to take on whatever the academy threw at her. Flipping a strand of red-ish hair out of her face, she lined up in the center of the room with the boys, resting a confident hand on her side.
Last one in was Keldan, calmly strolling into the arena with a relaxed smirk on his face and his hands folded behind his back, reaching one up to run through his messy blonde curls. He stepped into line with the others, standing close to Rayne and bumping elbows with her. She grinned and nudged him back, the two snickering together like a pair of old friends. Probably cause they were- since childhood, always glued to the hip. He then shared a glance with his older cousin Astrid from across the room, his smile dropping a bit once their eyes met.
Gobber made his way in behind the kids, his boisterous voice booming over the room. "This is where you start yer first day at the Berkian School of Dragon Training, more shortly known as the S.o.D, where you'll be trained by none other than the finest- and only- professional dragon riders the island has to offer!" he explained, doing a sweeping motion with his wooden hand as he gestured to the older kids and their dragons. "This arena, where we once taught the outdated art of dragon killing, will now be where you kids will learn dragon trainin'- starting out by bondin' with a baby dragon and raising them into a loyal companion of yer very own. Ehh, yada yada- I'll let Hiccup take it from here."
He looked to the boy in question, giving him a grin and a nod. Hiccup smiled back, before clearing his throat and stepping towards the class with Toothless walking alongside him. Gobber watched on with a sense of pride beaming in his expression, seeing the boy who was once his own student and apprentice of many years coming in to fill his shoes- or well, shoe- as a mentor.
"H-hey everyone, I'm glad you could all make it," he began, trying not to mentally scold himself for stuttering right off the bat. "As you probably know, this marks a pretty big day in Berk history- you're all the first in what'll hopefully be a long line of students to attend the new and improved School of Dragons. As you all know, this project all began when me and my friends formed the Dragon Training academy for ourselves to help us train our dragons... but, after a long year of adapting to life with these incredible creatures, we've decided it's high time we spread our knowledge to the rest of the island, starting with its youth- and today, you lucky six are next up to learn within its walls!"
The students had relatively mixed reactions to his speech- Speedifist, Rayne, and Keldan all appeared to be listening, while Wartihog just continued to glare Hiccup down with this hard-to-read, scrutinizing sneer. Clueless was just standing there, seeming, well, clueless... he could only hope his words were actually getting through to the young man. While it definitely did nothing to help his nerves, the chief's son tried not to let it deter him as he went on.
"You'll be learning everything you need to know about being a dragon rider, and how to care for and raise your own," he continued. "Right now we'll still be using the old arena for the first few days, but hopefully sometime within the first semester we'll be able to-" He trailed off, however, slowly coming to realize something was amiss now that he took a good look at the students lined up in front of him. He did a mental count in his head and glanced over them one at a time- one, two, three, four, five- wait a minute, there were supposed to be six of them, right?
It didn't take him long to piece together who the absent Viking was, given she had been one of the ones he'd been warned about when Gobber had given him the enrollment list a few days prior. "...Hang on, where's Addison?"
Gobbler raised a brow in confusion, before squinting as he did a quick look over the class himself. "Aye, we're down a kid!" He scoffed, flinging a hand at the students. "I thought I told ye hooligans to keep an eye on that one!"
The group collectively tensed up and anxiously glanced between one another, mouths falling open as they each tried to stammer out an excuse.
"I, we, um, well, we-" they all spoke over each other and stumbled over their words for a moment.
"W-well, you see, Mr. Gobber-" Speedifist began, an awkward grin spreading across his face. "I'd like to go on record to say it couldn't have possibly been my fault, cause- as you all know- I was in the front of the group the whole way here, and she kinda hung more towards the back, so..."
"We're well aware, Speedifist," Rayne groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "That's why I told Keldan to keep track of her." She pointed her thumb back at her own childhood friend, who just pouted in response.
"Well can you blame me?! She's barely five feet tall!" He protested, then made an accusatory gesture towards Wartihog. "That's why I asked him to do it!"
"Don't look at me!" Wartihog snuffed, crossing his arms and pointing over at his shorter classmate. "You all know I can't stand her. I told Clueless to do it!"
The room fell dead silent after those words left his mouth, everyone slowly turning to look at him like he'd just said the most idiotic thing to have ever been spoken by human tongue. Probably because he might as well have.
"You did WHAT?!" Rayne was the one to break the dumbfounded silence, giving her taller classmate the most flabbergasted, appalled, "what on earth were you thinking" look a person could possibly muster.
Wartihog actually flinched back at her voice, perhaps realizing the gravity of his error. "Uh..." His green eyes awkwardly flicked between everyone in the room, before he rubbed the back of his head and lowered his gaze. "...I sense I've made a mistake of some kind."
Almost everybody in the arena let out an exasperated groan at that reply, face-palming in sync.
"Aye Clue," Keldan addressed the shorter boy in a flat tone, clearly not expecting a helpful answer. "You wouldn't happen to have seen which way that Addison girl ran off to, would you?"
"Uh..." Clueless barely even perked up at the sound of his nickname, like he'd only just now realized everyone was talking about him. He took a moment to think about it, his mouth hanging open slightly with a blank expression on his mostly covered-by-his-bangs face. Eventually, he just replied with a plain shrug and a "I dunno."
"Thought so." Keldan grumbled, his arms falling limp to his sides.
"Alright everyone," Gobber took on a more serious, authoritative tone, turning on his peg leg to face the dragon riders while the students all collectively bickered and nagged on Wartihog in the background. "On yer dragons, I want all o' you on the search! No one rests, eats, or takes a bathroom break until we find that muttonhead!"
"Gobber, it's just one student, is it really that big of an emergency?" Hiccup said with a shrug, confused by the old man's sudden urgency. "I'm sure she couldn't have gone that far. We'll find her- no need to start a panic."
"Aye, you don't know that girl like I do, laddie!" Gobber warned him, looking the young man straight in the eye as he firmly gripped his shoulder with his single hand. "When Addison goes missin'- ya ALWAYS treat it like an emergency!"
His old mentor's words left Hiccup confused; and a... bit concerned. He blinked a few times, watching as Gobber rushed off to round up the rest of the riders. What'd he mean by that? The heir of Berk wondered, as he turned to saddle up Toothless. He'd already been made well aware of Addison's reputation, but had he'd underestimated the scale of it?
Like I said, he'd figure out soon enough.
———
A strong gust of wind whistled over the lonely cliff sides of Berk, where desolate beaches and the ruins of old docks sat beneath their shade. Addison had always wondered why no one ever tore this place down, since it'd been left sitting abandoned for several generations- it was like it was just screaming "hey raiders, come raid us!" or something.
