Recap of the last chapter
Morgan's goal of taunting the Light Fury, holding one of the Night Lights, had resulted in him being kidnapped by her. In the midst of that tension-felt confrontation, the secret of the 19 year old, that he never expected the vikings to find out about, came out in the open, and at that point, Morgan resorted to his last action; spray Toothless with his deodorant, in the hopes that'll spark the Night Fury's memory of the 19 year old from his first time in this world.
CHAPTER 21: Peace rebels
The commotion died down, but Hiccup & the gang were shocked at what they just saw; he and the gang rushed over to the direction of the totem pole, as Toothless sat up straight, twitching his eyes from what was sprayed into his face. Hiccup didn't even want to talk about what was on the letter at the moment; all he wanted was for his best pal to follow the Light Fury, and put an end to whatever she was going to do to Morgan.
The screaming and the running of the vikings that watched the commotion calmed down, but the vicinity surrounding the area around the totem pole was less packed; many of the vikings had simply retreated, not wanting anything to do with what happened just now. The only vikings standing near the totem pole were of course Hiccup and the other main Berkians. Toothless was now the only dragon left on the island, but that was about to change in a second, when he eventually flies off to try and potentially bring Morgan back to safety.
Then again, what incentive, in Toothless's current state of mind, would the dragon have to bring Morgan back, after the 19 year old threatened one of his Night Light babies to the Light Fury?
Toothless, finally clearing his face and eyes of that spray, looked up at a shocked Hiccup, besides Astrid, Nuffink and Zephyr, with the latter two not understanding what was said just now in regards to that secret. Toothless worryingly looked up into the sky, acknowledging that his mate had just kidnapped that 19 year old guy; sure, that guy kept the Night Light in a threatening gesture, but Toothless still didn't want any human to suffer in The Hidden World; a world with soaring dragons, flying with zero mercy when it comes to any human they find? Toothless, being the alpha, had an obligation to bring that guy back from whichever part of The Hidden World his mate was taking him.
"Astrid, uh, get the kids back to the hut, don't want them to see anymore of this..." Hiccup pleaded.
"Without a doubt, Hiccup. Come on Zephyr, Nuffink..." Astrid said, completely agreeing with Hiccup; she didn't want her two kids hearing in on what just happened.
"M-Mum, why did that white dragon take...that guy away?" Zephyr asked Astrid, as she held her mother's right hand, with Nuffink holding Astrid's left hand.
"It'll all be sorted out tomorrow, there's nothing to worry about, Zephyr. I promise." Astrid said, as she began walking with Nuffink and Zephyr towards a steep part of the terrain, breaking away from the collection of huts in the village.
They were heading back to the hut for the night. Hiccup, in the meantime, needed to get to the bottom of what just happened. But for now, all he wanted was for Toothless to bring Morgan back; there was no knowing what Hiccup was going to do with Morgan IF, a big IF, Morgan comes back here by some miracle.
A few groups of Berkian vikings surrounded the nearby dense forest and huts, returning to the area where they had witnessed the Light Fury and that 19 year old pink top guy just now; they remained in the background, not wanting any involvement, but the rather intimidating commotion where the Light Fury flew up and took that guy away gave them interest; they wanted to know why that happened without getting involved in the ongoing conversation. They couldn't hear what Hiccup was saying to Toothless and the gang, but still, they remained put near the huts in the village.
The screaming and panicking that initially took place amongst the vikings due to the Light Fury's actions had also died down; the island was calm again, but still, they had a ton to talk about come tomorrow. Perhaps when they drink their yak milk as apart of their breakfast tomorrow morning, everything that happened near the totem pole will be the focus of the conversations from the vikings?
Toothless looked incredibly wary and uncomfortable; so much so, he had his ears down on his head. He wasn't angry at all, he was just taken aback; what the heck just happened? where did the contents of that letter come from? all of these questions that Toothless had in his intelligent reptile head made him incredibly quiet, and evidently from his body language, where he had his black scaly head lowered, worried, and borderline-sad.
Borderline-sad for the fact that what was brought up from the letter was so...strange and odd, and unorthodox...it almost didn't feel real. That pink top guy claimed, before being kidnapped by the Light Fury, that the Toothless himself will remember him, but despite Toothless having a few brief deja-vus, he literally couldn't recall a time in which he's seen 'Morgan' as he's called, before, making the events just now all the more stranger. He rumbled a saddened-like tone from his scaly throat as he looked at the floor.
"Bud...let's not discuss t-that...what matters now is you bringing Morgan back. It'll be hard, but we need him back...he's got a ton of questions that he'll have to answer when you get him back. Alright?" Hiccup said, ducking down to a lowered-head Toothless.
