The Only Good Fight

Chapter Eleven

Fishlegs makes it through four fish before he stops and looks up at me. "Sorry, did you want some?"

"No, no," I say as I hold up my hand. "I'm good. Thanks."

Fishlegs smiles and massages Toothless's ear, right at the spot that makes Toothless croon. "I wonder what Forseti's going to do," he says as he looks out at the beach.

"He'll give a fair judgment," I say. "So, I told you about Forseti and Tyr and the trap. Are you ready to give me the play-by-play of what happened after I left?"

"There isn't much to tell," he admits. "I just kept hitting those guys when they kept on standing up."

"I never knew you had it in you," I say. "No offense."

"None taken. I didn't think I could do it either. But it was like something came over me, you know?"

"Well, considering what they did, and the way they were acting..."

"Ahem."

We both look up. Standing behind us is a girl with most of her black hair tied back in a plain ponytail. Her bangs cover her eyes, but I can see freckles on her nose and cheeks.

"Lexdala, right?" I ask.

"Yeah," Lexdala says. She grinds the toe of her boot into the ground. "Sorry, I didn't catch your names."

"I'm Hiccup," I say.

"Fishlegs," Fishlegs says gruffly. "Is there a reason why you're here?"

"Well. I just. I wanted to say I'm sorry, for," her mouth screws up into a crooked line, "For... everything."

"Did Gudrick put you up to this?" I ask her. "I don't want you to apologize if you're not sorry."

"I'm sorry," Lexdala says, like I've accused her of doing something else, "I really am. The other guys may not be, but I am."

"Why are you sorry?" Fishlegs asks.

"I didn't want to do it in the first place," she explains. "I just do it because they do it. Because if I don't..."

"If you don't?" I urge her.

She shrugs and wipes her hair back from her face.

"Wow," Fishlegs breathes.

"Oh gods," she says, looking between us. "What is it?"

"You have beautiful eyes," Fishlegs says.

Lexdala gulps. "My da... He was from the Eastern Islands. My ma says them and my hair are the only things he left me."

I grimace. "Not the most encouraging parental message."

She shakes her head and laughs lightly. "Nope."

"So, if you don't do what your friends do," I say, getting us back on track.

"Then I'm not their friend," Lexdala says simply, opening her hands.

"Well, you know, sometimes you have to take a stand, you have to take a risk," I say, "You never know what might happen." I put my hand on Toothless's head. "I wouldn't have two great friends here if I didn't take risks."

Lexdala nods as she looks down at the ground. She takes a couple of steps back, then stops. Then she looks up at us. "I guess I should... I mean. Since I'm bothering you." She turns around, stops, and turns back.

"Are you okay?" Fishlegs asks.

"Is-is it really okay?" Lexdala releases the words with her eyes shut, as if she's hoping they'll hit upon a favorable response.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"The dragon," she says, looking down at Toothless. "Is it really okay?"

"He's fine."

"I mean. Oh." She throws her hands down. "Can I... touch it?"

"Him," I correct her. "He's a him."

"Him," she says. "Can I touch him?"

"I don't know," I say. "Toothless, what do you think?"

Toothless turns around to face Lexdala. His eyes are thin.

"He doesn't look happy," Lexdala says.

"Toothless," I say. "Can she touch you?"

Toothless sniffs and tosses his head.

Fishlegs stands. "Here," he says. He takes hold of Lexdala's arm and pulls her forward.

Toothless growls lightly.

Lexdala squeaks and shuts her eyes. Fishlegs holds her hand out. "It's okay," he encourages her.

"It's okay," I say gently. "It's okay, Toothless. It's okay, Lexdala."

Lexdala resists at the last second, but Fishlegs holds her steady. Toothless lifts his head and nudges her fingers with his snout.

Lexdala inhales and opens her eyes. "... Wow." Toothless drops down and licks the baby Night Fury. Lexdala gasps. "It's a baby!"

"Yeah, he just had kids," I tell her.

"That," Lexdala says, "Is so cool. It's so small!"

"Dragons are pretty cool," I tell her. "Too bad the rest of your village won't believe it."

"Hey!" a boy calls out from across the beach. "Let go of her!"

