#toothless is doing just fine without one!! why are you gonna shove a DRAGON into a romance?????

[oflgtfol]

ok honestly i think i could get behind the light fury thing but like.

i dont want. a romance . at ALL. i dont fuckin WANT it. no matter if i wind up liking her or not like i dont WANT IT

i come here for COOL DRAGONS AND COOL POWERS not for ROMANCE the only romance i can tolerate is hiccup and astrid

[maedarakat]

Drabble: Risks

It was weird, how nobody was paying attention to what was going on.

Dagur had always admired his brother, how he always put the lives of his group and their dragons above the result of their missions. It was a trait he had exploited in the past many times.

Except now it was becoming apparent that Hiccup was very good at protecting everyone in his group from outside enemies ... but not necessarily inward ones.

And damn, could those inward ones be downright cruel. Dagur knew from experience that sometimes the awful brain-voices pointing out all his flaws, insufficiencies, and failures would just not shut up. Not even for a second.

Something was seriously up with one of Hiccup’s riders, and Hiccup either knew about it and was doing nothing, or he didn’t know about it at all. Dagur preferred to believe it was the latter.

They had all been flying south - the riders, himself, and Heather - summoned by stories of a subjugated colony of timberjacks. Once again some chucklefuck dragon hunters were keeping eggs and hatchlings from parents to ensure their obedience.

On the way they’d destroyed at least twelve dragon hunter ships (Snothat had kept score of how many they’d all done but Hiccup had forbidden him to keep individual scores because: “It’s not a competition!”)

Silly Hiccup. Of course it was.

So naturally, Snothat had kept individual scores anyway, just ... secretly.

It was all fun and games - literally - until one of the fleets they encountered sent a bola net at Barf and Belch, dragging both twins and dragon violently down to the deck. Dagur and Heather dove immediately, their dragons trying to grab the net and slow their rapid descent so they wouldn’t be crushed.

It was still with a sickening boat-shaking thud that they landed. The Zippleback lay still, tangled and dazed with pain, and Ruff slumped out of her saddle onto the deck, groaning and clutching her arm to her chest. Heather roared, jumping off Windshear with axe brandished, threatening the approaching hunters.

Dagur jumped off Sleuther quickly, ready to help Girlnut’s other half, but Tuff wasn’t anywhere near their dragon or his sister.

For a heart stopping second Dagur feared he had somehow missed Tuff falling into the water during their crash landing, but a fearsome roar of anger quickly grabbed his attention.

Tuff was on his feet in front of Barf and Belch - at the most vulnerable point of the group. Blood was running down one side of his face, grey eyes wild, breathing heavy, mace at the ready. He was obviously worse injured than Ruffnut, and that was based only on what Dagur could see , yet there he was - laying about him with the mace like his pain did not matter.

More specifically, like his life did not matter.

Oh boy ... yep, Dagur had definitely been there before.

There was nothing to do but let out a fearsome roar of his own and fight his way to Tuffnut’s side, grabbing the blond twin just as he crumpled from a savage blow to his ribs by a morning-star - really, like he needed another injury. Holding Tuff tight against his side, he attempted to shove the boy behind him, taking point himself in front of the fallen Zippleback.

Windshear sliced through the nets easily, nudging the stunned two headed dragon back to their feet and Heather grabbed Ruff, hauling both of them up into the saddle.

As Toothless and Stormfly offered cover fire, both girls and dragons managed to fly up to safety. Sleuther flung aside dragon hunters, fighting to get between them and the encroaching hunters.

The second his dragon got close enough, Dagur wasted no time, pulling himself and the semi-conscious Thorston twin up after him. By the grace of Odin, all of them made their escape and were now well out of range before another net cannon could be aimed and loaded.

Hiccup ordered them immediately into a defensive formation, which Sleuther picked up on without needing guided - aware that Dagur’s immediate concern was with the injured boy in his arms.

Tuff seemed aware of his surroundings, though shaking hard and his breathing was raspy. Gods, Dagur hoped he didn’t have a pierced lung or something. He considered himself fairly decent at the healing arts, but not that good.

“Boynut, can you hear me?” Dagur asked, opening Tuff’s vest and undoing his belt to relieve pressure on his ribs. He rolled up the green tunic and felt along his side. Two broken ribs with some lovely bruising puncture wounds from the morning-star, a dislocated shoulder, plus a deep gash on his forehead.

Tuffnut hitched, trying to push away Dagur’s touch. “Loki, you must be a healer because your hands are freezing cold!”

Dagur frowned thoughtfully at the redirection, but the others let out a collective sigh of relief.

“How’s Ruffnut?” he heard Hiccup ask Heather.

“She’s fine. Just a broken arm and a mild concussion - I’ll keep her awake,” Heather called back. Fishlegs and Snotlout immediately pulled out of formation to go fuss over her while Hiccup and Astrid flew closer to Barf and Belch, checking over the dragon’s injuries as well.

Nobody came over to see if Boynut was alright. Probably because he’d just cracked a joke like he was unaware of pain even as a concept.

Did he do that often? Dagur felt like he probably did that often.

Tuff had relaxed as soon as he’d heard his sister‘s injuries weren’t life-threatening and was trying not to make an agonized expression, but at every turbulent bump Sleuther’s wings absorbed, his facade of carefully controlled blankness cracked and he grimaced sharply.

“I know it hurts,” Dagur soothed him tenderly, pressing a clean wad of cloth over Tuff’s gash, trying to stop the bleeding. Tuff jerked, looking up at him in shock and automatically covering with a grin.

“Nah, I’m fine. Loki looks out for his own. Hey, do you Berserkers know how set broken arms in a way that doesn’t hurt? I mean, Ruff cried like a baby the last time Gothi did it, so hopefully you have more of a gentle touch.”

Redirection, yet again. What even ...

“Heather does, and she’ll be the one caring for your sister. What I’m worried about is your shoulder. And ribs. And whether you’re gonna need stitches for that enormous cut on your head.”

Dagur poured a little water onto a piece of linen and started cleaning the blood off Tuff’s face. He squirmed, complaining, but let him. “You don’t have to. Belch licks my face about four times a day, after meals and before bedtime. He’ll get all that off by lunch.”

“Pretty sure both your dragons and your sister would kill me if I let you go untreated until lunch. Hold still. At least it’s not my thumb and spit.”

“Um. Ew ...”

“Yeah, exactly. I’d rather not subject you to that.” Dagur rinsed the blood off and packed some honey and flax salve into the shallow groove, which had finally begun to clot. “So ... about that fight. You normally just jump right in full Berserker style when the chips are down?”

If he avoided putting a negative connotation to it, maybe Tuff would open up?

It worked; Tuff fairly glowed at the comparison. “Yeah, I was doing good until that one guy - ugh. He came up on my blind side. At least it gave you guys time to get Ruff and our dragons out though, right?”

Dagur’s chest hurt at Tuff’s clear ache for approval in those words. Oh man, Boynut was really not okay. Not by a long shot.

“Boynut, why do you think -“

A voice interrupted him mid-sentence. “Tuffnut, what were you thinking?!”

Hiccup was flying next to them now, frowning.

“That was incredibly dangerous, you shouldn’t have flown so close to the starboard - they always have cannons on that side! Didn’t you pay any attention during the lesson about hunter ship defenses?” There was a little concern in his tone, but it was dwarfed by exasperation.

Dagur felt his heart sink. This was not helpful, and Hiccup didn’t even notice what was going on with his friend. How could he not notice? A lecture about general safety - not even his, but everyone else’s - was the last thing Tuff needed right now.

Tuff looked at Hiccup with a calm expression, betraying nothing.

“Nope, I was actually far more interested in what Smidvarg was doing with that grasshopper. Turns out he was not, in fact, trying to make a friend.”

Redirecting again . Hiccup predictably started lecturing him on why listening to him during training was important, and Tuff’s laid back answers were designed to make him frustrated enough to drop the whole thing and fly off.

It didn’t seem to be working this time, and now Fishlegs was flying over, frowning, and clearly ready to back Hiccup up.

It was all kind of amazing to watch in terms of density alone, but Dagur had more than enough at that point.

He glowered down at the glinting surface of the sparkling sea and saw an out.

“Oh hey, look - flying fish! Sleuther’s favorite snack that he absolutely cannot control himself around,” Dagur stated, purposefully loud enough for his dragon to hear. His Triplestryke opened wide eyes, made a noise of intrigue, and dived down away from Hiccup and the group to investigate.

“Sorry, be right back!” he called cheerfully, leaving the others behind as they descended below the current. There was grumbling from up above - Fishlegs and Hiccup were now sharing their grievances about the issue. Granted, Tuff was a good actor, but still ...

Dagur continued his ministrations, wiping away the excess blood from Tuff’s injured side where spikes had slammed into his skin.

Boynut had relaxed in his arms, clearly relieved, though looking at him searchingly. “Thanks?” he offered cautiously. He sounded like he was trying to figure out if Dagur had done that for him.

He glanced at Tuff and, not knowing whether he should resume the talk they’d been trying to have just yet, gave him a confirming wink. The boy’s face reddened immediately and he turned his head away, directing his attention to the flying fish before Sleuther snapped up the entire school.

Dagur almost felt bad for letting his dragon snack on them so voraciously. They were pretty, silver and incandescent, almost matching Tuff’s eyes when the sun hit their scales.

The Berserker shook his head to clear it and pressed salve into the cuts, spreading it liberally across his bruises.

“You should save that stuff. Someone else might get injured later,” Tuff said quietly. “Snotlout usually.”

Gods, this guy ... maybe he had to be straightforward about this after all, before someone else came to oh-so-usefully scold him.

“You’re injured now, and I’ve got more than enough. Boynut ... “ Here it was, time to be blunt. “Why don’t you think you’re worth anything?”

The question came like an unexpected blow and Tuff flinched in his arms, eyes immediately closing. Dagur braced himself. The boy might redirect with anything right now, even anger. Gods knew, if anyone had dared to ask a younger version of Dagur this question, they probably wouldn’t have survived.

He’d had to ask it though - he’d had to let Tuff see that his pain was visible to someone .

Tuff didn’t lash out, but he was shaking. He tried to curl away and hide behind his hair so Dagur couldn’t see the tears spilling over.

It didn’t matter. He knew they were there.

Surprisingly, after a long tortured moment, Tuff answered the question, voice low.

“Because I’m not worth anything. I mean ... can you think of anything I’m good for? I’m just the spare. The whole family thinks I’m the spare. Look at our dragon. One body, with an extra head. Not that I really think Belch is a spare, he’s totally awesome, but  ... you know what I mean, right?”

Dagur listened, and bit his lip, thinking for a moment about what to say.

“I always kinda thought of you as the heart and soul of the group, Tuff. I mean, when I first joined you guys, everyone was so suspicious of me - granted, with very good reason. But you were just like ‘oh, Dagur’s a good guy now? Awesome! I’ll give the guy a chance!’ And then you both sat with me. You talked to me as easily as if I was an old friend, showed me some cool dragon moves with your chicken, gave me a fresh egg. Never once did you judge me, or try to get back at me - not even when my own sister thought I was sent as Viggo’s spy.

“You made me feel human. Forgiven. Like I really could be part of the group if I kept up improving my behavior. And you show that same compassion to others too - even wild and dangerous dragons. The kindness you have inside of you is inspiring.”

Tuffnut was staring up at him, eyes wide and shocked. Dagur fidgeted, looking ahead of him, wondering if he’d said too much.

“Most people ... would have said I tell funny jokes.,” Tuff said hoarsely. “That I’m good for cheering people up. Or at least distracting them from all their problems by being irritating.”

“Well, you are funny.  There’s certainly that. Though i don’t think it’s more  important than the compassion and insight and empathy you show. Honestly, that’s something everyone in the Archipelago - in the world - struggles with. We need you around to be our best example.”

When he looked back at Tuff, the blond was staring at him, eyes wide and full of  tears.

Oh no, he’d said something wrong, hadn’t he? Tuff reached up shakily to wipe at his eyes.

“But ... but ... I still mess everything up, don’t I? I don’t do what I’m supposed to do. Always holding my sister back, always d-driving everyone crazy, blowing stuff up -“

“So what? Nobody in this entire group is perfect. Certainly not me. I used to grab guys by the seat of their pants and toss them overboard for mildly irritating me. I personally caused the death of my sister’s entire village, ensured my dad would die alone on Vanaheim,  and lost at least half of our tribe’s Armada chasing you guys around the globe because of a grudge. Oh and I’ve killed a lot of dragons. Still and always will hate all of those things about myself. I would never do them again, but I did once do all that, and I can never undo it. Do I deserve to die?”

“Of course you don’t,” Tuff answered automatically, still wiping his face. “Everyone makes mistakes, even awful ones - what matters is you took responsibility and - and you’re trying , every day, to still make up for it. It’s not easy to be good, especially if you think you’re a monster.”

