The Spirit of Autumn: Untold Truths
"Autumn is as joyful and sweet as an untimely end." - Rémy de Gourmon
Dusk was upon the island, the rapidly setting sun giving the fog an orange hue. Hiccup had led the group further inland, to some sort of rock formation. The sound of the waves was quieter here, now only the chilly wind remained. But even the wind lessened when they rounded one of the huge boulders.
At its foot there seemed to be a small campsite, with a firepit and some blankets and bags in the vicinity. However, the thing which caught the three spirits' eye was the moss covered carving on the boulder's side. Figures clad in armour with swords, axes, spears and shields were depicted and runes underlined the carving.
Rapunzel and Jack couldn't read the runes, but Merida understood. The words were inarticulate, the translation long lost to time, but their meaning eternal. Merida knew this place, before even actually having been there.
"Just who are you?", her voice was barely a whisper.
Hiccup snapped his fingers and the campfire exploded in blue fire, but quickly turned a familiar orange. His green eyes glowed in the darkness as he turned towards them, the fire to his rear throwing shadows upon the boulders.
"I am sá er ormslík, he who takes the shape of a dragon. And this...", he spread his arms and the flames intensified, roaring into the night sky and forming a pair of draconian wings. "This is where dragons went to die."
Jack and Rapunzel watched the ominous scene in silence, wary of the sudden display of powers by their fellow spirit. Merida was the only one they thought capable of wielding the element of fire. The Spirit of Summer, however, had no time for her friend's concerns. She was deep in thought.
"Where do I know that from?"
"But enough of the dramatics, I believe I promised you an explanation.", Hiccup said and sat down near the campfire.
The Spirit of Winter and the Spirit of Spring looked at each other briefly, before sitting down as well.
"Uh, right."
"Come on Mer, sit down."
Rapunzel's words apparently shook the redhead out of her thoughts and Merida was also sitting around the campfire a few moments later.
"When I was a boy, dragons ruled the sky. My people had been at war with them for over 300 years. When I forged a bond with a Night Fury, the offspring of lightning and death, my tribe's way of life changed forever. After defeating a gigantic dragon queen, the Red Death, the war came to an end, but not without cost. We defeated this monster, which forced lesser dragons to raid human settlements and bring her food, but in turn it cost me a leg. Adapting to thi-..."
"Now hold on. You said you lost a leg, but you clearly have two!", Jack gestured to Hiccups legs.
"Jack!"
Rapunzel was clearly not amused by his lack of tact.
"Do not worry. The afterlife is full of surprises, after all.", Hiccup smiled at them. "Allow me to demonstrate."
Suddenly the Spirit of Autumn changed from a fairly tall young man to a much shorter boy. His clothes were now a green tunic with a brown fur vest on top and brown boots and pants. The others could see that there was now a primitive prosthetic on Hiccup's lower left leg.
The three other spirits looked at Hiccup with stunned expressions.
"There are several more forms I can take, but this is how I looked right before I became a spirit."
Hiccup changed yet again. In front of them now stood a man nearly seven feet tall, with darker hair than his auburn childhood self and clad in black armor. In the dark his green eyes seemed to glow faintly.
Over the next couple of hours, Hiccup told the three Guardians tales from his youth; about how he and his friends adventured through the archipelago, about Drago Bludvist and the death of his Father, about becoming Chief and reconciling with his mother and about Grimmel the Grisly. He recounted how his tribe and the dragons had settled on New Berk and how he had married the love of his life, Astrid Hofferson. Jack, Merida and Rapunzel listened patiently, fascinated by Hiccups's stories.
"We had barely settled in on New Berk for some months when I attended a meeting of chieftains, during which we learned of a threat from the south. The Roman Empire sought to conquer the northern lands and had already invaded islands further south. After more and more tribes were conquered, the rest of the tribes decided to forge an alliance to fight the common enemy. In the end, I was chosen to be the leader of the 'Northern Coalition'. The war was long and brutal and I saw many friends, viking and dragon alike, fall." Hiccup sighed and paused after that with a forlorn look in his eye. "After nearly a decade of war, we sought to defeat the Romans in one decisive battle. For this, we allied ourselves with the Scottish clans. We managed to lure the majority of the Roman army to this very island. The plan was to have the Northern Coalition engage the Romans head on, so that the Scottish warriors could attack from behind, but the clans did not come to our aid. They had negotiated with the Romans in secret and the battle swiftly turned into a massacre. I do not know how many lives I ended that day, but I remember that I died beside my wife and our dragons atop a mountain of corpses."
