Anything Is Possible

Rated: M
Pairing: Hiccup & OC-Runa
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTTYD or Frozen characters. Everything belongs to its original creator. However, I do own all my characters.

Chapter 26.

=Normal POV=
[November 17; Afternoon]
[Hunter Ship; Sea]

It had been four days since the reunion of Hiccup and Toothless, and it seemed to have a significant impact on Hiccup's overall mood. Of course, everyone knew that Hiccup was still dealing with a lot from all he went through as Johann's prisoner, and probably the hurt from Berk's betrayal. But as Hiccup had told Viggo and Ryker once before, Hiccup was okay as long as he had Toothless, so that translated to he's still going through everything. Still, Hiccup felt he would eventually work through it, and it's easier now that he wasn't alone anymore and have back the part of me that was missing. In this case, the missing piece that made Hiccup feel complete is Toothless. Another exciting moment was the next morning when Toothless finally woke up, and Hiccup had to ease into Toothless realizing that they were back together again.

All of the hunters thought that was a sweet scene to witness, Hiccup finally reuniting with his Night Fury. No one could deny now the bond that the two of them had. Hiccup was able to hear the roar of a Night Fury over all the movement and talking on the ships, and he just knew that it was Toothless. Viggo and Ryker, as well as the dragon hunters, had been skeptical if it was Toothless despite Hiccup's guarantee knowing it was his Night Fury. However, when Hiccup sent up a white blast of his power and told Toothless to send up his distress signal if he could hear him, a purple blast shot up, and that was all the proof the hunters needed.

The other amusing aspect of three days ago when Toothless woke up was the brothers having to earn Toothless's trust by eating a small portion of raw, already eaten and regurgitated fish, then having to close their eyes and offer their faith to Toothless. In all the days passed since then, Toothless seemed to be back to his cheery self, and Hiccup managed to get Toothless into the shared chamber he had with Viggo and Ryker. It took a little remodeling of the doorframe and door, but Hiccup made it work. Hiccup explained to Toothless that they were on their way to Viggo and Ryker's home island, where the rest of their tribe was, so he had to be on his best behavior. The last update given was this morning when the captain informed Viggo and Ryker they were about three days out.

The days were average, Hiccup spent most of his time with Toothless but still helped out around the ship. Hiccup hadn't worked with his powers at all, and it was decided to wait until they were on solid ground, just in case destruction happened. Nobody wanted to be swimming for the rest of the way home. Right now, it was an hour or so after lunch at 1:30 pm. Hiccup was relaxing with Toothless in the shared room and reading a book he found on Viggo's bookshelves, which Viggo gave Hiccup permission to read anything he wanted from the small library on the ship.

"It's nice to have all this peace, right, bud?" Hiccup mentioned after finishing the section in the book. Toothless smiled and purred at him in agreement. "As soon as we get to Hunter Isle, I'll make you another tail, and we can hit the skies again." Toothless panted with his tongue out and licked Hiccup's face. "Alright, alright…Easy. You're a big dragon in a small space. I know you want to stretch your wings. Just a few more days," Hiccup chuckled as Toothless warbled and rubbed against Hiccup's face just before Ryker and Viggo rushed in. Noticing their faces, Hiccup slid his marker into the book and stood up. "What's wrong?"

"They're here…" Viggo informed as Hiccup already knew what it meant. The dragon riders had finally come.

"How many?" Hiccup asked.

"The riders from Berk, and Berserker. Excluding your father from the Berkians." Ryker stated.

"Gobber?" Hiccup arched a brow.

"He rides the Hotburple, right?" Ryker inquired as Hiccup nodded. "Then no," He confirmed.

"Where are they?" Hiccup wondered.

"Heading this way, less than five minutes," Viggo affirmed.

"Do you want us to engage them, or play it off being fishermen and send them away?" Ryker questioned.