... uh, wow. Dagur was not expecting that. He shook his head to clear it. “Okay. So why can’t you apply that same logic to yourself?”

Tuff looked at him helplessly. “I ... I don’t know. It’s ... I feel like I’m just not good enough all the time. Nobody ever seems happy with me, I’m not happy with me, s-so I must be doing something wrong. Right?”

Dagur thought for a moment, readjusting Tuff so he could lay more comfortably against his chest.

“You wanna know a secret, Boynut?”

He turned those pretty grey eyes up at him and carefully nodded. It was rare to see the normally distracted and wise-cracking twin appear so focused, but then Tuff and Ruff always seemed to give Dagur their full attention whenever he visited the Edge.

“I haven’t told this to anyone before - not even Hiccup - but after I escaped Viggo’s attempt to kill me, I wound up lost at sea. All alone, in a tiny little boat, with very little food and water. Days came and went. I went hungry, thirsty, sunburnt, sick.  Every day I had the same question - why was I still alive? I was a villain. A monster. Surely Odin Allfather didn’t mean for me to actually make it in the end, because I hadn’t done anything right - since day one, I was always the problem kid.

“So this had to be it, I thought. Odin was surely going to kill me with the next storm or send a shark or Scauldron to pick me off ... but that never happened. I wasn’t exactly comfortable, but the sea remained calm, I was able to catch fish, and there was rainwater to drink.

“I started to think about it, until realizing - finally - that Odin doesn’t just kill people for making horrible mistakes. Or even if they think they’re worthless.  At my core - all I ever wanted was my father’s approval. My sister to be safe. I had to learn how to change a few things to get there, but I got there.

“And now I have my sister beside me, along with some pretty great friends.” Dagur smiled winningly at Tuff, making it clear he counted Boynut in that category.

Tuff jolted in his arms again, not expecting that - so entranced with Dagur’s story. He stammered for a moment, blushing.

“You consider me a friend? Not just an acquaintance you have to put up with because they hang around the others?”

Dagur regarded him softly and wrapped his arms around Tuff. It was a firm hug, though careful of his injuries. “Yes. You’re one of my friends. And I don’t have very many, so that makes you very important to me, okay?”

Tuff’s eyes were again welling up. “You ... actually like me?”

That question hurt more than it had a right to. “Yes, I like you very much. I want you to stay right here on Midgard for as long as possible. I’d be devastated if anything happened to you.”

Boynut was staring at him like he’d never seen Dagur before in his life, face still flushed and tear tracks cutting through the grime and blood of battle. For half a second, Dagur wondered if he’d said too much, but then Tuff curled into his embrace, putting his arms around the Berserker’s neck and burying his face in his shoulder.

He was trembling hard, hitching, and Dagur hugged him tightly, rubbing Tuff’s back.     He wanted very suddenly to yell at the others - Tuff was their friend too and he didn’t even know and he seriously thought he was worth less than shark chum and what the hell were they doing about it? Had any of them noticed?

“S-Sorry - I - I - nobody’s ever - I n-never thought -“ Tuff trailed off, hiccoughing.

“That you were good enough as is?” Dagur hazarded a guess. The despondent wail that followed was his answer and Dagur hugged him back tighter, murmuring soothingly.

It took a short while before Tuff calmed down, but he still clung to Dagur like a frightened kitten, pulling back to wipe at his face with a free hand.

Dagur didn’t discourage him, still cradling him close with an arm around the curve of his body. They were still flying below the air current the rest of the group was on, skimming across the surface of the water.

Absently he reached up, toying with a braid of Tuff’s hair. “It’s still a long way to where we’re going. Why don’t you get some rest, huh? It’s okay if you sleep - pretty sure you don’t have a concussion.”

Tuff looked up at him in shock, face going pink. He smiled at him, leaning his head tiredly on Dagur’s shoulder. “That sounds good. You’re very warm.”

Dagur thought he was going to say more, but after a long minute, Tuff’s head grew a little heavier and he began to gently snore. He was exhausted and injured, and it was hours still before they would reach land. Dagur decided to let him be, expression soft as he watched Boynut sleep.

[fan-writer02]

This has been sitting in my drafts for forever, but I finally sat down today and finished it up. Have some happy Haddock family fluff, y’all deserve it after all the angst I’ve put you through lol. :D <3 (I’m gonna place this about a year or so after the third movie ended? Yeah, we’ll go with that. :))

Good Ol’ Days

Hiccup shoved the door open, sending a poof of dust in his wake. He waved it aside with the little flap of his cloak, looking over his shoulder anxiously at Astrid. She, on the other hand, looked unconcerned, with her arms crossed over her slightly swollen belly.

“I think I should do some cleaning before you and the kids come inside.” He voiced, looking back into the small cabin’s interior. It was, indeed, a dust farm. Everything- the walls included- were covered in a thin layer of dust.

“I can help- but I do agree, Zephr and Nuffink should stay out until we’re done-” 

Hiccup turned around and shook his head, “No, no- Astrid, I meant... all the kids, ya know?” He looked pointedly at her stomach.

She stared at him, before breaking into a smile and shaking her head. “Oh, Hiccup.” She said, as if completely exasperated with his behavior. She patted her belly. “I’m only two months along. I’m sure baby Haddock will be just fine.” 

His hands played with the armor on his right leg, with no purpose except to serve as a distraction. He cleared his throat. “I just... Just to be safe. As it is, I still don’t think we should’ve sailed.” He looked up into her eyes again. She looked fine, now, but on the ship he’d noticed she’d appeared a little green. She would never admit it, but he knew she hadn’t felt well the entire trip. And the thing that worried him was the fact that she’d always had good sea legs. It wasn’t like her to get sick.

“Please, Astrid. I can clean just as well on my own, and I’d prefer it if you didn’t inhale a bunch of dust.” He paused, then brightened. “If you watch the kids and sort of direct them as to what stuff they can start bringing up here” He gestured at the door step. “Then I can get the hut clean without-” 

He didn’t even have a chance to finish the sentence before two little balls of energy rushed past them. Into the hut they ran, raising the dust into one giant brown cloud. Toothless landed just then, right behind Astrid, sending a gust of wind into the hut, causing a little blast of dust to explode from the door. The dragon sniffled a confused sneeze.

Hiccup rushed into the hut and plucked the two kids up into his arms, sending them into peals of laughter. Hauling them outside, he plopped them onto the stone steps. “You little ruffians!” Hiccup growled playfully, ruffling Nuffink’s hair as he walked back towards the hut. 

Zephyr laughed and tugged at Astrid’s skirt. “Nuffink started it!”

Nuffink blinked owlishly, then pointed at his sister. “Nuu!” He protested.

“Enough of that.” Hiccup smiled at the two, before looking up at Toothless. “Why don’t you kiddos go play with Toothless?”

The dragon seemed to understand, for he grabbed each of the guilty parties by the scruffs of their vests and hauled them onto his back between his wings. He then proceeded to walk to the shore where the boat was now tethered.

The island was not huge, by any means. Probably about a third the size of old Berk. But it was just right for little trips like these, which were now an annual thing. A few months prior, he along with Tuff, Fishlegs, and Eret had come to build the hut. (Snotlout stayed behind as temporary chief. Hiccup had asked Astrid to babysit him and make sure he didn’t set all of Berk on fire.) It had also given them a chance to say a brief hello to their own dragons.

This trip he’d brought some of the furniture they’d been unable to build last time. Like a rug, blankets, supplies, kettles, a feather mattress among other such things. He wanted to make it as close to a home as possible, and just as comfortable. Especially with Astrid pregnant. 

So, after Astrid finally agreed to start organizing the supplies they’d brought on the ship, Hiccup began hosing down the hut with buckets of sea water. It took nearly all morning to get the job done, but finally he was satisfied. He asked Toothless to come in and pump his wings to dry it out, and, once done, he began hauling up the supplies.

Along with the chairs, blankets, pots and pans and food, Astrid had insisted they take along some weapons, in case of “an enemy attack”. Hiccup had instantly jumped on the idea, a little ashamed he hadn’t thought of it sooner.

"I knew I married you for a reason." The joke had earned him a jab in the stomach.

Later in the afternoon, Toothless’ own children arrived, (which Zephyr and Nuffink had dubbed First, Two, and Bob) and that was more than enough to occupy the kiddos. (the Light Fury watched from a safe distance. She still didn't fully trust the humans, but she made no move to harm them, though Hiccup doubted Toothless would let her even if she tried.) Hiccup and Astrid moved the stuff from the boat to the hut without interruptions. Hiccup had also snuck some parchment along, set on sketching Toothless with his family. He had a few pages to add to the Book of Dragons.

When Astrid inquired about them, holding them in the air with a spark of mischief in her eyes, he'd hurried to explain. "Documentation, Astrid. Pure research!" She laughed and carefully packed them in a crate so they wouldn't get wet. He came to grab it, and pressed a kiss to her cheek before carrying it up to the hut. On his way back down, he looked over to see Toothless nip at First who seemed deterimined to learn how to swim. He picked the little dragon up by the tail and plopped him into the sand, while at the same time blocking Nuffink from taking a dive in the water with his tail. The poor dragon looked absolutely fed up with the entire predicament.

Hiccup smiled, but figured poor Toothless deserved a break. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Zephyr! Nuffink! Come and help your mama carry your stuffed dragons to the house." 

Both kids came running, with three small dragons scuttling behind them. Toothless sat for a moment, before ambling to his feet and following.

The kids rushed onto the boat, while the dragons jumped into the air, playing tug-a-war over a stick. The Light Fury took after them, and soon, they flew off to the otherside of the island. Toothless trotted to Hiccup's side, a hopeful grin on his face.

Hiccup rubbed his scaley forehead and laughed. "Soon, bud. We're almost finished here, then we'll catch the sunset." Toothless barked eagerly, and for the rest of the evening followed Hiccup to and from the boat until the unpacking was finished. Hiccup smiled and looked over at the dragon, honored that he chose to stay by his side instead of following his kids and mate to wherever it was they went.

As if on cue, Stormfly arrived. Maybe Toothless had called her, but who was to know? Either way, she was there, squawking happily as she paddled her way to Astrid’s side. Astrid called her name happily, running to give the dragon a hug. Toothless seemed pleased to see his old companion, bouncing about her in a circle like he used to do in the old days.

They still didn't know what Stormfly was up to, or if she'd had any babies in the past few years. She had a few more scars then they remembered, but otherwise seemed to be the same old Stormfly. At one point in their last visit, all the gang's dragons had shown up. All except old Hookfang. 

"And Hookfang, Toothless?" Hiccup had asked. Barf, Belch, Stormfly, Meatlug- they were all there. Even Cloudjumper and Skullcrusher. But Hookfang was nowhere to be seen.

Toothless had warbled sadly. Hiccup wasn't sure if he'd understood or not, but either way, Hookfang never showed up. Hiccup had a sad feeling in his chest that he would never see the dragon again.

Hiccup snapped back to attention. Astrid was looking at him expectantly. Did she say something? 

"Ahm... what?" 

"You want Zee or Nuffink?" 

Nuffink jumped up and down. "Mommy, mommy I wan' you!" 

She laughed and held out her arms, picking him up and blowing loud kisses on his plump cheeks. He squealed in laughter. "We'll take turns! I'll take you on Stormfly first, then you'll go with Daddy on Toothless, deal?" another loud slurpy kiss.

Hiccup smiled softly as he picked Zephyr up and positioned her carefully in front of him. Toothless warbled beneath them, his body shaking in excitement, his muscles already tense in anticipation. Hiccup went to position his prosthetic like he’d always had to, but paused when his foot was met by air. That’s right, no saddle. It would definitely take some getting used to.

"Hang on, sweetie!" He warned, cradling her with one arm and hanging onto Toothless with the other. And with that, Toothless could be contained no longer, and they took off into the sky.

[tysonrunningfox]

Chiefly Acting

This is a long chapter but I don’t care because I’ve been waiting and I needed feret, I’m sorry, so here is a very big chapter.  I know not as many people got as caught up as I was hoping, but @goonlalagoon and @riverrockets (who drew FUSE AND NOW SHE IS MY PHONE BACKGROUND AND I LOVE HER SO MUCH) inspired me today and now I gotta throw this on you.  Sorry not sorry.

Tumblr | AO3

Mom makes breakfast. Aurelia reads, that odd accent becoming smoother and smoother as she mumbles things to herself under her breath and making notes on a scrap of parchment.  The chief sits at the table, skinny and old without his leather armor and nibbling at breakfast like he can’t let himself starve and leave us without such a constant reminder that yesterday happened.  That things were different then.  That they’re always going to be different now, at some level.

Stoick is unusually quiet, playing on the floor with an old carved dragon, taping it on the hearth and whispering to Bang.  

