There's an old Viking saying: when friends are roasting on the spit, you're the one who feels the fire. Mildew has made the entire island believe that dragons are too wild, that we all can't live together in peace. He's wrong, and I'm going to prove it.

Snotlout groaned in frustration as he halted searching along the sand.

"We've been here for hours, and we haven't found anything!"

"We've been here for ten minutes," I protested, "and you've done nothing but build... that." I gestured to whatever they were making out of rocks and twigs.

"This is Snotlout Manor. And all I need now is a queen." He slid closer to Astrid, who grunted in disgust. Tuffnut suddenly screamed and began stomping on the exact thing they had been working on since we had gotten here. "What are you doing?"

"Storming the castle."

"Come on, guys! I'm telling you, Mildew framed our dragons. I saw dragon feet in Mildew's house, and I watched him throw them into the ocean."

"I don't mean to be Norbert the Negative, but the ocean is really, really vast," Fishlegs pointed out. "And our chances of finding those dragon feet are about as good as Snotlout and Reign-"

"Don't go there," the redhead snapped.

"Going nowhere." She got closer to me and softened her expression.

"Look, Fishlegs is right. I certainly wouldn't put anything like this past him, but even if Mildew did throw them in the ocean, they're not just gonna wash up on shore here."

"I found it!" Snotlout cried

"Great!" I stopped myself in my tracks for a moment. "What were you saying?" She rolled her eyes at me, fiddling with her necklace absentmindedly. Snotlout held up a tiny club triumphantly.

"I haven't seen this since I was a baby." He hit his helmet a couple of times with it. "You never forget your first bludgeon." I sighed in defeat and turned around.

"Just keep looking." Reign's cocky smirk did nothing to help.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she laughed.

"You should be looking."

"I did a circle of the island. Found nothing."

"Something could have changed."

"In the past ten seconds? I don't think so." She sighed. "They could have sunk to the bottom. If that happened, we're never getting them back." She flicked the shining silver up and down as got closer and sighed.

"I wish you'd tell me what you were thinking about."

"I told you, I still have to sort some things out for myself."

"You're still doing that?" I was impatient to help her.

"I promise that I'll come to you when I'm ready," she stated firmly and coolly, refusing to give up her stance.

"I'm telling you- I saw a pair of Zippleback feet in Mildew's house!" I insisted. "He must've used them to make the footprints of the dragon that supposedly stole the boots."

"Well then let's go have a look at them," my father suggested, though it was more of a way of saying he didn't believe me.

"Yeah, uh, there's gonna be a problem with that... I... um... threw them into the ocean."

"I know you're upset about the dragons, son, but you're gonna need evidence to accuse a man of high treason." I sighed and went out my front door, heading straight for where Reign lived. Not long after I knocked, the redhead answered me, stripped of her armor and sword and instead just wearing the clothes she wore underneath all the protection. She gently smiled at me and leaned against the door frame.

"Do you wanna take a walk?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." She turned to face into the house. "I'll be back soon!" She shut the door behind her and smiled at me. "Now I suppose it's you who needs to tell me what's on his mind." I nodded.

"My dad still doesn't believe me about Mildew."

"To be honest, Hiccup, I don't think anyone really does. People around here need physical proof." I sighed.

"So you don't believe me either?"

"I never said that."

"Reign, we'll prove Mildew did it. We have to if we ever wanna see our dragons again."

"Your dragons," she corrected. "I just hope they're okay..." Suddenly, she narrowed her eyelids and slightly pushed past me, staring off into the distance. I followed her gaze to see a Berkian ship in between two large rock pillars. "Why would one of our ships be anchoring there?" I pulled out my looking glass to see the ship more clearly, but what I saw was not one of ours. There was a distinct animal skull in front of the sail.

