Chapter Twenty-Five

'Are you sure you're okay?' Hiccup asked.

'Yes, Hiccup, I'm fine. And if you ask me that again, I'll deck you,' Astrid said, very sweetly.

Huh. That answered the question. But could anyone blame him for worrying? That bruise on her forehead was spectacular. But this was Astrid, and she was wearing it like a badge of honor even though Hiccup knew she must have a raging headache.

His wife was tough.

He wasn't going to get the image of Astrid crashing into that chair out of his head anytime soon. He felt like doing something, something a husband would do; maybe kiss her, or hug her. But he knew Astrid well enough to know that she would deck him if he did that in front of the others.

They were in the forge. For the first time in Hiccup's memory, the whole gang was there, sitting on stools and workbenches and tables. The Viking warriors were still in the Great Hall, discussing this new… development. And the teenagers, being 'young and largely inexperienced in the art of war', had been told to go away and entertain themselves while the grownups sorted this out.

When Hiccup had set out for the forge, everyone had followed. Suddenly, he was the leader of the gang. It was just weird.

'This is so not fair,' Snotlout whined from his perch on the table, 'we should be in the Hall. After all, we found out about that Red Death,'

The Red Death. Tired of saying 'huge, giant dragon that eats other dragons', Hiccup had come up with the name, and it had stuck. Hey, it had red spikes, and made him think of death whenever he thought of it. It wasn't that much of a stretch.

Astrid raised her eyebrow. 'We found out? I don't remember you being there with Hiccup and I,'

Snotlout waved this aside. 'We're the same gang right? Same thing,'

The part of Hiccup that was not worried about Astrid was worried about his father and the rest of the warriors. He couldn't help thinking he and Astrid had failed to factor in a very important point in their tell-grownups-dragons-are-friendly-so-we-can-stop-killing-them plan.

Vikings loved charging head-first into battle.

And Vikings were stubbornness incarnate.

Make that two important points they had failed to consider.

Before his final exam, his mind had been filled with thoughts on getting out of killing the Nightmare; now that he had gotten out of it, this other problem loomed clearly in front of him.

They had no plan, no strategy on defeating the Red Death. Given a few months, Hiccup could maybe probably possibly come up with an idea that didn't involve a death toll of half the village. Now that he had told, the matter was taken out of his hands. And the adults were in charge; the battle-loving, stubbornness-incarnate, charge-and-ask-questions-later adults. With the enemy in sight, they would never wait for a safer plan to be formed. The old 'find it, kill it' would be good enough for them.

Astrid had been right. They had to tell everyone, it was the only way to stop them from killing, and being killed by, dragons. But was this any better? The Red Death was so huge; Stoick was only the size of one of her teeth. A fight would be disastrous for the Vikings.

He had saved the dragons, but had he sacrificed his own people in the process?

'I have a very bad feeling about this,' Hiccup said glumly, almost to himself.

'What on Earth are you talking about?' said Tuffnut. But Astrid and Fishlegs looked at him knowingly, understanding his train of thought.

'Maybe we rushed into this,' Hiccup said to Astrid, 'we should have waited,'

'We didn't have a choice, Hiccup. We had to tell. It was the only way they'd let you get away with not killing that Nightmare,' Astrid said.

'Well, it wasn't really the only way,' Hiccup told her, 'we could have gone away on a vacation, you know; you, me, and Toothless. Forever,' Why hadn't he thought of this sooner?

Astrid rolled her eyes. 'Like you'd ever run away from your tribe,'

'I think I would… if I didn't have a reason to stay,' he looked at Astrid meaningfully. She flushed. Snotlout made gagging noises in the back; but Astrid elbowed him in the stomach and he doubled over.

'Our parents are going to war, right?' said Ruffnut, surprisingly subdued.

'But that's good, isn't it?' Tuffnut looked confused by his sister's lack of enthusiasm.

'It isn't good when their chances of winning are like your chances of dating a girl before you die,' Ruffnut retorted. 'Moron!'

'Pimple-face!'

'Bat-ears!'

'Actually, given Tuffnut's lineage and financial status, he should be able to date…' began Fishlegs.

'Shut up!' Ruffnut snapped.