"If they're here, it's because they already know the rouse through Johann that the ship seems average. It's pointless to make them believe otherwise. Engage them, see what they want, but don't give away that we're headed to your home island. I don't want them to bring Berk and or Berserker fleets to cause havoc on your people." Hiccup replied firmly. "I'll be watching, for now, and decide if I should reveal myself to them or not. Just do what I said that night in the tavern, play along accordingly."

"Understood," Viggo and Ryker responded and headed back out.

"Let's get ready, bud. If this goes the way I think that it will, we're gonna have to deal with them." Hiccup said as Toothless frowned a bit. "I'm not going to hurt them or their dragons, Toothless…You know that, but we can't have them attacking the ships or the hunters either." Toothless nodded and nuzzled Hiccup's face.

. . .

Out on the main deck, Viggo and Ryker warned the hunters not to mention Hiccup or Toothless and just keep going about their work. After ten minutes passed, the riders showed up and hovered over the lead ship where Ryker and Viggo were waiting for them.

"So, it's true!" Heather glared.

"You two are still alive," Astrid seethed.

"Ah, my dear dragon riders!" Viggo smiled, opening his arms in welcome. "It's been such a long time. A year by my count, what's say you, big brother?" Viggo set his hands behind his back, maintaining his usual appearance of calm, but obviously deceptive.

"Aye, a year indeed." Ryker nodded.

"Cut the act!" Snotlout demanded. "Where's Hiccup and Toothless?"

"What are you going on about, boy?" Ryker folded his arms and arched a brow, his tone revealing his annoyance.

"We know you have them!" Astrid snapped. "Where are they!?"

"My dear girl, you know nothing. It's been a year since you've seen us and believed we were dead. Tell me, what prompted the sudden search to locate my brother and me when you had such a belief?" Viggo asked.

"I'd say a little bird told them, based on the fact the Berserker girl started this with what she said about it being true, then the Berkian adding on that we're still alive," Ryker mentioned with a shrug to Viggo.

"I would agree," Viggo concurred with a chuckle. "I'm curious as to why they instantly believe we have their leader and his dragon,"

"We do patrols and saw you," Ruffnut remarked.

"Oh, is that so?" Viggo mused. "Because I believe if that were true, then you would have found us much earlier when we all over the Archipelago hunting dragons," He informed as Ryker grinned.

The dragon riders all glared at them. "We had groups of five in every direction, never saw you flying over once." Ryker snickered.

"Just shut up!" Fumed Heather.

"I'd say that's a clear indication that you actually had no idea we were alive, and back on the waters hunting," Chirped Viggo.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter!" Astrid argued. "We're here, and we know you have Hiccup and Toothless."

"Are you certain of that?" Viggo inquired.

"Positive, now hand them over." Snotlout ordered.

"Out of sheer curiosity, why do you believe we have him?" Viggo wondered calmly. "Do you think we went all this time under your radar to draw attention to ourselves by taking your lead rider and his dragon?"

"And give you a chance to ruin everything?" Ryker added.

"Give us Hiccup and Toothless back," Fishlegs said in a small voice, but still able to be heard. "That's all we want from you, and then we'll leave quietly,"

"I hope you don't think we're going to fall for that," Ryker rolled his eyes. "Man, they really are useless without the boy," He grinned.

"I told you before, big brother; the dragon riders were of no concern to me, just their leader," Viggo supplied casually. "But alas; I'm afraid you're mistaken. We didn't take Hiccup and Toothless." He concluded.

"You're lying!" Astrid accused.

"You're not fooling anyone, Viggo. We have an eye witness who saw Hiccup on your ship!" Dagur retorted.

"Do you now?" Ryker chuckled. "So I was right when I said you got your information from someone?" He smirked.

"Just ugh! Shut up! You admitted that you know someone saw you with Hiccup and Toothless, so hand them over, and we won't blow your ships to splinters!" Astrid threatened.