And today, it seemed like that day had come. Encroaching on the horizon were unfamiliar ships, venturing too close to Berk's waters for comfort. No visitors with goodwill and friendly intentions would normally venture in from this angle- and those catapults that Addison had spotted positioned on their decks only amplified her suspicions.
She wasn't afraid, though. In fact, an almost mischievous grin rose to her face as she lowered her spyglass from her eye. She was crouched on the edge of one of the lower cliffs, where she had a clear view of the incoming attack. The ships' sails were blank, no identifying insignia plastered on them, which gave her the impression that these were just some lowly pirates coming to pillage whatever they could get their grubby little hands on.
"So these thugs think they can get the jump on us, aye?" The girl murmured to herself, her wicked grin spreading as she placed a hand over the sheathed fish-cutting knife hanging from her belt. "Well, too bad they won't even get to see the village once I'm through with 'em."
By the time the fleet reached the row of sea stacks marking the entrance into Berk's waters, the other ships came to halt- while one of the smaller ones kept its steady approach towards the shoreline. Bet they're scoutin', Addison figured, drawing her knife. Well, lil do they know they're in for the scare of their lives!
As she stood up to go pick out a good ambush spot by the beach, however, this weird feeling that suddenly crawled into the back of her mind made her stop. "Wait," she thought out loud, looking back towards the path she'd came from. "Why do I have this feelin' that there's somewhere I'm s'posed t' be right now?"
She stood there in silence for a moment, before casually shrugging it off and continuing her stroll down to the shore. "Eh, if I forgot, then it prolly wasn't anythin' important..."
She began to make her way down the twisting dirt road leading to the old docks, completely confident in her ability to single-handedly face the oncoming threat- that is, until a black shape descended suddenly from the sky and landed in front of her with a thump, blocking her path. With a startled yelp, she stumbled and lost her balance, falling backwards into the grass. When she looked up, she met the big, curious eyes of the archipelago's only known Night Fury and the much more stern ones of Hiccup Haddock.
"So, were you just gonna miss your first day of school, or were you planning on coming in fashionably late?" The chief's son asked, sitting up on his dragon's back and crossing his arms at her. The rest of his gang landed a few feet away, with Gobber hitching a ride on the back of Hookfang.
Scrunching her brows, Addison's eyes flicked between each of the older teens with genuine bewilderment, before looking back at Hiccup. "Eh? That was today?"
"Yes!" He made an exasperated hand gesture. "Did Gobber not come pick you up to walk you to the arena with the other kids?"
"Ohhh, that's what that was about? I had no idea," Addison admitted, her obliviousness only serving to befuddle Hiccup even more. "I just noticed Wartihog was there, so I was too busy festerin' with rage and reelin' in the urge to maim him to really care about what else was goin' on."
All he could give her was a stupefied look. Was she being serious? It was hard to tell.
"Okay-" he sighed, running a hand over his face as she shook his head in disbelief. This was when he started to believe he might have his work cut out for him with this one. "Not important. Let's just get back to the ring and-"
"Okay, but are we gonna do anythin' about the pirates, or are we just gonna ignore them?" Addison cut him off. He just gave her another glare.
"Addison. Get on." He said sternly, pointing to the back of Toothless' saddle as felt his patience beginning to thin.
She gave him a pout, before droopily walking around and climbing onto the Night Fury's back, sitting down behind Hiccup with a disgruntled scoff as she tucked her knife back into her belt.
Just as he was about to signal Toothless back into the air, Ruffnut's voice rang out behind him. "Hey Hiccup, were we expecting visitors?"
"What?" He looked back over his shoulder at her, cocking a brow in confusion. "Uh, no, why?"
Both the twins shared an awkward look, before simultaneously pointing out towards the sea. His gaze followed their fingers, before his jaw fell open as he finally noticed the very fleet of approaching ships Addison had just been trying to warn him about.
"Addison!" He snapped at the extra passenger behind him, and the younger teen raised her hands in defense.
"What! I just told you there were pirates, an' there's pirates, am I not allowed to tell you when there's pirates?!" She huffed, nodding towards the incoming attack.
"I didn't think you were being serious-!" He fumbled, but shook his head in frustration before slamming his feet down in Toothless' stirrups, hurriedly instructing the dragon into the air. "Oh, never mind- GUYS! BATTLE FORMATION!"
In the blink of an eye, the group was off again, dragon wings furiously beating towards the approaching enemies. The fleet seemed to get the memo that the fight was on- the rest of the ships were moving in, while the men on the scout they'd sent out could already be seen rushing across the deck to load the catapults and ballistas.
Addison barely had time to process what was happening, holding on for dear life as Toothless suddenly lurched forwards and dive-bombed the closest ship- firing a plasma blast that obliterated the first catapult in one blow, before the crew even got the chance to use it. The Night Fury veered back up, whizzing past the sail as it caught fire. She could feel her stomach drop from the harsh momentum, and had to frantically grab for the back of Hiccup's vest to prevent herself from tumbling right down the dragon's back.
And yet, despite the intense battle she'd so suddenly gotten roped into, and the terrifying speed at which they were flying- Addison didn't feel the least bit afraid. In fact, this was the most thrilled she thought she'd ever felt in her entire life. The danger, the adrenaline pounding through her veins, the rush of getting to fly a dragon for the very first time- this was everything she'd signed up for when she was accepted into the academy.
She whooped as Toothless went for the second catapult, blasting it away just as the crew launched a boulder into the sky. The explosion that followed rang in her ears, and she struggled to keep her eyes open against the screaming wind, tears pricking through the corners of her eyes. Even so, there was a giant, beaming grin plastered on her freckled face.
She felt alive.
Toothless spun back up out of attack range, while Hiccup began to feel partially bad for bringing Addison along. She's never even ridden a dragon until now- Gah, I should've left her back on the cliffs! She's probably scared out of her mind right now, he thought, completely clueless to the fact that his read on the situation was the total opposite.
He had Toothless hover in the air above the raging battle, allowing the Night Fury a second to catch his breath as he scoped the area for the next closest target. His eyes fixated on Barf and Belch coming in from the right- watching as the twins flew the Zippleback straight towards one of the enemy ships.
Realizing they weren't looking where they were going, Hiccup cried out to them. "Ruff, Tuff, watch out-!"
The ship's front catapult sprang, and the bulky ammo hit its mark. The green, two-headed dragon let out a scream as the boulder struck it in the side, throwing it off balance and sending the four plummeting towards the pirate ship. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were thrown off their dragon's necks upon impact, and sent tumbling like rag dolls across the deck. In seconds, the crew had them surrounded, already entangling their dragon in a net and jabbing their spears threateningly at the duo.