'You're making it sound like our parents aren't coming back,' Snotlout said dismissively. 'It's a dragon. We go in and we strike and we win. That's not so hard,'

'Haven't you been listening? The Red Death's the size of a mountain,' Hiccup reminded him. But Snotlout was a Viking through and through and remained unimpressed. 'So what? Vikings crush mountains all the time,'

'This mountain may be harder to crush, Snotlout,' said a voice.

Everyone fell silent as Stoick and Gobber came into the forge. One look at their faces and Hiccup knew. 'Dad…'

'Son, we need to borrow your dragon,' Stoick said.

'What? No… but Dad…' Hiccup said pleadingly.

'We're not going to hurt him. We just need him to take us to the dragons' nest,' Stoick said, 'We have to get rid of that Red Death,'

'Haven't you been listening? Dad! That thing is the size of a mountain! You can't fight it!'

'We can't keep living like this either!' Stoick snapped. 'That dragon is eating us out of house and home. We have to get rid of it. Then we'll live in peace. Isn't this what you want? For dragons and Vikings to live in peace?'

'Yes. But you'd have to be alive to do that!' Hiccup said desperately, 'Dad, you can't fight that thing! Not now! Give me a few months, a few weeks, days, I don't know. I'll come up with some other way!'

'The food we have left is barely enough to tie the village over the winter,' Stoick said, while Gobber nodded somberly. 'Can you guarantee there will be no raids over the next nine months? They had raided us four times during the summer when game is plentiful. When winter comes, game will be scarce, how many times do you think we will be raided then?'

It was during times like this that Hiccup hated Berk's miserable climate – nine months of winter-slash-devastating-winter, three months of summer, with a few days of spring and autumn thrown in between.

'We cannot afford another raid. The whole village will starve. The only way is to put an end to this, right now, before the ice sets in. So unless you have a plan now, Hiccup; we set off for Helheim's Gate tomorrow morning,'

He could see the stubborn glint in his father's eyes. And the excitement. Stoick, strong, capable, never beaten, must believe there was nothing the Vikings could not do. Sure, Hiccup's description of the Red Death made it sound like nothing they had ever encountered before; but they were Vikings, and they would win this.

'But Dad…' Hiccup could feel his breath hitching. He had lost his mother, and now, for the first time in his life, he faced the very real danger of losing his father, too. This couldn't happen, he had just found his father; for the first time in years his father had looked at him and really saw him, and listened to him. They had reached a new level of understanding.

He wanted more time with his father. How could he make Stoick understand that if he left now, there would never be more time?

'You can't… Dad…' You can't leave me like this, I need you. I can't do without you.

'Don't worry, son. We're Vikings. There is not much we can't do,' his father said, 'We need your dragon to take us to the nest,'

'Toothless can't fly without me,' Hiccup blurted, and wanted to kick himself for revealing that fact.

'We won't be flying, we're sailing,' Stoick said.

'If Toothless goes, then I'm going with him,' Hiccup said, face set.

'You're not coming,' Stoick snapped. 'You will stay here and keep an eye on things. I'm counting on you now, son. The tribe needs you,'

'I'm ready to fight, sir!' Snotlout said enthusiastically.

'All of you are staying right here. No one under the age of twenty is coming! You will stay here where it's safe,'

Hiccup sucked in a breath. Stoick might not fully comprehend the hopelessness of the situation, but he had made sure that the younger generation would at least survive if the warriors of the older generation were lost. 'Dad…'

'You're staying here! Gobber will be in charge. Now I want that dragon!'

Hiccup bit his lip, stood straight, and crossed his arms. 'No,'

They glared at each other. He watched as his father's face went unnaturally red, and his huge hands curled into fists. Astrid moved closer to Hiccup, a hand on his arm, he pushed her behind him. He would not let her be hurt this time.

'Stoick. We don't need the boy's dragon,' Gobber said suddenly, with a worried look on his face. 'If any dragon would do, then just pick one from the ring,'

'Those dragons aren't tame,' Stoick said, breathing heavily. 'We don't have time to train it, and my son here will most probably refuse to show us how,'

'We don't have to tame it,' Gobber said, uncomfortable. 'We'll just overpower it, and tie it to the ship,'

Hiccup's heart sank as realization drawn on Stoick's face. 'No, Dad! Dad! Please just listen to me!' he shouted, running after the huge man as he turned to leave. 'Dad please! You'll die! All of you!'