Toothless looked up at his best pal, as Fishlegs, Fistpunch, Snotlout, Valka, so on, stood behind Hiccup, still taken aback by the odd events just now. The Night Fury let off a brief purr with a closed-mouth smile, nodding at Hiccup.
"Come on bud, there's no need to get worked up over it...I'll take care of it when he comes back...think you can bring him back from her?" Hiccup asked Toothless, referring to the Light Fury.
Toothless nodded, letting off a calming, soothing sound in response; he was relieved from Hiccup's words, and because he was relieved, he felt ready to go and retrieve that 19 year old guy that Hiccup refers to as 'Morgan', and bring him back.
"And you know what this means, bud? it means this won't be the last time I see you, haha! it's kinda like...double time, right, ah? haha..." Hiccup chuckled, walking over to Toothless to pat the dragon calmly on his head.
Toothless nuzzled his head with Toothless. Subsequently, once the two friends slowly backed up, Hiccup and the gang nodded at Toothless, before the Night Fury ran and flew right up to ascend like a rocket into the air, instantly going into camouflage with the night sky; he soared his way higher as the flaps from his wings emitted wind strengths to the point they made the nearby trees shake in their branches. Hiccup stared up at the sky as he watched Toothless go; Valka walked up to Hiccup from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I ca-can't believe what I just heard..." Hiccup said, somewhat underneath a whisper.
"I know, son...we all felt, and still feel, completely disgusted...what's wrong with that Morgan guy, Hiccup?"
"Mum, if I could tell you...I would...we have to get him back here...and then...I dunno, there's so much we need to uncover, but...I just don't know...never before have I imagined hearing something on that letter...if it is true...I think we ought to consider some sort of...-"
"I have an idea, Hiccup!" Fistpunch said, walking to the other side of Hiccup, opposite Valka, "when he comes back, I'll have him drawn and quartered...how can we let somebody like that live when he's just confessed to something even I would've never thought? a dragon and...j-just...WHAT?!" Fistpunch finished.
"Fistpunch, I can't help but feel that type of attitude led to this whole thing...you know what I mean?" Hiccup said, looking at Fistpunch.
Fistpunch chuckled, "a-I'm sorry? what?" he said.
"Drawn and quartered? what are we, some tribe trying to live up to the likes of Drago and Grimmel? what makes you any better if you're willing to go to those lengths?"
"Wait wait, hold on, back up there, Hiccup, back right up...in case you weren't aware, I was the only one out of this lot to bring Morgan back with the Night Light when it went missing...so if you're honestly trying to claim I'm apart of the reason this has happened, when I'm standing up for what I believe in, and when I was the only one to find the Night Light, you're wrong, completely wrong. Why don't we have him drawn and quartered?"
"You're not helping us, Fist. Not with that type of mindset. I get where you're coming from, with your...you know, what happened in the past, but at times like these, we ought to really tone it down, rather than resort to what you're suggesting...I'll agree, what he wrote in that letter was disgusting and utterly inappropriate if it's true...just calling it inappropriate doesn't feel like enough to describe it...and it made us all...you know, uh, vomit...but even still, we can't just react how you're wanting to react. Just tone it down and keep yourself on the lowdown, I'll take care of this..."
Fistpunch wasn't happy. And that was an understatement.
"Valka, was I not the one who brought Morgan back, the only one out of this lot to do so, when the Night Light went missing?" Fistpunch asked.
Valka didn't want to take sides, especially now, so she shrugged her shoulders as she stood besides Hiccup, willing to help her son get to the bottom of what's gone on, particularly with Toothless, IF that letter's true.
"Okay...okay, fine...if you aren't going to properly deal with this the RIGHT way..." Fistpunch began walking, before stopping to look back at Hiccup, "then I will..."
Hiccup and Valka looked back at a clearly angered Fistpunch, walking away with a rapid march. They took nothing of his comment, though; in moments like these, some people will get angry, but they'll calm down eventually, which is how they felt for Fistpunch. They understood where Fist was coming from, but Hiccup wasn't alone in his view that Fistpunch's tone simply wasn't helping the situation right now.
"Mum...the horrifying thing is...I can remember distinctly that night...you remember? when we used to live on Berk? he left that night, whilst we were in the hall...I can even image a time where me and Astrid found Toothless in the forest on Berk as well...you know...all sad, as if he was looking for somebody, oh god mum, what if it's true-"
"Son, we'll get to the bottom of it...don't worry..." Valka said, trying to calm Hiccup of his worries that what Morgan wrote may very well be true.