"Oh for Thor's sake-" Hiccup grumbled, hastily steering Toothless towards the downed riders. They swooped past the rest of the fleet, before hovering just above the mast of the one the twins had been taken captive on.
That's when Hiccup realized he had a bit of a dilemma- originally his plan was to land on the ship, but that meant throwing Addison into the fray as well. He had no idea how well she could hold herself in a fight, and wasn't about to just drop one of his students into the enemy's hands. So that meant leaving her up in the sky with Toothless... also not the most ideal option, he didn't know how he felt leaving a rookie to fly his best friend by themself- but there wasn't really much of another choice, not unless he wanted the twins and their dragon to be pirate hostages.
"Come on, let's git down there and skewer 'em!" Addison declared, yanking her knife out from her belt again and grinning menacingly down at the men who'd seized the twins. Hiccup furrowed his brows at her violent choice of words, before he reached out to grab her arm just as she readied herself to jump off Toothless' back.
"No, you're staying up here," he told her firmly, pulling her back down into the saddle by the wrist.
"What!" she complained, her twisted smile dropping into a frustrated scowl as she yanked her arm out of his grasp.
"Here," he ignored her protest as he slipped his feet out from Toothless' stirrups, crouching on the front part of the saddle as he prepared to leap. "Keep him up in the air until I get back. And do not follow after me- that's an order!"
Feeling Toothless momentarily falter underneath her without the support of his prosthetic, Addison quickly scooted forwards and slipped the tips of her boots into the stirrups, just as Hiccup made a daring jump for the ship. She opened her mouth to loudly express her disdain over this situation, but before she could get a word out he had already gotten too far out of earshot.
Hiccup's arms grabbed onto the mast pole and spun down it, gritting his teeth and wishing he'd worn gloves as he tried to withstand the sharp wood scraping at his bare hands. His boot and metal foot soon hit the deck with a thump, the crews' attention getting drawn to him as he drew his iron shield. Without a moment of hesitation, he sprung forwards, charging into the nearest goon with a surprising amount of strength for someone of his smaller, lean stature and pinning them under it.
Meanwhile, Addison watched from above, Toothless having backed a few feet higher to steer clear of the flying boulders. Her eyes followed Hiccup as he swept through the swarm of enemies, jumping and dodging underneath the muscular arms grabbing for him to get to the twin like a slippery eel. She had to admit, it was a pretty impressive feat for the guy formerly deemed the village failure once upon a time.
She glimpsed down at Toothless, who had a twinge of worry on his expression as he watched Hiccup's form springing about the ship, like he was ready to dive in and save the boy at a moment's notice.
"He can't seriously leave me with a yak flippin' Night Fury and expect me to just hang to the side like a sittin' duck, right?" Addison scoffed indignantly, gripping onto the front of Toothless' saddle. She leaned forwards, giving the Night Fury a knowing grin. "Whaddya say? Wanna go for a spin?"
Unfortunately for her, the dragon seemed to have as much a sense of responsibility as his trainer, and he responded with a snarl that couldn't have been read as anything other than a hard "no". His clear refusal made Addison deflate, and she pursed her lips at the jet black reptile.
"Aye c'mon, you too?!" she groaned dramatically, then flung her hand out at the raging battle between the other dragon riders and pirate ships. "Look, the rest o' yer pals are getting their behinds handed to 'em out there! I'm sure they could use some o' that plasma blast-power to help even the odds!"
Toothless' eyes flicked up- and it was easy to see that Addison had a point. Astrid and the rest of the gang were struggling themselves, the onslaught of flying boulders and arrows making it a challenge for them to get any hits in. When they weren't narrowly avoiding getting shot out of the sky, they were firing frantic, hastily aimed blasts at the attacking ships that barely even hit half the time.
Wincing at the sight of his teammates having difficulty, a look of consideration seemed to cross Toothless' face. Addison waited hopefully with baited breath, silently begging him to agree with her pleading blue eyes.
Finally, with a begrudging head shake, the Night Fury began to turn to aid the other riders. Addison pumped her fist in the air and cheered a quiet "yes!", before leaning forwards on the dragon's back as he shot off with a burst of speed.
Hookfang was whirling around wildly past the flying boulders, the Monstrous Nightmare shooting clumsy streams of fire about as he tried to get close enough to set the rickety battleship's sail ablaze. Snotlout gritted his teeth, clinging desperately to the dragon's twisted horns, while simultaneously trying to properly fix his aim on the boat. Neither of which he was succeeding that greatly at. The fact that they were carrying extra weight with Gobber tagging along didn't help, either. The battle had began so abruptly, he'd forgotten to kick the guy off before charging into action. It was one of those rare moments where Snotlout cursed his own impulsiveness.
To make things better, Meatlug came bumbling past out of seemingly nowhere, knocking into Hookfang's back as she tried to avoid a volley of arrows. The sudden force ramming into him caused the bigger dragon startle, and as the Gronkle buzzed away he set his scaly hide alight.
"AYE!" Gobber cried out and flinched when he felt the searing hot flames flickering too close to his lower back. "Get this beast o' yours under control, boy! He almost cooked me tail end!"
"Sorry, I'm kinda busy here trying to not get us killed?! Which is a lil bit hard when you're back there complaining in my EAR!" Snotlout barked back, shooting the old man a glare over his shoulder, before shouting at the Gronkle and rider responsible for this stumble as they flew away. "Fishface! Watch where you're driving that overgrown meatball of yours!"
"Sorry!" Fishlegs cried out sheepishly over the wind. He had his bulky dragon bank to the right to avoid another storm of arrows and boulders, Meatlug's smaller size allowing to swoop in close and spew a trail of lava across the enemy ship's deck. Just as he was going to whoop out in celebration of finally landing a good hit, he was almost jerked right off his Gronkle's back as something suddenly yanked at her from behind.
He looked down, and let out a shriek when he saw a hooked chain coiled tightly around Meatlug's bludgeon-like tail. The Gronkle grunted out in distress, wriggling and buzzing around wildly from left to right in an attempt to escape- but it was no use, with a strong pull the iron chain began to drag her back down towards the ship.
"We got the flying sausage now!" One of the pirates reeling her in cackled. Fishlegs scowled at them, his mind racing trying to figure out what to do.
He wouldn't have to, though- a great, piercing screech echoed through the skies, and the time seemed to come to a still as everyone looked up to see a small, black blur plummeting down from the clouds.
"NIGHT FURY!" the men on the ship screamed in terror, scrambling out of the way to safety. "GET DOWN!"
Faster than sound, Toothless came barreling in like a flash, reducing the hinges of the chain dragging in Meatlug to splinters with one swift blast. Not even a second later, he was back in the sky, circling the boat like a giant hawk zoning in on its prey.
