CHAPTER 13: Pasts uncovered
"KEEP QUIET EVERYONE, WE'VE GOT A MASSIVE PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS..." Hiccup yelled, to a gigantic crowd of Berkians.
They were situated inside a massive hall like hut. It was pretty much the Great Hall equivalent for New Berk, except for one significant thing; it wasn't inside a cliff or anything. It was just a basic, giant looking wooden building. It naturally had tons of colour all over it to keep in line with the theme of remembering the dragons by the colours of their scales, but still, it was no Great Hall. This hall was distanced slightly from the village, but that was because they needed to make space for its gigantic size when they built it after settling on New Berk all that time ago.
Behind Hiccup was a passed out Blavery, where his leg was covered up with scale-looking robes that were intended to heal the wounds from the arrow shots. Whilst they waited for Blavery to awaken, Hiccup wanted to explain what was going on to everyone with the old island.
Valka, Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Gobber and Eret were all at the front of the hall with Hiccup, sat down on one long wooden table in front of the crowd of vikings. Zephyr and Nuffink were both sat next to Valka. Hiccup was stood up on an elevated bit of wood so he could be seen by everyone in the back. What he saw back at Old Berk, and what's going on with Astrid, was simply far too deadly for him to keep to himself.
Finally, everyone inside the vibrant, colour painted, entirely wooden hall quietened down. This allowed Hiccup to proceed on wards as Blavery's body was resting on a wooden bench behind everyone on the long table.
Oddly enough, this scenario at the moment was similar to that time Hiccup gave a speech to the Berkians surrounding the threat of Grimmel, shortly after the 'Night Fury killer' invaded his house and destroyed it, nearly killing him. Hiccup himself was having flashbacks to that speech. But whilst he knew what threat he was talking about back then, when it came to what he saw on Old Berk shortly before Blavery came onto his boat, he literally didn't have a single clue.
"Okay..." Hiccup said, gulping with emotion as the thought of Astrid in deadly danger poked at him in his chest, "this is a very dangerous situation we've got on our hands. Astrid's not here, because she's missing...and where she's missing is the source of the situation..."
Audible gasps could be heard from the vikings in the hall.
"Berk...has been taken over..."
"WHAT?!" one Berkian said, from the corner of the crowd, as the audible gasps echoed louder and louder.
"Berk's been taken over...by a whole bunch of different people. Now I dunno who they are or where they came from, but when we sailed there earlier today to try and bring back Astrid, they had tons of boats coming our way, and they yelled at us to stay still, or something, so they could get us...they sounded very violent..." Hiccup revealed, looking directly down to the wooden surface he was stood on, trying to not cry over Astrid not being here and in danger.
"IT'S BEEN TAKEN OVER?! I THOUGHT EVERYONE LEFT?!" another tough sounding Berkian yelled, as the crowd of them started talking all at the same time, quiet enough for Hiccup to respond.
"I thought that too...but something's gone on...I dunno what it is that's happened on the old island, but they've got my wife, and I've been crying over it, I've been worried sick...whoever they are, they've got Astrid firmly in their grasp, but I just couldn't get to it without putting my kids in danger..." Hiccup conceded, gulping.
Eret and Gobber both stood up and joined Hiccup at the front of the wood-scented hall, in front of the hundreds and thousands-looking of Berkians.
"The fact some cowardly little nobodies took camp upon the old island, as Hiccup's said here," Eret said, "just shows how easy it'll be to take it back...it's probably just a little group of them, who's decided to play hardball to keep us from returning. You've said it yourself, Hiccup; we may have been on this island for a whole ten years now, but Berk has always been the home of seven generations of you guys. It's in nobody's right to take it from you. But those nobodies who've taken over it, I genuinely don't have the fondest idea over who they'd be, or..." Eret admitted.
Grimmel and Drago were dead, their armadas and men were defeated years ago, so who could it possibly be, who's taken camp upon Old Berk? (none of them know about the fact that Berk actually isn't Berk anymore; it's formal name for the past decade has been 'The Viking's Mentra').
