"Just get it done." Dagur told one of the Berserkers at the conclusion of the village meeting. The young chief was starting to loose his temper again, but he knew it was important to get it under control. His sister Heather put a hand on his shoulder, giving him an encouraging smile. Of all the things he had in life right now, he was so glad to have her by his side.
"Chief Dagur!" a berserker yelled, charging into the hall. Dagur felt his anger swell up again before he could control it.
"What?!" he snapped before quickly taking a breath. The berserker looked between the two leaders, wondering how they would take the news he was about to deliver.
"It's Berk sir." he said. Both Dagur and Heather gave him stunned looks before turning into horror.
Berk and the Berserker tribe had a unique history together. Starting many years ago Oswald led the Berserkers into war against Berk. The Berk vikings were struggling enough with the dragons, but Stoick and Valka led their forces well into the fight and claimed victory. The aftermath was even where Stoick asked Valka to marry him. They agreed to a treaty in which Oswald would visit Berk every year to renew the treaty. Around the same time that Stoick and Valka had their son Hiccup, Oswald's oldest son Dagur was born.
Soon after the news of Valka's death reached them. Dagur was forced to attend the meetings every year. When he first met Hiccup, he never knew what to think. On one hand he despised the fact that such a small weak individual could hold the same title as him. Yet he enjoyed having a 'friend' his age who could understand him. That was why he set out to make Hiccup become stronger so he would be worthy of being Dagur's friend. Yet every year the boy disappointed his expectations. It wasn't until they were fifteen when he heard about Hiccup Killing the Red Death that he thought maybe Hiccup could be strong after all. Then the betrayal happened. Hiccup lied to him and threw away his offered friendship. Yet three years later Dagur had come around to seeing things differently. He cared about Hiccup and Heather. Heather was his sister by blood and Hiccup was his sworn brother. He would do anything for either of them, including die as he had already demonstrated once. Dagur liked the other viking kids too. Astrid was nice and he respected Snotlout's strength, while it was fun to mess with him. Fishlegs was much better than he ever gave the boy credit for and while the twins were insane, there was nothing wrong with a little insanity. He had even come around to respecting Stoick as a leader.
For Heather it was a little different. She had actually lived with Hiccup and the others many times. She had come to share Dagur's feelings of sibilingship with Hiccup, also seeing him as her brother. Astrid was her best and closest friend. Her and the blonde viking were nearly inseparable when they were together. She viewed Astrid as the sister she never got to have. Then there was Fishlegs. She cared very much about him and for a while it seemed like they might work out in a relationship. But not everything ever does and sadly they found the two of them just would not be able to be together. They were still close friends however. Snotlout and the twins were also good friends to her, and she respected Stoick and Gobber for their leadership abilities.
To both the siblings it was a horrifying idea to imagine anything could have happened to any of them. "What happened?!" Dagur yelled, his voice cracking to a screech at the volume. Dagur had a hard time staying in full control on his best days, but he couldn't manage it at all sometimes, especially if it involved Heather or Hiccup.
"Sir, they were attacked. The island is intact but the village was destroyed. Stoick the Vast did not make it and Chief Hiccup..." was all the further the man got before the two berserkers were already running toward the door.
"Vorg, you're in charge while we are gone!" Heather called over her shoulder. The captain nodded as he watched the two leave. They ran to the dragon stables where Shattermaster, Sleuther, and Windshear were waiting. Dagur looked between his two dragons. He loved both of them very much, but he couldn't bring Shattermaster along with him this time. He was so slow, and right now speed was of the essence.
"Daddy has to leave for a bit. Can you be a good boy and watch over the island for me?" Dagur asked the dragon. Realizing something had to be seriously wrong, the gronkle nodded. Dagur pet his head in thanks before climbing on Sleuther's back. "Let's go boy!" he said. Heather immeditaly climbed on Windshear.