A sigh of relief escaped Fishlegs when he saw Meatlug kick the now loose chain off and into the ocean below, looking up at the Night Fury when he glided overhead. He opened his mouth to thank Hiccup for the close save, but his words caught in his throat when he noticed a totally different auburn-haired rider perched on Toothless' back.
"Addison?!" He exclaimed, then frantically looked around in search of Hiccup, trying to see if maybe he'd hitched a ride with one of the others, or had jumped onto one of the boats to fight the intruders head on. "What are you doing on Toothless?! Where's Hiccup?!"
"He's preoccupied," Addison replied casually, giving Fishlegs a completely relaxed and snide grin as she jutted a thumb back at where Hiccup was assisting the twins. "He's fine, I'm just co-pilotin' while he's gone."
She then cackled gleefully like a madwoman as she made Toothless do a spin around Meatlug, reveling in the feeling of the wind in her face. "Woo! Man, if you told me this was gonna be my first lesson, I would've actually shown up to class!"
"This is not a lesson-" Fishlegs began and rose a finger, but paused when her words fully settled in. "Wait a minute, you DID sneak off on purpose!"
Before he could get the chance to scold her for this revelation, however, she was already flying off to terrorize the next ship. Fishlegs could only wince at the amateurish, uncoordinated way she steered Toothless through the air- drastically different from the way he was used to seeing Hiccup fly him so expertly. He questioned his friend's decision in letting her join the fray like this, but all he could do was pray she didn't end up ramming the poor Night Fury into a sea stack.
Meanwhile, the sound of his dragon's signature dive-bomb whistle had made Hiccup look up from the scuffle he was currently focused on- and he wanted to either faint or scream when he saw none other than Addison plasma-blasting the Hel out of other ships with his own dragon, doing the EXACT thing he'd explicitly told her NOT to do.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me-" he mumbled under his breath, rushing to the edge of the boat and leaning over the side to check and make sure she wasn't getting herself killed out there. "Addison! Odin help me- you get back here right now!"
His words were lost to the wind, though, as he watched her and Toothless rocket up into the sky yet again, clearly preparing for another dive bomb attack. The pirates on the ship it looked like she was planning to strike next seemed to catch on, their eyes trained on the Night Fury as they all gathered to the nearest catapult.
"Gods damn it, doesn't she know they're not gonna fall for that again?!" he rambled in panic, hastily scrambling back to the twins as he tried to figure out what to do. Thankfully, he turned just in time to see the siblings tearing off the net holding their dragon down.
He didn't hesitate to throw himself onto Barf and Belch's back before the twins could even climb on themselves. "Guys, we have to get over there, now!"
"Hey, since when are you the boss of us?" Tuffnut complained, clearing not catching onto the urgency displayed in Hiccup's tone.
"NOW!" Hiccup repeated himself, more hurriedly this time, making both the siblings flinch and oblige without further question. They hopped on and their Zippleback took to the skies once again, two headed beast frantically pounding its wings against the air as it made a beeline for the other side of the battlefield.
Already, Addison was circling Toothless back around to land another hit, failing to notice the attackers prepping to strike her down for when she made her move. She leaned forwards in sync with Toothless' movements and white-knuckled the saddle as he tucked his wings in once more, starting to get used to the Night Fury's speed and agile maneuvers. In a heartbeat, they were nose-diving towards the ship at breakneck speed, the familiar whistling sound ringing through her ears as Toothless charged up another blast in the back of his throat.
"Come on, come on, make this one count..." she murmured, the world a blur around her as their target got closer and closer with each millisecond.
Then, just as they were about to close the distance and deliver another devastating blow, some green shape charged into them from the side and knocked them off course. Addison didn't even notice the flying rock that soared just past her head, as everything became a flurry of wings and frantic, panicked roars. A shrill scream erupted from her throat as she helplessly flailed about on Toothless' back, her hands screaming in pain as they held on with the tightest grip she could before the Night Fury finally sorted himself out.
She wobbled a little as she finally straightened herself on Toothless' back. When she lifted her head to see who the one who nearly made her fall to her death was, her surly expression quickly dropped when she saw Hiccup's face glaring down at her from the spot between Barf and Belch's necks.
"Uh..." she cast him an awkward, toothy grin, averting her gaze to the side. "I... good to see ya managed t' rescue the twins...? Eheh..."
He ignored her attempt at dodging the subject and narrowed his eyes at her disapprovingly. "Yeah, and I distinctly recall telling you-"
"You told me not to follow you!" Addison argued back before he could finish, waggling a finger at him. "Which, I didn't! I just went off to help in my own way- I wasn't gonna just sit 'round 'n do nothin', especially when you put me on the back of a freckin' Night Fury!"
"You- I- ugh," he fumbled over his words, before groaning and slapping his hand against his forehead. "You know what? We'll talk about this later. Just go land Toothless and stay there until we chase these guys off."
"Seriously?!" She complained, her shoulders slumping like a pouty toddler. Toothless, on the other hand, let out a puff and seemed pretty relieved about this arrangement.. "Toothless and I were kicking total arse out there! You can't go 'n put me on the bench yet!"
"I can and I will," Hiccup said firmly, tilting his head in the direction of the cliffs. He narrowed his glare at her to make sure she knew he WAS being serious. "This isn't a test, this is a real fight, and you could get yourself or someone else killed. Now hurry and go, none of us have time to argue about this!"
She snarled up at him, her face fuming a bright red as she continued to give him a hard, challenging glare. It seemed like she was far from dropping this subject, already opening her mouth to retort, which only prompted Toothless to sigh and start heading for the cliffs before she had the chance. She swayed from side to side a little from the abrupt turn, but then huffed defeatedly and just let the Night Fury fly them back to the safety of the land.
"Thanks bud," Hiccup mumbled silently to his dragon under his breath, his shoulders relaxing as he watched the Night Fury's shape grow smaller the further they got to shore. He knew this was still far from over, though, and straightened himself on Barf and Belch's back before turning to the twins. "Alright you two, we've wasted enough time- let's go help the others and drive these guys off for good."
"Man, did you see how bad he chewed that kid out?" Ruffnut snickered to her brother and they both began to turn their dragon in unison. "I've never seen Hiccup get that angry!"
"Yeah, unless it's at us," Tuffnut agreed.
Hiccup just rolled his eyes at them, before directing them towards the ship that'd almost knocked down Addison moments prior.
Meanwhile, the problem child in question was going on a furious tangent as Toothless swooped down and lowered himself back onto the ground. Her feet hit the grass, and she began to stomp and pace around- not even seeming a little bit dizzy or uncoordinated from riding around on the fastest known dragon alive in the heat of battle, surprisingly, aside from the way she wobbled on her feet for a split second after she dismounted.
