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Chapter Text

When I was a little girl my father used to tell me stories of dragons. Great grim sky dragons that nested on the cliff tops like gigantic scary birds. Little brown scuttling dragons that hunted down the mice and rats in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge sea dragons that were 20 times as big as the big blue whale. He told me these stories with a far away look in his eye and a soft smile on his face as if reminiscing about old friends, and it seemed to me like that was exactly what he was doing.

He wasn’t the only one, on New Berk dragons were a part of our culture, maybe even the most important part. Statues of the creatures decorated every street, it was strange to find a home that didn’t have some amount of dragon decor. Twice thus far in my life I had been lucky enough to see the amazing creatures, but they were so brief they hardly felt real. Even the exhilarating feeling of flying atop the one’s back on my mother’s lap has almost completely faded. Time's cruel hand pushed it down to the point at which it feels like a dream. That's where I’ve seen them most, in my dreams. They haunt me like ghosts, but I don’t feel afraid of them anymore. They feel more like long-gone relatives who are watching over me.

I wish I could have known them the way my mother and father did. Could have experienced their nostalgic, slightly tragic smiles as they reminisce about their long-gone companions. But sadly that will never happen. My father has always told me the dragons leaving was necessary for their safety, and if there's one thing I want more than to see a dragon again, it’s to know that they are still out there, and that they're safe.

Chapter Text

It’s a hot, humid day despite how early it is, probably made more unpleasant by the thick forest surrounding me. It’s been 30 minutes of my eyes staring in between two trees even though it feels far longer. I can’t help but think of the other ways I felt time pass. It’s been 20 leaves that have fallen from the surrounding trees onto the area I’m watching, 40 times sharpening my knife, 9 times frustratingly pushing my reddish-brown bangs out of my face. And countless annoying “Can we go now”s from Nuffink. 

His latest whiny musing makes me crack and glare at him, “You said you wanted to come and see how I do it! Now shhh!” I whisper at him.

Nuffink does not even attempt to whisper, rolling his green eyes before too loudly saying, “I didn’t know it was gonna take this long, why doesn’t it just come out already!”

“Shhhhh! Be quiet before I get impatient and decide to drag you home for dinner instead!” 

That shuts him up and he starts playing with pine needles on the ground while I continue to watch the trees for another 10 minutes before I see it approach the exact spot I need it to. I tap Nuffink on the shoulder to get his attention. He looks up and I can tell he's about to say something before I put my hand over his mouth. We watch with bated breath as a large muscle-bound elk approaches the trees where I’ve placed the grass. He bends over to eat before we hear a sudden loud snap and I can feel Nuffink jump. I stand up and approach the now-dead creature that has an arrow lodged right in its head. It works just how I wanted it to, quick and easy, no pain. I bend down and pull the arrow from its head before handing it to Nuffink.

“Wow.” He whistles examining the arrow standing on the other side of the elk. “How did you rig the trap to aim for its head?”

“I knew roughly where its head was going to be because of where I placed the food, simple.” I pick up its massive body before hulling it above my shoulder grunting “You grab the back half, I don’t want to leave any behind, this will feed us for a while.” The elk's antlers tilt closer to my face when Nuffink’s taller body puts it over his shoulder. Nuffink’s height and bulkiness is a rather recent development. Since I’m older, for the vast majority of our lives I’ve been taller than him. However, after his growth spurt started a year ago he’s taller than me, he’s taller than Mom, he’s even taller than Dad. It’s rather strange since despite now appearing as a massive Viking, he’s still my little brother who can’t beat me in a fight.

We make our way back to our house while it’s still early, early enough in fact that Mom is making breakfast. I can smell the heated-up mutton stew from last night even from outside our hut, and my stomach grumbles. I open the door and me and Nuffink carefully maneuver our way into the house. 

“Oi! Mom, look at what we caught!” I can hear the smile in Nuffink’s voice from behind me. Mom turns away from the stew and her face takes on one of shock at the massive animal currently resting on our shoulders. A fair reaction considering I was expecting to catch a small doe or wild sheep, not an elk bigger than Dad.

“Wow, that's, wow. Here let me help you with that.” She lifts the creature off our shoulders, completely on her own before placing it on the dining table, looking at it with wonder. “Nice catch guys, this will feed us for a week if we play it right!” 

“It was mostly Zeph, I wasn’t much help.” Nuffink shrugs, picking at his teeth.

I smile at him with gratitude, “You were plenty of help, Thor knows I couldn't have dragged that thing in here without you”.

“I am very proud of you both, now sit down. We have to get some food for you two.” She sets two bowls in front of us before depositing some soup into them both. 

Nuffink is eating his stew with so much enthusiasm that it's pretty damn disgusting. I guess I should expect nothing less from a 15-year-old boy. 

“Nuff, eat slower you're going to choke.” Mom calls.

It is then when Dad walks into the room reading a letter with so much focus that he doesn’t notice the massive dead animal on the table. Me and Nuffink look at each other snickering. 

“Hey Dad look at us, will you?” Nuffink says, trying to conceal his laughter.

Dad looks up with an apology in his eye, “Sorry kids it’s just-AUHHHHHH” He doesn’t finish as he is interrupted by his own scream when he makes direct eye contact with the elk’s dead eyes staring him directly in the face. 

Nuffink laughs so hard that he’s slapping his knee and Mom comes over to hug Dad from behind as she laughs into his shoulder. I can’t help some of my mutton stew coming out my nose.

“Ha ha ha” Dad mocks, still coming down from his shock as he gives the elk another wary look before his attention returns to the letter in his hand, confusion etched into his expression.

“Dad, are you ok?” I say, concerned. “What is that?”
He puts it down before smiling at me, “It’s nothing to be concerned about Zeph.”

“Then why do you look so intense?”

He sighs, “It’s not bad, just strange.”

“Stange how?” I say hoping he will provide me with more context.

“It’s a letter from the chief of the Berserker tribe, Dagur.”

“Do you two not get along or something?” Nuffink asks, finally seizing any form of laughter.

Dad shakes his head chuckling to himself, “No we do, or at least now we do.”

“Well, then why is a letter from him a bad thing?” Nuffink points his spoon at Dad to emphasize his point.

Dad drags a hand over his face stopping to stroke his beard, “As I said, It’s not bad, it’s strange, considering that I haven’t heard from him in years and he has just invited me over to his island without providing a reason for said invitation.”

“That is weird,” Nuffink says, going back to eating his soup before adding with a full mouth, “He sounds weird.”

Dad smiles before giving Mom a knowing look that she returns, “Weird is putting it lightly.”

“Do you think you're going to go?” I jumped back in.

“Probably, especially considering he says he has some ‘important information’ to tell me. See? Really vague” He winks at us, “And as you two know insatiable curiosity is my main motivation for practically everything.” He gets up from the table and grabs his fur resting on the coat rack. “Once I work out the date with him we’ll meet, who knows?” He grins before kissing Mom on the cheek, “Maybe you all can come?” He pours the rest of his stew into a portable wooden jar. “Job of a chief is never done. I'll see you all in a few hours, love you gang.” He kisses Nuffink’s head then mine before walking out the front door. 

I turn to Nuffink who has just finished his soup and is staring at the door. “Do you have any guesses what Dad’s friend wants?”

“I don’t know,” Nuffink shrugs, before standing up and making his way to the door “He’s chief of the Berserkers, probably something crazy.”

“Where are you going?” Mom says, crossing her arms.

“To go get Sigrid Jorgenson,” He grins at me as he twists the door knob. “You think I’m gonna pass up the opportunity to rub that elk in her smug face?” He gives me an overly dramatic salute before running out the door. 

Chapter Text

After a week or two Dad’s mysterious friend sent him another letter and told him to come as soon as he possibly could, which is why I find myself loading supplies onto a ship at 5 in the morning. The letters, despite their vague quality, also informed us that we would most likely be staying for a long time, so we should bring whoever and whatever we thought we might need. After I’m done loading my stuff onto the shelf I sit beside Gobber who is currently sanding his peg leg. Gross. It’s like cutting your toenails in public. Which I guess isn’t an uncommon thing for Vikings to do, but still.

“How are you doing lass?” He gives me a big friendly smile, and I return it.

“Tired” I yawn, leaning back against the boat's side. “How long is it to Berserker Island again?”

“Not far” He shrugs, picking at his teeth with the same hand he was just rubbing over his peg leg. “Closer in fact from this new island, I'd say a 2-3 day trip by boat, probably quicker when we could fly on dragons.” He gets that same wistful look in his eye my parents get when they talk about dragons, the look of someone who’s known and befriended them. Oh Odin, I wish I could know what that felt like.

He shakes himself out of his reminiscing before standing up and testing his leg's stability. “Anyway, we should be there soon, not long for a boat ride at all. Why, I’ve been on voyages that have taken months, almost years after storms diverted us, you’ll be fine, just find something to keep you occupied.”

I do indeed have something to keep me occupied, my father’s dragon journals. He gave them to me 4 months ago for my 18th birthday, and I haven't put them down since. Luckily there are many of them and they're all quite lengthy so I haven’t finished them yet. He has different ones for befriending dragons, defending yourself against them, different species, different foods they like and so much more. I’m currently at the start of his book on species. It’s the longest but definitely the most interesting. I’ve put page markers on the kinds of dragons I’ve found especially incredible. However, it has been hard not to put those markers on all of them.

Nuffink takes Gobber’s place beside me and gives me a big toothy smile. “Are you excited?”

“Are you excited?”

“Of course, any place called Berserker Island has got to be fun!”

“Actually,” Mom says as she puts down a load of heavy sacks, “It's called Berserker Island: Home of the Defenders of the Wing.”

“Even better!” Nuffink grins.

Once the ship is completely packed with all the stuff we could possibly need we set sail. After a few hours, the water seems to move the boat at a steady rhythm. I feel the movement in my whole body, badum, badum, badum. It used to make me feel sick, but after too many fishing trips to count, the rocking is more soothing than sickening. I feel myself slowly starting to drift to sleep, my early rising probably contributed to the intense amount of tiredness I feel. I try to resist. I really want to finish this section in the book. But the embrace of rest is far too tempting to ignore, and before I know it I am asleep.

Chapter Text

The view of the sea at night is truly one to behold. I remember how it felt to brush my fingers over the waves while riding Toothless. And even though I may be capable of leaning down to sink my fingers into the water as the boat glides across it, I don’t. It wouldn’t feel the same, no boat can go as fast as Toothless. Most people would argue it’s been more peaceful on Berk since the dragons left. In all fairness they're not completely wrong, we haven't been in a long-standing conflict with another tribe since they left. I don’t feel the need to be on guard all the time, hel that's probably the only reason I felt comfortable with leaving Gustav Larson in charge on Berk for Thor knows how long. But I don’t think of it that way. I don’t miss the fighting, the fear, the war, but I miss my best friend.

I feel a hand slide up my back onto my shoulder then turn my head to see Astrid leaning her head on my other arm.

“What's going on in that head of yours?” She whispers as she looks up at me.

I smile and rest my hand on top of hers, “Just thinking about him.”

She nods in understanding, “I don’t really know if I’ll ever stop thinking about Stormfly.”

I track her eyes as she gazes up into the sky watching an owl as it glides elegantly through the cloudy night

“Do you miss it?” I say quietly.

“Flying, who wouldn’t?” she laughs tiredly, “Yeah I miss it, but I miss her more.”

“Me too.”

It’s silent for a while again before she softly says, “Do you remember the day you gave me this?”

She holds up her betrothal necklace for me to see, “How could I forget?”

She smiles wistfully “When we went to bed that night, I remember dreaming about our life together, I forgot a lot about that dream but there's one detail I remember.”

“What’s that?”

“I remember us teaching our kids to fly dragons.”

“Well, we did get to do that, even if it was sadly brief.”

She shakes her head still looking at the horizon, “It was different, I mean obviously they weren't Nuffink and Zephyr really. They didn’t have faces or names, but they weren't riding on our dragons. They had their own.”

I don’t honestly know what to say. The picture sounds beautiful, but also tragic because I know it will never happen. So I settled on blurting out, “What kinds of Dragons were they riding.”

Astrid smiles to herself. “I don’t remember what the girl was riding exactly, probably a Gronckle or a Nightmare, but..” She's giggling now, I smile before she even finishes her sentence. “The boy was riding a Screaming Death.”

“Uh, I think that's a definite no.” I snort, running a hand through my hair, “Can you even imagine the kind of damage Nuffink could do on a Screaming Death? Thor almighty, no one would survive.”

She's full of belly laughing now. To the point at which she's grabbing onto the ledge of the ship with one hand, and covering her mouth with the other to avoid waking anyone. When she settles down she sighs and turns her head to look at Zephyr who is sleeping heavily with one of my old journals in her lap. “It wasn’t even a fully formed picture, but I still regret that they'll never get to know what it’s like.”

“I know.”

She bites her lip as if afraid to say what's on her mind, I can tell the moment she decided it’s worth the risk “Do you ever, you know, regret it? Us sending them away?”

She says to us, and whether she means it or not the word isn’t true. It was me. My decision. My choice. I looked up at the owl she was so keenly admiring a few minutes ago, “Every day Astrid.” I whisper, closing my eyes and picturing the face of my old friend, “Everyday.”

She’s quiet for a while, leaving me to my mournful remembrance before she slips her hand into mine, “We should get some sleep.” She says softly. I open my eyes to look at her. There is no anger. No spite. Just sadness. She sees what I’m looking for in her eyes, Astrid's other hand comes up to rest on my bearded cheek. “You are the only reason I ever got to know her Hiccup, and for that I am forever grateful. I prefer knowing her and losing her to never knowing her at all.”

“Maybe you could have known her and never lost her if I made a different choice.”

She shrugs, “Yeah, or maybe I would have lost her in a different, more horrible way. You stopped that from happening. I may not be able to see her, but knowing she’s safe is enough. You are the reason she’s safe.”

I slip my hand into her hair and kiss her on the forehead, then the nose then the mouth. I pull back after a few seconds, not forgetting we are on a boat with more than 20 other people on it. “I love you Astrid, with everything I have.”

She smiles with nostalgia before whispering “Come on, let's go to bed.”

Chapter Text

The next day of sailing is rather uneventful. The waters are calm, the winds a good speed, and according to Gobber we are having an excellent time. “Best weather I’ve seen for sailing in a long time.” he proclaimed. “Should be there by mid-day.”

He ends up being right and I soon see the familiar rocky cliffs of Berserker Island. “Okay everyone, we should get ready to dock.” Before I know it the end of our boat bumps into the dawk as Gober throws the anchor down into the Harbor.

As I step onto the dock a heavily armed Viking approaches me holding a scroll, “I am happy to announce the arrival of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Chief of the Hooligan tribe!”
I feel embarrassment seep its way into my stomach, “Is that really necessary?”

“My Chief insisted on it.”

“Of course he did” I roll my eyes. That does sound like Dagur.

“Good to see you guys again!” I hear a far-off familiar voice yell.

I can’t seem to place it but Astrid instantly does, “Heather is that you?”

“The one and only!” Heather’s voice echoes.

“Where are you?” I shout looking up at the cliffs since her voice seems to be coming from far up.

“Look up muttonhead!” She barks.

“I am looking up” I yell before I see Astrid who's looking directly above us, her mouth agape. I tilt my head to look into the sky and my shoulders fall limp. There above me, I see Heather, smiling deviously, riding Windshear. Her dragon.

Chapter Text

The shock of seeing Heather on Windshear doesn’t wear off for a solid minute. Astrid and I just stand there looking up mouths wide open. Apparently, Heather grows tired of us looking at her like fish and she directs Windshear to gracefully land on the dock in front of us shaking the old wood. She pulls the large hood off her head and it's easy to see she hasn’t changed a bit, same face even if it's decorated with a few wrinkles, same hair, even if has some streaks of gray amongst the raven locks, and her demeanor is uncannily similar to the young girl I met all those years ago.

Astrid recovers before I do, rushing to practically tackle Heather in a giant bear hug as her voice echoes with laughter. “Oh my gods Heather! It’s so good to see you. You look great.”

“Not too bad yourself, Chieftess,” She says the title teasingly while dipping in a dramatic bow.

Astrid shoves her shoulder snorting out “Quit it!” As Heather stands up again giggling.

“Ok ok” I say, noticing my voice sounds louder and a bit more confused than usual. “As happy as I am to see you Heather, are we not going to mention the elephant in the room? Or the dragon outside on the dock I guess.”

Heather gins walking back to mount Windshear, she guides the dragon to start walking off the dock and up the hill “We’ve got a lot to catch you guys up on! Follow me and we will explain everything!”

My legs are moving before I even notice, I hear Astrid shout “Ok, everyone you heard her, let's go!”
I barely even notice how long we’ve been walking. The shock spinning through my mind is so all-consuming my body seems to be following Heather on autopilot.

I feel a hand tapping at my shoulder and I turn my head to see Zephyr walking closely behind me. I see fear in her expression, but the dominant emotion in her eyes seems to be wonder. I don’t miss how her eyes never leave Windshear even as she starts talking to me.

“Dad,” she whispers, her voice dripping with awe, “What exactly is going on.”

“I don’t know Zeph” I responded with my eyes returning to the path, “But I think we are going to find out very soon.”
___________

Heather guides us to the great hall. It's big, far bigger than the one we’ve built on New Berk. The wood of the walls and ceiling seems to be a deep dark oak. In the middle sits a large statue of a skrill made of what appears to be Gronckle iron.

Before I know it I’m being lifted off my feet and I feel a pair of large arms start hugging me to the point at which my ability to breathe is heavily hindered. “Hiccup! Brother, Oh it's been too long!”

Dagur exclaims as he grips me tighter.

“I missed you too, uh… Dagur” I choke out. “But I also miss breathing.”

“Oh, sorry.” He says putting me down and smiling so wide it’s almost creepy. He also looks more or less the same, even though his hair and beard aren't fully red anymore. He apparently doesn’t feel the same way due to the surprise once over he gives me.“Wow! You’ve changed a lot! Finally got some muscle on that scrawny body, some facial hair on that baby face. Have you gotten taller?”

“I’m going to choose to take all that as a compliment.”
Dagur’s eyes look behind me as Nuffink and Zephyr approach, “And these must be your kids. Oh Thor, they look just like you! Nuffink and Zephyr you said? Oh I can’t wait for you to meet Koll, he’s my pride and joy and he just so-”

“Dagur,” I interrupted him because I really can’t take this suspense anymore. “I’d love to catch up with you, but I’m pretty sure everyone really wants to know why Heather has Windshear when the dragons all retreated into the hidden world over two decades ago?”

“Oh yes, that,” he rubs his hands together nervously. “Mala sweety could you come here, and bring our guest with you.”
Mala walks in, but I don’t even truly notice her. My shoulder falls, my mouth feels dry, my eyes tear up from how little I’m blinking, or maybe that's not the reason I’m crying because standing at her side is the unmistakable face of my best friend. Toothless.

Chapter Text

I can’t move, really I want to, but my legs won’t listen to me. I feel a million different emotions wash over me. Excitement, shock, confusion, regret. So much regret.
I’m about to overcome my stubborn legs and go to him, but he beats me to it. He barrels into me at full speed knocking me onto my ass. He's licking my face and I think I hear someone laughing and someone else crying. I then realized that both of those people are me.

“Hey Bud,” I sob, “It’s been a while.”

Toothless coos in agreement, nuzzling my face. I hug him. I hug him as if I’m terrified that any second I'll lose him again, which if I am being perfectly honest is exactly how I feel right now.
I manage to get to my feet again but I still don’t completely let go of him for a while, petting his snout. I turn to see Zephyr looking up in wonder, my eyes follow her trail to see countless Dragons, some unfamiliar, most very familiar.

“Stormfly!” I hear Astrid shout as she runs at the blue Nadder who dips her snout to pick Astrid up as she clings to her and laughs. Stormfly happily squawks as Ashrid starts affectionately rubbing her horn. All around me I witness as my fellow Berkinas reunite with their Dragons. Fishlegs is sobbing inhumanly loud as he hugs Meatlug, and I see my Mom weep into Clowdjupper’s huge wing.

“What…” I gasp looking around still clutching Toothless. “What are you all doing here?”

“I think I can answer that question” I hear Mala say in her calm tone. She then gestures at the floor a few feet away from me. I stand up and see a great number of messy ink lines on paper spread across the floor that form symbols I can make out. “He did this”, Mala says, patting Toothless on the head.

I look down at Toothless as he gives me a big gummy smile. “Wow, you’ve improved a lot bud” I examine the still crudely drawn skull, “I’ve never seen you drawn on paper.”

“He was drawing on the dirt outside, but then it started to rain” Mala chuckles good-naturedly “so we took him inside and laid all this parchment down”.

“What did he tell you?” I say picking up another piece of paper that shows wings with a cross through them.

“From what we were able to tell from his drawing and a good deal of charades,” She breathes in and out uncomfortably as if trying to find a way to voice the situation. “The Hidden World has been infected with a disease.”

My shoulders fall and I feel a pit form in my stomach, “What do you mean?”

Heather walks up to stand beside Mala and then continues for her “20 moons ago many dragons came to our island in secret, they flew so far above the clouds that we were unable to see them until they landed here. They are all staying in the cavern that once housed the Bewilderbeast before Drago Bludvist stole it'' She pets Windshear’s head as it rests on her shoulder. “As Mala said they told us that there was an illness affecting dragons in the Hidden World and that all the Dragons that were yet to be infected were required to avoid spreading it. The only dragons left there are sick, deathly sick.” I hear a gasp and see Astrid cover her mouth in horror, many of the Dragons look down somberly. “From what we were able to tell the illness is slow acting, and takes years to kill the affected Dragon, but it is incredibly contagious, and the second a dragon is affected they are unable to fly.”

I look down at the drawing in my hand with the crossed-out wing in my hand finally understanding, “Oh my gods.” I whisper horrified.

“They came here because of our experience in healing different Dragon ailments,” Mala says as she strokes Toothless’s head, “But he was adamant we sent for you as soon as he got here.”

I see that the next picture in the pile of rather unorganized drawings is a man with a peg leg, I feel a smile come to my lips despite the unfortunate situation. I look down at Toothless and smile as his ears perk up. “Missed you too, Bud.” I say showing him the drawing in my hands he warbles with pride at his artwork and I laugh.

“I will add, however, that we have asked the dragons to not fly freely around the island to avoid unwanted attention.” She sends a glare Heather’s way and I see the raven-haired woman put her hands up in mock surrender. “So I would like to ask that you avoid ostentatiously gallivanting on dragon-back if possible. Toothless being the rarity he is would be especially noticeable."

“I have some self-control Mala.” I deadpan at her. She nods and then gives Toothless the same cautious look and I hear him grumble irritably.

