A/N: I'm back! And here are some answers to your amazing reviews. Again I am so grateful for reading them every week, thank you all so much.

httydastrid4ever: There you go my friend! sorry for the delay.

CHSHiccstrid(16): Wow. Trust me I understand the feeling. The urge to scream because your ship finally happened after 15 chapters but also the fear of the author being evil and ruin everything within 0.2 seconds? Yeah, been there. I am with you, here have some extra tissues and let's cry together.

Now Account: Thank you! Yes I agree. Badass Hiccup is the best Hiccup.

Rymsa:Thank you so much!

CHSHiccstrid(17): Oh that's okay. Not many people have instagram. I am sorry you missed th but feel free to leave any questions here as a review. And yes anger is a serious emotion that people don't really think seriously of and it can really turn you into a different person if it's not handled properly. Very powerfull and very interesting for me to write.

Galaxy-'wolf-1: I'm sorry...I barely had time to write the chapters. I always read all the reviews though. Thank you so much.

KikiLioness: First of all I LOVE that nickname. Secondly, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! It's been a while since I received such an honest and helpful review. I am trying to improve on the spelling mistakes. English isn't my first language, I am Greek. As for the swearing, I am a person that uses the word fuck every 5 seconds s it just comes natural to me. I can see of course that you are absolutely right and it doesn't work like that written. Thank you so much again. Always a pleasure to learn.

AnonymusNoobThe2nd: I know right? Damn.

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Astrid opened her eyes.

She couldn't see clearly, surrounded by a blurry almost fade flow around her body.

Wait. Was she in the water? She moved her hands around to find her body floating. Yup she was definitely into water. But it felt different. Somehow she knew that it wasn't the ocean.

The water moves softly around her outstretched fingers, caressing cooly, eddying in their wake. As she pulls her hand she watches the drips of air, both transparent and opaque at the same time. They float as if snatched by some force to the surface above, each one swiftly haloed by ever-growing rings, distorting the pebbled sea-bed. It was uncommonly clear, so much so that it was impossible to gauge the depth. It could be ten feet down or forty, she tried to guess from her temperature, her logic being that deeper water would be colder.

She tried to swim up to the surface to see where she was. And then she felt the pain. A very strong pain stinking on her back. What? When did she hurt her back?

The water envelops her wounds as closely as her own skin. Every new sore stings with the salt being washed in. She winces as it swirls without mercy, penetrating to the cells that should be protected by smooth skin but lie open and raw.

And then she remembered...

~"We got her Captain! We got her!"~

Images and flashbacks started to play in her head.

She felt dizzy.

~"Bring the nets! Quickly!"~

She remembers voices. A bit faded but she remembers...

~Nice job Captain! We got the beast!~

She tried to scream only for air bubbles to make their way to the surface with every exhale.

Her head was spinning around. She remembers everything now.

He betrayed her.

Oh dear Poseidon how could she possibly be so stupid.

It was all a trap! He knew she would come back to meet him so he set the whole thing up!

His filthy crew attacked her right after he...

He kissed her...

That Pirate.

It was all a lie from the beginning. His plan to make her trust him so that she would let him in. And after he took what he wanted she was no longer interesting to him.

Pirates.

Worse, Humans.

All they do is ruin, destroy, take whatever they want thinking it belongs to them. They think they own nature. They defy it's laws. Ruthless monsters.

She couldn't believe she trusted him. She thought that he was different from other humans.

Only because he was...

She had to find him. She swam up to the surface and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air. But when her shoulders reached the surface, she felt her body being pulled down again. After a few attempts of freeing herself she realized her tail was tied down with a chain.

She looked around. She was in the land. Somewhere with large walls all around her. She realized she was swimming inside a large tank filled with water. Her tail was chained down to the bottom of it, allowing only half of her body to be out of water.

She tried to free herself again.

"Don't even bother. It's pointless."

Startled she turned to face the unknown voice in the room.

It was a man.

A rather tall muscly man with a long beard and heavy clothes. He was wearing a crown on his head so it didn't take much effort to figure out who he was.

"King Stoick."

"I see you are smart. That's interesting. I wonder how much you know about-"

"Just assume I know everything about you." her voice steady and confident. She couldn't show fear at a moment like this.

"Oh really?" he raised an amused eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"What you're doing is wrong."

"Oh so know you are giving me advise too? Excuse me but I don't take advise from creatures like yourself. A King doesn't-"

"King?" she laughed. "You call yourself a King, yet you haven't been able to make one right decision in your life."

The look in his eyes was unreadable.

"Funny how you think any word you say matters to me Mermaid. You should know your place. As for my decisions, a clueless being that lived an entire life underwater like yourself, couldn't possibly understand what it means to be a leader."

