The icy waters crashed on the sides of the Berserker ship. A muscular man with red hair and a beard stood at the wheel. His eyes were trained on nothing in particular, and yet he seemed to stare with a fierce intensity. His expression was neither that of joy nor sadness, just blank. Blue, bear claw tattoos stood out as the sun came over the light clouds. A long scar decorated the man's face, going from above his right ear and over his eye down to his chin. There was a red mark on his right arm, but it did not affect the man's smooth movements with steering."They have to be here somewhere." He thought, worriedly. Suddenly a tightness formed in his chest, "Something happened, but what if it was worse than I thought?" He felt a sense of fear for his friends and continued searching. As the day turned into night, the man ran a hand through his messy hair. Absent-mindedly, he hummed the Berserker anthem, mixing it with a tribal song of the Defenders of the Wing. A smile formed on his face and he bobbed his head to the beat he had created.
Dagur looked at some maps and crossed off a location, adding it to a large pile of now useless maps like itself. He was officially out of maps to look to for help. He was on his own, but the man did not mind. If he knew where the Berkians were not, he could at least use that to narrow down his search. He had to be closer, unless, well, that alternative was not to be considered for longer than the cruel mind's few moments of contemplations. Dagur looked and saw no land to either side of him, so he decided to go straight ahead. In the past, he would have lit a small fire for light in the evenings. Now, though, his eyes were accustomed to the darkness without any aid. Similarly, his body was used to not consistently sleeping once night had come. Dagur smirked at himself, "It must have been when I was four that I actually always went to sleep at night. Too many things to do since then." Fatigue was lately little more than an annoying pest who would come to Dagur every couple of days.
As the sun came over the horizon, Dagur thought the old pest had finally caught up with him again. "Making me see things now, huh?" he chided, blinking several times. He let his eyes adjust to the sun and realized that it had not been exhaustion who created the mirage. In fact, there was no mirage at all. A wide grin spread over Dagur's face as he saw a large mass of clearly inhabited land. Trepidation, despite his initial optimism, clawed at Dagur. "What if there are just other people here and still no Berkians?" He frowned and then looked determined, "Then, I'll keep looking. They're hard to kill, so they're still around here somewhere. If this isn't it," he paused, feeling depressed at the thought, "I'll find them somewhere else."
Dagur pulled the ship into the harbor of the land and looked around for some Vikings. He had known through plenty of experiences that it was best to find them first and explain your presence than for them to find you coming onto their land. Unfortunately, no one was around the coast and after some painfully long minutes of waiting, Dagur decided no one would come for a while. He disembarked from his vessel and cautiously went on the land. "Here, Viky, Viky." He said, almost more to himself than anyone else. Excitement came over him as he spotted another Viking. He was one with a short ponytail who wore clothes that did not fit the standard Berkian customs. Dagur's heart sank a bit as he approached the other man. "Hey, do you happen to know any Berkians? I've been looking for them si-" He was cut short by the other's Viking's harsh glare. "Why are you looking for them?" he questioned. Dagur immediately got annoyed by the interruption and aggression but stayed calm. "They're friends of mine. I haven't seen them in a while, so I'm just hoping they're okay." There was a brief pause and Dagur started back up, "So, you seem to know them. Are they here or do they live on another island?" The other man looked unwilling to give any information and Dagur could sense it. "I really am their friend. If you want me to try to prove it, I will." The man still looked unconvinced and looked around them. "Hey," he called to another Viking. "Great." Dagur thought, sarcastically, "Someone else I don't recognize." When the Viking came over, the other man pointed to Dagur. "Keep an eye on him. I'm going to get the others." The new guy nodded and got into a fighting stance just in case as the other one left to retrieve the rest.
Dagur fought the urge to roll his eyes at the man's weak stance. He quietly scoffed, "That wouldn't even keep a baby yak back." After a couple of minutes, Dagur looked at the Viking. "Are you just going to stay like that until he returns?" When no response came, Dagur sighed and took out a knife, starting to sharpen it and regretting his action as soon as it was made. "Drop the weapon." The guard ordered. Dagur grunted and placed the blade on the ground, bored. When the one man came back, it seemed like it had been forever. Behind him were several Vikings. They looked older, yet familiar to Dagur and he was quick to brush past the other two Vikings to hug the tallest one who had grown a beard.