“We need your help, Brother.” Dagur says as I feel him place a big hand on my shoulder. He nods at Toothless and his family who are now standing beside him “They need you.”
I look at Toothless’s family, I see the Light Fury and their two kids who are almost their size now. Wait.

“Toothless, where’s your other Kid? Ruffrunner I think Nuffink named him when we met.”

The change in Toothless’s demeanor practically gives me whiplash. He makes a sad moaning noise and then looks at his family who are all looking at the ground with sorrow in their big eyes. Dagur’s hand squeezes my shoulder, and his voice takes on a somber tone. “He’s sick Hiccup.”

Chapter Text

I leave the great hall when I’m told to. My parents and the Berserker leaders are trying to discuss what actions should be taken to help the dragons. I can’t help collapsing against the wall in shock. There are Dragons here. A lot of dragons here. I’m going to get to see dragons in person every day. Maybe, I'll even get to ride one.

“Wow, dragons.” I hear Nuffink say as he slides down to sit next to me.

“Tell me about it,” I say pushing my bangs out of my face to see the view of the sea. “It’s almost hard to believe.” 

“Yeah,” Nuffink signs, his head hitting the wood wall behind us. “I mean we are just meeting Dragons, and we might lose them soon.”

“What?” I say startled staring at him bewildered. “What are you talking about?”

“You heard Dad’s friends, they're sick.” He says looking at me confused as if he doesn’t understand my shock at his comment.

“They aren't all sick,” I said hurriedly. “Just the ones in the Hidden World.”

“Yeah and what if it spreads outside of there, or what if Mom, Dad, and all these grown-ups can’t cure them? I’m just saying-” 

“I have to go.” I stand up stiffly and walk towards the woods. 

“Zeph! I’m sorry!” Nuffink shouts, “I didn’t mean to freak you out!”

“I just have to clear my head!” I yell back as I disappear into the trees.

___________ 

I’ve been walking for some time now, I don’t even know how long because I stopped paying attention to my legs the second I walked into the forest.

How could Nuffink think that? That dragons could go extinct the second we finally get to meet them. What was he even talking about? Mom and Dad will find some way to cure the ill dragons. They had to. Besides the people here are called the Defenders of The Wing, they have to know a thing or two about helping sick dragons. 

But what if he’s right? A quiet voice in the back of my head whispers to me. What if Dad can’t help the dragons? What if they all die? I can’t even begin to picture Mom and Dad’s faces if they had to watch their dragons die. A chill runs down my spine. No. I can’t think like that. I have to think positively. I have to-

“I wouldn't go any further if I were you!” I hear a gravelly voice say loudly from above me. 

I look around up at the trees squinting at the sun preventing me from seeing anything. I hold a hand above my eyes trying to give them some shade. 

“Who said that?” I shout back.

I hear something fall behind me and I turn to see a tall lean boy about my age with bright red hair and light green eyes. He gives me a friendly smile before gesturing to the ground in front of me. “Quicksand, you’d be sucked under in less than a minute.” He picks up a large stone and throws it into the wet dirt in front of me. It immediately sinks beneath the surface.

“Oh,” I swallow, rather shocked and alarmed. “Thank you,” I gulp again as I see a bubble rise above the surface and then pop. “Thank you, a lot.”

“No problem.” He’s leaning against a tree running a hand through his fluffy hair. “I’m guessing you're not from around here.”

“What makes you say that?” I say putting my hands on my hips.

“Most people who live here know to be very careful in the forests, there's quicksand everywhere. Plus I’ve never seen you before, and I know most people here.”

“That’s surprising,” I say, crossing my arms.

He raises an eyebrow at me. “How come it’s surprising.” 

“Most people who spend their time lurking in the forest don’t tend to know a lot of people.”

He snorts. “I hardly think I was lurking, and how would you know that?”

“Takes a forest lurker to know a forest lurker.” I smile picking up another rock to throw into the quicksand, it’s rather satisfying.

“Oh?” He grins and walks over to me. “You spend your time lurking in the forest?”

“Yep,” I say throwing another rock. 

He also picks up a rock and begins to throw more with me. “And you don’t know a lot of people”

“Probably should, but I don’t.” I throw a smaller one that takes a little more time to completely sink. “I only get to know people who prove themselves to be worth knowing.”

“What makes someone worth knowing?” He tilts his head in my direction, seemingly trying to skip a smooth stone over the quicksand but failing because of the mud's stickiness.

“Not being immediately rude when I meet them.” 

“First impressions matter to you, huh.” 

“I’ve found that first impressions are the most important.” I see him sigh and give up on skipping the stones, settling for just throwing them again. “If you're impolite to someone before you know them, ergo before you have any ulterior motives of what you may be able to gain from them, I believe you've proven yourself to be a person not worth knowing.”

“Am I a person worth knowing, from your assessment?” Some quicksand splashed onto his face and he’s currently trying to wipe it off with his brown tunic.

“I think so,” I say smiling, turning my whole attention to him. “Considering your first impression was stopping me from facing a rather unheroic death.”

“Common courtesy, it was nothing.” He waves it off. He then looks away from his tunic and looks down at me. “What’s your name?”

“Zephyr. What’s yours?” 

“What are you Zephyr?”

“I’m a person? Also, you didn’t answer my question.”

“That's not what I mean,” he says, shaking his head laughing, as if asking someone what are you is a perfectly normal question on par with their favorite color. This boy is mad. “I mean, what do you do for happiness? What makes you, well Zephyr? For example,” He puts a tan hand over his heart, “I am a sailor and a poet,-”

“I could tell that one from the weird philosophical questions,” I say rolling my eyes.

“And I used to say I'm a tree climber, but I’ve taken more like a forest lurker now.” He says, giving me a big toothy grin. “So Zephyr, what are you?”

“A girl who still doesn’t know your name. My good first impression is wearing thin.” I say crossing my arms.

“Humor me.”

I huff, trying to think of the best answer to his question. After a few quiet seconds, I make my choice. “I’m a reader, a hunter, and an inventor.”

“What do you hunt, and what do you invent?” He says tilting his head at me in that odd almost animal-like way.

“Whatever my family can eat, and whatever comes to my mind.” I shove him lightly in the shoulder. “It’s your turn, like three times over.”

He smiles and holds out his calloused hand, “I’m Koll.” 

The name seems familiar but I can’t quite place it. I take his hand and give it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you Koll, you're weird.”

He snorts, “That was rude, I thought first impressions mattered.”

“Well, I already made my first impression, any snide remarks after that just reflect my charm and good sense of humor.” I said smirking and raising an eyebrow at him, “Wouldn't you say, Koll?”

“I think I’d have to agree with you, Zephyr,” he says with the same amount of sass I just used. “You don’t seem to be normal yourself.”

“Normal is never fun, No one should aspire to be normal. Do yourself a favor and stay weird.”

He laughs, letting go of my hand. “I’ll try and keep that in mind.” He walks past me and then looks over his shoulder. “I’m guessing you need me to show you the way back to the village?”

“That,” I say, dusting off my hands on my skirt, “Would be exceedingly helpful.”

___________ 

Koll leads me back to the village. The sun is lower in the sky from when I left so I know I was out there for a couple hours. As soon as I step out of the forest I am ambushed by the large body of my little brother as he gives me a massive bear hug. 

“Thank Thor!” He gasps, squeezing me even tighter. “When I told Dad you ran off into the woods Dagur told him that they were full of quicksand and venomous snakes! We were about to send a search party!” 

I turn to Koll in alarm. “You never mentioned snakes.” 

Koll shrugs, “Didn’t want to get you anymore on edge, they don’t go after people that much anyway.”

“Zephyr!” I hear Dad yell as he also runs over to us along with Mom and Chief Dagur. 

Mom puts a hand under my chin looking over my face. “Are you alright? Did anything happen?” 

“I’m fine Mom, nothing happened,” I say grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

“You can’t do that Zeph!” Mom scolds. “You don’t know this island, something could have happened. 

“You're right, I’m sorry.” I apologize nodding my head. “I almost fell in quicksand, but I didn't thanks to Koll.” I gestured to the boy standing beside me.

“Koll my boy!” Dagur shouts in delight before hugging Koll around the shoulders. “Heart of a hero as always, I told you he was wonderful brother! A father couldn’t ask for any better.”

I look back at Koll in realization. That's where I knew his name from! Dagur mentioned he had a son named Koll! I suppose the shock of seeing Dragons again distracted me from that tiny detail. 

“You didn’t mention being a future Chief in your ‘what are you’s,” I say crossing my arms.

“Neither did you.” He nods at my dad. 

“Oh isn’t it wonderful to see our kids getting along! They’re already the best of friends! Just like us Hiccup.” Dagur hugs Dad tightly and I can hear my dad wheezing from the force of the Chief's affectation.

“Yep… Dagur.” He huffs choking. “If you don’t mind. Oh, Thor. I’d like to have at least another few decades before Zephyr is forced to be Cheiftess.” He wheezes.

“Oh sorry!” Dagur says, putting down my Dad who continues his coughing. Dagur pats Dad on the shoulder apologetically, before turning to smile at us. “You kids have fun! Make lots of memories!”

I watch as the man happily walks away leaving Mom to pat Dad on the back as he recovers from his latest near-death experience.

“Is he always so…” I try to think of a word that won’t be harsh considering that the man is still Koll’s dad. “Peppy?” I settle on.

“That one way of putting it.” He says as he rubs the arm his dad just squeezed. “I swear to Odin his hugs are so intense they're going to kill me one day. I wonder if that counts as dying in battle.” He muses.

“You can say that again kid,” Dad says finally recovering from the hug he just received. He looks at me with concern still on his face. “You had us worried Zephyr.”

“I’m really sorry Dad,” I say again, because truly I am. I’d never intentionally worry my parents. They don’t deserve that.

“I think that's enough excitement for now,” Mom says, grabbing my hand. “Let's get settled in our hut.”

I turn to look at Koll giving him a smile and a salute which he returns. “See you around Koll.” 

“See you around Zephyr.” He replies turning around

“Oh and Koll.”

“Yeah?” he asks, turning his head.

“Thank you again,”  I put a hand to my chest trying to let him know how truly grateful I am. “I’ll try to return the favor someday.”

He grins. “Even though I’m praying my life won’t be in danger any time soon, I know who to call if it ever is!” And with that, he walks back into the trees. Truly a forest lurker.

Chapter Text

The hut we are staying in is made of dark oak. It’s clean and looks unlived in, which it probably is considering it’s a guest hut. Its most notable feature is the ornate carving of a skrill generating lightning that makes up our dining table. Moving all our stuff from the ship to the hut, and helping the other Berkians do the same takes up most of our afternoon. By the time everyone is settled into their guest huts it’s pitch black outside. 

Mom and Dad’s friend Heather is the only reason we had any time to eat dinner, she served us some freshly made yak chops that ended up being very good. I'm so tired from moving crate after crate that I don't even change out of my clothes, I just collapse on my hard bed in exhaustion.

I was hoping to get a good night's sleep like Dad said. “Rest well everyone! We have a lot to plan tomorrow and I need you all at your sharpest.” Unfortunately, I am unable to do so as I abruptly wake up in the middle of the night. At first, I don’t bother to think about why I may have woken up. This is an unfamiliar island, the bed is criminally uncomfortable, and the window is wide open letting in a cool night breeze. However, after a few minutes of trying to fall asleep again, I notice a tingling feeling going up my spine. It’s a familiar intuitional feeling that I can’t really explain, but I know what it means. I’m being watched. I sit up in bed looking around the room. I don’t see anyone, but I know I’m right, someone or something is here. I grab my dagger from the bedside table and stand up, carefully walking around the room and checking under surfaces. I hear a shift come from behind me. I take a fighting stance and clench my hand around the dagger. 

“I know you're there,” I say, trying to avoid any fear from entering my voice. “Show yourself.”

I’m starting to think that maybe I imagined the sound when I see what seems to be sparks igniting in the open air. Purple, yellow, and orange sparks, which are so bright I'm surprised I'm able to make out any of the colors. Out of them appears a dragon standing on its hind legs, looking at me with curiosity and caution. The dagger falls from my hand and makes a thud when it hits the wooden floor as I stare at the dragon. The reptile falls to the ground and approaches me slowly on all fours. I don’t know if I’m more shocked that there is a dragon in my room, or that I know this dragon. It’s one of Toothless's hatchlings. Well not hatchling anymore, it’s bigger than me, probably a broad wing by now, but I still recognize it. It’s the black one with the white nose and belly. The only girl. The one Nuffink named Dart.

“Hey… hey girl,” I whisper awe etched into my voice even though the fear doesn’t completely leave me. “Hey Dart.”

I can see her big blue eyes look at the dagger on the floor, so I quickly kick it away. She looks back at my face and then down at my hand. Right. The hand thing. I should do the hand thing.  

I take a deep breath and hold my hand up flat in front of me. She's still intrinsically looking at it when I remember that Dad’s notes say to look away if they don’t go for the hand right away. I look down at the ground and close my eyes. I feel the hot puff of her breathing out her nostrils. Excitement bubbles into my chest. I’m going to get to touch a dragon again! Maybe we can even be friends!

That however doesn’t happen. At least not in the way I expect it to. 

Instead of feeling her smooth scales against my palm, I instead feel her gums clamp over my forearm. It isn’t painful, but it’s wet, soft and shocking. I don’t even have time to express my confusion as I suddenly feel myself being quickly dragged out the window and in a blink I’m in the air. In 4 blinks, which is the amount of time it takes me to process what’s happening, I’m at least 100 feet above the ground.

I hear screaming. I think it’s my own. I’m frantically grabbing at one of her ears to give myself some amount of control so I don’t just plummet to my death if she decides to let go. I’d probably be enthralled with the beautiful view if I weren't too busy fearing for my life. I don't see the water sparkling as it reflects every star in the sky, or the lovely sight of the majestic mountain tops peaked with white snow. All I see is the ground, and how incredibly far it is from me. I can feel my arm getting numb when she finally lets me go, setting me down atop a cliff overlooking the village. 

It takes a few minutes of frantic breathing before I calm down. She’s hanging above me on a tree like a giant bat, looking down at me and tilting her head.

“What was that for?” I can’t help but yell as I stand up and glare at her. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

She falls onto the ground landing on her feet and is somehow still looking at me. As if waiting for me to do something. She seems to crouch down a little and bows her head. When I still do nothing because I have no clue what she wants from me she makes a frustrated grunting sound and uses her giant tail to pat her back, glaring at me with her big blue eyes.

I finally catch on.

“You want me to ride you.” I think my mouth somehow says it before my brain has thought it through fully. She nods impatiently, swishing her tail behind her. 

My legs move without me telling them to. I’ve wanted this for such a long time now, but I don’t know if I can fully appreciate it considering my brain feels like mush right now. When I’m on her back, I run my hands down the side of her neck. Her skin feels alien. It’s scally like a lizard, but it’s not cold the way most reptilian skin feels, it’s hot, very hot. I guess it makes sense considering she can breathe fire, but it’s still odd. She’s moving her back, seemingly trying to adjust me into a more comfortable position. I don’t have a saddle so to give myself support I decide to grab onto her ears. She growls in annoyance and discomfort so I quickly let go and return my hands to her neck. She seems to be ok with that so I grip tighter trying to ensure I don’t fall off. 

She starts moving her wings up and down until she slowly lifts us off the ground. The cool updraft makes goosebumps erupt on my arms. She continues the ascent until we are above the clouds after which she starts to glide at a steady pace. I feel enchanted. This is every bit as magical as how Mom and Dad described it. The moon lights up the clouds in a beautiful display. I'm seeing more stars in the sky than I’ve ever seen in my whole life. The feeling is so exhilarating I can’t feel anything remotely negative. I don’t feel uneasy regarding how high we are. I don’t feel how the cold is making my nose run. I don’t feel how the altitude is making my ears pop. All I feel is euphoria. Even more so when she starts diving down to fly just above the trees. A flock of geese gives us angry honks when we fly right through them. She glides over the huge lake and I run my fingers through the ice cold water as I travel faster than I ever have before. She maneuvers us through the rocky cliffs and I don’t even have time to feel afraid when some boulders fall as she dodges them before they are even close to us. 

She returns me outside my window when we are finished. I look at her with unabashed awe, and she gives me a wide gummy smile.

“That was incredible,” I whisper, trying to be quieter to avoid waking my family. I stroke her smooth head and she warbles in agreement. “Why did you want to do that? I mean, I know why I wanted to do that, but you fly all the time.”

She tilts her head again before bending down and grabbing a stick with her mouth. She then presides to draw what appears to be a stick figure dragon with a human atop its back. I don’t understand at first, I know I just flew on your back, but then I remember the drawings Toothless made that my Dad’s friends told him about.

“Your Dad told you about this didn’t he?” She nods, letting the stick drop from her mouth. “He told you about my Dad, and how they were friends. How they flew together.”

She looks at me slightly sheepish as if fearing some kind of rejection or judgment. I don’t want her to feel that way. I understand exactly what she was looking to replicate. I’ve longed for it all my life.

“My Dad told me about you guys all the time.”  I pick up one of her claws and look her straight in the eyes, wanting her to know I understand. “I would be honored to be your human Dart, I’d be honored to be your friend.”

She makes a happy rumbling sound and starts licking me in the face with her huge tongue. I should probably be disgusted, but I can’t bring myself to feel anything but pure unbridled joy and I laugh. She’s my dragon! I have a dragon.

I give her a hug around her neck before she flies off to her cave. I can’t help but watch her fly away until I'm unable to see her anymore. I climb back through my window and into my bed. I suspect that it would be difficult to sleep after such an incredible experience, but I fall asleep very quickly. Dreaming of nothing but flying the whole night.

Chapter Text

 We gather everyone into the great hall in the morning. All the former dragon riders and elders both Hooligan and Berserker are in the same room for one purpose. Save the dragons. 

“Ok everyone, sit down, sit down,” I yell out to the crowd who are taking a while to get settled. “We have a lot to discuss.”

Eventually, they all manage to find a place and Mala begins, “With the guidance of Chief Hiccup, we have decided that an expedition to the Hidden World is necessary to save the dragons.”

“Um that’ll just get our dragons sick, and I’m pretty sure none of us want that,” Snoutlot shouts disgruntled, putting an arm around Hookfang's neck.

“We will not venture on dragon back Snotlout, we will travel by boat,”  Mala says plainly.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Fishlegs blurts out shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably. “But how are we supposed to get in there? Hiccup said it looks like it can only be accessed by dragons.”

“You are correct Fishlegs, which is why we will make haste when it comes to preparing the necessary equipment to navigate the environment.” Mala puts a hand on my shoulder. “Hiccup is an expert inventor, who has created incredible devices that will be helpful when it comes to traversing the Hidden World. Including a flight suit which will make the territory's mainly aerial accessibility simpler to navigate.”

“That doesn’t really make him fly, it makes him like fall slower. Kinda like those weirdly shaped seeds. Have you ever tried one? I find they go great with yak butter. ” Tuffnut shouts and Snoutlout nods in agreement next to him. I don't know if he's agreeing about the function of my flight suit, or the taste of samara seeds. On second thought I don't think I want to know.

“It’s called gliding Tuff,” I sigh, pinching the skin between my eyes frustratingly. “And that won’t be all we use, I remember a lot of what Astrid and I saw when we visited the Hidden World. I’ll do everything I can so we can get around safely. I’ve already started designing some hooks and ropes systems so we can glide from the rocks without falling.” 

“Maybe YOU can,” Ruffnut snorts with her hands on her hips, “you know how to work those things well, no one else is used to them. We only flew with them, uh how many times? Oh right, once!”

“Look!” I yell frustration consuming me. “We’ll train, we’ll prepare, we’ll plan, and then re-plan. We have some time, the disease is slow spreading. But we need to get in there so Mala’s people can examine the Dragons and see what's wrong, so they can make a cure and do so before any enemy tribes figure out dragons have returned.”

“And what if they can’t make a cure?” 

Everyone in the hall goes absolutely silent at these words and they all turn to stare at the person who said them. 

Zephyr.

Everyone is looking at her with shock and horror, but she’s not paying them any mind. She’s just looking at me. There's no antagonism in her expression. She didn’t say it to question me. All I see in her eyes is fear, and desperation as if she’s begging me to tell her she’s wrong. To tell her I’m sure we can cure them.

And even though I really shouldn't. I give her what she wants.

“They will Zeph, we’ll find a cure, we’ll save the dragons, I promise you,” I say firmly, summoning all of my chiefly inspiration.

It seems to work. The tension in her shoulders lightens and a small smile makes its way onto her face.

I feel like I’m lying when I return it.

I really, really hope that this is one promise I can keep. I don’t know if I’ll be able to live with myself if what I just told my daughter turns out to be a lie.

Chapter Text

“So…that was a lot.” Koll breathes. He caught up with me after the meeting finished and invited me to come to the forest with him. I was hesitant at first, considering how worried my parents were the first time I went in, but I figure I can get back before they notice I’m gone since they're so busy. I still make sure we don’t walk as deep into the forest as last time.

“That's putting it lightly.” I huff, picking a piece of bark off the branch on which we are both sitting that is positioned just above a small pond. I drop the bark into the water and watch the waves ripple.

“Oh, are we starting that again?” Koll says grinning at me.

“No, just thinking.”

“What about specifically?” He raises a dark red eyebrow at me, the devious smile still not leaving his face.

“I could tell you that, but then I'd have to kill you,” I add playfully.

“Now I really need to know.” 

I shake my head, “It’s not that important.”

“All the more reason you should tell yours truly.” He gives a dramatic fake bow still wearing that same infuriating expression.

I roll my eyes. “You're not going to let this go are you?”

“Well, probably eventually,” He shrugs and wipes a sap-covered hand on his pants, “but you’ll crack before I do, so you might as well tell me now.”

I sigh and bite my lip. I don’t think he’ll rat on me, but I'm still hesitant to tell him. I decide to just get it over with and I blurt out, “I rode a dragon last night.” 

He doesn’t look shocked or even excited. He looks as if I just informed him of what I ate for dinner last night. Not this incredible momentous event. 

“How was it?” He says casually. 

“That's it?!” I guffaw, incredulous that he doesn’t have more to say.

“Well, how was it?” 

“Your Mom literally just said a day ago not to ride on the dragons, and I broke that one simple rule in the span of… say 10 hours.”

“My mom said not to ride the dragons ostentatiously .” He says that last word with a fancy accent that sounds very close to Mala’s voice.

I snort. “I don’t know what it looked like from an outside perspective, but it felt pretty damn ostentatious. ”

He shrugs. “You said you did it at night, I doubt anyone noticed.”

“How are you so calm about this?” I say, disbelieving his nonchalant nature at my confession.