"Imagine what Stoick would be like...he'd be losing his marbles over this..." Gobber said, as he too took a big stance besides Hiccup in front of everyone.
Everyone on the wooden table was deprived of their energy because of Astrid being missing; Snotlout and the twins weren't in the mood to be their usual selves. Without any dragons nowadays, a situation like this had to be taken more seriously than it'd usually be if the dragons were still here. In fact, it was dangerous, because Astrid's life was at stake, unless they find her and retrieve her quickly enough.
"But I just wanted to let you all know...we might have to try and sail back there and find Astrid in force. I can't let my wife be out there, in unknown hands, where her life is possibly at risk."
There were some reluctant expressions within the hall.
"BUT WE DON'T HAVE DRAGONS ANYMORE, WHAT CAN WE POSSIBLY DO?!" one Berkian yelled.
"I'll tell you what we can do..." Valka said, sitting up from the wooden table to join Eret, Gobber and Hiccup in front of the crowd.
Her voice caused everyone to be silent.
"Yes, the island looked drastically different from when we were all there...yes, there's some unknown people on it. But I was taken away for 20 years, and do you know what I did? I ended up coming out stronger by the time Hiccup found me..I was much more stronger, I was much more able, and I learnt a bunch of stuff...not just about dragons, but myself as a person...the point here is that we, living up to our names as the vikings of New Berk and or Old Berk, must step into the unknown so we can come out on the other side the stronger ones. Astrid is at risk, we must do what Hiccup says to go and save her..."
There were some approving looks from some of the Berkians in the crowd of the hall. Gradually, more and more of them started brightening up to the idea after discussing it briefly around the hall amongst their little groups. Hiccup looked around, and saw some applauds generating, to the point it was getting louder. Valka's message had clearly inspired them of their image and who they were and are, as vikings of Berk and New Berk.
"You'll struggle..." a stuttering voice emitted from behind, near the wooden table with everyone else sat on it.
Hiccup turned around to a woken Blavery, who was still in pain, but it was extremely mild and minimal in comparison to what it was before collapsing.
"QUIET, EVERYONE, HE'S AWAKE..." Hiccup yelled, standing besides the bench with Blavery on it so everyone in the hall could glare at him.
"When I woke up...for a moment...I thought I was in one of the isolation camps...a-am I?" Blavery questioned, his memory evidently too weak to recall that he was successfully brought up from the waters by Hiccup.
"A what camp?" Hiccup asked.
"Can you tell us what's going on here, what's happened to Berk?!" Gobber asked.
"Hold on everyone, hold on, take a few steps back...let him speak..." Hiccup said, gesturing for everyone to slowly step back.
The crowd of Berkians all around the hall remained perfectly quiet to let this wounded viking speak; Hiccup knew that this guy would have answers as to what's gone on on Berk.
"Okay, so I'm not...but you guys...you don't get it, none of you...you don't understand the system that's generated on that land..." Blavery said.
"Uh, I'm Hiccup, by the way, and this is our whole tribe..."
"I'm Gobber, former liver, I guess...uh, on that island..."
"My name's Blavery Borhid, I...ouch..." Blavery moaned, his leg briefly stinging from moving ever so slowly.
"Wait a minute...you're Hiccup Haddock?" Blavery asked.
Hiccup picked up Blavery's name, but he was surprised that Blavery knew his full name.
"You know my name? how?" Hiccup asked.
"Everyone within the Mentranian leadership knows of you, the people I and my fellow defenders who're still under the regime have to speak to, they occasionally talk about you because they see the past as a poison to their island..."
"I'm sorry, a what leadership? was that gibberish?" Eret asked, as he was confused just as much as Hiccup.
"What regime? what's happened to my wife, what do you mean isolation camps, what's happened to the island?" Hiccup asked.
Hiccup was getting alarmed at all these new terminologies; 'Mentranian', and 'regime', which sounded dangerous.
"Son, let him speak, he'll give us the answers we need..." Valka said, patting Hiccup on the shoulder.
