Chapter Twenty One

The island of Burgus played host to a variety of areas where villagers could mingle. Aniu had been guiding Hiccup along paths that she once used to avoid getting caught by anyone. And Hiccup being Hiccup tried taking everything in all at once.

The market had been her favorite spot aside from the library. Traders would often stop by to sell rare goods and trade with the families that owned farms. Aniu had always been interested in some of the items that were traded off, sometimes bringing with them a variety of drinks, farming animals or even crops to grow.

Finally, they reached what was the village's version of a main plaza. Aniu didn't miss the scornful looks a few of the passing villagers threw her. She couldn't help but shrink under their piercing glares. It was mostly out of habit, but one look of concern from Hiccup was all it took for her to try and maintain her composure. Thankfully, no one tried stopping them to question their presence when they saw the Berkian ship at their docks.

It's better they don't say anything at all, she reminded herself. Odin knows what they would say if they recognized me, or if they found out I was there because of a Berkian ship.

She shivered with unease at the thought. It was bad enough they saw her as nothing more than a waste of space. She didn't need the constant reminder of what they had done to her when they looked at her. Or the constant reminder that she truly was an outcast no matter where she went.

"Wow, everyone pretty much lived up to their reputation," Hiccup started once they were outside the Great Hall. A shiver ran through Aniu as they put distance between themselves and the imposing building. Her anxiety had already reached its peak by the time Volstaf greeted Stoick. The last thing she wanted was for him to recognize her and make things worse. "I wasn't expecting him to look like Snotlout's lost brother."

"You're not helping," she snapped dryly. His attempt at cracking a joke only left her feeling worse. She was both surprised and thankful they hadn't run into any of the teens that lived around the village. It was only a matter of time before Karn and his gang of followers found them. "I don't know why I bothered agreeing to this crazy idea… nothing good is going to come out of it."

"Hey, maybe they'll see you differently now that they're older," Hiccup tried reassuring her.

Aniu merely rolled her eyes. As far as she was concerned, the people of Burgus never changed. She'd learned throughout the years of living on the island that they were incapable of changing their way, especially when it came to attacking dragons.

She knew that being raised among dragons had its benefits. Spending time with them taught her how to survive anything the world threw at her. Yet, it didn't prepare her for moments like this, where she was surrounded by people she considered strangers.

I should have known better than to go with them, she thought bitterly.

A lump formed in the back of her throat when she recognized a group of teenagers approaching the pair. A boy with dirty blond hair, cocky grin and brown eyes was joined by a brunette girl, and the twins, both with ginger-brown hair, all the while laughing at some joke they shared.

The boy with dirty blond hair stopped when he noticed Aniu standing close to Hiccup. His cocky grin turned into a cruel smile after recognition lit his gaze. Not for the first time, Aniu found herself wishing that hole would open up and swallow her. Now, would be a convenient time for that to happen.

"Well, well, if it isn't Aniu the Worthless!" he crowed, causing the rest of the gang to turn and follow his piercing gaze. Aniu's heart sank with dread at the sound of his familiar voice. He hadn't changed one bit. He may have had a growth spurt in both his muscles and size, but, his attitude clearly hadn't changed, "I was wondering when you'd finally return for round two. It has been a while since I left you with a black eye, hasn't it?"

"I thought she was taken by the dragons," the brunette known as Layla whispered to the female twin, who only snickered in response.

"It looks more like they spit her out and rejected her, just like everyone else," the male twin sneered while they both laughed in agreement.

"Don't listen to them," Hiccup warned her after noticing that her fingers clenched into fists.

They began trembling with rage as Aniu struggled to control her temper. She'd put up with Karn and his gang for six years before fleeing to the dragons. Leaving Burgus for the dragons had been the best decision she could make, as far as she was concerned.

Karn's eyes narrowed dangerously when he finally noticed that Hiccup was trying to keep Aniu from striking back. One hand was kept on her shoulder. Though, even Hiccup knew that he couldn't keep her from lashing out forever.

"Awe, you've got your own guard dog, now," he jeered her on, "How cute."

That did it.

Her eyes narrowed with fury as she finally wrenched herself from Hiccup's grip. Karn wasn't given a chance to defend himself when she slammed her fist into his nose. The sickening crack that followed was enough to send a shudder through her as Karn went tumbling back into the twins. The twins and Layla stared at Aniu in disbelief after seeing that she was fully capable of defending herself. Years of living with the dragons taught her how to defend herself against even the toughest threats. And she was suddenly grateful that she had been teaching herself those moves.