Rapunzel, Jack and Merida stared in shock and horror at Hiccup for a moment.
'So the old stories are true.', Merida thought.
Hiccup just sighed. "I have ended more lives than I could ever hope to count. It is not always easy nor is it always right, but I fought for what I believed in. And if that means ending someone's life, then so be it."
"And that's when Manny picked you to be a guardian, right?", Jack asked, hoping to change the topic.
The Spirit of Autumn glanced at Jack, a subtle smirk on his face: "A logical conclusion, but I was not granted the reprieve of death. Instead, I awoke in the halls of Asgard."
Before Hiccup could continue however, Rapunzel interjected: "Hold on, how didn't you die when you, well, died!? That shouldn't be possible!"
"The laws of the Norse realms work in mysterious ways. Perhaps that will be their downfall, but mine was prevented."
The four spirits sat around the fire throughout the night, Merida, Rapunzel and Jack listening to Hiccup recount the tales of his afterlife.
He told them how he had awoken in Asgard, the norse realm of the gods, barely remembering anything from his life on Midgard. The Norse God of Mischief, Loki, had proclaimed him his champion, denying him his place in Valhalla, but also giving him the opportunity and burden of serving a Norse god.
The three guardians listened to Hiccup's stories of discovery and learning but also of countless battles. The old spirit told them about meeting the other gods, most notably Thor and Odin, about travelling the realms with his dragon and Loki, about uncovering and preventing the planned invasion of Nidavellir, the realm of the dwarves, by the Dark Elves, about the subsequent war between Asgard and the Light Elves against the Dark Elves and their sinister allies, about how he helped recapture the mighty fortress of Rangavellir, which had been lost early on in the war and about his second "death". Apparently Hiccup had sacrificed himself to thwart an assassination, which would have sparked Ragnarök, the end of the world.
But not all of Hiccup's tales revolved around battle and death. He also told them about how he slowly regained his memories, how he unexpectedly met Astrid, who had become a Valkyrie, and how the two fell in love all over again.
The three guardians were so enthralled by the Spirit of Autumn's stories, that they did not even realize that the sun was on the horizon. But none of them had any intention of stopping anytime soon. They still had questions.
It was Jack, the curious Spirit of Winter who finally spoke up: "So, what happened between you and Mother Nature? Pitch said you were ready to kill her, because she betrayed you."
Rapunzel looked like she was about to reprimand Jack for his lack of tact, but even she could not deny her own curiosity.
Hiccup sighed. He seemed to do that a lot. "What he told you is exaggerated. When I was a new spirit, inexperienced and grieving, she was there for me and taught me things about spirits and their duties. But when I started to interact with Pitch she abandoned me, out of fear of what might happen, out of cowardice. Death and Fear are intertwined, it was only natural that we were drawn to each other. That is also why I found you first Rapunzel. Life and Death are connected somehow. During my lengthy existence I have grown to despise cowards and I have not yet forgiven Mother Nature for her act of cowardice. That, however, does not mean that I want to kill her."
Merida, Rapunzel and Jack looked relieved, but also conflicted.
Hiccup, undeterred, kept talking: "As nice as this was, I unfortunately do have matters to attend to. If you wish to meet again, stab this into a piece of parchment and I shall answer."
He handed Merida a small dagger. Inscribed on the pommel was "H.H.H. III"
Suddenly, a pair of shadowy, black draconic wings appeared behind Hiccup.
"I will pay our acquaintance a visit. After all, even the King of Nightmares fears death."
As suddenly as they appeared, the wings enveloped the Spirit of Autumn and the Harbinger of Death and he disappeared in a cloud of shadows.
I am back! This time with the second part of The Spirit of Autumn:Untold Truths!
This fic is full of headcanons and the characters are OOC to varying degrees.
To the person who asked: The beloved animal companions of our characters did not become immortal.
I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Bis zum nächsten mal! Until next time!
-Eric