Yes, I know, I've fallen behind on everything else too! But I never forgot Villain!Valka.
Chapter contains character death.
-HTTYD-
Valka kicked a stray bit of... actually, she wasn't sure what it was, aside, and crouched down to survey the scene below her, squinting through the haze of smoke. There was little left but ash and smoke, though there were glittering spots of light where flames reflected off of the great shards of ice.
Cloudjumper settled at her side, letting out a low coo of concern. Valka glanced down at her armour, saw the sooty residue mixed with fresh red splatters. Her staff looked much the same - a well designed implement, gentle for dragons and painful for humans.
"None of it is mine, I'm alright."
It was hard to even see where the blood had come from by then - once all the dragons were freed, they'd burned and slashed and battered every human there. The Bewilderbeast had helped them, following Valka's lead as they fought to keep Drago Bludvist's army from growing. If she had to guess? Valka had more dragons, but Bludvist had an army of manpower too. But Valka didn't want to lose any of the dragons, and so she didn't go toe to toe with him, just chipped away around him, freeing his captured dragons and killing his trappers.
Cloudjumper still looked worried, but Valka ignored it. She knew what he was getting at, and she wasn't interested in listening.
He thought she was spending too much time fighting, and that she killed too quickly now. Though Valka had been willing to let them die for years, it was only since... Eret that she'd truly dedicated time to ensuring none survived their raids. If humans weren't going to change, she wasn't going to leave them alive to go back to their bad ways. Choking out a few breaths, Valka stood and went in search of cleaner air to breathe. They found what was left of the trappers campsite, and Valka stole some of their wine to chase away the bitter taste of death and smoke in the back of her throat.
It was tempting to let alcohol burn away all her bad thoughts, to let it blur the edges of a world she felt increasingly out of place in, but Valka made herself stop, tossing most of it over the nearest drop and hearing the sounds of canteens breaking against the ground. She took a couple - sometimes it helped her sleep, but Valka knew she was no good to the dragons when absolutely wasted on the stuff and that was enough to keep her from turning to the bottle too often.
Done with the raiding business, Valka clambered down to the sea level, and bowed to the great Bewilderbeast. He returned her gesture, inclining his huge head and dusting her with a gentle whisper of ice. She lifted her helmet to smile up at him, and gave her staff a rattle to signal let's go home. With a great grumble, the Bewilderbeast flared his head-spines and then sank into the ocean. The flaring was obviously a signal, as all the newly rescued dragons turned and followed the line of bubbles rising from below the water. Valka climbed up on Cloudjumper's back and they took off back toward their sanctuary, a safe haven for dragons far away from man.
She dumped her armour once they got back, leaving it aside to be cleaned once she'd ensured the dragons were alright. The newest rescues were distributed as necessary between the healing bay and the rest areas, Valka introducing herself to each one and explaining that they were safe there with the Alpha. Not all understood her words, but the atmosphere created by the Alpha's presence and the other dragons that were already there and trusting of her helped relax the rescues.
There was little to be done for a couple of days - yes, she could go and interrupt the ships out capturing dragons, but it was a much more efficient task to wait for them to fill up their island camp and rescue three or four boat-loads all at once. And it made destroying both the ships and the people crewing them all at once much easier too. It had been a while since Valka had bothered heading to a tavern to take them out one-on-one. She still went on occasion, both to track down particularly difficult trappers who stayed out of much of the smoke and mess of it all and to assuage her own loneliness, but even those were far less frequent since Eret. She'd lost any faith in humans, and part of Valka suspected her lifestyle would lead to a premature death some time, so she had simply resolved to do the best she could with the time she had for dragons, since nobody else was going to help them.
With her armour cleaned up, dragons fed and tended to and the Alpha back in his pool, resting, Valka took herself off for a bath and then went to bed herself. She didn't sleep a great deal that evening, but she was used to that sort of thing and deliberated before deciding against drinking herself to sleep again. There were better uses of her time.
Cloudjumper shuffled about after her, occasionally making that concerned noise of his a few times before growing frustrated that Valka was ignoring him. Though he was a gentle giant, he was still big and so once he decided to flop down and rest his huge head on Valka's chest, she could go nowhere until he deigned to let her. She rolled her eyes and stroked him indulgently, thankfully used to his abominable dragon breath after all their years together.
"I am fine Cloudjumper, I don't know why you fret."