"Can ya believe him?!" She raved, meanwhile Toothless simply plopped himself down in the grass with a low rumble and an unimpressed ear twitch in response, as if he was saying "yes I can, actually".
"I mean, honestly," she went on, not even noticing that the Strike class dragon was settling down for a nap now of all times. "He's acting like I'M the inexperienced one? Barely over- what, a year ago now?- I was out in the field knockin' dragons' lights out- at thirteen years old, lemme remind you!" She made a punching motion at the air in emphasis, but stiffened when Toothless shot her an annoyed scowl.
"Sorry, I mean when we were still at uh, war with you guys-" she clarified, before continuing on her rant, flailing her arms about in anger. "-And what was HE doing? None of that, I'll tell ya! Scramblin' about for his life or testin' out some 'new invention' that'd break and only make the REAL Viking's jobs a Hel of a lot harder!"
"And now that we're trainin' dragons, he's the talk of the town, and Berk's big hero," she slumped down on the ground beside Toothless and deflated against him, tugging her knees close to her chest. "And that not even th' part I'm mad about! It's that all of a sudden he has the audacity to start... bossin' people around, like we 'ave no clue what we're doin'!"
Toothless snorted, and smacked his lips in a mocking notion behind her as she grumbled on and on. "He thinks he's some big shot these days. Like, suuure, he beat the Red Death..." she trailed off as a few other of Hiccup's achievements and good deeds sprung to mind. "An' the Screamin' Death... an' Alvin... an' Dagur..." She shook her head, though, and waved a finger in the air. "Aye, so he's pretty accomplished, I'll admit, BUT-"
That thought was quickly interrupted, however, by an agonized roar that nearly made Addison jump out of her skin. Toothless heard it too- his ears shot up in alarm, his pupils thinning into slits as his head whirled from side to side wildly, trying to pinpoint the source.
"What in the-?" Addison mumbled, poking her head over Toothless' back to see what was going on. That didn't sound like any of the gang's dragons...
The raging battle between the riders and the pirates seemed to finally be reaching its end, pillars of smoke rising into the sky and the smell of smoldering wood filling the air as the dragons concentrated their fire on the last two battleships standing. Addison's eyes were drawn to the wreckage of a different one, though. It was closest to the shore, with its mast toppled over and very clearly beginning to sink- likely due to the massive hole burned right through its deck and side.
"GGRRROOOOAAARRR!!!"
She gasped. There was that roar again. Her eyes narrowed in on the sinking ship.
It was coming from there.
"Toothless..." she murmured to the Night Fury at her side, who seemed to have put the pieces together as well. "There's- there's a dragon on that ship. I-I think it's trapped-!"
She didn't need to tell him twice. The jet-black dragon sprung to his feet with a roar, like he was shouting for Addison to jump on. She faltered for a second, surprised that he was inviting her to fly him again willingly- especially after her first, disastrous solo spin on him- but she quickly shook herself out of it, before dashing and flinging herself into the saddle. He leapt into the air before she could even fit her feet into the stirrups, but thankfully she acted quick and activated his tail before they could start falling. Once she was on properly, Toothless cast a glance back at her one last time, before slamming his wings downwards and shooting off like a bullet towards the sinking vessel.
Hiccup was perched upon Stormfly's back now, sat behind Astrid- he felt a tiny bit safer riding with her rather than the daredevils that were the Thorston twins. The enemies were down to their last ship, all hoisting one another on board as they made a frantic retreat back to the open seas. Stormfly fired one last barrage of spines at them for good measure, lodging them into a side of their ship and earning a chorus of frightened shrieks and shouts from the pirates who'd previously thought they had the gall to come and mess with Berk.
Hiccup squinted at them over Astrid's shoulder as they made their hurried getaway, noticing one of the men had a strange insignia stitched on the back of his blue tunic; a three-pointed, swirly design that reminded him of a whirlpool spinning clockwise.
"Huh..." he murmured under his breath, staring intently at the odd symbol for a moment.
"What is it?" Astrid questioned, looking back at her friend.
"It's..." he paused, sitting up straight again as the ship grew too far from him to see the tunic's symbol anymore. "It's... nothing. Probably."
She cocked a brow at him, but didn't have time to press it when Hookfang suddenly came barreling past, almost knocking her and her Deady Nadder out of the air. She yelped, tugging Stormfly back just as the flaming Stoker-class dragon zipped past.
"Yeah, you better run!" Snotlout jeered at the fleeing raiders, pumping a fist in the air before turning to rally the others. "Come on you guys, let's torch the rest of these suckers and see how they like swimming!"
"They're already making a run for it, Snotlout." Hiccup sighed. "There's no point. Just let 'em go."
"Don't tell me what to do, shrimp!" Snotlout spat at his cousin, but stayed back anyways, knowing his chances of capturing all those raiders by himself were probably pretty slim.
"Aw, we don't even get to watch them all drown?" Ruffnut groaned, slumping over in disappointment.
"Boo," her brother said in agreement.
"There's something seriously wrong with these guys..." Hiccup muttered to Astrid, side-eyeing the twins together as if they both weren't already well aware of this.
"Welp," Astrid looked back at the raiders one last time to make sure they really were leaving for good, straightening herself. "All in a day's work, I guess. Let's get back to the arena."
"And hope the kiddos haven't turned the place upside down since we've been gone," Gobber added with a chuff from Hookfang's back, earning a chuckle from Hiccup. Considering how Addison was, a part of him wouldn't be too surprised if the others were cut from the same cloth.
"Hey, uh, guys?" Fishlegs chimed in, buzzing by on Meatlug. "Not to rain on our victory, but..."
He pointed back towards the island, and Hiccup turned back to see- as you probably guessed- Addison, once again blatantly disobeying his prior orders and flying off to somewhere on Toothless' back.
"Oh come on!" The chief's son groaned in dismay. "I was gone for five whole minutes!"
"That one's got a lotta spunk, I'll give her that," Astrid commented with an impressed brow raise, already pulling on the saddle and turning Stormfly towards the novice rider and the Night Fury.
Toothless landed carefully onto the ship, the wood creaking underneath his weight. Glancing past his neck, Addison looked downwards into the gaping hole leading into the space below the deck, noticing the streams of saltwater pouring in and sloshing across the floor. With a deep breath to steel her nerves, she leaned forwards and urged Toothless to jump down.
Before he could, though, they were stopped by the sound of Hiccup's voice crying out from above. "Addison!" With an annoyed eye roll, she looked up to see the older boy and Astrid hovering by on the back of Stormfly. "What in Thor's name are you doing, get out of there!"