“Here, there’s more,” Mom refills my plate as soon as I clean it and I fail at holding back my desperation for her not to.  

“No, I’m full—”

“You’re growing,” she gives me another scoop for good measure, “that shirt’s too small.  I’ll make you some new ones.”  She tugs at the seam on my shoulder and her hand is both clinical and affectionate and I get a flash of an impression that she’s wondering if what she lost would have looked enough like me for her to imagine. “Maybe I should have kept Arvid’s old clothes, I think you’re finally catching up.”  

“Do you have to mock me?” I expect Aurelia to look up at a mention of Arvid, but she doesn’t.  If anything she leans closer to the page and I wonder if she wasn’t just around more because Mom needed her.  Or the chief needed Mom to need her.  Right now it seems like everyone needs Mom more than she needs them and I don’t want to be on that list.  I want to actually help, I want to make it worth it that I’m the one here, like somehow that’ll make it less sad.  

Like if I turn it around I can be half a success.  

“No, I’m serious,” she yanks at my sleeve and it doesn’t stretch all the way to my wrist.  “I wish I had the pattern I used last winter.”  

“We can buy clothes,” Aurelia glances at me, sullen and oddly committed as she shuts the book and sits up straight, “you can relax, you know.”  

“Like rest will help anything now,” the chief drops the crust of the bread he’s been nibbling on and it’s so tense and pained when his face half crumples that Toothless doesn’t lick up the treat even though it’s practically on his foot.  He’s curled around the chief’s chair and somehow I doubt anyone Toothless doesn’t approve of could get close to him.  

“Hiccup,” Mom chastises, expression hard even though her voice is gentle, like she’s scared of breaking him.  I think it might be too late for that, honestly, and another pang in my stomach signals the nonsensical cosmic connection between his pain and the part of me that’s him.  

“My shirt’s fine,” I cough, pushing my still full plate away.  My sleeves feel too short now that Mom pointed it out and I push them up to my elbows, looking pointedly at the list in front of the empty seat at the table. It’s the chief’s list, the master list, the one that he points at whenever he’s trying to get me to do something particularly gross or annoying, like I’ll believe it’s the list making me do it and not him.  

I know that’s just Stoick’s seat, but it feels different, it feels like someone more worthy of that list is supposed to be there.  A real heir, the one they wanted.  

“Can we stop talking about Eret’s stupid shirt?”  Aurelia snaps at me, like this is all my fault, and I almost reflexively apologize. But something tells me it won’t do anything and the part of me that would like to predict the next hit before it lands imagines forever in this house with her mad at me.  

“Not the name I would have picked…” The chief mumbles, staring at me like I’m inanimate or he’s not quite sure I’m real and it makes me feel like I shouldn’t be.  

“Hiccup,” Mom chides him a little more sternly, setting her hand on his and squeezing.  She’s as pale as I’ve ever seen her and I look at the list again.  

“Who’s going to do that?”

“What?”  Mom looks at the empty chair too and I wonder if she sees it the way I am, as a place someone else is supposed to be.  

“The list,” I almost reach for it but that feels like a decision I don’t know if I get to make. “Everything that’s supposed to happen today.  Who’s going to do it?”  

“That’s what you’re worried about?  Some list?” Aurelia scoffs, “you’re just trying to ignore the problem—”

“No, I’m…” I fumble for the words, not because she’s wrong but because she’s right.  I do want to ignore this.  I do want to forget about it as long as possible and hope that a magic solution to the way I feel finds its way out of my subconscious at some point. But it’s more than that, I realize, it’s…I don’t know what to do about this.  About the fog in this room, about Mom’s expression or the chief’s lack of one. Aurelia’s anger at me for some reason I don’t understand.  

But that list?  I might be able to do some of those things.

“Typical,” she scoffs, “this isn’t something you can plan away—”

“I’m not ignoring anything,” I stand up, my chair squeaking across the floor as I grab the list and roll it in my hand, “I’m just noting that other people’s problems still exist—”

“Because they’re easier.”

“Aurelia,” Mom’s voice cracks, almost angry in a tired, hollow way.  

“Chief?”  I ask, holding the roll out when he looks at me, taking a long second to recognize me.  That must have been how I looked at him before I put it together, that sense of familiarity.  I wonder if he’s going to see the ghost of someone he never knew every time he looks at me now.  “Are you going to come help me with this or—”

“Oh, I don’t care about that,” he looks at the list, “it doesn’t matter like I thought it did.”  

“Ok…” I look at Mom but her face is unreadable.  She nods at me, almost imperceptible.  “Well…I think it’ll matter if….” I look at the list and pick out a random line, “the barley field keeps flooding.  So I’m going to go…fix that.  Somehow. I have no idea how but—”

“Go.”  Mom looks at Stoick, “can you get your shoes on?  Eret will take you to dragon training.”  

“Do I have to go?”  Stoick shuffles his feet and stomps half a stomp.  “I’m doing something important.”  

“Shoes.  Now.”  Mom lets go of the chief’s hand, “any color preference on the shirts?”  

“I don’t need shirts.” I grab Stoick’s hand and call Bang, holding the door for both of them and stepping outside feeling both lighter and more exhausted.  I feel bad leaving Mom with all of that but I don’t know what else to do, I don’t know what else would matter.  

Like yeah, I could stay and argue with Aurelia and snark back at the chief like it makes his blank eyes not matter, but that wouldn’t help anything.  I can’t even guarantee that it wouldn’t make anything worse.  

“What’s going on?” Stoick asks, yanking his hand from mine and scrambling onto Bang’s back.  Bang doesn’t even pause anymore, just hunches his back slightly for Stoick to find the toe hold on his elbow, and there’s just another way I’ve been replaced.  I never thought Bang would ditch me if I finally got a fraction of some supposed growth spurt.  

Catching up with Arvid, my ass.  

“What do you mean, bud?”

I’m glad Mom didn’t tell him.  I don’t know why she made that choice, but it was right, even if it’s hard now to look at him being the same age I was when I was accidentally burning down forges and everyone noticed what I was and what I clearly wasn’t.  He’s too smart to be lied to but so was I and it’s the passing of a perverse torch for me to do it now.  

“Everyone is sad.”  He lays down on Bang’s head, cheek smushed against Bang’s face.  “Why is everyone sad?”  

“Aurelia is more mad at me than sad,” I try and divert, “and frankly, I’d love your insight on that because I have no idea what her problem has been lately.”  

“I think it’s something about a boy,” he wrinkles his nose, “but that’s not why Dad’s sad.”  

“I think he’s sad because of a boy too,” I sigh, “not like that, but…well, you don’t need to worry about it.”  

“I’m already worried about it.”  He leans up on his elbows, head on his hands, comfortable like only a kid on a well trained dragon can be.  Probably more even, given that he grew up with Toothless and the lack of fear that comes with that.  

“Well, you shouldn’t.”

“Why?”  

“Because I’m worried about it already,” I nod like I know what I’m talking about, “ok?  I’ve got the worrying covered and plus, you’ve got more important sh—stuff!  I mean stuff to worry about.  Don’t you start Terror tracking soon?  That was hard for even me.”  

“It’s gonna be easy,” he shakes his head, “I track with Toothless all the time.  He can find all my lost toys.”  

“That’s because he already knows how to do it.”  I scratch under Bang’s chin for a second before almost tentatively ruffling his hair. He doesn’t shove me off and I hate how I feel right for lying to him, even if I didn’t really lie.  I just told him the part of the truth that he should know.

That’s worse, isn’t it.

“It’s gonna be easy.”

“You say that,” I push up my sleeve and show him a vaguely curved burn scar on my forearm.  “Until you’re trying to train a dragon to find your clothes and they find you instead.”

His eyes widen, “really?”

“No, not really,” I laugh, “that’s a burn, but Arv—my older—a guy in my training class got bit in the ankle.  It’s not easy to train a dragon to do the right thing even when you aren’t watching them.”  

“It’s gonna be easy.”  He crosses his arms, looking so much like Aurelia that I don’t quite know what to do with it, because I can’t remember where I exist in it anymore.  

“I hope it is, bud.”  

00000

Everything else, all of the rest of these changes happened overnight.  I blinked and everything was different.  But this takes time, apparently.  This takes days.  Days of the chief staring blankly at the wall in an empty house while I’m talking to someone, lips pinched into a tight white line when I stop in to ask him something. It’s days of picking through pathetically few items on that list, even as it gets longer and longer.  It’s days of noticing that the chief’s handwriting looks just like mine except smeared, because he writes with his left and drags his hand across the runes.  Once the whole list smears in my pocket or hand, I can’t tell the last thing he put on it from the first thing I did.  

It’s the first time chiefing feels hard, unnatural, lonely.  People look at me like they know something is wrong and like they assume I don’t and it’s like the first sixteen years of my life and something entirely different all at once.  

It’s worse.  

Because I’m alone and Aurelia is with Mom, probably prying, and winter’s creeping away just enough for people to come outside and look to someone for direction and I’m the only one moving.  

“But Eret,” Gunnar Ericson explains with a calm sort of patience, like he’s not sure I can handle the conversation, “the west field flooded in the melt and I can’t get anything to grow anywhere else until summer.”  

I know absolutely nothing about farming.  Even fishing, I only understand at a magical, surface level where a net is put in the sea and somehow fish know to swim into it.  But farming?  Seeds grow things.  That’s about the extent of my knowledge.  And I know that there was something weird in the creek flooding everything and I know that Aurelia talked to Fuse about it and I don’t know what happened and the field might be poisoned or something, but maybe plants like flammable soil or maybe the soil isn’t flammable anymore.  

Is it normal for the chief to answer questions with a question?  I think I’ve heard him do it before but I think he always meant it, like he was looking for a particular answer.  I don’t know what I’m looking for.  

“Umm…Try?”  I wince as it comes out and Gunnar glances in the direction of the chief’s house, closing his eyes and nodding sympathetically at me.  

“Sound counsel, acting chief.”  

“I’m not acting chief,” I shake my head, because that sounds official and I don’t know if anything I’ve ever done has ever been official.  I wasn’t even born official.  I’ve spent days pretending and it was exhausting without a title.  “So I mean, if trying is going to kill your entire crop and starve the entire island,” I swallow and shrug one shoulder, “don’t?”  

“More good advice.” He nods, “it’s ok to tell me to come back later, chief.”  He smiles, his upper lip disappearing beneath his thick brown moustache and I remember the time Arvid and I stole an apple from his stand and feel endlessly guilty all over again about it.

“Yeah, that’d be good.” I realize need to talk to the actual chief and frown, “I don’t know exactly when.  Probably not later today.  Or tomorrow.”  Or before everything falls apart in my uncapable hands.  

“Maybe things will have dried out by then,” he nods before walking away.  

I need to talk to the chief about this one.  At this point, the questions I need to talk to the chief about is longer than the list of items I’ve managed to cross off of the masterlist on my own and I realize that means it’s probably time to go talk to him.  I’m not afraid to admit to myself that I’ve been avoiding it, but I also can’t find it in me to beat myself up about it because as soon as I step into the house my stomach drops.  

The chief is sitting at the table, exactly where he was when I left.  He looks up and stares silently at me for a second before looking back at a document that he can’t possibly be reading because it’s the same thing he was pretending to read yesterday and the day before that.  It’s like he barely exists, everything annoying but alive about him dead except for where it’s stuck to me like a stain I can’t get off and don’t think I want to anymore.  Because it should exist in someone else too, it feels like a doubly applied weight on my shoulders.  

“Hey chief.”  

“Hey Eret.”  His tone shifts across my name and I almost blurt out that I’d change it to Hiccup IV if he stopped making Mom take care of him.  

I wouldn’t, I don’t think. That’d be shedding responsibility too and sometimes I think the narrow channel I exist in between all those responsibilities I can’t avoid is the only thing keeping me moving forward.  Freedom feels dangerous, I don’t know what I’d do and I fear it wouldn’t be here and Berk would be different and worse when I got back.  And more than sitting here, it would be because of my decision.  

“I have a few questions about stuff.”  I set the list down on the table, my hand thumping a little too loud against the wood like the sound will snap him out of it.  It does, for a second, and he frowns at me like he forgot what I just said. “Around the village.  People asked me a bunch of things I don’t know the answer to.”  

“I’m sure the village is fine,” he shrugs, looking back at the top of the document like he hasn’t gotten any further than that.  Or, more likely, like he’s rereading the first sentence again and again and absorbing nothing.  “I’ll get to it.”  

“Some of this is a little more urgent than—”

“I’m sure nothing is that urgent—”

“There’s flooding in the West firld that’s preventing planting and a delay in building that new dock because of a low wood pile and the dragon hanger isn’t warming up enough—”

“You don’t need to worry about any of those things right now.”  

“Well…” I set my jaw, leaning further into the decision I already made once, “I’m worrying about them.”

