Something New
Rating; M for Mature
Parings; HiccupXAstrid, FishlegsXHeather, RuffnutXSnotlout, TuffnutXCamicazi
Disclaimer; I do not own the HTTYD movies, series, or mini-shorts.
Chapter 26
~Normal POV~
Everyone was confused when Hiccup suddenly returned two hours after leaving, looking concerned and maybe even a little mad, and saying he found the nest-also that there was a colossal problem on their hands. What did that mean?! What had he seen when he was out there. Of course, Hiccup was still sick and panting hard. Viggo got him a cup of water in hopes it would calm him down some. Eret and Ryker helped him get to his chair so he could sit down-clearly he was lost in thought. Milla was worried for her father, she left her mother's side and climbed in Hiccup's lap looking up at home with concern in her blue-green eyes.
"Papa?" Milla asked putting her hands on his cheeks, "What's wong?" she asked him.
"It's nothing, princess. Just more work for Daddy to do tomorrow-or maybe the next few weeks. Did you have a good party?" he asked forcing a smile.
"Yes, Daddy. Now I'm sweepy," she yawned tiredly as he chuckled.
"Well, best be getting you to bed then-shouldn't we? But first, I don't think I gave you my present to you..." Hiccup told her as he pulled something out from under his armor, it was a leather braided necklace-thin with a gold dragon pendant, the dragon being a Gronckle-the eye of it being a purple stone since it was Milla's favorite color and the background was all runes.
"It's so pwetty!" Milla's eyes lit up. "Can you put it on me?" Hiccup nodded as he placed it around her neck and tied it off. "You're the bestest, Daddy in the whole world." she hugged him tightly.
Hiccup chuckled a bit, "I'm your only Daddy." Hiccup reminded her.
"That's why your the bestest and your my Daddy forever." Milla exclaimed, Hiccup hugged her back.
"Yes I will be. Now it's time for all children under eighteen to get to bed. Tore, Hagen-will you take Milla to bed and tuck her in for your mother and I. There's a little business to take care of before we come home." Hiccup asked them.
"Yes, father." Hagen said as they took Milla out of the hall, other parents went to put their kids to bed as well.
"Hiccup, what did you find at the nest?" Astrid asked once the hall was clear of children.
"A colossal problem, babe. It's a massive dragon controlling the smaller ones-like this dragon has six eyes, three on each side. It lives in a volcano that rests on an island clouded by ash and fog. It eats dragons that don't bring back enough food for it. And what is worse...this thing is being controlled by a man who calls himself, Drago Bludvist." Hiccup stated and then he saw Stoick flinch a bit and back up.
"Drago Bludvist?" Stoick asked to confirm.
"Yeah. Heard him say it himself. He's building an army to conquer people, he controls the raids. This dragon, it's...like an alpha. It controls the dragons and Dragon controls the alpha. I heard him say specifically: you and I will conquer this world, all vikings will bow and fear us my pet. They will never laugh at Drago Bludvist again." Hiccup recited, now he saw his father's fear filled eyes as he stood up firmly. "Wait a second, do you know this guy?"
"Not personally, no..." his father trailed off as Hiccup narrowed his eyes a bit.
"Dad! Do you know the guy or not!" Hiccup raised his voice.
"It was a very long time ago, son. I never thought I'd hear of him again after that horrid day..." Stoick said.
"You knew there was a psychopath out there who could control dragons?" Hiccup asked.
"I didn't...know he could control them this much-to raid levels, Hiccup..." Stoick replied quickly.
"How do you know, Drago, Dad." Hiccup asked with his arms over his chest.
"It was a long time ago at a chieftain gathering-discussing the dragon scourge we all faced. A stranger, Drago came into the hall and said he was a man of the people, and could control the dragons-if we chose to bow down to him. We laughed, and he wrapped himself in his cloak while saying 'then see how well you do without me'. After that, armed dragons descended on the hall, burning it to the ground...I...was the only one to escape alive." Stoick explained.
"Explains why he said no one would laugh at him again. I cannot believe you wouldn't tell me something like this-I've been searching for answers since I became chief as to why the raids were happening! You searched for the nest and answers countless times over the years, wondering about the raids and this never clicked in your mind that the reason the raids were happening only to viking inhabited islands was because of the guy you pissed off by laughing at him? Now he's out there looking for revenge with a very large dragon that controls the others ones!" Hiccup scolded almost.