“You gave me so much crap for not answering your question yesterday but you're still yet to answer mine.” He laughs, shaking his head as he starts to climb further up the tree. “Also bold of you to assume your fellow forest lurker isn’t also a fellow rule breaker.” he winks at me as he disappears into the tree top. 

I blink, processing his statement before rushing to climb after him. “Wait!” I yell, slipping a little as I try to keep up with his remarkably fast tree climbing. “You’ve also ridden the dragons?”

“Dragon. Singular. Now How was it?” I see his hand protrude from the leaves above me so I grab on and he drags me up onto the branch he’s standing on. I choose to sit down, not as confident as him when it comes to not falling.

“It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced.” I smile looking over the horizon remembering how it felt to fly with Dart over these trees. “She was amazing.”

He nods following my line of sight. “Sounds similar to my experience.”

We’re quiet for a while as we watch the birds fly over our heads and the sun reflect over the pond that is now much further down.

I break the silence when I whisper, “How did they ever give it up?”

“I don’t know.” He slips his hands into his pockets and leans against the tree. “Maybe they’ve got stronger wills than us.”

“I rode her for less than 30 minutes and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to think about anything else again. How in Thor’s name did they ride dragons for six years and willingly give that up?” I shake my head and look down at the pond. “It’s kind of the most selfless thing I've ever heard anyone do, I don’t know if I can be that kind of a leader. I want to, but last night taught me I’m nowhere close to my Dad, not yet at least.”

“You want to be Chief?”

“Of course,” I scoff. “Don’t you?”

“I do now,” He looks back at the horizon thoughtfully. “Didn’t always though, and I’ve met many heirs who don’t want the responsibility.”

“I’ve always wanted to be Chief, I just hope I can be one day.” 

“What do you mean?” He looks back at me with confusion, eyebrows scrunched together. “You're the heir, firstborn child. You’ll be Chief, that's how it works.”

“Berk has never had a woman Chief,” I say plainly. “Most of the village elders have advised my Dad to pass the throne to Nuffink instead, and he doesn’t even want to be Chief mind you. My Dad has said no every time, but well, you know.”

“No I don’t know, please explain.”

I huff and glare at him. “It doesn’t matter that I’ll be Chief if no one respects me. The title and my blood mean nothing if no one listens to me. I’ll be a very ineffective leader if no one in my tribe even sees me as a leader.”

He nods in understanding. “That’s true, but from what my Dad told me, your father didn’t always have your village’s respect. He had to prove himself, so I'd assume that's just what you’ll have to do.” 

“It’s not the same thing,” I say sadly, kicking my feet. “Dad said he had to prove to the village that he wasn’t a screw-up. Now I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but no one has ever seen me as a screw-up, people always act impressed when I show off my inventions or bring home a big animal for a feast. It’s only when the topic of me being Chief comes up that people start to bring up tradition , and the way things are , and how women are , and blah, blah, blah. ” I hurl a pinecone at a neighboring tree in frustration. It cracks on impact before plummeting to the ground. “What’s there for me to prove to them? I can’t prove that I’m not a woman! I always have been and always will be a woman. So, nothing left to prove. They’ll never accept me, simple as that.”

He’s quiet for a while, seemingly contemplating my problems. I’m about to complain more when his next statement stops me. 

“Prove to them it’s an asset, not a hindrance.” 

“What? What do you mean.” I ask bewildered.

He stops leaning on the tree and instead sits next to me on the branch so he can look me in the eyes. “They think being a woman will automatically make you a less capable leader, right?”

“Right… And?

“ And, that means they're never going to respect you until you stop trying to prove to them that being a woman is a weakness you can overcome, but instead, prove to them it’s part of what will make you such a capable leader.”

“So you're telling me that all I need to do to gain their respect is completely change the way they view the world.” I laugh bitterly, “It’s a nice sentiment and all, but sorry Koll that sounds pretty damn impossible.”

“Nothing is impossible,” he says simply “Only improbable.”

“Well, Vikings are stubborn, so it seems very improbable.” 

“So does convincing a village full of people who have spent their whole lives hating dragons to stop fighting them, and even befriend them.” 

Ok fine, you got me there.

“Some people on Berk still hate dragons,”  I say, still worrying.

“Well, you don’t need everyone to accept you, just most.” He smiles kindly at me, “You’ll make a wonderful Chief, Zephyr, and you can tell the people who still don’t accept you to go fuck themselves and find another island to live on.”

I burst out laughing, grabbing onto his shoulder to avoid falling. I’m still giggling when I respond. “I doubt that would be a very wise, chiefly thing to say.”

“Maybe not,” He says, his small smile turning into a wide grin. “But it sure as hell would be fun to say.” 

“That’s very true.” I look back at his face, gratefulness flooding my soul. “Thank you Koll, that was very nice.”

“I didn’t say one thing that wasn’t true.” He says plainly, still looking into my eyes with determination and kindness.

“I think you’ll make a wonderful chief as well,” I add truthfully.

“Thanks, that means a lot.” His voice and eyes seem honest and I’m instantly glad I was able to make him feel confident too. 

This boy may be mad, but he’s also really sweet.

Chapter Text

I can’t remember thinking of anything else.

It’s been three weeks of planning, inventing, building, and having meetings. My mind has thought of nothing but helping the dragons. Curing them.

Keeping my promise to Zephyr.

I have to keep my promise to Zephyr. Not just for her sake, but for my own. 

It’s late. Probably two in the morning, but I can’t sleep. I’m in the process of finishing the riders' new flight suits and climbing equipment. I’m sitting at a workbench working on Heather’s suit. The lumpiness of putting straight dragon scales on the armor I wore when I was 21 probably wasn’t the best for aerodynamics, so I decided to crush down the scales with dragon saliva and paint them on like I did for Toothless’s tail. It smells absolutely horrid, but that will probably go away eventually. Besides it doesn't really matter, I can deal with the smell if it means saving the dragons. Snoutlout will probably complain, but that's pretty normal for him. I’m sure he’d find something else to complain about even if our suits smelled like roses. 

“Hiccup, I really think you should get some sleep.” I hear Astrid say from the forge’s doorway. There's worry in her tone, which has been normal for the past few days to my chagrin.

“Can’t,” I insist gruffly, my attention still not breaking from the work in front of me. I use the silver paste made from Windshear’s scales to paint the leather pants.

Astrid’s hand covers mine, stopping my work and I sigh. I let her slowly take the brush from it and return it to the bowl. She runs her other hand through my hair and her nails over my scalp, I can’t help closing my eyes and leaning into her touch.

“You know, you won’t be much help if you collapse from exhaustion in the middle of the mission."

I huff out a laugh, my eyes are still closed from her ministrations. “You're right, I’ll get some sleep the night before we leave.”

“You should get some sleep now,” She clasps our hands together again, tracing the veins in my hand with her pointer finger. “Why won’t you give yourself a break?”

My eyes close tighter, no longer in relaxation, but in stress and guilt. I decide that I owe her what's on my mind. “I can’t be the reason Toothless’s hatchling dies.”

She’s quiet then, her hand stills in my hair. I feel her move to my right and sink to the floor so she’s closer to my level. The hand that was just in my hair is now on my jaw as she directs my face towards hers. “Honey,” she urges, “Look at me please.”

I listen, opening my eyes to look at her. Her eyes are filled to the brim with empathy and concern. “It’s not your fault, you know. That they're sick.”

I scoff bitterly. “In what universe is this not my fault?”

“I still don’t understand why you figure it is.”

I can’t look her in the eyes when I say why so I settle for just past her ear, at her finished flight suit. “Do you remember the winter we got snowed in?”

“Yes?” She clearly doesn’t know where I’m going with this.

“Nuffink got sick, really sick, and within a week we had all caught it. All of us were coughing and sneezing and barely able to move. It was disgusting.”

“Hiccup I don’t know wh-”

“Why did we all get sick, Astrid?” I interrupt looking back into her eyes. She doesn’t answer, so I do it for her, “We all got sick because we were all under the same roof for 2 weeks straight. When you're trapped in a confined space sickness spreads like wildfire.”

“You didn’t trap them Hiccup.” She understands now, her hand tightens on my jaw. Her affection is less comforting and more firm now that she gets why I blame myself. “They could have left whenever they wanted to.”

“I told Toothless to take them there and hide. He trusted me and they had to listen to him. I may not have put them in cages, but I’m the reason they were there.”

“It could have spread just as easily in the wild, and their being there gave them the perfect way to separate the sick dragons from the healthy ones. You don’t know how differently it could have spread if they remained outside.” 

“Yeah you're right, It might have died off with one lone dragon if they weren't all forced into the same confined space.” I spit glaring at the floor, not at her words but at my own actions.

“An illness that takes years to kill its victim?” She laughs but there's no humor, only frustration. “I doubt any dragon could go years without ever coming into contact with another dragon.” 

She stands up and forces my chin up again to look at her. “Do you even hear yourself Hiccup?” She’s clearly annoyed with me now which I don’t blame her for. “You're jumping through so many logical hoops just to blame yourself for something no one could have predicted.” She’s glaring at me, and I can’t help but flinch. She has a death stare that could kill weaker men. “Your self-pity isn't going to make them better. Do you think Toothless has ever once thought that Ruffrunner getting sick was your fault?”

My shoulders sink in defeat and I let out the breath I was holding in my tense chest. “No.” I relent quietly.

“Exactly.” Her eyes soften again and her other hand comes to rest on my cheek. I can feel her fingers playing with my beard and I smile. She bends over and her lips capture mine, making me breathless. When she eventually parts from me her lips are still practically touching mine as she whispers, “It can’t be very comfortable sleeping on this bench.”

“It’s not” I admit. My voice sounds gravelly and I can feel my exhaustion in every part of my body all the way to my stomach. 

“I miss being able to fall asleep in your arms,” Her eyes are pleading and worried, and I can’t help but give in.

“Ok," I stand up and dust my hands off on my leather apron before placing it back on the rack. “But you might have to direct me back to our hut. You're right, I feel like I’m about to fall over or bump into something.”

She grins and grabs my arm leading me out the door, “You should know by now, that I’m always right.”

Chapter Text

Dart has come by most nights for the past three weeks. It’s been easy to leave without my family noticing since Nuffink and Mom usually fall asleep early and Dad tends to sleep in the forge. I’ve managed to create a saddle for her, it’s an improved version of Dad’s old saddle for Toothless. One of the journals he gifted to me was a book of sketches for his old inventions. 

Dart is waiting patiently outside as usual. She makes an excited warbling sound when she sees me holding the saddle. 

I laugh at her enthusiasm. “I know girl, I know. I missed you too.” I scratch behind her ear and she coos leaning into my hand. 

I search in my bag for my new creation and eventually my hand finds the familiar scaly item. I pull it out and hold it out in front of her to my side.

 “Do you mind giving me a quick blast, I want to see if it works.” Her mouth fills with purple light as a plasma blast strikes the cloak. I look down at it and I'm delighted to see it appears as though I’m holding nothing, but I can still feel the fabric intact in my hand. After a few seconds it reappears. I examine the white and black piece of fabric closely, trying to see any visible damage, but none is clear. I smile proudly as I buckle the cloak around my shoulders and then pull the hood over my head. 

I hear Dart’s echoey dragon laugh and I roll my eyes. “Yeah yeah I know it looks a little silly, but people aren't meant to see it at all, that's kind of the point. Come on, let's test it out in action.” I buckle the saddle onto her back and then get on. 

She takes off briskly and soon we are in the air. I sigh in delight and close my eyes as I feel the cool wind whip at my short brown hair. We fly over the clouds for a while before I decide we are far enough that no one will see the blast. 

“Ok Dart, Camouflage!” She fires off a plasma blast and then dives through it. I duck down to avoid inhaling most of the smoke, but I still start coughing as I feel some of the hot vapor come down my throat. Dart makes a worried whine and I see her look up at me. “I’m ok girl,” I cough, patting her head to soothe her. “I’ll probably have to make some kind of mask if we do that more often.” I finally think to look down at myself and am happy to see that the cloak has vanished, and by proxy, I have vanished with it. If I were to bend over again no one would be able to see me. “Looks like we may be able to fly during the day now girl, with some minor adjustments of course,” I say giddily she responds with a happy rumble that I feel in her back. “I know! Cool right.”

“I think so.” 

I tense up at the mysterious, but familiar voice, I look to my side to see the unmistakable head of Koll pop out from underneath the clouds. 

“Koll! What are you doing up here? Wait.” I shake my head and rub my eyes. “How in Odin's name are you up here?”

“I’m breaking the rules, like you. Come up now Lumber.” He rises and the rest of his body appears, sitting on the neck of a massive dragon right where its wings start. 

I gasp as I examine its massive wings, long neck, and crooked horns. At first, I think it’s a typhoomerang, but when I see its face I properly place it.

“A timberjack!” I yell in excitement. He's beautiful. Lumber in particular is dark brown, likely able to blend into most trees. His wings glitter slightly in the moonlight and I feel myself flooded with pure awe. I’m entranced when I run my fingers over his gorgeous wings.

“I wouldn’t-” 

“OUCH” I pull my hand away quickly as I feel the sharp wings slice into my finger. I stick them into my mouth to attempt to stop some bleeding.” 

“Do that.” Koll finishes too late, wincing when I take my fingers out of my mouth and he sees that damage. Lumber gives me an apologetic rumble. “He's sorry, and so am I.”

“No no, it's my own fault.” I wipe the blood on my skirt before grabbing back onto the harness on Dart’s neck. “I should have remembered how sharp their wings are. It's what they're known for.” 

“I’m still sorry.” He continues before I see his eyes travel down to Dart. “She’s pretty amazing too.” he says, his voice taking on that same dreamy quality mine just had. The kind that only really comes when looking at one of these incredible creatures.

“Yeah,” I smile softly, rubbing her head which she clearly likes. “She’s wonderful.”

“How does that work? You know the disappearing thing.”

I smile at the opportunity to explain my creation. “One of my dad’s journals had sketches of armor that he covered in dragon scales to make it fireproof. In a different book, one on strike class dragons, it talks about how fury’s can disappear into their blasts.”

“So you figured if you made a similar item it would disappear into her blast.” He finishes, his eyes are filled with admiration which makes me blush.

“Exactly. Luckily it worked, though I may want to make some adjustments.” I run my hands over the fabric again.

“That’s incredible Zephyr, she's incredible, you're incredible.”

I blush further, hopefully he can’t see me in the dark. I give him a quiet “thank you” before directing my eyes back to the sky in front of me.

“When do you need to get home?” He says, clearly trying to diffuse some of the awkwardness. 

I look up at the moon and see that it’s moved a bit more than I would have liked it to. “Pretty soon actually.” I give him an apologetic smile, “We should do this another time.”

“Wanna race back to your hut?” He gives me a challenging grin that I can’t help but return.

“Oh you’re on forest lurker!” I direct Dart to dive under the clouds quickly.

“Hey!” I hear Koll shout angrily, “We never said go! You had a head start!”

“I thought we already clarified that I’m a rule breaker,” I laugh zooming past him. 

Being a strike class gives Dart an undeniable advantage over Lumber. But Koll doesn't seem to mind. We have a lot of fun flying home just under the clouds, looking at the incredible view. I slow down purposefully so I can fly next to him, which I think he appreciates. I win unsurprisingly, and soon Koll catches up with me. When we stop we’re flying just above my hut.

He smiles, “I’ll get you next time.”

“I highly doubt that, but you can dream.” I bite back playfully. 

He scoffs and shakes his head. “So rude.”

“Charming with a good sense of humor you mean.” Putting my hand to my chest in mock offense.

He rolls his eyes as he waves goodbye. “See you tomorrow, Zephyr. Same time, same place in the forest?”

“Yep! Goodnight loser,” I yell as he flies away before he has time to give me a comeback.

I smile at the cloud I just saw him fly into as Dart continues to flap just above our doorway. I look down at her and she gives me a happy warble.

“He’s great, right?” She seems to nod her head. I look down at the cloak I’m wearing and examine the material. It would probably be best if I made a suit entirely made of the scales instead of relying on the cloak. I also still need to make that mask so I don’t breathe in so much smoke. Maybe I should-

“What in Thor's name are you doing young lady?!” The familiar angry voice of my mother calls from right underneath me.

I stiffen as I look below me and see the very angry faces of both my parents. 

“Hi Mom, Hi Dad,” I say nervously. “I can explain.”

Chapter Text

I’m sitting on my bed and looking at my hands as my parents wait for me to do what I told them I would do. Explain.

Unfortunately, even though I said that I really can’t think of anything I can say to make them less angry with me.

Dart is lying on the floor next to my bed, she refused to go back to her cave even when my parents urged her to.

“I'm sorry,” I say pathetically, twiddling my thumbs.

“You're sorry, that’s it?” Dad’s voice sounds tired and I instantly feel worse. “Zephyr, one of the first things Mala told us to do was to not ride the dragons. To keep them safe. Me and your mother have been spending weeks trying to prepare for a voyage to the Hidden World so we can save the dragons. That will be useless if hunters show up to take them out because they’ve seen you riding Pouncer.”

“Dart.” I correct.

“What?” Dad says rubbing his eyes.

“Nuffink named the mostly white one Pouncer. This one is Dart, she’s the only girl.” I pet Dart’s head as she nuzzles into my lap.

“Sorry, Dart.” Dad corrects, shaking his head. “You're putting Dart and all the other dragons in danger when you ride her. What if a passing ship had seen you.” 

“They didn't, I was very careful,” I say defensively.

“You didn’t seem very careful when you were hovering above our house wideout in the open.” Mom bites out, she’s clearly got more energy to be angry.

I look down at my hands again. That's a fair point .

“Zephyr, you're normally so good at following the rules. What’s going on?” Dad whispers clearly trying to understand. 

I sigh. The best course of action is probably being completely honest. So I decided to start from the beginning.

“On our first night here-” 

“You’ve been doing this since our first night?!” Mom practically roars.

“Astrid, let her finish,” Dad says putting a hand on Mom’s shoulder while she continues to give me her you're in trouble look.

“On our first night.” I start again. “Dart took me to a cliff and asked me to ride her.” I smile down at the dragon’s head in my lap and she makes a relaxed cooing sound. “She took me on her back and flew me all over the island. I didn’t know why at first, but then I realized that she had heard of humans the same way I heard of dragons. She was every bit as curious, as excited, as fascinated with me as I was with her.” I look up at Dad and Mom and see that their demeanor seems to have shifted to one more calm. “Dad, I think Toothless told them about us, and she wanted to know what it was like to have the kind of bond you and he had, and well, so did I,” I admit.

Both Dad and Mom are quiet. They look at each other and seem to have a whole conversation without even saying a word. It’s Dad who finally speaks. “Zephyr I get it, trust me I do, but,” He sighs and looks to the side. 

Mom picks up where he left off. “Zeph, It’s for their own safety.” Her voice is kind but firm. 

“I know,” I say sadly, looking down at Dart as she whimpers.

“You can still see her,” Dad says quickly, trying to make me feel better. “Just lay off the riding for now.” 

I nod. I can live with that. As long as I get to see her. 

“Ok, you need sleep and so do we,” Mom comes over to the bed and kisses me on the forehead. She strokes Dart’s head and whispers, “You can stay here if you want little one, but I don’t want your parents getting worried.” 

Dart shudders and climbs off my lap before immediately zooming out the window. I laugh, it’s clear she doesn't also want to be on the receiving end of a lecture.

“Goodnight my little Dragon rider,” Dad says sleepy as he also gives me a goodnight kiss. He sneakily whispers “Tell me everything in the morning.” I smile and he winks at me, not wanting Mom to know he’s encouraging me.

When they leave I feel exhaustion flood my body. I can’t help falling backward onto the bed and almost immediately falling asleep. Getting lectured can take a lot out of you.

___________ 

“Zephyr, Zephyr! Wake up!” 

I feel hands roughly jostling my shoulder and I whine pulling the blanket further up to hide my face. 

“Nuffink, I don’t care if you lost your mace again, find it yourself and go away,” I grumble as I try to fall back asleep. It’s not even light outside yet.

“Zephyr! I’m serious, get up now!” He whisper screams.

His voice is urgent, which causes me to ignore my tired limbs and sit up. His face is filled with nothing but fear. His forehead is covered in sweat, and his green eyes are wide.

“Nuff, what’s wrong?” I whisper, his concern is contagious and I feel terror fill my stomach as I continue to look him in the eyes.

“We’re under attack.”

Chapter Text

We have to hurry out the door, but we make sure to grab our weapons. Mom’s ax, Dad’s sword, Nuffink’s mace, my dagger. It’s incredible how quickly the mind works when in crisis. It normally takes my whole family at least 30 minutes to leave the house, but right now we are out in less than 5. Granted most of my family is still wearing their sleep clothes.

Dad sneaks us out the back door and tells us to crouch as we hide behind a big rock. I see many heavily armed soldiers walking through the village. Some are dragging people with them. I see one pulling a woman by the hair as she screams in pain. “You better shut up before I cut out your tongue lass.” He growls and she tries to stifle her whimpers.

My fists clench in anger.

“Come on,” Dad whispers. We try to doge view as we get out of the village and head towards the forest.

“We’re not supposed to go in there!” Nuffink whispers, looking at Dad with concern and confusion. 

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Dad huffs as we make our way into the trees.

“Dad let me lead, I know my way around here,” I whisper the last part sheepishly.

He gives him a long look before shaking his head, “We’ll discuss this later, go on Zeph.” He has annoyance in his voice and I know he’s right about this not being the last I’ll hear of this.

I lead us through the now familiar trees as I direct us to the clearing with the pond. It’s almost impossible to see, but it gets easier as the moonlight reflects off the water making the pond a glowing beacon. 

We stop and take a moment to relax. Nuffink sits down on a nearby rock and starts rubbing at his freezing arms which makes me conscious of how cold I am. I notice my teeth are chattering, that might be the overwhelming feeling of fear though.

“Why are they here?” Nuffink looks at Dad, who shakes his head. 

“I have no clue Nuff, some tribes try to take over others to add to their armada,” He gives Nuffink a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m sure it will be fine, Heather and Dagur will have them out soon.”

“Can’t the dragons help?” Nuffink asks as he blows hot air on his hands.

“No,” Mom says quickly. “The dragons need to stay hidden, who knows what these soldiers will do to them if they know they're here.” 

“Unless they're here because they know we have dragons,” Nuffink adds.

My stomach drops when I hear him say that. I can feel the color drain from my cheeks and my legs start shaking. Mom looks at me then grabs my shoulders making soothing shh sounds as she strokes my back. 

“Zephyr, these things happen, it’s probably random. It’s not your fault.” She consoles.

“You don’t know that.” I’m shaking now, because what if she’s wrong? What if they somehow saw me riding Dart? What if that’s why they're here?

What if it’s all my fault?