“Nothing’s going to blow up in the next few days,” he says it like he’s mostly trying to convince himself and like he doesn’t realize that it’s already been a few days.  

“That’s another thing, isn’t Fuse supposed to be working on that woodbin wall?  Because that’s why I can’t get the wood for the dock—”

“I can’t do this right now.” He snaps and for a second and I think he’s going to cry.  He stares at me for a moment, face blank like he knows I’m supposed to be responding and he’s hearing it even though I’m not saying anything.  

“I think…I think it needs to get done.”  I sigh and push a loose piece of hair behind my ear, “and people are starting to call me chief and acting chief like that’s a title—”

“Acting chief?”  He perks up slightly, looking at a spot above my head like I won’t notice it’s not my eyes.  

“Yeah, I didn’t tell them to call me that or anything—”

“It’s a great idea,” the chief makes a note on a blank page in his notebook and it trails off after the first few runes.  They smear but otherwise they look like mine.  “The village needs a chief and you’re acting like it.  I’ll write up a notice—”

“Wait, no.  I don’t know what I’m doing,” I shake my head, the urge to yawn and scream and stab him and stab something else all mounting at the same time, “I got asked about farming today.  I don’t know anything about farming, I can’t…I don’t…”  I shrug, throwing my arms in the air and he flinches when they smack back down against my sides.  “Help me out here, maybe?”  

It’s the thing I never said that he’s always wanted to hear.  I expect it to work, I expect some magical realization that I’m his son too, that I’m a kid who needs him as much as that kid that never finished happening was. Or is.  That I’m here in the present even though no one seems to notice.

That I’ve never realized how much I needed him until now.  Not in the way he wants me to, of course, but it’s something and I need him and no one else can help me.  I learned how to manage being dorky and small and awkward without him, but chief?  I can’t delve deep enough into my well of vague but persistent self-loathing to figure that out.  I need him to tell me.  I need someone to tell me and he’s the only one who can and I’m asking.  

It feels like begging and I hate that, I hate that I’ve ended up just as weak in front of him as I always told myself I’d never be.  

“You’re ready.”  

“Ok, but that’s not what I’m asking.”  

“You’re ready, you’ve been ready.  You’ve been helping me for months now, you haven’t made any big mistakes—”

“What are you saying?”

“I’ll write up a notice and put it—and you can put it at the great hall.  Nothing’s going to blow up in the next couple of days—”

“If you’re titling me Acting Chief, something makes me think this is more than for a couple of days.”  I flail and I feel more like him than ever, more animated and desperate and willing in a way that’s always been irritating.  “I don’t know how to do this, I don’t know how to tell people what to do and have them do it and if it goes wrong, it’s all on me—”

“Just do what I would do.”

“That’s the whole point of me talking to you, I don’t know what you’d do.”  Because I’m not as much of him as I should be.  As I need to be.  As the village needs me to be.  

“Nothing can go wrong in just a few days,” he looks back at his notebook, “things don’t change overnight. They just don’t.”  

“What do I do about the farming?  And the woodpile—”

“I’m trusting your judgement.”  He doesn’t look at me.  He doesn’t bore an invisible ‘don’t fuck it up’ into my forehead like Mom always does. He sits there like someone who needs to be protected, like one of those who will be affected by whatever wrong thing I inevitably do.  

“Well…”  I deflate, shaking my head and looking at the door, because the village is going to feel so different when I go back out there. When.  Not if.  I decided and this drags me further into it, not backwards like I wish.  

I could leave.  But what would I be leaving?  What would it be when I come back?  

It feels like everything changes because of me, what would change because of lack of me?  I’m already seeing it, in a way, what changes when some version of me disappears.  I can’t do that to everyone again.  

“It’ll be great.”  He shrugs, “you’ll see.  I’m trusting you.”  

“That…that makes one of us.” I huff, snatching the list—my acting list off of the table and stomping back outside.  

00000

Fuse is at the woodpile. I see her first because she’s the only thing standing still, her hair glinting as she cocks her head at the side wall.  I should go talk to someone about the stack, first, but I don’t, and I don’t know if it’s what the chief would do and that makes my hands shake.  

“Hey Fuse, what’s up?” I walk up to stand next to her, “how’s it going with you?”  

“I think it’s going to cave if I take from the front.  I think I’ve got to take from the middle and work back but pillar this front corner. I think there’s a crack coming down from the point.  See?” She points up and a little to the right at a bit of ceiling that looks exactly like the rest of the ceiling, “It’ll crumble if I don’t column the corner.”  

“Then column the corner.” I shrug, “it’s about access from the new dock, right? It should be fine if the corner is a column.”

“Do you know where the chief is?  He’s the one asking me to do this.”  

“I do,” I sigh, “and he’s not going to tell you, so…so I’m just going to decree, or whatever, that as my first decision as Acting Chief, whatever that means, it’s fine if you column the corner.  Because you think it’s the way it’ll work and I trust you.”  

“Acting Chief?”  She frowns, fully looking at me for the first time since I’ve walked over, “what are you talking about?”  

“The chief is writing up a notice to make me official Acting Chief,” I laugh, feeling limp and tired and like I don’t have a chance to do anything but fail, “an ambiguous but surface level powerful title that means nothing but also everything.”  

“Wait, I’m missing something, why would he—”

“You know how my Mom was pregnant?”  I exhale through my nose, shaking my head slowly and wondering again why she’s not the one falling apart.  How she’s not the one staring at a corner.  How Aurelia and the chief are on some wavelength that I’m not for the first time since I’ve started looking for similarities.  “She’s not anymore.  The chief’s…I don’t know, staring at a wall and not deciding anything.  My Mom’s…Aurelia…”  I chew on the inside of my lip, reminding myself why being here matters more when it feels like everything would be calmer and better and newer everything else.  Because this ominous grief-adjacent feeling is too familiar to be healthy.  “It’s not the best.”  

“My gods, I’m so sorry,” she sounds more typical than Fuse ever does, more broken record polite, and I hate it.  I hate how her voice breaks and I wish she were still thinking about explosives.  I wish things were going to blow up in the next few days and I didn’t have some undefined period of thinking about what the chief would do in front of me.  “Is there—do you need a hug?”  

I laugh.  It comes out too loud and too painful, like my throat has forgotten how in the past couple of days and it has to half shred to remember.

“No one has asked me that.”  

She hugs me, arms pinning my arms to my side, chin pointy and painful into my shoulder.  Warm and smelling like black powder and squeezing tighter than she needs to.  It’s good anyway, bracing, like she trust me being tough at some level other than just talking about it.  She steps back, a little stiff and I wish she wouldn’t be, I wish she’d go back to talking about cracking rocks.  

“So Acting Chief, huh?” She nods slowly, “I can column the corner, but that means nothing is stopping reloading the bin from the other side.”  

“So I can get the bin catalog updated?”  I throw my head back, “oh my gods, that’s the best.  I can’t get going with building the dock until Sneezlet Hoarkson lets me take the wood and she’s not doing that until the roster is updated.”  

“You sound busy.”  

“The busiest.”  I sigh, “now I’ve got to get the bin filling and then I can go tell the builders down at the docks—”

“I can do that,” she offers, “I need to get some stuff to start measuring to prep the wall, anyway, it’s practically on my way—”

“You’d do that?”  I feel struck by it somehow, maybe it’s that I was just asking for help and didn’t get it and now it’s offered and it’s Fuse, so it feels easy.  It’s genuine because she’s never anything else and I don’t know how to apologize for being so thordamned needy.  “I might need another hug, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”  

She sputters, like she never does, started like I’ve never seen her, “I figured you’d had a rough day.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“I’ll go talk to the people prepping the dock,” she nods, cheeks patchy like the enormity of my being Acting Chief just hit her.  Like she just realized what she offered but she’s not backing down.  

“Thank you.”  I sigh, “now I get to tell Sneezlet how to load this up, but well, having that only be half the job is such a huge thing.  Thank you.”  

“I got it.”  She turns abruptly and walks off and that makes me laugh even though I don’t know how anything could be funny right now.  

Sneezelet fights the idea of my authority until I tell her to check the notice on the front of the great hall, the notice I haven’t seen or put up yet, but that’s enough to get her ordering people to load their dragons and get all that half green wood stacking into the half of the shelter that Fuse says won’t be affected by her blasts. It feels official, far quicker than I would have thought it could but just as heavy as I’d feared.  If this messes up, it’s my fault.  

If it messes up, I have to clean it up and that’s all on me, because I don’t think that the chief is going to be ready like he seems to think he is.  

Honestly, I don’t know how the chief ever had time to annoy me so much.  I’ve only been doing this for a few days on my own and an hour officially and I can’t remember the last time I was home before dinner or got more than half a nights’ sleep.  I don’t mind the first part of that, really, because home isn’t my favorite place right now, between the chief staring off into space and Mom being almost frantically fake happy all the time.  

And there’s the fact that Aurelia still won’t talk to me, or she’ll talk but it’s not like we used to, it’s not nice or comfortable.  It’s like she wants me to be wrong because she’d get something out of it.  It’s like every word out of Norse that she remembers, she gets further away.  

So I’m happy to be out of the house, but when what feels like the seventh frantic worried face of the day approaches me as I’m trying to get across town to check on Fuse and the progress on the new dock, I may or may not hit today’s emotionally full point and snap at them.

“What?  What do you want?”

“Sorry,” Mrs. Ericson takes a step back with wide eyes and her hands held up.  I must have sounded fiercer than I thought.  “Er, Chief?”

“I’m not the chief.” I blurt out automatically and shake my head, “but right, I’m Acting Chief, that’s why I’m so tired.  Acting Chief is fine.  What can I do for you?”

“My Winky chewed through their girth last night, the boy forgot to take the saddle off when he got home, and I was just wondering when I could drop it by the forge for you to fix.”

“I’m not actually putting in much forge time these days,” I sigh, “Smitelout Jorgenson is over there though and don’t tell her I said this, but she’s actually doing a pretty good job picking up the slack.”

“Oh, I know she’s been working with Gobber,” Mrs. Ericson hems and haws the way that Vikings don’t unless they’re talking to the chief, which is somehow me, as weird and uncomfortable as that still feels, “she fixed my dagger up last week, actually, and it’s fine, I just…well, I prefer your individual touch on the leather.”

“That’s…flattering, Mrs. Ericson, but I really don’t have time right now.”  I try to feel like I’m not being crushed under the weight of her understanding disappointment.  “I…ok, bring it by the forge and leave it with Gobber, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you!”

“It’s fine,” I lie, because it’s a pain in the ass and I don’t have time and that’s what the chief would have said but he has me to cover for him and I don’t.  “If I can’t get to it—”

“You’re trying, lad, that’s all we ask!”  

“Right.”  I wave at her and keep walking, looking down at my feet like it’ll make me less noticeable.  

I remember when I used to want to be noticed, when it used to feel like something would change if someone just saw me.  When I thought my ideas would matter and that somehow, that wouldn’t feel like a crushing weight plopped onto my chest.  

I miraculously make it down to the dock without anyone seeing me, because checking in with what Fuse offered to do seems like the biggest guarantee for some level of comparative success in this overwhelming day, but of course, everyone is yelling.

“Fall?”  Someone is yelling at Fuse, which makes me furious in a way I can’t quite comprehend right away, because I put here there, I told her I’d cover her, “we’re supposed to wait to do this with fall wood?  That doesn’t submerge right—”

“I’m just telling you what I—”

“Well, tell whoever told you that they’re a thick-skulled moron—”

“You seem perfectly capable of delivering your own insults.”  Fuse deadpans, completely unflappable as they move closer to her, shorter and angrier than she is and l move to step between them.  

He pokes her in the shoulder.  She blanches, suddenly alarmed.  

“Do you want to blow us both up?”  

“Is that a threat?”  

“Whoa there,” I step between them, facing the guy who’s causing Fuse problems.  He’s younger, but not young enough that I know him.  Small enough that the weight of the axe against my lower back makes me feel like I know the only ways this could go.  “What’s the problem?”  

“She said—” He tries to point around me at Fuse and I check his forearm with my wrist, just enough of a hit to tell him I know where my axe is and could get it just as fast.  

“I don’t care what she said.”  I step towards him, “tell your boss that you can start building as soon as Sneezlet lets you have the wood.  And don’t start fights you can’t finish.”  I look at Fuse over my shoulder and she’s red and irked in a way she rarely gets without Arvid’s purposeful prodding.  “That would have gone bad for everyone.”  

“Says who?”  He tries, but he’s faltering, and the combination of me and Fuse must mean something that I never used to because he doesn’t move towards me.  

“Says the guy who’s got Acting Chief status according to the notice on the front of the great hall. Go check.  I don’t care.”  I make a mental note to put up that notice next, before I find a place to sit down.