"I can't- there's a dragon trapped in there!" She insisted, not even bothering to elaborate before she and Toothless hastily dove into the lower cabin of the ship.
"What?!" Hiccup cried out in bewilderment, exchanging a shocked look with Astrid. These pirates had a dragon with them, and he hadn't even realized it? He briefly wondered what in the heavens they'd even been planning to use it for, but quickly put the thought aside to go after Addison and his dragon.
Without another word, he jumped off Stormfly's back, rolling across the tilted deck before grabbing onto one of the mental fencings lining the side to keep himself from slipping any further. "Stand by!" He shouted to Astrid and the other riders, fumbling to stand back upright on the weirdly angled ground. "I'm going in to help- if we don't come back out, grab the ship and pull it out of the water!"
Then, he followed suit, leaping down below the ship's deck, wincing at the pungent scent of salt as he splashed into the sea water beginning to pool inside the room. Up ahead, Addison and Toothless were already trudging their way towards an iron cage located all the way at the end of the flooded bunker.
It was nearly pitch dark, but Addison could still make out the faint outline of some kind of dragon huddled on the far side of the cage. The light pouring in through the gaps in the ceiling above hit it the creature just right to give her a glimpse of its glimmering, turquoise scales. Its body appeared streamline, similar to a Night Fury, if not a bit flatter and more serpentine-like.
She dismounted Toothless and took slow steps towards the caged dragon, her hands stretched out cautiously as she reached out to grab onto one of the cage bars. Hearing her feet slushing through the rising water, the trapped dragon's head shot up, pale yellow eyes glinting in the streams of sunlight.
It let out a growl of warning when it saw her fingers graze against the the cell door, causing Addison to flinch and quickly withdraw her hand. For the briefest of seconds, their eyes locked- she could just see how utterly terrified the poor creature was. How long had it been trapped in here? She didn't want to imagine what those pirates had put it through.
"Addison!" Hiccup's voice made her look back, and she saw him a few paces behind her, clinging onto the strap of Toothless' saddle for support. "We gotta hurry- this ship isn't gonna hold much longer!"
"R-right," Addison snapped out of her thoughts, and began to reach for the steel lock holding the cage door shut- only to freeze when the dragon inside hissed even louder at her, the thin spines traveling down its sleek back prickling.
"It's- it's okay, it's okay, shh-!" She desperately tried to shush it, not wanting it to snap her hand off the moment she got within range of those fangs. Her heart was hammering in her chest, so loud that even she could hear it; maybe the dragon could tell, too. She knew they had far more advanced senses than humans- perhaps her fear was only rubbing off on it?
In that case, she had to try and calm herself- fast. She couldn't afford to be afraid right now, not when a dragon's life was in danger. She was never afraid, she told herself, she was Addison freaking Agarson! Taking a few deep breaths in and out, she tried again, attempting to be more slow and careful with her movements this time as to not agitate the creature any further.
"It's alright..." she whispered soothingly to the dragon, keeping her eyes centered on it the whole time. The beast retreated back when her hand pressed up against the cage door, but thankfully, it seemed to detect the reassurance in her voice and didn't go straight for the attack. "It's okay. I know yer scared, but I'm only here to help ya, see? No need to uh, eat me hand or something."
She extended her hand towards the lock, giving it a light tug as to test and see if the dragon would lash out this time. Thankfully, it just stayed cowering in the corner of its quickly flooding cage, but now Addison had a whole different problem- the lock was on tight, chaining the door securely shut. After giving it a few more full force yanks, she dropped her hands from it and huffed in frustration.
"Hiccup!" She finally called, and the older teen came rushing to her side. "Erm, ye wouldn't happen to know how to pick locks, by any chance?"
"Uh," that awkward noise he gave in response quickly gave her the impression that he did, in fact, not. He turned the lock around in his hand a few times, trying to look for any weak parts in the link. "Yeah, uh, we'll have to think of something else. If only I'd known she was down here before we sent those pirates packing- I could've searched one of them for keys..."
"Nothin' we can do about it now," Addison said as she did a quick look around for anything that might prove even a little helpful, but it was near impossible to see in the inky black sea water crawling up her and Hiccup's legs. Her eyes landed on Toothless, who was trying to poke his head over them and get a sniff of the other dragon.
"Do you think Toothless can blast it off?" she suggested.
"Worth a try," he replied, then pushed himself between his dragon and Addison before tugging them back a few steps. He gently pushed Addison behind him to shield her from however big an explosion this would cause, then gave Toothless the order while pointing to the intended target. "Bud, plasma blast, quick!"
The Night Fury complied in a second, the back of his throat glowing purple before he fired a weak but still fairly powerful shot directly at the lock. The fiery burst it created made the boat shake underneath them, causing the young riders to stumble.
Hiccup watched as the surface of the lock burned a bright red from the heat, but failed to break, frustratingly enough. "Damn it, it didn't work!" he cursed as he watched the steel cool back into its normal color. "It must be reinforced with something."
Addison ran forwards gave the lock another useless pull. "Can't ya tell him to blast it harder?!"
"And risk damaging the ship even more?" Hiccup pointed out. "No, we'll risk losing the dragon and might even sink along with it!"
With a disgruntled huff, she turned back to the door, continuing to pry and paw at it uselessly. The metal clanged and clattered with every pull, but stubbornly refused to open. "Well see if he can melt the bars or somethin', then! We're runnin' out o' time!"
Although he doubted that would work, either, Hiccup gave Toothless the command anyways- in a dire situation like this, he figured they might as well try anything and everything. Toothless jumped to the top of the cage, clinging tightly as the ship creaked underneath his added weight. Addison and Hiccup gasped simultaneously when the floor tilted even further from the added weight, causing the dragon's crate to slide further down to the end of the corridor, slamming harshly into the back wall.
The two Vikings looked down, seeing the water level only beginning to rise faster and faster, reaching up to their waists now.
"Bud, hurry!" Hiccup cried out, wincing at the feeling of the ocean's icy cold temperatures stinging through his clothes.
With one last worried croon towards his human companion, Toothless stumbled as he positioned his head above one of the cage bars. He blew a light torch of purple flame onto it, quickly heating up the metal into a burning red hue.
It was taking longer than anyone would have liked, though, especially since the cage appeared to be reinforced just like the lock was. The water wasn't rising any slower, and they weren't even the littlest bit closer to breaking this wild dragon free.
His mind running blank on any other ideas, Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and slammed a fist against the cell door in frustration, feeling a heavy pang of guilt inside him when he realized they might have no other choice but to leave this dragon behind. The thought made him feel indescribably awful, but he couldn't go letting a kid, let alone one his own students, meet their demise down here.