'We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard,' Stoick said gruffly. Then, in a gesture that broke something in Hiccup, he raised a hand and ran his palm softly over Hiccup's hair. 'At least you'll be safe. I expect you to be chief after Gobber trains you up,' He left.

Something was fighting to crawl out of Hiccup's chest, an animal that wanted to scream and sob. His vision blurred, and he blinked rapidly to clear it. The rest of the gang looked stricken. Their parents would be leaving too. It was one thing living with the fear that your parents might not come back from a battle. It was another knowing they wouldn't be back at all. Without a word Fishlegs turned and rushed off toward his home; the Thorston twins followed closely behind.

Snotlout looked paler than Hiccup had ever seen. The enormity of the situation seemed to have finally dawned on him. 'Dad,' he murmured, and left too. Spitelout, Snotlout's dad, was Stoick's second-in-command during battles.

'Hiccup,' Astrid said softly.

'This is all my fault,' Hiccup mumbled.

'Think, Hiccup. Think,' Astrid said fiercely. 'We really need a plan now. What are we going to do?'

'I don't know,' His mind was blank except for the horror and the devastation. And the recurring, screaming accusation of his conscience, you did this you did this you did this. If he hadn't shot Toothless out of the sky; if he hadn't befriended the Night Fury, he wouldn't have known all this, and none of this would have happened. He had finally managed to do what everyone had been afraid he would do.

He had managed to massacre his tribe.

They took the Nadder. It was probably the best dragon to put on a ship. No two heads to worry about, no setting itself on fire, not too heavy, and not too small that they could lose track of it on a Viking ship.

They left as soon as the sun rose. It was another beautiful day, but Berk was devastated. The people who were left were in shock. And the people who did leave were most probably not coming back. It would be a fight to the death. None of Astrid's family had gone, her father couldn't, and her mother was the sole breadwinner of the household. But hers was about the only family unaffected.

Scratch that, her family was affected. She was a Haddock now, and Stoick had left.

And Hiccup, her husband, had lost another parent.

Astrid found him on the cliff, the same place she had run off to when she had found out she was betrothed to him. Had it really just been three weeks? Odin, their honeymoon wasn't even over.

He was staring into the distance, where the ships had disappeared. And on his face was misery, hopelessness, and guilt all rolled into one. Silently, she slipped her arm into the crook of his. And they stood there together, watching the horizon.

'Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods?' Hiccup said softly, almost to himself, 'Wouldn't it be better for everyone?'

'Yup. The rest of us would have done it,' Astrid said, trying to keep her voice light, 'So why didn't you?' When he didn't answer, she prompted. 'Why didn't you?'

'I don't know, I couldn't,' Hiccup said.

'That's not an answer,'

'Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?' he tried to pull his arm away from hers, but she held on tight.

No one's ever listened before, so he's not in the habit of telling. She remembered her father's words. Please Odin, don't let it be too late. She didn't think she could stand it if Hiccup closed himself off from her. 'Because I want to remember what you say, right now,'

'Oh for the love of…' Hiccup said impatiently. 'I was a coward. I was weak. I wouldn't kill a dragon,'

'You said wouldn't that time,' Astrid said.

'Oh whatever, I wouldn't,' Hiccup snapped, jerking his arm forcibly away. 'Three hundred years and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon,'

Why couldn't he see it? See what she could see; what was so blatantly clear that she was amazed she had not seen it earlier. That he was so much more than who he thought he was. 'First to ride one, though,' she reminded him gently.

Hiccup froze. And Astrid waited.

Finally, he spoke, turning around to look at her, searching her eyes. 'I wouldn't kill him because he looked as frightened as I was,' he admitted, 'I looked at him, and I saw myself,'

She kissed his cheek.

'Wha… why… um…'

It was very gratifying – and entertaining- to see that great brain click off whenever she showed him a little affection. 'And that tells you what kind of person you are,' Astrid told him, smiling.

'What? A coward?' he said stupidly.

'A person with compassion,' she insisted, and punched him so that his head would come back from its trip the clouds. 'You did a good thing, befriending Toothless. Never doubt that,'

'And now the tribe's off to commit suicide,' said Hiccup bitterly.