"This is a mistake and you know it."

"No. It's not. This is justice. Justice for what your kind did to me."

"You did this to yourself. And if you don't stop this madness you're going to lose him forever."

"Silence! Do not talk about my son as if you could possibly know what is best for him better than I do!"

Humanity is made up of people like the ocean is made up of drops. As the ocean pounds on the shore line, humanity pounds on fragile ecosystems. Like the ocean at the mercy of the wind we seem swept away by the demands of our times, disposable goods. We may be drops, but together we have the power of an ocean.

Maybe King Stoick was right. She didn't know him. At least not as good as she thought she did. Funny isn't it? How you think you know a person so well, just because you love them. Isn't that assumption silly? To just believe that loving and truly knowing a person are two things that go together. This is why they say love can blind you. Because loving makes you oversee the signs. The flaws. It breaks down all your walls one by one leaving you completely defenceless. And then...reality strikes. And you're left with unhealable wound and a broken heart.

This is just how it is, right? Life.

You fear the unknown as a natural defence.

The more you know about something the less fear you feel for it. So does that make it dangerous? Is this why it hurts the most? Betrayal from the one you love. Making you question everything. Wondering if it was ever real at all. If it was just an illusion caused by your blindness.

Or maybe this is convenient for us to believe. To make ourselves feel like it wasn't our fault and that we were just blind. Maybe it is the truth that we truly fear and not the lies.

Maybe it is a truth, that we call a lie.

Astrid's thoughts were interrupted when he spoke again.

"I am doing what is best to save my kingdom. Henry could never understand that. His mother couldn't either. The ocean is to blame for all destruction that has come upon my kingdom and my family."

"The ocean doesn't desire destruction nor war. Humans do. The ocean wants peace."

"Peace? Is that why you are here for? Is that why all Syrens were created? To bring peace to the world?"

Her silence filled the room. He was right. She was a creation of the devil. She was a war machine. A pawn made to kill and destroy. She was a monster.

"Humans brought this curse upon themselves. My sisters were living in peace before Syrens were created. Mermaids don't deserve to pay for the crimes humans are causing. We are the ones who are cursed not you! You brought this on yourself! And you know it deep inside that this is all your fault! Your people are paying the price for your own stupidity and disrespect against the ocean. The ocean is punishing you!"

"And it will not stop until I am truly punished!" King Stoick's deep voice echoed through the room. "Stupid Mermaid. Don't you see it's him that is in great danger and not me? Don't you see it is HE that the ocean wants?"

"You think I don't know that? I was born to protect him! It has been my purpose in life since I can remember! She trained me. She trusted me to make sure her child will never drown. His protection was the reason I was created!"

"And you clearly failed to do your job because the ocean already knows he is alive. And it is coming for him."

Astrid turned her head away from him. He was right. She had failed. She failed her Queen and her people. It was a disappointing and somewhat worrisome beginning to what was after all her destiny.

The voice inside her head was speaking again. Everyone should know that it's okay to fail. So many people are afraid of failure they don't even try. Instead they join in with those who believe they are not capable of what they want to achieve. Nothing is impossible if you can think it you can do it. Most people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure. Those who try to do something and fail exceed more than those who do nothing and succeed. Every failure in life should be a stepping stone to build on. We must be proud of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us. He's given us the vision to see that we can fall down, but still get back up. We learn from our mistakes and have the opportunity to strengthen and improve.

A sudden sound of footsteps made them both direct their attention towards the door.

Hiccup was standing there. Still frozen, with an expression as if he was confused and shocked at the same time. As if he was questioning everything.

The worst lies are the ones close enough to the truth to pass under the radar, or else the ones that are so big you'd never dream a person could make something like that up. The half truths lead you away from trust into a closet xenophobia. The big ones are shock and awe, they just root you in fear so your primal brains starts doing the thinking.

"Henry? I told the guards I don't want any intruders."

"My crew is 100 times more convincing than you."

Astrid's face fell faster than a corpse in cement boots. In that instant her skin became greyed, her mouth hung with lips slightly parted and her eyes were as wide as they could stretch.

"Son...I...I don't know how much you heard but-"

"Oh I heard enough." He took a powerful step forward that made both Astrid and the King flinch. "Enough to understand."

"Son...Please...let me explain-"

"You fed me lie, after lie, after lie. I was so young and you took full advantage, knowing I would believe every word. I defended you for as long as I could remember, I made you seem like the good guy in the eyes of the kingdom. I was always the failure, always the prince that was a disappointment to everyone. I believed everything you said. I spent my entire life believing that my mother was dead. You said that she was killed by Syrens during the war. You said you wanted me dead for my own protection. You have been lecturing me on how a leader must make hard choices. This whole time...lies, lies and only lies."