The hundreds and thousands of Berkians in the hall remained silent; Blavery was at the middle of the hall's attention, in light of the implication that Old Berk has been taken over by some sort of 'regime', as Blavery himself said.
"Ten years ago...after you guys defeated Grimmel, his death prompted those who were imprisoned by his men to stage a rebellion...one man led this rebellion, and his ten year old son at the time, called Hawkon, was the one he was determined to protect the most. They succeeded, and when those apart of the rebellion killed what remained of Grimmel's men, they all snatched whatever gear or equipment they could find in his armada platforms, before swimming away collectively."
"They all eventually swam to Mentra, and-"
"Mentra, I'm sorry for interrupting, but where is and what's Mentra?" Gobber asked.
"Well I'm gonna assume, from what I heard a few moments ago, that you guys used to call Mentra 'Berk'...it's not been 'Berk' for a decade, it's been formally called 'The Viking's Mentra'."
"W-Wait, so our own, generational island's been renamed, I thought they were just a tiny camp of people?" Gobber responded.
"Oh, Mentra is far from a tiny camp of people..it's bigger than that. I'll tell you about it after I explain what you all really want to hear..." Blavery said, returning to explaining to the Hooligans the backstory of the Mentranian regime taking formation on Old Berk.
Gobber and Hiccup looked like they were hypnotised, they were that shocked at what they were hearing from Blavery.
"They swam to what you guys used to call Berk, and took settlement on there. They all saw the man with the ten year old son as their leader, as he was the one who led the rebellion against Grimmel's men, and so, he was primarily in charge of their direction on the island before it was even a regime...they demolished everything, they got rid of everything colourful, they deliberately demolished whatever you guys built on it during your time there, and that's when they started building their borders, everything...they burnt down the forest to make living space for the people...and then as the years went on, more militaristic formations happened, Hawkon's father created a separate force of vikings to defend the island, and it went from a peaceful group to a closed off, isolated, cult of personality way of living.." Blavery said.
"But who's Hawkon?"
"Well, they call him Hawkon the Second nowadays because he was seen, from the moment the Mentranian viking regime was formed, as the heir to his dad's position as leader. He's 20 years old now. They groomed him to prepare him for the position, and as we speak, Hawkon the Second currently rules with an iron fist over the island, The Viking's Mentra..."
"So our island...has become a cult of personality sort of...dictatorship?!" Hiccup alarmingly asked.
"Precisely. You dare to speak out, you're sent to the isolation camps. You question the leadership, you're sent to the camps. You try to escape as I luckily did today, you're most likely executed in those camps. Every single viking that lives under that regime barely eats enough by the end of the week to cure their hunger...you're assigned boundaries across the gigantic village, including where the forest used to be before they burnt it down-"
"They burnt the forest down?!" Hiccup asked again, his heart having a major ache at that; if it was true, then that meant...the historical cove where he and Toothless bonded, no longer existed...this wasn't helping him in how he was already feeling about Astrid.
"Yes. They burnt it down to make living space, because as the years went by, everyone on the island started having children, and those children nowadays are taught to hate any outside tribe, and to worship Hawkon's leadership and just generally, Mentra's leadership for the rest of their lives..." Blavery said.
"So let me get this straight...Berk isn't actually Berk now, it's a whole island's worth of new folks, of a new kind, 'Mentranians' you say, and it's become an isolated viking dictatorship where you can get KILLED for speaking out against the leader?" Eret asked.
"Yes." Blavery stuttered, still feeling painful.
"S-so what about my wife, is she going to be okay?" Hiccup asked.
"Well...as I used to be a Mentranian defender, I was filled in on the policies and the way to cope with 'foreigner scum' as they call those who'd sail towards the island who come from outside areas. Simply put, your wife is probably in one of the camps as we speak, because she infiltrated the island-"
"No...no way, NOOO...THERE'S JUST NO WAY, MUM?!" Hiccup asked, looking to Valka, as the Chieftan felt like he was going to lose his composure.
