The StormStriker and the Night Fury

5. For The Dancing and the Dreaming/Hero in the Sea

"I pleaded so many times to stop the fighting, to find another answer, but did any of you listen!?"

"This is why I never married." Gobber comments. "This and one other reason..."

Hiccup and Hero turned to him in confusion while Saga just patted his back.

"I know that I left you to raise Hiccup alone." Valka continues, backing away from Stoick. "But I thought he'd be better off without me and I was wrong, I see that now, but..." Her back hits the wall of ice behind her and Stoick gets close enough that he can reach her. "Oh, stop being so stoic, Stoick! Go on! Shout, scream, say something!"

Stoick cups her cheek and whispers, "You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."

Valka's eyes widen in shock before she closes them and hangs her head down. Stoick gently raises her chin up and gives her a soft, gentle kiss.

The dragons surrounding them back away and Hero and Hiccup let out a small sigh of relief.

"Romance is way too complicated..." Saga grumbles.

-----

Drago's army starts to make its way to the dragons' nest as the other dragon trappers lead their prisoners to the other side of the boat, planning to dump them into the water.

"Could this day get any worse!?" Snotlout complains.

"Uh, let me see." Tuffnut starts. "We're gonna jump into freezing cold water, then die from drowning."

"Or hypothermia." Astrid adds with an annoyed huff.

"What's that?"

"Looks refreshing." Eret comments, staring down at the water and then turning to Freya. "Ladies first."

"But isn't it usually the man that's supposed to go first? Especially in dangerous situations like these?" Freya teases, looking disappointed. "You know, to protect the woman? Wow, you can't even do that correctly-"

She then suddenly ducks as Eret kicks the guards behind her, spending one of their spears flying towards Eret who swiftly catches it and uses the spear to cut himself free.

Freya catches the other spear and does the same thing, smiling at Eret who holds two weapons in both hands with a smirk.

"Warn the others!" One of the trappers orders as he and another trapper rushes towards Eret who swiftly knocks them out with the spears.

A blow dart flies in the air and Freya catches it, immediately shooting at both trappers who were running to get back up and knocking them out, ending the fight.

"Okay, I love you again." Ruffnut says to Eret, running towards them and making Freya chuckle.

"Ah, pathetic." Tuffnut comments, seeing Snotlout's distraught face. "You know, you could still jump."

"So, are we going to save your dragons and get out of here, or not?" Eret asks Freya who rolls their eyes with a smile and cuts Astrid free of her ropes.

"Where do we start?" Astrid asks.

"Look inside these traps." Eret informs, cutting the rest of the riders free. "They're here somewhere."

"Then that means we're splitting up."

-----

"Anyone coming?" Eret asks as he cranks one of the traps open.

"I don't know, you just keep doing what you're doing." Ruffnut admits, staring at his muscles in awe. "Keep cranking."

Once the trap is cracked open enough, Eret climbs into it, noticing that this is the trap Sapphire is in.