Words left him. He stared into those bright green eyes burning with anger, and his heart fell silent.

Hiccup was furious. Things started to make more sense than ever. The war with the Syrens ended after he became a Pirate. After Prince Henry died for the rest of the world. Things and clues being put together. Dots connecting.

"Is it true?" Hiccup's eyes burned with tears. "Is my mother their Queen? Is that why the war started in the first place?"

Silence filled the room.

"Answer me!" he roared.

But King Stoick couldn't will his lips to move. As if stuck underwater, everything was slow and warbled as Hiccup pointed a shaky finger in his face.

" For once in your life just tell me the truth!" he demanded.

But his mind was blank and his eyes wide as he stared at him in horror. His eyes desperately searched his… waiting. He had to say something! He searched his mind for something reasonable to say, but Astrid got to it first.

"Hiccup...Your Mother's name is Valka and she is the Queen of Mermaids. At least she was, before..."

"Before I was born?"

Astrid couldn't look him in the eye.

King Stoick finally found the strength to speak.

"When you were born, your mother was taken away from me. Forbidden from the human world by the ocean. And that's when the war started. Syrens started to show up and sink down the ships. This bloodshed wouldn't stop until-"

"Until I was dead."

"I knew what I had to do." King Stoick nodded. "I knew the only way to protect you was to let you go. The ocean was mad that this happened without permission."

"So you hid him." Astrid continued.

"I wanted the ocean to think that he was dead so that the Syrens would stop all the killing. And it worked...at least until now. The ocean knows you're alive and it's mad. Very mad."

"That's true." Astrid breathed. "I could feel it since the day your ship came into our territory."

"That's why you saved me?"

"You came right into you the most dangerous place in the ocean! It was like you had a death wish!"

"And why would you care for my safety? You didn't even know me."

"I knew your mother. She trusted me to protect you. She knew your father would make you chase after us so she told me to save you no matter what."

Breathing in and out seemed impossible to him. Everything he knew, everything he thought he knew was a lie.

"You were never a disappointment to me son. I have always been so proud of your sailing skills. How passionate you were of the sea. You were better than my greatest navy sailor."

Hiccup remembered what he had done to the three of them. A Sudden squeeze in his heart filled him with guilt. He knew he had done something unforgivably horrible. Now it squeezed at his brain, obliterating the thinking he needed to wheel-and-deal. He had to either get tougher or start listening to his conscious, this middle ground guilt was no good to anyone.

"I gave you this mission, because I believed in you more than I did in them. I knew you were 10 times more skilled and capable of catching a Mermaid than the three of them together. I never doubted you for a second son. And I am sorry for making you believe otherwise but it was for your own good. I'd rather you hate me for the rest of your life than something bad happen to you."

The guilt sat not on his chest but inside his brain. What he had done he could not un-do. Only in his silent prayers could he speak his heart to God and beg for his mercy. He didn't feel like he deserved the love of his father, or Astrid but he clung to it and hung the shreds of his sanity on it. He hoped that one day he would feel removed from his sin, washed clean of it, but the guilt was a stain on him, an ugly scar. He had to believe in redemption and rebirth, he had to leave his deeds in past and move on.

"Why?" Was all he finally said. "Why did it have to be like this? Why make me capture Astrid?"

"He thinks he can use me as bait. Foolish human. You think you can exchange my life for his? You think the ocean gives a damn about me?"

"Valka trusts you." King Stoick growled.

"My Queen has no power over the ocean. She lost that privilege because of you. Valka is the only person who cared about me. The only one who trusted me, the only one who saw me for who I am and treated me like I was more that just a monster. To the ocean, I am another one of its deadly weapons. A defence mechanism. If I die he replaces me with another Syren."

"AAAAAHHHHH!" King Stoick hit his fists to the tank, making water splash all over the place. "No no no no! This is pointless! This was my last hope of saving Hiccup!"

"I'm sorry that your genius plans never work! But can't you see I'm on your side? I want to save Hiccup as much as you do!"

"You failed!" King Stoick screamed making her jump back. "You failed to protect him even though it was your job! You are no better than I am!"

"Enough!" Now it was Hiccup's turn.

Silence fell upon the room as the Mermaid and his dad were staring at him frozen.

"Get out."

"What?"

"Get out of here Dad! I want to talk to her."

King Stoick almost choked. That was the first time he called him dad after he became a pirate. Maybe that was the reason why he didn't protest any further. He simply nodded and left the room, leaving the two of them alone.

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Heyo! We are only 3 chapters away from the end. Well...there might be more I am not sure. I haven't written them yet. Anyway thank you for reading and don't forget to leave your reviews!

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