WHERE NO ONE GOES

         it was CHAOS — dragon riders filled the air, and hiccup could          barely tell who was friend and who was foe. drago’s army had taken          to the sky since they’d faced him last, riding dragons laden with          thick chains and heavy armour. he and toothless had gone thus far          more or less unscathed — if you looked past the gash on toothless’          flank, and the dent in hiccup’s helmet. 

          this battle was so much worse than the last (though hiccup hadn’t           thought that was possible), the sky filled with smoke and flame, and           the sound of wingbeats mixed with war cries and shouts made hiccup           want to cover his ears like a child. it had hit him with shocking force           that maybe, not everyone would be making it out of this war alive. 

          toothless dove suddenly to avoid a gronkle’s iron-clad tail, shooting           straight down at a 90 degree angle. but at the sound of a familiar            nadder’s squawk nearby, he spread his wings and roughly ended           his descent. when hiccup looked up and saw stormfly flying above,           when he saw astrid on her back, with her hair all a mess and her           axe in hand, felt a wave of relief like a physical blow to the chest. 

          “astrid!” he shouted above the roar of the madness around them,             as toothless pulled up as close to stormfly as he could. “ASTRID!”             he called out again, lifting the visor of his helmet to see her better.