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Chapter 10 - The Aftermath

The day after was awful. It was full of tears.

The second day was just as bad. It was full of silent grieving and isolation.

The third day is the worst part of it all, it's the funeral.

All of Berk attends, even if they didn't know Hiccup personally, they still come. There are even a few dragons.

Out of all of the vikings there, Stoick and Astrid take it the hardest. Astrid can't even go to the boat that holds Hiccup to say her last goodbye, she'll start sobbing uncontrollably. And Stoick… Stoick has been locked inside his home for the past two days. He can't look at his son's body as well. A chief shows no emotion, he reminds himself.

Before the boat is sent out to sea, they ask if anyone would like to say a few words. Astrid shakingly volunteers.

"Hiccup was the best person I've ever known." She starts, willing herself not to cry. "He was selfless and would do anything for anyone, good or bad, even if it risked his own life. He was the one who showed us dragons aren't evil, and if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have our dragons right now. He was amazing and I-I loved him. And I never got to tell him" Tears begin to fall down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," She has to walk away for a minute, she's starting to cry.

Stoick decides to not say anything, fearing he would cry as well. He reminds himself, A chief feels no pain.

"We have lost a great friend and kind soul today. May his soul find peace in Valhalla." Gothi speaks, as she does only during certain times. Some vikings go and push Hiccup's boat out to the sea.

Gobber, Stoick, Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout shoot flaming arrows into his boat. They all watch the flaming boat float away. That's when the realization hits Stoick. And it hits him hard.

"Stoick, you can't stay in here forever." Gobber says to Stoick, who's sitting at the table with his head in his hands. He hasn't come out of his house since the funeral, which was three days ago now. "It's all my fault."

"How is this your fault, Stoick?" Gobber asks, slightly confused.

"I was the one who told Hiccup not to come back five years ago. It's my fault he left, it's my fault this Echotri is attacking us. It's my fault that my son is dead."

Gobber shakes his head. "Stoick, you can't blame yourself."

"It's just-"

"You miss Hiccup, I know, I understand. But you can't beat yourself up about this. You have responsibilities, you can't neglect your village." Gobber interrupts.

Stoick sighs. "You're right Gobber."

"Aren't I always?"

"Astrid, come on. You're no fun anymore!" Tuffnut complains. Astrid has just walked into a trap the twins set to try and get her back to her normal self. She's now hanging upside down by her foot from a rope that's tied onto a tree.

"Just get me down from here." Astrid says angrily, crossing her arms.

"What, no threat?" Ruffnut says, confused.

"Not in the mood guys." Astrid says through her teeth. She's too sad to even threaten the twins. The twins. The two single most annoying vikings on Berk and Astrid couldn't even bother to threaten them. "Could you just let me down? Please?"

Astrid Hofferson just said please.

The twins sigh in defeat, well, at least they tried. They cut the ropes holding Astrid up, and she falls to the ground with a thud. She gets up, brushing herself off. "Can't you two just lay off the pranks for one day?!" Astrid grumbles and storms off.

"Why isn't anyone happy anymore?" Tuff says, kicking a rock.

"It's cause Hiccup died, remember?" Ruff says.

"Oh, yeah that." Tuff sighs.

"I have an idea!" Ruff says, smiling at her twin.

"You do? I didn't think that you think."

Ruff punches Tuff on the arm. "Well I do! We should throw a party! You know, to cheer everyone up!"

"Yeah, that's a good idea! Let's go!"

"What is this about?" Snotlout asks Fishlegs.

Fishlegs shrugs. "I don't know, the twins said be there at sundown." The twins have invited the whole town to the training academy. They didn't say why, just when. They seemed pretty excited.

"Let's just hope it's not another prank. I'm getting really sick of those." Astrid says as the walk into the training academy. They stop when they see what's been done to it. There's tables set up along the walls, with tons of food on it. Including yak-butter parfait, which Snotlout ran straight to and got a large helping before anyone else. There's Terrible Terrors singing, singing around them. And the twins are standing in the middle of the training academy, waiting to see everyone's reaction.

"I gotta admit, this is impressive." Astrid says.

Snotlout hums in agreeance, he can't talk since he's stuffed yak-butter parfait into his mouth.

"We wanted to cheer everyone up. You've all been buzz kills the past few days." Tuff says, and Astrid punches him on the arm.

"Let's get this party started!"

Everyone is having a good time, even Stoick. Everyone forgets the tragedy of the past week, and they just have fun. They have fun, that is, until everything comes crashing down.

It happens in a blur. One moment everyone's talking and eating, then a blast of fire comes down on their party. It's caught the tables on fire, scorching all the food. "Hey! That was my yak-butter parfait!" Snotlout complains looking at his now scorched food.

"Everyone! Out!" Stoick yells as another blast comes out of nowhere. Everyone scrambles to get out of the training academy, tripping and shoving.

The blasts just keep coming, still there's no trace of who or what shot it.

The training academy is soon engulfed in flames, and Stoick is the last to come out, coughing.

"What could've done this?" Gobber asks.

They think for a second, and then go wide-eyed at the realization.

The Echotri's not dead.

"Dagger?"

"Check."

"Gronckle Iron shield?"

"Check."

"Axe?"

"Check."

"Dragons?"

"Check."

"Dragon Nip?"

"I don't think we'll really need it, but check." Astrid says, watching Fishlegs finish checking off the last thing on the list. They are getting ready to go back. They're going to kill this thing off once and for all.

Astrid, Gobber, Stoick, The twins, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and their dragons, including Toothless, are the only ones going. Stoick thought it would be too dangerous to bring any of the other viking warriors.

Astrid is sitting on a boulder and sharpening her axe with a rock she found. Fishlegs is going around making sure everyone has everything they will need. Stoick is talking to Gobber about strategy. Snotlout is flexing his biceps, trying to look tough and not scared. The twins are just being annoying and goofing off as always, and now they're fighting over something stupid while their dragon watches in amusement.

Toothless bounds over to Astrid, knocking her over and roaring at her excitedly. She pushes him off of her, "What's wrong with you?" Shouldn't he be sad? Hiccup's dead.

"Is everyone ready?" Stoick asks the group.

"Yeah."

"Definately! Let's go kick some dragon ass!"

"Maybe we'll get a scar outta it!"

"Sure, whatever."

"M-hmm." Come their different replies.

Stoick leads the way, but gets them all lost in about fifteen minutes. Everyone groans. Hiccup found it last time, how are they supposed to now?

"How are we supposed to find this thing?" Astrid asks.

"I don't know, let's just keep going. We're bound to find it sooner or later."

They walk until Toothless suddenly stops, sniffing the air. "What is it Toothless?" Astrid asks the dragon. Toothless looks towards a bunch of trees, looks back at Astrid and nods towards where he was looking.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess here, but I think he wants us to follow him." Tuffnut says. Astrid just gives him a look.

Toothless suddenly takes off, and everyone runs to keep up with the dragon. They soon reach the clearing. They gasp.

What's in front of them shocks them to their core.

It was hard to write the funeral scene, to be honest.

Big explanation in the next chapter! Anything you would like explained?

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