“You can’t think like that Zeph, least of all now.” Mom grabs either side of my face and pushes my bangs out of the way so she can look me in the eyes. “Time to be strong Zephyr, time to be a warrior.” She firmly states her eyes full of determination.

She’s right. I know she’s right. I take a calming breath and reflect her determined look back at her.

She smiles nodding her head. “That’s my girl.” She pats my shoulder before turning back to Dad. She's about to say something to him when he pushes her to the ground, the arrow that was about to hit her flies right by his ear.

I whip around to see five soldiers enter from the other side of the clearing. I duck as more arrows fire at our heads. As they start to reload Dad ignites his fire sword. It’s shocking enough that it causes some hesitation in the soldiers, giving time for Mom and Nuffink to slip past and ambush them. I climb up one of the trees and make my way to the next via a sturdy branch. I’ve gotten a lot better at tree climbing with all the time I’ve spent hanging out with Koll. I’m eventually above the battle. I see Nuffink hit a Man in the head with his Mace, using enough force to kill him instantly and watch Mom cut off one's head with her ax, blood decorating her once white nightgown.

I see one man about to fire an arrow at Dad who’s in a sword fighting match with another soldier. I jump from the tree and tackle the man to the ground, pungling my dagger into his neck. I quickly pick up his bow and shoot the man Dad is battling. I fire at his leg since it would just bounce off his breastplate or helmet. Even though the shot isn't deadly the man collapses to the ground in pain and Dad uses the man's sword to slit his throat. 

We all take a breather. Nuffink is standing next to me with a huge grin on his face. He loves combat. “That was awesome!” He cries out, holding his mace above his head in victory. I can’t help but agree. We just took out four heavily armed soldiers as a family in our nightwear. Well, I’m still in my clothes. 

Wait, four. Weren't there five guards?

“Nuffink watch out!” I have just enough time to push Nuffink out of the way, but that allows the last soldier to grab me instead and hold a massive battle ax to my throat. 

“Zephyr!” My Dad yells horror filling his voice and eyes.

Mom holds her ax as if about to strike the man. The man pushes the ax further into my neck and I feel it bite into my skin. I flinch in pain. “Ah ah ah.” The man tuts, I can’t practically hear the smug smile on his face and it makes my blood boil. “Wouldn't want your little girl to lose her pretty head, would you Mommy?” I can see my mom shaking with anger and fear as she looks from my face to the guards before she lowers her ax. “That’s better, throw your weapons into the pond.” Mom complies immediately, her favorite ax being flung thoughtlessly into the water. “All of your weapons.” The man growls. I watch as Nuffink throws his mace and Dad throws the Dragon Blade, the sword makes a hissing sound as the water puts out the fire. 

“Ok,” Dad cautions, holding his hands up the way he always does when he’s trying to de-escalate conflict. “We did what you said, now let her go.” 

“I don’t think so.” A new soldier comes to stand beside the man and grabs the handle of my dagger. I gasp in pain when he slides the blade across my palm as he takes it from my hand and flings it into the water.

“Don’t hurt her.” Mom hisses, still in a defensive stance despite holding no weapon. I have no doubt she would go after the men if she wasn’t scared they’d hurt me.

“We won’t, mostly,” I feel the man’s head shift to look at my bleeding hand. “As long as you lot come with us to the arena. Our chief will be ever so happy that we successfully captured the Berkian's Chief and his family.”

Dad’s jaw and fists clench as he glares at the man, but as soon as he makes eye contact with me his face softens. “It’ll be ok Zeph. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I want to nod but I’m afraid I’ll hurt myself further so I settle for giving him a pained smile. 

“Aw how sweet,” the man mocks. I feel him push me forward as he starts exiting the forest. “Follow me, one wrong move, and you’ll be down a kid.” 

I hear footsteps behind me as my family starts to follow the man out of the forest. I feel my hand burn and the ax’s blade slide slightly over the skin of my neck as the man directs my movements. 

I really hope you're right Dad.

Chapter Text

I’ve almost fallen to my death more times than I can count. I’ve been hunted by bounty hunters. I’ve almost been blasted by dragon fire more than anyone I know. But in my long history of fear, I’ve never felt this scared.

There's no fear like watching that man hold an ax to my little girl’s throat and knowing he could have her dead the second he wants to. It’s even more scary knowing there's nothing I can do to help her. 

I feel Astrid’s shaky hand slip into mine. I don’t know if she’s trying to comfort herself or me, but it’s probably doing both.

“Dad, what do we do?” Nuffink whispers, his voice dripping with worry.

I still don’t look away from the man holding Zephyr. “We do exactly what he says until he lets your sister go,” I want to give him a better answer, but right now that's all I got.

“Quiet.” The man growls back at us. We immediately shut up. I’m not taking any risks with Zephyr’s life. I don’t care if there's some possibility we could take him out. I’m not taking the chance of us getting her hurt.

Eventually, we reach the arena. The sun has come out by now and I squint to try and keep my eyes on Zephyr’s captor. The gate opens and the man practically throws Zephyr onto the hard stone ground before locking us inside. I follow her on the ground to examine the cut on her neck. I sigh in relief when I see it’s not that bad. The one on her hand is probably worse.

“Are you ok Zephyr?” I try to make my voice sound comforting but my worry is undisguisable. 

She nods, putting her hand over mine to try and comfort me, “I’m fine Dad,” Her voice is more soothing than mine.

They’ve thrown us next to Dagur’s family. I see him, Heather, Mala, and Koll all with their hands tied behind their backs. Along with many other Berserkers and Berkians. One of the soldiers soon does the same to us. I think about fighting back, but I still don’t feel confident in my family’s safety considering they are unarmed and there are about 20 guards all holding at least three weapons. When all of our hands are tied I see the arena gate open once more to let in a tall large man probably only a few years older than myself. He has a long blond beard that’s starting to go gray and his helmet is made of pure shining gold. 

He gives us what I assume he believes to be a friendly smile and holds out his hands, “Welcome! I am so pleased to have you with me today.” 

“What do you want Madguts?” Heather sneers. Her face contorting with hatred.

The man named Madguts puts a hand to his heart. “Heather, I’m hurt. I thought you’d be more welcoming to your fellow Vikings. The Murderous tribe and the Berserkers have always had a good trading relationship.”

“Well, you can expect that to end now that you’ve invaded our island and tied us up.” Dagur growls, his voice breaking in the way it always does when he wants to kill someone.

“I suppose that’s fair,” Madguts shrugs, looking down smugly at Dagur. “I also suppose you’ll be able to walk away with your grudge as long as you give us what we want.”

“What exactly do you want, though it’s unlikely I’m giving you anything while you have my family tied up,” Dagur says as he glares at the man.

Madguts takes a knee so he can look Dagur right in the eyes. “I want the dragon,” He says plainly.

Dagur blinks at him. Once, twice, then he bursts out laughing. “Are you drunk? There haven't been Dragons here in decades. Have you been living under a rock for the past 20 years? They all vanished. Poof.”

Madguts gives Dagur an annoyed look before grabbing onto his beard harshly. “Two weeks back, one of my fishing boats reported seeing a dragon flying over this island. Where is it?”

I see Zephyr start to shake. I want to comfort her, but I can’t without revealing to the men that we do indeed have dragons here.

“Sounds to me like your fisherman is a little, you know coo coo.” Dagur still has a massive grin on his face. I’m honestly impressed by how much he’s keeping his composure. “Might be time for the fellow to retire.” 

Madguts knees him in the stomach. 

I see Dagur’s family flinch and try to go to him, but they are stopped by the soldiers who point arrows at them. 

“I know you're lying Dagur,” Madguts hisses, “I’m not leaving until you tell me where that dragon is.”

“I can’t…” Dagur coughs up blood from his position on the floor “I can’t tell you something I don’t know.”

Madguts sighs with frustration. Looking for another angle. He looks at each of our faces until he sees Zephyr looking at the floor. I stiffen.

“Well, well, you're a pretty one aren't you?” He walks over to Zephyr with a sinister grin on his face. He tilts her head up harshly and she glares up at him. “What’s your name, lass.” She doesn’t answer, just continues to look at him in defiance. He tuts as he tilts her head to the side to look at her from a different angle. She shakes him off and her glare deepens. “Pity, I was hoping you’d be more easy to handle, but I suppose they’ll be able to deal with that.”

“Who is they ?” I can’t help it when the angry question slips its way through my lips. Thor help me if he doesn’t stop manhandling my little girl. I'll cut off his nuts.

He turns to look at me, grabbing Zephyr’s face again. His smile terrifies me. “Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third. Dragon conqueror, you must know where it is.”

I don’t say anything. He sighs “That’s a shame, I would have made a lot of money off that dragon, but I’m sure I can make up the losses with something else,” He looks back at Zephyr and my blood runs cold. “You see Chief Haddock, I’m rather connected with an array of traveling brothels. They’d pay me handsomely for a young beauty like this," He stokes Zephyr’s cheek menacingly.

“You lay a single FUCKING hand on her!” I try to lunge forward but a soldier pushes me to the ground harshly. I feel my cheek scrape against the ground but I don’t care, I still struggle to get forward as the soldier shoves my face further into the floor. 

“Dad!” Zephyr calls, she’s scared, I don’t know if it’s for herself or me.

“Listen here girl, I’ll make you a deal. You tell me where I can find that dragon and I won’t sell you off. Sounds fair right?” She looks at him. Her eyes show fear I can tell she's trying to hide. She bows her head in defeat. Matguts smiles. “See, that's all I wanted. Now, where is it dear?”

She looks up at him and it looks like she’s about to say something, but then she looks to the soldiers standing behind him. “I don’t want them hearing.” Matguts huffs frustratingly. He leans down so she can whisper to him.

She opens her mouth.

And hocks a massive bloody loogie right in his face.

A huge grin works its way onto Zephyr’s lips. Madguts stubbles back a little and wipes it off. He looks enraged. He slaps Zephyr across the face, leaving a red handprint on her cheek. 

He grabs her by the hair and she winces.“Don’t want to damage the merchandise too much, it’s clear she’ll be put to use,” Madguts sneers. 

“No! Stop, I'll tell you!” I cry out from the floor. 

The man looks at me and drops Zephyr. “That’s more like it,” He walks over to me and squats down to look me in the eyes. “So tell me, Dad. Where. Is. That. Dragon?” My throat is dry. I look past him and see Zephyr. She’s pleading with me, her eyes are practically screaming don’t do it!

I shut my eyes to block out her pleas. I’m sorry Zeph. I need to break one promise to keep another.  

I gulp. “There in-” 

I hear a wiz fly just above my ear. 

I turn my head to see Astrid standing with her hands untied. I watch as she slips a Deadly Nadder spine into her boot for safekeeping and I realize what happened. 

I raise my hands above my head and feel a rush of wind pass through them as I feel the binds sever. I kick the soldier behind me in the balls and steal his sword when he crumples to the floor. “After them!” I hear Madguts cry. It appears several people including Zephyr caught on to what happened as I now see many different people fighting with their hands untied. 

“Hiccup watch out!” Astrid shouts. A man from behind me falls to the floor with his muscles spasming, the reason for this probably being the Nadder spine Astrid lodged in his shoulder blade. Astrid runs past me to help Heather battle the three soldiers who are all coming at her. 

The especially large soldier who captured Zephyr runs at me screaming, holding his battle ax above his head. I parry his attack with the sword I just swiped. I duck under the man's arm and plunge my sword into his back. I can’t help it when I twist the blade a little. No one could blame me. He hurt my daughter.

I sense a man coming up from behind me so I rip the sword out from the large soldier and let my elbow harshly hit the man behind me in the nose, breaking it and causing him to fall to the ground clutching his face. From the ground the man kicks me in the shin of my good foot, I hiss and nearly fall over.

I’m overtaken when Matguts uses my distraction to tackle me to the ground. A soldier comes to aid him in pinning my arms above my head and despite my efforts, I am unable to escape. Matguts takes a knife off his belt and holds it above his head. There's a murderous glint in his eyes, his nose and eyes are dripping with blood and I can tell he’s been punched in the face several times during the battle. He looks well and truly psychotic. He’s about to bring down his knife, landing what will surely be my fatal blow when a blast of purple fire hits him, taking his whole arm with it. He screams and falls from me clutching at his shoulder, which is all that remains of his right arm. The soldier is shocked and most likely not accustomed to the smell of burning flesh. I use the opportunity to flip the man over my head onto his back knocking the wind out of him. 

I’m looking around to see where Madguts went. It’s unlikely he will live long, the medical attention he needs would have to be implemented immediately, and I doubt any Berserker healers would be willing to work on him after what he's done. Most of his men have fled now, I see several villagers chasing after them screaming and attempting to capture them. 

They don’t call them Berserkers for nothing.

I spot Madguts sitting against a large metal pillar, his breath ragged and his eyes hazed over. He spots me and I watch as an incredibly disturbing grin makes its way across his bloodied mouth. 

“You can’t hide them forever,” He laughs and coughs at the same time. “Others like us will come for them.” The dazed look in his eye almost makes me feel pity for him. Almost.

“We’ll be ready when they do, who knows maybe their tribe won’t be so pathetic that they’ll get defeated in the time it takes the sun to rise.” I bite back.

He’s about to respond when he’s hit in the head by another plasma blast, leaving nothing but blood and brains splattering the pillar. 

I’m trying to wipe the remains of his blood off my face when I hear the sound of metal bending and breaking. 

Everything seems to happen in slow motion then. I see the metal pillar break from the impact of the blast. I turn my head to see that standing in its path is Zephyr. Locked in combat with a soldier unable to divert her attention. I’m on the opposite side of the arena, I’d never get to her in time. I’m still running though. I barely even have time to warn her as the pillar falls, but it doesn’t hit Zephyr. No. In a blur, Nuffink runs under the falling pillar to push Zephyr out of the way. She falls on top of the man she was fighting and her knife lodges itself in his eye. Nuffink doesn’t have enough time to make it out. So I have to watch in horror as the massive metal pillar falls on top of my young son’s hand.

Chapter Text

Nuffink’s scream is haunting. Bloodcurdling. Heartbreaking. There are so many descriptions for all the reactions my body has to the horrible sound. I’m already halfway to him by the time the pillar makes contact with his left hand. Astrid’s by my side in less than a moment. We don’t think, We don’t breathe. All I, Astrid, and Zephyr try to do is push, push the metal pillar off his hand as his screaming continues. I think other people may come to help but I don’t notice. I’m looking at his face, his face that’s contorted in more pain than I’ve ever seen on another person. On my son. 

There's blood everywhere. Leaking out from under the pillar absolutely soaking Nuffink’s shirt and my pants. I wish I could tell myself it’s remnants from the battle but I can’t. I feel it. Hot and wet and fresh, far too fresh to be anyone else's. His screams have turned into quiet whimpers which is no comfort to me. “D-ad,” he wheezes. 

“Save your strength Nuff, we need to get this off you,” I’m pushing as hard as I can, but even with all my adrenaline running, and all of these people helping I can’t get the pillar to budge. 

“Is, is Zephyr ok?” He gasps as he turns to look at me, his eyes hazy. 

I sob, he’s not even whimpering anymore, and his question is so quiet I can barely hear it. “Sh-es ok son. Thanks to you, and you're gonna be ok too.” 

I think he’s passed out from the pain since his eyes shut but his chest still heaves. I scream in frustration pounding a fist against the pillar, probably breaking my knuckles but I don’t feel it. 

We can’t lift it. It’s too heavy.

I hear Astrid and Zephyr crying too, but none of us can comfort each other right now. We just keep pushing. I’ve never felt more useless in my entire life.

I hear gasps from some of the people around me, and for the first time, I feel a shift in the pillar. I look to my left and I see a dragon. The last dragon I would expect to see in this situation. It’s not Toothless, it’s not Stormfly, it’s not even Dart.

It’s the Light Fury. 

She’s grabbed onto the pillar and is using all her incredible dragon strength to lift it. The people who stumbled away in shock come back, and with all of us including her lifting the pillar, it moves. Just enough for me to drag Nuffink out from under it until they let go.

I pull him onto my lap and push his blond hair off his face. His eyes are closed and he looks almost relaxed now. I put my ear to his chest and I feel relief flood my body.

“He’s alive!” I shout for everyone to hear. 

The arena erupts in cheers and I notice the Light Fury nudging at Nuffink in worry. 

I gulp as I look at her, I don’t know if any words could truly express the amount of gratitude I feel towards her. “Thank you, from one parent to another, thank you,” I put my free hand over her head and stroke her scales. “I will do everything in my power to save Ruffrunner.”

She nods elegantly before she flaps off and disappears into a plasma blast. 

I hug Nuffink to my chest and stare at the patch of sky she disappeared into. I can’t help whispering the words one last time.

“Thank you.”

Chapter Text

I’m sitting outside the healer’s hut. After we got Nuffink out from under the pillar Dad carried him to the healers almost immediately. He’s been in there for two hours. Which means I’ve been sitting out here for two hours. I’ve been cycling through crying and growling in anger for as long as I’ve been sitting here. I feel so horrible. So stupid. 

“Zephyr?” 

I look up and see Koll blocking the sun in front of me. He has cuts on his face, a split lip, and he’s holding a blood-soaked cloth to his nose. 

All my fault.

I bury my head in my knees again. “Go away,” I choke. 

“Nope, not happening. Not while you're crying.”  I feel him sit next to me and put a hand on my shoulder, which only makes me cry more. I don’t deserve his kindness. “He’s going to be fine, you know,” He rubs at my shoulder blade trying to console me. 

“He’s hurt because of me,” I hiccup, scrunching my eyes shut tighter. “He almost died because of me.”

“How is any of this your fault?” His tone is incredulous but still holds a great deal of sympathy.

“You heard them. They were only here because they saw a dragon. That had to be me and Dart. If I had just kept my feet on the ground none of this would have happened.” 

He's quiet for a minute, leaving me to my self-hatred and guilt. Gods, I’ve never felt so much guilt. Guilt stabbing at my chest guilt. Guilt ripping its way through my insides. Guilt wrapping itself around my mind. How am I ever going to look at Nuffink again?

“They didn't see you and Dart, Zephyr. They saw me.”

“What?” I finally look him in the eyes where I find more guilt, just not my own. “How do you know that?”

“Before they brought your family to the arena, Madguts gave his men a physical description of the dragon they were looking for. Dark brown, huge wings, black horns, no front legs.” He isn’t meeting my eyes anymore. He takes a long breath before removing the cloth from his nose proving to me that it is in fact, very broken. “So there you go. Stop hating yourself, and start hating me.” 

“I could never hate you Koll,” It’s my turn to comfort him now, and I squeeze his hand. “They may have seen you, but it could have just as easily been me.” 

He smiles in relief before turning to look back at me. “Well, that isn’t really fair.”

“What’s not fair?” I give him an incredulous stare. Why does he always have to be so vague?

“You don’t get to hate yourself so much that you're crying when you think you’ve done something wrong, then not be remotely mad at me when you discover I’ve done the same thing.” 

My mouth opens to give some sort of retort, but I honestly have no clue what that retort might be. I grumble and look back at my lap. He’s got a point. 

His smile is soft and affectionate, luckily he probably doesn't notice I’m blushing since my face is always very red after I cry. “You can’t hold yourself to such an insane standard. Maybe next time you make a mistake, ask yourself. Hey, would I be mad at Koll if he made the same mistake? And then of course your answer will be No! I could never be mad at Koll, he’s so cool and good-looking and smart-”

I punch him in the shoulder.

“OUCH,” He rubs his arm and attempts to look angry but fails spectacularly. “You can’t be mad at me for stating the truth.”

“Yeah– truth, keep telling yourself that buddy.” I snort.

“Rude…” I give him a smirk and he chuckles, “Charming with a good sense of humor I know.”

“You know, maybe I’ll give you smart, but that's it. I’ve met yaks cooler than you.” 

“You never said anything about good looking,” He smirks and batts his eyelashes. 

“Thor help me,” I sigh.

“Zephyr, he’s awake,” Mom says poking her head out the door.

I stand up immediately, some of my nervousness returning.

“I should go now, Dad asked me to help track down the rogue soldiers,” Koll says as he stands up and begins walking away.

“Koll, wait,” I say desperately. He turns his head back around just in time for me to tackle him. I wrap my arms around his neck, needing to stand on my tippy toes to do so, but I don’t mind. “Thank you,” I whisper.

His shock vanishes and I feel him hug me back. “Anytime Zephyr,” He replies quietly, stroking my back. “Anytime.”

Chapter Text

The room is messy, which doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in the healer who is taking care of my little brother. I see Mom and Dad standing in front of a bed, and I feel a shudder run down my spine. I need to do this. I need to do this. I need to do this.

I walk up to stand next to Dad and I see Nuffink looking sleepily up at me. That toothy grin spreads its way up his face. “You're ok!” He whispers happily, not dropping his grin. 

“I’m ok? I’m okay!” I almost roar at him. “What the hel do you mean I’m ok?! Of course I’m okay you muttonhead! I didn’t get crushed by a giant metal pillar!” 

“Zephyr, calm done.” Mom warns giving me a look. 

I continue to grumble angrily and incoherently and Nuffink laughs. He’s so strong. No one would guess the kind of pain he just went through. He looks at Dad’s face and pulls his left hand out from under the covers. Wait, scratch that no hand. 

Wait what?! No Hand?!

My jaw drops as I see a bandaged stump instead of my brother’s meaty left hand. Nuffink waves holding it up, somehow still smiling. “Look Dad, twins.” Dad chokes out a mixture of a laugh and a sob. 

Mom buries her head in Nuffink’s chest and starts crying. Her sobs aren't sad though, they're filled with relief. When you're a Viking, losing some part of you is likely. My dad’s leg is obviously the most familiar example, but I probably know more people who have lost a limb than those who haven't. Even things you wouldn’t expect people to lose, Dad’s friend Snotlout is missing quite several teeth, a man in town named Bucket has lost half his brain, and Gober has just as many intact limbs as he has prosthetics. Yet, we don’t see these things as tragedy, sure it sucks, but it happens. Dad calls in an ‘occupational hazard’, which seems rather fitting. Yes, it’s shocking to see Nuffink without his hand, but that shock doesn’t dilute the major emotion running through my body–joy. 

Because he’s alive! Breathing, and talking, and laughing for Thor’s sake! Who cares about a damn hand?

“I’m so glad you're alive Nuffink,” My thoughts escape me without my permission, but I don’t mind.

“Are you feeling ok?” Mom has lifted her head and is looking up at him with worry. “Does it hurt?”

“Nah, I’m fine,” He sits up then much to Mom’s chagrin. “The healer gave me a bowl of ice water to num this, and some mead,” His smile turns devious and Dad almost shudders. 

“Ok, now you really can’t leave this bed. I don’t even want to think of the kind of damage you could cause while drunk.”