Hiccup looked shocked at first but then smiled. "Dagur?" the name sounded almost foreign to him after all these years and yet nothing seemed like a better reminder of the past. Dagur's bone-crushing grip was not as bad as before. "It must have been all those years hugging Mala." The Berkian chief thought to himself. Before he could ask any questions, the Berserker got to his. "What happened?" Dagur asked, "I went to Berk and it was almost all in ruins." The Berkians looked sad at the reminder. Hiccup nodded, grimly, "That was because of a dragon hunter named Grimmel. He had wiped out almost all the other Night Furies and was going after Toothless. We came here instead to get away from him." Dagur glanced around, "Speaking of T, where is he?" A worried look came over his face, "He's okay, right?" Hiccup looked downcast as he replied, "He is, but he isn't here anymore. None of the dragons are. We decided it would be safer for them all to go somewhere they wouldn't be found by any hunters."
An unreadable expression came over Dagur's face, but it vanished just as quickly. "What's been going on since last time? You all never stayed in touch." The chief said, hurt audible in his voice. The Berkians looked sheepish. "It's been a lot." Astrid said. She looked behind where they stood and motioned for two kids to join them. A big smile came over the visitor's face. "Mini Hiccup and Astrid!" he beamed. The blond boy half hid behind his mother, uncertain of this newcomer, whereas his sister looked at him fiercely. She looked up at her parents with askance in her eyes. "This is Dagur the Deranged." Hiccup told her. Her eyes widened a bit at that information. "Dagur, these are our kids, Zephyr and Nuffink." The Berserker gleefully waved at them and Nuffink shyly returned the motion. "So," Dagur began, "H and Blondie got together-no shock there-Fishy has a moustache, the dragons are gone, and you've moved. Also added some new members I see." Ruffnut nodded and pointed to the Viking Dagur had met upon his docking. "That's Eret." She said excitedly, earning a glance from Fishlegs. She noticed the glance and held his hand. "He used to be a dragon hunter." Tuff added. Dagur chuckled as he went back over to pick his knife up, "Been there. These Berkians wear you down, don't they?" Eret looked unsure of how to respond and decided to remain silent.
Hiccup's eyes lit up, "And you've got to meet my mom." "What? Really?" Dagur could hardly believe it. She had been gone for longer than he had even known Hiccup. "I know Stoick is loving having her back here." The atmosphere changed once Stoick's name was mentioned and Dagur worried he knew what that meant. "H, I'm sorry." He told, sincerity evident. Hiccup just nodded and continued to lead his friend through the village. This Berk felt so different to Dagur. It was by no means bad, but it was so altered from how everything was on the Berk with the dragons everywhere. As he thought more about the dragons being sent away, an unexplainable bit of anger crept into him. The chief pushed down the odd emotion and followed as they went up to another Viking. "Mom, this is our friend, Dagur the Deranged." Hiccup introduced.
Dagur grinned at the lady, "It's great to meet you." Valka smiled back, "We've heard a lot about you and the Berserkers." The man's grin faltered a bit, "I hope not too much." He thought. Hiccup noticed his concern and put a hand on his shoulder, "We focused on the good." Relief flushed over Dagur and his smile returned. The other Vikings came up and Zephyr watched as her grandmother and father spoke with the visitor. A small frown formed on her face and she pulled Eret aside. "Can we talk?" she asked. The older Viking curiously nodded and followed her as she pulled Nuffink along with them. They went to a library when Eret finally stopped her. "Okay, Zephyr, what's going on?" The girl looked worried and took out a big book. On it was an insignia with a Skrill. "What's going on is that we shouldn't be so welcoming of newcomers. You might be the only one I'll be able to actually get to listen since you won't be blinded by fond memories." Sensing a long conversation starting, Eret and Nuffink sat down and waited for Zephyr to begin her explanation.
