The Outcast King

Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions.

Rated: M for Mature

Disclaimer: I do not own Dreamworks Dragons or HTTYD. Though I wish I did :p Oh! And I don't own any of the songs used in the story, all songs and lyrics belong to their original artists and creators!

Chapter 11: Questions & Answers

Breakfast continued smoothly, everyone talking among themselves about whatever came to mind. Snoggletog, the dragon race, the fight with the red death. The Hooligans ate in silence almost just listening, not sure what to say to the others since Alvin made it clear they technically weren't welcome but then it raised the questions of why the chief said they could come if he knew they wouldn't be accepted there. They had to many questions that they were sure couldn't be answered in one day and of course they all remembered the one question not to ask and that was about the chief's wife because it was a very touchy subject as they had learned earlier.

As breakfast came to an end people began to clean up and head out to do their jobs, some were being instructed by Hiccup to prepare for the race and Snoggletog. The patrol guard changed off so that the over night group could come in to eat, then make their way to their homes to sleep it off before the next shift. Hiccup sighed knowing it was time to give the Hooligans their answers, not that he wanted too but honestly Hiccup wanted to know more about how things had been there since his casting out. Hiccup never knew that Fishlegs had yelled at Stoick for doing it, and since they'd all regretted it now and wanted him back.

Hiccup's eyes narrowed slightly just thinking about it. Like an apology was enough to make up for they did to him until he left. Hiccup's arms crossed over his chest with a huff, but the anger faded when he felt someone tugging on his pant leg. Hiccup looked down to see Runa standing there with Viggo and Thora looking up at him. Hiccup knelt down. "Can we go see mommy before your meeting daddy?..." Runa asked softly.

"Of course we can...Cloud, father. Bring them, I don't want them alone without someone watching them." Hiccup stated firmly. Runa smiled as she got on Hiccup's back, then as he stood up he picked up Viggo and Thora in his arms smiling.

"You heard the man. And whatever you do...don't bring it up or ask questions." Alvin said to the Hooligans who got quickly got up to follow, though they were incredibly confused. What did Alvin mean by 'don't bring it up'? So they'd finally get to meet the chief's wife, odd that they hadn't before now. The walk wasn't long, maybe 10 minutes to the beach. But as they reached the beach area, they could see it was big but one thing stuck out. One stone that was purple that read the lines, 'Camicazi Holgerson. A Wife. A Mother. A Chieftess. A Warrior. A Friend.' They watched as Hiccup crouched in the sand putting the kids down. It was now they realized that the chief's wife was dead.

Up until this moment they believed that maybe she lived somewhere else, or perhaps there was a divorce but now it made sense why Alvin looked so sad when this woman was mentioned, why Cloud said the chief suffered. His wife was dead, and it happened 3 years ago. "I miss her daddy..." Runa sighed looking down trying not to cry.

"I know baby...I know. I do too." Hiccup said letting Runa sit in his lap.

"Its...a–all my fault..." Runa cried, Hiccup wrapped his arms around her rocking her back and forth.

"No, Runa...No. It's not your fault. Mommy told you that the day she left us...Its not your fault...she wanted you to be okay and she made sure of it. Your mom wanted you be happy and she wouldn't be happy seeing you cry right now..." Hiccup said, it was hard to talk about. It hurt him still as if it had just happened even though it had been 3 years. Hiccup held all of them tightly.

Astrid frowned sadly, she couldn't imagine how he felt having to take care of 3 young children who all wanted their mother back and if she had to guess by how young they were...The two youngest were 1 and a newborn when it happened. It was truly sad, she wouldn't know what do to with herself if something like this happened to her. She wouldn't even have the strength to get up in the morning, how did he manage it? Fishlegs wasn't saying anything either, the rest just stared wanting to know more.

