"Our dragons may not be enough. We're gonna have to out-think this guy, outsmart him somehow or Heather and Windshear have no chance of..." You hung your head, finally breaking down.

"H-Hiccup...w-what are we going to do!?" He hurried over to you and held you close.

"Hey, I know this is hard, but I need you in order to fix this. My plan failed and when that happens, I rely on you, (Y/n). You're the one that pulls it off, I just lead the charge. Now, I can't even do that. I need you to calm down so we can figure this out." You took a few deep breaths and nodded.

"You're right. I-I'm sorry, I just-" He cupped your cheek. 

"I know. Trust me...I get it." He replied. You stared into his eyes. You wanted to hold him close and let him in, but you weren't sure if he would actually want to be with you like that. You both were great friends, but he only comforted you like this when he needed you to be strong. There had been a few acceptions, but not much. He depended on you and your abilities, but it never felt like he was looking for more. 

You gently pushed against his chest, making your choice. Hiccup was the leader and you were his helper. Hiccup was off-limits. You couldn't try to get him on the hook by being a fake version of yourself and you couldn't let your emotions get in the way of protecting him, the others, and keeping yourself safe. He backed away and you turned to Nightshade to hide your bitter tears.

"We need to get to the others. If we're going to get Heather and the Flightmare back, we need to get to work right away. Come on." You hadn't seen his hurt look when you'd pushed him away, but he had hidden it quickly.

"Right, let's go." You both flew together to get back to the others. You refused to look his way as you kept moving forward. Love isn't a game, (Y/n). None of this is a game. It's life and death and you need to be focused enough so you don't get anybody killed. I can't even think about my feelings until this is over. It's too risky. You felt your heart sink as you finally realized the truth. We can't be together. It's too dangerous.

You both made it to where the gang was waiting on a cliff overlook. Hiccup hopped off Toothless and Arrow instantly began to talk.

"We should've just pulled Heather out, Hiccup! I knew something like this was-"

"Arrow! She wouldn't have come with us." Hiccup insisted.

"It could be worse. We could've brought the Dragon Eye." Tuff said, earning a hard elbow from his sister. "Ow!"

"How do you know I didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Hiccup asked.

"How did I know you didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Tuff asked as if he was unsure of the question. Ruff elbowed him again and he smiled innocently. 

"Yeah, okay. You're right. I didn't bring it." Hiccup replied.

"Thank Thor!" Arrow exclaimed.

"No kidding. Then Viggo would have had Heather, Windshear, the Flightmare, AND the Dragon Eye." Snotlout pointed out.

"Which is back on Dragon's Edge completely unguarded." Hiccup said, growing worried. You took off.

"Do I have to tell you all to get moving every time?" You called back before rushing off, heading back to the Edge. 

Once you got there, you saw that it was a mess. It had clearly been ransacked, and you had no idea if the Dragon Eye was still there.

"Look at this. I feel violated." Fishlegs exclaimed. Hiccup looked around.

"This is the last part of Viggo's plan." 

"Lead us away from the Edge so the rest of the hunters in the armada can stay behind and come after the Dragon Eye." Snotlout pieced together. Hiccup grew even more frustrated.

"How did I not see that!?" You followed after him to his hut. "It's gone. They got it."

"Are you sure you put it away after you got it back from the twins?" Snotlout asked. You turned to him, confused.

"What did you just say?"

"Got it back from the twins? What are you talking about?" Hiccup asked him. You followed after Snotlout to their cave club. It was a complete mess!

 "Wow. They really wrecked this place." Hiccup exclaimed. Snotlout shrugged.

"This is pretty much how we left it." He explained.

"Except, I don't remember that sword being there!" Tuff said, pointing to a stuffed yak with a sword in its mouth.

"No, no, no, no. Remember, we were playing Pirates vs Vikings and Bjorn was the Pirate Captain?" Snotlout reminded him.

"Oh right. Haha. That is one great game. ... Yeah, this is pretty much how we left it." Tuff agreed. He walked over to some boards and pulled out a slimy Dragon Eye.

"What on earth is on there?" Hiccup asked.

"Something disgusting if you ask me." You groaned, grossed out.

"Boar rind grease. Don't worry. It'll buff out." He spat on it and tried to rub it off. You fought the urge to gag. "See?" It was still there. "Well, takes a while." Hiccup grabbed it.