"Oh no," Lexdala moans before she turns around. "Bear, they weren't doing anything."

Bear storms over to where we are. "He had his hands all over you."

"He wasn't doing anything, honest," Lexdala says.

Bear wraps his arm around Lexdala's waist. "Mine," he says, glaring first at me, then Fishlegs. "Got it?"

I can feel my mouth hanging open as I turn to Fishlegs. Then I turn back to look at Bear. "Take it easy," I say. "She's not a toy."

"You're right," Bear says. "She's my girl."

Lexdala works at his arm to pry it off, but it seems to be stuck there. Her shoulders sag as she gives up. "Why are you here, Bear?"

"Runa's dad and the Forseti guy are done talking," Bear explains, "They want to talk to these guys. Come on."

Lexdala looks back at us after Bear turns her around. Then she looks forward as she struggles to keep up with her boyfriend.

Fishlegs watches them wistfully.

"So you've forgiven her?" I ask him.

The wistfulness disappears. He stretches his hand out to me. "Let's go."

#

Bear leads us to the front of their town Hall. There's a large crowd gathered, but they part when they see me, Toothless, and Fishlegs coming. Forseti stands with Gudrick at the Hall doors.

"You've made a decision?" I ask Forseti.

Forseti nods. "I'm going to need you for this."

"Uh... sure. What do you need me to do?"

"Trodders!" Gudrick yells, "This is Hiccup, son of Stoick the Vast. A true hero of the gods!" The crowd doesn't sound too receptive of the idea, but Gudrick goes on. "And this is Forseti, the god of justice!"

A chorus of "what?"s go through the crowd.

"The hero bears the Asgard mark!" Gudrick announces. "Show them."

"Lift up your shirt," Forseti says quietly.

"... Okay." I lift up my shirt.

The crowd erupts with "ooh!"s when they see the scars.

Forseti gently touches my side. The lines of my mark turn black and the black lines extend out in a design over my unmarked skin. "Whoa," I say, "Is that going to stay there?"

Forseti doesn't respond.

I look up. "Forseti, is that-"

Forseti is glowing. He's taller now, and he has a beard. He looks older.

"Uh, Hiccup?" Fishlegs says over the sound of the crowd, "Is this supposed to happen?"

"Forseti?" I try again.

"A grave injustice was borne on this island," Forseti says in a deep, booming voice. "Against the dragon named Chuckles. Six children ended his life. I have heard both sides and I have made my judgment."

"I guess this is it," I say to Fishlegs. I let my shirt fall back into place.

"The Treacherous Trodders will now help the Hairy Hooligans care for their dragons. And the six children will aid the hero, Hiccup, on his quest to find the Trodder hero, Ludin."

"Wait, I have a quest?" I say. "I thought this was a punish-"

"After the quest is completed," Forseti goes on, "the six children will continue to aid the hero on his journeys until the time deemed fit."

"What?" five voices erupt.

"Oh man," I say.

"That is the judgment I lay upon you now," Forseti says. "What is your response?"

"We acce-" Gudrick starts.

"Daddy!" Runa yells, running up to him. "You can't be serious! This is completely-"

"Girl, do you dare disrespect the god Forseti's judgment?" Forseti asks.

Runa is suddenly on her knees. Tears rush down from her cheeks as if they're running away from her. "But. But... This is... This is so..."

"I like it," Fishlegs says happily.

"You're not stuck with them!" I say, gesturing at the small crowd of kids. "Why am I being punished?"

"You must help each other," Forseti says, turning to me. "Do you accept my judgment?"

I make a point to exhale loudly. Not that it will help. "I guess we accept."

Forseti turns to Gudrick.

"Daddy, no!" Runa shrieks, running at him again.

"We accept," Gudrick says blandly, holding a sobbing Runa at arms length.

"Hiccup!" Lexdala calls as she runs up to us. "You're going to find my brother!" She catches me in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much."

"Oh, uh. No problem. I guess."

When Lexdala pulls back, she wipes at her eyes. "It's been years. No one else would help me go out to find him."

I glance at Fishlegs. I guess I have no choice. It was decreed by a god.

Fishlegs nods his head at something.

I glance over to see Bear scowling at me.

"Great."

"Huh?" Lexdala asks.