He huffed, rolling his big yellow eyes at her before they slid closed as she gave him a few little scratches behind his horn. It was a tough spot for him to reach, and basically turned him into a giant puddle of scales. Once he relaxed, Valka managed to wriggle free. He grumbled in complaint, and resumed following her around as Valka scuttled around her nest, eventually ending up on one of the ledges higher up. There weren't many, as keeping all the heat in kept the dragons happy, and icy wind slipped in through almost every crack. But there were a few small gaps (well, small for dragons to get in and out of) and stone ledges on the outside of the mountain, big enough for her and Cloudjumper to sit and stare out at the ocean.
It was still dark out, and though Valka was a little chilly they stayed until the sun began to rise. She liked the sunrise, liked knowing she and the dragons had made it another day. Leaning back against Cloudjumper's belly for warmth, Valka sighed and wondered about her son again, wondered if he was still sleeping or awake, watching the same sunrise she was.
It had to have been twenty years by then, she guessed. Maybe more... she'd lost track really, but she was pretty sure she'd seen twenty dragon mating and hatching cycles out by then. Assuming he was out there (Valka had feared a few times that he'd not survived, small and frail as he was when he arrived too early), he was a man now. Perhaps even Chief of Berk, the perfect heir Stoick wanted. She shut those thoughts off, because it always hurt to picture her sweet baby boy growing up to be a dragon killer.
She caught a couple more hours sleep that morning after doing dragon breakfast time, then spent her day in the nursery playing with the juvenile Scuttleclaws. They were particularly cheeky things, and could often be seen tormenting the poor Bewilderbeast when he tried to sleep - baby dragons did not fall under the Alpha's control, because babies listened to no-one.
Valka had almost dared to relax into her afternoon when the scouts returned, flapping and squawking and whatever they'd seen had them truly out of sorts - she could barely understand them, but the follow us! message was absolutely clear. Hastening to fetch her armour and staff, Valka debated briefly before going to the Alpha. Whatever had her scout dragons so animated could be dangerous; it was best to be prepared. He agreed, and ducked down beneath the water to find his way out from their nest. Valka hopped up on Cloudjumper's back, and off they went.
The scouts - mostly Deadly Nadders, who were speedy, nimble, intelligent and excellent trackers - led them, the better part of an hour in the sky with the Bewilderbeast below, surfacing only once to draw air into his massive lungs before diving down to leave only a trail of bubbles along the water to find him by.
Valka realised what the concern was as soon as she saw the ships - there were at least four, and three had dragons caged on deck. It was a decent haul, rescue-wise, but that alone wouldn't have explained the state her scouts had gotten themselves in to over it. But then Valka saw on the fourth ship, and she saw something that made her blood run cold.
Saddles. There were hunters riding dragons now? Had she given them the idea, and they'd chained some poor dragons in to being used as transport or perhaps even a permanent weapon of sorts? Anger rising in her chest, Valka dropped her signal down in to the ocean, and the Bewilderbeast reared up with a great splash. He saw too, and roared in fury at the sight of his kin in cages. He looked to Valka, who shook her staff in agreement. Drawing in a great breath, he breathed a great wave of ice at the ships, and while a couple of hunters managed to dive off the deck with shouts of fear, the ships cracked and shattered around the shards of ice. They had Seashockers and Scauldrons under the water with the Bewilderbeast, for catching any dragons who were chained or simply couldn't swim.
A wave of reassurance from the Alpha soothed the distressed dragons as Valka had Cloudjumper drop her down on to the back of a Scauldron, who carried her to where bits of ship still floated to unlock the cages. Once those were free, she tossed her helmet up to Cloudjumper, and dove down to make sure none of the others were still locked up. Freeing several while she dodged the bodies of dead hunters, Valka rose up for a few gulps of air before she went back down. She was a very strong swimmer (one of those times Valka was quite grateful for her long limbs) and surrounded by those who would protect her, and so Valka paid little mind at first to anyone else still moving in the water as she mentally counted cages in her head, including a half dozen for each ship below deck.
The underwater dragons had moved to hold any other cages above water, or pull apart the remnants of wooden decks to free those who were only caged by one side of metal and lock. She rose up once more for air, and then hopped from dragon to dragon to free those still caged. Her eyes stung from the sea-water, but that was little concern. Her clothes were weighed down with water below her armour, so she'd be pretty chilly on the flight home but Cloudjumper knew that if he felt her stumble or fall after diving, to catch her and take Valka somewhere to be warmed up by dragon fire and pack-cuddles. She'd only come close to freezing to death once, and learned from mistakes, taught her dragon what to do.