Nuffink laughs and hiccups. I can’t help being slightly mad at him when I begin to remember the situation that got him here in the first place.

“Why in Thor’s name would you do that?” I blurt out, annoyance rearing its ugly head in my tone.

Nuffink looks up at me, his grin not vanishing but shrinking slightly. He holds up his arms in defense. “Look, she told me it would ease the pain, and who am I to say no to–”

“Not the damn mead, moron! Why did you push me out of the way of that pillar?” 

The accusation in my words makes him jump and I feel bad instantly. His smile drops completely now. He gives me an annoyed look and crosses his arms before flinching and instantly uncrossing them. Looks like he was lying about not being in pain.

“Uh, I don’t know. Maybe cause I didn’t want you to get crushed by it.” He makes an exploding motion with his remaining hand near his head to mock me.

“Oh right, so instead you got crushed.” I snap back still glaring at him.

He scoffs and shakes his head. “You didn’t see what I saw Zephyr. That pillar wasn’t going to crush your hand. It was going to crush you. Splat! No more Zephyr.”

“Nuffink!” Mom scolds at his crude statement. 

“Well it’s true!” He shouts back. 

“How did you know it wouldn't have also completely crushed you!” I growl at him, my anger increasing. 

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t,” he looks at his lap. “But that doesn’t matter.” 

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter!?” I’m screaming now.

“Guys, quiet down.” Dad pleads looking at the other sleeping patients. 

Nuffink gives him an apologetic look before returning to glare at me. “Are you forgetting you literally did the exact same thing for me in the forest? Awfully hypocritical don’t you think.” His voice is at a normal volume now but he still sounds mad.

“I have a tiny ass cut on my neck, you lost an arm!” I hiss back.

“First off, hand,” He wags his stump in my face. “Second off, you also got a bad gash on your good hand,” I scoff and roll my eyes, but he continues before I can interrupt him. “Third off, how the hel did you know that guy wouldn't just kill you ?” His tone is mocking then, referring back to my earlier argument.

I clench my jaw and spit out my answer. “I didn’t.” 

He raises both his eyebrows sardonically. “Who would have guessed.” His voice is full of fake wonder. “It’s almost like you don’t really consider consequences when protecting people you love.”

“It’s different,” I say defensively.

He guffaws, “Are you serious? In what world is it different? We did the same damn thing Zephyr!”

“I’m older,” I reply pathetically. “I’m supposed to protect you, that's how it works!”

He’s laughing now at my admittedly weak retort. “That’s literally the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. We’re family. We protect each other. It doesn’t matter who’s older, and clearly from this conversation, I’m more mature.”

“You little–”

He cuts me off. “I know you want me to apologize but I’m not going to. You apologize when you regret something. I don’t regret it. Simple as that. I’d do it again, and again, and again, and again until I had no limbs left. Sure I’d have to get them all replaced with pegs and I’d look like some strange wooden Starfish but at least–”

“Nuffink!” Mom hisses.

“But at least you’d be safe.” He finishes ignoring Mom. “And I know you’d do the same for me.” He gives me an exaggerated pout, and the expression is so ridiculous I can’t help it when my anger fades and I let out a snort. “Wouldn’t you Zeph? Wouldn’t you become a weird deformed starfish to save my life?”

“Thor help me…” Mom whispers, shaking her head.

I laugh and wipe my teary eyes. I can’t stay mad at him. Especially when it’s pretty damn clear I’m being silly. “That’s what family's for,” I reply weakly.

He laughs and gives me a sweet smile before turning back to Mom and Dad. “So,” he chirps, somehow it seems all of his energy has returned. “Can we go to the great hall to get breakfast? I’m starving.”

“Nuff, you need rest,” Dad warns.

Nuffink completely ignores him. He throws off his blankets and races out the healer's door straight to the great hall. 

“What are we going to do with that boy?” Mom laughs, grabbing Dad’s arm.

“I think he’s made it pretty clear.” Dad shrugs and then holds out his other arm for me to grab which I gladly do. “Get some food in him.” 

Chapter Text

“Are you gonna tell me what I’m doing here or not, Dad?” Nuffink sighs, I can see his eyes opening slightly, and him about to get up from the chair I told him to sit down in.

“Keep your eyes closed.” He grumbles and shuts them again. I pull out the contraption I’ve been working on for the past week from behind my back and grab Nuffink’s left arm. I feel him flinch, “Trust me a little Nuff, you're gonna like this.” He takes a deep breath and I can see his shoulders lose some tension. I twist at the device’s first gear until it locks around his stump and I take a step back, grinning. “Okay, you can open your eyes.”

He does, and they dart straight to his stump. His mouth opens in wonder as he examines the device. It’s a metal hand, I personally think it would look pretty realistic from far away, and even from close up someone would probably just assume he’s wearing an odd glove. I watch as Nuffink runs his fingers over it in fascination.

“Wow Dad, it’s really well made.” He grins at me with delight.

“Thank you, is it too heavy? It’s not really hollow, but it’s made of Gronckle iron so it should be lightweight.” 

“No, it's perfect.” I see his eyes fall to the gears on his wrist. “What are all these for?”

My smile widens, “That's where the fun begins son,” I hold the hand in front of his face, “This first one loosens and tightens it so you can get it to fit comfortably.” I twist the first gear closest to the hand to demonstrate loosening the device, before tightening it again.

“Little looser please.” Nuffink winces.

“Sorry.” I quickly loosen it before shifting my hand down to the second gear. “This one controls the hand's joints, so if you turn it clockwise-” I do so and the hand comes together to form a solid fist. “And counterclockwise-” The hand unclenches and becomes flat. I quickly twist it back into a fist to demonstrate the final feature. “How about you try the third one? Clockwise.” 

Nuffink is still so enthralled with the joint moving system that he seems to not have heard me at first, but eventually, he gives the final gear a turn and an audible click sounds. He gasps as he watches four-inch-long knives spring out of the hand’s knuckles. “Thought it might be useful in combat.” I can’t help the air of smugness that makes its way into my voice. I’m very happy with how it turned out. I just hope he is.

“Dad,” He’s not looking at me, he’s smiling wildly at the hand, switching between focusing on the second and third gear. “This. Is. Incredible.” His gaze finally breaks from the device to look at me. His eyes hold a great deal of admiration and thankfulness. Nuffink has always worn his emotions on his sleeve. It’s easy for even people who don’t know him well to tell how he’s feeling, and since he’s in a very pleasant mood most of the time he’s a joy to be around. It’s one of the many things I’ve always loved about my boy.

“Make sure to tell me if you notice any issues or you want some things adjusted, I can also take it back if you had something else in mind.” 

“What? No way!” He holds the hand to his chest possessively. “You're never getting this back, it’s mine. That’s how gifts work.” 

I chuckle. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? Dad, I love it. Do you realize how awesome this is? I don’t even need to carry a mace anymore! I can just bludgeon people with my own hand!”

“Only enemies,” I say quickly, raising a warning finger. “It’s not to be used for friendly combat, understand.”

“Huh, yeah, right, sure.” He’s clearly not listening to me at all. He stands up from the chair, runs to the door of the forge, and sticks his head out of it. “Zephyr! You wanna spar?”

“Huh?” Zephyr shouts back.

“Do you want to spar!” He screams louder.

After a few seconds of thinking she calls back, “Sure!”

“Great, I'll be out in a minute.” He tightens the hand a bit, releases it into a relaxed position, and clicks the knives back inside. He finally looks up to notice the look I’m giving him. “What? Did you see her steal my dinner last night? I’d count her as an enemy.”

I sigh and rub at my temple. “Just be careful, please.”

He blinks at me with innocence. “Am I ever not?”

“Yes, the vast majority of the time. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I’ve witnessed you approach any situation with even a modicum of caution.”

“Well, I’ll be careful this time, I just want to beat her smug ass for once.” He looks down at the ground.

“Don’t talk about your sister like that, your recovery pass is starting to expire.” I glare at him.

He raises his hands above his head in defense. “Ok, ok. Zephyr is just so amazing, and with this awesome new hand, maybe I can finally fulfill my dreams and best my big sister!” He raises an eyebrow at me. “Better now?”

“Watch the sass, but yes.” A smile makes its way back onto my face. “Ok, now go have fun.”

He grins and salutes me. “Thanks Dad! Love you.”

“Love you to Nuff.”

I fall onto the chair of my workbench. Toothless, who has been half asleep on the stone floor lifts his head and gives a big dragon yawn.

“Hey Mr. Sleepy Head,” He stretches almost like a cat before walking over to me and sitting down next to my bench. “Kids, am I right?” He grumbles in agreement. I dig through the chest next to the bench and pull out the hooks and pulley systems I’ve been working on for the mission. I examine the objects and cringe. The hooks are too pliable and need a lot more reinforcement, and I can’t get the pulley system to stop squeaking, which is worrying. “What do you say we get back to work on now that Nuffink’s hand is done?”

He looks down at the inventions and can’t hide his dissatisfied grumble. I glare at him. “You see how clean your work is when you only have time to work on it at two in the morning!”

He apologizes, or really he makes the sound I’ve always interpreted to mean an apology, which is a low cooing sound. 

“Yeah, yeah, everyone’s a critic,” I grumble. I look back up at him, “How about you do me a solid and go get Gobber, he might know what to do to improve these.” Toothless nods and bolts out the front door.”

I shake my head. “Having my craftsmanship insulted by a dragon, how far have I really fallen.”

Chapter Text

I’m sitting up on a cliff top overlooking the village waiting for Koll. I’m still rubbing at the shoulder Nuffink hit yesterday. 

Stupid Metal hand.

Dagur and Koll weren't able to track down all of Madguts soldiers. What they did find, however, or didn’t find I guess, was several missing ships at the dock. The day after the battle Dagur and Dad announced that we could expect word to spread about dragons being present on the island and that we should prepare for oncoming attacks. The damp mood rose when they both said that we should now have the dragons out of the cave to also defend the island. This means for the past week Koll and I have been able to fly together, during the day. The view is even more spectacular when lit up by sunlight. We hardly even talked the first day, just looked below in wonder.

“That was hard to watch,” Koll says as I watch him come down from the clouds on Lumber to land beside me on the cliff. 

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m starting to think you get a kick out of confusing me. What was hard to watch?”

“You getting your ass handed to you by your baby brother.” He dismounts Lumber and scratches him behind his ears.

“That's low. Even for you.” I chuck a rock at him which he dodges. 

“Want to make it a losing streak Zephyr?” He holds up his fists in a challenge and tilts his head.

“You don’t have a metal hand with knives in it, you’ll be easy compared to what I’ve had to endure yesterday.” I stand up and dust off my skirt before cracking my neck. I turn to Dart, “Go play with Lumber girl.”

She and Lumber prance into the forest and I turn back to Koll. “Really think you can handle me Zephyr. I don’t want to kill you with the sheer force of my awesomeness.”

“I think I’ll survive,” I say dryly. “It doesn’t insult your manly honor to fight a girl? Most of the Berk boys won’t spar me even if I pay them.”  

“They're missing out,” He grins and we start circling each other. “I’ve seen you fight. You’ll be a worthy adversary, even if your defeat is inevitable.”

“Keep telling yourself that weirdo.” I through a punch at him which he dodges and grabs my forearm. I duck under his shoulder forcing him to let go from the discomfort it brings. He turns around and throws another blow which I duck to avoid. He blocks the next punch I throw with his arm and I growl. 

“Surrender?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Never!” I grab his shoulder to push him to the ground. He grabs my ankle causing me to trip falling on my back.

“Looks like I’ve wo-” I turn over onto my stomach and make a sweeping kick at his legs causing him to fall on his back. Before he can get up I crawl on top of him and pin his hand over his head.

“I win.” I smile smugly. “That’s why you don’t gloat until the fight is over."

“Who says it’s over?” He struggles to get me off him, but it won’t work. My Mom taught me how to keep an enemy secured and he’d have to be three times my size to break out of my hold.

He pants and his head falls back against the dirt. “Ok, I guess it is over.” he looks up at me in annoyance. “You gonna let me go now?”

“Nope,” I grin, squeezing his wrists tighter. “I’m savoring my victory. I think I like you better when you can’t bolt up a tree at a moment's notice. ” 

“You make me sound like a squirrel.” He snorts.

“Maybe I should start calling you that huh Squirrel?” 

“I’d rather you not.”

“Squirrel it is then.”

We laugh. I don’t really notice my laugh though, because I’m listening to him. His laugh is big and snorty and full of raspy undertones. It’s lovely, really. I take the opportunity to look at his face. His nose has healed since last week, but it’s a bit more crooked than I remember it being. It’s not off-putting at all though. It’s charming and makes him look more virile. It took me longer to notice the split lip he also got in the battle, but that appears to have healed as well. 

Is it weird I’m staring at his lips?

He must think it is because he’s not smiling or laughing anymore, and his body has gone very stiff, and his face is very, very red. Almost as red as his hair. 

“Zephyr?” He whispers, and his voice sounds nervous.

My body feels nervous, my stomach feels queasy, and my hands are sweaty to the point he could probably get free now if he wanted to. He doesn’t though. My mind feels fuzzy though, which I’m not sure I like. 

I lean down, close my eyes, and peck him on his lips.

That's all it really is, a peck. He doesn’t even have time to close his eyes. I look down at him and his face seems even more red, but his nervousness is replaced with shock.

Why does he look so shocked?

Wait. What the HEL did I just do?!

I stand up abruptly and I can feel my face also turning red. I don’t think I look shocked though, cause I don’t feel shocked. I feel absolutely horrified at my stupidity.

“I have to go.” I feel my dry mouth say as I walk past him into the forest.

“Zephyr, wait!” I can hear him start to run but I’m already running as fast as I can away from him.

Away from what I’ve done.

What I’ve ruined.

I feel leaves and pine needles brush uncomfortably against my skin as I run, but I don’t stop. I can’t. I turn to avoid running into quicksand, and feel a branch hit me in the face which stuns me for a second, but just as I start running again I feel a hand close around my wrist to stop me.

A very familiar calloused hand.

“Zephyr?” Koll’s soothing voice is quiet, and his grip is gentle. I could keep running if I wanted to, but I don’t. I’m silent as I stare at the ground in front of me. “Zephyr, please look at me.” His voice is pleading but I can’t bring myself to comply with his request. I’m too embarrassed. Too guilty.

“It’s not very nice to chase people down in the woods,” I mumble, still not looking at him.

“It’s also not very nice to bolt off in the middle of a conversation.” He rebuts.

“We weren't having a conversation. We were...” I don’t finish and I feel my cheeks redden.

“I know what we were doing Zephyr.” 

I gulp, trying to soothe my dry throat. “I’m so sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” I can almost sense him tilting his head the way he always does.

“Well, first, we’re friends so I just made things super awkward, second, and more importantly, I just kissed you while I held you down. That's so creepy and violating. It’s terrible. I’m terrible.”

The silence to my answer does nothing to help my guilt, even less so does his response. “You're not wrong.” I close my eyes tight. He hates me. He thinks I’m a creep. I’ve ruined everything.

“But you got lucky.”

I finally turn around to look at him with confusion. “What do you mean I got lucky? And why do you always have to be so damn vague.”
He chuckles and shrugs. “I mean, you're right. That’s not something I’d recommend making a habit of because it won’t go over well with most people, but you got lucky because, well, I wanted it to happen.”

I blink at him. Once. Twice. “You wanted me to kiss you?”

“Yeah,” He blushes and scratches the back of his neck. “Granted I was hoping it would be a bit longer.” He cringes and looks at the ground. “That made me sound creepy.”

“No more creepy than my actions made me seem.” I take a step closer to him. “Why did you want it?”

“Why did you kiss me?” 

“I asked you first.” I retort crossing my arms.

He sighs and looks back up at me. “Why do you think so?”

“That’s not an answer,” I whisper.

“Well, I like you.” He smiles. Not a grin, but a sweet small smile that makes my heart flutter. “You're fun to be around. You're charming with a good sense of humor, and um,” he kicks at the ground awkwardly. “You're pretty.” 

“You think I’m pretty?” I say breathlessly.

“Yes, and I think it's funny you didn’t question the other stuff.” 

“Well, all those observations are pretty obvious.” I grin.

“I think that last one is also very obvious.” He winks.

That makes my face go really red, and I have to look down. “Ok, that was pretty smooth.”

He snorts, and I feel him come closer and grab my hand. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“The same stuff you said.”

He shakes his head. “Nuh uh, not fair. You don’t get to force me to say all that stuff and then chicken out.”

I glare at him. “Don’t call me chicken, Squirrel.”

“Well then don’t act like a chicken, chicken.” He raises an eyebrow challengingly.

Oh, so that's how you wanna play?

“Well, you're cool, good-looking, and smart.” 

“All well-known facts.” He smirks, squeezing my hand.

“And I think you're very charming, sweet, and,” I use my free hand to push him against the tree. “You saved my life,” I bat my eyelashes at him, “hero.” He holds his breath and his eyes seem to bulge out of his skull. I chuckle, “You can dish it out, but you can’t take it?”

“Guess so.” He laughs breathlessly. “Was that your first kiss?” 

“Of course not.” I let go of his hand to cross my arms. “I’m 18, how pathetic do you think I am? 

“Well, I for one am honored to have you as my first kiss at the ripe old age of 20.”

“WHAT! That was- Oh Thor I’m so sorry.” I start panicking.

“Kidding, Kidding.” He laughs and holds up his hands to calm me.

I punch him in the shoulder. “Not funny, I already felt bad enough.”

He rubs his shoulder still laughing. “Didn’t we already clarify that I was happy you kissed me? What would it have mattered if it was my first?”

“Well, a first kiss is a bigger deal than just a kiss.”

“It still felt like a pretty big deal to me.” 

I smile and grab back onto his hand. “Yeah, me too.” 

I can see his gaze shift from my eyes to my nose, then down to my lips. “You're really, really pretty Zephyr.” He puts a hand on my cheek. I stop breathing. I’m about to put a hand on his waist since that feels like the right thing to do.

I feel a massive dragon crash into my back. The hand that was about to go on his waist instead punches him in the stomach when my fist clenches on instinct. I trip onto the ground landing hard on my butt. I see Koll keel over in pain, clutching his stomach and groaning. 

“I’m so sorry!” I stand up hurriedly and offer a hand to help him up.

He stays on his knees squeezing his eyes shut and bites his first before hissing, “Just, just give me a minute.”

I don’t retract my hand, I wait until he has recovered enough to grab it and I pull him to his feet. “I’m so sorry,” I repeat.

Now that was smooth. Nice going Zephyr.

“Don’t be,” his voice is still pained. “It’s not your fault.” He glares over my shoulder. “It’s their fault.” 

I look over my shoulder and am greeted by the very guilty faces of our dragons. I copy his glare.

“Ok, I should get going.” He mounts a still guilty Lumber “You really know how to wreck a moment don’t you?” Lumber shrinks a little more. “Aww it’s ok Lumber, I know you two were just playing.” He looks up at me and smirks. “Speaking of playing, wanna race?”

“You are so on.” I grin. He directs Lumber to fly off before I’m even done agreeing. “You’ll lose even with a head start!”

“I wouldn’t count on it!” I hear him shout back. I get on Dart's back and she gives me an apologetic coo. “I forgive you girl.” I stroke her head soothingly. “Now, help me beat this clown twice in one day!” She takes off and I smile.

Yeah, feels like a pretty big deal.

Chapter Text

Koll and I land Dart and Lumber right outside his family's hut. We both remove the saddles from them and wave goodbye as they fly back to their cave.

“Do you ever wonder what it looks like?” Koll questions as he holds the door open for me.

I don’t answer, walking into his hut and grabbing a piece of bread before spreading some yak butter on it, humming all the while.

“Uh, you can’t just eat my food!” He walks over to me and tries to grab the knife out of my hand, “And I asked you a question.”

“I’m aware,” I say smugly as I continue to butter the slice of bread. “I decided to not answer you when you choose to be vague again.”

Koll rolls his eyes while trying to take my food and utensil. Ok, I guess it is his food, but I’m hungry and I can tell he doesn’t actually care. He eventually manages to take the knife out of my hand and sets it down. “I mean do you ever wonder what the dragon's cave looks like?”  

“I don’t know, big, full of dragons and their shit, hey!” He takes the rest of my bread before shoving it into his mouth. I watch with an open mouth as he swallows my food. The gall! “I was eating that!” I try to punch him but he grabs my fists and holds them steady on the countertop.

I glare up at him as he grins down at me. “This feels familiar.” 

“I have no clue what you're referring to.” I smile, batting my eyelashes at him. His breath hitches and I see his Adam’s apple bob in his throat. “What's wrong Koll, you don’t seem so smug anymore,” I say innocently.

“Nope.” Is all he says as red blotches appear on his neck.

“What, no retort?” I snort.

“None whatsoever.” I feel one of his hands slip off my own and come to rest on my cheek. “Can I kiss you?”

I giggle a little, “Why are you asking? I didn’t.”

“Well, I guess I'm just a better person than you!” 

I use my free hand to gently shove his shoulder. “Shut up squirrel.”

“I will, once you answer my question.” 

“What question?” He gives me a deadpan look once I say that. I laugh, “Yes, Koll. The answer is yes.” 

I see a smile take over his lips before I can’t see them anymore because they’re on my own. I slip my free hand into his hair and I discover it feels even more fluffy than it looks. He tilts his head a little so our noses are more out of each other’s way. I wasn’t lying when I told Koll that he wasn’t my first kiss. He wasn’t. My first kiss was with a boy in New Berk when I was ten. I had a crush on a boy named Aevar, and the other kids dared me to kiss him. So I walked up to him and asked to kiss him. He said yes, but then he said my lips tasted like fish, made a raspberry noise then ran off. So, not a great first kiss. Kissing Koll is very different. Mainly because I’m no longer 10, but also because, unlike Aevar, he likes me. It feels good to know he likes me, to know he wants to keep kissing me. The remaining hand he had on top of mine comes up to my waist. His lips are soft and taste of mint leaves. I clutch his hair tighter and he groans. 

“Sorry,” I say breathlessly when I pull away, bringing my hands down to his shoulders and looking up at his face. His skin is flushed, his eyes are hazy, and his lips are swollen. Do I look like that? 

He chuckles and rests his forehead on my shoulder. The hand he previously had on my cheek falls down to grip the countertop, but he hasn’t moved the hand on my waist. “I didn’t want you to stop, that was a good sound.”  

“Sorry.”

“Stop saying sorry and come back here.” He starts kissing me again, I grip my shoulders tighter. I can feel him smiling, which makes me smile, and that makes the whole thing a lot harder, but it also makes my heart flutter so I don’t really care that much. 