Addison still seemed a shred more hopeful, though, watching Toothless anxiously as he tried to melt a gap in the cage, occasionally turning up the intensity of his flame to try and speed up the process.
She looked back at the trapped dragon, seeing it wading in the deep water that was quickly seeping into and gathering within its cell. A sorrowful roar left its maw, a sound that pierced an inexplicable ache into Addison's heart. It was a cry of dwindling hope, like the creature knew its chances of survival were fleeting by the second.
Hiccup heard the call, too, biting his lip in thought as he glanced between the caged dragon and Toothless continuing to try and burn his way through the bars. A pit formed in his stomach when he realized there wouldn't be enough time; even if the heat from Toothless' fire did manage to melt through, the hole it created wouldn't be big enough to for the dragon to escape through.
He wanted to scream in frustration, but he held it in, knowing what they had to do. "Addison," he turned to the girl beside him with a pained expression. "We have to go."
"What?! No, no we don't!" Addison cried out in protest, giving him a defiant glare. "We're not leaving 'til we save this dragon!"
Hiccup looked back, seeing a turbulent flow of sea water pouring through the way they came in, flooding the room even more. He could feel his foot slip against the sunken wooden floor of the ship, and had to start kicking his legs to stay afloat.
"If we don't get out now," he sputtered out, struggling to keep his head above the surface, "-we won't be able to save ourselves!"
Addison's expression fell- it definitely didn't take a genius to see that he was right. She glanced down at the water crawling up past her torso, then back at the caged dragon, a conflicted distress visible in her eyes. It had climbed up the side of the cage, trying to escape the rising tides while attempting to gnaw its way through the bars- without any success.
For a moment, the dragon glanced back at her- Addison swore she felt her heart drop when she saw the sheer desperation burning behind its eyes, like it was looking to her for help, begging her to stay and free it.
Gritting her teeth, her grip tightened on the bars as she turned to face Hiccup. "You an' Toothless escape. I'm not goin' anywhere."
"Addison-" Hiccup tried, but sighed defeatedly and slammed his hand down in the water. It'd be a waste of breath it'd be to try and change her mind now, that was obvious. In that case, he knew he couldn't back down either, even if he could feel his anxiety rise with the sea water.
He patted around the cage door, trying to find any weak spots, openings- anything. That's when his hand landed on one of the hinges- and an idea popped into his mind. It was very much a last-ditch effort idea, but it was an idea.
"Addison, do you have anything sharp or made of metal?" He quickly asked, to which Addison's head perked up in interest.
"Betcha I do," she replied with a smirk, pulling out a comically large dagger from underneath her vest that was almost the size of her head- a different one from the fish-cutting knife she'd had on her earlier. Why on earth anyone would trust her of all kids with TWO knives was mildly concerning to him, but he'd cross that bridge later.
"Okay, that'll work," he said, before swimming over to the left side of the cage door. He plunged his hand into the water, before pulling it back out with his metal leg in hand. "Let's try and see if we have any luck damaging the hinges- it's our best bet!"
He felt it'd be better if he let Addison get the one that was still above water, so he sucked in a deep breath before diving down into the icy currents and went for the lower one. Using one hand to cling to the cage's side, he began repeatedly slamming his prosthetic down on the rusted hinge, sparks flying as metal scraped roughly against metal.
Addison quickly followed suit, jabbing and scratching at the upper hinge with her dagger's sharp blade. She grit her teeth at the grating, disorienting sound it made, but she pushed through the discomfort and continued her relentless attack on the steel.
They tried for several minutes, ones that felt like hours to them, with Hiccup constantly having to swim up for air and Addison stubbornly enduring the ache that was beginning to form in her hands. But, aside from making a few dents and visible scratches, their efforts remained fruitless- the water definitely wasn't waiting for them, and not only that, but the air in the fleeting space they had left was growing tight.
Hiccup resurfaced for the fifth time, coughing and rasping for breath. Not only was the dwindling amount of oxygen a concern, but he was getting tired, too- he knew diving back down to try again would only be a waste of energy.
He looked back at the hole they'd come in through- finding it had long been completely submerged. He didn't know how far they were from the surface by now, but he had a feeling it was too far for them to simply swim back up without quickly running out of air anymore. Addison seemed to have reached the same conclusion- her useless strikes slowing to a stop before her weary arms plopped into the water.
As they panted for whatever air they had left, the two teens shared a desolate, wide-eyed look, like the realization that their fates were sealed now was finally dawning on them.
"This is all my fault," Hiccup breathed out, squeezing his eyes shut and squeezing the roots of his soaked hair with his hand. "I should've never let you and Toothless come down here- I should've never dragged you into that fight to begin with, dammit-"
He trailed off, the absence of his voice leaving an impossibly heavy silence. Addison leaned her head in between the cage bars, watching the silhouette of wild dragon they'd risked their lives for and failed to save curled up at the sunken bottom of its cage, seeming to have come to terms with its demise.
"Well..." Addison sighed, her hand draping across one of the bars. "...Call meh crazy, but I'd rather die knowin' I tried t' do the right thing, than go into tomorrow wishing I'd done anythin' at all, I s'pose."
Hiccup gave a halfhearted chuckle, lightly shaking his head at a sagely phrase coming from her of all people. How he managed to laugh in a situation like this, even he wasn't sure. Maybe the lack of oxygen was making him hysteric. "Those are some pretty wise words, coming from someone the mouth of someone who does as many dumb, reckless things as you do."
"I know, right?" The girl huffed. "'M never that melodramatic. Guess bein' seconds away from death does weird things t' ya."
The chief's son faint smile fell away at that, as he stared at the caged dragon contemplatively, a mournful heaviness in his sage eyes. He glanced up at Toothless, who had given up on trying to torch a through the cage way open and was staring upon the two young Vikings with concern, diligently awaited Hiccup's next order despite the circumstances, like he still thought the boy had a plan.
And, all of a sudden, he did. It wasn't an easy one, but it was the right one. Inhaling shakily, he turned to his student. "Addison," he spoke, giving her a firm, direct stare. "Go with Toothless. He should at least be able to swim you back up."
"Wh-wha?" Addison sputtered, shaking her head at him. "What about you?"
"He-" Hiccup swallowed, trying to explain this as best he could, knowing how possible it was she'd deny him. "I'm... Your- your chances are better if he's carrying as little weight as possible."
Realizing what he was implying, Addison felt a pit of dread begin to bubble within her gut. "What?!" she spat, narrowing his eyes at him. "No, no way! I am NOT leavin' you behind! I refuse!"