"My dear Astrid, there's no need to be so violent," Viggo smiled. "But I do assure you that we did not take Hiccup or Toothless. It seems to me that you've just gone and assumed that because we're alive after your leader's attack to stop us when you believed it was over, we would take revenge by capturing Hiccup and Toothless." He remarked.

"Well, Hiccup and Toothless disappeared from Berk in the middle of the night last year at the end of January, and come to find out you two are alive, so what else are we supposed to believe?" Snotlout huffed.

"It wouldn't be the first time you've gone after Hiccup for interfering in your plans," Fishlegs conceded softly.

"Yeah, like the bounty on his head!" Astrid growled.

"Oh, come now. That was such a long time ago. Can we not simply leave the past behind us? We've left you alone after what happened," Viggo reminded.

"This is starting to look more and more like the boy left with his dragon, and you're looking to blame the people you only just learned were still alive a year later. We had nothing to do with his disappearance," Ryker scoffed.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with my brother," Viggo sighed. "If Hiccup Haddock indeed went missing a year ago, it couldn't have have been us, and let me tell you why," He paused. "My brother and I didn't even make it off of Dragon's Edge after the battle until long after you had all left the island. We couldn't move from our hiding spots for two weeks while you were doing patrols and packing to leave two weeks after the fight, and it took us to the beginning of December to find enough supplies and a boat to sail with." Viggo informed. "Next, our goal after leaving Dragon's Edge was to stay low and off your radar, as I mentioned previously that what good would it do to take your leader and his dragon when we didn't want you to know we had survived." He continued.

"And last of all," Ryker remarked firmly. "We only just returned to the Archipelago to continue dragon hunting back in May,"

"So if the timeline fits following your information of Hiccup and Toothless mysteriously vanishing at the end of January, then for one; it hasn't even been a year yet, and two; it wasn't us, because we were out of the Archipelago until May, as Ryker told you," Viggo stated firmly. "Honestly, if you're going to accuse someone of something, at least have accurate information and be truthful about the situation."

"Believe me, riders…I wish we could take credit for successfully taking Hiccup and Night Fury, but our goal has been to avoid you finding us since the battle on Dragon's Edge. So, we would not take the foolish risk of capturing Hiccup and Toothless to draw attention to ourselves. I am sorry to disappoint, but we are innocent." Viggo assured. The brothers noticed their faces fall at the information. "Now, if you don't mind, we're on a bit of a schedule." The dragon riders looked at him, holding faces of anger and perhaps guilt. "I bid you a good day, dragon riders," He turned to walk away as Ryker copied. "And I wish you all the best in your endeavors." He added.

"Come on, Astrid…Let's go," Snotlout told her.

"They don't have him," Fishlegs sighed.

"We'll go back to Berk and report it to Stoick," Dagur said.

"Who cares if they don't have Hiccup," Astrid glared. "They're still dragon hunters!"

"Astrid, no!" Heather tried as Astrid stood up on Stormfly and jumped off, ax at the ready to take both brothers out in one swipe as she was coming in for a landing on the ship.

"Watch out!" A voice shouted. As Viggo and Ryker turned around, they saw Astrid falling towards them, ax ready to swing. With no time to defend themselves, they put their hands up and closed their eyes to wait for the strike. However, it never came. All anyone heard was the clang of metal and saw Astrid's ax against a metal shield, being held up enough to cover the face of the person defending Viggo and Ryker.

"A metal shield?" Astrid whispered as she got a better look at the front, and her eyes widened in shock, maybe horror at what she saw. The symbol of a Night Fury with one red tail fin. Astrid only knew one person who had a metal shield with that design. As the strength left her arms, the ax dropped to the deck at her feet. "Hi-Hiccup?"