Hiccup closed his eyes with a silent prayer to his late wife while he held their kids in his arms. "If I never knew you...If I never felt this love...I would have no inkling of, how precious life can be. And if I never held you...I would never have a clue...How at last I'd find in you, the missing part of me. In this world so full of fear. Full of rage and lies...I can see the truth so clear. In your eyes...So dry your eyes. And I'm so grateful to you...I'd have lived my whole life through...Lost forever, if I never knew you..." Hiccup sang softy.

Valka lowered her head as Alvin put his arm around her, it was still hard for everyone. "If I never knew you...I'd be safe but half as real. Never knowing I could feel...A love so strong and true! I'm so grateful to you. I'd have lived my whole life through...Lost forever, if I never knew you..." Hiccup took a breath trying to keep his voice from cracking, that had been the part Cami sang before their flight together. "I thought our love would be so beautiful. Somehow we'd make the whole world bright. I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong, all they'd leave us were these whispers in the night...But still my heart is saying we were right..." Hiccup trailed off, he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to finish it.

Hiccup could hear light crying behind him, he could tell by the muffled sound it was his mother. "Ssh Cloud...don't break here...Don't let the chief see it..." Alvin soothed quietly. Hiccup heard it as he stood up now.

"Daddy?..." Viggo asked quickly. Hiccup didn't say anything as Alvin looked up now, he knew what Hiccup was going to do.

"St–stay with...your...grandfather..." Hiccup forced out with his head down.

"Kids...Come here..." Alvin told them. Runa, Viggo, and Thora left their father's side and went in front of Alvin and Cloud.

"Is daddy going to fly off again?" Thora asked lightly.

"Yes...yes he is..." Valka said sadly. The Hooligans looked back at the chief standing there silently, what were Alvin and Cloud talking about?

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup shouted, in moments the Night Fury came to his side crooning sadly. Hiccup jumped on his back, opening the tail and sped off over the sea. Hiccup raised his arms a little, curling his hands to fists as he looked towards the sky. "AAAHHHHH!" He yelled out at the top of his lungs.

"Do–does he...do this all the time?" Fishlegs forced himself to ask.

"Only when it becomes to much...Like we said, very sensitive subject. That dragon you saw yesterday, the Red Death is the reason he has no wife, and these kids have no mother...And its one dragon he'll kill with great joy..." Cloud sighed.

"Wh-what happened to her?" Astrid questioned, not sure if she should.

"That would be none of your business. Mind your own and don't bring it up..." Alvin scoffed angrily. After 5 minutes, Toothless landed again and let Hiccup climb off him. Astrid noticed something dangling from his neck, two rings then she watched him tuck them in to his armor. Her eyes caught that he still wore his band.

"Strike...Are you okay?" Cloud asked gently.

"I'm fine. Take the kids home...This meeting won't take long." Hiccup said in an almost emotionless tone.

"O–of course sir..." Cloud said as she led the children off the beach and back in to the village.

"Any orders for me son?" Alvin asked.

"Make sure everyone is doing their jobs...I'll be checking after this." Hiccup ordered.

"Aye, chief. Can you...handle them by yourself?" Alvin asked, Hiccup only stared through the mask and Alvin understood and nodded before bowing and walking off.

"You 7. Follow me." Hiccup ordered firmly, they didn't argue with him as they followed behind. Once in the village, he walked slowly. "Well. I thought you had questions. Start asking." Hiccup stated.

"O–oh...We thought...we were...talking at the hall?" Astrid said quickly.

"We are going to the hall but I still have a village to run so I might as well kill two birds with one stone per say..." Hiccup replied while looking ahead as Toothless stayed behind him. Now that they had the chance to ask questions, no one seemed to know what to say after seeing how upset he was only minutes ago.

"So...Hiccup really...built all this?" Fishlegs asked walking beside Astrid.

"He designed the layout, and he helped build." Hiccup responded calmly.

"Its...definitely something. These houses look different...Nothing like what we have on Berk. What are they made of?" Stoick looked at the chief now.

"Wood, enforced with a rock mixture that hardens with certain ingredients, the roofs are protected with thin sheets of metal. Everything welded together with fire from the deadly nadder. Helps in the harsh winters since we've never had a cave in. The houses here have been here for 6 years." Hiccup explained.