"To Berk girl." she said. The dragons took to the sky, Daugr and Heather watching the horizon in front of them. Dagur knew how much Stoick meant to Hiccup. If he was dead, Hiccup was probably not fine. Sure he had Toothless, but there were somethings that only a human could help with. Dagur wanted to be there to help him. Heather wanted to offer her support as well, but she was also concerned about Astrid. This man was supposed to be her father in law. Both of them silently cursed the distance between the two islands.
xxx
"Whoa, watch!" Hiccup called out as another chunk of ice was blasted down and Toothless yanked him out of the debris's path. "Thanks bud." he added to his dragon. The recent trip to Nepenthe was over and now peace was established with Mikkel. Now he wanted to focus a little more on restoring the village to the way it was. He knew he would have to inform their allies of his new status, but he didn't want to at the moment. Doing that meant his father really was gone and he was now in his place. Aside of Berk's own alliances, Hiccup had his own alliances that he figured he should inform. There was Mala and Throk of the Defenders of the Wing, Alvin the Trecherous and the Outcasts, the Berserkers, Atali and the Wingmaidens, and many others.
"There you are Hiccup, I need you to look over the plans for the new defense system." Astrid, his fiance and general said as she approached with Stormfly behind her. Hiccup waved it aside.
"I'm sure they are fine, I trust you to handle it." he said. Astrid sighed as if she was used to this but still annoyed by it. She looked like she wanted to say something, but was interrupted by a new arrival.
"Hey Chief, we have the forge completely up and running again." Gobber said as he and Grump stopped to stand by Astrid. Hicucp nodded. The forge was working at only partial capacity for a while, due to the amount of ice every where. It was good that it was finally restored. It would make restoring the rest of the island as a whole much easier.
"Chief, much of the ice has been removed from the village. However due to the twins enthusiasm many buildings were also destroyed in the process." Eret, son of Eret called as he arrived with Skullcrusher. Hiccup felt a headache coming on. He was still trying to adjust to being called Chief and dealing with all the village problems.
"It's fine. Most of us are so good at rebuilding houses anyway it won't take long to rebuild. Just focus on removing the ice. I'll have a team start working on the buildings." Hiccup said. Eret nodded. However none of them moved. Hiccup was about to ask what else they wanted, but another arrival entered.
"Hiccup, there's trouble." Valka said, jumping off of Cloudjumper as she landed in the center of them. Hiccup really did have a headache now. If there was any word that a leader never wanted to hear, it was trouble.
"What is it Mom?" he asked, concerned. She looked up to the sky and the others followed her view. There were two dragons approaching! Hiccup leaned against Toothless as he made out what they were. So he didn't need to bother going to visit the Berserkers now. Apparently they were coming to him! "Oh, that's just..." he started, but the two already landed.
"Hiccup! Brother!" Yelled Dagur, jumping from Sluther's back. Valka immeditaly put herself between Hiccup and the two strangers, confusing them.
"Hiccup, who are these people?" she asked. Sensing the tone of her voice and interpreting it as a threat, Eret moved slightly forward too, ready to fight.
"Who are we? Who are you lady?!" Dagur growled. He didn't know some of these faces, apparently they were new to Berk. Hiccup sensed the growing tensions.
"This is Dagur..." he started.
"Oswald's son?!" immediately Valka moved to attack them, fearing they were still at odds with the Berserkers. Seeing her move Eret and Cloudjumper followed suit. Hiccup reached forward to grab his mom.
"MOM NO!" he yelled as Gobber and Astrid grabbed Eret and Toothless and Skullcrusher blocked Cloudjumper. Valka and Eret were confused.
"Mom? As in Stoick's wife who died?" Dagur asked, lost. Hiccup sighed.
"Yes Dagur. Long story, but it turns out my Mom is alive. Mom, this is Chief Dagur of the Berserker tribe and his sister Heather. They are our friends." Hiccup said. Dagur pouted.