"I can't believe you took this without telling me. You know, all you had to do was ask and you could've used it. It belongs to all of us."

"Yeah, you two, do you know what could've happened if Viggo got a hold of this?!" Snotlout shouted.

"Seems to me, if I hadn't removed the Dragon Eye from your masterful hiding place, we'd be having a very different conversation right now." Ruff pointed out. Hiccup sighed and walked out of the cave. You followed him. You saw the look on his face.

"Hiccup? Are you okay?" You asked.

"Yeah....no." You frowned. "(Y/n), I let it happen. I put Heather and Windshear in that position. I risked the Dragon Eye being taken. I fell for Viggo's plan. It's a mess." You walked up to him and lifted his chin so he'd meet your gaze.

"Hiccup, being a leader isn't about being perfect and never making mistakes. It's about choices and learning from the ones you make. It might be a mess now, but that's why we go back and we clean it up. If I can be strong, so can you. I trusted you when you comforted me, now you have to trust me." He smiled thankfully at you. 

"You're right." He replied. Something different flashed in his eyes for a moment. "You're always right." You felt your heart beating stronger and that pull came back again. You quickly broke your gaze, pulling yourself back in. No. I can't let myself keep digging this hole. 

"Not always, just most of the time." You replied playfully, brushing off his words to keep yourself contained. Dangerous. That little voice whispered in your head. Loving him is dangerous.

"We can get the A-Team from Berk, load up whatever weapons we can and go in, dragons blazing!" Fishlegs said as he came over.

"Can I bring Macey? She's been begging to come along on a mission." Tuff asked.

"No! No, we're not going anywhere. Nobody is going anywhere. Not yet anyway. Think about it. We do what we do really well. We're a pretty smart group. We're fast, we're fearless and we ride dragons. But this guy, Viggo, he manipulated us like we were a bunch of inexperienced little kids. If we have any chance against him, we can't go in dragons blazing like we usually do. No, that could get Heather and Windshear killed. That could get one of us killed." Hiccup explained.

"Hiccup's right. This Viggo...he's smart. He's done this stuff before and it's clear that he can be ruthless in different ways. If we're careless, then we're taking risks that have the tides turned against us." You added.

"Well, I, for one, am definitely against getting us killed. Or at least my getting killed." Tuff commented.

"Yep, I have to agree. And not just because we're twins and we always think the same thing." Ruff said.

"So you just want to leave Viggo to hunting and hurting dragons at will? You want to do nothing?" Arrow asked.

"I want to do the right thing. And that is going to take some thinking." Hiccup replied and walked off with Toothless in tow. The others turned to you.

"Well, what do you think, (Y/n)?" You hummed, pausing for a minute.

"It's clear Viggo is an expert at planning, but the opposite of that for us isn't going to work. We're not strong enough or skilled enough yet to improvise the way he can. In order to do this right, we need to be unpredictable. Our old ways aren't going to cut it, but...aside from that? I have no idea what we could possibly do right now." They didn't look too encouraged by that. "I'll talk to Hiccup. Maybe together we can come up with something." You told them and they nodded, looking more reassured after that.

As soon as you made it to his hut, you saw him packing some bags with some of the normal resources for a day's flight. You were confused by this. "Hiccup?" He looked over at you. "What are you doing?" 

"You and I are going flying, only this time, let's try to actually learn something." You were confused, but you didn't argue with him. You grabbed a few things and followed after him on Nightshade.

"Hiccup, what are we doing?"

"Before we face Viggo again, we need to learn more about him. Let's take another look at his ship. Maybe we missed something." You both landed on the ship.

"We've been through this place before, Hiccup. They took everything when they left."

"You ever notice, Viggo never actually puts himself in danger? He fights with his intellect. Planning every move, accounting for every scenario. Take Heather."

"You think he knew she was working with us all along?" You asked as you both searched below deck.

"I think, at some point, he found out, and then he used her to manipulate us." Toothless suddenly started sniffing something that was covered in a small tarp. "What you got there, bud?" Hiccup took the tarp off and you both were surprised by what you found. "Maces & Talons." He scanned over the game. He pointed to one of the players. "The Viking King. That's supposed to be me, trying to save the Traitor."

"Who's that, then?" You asked, pointing to the other one.