"It's not one of our ships..." My eyes went wide. "I've gotta tell Dad. Come on!" I turned to run back home, and she followed close behind, hoping whomever was on that ship wouldn't reach us first. The sun had almost completely set by the time we got back, and as soon as we did, Reign threw open the doors. "Dad, there's a ship coming in around the other side of the island!" He turned his head and stood, coming closer to Reign and I.

"What?"

"It's true. It almost looks like one of ours, but... there's something in front of the sail."

"A dragon skull, from the looks of it." My father's eyes turned to boulders before addressing Gobber.

"Get everyone to gather in the Great Hall. Now!" They rushed past Reign and I, leaving us flabbergasted for a moment.

"Something tells me your dad knows who that is..." We turned around and ran into the Great Hall, finding the first groups of people beginning to stream in, mumbling to each other. The mutters turned to shouts as everyone arrived, demanding to know what exactly was going on.

"This is no time to panic!" my dad shouted over everyone. "That's what the Outcasts are counting on!" Reign looked at me with a completely lost expression, having no idea who the Outcasts were.

"Stoick!"

"Sven, did you get a count?"

"I saw thirty men at least," Sven panted. "All armed to the teeth."

This was bad. We had virtually no way of fighting back.

"Without any weapons, we'll never be able to fight them head-on."

"No weapons! And Outcasts, on our shores, all thanks to your boy and his dragons!"

"They're already gone, Mildew. You can stop now." Reign tried her best to sound unimpressed, but I could tell she was pushing down her temper.

"I don't have time for this right now, Mildew. Mulch! You and Bucket gather up the others and the children, get them to Thor's Beach. They'll be safe in the caves there."

"We can help fight," Astrid insisted. "We've been trained as warriors."

"She may have been trained, but I was born a warrior." Snotlout slapped his chest. My dad handed her a small axe.

"Take this. It was Alvin's. But go with the others. You can help protect them." I heard Reign huff from beside me.

"I can do that, too..." I looked at her before getting my father's attention.

"Let me go get the dragons. At least if we have them, Dad, we can defend ourselves." He sighed.

"Go. Take Reign with you." I nodded. "Keep him safe."

"Of course."

"But be careful. You don't know what Alvin is capable of." We nodded and headed out the doors.

"I need my sword." She rushed into her house and grabbed the shimmering blade, strapping it to her belt. "Okay, let's do this." We rounded the corner out of the village and looked down to the docks. Reign gasped as her gaze fell on a ship filled with Outcasts, pulling into a port. "Get back," she hissed, pulling me against the stone. After a few seconds we crept back into the village, but were halted in our tracks by lantern light coming down the stairs. As soon as we turned around, Outcasts rounded the corner. Thinking on instinct, I grabbed Reign's hand and dragged her under a hut, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as we rolled over to watch their feet. They passed by, seemingly looking for someone, and from behind us, there was shuddering. Reign and I glanced at each other, then slowly turned around, nearly jumping at the sight of a trembling Fishlegs.

"Aah! Fishlegs!"

"A-Alvin's looking for you," he stuttered out, pointing to me. "He's looking for 'the Dragon Conqueror.'" Reign's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah? Well, I'm not about to let him get you." She grabbed my hand and yanked me out from under the hut, following them to my house. They bust down the door and lingered inside for a little while before finally coming back out.

"How many hostages do you think a dragon conqueror is worth?" I turned back around and tried to think of a way out of this.

"Hiccup, what are we gonna do?" Fishlegs whispered.

"Go to the woods, and warn my father. I need to find a way to get ahead of Alvin and warn Mulch and the others." Fishlegs nodded and walked off, but just as I was about to, Reign grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"I'm going right behind you. Keep an eye out, listen closely. Do you hear me?" The intense look on her face sort of scared me into nodding. "Good. Let's go."

As we made our way into the woods, the cover became dense enough that it became harder to see, so Reign gripped my hand tight and pulled me close against her. I blushed as she moved in front, dragging me right against her. Voices came from not far away, and she whipped around to press us against a tree until Alvin and his men passed by, with Bucket and Mulch as prisoners.