She retrieved her helmet after rubbing her hands against the top of her head to try and wring out a little of the water running down her face, and turned to check they'd definitely gotten all the dragons. Bodies of hunters littered the water, some gored on ice and others shocked or burned by dragons in self-defence (she could see their weapons drawn, floating at their sides as the water rippled around the breaths of the Bewilderbeast).
One caught her eye, not dressed in the usual pale furs with bright colours. Rubbing water from her eyes, Valka approached on Cloudjumper hesitantly, and had her dragon roll the face-down man over in the water. He gasped, and so did Valka; his for air, hers for shock.
Though Berk did not dwell on her mind very often (save for thoughts of her son), she'd lived there for twenty years and not all of her memories had faded. His eyes seemed to take time to focus, and they widened very quickly as his vision cleared.
Gobber? What was he doing there? He splashed and spluttered, and Valka gestured for a Scauldron to float nearby, using her large tail to hold Gobber up so he could catch his breath. She made to put her helmet back on, but it seemed pointless when he'd clearly seen and recognised her.
"Y... you? How can you... Stoick! Where are ye?"
Valka's heart turned over in her chest. How could he be there too? She looked around - Stoick was hard to miss - but saw nothing familiar other than one of the dragons wearing a riding saddle, a Rumblehorn, circling the water and roaring out in what she could only call distress. Another wearing a saddle hovered nearby, a Hotburple (closely related to Gronckles, but with additional dragon-powers at a cost of small shot limit and frequent naps) and seemed very happy to see Gobber alive.
"Skullcrusher! Where is he?"
The Rumblehorn responded to Gobber's croaky cry with one of his own, and while Rumblehorns were excellent trackers, there was the smell of fire and many hunters and dragons and ocean to mix with his sense of scent. But after a minute, he dove down under the water. Valka fretted; their heavily armoured bodies weren't great for swimming, but the Rumblehorn resurfaced after a minute, a large, limp mess of leather, fur cloak and distinctively large, orange beard clutched under his belly.
"Stoick! Bring 'im here Skullcrusher!"
Valka watched, a myriad of emotions rolling through her as Gobber seemed totally at ease with the dragon beneath him, the dragons around him. If anything, he seemed more unsettled by her presence and Stoick's limp form. Once he got closer, Valka could see a dark stain across the front of his torn vest, and after fussing with the body for a minute, he gave a great roar of pain that made her wince.
"Valka! How could you?"
Gobber whipped around, and his anger was enough to wrong-foot her for a moment. The wound didn't look like one of ice, but she wasn't close enough to be certain. Cloudjumper and the Alpha both seemed geared up to defend her, but Valka whistled to get their attention, giving her staff a small shake to say wait.
"How was I to know? Hesitating with hunters gets dragons killed."
"Dragons..." Gobber seemed to see her and Cloudjumper properly for the first time "that's the dragon that took you!"
"Yes. He never meant me harm, just as I always said about dragons."
Something very peculiar seemed to be going on - while Gobber hadn't been as reticent to hear a single damn word she said as her husband, he didn't look at all resistant to her words. The saddles and the response of the dragons wearing them, Gobber's lack of fear toward them...
"Yeah. You were right. And your son showed us that."
Her son?
"Hiccup? What did Hiccup do?"
His anger hadn't abated, and 'Skullcrusher' was still eyeing her in a way Valka rarely saw on a dragons face, but with the Alpha at her side and Cloudjumper beneath her, she wasn't worried. She hoped it wouldn't come down to a fight.
"Oh, he turned out just like you! Well. You before. Insisted dragons were our friends, befriended a Night Fury and ended the dragon raids."
"What... when was this?"
Had Valka been missing days of knowing her son was a friend to dragons, just like her? Months? Years?
"About five years back now. Even Stoick came around... oh, Stoick!" Gobber turned back to the body of his friend "how am I meant to tell Hiccup his mother killed his father!?"
Valka felt sick. After all this time... that was the first thing her son, her boy who inherited her trust in dragons, would know.
"You don't know that I did. It could have been a hunter."
She was starting to shake, and Valka wasn't entirely sure it was from the cold.
"I'll be sure to tell Hiccup that it might not have been you."
Gobber turned away, and Valka hesitated briefly before deciding; she knew. She knew Hiccup wasn't a dragon killer. She'd been gone all his life and it seemed he'd grown up into a better man that she could have hoped for... but she couldn't face him when she had so much blood on her own hands. Especially when some of it could have been his fathers. She signalled to the dragon still carrying the two men, and got a nod of acceptance.