“How soon are we going to get the wood?”  He asks, narrowing his eyes at me, and I think I recognize him from Rolf’s dragon training graduation.  Maybe there was something in the water that whole year.  

“Soon, we’re moving into half the pile and can get it counted.”  I take a step towards him and he backs off two, “go tell your boss. Seriously.”  I hate how I sound like the chief when I aim for authoritative and I clear my throat, “and come to me next time you don’t like an order.”  I try and shrug how Ingrid does, that little shrug that makes my axe handle stick out.  “Preferably before you form that wrong opinion.”  

“Alright,” he falters, looking at Fuse one more time like he wants to say something and stopping himself, “Acting Chief.”  

“Good,” I turn away before he can pull me into more of this delightful conversation, hands sweating enough that I wipe them on my pants.  Fuse is staring at me like she’s not sure if she needs to say anything and I look at the fullest pocket of her vest, “maybe next time leave the explosions at home when I send you on such a confrontational errand.”  

“It wasn’t a confrontational errand.”  

“I didn’t think so,” I laugh, gesturing back up the path from the dock, “but maybe I should get you out of here before that changes.  What happened?”  

“I just relayed the message.”  She looks as embarrassed as she is distracted.  “He just started telling me to insult people—”

“Ok,” I stop, reaching for her elbow and pausing before I end up in the same situation, my arms falling back slack as I step off of the trail and wave her to follow me.  “Things like that don’t just happen.  I’ve made enough happen on purpose to know that it’s not necessarily easy.”  

“I didn’t do anything.” She stands in front of me, a little bored but not willing to ignore me and I hope it’s not just my almost title. Somehow, with her, I know it’s separate.

“You know, you’re one of the only people that I actually trust around here,” it comes out fast and honest and funny in a way nothing has really been lately, “but if I’m going to be Acting Chief, I’m going to need a bit of diplomacy.”  

“It’s not my fault if everyone else is so sensitive.”  She looks confused and angry about it and I sigh.  

“Everyone isn’t sensitive, we’re Vikings.  You’re just…shockingly direct and astute enough that your first hit usually gets the vulnerable place.”  

“I didn’t hit anyone.” She crosses her arms, looking bored and red and out of her element the same way she makes me feel.  “He just acted like it.”

“Oh come on, you honestly don’t know you can be…harsh?”  I want to reach for her arm again, to tap her on the shoulder.  It feels like no one else should hear what we’re saying, it feels like I want it to be a secret.  

“You don’t seem to think so.”  

I laugh at that, “that’s because I’ve already said all the meanest things to myself and you’re logical in comparison.”  

“I’m not mean to you.”

“You’re frank.”  I want to shake her even though it’s dangerous, even though it could evaporate us both and leave a crater.  I realize I might know something she doesn’t, even if it’s still new to me, even if it’s still strange.  Maybe I’ll understand it better if I say it out loud and I try to curb the urge to whisper it because that’d make it sound less sure.  “You know, sometimes, when chiefly authority is involved, you have to say things so that people will like the idea of listening to you.”  

“Why do I care if they like it?”  She hesitates though, cocking her hip slightly, arms crossed but slack like she’s thinking about leaving but isn’t quite sure yet.  

“Because someone just tried to fight you.”  

“I don’t care if people want to fight me,” she scoffs, “it’s stupid.”  

“Ok, how about I care?” I step closer, “because I like trusting you when to know when to blow things up and if people are trying to fight you, that decision is out of your hands.”  

“I can’t control what people do.”  She falters slightly, her frown cracking around the edges like she’s just realizing what just spun out of control.  “People don’t react like bombs, they don’t make sense.  I don’t know how I’m supposed to predict how people will react to things.”  

“You’re pretty good at predicting me.”  

She cocks her other hip and averts her eyes, cheeks red like she’s not used to me catching her by surprise.

“That’s because your face is obvious.”  She shrugs and almost looks defiant, almost embarrassed.  I want to fix this more than I want to check off anything.

“Yeah, maybe, I never said I was subtle.”  I step closer, trying to frame what I’m about to say in a way that I won’t have to explain more than once.  This all feels subtle.  Important. And that notice still isn’t up anywhere. “Sometimes, you have to say it so that people will like you.”  

“I just told him what you said.”  

“Ok, I get that but…ok, ok, let’s practice.”  I grab her elbows and turn us around so that she’s still facing me but my back is to the road.  I don’t realize what I’ve done until I drop her and step back, waiting for that face that means she’s scared of an unpredictable ticking.  It doesn’t happen.  She just reddens slightly, arms slack at her sides.  “Ok…pretend you have to tell me that I…hmm, that you can’t blow out a wall I need you to or like…a bunch of fish is going to spoil.  Or something.”  

“Why can’t I do it?”  

“I don’t know, make something up,” I laugh, “something is cracked or something.”  

“I’m not good at making things up.”  She looks like she just admitted some secret more horrible than any I’ve heard already, which is simultaneously hilarious and impossible.  

“It’s just me, it doesn’t have to be good.”  

“Ok.”  She shrugs and thinks for a second, two thirds of an eyebrow lowered over her right eye.  “I can’t blow up the imaginary wall because it’ll take down the imaginary hill too.” She’s completely flat, awkward in a way that’s never been so palpable, small under all those packed tight vest pockets.  

“Ok, now say it like you want me to like you.”  

She sputters again, cheeks patchy, fingertips digging into her arms.  I laugh and it’s more uncomfortable than genuine.  

“Apparently a thought a little too far from reality,” I try and shrug it off but suddenly this feels weird. Ominous.  Like I’m missing something obvious and it’s circling. “What did you actually say?”  

“What Aurelia told me to.” She sighs, “she caught me halfway over and said you’d told her that you’d miscalculated and there wouldn’t be enough wood until the whole bin was full.”  

There it is.  

“She did what?”  

“She told me that—”

“Yeah, I heard you.” I pat her almost reflexively on the shoulder and she doesn’t flinch, “I didn’t tell her to do that.  I’m going to go…I don’t know.  I don’t know what I’m doing.”  It feels like less of a confession than it does something shameful I shouldn’t saddle her with.  “I’ll…see you.  I guess.”

“Yeah.”  She pauses, mouth half open, “I…yeah.  I’ll let you know if I need anything to column that wall. Acting Chief.”  She uses the title like it means something and I hate that it does.  I don’t want to leave but I have to, because I promised I’d keep things together and even though that was only to me and the half the chief still talking, it still matters. It still has to matter.  

[minatoiskyuubismate]

New chapter of my dagurized fanfic

Part 9: A time to Skrill

 In this episode the first time the Nordic gods made their appearance. They will be more of them in later Episodes. Loki looks a bit like the Marvel comic version of himself.

 Dragon talk and thoughts -italic

  In a dark night, a few days later, a lone glacier far out in the sea began to shake waking two Terrible Terrors roughly. They shrieked in fear and flew into the darkness.

As Thor himself swung his mighty Mjölnir, a bolt of lightning came out of the clouds and struck right in the middle of the glacier, forming a huge crack in the icy surface. From inside the crack came a shriek, and an explosion let the crack widen and finally open. With a wild roar, the Skrill, Hiccup trapped three years ago in this glacier, shot out of his icy prison, finally free again after such a long time.

“You really think this was a wise move?” a deep voice asked.

Thor swung his Mjölnir hammer over his shoulder and looked to the man who was standing to his side on his flying chariot. Taningrisnir and Tanngrnjostr, the two white goats were snorting nervously and pulling at their harness. They were hovering with the chariot over the clouds as they watched the Skrill flying away, heading south.

“It’s the destiny of this dragon, Loki. He can´t be trapped here forever.” Thor the mighty God of Thunder said. Loki, a man with a black goatee and an golden helmet with inward curled horns, frowned. “Sometimes I really don’t like Skulds prophercies.”

“Lets return to Asgard. My work here is done. Taningrinir! Tanngrnjostr! Onward, my mounts!”

The goats bleated, reared with their front legs and fell into a fast gallop.

And the golden chariot sailed up to the sky and vanished between the clouds.

 When the Dragon Riders reached Outcast Island it looked a lot worse than the time the screaming death had attacked. Alwin and the Outcasts were nowhere seen.

“Weird, I see  no arrows or spears.” said Hiccup.

“And no boulders from Catapults.” Fishlegs said.

“This really doesn’t look like a Dragon Hunter attack.”

“And where did everyone go?”

“They must have evacuated the whole island.”

“But what could possibly scare Outcasts from their own island?” Astrid asked.

Hiccup then noticed something he had already seen. Something that he wished never to see again.

“I think this has something to do with it.” he said.

Everyone turned and saw a large crack within a rock and there were scorch marks around it. The whole think looked like a flash.

“I have a baaad feeling.” Fishlegs gulped.

 A few moments later they were on their dragons again and heading towards the glacier. Hiccup remembered exactly where he trapped the dangerous dragon three years ago.

“Yep, the Skrill is gone.” Snotlout said, as they looked down the big crack in the ice.

“How did this happen?” Fishlegs asked puzzled.

“It could be any number of reasons, an earthquake or maybe a lightning storm.”

“Yeah, a mighty lightining-caused by the great Hammer of Thor! Mjölnir!” Tuffnut declared loudly.

Hiccup and the others rolled their eyes.

“Why should the mighty Thor free the Skrill?” Fishlegs asked.

“It doesn’t matter now how it got out.” said Hiccup getting to his feet. “We have to get him back before he hurts anyone else -or before Dagur gets a hold of him.”

“Do you really think, Dagur would use the big Skrill against us?” asked Astrid. “You think, this Dragon could cause him to get deranged again?”

“No, I don’t think he will fall into his old scheme. But we must return this Skrill back here into his icy prison! He is too dangerous.”

“Okay, since the Skrill graviatates toward storms to channel its lightning I would say its following that storm heading south from Outcast island.”

“Fishlegs eyes widened. “Hiccup, isn’t Berk in that way…-oh no.”

 At Berk the thunderstorm was right over the island at the moment and the Skrill had followed suit. Lightning has just stroked the chief´s house and as the black smoke faded, the violet dragon appeared on the roof, shrieking angrily as electricity surged through his body. Then he flew up and began to attack the village!

Astrids Team tried the best to drive the Skrill away but one after another got shot down by the fierce dragon, when Hiccup and his riders arrived. The last one who remained was Spitelout on his Nadder who was able to dodge the attacks so far.

“Is that the best you´ve got, you sparky lizard?!” he yelled. Then he looked down at his Nadder. “No offence to you, of course.”

The Skrill growled and blasted again at him. This time Spitelout got a direct hit with the lightning and he fell off his dragon.

“Dad!” Snotlout yelled and dived on Hookfang towards him.

“Cover the downed riders!” Hiccup ordered.

They began to sore downwards, when Toothless came to a sudden stop.

“Toothless? No! What are you doing?” Hiccup said. The Nightfury turned and faced the Skrill above him.

“Enemy.” the Skrill snarled.

“I show you this time!” Toothless hissed. Both dragons prepare their blasts to fire!

“Toothless! No!” Hiccup yelled and tried to pull the Nightfury back. But it was too late. The two dragons fired and when the two blasts collided, it caused a massive shock wave that sent them flying and knocked Hiccup off of Toothless.

“OAAH! I saw this coming!” Hiccup cursed as he fell down, the Nightfury a few meters below him, who tried to fly on his own, but without his rider he was not able to stay in the air. So he slammed into several carts.

“Toothless!”

Hiccup opend his folded wings on his back, slipped the arms through the slings. So he glided down till he landed on Skullcrushers back behind his father Stoik. The chief wondered and asked where this wings came from and Hiccup told him he would explain it later.

“Father, please land, I must look for Toothless!” the Hooligan heir said.

Luckily the Nightfury was okay, as he crawled out of the smashed carts.

“Toothless, thank the gods you are unharmed! But why must have you pulled such a stupid stunt? You could have been injured!” Hiccup scolded his dragon.

Toothless nudged the hand of his rider and warbled an apology.

“Next time, do as I say, okay? I know you don’t like the Skrill, but you can´t attack him without thinking!” Hiccup said and gave him a playful smack on the right ear.

 Soon the other riders landed and Snotlout appeared with his father over his shoulders.

“Snotlout, is he okay?” Astrid asked.

“Its my dad.” the jounger Jorgenson answered. “He bludgeon his own head for sport. Of course he is fine.”

Spitelout tried to speak, but it just sounded like gibberisch babbling. He clutches his throat and looked extremely furous.

“Like I said, he is fine.” said Snotlout and leaned towards Astrid. “Except for that blast of lightning that hit his head.”

Spitelout looked extremely furious as he tried to say something.

“Yea, I am proud of you too, Dad.” Snotlout smiled and patted his father on the back.

“Well, all the huts seem to be in fairly good condition.” said Fishlegs as he looked around.

“All exept one.” said Astrid pointing to the chief´s hut which was smoking quite badly, the entire wood of the outer walls were charred.