And the more Hiccup thought about it, the more he could remember the times in which Morgan was around whilst the Hairy Hooligans were still on Berk, and oddly enough, the moments he remembered were able to be tied in with what was written on the letter; specifically, finding Toothless in the forest, all saddened as if he was looking for somebody. He just didn't want to believe that letter. But what if it was true?
"Knuck," Fistpunch said, arriving at the village, just a bit away from where Hiccup and Valka, with Fishlegs, Snotlout, so on, were standing, "get the boys to the beach...we need to discuss a compromise..." he said.
"On it, Fist..." Knuck said.
Knuck just so happened to be a member of Fistpunch's secretive group of vikings, the group that specifically consisted of vikings who were all for consistent and permanent dragon peace. Their hard-line view was this; anybody who causes deliberate harm to a dragon should receive a punishment of the same calibre.
This is a group that Fistpunch formed initially as a get-together for vikings who have strong beliefs in keeping the peace for dragons, but as of now, it's became something much more than that. The vikings in it were always hard-line believers in that type of stuff.
That was just the surface of the group. Fistpunch wanted to arrange a meet up with the 50+ viking group because of two things; the first was that he wasn't happy at all with what Hiccup just said; practically giving him the blame for all of this happening, and for Valka hiding the truth. That, to Fistpunch, meant that Hiccup and the lot were willing to potentially let what was confessed by Morgan go, as if it wasn't a big deal.
Fistpunch knew he was the only one that found the missing Night Light, yet it wasn't appreciated by Hiccup, OR by Valka, because she didn't say anything when he asked her to tell Hiccup that it was him who found Morgan with the dragon, another reason why he was unhappy.
But of course it was a big deal to Fistpunch; there was no way he was going to bow under a leadership of a tribe that simply won't deal with the people who harm dragons in the right way. He respected, no, he DID respect Hiccup until just now, so he no longer found it hard to consider plotting against the Haddock Chief.
The second was that Fistpunch truly believed that Hiccup and the lot, going off of Hiccup's own reaction to it just now, weren't capable of properly handling the debacle. It was almost...wimpy, to Fistpunch, kind of like a snowflake sort of thing; it was as bad as letting a dragon hunter live, in Fist's eyes.
Given that Fistpunch himself lost his dragon to a bunch of dragon hunters in the past, what Morgan claimed to have done, as he claimed in that letter, was more than enough to consider killing him. But Hiccup clearly doesn't want to do that. It's one thing to kill a dragon...but to...do...THAT?! Fistpunch's stomach went funny every time he thought about it, but that only encouraged the large veteran viking; Morgan needed to be punished for committing such a vile and disgusting thing against a dragon. ESPECIALLY since it was supposedly committed with Toothless, the alpha.
Fistpunch, more than ever, wanted to go to The Hidden World to check on the dragons to make sure they were okay; there were a bunch of things to be talked about in this upcoming meeting, evidently. Amongst that, was the issue of not having any knowledge of The Hidden World's direction from this island.
Logs, burning with flames, had lit up the area of the darkened beach at night where the group was meeting up. Fistpunch was stood directly in front of the logs, looking out to his fellow vikings, members of the group. There were 50+ of them, some big, some small. They were all hard liners in that they truly believed dragon peace comes above all, given what happened with Drago and Grimmel. Fistpunch was a perfect fit to be the leader of this group, given that he, perhaps more than all these vikings surrounding him in the open, somewhat-windy beach at night, shared the same views. His past spoke for itself too.
"Alright, I'm cutting straight to the chase. What an absolutely disgusting and vile thing that was revealed...I was vomiting for a minute straight back there...you were all there when that Morgan guy was threatening the Light Fury...so you probably heard about what I'm talking about. Absolutely disgraceful, for a 19 year old to do that? I can't comprehend it...not in the slightest..."
"Fist, didn't you tell us that you were trying to get that guy to tell you where The Hidden World was?" one of the vikings amongst the 50+ asked.
"Yeah, I did. And I was. Only reason why I didn't ask Hiccup or anyone was because they...I realistically cannot force any of them to take me there. Now Morgan on the other hand...he's not a viking, he's got nothing on him, yet Hiccup had told me that what he was saying was true...had he refused a few more times, I could've simply forced him to tell me where to go on the boat..."
Fistpunch felt like he was going off of the point.
"But listen, listen, the reason why I gathered you all here was because I wanted to draw up a plan...a response of our own, one where we overtake Hiccup's leadership in order to put ours into force. You all know me, you know what I went through, and if you're all with me, wanting to prevent another type of occurrence similar to the likes of Drago and Grimmel, you'll agree with me, aye?"