"Oh come on Hiccup, your more than that, your our brother!" Dagur insisted. Hiccup sighed, knowing it was best to just agree with him.
"Yeah, what he said." he said. Valka and Eret were still lost but Dagur grinned then ran forward, moving past Valka to hug Hiccup. Hiccup groaned as the air was crushed from his lungs, then hung limply from Dagur's arms as the other hugged him until he couldn't bare it anymore. "Can't...breath..." he gasped. Dagur immediately released him.
"Oh, sorry." he said. Heather walked forward as well, giving Hiccup a much more gentle hug before turning to Astrid.
"It's been a while hasn't it?" Heather asked as she hugged her. That gave Astrid and idea.
"It has! Hiccup, why don't you show Dagur around?! Some things have changed since their last visit after all!" Astrid said. Toothless nodded. It would be good for them. Eret scowled however. It was clear whoever these people were were perceived as a threat to Valka.
"Is that wise? Maybe someone should go along." he said.
"No!" Astrid, Heather, Dagur, and Gobber all said quickly. Even Toothless let out a roar and Stormfly a squawk of protest.
"I'll be fine Eret, Dagur would never hurt me." Hiccup said. There was such confidence in his tone that Eret nodded and watched them leave. Valka turned to Astrid.
"Explain." she demanded. How could the son of a long enemy be such good friends with Hiccup? Astrid sighed.
"Where do I start?" she wondered. Heather smiled as she thought were to start too. "I guess I should say that Dagur and Hiccup have a really complex relationship." she said. How could she explain to this confused mother that she just let her son walk away alone with a man that tried to murder him many times in the past.
"Dagur and Hiccup didn't used to be like this. Dagur saw hiccup as his greatest enemy and tried to kill him on many occasions." Heather said. Apparently that was the starting point that they chose. Eret and Valka looked alarmed.
"What?!" Valka yelled.
"And you just let them leave together, without any dragons or vikings?!" Eret gaped. Astrid sighed.
"That was in the past. They worked through that and well, I guess calling them brothers is an appropriate term." Astrid said.
"I'm sorry, am I the only one who missed the fact that someone tried to kill him? I'm going to follow them." Eret decided, but Toothless grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him. Astrid actually chucked at that.
"What is funny about this?" Valka asked, confused. Astrid sighed.
"Hiccup wasn't well liked by the village. In fact I don't think he actually had a single friend growing up. Gobber was probably the closest thing he had since he worked in the forge with him. Hiccup was clumsy and weak. He made inventions to make up for that, but most of the time his inventions destroyed the village more than the dragons he was trying to stop did. Hiccup was either ignored or beaten up by most of us in the village. The last part was by us kids." she admitted. Valka and Eret seemed surprised for a moment by that, but then as they thought about it they realized neither was really all that surprised.
"Aye. He had his own workroom in the back as his personal sanctuary. Understand Valka, no one was trying to hurt him. Rather we were trying to keep him from getting killed, or worse accidentally killing himself." Gobber explained.
"It wasn't until Hiccup showed us that there was more than one type of viking by befriending Toothless and taking down the Red Death that he was really accepted by the village. Toothless is his longest and closest friend. In fact now that I think about it, Toothless is the only one that hasn't either tried to hurt or kill him." Astrid mused, thinking about how she mercilessly beat him up and the other teens had purposely said things to hurt him emotionally. Fishlegs never said anything himself, but was just as guilty because he stood there and let it happen.
Toothless cooed as he saw Valka look down in sadness. He knew she understood that lonely feeling, but he wanted to assure her. Hiccup was fine. He was doing well and no one could bring that boy down for long. He wanted her to understand that he and Hiccup were always going to be together and he would never let anything happen to him. As if understanding Valka put a hand on his head.