"Uh, I mean it's great. That we get to do this together." I hold my fist up. "Yay."

She smiles.

"Well," Forseti says beside me, in his normal voice. He's back to his twenty-year-old form. "That was exciting. It really got a good reaction, I think."

"You had to send me on a quest?" I ask him.

"The children need to do something. They need to learn your ways, Hiccup. The world could use more heroes like you, even if they aren't marked."

"Oh. Well." I shrug. "I don't know, I'm nothing special."

"Stop being modest," Forseti says as he grips my shoulder.

"Thank you, Sir," Lexdala says. "Thank you for letting me find my brother."

"Well, he's not back yet," Forseti says, looking at me.

"But he will be," I say. "I hope."

"Thank you for apologizing, Lexdala," Forseti says to her. "That was very brave of you."

"Oh," she murmurs, "It wasn't... I just... How did you know about that?"

"I sensed it," Forseti replies with a smile. "I sense good things in your future."

"Thank you, Sir."

"So," Gudrick says behind Forseti.

I turn to look at him. "Gudrick," I say with a nod.

"Son of Stoick."

"Looks like we'll be seeing more of each other now," I tell him.

We stare at each other.

"Be good to Astrid," we say at the same time.

I blink in surprise. Gudrick presses his lips together.

"Suppose we'll be hypnotized by dragons too," Hork says, clapping me on the back.

I look down toward his hand. He removes it.

"It's not as bad as you think," I assure him.

"We'll see," Hork says. He looks off into the crowd. "Be good to the children," he says distantly.

"Wait," I say, "Are you talking to me?"

Hork looks back at my face. "Yes."

"They're good fighters," Gudrick says. "But they don't know much about the world. You will be a good influence on them."

"I'm not promising anything," I say, "And some of the stuff I do is dangerous. I'm warning you now. They could get seriously hurt or-"

Hork holds his hand up for silence and shakes his head. "It's the Viking way, isn't it? No need to warn us. We can only guess what a hero of the gods must do."

Suddenly I don't feel like a hero of just the gods. "Well, you're right on that count," I say. "Even I can only guess."

"Stay for dinner," Gudrick says. "It's rather late to be flying, isn't it?"

"Oh, Fishlegs and I already ate," I say.

"At least drink some mead," Gudrick urges me, "We owe you."

"Your kids don't feel that way."

"You are a hero," Gudrick says. "All heroes deserve a little mead every now and then."

I look to Fishlegs and nod toward the Hall doors. He nods an affirmative. "I guess we can stay for a bit."

"Are we going to drink mead?" Forseti asks me excitedly as he grips my arm. "Real, human mead?"

"I guess," I say. "How well do you hold your liquor?"

#

Forseti is the worst drunk I know. He's completely normal when he's drunk. Except he laughs a lot. And he keeps changing forms, like sometimes he'll be a little kid and sometimes he'll be an old man. But other than that, completely normal. I learn absolutely nothing embarrassing about him or the other gods when I try to get information out of him.

It's awful.

The next morning, I expect to find myself hanging from a tree by my good leg. But no, I wake up in the Hall next to Bear of all people, who is dozing away on the table.

"Fishlegs?" I call out, my voice still groggy.

"Ugh," Fishlegs says, sitting up a couple of tables away. "I'm here."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Forseti?"

"Oh for human's sake," Forseti says, sitting up from the floor. "What is this awful sensation in my head?"

"Could be a hangover," I say.

"I despise it." He snaps his fingers. "All better."

"That's just... totally unfair," I say. "Toothless?" I look around. "Toothless, where are you?"

I hear a roar outside that brings me to my foot.

"Toothless!" I call out as I hurry outside.

I tug the doors open and stop. Fishlegs crashes into my back. "Wha..?"

Lexdala is holding a long tree branch that she drags along the ground. Toothless is chasing it and leaping at it like it's a spot of light. Lexdala laughs and runs away. Toothless roars again and chases the branch.

"Aw," Fishlegs says.

"I never thought of doing that," I say.

"Sorry," Lexdala calls out, breathless.

I turn to look at her.

She shrugs. "I thought he might enjoy it."

"No, it's fine," I say. "Looks like he likes it all right."