"Woah...our houses our constantly being rebuilt..." Gobber mumbled.

"Because you use wood and panels of metal to bind them together." Hiccup rolled his eyes, "And before you ask, yes. Hiccup told us. He created these houses, the design for them. I'm sure if you hadn't...ya know shut his inventions down you might have the same. We embraced his ideas and were always willing to give them a shot and if they didn't work, he worked on them until they were right." Hiccup scoffed.

"Cloud and Alvin said you have an academy, for what?" Snotlout asked now.

"Training dragons." Hiccup replied.

"Co–could we...maybe watch?" Fishlegs mentioned. Just as he was about to reply, Alvin came up to him running.

"Chief, the Amundsen twins are in the arena with the training group. They said they are ready to learn to train dragons and fly then..." Alvin panted. Hiccup rolled his eyes now as he turned towards the arena and walked towards it.

"I'll handle this..." Hiccup stated calmly. "Fishlegs, you wanted to watch? Now is your chance..." Hiccup retorted as he kept walked, Fishlegs scurried behind quickly. Stoick, Gobber shrugged as they all followed as well. The walk was short, they reached the arena noticing it was set up very closely to their own on Berk only off of it were stables where the dragons were kept.

"Morning chief." The training group greeted.

"Sorry to pull you away, but these two think they are ready to join the class. I told them they needed your permission first as in accordance to you rules." Stated one man.

"Its fine. So you two think you're ready to train dragons and ride them eh? Well I see no problem with that..." Hiccup said calmly, the two boy's eyes lit up. "If you can prove it. Lets try a little exercise...shall we?" Hiccup stated as Alvin tossed him 3 apples from the cart and he caught them without looking. "Release Stormfly." Hiccup called out.

"I'd back up if I were you..." Alvin told the Hooligans. They did watching closely.

"Training dragons starts and ends with trust. Lets see if you're ready to handle trusting dragons fully." Hiccup said as there was a squawk behind him. Hiccup placed one apple on his head and stood completely still with his arms crossed over his chest after putting two apples on his shoulders.

"Is he crazy! A Nadder's spines can slice through a mans flesh in seconds!" Gobber exclaimed.

"Stormfly can shoot a flea off a yaks tail from 20 yards. You may want to take notes." Hiccup grinned now. "Stormfly. Spineshot." Hiccup commanded. The nadder whipped its tail quickly sending three spines out and hitting the 3 apples perfectly and locking them in to the wall behind the Amundsen boys. Their mouths dropped open with wide eyes as Toothless used his tail to tossed another one to him and he put it on his helmet. "Toothless. Plasma blast." Hiccup ordered. Toothless shot the apple off his head and it exploded but never once hit Hiccup.

"Wow..." The group gasped.

"So. Lets see you two do it. If you can, I'll let you join the class, if not best be getting back home to do your chores." Hiccup said firmly. The two turned quickly and ran off out of the academy. "Come back when you reach the age limit boys! I made it 13 for a reason!" Hiccup yelled before they rushed out of sight, he then turned and faced the Hooligans with a shrug.

"The chief set a rule that no one under 13 can ride or join the academy for their own safety because they still do not understand the trust required to train dragons with, as Strike clearly demonstrated." Alvin chuckled now.

"That was incredible...What if it had hit you?" Ruffnut asked him.

"Still would of been fine. My armor is made from Toothless's discarded scales as I stated. I trust Stormfly, I'm honestly surprised you don't recognize her. She's a dragon from Berk, as is Hookfang, Meatlug, Sharpshot, Barf and Belch." Hiccup retorted. Their eyes widened now, how did he know that. The dragons Hiccup had named off came forward now, Stormfly the nadder, Hookfang the monstrous nightmare, Meatlug the gronckle, Sharpshot the terrible terror, then finally Barf and Belch the hideous zippleback.

"He's right...those are the dragons we had when you kids trained with Hiccup. I always wondered how they escaped..." Gobber blinked.