“My house!” Stoik yelled.

“Weird that Stoiks House is the only one the Skrill has attacked.” Astrid said.

“Not directly. He scented me and Toothless there. He is looking for us.” Hiccup answered.

“You are right! And Outcast Island is the last place it saw you guys, before…”

“Before we led him into the crevasse and sealed him in the ice.” Hiccup finished Astrids words.

“He is mad at you!” said Snotlout.

“You are right, Cous´. The Skrill is mad at me and Toothless. And he is looking for revenge for trapping him in that glacier three years ago.” Hiccup nodded.

“We had no other choice. He was too dangerous and if Dagur would have kept him…” Astrid pointed out.

“Explain that to the Skrill.” Hiccup suggested. “The moment he awoke he was hunted relentlessly and then captured by the Outcasts, forced to attacks by Dagur and on top of all frozen in his icy prison again by me and Toothless. I can understand this guy. I tried to get his attention back then, but he was full of hate from the beginning. He trusts no one.”

“Enemy!” Toothless snarled. Hiccup placed a hand on his snout to calm him down.

“Tooth, relax! I know you don’t like him, but try to understand him too, bud. We dealt with the Skrill before, we will deal with him again.”

“Is it just me or is Snotlouts dad acting a little more violent than usual?” Tuff noted as Spitlout swung his axe around and tried to say something.

“Looks like not only the Skrill is out for revenge. -Fear not, dear father. You will be avenged.” Snotlout said and balled his fists.

“If the Skrill is coming again back to Berk for you and Toothless, we need to be ready.” Astrid said.

“We are not waiting for him, Astrid!” Hiccup said with a grim face and mounted Toothless.

 Moments later the Riders were just outside the arena preparing to take off.

“You are sure this is the way you want to play it?” Astrid said, as she approached Hiccup.

“Yeah, there is no way you can handle that Skrill alone, especially you of all people should know that.” Fishlegs said.

“He wants only me and Toothless. And it´s us he is gonna get!” Hiccup said.

“But don’t you think it would be better if we were there?” Astrid asked. “He doesn’t stand a chance against all of us.”

“He knows that. And he will not show up unless he knows it will only be me and Toothless. This Skrill is not dumb.” Hiccup answered.

“All right, you hear our great leader. Let´s saddle up.”

Everyone were mounting their dragons and Spitelout had a conversation with his son, though he still has problems with his speech and Snotlout couldn´t understand a word.

Spitelout then shoved his son out of the way and mounted Hookfang. When Snotlout turned to say something to his friends he saw that they were already gone.

Snotlout and his father soon joined up with the other Riders , who were just flying above Berk as Hiccup was about to set off on his own.

“Okay, guys! We will see you soon! The Skrill will be coming back to Berk as soon as he sees that we are alone. “

The Riders flew off leaving Hiccup and Toothless alone to await the Skrill.

“All right, Bud. Lets see if we can get his attention.” Hiccup said and they soared towards the clouds.

“I know you are here! Its me and my bud you want, right? So come out, here we are!” the Hooligan heir shouted. Toothless then fired a plasma blast into the cloud and they waited, but nothing happened.

“Come out, enemy! Don’t hide you coward!” the Nightfury roared. “I and my human don’t fear you!”

“Want to shoo him out too, eh, bud?”

 Then all of a sudden lightning flashed and they saw the shadow of the Skrill deep within the clouds. Seconds later he merged out of them with lightning charging around his body and the violet dragon looked very angry when he saw Hiccup and Toothless.

“I am no coward!” the Skrill roared.

“Tooth-now!” Hiccup yelled and the Nightfury dived just as the Skrill fired a lightning blast! He then soared above the ocean and the Skrill-despite being so close to the water -followed them.

“Nice move, bud. Now keep him close but not too close. “ Hiccup said. Toothless did his best, but it wasn´t easy to fly straight and dodging the lightning blasts at the same time.

“Come on, just a little longer…”

 Meanwhile, at the glacier, the other Riders were preparing the trap to recapture the Skrill, not knowing that they were watched by two men in a chariot high over the clouds.

“You think this will work?” Loki asked as the two looked at the glacier and the busy riders through a small hole in the clouds.

“We will see.” answered Thor. “We only watch-and did not interfere.”

 “Okay, this trench is definitely deeper than the last one.” said Fishlegs, as he and Meatlug finished melting the ice to create a much deeper trench. “I hope it will hold the Skrill this time.”

Spitelout was shaking his arms furiously.

“You mean after the Jorgensons finished with their revenge, right? We should be the least the ones who melt him into that hole.” Snotlout said.

“Here he comes!” Fishlegs said pointing skywards.

“Okay, as soon as it is inside and Hiccup and Toothless are clear, we seal it up.” said Astrid as they flew off to a safe distance. Spitelout grumbled something, while he was sitting with crossed arms and a grim face behind his son.

“Yeah, she always acts as the boss, when little cous´ is busy.“ Snotlout nodded.

 Hiccup and Toothless were making their way to the glacier and the Skrill was not far behind them.

“Tooth, aim for the tunnel!” said Hiccup. The Nightfury accelerated towards the glacier and flew straight into the tunnel. But the Skrill came to a sudden stop.

The other riders watched the scene from a ridge.

“Uh-oh.” Fishlegs murmured.

“Whats going on? Why did it stop?” Snotlout asked.

“Call me crazy, but I think he knows it’s a trap.”

“Smart boy.” said Ruffnut.

 “This dragon is indeed smart.” Loki mused as he and Thor watched the scene from high over the clouds.

 “Isn´t it obvious? It’s the same trap we used on him three years ago. He had not forgotten it.” Fishlegs said.

Hiccup and Toothless were still flying through the tunnel unaware of this event. It wasn’t until they were quite deep into the tunnel that Hiccup noticed that the Skrill wasn’t following them anymore.

“Dragon dung! This isn’t good! ��� Bud, turn!”

Hiccup forced the Nightfury to make a sharp U-turn and flew the way back to the entrance.

When they arrived at the opening, they heard the Skrill screeching angrily.

“Not this time!” Toothless understands and in the next moment the violet dragon began blasting the tunnel with a lightning blast, letting the entrance collapse!

“Bud, back!” Hiccup shouted and let Toothless fall back to prevent him and the Nightfury from being hit by the ice chunks.

 The Skrill then flew straight at the riders who quickly scattered in all directions. But instead attacking them it concentrated his blasts to the glacier.

“It´s trying to seal Hiccup and Toothless inside!” Astrid yelled.

“Who knew that dragons had a sense of poetic justice.” Tuffnut said.

Then out of nowhere Spitelout forced Hookfang down and charged straight towards the Skrill!

“Watch out!” Snotlout yelled.

The Skrill fired a lightning blast that grazed Hookfang forcing him down. The Nightmare crashed into the snow his two riders were thrown off him in the process. The Skrill then began to attack the other riders trying to shoot them down too.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the two Jorgensons got back onto their feet and Spitelout started to yell and babble and swung two axes, still not able to speak normal. The Skrill heard the yells and turned to face them.

“Bring it on, Sparky!” shouted Snotlout as he grabbed one of the axes of his father. The Skrill charged straight towards them but before it could attack, a plasma blast shot through the collapsed cave entrance and everyone saw Hiccup and Toothless break through the new made opening completely unscathed.

“That’s for trapping us in an ice tunnel!” Hiccup said.

“Hey, how come he gets revenge?” Snotlout asked. Toothless fired a second plasma blast at the Skrill, but it dogded it, answering with a lightning blast, who the Nightfury avoid with a barrel roll. Then he flew off out to the open sea.

“Okay, this did not work. Now I need another plan.” the Hooligan Heir grumbled. He tried to loose the Skrill within a sea stack maze, but the purple dragon was just as swift as Toothless and continued to fire lightning blasts at the Nightfury and his rider.

“How much blasts did this guy still have?” Hiccup cursed, as the blasts got more and more just inches away from him. “We need to find save cover! -Ah, and I know exactly, where that is. Toothless, head north!”

The Nightfury flew as Hiccup told him and the Skrill followed, continuing to blast lightning at them. Fortunately, they were able to survive long enough to reach their destination, the ship Graveyard.

Suddenly Hiccup felt one of the Skrill lightning blasts shot past his ear, singeing some of his hair and he felt a sharp pain shot through his forehead.

“AH!” the Hooligan heir cried out and sagged in the saddle. Half-conscious he saw that Toothless Tailfin was on fire!

“Holon, brd…hld rrn…” he groaned, trying his best to held the Nightfury aloft. They passed an assortment of different ships and Toothless made a hard landing on the deck of the nearest abandoned ship. Hiccup was thrown off Toohtless back and landed unconscious on the planks.

 Toothless was the first who got on his feet again. He whined and nudged his rider, licking him over his face. Luckily the shipyard was surrounded by thick fog, so the Skrill could not see where they have landed. After a few moments, Hiccup finally opened his eyes again. He groaned and sat up.

“Toofplsss….uhh..nuuh! Nuw mf gf ht lkr Sptltff!” Hiccup tried to speak. (Toothless-oh no! No I got hit like Spitelout!) But he felt that it was not a direct hit, maybe the symptoms would be go away faster.

Groggily, Hiccup pulled himself to his feet.

First he looked around for the Skrill, but since they were blasted, they had lost it in the fog. He then turned to Toothless.

“Okhh…. Lts hrrv a lrrk ut thrrt trrll.(Okay, lets have a look at your tail)” he mumbled. Toothless looked at him puzzled with wide eyes. Hiccup grunted angrily and sighed.

Toothless showed his tail fin and it was beyond repair. The fabric had been burned off and the rods were pointing in all sorts of directions.

“Okahh, al´l gt yrrr sprrrt. (Okay, I will get your spare.) “ Hiccup said and looked through his satchel, but found nothing. “Jrrst grrt! Thrt wrs thrrr sparrr alrrrdrr! Wlll, at rrrst wl lst thrrr Skrrrrll. (Just great! That was the spare already. Well, at least we lost the Skrill.)”

 Suddenly out of nowhere lightning rained down on top of them, and since there was a lightning storm above them that could only mean one thing. The Skrill was right over them but Hiccup noticed the shots were completely random and not directly fixed on them.

“Hrr sss trng trr to sshh sss uut! (He is trying to shoo us out!)” blubbered Hiccup. Damn speech problems, he cursed inwardly. His tounge felt like he had a piece of fur in his mouth.

Dragon and Rider began running over the deck, searching for cover. I need something to fix Tooth´s Tail, the Hooligan heir thought. He crouched behind a barrel when he noticed that the lightning blasts had stopped. And that the thunderstorm had moved.

“That’s our chance.” he thought when he saw the mast falling straight towards them!

“Thhttllsss! Loorrrk ourrrrt! (Toothless, look out!) Hiccup yelled as he shoved the Nightfury out of the way-just in time.

The mast landed right where they were standing moments ago, smashing the barrel to pieces. Then he noticed the piece of sail that was flapping in the wind and he found exactly what he needed to fix Toothless tailfin.

“Thrrrks, Drrgn Hutrrrs. (Thanks, Dragon Hunters.)” Hiccup said smiling. Then he started to work. He cut a big piece of the remaining sail and placed it on the rods for measurement.

 During the repair Hiccup kept constantly talking, reciting nursery rimes he remembered and other stuff. And he heard his speech ability slowly coming back. And the unconfortable feeling on his tounge vanished too. Some time later the repairs were finished.

“Now this shrrd get urrs up in thr air again. But how are wrr going to take out thrr Skrill? I am sure he is strll here…” Hiccup murmured. Then he got an idea as he climbed into Tootless saddle.

“Maybe we don’t have to. I bet those Drrgn Hunters wrrld love to see this guy in actrrn.”

Just then a lightning blast shot out of the fog, this time a lot closer than the previous ones. Hiccup looked up and discovered the Skrill hovering over them and roaring.

“You will not get away from my wrath!” Toothless heard the purple dragon growling.

“Up, bud! Lets get thrrt Skrill to frllow us!” said Hiccup and the Nightfury took off into the air. The hunt was on again.

 Not far from the ship graveyard Rykers ship was sailing through the waves.

“Captain, there is a storm approaching! Should we change the course, sir?” called the watch in the crows nest.

Ryker looked at the dark clouds.

“Aye! Tell about, due south!” he commands.

“Wait! Nobody move!” said Dagur looking at the storm through his spyglass.

“What now Dagur?” Ryker grumbled looking slightly annoyed.

“That’s no storm! I know those magnificent flashes anywhere That’s my Skrill!” the Berserker said. Then he looked to the helmsman. “Head towards it!”

“What? Another Skrill?” Ryker asked. “They are very rare and valuable.”

“This one is a grown-up! A fierce one and in his best ages!”

“You have seen this one before, too?”