The other riders gasped, eyes widening with shock now as the shield lowered and revealed Hiccup Haddock behind it. Astrid was beside herself to see Hiccup there, but more about the fact Hiccup just defended Viggo and Ryker from her attack. "Hey, guys. What's up?" He greeted. "It's been a while," His eyes fell on Astrid now. "What's the matter, Milady?" He continued after a few moments of silence, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "No hug? No kiss? I thought you'd be happy to see me after ten months?" He wondered, playing innocent and hurt. "Oh well, I guess I should be used to being disappointed and let down by all of you," His face fell, holding a cold look in his eyes. "It's all you ever do, after all. Make me believe everything is going fine right before everything goes wrong because you're all liars. You're nothing but a bunch of fakes."

"I-I don't understand…" Astrid forced out.

"Yeah, just keep playing dumb like you have no idea why I said what I did. Typical Astrid, acting as if she can do no wrong, and it's always someone else's fault," Hiccup remarked with an eye roll. "Are you alright?"

"I'm a little confused at the moment," Astrid stated.

"I wasn't talking to you." Hiccup huffed as he glanced back at Viggo and Ryker now. "Are you both alright?" The dragon rider's eyes widened more at Hiccup asking the Grimborn brothers if they were okay.

"We're fine," Ryker nodded.

"Thank you, Hiccup," Viggo gave a slight bow of his head to Hiccup.

"You're welcome," Hiccup replied calmly. "This is why I watched from the shadows; I knew they wouldn't just let it go. I told you they were going to show up eventually," He added.

"You were also right that they would attack regardless of telling them you weren't here," Viggo stated with his hands behind his back.

"And the attacking without a plan," Ryker said.

"What can I say?" Hiccup shrugged with a smile before looking back to the riders. "I told you they were predictable and wouldn't be a problem for you while I'm here. Without me planning the operations, it's just show up and attack." Now, the riders' mouths were hanging open, and Astrid looked like she'd been slapped across the face then stabbed in the heart.

"I always knew you had the potential to be great when you finally broke away from what holds you back," Viggo patted one of Hiccup's shoulders. "And that given a chance to sit down and talk to one another civilly, we could understand one another."

"Well, it's nice to be around people who actually believe in me and accept me as I am. Sorry that I didn't see it sooner we could be friends," Hiccup said.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Ryker laughed. "It happened regardless,"

"Right you are, brother," Viggo agreed. "I believe we should deal with this matter." He added.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Business before fun," Hiccup sighed out.

"As they are your former friends, it's up to you." Ryker invited.

"We have your back," Viggo reminded. "Whatever you'd like to do, Hiccup."

"As I have yours." Hiccup replied with an affirmative nod while looking at the riders. "Now…" He grinned. "How do we handle a bunch of immature, ungrateful dragon riders?" The grin turned to a smirk. "How about we start with the one who made the mistake of getting off her dragon and jumping right into enemy territory without a weapon?" He suggested looking at Astrid, who had her head down.

"I don't know what happened to you, Hiccup…" Astrid took a breath as she raised her head and showed determination in her blue eyes. "But I'm not about to let it continue." She spin-kicked to shove Hiccup back a few spaces, he caught himself and looked at her while she picked up her ax and faced him.

"Hiccup, are you alright?" Viggo asked.

"I'm fine; it caught me off guard. Astrid's attacks don't hurt me." Hiccup assured as he looked at Astrid. "Is this what we're about to do, Astrid? Are you going to fight me?"

"If I have to for this to stop and bring you home, then so be it. I promised your father I wouldn't return until you were with me," Astrid said in a quiet tone. "Are you going to make this easy and come without a fight, or am I dragging you back and presenting you to him as a prisoner?"

Hiccup's eyes narrowed. "Is there a third option?" He remarked sarcastically as Astrid shook her head. "Then I'll give myself one. It's where you're all going to go to Berk, face my father's disappointment as I have for years when you return without me, and tell him I'm never coming back,"

Astrid flinched a little and looked at him with wide, but hurt eyes. "You have to come back, you're the heir!" Snotlout exclaimed. "You're the next chief!"

