Title: The Lost Heir
Summary: Hiccup goes through with his plan to run away, leaving behind no loose ends… or so he believes. After discovering the Nest, then fleeing north, Hiccup builds a utopia at the Dragon Sanctuary, working towards his ultimate goal: destroying the Queen. But no good deed goes unpunished and ghosts from his past are destined to resurface.
Recap: After finding each other again outside the botanical gardens, H and Astrid begin a tentative friendship. Meanwhile, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins start a brawl with the guards when Astrid's escorts return without her…
Warning: I am bumping up the rating to T for minor language.*
Chapter Seven: One Step Forward
The fight is complete chaos… and Ruffnut is loving every second. They don't have any weapons between the four of them, but that makes it even better. She has the guard with bright blonde hair in a choke-hold with her braid; Fishlegs is like a human battering ram, sending guard after guard over the veranda and into the canal; Snotlout has her brother by the ankles and is spinning them both in circles as Tuff swings his fists blindly.
They're outnumbered but, against the odds, they're holding their own.
… Until Tuff's feet slip out of Snotlout's hands and he goes flying into Fishlegs, his momentum carrying them both through the facade of the apartment in a glorious shower of splintered wood and carnage.
Soon after, the guards overpower Snotlout, leaving no one left to cover her while she tries to put the blonde guard to sleep. His friend—the other guard who left with Astrid—peels them apart, the first guard instantly taking a gasping breath but otherwise unharmed.
But Ruff isn't done fighting and tackles his rescuer from behind. The man is built like a bear but yowls like a wet cat when she sinks her teeth into his shoulder.
She's ripped off his back and trussed up in the living room with the others without even drawing blood. Besides a few bruises and split knuckles, her friends aren't sporting any nasty injuries either. Disappointing much.
The same cannot be said for the house. The door has been broken down, there's a gaping hole in the front wall, the shutters are hanging off their hinges, and the table has toppled over on three legs. She surveys the carnage with pride; the fancy waterside apartment looks all the better for it, in Ruffnut's opinion. If the Dragon Master is pissed well, then bonus!
Small victories help her not to dwell on their crushing and embarrassingly swift defeat.
One of the guards leaves to find the Dragon Master and Ruff can't wait to see the look on his stupid face when he sees how they've trashed the place. Then she remembers his stupid mask and gives up on having the pleasure.
It isn't long before wing beats are heard overhead. A breeze blows through the empty doorway and the hole a few paces down. But it isn't a night fury that lands on the stilted porch outside. It's a dragon Ruff has never seen before—a species that isn't usually sighted during raids. If it has an entry in the book of dragons, Ruff wouldn't know, but from the look of Fish's ashen face, it must have some reputation.
It looks owlish, with burnt orange head frills and tandem wings, which it folds away at its sides.
Aesir slips from its back and starts talking to the guard she bit. When the Dragon Master's second has heard enough, she approaches the group, picking her way through the debris with a grace Ruff could only dream of (if those dreams were yak-nog fuelled nightmares).
Valka was called for when no one could find her son. The news the guards bring doesn't surprise her, but it does make what they're trying to accomplish that much harder. Still, she'll do her best to deal with Hiccup's peers, even just so she can say she told him so when he eventually returns from whatever far corner of Ísfjall he's disappeared off to.
Gods, she hopes he's still in the city. It isn't like Hiccup to leave her amid a crisis, but he's brash and impulsive and she's never quite sure what's going on in that genius brain of his. She just hopes he reappears soon.
Skuf fills her in when she arrives. To his knowledge, it was unprovoked, but he was elsewhere before the incident, and things went south shortly after he and Naddod returned to their posts.
"He bit me," Skuf tacks on, pointing to one of the twins—the marginally more feminine of the two, but it is, understandably, hard to tell the difference.
"Do you want to have Sigeferth take a look at it?" Valka asks, concerned.
"No, I just left the gardens and the skinʼs not broken. Iʼll live," Skuf tells her with a weak smile. "That reminds me, though. We ran into the Dragon Master while we were there and he took over as Miss Astridʼs escort."
"Is that so?"
She thinks she sees what went wrong and thanks Skuf for his assistance, then crosses the floor to the teens to try and straighten out this mess.