“Well, I practically owned it! Like I am doing with little Cloudstorm. He was mine!” Dagur then looked quite teary eyed. “After all this years, my big baby has returned! Come to me, Skrilly, I missed you!”

“What a jerk!” one of the hunters grumbled and Ryker rolled his eyes.

 Hiccup, who really diddn´t miss the Skrill was trying not to get hit by another lightning blast. Toothless was flying as fast as he could and performing quite a few manoeveres to dodge the blasts of lightning whizzing past him.

“There! A hunter ship! Come on, bud! We are going low then they wont see us. Not while that light show going on up there.” said Hiccup and went down so that they were gliding a few steps above the water surface.

 On the ship Dagur was looking through his spyglass and saw the Skrill emerging from the storm clouds.

“Yeah! Its him! I would recognize my fierce buddy everywhere!” he said exited.

As Hiccup predicted no one on the ship took notice of him and the Nightfury as they flew low towards them. When Dagur noticed that two of the Hunters moved a catapult in position he growled:” Don’t even think about it! That’s my dragon up there!”

“Let him handle this! He knows the dragon better than any of us!” Ryker said to his men.

 Hiccup and Toothless flew closer and closer towards the ship. “Just a moment-now!”

When they reached the front of the ship, the Nightfury shot upward, giving Dagur quite a scare that he fell over.

“Hiccup! I knew it! Where this Skrill is he can not be far away! But why would he lead a Skrill right to us? Has he lost his mind?” he murmured and pulled himself up. Then he noticed something. “I see. He is chasing them! He is after Hiccup and the Nightfury! My little Freckle must have angered him some way. -  Hey, Skrilly! Leave the little runt alone and come to me! Come to daddy Dagur!” he shouted with outstretched arms.

Ryker rolled his eyes. Sometimes this Berserker really behaved like a jerk, he thought.

“If I only had Shattermaster here, then I could go and help my brother! But he is with Heather on another ship!” Dagur thought desperately, as he watched the sky. “Okay! Be ready! When the Skrill get spotted, it will run for the clouds. And we don’t want to channel the lightning.”

The Skrill was getting closer and firing lightning everywhere.

“Archers-Fire!” the Berserker commanded.

The Hunters began to fire as many arrows as they could at the Skrill and one of them struck the tail of the dragon. They heard the Skrill screeching before it fell from the sky and slammed into the water. Dagur and Ryker chuckled evilly at the sight.

Up in the air, Hiccup saw what happened.

“Okay, the Hunters fell for it. Lets get him out of the water before they did!” he said and they turned and flew downwards straight towards the ship. “Come on, bud. If Dagur and Ryker get that dragon, they well be impossible to deal with, even if he is at our side now. I am a bit afraid the Skrill could change his mind and he could fall in his old scheme again.”

The Hooligan hoped that it would not happen, even if Dagur would make the Skrill his own. But he wanted to play safe.

The Hunters were just lauching a net into the water and snacked the Skrill when one of the men spotted the incoming rider.

“Sir! Its this Nightfury with his rider again!” he shouted pointing upwards.

“Hold the course, bud!” Hiccup said as the got closer towards the railing where the net was hauled in. He pulled out his sword to cut the net, but a couple of arrows came flying before he got the chance and his weapon was knocked out of his hand by one of them.

“Dragondung!” Hiccup cursed.

“Stay away from my Skrill, runt!” Dagur roared as the flew past. “Hurry! Hurry! Bring him to me!”

More Hunters fired arrows at Hiccup but they were already out of range.

“Forget them! We had what we want.” Ryker grinned.

“Thanks for the gift, Hiccup! It will make an excellent weapon.” Dagur smirked, as they pulled the Skrill onboard.

“And if not, its hide will fetch a good price.” said Ryker, looking at their new acquisition.

 Hiccup looked down at the ship horrified.

“What did I just do! I have led the Skrill right in the hands of our enemies.”

But he couldn’t do nothing more at the moment. With a sigh he turned Toothless and made his way back to the edge.

 Dagur watched silently as the still stunned Skrill was put in a cage.

“We must held him in Water. Then he can´t fire his cursed lightning blasts!” he ordered then.

Bring the cage down in the holds under the water line. There is a bit seawater leaking in there.” Ryker ordered.

When nobody looked, Dagur turned and walked to the bow, where he stared in the direction Hiccup flew.

“Don’t worry, little freckle. He will be in good hands.” he smiled, but it was not an evil smile.

 When Hiccup returned to the edge, he told his friends of the failure of his plan and that the Hunters now had the Skrill, and that Dagur himself had helped to catch it.

“You let the Dragon Hunters capture Skrill? And especially when Dagur was on board of that ship?” said Astrid in disbelief.

“That wasn’t the plan! They were supposed to take it down and then I and Tooth would swoop in and grab it away. But..-“

“They got it first.” Fishlegs finished.

“So Dagur has the Skrill again? The big, wild, fierce one who shoot his lightning at all who came in his way? Just great!” Snotlout growled. “Now he will chain that beast up like a puppet and take him on a great attack run through the archipelago!”

“No, I don’t think he will do that! Even if he now has the most dangerous dragon in his hands, I don’t think he will use him as a weapon again! It could even be, that he will find a way to let him escape.” Hiccup said.

“Or he tries to tame him, like he had done it with Shattermaster.” Tuffnut said.

“This dragon is NOT tamable, Tuff. This Skrill is not like Cloudstorm. And Dagur knows this. This dragon is full of hate for humans. He had too much bad experiences with us -and now he is caught again. “

“Hiccup is right. Even he was not able to pull him at our side.” Fishlegs said.

“Nevertheless, I made a mistake leading him to the hunters, but this guy was hard on our heels and I saw no other option!” the Hooligan sighed. “I really messed up. And I am not sure how to fix it.”

“But-you never said that before.” Tuffnut said. “You always found a solution.”

“Yeah, but I am not perfect.” Hiccup sighed.

“Hiccup, everything you did, you did to protect that dragon and to protect all of us.” said Astrid.

“She is right. We all make mistakes and that’s how we learn from them. Even Dagur did.” said Fishlegs and smiled a bit.

“He is right. The question isn’t how you fix it, its how we all fix it. As a team.” said Astrid. “Aand…maybe….with a little backup from a particular berserker.”

All riders walked over to Hiccup smiling.

“My dad says we are letting you off to easy, but we are still in.” said Snotlout.

“Now we just have the figure out a way to find the hunters.” said Astrid.

“Hiccup which way was the storm heading?” asked Fishlegs.

“East.”

“Then they will be going west. Because the Skrill can´t collect the lightning and attack them.”

“They would also choose a place that has easy access to the water so they can contain the Skrill without any fear of it shooting any lightning and some ideal cover. “ said Astrid.

“Good thinking, guys. There is a group of islands just east of where we were. Lots of secluded beaches and a covered hide in.” Hiccup nodded. “We took flight in one hour.”

 On told islands the Hunters had moored the ship and unloaded the cages. One of them was put in the water near the shore and covered with a big tarpaulin, as mostly of the cages.

The Skrill stood still in his prison, his feet ankle -deep in the water, his eyes closed. But they snapped open when he heard the footsteps of a human coming into his direction.

“I don’t think we would meet again.” someone said.

The Skrill turned his head to the source of the voice. The tarpaulin was lifted a bit up and the dragon looked into a face with red hair and beard. The scent of this human was very familiar but his appearance has changed. But he would recognize this human every time. The human who put this harness on him and forced him to shoot on other humans! His cackling laughter. The events from three years ago were still fresh in his mind.

 “My little brother told me he had freezed you in a glacier three years ago, to prevent that I could get again my hands on you. But it seems you were able to free yourself-only to be again hunted and captured.” Dagur told in a calm, low voice.

When he stretched his hand through the bars, the Skrill growled and snapped at it with his teeth. The berserker quickly pulled it back and smiled sadly.

“Shhh… Easy, bud. I don’t want to harm you anymore. What did Hiccup think to lure you to Rykers ship? Were you hunting him? Are you still mad at him, because he froze you again in the ice three years ago? I am sure he had his reasons. You were full of hate. And I am mostly the cause of it.” Dagur sighed and walked away from the cage. “I know you are angry-and afraid, because of the water you can´t use your lightning. But don’t worry. Hiccup and the others will come and free you.”

Dagur sat down on the shore and continued talking quietly to the caged Skrill. “If I could I would free you myself, but I can´t blow my cover and by the looks you showed me you would be kill me for sure if I would open the cage.-Look, I am sorry for what I have done to you in the past, but hey, my body ached days after you electrocuted me. I always wanted to have a Skrill on my own and do you know what? I found one . Cloudstorm is his name. He is still a hatchling, but he is well treated and cared at home on my island. He lost his mommy, a death song caught and ate her! So I am trying to fix with the little one what I have done wrong with you. I think you don’t even have a name, right?”

The Skrill in his cage held still and only grumbled. Redhair was talking a lot. Redhair had a low calm voice. Bud he did not understand his human words.

“I think, I name you Mjölnir. Aye, you are as fierce and strong as Thors mighty hammer. I don’t know if you understand one word of my babbling, but I am really sorry for the bad treatment and all the chasing and hunting you got so far. You are a desired dragon for a lot of people. But I will help and do everything I can for you to regain your freedom. As Hiccup helped me to regain mine. I owe you something, bud.”

 “DAGUR! Where in Thors name are you, you useless Berserker?” Rykers voice boomed over the dark place. Then he spotted him.

“Ah, observing your dragon of desire? You don’t think you can train it?” the bald hunter smirked.

“You cant ride a skrill. The outcharges would kill you in an instant.” Dagur answered calm. “You know my little Cloudstorm? His lightning strikes are getting more powerful every day. And what did you think this one here could do if he gets free again? He did not forgive so easy.”

When the two men trudged away and up the shore, the Skrill watched them leave and grumbled. He remembered the redhaired human. Once he put an harness on him and forced him to hunt another smaller human and a Nightfury. Hunted, Caged, forced to fight. It was always the same. First he was trapped in this icy mountain when he tried to hide from his Hunters for he don’t know how long. Then again after a rough awakening, he was hunted again, captured and used as a weapon. Tricked and freezed again in his icy prison. Then this strange bolt who helped him escaping again. It seems an never ending circle. The Redhair was older now, and he had changed. He talked to him with a calm voice -but what if it was a trick again? He don’t know. But the Redhair gave him a name. A human name, but it had a good sound. All he could do for now was wait. Wait for his chance to get free again. He don’t want to lay down and give up.

 Later that night, the dragon riders headed west and found the islands soon after. Fishlegs had gone first to scout since Meatlug was the smallest of their dragons and the one who made the most less noise.

He soon returned and flew beside Hiccup.

“I think, I found them. There is a campfire and a lot of singing in deep voices around at the other side of the main island.” said Immerman.

“Okay, lead the way.” said Hiccup.

“Follow me.”

Fishlegs led them towards the area he mentioned. The landed behind a few bushes and rocks and looked over to see several Hunters around a campfire and cages with dragons behind them.

Hiccup looked at the othes.

“Okay, they haven’t noticed us yet. We´ll quietly make our way along this tree line over to the cages. That must be where they hold the Skrill.” he whispered.

But Spitelout didn´t thought of that. He jumped up, swung his axe and shouted in his jumbled speech.

“My dad says that´s a terrible plan and we should just attack.” Snotlout translated. Then he gasped. “Wait, what?”

But it was too late. Spitelout already rushed past the riders and charged straight forward at the Hunters, who jumped up and grabbed their weapons.

“Who is this lunatic?” one of the Hunters asked.

“Maybe one who stranded here and got insane from the isolation. This guy can even talk normal anymore.” answered another who blocked Spitlouts axe.

 Hiccup facepalmed himself.

“Okay, change of plan. We will use Spitelout as a distraction. Snotlout, you and your father keep the Hunters busy while the rest of us look for the Skrill.” he said. His cousin nodded and mounted Hookfang before heading over to his father for backup. The others ran with their dragons along the trees till they reached the cages. There were several dragons inside them, but no Skrill.

“There! That one in the water! This must be it!” Hiccup whispered, as he spotted a single cage standing in the shallow water and covered with a tarpaulin.

Hiccup slowly approached the cage and removed the tarpaulin. There, standing in the middle of it, was the Skrill and he didn´t look happy. Hiccup probably feel the same way if he was trapped in a cage with his ankles in the water and facing the person that froze him inside a glacier. The purple dragon growled.

“I know, I know. You cant fire while you are in the water.” said the Hooligan holding his hands up defensively. “But don’t worry. We are here to help.”

Help to free me and put me again in the icy prison, the Skrill thought. But the little human with the Nightfury was here, as Redhair told.

Hiccup slowly made his way onto the pier and approached the Skrill as calmly as possible. He stretched his hand out, to try again, if the purple dragon was this time ready to cooperate, but he quickly pulled it back, when the Skrill snapped at it. Toothless roared at him immediately.