"I'm so sorry, Haddock...the Mentranian leadership are the ones with the background of being imprisoned by Grimmel, and some even by Drago, and many of them use this in their propaganda schoolings and just all over the island to strengthen the cult of personality...they call their escape from being imprisoned a 'liberation of our sovereign people', and that's precisely what Hawkon the Second spoke of when he became leader...they're firmly opposed to Drago and Grimmel, even though they were killed ages ago..."
An emotionally weakened Hiccup felt a glimmer of hope at hearing that.
"So they're technically on our side then? if so, can't we just go over there and talk to them?"
"Well..." Blavery sighed, he didn't want to pour any doom and gloom on the hopes of Hiccup, but he felt like he had to for his own good, "here's the thing...they see every tribe, mainly due to their background, as their enemy, in the same calibre as Drago and Grimmel, meaning they see your tribe as just as bad as those two, as they would for any other tribe...they just don't negotiate at all, either..."
"Oh no, mum, oh no, mum...Astrid's under the capture of a closed off regime on OUR island...I wish my dad was here because I can't co-cope..." Hiccup broke down with tears as he hugged Valka, who in turn hugged Hiccup back, to try and calm him down, "I can't lose Astrid like I lost dad...I just can't..." he said, crying like a waterfall, he was that apprehensive and scared of 'Mentra' as it's called, killing Astrid.
Every single viking in the hall of New Berk remained silent, as did everyone on the long wooden table; this was a shocking moment, not only to hear that Berk has been turned into a cult of personality dictatorship, but because of that, Astrid's life is in serious trouble.
"Hawkon the Second, personally, is much more extremist than his father was...from the moment he took over as leader he's turned the island into a much more militaristic cult of personality...he's currently working on a deterrent of dragons, and...within the overseers party they have, a party that makes ruling decisions under his watch, basically running Mentra, they're speeding on with that defence program as we speak...but not just the party, but those close to Hawkon are also a huge influence...Fludgeon the Feared, the new Chieftan of the Berserkers, and Gustav Larson..."
"Fludgeon the Feared? the new Chieftan of the Berserkers?" Eret questioned, as Hiccup suddenly raised his crying face up at the mentioning of that last name from Blavery.
"Yeah. He calls the Berserkers the 'resurgent Berserkers', because they disposed of Dagur, the old Chieftan, due to him supposedly making peace treaties with you guys..they must've been angry with Dagur the Deranged when he was alive, for ever making peace with you...they've signed a pact with the Mentranian regime to keep it alive and from collapsing, so they can ultimately stop you lot from ever regaining what you used to call 'Berk' again."
"And this Hawkon fellow...have I seen him or known of him before? he sounds like somebody who could quite relate to Drago or Grimmel, two men I've long known..." Eret asked.
"He's firmly opposed to Drago and Grimmel-"
"I'm sorry, Eret...for interrupting..." Hiccup said, wiping his face of the tears, "did I just mishear something, Blavery? who was the last person you mentioned?"
"Who, Gustav Larson?"
Audible gasps were heard from everyone on the long wooden table.
"Gustav?!" Snotlout echoed, widening his eyes.
"You guys...know him?" Blavery asked.
"W-Woah...of course we do, he used to be apart of us when he was younger...I...I..." Hiccup was lost for words.
"We haven't seen him for ten years, Hiccup..." Gobber said, "but...how has he popped up there, Blavery? what's he doing there?"
"He's only the second most powerful viking in the Mentranian regime basically, just below Hawkon...do you guys have history or something with him? you all look genuinely shocked to have heard his name...to me, when I was under Mentra, he was somebody you needed to worship and respect almost as much as you did Hawkon..."
With Gustav Larson's name being brought up in this whole debacle in the hall, Hiccup felt an entire aura of apprehension, like a thunder cloud, roam over the entire room...he didn't know how much more information he could take before doing something stupid to himself. But he secretly knew that this was stuff he needed to know, if he was going to ever save Astrid from this brutal regime Blavery talks of.