"Hiccup hasn't changed at all either. He's still restless and always needs to be doing something, be it going somewhere or inventing something new. And we all followed him. He's made many friends, and as I said before most of them started off with them trying to kill him." Astrid said with a chuckle. Valka found herself smiling too. That sounded just like him. He was a boy who could bring the three hundred year between dragons and humans to an end, there was no reason to believe he couldn't mend other bonds either.
"I know Hiccup is still upset over Stoick, but he won't talk about it to anyone." Astrid said. Valka looked down as did Gobber. That was true, Hiccup wouldn't even talk to them about it. Toothless also had the same.
"Not all relationships are the same. There is no question that Toothless is Hiccup's greatest bond, but there are somethings that he may not even be able to go to him over. However Dagur is the closest thing to a sibling that Hiccup has. Yes he has Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs, but they have their fathers. Dagur and mine...our father is gone. Dagur can understand him. Dagur also understands him better than most would believe." Heather said.
Eret sighed. That sounded logical. It was the best idea they had at any rate. He nodded along with Valka. "I guess we should get back to work then. I'll find the team to restore the buildings." he said. Gobber nodded.
"I'll go with ya." he said.
xxx
Hiccup and Dagur walked through the street and Hiccup quickly realized Dagur had no interest in anything he was showing him. "Alright Dagur, why are you here?" he asked. Dagur looked offended.
"Really Hiccup, that should be obvious by now!" he said. Then he sighed at Hiccup's lost expression. "I came to check on you. What happened Hiccup?" he asked. The young male frowned. He didn't want to tell him, but he knew he should.
"We met a man named Drago Bludvist. He wanted to pull the entire archipelago into a war. After everything we did to make this peace happen, I didn't want it to happen again. I thought I could talk to him, to make him stand down. But...as a result he took control of Toothless. Toothless was going to be forced to kill me, but my Dad took to hit for me. He died protecting me." Hiccup sounded so broken about it.
Dagur thought back to that day they found his father's remains. Hiccup had been the one to give him the strength to open the door to see what was inside. Hiccup was the one beside him for the whole burial, and Hiccup was the one to help him come to terms with what had happened. To be honest this wasn't one of Dagur's specialties. He was good at smashing through any problem that rose. However this wasn't a problem he could just charge though. This was delicate. Dagur was not delicate. However for Hiccup, he could try to be.
"Hiccup, you know if he was here now he would be proud of you." Dagur decided to start. Hiccup just gave him an absent nod. He knew Stoick was proud of him. The man told him, which was one luxury Dagur didn't have. He paused. Dagur saw he was about to speak, but he wasn't done yet. "Stoick was a good man. Maybe a little loud and rude at times...but a good man. He looked out for his family, his village." Dagur said. Hiccup nodded.
"I know all of that." the boy snapped. Dagur smirked. He was getting a reaction out of him. He decided maybe delicate wasn't the best solution this time.
"Do you Hiccup? Do you know what he wanted? Because it doesn't look like it. He wanted the son he raised to keep his village safe in his absence. You may think that's what your doing but you can't take care of a village without taking care of yourself first!" Dagur said. Hiccup froze at that.
"How do you..." he started.
"Your afraid of not meeting his expectations. Your worried you'll waste the life he died to protect. Your thinking it would have been better if you had died instead of him. However he knew he wouldn't be able to bring down the dragon and Drago, he knew you could. Sometimes a new era has to come in Hiccup. You're not wasting his sacrifice because you've already started doing what he couldn't. You have already met his expectations, now you just have to surpass them." Dagur said. Hiccup looked down.
"You're right Dagur." he said. Dagur grinned.
"Of course I am." he announced. Hiccup actually smiled.
"Come on, let's go find the others. I'm sure Snotlout and Fishlegs would be glad to see you." Hiccup said. Dagur chuckled.
"Ah yes, I haven't seen Snotface in quite some time!" he said, knowing Hiccup would know that he was joking.
To be honest this was hard to write. I've been writing it, deleting it, and rewriting it for a while. This isn't my favorite version, but I think it'll work.