"The Scauldron will help you back to Berk."
And with that, she signalled to the Bewilderbeast, and they turned away. She wasn't going to be any help there, and if she didn't turn back there and then, she'd have gone with them, just for a glimpse of the son who may well hate her on sight now. Gone for twenty years, never knowing... gods, what if she'd gone home after all? Been there to raise her son with her dragon-loving heart?
But then what would have happened to all the dragons she'd saved? Who would have seduced all those dragon killers to their deaths?
That brief, accidental encounter with Gobber had Valka feeling more than she could remember feeling in the last fifteen years... Valka shivered, and that one was at least partly due to the cold. She gave a quicker signal to Cloudjumper, clothes ice-cold and sapping the heat from her skin as her heart ached in her chest. Her fingertips were turning blue, her breath coming harsh in her chest when she saw the nest again, all but falling from Cloudjumper's back with stiff, inflexible joints to find the nearest firepit. Cloudjumper took the dragons to the injured bay for her first, while Valka had the nearest Nadder light her fire. She peeled off her sodden clothes with numb fingers, grabbing a couple of heavy furs and shivering at the fire-side until she began to thaw.
Tears she didn't know she'd shed dripped on to her shaking hands, and as the ice in her system slowly faded, it left room for great, heaving sobs of a loss Valka thought she'd already processed long ago.
"Oh, Hiccup..."
Cloudjumper found her there, gathering her up against his belly with his wings to help warm and comfort her. He let out little coos of sadness, and stayed at her side until Valka finally managed to reign herself in a little. She pulled herself out of Cloudjumper's hold long enough to put tea on now her hands were working more, then went in search of dry clothes. Cloudjumper shuffled after her, and insistently cuddled her close again when she was re-dressed. She leant up against his warm belly as she drank her tea, cleaned her face up and kept her hands by the fire until they stopped feeling so stiff.
Still feeling quite fragile, Valka focused on something she could do in her sleep and went to tend to their newest intake. The Alpha waited patiently for her to check in with him, aware the only human in their nest was vulnerable in ways that the dragons weren't.
"I don't blame you" she reassured him as she explained the events more clearly "you were doing what you were supposed to."
Valka crawled into bed, drained and feeling oddly empty. Cloudjumper fussed, but eventually twisted around to hang from the ceiling to rest himself - it had been an exhausting day for all involved. She'd only just began to drift off, thoughts full of the terrible knowledge she'd caused her son pain from so far away when she'd already been absent so long, when the dragons around her all seemed to perk up, several shuffling off and Valka heard the sound of scouts relaying information.
Groaning as she hauled her tired body from her bed, Valka reached for her armour. It was still damp, so she added a second layer of clothing for protection before she pulled it on. Cloudjumper followed, just lowering his head to let her up on his back when three dragons appeared. One was leading the other two, one who held a rather damp-looking black dragon in their claws and another clutching a slender, leather-clad but very much human shaped thing.
Valka's heart picked up speed as she recognised the species quickly. It had been a long time since she'd seen one, but there was no mistaking one once she saw.
Night Fury.
The human ran to the dragon, calling out what sounded like "Toothless!" as he knelt at the Night Fury's side. The Night Fury roused and licked the human, and Valka's stomach was in knots as the two spotted her. She had her helmet on, so likely looked quite peculiar as the human slipped off their own mask. If she'd not been thinking of him, it might not have registered right away, but Valka saw a passing resemblance to her ex-husband who'd just been fished out of the ocean a few hours ago. And when she crouched and scuttled closer, unable to help herself, shaking her staff to ask the dragons for light, Valka saw what she'd been looking for.
That scar on his chin. Only a small cut, but he'd only been a small babe when he got it. Scratched by Cloudjumper's claw, by mistake when the crib rocked unexpectedly. She remembered every detail of the last time she'd seen her son.
He was speaking, trying to work out who she was. Valka's chest tightened with a mix of emotions as it occurred to her he might not know yet, and there was a flicker of warmth when she saw how the Night Fury wrapped his tail around the human, ready to protect him.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying?"
Valka had faced down killers and dragons driven mad with fear. She'd faced up against Drago Bludvist and armies of men that outnumbered her twenty to one.
She'd never been as afraid as she was in that moment, lifting her helmet and tossing it aside. There was no recognition in his face, so it seemed even more likely he'd found her by mistake.
"Hiccup?"
-HTTYD-
Ooooooooooooooooooh.