I hear an audible gasp, and for a second I think it comes from Koll, but then I realize he’s too close to me for his gasping to sound that quiet. I open my eyes and I see my dad standing next to Chief Dagur, both gapping at me and Koll. 

In an instant, I try to push Koll away, but since he’s still clutching my waist when he falls, I also fall on top of him. Could this get any worse?  

“What the hell did you do that for?” Koll groans, this time in pain. I tilt his chin up so he can see the faces, well more likely the boots , of our two fathers. His face which was so red a minute ago absolutely drains of color. 

I realize then that I am still on top of him so I quickly stand up and put my hands behind my back as if what we were just caught doing is an object that can be hidden.

“Hi Dad,” I say, attempting a casual tone, but it comes out far more squeaky and panicked. “I thought you and Dagur were going to be in a meeting around this time.” 

“We are,” My Dad says, still holding onto his shocked expression. “Here, this is where we are holding our meeting.”

“Oh, I assumed you guys would meet in the great hall!” My voice seems to go up a whole octave.

“Oh it’s far too loud in there around this time to get anything done,” Dagur says, seemingly recovered from his shock, unlike my Dad. “Besides, if we had met there we wouldn’t have been able to see you two!” He throws a hand around my Dad’s shoulders. “Can you believe it Hiccup! Your daughter, my son, in love! If they get married we really will be brothers.”

“Dad! For thors sake!” Koll yells sitting up and burying his face in his knees.

“I’m sorry son,” Dagur still has a huge smile on as he walks over to pick Koll off the floor and give him a huge hug” I just get so excited about the idea of you growing up and finding love. It’s a beautiful thing, two Vikings in the throes of passion”

“Oh my gods! Can you not be a weirdo for 5 minutes!” Koll pushes his Dad away and rakes a hand across his face in frustration. 

“Think about it Hiccup!” He raises his hands in the air with palms first, clearly about to pitch what he believes to be an excellent idea. “Berserker Island: Home Of the Defenders of the Wing and the Hooligans! Or we could move to your new Island! I’ve heard it’s lovely. We might have to work on the title though. It’s a bit of a mouthful, and we'll have to come up with something good if we want our combined tribes to still strike fear into the hearts of our enemies!”

“Those all sound great Dagur,” Dad says. He seems to have calmed down. “I’d love to discuss this further, but I'm sorry to say I think we should postpone our meeting. I'd like to have a little talk with Zephyr.”

I gulp.

“Oh, of course, Hiccup! No problem. I’d also like to talk to Koll about his plans for proposing!” Dagur grins as he grabs Koll’s hand.

“Take me with you!” Koll whispers desperately. 

I give him a pained smile before waving goodbye as we exit the hut.

Chapter Text

I decide to take Zephyr on a walk after we leave Dagur’s hut. She’s very quiet for the first half mile, which I guess makes sense considering she probably feels quite embarrassed. I remember how embarrassed I got when my father walked in on me and Astrid, granted he had walked in on a far more… intense display of affection than what me and Dagur had seen. I shake away the thought and look back at Zephyr who’s staring stubbornly at the floor. 

“I’m not mad, or disappointed if that's what you worried about.” I attempt a reassuring tone.

“I didn’t think you were,” She says this, but I see her shoulders relax a little.

 We are silent for another minute, but I feel far less tension in the air now. “Do you like him?” 

She seems taken aback by my question, giving me an incredulous look. “If I didn’t like him I wouldn't have kissed him.” She sounds almost offended.

I put my hands up in mock defense. “Just checking” I see her look back at the path. “How much do you like him?”

“What?”

“Do you like him a little or a lot?”

“I don’t know,” She covers her face and I see her ears turn pink. “I think… probably the latter.”

I smile at her as she peeks through her hands. “That's great, I’m glad.”

She snorts, “What, do you want to do what Dagur said, combine your Islands?”

“My only ball in the game is you Zephyr, I’m glad because I want you to be happy. I don’t care if he’s a chief's son or a fisherman. I just want you to find someone who makes you smile.”  

She looks shyly at the ground. “Koll makes me smile.”

“Then I like him.” I shrug and stop as we reach the top of the hill. “Simple as that.”

She looks up from the ground and clears her throat, I get the sense that she doesn’t want to talk about this anymore. “What are we up here for?” She looks off the edge of the cliff at the ocean. I can hear her gulp as she stares at the jagged rocks erupting out of the violent waves.

“We,” I declare, taking two packages out of my satchel and tossing one to Zephyr, “Are going flying. We’ve got the whole day, Your Mom is going to take care of all my duties. I was planning on taking you later, but being early is never a problem.” 

She looks up from the flight suit in her hands at me with horror in her eyes. “What? You can’t be serious. Have you seen those rocks?” 

“Don’t worry, we won’t be on our own.” I stick my thumb and pointer finger in my mouth before making a loud whistle and pretty soon Toothless emerges from the bushes giving us a big gummy smile.

Zephyr still looks worried and I see her eyes dance off the cliff’s edge again.

I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a little squeeze. “Don’t worry Zeph, Toothless will take us away from the rocks before we start flying, and both of us will be right by your side the whole time, nothing will happen to you.”

That seems to help, she gives me a determined nod before turning around to let me strap her into the flight suit and then mounting Toothless. I do the same and let Zephyr grab onto my waist. I guide toothless into the air and we fly about a half mile away from the cliff before starting to hover. I stand up on Toothless’s back and help Zephyr do the same, although she does wobble a bit as she tries to find her footing.

“Ok Zeph, I’m going to jump. Try to do exactly what you see me do. Remember Toothless will be right here the whole time.” I plant my feet firmly before jumping off Toothless’s back. I feel the updraft fill the leather between my arms and torso before I look back at Zephyr. She lets out a nervous breath before jumping, and even though it starts off a little wobbly, she is soon flying right in the middle of me and Toothless. Pride floods my body “Excellent job Zephyr! You're a natural!” 

Her smile is huge, she looks almost as proud of herself as I am of her. “Thanks, Dad, I can’t believe I-” She yelps when she falls a little after bending her arm.

“You're okay! You're okay!” I say grabbing her hand. “I got you Zephyr. Just keep your arms straight.” She breathes a sigh of relief as she levels out.

We fly for a long time, at least 6 hours. Every so once in a while we need to get back on Toothless when we sink too close to the water. I’m trying to get her used to using one of these so she can come on the mission. It will be nice having a few younger more agile people in The Hidden World, I’m definitely not the same person I was when I was 20. Eventually, I decide we should stop and find an island to rest. We land by a pond and refill our water pouches.

“That was amazing!” Zephyr breathed as she lays down on the white sand next to me and we stare up at the blue sky.

“You did so well sweetheart.” I watch as Toothless breaths fire on the sand in an attempt to take a nap; however, the sand turns to molten glass as his incredibly hot plasma hits it. He grumbles in annoyance before flying off to try and find some rock to sleep on. 

“Dad, can I talk to you about something?” She sounds hesitant about asking me whatever it is that's clearly bothering her. I turn my head and see her sitting up twiddling her thumbs, her eyebrows pushed together in distress. 

I use a hand to push myself up so I’m sitting beside her, I dip my head so I can more easily see the expression she’s hiding with her hair. “Yeah of course what is it?” 

I watch as her chest expands with a breath she lets out in a defeated manner. “Do you, um, do think it would be easier to become chief if I was married?”

Well, that was absolutely not what I was expecting her to say.

I give myself a second to recover from the randomness of her question. I clear my throat. “Uh, what do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

She’s right, I do. It’s been a contentious topic with the elders since the day she was born, having a woman be the chief. She was so small, and she hardly cried, just looked around the strange new world that greeted her with ample curiosity. I remember when I first held her and how she grabbed onto my finger, I’d never felt that kind of love before. It was different from the love I had for my Dad, the love I had for Toothless, even the love I had for Astrid. It was love filled with pride and it asked absolutely nothing in return for its presence. I also remember when I was urged out of the room by three of the village elders. They told me that a girl could never be the chief and that me and Astrid had to try for a boy immediately. Ever since then Astrid and I have had an ongoing argument with the elders about which of our kids is to become chief. They wouldn’t even let me hang the portrait of me and Zephyr in the great hall, it had to be hung in our hut. Zephyr has always wanted to be chief, and she's always felt distressed whenever the elders told her she couldn't. 

“Zeph, you don’t have to get married to be made chief.” I put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

“Don’t I?” She looks up at me and her smile hurts. “I mean if we did what Dagur suggested both me and Koll would be able to rule together, and the elders wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

“Do you want to get married right now?”

“Of course not but-”

“There is no but about it,” I scoot closer to her and give her a stern look. “You said you like Koll right?” She nods her head, “Well if you do the worst thing you could do is rush into marriage before you're ready just for a title.” 

She sighs and looks at the ground. “I know, I just want it so badly.”

“I know Zeph, I want it for you too, and we will figure out how to make it happen. No rushed marriage needed.” I grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. “They’ll see soon that there's no better Viking for the job.”

She smiles and rests her head on my shoulder. “Thanks Dad.” She whispers, and I can feel her relax.

“Anytime kid.”

I suddenly hear a snap of a twig. At first, I assume it’s Toothless or some other animal, but then from the corner of my eye, I see men emerge from the forest both carrying battle axes. I stand up to position Zephyr behind me and rest my hand on my sword.

“Hello Sir.” The bigger of the two men gives me a smile and approaches me. I instantly recognized the crest on the man's breastplate. A simple carving of a severed head on a stick. They’re Meatheads. A longtime enemy of both dragons and Berk. Their island is rather far away, so we luckily don’t come in contact with them often. But it normally doesn’t go well on the rare occasions that we do. 

“Hi,” I fake a friendly smile as I try to subtly back Zephyr away from the two men. “What brings you gentlemen here?” 

“Oh you know we’re just passing through, picking up supplies for the rest of our voyage.” The smaller man says as he goes over to the pond to fill a large pouch with water the larger man keeps looking at me.

“Well we were just leaving, so there'll be more supplies for you.” I continue backing up before I notice the large man no longer looking me in the eyes and instead squinting at my lower half. 

I look down and realize that the Hooligan chief seal is very clearly carved into my belt buckle. 

As fast as I can I draw my sword. I’d tell Zephyr to run but we’re only 10 feet away from the ocean and there's really nowhere to go. The taller man gives a deafening battle cry and draws his battle ax and thrusts it at my chest, I parry it and try to get at his neck but he blocks that too. It becomes apparent his battle cry wasn’t just for the purpose of giving himself strength since soon countless more men emerge from the forest charging at me. I finally manage to disarm the man in front of me, but as soon as I do I feel hands grabbing me from behind and pushing me down until I’m on my knees. 

I see Zephyr about to come back to help me when I shout “Don’t!” She hesitates for a second and then I hear the unmistakable screech of Toothless as he snarls in front of the men approaching Zephyr. I’m trying to run through plans in my head to get us all out of this but I can’t think of any that don’t involve the possibility of Zephyr getting hurt, and any possibility is unacceptable. The men on the beach have spears and nets and once they recover from their shock at seeing a dragon it’s likely they’ll use them to subdue Toothless. If that happens there will be no chance he and Zephyr get out of here. 

“Toothless!” I shout and I see him looking at me with big concerned green eyes. “Please, get her out of here,” I beg him. There are far more men on my side of the beach, at least 50 and there's no way Toothless can get me out of here without becoming too injured to fly us home.

“What are you waiting for, get it!” I hear a man's voice yell and I see spears thrown Toothless’s way all of which he very narrowly dodges.

“You can’t get us both!” I yell at him before I panic as I see a man with an ax approaching Zephyr. “Please Toothless!”

He gives me a mournful warble before pulling himself away from my gaze and diving at Zephyr just as the man with the large ax takes a swing at her. The spears keep flying at him, but pretty soon he's too far in the air for them to reach him. He’s holding onto Zephyr with his front legs, and I can hear her screaming at him to go back as he flies off into the Distance. I can’t help the smile that crosses my face despite my situation. Toothless is safe, Zephyr is safe, and that's all that matters. 

I feel my head jerked into the angry face of one man with a dark black beard. “Call it back, now!” He sneers as he grabs the back of my hair and pulls it hard enough to make my eyes water.

I glare up at him. “I would rather die.”

“Oh,” the grin that sneaks its way onto his face is wholly sinister. “I don’t think that will be hard to accomplish.” I feel a hard metal object hit the back of my skull, and everything goes dark.

Chapter Text

I scream. I scream until my throat burns. I scream until I can’t see my Dad’s limp body anymore, or that horrible island, or anything but water and sky. I keep trying to wrestle out of Toothless’s grip. I don't even care that it’s most likely impossible that I not only survive the fall into the water, but also the swim back to the island. All I care about is my dad. My dad who was knocked out by that ugly man's hammer. My dad who was unceremoniously dragged back to the Meathead’s ship. My dad who I can’t see anymore. My screams slowly but surely turn into crying. The kind of hiccupy crying where nothing but your own tears can be seen. The kind of crying where you can’t tell where your tears end and your snot begins. Toothless is completely silent. He just keeps flying. No warbles, no growls, no groans. He just lets me cry. And for that I am grateful. I can’t bring myself to be mad at him for taking me away from the island. Dad practically begged him to. 

We’re faster going back to Berserker Island than we're coming from it, all thanks to Toothless’s unwavering speed, but it still takes us at least 3 hours to get back. It’s dark, very dark when we finally return to the Island. Toothless puts me down on the doorstep of our guest hut and I fall to the ground in defeat. I just lie there. I've been screaming and crying so much that all I can do anymore is make quiet painful whimpers.

Eventually, I hear the door creak open and feel a familiar form pull me into her arms as she starts stroking my hair before urging me to look at her.

“Zephyr? What’s wrong?” Mom’s voice is gentle but it’s not hard to tell how much fear it holds. “Where is your dad?”

“He-he…” I know I need to tell her, it’s the only way I can help him. But the awful combination of pain in my throat and chest makes it difficult to breathe, much less speak. “We got ambushed by the Meathead tribe, they.” I somehow manage another sob. “Mom, they got him, and he wouldn't let me help him, he told Toothless to take me away.” I’m crying in my mother’s arms as if I were still a child. I certainly feel like a child. Weak, helpless, and small. My mom holds me tight, despite her attempt to comfort me I can feel her shaking violently. The strength she normally carries everywhere she goes is nowhere to be found. She is every bit as terrified and devastated as I am.

“Come on,” she says with unsteadiness in her tone. She pulls me to my feet and I blindly follow as I clutch her hand. She squeezes it to reassure me, or maybe herself. I can't tell what her intention is, all I know is that it is thoroughly appreciated.

Eventually, we stop in front of Dagur’s hut. Mom lifts a fist and pounds on the door, not stopping until Dagur opens the door. He’s rubbing his eyes, not even looking at my mom yet. “There better be a damn good reason for you waking me up in the middle of the night.” When he sees my mom’s face all annoyance leaves his gaze, instantly replaced with concern. “Astrid? What happened?” 

She takes a deep breath before letting out the horrible words that make everything I've been through today real. “Hiccup is gone.”

Chapter Text

We meet in the great hall. It’s still pitch black outside. As soon as those horrible words left my mouth Dagur gathered our tribe's military forces in the hall. Breathing hurts. It feels like I’m inhaling some sort of poisonous gas instead of oxygen. My chest burns with the effort to keep myself breathing. I didn’t bother to put shoes on when I left our hut so I can feel the splintery wood bite into my bare feet. It doesn’t bother me though, it's a good distraction from the pain in my chest, but it doesn’t quell the pain consuming my mind. Hiccup is gone, Hiccup has been captured by an enemy tribe, Hiccup could-

I shake my head and let out an unsteady breath that feels like acid in my throat. The stress of this situation is making me feel physically ill. Dagur is pacing, which takes a while because of how vast the room is. On likely his seventh loop Mala grabs his arm to stop his stressful routine. 

“My love, that is not helpful right now.” Her voice is calm but there is a stern quality to it, and maybe even a drop of panic. 

“Sorry, sorry. I just don’t know what else to do!” Dagur’s panic isn’t concealed under any other emotion. He grabs at his hair and pulls violently. 

“We go after him,” Heather chimes in. Her hands plant themselves firmly on the round table in front of us. “Obviously!”

“We know Heather, but we require a detailed plan,” Mala says as she puts a hand on the shoulder of a still hysterical Dagur. “When, where, with whom, and what. That is what we must agree on.”

“If I may give some input.” I turn to see Gro the Berserker General approach the center table. “It would be most intelligent if we plan for a while before doing anything rash.”

“What do you mean ‘a while’?” I don’t mean for my question to come out as a snarl but it does anyway. I’ve tried so hard to get along with this asshole, but I just can’t get over how much I hate his smug, condescending face and voice. Heather told me he was only given the title of general because his father who had been general for over 50 years had died in battle, and a soldier reported that before he passed he had asked for his son to inherit his title. Heather does most of the military stargazing, his title is mainly in name only. Hiccup told me that it was necessary for us to get along in order to keep peace between the Berserker and Hooligan tribes.

Hiccup.

I shut my eyes tight before looking up to glare at Gro.

“I understand this situation may be sensitive to you Mrs. Haddock, but it is my job to make sure we don’t put my tribe in unnecessary danger.” He turns to Dagur and adjusts his posture before putting on a more respectful expression. “Chief, It’s ridiculous that we couldn’t wait till morning to discuss this. I think we should congregate here again in the morning and give ourselves at least a few days of planning until we go to rescue Chief Hiccup.” 

Dagur shakes his head. “Gro I’m not so sure that's a good id-”

“No.” I interrupt as I look from Gro to Dagur, “We leave by daybreak. End of discussion”

“Mrs Haddock.” Gro sounds impatient as he pinches the skin at the top of his nose. “I understand-”

“First off,” I approach him before grabbing the collar of his tunic and pulling it hard until he has no choice but to look me in the eye. “You will address me as General Astrid Haddock, not Mrs. Haddock. Secondly, I wasn’t suggesting, I was telling.” 

“It would be dangerous and foolish to leave without a proper plan” He returns my glare.

“I wasn’t suggesting leaving without a plan,” I say attempting a civil demeanor, but probably not conceding considering I’m still gripping this dickhead’s shirt. “I was merely stating that your lazy ass doesn’t get to just go back to bed when my husband is off being tortured at Thor knows where!”

“My soldiers are tired, it would be idiotic to lead them into battle tired and vulnerable for some other tribe’s Chief.” He attempts to get out of my hold but I don’t let him.

“Tell you soldiers to suck it up and get packing.” I snarl in his face.

“You are endangering our tribe with your hysteria. I was bewildered when Dagur informed me the Hooligans made a woman their general, but your composure, or lack thereof has made it abundantly clear that the only strategic skill you possess is how to service your husband.” Gro sneers.

The room goes entirely silent. I can see Heather, Mala, and Dagur’s disgusted expressions from the corner of my eye, but I don’t pay them any mind. My attention is entirely focused on the nerve of the man in front of me.

“That's rather funny coming from the man who only got his title because his daddy died,” I whisper angrily.

Gro clenches his jaw. “Don’t you dare speak of my father, whore.” 

“I will not let you endanger my family with your idiotic indifference.” I finally let go of his tunic which is now stretched to the point at which it hangs far lower than before. “We leave at daybreak. End of discussion.”

“But-” Gro starts as he furiously tries to smooth out his tunic.

“No buts,” Heather glares at Gro as she picks up her ax. “We do what she says, prepare our weapons and the dragons, and Gro if you don’t watch what you say I’ll have you demoted, father or no father.”

“You,” He spits at Heather, “Are not the Chief.” 

“I am,” Dagur raises his hand and gives an awkward smile. “And whatever my sister says goes.” 

I still hear Gro muttering swear words under his breath when I leave the Great Hall.

I see Zephyr the second I open the door to our hut. Her eyes and nose are still red but she isn’t crying anymore. I can tell what she wants to know even though she doesn’t say it out loud. “We’re leaving at daybreak to rescue your father.”

“I’m coming.” 

“No you're not,” I say firmly, pushing past her to grab my weapons. 

“Mom it's my fault he got captured! I have to do this.” She pleads.

“Zephyr, I can’t save your father if I’m focused on keeping you safe.” I grab my ax and sheath it into my back holster. 

“I won’t get in the way.” Her voice is desperate, but I don’t give in.

“Sweetheart it's not about you getting in the way. You could be the most capable soldier there and I’d still worry about you. You're my daughter Zephyr, that's how it works, and I can’t afford to worry about anyone but Dad right now. Ok?” 

I finally turn around and I see her staring at the floor, her shoulders slumped in defeat. I step forward and push her bangs out of her face before tilting her chin up. “Hey, look at me.” She does and her eyes are filled with guilt. It makes my heart hurt. “This is not your fault. Dad did his job, he protected you, and I’m glad he did. I can’t be mad at him. I know I'd do the same thing. That’s not your fault. You can’t stop a parent from protecting their kids. Nothing comes before you and Nuffink for Dad and me.” I stroke her cheeks and quietly ask, “You got that?”

“Yeah, just…” She takes a deep breath before the guilt in her eyes turns into determination. “Bring him home safe.”

“I will. I promise.”

Chapter Text

I feel consciousness overtake my body slowly like a festering illness. My mind starts to process sensation, my limbs start to move, and eventually, I can form a vague memory of the events that got me into this situation. 

Meatheads. Even though I’m aware of the complexities of my situation, that's really the only clear thought that can form in my mind. The all-consuming painful beat in my skull makes anything else seem nearly impossible

I notice the wetness present on the back of my head, and when I bring my hand up to touch it I notice the metal cuffs that bind my wrists. The chains that anchor my hands to the floor are luckily long enough so that reaching the back of my head is possible, but from the way they straighten when I do so, I can infer that not much more movement is possible. When my hand reaches my head I feel a startling sting that would have probably made me jerk my hand away if my reflexes were more intact. I do, however, manage a quick hiss at the pain. Along with the sting, I feel a sticky warm liquid coating my fingertips. I pull the hand in front of my face to examine it and even though it's too dark to quite make out the color it's impossible that the substance is anything other than blood. 

My blood.

The painful memory of a hard crack against my skull sears its way into my brain. I blink a few times trying to force my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I shift in my seat and I notice that my foot is also bound and is far more restricted than my hands. Since my awareness has now shifted to my legs, I notice that my prosthetic is missing. 

Ok, so I’m in a strange dark room in Thor knows where- just as I start my first complete thought I feel the room rock familiarly. Scratch that I’m on a ship, which is probably worse. It’s rather hard to think of a way out of the situation I'm currently in. Even if my legs weren't locked up I can’t walk or fight properly without my leg. I have no weapons and even if I did I’d likely be impaired due to my throbbing head.