"This way," she whispered.

We made our way over to a ledge, where Reign could hear something over the edge. She gently peered over and gasped, then out of nowhere, shoved me under the cover of trees, yanking out her sword as an Outcast came around and grabbed her. I emerged from the cover and peered over the ledge as she was thrust forward in front of Alvin, who towered above her.

"Now, now, who is this? Some spunky little redhead hiding among us?"

"Found her spying on us, Alvin. Maybe she's the Dragon Conqueror." Reign laughed.

"Oh, you wish you were good enough to capture the Dragon Conqueror." Alvin's chuckle was sickening.

"You're not as smart as you look. Who's your Dragon Conqueror, eh?" He made his way behind her and yanked on some of her red hair. "Tell me." I couldn't take it.

"Leave her alone." I made my way down, closer to Alvin.

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" she demanded. I jumped down to stand in front of them.

"I'm the Dragon Conqueror." Alvin gaped for a moment before bursting out into laughter, along with the rest of his crew.

"You? Stoick's little embarrassment?"

"I drove the dragons from Berk. Look around. You don't see any on this island, do you?" His eyes wandered to the sky as I nodded at her, signaling her. She nodded back and smiled slightly, fingers brushing the silver disk with her fingertips.

"I-It's true. All the dragons are afraid of him. He even conquered a Night Fury." Alvin got so close to my face I could smell the stench of death pouring from between his lips.

"You're bluffing."

"Am I? Well, there's only one way to find out. Take me to Dragon Island." This was going perfectly.

"Fine." He turned to his people. "Don't let them go anywhere." I pointed at Reign.

"She comes with us." He roughly grabbed her by the arm, and I had to bite down every instinct to demand he let her go. Two more men grabbed onto me and shoved us both onto the boat. The men that had grabbed me trapped us against a wall behind spears, and gently, I reached out and grabbed her hand. The sun was coming up over the horizon as we got close to the island.

"I'm sure your father's told you plenty about your island's most feared enemy."

"And who's that?" Reign piped up before I could say anything. "Oh, right, uh, you."

"No. Not so much." Alvin scoffed.

"Really? No word?"

"Nope."

"Nothing?"

"Nuh-uh?"

"Nothing about Alvin?"

"Nope." He groaned in frustration. "Look, Al." I pushed away the spears and got closer as Reign stared at me, mouth slightly agape. "All I care about is that if I do what I say, you will leave the people of Berk in peace."

"On me word, son." I knew Reign was skeptical, but we could both handle it on the likely chance that he reneged.

A fog settled over the water and ground as the ship crashed onto the island. Eagerness soared in my chest as I thought of our dragons waiting for us, and Reign was poised to defend them if something happened. Alvin held a sword against our backs as he pushed us forward.

"I-Is the sword really necessary?" I stuttered. A familiar, low growl echoed from inside a dark cave, and seconds later, Toothless lept out.

"Odin's ghost... Is that a-"

"Night Fury. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself." I could feel Reign shooting me some sort of look, but I didn't take the time to glance over to see which one it was. The men raised their crossbows, but I quickly whipped around, panicking. "No, stop!" As soon as I realized what I was doing, I tried to come up with an excuse. "It, uh... it will only make him angrier. Watch and learn."

"By all means, proceed." He laughed and turned to his men. "I hope you're not squeamish. You're about to see a dragon eat a boy." I took a deep breath and calmly got closer to Toothless, just in time for him to jump on me and start to lick my face ecstatically.

"Hey, bud, I missed you, too." I stood and gently pushed him away. "But we'll catch up later. Right now, follow my lead." I pushed him closer to the rocks. "You cannot defeat me!" He bounded over to where I had left his saddle and extended his wings out slightly to keep them from seeing me grab it and gently sling it over his back. "I am the Dragon Conqueror!" I adjusted his tail, allowing Alvin to catch on, but just a bit too late.