"I'm...sorry, Hiccup. It...never crossed my mind that it could be his doing..." Stoick lowered his head.
"He has an entire base built into the volcano. Filled with thousands of dragons, and hundreds of men. And what makes it bad is he now knows someone else was there. The dragon sniffed out Toothless and I, made a snap for us and we flew off with the rest of the dragons-I saw him look right at me with a smirk." Hiccup sighed closing his eyes-then started coughing again. "It's almost 9:30pm-everyone back to their houses. I need to figure out what to do about this..." Hiccup stood up now and walked away, Toothless following him.
"Hiccup, you need to be resting..." Astrid mentioned.
"I'll return home soon. I need to think for a while," Hiccup disappeared behind the doors as Astrid sighed some with a nod.
"You heard the chief, everyone back home." Viggo ordered firmly. Slowly and still all very confused, people began to leave the hall and return to their homes. A few of the guards helped clean up everything-then moved to do their nightly duties. Astrid made it home to say goodnight to the kids, then she sat in the main room waiting for Hiccup to get home-which he did an hour later, closer to 11pm.
"There you are," she sighed in relief getting up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm just...I don't even know. I've got a vengeance determined guy who control a very big dragon, that can control lesser dragons to raid and I have no idea how to handle it..." Hiccup plopped down.
"Perhaps we try and talk to him?" Astrid offered.
"I think he's past talking..." Hiccup sighed.
"Then what do we do, we can't let it continue. Let's take our dragons out there and fight," Astrid tried.
"No way. Toothless got slightly distracted by the big dragon-I think he's affected by her control too. Not a lot-but enough. I don't want to involve the other dragons if I don't have to, they could fall under it's control and turn on us," Hiccup stated thinking hard again. "But I do agree we need to fight back...question is how when he controls a dragon that can control others..." Hiccup trailed off still trying to figure it out. "I may need to sit down with the other chieftains about this one, and the council-see what they all think we should do." he sighed.
"Well, it's been a long day. Let's get some sleep and we can figure this out tomorrow morning." Astrid suggested, Hiccup nodded. He still felt sick and maybe a good night's sleep would do him some good. The two of them moved up to their room and got into bed, Astrid fed Destin quickly and put him back to sleep before the two of them slowly drifted off as well.
(The Next Morning)
As with the usual, Hiccup was up first and thankfully feeling a lot better. He got himself bathed and ready for the day, met his family downstairs for breakfast-although he stayed pretty quiet to think about the current situation involving Drago and the large dragon behind the raids. It was easy to deduce that if they overpowered the two or defeated them-safe to say the dragons would be free of being controlled. The question was, how did they do just that?
"Any thoughts on what you're going to do?" Astrid asked him.
"Not yet," he sighed some. After eating, he met Viggo outside and summoned his three emissaries: Spitelout, Boarlegs, and Buffnut. Ryker was with them too-because Hiccup asked him to come.
"You called chief?" they asked him.
"You three are gonna go out to the other Tribes and bring them here. Only chieftains and their second in commands. No Heir's. You tell them I found the nest and it is something we all need to discuss. I expect them here two weeks." Hiccup said firmly.
"Chief, that's...impossible. It takes up to a few days or more to reach the island and then sail back. That's depending on weather too..." Boarlegs reminded.
"I'm aware. That's why you're riding on a dragon. You'll be spending the day with Eret and learning how to ride a dragon, tomorrow morning at sunrise, you're heading out. I'll mark where I want you headed," Hiccup told them.
"Yes sir," they nodded.
"Good, off to the academy then with you." Hiccup said, they rushed off and Hiccup sighed looking up at the sky-he just hoped they could come to an agreement about how to handle this. Without wasting more time, he and Viggo got to work on their duties for the day.
(Next Morning; Sunrise)
Spitelout had a male Nadder named Beamstrike, Boarlegs had a female Gronckle he named Lavashot, and finally Buffnut had a female Nadder he called Sunspark. Of course Ryker had Burnblast all saddled and ready to go. "Listen up. Ryker, you're going to Peaceable, then rerouting up to the Murderus Mountains. Spitelout, you're going to Berserk and Waterlands. Buffnut, you're headed to Meathead and Outcast. Boarlegs, to Hysteria and Bog. You give them the message and then return. Flying should only take you a day at best, then they have the extra time to sail here."