I’m still attempting to craft a way out of my predicament when I hear a loud creek. My eyes shift to the door across from me. A large man walks in holding a lantern. He has a very long, very tangled brown beard and harsh blue eyes. He gives me a quick glance before shouting “Bodil! Gro! He’s awake, get in here.” The man with the filthy beard walks over to me, each one of his heavy footsteps shaking the cabin. He flops his massive form in the chair across from me and rests his huge forearms on the table as he continues to survey me. Two guards come into the room and stand by the door. 

I don’t know exactly what I expect him to do, threaten me, or bargain with me, but he does neither. 

“How old are you?” He grunts out still observing me with the same harsh expression. 

I don’t know whether it’s shock or brain damage but instead of voicing how strange the question is I simply answer him. “40.”

He nodded and stroked his chin. “I just turned 43 some moons ago.”

“Well, you don’t look a day over 60.” I half expect him to slap me for the rude comment, I still wouldn’t regret it even if he did after all he is holding me hostage, but besides the slight deepening of his glare, he doesn’t react.

“You became chief of your tribe when you were 20, correct?” He sets the lantern he was still clutching on the corner of the table

“Yes. Is this a job interview or something?” It is slightly relieving to know that my mental injury has not damaged my sense of humor.

“I didn’t become chief until I was 35,” I take in a slight inhalation when I realize this is Mogadon, chief of the Meatheads. “My father insisted on hoarding the title till he died, took him a while too. The old bastard insisted on sticking around till he was 80; you're lucky you didn’t have that problem.” I clench my fist slightly to avoid any sort of facial response. It seems unwise to let him know what he says has an effect on me.

“Anyways,” He pulls out a flask and puts it in front of me, I’m definitely not dumb enough to just drink it so I only give the flask a quick glance before returning my hard gaze to Mogadon. He doesn’t seem fazed by my refusal and takes a sip from a second flask he pulls from his coat. “Long before I was chief I started hearing legends about the great chief of the Hooligans. I have to admit despite knowing they were an enemy tribe, I was no less enthralled. The first Viking to ever fly, a man who had tamed the King of Dragons, who wielded a sword of flames, and who could cause an explosion with the snap of his fingers.”

“That last one is a bit of an exaggeration.” I have no clue where he’s going with this.

“Regardless, they were very thrilling stories. Painted quite a glorious image of you. It didn’t matter how much my father hated the Berkians, he was too afraid to start anything once you became chief. I followed his and all the elders' leads after I took over. They said I’d be a fool to try and engage that man, that legend really in battle.”

“So is the plan to compliment me until I like you enough to spill all my secrets? Never seen that kind of interrogation strategy before.” 

He ignores me and continues. “So I let it be the same way my father did, I let a decades-long war go cold because my tribe was too afraid to engage the great Dragon Conqueror in battle. So imagine my surprise when my men came to me saying they had captured the Hooligan chief, and imagine my shock when they brought me you. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Dragon Conqueror. Nothing more than a crippled runt.”

I put a hand to my chest in mock offense. “Oh and you were so nice before, why’d you have to go and spoil it?”

“It was rather disappointing, to know the picture I had painted of you in my mind was completely wrong, but at the same time it was wonderful because I realized that all that stands between me and the dragons is a pathetic little weakling like you.” 

“Well, you know that dragons also stand between you and the dragons, and they have fire, claws, really big teeth, and they can fly. So I think you're oversimplifying somewhat.”

Mogadan gulps down the rest of his flask and lets out a disgusting burp. He takes the flask that I still haven't touched and begins to start drinking it. “I know there are dragons on Berserker Island. You are going to tell me where on the island they are.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that's never going to happen.” I drop my joking demeanor and return the glare that still hasn’t left his face.

“We have ways of making you break.” 

“What ways?” I scoff, “All you have is me, you don’t have any of my family to use as leverage, and if you expect to give up information like that from torture you’d be mistaken. I’m a lot stronger than you think.” 

“We’ll see about that.” he stands up and I suddenly feel him slam my forehead into the hard wooden table. I can’t help the grunt that escapes me. 

“How do you expect me to remember where the dragons are if you continue to damage my cognition.” I am not quite able to pick up my head.

“I’m sure you’ll manage.” He turns around to address his guards, “Come help me assemble some tools. We’ll have to get to work making our guest helpful right away,” He leans down to whisper in my ear. “Don’t worry you’ll have plenty of time to make yourself useful, your tribe won’t be able to find you for quite a while.”

As he’s exiting the room I feel my chest begin to shake as a tired chuckle makes its way through my throat. I see him look back at me inquisitively. “Is being tortured amusing to you?” he sneers.

“No,” I exhale with remaining humor in my tone. “But it is quite funny that you think it’ll take days for them to find me considering they are traveling by dragon, when all you have is this pathetic little ship.”

“Despite their method of transportation, it’ll take days alone for them to locate our ship.”

“No, it won’t!” I’m full-on belly laughing now, maybe from the situation but likely from the brain damage. “Dragons are expert trackers, they’ll find me easily. My tribe will come riding countless massive fire-breathing war machines and what will you have to counter it? One wooden ship. I have to say Mogadon you’ve truly set yourself up for a rather painful demise.” I’m still grinning when I raise my head from the table to look at him. “And if for some reason you're dumb enough to not be terrified right now, let me make the rest of this hilarious joke clear to you. You seem to know so much about me but you have missed quite a vital detail of my life.” 

His glare hardens and he walks back over to me to push the side of my face harshly into the splintery wood of the table. “And what, pray tell me, is that?”

My smile doesn’t fade as I meet his eyes with some amount of struggle. “If you think there is any possibility that they will show you or your tribe even an ounce of mercy then you clearly have never heard about my tribe's most deadly weapon. My wife.”

Chapter Text

Our army follows Toothless to the island where Hiccup and Zephyr were apparently ambushed by the Meatheads. From our aerial view and ground search it’s clear that almost every trace of them is long gone. Along with Hiccup.

“They're not here.” Snotlout notes after we conclude our search.

“Thanks Snotlout. I hadn’t noticed.” I bite back at him. I’ve noticed that while it’s easy for me to keep my wits in bad situations, keeping my manners is far more difficult.

“Do you have anything the dragons can use to track his scent?” Fishleg asks.

“Yes, I have one of his furs, but since he wore it yesterday the scent has likely left it a little. It’ll take them a bit longer to locate him.” I hold the fur out for Stormfly to sniff, and she starts smelling the air in different directions attempting to determine what direction we should fly in.

“Are you sure you don’t have anything more recent?” Fishlegs asks worriedly as we watch Stormfly make a frustrated squawk as she starts over and takes another log sniff of the fur.

“If I did I would have brought it, but he took this fur off right before he went out for his meeting with Dagur, he said it would only slow him down during his fly with Zephyr.” I clench my jaw slightly when I remember how excited he was to surprise Zephyr with flying lessons. He’s such a good dad. 

“Hey,” Fishlegs says as he puts a hand on my shoulder ending my sorrowful reminiscing. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I huff out as I glare at the horizon.

“If we don’t find him-”

“We will.” I snap and my look leaves no room for argument.

Fishlegs gaze lingers on my hardened expression before he sighs and looks over the horizon. “You're right, we will.”

“Uh guys, I think Hiccup disintegrated.” I hear Ruffnut shout from the water where she and Tuffnut are wading. 

“Ruff, sweetheart. That’s absurd.” Fishlegs says his voice is patient and exhausted at the same time.

“Well, this is all that's left of him.” Ruffnut pulls out an object that is very clearly Hiccup's prosthetic leg from shallow water. My eyes widen as Fishlegs and I quickly approach Ruff and Tuff.

“If Hiccup’s leg is here that probably means the Meatheads took it off him so he'd have a harder time escaping,” Fishleg says as he grabs the leg from Ruff.

“Or, hear me out,” Tuffnut says as he grabs the leg from Fishlegs who glares at him. “Hiccup has been secretly creating prosthetics for the Meatheads this whole time. Oh, the betrayal! How could our dear Chief fraternize with the enemy? Say it isn't so Odin! Say it isn’t so!” 

“It isn’t so.” I snap as I grab the leg from Tuff. 

“Hey! I wasn’t asking you. Who do you think you are, Odin?” He says yes as he crosses his arms.

“No, but I am your general so shut up” I whistle for Stormfly to come over and she quickly does. Her huge claws crash against the sand as she enthusiastically bounds over to me Fishlegs, and the Twins. I hold the leg out for her, “See if you can find him better with this girl.” I say as she starts sniffing at the prosthetic.

“You think she can get a better sense of where he is with that?” Fishlegs whispers, not wanting to interrupt Stormfly’’s concentration.

“It’s certainly our best bet,” I mumble trying to make out if she’s picking up on anything. She pulls away from the leg and sniffs the air. Almost right away she gives a triumphant squawk and flaps her wings victoriously. I smile for the first time today as I stroke her horn. “Good girl Stormfly! She’s got the scent!” I shout to the surrounding warriors. They all erupt in cheers before quickly mounting their dragons. 

“So we’re all just going to ignore that I found that? Okay, I see how it is.” Ruffnut grumbles as she climbs onto Barf’s neck. 

“You did a great job, Dear,” Fishlegs says as he blows her a kiss before taking off on Meatlug.

I turn to see Toothless, who is looking at the leg with worry in his big green eyes. “Hey,” I say to get his attention. “We will find him, you have my word.” He nods and gives a warble of agreement. I turn my attention back to Stormfly as I scratch her favorite spot. “Do your thing girl. Take us to him.”

Chapter Text

Like almost every morning on Berserker Island the sky is full of clouds, not an inch of blue is visible, only shades of gray and white. I tried to get some sleep after Mom left with the Hooligan and Berserker army, but that was made impossible by my brain insisting on constantly replaying yesterday’s events.

Toothless! Please get her out of here.

I shut my eyes tight and I attempt to return my attention to the rabbit I’m roasting. I turn the skewer in a circular motion over the fire. I found it this morning when I was walking through the forest in one of the snares I had set. Normally slow roasting is a very relaxing process for me, but I doubt even a tranquilizer dart could relax me right now. I’ve never felt more on edge. Even when the Island was invaded by the Murderous tribe I had felt at least slightly at ease.

Because Dad was there, and I knew that no matter what happened he’d come up with some plan to save us.

But he’s not here now. He could be anywhere. He could be Dead.

I have full faith that Mom will find him as fast as physically possible, but she can’t change what they did to him in the hours it took Toothless to fly me back to Berserker Island. She can’t fix what happened in the time it’ll take her and the army to find the Meatheads. What if they torched him to the brink of madness, what if they chopped off his limbs, plucked out his eyes, burned his face?

What if they just killed him? 

Mom can’t fix that.

I can’t fix that.

“Zephyr? Are you okay”

I jump a little at the unexpected interruption of my horrible thought processes, I was so wrapped up in my panic I didn’t notice Nuffink standing only a few feet away from me. He’s looking at me like I might break if he says the wrong thing. It’s only then that I notice that my cheeks are damp. I was crying. 

I use my free hand to wipe off my face before returning my attention to the rabbit that’s now turning a lovely shade of brown due to the heat. “I’m fine,” I mumble out and try to force a smile as I look back up at him, “You hungry, I’m sure I can spare some.”

The worry in his gaze doesn’t depart. He looks down at the ground, and then to the side, and then back at me. “He, he didn’t even try to escape with you?”

My shoulder sag when I realize I’m going to have to have this conversation. It was hard enough explaining to Nuffink why Mom was missing when he woke up this morning. When I’d told him what happened he went reticent and he asked to be left alone, both actions that are very strange coming from him. He left to take a walk and I hadn’t seen him since. But now he’s standing here looking for reassurance and even though I don’t want to relive what happened I know I have to. 

He’s my Baby brother, and he needs me.

I pat the space on the ground next to me and with little hesitation, he sits down. I take the rabbit off the fire and set it down on a plate for later. I look back at Nuffink and try to make my voice as steady as possible when I say, “No, he didn’t.”

“But,” Nuffink’s face is so full of emotions it’s hard to place which is most dominant, sadness, confusion, anger. “But he’s Dad! He can plan himself out of anything. Why couldn’t he think of a way to get you both out!”

“I don’t know.” Are the only words I can muster.

“Why didn’t he tell Toothless to drop you off somewhere and come back for him, why didn’t he tell him to use his camouflage powers so they couldn’t aim for him? Why didn’t he try!”

I can see tears pouring down his face, maybe all the fears I have about what the meatheads may be doing to Dad aren't exclusive to just me. “I guess he didn’t think of that.”

“He always thinks of everything!” Nuffink growls out.

“It’s almost like you don’t really consider consequences when protecting people you love.” I let the familiar words slip through my lips and I see Nuffink look up at me, then his face crumples.

“I’m glad you're safe Zephyr, I’m so glad. I just-”

“Wish he was safe too,” I finished nodding, “I know Nuff, I do too.” I feel him lean his head on my shoulder, which must feel awkward considering how much taller he is than me. When we were kids I remember him sneaking into my room during thunderstorms to snuggle cause he was afraid. He’d crawl under my blankets shaking and I’d tell him that everything was gonna be okay even though I was also scared of the thunder. Even though I didn’t know if I was lying or not. So I do the same thing now. “Everything is gonna be okay, Mom will save him.” 

“What if she’s too late, what if he’s already…” He shudders and turns his whole huge body into my arms and I hold him tight and stroke his hair as he cries. 

“He’s not, she’ll find him.” 

“You don’t know that!” He sobs into my shoulder. 

“I know Mom and Dad, he’ll think of a way to stall for time, he’ll lie, he’ll plan. He will do anything to stay alive long enough for Mom to find him, and I know Mom won’t rest until he’s back safe and sound with us.” I pull him off my shoulder and give him a determined look. “We’ll see him again, Nuffink. They’ll stop at nothing to make sure of that.”

Nuffink sniffs and notices his elbow is digging into my side. He sits up and rubs his sleeve across his tear stained face. “Sorry, I’m a bit too big for that now.”

I smile and squeeze his shoulder. “Doesn’t matter how big you get, I’ll always be your big sister, and I’ll always be here for you.”

He gives me a weak smile. “Thanks Zeph, I love you.”

“I love you Nuffink.” It’s as if somehow comforting Nuffink also helped me become more optimistic. I’m still worried, but worry won’t help Dad come home safe. It’ll only hurt me and Nuffink. Mom will find him.

She has to.

Chapter Text

Pain. It’s hard to feel anything except for pain, it’s hard to think of anything other than pain. I haven't told them any information but that's been difficult considering what they’ve done to me. My back is covered in lashes and brands, I audibly heard the bones in my forearm break when they twisted it behind my back. My beard is filled with both dried and wet blood that I coughed up from the many times I’ve been kicked in the stomach. I groan when Mogadon pushes my bruised skull into the wooden table for the millionth time tonight. Today? I honestly have no clue what time it is. All I know right now is pain. It’s a miracle that I’ve avoided spilling information to them, but I refuse to tell them anything of my own volition.

“Are we ready to be cooperative yet?” Mogadon says quietly. 

“You know,” I cough and taste as more blood pours out of my mouth. “I was considering telling you where the dragons are when you were rambling on about how handsome and amazing and smart I am, but after all this torture nonsense I think I’ll pass.”

He growls and lets go of my head. I sit there in silence panting while I wait for him to make a sound. He finally sighs and crouches down so he can look me in the eye. “You were right, Haddock.”

“I tend to be.” I snort

“You are stronger than you look, I thought you’d break a long time ago.” He grabs me by the hair and throws my head back so I have to sit up. “But don’t get too cocky, I still have one more trick up my sleeve.” I’d give him a retort but I’m too busy coughing again. My throat is dry, they haven't given me any water, just alcohol to try and loosen my tongue. Mogadon looks to the soldiers who are standing at the doorway. “Bring in our other guest.” The men leave, how long it takes them to return I’m not quite sure because I think I black out for a second or two. But even in my current state, it’s hard to not be conscious when the soldiers return with a Changewing. It’s muzzled, small, and scared, I quickly identify it’s a baby.

“Where did you…” I can’t even finish my question.

 “The dragons may have followed the alpha to Berserker Island, but babies don’t always listen to its call.” He tightens the muzzle when it manages to let out some acid drool. “We found this one flying far away from Berserker Island about a week ago. It likely got separated from its flock on the journey to the island. I’m not sure though, all I know is he’ll be useful in getting what we want out of you.”

“You're going to kill a baby dragon if I don’t give you information.” I glare at him then look back at the poor creature who's struggling to get out of Mogadon’s grip. “That’s pretty damn despicable.” 

“While that may be a good way of getting what I want, if I’m being entirely honest this is getting tiring and I won’t risk you giving us false information.” He looks up at the guards standing behind me. “Hold his eyes open.”

Horror floods my body as my slow brain finally processes his plan. I shut my eyes tight and turn my face away from the dragon. Changewings seldom use their hypnosis ability because it takes longer than their other defenses, but when all else fails it’s their instinct to use their fail-safe. This poor dragon won’t be able to help using his ability if I make eye contact with it, and I won’t be able to avoid giving Mogadon whatever information he wants if I’m put under. I jerk in my seat to try and avoid the men behind me, but one grabs my head and holds it steady. I force my eyes shut as tight as I can and I feel the other man trying to pull my eyes open with his filthy finger nails. I roll my eyes into the back of my head, but the man keeps pulling them open and the pain of his fingers in my eyes is enough to make my pupils move for just a second and catch a glimpse of the image in front of me, and that's all it takes. I feel as my eyes stare into the eyes of the creature in front of me against my will. The men release me, my body goes limp, and everything goes black.

Chapter Text

I’ve been flying on a Stormfly's back for so long that my butt is starting to go numb. I crack my neck and try to adjust my seating position to make sitting for this long journey slightly more tolerable. I glance over and see Tuffnut asleep on Belch’s neck with helmet pulled over his face snoring obnoxiously loud. 

“I’m no battle strategist but I’m pretty sure soldiers are supposed to be awake.” Snotlout laughs when he spots Tuff. Snotlout then proceeds to cup his hands around his mouth and shout. “The meatheads are attacking!” in Tuff’s direction

Tuffnut immediately bolts up and grabs his mace. “Ah! What? Don’t worry, Hiccup, I'll save you!” He then swings his mace with so much force at nothing but air that it launches him off Belch’s neck. Barf and Belch race down to catch him as he screams while plummeting to the freezing cold seawater. 

They catch him, of course, and when they return to the sky Ruffnut is glaring at Snoulout. “Interrupting a Thorston’s slumber, that's a new low for you Snoulout.”

“My sister speaks the truth,” Tuffnut says as he twists his helmet back into its correct positioning. “A Thorston’s sleep is sacred, that's when we grow.”

“Your 40 mutton head, you're not going to grow anymore.” Snotlout rolls his eyes as he picks some excess nightmare jell off Hookfang. 

“Oh, that’s where you're wrong my dear Snotlout. A Thorston can grow up until they are 70. My great uncle Loudnut-”

“Shut up!” I shout as I glare in Tuff’s direction. I’m not trying to be especially loud but due to his startled expression it’s pretty clear that I was. 

“Geez Astrid,” Ruff crosses her arms and glares at me, “What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem? What’s my problem?! ” I sneer as I turn to face Ruff. “My problem is that none of you have an ounce of seriousness in your damn bodies! My husband has been taken hostage! Hiccup is gone! Don’t you get that?”

“Astrid” Fishlegs tries to say something but I cut him off to continue my rant.

“We have no idea what they’ve done to him, and all any of you can do is make jokes and talk about your absurd relatives.”

“Astrid-” He tries again.

“I’m surrounded by careless muttonheads and I have no idea how to find Hiccup in this massive. Fucking. Ocean! Why the fuck is it so Thor damn big?!”

“Astrid-”

“WHAT?!” I shout as I finally turn away from the twins to face Fishlegs. 

He flinches and a shaking hand holds out a spy glass to me, “You might want to take a look.”

I quickly realize the most likely reason for him to give me the tool and I immediately take it with ample enthusiasm. I peer through the smaller end in the direction of the horizon and I see a huge battleship, with the headsail sporting the unmistakable drawing of a severed head on a spear. 

“Meatheads,” I whisper blinking through the spyglass. We found the meatheads. We found Hiccup. I pull the spyglass from my eye to address the crowd. “Fly above the clouds so we can’t be spotted.” They do as I command and we arise above the clouds and continue flying in the direction of the ship. 

I address them one final time as we stop over where I believe the ship is, “On my signal, we fly below and ambush them. I’ll make my way below the ship with Stormfly and Toothless, that’s likely where he’s being held.” 

I gesture to Tuff and he ducks his head under the clouds along with Barf to confirm we are above the Meatheads’ ship. He looks up at me and nods with a determined look in his eye.

I raise a hand above my head and slam it down into the empty air beside me. “Now!

We dive down, so fast it’s impossible for the Meatheads to prepare despite our deafening battle cry. The weight of the dragons landing to deck in unison causes the ship to rock so violently many of the men fall over onto the deck, or off the ship entirely. As I jump off Stormfly, I draw my ax from my back holster and charge at the door to the lower cabin. A man attempts to block it but I swing my ax into his neck, decapitating him instantly. I shove my shoulder into the door to force it open. I can hear a bloodcurdling scream come from behind me, from the familiar heat of Stormfly's fire I can tell it was her who caused the man to make such a sound. I descend down the dark steps as Toothless and Stormfly follow closely behind me. I squint my eyes and try to see through the pitch-blackness of the ship’s underbelly. 

“Stormfly, give me a little light girl.” Her mouth opens and with it comes a bright yellow light that makes the room clear. I see two doors, and walk through the first one which is propped open. “Hiccup!” I call into the room but my shoulders shake when I hear no response. Just to be sure I check each of the individual cells that make up the dungeon. I see no people in any of the cells but when I come to that last one I see a baby dragon terrified huddled in a corner. When I stick my head through the bars I can identify it as a changewing. My heart breaks for the poor creature, muzzled and alone. I turn to Toothless and tilt my head in the direction of the cell. He understands my implication and uses his jaw to rip the cell door open. The little changewing walks over to the now open cell door and makes a muffled cooing noise. I bend down to try and take his mussel and with a few precise taps of my ax of the hinge, it comes off. I offer a hand to him and he quickly presses his face into it and rubs his head against my hand forcing me to pet it. I smile a whisper. “It’s okay little one you're safe now. Go be free.” He looks at me one last time and makes a thankful squeaking noise before running to the open door. 

I follow after him and see him run up the stairs. I turn to the second door and let out a shaky breath. I know Hiccup is in there. I can almost sense it, but I have no idea what state I’ll find him in when I open it. I squeeze the door handle and shut my eyes as I open the door. It lets out a loud creek as it’s opened to reveal a desk with a man sitting at it. An unconscious man. An unconscious man who is so clearly Hiccup. I gasp and dart toward him. “Hiccup!” I shout but he doesn’t respond. I huff in frustration when chains tying his hands and foot down prevent me from lifting him up. I use my ax to sever the ties and drag him to a wall I can lay him against. “Hiccup,” I grab the sides of his face and I can feel dried blood in his beard, his head falls limply to the side when I let it go. I shudder and press my head into his chest, to my relief I feel the steady, but weak rise of his chest and the beat of his heart. I look back up at his face and grab his shoulders. “Hiccup, please. You have to wake up, we need to get out of here.” I plead, but he doesn’t respond.