"AYEE!" the vikings chanted, all at the same time.
"We can't let Hiccup brush this vile, disgusting thing off like it's nothing...in many ways, you could say this is even WORSE than a dragon dying...it's...to do something of that magnitude, you all know what I mean, to a DRAGON?! you'd have to be mentally unstable...and I truly believe Morgan wasn't just craving for that...he's not right in the head, he's got the mentality of somebody who'll do it over and over again, and we all know what I mean...I ain't saying it out loud. Hiccup's even willing to brush this aside, DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WAS TOOTHLESS, WHO WAS THE VICTIM OF IT!"
"W-what now?" a couple of the vikings in the back of the group said.
A few of these vikings in the meeting weren't able to hear Hiccup reading those paragraphs of Morgan's letter back at the village during the tension-felt confrontation between Morgan and the Light Fury, so that's why they questioned Fistpunch just now.
"Yep. Hiccup's own dragon was the victim of this. THE ALPHA OF THE HIDDEN WORLD, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF WE CAN PROVE IF IT HAPPENED OR NOT, NO SANE PERSON WOULD JOKE ABOUT SOMETHING THIS OUTRAGEOUS AND FRANKLY, DISGUSTING AND VILE! WE NEED TO ACT NOW!"
"AYEEE!"
"Without this guy though, Fist, how do you propose going to The Hidden World to check on the dragons? didn't you say that Hiccup said that this guy...whatever his name is again...had knowledge that was true..of the direction of The Hidden World?"
"Yeah, he knows a ton about it, so he very much knows its whereabouts. We'll have to play the waiting game for now, until we get a good idea of if Morgan's coming back or not. Realistically, if Morgan doesn't come back, we can just go ahead with this, overtaking Hiccup and his lot to get to the boats...to find The Hidden World ourselves...but if he DOES come back, we overtake Hiccup's leadership, put them in a location where they can't stop us from taking all the boats to go to The Hidden World, and then Morgan will be directing all of us to The Hidden World by force, in which then, once we arrive, he can be quartered to the length he deserves...the disgusting rot..."
The group was a hard line viking collection, so they were willing to overtake Hiccup's Chief leadership of the island, one way or another, to get what they wanted.
"REMEMBER BOYS, WE AREN'T THE BAD GUYS, WE'RE THE GOOD GUYS; IF HICCUP WANTS TO UNDER-APPRECIATE ME FOR NOT ONLY BELIEVING IN FULL DRAGON PEACE, BUT ALSO BRINGING THAT NIGHT LIGHT BACK FROM THAT ROTTEN GUY, AND IF HE WANTS TO BRUSH THIS...THIS...MENTALLY UNSTABLE ACTION OF MORGAN ASIDE LIKE IT'S NOTHING, THEN WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO? I'M CERTAINLY PREPARED TO OVERTAKE THEM ALL!" Fistpunch roared, like a dictator.
"OVERTAKE THEM ALLLLLLLL!" the entire group chanted.
They remained on the dark cold beach, giving it its only light source from the fire and the logs, laughing as they were finally prepared to do what was right. Right in their heads, at least.
These vikings were just as hard-line as Fistpunch, but the only difference was was that they never suffered what Fistpunch did during the rise of Drago.
Fistpunch's group could now be identified in two words; peace for the fact their future actions will revolve around ensuring the dragons are safely in peace, whatever hard-line actions the group takes, and perhaps the most chilling word of all; rebel, because they intend on overtaking Hiccup and locking him and his lot away to get the boats.
Combine them, and you have exactly what the group can now be referred to as; Peace rebels.
Hiccup has just pitted Fistpunch's hard-line tone as one of the reasons why the debacle with Morgan happened; calling for Morgan to be drawn and quartered, and generally being obsessive over the 19 year old whilst he was still here. Fistpunch however, took this as a betrayal; Hiccup, the one who ended the dragon viking war as a teenager all those years ago, suddenly backing down from properly dealing with what Fistpunch thinks is 'worse than killing a dragon'? that was a big no from Fist's behalf. Being berated, and not being given the recognition for bringing the Night Light to safety when it went missing? that was the line drawn for Fistpunch. So now, with him and his group having planned the next course of action, one that'll diverge Fistpunch to The Hidden World eventually, with Morgan hopefully, what exactly will the peace rebels look to achieve when their time comes? on the other side of things, what'll happen when Morgan's in The Hidden World, potentially stranded in a world of dangerous wild dragons, assuming Toothless DOESN'T bring him back?