"Yes chief!" they all said while getting on their dragons.
"Good, then get moving. And Ryker, you warn Madguts if he starts with me...my promise stands: I'll kill him." Hiccup warned.
"My esteemed pleasure, chief Hiccup." Ryker grinned as they all headed off in the directions they were assigned to go to. Hiccup moved on to start his duties for the day.
(Two Weeks Later)
All the riders returned the next day around lunch time, all confirming that the chieftains were coming with their second in commands. Now it was two weeks later and Gunvor from Peaceable as well as Meathead chieftains had arrived a week ago. Now it was the end of two weeks as Madguts and Dagur arrived last. This was the only time Hiccup was allowing Madguts on Berk-Astrid and the kids were told to stay away from the Great Hall during the meeting unless it was an emergency. With everyone finally arriving and in the Great Hall, the meeting could start.
"Chief Hiccup, what is all this about now finding the nest. We've all tried many times and it was pointless," Oyvind of Waterlands said first once the doors were shut.
"In fairness, you didn't have a dragon." Hiccup retorted. The rest remained quiet now to let Hiccup explain, obviously he knew more than they did on dragons so best to listen to him. "Now, allow me to explain what happened..." Hiccup took a breath and began to explain everything about how two weeks before on Milla's fifth birthday party-a raid occurred around 7pm and though he handled it, an idea struck him to follow the dragons in hopes of finding out what was causing the raids. Thinking maybe it was a land issue they could assist with. Hiccup told them about everything he saw and heard at the nest, the chieftains were shocked to say the least to hear of it all.
"So this man is controlling the raids-we must put a stop to it. We can storm the base and take him down," Madguts stated first.
"I don't believe it be wise to storm the base when there are thousands of dragons, hundreds of men, and a really big dragon we know nothing about," Mogadon rolled his eyes.
"Hiccup, what to we know about this dragon?" Asgeir of Hysteria inquired curiously.
"Well, I didn't get much time to observe it given it sniffed Toothless and I out and we had to make a fly out pretty quick to avoid being eaten. But it's got three pairs of eyes, massive head frill...I drew this off memory but I haven't seen the rest and honestly, I don't think I want too." Hiccup admitted to them as he took the drawing out and showed them from his view what this dragon look like.
"I think, chief, we can guess this dragon is stoker class-given it lives in a volcano." Viggo offered to Hiccup.
"I was guessing that too, Viggo..." Hiccup stated. "I called you all here because we need a plan to attack, a plan to anything. This is the source of the raids, we stop this then I think we stop the raids." he added.
"Can't you take your dragons in to talk to this dragon, make it understand?" Alvin offered.
"That's the problem, this dragon...it emits some form of signal that makes the dragons bend to it's will. It would be my fear that if I took my trained dragons in, they would become controlled." Hiccup replied now.
"But isn't Toothless like an Alpha to the dragons. We've seen your work in raids, his blue glow-they respond to it and listen." Dagur stated.
"It's my belief that when they are away from the island-they regain some control but still know their orders. As a human would, per say to use as an example. If I tell Viggo to go do something, he'll do it because I'm the chief. However, if it's a job off Berk or away from me-he could always get side tracked, return later, but he still knew his orders to fulfill. When they raid another island like here-Toothless has the ability to overpower the other dragon slightly, and bend them to his will to leave. But his power cannot hold their control for whatever reason. I assume he can bend their will long enough to send them away from the island but not command them to stay here or stop listening to her. If that makes any sense," Hiccup shrugged.
"It does, to a degree-but it doesn't help us find a solution to this Drago guy. He controls the big dragon, so...what? We take him out and it stops?" Bertha questioned.
"I don't think it's that simple. This guy, didn't appear to be older than his late forties, maybe early fifties. Dragons have been raiding for hundreds of years prior to him," Hiccup stated now, "I believe our problem is the massive dragon. He controls that dragon, who controls the smaller ones. If we take care of that dragon, Drago has nothing to command them with and after that...Toothless should be able to reign as alpha dragon." he mentioned while sitting in his chair at the table.
"How do we defeat a dragon you're explaining to us. It's suicide..." Madguts huffed.