“Leave my human! He wants to help, dumbdragon!”

“Bud, no! Stay quiet! And you too! Or the Hunters will hear us! Okay?” Hiccup hissed to his dragon and to the Skrill.

“Well, it´s too late for that.” said a familiar voice.

Hiccups heart dropped as he turned around and saw that they were surrounded by Hunters aiming their arrows at them. Toothless was netted. The remaining dragons were put in cages and the riders were soon joined by Snotlout and Spitelout.

Ryker pointed with his sword at them and then Dagur approached with an evil smirk on his face.

“Told you, he would come back to free my Skrill.” the Berserker said as he approached Hiccup. “How could you? We barely had time to get reacquainted.”

Dagur then walked over to the Skrills cage and chuckled. The Skrill roared at him. What was Redhair up to? Then Dagur winked at the purple dragon and turned so that the others only saw his back.

“Be prepared, Mjölnir. I am sure, Hiccup and his Nightfury will free you soon.” he whispered so silent, that only the Skrill could hear it.

 “Never mind that, Dagur.” said Ryker. “Just look at all the new dragons your friend has brought us.”

The Berserker turned and grabbed Hiccup by the shoulders.

“Lock em up. And muzzle the Nightfury.” Ryker ordered. Some Hunters were shoving Toothless into a cage while another man placed the muzzle over his snout. The Nightfury did all to get not into the cage and fought back as good as he could. Hiccup were shoved to the other captives.

The Hooligan looked around and smirked.

“I know that look.” Fishlegs said with a low voice.

“What are you thinking?” Astrid whispered.

Hiccup looked at the Skrill, which was trying to break free from his cage. And then at Dagur who made a secret finger sign that he was prepared.

“The enemy of my enemy-“

“Might kill us all?” Astrid offered.

“Yes, but he also might help us.”

Hiccup suddenly whirled around and charged towards Dagur. He gave him a good shove, and although the Berserker did not loose his balance really, he did as if he had and let himself fall back at the two Hunters that were still trying to shove the Nightfury in the cage, knocking them over.

“Bud! The cage!” Hiccup yelled.

With the net halfway tangled around him and the muzzle around his snot, Toothless made a three-legged run for the Skrills cage, rammed it and began to push it over. The dragon couldn’t belive it. His enemy helped him?

With one final push he was able to roll the cage onto the pier and the Skrills legs were no longer in the water. The Nightfury jumped away from the cage just as a lightning bold struck it! All had to cover their eyes from the blinding light, but when they looked again, they saw that the Skrill was now free-and very angry. He fired a lightning blast that knocked several hunters off their feet. In the meantime Toothless tried to pry himself out of the tangled net. Growling he tried to bite through the ropes.

“Mjölnir! Go!” Dagur hissed who had jumped behind a rock and made a corresponding wave with his hand. Ryker grabbed one of the fallen bows and aimed an arrow at the Skrill. The Skrill tried to take off but one of the spikes of his tail was caught between the cage bars. He shrieked in fury and tried to free himself.

“NO!” Hiccup shouted, ran between Ryker and the Skrill and stretched his arms out. “NO!”

But Ryker released the arrow, apparently not caring if he had the Skrill or not.

“Well, then it´s you, stupid boy!” he growled.

But Dagur jumped out and threw himself and the Hooligan out of the arrows range. The tip only scraped Dagurs armor and changed his direction, so that the Skrill was not hit.

“Stupid boy! Will you let yourself killed?” he growled at Hiccup.

“Dagur! You idiot!” Ryker cursed.

The Skrill finally was able to free his tail and fired! The impact hit Ryker who was knocked out before he had the chance for a second arrow shot. Then the enraged dragon spotted Toothless who was still trying to free himself.

“Toothless!” Hiccup cried. The Skrill stopped in midair and turned his head to the desperate voice.

The little Human. He feared for his dragon.

Dagur, who still hold Hiccup down shook his head and his mouth formed a quiet “NO”. The Skrill saw it, understood and swiped over the captured Nightfury to attack the remained hunters. Redhair has not tried to catch him again. Redhair has begged to spare the trapped Nightfury. Redhair wanted him to be free.

“Yes, you have understood it, Mjölnir.” Dagur thought relieved. “Good boy. Now go!”

“Mjölnir?”

“Its time to give him a name, don’t you think? Look at him! He strikes like Thors mighty hammer, what Name would fit him better than that?”

 Suddenly the Skrill shrieked, began to wobble and crashed to the ground.

“NO! Not again!” Dagur groaned as he saw Spitelout waving the bow Ryker has dropped when he was knocked out and heard the Jorgenson cheering.

“At last, my dad has gotten his revenge.” Snotlout sighed.

“I am sorry, Dagur. But this Skrill is too dangerous and too desired.” Hiccup sighed.

 Dagur was the first who was near the fallen Skrill, while Hiccup helped Toothless to get out of his bindings. Now for the first time he could have a better look at this mighty creature. He looked like his little Cloudstorm, only much bigger.

Careful, he stretched out his hand and touched the head of the immobile and stunned dragon.

“I am sorry, bud. I wished we could become friends, but your hate for humans is too big.” he murmured.

“Dagur….we must take him back to the glacier, where he was frozen.” Hiccup said.

“And I really can´t keep him?”

“Dagur!” Astrid growled. “Do you think, he would welcome you with open wings? After what you did to him?”

“You are right. He doesn’t trust anyone. Especially not humans.”

 A net was put around the Skrill and before the Hunters woke up again the Riders were on the way back to the glacier, after the other caged dragons were freed. The Skrill watched it through clouded eyes. They freed the dragons. Redhair freed the caged dragons. But why not him? Then Redhair returned with a sad face.

Dagur watched the netted Skrill and sighed.

“I am sorry, Mjölnir. But the others overwoved me.”

 The next morning, at the glacier.

The net with the Skrill was carried by Meatlug, who was steered by Fishlegs over the ravine.

“Okay, Fishlegs, a little to the left.” said Astrid, as the Gronkle descended towards the ravine. “Now a little bit right-that´s it. Lower him in.”

Hiccup and Dagur watched as Fishlegs lowered the net with the Skrill into the ravine. When looking into his eyes, the Hooligan couldn’t help but feel guilty about trapping him in the icy prison again. And he saw the unhappy look in the Berserkers face.

“I promised him, that you would save him, little one. Hiccup…must we really put him back in the ice again?” Dagur asked. “He spend the last three years in it and before that Gods know how long. Its like being imprisoned. And I know of what I am speaking!”

Hiccup held his chin.

“You are right, I have the same in my mind. Its not right. I gave you a second chance. Why not him too?”

“Yeah, I know you would think the same.” Dagur smiled.

The Skrill watched silently the speech of the two humans. The smaller one who always tried to make contact with him, he even tried to save him from getting hit by this arrow. And the older, red haired one, who was now trying to prevent him from being frozen into the glacier again. Redhair has changed. Redhair wanted to help.

“Hiccup, the Skrill hates you and Toothless. It hates Dagur and all humans. It wanted to kill you!” Astrid reminded.

“But it didn’t. It saved us. And it risked his own life saving us. If we do this, we are not better than the Dragon hunters.” said Hiccup and pointed to the Skrill. “We are just using a different cage. And he doesn’t deserve that. I gave Dagur a chance-and I will give him the same chance too.”

“Besides-showing mercy is how Hiccup made a friendship with Toothless-and with Dagur.“ Fishlegs said.

Astrid nodded, pulled out her axe and gave it to the Hooligan Heir.

 “May I, brother?” Dagur asked.

Hiccup smiled, nodded and gave Dagur the axe. With one swift move he sliced net open and made some steps back to Hiccups side. The Skrill roared as electricity surged through his body. Redhair hat cut the net. Redhair has freed him.

“Shhh…calm down, my friend. I told you, that Hiccup will save you. This time we don’t want to freeze you again. You are now free to go, great Mjölnir.” the Berserker said and laid down the axe in the snow. He had found out, that Cloudstorm got calm, when he made low shushing noises.

When the Berserker hold out his hands in a soothing manner, Mjölnir stopped his flashing and bowed his head. It was his gesture of trust. Redhair smiled. Redhair bowed too.

“You are free now. Go and search for a safe place to live, a place with no humans. But don’t forget. On berserker island, there is always a home place for you. In freedom.” Dagur said, as Hiccup and the dragons bowed their heads too.

The Skrill looked at Hiccup, then at Dagur.

Then the purple dragon made a step near the Berserker, closed his eyes and touched Dagurs head with his snout, before he turned around and shot up in the air.

“Wow! This time the dragon made the first step! He touches you like I touch them when I reach out my hand!” Hiccup said astonished.

“He accepted my apologizes. Thank you, my friend.” Dagur says touched by the trust the Skrill gave him. The Skrill growled and for the first time he remembered, he felt a bit happiness. Redhair and the small human gave him a chance. Redhair apologized. And he forgave him.

But then the dragon remembered, that there was at least one thing to do. He fired a lightning bolt into the sky.

The next moment a smaller bolt hit Spitelout on the head, bringing him another shocking experience.

“How did you know that he wouldn’t turn on us, as we let him go?” Astrid asked Hiccup as he returned the axe to her.

“Dagur told me, that he spoke calmly and low to him, when he was captured. And when he wanted to attack Toothless, Dagur gave him a sign not to do it. And he spared Tooth. He spared even him. “ Hiccup smiled and laid a hand on Dagurs shoulder.

“Huff, you two really live dangerously.” Fishlegs sighed.

“Well, my dad said, he is very proud of us, especially me. His favourite son.”

Spitelout crossed his arms and glared at his son.

“I didn’t say that.” he said with a clear voice.

Snotlout´s eyes widened and he slowly turned towards his father. “Dad, you got your voice back! That’s great!”

“Is it really?”

Spitelout grabbed his sons shoulder before he could run off.

“We will see about that. We have a lot to talk about, boy.” he grumbled.

“Uncle, please be not too harsh with him. We need him back soon.” Hiccup smiled and the other Riders laughed. When Dagur looked up into the sky he still could see the lightning between the clouds, who were slowly vanished into the distance.

“I wish you all the best, great Mjölnir.”

 Much later, in the night, in a small secluded hut in the woods at Dragons edge.

Hiccup and Dagur had cuddled together in their warm furs and let the events of the last two days passing by.

“I am very proud of you, Dag. How you handled the Skrill, that he not attacked us. You have improved a lot when it comes to interact with dragons. Mjölnir trusted you in the end and even touched you.” said Hiccup.

“Well, it seemed, part of my babbling at least reached his mind. Cloudstorm held still too when I am talking to him and listen to my words. Then he started to croon and warble and flapped his small wings. When I returned home I will test how he will react when I bow my head before him.”

“I am sure it’s a part of his body language. Sigh, there is so much to learn from them.”

“Heh, we are a great team, are we? But you really wanted to risk your life for Mjölnir?”

“Well, you saved me from being shot by Ryker. Thanks again for that. And for saving Toothless in the process. And you were a good actor, playing the bad guy.”

“Well, I have years of experience. “ Dagur grinned. Then his face went serious. “Do you think, my little Cloudstorm would leave me, when he is grown-up?” he asked.

“I cant say it, Dag. It depends on a lot of things. Remember when Hookfang ran away to protect the eggs of the female Nightmare? We first thought he would run wild again, but we were wrong.”

“I hope he will not leave me.”

“Dagur. When Cloudstorm choose one day to be a free and wild dragon again, promise me, that you will let him go -and not force him to stay or even cage him.”

“Dagur sighed. “I promise. I could never hurt this little buddy.”

“And even if he leaves you and Berserker island, you can be very proud of yourself. You saved his life and raised him. And I am sure he will be thankful for that. But if he wanted to go, you must let him go.”

“Would you do this for Toothless too, if he wanted to go separate ways?”

“Well, he could not fly on his own for now, but I would invent something, to fulfill his wish, if he really wants one day to leave me. -But I doubt that he will.”

“Well, if this day will come-I will never leave you, my little brother.” Dagur said and smiled. Hiccup smiled back and laid his head on the Berserkers broad chest.

 They did not know, that on a rock, in some distance to their secluded little hut, a purple Skrill watched them with intense yellow eyes through the open hatch. His tooth-staring mouth turned into a small smile.

Then he turned around to face a great brown scaled monstrous Nightmare with golden eyes.

“So this was a test.” the Skrill growled. “For me and these humans?”

“Yeah, I am sorry for that-but in the end you got your freedom, eh?” the Nightmare purred. “But the way of the gods can be strange sometimes.”

“Grmm….they really can.” the Skrill grumbled. Then he bowed before the Nightmare, opened his wings and flew away. The other dragon watched him, till he vanished between the clouds. Then he flew away too in the opsite direction.

 to be continued…- in Maces and Talons.