"In Ísfjall, we commend feats of courage and loyalty," she begins. "You were worried about your friend and prepared to take action to ensure her safety. I'm sure no one here would dispute your bravery, or say your intentions were anything less than virtuous." She pauses. "...Which is why it pains me to have to punish the four of you." As well as another trouble-maker whoʼs just as responsible, thinks Val.
She lets that linger. She knows her city's warped reputation will invite the cruellest imagined punishments in their minds. But allowing them to get off scot-free will only encourage more bad behaviour and this feeling of dread might make them think twice next time.
She studies each teen's face in turn. Hiccup identified the warriors of the raiding party for her when last they spoke, but she would've known at a glance which houses each teen hails from—she recognises something of her old friends in each of them.
Spitelout Jorgenson's jet-black hair; Una Thorston's sharp chin; Girta Ingerman's… peach fuzz. Seeing Stoick again has made her nostalgic for even the littlest things…
No—she agreed to help resolve this situation so that she would be forced to think of something aside from her husband for a moment. Thor knows he's been the centre of her thoughts for as long as he's been in her city and she needs this break.
"Stable duty," Valka decides, having kept them in suspense long enough. "Tomorrow, after training."
"Stable duty? That's all?" says the Thorston boy—Tuffnut.
Valka chuckles softly. "You won't be saying that tomorrow, trust me."
"Seriously, lady, what's the catch?" asks the boy who can only be Spitelout's progeny with that nose and that chin.
If they think she's being lenient now, it won't matter after their punishment is complete.
She just smiles in response. "Oh—and you'll be fixing this mess yourselves," she adds. "We are not your innkeepers."
"Hey! What about Astrid?" asks the other twin, Hiccup called her Ruffnut.
"Your friend is in good hands with my son, don't worry," she answers, knowing the four of them won't be satisfied with whatever answer she gives until Astrid is back unharmed, but doing her best to sound reassuring.
"She better be." Snotlout sounds cross, in that helpless sort of way, and Valka wishes she could do more to console them. But the best she can offer is the promise of a tarp for the hole and the space to collect their thoughts.
Hiccup is caught somewhere between total ecstasy and the brink of complete disaster. Astrid came for him—well, H, but they're one and the same—the first chance she got!
Only now, he's in the precarious position of watching every word he says. All the lies and half-truths are a lot to keep track of and he's worried he's going to slip up disastrously. He knows spending more time with Astrid isn't going to make his life any easier, but she's as perfect as she was five years ago and he feels like he's fourteen again, watching her fight fires from the blacksmith hatch; awkward and clumsy and stupid.
He was heading to the botanical gardens on a long-shot—that she might've tried to call the Dragon Master's bluff and decided to see for herself if the skinny herbalist she met that day truly was alive. He wasn't expecting to see her already there, and he definitely wasn't expecting to be spending the afternoon with her, but here they are.
She even lets Mouse stay, which has to be progress, right? Sure, she stiffens up whenever he pets the terror and keeps on throwing it sceptical looks when she thinks he isn't watching, but she isn't actively trying to kill Mouse.
He doesn't want to test her limit, though, and decides to bring her somewhere away from any other dragons, which, in Ísfjall, also means away from people in general. There's only one place he can think of taking her—but there was a reason why he couldn't promise they'd stay dry…
"We're here," he tells her.
She looks up at the cascading waterfall, entranced. "It's beautiful," she says.
Mist settles in her hair and scattered rainbows dance in her eyes, but this isn't what he wants to show her.
Once he thinks she's properly distracted, he pushes her into the curtain of water. He watches her stumble through the whitewater, laughing. Then, a hand darts out, grabbing a fistful of his collar and he's dragged through too.
The water's cool, not shockingly cold, but even the second he was under soaked him to the bone.
"Not so funny now, huh?" Astrid smirks.
She's closer than before, her fingers still gripping the front of his tunic. She must be able to feel his racing heart through his ribcage, he thinks. His words dry up. Astrid still doesn't pull away, instead, she tilts her head a fraction upwards…
A squawk sounds from above and the next thing he knows, thereʼs a dripping wet terror clinging to his head. Mouseʼs claws dig into his scalp and he yelps in surprise.