"Gee, I don't know. If I knew would I have called you all here to try and think of something?! I shouldn't have even allowed you here but I did because this is a problem that affects us all. Now if you're not going to help us, get the hell off my island." Hiccup ordered firmly pointing to the door. Madguts remained quiet now and sat back.
"If I may inquire about something," Madgut's second in command, Alvis said now.
"Proceed." Hiccup motioned to him to talk now.
"Your dragon Toothless...you said you shot him down during a raid seven years ago, yes?" Hiccup nodded to him. "If he was among those raids-then it stands to reason at one point he was under this thing's control. How is it that he is no longer affected by it's demands to return to the nest or follow orders?"
"I've questioned this many times myself. Aside from his tail being gone and preventing him from returning...I feel that perhaps the crash may have shook this thing's control from him. I know how odd that sounds-but it's all I got to go on. I believe that being away from her control for so long may have changed things. It's an assumption that when the dragons are controlled-their minds become clouded and cannot think for themselves. When I shot Toothless down, he couldn't get away. He was forced to stay on Berk in the cove and as time passed, his mind became clear again or maybe it's the bond he and I share. Am I getting close here, Toothless?" Hiccup asked looking to his dragon who was sitting on the floor beside him.
The dragon lifted it's head and warbled at him, then gave a nod. "Did he just answer you?" Alvin questioned.
"Yes. Like I said, they do understand us or they wouldn't be trainable. When Toothless and I bonded seven years ago, it wasn't just a mutual understanding. It was a physical feeling that we both felt when his nose was against my palm. It as trust, understanding, respect. Humans and dragons are the same-we just look different. Toothless is able to show anger, sadness, concern, worry, content, joy...Hell, I even know when he's being sarcastic. I feel like our bond, helped him see clearly again just as he showed me the truth about dragons. That they are just like us-but there are some who won't change, who believe there are superior to others." Hiccup said.
"Drago and this dragon seem to be allowing power to go to their heads. Drago has no power without this dragon, the others won't listen to him because he doesn't understand dragons as we do chief. I believe you are right in saying if we defeat the dragon, then Drago has nothing left." Viggo confirmed, agreeing with Hiccup.
"I also agree." Mogadon nodded along with his second in command, Colby.
"As do we," Oyvind and Alvin nodded. Soon everyone was nodding except one.
"What's say you, Madguts. Are you going to join us for the greater good or stay back on your own again?" Hiccup asked looking at him.
"I need to understand how you plan to defeat this dragon. If the it's as big as you say it is, we don't stand a chance. As you said, we cannot involve your dragons without risking them turning on us. So what do you plan to do?" Madguts asked.
"I don't know yet-but I'm not gonna waste my time coming up with a plan that you don't plan to work with us on. This will take a team effort, a combination of all of us to do. Are you with us or not?" Hiccup asked firmly now.
"I refuse to allow the fate of my village fall on the mere assumptions of a child who works with those beasts." Madguts huffed as he stood up, "Your dragons already took my eldest son's life, I won't allow them to destroy my village. Murderus will continue to work alone." he then left, his second in command sighing heavily and following him out.
"Make sure he reaches his ship, Viggo. I don't want him listening in." Hiccup ordered.
"Right away chief," Viggo said with a bow and exited the room.
"So we're all in agreement then, to come up with a plan to defeat the dragon and capture Drago to punish him for his actions against the people of the Archipelago?" Hiccup asked them. Around the room were nods and affirmative smiles, "Then let's get to work finding out a way to defeat Red Death," he said pulling out a map and stabbing a dagger through the spot where the nest was.
"Red Death?" Asgeir blinked.
"That's what I'm callin' it." Hiccup chuckled.
"Who said you get to decide?" Dagur mumbled.
"Because it was my idea to follow the dragons back to their nest, and my ass that nearly got killed to find out what was going on. I think I earned that right to name the dragon we're going to be killing. I call it that because if we screw this up, that island will be painted red with the blood of humans and dragons. Death to all so to speak...Red Death seemed fitting," Hiccup retorted. Without more arguments, they all began to talk to come up with different ideas to take down the dragon that controlled the raids. Drago wouldn't be a problem if they defeated the Red Death, so that was their goal. Kill the dragon, capture Drago and return peace to the Archipelago.