Lexdala drops the branch and Toothless attacks it. Lexdala goes over to a basket on the ground and pulls it up. "I made these for you. For your breakfast."

"Oh," I say as I take the basket. I lift up the cover. The scent of light, sweet confection wafts out.

A hand reaches into the basket and pulls out a cake.

"These look wonderful," Forseti says, examining the cake in his palm. He takes a bite. "They are wonderful! Thank you, Lexdala."

"You can just call me Lex," she says as she wipes her hair from her face.

"What beautiful eyes you have, Lex," Forseti breathes.

"Oh." She blushes. "Th-thanks."

Fishlegs reaches into the basket and pulls out his own cake. "These are great!" he says.

Lex smiles. "I'm glad you like them."

"Thanks, Lex," I say.

"I made enough for you to take to your families."

"That's perfect," I tell her. "I'm sure they'll appreciate the cakes."

Fishlegs sticks his hand into the basket again.

"What-Fishlegs," I say. "You just started..."

Fishlegs holds his open hands out for inspection.

"Okay," I say, "Go ahead."

"Yes!" he says as he reaches in again.

Even Toothless enjoys a cake with his morning fish. Unfortunately, it makes him so hyper he starts jumping around the beach like he's chasing a swarm of bees. Or maybe like it's chasing him.

"Toothless... Toothless!"

It takes Forseti, Fishlegs, and me to catch Toothless and make him sit still long enough to hook the basket onto his saddle. Then comes mounting him.

When we're finally in the air, Toothless decides he wants to spin. A lot.

"Toothless, we just ate!" I yell.

"This is unusual, right?" Forseti asks.

"We're definitely not giving him anymore cakes when we get back," I reply.

Toothless roars and dives for the ocean.

"Oh, come on!"

When, finally, we get back to the village, Fishlegs and I are dripping wet. Forseti doesn't complain about being wet and I assume the water didn't wish to be absorbed this time as well. I can see the villagers running to the Hall and waving up at us. I wave back as we fly over the village.

"Okay, Toothless, set down by the Hall. Please. Gently, now."

Toothless eases onto the ground.

I exhale in relief.

"Hiccup!" Astrid calls out as she runs to us.

I slide down and land on my foot. "Astrid. Hey."

Astrid leaps at me and we hug.

"That special girl?" Forset asks, beside me.

"Astrid, this is Forseti," I say, "Forseti, this is Astrid. My girlfriend."

"Hail thee god!" Astrid says as she starts to go down.

Forseti catches her arm. "There's no need for that."

"Girlfriend?" a voice asks behind me.

"... Dad," I say before I turn. "I was going to tell you. Really."

From the way his mustache moves, I think he's smiling. He claps me on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you."

"Dad, Forseti," I say, gesturing to each of them. "Forseti, Dad."

Dad nods. "Hail thee god," he says.

"Sir," Forseti replies. "You should be proud of your son."

"Oh, I am."

Murmurs ripple through the crowd that has gathered around us.

"I guess I'd better..." I gesture to the people.

Dad nods. "Probably best."

"Hey, everyone!" I say.

"Hiccup!" they all reply.

"Forseti," I say. "This is everyone. Everyone…" I can't help smiling, "This is Forseti."

#

Author's Notes

So when I mention Eastern islands, I imagine like... Asia, but without the actual continent. Does that make sense? Probably not. Just a tiny detail, really.

Next chapter: Some Gobber! I couldn't ignore Gobber.

You guys, I am kind of sad that there is only one full chapter left. There will be an epilogue, but it's not the same! And I am so woefully behind on all of my writing projects and school is starting soon, so I don't know when I'll start posting the next sequel. =( But seriously, thanks to all you readers and especially to my reviewers! This has been a fun ride.

Anonymouse: thanks for saying the last chapter didn't seem slow. I worried a bit about the story slowing down now that the dangerous part is over. And... the whole thing with Tyr surprised me, actually, but I rolled with it and hopefully it will turn out all right. I'm glad you enjoy my interpretations of the gods. Hopefully I will play with more of them in the next fic!

A ton of thanks to Backroads for beta reading!

Disclaimer

This world and these characters are pretty much not mine. I just like to play with them.