As Zephyr spoke to the two, Valka had to leave to check on some of the New Berkian youngsters. "Sorry." She said, hearing shrieks coming from where the kids were. "I need to see what the problem is." She hurried off and Hiccup's expression turned serious. "Are you okay, brother?" Dagur asked him. A small smile formed on the Berkian chief's face. "I haven't been called that in years." "Good." Dagur puffed up, "That's for me. Not just anyone can go around here throwing 'brother's at you." Hiccup laughed and shook his head. "I might be lying if I said I haven't grown to miss your…zaniness." Dagur smirked, "Sure you don't mean 'craziness?'" Hiccup mocked defensiveness, "I said zaniness!" The Berserker laughed his trademark one, "I've sort of just come to accept it as it is. No point in trying to convince others I'm sane if even I know it's not true. But what's fun about being sane anyway? You've got some craziness too for all you've done with and for dragons." Hiccup grinned, "I'm crazy now?" "In only the best way. That's why we became friends." The Berkian looked at him amusedly, "I could have sworn it was because you stopped trying to kill us." "Well, I mean, I guess that didn't hurt any." Dagur added, chuckling.
The two laughed and Hiccup looked from the Berserker to the village. "It's been so long, brother. Too long." "Didn't have to be." Dagur pointed out, "You didn't send a Terror Mail or anything." Hiccup looked a bit guilty. "I know and I'm sorry. Things started picking up so much after we left the Edge. It felt like we were just destroying the Dragon Eye and then suddenly, we were at Berk, my dad was trying to get me to become chief, mom showed up again, and then…then I did become chief." Dagur heard the pain in his friend's voice as his finished. "I really wanted to reach out after that happened." Hiccup admitted, "I couldn't bring myself to do it, though. Too much time had passed for me to have our first talk be about dad." Dagur looked him in the eye, "Hiccup, you're my best friend. I wouldn't have been able to handle losing my dad if you hadn't been there with all your Hiccupiness. If you wanted to talk, or even if you still do, I would have been and am fine with that."
Hiccup frowned as he thought of Toothless's plasma going into Stoick. "I just haven't wanted to talk about it with mom. She loved him too, so we'd both just be sad. And the others don't get it. They haven't experienced something like that before. That's kinda why I wanted to talk to you. At least it wouldn't be me trying to explain a totally foreign thing to somebody." He paused and felt a tightness in his chest. "Does it ever stop? Does the pain ease up the more time passes? It's already been over a decade and I still feel like it happened yesterday." Dagur sighed, "I wish I could tell you that it does. That you'll be feeling good as new by tomorrow, but I can't. From my experience, it stays. You remember how you felt because you never really stopped feeling it. You just did more things in between, but the pain didn't change." Hiccup looked nearly horrified, "Then it just never gets better?" Dagur was silent for a few moments, "I don't know. Sorry." He frowned, then an idea came to mind and he went on. "Maybe it changes you but not totally for the worse. Could make you appreciate those around you more. You've got a big family, H, so maybe that experience helped prepare you for living every moment with them to the fullest."
Hiccup mused over what he heard and looked at the Berserker. "I think so." He said, hopefully. Hiccup jokingly nudged the other Viking. "Where was this Dagur when I was trying to negotiate all those years ago?" Dagur chuckled, "Long in the making." He added in an ornery tone, "Can't get genius like this from beauty sleep." "I bet Mala's been loving it. How is everyone? I'm a bit surprised they didn't come with you." Dagur looked at some families in the village. "Yeah, they're all home." "They're doing well, though? I'm also a bit shocked you don't have any kids yet. You and Mala seemed to get along so quickly." Dagur smiled, "Soon. Mala's pregnant." Hiccup clapped him on the back, "Congratulations! Is that why you came? To tell us?" Dagur mumbled, "I guess that must have been it." Louder, he said, "Saw how Fishy and Ruff were. I might not have good news for Heather when I get back." Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, they've been together for a while now. I think it really happened just after the dragons left."
The two sighed. "So many things have changed." Hiccup noted, then his eyes lit up. "But it's not all permanent." Hiccup added. "You're losing me, H." Dagur told him, one brow raising. "We could go to the Hidden World." Realizing that explanation hardly clarified anything, he elaborated. "That's where all the dragons went. Zephyr and Nuffink have never seen any dragons and I'd really like to get them there before Zephyr decides they're all evil just because of what she reads in books. Plus, you can get to see Sleuther and Shattermaster too." Dagur grinned, "Sounds like a plan to me." "Then it's all set." Hiccup stated, "Tomorrow, we'll be going to the Hidden World."