The anger in his eyes was replaced with a cold stare. "You can't be the next chief if you're not an heir to a tribe…" His voice was emotionless as all of them gasped with wide eyes as he pulled his sword. "And I don't have a tribe because they're all traitors."

"What happened to you? What or who made you believe such lies?" Heather asked quickly.

"The Hooligan Tribe of Berk." Hiccup replied. "It's clear to me that they didn't tell you what happened. Further proving my statement that they're nothing more than a bunch of liars." He said coldly.

"Hiccup…Please?" Astrid tried softly. "I don't want to fight you. Please don't make me have to do it…Just…Come to your senses. We can help, we'll…Save you from whatever they did to make you become this…But I know this isn't who you are. I know everything there is to know about you, and I know this isn't you…And you know that we would never do anything to hurt you."

Hiccup stared at her. "Do you want to prove that to me, Astrid? That you know me?" He asked.

"Yes! Please? I'll do anything…What do I have to do?" Astrid looked hopeful.

"Answer the question I asked you last January." Hiccup said.

"W-What?" Astrid tensed.

"Last January, on the 19th…You showed up at my dad's and I asked a question. You never answered me, you just got on Stormfly and left me standing there. Now, I want the answer. If you want to prove to me that I know you'd never hurt me, that you know me so well…Answer the question I asked. Or do you not remember it?" Hiccup stated calmly, but his voice was still cold, and his eyes were unforgiving. Astrid shook her head to him about not recalling the question. "Is the reason you are leaving because you're afraid of me?" He repeated.

"Hiccup…I-I told you why I had to leave. My parents-," Astrid started.

Hiccup shook his head, his lips twisting into a smirk. "Still going with that lie?" Hiccup asked as Astrid went to reach for him, shaking her head.

"N-No. Hiccup, no, please?! I-I didn't have a choice." Astrid tried.

"You always had a choice, Astrid," Hiccup informed. "You had a choice to stand at my side and be there for me. You had a choice to support me. You had a choice to trust me. You had a choice to believe in me…" Astrid looked she was about to cry. "You had the choice to be the one person I could always count on to help me when the rest of the world turned it's back on me. You had the choice to be the girl I was madly in love with and wanted to spend the rest of my life with." Hiccup backed away from her, raising his sword. "But the only choice you made that night was to leave me."

"Hiccup…Please? I'm…So sorry…" Astrid's voice cracked.

Hiccup gave a dark chuckle as he pressed something on the handle of his sword, causing it to ignite on fire, then getting into a stance facing Astrid. "It's too late for I'm sorry because you also just had the choice to be honest with me, and you chose to lie again. You just blew you only chance." Hiccup told her as his eyes went cold again. "Now, either put up your weapon and fight or shut up and stop wasting my time. If you don't come at me, I will come to you, and I will not hold back just because of our past. The past no longer matters; I'm only living for my present and future." He stated. "And both no longer involve you or that traitorous tribe you belong to."

Astrid's eyes widened at what Hiccup said as she made no move to attack Hiccup, but Viggo and Ryker did shift away from the impending battle. "Have it your way then," Hiccup charged at her and she seemed to quickly react, bringing up her ax to block him, looking in his eyes. Their weapons clashed as Astrid was still in a state of shock from what Hiccup said and now attacked her. Leaning close with a smirk, Astrid wanted to shrink away from his stare and found that he was much stronger than she remembered. "Oh, and if I haven't made it clear enough for you yet, don't you ever claim that you know me or anything about me…You never did, and you never will."

With that Astrid did the only thing she could, she fought back to defend herself because she knew that right now; she couldn't get through to Hiccup. Astrid knew she messed up, and despite the regret she'd been feeling all this time; Hiccup had the time to sit with it all, letting it fester and make him angry. It was obvious that all she could do was try to stay off his attacks until he tired himself out and faltered, that would be her chance to hit him hard, hopefully, knock him out, and get him back to Berk.