Astrid watches wide-eyed. Hiccup flails about, doing his best to show her heʼs okay, but most likely only making a fool of himself as he comically goes down.
The cascade probably knocked Mouse about as he tried to fly through and heʼs just startled. Hiccup tries to calm him, but it isn't easy—he and Valka theorize Mouse has a fear of water and he's freaking out from the unexpected shower.
There's a sharp whistle and he's released from Mouse's death grip. Hiccup looks up to see Astrid with her little fingers pressed between her lips. The terror heels at her feet, a picture of obedience.
Astrid helps him to stand and he re-ties his red bandana, giving her a moment to look around.
Behind the waterfall is a secret cave, carpeted in bioluminescent fungi, with glowing spores suspended midair, like fireflies. The ceiling vanishes into shadow but the base is brilliantly lit, like a starry night sky.
"Thanks," Hiccup says, impressed. "I've never seen him do that before."
"What, the part where he wanted to be your hat?" she asks, amused, her eyes twinkling in the cave light.
"The whistle—you'll have to teach me sometime. I wonder if it would work on—" he catches himself just in time—Toothless' name would be a dead giveaway.
"On… your dragon?" she fills in. "So you do have one. I was trying to figure out if you did," Astrid says, as if simply commenting on the weather.
He can't tell if that affects her opinion of H or not. She doesn't ask anything else about his dragon, though, and for that he's grateful. But since she bought it up…
"Dragons—" he starts, but she immediately cuts him off.
"Don't. Please," she says, curtly, and he knows, instantly, that he ruined the moment.
"What?"
"I know what you're going to say. That dragons are harmless, that dragons can be our friends. You're naive, H. Maybe you've never lost anyone to a dragon before, but I have."
He closes his mouth. For the last five years, he's been shrinking the Queen's hoard, bringing as many dragons under her control to the dragon sanctuary as he can, but he knows it still isn't enough.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know," he says.
"It's not your fault," she says, distantly.
But Hiccup can't help feeling like it is. Whoever Astrid lost died because he's taking his sweet time bringing an end to this war. The Ísfjallan guard is almost in shape, though, and an alliance with Berk would probably be the last push to turn the tide. That's why it's so important that he changes their minds about dragons, starting with Astrid. But how?
Astrid interrupts his thoughts when, out of the blue, she says, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," he says, with a nod.
"You know most people who come and go from Ísfjall, right?"
He can see why she might think that, given his earlier familiarity with Skuf and Naddod.
"I guess," he agrees, shrugging, trying to play it down. The truth is, he knows everyone but telling her that would be too big a clue.
She chews her lip. "Did you ever hear anything—anything at all—about a boy named Hiccup?"
He looks at her, alarmed, wondering for a beat if she worked something out, which he realises a second too late is a mistake.
"You know him! H, you have to tell me everything. His father is looking for him—itʼs the whole reason weʼre here!"
"I canʼt. I wish I could, but…" He struggles for how to explain his way out of this one, but she misinterprets his silence, getting the wrong idea entirely.
"The Dragon Master would kill you," she finishes for him, sympathetic.
"What!? No."
"Then what? Why can't you tell me?"
He can't answer, even though his silence is threatening their fragile friendship. But in telling her any more of the truth, he risks losing his last peaceful bargaining chip. Without the mystery of the lost heir, Hiccup can only threaten his old tribe into giving peace with dragons a chance—something he'd never do. Without the bargain struck with the Hooligans, they'd never listen to a word the Dragon Master—or Hiccup the Useless, for that matter—said in defence of a dragon.
Astrid will probably hate him, but he stays silent.
"... How can you follow the Dragon Master?" she asks him at length, deciding for herself that his reason for keeping his mouth shut is loyalty to his supposed leader.
Why do people follow him? Simply because heʼs working against the Queen? He often wonders what kind of a chief he would be had he stayed on Berk, leading people who hadnʼt chosen him as their protector. He wonders what will happen to Ísfjall after the alpha removes the Queen, whether the Guard will disband, what that will mean for him and Mom…
It doesnʼt matter what happens afterwards, only that he succeeds in bringing an end to the war.
"I donʼt. Weʼre all working towards the same end."
"Right—the destruction of this Queen," she says sarcastically. "You buy that?"