"My nose!" Karn suddenly cried out pitifully as he clutched his now bleeding nose.

"You can say what you want about me, but I will not let you insult him," she snapped.

For a moment, no one dared to move from their spot. Hiccup's mouth gaped open as he looked between Aniu, Karn and the others. Even he didn't know what to say after that display. Though, he knew full-well that the kid deserved getting the snot beaten out of him after the way he talked to her.

"Why don't you fight like a real warrior, you coward!" Karn tried getting back to his feet, only to sink back down after pain surged through him.

His nose now stuck out at an awkward angle, and a small surge of triumph swept through Aniu after she realized she must have broken it.

Serves the jerk right for acting that way, she told herself.

"Maybe we should get your nose looked at before it gets any worse," Layla wisely suggested when she noticed the tension between them was reaching an all-time-high.

Aniu knew she wouldn't hesitate to punch Karn again if he tried pulling off another stunt like that. She wasn't the terrified six-year-old he used to take his frustration out on all those years ago. She was done letting him take advantage of her smaller size, and hurting her for no reason.

She didn't give Hiccup a chance to follow as she started walking away from the group. She was already headed towards the one spot where Karn or his goons wouldn't dare follow.

The library was one of the few places that the people of Burgus either didn't know existed, or downright ignored. Aniu used to take full advantage of the silence and emptiness, just to get away from the world.

What she wasn't expecting was to find someone else also using the library. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she recognized the familiar sight of Zena leaning against one of the tables. What surprised her the most, though, was that Zena happened to be reading.

For a moment, neither of them said a word as Zena continued staring at Aniu as if she'd seen a ghost. The silence was only marred by the sound of Terrible Terrors screeching in the background, along with a flock of birds squabbling angrily at the random noise.

"So, you finally came back after all," Zena finally broke the eerie silence. "I was wondering if you would… it's been ten years."

"Feels longer than that," Aniu muttered under her breath. Her throat felt dry as she noticed the book sitting on the table. Though the pages looked as if they had seen better days, it was obvious someone had recently opened it. She noted that Zena must have allowed curiosity to get the better of her "Where did you find that book?" she asked warily.

"In one of the shelves; it was hidden so well that I'm surprised I found it at all." Zena brushed it off with a shrug before glancing at the book cautiously. "Look, I know I haven't done anything to deserve a decent conversation… or, anything, for that matter, with you, but, I want to know why you're here, now?"

Aniu chewed the bottom of her lip and looked down at the floor. She wanted to make up an excuse. Anything was better than the bitter truth threatening to escape. If Zena found out the reason behind her sudden arrival, it would only spark more questions than answers.

"I needed to stop by and gather some things before I left," she finally replied.

Zena rose an eyebrow and looked at her doubtfully. She was about to say something else when someone else joined them.

"So, this is where you go to get away from everyone." Aniu whipped around at the sound of Hiccup's voice. Though, she wasn't entirely surprised to see that he'd found the library. Most of the people from Burgus didn't even know the building existed, which was part of the reason she'd spent so much time here during her childhood. "Is this what they pass for a library?"

He looked around curiously, suddenly aware of how damaged the building was. Not only was it the oldest building on the island, but, it was also the least maintained.

"I take it you're Stoick's boy?" Zena asked before things could get anymore awkward than they already were.

Hiccup froze at the mention of his father's name, then gave a nod as Zena straightened and reached them. Wariness swept over Aniu as she studied Zena's expression carefully. Though it had been years since she last saw her sister, Aniu had no doubt Zena was fully capable of hurting them both.

"There's something here that I think you should see… both of you," she explained after reaching them.

Aniu exchanged a wary look with Hiccup. If this was anything like their previous experience with the teens of Burgus, neither of them were in any hurry of what surprises she had in store for them.

…

Her blood ran cold after reading the passages that were logged into the book. Aniu had to skim through the pages multiple times just to make sure that Zena hadn't written it herself just to tease her. When she was finally certain that it wasn't Zena's handwriting, it left her mouth feeling dry with horror and realization.

"Stoick was right," she whispered, suddenly wishing that she had stayed on Berk instead of agreeing to this crazy idea.

"How could he even do something like that?" Hiccup breathed out.