"Hiccup set them free. After Alvin took him in here, Hiccup couldn't stand the thought of them being killed so he snuck in to the village in the dead of the night and snuck them out. They've been here ever since." Hiccup said. It wasn't a lie, it was true. After Alvin said he could stay on outcast island, Hiccup took his chance to return to Berk and let them go.

"Okay...I have to know everything when Hiccup was here..." Stoick finally said.

"Then come to the hall. I'll tell you about his year here. Bjorn, carry on with the class." Hiccup stated.

"Aye sir." Bjorn replied with a nod of confirmation. Hiccup walked off with Toothless following, the Hooligans did as well. When they reached the hall, Hiccup remained standing as the others took their seats to listen intently.

"According to Hiccup, he'd been cast out for befriending a dragon. Specifically Toothless here who bravely entered your kill ring to save Hiccup from Hookfang. He told us he tried to reason with you all but you called him a traitor, then his father offered him one chance at redemption. To kill Toothless and be forgiven. And he chose to snap the ax in half then shatter the head to pieces. He came here, I know I remember it well because I was on guard and one of the ones who them both down. Savage and I questioned him and he said he'd been casting out and if we let him stay he could stop our raids and a different way of life...We didn't believe him at first but seeing him with a Night Fury sparked our interest. My father came out and recognized him right away demanding to know why he was there." Hiccup paused a moment to watch their reactions.

"When I asked him why he was there he responded with these words, 'No mission...We were cast out. Well...I was. That man isn't my father...don't refer to him as such. Look, Alvin...I know the Outcasts and Hooligans are enemies. I came here because I was cast out for befriending a dragon...They wouldn't accept it and honestly, I don't care. I asked to be cast out. This is outcast island and I'm an outcast...If you let me stay...I can make it worth your while...' And then I asked him, 'Oh yeah? How? What could a 15 year old boy offer a tribe of ruthless, uncaring outcasts?' He replied with, 'I can stop your raids...and teach you how to ride dragons. All I want his a place where I'm not hated for being different.' I asked if he was telling the truth and he told me, 'Would I of come here on the back of a Night Fury if I was lying? I hate Berk and I never want to go back. Honestly you lot are saints compared to them...' So I offered him a deal, 'You stop the raids and you have a place here. Do we have a deal?' And his response was 'Done', we shook on it and from there he did as he said he would. He stopped the raids and gave him his own place here." Alvin explained.

Stoick and the others looked down with guilt now. "I told you he didn't deserve to be cast out!" Fishlegs grumbled crossing his arms over his chest now.

"You mentioned before that you yelled at Stoick for casting Hiccup out, yes?" Hiccup asked now. Fishlegs nodded to him as Hiccup looked to Stoick now. "What did he say to you, Stoick. Because according to you, you regretted your choice to cast him out after Fishlegs yelled at you. I want to hear it." Hiccup stated.

Stoick sighed closing his eyes. 'He was right you know...You never listened to him. I watched for years...you always told him you didn't have time for him or that everything he did caused destruction...Maybe you should of guided him instead of scolded...Hiccup found a way to end the fighting and you didn't take it! And now you've lost your only son...the only piece of your former wife you had. I hope that sits with you forever...Hiccup didn't deserve what he got...I'm glad he got to get away. And I wish I could of gone with him. I don't want to be part of a tribe who throws someone out for wanting peace, or be under a chief who throws out his own 15 year old son.' Once I got home I regretted it and promised myself I would find him and bring him home..." Stoick lowered his head.

Hiccup moved to the wall and pulled a shield off of it as he slid it down to the middle of the table then crossed his arms over his chest again. "That's the last picture you'll ever see of him. It was made after the first year, after he built all this for us. My father offered him the position of chief, he turned it down and said it was time for him to go. He left 2 days later on a ship. I sent a team to follow him and they found him face down on the ship deck, arms cut, and dead from bleeding out. They brought his body to us and while preparing him for his funeral I was handed this note which they found clutched in his hand." Hiccup said pulling it from under his armor.