"You donʼt?" Astrid gives him a pointed look. No. "But what about Mouse? The terrors you see on Berk would never take notice of your whistle trick. Itʼs because something is calling them louder—only, you canʼt hear it."
Astrid looks down at Mouse. He's chasing one of the glowing spores through a circle of mushrooms and Hiccup can tell she's thinking about it. He knew bringing the cute little lap dragon along was a good idea, even if they did get off to a rocky start and he tried to attack Hiccup's head.
"Maybe… all dragons aren't bad," she concedes, eventually. A premature fanfare starts playing in Hiccup's head… "But the Dragon Master's pet night fury is pure evil."
One step forward… two steps back.
They stay in the hollow long enough for their clothes to dry. The lights remind Astrid of Aurvandil's fire, the way they drift serenely through the glowing mushroom stalks. When she mentions this to H, he decides that's a good name for this place—Aurvandil's Hollow. No one else knows about the secret behind the waterfall, he tells her, so he's never thought of what to call it until now.
She doesn't ask about Hiccup again, as much as she wants to. H is her best lead, but pushing too hard might drive him away and then she'll have nothing. It's going to take more than the confrontational approach to loosen his lips, but she's going get him to tell her everything sooner rather than later.
It's only then that she realises how long she has been talking with H. Her hair is completely dry now and Mouse is curled up between them on a cushion of moss, snoring quietly.
Has she been gone from the apartment the entire afternoon? How is she going to explain that to her friends?
She tells H they should head back—he's technically her escort and she doesn't want to risk being caught unattended when it can be avoided.
H scoops Mouse up in his arms, who yawns and settles down on his shoulder, curling his forked tail around his neck. Itʼs more alarming how cute she finds the terror than the fact that its tail barbs are brushing Hʼs pulse point, and she smiles despite herself.
This time, they leave Aurvandil's Hollow through the side of the curtain. There's a gap where the shelf juts out and diverts the water. H shoots her an innocent look—they could've stayed dry the first time through!
She shoves H lightly—she is so going to get him back for that.
They stroll through the residential district, taking in the fresh air. The scent of anticipated rain never leaves Ísfjall, but itʼs strange not to see clouds, or even the sky, when she looks up.
H doesn't walk beside her, opting to stay a few paces behind, as if he were her official escort. The few people about are staring and she thinks theyʼd be a less conspicuous pair if H would stop lagging, so she wouldnʼt have to keep turning around to check heʼs still there.
"What's with you?" she asks, stopping suddenly, halfway across a moon bridge.
"Huh? Oh, nothing," he dismisses, but he looks on edge—just as he had up until they ditched Skuf and Naddod.
She's about to call him on it when a man in grand riding leathers, with an ornate axe strapped to his back, and his bronze-armoured gronckle pass them on the bridge, heading the opposite way.
"Evening, Sir," he greets, inclining his head in respect.
H returns a small wave, cringing.
"You gonna explain?" she asks.
That man looks official and important, but H is just a kid—a troublemaker at that—so why is everyone treating him like heʼs someone influential or high-ranking?
"I'd—ahem—rather… not."
"Alright, fine."
"Alright?"
She's fully aware H is keeping secrets. Astrid's just being smart about which ones she pries into. H can have this one—so long as he eventually gives up the truth about Hiccup.
She keeps walking, pretending it doesn't bother her, trying to ignore the niggling feeling that she'll never genuinely know H.
"There are some things you can't tell me, I get that," she says, evenly, keeping her eyes forward.
"You do?" he asks, sprinting to catch up.
They walk side-by-side for the next stretch of walkways. H looks as if he wants to say more; as if he wants to tell her everything, but in the end, he accepts her offer of privacy with mumbled gratitude.
He hangs back again as they near the heavily-guarded apartment, but makes sure he's seen accompanying her, so she doesnʼt get in trouble for disobeying the Dragon Masterʼs orders.
"Will you meet me outside Aurvandil's Hollow tomorrow?" H asks, toeing the pier with his boot, self-conscious.
He must think she's going to say no; that she doesn't want to see him again, but H couldn't be farther from the truth.
"As soon as training finishes, I'll be there," she promises.