"The Chief of the Marauders. If I had to guess, I'd say Viggo. And this piece?" He picked up the broken one. "This is the Traitor."

"Also known as Heather. It's almost like Viggo wanted you to see this." You told him.

"It's a challenge from him to me. He's daring me to play." Hiccup replied. You looked at Heather's piece and you felt your blood run cold.

"Oh, Gods...if he broke Heather's piece...then that means..." Hiccup looked at you with a frown.

"The Traitor dies in the end. The Traitor always dies."

Back at the Edge, Hiccup showed the game to the others. Fishlegs kind of took it the wrong way.

"Hiccup, Maces and Talons!? Does this mean-"

"No, Fishlegs."

"But, Maces and Talons was designed to test the abilities and decision making expertise of future chiefs in the heat of battle."

"I'm not taking over as Chief of Berk. Viggo left this for me. He wants me to play Maces & Talons with him."

"Viggo's here?" Tuff asked.

"We got next!" Ruff added.

"Guys, no, no. He's not here and we're not using the board. We're playing for real. With real people. Viggo is forcing my hand. He's making me play him for Heather's life."

"And what happens if you don't play? Oh, no, no, no. Well, you-you have to play, Hiccup. You just have to." Fishlegs told him.

"And we need a strategy." Snotlout added.

"We do, Snotlout. And that strategy has to be different than any he's ever seen or tried. Otherwise, Heather won't stand a chance." Hiccup explained.

*Later that night*

"All right, remember guys, Viggo is a master of deception. We have to be one step ahead of him at all times or it's game over."

"Sounds a little to me like it's already game over," Tuffnut admitted.

"Yep, that was my interpretation." His sister agreed. Then, flaming Arrow's started coming out of nowhere.

"Whoa! Where are those coming from?" Fishlegs asked.

"Beneath the cloud cover. They must have ships down there." Arrow replied.

"How did they know we were up here?" Fishlegs asked. You all glared at Snotlout as Hookfang set himself on fire.

"What? I was chilly. Now I'm warm and toasty."

"We must be close to the island." Hiccup stated.

"Uh, Hiccup!" Arrow called as you all spotted the island below you.

"Viggo's base!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"Are you sure that's it? It looks kinda deserted." A huge burst of fire came out of nowhere. "And I stand corrected." You all looked around and saw what was causing the fire.

"He's using flipping Typhoomerangs as blowtorches!?" Snotlout shouted.

"I thought you liked it toasty." Arrow retorted.

"I like toasty. Not toasted." Snotlout defended.

"I have to say, you totally undersold this guy, Hiccup. He's way more devious than-" Tuff was cut off as you all had to dodge the fire.

"Look out!" Hiccup called.

"Maybe we should turn back? Find a place to regroup? There's no way we're getting through that." Arrow suggested.

"No. All this is just a distraction." Hiccup explained.

"It's fire, Hiccup. Actual fire!" Snotlout retorted.

"I'm gonna have to concur on that one," Tuff said since his helmet was on fire.

"What I mean is, Viggo doesn't want us to retreat. It just seems that way. He wants us to get past the fire and the arrows. He wants me to find Heather. And then his game really begins."

"Well, if he wants us to get through, he's got a funny way of showing it." Snotlout called.

"He doesn't want us to get through. He wants us to go around and attack him from the back." Hiccup replied.

"Oh. That sounds way better. But that's not what we're doing. Is it?" Snotlout asked.

"Nope. We're going in this way. Straight into the fire."

"How is that even possible, Hiccup?" You asked.

"Now, I know you guys think I'm nuts." He began.

"Yes." Snotlout agreed.

"The fire from the Typhoomerangs is like a giant tornado. If we fly right into the eye of it, it'll be hot, but the fire won't touch us." Hiccup hypothesized.

"Inside it? This whole plan sounds completely theoretical." Snotlout argued.

"My fine sister and I have performed said feat of daring many times throughout the history of Nut," Tuff replied.

"Yeah, for fun! It does work. As long as you don't panic while you're inside." Ruff added.

"WHEN did you even have the CHANCE to do that!?" You exclaimed.

"That, my friend, is a very long story!" Ruff said.

"But rather entertaining! We should tell you in our theater voices later!" Tuff agreed. You sighed, shaking your head.