"And I refuse to let either of you two drown down here," Hiccup insisted, standing his ground. He grabbed for the neck girth of Toothless' saddle, gently pulling the dragon towards him. The Night Fury seemed to have pieced together what Hiccup was planning, and gave a sorrowful howl as he bumped his snout against the boy's face.
Pressing his lips firmly together in a remorseful grimace, Hiccup rubbed the top of his dragon's head, swallowing the hard lump in his throat. The thought of making his best friend go through this tore him up inside, but ensuring Toothless' and this kid's safety was more important to him than anything right now- even himself. "I know bud, it's gonna be okay, I promise," he whispered soothingly, attempting to downplay the graveness of the situation to try and encourage the dragon. "You have to get Addison back to the others, okay? Do it for me."
Toothless crooned, nuzzling against Hiccup's hair persistently, but the rider firmly pushed his head away with his hands. "Please, bud- you gotta go! Now!" he pleaded.
With another distraught cry, the Night Fury stumbled back, his emerald eyes brimming with panic as he looked to Addison desperately. The girl's eyes flicked back and forth between the chief's son and his dragon- and for the first time, she felt completely and utterly stuck. Afraid. Hiccup couldn't have been serious about this, could he?
As apprehensive as Toothless was to going through with this, the Night Fury's innate instinct to trust his rider and listen to him won out. He crouched beside Addison, leaning down so she could grab onto his saddle and climb on. Still, the girl remained frozen, feeling her hands tremble violently and her heart begin to pound so loud that it drowned out the sound of Hiccup shouting at her to hurry on.
"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me," she realized, her throat tightening. "If I hadn't been so hasty, then maybe I..."
For the briefest of seconds, her gaze flicked back to the captured dragon she'd been trying to save in the first place. After their fruitless attempts of rescue, the reptile had sunken to the far back of its cell, head hung now that it's accepted the dark fate that awaited it at the bottom of the sea.
Hiccup's expression was similar. He looked scared, maybe even more than she was- but he was doing everything he could to hide it. Behind that, though, he given up hope for himself, too, and all that mattered to him was fixing this mess and saving whoever could, even if it cost him his own life. My mess, Addison thought.
A switch flicked inside of her, lighting a spark. Crushing guilt quickly shifted into a strong resolve, to fix her mistake. No was going to die today- not her, Toothless, Hiccup, or even the caged dragon. Not on her watch.
The cogs began turning at breakneck speed in her brain as she frantically looked around- but right away, she knew there wasn't anything there that she or Hiccup hadn't already tried before. At least, not until she looked up.
When she spotted small spurts of water pouring in through the cracks of the ceiling, it finally clicked. Her gaze met Toothless, and the Night Fury's pupils widened when he saw her eyes light up like she had a plan.
It was risky in this extremely closed space- but at this point, she wasn't sure they really had anything else to lose. Firmly pursing her lips, she hastily threw herself in front of Hiccup before flinging her hand out and directing his dragon's attention upwards with a point of her finger.
"Toothless, blast the ceilin'!"
"Wh- wait-!" Hiccup's cry was silenced out by the deafening explosion that followed after. In the blink of an eye, Toothless had responded, rearing his head back and firing a shot straight upwards. The room was absorbed in white hot light in seconds, and all Addison could do was let out a gurgled scream of agony as she tackled Hiccup into the water to shield him from the blast. The last thing she felt was a searing pain swallow her side before her forehead hit the bottom of the ship, and her world faded to black.
Hiccup's eyes shot open when his back was slammed against the wooden floor, the saltwater burning them and a dizzying ringing echoing in his ears. The first thing he saw was Addison, floating unconscious above him, with wisps of red trailing from her right side. Toothless was still perched atop the dragon cage, disoriented but relatively fine, his thick fireproof hide having protected him from his own fire. Through the bubbles, Hiccup could now see the giant hole the blast had created in the ceiling, the entire half of the ship's deck utterly decimated. But more importantly- it was big enough for them all to fit through.
Finally realizing the opportunity for escape Addison's sacrifice had opened for them, Hiccup acted immediately. He wrapped one arm around Addison and used the other to push himself upwards off the floor, silently praying the girl would survive the long swim they had back to the surface. Kicking his legs, he reached out and grabbed the strap around Toothless' chest, then using all his strength to fling himself around and onto the dragon's back and place Addison over the front of the saddle.
With a muffled shout from his rider, Toothless wrapped his claws firmly around the bars of the cell and began to pump his wings at full force through the water, propelling himself up and out through the destroyed ceiling with the cage in tow. Just like that, they were free from the pirate ship, letting whatever crumpled remains of it sink down into the blue abyss below them.
The extra weight and the unforgiving currents raging around them made it a struggle, and Hiccup could hardly see the sunlight filtering in from the surface above- but neither of them were about to give in just yet. Toothless roared underneath him and lifted with all his might, but...
Hiccup's heart sank in dread when he felt the weight of the cage and the dragon inside slowly pull them downwards. No, no no no- it wasn't working. The light from the surface was growing further and further away, and no matter how hard Toothless fought they just kept sinking deeper and deeper-
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold on to that last shrivel of oxygen he had remaining, but it escaped from his mouth in a burst of bubble combined with a muffled cry. The strength sapping from his body, he felt himself begin to slip off Toothless' back, his and Addison's bodies drifting apart from each other.
...The sound of something erupting into the water above him reached his ears, and his eyes flickered back open for just a moment to see several dark shapes swimming towards them. Scaly wing points brushed past him, then he feels the cage jerk underneath Toothless.
Water rushes past his ears, flattening him against the saddle, and then finally- he's broken out into the warm sun again, and light fills through the cracks in his vision. All the salt water he'd unintentionally swallowed comes rising back up, and he violently hacks it all back out.
"Hiccup!"
The sound of someone calling his name makes him look up at the vaguely girl-shaped blur looking down at him from a Deadly Nadder's back. "Astrid-" he sputters, coughing a bit more from the saline burning his throat. He manages to glance over Toothless' side, and see everyone's dragons pitching in and assisting in holding the cage up in the air. Hearing a squall below him, his eyes flick down to see the finally rescued dragon moving around in the cage. The vibrant turquoise color of its scales catches his attention, but he doesn't take long to admire them when he realizes Addison is no longer on Toothless' back with him.
"Addison-!" He immediately yelps when he notices her absence, shooting up to sit despite his still unbearably sore muscles. Thankfully, his momentary panic is quickly relieved when he sees Fishlegs and Meatlug hovering up to him, the girl secured safely in the Gronkle's arms- only for it to sink right back in when he sees her badly charred right side.
He sucks in a sharp breath, and urgently snaps his head back up to Fishlegs. "Get her to Gothi's hut. Quickly!"
• • •