He looks adorably flustered. "It's a date—" H stops, looking stricken. "I mean, not a date—totally not a date. Not even close to a date. Gods, I'm just gonna stop… talking."
"Night, H," says Astrid, trying not to laugh.
"Night… Astrid," he says quietly, as she makes her way up the porch and slips inside.
The latch clacks and Snotlout looks up. Astrid's back—thank Thor.
"Why is there a hole in the—"
She doesn't finish her question before she's tackled into a bone-crushing hug by Ruffnut—violence being how the twins show affection, relief… distress, boredom—pretty much everything, really.
"Astrid!" the boys cheer, rushing over too.
"Don't scare me—uh, us—like that," blurts Snotlout.
He knew he shouldnʼt have let her go alone. Anything could've happened to his princess in enemy territory—especially given what Aesir said before leaving, about who was supposed to be looking out for her.
"Where were you?" asks Fishlegs. "We thought something awful happened when those two guards came back without you."
The shieldmaiden is stiff in Ruffʼs embrace. "Guys, don't worry. I'm okay." She gives the wrecked apartment a once-over. "But what happened here?"
It must look like a dragon rampage—and Snotlout should know, having seen the same damage for years on Berk. Except, there aren't any scorch marks and the four of them look too guilty for it to be the result of anything but Hooligan rowdiness. No point in denying it.
"This one's on you, A. We thought you'd been kidnapped!" Tuffnut explains.
Snotlout isnʼt entirely sure how you can kidnap your hostage, but he was just as worried when she went missing that he doesnʼt bother correcting Tuff.
"I left to clear my head!" Astrid protests, insulted at the insinuation that she canʼt take care of herself. "I think I found someone who can help us. I was with them—willingly—all afternoon."
"Aesir's son, you mean?" says Snotlout, without much tact.
Snotlout has been picturing some self-important dark stranger, who charged himself with Astrid's safety, silhouetted against the flames of his ferocious monstrous nightmare with razor-sharp teeth and spines, ever since Aesirʼs visit and ominous message. In Snot's imagination, he's grinning wickedly, as he drags his princess away by the wrist to be fed to the leviathan.
"Aesir's son? No, I was with…" Astrid looks as though she has just come to a stunning revelation. "H is Aesir's son! That's why the guards were so polite to him, that's what he didn't want me to know!" she exclaims.
"Woah—hold up? Who's H?" Snotlout asks.
Snotlout doesn't like the sound of this guy. He must have an ulterior motive in spending the afternoon with Astrid—especially if heʼs related to someone so high up in the Ísfjallan Guard. Snotlout doesn't even know what his outward motive is, but he's sure whoever this H is can't be trusted.
"A friend," Astrid replies, firmly. "Hiccup is alive and H knows what happened to him. Once H helps me find him, we're all going home," says Astrid with a certainty that the others can't emulate.
It isn't that he doesn't want Astrid to be right—far from it. He desperately wants Hiccup to be alive, he wants the chance to be the cousin he should've been all along.
Not just that, but finding Hiccup might force the Dragon Master's hand. They'd no longer have a reason to subject themselves to Dragon Training, and part of their deal is a ticket home, provided they can't be trained.
But, with his father and the rest of the older warriors as hostages, holding out on the Dragon Master's promise of information, their hands are tied. Snotlout hates feeling so powerless and wishes he could give the Dragon Master a piece of his mind—or, better yet, a taste of his fists!
It's a long-shot that Dragon Boy will hold up his end of the bargain, but it's still the best plan they've got.
Fishlegs shifts, wringing his fingers. "I don't know, Astrid. How can you be sure this guy won't double-cross you?"
"Got a better idea?" Astrid asks, folding her arms.
Dead silence. Ideas aren't exactly Snotlout's forte.
"That's what I thought, so… I'm meeting him again tomorrow."
Hel, no.
Toothless is even more eager to fly than usual, pushing him over to the balcony with an unexplained urgency as soon as Hiccup enters his rooms. His dragon slept the entire day and, now heʼs awake, is full of energy to let off in the skies, doing aerial tricks and flying his fastest through the arctic winds.
Hiccup knows that Toothless would let him sleep if that's what he wanted, but they both love flying and, even after a long day of meetings and negotiations—and spending the time he should've slept hanging out with Astrid instead, Hiccup can still match the night fury's unbridled enthusiasm.