"Well, no guts no glory. Come on, girl!" You shouted and she roared before diving forward. The stopped firing once you all had disappeared. Then, Snotlout, getting kind of cocky, said,

"Hello, boys. How's it going? Fire!" Hookfang fired and the rest of you fired as well. You got another idea pretty quick.

"Nightshade! Speed slice! Go for the ropes!" You told her. She roared and dashed downward. You both whipped by as she slashed the ropes, freeing some of the Typhoomerangs. "That's it, girl!"

"Good work, (Y/n)!" Hiccup called, making you smile. "You guys free the rest of the Typhoomerangs. I'm going to find Heather." Hiccup told you.

"Hurry!" Arrow called. The others worked on freeing the rest of the dragons. You grew worried about Hiccup. Then, a thought occurred to you. Viggo probably thinks Hiccup is the only leader, but he knows nothing about me. He wouldn't expect me to show up if I went after Hiccup. You grew determined and called out to the others.

"I need to catch up with Hiccup! You guys keep freeing the dragons!" 

"What? But Hiccup said-" Fishlegs began to argue.

"Hiccup tried to think ahead last time and he asked me for help afterward. I would be going to help him even if he told me that he needed me back at the base!" You stated.

"She has a point!" Ruff called.

"Of course I do, now keep going! I'll be back as soon as I can!" You told them and hurried off. You didn't get attacked, surprisingly, but you came up with another idea. We ride dragons, so naturally, they'd be looking to the sky. They'd never expect a ground attack. It wouldn't make any sense when we have rideable dragons. "Nightshade, bring us down." She obeyed and you both continued on foot. You were glad Nightshade was a fast runner. You soon found all of the other dragons locked away in cages. 

You came face to face with a scarred Nadder. It looked angry and dangerous, but you weren't afraid. You frowned and slowly put out your hand. It seemed skeptical, but it sniffed your hand. "We need as many wins as possible." You turned to Nightshade. "We've got a lot of dragons to free, girl." You both began to open cages and let the dragons out. Soon enough, some Hunters came over to see what was going on. 

"Dragon Rider!!" They called out, calling more attention to you. 

"Well, I knew this wasn't going to be easy! Nightshade, battle stance!" She got ready for the attack. You took out your weapons and she began to fight off the men that were focused on her. You both fought off the men successfully. 

Then, you were hit hard in the back. You tumbled, but you were able to push yourself back up onto your knees. You came face to face with Viggo. You glared at him as he grinned at you.

"Where's Hiccup!?" You demanded.

"Oh, he's around here somewhere. I'm sure you'll find him. But I can't allow you to keep releasing all of my profitable goods. I'll be taking that dragon as repayment. Capture the Armor Blade!" You pulled out your weapons as Nightshade shrieked at them, her pincers coming out and her eyes and tail turning red. 

"Over my dead body." You growled. Viggo took a step back. Your tone and stance seemed to have thrown him off.

"Curious, you and Hiccup are very different. He isn't willing to fight like you do. You're strong and you're smart. You would actually make a very good Dragon Hunter, my dear." He said, approaching you and lifting your chin up. You pulled back, pointing your blade at his throat.

"You sicken me, creep." You hissed and Nightshade growled at him. He still pressed on.

"That determination, that fearlessness, it only comes from someone who has a very strong desire for something. And it also means that you've seen such ruthlessness before. Tell me, do you want to kill me, young lady?" You paused. You thought back to your parents and how Dagur had laughed about it when he'd had a high ground over you.

"You're not the one that owes me blood. Not yet, anyway." You warned him.

"Interesting, so you do have your sights on someone."

"The maniac works for you." You growled.

"Ah, you're talking about Dagur. Well, what if I could offer you a deal?" You paused.

"A deal involving Dagur's life? Yeah, right. You're just trying to trick me." 

"No, my dear. I'm nothing if not a good sport and a man of my word." You thought about it for a moment. He took that as a sign to keep talking.

"You see, I told Dagur that everyone can be replaced, but people like you are special. You have something rare. Something that isn't so easily replaced. Dagur is ruthless, but that is a common quality in this work. You, however, you have passion, smarts, and a determination that is quite new to me."

"And that has what to do with Dagur?"

"You see, I could find another Dagur if I wanted to, you, my dear...are of great value to me." You were shocked. "I will let you settle to the score with him if you help me."

"Why do you need