"Gustav used to look up to me, as the role model...and I still believe I am, wouldn't you say, guys?" Snotlout said, standing up, showing off his fists.
"N-No?" Gobber said, secretly gesturing for Snotlout to keep quiet, and to refrain from making stupid comments during this serious moment.
At that, Snotlout sat back down.
"When I last saw him, he was ecstatic at the fact that the regime had captured your wife, Astrid, and he said something about you guys banishing him for a disagreement..." Blavery shrugged.
Hiccup gulped; ten years on, and Gustav clearly hasn't forgotten what happened back then. But if that's the case, and Gustav was supposedly ecstatic at Astrid being captured...did that mean that he was a firm advocate for whatever treatment she'd be receiving from the regime? Hiccup honestly felt like collapsing at this point. But he remembered the situation with Gustav like it was yesterday, very well.
"Yeah...he...it was when we released our dragons to The Hidden World...basically, he..."
Ten years ago
"It's okay..." Hiccup said, leaning his head against Toothless's nostrils as the dragon emitted a saddened sound, with Hiccup holding onto the Night Fury by the top of his head and his chin, "I love you too...and I want you to be free..."
At that, Toothless emitted a soft, soothing guilt squeal...it sounded deep in emotion and sadness. The dragon's emerald eyes, shiny with rampant emotion, glared at Hiccup as the Chieftan stroked the dragon's black, scaly, silky head gently and slowly. He hopped backwards slightly on his real leg, with his metal leg long lost into the waters after Grimmel pulled it off before falling to his death.
"Our world doesn't deserve you...yet..." Hiccup said.
Toothless looked to his side where the Light Fury was, before looking back at his best bud.
"W-What is he doing?" Gustav whispered, holding onto Fanghook with great fear that his dragon was about to fly away, all because of the actions of Hiccup right now.
Toothless gently leapt up and curled his paws all around Hiccup, embracing his best friend with a human-style hug. Hiccup wrapped his arms around the areas of Toothless's forelegs, to near his wings, as he squeezed his best bud with the biggest hug possible, as a way to say goodbye.
Hiccup's head was directly next to Toothless's closed eyes, as the dragon emitted slow, low purrs. Hiccup had tears coming down his cheeks.
"Go, Toothless..." Hiccup whispered, "go..." he said one last time, slowly removing his palm from the middle of Toothless's head, looking like a reverse bond touch.
At that, Toothless roared and spread his wings wide open, and as a result, all of the dragons flew up into the air, leaving their vikings, to head for The Hidden World.
They all watched on in awe as their dragons left for the final time. The Light Fury purred at Toothless before running off the edge, quickly flying up into the air like a kite.
Fanghook suddenly extended his wings, and as Gustav reluctantly said goodbye to him, the Monstrous Nightmare flew up, again in the flow of a kite, into the air as he joined his fellow reptiles in heading for The Hidden World.
"Did that really have to happen?!" he angrily said, as the other dragons flew away; Astrid and Hiccup were at the front of the crowd.
Toothless, standing right near the edge ahead of Hiccup and Astrid, looked back at the vikings, and Hiccup in particular; he smiled at his best bud for the last time, with Hiccup giving a subtle nod to the Night Fury. At that, Toothless leapt into the air and finally flew with the other dragons to The Hidden World, leaving Hiccup for good.
Gustav rushed through everyone as they were emotional, to get right up to Hiccup and Astrid.
"How stupid are you, seriously?" he said.
Hiccup looked at Gustav with immediate anger, as did Astrid. The last thing they needed was somebody playing up during this emotional moment.
"What are you talking about, Gustav?" Hiccup asked.
"You've just sent all our dragons away...FOR WHAT PURPOSE?! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SEND THEM AWAY AFTER WE DEFEATED DRAGO?! GRIMMEL WAS NOWHERE NEAR THE THREAT DRAGO WAS, AND YET YOU'VE JUST LET THEM GO...HOW PATHETIC AND STUPID ARE YOU?!" Gustav said, yelling slightly.