Pity rose in his heart after realizing that Aniu had suffered far more than she let on. The fact that her own father wanted nothing to do with her made it that much worse.

"Well, it was better than his original plan, which was to either execute you or throw you out to the dragons," Zena muttered darkly, "Either way, he would have had your life on his hands. The healer thought this would be a better solution."

Was it a better solution? Aniu doubted that. She now understood why the people of Burgus had treated her so cruelly. Even the people that took her in as her adopted parents were never kind to her. If anything, this just proved why she never trusted people in the first place.

"Look, we have to find some way of getting Volstaf to admit the truth," Hiccup suddenly added. Aniu glanced at him doubtfully as he began pacing, this time for a whole different reason. "No one in your village knows about this!"

"Hiccup, maybe it would be better that way," Aniu pointed out.

Her heart was racing with dread as she thought of how the people would react once they knew. Even if they did understand what Volstaf had done, she suspected they wouldn't care. Too many years of neglect and doing things their way made it impossible for them to change their minds.

"It might be possible to get him to admit the truth by ruffing him up a bit," Zena suggested.

"We might have a way of doing that."

By now, Hiccup's eyes lit up as they began discussing ways of getting Volstaf to admit the truth.

Aniu just looked at the two before shaking her head in disbelief.

Of course, they would choose to ignore me, she thought bitterly.

She should have known that as soon as Zena came into the picture, everyone would focus their attention on her. Zena always seemed to be better with people than she was, both on the battle field and when it came to making friends.

Aniu shook her head and turned to leave. The last thing she wanted was to get dragged into whatever scheme they were planning. If they thought getting Volstaf to confess the truth was going to help, they were both out of their minds.

They didn't even notice when she left the building, closing the doors shut behind her. She kept glancing over her shoulder, aware that if what the book had informed them was true, then, Volstaf did have some explaining to do.

The man who was supposed to be the Chief of Burgus had disowned his daughter. While she doubted anyone would care enough to find out the truth, it left her wondering why he would really go to such lengths. It was obvious he blamed her for her mother's death, yet, she'd never had the chance to even meet her mother.

She let out a heavy sigh as she finally reached the ship where Toothless and Cybele were waiting.

There were some things in the world that she wasn't meant to understand. Aniu realized with a start that maybe it really was better she didn't know. If her father had been so determined to disown and forget she existed, there had to be a good reason behind it.

"Aniu, you're back early!" Cybele greeted her cheerfully as she reached the lower part of the ship. Both Night Furies had been hiding below deck to avoid getting caught by any onlookers. She knew they would have to leave to stretch their wings, but for now, this was the safest option they had. "What's wrong?"

"Other than finding out that Volstaf is my father, everything is just peachy," she practically growled out the words, earning looks of disbelief from both Cybele and Toothless.

"What?" Toothless nearly dropped the fish he'd been snarfing down, eyes widening in surprise at her sudden revelation.

"I ran into Zena at the library, and she found a book that explained Chief Volstaf disowned his own daughter after her mother died giving birth," she explained, the tone of her voice bitter as chips of ice as she leaned against a pole, "My own father wanted nothing to do with me! How the Hel am I supposed to react to something like that?"

Neither Toothless nor Cybele were sure what to say to that. Until meeting either Hiccup or Aniu, neither had known what it was like to have a family. While they couldn't relate to her problem, Cybele couldn't help but reach her and press her snout against Aniu's stomach comfortingly. Hearing the helplessness in her voice was enough to leave her heart wrenching with pity.

"I'm sorry, Aniu," she whispered, "I wish there was more I could do for you."

Aniu didn't say anything. Instead, she gently wrapped her arms around Cybele, desperately hoping that the remainder of their trip would go quickly.

AN: Happy Sunday everyone! It's time for another update, and this time, I'm actually updating quickly :) Next chapter should be out next Sunday, but I can't make any promises since I'm trying to go through all of them and make sure there aren't any mistakes. At any rate, big thanks to Peter Hong Kong, Mariah, and Sgt Sniper Man101 for reviewing!

Peter Hong Kong - We shall see what happens ;) It all depends on how far I get, especially when the third movie comes out.

Mariah - Well, the truth will more than likely be revealed, but the island of Burgus may not hate him for what he did... only time will tell.

Sgt Sniper Man101 - Yeah, hopefully this was an interesting chapter. And as for running into her sister, she certainly did.