"I read it first then told Strike to hang on to it until a time came where we ran in to you again..." Alvin stated coldly.

"Here, let me give you his last words. 'To anyone who finds my body...my name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and I'm the former heir of Stoick the Vast Haddock, chief of the Hooligan tribe to Berk. Don't tell him you found me, I'm sure he won't care. He never has, I'm sure my death won't make a difference. But if you ever come across him, tell him I said I'm sorry I couldn't be the son he wanted me to be but killing dragons is wrong and I can't live in a world where I'm forced to kill them just because he has a life long grudge against them...And tell the blacksmith Gobber that I thank him for all the years he looked out for me. To the teens I was in dragon training with; Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut...make sure you tell them I never wanted to take the honor of killing the nightmare, I wanted to be away from it all. Thank Fishlegs for never picking on me, and Gothi for tending the beatings I took from the village. Well...I guess that's it then...I'm not sure where I am...I left all my things with Alvin and the outcasts since they took me in. It was nice having a father for once in the last 15 years. I'll be glad when I'm free of this worlds pain. Signed, Hiccup the Useless'." Hiccup read off, of course he only wrote a note like this just in case of this exact situation.

The group looked at the wooden shield, it was a picture of Hiccup standing next to Alvin who had his hand on Hiccup's shoulder when he was still 15. Behind them were Toothless and Sharpfire, another nadder. "He looks...so happy..." Gobber pointed out.

"He was. He loved it here. That was drawn after he did all this and then he left here, left for good." Alvin stated. He and Hiccup watched as the Hooligans stared at the shield sadly, all feeling the grief and guilt of how they treated Hiccup and knowing he was gone. Or so they thought. "He turned this barren wasteland in to a paradise for humans and dragons to live in peace. He built so much for us, even this hall. He fixed structural issues, made our houses stronger, a water system, the academy, taught us to train and ride dragons, stopped our raids. He stayed until just after the announcement of my son here having his first child, and wedding...Once he felt we would be fine on our own, he left." Alvin added.

"And shortly there after I became the chief here. Now is that all you wanted to know?" Hiccup asked firmly.

"I–I was hoping you could tell me more about Night Furies?...Our book back home has nothing on them..." Fishlegs chimed in now.

"Since Hiccup mentioned you being someone who didn't give him a hard time, I will tell you. The rest of you have yet to earn my trust on the matter." Hiccup stated as he prepared to leave the room.

"Wa–wait...You can trust us!...Give us a chance...We know we messed up with Hiccup...it was...all so much back then...we want to end the war...we don't want to fight dragons if we don't have too..." Astrid said quickly getting up.

"She's right...we never knew the raids were controlled..." Gobber added.

"You're still new here and I have other things to tend to rather than risk information Hiccup gathered for us on dragons to people who have spend their lives killing them. You want me to trust you, prove to me I can. For now, I have a dragon race to set up, and then Snoggletog traditions to see too. Alvin will be your guide for the day. Stay with him, listen to him. He can answer your questions about the village. He'll give you a tour and the rules unless you've already been made aware of them. Fishlegs, I will speak with you later on." Hiccup stated.

"Aye sir. Thank you." Fishlegs bowed his head as Hiccup exited the hall with Toothless.

"He doesn't trust easily, does he?" Gobber asked.

"No. He does not. As he said, the lad did a lot for us and the risk of outsiders coming in and learning our secrets could be bad for everyone. You want Strike's trust, you have to show him he can trust you. You have to earn it." Alvin said putting the shield back on the wall where it was. "Now, come along. I'll give you a tour..." Alvin added, the group got up and followed him out in to the village for their tour. "Members of the Hooligan tribe of Berk...I welcome you Dragons Edge. Home of the Dreki tribe. For those of you unfamiliar with old Norse talk...that means Dragons Edge. Home of the Dragon tribe." Alvin announced. They eyes widened, from their place exiting the hall they could see everything before them, the entire village. It was indescribable, no one had the words for it.