I growl as I begin thinking of ways to get his limp body off the ship without Meatheads recapturing, or injuring him when he’s in such a vulnerable state, but then I feel a shift.

I look back at him and I see his jaw clench, I see him hold his head up, and I see his eyes open to meet mine. A small smile makes its way onto his face and he lets out a weak laugh. “I warned them.” He exhales. 

I don’t even take a second to consider his word’s meaning. I simply hug him. I want it to be the kind of hug where I tackle him to the ground, but I can’t forget how fragile his body is right now. So I wrap my arms around him carefully and dip my face into the crook of his neck where the skin is warm and alive. Thank Thor he’s alive.  

“You’re alive,” My thoughts make their way into reality via my lips and then I’m kissing him. Lightly on his lips then his nose then his cheek then all over his face, anywhere I can reach. I feel one of his hands come to rub my back comfortingly but the other stays limp by his side.

“Astrid,” His voice is gravely, as if he hasn’t drank any water for days. “Astrid, I told them things.”

“Hmm?” I finally allow him to rest from my kisses as I lean away to look him in the eyes. 

“They had a changewing, and they used it to make me… I don’t know what I said, I don’t know what they know, but I’m so sorry-”

“You have no reason to be sorry,” I stop him as I cup his face and stroke his beard. “We’ll figure it out ok? We always do.”

“I tried for so long to stay quiet, and then…” His brows knit together and he bows his head but I bring it back to face me.

“And you did what you could, no one can blame you for what happened.” I press another kiss on his forehead. 

He coughs and I can feel the warm sticky blood that comes out of his mouth hitting my neck but I'm unbothered. At least he still has blood to give. “The changewing, it was just a baby. They have it locked here somewhere.” His gaze darts around the room as if trying to spot it. 

“I know, I let him go. He’s okay Hiccup, and so are you.” I tug lightly on the hand he had placed on my back, it’s pretty clear the other one is broken. “Come on, we need to get you out of here.”

“They took my leg, I don’t know…” He trails off when I hold out the leg I found on the beach. He smiles up at me, admiration decorating his gaze. “Have I ever told you that you’re remarkable?”

“Yes, very often in fact. Which is reasonable considering it’s true.” I hear him snort and I quickly fasten the prosthetic onto his stump and help him stand up. He’s a little wobbly at first, but he manages. As soon as he’s on his feet, well foot, Toothless presses his head into his stomach and warbles excitedly. 

“Hi bud it’s good to see you too,” He bends down to look into the eyes, “Thank you so much for saving her.” His voice is earnest and Toothless nodes in understanding.

“We need to go,” I repeat as I grab his arm and run at his pace out of the lower cabin. When we reach the top I see bodies decorating the ship’s deck, some bleeding, others burned. 

“I guess we’re not so useless after all,” I hear Ruff say as Barf and Belch land beside Hiccup and me. 

“I never said that,” I look down at the dock as shame tingles in my chest. “But I am sorry for talking to you like that.” 

Ruff gives me a once over before signing and cracking her neck, “It’s fine, I suppose you did have some right to be overly rude, which you were, considering the situation.” 

“When one’s love is lost, they too are lost.” Tuff puts a hand to his chest, “From a sonnet I’m writing.”

“Surprisingly profound.” Hiccup laughs, it’s pretty clear he’s even glad to see Tuffnut. 

“Thank you my dear Chief, speaking of Chief, what do you want us to do with that one?” Tuff gestures to the mast where a man with a long, dirty, brown beard sits glaring at us. “He said he was the Chief, can’t be sure though.”

“He is, Chief Mogadon.” Hiccup says and returns the man’s glare. I see his fists clench and he walks over to the man. He lifts up the man’s face to meet his hard stare. “Who’s the weakling now?” His tone is mocking as he lets go of the man’s face and brings his fist into the air and punches the man as hard as he can right in his cheek. Quite a number of Mogadon’s teeth fly out his mouth along with a generous amount of blood. Mogadon falls limply to the side, out cold. Hiccup flexes his blood-covered fingers and wipes them on his tunic. He turns around to grin at us. “That felt good.”

“I almost feel bad for him,” Snotlout clutches his jaw, clearly thinking back to the time he was on the receiving end of Hiccup’s fists. I glare at him and he puts his hands up in defense, “I said almost!”

“Good to have you back Hiccup,” Fishlegs says as he pats him on the back. 

“Good to be back,” Hiccup turns back to look at the unconscious Mogadon. “Keep him tied up, Snotlout secure him to Hookfang.” 

“What? Why me?” Snotlout protests.

“I thought you felt bad for him?” Hiccup raises an eyebrow. “It’ll be a way for you to help the fella out,” Snotlout mutters angrily under his breath as he halls the heavy man above one of his shoulders. I snicker and turn to mount Stormfly, but Hiccup grabs my hand. “Wait, one more thing.”

I feel him pull me into his space until my chest rests against his, and he kisses me. It’s the kind of kiss that we’d normally only share in private. Passionate, intense and with quite a bit of tongue. I get lost in it really, and when he pulls away I chase him a little. He presses his forehead against mine and whispers, “Thank you for saving me sweetheart, you're my hero.”

“And your mine, you saved Zephyr, remember?” I smile and press a far more brief kiss to his lips, I can still feel my cheeks hot with blush.

Everyone is silent when we turn back to look at them, some blushing and some looking away. Hiccup clears his throat to break the awkward silence, “Right, Fishlegs sink the ship, and let's go home.”

Fishlegs signals for Meatlug to let out a lava blast that quickly burns a hole through the ship all the way from top to bottom. We take off before any of us can feel the ship begin to sink. I look at Hiccup again. It’s been a while since I’ve felt such profound relief, it’s almost giddiness, but I can’t help it. After all,

He’s alive.

Chapter Text

The sky is a lovely shade of orange, I never realized how much I appreciate a good view until I met Koll. He's running his hand through my hair and softly humming an old Berserker folk song. Being as thoroughly scared as I am, comfort is an important thing but it’s hard to find effective forms of it. However, sitting atop a sturdy branch cuddled up with him and Dart is the most soothing balm I’ve found thus far in my life. Even if it doesn’t completely quiet my restless worries about Dad, it certainly helps. I close my eyes and try to focus on the feeling of his fingers, and the gentle hum of his song. I try to let the electric fear that has been sparking through my body for the past two days go, but it’s hard when the fate of my mother and father is still unknown.

“I can hear you overthinking,” He whispers but his fingers don’t stop their rhythmic movement. 

“Sorry,” I sigh

“Don’t be sorry, you got a lot to overthink about.” 

I turn away from the horizon so I can sit up and meet his gaze, “I just, I just can’t stand not knowing if he’s okay or not.”

He’s quiet for a second, which is nice. Not the silence itself per se, but the knowledge that he’s clearly putting effort into coming up with a helpful response. “You know, when I was a kid my dad used to tell me storys about your dad.” This doesn’t surprise me, my dad also told me a lot about Dagur and Heather when I was little. I nod for him to continue and he does, “He used to say, No one can outthink Hiccup Haddock. I doubt the man in those stories could be bested by Meatheads, their name doesn’t seem to suggest that they are very bright.” I don’t look back at the horizon, instead I direct my eyes at the woodpecker working away at our neighbor tree as I consider his words. “Sorry, that's probably not very helpful.”

“No, no, It is.” I pull him into a harsh selfish hug and he makes no protest. “Thank you for saying that, but nothing anyone says really seems to make me feel better right now.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” He says as he rubs my back.

“It’s not your fault.” It’s mine. I don’t say that last part, but I certainly feel it.

We’re quiet for a while, he allows me to just clutch onto him like he’s the mast on my out of control boat trapped in a storm. 

“What do you need right now?” Koll asks.

“Just stay here with me, please.” I squeeze tighter, “I just need to distract myself until I know if he’s okay or not.” I can tell he has a response for my request, but before he can voice it I feel his postcher change. I back away tilt my head in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

He smiles and without saying anything lifts a hand to gesture at the sky behind us, I turn and see the faint, but unmistakable silowets of dragons. I descend the tree as fast as I safely can, well probably faster than that, considering Koll tells me to be careful about four times. I run to the cliff where earth meets sky so I can get as close as humanly possible to the oncoming creatures, and more importantly, their riders. I quietly thank Thor for the remarkable speed of dragons, because they land on the cliff within a minute. I see Toothless, and I see Dad getting off him. I’m stunned, relief seems to flood my veins like a numbing agent and I don’t move, I can’t move. I’m too busy watching him. From what I can see he’s got all 10 of his fingers, and all 5 of his toes, in short, he’s somehow okay. 

He smiles and opens his arms, well he actually just sticks out one of his arms while the other one remains limp at his side, but what he’s going for is clear. “You aren't so mad you can’t give me a hug, right Zeph?”

My face crumbles as I bolt into him and let myself be engulfed in his one armed hold. I can almost feel myself shrink. Even though I’m so much bigger now, It’s like I’m just as tiny as the little girl who used to leap into her Dad’s arms when he came back from his travels. It’s almost embarrassing, but I don’t care. Nor do I care when much like a little kid I begin sobbing. 

“Shhhh, Zephyr. It’s okay, I’m here.” He soothes.

“I’m so sorry,” My voice cracks around the words.

“You have nothing to be sorry about sweetheart, if anything I’m sorry I scared you.”

“You saved me, but I couldn’t, I didn’t…”

“Hush now,” He backs away for a second so he can meet my eyes, his gaze his comforting but also stern. “I did my job, I’m supposed to protect you. Never worry about protecting me, the kindest thing you can do for me is keep yourself safe. You got that?”

I don’t really get it, but I nod anyway. I remember mom saying something similar to me right before she left, and though I understood what the order and meaning of her words implied, it was and still is hard for me to completely comprehend what they're both trying to tell me. 

“DAD!” I hear my brother's voice, which is the only warning me and Dad get before Nuffink tackles him. I don’t know whether Nuffink experiences the same nostalgia I did when I hugged Dad, but no matter how small he may feel, Nuffink's sheer size has never been more apparent now that he’s desperately crushing our injured father. 

Dad gasps and blinks rapidly, He pats Nuffins back lightly. “Nuff, cracked ribs.”

“Sorry,” Nuffink lightens his hold but doesn’t back away, and Dad doesn’t seem to mind at all, now holding Nuffink just as tight as he held me a second ago. “I’m just so glad you're okay.” 

“I’m so glad to see you.” Dad lightly kissed the side of my brother's head. 

I awkwardly stand there for a few minutes, Nuffink refuses to let go of Dad until Mom taps him on the shoulder, “Honey, we need to get your father some treatment for his wounds.” 

“Right, sorry.” He reluctantly backs away and looks at the ground slightly embarrassed. 

“Don’t be sorry.” Dad says with a wide smile, he’s clearly pretty pleased that his 15 year old son still wants to hug him. 

Mom leads Dad through the village and as we pass the great hall Koll emerges with his mother and father. I didn’t even notice he left.

“Why did you leave?” I ask, from the corner of my eye I can see Dagur hugging my Dad and dramatically proclaiming how worried he was.

Koll shrugs, “I just didn’t want to interrupt the moment.”

I squeeze his hand and whisper “Thank you.” as I give him a small peck on the cheek.

“And I was about to go to their shithole on an island and slaughter a lot of them if you died!” Dagur rambles as he awkwardly clutches my father. 

“Thank you Dagur, that means a lot.” Dad winces, while Dagur isn’t clutching him quite as hard as Nuffink initially did, it’s still clearly uncomfortable for him. 

“Darling give him some air.” Mala says as she gently pulls Dagur away. “It’s good to have you back Hiccup.” 

“It’s good to be back.” Dad says.

Mala’s smile falters slightly when she sees his arm, “I’ll fetch the village healer right away to make sure we get your injuries under control.” 

Dad nods and shifts uncomfortably, clearly only now remembering the sheer amount of pain he’s clearly indored. As we walk to the healer’s hut I let out a breath, and it feels like all my stress and uncertainty somehow exits my body with that breath, and for the first time all day, I smile.

Chapter Text

I feel little droplets splash onto my shirt as I pour the last bucket of hot water into the tub and drop the pail when I’m done. It’s hard to fathom the depths of relief I feel knowing that Hiccup’s injuries are minimal. The arm that we assumed was broken was simply dislocated and even though he still has trouble moving it after the healer forced it back into place he will recover far faster than he would from a break. The healer had to burn over the brands, even though it was certainly the most unpleasant part of the process Hiccup considered it necessary given how most of the viking world views being branded. All his other injuries, though painful and unpleasant to look at, will heal with time. I would have preferred him completely unharmed, but I’ll take what I can get if he’s alive. 

I walk out of the bathroom to see Hiccup sitting on the bed writing in his journal. He’s always liked chronicling his adventures, and I’d guess he has a lot to write about given the last two days. I knock on the door frame to get his attention, he looks up and smiles at me, it’s one of those smiles he used to give after I beat him at sparring, some combination of admiration and attraction that always makes me blush. 

“Quit the goo goo eyes.” I mutter, but I can’t help the smile that sneaks its way on my face. 

Hiccup puts his hands up in mock defence, “What can I say, I have a thing for women saving my life, it’s sexy.”

I snort, “Bit of a high bar to get you going don’t you think?”

“Happens more often than you’d think when you're married to a beautiful badass.”

I bite my lip and look at the floor, “Your bath is ready.” 

He apparently decides to give me a break from his assault of compliments since he simply stands up and says, “Thank you Honey.”

I decide to get ready for bed while he’s bathing, so I put on my nightgown and unbraid my hair. While doing so I hear a few frustrated pained grunts so when I’m done I return to the bathroom to see what’s bothering him. “Everything okay?”

He turns around and looks slightly embarrassed, it’s clear he’s struggling to remove his armor with his still slightly injured arm. “Could you please help me with this?” he bashfully gestures to his chest and drops his arm in frustration. 

I smile. It's cute when he’s embarrassed. “Of course.” I help him unhook the complex leather armor and pull his tunick over his head. I can’t help but flinch when I see his battered chest. I saw it once before today when he went to the healer, but it’s still shocking. His skin is marred with bruises, burns, lashes and cuts. I’ve grown used to only seeing the familler ary of scares he gained while training dragons, so it’s no surprise when I jump. 

“That bad huh,” He laughs and looks down at his chest. 

I grab his chin before he can focus on the wounds for too long, “It’s not, it’s just… jarring.”

“Do you still love me now that I’m ugly?” He grins.

I shake my head and glare at him, “Don’t say that, you could never be ugly.” I drop his shirt to the floor. “Now take your pants off, the water is getting cold.”

“Yes ma’am,” he undoes his belt, takes his pants and underwear off in one go before sitting on the edge of the tub to remove his prosthetic foot. He looks up at me and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. 

“None of that for a few days mister, you have to recover.”

He puts a hand to his chest and makes a ridiculous mournful expression. “Milady, your rejection hurts more than any wounds ever could.” His joke is made slightly ironic when he hisses and takes his hand off the raw burn on his peck.

I chuckle. “I somehow doubt that, now get in the bath.”

He does as he’s told and sinks into the water, the relaxed expression that overtakes his expression is absolutely wonderful to see.

“Better?” I say smugly.

“So much better.” He sighs with his eyes closed. I grab the soap bar and begin to clean his wounds. “I can do that myself.”

“I know, but I want to.”

“Good point,” He splashes water on his face to wash the remaining blood out of his beard. I take a while to enjoy being able to take care of him as I clean the wounds on his chest, arms and face. He doesn’t object to allowing me to pamper him, and he begrudgingly enjoys it. 

“Thank you, again.” I say as I run my soaped up hand through his bread.

“For what?”

“Saving Zephyr.” I say simply.

“Did you think I wouldn’t?” He says slightly defensively.

“No, I knew you’d put her life over yours, but…”

“But what?” 

“Hiccup, I’m,” I breathe out. How am I supposed to put this? He nods for me to continue so I do. “I’m always scared, I never really felt scared until the kids were born, and then I started feeling scared every day. Scared they’d get sick, scared they’d get lost, even scared the house would just suddenly cave in on them. It was ridiculous, I know it was, and that’s why eventually I mostly got over it, but now…” I gulp and shut my eyes tight. “Now It’s not ridiculous Hiccup, in the past moon Nuffink lost his hand, Zephyr nearly got kidnaped twice and both of them could have easily died multiple times. I don’t like knowing that my fear isn’t irrational anymore Hiccup.” 

He’s quiet for a while, his eyes are full of empathy. He grabs my hand that's resting on his cheek and brings it to kiss lips to kiss. “How can I help?”

“Swear to Odin you’ll protect them at all costs, that if it comes down to their lives or anything else, you’ll choose them.” 

He nods in determination. “I swear.”

“You’ll protect them at the cost of your own life?”

“You know I would.” He squeezes my hand.

“At the cost of Berk?”

“Yes.” He whispers.

“Toothless?”

He flinches slightly at the idea, but eventually he nods, “Yeah.”

“Me?”

“Astrid.” He shakes his head and looks down at the water which is tinted pink from the blood I washed off him.

“Please Hiccup,” I beg clutching his hand, “I need to know they’ll be safe.”

“They will, but it’s never gonna come down to that.”

“You can’t know that for sure,” I grab his face and force him to meet my eyes. “Hiccup, please. Promise, if it ever comes down to Zephyr and Nuffink or me, you’ll choose them.”

His eyes seem to bore into mine, brimming with conflict. Eventually he whispers, “I promise.”

The tension leaves my shoulders and I sigh in relief.  I press my forehead against his, “Thank you.”

“I love you, Astrid,” He murmurs maybe a half an inch away from my lips. I close the distance, he meets me with equal passion as we open our hearts and mouths for each other, when he playfully nips my lip I climb into the tub with him, not caring when the bloodstained water instantly soaks my nightgown. 

“I thought,” He tries to speak but I’d assume my insistent kisses make it rather difficult. “I had to recover?” 

“Suck it up.” I mutter as I grip his hair and kiss him with such intensity it makes it impossible for him to get another word out, he doesn’t seem to mind though and I feel his hands rap around me to grip my neck and back. I let myself get lost in the unignorable reality that being this close to him brings to the forefront of my mind. 

That he’s okay, and I know that means that somehow, someway, everything will work out.

Chapter Text

My bones feel as if they were hollowed out and filled with lead, my stomach feels as if I’ve suddenly developed the diet of a gronckle and have been eating nothing but rocks for the past few months. My eyes are dry, my head feels like an overrung belltower, and my limbs ache. There aren't enough words to describe the depth of exhaustion I feel at getting almost no sleep for months on end due to the midnight cries of my infant daughter. But despite the unignorable realty of my faintness, I still wake up when I feel the empty spot next to me on the bed, I still sit up when my dump tired brain processes that Hiccup is gone, and I still stand up and follow the sound of light humming coming from the other room. I push open the cracked door and see Hiccup humming an old Berkian lullaby while staring in awe at our daughter, rocking back and forth in our rocking chair. He looks away from her when I begin to hum along with him, giving me a slightly apologetic look.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you.” He says as his gaze quickly returns back to the baby girl in his arms and he continues to rock her.

“You didn’t, well the humming didn’t. I just have a hard time sleeping without you there with me.” I say as I walk over to my husband and daughter. Daughter . The new but oh so beautiful phrase still brings that new kind of singing love to my stomach, it's unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I’ve never been the lovey dovey type, my love as always seemed pretty limited. I had selected people I loved so much that I'd kill for them and it didn’t feel like I had much more love to give, and I didn’t want to. But when Zephyr was born it felt as if I had infinitely more love to give, and it was all for her.

Hiccup smiles, and still doesn’t look away from her wide, curious blue eyes that stare up at him as if he’s her whole world. “I heard her crying.”

“Aw, you wanted me to get more sleep.” I say in a teasing tone, “How sweet.”

He snorts, “You think way too highly of me. I’m selfish. I just wanted her all to myself.”

I shake my head, laughing as I lean on the chair’s arm and stare down at the beautiful little thing we made together, every bit as entranced as he is.

“I never understood before, but now I do.” He says reverently. 

“Understand what?” I say as I lean down to stroke Zephyr’s cheek.

“Why my dad did what he did” My eyes break away from Zephyr to stare at him, and he meets them. “I mean, I knew he loved me. But I didn’t really know you know?”

“I do.” Because I do in fact know exactly what he’s talking about, even before he’s completely explained it.

“I get it, I know exactly what was going through his head, absolutely nothing. Because I knew the second I held her, that it would never even be a question for me if I was put in his position.”

Zephyr then gives a small cry, clearly upset that her daddy stopped looking at her. At her sound of distress both me and Hiccup instantly focus their attention on her again. He chuckles and moves his hand to stroke her head, but before he can she grabs his finger and pulls it to her mouth.

I let out a slight laugh as I watched her odd display of affection, and I knelt down to get closer to her. “It really is strange isn’t it? It’s like, before her there were so many things I cared about, so many things I worried about. And now, they're all so much smaller. I feel so much more now than I ever did before and it’s all for her.” I whisper as I tickle her tummy and she gives a little baby laugh. 

Hiccup smiles and takes my hand from her stomach, brings it to his lips and kisses it. “Thank you, so much.”

“For what.”

He squeezes my hand. “For giving her to me, for making me a family, for being my family.”

I stand up slightly so I can rest my forehead against his, “Thank you for being mine, and for the record you also had a hand in making her.”

“True,” he says grinning, “But I didn’t do nearly as much work.” 

“You're sure as hel right you didn’t.” I almost instantly cover my mouth after I say that. “Oh shit, I probably shouldn’t say that around her. Oh! I probably shouldn’t say that around her either.” 

Hiccup laughs and so do I, Zephyr joins us and claps her little hands. I lean my head on his shoulder and whisper “Hiccup?”

“Yeah?” He asks quietly.

“Do you think I’m a good mom?”

“Astrid!” He says accusingly, as me even having to ask the question is the greatest insult I could ever throw at him.

“I mean,” I sigh and look to the side. “You know I’ve never been to nurturing, or soft, and I’m just worried that even though I love her I’m gonna mess her up somehow and she’s gonna hate me and-”

“Astrid,” He turns my face towards his, giving me the most warm comforting smile I’ve ever seen. He never fails to give me butterflies, and I doubt he ever will. “Astrid, I think you're the best mom.”

And somehow, at this point, I don’t think any complement will ever be able to match that one.