"You got it, bud," says Hiccup, pulling out his riding gear from the huge clothes chest in the far corner.
He's fumbling with the buckles when the door swings open and Valka enters, looking incredibly peeved.
Toothless takes that as their cue to leave, tipping Hiccup over his head and into the saddle from behind, and makes a break for the balcony.
"Where do you think you're going?" asks Valka in that motherly, no-nonsense kind of way, stopping them in their tracks.
"Flying?" Except Toothlessʼ efforts to leave before Valka could confront him have, evidently, failed, so flying is looking increasingly unlikely—at least until he's put right whatever he appears to have screwed up.
"Not so fast, Mister. Do you have any idea of the problems you've caused?" She folds her arms and taps her foot, waiting.
Hiccup gulps. Only he could find himself in this much trouble after being absent for the better part of a day. He shrugs, which is very much the wrong answer.
"Did you think what would happen after Skuf and Naddod returned without Astrid—what her friends might think?"
Nope—that had not crossed his mind and, he realises belatedly, that was a rather serious oversight.
"What happened?" he groans, massaging his temples.
She explains about the brawl, the damage to the house and her resolution to put them on stable duty the next day. Yeuch—stable duty—worse than even bog duty used to be, back on Berk.
She handled it well—better than he could have, probably. But there is just one, hopefully insignificant, little detail.
"Did you tell Snot, Fish and the twins anything about where Astrid was?"
It might not have come up; she might have said nothing at all.
"Yes, I said she was with you. Why?"
Da-da-da, heʼs dead. Astrid knows H is the Dragon Master—their friendship that has only just begun is over already. She'll want nothing to do with him after he lied to her with virtually every breath.
"Whatʼs wrong, Hiccup?"
"Astrid didnʼt know she was with me—well, that she was with the Dragon Master. She thought I was just some guy she met in the botanical gardens last month. We were friends, Mom. I think I was getting through to her."
"Oh, Hiccup. I'm sorry," says Val, looking guilty.
"Don't apologise—you had no idea." He pulls Valka into a warm cuddle. "It was stupid, anyway—it was gonna blow up in my face sooner or later. I'll try talking to her tomorrow, after training, if she'll even listen to me."
He is not looking forward to that conversation but thereʼs no avoiding it now.
"That might have to wait," says Valka, resting her chin on Hiccup's shoulder. "Because it's only fair you join the others on stable duty, don't you think?" she asks, sweetly.
"... You're an evil woman sometimes."
Aurvandil's fire comes from the episode Fright of Passage, referring to the Northern Lights. While Aurvandil is a real figure in Norse Mythology, this reference to the Aurora Borealis is fictitious.
A/N: Thanks for returning for another instalment of The Lost Heir. I've decided not to update weekly anymore, but updates are going to be longer if a bit sporadic.
If some parts of this chapter didn't make sense with what you remember from earlier chapters, it will be because I've been making edits. Mostly to make it read better, but there were some changes to chapter 4, where they strike the bargain. Basically, I cut out the part where Hiccup actually said they'll die if they don't participate in training, so the only reason the Hooligans are going along with it is to find Hiccup and what they perceive as a hostage situation, but is more… divide and conquer, I guess? Iʼll go into more detail in future chapters.
I know this can be distracting, but I feel like the whole piece makes more sense now, especially now that I have more direction. But Iʼd love to hear your thoughts :)
I am also low-key looking for a beta. I'd like someone prepared to hack away at my earlier chapters too, as they still need a lot of work, so drop me a PM if this interests you.
Thanks to Obiben27, MarauderPrime12, Silvolde, Urana, Il1v3inmymind, OechsnerC, pawssible, sup8pdct, TheDemon1911, D33P345, AJ, kappet67 and Ash for your reviews last chapter :)
FullOfFaith: I hope the final scene was what you were hoping for :) I did have that part planned already, but I extended this chapter so it would be included. We were overdue for some Hiccup and Valka mother-son fluff, weren't we?
*About increasing the rating, there may have been bad language in this before and I didnʼt change the rating when I probably should have, but, following recent edits, this is now the first chapter with any content above K+, I believe.