"Go away and stop ruining the moment for us. They needed to leave, it's for their own protection." Astrid said.
"FOR THEIR OWN PROTECTION?! THEY WERE MORE AT RISK WITH DRAGO. HERE, YOUR GENIUS OF A HUSBAND HERE HAS JUST LET THEM GO BECAUSE OF A SLENDER, OLD MAN WITH A CROSSBOW. DRAGO WAS MORE DANGEROUS AND THREATENING. WHY DID THEY NEED TO GO BECAUSE OF GRIMMEL, IF HE WASN'T THE THREAT DRAGO WAS?!" Gustav yelled.
"Don't yell in my face again, Gustav. Our dragons have just left, show some respect." Hiccup said, keeping calm in dignity as the reality of Toothless leaving him hit home hard.
Mr and Mrs Larson, two old vikings at this point, came from the crowd as they were utterly shocked at the audacity of Gustav during this precious moment. Gustav, meanwhile, couldn't believe the sheer stupidity from his view, of Hiccup sending the dragons away due to a guy who was nowhere near as threatening as Drago was. The sun was shining hard from the grey afternoon clouds on this mountain, as everyone looked to the situation unfolding.
"RESPECT?! HERE'S YOUR RESPECT..." Gustav yelled, shoving Hiccup with quite some force.
"GUSTAV, KNOCK IT OFF NOW!" his father said, with Gobber quickly skipping in in order to prevent Hiccup from retaliating.
"DAD, MUM, IF YOU'RE AGREEING WITH SUCH AN IDIOTIC MOVE, THEN YOU'VE GOT THE SAME LEVEL OF INTELLIGENCE AS HIM. TELL YOU WHAT, STOICK WOULD'VE BEEN GLAD THAT HE DIED SO HE WOULDN'T HAVE TO WITNESS SUCH STUPIDITY!"
At that, audible gasps were heard as the last sight of the dragons in the distance disappeared. Gustav shoved his father away after his father tried grabbing him, again looking to strike Hiccup due to the sheer anger he had over what he thought was a stupid move; because of Hiccup, Fanghook was gone.
A couple of vikings rushed into the commotion to hold Gustav by the arms, as his parents looked more than angered, especially after shoving Mr Larson.
"Get him out of here. You think you can come and act this way to me, to your parents, at a time when we've just LET OUR DRAGONS GO FOR THEIR SAFETY?!" Hiccup yelled.
Gustav simply spat in his face. At that, the parents had more than enough. They were utterly angered and ashamed of Gustav at this point that they were willing to banish him for a while, and Hiccup was more than determined to go through with that, in light of his behaviour at such a precious, significant moment in the history of the tribe.
"And basically...that was the last time we ever saw him...but is he really apart of this...uh...isolated cult of personality on Berk?" Hiccup asked, after revealing Gustav's backstory, and why he was banished.
"Very much so. Hawkon's father took him in when he found out he was banished, and Larson himself was a constructive person in the early days, and it's shown. He's got as much power over the defence force as Hawkon does at this point."
"Wait...did you say that those guys on the island...the regime or whatever, are building a dragon deterrent?" Eret asked.
"They're calling it the defence program. Basically, they're on Dragon Island right now, forcefully breeding the wild dragons remaining, together so they can get the eggs, and that's 'Phase one'. 'Phase two' will be to train the hatched babies from the moment they're out their eggs. Mentra wants a deterrent that'll prevent any tribe from trying to destroy their regime, and Hawkon wants to remain in power for decades to come."
"I'll tell you what, we aren't gonna let them get away with that." Eret suggested, prompting Hiccup to do the same, and Hiccup himself was starting to recover slightly.
"Yeah, if they're harming dragons like that, to create some sort of deterrent to keep themselves immune or whatever, they aren't any better than Drago or Grimmel." Hiccup said, speaking slightly louder than usual.
"In my view, if you really want to save your wife, alongside destroying that regime from the outside, as I do, your best bet is to stop their development of that defence program. And I'll gladly help you guys out whenever you do that." Blavery declared.