"Hey, what are you doing with that dragon?" Toothless slowly turned around, and I caught the giant smile on Reign's face.

"By the way, it's not really 'Dragon Conqueror.' It's Dragon Trainer. Now."

Toothless jumped up and we soared over Alvin's head as he tried to swing at us. Boulders shot out on our left and right, and then the men on the ships fired a trifecta of arrows right at us. Just as they were about to hit, a blast of fire shot out, and Reign flew up beside me, steering Stormfly while Astrid rode as a passenger.

"What took you so long?"

"Why? Did you miss me?" I turned red. "Oh, my- we were apart for, like, five seconds!"

"We need to get in closer!" I shouted as Fishlegs flew up beside us. From the water, a ship fired at Alvin's, splitting some of the boards. They began to pull away from the island, and we took our shot. "Now's our chance! Come on!" The others caught up as we dove straight down. I was readying myself to fire, when I heard screaming from the other side of the ship, looking over just in time to see Reign tumble onto the deck. "Reign!" She climbed up onto the side and waved.

"Hiccup!" I watched in horror as Alvin grabbed her and pulled her back. More arrows were fired as we came around the other side.

"He's got Reign!" I flew around again as Hookfang shot flames into the water, which began to spread toward the boat.

"What are you doing?"

"You said fire!"

"I said hold your fire!"

"See? You said it again!"

"No, he's right!" my dad yelled from below.

"Thank you!"

"Fire again, all of you!" It was risky to do it with Reign still on the boat. I rolled it over in my mind for a moment, before I came up with something.

"Everyone, fire into the water!"

We dove together and lit circles around the boat, not hitting it, but hopefully creating enough smoke to reduce their line of sight. I circled Toothless around a couple of times to throw them off, and maybe even freak them out, as the Night Fury let out his ominous cry. They tried their best to hit us, but under the layers of ash, we were practically invisible. Their boat collided with my dad's ship, allowing Reign to break out of Alvin's grasp and get to the edge of the vessel.

"Reign, hop on!" She jumped up as Toothless' claws latched onto her arms, dangling her over the water.

"Uh, hey, the view down here is cool and all, but can you help me up?" Reign screamed. I leaned over and extended a hand down, gently easing her onto her part of Toothless' saddle.

"Now, Hiccup!" I heard my dad cry. "Burn the ship!"

"Here we go, guys! Hit 'em with everything you've got." The crew jumped overboard, abandoning ship in hopes of surviving. The boat caught fire in a large explosion as my father puled the Berkian ship away. As soon as the job was surely done, I landed Toothless, preparing for the scolding I knew I was about to receive from my dad.

"Hiccup, what were you thinking?" I patted Reign's hand to signal her to stay on Toothless, then hopped off and got closer to my towering father.

"I was thinking... all I had to do was get Toothless, and together, we'd be able to make things right." He stared at me for a while, then back at the burning ship, before turning back to me.

"You did what you had to do. And... I'm proud of you, son." He looked over my shoulder at Reign. "Go ahead back to Berk, all three of you." Her sparkling eyes dazzled.

"Does that mean the dragons can come back?" He nodded. "Yes! Come on, Hiccup!"

I climbed onto Toothless. As we took off, I could have sworn I heard Gobber say, "Those two are gonna be the death of each other."

People whooped and cheered as we landed, and Reign and I followed my father, laughing at each other.

Of course, Mildew was grumbling about not getting his way.

"What are you cheering about? Don't you remember what these beasts have done?"

"I do." Mildew looked up at my father, slightly fearful. "They saved our lives." Mildew opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it again, allowing my father to walk away.

"And I may not be able to prove what you've done, but I will never forget it."

"Either of us." Reign kept her piercing stare on him until we were far enough away that the point had been made.

It's funny how, when attacked by your greatest enemy, you can change things overnight. I set out to prove that our dragons would never hurt us. What they proved is that they will always protect us.