'It's not your fault. It's either a fast death by the Red Death, or a slow one by starvation,' said Astrid harshly, but felt her chest hurt at the utter helplessness on his face. 'Oh Hiccup, if only we could go after them… fly out on the dragons in the ring, or something. The Red Death's big, but that makes it clumsy, doesn't it? We're small, and if we ride dragons, we'll have firepower too, and our size will allow easy maneuvering. If there's the slightest chance that we could somehow help destroy that thing… Hiccup…'

She stopped. Hiccup had frozen again, and from his eyes she could see the brain that Snotlout claimed was out of this world working rapidly.

'Hiccup?'

Slowly, very slowly, he turned to her, and she could see that a plan was forming. 'Brilliant. Astrid, you're a genius!' His eyes shone. 'Are you up for something crazy?'

Hiccup's plans never turned out good. But faith was blind, after all. Or was it love that was blind? Either way, Astrid grinned in relief. 'Sure,'

She gathered the rest of the gang in the ring and filled them in on the plan, while Hiccup left for the cove to get Toothless. The ring was deserted, all the able-bodied guards on their way to the nest. No one would interfere with their plan now.

The others brightened considerably when Astrid told them that they were going to do something after all.

'So what's the plan?' said Tuffnut eagerly, 'How are we getting there?'

'Why can't we bring our weapons?' Ruffnut demanded.

'Is this Hiccup's plan we're following? He doesn't usually have good ones, does he? Now I have this awesome idea…' Snotlout began.

'You can just leave,' Astrid told him bluntly.

'I think I know what Hiccup has in mind,' Fishlegs looked at the cages that contained the dragons. 'It's easy to figure out. All the ships are gone, so Hiccup's planning on flying there. And since the Night Fury can't carry all of us, we're all going to…'

A black shadow flew overhead, and they looked up. There was the sound of the wind whistling through wings, the trademark warning for the arrival of a –

'Night Fury!' shouted Fishlegs.

'Get down!' Snotlout added.

'Oh shut up. That's Toothless,' Astrid rolled her eyes.

'That is definitely not toothless,' Ruffnut muttered.

'Yeah. Well,' Astrid ran forward to meet them as the boy and dragon landed. The black dragon nuzzled Astrid with a welcoming grunt. 'Hey Toothless,' she never thought she would be so glad to see him. She laid her head against his scaly one and closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them, the other four were staring in slack-jawed amazement.

'You are a god,' Snotlout said reverently, hero-worship in his eyes. Astrid wasn't sure if he was referring to Hiccup or Toothless.

'Guys, listen up,' Hiccup said, and in his voice were quiet authority and determination. 'We're gonna fly,'

He got off the dragon, went to the nearest lever and pulled. The others yelped and huddled together when the cage sprang open to reveal a very surprised Zippleback. It snarled, and Toothless growled warningly, opening his wings and wrapping one in front of Astrid like a shield. He growled again, this time in alarm, when the other teenagers rushed to join Astrid, and she had to rub his head to calm him down.

'It's okay, they're friends. We'll introduce them properly later,' she muttered to him.

One by one, the cages opened. Hiccup could be heard murmuring to the dragons reassuringly.

'Astrid, if you ever want to divorce him, I'll be happy to take him off your hands,' Ruffnut muttered to her. Astrid punched her in the shoulder, hard. 'Get your own man,' she said firmly, 'he's mine,'

'C'mon, guys. No time to lose,' Hiccup said, one hand on the Nightmare's snout, the other on the Gronkle's. 'Snotlout, you get the Nightmare,'

'No way!' Snotlout shouted from the relative safety behind Toothless' wing.

'Ruff, Tuff, you get the Zippleback. Fishlegs gets the Gronkle. Astrid, you'll ride with me. Toothless, come here,' Hiccup ordered, and the others gave a collective yelp when the protective wing disappeared from around them. Toothless bounded over to where Hiccup was standing.

Right at the moment, the picture they made would stay forever in Astrid's mind. Hiccup, standing tall, the sun behind him, his face determined; and surrounded by docile dragons.

'Right. Quick lesson on how to train your dragon, pay close attention,' Hiccup said sternly. And they learned.